Hollywood actress Adea Shabani disappeared in 2018, leading to a shocking murder mystery. What really happened to her? Watch the full story now.
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00:00Imagine this. A stolen car. A high-speed chase through San Bernardino on a spring afternoon. Sirens blaring.
00:08Yeah, intense stuff.
00:10But behind it all, there's this really troubling question about a missing actress, Ada Shabani.
00:16Exactly. And that's what we're diving into today. This isn't just, you know, a random chase. It connects directly to Ada's disappearance.
00:22Right. A young woman, Ada, try and make it in Hollywood, and then she's gone.
00:28Our goal here is to really untack the known details, piece together what happened based on, well, based on reports in a documentary transcript we've looked at.
00:37We want to explore the information that's out there about Ada, her disappearance, and everything that followed.
00:42Focusing on the sequence of events as they unfolded.
00:44Okay, so let's start with Ada Shabani herself. Who was she?
00:47Well, she was young, mid-20s, I believe. Originally from Dubai. She'd actually gotten a business degree there, worked in a jewelry store for a bit.
00:55But Hollywood was the dream.
00:56Definitely. She moved to L.A., enrolled in the Stella Adler Academy of Acting back in 2016, so she was serious about it.
01:03And what was she like, personality-wise?
01:06People who knew her, like her neighbor Crystal Newman, described her as really friendly, warm, lively, even spunky.
01:15Spunky. I like that. Sounds like she wasn't afraid to speak her mind.
01:18Apparently not. And she was active online, social media, but more for fun, you know, keeping friends and family back home updated, not like seeking fame online necessarily.
01:27Got it. So enter Christopher Spots. How does he fit in?
01:30Okay, so Chris Spots, he was from Colorado, had a psychology degree from 2009. He dabbled in film stuff, a short film, some documentaries.
01:38And he also ended up at Stella Adler.
01:40That's right. That's where he and Ada met.
01:42And things moved quickly.
01:43Reports say they hit it off right away. There's an immediate connection, it seems.
01:48There's always a but, isn't there?
01:49Yeah. Apparently Chris kept the relationship, uh, pretty secret under wraps.
01:54Why? Any idea?
01:56Well, a major factor seems to be that he was already married to a woman named Mary Elmack.
02:01Oh, okay. Did Ada know?
02:04It seems she did, which, you know, makes their whole dynamic even more complicated. It wasn't a secret from Ada, just from others, perhaps.
02:10So it was this on-again, off-again thing.
02:12Exactly. Very much back and forth. And get this, some of Ada's friends claimed Chris had actually proposed to her.
02:18Proposed? While married?
02:20That was the claim. It paints a really messy, confusing picture of their relationship, doesn't it?
02:25Absolutely. Secrecy, another marriage, a proposal. It sounds, well, unstable.
02:32Definitely unstable. That kind of secrecy, it suggests, um, a real lack of transparency. Conflicting loyalties, maybe?
02:40Makes you wonder about the power balance in that relationship, too.
02:43For sure. So let's move to late February 2018. February 26th. A Monday.
02:48Okay. What happens?
02:50Ada misses an acting class. And not just any class, like an important one where industry people might be watching.
02:55That sounds unlike her, based on what you said about her ambition.
02:58Completely unlike her. Her friends noticed immediately. Plus, no social media activity, calls, going straight to voicemail.
03:04Alarm bells ringing.
03:05Instantly. Her friends knew something was wrong.
03:08So, the police get involved. What did they find initially?
03:12Well, they went to her apartment. The door was unlocked.
03:15Unlocked. Strange.
03:16Yeah. And inside, it looked like she'd just stepped out for a minute. Laptop on. Nothing seemed disturbed. No sign of forced entry or a struggle.
03:25Okay. So maybe she just popped out and something happened.
03:27That was maybe the first thought. But then, CCTV footage.
03:32Ah, the cameras. What did they show?
03:34They showed Ada leaving her building three days earlier, actually, on Friday, February 23rd, around 1 p.m.
03:41Okay. Was she alone?
03:43No. She was with Chris Spots.
03:45Yeah.
03:46And she had two suitcases with her.
03:47Suitcases. Right. That changes things. That doesn't sound like popping out for an errand.
03:52Not at all. It suggests a planned trip. Something longer. Which kind of contradicts how her apartment looked, you know.
03:58So, the police talk to Chris, obviously. What's his story?
04:01He cooperates, initially. Admits picking her up on the 23rd, that Friday.
04:06And the suitcases. Where were they going?
04:08He claimed they were heading up to his father's place in Northern California.
04:12Okay. A road trip.
04:14Supposedly. But, he says, they got into a big fight in the car.
04:18Hey.
04:18And he kicked her out. Just kicked her out of the car.
04:21Kicked her out? Where?
04:22About 25 miles from her home, he claimed. Near Santa Clarita.
04:2625 miles in the middle of nowhere. Did he check on her? Go back.
04:31Apparently not. He just drove off.
04:34Which is bizarre and incredibly callous.
04:37Beyond callous. Even if you have a fight, you don't just abandon someone like that. It raises so many questions about that supposed fight.
04:44Exactly. And his behavior afterwards just gets stranger.
04:47How so?
04:48Well, remember, he's engaged to, or rather, married to, Mary Elmac.
04:52Right.
04:53On March 1st, just a few days after Ada was last seen, Chris drives to Colorado with Mary.
04:58Leaving California.
04:59Okay. In his Toyota Tacoma truck. And here's the thing. That truck. It had been reported stolen.
05:06Wait. His truck was reported stolen. And he's driving it.
05:09Yes. The whole sequence, the flimsy story about the fight, leaving Ada stranded, fleeing the state with his wife in a reportedly stolen vehicle.
05:18It looks really bad. Like someone running from something.
