MURDERED: Rachel Hansen

17:29Brit Prawat:Yeah. And listen, I don't know if they got stuff out of the relationship, too. I don't know if it was one less kid that Shamika had to worry about when Khalil had her. But they said then and still say now that they didn't see anything wrong with the relationship. Shamika felt like she knew Khalil, thought he was a good guy. So the entire 18 days she was gone, at least someone knew she was with this guy. Again, there's so much finger pointing. I can't give you an accurate picture of the truth. Shamika says that she thought Relisha was at her grandmother's. Grandmother, from what I can gather, did let Khalil take her, but only because she said Shamika did so many times before that it was just like normal.

18:11Brit Prawat:But to me, there's no excuse that is appropriate for this situation.

18:17Ashley Flowers:No, you do not go 18 days without seeing your daughter. You do not let her go off with this like seemingly nice 51-year-old guy for overnight trips. Like, obviously, like, I don't know, Shamika or her life or, you know, the decisions she's had to make for her children or the hardship she's been through.

18:37Brit Prawat:Yeah, or even like the, I mean, what she went through as a child. I mean, for all we know, this relationship when she was younger could have been normal. You know what I mean? Could have been really normal, especially with the grandma

18:46Ashley Flowers:not being concerned about it either. Like, I can't imagine even, you know, having my niece for a day and my sister being like, hey, like, let her go with this person that I don't know, that I feel uncomfortable with, and being like, okay, well, like, my sister said it's okay. I'm just going to go with it if I feel uncomfortable. Like, I can't imagine being in that situation and being 100 % okay with this.

19:06Brit Prawat:Yeah, I mean, again, this isn't something that I can understand. I don't think it was anything that was appropriate in any realm, like, however you're looking at it. But now police have all of this background about Khalil's longstanding relationship with Relisha and her family. So it wasn't a surprise to them to see her so comfortable with him in that video that they released to the public. Now, the thing is, this video isn't the only video that police have, but it's the only one that they've ever released to the press and to the public. And the biggest question that gets asked over and over again is, is there footage of them coming out of the room together?

19:49Brit Prawat:And police won't officially comment on that.

19:52Ashley Flowers:I was just about to ask you if there was any other footage.

19:55Brit Prawat:Yeah, so I think it's a question that everyone wants to know. But the question actually becomes a little bit different when you learn a little bit more about the story. The question for me becomes not if she was on video coming out, but really how was she seen coming out? Because according to information released by WUSA 9 in episode 2 of that 18 days series, officials do say that Relisha is captured on footage again March 1st. So to me, she had to have left, right? Like, but when or how are a mystery. Maybe they didn't actually see her because she was transported in something. And I don't know why they're being so cagey about giving us information about how or when or where they saw her on video on March 1st.

20:44Brit Prawat:But then what they do say is that on March 2nd, Khalil is captured on video without Relisha. Now, the same day that he is captured alone on video, he goes to a Home Depot store and makes a deeply disturbing purchase. large trash bags a shovel and lie okay we know what that means it's a murder kit exactly like the home depot doesn't have a section but like i can piece it together for everybody now where he is between march 2nd when he makes those purchases and march 20th when his wife is found in that

21:24Ashley Flowers:motel seems to be a mystery wait so was his wife with him like the whole time so this is like

21:30Brit Prawat:Another question mark, and I feel like I'm saying this over and over. I'm sorry. But how his wife is involved in this is totally unknown to me. Shortly before Relisha went missing, Khalil had filed for divorce from Andrea. Now, I can read into that a million different ways, but it's all just speculation. I don't know when they reconnected, if she was ever with Khalil and Relisha together, if she even knew Relisha at all. And I have no idea why Khalil killed her. I'm not even sure if police knew that at the time or now. But again, all they can focus on is now finding Relisha. Because with those purchases, knowing that he's killed his wife, they are up against a ticking clock if bringing Relisha home is even an option.

22:13Brit Prawat:A little over a week after finding Andrea, police's investigation leads them to a local park. Again, there are some contradictory reports. Some places say it was Khalil's cell phone pings that led them there. Other places say it was a tip. But when they searched the park, they were really treating it as a search for Relisha's body, hoping that they would find the spot where Khalil had used that shovel and the lye. But they don't find any freshly dug graves. They don't find Relisha. Instead, what they found was Khalil, dead inside a shed with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. And no Relisha?

