Shannon Merry
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So the last time she texted me, I think about you often and I will always love you. And then I sent her a message the next day. She never read it. She should have been found. It's weird. They got into a fight and I would say maybe a month or two. You don't hear from your daughter and then you report her missing. But it went on for seven years.

It was Easter Sunday in 2013 when Shannon Mary's family last heard from her. 33-year-old Shannon spoke to her mother on the phone that day while Shannon was at home in Ronkonkoma, New York, and her mom was in North Carolina.

During the call, Shannon and her mother had a disagreement, and it ended on a sour note. Afterward, Shannon's mother didn't hear from her again, and assumed her daughter was upset with her. Over time, Shannon's friends also noticed they hadn't heard from her. She stopped texting, calling, and posting on social media. Their concerns deepened as the days turned into weeks, then months, and eventually years.

Seven years later, they were finally able to have Shannon reported as a missing person. However, with so much time having passed since anyone had heard from her, law enforcement faced significant challenges in their investigation.

The lack of immediate leads, the fading of physical evidence, and the difficulty in tracking down new information after such a long time left investigators struggling to piece together what may have happened to Shannon Mary. I'm Marissa, and from Wondery, this is episode 477 of The Vanished, Shannon Mary's story.

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In the depths of an Atlanta forest, a clash between activists and authorities ends in tragedy. I'm Matthew Scher, and on my new podcast, We Came to the Forest, we expose the hidden truths behind a shootout that left one activist dead and countless lives forever changed. This is the first time I've been on a shootout.

binge all episodes of We Came to the Forest ad-free on Wondery Plus. Shannon Mary was raised in and eventually vanished from Ronkonkoma, New York. She was born in December of 1979 and spent her formative years growing up in Ronkonkoma during the 1980s. The area was a quiet suburban community. Known for its central location on Long Island, Ronkonkoma is a transportation hub,

with the Long Island Railroad's Ronkonkoma Station, serving as a key commuter point connecting Long Island to Manhattan. Despite the proximity to Manhattan, Ronkonkoma had a small-town, slower-paced feel, offering a balance of quiet suburban living with access to the big city. Shannon was the oldest of three siblings, and it was in Ronkonkoma where she first nurtured her big dreams for the future.

From a young age, she was determined to pursue a career in law enforcement. We spoke with Shannon's cousin, Peter, who shared that they had an especially close bond, as their mothers were twins. It felt more like they were siblings than cousins.

She grew up her whole entire life all in Ronkonkoma. I was born six months before, in June, and she was born in December of 1979. Our mothers are twins. I lived in Massachusetts for the first 22 years of my life. My family, they moved back to New York, to Long Island. We were

We were always close. She would come a couple weeks during the summer to stay in Massachusetts with us. So we kind of had more of a brother-sister relationship. She has two younger brothers. I think one is two years younger than us, and the other one was five years younger than us. Her mother was a nurse.

Her father, a prison guard detective in Rikers Island, and they worked a lot. She was kind of a maternal figure. I would say at an early age, they would be alone because her parents were both working. So she took care of them like an older sister, taking care of them while her parents were out working. Peter always looked up to Shannon, as she seemed to have it all. She was the kind of person everyone wanted to be around. Attractive, smart, and full of charisma.

She had everything. She was pretty smart. She went to the University of Delaware. She was someone that everyone would be friends with. Everyone wanted to really be around her. She was a very amiable person, very good personality. Growing up, she was like, I want to be a Suffolk cop because they get paid very, very well and have great benefits and kind of the work that her father did.

We also spoke with one of Shannon's longtime friends, Laura. The two met while in high school, hit it off, and remained friends up until the time Shannon disappeared in 2013.

I met Shannon in 10th grade at soccer tryouts. So that was the summer of 94 or 95. In high school, she was very bright. She was a very hard worker. Future Business Leaders of America, FBLA, she was part of. She wanted to do well in school, in life. She used to say she wanted to be in law enforcement. She was an amazing friend, but put most before herself.

One thing that always stood out to Laura about Shannon was her maternal nature toward her younger brothers. She deeply cherished them and was always focused on bringing them joy. Her mother worked nights. She was like the mom. She was very helpful. When she graduated college, she had a wonderful job. She spoiled her brothers immensely. They were her world. She loves her brothers so much.

What Laura could have never predicted when they first met in the 90s was that many years later, Shannon would disappear, and Laura would be the one advocating for her, tirelessly seeking answers. In August 2024, it was Laura who sent over our case submission form, asking us to cover Shannon's story. By that point in time, she had already spent years trying to find Shannon, but struggled to get media attention for her missing friend.

Laura shared that she last heard from Shannon in 2012 through Facebook Messenger, but after that, all communication stopped. Laura continued to send messages, holding onto the hope that one day she would get a response. What began as waiting days, then weeks and months, eventually stretched into years of unanswered messages to her dear friend.

The last I heard from her, she sent me a message on Facebook. It was 2012. She was like, I will always love you. From that point, I continued to just write her on Facebook, though I know she's not looking at it. She never saw it. She never read anyone ever again. So that was in 2012. So for 12 years, I've been writing to her on Facebook.

Before Shannon disappeared, her parents had retired and moved to North Carolina. Laura didn't have contact information for Shannon's parents. She first reached out via Facebook and tried calling a number she had found, but she didn't have any luck. But later, she was able to track them down through Peter. Laura believes it was early 2014 that she found Peter, and he got her in touch with Shannon's mother. That's when she learned that the last time any family members had heard from Shannon was Easter Sunday, 2013.

