The Kidnapping of Ilene Misheloff

Imagine getting a call at work that your child has not arrived home from practice. That no one has any idea where they are or who they are with. This is the nightmare that the Misheloff family has dealt with for the last 33 years, when their 13 year old daughter disappeared on the way to skating practice and was never heard from again. On this episode of California True Crime we discuss the Kidnapping of Ilene Beth Misheloff and how a family and community have worked to keep her memory alive.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Dark Cast Network. The light shinesbrightest on our indie podcasts. Imagine getting
a call at work that your childhas not arrived home from practice, but
no one has any idea where theyare or who they're with. This is
the nightmare that the Mishloff family hadto deal with for the last thirty three
years, when their thirteen year olddaughter disappeared on the way to skating practice

(00:24):
and has not been heard from again. On this episode of California True Crime,
we discussed the kidnapping of Eileen BethMishlaf and how a family and community
have worked to keep her memory alive. Welcome to another episode of California and

(01:11):
True Crime. I'm going to beyour host for this case, Charles,
and with me to discuss this kidnappingfrom the East Bay in California. Are
Sean. Jessica is not going tojoin us tonight. She's actually still recovering
from some after effects of our breakfrom COVID, but I'm happy to have
you here. Sean, how areyou doing tonight? I'm good, Thanks

(01:32):
for having me. We do wantto have some updates. Our first update
is we if you are familiar withTikTok California True Crime is actually joined TikTok.
We have some fun videos, someinteresting content. You can check it
out, some bonus stuff that's notnecessarily in our episodes that might give you

(01:53):
another perspective on some of the casesthat we're covering. But you can find
us it's at Cali true Crime onTikTok. We also want to let you
know that you can support the showas always by joining our Patreon. You
can find that on our website orgo to Patreon and look up California True
Crime. We also have our webstore for merch if you're interested in California

(02:15):
Truecrime merch. The big app Thebig update too is if you've been following
us, or you listen to usin the past, or have been following
any of our social media as youknow that our two episodes of Court TV
have officially aired. By the timeyou're listening to this, we are still
waiting for the video on demand.They will be posted up onto the Court
TV website. As soon as weget those, we will be posting those

(02:38):
on all of our social media.So I just want to let you know
if you've had a chance to seehim live, drop us in line.
And let us know what your thought. We really had a good time doing
it and we're hopefully that will continuein the future. As with all our
episodes, we have a complete worksided page on our website at California truecrime
dot com. For this episode.The majority of the information comes from local

(03:01):
newspapers that cover the crime at thetime, as well as updates carried years
later up until well just a yearactually. Some of the facts of the
case also came from the FBI andlocal police departments, which have an unsolved
case marker on their website. Thiscase, like a lot of the ones
that we cover, deal not justwith the crimes against a person or family,

(03:23):
but also against the community at large, and in this case, the
community that is affected is that ofDublin, California. As we talk about
this case, the community plays amajor role in making sure that everything is
done to find this girl and keepher memory alive in the hope that someday
she will be found and those thattook her will be brought to justice.

(03:44):
So this crime takes place in nineteeneighty nine in Dublin, California, which
at this time has a population ofaround twenty two thousand people. So it's
a pretty good size city for themid eighties, but at this time,
and it really hasn't gone through alot of the explosive population growth that like
we've seen in other places, likewhen we've talked about some places in southern

(04:06):
California or even you know, likewhen we talked about Medesto, California is
as really you know, late seventies, early eighties having a huge population boom.
It's a slow growing community. Thetech boom eventually is going to make
this one of the fastest growing andbest ranked places to live in California,
but we're still a few years offof that big push at this time.

(04:28):
It's a quiet, close knit communitythat is situated in the Alameda County and
part of what's called the Tri Valleyregion. And this is a grouping of
three valleys in the area of theAmador Valley, the San Ramon Valley,
and the Livermore Valley. And it'sreally located in kind of the I will
say it's the start of the BayArea. Really. It's located at the

(04:51):
crossroads of Interstate five eighty and sixeighty, which is interesting because this is
a throwback to the outing of thetown which at that time was built really
right around the trade routes and thetravel routes that were going along basically those
same paths. So what we thinkof is five eighty and six eighty in

(05:13):
northern California, and those are kindof the big thoroughfares that will take people
into the Bay area and around outtowards the East Bay area. But one
hundred and fifty years ago, theseare the same routes that people are going
to and from the gold fields andinto the Sierra Nevada's as well as the
trade routes into the Bay. Soit is the east of San Francisco and
Oakland and north of San Jose.The name was a nickname before being fully

(05:39):
adopted by the post office in eighteenninety. Before that, it was called
Dublin because of a huge Irish population, and so when they built the post
office in eighteen ninety, a namehad to be picked. And so because
this nickname already existed and the hugeIrish population, Dublin stuck. A couple
things I found kind of interesting aboutthe area. It's home to the Challenge

(06:01):
Dairy, So some of you maybe familiar if your local grocery stores it's
the dairy that makes Challenge butter,and it's the one with the deer on
the label. So if you goto your supermarket, you see the butter
that has the the it's usually kindof in a white or blue box has
the deer with the antlers. That'sfrom Dublin, California, and it's actually
been operated for over one hundred years, and most of that time has actually

(06:26):
been in Dublin, California. It'salso home to arland Ness Motorcycle Company and
Museum, which is a arland Nessis a famous motorcycle manufacturer and designer that
worked for Harley back in the day, as well as having his own brand.
You know, I used to hangout at the Dublin Pleasanton area late
nineties, Yeah, and it feltso brand new. Yeah then, so

