- 2 days ago
After a 20-year-old vanishes in Toledo, Ohio a cryptic message lures the detective investigating her case to the city's Elm Street - where in a decaying warehouse, the authorities discover signs of a twisted obsession.
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00:00My daughter, Cindy, likes to ride bikes and go to the park.
00:30Just play with her friends.
00:36She always made it home.
00:41One day, I called Cindy and I said, I'm bringing dinner home.
00:47Cindy was 20, but she had a mind of a 12-year-old.
00:53So when I got off work at 4 o'clock, I told her, you come home.
00:57She said, OK.
01:00I said, mommy loves baby.
01:02And she said, baby loves mommy.
01:04That was our saying.
01:09So when I got off work, I come home.
01:13I thought Cindy was in the kitchen getting some milk or in her bedroom
01:21playing her games, but she was not there, and she was nowhere to be found.
01:36That's when it hit.
01:40I was scared.
01:43Like butterflies in my stomach.
01:46I have this instinct that something really bad happened.
01:53Because she's my little girl.
02:23Listen to me because I thought about it.
02:39We're not here.
02:48I remember when we got the call, I was a detective with the Talil Police Department in the Missing Persons Unit.
03:08We had a 20-year-old female missing. Her name was Cindy Sumner.
03:13I remember walking up to the house to meet her parents.
03:16I could see that Mary was very afraid for their daughter's safety.
03:23When she didn't come home that night, I didn't eat, I didn't sleep.
03:28So I said, I know you've got to wait 24 hours for a missing person, but my daughter has muscular dysphoria and seropalsy.
03:39She walked good. She ran good, too.
03:43But if she fell, she couldn't get up because her muscles were brittle.
03:49I knew right away that this was out of the ordinary.
03:53Cindy couldn't defend herself if she was attacked.
03:56That heightened our sense of urgency.
03:59This wasn't just a normal runaway.
04:01Every minute that went by, her vulnerability makes it even more remote that she's going to come home.
04:09I was going crazy.
04:12Like, where's my baby? Where's my baby?
04:16Mary had mentioned that Cindy had a bike, and her bicycle was basically her freedom from her home.
04:22Cindy would always come back home and check in.
04:30She was very good at that.
04:31I said, okay, be careful.
04:36No one had a bike like Cindy's.
04:39She had a teddy bear and a rose on it.
04:43And she just put it on her handlebars, and the bear was holding it in rows.
04:46Time is of the essence right off the bat.
05:00And so we started driving around that end of town.
05:05We went to the parks.
05:07We went to the stores that were around there looking for Cindy.
05:11And we were looking for her bike.
05:12We went up Elm Street, which is a pretty long street in the North End.
05:19It had some residential houses.
05:22It had some businesses.
05:23And it also had some abandoned structures.
05:29The parents had given us different friends' addresses and the places she would go.
05:35I talked to the police.
05:37Cindy's best friend was Lisa.
05:39When I met her, I was 12.
05:43And she didn't have many friends because of her mindset.
05:47You know, nobody wanted to hang out with a 19, 20-year-old that acts like a kid.
05:55But I had so much love in my heart for her.
05:58Cindy was 20.
06:01But she acted like a 12-year-old because of her disability.
06:04She would ride her bike by her house every single day, just waving.
06:10And she was the nicest girl ever.
06:13When the detectives came to my house, I knew in my heart that something bad had happened to her.
06:20She was an easy target because she was so innocent.
06:23The day Cindy went missing, she came to my house on her bike, and she was asking me to go on a bike ride with her.
06:32And then I told her that I couldn't go.
06:37And I remember waving to her by.
06:39And that was the last time I'd seen her.
06:49Mary also said that Cindy had seen somebody driving by the house on a bicycle going back and forth.
07:09Cindy had that gut feeling as someone was watching her.
07:32That raised the hair on the back of my neck a little bit.
07:35Thinking this person's brazen enough to go by the house without worrying about being caught,
07:40and he's brazen enough to try and snatch her.
07:45I came home.
07:47Lisa was frantically saying, Cindy's missing, Cindy's missing.
07:50She's gone.
07:52I was like, no.
07:54Now I find out that somebody was watching Cindy.
