00:22 was born in the chineseport city of
00:24 dalian on june 25th 1985 but moved to
00:28 chicago with her husband at the age of
00:30 20 where she changed her name to amber
00:34 amber's first two years in the u.s were
00:36 both the happiest and saddest of her
00:38 life as the birth of her daughter
00:40 melissa in 2007 was quickly followed by
00:43 the death of her husband who passed away
00:47 the ensuing heartbreak and financial
00:48 issues saw amber and melissa briefly
00:50 move back to china but with the support
00:53 of her family they soon returned to the
00:55 united states before settling in las
00:59 within a decade amber had established a
01:01 prosperous grocery business that
01:03 specialized in seafood
01:05 and in a city that consumes over sixty
01:07 thousand pounds of shrimp every day that
01:09 business made amber a very wealthy woman
01:13 once her business was firmly established
01:16 and she had secured a future for her
01:17 daughter melissa amber began to venture
01:19 into the las vegas dating scene and it
01:22 was in 2017 that she met an uber driver
01:24 by the name of changshang
01:28 according to those that knew her amber's
01:30 relationship with cheng grew very
01:31 intense very quickly
01:34 the couple became so entangled that some
01:36 assumed they were already married
01:39 despite that intensity their
01:41 relationship was a volatile one
01:44 2018 saw the couple briefly separate
01:47 but shortly after their reconciliation
01:50 amber cheng and melissa moved to irvine
01:52 california ready to begin a new life
01:56 amber's friends and employees were very
01:58 sad to see her leave but she continued
02:00 to run her business from her new home
02:02 and frequently made trips back to las
02:04 vegas in order to check that things were
02:06 functioning as they should
02:08 she often kept in touch with employees
02:10 and regular customers via wechat a
02:13 chinese messaging app similar to
02:14 whatsapp and would usually reply to a
02:16 person's message within minutes of
02:20 so in november of 2019 when amber
02:23 suddenly stopped replying to messages
02:25 and returning phone calls those that
02:27 knew her became very worried
02:31 on november 22nd amber had been on her
02:33 way back to irvine from las vegas with a
02:36 car packed full of fresh fruit and
02:39 cheng had expected amber to return to
02:41 their mitchelson drive apartment in the
02:42 mid-afternoon and became concerned when
02:45 she failed to arrive when expected
02:48 then at around 4 30 p.m he claimed that
02:52 two visitors came to his apartment
02:55 cheng didn't recognize either of them
02:57 but noted that they were a man and a
02:59 woman of east asian descent
03:02 right as he was about to ask who they
03:04 were chang said that the female pulled
03:07 something out of her pocket
03:10 the last thing cheng remembered before
03:12 everything went black was a kind of fine
03:14 mist wafting over his face
03:19 a few hours later cheng woke up on his
03:21 dining room floor unable to remember how
03:23 he had gotten there
03:25 but just seconds later memories of the
03:27 mysterious couple at his door came
03:31 not long after cheng was overcome by
03:34 terror when he noticed a single bloody
03:37 handprint on the wall
03:40 staggering out of the room he spotted
03:42 even more blood on the hallway carpet
03:45 realizing that his stepdaughter might be
03:47 in danger he began calling out to her
03:49 while searching the apartment
03:52 to his horror melissa was nowhere to be
03:57 as he rushed to contact the authorities
03:59 he discovered something terrifying
04:02 a handwritten note next to his phone
04:05 the note informed him that both amber
04:08 and melissa had been kidnapped but would
04:10 eventually be allowed to return home if
04:12 cheng followed some simple instructions
04:16 the final passage read
04:18 if you contact the police you won't see
04:22 clean the apartment
04:26 we are watching you
04:29 terrified that the kidnappers ominous
04:31 warnings were legit cheng said about
04:33 covering up the evidence of the crime to
04:35 ensure amber and melissa's safety
04:38 he began by ripping up the square of
04:40 carpet that had been stained with blood
04:43 then he repainted the wall where the
04:44 bloody handprint had been
04:47 he also contacted melissa's school
04:49 claiming she wouldn't be attending class
04:51 due to serious illness and even
04:53 impersonated amber using her wechat
