Carmel Fenech

Welcome to Primetime Crime. I'm your host, Kylie. Let's talk right now in True crime, and then together we are going to work on warming up some cold cases. Let's go. Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Primetime Crime. It's Kylie. We are going to go ahead and get into right now in True Crime. We have a few things to talk about. So shortly after I recorded last week's Right Now in True Crime, they did come back with the verdict to the Stephen Lawson trial. He was on trial for conspiracy to commit murder in the case of Crystal Rogers and they found him guilty, which I'm so happy about. And the jury has recommended a sentence of seventeen years for the crimes. So he did testify on his own behalf. He testified that he did not really take Brooks how seriously about wanting Crystal gone. However, Stephen Lawson had recommended another person to Brooks that could potentially help with getting rid of Crystal essentially, and even though he said he really didn't take him seriously, I think he kind of did, so I don't think he did himself any favors. During his testimony, he did acknowledge that he helped his son, Joseph Lawson, pick up Crystal's car sometime in the afternoon of July third, and then he said he went to a farm that he referred to as Thompson Ridge, and then he saw Joe arrive in Crystal's car, and then he told his son to get off of the property. And prosecutors very much said that his part of the plot, part of the reason that he was involved, was because he was supposed to take the car and make it disappear, essentially to create an illusion that Crystal had run out on her family and left her children, which we know she would never do. She was a mother of five. And Steve said he doesn't have any idea why Brooks asked him to do it. He didn't ask any questions, and he said that he needed the car to be moved, so he didn't ask why, and he just moved the car. He also admitted to moving the seat forward in the car to make it appear that Crystal was driving the car and therefore kind of create this theory that she left on her own. But the jury got it right. He was a thousand percent involved. Why he involved himself in this plot is just completely astonishing to me. And Joseph Lawson and Brooks how are going to be tried together on Tuesday, June twenty fourth, That's when it's going to start. It is going to get interesting. I cannot wait for the trial to commence. I think it's going to be so interesting. I don't believe that cameras are going to be allowed in the courtroom, but it's going to be interesting. We are slowly but surely getting justice for Crystal Rogers, and then hopefully we can get justice for her father who was killed in the midst of trying to advocate and try to find his daughter. It's going to be really interesting to see this all unfold. I feel like Brooks his time is running out, and there is no one more deserving of that than Brooks. Houck. All right, we are now moving on to Lourie Valo day Bell. Let me tell you, guys, it has been quite the journey. Just when you think that things are finally coming to it and the last trial is happening, We're finally going to get justice for Brandon. Things are moving smoothly. Laurie Valo gets sick. Now is she really sick? We do not know, but girlfriend played it up big time. On Friday, she was saying she wasn't feeling well, and the judge told her, if you're not feeling well on Monday, you need to let me know before that so we can postpone do whatever we need to do. But I need to know before Monday. Well, she shows up on Monday, oct in up. She comes in in a wheelchair. She is all the dramatics, the waterworks. I saw that woman. I didn't actually see it because it wasn't live streamed, but she cried and sobbed more about not feeling well than she ever cried for her two children, who she burned in a pile on Chad Dabell's property. She was on one on Monday. So the judge, of course, he's trying to be accommodating to her. Now she has tried to have this judge accuse himself, saying he doesn't like her and he's not fair with her, and she has not gotten her way on that. She has pushed and done so much to try to make things difficult during this case. I don't know if she's doing it because she really doesn't feel well, or she's doing it because she is officially lost control, and she's about to have to face the one person that she did not succeed in killing, and that is Brandon. I don't know what it is. She might not feel well, the dramatics are a little much. You don't need a wheelchair. You're perfectly capable to walk. So he gave her Tuesday to rest and chill and told her you need to be back in court on Wednesday, and you need to be ready to go because they still have to pick a jury. They're now running behind because they were already supposed to be starting. So she came into court today she was saying she wasn't feeling well, she had a headache, she just wasn't herself, and the judge made her carry on because they need to pick this jury. A lot of these people have come for this jury selection and they need to get it and get it done asap. So they officially have a jury and tomorrow openings will start and they need to be prepared with their case by tomorrow. So they have a jury of eight men, eight women, and there are four people who are alternates, and one of the jury was a four person in a simple trial years ago. So that's an interesting little tidbit. They didn't really have any issues picking the jury. With the last trial, I feel like there was a lot of things that went on, but this trial seems pretty straightforward minus Laurie and her dramatics. We are on track, so opening start on Thursday and then we should be ready to go. Horrible update to bring you guys coming out of Washington. Three young girls, young