August 16, 2024 • 20 mins
Send us a textChapter 10: Dad NEVER Gives Up
Adrianna Wix's father, Billy Williams, opens up publicly for the first time about his 20-year-long fight to find his daughter.
This is his story.
Thank you to our episode sponsor:
Hendersonville Family Psychiatry- Because mental health is Health
Don't miss Jules' weekly true crime podcast, True Crime and Headlines with Jules & Jen
Help support our show by leaving us a 5 star review and rating wherever you get your podcasts!
10 % of all profits from this podcast will be donated back to the Wix family to fund their costs in this journey of justice.
For more information, visit our website www.missinginhushtown.com
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Adrianna Wix's father, Billy Williams, opens up publicly for the first time about his 20-year-long fight to find his daughter.
This is his story.
Thank you to our episode sponsor:
Hendersonville Family Psychiatry- Because mental health is Health
Don't miss Jules' weekly true crime podcast, True Crime and Headlines with Jules & Jen
Help support our show by leaving us a 5 star review and rating wherever you get your podcasts!
10 % of all profits from this podcast will be donated back to the Wix family to fund their costs in this journey of justice.
For more information, visit our website www.missinginhushtown.com
You're wanted.
You're loved.
And you deserve to be found. Hometown Connect
Your all-in-one app for Middle TN communities. SixOneFive Real Estate Advisors, LLC
People Over Profit.Relive Studio
Unlock the story your brand deserves. Andi B's Boutique
Creating faith, pet, and family-friendly designs for all. Hometown Connect
Your direct connection to local dining, shopping, events, jobs, and news in Middle Tennessee communiSixOneFive Real Estate Advisors, LLC
People Over Profit.Andi B's Boutique
Creating faith, pet, and family-friendly designs for all. Relive Studio
Unlock the story yourSupport the show
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/missing-in-hush-town--6404892/support.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Speaker 3 (01:32):
Missing in Hushtown Season one is proudly sponsored by the
following relive studio, Andy B's Boutique, six one five real
Estate Advisors, and Hometown Connect. Thank you to our sponsors.
This episode is sponsored by Hendersonville Family Psychiatry. This is
Missing in Hushtown Season one, Chapter ten, Dad Never Gives Up. Hi,
(01:56):
I'm your host, Jules, and I am an investigated podcaster
living in the same town where Jennifer Wicks and Adriana
Wicks went missing in two thousand and four. This chapter
is going to be about a father's fight, and it's
going to be a bit different than previous chapters. I
want to give this space to Adriana's father, Billy Williams,
and I want him to tell us as much as
(02:17):
he wants can or will, so that everyone can for
the first time, all together, all at once, hear his
side of the story and his fight to find his
little girl.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Let's go. My family is about the only people that
(03:14):
I really have ever spoken to about this. My name
is Billy Williams, Adriana's father. I met Jennifer. We had
a friend of the same I guess didn't know each other,
but we had a friend that we both knew, and
we just kind of ran into each other at a
party one night. It wasn't really like a big time party,
(03:36):
but when I was growing up we would have field parties,
underage drinking going to the field and everybody just having
a good time. And it wasn't a big party, like
I said, But that's where we officially met, was through
Matt Thompson, a friend of mine that we both knew
grown up. I don't really recall a whole lot about
that particular night. It was a very very long time ago,
(03:58):
and the biggest point part of that night we had
bared my friend's car. We had borrowed my friends car.
I think my truck may have been messed up at
the time. And my family had a roughly a sixty
acre farm and we had a field in a very
back You got to go through a wooded trail to
get back there and it was completely secluded. But me
and Jennifer had rode back there and we just laid
(04:19):
on the hood of the car. And I don't think
she even drank anything at night. I was drinking a
little bit, but yeah, not a whole lot. But anyways,
I remember laying on the hood of the car and
I was just sitting there talking for probably a couple hours,
which was Jennifer's thing. She loved to have the hard
heart talks and stuff like that. And yeah, from there
(04:42):
we just kind of hit it off. The relationship moved
really really fast. I'm still living at home with my parents.
We lived behind a gas station, but anyways, and I
had an upstairs bedroom and her cousin, Ashley Wicks, had
worked over at the store. It's called Douglas Techo. Everybody
around here knows what it is. But anyways, you could
(05:04):
see from my bedroom you could see the store, and
you know, long story short, Jennifer had actually moved in
with me. I snuck her into my bedroom. My parents
didn't know that, I thought until afterwards my parents, my
mom let me know that she knew the whole time.