(06:49):
I bet like nineteen eighty nine feltmore like like if you watched over the
Edge with all the kids at theLatchkey kids. Yeah, you know,
in a San Mateo area. Butyeah, I think it was just so
like you were saying, a fastgrowing, tech boom kind of place,
but it just felt so new.And that's usually where the place where I'll

(07:10):
catch bart from back in the day. Because it was the first BART station
going to the Bay Area from wherewe used to live. Yeah, and
and and same with us. Iknow, Jessica and I we lived in
Livermore for a while and the BARTstation was the closest in Dublin was the
closest one to our house. Ineighty nine. Though, when you read

(07:30):
Dublin really has a small town feel, so it's we are still a few
years away from what will become thetech boom, so it really does have
this feel of like a small youknow, central valley town or or even
like you know, starting into theinto the Bay Area. I know,
if you if you travel to Dublinnow, there's a it still has a

(07:50):
lot of that feel, but itdoes feel like it's it's even now it
feels kind of new, like there'sa lot of strip malls, there's a
lot of stuff, but it's stillretained this kind of really tight knit community
even in current times. Now eightynine when we think of it, for
those of us at a certain age, doesn't feel like that long ago,
but we're still you know, toput it in perspective, where a few

(08:13):
years before, Google and cell phonesare something that have taken over our lives.
Social media is not even a thing, you know. We're still getting
all of our news from like thelocal news sources. I thought this was
kind of cool. In theaters ineighty nine, To put it in perspective,
Batman will come out the first Batmanmovie with while let's say, the
first modern Batman movie with Michael Keaton. We have Indian Jones and The Last

(08:35):
Crusade. Both of those are likedominating the screens over the summer. New
Kids on a Block are on everyradio station, and there's a brand new
TV show called Seinfeld that just startedon NBC. Around the world, we
have China and the communist government arebrutally cracked down on protesters. Some of
you might be familiar with the tamand Square photos that's happening in eighty nine.

(09:00):
In California, we have actress RebeccaSchaefer was murdered by an obsessed fan,
which prompted Congress to pass a newprivacy law and spurred California legislators to
pass some of the nation's very firstanti stocking loss. One of the biggest
things that happens in California, thoughat this time, is happens on October
seventeenth at five or four PM whenthe Loma Prieta earthquake struck. Santa Cruz

(09:24):
County was about ten miles northeast ofSanta Cruz on a section of the San
Andreas Fault system was so magnitude sixpoint nine earthquake and was responsible for sixty
three deaths and three thousand, sevenhundred and fifty seven injuries. This section
of the San Andreas Fault system hadbeen inactive since the nineteen San Francisco earthquake,

(09:45):
and the effects of the earthquake rangedfrom Santa Cruz County south into Monterey
County, as well as all theway to San Francisco Bay Area, including
both San Francisco and Oakland. Butwe're gonna be talking about the events that
happened on January thirtieth, nineteen eightynine, and thirteen year old Eileen Beth
Mishloff, daughter of Michael and Madeline, also called Maddie Mishloff, an eighth

(10:07):
grade student who was walking home fromWells Middle School. It was around two
PM in the afternoon. This wasbefore the regular school got out. She
was taking the thirty minute walk hometo get ready for ice skating practice.
She was an avid ice skater.In fact, she reportedly spent close to
thirty hours a week at the DublinIceland rink that was located at seventy two

(10:30):
twelve San Ramon Road. Since shespent so much time during the week there,
she was given permission to skip outon the last period pe since she'd
be training at the rink every day. So the school it's that you know,
you have to make pape credit,but we know that you're doing all
this stuff at the rink. Ifyou're gonna walk there, you're gonna train
all this time during the week,then you can kind of leave school a

(10:52):
little bit early. So it wasn'tout of the ordinary that she was leaving
school. She was receiving private lessonsand this ice skating coach that she reported
to. Every day. She wouldwalk home, change, grab her gear,
and then make the walk to therink and work out with her coach
until her mom or dad would pickher up, usually around six pm.

(11:13):
Most of the two point five mileroute was well traveled, so it's so
it's two point five miles from herhouse to the ice skating rink. So
it's two point five from her houseto the tight rink. Okay, because
that's like I like to walk andI try to keep track of it,
and I walked fast, and uh, I'll walk about two point one five
in like thirty two minutes. Sothat's that's uh seems like a little over

(11:37):
a half hour, right, Andso what will shave off time is there's
actually a short cut along an isolatedcreek near where the family's home is,
and she will take this regularly becauseit's a well traveled shortcut. So we've
all you know, had those whenwe were kids or even now, we
have those well traveled paths. Weknow like where to you know, cut

(11:58):
through the fence, cut a littlebit of time off your trip. This
shortcut ran near an isolated creek ina parked kind of wooded area that was
relatively close to where she lived andthe ice rink, but it was also
well known, so this is ashortcut that other people traveled to. It
wasn't like it was a way outof the way place, but all the

(12:20):
kids knew that it would shave offa couple of blocks from the trip.
So this was located near the MapePark entrance. So we're gonna have some
maps on California chuecrime dot Com onthe episode page. If you go there,
you can kind of see the paththat she followed and where this particular
place is. The entrance of MapePark is almost halfway. It's kind of

(12:41):
like the midpoint between where her homeis and where the rink is. So
Eileen was last seen by someone closerto around three o'clock, walking west on
Amador Valley Boulevard near Village Parkway.She was dressed in a charcoal gray pullover,
a spree polo sweater, pink andgray skirt with horizontal stripes, and

(13:03):
a black low top head tennis shoes. She was also carrying a blue backpack.
Eileen had brown hair and eyes,braces and pierced ears, two pierces
in each ear. She had freckleson her cheek and an end on the
bridge of her nose. Eileen's coachdropped by her family's house around four pm
to pick her up, but leftwhen her twin brother Brian told him the

(13:28):
coach she was not home. Hereturned to the rink to wait. It
was not until two hours later orso when her mother went to pick her
up at the rink that anyone knewanything about something being wrong or that she
was missing. Her mother, Madelinehad said in a later interview, quote,
when I got to the skating rinkaround six o'clock, she wasn't there.