07:57And knowing that Cindy had been over my house that day, the fear started setting in on me.
08:06Like, thank God that I have Lisa.
08:10Stalkers are particularly dangerous because they won't give up.
08:15They lurk in the shadows until the right opportunity, and then they pounce.
08:19The police reached out, said, hey, we have a missing girl.
08:28We want to get this on the news.
08:32As a mom, I knew that this was an urgent situation.
08:35Cindy was just 20 when she vanished.
08:37Last seen in a fluorescent green shirt.
08:39Her mother is certain this wasn't a runaway.
08:42We got it on the air within hours of her being reported missing.
08:45Cindy, if you're out there watching me, I love you very much.
08:50Come home, Mia.
08:52I just want her home.
09:05The next day, the panic and the fear started setting in really bad with Lisa.
09:11Her mind was racing, where is she, Mom?
09:14Let's go find her.
09:16Her mom was gathering people, searching the streets.
09:24It's nerve-wracking.
09:27Trying to find a needle in a haystack.
09:31We were breaking down doors to abandoned buildings, just searching for her.
09:36I remember clearly.
09:49I was walking home from school with my friends.
09:52Then we would walk through a graveyard that went into the back of this warehouse.
10:00It was on Elm Street.
10:05It was like the shortcut, walking home.
10:13We were talking about Cindy, and we thought maybe she's in the warehouse.
10:19So then we were like, let's check it out.
10:24So then we were like, let's check it out.
10:24We're tall, and we're going to be on the road.
10:27We're gonna need to try the store.
10:41We're going to be there.
10:42On the side of the warehouse, we found a stairwell.
11:12Like, I wonder what's down here.
11:20So we opened the door, and it smelled like stale water.
11:33It was really dark going down, so you couldn't really see anything.
11:38And it was really creepy.
11:54And then it happened.
12:04Walking home from school, we thought it would be a good idea to go in this abandoned warehouse,
12:09searching for Cindy.
12:19But it turned out it wasn't.
12:21All the way down the stairwell, the whole basement was just flooded of the building.
12:50It's like knee-deep water.
12:57And I was like, no.
12:58My mom was on edge at that point, because she didn't want any chance of this happening
13:19to me.
13:21So I didn't tell her.
13:22We went through the warehouse.
13:26When Cindy went missing, I was assigned to the Investigative Services Bureau.
13:33And the entire department was aware that Cindy Sumner was missing.
13:37As an investigator, you know she's at risk.
13:42It tugs at your heart.
13:44Everybody wants to find that girl.
13:47Because she has the mental capacity of a 12-year-old, they don't think she just took
13:51off, which leaves only a few scary possibilities.
13:54The news spread fast.
13:57So we received tons of information that was coming from the community.
14:01So we followed up on hundreds of tips.
14:03There were a lot of leads that turned out to not bear fruit.
14:09So we went back to people that were close to Cindy.
14:16And her mother mentioned to us that Cindy had a boyfriend-like young man, Derek Marks, that
14:22she was close to in the neighborhood.
14:24When we started really digging into him, Derek wasn't exactly squeaky clean.
14:31So we brought Derek Marks in.
14:34Immediately, I noticed that he was wearing an ankle monitor.
14:38Whoever let him out felt that he still needed to be monitored.
14:42So that brings up a red flag.
14:45We were able to get the records relative to his ankle monitor,
14:51which established an alibi and eliminated him from consideration.
14:56However, Derek told us that the day she vanished, Cindy rode by his house.
15:03And he basically ignored her.
15:05And as she was riding on, he noticed that she was with an older,
15:09maybe man in his 30s with blonde hair.
15:12We thought, why would that person be with her?
15:16Who was he?
15:17And was that the last person that was with her?
15:20Police interviewed dozens and dozens of people in this case,
15:25trying to track down this blonde gentleman.
15:29The urgency was, if anybody harmed Cindy, such a pure, innocent young lady,
15:34they could do it to anybody.
15:37In the neighborhood, there's a lot of families, there are a lot of children,
15:40and that could happen in someone's backyard.
15:43Missing posters like this one hang outside, and a week later,
15:48her mom just wants to have her home.
15:50We kept looking and looking.
