With Tammy Sterner and Sabra VanWinkle
September 24, 2024
In this emotionally charged episode of The Murder Police Podcast, we continue to unravel the tragic story of Little Timmy Sterner. We are joined by his sister, Sabra VanWinkle, and his mother, Tammy Sterner, who share poignant memories and shed light on the events leading up to Timmy’s mysterious disappearance. Sabra and Tammy paint a vivid picture of Timmy’s life, from his love for video games and sports to his protective nature and deep family bonds.
They recount cherished moments of Timmy’s childhood, his passion for UK basketball, and his close relationship with his cousin, Josh Turner. The conversation takes a somber turn as they discuss the night of Timmy’s disappearance, revealing a series of suspicious and conflicting details that leave more questions than answers. As the family grapples with the uncertainty and pain of not knowing Timmy’s fate, they make a heartfelt plea to the community for information.
They emphasize the importance of speaking up and doing the right thing, urging anyone with knowledge about Timmy’s whereabouts to come forward.
True Crime, Missing Person, Family Interview, Timmy Sterner, Crime Investigation, Kentucky River, Video Game Memories, UK Basketball Fan, Rodeo Stories, Car Accident Mystery, Phone Evidence, Rural Kentucky, Community Help, Family Loyalty, Protective Brother, Prison Letters, Searching For Answers, Emotional Testimony, Police Involvement, Unsolved Case
Show Transcript (Please excuse AI generated errors)
Today we continue our discussion on little timmy stirner
Wendy Lyons: Welcome back to the Murder police podcast. Today we continue our discussion on little timmy stirner, and we have with us today his sister Sabra and his mother tammy. Thank you all so much for coming.
Sabra: Thank you.
Tammy: Thanks for having us.
David Lyons: Very, very grateful for you all taking the time, especially with a very difficult topic. So thanks for sitting down with us and adding, to the story of who timmy is. I think that’s our whole goal, is to make sure people know that this is not a number. It’s not something you saw on the news. Turn the page away. Is that, the family and timmy, everybody deserves answers, and hopefully we can.
Wendy Lyons: Shake the tree and get well. We just kind of wanted to get to know you guys a little bit better. We’ve interviewed several of your family members and friends to tell us who timmy is, and, we wanted to hear from you all as well. So, sabra, you’re his sister, so why don’t you tell us a little bit what growing up with timmy was like?
Sabra: Timmy was fun. I think some of my favorite m, like, memories were, like, playing video games. He always tried to get me and our other sister to, like, play football in the yard. He was much better than us at the video games, too, but, yeah, he was fun.
David Lyons: Do you remember what video games that he would get y’all to play?
Sabra: a lot of GTA and, like, racing games, like need for speed.
David Lyons: Gotcha.
Sabra: Those type games.
Tammy: Grand theft auto. Yeah, yeah.
David Lyons: And I asked that because that kind of sets a time frame for what’s, what’s, what’s on and what’s on those days.
Wendy Lyons: You know, I would wake up, like.
Tammy: At three in the morning, Timmy still be playing that game.
David Lyons: That sounds like somebody we know.
Wendy Lyons: Yeah, Jimmy, that’s, like, a rule.
Tammy: He’s like, I’ll go. I’m like, no, you won’t.
David Lyons: Yeah, that sounds like our kid.
Wendy Lyons: Yeah, yeah, we do. We do cut it off on school nights. We try to.
Tammy: I didn’t really.
Wendy Lyons: On the weekends. He’s a gamer.
Tammy: Yeah. I didn’t really understand what the game was, and I was watching it, and they ripped people out of the car.
Wendy Lyons: And steal the car.
Tammy: I’m like, yeah. He was like, mom, it’s just a game.
David Lyons: What was that? I saw something one time. That GTA’s the only place where you can, spend $20 on a prostitute, lighter on fire on the same day. It’s like, I’m like, oh, yeah, that’s a great influence, right? Oh, man. So good memories, though, right? Was he, like, really competitive.
Sabra: so, so sometimes, like, he would be playing with his friends and he would do that thing that other brothers or older brothers do where they, like, make you think that the controller’s on, but it’s not. And make you think you’re playing, but you’re really not.
David Lyons: I, See, yeah, I’ll trick you into it.
Sabra: Yeah.
David Lyons: It’s, I remember my stepson had talked me years ago into Fortnite and on the game he said, come in this little house and he had a booby trapped and blew the hell out of me. And I learned not to play with him anymore because he cheated really badly.
