May 29, 2025 • 41 mins
Talina’s family gets involved in the search from afar. Meanwhile, the non-stop investigation starts to take a toll on Jess. And the police turn up evidence that upends the whole timeline of events.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are not a family that is all up in
each other's business.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We never have been.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
We are very close without having the need to talk
or even see each other on a regular basis. It's
like I live my life, she lived her life, My
brother lives his life.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It hasn't been easy to get people in Telena's life
to speak to me on the record. It's clear she
was well loved, and you've heard from some of her
friends already. I've reached out to many more and to
her family, but for whatever reason, most have been apprehensive
to participate. I was able to talk to Telina's sister,
(00:41):
Cheryl Jones. She called me back the day she received
my letter. She said she was relieved to have the
chance to talk about her sister. She refers to Telena
as Jenna, her birth name.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
My sister kept a part of her life private from
the family. Tolena, I believe comes from that secret part
of her life. The secret part that we all knew
was the secret part. We just didn't know the details
of the secret.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
As you may recall, Telena was part of the Gorrian community,
a niche group of BDSM followers who live by the
strict social structure outlined in the Gore Books, a sci
fi series where men of the dominant gender and women
are naturally subservient. For the better part of a decade,
Tealina lived as a twenty four to seventh slave to
(01:33):
her husband Tom or Master Csarius, doing whatever and acting
however he wished in the bedroom and outside of it.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Gore was a world of slaves and beautiful women of
human domination by the alien secret priest kings.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
Did you have any sense of what the Sacred life
was about, like?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Did you get the sense that it was like sex relating?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yes, we kind of got it that it was something
along that line.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Tolena was active online and her nieces were too. They
saw the types of things she posted, the term she used,
and eventually worked out that Tolena was part of the
BDSM community and that that identity was very important to her.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
We figured it out through clues amongst us.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
We didn't talk to her about it, and when I
say if, I mean me and my mom and my
three daughters, we.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Had figured out that that was the secret life.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
One day, Cheryl heard her sister Jenna refer to herself
as Toelena.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
When I first hear think Tolena. I'm like Colna, And
I finally got up enough nerve to.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Just flat out ask her, you.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Know, where did Helena come from? But how did you
come about choosing that? And she was very evasive about it.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
And it was also the world of Telena, the tempestuous
daughter of Bor's great warlord. She waited for the man
who could subdue her, the man who would be her master.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
When Cheryl learned that Teleina legally changed her name, she
was surprised to find out that she kept Jenna as
her middle name.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
To me, it spoke of the acknowledgment that she had
chewed different identities. She still identified that Jenna because Jenna
was her.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Identity to family and then the Telena.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I think that was probably the first time I kind
of really felt that the duality and her embrace of
the duality.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
We all have duality in our lives, present different versions
of ourselves in different contexts. On Instagram, the image we
portray might be a lot shinier than reality. The voice
we adopt on a work call might be more optimistic
or confident we really feel. But what happens when the
line between our different selves becomes sharper severing the two
(04:07):
worlds when the people in one part of your life
can't protect you from the other.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
We thought we were respecting her privacy.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
She said she wanted this to be a private part
of her life, and we accepted that because that's the
kind of family we are that. I have to wonder
did she ultimately maybe feel a little alienated because of
that too. I think that's why she kept it from us.
She thought that maybe we wouldn't love her or accept her. Maybe,
And the thing was, it wouldn't have changed it at all.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
From iHeart Podcasts, I'm Melissa Jelson, and this is what
happened to Tealinazar. I just took it to me that
if she passed away from COVID, she was at peace
with it because she would be with Tom.
Speaker 6 (05:06):
How well did I adapt to being property? Well, that
depends on whether you ask me or Master, Lol.
Speaker 7 (05:15):
We both kind of a trust. You become really vulnerable
with me, he cry.
Speaker 8 (05:19):
Just because they're missing doesn't mean anything. Was the fairies?
So all of us wear masks? Right?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Episode five? If I go missing.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
My birthday is November the fourth, and her birthday is
November the third. She was born one day before I
was one years old, so we were raised.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
A lot like almost like twin.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Tealina's sister, Cheryl, is now a fifty eight year old
nurse who lives in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
We grew up in Blimmington, Indiana, and then when I
was twelve, where she would have been eleven, my dad
was transferred to a place called Washington, Indiana. My parents
joined a Pentecostal church, and that's the way we were raised.
It was strict. You know, we didn't have TV in
our home growing up. He went to church and.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
You went to Sunday school and those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Cheryl remembers to Lena as a shy kid, someone she
felt she had to stand up for.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I remember getting in fight.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Growing up because somebody would pick on her if they
called her a name. I would have to be the
one to go and kind of shove them around when
we were kids. And then the funny thing was when
we got older as we grew up.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I am only five foot tall and she was five.
At ten, he ended up being much colored than me.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But I was a big sister when we were really young,
even though there's only a year was in our personalities.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Somehow she seemed to be.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
A little more free spirited, whereas I was always like
very cask oriented and goal oriented, that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
As kids, Cheryl and Teleina were inseparable. As adults, their
lives moved in different directions. Cheryl went to nursing school,
got married, and had four children before getting a divorce
and moving to Pennsylvania. Talina stayed in Indiana wandered a
bit to find her way. She joined the National Guard,
(07:32):
then got into computer programming. Like her sister, she also
got married and divorced at a young age to a
man named Russell Lovic, but she never had any kids. Instead,
Talina played the auntie role with glee.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I had four kids and so many would be tight es.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Firstly, run Christmas con and you know, she always made
sure my kids had Christmas.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
That was one of her deals.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
She would bring a whole van full of presence, you know,
and that was a good relief to us.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Cheryl's kids loved to come visit Aunt Jana, where they
were often spoiled.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Navid spend weeks at her house and they always did
fun things. She'd take them one at a time, but
everyone got a turn to go and spend a couple
of weeks with Aunt Jana and do all of the
fun things that Aunt Jana could.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Talina's close relationship with her three nieces, Cherie, Chantal, and
Chelsea continued into their adulthoods. The girls all settled in
the Indianapolis area, close to Teleina and most of their
extended family. Even after Teleina moved to Oklahoma, she made
a point to visit frequently.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Jana came through Indiana every two three four months, three
four times a year.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
By twenty twenty, Cheryl and Telena had fallen out of touch,
and so when her little sister goes missing, she hasn't
spoken to her in almost three years, but her daughters
are in regular contact with Tealina. Teleina was especially close
with Chantal, Cheryl's middle daughter. They both had office jobs
(09:15):
and so it was common for them to send messages
back and forth throughout the workday. In late March, during
the start of the COVID lockdown, Talina and Chantal are
chatting like usual.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
It just happened that her and Chantelle, my middle daughter,
have been communicating throughout the day on Facebook, which is
something they often did.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Then Telena messages Chantal that she has to go. She's
tired and has a headache.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
She was going to lay down for a while and
said that she would chat with her later. The next
day she's not online, and then the next day she's
not online, and then the next day she's not online,
and so then she began to try to didn't get
an answer, did get an answer, She didn't contact Scherie,
(10:06):
the oldest one, and she's telling SCHERI, I think something's
wrong here.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Then on April seventh, Chantal sees Telena's Facebook post I'll.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
Catch up with everyone on the other side now.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
When they decided that they needed to tell the family
that something was going.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
On, Chantale tells her mom, there's no way Telena wrote
the post. She thinks someone else must have.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Well, what makes you think it's not Dianna?
