S03E06: THE ABDUCTION OF ELNAZ HAJTAMIRI

[00:00:00] AJ: Coming up on this episode of Crime Family:

[00:00:03] The abduction of Elnaz Hajtamiri, a 37 year old woman who was taken from her home and never seen again. ...and at the door were three men dressed in police uniforms. They said that they had a warrant out for Elnaz's arrest and that they were there to take her into custody.

[00:00:19] Katie: It makes me think that this was very personal because they maybe knew her family. They knew she had family in that area. They knew people that knew who she was staying with. So they could have got in contact with people like that.

[00:00:31] AJ: Like I said, two men were captured on surveillance footage at the scene of her assault in December, 2021.

[00:00:37] I want to know like how many people knew exactly where she was. I could feel like they had to have known that she was there for sure.

[00:00:43] Katie: Also, she kept the same car. So somebody obviously knew her car so they could have followed it all the way out there.

[00:01:48] AJ: Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Crime Family. I'm your cohost AJ and I'm here with my sisters, Stephanie and Katie, just like always. In this episode, I'm going to be sharing a developing case with all of you. It's a story that happened just earlier this year in Ontario and it's still very much ongoing. And so due to this, there isn't a ton of information out there on this case and more updates we'll hopefully becoming sued and we will be sure to update you guys as these updates come in, but there isn't a ton out there already. So we're going to be talking about the abduction of Elnaz Hajtamiri, a 37 year old woman who was taken from her home and never seen again. So I actually became familiar with this case only a few days ago. And it was actually an Instagram account that was run by Elnaz's family and friends, started following us on Instagram. And so when I saw the notification, I went into the profile and started looking at all the updates that the family was posting, and they're very active in their posting, lots of, not necessarily updates, but just like posting information about the case to get the word out there. So I began to actually look into this very mysterious case once I became aware of it. And that's when I decided that we had to do an episode on it, because I think it is a very important episode to do. I, I want to help the family bring Elnaz home because it is still unsolved. And I think, you know, we can help in our small little way by raising awareness about the case and putting our listeners on the lookout for those responsible, or just making them more aware that this is still ongoing because you never know who might know something and what tips can result of it. So this is our own little way of helping this family, actually. And I also think that this case actually triggers the most primal of fears that people have. So just like imagine getting a strange knock on the door at night time in a quiet rural area. And on the other side of the door, you have a group of people who then suddenly just burst in and grab you from your home, like drag you out, and then you're never seen again. It's pretty much everyone's worst nightmare and kind of the thing that you see take place in horror movies. You know, this is exactly what happens in this case, but the details don't stop there. There's actually a lot more to all of this than originally meets the eye. With that being said, I'm going to get right into it. And I'm assuming that you guys, you guys haven't heard of this case or anything, it's fairly new. And I wasn't aware of it before this, so...

[00:04:01] Katie: No, I haven't heard this one at all.

[00:04:04] Stephanie: Yeah, same, me neither.

[00:04:05] AJ: Okay. So Elnaz Hajtamiri, or sometimes her surname is referred to as just Tamiri, she was born and raised in Iran and has only been in Canada since 2018. And she actually moved here after her husband passed away in 2017, after a short battle with a terminal illness. And so Elnaz was an accomplished woman back in Iran. She actually opened up a school in her husband's name, back in Iran before moving to Canada. And so upon arrival, she ended up living in Richmond Hill Ontario, which for those of you who are unfamiliar with the area, it's just a suburb north of Toronto. It's still part of the GTA. She was living there and attempting to open up her own cake business. She was really extremely passionate about baking and this was kind of like a long-term dream of hers, so she was in the process of getting this business up and running. And she seemed to be adjusting well to a new life in Canada and she loved being here. So everything seemed to be going pretty great for her first little while here. So even though Elnaz lived in Richmond Hill she was actually residing in Wasaga Beach Ontario in January of 2022, which is when this abduction happens. And so Wasaga Beach is a small town in Ontario, just about 150 kilometers north of Toronto. So it's a very popular tourist destination in the summer, and it's home to the longest freshwater beach in the world, which I actually didn't even know until I started looking into it for this case. The 2016 population of Wasaga Beach was just over 20,000 people, but that number easily doubles or triples in the summer months, cause like I said, it's a huge, you know, popular tourist destination. There are many people who own cottages near Wasaga Beach and there are numerous summer residents, but there are also year round residents since that would be like the 20,000 people who are there all through the year. So at 8:32 PM on January 12th, 2022, there was a knock on the door at the house where Elnaz was residing on Trailwood Place. That's the name of the little road, which is a quiet residential street in Wasaga Beach, and at the door were three men dressed in police uniforms. They said that they had a warrant for Elnaz's arrest and that they were there to take her into custody. And the owner of the home was there at the time with Elnaz and he actually got suspicious of these three men at the door and he attempted to call 911. This is when the man eventually busted into the home and overpowered the homeowner and took Elnaz. The men carried her out. She was barefoot at the time. They took her out to their car, threw her phone and her watch into the snow. And of course this whole time, you know, she's screaming as they're, you know, carrying her towards the car or dragging her. There were some reports that said that she was dragged out of the home. But at some point the screaming did stop just before they pushed her into the vehicle. So I don't know if, you know, maybe they threatened her and told her, you know, if she didn't stop screaming that they would, you know, hurt her family or something like that or whatever they said to her. Maybe they subdued her in some other way, but there were witnesses who said that they did notice the screaming stop, once they got close to the car.

[00:07:01] Stephanie: Did anyone see her being dragged out of the house or getting into the car?

