Original subtitles

- [Narrator] Ebby Steppach,

known to her classmates and family members as Ebby Jane,

was an independent, hard working and protective friend.

Her devotion and close relationships,

and drive to renew a prosperous life

for herself was cut short

by an unexplainable unsolved murder in October of 2005,

leaving all who knew her across her hometown

of Little Rock, Arkansas, grasping for answers

in a sea of evidence, that drowned us all in doubt.

As a hope to provide more substantial reasoning,

built upon observable evidence and situational analysis,

this is an examination of the death of Ebby Steppach,

and a harrowing mystery in Chalamont Park,

This is Cold Case Detective.

(ominous music)

(suspenseful music)

Ebby was born on March 31st, 1997,

to parents Laurie Jurnigan and Peter Steppach

in the suburbs of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Growing up in a close knit community,

Ebby was raised with strong ties to her family,

especially her mother who once said,

"I knew when she took a breath,

"her first breath, that we would be close,

"and that she would be a very special young lady."

As Ebby grew, so did her family

and years later, Ebby and her older brother, Trevor,

were joined by their younger sister, Harris.

The children were close, spending a lot of their time

with their lovely grandparents or at church.

Both their intermediate and extended families

were incredibly artistic,

and the Steppach siblings were raised

in creative environments.

Ebby loved photography most of all,

and as she got older found a particular liking

to trendy fashion.

She quickly crafted a hobby through cosmetology,

learning the basics to hair styling and makeup applications.

By the time she was in high school,

Ebby started contemplating her future,

and set her sights on becoming both a cosmetologist

and a real estate agent.

Coupled with career dreams,

Ebby also cultivated a compassionate mindset

towards her peers.

She took it upon herself to look out

for the safety of family and friends,

going out of her way to protect loved ones

from both themselves and external forces.

She helped those stuck in a rut,

inspiring more than her fair share of positivity

throughout the community.

Along with her deep rooted kindness and empathy,

Ebby was also severely independent,

forging her own path as she neared adulthood,

and making decisions based

on her own wisdom and understanding,

not allowing the recommendation of others

to sway her opinion.

This fierce individualism started taking

its toll on Ebby the summer

before her senior year of high school.

Wanting to break free from the restraints of private school,

she transferred out and enrolled at Little Rock Central.

The summer before she started public school,

Ebby also received employment

at a Foot Locker shoe store in McCain Mall.

Around this time, her mother,

who had since gotten divorced and remarried,

noticed a change in Ebby's demeanor.

She claimed, Ebby was much more argumentative,

staying out past curfew to attend local parties

and going against the grain of what had been

a staple set of rules in the Steppach household.

Ebby's parents also wondered

if her personality changes were synced

to a recent relationship Ebby had entered

with a new boyfriend.

A boy Laurie did not approve of,

and felt was changing her daughter for the worse.

Ultimately, these new found family clashes,

combined with independent spirit,

drove Ebby to move away from her parent's home

and split time living with her grandparents,

with her older brother Trevor, and with friends from school.

One of those friends, Danielle,

mentioned that Ebby had been struggling

with something unknown, frequently wanting to clear her mind

by going on long drives down the highway

with music blasting.

Danielle claimed these midnight escapes usually helped.

But she never truly understood

the main reason behind it all.

Once senior year kicked off and October came around,

Ebby began a trend of truancy in school,

failing to show up to class on multiple occasions.

All of the strange behavior peaked

on October the 24th, 2015,

when Ebby returned to her mother and step-father's house

to inform them that she'd been gang raped

by four people at a party the night before.

She was certain the incident had been recorded

by a cellphone and demanded justice be carried out.

Ebby stormed out soon after,

thought to be out for revenge on the four suspects herself.

Her communication became sporadic and worrisome,

making little sense to her friends and family.

Then on the afternoon of October the 25th,

Ebby made one last phone call to her brother,

stating she messed up before the conversation cut off

and she was never seen again.

Her disappearance disturbed Little Rock

for 2 1/2 years until May of 2018

when the remains of Ebby Steppach where discovered

in Chalamont Park,

and her unsolved missing persons profile

transformed into a homicide cold case.

(haunting music)

In the summer of 2015,

Ebby's life takes a 180 degree transformation.

She picks up a job at a nearby Foot Locker,

enters an unapproved relationship

by her mother and stepfather,

moves out of their home, enrolls at a public school

for her senior year, and displays increasing agitation

towards both her personal and social life.

As the leaves change colors

and the warmth of summer turns to the chill of autumn,

Ebby continues to worry her friends and family

through missing more school than she ever has in her past,

skipping classes for unknown reasons.