Speaker 1 (10:36):
She said, this was sloppy, not at all, not at
all like anything Janna would have written or the way
she'd have written it.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
She was alarmed immediately.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Once the whole family is in the loop about Telena's disappearance,
they start comparing notes trying to work out the last
time anyone had any real contact with her. The date
they come up with is March twenty seventh, that's the
day chantal was last Facebook messaging with her aunt.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
And now we're up to near two weeks later. My
immediate gut response was this is not good.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I just knew this was not good.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Of all the crazy things my sister would do and
flighty things and air brain things she might do, just
totally dropping off the face of the earth, he is
not one of them.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
A few days later, the Wagner County Sheriff's Department calls
to Lena's family and speaks to her mother and brother.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
I did it, being probably close to two hour talk
with the both of them, and it was the questions
that she would normally expect. Is there any place you
can think of she might have gone, Are there any
friends somewhere that she.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Might have gone to visit? What would she normally do?
And of course wended you laugh talk career.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Tealina's family, who are spread out across multiple states, face
a difficult question. Should they go to Wagner, Oklahoma to
look for Tealina themselves in the middle of COVID lockdowns?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
You know, so we had to wrestle around, well do
we stay here and wage did somebody go out there?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
That was really hard and we were torn about it.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Even if they went, they didn't know where to start looking.
Talina had kept so much of her life their secret.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
She made it clear her life with these group of
friends were her and Tom's private matter. And that's what
made it so difficult, because we don't know this part
of her life.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Cheryl and her family knew of only one person in
Wagner that Talina had ever mentioned.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
She talked about Mario Pine. She had one hundred pictures
of Marthy and her food. They were the best friends.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Day were so close.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
But the last time they'd seen Teleina she told them
that Marty was out of the picture.
Speaker 9 (13:06):
And she says, Marty and I are not friends and
I don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
And like, oh, we've heard.
Speaker 9 (13:12):
About this Marty for freaking last five years, and all
of a sudden, boom, Marty's gone. No explanation, No, this
is what happened. Marty's gone.
Speaker 7 (13:24):
I was questioning him as early as beginning of May.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
This is Jess, our internet sleuth in Minnesota. A few
weeks into her own investigation. She's also discovering that Telena
and Marty's relationship may not have been exactly how he
described it, and she's beginning to suspect that he's been
lying to her, which is tough because they've become very close,
(13:49):
very fast.
Speaker 7 (13:51):
I probably spent six plus hours a day on FaceTime
or the phone with him or texting about what we knew, theories,
who we'd talked to. We talked about a lot of stuff.
I mean, some of our conversations weren't even about Telena.
They were about life. Like we had conversations about when
his mom was murdered. His mom was murdered in front
of him, and he got really vulnerable with me. And sometimes,
(14:13):
like trauma, bonding is a thing. Talking about stuff like
that with somebody, you get close really quick.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
When Marty talks about his relationship with Telena, he makes
it seem as though they were extremely close, the best
of friends. But Jess is learning new information that introduces
some ambiguity into the picture. For one, she finds out
from another friend of Tolena's that Marty had allegedly stolen
(14:41):
from Telena a few months before her disappearance.
Speaker 7 (14:45):
I'd heard from Rachel that in December, Marty had stolen
from Telena. Telena didn't exactly tell her what kind of
theft it was, but she had told Rachel that Marty
was no longer welcome in her home.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Jess also suspects that Telena had been helping Marty out
financially for a while.
Speaker 7 (15:06):
My thoughts at the time were that he was taking
advantage of Telena monetarily wise, because there was at one
point where he said, I missed my Teleina wife. You know,
if I went over there and I was upset, she
would slip some money into my pocket and make things better.
So I mean that sat with me kind of funny,
like she was financially supporting them, and there was a
bunch of stuff that he said she would help him,
quote unquote help him with. Where I think his idea
(15:27):
was help was her fully funding it.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
As Marty explains to Jess, he suffers from chronic pain
and addiction has had a hard time holding down a job.
On one of their calls, Marty even goes so far
as to ask Jess for some money for his pain medication.
But that's a line Jess isn't willing to cross. According
to Jess, Marty said Telena would sometimes pay his phone
(15:52):
and water bills, even chip in for his meds.
Speaker 7 (15:55):
He needed painkillers, and she felt for him because she
was kind of a bleeding heart with people, and probably
gave him the money to help him alleviate some of
his pain. And he was in treatment several times for
illegal drugs dependency of them.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Things were messy between Marty and Telena. But when I
asked Jess about Marty and Tellina's friendship ending abruptly just
before her disappearance, Jess didn't think it was that black
and white. As far as she could tell, the two
had been communicating regularly.
Speaker 7 (16:28):
I don't know if she was willing to forgive him
for whatever it happened, or maybe he had paid her back.
The relationship was strained, but I don't know if she
was willing to forgive or she was so used to
that master slave relationship that they had all enjoyed. I
can't speak to her feelings. I never actually talked to
Tulina and Marty. I don't feel as a reliable source anymore.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
By the pandemic's start, it looks as though Corey, not Marty,
had become the primary recipient of Toleina's generosity. According to
Jess's research, Corey was living free in Telena's home. She
used Toelena's cars to get around, and while she worked
odd jobs, it was Toelena's steady paycheck that provided the
(17:09):
household income. It seems in those crucial months before Toelina's disappearance,
the people in her close orbit were shifting places. Marty
Starr was fading and Corey's was ascending.
Speaker 7 (17:22):
She did remove him from her will and change it
to Corey.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
I was able to get a hold of a copy
of Telena's will.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
I Telena Jenna Galloway of Wagner County, Oklahoma, being of
full age and of sound mind and disposing memory, but
sensitive of the uncertainties of life and desiring which may
positions of the prophet mind may die. If you want missing,
I appoint Corey Bamile Adams to serve as the personal
representative of my estate.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
The sleuths feels certain that Corey had something to do
with Telena's disappearance. I mean, becoming the beneficiary of someone
else's estate months before they go missing, that's motive one
oh one. They've also heard through the grapevine about Corey
burning Telena's mattress, selling her items on eBay, and Corey's
(18:20):
criminal past suggests she's no stranger to lying and manipulation.
But what about Marty To the sleuths, he presents himself
as someone who's also suspicious of Corey, even though they're friends.
He tells the sleuths he'll use his friendship with Corey
(18:40):
to try to get more information. Here's Brittany.
Speaker 10 (18:45):
He was like, I've been talking to Corey, trying to
get Hurt to tell me what happened. He said at
one point he'd he's Ben drove by the house to
see if he saw anything weird, and that ahead of Corey.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
But the sleuths aren't sure if he's being entirely transparent
about his relationship with Corey either. Here's Rosie.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
I felt like he would give us half truth and
then backtrack on things, and some of the stories that
he told me I couldn't verify in any sort of
legal records anywhere. He wanted us to believe him so
much that it felt like he was hiding something.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
And they're hearing rumors from other people in Wagner that
contradict how Marty describes his relationship with Corey.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
I remember he had said that he had gone over
there and really laid into her and yelled at her,
and the neighbor reported something completely different, that it was
like a friendly interaction, and you know, it just felt
he was very much trying to control the story.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Jess, as usual, cuts to the chase.
Speaker 7 (20:04):
I questioned about why he played both sides of the
fence with Team Telena and then Corey, because he'd always
have good terms with her, and he'd keep telling me, well,
I have to play nice. You catch more flies with
Honey than you do Vinegar. I have to, you know,
play nice with Corey because then maybe she'll tell me something.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Just suspects maybe they're in cahoots, maybe Marty's telling Corey
everything they're telling him, And Jess tells him that too.
Speaker 7 (20:28):
Anybody that plays both sides of the fence is definitely
not your friend. And so I told him that. I said,
I can't sit here and confide in you about what
we're finding about Corey and all these people that are
coming to us with information when I feel like you're
going to feed it right back to her. You know,
you come to us and you say, oh, Corey's doing this,
and I'm outside the house watching or do that, and
then I find out from somebody in Wagner that they
(20:50):
seen you guys at the gas station together, down by
the lake together, or that you were sitting outside the house,
or that you went into the house. Like it was
a constant questioning.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Because Jess was the person who was calling and asking
the questions, it really took up a lot of her
time emotionally and mentally, and I'm sure that it was
draining for her to try to keep all of that straight.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Jess is starting to feel exhausted. The investigation is hard work,
so is changing her persona with each new source she
reaches out to, trying to get them to open up,
trying to find the thing that's going to crack the
case wide open. Sometimes she pretends she knew Telena. Other
times she gives fake backstories to gain access.