[00:07:05] AJ: Well, I'll go on a little bit. There are some eyewitnesses who, I guess the police did speak to. It's a little bit unclear, like obviously there were witnesses, because some of the information that comes out, that suggests that there were people who witnessed part of it, but I don't know how many or who those people were, but I'm assuming the homeowner, he was there when it happened, so I don't know what it means. Like they say that he was overpowered when they entered the home, they overpowered him and took her. So I don't know if that means that they like knocked him out or something, or maybe just overpowered means, you know, there's three of them and one of him. So just by sheer numbers he couldn't overtake them. But...

[00:07:44] Stephanie: Was this person that was like her landlord or was a friend of hers who was living there?

[00:07:49] AJ: Well, I'll get into it a little bit, a little bit more. He was the owner of the house and he did, he did know Elnaz, like he was a family member of Elnaz's so that was their relationship. He was obviously there at the time, but like I said, I don't really know. Although maybe if, you know, if they had a gun, if they were armed, like they could have just pointed the gun at him. He couldn't do anything. Right? So that could also mean like, they overpowered him that way too. So, I don't know what stuff he actually saw after they took her out, or if there was another witness somewhere that saw her being carried to the car dragged or something, but there were witnesses of some sort. But I didn't get any other reports. You'd think of that if there were other witnesses that there would be other people calling 911 but there was no other witnesses saying that they received a bunch of 911 calls. Like, I guess he tried to call 9 1 1 before they busted into the house. And then he must have, he obviously was the one who called 911, I'm assuming. But I'm assuming if there's other eyewitnesses, they're all going to be calling 911 too.

[00:08:46] Stephanie: Because didn't she lived in like a populated area? Like where the house was.

[00:08:51] AJ: Well, it was like a residential neighborhood. Like it was, yeah, there was a lots of other houses along the street. Like I Google mapped the street and like it's just like a regular residential neighborhood with a bunch of houses.

[00:09:03] Stephanie: Yeah. But if it was in my house at 8:30 watching TV or whatever, like someone screaming at the top of their lungs, I think I would go out and look to see...

[00:09:11] AJ: I am sure they did. Like, like I said, there's other witnesses, other eyewitnesses, who I'll get into later, like some of the stuff they say, but yeah. So obviously they saw. Other people's thoughts that they said, it's 8:30, its January also, so it is nighttime. The dead of winter, it gets like dark at 4:30, whatever 5:00. So it would be like dark out, but 8:30 is not like super late where everyone would be sleeping or something. So there has to be...

[00:09:36] Katie: It could depend on what she was yelling. She could've just been screaming or could she be yelling help me? I feel like if he was just yelling and then someone thinks they hear something, but then, but then she doesn't yell again. It could be like, oh, it was nothing. Or it was just kids or something. And so if it's something like that, then they might write it off as someone just, you know...

[00:09:57] AJ: Yeah. But if you look out, if you look out your window though, and you see someone getting carried to a car, screaming, help me, like that would be alarming, I feel.

[00:10:03] Katie: Well. Yeah. But if it was like somewhere where you couldn't see where she was, but you could still hear someone yell and then all of a sudden they just stop, you would second guess yourself and be like, oh, it's nothing. They're not screaming anymore. You know what I mean? Like that's happened before to me. I think you hear something and then it goes away and you're like, okay. It was nothing.

[00:10:20] AJ: So, I'm assuming, yeah, with like a few houses around, like there ought to be, obviously it would be somebody who heard something of some sort. And like I said, there were other eye witnesses there. So yeah, also, and another, this is another detail that comes out by an eyewitness. Again, I don't know who this witness was, but they said that there was like something strange. They noticed that after they put Elnaz into, so the screaming stopped and then they pushed her into the car or put her inside the car, and then they got inside the car and they say that they sat in the driveway for up to a minute before driving off, which is kind of a weird. It seems, a minute seems like an insignificant amount of time, but it kind of is a lot when you think about like, you think you'd want to get like, get out of there, like peel out of there as soon as you could, especially cause she was screaming and everything. So you don't know who's going to be right there. So the fact that they like put her in and then sat there in the driveway for a minute, that's an extra minute, right, that the police have to get there. So like that's a kind of a weird detail. I don't know what they were doing inside the car in that time.

[00:11:15] Stephanie: They were trying to figure out where they're going to go. Maybe they didn't really know the neighborhood.

[00:11:19] Katie: Yeah. That's what I was thinking. They're like getting their GPS ready or something. Like...

[00:11:23] AJ: I feel like you would do that before you go. I feel like you would have a good, clear get away.

[00:11:28] Katie: I don't know if you have ever like, come back to your GPS and it's not there anymore and you have to re-input it.

[00:11:34] AJ: But yeah. I mean, that's probably, there's probably something super, like non significant or like interesting, like yeah their GPS just, or Siri or whatever it wasn't working or wasn't cooperating or something so they had to like reset their GPS which is totally possible, but they should just kind of like, although you would think though that the driver would still just get out of the driveway. They can still reprogram the GPS, just get out of the driveway. Like go, get off that street at least, and then maybe figure it out.

[00:12:00] Katie: Or maybe if she was like kicking and stuff, or maybe it maybe you could see that obviously something was happening in the backseat, they were trying to get her to settle down so that if they were driving and someone sees this frantic lady, then they're going to be worried. But if they could get her to like, I don't know, it looks like she fell asleep or just like stopped kicking, then it would be a little bit less conspicuous driving down the street.