I finally got in contact with one of her parents. That's how I found out that the last they've spoken to her was March 31st of 2013. It was Easter. That was the last they heard from her and anybody heard from her from that point on.

Peter shared that he learned from his aunt that she had an argument with Shannon on Easter Sunday of 2013, which fell on March 31st that year. Given the nature of their conversation and the fact that it ended on bad terms, Shannon's parents believe she didn't want to communicate with them. This misunderstanding contributed to the delay in reporting Shannon as a missing person.

She was angry and her mother said, okay, let's cool down. I just had this conversation with her mother. She says the last thing that Shannon told me when she held the phone, she said out of sight, out of mind. And she knew that that was going to be the last time she heard from her daughter in a while. And she said to me, Shannon will come out when she's ready. She'll contact us when she's ready to. She still believes her daughter is alive.

Shannon's disappearance occurred during a busy period in Laura's life. She was newly married and having children. Laura carries a deep sense of regret for not acting sooner when she lost touch with Shannon. At the time, she was holding on to the hope that one day Shannon would resurface, and there would be a reasonable explanation for her absence. Time continued to pass with no word from Shannon, and Laura kept looking for any trace of her. In the summer of 2018, Laura's

Laura decided it was time to report Shannon missing. What she didn't anticipate was that it would lead to a years-long battle.

It was a few years later. I don't know why I waited, but I did. Now that I'm thinking about it, I had my middle daughter at the time. She was an infant. And I said, you know what? I'm going to go to the precinct and I'm going to see if I can report her missing. So I went to the precinct. First of all, they couldn't give me the time of day. While I was talking to them, they were answering the telephone and then talking about what they were going to have for lunch. I was totally disgusted. They didn't want anything to do with it.

She doesn't want to be found. They could care less. You're not family. I said, yeah, but it says family or any other concerned citizen. I said, so if somebody doesn't have family that's going to report them missing, they don't matter. I don't understand that they don't matter. Her life doesn't matter then. So they said, well, you can go to the precinct where she was last living. So I did that. I didn't get anywhere.

Despite feeling discouraged, Laura refused to give up. In her spare time, she continued searching for any trace of Shannon. Her persistence eventually led her to the NamUs database, where she found a Jane Doe that she believed might be Shannon.

She was missing for about six years at that point. So when I first went to the fourth precinct, they said, no, she doesn't want to be found. So I said, okay, I'm just going to keep looking for her. Then I go on NamUs and I see somebody similar to, could be her. That was an unidentified female that was found, I believe, in Setauket.

With no way to confirm if the Jane Doe was Shannon without an active missing persons case, Laura returned to the 4th Precinct of the Suffolk County Police Department, more determined than ever to ensure that Shannon was officially reported as missing.

So I went back to the precinct and I said, I want to report my friend that's missing. I think she could be somebody that's an unidentified person on the MS. So they said, hold on a second, please. Called homicide. They said, homicide would like you to stay. They are going to come and talk to you. I said, oh, okay. Now somebody's going to talk to me. It was Detective Zambito that I met with at that time. He said, if you can get somebody to come with you from the family, you can file a missing persons report. I said, okay, excellent.

Got a family member to come with me, maybe a year or so later. It was not an easy task. And the officer at the desk was pretty insulting, and he wouldn't take the report, which took you so long. So we left. I dropped that member off. I called Detective Zambito. I was very upset. I said, I don't understand. I'm very confused, I was told. This is very difficult for me to do. He apologized greatly. He got me in touch with Detective Itali from the 4th Precinct and

Then I was able to get in touch with him and finally report her missing when I was able to get a family member to come with me. It's not an easy task. She was in NamUs as of July 2020. Official missing person as of June 2020, seven years later.

Laura's persistence had finally paid off, but by then, seven years had passed since Shannon last spoke to her mother on the phone, and no one had seen or heard from her since. The trail had gone cold long ago, and it was hard to even know where to begin searching for clues. Laura's breakthrough came after she had seen a Jane Doe on NamUs that she believed could be Shannon. This prompted law enforcement to eventually open a missing persons case. How did this happen?

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In an attempt to understand what may have happened to Shannon, we're going to turn the clock back again. We left off around the time that Shannon was in high school and had met Laura. After high school, Shannon attended the University of Delaware, where she pursued her dream of studying criminal justice, and met one of her other closest friends, Lauren. Here's Lauren with more about how the two met and became friends.

Shannon and I met our freshman year of college. We lived in the same dorm building and we had the same criminal justice major. So we took classes together and we just naturally became friends. And then our sophomore year, we actually rushed the same sorority. We became sorority sisters our sophomore year. And then we just stayed friends for all of college and she became one of my closest friends.

One consistent theme we heard from those close to Shannon was that she rarely confided in them about her personal struggles. Shannon was stoic, keeping much of her inner world to herself. As her friends reflect on their time with her, they search for signs that something may have been off in her life, clues that Shannon may have subtly dropped along the way. Lauren, however, holds on to many great memories of Shannon, from the carefree college years they spent together.

I'm from Stanford, Connecticut, and she was from Long Island, which is an hour and 15 minute drive maybe from where she lived. She used to come visit me a lot more often than I would visit her. And I'm not really actually sure why, but now thinking back in retrospect, I'm

It may have been because she didn't really want people visiting her house because of the dynamic of how her family was. I know our senior year, we did go celebrate Shannon's birthday. I remember my roommate and I went and stayed at Shannon's house and we went into the city one night.

