Host Eva Pilgrim
Appearances
20/20
What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
So she left the library and ran to the school's office to call 911, but it went to the wrong county's dispatcher.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Karen's co-worker helped her off the floor and walked her to the parking lot so that she could drive Karen home. Karen called 911 again. This time, it went to the right dispatcher in Decatur County.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Karen and her coworker sped through the county's winding roads.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Fast, as in what's usually a 25-minute drive, took only 15 minutes. When they pulled up to the house, Karen says a couple cop cars were already there.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The caller was Karen Bobo. She and her family had deep roots here. They lived on quiet Swan Johnson Road for decades in a home tucked away in the woods.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Someone told Karen Bobo that law enforcement doesn't issue Amber Alerts for people over 17. Holly was 20.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Investigators from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, local sheriff's offices, and police departments showed up to the house. The FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, FEMA, and Homeland Security did too. Everyone was asking the same questions. Where is Holly, and what happened to her?
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
By the time Dana Bobo made it home from work about 40 minutes away, he remembers between 50 and 100 people being at the house already. They filled the property. The driveway and the road were full of cars.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
And what stuck out to him as he ran up the driveway is that his son, Clint, was in the back seat of a patrol car.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Clint was the only one who caught even a glimpse of what happened. He was the last person to see Holly before she went missing and the person who saw her disappear into the woods.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Holly was 20 years old and studying to be a nurse while living at home with her family.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
On April 13th, 2011, Clint Bobo had the day off. He was working part-time and studying to become a social worker at the University of Tennessee at Martin. In 2017, he told ABC News that his plan for the day was to sleep in and spend the day doing homework.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Clint says he did not hear screams, just Rascal's barking. And Rascal kept barking.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
groggy and disoriented from being woken up earlier than he expected. Clint says he walked from his bedroom on one end of the house to the living room at the other end where Rascal was barking. He looked out the windows to the front of the house and didn't see anyone. Then he walked to the back of the house and didn't see anyone there either.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
But he did see Holly's black Mustang was still in the carport, which was strange. She should have left for school already. He called and texted his mom to ask why Holly's car would still be there, but didn't get a response right away. What he didn't know was that his mother didn't have her phone on her. She was at school and had just been told that the neighbor heard screams.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Clint says he went to a different window to see the carport more clearly. He still didn't see anyone, but he says he heard people talking.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Holly was led into the woods, and then she vanished. It was an all-out search. Local and federal law enforcement, Holly's friends, neighbors, former classmates, and complete strangers. Thousands of local volunteers, people from all over this tight-knit community, came together to find one of their own. But Holly would never be found alive.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
He says he believed he heard the voices of Holly and her boyfriend, Drew. That's when his mom called him back and confirmed Holly did have school and that nobody should be coming to pick her up. Clint says he then told his mom that Holly and Drew were outside.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
His mom said it couldn't be Drew outside, but didn't explain how she knew that before she hung up. So Clint kept thinking the man in camouflage was Drew. But minutes later, his mom called Clint again and reiterated that man was not Drew.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Clint got a .38 Colt revolver and went from the window to the back door. That's when he says he saw Holly and the man in camouflage walking into the woods behind the house. He says Holly was walking on her own and did not appear to be hurt.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Clint stepped outside and saw a pool of blood by Holly's Mustang. It was right where he says he had seen the two silhouettes. He wasn't panicked. He wasn't sure something horrible had happened to Holly. He just figured the blood may have been from a turkey Drew killed and brought back with him. But while Clint was outside, the neighbor showed up. That's when Clint called 911, too.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
But he was still confused, still thinking there was a chance the man he saw with Holly was Drew. And if not, maybe it was their cousin Richie. Richie also hunted and could be wearing camouflage. As Clint tried to figure out what was going on, police cars started arriving. And then his mom made it back to the house.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The man in camouflage was not Drew and was not Richie. Clint ended up spending the rest of the day with law enforcement, answering questions and writing down everything he remembered for the police. That's why his dad saw him in the patrol car when he first got back to the house. Former Sheriff Keith Byrd was at the Bobo house when the search for Holly began.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Over the course of the search, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation sent pilots to fly over the woods to look for Holly. Water teams went into four different ponds and parts of the Tennessee River. Dogs were sent out to search for her. 75 wells were checked. And every day, more and more local volunteers signed up to look for Holly, too. Eventually, thousands of them were part of the effort.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
A command center was set up for volunteers with tents and long plastic folding tables for passing out food. Lines of people in camo and boots stood in parking lots to sign up for the search.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
It would take years for her remains to be found, and what started as a missing persons case became a horrific, complicated murder investigation that would tear apart relationships between neighbors and families and change the small Tennessee community forever. I'm ABC News Senior National Correspondent Eva Pilgrim. This story has a long history.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
When Holly disappeared, the weather was mild, but weeks into the search, violent storms flooded Decatur County and caused widespread damage to roads and buildings. The storms brought the search to a temporary halt. Eventually, volunteers were able to go back out in the foggy and damp weather. They put on yellow ponchos and raincoats that fell beneath their knees.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
They brought binoculars, walking sticks, and their dogs. There was so much land to cover, and much of it had tall grass and thick mud. I asked U.S. Marshals agent John Walker about what the search was like.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
To see if they could find something else?
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
A few days into the search, they did find something. It was hanging off a big stick in a creek. Holly's lunch bag, the one her mom had packed for her the morning she disappeared. The sandwich her mom made her was still inside. It was a potential breakthrough. Was this something that could lead to more of Holly's belongings or to Holly? Agent John Walker decided to follow the creek.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
And within 30 minutes, he came upon another clue, Holly's school notebook. But investigators didn't find anything else that day. The lunch bag and notebook seemed to be dead ends.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The searches went on for weeks. They covered over 200 miles of roads in Decatur County and over 1,000 square miles. They canvassed six neighboring counties as well. While the volunteer army continued their search, investigators from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies were gathering leads.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
As those leads poured in, the agents were just trying to wrap their heads around the basics of the case. They sent the blood in the carport for DNA testing to see if it was Holly's. They found a shoe print on the floor and a handprint on Holly's car, and they hoped this might lead them to answers.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
But their attention also turned to a range of people in the area who they considered potential suspects.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
All while the Bobo family was waiting for answers.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
That's next time on What Happened to Holly Bobo. What Happened to Holly Bobo is a production of ABC Audio and 2020. Hosted by me, Eva Pilgrim, the series was produced by Camille Peterson, Julia Nutter, Kiara Powell, Nora Hanna, and Meg Fierro, with help from Audrey Mostek and Amira Williams. Our supervising producer is Susie Liu. Music and mixing by Evan Viola.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Special thanks to Liz Alessi, Janice Johnston, Michelle Margulies, Sean Dooley, Christina Corbin, Kieran McGurl, Andrew Paparella, and Emma Pescia. Josh Cohan is our director of podcast programming. Laura Mayer is our executive producer.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Before I got to ABC News in 2016, I remember hearing about it. The shocking crime, the long investigation. Reporters from across the country had made their way to Tennessee to cover it. In 2017, the case seemed to be finally closed after a guilty verdict. But years later, I was sent to Tennessee to cover new developments in a story that just keeps unraveling.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Once I got to Tennessee and started talking to people who knew Holly and who had worked on the case, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Here was a girl who was doing all the right things. She was close with her family who described her as responsible and caring, and she was studying to be a nurse. If this could happen to her, this could happen to anyone.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Usually, the more I dig into a case, the more I feel like I'm solving the puzzle. But this time, the opposite happened. As I learned more, I had more questions. How could someone just vanish from a house like hers, tucked so far away in the Tennessee woods? How could you commit a crime this brazen and get away with it for years?
