Vanished in the Night: The Haunting Disappearance of Angela Hammond

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Imagine talking on the phone to your significant
other.
The date is April 4th 1991.
It's late at night and, in anage where cell phones have yet
to be invented, you use apayphone in a dark, desolate
parking lot outside the localfood barn.

(00:27):
You carry on your conversationwithout a care in the world, not
realizing at that moment youare a target.
You feel safe in the smallMissouri town of Clinton, the
town that you call home, a placewhere everybody knows everybody

(00:47):
, almost everybody.
As you continue yourconversation, you notice a green
truck that seems to keepcircling the parking lot near
the payphones.
You begin to feel uneasy, soyou tell your fiancé what is
happening.
You describe the truck indetail and then suddenly the

(01:13):
truck begins heading towards you.
A strange man gets out andpretends to be fidgeting, with
something in his truck stallingas he waits for just the right
moment, and then suddenly hestrikes.
This is the case of AngelaHammond, and this is Gone in a

(01:48):
Blink.
Hey, true crime fans, I'm yourhost, heather.
Welcome to episode 30 of Gonein a Blink.
I hope everyone had a wonderfulThanksgiving holiday and, for

(02:09):
those of you who traveled overthe holiday, I hope the airports
weren't too crazy busy.
We did not travel out of townthis year.
Well, actually, my family and Idid not travel anywhere.
Danielle, I believe, was in NewYork over the Thanksgiving
holiday, which is an absolutelybeautiful time of believe was in
New York over the Thanksgivingholiday, which is an absolutely
beautiful time of year to be inNew York.
If you've never been in NewYork over the holidays, I would

(02:32):
highly recommend it.
So today's case is out ofClinton, missouri.
Today we are talking about thecase of Angela Hammond.
So if you're ready, let's jumpright in Angela Hammond.
So if you're ready, let's jumpright in Angela Marie Hammond
was born on February 9th 1971 toparents Marshall and Chris

(02:53):
Hammond.
Until Angela was about fouryears old, the family lived in
Kansas City, missouri, beforemaking the move to the smaller
town of Clinton, missouri, to becloser to Marshall's parents,
lloyd and Elizabeth Young, andfor geographical purposes,
clinton is about 76 milessoutheast of Kansas City.
So shortly after moving toClinton, the Hammonds welcomed

(03:17):
their second child, whom theynamed Lauren.
Unfortunately, the marriagedidn't last and Marsha moved 20
miles away to rural Montrose,missouri, and Chris moved to
Olathe, kansas, which isapproximately 80 miles northwest
of Clinton.
Angela's friends would describeher as a happy-go-lucky type of

(03:37):
girl who was always up forhaving a good time.
She was very popular in schooland was considered very
extroverted.
She graduated from MontroseHigh School before meeting Rob
Schaefer in November 1990, andRob would be the man that she
would consider the love of herlife.
Angela was 19 at the time andRob was an 18 year old high

(04:01):
school athlete.
It was absolute love at firstsight.
By January 1991, angela foundout she was pregnant after only
three months of dating.
However, rob was absolutelyover the moon with excitement.
Soon after Rob proposed toAngela and the happy couple
announced the news to bothfamilies, who were equally just

(04:24):
as excited, by spring of 1991,rob and Angela decided to move
in together.
They rented a small trailer inClinton and began planning their
future.
Angela finds a job at the UnionState Bank as a night processor
, while also enrolled in collegecourses at Central Missouri
State University.

(04:44):
Rob has plans to enlist in theArmy that following summer.
On Thursday, april 4th 1991,angela and Rob spend the entire
day together attending a familybarbecue at Angela's mom's house
.
Around 9 pm Angela drops Roboff at his parents' house so he
can go watch his little brother,and Angela then drives to pick

(05:06):
up her best friend, kylaIngerman, and the two cruise the
town square, chit-chatting andlistening to music and just
really being typical teenagegirls.
A few hours later, angela dropsKyla back off at her house
around 11.15 pm.
She remembers that she told Robshe would call him later that
evening.
So she heads to a payphonelocated in the parking lot of

(05:30):
the local food barn, which islocated at the corner of 2nd and
Jefferson streets and is justseven blocks from Rob's parents
home.
The grocery store is closed andthe parking lot is dark.
However, angela wasn't reallyconcerned as she parks near one
of the two payphones and getsout of the car and she leaves
her purse in the front passengerseat.

