Chapter 5: Arkansas

This is missing in Hushtown season two. Bethany Markowski. Welcome back to Bethany's Brigade. I'm your host Sjules. This is chapter five Arkansas. M m hm. I knew. I knew that Johnny and her were planning on leaving. How did you know? Because Bethany told me? What did she say? She told me that she told me her and her mom were planning on leaving Daddy. I was like, oh really, And then when Johnny and them came to pick her up. I do remember, whis Brenda Johnny in the kitchen and she said, please, don't say anything, and she said she didn't know when, she didn't know how, but she was going to try to get away from him. Do you remember what you thought at the time when you heard that, Well, it's all good for you. During the first unsupervised visitation with Bethany that Larry was awarded by the court, Bethany's older sister, Jenny, who was nineteen at the time, was invited to spend the weekend with them. We shared previously that this visit would be the last time Jenny saw her little sister. Ever, however, this wasn't the last planned visit no. You see, Larry had asked Jenny and her them boyfriend to move to an apartment with him to Nashville so that they could be close to Bethany. Now recall that Johnny and Bethany are currently living in Nashville. During their transition from fleeing from Larry in Gleason, Tennessee, Mary had just stormed into Bethany's new school, DuPont Tyler Elementary a few weeks prior so. Now, Johnny and Bethany were living with her sister, aunt Laurie and her family. Jenny was no stranger to the realities of what her stepmother Johnny went through in the marriage to Larry. Not only did she witness first hand hostile events, but according to Jenny, she was also at times on the receiving end of Larry's mistreatment. The weekend of Larry's second unsupervised visitation with Bethany March second through March fourth, Jenny and her boyfriend got their workshifts covered and Larry picked them up on March first, Thursday in Dresden, where Jenny was living, and brought them to his home in Gleeson, Tennessee. This is the same home where Johnny, Bethany, and Larry were all living at the time Johnny fled, not even a month and a half prior. This is the same house that Johnny recalls Larry was still building. Jenny was told by Larry about the plans for that weekend. They would all sleep at Larry's home in Gleeson on Thursday night, then on Friday they'd go to Nashville and look at apartments. Jenny still had a strained relationship with her father, but he told her that since he's driving trucks again, he'd only be there on the weekends and the apartment would essentially be Jenny and her boyfriends all week To Jenny, a young adult who spent her life in small rural towns in Tennessee, moving to Nashville, the big city with her boyfriend in an apartment sounded like a great idea, and she would get to be near her little sister, so she was sold. But when they woke up on Friday morning ready to go grab breakfast and then spend the day apartment shopping in Nashville before it was time to all go and pick Bethany up for the weekend visit, Jenny shares with us how plans drastically and suddenly were changed. We woke up on Friday morning to all the furniture being moved out of the house that he shared with Johnny and Bethany. And then, you know, I'm like, why are we selling the furniture? Don't you need it for Nashville? And he said not, it's too big, won't fit in a small apartment there. We don't need it. We'll just get more. We went to a. Little restaurant on the highway, on the Gleason, Tennessee Highway ate breakfast, and that's when he told us that he was going to change of plans. He was going to take us back to Dresden. Change of plans, but didn't give specifics on why or what he was going to be doing, so we were kind of like, what's going on. We then took off work for this weekend, and then all of a sudden the plans changed. And what happened with the apartment. I mean, he just said, I'm taking you back now your the apartment is just the apartment idea that's just done. Just move on and get over it. Nothing was ever said about it again. He said we were just gonna go. He was just gonna go get her, and I don't recall what he said they were going to do, but yeah, it kind of just fill. To the white side. And so instead he goes to Arkansas, and now we're caught up to the last forty eight hours before Bethany goes missing a planned weekend with his daughter's pivots, and Larry takes Jennie back home Cancel's plans to apartment shop to be near Bethany. Instead, he picks up Bethany from that meeting spot in Waverley and drives three hundred miles to Little Rock, Arkansas to visit his then best friend, Harold Roberts. The following interview is all according to Harold's alleged account of that weekend, but stick around because Larry also