Gone in a Blink
There are an estimated 8 billion people in the world. In the US, approximately 2,300 people go missing every day. While some of those cases may be of their own accord, others are because of something far more sinister. Gone in a Blink is a true crime podcast that dives head first into the most mysterious and terrifying missing person cases in existence. Hosts Heather and Danielle take a deep look into some of the most horrific missing person cases that will leave you on the edge of your seat and absolutely terrified at just how fast a person can be Gone in a Blink.
Gone in a Blink
Ties That Bind: The Disappearance of Layla Santanello
This episode delves into the tragic disappearance of Layla Santanello, a young mother battling addiction, and the complexities surrounding her case. Through a combination of personal narrative and investigative insights, we explore the impact of addiction on relationships, the mysterious circumstances of Layla's last sighting, and the unsettling messages that emerged as her loved ones sought answers about her fate.
Consider supporting Layla's family by sharing their story and relevant information.
Sources:
https://disappearedblog.com/layla-santanello/
https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/keep-her-story-alive-layla-santanellos-disappearance-hits-1-year-mark/
https://www.the-sun.com/news/10583616/layla-santanello-missing-update-police-know-boyfriend-arrested/
https://wcyb.com/news/local/family-clings-to-hope-on-one-year-anniversary-of-layla-santanellos-disappearance
https://www.newsnationnow.com/missing/layla-santanello-hollynn-snapp/
https://wcyb.com/news/local/laylas-hope-family-starts-program-for-missing-youths-after-personal-tragedy
https://www.therogersvillereview.com/police_report/article_e4147e22-95db-11ee-8c41-efd06450b203.html
https://www.facebook.com/MissingPeopleInAmerica/posts/based-on-witness-statements-layla-spent-the-night-of-6252023-at-the-americourt-m/1041932277962397/
https://nypost.com/2023/12/06/news/young-moms-disappearance-could-absolutely-be-drug-related-stepmom/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByEkIjU6uZY
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/kingsportcitytennessee/PST045224
Music:
Crime Trap by MuzaProduction
Don't Look Down the Basement by Gioele Fazzeri
Creepy Atmosphere with Piano and Pad by Universfield
A Piano with a Creepy Atmosphere by Universfield
Gone in a Blink is created by Heather Hicks and Danielle E.
Written and produced by Heather Hicks and hosted by Danielle E. and Heather Hicks.
Gone in a Blink theme: Crime Trap created and produced by Muzaproduction
We would love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media:
Instagram @ Goneinablinkpod
Facebook @ Gone in a Blink podcast
YouTube @ Goneinablinkpodcast@goneinablink
Email us with comments and/or ideas for an episode at goneinablinkpod@gmail.com
Thanks for joining us on the airwaves. And remember......Be Safe, Be Smart, and Try Not to Blink.
When you're 20 years old, you sometimes feel as if you're invincible, becoming easily influenced by those you choose to surround yourself with. You feel like the people around you are your people, and when addiction plays a role in your everyday life, you may lean more on those who you feel are fighting the same fight, are fighting the same fight the ones that know what it's like to need what you need so badly, and the ones who know how it feels to have your world turned upside down by something that is holding on to you so tight it feels as if it will never let go. For 20-year-old Layla Santanello, her two-year-old daughter, nova, was her entire world, but her fight with addiction was so much bigger and the love she had for her little girl was no match for the path her addiction was leading her to was no match for the path her addiction was leading her to. This is the case of Layla Santanello, and this is Gone in a Blink. Hey, true crime fans, I'm your host, heather, and I'm Danielle. Welcome to episode 32 of Gone in a Blink.
Speaker 1:I hope everyone across the US is staying warm during these frigid temperatures. I believe I saw on the news that some places in the southeast portion of the country, such as Pensacola and New Orleans, louisiana, galveston, texas, just to name a few, got pelted with blizzard-like conditions this past week. That is something they certainly don't see every day. Meanwhile, in LA and surrounding areas, they are still battling the wildfires. So many people have lost their homes and so many animals have been displaced as well, and it absolutely breaks my heart to see things on the news and see things on social media of people just kind of wondering aimlessly because their entire house and everything they love is gone, and you see animals that are roaming around. They can't find their owners. It's just absolutely heartbreaking and our hearts do go out to everyone who has been affected by these fires.
