After Guy notified police, he waited 2 hours for an officer to arrive however none did. "Because I know I would've been hysterical and rushed over. As of today, the case is still open and unsolved. Its unclear what compelled investigators to search the pipe specifically on Tuesday. Ebbys mother said Little Rock Police refused to check which tower Ebbys phone pinged off when she made the final call to her brother. The event was held by H.A.L.O.S. The park has been searched multiple times since Steppachs disappearance, police spokesman Officer Steve Moore said. At just 35 years old, he died of a massive heart attack. . [4] When he called her back, she answered, this time telling him she was in her car but was unsure where she was parked. Ebby called him, sounding panicked and disoriented. My faith is so strong and I trust that God will bring answers, Laurie said. I have peace because Ebby isnt alone. 26 related questions found. She would not let you leave a room without making you laugh. But her stepdad and I were really strict. I hope that one day that justice is brought down upon those that committed this crime, for the sake of her family and for her. But Ebbys specialty was makeup. The next day, after seeing the vehicle still there as he did his rounds, he once again called and waited for police, who finally arrived around an hour later and discovered it belonged to Steppach. On May 24, 2018, the police went back to Chalamont Park around 10am and discovered skeletal remains near wear Ebby's car was found. EDIT: Someone commented that old remains can be hard for cadaver dogs to detect. The family's private investigator had a bigger, more thorough file than the police. This one is so bizarre. Just when I thought she had it down, you know, she didnt. Date of death: October 25, 2015, Died Place: Little Rock, Arkansas, United States: Nationality: American: Thats when Trevor told me something was terribly wrong, Laurie said. December 2017 In an attempt to bring publicity to her case, Steppachs mother and brother Trevor appeared onDr. Phil. When the FBI got involved it became clear how badly her case had been treated and thats when things moved in a different direction. If you have any information about the disappearance and murder of Ebby Steppach, please call the Little Rock Police Department at (501) 404-3128. In 2018, Laurie Jernigan filed a complaint with the LRPD that certain officers had sent her threatening text messages, yelled at her and refused to provide her with updates early on in the case. Map of Chalamont Park and where Ebby was located. Passionate for expression and individualism. On October 27, Ebbys abandoned car was discovered in Chalamont Park in Little Rock. Its also unclear why Ebbys remains werent located for three years, when multiple searches had taken place in the vicinity, even with a cadaver dog. Today marks the third anniversary of the last time she was seen alive. He received no response and found she wasnt home when he arrived. "She was very funny, Laurie said. Little Rock Police spokesman Officer Steve Moore said cold case investigators were following up on Ebby Steppach's disappearance Tuesday when they found the skeletal remains in an underground. See what happens when she takes a closer look at the drainpipe where Ebby was found what does she say it proves? There was a drainage pipe not far from the car, and it had rained in the days after she went missing, he said. She explained that Ebby had started a new job, started hanging out with a different crowd, changed schools - all of which she believes led to the rebellion. Ebby Steppach, 18, of Little Rock, Arkansas mysteriously vanished on October 24, 2015. Catherine Townsend, a dynamic private investigator, says she has been working on the case for the past 18 months and believes the police are wrong to call Ebbys death a suicide and that her killer could still be found. [12] Margie Foley, a family friend and mother of one of Steppach's best friends, claimed that she had smelled decomposition while doing a private search of the area, and alerted the authorities. [4] Per a 2017 report, the men Steppach had accused of rape had all spoken to police, though no formal searches of their cell phones were done for the alleged video of Steppach's rape. Towards the beginning of the school year, she left her family's home to gain her parents' freedom. She later learned that Michael had agreed to help Ebby, so he took Laurie home and attempted to reach Ebby to make a plan. 