22:52Brit Prawat:And no Relisha. It has been six years this month since anyone last saw the eight-year-old girl. But police, I think, still know stuff that we don't because they said they don't believe this happened in a bubble. They truly believe someone else out there knows where Relisha is right now, whether that's dead or alive. They believe that someone knows what Khalil did to her in early March of 2014. Now, the D.C. police aren't forgetting about Relisha and crime junkies. We can't either. A broken system let this little girl fall through the cracks too many times. And the least we can do is try to make this right.

23:33Brit Prawat:Look at her picture. Share it. Share her story. Because someone out there holds the key, whether they know it or not. And, you know, there's one man who's been committed to sharing Relisha's story for years. According to a story written for The Washington Post by Teresa Vargas, a man named Keith Davis has been doing an online radio broadcast about Relisha's case, and he refuses to give up until she is found. And I think Keith is so dedicated to Relisha's story because he can understand what it's like to lose someone mysteriously and get few answers. He understands what it's like for the public and the press to forget about someone's story just because they aren't white and they don't fit the media mold.

24:14Brit Prawat:He knows because his own cousin, Unique Harris, went missing four years before Relisha. And her case is just as baffling.

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25:17Ashley Flowers:That's goodrx.com slash crimejunkie or download the free GoodRx app.

25:23Brit Prawat:Summer break should be fun, but it is also important to keep young minds active. Even though my daughter's out of preschool, we are helping her all summer continue to learn and study and just not give up building that muscle. And IXL is a great way to help kids stay engaged and avoid losing progress between school years. IXL is used in 96 of the top 100 school districts in the U.S. And as an award-winning online learning platform, IXL helps kids truly understand what they're learning. Whether it's building math confidence or strengthening writing skills, studies show kids who use IXL score higher on tests.

25:59Brit Prawat:Proven in all 50 states, from pre-K through 12th grade, IXL offers personalized interactive content for each child's level and pace. It is an easy way to support learning now through the summer and into the next school year. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now. And Crime Junkie listeners, you can get an exclusive 20 % off IXL membership when you sign up today at IXL.com slash Crime Junkie. Visit IXL.com slash Crime Junkie to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. In October of 2010, Unique Harris was a 24-year-old mother of two boys who had just relocated from Richmond, Virginia to Washington, D.C.

26:42Brit Prawat:Now, she grew up her whole life in Richmond, but when her mother made the move to D.C. and then her relationship with her boy's father started to deteriorate, Unique wanted a fresh start, and she wanted to have that fresh start close to family. Now, part of that fresh start was going to be a new career, too. According to Monica Hess, who did an article about Unique for The Washington Post, she had gotten accepted into a massage therapy program and was even going to be getting some financial aid to help her. And that was super important for Unique because at the time, money was really tight. And because money was tight, when she moved to D.C., she was only able to afford an apartment in an area of town that has been described as rough by a number of outlets who have reported on this case.

27:23Brit Prawat:In an article I found from The Huffington Post, they cover an interview Unique's mom Valencia did where she said that she begged Unique not to take the apartment, to just come live with her while she was like getting on her feet. But Unique was independent. She was a little stubborn and she wanted to make it on her own. And Valencia tried to calm her own fears by telling herself like, listen, she's not far from me. She's just a couple of minutes away. If anything bad were to happen, at least I can get there quickly. It's not like she's like on the other side of town. So by October, Unique and her boys had only been in the D.C.

27:56Brit Prawat:area for about five weeks, but they were settling in nicely and it was really nice, like I said, to be around family again. Now, Unique didn't have a car yet, so her family would help her out by driving her places that she needed to go, help her out with the boys, or even just be around to keep her company. October 9th was a Saturday and Unique had her little nine-year-old cousin over for a movie night and a sleepover with the boys. Now, Valencia told the makers of the documentary Non-Critical that she spoke on the phone to Unique around 8.30 or 9 o 'clock that night as they were making all of their popcorn and like settling in for their movie.

