May 23, 2017
When I first started digging into this story in November of
last year, I had no idea about any of the theories that have
been floating around Milan for twenty years. But I immediately
received some startling information from some classmates of
Cayce.
I knew nothing about Cindy being the focus of this
investigation either officially, unofficially or in the court of
public opinion. And I definitely didn’t know about some of the
things that people were saying that Cayce herself was involved
in.
My fear of finding any truth in what Cayce’s peers were
saying, caused me to drop this project at least three times. But
aren’t we after the truth? I always thought that being an outsider
looking at this case was a benefit: I could be objective because I
had limited dealings with the people of Milan. I don’t play
favorites. I didn’t run around with anyone involved so I have no
misplaced loyalties.
But once I started getting more and more information, I
realized that if we were going to get to the truth, certain
narratives that have been perpetuated for years were going to be
destroyed by some carpetbagger musician. I was not going to be a
very popular dude.
I even asked people involved in the media game what I should
do about what I was hearing concerning both Cindy and Cayce. And
what I was told disturbed me. Basically, I was advised that Cindy
was fair game. Her name was already sullied. But these things about
Cayce, well, now, that was a bridge too far.
But my fear was that the narrative that has been repeated over
again was causing people to look at only one possible motive. The
drug debt angle with Cindy and one man in particular is the
prevailing theory in town. This is the story that I have been told
so often that Quote “Everyone knows.” UnQuote
Well, I DON’T know that. I do know that some of the things
that I have heard concerning people associated with Cayce (possibly
without Cindy’s knowledge) are just as plausible as the drug debt
theory.
And if we really want answers…if we REALLY want the truth,
that might mean that we uncover some things that we don't want to
hear. And these things might not fit perfectly into our
preconceived notions. We can’t have it both ways. The truth is no
respecter of persons. The truth just IS.
I have been slammed because I haven’t mentioned the one guy
that “everyone knows” did it. For purposes of this podcast, we will
call this man Mr. X.
Well, for one, I’m going down the timeline with this. And
we're not there yet. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to go there
prematurely when there are just as many plausible possibilities
that are jumping out at me from the beginning.
For example, The Letter. If my sources are correct, this has
nothing at all to do with Mr. X. That letter was so alarming, that
Cindy and others reportedly confronted the author on two separate
occasions to get him to back off.
It’s been twenty-one years. Do people really think that Mr. X
wasn't on law enforcements’ radar? I know for a fact that he was.
And what do we have to show for it two decades later? Nothing.
Zero. Zilch. Nada.
I’m not saying that Mr. X is innocent. I’m saying I don’t
know.
I’ve been warned on numerous occasions to beware of people
intentionally trying to send me down the wrong path in this case.
Not a warning that people might give me faulty information because
of fading memories, or unsubstantiated rumors that they honestly
believe, but actual disinformation. Well, this implies a
conspiracy. And while I’m no conspiracy theorist, I took this to
heart. That was an eerie warning to receive when you first come
into this, knowing nothing. It causes you to trust no one.
So this episode is the elephant in the room that almost kept
this podcast from ever happening.
I’m Brandon Barnett. And this is Searching For Ghosts.
Just four days after Cayce was reported missing, The Jackson
Sun newspaper reported that after finding none of her belongings
missing at the house that police were treating this as an
abduction.
Cayce had reportedly been seen at the Gibson County Fair and
at a Dyersburg, Tn Wal-Mart. This is what led to the composite
sketch mentioned in Episode 2. Valorie. In the August 28, 1996
edition of the Jackson Sun, Milan Police Lt. Jerry Hartsfield said
that QUOTE “Cayce left with someone she knew and felt comfortable
with. Now, we need to find out who that is.” UNQUOTE
Then, on September 15, 1996, The Jackson Sun did an interview
with Cayce’s mother Cindy. The article begins QUOTE “Police believe
that Cayce ran away. It’s possible an unknown male is involved.
Reports have been phoned in from across the U.S. describing Cayce
with an older man.” UNQUOTE
The article included a picture of Cayce with a caption asking
if she was a runaway or a kidnap victim.
So one month after she went missing, Cayce’s disappearance was
being looked at as this hybrid of a runaway and an abduction-- That
maybe she was lured away by someone she knew, or willingly left
with someone initially, and that it turned into an abduction.
Remember the headline mentioned in Ep.2 Valorie from the
October 1st, 1996 edition of The Milan Mirror Exchange? “Left On
Her Own Free Will Smartdog Says?"
The theories floating around concerning Cindy are disturbing.
I’ve heard everything from this being retribution for a drug debt
to there being a prostitution ring. These theories all have one
thing in common: That it was Cindy who got in too deep with drugs
and this was a way for her to pay her debts.