Speaker 2:You know what I see on social media a lot that they're reporting on all of the movie stars that had lost their homes. But I think that we need to remember as well, of course, the animals, but also that there was people that had houses up there that were not as as well to do as some of these movie stars cameramen, maybe producers just starting out. I want to recognize those people as well, because anybody to lose their home in a fire it's just so devastating. And, of course, pets losing pets. I've seen wildlife trying to escape but having no place to go. I also want to thank so much the people that have went out to LA and are giving out meals, clothing, also to animal shelters that are taking in some of these animals, even wildlife that they're taking in to try to shield from these fires.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've seen a lot of that as well and I know, like you said, there are a lot of content creators. There are a lot of people that are selling things like shirts with California Relief to raise money to help with animal shelters that are completely overwhelmed, or to help with helping feed people, or people that own Airbnbs are renting that out for nothing, actually just letting people stay there for so many days, and it's really brought together the community, everyone helping everyone. Now there are people I have I have heard reports of people that are taking advantage and actually some people are looting houses that have been impacted by the fire, and I know that you pretty much see that type of thing anywhere. It's just that's, that's how it is and it's awful. It's awful that people would take advantage of people that literally have the shirts on their back and that's it. It's just it's sick that somebody would do that.
Speaker 2:I know it sickens me so much and unfortunately we still have to be safe. Even if you are donating to any of these causes, please make sure that it's a reputable cause. Please do some research before you give your money, because in these times there's such good people in the world that they're like oh I can't be in LA, but I want to give, and I just would hate for anybody to be scammed or for someone to take advantage of that kindness. So please be safe, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So today's case was suggested to us by Riley K Schell. Today we are talking about the disappearance of Layla Santanello, so if you're ready, let's jump right in. Layla Marie Santanello was born on August 5th 2002 in the Neptune Township area of New Jersey to parents George Emmett and Jennifer Santanello. Three months later, george and Jennifer eventually split up, and Layla and her mother moved in with her maternal grandparents. Layla spent quite a bit of time with her grandparents and therefore had formed a close bond with them. Her mother began working nights as a waitress, and so Layla would pretty much spend her evenings hanging out with her grandparents. By March of 2005, jennifer decided to take Layla and move to Florida to be closer to her new boyfriend. Jennifer's new boyfriend played a significant role in helping to raise Layla. Less than one year later, jennifer would give birth to Layla's little brother, whom they named Robbie Soon. After Robbie was born, the four would pack up and move again, this time to Tennessee, to be closer to Jennifer's boyfriend's family. Layla would split her time between her mom's house and going back to New Jersey to spend time with her dad and his parents. Layla would split her time between her mom's house and going back to New Jersey to spend time with her dad and his parents. Layla would again become a big sister to another baby brother by the name of Elijah, and she was just over the moon with excitement.
Speaker 1:Layla was described by her mother as being a sassy, strong, independent light. She was also described by many as being an extremely creative and talented artist. She delved into art camps and drama clubs and had a passion for music and theater. Aside from Layla's creative side, she was also very independent and strong-willed. Layla would sometimes show a rebellious side growing up. However, by the time she turned 17, she really started trying to get her life on track. She graduated from high school early and got a job to start trying to make her own money.
Speaker 1:By December of 2018, layla's father, george, met a woman by the name of Brittany Zietler, and by 2019, brittany and George decided to get married. Layla was unsure of Brittany in the beginning because of past letdowns and things like that, but over time, the two formed an inseparable bond. Then, in April 2021, at the age of 18, layla became a mother to a little girl of her own that she named Nova Grace, after it was discovered that the child's father was not going to be in the picture. Layla and her family rallied around young Nova and really made sure that she had everything she needed and that she knew how much she is loved. About one year before Layla's disappearance, she started suffering from postpartum depression as well as the loss of her grandfather. This ended up leading to a battle with addiction. Initially, layla was completely against drugs of any kind and she was quite vocal about it. Also, she would try to help her boyfriend Michael detox and she felt as if this was bringing the two of them closer together. Instead, layla spiraled into her own addiction and, despite her mother's efforts to get help, layla always refused, with the belief that she could control the addiction herself. So not only did she begin battling her own addiction issues, she was also trying to help Michael battle those issues that he was having as well. So before Layla's disappearance, layla and her boyfriend Michael were living together. However, their relationship was pretty strained. Layla had been couch surfing at different friends' houses while trying to distance herself from Michael and still fight the battle of her heroin and fentanyl addiction.