(13:50):
It was then she called her husband, Michael Mishloff, who was a
senior physicist at a Silicon Valley firmworking in semiconductors. Now this was around
six. He recounts us call ina later interview with a news source that
he received a call from his wifeletting him know that she was gone and
that he needed to come home rightaway. Maddie, his wife, then
hung up and called the police.Michael will say, quote, I keep

(14:13):
thinking there must be some other thingthat happened. I drove to the rink
and there was these cars and police, and I realized how serious the situation
was. After that, the nextcouple of days were very confusing. So
I'm confused. She supposedly walks fromher house to the ice rink, but
then he came to pick her upat four at the house. Yeah,

(14:37):
So what I think is is sheleaves school at two, around two,
she walks home, right, soit takes about thirty minutes to walk home.
She changes in and grabs her gearand then leaves. Now she leaves
without her brother knowing that she's left. So to her brother like when So
we'll get to that in a second. So she leaves and then somehow doesn't

(14:58):
show up at practice when she should. So the coach coach thinking, hey,
she's always here. She's never youknow, not later or she always
lets us know, and being aconcerned adult, hey this, this child
should be here, I'm gonna go, you know, I'll check at her
house, I'll pick her up.Maybe something happened, and then I'll bring

(15:18):
her back and then everything is good. When he gets to the house,
Brian, the Eileen's twin brothers thereand says, no, she's not home
because again he hasn't seen her.Then coach goes back and says, well,
she must either something happen or whatever, goes back to coaching, you
know, the other skaters, andtwo hours rolls by. Maddie Eileen's mom

(15:41):
shows up to pick up pick herup. It's not there. That's when
she immediately calls Michael and says there'ssomething wrong. No one knows where she
is. Get home. Now.Her father was quoted as saying that This
is totally out of character for her, as she had never gone missing before.
So, and this will be broughtup a few times that she's not

(16:02):
Elean's not the kind of person that'sgoing to run off. She always tells
people where she is. You know, she's either at school or at the
ice drink. Really is. She'straining all the time and skating. It's
one of her, if not hermost favorite thing. So it there's not
an unaccounted moment in her in heryoung life that people don't know where she
is. So this is not likeshe's run off. The family searched Monday

(16:26):
through until the early morning hours ofTuesday. Michael's actually gonna talk about.
He will be quoted in one ofthe local newspapers saying that he looked all
night until early morning and Tuesday whenhis batteries on his flashlights start dying.
He says later that while he's searchingin his bet you know, his batteries
are starting to die, he's runninginto police searching the exact same areas,

(16:48):
and he says that he knows itwas time to return to his family at
that point and rest and then workon what to do next. He said
that he was worried that he mightmess something up, some kind of evidence
if he ran in into something orfound something, and police were way better
suited for this sort of thing.So he understood that his place was at
home with his family and then figuringout what was going to be done next.

(17:11):
He says, quote, I realizedthere was nothing I could do unquote,
And he tells reporters this on Wednesday, so it's it's two days since
Eileen's went missing, and it's alsoabout that time that reporters start descending on
the family home again, located onlya few minutes from where Eileen had gone

(17:33):
missing. And I think of thatquote that really stuck with me when I
read that in the paper, isthat this father admitting there's nothing I can
do to help my child at thispoint, and it's got to be just
I can't imagine what that person wouldbe going through at that moment. Dublin
police did not think it Eileen wasa runaway at all, and I think

(17:53):
this is kind of a credit.It's also something we've talked a lot about
kind of what we see in moviesand TV not being real. I mean,
this is one case where as soonas it's reported to police. They
immediately think she's not a runaway.Something happened. Now, they will be
very clear and say they stopped shortof saying that she was kidnapped because there

(18:14):
was no evidence at the time thatthat she'd been taken. It was just
she's not a runaway. We don'tknow what happened to her, but something
happened to her, and we're goingto help find her. The police are
quoted as saying, quote, thegirl was from a good family, good
continuous rapport with her folks, goodattendance at a school. And this was
said by Detective Rows of the DublinPolice quote, we have no indications of

(18:37):
foul play. There is so muchof a normal pattern in her life.
And I think it merits all theattentions were giving an unquote, so they're
pretty much saying kidnapping or something besidesrunaway, right, And I like what
he said in the second part.I do have a problem. And I
know we've talked about this before,about the idea. It's well, she's
a good fit, like the goodfamily and you know, a good rapport

(19:02):
with their folks, Like like ifyou have that, you're not you know,
we only see what's on the public. We never one hundred percent sure
what goes behind the closed doors.But I think in this case, you
know, it rings true because theytalk about her pattern, like, you
know, she had a set,she's at school, she's at the ring,
she's at home. You know,her family will talk about, you

(19:22):
know, a close knit family theywere, so I understand. And it
seems like since this seemed very highprofile from the start, it looks like
the police did their research because theyhad the time, because they're looking for
and found. You know, theyinterviewed probably friends, the family, They
saw her routine, they saw thatshe was a happy ice skater. It

