Buried in the Backyard (2018–…): Season 2, Episode 10 - Deep in The Cornfields - full transcript
Federal agents descend on a tiny Ohio town after a beloved girl goes missing. Fearing their cornfields harbor a terrible truth, theories abound and panic spikes in this serene community. ...
Federal agents
descend on a tiny Ohio town
outside of Toledo.
We had drones up.
We had helicopters up.
Fearing
these backyard cornfields
harbor a horrendous truth.
We noticed bags
upon bags of underwear,
stockings, tube tops.
We found
a fresh pile of dirt there.
It looked like a gravesite.
That was the start
of our nightmare.
Theories abound
and panic spikes.
Toledo is a major hub
for sex trafficking.
Somebody help!
We located zip ties,
duct tape,
handcuffs, handcuff keys.
It's a race against time.
At that point,
we knew something had happened
and it wasn't good.
The ultimate question is,
is where is she?
Though just
a half hour from Toledo,
Metamora, Ohio,
is a world away
from big-city troubles.
In every backyard,
it's cornfields
as far as the eye can see.
It's a great community.
We all have grown up together.
Our parents
have grown up together.
And we all are very friendly.
For the most part,
it's been a very quiet,
peaceful area.
That's one
of the things that I--
I loved about living
in a small town,
I could go to bed at night
and not have to worry
that I didn't lock my door.
But that all changed
for a lot of people.
In the summer of 2016,
those backyard cornfields
become a scene
of chaos and commotion.
I remember our news director
sending reporters
out to the area.
There were people
all over searching for a body.
Our volunteers have showed up,
spent days upon days
walking cornfields
arm in arm, hand in hand,
walking the aisles of corn.
We had drones up.
We had helicopters up.
There was quite
a bit going on.
As day turns to night,
police dogs hunt
for an unmistakable scent.
The cadaver dogs,
they're trained in the odor
of human remains.
And suddenly one of the dogs
appears to have hit
on something.
At that point,
I thought the dog
smelled a body.
I contacted
the sheriff to tell them,
"Get me some help.
This is what we have."
I just, I didn't have a--
a good feeling with it.
Who has been
so grossly disposed of
in this backyard cornfield?
Summer is in full
swing in Metamora
and life here
is pretty simple
during these carefree months.
A lot of family time,
a lot of friends coming over,
having cookouts, bonfires,
people out riding
their bicycles,
you really have to make your--
your own fun.
On this
particularly sultry afternoon,
the Joughin family
is winding down
after a busy week of travel.
We just got back
from a vacation,
kind of gotten unpacked
and my 20-year-old daughter,
Sierah,
was home from college.
She had plans of studying
abroad in the fall,
and I wanted to talk to her
a little bit about it.
But Sierah
has a totally different agenda
that afternoon.
She was very athletic.
And she had just bought
a bicycle,
but she really hadn't had
a whole lot of time
to use it.
So when she did,
she was so excited.
She had her shorts
and her shirt
and her hair all up
in a ponytail.
And she said she was heading
over to her boyfriend,
Josh's.
Josh lived maybe
seven and a half miles
from our house,
so I said,
"Okay. I'll see you later."
And she took off
and headed towards Josh's.
It was probably
about 10:15
that Josh calls me
and asks if Sierah
was at our house.
And I said,
"No, she's not at our house."
And he proceeded to tell me
that he's tried calling her
several times
and her phone goes
right to voicemail.
Mildly panicked,
Josh tells Sheila
that Sierah left his house
a little before 7
and he hasn't seen her since.
And instantly,
I know something's wrong
because Sierah
always answers her phone.
Sheila's first instinct
is to call her parents
who live down the road.
I called my mom.
And she said,
"Sierah's not here."
My dad was gonna go out
to the barn
and look for her bike.
Couple of minutes later,
my father stated that
Sierah's bike
is not in the barn.
That was the start
of our nightmare.
Worried she might be hurt,
Sierah's family and Josh
head out to look for her.
I just hopped
in my car and I was like,
I'm gonna start
just searching anywhere,
trying to find her.
My husband
and my son started driving
and looking on the sides
of the road.
I just assumed that maybe
somebody had hit her
and she had fell
into the cornfield
and she may have broken a leg.
But after an hour of searching,
Sierah's family
finds no sign of her
on those country roads.
So I went home
and I started
putting things out
on any kind of social media
that I could,
frantically asking out there
to her friends,
has anybody seen Sierah?
Has anybody heard from Sierah?
Nobody has seen or heard
from Sierah for hours.
Sierah's mom isn't wasting
another minute
and calls the police.
I got the call from a sergeant
telling me that we had a--
a missing adult female.
and the path of where
she was supposed to have taken.
At that point I thought,
"Well, I'm gonna do
some looking,
check along the-- the roads."
Back home, Sierah's family
prays for any news
and it's less than an hour
before they get a call
from a concerned neighbor.
She said that County Road 6
was blocked off.
And so, of course,
I go running out
when we see all the commotion,
and the officer
standing there is like,
"I can't tell you anything.
I can't let you go down there."
I felt this--
this fear, this panic
because I just wanted to know,
did you find her?
A lot of times,
it is somebody
that's close to the victim
that ends up
being responsible.
We thought if Josh
is missing his helmet,
then clearly Josh may have
some type of role in this.
Hours after
20-year-old college student,
Sierah Joughin,
vanished riding her bike home,
her worried-sick family
gets an alarming call
that police have blocked off
a nearby road.
They had blocked
the entire road
so nobody could get
to my mom's house
or my sister's.
We were frustrated
because they were not
telling us everything.
Whatever is unfolding
on that country road
has investigators
in the small town
rattled enough to enlist
the help of the FBI.
In the early stages
of an investigation,
we're still trying
to determine
exactly what happened,
so we would never want
to provide
a family member or anybody else
with any false information.
They promise to deliver
any information
as soon as they can.
Sleeping
was not even an-- an option.
I mean, everybody was just...
wide-awake and,
trying to think of things
that we should be doing.
The next morning,
Sierah's mom and aunt
are desperate and refused
to wait for answers.
My sister
was calling all local hospitals
to see if any unidentified
female had been brought in.
Call after call
turns up nothing
until a promising lead come in
from nearby Detroit, Michigan.
We had heard
that a young woman
who looked like Sierah
was in a hospital
and with no identification
at that time.
She had escaped
a moving car
and was badly hurt
and she had many broken bones.
A nurse asks Sierah's family
for identifying marks
on her body.
She always had the scar
on the back of her calf,
and she had her
bellybutton pierced.
The hospital said
the girl had a bellybutton ring
and she had a burn on her calf.