We had the best time and we slept over in her basement and we took the train from Ronkonkoma into the city and went to this champagne bar and we went to a club. I still have pictures from that night and it was such a fun night. But that is one of the only times that I went to her house. But after college, she used to come visit me in Connecticut a lot.

Shannon had always dreamed of working in law enforcement, but that career path didn't materialize. Instead, she took a completely different direction and secured a lucrative job in Manhattan. Laura shared more details with us about this shift in Shannon's life. When she first graduated, she did want to go to law school, but then that didn't happen. She ended up working in the finance industry. She worked for Citigroup, but then she worked her way up to different positions within Citigroup.

Around this time, Shannon's love life appeared to be on a positive path. She had dated a man throughout college, and they decided to get married. Unfortunately, the marriage didn't last. Laura shared some insight about that relationship.

Shannon married her college sweetheart in 2005. We were in each other's weddings. I was her maid of honor. He was from New Jersey. He moved from New Jersey to Long Island. I hate to talk for Shannon, but I feel like she married him because that's what she thought she was supposed to do. I was getting married that year. My sister was getting married that year. She was with him a long time. Do I think she had doubts? I do. But did she love him? Yes, very much so.

Lauren had visited Shannon and her husband in New York City, and things seemed to be going okay. But Lauren now feels that their relationship was doomed from the beginning.

They got married and it was just like, oh yeah, Shannon and Steve are getting married and great for them. And I went to their wedding. It was a really good time. They moved into the city and I think that she just kind of got a job working for a bank and it was a high paying job. But it did seem sort of like they graduated from college and it was the next step. Okay, well now we're going to move in together. We're going to go to the city and this is just what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to get married.

I think that her ex was always sort of a little bit of a pushover and Shannon always had a strong personality. I do think that they got engaged pretty young. I think that marrying anybody in your 20s is always a little bit of a risky situation, but I didn't necessarily see it falling apart in the future. From what I was told in the aftermath, he had been unfaithful from well before they even got married, but...

They seemed like they were happy when they lived in the city. I went to see them a couple of times and everything seemed okay. I did know that after a while she was unfaithful and their marriage was on the rocks. And then I learned after that, that he was obviously not being faithful to her. And then it turned out that for a very, very long time, he wasn't being faithful. So I was like, well, why did they even get married in the first place?

After Shannon's marriage ended, she and Laura were both in transitional phases in their lives, and they decided to move in together. This was around the time of the 2008 financial crisis, and when the economy took a downturn, Shannon's job in the financial industry came to an end, leaving her in a difficult financial position.

Her and I then moved in together and lived together for a year in Long Beach. And then she moved back home with her family. She got laid off from her job. She was already spiraling a bit prior, but once then she lost her job, it just really went

Peter recalls that losing her job, just after the end of her marriage, was a devastating blow for Shannon. It felt as though she had lost everything. With the 2008 financial crisis still weighing heavily on the economy and the job market struggling to recover, opportunities seemed scarce, and there was little hope for a quick turnaround for Shannon.

She was let go in November 2008, right after the whole housing crisis. Citigroup had laid off 30,000 people, and she was one of the 30,000 people. She filed for bankruptcy. She just was living way above her means. She didn't have a job to pay for her life that she had for the last few years.

The 2008 financial crisis had a profound impact on the global economy, causing widespread unemployment, plunging home values, and an overall economic downturn. Banks failed, industries collapsed, and businesses struggled to stay afloat. The job market became flooded with people seeking work, while opportunities were limited.

especially for those in industries hit hardest by the crisis. Recovery was slow, and many people, like Shannon, found themselves in a difficult position with few options for stability or growth. Lauren had visited Shannon around this time and noticed some things seemed a little off, though she couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. Shannon was the kind of person who always wanted others to believe she had it all together. But beneath the facade, deep cracks were beginning to form.

I had visited her in the city and her weight was fluctuating a lot. This isn't normal for her, but I didn't want to say anything because obviously it's a very sensitive subject. In hindsight, this could have had something to do with drug use or who knows, not even being able to afford food. I really don't know what it was at that point. She definitely was not sharing anything.

the nitty gritty of the financial situation at that point. She did share when she was about to get divorced and things weren't working out. She was moving back to Long Island and she was unhappy. She wasn't making the money that she was before. I recall talking to her. She's like, I went from wearing these Christian Louboutin shoes to my office every day. Now I'm selling all my clothes because I don't even have a job to go to. And I didn't know how to react to that.

I was just a school teacher. I'm so sorry that you're having to go through this, but you're going to land on your feet. Everything's going to be okay. Go home. You're going to find a job and let's think positively. And maybe now you'll get a job in law enforcement. And she wasn't sharing how bad it really was. She came to visit me in Connecticut a couple of times. And now in hindsight, I can see some of the things that happened that now I'm like,

oh my God, that should have been such a red flag that things were not okay. But I just didn't realize at the time. I think that Shannon had a lot of pride and she did not want to share what was going on. And I do think that she kept a lot of things to herself. And I think that she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. I'm a divorced woman. I don't have a job.

Laura noticed that after Shannon lost her job, she began drinking heavily, and over time this behavior escalated. She also began to show signs of using other substances, though it was subtle at first.

She was drinking heavily. If she was using drugs, I didn't know. It wasn't around me. But then what was odd was I had oral surgery and she picked up my medication from the pharmacy. It was painkillers and something told me count them. And I counted them and there was five short. And I was like, this is really strange. So I called the pharmacy and they were like, no. And she's like, oh, well, I told them I was your sister when I picked them up.

