April 13, 2023 • 33 mins
In July of 1999, a young woman named Brooke Henson went missing from Travelers Rest, South Carolina. In this follow up episode to Deep Cover: Never Seen Again, Jake Halpern talks to Ben Ford, the chief of police in Travelers Rest about what we know and don’t know about her case, as the search continues.
If you have any new information at all that might be helpful, please contact him at ford@trpolice.com.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin. I don't want to pick a fight with the
cartel or the biker gangs or drug boards. I'm not
I'm a small town chief trying to run the department,
and we have one cold case that we're trying to solve,
so we just want to find the truth. That's Ben Ford,
(00:36):
the chief of police in Traveler's Rest. When I was
reporting for this podcast, I spent a bunch of time
with Chief Ford, or Ben, that's what he said I
should call him. He's a very personable guy, and he's
deeply invested in Brooke Henson's case. In fact, when I
first started poking around on the story, he actually reached
out to me. He wanted to share what he knew
(00:59):
in the hopes that by getting the word out there,
he might finally solve this case. So when I first
got into town, we drove around owned for a while,
gave me a little tour, and we talked about the case,
about all the competing theories and what happened, and then
we headed back to his office and talk some more. Honestly,
(01:20):
it's unusual for law enforcement to be quite this candid,
So today we're sharing some of that conversation, and one
of The first things that Ben shared with me was
that he'd grown up here in Traveler's Rest, and so
everything that happened here with Brooke Henson it was personal
for him. I'm Jake Halbern and this is deep cover
(02:08):
this week or going back to Traveler's Rest. So what
was it like growing up here? I'll just give me
a sense for her. Yeah, yeah, So you know, quiet
small town. You pretty much knew everybody, and you're you
(02:29):
knew of everybody, so there weren't many things that could
get kept secret around here. So you know, it was
a quiet little town, not a whole lot of crime,
you know, just a great place to grow up. Really,
Brook Henson must have been about your age, maybe a
bit younger. She was a little younger than me. Yes,
did you know her or her family growing up? I
(02:52):
did not. I didn't know. I was five years I see,
five years older than her. I believe my brother actually
is three years younger than me and actually knew her,
and actually my my wife knew her from school, so
I have those connections that they knew of her, and
and Brooke dropped out of school early in high school,
(03:12):
in tenth grade. I believe it was But but growing
up through middle school in high school. Yeah, I've got
family members and my wife that that kind of knew her.
Does that change things in terms of making them more personal?
Like this is not just some random person who you're investigating.
What happeness is someone that you have personal connections to
in a small town. It does for me. And even
(03:34):
when I worked to another agency, the Maldon Police Department,
I knew of this case. I knew of this case
my entire career. When I worked to other agencies and
I knew that she was missing and it was unsolved.
And if there were people that I came across that
I thought may know something, I would ask And it
wasn't even my case. Then I worked for other agencies,
(03:54):
but I would ask and if if they had good information,
I would refer them up here to travels rest to
see if they could help help out with the case.
So it does. It does make it a little more personal.
I have an investigative background throughout my career. Most of
my career has been investigations, and it's something that that
I don't like to give up home. It's just especially
(04:17):
when when it hits home and it's so close to
people that I know. So there's so many of different
accounts in the media, and I know a lot of uh,
there's a lot of misinformation out there. But let's maybe
just start like, what do we know about the facts
of this case? Are what are the things that we
can say relatively certain, and what don't we know about
(04:38):
the facts surrounding her disappearance. So interestingly enough, what we
thought were facts in this case may not have been
now that we've we found out in the last year.
So what was reported was that Brooke was last seen
at her residence at about two thirty in the morning,
outside of the residence going for a walk. That's reported
(05:00):
by her mother and a couple of other individuals family
members there that spoke to her saw her. That's their account.
We don't actually know if that's true or not. They're
they're conflicting stories now saying that no, she never walked
away from the house. She was other places. We have
(05:20):
several statements now that she was last seen alive up
in the River Falls community of Greenville County, which is
about six or eight miles north of Traveler's Rest, and
we believe that she was last thing alive up there
on the same night or a different night. It would
be the same night, the same night she was known
to leave and maybe walk around the town. She was
(05:42):
known as a walker around town, and she may walk
to get some cigarettes or walk up to the to
the local store, and there was some pool tables there
and a little hangout. Of course, these places were closed
this time of night, which makes it even more strange
on why she would have went for a walk. Then, however,
we have statements that say that, you know, this person
(06:05):
picked her up, or this person picked her up, or
we have so many different statements. Don't know what's true
and what's not. So what we're finding out is the
deeper we dig, the more stories we're hearing. I heard
one the other day and I can't go into detail
about some of the stories, but allegedly this person killed
her now and we never heard that person's name in
(06:26):
twenty three years, and this is how this person did it.
So you know, we're we're still following up on that obviously,
but but you know, she was The facts remain in
the case file that she was last seen at her residence. However,
we do have statements she was seen in Riverfalls, so
we believe somebody picked her up what we believe now
took her to River Falls to some more parties. We've
(06:48):
been told there were parties up there too that night,
so we believe that she was last seen alive up there.
What happened that all of a sudden a year ago,
this changes. I mean we're almost more than twenty years out,
so what happens that kind of gets this new information going.
So when I came in the end of twenty eighteen,
I started digging into the case myself. I wanted to
(07:09):
look at it and see after a couple of years
of doing that off and on, you know, being the
police chief, I have other responsibilities too. There's a friend
of mine, this retired law enforcement that he and I
talked about this case a little bit, and he wants
to be anonymous, and I'm going to keep him anonymous.
(07:30):
But he came into the picture and we talked a
little bit, and I allowed him to look at the
case file, which is, you know, for bankers box full
of information. Of course, I scanned it and put it
on digital format so he could look at it and
that type of thing. So when he came on the scene,
he had some it was a fresh set eyes. It
(07:51):
was a retired law enforce a officer. This is just
volunteer in his time. So at that point we really
sort of hitting it hard and talking to more and
more people. And so about a year. It was April
of last year, April twenty twenty one when we started that,
and that kind of jolted us in this investigation to
spend more time working on it. The main thing that
we've heard in the last year is that it's not
(08:15):
necessarily how Route was killed, it's what happened to her afterwards,
and that it's much bigger than we could ever imagine.