04:55 account to assure her customers that she
04:59 over the days that followed as cheng
05:01 continued to obey the hostage taker's
05:03 instructions a series of anonymous
05:05 letters were slid under his apartment
05:08 out one assured him that his behavior
05:11 was being closely monitored
05:14 another told him but if he continued to
05:16 keep the ordeal a secret for just a few
05:18 days longer amber and melissa would be
05:22 on the fifth day another anonymous note
05:26 this one instructed cheng to leave town
05:29 for a few days so that the hostage
05:30 takers could access the apartment
05:34 cheng capitulated and drove over to a
05:36 relative's house in las vegas under the
05:38 pretense of a surprise visit
05:41 for the next two days he continued to
05:43 hide the truth regarding the
05:45 disappearance of his partner and
05:46 stepdaughter acting completely normal
05:49 before driving back to his irvine
05:53 when he arrived home another note
06:00 clean the carpet again
06:02 clean the house again
06:04 you will see them monday
06:07 chang patiently waited for the return of
06:11 but when monday came and went and he
06:13 still hadn't received any kind of update
06:15 his worry turned to panic
06:19 as the situation dragged into its third
06:20 week and the hostage takers still hadn't
06:22 made contact chang began to fear the
06:26 on december 2nd 2019 chang finally
06:30 contacted the irvine police department
06:33 and reported that his family had been
06:38 at first the detectives found cheng's
06:40 story extremely suspicious
06:43 due to how long and convoluted it was
06:45 they believed it sounded an awful lot
06:47 like a cover story and initially
06:50 considered him the prime suspect in his
06:52 family's disappearance
06:54 however following an extensive 44-day
06:58 period of constant surveillance a
07:00 complete search of his apartment and
07:02 over 40 hours of thorough interviews
07:04 with friends and family chang was
07:06 amazingly ruled out as a possible
07:08 suspect and his story was deemed to be
07:13 sections of the bloodstained floorboards
07:14 chengdud scrubbed and covered up were
07:16 sent off for laboratory analysis and a
07:18 dna test confirmed that the blood
07:23 chang seemed distraught at the idea of
07:25 his partner being injured during the
07:28 but despite the convincing levels of
07:30 grief that he displayed a few things
07:35 firstly cheng appeared to have what's
07:37 known as a defensive wound on his hand
07:40 and although he said the cut came from a
07:42 slip of a knife while cutting meat the
07:43 slice resembled the kind incurred during
07:48 secondly a number of cheng's neighbors
07:50 had witnessed him hauling one large
07:52 cooler and one large storage container
07:55 out of his apartment and down to a
07:59 when asked about this by police cheng
08:01 claimed that he had just been cleaning
08:02 the apartment like the perps had
08:06 another aspect of cheng's story which
08:08 seemed odd was his claim that he had
08:10 been knocked unconscious by some kind of
08:15 he was adamant that a female stranger
08:17 had sprayed him in the face with
08:18 something and dismissed the idea that
08:20 she had used a chloroform-soaked drag
08:23 investigators deduced that it was
08:25 possible she had used the anesthetic
08:27 spray halothane which can render a
08:29 person unconscious almost immediately
08:32 but the thing is halothane is not
08:35 exactly an over-the-counter substance in
08:38 in fact it's extremely hard to get a
08:42 however one country has a long history
08:44 of using halothane during espionage
08:48 and would you believe it
08:50 that country is the people's republic of
08:54 but what would the chinese government
08:56 want with a young businesswoman and her
08:58 12 year old daughter
08:59 and had they been murdered or were they
09:01 being held prisoner somewhere
09:05 a considerably less fantastical
09:06 explanation for amber's kidnapping could
09:09 well be her financial situation
09:12 amber had convinced almost everyone
09:14 including cheng that she was a very
09:16 wealthy woman with millions in
09:18 investments and six figures in her bank
09:22 despite those claims however the
09:24 investigators uncovered that she had
09:25 vastly exaggerated her success
09:29 the truth was her bank accounts were
09:30 drained and her business was on the
09:32 verge of collapsing
09:35 this raised some interesting questions
09:38 had amber gotten involved with chinese
