Transcript
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The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.
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All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.
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Listener discretion is advised.
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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
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And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
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And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.
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Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing.
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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
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And I'll just be coming to you solo today.
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I do want to apologize kind of at the top.
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I know this episode is coming out later in the day than we normally do.
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I had a horrible migraine for the past couple days, so I tried to record and it just wasn't
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sounding right.
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Again, part of respecting these stories is I want to make sure I'm always giving my best.
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So we are feeling better now, so I'm able to record and just get this episode out a
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little bit later in the day than I normally would.
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So today we are covering a missing person case.
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And I just wanted to give a bit of a content warning at the top that this case does involve
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a child.
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There are mentions of sexual abuse and child abuse.
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So today we are covering the missing person case of Marlon Santos.
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And this takes place in November of 1998 in Worcester, Massachusetts.
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But first a little bit about Marlon.
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Marlon Devine Santos is only five months old in November of 1998.
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He was born June 5th of that year and he would be 25 years old today.
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Marlon's parents had a whirlwind romance while they were both seeking treatment for
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their addiction.
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The romance didn't last and by the time Marlon's mother, Dina Santos, gave birth, the couple
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had separated.
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Shortly after Marlon's birth, Dina began seeking help for her addiction and seeking
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out space in a shelter.
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It's unclear when DSS, or the Department of Social Services, stepped in, but by August
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Marlon was placed in the home of Yolanda and Jose Castillo as a foster child.
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Yolanda and Jose had hosted around 50 foster children and when Marlon joined them they
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had two other foster kids, a three-year-old and a 24-month-year-old.
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And then they had three of their own children who were 11, 12, and 17.
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So now a timeline of events.
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On Thursday, November 5th, 1998.
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Early in the afternoon, Yolanda needs to leave the house to go pick up her two middle schoolers.
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The babies were asleep, according to Yolanda, so she decides to leave them in the home alone
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while she makes the trip to get her kids.
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The trip took about 45 minutes.
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Jose was out of town, having gone to New York for a few days.
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Yolanda left the house unlocked while she was out and when she returned, between 1.30
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and 2 p.m., she finds that Marlon is gone.
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Neighbors said that normally Jose watched the children as he had a more flexible work
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schedule, and they also say that on that day they see Yolanda outside searching the bushes.
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Instead of calling the police right away, Yolanda waits until Saturday night, November
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7th, over 48 hours after Marlon went missing.
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She drove to the Bronx, New York that day to pick up Jose and then they go to the police
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station that night.
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Yolanda told police that she waited so long because she didn't want to go to the police
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without her husband and was worried about her own children getting taken away.
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Dina, Marlon's mother, is heartbroken and pleading on local news.
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She says, quote, how DSS can have these people as foster parents, telling me I can't take
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care of my son, but they give them to these people that can't do nothing either.
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They're telling me that I can't take care of my son, but they don't know where he is,
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end quote.
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On Sunday, November 9th, 1998, the Castillos, who are Pentecostal preachers, still hold
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service Sunday morning and neighbors say that parishioners are dropped off at the Castillo
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home that day as well.
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On Monday, November 10th, Worcester police captain Paul Campbell has three theories on
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what happened to Marlon.
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Either he was kidnapped, he was sold, or there was a tragic accident and Marlon is dead.
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He says, quote, those are your only three options that I can see, end quote.
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Police execute search warrants on the Castillo home and their two vehicles they have in their
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possession, a brown Dodge caravan and a large passenger van that belonged to the church.
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Captain Paul Campbell says, quote, we've had sniffing dogs at the house.
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We have not had any indication that there is a deceased individual in the residence
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or on the property, end quote.
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Police lieutenant John McLaren says that Yolanda and Jose have stopped cooperating with the
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police and have lawyered up.
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DSS says they are assisting the police in their search for Marlon.
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DSS spokesperson Lorraine Carley says, quote, we have no idea what happened here.
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I think at this point there are definitely more questions than there are answers, end
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quote.
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The other two foster children that were staying with the Castillos are removed from the home
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and placed elsewhere.
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Police say that the Castillos never knocked on their door when looking for Marlon.
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As word got out of Marlon's disappearance, Marlon's father rushed to help the police.
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William Kehanek tells the media that DSS never tried to find him when they took custody away
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from Dina.
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He says that, quote, of course I would have taken the baby, end quote.
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On Wednesday, November 11th, Marlon has been missing for six days at this point.
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Police say that they are focusing on the Castillos.
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There have been reports of abuse and neglect filed against them, but all have been unfounded,
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according to DSS.
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The DSS spokesperson Lorraine Carley says, quote, if you look back at the history of
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this foster home, we don't see any smoking gun.
