S03E07: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MOLLY MILLER & COLT HAYNES

Katie: Coming up on this episode of Crime Family; 

And it's reported that there's actually an understanding between the locals and Love County, that if you go against one of them, then bad things will happen to you kind of thing. So they're kind of like this crime family. Just think pitch black, you're in the middle of the woods. You have no idea where you are and you don't, you can't get out. 

AJ: I don't know what to think. I'm very, like I said, I had "Blair Witch" vibes, I don't know. 

Katie: And it's reported that between the two of them, they called at least 30 people that night asking for help. You know, you're fucking mad, you know, you're fucking tired, fucking Moxley Lake, a buck knife, Molly Miller. They shot him in the mouth right there. I can put my finger all the way through it. 

Stephanie: What is this? Like, why aren't they... 

AJ: I'm scared. That's so creepy. It's so creepy.

Katie: Hey, everyone. Welcome to Crime Family. I'm your co-host Katie. And like always I have my brother and sister with me, AJ and Steph and today's case was a listener suggestion. And so shout out to Rhonda S on Facebook. So I started looking into this case and there really isn't a lot out there, but it caught my attention just because it's such a mystery. And it really leaves you wondering what happened out in the woods that night. It leaves you with more mysteries than answers. So thanks for the suggestion, Rhonda.

AJ: Had you heard of the case before Rhonda suggested it, or was it completely new to you too? 

Katie: Yeah, it was completely new to me when I dove in. So this story starts in Wilson, Oklahoma, and it travels down into Love County, Oklahoma in the summer of 2013. So Wilson, Oklahoma is a small town. It has a population that has less than 2000 people. And it has an area that's only approximately 15 square kilometers and south of Wilson is Love County. And the whole county of Love County has a population just under 10,000. And it's only a few kilometers away from Wilson. And so a man named James Conn Nipp who went by Conn to people who knew him, he had family property in Love County and that's where he lived, so he was pretty familiar with the area. And so Conn growing up was a bit of a wild child. He had grown up without very many rules or directions or consequences. And so he was able to kind of run free as a kid, do whatever he wanted, get into trouble without there being any punishments for his actions. And you know, not having discipline or rules for your kids can be harmful in the long run because kids can not only feel like they don't have any boundaries or guidelines to really follow as they grow up, they can feel that the rules don't really apply to them. And so when they do grow up and actually do need to be accountable, they haven't gained that skill or discipline or respect for authority. And so it seems like this was kind of Conn's mentality as he grew up and into adulthood. So he was 21 in July of 2013, and there's speculation that he was in the drug business in Love County. Conn was hanging out with two people in July of 2013 and their names were Molly Miller and Colt Haynes. So Molly and Colt's friends and family described them both as very happy, Colt was always laughing and had a smile on his face. Molly was 17 years old in the summer of 2013. And she just loved life, and she was a very compassionate, outspoken person. She wanted to become a nurse when she grew up. She was a very good athlete and enjoyed softball and basketball in high school. And she was also very close to her grandmother. But when her grandmother died, she quickly went into sort of a downward spiral. And that's when she started getting into drugs and was hanging around with the wrong crowd. So Colt growing up, he had five older siblings, so he was the baby in his family. And he himself also had a newborn son in 2013. So in the summer of 2013, Colt was 21 years old and his son was only nine months old at that time. Colt was also into drugs and he started when he was in his teens. So there's some speculation that that's how he may have known Conn through the drug world. But there's not a lot out there about how they met or even how Molly and Colt met. But there's reason to believe that Molly and Conn were good friends since they were kids and Molly and Colt were friends, but had only known each other for a very short time, like a week or so at this point. And it was also brought up in the Up And Vanished podcast that Conn and Colt had some sort of feud going on. And some reports say that Conn was going out with the mother of Colt's newborn baby. And there are some reports that say Colt was going out with Conn's ex-girlfriend so maybe both or maybe one or the other. I'm not really sure, but anyway, there's that kind of like dynamic, that element to their relationship where there's, you know, going out with my ex kind of tension thing. So it's not really clear about why all of them would even have been together and hanging out that night. On the night of July 7th, 2013, Conn, Molly Miller and Colt Haynes were out driving around in Wilson, Oklahoma. Special agent, Justin Brown with the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations tells Crime Watch Daily, that Conn had a history of spinning out his tires in front of the police, and then speeding off, away from them to get them to chase him. And so on this particular night, Conn and Molly and Colt were in a gravel parking lot of a convenience store, and when Colt spins out his tires, it causes gravel to spin up and hit the cop's vehicle that's also parked in the convenience store parking lot. And this causes the police deputy to pull out and pursue Conn and his two passengers. So the sheriff of Love County, at the time, his name was Joe Russell and he knows exactly who had prompted this police chase. He knows it was Conn, and he tells the deputy to stop the chase. The pursuit doesn't last too long as a deputy does back off and Conn's vehicle is last seen driving down Long Hollow Road in Love County and at the end of Long Hollow Road the street stops. So it's a dead end and it's surrounded by and leads into a large wooded area. So the route that they probably would have taken that night, or one of the likely routes, was from Wilson straight down to Highway 76. They took a left on Oswald Road and then a right onto Long Hollow Road and that's only about 17 kilometers. And it's reported that Conn had gotten up to speeds of 120 miles an hour, which is close to 190 kilometers an hour. So it would not have taken him long at all to go from that convenience store in Wilson to Long Hollow Road in Love County. So like I said, the police did back off the chase pretty quickly and soon after the police chase does subside, a 911 call comes in from Molly's phone at around 12:57 AM on July 8th. But all they hear on the other end is buttons being pushed and then it's quickly disconnected. So that call only lasts about five seconds and the 911 dispatcher does call Molly's phone back, but there's no answer. And Molly also calls a bunch of people that she knows as well. Like every few minutes a call goes out from Molly's phone to a friend or family member. She's asking for help saying she needs a ride home, but it's, you know, pretty late at night, pretty early in the morning, so everyone she talks to says that they're unable to go pick her up. Colt is also making calls at the same time as well. And Colt's sister Monique describes to Crime Watch Daily, one of those conversations. So Colt wasn't talking to her, but she was told by someone else who actually did talk to Colt, that Colt says he's lost in the woods, he's laying in a creek bed, he doesn't know where he is. He knows that they're lost off of Oswald Road and that his ankle was broken and the bone was sticking out. A private investigator named Phillip Klein, who was working with the Up And Vanished podcast interviews some of the people that Colt talks to and they say that Colt had climbed a tree to try and see if he could get his bearings, kind of figure out where he was, but he apparently fell out of the tree and that's how he broke his ankle. So him and Molly are out there in unfamiliar territory, lost out in the woods in the middle of the night. And so Up and Vanished reports that a group of people actually end up at Conn's house that night. They're trying to find Colt and Molly because of all these phone calls they're getting. And when they get to Conn's house Conn is actually there, he had made it home, and this group have Colt on the phone at the time that they're talking to Conn at Conn's door, and they're asking Conn where they can find Colt but Conn just says that Colt must be messing around with them because he is saying that he doesn't know anything about it. He doesn't know what they're even talking about, cause he's saying he wasn't with Colt that night. Also some of Colt's friends that he is able to get ahold of actually go out to the area that Colt says he is, somewhere off Oswald Road to try and find Colt and Molly. And they run into a man who asks, you know what they're doing on his property. They explained that their friend is out there lost in the woods, and this guy is actually cool and he wants to cooperate. So he goes, and Colt is actually on the phone at this time still. And this man goes in his house and he gets a gun and he just shoots it into the air. And he says, if Colt can hear the gunshot, then they know that he's not too far away. But Colt can't hear the gunshot. So they know that they're in the wrong spot and they're driving up and down the road, honking their horn, trying to see if Colt can hear them. So they know that they're at least a little bit close. 