When they told us those things,
we really were hoping
that it would be her.
We found out that it wasn't.
When we heard
that it wasn't Sierah,
it was depressing.
It was, like, "Well,
then she's still out there."
And there's nothing
more frustrating
than knowing that your daughter
is out there somewhere
and you have absolutely no idea
where she's at
or what's being done to her.
Law enforcement
kept going over the fields
which is why we kind of
anticipated that maybe they...
were looking
for Sierah in there
even though they were
absolutely telling us
nothing at that point.
Later that morning,
solemn-faced investigators
show up at the Joughin house,
ready to reveal what happened
the night before
in a nearby cornfield.
When I come across
a couple cornstalks
that were broke down,
so I parked my car,
I got out,
and it appeared to me
as if there was
some sort of scuffle
inside that cornfield.
At that point,
I'd noticed a motorcycle track.
I backed out the way I came
so I didn't disturb anything.
That is when
I'd seen a reflection
and I realized
that that was a bicycle.
The bike
that they had discovered
in these cornstalks was purple.
And that was the color
of the bike
that Sierah
had been described as riding.
And investigators
have unearthed
more disturbing clues.
They also found
male sunglasses,
a pair of female sunglasses,
a sock that may have
contained blood,
and a screwdriver.
So they told us
that they had found the bike,
but they had not found her.
It was absolutely devastating.
We knew something
had happened and...
it's not looking good.
We suspected that Sierah
had been abducted
from that location.
With no time to waste,
investigators are unrelenting
in their questioning
of Sierah's inner circle.
They were asking us
questions about Josh.
Sierah and Josh
had been friends
since they were seven.
They started dating
their freshman year
of high school.
They were a very fun couple.
Traveling to different areas,
they went skiing,
and they just-- they were
a very active couple.
When high school was over,
Sierah went to UT
and Josh was going
to Bowling Green.
They had talked about marriage,
but Sierah wanted
to finish college first
before traveling
down that road,
but, they were
definitely very serious
about one another.
We learned that Sierah
had come over to Josh's house
in the early afternoon hours
on July 19th.
At about 6:30, Sierah decided
she was ready to go home.
She got back on her bike
and the two of them
traveled back
towards her residence.
Josh explained
that part of the reason
that he went with her
was that he was worried
about her traveling
on her bike by herself.
Josh got on his motorcycle
and he rode with her
for a couple of miles
and Sierah made him
turn around and go back
because she's
an independent person
and she's like,
"I'm gonna ride my bike home."
So, they parted ways
and he said he went back.
Josh says he went home
but nobody can ignore
the glaring evidence
of the motorcycle tracks
found in the cornstalks
close to Sierah's bike.
The troubling question is,
could they be Josh's?
Everybody is considered
a person of interest
until we rule them out.
Twenty-four hours
after the mysterious
disappearance
of twenty-year-old
Sierah Joughin,
detectives in Metamora, Ohio,
have eyes
on her boyfriend, Josh.
A lot of times, these crimes
are crimes of passion
and it is somebody
that's close to the victim
that ends up being responsible.
Will the motorcycle tracks
discovered near Sierah's bike
prove to be Josh's?
We weren't able
to tell of the make and model
from those tire tracks,
but they did seem consistent
with a motorcycle tire.
Investigators can't afford
to rule anything
or anyone out.
We began by trying
to determine,
the most likely path
that Sierah would've traveled
from Josh's residence
back towards her residence.
Simultaneously,
we're setting up a command post
where phone calls
are coming in.
It isn't long
before a promising clue
comes in.
A neighbor had advised
that on the night of the 19th,
as he was driving,
he observed a helmet
laying on the side of the road.
He told his son, he says,
"Jump out,
grab that helmet
and throw it
in back of the truck."
They went on home
and never gave it
a second thought.
Well, after he had heard
what was going on,
he'd checked the helmet.
He was able to notice
that it had some red staining,
which he believed to be blood.
He indicated that
the motorcycle helmet was found
in the general area
of where Sierah's bike
was also located
in the matted cornfield.
The helmet
was a key piece of evidence.
We thought if Josh
is missing his helmet,
then clearly Josh may have
some type of role in this.
In a tell-all moment,
detectives confront Josh
about his helmet.
Josh was able
to provide his helmet
and show it to investigators
and they were able to rule out
that this helmet that was found
along the side of the road
had belonged to Josh.
We were able
to determine that Josh
had returned back to his house.
Josh's parents saw Josh there.
It allowed us
to quickly rule out
the likelihood
that Josh was involved
in the disappearance of Sierah.
He was very shaken up
because he was a suspect,
which is really hard
for me to say
because he was never
a suspect in-- in our eyes.
We wanted to identify
the owner of that helmet,
as quickly as possible,
so it was submitted
for DNA testing.
Fearing there
may be a predator among them,
the entire town
of Metamora rallies
to find their hometown girl.
They met over
at Evergreen High School
and then the search parties
were formed to find Sierah.
Hundreds of people
who were helping us,
taking flyers
to different areas,
gas stations, rest stops,
anywhere we could
possibly put them.
Despite the outpouring
of community support,
there's still
no sign of Sierah.
Then, two days
into the investigation,
detectives receive
an unsettling call.
There was a tip that came in
to our tip line
that we put out
through the media
that there had been a van
speeding through the area.
The first place
that my mind took me
was that she was abducted
and she's in the back of a van
being taken somewhere.
It was awful.
It was absolutely awful.
Some people
in the community thought
maybe Sierah
had been abducted
and she was being
sex-trafficked.
Metamora, Ohio,
is located
just outside of Toledo.
Toledo is a major hub
for sex trafficking
because of I-75,
and because
of the Ohio Turnpike.
We've had several cases
in our area
where people have been...
taken from the area
and found in Detroit
or Las Vegas
or Pennsylvania.
Fortunately, the tipster
provides investigators
with a plate number.
We ultimately found out
where that van was,
we interviewed that person,
and the reason
that he was speeding
through the area
is that another vehicle,
potentially
one of the family members
who was out searching,
actually sped up behind them
which scared them a little bit
and they sped off.
It was quickly determined
that that individual
had nothing to do
with the abduction of Sierah.
More than 48 hours
into the investigation
and with no leads,
Sierah's despondent family
finds it harder
to keep hope alive.
As each day passed, you know
that the chances of survival
and the chances
of finding them alive
is-- you know,
just continues to go down.
The community
did a candlelight vigil.
There was tons
of people there.
I do believe
that they needed somewhere
to show all their emotions,
because Sierah
kind of represented
everybody's daughter,
everybody's sister,
she just wasn't
an all-American girl.