shared with me his side of the events which took place inside Harold's home that weekend in two thousand and one. I invitted Larry to come out for the weekend and study for the weekend with us, and that I was going to get people from the church to come over and we was going to go out and eat, we was going to sign and he could go to church with me on Sunday morning, and then get Benthny back home. There. According to Harold, the plan was always for Larry to stay through Sunday afternoon, then hit the road with Bethany to go back to Waverley to meet Aunt Laurie to bring Bethany back to Nashville. Well, we now know that not only did these plans change, but we learned that they changed in a very erratic and seemingly manic way. When he got there, Bethony was withdrawn for me, and she never had been in her life. She always called me uncle. Okay, and she was setting my laugh and Johnny will verify what I'm telling you. But that night, when they got in, Bethany would stay clear of me, and I didn't know why, and it puzzled. With me, but I just let it go. Harold knew Bethany was in the middle of her parents' contentious divorce. Recall how Harold had just driven Larry to bethany school a few weeks prior. So maybe Bethany's detached and distant behavior was an effect of the events out of her control. But then we remember little pieces of information told to us throughout this journey. Just as Bethany not feeling well during the exchange, and she may be getting a little sick according to Aunt Laurie. Or how about according to Johnny, Bethany really didn't want to go with Larry that weekend, and how she was worried that he'd never bring her back home? Could this all be tied together? One common theme I've noticed throughout the last three and a half years of working on missing in Hutchtown cases alongside families is that the families are torn apart, the rip to shreds by trauma, grief, guilt, disappointment, frustration, and the worst of all, lack of communication. With lack of communication comes missing pieces of a puzzle. Yes, there are amazing law enforcement professionals working on these cases now, but if everyone involved isn't sharing what they know in gathering on the table, adding their piece to another to fit perfectly, how can we ever truly see the big picture before us. That's what we are aiming to do in this season, But unfortunately we don't have Larry or Valerie Markowski interviewing in a cohesive setting for us to ask questions and follow ups. But what we do have morsels of information sprinkled to us by then through text and Facebook messages. Well, it's better than nothing at all, and at the end of the day, I truly am thankful that they've given us at least that much. So I decided to message Valerie about this. As we've shared earlier, Valerie is open to hearing what I have to say, and she's established an open line of respectful communication between us, which I do respect and appreciate. I shared with her exactly what Jenny shared with us. I copied and pasted that part of the interview verbatim, and then I asked Valerie this, Jules, Hey, Valerie, I am working on one of the new episodes set to come out in January, and I was wondering if you were able to offer any insight, or if you or Larry would like to include anything. I sent her the transcript and asked why he changed his plans on Jenny Suddenly, Jules, is this because Harold called Larry Thursday night or Friday morning to invite him to Arkansas, and so Larry changed his plans. Full transparency, we don't know which day exactly Harold called Larry to invite him to Arkansas for that weekend, but we were trying to pinpoint it to try to understand what was going on. Could we believe that Harold called Larry that Thursday night, March first, and Larry had decided to take Harold up on his offer. Well, this would explain why Larry changed plans overnight on Jenny. Maybe Larry really wanted to see his friend get out of the state and decompress. What doesn't quite make sense to us producers, however, is this okay? Say that's true that Harold invited Larry to Arkansas on Thursday night or even Friday morning. Why was Larry He's selling furniture and telling Jenny and her boyfriend that they wouldn't need that big furniture in the new apartment and they could just go get more, only to then tell Jenny a few hours later that same day that he was canceling their plans. There would be no apartment shopping or spending time with Bethany altogether, and he was taking them back home to Dresden. Remember our puzzle analogy. I want to bring in a piece to the big picture which I feel may fit. Back in episode four point one, our podcasting Friends from True Crime cast read Larry's letter to his attorney. The letter he wrote just after Johnny fled in January of two thousand and one, Let's revisit the line I think may fit into this puzzle. Things seemed to go good at first, and just recently purchased land and built a new home for her and my daughter Bethany. 