December 23, 2024 • 39 mins
Rachel Hansen is well-known in the Gilbert community as a bona fide horse whisperer.
At 14, Rachel teaches younger children to ride and breaks yearlings. She excels academically, is the only girl on the football team, and shines as a star soccer player. So accomplished, she graduates high school early at just 16. After graduating, Rachel runs a busy horse training business, AZ Hansen Horses, where she finds and breaks wild horses for clients. She also arranges to live and work as a trainer on a ranch in Queen Creek.
While living and working on the ranch, Rachel's relationship with the owner begins to deteriorate. A payment dispute arises over a breeding deal involving Rachel's mare, Dash, and an accident while transporting horses damages a trailer. The owner informs Rachel she won't be paid for her final month of work and her services are no longer needed. Rachel removes her belongings from the property and plans to move into an apartment she's subletting to tenants the following week.
Rachel moves some belongings into the apartment. Though still mostly empty, it’s enough for her to sleep there. She decides to spend the night. Around midnight, Rachel wakes to someone standing over her. She screams, and the intruder flees. It appears they had a key. Rachel's fiancé arrives quickly and replaces her lock with one from his father's house. He suggests calling the police, but Rachel believes the intruder simply didn’t realize the previous tenants had moved out.
Just after 2 a.m., Rachel Hansen calls 911 and says, “Someone broke in and shot me.” The dispatcher gets Rachel's address and instructs her on how to stop the bleeding while police and paramedics are en route. Rachel says she doesn't have any cloth or towel nearby to use.
The dispatcher notes Rachel is becoming less responsive and sounds close to passing out. The dispatcher also warns officers that the shooter has left the apartment but advises them to remain vigilant.
An officer finds Rachel crumpled on the bathroom floor with a gunshot wound to her chest. Another officer sweeps the apartment and discovers blood and a spent shell casing in Rachel's bed. Officers note the apartment seems unusually empty, but there are no signs of a struggle, and Rachel's jewelry and other valuables remain untouched. The case remains unsolved
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Kim Hansen - Mother
- Justin Yentes – Private Investigator for Grimm Family and Criminal Defense Investigator at Arizona Investigative Associates; IG: @truthbefoundposcast
- Dr. Brie Pileggi - Board Certified Forensic Psychologist at Veritas Forensic Psycholog;y IG and FB: @veritasforensicpsych
- Dr. Eric Eason – Board-certified Forensic Pathologist, Consultant; Instagram: @eric_a_eason, Facebook: Eric August Eason, LinkedIn: Eric Eason, MD
- Ashley Holden - Reporter ABC15 Phoenix, AZ; www.abc15.com; IG & FB: @ashleyvholdentv
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. The Wild and Panicked dash.
Bodycam footage shows cops storming a teen girls home after
her terrified nine one one call. I'm Nancy Grace. This
is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
An independent nineteen year old calls nine one one when
an intruder breaks into her apartment. She tells the operator,
I've been shot.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Hi, I've been shot. Someone gets shot me. What address
you have? South corn On the Street apartment.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
So nineteen twenty five South Coronata Street in Gilbert unit.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yes, please please hurry, please.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Please please let.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Me get this over paramedics to get you free. Arrival
of anyone in the home with you? No, did the
person leave? Yes, stay on the phone with me. Okay,
I'm going to get this over to paramedics.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
With that much notice the shere had just left the apartment,
but still Rachel's murder is unsolved. With me at all
Star panel of guests to make sense of what we
know tonight, but straight out to a special guest joining
us is Kim Hansen. This is Rachel's mother, Miss Hanson.
(01:25):
Thank you for being with us, and I want to
apologize for what we are going to discuss. I wonder
how upsetting it must be to hear her on that
nine to one one call.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
Yes, it is. We have never heard anything.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
We've just seen a transcript, so it is it's difficult
to hear.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Miss Hanson. Tell me how you learned something had gone
horribly wrong.
Speaker 6 (01:52):
Well, I was in Indiana at the time, babysitting two
of our grandchildren, and my husband called me about ten
o'clock in the morning and told me to sit down.
He had to tell me some very disturbing news. He
first learned around seven am Saturday morning, when two Gilbert
(02:12):
police officers came to our home and knocked on our
front door and sat down with him.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Tell me, Miss Hansen, what your husband told you he
had learned from police.
Speaker 6 (02:24):
Well, he just said that Rachel's gone. We've lost her,
and she had been shot one time. She had been
transported to the hospital where they fought for three hours
to save her life, and I'm very grateful for that.
I was able to speak to the surgeon afterwards for
(02:47):
about an hour, and he told me everything they did,
and they felt like they were going to be able
to save her because she was so young and so strong,
but she just was not able to pull through.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Was very coherent and I could understand everything she said
when she called nine one one. So yes, what did
you learn after that, Miss Hanson?
Speaker 5 (03:12):
Just that she was very coherent.
Speaker 7 (03:15):
She was able to jump out of bed grab her.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
Cell phone as she would do because she was just
such a fighter and when anything was wrong, she was
the first to jump in and try to solve it.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
So that's what she did for herself.
Speaker 6 (03:28):
And she was coherent until paramedics were there and starting
to work on her, and then she kind of lost
the ability, the consciousness and to answer their questions.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Miss Hanson, what have you learned about the exact nature
of the gunshot? Where was she shot?
Speaker 6 (03:47):
She was shot one time and it entered her lower
left abdomen and traveled through so many vital organs and
arteries in her body and exited the top shoulder.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So lower left abdomen trajectory path going upward exit from
the top right shoulder. Is that correct?
Speaker 5 (04:08):
That is correct? Yes?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Was she left handed or right handed?
Speaker 7 (04:11):
She was right handed.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
That is very critical in the analysis of what happened,
Miss Hansen. Tell me about Rachel. We are showing videos
and photos of her right now, she's the real life
horse whisperer.
Speaker 6 (04:28):
Yes, yes, Rachel absolutely was, and it came very, very
naturally to her. She came to our family when she
was six years old as a child that had been
in foster care and needed a permanent home, and we
were more than willing to.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Give that to her.
Speaker 6 (04:49):
So at six years old, she joined our family in
February and was legally adopted in May. And at that
time we had sold and rehomed all of our horses
from our older biological daughters who had gone to college
and got married, and so we were kind of moving
(05:09):
out of that. But sweet Rachel would climb up on
the fence and look out at the past year area
and just long for a horse, and so, knowing that's
what this little girl needed to work through a lot
of the trauma that she'd had, we got her a horse,
and that's where it all started. And we would come
(05:29):
downstairs early in the morning and she would already be
sitting on the back of a horse in the backyard,
all by herself, and she just.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Lived on the back of whatever horse we had.
Speaker 6 (05:42):
We started, obviously with an older, very gentle horse, and
then she progressed and we got another one that was
younger that she could work more with, and the beautiful
mayor that you see her on Mostly We got Dash
when Rachel was twelve and Dash was four.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Miss Hanson, you mentioned that Rachel was working through the
trauma that she suffered being in the foster system, which
in my experience can be overwhelming. What trauma to what
trauma are you referring?
Speaker 6 (06:18):
Rachel clearly could speak of this herself, so I know
it is the truth.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
When she was three years old, her biological mother left.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
The home about ten o'clock at night to get milk
and never returned, so that was her first loss. Then
she was living in an apartment with who she assumed
was her father or grandfather, about a sixty year old
man that cared for her for a short time, and
(06:48):
then she found him dead.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
On the floor, so that was a second loss for her.
Speaker 6 (06:53):
So at that time she was immediately taken to emergency
receiving foster care where she stayed for a short time
in a shelter environment, and then went to a home,
a foster home who said they were going to adopt her,
but after about six months changed their mind and told
(07:14):
her they were not going to adopt her, but that
she could stay there until her forever family was found.