AJ: That's really smart, actually, of that person to shoot and say, if he can hear it, he's close. Like, I think that's really, that's a smart way to kind of get your bearings.

Katie: Yeah. That's really loud. Right. And to be louder than your voice yelling. So it was, it it's a good idea.

Stephanie: Is it reported that Molly is with Colt? Do they know that for a fact, that they're together lost together? 

Katie: Yeah. So at this point it's speculated that they are together. 

AJ: But he has never mentioned her in the phone call at all yet. He doesn't say he's with her, right?

Katie: It's not super clear about all their conversations, but from what we know they were together. And he might've been saying that "yeah, me and my friend, Molly are lost out in the woods" because like I said before, they had only known each other for about a week. So his friends probably wouldn't know who Molly was anyway. Not that that matters, but I don't think he was like, "oh, I'm by myself. Come get me." You'd probably be just like," I'm lost in the woods." He probably mentioned Molly as well, but we're not really sure.

AJ: But no one ever talked to her on the phone or heard her on the phone. So they don't know... 

Katie: Some reports do say that when Molly's on the phone, they can hear Colt in the background, on his phone, talking to people at the same time. So they do know that they were together for at least some of it. 

AJ: I'm getting, I'm getting Blair Witch vibes, right now. 

Katie: Uh, I know. Just think pitch black you're in the middle of the woods, you have no idea where you are and yet you don't, you can't get out. And it's not clear whether the police knew that Conn had people in the car with him that night. But some reports say that the deputy chasing him did not know that Molly and Colt were in the car as well. But the police do know that these three were all together that night, despite Conn denying that they were, and they know this due to the cell phone records and info pinging off the nearby cell towers that they later uncover as they're looking into what happened that night, so, like what we were just talking about before Colt and Molly's phones were pinging together that night. So there is reason to believe that they were together, but some also seem to think that Molly and Colt did get separated at some point. And they maybe be each got lost separately, frantically calling everyone they know, and somehow they got separated and couldn't get back to each other or maybe they did. But like I said, there's a lot of mystery. We don't actually know what went down in those woods, whether they were together the whole time, whether they got separated, then found each other again, like that's just not known. So the last call that Molly makes is actually at 9:39 AM on the morning of the eighth. So they've been out in the woods for like nine hours at this point. They still haven't been able to find their way out and both Colt's and Molly's phones are dead around 10:00 AM that morning. So no one's able to get ahold of them, call them. They don't call anybody else after that point. And it's reported that between the two of them, they called at least 30 people that night asking for help. So after private investigator, Phillip Klein and his team interviewed some of the people that Molly and Colt called, they put together a theory of what they think may have happened that night. Up and Vanished reports that they believe that Molly and Colt got away from Conn that night. So like I said, they were all in that car together. I mean, they, we don't know, but they either jumped out of the car or he stopped to let them out. But either way he kept going. And I guess he just kind of left them abandoned in the woods on their own for whatever reason, without a car. And like I said, they're unfamiliar with the area, and they're thinking because they felt like the cops maybe were still following them. They may have been hiding from the police initially. And so what's reported that they were hiding in a ravine, as Colt had told someone on the phone. And so the vehicle that they were in that night was a Honda Accord and they were driving through some pretty rough terrain. It's believed that they drove through a creek bed, and the undercarriage of the car was pretty messed up when they did find it. So they were the driving through the woods in this car. And meanwhile, after Molly and Colt get out of the car, Conn is still driving for a little bit. He breaks through a couple of barbed wire fences with his car before the car finally gives out and dies. And it's also reported that the locals are kind of used to this kind of thing. Like they're always repairing their fences because Conn is driving his car through them all of the time. So, this is just something that he did and his family home wasn't too far away from where all this goes down. So because Conn is familiar with the area, he just leaves his broken down car out in the middle of the woods or out in the field, wherever it was, and he's able to just run home that night, leaving Molly and Colt out in the woods. So those cell phone pings that I mentioned earlier, they put Molly and Colt just adjacent