young girls, Olivia, Evelyn, and Peyton. They were on a visit with their father. He was struggling with some mental health stuff. He had been in the military but was discharged from military, been struggling with some mental health stuff. He was homeless, kind of living in his vehicle, living at some different campgrounds, and they found his three young daughters murdered, which is horrible. He is currently still at large. He is considered armed and dangerous. His name is Travis Ducker. It is floating all around social media right now that people are looking for him. He is wanted for their murder. Horrible. I can't even imagine what their mother is thinking during all of this. I can't even fathom what is going through her head right now. And these poor girls that it's just so sad, so horrible. At the time of this recording, he is still has not been found. He has not been located, and like I said, he is considered armed and dangerous. Check out social media if you want to see a photo of him. But it's just a really sad and tragic ending to these girls being missing, that they have been found dead, they've been brutally taken by their father. It is awful and horrible and tragic. Okay, last thing I want to talk about now. This is a little bit of a spoiler alert in the summer series I'm doing, but there is Jake Wagner news, so I feel like I need to talk about it. So we're going to talk about it in summer series, but we're going to talk about it right now too. So Jake Wagner obviously was one of the big people that was involved in killing eight members of the Rodent family in twenty sixteen. Now, he took a plea deal, he pled guilty, and then he also testified against his brother during his brother's trial. We're getting into all of that in summer series. But he was given a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after thirty two years because he's been cooperative with the authorities and when they gave him that sentence, he was shocked by that that he could possibly get out in thirty two years because Jake's young, so he could be out in no time. So the state has appealed that decision and appealed that cent. So we are kind of in limbo on that. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated, and all of that is going to be coming up on Summer Series. So if you want all of the details on all the Jake Wagner of it all or the Wagner family of it all, you can find it in Summer Series. So we are going to go ahead and get into today's episode. Okay, guys, we are diving into a brand new unsolved case today. For this week's episode, I am going to be taking you to the UK, where I'm going to be telling you about the nineteen ninety eight disappearance of a sixteen year old girl named Carmel Fennick. Now, Carmel also did go by the name Carmel Pendriy, so you might hear that as well as I am telling you about her case. Investigators do fear that Carmel was murdered. However, she has never been found, and she remains a missing person to this day. For my research for this case, I'm going to link all of them below, but I also listen to a podcast episode from The Missing about Carmel. During this episode, they interviewed Carmel's mother, Dedra, and I got a lot of my information from listening to this interview and listening to the podcast. It was really well done and getting to hear from Dedra really puts everything into perspective about Carmel, her disappearance, everything. So I'm going to be sure to link that podcast episode below as well in the show notes. So if you want a little more information and you want to hear from Dedre herself, please go listen to that episode. It was really well done. Carmel was born on July third of nineteen eighty one in London. She was the third of five children that her mom, Dejra had now Dedro was a single mom, and honestly, from everything I've seen, it sounds to me like she was a really, really good mom. She did everything she could to provide for her kids, be supportive of her kids, and she said that she had a really great network of supporters that surrounded her her family and she always did everything she could to try and protect her children. So when Carmel was young, her and her family lived in the same area that Deidra was raised in. Deidre said it is a very middle class type of neighborhood, that she had a great childhood and that they were really happy there when Carmel was young. When Carmel turned five, the family ended up being rehoused and ended up living in North Peckham Estate in southeast London. Now, this area, unfortunately was not the best area. It was a lot different from where they had previously been living, and there were a lot of thugs. There were a lot of drug dealers, but Deidre said that they did what they could, They made the best of it, and they still had a great community that surrounded them, a friends and family. Carmel was a very happy, go lucky girl. She loved to make people laugh. As she got older, her transition into secondary school, which for my assumption is kind of like our inner mediate school or junior high school here in the United States, it got tough for her. Carmel was a tiny girl, standing at only five foot tall, and she walked with a limp due to having one leg shorter than the other. For this reason, unfortunately, Carmel was bullied and for whatever reason, I don't know what it is about kids that age. I feel like it's nationwide that there's something about kids that age that just make them horrible. So unfortunately, Carmel did deal with some bullying and that I'm sure was pretty impactful on her, given that she was a younger girl and she was dealing with something like that and living in a new area, and I'm sure it just all was really tough for her. So two significant things happened to Carmel when she