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
When police sprung into action and so many people joined the search for Holly, how could no one find her? And after so many years, why was it so hard to find answers? I want to take you with me through the twists and turns in a case that captivated Tennessee and the nation. And let's not forget, there's a young woman at the middle of all of this.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
This was a case that would leave her family and community brokenhearted and forever changed. I'll go back to the very start of the investigation on that otherwise unremarkable spring morning in 2011, and I'll walk you through the latest developments more than a decade later. Someone will be given a life sentence for Holly's murder, but that won't stop the questions for some.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Did they find the right people, or could Holly's killer still be out there?
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Why speak up now? Because it's been years.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
From ABC Audio in 2020, this is What Happened to Holly Bobo? Episode 1, A Scream on Swan Johnson Road. To understand the Holly Bobo case, you have to understand Decatur County, Tennessee. It's the kind of place where locals can tell you're not from there. Literally, my first day there, my producers and I went to a restaurant and they asked me, where are you from?
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
On Saturday, April 9th, 2011, Tennessee's wildflowers were in full bloom. Its rolling hills were a vibrant green, and that weekend, winter seemed long gone as temperatures soared into the 80s. It was the perfect setting for one of the most beloved traditions in western Tennessee, the annual raccoon hunt in Decatur County. The hunt dates back to 1976 and is billed as the largest in the world.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
And we laughed because it was just so obvious we weren't from there. Not because our clothes were different, but because it's rare in a place like this for a stranger to walk in, let alone a whole table full of them. I grew up in South Carolina, and it reminded me of the small southern towns I knew. There is a tangible warmth that comes from a history between people that goes back generations.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Neighbors truly help neighbors. They care about each other. And even if you don't like someone, you know them. Decatur County runs right along the Tennessee River. If you look up the county on Google Maps, you'll see mostly green. The vastness of the woods is interrupted just once in a while by a church, a sawmill, or maybe a gravel company.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
There are two main roads and then a few smaller ones that pass by farms and big towering pine trees. The county has a lot of creeks which look like long skinny fingers on the map. And then there are the few small towns in the county which stand out as gray splotches from above. Keith Byrd is the former sheriff of Decatur County.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The biggest employers in the county include the local government, a construction company, a manufacturing company, and a trailer company that employs 36 people. Many people in the county also work in agriculture and logging. According to the U.S. Census, 94% of the county is white and nearly 20% of its residents live in poverty. That's almost double the national average. Decatur County is small.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The population of the entire county is just under 12,000 people.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
When Holly went missing, people were shocked that this kind of crime, a kidnapping, could happen in a place like this.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
I know it's a trope to talk about a place where people trust their neighbors and say, nothing this bad ever happens here. But the setting of Holly's disappearance is surprising for reasons beyond that collective sense of security. This isn't a place where you could just stumble upon someone's home by accident. You'd have to know how to get to the house.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
In the town of Darden, where the Bobo house is, there aren't many street signs. The roads are largely one-way, unlit. There are also unmarked logging roads used to haul trees out of the forest. Cell phone reception is spotty, and without GPS, it would be very easy to get lost if you haven't driven around here before. Houses can be miles apart from each other.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The best directions to get around come from landmarks, that bright mailbox, that little furniture store. Investigators said to find the Bobo house, you'd really have to know the area. You'd have to basically be targeting the house, targeting Holly. Their house is at the end of a long driveway. At the time, it was marked by a black mailbox with a green wooden sign under it that read, The Bobos.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The house is on 23 acres of land and has a private pond for fishing. It's normal to see wildlife, deer, turkeys, and squirrels. The house has a carport that's basically a garage, but without a door, a back deck, and a pool. It has dark brown siding and brick with white window shutters. Holly's parents, Dana and Karen Bobo, built the house with Dana's father in 1982.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Throughout the weekend, dogs chase after raccoons and are rated on their performance, including how fast they can track down the raccoons. The winning dogs and their owners get prize money, which is donated to St. Jude Children's Hospital. There are country and bluegrass performances, auctions, and lots of local food vendors serving barbecue and pies.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Karen and Dana raised their two kids, Holly and Clint, there. My former colleague, Elizabeth Vargas, interviewed Karen and Dana back in 2017.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Dana Bobo worked for a tree cutting company where he operated the mowing machine. Karen Bobo was a teacher at Scotts Hill Elementary School. She had Holly and her brother in her class.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Holly had an especially close relationship with her mom.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
When Holly got her driver's license years earlier, she would drop her mom off at the elementary school and then head to the high school.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
After graduating high school, Holly attended a local community college and then began her nursing studies at the University of Tennessee at Martin Parsons Center. Karen says her future was bright. She planned to get her nursing degree and marry her boyfriend, Drew, who had given her a promise ring the Christmas before she disappeared.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
But on April 13th, 2011, Karen left for work, and she would never hear from her daughter again. The morning Holly disappeared, Karen and Dana got up around 5.30 for work, like they usually did. Karen went to check on Holly, who was preparing for an upcoming test in one of her nursing classes.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
It was Wednesday, which meant Holly had class later that day. Karen made Holly's lunch, a sandwich, some bite-sized candy bars to satisfy Holly's sweet tooth, and water. She packed it in a white lunch bag with black polka dots and a blue H sewn on the front. Before Karen left for work, Holly came to the kitchen to eat breakfast.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Holly's parents went off to work. Karen Bobo was with her class of second graders in the cafeteria when the school secretary came up to her and told Karen something that would change her life forever.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Every April, thousands gather at the county fairgrounds for the hunt. But in 2011, less than a week after the hunt, the quiet community on the banks of the Tennessee River, where it feels like everyone knows everyone, was shaken.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The neighbors weren't close to their house. In the spring, with the trees blooming, they wouldn't even be able to see each other's houses. So the fact that the neighbor heard screams and that he then called his mother, who was alarmed enough to call Karen at work, it says something. It was undeniably a sign of trouble. Karen didn't bring her phone with her to the cafeteria.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
She had left it in her classroom. The nearest phone she could think of was in the school's office, but she thought she saw too many people there to make such a frightening call. So she went to the library instead to call Clint, who was home. He tells her he saw Holly in the carport with a man he assumed was her boyfriend, Drew. But Karen knew it couldn't be Drew.
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What Happened to Holly Bobo?: A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Karen had spoken with him that morning, and he was turkey hunting around 20 miles from the house. So when Clint told you on the phone, Holly and Drew just walked off into the woods.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
That That's the thing that I think we all were really trying to figure out how, why, why would he put himself in the middle of this custody dispute? He didn't know Christina Purcell. He'd never met her before that day, right? He just walked up to her house, didn't have a conversation with her. And admits to stabbing her to death. A stranger.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
And so, I mean, that's the sort of lingering question that exists is, and I think really only Zach Hughes could answer, why did he? And when you hear him on the stand, you hear how calm and just certain he is of what he's saying. He, from what we could gather on the stand, seems very sure that this child is in a bad situation.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
So there was so much made of the rose petals because, you know, when you hear that, you think like almost like romantic or ritualistic. They were chopped off, like not strewn about in a romantic way, very kind of haphazard chopped. And he said the roses were just a ruse, flowers at the door when he got there. They meant nothing more than that.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
Yeah, I mean, we, one, it's my home state, so I feel like I'm very comfortable there. And It took place in Greer, South Carolina, which isn't too far from Greenville, sort of to place it in everyone's mind. Bob Jones University is in that area, very religious, very conservative area of the state. We found out about it right away. So in a lot of ways, it reminds me of Alec Murdoch's case.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
Yes. Zach Hughes is serving a life sentence. He's appealing his conviction. John Mello was arrested soon after Hughes testified and is charged with solicitation to commit a felony, an accessory before the fact of murder. He has not yet entered a plea. We reached out to John Mello's attorney, but he declined to answer our questions and says he looks forward to his day in court.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
We were literally along for the ride with investigators as they were trying to figure out what was going on and the twists and the turns. We had interviews that we didn't know when we talked to them what would develop later down the road.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
Yeah. I mean, everyone in my home state was paying attention to it. It was a talker locally. And so it was flack to us. Hey, pay attention to this one. It could be really interesting. Also, because this guy went to Juilliard. Yeah. It was a trained pianist. Yeah. So you just thought, how did this happen? He didn't know this girl. Why would they have been involved with each other? It made no sense.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
Was there anything else about that room that seemed odd to you?
