Tabitha Tuders

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1:58Voices 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.

2:30Today, I'm discussing the case of Tabitha Tudors from Nashville, Tennessee. In April 2003, Deborah and Bo Tudors couldn't be more proud of their 13-year-old daughter Tabitha. She just won an award at their church for memorizing the Ten Commandments, and her newest report card just made it home, straight A's. Tabitha is the youngest in the family and sticks to her mother like glue. Each night, Tabitha tries to sleep in her room by herself, but always ends up grabbing her blanket and making her way to her parents' bedroom, where they'd find her asleep at the foot of their bed each morning. When Beau and Debra asked Tabitha why she didn't want to sleep in her room, she said she just wanted to be close to them.

3:11And her parents really soak it in. Tabitha is their third and last child. Now that Tabitha was a teenager, I imagine they know her days of wanting to be by their sides at all times was limited. But no one could have predicted just how limited that time really was. Without realizing it, on the morning of April 29th, Deborah and Beau see Tabitha sleeping at the foot of their bed for the last time. In just a 10-minute window, walking the distance of fewer than two blocks to her bus stop, Tabitha disappeared. Over the years, countless theories about what happened to Tabitha have developed. Did she run away?

3:51Was she talking to a predator online? Was it someone in the area? Did she get into a red car? Or was it green? This is the case of Tabitha Tudors. The morning of April 29, 2003 was a typical school day in Tabitha's house. At 5am, her mom Debra gets up for her job in the cafeteria at Tom Joy Elementary School. She leaves her husband Beau, daughter Jamie, grandchildren, and Tabitha still sleeping as she quietly slips off to work. Beau wakes up next. At about 7am before he leaves, he wakes up 13-year-old Tabitha who's asleep at the foot of his bed so she can get ready for school. Tabitha knew the routine.

4:33She was in charge of getting herself ready for school and out the door by 7.50 so she could walk to the bus stop before it picked up at 8. It was only a block away, so 10 minutes was more than enough time to catch the bus. This was actually a really exciting time for Tabitha. She'd won a prize at church for finally memorizing the Ten Commandments, and she got straight A's on her last report card. Rightfully, Tabitha was very proud of herself. Beau says she was in good spirits that morning. So Tabitha gets up, she gets dressed, and gets ready for school. Then around 7.50, she too slips out of the house, leaving her sister Jamie and her children still asleep.

5:12Deborah arrives home from work at the same time she normally does, about 1.30. Tabitha isn't expected home until about 4, but when 4 o 'clock rolls around, Tabitha still isn't home. Now, Deborah does think this is odd, but she gives it about another 10 minutes assuming the bus was probably just delayed. These things happen. But as 4.10 approaches, Deborah decides to walk to the bus stop to wait for Tabitha there, but as she approaches, it's obvious the bus had already come. There are a bunch of kids around, but not Tabitha. So Debra asks if anyone has seen her, and they all say no. Now Debra is getting nervous.

5:51She immediately goes to Bailey Middle School to see where her daughter is. When she gets there, the doors are locked, so she pounds on them until she's finally let in by a custodian. From there, Deborah finds a teacher and learns that Tabitha wasn't in school all day. Now, why the school didn't call home to inform them that Tabitha never showed up, I don't know. But Deborah runs back home and starts calling Tabitha's friends' houses to see if they've seen her. And nothing. It seems that no one has seen Tabitha all day. Deborah's heart just drops. Tabitha has never skipped school in her life. While Tabitha was 13, she still wandered from her bed to her parents' room every night and slept at the foot of their bed.

6:36She also clung to Debra like her little shadow. Her newly decorated bedroom was filled with stuffed animals and trinkets like ceramic bears. Tabitha wasn't a rebellious teenager seeking independence who would have just left on her own. It was crystal clear to Debra that something was very, very wrong. She reports Tabitha missing at about 6pm, nearly 10 hours after she was last seen. At this point, Tabitha could be almost anywhere. This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Chewy. When I think about the holidays, I think about tiny moments with my dogs. The ones that really make the season bright.

