Chapter 4 part 1: The Weeks Before March 4, 2001

Previously on missing in Hushtown. And I was getting some paper signed or giving them something. She said and I was like, hey, do you hear about Bethany Markowski And they were like, no, what happened? And she was explaining to him what happened the night before and they were like, that's weird because her father, he was just in here paying his child support. And she said he was real pissy because he shoved the check at me and said, I hope the bitch chokes on it. I was told this by the EMPTYI in the Arkansas. Did we ever find Bethany or her body? We got enough to put Larry away on what we found in the dam, and they told me what was found in that dam, and they showed pictures. I think keeping her story alive keeps her alive. Technology now is way forehead of what we had back then. People living and deceased that have been missing for years have been identified, and I'm hopeful for a resolution what happened to Bethany. It was very scary walking out that door for the last time, but I knew I only had a small window of time and there was no way I could have gathered stuff while he was there, So it's almost kind of like you're outside of your body. Because I was looking around the house trying to figure out what am I going to take? Johnny was nervous. She had to be by the phone. By running between the car and the house. Phone was proving more and more difficult. As Larry's calls were increasing in frequency. She knew if she didn't answer each time he called, he would become suspicious and would return home, and she could not afford it. Not this time, This time was it. This would be the final time she would leave Larry Mkowski and fight for a safer life with her children. This is missing in Hushtown Season two. Bethany Markowski and I'm your host, Jules. Welcome to Chapter four, Part one, the weeks before March fourth. A quick side note, the producers Rachel, Heather, jan and myself want to extend a heartfelt thank you for joining us for Bethany's Brigade. Seriously, thank you for being here. The more ears we get on this case, the bigger the impact we can make. And you can help us grow simply by leaving us a five star review or rating right now wherever you're listening, or simply just by sharing this season with a friend. Thank you for everyone who is here. Now back to the podcast. I'll take you along Johnny's decision to leave and flee to Nashville for safety, the new life Johnny and Bethany began to carve out together, and then to the alleged school abduction attempt by Larry mccowski, the unsettling visitations, all of this leading up to the final custody exchange and the last week und of any contact with then eleven year old Bethany Leon mccowski. You've learned about the day that Bethany went missing and the day's following, but now you need to know what led to it all. Johnny had tried to leave Larry a few times actually, and once she was successful when she moved to Kansas City, but he found them, and out of fear for her daughter's life, she returned to Tennessee and remained with Larry. Her sisters recalled. During that attempt to flee, Larry and Johnny got into a very heated argument at their apartment in Kansas City, and the police recalled. The police urged Johnny to tell them, just tell them that Larry poked her harmed her, even just a little nudge, because then they could arrest him. But she was so scared of what would happen and if they would take Bethany away from her. She could not be separated from Bethany, so she denied it. Here's that, Laurie. Yeah, in Kansas City because Johnny came up there. She was wandered. Like I said, one of the time, she was trying to get away. And I'm trying to think this was in I'm thinking, oh, what year was that, ninety maybe ninety it was early nineties. She came to she went to Kansas City to try to get away, and he figured out where she was, came all the way up there, actually moved up there, got him an apartment, got himself a job and everything. So it was a few months and then of course one day they were just gone. They just he took them and left. He always wanted to live in these little po dunk towns where nobody else lives, you know, like these little out in the country, and you know, and I kind of, I guess I get it. But if you're if you're like that, you you want to be able to be in control of everyone, including law enforcement. You know because there are sheriff's apartments or whatever those are, you know, I know that. I mean, there's some stories that Johnny can tell you about her going and trying to report him because it don't beat the hell out of her, and they told her, you're just gonna piss him off just going back home. We asked Johnny about this. When I left him, and I did go to Kansas City, me and Bethany. We snuck off and it was scary, and he's telling everybody I ran off three or four times. I ran off twice, ran for my life twice. The first time I went to Kansas City with my family, he found out it was there Bethany was little. He called the cops. The cops came to the apartment. He had already moved there or was moving there, I don't know. And they were gonna either I had an auction, either me and Bethany go back to Tennessee or Bethany goes