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
She was the mother to one little girl. She was a vet tech. She was clearly very bright. She'd gone to the governor's school for math and science. Being from South Carolina, I know that's a really prestigious thing, right? But somehow she didn't. graduate from college. She didn't seem to have very good choices of partners, at least according to her sister.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
And she had this really contentious custody battle with her ex-boyfriend, John Mello. At one point, Mello had taken their daughter to Italy, which caused this whole thing for her to try to get her daughter back. But he had dual citizenship? Right. He was also Italian. So he could be in both places. Aha. Aha. Got it. He wanted to have the daughter to himself.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
So we were trying to figure out what happened here, right? You go to everyone who you think knows these people. And who would have known Christina Parcell? Her sister, who she was living with, and her ex, who she was in this custody battle with. I mean, the custody battle was really bad, Debra.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
When John Mello took the daughter to Italy, Christina Parcell then appealed to the Hague because this was an international custody dispute to try to get back her daughter. And they did eventually grant her that. So her daughter was able to come back to America, back to South Carolina with her.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
But we were just reaching out to everyone that might know her to be able to put some context into why this would have happened.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
Yeah. I mean, Greenville, Greer area. I would say in South Carolina, it feels like a big city. I would have said that too growing up.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
But it is still the kind of place that you know kind of everyone around. And it's really, you very quickly have connections. I mean, even with this story, some of the lawyers from Murdoch I reached out to to get connections with people who are working on this case. So, you know, you're two degrees removed from everybody, if that.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
We sat down with him in this apartment in downtown Greenville, South Carolina, and we just asked him questions about his relationship with Christina Parcell. How did he know Zach Hughes?
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
Debra, it's so interesting to listen to it back. You hear how confident he is. We knew he had a rock solid alibi because he was in Italy. So it couldn't have been him. I should also point out that those harassing mailings that he's talking about, he's denied sending them and he's still facing charges and awaiting trial as far as all that goes. How How did he appear to you?
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
He was very confident. He wanted to talk to us. He wanted to tell his story. He was convinced that people were out for him. And so he had a lot he wanted to say. And, you know, with him, it was interesting. There were parts of his story that left us with questions, right? I think he thought he was smarter than us, to be honest about it.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
He's one of those people who genuinely, I think, feels like he's the smartest one in the room, if not one of the smartest people in the room. And I think he thought it would help his custody dispute because, you know, he was in the midst of still a custody dispute with now Christina Parcells' sister, Tina. And he was trying to, like, help his case a bit.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
Tell us about Zach. This was crazy. Defendants take the stand all the time, but you don't expect a defendant to take the stand who's pleaded not guilty and confess sitting on the stand. And so he gets up there and he tells the jury exactly what he did, literally detail by detail. how he rides a bicycle, he shows up with flowers to trick her to open the door, and then he stabs her.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
This brutal scene, if you can just imagine. And the logic behind it in his mind was that he needed to protect her daughter. And that was what he said was the motive behind it all. And his attorneys, that was really their argument, was that he was doing this So that he could protect the daughter.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
And in the state of South Carolina, the way the law is written, in order for it to be considered murder, you have to commit the act, but also you have to have malice in your heart. And they kept saying that he didn't have malice in his heart. But, you know, we've spoken to some members of the jury who had a very different view of that.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
Yeah. I mean, he grew up in this very religious family. And his parents, you know, adopted some children from overseas to take care of them. Faith was such a huge part of it. And this whole instrument, the $300 piano at a yard sale, was sort of the start of his whole piano career. He went to Juilliard on a scholarship. So just insanely talented.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
And then he played for a year at the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra before coming to Greenville, South Carolina. And he was on this mission to play all of the Beethoven sonatas from memorization. He was calling it the Beethoven Odyssey. The original plan was for him to play on a stage, but COVID happened. So he started recording them.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
And John Mello met him as he was playing at a public space on a keyboard. And that's how their friendship started. So they didn't even know each other. Just a chance meeting and they connected over music. And so at some point, Zach Hughes goes to Italy to visit John Mello. Although when we talked to John Mello, he sort of blew off all the WhatsApp messages that existed.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
And we didn't at that time know the nature of those messages because, you know, Zach Hughes had deleted those messages. So investigators were still trying to get them and they were encrypted. There were people who supporters, right? So many supporters. I mean, even at his trial, up until the moment that he took the stand and confessed to this murder, people kept telling us there's just no way.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
I mean, this guy didn't even have like a traffic ticket, no prior criminal history, no even like angry outbursts that people could speak of people who had known him for a really long time. from childhood on, had nothing, they couldn't wrap their brains around the idea that he could possibly have been the person who did this very violent, brutal, I mean, this was a very, you know, messy scene.
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The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
Here he is. He's confessed to this killing. And now he's implicating someone else. And we were like, what? One of our producers was in the courtroom. So she immediately started texting John Mello that this just occurred in court. And he wrote back to her almost right away. It never happened. But then I'm texting with another one of our producers as well. floored, mind blown that this is going on.