Tammy: He’s always the protector, like, pissed.
Wendy Lyons: We have heard that.
Tammy: Ah. From, like, if his friends come over, she had to change her shirt or whatever she had on. Tank top or whatever. Yeah. Timmy was.
David Lyons: Oh, wow. So there we go. We got. We tries to badger you into football and. Right. But at the same time, he’s, he’s really big about that. Tell us more about that. Did you feel like that he was your protection from things from time to time?
Sabra: I did. You know, I can remember a lot of times where he just kind of, kind of went aback for me, I guess.
David Lyons: I guess I would say we hear that.
Wendy Lyons: Yeah.
David Lyons: That people that are listening and watching are going to hear that over and over again, that it’s super loyal, super a family and stuff like that, too. what other kind of things was he interested in when you all were growing up?
Tammy: And he loves sports. Like, he loves UK basketball. He would watch every single game.
David Lyons: Oh, wow.
Tammy: Is how. Like, he just love him. I still got his, his, his board, where you name the brackets or whatever.
David Lyons: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tammy: All right. To the last one. he had a bunch of UK signs everywhere. Yeah, he loves UK.
David Lyons: I think when you live in this area, it’s a law, you know, because I grew up in Louisville and when I moved here, it was like they took me in a dark room and beat me and told me, you’re no longer a cardinal fan. And to be a UK fan, am I right or wrong?
Tammy: Yes.
It’s a religion in this town, so. And I think you’re, like, born
David Lyons: It’s a religion in this town, so. Okay. Cause we hadn’t heard before, but he caught all the games.
Tammy: Yeah, all of them.
David Lyons: Cool.
Tammy: Yeah. And I made sure he had time on his tablet to do that when he went to jail. Like, he had to watch him, so he watched him.
David Lyons: Oh, yeah.
Tammy: And I think you’re, like, born and either you’re born a UK fan or you’re not. Like, we was born into it. My mom’s always been one, so. And my dad. Yeah.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Tammy: And Tim’s status, too. Little Timmy’s daddy was okay. We used to go to a game.
David Lyons: Big deal here. Big deal here. I thought, I’m serious. I used to think Louisville fans were over the edge. And I got here.
Tammy: Yeah, we got the wild.
David Lyons: Oh, God, yes. Yeah. Listen, I’ve worked the celebrations on State street, having things thrown at me, and I know. Yes. I mean, I tell people when I travel, I’m like, yeah, they really, like, captures on fire. And then they light shirts on fire. Sometimes they take them off, sometimes they don’t, which I was always interested in the first one.
00:05:00
David Lyons: You know, you could watch people. I would never light my shirt on fire, but it’s still on. but. But people would do that, so that’s how fanatical they are.
Tammy: We used to live downtown when they would have the games, they were.
David Lyons: Yeah, m. Oh, yeah. I was on the other side of that wild. Trust me.
Sabra says Timmy was very protective of his family
Wendy Lyons: Well, we’ve heard from Sabra about how he was as a brother. Tammy, tell us that you’re his mom. Tell us how. How heaven. Timmy, for a son, was he a fun baby or, a cranky baby?
Tammy: Yeah, he was my little man from the time I had him. He was the best baby. He just real short, little Timmy. I had, like, no legs. Jimmy was a little man, just like his dad. So he, like, I remember the day he left, we were like, he’s like, I’m five seven and a half, mom. I’m like, now, jimmy, you’re five foot tall. He’s like, I’m five seven. I said, no, I’m five seven. You’re like, you said five three on the driver’s license. So really five foot. He’d get mad that, like, he was too short to play basketball and stuff. You know what I mean? Like, he was little, but.
David Lyons: But he loved football.
Tammy: He loved football, right? I mean, played football a little bit. but he’s just real protective. Like, he loved his family. He’s all about his family. He grew up with Josh Turner, which is his cousin, but they were really raised as brothers. We used to go to the rodeos all the time when he was little, and the cowboys used to come and get him. He loved him. He just loved them. Then we started going to the car racing, and then the drivers come and get him when they win the trophies, and Timmy would get all the trophies, so. Yeah, yeah. we did a lot of stuff.
David Lyons: Yeah. On the rodeos, did you dress him up like a little cowboy.
Tammy: Yes. And he hated it. His dad would have him in a flannel shirt and a white beater and a name Belt and Justin Boots. And he’d be like, when I go to my mom’s lease, I get to be a pimp. I let him wear love boots and stuff like that. So. Yeah.