(19:44):
makes sense with how much effort theyput in to learning about her, right
right, But she's not a runaway. A lot of times you hear about
these like blowoffs because a lot oftimes they say, uh, you know,
they'll come back and they don't dothe research. So this seems like
they actually got time to do theresearch, so right, And I think

(20:04):
that in this case, as yousaid, because Dublin, because of the
place Dublin is and the closeness ofthe community, you know, they know
a lot of the people in thecommunity, and it's it might be a
little easier when you're talking about aplace that has twenty thousand people and versus
maybe somewhere else. Madeline. Hermother, on the other hand, was

(20:26):
sure it was kidnapping right from thestart. She states early on, quote,
there is no way she's just missing. She is happy at home,
she's happy at school, she lovesskating. She would never just take off
unquote. And again, I thinkthis is something that we've seen in some
of the other cases, is thatfamily is you know, is oftentimes right
about that, is that this isnot just something that happens, kidnapping or

(20:49):
not. The Dublin police are takingno chances whatsoever. At this time.
The police force numbers twenty seven officers, twenty two of them are assigned to
this case, which to me isamazing. Almost the entire police force is
focused on finding finding this girl.They search and research the areas around where
she would have been walking, aswell as the surrounding areas. Eventually,

(21:12):
her key fob was found near theentrance of Mape Park. When you say
key fob, it's nineteen eighty nine, and I was I'm a little confused
with that because I think of likeFancier cars that yeah, we call those.
Yeah. It's basically it's just akey chain. It's the you know,
it's an old term, but it'sit's clear it's her key chain.

(21:32):
It's like and I don't have adescription of the key chain, but it
was a it was found separate.Now the police will intensify their search,
but no other clues on a disappearancewould have been found. Mounted patrols start
searching the Dublin Hills as well asthe East Bay Regional Park. Helicopter is
called in to search the area againto no avail. There are no new

(21:53):
clues to her whereabouts or the personor persons that took her. That was
until her blue backpack that she wascarrying was found in an area near the
creek bed along the shortcut that shewould have been taken. And the odd
thing is that this area had beenblanketed and searched thoroughly before by both volunteers
and police, and had produced nothinglike the backpack. Now this led police

(22:18):
to believe that it had been placedthere after the fact, but by some
unknown person. Now, this wasthe last piece of evidence to be found
by police in the initial search.If something more had or has been found.
It's not been made public as thisis an ongoing investigation. So you've
got a lot of information here.And just going back, we see when

(22:41):
she goes missing and then the dadis like, he's searching so much his
flashlight runs out of batteries and hegoes home. And now this backpack has
found. How long since? Howlong since she has been missing? Is

(23:02):
this time period right here? Andthen in the papers are a little fuzzy
on this, but it's about twoweeks give or take. Oh, okay,
and so it's it's it's relatively soon. But in this, you know,
in the scope of things, shegoes missing on the Monday, the
police are immediately called, or Iwill say, you know, called at
six pm or around six pm.They immediately go into kind of overdrive and

(23:22):
start blanketing link and canvassing the areaimmediately around the ice rink and the Maple
Park area and her home and thatkind of stuff. Her dad and community
members are doing the exact same thing. They're community they're they're they're canvassing that.
And then then the search starts towiden. I'm not one hundred percent
sure exactly when, but within thatfirst week I think the key fob is

(23:45):
found, or even within the firstfew days key fob is found, the
backpacks not for some time later,so even more days after that, which
again leads people to believe, youknow, there's that it's put there by
an unknown person. Now the wayI look at that is it's either put
there by a somebody who picked itup not knowing what it was, realized

(24:07):
oh shoot, this person's missing.I don't want the finger pointed at me,
and maybe dropped it back in theplace, or you know, I
think the other possibility is that theperson who kidnapped Aileen tossed it there because
they didn't want to be caught withit. In the days after the kidnapping,
the family did not waste any timeworking on getting the word out about

(24:30):
Eileen and her kidnapping. Hundreds offlyers were posted throughout the area to try
to bring attention to this crime anddrum up any tips that the police would
be able to follow. Madeline pleadedwith reporters and media Frightleen's safe return quote,
we love her and we want herback. Whoever has her, please
leave her where she can call us. A week later, in just a

(24:53):
week, there are half a millionflyers printed and distributed throughout California, so
there really are casting and this isthis is all driven by the Mischlaf family.
The thought was that the Amador ValleyBoulevard was one of the busiest streets
in the area. It would havebeen totally possible that somebody might have seen
something in one detail, doesn't matterhow small, could lead to her return.

(25:17):
The California Highway Patrol alerted five thousand, six hundred officers statewide to be
on the lookout for her. CHPofficer in Golden State Division in San Francisco,
Gaylord Ghee said that this was thefirst time that such an effort was
coordinated, which is really fascinating tome that that it's in nineteen eighty nine
and that's the first time that's done. You know that that like that,
that statewide coordinating of looking for somebody. You know, again, we're in

(25:44):
a spot that's before Amber alerts.Now now we get our alerts on our
phone, but at this time thisis a is a lot bigger feed The
family also began working with a KevinCollins Foundation. The Kevin Collins Foundation was
a foundation that was set up initiallyby David Collins, Kevin's father, after
Kevin edwent missing in February of nineteeneighty four, and Kevin was actually the

(26:07):
first missing persons to appear or firstmissing child to appear on the milk carton
and on the cover of a nationalpublication like Newsweek. He was adducted from
San Francisco, and his father startedthis organization in order to bring attention to
missing and exploited children as well ashopefully bringing more of these more of these