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9:19A blue top, blue jeans, and her white sneakers. So they have to assume that that's what she was wearing that morning. Because nothing else besides her backpack and schoolwork is missing. Her$20, her door key, makeup, and the rest of her clothing were still in her room. That night, the police take fingerprints from the home along with Tabitha's hairbrush and toothbrush for DNA. But it doesn't seem like investigators with the Metro Nashville Police Department believe Tabitha is in any danger. In fact, they don't issue an Amber Alert basically saying exactly that. They don't have any reason to believe she was in danger and didn't leave on her own accord.

9:56They tell the family the same thing. The same thing we see in so many of these cases. Your child probably ran away because that's just what kids do. But Tabitha's family pushes back. There's no way they think she just up and left on her own. And again, she didn't take anything with her, not even her$20 in cash for a ride or some food. While law enforcement, friends, family, and strangers searched for Tabitha that night, Deborah stayed home as Tabitha appeared on the 10pm news, hysterical, but sure Tabitha would call or come back. In the days after Tabitha is reported missing, investigators were still leaning into their theory that she ran away.

10:38After searching the neighborhood, a local park, a lake, and conducting interviews, they go back to Tabitha's room to take another look. If Tabitha did run away, there must be something there to point them in some direction. And they think they find something. In her room, they find a small handwritten note with just initials on it. TDT, the letter N and the initials MTL. TDT is obviously Tabitha Danielle Tudors. but what they couldn't figure out is who MTL could be. Tabitha's parents, her friends, and siblings have no idea who it could be, so they file this away, hoping it's a piece of this puzzle that will make sense later.

11:18Then a major tip comes in. One of Tabitha's classmates reports seeing her that morning. He saw Tabitha get into a red car. He doesn't know who was driving though. The best description he can give is that it was a man with dark skin. So let's talk about the logistics of the bus stop. Like I mentioned, Tabitha's bus stop was literally just one block from her house. It was at the corner of Boscobel Road and 14th Street. Basically, Tabitha walked up a hill and she was there. But Debra told Tabitha that if she ever got to her bus stop and there were no kids there, she had to walk to the next bus stop on 15th Street.

11:57Again, just another block away. That way, Tabitha was never just sitting alone at her bus stop. Debra wanted to make sure she was always around at least some other kids. And from this report, it seems that that's what Tabitha was doing. Her classmate says he saw this car between 14th and 15th Street. Now, he's not sure if Tabitha got in willingly, was forced to get in, or coerced to get in. But he says Tabitha gets in the car on her way to the second bus stop. The car turns around and goes back the way it came. While this seems to further strengthen law enforcement's theory that Tabitha ran away, it does the opposite for her loved ones.

12:38For them, this is a clear indication that she was taken against her will. Deborah says there's no way Tabitha would have gotten in a car with a stranger. In fact, she cites a story about how one of her friends saw Tabitha walking one day, tried to give her a ride and Tabitha refused. She said, my mom says I'm not allowed to take rides from people she doesn't pre-approve. That's just the kind of kid Tabitha was. Either way, investigators take this lead very seriously. And while no other witnesses come forward at this point to corroborate the sighting, when law enforcement brought in scent dogs, they tracked Tabitha's scent out her front door, up the hill, and they lost her between 14th and 15th Street, just like her classmate reported.

13:21but Tabitha's loved ones don't know anyone with a red car. Like the note with Tabitha's initials and the unidentified initials, this lead about the red car just sits too. But this is a case with no shortage of leads, so they just keep going down the line. Next, they investigate a tip coming from a concerned mother of two young daughters. She says in 1996, a man in his 20s named Paul Davis took a very concerning interest in her 10-year-old. Then, in 1997, her 13-year-old ran away. When they searched her room for clues, they found several letters written by the 13-year-old to Paul Davis. Luckily, her daughter came back home two days later.

14:01But her mother was sure Davis had something to do with it. And when police speak with him, they learn that he does have a history of grooming girls Tabitha's age. In 1997, he was convicted of statutory rape. So they ask Paul Davis what he was doing on the day Tabitha went missing. Now, Davis lived three hours away in Kentucky at this point, but he does admit that he made a trip to Nashville in the weeks before Tabitha went missing, and he was seen at a store just half a block from Tabitha's home. But without anything directly tying him to Tabitha, this lead again sits until they can gather more information.

