September 5, 2025 • 41 mins
1:30 am, August 23, 2025, surveillance footage shows Dacara Thompson parking her car in Hyattsville. A person who father believes is Dacara is seen walking away from the car, which is facing the wrong way and in is front of a fire hydrant. As she walks away, she uses the key fob to lock the doors as the lights on the car blink. Dacara appears to be alone, nobody is seen walking with or near her as she walks out of frame. That's the last time Dacara was seen.
Now a bombshell arrest in the case after police discover more surveillance footage. According to PGPD, Thompson is seen approaching a black SUV in the early morning hours of Aug. 23. After speaking to the driver, Thompson enters the SUV. The driver then goes to a home in Bowie. Hugo Hernandez-Mendez, of Bowie, Md., arrested on charges of first- and second-degree murder.
Joining Nancy Grace today,
- Randolph Rice - Former Prosecutor and Current Criminal Defense & Civil Attorney at Rice, Murtha, Psoras, website: ricelawmd.com, IG, FB, X: @ricelawmd
- Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker,” featured in hit show: "Paris in Love" on Peacock, www.drbethanymarshall.com , Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, Twitter: @DrBethanyLive
- Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Host: "Mayhem in the Morgue”, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)
- Brian Fitzgibbons - Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security, Leads a team of investigators specializing in locating missing persons, website: www.uspasecurity.com, Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security, former Marine and Iraq war veteran
- Dave Mack - Crime Stories Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful young teen girl, Deacara, missing,
her car found abandoned. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This
is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being
with us. How does a teen girl nineteen years old
(00:21):
just disappear into thin air? I want you to look
at this video. This video is obtained from a neighbor's
surveillance like a ringe cam. Take a look at this
surveillance footage shows Deacara parking her car on Jasmine Terrace, Hiasville. Now,
(00:41):
her parents are convinced this is Jacara walking away and
if you notice, if we get there, you go see
the lights on her vehicle blank. She turns and locks
her car. Now she also parks directly in front of
a fire hydrant clearly marked do not park here. Then
(01:06):
we see her walking out of the frame. She is
by herself. She is not drunk, stumbling on drugs. She's
walking purposely forward, even thinking to turn back and with
her keyfob lock her vehicle. Okay, take a good long,
(01:30):
hard look at this, joining me and all Star panel.
But first, how did the whole thing start? Listen?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Dakara Thompson is the nineteen year old daughter of Carmen
and Daniel Thompson. The youngest of five siblings. Dakara is
living with her father for the summer at his home
in Lanta, Maryland. Around ten pm August twenty second, Nakara
tells her dad she's going to run out for a bit,
but we'll return shortly. Daniel calls Dakara at eleven fifty
but gets no response, so he texts her, telling her.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
He's going to bed.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
She immediately texted back, I got gas and I'm out.
I should be back soon.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I love you too, good night. Straight out to Brian Fitzgibbons.
Joining us Director Operations USPA Nationwide Security, he leads a
team of investigators specializing and locating missing people at uspasecurity
dot Com. Brian, thank you for being with us. I
find that extremely probative, the fact that she's with dad.
(02:29):
That is not unusual. She's spending the summer there. Parents
are split in Atlanta, Maryland. First, I want to find
out which I'll get from Dave mac the crime rate
there and the crime rate in the area where her
car's found. But it's just ten pm. She's nineteen years old, Okay,
she doesn't have to be at school the next morning,
(02:50):
so she tells dad she's going to run out. Then
he calls her eleven to fifty pm and they text.
She takes back immediately. I got gas and I'm out.
I should be back soon. I love you too, good night.
That's very probative to me, Brian. What do you make
(03:11):
of it?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, certainly you take this timeline, Nancy, and then you
look at that surveillance video. First of all, you mentioned
it in the intro that she was parked in front
of a fire hydrant. One thing that wasn't mentioned is
she was going the wrong direction of travel, all right,
so she's parked in the opposite direction. This leads me
to believe that she wasn't planning to be there long, okay,
(03:34):
so that she could have been making a quick stop
to do something or see someone prior to heading back
to Lanham, which is only ten fifteen miles down the road.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
How often has someone parked in front of a fire hydrant,
or on a yellow curve or on a ten minute
parking only when you think, hey, you know what, I'm
going to run in and run out. I'll be back
before they can tow my car. Maybe even put on
your emergency flashers to suggest to the meter maid, hey,
I'll be right back. You're right, that is significant, Brian Fitzgibbons.
(04:09):
She clearly knows what she's doing and she parks there.
Her parents agree that this was what they thought a
quick eron and she would be right back. So you
you ascertained all that from the way she parked, Brian, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I'm looking at this to add, you know, to the
narrative that in questions that we want answered that this
looks like somebody who is not planning to stay there
for a long time. Right, If you're parked in that manner,
it definitely makes me believe that.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Guys, if you know or think you know anything about
this missing teen girl to Kara, please dial Prince George's
County PD three zero one seven seven two eight nine
seven zero repeat three zero one seven seven two eight
nine seven zero. As we say in a law time
is of the essence straight out to doctor Bethany Marshall
(05:03):
joining us renow psycho analyst, joining us out of LA,
author of deal Breaker. You can see her now on
Peacock and find her at doctor Bethany Marshall dot com.
Doctor Bethany. I want to analyze very quickly before we
move forward with more facts that I believe are pertinent
what she said in her text to dad. First of all,
she tells him she's going out. If this is not
(05:25):
her sneaking out the window or surreptitiously sneaking out the
front door in her sock so it as not to
make a sound, and leaving with the lights off so
he doesn't know she's leaving. Around ten o'clock, she says, Hey,
I'm going to run out. I'll be right back. Then
he calls her. About an hour and a half later,
she didn't pick up. He texts and says, I'm going
(05:45):
to bed. She takes back immediately, and it sounds like her.
You know, we've had those cases, like in Gabby Patito
where Brian laundry. He's killed her, he's murdered her. Now
he's driving her forward transit back across the country, and
he's responding to her family's text. But he screws up.
He refers to Grandpa by his full name, Like if
(06:08):
I texted my sister and mentioned Daddy my dad, and
she wrote writes back Yes. Walter Malcolm Gray Sr. Loved
decaf at night. Okay, that would be wrong. He blew it,
he mistexted. But this text sounds like her and dad
believes it hurt her. And also she sounds upbeat. Hey,
(06:32):
I got a gas, I'm out. I'll be back soon.
I love you too, good night. Okay, analyze it. Help me.
I'm grasping at straws bethany.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
So the response to her dad suggests that she's oriented
to space and time. In other words, she's not high,
she's not drinking, nothing like that. The fact that her
father was not alarmed until an hour and a half later,
or perhaps not alarmed at all, just reached out to
see where she was, suggests that this behavior wasn't unusual.
Nineteen year olds are social, Nancy, so she could have
(07:02):
been visiting friends, you know, sitting at a cafe, something
like that.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
But also I would want to know.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
What is on that phone, you know, was she texting friends,
did she visit?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Did she visit somebody?
Speaker 5 (07:13):
You know?
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Her whereabouts in the hour and a half before her
father reached out are very important, as her friends would
also know. You know, nineteen year olds talked to their friends,
So did she talk to anybody about where she was
going and who she was seeing after she went to
the gas station.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Dave Matt Crime Stories investigative reporter. Have you seen the
other women that have gone missing in the last weeks
in the same jurisdiction, Erica Perry and Santia Desir They
look a lot like her, and they're all missing.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
This isn't the last days, Nancy. We're not talking weeks here.
We're talking the last days. These women are going missing.
There's no consistency here other than the fact that they were.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
In one case, Erica.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Was out walking at one in the afternoon, gone last
time she's seen.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
All three of women look like they could be sisters.
When you look at those pictures right there.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
They look like their sisters and all are now missing
from Prince George's County, America.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Wait a minute, hold that photo. Hold the photo, Bryan Fitzgibbons.
Look how precious, Look how cute they are, and importantly,
look at the similarities. Why do I care Because in
(08:39):
my experience of having investigated and tried together over ten thousand,
yes ten thousand, after over ten years trying cases in
intercity Atlanta of cases, perps have a type and I
hate to boil it down to a word, a type
(09:00):
the people. Ted Bundy initially picked out many of his victims.