I just thought that was supposed to be hard. Like you could have said you were my roommate. It's not a big deal. They were like, no, we double counted it. So then I was like, it is what it is. I never made a big deal about it. That was probably my first something else maybe going on. Laura admits that during this period, she wasn't seeing Shannon often, so she didn't fully understand what was going on with her friend. Shannon's communication grew less frequent, and as time passed, it became clear that something was deeply wrong.

We were talking kind of on and off. And then we had plans for a Sunday. She had a boyfriend. I was supposed to pick her up at his house. So I talked to her the night before. I called her that morning. Her phone's disconnected. That was 2011 that I was supposed to see her. I didn't know how bad she was because we really weren't seeing each other that often. I was still living in Long Beach and she was living out in Suffolk County. So we were living about an hour apart. So I really wasn't seeing her as much. We weren't talking as much.

I've reached out to family. I leave a message on the home phone, but I never heard back for a long time. Peter shared that he faced his own struggles with addiction, and there were years when he wasn't as present in Shannon's life as he feels he should have been. He didn't notice the signs until it was too late, but by then he was sober and he did his best to get help for her.

growing up. Her father, he was always a heavy drinker. And then that kind of rubbed off. She got into not only drinking, but she got into cocaine. And then eventually we find out it was opiates. She was using alcohol as drugs as a solution. Something was just missing in her life. Addiction doesn't discriminate, but it caught me by surprise at

at least the drug part. The drinking part, I wouldn't because it's a family disease. I can be, but the drugs really kind of shocked me. I was kind of going downhill with drinking. If you're an alcoholic, you go through this isolation, remove yourself from family, from people, places and things, and you kind of just drink. I got help back in 2010. I kind of separated myself from family and friends and

my relationship with my cousin for a little bit, but I found out she was having this problem. I called her and I said, look, you don't have to, but let me bring it to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. You know, there's people that have problems other than drinking there. And if it's something that you're interested in, it really helped me. She said, definitely. So I brought her to a meeting. It looked like she was really interested. And I

I said, there's a life after alcohol and drugs. I have a wife that's so good right now. She can get better and have a taste of that too. And you don't have to do anything. This is up to you. This is your decision. But just always stay in touch with me. I'm not going to judge you or anything like that. And a couple of weeks went by and I never heard from her.

I guess I heard she was going to meetings by her. And then I think somebody told me was that she went to meetings in Ronkonkoma, you know, AA meetings, and she kind of fell in this common pattern here. She kind of fell in with the wrong people at the meetings. She got introduced to a really bad group of people. I wish I lived closer to her and I wish we could have went to some meetings together, could have

Could have brought her to more meetings. I'm responsible for showing her a path. And that's her responsibility if she wants to take it and if she's ready to take it. I just wish she had more time. Because, look, I didn't get AA my first time. It took me a little bit. But I was afforded the time to go through what I had to go through and just say, OK, I'm done. I'll never pick up alcohol again. I had to really want to go through that change that you have to go through to be recovered.

A couple of years after Peter had convinced Shannon to attend an AA meeting, he received a call from her. By this point, the family had already been discussing her ongoing struggles with addiction, and Peter now deeply regrets not answering the phone that day. Probably somewhere in 2012, my mother called me when I was at work. She said, Shannon's calling people from a 631 area code that no one knows about.

And she's asking people for money. So if you see a 631 area code, either don't answer it or don't give her any money or something like that. Sure enough, a few minutes later, I got a call from a 631 area code number and I let it go to voicemail. I just really didn't want to get into a conversation like that at work. And then that was the last time I heard from her. Hindsight being 20-20, I wish that I'd really picked up that phone.

During this time, Lauren wasn't in as frequent contact with Shannon as she had been before, but she still began to notice changes in her friend.

Towards the end, when things started to get shady, I guess she was kind of escaping Long Island and she was going to visit friends in Delaware. And then I saw her in Delaware more often. Towards the end, I did realize that she was using drugs. And we had this one conversation and she got really upset with me. And she was like, well, if you were going to be angry with me, you should have been concerned with me when...

I was living in the city with Steve and this, that, and the other thing were happening. And I had no idea that those things were happening, but she also wasn't telling me that those things were happening. How was I supposed to know she was keeping it to herself? I think that she wanted to share, but she wasn't going to share because she was prideful and she just did keep a lot of things to herself because she didn't want anybody to throw her a pity party.

In the years leading up to her disappearance, Shannon moved from place to place, staying with Laura for a time, and then with family. Peter shared that Shannon's parents eventually drew a line when they began noticing things missing from their home. They struggled with how to help, but ultimately, they felt that allowing Shannon to continue living with them was enabling her addiction rather than supporting her recovery.

Peter, who had found his own way to sobriety, saw painful parallels between his own struggles and Shannon's, and it was heartbreaking for him to witness her continue down a path he had managed to escape.

Charlie got kicked out of the house because she was stealing her drugs. And the family, they said, we had enough. This is not acceptable. They didn't want to enable her behavior anymore. So they kicked her out. They were trying to have her hit a bottom. My father enabled. He loved me and he wanted to save me. I kept making the same mistakes over and over again with drinking. And then it got to the point where my mom was like, I don't want you living here anymore. And that's that I can't do this anymore.