Speaker 7 (21:42):
I lied to a lot of people, a lot friends
of Telena's, friends of Marty's. I mean, I just lied
my way into their life. I manipulated them.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Can you give some examples of like the kind of
lies we're talking about, Well.
Speaker 7 (22:01):
There's a lot, Oh, I know so and so, you know,
I lie about who I knew, or I think I'm
one of the things I had said. I was a
private investigator, which is a huge lie, but it's a
lie none the less. I told people that I got
their information from a friend of a friend, when i'd
actually like use an app online to get their information.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
When Jess told me all of this that she lied
to get information out of people, I had to wonder
could I trust her to be completely truthful with me?
After all, in her very first email, she had mischaracterized
her relationship to Tealina, saying she was her friend. Over
the year I spent reporting this story, I've tried to
(22:46):
confirm every detail just told me. In some cases I
only have her account to rely on, but her version
of events has held up. I believe she's been honest
about everything that transpired and when it reflected negatively on her,
and she's been especially candid when talking about the personal
toll of all of this.
Speaker 7 (23:07):
The whole thing seemed kind of Sometimes I felt like
I was in over my head.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Talina's case is consuming Jess day and night. She's strategizing
with her fellow sleuths, managing Marty, and sharing her findings
with the Wagner County Sheriff's Office, whose reaction to her
tips vary depending on the day and their level of
patience and for what. Sometimes the absurdity of the whole
(23:35):
endeavor catches her off guard. What is she even doing
trying to solve a missing person's case involving a woman
she never met. Jess keeps meticulous notes of her investigation
and her feelings about all of it. Here's a little
glimpse of her writing from this time.
Speaker 7 (23:54):
The days are becoming blurred. I talk too much to
too many people. All I wanted was to find a
missing woman. Want I ended up with with so much more.
My days are spent researching people, connecting dots that may
not even be there, and chain smoking. I sit back
with my seeming cup of coffee and think, how did
this happen?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
More than just her time and energy has just put
herself in actual danger. She's now entangled with people whose
true nature and capabilities she doesn't know. One day, she
gets some threatening texts from a former Gorrian master she'd
reached out to.
Speaker 7 (24:32):
He sent me his id and a knife and called
me a Gorrian slave and said he was going to
come get me.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Another time, a gruff stranger comes into her bar, and
something about him, his accent, the way he talks to
her makes her extremely uncomfortable. She's not sure is she
being paranoid, just decides to take some precautions. She gets
a concealed Carrie permit and a gun based on advice
(25:03):
she finds online. Justin Rosie create quote if I Go
Missing folders, complete with a list of older passwords, photos
of scars and tattoos, and the names of friends and
family with descriptions of their relationships for safekeeping. The two
women who first connected mere weeks ago, share these confidential
(25:26):
documents with each other.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
Like my if I Go Missing file, Yeah, Like it
just felt like something that we should do, Like at
some point it kind of our eyes kind of opened
that you know, I don't I had never given that
information to anyone other than my husband, and I don't
(25:49):
think she had done the same. And so just to
have someone like outside of the bubble of people who
we usually interact with, to be like if I go miss,
saying call the cops and tell them X y Z,
Like it just felt like at that moment, like it
just felt like that made sense to share with each other.
And I still have her information and I know she
(26:11):
still has mine.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Whatever reservations just has She's undeterred and she has a
feeling that this will all come to a close soon.
It has to. Surely the cops have enough evidence to
at least detain Corey.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Were you scared at all? Did you feel like?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
What have I What kind of characters have I gotten
myself involved with?
Speaker 10 (26:35):
No?
Speaker 7 (26:37):
Hmm, I was angry with her. I was just on
a mission to take her down. I wasn't scared, so
I was mad. I think all of us were mad.
We were like, what the hell? It's plain as day
what she's doing right, Like she might as well have
a guilty light flashing on her forehead.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
They're all waiting for something to happen, for an arrest,
for a bit break in the case, for Telena to
be found alive or dead. Meanwhile, Jess continues her daily,
no hourly check ins with Marty, who's growing more erratic
and confused.
Speaker 7 (27:16):
And then at nine point twenty, he says, I've been
sitting here trying to find myself. I said, what do
you mean, and he said, I am trying not to
admit the man that I am. I said, you need
to get some sleep, but I can't get past the
things I've done and should have stopped a long time ago.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Often it seems to Jess he's drunk or high when
they're on the phone or texting.
Speaker 7 (27:36):
I said, you didn't sleep last night. Just sleep on it.
Nothing's going to change if you sleep, aside from your
state of mind. And he said, she can't get away
with this. I can't live with this anymore. And I
said she won't. The police are onto her, so is
everybody else. He said, I love you, thank you for
all you've done.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
And then late one night, while sitting on the couch,
she gets a call from Marty.
Speaker 7 (27:56):
He was sitting outside Telena's house and he was drunk
and high, and you could always tell when he was drunk.
He was slurry and just I wondered how he had
driven there right. I said, what are you doing? And
he said, I've got my ar and if she comes outside,
and I was like, get home, like, you can't. You
can't kill somebody like that's He goes, well, she killed
(28:16):
my Teleina wife. And I said, if you know that,
let's get the sheriffs, like, let's let's do this. You can't.
You can't just kill somebody like that's not I know
you're mad, but let's get her in trouble, right, Let's
call the police. Let's get the sheriffs out there. If
you have something. He goes, I know Selena's dating.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
It's male eventh twenty twenty and Detective Joel Webber is
at Telena and Corey's house once more. This time he's
there to use a chemical called blue Star forensic spray
in the garage. This spray causes blood to glow blue.
I'm sure you've seen it on TV shows. Corey shows
(29:00):
the officers into the garage and tells them that her
dogs had recently peed on the concrete. She'd attempted to
clean it up using a combination of chemicals she had
around the house bleach, pine soal, lime powder, and kitty litter,
the ladder of which is sprinkled around the garage floor,
still visible to officers. They get to spraying and the
(29:24):
results are instantaneous. The floor glows. There's a large area
in the center of the garage, maybe two feet in
the same place where some of the kitty litter is.
The visual is striking, but officers know it's not conclusive
of anything. Bleach is also known to make blue Star react,
(29:47):
so for now, the officers take photos and samples of
the floor to be tested for DNA. A week later,
where he goes to the Sheriff's office for her scheduled
polygraph appointment. She's volunteered for a lie detector test in
(30:07):
an effort to help police rule her out as a suspect.
Speaker 11 (30:13):
I I would shake your hand, but I'll give an
elbow to you.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
The polygraph is being administered by Scott Miller, who works
for the Department of Public Safety. This is a recreation
of some of their interview.
Speaker 8 (30:28):
I don't think this is a I don't think you're
a suspect. I think we're here to clear you, right.
Speaker 11 (30:33):
Yeah, to my knowledge, there's not even a crime at
this point. What we are trying to do is just
clear me from my end, because I was the last
person to see her, at least to see her in
our residence. I'm here on my own accord because I've
(30:55):
been through six weeks of grief and i just want
the grief to end.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Miller attaches the instrument to her body. There's a cuff
on her arm to watch the dips and rises in
her blood pressure, two electrodes on her fingers to measure
her pulse and sweat production. And two tubes wrapped around
her chest to track changes in breathing. Miller explains he's
going to ask her a series of questions multiple times.
