- [Narrator] What is up, EWU Crew? Today, we are coverin'
the case of Karlie Guse. On the morning of October 13th, 2018, the stepmother of 16-year-old
Karlie Lain Guse awoke to every parent's personal nightmare. - I miss you so much. This whole world misses you so much. - [Narrator] The door of her
Mono County, California home was slightly ajar, and her stepdaughter
was nowhere to be found. Karlie Lain Guse was never seen again. She completely vanished without a trace. As the case began to unfold,
the insane events leading to Karlie's disappearance
were revealed, and for many, the bigger picture they
formed was quite disturbing. Karlie Guse lived with
her father Zachary Guse, stepmother Melissa Guse,
and two younger brothers, in a rural California neighborhood. Karlie's parents had gotten divorced when she was just a toddler, and later on, she decided to move in with her father, because her biological
mother, Lindsay Fairley, was moving to Nevada. According to friends and family, Karlie had a relatively happy
childhood and adjusted well to what can often be an
unsettling transition into newly divorced parents. She was described by
many in her close circle as being sweet, funny, and popular. And Karlie's biological
mother, Lindsay Fairley, said that the two of them were best of friends. However, in the days leading
up to her disappearance, Karlie began to have what one
friend described as episodes. Karlie was terrified that
someone was tracking her on her phone. The creepiest part is, to this day, no one knows why Karlie
thought she was being tracked. Despite Karlie's episodes
of irrational fear, life went on as usual. On the evening of Friday,
October 12th, 2018, she asked her parents if she could go to her high school's football game. They agreed. However, Karlie never made it to the game. Instead, she ended up
going to a house party with her boyfriend, Donald, the last time she would ever see him. This is where things start to take an extremely bizarre turn. Something about Karlie that
night seemed very, very wrong. Something at the party horrified Karlie, leading into a disastrous
night before her disappearance. Later that evening, around
eight o'clock, p.m., Melissa Guse called Karlie, asking if she needed a ride
home from the football game. At first, Karlie answered no and that she would get a
ride home from her boyfriend. - [Lindsay] My daughter
said, at that moment, she said, "I'm just gonna
get a ride home with Donald." - [Narrator] But just a short while later, things took a dramatic turn. As everyone ese was having
a fine time at the party, Karlie began to panic. She became frantic and
impossible to console. Donald stated, quote, "She
got scared of the music. She got scared of me," unquote. Something terrified Karlie
so much, that night, she no longer cared
about pretending she was at her high school's football game. Karlie called her stepmother
less than an hour later and asked if she would come pick her up from the trailer park, saying, quote, "Never mind, hurry up. I changed my mind, come get me. I'm booking it down Dixon Lane. Hurry, hurry, hurry, I'm scared." - [Lindsay] Karlie called
to Melissa and said, "Never mind, hurry up. I changed my mind, come get me. I'm booking it down Dixon Lane. Hurry, hurry, I'm scared" - [Narrator] Melissa immediately agreed and Karlie came clean about having gone to a party instead of a football game. On her way to get Karlie, Melissa Guse recalled that
her stepdaughter did not want to get off the phone and that
she was extremely adamant about wanting to be picked up immediately. But when Melissa arrived at
the trailer park, that night, Karlie was nowhere to be seen. She continued driving
around, searching for Karlie. That's when she spotted a faint light, coming straight for her. Guided by the light of her cellphone, Karlie was frantically makin' a beeline for Melissa's car, in the pitch darkness. In a state of complete hysteria, Karlie jumped into the backseat. According to Melissa, quote, "She was really pale, looked like a ghost. "Her pupils were really dilated," unquote. Even though Karlie was now safe in the car and far away from whatever had sent her into a state of alarm,
she was still panicking. She kept jumping from seat to seat, worrying that somehow
the car would kill her and repeating over and over
again how scared she was. Melissa Guse later informed police that her stepdaughter had admitted to smoking a substance at
the party she had attended and that she seemed excessively
paranoid and on edge, even after she returned back home. At one point, it took
Melissa almost 15 minutes to calm Karlie down, but she
had refrained from taking her to the hospital, because she did not feel that Karlie was in
immediate physical danger. Melissa believed Karlie was