I'm going to be alone and under a bridge, homeless. This is not what I want. On paper, I had a good life. There just was something missing, and I was trying to fill it with alcohol. My life was unmanageable, and I was powerless over this stuff. Shannon went down that route, too. Lauren said that the last time she saw Shannon, the changes were unmistakable. It was clear that something was terribly wrong in Shannon's life, but she didn't seem willing to open up or seek help.

The last time that we were in Delaware, I think that she had been kicked out of her house at home and didn't really have a place to go back to. I don't think she had any money. I met her in Delaware. We went to Delaware Park to the racetrack and she borrowed $20 from me. Yeah, sure. Here's 20 bucks. And I remember she didn't pay me back. And that was so unlike Shannon. Never. Never.

Would Shannon ever borrow money from you and not pay you back? And for me, it was 20 bucks is 20 bucks. And she's one of my best friends. So I'm never going to say anything about it to her. But in the back of my mind, something's weird. We went out and we were having beer and pizza. And I picked up the tab and she didn't even offer anything.

Shannon was last seen the Easter weekend of 2013. The last time that we had really hung out and touched base was the summer before that, July, August. It seemed like we were all just sort of having fun over the summer and going out, the more the merrier. Now that I think about it,

I remember her saying, oh, I have a job interview next week. I'm going to go home. And then she got a boot put on her car because she had all these tickets. Why do you have all these parking tickets that you can't pay for? And then she was asking for money. I said, well, call your brother. And she didn't want to call her brother. Something is going on here because if her brothers don't want to lend her money because her brothers were always her ride or die. Something's going on.

During Shannon's trip to Delaware that summer, Lauren began to suspect that Shannon had taken medication from her boyfriend, which led to a major rift in their friendship and strained their communication even further.

So I confronted her about it and she got really upset with me. And then that's when we had that conversation about, well, if you were going to be upset with me, you were going to be concerned about me, then you should have been concerned about me when I was living in the city. She hung up on me. I felt I had to catch her. I had to know if it was her or not. You have a problem. So let me help you. And she just got so mad at me. And I understand why she got so mad at me. And it probably wasn't the best way to go about it.

She went back to Long Island. I would try and call her. She wouldn't answer. So we did not speak for a couple of months. And then there was one time that I was in Delaware. She called me and she was in Connecticut. And she was like, hey, I'm in Connecticut for a baby shower. Where are you? And however close are you to wherever she was? I'm heading home in an hour. So we were going to miss each other. And that was actually the last time that I spoke to her. I said, let's catch up.

I'll come see you. You can come see me. We never spoke again. And the next time that I tried to call her, her phone was disconnected. I was really angry with her about the whole situation. Now I feel like such a terrible threat for handling it like that. So guilty. I could have done something different, handled it differently, tried to call her more times, been more sympathetic instead of being angry.

She had a problem. And instead of being angry that she was stealing from my boyfriend at the time, I should have realized my best friend has a problem and I really need to help her. So there is a lot of guilt and shame that comes along with this. But she called me in the spring, maybe March. The next time I went to call her, her phone was disconnected.

Peter was told that during Shannon's last phone call with her mother on Easter 2013, her mother had pleaded with Shannon to come to North Carolina, where her parents hoped to help her get into a rehab facility. However, due to the complicated relationship Shannon had with her father, she rejected the idea and became very emotional during the conversation.

The last time she talked to her mother, apparently it should hit the fan and Shannon was screaming. My aunt was saying, come live with us in North Carolina. We can bring you to rehab down there. And my aunt was talking about they were going to bring her to someplace in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was at the point where, okay, Shannon, things are bad. We'll get you treatment. The problem is, is that she had like this love-hate relationship with her father. I

I think that's why she was reluctant to go to North Carolina. But I also remember when we were at the diner, her father called her. She called her father saying she just went to an AA meeting with her cousin, Peter. The father goes, "Why are you there? You're not an alcoholic." And she's like, "Oh, I think it'd be good." The father says, "Oh, that's good that you can help each other." They were at least talking. She had this anger for her father.

But she was still talking with him and still had some relationship with him, too. I think what should have happened is they should have sat down and talked it out and maybe didn't amend. Like, I'm sorry for the things I've done. And they can kind of start new again. It just never happened. And that really was the deterrent or at least the excuse for her going to live with her mother and getting help.

After that call, Shannon mysteriously disappeared. Her parents initially thought she was upset with them and assumed that was why she stopped reaching out. By then, most of her friends had lost contact with her too, and when they did hear from Shannon, it was sporadically. However, Lauren noticed that more time than usual had passed without hearing from her friend, which prompted her to start reaching out to other friends to see if they had any contact with Shannon.

I tried to call her a bunch of times. Where is she? And I sort of gave up because I didn't know what to do. I think probably a month or two went by. And then Laura contacted me on Facebook. Hey, have you heard from Shannon? And I was like, no. Have you heard from Shannon? No. I said, her phone's off. What's going on? Because she knew that I was probably her closest friend from college. And I knew that she was her closest friend from home.

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No one really knew what to do or where Shannon could have gone. To make matters even more complicated, Shannon wasn't reported missing for seven years. This has become a source of frustration for Peter, but he also understands that not only did her family think she was upset with them, but there was also the matter of an upcoming court appearance. Her parents feared that reporting her missing would only make her more upset, furthering the distance between them.

Her mother, she thought her daughter is still upset with her. Nobody in her family reported her missing for seven years. The police couldn't do anything about it. They didn't know. Why would you do that? What her mother told me was that she thought that was only going to make her more upset. She didn't want anything to do with them and she'd come out when she's ready. She did have a warrant or a forged prescription. She should be captured and then given the appropriate treatment. Laura basically...