(31:24):
He instructs her to be truthful except for one question
where she's supposed to purposefully lie. This helps the machine
establish the way Corey's body reacts to deception. The question
she's supposed to lie about uses the phrase quote in
your entire life.
Speaker 8 (31:43):
Here we go. This portion of the test is about
to begin. Please remain still. Do you understand I will
only ask you the questions we discussed. Yes. Regarding the
questions about whether or not you harmed Telena, do you
intend to answer each question truthfully? Yes? Are you now
currently sitting down?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yes?
Speaker 8 (32:05):
In your entire life? Have you ever told even one
lie about something embarrassing? No? Since April fifth, have you
participated in any harm of Teleina?
Speaker 10 (32:14):
No?
Speaker 8 (32:14):
Do you sometimes drink water? Yes?
Speaker 3 (32:16):
It goes on and on like this, with Miller repeating
the questions.
Speaker 8 (32:21):
Are the lights currently on in this room? Yes? In
your entire life, have you ever told even one lie?
Speaker 10 (32:28):
No?
Speaker 8 (32:29):
Since April fifth, have you harmed Telena? No? Are you
currently sitting down? Yes? In your entire life have you
even told one lie to someone who trusted you? No?
Since April fifth, have you participated in any harm and
of Teleina? No? Do you sometimes drink water? Yes? In
your entire life? Have you ever told even one lie
about something embarrassing?
Speaker 5 (32:49):
No?
Speaker 8 (32:50):
Do you know for sure who harmed Telena? No?
Speaker 3 (32:56):
They finish up. By this point, Corey's been in the
interview room for over three hours. Miller reads through the
results and he tells Corey they need to talk about
what the machine found.
Speaker 8 (33:10):
Yeah. So, I've looked at it. We've had three clean
charts there at the end, but you were having problems
on two of the questions, which two? Did you harm Telena?
And did you do you know for sure who harmed Telena?
Those were two you had significant reactions to.
Speaker 11 (33:29):
Really, Yeah, so I wonder if I don't know, if
you know, there are just so many scenarios that go
through your mind. I try and not think about things
when I'm answering questions.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I don't know what else to say.
Speaker 8 (33:49):
I don't know the answerment here is, you know what,
it doesn't like you, and it doesn't dislike you. It
just reads your body and tells me you were deceptive
on those two questions.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
When Corey doesn't offer any explanations, Miller gives her some
hypothetical stories. Maybe there was an argument, an accident. Corey says, no,
Maybe Toelina wanted to end her life and someone helped her.
And maybe it wasn't even.
Speaker 8 (34:17):
Corey barn a stranger. If you suspected something like that happened,
not the nefarious stuff, but helping someone out. Who would
be the people you would suspect the most.
Speaker 11 (34:29):
I mean, Marty is the most obvious one. I mean
everyone would say it's Marty.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
And she adds there was a recent rift between Marty
and Telena, you.
Speaker 11 (34:41):
Know, and the only animosity there towards the end is Marty.
Marty has had had a falling out this year because
of he was originally the executor for her estate, and
he was called several times stealing meds or he almost
got a her car repossessed because he claimed it was
(35:03):
his own on a bank loan, and then just a
few other things where Telena came to me about year
and a half ago and said, I can't trust him.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Even so, Corey says she doesn't think Marty would hurt Toe.
Lena Miller says the detectives will talk to him if
they haven't already. Their conversation wraps up, he tells Corey
that while she didn't do so well on the test,
she's free to go. Detective Weber will be in touch soon.
(35:38):
Lie detectors are unreliable in Oklahoma and many other places.
They aren't allowed as evidence in court. Mostly cops use
them as a tool to get people to confess, and
Corey didn't, so they can't arrest her. But then Weber
finds evidence that changes their whole understanding of the timeline
(35:59):
of events, and he presents that evidence to a judge
in order to get a search warrant.
Speaker 12 (36:06):
This investigation has been unable to locate anyone that spoke
with Telena or saw her since the twenty seventh of
March twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
She was going to get that bed to us.
Speaker 12 (36:16):
She was checking to see.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
If we're coming to get the best this weekend.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Her and Chantel had been communicating throughout the day on
face that Jana had signed off.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
She was going to lay down for a while and
said that she would chat with her later.
Speaker 12 (36:31):
This leaves to Lena unaccounted for for a full ten
days before Corey says to Lena left home.
Speaker 7 (36:37):
That next morning, the twenty eighth, I got a message
that said, abort mission.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I've got a terrible migraine. I'm saying in bed.
Speaker 6 (36:45):
Today, abort mission. I've got a terrible migraine. I've been
staying in bed today, bed today.
Speaker 12 (36:52):
It has been discovered that Corey called in sick for
Toelena to work on Monday, March thirty, twenty twenty, and
told them she would not be at work for the
remainder of the week.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
My weekend migraine developed into a fever last night and
it is currently hovering around around one hundred point five.
Speaker 12 (37:14):
Another recently obtained screenshot from Telena's Facebook page on March
thirty shows Talina saying she called her doctor and was
told to stay in bed and self medicate.
Speaker 8 (37:24):
I called my.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
Doctor and was told to stay in bed and stay
hydrated and self.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Medicate and call back or go to the er if
my temper reaches is one o two.
Speaker 12 (37:33):
We know this is untrue because of the information obtained
while at the Wagner Community Hospital.
Speaker 6 (37:39):
I think Oklahoma's medical artistet has stretched sin right now.
Speaker 7 (37:43):
Stretched thin.
Speaker 12 (37:45):
Subsequently, it was discovered there is no record that Telena
ever went to the Wagner Community Hospital or was ever seen,
even though Corey states she drove to Lena there herself.
It is verified that the hospital documented everyone that was screened,
including people that were not admitted to the hospital.
Speaker 6 (38:04):
Those of you who know me well know why I
have DNR orders and my health directive, and I'm not
going to let anyone into be any.
Speaker 12 (38:13):
This investigation recently discovered Internet usage on Telena's cellular phone
stopped at two fifteen pm on April seven, but the
final Facebook post on Telena's account indicates she was quote
almost there unquote at three point fifteen pm the same day.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Didn't feel up to driving, so hired a ride. I'm
almost there. After I post this, I am turning off
my phone.
Speaker 12 (38:40):
This final post appears suspicious and unlikely to have come
from Telena or her cellular phone.
Speaker 11 (38:46):
Please respect my privacy and give me my alone time
on the link with Tom.
Speaker 12 (38:54):
Probable cause exists that Corey fabricated a final Facebook post
on Telena Galloway's account.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
I didn't want to be talked out of this plan.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
I'll catch up with everyone on the other side.
Speaker 12 (39:09):
Given the numerous fabrications, offered by Corey and areas of
suspicion surrounding Corey. I believe it is likely she was
or has been involved in the disappearance of Telena Galloway.
Speaker 11 (39:21):
I am thankful and green rateful that I do have
someone watching out for me.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
And running the household.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Next time on What Happened to Telenazar, things get wild
in Wagner.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Out of instinct, I grabbed for my pistol, but I.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
Did not have, and Jess's investigation reaches a fever pitch.
Speaker 7 (39:54):
One of the last conversations Wolfe and I had had
he was extremely drunken high and he's I can't believe
you figured it out.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
What Happened to Tealinazar is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
It's written, reported, and hosted by me Melissa Jelson, with
writing and story editing by Lauren Hansen. Our executive producer
is Ryan Murdoch. For iHeart Podcasts, executive producers are Jason
English and Carl Catele. Fact checking by Maya Shukri. Zoe
(40:28):
Denkla is our associate producer. Jeremy Thal is our editor.
Original music by Aaron Kaufman with additional music by Jeremy
Thal and Gideon Crevishe additional sound design by Mariita Speth.
Episodes are mixed and mastered by Karl Catle. Voice acting
by Lizzie Gore, Chris Ferry, Stephanie Frame, Pete Monica and
(40:50):
Molly Maslin. Our logo is designed by Edo Moore. Thanks
so much for listening.