That's what people are telling us, So we're trying to
figure out what they mean by that. And and the
different theories that have come into play is one has
to do with some type of satanic worship or cult,
(08:37):
some something's you know that could be a possibility. Um,
there's been mentions of of maybe biker motorcycle clubs involvement. UM,
I won't go in specifics because you just don't know
if it's true. We haven't proved any of that. And
then there's there's also been mentioned of of cartel of
Mexican cartel involvement and over drugs and stuff. Is that
(08:57):
carteller was that cartel active at that time in this area.
They were, They were not and not the way that
they are in today's world with the with the methamphetamine
trade and things like that. But and again I'm not
gonna accuse any which one of those because I don't
know yet. Um, but you know, these may be distractions
as far as we know, we don't. We don't know,
(09:19):
but there's a lot of things that lead us that
point to those different possibilities with the Satanic worshiping and
then the drugs and the money, you know, because when
when people go missing or or get killed, you know,
funny and drugs and greed, you know, lust, those are
big reasons why people die. Among those three theories, is
there a front runner or is it impossible to say?
(09:42):
I think it's impossible to say right now. Depends on
what week it is. And one week we're looking at
at the theory of the Satanic worshiping and the black magic,
and then uh, the next week something points us in
a different direction. So we're just trying to keep an
open mind to all of it and not get tunnel
(10:02):
vision on it. The one key thing we're really missing,
it's the body, and that's the big, big thing we're missing.
I believe that if we could find the body, then
this case would move forward faster. We just don't have
a body. Talked me through how that would be true.
So when you have a missing person, you can't there's
no crime. So somebody that's missing, there's no crime. If
(10:26):
you find a body, and then you can determine if
the person was murdered normally, or if they died of
natural causes or whatever the case may be. Brooke could
be alive in California right now. Do you think that's
a possibility. I don't know. I don't think that she
would have left her mom. Her mom and her very close.
I don't think she would have left her mom or friends.
(10:48):
And if she had, she would have she would have
made contact by now. I don't believe that's a possibility.
So the body you were saying, if you could find,
if you had the body, then what if we had
the body, that would confirm one of the many stories
we have or theories about how she died about maybe,
(11:10):
for example, if the body is in said grave and
said wooded area, then we take it and go back
and look at all the tips that came in and say, okay,
well these ten tips now may be true because of
where the body's found. I see. So it's kind of
like putting the putting the puzzle together, but we don't
have that that main piece we need. It's almost like
(11:33):
you know how the story ends, and then you can
work backwards to figure out what happens in between. Correct. Correct.
We believe that in the case file the answers are
in there. We just don't know. It's like a multiple
choice tests. We don't know which one is true. But
we believe that the answers right there in front of
so we just don't know which one's true yet. That
sounds like that could drive you crazy. Absolutely can Absolutely
(11:55):
it has been driving me crazy for three years. Now.
Can I ask you why is this so important to you?
I mean, I get I think I understand it. But
someone might look and say, hey, this happens so long ago.
Parents are both deceased, Brook appears to be deceased. Why
why is this so important to get to the bottom
(12:16):
of this? Because this is my hometown, and when someone
goes missing and allegedly something happened to that person, somebody
needs to fight for justice for her, and if the
family has passed on, there are friends of hers, and
(12:36):
there's me, and there's this police department that will fight
for justice for And I don't plan on giving up,
even though it gets frustrating, because someone needs to fight
for her. And if we don't fight for her, then
who then who's going to fight for the justice for her?
If this person or those persons killed her. We want
(12:59):
to get to the bottom of it and hold those
individuals accountable. So it's justice is what it's about. For me.
I get that. And I could also see how it
in some ways to finds this place and sense of like,
this is not okay to happen in this town, right
and we're not gonna accept this right exactly, And in
twenty three years, this is the only cold case we have,
(13:20):
This is it? We don't We don't have a lot
of violent crime happen here, well, you know, and I
pride myself on that, and I love this city because
of that. And we're four and a half square miles.
It was small. We're small, seven thousand residents, and we
have about five violent crimes a year, which I love.
But this one, you know, if we don't try to
(13:43):
find out and give it my all. I'm gonna try
it to the day I retire the best I can
to try to find out what happened to her. And
if we don't try, then who John Campbell and I
and view him today was talking about being involved in
the early days at this case, and he said a
few things that were interesting. One he said he took
over about two years into it, and he said all
he got were some written notes that were pretty hard
(14:03):
to make sense of because it was pre computer days.
And he wished that it had been treated as a
murder right from the beginning. What's your take on that. Yeah,
you know, anyone that looks when you put a new
set of eyes on a case like this, you can
always say, well, why didn't they do this, why didn't
they do that? And some of that's been frustrating for
me too, you know, wondering why they didn't document it better,
(14:26):
or why they didn't do this or that. Unfortunately, you know,
after you spend a couple of days worrying about that,
you kind of have to let it go because it's
just not there and you kind of move on with
what you have. But but John's right there there. I
wish it had been treated differently. But then again, you
look at you know, hundreds of thousands of people go
missing every year in this country, and if every one
(14:49):
of them was treated like a homicide, imagine how many
officers it would take to, you know, follow those cases
correctly and work them like a homicide. Sure, we may
get a missing person called this afternoon and then thirty
minutes find the person, and that's the happy ending. We
find the person, they're safe, and you know, then we
may get one that maybe another twenty three years we
(15:10):
haven't found. So you never know how it's going to
end out. So I guess back then they thought it
was just another runaway and that maybe she just ran away,
she'll be home in a couple of days. You know,
it was kind of thought of that way, and you
never really know. So unfortunately it was handled in a
way that that turned out to not be just another runaway.
(15:32):
John made a reference to an area. Didn't tell me where,
but that there was a place where they thought the
body might be. What can you tell me about I
understand that's sensitive, but what can you tell me about
about that? There's several places mentioned in all of these
tips that came in where the body may be, and
some of the places are very difficult to navigate. If
(15:57):
and I'm going to mention just a pond for example. Okay,
if you have a pond and over the course of
twenty plush years, and the pond is in the mound,
the sediment that rolls that comes down the mountains over
twenty plush years, gathers in the bottom that pond. So
the bottom of the pond is not the bottom of
the pond that it was twenty years ago. Or if
(16:21):
you have concrete that is sixteen feet deep and a
body is put in concrete fifteen feet down, how are
we ever going to get it? How are we going
to know it's down there? So these things are those hypothetical?
