Karlie Gusé

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1:50Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder. This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have 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.

2:23Today, I'm discussing the disappearance of 16-year-old Carly Guse from Mono County, California. It feels like what happened to Carly could have happened to so many of us as teenagers. If not you specifically, then probably somebody you know or knew. It was a Friday night, and while Carly tells her parents that she's going to their local high school football game, she goes to a party instead. After smoking some weed and possibly taking another substance, Carly regrets her decision deeply. Less than three hours after getting to the party, she calls her stepmom, begging her to pick her up. She's scared and needs help.

3:03Her stepmom finds her and brings her home, where she and Carly's dad try to calm her down. But the next morning, when everyone wakes up, Carly's gone. This is the case of Carly Lane Gusey.

3:19Carly comes from a big, blended family. Her dad, Zach, and mom, Lindsay, separated when she was just three. Shortly after, Zach meets and marries a woman named Melissa. And Carly and her older brother of about four years, Kane, go to live with them full-time. Eventually, Zach and Melissa have two more sons, Cole and Cody. So their house is packed, and so is their schedule. They have school events, holidays, birthdays, but they made it work. I mean, this really is the only life that Carly had ever known. And by all accounts, she was very close with her stepmom, Melissa. When Carly joined the drill team and cheer in middle school, Melissa was the one who took her to all the out-of-state competitions.

4:05I just wanted to make it clear that it's not like Melissa just came into Carly's life. She's been there basically the whole time. Now, the family lives in Mono County, California. specifically the White Mountain Estates area of Chalfant Valley. There's not much to do in this area, so the family mostly works and plays in Bishop, California. It's a small town about 10 miles south of them. In addition to family, Carly also has a strong support system with her friends, who have described her as strong and funny. But like a lot of teenagers, when Carly began dating in her sophomore year at Bishop Union High School, she began spending a lot more time with her boyfriend Donald than her friends.

4:48Donald was a junior, 17, so a year older than Carly. According to interviews with Carly's friends and family, this seemed to start as most normal high school relationships. They were hanging out as friends, and eventually that blossomed into a romantic relationship. By the next school year in 2018, when Carly's a junior, she begins having some trouble in school. Her grades were slipping, and she was showing up to class high on weed. Carly does get in trouble for this, but appears to improve over time. Her grades go back up, and she seems to be back on track until October. On Friday the 12th, most of Carly's family is getting ready for their annual trick-or-treating event at the Bishop City Park.

5:34But Carly has other plans. As her family's getting ready for a night of trick-or-treating for her little brothers, Carly calls Melissa and asks if she can go to a football game with her boyfriend instead. Now, it does seem like in this small town, the Friday night football game was the place to be, so Melissa agrees. But Carly didn't actually go to the football game. Instead, she and Donald go to a party at his friend James' house. About two and a half hours later, as the family's returning from trick-or-treating, Melissa gets a call from Carly on her cell phone. She's frantic and asking to be picked up.

6:14She's actually so scared that she asks Melissa to stay on the phone with her until she got there. Melissa finds Carly running down Dixon Lane in Bishop, using her phone's flashlight to guide her way. When she gets to Carly, she says she was white as a ghost, and that her pupils were very dilated. Carly climbs into the backseat of Melissa's car, and Melissa joins her, hugging Carly, asking her what's going on. And Melissa says that Carly just repeats herself. She's scared and she wants to go home. But she also confesses that she didn't go to the football game and instead smokes some weed at a friend's house with her boyfriend Donald.

6:55On the drive home, Carly is panicking. She's screaming at Melissa to slow down, saying that the car's going to kill her. But they do get home safe. Carly's dad, Zach, explains that when he first saw Carly, she was in the corner of the kitchen and didn't even know who he was. Carly literally asks, who's that? And Melissa has to say, that's your dad. Now, at this point, Zach isn't playing around. He asks her directly what she's on, what she took. But Carly insists that she only smoked weed. Remember, this isn't her first time smoking. and she was seemingly so comfortable with it that she attended high school high in the past.

7:40But on the flip side, according to reporting by Katie Dowd for SFGate, Carly has had adverse reactions to smoking weed previously and her boyfriend Donald told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Carly hadn't smoked in a while and he thought it may have triggered something. Zach told People Magazine Investigates that it didn't really look like Carly was about to crash out because she was intoxicated. He says she just sounded extremely paranoid. After a few hours of talking to Carly, Melissa takes her to a room and tries to calm her down so she can get some sleep. They lay down together, but Carly can't find sleep.