[00:12:21] AJ: You dont know what they were doing inside the car at that time, but it was up to a minute before they peel out of the driveway and eventually leave. And they do leave. So they were driving a white Lexus RX SUV, and this vehicle was captured on some surveillance footage. So probably it was at Elnazs home or another home in the neighborhood, but there was a still image of the SUV captured on surveillance footage. So it was like a super grainy image. You know, as it always is, you can't make out a license plate or you can't really see anything other than the white car, and they were able to get that, that was the make and the model of the car based on that still image or eye witnesses. So that's what they were assuming that the, the make was, initially at the time, and then, yeah, but you'd think if it captured, if it captured the car, you think it would also capture the people, before the, you know, getting into the car and leaving the car, but there was never any surveillance footage that was released of the people anywhere on surveillance footage. So I don't know. If it was captured and like the police just haven't released it, but I'm assuming they would release it if they had it because they would want people to help identify who these people were. So the police were immediately contacted and asked for the public's assistance to check their own home security cameras, to see if they picked up anything of interest. Or if there might be someone who saw what happened or knew anything about what took place that night. So the police were on the case immediately. I'm just thinking, like, just imagine being in your own home one minute, and then just being carried out by these three men who are dressed as cops and then thrown into a vehicle in a matter of minutes, and then just never being seen again. Like I said, at the beginning, I feel like that's what you would see in a horror movie or something. Right. It's so it's like, just so everyone's worst nightmare, I feel, so I couldn't even imagine, you know, what was going through her mind and what was going through the homeowner's mind, you know, having to witness what happened. Reports state that the police uniforms that were worn by the men who abducted Elnaz were not legitimate police uniforms, but that they were just wearing gear that was made to look like they were police officers. So I, I took from that, I guess like, you know, maybe they had, you know, a badge or maybe they had like a bulletproof vest or something that made it look like they were cops, but it wasn't a full on police uniform, that was an official uniform. So it was like obviously fake and meant to look like police officers when they actually weren't. So like I said, the surveillance footage does capture these three men fleeing the scene in the white Lexus RX SUV. So it just captures the SUV, but not the actual men, but eye witnesses say that the three men were described as black, but no other description or identifying information has been released, or at least at that time. So that's the only thing that eye witnesses were able to provide to the police. And an article from the Toronto Sun, so I know the Toronto Sun isn't like the most reputable news source. A lot of times I feel like they do put a lot of like sensationalized information about cases and stuff like that on their website. But I decided to include this just because I feel like it could be, something of importance to note. The report of the Toronto Sun says that a local posted on an online forum, that neighbors, so it's kind of like a person posted that someone else went to the police. So it's like third hand information, so, you know, take, take it with a grain of salt, I guess. But, there was a local that posted on an online forum that the neighbors went to the police to say that there was a quote, a very suspicious bearded man watching the house where Elnaz was living leading up to the abduction. His white car with license plates covered, made several rounds of Trailwood Place. This has not been substantiated or confirmed by law enforcement, but I mean it was a white vehicle as well that this person went and said, and it was a white vehicle involved in the abduction. I have a hard time believing why someone would go to the police saying that they saw a very suspicious bearded man watching the neighborhood, if it didn't actually happen. So I feel like for that to just be like a random made up fact would be kind of farfetched. So I have to believe that there is maybe some legitimacy to that or some truth to that. But like I said, it's kind of like second hand information of someone who posted on a forum that someone else's neighbor went to the police. So, you know, it's like a game of telephone. So who knows what the actual information was?

[00:16:32] Katie: It could have been false information to throw the police off. Like they, someone that was involved. I'm going to give them a description of complete opposite of what it actually was.

[00:16:43] AJ: Yeah, that's true too. And if it was just a local, yeah, they said there was a local who posted on a forum that the neighbors went to the police, so was this person pretending to be a local, that posted on the forum, which is a random piece of information that they knew, some people might latch onto, who knows. Like you said, it is possible to that it could just be someone involved just trying to like divert from who actually was involved. But like I said, it's the Toronto Sun so I dont know exactly if it's, if that's legit or not. So police detective Matt Watson was the officer who was placed onto the case and he works for the OPP and he was pleading with the public to come forward with anything that they might know in this case. He says, quote, we are hoping for anything anyone saw, if anybody heard anything or saw anything who hasn't already spoken to us, we're urging them to come forward and share that information with us. Even if it seems insignificant, we'd like to hear about it. And Watson said that the men appeared to be armed, so he has that information that they did have, they were armed. So like I said, they could have, that could have been how they overpowered this homeowner, you know, if they pointed the gun at him or something like that. And I can imagine that you would go into that situation, in an attempt to abduct someone without being armed. Like, I feel like you would have, even if it was a fake gun, but you know, you would want to appear like a threat, so. And Matt Watson is actually an OPP officer who was involved in the investigation of another unsolved case. And that's the case of Josh Evans from late 2020. And I didn't really look too much into that case because I was trying to focus on this one, of course. But, allegedly there was some shoddy police work in that case, or some people weren't happy with the investigation. So some folks might be skeptical of the same officer, you know, being in charge of Elnazs abduction, cause he didn't really have the best sort of track record, especially when it came to Josh Evans case. So, like I said, I don't know the details exactly about that. Just kind of the same sort of stuff that we see on all these other cases that we cover, you know, just like a lot of dropping the ball. So I hope that that doesn't happen in this case. And I hope that he has actually looking into every possible lead. I have no reason to believe that he isn't on this case, but just wanted to throw that out there as well. So like I said, Elnaz was living in Wasaga Beach at this time, but it wasn't necessarily by choice. I mean, she was living with some family members after being told by the police in Richmond Hill to seek a safe place to stay while another investigation was taking place. And now that police investigation actually stems from an incident that occurred just a month before Elnaz's abduction.