So that was her third abandonment in.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
Just six years. So that's a lot of trauma for
a small child. And it was at that time she
came to.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Us, poor sweet girl. And now this we have learned
a lot from the bodycam and you heard our nine
on one reenact. Listen to the bodycam.
Speaker 8 (07:46):
It's rather than wanting.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
To buy her.
Speaker 8 (07:51):
Things, going to be Rachel, she's there, she's person.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
You are hearing the officer stating, what's your name, what's
your name? Talk to me, Rachel, stay with us, Rachel,
stay with me, and more he's good.
Speaker 9 (08:38):
One more officer, we can at least go down there
and clear make sure that's sitting over there.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
We need to clear down this hall.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
But there there's nothing there.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
You can't go any further. Joining me. In addition to
Rachel's mom, Kim Hansen is Justin. Yis Justin yis feral
defense investigator at Arizona Investigative Associates. Justin. This case is
(09:07):
so upsetting because as you hear the officers stating, we
got to go clear the building, We got to clear
this hall. They're clearing it because they know the shooter
has just left. But yet we still don't have the killer.
We don't.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
It's been two two and a half years and correct,
we still have no arrests in this case and no
finalization for the Hansons.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Do you believe that the apartment was processed appropriately, Justin
yenttez for fingerprints, anything that could lead us to the killer.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
From my understanding it was unfortunately or you know, just
the situation is that it is an ongoing investigation, and
so while we have been able to obtain some records
from Gilbert Police under the Arizona Public Records Law, there's
quite a bit that's been redacted. So we don't know
to what extent the SEENO was processed, or what evidence
(10:03):
all was found, and what type of testing or follow
up investigation was done on that. Most of the indications
of that have been redacted.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Question, Justin, was the weapon recovered?
Speaker 4 (10:15):
As far as I know, no, it was not.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace joining me in addition to
Kim Hansen and Justin Yentis investigative reporter at ABC fifteen Phoenix,
Ashley Holden, Ashley, thank you for being with us. Thank
you for having me Nancy Ashley, what can you tell
me about the area specifically apartment complex, Well.
Speaker 10 (10:46):
The area itself and the apartment complex. Gilbert is considered
a pretty safe community in the East Valley, and people
think of it as a place that they want to
raise a family. Many people think of it as like
a small town area just outside of Phoenix, so kind
of suburbia, if you will. But the apartment that you're
(11:07):
looking at this is a gated Gilbert apartment complex that
one would think would be very safe. One thing that
we noted from that over three hundred and thirty plus
page police report.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
That we just got this month was that.
Speaker 10 (11:23):
When police went and they started asking people for camera footage,
some of the neighbors had ring doorbell footage, but this
complex told police that they didn't have any working cameras,
which is something as you look at this apartment complex,
you would think that they would have.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Does it never end? Justin yentis joining US investigator at
Arizona Investigative Associates. How can any body forget the case
of Summer Intern NBC Chandra Levy remember so much timed
pass before her case was solved years and it brought
(12:03):
down a Congressman Gary Condent, do you recall that, long
story short, the building where Seanja lived had repeating video
and so by the time police realized they need to
look at her leaving in the lobby. Did she have
(12:24):
on an evening dress, did she have on a cocktail dress?
Did she have on jogging gear? Was she alone? Which
way did she head out of the apartment building? Long
story short, they lost all that because it repeated over
after seventy two hours. And here now we learn that
the apartment complex had video cameras that didn't work.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah, that's correct, and generally speaking, security tape records over
every thirty to ninety days, but in this case it
just was non existent.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
So Holden investigative reporter ABC fifteen, Ashley, you stated that
some of the neighbors had ring doorbell footage. Yeah, that's what.
Speaker 10 (13:09):
We can tell in that police report is that they
describe seeing some footage that shows Rachel kind of in
the hours leading up, walking around with people, doing things
like going to the pool. But as justin mentioned, there
are major major parts of that police report that has
been redacted, and so many things that were in that
(13:30):
report we don't know, We can't read, so we don't
know exactly what police have when it comes to video,
other than what is unredacted in that report.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Just after two am, Rachel Hansen calls nine to one
one and says someone broke in and shot me. The
dispatcher gets Rachel's address and tries to help her stop
the bleeding while police and paramedics are on the way.
Rachel says she doesn't have any kind of cloth or
town near her to use, and the dispatcher notes that
Rachel is less and less responsive and it sounds like
she's about to pass out. The dispatcher notes that the
(14:02):
shooter has left the apartment, but Warren's officers to be vigilant.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
A compassionate animal lover last seen on a neighbor's ring
camera after late night swimming. Police find Rachel Hanson in
her bathroom. Who shot Rachel?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Gilbert p d initially struggled to locate Rachel's apartment, but
arrived within five minutes of her call. Cops call out
for her and she weakly responds, I'm in here. An
officer finds her crumpled to the floor of her bathroom
with a gunshot wound to her chest. As another officer
sweeps the apartment. He finds blood in a spent shell
casing in Rachel's bed. Officers note that the apartment seems
(14:41):
oddly empty, but there are no signs of a struggle
in Rachel's jewelry and other valuables are untouched.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So what is the motive who murdered this beautiful teen girl?
Rachel Hanson with me her mom to Kim Hanson, Rachel's mother,
Kim again, thank you for being with us. I really
I don't know how you put one foot in front
of the other, much less join us here here the
(15:08):
words from the nine one one call and our discussion
of the evidence. Ms Hansen, How do you keep going?
Speaker 6 (15:17):
I have to keep going for Rachel, and as hard
as it is, especially sitting here watching all these pictures,
I do it every day for her. I gain strength
to put one foot in front of the other because
I would do anything for my girl. And this is
(15:38):
just part of the fight to find justice, to find
who took her.
Speaker 7 (15:42):
Life so randomly and so early. So it's been hard.
It's been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
But I will continue to do it and gain strength
knowing that I'm helping her still to this day, nothing
any mind wouldn't do do.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Eesen is joining US certified forensic pathologist. You can find
him on f B at Eric August Easen. Thanks Dodgor
Easton for being with us, Doctor Easton. I'm waning to
clarify several things that we know so far. Her wound
has been described as a chest wound, and in a
sense that is correct. However, the entry wound was that
(16:25):
her lower left abdomen. The trajectory path was upward, and
I would think slightly toward the front, back to front
because it came. The exit wound was the upper right shoulder.
That said, what would have occurred? What would Rachel have suffered?
(16:50):
You heard her words on the nine one one call.
She was perfectly coherent and could call nine one one.
Why couldn't she be saved?
Speaker 11 (17:00):
Well, it sounds like if the entrance wound was to
the left abdomen, the bullet would have gone in through
organs of the adaman, probably some of the intestines. Perhaps
if the exit was to the right shoulder, it sounds
like it would have made its way into the chest cavity,
probably would have gone through the right lung and then
(17:21):
exited out the right shoulder. It sounds like, going through
the right lung, you're not gonna be able to breathe
very well, and you're going to lose a lot of blood.
And if the bullet went through the liver, you're going
to lose a lot of blood too. But it would
explain why she would not have gone immediately unconscious, and
it would also explain why she didn't make it because
of the bullet going through the right lung and would
(17:41):
have lost a lot of blood.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Okay, I know it makes perfect sense to you what
you just said, But why is it that she would
not have died immediately.
Speaker 11 (17:50):
Well, the bullet did not go through the brain, and
that's not going to cause an immediate lack of consciousness.
And it also did not go through a major blood vessel.
That didn't sound like because you can lose blood very quickly,
like if it goes through the a orda or some
other large blood vessele. And that's why she would not
have lost consciousness immediately.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Do you believe her lungs just filled up with blood
and she couldn't breathe anymore, or did she have such
massive internal bleeding that she died from loss of blood,
probably a combination of the two.