All slight, thin, white females, long dark hair, typically part
of in the middle, brown eyes. They all look alike,
They all look similar. Look at the similarities in these
three young girls. You cannot get away from it.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Brian, shocking shocking similarities, Nancy, And what an anomaly to
say that we have these three women missing within ten
days of one another, in the same county, in the
same jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
This is a major anomaly. What do you mean by
major anomaly? Speak English Man. We're not all with USPA
nationwide security. Okay, I act like you're talking to a
person who's very fortunate. I like you and I that
have never been exposed to violent Okay, this is out
(10:02):
of the ordinary.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Is another way to say it, that this is not
a pattern you would expect, right, that this is something
that you do not see often. Three women, similar descriptions
from the same area going missing within ten days of
one another, and that none of them have turned up.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
You know, todave mac, I want to talk about the area.
We're saying three women similar in appearance go missing, all
unsolved in the same county. We are talking about Prince
George's county. What if anything, do we know about Prince
George's county? And while hold on day, Matt, while you
prepare that answer, I want to look at the video
(10:42):
one more time. Another thing I'd want to know, and
this is very significant. Randolph Rice is joining me from Maryland.
Former prosecutor, defense attorney, civil attorney at Rice Mirtha Sourus.
You can find them him at Rice LAWMD dot com
or Randolph. When I look at similar transactions when I'm
(11:03):
preparing a case for trial, and the defense attorney starts
gnashing his teeth and switching his tail when I say, hey,
I got eight similar transactions I want to bring in
his evidence. You have to look to see are the
victims similar? Are they similar in appearance? Are they similar
in age? For instance, did they all go to the
same school or were they all in the same class.
(11:25):
Did they all work at the same spot or in
the same area. One works at the library, one works
at the Starbucks across from the library. You look at that,
You look at the time of day or night. Did
they go missing. You look at whether boyfriends were involved.
You look at how they went missing. Were they all
driving their own car? And you look at the area.
(11:47):
Did they all disappear within three or four square blocks?
It matters, That's what I'm talking about in the more
points of similarity. Why do I care because it points
to one per Nancy?
Speaker 6 (12:01):
Dare I say, we might have a serial kidnapper in
that county?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
And you're exactly right.
Speaker 6 (12:06):
You know these consistencies, these are the things that prosecutors
like you and I look for try to develop the
pace against the person who has potentially taken these three women.
So you're right, is it the race, is it the location?
Is it a similar person they're meeting up with? And
that's kind of what my theory is here, is that
there is somebody that she is meeting, whether it be
(12:28):
a potential boyfriend or a love interest or dare I say,
was this something that she was out at one thirty
in the morning, maybe meeting up with somebody that was
a bit nefarious, something like a drug transaction, which I
hope that's not the case.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Well, hold on, stop everything, Rice, don't start with me.
This young girl has no history. She doesn't even have
a juvenile history, which is really hard to find out. No,
juvenile history, no current history, no drug problem, know nothing.
(13:01):
She's not out meeting a dope deal or what all
three women are out meeting the same dope dealer. Just
stop right there, Okay, do not drag the victim through
the mud. We don't know anything like that.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
I understand, Nancy, But I just I think that there
are obviously some more of this story, that there's possibly
something going on. Like my mother always said, nothing good
happens after midnight, Well this is after midnight, and I'm
worried that something bad happened after midnight.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
You totally stole that from nearly every single closing argument
I've ever given. And now you're saying you got it
from your mother. All right, fine, you got it from
your mother. That said, I want to talk about the
area very quickly, and I agree with almost everything Randolph
ri said that on trial. Lawyer, former felony prosecutor now
(13:45):
defense and civil Dave mac tell me about this Prince
George's county.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Right, like every other county in America, it's pretty spread out, Nancy.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
And when you look at the area here we're.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Looking at where Dakara was living with her dad is
in Lanham in Prince George's county, Lanam has a very
average crime rate, actually a.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
Little bit lower than in other areas.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
However, Hyattsville, Maryland, Okay, where we've got Dakara going missing,
where we have Erica Green going missing, that it's almost
double the crime rate in Hyattsville against the national average.
So you have Lantam, Maryland, where Dakara is living with
her dad, minimal crime rate or average. However, nine miles
(14:27):
away in Hyattsville, you've got almost double the crime rate.
And that's where we have all three of these women
now going missing from this area around Hyattsville and Riverdale.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Those you know, they bought up against one another.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
So yes, Prince George's county, but in the community of
Hyattsville and Riverdale where we've got our women going missing,
much higher than the national average.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Okay, Ryan has gibbons. Let's analyze what he just said.
If you've got the same perp snatching these women. First
of all, if they're being lured, the crime rate area
of the area doesn't matter. But see what I mean,
because it's not like random crime. They go out in
(15:13):
a high crime rate area and they get mugged and
killed or kidnapped, all right, it's high crime. But if
it's the same purp, go with me on this. If
it's the same perp that is alluring them in some way,
he could be doing that from anywhere in Prince George,
see what I mean. So crime rate does matter if
it's not the same perp. If it is the same perp,
(15:33):
then it's not as relevant. I mean, we cannot discount it. Brian.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Yeah, the relevant common connection is where the last known
location of all three of these women was in Hyattsville. Okay,
So that's going to immediately and we know a general
time for each of them, the date and a general
time for each of them, and in the car is case,
we have a very specific time. So that's going to
lead investigators to be able to analyze traffic cam, license
(16:00):
plate readers, any security footage around the last known locations
of all three women.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
My goodness, or look, guys, look, look look at her.
She's going to a dance or something. Oh my goodness,
she's so beautiful. Where is Decara? Listen?
Speaker 7 (16:29):
Daniel Thompson wakes up around ten am on August twenty
third and doesn't see his daughter or her car parked outside,
calling and texting fails to get an answer or reply,
so Daniel calls to Kara's mother, Carmen. She hasn't heard
from Decara, so she immediately begins tracking Deacara's iPhone. Her
current location was off, but it did show her last
(16:51):
known location near the intersection of Jasmine Terrace and Riggs Road.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
In the last hours niece about Deacara, Dave mac what
have you learned? Nancy?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Police have been playing the investigation close to the vest,
but in a shocking turn of events, police now say
they were able to find additional surveillance video from the
night Dakara Thompson parked her car in front of a
fire hydrant facing the wrong direction.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
In this new video, it shows what.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Happened after da Kara walks past the post office receptacle
that was sitting there and it reveals another vehicle, a
black SUV and the driver inside begins talking to Dakara. Now,
something we've learned about Dakara and Nancy is that she's
not a great driver, and considering the time of night
it's like one point thirty in the morning when she
(17:41):
parks her car, and how her car has parked in
front of a fire hydrant. The wrong direction and you
can tell it's parked several feet off the curb. Is
it possible that she was confused and maybe even lost,
and she's talking to the man in the black suv
for just a moment and then gets in the vehicle.
He somehow can this is her to get in. Investigators
(18:02):
are able to track that vehicle. This is the big
issue here. Investigators are able to track that black suv
to a home in the twelve thousand block of Cambridge
Drive in Bowie, Maryland, more than twenty five miles away
from where she parked her car in Hyattsville.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Dave mac do we know a cod Nancy?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
A search warrant was served early today at the home
on Cambridge Drive in Bowie, Maryland. In particular, they searched
the room where Hugo Hernandez Mendez lives. Evidence indicates Dakara
was murdered in that room, then her body was moved
to the location where it was found. No cause of
death has been released at this time.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Dave may, I don't understand how her body is found
twenty miles away, at least twenty miles away from her car.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Still a lot of unanswered questions at this point. We
don't know why. Suspect Hugo Hernandez Mendez was in Hyattsville,
Maryland at the time he came in contact with Takara, However,
does get in his suv.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
He takes her back to his room in.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Bowie, where he allegedly kills her, and then drives another
twenty miles from Bowie to where he dumps her body
near Annapolis, Maryland. Dave matt who is the purp The
suspect is Hugo Hernandez Mendez. He's thirty five years old
in the United States illegally. Here's the kicker. Hernandez Mendez
(19:24):
was arrested back in April on a dui charge, but
he was released pending his trial and appearance in court.
Now he's sitting in jail charged with first and second
degree murder. He is in custody and being held without bond.