Speaker 1:On the night of June 25th 2023, witnesses claimed to have seen Layla at the AmeriCorp Motel at 1900 American Way in Kingsport, tennessee. On June 26th 2023, witnesses observed Layla going door-to-door at the same motel. She appeared frantic but refused help from anyone offering her assistance. In the late morning hours of June 26th Layla had an altercation with an unknown person. She was reported to have an argument with motel staff who had asked her to leave due to her erratic behavior. Layla then ran to a nearby tree line around midday.
Speaker 1:The following morning Layla was spotted in the early morning hours of June 27th at approximately 6.15 am in a field next to the AmeriCorp motel. There is also a warehouse located on the property and, according to about five witnesses that were employed by the warehouse, layla looked as if she had spent the night in the field. Now, it is important to note that, according to Jennifer Santanello, it was discovered that Layla had spent the night at a homeless encampment that was located in the woods behind the AmeriCorp motel. She asked one of the employees for a cigarette before walking onto what is referred to as the Greenbelt, and the Greenbelt is a local path used for walking and biking and running and things of that nature. She then took off into an unknown direction, so it was later reported that around noon on June 27th Layla was seen at the Marble Slab Creamery, which is a local ice cream shop located at 2003 North Eastman Road in the East Stone Commons Shopping Center. She was wearing a white tank top, black leggings and no shoes. She spoke to an employee at the creamery, telling the employee that she was going to the nearby Five and Below store to purchase shoes. This would be the last confirmed sighting of Layla, as she never made it to that store.
Speaker 1:So Layla was reported missing by her stepmother, brittany, on June 27th after receiving some strange yet worrisome messages from Layla's boyfriend, michael, according to an article in the US Sun. Three days before Layla was reported missing. So on June 24th, michael texted Layla's mother, Jennifer, from Layla's Facebook account, asking if Layla was in the hospital or in jail, because he had no idea where she was. Then, later that same night, layla appeared to have messaged her mother, jennifer, from the same Facebook account. The message said I'm fine, mom, I've been with a friend. I don't have a phone to text or call, I'm using someone else's. Jennifer replied OK, I love you. To which Layla replied I love you so much more. This was Layla's final message.
Speaker 2:Now that final message. Is that something do we know that Jennifer and her daughter would share that saying specific, or could that have been somebody else?
Speaker 1:Actually, we don't know that that wasn't someone else. There were no reports that insinuated that that was something that they commonly said when they were messaging or anything like that. So I don't think that she really had any reason to believe that it wasn't her. And you know, I'm not sure what to make of those messages at all. I mean, could they have been someone else messaging Layla's mother to make her believe that Layla was okay, when in fact she was not? I mean, that's definitely a possibility.
Speaker 2:Or maybe that really was her and her disappearance was merely due to someone taking advantage of her vulnerable state of mind, which is a very good possibility, as well, I guess what I was thinking on the lines of that that this message came from somebody else's phone, and maybe we haven't got that far yet if we've figured out whose phone, and then just kind of the cryptic messages from her boyfriend, that honestly made me believe there could be foul play yeah, I think I mean obviously hindsight's, 2020.
Speaker 1:So what we do know now looking back, it makes you wonder. You know, yeah, that's a great possibility that that was not even her, because that was not her phone, although she could have been using someone else's. So multiple agencies took part in the search efforts, walking the Greenbelt Trail with canine units and searching the surrounding areas on foot as well as with drones. However, the search efforts turned up nothing. Layla's father, george, and her stepmother, brittany, made numerous trips to Kingsport from out of state to help with the search. Then, approximately two weeks after Layla's disappearance, a series of unusual requests began filling Jennifer and Brittany's inbox. They were from Cash App, which is an app that allows users to send and receive money, among other things. These requests were sent from Layla's account to Jennifer as well as Brittany, and they were asking for money, and the subject line of one request in particular had the letters in all caps TWLMG, and to us that would mean pretty much nothing. I mean, I wouldn't even know what to make of that. It was a request for $100.