15:55I was like, what's going on with my baby?
15:58I'm not my baby home.
16:00I kept praying, please, Lord, let me find my baby alive.
16:13And then we got some important information.
16:18We had subpoenaed Cindy's cell phone records.
16:21Once we were able to get the records to Cindy's phone,
16:25there was one particular text message that was sent to her
16:28the day she was reported missing that was particularly concerning to me.
16:32that said, you coming to Jamie Farr?
16:36And that's the park that Cindy would frequent.
16:38God bear for you.
16:41Cindy was very fond of teddy bears.
16:47If you're thinking like a 12-year-old,
16:49you're going to want to meet him.
16:51You're going to want to get your bear.
16:54The person who sent that was close enough to her
16:57to know that she loved teddy bears.
16:59Unfortunately, these text messages came from a burner phone,
17:03and we didn't know who the number was connected back to.
17:08We hit a wall.
17:13After all the leagues were exhausted,
17:15it started becoming frustrating.
17:19Investigation was dragging on,
17:21and you start questioning yourself
17:23if you're ever going to find Cindy or not.
17:29And then several weeks into the investigation,
17:32a lady named Marissa called the detective bureau
17:35and said she had recognized Cindy from her picture,
17:39but she knew her as Sissy from being around the neighborhood.
17:44Marissa stated that she had seen Sissy
17:46at the warehouse over on Elm Street one time,
17:49and something might have happened.
17:52And the warehouse itself was huge.
17:58Earlier on in the investigation,
18:00a uniformed crew was sent to investigate it.
18:05They couldn't find anything.
18:06This old, decrepit, abandoned warehouse on Elm Street
18:13was just not a good place.
18:17People were going in and out.
18:19Homeless people were living in there.
18:21People were doing drugs.
18:23It was almost like it breathed evil.
18:27This building, because of the sheer size of it,
18:30you could very easily hide there,
18:31and no one would ever know you were there.
18:34And there was an element of dangerous people living there
18:37that you didn't know what you were walking into.
18:40So when we walked in, we had flashlights.
18:55We had each other,
18:57and we were going to check every room on every floor.
19:01And right away,
19:13there was two people there that took off running.
19:18We weren't sure what they were up to.
19:22It just felt like a trap.
19:27I was frightened,
19:28and I had a flashlight and a gun.
19:31But we were going to go through every floor
19:33to rule out if she was there or not.
19:41Approximately six weeks after Cindy Sumner went missing,
19:44the call came in
19:45and she was in an abandoned warehouse on Elm Street.
19:49This warehouse was dangerous
19:50because of the circle of people living there.
19:54Several of them had violent criminal histories,
19:57as well as sexually related crimes.
20:02Just knowing the nature of the people that had been in and out
20:05just gave you pause.
20:06Our concern was that there was somebody there.
20:16We didn't know what their intentions were.
20:18Were they watching us?
20:19There was the scent of stale beer, urine.
20:36There were a lot of crack pipes bedding.
20:39It was obviously an encampment for people that were using it as a short-term living space.
20:48When my partner and I went down into the basement,
20:58you could tell there was some type of staining water
21:01because it just had that something's wrong here smell.
21:04So you just get a sick feeling.
21:17When we got into the basement,
21:19I got the feeling that somebody was watching.
21:22It's complete darkness.
21:27And you didn't really know what else was down there.
21:29Definitely the stuff of nightmares.
21:44My partner went to the left,
21:47stumbles upon the boiler room.
21:49And then...
22:15The hair on the back of my neck stood up.
22:17My partner called out.
22:20I looked over.
22:22And he said,
22:23I found something in the water.
22:26I don't know if it's her,
22:27but it might be a body.
22:31But it was submerged.
22:34And then suddenly we smelled something different.
22:37We smelled smoke.
22:39It was a fire.
22:41And whoever started that fire obviously didn't want us there.
22:45But anybody that would set a place on fire while we were in there,
22:50we didn't know how far they would go.
22:53And so we cordoned off the area and called in the troops.
23:01The fire department came and put it out.
23:02We called in for more officers.
23:05Because at that point we didn't know what we were dealing with.
23:09Or what we were going to find.