Speaker 8 (19:39):
On September fifth, detectives from the Prince George's County Police
Department's Homicide Division developed probable cause to present charges for
the murder of Dakar Thompson. This morning, criminal charges were
issued for first degree and second degree.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Murder WUSA nine using to find my iPhone app Daniel
to Thomson arrives at Jasmine Terrace and Riggs Road in
Hyattsville and finds Dacara's twenty thirteen white Ford Edge parked
going the wrong direction in front of a fire hydrant,
but Dakara is nowhere around. Daniel Thompson calls police. Inside
the car, they find Dakara's purse with sixty dollars cash,
(20:17):
her driver's license, debit cards, bank cards, and house keys.
Speaker 8 (20:21):
On September fourth, several search warrants were obtained and executed
pertaining to this case, which led detectives to obtain enough
probable cause to take Hugo ren Hernandez Mendez into custody
and present him to the Core Commissioner for the murder
of Dakar.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Thompson WSA nine Crime Stores with Nancy Grace. Back to
the facts of the case. Doctor Kendall Crowns is joining
US renowned medical examiner chief Medical Examiner in Terrance County.
(21:04):
That's fort Worth. He is an esteemed lecturer at the
Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, and he's a starvenue
hit podcast Mayhem in the Morgue. All that's well and good,
but what I care about is the literally thousands and
thousands of autopsies and investigations he has performed, Doctor Kimdall Crowns.
(21:27):
This is why I say I believe she was taken
in a car or she's in a structure, because if
they are doing the search, as I believe that they are,
cadaver dogs and scent dogs would have been brought out.
A cadaver dog will hit on dead tissue, dead human tissue.
(21:49):
How long would tissue a body? How long would it
take until a cadaver dog would sense it? When does
that body start decomposing? There's really not a nice way
to put this. When does the body begin to smell?
Speaker 9 (22:05):
So bodies start decomposing the moment after they die, your
body starts breaking down. The minute your part stops ceasing,
you start breaking down. But what you're talking about is
when it gets to the moderate stage of decomposition, when
the body begins to bloat and gases begin to form,
and you start getting the smell of death, which people
(22:26):
like to talk about. So that would be at about
two days two to three days ish, depending on the weather.
If it's hot outside of it'll be quicker, if it's
cold outside it'd be slower. But on average, under perfect circumstances,
about two to three days, you'll start seeing the bloat,
the green discoloration, and you'll start seeing the or you
(22:47):
start smelling the gases that are formed. That's usually when
the vultures start circling.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Dodgic Keittle Crowns. I'm going to ignore the vulture imagery
and move forward with a scientific discussion of bloat. Why
does the body bloat? And is that when the body
begins to smell.
Speaker 9 (23:08):
So Bloating is the swelling of the body from the
decompositional gases produced by the bacteria in your body, breaking
you down into like a liquid form basically, and the
bloating that occurs. It causes the body to diffusely swell
the face, the breast, the abdomen, the genitalia, and that
is from the gas that is being formed. And the
(23:29):
gas being formed is what causes the smell.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Doctor Kendall Crowns, You've dealt with this literally thousands of times.
Are you saying that after two to three days, dogs
would absolutely cadaver dogs would absolutely have hit on her
if she were lying out in the open.
Speaker 9 (23:46):
I would think so, yes.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Doctor Kendall Crowns. Would it matter the cod cause of death?
Would her body be more quickly findable by cadaver dogs
if she had been shot versus asphyxiated versus ligature strangling
versus stabbed The manner the cause of death cause of
death does that in any way enhance the smell for
(24:13):
dogs to find.
Speaker 9 (24:14):
So, decomposition rates can be affected by the manner or
the cause of which the individual died. In times when
they're beaten or strangled, or where there's a large amount
of like physical activity associated with the death, that will
actually increase the rate of decomposition and cause the individual
to decompose faster. So, yes, it matters if they're beaten
(24:37):
or strangled, but if they're shot or stabbed it may
not matter. Also, if they're using some sort of drug
like cocaine or methamphetamine, that can also increase the rate
of decomposition and make the smell occur quicker.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
You see where I'm going with this. Brian has givens
USPA nationwide security. That's why I'm saying she is not
lying out in a forested area or and a dump
or behind a Dixie dumpster. She hasn't been a throne
in a trash bag on the street behind one of
those buildings we were looking out of that video. Let's
take a look at the video again. Because dogs would
(25:11):
have found her immediately. They haven't. That tells me she
may have been taken in a vehicle or she's in
a structure. What do you think?
Speaker 3 (25:19):
And adding to your point, you know, this area that
she was last seen is densely populated, number of large
apartment complexes nearby. If she were somewhere laying in that area,
hidden in that area, she would have been discovered pretty quickly.
Speaker 7 (25:37):
Well.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Once analyze this, Dave Matt Crime Stories investigative reporter, the
dad uses they find my iPhone app He arrives at
Jasmine Terrace and rigs. Okay, important note right here the
dad when he realizes he wakes up so she hasn't
responded to text and calls, he immediately calls nine one one.
You know what that tells me that she hold on
(25:58):
let me go to Bethany on this, Dave, hold on Bethany.
That tells me that this was not an every night occurrence,
because if she routinely didn't show up the next morning,
he wouldn't call police. He go, eh, she slept out again.
Not He immediately calls police. That tells me something, Bethany,
she never stays out all night. This is extremely unusual
(26:20):
behavior for her. So something did happen to her the
night before. That's what it tells me. Back to Dave
Mac he uses find my iPhone app and we've seen
that in a lot of other cases. And he gets
to Jasmine Terrace in Riggs Road, that's Height School. He
finds her white forward edged part as pointed out earlier
by Fitzgibbons, wrong direction in front of a fire hydrant.
(26:44):
He immediately calls police. In the car, they find, well,
you tell me what did they find in Ducara's car, Nancy.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
They found her purse with sixty dollars cash in it.
They found her car keys. They didn't find her keep bob,
but we see when she's walking away it looks like
she's using the key bob to block it. They found
everything except her phone and again the key bob, everything
else left in the car and by the way it's
left on top of the seat. It was like she
got out but was planning to come right back, parked
(27:15):
in front of that fire hydrant going the wrong way.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Not known as a great driver.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
But it seems odd that she would leave all of
those things sitting right there, like she was just hopping
out for a minute. And when she but she never
comes back. That's why God love her. Her mother, Her mother Carmen,
actually where they found the vehicle. She stayed there. She
stayed there waiting to see if her daughter would come
back for forty eight hours. Yet Nancy, for forty eight hours.
(27:42):
This mother, Carmen, you see the picture of her right there.
She waited for forty eight hours in that spot, praying,
hoping her daughter would come back looking for her car.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
You know, Dave Matt Mahart's already breaking, But to think
of her mother refusing to leave the car's car, just
standing there waiting, pace, crying, begging, praying, waiting to see
her daughter walk around the corner of one of those
apartment complexes, had come back to Mom. To Randolph Rice
(28:11):
joining us, former prosecutor, current defense attorney and civil lawyer,
this is important. Why do I care if she was
going to come straight back to the car. She wasn't
planning on leaving the jurisdiction. She wasn't going on a trip,
She wasn't going away for the weekend, because nobody in
their right mind, and she was texting and speaking coherently
(28:32):
and joyfully up until she disappeared. Nobody in the right
mind would leave money, their pocketbook, driver's license, debit cards,
bank cars, and house keys on the seat. No, that
would not happen. This is telling us something. What about it, Randolph, Well.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
What this also tells us is this is not a
robbery or a theft. So the fact that those items
are still in our car or whatever happened the next step,
whatever we see outside, we don't see outside of this frame,
didn't involve somebody coming back to the car to get
those items, which is very telling a prosecutor that could
be something that again, you know there's somebody else involved
(29:15):
outside of this frame. This is where cell phone records
come into play, because you've got the pinging off of
towers all around this area. And my thought is, if
I'm the prosecutor, I'm getting my detectives to start collecting
cell phone tower data immediately to try to find a connection.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
And with all of those apartments and businesses, clearly they've
got ring door cams, they have surveillance video. Where is
it I want to see it, guys, you were looking
at a nineteen year old teen girl who staying the
summer with dad says Hey, I'm going out. I'll be
right back. She's never seen again. This as we now know,
(29:51):
three women disappearing over the last weeks in the same area.
This was not a carjack. This was not a theft.
What was it? Listen? Her purse was in her car.
It had sixty dollars cash, and.