back to Tennessee, one or the other. Because I took her across state line. He ended up calling while they were there, promised him we would get back together. We did. I had a job, he had a job, and we weren't in an apartment and then I can't. Was coming home from work one day and it was like a grocery store and I saw him standing on the side holding Bethany with his truck in a U haul and he said, me and Bethan and you are going back to Tennessee. You can come or not. I don't care. So we go to the apartment. He had sold everything. I packed up what not, every He didn't sell everything. He sold what he could the big furniture. We left everything. I took a suitcase full of clothes, my mom and my sisters. They were trying to get a hold of me and my aunt. They couldn't get a hold of me. They my my mom's husband had co signed for the apartment for us, and I mean, I put the cat and my stuff in my car and we went back to Tennessee. I couldn't call them, tell anybody I was leaving that we were disappearing, and they had to call, you know. After a couple of days and not hearing from me, they called the police and made entry into the apartment, and that's how my family found out I was gone. Larry's sister, who was also named Laurie, was the one who drove Larry's mother, Juanita, to the old Hickory Mall the night Bethany allegedly went missing from there. Laurie decided not to record an interview for the podcast, as we mentioned in previous episodes, but recall you did meet her daughter, Sarah Lynn and Kristen, Bethany's cousins fighting for justice. During my phone conversation with Larry's Laurie, she told me about a time when she encouraged Johnny to report her brother's physical abuse to the police, so much so that she even drove Johnny to the station herself. Johnny and her sisters bring this up in one of our sit down conversations when I asked if Johnny had ever filed a report against Larry's abuse. She tried, you know, big the hell out ever. He was getting ready to go on the road. He was mad about something and I won't forget it. I had long hair. He wouldn't let me cut my hair, so I had long hair, and I had on a white shirt, white T shirt or something. Me got mad and he just beat the snot out of me, and you know, I had blood on me and stuff, and he hadn't been gone too long, and his sister Laurie showed up, and Jenny was there and she stayed with kids, and so she took me to Martin, Tennessee, and we parked and we were going to go in the police station, and walking down sidewalk, two police officers walked said, Nope, nope, turning number one, you can't prove you did it. And number two if you follow her strain in order on and he'll kill you. Did they have any prior knowledge about who Larry was? Oh? Absolutely, his whole fot his whole entire family. Okay, yes, his. All of the Markowski men were trouble, were fighters and just crazy, crazy, insane people. And the thing about that too is I didn't know, just like when I met him and I didn't know he was still married. Well, whoa whoa rewind that. Just like when I met him and I didn't know he was still married. Interviews with Johnny are often like this, where she drops little pieces of information casually which are absolutely not casual, But to Johnny, she'll retell a traumatic event like she's ordering a coffee because to her, it was her reality. She didn't know any different. During these conversations I'll make eye contact with her sisters or friends from across the table, and they'll raise their eyebrows and give me a nod as if to say in agreement, Yeah, this is horrible. And so she peppered in that when she met Larry, he was married and she had no idea Johnny was brought into Larry's children's lives as the other woman, and his then wife, Sheila, will join us later on in this season, and for the first time ever, Sheila and Johnny will sit down together on record and share their story. And if you think Johnny was the first wife of Larry's to claim to be abused, you would absolutely be incorrect. We'll dive into Johnny and Larry's history together in a few chapters, but it was important to share a glimpse into the pattern of abuse that Johnny alleges Larry put her through, and that it was corroborated by his own sister. I wanted to leave a lot a lot of times. I just never I just never could. I was just scared. It was always it. Was better to be with him and know where he's at than to be away from him and not know where he's at and what he's doing. That is the scariest part. That was the scariest part about leaving, is not knowing where he's going to turn up. Johnny continues to reflect on the reality of life with Larry, you know, not knowing. If you're gonna walk in your apartment one night and come home from work and he's sitting on the couch. Because he used to do stuff like that all the time. He would say he was running to town or he was going to go to the store or whatever, and he would like go down the street and park, and then he would sneak back in the house and kind of hide just I don't know, to see what I'm doing, to see what's going on. Just crazy stuff. It was always you were always on guard. You were always walking on eggshells. And I'm not gonna sit here and lie and pretend that there wasn't good