Speaker 1:Then several more requests came through with the same subject line, all within just a few minutes of each other. So, being very skeptical, jennifer sent $1 to Layla's account and asked her daughter if she was okay. Her question went unanswered and it was reported that Layla's mom believed that the letters TWLMG were an acronym for they won't let me go. I don't know what made her come to that conclusion. I mean that fits. But you'd really have to sit there and and think I mean I don't know, I don't know if that's far-fetched or not, but there could have been something to give her that idea that it could even be something so cryptic like that.
Speaker 2:But what it's sounding like that's a mother trying to figure it out that she probably has a lot of time to try to kryptonize or decryptonize those letters. Has you know? I'm sure that that's just whirling in her head of what happened to my daughter and to get something like that. I guess I think like, oh, somebody has gotten a hold of Layla's account and that they're trying to get money I mean, I guess they don't know for sure but to then get TWLMG in the notes or however, that would be so scary and I could just see her mom trying to think of all possibilities.
Speaker 1:I could totally see that, especially from a mother's point of view. So that's what she thought, and she thought that her daughter was being held hostage. She then decided to ask the anonymous person behind her daughter's account more personal questions that only Layla could answer. She asked questions such as when Layla's little brother's birthday is and what is her brother's middle name. The person on the other end of the messages would not respond to any of it. It was at this point that Jennifer felt that something was terribly wrong, and so she contacted the police.
Speaker 1:Throughout the next several weeks, jennifer and Brittany continued to receive messages, and this time they were far more threatening. One request in particular was for $95, and the caption read For 15 minutes, or you'll find her in pieces. For 15 minutes, or you'll find her in pieces. Eventually, police were able to access Layla's Cash app, where they tracked the requests to none other than Layla's boyfriend, michael.
Speaker 1:It was reported that Layla's stepmother, brittany, had suspected that Michael was behind the requests for several weeks prior and that she confronted him about the requests. He adamantly denied doing it. However, brittany told him that she was not mad about it and that she knew that he did it out of desperation, as any addict would have. So obviously Layla's stepmother knows a side of Michael that most people probably do not. I feel like for most people, myself included, this would have raised a huge red flag for me. I would probably not have been as understanding as Brittany was and I am trying to keep an open mind here because I don't know Michael and just because he's battling addiction does not mean that he is a killer. So I really want to make that clear. I guess I just feel that his actions only a couple of weeks after his girlfriend went missing kind of says a lot to me.
Speaker 2:Anyway, no, I definitely agree. An addiction is hard and I'm wondering if Brittany sees another side of Michael, to where it sounds like she's trying to keep an open mind. We never know. Maybe she's dealt with addiction before and can kind of see it from that point of view that she's a little more understanding. But unfortunately it does seem like at this moment a lot of the signs are pointing to Michael and foul play all through his addiction. Now we don't know right. I mean, you are exactly right. Just because somebody is addicted to something does not make them a killer. Unfortunately, with addiction, whether that's stealing from someone you hear that a lot or going to whatever lengths it can take to get that next high, that is something that you see a lot of as well. Next high that is something that you see a lot of as well.
Speaker 1:Now I would be interested to see, you know, if there are any other suspects. As of right now, police are not saying that there are any suspects, but police are saying that they have a pretty good idea of who they think it is. So I don't know, maybe there are technically suspects that are not being released. The names are not being released.
Speaker 1:It was also reported that just days before Layla disappeared, layla and Michael had been in an argument because she had started seeing another man and that is really why she had been staying at friends' houses and eventually ended up at the AmeriCorp motel before her disappearance. So her and Michael were already having issues, and I think she was trying to get clean. She had spent time trying to get him clean as well, and I think it sounds like she just she was trying to possibly better her life, but she was held under by this addiction to heroin and fentanyl, and I. I don't know what Michael's addiction was too, but I do know that drugs will make you do things that you would not normally do, and so it makes me wonder if something happened under the influence and whether it was an accident or not. It happened, and now maybe he's trying to save his own ass and that's a very real possibility.
Speaker 2:ironically, someone that battles with addiction that I spoke to this week they mentioned meth and heroin are the two most addicting drugs and the hardest to get off of. So I can just imagine the struggle that she was going through in her own life if she was addicted to heroin, and then I mean for fentanyl.