Beggin pleaded to report her missing. Laura believes that Shannon's outstanding warrant likely played a significant role in the difficulty of getting her reported as missing. Although it's believed that Shannon disappeared before she could appear in court, law enforcement saw her less as a missing person and more as someone on the run.

So she has a warrant for her arrest for a forged instrument. She never appeared in court, which she very well could have been missing before her court date. The warrant was issued May 24th of 2013. So when I first went, I went to the precinct of where she was arrested. She doesn't want to be found. She has a warrant for her arrest. And I said to them, I said, she has a warrant where if you get pulled over, they go, we're arresting you because you have a warrant for your arrest. You see, they're not looking for her. Nobody's looking for her.

I said, well, it's been a very long time. And I saw the wanted, Long Island wanted. And I was like, she's missing. So I commented on there. If you Google Shannon's name, one of the top search results will likely be a post on Long Island Fugitive Finder that states, Shannon Mary is being sought by Suffolk County Police on an outstanding warrant for criminal possession of a forged instrument second degree.

On January 8, 2013, Mary was arrested at Medford Pharmacy after she attempted to fill a forged prescription for a narcotic medication. A warrant was issued for Mary's arrest on May 24, 2013. This has been a continued source of frustration for Laura. But it's been a blessing in another way. It helped her connect with someone who knew Shannon around the time she disappeared. Her name is Alicia. Laura told us more.

So I commented on there and then Alicia commented on it. And then that's how we got hooked up. December of 2019 is when Alicia and I connected. Shannon was not yet reported missing at that point, but she was missing really since March 31st of 2013. That's the last anybody can say they heard her.

her voice. Most of this information that I've learned was from Alicia as she was hanging out with them. Alicia said this guy, he had control of Shannon. She wasn't going anywhere without him. She wasn't doing anything

Alicia has helped to fill in some of the gaps for Laura. She knew Shannon around the time of her disappearance and witnessed some of what was happening in her life. Alicia shared with Laura that she was deeply concerned about Shannon's relationship with a man. Alicia believed the man was controlling. We initially contacted Alicia in October of 2024, hoping to interview her, but unfortunately we were unable to speak with her for this episode.

We'll come back to Alicia in a few minutes, but for now we want to take a look at who Shannon was living with when she went missing. Leading up to Shannon's disappearance, she had mentioned to people in her circle that she was working for a woman named Helen. The details of when they met and how this came to be differ depending on who you ask. Laura believes she may have been helping care for Helen's mother. Regardless of how they met, it's clear the situation was not a healthy one for Shannon.

She met Helen by working for Helen, taking care of Helen's mom. I don't know how she got that position. I know that she was there in at least 2012. She did not have a stable living situation. She went between the swim and Helen's house. They were all addicts in the home. Son was in jail and then he came out. That's already Shannon. I guess that ended up becoming like her home base.

She ended up dating Artie at one point. So I guess at one point she was sleeping. He had a bed somewhere in the attic. So I believe Shannon went maybe from sleeping somewhere else in the house to staying with Artie. But in 2011, when I was supposed to see her, she was not living there. She was, I think, still at home.

She was living at Helen's house in Ronkonkoma, and then she left living at Helen's for a short period of time and lived in an apartment with this guy, Tommy, and then was brought back to Helen's house to live there by Helen's boyfriend's son. He drove her back to Helen's. So she had nowhere else to go, really, but Helen's. She would leave and then go back to Helen's because she had nowhere else to live.

The last time Laura saw Shannon, the summer before she disappeared, Shannon mentioned Helen, though Lauren later came to learn information that led her to believe that Shannon had not been entirely forthcoming about the situation.

She started staying with those people, Helen and Artie, but I never met any of those people. She said that she was working for an elderly woman, helping her around the house and to manage her medication. I thought that she was sort of an aid to this older woman. Now that

I've spoken to Laura and I've spoken to a bunch of other people and we've had all these conversations and I'm hearing about this woman named Helen. It sounds more like Helen was sort of the drug dealer where she was getting her substances from rather than who she was helping around the house. But that's what Shannon was telling me. It just seems things were so shady there. To be honest with you, I think she was sleeping with Artie. It

It was very sketchy. It was a really weird situation. And I think that it was probably all kind of an exchange for drugs. They were just, I think, using her for whatever they could use her for. And she was doing whatever she needed to do in exchange for drugs. But it makes me so sad. That probably is something that she was doing to get her drugs or to get her money. And she had this degree from the University of Delaware. And...

I have pictures of her and I at graduation with our caps and gowns. That's how far you fall because of an addiction. It's just so sad.

Alicia shared with Laura that when Shannon first moved into Helen's home, she was staying in Helen's room. At the time, Helen's son Artie was incarcerated, and Helen had promised Shannon to her son upon his release. After Artie returned home, Shannon began staying in the attic with Artie. There was a period when Shannon briefly left Helen's house and stayed with another friend, but

but she eventually returned to Helen's. Alicia mentioned that she last saw Shannon on the day before Easter. After that, Shannon vanished without a trace. Concerned, Alicia went to Helen's to ask about Shannon, but she was told that Shannon had left. Laura believes that something must have happened to Shannon shortly after that phone call with her mother. Not long after Shannon hung up the phone, her mother called back, only for Helen to tell her that Shannon was gone.

I do know that the last conversation her mom had with her, she was trying to get her to leave Helen's and come and get some help. She said to her mom, out of sight, out of mind. And then her mom called back a few hours later because their phone call didn't end well. And Helen just said, oh, she left.