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We don't know what happened here, end quote.
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Police are treating the case as an abduction or homicide at this point.
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The detective on the case says, quote, we're investigating a possible homicide because
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of the inconsistencies in the details provided by the foster parents, end quote.
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While Dina was initially ruled out as a suspect, police become suspicious of her as she stops
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cooperating with police and retains a lawyer.
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The public is in outrage over the missing baby.
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Representative Mari J. Parenti says, quote, how did we do this?
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How did we lose a baby?
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We need to recruit foster homes under less stress.
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If the parents had no way to pick up her own children after school, they had a problem,
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end quote.
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On Thursday, November 12th, Marlon has been missing for a week and police are hopeful
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that he is still alive.
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Detective John McLernan says, quote, at this point in the investigation, we believe that
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the baby has been abducted as opposed to being murdered.
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We're encouraged by that, end quote.
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The New York City police are also assisting in the case since Jose had been there the
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day that Marlon went missing.
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Jose's lawyer says that as soon as he got to New York City, he left for Wisconsin and
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was not actually in the city that long.
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The Castellos still hold church services three times a week.
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Jose says, quote, I'm not going to stop preaching for anything.
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I'm a pastor, end quote.
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However, at the Thursday night service, Jose leaves shortly before the service starts and
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his brother, Manuel, steps in.
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He tells the congregation that Jose had important business to attend to.
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As attention on the case grows, the public outrage is loud.
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The public want to know why a seemingly devoted foster mother would leave three very young
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children home in an unlocked house.
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And why did she wait over 48 hours to report him missing to the police?
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The public also want to know why Dina, who had been so public in begging for her son's
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safety and return, would suddenly stop cooperating and retain a lawyer.
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On Friday, November 13th, just over one week Marlon has been missing, Jose breaks his
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silence and declares himself innocent.
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He says, quote, once everything clears up in this case, people will know the things
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they have said about me are not true.
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In due time, God will put everything into place, end quote.
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The public critique of the DSS system is also very loud at this time.
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It has come to light that Jose had federal trafficking drug charges that the DSS was
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not aware of.
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The DSS counters that the current law only allows for them to run a criminal background
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check in the state of Massachusetts.
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And since the drug trafficking charges were in Florida, they would have had no way of
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knowing about it.
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On Sunday, November 15th, Marlon has been missing for 10 days.
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And after saying he would never stop preaching, Jose doesn't show up to church and his brother
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has no idea where he is.
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As the investigation continues, and it's been almost two weeks since Marlon has disappeared,
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the police start acting with more caution in regards to letting information out about
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this case.
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The local media obtained search warrants that the police had conducted the week before and
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find that the police had collected, as evidence, a sample from a youth-sized mattress, a pillow,
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a pillowcase, a white cotton blanket, and they take swabs from the front porch to determine
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if it's blood.
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The results for this analysis are never made public.
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On December 2nd, 1998, it's been almost a month that Marlon has been missing, but police
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still feel confident that he is alive.
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Police are handling it as a disappearance case at this point, but are hesitant to call
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it an abduction.
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Police captain Paul Campbell cryptically says, quote, depends on how you would use the word
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abducted, end quote.
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Police do believe that the baby was either sold or given away in New York City and are
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still working with the NYPD for help in the case.
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Jose maintains that he was not truly in New York City, but left for Wisconsin as soon
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as he got there.
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On Wednesday, December 16th, it's been almost six weeks that Marlon has been missing, and
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the Castellos' biological children are removed from their home following an abuse and neglect
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report.
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However, they are returned to the home two days later, and only the 17-year-old remains
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in foster care.
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On Monday, December 28th, Marlon has been missing for almost two months.
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Jose Castillo is charged with child rape and molestation.
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While looking for Marlon, police speak to former foster children of the Castellos and
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uncover these allegations.
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After these allegations surface, DSS try to find all of the other children that had stayed
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in their home to see if there are any more charges that should be filed.
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And then the case goes quiet for a little bit.
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It's not until Tuesday, October 26th, 1999, almost a year since his disappearance, that
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his case surfaces in the media again.
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The next update in Marlon's case comes nearly a year later, on Tuesday, October 26th, 1999.
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Police received a credible tip that Marlon was buried near the Huachacet Reservoir, and
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police take the next week to search the reservoir and the surrounding area.
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According to the police, they were acting on a tip that Marlon had been suffocated and
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buried in plastic in this area.
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While police are searching, they find pieces of clothing, plastic, a diaper, and a baby
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blanket.
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These items are sent for analysis to try to link back to baby Marlon.
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Police spend days searching this area and even bring in ground-penetrating radar to
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search a specific plot of land, but all that's found are those items that I just mentioned.