23:12Our concern first was, were they still in the building?
23:16Because there was many rooms they could have been hiding in.
23:18They also requested to have the Department of Water come out to help drain some of the water so that the basement would be more accessible.
23:29I was working for the city of Toledo on the sewer and drain services.
23:36The warehouse on Elm was a place that I kind of grew up around.
23:40I know that it's not a good place to be.
23:44It's kind of scary the things that go on in there.
23:47Had I known that we were going to be pumping that place out, I don't know that I would have volunteered to go.
23:53The smell was, uh, you never forget it.
24:02It permeates everything.
24:04You're breathing it.
24:06It's in your clothing.
24:07It's on you.
24:09You get this sick feeling.
24:17You'd feel like something was watching you.
24:22The water was so dark, you couldn't take a flashlight and look into it.
24:32It's like you don't know what's underneath it.
24:41And then as the water started to drain down, I could start to see the body in the water.
24:53I thought, oh man, this is horrible.
24:57This is something I'm just not going to be able to forget.
25:02Once they had the water pretty much pumped out, the victim was laying on her side.
25:08And we were unable to determine who it was.
25:13The victim's wrists were bound behind her.
25:17There was a marble type slab that was laid partially across the victim's body.
25:23Whoever had done this to this poor young lady was a vile, evil soul.
25:32The body was closed in, closed inconsistent with what had been reported that Cindy was last seen in.
25:38And we did not know who this was.
25:42Our immediate reaction was, oh crap, is this really Cindy?
25:47Or was this another victim?
25:50And we still have no one in custody.
25:53You had the sense of urgency that potentially other young women or girls are at risk.
26:01So if she was a second victim, you're going to immediately think, maybe we got a serial killer.
26:07Now, Cindy had reported someone that she found suspicious around her house.
26:14And she also had been seen with the blonde man that we weren't able to identify it.
26:20And now we're worried, do we have somebody out there doing this on a serial basis?
26:24We knew that a young lady had been brutally murdered and left in the basement of a warehouse on Elm Street.
26:42And we needed to confirm the identity of the body.
26:46Due to the serious decomposition of the body, visual identification was impossible.
26:52But she was wearing a pendant around her neck.
27:05I gave her the necklace on her birthday.
27:09And she never took it off.
27:11That's when I broke down.
27:14I couldn't breathe.
27:17It just gave me chills up and down my spine.
27:20I was hoping that she would come home, celebrate her birthday, Christmas.
27:32And I was just so angry, I just wanted to hurt something.
27:36When we got the clothes from the coroner's office, we weren't sure if it actually matched the clothing description that we were given initially.
27:54We weren't sure what it meant.
27:55And so the question was, was someone dressing her up? Was she their human doll?
28:01When I got home from work, Lisa started screaming to me, Mom, Mom, Mom, they found her, they found her.
28:18She's crying and crying.
28:19I started crying.
28:20The detectives told me that if your daughter, Lisa, would have went with her that day, she would have not survived.
28:22We knew somebody was watching Cindy.
28:23Cindy.
28:25The detectives told me that if your daughter, Lisa, would have went with her that day, she would have not survived.
28:31She's crying and crying.
28:34I started crying.
28:38The detectives told me that if your daughter, Lisa,
28:42would have went with her that day, she would have not survived.
28:49We knew somebody was watching Cindy,
28:52and if he's watching Cindy, he's watching Lisa too.
28:59I was actually terrified when I found out
29:01that that's where they found her,
29:02because I was like, oh, my God, we were right there,
29:05and we just did not know that she was there.
29:10Like, could we have saved her?
29:14I was scared all the time
29:15because they didn't find the guy who did this yet.
29:20I didn't know if there was someone in the bushes.
29:24I didn't know what to do at that point.
29:26I didn't even want to walk home to school anymore.
29:28I was just feeling kind of like Cindy,
29:32like someone's watching me.
29:37If they can get her, why can't they get me?
29:44I started carrying a knife with me everywhere.
29:46It was a very short time later.
29:53I got a phone call.
29:55Your daughter has a big butcher knife at school.
29:58What?
29:59A butcher knife?
30:01I went into full panic.
30:03As a mom, I was thinking, don't carry a knife to school.