times in the marriage, because there was really good times in the marriage. But I think Jenny said it best. When it was good, it was good. When it was bad, it was very bad. It was you know, there was no in between, There was no gray. It was a good, black or white, good or bad. And uh, towards the end, after Jenny and Daniel moved out and it was just me and Bethany there with him. It Uh, it was more bad. It was more bad than it was good. In terms of being physically inverbally. It got worse physically and mentally. And you know, in every way you can he he played so many mind names with you, and one that I can remember was concerning my kids. Both Johnny and her oldest daughter Emily, recall the same incident. I'll let them tell it in their own way, both from separate interviews. Neither has heard what the other has said until now. Emily called me, I lost custody to my kids and which was the best thing in the world that could have happened to them? And Larry would say, do you want to call your kids? And if I said yeah, then he would be like, why do you want to call them? They hate you, they don't have nothing to do with you. And if I said no, then what kind of parent are? You don't even want to talk to your kids. So there was no. Right answer at all, and he would do the same thing, you know, to Bethany, do you want to call your sister? And Emily and she would just look over me. But one day, out of the blue, he looked at Bethany and said, you want to call Emily, and Bethany, you looked at me, and she just kind of sugar head. Yeah, he still call her. He called her and talked she Bethany called inmilyand talked to her, and then I talked to her, and Emily asked, Bethany could she come and spend the weekend, and Larry said yes, and she went and spent the weekend with Emily and her dad. This would be the last time Emily sees her little sister, Bethany. Here's Emily. She called me on my parents landline and was just like, hey, this is Bethany. So we're like okay, And she came and spent the weekend at my dad and set mom's house a few weeks later, I guess it was. And then we just went and. Did like I don't know, shopping and stuff like that, and then she they came and picked her up, and that was the last time I ever saw her. And now this brings us closer to the month. Johnny decides to flee with Bethany from Larry for one final time. Johnny calls Emily in January two thousand and one and shares with her. And then after that, my mom called me and was like, I can't tell anybody I'm leaving Larry, like he will kill me. Do not tell anybody. So of course I start crying. Something had changed in Johnny. She found in her strength, not just for herself, before her children. She had to leave one final time and stay God. Now it's late January two thousand and one. Bethany turns eleven, exactly one month from now. The violence has continued in the home, and Johnny has become increasingly more concerned that it will soon extend to Bethany too. Johnny had already witnessed what links Larry would go with his other children, his daughter Jenny and his son Daniel. Johnny's at work and it's raining heavy outside January and Tennessee can be fairly gloomy, with dark skies and wet air. She went to work, having made up her mind she would take Bethany and run, but she had to be wise about it. She was terrified of it going wrong and then being punished or worse. So I was at work, and I was praying and praying and praying, and you know, and I was like, God, you know, this has got to be it. It had been raining, and so the cashier needed to go to the bathroom. So I went up front and where people had walked in to watch the register. When people had, you know, the doors opened, the wind had blown the little hanging signs on the window. So I was straightening them up, and I turned around and looked, and there was something I wadded up behind the door. There on the floor was Johnny's answer to her prayer, a ten dollar bill. She looked around and nobody appeared to be looking for it, and no customers had come in to clean it. Could it be that this ten dollar bill could be enough to get her to grab Bethany and leave. Was this enough gas money to get her far enough away? Johnny needed to slow down. If she got ahead of herself, her plan would not work. Didn't know where to hide it. I probably wore the zero off of the dollar of the ten dollar bill, just checking it, making sure it was real. When her shift is over, she arrives back home. Larry is there, but he's not talking to her. Johnny prais for two specific things to happen the next day. Oh my god, just praying and asking God, you gave me the money, now you got to give me the car, and you gotta let back and go to school. Now may do? So the next morning got up and he was talking about filing our income tax and anyway, he was restoring an old car and had to go to Martin to finish or to Sharon to finish it because the guy was coming to get it. And Beth and he asked, and I go to school and he said yes, And then he looked at me and said, you're going to have to drive to work today. Man, I'm telling you, that was incredible. That was incredible. So, like I said, it had been raining for a day or two, and it was so and we were still in the process of