She didn't even leave a sock. She left. And that was it. Nothing since then. Not a sighting. So I believe her family, as time went on, they grew very concerned because it wasn't normal to not hear from her for that length of time. They just say, oh, she left. I don't know where she went. She left. They say nothing else. She had no phone, no money, no car. Where did she go? I don't know. She left. How did she go? Who picked her up? She just left. We locked her. I

I said, oh, did you really love her? You know where she went? I don't think she ever left that house that night because where did she go? Not one person's heard from her. Her dealers have nothing. And then Helen would call every so often Shannon's mom to just say, oh, have you heard from her? Have you heard from her? Which was kind of odd, but I don't know. Was it odd? I don't know. She lived with her at the same time. Was she really concerned? Something happened to Shannon in the house? There's so many variables.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the search for Shannon has been that the official investigation didn't begin until seven years after her family last heard from her. Before that, Laura had started her own search, but she was limited in what she could do and didn't have a full understanding of Shannon's life at the time. By 2020, when the Suffolk County Police Department took up the case, many key figures in Shannon's life had already passed away.

Helen died April of 2020. Helen's dead now. Can't know anything from her. Helen's boyfriend, he died. His daughter's dead. Artie died. I know that they questioned Artie, I think. They didn't really question anybody. I said to them, you know, you can question Helen's boyfriend's son. Can you get their phone number for me? I'm like, this is so bizarre. Can't

Can't you get it? I'm just a normal citizen here. I did get some phone numbers, but the one person that's still alive, they haven't. If he is still alive, I don't know. That's why it's so frustrating. Like, why can't they just interview these people? Laura did have a chance to speak to Helen before she died, but she said the conversation proved unhelpful.

When Helen was still alive, I was determined. I'm going there. And my husband's like, you're out of your mind. I said, no, my brother's going to come with me. And I'm driving there to go get my brother. And he goes, we can't just show up. We don't know what we're walking into. You don't know what kind of people these are. Try calling her first. And I did. And Helen did not even know. Helen got...

Shannon confused with her boyfriend's daughter my whole first conversation with her she was telling me all this stuff Helen was drunken on pills when I talked to her she was so confused and then the next time I talked to her I said oh you said Shannon has kids and she goes no that's Brittany okay she did not know what I was talking about then

Laura has been working to obtain records to confirm whether or not Helen's son Artie was actually at home when Shannon vanished, or if he was incarcerated at the time. Alicia, however, told Laura that Artie was present and suspects that he may have played a role in Shannon's disappearance.

That's what I was trying to follow with already from his records and from his records from the inmate lookup for the Department of Corrections. I was trying to figure out, was he really home when Shannon was last seen? Because Alicia says he was home and she saw him and she has this whole scenario. And was he really home? I don't know.

And when I would ask Detective Attali that, he would be like, I can't really give you that information. She thinks that something happened when Shannon got off the phone with her mom. She thinks that something blew up at the house with Artie.

and that they did something to her because Shannon was seen prior to that. She didn't have a phone. She didn't have anything by that point. Basically, she had what was ever on her person. Alicia will say he was violent with people and scary. When I've looked up his arrest record that I got a copy of, all this stuff is trespassing, resisting arrest, lawlessness.

loitering, criminal mischief, terms of burglary. He didn't really seem like a kosher person to me, to be honest. He was well known to the police in the area. I don't know how much of this is true, but apparently Shannon used to stay in Helen's room with Helen and

And then when Artie came home, Artie made camp in the attic and Shannon was staying up in the attic with him. I ended up getting ahold of the homeowners. They did say that when Helen's family, they got them finally out of the home, they could tell somebody was sleeping and staying in the attic. Although they were many years behind the last known trace of Shannon, Peter said he felt relieved when he learned that Helen's house was eventually searched.

I think a few years ago or a couple of years ago, they were able to get police dogs to go over to the house that Helen was living in. Helen and Artie and Shannon was last heard from. And when they moved in, they ripped everything out and they put all this stuff in. So when they said when they got the police dogs, nothing.

Laura was grateful that the Suffolk County Police Department eventually searched the home, but so much time had gone by, and the house had been gutted before the search took place. Laura remains uncertain whether any evidence could have been found, even if Shannon had been harmed there. Laura still has lingering concerns about Helen's son, Artie. She doesn't believe he was thoroughly investigated before his passing, and she's heard troubling accounts about the way he treated Shannon.

However, there's no concrete evidence linking him to Shannon's disappearance. He died of an overdose. He was homeless at the time. I did speak with him a few times because he was panhandling off the highway. Artie was a panhandler, begging for money at the intersection of the highway. Sometimes I think, did something happen? Did she get off the phone and get into a fight with Artie? Did something happen? Did she then go use a lot? What happened?

while the exact details of Shannon's life leading up to her disappearance remain unclear. There's another potential scenario in Shannon's case. There has been some online speculation suggesting that Shannon could be a potential victim of the Long Island serial killer, who was active from at least 1993 to 2010 and often targeted women involved in sex work, leaving their remains scattered along Ocean Parkway on Long Island. Some

Some of these women advertised their services through Craigslist and other websites, seeking clients for escort work. The discovery of many victims was triggered by the 2010 disappearance of Shannon Gilbert, who had been advertising her services on Craigslist. Shannon's body was later found, but her death was ruled an accidental drowning. However, some controversy surrounding her death still remains.