We are not a family that is all up in
each other's business.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We never have been.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
We are very close without having the need to talk
or even see each other on a regular basis. It's
like I live my life, she lived her life, My
brother lives his life.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It hasn't been easy to get people in Telena's life
to speak to me on the record. It's clear she
was well loved, and you've heard from some of her
friends already. I've reached out to many more and to
her family, but for whatever reason, most have been apprehensive
to participate. I was able to talk to Telina's sister,
(00:41):
Cheryl Jones. She called me back the day she received
my letter. She said she was relieved to have the
chance to talk about her sister. She refers to Telena
as Jenna, her birth name.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
My sister kept a part of her life private from
the family. Tolena, I believe comes from that secret part
of her life. The secret part that we all knew
was the secret part. We just didn't know the details
of the secret.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
As you may recall, Telena was part of the Gorrian community,
a niche group of BDSM followers who live by the
strict social structure outlined in the Gore Books, a sci
fi series where men of the dominant gender and women
are naturally subservient. For the better part of a decade,
Tealina lived as a twenty four to seventh slave to
(01:33):
her husband Tom or Master Csarius, doing whatever and acting
however he wished in the bedroom and outside of it.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Gore was a world of slaves and beautiful women of
human domination by the alien secret priest kings.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
Did you have any sense of what the Sacred life
was about, like?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Did you get the sense that it was like sex relating?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yes, we kind of got it that it was something
along that line.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Tolena was active online and her nieces were too. They
saw the types of things she posted, the term she used,
and eventually worked out that Tolena was part of the
BDSM community and that that identity was very important to her.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
We figured it out through clues amongst us.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
We didn't talk to her about it, and when I
say if, I mean me and my mom and my
three daughters, we.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Had figured out that that was the secret life.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
One day, Cheryl heard her sister Jenna refer to herself
as Toelena.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
When I first hear think Tolena. I'm like Colna, And
I finally got up enough nerve to.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Just flat out ask her, you.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Know, where did Helena come from? But how did you
come about choosing that? And she was very evasive about it.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
And it was also the world of Telena, the tempestuous
daughter of Bor's great warlord. She waited for the man
who could subdue her, the man who would be her master.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
When Cheryl learned that Teleina legally changed her name, she
was surprised to find out that she kept Jenna as
her middle name.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
To me, it spoke of the acknowledgment that she had
chewed different identities. She still identified that Jenna because Jenna
was her.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Identity to family and then the Telena.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I think that was probably the first time I kind
of really felt that the duality and her embrace of
the duality.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
We all have duality in our lives, present different versions
of ourselves in different contexts. On Instagram, the image we
portray might be a lot shinier than reality. The voice
we adopt on a work call might be more optimistic
or confident we really feel. But what happens when the
line between our different selves becomes sharper severing the two
(04:07):
worlds when the people in one part of your life
can't protect you from the other.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
We thought we were respecting her privacy.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
She said she wanted this to be a private part
of her life, and we accepted that because that's the
kind of family we are that. I have to wonder
did she ultimately maybe feel a little alienated because of
that too. I think that's why she kept it from us.
She thought that maybe we wouldn't love her or accept her. Maybe,
And the thing was, it wouldn't have changed it at all.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
From iHeart Podcasts, I'm Melissa Jelson, and this is what
happened to Tealinazar. I just took it to me that
if she passed away from COVID, she was at peace
with it because she would be with Tom.
Speaker 6 (05:06):
How well did I adapt to being property? Well, that
depends on whether you ask me or Master, Lol.
Speaker 7 (05:15):
We both kind of a trust. You become really vulnerable
with me, he cry.
Speaker 8 (05:19):
Just because they're missing doesn't mean anything. Was the fairies?
So all of us wear masks? Right?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Episode five? If I go missing.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
My birthday is November the fourth, and her birthday is
November the third. She was born one day before I
was one years old, so we were raised.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
A lot like almost like twin.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Tealina's sister, Cheryl, is now a fifty eight year old
nurse who lives in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
We grew up in Blimmington, Indiana, and then when I
was twelve, where she would have been eleven, my dad
was transferred to a place called Washington, Indiana. My parents
joined a Pentecostal church, and that's the way we were raised.
It was strict. You know, we didn't have TV in
our home growing up. He went to church and.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
You went to Sunday school and those kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Cheryl remembers to Lena as a shy kid, someone she
felt she had to stand up for.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I remember getting in fight.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Growing up because somebody would pick on her if they
called her a name. I would have to be the
one to go and kind of shove them around when
we were kids. And then the funny thing was when
we got older as we grew up.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I am only five foot tall and she was five.
At ten, he ended up being much colored than me.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But I was a big sister when we were really young,
even though there's only a year was in our personalities.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Somehow she seemed to be.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
A little more free spirited, whereas I was always like
very cask oriented and goal oriented, that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
As kids, Cheryl and Teleina were inseparable. As adults, their
lives moved in different directions. Cheryl went to nursing school,
got married, and had four children before getting a divorce
and moving to Pennsylvania. Talina stayed in Indiana wandered a
bit to find her way. She joined the National Guard,
(07:32):
then got into computer programming. Like her sister, she also
got married and divorced at a young age to a
man named Russell Lovic, but she never had any kids. Instead,
Talina played the auntie role with glee.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I had four kids and so many would be tight es.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Firstly, run Christmas con and you know, she always made
sure my kids had Christmas.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
That was one of her deals.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
She would bring a whole van full of presence, you know,
and that was a good relief to us.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Cheryl's kids loved to come visit Aunt Jana, where they
were often spoiled.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Navid spend weeks at her house and they always did
fun things. She'd take them one at a time, but
everyone got a turn to go and spend a couple
of weeks with Aunt Jana and do all of the
fun things that Aunt Jana could.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Talina's close relationship with her three nieces, Cherie, Chantal, and
Chelsea continued into their adulthoods. The girls all settled in
the Indianapolis area, close to Teleina and most of their
extended family. Even after Teleina moved to Oklahoma, she made
a point to visit frequently.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Jana came through Indiana every two three four months, three
four times a year.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
By twenty twenty, Cheryl and Telena had fallen out of touch,
and so when her little sister goes missing, she hasn't
spoken to her in almost three years, but her daughters
are in regular contact with Tealina. Teleina was especially close
with Chantal, Cheryl's middle daughter. They both had office jobs
(09:15):
and so it was common for them to send messages
back and forth throughout the workday. In late March, during
the start of the COVID lockdown, Talina and Chantal are
chatting like usual.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
It just happened that her and Chantelle, my middle daughter,
have been communicating throughout the day on Facebook, which is
something they often did.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Then Telena messages Chantal that she has to go. She's
tired and has a headache.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
She was going to lay down for a while and
said that she would chat with her later. The next
day she's not online, and then the next day she's
not online, and then the next day she's not online,
and so then she began to try to didn't get
an answer, did get an answer, She didn't contact Scherie,
(10:06):
the oldest one, and she's telling SCHERI, I think something's
wrong here.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Then on April seventh, Chantal sees Telena's Facebook post I'll.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
Catch up with everyone on the other side now.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
When they decided that they needed to tell the family
that something was going.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
On, Chantale tells her mom, there's no way Telena wrote
the post. She thinks someone else must have.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Well, what makes you think it's not Dianna?
Speaker 1 (10:36):
She said, this was sloppy, not at all, not at
all like anything Janna would have written or the way
she'd have written it.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
She was alarmed immediately.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Once the whole family is in the loop about Telena's disappearance,
they start comparing notes trying to work out the last
time anyone had any real contact with her. The date
they come up with is March twenty seventh, that's the
day chantal was last Facebook messaging with her aunt.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
And now we're up to near two weeks later. My
immediate gut response was this is not good.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I just knew this was not good.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Of all the crazy things my sister would do and
flighty things and air brain things she might do, just
totally dropping off the face of the earth, he is
not one of them.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
A few days later, the Wagner County Sheriff's Department calls
to Lena's family and speaks to her mother and brother.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
I did it, being probably close to two hour talk
with the both of them, and it was the questions
that she would normally expect. Is there any place you
can think of she might have gone, Are there any
friends somewhere that she.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Might have gone to visit? What would she normally do?