We thought we got away with like a week or
two where she didn't know, But no, she knew the
(05:25):
whole time. She says, Uh, Well, I mean I would
go to work and I would leave Jennifer there and
she would just lay in the bed and sleep all day.
We had a bathroom, it was upstairs. I mean it
was kind of like a little apartment up there. So yeah,
she would just hang out all day and then when
I would get home, we'd sneak her out and then
when you know, come back here, like, hey, how y'all doing.
Like I said, I loved her to death. I know
(05:46):
loves a strong word. It was a short period of time,
but we did share the word and exercise it between
each other. But yeah, and to me at the time,
I think my word would have been clingy. She was
too clingy. And that didn't think I had any kids
or any kids on the way or anything like that.
So nineteen twenty years old, I want to go live
(06:07):
a life and enjoy my childhood, I guess you could say.
Before stepping up to be an adult. So that's pretty
much all it was. Again, Jennifer was very fragile. I mean,
if her feelings got hurt, you would know it by
her crying, and then she would write you this big,
(06:27):
long letter almost every time. I mean I got a
letter at least once a day the whole time we
was together. I believe she went her way. I went mine.
Of course I stayed at my parents' house, but yeah,
she went her way, and I really didn't have any
contact with her at all after that, because this is
before cell phones was a big thing. I never never
(06:50):
seen her again after that up until later. At that point,
I was in a relationship with my ex wife now
Crystal Peril. So yeah, we had met at store and
we'd been dating at that point. I think we were
dating about seven eight months. Somewhere around that time frame.
(07:12):
It was a Robinson County fair. I was there with Crystal.
It's just kind of weird because once we broke up,
I never seen her again.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
But when you see her at the fair like two
years after you guys broke up, pretty much right, had
you heard in between those two years she had a.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Baby, just probably literally probably a few weeks maybe a
couple months before that.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
Did you ever question?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
No, because I didn't. I mean, I thought, you know,
if it if it could have been mine then, and
I didn't even know how old Adrianna was at the time.
I didn't know any details, so the math thing did
not click.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
So you go to this fair in August in Robertson
County without You're just going with your then girlfriend.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
And you see John Jennifer, Adriana and her cousin Ashley
Oak through this. Well, we're just walking down through the
fair and we seen them. They was walking toward us,
and we was walking toward them, had head on and
again my memory is very vague on this, but I
do remember us seeing them and walking up was kind
(08:19):
of just walking past them, and then you know, hey,
how y'all doing pretty good? How are y'all? And that
was It was very brief, and yeah, I remember seeing Adriana,
but the time, again, did not know any clue that
she could possibly be mine, so I didn't really go
that far into thought or anything like that.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
So that what happens after that.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
We just split ways and I didn't see her again
at the pair.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
So you didn't know at the fair that Adriana was.
There was no inclination.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
No, her cousin Ashley had actually called me. I think
it was just a few days later. I think that's right. Again,
my memory on all this it's not good, but I
think it was just a few days and said, hey,
Adriana is yours. So it's kind of like a big
smack in the face because I did just see him
apair not too long before that, I'd set up a
(09:14):
Jennifer to meet actually go and meet Adriana. She was
at her gr Granny and Grandpa Wix's and I'd got
off work. Excuse me, I'd gotten off for work and
by myself, Crystal knew about us. Well, sorry, take that back,
Crystal did not know about it the time. I told
(09:35):
her immediately after, but I didn't want her going with
me because it was something that I felt I needed
to do by myself. So I go over there and
Jennifer meets me outside. When I pull up, briefly talked.
We walk in and there's Adriana standing in the living room.
(09:55):
I didn't stay real long. I'm gonna say it was
probably a thirty minute visit at most, maybe twenty to
thirty minutes, but I did get to interact with Adrianna,
but as soon as I seen her, I knew how
I looked at her. Yeah it looked just like my
baby pictures that she did. And yeah, but I did,
(10:18):
Like I said, I got to interact with her for
a few minutes because I remember. It's sad that it's
the only memory that I have. But there was a
clothes basket. There's a white clothes basket, and I'd put
Adrianna inside of it. One was pushing around the house
in it. So yeah, it was. It was a good trip.