Speaker 10 (30:07):
The only thing she had with her was her phone
and her keyfob.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Mom Carmen Thompson says since all of Dakara's money, wallet,
and purse were in the seat of her vehicle, she
thought she was coming right back. The only thing Dakara
has with her when she leaves her car is her
phone and keyfob. As the search begins for Dakara, her
mother won't leave and remains at the spot where her
SUV was parked for the next forty eight hours, waiting
(30:32):
for her daughter to return.
Speaker 10 (30:33):
I sat there for two days for forty eight hours,
just to see if she or someone else would come
back to look for the car, and nobody ever came back.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
WUSA nine Crime Stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
When she left her father's home the night of August
twenty second. She said she was going to get some
gas and be out for a bit, but would return shortly.
Investigators find surveillance footage at a Shell gas station at
the Eastgate shopping Center in Lanam, Prince George's County, showing
Dakara getting out of her twenty thirteen white Ford Edge
as she gets gassed. This is before the vehicle is
parked in front of a fire hydrant facing the wrong
(31:19):
direction in Hyattsville, about nine miles away from her father's
home in Lantam.
Speaker 10 (31:24):
She hasn't used any money, so I'm like, what is
she eating? She has the same clothes for seven day.
Something has to be wrong. Somebody has her. Somebody has
that from our.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Friends at WUSA nine and you hear mom saying, what
is she eating? Is she starving? She hasn't used her money,
her debit cards, credit cards, She's wearing the same clothes
for seven days. Something is wrong. Somebody has her. That's
what Mom is saying now in the last hours.
Speaker 8 (31:54):
Listen, we believe the murder occurred in the home on
Cambridge Drive, in her Nandez's bedroom. Her body was taken
to the location that it was recovered at by Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
At that time.
Speaker 8 (32:10):
At this time, there are.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
No additional suspects.
Speaker 8 (32:13):
However, this investigation is ongoing.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
WUSA nine. Okay, Dave Matt Crime Stories investigative reporter. Let
me understand, a body has been found near another disabled car.
Authorities are saying the body is not connected to the
disabled car. I'm not really sure how they know that,
but that's what they're saying. They're also saying they have
(32:36):
not identified the body. All I want is a yes? No?
Is all that correct?
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Okay? Doctor Kendall Crown's joining me, Chief Medical Examiner Terrance
County and star Off Mayhem in the Morgue podcast. Doctor
crowns what they can't id the body? And now wait
a minute, it has been several days, one, two, three, four,
(33:05):
five days, going on six. You can get a DNA
match within twenty four hours. It's not going to be
a one in five million DNA match, but it'll be
a one in eight hundred DNA match. So if they
can't id the body, and why can't they look at
the body and tell me? Is it her? Is she
(33:28):
wearing the same clothes? I can see her clothes that
she's wearing. That makes me wonder is the body unclothed,
is the face disfigured? I mean we've had plenty of
time for a DNA match, Doctor Krows, That's correct.
Speaker 9 (33:40):
You can get DNA matches quite quickly on individuals with
the rapid DNA screens.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Okay, what is that rapid DNA screen?
Speaker 9 (33:49):
Rapid DNA it's the crime lambs that we use here
in Texas have rapid DNA screens where I know they
can do a rapid analysis to get identifications on bodies
quicker than the average DNA turnaround times.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
I mean, doctor Kendall, Crown's immediate DNA matches have been
made in times of war, promptly, immediately. This is not
new technology. So a DNA match can be made within hours. Again,
it's not going to be one in eight octillion, it's
(34:27):
going to be one in eight hundred or one in
one thousand, which in this case is good enough. So
that leads me to a whole host of questions to
doctor Bethany. This could mean any number of things. All
they're saying is the body found is quote similar. What
does that mean? Remember Gabby Potito's body had been so
(34:50):
destroyed by animals eating her. There's just really not a
lot of people say animal activity to make it somehow
sound better. Ryan Laundry left her dead body out there
for animals to tear apart. She was first identified by
a unique T shirt that she was wearing. So we're
not getting a match to Takara. Why are we not
(35:12):
getting a match? It could be any number of things.
What do you think?
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Well, what I'm thinking about it's hard to speak to that,
But what I'm thinking about is serial killers, serial killers
and was she the victim of one? And is there
a serial killer in the area who's going on a
killing spree. So here's the thing about serial killers. They
are very mobile. Once they've had victims in one city,
they will drive and drive and drive to another one.
(35:38):
They often go underground for long periods of time, and
then they strike, and often they'll have one, two, three
more victims, and then they go underground again. They have
the same victim types. And these women look so similar.
The two other women disappeared in the afternoon, Nancy like
they were snatched. Now, the fact that serial killers are
(35:58):
so mobile and they spend a lot of time looking
for just the right victim tells me that that possibly
there was some killer driving around these neighborhoods, just like
Brian Koberger with the white Elantra. I think it's important
for the police or the investigators to look at all
(36:20):
the surveillance footage in the area and say who has
been driving driving driving around? That's what I think is important.
And you don't fancy that video because you're playing it again,
it looks like a mailbox in the corner.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Did you notice that?
Speaker 4 (36:36):
And then she goes out of the frame, and she
also lifts her arm up to the right just a
little bit after she's already locked the car. So I
was wondering if she was pushing pulling a piece of
mail out. Also, I would ask her parents. You know,
nineteen year olds don't normally mail things. But did she
have an application, a college application or something that she
(36:57):
really needed to mail?
Speaker 1 (36:58):
And was that something on her errand list to Randolph
Rice joining Us former felony prosecutor now criminal and civil
defense attorney at Rice Mertha and Sourus Randolph, what do
you make of this The fact that they're saying I
was similar. For all I know, is one of the
two other victims that go missing in the same time
(37:19):
span as Takara or Lord help us a fourth person
and Nancy. I was thinking the exact same thing because
the state.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
Police and the Prince George's County Police Department are being
so tight lipped about the fact who thisinct actually is,
which body this is, It's possible it could be one
of these other women that have gone missing in the
past couple of weeks. So that same question arises when
I think about this body found out Root fifty, which
is a heavily travel road. This is the road that
(37:48):
connects Baltimore, Washington, d C. To the eastern shore of Maryland,
and this time of year there are thousands, tens of
thousands of cars traveling that road every single hour.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Now, what do you believe Brian Is Gibbons, USPA Nationwide
Security jumping off what Randolph Rois just said, What does
that have to do with this heavily heavily traveled area.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Yeah, you have three major roadways leading out of Hyattsville
heading to Route fifty in Anna Rundell County. You know,
off the top of my head, I don't remember the
route numbers, but there are three major routes that are
going to have license plate readers that are going to
have surveillance cameras. So what I really think is that
(38:32):
the police are going to hold back some information about
this body as they start to analyze who she could
have been meeting up with, who drove out of that
area in the days, you know, the hours following her disappearance.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
You know, another issue, Brian is the heavily populated area
where she walks away from her vehicle. Look, that's what
we're seeing from that side. But what we're getting is
clearly ring cam surveillance video from another dwelling. So you
see the walkway leading right up to it. So she's
(39:07):
walking through a lot of homes, a lot of residences.
They've got to have ring cams. What can we learn?
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Yeah, you would think that there's more security footage as
she heads towards Riggs Road here. And another thing to
point out, you know, doctor Bethany, you know, pointed out
that her arm was up. My first inclination there is
is she communicating with somebody? Is she speaking to somebody
who's off camera there? You know, that was my first
(39:37):
reaction to that.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
I don't see anyone. What do you make of that,
Dave mac I don't notice for speaking to anyone off camera.
Do you see that?
Speaker 2 (39:45):
I wait, no, I went frame by frame on that video, Nancy,
to see what else could be found.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
Nobody in the car, and nobody's standing near the car. Nothing.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Just I don't know why her arm was pointing out,
maybe double checking the locking, I don't know, but sadly,
that's all we have right now. And by the way,
this didn't come from the police. This actually was given
to the family by the guys, by the man who
actually had this video, so he gave it to the
family and to a local TV station.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
That's how we got it.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Another question that we didn't bring up is her phone
was disabled. Does that mean it was cut off? Does
that mean it it was cut off? It didn't run
out of battery, Dave Mac, it was particularly it was
intentionally cut off.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
That's what we've been told, is that she was disconnected
off no idea at this point.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
According to her family, she never cut her phone off.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Right, And that's that's why they tracked it by my
iPhone app because they gave him the last known location.
But it was off from that moment. The minute she
gets there, her phone's off for whatever reason. Once she
gets past that mailbox.
