Adrienne Salinas

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2:00have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

2:16Today, I'm discussing the case of Adrienne Salinas from Tempe, Arizona. In 2013, 19-year-old Adrienne was working hard to become independent and to achieve her goals. She'd just moved out of her father's house and into her own apartment. She was in college and on track to becoming a journalist. But one bad night changed everything. This is the case of Adrian Salinas. On the morning of Saturday, June 15, 2013, Rebecca Flores and Shani Duggan began to clean up their apartment from a party they had the night before. Probably the biggest party they've had since moving in. It was one of Rebecca's friends' birthdays, and things definitely got out of control.

3:04There were about 40 people there, mostly college kids, their peers. And at some point in the night slash morning, their TV got broken, and someone took an ottoman outside and lit it on fire. It seems like the party was pretty crazy. Their third roommate, 19-year-old Adrian Salinas, wasn't there to help clean up. but she didn't really contribute to the mess anyway. She was fighting with her boyfriend Fran and left the party a few times. So Shani and Rebecca assume that she's just with him but Adrian's father, Rick Salinas was already growing concerned. He called Adrian several times to confirm their plans for the next day, Father's Day but his calls are going straight to voicemail.

3:49He's worried but he and Adrian are really close. Rick basically raised Adrian and her younger brother as a single father. He was always super involved in their lives, and they spoke nearly every day. So he knows that there's just no way that Adrian wouldn't be in touch for Father's Day. She'd only recently moved into this apartment with her two friends, and Rick was always over there making sure that they were doing things like locking the doors, being safe, and that they had food in their pantry. Typical dad stuff. So really, Adrienne's kind of in this in-between stage of finding her independence, but still relying on her dad for support.

4:29Again, Rick is worried, but he just assumes that he'll hear from Adrienne the next day when she comes over for a Father's Day barbecue that he planned. But Sunday comes, and there's still no call or text from Adrienne. And all calls are still going straight to voicemail. By 10am, Rick knows that something must be wrong. and he begins calling her friends. When Chaney gets the call, she's shocked that Rick hasn't heard from Adrian, and she knows that something must be wrong too. She explains that she hasn't heard from Adrian since the night of the party, but assumed that she spent the night at Fran's.

5:07So naturally, Rick calls Fran, and he says he hadn't seen her since the night of the party either. Rick immediately calls 911 to report Adrian missing. He tells them that this isn't like Adrienne. She was a college student and typically very responsible. She had plans of transferring to Arizona State University to become a journalist. She wasn't just off partying. Something was wrong. Now, it does seem that the Tempe Police Department does initially treat Adrienne's case as a typical college student who just didn't turn up but probably would. Tempe is a college town, and they see kids leave for the weekend all the time.

5:46They were sure Adrian would turn up. But Rick's not just gonna wait around for the police to do something. He calls Fran, and they go look for Adrian themselves. Rick has known Fran since he was just a kid, about 12 years old when he and Adrian became inseparable in middle school. They've dated off and on since then. So, naturally, he asks for his help in searching for Adrian. They begin driving all around the neighborhood and pretty quickly find Adrian's white 2002 mercury sable. There's some damage, and two of her tires are flat. But inside the car, there's no blood or any sign of a struggle.

6:24It's really just an odd scene. Clearly, the car had been crashed, but Adrian wasn't with it. Officers from the Tempe Police Department do come down to the scene. They take some photos, and then they leave. At this point, they say that they just don't have any reason to believe that foul play was involved with Adrian's disappearance. So they release the car to her father, including a BlackBerry cell phone and notebook that was found in the front seat. But now that they've found her car, the Tempe Police Department does begin digging into what they know about Adrienne's disappearance. So, of course, they want to talk to her boyfriend.

7:04Standard operating procedure. Sergeant Alan Akey finds him on Monday, June 17th, while he's hanging up missing person flyers for Adrienne. He says he just wants to ask him a few questions. Fran goes down to the station willingly, and explains that he and Adrian had dated off and on since they were kids, but right now, they technically weren't together. They had a fight at the party, because Adrian saw him whispering into another girl's ear, and she really didn't like that. But the party was pretty wild, so they decided to go to his apartment in Scottsdale to talk it out there. Witnesses would later confirm that they were seen leaving the party together.