Just wish it wasn't the last i'd left. Chris or
(10:42):
Jennifer had walked me out on the porch and we
did discuss then as far as I told her, I said,
I'm not going to fight for Cussier or nothing like
that if she's my daughter, which I think she is,
and I would just like to see her every once
in a while. And she is complete agreeing with it.
We was both on the same page with every saying
when I left at night.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Is that the last time you saw Jennifer.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
No, that's the last time I seen Adriana. Now, the
last time I seen Jennifer was a friend of Crystal's
and mine, and I guess Jennifer's too. Sean Knight had
passed away and his funeral was right up here at
Austin Ball in Springfield, and we was there at it,
and me and Crystal was together, and Crystal was very pregnant,
(11:27):
very noticeable, and we'd seen Jennifer and she looked over
at me and just seen Crystal and rolled her eyes
and walked off, which is Jennifer. So me and Crystal,
of course, not having a lot of money, being young,
we had moved back in with my parents again. My
oldest son that she was pregnant with had a lot
(11:47):
of complications, so we moved the wedding date up, and
again didn't have a lot of money. So our honeymoon
we went to Lake Malone, which is right down the
road in Kentucky, and proceeded in biting or renning a
john boat that she steered with motor, and that's the
only thing we've done. We went and had lunch on
(12:09):
the water and rode a boat around the lake all day.
Again cheap fun. So we came back from Kentucky, was
actually on our way back almost back home. It was
about a forty five fifty minute drive and her uncle
Dale that lived in Orlanda he's de ceased now, had
(12:30):
called Crystal because they was close, so he knew what
all was going on and everything, and uh and told
her that he had heard something about it. So that's
and then of course it was all over the news
and everything very quick, just a time frame. And then
after actually talking to miss Cassie and everything, everything kind
(12:51):
of started becoming real. I guess would be the word
to use there. You know that it had been around
three days and nobody had heard nothing. And because again
that's not Jennifer to go that long without talking to
her mother or even Ashley, her sisters or anybody that
(13:13):
was Yeah, not Jennifer that I knew when we was together,
not gonna lie either. Thought crossed my mind. Did Jennifer
get scared that I was going to try to take
custy of Adriana and say, hey, let's get the heck
out of here, not even give them a chance. Because
she was not an unfit mother at all, from what
I understand. She was a great mother to Adriana, So
(13:37):
that thought did cross my mind, you know, and hey,
it'll suck, but they will be back eventually, and I've
always kept that. The hope for them returning is still
there for me, not near as much, but it's still there.
There's nothing I'd love more to be able to see
Adriana arm went to Miss Cassie's that's when she lived
(14:05):
in cross Plains, right off of twenty five. We went
there and picked up flowers, passed out flowers. And that
was another big time that it hit me when it
was passing out flowers, because you shouldn't be doing that
unless you are really concerned.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
And this is still you don't have the confirmation from
the opportunity task that you were out there passing out
flyers going to door.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Uh we did that day, I know, and I didn't
do a lot. And that's if you don't mind, know
kind of passed forward just a little bit because right
around in that time framement is when everything started getting
tricky for me. In Crystal, my oldest son was diagnosed
with Down syndrome. Went five months of birth or into
the pregnancy. We had to go to two Baptists to
(14:54):
see a ultra sound specialist. They gave my oldest son
a thirty percent chance to after birth. He had food
on his brain they said he was missing a finger
and had a heart depict so everything kind of the
(15:15):
whole world flipped upside down, per se. At that point,
I was pretty much forced to make a decision to
pick one kid over the other. I had to go
with him. He needed me, so yeah, that's where. Yeah,
he was born, very chaotic. There was I think twelve nurses,
(15:41):
doctors and everything in the room when he was born.
But he had a small intestinary pair at five days old,
so a dominal surgery at that point. You know, as
soon as he was born, they started doing hard monitors
and just checking everything out, the flood on his brain
and everything. Luckily he was born with all his fingers.
(16:03):
I think that was just a mishap on the ultra sound.