Speaker 11 (18:24):
When a bullet goes through the lung, through any long
whether the right lung or the left lung, you're going
to have an inability to breathe because the lung is
going to collapse. And then if the bullet passes through
a large blood vessel and the lung, you're also going
to have a combination of blood loss at the same time.
So the blood's not really going to collect in the lung,
but it'll collect in the chest cavity, which is where
the lungs hang out. So there's probably some blood found
in the right chest cavity, is what I'm thinking has
(18:46):
probably happened.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Another issue that I want to clarify. It would be
really easy for someone to just say, oh, we heard
she had a troubled childhood, which she did until Kim
Hansen's family took her in and gave her a beautiful,
beautiful life. Some people would argue she committed suicide. There's
(19:09):
no way with this trajectory path that this young girl
shot herself. First of all, she's right handed, and she
would have had to shoot herself through the lower abdomen.
Think of your left hip bone, at an angle, an
upward angle, she'd have to be holding the gun in
a very odd position up for the path of the bullet.
(19:32):
That's what we mean by trajectory path to come up
and through and exit the right shoulder physically impossible. I
would say, doctor Aeson, do you agree or disagree?
Speaker 11 (19:44):
Well, I mean I agree mainly based on location of
the interest wod, not necessarily the trajectory. So the fact
that the interest wing is located on the left abdomen
kind of tells me that it was not self inflicted.
Individuals who intention only shoot themselves, they're going to place
the gun against the head mainly the temporal region or
(20:06):
the temple or intraoral. But a suicidal gunshot wounds to
the left adomen just doesn't doesn't make a lot of sense.
The other issue to consider is the range of fire
of the interest wounds. So if there is a lack
of searing around the wound edges or sit deposition or stippling,
which is gunpowder tattooing is what we call that, that
(20:28):
would indicate that the gun was far away from the body,
So we're talking at least two and a half three
feet away, in which case self infliction would not even
be possible because the gun would have had to have
been far away, otherwise you would have gunshot residue deposited
onto the target.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Well another issue is another issue is that if she
had shot herself, which she did not, she would have
had to do so with her non dominant left hand.
You know, a lot of people can't even brush their
teeth or fix their hair with a non dominant hand.
So now we expect for this teen girl to shoot
herself with a non dominant hand in the lower abdomen
(21:06):
at an upward angle. To me, trajectory path is very important,
although you disagree, because you'd have to hold a gun
to your left abdomen non dominant hand and at the
same time, which is low down on your hip, point
the gun upward so for it to have that path. So,
how in the world could that have happened? It couldn't have.
(21:26):
And another issue, and let me throw this sug Justin yentis,
investigator at Arizona Investigative Associates. Obviously she did not shoot
herself because no weapon was recovered. How could she shoot
herself and then get rid of the weapon? That didn't
happen exactly.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
It didn't. And I mean, unless there's some information in
the redactive part of the police report that identifies a weapon,
we have no indication that a weapon was up or recovered.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
As she holden with US investigative reporter ABC fifteen Phoenix Ashley.
Do we know was Rachel clothed.
Speaker 10 (22:03):
In the police report? It seems like yes, she was
wearing clothes at the time. What is interesting in the
police report is that as Rachel is taken to the hospital,
there is a change. Obviously Rachel is taken, she's being treated,
and then after in the hours after, as they learned
that obviously Rachel passed away. Police are then trying to
(22:26):
track down her clothes at the hospital, what happened to them?
Where were they taken? And it is unclear at the
end of reading the whole over three hundred and thirty pages,
what happened to Rachel's clothes and if police ever got
custody of them.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Again, it is.
Speaker 10 (22:43):
A question that we asked police after reading that report,
and they would not answer for US.
Speaker 12 (22:49):
Gilbert PDI investigators check on Rachel's neighbors. No one else
was hurt or even knew someone had been shot next door.
Everyone says they didn't hear anything. The complex does not
have any work cameras and no units in the vicinity
of Rachel's apartment have ring cameras, but one officer finds
a ring camera across from Rachel's detached garage. The camera
(23:09):
captures the team walking with her fiance toward the complex
pool just after nine pm.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
A compassionate animal lover last seen on a neighbor's ring camera.
After late night swimming, police find Rachel Hanson in her bathroom.
Who shot Rachel.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Cops have now released new information in Rachel's case, including
a three hundred and thirty page investigative report and twenty
seven clips of body camera footage from responding officers. All
of the information is heavily redacted but reveals new details
in the investigation.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
That bodycam footage that we are playing for you if
we could see that now, show's police storming into Rachel's
apartment after her desperate nine to one one call. But
even though her nine to one one call was met
immediately after she shot, still no leads. There. You see
(24:05):
police clearing the hallways because according to Rachel Hansen, the
shooter had just left and she's still coherent. Can still
speak there. You see them going into the apartment calling
out to her. Rachel talked to us and she says,
I'm here. They find her crumpled to the floor in
her bathroom with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and
(24:28):
that same shot goes through her chest. Another officer sweeps
the apartment, finding blood and a spent shell casing in
Rachel's bed, so that indicates she was shot in the bedroom.
To Kim Hanson joining us, this is Rachel's mother, Miss Hanson, again,
thank you for being with us. I'm trying to spare
(24:50):
you a lot of the details while focusing on the evidence.
I find probative she was not shot then in the
bathroom where she was found. That spent tasing shell indicates
she was shot in the bedroom. Could she have been
shot as she was on the run to the bathroom
or try to get away? What do you know about
(25:12):
the condition of the bedroom? Was it turned upside down?
Was the bed still made? What do you know about
her bedroom?
Speaker 6 (25:20):
What we know is that she had a king sized bed,
had just moved it into the apartment.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
The day before.
Speaker 7 (25:29):
It was not fully put together because.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
She was still moving in and she was sleeping in
her bed. We believe when the shooter kicked her bedroom
door open, maybe took one step because it wouldn't be
very far, and shot her while she was sleeping, while
her dog and her foster pup were in the room
with her. I don't believe that she even had a
(25:54):
chance to get out of bed until she had been shot,
at which time she jumped up and grabbed her cell phone,
and I believe at that time made her way to
the bathroom.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
And previously you were asking about the clothes that she
was wearing.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
I believe that when we went to the apartment Tuesday
or Wednesday after she was shot, after we lost her,
what she was sleeping in was on the floor in
the bathroom, and it was just a pair of black
shorts and a black cami, what she normally would sleep
in at night, and that was left there in the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
So those clothes were probably taken off her by EMT's
trying to save her life. To you, doctor Eric Aeson,
the fact that Mom says she was lying in the
bed would totally explain the upper trajectory path. Good.
Speaker 11 (26:43):
Yes, if she was lying in bed and the shooter
was on the other side, of the room and she
was lying flat. That would explain the upper jectory paths.
We base everything on the anatomic position, so if you
have an interest, swing to the left adamant and an
exit to the right shoulder, even if you're lying down
when the shooting occurred. We assume everybody is injured while
(27:04):
they're standing in the anatomic position, and so that woind
trajectory would be upward correct.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Joining us now a special guest board certified forensic psychologist
and you can find her at Veritas Forensic Psychology dot com.
Doctor Bree Pelegie, Doctor Bree, thank you for being with us.
I was thinking about what the neighbors said that we
didn't hear a thing. You know, very often when you
do hear something, you don't register was that a gunshot?
(27:32):
You think, oh, was that a kickback from a car
or what was that? Is it? Because we don't want
to think it's a gun shot, Well why is that?
Because I find it really difficult. Nobody heard it and
it absolutely happened. Absolutely.