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Ebbys disappearance was also featured on Nancy Grace. To help spread word of the case, Laurie appeared on Dr. Phil. These remains were subsequently confirmed to be those of Steppach. In 2015, Ebby Steppach was sexually assaulted at a party, and disappeared days later. Her decision to transfer schools had come after she began dating a new boyfriend, and while attending this new school she was known to occasionally be truant. During this time in her life, she also got a job at the Foot Locker in McCain Mall, a move her family says coincided with a change in behaviour. Upcoming on In Pursuit. The case made national news and people from all over the world contacted the Little Rock Police Department and the family with bogus tips, some even claiming to be holding Ebby captive as they demanded money for her safe return. Create your free profile. Dr. Phil devotes his platform to shine a light on the 2015 disappearance and subsequent death of 18-year-old Ebby Steppach; a story that dominated national news. Later, they basically admitted that the beginnings of the case were mishandled (without actually admitting it, of course). He has the answers he was looking for.. On Thursday,. The second time, she was with another man in the backseat of her car. Upon calling her back, Ebby admitted she didnt know where she was and said she wasnt in a good state of mind. It wasnt until October 30 that officers went to the park and identified the car as Ebbys. A Celebration of Ebbys Life will be held by the family at a local church, Christ Community Church, on May 26 at 2 p.m. Steppach went missing on Oct. 24, 2015, after she was supposed to meet her stepfather at her grandmothers home in West Little Rock, KATV reports. "She was very funny, Laurie said. She never responded to her grandmothers calls, either. The . During their conversation, she gave him the names of two of the men involved. When Vickers reached out to the security guard at Chalamont Park, he claimed it was the first time hed been contacted about the case. The last known contact she had on October 25 was with her older brother, Trevor. He recalled her sounding confused, disoriented and panicked, their mother Laurie told Dateline. Ebby was going through a tumultuous time in her senior year, as many teens do. She remained a missing person for nearly three years before her body was discovered in a drainage pipe in Chalamont Park in May 2018, in the immediate vicinity of where her car had been found. She was really rebelling and fighting, fighting back and storming out, Laurie said. Ebbys mother Laurie told Dateline she was devastated to see Hudson leave, but is hopeful that Maxwell will solve the case and finally get justice for Ebby. And we could have found her killer by now.. Fort Valley State University student Missing Where is Anitra Gunn? However, where she was on the road has never been publicly released, nor if there was anyone else in the car with her. But Ebbys family and friends had already taken matters into their own hands and began passing out fliers across town, hoping someone had seen her. After Tuesdays discovery, Steppachs family released a statement asking for privacy, THV11 reports. But again, the case hit a snag when Hudson recently announced he was again retiring and relocating across the river, where he will help out at the North Little Rock Police Department cold case unit. When he died, I thought, now he knows what happened to her. If for no other reason to set a precedent that shoddy half ass police work is unacceptable. Finally, her case was transferred to the homicide unit who were appalled with way the case was handled. There are only two reasons here why this case has not been solved.A)The Little Rock police dept are completely stupid and boungled the case from the startor B) They know good and well who did it but they hid/destroyed evidence and drug their feet in order to protect the ones who murdered her. She submitted recordings of conversations, text message threads, emails and provided witnesses as evidence. Her remains were missed in all the searches. Laurie told Dateline investigators continued to call Ebby a runaway and assured Laurie shed be back soon. gossipgossipblah 4 yr. ago This is just outrageous to me. The first time he saw her, she was with two men and had asked the trio to leave, which they did without argument. Ebby Steppach was born on March 31, 1997, and lived in Little Rock, Arkansas with her mom and step-dad, Laurie and Michael Jernigan, and two siblings, Trevor and Harris. Laurie said she was with her husband out to dinner at the time, but had no idea about the text. Her bones were found last Tuesday in a park drainage pipe in a Little Rock suburb, steps from where her car was discovered after she disappeared. likeawolf 4 yr. ago My motto in general for life problems It was up to us to clean up the mess and basically start from the beginning. Why this wasnt done, I dont know, Hudson said. Will Ebby Steppach ever get justice after police botched her case? All Rights Reserved. Cheyann Klus went missing on December 2nd, 2017. Four days after her disappearance, her car was found in West Little Rock's Chalamont Park. Brandon Lawson The 911 call that led to a mysterious disappearance. Ebby Jane Steppach had dreams of becoming a cosmetologist. Please post your thoughts and theories below. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? [4] Trevor described her as seeming "disoriented" during their conversation. That is truly awful. Searches were conducted of the park and the woods near where the car was discovered, but no evidence was found. Ebby was a young woman with big dreams and a fiery personality, who loved her family and had a big heart for those less fortunate. Even though her grandparents were the last family to see her, they werent interviewed for a year and a half after she disappeared. She loved her family, her friends, and served those closest to her with a carefree compassion and unflinching grace. "I'm grateful that I wasn't told about that text, about what happened," Laurie said. That was when they discovered Ebby's remains just 60 feet from where her car had been found. I think she kind of thought of our house as kind of a safe place, Danielle said in an interview. When it came to her education, Ebby spent most of her life attending charter schools, before transferring to Central High School in Little Rock during her senior year, after which she planned to attend cosmetology school and obtain her real estate license. She worked two part-time jobs as a teenager, saving every dollar so she could buy nice, expensive makeup. But later that evening, Ebby had stopped responding to Michael. When she found out that the remains were found so close to her car, and could have possibly been found much sooner, she was angry. The family thanked the numerous people involved in the investigation, including a Little Rock Cold Case Detective, Tommy Hudson, and members of the cold case unit, as well as the FBI. Same situation btw, they knew she was going to report them for rape so they kidnapped her to beat her but 2 guys ended up killing her. Hell And Gone is a podcast from iHeartRadio and School of Humans that follows journalist and private investigator Catherine Townsend as she investigates unsolved deaths. The remains had been about 60 feet from where the car was discovered. There was no doubt it was her.. Are You Involved in a Story Making Headlines? Remains found in an underground pipe in a Little Rock park have been confirmed as those of Ebby Steppach, who went missing in 2015. I apologize in advance for any formatting errors. Everything else? My faith is so strong and I trust that God will bring answers, Laurie said. When she found out that the remains were found so close to her car, and could have possibly been found much sooner, she was angry. (KTHV) - Oct. 24 is a heartbreaking anniversary for the family of Ebby Steppach. During the multiple searches for Ebby, a team looking through a remote wooded area of Little Rock stumbled across a site, consisting of clothes, handcuffs, a skeletal leg bone and a shoe that resembled one that the missing girl would wear. She saved her money and worked hard to buy really nice makeup, Laurie said. From the first word of her disappearance to now, the Steppach case has plagued the public and police, as no suspect, or suspects, have been formally charged neither for the alleged rape nor the murder. When I got the case, there were things that werent done that shouldve been done on the front end, Hudson said, explaining that interviewing key witnesses and checking surveillance footage had not been done. When asked why she had waited to file the complaint, Laurie explained she feared retaliation and thus waited until it had been transferred to detectives in another department. On November 3, 2015, a friend of Ebbys and her mother went to the park to look around. [4] This was the last known contact anyone had with her. While neither were human remains, it piqued the interest of investigators and thus the pipe was excavated. She was survived by her parents, Laurie and Michael Jernigan; her father, Peter Steppach; her sister, Harris Elizabeth; brother, Trevor; stepbrother, Ethan; her grandparents . Searches of the woods around the park were undertaken, but no sign of Ebby was found. The next day, Ebby told her step father Michael about the rape, and they agreed to meet at the police station later to report it. She said she was outside his house, but when he went outside, she wasnt there. Ebbys remains were found on May 22, 2018, a mere 60 feet from where her car had been found two years earlier. Ebbys family contacted everyone they knew and anyone they thought may have been in contact with Ebby. And she never showed up at the police station. I just knew it, everything in my soul, I knew something had happened to her, Laurie said. Investigators looking into the disappearance of 18-year-old Ebby Steppach previously spent three days in 2016 searching Chalamont Park in west Little Rock for the woman's body, but returned. It was up to us to clean up the mess and basically start from the beginning. We could have put her to rest. The keys were in the ignition and the car was out of gas as if it had been left running. Laurie said she later found out that after Ebby disappeared, Trevor spent his lunch hours searching the trunks of abandoned cars for his sister and traveling to other states following up on tips. We were told that we couldn't file a police report for 12 hours, Laurie said. [4], On October 27, Steppach's 2003 Volkswagen Passat was discovered by a security guard abandoned in a parking lot near a wooded area in Chalamont Park, a neighborhood park in west Little Rock. What happened to Ebby from Dr Phil? 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