Are those those are possibilities? Those are actual possible possibilities,
(16:43):
their possibilities, there's real possibilities. But I don't I don't
know which one is to me. They're all equally important
to check out. So what do you do with those
two possibilities. Well, you hope that technology comes along far
enough and you get someone that can either volunteer their
equipment or maybe get the FEDS involved, or maybe Greenville
(17:03):
County helps out and tries to locate you know, a
body in in these areas. UM. So a combination of
all those things. And then UM, you know one you know,
you think you can drain a pond. You know, ponds
can be drained, but depends on how big the pond is,
how deep it is. There's so many factors that come
(17:25):
into play. UM. Concrete, you know, you can't just tear
up the concrete unless you have something solid to to show, yes,
that body is down there. So then you look at
you know, equipment like UH or penetrating UM, I forget
what the solar penetrating or you know, the ground penetrating radar,
(17:46):
that's it ground and you look at that and using that,
but it's not going to show a three D image
of a body or bones. It may just show avoid
you know. So technology, it depends on technology, It depends
on and and I do believe that if we were
ever to find a body, UM, then you do you
have DNA possibilities. You know, Now, if there's anything with
(18:07):
the body, maybe we find one of these suspects DNA
in there with it. You know, So that type of thing.
That's why I mentioned the body's important right now. But um,
you've got whales. People have said she's been put in
a whale. Well in the country, there's lots of whales
and if and to look in whales, we had to
We've looked in one whale. We had to get a
(18:28):
camera from a local um a company, drop it down
about fifty feet and look around in that whale. And
of course we didn't find anything. But there's a lot
that goes into trying to use the equipment and check
out these places. It seems it seems overwhelming very much.
So it is I go home with this, I think
about it all the time. I have to try to
(18:50):
set it aside because I have a family, you know,
I have to try to set it aside and just
not think about it all the time. But when you
open up this Pandora's box of of what happened to Brooke,
then you know there's fifty people that have my work
cell phone number and they'll call me weekends nights if
(19:10):
they have information. They don't mind calling, and I don't
mind them calling me because I want to try to
get everybody involved I can to see if we can,
you know, find out. But it weighs on me a
little bit. I think I've had hair turned gray and
turned loose a lot over the past couple of years,
given me both. I mean, the other thing that seems
that they would kind of mess with my head is
(19:32):
that there are folks walking around this town. You said,
you said, one of the first things you said we
said this interview is they're not a lot of secrets
in this town. And yet we're talking about maybe the
biggest secret right here. Because if what you're saying is right,
there may be multiple people who know what happened to her. Now.
I believe that. I believe multiple people know. I believe
(19:52):
in my mind six eight ten people know what happened
to her. And I believe there were accomplices and there
were people that helped help move the body or help
you know, bear the body. There's I believe a lot
of people know. However, the people that they're scared of,
the ones above them that are run that we're running
(20:14):
the show back then, or that they help control over them,
that's why they can't tell. And I believe a lot
of the people that are several of the people that
know are dead now. Ricky Shawn Shirley, he's dead now,
and I believe he knew what happened to her. It
sounds like your investigation would be helped by support from
the county and maybe even the FEDS. Yeah, And to
be honest with you, the FEDS have been here, They've
(20:35):
talked to us, they're assisting us on some things. The
FBI is they've worked with us a little bit when
a halftime. The county has helped us on some things
with some searches of some areas outside of our jurisdiction
here in the city. We do not believe our bodies
in this city. We believe it's out in the county.
All these different locations that that Dopu mentioned as possibilities
(20:58):
that they're all out in the county. Yeah, talk to
me about a little bit about the Aster Reid situation.
Obviously that's first of all, you weren't here in Champa's
rest and it's kind of peripheral to to brock Hanston's story.
But do you remember that unfolding at the time, What
were thoughts about about all that? I do remember that unfolding,
(21:19):
and when that happened, it really piqued my interest, and
I actually called John back then and I said, John,
what's going on? Is this a possibility, and he said,
I'm checking, I'm checking, let me check, And I said,
do what you gotta do. You know, I'm just because
I knew John worked here. Um. I was an investigator
(21:41):
in another agency at the time, and it really piqued
my interest that Now, when you say a possibility, do
you mean that that that this was really Brooke Hanson.
It was up in New York at Columbia, right right?
I mean it would it would have been um, it
would have been very interesting. Um. You know, one tip
back then in the Brooke Henston case was that that
she left and went to California, and she just ran
(22:02):
away to California and wanted to be on her own.
So it was feasible that she could have possibly went
to New York, you know, and stayed up there, so
that it was a possibility. But then it didn't take
much checking to determine the truth, obviously, But but it
did pique my interest in the case, and I was
very curious at the time and talked with John about
it a little bit back then. What I mean, there
(22:25):
was for a brief while there was a ton of
media attention, mainly ons to read, but probably also spill
over into Broke Hanson. Me. Look here, I am all
these years later. What did that do for the case?
Between two thousand, Between about two thousand and I guess
two thousand and six, there was hardly anything done on
(22:48):
this case. Very little. John did a little bit, but
there wasn't a lot to go on. When Esther read happened,
all kinds of tips started coming in after that, so
they determined that Esther Reid was Ester Reid, not Brooke Henson.
But then more tips came in and more tip It
brought more attention. It brought it back to life, so
to say. And that's kind of what I did when
(23:09):
I came in twenty eight, twenty nineteen, kind of bring
it back to life. So it was very it was
good attention. It was sad that it happened the way
it did, but it was it kind of brought it
back to life. And and uh so, so the friends
of hers wouldn't forget, so the community wouldn't forget. And
as far as as as long as I'm here, um,
(23:31):
we'll use our social media to always remind the community
will never forget. I was surprised that you reached out
to me in all my years as a journalist. I
don't think I know a case where the law enforcement
reached out. I mean, this is a missing person, but
clearly this must be part of your mission. It is,
and transparency is what I'm all about. I don't mind sharing.
(23:53):
Of course, you know there's details of the case. I
can obviously and you understand why. But why hide We
need the we need help. If if if one of
your listeners here's here's this and says, you know what.