just having a bad reaction to something she had taken at the party. But this was just the beginning of Karlie's distressing breakdown. - [Narrator] Safe back at home, Melissa and Zachary Guse both claim that Karlie was continuing
to act very erratically. According to Zachary, he
had gotten home from work and had a couple beers when
Melissa and Karlie showed up. He said that his daughter
would huddle in the corner and act almost afraid of
her parents, one minute, and then the next, she
would be telling them how much she loved them. He also explained that she
was particularly afraid of her phone and her
parents being around her. Melissa and Zachary kept
asking Karlie what was wrong, but she kept telling them she didn't know. She begged Melissa to
spend the night with her, wanting to paint her toenails,
color, and read the Bible. In between her odd requests, Karlie's mental state was
a complete rollercoaster, up and down, every few minutes. She would regain her senses, one moment, to fall back into a state of
complete and utter paranoia. At one point in the night, after dealing with Karlie's
nonstop erratic behavior, Melissa took out her cellphone
to secretly record Karlie, with the intention of showing
her the following morning. She figured this would
be an important lesson, show Karlie how she behaved while she was under the influence. Karlie had already gotten
suspended from school for a month, for her use of this particular substance and had to attend
counseling on school campus. Although these two
secretly recorded videos have not been released to the public, multiple accounts describe the footage as a short clip of
Karlie repeatedly saying that she is scared but doesn't know why. However, once Karlie's
private investigators got their hands on this footage and showed her biological
mother, Lindsay Fairley, her mother claimed that the
footage told a very different, extremely disturbing story. According to Lindsay,
Karlie was begging Melissa to call 911, but she
continued refusing to do so. Melissa counteracted this, later on, stating that one video
captured Karlie asking, "If something were to
happen, would you call 911?" And Melissa answered, "Of course." Fox News was granted permission to listen to one of the two recordings, revealing more of Karlie's
fragile mental state that night, and it's pretty chilling. According to Fox, Karlie's shaking voice
conveyed deep angst, saying she didn't want to
sleep in case she was killed and asking Melissa to call 911, if needed. The teary teen apologized and allegedly continued in
something of a panic mode, littered with I love yous and hi, talking to her stepmon, who appeared to have been calmly talking
her down until after 3 a.m. According to Doug Kari, from
the Las Vegas Review-Journal, who also listened to the audio: At one point, in the eight-minute audio, Karlie says, "I really messed up today," and Melissa tries to sooth her by saying, "We all do things in life that we regret, substances especially." After Melissa urges
Karlie to get some sleep, the troubled girl responds, "No, I don't want to go to sleep. You're gonna kill me." Melissa tries to reason with her. "Why would I kill you? "That's preposterous. "I'm just thinking all this
demonic stuff," Karlie sobs. "I can't help it." Shortly after the video was filmed, Melissa prompted Karlie
to eat a little something before going to sleep and
tried to give her a salad and energy bar, before helping her to bed. Karlie would not take anything. She spat the salad out in disgust, saying it was the devil's lettuce. According to a Facebook comment, allegedly written by Melissa, Karlie had also been writing on a piece of paper, that
night, for a few hours. Whatever she wrote remains
a complete mystery. What could Karlie possibly
have been writing for hours? While trying to calm Karlie down, Melissa was texting
Karlie's boyfriend, Donald, who was deeply worried about her. This next text caught the attention of many internet sleuths, who
found it rather suspicious. In a text to Donald, at 1:27 a.m., Melissa asked him to please pray. Karlie's behavior only continued to escalate as the night wore on. According to one video from a collection of Facebook live streams Melissa made, Karlie was so paranoid that she would not let her
stepmother out of her sight and was determined to stay
by her side the entire night. - And then she was like,
"Can we go to bed?" And I was like, "Yeah." And she was like, "Well,
can you come sleep with me?" - [Narrator] She even asked Melissa if she would sleep with her for security. - And I was like, "Yeah, sure, why not? Whatever, I'll lay with
you and watch a movie." - [Narrator] That's when
the unthinkable happened. Now this is where Melissa's
story starts to get a bit fuzzy, raising a lot of
