Laurie Depies

All witnesses, suspects, and purses of interest are considered innocent until proven guilty in a. Court of law. Welcome to Primetime Crime. I'm your host, Kylie. Let's talk right now in true crime, and then together we're going to work on warming up some cold cases. Let's go. Hey, guys, welcome to this week's episode of Primetime Crime. It's Kylie. We are going to get into a little right now in true crime. So last week, right after I released the episode, it came through that there has officially been a extradition request for Lee Gilly from the Harris County District Attorney's office to the officials in Italy for Lee Gilly to be extradited back home. He is accused of murdering his pregnant wife in Houston. Unfortunately, he was placed on house arrest with a ankle monitor while he was awaiting the start of his trial, and he cut the ankle monitor off and attempted to lee, hence why he is now in Italy. And then he was caught. And it has just been a whole thing trying to get this guy back in Harris County. Maybe one day Harris County will learn not to let alleged murderers out, but then again, what do I know. This tends to happen all the time in Harris County. So there's also some situation going on with he and Christa's home, the home that they shared, the home that allegedly her life was taken in. So the home is now under possession and control of an LLC that is called Save a Life Homes. So basically, this home has been taken over by this LLC and there's somebody living in it that is somebody that is not known to Christa's family, and obviously this is very upsetting. Her father had gone to the home that Christa once shared with Lee, and he's discovered that there are strangers living in this home, and he saw that the blinds were closed, there was no trespassing signs posted, and there were cameras as well posted on the property. HBD actually responded to a trespassing call in the home last week because there was a neighbor that reported that somebody was inside of the residence and when officers arrived, the man that was inside refused to come out and said that he is in possession of the home and has the evidence to prove it. In court, it was determined that the home is in probate due to the up and coming hopeful murder trial of Lee Gilly. But it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I also saw that this LLC took over another home of a man who had passed away, and the home was supposed to be going to his son, and instead this random LLC decided to. Take it over. Court records show that this company filed an affidavit of adverse possession and a warranty deed on May twenty first, which was about three weeks after Lee fled to Italy. There has been so much going on with this, so many random things that have been happening, and I think Christa has gotten lost in it. So I want to remember Christa for all that she was. I am eagerly awaiting this trial to start so we could hopefully get justice for Christa soon, because her family is going through a lot right now, not just losing their daughter in the horrific way that they lost her, but everything else that is transpiring around it. At this point in time, the trial should have already started and we should be well on our way to getting justice for Christa. But because once again there was a lack of thinking things through by Harris County. This guy is over in Italy, cutting off ankle monitors and traveling to Italy. Italy is far from Houston, and now he's been able to put the whole trial aside. He has some squatters living in his house. I just cannot understand how we got here, and this is all just so unnecessary. So I'm gonna continue to keep you guys updated on all of this. But at the end of the day, we need to get to trial. They need to extradite him back. The trial needs to happen, the evidence needs to come out, and then the cards will fall as they may. I will be sure to keep you updated on this one. I believe it could take months for him to be extradited back to Houston. So that's where everything stands on that one. And in another case that will never seem to end. Officially, like I said in one of the last episodes, they have appointed a new judge for the elec murda new trial, and there is a scheduled hearing, an initial hearing in Lexington County set for June twenty ninth, to basically set the stage for the murder trial, and I am not prepared for murdaw two point zero. I'm not, but it looks like we're getting murdaw two point oh, So anything that happens there, I will continue to keep you guys updated, but this is one that I am just not in the mood to go through again. But I will not be able to look away. I also super hate that all of the family members have to go back through one of the most traumatic days of their lives and talk about everything that transpired leading up to the double homicide of Maggie and Paul. There's just a lot going on, and I don't think they're going to let all the financials come into this new trial, so hopefully that'll cut down the time a little bit. But regardless, he is going to be in prison for a long, long, long time because of all of his other extracurricular activities that got him in a lot of trouble. But I am going to be interested to see what route they take this time, if he's going to testify or not, because as we know, in the first trial when he testified, it was literal hot mess express. There was tears, his nose was just completely dripping twenty four to seven when he was up there testifying. I don't even have words to describe what happened up on that stand, So it's going to be interesting to see what happens this time. But if I know anything about him, he is eight thousand percent going to testify because I think that's just who he is, because he is a former lawyer. That is what he does. So we shall see. They also have announced in the last twenty four hours that they have officially delayed very Morifus trial until twenty twenty seven. It was supposed to start very soon, and now they