Speaker 5 (40:48):
It's done.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
A search warrant was served early today at the home
on Cambridge Drive in Bowie, Maryland. The suspect is Hugo
Hernandez Mendez. He's thirty five years old in the United
States dates illegally. No cause of death has been released
at this time.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
If you know or think you know anything about the
disappearance of Dakara or the other ladies, please dial three
zero one seven seven two eight nine seven zero, repeat
three zero one seven seven to two eight nine seven zero.
(41:26):
We remember an American Hero Officer, Tara Cook, Whitfield County, Georgia,
killed in a light of duty, leaving behind a grieving husband,
Seth American Hero Officer Tara Cook Rest in peace. End
(41:46):
of Watch Nancy Gray signing off goodbye friend.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful young teen girl, Deacara, missing,
her car found abandoned. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This
is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being
with us. How does a teen girl nineteen years old
(00:21):
just disappear into thin air? I want you to look
at this video. This video is obtained from a neighbor's
surveillance like a ringe cam. Take a look at this
surveillance footage shows Deacara parking her car on Jasmine Terrace, Hiasville. Now,
(00:41):
her parents are convinced this is Jacara walking away and
if you notice, if we get there, you go see
the lights on her vehicle blank. She turns and locks
her car. Now she also parks directly in front of
a fire hydrant clearly marked do not park here. Then
(01:06):
we see her walking out of the frame. She is
by herself. She is not drunk, stumbling on drugs. She's
walking purposely forward, even thinking to turn back and with
her keyfob lock her vehicle. Okay, take a good long,
(01:30):
hard look at this, joining me and all Star panel.
But first, how did the whole thing start? Listen?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Dakara Thompson is the nineteen year old daughter of Carmen
and Daniel Thompson. The youngest of five siblings. Dakara is
living with her father for the summer at his home
in Lanta, Maryland. Around ten pm August twenty second, Nakara
tells her dad she's going to run out for a bit,
but we'll return shortly. Daniel calls Dakara at eleven fifty
but gets no response, so he texts her, telling her.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
He's going to bed.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
She immediately texted back, I got gas and I'm out.
I should be back soon.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I love you too, good night. Straight out to Brian Fitzgibbons.
Joining us Director Operations USPA Nationwide Security, he leads a
team of investigators specializing and locating missing people at uspasecurity
dot Com. Brian, thank you for being with us. I
find that extremely probative, the fact that she's with dad.
(02:29):
That is not unusual. She's spending the summer there. Parents
are split in Atlanta, Maryland. First, I want to find
out which I'll get from Dave mac the crime rate
there and the crime rate in the area where her
car's found. But it's just ten pm. She's nineteen years old, Okay,
she doesn't have to be at school the next morning,
(02:50):
so she tells dad she's going to run out. Then
he calls her eleven to fifty pm and they text.
She takes back immediately. I got gas and I'm out.
I should be back soon. I love you too, good night.
That's very probative to me, Brian. What do you make
(03:11):
of it?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, certainly you take this timeline, Nancy, and then you
look at that surveillance video. First of all, you mentioned
it in the intro that she was parked in front
of a fire hydrant. One thing that wasn't mentioned is
she was going the wrong direction of travel, all right,
so she's parked in the opposite direction. This leads me
to believe that she wasn't planning to be there long, okay,
(03:34):
so that she could have been making a quick stop
to do something or see someone prior to heading back
to Lanham, which is only ten fifteen miles down the road.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
How often has someone parked in front of a fire hydrant,
or on a yellow curve or on a ten minute
parking only when you think, hey, you know what, I'm
going to run in and run out. I'll be back
before they can tow my car. Maybe even put on
your emergency flashers to suggest to the meter maid, hey,
I'll be right back. You're right, that is significant, Brian Fitzgibbons.
(04:09):
She clearly knows what she's doing and she parks there.
Her parents agree that this was what they thought a
quick eron and she would be right back. So you
you ascertained all that from the way she parked, Brian, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I'm looking at this to add, you know, to the
narrative that in questions that we want answered that this
looks like somebody who is not planning to stay there
for a long time. Right, If you're parked in that manner,
it definitely makes me believe that.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Guys, if you know or think you know anything about
this missing teen girl to Kara, please dial Prince George's
County PD three zero one seven seven two eight nine
seven zero repeat three zero one seven seven two eight
nine seven zero. As we say in a law time
is of the essence straight out to doctor Bethany Marshall
(05:03):
joining us renow psycho analyst, joining us out of LA,
author of deal Breaker. You can see her now on
Peacock and find her at doctor Bethany Marshall dot com.
Doctor Bethany. I want to analyze very quickly before we
move forward with more facts that I believe are pertinent
what she said in her text to dad. First of all,
she tells him she's going out. If this is not
(05:25):
her sneaking out the window or surreptitiously sneaking out the
front door in her sock so it as not to
make a sound, and leaving with the lights off so
he doesn't know she's leaving. Around ten o'clock, she says, Hey,
I'm going to run out. I'll be right back. Then
he calls her. About an hour and a half later,
she didn't pick up. He texts and says, I'm going
(05:45):
to bed. She takes back immediately, and it sounds like her.
You know, we've had those cases, like in Gabby Patito
where Brian laundry. He's killed her, he's murdered her. Now
he's driving her forward transit back across the country, and
he's responding to her family's text. But he screws up.
He refers to Grandpa by his full name, Like if
(06:08):
I texted my sister and mentioned Daddy my dad, and
she wrote writes back Yes. Walter Malcolm Gray Sr. Loved
decaf at night. Okay, that would be wrong. He blew it,
he mistexted. But this text sounds like her and dad
believes it hurt her. And also she sounds upbeat. Hey,
(06:32):
I got a gas, I'm out. I'll be back soon.
I love you too, good night. Okay, analyze it. Help me.
I'm grasping at straws bethany.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
So the response to her dad suggests that she's oriented
to space and time. In other words, she's not high,
she's not drinking, nothing like that. The fact that her
father was not alarmed until an hour and a half later,
or perhaps not alarmed at all, just reached out to
see where she was, suggests that this behavior wasn't unusual.
Nineteen year olds are social, Nancy, so she could have
(07:02):
been visiting friends, you know, sitting at a cafe, something
like that.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
But also I would want to know.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
What is on that phone, you know, was she texting friends,
did she visit?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Did she visit somebody?
Speaker 5 (07:13):
You know?
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Her whereabouts in the hour and a half before her
father reached out are very important, as her friends would
also know. You know, nineteen year olds talked to their friends,
So did she talk to anybody about where she was
going and who she was seeing after she went to
the gas station.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Dave Matt Crime Stories investigative reporter. Have you seen the
other women that have gone missing in the last weeks
in the same jurisdiction, Erica Perry and Santia Desir They
look a lot like her, and they're all missing.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
This isn't the last days, Nancy. We're not talking weeks here.
We're talking the last days. These women are going missing.
There's no consistency here other than the fact that they were.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
In one case, Erica.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Was out walking at one in the afternoon, gone last
time she's seen.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
All three of women look like they could be sisters.
When you look at those pictures right there.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
They look like their sisters and all are now missing
from Prince George's County, America.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Wait a minute, hold that photo. Hold the photo, Bryan Fitzgibbons.
Look how precious, Look how cute they are, and importantly,
look at the similarities. Why do I care Because in
(08:39):
my experience of having investigated and tried together over ten thousand,
yes ten thousand, after over ten years trying cases in
intercity Atlanta of cases, perps have a type and I
hate to boil it down to a word, a type
(09:00):
the people. Ted Bundy initially picked out many of his victims.
All slight, thin, white females, long dark hair, typically part
of in the middle, brown eyes. They all look alike,
They all look similar. Look at the similarities in these
three young girls. You cannot get away from it.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Brian, shocking shocking similarities, Nancy, And what an anomaly to
say that we have these three women missing within ten
days of one another, in the same county, in the
same jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
This is a major anomaly. What do you mean by
major anomaly? Speak English Man. We're not all with USPA
nationwide security. Okay, I act like you're talking to a
person who's very fortunate. I like you and I that
have never been exposed to violent Okay, this is out
(10:02):
of the ordinary.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Is another way to say it, that this is not
a pattern you would expect, right, that this is something
that you do not see often. Three women, similar descriptions
from the same area going missing within ten days of
one another, and that none of them have turned up.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
You know, todave mac, I want to talk about the area.