David Lyons: Oh, how cute, how cute. Gotta have some Justin boots. Especially the rodeo, I mean, right? I mean it’s, it’s part of the show. We hit the rodeos whenever we can and we do dad up a little bit.
Wendy Lyons: Yeah, we try to play the part.
David Lyons: So football, rodeos, race cars, things like that too. what was this sense of humor? Like, what do you all remember about that?
Tammy: Just funny. I don’t know, like my family is very obnoxious, sarcastic. So like a Christmas with us is just jabs. Like we all throw jabs at each other, just like emailing them through the room, you know what I’m saying? If you didn’t have it, you probably got your feelings hurt.
David Lyons: It’s a lot like my dad’s side of the family, so we were used to that too. So just hammering each other all the day, is that what you remember?
Sabra: Yeah, exactly.
David Lyons: Is it still like that? Do y’all still cut loose?
Tammy: Yeah, pretty much.
David Lyons: Gotcha for sure.
Tammy: like we don’t have no secrets, really. Like we all our stuff laid out on the table, we all know everything about each other. And if you don’t, you’re quickly gonna learn it.
David Lyons: I’m getting that too. I think that’s part of the closeness I’m sensing is that, every, everything that, you’re right, everything’s on the table that I’ve heard so far too.
Tammy: Like we didn’t have secrets and stuff, we just.
Tammy: Yeah.
David: Did Timmy have girlfriends growing up or somebody he liked
David Lyons: How about his romantic life is how did, can you describe any of that? When did he, did he take an interest in.
Wendy Lyons: I think you should word that different. It sounds like Harlequin romance. I think what David means is did he have girlfriends growing up or somebody he liked?
Tammy: Yeah, many of them grow crazy.
David Lyons: Really? Okay, let’s go there because that sounds.
Tammy: He just loved them, love women. But he was good to him, you know, I taught him. You treat women good. And he did, he had one, I think one long term relationship. I think it was summer. Okay, I didn’t know summer really good then I was calling in for all that. But I know he wrote me and told me about her. I think they were together like five years.
David Lyons: Oh, wow.
Tammy: She said she would talk to you on the phone, but she’s in Arizona or so.
David Lyons: Yeah, we’ll try to locate her. Cause virtually anybody wants to come and talk about Timmy, we’re gonna talk to. So we’ll take care of that somehow. We’ll make that work.
Wendy Lyons: But we do know in later Times, Timmy went away for a stint. did you all, while he was incarcerated, did you all stay in touch with him with letters or phone calls?
Tammy: I talked to Timmy every day. Oh, unless he was in the home, then he only got to call home once a week. That. Yeah. And I wrote him letters, money every week. I bet me and his dad did, constantly.
David Lyons: Well,
00:10:00
David Lyons: that’s important. That’s a. He was in there for a pretty long stretch. Yeah, seven, eight years or something. And the one thing I think people have that are in there is the support of the family is probably what gets them through that, you know?
Tammy: Yeah. When I was going through his letters, I found a bunch of letters from me and his two grandmas, my mom and Tim’s mom, and then his friend Ryan Grossen. He had all kinds of letters from him. I think he’s locked up, though, because I try to get in m to contact him, but I can’t find him.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Tammy: And summer, of course, and. Yeah.
David Lyons: Gotcha. Well, at least, did Sabre, did you. Were you able to talk to him or speak to him?
Sabra: Not as much as I would have liked to. but I did try to send, like, you know, like, Christmas cards and letters when I could. I remember the last time I sent him a card, he just said, like, it made his whole week.
David Lyons: So something to distract him. Yeah, because that somebody said that he stayed really fit while he was in there, which. Yeah, he got swole. He got swole. Yeah. But again, I mean, what a way to occupy your mind and keep your mind in a forward direction, too. Is it, he was a big.
Tammy: Boy when he came out. Too big because he’s a short, you know, he’s a little man, and he was.
David Lyons: I was, like, kind of fire plugged on you. Yeah, exactly. Fireplugged. And he’s short stature, like his dad. Tim, right? Yeah, that’s me and me and Tim. CI to. I literally.
Tammy: Him and little Timmy did, too. So they’re the same height.
David Lyons: Yeah. So not because we’ve met a whole lot, but because I’m a short guy. M in my dad’s side of family. It’s all jockeys and stuff like that.
Sabra: Yeah. He would hate, if he was listening, he would hate us talking about how short he is on the air.
Wendy Lyons: We’ll just go with five seven. He’s five seven.
David Lyons: Exactly.