have delayed things until maybe at least July twenty twenty seven, so another whole year. So Barry is accused of murdering his wife, Suzanne Moorerifew, who went missing on Mother's Day. In twenty twenty. Her remains were found in twenty twenty three, and her death was ruled a homicide in twenty twenty four. On Wednesday, they asked for the trial to be delayed. It was supposed to start in October, and they have what they are describing as an unbelievable amount of information that has just come out that they have just received so they have asked for more time to be able to go through that information. One thing that came out in the last week was that at the time of his arrest, Barry was living in Arizona and he was living under an assumed identity and living with a woman, some random woman. I'm sure he was maybe in a relationship with her. She has not been identified, but he was living under a different name. Are we surprised by this, I, for one am not. The judge has asked the prosecution and defense to try to work out a proposed start date for the trial, and there is going to be emotions hearing that is scheduled for July sixth, So that is kind of where things stand today. But it is yet another trial that we were going to be having in the coming months that has now been postponed. It takes so much and everything to line up for a case to actually go to trial. It takes so long to get justice. I'll tell you it is. If it's not one thing, it's another. So that is kind of where everything stands as far as the Barry Morphew of it all goes. But I do believe hopefully with all of this new discovery that they have gotten that maybe it. Will help strengthen the case against him. That is my hope, because I fully do believe in my opinion that he is responsible for Suzanne's death. Again, that is just my opinion. I know, innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. He is not had his day in court yet, but hopefully that will be coming sooner rather than later. So that is it for right now. In True Crime, we are going to go ahead and get into this week's episode, which was a suggestion from somebody I met while I was in Vegas for Crime Con. Let's go ahead and get into it. Alrighty guys, we are jumping into a brand new unsolved case today. Now, this is a case that I wasn't super familiar with. I do know that my friend Alicia from Truly Twisted covered this case, but there's really not a lot of information about it. But it is truly one of the most baffling cases that I've seen. One thing I really love about Crime Con is getting to meet and connect with so many different people from all around the country and the world. Honestly, in the meet and greet line for Barbara Butcher and Kelly Siegler, I got to meet Robin who told me about two cases from Whiskey Consin where she lives and is from, that I should cover. And one of them was Amberwilda, which I've already covered, and the other one was this one, the case of Lorii Deppy's from Appleton, Wisconsin. She told me that there wasn't a lot of information out there about the case, but she went missing and it's lesser known nationally. So here we are doing what we can to spread the word about Lourie's disappearance because despite an alleged confession, nobody has ever been charged with Laurie's disappearance and her remains have never been found. Laurie went missing in August of nineteen ninety two, and today. We're going to share her story. Lourie Jean Deppy's, also known as Lauri Ella to her friends and family, was born on September seventeenth of nineteen seventy one to her parents, Mary Wagner and Mark Deppys. After her parents divorced in nineteen eighty seven, Laurie moved with her mom to Appleton in Wisconsin. Laurie had briefly attended the University of Wisconsin, Fox Valley, but after four months in attendance, decided that college wasn't for her at this point in her life, and she dropped out. She had gotten her own apartment and had gotten a job at a local mall with a plan to save up some money while she decided what she wanted to do with her life. Laurie was dating a twenty two year old guy named Mark and was in a good place in her life. She was young, she was trying to figure it out. Laurie was only twenty years old when she was abducted and she disappeared from the face of the earth. A lot of the information I'm going to be sharing in this episode came from Lurie's find a Grave page. Her dad, Mark, remembers her as easy going and having a great sense of adventure. He said that she was very spontaneous. Friends recall that she was fun to be around, and she very much enjoyed working with people, and she was very strong willed. All in all, Laurie sounded like a great gal. And it's so sad and unfortunate that she didn't go on to live the rest of her life, and instead we're here telling you about how she was taken tragically and her whereabouts remain unknown. So let's fast forward to August of nineteen ninety two. Laurie, like I said, was twenty years old. She had a job at Fox River Mall in Grand Shoot, Wisconsin. She had a boyfriend named Mark. She truly had everything going for her at this point in our life. On August nineteenth of nineteen ninety two, which was a Wednesday, Laurie went to work like normal at the Graffiti Store that was located at the Fox River Mall in Grand Shoot, Wisconsin. The mall was located at four to three oh one West Wisconsin Avenue in Appleton. The Graffiti Store, although no longer operational back in nineteen ninety two, was a popular accessories and apparel retailer. They are now going to go through a timeline of Lurie's day as provided on the Find a Grave website page for Lourie. Laurie arrived in the early afternoon hours to work the shift at the mall. At the Graffiti Store. At three pm, she took a break. At six pm, Laurie took her dinner break. At seven pm. She went to a jewelry store that was in the mall. And picked up a ring for her boyfriend Mark. At nine PM, Laurie and her coworker closed the store at the mall. At nine to