suspicion on the internet. At first, Melissa Guse reported
that she had put Karlie to bed and spent the
night in her own room. When she then went to check
on Karlie and her brothers, around 5:45 a.m., she
found everyone present, and nothing was out of the ordinary, until she checked again, around 7:45 a.m., and Karlie was missing. (Melissa gasping) - Karlie Lain Guse is missing, still. She's been missing since... (gasping) Breathe. - [Narrator] However, Melissa
later changed her story and claimed that she had
spent the entire night by Karlie's side, to make sure
she was safe and comfortable. She stated that the last time
she saw her stepdaughter, she was in bed beside
her, at around 5:45 a.m. She briefly woke up before
drifting back to sleep, noticing Karlie was still
awake, with her eyes wide open. Then, when Melissa woke again, around 7:15 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., Karlie was gone. The front door was left ajar. A single fresh footprint,
believed to be Karlie's, left a lone track on the driveway. A lot of speculation was thrown around, concerning these changes
in Melissa Guse's story, as many concerned citizens found it odd that so many important
details had changed from one of the last people to have seen Karlie. Was this an overwhelmed
stepmother who was unsure of what to day when reporters
first began questioning her? Did she carry guilt for not having watched
Karlie more closely? Soon after discovering her absence, Melissa and Zachary Guse
assumed that Karlie had gone for a walk in the neighborhood
to clear her head. Concerned over her mental
state from the night before, the two of them jumped in their cars and began driving around, frantically attempting to locate her. When they failed to find her, her father gave his ex-wife, Karlie's biological mother, Lindsay, a call to inform her
that Karlie was missing. Lindsay was adamant that
something seemed wrong with this phone call. She stated: At 9:35 a.m.,
on Saturday, October 13th, I was notified by her
father, my ex-husband, that she was gone. Gone to me is a huge red flag and has never sat easily with me. He then called the Momo
County Sheriff's Department and reported her missing. To make matters even more unnerving, the couple also noticed that Karlie's cellphone was still at home, which was very uncharacteristic
of the teenager and further raised
their cause for concern. Karlie's boyfriend, Donald,
came over to the house, after receiving the call
that she was missing. According to Donald, he swore he spotted Karlie's
cellphone by her bed, but according to Melissa, it had been on the island in
the kitchen, the entire time. Once the police began their investigation of Karlie's disappearance, they uncovered three separate witnesses who claimed to have seen someone
matching her description, walking throughout her neighborhood, early on the morning of her disappearance. According to Mono County Sheriff's, the witnesses are very credible, and they have no reason to doubt them. - They are very credible witnesses. We have no reason to doubt them. Two of the witnesses, the first two, knew Karlie, and they had seen her before. So we do not have any reason
to question their credibility. - [Narrator] The first two
witnesses actually knew Karlie, and they had seen her before. They have no reason to
question their credibility. One witness was an educator, another, a retired law enforcement, and the final witness was a wooder. Richard Eddy, who lived just
on the street from the Guses, was unwinding in his Jacuzzi hot tub, sipping a hot cup of coffee, when he spotted a girl with long hair, walking by, at about
6:30 a.m. to 6:45 a.m., but something just didn't seem
right about the girl he saw. He stated, quote, "She was looking up, looking around at the sky," unquote, with a piece of paper in her hands. He said, quote, "It was kind of unusual. "We don't have a lot of kids out walking." Another witness, Kenneth Dutton, who lived just down the street and around the corner from the Guses, claims he saw Karlie walking
by, that morning, as well, also holding a piece
of paper in her hands. It has been speculated,
by Karlie's family, that the piece of paper was for the counseling sessions
Karlie had been attending, prior to her disappearance. Melissa indicated, in an
interview with "Dateline," that the third final witness, the wooder, told her they had seen
someone who looked like Karlie at the corner of Highway 6, around a mile away from her family home, mysteriously standing on the
inside of a barbed wire fence, at around 7 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Melissa's accounts of the
clothing Karlie was wearing when she vanished also
raised many eyebrows. She first reported that