And of course wended you laugh talk career.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Tealina's family, who are spread out across multiple states, face
a difficult question. Should they go to Wagner, Oklahoma to
look for Tealina themselves in the middle of COVID lockdowns?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
You know, so we had to wrestle around, well do
we stay here and wage did somebody go out there?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
That was really hard and we were torn about it.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Even if they went, they didn't know where to start looking.
Talina had kept so much of her life their secret.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
She made it clear her life with these group of
friends were her and Tom's private matter. And that's what
made it so difficult, because we don't know this part
of her life.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Cheryl and her family knew of only one person in
Wagner that Talina had ever mentioned.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
She talked about Mario Pine. She had one hundred pictures
of Marthy and her food. They were the best friends.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Day were so close.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
But the last time they'd seen Teleina she told them
that Marty was out of the picture.
Speaker 9 (13:06):
And she says, Marty and I are not friends and
I don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
And like, oh, we've heard.
Speaker 9 (13:12):
About this Marty for freaking last five years, and all
of a sudden, boom, Marty's gone. No explanation, No, this
is what happened. Marty's gone.
Speaker 7 (13:24):
I was questioning him as early as beginning of May.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
This is Jess, our internet sleuth in Minnesota. A few
weeks into her own investigation. She's also discovering that Telena
and Marty's relationship may not have been exactly how he
described it, and she's beginning to suspect that he's been
lying to her, which is tough because they've become very close,
(13:49):
very fast.
Speaker 7 (13:51):
I probably spent six plus hours a day on FaceTime
or the phone with him or texting about what we knew, theories,
who we'd talked to. We talked about a lot of stuff.
I mean, some of our conversations weren't even about Telena.
They were about life. Like we had conversations about when
his mom was murdered. His mom was murdered in front
of him, and he got really vulnerable with me. And sometimes,
(14:13):
like trauma, bonding is a thing. Talking about stuff like
that with somebody, you get close really quick.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
When Marty talks about his relationship with Telena, he makes
it seem as though they were extremely close, the best
of friends. But Jess is learning new information that introduces
some ambiguity into the picture. For one, she finds out
from another friend of Tolena's that Marty had allegedly stolen
(14:41):
from Telena a few months before her disappearance.
Speaker 7 (14:45):
I'd heard from Rachel that in December, Marty had stolen
from Telena. Telena didn't exactly tell her what kind of
theft it was, but she had told Rachel that Marty
was no longer welcome in her home.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Jess also suspects that Telena had been helping Marty out
financially for a while.
Speaker 7 (15:06):
My thoughts at the time were that he was taking
advantage of Telena monetarily wise, because there was at one
point where he said, I missed my Teleina wife. You know,
if I went over there and I was upset, she
would slip some money into my pocket and make things better.
So I mean that sat with me kind of funny,
like she was financially supporting them, and there was a
bunch of stuff that he said she would help him,
quote unquote help him with. Where I think his idea
(15:27):
was help was her fully funding it.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
As Marty explains to Jess, he suffers from chronic pain
and addiction has had a hard time holding down a job.
On one of their calls, Marty even goes so far
as to ask Jess for some money for his pain medication.
But that's a line Jess isn't willing to cross. According
to Jess, Marty said Telena would sometimes pay his phone
(15:52):
and water bills, even chip in for his meds.
Speaker 7 (15:55):
He needed painkillers, and she felt for him because she
was kind of a bleeding heart with people, and probably
gave him the money to help him alleviate some of
his pain. And he was in treatment several times for
illegal drugs dependency of them.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Things were messy between Marty and Telena. But when I
asked Jess about Marty and Tellina's friendship ending abruptly just
before her disappearance, Jess didn't think it was that black
and white. As far as she could tell, the two
had been communicating regularly.
Speaker 7 (16:28):
I don't know if she was willing to forgive him
for whatever it happened, or maybe he had paid her back.
The relationship was strained, but I don't know if she
was willing to forgive or she was so used to
that master slave relationship that they had all enjoyed. I
can't speak to her feelings. I never actually talked to
Tulina and Marty. I don't feel as a reliable source anymore.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
By the pandemic's start, it looks as though Corey, not Marty,
had become the primary recipient of Toleina's generosity. According to
Jess's research, Corey was living free in Telena's home. She
used Toelena's cars to get around, and while she worked
odd jobs, it was Toelena's steady paycheck that provided the
(17:09):
household income. It seems in those crucial months before Toelina's disappearance,
the people in her close orbit were shifting places. Marty
Starr was fading and Corey's was ascending.
Speaker 7 (17:22):
She did remove him from her will and change it
to Corey.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
I was able to get a hold of a copy
of Telena's will.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
I Telena Jenna Galloway of Wagner County, Oklahoma, being of
full age and of sound mind and disposing memory, but
sensitive of the uncertainties of life and desiring which may
positions of the prophet mind may die. If you want missing,
I appoint Corey Bamile Adams to serve as the personal
representative of my estate.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
The sleuths feels certain that Corey had something to do
with Telena's disappearance. I mean, becoming the beneficiary of someone
else's estate months before they go missing, that's motive one
oh one. They've also heard through the grapevine about Corey
burning Telena's mattress, selling her items on eBay, and Corey's
(18:20):
criminal past suggests she's no stranger to lying and manipulation.
But what about Marty To the sleuths, he presents himself
as someone who's also suspicious of Corey, even though they're friends.
He tells the sleuths he'll use his friendship with Corey
(18:40):
to try to get more information. Here's Brittany.
Speaker 10 (18:45):
He was like, I've been talking to Corey, trying to
get Hurt to tell me what happened. He said at
one point he'd he's Ben drove by the house to
see if he saw anything weird, and that ahead of Corey.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
But the sleuths aren't sure if he's being entirely transparent
about his relationship with Corey either. Here's Rosie.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
I felt like he would give us half truth and
then backtrack on things, and some of the stories that
he told me I couldn't verify in any sort of
legal records anywhere. He wanted us to believe him so
much that it felt like he was hiding something.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
And they're hearing rumors from other people in Wagner that
contradict how Marty describes his relationship with Corey.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
I remember he had said that he had gone over
there and really laid into her and yelled at her,
and the neighbor reported something completely different, that it was
like a friendly interaction, and you know, it just felt
he was very much trying to control the story.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Jess, as usual, cuts to the chase.
Speaker 7 (20:04):
I questioned about why he played both sides of the
fence with Team Telena and then Corey, because he'd always
have good terms with her, and he'd keep telling me, well,
I have to play nice. You catch more flies with
Honey than you do Vinegar. I have to, you know,
play nice with Corey because then maybe she'll tell me something.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Just suspects maybe they're in cahoots, maybe Marty's telling Corey
everything they're telling him, And Jess tells him that too.
Speaker 7 (20:28):
Anybody that plays both sides of the fence is definitely
not your friend. And so I told him that. I said,
I can't sit here and confide in you about what
we're finding about Corey and all these people that are
coming to us with information when I feel like you're
going to feed it right back to her. You know,
you come to us and you say, oh, Corey's doing this,
and I'm outside the house watching or do that, and
then I find out from somebody in Wagner that they
(20:50):
seen you guys at the gas station together, down by
the lake together, or that you were sitting outside the house,
or that you went into the house. Like it was
a constant questioning.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Because Jess was the person who was calling and asking
the questions, it really took up a lot of her
time emotionally and mentally, and I'm sure that it was
draining for her to try to keep all of that straight.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Jess is starting to feel exhausted. The investigation is hard work,
so is changing her persona with each new source she
reaches out to, trying to get them to open up,
trying to find the thing that's going to crack the
case wide open. Sometimes she pretends she knew Telena. Other
times she gives fake backstories to gain access.