09:40 mafia loan sharks in order to keep up
09:43 her successful businesswoman image
09:45 had she upset the wrong people with her
09:48 did her captors think that she would pay
09:50 for her and her daughter's release with
09:52 money that in reality she didn't have
09:57 chang also mentioned that amber had an
09:59 on-again off-again relationship with a
10:01 man back in china and that was the
10:03 reason for their brief separation in
10:07 some began to speculate whether amber
10:09 had staged her in kidnapping in order to
10:11 throw cheng of her ascent and escape
10:14 but if her financial situation was so
10:16 dire how was she able to finance a
10:18 delicately timed operation that involved
10:20 a rare and powerful tranquilizer
10:23 not to mention amber and melissa's
10:25 passports have both been left in the
10:27 apartment and there's absolutely no
10:29 record of either of them entering china
10:31 since they vanished
10:34 many people who have dug around in this
10:35 rabbit hole have concluded that cheng
10:37 must be a master manipulator and a
10:39 highly skilled liar
10:42 in their minds his story is simply too
10:45 crazy to believe and he must have
10:46 murdered his partner and stepdaughter
10:48 before successfully covering it up
10:51 and yet in january of 2020 he passed an
10:55 fbi administered polygraph test
10:57 showed no signs of deception during his
10:59 44 days of surveillance and an fbi
11:02 behavioral psychologist confirmed that
11:04 he was definitely telling the truth and
11:06 could be ruled out as a suspect
11:09 not to mention the authorities likely
11:11 wouldn't have even known about amber and
11:13 melissa's case if cheng himself hadn't
11:17 if cheng is indeed telling the truth it
11:20 makes for a terrifying story and might
11:22 well constitute either a human
11:24 trafficking ring or even an act of
11:26 espionage on american soil
11:29 either way whoever is responsible seems
11:31 to have acted with complete impunity and
11:34 poses a great risk to the wider public
11:37 they have never been identified
11:40 and amber and melissa's whereabouts and
11:42 well-being remain a mystery to this day
11:55 at approximately 6 30 pm on august 7
11:59 1973 darlene ross of fontana california
12:03 was listening to her small citizen band
12:06 radio when she heard something that made
12:11 the voice of a young boy crying out
12:16 please help me through the buzz of the
12:20 naturally darlene was horrified and
12:22 attempted to calm the child before
12:24 asking him to provide more details of
12:26 the danger he faced
12:28 the boy told her that his father was
12:31 but to darlene's confusion the boy began
12:34 addressing her as david
12:37 given the severity of the situation she
12:39 brushed off this slip up and continued
12:41 to gather more information
12:43 she eventually learned that the boy's
12:47 that he was six years old and that he
12:49 was calling from new mexico
12:52 when darlene asked him for more details
12:54 the boy's voice was overcome with static
12:57 before it disappeared completely
13:00 darlene immediately contacted the
13:02 albuquerque police department to pass on
13:04 what little she knew of larry's
13:07 she then telephoned a local newspaper
13:09 called the albuquerque journal whose
13:11 journalists were so disturbed by the
13:13 story that they published an article on
13:15 the boy in the following morning's paper
13:18 by the evening of august 8th the
13:20 albuquerque journal was inundated with
13:22 callers from all over north america each
13:24 claiming to have also heard larry's
13:26 terrified voice over their cb radios
13:30 as it turned out larry's voice had been
13:32 caught in what's known as an ionospheric
13:36 meaning a certain weather pattern had
13:37 temporarily boosted the boys radio
13:41 as news of the bizarre phenomenon spread
13:44 more and more people began trying to get
13:45 in contact with larry
13:48 soon another caller claimed to have
13:50 gathered even more information from the
13:51 young boy telling the authorities that
13:53 the six-year-old was stuck in the cab of
13:55 an overturned pickup truck with no food
13:57 or water next to his father's lifeless
14:02 the boy had tearfully told the caller
14:04 that he was hot and thirsty and that he
14:06 couldn't get out of the vehicle
14:10 new mexico search and rescue personnel
14:12 began an urgent and intensive search of
14:14 the state's highways and byways and
14:16 collaborated with the new mexico state
