INTRODUCING: The Unseen Truth | The Murder of Stacey Colbert: Ep. 1

On the unsolved murder case of osu Elum Stacy Colbert, whose remains were found six years after she went missing back in nineteen ninety eight. Last year, I came across a case that resonated with me so deeply, a case that I would spend countless hours investigating and researching, determined to put together the pieces of what seemed to be a very complicated puzzle. You know, one of those jigsaw puzzles where some of the pieces seem like they fit perfectly together, but then you realize it doesn't quite fit. I've had quite a few of those moments. As my team and I continued to dive deeper into this case, As more clues started to reveal themselves and I took a closer look, the pieces started to fit perfectly together, and the picture that formed revealed something much more sinister, a monster hiding in plain sight. Over the course of this series, I'm diving into the untold story of the unsolved murder of Stacy Colbert and sharing never before heard interviews with her family, friends, and the current detective on her case. We'll dive into new clues, timelines, and the tragic story of a vibrant intelligent woman who did all the right things and had her whole life ahead of her, only for it to be stolen by someone she'd least expect. I'm John Rivera and this is the unseen truth, the Murder of Stacy Colbert. This is episode one, A Light Fades. It's March nineteen ninety eight, and twenty three year old Stacy Colbert is living out her dream. She's living in her own apartment and working as a marketing assistant at American Electric Power in Columbus, Ohio. The year prior, she graduated from Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University with a bachelor's degree in Business administration and had big dreams of working in marketing. So far, everything seemed to be going exactly how she envisioned. But not everything is as it seems, and little does Stacy know her life is about to change forever. To give you the full picture of this case, we must take it peace by peace. So let's rewind back to the beginning where it all began. Stacy Beth Colbert was born on February third, nineteen seventy five, in Chicago, Illinois, and shortly after her parents, Larry and RNA decided to relocate Stacy and her older sister, Danielle, to the small town of Charleston in east central Illinois. Stacy and her sister were only two and a half years apart and were incredibly close. They had that special kind of bond that only sisters can have. Growing up, Stacy was very active and loved playing sports. She was in tennis, cheerleading, and palms, whereas Danielle was worn into theater and show choir. Despite living in a small town and not having much to do outside of going to the mall, movies or the local park, the girls made the best of their time together. We moved from Chicago to Charleston when we were pretty young. We were in elementary school. She had started school kindergarten in which is like East central Illinois, and I was already in like second or third grade at the time, and we were just partners. Like I was that there's only two years and very months between us, and so you know, I was the big sister. I was, you know, come on and take your sister around with you or she was really the athlete. And even in our elementary school age things, she was a runner. She I'll say in fourth grade. She ended up getting second place and winning a helicopter ride. She's always been strong and independent. She struggled. She was one out of gosh, I want to say ten thousand or more that could control her eyes. She had what they would call a learning disability, and it was really due to muscles in her eyes, and it would cause her to get very, very tired because the muscles didn't work like every like typical people's muscles work. In your eyes, she had to work extra hard, so like an hour for you or I would be like five hours or six hours or seven hours. And until she learned how to really deal with that, she took a pretty big toll on her and kids. Her kids can be pretty cool when when you're young. She didn't want to be different than everybody else. She didn't want that to impact her, Like even when she was so in Chicago and she's a baby, she didn't want anyone to know. She had these big, huge pop glasses like that you should see the lens, and I mean it was huge, very thick, and my mom had to coordinate with all the other neighborhood moms to make sure that they looked at their trash before trash day because on her playing outside, they always want wound up in somebody's trash can because oh no, I shouldn't like goo. After high school, Danielle went off to Ohio State University, which was an exciting time for the family since it was a family tradition. Stacy and Danielle's father, Larry and his brother had both attended OSU, so the family was excited that Danielle would be following in their footsteps. Larry had taken the girls on a tour of the campus when Danielle was fourteen, and she was sold. She immediately knew that was going to be the college that she attended. A few years later, in nineteen ninety four, Stacey followed in her sister's footsteps and joined Danielle at the OSU campus after spending a short time at Lakeland Community College in Cleveland. Danielle was thrilled to have Stacy join her at OSU. You know, I wanted her to come with me to ha to stay really badly. I didn't see her any different. I thought she was wicked, smart and creative. The sisters started their own little tradition and would always meet up for coffee. They loved to get Highlander grog or the nighty Irishman coffee at the local campus coffee shop and catch up. Not long after starting at OSU, Stacy joined the Alpha Delta Pi sorority. There she met