0:00

Hey listeners, if you're listening to

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this podcast, you're likely a fan

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of True Crime podcasts, or as

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Mr. Ballin calls them, Strange Dark

0:09

and Mysterious Stories. Well, I'm here

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today to tell you that the

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Mr. Ballin podcast, Strange Dark and

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Mysterious Stories, is now available wherever

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you get your podcasts. Each week

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on the Mr. Ballin podcast, you'll

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hear new episodes about inexplicable encounters,

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shocking disappearances, and true crime cases.

0:26

I'm about to play you a

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clip from the Mr. Ballin podcast.

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While you're listening, make sure to

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follow Mr. Ballin podcast, Strange Dark

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and Mysterious Stories, on Amazon Music

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or wherever you get your podcasts.

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On a morning in late October of 1999,

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48-year-old Bruce Miller grabbed his car keys off

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the kitchen counter, quickly devoured a piece of

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toast, and then headed into the living room

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of his ranch-style home in the small town

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of Cleo, Michigan. Bruce was

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over six feet tall and lanky, with graying

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hair and a mustache. He wore a button-up

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shirt, jeans, and work boots. Bruce

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walked towards the front door, as his 28-year-old

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wife, Cherie, rushed into the room from the

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hallway. Cherie was short with

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dyed-blonde hair and light eyes. Mornings

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were always a bit crazy in the Miller household. Cherie

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had two young children from a previous marriage, and

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so she had to get them ready for school,

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and Bruce was always in a hurry to get to

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the business that he owned. Bruce

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leaned down and kissed his wife, and Cherie's

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face lit up. But when

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she got a good look at Bruce's shirt, her

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face completely changed. Cherie reached up

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to the front pocket on Bruce's shirt, and

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she pulled out a huge wad of cash.

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Then she held the money up in front of Bruce

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and gave him a look like, I can't believe what

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you're doing. Everyone who knew

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Bruce knew he always carried a whole bunch of

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cash right in this front shirt pocket. Bruce

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said it was to make change for customers at

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work, but Cherie and others told him he was

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crazy to have that much cash just out in

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the open like that. It was like your invite.

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getting robbed, and Cherie really wanted him

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to stop doing it. But

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Bruce smiled and took the money back from Cherie

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and slipped it right back into his shirt pocket.

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He told her he'd be fine, he kissed her

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again, and then walked outside into the cool fall

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air. A

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little after 5 p.m., so just as the sun

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was setting below the horizon, Bruce decided it was

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time to head back inside the office to get

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some paperwork done before he went home. When

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he went in there, the one employee was still inside,

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and so Bruce told them they could head home and

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that Bruce would stick around and close up the yard

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on his own. And so after the

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employee thanked him and left, Bruce sat down in

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his old metal swivel chair and began digging through

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a stack of papers on the front counter, looking

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for a few forms that he needed to sign.

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About an hour later, at 6 p.m., Bruce

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was still inside the office doing paperwork when

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the office phone rang. Bruce

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answered, and he heard his wife's voice on the

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other line. She told him that

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the kids really wanted pizza from their favorite restaurant for

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dinner that night, and so she would call the order

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in if he could just pick it up on the

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way home. Bruce said that sounded

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great and that he would and that he'd close up shop in

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just a few minutes. So he told Bruce

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she loved him, and they both hung up. Bruce

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pulled out a cigarette and lit it, and then exhaled

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a puff of smoke and then glanced back down at

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the paperwork on his desk to make sure he'd finished

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everything he wanted to. But

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as he was doing this, suddenly the

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front door to the office swung open,

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someone stepped inside, and the door slammed

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shut behind them. A

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little after 8 p.m., so two hours after Cherie

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had talked to Bruce on the phone about pizza,

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she paced around her living room. The

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kids were sitting in the kitchen still waiting for

3:43

pizza, and Bruce had still not arrived home. Cherie

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went to the kitchen, grabbed the phone, and called the

3:48

salvage yard. She

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told the kids that Bruce must have been

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delayed with a last-minute customer, but as she

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sat there, the phone just kept on ringing

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and nobody picked up. So

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eventually Cherie hung up. up, called Bruce's brother,

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and asked if he had heard from Bruce.

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The two brothers talked all the time, especially about

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football, and Cherie knew there was a big Monday

4:08

night football game on. But

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Bruce's brother, surprisingly, said they actually had not

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spoken at all that day. But

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Bruce's brother could tell Cherie sounded very worried, so

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he tried to calm her down. He

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said Bruce was most likely somewhere between the salvage

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yard and the pizza place, or maybe he had

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already gotten the pizza and he was on his

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way home. But either way, he was probably just

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fine. And so after that, they

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hung up. But Cherie did not

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feel any calmer. So

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she grabbed the kids, put them in her car, and

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drove to the pizza place. But

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she didn't pass Bruce on the way, and when

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she got to the restaurant, they told her that

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Bruce had never come in to pick up the

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order. Cherie grabbed the

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pizza and then raced back home with the

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kids and immediately called her brother-in-law again. And

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this time, when he heard Cherie's voice, he

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could tell she was far more anxious, and

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he admitted to her, after hearing what had

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just happened, that this did seem pretty strange.

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So he told Cherie that he and his wife would

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go right now over to the salvage yard to just

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check on things. A

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few minutes after that phone call, Bruce's brother

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and his wife drove through the open gate

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at the salvage yard, and right away they

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spotted Bruce's car still parked out in front

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of the office. Now, the sight

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of his car made Bruce's brother actually feel

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better. He figured Bruce must have

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gotten caught up with work, and he must have just

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been on the phone with somebody else when Cherie had

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tried calling him. Bruce's

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brother and his wife stepped out of their car and

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walked up to the office door, and right

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away they froze. Because when they

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looked down, they could see the front door

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to the office was actually cracked open a

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bit, and they knew Bruce never left the

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store open when he was working alone at

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night because of all the theft. And so

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this was a big red flag. Bruce's

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brother and his wife began calling out

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Bruce's name through this gap in the

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door, but nobody answered from inside. So

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the couple nodded to each other, and then pushed the

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door open and stepped into the right

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away they saw a huge pile of cigarette butts on

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the floor in front of the counter. Then

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they walked around the counter and looked down

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at the floor and when they did they

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just stood there in total shock. Bruce

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was sprawled out on the floor in a thick pool

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of blood. Bruce's brother instinctively

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dropped down to try to revive Bruce

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but he already knew Bruce was dead.

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Hey Prime members, you can listen to

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