to the Colt family property and only about a hundred yards or three hundred feet away from where Conn left his busted car, but like I said, they were unfamiliar with the area, so they had no idea how to get out of the woods, how to get back onto a street, and so they might not have traveled too far from where they were left, thinking that they were just getting farther into the woods, not wanting to, you know, make it worse for themselves. So when I picture it, I kind of think like they're just probably circling the same area, not wanting to get more lost, but again, we don't actually know. So some reports say that a group of friends that was out looking for Colt that night, when they get back into town, they see Conn, you know, just walking around town. He doesn't have his car and he doesn't have any answers for where Colt and Molly are. He's still not talking. And he's still denying that he was even with them that night. So a whole day goes by and there's no more contact from Molly or Colt. And like I said, their cell phones were dead by 10:00 AM on the eighth and on July 9th is when Molly's mom tries to file a missing persons report to Sheriff Joe Russell, and so he's the Love County sheriff. And he allegedly, when they call him to file this report, he will not take it and he says, it's not his problem. And, you know, right away, obviously the family has a bad feeling about the situation. They feel like there's some sort of coverup happening, but Molly's mother is able to file a report with someone else though. And that person takes down all the information and takes it upon herself to make missing persons posters for Molly. And Molly's cousin tells Up and Vanished that she speculates that it's because this person that had taken this report, because she was so outspoken about Molly and Colt's disappearance, like she seemed like she really cared and she wasn't going to give up on it, that that was the reason that she was fired from the Sheriff's office just two months after Molly and Colt disappeared. So that's kind of just like an aside, some background information of what was happening when this case was fresh.

Stephanie: I find it really odd that when Conn was driving erratically that the guy just said to stop chasing him and not keep on going and arrest him for speeding. Like, I find that super odd and they just did nothing about it. Like now he's just walking around whatever and denying everything. I just, I don't understand why they just didn't keep chasing him and arrest him for speeding.

Katie: Yeah. So you'll understand probably why when I get a little bit farther into this, but the Sheriff had also said that he didn't want to wreck one of his police cars just by chasing this guy. Cause I guess it was a common thing. And so they just kind of cut it short before he made any real damage. 

AJ: Yeah. It's very intriguing. I don't know what to think. I'm very, like I said, I had Blair Witch vibes, I don't know obviously where this is going or what, how it ends up, but just the whole setting of them being lost in the woods at night is terrifying to me. 

Katie: I know. Just picture it. I mean, luckily it was July and I'm not sure if Oklahoma even gets cold ever, but he had a broken ankle, they were hiding in a creek bed, so they were likely wet, and I dunno, it just seems like a super scary, bad situation to be in. Just imagine being lost for that long in the woods at night. Like eee! 

AJ: And it's also kind of sad to say, you said that they kind of summarize or they, they think that they weren't actually that far away from where they either had started out or from where Conn left his car. So it's not like they were so deep into the woods. It's like, they there's the possibility that they could have been close to where they wanted to end up, but, you know, you just get so disoriented in that setting. Like it all looks the same. You don't know where you have been. 

Katie: Yeah, exactly. And like I was saying, they might've been thinking the cops were still going to chase them so they could have even gotten out of the car and then started running. Again, in the opposite direction. So it wasn't like they could just go back to where they were because they're probably running, trying to get away from the cops or something so that, yeah, they definitely got disoriented very quickly and either just could not find their way out, or like I said before, you know, they kind of say like when you're lost in the woods, the best thing to do is just stay where you are, so if people are looking for you, you're not like missing each other the whole time. So that could have been what was happening. But yeah, it, it really is a mystery. We really don't know what went down in the woods that night. 

AJ: Can you say again where that man was, where he said, "Oh, I'm going to fire my gun. And if they can hear it, we'll know that we're close." Do we know, was that really far? Like, that must have obviously been super, super far from where they went missing if they couldn't hear the gunshot. Right? Like, did he travel? Like did Conn go that far? It seems like I thought he was like some relatively close to where they'd be able to hear the gunshot.