one of her very good friends, Paula Stacie. She was one of a kind, nobody's perfect. So it might make it sound like she walked on later, she didn't. She had her flaws, but she was amazing. She was bold. I mean, she was so audacious. She would have like the Wall Street Journal delivered to the house, you know. And this was like. Clinton's nineteen nineties. And she was a very proud Republican. She didn't care who knew. She was so confident in her own skin and so one authentically Stacy. She was funny, like goofy funny. She had big dreams and big goals for her life. She she really really wanted to live in Chicago. That was a big dream of hers. When she landed that job with AEP right out of college, she knew she was right on track or making that dream come true. She had this bright smile. Everyone noticed it from across the room. And she was so little, maybe like Fife one but her smile was huge, and she was friendly with everybody, and she was a super loyal friend. She kept in charge even with her friends from high school, like she kept close to them while she was in college, particularly her very best friend. They got together on a pretty regular basis, I think, and they talked on the phone all the time. And in the meantime of nurturing that friendship, she was cultivating really close friendships with her sorority sisters, particularly two of the women that she would then go on to move out of the sorority house and into an apartment with. She adored those girls like they were, you know, as much as her flesh and blood as Danielle was. They were so precious and dear to her. Stacy and I actually met when I was rushing the sorority, So I don't even know if they still use those words now rush and everything else. I think they keep changing the words of things, but I think you will know what that means. And we were visiting all the different houses and any think it was one of the people that I met. She had joined the ority I think the year before, so she's actually a year older than the yar at least more in school wise that side, and Statie loved to go to the parties, which I think most of us did, and she was a big dancer, and I like to dance as well. So we spent a lot of time together enjoying the parties and having a good time and laughing together. My sophomore year her junior year. We both lived in the house at the same time, too, we spent time together, We went, we had a class together. And I've told the story before, but Stacy was a very good student, and she was always counted on to be where she was supposed to be when she was supposed to be it. She was never late to any anything I can ever think of, like, she was very punctual and very reliable and dependable, and if she. Said she's going to do something, she did. I would like to say that I was more put together than I was, but you know, I was young, and you know, you're just you're experiencing life, and I didn't always make the best decisions. And I one day I. Had stitched class because I had been out with friends the night before, and I asked Stacy Bykee for her. Notes, and she looked at me. She was well, why did't you go to class. I said, well, I was out late last night. She goes, well, maybe not somebody, I'll go to class. And it wasn't that she. Wasn't going to help me out, but it was more like she wanted to help me out in a more meaningful way, to really call my attention to the fact that I wasn't going to do well if I continue to behave in that manner, but in such a kind way. And I think that was the thing that Stacy really was amazing at. She was so kind and so sweet, and sometimes people would even call her naive because she was Sometimes she didn't always see what was right in front of her. But I don't want. Anyone to confuse that with the fact that she would stand up for herself and she would not let someone use her. She would say what she meant and what she felt was right in that moment, but do it in such a kind way that you maybe didn't even realize it was happening. I think that that stakes a lot to her character. I don't know that she had a single enemy. Stacey was a role of your sleeves, work hard and make it happen kind of girl. Stacy majored in marketing while attending Ohio State, she was a powerhouse. According to her friends and family, she was so passionate about marketing and gave one hundred and ten percent to everything she did. With her passion and drive, Stacy landed an amazing internship with McDonald's at the nineteen ninety six Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia. This internship would preface the start of an exciting career for Stacy not long after graduation. The year following her internship, in nineteen ninety seven, Stacy graduates from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. She lands a job as a marketing assistant at American Electric Power, one of the largest electric energy companies in the United States. During this time, Stacy moves into her own apartment at the Governor's Apartment Complex in Columbus, just a few miles away from OSU. Life couldn't be better for Stacy. She's surrounded by her friends from college, she's only a few minutes away from her sister. She's living on her own and has a new job that she loves. But while Stacy is focused on starting her new life and making big plans for the future. There's a monster lingering in the shadows, a monster hiding in plain sight who will change the course of Stacy's life. March twenty first, nineteen ninety eight is the day that changes everything, the day the light fades. We're going to revisit that fateful day in episode two, the last Day. That episode is available right now. Make sure to follow us on social media at Unseen Truth Podcast and visit unseentruthpodcast dot com for more case information.