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. Stop right there. He wanted to buy a new bedroom suite. Beads, dressers, nightstands. Aren't these all the things that Larry was frantically selling The morning of Friday, March second, two thousand and one, when Jenny woke up believing that she was going to be apartment shopping. I also spoke of going to church with no reply, and 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 school, 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. And here going to church. This is exactly what he drove to Little Rock, Arkansas for that Friday the second of March two thousand and one, when his plans changed last minute. Could it be nothing? Absolutely? It could be nothing, But should we see if possibly it's something? Yeah? Why not? 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. And then there's this part he wants his daughter close to him. He was planning to move to Nashville to be close to her, to have an apartment where he could go to be on the weekends near Bethany, and then he decides to take her out of state, violate court orders for visitation stipulations, and proceed to run all over the place with Bethany that very weekend. On the other hand, it would not make sense for Larry to continue to search for an apartment in Nashville to be near Bethany if Bethany was not going to be in Nashville. But what came first the knowledge Bethany wouldn't be in Nashville after March second, two thousand and one, or the disappearance on March fourth, two thousand and one. This is why I wanted to ask Valerie, Larry's wife, myself, and as long as she is willing to reply, I will continue to ask and be very transparent with them. And yes, Larry and Valerie have listened to the podcast well the first few episodes thus far. I believe. Here's our exact exchange through Facebook Messenger after they had listened to those first few episodes. When I followed up about the idea of Larry giving a full unedited raw interview, his idea where he lays everything out or provides a full statement for us to read and share, or even meet with Jenny. Jenny asked me to invite Larry to sit down with her to go over everything and ask her father the tough questions that she's had for years. Valerie said she would address it with Larry and get back to me, So I followed up, Jules, has Larry made a decision about a statement or a full unedited interview or meeting with Jenny as before, I'll bring everything we're talking about in future episodes to him to address as well. Valerie, We've been discussing it on and off for the last couple days. We've had grand babies over all week, and then a family member's house burnt yesterday, so we have been busy. Jules, I'm sorry about your relative house. Valerie. Thank you. I will get back to you and Larry and I can discuss it further. We have listened to some of the podcasts, haven't had time to finish all episodes, Jules. Great, there's six parts in just three chapters. The next chapters will drop January. But we can include anything that we need to, and we mean it truly. You know. Johnny has stated to us that she wants Larry to have the space to say whatever he wants, his truth, his version, his perception of even Johnny. Johnny has said she doesn't have any fear of any skeletons that she has maybe coming out through the mouth of Larry, and that's because she knows nothing can stop her from telling Bethany's story, nothing can stop her from searching for Bethany. But a lot of our exchanges between me and Valerie are just like that. Valerie telling me she needs to get back to Larry, and then she'll let me know only not to have further communication about that specific request unless I follow up on a and I don't think it's intentional. I don't, but I wish it was met with more intention because the bottom line is this, We're searching harder than Larry to find Larry's missing daughter, and at this point it's frustrating. We understand Larry didn't sign with us to do this podcast. Johnny did, and there is a difference, But why not come forward, Larry. It's been over two decades. It's time, isn't it. Lay it all out there, tell your side, Explain the holes in the case, walk us through the theories, guide us in the right direction again if you are not it. Eventually, Valerie did reply about why Larry canceled on Jenny that weekend he took Bethleen to Arkansas. Valerie, I'll have to get with Larry on this when he gets home. I don't know much about this. I've heard about it, but it's been several years ago and I can't remember everything, so I don't want to speak on it, and so we will wait, and I know when I follow up, she will come back around and share