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[00:20:32] AJ: So on the evening of December 21st, 2021, Elnaz was attacked in the parking garage of her condo building by two masked men who dragged her out of her car and violently beat her with a frying pan. This assault required Elnaz to get 35 to 40 stitches on her forehead. You know, there was a massive gash on her face from this violent attack. And I saw a picture. One of the articles had a picture of her in the hospital with the stitches. It was a huge, huge gash of course, they beat her over the head with a frying pan. So you can imagine the kind of mark that that would leave. And also too, that's one thing that the family says that could also help to be an identifying feature of Elnaz, like to help identify if somebody might see her, because she would have this massive scar, like at the center of her forehead. So of course the police started to investigate this attack immediately, and during the course of the investigation into this attack, they actually searched her car and they were alarmed to find a tracking device attached to the car, and so that's obviously a significant detail to suggest that somebody was keeping tabs on her, trying to follow her every move. But that actually wasn't even the first time that there was a device like this found attached to her vehicle. Previous to that attack, Elnaz took a car that she was leasing to a local dealership in order to be serviced and upon inspection by the staff, there were two tracking devices that were found. These devices were removed, and obviously they informed Elnaz of this, but she ended up later buying the car and she took it back home with her. So I feel like either, kind of there's, there's two scenarios that could have happened. So either someone who was the person who was keeping tabs on her, like placed three devices on her car, then only two were found by the dealership staff during their inspection and then, you know, there was still one on the car, which was the one that was then found by the police after her attack in December, or these two devices that were put on there initially were removed and then that same person returned to place a third one. To replace those two that were taken. So either one of those things, I don't know, but there were three devices that were attached to her vehicle at some point.

[00:22:40] Stephanie: Yeah, three seems like a lot, like that someone desperately wanted to track her down.

[00:22:45] AJ: Yeah, like, I don't know. I feel like if somebody would put you know, you could put two on, you know, in case, one is found, then we'll put another one just in case. But to put like three, that seems like a lot at one time to put on. So I kind of am leaning towards, you know, they discovered or found out that the two were removed and then they went back and then put a third one on after they, that, cause I feel like three seems like a lot to put, but maybe not. I mean, maybe they thought, well, in case the other one is discovered, then we'll have a third as a backup. I don't know. But obviously somebody was being very persistent.

[00:23:16] Katie: And, but we don't know it was the same person that put all three of them on there, even though it would be kind of a coincidence that there's two random people that are trying to stalk her.

[00:23:27] AJ: Yeah. Like what, I know that the two that the, that the dealership found were on the undercarriage or underside of the car. I don't know where the third one was. It didn't say where the third one was placed.

[00:23:40] Katie: Do we know if they're all the same brand, like the same device or were they different ones?

[00:23:45] AJ: We don't know.

[00:23:46] Stephanie: Can we go back to the frying pan. Like, why use that as a weapon? I feel like this is just the randomest thing to use.

[00:23:53] AJ: Yeah. I don't, to me like the fact that they use a frying pan doesn't scream like organized crime or something. Like, to me, that seems like a very sort of last minute sort of planned thing. I dunno, like, I feel like if it was like a, more of an organized thing where they were planning this thing and they were going to attack it, it would be like not using a frying pan. I don't know. I feel like you would have some sort of other way. So to me, the fact when I read that it was a frying pan, I was like, well, this may be maybe not someone who's a professional, like hit person or something. Right? Like, it's just like a random person who has something against her or two there's two people. But...

[00:24:27] Katie: Yeah, I feel like someone that would be planning that would have an actual weapon that they were going to use, not a random frying pan from their house. And so it does kind of seem like it was like a spur of the moment. Just grab something quick, but I don't know.

[00:24:44] AJ: Yeah. Like they were just in their house and then they got this idea to do this. And then they were like, well, this is what we have in our house. It's a frying pan. So we're just going to use that. It's not really a weapon of choice, I feel that you would really see from too many people who are planning this thing out, but. I don't know, crazier things have happened, I guess. I don't know.

[00:25:01] Katie: Yeah. They could have had it in their car already. Like maybe they just bought a new frying pan from the store and it was already in their car. Like that could be, I don't know. That's like far-fetched but you just never know, right?

[00:25:11] AJ: Yeah. It just seems like a very random weapon to use, but, and so going back to the tracking devices, so, either scenario that, that happened, like whether three were all placed on at the same time. And were just found at different times, or if it was like they were placed there after each other. Obviously it's clear that there is somebody out there who is, obviously very interested in keeping track of her, keeping up with her every move. According to CBC News, a cousin said, "That is obviously very jarring for her. She was terrified for her life." And so because of the tracking devices that were placed on her car and this violent attack, she was advised to find somewhere safe to stay while the investigation was being done because her life was very clearly at risk. So that's when she went to Wasaga Beach to stay with her family members. She was only there for a few short weeks before that night, on January 12th, 2022, which was the night of the abduction. A report by CBC News says that Elnaz returned to the GTA only two days before her abduction to collect her car, cell phone and computer, which were all in police custody. They were in police custody cause they were searching these for additional tracking devices. So at some point, obviously after that incident happened and they found the tracking devices, they like confiscated all her electronics, like I said, her computer, her cell phone and her car cause they were going to do a thorough search to make sure that there were no other devices that were attached to these things. On January 10th, Elnaz drove the vehicle from the GTA to Wasaga Beach. She left Wasaga Beach to go to the GTA, to pick up her car and then drove that same car back to that residence on Trailwood Place in Wasaga Beach. According to people close to the situation, this was the only time Elnaz ever left the Trailwood Place residence since moving there a few weeks earlier. And police have said that there's no evidence to suggest that an additional tracking device was placed on the vehicle at the time it was parked at the home on Trailwood Place, cause I'm thinking if they removed all the tracking devices and it was in police custody, and she drove it right away, she took it from the police and drove it right back to Wasaga Beach, like how did they find her there? In Wasaga Beach, at that house, you would think, oh, did they place another tracking device on the car so when she drove it back there, lead them right to her. But the police said that there was no evidence to suggest that, and obviously if they had done a thorough search and they felt comfortable releasing it to her, then they knew that there wasn't. So that was my question of like, well, how do they know that she was at that residence?

[00:27:29] Katie: It makes me think that this was very personal because they maybe knew her family. They knew she had family in that area. Maybe, they knew people that knew who she was staying with so they could have got in contact with people like that. So it makes me think like, it was just, it makes me think, like it wasn't just a coincidence that she got attacked two times. It was planned and they knew a lot about her to be able to figure out where she went.