(26:30):
situations to a happy resolution. Sowhat he does is he goes out and
reaches out. And we've seen thisin some other instances. You know,
the Sun Carrington Foundation. We've talkeda little bit about them when the Yosemite
killings. What he helps with,the Collins Foundation helps with is helping the
Mishlaw family organize and talk to media, get flyers printed. What are the

(26:52):
steps that you need to take asa family to make sure that this story
stays in the public eye. Iwill have some information on the Kevin Collins
Foundation and a little bit about theirhistory on our website on California Truecrime dot
com. Now, the Kevin CollinsFoundation will shut its doors in nineteen ninety
six, We'll post an article fromthe San Francisco Gate on our website that

(27:15):
you can read a little bit moredetails about some of the reasons why now
because i Land was such an iceskater and has had such a love for
ice skating, and she trained atthe Dublin Iceland Rink. Olympic gold medalist
Brian Boitano was planning on going andplanned to go on television to appeal on
her behalf and try to draw attentionto this. He had connections to the

(27:38):
area and actually is trained for hisOlympic appearances at the Dublin Iceland Rink,
which has quite a history, aninteresting history about gold medals skaters from California
and training there. The family setsup a volunteer headquarters at seventy four seventy
five Star War Drive to help coordinatewith the authorities as well as get the

(28:02):
word out and mail flyers to anyonethat might be able to spread the word.
Quote. I want to do whateverI can to keep the local efforts
going, unt her father will sayin an interview when speaking about the community
that has come out to help him, Mike had hit this to share quote.
They have just been incredible. Theyhave basically given up a large portion
of their own lives to help us. And I think as we go through

(28:25):
this story, that's one thing tokeep in mind is that the city of
Dublin has kept this story going,and it has been there for this family
at every step. And so whenwe talk about it, I know we've
said this a lot in some ofthese cases, especially these kind of well
really all the cases we're covering,is that these crimes don't just happen to
one person or a family, butthey happen to a community. And in

(28:48):
this example, we really see thatthe Dublin community is hurting you along with
the Mischlaw family and doing what theycan to help keep that memory alive and
keep hoping and working to bring Eileenhome. Both her parents never once wavered
in their belief that Eileen was cominghome. They said that they had to
keep their thoughts positive going forward.Quote, Eileen is coming back, and

(29:12):
she's coming back soon, her motherwill say in an interview soon after the
disappearance, by March of nineteen eightynine. So this is, you know,
two months down the road. TheOakland Tribune reported the Deputy Sheriff's Association
of Alameda County is offering two tenthousand dollars rewards for information regarding the kidnapping
of Eileen and another girl, MichaelaGeric of Hayward, that had gone missing

(29:34):
in the previous year. This wason top of one hundred and seventy nine
thousand dollars rewards already being offered forthe return of Michaela and the forty eight
thousand dollars that was being offered forthe return of Eileen. You know,
some of these cases we've covered,we've seen kidnapping, murders, just information
and these rewards, and these rewardsare really high because sometimes they like forty

(30:00):
eight thousand for Eileen only two monthsafter just seems pretty high. At one
seventy nine, it's one hundred andseventy nine thousand is really high. But
these just seem like really up theirrewards, right, And I think,
you know, to me, it'sit's a testament to the Dublin area and
saying that the community, you know, those people that are that are watching

(30:21):
this or trying to help and volunteering, it's a testament to how much the
community pulls together to help the Mishlawfamily. I think the you know,
at this time. We'll talk aboutit as we go along. There's two
other kidnappings that are happening in thearea, and people are scared, and
it's you know, it's we're harkeningback to the early eighties when we were

(30:41):
talking about the Stephen Standard kidnapping ofyou know, people are scared. They
want a positive resolution to this,and so you know, Michaela's case in
the Bay Area garners a lot ofattention too, and so it's another example
of these communities pulling together and tryingto do what they can. And one
thing that they can do is donatemoney to the reward. Are you interested

(31:07):
in the parts of history that remaina mystery? Do you want to learn
more about the historical myths and misconceptionsused to prop up false belief? Today,
I'm Nathaniel Lloyd. In my podcastHistorical Blinkness, I delve into all
of these topics, sharing puzzling talesfrom the past and examining hoaxes, conspiracy

(31:29):
theories, and misremembered events that provideinsight into modern politics and religion. Join
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(31:52):
Dublin Chief of Police at this time, Jim Rose, says that quotes,
tips are coming in, but nothingthat is real substantial at this point or
anything we'd like to discuss unquote.One of the interesting things, much like
the HP that was happening at thetime, was in order to spread the
word even farther and look for anyoneor anything that might possibly have a connection

(32:15):
to this case. Somebody had seensomething or any information at all that could
help. A call went out actuallyto all seventy five postal divisions in the
United States and they were asked todistribute flyers to two hundred and forty thousand
letter carriers in the United States atthis time, and they would have been
to ask to go along their routesand keep eyes out for anything that could

(32:37):
have helped the case. This isthe first time again, this is interesting.
This is the first time that somethinglike this was done. Dan Demiglio,
manager and corporate of corporate relations forthe United States Postal Service Office in
California, says, quote, ourletter carriers know intimately every square inch of
every neighborhood in America. There hasnever been anything like this. Unquote.