Speaker 9 (27:46):
I think a lot of times people want to assume
that the place that they're living in is safe, and
so they may think it's.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
A firework, it's a vehicle. That doesn't happen here, you know.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Very curious. Kim Hansen, this is Rachel's mom. She was
viewed on the neighbor's ring cam. I believe it was
around nine pm, and then she was shot a few
hours later. And at that time she was with the fiance.
Is that correct?
Speaker 5 (28:14):
Yes, that's correct.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
So that evening, how do we know the fiance went home?
Speaker 5 (28:19):
He told us that he did.
Speaker 7 (28:21):
He left around midnight.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
We later learned that he was called to come home
and so he left, which would not be out of
the ordinary. He has a landscaping business and in the
Arizona heat, they have to start very early in the morning,
so it would make perfect sense for him to leave
(28:45):
and go home to be ready to go to work
at five am.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
But wait a minute, what time was the shooting.
Speaker 7 (28:51):
The shooting was at two am.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
So Justin Yentez joining us, a renowned investigator, justin explain
to me that that timeline he went home at five,
but the shooting was it two ish?
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Well, it's and we don't have the phone records, but
we understand that. Yeah, mister Bailey was called home sometime
in the late evening on June third, and then or
very early, very early in the morning on June fourth,
and then the shooting happened a couple of hours later
at two o seven.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
At least the nine one one, Justin hold On called
home by him by his father. Okay, So the father
calls him home at what time?
Speaker 4 (29:35):
We believe it's sometime in the late hours of June
third or the very early morning of June fourth, and
his father is the owner of Valanscape business where he worked.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Okay, Kim Hanson, can we nail down what time the
dad called him home to get him up for the
next morning.
Speaker 6 (29:50):
I believe it was eleven thirty and he left by midnight.
It's my understanding.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Okay. So obviously, to Ashley Holden, joining US investigative reporter
ABC fifteen Phoenix, Obviously that can be corroborated by cell
phone data, a NAV system in the car, many many
ways to corroborate what time the fiance leaves and what
time he gets home.
Speaker 10 (30:15):
And we would love to know what kind of evidence
police looked at. Did they pull that cell phone data?
What we do know is that police did talk to
Rachel's fiance, did interview him, and I will say in
that police report In the days leading up to when
Rachel was shot, we did learn about some strange circumstances
(30:36):
that her fiance also relayed to police. We learned that Rachel,
who had been stuff letting her apartment, had just moved
back in, as Kim mentioned, but that neighbors had actually
called the apartment office saying that there was a commotion
happening at Rachel's apartment. There was yelling, and the apartment
complex management went over and they did see that they
(30:58):
called police. By the time police got there, all was quiet.
We also know that the locks were changed, and this
is after Rachel says that someone came into her apartment,
looked at her while she was in her bed, and
then left. She actually told that to her fiance, and
I believe she also told that to her parents as well,
(31:19):
So she had changed the lock and all of this
in the days leading up to when she was shot
and killed.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Hold on just a moment though, as she holden. The
ruckus that people heard was that before she moved in,
or after she moved in and the tenants had moved out.
Speaker 10 (31:36):
It was in the days as she was moving in,
and Kim can probably give you the exact date when
all of this happened, but I know that apartment management
they cited the day as May thirty first, and they
actually saw a man leaving her apartment. There was yelling.
There were multiple people in Rachel's apartment at that time.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
What about it? Kim Hanson was the com during the
time she moved in, or before she had already moved in, There.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Was a lot of commotion.
Speaker 7 (32:07):
It was all before Rachel had moved in.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
She did not set foot in the apartment until Thursday,
which was I believe June's second The other people that
had subleased from her were moving out during that week
before Rachel got the keys and was moving back into
the apartment.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
A desperate family begging for answers in the senseless and
cowardly murder of their daughter.
Speaker 13 (32:44):
Rachel Hanson is well known in the Gilbert community as
a bona fide horse whisperer. At fourteen, Rachel is teaching
younger children to ride and breaking year links. Rachel has
away with other animals too, bringing home every stray dog
she comes across. Rachel is a great student, the only
girl on the football team, and a star soccer player.
(33:05):
Rachel is so accomplished she graduates high school early at
just sixteen years old.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Well she goes straight into taking her love for animals
and turning it into a business. At nineteen Listen.
Speaker 12 (33:19):
Rachel continues to flourish after graduation. Rachel runs a busy
horse training business, a Z Hanson Horses, finding and breaking
wild horses for clients. Rachel also makes a deal with
the ranch owner in Queen's Creek to live and work
on the property as a trainer. At the onset of
the pandemic, Rachel also commits herself to running a dog rescue.
(33:39):
With her family's help, they find homes for over two
hundred dogs. In all her free time, Rachel studies to
earn her real estate license and has also found love
engaged to Mary.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
I just got to ask you, Kim, who do you
think would have done this? And I want to be
very clear that the commotion the Ruckus tenant boy friend
had been selling marijuana out of the apartment, that bunch
was evicted, and then Rachel moves back in, none of
that had anything to do with her. But it concerns
(34:12):
me in this way, Kim, if any of those people
or people connected to them came back into the apartment
because the neighbors didn't know she had moved in. They
didn't know Rachel was now the tenant. I wonder if
other people went back to that apartment not realizing she
was the one living there.
Speaker 7 (34:31):
That is a very real possibility.
Speaker 6 (34:33):
And something that Ashley referenced was on Thursday night, her
first night in the apartment, there was an intruder that
had a key that came in and looked over her
as she was sleeping, and she said she thought it
was somebody that was involved with the people that were subleasing,
and saw that it was not those people and left,
(34:55):
and that is why she said she hadn't called the police.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Well, we know the we know it wasn't a suicide.
We know it wasn't the fiance, and Justin Entez joining
us a renowned investigator on this case. Justin, it was
at night, she was shot in the wee morning hours.
And even if the prior tenants have been cleared, what
about their dope clients and others. There was a ruckus,
(35:23):
there a big fight just before she moved in. Somebody
obviously had a key, could have come in into dark
and taken a shot, not realizing it was Rachel.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Exactly exactly, and that's one of the that's one of
the theories that we've been working with as.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Well with me Doctor Bree Pelegie, Board certified forensic Psychologists
at Veritas Forensics Psychology dot com. Doctor Bree, we immediately
have to look at the love interest, the fiancee. Okay,
he's ruled out his father at home with the fiance,
she's living by herself, and we we know that there
(36:01):
have been problems with the previous tenants that were just evicted.
In fact, one of them was selling dope. What do
you think how do you analyze random shooters?
Speaker 9 (36:12):
I definitely think that this case appears to have been
a targeted attack. However, I don't think Rachel was the
intended victim. She's a low risk victim. This didn't appear
to be a personal attack. The individual that came into
our apartment the day before had keys, brought food, it
(36:36):
was dark, the person couldn't see. There's nothing about it
that looked like it was intended specifically for her.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
So it's mistaken identity as to the target in the
dark two thirty in the morning after fiance had left.
That may explain why we're not getting a match on
the fingerprints of the people that lived there before. This
could have been someone that was coming after this and
they had a track record. Cops have been called to
the apartment several times before Rachel moved in. There is
(37:07):
a very important fact and that is the Families.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Go fund Me Listen Gilbert PD in the Hands and
Family is working with Silent Witness to collect tips and
offer a reward for information in Rachel Hansen's murder. Tips
can be submitted online as silentwitness dot org or called
for a zero witness for a zero WITNSS. The reward
for information leading to an arrest is up to fifteen
(37:33):
thousand dollars thanks to donations made through the Families go
fund Me Help the Hands in Solve Rachel's case.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
The go fundme helping to raise money for the reward
that is now up to fifteen thousand dollars. Ashley hold
In joining US investigative reporter ABC fifteen Phoenix, Ashley, where
does the case stand now?