Katie: So, I mean, if you look at a map of where this is. Long Hollow Road is just, I picture like this, this dark dirt road, going off into the woods where its a dead end. He went all the way down that road. They might not have even known the name of that road because they weren't familiar with the area, like I said, but he did know like Oswald Road which would have been like the main road that Long Hollow Road branched off of. But even if Long Hollow Road was like a couple or few kilometers long and they were on Oswald Road, I mean from the end of Long Hollow Road to where they were, could have been a few kilometers in between. So I don't know how far, like how long a distance you can hear a gunshot. But to me that seems like a pretty far distance, a couple of kilometers. Again, I don't know the exact distance, but they didn't know where they were exactly either. So they were just likely just not in the right spot. And even listening to Up and Vanished and some other podcasts and reading articles, they suggest that it's likely or suspected that drugs were involved as well. Like they could have been doing drugs that night, so that probably didn't help the situation, probably didn't help their bearings, thinking straight, so it just probably just made the situation worse. Right?

Stephanie: That was going to be my next question. Like, do they think drugs were involved? Cause maybe they were disoriented already, but with drugs involved, they got more disoriented and were like high on drugs and they didn't know their surroundings and just makes the whole situation even worse when you're trying to find your way out.

Katie: Yeah. And I also think about why she would call 9 1 1, but then not say anything and then not answer her phone when they called back. But then she continues to call other people so something she lost her phone. So like that doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it was a pocket dial. I mean, it's not likely that you pocket 911. It's just the whole thing sounds strange. 

AJ: I'm just thinking, yeah that is strange. But I'm thinking, do you think that maybe, this is just me thinking out loud, but something about Colt being responsible, like maybe, maybe Molly was trying to call 9 1 1 discreetly, so she couldn't say anything on the phone, but she just called so that it would connect and that they could hear something. Like, you know what I mean? If she was, felt threatened by Colt she would just want it to maybe be discreet about it. Maybe that would be why she would call, but then not say anything. Like, you know. But who knows, because you said they didn't really know each other right, for that long before this?

Katie: According to Molly's cousin, she thinks that they had only known each other for maybe just like a week, like they had just met and had become friends. So it really wasn't, they didn't know each other very well at all. 

AJ: Okay. Cause I, cause yeah, that's what I was just thinking of. Like, you know, you see in movies or stuff where somebody is like under duress or something and they managed to call 9 1 1, but then just like keep it connected so that the people can hear what's happening on the other side. So that was just the first thing that came to mind. Like maybe she was trying to reach out to 911 because she was afraid of Colt. Like he was going to do something or something. I don't know. It could be totally way off, but that was just my first initial thought. 

Katie: Maybe. Or she could be afraid of Conn. We don't know, even though she had known Conn for a lot longer, so they were kind of closer friends, but I don't know. It kind of makes you think like that whole car chase, maybe it makes you think like maybe they were doing something illegal, like doing drugs in the car, and because Conn always gets away with this kind of thing, he's like, "oh, let's make this interesting. And the cops will chase us, but we have drugs in the car. So if they catch us, it'll be even worse." So it's kind of like the adrenaline thing for him. And Colt and Molly are like, "Holy frig", like where you don't want to be a part of this. And so that could have been that thing where she wanted to call the police, but she was also afraid because they were doing drugs, they had drugs on them. So she was probably very conflicted and yeah, the whole situation's just very weird. It's not like they, she ran away from Colt because they were together for as far as we know for most of that time that they were out there.

AJ: Yeah, so it's not what I was saying. Like, I'm probably super far off, but I don't know. It was just kind of weird, why would you would call 9 1 1 and then just not say anything because that's right, she didn't say anything, like there was nothing really happening. And like you said, it could have been a pocket dial, but... 

Katie: At least one report was saying that the 911 operators could just hear her like phone buttons being pushed on the other end. So it was almost like she dialed 911 by mistake and was like still typing numbers or something or texting, or maybe she texted 911 by mistake and it just called them. So that could be an answer to that, but then she does, so she doesn't want to answer them when they call back because she didn't mean to even call them. Another thing they were scrutinizing like Oklahoma or the areas police department, because there's a law, like a domestic violence prevention where if someone calls 9 1 1, but they don't actually talk, because maybe they're too scared to talk or there's somebody with them that they don't want to hear and they just hang up. The police are supposed to go out and actually find those people to make sure they're okay. And they're saying that that didn't happen in this case either because they just didn't know where they were or maybe someone did try and find them, but they had, they're out in the woods so they're not going to go out in the woods to find them so that kind of thing. People are saying, if they would have just followed up, they would have found them. But it's probably not that simple. Okay so, can you guys guess who is related to James Conn in his story? 

Stephanie: Sheriff Russell. 

AJ: Yeah. 