(33:00):
Eileen's case is the first time tryingto get all of the divisions on board.
Flyers are printed at the expense ofthe Eileen Recovery Fund and not by
the United States Postal Service or thetaxpayer. So again, Eileen's family in
the volunteer organization says, We're goingto print up all of these flyers if
you guys can get them to everysingle letter carrier and mail carrier in the

(33:23):
United States. Unfortunately, this doesn'tturn up any new information and it doesn't
lead to any arrests or Eileen beingbrought home. The search will continue.
Weeks turn into months, which turnedinto a year. On the first anniversary
of Eileen's kidnapping, a special SabbathEve service was held at Temple Beth Shalom

(33:45):
in Dublin. A candlelight vigil washeld, followed by a memorial walk which
recreated the route that Eileen was towalk that afternoon a year previous. This
is attended by many in the communitythat had since the beginning always shown support
for the family. Eventually, thefamily begins to put their lives back together

(34:07):
in whatever the way they could andbegan to go on, never giving up
hope that their daughter and sister wouldeventually be returned to them. Now the
Misheloff family, there's Michael and Madeline, as we said, Eileen, her
twin brother Brian, and an olderbrother, Robert. Michael's going to go
back to work and the boys willgo back to school, trying to come

(34:30):
to terms in some way with theaftermath and dealing with what's happening and what's
coming next. Brian, Eileen's twinbrothers fourteen at the time and Robert is
sixteen. Both will attend or bothare attending Dublin High School. The parents
have devised a system where one parentis going to remain home at all times

(34:51):
to make sure that there was someonethere by the phone in case someone called
or there was news about Eileen.They worked on coming to terms with the
new normal that their lives had becomein the wake of Eileen's kidnapping. This
a parent staying home really reminded meof like k Stainer, who she never
they never did anything anymore because shewas just waiting at home to see if

(35:15):
there's a phone call or Stephen wouldget home, and you know, it's
eighty nine. So, like yousaid, cell phones, you can't.
You can't take it on the walkwith you or you know, just be
out there. You're kind of inyour own prison, just wondering and waiting.
Yeah, and it's it's it's theidea that I don't want to be
what if I'm not there and whatif she calls or what if? You

(35:36):
know. I think it's the whatif? And then you're right, I
think that analogy of being in aprison. Now it's just it's a prison
without bars, you know. Yeah. By this time, the police would
also give the family permission to startprinting new flyers that have the word kidnapped
on them instead of the initial onesthat were printed that were just said missing.
I thought that was interesting that thatit was a year later that the

(35:59):
police gave perion to the family tostart printing up the new flyers. I
also thought it was interesting that thepolice would give permission that the family had
to check with a wording with thepolice before printing those. Maybe it's like
a false statement. If not,because there's enough information towards it, that's
that's possible. Quote. We loveher and we will never stop looking for

(36:20):
We miss her horribly. Was aquote from her father, Michael at this
time. His hope, he said, was from the fact that they had
never found a body any year,and the family was candid about the fact
that when that when the kidnapping occurred, it caused Brian to withdraw. And
I thought this was really brave atthe time. This came out of an

(36:42):
interview that was done in the newspaper. They get really really open about the
troubles that the family where it's goingthrough. And I think, you know,
if you've listened to one of ourprevious episode on the Hulu documentary series
on the Stainer Family, that thatis as a pretty start, an honest
portrayal of what their family dealt with, and you see a lot of the

(37:02):
similarities. But you know, Brianas a twin starts to withdraw from family
and friends in school. Robert,actually the older brother, questions why God
allows this, you know, andcomes out and starts to question religion.
Being a close knit and churchgoing family, they sought spiritual guidance from their rabbi

(37:24):
who offered this explanation and I thoughtthis was an interesting explanation quote. The
answer is what humans chose to dois an act of their own hands.
The nature of the freedom God gaveus is also the freedom to destroy.
God allows us to choose how werespond. So it's it's another way that

(37:45):
the rabbi is saying, it's notit's not God who did this, it's
a person who did this. Let's, you know, focus on the idea
that this is, this evil isdone by a person. The parents and
the entire family really support get supportfrom their temple and the Great Dublin area.
And this is what they will saytime and time again. This is
what helped them get through. Isthis support. Where so many parents of

(38:08):
missing and kidnapped children separate or divorce, the missilofs will actually stay married.
The Missiloffs are also candid about thefact that at the time of Eileen's kidnapping,
they were busy with trying to keepEileen's picture in the media and her
story in front of anyone that willlisten, that they actually start to neglect
the boys. They realize this,and they had to make sure that the

(38:32):
children that they that were here weretaken care of and make sure that they
could put something of a life togetherfor them. I think this seems to
happen a lot. Yeah, youget wrapped up. And it's not like
I'm not saying that it's wrong,because it is what happens. It's you
kind of unravel especially this whole thing. I mean, I can completely understand

(38:55):
how they kind of just were focusedon Eileen, right. I mean,
you're doing everything you can to makesure that every possible thing is done to
get her home right. And maybesome of the other things in life might
not seem as important because your childis missing, but those things, you
know, are important. And Ireally, I really respected the family for

(39:19):
being honest about this in news articles, in interviews, because it's something that
we don't talk about a lot,you know, until way after the fact,
when that damage is done. AndI also respected the idea that they
realized that this is this something hasto be done. We need to take
steps to make sure that our boysare taken care of and getting the love
and nurturing that they require. Michaelactually will say in an interview quote for

(39:45):
some months there was no sibling siblingrivalry between either Robert or Brian. Then
one day they had an argument.I was almost relieved it happened, because
I think that it meant that theywere going to be okay, and they
would go on unquote it's a reallygood quote because just thinking of a basic
dispute and if that didn't go onfor months, you know, it's it's

(40:09):
totally different than before. And justthis little argument showed that they had some
feeling again, right, you know, And I think those those people that
have siblings or even close relatives orwhatever, like bickering is such a part
of that dynamic. And then tonot have that in a house, you

(40:30):
know, it's one of those thingsthat you don't know it's missing until it's
gone and then it coming back isis kind of that that first signal of
you know, we're not going tobe okay, but we're going to be
better than we are now, rightbecause he says quote for some months,
which months is a long time forthere not to be any sibling rivalry.