So, Tammy, we understand he had gotten out and you brought him home
Wendy Lyons: So, Tammy, we understand he had gotten out and you went and got him and brought him home. Can you tell us about that?
Tammy: Well, I went, picked him up. He was supposed to got out, like, in the middle of the month, but they let him out on the first Monday of the month. So we picked him up. we watched the. That’s when they had the, eclipse.
David Lyons: Okay.
Tammy: So we watched that, and we went to cracker barrel m and ate and just drove home and talked. And Timmy was on his phone. I brought his phone and stuff to him, and he stayed on his phone. I was like, dang, you got all these. What’s going on? You think off the river, you got all these pictures and stuff on the phone. He was like, look, mom, that ain’t heard it. He said, mom, they got these filters now. I said, yeah, they’re catfishing.
David Lyons: No, catfishing. Elder, that’s too.
Tammy: but, yeah, he stayed on the phone all night talking to all his little friends and stuff. I heard him say probably like four times all, man, I ain’t getting hot. I’m more than done with that shit. I’m not going back there. So.
David Lyons: So he had plans on re engineering himself and everything, right? That’s what we’re hearing, too, which is so good to hear.
Tammy: He was specifically working with his dad.
David Lyons: Yeah, good deal. And, you know, for a guy that used to start the casework, that send people there, that is the best thing in the world to hear. Is it? I just remarked on a friend of mine on Facebook, he ran into somebody that said, you all used to chase me back in the. In the day, and, there’s nothing like watching people turn their life around because we didn’t like repeat customers. It wasn’t about that. And I know so many people that did remarkable things with their life, so it’s not always the negative that people make it out, and we can’t write people off. Right? So he. Everything we’re gathering is that he really was looking at re entering and living his life differently.
Tammy: I think his dad was out of town. He just had to go back out of town. I took Timmy to see Sandy, and he got to see my mom and terrence, and that’s it.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Tammy: Like, he didn’t get to see many people, but he was on that phone. He talked to probably everybody in the world.
David Lyons: Well, yeah, we at least got that now on the sad side, too. That’s all people have from the last contact is a Facebook call. Or, that we’ve learned is that they. That they never. Because he’d made plans on connecting, which, obviously, with as many people he could, and that they got interrupted.
Tammy: Well, when I went through his stuff, I found some letters that he never sent. So I give those people them letters. One was to me. One his dad, his granny, my mom. And I think summer, Katie. Katie was Timmy’s probably first love ever in life.
David Lyons: Okay.
Tammy: He loved that girl. I think they just became friends, you know, just grew into friends. And that’s what they are always been. I think it was Timmy, Katie, Heather Bush. Who else? Kayla, Pence, m. It was them four all the time.
David Lyons: Yeah, well, those letters have a big meaning now in his hand and his voice. Yeah, those are big. Cause Sandy, actually read the last one she got, and it, was difficult to listen to. But again, the power of what that is,
00:15:00
David Lyons: looking at where you’re at right now is incredible. To have a memento like that. That’s. That’s gotta be. So he, wouldn’t. He straightened me out if I’m jumping ahead or anything like that, but. So you pick him up. He’s on the phone, which I can only imagine. I did that to contact as many people. when did you realize that something was off either one of you? When did you realize something wasn’t right with this guy that just got out of.
Tammy: I guess I let him use my car. He went to meet somebody, to go to a meeting.
David Lyons: Okay.
Tammy: And then, like, I talked to Timmy at 1030. He said, mom, I think I’ll just stay out here. I was like, no, I want you to come home. Bring my car home. I got a job interview in the morning. The police are really bad out here. There are they. It’s crazy. They pull you over. The whole police come. The whole police force come. So there’s 30 cops. Just you. You know what I’m saying? I didn’t want that for Timmy. Plus, he didn’t have a license.
David Lyons: We come in bunches.
Sabra says she trusted her son enough to let him take her car
Yeah, exactly.
Tammy: And. But I knew they could. You don’t have to have a license to drive.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Tammy: Can’t drive on a suspicion, so. But I wanted to, you know, I trusted him, and so I let him take my car. And then I got a phone call, like, at 1147 or 1247, I think it was 1247. Said that, Timmy stowed somebody’s car, left in it, wrecked it, and it’s gone. And they have my car, and they got pulled over in my car. That night.
David Lyons: Okay. Yeah. That’s an interesting little.
Wendy Lyons: When you were told that, when that person said to you, he took my car and he’s gone, did you believe that initially, or were you thinking, there’s no way, why would somebody take the car?