05:20It absolutely does. Doesn't sound like an innocent person, does it?
05:23Meanwhile, Ada's family must have been going frantic.
05:26Oh, completely. Her poor mother flew all the way from Dubai to Los Angeles. They were putting up missing person posters everywhere.
05:33Did they offer a reward?
05:35They did. $25,000 for any information. There were ground searches organized, too, but nothing. Just silence.
05:42That agony of not knowing. It's unimaginable.
05:46Truly devastating for them. Just hoping against hope.
05:49While the family searched, what were investigators finding? Anything else?
05:55They started digging into Ada's phone records. And it painted a pretty grim picture of her relationship with Chris.
06:02More than just on again, off again.
06:04Yeah. Lots of arguments seemed to be documented or at least hinted at. And apparently there were times he'd take her phone away after they fought.
06:11Controlling behavior. Another red flag.
06:13A big one. And then something even darker emerged from one of her friends.
06:17What was that?
06:17This friend recounted an alleged incident back on Valentine's Day just before she disappeared.
06:23The friend claimed that Chris had, allegedly, tried to suffocate Ada, choked her until she was unconscious.
06:30What? That's horrifying.
06:33Yeah.
06:33Did Ada report it?
06:34Here's the really disturbing part.
06:36According to the friend, Ada seemed to have no memory of the incident happening afterwards.
06:40No memory? How is that possible?
06:42It raises awful questions, doesn't it?
06:44Was she somehow manipulated, gaslighted, or was the trauma that severe? We don't know, but it points to potential very serious violence.
06:53So the suspicion on Chris is mounting. Stolen truck, weird story, controlling behavior, now this alleged violence.
07:01Exactly. And then comes the breaking point for his story, the alibi.
07:05The trip to Northern California.
07:06Well, part of his story involved why they were supposedly driving north on February 23rd. He'd claimed they were going to his uncle's funeral.
07:12Okay. A funeral. Seems specific.
07:15It does. So the police checked it out. They talked to Chris's father.
07:18Was there a funeral?
07:19No. The father confirmed his brother, Chris's uncle, was very much alive.
07:24Wow. So the entire funeral story was a lie.
07:27A complete fabrication. And the father also said Chris had arrived home alone that Friday evening, February 23rd. No Ada.
07:34That blows his whole alibi apart. Yeah.
07:36He lied about where he was, why he was there, and who he was with when Ada vanished.
07:41Precisely. It's a critical turning point. It strongly suggests he was actively trying to cover his tracks regarding Ada's disappearance.
07:49Okay. So his story's collapsing.
07:51Yeah.
07:51What happens next?
07:52Fast forward a few weeks to March 22nd. Remember that stolen Toyota Tacoma?
07:56The one he drove to Colorado in.
07:58It gets spotted back in California, in San Bernardino.
08:01And Chris is driving it?
08:02Chris is driving it. The police try to pull him over. And, well, he floors it.
08:06A car chase. The one from the beginning.
08:08That's the one. A high-speed pursuit, reportedly covering about 60 miles. Pure desperation, it seems.
08:14Where did it end?
08:15It finally ended in Corona, California. Police managed to stop the truck.
08:20And they arrested him.
08:21They moved in to apprehend him. But before they could reach him, Chris took his own life. He shot himself inside the truck.
08:28Oh, my God. So he died right there.
08:30Yes. Died by suicide as the police closed in.
08:33Which means any chance of getting direct answers from him about Ada.
08:38Gone.
08:38Vanished in that moment.
08:39His death, while tragic in itself, cemented the suspicion, but also created this permanent void of information.
08:46Leaving everyone wondering what exactly happened to Ada.
08:49But the search for her continued. And then, five days after Chris's death...
08:53They found her.
08:54Yes. March 27th. They found Ada's body.
08:58Where?
08:58In a shallow grave. Way up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, a remote area.
09:02Oh, Ada. How did they identify her?
09:05Through her distinctive tattoos and later confirmed with dental records.
09:09And the cause of death.
09:10The autopsy determined it was blunt force trauma to the head.
09:13Blunt force trauma. So she was murdered violently.
09:16Yes. A violent end in a remote location.
09:19And considering Chris's lies, his flight, the location where her body was found,
09:23the implication is incredibly strong, even without a confession.
09:26It points overwhelmingly towards him, even if we can't have that final, definitive proof from a trial.
09:32Exactly. His suicide prevents the full legal process,
09:35prevents us from knowing the absolute specifics of her final moments.
09:39What exactly was said? The precise sequence?
09:43We'll likely never know.
09:45And that's the lingering tragedy, isn't it?
09:47For her family especially.
09:48No trial, no conviction, no justice in the traditional sense.
09:52Just this profound loss and the horror of how her life was cut short.
09:57All that potential, the dream of acting.
09:59Just extinguished.
10:00It's just so incredibly sad and frustrating.
10:02It really is. A promising young life ended violently, leaving so many questions unanswered.
10:07You look back at the whole story, the relationship, the red flags, the disappearance, the chase.
10:12It's a devastating chain of events.
10:14And it makes you think, as the documentary hinted, about instincts in relationships, about trusting your gut.
10:20Yeah, the secrecy Chris insisted on, the alleged controlling behavior, the story about the suffocation.
10:25These are huge warning signs.
10:26They really are.
10:27It's a terribly hard lesson, obviously, highlighted by this tragedy.
10:30But it emphasizes being aware, being safe, and maybe not feeling like you have to hide parts of yourself or your relationship from people who care about you.
10:40Very powerful point.
10:41It's just an unsettling case all around.
10:43Ada deserves so much better.
10:45Her family deserved answers.
10:46Absolutely.
10:47A truly heartbreaking end to Ada Shabani's story, leaving a permanent mark on everyone who knew her.
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