8:19She's talking about painting her nails and reading the Bible. Now, Melissa ends up recording eight minutes of this conversation with Carly. She says to later play back for her as a teaching moment. Carly admits that she messed up. and Melissa comforts her, saying everyone does things in life that they regret, especially drugs. But Carly also says something pretty concerning. She says she's afraid Melissa's going to kill her. When Melissa says, that's crazy, why would I kill you? Carly says she can't help it. She's just thinking about demonic stuff. Obviously, it's an eventful night. Melissa falls asleep next to Carly before dawn.

9:03At 5.45 a.m., she wakes up and sees Carly writing or doodling on a piece of paper. Melissa goes back to sleep and wakes up at around 7.15 a.m. But this time, Carly's gone. Melissa starts looking all around the house for her, but it's clear that she's not there. Melissa wakes up Zach and then jumps in the car to start driving around looking for Carly. Zach calls Carly's cell phone and it's still on the counter from the night before. Wherever Carly is, she did not take her cell phone with her. Zach says this is when he begins to panic. This episode is brought to you by 20th Century Studios upcoming comedy, Ella McKay.

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10:29Or maybe you need some tech help. With Copilot Vision, Copilot sees what you see. Let Copilot talk you through step-by-step guidance so you can master new apps, games, and skills faster. Try now at windows.com slash copilot. Zach drives to a high point in the surrounding mountains to get a better look at the valley below. Thinking if Carly wandered into the desert, surely he'd be able to see her from that high vantage point. Now, I do think that this is a good time to talk about the area where Carly went missing from. Again, we're in Mono County, California, specifically the White Mountain Estates area of Chalfant Valley.

11:07This area probably isn't what most of you think when you hear the word California. Carly isn't near a bunch of beaches or partying in Orange County. She's in a rural area with rough terrain. It's mostly mountains and desert. And she's about 30 miles south of the Nevada state line. So think desert. Lots of pointy, prickly brush that doesn't make searching or even walking in the area very easy. So Zach is out searching and Melissa is still driving around. She ends up stopping to ask a neighbor if they'd seen a teenage girl walking around that morning. This is 78-year-old Richard Eddy, who just so happened to be retired from the LA County Sheriff's Office.

11:50He was drinking some coffee in his jacuzzi at around 6.30 that morning, when he saw a tall, slender girl with long hair walk by. He adds that she was holding a piece of paper, and apparently looking up and around at the sky. He also noted that she was headed south. Richard secures his spot as the hero of this episode because he not only provides this statement he gets up and does something he helps them look for Carly now unfortunately due to some conflicting reporting what actually causes Carly to be reported missing is a bit unclear according to reporting by the Las Vegas Review Journal it was Carly's biological mother who prompted Zach to call 911 after he told her that their daughter was missing.

12:38But according to her interview with People Magazine Investigates, Melissa says that she called after speaking with the neighbor. And to her credit, the only audio of any 911 call that has been released has been Melissa calling. But either way, it appears that she is eventually reported missing by Melissa at around 9.30am. She's immediately asked if she thinks Carly may have run away, and she tells the officer no. While the Mono County Sheriff's Office does still initially suspect that Carly is just a runaway, to their credit they do send an officer to the house immediately. But Melissa and Zach have already done a lot of the legwork.

13:19They've called her friends and her boyfriend. No one has seen Carly. And now the Sheriff's Office is getting a lot more context about what happened. The party, Carly's behavior, and Melissa tells them that she recorded part of her conversation. Melissa and Zach say that they're basically pleading with them to understand that this isn't a runaway case, and that Carly was very scared when they last saw her. And I am so happy to report that Mono County takes Carly's case seriously. Carly didn't take her cell phone, her glasses, or really any of her belongings. This combined with her behavior seems to be enough for them to consider the situation to be concerning, and they conduct an official search for Carly that same day.

14:07That initial search really just focuses on the desert area around their neighborhood. They're thinking that maybe Carly just had a bad trip and wandered out into the desert and got herself stuck there, or maybe was in some type of accident, or had a run-in with a mountain lion or some other type of wildlife. I've covered so many cases featuring the desert before, but I just want to emphasize how dangerous it can be, especially if you're intoxicated. I was born and raised in the desert, and as I always like to tell people who are visiting, everything out there is designed to harm you. Most plants have thorns.