(40:52):
So well, I think we've talkedabout it too. Is like, you
know, none of us know,none of us unless you've went through it
would be ever be able to understandwhat any of these families have gone through.
But I can imagine that the ideathat I would be happy when my
sister's not here or my twin ormy daughter is not here. You know,
I would feel guilty for laughing orenjoying something, or wanting or being

(41:16):
angry or whatever, because you know, there is something so much bigger my
sister's not here. Yeah. Isit like living guilt is a term?
Yeah, yeah, survivor's guilt.Survivor's guilt, yeah yeah. But their
lives will go on. However,as we've said before, and I think
whatever, if you're listening to thisyou can already understand, is that nothing

(41:37):
is ever going to be the same, Like their lives are going to be
forever changed by this horrific act.In fact, Mattie will say that she
stops reading the newspaper for fear ofbecause of stories of serial killers or child
molesters. If I don't read it, I won't be reminded of the terrible
things that happen in the world.Mike stops watching all videos of Eileen skating,

(42:00):
and that was her passion. Bythis time, there are over two
million flyers that are being distributed allacross the United States and internationally. Actually,
Eileen's picture has been put on theside of milk Carton's pizza boxes,
mail trucks, and billboards. Butthere is no new movement for five years.

(42:22):
So five years later, this casestill has never left the minds of
those in the Dublin area. Now, every year, on the memorial of
her disappearance or kidnapping, a vigiland walk are going to be held.
Reporters would interview the family. Peoplewould wonder what happened to Eileen. On
their way home that day, Hermother, Mattie will say a quote,

(42:43):
it's been one long period of fightingand fighting, but will never give up
hope. The people of Dublin stillcare and they haven't forgotten about her.
That means everything. Now by thispoint, both boys are in college,
they're doing well, and like therest of the family, they're trying to
go on living their own lives whilekeeping the hope for their sister alive that

(43:05):
she would be found one day.Also, by this point, the reward
for her return is ninety five thousanddollars. Again, more flyers are going
out, and the volunteer office fiveyears later is still open. Michael will
say, quote, at first,it felt like a nightmare, like I
would wake up and find her athome and safe. But then eventually the

(43:25):
reality sets in and you just keepgoing we just keep trying, and we
just hold on to hope. TheDublin Police website would continue to post this
as an active cold case, withthe details and contact numbers available to anyone
that might have information to share now. In the past thirty years, there

(43:46):
have been theories and conjectures about thepossible culprits for the kidnapping. Some theories
include Philip and Nancy Guardido, whokidnapped jac dugard The reports at a car
matching Philip Gardido's was speeding in thearea at the time of her disappearance.
There's no evidence of them being involvedat all. There's James de Vigo,

(44:07):
who was known to abduct young womenwho are outside during the daytime. He
was known to strike during the falland winter months and was known to have
committed all other abductions in the area. The police early on, though,
believe that there could have been sometype of connection between Eileen's disappearance and other
crimes in the area that happened theprevious year. These other victims were Amber

(44:31):
Schwartz Garcias, seven years old,who disappeared from her front yard on June
third, nineteen eighty eight, andas we said earlier, there was MICHAELA.
Garrick who was nine at the time, and she was taken from her
Hayward neighborhood. At the time ofEileen's disappearance, both sets of these parents,

(44:51):
the Garcias and the Garricks, wentto pay the Mischlovs a visit to
help and support him and then kindof prepare him for some of the ways
their lives would would change, especiallywith the public onslaught and the media scrutiny
that would begin to experience. Andagain I thought this was this was amazing
that these two sets of parents,who were dealing with their own grief,

(45:13):
you know, who had a whoare basically some of the only people on
the planet that really could commiserate withthe miss loss, would take time and
go and visit them and try tohelp. At the time of Eileen's kidnapping,
the San Francisco News reported that therewere two hundred and twenty eight missing
children in the United States that weretaken by quote unquote strangers, and out

(45:35):
of that, forty two of themwere in California. Now, I say
quote unquote strangers because if you've listenedto our podcast, and again we hope
you listen to all of our episodes, But if you haven't, please go
back and listen to our series onStephen STANNERD. But Jessica covered that really
well and really highlights the misnomers ofthat stranger abduction. When I think,

(45:55):
you know, if you followed truecrime, you know that the majority of
abductions are by somebody they know.It wouldn't be until two thousand and nine
that one of these two other kidnappingsfrom the area would be solved. In
two thousand and nine, Panol policeand FBI announced that Curtis Dean Anderson,
who was in prison on another murdercharge, had confessed back in two thousand
and seven to kidnapping and murdering AmberSchwartz Garcia. Anderson, who had a

(46:20):
long criminal record and was imprisoned forthe kidnapping and murder of Zena fairchild in
Vallejo, California, also seven yearsold, as well as a sexual assault
of another girl who had escaped.He actually bragged authorities about kidnapping eleven girls
in total. He would tell policein the FBI that he had kidnapped Amber
from her home and murdered her onhis way to see his aunt. Once

(46:43):
this confession was made, public,the case was closed. There was never
a body recovered or any physical evidence. Kim Schwartz Amber's mother was convinced that
Anderson was bragging to the authorities toget attention, and eventually the police actually
agree and reopen the case, whichgot which has to be heartbreaking, right
right. You have some symblance ofclosure, but because of Kim Schwartz's senacity