Tammy: He had a car, fully insured, insurance paid up for a year, permission to drive it, and my son did. Okay. So for me, I don’t care about none of that that’s material thing. As long as you’re home and you’re fine, I’m okay. You don’t even have to bring the car home, huh? Jimmy knew that about me. Like, my son’s not gonna say, hey, will you pull my mom’s car up the driveway? I’m scared I’ll tear the bottom up. Timmy will tear the bottom up and bring it home and be like, mom, sorry, man. I’ll be the fix for you. David’s a good mechanic, you know. That’s just Timmy. You know what I mean? He knew. But as long as he’s okay, I’m okay. It didn’t matter. He didn’t have to rent a car. Huh?
David Lyons: Huh?
Tammy: The car can come with no wheel, no windows, nothing. As long as Timmy came home and he was okay.
Sabra: That’s a mom, I think it just. It just didn’t make sense.
Wendy Lyons: Did you. Did your mom call you and tell you about it? Sabra, is that how you found out?
Sabra: Well, that day, we had talked about making plans, and I know he had talked to our sister as well, m about going and seeing, our nieces and nephew. and then that night, it was my grandma that called me at about right before three, three in the morning, and was, saying that he was just gone. And so, of course, I was like, you know, that doesn’t make any sense. so, yeah.
Wendy Lyons: What did you think when you heard that? Were you thinking, that don’t sound right.
Sabra: Yeah, I was. Yeah.
Wendy Lyons: So then at that point, I guess you all are kind of sitting around waiting. It’s probably now breakfast time. He’s still not home.
Tammy: No. I went back down there that morning. I got home like athenae 05:00 from getting my car. I went down there and got my car that night. And, I searched for Timmy that night, and I didn’t see him out there. Cause he only had one shoe on. They had one of his shoes. They had his phone, my car, and my car keys. Everything out of Timmy.
Sabra: Everything he had in one of his shoes.
Wendy Lyons: So what did you say? This don’t look right.
Tammy: When, they had Timmy’s phone. I knew something bad happened, something odd.
David Lyons: And that’s. And again, we’ll steer from a lot of intimate details, but everything that we’ve talked about.
Tammy: So, because I always talk to me, your phone is your lifeline. As long as you have that, you can call. Get out, you can call me, anybody. You know what I’m saying? That’s your lifeline, no matter what. If you got a phone, you’re good.
David Lyons: Yeah. So that’s one of those dots. It’s not connecting is this whole thing is full of dots.
Wendy Lyons: So were you just kind of given some fishy stories when you went there to get that stuff?
Tammy: Yeah. So that Timmy, wrecked a car and then called somebody to come get him, and he jumped in that car and left that he was seen on camera. Well, it took me 50 minutes to get out there. You can’t just drive out there quickly like that. He’s been in jail for eight years. He don’t know. No, he’s number. The only number he knows is mine and his dad’s. And I know he’s gonna call me. I talked to Jimmy every single day since he was born, and so is his dad. I mean, Timmy’s gonna call us. You know what I mean? Or cause the right, wrong,
00:20:00
Tammy: or indifferent. I got Timmy. I don’t care what he does. Right. I’m a, get a lawyer.
There’s no cell phone signal in rural Kentucky where Timmy wrecked his car
I help him get out. I don’t care.
David Lyons: That’s a mother, you know?
Tammy: That’s my baby. He don’t do no wrong in my eyes. You know, I’m saying, so. And if he did, it’s okay. We’re gonna work through it.
David Lyons: Yeah. So that’s a whole story. That gets y’all’s attention quite a bit.
Sabra: Too, I think it’s like. Not to mention that there’s no cell phone signal out there.
David Lyons: Good point.
Sabra: And his phone was smashed.
David Lyons: Yeah. We’re talking a pretty rural area down by the river. And, here in Kentucky, we call those hollers. Some people may not understand what that is. It’s a way to either say hello or a place you live. but it’s true is that, when you get down to what we in that part of, Jesmyn county or Fayette county, your phone just doesn’t work. It’s just. It’s in a tight valley. That’s what a holler is, especially next to a body of water. So there’s. There’s another thing that said the dots aren’t connecting, is it? Supposedly a phone call is made when phone calls don’t work for anybody else.
Wendy Lyons: Did they tell you, tammy, how the phone got cracked and how they got his shoe and the contents in his pocket?