28:29Brit Prawat:And she said, listen, everything was normal. Unique sounded fine. It was supposed to be a low-key night with all the kids. And Unique didn't make mention of anything out of the ordinary. Like she wasn't worried. Nothing had happened that day. No one was coming by. She was in the right place, doing the right thing. And it was a completely normal night. Valencia went to bed that night and woke up the next morning like she always did and went about her day. It wouldn't be until later in the afternoon that the life she had known would be forever changed. According to the Washington Post, sometime after 3 p.m., Valencia gets a call from a family member named Tiffany.

29:05Brit Prawat:Now, Tiffany is the mother of that 9-year-old cousin that was staying over at Unique's house with the boys. And what she tells Valencia is disturbing, to say the least. She says that her daughter had called her that morning when she woke up and said that Unique wasn't in the apartment. She didn't know where she was, when she had left, or when she was even supposed to be back. Now, the young girl is pretty upset, but her mom told her, listen, just keep calm. She said that Unique's probably just like outrunning an errand or something. It's no big deal. And at that point, she tries calling Unique herself, but she keeps getting no answer.

29:38Brit Prawat:It just rings and rings and rings. And as the day trickled by, Tiffany starts to grow more and more concerned because every time she would check in with her daughter, she would say the same thing. Unique still isn't back. By three o 'clock in the afternoon, Tiffany is making her way up to Unique's third floor apartment. And this was always the agreed on pickup time. So she was sure that no matter what Unique had gotten caught up doing earlier in the day, she would definitely be there by then. So when the kids open up the door and tell her that they haven't seen their mom or their cousin, she knows that something isn't right.

30:13Ashley Flowers:I mean, I guess I'm kind of surprised that they even waited till three. Like they were checking in with her daughter this whole time and they knew that she wasn't there.

30:22Brit Prawat:Yeah, I mean, I'm sure that's part of this case that honestly probably makes the family just like stick to their stomachs because maybe if police would have gotten involved a couple of hours earlier, it could have changed the smallest detail. But in that article that she was interviewed for, Tiffany told them that she couldn't get there any sooner. She was basically stuck on the other side of town. But now that she was there, Tiffany jumps into action and she calls Valencia to tell her what's happening. The entire family finds out and steps up to get the boys to their grandmother's house while they try to figure out what happened to Unique.

30:55Brit Prawat:And really, there wasn't a plausible explanation anyone could come up with other than maybe she left for a second and like something bad happened, like an accident or something, or maybe something more sinister. But like everyone who knew Unique said that she would never in a million years leave the kids in her apartment alone and just walk off. Something bad was happening, but the family couldn't quite put their finger on what. That is, until they start to look around her apartment and what they see sends chills down their spine. There, hanging on the dining room table chair was Unique's purse with everything still inside.

31:35Brit Prawat:And when they walked to her bedroom, on the pillow laying neatly folded were Unique's glasses. Now, I've gotten glasses in the last couple of years, but really just to help me like read or drive at night. But Brett, you've worn glasses your whole life.

31:49Ashley Flowers:Yeah, since I was like 10 and I desperately need them. Cannot leave my house without them. I have like a backup pair in my car.

31:56Brit Prawat:So you're like legit blind without them. I need them. Yeah. Very blind. Yes. So you can help me understand this more. From everything I read, Unique was basically the same way you are. Multiple outlets reported that she had been wearing glasses since she was very, very young. And her vision was literally so bad that she couldn't see the clock on the nightstand when she was laying there in bed. I'm about to that point. Yeah, it's really, really trippy. Right. So her mom said that when they saw those glasses sitting there, any thought that they might have had that maybe she went outside, even if it was just for a second or down to the corner store, immediately left their mind.

32:32Brit Prawat:They said she could never go anywhere without those glasses.

32:36Ashley Flowers:Definitely not. Like, I can't read street signs. I probably couldn't even, like, use a key to unlock my own door without my glasses. But I wear contacts most of the time. Is there any evidence that she had contacts anywhere?