But anyways, the fluid on his brain had went down
drastically to where they didn't think that was going to
be an issue. But his heart was still a very
big issue. Definitely wanted to have open heart surgery at
this point. So your heart is like a muscle, so
(16:24):
a baby is yello. His heart. He had a hole
in between the upper two chambers, a whole in between
the lower two chambers, and only had one vow versus
two one big valve feeding his heart, so his heart
was overworking, but they needed it to muscle up, I guess,
(16:48):
so they could actually do the surgery because of course
they would have to sew his heart back together and
all this stuff. So we had to go as far
as we could, which was ended up being that December
he went in for his first open heart surgery. Put
him on bypassed on the surgery. Everything worked out great,
(17:09):
stay in the hospital roughly a month after that. Well
I do, I mean, I probably myself. I have been
a good dad, but yeah, everybody makes mistakes. But yeah,
I will always believe that Adriana there's a chance that
she can come back until I get confirmation. Otherwise I
do try to keep faith. That's all I got.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
And Adriana hies.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Yes, yeah, nineteen year old brother, a thirteen year old sister,
and a five year old brother. Honestly law enforcement like
it was a detective Carlisle. I met with him twice.
The second time was to give him the paternity results
and was told by him and that yes, I would
(18:01):
be notified on anything that they have leads or that
they come across or whatnot. I've never gotten a first
phone call from any of them TBI when they took
it over and reclassified the case. They come and interviewed
me at my workplace and the TBI agent and I
(18:24):
can't recall the detective at tom Robinson County, but neither
one of those. They both told me, yes, we feel
for you. We will reach out to you with anything.
As I asked them, if they could just keep me
in the loop and steal nothing. I've never received a
phone call from any cop or detective or TBI agent. Nobody, never,
(18:46):
not in twenty plus years, say Adriana, I've never gave
enough pope on you. You always have a special piece
of my heart, no matter what I wish it could
have been a lot more. But if I do get
a chance to see you again one day, we can
always catch up those times and make the best of
(19:08):
what we have. Yeah, she could complete me. I love you, and.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Next time I'm missing in Hushtown, We're catching you up
to speed. Thank you to our sponsor, Hendersonville Family Psychiatry
(20:05):
here in Middle Tennessee, because mental health is health. Missing
in Hushtown was executive produced and written by me your
host Jewles with Ale Audio House LLC. Casey Robinson was
co producer. Special thanks to John Thorpe, Patrick Robinson, my parents,
(20:26):
and Jen Rivera, and to our children. To follow our
continued efforts on Justice for Jennifer and Adriana Wicks, you
can find us on Facebook at Justice for Jennifer and
Adriana Wicks. This page is personally managed by Casey herself
and you can find me jewles Hi on Instagram at
your host jewles Notes and updates can be found on
(20:46):
our website www dot Missing in Hushtown dot com. Please
help us continue to grow by considering leaving a five
star review and rating wherever you're listening. If you have
a tip for this case, please please call one eight
hundred TBI I find help us bring the Wix Girls home.
To donate to this family's continued fight for justice, please
visit GoFundMe dot com slash Jennifer and Adriana Wicks and
(21:11):
to support the podcast and to help us continue this production,
you may click support the show and the show notes
and donate a wis Kiss. Ten percent of all profits
from season one I'm Missing in Hushtown will be given
to the Wicks family indefinitely. As always You're wanted, you
are loved, and you deserve to be found. Don't you
(21:33):
forget it. I'll see you next time.
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Missing in Hushtown Season one is proudly sponsored by the
following relive studio, Andy B's Boutique, six one five real
Estate Advisors, and Hometown Connect. Thank you to our sponsors.
This episode is sponsored by Hendersonville Family Psychiatry. This is
Missing in Hushtown Season one, Chapter ten, Dad Never Gives Up. Hi,
(01:56):
I'm your host, Jules, and I am an investigated podcaster
living in the same town where Jennifer Wicks and Adriana
Wicks went missing in two thousand and four. This chapter
is going to be about a father's fight, and it's
going to be a bit different than previous chapters. I
want to give this space to Adriana's father, Billy Williams,
and I want him to tell us as much as
(02:17):
he wants can or will, so that everyone can for
the first time, all together, all at once, hear his
side of the story and his fight to find his
little girl.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Let's go. My family is about the only people that
(03:14):
I really have ever spoken to about this. My name
is Billy Williams, Adriana's father. I met Jennifer. We had
a friend of the same I guess didn't know each other,
but we had a friend that we both knew, and
we just kind of ran into each other at a
party one night. It wasn't really like a big time party,
(03:36):
but when I was growing up we would have field parties,
underage drinking going to the field and everybody just having
a good time. And it wasn't a big party, like
I said, But that's where we officially met, was through
Matt Thompson, a friend of mine that we both knew
grown up. I don't really recall a whole lot about
that particular night. It was a very very long time ago,
(03:58):
and the biggest point part of that night we had
bared my friend's car. We had borrowed my friends car.