The pattern of truancy peaks on Wednesday, October 21st.

Danielle, Ebby's friend,

whom she's been staying with at the time,

texts Ebby informing her she'd be running late

at her doctor's appointment

and if Ebby needed to leave the school by herself

that would be okay.

Ebby was supposed to drive Danielle

to her own charter school, called the Lisa Academy,

but Ebby responded with a text that read,

"No it's not a big deal at all, I swear,

"I really didn't want to go today anyway,

"because there's all that drama."

Danielle would later say that she had no clue

what the drama Ebby could be referencing.

Despite this, the friends still got together

later that evening and were in good spirits per usual.

Two days later on the night of Friday, October 23rd,

Ebby attends a party by herself.

Danielle later mentioned that she didn't go

because she didn't know any of the other attendees,

hinting that the crowd was familiar only to Ebby.

Sometime during the festivities,

Ebby is gang raped by four men,

allegedly recorded by one of their cellphone cameras.

The next morning on Saturday, October 24th,

Ebby returns to her mother's home,

where she informs both Laurie and her stepfather, Michael,

about the sexual assault.

Ebby demands she go to the police station

to report the crime, and asks the adults to accompany her.

Laurie and Michael agree, and ask if they can meet her

at the police station later in the day.

Morning shifts to afternoon and Ebby tells Danielle

that she needed to stay at her older brother Trevor's house

to provide him reassurance,

because he was worrying about her extended absence.

Before Ebby leaves for Trevor's place however,

she visits her grandparents

and watches television whilst laying in bed.

A little while later and they eat dinner together,

before venturing out for frozen yogurt.

At around eight p.m. Ebby bids farewell to her grandparents,

telling them she must meetup with her stepfather, Michael,

and plans on returning to spend the night.

This is in contrast

to what Ebby told Danielle earlier that day,

but her grandparents keep their door open nonetheless.

Evening shifts to night

and Laurie and Michael haven't heard back

from their daughter.

They try calling her cellphone but receive no response.

Michael theorizes Ebby went looking

for the alleged cellphone video on her own.

Cellphone records indicate during this time,

Ebby sent multiple texts to the four men she accused of rape

from Friday's party.

No contact is made to or by Ebby

until the following afternoon at two p.m.

on Sunday, October 25th.

Ebby calls her brother Trevor on the phone

and comes across as disorientated according to him.

At first, Ebby says she's out in front of Trevor's house,

but when he walks outside, he sees no sign of his sister,

the connection is lost, and when he calls Ebby back

and demands to know where she is,

she says she was in a car,

but wasn't sure where she parked exactly.

and wouldn't divulge who she was with.

Ebby then says, "I F'ed up" and the phone clicks off.

This would be the last known contact

that anyone would make with Ebby.

By the time the sun sets and Sunday night rolls around

Ebby is reported missing by her parents.

However, the police wait 12 hours

after her last point of contact

before engaging in an official investigation

per department procedures.

Meanwhile, Danielle acts out of fear

and drives around the town, searching all the spots

she and Ebby would hang out in hopes of finding a clue.

Three days after that final phone call to Trevor

on Wednesday, October 28th,

a security guy patrolling a parking lot, near a wooded area

of a Little Rock neighborhood recreational ground

called Chalamont Park,

discovers Ebby's 2003 Volkswagen Passat.

And the Volkswagen is still

in the same position two days later.

Law enforcement comes in on October 30th to search the car.

They confirm Ebby's ownership, find the gas tank empty,

the battery dead, the key in the ignition,

and Ebby's phone, wallet and contact lenses sitting

in the front seat.

The investigation continues.

A few days pass by, and Ebby's good friend Kayleigh

and her mother Margie Foley, catch a putrid smell

of decomposition emanating from a sewage drain

near Chalamont Park, in their own search for clues.

After multiple calls to Little Rock Police Department,

detectives assigned to the case

finally arrive back on the scene,

but disregard the Foley's claims stating,

they had already completed an intense search of the area

and their cadaver dogs would've picked up

on any human decomposition.

They assume the smell is that of an animal,

and the Foleys' are pushed away.

In November of the same year,

Ebby's family urges the public to aid in the search for her

and offer a $3,000 reward for any applicable leads.

Volunteer work heats up and in April of 2016,

search and rescue efforts comb the woods

near Markham Street and Bowman Road,

nothing of note is found.

Five months later in November of 2016,

police once again search Chalamont Park

for three consecutive days, but still find nothing.