7:44We don't know exactly where Fran's place is in Scottsdale, but it's not far from Tempe, maybe 15 minutes depending on where you are. They get to Fran's around 2.30am. They continue their argument, and at one point, Fran steps out to his patio to cool down. And when he gets back inside, Adrian is gone. At about 3am, he gets in his car to go look for her. He does find her and he begins driving her back home to Tempe. But Adrienne's still upset and she ends up getting out of the car on Mill Avenue at approximately 3.20am. She starts walking the rest of the way home. Fran says that they were mid-conversation and without saying a word, Adrienne just got out of the car.

8:29But Fran does call Adrienne's roommate to tell them that she was walking home and to please make sure that she made it home safe. Fran says this is the last time he saw Adrienne. But he did have 11 missed calls from Adrian about an hour later while he was asleep. She also texted him at 4.43am to say that she was coming over. But she never made it. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. Money is this invisible thread that ties us all together. It's something everyone has to deal with. That's why teaching kids about money isn't just smart, it's essential. Greenlight is a debit card and money app for families.

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10:32The Tempe PD is able to get some of Adrian's cell phone records right away. And through those, and interviewing her roommates and other partygoers, they're able to put together a timeline of her whereabouts for that night. Here's what we know. The party started at about 10pm. Since it was Rebecca's friend's birthday, she's really the one hosting the party alone at first, until Shanie gets home from work. Shanie goes upstairs and is surprised to see that Adrian is in full hair and makeup for the party, but just sitting on her bed looking kind of sad. So she asks her what's wrong, and Adrienne says that she's just not feeling social.

11:10They do talk it through a bit, but in the end decide that the party's gonna happen either way, so all Adrienne can really do is try to have some fun. Their apartment, or townhouse as some of Adrienne's friends have called it, was two stories, and seemed to have a good amount of room for a bunch of college-age kids for space, but with 40 people there doing things like breaking TVs and setting Ottomans on fire, I imagine that there was really no escape for Adrian, even in her room. So she goes downstairs to the kitchen to have a drink with Shaney. They talk and take a picture together. Adrian did also invite Fran to come over, and he does.

11:49But like I told you earlier, they do end up fighting about their relationship. Adrian wants them to be exclusive, and Fran wants to date other people. They move the fight to his place in Scottsdale at about 2.30am. and Adrienne begins walking home around 3.20 in the morning. Now, Adrienne does make it home safely. She talks to Rebecca, charges her phone, packs an overnight bag, and leaves again around 3.40 a.m. to go to France. Multiple witnesses see Adrienne get into her car and leave. We don't know exactly how intoxicated she may have been, but we do know that she had at least one drink with Shanie earlier in the night.

12:29A few minutes after Adrian leaves the party, a 911 call is made at 3.44am. They report that a white sedan sped past them and hit a curb, damaging two tires. The caller is concerned, and they leave their vehicle to go check on the driver, but they speed away. The caller is never able to identify the driver, but they did write down the license plate. It was Adrian's car. It seems that whoever was driving the car, likely Adrian considering the timing, fled the scene and parked the car where Rick and Fran found it on Sunday. But this isn't where Adrian's trail ends. She goes back home. Now, no one sees her do this, though.

13:12The police only know that Adrian went home at some point because the clothes she was wearing in that picture with Shanie was later found in her room along with the only key to her car. So they think that she came home to change her clothes before attempting to make her way back to Fran's. Adrienne ends up making over 40 calls to Fran that night that he does not answer. But again, she does text him at 4.43am to say that she's going back to his apartment. She leaves, but this time there are no witnesses. But investigators did also find Adrienne's wallet, ID, and bank card at home as well. and they found that she had almost no money in her bank account, which makes this next part really strange.

13:58You're probably wondering how Adrian is going to make it to Fran's house with two damaged tires. Well, despite her bank account and her friends also confirming that she has no money, Adrian ends up calling a cab service. Scottsdale Cab Guys. The driver says that he's about 30 minutes away, but she's on his way home, so he's happy to pick her up. they agree to meet at an AM-PM gas station about a quarter mile from Adrienne's apartment. One of the many mysteries in this case is why this was the agreed-upon pickup location versus her apartment. But according to the driver, Thomas Simon Jr., this is where Adrienne told him to go.

14:38According to reporting from SantanValley.com, surveillance video from an O 'Reilly Auto Parts near the AM-PM gas station captures a slender woman, possibly Adrian, walking through the parking lot at 4.52 a.m. The last call made from Adrian's phone is to this cab service one minute later at 4.53 a.m. According to Simon, Adrian called to confirm that he was still on his way, and he says that he's eight minutes out. One minute after that, at 4.54 a.m., A dark, four-door vehicle is seen driving through the O 'Reilly's Auto Parts parking lot. Just after 5 a.m., Simon's cab is seen pulling into the a.m.