fifty pm. Laurie and her coworker walked out of the store and into the parking lot to their cars. It almost sounds like they had a buddy system type of situation because it was late, it was the mall parking lot, and they wanted to be safe. Between nine fifty five and ten pm, this was the last known sighting of Lourie as she drives east on College Avenue and her co worker drives south on US forty one. Laurie drove a gray nineteen eighty four Volkswagen Rabbit. I've also seen it reported that it was a Volkswagen Beetle. Take it for what it's worth. It seems that it was a rabbit. That is more consistent in the different articles that I was reading. There's also a picture of Lurie's car from the scene that I'm going to be including as well in the Instagram and Facebook posts that. Are going to be associated with this episode. So Laurie's plan that night was to go to her boyfriend Mark's apartment, So that is where she was headed after her work shift that evening, which according to Google Maps, is around a fourteen minute drive from the mall. And I really think that the timeline here is important. Everything seems to line up and it only makes sense that whoever did take Laurie either followed her or was waiting for her and knew where she would be. Around ten to fifteen pm, Laurie pulls into the parking lot at the apartment where her boyfriend lived, which was located at three one zero West Wilson Avenue in the town of Minasha, which is now currently known as. The Village of Fox Crossing. Laurie's boyfriend, Mark, his sister, and their friend were all inside of his apartment. It was a nice evening, so they had at the patio door open while they waited inside for Laurie to arrive. They all remember hearing the sound of Lourie's loud muffler approaching, which is how they knew she had arrived, But after several minutes, Laurie never had come into the apartment, which they thought was weird. Just three minutes later, between ten eighteen and ten twenty, they looked out from the apartment balcony to see what was taking Laurie so long, and they saw her car, but they didn't see Laurie. Also so important to note that this was before the ages of cell phones, so them contacting Lurie wasn't as easy as it would be today. Today they could easily have called her or sent her a quick text to see where she was. That was not the case back then. So the three of them one searching and they found Lurie's locked vehicle in the complex parking lot, but there was no sign of Lorii. Her overnight bag and her purse were locked. Inside of the car. Another detail that stands out is there was a styrofoam cup of soda that was found placed on the hood of Lourie's car, and there is actually a picture of that that I'm going to be sharing on social media. It almost seemed. Like she got out of the car with this cup, placed it on the hood and was about to get her other stuff and then never got the chance. The other thing that was chilling was that nobody saw Laurie walk away from the parking lot, and nobody saw her get into a vehicle with anyone. It was simply like she got out of the car and vanished into thin air. And when I said how much I believe that this timeline matters here, I think it really does. Because Mark and his sister and their friend heard her arrive. The window of time between her arriving and them looking out of the balcony to see where she was it was not very long. It wasn't much time at all. Whoever took Laurie had to have done it in that small window of time before they began searching for her. Mark also went the route of calling anyone and everyone that could know where Laurie was, and nobody knew where she could be. Around eleven forty five PM, after getting no closer to finding Laurie, Mark called the town of Minasha Police department to report Laurie as a missing person. Investigators had very little to go on. The cup on the hood of Laurie's car did have a thumbprint on it, which investigators believed possibly belonged to the abduction suspect, and they thought that due to the size of the print, that it belonged to a male. Investigators did believe that she was likely to by somebody that she knew, because Laurie was not the type of person that would have willingly gotten into a car with the stranger. They think she possibly went with somebody she knew and then was harmed from there. But I also do think it's possible that Laurie was forced into a vehicle against her will, but again that is just my opinion. Despite having some physical evidence, law enforcement didn't have much to go on with this case. Those that were close to Laurie all. Took polygraph tests, including the three Mark's sister, and their friend, and they all passed. Investigators were able to access surveillance footage from the mall, which did prove that Laurie drove in the direction of Mark's apartment, just as has been reported by the last person to see Lourie drive away from the mall that evening. Laurie's case unfortunately went cold and nothing new would come up on it. That was until twenty ten when convicted kidnapper, murder and rapist Mary Dwayne Hall entered the picture. So Larry admitted to kidnapping and killing Laurie and even gave investigators a location for her remains. However, no sign of Laurie was ever found at this location. Now Larry is a monster for sure. But he's also confessed to a lot of murders and then Recanton, and he's also been proven to have not been involved in several that he's confessed to, so he's not a super reliable source by any means. He is currently serving a life sentence for the kidnapping and murder of fifteen year old Jessica Roach. We've talked about Larry in another case that I've covered that of Trisha Reitler, who went missing in Indiana when she left her dorm on foot to head to a corner store. But I do want to talk about the circumstances surrounding Jessica's disappearance and see how it correlates to Laurie's. Jessica was last. Seen on September twenty third of no nineteen ninety three, riding her bike at approximately