whatever Larry does give her, and we will accept whatever crumb of information he gives us you know, anything can help anything. And here is where we need to come to a full stop. Do you recall Sarah Lynn, Bethany's cousin, sharing with us that right after Bethany went missing, that Larry stayed at her home. And do you recall how Sarah Lynne remembers Larry putting things from his van right into her family's shed. Well, here's a quick refresh the shed. Can you talk to me about the shed was there? Did do you know if he kept things in that shed before? Did he ever come back and get the things in the shed? Did you ever see the stuff in the shed? I know that there was a lot of things in the shed that was said to me it was all Bethany's. Everything that was in his van was supposedly put in the shed. From my memory, I never I was so young. I never went in the shed. I do know it was full after after he stayed with us. I do not remember. I can't remember whatever happened or did he come get it. Honestly, I've blocked it off. I can't remember what happened. Do you know if he kept things in there and before Bethany disappeared? Never? Never, Okay, so this was I know. The I don't know the ship has gone today. I have to pass the house daily, and I do know the shed's not there no more. But I've never he never came to our house like that, really. So the items in the van were stored in the shed immediately after Bethany witnessing. He didn't store them in his own house in Gleason, which he still had, and he didn't keep them in his van to bring back to his house in a few days. When asked about the shed recall, Valerie told us, quote from what I gather, and this is me, not Larry. Larry wasn't staying at the house all the time, so he probably gathered some things and just put them in her shed instead of having them piled up in the van, because I'm sure he slept in it sometimes end quote. But he had slept in his home in Gleason on my first Jenny was there. Jenny corroborated this, and then he would be at home again on Sunday, March fourth, at nine am. Now we know this because Johnny got a call from Larry's house landline on that date at that time. So now we have to go through everything that happened in between Friday night and Sunday morning. After Larry picks up Bethany at the McDonald's and Waverley on Friday, March second, he then proceeds to drive to Little Rock, Arkansas, to Harold's home with Harold Roberts, Harold's wife, the children, and their church friends. Here's Harold with producer Rachel Holloway. One of the One of the reason I brought that up about in the room and him not wanting people to be alone. I know that from one of the things that I've heard is that you guys had either gone out to dinner or gone out that night, and that Bethany and Jonathan stayed home. Is that accurate? Or But there was more than just Jonathan and Anthony there, Okay, girlfriend was there, Sherry's son was there, Jonathan's stepsister was there. Okay, so there was a half full Okay. Well. There there were more than more than just the two of them. But Larry did still go with you guys. Yeah, but he wanted to get home quick. Okay. Yeah, That's where I was trying to wrap around, wrap my head around the fact of like him. You know, if if he's trying to think of I need to make sure she's quiet. I need to pay attention to what she's doing. Him going to dinner and said that. Yeah, he never said that, but he was antsy, wanted to get back home. And matter of fact, he did like this tightment one time while we was out to eat and. He said, I want to type. I want to get back home and type bed and into the mall and he looked at Cherry, which is the girl that we had introduced him to. Yeah, and he said, your son can go to and Sherry told him said, there, my son's going to that. Mall this time of night. Because that mall was not a good mall. You know it was. It was in North Little Rock area, Yeah, and it wasn't a good mall. It was a lot of things could happen in that mall at that time of night. So Cherry wasn't too enthused. With Larry anyway. Yeah, and so she kind of back. In fact, he even told me after he left, he's I don't like him. He's he's got some problems that I can't put my finger on, but I don't like him. In number two, he's married and he's acting like he's not. Side note. Johnny and Larry's divorce would be finalized in July of two thousand and one, the same week he would marry his current wife, Valerie. And he was referring to going to a mall that night when you guys were out. Yeah, at the North Little Rock Mall. Okay, he wanted. That's where the picture was taking up her Jonathan. Harold chills Rachel a photo booth image of his son Jonathan with Bethany. That was the last picture that was every Tiger ever that I know. Was We'll share this photo on a website missing in hushtown dot com under