Katie: So Sheriff Joe Russell is actually cousins with Conn and it's reported that there's actually an understanding between the locals and Love County that if you go against one of them, then bad things will happen to you, kind of thing. So they're kind of like this crime family, surprise, surprise. Well, you know, that detail, it makes more sense why the sheriff would call off the deputy chasing after Conn cause it's his cousin and so it's not going to matter. He's not going to get in trouble anyway. So just don't bust up the car for no reason. So Joe Russell says, because he was getting accused of trying to cover something up in this case, that he just stayed out of it altogether. Like I remember I said, he said it wasn't his problem. And he just said that if he ever got a tip or anything, then he would just pass it along to someone else. But he kind of wiped his hands of it. To me it kind of feels like maybe the right thing to do. Cause it is a conflict of interest, especially if the accused people are thinking Conn has something to do with this, he's related to Conn so it was kind of a conflict of interest. That's his relative. But we don't know if he's like stepping away for good intentions or bad intentions. He probably just doesn't care enough to get involved. So once the Molly and Colt case is underway, the FBI gets involved to help with a search and Molly's actually part Native American, and so under the McGirt ruling in Oklahoma, the FBI kind of get involved due to that circumstance, and it takes authorities two weeks to find Conn's abandoned car out in that wooded area, even though it wasn't too far away from where he was. Either they weren't searching very hard or they just really didn't know where to look. But there is no sign of Colt or Molly at all. And this at least gives their families a little bit of an idea of where to even start their own searches. And some of Molly's family members do go down to Long Hollow Road and start searching on July 18th, but they are still unable to find any trace of Colt or Molly. So a couple of months go by and Molly's cousin Paula, so she is the same cousin that was interviewed by Up and Vanished, and she's kind of the spokesperson for this case, her and Molly were pretty close. Even though Paula is a little bit older than Molly, Molly had been kind of sent to live with Paula, just because of some things that were going on with her, her parents sent her out to live with her cousin, Paula, but they were really close, and so, you know, Paula is the one that's kind of leading this search for Molly. So Paula comes face to face with Conn in September of 2013 and she asks him where Molly and Colt are. She tells Up and Vanished, she says, "I asked Conn if Molly and Cole were okay when he left them in the woods, and he said," I don't know what you're talking about. I never was with Molly and Colt. I didn't leave them in the woods." And she also goes on to say, "I finally said, Conn, I know she's dead." and she says that Conn did kind of cheer up at this moment. And she says," I said, please just tell us where she's at." So like I said, she says that Conn did tear up a little bit. So she thinks that he does have a little bit of remorse for whatever happened in the woods that night. So whether he just left them there for something else to happen, or whether he knows exactly what did happen to them, if he did something or if he knows somebody else that might've done something to them. A few more months go by and there's nothing new that arises in the case until eight months after Molly and Colt have disappeared. In March of 2014, there is another strange 911 call that comes in from a man named Colby Barrick's phone and Colby Barrick is Conn's uncle. So he's related to the sheriff in some way as well. So, yeah, like I said, this is a strange 911 call because it seems to be a pocket dial and it's really muffled and it's hard to hear. 

AJ: Of course it is because nothing can ever be clear. 

Katie: I know, but who pocket dials 911? Like, is this another pocket dial to 911? Like how, have you guys ever pocket dialed 911? That's never happened to me?

Stephanie: No.

AJ: No, never.

Katie: And like twice in this case?

Stephanie: I don't think you can.

AJ: I feel like you can, but it's just, what are the odds that those are going to be the three digits that you hit? 

Katie: Yeah, I know. So it's strange. And to get, like I said, it was muffled, but they think they can hear the speaker mention Molly and Colt's alleged murder. So oxygen .com reports that what is said in the 911 call goes something like this, "You know you're fucking mad, you know, you're fucking tired, fucking Moxley Lake, a buck knife, Molly Miller. They shot him in the mouth right there. I can put my finger all the way through it." So obviously this is choppy, but these are just the things that they're able to make out, that 911 dispatcher, and so the person that does listen to this call, she calls Joe Russell right away to let him know about the call and the conversation, but she doesn't mention the Moxley Lake part of the conversation. But somehow Joe already knows about Moxley Lake even though he wasn't told. And that call is actually later traced to an area around Moxley Lake, which is just off of Long Hollow Road. But of course that area has never been searched by authorities. 

Stephanie: What is this? Like why aren't they... 

AJ: I'm scared. I literally got like, goose bumps when you're reading. That's so creepy. It's so creepy.

Stephanie: It's creepy.

Katie: I know. And when, like what a coincidence that someone that's involved in the murder or knows what happened is out at the murder site, making a 911 call accidentally, and they're able to trace that call back there. Like, how does that happen? 

AJ: But how do they know that that's for sure what they said? Like did they have like professional audio people come in and like figure out what was being said? Cause it was muffled. So I feel like..., 

Katie: Yeah, I mean they must've because they did play it on the Up and Vanished podcast. But, yeah. So if you listen to that, you can't hear shit. It really is super muffled as if it was in a pocket. So they were able to obviously use some professional, probably able to extract that, or it could have been the 911 operator that took the call, cause it would have been clearer for her maybe, so she was like, yeah, this is what they said. So I don't know. 

Stephanie: There's no way that Molly Miller would be alive. Like she's not making the 911 calls, is she? 

AJ: No, but it wasn't her. It was just some random person. 

Katie: No, it was, it was coming from Colby Barrick's phone, which is Conn's uncle out at Moxley Lake which is just off Long Hollow Road.

Stephanie: Like who are these people?

Katie: Crime family. 

AJ: No, no, but he was the one, so he was the one who called and it was him speaking in the muffled voice? Like what was the, I mean, I guess you said you couldn't hear shit, so you don't know, but like, what did it sound like? A male voice? Was it a female voice? Like it was him, right? We know...