Karlie was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and skinny jeans. But once the eyewitness accounts surfaced, some believed that she
seemed to, yet again, change a piece of her story. She then claimed Karlie had actually been wearing gray sweatpants. This was a description that many speculated
conveniently matched those who believe they saw her walking throughout the neighborhood. She later stated, on
Nancy Grace's podcast, that the actual last time she saw Karlie, she was wearing a T-shirt
and undergarments. She didn't know if gray sweatpants or skinny jeans were missing
from Karlie's wardrobe, explaining that she had
too many clothes to tell. Despite the reported sightings
and massive search efforts to find Karlie, using
scent dogs and helicopters, the wandering 16-year-old
girl is still missing, almost a year and a half later. Over time, news of this case went viral. Thousands of people nationwide
joined Facebook Groups, such as Bring Karlie Home
and Justice for Karlie Guse, in hopes of finding some
piece of information that would be the turning
point in her disappearance. But in October of 2019, a detective at the Mono County
Sheriff's Department stated, "We are no closer to finding Karlie." Meanwhile, the groups dedicated to bringing Karlie home
descended into drama, viciously turning on each other. People have primarily
joined two different sides, with two very different stories, theorizing what happened to Karlie Guse. These two camps have been embroiled in a deeply personal
battle with accusations of doxing and harassment
flying from both sides. Both sides also cite sources and information surrounding
Karlie's disappearance that we can't independently verify. We're going to go over it
all now, so you could decide. Now let's get into camp number one. One of the darkest and
more recurrent theories surrounding Karlie's
disappearance places Melissa Guse at the center of the case. This is also the group that Karlie biological mother,
Lindsay, has firmly sided on. Thousands of comments from Reddit users have
examined the possibility that perhaps Melissa accidentally
caused Karlie's death, by poorly handling her reaction
to substances at the party, and ultimately, scrambled to
find a way to cover her tracks. The evidence they use to support this theory is
heavily rooted in the fact that Melissa changed multiple
aspects of the story she gave. - There's no need for negativity. A lot of people are bashing,
and I don't care, whatever. And right to that person, you don't know me. You don't know what I'm going through. You don't know what we're going through. - [Narrator] Now this next
detail sent red flags up in the minds of many. There were claims Melissa, suspiciously, had detail work done on her car, immediately following her
stepdaughter's disappearance, leading into even more theories. - I drove my Corolla out in
the boonies, over boulders. - [Narrator] Since Melissa
and Zachary first searched for Karlie in their own vehicles, could Melissa have accidentally hit and fatally injured her
stepdaughter and covered it up? Additional comments
around this theory zero in on the stepmother's
somewhat shifty behavior, during her Facebook Live videos. Those skeptical of
Melissa describe her eyes constantly darting around
screen, as she films herself, giving often-changing
information to her followers about her stepdaughter's disappearance. They claim Melissa has rarely questioned where Karlie might have ended up and has never made any video
begging someone to come forward or speaking directly to the
teen to come home herself. Skeptics asked: Does this mean she knows this
outcome would be impossible, or is she simply attempting
to manage her grief? In fact, as it turns out, Melissa and Zachary did
speak directly to Karlie at Mono County Sheriff's press conference, on October 11th, 2019. - Hi, Karlie. Hi, Kar Bear. I hope you're watching this. I miss you so much. - [Narrator] In addition, Lindsay, Karlie's biological mother, claims she heard the audio captured, the night before Karlie vanished. According to Lindsay,
at the end of the audio, there was some sort of scuffle. Alarmed, Lindsay asked
what happened at the end, and Melissa allegedly just walked away. Lindsay also wrote an
accusatory post on Facebook, in which she described Zac saying, "At least you have an alibi, Lindsay. "You're in Nevada." A quick browse around Facebook
pulls up a couple of people who have gotten so
invested in this theory, to the point that it
seems almost a bit creepy. One Facebook user posted that they heard from
multiple people that Melissa and Zachary had pulled
Karlie's two younger brothers from school, with someone chiming in, "Has anyone talked to
any of the teachers?" Now let's get into the second camp. Believing Melissa's