chapter five for you guys to see. I asked Valerie about the mall trip that evening in Arkansas. Valerie, Yes, a photo sketch of Bethany and Jonathan was done at the mall. I think some other photos from a photo booth were taken. Also. I'm not sure if Larry went in with them, but I think he did. Yes, they went shopping. The police took Bethany's bag of clothes. Larry bought Bethany at the mall in Arkansas out of the van at the Jackson Mall when Bethany disappeared. Now, Valerie was unsure if they went to the mall before or after the dinner, but she does corroborate that they did go to that mall. Rachel asked Harold if he believes Bethany ever made it to the Old Hickory Mall in Jackson, Tennessee. No, I do not know, and I'm gonna tell you why. And I've put this on fis book and. Number one all right, I'm not going to say number one one thing. The timeline of what Larry was supposed to do and what he did does not match. He was supposed to meet Johnny or Johnny's sister in Dison, Tennessee. Well, actually it's Waverley, not Dixon. Around four thirty or five o'clock with Bethany to drop her off. Okay, yeah, what was. He doing at the mall five o'clock? There's no way you can drive him over one hundred miles that quick. And it wasn't one hundred miles from the Old Hickory Mall to the meeting point at the McDonald's and Weaverly. It's about seventy eight miles, so he wasn't far off about it being well over an hour drive though. Number two, his van showed up on the and I don't know this for a fact, is something I've been told or heard. But his band did show up on the cameras of the mall, and it was only their fifteen minutes. It wasn't there a hour. It wasn't there long enough for him at taking now. I was told that he pulled up in the van and got out and wanted the mall and declared that the missing. This information was new to us. We have no cooperation from anybody we've talked to or any sources we've scoured. However, the fact that Larry's van would be on cameras is not a foreign theory to us, given the police came to the shopping mall and Larry was there with his van. But there are no cameras where he was initially parked by the cemetery in the back of the mall property. Could Larry just be seen on the cameras if he moved his van closer to the entrance? Is this what Harold is talking about, That Larry's van is only seen once he parks near the entrance, and that's assuming he did repark his van. Larry says he never parked back by the cemetery in the overflow parking lot, that same location where Johnny dumped their car and fled from Larry just months prior, and that same location where the shovel was found the week Bethany disappeared. So no, I don't think she was everwhere at the mall. Matter of fact, it never shows. I do know this. There's no video of any doorway of the mall that showed that she ended that mall. This appears to be correct given our sourced information, per police reports and interviews. And I don't think she was there where anybody else could have grabbed her that didn't know her, because Bethany was a fighter and she would have screamed at the top of her. Lungs, trust me. So if there's anybody that got her, somebody that knew her. And I bought that story from Larry for a long time until I had talked to Johnny, because I thought, well, okay, Johnny, my descent, her son, to go get Bethany and retrieve her from him. So he's referring to Johnny's oldest child, Kyle. Kyle was already an adult at this time. You know, but that's not the case. I don't believe that. Now, after I'll put Trae together and seen all the lives he's told. Yeah, that's the question. Why is he lying? Why? I mean, wow, I mean, is you telling the truth? You don't have to lie. You just tell the truth the same time, same way, every time, and it comes out the same. Yep. When he went to your place. One of the things that's brought up also is the thought or belief that he may have like tried to change what he looked like his appearance. So I was kind of curious because they said at the mall that maybe he had dyed his hair. So when he was with you, I mean you you've known him for so long, you know what he looks like. Did he look like he was trying to disguise, like dye his hair or anything. Okay, So it was just the regular what he looked like all the time. Okay. He was invited to my house because he had called me several times a day okay, and. At how depressed he was. So I might have mentioned, I said, r when you get. Back, and we'd love to see her. Jonathan would love to see her when you get her. I said, and I didn't think anything about this. I said, why don't y'all come out here and we'll have h we'll you can go to church with us. I introduced you to a friend, and and at that time, that's all that we was recognizing that Cherry might be because Cherry was not interested in a married