In May of 2017,

authorities theorize the case is most likely a homicide.

And a month later, the Steppach family increases

their reward for information to $50,000.

In October of the same year,

the Steppach family hires

an additional private investigator, TJ Ward, who worked

on the high profile Natalie Holloway case in Aruba.

They gain an international following,

when Dr. Phil interviews Laurie and Trevor,

weeks later in December of 2017.

Investigators reach a major breakthrough in May of 2018,

when another search through Chalamont Park

upends skeletal remains from a drainage pipe.

Police immediately send the bones in for testing

and soon reveal

they are the confirmed remains of Ebby Steppach.

In October of 2018, three years to the date

after Ebby disappeared, law enforcement announces

that the medical examiner discovered

Ebby's preliminary cause of death,

but would not releasee any further details

or what the the COD result was,

due to the case still being an open homicide investigation.

As of today, there have been no further updates.

However, police are still inviting anyone

with information to come forward.

(haunting music)

When looking at the grand scheme of Ebby Steppach's case,

it's difficult to pinpoint

any massive clues or weighted leads.

But under a microscope there is one corner

of the evidence bank that could withhold keys to unlocking

both who Ebby was in contact with before she disappeared

and with how the initial investigation

was muddied with inconsistencies.

Answers might hide in the cell phone records.

The first major indication that something was wrong

just before Ebby disappeared was a series of text messages

she sent from her personal cell phone

to the phones belonging to a few of the men involved

in a sexual assault from the party on Friday, October 23rd.

These texts were obtained

by the first private investigator hired

by the Steppach family, Monty Vickers.

Vickers stated that Ebby was straightforward

in her messages, threatening to call the police.

Whether or not she was threatening the men

to simply delete the alleged video

or to scare them into cooperating is unknown,

but these texts could hint at a much larger meaning.

They could easily coincide with Ebby's final phone call

with her brother on Sunday the 25th.

Had Ebby sent the text to the four men

and they responded via intimidating methods

she could have easily been scared

of their retaliation or worse.

Hence why she mentions she messed up

right before the phone clicks off.

Sadly, the police never looked into either the texts

or the final phone call to check the towers

where these communications pinged

so the approximate locations

of the interactions cannot be certain.

If the ping data is ever collected and analyzed,

the footprints of Ebby and her cell phone records could shed

unbelievably helpful light.

The other confusing and suspicious anomaly

from the cell phone documents is the mysterious pair

of phone calls made from Ebby's phone

to the Little Rock Police Department

on the night of Saturday, October 24th.

Each call was logged in the records

as an outgoing connection to the LRPD,

each lasting about one minute long.

The Steppach family believes the calls were

Ebby's first and second efforts to alert the authorities

about the previous night's rape.

But most perplexing of all,

these two calls are not logged anywhere

by the Little Rock Police Department.

According to reporter Jenny Monk,

officers told the mother they had no record of those calls,

no scribbled note about the rape of a young woman,

no call log tracing the seconds spent on the phone.

Not only is it an unfortunate lack of documentation

but it also gives the LRPD a suspicious framing.

How do consecutive calls from the same person,

claiming they have been sexually assaulted,

go completely ignored?

And if the calls weren't reporting a rape,

rather Ebby calling to express worry

about her current and unknown situation,

why did the dispatcher fail to alert authorities?

Or worse, law enforcement might have figured

that it was a boy crying wolf situation.

Regardless, without proof the calls were legitimate

on the end of the LRPD,

Ebby's cell phone records are mostly a mystery.

Why she called and what she said cannot be known.

But at the very least it ignites serious concerns

regarding the investigation as a whole

and the wavering confidence the public has

in the first officers who handled Ebby's misguided case.

(haunting music)

Early on in the investigation

when Ebby was a missing person

rather than a homicide victim

there were a bevy of theories regarding

where she could have gone

and if she left under her own authority.

Knowing the little information we have now

regarding her death and probable murder,

those theories are no longer valid,

yet some corners of the internet wonder

if Ebby's fate could be the result of suicide.

These theories suggest Ebby had a mental breakdown

the day she disappeared,

explaining her disorientated demeanor

whilst on the phone with her brother Trevor.

In a state of mental anguish and fatigue,

she parked at Chalamont Park

and found the sewer's drain pipe to crawl into,

either to decompress or hide from her pursuers.

She would have then perished as a result of her environment.

These theories are completely implausible however,

taking into consideration there would have been no way

to commit suicide in the enclosed space.

It was not cold enough for conditions related to hypothermia

and the searches in the area revealed

no weapons or blood trails.