Katie: Yeah. I mean, I, there's no way for me to be like, yeah, it was Colby Barrick. That's just the information I'm getting that it was from his phone.

AJ: It doesn't mean it was from him though? 

Katie: No, it doesn't mean it was from him, but it was people that knew seemingly knew about what happened to Molly and Colt, and I mean, and Colby Barrick is Conn's uncle. So it kind of seems like all fits together. But we don't know for sure. 

Stephanie: Did Conn kill them for like drug money or something? This is where my head's going, but... 

Katie: You could go down so many rabbit holes thinking what happened. It is very eerie. Like maybe it was like a drug fueled kind of chase thing, and then something happened, but we know that Conn made it home while Molly and Colt were still out in those woods. So you think like why, if he was friends with Molly, why not, you know, go back, try to find her, bring them back to his house. Maybe he just didn't care. Maybe he, like I said, he was on drugs so he wasn't thinking straight. 

AJ: Was he thinking it could have been like a sick, practical joke. Like he was going to, I'm going to drive them out here and I'm going to abandon them and it will be funny. That could be something too. And then maybe when he realized that something bad has happened to them, then he felt like, oh, well I have to now kind of cover it up because it's going to make it seem like I'm the one, like if I said, oh, I was doing a practical joke, like maybe it would make people be suspicious of him. So maybe he tried to like cover it up in certain ways. I don't know. 

Katie: Yeah. And because like I was saying, there was a little bit of bad blood, it seems between Conn and Colt, because one of them is dating the other one's ex-girlfriend so obviously they're not happy about that. But why are they hanging out in the first place? But... 

AJ: I was also thinking there, maybe there's this love triangle thing going on between these, these three people.

Katie: It could have been. 

AJ: Like maybe Molly was with Colt and he was pissed and who knows? 

Katie: Yeah. So there was kind of speculation that people were thinking that Molly was kind of infatuated with Colt, like she had this kind of crush, even though she didn't know him for very long and we don't know what Colt's feelings really were. So it could have been this whole thing and maybe Conn was jealous of that. So, yeah, like I said, it just brings up more mysteries and questions then we actually get answers to. So Conn was eventually charged with something related to what happened that night. So in 2014, he was charged with endangering others while eluding the police, assault with a dangerous weapon and unauthorized use of a vehicle. And he only served four years out of a ten year sentence. But that's all he's ever been charged with so nothing that's related to Molly and Colt's disappearance at all. So when the FBI were doing their investigation, they also started looking into Sheriff Joe Russell, because you know, he's sketchy and the family were thinking that something was going on there because he showed little interest in investigating this case. And so as a result of that FBI investigation, Joe Russell is actually indicted with corruption in officer charges and habitual or willful neglect of duty. So he had two counts each for both of those. So surprise surprise, he was a corrupt sheriff. And as a result, he's actually eventually arrested on criminal charges in 2016 because he allegedly let his son, who is a convicted drug dealer deal meth out of their house. And he also allowed his son to use the police vehicles to go out on drug runs and deal meth with the police cars. And it's alleged as well that Conn could have been a part of this drug dealing in some way as well. So it was kind of this whole family enterprise drug thing happening. And yeah. So at least the sheriff is held accountable for his actions in some way. So allegations are also out there that the sheriff would like take girls in bikinis back to his house and he would give them drugs if they would strip for him. So just like a sleazy crooked cop. He actually resigned in 2016 amid all of this and he accepted a plea deal in 2017. So he was actually only sentenced to probation and house arrest as a result, as reported by Up and Vanished.

Stephanie: Really? 

Katie: Yeah. 

Stephanie: This case just gets worse.

Katie: I know. 

AJ: Are there any legit cops anymore? I genuinely question that. Like, it seems like every case we ever have ever done comes down to follow the police department. You'll get your answers. 

Katie: Yeah. It is kind of shocking how many times we come up with that conclusion that it was something that the police were trying to cover up.

AJ: It's usually some crooked cop in there somewhere. 

Katie: Yeah. And so he was the sheriff of this like small little community and just kind of running the town the way he wanted no consequences for him or his family. Like I said, Conn never had to really face any consequences because his uncle was the fucking sheriff. So, and then it wasn't until he finally resigned that Conn did actually get some jail time There were no murder charges, like no kidnapping or anything like that. It just had to do with evading police. So also in 2018 Colby Barrick, so he's Conn's uncle, the guy who pocket dialed 911, he gets arrested for gun possession. And while in jail, he comes forward with a tip that Molly and Colt's bodies are actually in Moxley Lake. And so Moxley Lake is where Molly's family feels that Colt and Molly's bodies actually are. And there was speculation that the bodies were moved from the Nipp's family property into Moxley Lake. And I'm thinking because that 911 call that day pinged in Moxley Lake, it's almost like what if they were moving the bodies that day into Moxley Lake and they happened to dial 911 like, wouldn't that just be a coincidence? And it seems like it's almost like a gift from the high heavens. Like they caught them literally red-handed in the act. 

AJ: Yeah. Like why, what shit luck they would have to have for it's like the moment that they're, they're hiding the bodies for them to accidentally dial 911. 