Sierah was absolutely
the center of everybody's world.
As a little girl,
she was happy and-- and funny,
but she also had
a lot of spunk,
and sass,
and she brought a lot of joy
and happiness to the house,
and to our lives.
- Great job.
- Great job.
Okay.
She just always
made me smile, you know.
Even when she did
something wrong,
she always made me smile.
She's always very adventurous.
When she got into high school,
she played volleyball.
She was one of those girls
that was very comfortable
and very confident.
I loved that about her.
Resolved
to give Sierah's family
the answers it deserves,
investigators continue
their door-to-door search.
And it brings them
to a farm not far
from where they found
Sierah's bike.
The property sat on...
probably a little over
an acre of land,
the property contained,
a small residence,
a trailer,
and then a large barn.
That residence
was owned by James Worley.
They began talking
to Mr. Worley
about the day
Sierah went missing,
and whether he had heard
or seen anything.
He had stated
that he had actually
been riding his motorcycle
in the area
of the abduction site,
that his motorcycle
had broken down
and he had lost a couple items,
those items being
a screwdriver
and a motorcycle helmet,
the same items found
at the crime scene.
It was a huge surprise
for somebody to place themselves
at the initial scene.
That, of course,
definitely set off
our alarm bells like crazy.
It's been
a heartbreaking 48 hours
since college student
Sierah Joughin went missing.
And after a rather
strange encounter
during a neighborhood canvass,
detectives are taking
a closer look
at longtime local
James Worley.
Mr. Worley told
investigators
that he had dropped his helmet
in the area where
Sierah had come up missing.
He said
he had lost items,
those items
being a screwdriver,
a fuse box,
and a motorcycle helmet.
The fact that one
of those items contained blood
definitely piqued
their interest.
Detectives also observed
some scratches on Mr. Worley.
This, of course, is consistent
with a possible struggle.
As soon as I heard
the information
that Mr. Worley provided,
the red flags went up.
Highly suspicious,
investigators return
to the station
where they run
a background check on Worley
and make a chilling discovery.
He had
a criminal history.
He had tried
to abduct a young lady
about 26 years earlier.
I was 26 years old.
It was the Fourth of July
and we were about to have
a neighborhood picnic.
My mom's making potato salad
and getting ready
for the picnic,
and I decided just to go
for a bike ride.
It was about 95 degrees
and humid,
and I did not have water
and proper things,
so I was thinking
about turning around
and going home,
but I could hear a car
coming behind me,
and I was thinking,
as soon as it passes me,
I'm gonna turn around
and go home.
But then I felt the impact
of a car hitting me.
And I flew into the ditch.
The person that hit me stopped
and he came out,
and he said, "Are you okay?"
And the next thing I know,
I got hit over the head
from behind.
And I knew immediately
that this was turning
into a nightmare.
He put a screwdriver
into my throat
and pushed me toward the car
and told me to get in
or he would kill me.
He put handcuffs
on my right wrist
and locked them.
He kept trying
to get my arms behind me
and all I did was hold
onto the steering wheel
as hard as I could.
And I was screaming
at the top of my lungs,
and there was nothing
but corn around.
I remember almost passing out
many times.
As Robin struggles
to stay conscious,
she sees something
in the distance
that stirs a pang of hope.
Right at that moment,
a motorcyclist came down
the road toward us.
And I was flailing
as much as I could
and tried to make him realize
that I was in distress
and I really needed help.
When he stopped,
I realized I had
a chance to live.
The man
on the motorcycle
startles Robin's attacker.
The next thing I know
is I don't feel him
holding on
to my right side anymore.
I was actually free
for a moment,
and I just started running
to the guy in the motorcycle
and said, "You need to help me
because this guy's
gonna kill me."
The good Samaritan
quickly takes Robin home.
I collapsed
like a ragdoll.
And he and my mom's boyfriend
called the police.
While Robin
is rushed to a nearby hospital,
the motorcyclist
takes police back to the scene.
The odd part about
the Robin Gardner case
was, upon law enforcement's
response to the area,
they actually located
Mr. Worley with his vehicle.
Mr. Worley remained
at the crime scene,
provided information
of who he was,
but also, of course,
told an alternate story.
He said
that I was riding my bike
and swerving into the road,
and that he could not
avoid hitting me.
His story of the handcuffs
were that I was hysterical
and he was going to handcuff me
to the steering wheel
of the truck
and go get help.
James Worley
is arrested.
And a jury doesn't buy
his far-fetched story,
finding him guilty
of abduction.
They sentenced him
to the state prison
in Mansfield, Ohio,
for six to ten years.
He got out three years later
on good behavior.
It was very scary
to have him free.
I was fearful
that he would strike again.
Now, 26 years later,
it looks like Worley
may have done just that.
In 2016, July,
I was living
in Washington state
and I got a text
from a former
next-door neighbor,
and he said,
"I'm so sorry, Robin,
if this is gonna bring up
bad memories,
but I thought
you might wanna know,"
and I learned
that it was daytime,
and it was July,
it was her riding her bike
next to cornfields,
and I was nauseous.
And I immediately
called the police.
Armed with the information
about Worley's dark past,
deputies race back to his home,
search warrant in hand.
It was very important
for us to move fast.
Sierah could still be alive,
that maybe
she is being held captive,
and there's a still a chance
in rescuing her.
Three days
into their investigation,
detectives have just learned
longtime local James Worley
did time for abducting
an Ohio woman 26 years ago.
The similarities between
the two incidents were clear.
You had two young females.
Both were taken
from their bike.
It was immediately decided
that we needed
to take a further look
at the Worley property
to find Sierah
as quickly as possible,
and to find her alive.
During the initial search
of the main house,
in which he shared
with his mother,
there was nothing
inside that residence
that appeared to be
out of the ordinary.
Undeterred,
detectives turn their attention
to Worley's vast backyard.
There, they find a small barn
with neatly stacked bales
of hay inside.
As we were removing
those bales of hay,
we located a small green crate,
probably six foot long.
Inside that, we noticed
the bags upon bags
of underwear,
stockings,
tube tops,
things like that
that were labeled
in plastic bags.
There were a pair
of purple panties
that appeared
to have blood on them.
Detectives
hold their breath,
dreading what they might
uncover next.
We noticed that
there was a piece of plywood
laying on the ground.
Upon removing
that piece of wood,
there was a small,
couple-cubic-feet freezer,
which had been buried
in the ground.
Extremely strange location
to have a freezer.
Upon opening it,
we noticed that the interior
of the freezer
had a strange odor
coming from it.