14:45Jumping cactus do actually jump at you and impale your skin if you're close enough. While I would say that the bigger animals like mountain lions or coyotes will stay away, it's very easy to stumble upon or literally step on things like rattlesnakes and scorpions. Also, while the temperatures are warmer in the day, in October it can get really cold at night. All of that to say, the desert is dangerous. But everyone rallies together to help find Carly. Her family, her bio mom Lindsay, her boyfriend Donald, and his friend James, along with volunteers and law enforcement, are all out searching for her.

15:25While they don't find any trace of Carly, more eyewitness testimony comes in that strengthens the theory that Carly was walking in the neighborhood headed south. Witness 2, Kenneth Dutton, a schoolteacher who lived a few houses down from Carly, confirms that he was in his driveway when he saw her walk by, heading south, holding a piece of paper. So what's south? Where is Carly going? Well, a third witness also comes forward who is not named. They say they saw someone matching Carly's description wearing a white shirt and sweatpants standing in the sagebrush on Route 6 south of her home. The witness says that between 7.15 and 7.20 a.m., the girl was on the east side of the freeway near the intersection of White Mountain Estates Road.

16:14If accurate, these three witnesses saw Carly walk from her home south to White Mountain Estates Road, then head east directly to Route 6. Unfortunately, Route 6 spans from Bishop, California, all the way across the U.S. to Massachusetts. If Carly got on this highway, she could be almost anywhere by now. Rinse takes your laundry and hand delivers it to your door, expertly cleaned and folded, so you could take the time once spent folding and sorting and waiting to finally pursue a whole new version of you. Like tea time you. Or this tea time you. Or even this tea time you. So did you hear about Dave?

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17:39In the next few days, more agencies, including the FBI, and hundreds of volunteers join the search that has now expanded to a 10-mile radius of Carly's home. It's all hands on deck. They have dogs, helicopters, people on horseback, and hundreds of people on foot. They also bring in dogs to track Carly's scent, and they seem to trace the exact route pieced together by the three witnesses. But then the trail ends. Investigators aren't sure if Carly just went into the desert at this point, or if the trail stopped because she was picked up in a vehicle. Since it appears that Carly only took a piece of paper with her when leaving the house, many people believe that this points to Carly likely hitchhiking.

18:26The Mono County Sheriff's Office actually set up a checkpoint on the highway, and they speak to about 50 people who say that they drove through the area on the day that Carly went missing, but none of them recall seeing her or anyone matching her description. Either way, they do conclude that Carly appears to have left her home voluntarily. At this point, Sergeant Seth Clark from the Sheriff's Office tells the media that their biggest clue in this case is that there are no clues, which means Carly could still be out there somewhere. The Sheriff's Office also takes to Facebook to say that they're treating Carly's case as just a missing person's case, and at this point, there's no evidence of an abduction or any other crime.

19:11And of course, while the search is underway, the Mono County Sheriff's Office digs deeper into the circumstances surrounding Carly's disappearance The FBI also analyzes Carly's cell phone and computer, but they don't find anything helpful Authorities also analyze the 8 minutes of audio recorded by Melissa, as well as basically all the electronics in the home They analyze everyone's cell phone and all the computers in the house By all accounts, Melissa and Zach are extremely cooperative. They participate in extensive interviews and are given multiple polygraph tests. Authorities also, of course, want to speak with Donald and James who were at the party with Carly that night.

19:55Obviously, something happened there, but they say that everyone was sharing the same weed, and they didn't think it was laced with anything since Carly appears to be the only person who had this strong reaction to it. Now, this is good to know, but it doesn't prove that Carly didn't take something else. According to her bio mom, Lindsay, Carly had recently asked her about LSD. Lindsay says that she told Carly it was dangerous. But I think assuming a 16-year-old would stay away because their mom says it's not safe is a bit of a stretch. I also think it's fair to assume that since Carly is now missing after what appears to be a bad reaction to something, That could potentially scare away the person who may have provided her with something stronger than weed.

20:42But through these interviews, we also learn that Carly did not stay at the party the whole time. At about 8pm, James gives Carly and Donald a ride back to Donald's house after Carly starts having this bad reaction. Donald says that she didn't get any better at his house, though. He says everything was scaring Carly. The music. And even he appeared to be scaring her. So she calls Melissa, gets picked up, and we know what happens from there. Donald says that he didn't see Carly after this, and only found out she was missing when Melissa texted him that morning asking if he knew where she was. He'd actually been calling and texting her all night, trying to check on her, asking if she was okay.

21:26But Carly never responded. And as we know, her dad Zach found her phone on the counter where she left it before going to her room that night. So it seems possible that Carly didn't even see those messages. So of course, investigators are focused on this weed. What caused Carly to flip out like this? And when they pressed on James and Donald to ask them where they got it from, they wouldn't talk. But they do appear to have been cooperative otherwise. They take officers to James' house and give them the weed that Carly smoked and the device she smoked it out of for testing. The results showed that what they were given was not laced with anything else.