14:38Soon, one of Tabitha's friends speaks with investigators and tells them she and Tabitha went to a public library and joined some chat rooms. Maybe Tabitha met someone online. So the Metro Police go to the library with this friend so they can point out the exact computer they used. Once they do, the computer is taken for analysis. But this takes time. So again, the lead just sits as they wait for results. With so many leads up in the air at this point, Tabitha's family is just beside themselves. Especially her parents. Jamie says she remembers them just crying all the time. and Debra can't help but continue to look for Tabitha herself.

15:17She spends most of her time driving around, walking the riverbanks, and trying to get media attention. The family also makes their own buttons and t-shirts before outsourcing them to a professional company. They also pass out awareness bracelets to anyone who will wear one. But no matter how hard they fight for Tabitha, her parents can't find peace without answers. Beau says he would often find Deborah sitting at the end of their bed where Tabitha would sleep. Sometimes he could get her back to bed and fall asleep, but many nights they just stayed up drinking coffee and talking about Tabitha and her case.

15:53Beau would tell the Tennessean, quote, I just want my baby back. I hurt so bad I can't breathe, end quote. But they persist. Despite Deborah being terrified to leave her home in case Tabitha calls or comes back, they fly to New York to film for the John Walsh show. While this does generate some leads, none really pan out. By July, Metro Police Chief Deborah Faulkner is still hesitant to say this was anything but a runaway, and releases a statement,

16:34The day after this statement was released, the Metro Police searches for Tabitha again. It would be the largest and most strategic search for Tabitha in the history of her case. Just after dawn, 25 Metro Police officers, 12 Davidson County Sheriff's deputies, and canine units assemble for the search. Lieutenant Floyd Hyde would be honest with the media, stating, quote, we don't have a clue what happened to her, end quote. For this search, the group was separated into four teams. They went door to door, yard to yard, asking residents to search any fenced-off areas as well. They searched the nearby woods, Shelby Park, and its pond.

17:13They look at sex offenders in the area. But again, no sign of Tabitha. In the newspaper articles I found discussing this search, many residents expressed concern, saying they didn't understand why this wasn't done much sooner. And Tabitha's mother Deborah says outright that if they would have done this earlier, Tabitha might have been found by now. Even Tabitha's cousin, who lived just a few houses down from her, didn't understand why the police hadn't searched her backyard prior to this. Tabitha's family and community were more than willing to open their homes, yards, and their minds to bring Tabitha home.

17:51While this effort was great, it felt extremely tardy. This episode is brought to you by 20th Century Studios' new comedy, Ella McKay. From Academy Award-winning writer-director James L. Brooks, Emma Mackey plays Ella McKay, an idealistic young woman who juggles family and work in a story about the people you love and how to survive them. Featuring an all-star cast, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Loudon, Kumail Nanjiani, Iowa Debris, Julie Kaffner, with Albert Brooks and Woody Harrelson. Ella McKay, now playing. Tis the season to cozy up with all your favorite holiday movies and shows. You coming?

18:30Where? To the North Pole, of course. Like a very Jonas Christmas movie and Home Alone on Disney+. Did I burn down the joint? I don't think so. Then snuggle up with the Polar Express and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with Hulu on Disney+. I think we're all in for a very big Christmas treat. This season, there's something for everyone with Hulu on Disney+. Bundle subscription required. Terms apply. Visit DisneyPlus.com slash Hulu for details. The summer of 2003 comes and goes with no answers about the disappearance of 13-year-old Tabitha Tudors. While investigators have kind of crumbs of these clues, the note with Tabitha's initials and the other set of initials, reports of suspicious people in the area, Tabitha talking to strangers in an online chat room, and of course the report of Tabitha getting into a red car, not much progress was being made on those tips.

19:21Investigators couldn't figure out who had the initials MTL. They weren't able to connect Paul Davis to Tabitha, and his sister backs up his story that he was in Kentucky when Tabitha went missing. They haven't located the red car, and when results of the analysis of the library computer come back, it's too late. While they found Tabitha's username, so much time had passed and so many other people had used the computer. Their technicians weren't able to find who she was talking to or the content of any of those conversations. In September, they get another promising but confusing lead when a man named Millard Earl Smith is arrested in Nashville for the rape of a 17-year-old girl.

