Zoe Spanos is still missing. And we’re missing Zoe.
[MISSING ZOE INSTRUMENTAL THEME]
GEORGE SPANOS: Eighty-two days. That’s how long she’s been gone. The longest we’ve ever gone without hearing from Zoe was maybe ten days, and that was during her first set of college finals. We used to talk every weekend. Sometimes she’d call again during the middle of the week, just to tell us some story that couldn’t wait, or ask a question about oven temperatures or laundry.
ASTER SPANOS: Adulting.
GEORGE SPANOS: What?
ASTER SPANOS: That life stuff she was always asking you and Mom about. Zoe isn’t always the best at that kind of thing.
MARTINA GREEN: On Friday, I spoke with Mr. George Spanos, Zoe’s father, and Aster Spanos, Zoe’s younger sister, in their Herron Mills home, Maple Grove. They both seemed tired, a little frayed around the edges. It was the end of a long week. Aster had just come home from swim practice; Mr. Spanos was still answering emails when I arrived. Zoe’s mother, Ms. Joan Spanos, declined to be interviewed for this episode.
GEORGE SPANOS: From the beginning, the police were nonchalant. We cooperated with them fully, checking hospitals, friends’ houses. Of course we did. But they should have started looking right away. It could have made a difference.
MARTINA GREEN: After the second episode aired, I received some questions from listeners about your interactions with Caden and Meredith Talbot on the morning of January first. I stated that you called Caden that morning, and that he told you that he was still in New York City with his mother. Is that correct?
GEORGE SPANOS: It is. When we spoke, Caden told me that he had last corresponded with Zoe sometime in the afternoon of December thirty-first. He had been planning to meet her that night for the party at the Trainers’ house, but Meredith was unwell. He let Zoe know that they’d be returning on the first instead.
MARTINA GREEN: And those messages were verified?
GEORGE SPANOS: Joan and I didn’t see them, but we’re told that Caden cooperated with police, and that the texts have been entered into evidence. I believe the detectives additionally have record of the Talbots’ EasyPass transactions from January first. I really don’t doubt Caden in this.
ASTER SPANOS: We just love Caden.
MARTINA GREEN: Was that sarcasm, Aster?
ASTER SPANOS: What? No. Forget it.
MARTINA GREEN: I’d really love to hear what you have to say.
ASTER SPANOS: Fine, it’s just, I think you’re right. What you said in your “boyfriend theory” episode. Even if Caden’s story checks out—which, by the way, does no one else think it’s odd that he didn’t call or text Zoe at midnight?—I think they let him off too easy. It was New Year’s. Did he really just sit around in his mom’s friend’s apartment all night? [PAUSE.] I don’t know. Maybe Caden had nothing to do with this. But the fact of the matter is, Zoe has this whole world outside Herron Mills now. Did the police talk to anyone at Brown, or Yale? Did they even try to look at the big picture?
MARTINA GREEN: Aster raises an important point here about the lack of qualitative detective work undertaken by the Herron Mills PD during the course of their investigation. They seemed focused solely on the quantitative facts of that night—the GPS phone data, the missing boat, the Greyhound ticket purchase. I spoke again with Caden’s friend Tim Romer and Zoe’s former roommate, Kelly Ann Bate, to be sure.
TIM ROMER: The cops? Nah, never heard from them. Far as I know, they didn’t come up to Yale. Caden’s one of my best friends. We don’t exactly have the best record when it comes to diversity and inclusivity here in New Haven. Cops asking questions, sniffing around the black kids on campus? It would’ve gotten back to me.
KELLY ANN BATE: No detectives came here, at least not that I’m aware of. It’s not like she was anywhere near Brown when it happened, so I never gave it much thought. Campus was closed for break. But I guess you’re right, her friends might know things about her life that could be relevant to police. Stuff from fall semester that could have shed some light on where Zoe went, if she did run away. Now that I think about it, it’s strange that no one asked questions.
MARTINA GREEN: Unfortunate, yes, but maybe not that strange. Regrettably, as media coverage has shown time and again, it’s not uncommon for three-dimensional detective work to slide or be deliberately eschewed when