Speaker 10 (37:53):
Well, in every page of that police report that we read,
it says inactive. And in that police report it says
as of February, police exhausted all of their leads and
then they took this place, to this case, to Silent Witness,
which is a nonprofit organization here in the valley that
helps to gather tips for police. Now, when we have
(38:14):
reached out to Gilbert Police, they still call this an
active homicide investigation, which is why they are being pretty
tight to the chest with the details that they tell us.
And I know that the Hansons really have told us
repeatedly they feel like someone out there knows something.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
A fifteen thousand dollars reward. The tip line is four
eight zero nine four eight six ' three seven seven.
Repeat for eight zero nine four eight six ' three
seven seven. Kim Hansen is with us. Rachel's mom, Miss Hansen.
We cannot let this case go unsolved. What is your
(38:56):
message tonight, Miss Hanson?
Speaker 6 (38:58):
My message is just to anybody out there that might
have heard or seen or known anything, or overheard a conversation,
just please share any information with the Silent Witness number.
We do truly believe that someone out there knows something.
We do not believe this was a random act of violence,
(39:19):
that it was a planned murder.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
If you have information, please help us solve this case.
For A zero nine four eight six three seven seven.
There was a fifteen thousand dollars reward. Nancy Gray signing
off goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The Wild and Panicked dash.
Bodycam footage shows cops storming a teen girls home after
her terrified nine one one call. I'm Nancy Grace. This
is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
An independent nineteen year old calls nine one one when
an intruder breaks into her apartment. She tells the operator,
I've been shot.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Hi, I've been shot. Someone gets shot me. What address
you have? South corn On the Street apartment.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
So nineteen twenty five South Coronata Street in Gilbert unit.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yes, please please hurry, please.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Please please let.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Me get this over paramedics to get you free. Arrival
of anyone in the home with you? No, did the
person leave? Yes, stay on the phone with me. Okay,
I'm going to get this over to paramedics.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
With that much notice the shere had just left the apartment,
but still Rachel's murder is unsolved. With me at all
Star panel of guests to make sense of what we
know tonight, but straight out to a special guest joining
us is Kim Hansen. This is Rachel's mother, Miss Hanson.
(01:25):
Thank you for being with us, and I want to
apologize for what we are going to discuss. I wonder
how upsetting it must be to hear her on that
nine to one one call.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
Yes, it is. We have never heard anything.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
We've just seen a transcript, so it is it's difficult
to hear.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Miss Hanson. Tell me how you learned something had gone
horribly wrong.
Speaker 6 (01:52):
Well, I was in Indiana at the time, babysitting two
of our grandchildren, and my husband called me about ten
o'clock in the morning and told me to sit down.
He had to tell me some very disturbing news. He
first learned around seven am Saturday morning, when two Gilbert
(02:12):
police officers came to our home and knocked on our
front door and sat down with him.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Tell me, Miss Hansen, what your husband told you he
had learned from police.
Speaker 6 (02:24):
Well, he just said that Rachel's gone. We've lost her,
and she had been shot one time. She had been
transported to the hospital where they fought for three hours
to save her life, and I'm very grateful for that.
I was able to speak to the surgeon afterwards for
(02:47):
about an hour, and he told me everything they did,
and they felt like they were going to be able
to save her because she was so young and so strong,
but she just was not able to pull through.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Was very coherent and I could understand everything she said
when she called nine one one. So yes, what did
you learn after that, Miss Hanson?
Speaker 5 (03:12):
Just that she was very coherent.
Speaker 7 (03:15):
She was able to jump out of bed grab her.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
Cell phone as she would do because she was just
such a fighter and when anything was wrong, she was
the first to jump in and try to solve it.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
So that's what she did for herself.
Speaker 6 (03:28):
And she was coherent until paramedics were there and starting
to work on her, and then she kind of lost
the ability, the consciousness and to answer their questions.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Miss Hanson, what have you learned about the exact nature
of the gunshot? Where was she shot?
Speaker 6 (03:47):
She was shot one time and it entered her lower
left abdomen and traveled through so many vital organs and
arteries in her body and exited the top shoulder.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So lower left abdomen trajectory path going upward exit from
the top right shoulder. Is that correct?
Speaker 5 (04:08):
That is correct? Yes?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Was she left handed or right handed?
Speaker 7 (04:11):
She was right handed.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
That is very critical in the analysis of what happened,
Miss Hansen. Tell me about Rachel. We are showing videos
and photos of her right now, she's the real life
horse whisperer.
Speaker 6 (04:28):
Yes, yes, Rachel absolutely was, and it came very, very
naturally to her. She came to our family when she
was six years old as a child that had been
in foster care and needed a permanent home, and we
were more than willing to.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Give that to her.
Speaker 6 (04:49):
So at six years old, she joined our family in
February and was legally adopted in May. And at that
time we had sold and rehomed all of our horses
from our older biological daughters who had gone to college
and got married, and so we were kind of moving
(05:09):
out of that. But sweet Rachel would climb up on
the fence and look out at the past year area
and just long for a horse, and so, knowing that's
what this little girl needed to work through a lot
of the trauma that she'd had, we got her a horse,
and that's where it all started. And we would come
(05:29):
downstairs early in the morning and she would already be
sitting on the back of a horse in the backyard,
all by herself, and she just.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Lived on the back of whatever horse we had.
Speaker 6 (05:42):
We started, obviously with an older, very gentle horse, and
then she progressed and we got another one that was
younger that she could work more with, and the beautiful
mayor that you see her on Mostly We got Dash
when Rachel was twelve and Dash was four.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Miss Hanson, you mentioned that Rachel was working through the
trauma that she suffered being in the foster system, which
in my experience can be overwhelming. What trauma to what
trauma are you referring?
Speaker 6 (06:18):
Rachel clearly could speak of this herself, so I know
it is the truth.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
When she was three years old, her biological mother left.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
The home about ten o'clock at night to get milk
and never returned, so that was her first loss. Then
she was living in an apartment with who she assumed
was her father or grandfather, about a sixty year old
man that cared for her for a short time, and
(06:48):
then she found him dead.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
On the floor, so that was a second loss for her.
Speaker 6 (06:53):
So at that time she was immediately taken to emergency
receiving foster care where she stayed for a short time
in a shelter environment, and then went to a home,
a foster home who said they were going to adopt her,
but after about six months changed their mind and told
(07:14):
her they were not going to adopt her, but that
she could stay there until her forever family was found.
So that was her third abandonment in.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
Just six years. So that's a lot of trauma for
a small child. And it was at that time she
came to.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Us, poor sweet girl. And now this we have learned
a lot from the bodycam and you heard our nine
on one reenact. Listen to the bodycam.
Speaker 8 (07:46):
It's rather than wanting.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
To buy her.
Speaker 8 (07:51):
Things, going to be Rachel, she's there, she's person.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
You are hearing the officer stating, what's your name, what's
your name? Talk to me, Rachel, stay with us, Rachel,
stay with me, and more he's good.
Speaker 9 (08:38):
One more officer, we can at least go down there
and clear make sure that's sitting over there.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
We need to clear down this hall.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
But there there's nothing there.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
You can't go any further. Joining me. In addition to
Rachel's mom, Kim Hansen is Justin. Yis Justin yis feral
defense investigator at Arizona Investigative Associates. Justin. This case is
(09:07):
so upsetting because as you hear the officers stating, we
got to go clear the building, We got to clear
this hall. They're clearing it because they know the shooter
has just left. But yet we still don't have the killer.