man. She's Christian woman, but you know she she's went through divorce herself and she knew what it was like. And and uh, anyway, that was the deal, that she was going to meet him, and that he was going to be around church people, was gonna sing, we was gonna go out to eat, He's gonna go to church with us, and maybe he'd feel better before we went home. But to my unbeknown I didn't know this until. After I had talked to Johnny, that he never had permission from Johnny to be there with Bethany. Yeah, that he. Never told me Johnny that he was going there, right, Johnny didn't know it. Johnny didn't know it until I was talking to this later. Johnny didn't know it until Becony was on the computer on AOL messenger making her friends. Okay, so they arrive in Little Rock, go to dinner with a group of people from Harold's church, lead the group of children at the house altogether, and return from dinner. Allegedly, Larry takes Jonathan and Bethany to the mall. And again, we don't know much more about this, but trust us, we're not giving up on getting more information on it, and once we do, we will bring you at all. But for now, Rachel has some heavy hitting questions for Harold. You know, in the past, Harold has held steadfast to his version of that weekend, and it's this Larry was supposed to stay Friday night, Saturday night, go to church Sunday morning altogether, and then drive back to drop Bethany in Waverley. However, Larry doesn't do this, as we've already told you. Harold and Larry both agree on this, though that Larry left Saturday night instead of the planned Sunday, but that's where their stories diverge. Harold says Larry had not slept all Friday night, as they were up talking, singing worship songs, doing fellowship. Then Larry was up all Saturday and when Saturday night came, he suddenly stood up and announced he was leaving. Harold says he believes what triggered Larry was seeing Harold's son, Jonathan, and Bethany in a bedroom. And at that time that's when he got mad at Jonathan and then being for being in the bedroom together. The door was opened, but he went off and I calmed him down. You know, Larry told us a different story, So we asked Harold out it. If you don't want to answer anything, you're not held accountable to answer anything. But one of the things that Larry has said is that the reason he left your house is because you were beating your wife. That's not so he left it. Okay, I've got too many weaknesses that what went down at that time, we had so many people there. I guarantee you if I had been trying to with my wife, he wouldn't have had to pull me off of her. Yeah, beginning, my little bunch. More than that, what happened was he jumped up in the middle of midstream, out of nowhere, left field. Yeah, I'm going home. Yeah, Okay, Yeah, that's what i'mmber you saying saying the other night too, just about the fact that all of a sudden and then when he said it, you mentioned, no, don't do that. You need to sleep. We've been up for you know, over a day, and. He's like no night, adamantly denying he had his wife that weekend in March of two thousand and one. Harold stands firm. Not the trigger for Larry abruptly ending the conversation at the table and announcing he was leaving, was seeing Jonathan and Bethany alone in that room. When I spoke with Larry on the phone and shared that Harold denied beating his wife that weekend and having to be pulled off by Larry. Larry shares with me that Harold threw his wife off a bridge once and broke her neck. So Rachel asked Harold about this directly in another interview. You know, if I throw somebody off the bridge, you know, and broke grenade, I mean, does she deal or does she die? And if wre was the documentation, you know, if I don't half the stuff that he said I've done, probably I'd be in jail. But I will tell you this, I'm not an angel, and I'm not one for anybody to mess with. I'll tell you that. Yeah, I never have been. You know, I've never felt sorry for anybody that tries to. Doney Own when I get Yeah, but I had never hurt nobody, killed nobody or anything. Ain't like that. But I have shown him up a little. And this is where things continued to heat up because, according to Larry, and a woman will introduce you to soon, Larry says, in the late nineteen nineties, Harold shot and killed a man who was sleeping with his wife. But if you were to ask Harold, Harold says, Larry told him that story, that exact story, and that Larry was the one who shot and killed a man. And of course, as investigated podcasters, we cannot hear about another possible victim in the story and let it go. So yes, we do follow up on this story, and we promise to fill you in on everything we've discovered in future bonus chapters. He's creating a diversion. Harold continues, sharing how he tried to persuade Larry to stay