I think my truck may have been messed up at
the time. And my family had a roughly a sixty
acre farm and we had a field in a very
back You got to go through a wooded trail to
get back there and it was completely secluded. But me
and Jennifer had rode back there and we just laid
(04:19):
on the hood of the car. And I don't think
she even drank anything at night. I was drinking a
little bit, but yeah, not a whole lot. But anyways,
I remember laying on the hood of the car and
I was just sitting there talking for probably a couple hours,
which was Jennifer's thing. She loved to have the hard
heart talks and stuff like that. And yeah, from there
(04:42):
we just kind of hit it off. The relationship moved
really really fast. I'm still living at home with my parents.
We lived behind a gas station, but anyways, and I
had an upstairs bedroom and her cousin, Ashley Wicks, had
worked over at the store. It's called Douglas Techo. Everybody
around here knows what it is. But anyways, you could
(05:04):
see from my bedroom you could see the store, and
you know, long story short, Jennifer had actually moved in
with me. I snuck her into my bedroom. My parents
didn't know that, I thought until afterwards my parents, my
mom let me know that she knew the whole time.
We thought we got away with like a week or
two where she didn't know, But no, she knew the
(05:25):
whole time. She says, Uh, Well, I mean I would
go to work and I would leave Jennifer there and
she would just lay in the bed and sleep all day.
We had a bathroom, it was upstairs. I mean it
was kind of like a little apartment up there. So yeah,
she would just hang out all day and then when
I would get home, we'd sneak her out and then
when you know, come back here, like, hey, how y'all doing.
Like I said, I loved her to death. I know
(05:46):
loves a strong word. It was a short period of time,
but we did share the word and exercise it between
each other. But yeah, and to me at the time,
I think my word would have been clingy. She was
too clingy. And that didn't think I had any kids
or any kids on the way or anything like that.
So nineteen twenty years old, I want to go live
(06:07):
a life and enjoy my childhood, I guess you could say.
Before stepping up to be an adult. So that's pretty
much all it was. Again, Jennifer was very fragile. I mean,
if her feelings got hurt, you would know it by
her crying, and then she would write you this big,
(06:27):
long letter almost every time. I mean I got a
letter at least once a day the whole time we
was together. I believe she went her way. I went mine.
Of course I stayed at my parents' house, but yeah,
she went her way, and I really didn't have any
contact with her at all after that, because this is
before cell phones was a big thing. I never never
(06:50):
seen her again after that up until later. At that point,
I was in a relationship with my ex wife now
Crystal Peril. So yeah, we had met at store and
we'd been dating at that point. I think we were
dating about seven eight months. Somewhere around that time frame.
(07:12):
It was a Robinson County fair. I was there with Crystal.
It's just kind of weird because once we broke up,
I never seen her again.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
But when you see her at the fair like two
years after you guys broke up, pretty much right, had
you heard in between those two years she had a.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Baby, just probably literally probably a few weeks maybe a
couple months before that.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
Did you ever question?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
No, because I didn't. I mean, I thought, you know,
if it if it could have been mine then, and
I didn't even know how old Adrianna was at the time.
I didn't know any details, so the math thing did
not click.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
So you go to this fair in August in Robertson
County without You're just going with your then girlfriend.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
And you see John Jennifer, Adriana and her cousin Ashley
Oak through this. Well, we're just walking down through the
fair and we seen them. They was walking toward us,
and we was walking toward them, had head on and
again my memory is very vague on this, but I
do remember us seeing them and walking up was kind
(08:19):
of just walking past them, and then you know, hey,
how y'all doing pretty good? How are y'all? And that
was It was very brief, and yeah, I remember seeing Adriana,
but the time, again, did not know any clue that
she could possibly be mine, so I didn't really go
that far into thought or anything like that.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
So that what happens after that.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
We just split ways and I didn't see her again
at the pair.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
So you didn't know at the fair that Adriana was.