We don't.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
It's been two two and a half years and correct,
we still have no arrests in this case and no
finalization for the Hansons.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Do you believe that the apartment was processed appropriately, Justin
yenttez for fingerprints, anything that could lead us to the killer.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
From my understanding it was unfortunately or you know, just
the situation is that it is an ongoing investigation, and
so while we have been able to obtain some records
from Gilbert Police under the Arizona Public Records Law, there's
quite a bit that's been redacted. So we don't know
to what extent the SEENO was processed, or what evidence
(10:03):
all was found, and what type of testing or follow
up investigation was done on that. Most of the indications
of that have been redacted.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Question, Justin, was the weapon recovered?
Speaker 4 (10:15):
As far as I know, no, it was not.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace joining me in addition to
Kim Hansen and Justin Yentis investigative reporter at ABC fifteen Phoenix,
Ashley Holden, Ashley, thank you for being with us. Thank
you for having me Nancy Ashley, what can you tell
me about the area specifically apartment complex, Well.
Speaker 10 (10:46):
The area itself and the apartment complex. Gilbert is considered
a pretty safe community in the East Valley, and people
think of it as a place that they want to
raise a family. Many people think of it as like
a small town area just outside of Phoenix, so kind
of suburbia, if you will. But the apartment that you're
(11:07):
looking at this is a gated Gilbert apartment complex that
one would think would be very safe. One thing that
we noted from that over three hundred and thirty plus
page police report.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
That we just got this month was that.
Speaker 10 (11:23):
When police went and they started asking people for camera footage,
some of the neighbors had ring doorbell footage, but this
complex told police that they didn't have any working cameras,
which is something as you look at this apartment complex,
you would think that they would have.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Does it never end? Justin yentis joining US investigator at
Arizona Investigative Associates. How can any body forget the case
of Summer Intern NBC Chandra Levy remember so much timed
pass before her case was solved years and it brought
(12:03):
down a Congressman Gary Condent, do you recall that, long
story short, the building where Seanja lived had repeating video
and so by the time police realized they need to
look at her leaving in the lobby. Did she have
(12:24):
on an evening dress, did she have on a cocktail dress?
Did she have on jogging gear? Was she alone? Which
way did she head out of the apartment building? Long
story short, they lost all that because it repeated over
after seventy two hours. And here now we learn that
the apartment complex had video cameras that didn't work.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah, that's correct, and generally speaking, security tape records over
every thirty to ninety days, but in this case it
just was non existent.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
So Holden investigative reporter ABC fifteen, Ashley, you stated that
some of the neighbors had ring doorbell footage. Yeah, that's what.
Speaker 10 (13:09):
We can tell in that police report is that they
describe seeing some footage that shows Rachel kind of in
the hours leading up, walking around with people, doing things
like going to the pool. But as justin mentioned, there
are major major parts of that police report that has
been redacted, and so many things that were in that
(13:30):
report we don't know, We can't read, so we don't
know exactly what police have when it comes to video,
other than what is unredacted in that report.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Just after two am, Rachel Hansen calls nine to one
one and says someone broke in and shot me. The
dispatcher gets Rachel's address and tries to help her stop
the bleeding while police and paramedics are on the way.
Rachel says she doesn't have any kind of cloth or
town near her to use, and the dispatcher notes that
Rachel is less and less responsive and it sounds like
she's about to pass out. The dispatcher notes that the
(14:02):
shooter has left the apartment, but Warren's officers to be vigilant.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
A compassionate animal lover last seen on a neighbor's ring
camera after late night swimming. Police find Rachel Hanson in
her bathroom. Who shot Rachel?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Gilbert p d initially struggled to locate Rachel's apartment, but
arrived within five minutes of her call. Cops call out
for her and she weakly responds, I'm in here. An
officer finds her crumpled to the floor of her bathroom
with a gunshot wound to her chest. As another officer
sweeps the apartment. He finds blood in a spent shell
casing in Rachel's bed. Officers note that the apartment seems
(14:41):
oddly empty, but there are no signs of a struggle
in Rachel's jewelry and other valuables are untouched.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So what is the motive who murdered this beautiful teen girl?
Rachel Hanson with me her mom to Kim Hanson, Rachel's mother,
Kim again, thank you for being with us. I really
I don't know how you put one foot in front
of the other, much less join us here here the
(15:08):
words from the nine one one call and our discussion
of the evidence. Ms Hansen, How do you keep going?
Speaker 6 (15:17):
I have to keep going for Rachel, and as hard
as it is, especially sitting here watching all these pictures,
I do it every day for her. I gain strength
to put one foot in front of the other because
I would do anything for my girl. And this is
(15:38):
just part of the fight to find justice, to find
who took her.
Speaker 7 (15:42):
Life so randomly and so early. So it's been hard.
It's been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
But I will continue to do it and gain strength
knowing that I'm helping her still to this day, nothing
any mind wouldn't do do.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Eesen is joining US certified forensic pathologist. You can find
him on f B at Eric August Easen. Thanks Dodgor
Easton for being with us, Doctor Easton. I'm waning to
clarify several things that we know so far. Her wound
has been described as a chest wound, and in a
sense that is correct. However, the entry wound was that
(16:25):
her lower left abdomen. The trajectory path was upward, and
I would think slightly toward the front, back to front
because it came. The exit wound was the upper right shoulder.
That said, what would have occurred? What would Rachel have suffered?
(16:50):
You heard her words on the nine one one call.
She was perfectly coherent and could call nine one one.
Why couldn't she be saved?
Speaker 11 (17:00):
Well, it sounds like if the entrance wound was to
the left abdomen, the bullet would have gone in through
organs of the adaman, probably some of the intestines. Perhaps
if the exit was to the right shoulder, it sounds
like it would have made its way into the chest cavity,
probably would have gone through the right lung and then
(17:21):
exited out the right shoulder. It sounds like, going through
the right lung, you're not gonna be able to breathe
very well, and you're going to lose a lot of blood.
And if the bullet went through the liver, you're going
to lose a lot of blood too. But it would
explain why she would not have gone immediately unconscious, and
it would also explain why she didn't make it because
of the bullet going through the right lung and would
(17:41):
have lost a lot of blood.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Okay, I know it makes perfect sense to you what
you just said, But why is it that she would
not have died immediately.
Speaker 11 (17:50):
Well, the bullet did not go through the brain, and
that's not going to cause an immediate lack of consciousness.
And it also did not go through a major blood vessel.
That didn't sound like because you can lose blood very quickly,
like if it goes through the a orda or some
other large blood vessele. And that's why she would not
have lost consciousness immediately.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Do you believe her lungs just filled up with blood
and she couldn't breathe anymore, or did she have such
massive internal bleeding that she died from loss of blood,
probably a combination of the two.
Speaker 11 (18:24):
When a bullet goes through the lung, through any long
whether the right lung or the left lung, you're going
to have an inability to breathe because the lung is
going to collapse. And then if the bullet passes through
a large blood vessel and the lung, you're also going
to have a combination of blood loss at the same time.
So the blood's not really going to collect in the lung,
but it'll collect in the chest cavity, which is where
the lungs hang out. So there's probably some blood found
in the right chest cavity, is what I'm thinking has
(18:46):
probably happened.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Another issue that I want to clarify. It would be
really easy for someone to just say, oh, we heard
she had a troubled childhood, which she did until Kim
Hansen's family took her in and gave her a beautiful,
beautiful life. Some people would argue she committed suicide. There's
(19:09):
no way with this trajectory path that this young girl
shot herself. First of all, she's right handed, and she
would have had to shoot herself through the lower abdomen.
Think of your left hip bone, at an angle, an
upward angle, she'd have to be holding the gun in
a very odd position up for the path of the bullet.
(19:32):
That's what we mean by trajectory path to come up
and through and exit the right shoulder physically impossible. I
would say, doctor Aeson, do you agree or disagree?