20:03Smith was riding his motorcycle when he came across a couple who needed a ride. He offers to help, but he's on a motorcycle, so he says he'll take the boyfriend first and then come back for the girlfriend. Smith drives the boyfriend to his intended destination and goes back for the 17-year-old girl who he then takes to his home and rapes her. It's just a terrible story. But he was arrested for this. And Smith has a record. He'd been convicted of kidnapping and solicitation of a minor previously. So this guy gets on the radar of the police quickly, and they discover that he lived about four miles from Tabitha.

20:40Smith doesn't match the description of the man driving the red car, but when they look into his possible involvement, they discover that Smith has a brother-in-law who works on cars, so he likely would have had access to a red car. But kind of like Paul Davis, investigators back off after Smith presents his alibi. He says he was camping with family, and according to the news reports I found, his alibi was never actually confirmed. But he does pass a polygraph test, and basically with no evidence to link him to Tabitha's disappearance, they just stopped pursuing this lead, but he does remain a person of interest.

21:18I feel like I'm getting whiplash just talking about all these different leads and the lack of progress with each of them. I can't even imagine how Tabitha's family must have felt, but Jamie has described this as an emotional rollercoaster. While some of the tips seem completely off-base to them, many of them gave the family hope that Tabitha could be home very soon, only to be repeatedly let down. As they go through their first holiday season without Tabitha, the family persists, and the community continues to show support. In November, students at Bailey Middle School present Tabitha's family with a CD they made.

21:55It contains an original song written and performed by her classmates called Come Home. The CDs were sold for a minimum donation of$5 to help raise money for Tabitha's reward fund. In December, the family goes back to New York to appear on the Montel Williams show. While they're there, they ask a street vendor to create a sign with Tabitha's name on it to put in her room for when she comes back. But Christmas comes and goes without Tabitha there. And by the first anniversary of her disappearance, local paper The Tennessean publishes an article titled, quote, Tabitha's Trail, Public Interest, Grow Cold.

22:34End quote. It discusses how Tabitha's flyers are no longer plastered everywhere around town, how her neighbors stopped wearing their awareness buttons for her, and how tips were drying up. The Team Tabitha phone line went from getting 40 to 60 calls a day to just 4 to 6 a month now. Volunteer searcher Johnny White told the paper, quote, We're frustrated. We don't have any direction, not any way to go. We have no hope. We need someone to give us hope. As much as I wish I could transition here and say something like, and then hope came, it just didn't. By 2008, the five-year anniversary of Tabitha's disappearance, law enforcement had to go to the media to ask them to please run stories about her and get her back in the press.

23:27And now this actually seemed to work. Many outlets did run with Tabitha's story. And by June, a major tip comes in that contradicts their biggest lead to date. A witness says Tabitha didn't get into a red car that morning. She got into a green car. Close your eyes, exhale, feel your body relax, and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-CONTACTS. Oh my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order.

24:08Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-CONTACTS.com today to save on your first order. 1-800-CONTACTS. Meet the computer you can talk to. With Copilot on Windows, working, creating, and collaborating is as easy as talking. Got writer's block? Share your screen with Copilot Vision. to help spark inspiration and use Copilot Voice to have a conversation and brainstorm ideas. Or 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. Five years after Tabitha Tudors goes missing on her way to the bus stop, a tip comes in that shakes up the entire case.

24:54Back in 2003, when Tabitha first went missing, one of her classmates reported seeing her get into a red car before making it to the bus stop. For five years, the Metro Police have been searching for a red car with a male driver with dark skin. But Debra's niece contacts police in 2008. She says one of her employees was riding his bike the morning Tabitha went missing, and he saw a green car parked at the bus stop at 15th Street in Boscowl, possibly a green Mustang with a scorpion sticker on the back. Now, there's no description of the driver, and I have no idea why it took five years for this lead to surface.

25:32But the Metro Police run with this, and for the first time they utilize social media to help crowdsource tips about the green car. And I hate to say it, but again, you guys, the tip just sits. They can't find anything or anyone connected to this sighting. The case basically just sits for another 8 years until 2016. 13 years after Tabitha went missing, a woman comes forward about the green car. She says, I know someone who matches the driver description and drove a green car at the time. His name is Juan. He's a Hispanic male that lived in a duplex just a few blocks from Tabitha. Not only that, he knew Tabitha.