Speaker 7 (21:42):
I lied to a lot of people, a lot friends
of Telena's, friends of Marty's. I mean, I just lied
my way into their life. I manipulated them.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Can you give some examples of like the kind of
lies we're talking about, Well.
Speaker 7 (22:01):
There's a lot, Oh, I know so and so, you know,
I lie about who I knew, or I think I'm
one of the things I had said. I was a
private investigator, which is a huge lie, but it's a
lie none the less. I told people that I got
their information from a friend of a friend, when i'd
actually like use an app online to get their information.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
When Jess told me all of this that she lied
to get information out of people, I had to wonder
could I trust her to be completely truthful with me?
After all, in her very first email, she had mischaracterized
her relationship to Tealina, saying she was her friend. Over
the year I spent reporting this story, I've tried to
(22:46):
confirm every detail just told me. In some cases I
only have her account to rely on, but her version
of events has held up. I believe she's been honest
about everything that transpired and when it reflected negatively on her,
and she's been especially candid when talking about the personal
toll of all of this.
Speaker 7 (23:07):
The whole thing seemed kind of Sometimes I felt like
I was in over my head.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Talina's case is consuming Jess day and night. She's strategizing
with her fellow sleuths, managing Marty, and sharing her findings
with the Wagner County Sheriff's Office, whose reaction to her
tips vary depending on the day and their level of
patience and for what. Sometimes the absurdity of the whole
(23:35):
endeavor catches her off guard. What is she even doing
trying to solve a missing person's case involving a woman
she never met. Jess keeps meticulous notes of her investigation
and her feelings about all of it. Here's a little
glimpse of her writing from this time.
Speaker 7 (23:54):
The days are becoming blurred. I talk too much to
too many people. All I wanted was to find a
missing woman. Want I ended up with with so much more.
My days are spent researching people, connecting dots that may
not even be there, and chain smoking. I sit back
with my seeming cup of coffee and think, how did
this happen?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
More than just her time and energy has just put
herself in actual danger. She's now entangled with people whose
true nature and capabilities she doesn't know. One day, she
gets some threatening texts from a former Gorrian master she'd
reached out to.
Speaker 7 (24:32):
He sent me his id and a knife and called
me a Gorrian slave and said he was going to
come get me.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Another time, a gruff stranger comes into her bar, and
something about him, his accent, the way he talks to
her makes her extremely uncomfortable. She's not sure is she
being paranoid, just decides to take some precautions. She gets
a concealed Carrie permit and a gun based on advice
(25:03):
she finds online. Justin Rosie create quote if I Go
Missing folders, complete with a list of older passwords, photos
of scars and tattoos, and the names of friends and
family with descriptions of their relationships for safekeeping. The two
women who first connected mere weeks ago, share these confidential
(25:26):
documents with each other.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
Like my if I Go Missing file, Yeah, Like it
just felt like something that we should do, Like at
some point it kind of our eyes kind of opened
that you know, I don't I had never given that
information to anyone other than my husband, and I don't
(25:49):
think she had done the same. And so just to
have someone like outside of the bubble of people who
we usually interact with, to be like if I go miss,
saying call the cops and tell them X y Z,
Like it just felt like at that moment, like it
just felt like that made sense to share with each other.
And I still have her information and I know she
(26:11):
still has mine.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Whatever reservations just has She's undeterred and she has a
feeling that this will all come to a close soon.
It has to. Surely the cops have enough evidence to
at least detain Corey.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Were you scared at all? Did you feel like?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
What have I What kind of characters have I gotten
myself involved with?
Speaker 10 (26:35):
No?
Speaker 7 (26:37):
Hmm, I was angry with her. I was just on
a mission to take her down. I wasn't scared, so
I was mad. I think all of us were mad.
We were like, what the hell? It's plain as day
what she's doing right, Like she might as well have
a guilty light flashing on her forehead.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
They're all waiting for something to happen, for an arrest,
for a bit break in the case, for Telena to
be found alive or dead. Meanwhile, Jess continues her daily,
no hourly check ins with Marty, who's growing more erratic
and confused.
Speaker 7 (27:16):
And then at nine point twenty, he says, I've been
sitting here trying to find myself. I said, what do
you mean, and he said, I am trying not to
admit the man that I am. I said, you need
to get some sleep, but I can't get past the
things I've done and should have stopped a long time ago.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Often it seems to Jess he's drunk or high when
they're on the phone or texting.
Speaker 7 (27:36):
I said, you didn't sleep last night. Just sleep on it.
Nothing's going to change if you sleep, aside from your
state of mind. And he said, she can't get away
with this. I can't live with this anymore. And I
said she won't. The police are onto her, so is
everybody else. He said, I love you, thank you for
all you've done.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
And then late one night, while sitting on the couch,
she gets a call from Marty.
Speaker 7 (27:56):
He was sitting outside Telena's house and he was drunk
and high, and you could always tell when he was drunk.
He was slurry and just I wondered how he had
driven there right. I said, what are you doing? And
he said, I've got my ar and if she comes outside,
and I was like, get home, like, you can't. You
can't kill somebody like that's He goes, well, she killed
(28:16):
my Teleina wife. And I said, if you know that,
let's get the sheriffs, like, let's let's do this. You can't.
You can't just kill somebody like that's not I know
you're mad, but let's get her in trouble, right, Let's
call the police. Let's get the sheriffs out there. If
you have something. He goes, I know Selena's dating.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
It's male eventh twenty twenty and Detective Joel Webber is
at Telena and Corey's house once more. This time he's
there to use a chemical called blue Star forensic spray
in the garage. This spray causes blood to glow blue.
I'm sure you've seen it on TV shows. Corey shows
(29:00):
the officers into the garage and tells them that her
dogs had recently peed on the concrete. She'd attempted to
clean it up using a combination of chemicals she had
around the house bleach, pine soal, lime powder, and kitty litter,
the ladder of which is sprinkled around the garage floor,
still visible to officers. They get to spraying and the
(29:24):
results are instantaneous. The floor glows. There's a large area
in the center of the garage, maybe two feet in
the same place where some of the kitty litter is.
The visual is striking, but officers know it's not conclusive
of anything. Bleach is also known to make blue Star react,
(29:47):
so for now, the officers take photos and samples of
the floor to be tested for DNA. A week later,
where he goes to the Sheriff's office for her scheduled
polygraph appointment. She's volunteered for a lie detector test in
(30:07):
an effort to help police rule her out as a suspect.
Speaker 11 (30:13):
I I would shake your hand, but I'll give an
elbow to you.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
The polygraph is being administered by Scott Miller, who works
for the Department of Public Safety. This is a recreation
of some of their interview.
Speaker 8 (30:28):
I don't think this is a I don't think you're
a suspect. I think we're here to clear you, right.
Speaker 11 (30:33):
Yeah, to my knowledge, there's not even a crime at
this point. What we are trying to do is just
clear me from my end, because I was the last
person to see her, at least to see her in
our residence. I'm here on my own accord because I've
(30:55):
been through six weeks of grief and i just want
the grief to end.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Miller attaches the instrument to her body. There's a cuff
on her arm to watch the dips and rises in
her blood pressure, two electrodes on her fingers to measure
her pulse and sweat production. And two tubes wrapped around
her chest to track changes in breathing. Miller explains he's
going to ask her a series of questions multiple times.
(31:24):
He instructs her to be truthful except for one question
where she's supposed to purposefully lie. This helps the machine
establish the way Corey's body reacts to deception. The question
she's supposed to lie about uses the phrase quote in
your entire life.
