True Crime Stories
True Crime Stories

Parents Learn Their Son is a Wanted Killer After Hide a Teenage Girl's Body

September 24, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

On a summer night in 2019, a 14-year-old girl named Mercedes snuck out of her grandmother's apartment to meet a boy at the apartment complex pool. She never came home. The next morning, her family reported her missing. A maintenance worker later found her body hidden in a trash can near the pool. The episode follows the police investigation in real time, capturing the raw audio of detectives interrogating the teenagers who were with her that night—and the moment one of them finally admits what happened.

The Morning After: A Missing Girl and a Pool Party

The episode opens with the family of Mercedes reporting her disappearance to police. Her grandmother, distraught, tells officers that Mercedes snuck out around 12:30 a.m. to meet someone. Her younger sister, Savannah, identifies the boy she was supposed to meet: a teenager named Courtney, who goes by "CJ." Police quickly learn that a group of kids had been hanging out at the complex pool the night before—Mercedes, Savannah, and several boys, including CJ, his brother Christian, and friends named Chase, DeAndre, and Jay.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (01:12) **Parent Interrogates Son About a Teen Girl's Disappearance** - A mother or father confronts their son, accusing him of lying about the events surrounding a missing girl named Mercedes, suggesting an accident occurred at the pool.
  • 2 (06:03) **Family Reports Mercedes Missing to Police** - The grandmother and mother of the missing girl, Mercedes, speak with officers at the apartment complex, providing her description and information about who she was meeting.
  • 3 (10:39) **Police Interview a Friend from the Pool** - An officer questions a young man who was at the pool the previous night with the group, gathering a timeline of the evening's events.
  • 4 (18:26) **Officer Explains the Investigation to a Parent** - An officer speaks with a parent of one of the boys who was at the pool, explaining the situation has escalated from a missing person to a potential homicide.
  • 5 (21:23) **Detective Mirandizes and Interviews a Suspect** - A detective reads a young suspect his Miranda rights before questioning him about the events of the previous night.
  • 6 (27:00) **Suspect Describes the Night's Timeline and Morning Discovery** - The suspect provides a detailed account of the evening, from the pool gathering to learning Mercedes was missing the next morning.
  • 7 (34:00) **Parent Pressures Son Again, Accusing Him of Lying** - The parent re-enters the interrogation, accusing the son of telling only partial truths and protecting someone else.

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Show Notes

Parents Learn Their Son is a Wanted Killer After Hide a Teenage Girl's Body

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