(05:51):
She remembers that she told Robshe would call him later that
evening.
So she heads to a payphonelocated in the parking lot of
the local food barn located atthe corner of 2nd and Jefferson
streets, and it was just locatedseven blocks from Rob's
parents' home.
The grocery store is closed andthe parking lot is dark.

(06:12):
However, angela was not reallyconcerned as she parks near one
of the two payphones and getsout of the car, leaving her
purse in the front passengerseat.
Angela was anxious to call Roband the two talked for roughly
half an hour.
Around 11 45 pm, angela noticesa green truck that appeared to
be circling the area where thepayphones were located.

(06:35):
This made Angela feel a bituneasy so she told Rob what was
happening.
She described the truck as anolder model, light green 1960s
Ford with a large decal of afish jumping out of water that
covered most of the back window.
Moments later the strange manmade his way to the payphones

(06:56):
and parked right next toAngela's car.
Angela described the man to Robas looking dirty bearded and
wearing overalls.
Angela described the man to Robas looking dirty bearded and
wearing overalls.
He got out of his truck andbegan searching the interior of
the truck with a flashlight.
Angela informed Rob that thesuspicious man appeared to be
looking for something.
Initially the man appeared tobe trying to use the phone in

(07:22):
the other unoccupied phone booth, but then seemed to have
changed his mind and headed backto his truck and unfortunately
hindsight's 20-20,.
But that right there is supersuspicious because obviously he
was trying to stall and make itlook like he was doing something
other than sitting therewaiting for the right moment to
attack her.
And she obviously knewsomething was suspicious.

(07:43):
That's why she told Rob.
But it's just crazy.
Rob suggested that she ask himif he needed to use the phone,
thinking that maybe the otherphone wasn't working.
Angela called out to him andthe man could be heard by Rob on
the other end of the phonereplying no to Angela that he
did not need to use the phone.
So that took a lot of couragejust to even speak to the man,

(08:05):
because she's already reallynervous about him being there
and he already looks suspicious.
I'm not sure that I would haveeven spoke to him, but she had a
lot more guts than I do forcalling out to him.
But all of the sudden Rob heardAngela let out this agonizing
scream.
It was reported that followingAngela's scream, rob could hear

(08:29):
a man's voice in the backgroundsay quote, I didn't need to use
the phone anyway.
Unquote.
Before the line went dead.
Angela's scream was so intensethat Rob immediately rushed to
his car and headed seven blocksaway to the payphone where he
knew Angela had been.
On his way there he passed alight green truck headed in the

(08:52):
opposite direction.
He could see a female passengerstruggling with the male driver
and as he passed the truck heheard a female voice scream his
name.
Rob made an abrupt U-turn inthe middle of the road and
attempted to follow the truck.
He was able to follow the truckfor a short distance.
However, when Rob made a sharpturn to stay with the truck, his

(09:14):
transmission stopped workingand his car stalled out in the
middle of the road.
Rob jumped out of his car andbegan trying to chase the green
truck on foot until the truckbecame so far ahead of him that
all he could do was watch thetaillights of the green truck
and the love of his life driveoff into the night.

(09:35):
A passerby noticed Rob'sdistress and stopped to help.
Thank goodness he stoppedbecause he was able to give Rob
a ride to the police station.
And Rob arrived at the policestation just shortly after
midnight.
Once there, he told officerseverything that had just taken
place.
At first, the officers werevery skeptical of Rob's story.

(09:56):
However, once police confirmedthat Rob's car was in fact
broken down where he said it was, the story became a little bit
more believable to officers.
Police located Angela's carexactly where she had left it in
the food barn parking lot, nearthe payphone she was using when
she was abducted.
Her purse was still inside byApril 7th, three days after

(10:19):
Angela's abduction, volunteersconducted a widespread search
involving more than 150volunteers, searching areas both
in Clinton County as well asneighboring Henry County.
On April 10th, the FBI beginsquestioning Rob, as well as
Angela's former boyfriend,17-year-old Bill Barker.

(10:41):
Both men are given lie detectortests and both men pass so.
By April 15th, approximatelytwo weeks after Angela was
abducted, the Missouri CrimeSquad teamed up with authorities
in the search.
The squad's primary focus wasto locate the green Ford truck
that was involved in thekidnapping.