Speaker 8 (31:43):
Here we go. This portion of the test is about
to begin. Please remain still. Do you understand I will
only ask you the questions we discussed. Yes. Regarding the
questions about whether or not you harmed Telena, do you
intend to answer each question truthfully? Yes? Are you now
currently sitting down?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yes?
Speaker 8 (32:05):
In your entire life? Have you ever told even one
lie about something embarrassing? No? Since April fifth, have you
participated in any harm of Teleina?
Speaker 10 (32:14):
No?
Speaker 8 (32:14):
Do you sometimes drink water? Yes?
Speaker 3 (32:16):
It goes on and on like this, with Miller repeating
the questions.
Speaker 8 (32:21):
Are the lights currently on in this room? Yes? In
your entire life, have you ever told even one lie?
Speaker 10 (32:28):
No?
Speaker 8 (32:29):
Since April fifth, have you harmed Telena? No? Are you
currently sitting down? Yes? In your entire life have you
even told one lie to someone who trusted you? No?
Since April fifth, have you participated in any harm and
of Teleina? No? Do you sometimes drink water? Yes? In
your entire life? Have you ever told even one lie
about something embarrassing?
Speaker 5 (32:49):
No?
Speaker 8 (32:50):
Do you know for sure who harmed Telena? No?
Speaker 3 (32:56):
They finish up. By this point, Corey's been in the
interview room for over three hours. Miller reads through the
results and he tells Corey they need to talk about
what the machine found.
Speaker 8 (33:10):
Yeah. So, I've looked at it. We've had three clean
charts there at the end, but you were having problems
on two of the questions, which two? Did you harm Telena?
And did you do you know for sure who harmed Telena?
Those were two you had significant reactions to.
Speaker 11 (33:29):
Really, Yeah, so I wonder if I don't know, if
you know, there are just so many scenarios that go
through your mind. I try and not think about things
when I'm answering questions.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I don't know what else to say.
Speaker 8 (33:49):
I don't know the answerment here is, you know what,
it doesn't like you, and it doesn't dislike you. It
just reads your body and tells me you were deceptive
on those two questions.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
When Corey doesn't offer any explanations, Miller gives her some
hypothetical stories. Maybe there was an argument, an accident. Corey says, no,
Maybe Toelina wanted to end her life and someone helped her.
And maybe it wasn't even.
Speaker 8 (34:17):
Corey barn a stranger. If you suspected something like that happened,
not the nefarious stuff, but helping someone out. Who would
be the people you would suspect the most.
Speaker 11 (34:29):
I mean, Marty is the most obvious one. I mean
everyone would say it's Marty.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
And she adds there was a recent rift between Marty
and Telena, you.
Speaker 11 (34:41):
Know, and the only animosity there towards the end is Marty.
Marty has had had a falling out this year because
of he was originally the executor for her estate, and
he was called several times stealing meds or he almost
got a her car repossessed because he claimed it was
(35:03):
his own on a bank loan, and then just a
few other things where Telena came to me about year
and a half ago and said, I can't trust him.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Even so, Corey says she doesn't think Marty would hurt Toe.
Lena Miller says the detectives will talk to him if
they haven't already. Their conversation wraps up, he tells Corey
that while she didn't do so well on the test,
she's free to go. Detective Weber will be in touch soon.
(35:38):
Lie detectors are unreliable in Oklahoma and many other places.
They aren't allowed as evidence in court. Mostly cops use
them as a tool to get people to confess, and
Corey didn't, so they can't arrest her. But then Weber
finds evidence that changes their whole understanding of the timeline
(35:59):
of events, and he presents that evidence to a judge
in order to get a search warrant.
Speaker 12 (36:06):
This investigation has been unable to locate anyone that spoke
with Telena or saw her since the twenty seventh of
March twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
She was going to get that bed to us.
Speaker 12 (36:16):
She was checking to see.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
If we're coming to get the best this weekend.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Her and Chantel had been communicating throughout the day on
face that Jana had signed off.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
She was going to lay down for a while and
said that she would chat with her later.
Speaker 12 (36:31):
This leaves to Lena unaccounted for for a full ten
days before Corey says to Lena left home.
Speaker 7 (36:37):
That next morning, the twenty eighth, I got a message
that said, abort mission.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I've got a terrible migraine. I'm saying in bed.
Speaker 6 (36:45):
Today, abort mission. I've got a terrible migraine. I've been
staying in bed today, bed today.
Speaker 12 (36:52):
It has been discovered that Corey called in sick for
Toelena to work on Monday, March thirty, twenty twenty, and
told them she would not be at work for the
remainder of the week.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
My weekend migraine developed into a fever last night and
it is currently hovering around around one hundred point five.
Speaker 12 (37:14):
Another recently obtained screenshot from Telena's Facebook page on March
thirty shows Talina saying she called her doctor and was
told to stay in bed and self medicate.
Speaker 8 (37:24):
I called my.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
Doctor and was told to stay in bed and stay
hydrated and self.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Medicate and call back or go to the er if
my temper reaches is one o two.
Speaker 12 (37:33):
We know this is untrue because of the information obtained
while at the Wagner Community Hospital.
Speaker 6 (37:39):
I think Oklahoma's medical artistet has stretched sin right now.
Speaker 7 (37:43):
Stretched thin.
Speaker 12 (37:45):
Subsequently, it was discovered there is no record that Telena
ever went to the Wagner Community Hospital or was ever seen,
even though Corey states she drove to Lena there herself.
It is verified that the hospital documented everyone that was screened,
including people that were not admitted to the hospital.
Speaker 6 (38:04):
Those of you who know me well know why I
have DNR orders and my health directive, and I'm not
going to let anyone into be any.
Speaker 12 (38:13):
This investigation recently discovered Internet usage on Telena's cellular phone
stopped at two fifteen pm on April seven, but the
final Facebook post on Telena's account indicates she was quote
almost there unquote at three point fifteen pm the same day.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Didn't feel up to driving, so hired a ride. I'm
almost there. After I post this, I am turning off
my phone.
Speaker 12 (38:40):
This final post appears suspicious and unlikely to have come
from Telena or her cellular phone.
Speaker 11 (38:46):
Please respect my privacy and give me my alone time
on the link with Tom.
Speaker 12 (38:54):
Probable cause exists that Corey fabricated a final Facebook post
on Telena Galloway's account.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
I didn't want to be talked out of this plan.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
I'll catch up with everyone on the other side.
Speaker 12 (39:09):
Given the numerous fabrications, offered by Corey and areas of
suspicion surrounding Corey. I believe it is likely she was
or has been involved in the disappearance of Telena Galloway.
Speaker 11 (39:21):
I am thankful and green rateful that I do have
someone watching out for me.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
And running the household.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Next time on What Happened to Telenazar, things get wild
in Wagner.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Out of instinct, I grabbed for my pistol, but I.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
Did not have, and Jess's investigation reaches a fever pitch.
Speaker 7 (39:54):
One of the last conversations Wolfe and I had had
he was extremely drunken high and he's I can't believe
you figured it out.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
What Happened to Tealinazar is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
It's written, reported, and hosted by me Melissa Jelson, with
writing and story editing by Lauren Hansen. Our executive producer
is Ryan Murdoch. For iHeart Podcasts, executive producers are Jason
English and Carl Catele. Fact checking by Maya Shukri. Zoe
(40:28):
Denkla is our associate producer. Jeremy Thal is our editor.
Original music by Aaron Kaufman with additional music by Jeremy
Thal and Gideon Crevishe additional sound design by Mariita Speth.
Episodes are mixed and mastered by Karl Catle. Voice acting
by Lizzie Gore, Chris Ferry, Stephanie Frame, Pete Monica and
(40:50):
Molly Maslin. Our logo is designed by Edo Moore. Thanks
so much for listening.
Host
Melissa Jeltsen
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