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Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
He faces life in prison if convicted. We have our team of reporters and analysts closely following the case from inside the courtroom. Plus, we're also doing a deep dive into some of the most searched topics related to this high-profile trial and a warning. that some of Cassie Ventura's testimony may be difficult for viewers to hear. We begin, though, with the latest from inside that courtroom.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Do you think they have to make the distinction there, Bernardo?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
And we've got a lot longer to go. Bernardo Villalona, Brian Buckmeyer, thank you both for being here with us. Coming up, who was Alex Fine? And what happened with Suge Knight? Those are some of the most searched questions online about this case. We'll have the answers for you when we come back.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Now back to the trial against Sean Diddy Combs, one of the most highly anticipated trials of the year. And web searches show that people have a lot of questions about it. So what do they want to know? Our Kelly Carter covers entertainment and pop culture for us. She is here to break it all down for us. All right, Kelly.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
So based on our ABC web search data, on the heels of today's testimony, one of the most popular searches tonight, people want to know about Kid Cudi's relationship with Cassie. Walk us through this.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Our chief investigative correspondent, Erin Koturski, is outside the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan. Erin, Cassie Ventura recounted explicit details of these alleged freak-offs and the psychological impact. What more did we learn today?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
And we should note, Combs has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy, including about this alleged car bombing incident. OK, another search that's trending again today is, who is Alex Fine, Cassie's husband? People also want to know about the timeline of their relationship. What do we know about this?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
OK, another interesting search. What happened with Suge Knight?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Another search we're seeing, where and who are Cassie's parents?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
All right. Who needs Google when you have Kelly Carter? Kelly, thank you so much for being with us. Of course. Thank you. And thank you for joining us. We'll be back with new episodes every day of The Trial. The show streams right here on ABC News Live, Disney Plus and Hulu weekdays at 530 p.m. Eastern.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
For even more on The Diddy Trial, make sure to follow our podcast, Bad Rap, The Case Against Diddy, hosted by our very own Brian Buckmeyer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. I'm Eva Pilgrim in New York. Have a good rest of your day.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
And what was the jury's reaction to what she was saying today?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Goodness, the details of all of this trial are very graphic comes. His family is in this courtroom listening to it all. Cassie's husband is there in court as well. How are the family members reacting to hearing this?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
One of the other things we heard Cassie tell the jury was about her brief relationship with hip-hop star Kid Cudi. What did she say about that?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
And we have to note here that Sean Combs' lawyers say that he had nothing to do with that car bombing. Erin Katursky there at the courthouse for us. Thank you so much for breaking this all down. And to continue with this, we bring in our ABC News legal contributor and trial attorney, Brian Buckmeyer. You were also there in the courtroom again today.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
So tell me, what do you think of the prosecution? Are they making the link between what Cassie is saying there on the stand and the charges that Diddy is facing?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Yeah, and the prosecutors also introduced, we heard, Aaron just mentioned it, those explicit images of these freak-offs. Cassie's testifying they happened in multiple states and residences. What's their strategy here with all this?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
All right. So how do you think the defense is going to counter the testimony that we've heard so far?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Day three of testimony wrapping up in the federal racketeering and sex trafficking case against Sean Diddy Combs. Cassie Ventura, Sean Combs' former girlfriend, and the prosecution's key witness, was back on the stand for a second day with more explicit testimony. She testified more about that now infamous 2016 incident at the hotel, describing the circumstances before, during and after.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Brian Buckmeyer, thank you. We'll come back to you in just a bit. Cassie Ventura today again, as we said, detailing that alleged abuse, testifying Sean Combs turned the freak-off videos into blackmail. Combs denies the federal charges. His defense claiming his violent acts are domestic violence, as Brian just said, but not evidence of sex trafficking and racketeering.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
But prosecutors have said the jury will hear a similar story from another alleged victim they're calling Jane. Let's bring in Maria Cruz Melendez, a former federal prosecutor who also served as one of the lead prosecutors in the case against R. Kelly. Maria, thank you so much for being here. Let's get right to this. What's the government trying to establish here with Cassie's testimony?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
And to that point that you just raised, Cassie testified today that she saw Diddy inflict violence on others. Why does that matter here?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
You brought your case against R. Kelly also for racketeering and sex trafficking. So you know what it takes to go up against a powerful, wealthy defendant. What are the similarities and the differences that you see here?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Cassie saying Combs beat her as she tried to escape a freak off that turned violent. Prosecutors also introducing images they allege showed damage from a vase Combs threw at Cassie during that attack. She also testified the drug-fueled sex parties eventually turned into pornography shoots, with Combs setting up video equipment for blackmail recordings. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Maria Cruz Melendez, thank you so much for being with us. Still ahead, time to talk strategy. How's each side making its case and how might that play with the jury? We'll be right back.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Welcome back to ABC News Live. We are wrapping up day three of testimony in the Sean Diddy Combs trial. For the second day in a row, the prosecution calling Combs' ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura to the stand. Emily Johnson from the U.S. Attorney's Office asking Cassie, how frequently did Sean put his hands on you during freak-offs? Ventura responding too frequently, a lot.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
Brian Buckmeyer joins me now again alongside fellow ABC News legal contributor Bernarda Villalona. Bernarda, you used to be a prosecutor. Brian, you're a defense attorney. So I want you both to sort of paint a picture for us of what it would be like for these lawyers who are in this courtroom right now. Bernarda, let's start with you.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
What do you think the prosecutors are wanting the jurors to take away from Cassie's testimony?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura's Second Day of Testimony
All right, Brian. So as a defense attorney, you're watching this witness on the stand. What are you looking for?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Ventura says the freak-offs took up so much of her time, it felt like a full-time job. When she didn't cater to Combs' desires, he became violent and abusive, bashing and stomping her head at times. In the courtroom, hearing the explicit details of these sexual escapades, Combs' mother and children back for a second day in a row.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Welcome back to ABC News Live, day two of testimony in the Sean Diddy Combs trial. His ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, taking the stand, revealing never before heard details about days long drug fueled sexual encounters with prostitutes.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Cassie saying if she refused to participate, Combs became violent and that the freak offs became a job where there was no space to do anything else but to recover and just try to feel normal again. Our ABC News legal contributors Brian Buckmeyer and Bernardo Villalona are back with us. We're going to have you all take sides today. Brian, you're the defense. Bernardo, you're the prosecution.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Brian, let's start with you. If you were the defense attorney sitting there hearing all of these details, what are you thinking?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Bernardo, how do you think the prosecution did today? What are they trying to do here?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
And Brian, the defense has admitted that Combs had non-traditional sexual preferences. Cassie at one point was on the stand flipping through a binder of escorts that they used. We can't even say out loud some of the things that occurred on this show. Do you think the defense can really convince this jury that Cassie and these other alleged victims wanted this?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Bernardo, I have to ask you about these details. The prosecutor is literally asking her about every little thing down to what these rooms looked and smelled like after these freak-offs, the number of baby bottle, baby oil bottles used each time. Why do you think these details matter here?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Prosecutors argue Combs used power and fame to lead a criminal enterprise for two decades to allegedly abuse, threaten and force women into drug fueled sex marathons that lasted for days. He strongly denies all of these allegations. If convicted, Combs could face life in prison, a stark contrast to the life of luxury he's known for. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
LISA DESJARDINS Brian, as a defense attorney, how do you handle a cross with a witness like Cassie without taking off the jury?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Brian Buckmeyer, Bernardo Villalona, thank you both for being with us. Coming up, who is Cassie Ventura? A closer look at her time as an emerging star in the spotlight to the star witness in the case against Diddy. Stay with us.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Welcome back. Cassie Ventura is the star witness in this case against Sean Diddy Combs. But before all this, she once shined as an up-and-coming singer who had a recording contract with Diddy's label, Bad Boy Records. Tonight, a look at Cassie, who she was and is. For that, we turn to our Kelly Carter, who covers entertainment and pop culture for us.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Kelly, take us back to 2006 when her first album was released and Cassie was just starting to make a name for herself. Who was Cassie Ventura?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
So it sounds like she was such a promising young star. What happened here?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
We'll take you inside the courtroom in just a moment for the emotional testimony. And we'll also take a closer look at Cassie Ventura, the singer and now star witness on the stand. Let's go to Aaron Katursky. He was inside the courtroom for all of it. And he joins me now from lower Manhattan. Aaron, this was the first time that Cassie Ventura and her ex Sean Combs have seen each other since 2018.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Cassie, as we have been able to see, is very pregnant right now, about to have her third baby. What more do we know about her life now?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Kelly Carter, thank you, as always, for being with us. Thank you. And thank you so much for streaming with us. We'll be back with new episodes every day of The Trial right here on ABC News Live, Disney Plus, and Hulu weekdays at 5.30 p.m. Eastern.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
For even more on The Diddy Trial, make sure to follow our podcast, Bad Rap, The Case Against Diddy, hosted by our very own Brian Buckmeyer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. I'm Eva Pilgrim in New York. Have a good rest of your day.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