[00:27:58] AJ: Initially too the police, there was kind of, they didn't know if the two incidents were connected, but I feel like, how could they not be? Like, what are the chances that somebody is going to get attacked, and then three weeks later get abducted. Like, it seems like a very, very strange coincidence if those would be completely unrelated. But yeah, like if it was somebody close to her who knew that's where she was staying, cause I would want to know like a question I would have if I was the police of like, who knew that she was at that residence? Did she tell? I mean, I'm assuming she didn't tell a lot of people that she was there, but like if she told close family members or if a couple of friends, like, I want to know like how many people knew exactly where she was. Or like you said, if it was someone from her past who just knew her, who was close to her and knew that she had a residence there, or she had a family who lived there and then just happened to, oh, let's check out this place and see if she's here and she was. Like, I feel like they had to have known that she was there for sure.

[00:28:53] Katie: Also, she kept the same car, so somebody obviously knew her car so they could have followed it all the way out there as well.

[00:29:03] AJ: You think like from the police station, like somebody was following her from the minute she left the police station and followed her all the way back there?

[00:29:09] Katie: Maybe, but I guess they would have to know she was there somehow to follow her out.

[00:29:14] AJ: Yeah. Like somebody knew that the car was being released from police custody that day. And that Elnaz was going to be there that day to pick it up and then know to be there at the exact time. And follow her. Like that seems like a lot of things to just know.

[00:29:27] Katie: Yeah. Or there was another tracking device in the car that they didn't find and...

[00:29:31] AJ: Yeah, like, yeah, that'd be, if the police missed a tracking device, like that's pretty shoddy work. How do you miss, if you're inspecting it thoroughly, like they say they do. And I'm going to get a little bit more into that a little bit later on, but, if you're doing a thorough check of this and you still miss this tracking device, that then allows the person to follow her exactly to where she's staying, like that's a huge, huge mess up. Yeah, but I mean, it's obviously possible. So either the tracking device was on there when she left Toronto and then drove back. Or it was placed on there at some point after she was already there, but they still would have had to know that she was there in order to go and place one on her car. So for the police to say that there was no evidence that there was another one placed on it at the time, they just say at the time that it was parked there, but I don't know, nothing ever came up with, like, if they searched it and there was another one there. If there was one there when they searched it, then you would think, oh, then it must've been there the whole time. That's how they found her, right?

[00:30:29] Katie: Yeah, exactly. They're not going to put one on after she's already at the place, right?

[00:30:34] AJ: Yeah. And I mean, even if they did, they would have still had to know that she was at that place and there was no tracking device. So like, they sort of had to know she was there.

[00:30:41] Katie: Yeah.

[00:30:42] AJ: Unless, you know, they get like, oh, maybe there was a tracking device in her phone or something, but her phone was also in police custody. , Her phone and her computer were all in police custody. And they I'm assuming those things were released to her as well at the same time as the car was. So if they're releasing it to her, they felt confident there wasn't anything there either, but if they missed one on the car, they could've missed one on the, in the phone. Who knows.

[00:31:04] Katie: Maybe I guess, but was she like active on social media and stuff? Was she posting pictures, I feel like it's easier for people if they want to find out where you are to figure out your location or to look at your social media and, you know, just figure out where you are. It's way easier, I think, than we think it is.

[00:31:23] AJ: I mean, I think, and there was a one YouTube video that I saw, that's kind of really the only one, or there's only a couple out there that cover this case because it is so recent. But, there was one video where he, the guy who's talking about the case actually like talks a little bit about her social media and stuff. And like, there wasn't a ton that he was able to find. So from that perspective, it doesn't seem like she was super active, but also he doesn't like, he wasn't like following her or anything. So like maybe she has a restricted profile. It's like, you know what I mean? So it's not like an outsider person who wouldn't follow her would have all this access to information. But, and also, I feel like if you're someone who has tracking devices placed on your car and you're like at this place, because your life's at risk you're not going to be posting a super ton on social media about your location. I mean, maybe you are, but I would sense that you probably wouldn't be doing that if you know that somebody is obviously very interested in knowing where you are.

[00:32:13] Katie: Yeah. That's true. But I think, I feel like I find that there's ways that people can track like a phone number if they knew her phone number and just, I don't know, just things like that.

[00:32:26] AJ: It's like a crazy tech world out there, like who knows? I mean if she had an iPhone. Can't do the thing, like find my iPhone or track my iPhone or something.

[00:32:36] Katie: Yeah.

[00:32:36] AJ: Like I don't have an iPhone, so I don't know. There is ways I feel like even if you know maybe a little bit or are advanced in the tech world, you might have some hacks or something where you can find, there has to be a way I feel, which is like pretty creepy to think about. But...

[00:32:51] Katie: Also I'm curious about the first attack. Did her attackers, does anybody know if they said anything to her, like threatened her with anything or ask for something from her or warn her about something? Like, did they say anything or did they just kind of attack her and then leave.

[00:33:07] AJ: We don't know. The only thing, if they did say anything to her, she didn't disclose what it was or she didn't tell anyone because none of the reports, or maybe it's just not out there, but none of the reports I could see, and like I said, there's not a ton of reports out there because it is a new case. So all of the like CBC News and Global News, like all of these articles, just a lot of them just say the same information that say that she was attacked in her parking garage in December with the frying pan. She needed 35 to 40 stitches, but it didn't say anything about like, if they said anything or obviously they didn't have any sort of, like, I feel like if they said something to her or warned her, that would be like a lead as to like what it was about, but none of that stuff ever came out. So I guess I don't think that they did that they did.