There was a real strong
chemical smell,
kind of like bleach,
and that's an indication
to law enforcement,
maybe the destruction
of evidence,
trying to get rid of something.
Partially hidden
by the hay bales
are more alarming items.
We located
an air mattress
that had several
different stains on it.
There were also zip ties,
duct tape,
handcuffs, handcuff keys,
numerous things
which were consistent
with items that could be used
in an abduction.
Every item taken
from the Worley property
was submitted
for DNA testing.
Worley tries
to explain away the items
as part of a pornography
business
he's trying to start.
But the evidence
is enough to arrest him
for the abduction
of Sierah Joughin.
We couldn't have
even wrapped our brain
around it,
being someone that lived
just miles from our home,
it just wasn't even something
that we would ever think.
But they still
don't know where Sierah's at.
Of course,
we have a million questions,
and half of them,
they won't answer.
The ultimate question is,
is where is she?
We continued
an extensive search
of the Worley property.
We brought in cadaver dogs
to sniff around,
we drained a pond,
we went through the attic,
removing insulation,
and things like that.
Every inch
of that property was searched.
We continued to expand
that search,
even across his property lines,
onto the neighboring properties.
We thought we're gonna
keep going
until we find Sierah.
We looked everywhere.
I was hoping we would find her
and everything would be good,
but as each day went on,
it was...
getting to the point
where it was highly unlikely
that we would find her alive
or at all.
We were just holed up
in the house
just waiting to hear any--
any information.
And I remember praying
that we find Sierah,
she comes home.
For three days,
weary detectives have been
working round the clock
when finally a call comes in
that may bring
this case to a close.
A farmer
was walking his field,
he observed a matted-down
area of corn.
He then proceeded
to take a further look
and observed a mound of dirt
built up.
He assumed it was
a potential gravesite
based on the fact
of what had been happening.
I remember them
talking to us
and saying that they had a area
they were looking at.
They weren't saying it yet,
but my gut
was that they had found her.
So now I'm just trying
to prepare myself.
And, you know, we waited.
It seemed like
we waited forever.
When investigators arrived,
they found a fresh pile
of dirt there.
It looked like a gravesite.
So, they immediately
started processing that scene.
Somebody had been out
in that field,
had dug a shallow hole,
but had stopped.
And so that did not result
in finding Sierah
at that location.
They proceeded
to canvass out
and search
the adjoining areas.
We had drones up,
I had--
the dogs were available.
We had helicopters up.
There was quite a bit going on.
That's where they located
another mound of dirt
with freshly matted corn
a couple hundred yards in.
At that point,
I thought the dog
smelled a body.
Crime scene investigators
began to excavate that area.
While continuing to dig,
investigators located something
that they immediately
recognized to be human.
They believed it was the body
of Sierah Joughin.
Three agonizing days
after hometown girl
Sierah Joughin disappeared
from Metamora, Ohio,
investigators believe
they've found her body.
They had located
something
that they immediately
recognized to be human.
In this small town
where everyone knows everyone,
investigators immediately
recognize the girl
in the shallow grave.
We clearly identified
the body of Sierah Joughin.
Sierah was found
in the bottom of the hole
with her hands behind her back,
handcuffed, her feet bound
to those handcuffs,
and a object in her mouth
that was lodged in such a way
that it restricted her airway
and that she was not
able to breathe.
It is believed
that that item
is what caused to her
to asphyxiate and die.
For this young girl,
for these to be
her last moments,
it's very heartbreaking
when you think about it.
Later that night,
Sierah's family gets the call
they've been fearing for days.
As soon as that phone rang,
everybody knew...
what the call was gonna be.
And the silence
that took place
when my husband
was on that phone
was silence like--
like I've never heard.
It was just this like deep,
dark hole that everybody
just stood in
as we waited.
And then, when he got off
the phone...
I mean, he didn't even have
to say anything.
He just looked...
and...
I mean, everybody just...
broke down.
The-- the sounds of despair...
just everybody was crying
and it just...
sounded like howls,
and just people
just fell to their knees.
It was the worst sound
I could ever hear,
just absolute despair.
There was some relief
in the fact that
we weren't searching
for her anymore,
that I knew she was home,
that,
as angry as I was at God
for letting this happen to her,
um, I knew
that she wasn't in pain.
Almost a month
after Sierah was abducted
and killed,
James Worley
is indicted on 19 counts,
including kidnapping
and aggravated murder.
This is when we removed
the bicycle from the corn.
Two years later,
he stands trial
and pleads not guilty
to all charges.
His head was hung low
and he just had this meek,
like, "poor me" kind of a
appearance when he came in.
And I thought,
you know, how dare you
come in here
looking like you're the victim
when you actually took
another person's life.
Sierah's family sits through
eight torturous days
of testimony
during which the prosecution
unfolds a terrifying story.
Sierah was riding
her bike
on this country road
and Mr. Worley was in the area.
It's believed
that he may have struck her
with his vehicle.
He may have struck her
with that helmet that we found
on the side of the road,
abducted her,
and put her in that barn.
There's DNA
that placed her there
because there was blood
in the purple panties
that were found in the barn
and the blood
that was on the helmet
was James Worley's
and Sierah Joughin's.
Once in his barn,
detectives believe
Worley assaulted
and murdered Sierah Joughin.
We believe that Mr. Worley
disposed of her remains
in this cornfield
on a rural road
as her family
was looking for her.
Robin Gardner
prays her story
will help put Worley
behind bars for good.
I was the last person
on the witness stand
for the persecution side
and he was 20 feet away
from me.
And when I exited
the courtroom,
I just started
shaking and crying,
and I could barely breathe.
The evidence against Worley
is overwhelming
and it takes a jury
just six hours
to reach a verdict.
The jury saw exactly
what we saw,
and he was found guilty
on all counts.
We were relieved.
We really did not see
how it could any other way.
But I wanted the people to say,
"Yes. You are guilty
of the crime
that you committed."
But it's small solace
for a young man
who never imagined
losing the love of his life
that day on a country road.
Josh is a little lost.
You just don't ever think
somebody's gonna be
ripped away from you
and it's just--
it's really hard
to pick up the pieces.
So, it's been difficult.
Like so many
of the best souls,
Sierah died far too young,
but her legacy lives on.
Her family made sure of that.
The night she went missing,
we were able to pull up
the sex-offender registry.
However, there is no
database in Ohio
that has past violent offenders.
So, we started working
on a violent-offender registry.
In the state of Ohio,
it's called "Sierah's Law."
Had we had something
that night,
that could've made
a world of difference.