What was that moment like in the courtroom?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Erin, Cassie shared that she didn't have a whole lot of sexual experience before she met Diddy. She was only 19 when she met them. There's a nearly two decades age difference between these two. Talk more about that power dynamic and how their relationship changed over time.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Erin, you were in that courtroom. These details were a lot. What was the jury's reaction hearing her testimony?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Erin, what can we expect to see in court tomorrow?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Erin Katursky for us there at the courthouse. Erin, thank you so much. And let's break all of this testimony down and what it means for this case. With ABC News legal contributor and trial attorney Brian Buckmeyer, you were also in the courtroom. This testimony, I mean, the details of this testimony, from a legal standpoint, what stood out to you?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
She also talked at some length about the control that he had over her and the other people on his staff that helped participate in that. Why do you think that was so important?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Again, you were in the courtroom today. What was the jury's reaction hearing all of this?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Good evening, I'm Eva Pilgrim. Thanks for streaming with us. It's day two of testimony in the Sean Diddy Combs trial and the prosecution's star witness, his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, taking the stand. The disturbing video of Diddy and Cassie in an LA hotel hallway
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
At the very beginning of the day, we heard from a male escort that testified that he saw Combs attack Cassie. What stood out to you about his testimony?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Brian Bachmeier, thank you so much. We'll come back to you in just a little bit. Cassie Ventura's testimony today detailing graphic allegations of domestic violence, which she says she experienced while dating Sean Combs, violence that the defense admitted to in opening statements.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
To talk more about domestic violence, let's bring in criminal defense attorney and ABC News legal contributor, Bernarda Villalona, who has handled sex crime cases and former NYPD sex crimes detective Sarah Mathers, who also notably worked on the Harvey Weinstein investigation. Thank you both so much for joining with us. Bernardo, let's start with you.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
The defense admitted in opening statements that Combs got violent, but say that doesn't mean he was trafficking people. So does the violence matter here?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Sarah, you've investigated a lot of cases. How does violence factor into these types of situations?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
One of the sparks that really ignited this case today for the first time in six years, Cassie coming face to face with Diddy, telling the jury in graphic detail about what they say is the darker side of the rap mogul over the span of their 10 year relationship. Cassie admitting she was young and initially wanted to make him happy by fulfilling his sexual desires. but quickly became reluctant.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Bernardo, we saw text messages between Cassie and Diddy today. The defense has already said they think the messages show the consensual nature of their relationship. I'm curious, though, what's your reaction to those text messages?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Sarah, Cassie didn't come forward until 2023 with her civil suit years after this relationship ended. In your experience, why do victims wait to come forward?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: Cassie Ventura Takes the Stand
Sarah Mathers, Bernarda Villalona, thank you both for being with us. Still ahead, the prosecution versus the defense, the strategy from both sides when it comes to Cassie's testimony, and the portrait they're trying to paint of Sean Diddy Combs. We'll be right back.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Clint says that's when his neighbor showed up and told him about the scream her son had heard a few minutes before. After an hour and a half long interview, the polygraph examiner straps Clint up to the machine. Time for the moment of truth.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
To Agent Dykus, that meant Clint was no longer a suspect, but TBI and other authorities kept an eye on Clint Bobo regardless. In the weeks that followed, he sat for multiple interviews with agents from TBI, the FBI, and the U.S. Marshals Service. It wasn't just Clint under the microscope.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
The entire Bobo family faced years of scrutiny from investigators, but all of them, as well as Holly's boyfriend Drew, were eventually cleared by authorities of having anything to do with Holly's disappearance.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Years later in 2017, Clint Bobo recounted the experience to ABC News.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
ABC News also spoke to Holly's mom, Karen, and her father, Dana, in 2017. For them, the stress on Clint added to their own pain.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
But Agent Dykus, the initial lead investigator on the Holly Bobo case, had someone else he believed could be involved. Someone who was close by, someone who fit the physical description Clint gave to the police, and someone authorities believed had the background, the history, and the M.O. to be Holly's abductor.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Her parents, who were clearly distraught and shell-shocked, had gone before news cameras from local stations like WREG, begging for Holly's return. This is her father, Dana Bobo, and her mother, Karen Bobo, the day after she disappeared.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
It's been many years since Terry Dykus worked on the Holly Bobo case, and it's one that still haunts him. In part, because it set the tone for his final years as an agent of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
That's right. As the months dragged on, at least 150 people reached out to TBI claiming to be psychics who knew what happened to Holly or told investigators they could help in the search.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Agent John Walker with the U.S. Marshals Service remembers when one of those leads stood out. When did someone kind of pull away from the rest?
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
This is Art Viveros, an FBI special agent who was working with Agent Dykus and Agent Walker on the case. He spoke to ABC News in 2024. He also had his eye on local sex offender Terry Britt.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
As the days dragged on, the thousands of volunteers and law enforcement who had poured into Tiny Parsons weren't just looking for Holly. They were searching for something, anything that could point to where she was.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
5'10 or 11, gravelly voice, larger build. He also had dark hair, similar to Clint's description of the man who walked away with Holly. Remember that list of more than two dozen sex offenders in Decatur County? The one police compiled the day Holly went missing? Terry Britt was on that list.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Terry Britt had first been convicted of rape back in 1977. Since then, he'd been convicted once more of rape, of sexual battery, and most recently of attempt to commit rape. At the time Holly went missing, he was out of prison, a registered sex offender living only about eight miles from the Bobos, not far from the creek where some of her belongings were found.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
According to a Decatur County police report, when police spoke to Terry Britt the day of Holly's disappearance, he told them that he'd woken up at 6 a.m. and his wife woke up at 8.30-ish. Then he told the officer they left to go to a nearby town to buy supplies for remodeling the house. The officer who checked on Terry Britt reports having seen him and his wife unloading a tub from a truck.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
A couple of months later, Agent Viveros decided to go talk to Terry Britt again.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Witnesses told police at the time that Terry Britt had shoulder-length hair for years, which would have aligned with what Clint Bobo says he saw the day Holly was abducted. When Agent Viveros interviewed Terry Britt two months after Holly's disappearance, he said his hair was shorter, but authorities can't confirm exactly when Terry Britt cut his hair.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
As in his wife, Janet Britt. She came home during the interview. Terry Britt said he and Janet were together the morning of Holly's abduction. He said they were shopping at a local appliance store for a new bathtub.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
While Viveros found it suspicious, Janet explained that she always keeps receipts in case they were needed for financial reasons. And Terry Britt said he did not know of Holly Bobo until the morning of her abduction when it hit the news. Agent Dykus wanted to check out Britt's alibi. He says he went to the store where the Brits said they'd bought the bathtub enclosure.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Agent Dykus says he got all the carbon copies of the receipts from that week.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
According to Dykus' notes, an employee told Dykus the store didn't have surveillance footage and that the store didn't keep receipts by customer name. The person also told Dykus that he wasn't sure if Britt was in the store that day, but he recognized his face and said he'd come in several times.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Britt has insisted he was with his wife the whole day, but investigators claim they found phone records that show Britt calling his wife three times that afternoon. We reached out to Terry and Janet Britt, but didn't get a response. The FBI and TBI secured a search warrant on the house and brought trained dogs to scour his property. They were looking for the smell of human decomposition.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
According to the police, the dogs went around his backyard and through his cars. Police say the dogs alerted detectives to some tools as well as two of Britt's vehicles. But testing showed there was no DNA or blood there. Britt said he doesn't know why the dogs would have picked up on the scent of human decomposition and continued to deny any involvement.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Authorities also found some hairs on his property and in his cars. They sent the hairs to the FBI's crime lab in Quantico, Virginia, along with samples from Holly's hairbrush for comparison. This is when investigators believed that maybe they finally had what they needed to get Holly's kidnapper. Agent Walker with the U.S.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
With Holly still missing and no sign of a suspect, that hope was turning to despair. Law enforcement officials began to change their approach. Inundated with leads that went nowhere, they asked the public not to only look in the woods, but to search among their own.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Marshals Service explains what happened when the results came back from the crime lab.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
According to an FBI report, investigators determined hair found in the debris among Britt's GMC van and hair in the debris from rope found inside his Dodge Caravan, quote, exhibit the same microscopic characteristics, unquote, as hair found in Holly's hairbrush.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
The FBI report did not say what exactly those characteristics were, but this kind of test is usually a precursor to a more precise DNA test. And when they tested further, they found the hairs were not a DNA match to Holly. When asked about the hair with the same characteristics as Holly's, Terry Britt said, I don't see how that's possible.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
He did say his sister also had blonde hair, but he insisted he'd never met Holly Bobo. The investigators leading the case continued looking into Terry Britt. They wanted to know what he might say when he wasn't speaking with the police.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
FBI agent Art Viveros remembers listening in on Terry Britt's phone calls as he helped TBI with this effort.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
TBI had bugged the Britt house as well. Agent Viveros recalls hearing Britt talking to who he believes was Janet shortly after, right there in the room.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