32:49Brit Prawat:So my educated guess would be no, only because literally no one has ever brought that up as a possibility. Like, when you talk to her family, they keep referencing the glasses. And again, more than anything, I go back to the placement. So her mom told this story about how when she was really little, she got her the glasses. She used to fall asleep in them because, again, her vision is so bad. She has to wear them all the time. She'd fall asleep. Her mom would replace her glasses over and over. And it was getting so ridiculous that finally they, like, agreed that she could keep them on her pillow.

33:19Brit Prawat:Because her mom would try and keep them on her nightstand. And she'd be like, no, even that's too far away for me to be on the nightstand. So when she would go to sleep, she would fold them and lay them on the pillow next to her. So they're looking at this and being like, OK, if she's not even going to put them on the nightstand because that's too far away, she's clearly getting ready for bed. She's put her glasses there. She's not going to go anywhere without them. She's not going to even step outside of the door, much less step outside of her own bedroom room.

33:44Ashley Flowers:So basically, like, everything is there. Everything that would tell her parents that she did not leave her apartment willingly is all right there.

33:53Brit Prawat:Well, not all. So her glasses are there. Her purse is there. but her keys and her phone are missing.

34:02Ashley Flowers:Do we know if the door was locked in the morning when the kids woke up? Like again, like I think it's unlikely but if we want to entertain the idea that for a second she walked out the door for any reason like I could see her taking the keys to make sure to like lock the kids in so that nothing happened to them.

34:19Brit Prawat:So I don't know exactly. Like Relisha's case, this one is super frustrating because this hasn't gotten half the attention that some of the other cases we've covered get. So details like this, which to me are like critical, have never been released. All I could find were reports that the main door of her apartment building was wonky and that the intercom system was broken. So Unique's apartment was the kind where you like have to walk in a front entry and then everyone's doors are inside the building. Like you don't have direct access to the outside. But it seemed the intercom system was for sure busted.

34:54Brit Prawat:And according to the Charlie Project website, Unique's apartment door was, quote, not in good shape, whatever that means. So, again, I really don't know. I just keep going back to the glasses, though. Like, if she did go outside, like you said, for anything, for one second, and she went of her own free will, why isn't she wearing her glasses?

35:16Ashley Flowers:Right. Like, honestly, the first thing to come to mind, which the timing doesn't make sense, but like if she were to go like check her mailbox. Yeah. I couldn't do that without my glasses or contacts in. Like there'd be no reason for me to be like, this is the exact time I need to do this. I can definitely do this without being able to see, you know, six feet in front of my face. It doesn't make sense.

35:36Brit Prawat:Exactly. And it's not making sense to her family. And the more they look at the scene, the more sure than ever they are that this isn't a question of where did Unique go. This is a question of who took Unique. Someone was responsible for this. So they report Unique missing to the police. And when they talk to the kids who were in the house, the boys say that they were asleep all night, didn't hear a thing. But Unique's cousin, the nine-year-old, said that she thought maybe she heard a man's voice maybe around 10 o 'clock. But she also thought that it could have been the TV and she never got out of bed to check.

36:12Ashley Flowers:So there could have been someone else in the house.

36:15Brit Prawat:Possibly, but when police look at the scene, they say that there's no sign of forced entry, no sign of a struggle. It's literally as if Unique was getting ready to go to bed and then vanished into thin air. Now, when police ask her family if there's anyone they know that would want to hurt Unique or anyone in her life that was causing her problems, the resounding answer is no. She was well-liked. She was kind. She was a good mother. Like, there was literally no one that they could think of. But police ask for everyone's information anyway. And of course, we know they always start with the people closest.

36:48Brit Prawat:So they give police the name of her new boyfriend, even though they say like he was out of town. They really don't think that he was responsible for anything.

36:57Ashley Flowers:What about the father that she left in Virginia?

36:59Brit Prawat:Well, so obviously they give police his information, too. I mean, it obviously wasn't a perfect relationship and police have to look into it. But before they can do this, there's another lead that sticks out because Valencia remembers an incident that took place shortly before Unique vanished. And it just might hold the key to where she is now.

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38:03Ashley Flowers:GoodRx is not insurance, but it works whether you have insurance or not, and it could even beat your copay price. Save time and money at the pharmacy this summer. Go to GoodRx.com slash Crime Junkie. That's GoodRx.com slash Crime Junkie, or download the free GoodRx app.