was fourteen years old. So when she turned fourteen, her biological father came back into her life and wanted to have contact with her. He was in a new relationship, he had a new son, and he expressed interest in wanting to have a relationship with Carmel. Was very hesitant about this because he had not been in Carmel's life since she was about three years old. But he had said that he wanted Carmel to come visit him, and Carmel very much wanted to go because she had a new little brother and I'm sure that she craved a father figure in her life because he had not been in her life since she was pretty young. So Deirdre ended up letting Carmel go to visit him, and when she got there, things did not go as planned. Now, Carmel, although she was fourteen, she was very mature, she was very independent. She smoked cigarettes and this was something that I guess her father didn't really approve of, and he didn't really know what he was getting himself into because the last time he had saw his daughter was when she was three, and she is now fourteen. She goes and hangs out with friends and that is just how her life is now she has grown up. And he didn't like this at all. So she ended up leaving the visit with her dad early and ended up going back to her mom's house. And then we have another event that transpired that ended up changing everything for Carmel. When she was fourteen, she attended a birthday party for a classmate and it was there that she met a man who was forty at the time, and this man would eventually become Carmel's boyfriend. Now, I'm not sure why this man was at a birthday party for somebody who was younger if he was a parent of another kid. If he was just a general overall creepe that hung out at teenager birthday parties, I'm not really sure the context of where he came from and how he fits in, but it's also important to note that in the nineties, sixteen was considered a legal adult in London, whereas now they have raised the aged eighteen, which is very similar to the United States. So Carmel meets this man, and I'm only stating my opinion on this that i think Carmel really enjoyed getting the attention from this man because she wasn't used to that kind of positive attention from others besides people in her family. She was bullied and teased a lot at school, and I'm sure this man giving her any type of attention made her feel really, really good. Despite the fact that I think this man was likely a predator praying upon somebody who was young because she was fourteen, so she technically wasn't of legal age at this point in time. But I'm sure this man lit up her world with everything that he was telling her, and in her eyes, he hung the moon and was the best thing ever. So this guy ended up getting Carmel addicted to drugs, and before she knew it, she was addicted to crack cocaine. And from there she would be known to frequent homes in Brixton and Lewisham, and these were areas that were known for criminal activity and drug use. Now, unfortunately, from there, Carmel just kind of spiraled. She was mixed up with this older man, She was mixed up with drugs, she was hanging out with unsavory people, and at one point in time she was caught shoplifting. And there was just a lot going on with Carmel. She was very young, she didn't really have a lot of stability in her life outside of her family home, and there was just a lot going on. Carmel's mom, Dedra, at one point even said that she begged the judge to lock Carmel up because she needed to try and keep her safe. And everything that was going on with Carmel's drug habit, her petty theft habit to pay for all the drugs, was leading her down a really really dark path. And as much as Dedra loved her daughter and wanted to help her, her hands were tied with a lot of what was going on, and Dedre said that despite Carmel having a drug habit, she didn't look like she was on drugs. She presented herself in such a way and composed herself in such a way. She was never rude, never mean, or anything like that. And it's obvious to me, just as an outsider looking in that Carmel was just a kid who was struggling, trying to get by and unfortunately was introduced to a not so great lifestyle by a much older man, and then she was just in this vicious cycle that she couldn't get out of. Now. Deirdre obviously knew that her daughter had a problem and wanted to try to protect her, so she ended up moving the family away from there, so they ended up moving to Crawley in East Sussex. But unfortunately, Carmel at this point would just run away and return to the areas and the people that were such poor influences on her. So there would often be a lot of times that Carmel would go missing, but she would always return home. Would see her out and about, they would call Dedra and then Carmel ended up returning home. So it was not at all out of the ordinary for Carmel to run off due to what she was dealing with, the drug habit, the friends, all the things. She was a teenager. And although Dedra knew that Carmel was struggling and had an addiction, she said that anytime that Carmel would return home, she acted very normal and like I said, she was never rude, She was never disrespectful or anything like that with her family. She just acted like a normal kid. It was almost like she had two separate lives. There were often times that Carmel would go missing. Deidra would go out in the streets of London looking for her, and that was just something that had become normal at this point in their lives. But like I said, Carmel always returned home. There was never a time that she was gone four months or years or anything like that. And like I said, she did really good job at keeping her two lives separate. She literally had two lives now. There was an instance where Carmel had