I know the truth and I'm tired of you know
it needs to come out now, and it'd be great.
And like I said earlier, if if we don't care,
who's going to care? If I retire from here in
(24:16):
whatever year I retire, it may be the end of it.
Maybe nobody picks up, maybe nobody messes with it anymore.
It's just my mentality. I don't want to let it go.
Do you think you're going to solve it today? It
feels like I'm not. Why do you say that? Because
(24:36):
tomorrow it may change And one day I feel like
I will, and the next day I feel like I
want it based on what information has come in that
day that has changed my mind. And last week there's
some information that came in, I felt really good about
Today I don't feel as good about it. So this
(24:57):
is unlike any other case I've ever worked. I could
work a case and I could tell you with one
hundred percent certainty, I'm gonna solve this case, or with
one hundred percent certainty, there's no way I can solve
this case because I don't have any evidence in this case.
There's a plethora of information, but we don't have a body. Yeah,
I honestly think that we won't solve this case unless
(25:18):
we have a body. After speaking with Ben Ford, I
spent the next several months reporting this story, making the
season that you just heard, But I never stopped thinking
about Ben and the enormity of the task that he faced.
Part of me hope that maybe after the podcast came
out he might get some new leads. So when our
(25:41):
last episode dropped, I called him up to check in.
That's next after the break? Any you there? Yeah, I
hear you that. How are you any good? How are
(26:03):
you I'm good, I'm good. I want to check in
with you on a few things. So it sounds like
you had a chance to to listen to the podcast.
I wondered, like, what your reactions were. You know, I
really enjoyed it. I didn't know a lot about Esther
Reid in that case, just for what John Campbell told
me and what I read in the news. I mean,
(26:24):
I was very surprised that you had a conversation with
Esther and I loved hearing what was going on in
her mind. What did you make of this kind of
new stage of her life where she's after Matthews and
she's a professor atak and Zaga. What did you what
did you make of that? Well, you know, hearing where
(26:44):
she came from and what she went through and you
know when she was younger. You know, it just showed
me and it confirmed that anybody, know, anybody can do
what they put their mind to. And she chose to
live one way and do certain things a certain way
for a long time, and then she decided to do
it a different way. I'd love to see when people
(27:06):
actually turned their lives around, and there's six more successful
than they were when they were making bad decisions. So
I thought it was great. I thought it was a
great story. Oh, I appreciate that. I'm wondering if, since
the podcast came out, whether any additional tips or bits
of information have come your way. We haven't, not since
(27:27):
the not since the podcast has come out. Ironically, though,
before the podcast was released, I did have a man
contact me from our county's attencive Center and we talked
with him and eventually we got him in here and
he gave us some information and he actually said I
(27:50):
knew where Brooke is buried whoa And we said, well,
how do you know that? And he said, well, I
heard two people talking about it and they said where
she was buried at? I said, can you take us
to the spot, and he said yes, I said, let's go.
So we went to the spot. Um, it was on
(28:12):
a piece of property that belongs to a family that
the mom and dad are deceased there. So the sister
was in charge of the property and gave us permission
to look on the property. So we went on the property.
He pointed out the location. We put him back in
the vehicle away from the scene, and we brought in
(28:33):
cadaver dog. Cadaver dog alerted. So we took that dog
away and we brought another dog in and that dog
at what is that when you said cadaver dog alerted?
What does that mean? Exactly? So that means they picked
up what they believed to be the scent of decayed
(28:58):
body or bones. Now it's it's not a it's not
a perfect science, and it's it's not an absolute So
that's why we use two different dogs, and we had
a statement from somebody, so we used all of that
in order to get a search warrant for the property. Well,
(29:21):
Greeble County came out and helped, and we dug and
found nothing. So we kind of like climax there, thinking
we were gonna we were on something and we didn't
find one ball, nothing and we dug a lot big area.
Do you think this was at the time where you
like this this is in or were you we use
(29:41):
skeptical You know, I try to not to get my
hopes up, um and I I try not to show
that I get my hopes up because I've been let
down so many times, you know. But in this case,
you know, I thought there was gonna be something. I thought, yeah,
this is a very good possibility. Let's let's find her.
And and so I did think it was, but I
(30:02):
didn't want to show too much enthusiasm due to the
fact I've been let down so many times. So when
we found out it wasn't, I was disappointed. But then
yet again, it's another lead that we've checked off. Wow,
it's true. It's it's like, you don't know, you have
to follow up every lead. I guess that seems even
(30:23):
remotely credible. I guess right, that's the only Yeah, and
you know, we we were hesitant to listen to him
at first, But anytime somebody says I know where the
body's at, I can show you. I mean, we've got
to go. We've got to go with it and we've
got to check it out. Um. But that's that's the
(30:44):
most we've done with the case. In the past few months.
I've had people ask me too, whether you're any further
along than they beginning some ground penetrating radar at the
at the water treatment plan. So you know, I did
some more research and I found a company and they
volunteer their services to law enforce in all of the
(31:05):
country and they have ground penetrating radar. So who are
I'm planning to call? Nick? Yeah, please let let me
know how let me know how that goes, whether I mean,
if that ends up happening, or just stay in touch
with me. I'd be curious. I really wouldn't be curious.
Look is so so by far to you again and
you'll have a good weekend there, Okay, take care of Ben.