building the house, so the yard was mud. And then we parked on down the road and we had horror. We had a couple of horses and a dog and a rabbit or two. Johnny had already been sharing with her sister aunt Laurie, about leaving Larry, and there were a few times Johnny thought it may happen, but it didn't. Things didn't go as planned. But this time her sister Laurie decided nope, we're coming for you, guys, hell or high. Water, and it was just insane. They knew this was the day they were gonna come in either way. Laurie remembers getting the call. She called and said, I've got Bethany. I'm on my way, and I was like, go, we'll be there. We're on our way too, We're we're about halfway there. Johnny moves quickly. Once I stood and watched him go down the road, and I called the people that he was going to their house. And I was talking to her and I said, as soon as Larry pulls up, because he would he would pull up, and then he would go in and get the re cordless house phone and take it out to while he was working, and he would call me every fifteen thirty minutes check on what I'm doing. But I said, as soon as he gets there, call me and let me know that he's there. I don't want you to miss this next part, so listen. And she started crying, you're gonna leave him. He's gonna kill you. But Johnny prayed and prayed, and she had to leave. And once she called Johnny that Larry had arrived, Johnny spring into action. So I'm just standing there looking around at the house, trying to decide what I want to do. So I got a clothes basket and I just started grabbing Beth in his clothes and throwing them in there. And of course you knows all the clothes she hated. And so then I would put those mud boots on, you know, big tall mud boots of Larry's, and I'd run down to the car and i'd get back and the phone's ringing, and I would answer it, and it was Larry, what are you doing? Because I'm out of breath. I just went and fed the horse, okay, he would hang up, and I'd look around the house, and you know what a kaboodle is, I grabbed. I grabbed her kaboodle, which was empty, and I ran it to the car. Just that came back. Phone was ringing again, why are you out of youth? Because I went to feed the doctor. You know, I was just making up stuff. I'm looking around to grab my bible and it just just crazy stuff, right, and just scared to death. And so I was standing by the back door and never forget it, the washing drivers right there, and I had the cordless phone in my hand, and I'd answered it for the last time. I knew this was going to be the last time. And I told him, if you call and I don't answer, it's because I'm in the shower, of the tub whatever, getting ready, because getting ready for working. He said, Okay. I laid the phone down and on the water or the driver, whichever one I took off. I ran as fast as I could. I slung those boots off my feet out in the yard, and I jumped in the car and I went to Bethany's school. And you were talking about my curly hair. Girl looked like a witch's head. Johnny frantically pulled into the back parking lot of the school and ran through the interior doors, calling out to the school office stuff, I need Bethany. I need Bethany right now. And they're like, oh, where's Bephany. Well, she was in these one of the trailers bat behind the school, and I never forget it. I was out there standing by the car. I was waiting, and Bethany opened the door and had her bag and she looked She's stopped and looked at me and she hollered, are we leaving, daddy? And I'm screaming like a maniac. Get the car, Get in the car. She finally gets to the car, she opens the back door to put her stuff in, and then a teacher opens the back door and says, Bethany, I need your spelling homework. I about lost it. Bethany got her spelling homework out. It's like you're never. That's what I wanted to say. But we got in the car. She got in the car, and she was just so excited, and I went totally blank. Could not figure out how to get to Jackson, Tennessee. So Bethany kind of directed me through Treasmon and all of those places. Bethany looks out the window while the world she knew passed her by, and turns to Johnny and asks. Mamma, do you think that I will quit bap my fingernails now that we're not gonna be with daddy. That's Johnny drove and drove until she finally made it to Jackson, Tennessee, where she was meeting her sister aunt Laurie at You may have already guessed the old Hickory mall, Yes, the same old Hickory mall that Bethany would allegedly go missing from in just a few weeks. Johnny pulls the car into the parking lot and parks off in the distance. Immaal security guard seems to take interest in what she's doing, so she moves the car to a new spot a few times. Once her sister, Laurie and Laurie's then husband pull up, they decided it would be best to park the car at the edge of the overflow parking lot, the same spot where law enforcement would later reveal Larry had parked his Astor Van on March fourth, two thousand and one. Johnny claims she wasn't trying to hide the car. It was parked in plain sight, but just out of the main parking area for mall patrons. Recall, it's next to the cemetery. That same cemetery, a new Walmart shovel was discovered the week of