the evening. He said, I'm going home, and I said, Larry, you've been up since Friday night. Yeah, I said, you're. Gonna put Bessing in danger. Driving home. I said, stay. Here, and I will not. You're not obligated to go to church. Stay here, go to bed, get up in the morning, and y'all leave and take besting the home and y'all have a good, nice rest. He said, no, I'm going, and there's a bunch of people there from our church, just like I told you. Yeah, And when he got to the door, he turned around to me. He said her, I'll call you in a little bit and tell you where to come and get the Vanne told me he's saying, I'm going to Mexico. And I told him, I said, here, if you go to Mexico, I said, the FBI, I'll come right over there and pick you up. I said, they got the right to go into Mexico. I said, the best thing you can do is take her home, and y'all you and you and Johnny get this straightened out. And I said, the best thing you can do anyway. He turned around and told me that, and I said, get your butt home, Yarry. And I said, call me when you get home, because I'm gonna be. Worried about you. Well, about one thirty in the morning, my phone rungs and I said, where are you, Larry, And he said, I'm in Forest City, Arkansas. I said, well, Dane, Larry, you've been gone long enough, you had time to get home, yeah. He said. He said, well I stopped and took a naw. I said, okay, call. Me when you get home. Well, we got up the next morning and we went to church, and then we went back to church that night at seven o'clock. And at seven o'clock we had church. And when we got back home, I had two messages on my phone. One of them was from the North Little Rock Police and the other one was from the Jackson Police in Jackson, Tennessee. So me living in a Little Rock at that time, North Little Rock, I called over the police and they asked you they come over. We asked my cult, former commander of the violent Crimes Unit at the Jackson, Tennessee Police Department at the time of Bethany's disappearance, about Harold. Did you talk with mister Harold Roberts? I did. Can you go into that at all your experience and when you first talked with him, and how that went. I won't go into specifics with him, but he helped confirm some of the timeline before that, of course confirmed they had visited, and I know I think I spoke with him at least twice by phone and I know that. TBI or by. That time FBI I was also involved. I don't recall who went over and actually sat down with him. It maybe mccathy. He is referring to a former Jackson p D officer, Kathy Ferguson, who later went on to work with the TBI. I just don't recall right the top of my head. Were you part of the team that went and I know he did a consented search. Were you there when his home. Was walked through? No, I did not go to Arkansas, Harold remembers clearly. I think every. Car on the squad came over my yard full of cop cars, and they got out of the car and they said, we want to search your house. We want to search everything, and we want you to just stay out of our way. I said, well, I do this, but I tell you something, el sir, If you tell me what you're looking for. I might be able to help you find it. I can't tell you nothing, not until I get done. Yeah. So they searched under the house, they searched in the egg, they searched every room in that house. And when he got done, he come to me and he said, do you have a phone that I can hear on why you make a phone call? I said, yes, sir, dude, I said, we got three phones on the same line. He said, okay, We're gonna call Jackson. Police and he said, I'm going to be on the phone listening. To what you say. I said, okay, he ain't no problem. And this is the first that I heard about it. Now. I called Jackson police, and Jackson Police asked me. They said, mister Roberts, was Larry Mkowsky and Bethany your house over the weekend? I said, yes, sir, they were. He said, could you tell me about what time they left? I said somewhere around nine, I want, say nine, somewhere around there. And uh. He said, well, let me ask you another question. He said, do you think that Larry would let Bethany go into the mall by herself? I said no, I do not, I said, I do not. I said no, I said because and I even told the officer this. I said that he got mad because beth and he went in my son's bedroom and they was just up there talking while we was downstairs. Talking at the table. Yeah, I said, so that's how protected he was of her, and Larry was protecting of her, I mean, he was. Yeah, anyway, anyway, and he said. The officer said, Harold, do you think that Larry would have done anything to his daughter? With his daughter? I said, no way, I said, I don't think that at all. I said, what are you all trying to tell me? He said, beth Andy has disappeared. And my heart sunk to my yeah, to my knees. I