14:18 police the wing civil air patrol and the
14:20 albuquerque citizens radio association
14:26 after contacting several people who
14:28 claim to have previously spoken with
14:29 larry a representative of arca told law
14:32 enforcement that the boy was most likely
14:34 somewhere in southern new mexico
14:37 in response the civil air patrol scoured
14:39 the region from the air using aircraft
14:42 equipped with state-of-the-art radio
14:43 direction finders while state police and
14:45 civilian volunteers combed through the
14:47 foothills of southeast albuquerque's
14:52 in the meantime the new mexico state
14:54 police kept in contact with larry as
14:58 due to the boy's near constant wailing
15:00 and crying and the fact that he didn't
15:02 seem familiar with the area figuring out
15:04 his exact location was impossible
15:08 however thanks to the help of amateur
15:10 radio operators investigators were able
15:12 to pinpoint larry's radio signal to just
15:14 south of a cement factory in a place
15:17 known as tijeras canyon
15:20 a small army of search and rescue
15:22 personnel assembled at the factory but
15:24 failed to locate larry in any of the
15:26 derelict tracks or cars
15:29 the civil air patrol then sighted an
15:31 abandoned truck just east of the manzano
15:35 as the sun began to set on august 8th
15:38 larry who was still on the radio was
15:41 asked to yell into his microphone if he
15:42 could spot the landing lights of a plane
15:47 investigators believed they had made a
15:48 major break in the case when larry
15:50 yelled as a plane flew over a place
15:55 but after search and rescue personnel
15:57 scoured the area no trace of any track
16:02 later that evening when asked if he
16:04 believed that larry's distress signal
16:05 could be a hoax a sergeant in the civil
16:07 air patrol stated quote
16:10 i've never had any doubt that this is
16:14 i've personally heard the kid crying and
16:16 i just can't believe that someone would
16:18 bake something like this
16:21 by thursday of august 9th increasingly
16:23 desperate search teams were following
16:25 every lead no matter how far fetched as
16:27 the extreme heat of southern new mexico
16:30 meant that anyone trapped without water
16:31 was in extreme danger
16:34 by the end of the day the new mexico
16:36 state police headquarters have been
16:38 utterly bombarded with tips some from as
16:40 far away as new york but the high volume
16:43 of calls meant that the investigation
16:45 was quickly spiraling into a mess of
16:47 false leads and fraudulent reports
16:50 some people were intentionally trying to
16:52 hamper the investigation for their own
16:54 sick amusement and soon there were so
16:57 many people good and bad tuned in to the
16:59 same radio channel talking to larry that
17:02 the chatter became relentless and larry
17:04 himself couldn't get an open mic to
17:08 the following morning as the search
17:10 group sorted through conflicting reports
17:11 of larry's whereabouts the boy's
17:13 weakening signal suggested that his
17:15 portable cb radio was running out of
17:19 the rescue teams were running out of
17:22 and by this point the sweltering heat of
17:24 the new mexican summer would be pushing
17:26 little larry to his limits
17:29 new mexico state chief of police martin
17:32 e vigil then publicly pleaded with
17:34 parents to confiscate their children's
17:36 walkie-talkies and later appealed to cb
17:38 operators to keep channel 14 clear as
17:41 that was the band that larry was
17:42 transmitting on most
17:45 but just when both larry and his radio
17:47 seemed to be on death's door the
17:49 authorities received a call from a cb
17:51 alert operator from phoenix arizona
17:54 claiming that they had just heard a
17:55 panic transmission from a young man who
18:01 david claimed to have been involved in a
18:03 serious traffic accident and for a brief
18:06 period he and his father had been
18:08 trapped in the wreckage of their
18:11 however unlike larry who was telling
18:13 everyone that his father was dead david
18:16 said that both he and his father were
18:17 fine and now free of the wreckage
18:21 given that larry had used the name david
18:23 in his first transmission possibly in
18:25 reference to a brother or cousin this
18:27 led many people to believe that the two
18:29 calls were connected
18:32 some suggested that the situation was
18:34 resolved and that larry's family had
18:36 rescued him after escaping the wreckage