Bye bye, thank ye. Talking to Ben and getting this
(31:30):
update on the investigation, it really hit home for me
how there were all these leads, all these people who
claim to know what happened to Brooke, and how each
time one of these leads surfaced he had to take
it seriously, and that inevitably part of him hoped that
this one might be the breakthrough, the one that helped
him solve the case and at long last bring some
(31:54):
closure and some healing to this town. But so far
it was just dead ends and heartbreak, and then inevitably
a new lead and the cycle would begin again. I
could see how, after so many years, this would all
take a toll on everyone. And yet He's still added,
(32:17):
we'll keep you updated if we hear anything else from
the Travelers RESTPD. Then Ford is still working diligently on
the Brookenson case. So if you have any new information
at all that might be helpful, please contact him at
Ford at tr police dot com. That's fr D at
tr police dot com. Deep Cover is produced by Amy
(32:46):
Gaines and Jacob Smith. This episode was edited by Sophie Crane,
mastering by Sarah Bruger. Our show art was designed by
Sean Karney. Original scoring and our theme was composed by
Luis Gera Special thanks to Karen Shakergie Mia Loobelle, Greta
Khne and Jacob Weisberg. I'm Jake Halper
Pushkin. I don't want to pick a fight with the
cartel or the biker gangs or drug boards. I'm not
I'm a small town chief trying to run the department,
and we have one cold case that we're trying to solve,
so we just want to find the truth. That's Ben Ford,
(00:36):
the chief of police in Traveler's Rest. When I was
reporting for this podcast, I spent a bunch of time
with Chief Ford, or Ben, that's what he said I
should call him. He's a very personable guy, and he's
deeply invested in Brooke Henson's case. In fact, when I
first started poking around on the story, he actually reached
out to me. He wanted to share what he knew
(00:59):
in the hopes that by getting the word out there,
he might finally solve this case. So when I first
got into town, we drove around owned for a while,
gave me a little tour, and we talked about the case,
about all the competing theories and what happened, and then
we headed back to his office and talk some more. Honestly,
(01:20):
it's unusual for law enforcement to be quite this candid,
So today we're sharing some of that conversation, and one
of The first things that Ben shared with me was
that he'd grown up here in Traveler's Rest, and so
everything that happened here with Brooke Henson it was personal
for him. I'm Jake Halbern and this is deep cover
(02:08):
this week or going back to Traveler's Rest. So what
was it like growing up here? I'll just give me
a sense for her. Yeah, yeah, So you know, quiet
small town. You pretty much knew everybody, and you're you
(02:29):
knew of everybody, so there weren't many things that could
get kept secret around here. So you know, it was
a quiet little town, not a whole lot of crime,
you know, just a great place to grow up. Really,
Brook Henson must have been about your age, maybe a
bit younger. She was a little younger than me. Yes,
did you know her or her family growing up? I
(02:52):
did not. I didn't know. I was five years I see,
five years older than her. I believe my brother actually
is three years younger than me and actually knew her,
and actually my my wife knew her from school, so
I have those connections that they knew of her, and
and Brooke dropped out of school early in high school,
(03:12):
in tenth grade. I believe it was But but growing
up through middle school in high school. Yeah, I've got
family members and my wife that that kind of knew her.
Does that change things in terms of making them more personal?
Like this is not just some random person who you're investigating.
What happeness is someone that you have personal connections to
in a small town. It does for me. And even
(03:34):
when I worked to another agency, the Maldon Police Department,
I knew of this case. I knew of this case
my entire career. When I worked to other agencies and
I knew that she was missing and it was unsolved.
And if there were people that I came across that
I thought may know something, I would ask And it
wasn't even my case. Then I worked for other agencies,
(03:54):
but I would ask and if if they had good information,
I would refer them up here to travels rest to
see if they could help help out with the case.
So it does. It does make it a little more personal.
I have an investigative background throughout my career. Most of
my career has been investigations, and it's something that that
I don't like to give up home. It's just especially
(04:17):
when when it hits home and it's so close to
people that I know. So there's so many of different
accounts in the media, and I know a lot of uh,
there's a lot of misinformation out there. But let's maybe
just start like, what do we know about the facts
of this case? Are what are the things that we
can say relatively certain, and what don't we know about
(04:38):
the facts surrounding her disappearance. So interestingly enough, what we
thought were facts in this case may not have been
now that we've we found out in the last year.
So what was reported was that Brooke was last seen
at her residence at about two thirty in the morning,
outside of the residence going for a walk. That's reported
(05:00):
by her mother and a couple of other individuals family
members there that spoke to her saw her. That's their account.
We don't actually know if that's true or not. They're
they're conflicting stories now saying that no, she never walked
away from the house. She was other places. We have
(05:20):
several statements now that she was last seen alive up
in the River Falls community of Greenville County, which is
about six or eight miles north of Traveler's Rest, and
we believe that she was last thing alive up there
on the same night or a different night. It would
be the same night, the same night she was known
to leave and maybe walk around the town. She was
(05:42):
known as a walker around town, and she may walk
to get some cigarettes or walk up to the to
the local store, and there was some pool tables there
and a little hangout. Of course, these places were closed
this time of night, which makes it even more strange
on why she would have went for a walk. Then, however,
we have statements that say that, you know, this person
(06:05):
picked her up, or this person picked her up, or
we have so many different statements. Don't know what's true
and what's not. So what we're finding out is the
deeper we dig, the more stories we're hearing. I heard
one the other day and I can't go into detail
about some of the stories, but allegedly this person killed
her now and we never heard that person's name in
(06:26):
twenty three years, and this is how this person did it.
So you know, we're we're still following up on that obviously,
but but you know, she was The facts remain in
the case file that she was last seen at her residence. However,
we do have statements she was seen in Riverfalls, so
we believe somebody picked her up what we believe now
took her to River Falls to some more parties. We've
(06:48):
been told there were parties up there too that night,
so we believe that she was last seen alive up there.
What happened that all of a sudden a year ago,
this changes. I mean we're almost more than twenty years out,
so what happens that kind of gets this new information going.
So when I came in the end of twenty eighteen,
I started digging into the case myself. I wanted to
(07:09):
look at it and see after a couple of years
of doing that off and on, you know, being the
police chief, I have other responsibilities too. There's a friend
of mine, this retired law enforcement that he and I
talked about this case a little bit, and he wants
to be anonymous, and I'm going to keep him anonymous.
(07:30):
But he came into the picture and we talked a
little bit, and I allowed him to look at the
case file, which is, you know, for bankers box full
of information. Of course, I scanned it and put it
on digital format so he could look at it and
that type of thing. So when he came on the scene,
he had some it was a fresh set eyes. It
(07:51):
was a retired law enforce a officer. This is just
volunteer in his time. So at that point we really
sort of hitting it hard and talking to more and
more people. And so about a year. It was April
of last year, April twenty twenty one when we started that,
and that kind of jolted us in this investigation to
spend more time working on it. The main thing that
we've heard in the last year is that it's not
(08:15):
necessarily how Route was killed, it's what happened to her afterwards,
and that it's much bigger than we could ever imagine.