[00:33:49] Katie: Or it's probably because it's still ongoing. The police aren't going to release any of that information, probably because they're probably, if they, if they know something they're probably holding it so that they can investigate. Anyway, so they wouldn't put it out there, I guess.

[00:34:06] AJ: And I mean, they don't know who these two men are. I'll get a little bit more into a little bit of that later, but if they're, if they're that, you know, they're really desperate to like find out leads of who these people are. I feel like if they do anything, but like again, you can't really really say just because, you know, the information doesn't mean everything has to be out there. They're going to kind of just tell you the bare minimum, but I don't know. I feel like if you're desperate to figure out who these people are, it's like, you would want the public to know everything that you had. But I could be wrong, but we know what we see all the time the police keep things close to the vest until they have it for sure.

[00:34:38] Katie: Yeah. You don't want to like compromise the investigation by giving everything up. So it's totally understandable that there's a lot we don't know that the police might know.

[00:34:48] AJ: Yeah. Yeah. That's true. And so, and like we don't, so we don't know if Elnaz knew the man in either of her attacks. A spokesperson for the family has said that they do not know if the two attacks are connected or that's what they said at that time. But that they do know from the little information they have, that the men who abducted her were not the same people who attacked her in the parking garage weeks earlier. And the way they knew, because they said that the three men who abducted her were three black men, and the two men that attacked her were not black men.

[00:35:19] So Toronto lawyer, Devin Bains, who was hired by Elnaz's family, he is skeptical of the police work so far in the investigation. The police only had Elnaz's electronic devices for roughly three weeks, which he says is quote, "shockingly short," if the work was done correctly. So yeah, because the attack only happened like three weeks apart. So obviously they confiscated those things, and then gave them back to her two days before her abduction. So they really did only have them for those short amount of time, and he says that if it was like a thorough search, that it would have been in their custody for a lot longer. So, I mean, if that's true then maybe, I guess it is possible to think that they missed a tracking device. But that's what he's saying.

[00:35:58] Katie: Well, and it seems like such a coincidence that she's attacked, and then as soon as she gets her stuff back, she's attacked again. Like that timeline is just super, it seems like it fits perfectly with what we're thinking that maybe there was a tracking device that wasn't found because it's just, it's almost a coincidence too much of a coincidence if they're not related.

[00:36:16] AJ: Yeah. Like it only happened two days after she picked up all of those stuff and brought them back to that place. And then two days later, she's abducted. You know what I mean? Like, it didn't happen like, you know, a month later or it didn't happen like before she had all of that stuff. So it's like, it seems kind of weird that like two days after she gets all these items back then these men come to her door. So I guess it is possible that they did miss a tracking device, which like I said before, if that is the case, that's really a really, really horrible mistake that can't really be forgiven. Like I said, obviously it's allegedly, I don't know, obviously just speculation, but...

[00:36:55] Katie: Like you might go into this, but I'm curious now to know if they have any like theories about why she would be . Like is she wealthy? Was she going to be coming into money? Did she maybe witness something that she shouldn't have while living in Iran and people were coming after her? Like, do we know any kind of theories that are out there about why she would have been targeted?

[00:37:15] Stephanie: Do we know like her, her late husband's background? Like, was he involved in anything or...

[00:37:24] AJ: Yeah. So there is kind of a couple of theories swirling out there. I mean, if you check the Reddit forums and stuff for this case, or you go online and search this case up, I'm sure you can find a couple of them. I didn't really want to go into those cause they aren't conclusive. There's nothing to confirm them. It's a lot of speculation. And I did, I felt like putting it in would just kind of, you know, you can't, you know, I didn't want to put it in there because it would confuse or like potentially put like false information out there that isn't at all connected to what actually happened. So if you are interested to hear what some of the theories that are out there, you can go and search it on your own, but I didn't really want to go into that. So to answer your question, I feel like there could be something, from her past, or her life in Iran, or something that she knew or witnessed or something, or maybe even something that she didn't even know. Like, you know what I mean? Like some, she wasn't even aware that she knew or was a secret or just something that somebody didn't want her to say, you know what I mean? So I don't know. None of the legitimate reports that I saw ever said anything about a possible motive .That's all I'll say on that for now. So right after the attack or shortly after the attack on December 21st, the police did come forward and say that the vehicle that was driven by the two perpetrators was stolen from an area of Finch Avenue East and Don Mills Road in Toronto and it was later recovered. And then the white Lexus that the perpetrators were driving was also reported stolen and then later recovered as well. So in both instances it was a stolen vehicle that was used, and then it was later, you know, discarded, and however, nothing has ever been released about the contents of the vehicle or what was found inside. Obviously they didn't find her or anything, but there was nothing ever came out that said if they found any fingerprints or any evidence about anything inside the car. So that's never been put out there, but they did find the car that the three men drove off or both times in both incidents, they found the car that was driven by the perpetrators. So...

[00:39:18] Katie: So again, there's like another connection, very similar, you know, stealing a car, attacking her and then ditching the car. So it's, it seems more and more like these are related.

[00:39:29] AJ: Yeah. And that was, and I was just going to say that before you said I was going to be like, that is a possible connection, but I mean, people steal cars all the time, so that doesn't necessarily mean that it's connected just because it's the one car, but it is kind of like just another thing. And it's like a similar, not motive, but similar. What's the word like similar MO, I guess is the way, like, you know, it's a stolen vehicle and like obviously if the person didn't want their own car to be traced back to them or something so they're going to steal this, use a stolen car. Like, I feel like that was probably what's happening here in both in both cases, but...

[00:40:00] Katie: Yeah and I feel like they obviously they would have dusted for fingerprints so they could probably compare them from both those stolen cars to see if they match. I feel like that's obvious, like police 101 and they probably know the answers to that question, but they just haven't released anything about it yet.