Speaker 11 (19:44):
Well, I mean I agree mainly based on location of
the interest wod, not necessarily the trajectory. So the fact
that the interest wing is located on the left abdomen
kind of tells me that it was not self inflicted.
Individuals who intention only shoot themselves, they're going to place
the gun against the head mainly the temporal region or
(20:06):
the temple or intraoral. But a suicidal gunshot wounds to
the left adomen just doesn't doesn't make a lot of sense.
The other issue to consider is the range of fire
of the interest wounds. So if there is a lack
of searing around the wound edges or sit deposition or stippling,
which is gunpowder tattooing is what we call that, that
(20:28):
would indicate that the gun was far away from the body,
So we're talking at least two and a half three
feet away, in which case self infliction would not even
be possible because the gun would have had to have
been far away, otherwise you would have gunshot residue deposited
onto the target.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Well another issue is another issue is that if she
had shot herself, which she did not, she would have
had to do so with her non dominant left hand.
You know, a lot of people can't even brush their
teeth or fix their hair with a non dominant hand.
So now we expect for this teen girl to shoot
herself with a non dominant hand in the lower abdomen
(21:06):
at an upward angle. To me, trajectory path is very important,
although you disagree, because you'd have to hold a gun
to your left abdomen non dominant hand and at the
same time, which is low down on your hip, point
the gun upward so for it to have that path. So,
how in the world could that have happened? It couldn't have.
(21:26):
And another issue, and let me throw this sug Justin yentis,
investigator at Arizona Investigative Associates. Obviously she did not shoot
herself because no weapon was recovered. How could she shoot
herself and then get rid of the weapon? That didn't
happen exactly.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
It didn't. And I mean, unless there's some information in
the redactive part of the police report that identifies a weapon,
we have no indication that a weapon was up or recovered.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
As she holden with US investigative reporter ABC fifteen Phoenix Ashley.
Do we know was Rachel clothed.
Speaker 10 (22:03):
In the police report? It seems like yes, she was
wearing clothes at the time. What is interesting in the
police report is that as Rachel is taken to the hospital,
there is a change. Obviously Rachel is taken, she's being treated,
and then after in the hours after, as they learned
that obviously Rachel passed away. Police are then trying to
(22:26):
track down her clothes at the hospital, what happened to them?
Where were they taken? And it is unclear at the
end of reading the whole over three hundred and thirty pages,
what happened to Rachel's clothes and if police ever got
custody of them.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Again, it is.
Speaker 10 (22:43):
A question that we asked police after reading that report,
and they would not answer for US.
Speaker 12 (22:49):
Gilbert PDI investigators check on Rachel's neighbors. No one else
was hurt or even knew someone had been shot next door.
Everyone says they didn't hear anything. The complex does not
have any work cameras and no units in the vicinity
of Rachel's apartment have ring cameras, but one officer finds
a ring camera across from Rachel's detached garage. The camera
(23:09):
captures the team walking with her fiance toward the complex
pool just after nine pm.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
A compassionate animal lover last seen on a neighbor's ring camera.
After late night swimming, police find Rachel Hanson in her bathroom.
Who shot Rachel.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Cops have now released new information in Rachel's case, including
a three hundred and thirty page investigative report and twenty
seven clips of body camera footage from responding officers. All
of the information is heavily redacted but reveals new details
in the investigation.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
That bodycam footage that we are playing for you if
we could see that now, show's police storming into Rachel's
apartment after her desperate nine to one one call. But
even though her nine to one one call was met
immediately after she shot, still no leads. There. You see
(24:05):
police clearing the hallways because according to Rachel Hansen, the
shooter had just left and she's still coherent. Can still
speak there. You see them going into the apartment calling
out to her. Rachel talked to us and she says,
I'm here. They find her crumpled to the floor in
her bathroom with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and
(24:28):
that same shot goes through her chest. Another officer sweeps
the apartment, finding blood and a spent shell casing in
Rachel's bed, so that indicates she was shot in the bedroom.
To Kim Hanson joining us, this is Rachel's mother, Miss Hanson, again,
thank you for being with us. I'm trying to spare
(24:50):
you a lot of the details while focusing on the evidence.
I find probative she was not shot then in the
bathroom where she was found. That spent tasing shell indicates
she was shot in the bedroom. Could she have been
shot as she was on the run to the bathroom
or try to get away? What do you know about
(25:12):
the condition of the bedroom? Was it turned upside down?
Was the bed still made? What do you know about
her bedroom?
Speaker 6 (25:20):
What we know is that she had a king sized bed,
had just moved it into the apartment.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
The day before.
Speaker 7 (25:29):
It was not fully put together because.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
She was still moving in and she was sleeping in
her bed. We believe when the shooter kicked her bedroom
door open, maybe took one step because it wouldn't be
very far, and shot her while she was sleeping, while
her dog and her foster pup were in the room
with her. I don't believe that she even had a
(25:54):
chance to get out of bed until she had been shot,
at which time she jumped up and grabbed her cell phone,
and I believe at that time made her way to
the bathroom.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
And previously you were asking about the clothes that she
was wearing.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
I believe that when we went to the apartment Tuesday
or Wednesday after she was shot, after we lost her,
what she was sleeping in was on the floor in
the bathroom, and it was just a pair of black
shorts and a black cami, what she normally would sleep
in at night, and that was left there in the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
So those clothes were probably taken off her by EMT's
trying to save her life. To you, doctor Eric Aeson,
the fact that Mom says she was lying in the
bed would totally explain the upper trajectory path. Good.
Speaker 11 (26:43):
Yes, if she was lying in bed and the shooter
was on the other side, of the room and she
was lying flat. That would explain the upper jectory paths.
We base everything on the anatomic position, so if you
have an interest, swing to the left adamant and an
exit to the right shoulder, even if you're lying down
when the shooting occurred. We assume everybody is injured while
(27:04):
they're standing in the anatomic position, and so that woind
trajectory would be upward correct.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Joining us now a special guest board certified forensic psychologist
and you can find her at Veritas Forensic Psychology dot com.
Doctor Bree Pelegie, Doctor Bree, thank you for being with us.
I was thinking about what the neighbors said that we
didn't hear a thing. You know, very often when you
do hear something, you don't register was that a gunshot?
(27:32):
You think, oh, was that a kickback from a car
or what was that? Is it? Because we don't want
to think it's a gun shot, Well why is that?
Because I find it really difficult. Nobody heard it and
it absolutely happened. Absolutely.
Speaker 9 (27:46):
I think a lot of times people want to assume
that the place that they're living in is safe, and
so they may think it's.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
A firework, it's a vehicle. That doesn't happen here, you know.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Very curious. Kim Hansen, this is Rachel's mom. She was
viewed on the neighbor's ring cam. I believe it was
around nine pm, and then she was shot a few
hours later. And at that time she was with the fiance.
Is that correct?
Speaker 5 (28:14):
Yes, that's correct.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
So that evening, how do we know the fiance went home?
Speaker 5 (28:19):
He told us that he did.
Speaker 7 (28:21):
He left around midnight.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
We later learned that he was called to come home
and so he left, which would not be out of
the ordinary. He has a landscaping business and in the
Arizona heat, they have to start very early in the morning,
so it would make perfect sense for him to leave
(28:45):
and go home to be ready to go to work
at five am.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
But wait a minute, what time was the shooting.
Speaker 7 (28:51):
The shooting was at two am.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
So Justin Yentez joining us, a renowned investigator, justin explain
to me that that timeline he went home at five,
but the shooting was it two ish?
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Well, it's and we don't have the phone records, but
we understand that. Yeah, mister Bailey was called home sometime
in the late evening on June third, and then or
very early, very early in the morning on June fourth,
and then the shooting happened a couple of hours later
at two o seven.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
At least the nine one one, Justin hold On called
home by him by his father. Okay, So the father
calls him home at what time?