But agents couldn't confirm it was Janet he was speaking to. And ultimately, the suspicions that Britt might own up to something in private were fruitless. He did not confess, and there was no smoking gun. At one point, Agent Dykus brought recordings of voice samples to Clint to see if he could identify the gravelly male voice he said he heard in the garage.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Clint was able to narrow them down to two different voices. He says he thought they sounded very similar. TBI said one of those voices was Terry Britt's. Agent Dykus kept trying to get a confession from Britt.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
In 2012, Terry Britt was sent back to prison after pleading guilty to attempted rape and kidnapping in a separate case. Agent Dykus went to go visit him and recorded the conversation. Britt later said that he wasn't aware Dykus was recording. Britt continued to deny any involvement in Holly's disappearance and said he had an alibi.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
But the two talked about Britt's own criminal history and his thoughts on the Bobo case. Terry Britt began to speculate about how someone might have committed this crime.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
He started musing about what the abductor's motive might be.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
At this point, 16 months had passed since Holly's disappearance. Despite efforts by TBI and FBI, they were unable to find evidence to charge Terry Britt. And within TBI, there was now disagreement. Agent Dykus' superiors felt like he had tunnel vision and thought they should look at other suspects.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Ultimately, Terry Britt was cleared by TBI, which meant investigators were back to square one and under increasing pressure to find answers.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
That's next time on What Happened to Holly Bobo. What Happened to Holly Bobo is a production of ABC Audio in 2020. Hosted by me, Eva Pilgrim, the series was produced by Camille Peterson, Julia Nutter, Kiara Powell, Nora Hanna, and Meg Fierro, with help from Audrey Mostek and Amira Williams. Our supervising producer is Susie Liu. Music and mixing by Evan Viola.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Special thanks to Liz Alessi, Janice Johnston, Michelle Margulies, Sean Dooley, Christina Corbin, Kieran McGurl, Andrew Paparella, and Emma Pescia. Josh Cohan is our director of podcast programming. Laura Mayer is our executive producer.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
I'm ABC News Senior National Correspondent Eva Pilgrim. From ABC Audio and 2020, this is What Happened to Holly Bobo. One of the things that stood out about this case from the very beginning is how quickly the town and police came together to search for Holly.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
This is former agent Terry Dykus of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation speaking to ABC News a few years after Holly's disappearance.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is an independent agency charged with investigating high-profile crimes in the state. Larger cities like Memphis or Nashville have their own homicide units and don't always need TBI's help. But Decatur County is one of the most sparsely populated regions in the state with just under 12,000 people.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
On the evening of April 20th, 2011, the arena at the Decatur County Fairgrounds in Parsons, Tennessee was packed. Hundreds had gathered there singing This Little Light of Mine, a scene captured by the local Jackson Sun newspaper. The fairgrounds is a large field surrounded by woods.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Agent Dykus was the lead agent on the case. Luckily, he knew Decatur County pretty well. But he says he's never encountered a crime quite like this. It wasn't just TBI that responded to the scene that first day. The Decatur County Sheriff's Office, the Henderson County Sheriff's Office, and the nearby Lexington PD were all there. So were agents with the FBI and U.S.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Marshals Service, trained in the art of finding people on the run, like Holly's kidnapper. The Tennessee Highway Patrol sent a helicopter to fly overhead. Officials from FEMA helped set up a command post. Many agencies brought dogs along with them to help with the search. Some were given one of Holly's shirts and sent through the woods to pick up her scent.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
In the first few hours, hundreds of volunteers showed up at the Bobo residence, on their ATVs, on horseback, on foot, to search for Holly. As the days went on, divers scoped out the creek and the Tennessee River just a few miles away. You'd think with this huge, rather immediate effort, someone would have figured out what happened to Holly pretty quickly. But this was no ordinary crime scene.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
The evidence was scant, some small pools of blood in the carport, presumably Holly's, as well as a shoe print and a still unidentified handprint on her car. They didn't have much to go on. And as Agent Dykus points out, we are talking about the middle of nowhere. These are huge stretches of hilly land full of dense trees, unmarked, sometimes dirt-carved roads.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
There are no main roads anywhere near here. There isn't even a stoplight or caution light. The terrain made it difficult for searchers to keep up the pace. Even the search dogs kept getting stuck in the muddy wilderness. It was almost a perfect metaphor for the Holly Bobo case. Nothing about it would be easy or straightforward.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
One of the first things police did was to try and track Holly's cell phone. This was 2011. Holly's phone didn't have GPS on it. That wasn't a regular feature on phones at the time. But the police could ping it, meaning they could have her service provider send a signal to her phone, which told them which cell tower she was closest to.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Typically, folks gather here for the county fair or the annual raccoon hunt that happened just a few days before Holly Bobo disappeared. But on this night, they were here for a different reason, to hold a candlelight vigil for Holly, the 20-year-old woman this community had spent the last week searching for day and night.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
They couldn't track exactly where she was, but they could tell with those cell phone pings that her phone was still within a few miles of her home. And investigators could later use that data to plot a detailed map of what they said were Holly's movements.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
This is Agent John Walker of the U.S. Marshals Service. When I met with him in 2024, he unfurled this giant map. It was the map of Holly's movements he began working on in the early days of the investigation. And he's kept it all these years later.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
The map shows the area around the Bobo property with cell towers dotted along the woods. Agent Walker went out and bought an exact replica of Holly's Samsung Solstice cell phone and drove around the area with a representative from AT&T.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Holly's phone appears to have left her home at around 8 a.m. Then the cell phone started moving at a fast pace. Agent Walker believes it was in a vehicle.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Holly's phone heads towards the Interstate 40 highway, arriving at 8.26 a.m. The cell phone appeared to stop moving. It stayed put for about a half hour. Then it turned east onto Interstate 40. A little after 9 a.m., it turned right back into those woods and kept traveling south until it got to a small creek on Gooch Road in Parsons. That's when it stopped responding to pings at around 9.25 a.m.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Volunteers who later searched the route found some of Holly's items, including her cell phone.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Agent Dykus says the map offers another clue that whoever took Holly must have known the area really well.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Agent Dykus started drawing up a list of potential leads. Within the first day, investigators identified two dozen sex offenders in the area and went to check on them. But as police cast a wide net, they began to wonder if their suspect was even closer to home.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Holly Bobo's brother, Clint, was the sole witness to her disappearance. Police wanted to know whether he should also be considered a suspect.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Outside, a storm was raging, which pushed the vigil indoors to a large event space at the fairgrounds. A lightning strike caused the power to go out, so the space was illuminated by the light of hundreds of candles held by a large crowd of volunteers, family, and friends.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Okay. On the evening of his sister's abduction, Clint Bobo agreed to sit for a polygraph test conducted by a TBI agent named Valerie Trout.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Before they strap Clint up for the polygraph test, Agent Trout spends about 90 minutes asking Clint to walk through what happened earlier that morning when his sister Holly went missing. Throughout the interview, Clint repeats what he's said all day, that he and his sister got along, that he didn't have anything to do with her disappearance, and he had no idea who did.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
At the time, Clint was 25 years old. He was about 5'6", average build, brown hair. He'd been working part-time at a local nursing home while studying to get his bachelor's degree in social work at the University of Tennessee, Martin. He had no criminal record, and he'd been cooperative all day, showing authorities his phone, having his body searched, and agreeing to do the polygraph.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
But Clint tells the polygraph examiner that he heard some people were talking about him and about how he hadn't intervened as Holly walked into the woods with someone who turned out not to be her boyfriend, Drew.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Later on, the polygraph examiner asks him about that.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Clint said that a few minutes after he'd been woken up by the family dog, he noticed that Holly's car was still in the garage, even though she was supposed to be in school.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Many wore bright pink shirts or pink ribbons on their jackets since it was Holly's favorite color and the color she was last seen wearing. The Jackson Sun recorded a highway patrol officer addressing the crowd.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Clint said he believed it was a man and a woman facing each other. This is the description of the male figure that he gave to investigators, about 5'10 or 11', 200 pounds, and a bit larger on top, almost as if he used to work out but stopped. Clint also described him as having dark hair long enough to cover his neck.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
He says he didn't recognize the man's voice, but said it sounded gravelly, like a smoker's voice. Clint says he just kept telling himself it must have been Holly's boyfriend, Drew, taking her turkey hunting. He didn't know what his mom knew, that that man couldn't have been Drew, because that morning, Drew was turkey hunting 22 miles away.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
Then Clint saw the man and Holly wearing a bright pink shirt walk into the woods.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
Under the Microscope
He says at some point his mom told him over the phone to go grab a gun and shoot the man. After he watched his sister walk away with the man, he says he went and grabbed his dad's .38 Colt Special and started to follow them.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The caller was Karen Bobo. She and her family had deep roots here. They lived on quiet Swan Johnson Road for decades in a home tucked away in the woods.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
So she left the library and ran to the school's office to call 911, but it went to the wrong county's dispatcher.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Karen's co-worker helped her off the floor and walked her to the parking lot so that she could drive Karen home. Karen called 911 again. This time, it went to the right dispatcher in Decatur County.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Karen and her coworker sped through the county's winding roads.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Fast, as in what's usually a 25-minute drive, took only 15 minutes. When they pulled up to the house, Karen says a couple cop cars were already there.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Someone told Karen Bobo that law enforcement doesn't issue Amber Alerts for people over 17. Holly was 20.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Investigators from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, local sheriff's offices, and police departments showed up to the house. The FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, FEMA, and Homeland Security did too. Everyone was asking the same questions. Where is Holly and what happened to her?