38:19Brit Prawat:Summer break should be fun, but it is also important to keep young minds active. Even though my daughter's out of preschool, we are helping her all summer continue to learn and study and just not give up building that muscle. And IXL is a great way to help kids stay engaged and avoid losing progress between school years. IXL is used in 96 of the top 100 school districts in the U.S. And as an award-winning online learning platform, IXL helps kids truly understand what they're learning. Whether it's building math confidence or strengthening writing skills, studies show kids who use IXL score higher on tests.

38:56Brit Prawat:Proven in all 50 states. From pre-K through 12th grade, IXL offers personalized interactive content for each child's level and pace. It is an easy way to support learning now through the summer and into the next school year. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now. And Crime Junkie listeners, you can get an exclusive 20 % off IXL membership when you sign up today at IXL.com slash Crime Junkie. Visit IXL.com slash Crime Junkie to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Valencia tells police that not too long after Younique moved into the apartment, she was a witness to a murder.

39:37Brit Prawat:Something had happened outside of her building that Younique viewed from her apartment window. and now her mom wondered if this could be the reason that she isn't here anymore. Do we know anything else about this murder? Like, was it ever solved? So here's the thing. As far as I can tell, no one has been able to figure out exactly what crime she witnessed. There are people on forums who have, like, pulled crime reports and they try and make educated guesses. But most of the time, like, the timeline doesn't totally add up and the lead doesn't totally pan out. So it's hard to fully evaluate this as a theory.

40:10Brit Prawat:but even though people still talk about this as a theory to this day I heard an interview done by two women Donna McIntyre and Jodi Newman they actually host this show called The Missing Voice through blog talk radio and they actually spoke directly with Unique's mom and Valencia says that police have actually told her in the last few years that whatever witness she was to whatever murder like that lead has been totally vetted and they found that it's not related to her disappearance at all.

40:41Ashley Flowers:Okay, so that's kind of chalked up to a coincidence or whatever, but like did they ever like look into like tracking her cell phone or anything like that?

40:51Brit Prawat:So since that's one of the things that's missing, I assume police have gotten a lot of data from her phone, but none of that has ever been released. The only thing that police have ever publicly said is that they used her cell records to help build their timeline. Now, they say that Unique was on the phone with someone at three o 'clock in the morning and then the kids woke up at 8 30 so she had to have gone missing somewhere in that window but they never said who she was on the phone with at that three o 'clock call which to me would be like a big deal like that is the first person I want to talk to

41:24Ashley Flowers:and like did they ever say that she was in the apartment when that call was made like do we even know that that's where she was at three o 'clock in the morning so they no they haven't

41:33Brit Prawat:given, again, any information about that. But I'm making the assumption because they're using that to build the timeline and they're saying, you know, she has this call at 3, the kids wake up at 8.30, we assume she went missing between then. I'm assuming that they must know that the call at 3 o 'clock was made from her place. Otherwise, to me, you could easily say that the timeline widens.

41:55Ashley Flowers:Okay. So like what now? Like what else can they look into? Is there anything else that they can go off of?

42:00Brit Prawat:So that's the frustrating part. This case will be a decade old this year and there have been almost no developments. No one has been named as a suspect. No one's been named as a person of interest. And this remains to me one of the most baffling cases that we've ever talked about because nothing makes sense. Now, there was a moment in September of 2018 that everyone thought maybe that this case had been resolved. And it's kind of all a little cryptic but on September 12th 2018 one of the hosts that I talked about from that missing voice show posted an update to a Facebook post about Unique that said quote sadly Unique is no longer missing and her case has come to the end now her family will begin the process of seeking justice please keep her family members in your prayers end quote so when I found that I went digging a little bit and I found a Reddit thread started by user Ranger398 who said that there was an update to the case and they posted the following message which they say they got as like a direct copy paste thing from Valencia's Facebook page and Britt I'm going to have you read exactly what they claim was posted.