That's what people are telling us, So we're trying to
figure out what they mean by that. And and the
different theories that have come into play is one has
to do with some type of satanic worship or cult,
(08:37):
some something's you know that could be a possibility. Um,
there's been mentions of of maybe biker motorcycle clubs involvement. UM,
I won't go in specifics because you just don't know
if it's true. We haven't proved any of that. And
then there's there's also been mentioned of of cartel of
Mexican cartel involvement and over drugs and stuff. Is that
(08:57):
carteller was that cartel active at that time in this area.
They were, They were not and not the way that
they are in today's world with the with the methamphetamine
trade and things like that. But and again I'm not
gonna accuse any which one of those because I don't
know yet. Um, but you know, these may be distractions
as far as we know, we don't. We don't know,
(09:19):
but there's a lot of things that lead us that
point to those different possibilities with the Satanic worshiping and
then the drugs and the money, you know, because when
when people go missing or or get killed, you know,
funny and drugs and greed, you know, lust, those are
big reasons why people die. Among those three theories, is
there a front runner or is it impossible to say?
(09:42):
I think it's impossible to say right now. Depends on
what week it is. And one week we're looking at
at the theory of the Satanic worshiping and the black magic,
and then uh, the next week something points us in
a different direction. So we're just trying to keep an
open mind to all of it and not get tunnel
(10:02):
vision on it. The one key thing we're really missing,
it's the body, and that's the big, big thing we're missing.
I believe that if we could find the body, then
this case would move forward faster. We just don't have
a body. Talked me through how that would be true.
So when you have a missing person, you can't there's
no crime. So somebody that's missing, there's no crime. If
(10:26):
you find a body, and then you can determine if
the person was murdered normally, or if they died of
natural causes or whatever the case may be. Brooke could
be alive in California right now. Do you think that's
a possibility. I don't know. I don't think that she
would have left her mom. Her mom and her very close.
I don't think she would have left her mom or friends.
(10:48):
And if she had, she would have she would have
made contact by now. I don't believe that's a possibility.
So the body you were saying, if you could find,
if you had the body, then what if we had
the body, that would confirm one of the many stories
we have or theories about how she died about maybe,
(11:10):
for example, if the body is in said grave and
said wooded area, then we take it and go back
and look at all the tips that came in and say, okay,
well these ten tips now may be true because of
where the body's found. I see. So it's kind of
like putting the putting the puzzle together, but we don't
have that that main piece we need. It's almost like
(11:33):
you know how the story ends, and then you can
work backwards to figure out what happens in between. Correct. Correct.
We believe that in the case file the answers are
in there. We just don't know. It's like a multiple
choice tests. We don't know which one is true. But
we believe that the answers right there in front of
so we just don't know which one's true yet. That
sounds like that could drive you crazy. Absolutely can Absolutely
(11:55):
it has been driving me crazy for three years. Now.
Can I ask you why is this so important to you?
I mean, I get I think I understand it. But
someone might look and say, hey, this happens so long ago.
Parents are both deceased, Brook appears to be deceased. Why
why is this so important to get to the bottom
(12:16):
of this? Because this is my hometown, and when someone
goes missing and allegedly something happened to that person, somebody
needs to fight for justice for her, and if the
family has passed on, there are friends of hers, and
(12:36):
there's me, and there's this police department that will fight
for justice for And I don't plan on giving up,
even though it gets frustrating, because someone needs to fight
for her. And if we don't fight for her, then
who then who's going to fight for the justice for her?
If this person or those persons killed her. We want
(12:59):
to get to the bottom of it and hold those
individuals accountable. So it's justice is what it's about. For me.
I get that. And I could also see how it
in some ways to finds this place and sense of like,
this is not okay to happen in this town, right
and we're not gonna accept this right exactly, And in
twenty three years, this is the only cold case we have,
(13:20):
This is it? We don't We don't have a lot
of violent crime happen here, well, you know, and I
pride myself on that, and I love this city because
of that. And we're four and a half square miles.
It was small. We're small, seven thousand residents, and we
have about five violent crimes a year, which I love.
But this one, you know, if we don't try to
(13:43):
find out and give it my all. I'm gonna try
it to the day I retire the best I can
to try to find out what happened to her. And
if we don't try, then who John Campbell and I
and view him today was talking about being involved in
the early days at this case, and he said a
few things that were interesting. One he said he took
over about two years into it, and he said all
he got were some written notes that were pretty hard
(14:03):
to make sense of because it was pre computer days.
And he wished that it had been treated as a
murder right from the beginning. What's your take on that. Yeah,
you know, anyone that looks when you put a new
set of eyes on a case like this, you can
always say, well, why didn't they do this, why didn't
they do that? And some of that's been frustrating for
me too, you know, wondering why they didn't document it better,
(14:26):
or why they didn't do this or that. Unfortunately, you know,
after you spend a couple of days worrying about that,
you kind of have to let it go because it's
just not there and you kind of move on with
what you have. But but John's right there there. I
wish it had been treated differently. But then again, you
look at you know, hundreds of thousands of people go
missing every year in this country, and if every one
(14:49):
of them was treated like a homicide, imagine how many
officers it would take to, you know, follow those cases
correctly and work them like a homicide. Sure, we may
get a missing person called this afternoon and then thirty
minutes find the person, and that's the happy ending. We
find the person, they're safe, and you know, then we
may get one that maybe another twenty three years we
(15:10):
haven't found. So you never know how it's going to
end out. So I guess back then they thought it
was just another runaway and that maybe she just ran away,
she'll be home in a couple of days. You know,
it was kind of thought of that way, and you
never really know. So unfortunately it was handled in a
way that that turned out to not be just another runaway.
(15:32):
John made a reference to an area. Didn't tell me where,
but that there was a place where they thought the
body might be. What can you tell me about I
understand that's sensitive, but what can you tell me about
about that? There's several places mentioned in all of these
tips that came in where the body may be, and
some of the places are very difficult to navigate. If
(15:57):
and I'm going to mention just a pond for example. Okay,
if you have a pond and over the course of
twenty plush years, and the pond is in the mound,
the sediment that rolls that comes down the mountains over
twenty plush years, gathers in the bottom that pond. So
the bottom of the pond is not the bottom of
the pond that it was twenty years ago. Or if
(16:21):
you have concrete that is sixteen feet deep and a
body is put in concrete fifteen feet down, how are
we ever going to get it? How are we going
to know it's down there? So these things are those hypothetical?