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Holly was 20 years old and studying to be a nurse while living at home with her family.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
By the time Dana Bobo made it home from work about 40 minutes away, he remembers between 50 and 100 people being at the house already. They filled the property. The driveway and the road were full of cars.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
And what stuck out to him as he ran up the driveway is that his son, Clint, was in the back seat of a patrol car.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Clint was the only one who caught even a glimpse of what happened. He was the last person to see Holly before she went missing and the person who saw her disappear into the woods.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Holly was led into the woods, and then she vanished. It was an all-out search. Local and federal law enforcement, Holly's friends, neighbors, former classmates, and complete strangers. Thousands of local volunteers, people from all over this tight-knit community, came together to find one of their own. But Holly would never be found alive.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
On April 13th, 2011, Clint Bobo had the day off. He was working part-time and studying to become a social worker at the University of Tennessee at Martin. In 2017, he told ABC News that his plan for the day was to sleep in and spend the day doing homework.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Clint says he did not hear screams, just Rascal's barking. And Rascal kept barking.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
groggy and disoriented from being woken up earlier than he expected. Clint says he walked from his bedroom on one end of the house to the living room at the other end where Rascal was barking. He looked out the windows to the front of the house and didn't see anyone. Then he walked to the back of the house and didn't see anyone there either.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
But he did see Holly's black Mustang was still in the carport, which was strange. She should have left for school already. He called and texted his mom to ask why Holly's car would still be there, but didn't get a response right away. What he didn't know was that his mother didn't have her phone on her. She was at school and had just been told that the neighbor heard screams.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Clint says he went to a different window to see the carport more clearly. He still didn't see anyone, but he says he heard people talking.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
He says he believed he heard the voices of Holly and her boyfriend, Drew. That's when his mom called him back and confirmed Holly did have school and that nobody should be coming to pick her up. Clint says he then told his mom that Holly and Drew were outside.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
His mom said it couldn't be Drew outside, but didn't explain how she knew that before she hung up. So Clint kept thinking the man in camouflage was Drew. But minutes later, his mom called Clint again and reiterated that man was not Drew.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Clint got a .38 Colt revolver and went from the window to the back door. That's when he says he saw Holly and the man in camouflage walking into the woods behind the house. He says Holly was walking on her own and did not appear to be hurt.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Clint stepped outside and saw a pool of blood by Holly's Mustang. It was right where he says he had seen the two silhouettes. He wasn't panicked. He wasn't sure something horrible had happened to Holly. He just figured the blood may have been from a turkey Drew killed and brought back with him. But while Clint was outside, the neighbor showed up. That's when Clint called 911-2.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
But he was still confused, still thinking there was a chance the man he saw with Holly was Drew. And if not, maybe it was their cousin Richie. Richie also hunted and could be wearing camouflage. As Clint tried to figure out what was going on, police cars started arriving. And then his mom made it back to the house.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
It would take years for her remains to be found, and what started as a missing persons case became a horrific, complicated murder investigation that would tear apart relationships between neighbors and families and change the small Tennessee community forever. I'm ABC News Senior National Correspondent Eva Pilgrim. This story has a long history.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The man in camouflage was not Drew and was not Richie. Clint ended up spending the rest of the day with law enforcement, answering questions and writing down everything he remembered for the police. That's why his dad saw him in the patrol car when he first got back to the house. Former Sheriff Keith Byrd was at the Bobo house when the search for Holly began.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Over the course of the search, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation sent pilots to fly over the woods to look for Holly. Water teams went into four different ponds and parts of the Tennessee River. Dogs were sent out to search for her. 75 wells were checked. And every day, more and more local volunteers signed up to look for Holly, too. Eventually, thousands of them were part of the effort.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
A command center was set up for volunteers with tents and long plastic folding tables for passing out food. Lines of people in camo and boots stood in parking lots to sign up for the search.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
When Holly disappeared, the weather was mild, but weeks into the search, violent storms flooded Decatur County and caused widespread damage to roads and buildings. The storms brought the search to a temporary halt. Eventually, volunteers were able to go back out in the foggy and damp weather. They put on yellow ponchos and raincoats that fell beneath their knees.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
They brought binoculars, walking sticks, and their dogs. There was so much land to cover, and much of it had tall grass and thick mud. I asked U.S. Marshals agent John Walker about what the search was like.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
To see if they could find something else?