But as I stated in Ep.4 The Letter, so many of these theories
have taken on urban legend status. People repeat these stories as
fact. But the problem is that with each person you talk to, you get
a different version of a similar story. Many of them don’t seem to
connect. If there are similar stories with different perpetrators
at different locations, they all can't be true.
Until Cindy decides to speak to me, I only have what she has
said in the past. And until recently, this has been next to
nothing. But now I have the Jackson Sun articles from the time
shortly after Cayce’s disappearance, when she WOULD talk to the
press.
Cindy in The Jackson Sun just one month after Cayce went
missing.
QUOTE “ I am so guilty of not communicating with her. My dad
was an alcoholic and he always said, ‘Just do it.’ My mom had a
hard time and I was smacked around plenty. I can’t remember
spanking Cayce but twice because I said my kids wouldn’t live like
that. But I don’t know how to talk about things.” UNQUOTE
After being asked if she had seen any signs of rebellion in
Cayce, Cindy said this:
QUOTE: “I found out she smoked cigarettes. It just floored
me.” UNQUOTE
This was the same article where Cindy had discovered that
Cayce was talking to the eighteen year-old that was facing federal
charges in a McNairy County jail, mentioned in the last
episode.
Fast forward to the one year anniversary of Cayce’s
disappearance and the things that I was initially told by her peers
were verified in the news report.
From Cayce’s grandmother Margaret Smith:
QUOTE: “I just can’t believe she ran away. But then, I didn’t
know she was sexually active either. The FBI asked me if I knew
that. But she wasn’t as close to me as she had been. I guess that
goes with being a teenager. They said she was mingling with the
wrong crowd and had gotten an older boyfriend. He got put in jail
for something."
Later in the article, Cindy cites receiving this information
from law enforcement officials.
Talking about Cindy QUOTE: “She, too, found out from the law
officers that Cayce had a boyfriend who admitted he’d had sex with
her for the first time two weeks before she vanished."
Cindy was also told by police that this boyfriend was not
involved in her disappearance.
And one year in, the rumors about Cindy’s possible involvement
were already circulating.
From Cindy QUOTE: “It’s hard to swallow that some people think
you killed your child and hid the body. I can relate to that guy
accused in the Olympic bombing.” UNQUOTE
The Jackson Sun reports from the FBI confirm what I had been
hearing from Cayce’s peers from day one. Without this confirmation,
I don’t know that I would have ever mentioned it. That’s why I
decided to use the audio of the reports I had received about a
change in Cayce around the time she went missing instead.
That was a way to point to the fact that there were different
"on the record” accounts being told from people who knew Cayce. In
the beginning, this was the only way I knew to get the audience to
at least consider that there might be another person or group of
people who could be responsible for this that might not have any
connection to Cindy.
Because let’s face it. Cindy is an easy target…and maybe
deservedly so, but everyone involved is doing a disservice to Cayce
by not telling the entire truth. It looks like that it was someone
who knew Cayce who is responsible for this. So you have to look at
EVERYONE who knew her, not just the ones associated with
Cindy.
But let me be clear. This information in no way lessens
Cayce’s innocence. The only reason this is relevant is that it
possibly opens the door for more persons of interest. Nothing else.
Our culture and legal system have deemed that fourteen
year olds do not possess the emotional maturity to make rational
decisions regarding sex. But grown men do. And they go to jail for
it.
The purpose of this episode is to do one thing: To force us to
consider other possible motives and perpetrators responsible for
this.
Because for me, at this point, it is just as plausible that
Cindy was so distracted by her partying that she didn’t realize the
type of people pursuing her daughter. With the evidence currently
available, that is as possible as any drug or prostitution ring
theory. We must stay objective until hard evidence leads us
in a certain direction. And it very well could be that law
enforcement officials already have such evidence. But until we know
that for sure, we have to consider all possibilities.
For those of you who follow The Searching For Ghosts Facebook
page, you might have seen a post where I said you wouldn’t believe
your ears in the next episode.
This case is fluid. While we are investigating and reporting
on the past, trying to get a handle on the actual facts in this
case, new leads are constantly coming in.
Last week, the person helping me behind the scenes received a
tip from a source about a possible “dump” site. They went out to
investigate this and found skeletal remains. When I made that post,
I was sure that they were human. The authorities were contacted and
they took the remains for analysis. We later received word (after I
had posted on Facebook) that these were indeed animal
remains.
I apologize for any unnecessary hype. I got excited. It
happens. We have a pic of the remains at sfgpodcast.com so
you can see what was found. Tell us what you think.