called Dedra from a payphone and said that the man that she was with had beat her, and from there she ended up coming home and Deidre thought for the first time in a long time that Carmel was starting to realize the effects of her lifestyle that she had gotten herself into. At this point, Dedra was hopeful that Carmel was going to see the light and she was going to be okay. She was safe, she was sound, she was staying with her mom, living at home, and she was off of drugs. Because she started to look more like herself and act more like herself. It was at this point that Dedra decided that she was going to have some professional photos taken of her and the kids. They were having a really good sale on these photos and she thought it was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of. So she did have those photos take of herself and the kids, and Carmel had asked and begged to have a photo taken by herself, and despite this costing a little extra, Dedre decided to let her do it. And the photo that I'm referencing is going to be used as a cover photo for this episode, so if you do want to see it, you will see it as you're listening to this episode. Carmel was such a cute girl, and I could tell in that photo that she really looked like she was getting her life on track. But unfortunately, these are the last photos that Dedra has of Carmel because right after this, Carmel would go missing, and this time she would not return home. So following this, Carmel ended up taking off again and Dedre received a phone call from a London police officer, one that she had gotten close with over the years because he always looked out for Carmel. So this police officer said, Carmel got caught shoplifting again and she has a court hearing, and the officer asked Dedra if she could show up for the hearing, and she did. She made it work and when she showed up, she was shocked by Carmel's appearance. She had lost so much weight, she was not looking well. And although at this point Carmel tried to reassure her mom that she was fine, Dedra knew different. Dedra knew her daughter, and this is when she begged the court system to do something to try and help Carmel, because Dedra had been doing everything she could to try to navigate everything, but she was at a loss and she had lost control of her child. There was no way that she was going to be able to help her daughter by herself. With everything that had just transpired. She thought that she had finally gotten through to Carmel, but it was obvious that she hadn't. She was still mixed up with the people that were involved in drugs and who knows what else was going on, and she was really worried for her safety. She thought that the best chance that Carmel would have was to be locked up somewhere in a safe home where she wasn't allowed to come and go as she pleased. So with that, Carmel was placed into a children's home. But this home was not a locked unit, so Carmel would come and go as she wanted, but she did have to tuck in by nine pm, and she did. She followed the rules. She always came back by nine pm. In one of the last conversations Carmel had with her mom, Dedra Deirdre had expressed to her how much she loved her and that is the reason that they went this route to have her placed in a home, and Carmel realized this and said that she knew that she was actually going to get help this time, and she wasn't upset with her mom. She was grateful to her mom for doing everything she could to help her. Now, unfortunately, this is the last conversation that Carmel and Dietra had. A few days after that, Carmel had a conversation with her sister where she told older sister that she thought she might be pregnant and that she was going to go to London on May twenty third to tell the guy who she thought was the baby's father about the pregnancy. So she did make it to London that day and she ended up being picked up again by law enforcement and was back in court now that day. The judge ended up finding her all but one pound of the money that she had on her and he let her walk out of court that day, and she was last seen with an unidentified man and from there Carmel went missing and has not been seen or heard from since. The date of when exactly she went missing is unknown, but from what I've seen, it's between May twenty first and May twenty third. Dedre knew that this was a serious situation when it was June and nobody, not even Carmel's sister, had heard from her. This was very out of the ordinary for Carmel because no matter what, she always would keep up with her family. She wouldn't go more than a couple of days without phoning her sister, and Deirdre just knew when her gut something was wrong. Unfortunately, Deirdre had a really hard time getting law enforcement to take her seriously. Because Deirdre had reported Carmel missing so many times in the past, they didn't take this one as a different type of scenario. They basically said, she'll come back. She just ran away, She'll come back, she always does. But this happened in nineteen ninety eight, and all of these years later, Carmel remains missing and nobody has seen or heard from her since that day in nineteen ninety eight. And I have to reiterate, it's so frustrating that just because somebody has a pattern of disappearing and popping back up, that does not make a disappearance any less important, of any less urgency, and it doesn't mean that law enforcement shouldn't take it seriously. Now, law enforcement were super aware of Carmel and all of her transgressions all of the time she went missing, so they did not take it seriously. There was a lack of urgency in trying to find her and trying to figure out what happened, because she would eventually always pop back up and this was just her lifestyle. But Deirdre was