It could-- you know,
it's life or death.
Sierah's name means mountains
and in her life
I felt that she moved mountains
and she will continue
to move them.
For more information
about Buried in the Backyard,
descend on a tiny Ohio town
outside of Toledo.
We had drones up.
We had helicopters up.
Fearing
these backyard cornfields
harbor a horrendous truth.
We noticed bags
upon bags of underwear,
stockings, tube tops.
We found
a fresh pile of dirt there.
It looked like a gravesite.
That was the start
of our nightmare.
Theories abound
and panic spikes.
Toledo is a major hub
for sex trafficking.
Somebody help!
We located zip ties,
duct tape,
handcuffs, handcuff keys.
It's a race against time.
At that point,
we knew something had happened
and it wasn't good.
The ultimate question is,
is where is she?
Though just
a half hour from Toledo,
Metamora, Ohio,
is a world away
from big-city troubles.
In every backyard,
it's cornfields
as far as the eye can see.
It's a great community.
We all have grown up together.
Our parents
have grown up together.
And we all are very friendly.
For the most part,
it's been a very quiet,
peaceful area.
That's one
of the things that I--
I loved about living
in a small town,
I could go to bed at night
and not have to worry
that I didn't lock my door.
But that all changed
for a lot of people.
In the summer of 2016,
those backyard cornfields
become a scene
of chaos and commotion.
I remember our news director
sending reporters
out to the area.
There were people
all over searching for a body.
Our volunteers have showed up,
spent days upon days
walking cornfields
arm in arm, hand in hand,
walking the aisles of corn.
We had drones up.
We had helicopters up.
There was quite
a bit going on.
As day turns to night,
police dogs hunt
for an unmistakable scent.
The cadaver dogs,
they're trained in the odor
of human remains.
And suddenly one of the dogs
appears to have hit
on something.
At that point,
I thought the dog
smelled a body.
I contacted
the sheriff to tell them,
"Get me some help.
This is what we have."
I just, I didn't have a--
a good feeling with it.
Who has been
so grossly disposed of
in this backyard cornfield?
Summer is in full
swing in Metamora
and life here
is pretty simple
during these carefree months.
A lot of family time,
a lot of friends coming over,
having cookouts, bonfires,
people out riding
their bicycles,
you really have to make your--
your own fun.
On this
particularly sultry afternoon,
the Joughin family
is winding down
after a busy week of travel.
We just got back
from a vacation,
kind of gotten unpacked
and my 20-year-old daughter,
Sierah,
was home from college.
She had plans of studying
abroad in the fall,
and I wanted to talk to her
a little bit about it.
But Sierah
has a totally different agenda
that afternoon.
She was very athletic.
And she had just bought
a bicycle,
but she really hadn't had
a whole lot of time
to use it.
So when she did,
she was so excited.
She had her shorts
and her shirt
and her hair all up
in a ponytail.
And she said she was heading
over to her boyfriend,
Josh's.
Josh lived maybe
seven and a half miles
from our house,
so I said,
"Okay. I'll see you later."
And she took off
and headed towards Josh's.
It was probably
about 10:15
that Josh calls me
and asks if Sierah
was at our house.
And I said,
"No, she's not at our house."
And he proceeded to tell me
that he's tried calling her
several times
and her phone goes
right to voicemail.
Mildly panicked,
Josh tells Sheila
that Sierah left his house
a little before 7
and he hasn't seen her since.
And instantly,
I know something's wrong
because Sierah
always answers her phone.
Sheila's first instinct
is to call her parents
who live down the road.
I called my mom.
And she said,
"Sierah's not here."
My dad was gonna go out
to the barn
and look for her bike.
Couple of minutes later,
my father stated that
Sierah's bike
is not in the barn.
That was the start
of our nightmare.
Worried she might be hurt,
Sierah's family and Josh
head out to look for her.
I just hopped
in my car and I was like,
I'm gonna start
just searching anywhere,
trying to find her.
My husband
and my son started driving
and looking on the sides
of the road.
I just assumed that maybe
somebody had hit her
and she had fell
into the cornfield
and she may have broken a leg.
But after an hour of searching,
Sierah's family
finds no sign of her
on those country roads.
So I went home
and I started
putting things out
on any kind of social media
that I could,
frantically asking out there
to her friends,
has anybody seen Sierah?
Has anybody heard from Sierah?
Nobody has seen or heard
from Sierah for hours.
Sierah's mom isn't wasting
another minute
and calls the police.
I got the call from a sergeant
telling me that we had a--
a missing adult female.
and the path of where
she was supposed to have taken.
At that point I thought,
"Well, I'm gonna do
some looking,
check along the-- the roads."
Back home, Sierah's family
prays for any news
and it's less than an hour
before they get a call
from a concerned neighbor.
She said that County Road 6
was blocked off.
And so, of course,
I go running out
when we see all the commotion,
and the officer
standing there is like,
"I can't tell you anything.
I can't let you go down there."
I felt this--
this fear, this panic
because I just wanted to know,
did you find her?
A lot of times,
it is somebody
that's close to the victim
that ends up
being responsible.
We thought if Josh
is missing his helmet,
then clearly Josh may have
some type of role in this.
Hours after
20-year-old college student,
Sierah Joughin,
vanished riding her bike home,
her worried-sick family
gets an alarming call
that police have blocked off
a nearby road.
They had blocked
the entire road
so nobody could get
to my mom's house
or my sister's.
We were frustrated
because they were not
telling us everything.
Whatever is unfolding
on that country road
has investigators
in the small town
rattled enough to enlist
the help of the FBI.
In the early stages
of an investigation,
we're still trying
to determine
exactly what happened,
so we would never want
to provide
a family member or anybody else
with any false information.
They promise to deliver
any information
as soon as they can.
Sleeping
was not even an-- an option.
I mean, everybody was just...
wide-awake and,
trying to think of things
that we should be doing.
The next morning,
Sierah's mom and aunt
are desperate and refused
to wait for answers.
My sister
was calling all local hospitals
to see if any unidentified
female had been brought in.
Call after call
turns up nothing
until a promising lead come in
from nearby Detroit, Michigan.
We had heard
that a young woman
who looked like Sierah
was in a hospital
and with no identification
at that time.
She had escaped
a moving car
and was badly hurt
and she had many broken bones.
A nurse asks Sierah's family
for identifying marks
on her body.
She always had the scar
on the back of her calf,
and she had her
bellybutton pierced.
The hospital said
the girl had a bellybutton ring
and she had a burn on her calf.
When they told us those things,
we really were hoping
that it would be her.
We found out that it wasn't.