We're saying three women similar in appearance go missing, all
unsolved in the same county. We are talking about Prince
George's county. What if anything, do we know about Prince
George's county? And while hold on day, Matt, while you
prepare that answer, I want to look at the video
(10:42):
one more time. Another thing I'd want to know, and
this is very significant. Randolph Rice is joining me from Maryland.
Former prosecutor, defense attorney, civil attorney at Rice Mirtha Sourus.
You can find them him at Rice LAWMD dot com
or Randolph. When I look at similar transactions when I'm
(11:03):
preparing a case for trial, and the defense attorney starts
gnashing his teeth and switching his tail when I say, hey,
I got eight similar transactions I want to bring in
his evidence. You have to look to see are the
victims similar? Are they similar in appearance? Are they similar
in age? For instance, did they all go to the
same school or were they all in the same class.
(11:25):
Did they all work at the same spot or in
the same area. One works at the library, one works
at the Starbucks across from the library. You look at that,
You look at the time of day or night. Did
they go missing. You look at whether boyfriends were involved.
You look at how they went missing. Were they all
driving their own car? And you look at the area.
(11:47):
Did they all disappear within three or four square blocks?
It matters, That's what I'm talking about in the more
points of similarity. Why do I care because it points
to one per Nancy?
Speaker 6 (12:01):
Dare I say, we might have a serial kidnapper in
that county?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
And you're exactly right.
Speaker 6 (12:06):
You know these consistencies, these are the things that prosecutors
like you and I look for try to develop the
pace against the person who has potentially taken these three women.
So you're right, is it the race, is it the location?
Is it a similar person they're meeting up with? And
that's kind of what my theory is here, is that
there is somebody that she is meeting, whether it be
(12:28):
a potential boyfriend or a love interest or dare I say,
was this something that she was out at one thirty
in the morning, maybe meeting up with somebody that was
a bit nefarious, something like a drug transaction, which I
hope that's not the case.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Well, hold on, stop everything, Rice, don't start with me.
This young girl has no history. She doesn't even have
a juvenile history, which is really hard to find out. No,
juvenile history, no current history, no drug problem, know nothing.
(13:01):
She's not out meeting a dope deal or what all
three women are out meeting the same dope dealer. Just
stop right there, Okay, do not drag the victim through
the mud. We don't know anything like that.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
I understand, Nancy, But I just I think that there
are obviously some more of this story, that there's possibly
something going on. Like my mother always said, nothing good
happens after midnight, Well this is after midnight, and I'm
worried that something bad happened after midnight.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
You totally stole that from nearly every single closing argument
I've ever given. And now you're saying you got it
from your mother. All right, fine, you got it from
your mother. That said, I want to talk about the
area very quickly, and I agree with almost everything Randolph
ri said that on trial. Lawyer, former felony prosecutor now
(13:45):
defense and civil Dave mac tell me about this Prince
George's county.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Right, like every other county in America, it's pretty spread out, Nancy.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
And when you look at the area here we're.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Looking at where Dakara was living with her dad is
in Lanham in Prince George's county, Lanam has a very
average crime rate, actually a.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
Little bit lower than in other areas.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
However, Hyattsville, Maryland, Okay, where we've got Dakara going missing,
where we have Erica Green going missing, that it's almost
double the crime rate in Hyattsville against the national average.
So you have Lantam, Maryland, where Dakara is living with
her dad, minimal crime rate or average. However, nine miles
(14:27):
away in Hyattsville, you've got almost double the crime rate.
And that's where we have all three of these women
now going missing from this area around Hyattsville and Riverdale.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Those you know, they bought up against one another.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
So yes, Prince George's county, but in the community of
Hyattsville and Riverdale where we've got our women going missing,
much higher than the national average.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Okay, Ryan has gibbons. Let's analyze what he just said.
If you've got the same perp snatching these women. First
of all, if they're being lured, the crime rate area
of the area doesn't matter. But see what I mean,
because it's not like random crime. They go out in
(15:13):
a high crime rate area and they get mugged and
killed or kidnapped, all right, it's high crime. But if
it's the same purp, go with me on this. If
it's the same perp that is alluring them in some way,
he could be doing that from anywhere in Prince George,
see what I mean. So crime rate does matter if
it's not the same perp. If it is the same perp,
(15:33):
then it's not as relevant. I mean, we cannot discount it. Brian.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Yeah, the relevant common connection is where the last known
location of all three of these women was in Hyattsville. Okay,
So that's going to immediately and we know a general
time for each of them, the date and a general
time for each of them, and in the car is case,
we have a very specific time. So that's going to
lead investigators to be able to analyze traffic cam, license
(16:00):
plate readers, any security footage around the last known locations
of all three women.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
My goodness, or look, guys, look, look look at her.
She's going to a dance or something. Oh my goodness,
she's so beautiful. Where is Decara? Listen?
Speaker 7 (16:29):
Daniel Thompson wakes up around ten am on August twenty
third and doesn't see his daughter or her car parked outside,
calling and texting fails to get an answer or reply,
so Daniel calls to Kara's mother, Carmen. She hasn't heard
from Decara, so she immediately begins tracking Deacara's iPhone. Her
current location was off, but it did show her last
(16:51):
known location near the intersection of Jasmine Terrace and Riggs Road.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
In the last hours niece about Deacara, Dave mac what
have you learned? Nancy?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Police have been playing the investigation close to the vest,
but in a shocking turn of events, police now say
they were able to find additional surveillance video from the
night Dakara Thompson parked her car in front of a
fire hydrant facing the wrong direction.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
In this new video, it shows what.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Happened after da Kara walks past the post office receptacle
that was sitting there and it reveals another vehicle, a
black SUV and the driver inside begins talking to Dakara. Now,
something we've learned about Dakara and Nancy is that she's
not a great driver, and considering the time of night
it's like one point thirty in the morning when she
(17:41):
parks her car, and how her car has parked in
front of a fire hydrant. The wrong direction and you
can tell it's parked several feet off the curb. Is
it possible that she was confused and maybe even lost,
and she's talking to the man in the black suv
for just a moment and then gets in the vehicle.
He somehow can this is her to get in. Investigators
(18:02):
are able to track that vehicle. This is the big
issue here. Investigators are able to track that black suv
to a home in the twelve thousand block of Cambridge
Drive in Bowie, Maryland, more than twenty five miles away
from where she parked her car in Hyattsville.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Dave mac do we know a cod Nancy?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
A search warrant was served early today at the home
on Cambridge Drive in Bowie, Maryland. In particular, they searched
the room where Hugo Hernandez Mendez lives. Evidence indicates Dakara
was murdered in that room, then her body was moved
to the location where it was found. No cause of
death has been released at this time.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Dave may, I don't understand how her body is found
twenty miles away, at least twenty miles away from her car.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Still a lot of unanswered questions at this point. We
don't know why. Suspect Hugo Hernandez Mendez was in Hyattsville,
Maryland at the time he came in contact with Takara, However,
does get in his suv.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
He takes her back to his room in.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Bowie, where he allegedly kills her, and then drives another
twenty miles from Bowie to where he dumps her body
near Annapolis, Maryland. Dave matt who is the purp The
suspect is Hugo Hernandez Mendez. He's thirty five years old
in the United States illegally. Here's the kicker. Hernandez Mendez
(19:24):
was arrested back in April on a dui charge, but
he was released pending his trial and appearance in court.
Now he's sitting in jail charged with first and second
degree murder. He is in custody and being held without bond.
Speaker 8 (19:39):
On September fifth, detectives from the Prince George's County Police
Department's Homicide Division developed probable cause to present charges for
the murder of Dakar Thompson. This morning, criminal charges were
issued for first degree and second degree.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Murder WUSA nine using to find my iPhone app Daniel
to Thomson arrives at Jasmine Terrace and Riggs Road in
Hyattsville and finds Dacara's twenty thirteen white Ford Edge parked
going the wrong direction in front of a fire hydrant,
but Dakara is nowhere around. Daniel Thompson calls police. Inside
the car, they find Dakara's purse with sixty dollars cash,
(20:17):
her driver's license, debit cards, bank cards, and house keys.
Speaker 8 (20:21):
On September fourth, several search warrants were obtained and executed
pertaining to this case, which led detectives to obtain enough
probable cause to take Hugo ren Hernandez Mendez into custody
and present him to the Core Commissioner for the murder
of Dakar.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Thompson WSA nine Crime Stores with Nancy Grace. Back to
the facts of the case. Doctor Kendall Crowns is joining
US renowned medical examiner chief Medical Examiner in Terrance County.