Bethany's disappearance. Johnny left the keys in the car, grabbed Bethany in their belongings, and hopped in the back of Laurie's Durango. Scared and running off pure adrenaline, Johnny and Bethany's stays slumped in the back seat down under the eye sight of windows to remain unseen. From passerbys. Laurie ads, that's why I wouldn't let them be alone. Laurie's then husband was head of the same company. Johnny was also working for it, and he had authorization to rent out the company's extended stay apartment they used for out of town clients. Since nobody was going to be using it immediately, they felt it was safest to put Johnny and Bethany in that apartment. It would be harder to find her that way, to track them down, to trace them. The reality of how Johnny and Bethany were living in such a controlled environment really began to sink in when they stopped at a locally owned grocery store to stock up on some of the apartment's kitchen and basics of place for the girls. Get what your name, because we're not gonna be able to see you for at least a week, because we know that he's gonna be tracking us, you know, where we're going and everything. Because because that's how he is. And so we went in there and we were in there for like ten minutes, just walking around in places not that big anyway. It's a little tiny grocer store, and I'm like, y'all need to get what you want, so we can get you to get you on that. And uh so, anyway, she's like, well, and they both were like, I don't know, we don't know what we want. They've never been able to do that, just to go shopping on their own and get what they want. And I'm like, okay, do what smice? Do you want this? But I was like, get what you want, get it, you know, get enough to last you all week. And so anyway, and then we did finally get you there. Johnny recalls how a simple question revealed so much about her life. You talk about pressure. I think it was the next day Adle recalled and said, hey, listen, I'm at Walmart. So I'm on the toothbrush out, So what kind of toothbrush do you want? What do you mean? What color do you want? Soft? Medium? Hard? What color? And I was just like, she was freaking me out. She's asking me all these questions, what kind of brush do you want? What kind of this do you want? I don't care, I don't know. For the first time in a decade, Johnny was responsible for every facet of her own life, and she realizes she was never overwhelmed about the toothbrush. No, you guys, it was never about the tooth brush. But Larry was still trying to find them. He was calling schools everywhere acrossing down Tennessee trying to locate Bethany. He wrote a letter to his lawyer during this time, which Johnny has shared with me. We asked one of our friends over at the true Crime podcast True Crime Cast to read it for us. Here's the letter, word. For a word. I've been married to Johnny for ten years. We've been together for thirteen years. During this time, I've noticed times where she's happy, and then there's times where she's quite discouraged, to the point where she's withdrawn and doesn't want to speak to me. I would ask her what is wrong, and she usually just teared up and said nothing at all. Also, no matter where we live, she's happy for short periods of time. After that, she talks about wanting to move and becomes very cold and indifferent to me When I try and convince her we cannot stay. I keep picking up and moving all the time, and she gets angry with me. Also, when talking to friends, there are times when she tells them how much she loves me. She's happy and tells about her home life and everything is great, and then later she tells them that she thinks about leaving. Johnny is always in some way told me that she could just pack up and leave whenever. We would just be going somewhere through big cities and whatnot, and she would make remarks like that would be a good place to hide, or no one would ever find anyone there. This has always tormented me. Most of the time, I wouldn't say nothing about it. I love Johnny very deeply. I also have always been faithful to her, but she is always checking up on me in some kind of way or another. She is very insecure about this. I try to convince her different, but I can't seem to make her believe me. Sometimes Johnny can be and has always been supportive of me, But on the other hand, there's times where she is as different from daylight and night. It's almost like she's another person. I tried to make Johnny happy to the best of my ability. When I met Johnny, she was going through divorce. She initially gained joint custody of her children, and she was still not happy. Her husband filed for total custody and it was granted by the court. One reason and being she would not and did not ever appear in court to try to keep them in ways. Johnny has took this out on me. Did not want me to have anything to do with my other two children, to the point where she stated that she hated them and wanted them out of the house. I would never allow that, and I would not turn my back on my children for her or anyone. We have moved around several different places. I have bought houses and new trailer home and also built houses, none of which pleased her very long. When I met