43:13Ashley Flowers:Quote, it is with my most heartbroken deepest and saddest regret that I inform Unique's most loving supporters, followers, partners, and donors of her demise. Unfortunately, this almost eight-year journey to find Unique alive has come to these findings in her missing persons case investigation, that Unique's more likely than not deceased. And now I must memorialize my baby girl. God knows I never wanted to have to inform all of you that have been remarkably loving through this ordeal of this news. My apologies for this not being a happier ending. I've been fighting so hard to bring you all good news in the end.

43:52Ashley Flowers:However, it appears that I cannot make that happen with the evidence we've compiled in Unique's case. I hope all of Unique's supporters know I did my very best to find her alive and bring her home to her sons and all of us. I can't give any more specific details in the case right now, as I'm sure most, if not all of you know. This war for justice is not over as far as the judicial portion of Unique's case goes, which must now take place in our court system. But I want you all to know all of your prayers, love and support has not been in vain because we got the murdering mongrel. Yes, we got him.

44:29Ashley Flowers:I want to thank you all with all of my heart and soul because without Team Unique Harris's selfless supporters, this would not have been possible. I will keep you all posted as we move forward to make sure this diabolical, deviant creature never does this to another parent and family. I also want to make, if clear, that my advocacy and speaking out slash up for missing slash abducted, unresolved homicide, human slash sex trafficking, etc. will still be an intricate part of my life. I will still fight for our voiceless victims and continue to speak to our babies in our communities and prayerfully be a part of a positive, uplifting solution to these God-awful cases that none of us asked for, wanted, or deserve.

45:13Ashley Flowers:I intend to make sure my child's short 24-year life that was so brutally taken away from her will not be in vain. Much love and appreciation I'm sending your way. P.S. Stay tuned in for further details as the opportunities and information become available for me to share. End quote.

45:34Brit Prawat:Now, I want to be very clear. I could not find this again on Valencia's Facebook. So it's either been removed or I don't have the right permissions to view it. But from what I can piece together, I think around this time, Unique's case got transferred from missing persons to homicide. And Valencia was told to apply for a death certificate for Unique. So I'm thinking that that could have been what prompted these posts. Though, again, I want to be painfully clear. Unique has still not been found. Her case remains open and her mother remains more desperate than ever for answers.

46:18Ashley Flowers:OK, but like in her mom's post, she says, you know, we got him. We got this murdering mongrel, this deviant creature.

46:25Brit Prawat:Yeah, again, I don't. First of all, again, I don't even know that this 100 percent came from her mom. I could only find this in a forum. So I'm always super skeptical. But I could even see if she's told to apply for a death certificate. Maybe she was under the impression she had something. Or maybe, again, the police have more that they're willing to share with family that they're not really willing to share for the public. Either way, I think it's super important to reiterate a hundred times that Unique is still missing. Her case is open. Her mom is still advocating for her. And, you know, whether it's my permissions on her Facebook or not, if she took down that post, I can understand her doing that.

47:03Brit Prawat:If too many people are thinking, oh, this is solved, we don't have to think about Unique anymore. We all still should be thinking about Unique because she still needs to be found.

47:12Ashley Flowers:Yeah. And I know we've seen it before where like there's enough evidence surrounding the entire case that it's only a matter of time before they find something. And, you know, they're fairly confident that the missing person is deceased.

47:26Brit Prawat:Yeah. And I mean, I think you look at like the totality of the circumstantial evidence and the way that literally she just disappeared and everyone's saying she wouldn't walk away from her life. I can see why police would hand it over to homicide after almost 10 years. Clearly something bad had happened to her. And I think that's what happened here. It's been almost 10 years without a sign of unique. She would have never left her kids. She physically couldn't have left her apartment on her own without her glasses. So what the heck happened that night?

47:56Ashley Flowers:I guess I just like don't get it. Did they miss somebody? Like did the exes officially get ruled out?

48:02Brit Prawat:Yes. So according to the Charlie Project site, both the current boyfriend and the ex, like her children's father, had been polygraphed and they both passed. Though Valencia has expressed a little bit of frustration because I guess it took like eight months for police to actually polygraph her ex, the children's father. Now, the only thing anyone can seem to come up with is that this was a stranger attack. Someone who'd maybe been watching Unique since she moved in, like watching her movements and her habits, getting used to her schedule and knowing when and how they could get her.