Are those those are possibilities? Those are actual possible possibilities,
(16:43):
their possibilities, there's real possibilities. But I don't I don't
know which one is to me. They're all equally important
to check out. So what do you do with those
two possibilities. Well, you hope that technology comes along far
enough and you get someone that can either volunteer their
equipment or maybe get the FEDS involved, or maybe Greenville
(17:03):
County helps out and tries to locate you know, a
body in in these areas. UM. So a combination of
all those things. And then UM, you know one you know,
you think you can drain a pond. You know, ponds
can be drained, but depends on how big the pond is,
how deep it is. There's so many factors that come
(17:25):
into play. UM. Concrete, you know, you can't just tear
up the concrete unless you have something solid to to show, yes,
that body is down there. So then you look at
you know, equipment like UH or penetrating UM, I forget
what the solar penetrating or you know, the ground penetrating radar,
(17:46):
that's it ground and you look at that and using that,
but it's not going to show a three D image
of a body or bones. It may just show avoid
you know. So technology, it depends on technology, It depends
on and and I do believe that if we were
ever to find a body, UM, then you do you
have DNA possibilities. You know, Now, if there's anything with
(18:07):
the body, maybe we find one of these suspects DNA
in there with it. You know, So that type of thing.
That's why I mentioned the body's important right now. But um,
you've got whales. People have said she's been put in
a whale. Well in the country, there's lots of whales
and if and to look in whales, we had to
We've looked in one whale. We had to get a
(18:28):
camera from a local um a company, drop it down
about fifty feet and look around in that whale. And
of course we didn't find anything. But there's a lot
that goes into trying to use the equipment and check
out these places. It seems it seems overwhelming very much.
So it is I go home with this, I think
about it all the time. I have to try to
(18:50):
set it aside because I have a family, you know,
I have to try to set it aside and just
not think about it all the time. But when you
open up this Pandora's box of of what happened to Brooke,
then you know there's fifty people that have my work
cell phone number and they'll call me weekends nights if
(19:10):
they have information. They don't mind calling, and I don't
mind them calling me because I want to try to
get everybody involved I can to see if we can,
you know, find out. But it weighs on me a
little bit. I think I've had hair turned gray and
turned loose a lot over the past couple of years,
given me both. I mean, the other thing that seems
that they would kind of mess with my head is
(19:32):
that there are folks walking around this town. You said,
you said, one of the first things you said we
said this interview is they're not a lot of secrets
in this town. And yet we're talking about maybe the
biggest secret right here. Because if what you're saying is right,
there may be multiple people who know what happened to her. Now.
I believe that. I believe multiple people know. I believe
(19:52):
in my mind six eight ten people know what happened
to her. And I believe there were accomplices and there
were people that helped help move the body or help
you know, bear the body. There's I believe a lot
of people know. However, the people that they're scared of,
the ones above them that are run that we're running
(20:14):
the show back then, or that they help control over them,
that's why they can't tell. And I believe a lot
of the people that are several of the people that
know are dead now. Ricky Shawn Shirley, he's dead now,
and I believe he knew what happened to her. It
sounds like your investigation would be helped by support from
the county and maybe even the FEDS. Yeah, And to
be honest with you, the FEDS have been here, They've
(20:35):
talked to us, they're assisting us on some things. The
FBI is they've worked with us a little bit when
a halftime. The county has helped us on some things
with some searches of some areas outside of our jurisdiction
here in the city. We do not believe our bodies
in this city. We believe it's out in the county.
All these different locations that that Dopu mentioned as possibilities
(20:58):
that they're all out in the county. Yeah, talk to
me about a little bit about the Aster Reid situation.
Obviously that's first of all, you weren't here in Champa's
rest and it's kind of peripheral to to brock Hanston's story.
But do you remember that unfolding at the time, What
were thoughts about about all that? I do remember that unfolding,
(21:19):
and when that happened, it really piqued my interest, and
I actually called John back then and I said, John,
what's going on? Is this a possibility, and he said,
I'm checking, I'm checking, let me check, And I said,
do what you gotta do. You know, I'm just because
I knew John worked here. Um. I was an investigator
(21:41):
in another agency at the time, and it really piqued
my interest that Now, when you say a possibility, do
you mean that that that this was really Brooke Hanson.
It was up in New York at Columbia, right right?
I mean it would it would have been um, it
would have been very interesting. Um. You know, one tip
back then in the Brooke Henston case was that that
she left and went to California, and she just ran
(22:02):
away to California and wanted to be on her own.
So it was feasible that she could have possibly went
to New York, you know, and stayed up there, so
that it was a possibility. But then it didn't take
much checking to determine the truth, obviously, But but it
did pique my interest in the case, and I was
very curious at the time and talked with John about
it a little bit back then. What I mean, there
(22:25):
was for a brief while there was a ton of
media attention, mainly ons to read, but probably also spill
over into Broke Hanson. Me. Look here, I am all
these years later. What did that do for the case?
Between two thousand, Between about two thousand and I guess
two thousand and six, there was hardly anything done on
(22:48):
this case. Very little. John did a little bit, but
there wasn't a lot to go on. When Esther read happened,
all kinds of tips started coming in after that, so
they determined that Esther Reid was Ester Reid, not Brooke Henson.
But then more tips came in and more tip It
brought more attention. It brought it back to life, so
to say. And that's kind of what I did when
(23:09):
I came in twenty eight, twenty nineteen, kind of bring
it back to life. So it was very it was
good attention. It was sad that it happened the way
it did, but it was it kind of brought it
back to life. And and uh so, so the friends
of hers wouldn't forget, so the community wouldn't forget. And
as far as as as long as I'm here, um,
(23:31):
we'll use our social media to always remind the community
will never forget. I was surprised that you reached out
to me in all my years as a journalist. I
don't think I know a case where the law enforcement
reached out. I mean, this is a missing person, but
clearly this must be part of your mission. It is,
and transparency is what I'm all about. I don't mind sharing.
(23:53):
Of course, you know there's details of the case. I
can obviously and you understand why. But why hide We
need the we need help. If if if one of
your listeners here's here's this and says, you know what.
I know the truth and I'm tired of you know
it needs to come out now, and it'd be great.
And like I said earlier, if if we don't care,
who's going to care? If I retire from here in
(24:16):
whatever year I retire, it may be the end of it.