(11:07):
Request to the public for allproperty owners to check out any
outbuildings, cabins, barns,sheds or any other structures on
their property for any sign ofAngela.
After extensive searches wereconducted, the search requests
turned up zero trace of Angelaand the crime squad ended their

(11:29):
formal search.
Police soon began looking atother similar cases in the area
for comparison.
They focused on two cases inparticular that occurred three
months prior to Angela'sabduction and within an 80 mile
radius.
The first case authoritieszoned in on was that of
42-year-old Trudy Darby out ofMax Creek, missouri, which is

(11:51):
located less than 70 milessoutheast of Clinton.
Trudy was well known in thecommunity because she held a
previous job with the Max CreekPublic School as a school
secretary.
On February 19th at around 10pm Trudy was working her shift
at the K&D Country Corner storein Camden County when she

(12:13):
noticed a suspicious man hangingaround outside.
She was a bit concerned, so shecalled her son, waylon Darby,
and gave him a description ofthe man.
She never indicated to her son,though, that she was fearful or
that she thought she was in anykind of danger.
However, waylon decided, justto be cautious, to swing by the
store to check on his mother.

(12:34):
When he arrived at the store hediscovered that Trudy was
nowhere to be found.
Waylon called the Camden CountySheriff's Department and
trooper Jimmy Mays arrived atthe K&D store to take the
initial report.
It was discovered that Trudy'scar coat and purse were still
there, but $200 was missing fromthe cash register.

(12:57):
A few days later, a fellowCamden County resident decided
to conduct his own investigationinto Trudy's disappearance,
based on a report from aneighbor that gunshots were
heard in the area.
He searched the area of theLittle Neongwa River, where he
discovered hair and blood on theroad leading to the river.

(13:17):
He immediately contacted CamdenCounty Sheriff Crocker, who
went out to survey the scene.
There he found the hair, bloodand a 33 caliber casing near the
river.
A search was conducted and soonfound Trudy's nude and badly
beaten body in the river.
Three days later, on February22nd, medical examiner Jay Dix

(13:42):
confirmed the autopsy resultsTrudy had been beaten, raped and
shot twice in the head.
In 1993, a 15-year-old boy bythe name of Jesse Rush told his
neighbor, carl Blakely, that hehad taken part in the murder of
Trudy Darby.
Carl contacted the CamdenSheriff's Department with this

(14:04):
information and Trooper Maysbegan investigating Jesse.
Jesse's former girlfriend,gretchen Chastain, also told
Trooper Mays that Jesse admittedto her that he was responsible
for Trudy's death.
He told police in his interviewthat his half-brother, marvin
Chaney, also helped in theabduction and murder of Trudy
Darby.
By the summer of 1994, trudy'smurder had been solved and Jesse

(14:29):
Rush and Marvin Chaney werebehind bars.
It seems that Jesse had visitedfriends in Kansas City and
bragged to various people thathe was responsible for Trudy's
abduction and murder,implicating himself as well as
Marvin Chaney.
Jesse's friends couldn't evenbelieve what they were hearing
and immediately notifiedauthorities.

(14:52):
Jesse didn't hold back thedetails of this horrific crime
and in fact it was almost as ifhe was reliving everything that
he had done to Trudy, which isabsolutely sick.
The guy has no, he has noremorse.
He has absolutely no remorsefor what he did.
He actually takes a lot ofpleasure in retelling the story.

(15:14):
He admitted that he and Chaneyand another accomplice had been
planning Trudy's abduction forquite some time.
They entered the conveniencestore where Trudy worked and
held her at gunpoint, demandingthat she open the cash register.
They stole the $200 that was init and proceeded to force Trudy

(15:36):
out of the store and into theirvehicle.
They drove her out to a barn ina rural area close by where
they raped and beat her beforeshooting her in the head at
point blank range.
They then put her in the trunkand drove her out to the river
to get rid of her body.
When they opened the trunk,they discovered that she was

(15:58):
still breathing, so they shother in the head again.
Police believe that there couldbe a connection to Angela's
disappearance as well, althoughthey have been unable to find
any hard evidence to confirmthis theory just yet.
While Jesse was in jail awaitingtrial, it was reported that he
became pretty friendly with aninmate by the name of Edward

(16:22):
Thomas, whom he thought was alawyer.
That could help him lessen hischarges.
In Trudy's case.
Jesse implicated himself evenfurther in Trudy's murder and
insinuated the possibility thatthere may have been many more
murders in which he and Chaneywere responsible for, and this

(16:43):
is insane to me.
This is this is weird to methat he thinks that this fellow
inmate in prison with himactually has enough pull from
inside prison to lessen hischarges in Trudy's murder.
So he basically confesseseverything and then some, and
just really shows how stupid hereally is.