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On December 2nd, 1999, so it's been over a month since the police conducted their very
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large search, and over a year that Marlon has been missing, the analysis of the items
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found during the search failed to find any organic matter that could be tested for DNA.
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So ultimately, they can't link any of the items found during their search to Marlon.
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We do know that sometime in the year 2000, a grand jury is held in Marlon's case, but
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no one is indicted.
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The next update in Marlon's case comes nearly seven years later, so this is April 15th,
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2005, and Marlon has been missing for around seven years.
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Jose had reached a plea deal and pleads guilty to assaulting a foster child and he is sentenced
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to six months in jail.
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But other than that, there have been no updates in this case.
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So if you know anything about the disappearance of Marlon Santos or his whereabouts today,
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please call the Worcester Police at 508-799-8466.
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And the sources for the timeline today come from The Telegram and Gazette, The Daily Item,
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The Boston Globe, Portland Press Herald, The Day, Aethol Daily News, The Recorder, News
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Press, and The Sun Journal.
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So that is the case of Marlon Santos.
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And my first reaction as I started researching this case was really anger, for lack of a
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better word.
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I just couldn't wrap my head around leaving a three-year-old, a child that's only 24 months
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and then five months old, alone in an unlocked house.
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I mean, just leaving them alone is crazy, but you know, that three-year-old was also
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old enough to probably open a door and get outside if they wanted to.
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So this could have been a very tragic case no matter what.
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But the fact that the youngest, Marlon, went missing is just wildly irresponsible to me,
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wildly irresponsible that they were left alone for 45 minutes.
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And you know, I was trying to find some compassion.
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Maybe they didn't have a car that could accommodate all of the children.
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So maybe that's why Yolanda had to make this decision to leave the babies alone.
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But in my research, it says that they had, you know, a Dodge Care van, which is a minivan.
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So there would have been enough seats for, you know, three car seats and then two other
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children to sit.
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Like there would have been that space.
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And they also had a passenger van at their disposal that the church that they ran technically
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owned.
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So that would have had more than enough seats.
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So I just, I don't understand how you reached that conclusion of leaving these babies alone
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by themselves in an unlocked house.
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And then furthermore, I don't understand why it took over 48 hours for the police to become
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aware that Marlon was missing.
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You know, we've all heard that the first 48 hours are the most important in solving a
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homicide.
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And I think the same can also be said for a missing person, that the sooner you can
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get on the trail and the sooner you can start tracking the child, the less time they have
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to get away from, you know, kind of the epicenter of where it happened.
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So the fact that Yolanda waited over 48 hours, but then she also left Massachusetts to drive
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to the Bronx, New York to pick up Jose and then come back, according to police that was
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around a 10 hour trip.
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So she makes this 10 hour trip while a baby is missing that's in her care that, you know,
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that's her charge, and then goes to police.
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I just find it all wildly irresponsible.
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And it really makes me angry that they made those decisions.
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Because ultimately, it seems like they were just really selfish decisions.
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Like she didn't want to be hassled with waking the babies, getting them in a car seat.
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And then, you know, she didn't want to go to the police without her husband and for
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her children to be taken away.
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I don't understand why she was never, you know, charged with, you know, neglect or child
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abuse because I would say that leaving three babies alone is neglect in my book.
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I don't know exactly what the laws in Massachusetts said at that time.
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But it's just crazy to me that no legal repercussions were really brought against Yolanda and Jose.
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We know eventually Jose is arrested for child rape and molestation allegations and he does
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plead guilty to assault of a foster child.
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But nothing really happens to Yolanda except that they take away the foster kids that were
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in her care.
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And we do know that they briefly take away her biological children and only the 17-year-old
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remains in foster care.
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So there's just, I have a lot of questions there and obviously we don't get to the details
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and I want to be like conscious of protecting the children in this case.
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So I just don't, I don't know how somebody does this.
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I really don't.
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It's just wild.
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It's wild to me.
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It's wild.
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It's very interesting to me that in the beginning, you know, those first few months after Marlon
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is missing, the police really do seem sure that he's alive still, which is really encouraging.
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They believe that he was either given away or sold.
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That's kind of what I picked up through all the reporting and through the quotes from
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the police.
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So if that were the case, by all accounts, Marlon would still be alive today.
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He would be 25 years old and he would have possibly grown up in the New York City area.
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We do know that the Worcester police work with the NYPD because they do believe that
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something happened while Jose was in New York.
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And if that's the case, then Marlon was missing long before November 5th because we know that
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Jose goes to the Bronx on October 31st.
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So that would have meant that Marlon was missing for nearly a week by the time that he was
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reported to police as being missing.
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Now it does seem like it shifts a little bit, you know, the next year when Worcester police
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start conducting these searches near the reservoir.