Katie: Yeah. They're talking about it and moving the bodies and meanwhile, 9 1 1 is listening, but I mean, uh, yeah, it's kinda crazy how that happened. But yeah, so that, like I said, that 911 call, that pocket dial had come in eight months after the disappearances, so they're thinking maybe they did move the bodies, eight months later. Still though Moxley Lake has never been searched by authorities. And of course the Nipp family refuses to have anyone on their property to search their property as well. So in January of 2021, Molly was declared legally dead, even though her body has never been recovered. And it was reported by Mike Rogers for K-12 News that the FBI actually opened up their own investigation. So they were involved in the investigation, but it wasn't their own investigation. They were just helping. And so they opened up actually their own investigation in May of 2021 because of an informant that had come forward with compelling information. And this was allegedly due to Molly's cousin, Paula convincing that person to go to the FBI with their information. So like I said, Paula is right in there telling this informant, like talk to the FBI and they actually do. So just in November of 2021, a search warrant was pending in Love County due to a probable cause affidavit that had been submitted by authorities. And that PI that I was talking about before, Phillip Klein, he tells K-12 News that all the evidence for the search warrant was pooled together a couple of years ago by all of the investigators and law enforcement agencies that had been involved. And so I guess that's a good example of all the groups kind of coming together, teamwork to get all their evidence in one place to get the search warrant. And so the search warrant was actually for an area that was close to Long Hollow Road. It's about a half a kilometer from where they had already done a search and a dig two to three years ago, but they just didn't get far enough to this particular location. Unfortunately though, that search warrant has been denied by a judge, November 30th, 2021. So like many missing persons cases, the answer to this whole thing is just on the tip of someone's tongue, probably on the tip of Conn's tongue and he won't talk. What makes this case a little bit different is that we know who knows what happened because a lot of the time it's the person that did it, or that knows something is unknown to police. But in this case, we actually know who knows. We still don't have any answers and they're still not justice. So that's all we have on this case. It's very mysterious. It's very, kind of like what the hell. Of course police corruption all in there. . 

AJ: Yeah, that's really creepy. The whole time you were describing everything with them being in the woods and stuff like it just gave me the heebie-jeebies. It's just, that's like my worst nightmare I feel is being lost in the woods at nighttime. The Up and Vanished podcast, that's the same one that did the Tara Grinstead case. Right? When we did that last season. 

Katie: Yeah. It's actually a coincidence. I'm not just listening to Up and Vanished and stealing all their cases. When we got that tip from the listener, I looked into it and it happened that they did one episode on it. So that was, um, a good source of information. But yeah, so... 

AJ: It is a little bit similar to the Tara Grinstead case, just in terms of it, you know, being a small town and all these people who might know each other and all these sort of twist and turns and all the questions that still exist. Right? So as you were reading that, I thought a lot about the Tara Grinstead case, just like the overall tone of it is similar. And so it's just interesting that it's the Up and Vanished podcast that also covered it. 

Katie: Yeah, it definitely is. It doesn't seem as convoluted as the Tara Grinstead one, but it does have the same kind of vibe where someone just goes missing and it seems like there's even less evidence in this case because it's like, there's no trace of them anywhere. 

AJ: Yeah, this one has like much fewer layers, but I feel it's still similar in terms of, you know, this person knows this person who might know this person who might know this information, you know? So...

Stephanie: Is that why the search in the woods was denied? Because there's not enough information to search that area?

Katie: I don't exactly know why it was denied. There's not much out there about that. All we know is that it was denied for some reason. The Love County police department is, they're saying that the case is still open and they are are still actively investigating, but I don't know if I can say it's gone cold, cause I feel like we know who knows, but they're just not talking. 

AJ: They know who knows, but we don't know who knows. Right? 

Katie: Well, I feel like Conn knows what happened. 

AJ: Yeah. 

Katie: He's definitely not saying everything right. He's saying he wasn't even with Molly and Colt that night. And from everything that I can find is that they know that he was for sure.

AJ: But it's never been officially confirmed that he is, that he is the one who knows something. Right? It was just, like we just assume that he does, which I guess, how could he not, if he was with them there, that with, if he was with them that night. In some way, I feel like he definitely knows more than he's saying. 

Katie: It's all speculation that he knows something considering if you put the pieces together, he was the last one to see them out there and he left them out in the woods. So, I mean...

AJ: Even if he doesn't know exactly what happened to them, at the very least, he knows more than he said, which then questions well, why is he withholding certain information? 

Stephanie: I'm curious to know, like if Conn and Sheriff Russell and the other guy that dialed 911, what was his name?

Katie: Colby. 

Stephanie: Yes. I feel like all three of them are involved in this disappearance of these two kids, because they're like all a drug family. They all are in drugs together.

AJ: Allegedly. 

Stephanie: Allegedly. Yes. But I feel like. I don't know, that's just my theory. I think they were all involved somehow and maybe they are in that lake out there.

Katie: Yeah. And it seems like even if the sheriff wasn't involved directly, he's either knows more than he's saying, or he's covering it up or, you know, he didn't want to look into it. So he wasn't helping either. So... , 

AJ: I mean, even though it's still so much a mystery, I feel in some ways it's, it's mysterious, but also it seems fairly, in my mind anyway, it seems fairly straightforward. I, I feel like definitely there's three major people like Conn and the, Joseph and the, Colby. Like, I feel there's definitely something there, even though we don't know the exact details of what, but I feel like it seems pretty obvious just based on these details that something to do with the three of them, or I don't know. Allegedly of course, cause I don't know anything, but... 