30:06But this person's still out there.
30:09I don't know who they are.
30:10They're not getting you, though.
30:11I'm going to make sure of it.
30:12In the warehouse, we found some important evidence.
30:20There was a water heater.
30:22Taps emerged in the water next to the body.
30:25And there was a shoe print on the covering.
30:29It was identifiable.
30:30If we were able to match that shoe print
30:35to the shoe being worn by a person,
30:37then we may have our suspect.
30:40And at this point, the scope of who we were interviewing
30:43narrowed to the circle of people
30:45that were associated with the warehouse.
30:49After talking to more people,
30:51they indicated that there was a blonde man
30:54living at the warehouse where we found Cindy on Elm Street.
30:58It raised our suspicion
31:04because we had gotten information
31:06that Cindy was with a blonde man
31:08on the same day she went missing.
31:12They described him as being a creep job
31:14because of his behavior with Cindy.
31:19A lot of people didn't care for him.
31:23They were actually appalled by him.
31:25People reported that this man
31:29would ride his bike methodically
31:31back and forth in front of Cindy's house.
31:38He would often stop and stare,
31:41just standing motionless, just watching.
31:44So, Cindy was right.
31:59Someone was watching her.
32:02And it was probably this evil creep
32:04who killed Cindy.
32:05Cindy had been missing for approximately six weeks
32:15when her remains were found.
32:18We tried to interview everybody
32:20that was associated with the warehouse
32:21where Cindy Sumner's body had been recovered.
32:25And when we found out that Cindy was the focus
32:27of someone's overzealous attention,
32:30certainly that helped narrow our focus
32:32as to who the suspect might be.
32:35One person described running into the same guy,
32:38the creep job, by the name of Elhadi Robbins.
32:41We realized that he was incarcerated,
32:43so locating him was a pretty easy step.
32:50Elhadi Robbins was a middle-aged male
32:52who was homeless and would travel
32:55to the north side of Toledo on his bicycle.
32:58He didn't have blonde hair,
33:00but we found out that Elhadi Robbins
33:03had recently dyed his hair.
33:05I'm Detective Morrow.
33:07This is Detective Gat.
33:09How you doing?
33:10The more we started digging into him,
33:13we found out that he had had
33:14a very checkered past.
33:17How much time did you do for the robbery?
33:18Nine and a half years.
33:20Are you on parole now?
33:22Okay, for what?
33:23For domestic violence and some other stuff.
33:25Robbins was a registered sex offender.
33:29Child pornography.
33:30And he'd been involved with some other women
33:33that had some mental and physical challenges.
33:37This was obviously the type of person
33:39that he was attracted to.
33:41He had a lot of ex-girlfriends.
33:43I noticed he did have some injuries to his arms,
33:45some scratches that he alleged
33:47came from a bicycling accident
33:48from when he hit a car.
33:49So Ed Daphne threw up red flags.
33:53What kind of relationship would you say you had with...
33:56Riding around.
33:58Riding around.
33:59Riding on the bikes, yeah.
34:00With bikes.
34:01Now, were you and Cindy romantically linked?
34:06Did you, like, boyfriend and girlfriend kissing and stuff?
34:09No.
34:10They knew I wanted to get with Cindy,
34:13but she was talking about her boyfriend and all that.
34:15Robbins was very interested in developing a relationship
34:18and becoming close to Cindy Sumner.
34:21So she said you were too old?
34:23Yeah, she said at first too old.
34:25Yeah.
34:26How old did you say you were?
34:2744.
34:29He talked about they weren't in love,
34:31but they were hopefully going to get there.
34:32He's with the Scientific Investigations Unit.
34:42What this is, is a search warrant for your shoes,
34:45so we need you to take the shoes off.
34:48Are these your shoes?
34:49Yeah.
34:50Just looking at your shoes, it's an exact match.
34:57There's not going to be any denying the shoe print
35:00found next to where the body was.
35:03You don't seem like a bad guy.
35:05Okay?
35:06I can pretty comfortably say that.
35:08And I think that you really, you want to shed that light for us,
35:12but you're gun shy.
35:13And I'm telling you, as we stand here today,
35:15there is an out.