18:39 and yet just a few hours later another
18:42 of david's distress calls could be heard
18:44 coming over the cv radio networks
18:48 to one faction of the investigative team
18:50 this meant the search for larry should
18:52 while another faction believed that
18:54 david's transmission marked its end
18:57 all the while the voices of those who
18:59 believed that larry was a hoax grew
19:02 and before long the investigation was in
19:06 with law enforcement essentially forced
19:08 to admit that many of larry's broadcasts
19:10 were cruel pranks committed by bored
19:12 teenagers the general public began to
19:15 grow increasingly jaded with the
19:18 so in one last push to rescue young
19:20 larry a u.s air force plane fitted with
19:22 special radio direction finders
19:24 performed a final flyover of new mexico
19:27 listening out for larry signal
19:30 sadly the high-tech aircraft was unable
19:32 to pick up his cb transmission
19:35 but according to the pilot that didn't
19:36 mean it wasn't broadcasting
19:39 if a cb radio network is too busy it's
19:41 just too difficult to scam for singular
19:43 transmissions and there was still a slim
19:45 chance that larry was still alive
19:49 shortly afterwards investigators were
19:52 angered and appalled when a boy in
19:53 phoenix arizona confessed to being
19:55 behind the david transmission
19:58 meaning the investigation had stalled
20:00 over nothing but a cruel prank
20:03 just five days into the operation search
20:05 and rescue teams were forced to consider
20:07 the real possibility that larry had died
20:09 from exposure or dehydration and that
20:12 their lack of urgency when it mattered
20:14 most had caused the poor boy's death
20:18 by the end of the investigation hundreds
20:20 of police officers national guardsmen
20:22 and civilian volunteers utilized over 22
20:25 different aircrafts to scour the
20:27 southwestern united states
20:29 but not a single trace of los boi larry
20:34 the search for larry ended up being one
20:36 of the most expensive search and rescue
20:38 operations in new mexican history
20:40 costing the equivalent of three quarters
20:42 of a million dollars in today's money
20:45 many have lamented that such a huge
20:47 amount of money was spent investigating
20:49 nothing more than a prank while others
20:51 have accused those crying hoax of trying
20:53 to shield themselves from the grim
20:56 that a young boy perished in the hot new
21:00 after all the voice was definitely that
21:04 larry had been crying over the radio
21:06 near constantly for three to five days
21:10 if this was a hoax the kid behind it had
21:15 since no other voices were heard coming
21:17 from his end you'd think that the boy
21:19 would get bored of carrying on a prank
21:20 like this by himself for hours every day
21:23 and yet he continued
21:26 he'd also have had to been unsupervised
21:28 for all of that time
21:31 it's possible the only reason larry
21:32 never told anyone his surname or home
21:34 address was because of his age
21:37 that's to say he may have been even
21:39 younger than sex and lied about his age
21:41 as not to get in trouble for using his
21:45 he may also have been so young that he
21:47 didn't even know his address
21:49 what's more it's totally possible that
21:51 he was trying to answer some of the
21:53 questions posed to him but so many
21:55 people had hopped on the same radio
21:56 channel that larry's voice just got lost
22:01 a journalist from the albuquerque
22:02 journal later wrote
22:04 larry was never found but because of
22:07 that surge numerous other lives have
22:11 she was referring to the new mexico
22:13 search and rescue council who had since
22:15 dedicated themselves to learning the
22:16 lessons that lost boy larry had taught
22:18 them which improved the state's search
22:20 and rescue methods in turn
22:23 this meant that even if larry's radio
22:25 transmissions had all been a cruel and
22:27 elaborate hoax the end result was a net
22:29 positive for the state of new mexico
22:32 but if a young boy really did have to
22:35 die in order for such a system to be put
22:37 in place it's as heartbreaking as it is
22:39 horrifying to be reminded that some
22:42 rules are written in blood
22:57 hey guys so lazy here and thank you very
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23:03 say a big thank you to sam writing for
23:05 writing the script for this one
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