three point thirty pm near her home in Georgetown, Illinois. On November eighth of nineteen ninety three, her body was discovered in a cornfield in Indiana. In nineteen ninety four, two girls from Georgetown reported that they were followed by a white van, and then there were another two girls that came forward and reported the same. These girls were able to get a partial license plate, and investigators discovered that this car was registered to Larry Dwayne Hall, and they brought him in for questioning. Investigators ended up finding evidence in his van that connected him to Jessica's case, and then he gave details that only the suspect would have known. In regards to Jessica, he eventually confessed and was charged with her abduction. However, he was not charged with her. Murder because police could not pinpoint where exactly she was killed, which off the record, I think is such total bs. He was arrested in December of nineteen ninety four and was found guilty in June of nineteen ninety five and sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping. So let's kind of go back now to Laurie's case. In Larry's confession, he said that he first encountered Laurie at the graffiti store at the mall. They had kind of chatted and he decided to wait and follow her after she left the mall, and then he in turn lured her into his van once she arrived at her final destination. He also allegedly gave details that only the kidnapper would have known. But according to investigators, there isn't enough evidence to charge Larry with the crime, and since he has confessed and recanted to so many different crimes, he. Is just not a credible source. So unfortunately, that is where Laurie's case stands today. Her remains have never been found. Her family does have a gravestone for her, and the inscription reads in loving memory of granddaughter. Laurie Jay Duppies, daughter of Mary Malone Wagner and Mark Duppies. Born in September seventeenth, nineteen seventy one. Abducted August nineteenth, nineteen ninety two. We search for you still, which I think is just absolutely heartbreaking. At the time of her disappearance, Laurie is described as five five, one hundred and fifteen pounds. She had brown hair and green eyes, but were contacts that may have made her eyes brown. Her ears were pierced three times, and she had a tribal art tattoo that looks like a squid on the outside of her right ankle. Laurie was last seen wearing a black sleeveless turtleneck, black and white spandeck shorts, and black shoes. She was also wearing multiple silver necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and earrings. Case is still open. If you do have any information to share about the disappearance of Lori Deppy's no matter how small you think it might be or how insignificant you think it might be, call the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation at nine two oho seven five one four one eight oh. And I think that this is the important part of the episode where we talk about what we can do as a true crime consumer community, and that is to share Lorii's episode, share her photo. Especially if you knew people that were living in this area of Wisconsin at the time, If you yourself worked at that mall around the same time Lourie did, you might have seen something and not even realized it. Especially if you are. To believe that Larry Dwayne Hall is being honest and he did go to the mall and spend some time in the graffiti store. Maybe you were in the graffiti store and you saw him, maybe you saw him talking to Laurie. That could be the connection that we need to solidify that he is the suspect, because unfortunately, as of right now, he is the most solid lead, but nothing has been able to be proven about his guilt or innocence, if you knew Larry around that time, and there's anything that you can provide to investigators that might lead them towards him being a suspect or away from him being a suspect. One thing we don't want in an investigation like this is tunnel vision and to think that Larry is the only potential person that could have done this, because he is obviously a pathological liar, not to say he's not a hateus human because he's done a lot of bad but it doesn't necessarily mean that he is the one that is responsible. And if we're so focused on him, we could be completely missing. The person and that did this. So I think it's important, especially if you. Were around Wisconsin around that time, Appleton, Wisconsin, that you go back in your mind and think about what you may or may not have seen, and that could be the break that this case needs. We also have this mysterious thumbprint. It could be from the person that gave the drink to Lauri at the mall, or it could also be from the suspect. At this point, we don't know, and I also don't know if there is actual DNA evidence in this case, if there's anything else left behind, those are all things that have not been put out publicly, and they are things that could be being held close to the vest to protect the integrity of the investigation. So that is kind of where Laurie's case stands today. I am going to be posting pictures on social media, pictures of LORII, pictures of the mall where she worked, pictures of outside of the apartment complex, and like I said, Laurie's. Car with that cop on top. So that is Laurie's story. Please share no matter where you are, but especially if you live in Wisconsin, because you never know what kind of memories you're going to stir up with somebody and they might realize that they have a hint that could blow this case and this investigation wide open. Laurie's dad, Mark says he has accepted that Laurie is no longer living, but the fact remains that everyone wants to know what happened to her, why this happened, and where she is so they can finally lay her to rest. So, like I said, please share this episode far and wide and I will see you guys next week for a brand new Unsolved Case. Have a great weekend and I will see you then Bye.