changing stories aren't as big of a deal as some claim, camp number two points to
a few different theories. They also cite disturbing
alleged clues leading up to Karlie's disappearance that haven't been mentioned anywhere else. According to some posts,
Karlie called a certain hotline that we can't say, because of YouTube TOS, but it's for people who feel
like taking their own life, just weeks before vanishing and had a tumultuous relationship with her boyfriend, Donald. She also had a counselor at
the local medical center. According to The Charley Project, Karlie's final text to her
boyfriend, at 10:15 p.m., claimed that the substance
she smoked had been laced. (dramatic music) Perhaps Karlie was still
experiencing intense paranoia and erratic behavior
from the night before. Maybe she simply wandered
off into the desert, surrounding her rural neighborhood, and fell victim to the harsh environment. Did Karlie take a different
substance that night, explaining her huge dilated pupils? It turns out, not long
before she disappeared, she had asked her biological mother about a psychedelic substance. Some also point to, what they believe is, Donald's unusual behavior
the night of Karlie's panic, citing his alleged comment
in a Facebook Group. Now this is where things
get really, really weird. Donald allegedly wrote: No, me and Karlie were
walking almost to my house, and she got so damned
scared, it was scaring me. So I looked her in the eyes and said, Karlie, baby, you are safe with me. And then she got this
horrified look on her face and started screaming my name. So I wrapped my arms
around her to hold her, and she bit my side and was pushing away. So I let go, and she told me not to
follow her and to go home, so I stayed in the middle
of the street, for like 20. I wanted to chase after my
baby, but it was pitch black, and I didn't want to scare her anymore. To this day, I wish I
had chased after her. I wish we had made it to my house. I wish none of this happened. And if that wasn't strange enough, Donald also stated on Facebook, about 10 days after Karlie vanished, that there was no party the
night before she disappeared. According to Donald's Facebook
posts, he said, quote, "No party, Karlie got picked
up on the way to my house." He also said, quote, "Me nor
Karlie had been to any parties, and, no, I wasn't at any
party the next damn night." This completely conflicts
with many news articles, including NBC News, which states, according to her mother Lindsay, Karlie's boyfriend, Donald,
would later say that, after hanging out with
friends for a while, Karlie started not to feel well and wanted to leave the party. In a private conversation
that was shared on Facebook, Donald allegedly stated
the following as well: Me and Karlie did smoke. It was at my friend's house,
at like 7 p.m., not a party. She got very scared, so we
started walking back to my house. Karlie got scared and ran
from me and called Melissa. That was the last time I saw her. She got scared of me and
started screaming my name and then pushed me away and told me not to come
near her and stay away, and that was when she called
Melissa and started running. I tried to hold her and calm her down. - [Narrator] Now let's
cover some more theories. Another possibility for the
whereabouts of Karlie Guse point to the many travelers
that frequent the highway she was potentially seen walking near. Commenters on many of the
Facebook pages dedicated to Karlie's return have
shared local knowledge of the fact that truck
drivers frequent this highway for early-morning routes. They speculate that she
could have possibility been picked up by someone
who had evil intentions of kidnapping young girls. Police were able to
uncover what they believe to be Karlie's footprints
along the highway. But no viable path could be
followed from what was found. If Karlie had been suffering
a continued bad experience from substance usage, from
the party the night before, she could have very easily fallen victim to someone passing by, while still being in a
confused mental state, only standing five feet, seven inches and weighing just 115 pounds. Although search parties
have scoured the areas surrounding her home and
the highway to no avail, maybe she slipped and fell in a ravine and was unable to find her way back home. Regardless of how she
happened to disappear from her bed, a year and a half ago, the nation will continue
to wait and watch, in hopes of some clue manifesting to lead to Karlie Guse's whereabouts. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to hit the Like
button and subscribe. Please share your theories
in the comments below. What do you think happened to Karlie Guse? A playlist is gonna pop up, right now, with more videos you'll love, click on it, and we'll see you guys next time.