It also makes little sense to believe dehydration

or starvation came into play

as Ebby would not have voluntarily stayed down there

long enough to die from those effects.

And had she got stuck somehow,

yelling or crying out would have alerted someone

in the frequented suburban park,

such as the security guard or the search and rescue teams.

With zero evidence or sensible circumstances,

suicide can be ruled out in regards to Ebby's death.

Because police are ruling the death as homicide

it's no longer a matter of if Ebby was murdered

but rather who Ebby was murdered by.

One prominent hypothesis

by case followers pinpoint the idea

of a serial killer being involved.

Through careful inspection

of recent Arkansas criminal history and murder data

no potential serialized patterns led to an explanation

revolving around Ebby's death.

However, due to the lack of suspects and volatile nature

of serial killer discovery,

it cannot be completely ruled out

considering future breakthroughs or findings.

On a similar note, many locals in the area

often wonder if gang activity played a role in the case.

Little Rock is unfortunately infamous

for the illicit actions of gangs and their members,

especially in the last 30 years.

Known crimes perpetrated by Little Rock gangs

include assault, murder, and drug and sex trafficking.

Had Ebby gotten involved with the wrong people

either that day she vanished

or in the months leading up to October 25th,

when she was exhibiting vast changes

in both personality and attitude?

It could have led to a Little Rock gang taking control.

Some think Ebby may have been experimenting

with drugs or alcohol and had accidentally wandered too far

into that sphere of the city.

It could also give deeper meaning to her final comment

to Trevor on the phone when she said, "I messed up."

Maybe it wasn't just referencing the moment

but rather a collection of moments that caused Ebby

to spiral into a broken situation without a fix.

The most prominent and realistic theory

however outlines a possible murder scheme

by either one of, a few of, or all of the four men accused

of sexually assaulting her the night

of Friday, October 23rd.

Regardless of whether or not they were members

of a gang or affiliated party,

the four men were both the last people Ebby contacted

outside of her family

and have explicit motive for manslaughter.

If the men were guilty of rape

and Ebby knew there was video evidence

they would've wanted to keep her quiet about it.

Judging by both the family's stories of Ebby's perseverance

on her own Twitter feed from 2013,

Ebby wasn't afraid to state her opinion

and make her displeasures known.

So after she sent multiple texts to the men

explaining her knowledge of the crime

and intent to report it to authorities,

they could've reacted to the idea of legal persecution

and taken matters of silencing her into their own hands.

It should be stated that in 2017,

before Ebby's remains were found,

lead detectives of LRPD ruled out the four men as suspects

and refused to reveal their identities.

The four men would remain clear until a year later

when the bones were found in Chalamont Park

and the police said the accused individuals would

once again be considered as points of interest

within the homicide investigation.

To this day their identities are still unknown

but there is a rumor posted on Reddit

that claims to have sources close to the predicament

and stated that one of the four men is the son

of a policeman.

In no way can we confirm this to be true

but we also cannot deny such a possibility.

If it holds any accuracy at all

then it makes the final theory much more curious.

The entire investigation into Ebby's initial disappearance

and later murder has weathered intense scrutiny

and criticism by her family and the Arkansas community.

The biggest issue people have

with the original detectives was the handling

of Chalamont Park and methods of search.

As previously mentioned, Ebby's friends,

Kaleigh and Margie Foley, picked up a scent they described

as carcass decomposition near the drain system of the park

mere days after Ebby disappeared and called the police.

Yet when the police arrived they shrugged it off

as nothing more than a decaying animal and said,

because they had already searched the park,

there was no need to do it again.

This is troubling on many levels

and comes across as severely lazy.

A young teenage girl is missing

and thought to be in trouble,

so smells of decay are discovered close

to where her car was found,

it shouldn't matter how many times the area was searched,

it needs another checkup.

Sure there's the possibility it was just an animal,

but because the pipes were exactly

where Ebby's remains were found 2 1/2 years later,

the Foley's were more than likely on to something.

In addition to the smell debacle,

police also failed to respond to the security guard's call

about Ebby's vehicle abandoned in the parking lot.

It took three days for authorities

to make their way to the park and inspect the Volkswagen.

Three days is more than enough time for the perpetrator

to return and gather any evidence left behind

or clean up their messes.

Not only that, but taking their time

in working a fresh Amber Alert situation gives off vibes

of negligence and disinterest.

Similar vibes are felt

when considering the lack of documentation

and response to Ebby's phone call

to the LRPD on October 24th.