When we heard
that it wasn't Sierah,
it was depressing.
It was, like, "Well,
then she's still out there."
And there's nothing
more frustrating
than knowing that your daughter
is out there somewhere
and you have absolutely no idea
where she's at
or what's being done to her.
Law enforcement
kept going over the fields
which is why we kind of
anticipated that maybe they...
were looking
for Sierah in there
even though they were
absolutely telling us
nothing at that point.
Later that morning,
solemn-faced investigators
show up at the Joughin house,
ready to reveal what happened
the night before
in a nearby cornfield.
When I come across
a couple cornstalks
that were broke down,
so I parked my car,
I got out,
and it appeared to me
as if there was
some sort of scuffle
inside that cornfield.
At that point,
I'd noticed a motorcycle track.
I backed out the way I came
so I didn't disturb anything.
That is when
I'd seen a reflection
and I realized
that that was a bicycle.
The bike
that they had discovered
in these cornstalks was purple.
And that was the color
of the bike
that Sierah
had been described as riding.
And investigators
have unearthed
more disturbing clues.
They also found
male sunglasses,
a pair of female sunglasses,
a sock that may have
contained blood,
and a screwdriver.
So they told us
that they had found the bike,
but they had not found her.
It was absolutely devastating.
We knew something
had happened and...
it's not looking good.
We suspected that Sierah
had been abducted
from that location.
With no time to waste,
investigators are unrelenting
in their questioning
of Sierah's inner circle.
They were asking us
questions about Josh.
Sierah and Josh
had been friends
since they were seven.
They started dating
their freshman year
of high school.
They were a very fun couple.
Traveling to different areas,
they went skiing,
and they just-- they were
a very active couple.
When high school was over,
Sierah went to UT
and Josh was going
to Bowling Green.
They had talked about marriage,
but Sierah wanted
to finish college first
before traveling
down that road,
but, they were
definitely very serious
about one another.
We learned that Sierah
had come over to Josh's house
in the early afternoon hours
on July 19th.
At about 6:30, Sierah decided
she was ready to go home.
She got back on her bike
and the two of them
traveled back
towards her residence.
Josh explained
that part of the reason
that he went with her
was that he was worried
about her traveling
on her bike by herself.
Josh got on his motorcycle
and he rode with her
for a couple of miles
and Sierah made him
turn around and go back
because she's
an independent person
and she's like,
"I'm gonna ride my bike home."
So, they parted ways
and he said he went back.
Josh says he went home
but nobody can ignore
the glaring evidence
of the motorcycle tracks
found in the cornstalks
close to Sierah's bike.
The troubling question is,
could they be Josh's?
Everybody is considered
a person of interest
until we rule them out.
Twenty-four hours
after the mysterious
disappearance
of twenty-year-old
Sierah Joughin,
detectives in Metamora, Ohio,
have eyes
on her boyfriend, Josh.
A lot of times, these crimes
are crimes of passion
and it is somebody
that's close to the victim
that ends up being responsible.
Will the motorcycle tracks
discovered near Sierah's bike
prove to be Josh's?
We weren't able
to tell of the make and model
from those tire tracks,
but they did seem consistent
with a motorcycle tire.
Investigators can't afford
to rule anything
or anyone out.
We began by trying
to determine,
the most likely path
that Sierah would've traveled
from Josh's residence
back towards her residence.
Simultaneously,
we're setting up a command post
where phone calls
are coming in.
It isn't long
before a promising clue
comes in.
A neighbor had advised
that on the night of the 19th,
as he was driving,
he observed a helmet
laying on the side of the road.
He told his son, he says,
"Jump out,
grab that helmet
and throw it
in back of the truck."
They went on home
and never gave it
a second thought.
Well, after he had heard
what was going on,
he'd checked the helmet.
He was able to notice
that it had some red staining,
which he believed to be blood.
He indicated that
the motorcycle helmet was found
in the general area
of where Sierah's bike
was also located
in the matted cornfield.
The helmet
was a key piece of evidence.
We thought if Josh
is missing his helmet,
then clearly Josh may have
some type of role in this.
In a tell-all moment,
detectives confront Josh
about his helmet.
Josh was able
to provide his helmet
and show it to investigators
and they were able to rule out
that this helmet that was found
along the side of the road
had belonged to Josh.
We were able
to determine that Josh
had returned back to his house.
Josh's parents saw Josh there.
It allowed us
to quickly rule out
the likelihood
that Josh was involved
in the disappearance of Sierah.
He was very shaken up
because he was a suspect,
which is really hard
for me to say
because he was never
a suspect in-- in our eyes.
We wanted to identify
the owner of that helmet,
as quickly as possible,
so it was submitted
for DNA testing.
Fearing there
may be a predator among them,
the entire town
of Metamora rallies
to find their hometown girl.
They met over
at Evergreen High School
and then the search parties
were formed to find Sierah.
Hundreds of people
who were helping us,
taking flyers
to different areas,
gas stations, rest stops,
anywhere we could
possibly put them.
Despite the outpouring
of community support,
there's still
no sign of Sierah.
Then, two days
into the investigation,
detectives receive
an unsettling call.
There was a tip that came in
to our tip line
that we put out
through the media
that there had been a van
speeding through the area.
The first place
that my mind took me
was that she was abducted
and she's in the back of a van
being taken somewhere.
It was awful.
It was absolutely awful.
Some people
in the community thought
maybe Sierah
had been abducted
and she was being
sex-trafficked.
Metamora, Ohio,
is located
just outside of Toledo.
Toledo is a major hub
for sex trafficking
because of I-75,
and because
of the Ohio Turnpike.
We've had several cases
in our area
where people have been...
taken from the area
and found in Detroit
or Las Vegas
or Pennsylvania.
Fortunately, the tipster
provides investigators
with a plate number.
We ultimately found out
where that van was,
we interviewed that person,
and the reason
that he was speeding
through the area
is that another vehicle,
potentially
one of the family members
who was out searching,
actually sped up behind them
which scared them a little bit
and they sped off.
It was quickly determined
that that individual
had nothing to do
with the abduction of Sierah.
More than 48 hours
into the investigation
and with no leads,
Sierah's despondent family
finds it harder
to keep hope alive.
As each day passed, you know
that the chances of survival
and the chances
of finding them alive
is-- you know,
just continues to go down.
The community
did a candlelight vigil.
There was tons
of people there.
I do believe
that they needed somewhere
to show all their emotions,
because Sierah
kind of represented
everybody's daughter,
everybody's sister,
she just wasn't
an all-American girl.
Sierah was absolutely
the center of everybody's world.