Speaker 1:you said that I mean I don't know as far as, like, the addiction level and how hard it is to wean off of that, but it's amazing that she didn't die, because things laced with fentanyl, I mean, can kill someone in an instant yeah, it doesn't take much of the drug fentanyl to kill a person and I don't know all the ins and outs of these certain drugs, but I do know that with certain drugs it will make you do things that you would not normally do. So it wouldn't be out of reach to say something could have happened and Michael maybe was either involved or he knows something about it.
Speaker 2:Well, I think also what you said I mean could be so very true that the intention to kill we don't know.
Speaker 1:But maybe something accidentally happened, something unintentional well and, as I mentioned, she had some pretty erratic behavior at the mayoral court in the days leading up to her disappearance. So I know that if you're walking around and you're clearly on something and you're having this episode, I believe there are people out there that will see that and they will prey on that and they will take advantage of your vulnerable state of mind and, unfortunately, anything is possible at this point. Somebody could have seen her. I don't know anything about this motel. So many people saw her acting erratically at the AmeriCorp and a lot of people tried to help her, but she refused help and, probably because she was having one of these episodes, it sounded like she was paranoid, very paranoid too. So somebody could have seen that and, instead of helping her, decided that they were going to go take advantage.
Speaker 2:Yeah, didn't you mention that she was knocking on several doors at the AmeriCorps and I wonder when they would open the door. Was she just not making sense, or would she?
Speaker 1:I'm trying to get the reasoning that she's knocking on these doors but then when people offered the help, she wouldn't accept the help there weren't any reports about what exactly was being said and if she was rambling or not making any sense, but she was in a very distressed state of mind. Michael was ultimately arrested for the Cash App scheme. He was charged with identity theft, theft under $1,000, illegal possession of fraudulent use of a credit card and extortion. Investigators did say, however, that he is not currently considered a suspect in Layla's disappearance. Layla's stepmother, brittany, does not believe Michael was involved in Layla's disappearance. However, she does believe that he knows more than he's saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's seeming like it, because how would he have had access to her credit cards or even to her cash?
Speaker 1:app. Well exactly, I mean, I don't know anything really about the cash app, maybe it's kind of like Venmo, I'm assuming in a way. But to have access to her account, I guess all you need is her username, password, stuff like that maybe, and then you can access her account. But usually when you get money it goes into a bank account. So I don, you get money, it goes into a bank account. So I don't know if it was going into her bank account or how he was getting his hands on it. Or maybe he got in there and switched to his bank account, which seems like a whole lot. I don't know. I really don't know how he got any money. Maybe he didn't get any money.
Speaker 2:Well, so it sounds like he was trying to get money, and for him to be charged and arrested he had to have got something, maybe from the credit card. I don't know a whole lot about Cash App either. However, I have always heard that it's a little easier and little easier to access the money than Venmo, so there may be something with that. But yeah, unfortunately I don't know a whole lot.
Speaker 1:Well, it was reported by the US Sun that before Michael's arrest he talked to Brittany, telling her that he had some information about Layla, and so she arranged for a meeting with law enforcement at Michael's requests.
Speaker 1:However, michael never showed up. So Brittany believes that Layla, who was already struggling with addiction, possibly had overdosed and whoever was with her may have failed to report it and possibly even covered it up and disposed of her body. And according to Brittany, michael had been struggling hard with Layla's disappearance and since then has spiraled deeper into a path of self-destruction and excessive drug use. So they're pretty firm on the belief that Michael had nothing to do with this. But they do think that he knows more than he's letting on, and the only thing I could think of as to why anyone would have more information than they're letting on is because they played some sort of part in either something happening to her or disposing of her to cover it up. I mean, how do you feel about that? If you've got information and you have nothing on you because you didn't do anything, why would you not go to the police and tell them what you know, unless you thought that you were going down for something?
Speaker 2:well, and how you mentioned earlier that one of the messages on the cash app says that and you may have to to remind me a little bit. I believe you said you would find her in pieces, that that would be pretty damning. So they know that that michael was the one that had control of the cash app, but then to make a comment like that, it's almost like he was trying to make it look like a ransom, almost.