Speaker 4 (29:35):
We believe it's sometime in the late hours of June
third or the very early morning of June fourth, and
his father is the owner of Valanscape business where he worked.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Okay, Kim Hanson, can we nail down what time the
dad called him home to get him up for the
next morning.
Speaker 6 (29:50):
I believe it was eleven thirty and he left by midnight.
It's my understanding.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Okay. So obviously, to Ashley Holden, joining US investigative reporter
ABC fifteen Phoenix, Obviously that can be corroborated by cell
phone data, a NAV system in the car, many many
ways to corroborate what time the fiance leaves and what
time he gets home.
Speaker 10 (30:15):
And we would love to know what kind of evidence
police looked at. Did they pull that cell phone data?
What we do know is that police did talk to
Rachel's fiance, did interview him, and I will say in
that police report In the days leading up to when
Rachel was shot, we did learn about some strange circumstances
(30:36):
that her fiance also relayed to police. We learned that Rachel,
who had been stuff letting her apartment, had just moved
back in, as Kim mentioned, but that neighbors had actually
called the apartment office saying that there was a commotion
happening at Rachel's apartment. There was yelling, and the apartment
complex management went over and they did see that they
(30:58):
called police. By the time police got there, all was quiet.
We also know that the locks were changed, and this
is after Rachel says that someone came into her apartment,
looked at her while she was in her bed, and
then left. She actually told that to her fiance, and
I believe she also told that to her parents as well,
(31:19):
So she had changed the lock and all of this
in the days leading up to when she was shot
and killed.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Hold on just a moment though, as she holden. The
ruckus that people heard was that before she moved in,
or after she moved in and the tenants had moved out.
Speaker 10 (31:36):
It was in the days as she was moving in,
and Kim can probably give you the exact date when
all of this happened, but I know that apartment management
they cited the day as May thirty first, and they
actually saw a man leaving her apartment. There was yelling.
There were multiple people in Rachel's apartment at that time.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
What about it? Kim Hanson was the com during the
time she moved in, or before she had already moved in, There.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Was a lot of commotion.
Speaker 7 (32:07):
It was all before Rachel had moved in.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
She did not set foot in the apartment until Thursday,
which was I believe June's second The other people that
had subleased from her were moving out during that week
before Rachel got the keys and was moving back into
the apartment.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
A desperate family begging for answers in the senseless and
cowardly murder of their daughter.
Speaker 13 (32:44):
Rachel Hanson is well known in the Gilbert community as
a bona fide horse whisperer. At fourteen, Rachel is teaching
younger children to ride and breaking year links. Rachel has
away with other animals too, bringing home every stray dog
she comes across. Rachel is a great student, the only
girl on the football team, and a star soccer player.
(33:05):
Rachel is so accomplished she graduates high school early at
just sixteen years old.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Well she goes straight into taking her love for animals
and turning it into a business. At nineteen Listen.
Speaker 12 (33:19):
Rachel continues to flourish after graduation. Rachel runs a busy
horse training business, a Z Hanson Horses, finding and breaking
wild horses for clients. Rachel also makes a deal with
the ranch owner in Queen's Creek to live and work
on the property as a trainer. At the onset of
the pandemic, Rachel also commits herself to running a dog rescue.
(33:39):
With her family's help, they find homes for over two
hundred dogs. In all her free time, Rachel studies to
earn her real estate license and has also found love
engaged to Mary.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
I just got to ask you, Kim, who do you
think would have done this? And I want to be
very clear that the commotion the Ruckus tenant boy friend
had been selling marijuana out of the apartment, that bunch
was evicted, and then Rachel moves back in, none of
that had anything to do with her. But it concerns
(34:12):
me in this way, Kim, if any of those people
or people connected to them came back into the apartment
because the neighbors didn't know she had moved in. They
didn't know Rachel was now the tenant. I wonder if
other people went back to that apartment not realizing she
was the one living there.
Speaker 7 (34:31):
That is a very real possibility.
Speaker 6 (34:33):
And something that Ashley referenced was on Thursday night, her
first night in the apartment, there was an intruder that
had a key that came in and looked over her
as she was sleeping, and she said she thought it
was somebody that was involved with the people that were subleasing,
and saw that it was not those people and left,
(34:55):
and that is why she said she hadn't called the police.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Well, we know the we know it wasn't a suicide.
We know it wasn't the fiance, and Justin Entez joining
us a renowned investigator on this case. Justin, it was
at night, she was shot in the wee morning hours.
And even if the prior tenants have been cleared, what
about their dope clients and others. There was a ruckus,
(35:23):
there a big fight just before she moved in. Somebody
obviously had a key, could have come in into dark
and taken a shot, not realizing it was Rachel.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Exactly exactly, and that's one of the that's one of
the theories that we've been working with as.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Well with me Doctor Bree Pelegie, Board certified forensic Psychologists
at Veritas Forensics Psychology dot com. Doctor Bree, we immediately
have to look at the love interest, the fiancee. Okay,
he's ruled out his father at home with the fiance,
she's living by herself, and we we know that there
(36:01):
have been problems with the previous tenants that were just evicted.
In fact, one of them was selling dope. What do
you think how do you analyze random shooters?
Speaker 9 (36:12):
I definitely think that this case appears to have been
a targeted attack. However, I don't think Rachel was the
intended victim. She's a low risk victim. This didn't appear
to be a personal attack. The individual that came into
our apartment the day before had keys, brought food, it
(36:36):
was dark, the person couldn't see. There's nothing about it
that looked like it was intended specifically for her.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
So it's mistaken identity as to the target in the
dark two thirty in the morning after fiance had left.
That may explain why we're not getting a match on
the fingerprints of the people that lived there before. This
could have been someone that was coming after this and
they had a track record. Cops have been called to
the apartment several times before Rachel moved in. There is
(37:07):
a very important fact and that is the Families.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Go fund Me Listen Gilbert PD in the Hands and
Family is working with Silent Witness to collect tips and
offer a reward for information in Rachel Hansen's murder. Tips
can be submitted online as silentwitness dot org or called
for a zero witness for a zero WITNSS. The reward
for information leading to an arrest is up to fifteen
(37:33):
thousand dollars thanks to donations made through the Families go
fund Me Help the Hands in Solve Rachel's case.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
The go fundme helping to raise money for the reward
that is now up to fifteen thousand dollars. Ashley hold
In joining US investigative reporter ABC fifteen Phoenix, Ashley, where
does the case stand now?
Speaker 10 (37:53):
Well, in every page of that police report that we read,
it says inactive. And in that police report it says
as of February, police exhausted all of their leads and
then they took this place, to this case, to Silent Witness,
which is a nonprofit organization here in the valley that
helps to gather tips for police. Now, when we have
(38:14):
reached out to Gilbert Police, they still call this an
active homicide investigation, which is why they are being pretty
tight to the chest with the details that they tell us.
And I know that the Hansons really have told us
repeatedly they feel like someone out there knows something.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
A fifteen thousand dollars reward. The tip line is four
eight zero nine four eight six ' three seven seven.
Repeat for eight zero nine four eight six ' three
seven seven. Kim Hansen is with us. Rachel's mom, Miss Hansen.
We cannot let this case go unsolved. What is your
(38:56):
message tonight, Miss Hanson?
Speaker 6 (38:58):
My message is just to anybody out there that might
have heard or seen or known anything, or overheard a conversation,
just please share any information with the Silent Witness number.
We do truly believe that someone out there knows something.
We do not believe this was a random act of violence,
(39:19):
that it was a planned murder.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
If you have information, please help us solve this case.
For A zero nine four eight six three seven seven.
There was a fifteen thousand dollars reward. Nancy Gray signing
off goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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