adamant that this time was different and there was something majorly wrong. And she was right, because, like I said, Carmel is still missing, and unfortunately, whatever happened to her, whoever harmed her, they got away with it because they knew that they could. Now, I'm not really sure if the man that Carmel originally met at the birthday party that got her started on drugs and everything is the same man that later abused her and is the same man that she was last seen with. Because she was last seen with this man at the courthouse, I don't know if this is the same person. I also think Carmel was always pretty hesitant to say that this man was her boyfriend, but he obviously was involved with her in some way, shape or form, and he led her down a really, really, really dark path. And I think that this person likely has preyed upon other young individuals and probably just bounces from person to person and victimizes people every chance he gets. Again, that is just my opinion. Now I'm not fully sure on this, but I don't even believe that the man that Carmel was last seen with was even thoroughly questioned as to what he knows, Deidre said quote he said he hardly knew Mike Carmel and just felt sorry for her. But she was often found at his house, So I think there's more to it end quote. And there has to be more to it because this man obviously had some connection to her. She trusted him obviously if she was at his house. I have major questions for this man because I feel like he might have the missing puzzle piece to what happened to Carmel. But for whatever reason, he was not really thoroughly questioned. So there has to be more going on here. There has to be more to it. I don't know what the answer is, but Carmel is still missing. Now. There is an age progress photo of Carmel that I'm going to be sharing on my Instagram and Facebook pages, so be sure to check that out. She would be forty four years old today if she is still alive and well and out there. She is described as five foot to five one, having black or brown shoulder length hair, brown eyes. She has a scar on the center of her forehead, and she has a very slim build. Like I said, I'm going to be sharing photos of her on my Instagram and Facebook pages, as well as the age progressed photo. Somebody out there knows something about what happened to Carmel, whether it's the person that had something to do with her disappearance, whether it's somebody that has a little piece of information that they don't realize they have a piece of information, whether it's somebody that was in a pub one night and somebody said something about Carmel and they haven't quite pieced it together yet. Loyalties change and it is time to come forward. It has been a long time. This girl went missing in nineteen ninety eight, and I think it's about time that her family got some closure as to what happened to her. And she obviously hasn't come back, so something is majorly wrong. If anybody has any information, they are encouraged to get in touch or call crime Stoppers at eight hundred five fix five one one one, and if you google Carmel Fennik, there is a lot of resources and information ways to contact law enforce if you believe you have something that might be helpful to their investigation. Now, earlier I talked about the police officer that had talked with Dedra and was very familiar with Carmel, kind of looked out for her and would always call Dedra when he had picked her up or she was supposed to go to court. Dedra still keeps up with him. He left London because he saw some of the things that were going on in the area that Carmel was living and knew that it wasn't going to be an ideal place to raise his family, so he ended up leaving. But he now has kids, he's married, and he still keeps up with Dedra. And he was one person that Deirdre said was such a good person. He always looked out for Carmel. He was always willing to help her and do whatever he could to kind of support her in this journey. And I think that's really a cool part of this story is that they still do have a relationship, They still chat and despite the department overall not really helping Dedra, this one man was a shining light and it just goes to show you that there are good people out there, people who really go above and beyond in their job. And I think the fact that he still does communicate with Dedra really shows that he really cares. And I think that's admirable. So I did want to include that because I think that's a nice little part of the story. Despite there being so many unanswered questions about what happened to Carmel, it's nice to know that there was someone that really always did have her back on the other side, her other life, because this girl really did have two separate lives and they often did intersect, but she did a really good job at keeping them separate. And she had her home life and then she had her social life, which unfortunately took a drastic turn, and for that reason, she is missing today. So be sure to check out my Instagram and Facebook pages. If you aren't following me over there, please do. Also, if you're listening on Apple or Spotify, please leave me a five star review. I would really really appreciate it. It just helps push the podcast out to more listeners, more people that are consuming true crime content. And at the end of the day, my mission with this podcast is just to get these episodes on as many eyes and ears as possible, because that is how we're going to draw attention to these lesser known, unsolved cases. And that is my mission, that is important, that is why I do what I do so. Thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you have a fantastic weekend and I will see you next week for a brand new unsolved case. Have a good one bye,