Speaker 1:Oh, I definitely felt that way too. I felt like it's a form of intimidation. Extortion is what he's being charged with to get money. But I don't know if it was a situation where he was saying if you give me this money, I will tell you where Layla is. It didn't really go in depth from all the things that I found on how far he took it, but it was threatening. He was threatening, so it sounded more like if you don't give me this money, I'm going to kill her and I don't know. Yes, he's battling addiction and you're going to do things that you normally wouldn't do for that fix. And we can sit here and say how disgusting it is because he just lost his girlfriend. You know he doesn't know where she's at, she could be dead somewhere and two weeks later he is saying this stuff and using her cash app to get money from her parents, who it sounded like he kind of had a little bit of a relationship with, at least with Brittany, layla's stepmother, who was also on the other end of these messages. So you know, this family is traumatized by Layla being missing and they're in an extremely vulnerable state and you are taking advantage of that. But that's the addiction. The addiction is taking advantage of everything, and even Brittany said she told him she's not mad at him because she knows that he's doing this because of his addiction. So she's not wrong, but I really do feel like he knows where Layla is and he knows what happened to her.
Speaker 1:So less than four months after Layla disappeared, another young girl went missing. 19-year-old Holland Snapp disappeared from a residence not far from where Layla disappeared, in Kingsport. Holland was described by her mother, heather, as having an addictive personality and was also struggling with a meth addiction. At the time of her disappearance, her mother went on to explain that Holland functions at a 10-year-old level and is extremely trusting of others, making her more vulnerable to anyone out there who may want to harm her daughter out there. Who may want to harm her daughter? According to Heather, holland had been at a party on October 5th 2023, when she was in an altercation with another individual whose name has not been made public. That was the last time anyone had seen Holland.
Speaker 1:Both Layla's mother as well as Holland's mother have come together to search for clues as to what happened to their daughters. One thing that seemed to catch their attention were the similarities between the two young women. It was discovered that both Holland and Layla ran around with the same circle of friends and had similar lifestyles, although it's unclear whether or not the two ladies knew each other. Lifestyles although it's unclear whether or not the two ladies knew each other. Then, on December 5th of the same year, a third young woman went missing from Kingsport.
Speaker 1:33-year-old Shauna Lee was reported missing by her family after they became concerned for her welfare and decided to contact the Kingsport Police Department. She was last seen in the area of the Five and Below store at 2003 North Eastman Road and, ironically enough, this is the same Five and Below store that Layla was going to be headed to once she left the ice cream shop, but she never made it there, and I felt that this was really pretty coincidental. Kingsport isn't that small of a town and, according to the US Census Bureau, in July of 2023, it had a population of just under 57,000 people, so it's just a bit strange to me that the Five and Below store would be mentioned in both disappearances, and for our listeners who may not be familiar with Five and Below, it's basically a neat little store that has a little bit of everything from makeup to stationery and books, t-shirts, shoes, games, phone accessories and different things like that at a discounted price.
Speaker 2:That is very ironic, that it would be the same area. So I mean I wonder if the police have explored the possibility that someone is kind of staking that area and looking for young women, whether they're showing erratic behavior or however. I mean, like you said, that people unfortunately can take advantage of that. And yes, Five Below, we know it well, Unfortunately. I wish they'd changed the name because sometimes it's not Five and Below, but you know I digress.
Speaker 1:It's supposed to be a more discounted store and my kids are crazy about it, so it is ironic that the store is involved. Well, it's not really the store itself, but that area involved in both of these cases, and I've always been pretty firm that I don't believe that there are any coincidences when it comes to crime. So I find it really hard to believe that this just was coincidental, just happened to be that same area around that store. Whatever it is about this area, I do believe, like what you said, that there's someone that is just kind of keeping an eye out and stalking, maybe to a certain degree, young women that are in a vulnerable state. Well, and I'm not sure that in Holland's situation that she was acting erratic.
Speaker 1:Nothing that I found said that she was acting erratic at the time, but she had been at a party and she had gotten into an altercation or a fight with someone there and that was the last time she was seen.
Speaker 1:Didn't say if she was using at that moment or if she was acting erratic, but that was the last time she was seen. She was actually at someone's house, but it was a party, so they ran into the same circle, so maybe it's someone in this circle that is preying on. That's kind of what I'm going with, because it just so happens to be that they run in the same circle. Whether or not they know each other remains to be seen, but I don't know. I just feel like there's a good possibility that it could be someone within that circle, and I don't even know if it's a big circle of friends or I think if it was a smaller circle then they would without a doubt have known each other. So it could just be a big circle of people that kind of interact with each other, intertwine with each other, but may not necessarily know I get what you're saying there and you make a good point.
