"I have a plus, street laundry, that is it, or street laundry, that's how it goes. So I don't know how clear that is. It's really hard to hear her, but this girl's whispering into the phone and she says, when she's asked what her location is, they say, 'Fourth street laundry mat.' And when the operator asks her what the problem is, she just whispers and says, 'I've been abducted.'" — Ashley Flowers (reciting 911 call)
"And in the basement of the home under bags of trash, they find a woman laying face down, fully clothed, but deceased and decomposing. She has a purse near her and in the purse is the ID of Stacey Stanley, who police wouldn't even acknowledge when missing." — Ashley Flowers
"He wrote a reporter while he was waiting in jail a couple of times just these rambling notes about how government assistance basically steals people's minds and all these women that he killed. Their minds were already gone and they were just bodies flopping around and all he did was take their bodies." — Ashley Flowers
The episode revisits the cases of Elizabeth Griffith and Stacey Stanley, two women who disappeared in Ashland, Ohio, in August and September 2016, respectively. Griffith, a 29-year-old with slight mental disabilities, was last seen on surveillance footage at a Walmart. Stanley, a 43-year-old mother and grandmother, disappeared after her car broke down at a BP gas station in Ashland, where she accepted help from a stranger. The narrative highlights a concerning lack of immediate interest from local law enforcement in both cases, attributed partly to the victims' histories of substance abuse and legal issues, which led police to initially assume they had relapsed or absconded voluntarily.
The investigation takes a critical turn with a harrowing 911 call received on September 13, 2016. The caller, a woman whispering that she had been abducted by a man named Sean Great, indicated he was asleep next to her and that she was trapped due to a contraption around the door. Despite the operator's prompting and the caller's fear, she was unable to escape immediately. The call captured moments of near discovery by law enforcement, followed by silence, and eventually, the victim's successful escape and identification of the perpetrator. This crucial call led to the apprehension of Sean Great and subsequent discoveries within his residence.
During the investigation and confession, Great led authorities to multiple burial sites, revealing a pattern of violence. In the basement of his home, the body of Stacey Stanley was discovered. In a second-floor closet, the remains of Elizabeth Griffith were found. The unknown caller, who had been sexually assaulted, survived and her testimony was vital. Great also confessed to the murders of Candace Cunningham, Rebecca Leesey, and a Jane Doe, potentially named Dina, Dana, or Diana, whose remains were found in various locations across Ohio. The episode discusses the similarities between these cases and others, such as the Chila Coffee vanishings, noting the shared characteristics of victims and the initial lack of media and police attention. Great is currently facing charges for the murders of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith, along with sexual assault and kidnapping, though he has confessed to other homicides.