said, what do you mean disappeared? And he said supposedly she went into them all and she never came out. The clean from Harold that Larry told him he was going to Mexico is one Larry would adamantly deny consistently for decades. He tells me on the phone that he was a truck driver, and if he wanted to drive to Mexico, why would he stop at Harold's home on the way. Either way, he did not end up in Mexico. Now we know this because he calls Johnny Sunday morning from Gleese and Tennessee. So why did he bring Bethany into the night to drive back to Gleeson. At this point, Larry's not slept in over twenty four hours. It's about a four and a half hour drive from Little Rock, Arkansas, back to Gleese in Tennessee, and in the last forty eight hours, he's canceled plans to apartment hunt, canceled his plans with his daughter Jenny, and has abruptly canceled plans with Harold to go to church on Sunday morning, opting to drive sleepless with his daughter instead of resting and waiting until the next day. Did Larry feel Bethany was unsafe in Harold's home? Was this the reason? Did he not trust Harold or not trust Jonathan? But remember, according to Larry, he says he left because Harold was physically abusing, beating on his wife. All this to call Johnny from his home in Gleason on Sunday morning around nine thirty am. The same conversation where a distressed Bethany is telling her mom that daddy knows you have a boyfriend. The same man who will then drive to this alleged boyfriend's home and sit outside with his daughter, telling her that's where your mother's boyfriend lives. Here's Johnny. Do you believe that Bethany ever left Arkansas? I do believe she left Arkansas because she called me on the phone. And it came from Glason, and you know that because it should be full to call him my Nie. We asked Johnny if she was positive that Harold was not involved in the disappearance of her daughter? Am I one hundred percent sure? No, I am not. I I do know that Harold did not have the FBI ascended upon him really quick. I don't think he would have time to get to Jackson and then I don't know. I don't know. I don't know the timeline, but I do know that they pretty much invaded him pretty quick after Bethany was reported missing and found out that she had been in Arkansas. I don't know if it was the next. Day or when, but. I know I don't know. Everybody to me's under suspicion. Law enforcement did descend upon Harold fairly quickly, and he has an ironclad alibi for Sunday morning. One thing to say me is that I went to church that Sunday morning, went out to eat with the church. We all went out to eat. It was a steakhouse there in the old Little Rock, Arkansas. And I was tired because I'd been up the hours that I've been up, and I had to preach that Sunday night. So I wanted to take a nap and freshen up. Yeah, And so I went home, took a nap. Got up with church seven o'clock, and when I got back my phone had two messages on this. What saved me was this n There is no way that I had time to drive after church Sunday morning to Tennessee and be back at church seven o'clock in time for service and have anything to do with the discipense of Bethany. And I believe that. I believe that's just how God had my back. And I have too many witnesses. Next time I'm missing in Hushtown, Bethany Markowski going to be. Very thorough on this one more time. Yeah, very thorough. You're never going. To get him until you put pressure on him one on me. He's going to have to feel threatened that he's going to be exposed. And I'm telling you he's gonna start say, I'm just telling you what's gonna go down before. It goes, if it ever comes. He's gonna start squealing on. People about everything that he can think of, and eventually he's gonna step up. And tell you something. According to this case, because he's going to be shooting for the air well. I'm eagerly awaiting. That day he's going to be doing it to get your sides off of him. I can't wait to that either, because you're gonna see I'm telling you the truth. Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah, he's got something to hide. I mean, think about all that's been done. He's hiding. He's not coming out, he's not doing anything about this case. He's hiding. That means he's. Hiding from the cruised. Yeah, somewhore down the lines. He's threatened by what's going to come down, and he minds will sweat and he might as well wring his hands because I'm gonna do everything and make that day possible. That I can. Missing in Hushtown Season two is executive produced in partnership by Fireeyes Media LLC's Jewles Thorpe and Gen Rivera, as well as mom Cast Productions Rachel Holloway and Heather north Craft. The script is written by Jewels 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 host Fire Eyes Media Mum Has raising voices while raising kids.