(17:05):
In April 1997, jesse Rush andMarvin Chaney were found guilty
in the murder of Trudy Darby andsentenced to life in prison
without the possibility ofparole.
Rush was sent to South CentralCorrectional Facility in Licking
, missouri, and Marvin Chaneywas transported to the Maximum

(17:30):
Security Prison in Mineral Point, missouri.
Chaney passed away in September2017 at the age of 56 due to
natural causes.
The second case police werelooking into for ties to
Angela's case was that of a30-year-old wife and mother,
cheryl Ann Kinney, out of Nevada, missouri.
On the evening of February 27,1991, cheryl was working at the

(17:52):
JL Quality Convenience Storelocated on Business Highway 71.
Cheryl would normally clock outat midnight, but for some
reason that evening she wouldclock out at 10 pm.
She was supposed to be closingthe store that night and by 10
17 pm she set the alarm.
She has never been seen orheard from since that night.

(18:16):
Her white Chevy was foundlocated in the parking lot of
the convenience store.
However, she was nowhere to befound.
Police have reason to believethat the two cases could be
linked to Angela's disappearance.
However, they have beenunsuccessful in finding that
link.
On the 30th anniversary ofAngela's disappearance, the

(18:38):
Clinton Police Department postedon their Facebook page letting
Angela's family know that theyhave never stopped looking for
their daughter and that theywill continue to explore every
possible lead.
They stated that one of thoseleads originated in the area of
the Lake of the Ozarks.
They announced that aconfidential informant had

(18:58):
testified in a huge illegal drugoperation case and when his
identity was revealed during thecase he received a letter with
cut and paste letters cut from amagazine or a newspaper that
looked much like a ransom letter.
The letter contained theinformant's wife's name as well
as the informant's confidentialnumber, which were blacked out

(19:20):
of the letter when posted onFacebook by the police
department.
The letter addresses theinformant by the number that was
given to him to keep hisidentity secret before the case
and his wife is mentioned by herfirst name.
The letter was sent on April 4th1991, which was the exact same
night that Angela Hammond wasabducted.

(19:43):
The informant's wife, as wellas his daughter, were also
living in Clinton, missouri, atthat time.
The letter reads hello.
And then it gives theinformant's number we know who
you are number.
And then the informant's number.
Again, people like you deservewhat you get.
We know where your foxydaughter is at.

(20:05):
She will see us soon.
She has our deepest sympathy inour further loss.
Goodbye, and then theinformant's number, and I will
post a pic of this letter to ourfacebook page so you guys can
kind of see just how crazy thisletter is.
The police department thenproceeded to announce on their

(20:26):
facebook post that someone whovery clearly wanted to remain
anonymous called them and left amessage stating that they knew
information in regards to theAngela Hammond case.
They specifically mentioned twonames but did not provide a
callback number for police tocontact them.
Police were reaching out to thepublic in hopes of finding that

(20:48):
individual so that they couldtalk with them.
Regarding Angela's case, policebelieve it would be quite
difficult for only one person topull this off.
They feel that Angela'sabduction was more than likely
planned and that it may haveeven been a case of mistaken
identity.
Clinton Police Captain PaulAbbott has been diligently

(21:08):
working on Angela's case since2006.
His theory is that theabduction was a case of mistaken
identity and the actual targetwas the daughter of a police
informant who had a strikingresemblance to Angela Hammond.
In June of 1991, rob went toVirginia to train for the
National Guardsmen.

(21:29):
Angela's best friend, kylaIngerman, made plans to relocate
to Colorado.
The Hammond family continuedtheir search for answers into
what happened to their preciousdaughter.
They still remain in contactwith Rob and consider him part
of the family.
Rob eventually moved 60 milesaway and now has a family of his

(21:49):
own.
Angela's family have neverstopped searching for their
daughter.
They continue to keep her namealive in the hopes that one day
they will have answers.
Angela Hammond disappeared onApril 4th 1991 from Clinton,
missouri.
She was 20 years old at thetime of her disappearance and

(22:10):
would be 53 years old today.
She is a white female withblonde hair and brown eyes.
She is between 4 foot 11 inchesand 5 feet tall and weighed
approximately 140 pounds at thetime of her disappearance.
She goes by the nickname Angieand has a scar on her upper lip.

(22:31):
If you have any information,you are encouraged to call the
Clinton, missouri PoliceDepartment at area code
660-885-2679 or 800-877-3452.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of Gone in a

(22:55):
Blink.
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(23:20):
shout out for your suggestion.
And please remember, be safe,be smart and try not to blink
you.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Vanished in the Night: The Haunting Disappearance of Angela Hammond