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
A few days into the search, they did find something. It was hanging off a big stick in a creek. Holly's lunch bag, the one her mom had packed for her the morning she disappeared. The sandwich her mom made her was still inside. It was a potential breakthrough. Was this something that could lead to more of Holly's belongings or to Holly? Agent John Walker decided to follow the creek.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Before I got to ABC News in 2016, I remember hearing about it. The shocking crime, the long investigation. Reporters from across the country had made their way to Tennessee to cover it. In 2017, the case seemed to be finally closed after a guilty verdict. But years later, I was sent to Tennessee to cover new developments in a story that just keeps unraveling.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
And within 30 minutes, he came upon another clue, Holly's school notebook. But investigators didn't find anything else that day. The lunch bag and notebook seemed to be dead ends.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The searches went on for weeks. They covered over 200 miles of roads in Decatur County and over 1,000 square miles. They canvassed six neighboring counties as well. While the volunteer army continued their search, investigators from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies were gathering leads.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
As those leads poured in, the agents were just trying to wrap their heads around the basics of the case. They sent the blood in the carport for DNA testing to see if it was Holly's. They found a shoe print on the floor and a handprint on Holly's car, and they hoped this might lead them to answers.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
But their attention also turned to a range of people in the area who they considered potential suspects.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
All while the Bobo family was waiting for answers.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
That's next time on What Happened to Holly Bobo. What Happened to Holly Bobo is a production of ABC Audio and 2020. Hosted by me, Eva Pilgrim, the series was produced by Camille Peterson, Julia Nutter, Kiara Powell, Nora Hanna, and Meg Fierro, with help from Audrey Mostek and Amira Williams. Our supervising producer is Susie Liu. Music and mixing by Evan Viola.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Special thanks to Liz Alessi, Janice Johnston, Michelle Margulies, Sean Dooley, Christina Corbin, Kieran McGurl, Andrew Paparella, and Emma Pescia. Josh Cohan is our director of podcast programming. Laura Mayer is our executive producer.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Once I got to Tennessee and started talking to people who knew Holly and who had worked on the case, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Here was a girl who was doing all the right things. She was close with her family who described her as responsible and caring, and she was studying to be a nurse. If this could happen to her, this could happen to anyone.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
On Saturday, April 9th, 2011, Tennessee's wildflowers were in full bloom. Its rolling hills were a vibrant green, and that weekend, winter seemed long gone as temperatures soared into the 80s. It was the perfect setting for one of the most beloved traditions in western Tennessee, the annual raccoon hunt in Decatur County. The hunt dates back to 1976 and is billed as the largest in the world.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Usually, the more I dig into a case, the more I feel like I'm solving the puzzle. But this time, the opposite happened. As I learned more, I had more questions. How could someone just vanish from a house like hers, tucked so far away in the Tennessee woods? How could you commit a crime this brazen and get away with it for years?
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
When police sprung into action and so many people joined the search for Holly, how could no one find her? And after so many years, why was it so hard to find answers? I want to take you with me through the twists and turns in a case that captivated Tennessee and the nation. And let's not forget, there's a young woman at the middle of all of this.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
This was a case that would leave her family and community brokenhearted and forever changed. I'll go back to the very start of the investigation on that otherwise unremarkable spring morning in 2011, and I'll walk you through the latest developments more than a decade later. Someone will be given a life sentence for Holly's murder, but that won't stop the questions for some.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Did they find the right people, or could Holly's killer still be out there?
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Why speak up now? Because it's been years.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
From ABC Audio in 2020, this is What Happened to Holly Bobo? Episode 1, A Scream on Swan Johnson Road. To understand the Holly Bobo case, you have to understand Decatur County, Tennessee. It's the kind of place where locals can tell you're not from there. Literally, my first day there, my producers and I went to a restaurant and they asked me, where are you from?
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
And we laughed because it was just so obvious we weren't from there. Not because our clothes were different, but because it's rare in a place like this for a stranger to walk in, let alone a whole table full of them. I grew up in South Carolina, and it reminded me of the small southern towns I knew. There is a tangible warmth that comes from a history between people that goes back generations.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Neighbors truly help neighbors. They care about each other. And even if you don't like someone, you know them. Decatur County runs right along the Tennessee River. If you look up the county on Google Maps, you'll see mostly green. The vastness of the woods is interrupted just once in a while by a church, a sawmill, or maybe a gravel company.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
There are two main roads and then a few smaller ones that pass by farms and big, towering pine trees. The county has a lot of creeks which look like long, skinny fingers on the map. And then there are the few small towns in the county which stand out as gray splotches from above. Keith Byrd is the former sheriff of Decatur County.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The biggest employers in the county include the local government, a construction company, a manufacturing company, and a trailer company that employs 36 people. Many people in the county also work in agriculture and logging. According to the U.S. Census, 94% of the county is white and nearly 20% of its residents live in poverty. That's almost double the national average. Decatur County is small.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The population of the entire county is just under 12,000 people.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Throughout the weekend, dogs chase after raccoons and are rated on their performance, including how fast they can track down the raccoons. The winning dogs and their owners get prize money, which is donated to St. Jude Children's Hospital. There are country and bluegrass performances, auctions, and lots of local food vendors serving barbecue and pies.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
When Holly went missing, people were shocked that this kind of crime, a kidnapping, could happen in a place like this.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
I know it's a trope to talk about a place where people trust their neighbors and say, nothing this bad ever happens here. But the setting of Holly's disappearance is surprising for reasons beyond that collective sense of security. This isn't a place where you could just stumble upon someone's home by accident. You'd have to know how to get to the house.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
In the town of Darden, where the Bobo house is, there aren't many street signs. The roads are largely one-way, unlit. There are also unmarked logging roads used to haul trees out of the forest. Cell phone reception is spotty, and without GPS, it would be very easy to get lost if you haven't driven around here before. Houses can be miles apart from each other.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The best directions to get around come from landmarks, that bright mailbox, that little furniture store. Investigators said to find the Bobo house, you'd really have to know the area. You'd have to basically be targeting the house, targeting Holly. Their house is at the end of a long driveway. At the time, it was marked by a black mailbox with a green wooden sign under it that read, The Bobos.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The house is on 23 acres of land and has a private pond for fishing. It's normal to see wildlife, deer, turkeys, and squirrels. The house has a carport that's basically a garage but without a door, a back deck, and a pool. It has dark brown siding and brick with white window shutters. Holly's parents, Dana and Karen Bobo, built the house with Dana's father in 1982.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Karen and Dana raised their two kids, Holly and Clint, there. My former colleague, Elizabeth Vargas, interviewed Karen and Dana back in 2017.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Dana Bobo worked for a tree cutting company where he operated the mowing machine. Karen Bobo was a teacher at Scotts Hill Elementary School. She had Holly and her brother in her class.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Holly had an especially close relationship with her mom.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Every April, thousands gather at the county fairgrounds for the hunt. But in 2011, less than a week after the hunt, the quiet community on the banks of the Tennessee River, where it feels like everyone knows everyone, was shaken.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
When Holly got her driver's license years earlier, she would drop her mom off at the elementary school and then head to the high school.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
After graduating high school, Holly attended a local community college and then began her nursing studies at the University of Tennessee at Martin Parsons Center. Karen says her future was bright. She planned to get her nursing degree and marry her boyfriend, Drew, who had given her a promise ring the Christmas before she disappeared.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
But on April 13th, 2011, Karen left for work and she would never hear from her daughter again. The morning Holly disappeared, Karen and Dana got up around 5.30 for work, like they usually did. Karen went to check on Holly, who was preparing for an upcoming test in one of her nursing classes.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
It was Wednesday, which meant Holly had class later that day. Karen made Holly's lunch, a sandwich, some bite-sized candy bars to satisfy Holly's sweet tooth, and water. She packed it in a white lunch bag with black polka dots and a blue H sewn on the front. Before Karen left for work, Holly came to the kitchen to eat breakfast.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Holly's parents went off to work. Karen Bobo was with her class of second graders in the cafeteria when the school secretary came up to her and told Karen something that would change her life forever.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
The neighbors weren't close to their house. In the spring, with the trees blooming, they wouldn't even be able to see each other's houses. So the fact that the neighbor heard screams and that he then called his mother, who was alarmed enough to call Karen at work, it says something. It was undeniably a sign of trouble. Karen didn't bring her phone with her to the cafeteria.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
She had left it in her classroom. The nearest phone she could think of was in the school's office, but she thought she saw too many people there to make such a frightening call. So she went to the library instead to call Clint, who was home. He tells her he saw Holly in the carport with a man he assumed was her boyfriend, Drew. But Karen knew it couldn't be Drew.
What Happened to Holly Bobo?
A Scream on Swan Johnson Road
Karen had spoken with him that morning, and he was turkey hunting around 20 miles from the house. So when Clint told you on the phone, Holly and Drew just walked off into the woods.