Tammy: Said that when Timmy wrecked the car, that, the shoe was left in the car. They found his phone in the middle of the road, smashed, like he broke it. And, they had my car because she was moving my car for Timmy because he was scared to move my car up the driveway. Freddie would tear it up. So he asked her to move it. So she was moving my car, and he was supposed to be moving her car. And then he just jumps in her car and takes off and vanishes. So then she said that, Timmy used her cell phone because it was left in her car when he stole it to call somebody to come get him. And the other girl said, well, how do you use your phone? You have a lock on your phone? She said, no, I don’t. the girl said, yes, I do. I was like. I started laughing. I said, y’all better come up with a better story than this because I’m coming back in the morning.
Sabra: Yeah, there was. There was a lot circulating about that, that they saw him smash the phone and get into a vehicle, that he used their phone, and they accidentally deleted the call from their call logs.
Tammy: And can I get the last number? He called them from your phone?
Wendy Lyons: Yeah.
Tammy: She said, well, I deleted them.
Sabra: and I think another thing that sent off alarm bells was that, his shoe was. Was seen in the passenger seat of the vehicle.
David Lyons: Yeah, in a passenger seat. And then. So you’ve got somebody that’s missing one shoe that’s just taken off, too.
There were suspicious circumstances surrounding Timmy’s disappearance, which lends to suspicion
And again, just for the listeners and watchers, if they’re jumping into this episode without the full wound up is one thing we share without the address is that, Timmy went to a place, a known, ah, location where he’s last seen. And there were people, more than one person that’s at that scene, which lends to the suspicion of this thing as to how does somebody just vanish from that. So for the listeners that are catching up, you need to go back and listen to the other, episodes to get the full picture. But that’s the stuff that makes this something different than, you know. Because, you know, one thing you could theorize is that they left and some adults leave, but these situ. These are the suspicious circumstances that would walk us away from somebody just leaving.
Sabra: Yeah, there was. There was other things, too that I thought were suspicious, but also just to provide context, it was very cold that night, and it was raining really bad. It was raining bad. And he wasn’t properly dressed.
Tammy: Crocodile Dundee. He’s not no country boy. He’s very much,
David Lyons: Somebody made that clear.
Wendy Lyons: Yeah.
David Lyons: He had nothing to do with being outdoors. He didn’t.
Tammy: So very much a pretty ricky. Little, Yeah. Pretty Floyd, what he called himself.
David Lyons: Yeah. He would what, he would change shirts three times a day.
Tammy: Yeah.
David Lyons: Yeah. So this was.
Sabra: And that’s so for him to just run out in the cardinal cold, in the dark. When you see anything with. Yeah. With one shoe, you know, not have a jacket on or anything like that. That’s just.
David Lyons: Yeah. And again, to paint a picture for what this is like, that people don’t know this is in a holler like that. Dark is a whole nother word. Cold is a whole other word. Because the temperatures are grossly different under. By that body of water and whatever. And then throw the rain and the river swelling.
Sabra: It was. It was very high and very, very fast moving. It had been raining for a week and continued raining rain for another week.
David Lyons: Yeah. When the Kentucky river comes out of its banks and moves, it moves. So, yeah, you have all of that. You have somewhere.
Tammy: When I typical. I went and picked my car up that night, it was pouring down rain. Like, it took me 50 minutes to get there from Lancaster. And I went and got Timmy’s phone fixed. And I asked the man, does it got water damage? He said, hey, it’s a brand new phone. He said, this phone ain’t touching no water. But it was found in the middle of the road and it was pouring down rain.
David Lyons: Okay, there we go. Another interesting thing.
Tammy: Another interesting thing, and I’m a Virgo, so we analyze everything to nothing.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Tammy: If it don’t make sense, I have to make it make sense.
David Lyons: You know, very analytical
00:25:00
David Lyons: and whatnot.
Sabra: Another thing was that, like, they claimed to see him do this and that and the other, but then later claimed that they were never there and that he stole the vehicle and they had to go find it. And they found it later on.
David Lyons: Yeah. So. Which. There’s tons of conflicting statements.
Sabra: Well, yeah, because. Especially because so many people were there and so many people should know something.
David Lyons: There we are. Is that we definitely are at a place, once again, where somebody absolutely knows something, whatever that something is. and there’s a range of possibilities on that. But the one thing I think we can probably agree with because of the circumstances, is somebody knows something. And, maybe more than one person by now. This has been several months. So now you not only have the people that were there, they have talked to other people. So somewhere in this, we always remind our listeners that this is a pretty small community, which is why I love living here.