Speaker 2:I'm wondering if they traveled in the same circle, even if it was a larger circle. Has there been any connection to Michael to Holland? Do we know if he?
Speaker 1:knew her. There hasn't been any mention of whether or not Michael knew her. That's a very good question, though I'd like to know that one Police are looking into the three missing person cases to see if they are connected in any way. So Shauna's case and Layla's case have that common factor in there, which is the five and below. But Layla and Holland were the two that ran with the same circle of friends, so it is easy to get confused. It is easy to get confused with this, but as far as we know, neither one of the girls had any connection to Shauna. Shauna was a lot older too. Shauna was 33 years old, so it doesn't mean that they couldn't have known each other three years old, so it doesn't mean that they couldn't have known each other. But there's nothing insinuating that she was tied in with the other two, at least not yet. But, like I said, police are looking into the possibility that the three missing person cases are connected, maybe by the same person who's out there preying on obviously younger women.
Speaker 1:So, according to reports, layla's life had begun to spiral downhill in the weeks leading up to her disappearance. Two weeks before Layla was last seen, she had lost temporary custody of her two-year-old daughter, nova. Her next family court date was set for June 28th, two days after she was reported missing. In the days leading up to her disappearance, layla was in the process of trying to cut ties from her boyfriend, michael. Layla's family believes she had met a new man and, although this man's name has not been mentioned, he had been trying to take care of Layla by letting her stay with him a few times at his house before her disappearance.
Speaker 1:Friends and family of Layla Santanello started a program designed to help others in similar situations called Layla's Hope. Layla's aunt, stacy Morgan, is the executive director of the program, which is an active part of the Mental Health Transformation Alliance, an alliance that aims to help families and young adults with disabilities. Stacey says that their goal is to connect families and young adults with the proper resources. Their mission is to ensure that missing, runaway, homeless and street youth slash, young adults who have been subjected to or are at risk of being subjected to sexual abuse, human trafficking or sexual exploitation and their families have access to resources and support that rebuild connections and develop a sense of safety, hope and leadership. And I will post a link to the Facebook page for Layla's Hope on our Facebook page. Layla's family believe that her disappearance could be drug-related and they are asking for the public's help in locating her.
Speaker 1:Layla Santanello is a white female with blonde hair and brown eyes. She is 4 foot 10 inches tall and weighs approximately 135 pounds. She has multiple tattoos, including Roman numerals on her collarbone and her daughter's name, nova Grace, on her left forearm. Layla's mother, jennifer, has hired a private investigator to help work on her daughter's case. If you have any information on the whereabouts of Layla Santanello, please contact the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND or the Kingsport Police Department at area code 423-343-9780. In addition, layla's mother, jennifer, has hired a private investigator to help with Layla's case. A tip line has been set up at area code 423-212-5804 and you can remain completely anonymous.
Speaker 1:Holland Snap was 19 years old at the time of her disappearance and would be 20 years old today. She is 4 foot 8 inches tall and weighs approximately 90 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. If you have any information in Holland's disappearance, you are urged to contact Detective Anthony Stevens at area code 432-279-7330 or Private Investigator Steve Fisher at area code 877-619-9890. Both Layla and Holland are now classified as missing and endangered. Private investigator Steve Fisher is working both cases of Layla and Holland, and he has been working tirelessly to explore the possibility of any connection between the two disappearances. Shauna Lee is a 33-year-old white female with black hair and brown eyes. She is approximately 5 foot 8 inches tall and weighs approximately 140 pounds. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Shauna is urged to call the KPD Criminal Investigations Division at area code 423-229-9429 or the Kingsport Central Dispatch at area code 423-246-9111.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to another episode of Gone in a Blink. I want to say thank you again to Riley for suggesting this case. Our hearts go out to the families and we pray that the right person comes forward with information leading to their safe return. If you like our show, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and to get the latest updates on the cases we cover, follow us on any of our social media sites. You can follow us on Facebook at Gone in a Blink, or on Instagram at Gone in a Blink Pod, and if you have an idea for a show or you know of someone who is missing and you'd like us to cover their case, drop us an email at goneinablinkpod at gmailcom. And don't forget be safe, be smart and try not to blink.