15:23p.m., but Adrian isn't there. He waits, and he tries to call her, but says it goes straight to voicemail. So he leaves. 14 minutes after adrian made the call to simon by 507 a.m her phone was either dead or turned off josie it's your new nanny paulie the hand that rocks the cradle a hulu original what do you know about her now streaming you think if you try hard enough you can stop bad things from happening but you can't good help get out is hard to find No! No! You need me do this. A Hulu original. The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Reddit R. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. For bundled subscribers, terms apply.

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16:55And especially by not taking the phone found in her vehicle. So they make arrangements to get Adrienne's car back from her family the day after it was released to them. In terms of what testing was done on the car, that is unclear. It may be something investigators are keeping private in order to get a prosecution down the line. But there's a major problem when they get it back. The notebook and cell phone that were in the front seat are both gone. Now, they do end up confirming with Adrienne's mom that she has the notebook, but the cell phone has never been recovered. I will say that investigators never outright say that this was Adrienne's cell phone, so I can't say for sure if it was.

17:40They only say that her phone was never found and that they're still looking for it. But let's break this down because I think it's pretty key in this case. We know that she used her phone to call the cab company after the accident was reported to police. So if it is Adrienne's phone, that means that she returned to her car at some point that night after talking to the cab driver and left it there. If it wasn't her phone, that means that someone else was likely in her car that night. I mean, the only other scenarios I can think of is maybe somebody accidentally putting it in there or Adrienne randomly stealing someone's phone.

18:20And those both seem really unlikely. But of course, the question here is, what happened to it? Unfortunately, as of recording this episode, the police don't have that information. All they know is that her last call was made to Thomas Simon Jr. of Scottsdale Cab Guys. And after pinging near her apartment, it never makes a connection again. So, of course, they track this guy down. And this company is family-owned, actually by Simon's father, Thomas Simon Sr. So the Tempe Police Department gets them both on the phone to talk about what happened. And this is really weird. Thomas Sr. is in his office, but Thomas Jr.

19:05is currently driving passengers to the Grand Canyon. For context, this is over a three-hour drive from Scottsdale, Tempe, and Phoenix. So it's a long drive for him and these passengers that are likely overhearing this conversation. Again, it's just super weird. But father and son are both on the call. Thomas Jr. remembers the call from Adrian. He says he was supposed to pick her up at the AM-PM gas station, but she never showed. And that she didn't answer her phone when he called, so he left. And video surveillance confirms that he was at the gas station when he said, and that Adrian was not with him.

19:46She was never seen at the AM-PM that night. So they begin to focus on the possibility that something happened to Adrian between calling the cab and never making it to the gas station. Maybe she was abducted. Maybe by that car that was right behind her in the parking lot. They do explore the possibility that she just accepted a ride from the wrong person, but her friends insist that she would never get into a stranger's car without a fight. So they continue looking for Adrienne. On June 17th, they search Tempe Town Lake for her remains, but the search comes up empty. They try looking into that car that was seen in the parking lot, but they are never able to identify the car or the driver.

20:30Of course, during all of this, Adrienne's friends and family are worried sick, And they do everything they can to find her. They're passing out flyers, hanging them around town, knocking on doors, doing fundraisers, and putting up rewards. But pretty quickly, investigators get a call that puts the spotlight right back on Thomas Simon Jr. It's actually from the woman he was driving to the Grand Canyon while he was speaking with police. The whole thing, understandably, really freaked her out. And she says that he seemed extremely uncomfortable when speaking with them. But it's not only that. Apparently, during this ride, he pulls over, goes to the trunk, and for some reason pulls out what she thinks is a saw.

21:18Now, he never threatened her with it. She just sees him with it. She did make it safely to the Grand Canyon, but obviously felt that she needed to report this to police. So they go right back to Thomas Simon Jr. And he's cooperative, at first They speak with him, they look around his apartment and his cab and don't find anything No word on the saw But when he's asked to take a polygraph, he refuses, saying he doesn't believe in them They are able to obtain his cell phone records at some point though And it shows that his phone did ping in Tempe but after this, he didn't have service for 12 hours following his calls with Adrian.