22:07But of course, they aren't just taking James and Donald on their word. They were also able to get video footage from James' doorbell camera. And this proved exactly what both James and Donald told them happened. They see Carly, James, and Donald get to the party around 6pm and leave around 8pm. In all the footage, Carly appears to be acting normal. Like Zach reported, she's not stumbling. When leaving the party, she's actually leading Donald by the hand. Donald's father also confirms that his son was home all night after the party, and didn't leave until he went to help search for Carly in the morning.

22:45In the end, authorities don't think James or Donald had anything to do with Carly going missing. Now, during this time, very early on, Melissa begins going live on Facebook to talk about Carly. A lot of people begin to tune into these videos And the internet does what the internet does And they start giving Melissa feedback While some are supportive, people begin to judge her behavior Is she scared enough? Is she crying enough? Does she really care about Carly? And this is a question that Carly's bio mom Lindsay wondered too While it does seem that Melissa, Zach, and Lindsay had a pretty cordial co-parenting relationship up to this point Now that Carly was missing, that changes.

23:30Carly's friends are also being interviewed. One of her best friends, Taylor, told People Magazine Investigates that before Carly went missing, she had changed. When she began dating Donald, she began smoking more weed. Going down a path that she didn't like for her friend. She says it seemed like Carly was also more depressed. But whether or not that was because something was deeply troubling Carly, or just a sign of her age, is hard to tell. As searches are happening, as people are being investigated, and as Melissa keeps going live on Facebook, Dateline reaches out to Melissa and Zach for a small feature on Carly's case.

24:11And they agree. The trouble was, the sheriff's office specifically instructed them not to do any media. They wanted to protect the integrity in the investigation and not give all the facts away And during this interview, Melissa gives some statements about the timeline of Carly's disappearance that conflict with what she told investigators She tells Dateline that at 5.45am she got up for the day She began waking up the boys and saying good morning She also reports seeing Carly in bed at this time like she had previously told investigators but this time it didn't seem like Melissa was sleeping in the bed with Carly.

24:51She infers that she slept in her own room. Then she says after she woke up she opened Carly's door and she was gone which is quite different than saying she woke up next to Carly in her bed and she was gone. In her interview with People Magazine Investigates, Melissa admits that she lied here. Quote, I wish I would have never even done that interview with them, because it was still an open investigation. I started to lie because they didn't want to give out any information that might deter the investigation. End quote. She also explains that she'd asked for her statements to be redacted, and that she told Dateline that she lied.

25:33Now, obviously at this point, Melissa's social media is flooded with comments and messages questioning her story. It also didn't help that Melissa was describing Carly as last seen wearing skinny jeans and a sweater, while all these witness statements were coming out saying that she was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, vans, and gray sweatpants. But I'd really encourage you guys to take that one with a huge grain of salt, because I don't think it's crazy to assume that Carly may have changed her clothes before leaving the house. but the fact remains that melissa did lie and this was a huge red flag for people following carly's case and the mono county sheriff's office who had specifically asked her not to do media this was also really upsetting to carly's biological mom lindsey she calls zach to ask if maybe melissa fell asleep rolled over and smothered carly in her sleep zach defends melissa But Lindsay goes to social media and starts talking about the case and Melissa.

26:37And when people start to hear that Melissa has this eight minutes of audio from that night, they go crazy. Everyone wants to know what's in the audio and why Melissa hasn't released it. Lindsay even speaks to Nancy Grace to voice her questions about Zach and Melissa's stories. Later, she goes on the Dr. Phil show with a stronger statement. she's not sure Carly made it out of the house alive that day. She proposes a theory that Carly died that night after having a bad reaction and Zach and Melissa covered it up. Lindsay also says that she heard part of the 8-minute audio captured by Melissa and Carly asked them to call 911.

27:22Now, Melissa and Zach do participate in the Dr. Phil show but refuse to be on stage with Lindsay saying they anticipated that she'd lie about them. As you might expect, people go absolutely wild over this information. It does seem that the Dr. Phil show was the major tipping point for hate in this case. The online hate was just at a new level now, and the family actually begins being stalked by someone who would come take pictures of their house and post it online. I mean, you have a stepmom who admitted to lying about the timeline of Carly going missing. and her bio mom who wants answers. The public is left understandably confused and upset after the Dr.