35:17Okay?
35:17I just get...
35:17Sir, please.
35:18He talked about having blackouts,
35:22that he just would lose it and then wake up
35:25and not know what he'd done.
35:27I blacked out for like 13 hours, I think it was.
35:30And when I thought I woke up,
35:32you're telling me, no, you've been up all night.
35:35I was certain that he was the man that killed Cindy Sumner.
35:38At this point, you invoked your right to an attorney,
35:42which means by law,
35:43the officer can't ask you any more questions.
35:45But Al-Hadi Robbins refused to give us all the specifics.
35:52Ultimately, some of the other inmates
35:54gave that information to law enforcement.
35:57Even with criminals,
36:00there is a code of conduct.
36:02They just said, this is a bad guy.
36:05He got into an argument with a cellmate
36:08about what happened to Cindy,
36:11and he wanted to correct the record,
36:14the narcissism in him.
36:17He wanted that recognition.
36:19He thought he was among like-minded people,
36:21and it was okay for him to brag.
36:24Yeah, I did that, and this is the way it happened.
36:27When we talk about Predator,
36:29he had a plan.
36:32We believe he lured her to the warehouse
36:35with the promise of a teddy bear.
36:37Once Cindy went into that warehouse,
36:50because of the sheriff's size of it,
36:53you could very easily avoid discovery.
36:56When Al-Hadi Robbins tried to have his way with her,
37:15I think she threatened to tell people
37:17what he had done to her,
37:17and he was fearful of being discovered.
37:19He ultimately killed her to avoid discovery.
37:33I think Cindy fought as best she could.
37:35Unfortunately, her ability to fight
37:37was obviously very restricted
37:39because of her disabilities.
37:43He tied her hands behind her back,
37:45carried her to the basement,
37:47and hid her body in a back boiler room
37:49and a bunch of water.
37:52Then he threw her bike down an elevator shaft
37:54so no one would ever find it.
37:58The idea that this could happen
38:00to such a pure, innocent young lady
38:02was something that was just pure evil.
38:11The man accused of taking Cindy Sumner's life
38:14was arraigned in court today.
38:16Al-Hadi Robbins pleaded not guilty.
38:18Prior to being able to go to trial,
38:22Al-Hadi Robbins was found dead in the shower
38:25in the Lucas County Jail
38:26and ultimately died of a heart attack.
38:32I wanted him to be in prison the rest of his life,
38:36doing that to my baby girl.
38:44I was angry because Cindy was such a beautiful person.
38:50She always seen the good in people,
38:51even when they weren't good.
38:53It was kind of bittersweet.
38:58I wanted him to pay for his crime,
39:00but it also ended the story.
39:04He wasn't going to be able to do this to anybody else.
39:09I don't know if karma is the right word,
39:11but certainly the circumstances around him dying in water
39:15the way he left her,
39:17that's for a bigger power than mine to figure out.
39:20Fast forward to 2023.
39:25This bad, evil warehouse on Elm Street
39:29continued to be a nuisance.
39:34I just wanted to tear it down.
39:37If it was tore down a long time ago,
39:40Cindy would be right here.
39:41Cindy's family fought really hard,
39:48really hard to get that building torn down.
39:52And finally, 15 years after Cindy
39:56took her last breath there,
39:58that warehouse was finally torn down.
40:03Every time I pass it,
40:04I just don't look over there.
40:06I know it's gone,
40:08but it still brings me some bad days.
40:11I don't know,
40:14there's something about that street
40:15that just has always scared people.
40:18And to this day,
40:20I find it's still creepy.
40:21We didn't even lock our door.
40:34That's how safe we thought we were.
40:37Whatever sense of safety
40:38that this tight-knit Elm Street community had felt,
40:42that was over forever.
40:45This is 911.
40:50Is there a problem there?
40:51Somebody died in my house.
40:53What's the address?
40:55Ow.
40:57That house on Elm Street was a horror scene.
41:01When I walked in,
41:03you can smell the blood.
41:04This was Elm Street.
41:09It happened on Elm Street.
41:13It's still like a dream.
41:18That monster was deep inside,
41:20and that all came out.
41:22You're thinking,
41:23could this happen to me?
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