What if you could ask the community for help in this case
Somebody knows something. What if you could ask the community for help in this? Because that’s where it’s going to come from. What would we ask people to say? What would we ask them to do to locate Timmy? And if justice has to be served, if justice is served, what would we ask them to do?
Tammy: Like, we can’t do something about something we don’t know about. You know what I mean? Like, perfectly, certainly. And Timmy was a human being beyond anything, and he deserves it to be laid to rest, if that’s the case. Just like anybody else would. You know what I’m saying? yeah, we have funerals and stuff for a reason, you know? And because I still hope every day that Timmy walks through my door and.
David Lyons: You know, there’s that thing. I don’t think we should lose that hope that that might happen one day. And then you could yell at him for not saying, but we know that somebody has answers. Yeah. What would you saber, what would you ask people in the community?
Sabra: I would say speak up so that we can bring him home.
David Lyons: That’s it.
Sabra: If you know something, if you’ve seen something, say something.
David Lyons: Amen. Absolutely.
Tammy: Because if it was somebody else’s kid, we would say something. There’s a difference between writing on for drugs and getting yourself out of trouble. In humane, inhumane, right and wrong. There’s a big difference between all that.
David Lyons: That is so true, Tammy. That’s a guy that was in the business for almost 30 years. You’re right. There’s a. There’s a huge difference in what that is. And just doing the right damn thing for a family. It, Those are. I don’t think I’ve heard. I don’t think I’ve heard it put that clearly before. Is it excellent. That’s what. That’s the difference in this. And it. If people should put theirselves in your shoes and they should think what they would feel like, maybe remember that if people did him harm and did something wrong, that until those people were brought to justice, that they’re open and vulnerable to the same thing as well. but, man, at some point, doing the right thing, that’s not being a snitch or a rat, that’s just being human. and getting answers back, too, for those people. I think that’s what still frustrates me about all of this. The answers are inside whoever was down there and the people that they know right now.
Sabra: Yeah. There has to be somebody that knows something with a conscience. I, say clear your conscience.
Wendy Lyons: I think also, with all the amount of people that was there that night, if he took off in a car, supposedly, why is nobody chasing him? why is nobody going after him to see where he’s going? How far, Tammy, was that car wrecked from the residence? Like just a couple of feet or a couple miles.
Tammy: I would say. it took me maybe two minutes to get to the residence from the right side.
Wendy Lyons: So you would think, if I know if somebody took off in my car and there’s another car sitting there, I’m going to follow to see where they’re going.
Tammy: I do know the girl got charged with falsifying a police report and leaving a scene of accident.
David Lyons: Interesting.
Sabra: There’s been several sources that have, said that he was not driving that vehicle.
David Lyons: Here we go. And you hit the nail on the head too, when you said several sources that the complexity of this is. We talked before we recorded, is the things that the family’s hearing that makes it confusing. It’s confusing for the investigators, too. But somebody knows what those trucks.
Wendy Lyons: Well, I think what’s confusing is if he’s driving, why is the shoe in the passenger seat? How’d the shoe come off the cot.
Tammy: That, responded to the wreck said he remembers the shoe. Hm. In the passenger seat. Passenger seat being laid all the way down, pushed all the way back. And the white tennis shoe and the passenger seat of the cardinal did remember that.
David Lyons: There we go. So many inconsistencies. Yeah. Tons of reason to be super suspicious.
Tammy: Super if you hear the story. yeah, he freaked out and jumped in my car and stole it. You still leave some kind of doubt in your mind? Maybe it did happen. Maybe he did steal a car and
00:30:00
Tammy: take it. You know what I’m saying? But even.
David Lyons: Even if he went there, used a reasonable person and this is who you are because you think these things through the end. What’s after that? See there, there’s the thing is that, that if we’re being told some b’s on that, that’s the problem with it. There’s no after that. So you got, shoeless Joe Jackson. You know, I mean, he’s. He’s missing a shoe. It’s cold, it’s wet. He’s not down for that to begin with. In a holler in the middle of the night.
David Sabre hopes someone who knows about Timmy will come forward
Sabra: I mean, it’s pitch black. You can’t see 2ft in front of your face. You can’t see anything out there, and that is nothing.
Tammy: I mean, Timmy is not about to stay in no holler during the pouring.
Wendy Lyons: Rain for no ten minutes with one shoe on.
Tammy: And I was up and down that road. So if Timmy was hiding somewhere, he would know that was me, and he would come out there. I believe that Timmy knows. I’m gonna take him. I hide him, move him out of state. I don’t care. M I’m gonna take care of my baby. You know what I mean?