They have since informed reporters

that their bank of 911 call recordings dating back

to October of 2015 have been deleted,

which again seems like more than a coincidence.

Many police departments across the country keep

their 911 calls logged for years on end

if not saving the entire audio files.

Further complaints against the original investigators

also highlight the lack of interviews

with key players in the case.

Ebby's grandparents, who were the last confirmed subjects

to see her, were not interviewed for a year and a half

after her disappearance.

In addition, the security guard

who found Ebby's car was not contacted

for official interrogation by anyone on the case

until a few months after the fact

when the first private investigator,

Monty Vickers, interviewed him.

The security guard actually revealed

to Vickers that he had footage captured

by a camera in his car that showed multiple instances

of Ebby meeting an unidentified man in the same parking lot

where her vehicle was left.

These video recordings were years and years old,

unfortunately, and were deleted before Ebby vanished.

But it's still unexplainable

why the original authorities

on the case wouldn't interview the security guard

with such interesting, vital information.

Sadly, no further information is known

about the guard or the mysterious parking lot man.

All we can do is hope that the current investigators

on Ebby's case consider all these issues

and have returned to research the red flags raised

by worried onlookers.

Before we divulge our hypothesis

of Ebby's unsolved murder,

we want to make our known our conclusions presented

in "Cold Case Detective" are purely logical speculation

based on evidence of circumstance and factual subtext.

We are only privy to the same information presented

in each video and we do not attempt

to promise certainty or an expert guarantee

on the findings we reach in closing.

We simply observe, research, and report.

This case is especially confounding due to the major lack

of published details or released documents

for public analysis.

On one hand it makes perfect sense.

The case is an open investigation

and law enforcement rarely discloses details

of ongoing homicide cases in order to protect the victim,

their family, and not let the perpetrator gain a leg up.

But on the other hand it creates a rift

in community speculation and conspiracy

while rumors like the involvement of the police's son

are spread through the volatility of the internet.

Being unable to confirm or deny any reports or musings,

causes headaches more than it relieves the haziness.

From our vantage point we speculate

that Ebby had courageous intentions

when she left her grandparents house

on Saturday, October 24th.

She was not going to let the abusive actions

of her four attackers go unnoticed.

And when she received no assistance from the call she made

to Little Rock Police Department, she stuck up for herself.

Ebby's mother, Laurie, said Ebby never kept secrets

if it meant compromising somebody's safety.

And in this case Ebby wasn't going to sit back

and let that very thing happen to herself.

She messaged a couple of the attackers

threatening legal action and making it known

her knowledge of the video proof,

inciting fear and wrath in the men she texted.

The four attackers either reacted to the incident themselves

or found associates to carry out what was about to happen.

The men potentially then pretended to show remorse,

saying they would delete the videos and apologize in person.

Ebby wanted to see the best in everyone,

could've innocently agreed to meet them

in hopes to resolve the ordeal.

That is most likely where things went wrong.

The meeting place was probably not Chalamont Park,

rather Chalamont Park is where Ebby's car was driven

and left to run dead,

throwing off investigators and giving the perpetrators time

to deal with Ebby's corpse.

When the initial search of the park was finished by police,

the body was moved to the drainage pipe,

causing the decaying smell that was detected

by the Foley family

and explaining why the cadaver dogs never picked up

any scent during the first inspection.

How many times afterwards the body was moved, if at all,

cannot be known for sure,

but there's a chance it was not there the night

of Sunday October 25th when the maddening mystery began.

The true actions of the original detectives,

the four men accused of rape,

and any co-conspirators cannot be confirmed

until arrests are made and case details are announced.

Until then all we can do is honor Ebby and her memories

with grace and dignity.

She loved going to the beach and listening to the ocean.

She loved the sunshine, the sand,

the seashells, the serenity.

Her mother told the following story in Ebby's obituary.

She was 10 years old during a vacation

when a tropical depression was going to last for seven days.

Ebby wanted to go out and play

and her mum said, "We're praying the storm away."

She walked right out into the storm and prayed it away

and the rest of us watched the sun come out

and the rest of the week was full of sunshine.

The beach was one our favorite places

and I will always feel as if she's still there with me.

Hopefully Ebby is cascading in the warmth

of a different kind of beach

wherever the next life takes us.

Meanwhile, we must remain diligent to bring closure

to her unjust murder and bring peace

to the Steppach and Jurnigan families.

Ebby would go to the ends of the universe

to help her friends, to protect her loved ones,

and lend a hand to those in need of help.

Let's return the favor.

This has been "Cold Case Detective."