There was no inclination.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
No, her cousin Ashley had actually called me. I think
it was just a few days later. I think that's right. Again,
my memory on all this it's not good, but I
think it was just a few days and said, hey,
Adriana is yours. So it's kind of like a big
smack in the face because I did just see him
apair not too long before that, I'd set up a
(09:14):
Jennifer to meet actually go and meet Adriana. She was
at her gr Granny and Grandpa Wix's and I'd got
off work. Excuse me, I'd gotten off for work and
by myself, Crystal knew about us. Well, sorry, take that back,
Crystal did not know about it the time. I told
(09:35):
her immediately after, but I didn't want her going with
me because it was something that I felt I needed
to do by myself. So I go over there and
Jennifer meets me outside. When I pull up, briefly talked.
We walk in and there's Adriana standing in the living room.
(09:55):
I didn't stay real long. I'm gonna say it was
probably a thirty minute visit at most, maybe twenty to
thirty minutes, but I did get to interact with Adrianna,
but as soon as I seen her, I knew how
I looked at her. Yeah it looked just like my
baby pictures that she did. And yeah, but I did,
(10:18):
Like I said, I got to interact with her for
a few minutes because I remember. It's sad that it's
the only memory that I have. But there was a
clothes basket. There's a white clothes basket, and I'd put
Adrianna inside of it. One was pushing around the house
in it. So yeah, it was. It was a good trip.
Just wish it wasn't the last i'd left. Chris or
(10:42):
Jennifer had walked me out on the porch and we
did discuss then as far as I told her, I said,
I'm not going to fight for Cussier or nothing like
that if she's my daughter, which I think she is,
and I would just like to see her every once
in a while. And she is complete agreeing with it.
We was both on the same page with every saying
when I left at night.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Is that the last time you saw Jennifer.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
No, that's the last time I seen Adriana. Now, the
last time I seen Jennifer was a friend of Crystal's
and mine, and I guess Jennifer's too. Sean Knight had
passed away and his funeral was right up here at
Austin Ball in Springfield, and we was there at it,
and me and Crystal was together, and Crystal was very pregnant,
(11:27):
very noticeable, and we'd seen Jennifer and she looked over
at me and just seen Crystal and rolled her eyes
and walked off, which is Jennifer. So me and Crystal,
of course, not having a lot of money, being young,
we had moved back in with my parents again. My
oldest son that she was pregnant with had a lot
(11:47):
of complications, so we moved the wedding date up, and
again didn't have a lot of money. So our honeymoon
we went to Lake Malone, which is right down the
road in Kentucky, and proceeded in biting or renning a
john boat that she steered with motor, and that's the
only thing we've done. We went and had lunch on
(12:09):
the water and rode a boat around the lake all day.
Again cheap fun. So we came back from Kentucky, was
actually on our way back almost back home. It was
about a forty five fifty minute drive and her uncle
Dale that lived in Orlanda he's de ceased now, had
(12:30):
called Crystal because they was close, so he knew what
all was going on and everything, and uh and told
her that he had heard something about it. So that's
and then of course it was all over the news
and everything very quick, just a time frame. And then
after actually talking to miss Cassie and everything, everything kind
(12:51):
of started becoming real. I guess would be the word
to use there. You know that it had been around
three days and nobody had heard nothing. And because again
that's not Jennifer to go that long without talking to
her mother or even Ashley, her sisters or anybody that
(13:13):
was Yeah, not Jennifer that I knew when we was together,
not gonna lie either. Thought crossed my mind. Did Jennifer
get scared that I was going to try to take
custy of Adriana and say, hey, let's get the heck
out of here, not even give them a chance. Because
she was not an unfit mother at all, from what
I understand. She was a great mother to Adriana, So
(13:37):
that thought did cross my mind, you know, and hey,
it'll suck, but they will be back eventually, and I've
always kept that. The hope for them returning is still
there for me, not near as much, but it's still there.
There's nothing I'd love more to be able to see
Adriana arm went to Miss Cassie's that's when she lived
(14:05):
in cross Plains, right off of twenty five. We went
there and picked up flowers, passed out flowers. And that
was another big time that it hit me when it
was passing out flowers, because you shouldn't be doing that
unless you are really concerned.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
And this is still you don't have the confirmation from
the opportunity task that you were out there passing out
flyers going to door.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Uh we did that day, I know, and I didn't
do a lot. And that's if you don't mind, know
kind of passed forward just a little bit because right
around in that time framement is when everything started getting
tricky for me. In Crystal, my oldest son was diagnosed
with Down syndrome. Went five months of birth or into
the pregnancy. We had to go to two Baptists to
(14:54):
see a ultra sound specialist. They gave my oldest son
a thirty percent chance to after birth. He had food
on his brain they said he was missing a finger
and had a heart depict so everything kind of the
(15:15):
whole world flipped upside down, per se. At that point,
I was pretty much forced to make a decision to
pick one kid over the other. I had to go
with him. He needed me, so yeah, that's where. Yeah,
he was born, very chaotic. There was I think twelve nurses,
(15:41):
doctors and everything in the room when he was born.