[00:40:14] AJ: Because I want to know, like, what they found in the car. Maybe they found nothing and that's why there is nothing, but maybe they, people leave stuff behind all the time. You don't even realize you are, like, not even fingerprints, but you know, like, just trash or something that, you know, they go for something. Right? And you're in a car, so, I mean, obviously I'm, you'd think that these people would be smart enough to not leave anything behind, but I would be just curious to see, like, there has to be something in that car.

[00:40:34] Katie: Yeah. And I guess you said they weren't, they didn't, they weren't the same perpetrators because we know that because of how they looked. There could've been like a driver that was the same or something. Like there could have been the same person that was in both cars, even if the same people didn't attack her. You know what I mean? Like two people attacked her the first time, but there could have been three people in the car. That kind of thing.

[00:40:55] AJ: Yeah. Well, but they said that the same people, the three people were not the same people who attacked her.

[00:41:01] Katie: Okay. Well, okay.

[00:41:02] AJ: So it's five people, different people but it could also be the same group of people though. Like if it's a big group of people, it could just be...

[00:41:09] Katie: Like all five people could have been in those two cars at different times, but the, just two sets of people attacked her, but it could've been the same people.

[00:41:18] AJ: But also if it's something organized like that, like if you're, if you have a big group of people who are like two are gonna attack her here, why didn't they just abduct her on the 21st? Like if they wanted to abduct her, why wouldn't they have just done it then? You know what I mean? Like, it seems weird that they would attack her and then come back and abduct her later. Like that's just leaves more, that's like more people involved, more traces that you're going to leave behind, you know, more eye witnesses. Like if you're going to do it, just do it that one time. Like, it seems weird to break it up into two incidents.

[00:41:45] Katie: Yeah, that's true. That is weird. That's why it kind of makes me think, like they said something to her or like we want money from you and if you don't give us what we want the next time it's going to be worse or something. Because yeah, if they, if that was their whole goal this whole time, when I take her the first time.

[00:42:02] AJ: Yeah. That's what I'm thinking. That that was the first thing that came to my mind. It's like, I, although, I mean, these people are using a frying pan, so they're probably not the most like, well put together or like thought out like organized crime people. But like, it just seems like a very one-on-one. Yeah. Like you would not break it up into two separate incidents. Like if you want to abduct her, you're going to just do it, you're not going to, I mean, like you said, it, unless they threatened with the first time and then they, she didn't like comply with it. But wouldn't she have told someone? I mean, maybe not. She should have told someone about that, but like family members and everything, like are saying that she has no connection to any nefarious activity or like nothing ever came out about that. So I feel like if she told someone that they would have said like, yeah, she told us that like, you know what I mean? Like she would have said, oh yeah, they told me in this attack that this happened.

[00:42:48] Katie: Yeah, that's true.

[00:42:49] AJ: I mean, the police have said that there is no evidence to say that she's has connections to any quote, "nefarious activities" and no criminal record.

[00:42:56] Katie: So did you say the police think these two are, these two incidences are connected or they haven't said?

[00:43:02] AJ: Well, I think like one of the, one of the articles I saw that was by CTV News it came out like the day after the abduction and it, or like a couple of days after the abduction, and it mentions the fact that she was attacked in December and there's a, they interview a family member and the family members saying that we don't know if they're connected at that time, but that was a couple of days after, but I was going to get into it a little bit later on. The family is circulating that there's surveillance footage out there of these two men that attacked her in the parking garage. So we do have like images of these two men and they say in that post, in those postings and the poster that it's believed to be connected to the abduction. So now they think that it's connected. So I don't know like what information they got in that time period that changed that. So one actual major development or something that's potentially related, is that only nine days after Elnaz's abduction, a man named Mohammed Lilo was taken into custody and charged with criminal harassment. And it was not revealed who the victim of this harassment was, but it is suspected since then to be Elnaz. So he's reportedly the ex-boyfriend of Elnaz's and the couple broke up in October, 2021. The charges in question were said to occur quote, "in the weeks, leading up to Elnaz's abduction." Which would line up with that timeline? Like the attack was only three weeks before the abduction so the events of the criminal harassment that he was charged with took place in those few weeks, leading up to her abduction. There are not many details surrounding this, except that he was released on bail and part of his bail conditions prohibit him from being in Wasaga Beach. He returned to court in February, like later in February and his next court date is scheduled for April. And this is from CTV News actually. So, talking about Mohammed Lilo's arrest and his ongoing court case, it says, quote, "investigators said they believe the December attack is connected to the ongoing investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police into the abduction of Elnaz Hajtamiri." So now in this latest one, they say that investigators believe that they are attached. So that's the first article I saw that came out that said that, official, in like an official capacity that it's said to be connected. Obviously that's a super huge red flag like this man, who's her ex-boyfriend. They broke up in October of 2021. So that would have been only a couple of months before this December attack. And like he's charged with criminal harassment, but he was never charged with assault. Like, so if they're assuming that when he was one of these men, he will be charged with assault, Right? Like you're beating someone over the head with a frying pan, like that's, so the fact that it was just criminal harassment, I don't know what that means, or what, how is that different from harassment, criminal harassment versus harassment? I don't know. Are those two separate things or are those the same?

[00:45:46] Katie: Yeah, I don't know. Do they know if he's involved with any kind of groups? Because I feel like maybe he had the power to get these people together to do something to her on his behalf. Do they know anything about that? About him?

[00:46:02] AJ: We do not. The only thing we know about him is that he was an ex boyfriend of hers. And that he's prohibited from being in Wasaga Beach as part of his bail conditions. But he is out on bail and he's been to court a couple of times, or at least once since his arrest. And now he's scheduled to go back into court this month, April. So I don't...

[00:46:20] Stephanie: Criminal harassment is like stalking. So if he was stalking her, that's why he would...

[00:46:27] AJ: Could he be the one putting up tracking devices on her car?