Maybe nobody picks up, maybe nobody messes with it anymore.
It's just my mentality. I don't want to let it go.
Do you think you're going to solve it today? It
feels like I'm not. Why do you say that? Because
(24:36):
tomorrow it may change And one day I feel like
I will, and the next day I feel like I
want it based on what information has come in that
day that has changed my mind. And last week there's
some information that came in, I felt really good about
Today I don't feel as good about it. So this
(24:57):
is unlike any other case I've ever worked. I could
work a case and I could tell you with one
hundred percent certainty, I'm gonna solve this case, or with
one hundred percent certainty, there's no way I can solve
this case because I don't have any evidence in this case.
There's a plethora of information, but we don't have a body. Yeah,
I honestly think that we won't solve this case unless
(25:18):
we have a body. After speaking with Ben Ford, I
spent the next several months reporting this story, making the
season that you just heard, But I never stopped thinking
about Ben and the enormity of the task that he faced.
Part of me hope that maybe after the podcast came
out he might get some new leads. So when our
(25:41):
last episode dropped, I called him up to check in.
That's next after the break? Any you there? Yeah, I
hear you that. How are you any good? How are
(26:03):
you I'm good, I'm good. I want to check in
with you on a few things. So it sounds like
you had a chance to to listen to the podcast.
I wondered, like, what your reactions were. You know, I
really enjoyed it. I didn't know a lot about Esther
Reid in that case, just for what John Campbell told
me and what I read in the news. I mean,
(26:24):
I was very surprised that you had a conversation with
Esther and I loved hearing what was going on in
her mind. What did you make of this kind of
new stage of her life where she's after Matthews and
she's a professor atak and Zaga. What did you what
did you make of that? Well, you know, hearing where
(26:44):
she came from and what she went through and you
know when she was younger. You know, it just showed
me and it confirmed that anybody, know, anybody can do
what they put their mind to. And she chose to
live one way and do certain things a certain way
for a long time, and then she decided to do
it a different way. I'd love to see when people
(27:06):
actually turned their lives around, and there's six more successful
than they were when they were making bad decisions. So
I thought it was great. I thought it was a
great story. Oh, I appreciate that. I'm wondering if, since
the podcast came out, whether any additional tips or bits
of information have come your way. We haven't, not since
(27:27):
the not since the podcast has come out. Ironically, though,
before the podcast was released, I did have a man
contact me from our county's attencive Center and we talked
with him and eventually we got him in here and
he gave us some information and he actually said I
(27:50):
knew where Brooke is buried whoa And we said, well,
how do you know that? And he said, well, I
heard two people talking about it and they said where
she was buried at? I said, can you take us
to the spot, and he said yes, I said, let's go.
So we went to the spot. Um, it was on
(28:12):
a piece of property that belongs to a family that
the mom and dad are deceased there. So the sister
was in charge of the property and gave us permission
to look on the property. So we went on the property.
He pointed out the location. We put him back in
the vehicle away from the scene, and we brought in
(28:33):
cadaver dog. Cadaver dog alerted. So we took that dog
away and we brought another dog in and that dog
at what is that when you said cadaver dog alerted?
What does that mean? Exactly? So that means they picked
up what they believed to be the scent of decayed
(28:58):
body or bones. Now it's it's not a it's not
a perfect science, and it's it's not an absolute So
that's why we use two different dogs, and we had
a statement from somebody, so we used all of that
in order to get a search warrant for the property. Well,
(29:21):
Greeble County came out and helped, and we dug and
found nothing. So we kind of like climax there, thinking
we were gonna we were on something and we didn't
find one ball, nothing and we dug a lot big area.
Do you think this was at the time where you
like this this is in or were you we use
(29:41):
skeptical You know, I try to not to get my
hopes up, um and I I try not to show
that I get my hopes up because I've been let
down so many times, you know. But in this case,
you know, I thought there was gonna be something. I thought, yeah,
this is a very good possibility. Let's let's find her.
And and so I did think it was, but I
(30:02):
didn't want to show too much enthusiasm due to the
fact I've been let down so many times. So when
we found out it wasn't, I was disappointed. But then
yet again, it's another lead that we've checked off. Wow,
it's true. It's it's like, you don't know, you have
to follow up every lead. I guess that seems even
(30:23):
remotely credible. I guess right, that's the only Yeah, and
you know, we we were hesitant to listen to him
at first, But anytime somebody says I know where the
body's at, I can show you. I mean, we've got
to go. We've got to go with it and we've
got to check it out. Um. But that's that's the
(30:44):
most we've done with the case. In the past few months.
I've had people ask me too, whether you're any further
along than they beginning some ground penetrating radar at the
at the water treatment plan. So you know, I did
some more research and I found a company and they
volunteer their services to law enforce in all of the
(31:05):
country and they have ground penetrating radar. So who are
I'm planning to call? Nick? Yeah, please let let me
know how let me know how that goes, whether I mean,
if that ends up happening, or just stay in touch
with me. I'd be curious. I really wouldn't be curious.
Look is so so by far to you again and
you'll have a good weekend there, Okay, take care of Ben.
Bye bye, thank ye. Talking to Ben and getting this
(31:30):
update on the investigation, it really hit home for me
how there were all these leads, all these people who
claim to know what happened to Brooke, and how each
time one of these leads surfaced he had to take
it seriously, and that inevitably part of him hoped that
this one might be the breakthrough, the one that helped
him solve the case and at long last bring some
(31:54):
closure and some healing to this town. But so far
it was just dead ends and heartbreak, and then inevitably
a new lead and the cycle would begin again. I
could see how, after so many years, this would all
take a toll on everyone. And yet He's still added,
(32:17):
we'll keep you updated if we hear anything else from
the Travelers RESTPD. Then Ford is still working diligently on
the Brookenson case. So if you have any new information
at all that might be helpful, please contact him at
Ford at tr police dot com. That's fr D at
tr police dot com. Deep Cover is produced by Amy
(32:46):
Gaines and Jacob Smith. This episode was edited by Sophie Crane,
mastering by Sarah Bruger. Our show art was designed by
Sean Karney. Original scoring and our theme was composed by
Luis Gera Special thanks to Karen Shakergie Mia Loobelle, Greta
Khne and Jacob Weisberg. I'm Jake Halper
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