22:02Investigators say outright that it was turned off, so this is definitely suspicious. Investigators do get a warrant to obtain DNA from Simon, and he is not happy about it. He starts cursing and kicking and kind of moving the chairs in the room. Can you take these off, please? Just have a seat right there. I have a third, nobody. Please hold these off. Now, listen. First, I need you to sit down. I just want you to take these off, man. Just sit down for me. All right? Or what? Are you going to hurt me? Absolutely not. Everything that happens from here on out depends on you. Okay? I understand that you might be upset at us.

22:43Okay? You guys are liars. Just listen. Just let me finish speaking. You're hurting somebody for no reason. I don't get it. Just let me finish speaking. I would never hurt anybody. I would only hurt myself. okay if you haven't already seen that i don't want you to hurt yourself either i will hurt myself because now i'm getting treated like and i don't like it you're not over arrest you're detained right why would you detain me uh and i'll get to that here in a second i'd like to get you dressed i want to get to it quickly i've got a life to live man and you'll get on to living your life i don't speak pig latin

23:20You guys suck, man. That's my DNA. You don't deserve it. I'm very pissed off about that. Why should you get my DNA? Get it with the judge. The judge doesn't know me. The judge is not my judge. So somebody did something to this poor girl when you guys have been screwing with the taxi driver that got a phone call. You can't open him up, huh? That's a violation. How is that a violation? He just stuck something in my mouth. It belongs to me. It doesn't matter. That's not right. Why did you take a DNA sample? Okay. We took a DNA sample of you as an investigative measuring. If I'm not a suspect, then why can you take away my stuff?

24:08Something that belongs to me. You don't have to be a suspect. Why is in America, are we not free that you can take my DNA? Hey, you're a f***ing creature. I f***ing hate you. That sounds right. Let me go. You're a pretty girl. I hate all of you, man. Take somebody that belongs to me. Because I picked up or tried to pick up a girl and missed her, Thoreau. No, I never did. I wish I did, though. Because then she'd be safe. At this point, he basically stops cooperating. But investigators do continue to keep an eye on him. And not long after this, they get another call about Thomas Simon Jr. It's a woman who reports that her cousin told her that they heard a woman screaming inside of Simon's apartment.

25:03Not only that, but it sounded like the woman's screams were being muffled. And once his neighbor turned down his music, Simons turned his up even louder. I went over to visit one of my cousins. I'm not quite sure if they were working on the apartment next door on the outside of the apartment. And he heard like a women's screen.

25:30And he heard like if somebody was trying to shut up the lady, but they weren't quite sure. As soon as they load down their music, the neighbor, the taxi driver's house, like, he hired up his music for glass. And I said, are you sure that's what you heard, like a woman screaming? And he was like, yeah, a woman screaming desperately. Again, Thomas Simon Jr. is over this. He slams his door in the face of investigators when they come back to question him. And the woman who called in the tip? Well, they apparently can't ever get a hold of her again So these leads, this evidence, just sits as they continue their investigation Now, again, police are keeping a lot of information about Adrienne's case private But it doesn't seem that much happens over the next few weeks Until her remains are found on August 6th I know, it's not the news any of us wanted That morning, Dan Kelly is driving through a wash on his property in Apache Junction, Arizona when he comes across what he thinks are the remains of a coyote but when he gets closer, he realizes very quickly that the remains are human He calls 911, police respond, and an autopsy is performed By the 15th, they tell Adrian's family and announce to the media that it was her Rick described this moment in an interview with AZ Family's Unresolved series about Adrian He's actually at his parents' house when he gets the news And he said he felt like he was just gonna faint But he still had to tell Adrian's grandparents that she really was gone So he walks inside, breaks the news to them, and they're all crying together It's obviously just heartbreaking Now, we don't know a lot about Adrienne's death or her autopsy But here's what we do know The cause and manner of her death are undetermined There are no obvious signs of trauma They won't say if they found any foreign DNA on Adrienne but an investigator has said that there was little evidence found to point to a possible perpetrator, so take that for what you will.

27:53Her cranium and two vertebrae were missing, but investigators can't say for sure if that was related to her cause of death versus the elements. They do say that there was no indication that tools were used or that she was intentionally decapitated. And here's where it gets tricky. They don't believe that Adrienne was killed in this location, or even originally placed here. They believe she was placed in a shallow grave, the wash flooded, and she was ultimately carried downstream to this final location. For context, Arizona typically gets some pretty bad storms in the summer, and we just aren't equipped for that.