(21:04):
That's fort Worth. He is an esteemed lecturer at the
Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, and he's a starvenue
hit podcast Mayhem in the Morgue. All that's well and good,
but what I care about is the literally thousands and
thousands of autopsies and investigations he has performed, Doctor Kimdall Crowns.
(21:27):
This is why I say I believe she was taken
in a car or she's in a structure, because if
they are doing the search, as I believe that they are,
cadaver dogs and scent dogs would have been brought out.
A cadaver dog will hit on dead tissue, dead human tissue.
(21:49):
How long would tissue a body? How long would it
take until a cadaver dog would sense it? When does
that body start decomposing? There's really not a nice way
to put this. When does the body begin to smell?
Speaker 9 (22:05):
So bodies start decomposing the moment after they die, your
body starts breaking down. The minute your part stops ceasing,
you start breaking down. But what you're talking about is
when it gets to the moderate stage of decomposition, when
the body begins to bloat and gases begin to form,
and you start getting the smell of death, which people
(22:26):
like to talk about. So that would be at about
two days two to three days ish, depending on the weather.
If it's hot outside of it'll be quicker, if it's
cold outside it'd be slower. But on average, under perfect circumstances,
about two to three days, you'll start seeing the bloat,
the green discoloration, and you'll start seeing the or you
(22:47):
start smelling the gases that are formed. That's usually when
the vultures start circling.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Dodgic Keittle Crowns. I'm going to ignore the vulture imagery
and move forward with a scientific discussion of bloat. Why
does the body bloat? And is that when the body
begins to smell.
Speaker 9 (23:08):
So Bloating is the swelling of the body from the
decompositional gases produced by the bacteria in your body, breaking
you down into like a liquid form basically, and the
bloating that occurs. It causes the body to diffusely swell
the face, the breast, the abdomen, the genitalia, and that
is from the gas that is being formed. And the
(23:29):
gas being formed is what causes the smell.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Doctor Kendall Crowns, You've dealt with this literally thousands of times.
Are you saying that after two to three days, dogs
would absolutely cadaver dogs would absolutely have hit on her
if she were lying out in the open.
Speaker 9 (23:46):
I would think so, yes.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Doctor Kendall Crowns. Would it matter the cod cause of death?
Would her body be more quickly findable by cadaver dogs
if she had been shot versus asphyxiated versus ligature strangling
versus stabbed The manner the cause of death cause of
death does that in any way enhance the smell for
(24:13):
dogs to find.
Speaker 9 (24:14):
So, decomposition rates can be affected by the manner or
the cause of which the individual died. In times when
they're beaten or strangled, or where there's a large amount
of like physical activity associated with the death, that will
actually increase the rate of decomposition and cause the individual
to decompose faster. So, yes, it matters if they're beaten
(24:37):
or strangled, but if they're shot or stabbed it may
not matter. Also, if they're using some sort of drug
like cocaine or methamphetamine, that can also increase the rate
of decomposition and make the smell occur quicker.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
You see where I'm going with this. Brian has givens
USPA nationwide security. That's why I'm saying she is not
lying out in a forested area or and a dump
or behind a Dixie dumpster. She hasn't been a throne
in a trash bag on the street behind one of
those buildings we were looking out of that video. Let's
take a look at the video again. Because dogs would
(25:11):
have found her immediately. They haven't. That tells me she
may have been taken in a vehicle or she's in
a structure. What do you think?
Speaker 3 (25:19):
And adding to your point, you know, this area that
she was last seen is densely populated, number of large
apartment complexes nearby. If she were somewhere laying in that area,
hidden in that area, she would have been discovered pretty quickly.
Speaker 7 (25:37):
Well.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Once analyze this, Dave Matt Crime Stories investigative reporter, the
dad uses they find my iPhone app He arrives at
Jasmine Terrace and rigs. Okay, important note right here the
dad when he realizes he wakes up so she hasn't
responded to text and calls, he immediately calls nine one one.
You know what that tells me that she hold on
(25:58):
let me go to Bethany on this, Dave, hold on Bethany.
That tells me that this was not an every night occurrence,
because if she routinely didn't show up the next morning,
he wouldn't call police. He go, eh, she slept out again.
Not He immediately calls police. That tells me something, Bethany,
she never stays out all night. This is extremely unusual
(26:20):
behavior for her. So something did happen to her the
night before. That's what it tells me. Back to Dave
Mac he uses find my iPhone app and we've seen
that in a lot of other cases. And he gets
to Jasmine Terrace in Riggs Road, that's Height School. He
finds her white forward edged part as pointed out earlier
by Fitzgibbons, wrong direction in front of a fire hydrant.
(26:44):
He immediately calls police. In the car, they find, well,
you tell me what did they find in Ducara's car, Nancy.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
They found her purse with sixty dollars cash in it.
They found her car keys. They didn't find her keep bob,
but we see when she's walking away it looks like
she's using the key bob to block it. They found
everything except her phone and again the key bob, everything
else left in the car and by the way it's
left on top of the seat. It was like she
got out but was planning to come right back, parked
(27:15):
in front of that fire hydrant going the wrong way.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Not known as a great driver.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
But it seems odd that she would leave all of
those things sitting right there, like she was just hopping
out for a minute. And when she but she never
comes back. That's why God love her. Her mother, Her mother Carmen,
actually where they found the vehicle. She stayed there. She
stayed there waiting to see if her daughter would come
back for forty eight hours. Yet Nancy, for forty eight hours.
(27:42):
This mother, Carmen, you see the picture of her right there.
She waited for forty eight hours in that spot, praying,
hoping her daughter would come back looking for her car.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
You know, Dave Matt Mahart's already breaking, But to think
of her mother refusing to leave the car's car, just
standing there waiting, pace, crying, begging, praying, waiting to see
her daughter walk around the corner of one of those
apartment complexes, had come back to Mom. To Randolph Rice
(28:11):
joining us, former prosecutor, current defense attorney and civil lawyer,
this is important. Why do I care if she was
going to come straight back to the car. She wasn't
planning on leaving the jurisdiction. She wasn't going on a trip,
She wasn't going away for the weekend, because nobody in
their right mind, and she was texting and speaking coherently
(28:32):
and joyfully up until she disappeared. Nobody in the right
mind would leave money, their pocketbook, driver's license, debit cards,
bank cars, and house keys on the seat. No, that
would not happen. This is telling us something. What about it, Randolph, Well.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
What this also tells us is this is not a
robbery or a theft. So the fact that those items
are still in our car or whatever happened the next step,
whatever we see outside, we don't see outside of this frame,
didn't involve somebody coming back to the car to get
those items, which is very telling a prosecutor that could
be something that again, you know there's somebody else involved
(29:15):
outside of this frame. This is where cell phone records
come into play, because you've got the pinging off of
towers all around this area. And my thought is, if
I'm the prosecutor, I'm getting my detectives to start collecting
cell phone tower data immediately to try to find a connection.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
And with all of those apartments and businesses, clearly they've
got ring door cams, they have surveillance video. Where is
it I want to see it, guys, you were looking
at a nineteen year old teen girl who staying the
summer with dad says Hey, I'm going out. I'll be
right back. She's never seen again. This as we now know,
(29:51):
three women disappearing over the last weeks in the same area.
This was not a carjack. This was not a theft.
What was it? Listen? Her purse was in her car.
It had sixty dollars cash, and.
Speaker 10 (30:07):
The only thing she had with her was her phone
and her keyfob.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Mom Carmen Thompson says since all of Dakara's money, wallet,
and purse were in the seat of her vehicle, she
thought she was coming right back. The only thing Dakara
has with her when she leaves her car is her
phone and keyfob. As the search begins for Dakara, her
mother won't leave and remains at the spot where her
SUV was parked for the next forty eight hours, waiting
(30:32):
for her daughter to return.
Speaker 10 (30:33):
I sat there for two days for forty eight hours,
just to see if she or someone else would come
back to look for the car, and nobody ever came back.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
WUSA nine Crime Stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
When she left her father's home the night of August
twenty second. She said she was going to get some
gas and be out for a bit, but would return shortly.
Investigators find surveillance footage at a Shell gas station at
the Eastgate shopping Center in Lanam, Prince George's County, showing
Dakara getting out of her twenty thirteen white Ford Edge
as she gets gassed. This is before the vehicle is
parked in front of a fire hydrant facing the wrong
(31:19):
direction in Hyattsville, about nine miles away from her father's
home in Lantam.