(47:08):
and really saying no, I don'tI don't think this is true, and
the police taking another look at itand going yeah, yeah, you know
what, you're right, and thenthen having to go through that whole thing
of gain of like, no,the case isn't solved. The next big
development really just happened a year agoin twenty and twenty one. In January
of twenty twenty one, when thepolice would announce that they were looking into

(47:30):
a man that might be involved inthe killing him nine year old MICHAELA.
Garrick. This person, David EmeryMish, who was fifty nine years old
at the announcement, was already inprison for killing a woman in Hayward in
nineteen eighty nine. Mish was tiedto Michaela's death with an advanced fingerprinting technique
that was not available in nineteen eightynine. He was also being investigated for

(47:52):
two other murders of women murdered inFremont. In nineteen eighty six. He
had been formally charged with a crime, but it was but was cooperative with
investigators. Now we're not saying thathe's involved in Eileen Mischlov's kidnapping. It's
just that these crimes are all goingon around the same time, so investigators

(48:15):
are looking into possible connections with anythingthat might lead to a resolution for this
case. The kidnapping of Eileen BethMischlof is now over thirty three years old,
but it remains fresh in the heartsand minds of not only the family,
but also the residents of Dublin,California. In an interview in twenty
nineteen to commemorate the anniversary of Eileen'skidnapping, Mattie Mischlov will say that her

(48:37):
family had not changed anything about herroom and all the time that she had
been gone. Quote, nobody goesinto Eileen's room except for law enforcement.
So when she comes home, we'regoing to find somewhere for her to sleep
until we can get a hazmat teamin there and get rid of the ten
feet of dust. This was herprivate world and it's going to stay that
way until she's there. Unquote.For me, that quote was really telling

(49:01):
its show. It's the it's thehope and the heartbreak. To me at
the same time, it's the it'sthe after all this time, the family
is still saying, no, we'regoing she's going to come home. But
but there's that heartbreak of of reallynever of having that wound that never heals.
Right. It's just the shrine thatmakes it harder but easier to cope

(49:24):
because it's just such a hard wheneveryou hear about these stories of how the
rooms are the same, and Idon't know what I would do, Like
I don't know if I would keepa room or not. I wouldn't want
to, I feel like, andit's but I can't say what I actually
would go through. And it's theten feet of dust is a like she

(49:47):
knows, you know, she knowsit. It's just been emptied, and
it's it's such a heartbreak, likeexactly what you said. It's hope and
heartbreak all at once. To metoo, I think you know, it's
like we've talked about grief too.No one has a right to tell you
how to grieve and this and noneof us know what this family's went through.

(50:10):
And it's to speculate, is it'syou know? Right? All all
I can do is put it inmy own perspective. I don't write,
I don't think anything that she's doingis wrong. I just know. I
just think it's hard, would behard to have that still there even though
the doors closed, you know that, right, right, like the family
can never move on. And thenthen the other part of me snaps in

(50:31):
and says, well, you losta child, how would you ever be
able to move on for it exactly, you know, and not lost like
your child wasn't taken by sickness orby an accident or your your child disappeared
off the face of the planet.Also, yeah, you also just don't
know what happened either. In fact, it's only been in the last few

(50:52):
years the family actually gave up theirland line to the house because on again
the idea that we don't want toanything to change now. Unfortunately, Madeline
Mishlof passed away two years ago aftera protracted battle with cancer. Former assembly
Person Catherine Baker would say of Madelinequote, Maddie cared so much about the

(51:16):
community and brought cheer, positive energy, and hard work to her services to
our community. Her passing is aloss for our town and the broader Tri
Valley area, and I am gratefulfor her life and service to others.
Now, this is amazing because notonly are is she and Michael raising two

(51:37):
boys as well as keeping the volunteercenter going and constantly looking for their daughter,
but Maddie serves on the Dublin andSan Ramon Services District Board of Directors,
the Dublin Lions Club, Saint Patrick'sDay Parade Board, flip burgers at
the Dublin Pride Parade among a hugelaundry list. This is like the first

(51:58):
line of all the service organizations shebelongs to. And so you can see
by by why why Dublin kind ofwrapped themselves around this family because their family
constantly was giving back to the greaterarea. So for the last two years,
the candlelight vigil has been called off, partially due to the COVID restrictions
and partially due to Maddie's passing.Michael stated that it would have been too

(52:22):
emotional to do something like that.Without his wife. However, it is
not diminished Dublin police commitment to solvingthis case. In a statement from the
Chief of Police, Garrett Holmes,quote, after thirty three years, Dublin
Police are steadfast committed to finding her. We continue to keep the family updated
and follow up on information that's pertinentto solve this case. Michael Michalaf will

(52:45):
say, quote, I won't betotally as healed as I would be as
long as the case is open thatthe perpetrator is still around. I think
the most important thing is to puthim in a place where he can no
longer get out and hurt somebody.Unquote. If you have any information at
all about the kidnapping of Aileen BethMischlav, please contact Dublin Police Sergeant Alan

(53:08):
Corpus at nine two five eight threethree six six seven zero. All tips
are confidential. Before her death,in an interview about her daughter, Mattie
would say, quote, we haveno evidence that she isn't alive. That's
the only way I can get throughthe day. How do you give up

(53:30):
on your child? It's not anoption. I couldn't live with myself if
I gave up on her. Shewould go on to say that before bed
each night, she would grab apicture of Aileen and say quote goodnight and
okay, you're coming home now youhave to. I love you now.

(53:53):
Thank you for listening to this episodeof California True Crime on the Darkcast Network.
For a full list of sources,as well as more information on the
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(54:15):
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(54:36):
thank our quality control engineer, MelanieDuncan. This was recorded at snail Rand
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