As a little girl,
she was happy and-- and funny,
but she also had
a lot of spunk,
and sass,
and she brought a lot of joy
and happiness to the house,
and to our lives.
- Great job.
- Great job.
Okay.
She just always
made me smile, you know.
Even when she did
something wrong,
she always made me smile.
She's always very adventurous.
When she got into high school,
she played volleyball.
She was one of those girls
that was very comfortable
and very confident.
I loved that about her.
Resolved
to give Sierah's family
the answers it deserves,
investigators continue
their door-to-door search.
And it brings them
to a farm not far
from where they found
Sierah's bike.
The property sat on...
probably a little over
an acre of land,
the property contained,
a small residence,
a trailer,
and then a large barn.
That residence
was owned by James Worley.
They began talking
to Mr. Worley
about the day
Sierah went missing,
and whether he had heard
or seen anything.
He had stated
that he had actually
been riding his motorcycle
in the area
of the abduction site,
that his motorcycle
had broken down
and he had lost a couple items,
those items being
a screwdriver
and a motorcycle helmet,
the same items found
at the crime scene.
It was a huge surprise
for somebody to place themselves
at the initial scene.
That, of course,
definitely set off
our alarm bells like crazy.
It's been
a heartbreaking 48 hours
since college student
Sierah Joughin went missing.
And after a rather
strange encounter
during a neighborhood canvass,
detectives are taking
a closer look
at longtime local
James Worley.
Mr. Worley told
investigators
that he had dropped his helmet
in the area where
Sierah had come up missing.
He said
he had lost items,
those items
being a screwdriver,
a fuse box,
and a motorcycle helmet.
The fact that one
of those items contained blood
definitely piqued
their interest.
Detectives also observed
some scratches on Mr. Worley.
This, of course, is consistent
with a possible struggle.
As soon as I heard
the information
that Mr. Worley provided,
the red flags went up.
Highly suspicious,
investigators return
to the station
where they run
a background check on Worley
and make a chilling discovery.
He had
a criminal history.
He had tried
to abduct a young lady
about 26 years earlier.
I was 26 years old.
It was the Fourth of July
and we were about to have
a neighborhood picnic.
My mom's making potato salad
and getting ready
for the picnic,
and I decided just to go
for a bike ride.
It was about 95 degrees
and humid,
and I did not have water
and proper things,
so I was thinking
about turning around
and going home,
but I could hear a car
coming behind me,
and I was thinking,
as soon as it passes me,
I'm gonna turn around
and go home.
But then I felt the impact
of a car hitting me.
And I flew into the ditch.
The person that hit me stopped
and he came out,
and he said, "Are you okay?"
And the next thing I know,
I got hit over the head
from behind.
And I knew immediately
that this was turning
into a nightmare.
He put a screwdriver
into my throat
and pushed me toward the car
and told me to get in
or he would kill me.
He put handcuffs
on my right wrist
and locked them.
He kept trying
to get my arms behind me
and all I did was hold
onto the steering wheel
as hard as I could.
And I was screaming
at the top of my lungs,
and there was nothing
but corn around.
I remember almost passing out
many times.
As Robin struggles
to stay conscious,
she sees something
in the distance
that stirs a pang of hope.
Right at that moment,
a motorcyclist came down
the road toward us.
And I was flailing
as much as I could
and tried to make him realize
that I was in distress
and I really needed help.
When he stopped,
I realized I had
a chance to live.
The man
on the motorcycle
startles Robin's attacker.
The next thing I know
is I don't feel him
holding on
to my right side anymore.
I was actually free
for a moment,
and I just started running
to the guy in the motorcycle
and said, "You need to help me
because this guy's
gonna kill me."
The good Samaritan
quickly takes Robin home.
I collapsed
like a ragdoll.
And he and my mom's boyfriend
called the police.
While Robin
is rushed to a nearby hospital,
the motorcyclist
takes police back to the scene.
The odd part about
the Robin Gardner case
was, upon law enforcement's
response to the area,
they actually located
Mr. Worley with his vehicle.
Mr. Worley remained
at the crime scene,
provided information
of who he was,
but also, of course,
told an alternate story.
He said
that I was riding my bike
and swerving into the road,
and that he could not
avoid hitting me.
His story of the handcuffs
were that I was hysterical
and he was going to handcuff me
to the steering wheel
of the truck
and go get help.
James Worley
is arrested.
And a jury doesn't buy
his far-fetched story,
finding him guilty
of abduction.
They sentenced him
to the state prison
in Mansfield, Ohio,
for six to ten years.
He got out three years later
on good behavior.
It was very scary
to have him free.
I was fearful
that he would strike again.
Now, 26 years later,
it looks like Worley
may have done just that.
In 2016, July,
I was living
in Washington state
and I got a text
from a former
next-door neighbor,
and he said,
"I'm so sorry, Robin,
if this is gonna bring up
bad memories,
but I thought
you might wanna know,"
and I learned
that it was daytime,
and it was July,
it was her riding her bike
next to cornfields,
and I was nauseous.
And I immediately
called the police.
Armed with the information
about Worley's dark past,
deputies race back to his home,
search warrant in hand.
It was very important
for us to move fast.
Sierah could still be alive,
that maybe
she is being held captive,
and there's a still a chance
in rescuing her.
Three days
into their investigation,
detectives have just learned
longtime local James Worley
did time for abducting
an Ohio woman 26 years ago.
The similarities between
the two incidents were clear.
You had two young females.
Both were taken
from their bike.
It was immediately decided
that we needed
to take a further look
at the Worley property
to find Sierah
as quickly as possible,
and to find her alive.
During the initial search
of the main house,
in which he shared
with his mother,
there was nothing
inside that residence
that appeared to be
out of the ordinary.
Undeterred,
detectives turn their attention
to Worley's vast backyard.
There, they find a small barn
with neatly stacked bales
of hay inside.
As we were removing
those bales of hay,
we located a small green crate,
probably six foot long.
Inside that, we noticed
the bags upon bags
of underwear,
stockings,
tube tops,
things like that
that were labeled
in plastic bags.
There were a pair
of purple panties
that appeared
to have blood on them.
Detectives
hold their breath,
dreading what they might
uncover next.
We noticed that
there was a piece of plywood
laying on the ground.
Upon removing
that piece of wood,
there was a small,
couple-cubic-feet freezer,
which had been buried
in the ground.
Extremely strange location
to have a freezer.
Upon opening it,
we noticed that the interior
of the freezer
had a strange odor
coming from it.
There was a real strong
chemical smell,
kind of like bleach,
and that's an indication
to law enforcement,
maybe the destruction
of evidence,
trying to get rid of something.