But he had a small intestinary pair at five days old,
so a dominal surgery at that point. You know, as
soon as he was born, they started doing hard monitors
and just checking everything out, the flood on his brain
and everything. Luckily he was born with all his fingers.
(16:03):
I think that was just a mishap on the ultra sound.
But anyways, the fluid on his brain had went down
drastically to where they didn't think that was going to
be an issue. But his heart was still a very
big issue. Definitely wanted to have open heart surgery at
this point. So your heart is like a muscle, so
(16:24):
a baby is yello. His heart. He had a hole
in between the upper two chambers, a whole in between
the lower two chambers, and only had one vow versus
two one big valve feeding his heart, so his heart
was overworking, but they needed it to muscle up, I guess,
(16:48):
so they could actually do the surgery because of course
they would have to sew his heart back together and
all this stuff. So we had to go as far
as we could, which was ended up being that December
he went in for his first open heart surgery. Put
him on bypassed on the surgery. Everything worked out great,
(17:09):
stay in the hospital roughly a month after that. Well
I do, I mean, I probably myself. I have been
a good dad, but yeah, everybody makes mistakes. But yeah,
I will always believe that Adriana there's a chance that
she can come back until I get confirmation. Otherwise I
do try to keep faith. That's all I got.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
And Adriana hies.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Yes, yeah, nineteen year old brother, a thirteen year old sister,
and a five year old brother. Honestly law enforcement like
it was a detective Carlisle. I met with him twice.
The second time was to give him the paternity results
and was told by him and that yes, I would
(18:01):
be notified on anything that they have leads or that
they come across or whatnot. I've never gotten a first
phone call from any of them TBI when they took
it over and reclassified the case. They come and interviewed
me at my workplace and the TBI agent and I
(18:24):
can't recall the detective at tom Robinson County, but neither
one of those. They both told me, yes, we feel
for you. We will reach out to you with anything.
As I asked them, if they could just keep me
in the loop and steal nothing. I've never received a
phone call from any cop or detective or TBI agent. Nobody, never,
(18:46):
not in twenty plus years, say Adriana, I've never gave
enough pope on you. You always have a special piece
of my heart, no matter what I wish it could
have been a lot more. But if I do get
a chance to see you again one day, we can
always catch up those times and make the best of
(19:08):
what we have. Yeah, she could complete me. I love you, and.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Next time I'm missing in Hushtown, We're catching you up
to speed. Thank you to our sponsor, Hendersonville Family Psychiatry
(20:05):
here in Middle Tennessee, because mental health is health. Missing
in Hushtown was executive produced and written by me your
host Jewles with Ale Audio House LLC. Casey Robinson was
co producer. Special thanks to John Thorpe, Patrick Robinson, my parents,
(20:26):
and Jen Rivera, and to our children. To follow our
continued efforts on Justice for Jennifer and Adriana Wicks, you
can find us on Facebook at Justice for Jennifer and
Adriana Wicks. This page is personally managed by Casey herself
and you can find me jewles Hi on Instagram at
your host jewles Notes and updates can be found on
(20:46):
our website www dot Missing in Hushtown dot com. Please
help us continue to grow by considering leaving a five
star review and rating wherever you're listening. If you have
a tip for this case, please please call one eight
hundred TBI I find help us bring the Wix Girls home.
To donate to this family's continued fight for justice, please
visit GoFundMe dot com slash Jennifer and Adriana Wicks and
(21:11):
to support the podcast and to help us continue this production,
you may click support the show and the show notes
and donate a wis Kiss. Ten percent of all profits
from season one I'm Missing in Hushtown will be given
to the Wicks family indefinitely. As always You're wanted, you
are loved, and you deserve to be found. Don't you
(21:33):
forget it. I'll see you next time.
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