48:41Ashley Flowers:OK, but like how would they be able to take her without a fight and like without waking the kids, especially like you said there was no sign of struggle or forced entry.

48:49Brit Prawat:So I've thought a lot about this and really what I see are two options. Option one is if it's a stranger, could it have been someone that worked in this apartment complex? Someone who possibly could have had a key? Because again, she had just recently moved in there. Maybe someone saw her. Maybe they got infatuated with her. You think about like a landlord, a maintenance guy, whatever. That's the part that makes sense to me. Like she's laying down going to bed. Like that is when she puts her glasses down. Like she's not even going to go finish getting ready for bed. Like she's done for the night.

49:21Brit Prawat:if someone was watching her and saw that she went to bed did they just come into the apartment now the other option to me is maybe if someone knocked on the door now Valencia said like she would have never opened her door for anyone like she knows maintenance men shouldn't be coming by at that time like that's not happening but if someone got her to open the door or even if they had a key and they came in maybe they took her without a fight because they threatened the kids Like, I don't know what I would do if someone if I had kids and someone broke into my home and say they had a weapon and they're like, you either come with me or I'm going to go do something to your children.

49:58Brit Prawat:Everything that I have read about Unique says that she was an amazing mother. And I can see to me that is the one thing I can see her not putting up a fight for. And granted, I didn't know her. Her mom might disagree. But it's one of the only two options that makes sense to me.

50:14Ashley Flowers:Right.

50:15Brit Prawat:Someone has to know what happened to her. People don't just vanish into thin air. So please look at her picture on our website. Unique still has two boys who are growing up without their mother and even without knowing what happened to her. And that's the part that's killing her own mom, too, the not knowing. She told Monica Hess from The Washington Post that sometimes when the not knowing gets really bad, she'll see something on the side of the road like a trash bag or something. And she will actually pull over and check inside just in case there is part of her daughter in there. So please, for Unique, for her mom, for her sons, if you know anything, you can contact Detective Fulton at 202-497-3470.

51:04Brit Prawat:zero. And, you know, this month is Black History Month. And I was trying to think of a way that we could honor this month within the space that we operate, this crime space, the storytelling space. And I mentioned before in our Highway of Tears episode, we really do want to be committed to helping to try and bridge this media gap that exists when we talk about persons of color. And listen, I would love to go out and try and solve these cases myself. But we all know that that is not where my skill set lies. I would 100 % just get in the way. So instead, I found an amazing organization that is hands-on helping every single day.

51:40Brit Prawat:And that is the Black and Missing Foundation. So along with continuing to try and do more episodes like this, we are making a donation to the Black and Missing Foundation, whose mission is to bring awareness to cases like this and to actually assist in searching for those persons of color who go missing. And even on a broader scale, to help change the culture around how missing minority cases are covered in the media. I would encourage everyone to go learn more about what you can do to help change this culture. Go to blackandmissinginc.com. And if you want to help in a more direct way to this case that you just heard about, Unique's mom actually has a GoFundMe page that we are going to link out to on our website.

52:24Brit Prawat:She's collecting funds to continue to bring attention to it in hopes that one day she will finally get answers as to what happened to her daughter.

52:46Brit Prawat:Again, you guys, I encourage you, please visit blackandmissinginc.com. You can also visit our website to see pictures, to see videos we talked about, and to see all of our source material for both of these cases. That's CrimeJunkiePodcast.com. We're also going to have a direct link to Valencia's GoFundMe page if you want to help out.

53:06Ashley Flowers:And be sure to follow us on Instagram at Crime Junkie Podcast.

53:10Brit Prawat:We will be back next week with a brand new episode.

53:35Brit Prawat:Crime Junkie is an Audio Chuck production. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?

53:43Ashley Flowers:Okay, Crime Junkies, you know I absolutely love a twist and a turn, especially when it comes to people who turn out to be someone they're not that's why i have been obsessed with the podcast chameleon every thursday host josh dean deep dives into a scam so bizarre it will leave you wondering how did they get away with that it is truly one of my favorite podcasts right now and i've been listening for years i think you'll love it too listen to chameleon wherever you get your podcasts