Johnny also talked with her ex husband. He explained to me that Johnny had all kinds of feelings built up inside of her. She has problems, and I would see the problems just like he did. She had left him a couple of times, and she left the children with him, went to bars while he would babysit. He said he could never make her happy, and that during the course of their marriage he slept on the couch. He said he did not care. He just wanted to be with her no matter what. I've urged Johnny over the years to contact and see her children. She would not, being afraid they would hate her for giving them up for me, which is not true. Johnny has also left with our child one time to Kansas City and other places with no word for weeks about how they were doing where they were, and she also called on her ex husband to help her when she went to Kansas City. She finally got in touch with me and we talked, and I had to pack up and sell everything and to get out there too or in order to secure our marriage. After a year, we moved back to Tennessee. She left again, and a couple of years later we got back together again. Things seemed to go good at first, and just recently purchased land and built a new home for her and my daughter, Bethany. As for myself, it's hardly been a year. I talked to Johnny a day before she left about buying a new bedroom suit for us and for our homes. She said was great. I also spoke of going to church with no reply. The next day. On January twenty fourth, two thousand and one, she left again and I have not heard from her since. She has taken my daughter out of her home, out of her and ran away from her family, and not even so much enough decency to pick up her phone and let my daughter speak to me. My daughter means the world to me. She's a daddy's girl I love, and I need her close to me, not off running all over the place. It's my prayer I can regain my daughter and work something out with her mother, whom I love very much. Also, to help us better understand the timeline, we also obtained a copy of the temporary restraining order that Johnny received, which states, quote, this matter came on to be heard by the court by a conference call, wherein it appears a plaintiff is entitled to a restraining order restraining the defendant from coming about the plaintiff or in any way interfering with the custody of the minor child. Of the parties being with the plaintiff pending a hearing set for February twelve, two thousand and one, Markowski is hereby restrained from interfering with the custody of the minor child, Bethany Makowski, which custody is granted to the plaintiff, Johnny Mkowski. It is further the order of this Court that the defendant is restrained from coming about or in any way interfering with the life of the plaintiff. This document was signed January thirty first, two thousand and one. So per the timeline, Johnny fled from Larry on January twenty fourth, and just one week later, she files and is granted the temporary restraining order against Larry Joe Markowski. Johnny would then soon fill for divorce and would be granted primary custody of Bethany panting litigation. However, at that next court date on February twelve, two thousand and one, Larry would be granted unsupervised visitation every other week, and he was to pay eighty dollars per week to Johnny for child support. Now keep in mind, this is just a few weeks after the court granted Johnny that temporary restraining order of protection against Larry. Now, this order of protection, it's not just for what seems obvious, to protect Johnny from being physically harmed by Larry any longer. No, no, no, What if I told you that Johnny had immediately enrolled Bethany and in new school when they arrived in Nashville DuPont's Elementary and not the temporary restraining order, Well, it was fact to the principal of Bethany's new school, while nairate Larry mccowski was inside the school demanding to be given his daughter. All of this happened on the same day, January thirty. First, the temporary restraining order is granted in Larry Murkowski arrives at Bethany's new school. That facts that day, at that moment was the only thing that prevented Larry from taking Bethany from school that day. Next time on Missing a Hushtown. And then we could see on the camera because they have hammers in the hallways for the school and that's in the office. We could see the commotion going on with him trying to grab Bethany and all that stuff. And the thing that he said to Bethany is you're going to tell me where your mom is. So this hadn't nothing to do with Bethany. Has had everything to do with Johnny, which she was just collateral damage. He called me for two weeks when she disappeared with Johnny. He has never never asked me to help him find best. In me now. Missing in Hushtown season two is executive produced in partnership by Fireeyes Media LLC's Jules Thorpe and John Rivera, as well as Momcast Productions Rachel Holloway and Heather Northcraft. The script is written by Jules Thorpe and edited by Heather Northcraft. Project lead is Rachel Holloway and master editing and audio production is done by John Rivera. Jules Thorpe is your Hostreeyees Media mum aspicians raising voices while raising kids