Partially hidden
by the hay bales
are more alarming items.
We located
an air mattress
that had several
different stains on it.
There were also zip ties,
duct tape,
handcuffs, handcuff keys,
numerous things
which were consistent
with items that could be used
in an abduction.
Every item taken
from the Worley property
was submitted
for DNA testing.
Worley tries
to explain away the items
as part of a pornography
business
he's trying to start.
But the evidence
is enough to arrest him
for the abduction
of Sierah Joughin.
We couldn't have
even wrapped our brain
around it,
being someone that lived
just miles from our home,
it just wasn't even something
that we would ever think.
But they still
don't know where Sierah's at.
Of course,
we have a million questions,
and half of them,
they won't answer.
The ultimate question is,
is where is she?
We continued
an extensive search
of the Worley property.
We brought in cadaver dogs
to sniff around,
we drained a pond,
we went through the attic,
removing insulation,
and things like that.
Every inch
of that property was searched.
We continued to expand
that search,
even across his property lines,
onto the neighboring properties.
We thought we're gonna
keep going
until we find Sierah.
We looked everywhere.
I was hoping we would find her
and everything would be good,
but as each day went on,
it was...
getting to the point
where it was highly unlikely
that we would find her alive
or at all.
We were just holed up
in the house
just waiting to hear any--
any information.
And I remember praying
that we find Sierah,
she comes home.
For three days,
weary detectives have been
working round the clock
when finally a call comes in
that may bring
this case to a close.
A farmer
was walking his field,
he observed a matted-down
area of corn.
He then proceeded
to take a further look
and observed a mound of dirt
built up.
He assumed it was
a potential gravesite
based on the fact
of what had been happening.
I remember them
talking to us
and saying that they had a area
they were looking at.
They weren't saying it yet,
but my gut
was that they had found her.
So now I'm just trying
to prepare myself.
And, you know, we waited.
It seemed like
we waited forever.
When investigators arrived,
they found a fresh pile
of dirt there.
It looked like a gravesite.
So, they immediately
started processing that scene.
Somebody had been out
in that field,
had dug a shallow hole,
but had stopped.
And so that did not result
in finding Sierah
at that location.
They proceeded
to canvass out
and search
the adjoining areas.
We had drones up,
I had--
the dogs were available.
We had helicopters up.
There was quite a bit going on.
That's where they located
another mound of dirt
with freshly matted corn
a couple hundred yards in.
At that point,
I thought the dog
smelled a body.
Crime scene investigators
began to excavate that area.
While continuing to dig,
investigators located something
that they immediately
recognized to be human.
They believed it was the body
of Sierah Joughin.
Three agonizing days
after hometown girl
Sierah Joughin disappeared
from Metamora, Ohio,
investigators believe
they've found her body.
They had located
something
that they immediately
recognized to be human.
In this small town
where everyone knows everyone,
investigators immediately
recognize the girl
in the shallow grave.
We clearly identified
the body of Sierah Joughin.
Sierah was found
in the bottom of the hole
with her hands behind her back,
handcuffed, her feet bound
to those handcuffs,
and a object in her mouth
that was lodged in such a way
that it restricted her airway
and that she was not
able to breathe.
It is believed
that that item
is what caused to her
to asphyxiate and die.
For this young girl,
for these to be
her last moments,
it's very heartbreaking
when you think about it.
Later that night,
Sierah's family gets the call
they've been fearing for days.
As soon as that phone rang,
everybody knew...
what the call was gonna be.
And the silence
that took place
when my husband
was on that phone
was silence like--
like I've never heard.
It was just this like deep,
dark hole that everybody
just stood in
as we waited.
And then, when he got off
the phone...
I mean, he didn't even have
to say anything.
He just looked...
and...
I mean, everybody just...
broke down.
The-- the sounds of despair...
just everybody was crying
and it just...
sounded like howls,
and just people
just fell to their knees.
It was the worst sound
I could ever hear,
just absolute despair.
There was some relief
in the fact that
we weren't searching
for her anymore,
that I knew she was home,
that,
as angry as I was at God
for letting this happen to her,
um, I knew
that she wasn't in pain.
Almost a month
after Sierah was abducted
and killed,
James Worley
is indicted on 19 counts,
including kidnapping
and aggravated murder.
This is when we removed
the bicycle from the corn.
Two years later,
he stands trial
and pleads not guilty
to all charges.
His head was hung low
and he just had this meek,
like, "poor me" kind of a
appearance when he came in.
And I thought,
you know, how dare you
come in here
looking like you're the victim
when you actually took
another person's life.
Sierah's family sits through
eight torturous days
of testimony
during which the prosecution
unfolds a terrifying story.
Sierah was riding
her bike
on this country road
and Mr. Worley was in the area.
It's believed
that he may have struck her
with his vehicle.
He may have struck her
with that helmet that we found
on the side of the road,
abducted her,
and put her in that barn.
There's DNA
that placed her there
because there was blood
in the purple panties
that were found in the barn
and the blood
that was on the helmet
was James Worley's
and Sierah Joughin's.
Once in his barn,
detectives believe
Worley assaulted
and murdered Sierah Joughin.
We believe that Mr. Worley
disposed of her remains
in this cornfield
on a rural road
as her family
was looking for her.
Robin Gardner
prays her story
will help put Worley
behind bars for good.
I was the last person
on the witness stand
for the persecution side
and he was 20 feet away
from me.
And when I exited
the courtroom,
I just started
shaking and crying,
and I could barely breathe.
The evidence against Worley
is overwhelming
and it takes a jury
just six hours
to reach a verdict.
The jury saw exactly
what we saw,
and he was found guilty
on all counts.
We were relieved.
We really did not see
how it could any other way.
But I wanted the people to say,
"Yes. You are guilty
of the crime
that you committed."
But it's small solace
for a young man
who never imagined
losing the love of his life
that day on a country road.
Josh is a little lost.
You just don't ever think
somebody's gonna be
ripped away from you
and it's just--
it's really hard
to pick up the pieces.
So, it's been difficult.
Like so many
of the best souls,
Sierah died far too young,
but her legacy lives on.
Her family made sure of that.
The night she went missing,
we were able to pull up
the sex-offender registry.
However, there is no
database in Ohio
that has past violent offenders.
So, we started working
on a violent-offender registry.
In the state of Ohio,
it's called "Sierah's Law."
Had we had something
that night,
that could've made
a world of difference.
It could-- you know,
it's life or death.
Sierah's name means mountains
and in her life
I felt that she moved mountains
and she will continue
to move them.
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