Katie: Yeah. And also what came up in Up and Vanished, like we were even talking about before that small town vibe kind of thing. It's not hard to believe that people in the town would know more than they're saying. And Up and Vanished was saying that people are scared to come forward. Not because they think that something's going to physically happen to them, they're not thinking someone's going to kill them if they come forward, but they're thinking that because they're never planning on leaving that town and so if they have information about the people that are involved or, you know, the police department, then it's kind of going to ruin their life in that town, so they don't want that to happen. So they're just going to leave it as is to protect kind of, you know, their livelihood in that town. So that's kind of unfortunate. 

AJ: Yeah. I feel every time we do cases where it's, you know, a small town, I always think of, you know, where people are hesitant to come forward. You know, the assumption that everyone knows more than what they're saying. And I think, I think a part of that is true. I feel like when you think of our, like our small town, if somebody were to, there was like a big mystery and somebody were to go missing, I feel you just know, kind of, or most people know, sort of like the small town gossip, so people might draw their own conclusions. So it's like, people might think that they know more than they know, but they really don't. It's just based on sort of gossip around the town. And I feel like that happens with any small town. And people are hesitant to come forward because everyone does know each other, so it's a lot more risk going forward. If you do know something, just because, you know, if that gets around the town, you know what I mean? So I feel like every time we cover a small town case, I always think of try to understand it from their perspective of the people in the town and why they might not come forward with certain things, just cause I feel like, you know, being from a small town that kind of relate to that feeling of everyone would know.

Katie: Yeah, I definitely, and people probably think, like you said, they probably think they know more than they actually do. You get in a small town, people know stuff about you that you don't even know about yourself. Right? Because people are just making stuff up. 

AJ: Yeah. And people love to speculate too. Like, you know, if somebody were to go missing from a small town, people will use a story that happened 20 years ago from that person's life. And then somehow draw it to like, what happened in the current day or something, or, you know what I mean? So people love to sort of feel like they might know and people love to speculate and theorize. So I think that's just inevitable, especially in a small town. 

Katie: Yeah, it definitely is. But if you're listening and you actually do think, you know something about this case, you can contact the Love County tip line on their website@lovecosheriff.com. And you can also call and speak to the sheriff directly or the undersheriff. This is a new sheriff remember it's not Joe Russell. You can call them at 580-276-3150 extension 2, or you can contact the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations as they are the primary investigating agency for this case. And their number is 405-848-6724. 

AJ: Crazy. That was a interesting case. I knew nothing really about it before you went into it. 

Katie: It's very mysterious.

Stephanie: I find it really eerie. Like I was just like AJ, goosebumps. It was so creepy. 

AJ: Yeah. I just feel like the, it was so vivid the way you were describing them being lost in the woods and like the 911 calls and all that stuff. It's like, I could like see it in my mind playing out as you were saying it, and it was really creepy, kind of felt like something you would see in like a horror movie. So definitely creepy. 

Katie: Yeah. Even researching that and then just picturing it in your mind, it is very, you can almost feel like it happening to you and just how distressful it would have been in that situation for sure. So everyone speculates that they're probably dead. I mean, Molly's legally declared dead. So their last few hours were probably just really scared and they were frantic and, you know, lost in the woods. So it's really tragic. And for these really young people that really had their whole life ahead of them.

Stephanie: You want to hope that they're alive, but at this point it's highly unlikely that they are.

Katie: Yeah. Where could they be if they were and why haven't they reached out to anyone yet is, you know, the first thing you think of.

AJ: I feel there's probably next to no chance that they're alive, unfortunately. I mean, I would be shocked if they were, you know, I think all signs point to the fact that they died that night or very shortly after. So... 

Katie: But it's very strange that that was the last area that they know they were because the cell phones are pinging there. They were calling people saying they were off Oswald Road, but they still haven't been able to find more evidence. Like they haven't searched that lake where they've gotten like multiple kind of hits and why haven't they searched that lake yet? Why haven't they searched that area where the search warrant is? It just seems like if they're out there and if they are, their bodies are dead out there somewhere, like why haven't they found them yet? It just seems like what's all the red tape about?

AJ: Yeah. And there's so many cases out there that literally have nothing to go on, no lead to, you would kill to have that information, you know. At an exact pinpointed, from a cell phone as to where they last were. So that's like golden information that you would love to have. And the fact that they have that in this case, and they're not doing more with it and they're not looking into it more. It's really sad. 

Katie: Yeah. And literally them telling their friends, at least Colt saying, " This is where I am, I'm off this road. Like, come find me", that kind of thing. And that doesn't happen all the time either. They usually have no idea where their last whereabouts were in a lot of cases.

AJ: Yeah, it seems like it should be case closed. You know, they have an exact location. 

Katie: I know, but it's still a cold case, so that's really, really crazy.

Okay. So that's it for the case today. Thanks for joining us. You can follow us on all the social medias on Facebook at Crime Family Podcast, Instagram @crimefamilypodcast, on Twitter @crimefamilypod1,, and you can email us with tips or case suggestions at crimefamilypodcast@gmail.com.

Thanks. See you next time. 

AJ: Bye bye.