David Lyons: Sure. Sure. That’s what moms do. That’s what they do. So I guess we need people to cough it up. We need people. You said it best. sabre, is that if you’ve got a conscience, let’s. Let’s let that go. I always say, and I’ve said it before, we can say, I don’t know how people walk around with that in their heart and on their shoulders, but I, unfortunately, met too many people that did, and I never understood it. And, I will say this, that I always looked at them and thought, you’re really as guilty as the people that have been hiding the truth. You can’t lie about that. There’s no such thing. Your part and parcel, and you’re in. I, would get that stuff off my soul as fast as possible. I would get that off. And you said it best. Both of you did. Imagine if this was your family member. That’s what we’re looking for.
Wendy Lyons: Our hope, by doing this podcast and talking to all of you, friends, family, is to get out there not just who Timmy is, but we’re hoping that somebody who knows what happened, like we’ve said, will come forward. I don’t know that the people that are responsible, responsible for this has the courage to come forward. I really don’t think they do. One, would think that you wouldn’t want that on your conscience or on your soul to have been so deceitful and bad. But our hope is that somebody knows something, and they’re going to tell on those people. And, David, you’ve often said before, if you know and law enforcement finds out that you know and you’re withholding it, you’re just as guilty, and you’re going to get in trouble, too, right? So if you know, whomever you are.
David Lyons: First one, let it go. And I’m not the detective. I haven’t spoke to the detective yet, so I can’t make a promise, but I will tell you from practice, first ones that come to the table with the right information usually benefit because they’re the ones that answer the questions that you all need. And it’s not a game. If everybody holds on, everybody will take a severe ride together. So somebody that is involved in this needs to think of themselves in that way and work your ass out of what’s about to happen. Because I still feel that solvability is really high. I really feel like that this is going to crack.
Wendy Lyons: I think so, too. Just because all of the pieces to the puzzle are there and they all fit together. It’s just that one missing piece to complete it. And somebody knows and I’m missing piece.
Tammy: I sit here, I will find my son and lay him the rest like he should be. If it, if it’s, shall I take my last breath? I’m going to look for Timmy and Gonfalon.
David Lyons: Timmy. We’re actually doing a lot of praying for that, too. Is that you all get the answers. But yeah. So if somebody that was there is listening, which I think might happen, I’m pretty sure choke it up. And if you know somebody was there and they’ve shared information to you, that would be beneficial, you’re now obligated to choke that up. You might as well been there that night. So there’s nobody, if they’re carrying that in their heart, they need to.
Wendy Lyons: They need to report that.
David Lyons: Yeah.
Tammy: Now, I really thought that we would, hear something. We had 25,000 on Timmy’s head first.
David Lyons: Yeah. We want to keep that out, too, that there’s a $25,000 reward.
Tammy: It’s 15 now.
David Lyons: 15, yeah. that’s still 15k.
Tammy: Yeah.
David Lyons: So people are listening. Think about what. You gotta bring the right information.
Wendy Lyons: Right.
David: It could be somebody else’s son next time
David Lyons: Obviously. But, here’s the thing.
Tammy: It could be somebody else’s son next time. You know what I’m saying? This stuff usually don’t start or stop with one person.
Wendy Lyons: That’s right.
Tammy: You know what I mean?
David Lyons: once people have the capability, if.
Tammy: You’Re that comfortable, I say he’s not the first one.
David Lyons: You know, people who can do this or hang around are wired differently than you and me. So you’re right. They’re completely different in that aspect. And that’s a spooky thing with it, too. So we could do a whole lot if somebody would just call with the right information, we could protect the rest of the community. We could get your answers. If, God forbid, it’s a matter of recovering him, to bring him home for a burial, then you can get that to start moving through that part of y’all’s life that we could do that.
Tammy: But they’re out playing God, and that, you can’t give or take somebody’s life that’s God’s. So. Yeah.
Wendy Lyons: Well, we thank you all so much for coming, and we’re going to continue to
00:35:00
Wendy Lyons: dig away and hope that we can get you all some answers. We really do. You all deserve that. So thank you for taking the time to come talk with us today. Thank you. Like, David said, you all are certainly in our prayers. This is, we said last night, I don’t think there’s a case that we’ve ever really kind of gotten this close to, really. So it’s, you know, it’s certainly been on our minds since it was brought to us to introduce it. So thank you all again.
David Lyons: Thank you. Wonderful people.