[00:46:29] Stephanie: He might've been, cause I just looked up criminal harassment and what that is, it says commonly known as stalking.

[00:46:36] AJ: So that's like the legal term for it. But it's that different from harassment? Criminal harassment is different than harassment or maybe just the legal term is criminal harassment. I mean, it's always, always criminal harassment, criminal...

[00:46:45] Stephanie: Harassment itself is just like aggressive pressure or intimidation. That's what harassment is. So put the two together and it's a crime. I don't know.

[00:46:58] Well, harassment

[00:46:59] AJ: in itself is a crime. So I don't know how, like what criminalharassment is? And it's like, if it's like the next level, it's like kind of like the second tier. Kind of how you have like first degree, second degree murder. It's like criminal harassment is like a step up from harassment or maybe its like criminal harassment is like a series of harassment events that happen over a certain period of time versus harassment just being like one isolated incident or something. I don't know. I'm not a legal lawyer or don't know legal terms. But anyway, that's what he was charged with was criminal harassment. So, and for something that took place in the few weeks leading up to her abduction. So like, I don't know, kind of sketchy just in the timeline itself. And also like, I feel like placing tracking devices on someone's car would be a form of harassment, obviously. So are they, was he arrested in connection to the tracking devices?

[00:47:54] Stephanie: Because that's considered stalking.

[00:47:56] AJ: Yeah.

[00:47:56] Stephanie: If you're tracking someone down for a purpose of beating them or whatever you may be doing, why you want to track them down then? Yeah. Maybe he was.

[00:48:07] AJ: Yeah. Like, I don't know. Like that's the thing is like, that's all we know is that that was his charge was criminal harassment and it was due to events leading up that happened in the weeks leading up to her abduction. That's all we know, but like all of that lines up with the tracking device stuff, all of that happened in the weeks leading up to her abduction and the attack did too, but they're not obviously connecting him necessarily to the attack on her, because if he was connected to that attack, he would have been charged with assault or like some other major charge. Like that would, that's not criminal harassment, like dragging somebody out of their car and hitting them with a frying pan is not criminal harassment. That's assault causing bodily harm. Obviously they're not connecting them to that necessarily, but something else that's considered separate. It is just weird.

[00:48:53] Katie: I guess, but if you orchestrate a group of people to attack somebody else, what is, what are you going to be charged with? Would you be charged with assault as well, even though you didn't actually do it?

[00:49:01] AJ: Conspiracy to commit assault? I don't know. Red flags, sketchy. Definitely look into this a little bit more, but like I said, there's not that much out there about him. Like I said, two men were captured on surveillance footage at the scene of her assault in December, 2021. And their descriptions have been posted publicly. Both are described as medium build between 25 and 30 years old. One is six foot two with short brown hair wearing a camel puff jacket and dark pants. The other is about five foot 10, and it was wearing a dark hooded jacket. And they were wearing masks, like not masks that you wear, like when you're going to rob a store, surgical masks like COVID masks. So on the surveillance footage you only see like half of their face, because top or the bottom half is covered by the mask. And in the video or in the surveillance picture that they released, like it is clear or it's believed that they were wearing gloves, which means that, you know, little fingerprints would have been recovered from that stolen vehicle at all. So, I mean, it's also December. so they weren't necessarily wearing gloves to cover up their fingerprints, but more so just cause it's cold. It was just December in Toronto. So it's cold. They were wearing gloves so like it probably would explain if there was no fingerprint evidence or anything found in that car. Elnaz herself is described as five foot three with a slim build and shoulder length, black hair. Police, family and friends are encouraging anybody with information about this case to call the tip line at 1- 833-728-3415. Or if you want to remain anonymous, you can call Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477. And just some quotes that have come from Elnaz's family. Her mother says quote, "Elnaz is a very kindhearted woman, always extending a helping hand to the needy and being an honest and loyal friend. We beg whomever has taken her to be merciful to Elnaz. Please do not harm her and give her back to us. We are all in so much pain and agony, even thinking where she could be right now. She cannot handle the cold, so please give her blankets and keep her safe." And then one of her cousins says, "Just please let her go. If you spent enough time with her, you would understand this is a wonderful kind, warm, educated, charitable woman. Just please drop her off. No questions asked. We just want to see her come back alive. She doesn't deserve this, neither does her family." And so we're going to post a picture of Elnaz of course, and then also a picture of this surveillance footage of those two men. So if anyone knows anything, call those numbers that we gave you, to provide your tip either anonymously or you can call the other one if you don't want to remain anonymous. Yeah, so we can definitely do our part to help bring Elnaz home. And we'll definitely update you as more updates come cause I'm sure we'll be getting more things that come out as things are revealed or hopefully, you know, they find her or they find the people responsible for taking her. So, yeah, I really hope there's like a quick resolution to this case. And you can follow the Instagram account that's run by her family and friends, and the Instagram is bringElnazhome. And if you use the #bringElnazhome, you can get involved in the conversation and help to bring her home. So we'll put a link to that Instagram account in the show notes as well.

[00:52:08] That's it for this week's episode, guys. So as always, you can follow us on all the social medias @ crimefamilypodcast on Instagram, crimefamilypod1 on Twitter, Crime Family Podcast on Facebook. We also have an email so you can send us your case suggestions, your feedback, your tips, anything like that to cry family podcast@gmail.com or, you can go to our new website, it's Crimefamilypodcast.ca and there you can, leave us a voicemail, so if you want to leave us some key suggestions or your thoughts on the podcast, you might hear your voice on the show in the near future. If you would like, you can also check out episode descriptions, transcripts, all that kind of stuff. And yeah. So we're excited about the websites so definitely visit that and check it out. Thank you guys for tuning in and yeah, let's try a, we'll share Elnaz's picture on all of our social medias and everything, and we'll try to help this family out and to bring her home. So thanks guys. And we'll see you next week.