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And at that time, they believe that Marlon had been suffocated and buried in plastic,
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which is a lot different than being sold or given away in New York City.
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I am curious if the police still think that the items found at the reservoir during that
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search are related to the case at all.
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We know that they are unable at that time to find organic matter to test for DNA, so
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they couldn't conclusively link it back to Marlon at that time.
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But I wonder if today if those items are still in their possession, if that is something
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that they maybe could retest with testing being more sensitive.
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I wonder if there's any hope in retesting that evidence to see if any of that was connected
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to Marlon.
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But police seem to think that it was a very credible tip, and it really shifted the way
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they talked about Marlon's disappearance.
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The police captain Paul Campbell did say that there was a small glimmer of hope that Marlon
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was still alive, but it seems that they really thought that he was buried somewhere near
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there.
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And you know, they bring out all of the big guns, so to speak, in this search.
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They have the ground penetrating radar, they have sniffer dogs, they had over 75 officers
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out there searching, so it was a very extensive search, but they still didn't recover Marlon
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at all.
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So I do wonder if that is a reality, if that is really what happened to him, or if he was
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sold or given away.
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But with that, I would just wonder how Yolanda and Jose, you know, if they did sell Marlon
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or give him away, I just wonder how they thought they were going to get away with it.
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They obviously had, they had around 50 foster children before Marlon, so they knew that,
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you know, there's caseworkers that will come and see them and visit the home, and DSS would
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come and check the home from time to time.
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And in November, in the first few weeks of November, there was actually going to be a
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hearing about if Dina should regain custody of Marlon.
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So it was going to come to light one way or the other that Marlon was not there, not that
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any baby should just be given away, but Marlon was certainly not theirs to be doing that
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with.
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So just lots of questions in this case, and it's ultimately just extremely tragic all
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the way around.
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You know, Jose ended up not being a good foster father.
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He was taking advantage of the children placed in his care.
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And if it's any indication of the treatment of the children, how they just left these
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three babies, I don't think it would be hard to venture that children were probably left
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alone a lot then if she felt comfortable enough to leave three babies alone for 45 minutes.
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I would, I don't think it's unreasonable to think that that was not her first time doing
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that.
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My future hopes in this case, you know, I just, I deeply hope that Marlon was given
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to a family that really wanted a baby and he was well taken care of and raised as one
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of their own.
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I think that's the best case scenario, short of his mother and father getting custody of
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him.
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But you know, the alternative is that he was killed in either purposefully or some accident
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and then it was all covered up.
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So truly, I hope that if he couldn't be with his parents who both really wanted him and
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were, you know, working on overcoming their addiction and wanting to get him back, I hope
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that he was raised in a very loving home where they adored him.
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And you know, with, you know, the DNA tests that you can do at home now, you know, the
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23andMe, the Ancestry.com, like all of that stuff.
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I wouldn't be surprised if later down the line, if Marlon does do a test with his family
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and he realizes that maybe he's not related to the people that he thought.
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I mean, that would be very tragic and I imagine like soul crushing to Marlon.
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But I think that could be an outcome in this case to find out where he is and what happened
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to him is if he does a DNA test at home that leads him to uncover the truth about who he
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really is.
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And again, I don't want to like put that lightly because that would be devastating to find
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out, you know, in your 20s or 30s that the people you called family your whole life weren't
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actually your family and that you had been sold or given away when your mother and father
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really wanted you.
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That would be difficult and I don't want to understate that.
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But I think that could be a way that this case closes as well.
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But again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Marlon Santos or his whereabouts
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today, please call the Worcester police at 508-799-8466.
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And again, I just want to remind all our listeners that if you're not following us on Instagram,
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I always post updates if an episode is going to be late or come out on a different day.
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Today I had it up in our stories that the episode was coming out later on Thursday.
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So please follow us there.
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We'll also be posting the baby pictures that I was able to find of Marlon.
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So we'll have those up as well.
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You can also head over to our website www.coldandmissing.com where we have transcripts of all our podcast
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episodes.
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So if you or someone you love is hard of hearing, you can follow along with the podcast there.
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And if you could just give us a minute, rate and review us if you're an Apple podcast,
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leaving us a written review helps others find this podcast.
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So if you are passionate about cold cases and missing people, an easy way to advocate
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is just to leave a review of this podcast that helps others find it and helps beat that
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algorithm machine that we all know about.
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So if you could take a second to do that before you go to your next podcast, I would so greatly
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appreciate it.
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But that is truly all I have for you this week.
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Thank you for listening to Cold and Missing.
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I'm Allie McLaughlin-Sylkowski.
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Have a great week and stay safe, y'all!
