AUG 10, 2022
Andrea Canning reports.
www.nbcnews.com
[...]
Pam Smith: “Jennifer said that she woke up about 3:30 in the morning, walked down the hallway to the restroom and she saw Aubrey walking out the side door which goes out to under the carport. And she said she was wearing a black jacket, a black top, a black skirt and black hose -- like knitted hose or something, and black boots."
Jennifer told Pam that Aubrey said she was going out to meet somebody. She never returned.
[...]
Christian Fencer: “Whenever she left her house, she would walk to the left as she left her driveway. And to the left of her driveway there's other houses, there's people with Ring doorbells -- so they have the cameras on them. So we went over there and we checked those doorbells and Aubrey was nowhere to be found on any of those Ring doorbell video cameras.”
[...]
We were walking down the side of the road where the neighbor who has the Ring doorbell. Across the road from their house was a sock that had what appeared to be blood on it.
The sock was sent off to be tested.
[...]
Andrea Canning: “Did anything come from that?"
[...]
Pam Smith: “Yeah, inconclusive."
[...]
Closer to home, though, there was something else that Pam and Christian found themselves wondering about. Both say that Aubrey's mom, Jennifer, her stepfather and her brother seemed to show little interest in searching for Aubrey.
Andrea Canning: “Do you think her mom knows more than she's letting on?"
Pam Smith: “Absolutely, without a doubt."
[...]
As for Pam's allegation that he blamed Aubrey's disappearance on her "lifestyle," Captain Wells says her case was considerably more difficult to investigate because he says she was known to use drugs.
And that, he says, meant there were an infinite number of possibilities for coming in contact with, quote, "undesirables" who might have caused Aubrey harm.
[...]
Pam and Christian say they're relieved that Marshal Buhl and his team are now in charge.
And the marshal has shared with us a slew of important developments in the investigation.
He tells us that the clothing found near that hole in the ground was not a match for Aubrey and that testing on the bloody sock is incomplete.
He says his team is actively looking at a particular pond, and he confirms they are also investigating whether Aubrey's ex-boyfriend or a hate group could be behind her disappearance.
And he shared with us news about another potential clue.
During a November 2019 search, volunteers discovered something on Aubrey's family's property.
Christian Fencer: “There was a search where we had, again, canine dogs that hit on the shed there at the property. And inside of the shed was a little blue kiddie pool and inside of the kiddie pool was a tarp. Well, we laid the tarp out and the kiddie pool out -- and they hit on the tarp again. So then we looked at the tarp and there was some stains on there that could coincide with blood. We had law enforcement come and pick it up. It took them about over a month to get it 60 miles down the road to get it tested."
[...]
Marshal Buhl: “There's some belief that maybe Aubrey might have been there at the shed. The problem with anything on that property is I have to convince a judge to get me back on that property. We're not getting consent to go back on that property. And so I got to have enough to have a tribal judge look and go, ‘Yes, here. Get on that property and look.’"
In terms of potential suspects, Marshal Buhl says he's looking hardest at those closest to Aubrey.
[...]
Marshal Buhl: “I can tell you, we have not interviewed every family member yet. There's a couple that we’re not interviewing on purpose yet."
[...]
If you know something about Aubrey's disappearance, you can call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or go online at
FBI - Tips
You can also call the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service at 918-207-3800.
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