Speaker 10 (31:24):
She hasn't used any money, so I'm like, what is
she eating? She has the same clothes for seven day.
Something has to be wrong. Somebody has her. Somebody has
that from our.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Friends at WUSA nine and you hear mom saying, what
is she eating? Is she starving? She hasn't used her money,
her debit cards, credit cards, She's wearing the same clothes
for seven days. Something is wrong. Somebody has her. That's
what Mom is saying now in the last hours.
Speaker 8 (31:54):
Listen, we believe the murder occurred in the home on
Cambridge Drive, in her Nandez's bedroom. Her body was taken
to the location that it was recovered at by Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
At that time.
Speaker 8 (32:10):
At this time, there are.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
No additional suspects.
Speaker 8 (32:13):
However, this investigation is ongoing.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
WUSA nine. Okay, Dave Matt Crime Stories investigative reporter. Let
me understand, a body has been found near another disabled car.
Authorities are saying the body is not connected to the
disabled car. I'm not really sure how they know that,
but that's what they're saying. They're also saying they have
(32:36):
not identified the body. All I want is a yes? No?
Is all that correct?
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Okay? Doctor Kendall Crown's joining me, Chief Medical Examiner Terrance
County and star Off Mayhem in the Morgue podcast. Doctor
crowns what they can't id the body? And now wait
a minute, it has been several days, one, two, three, four,
(33:05):
five days, going on six. You can get a DNA
match within twenty four hours. It's not going to be
a one in five million DNA match, but it'll be
a one in eight hundred DNA match. So if they
can't id the body, and why can't they look at
the body and tell me? Is it her? Is she
(33:28):
wearing the same clothes? I can see her clothes that
she's wearing. That makes me wonder is the body unclothed,
is the face disfigured? I mean we've had plenty of
time for a DNA match, Doctor Krows, That's correct.
Speaker 9 (33:40):
You can get DNA matches quite quickly on individuals with
the rapid DNA screens.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Okay, what is that rapid DNA screen?
Speaker 9 (33:49):
Rapid DNA it's the crime lambs that we use here
in Texas have rapid DNA screens where I know they
can do a rapid analysis to get identifications on bodies
quicker than the average DNA turnaround times.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
I mean, doctor Kendall, Crown's immediate DNA matches have been
made in times of war, promptly, immediately. This is not
new technology. So a DNA match can be made within hours. Again,
it's not going to be one in eight octillion, it's
(34:27):
going to be one in eight hundred or one in
one thousand, which in this case is good enough. So
that leads me to a whole host of questions to
doctor Bethany. This could mean any number of things. All
they're saying is the body found is quote similar. What
does that mean? Remember Gabby Potito's body had been so
(34:50):
destroyed by animals eating her. There's just really not a
lot of people say animal activity to make it somehow
sound better. Ryan Laundry left her dead body out there
for animals to tear apart. She was first identified by
a unique T shirt that she was wearing. So we're
not getting a match to Takara. Why are we not
(35:12):
getting a match? It could be any number of things.
What do you think?
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Well, what I'm thinking about it's hard to speak to that,
But what I'm thinking about is serial killers, serial killers
and was she the victim of one? And is there
a serial killer in the area who's going on a
killing spree. So here's the thing about serial killers. They
are very mobile. Once they've had victims in one city,
they will drive and drive and drive to another one.
(35:38):
They often go underground for long periods of time, and
then they strike, and often they'll have one, two, three
more victims, and then they go underground again. They have
the same victim types. And these women look so similar.
The two other women disappeared in the afternoon, Nancy like
they were snatched. Now, the fact that serial killers are
(35:58):
so mobile and they spend a lot of time looking
for just the right victim tells me that that possibly
there was some killer driving around these neighborhoods, just like
Brian Koberger with the white Elantra. I think it's important
for the police or the investigators to look at all
(36:20):
the surveillance footage in the area and say who has
been driving driving driving around? That's what I think is important.
And you don't fancy that video because you're playing it again,
it looks like a mailbox in the corner.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Did you notice that?
Speaker 4 (36:36):
And then she goes out of the frame, and she
also lifts her arm up to the right just a
little bit after she's already locked the car. So I
was wondering if she was pushing pulling a piece of
mail out. Also, I would ask her parents. You know,
nineteen year olds don't normally mail things. But did she
have an application, a college application or something that she
(36:57):
really needed to mail?
Speaker 1 (36:58):
And was that something on her errand list to Randolph
Rice joining Us former felony prosecutor now criminal and civil
defense attorney at Rice Mertha and Sourus Randolph, what do
you make of this The fact that they're saying I
was similar. For all I know, is one of the
two other victims that go missing in the same time
(37:19):
span as Takara or Lord help us a fourth person
and Nancy. I was thinking the exact same thing because
the state.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
Police and the Prince George's County Police Department are being
so tight lipped about the fact who thisinct actually is,
which body this is, It's possible it could be one
of these other women that have gone missing in the
past couple of weeks. So that same question arises when
I think about this body found out Root fifty, which
is a heavily travel road. This is the road that
(37:48):
connects Baltimore, Washington, d C. To the eastern shore of Maryland,
and this time of year there are thousands, tens of
thousands of cars traveling that road every single hour.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Now, what do you believe Brian Is Gibbons, USPA Nationwide
Security jumping off what Randolph Rois just said, What does
that have to do with this heavily heavily traveled area.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Yeah, you have three major roadways leading out of Hyattsville
heading to Route fifty in Anna Rundell County. You know,
off the top of my head, I don't remember the
route numbers, but there are three major routes that are
going to have license plate readers that are going to
have surveillance cameras. So what I really think is that
(38:32):
the police are going to hold back some information about
this body as they start to analyze who she could
have been meeting up with, who drove out of that
area in the days, you know, the hours following her disappearance.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
You know, another issue, Brian is the heavily populated area
where she walks away from her vehicle. Look, that's what
we're seeing from that side. But what we're getting is
clearly ring cam surveillance video from another dwelling. So you
see the walkway leading right up to it. So she's
(39:07):
walking through a lot of homes, a lot of residences.
They've got to have ring cams. What can we learn?
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Yeah, you would think that there's more security footage as
she heads towards Riggs Road here. And another thing to
point out, you know, doctor Bethany, you know, pointed out
that her arm was up. My first inclination there is
is she communicating with somebody? Is she speaking to somebody
who's off camera there? You know, that was my first
(39:37):
reaction to that.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
I don't see anyone. What do you make of that,
Dave mac I don't notice for speaking to anyone off camera.
Do you see that?
Speaker 2 (39:45):
I wait, no, I went frame by frame on that video, Nancy,
to see what else could be found.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
Nobody in the car, and nobody's standing near the car. Nothing.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Just I don't know why her arm was pointing out,
maybe double checking the locking, I don't know, but sadly,
that's all we have right now. And by the way,
this didn't come from the police. This actually was given
to the family by the guys, by the man who
actually had this video, so he gave it to the
family and to a local TV station.
Speaker 5 (40:11):
That's how we got it.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Another question that we didn't bring up is her phone
was disabled. Does that mean it was cut off? Does
that mean it it was cut off? It didn't run
out of battery, Dave Mac, it was particularly it was
intentionally cut off.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
That's what we've been told, is that she was disconnected
off no idea at this point.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
According to her family, she never cut her phone off.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Right, And that's that's why they tracked it by my
iPhone app because they gave him the last known location.
But it was off from that moment. The minute she
gets there, her phone's off for whatever reason. Once she
gets past that mailbox.
Speaker 5 (40:48):
It's done.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
A search warrant was served early today at the home
on Cambridge Drive in Bowie, Maryland. The suspect is Hugo
Hernandez Mendez. He's thirty five years old in the United
States dates illegally. No cause of death has been released
at this time.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
If you know or think you know anything about the
disappearance of Dakara or the other ladies, please dial three
zero one seven seven two eight nine seven zero, repeat
three zero one seven seven to two eight nine seven zero.
(41:26):
We remember an American Hero Officer, Tara Cook, Whitfield County, Georgia,
killed in a light of duty, leaving behind a grieving husband,
Seth American Hero Officer Tara Cook Rest in peace. End
(41:46):
of Watch Nancy Gray signing off goodbye friend.
Host
Nancy Grace
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