Nonetheless, it was a search for Shannon that led to the discovery of remains of multiple other victims of the Long Island serial killer, many of whom had been hidden for years. This search uncovered a chilling pattern and revealed the scope of the killer's crimes.

Rex Heuermann, an architect from Long Island, was apprehended in July 2023 and charged in connection with the murders of three women found along Ocean Parkway. By December 2024, Heuermann had been charged with the murders of seven women. Although Shannon Mary disappeared in 2013, three years after Heuermann's known killings ended in 2010, his arrest in 2023 has reignited interest in other missing persons cases like Shannon's.

While Heuermann's known killings stopped in 2010, he wasn't apprehended for 13 more years, raising the possibility that there could be additional victims from that time period. This has led some to wonder if Shannon could be one of them. We asked Laura if there was any evidence to suggest that Shannon had been involved in sex work around the time she disappeared.

Alicia would say she just did stuff with dealers just to get drugs in exchange. But I reached out to these girls on Facebook that were friends with that guy, Tommy, that she lived with. He's this weird, sketchy guy. I don't even know if he's around anymore. And one of them said that

They helped her make a page on something. So I don't know. But then Alicia would say, oh no, she couldn't go anywhere. She couldn't do anything. Artie wouldn't let her do anything. But she left there at the same time. If Artie wouldn't let her do anything, she left there. Or maybe she really didn't leave there. I don't know. I just looked all the way back from, I think it was 2021, from somebody...

About Shannon, if she was working in sex work and she said we would list her pics along with Tommy's number. So I helped her post on Craigslist for guys to meet up with her. Then Tommy would vet the guy, so to speak, and then either me or someone else would bring her to meet them. Although sometimes Tommy would allow them to use the apartment if they paid extra.

Tommy was so taking advantage of her. And for some reason, she let it happen, even though I knew how smart she was. I think the drugs just had her so caught up. That was in January 2021 that I was messaging with them. She left living at Helen's for a short period of time and lived in an apartment with this guy, Tommy, and then was brought back to Helen's house to live there. Years ago, he contacted

Shannon's friend Lauren. And she spoke to him. He didn't know I was online and he was whacked out and he was all over the place. And he seemed to have no clue what happened to her. While it's unclear whether Rex Heuermann has been investigated in connection to Shannon's case, and many possibilities remain due to limited information about what happened to her, Peter believes that the key to understanding his cousin's disappearance lies with the people she was living with at the time.

I think when Shannon hung up that phone, she was in a rage and she said she was leaving. And Artie, Helen's son, who is a violent criminal, they got into some altercation. The heron already butted heads and something happened. And that was that. I mean, I think that's the most likely solution. But the thing is, Alicia and Laura tried to talk to Artie and the police tried to talk to him. She deserves better.

Lauren says that she shares Peter's perspective, but has her own theories about how things may have unfolded. My suspicion is that either she died of an overdose and nobody...

reported it because it was accidental. And obviously they were all doing drugs anyway, and they didn't want to get in trouble for having drugs. Or Artie, because from what I've heard, had a real nasty streak. And he was in jail multiple times, really bad temper. Maybe Artie did something to her in a fit of rage or something like that.

The search for Shannon has unfortunately cast a shadow on her family. Her family has faced criticism for not reporting her missing for seven years and for their decision to remain silent about her disappearance. Additionally, allegations of abuse within the household have sparked further controversy. Peter shared that this has only added to the pain already felt by family members who are grappling with Shannon's disappearance.

While this has sparked negative attention online, Peter is determined to move beyond this and focus on what truly matters, the effort to find Shannon. He believes that the internet community, though crucial in raising awareness, has sometimes fueled unnecessary division and judgment. Instead of furthering the negativity, Peter is hopeful that the collective focus can shift back to what unites everyone, the shared goal of bringing Shannon home.

They said that Shannon went through some abuse as a child and stuff. I'd never heard anything like that. I know her father being a prison guard can be strict, but I think there's a fine line between being strict and being abusive. That's obviously in the eye of the person that's going through that, but she never told me she was abused, nor did I ever hear anything about that ever. And when I heard that, I felt like they were going down the wrong path, that blaming her family. They're already on their knees in

in pain because their daughter's missing, but then they're going to kick them in the stomach. We all need to come together. Shannon's brothers, they would break down crying. There's so much trauma there with her sister, the mother. Yeah, she's crying on the phone with me. She says she cries every day.

Laura has been the driving force behind the search for Shannon. Had she not kept pushing the issue, Shannon may have never been reported missing. It's been a difficult road to navigate due to the complicated family dynamics, and Laura is viewed as just a friend. Shannon's parents and brothers have chosen not to be included in coverage of her story, and we don't know all of the reasons behind that.

We contacted the Suffolk County Police Department to request records and an interview. We were informed that our record request was denied because the investigative command had advised that Shannon's case is still open and active. In response to our inquiry about an interview, we were informed that they wouldn't do an official interview, but they said we could send a list of questions. And we did, to which they responded that they wouldn't get into anything more specific than a statement that was included in the email, which read,

Per Mary's family, she fell on hard times. She had been staying in Ronkonkoma around the time she was last heard from. The last confirmed phone call for Mary was around Easter 2013 with her mother. She was reported missing in 2020 after not being seen or heard from since 2013. Police are not aware of any social media presence for Mary. Mary was arrested on June 30, 2012.

for criminal possession of a controlled substance, and a warrant was issued for that charge on March 22, 2013. She was arrested on October 17, 2012, for criminal possession of a hypodermic needle, and a warrant was issued on March 29, 2013. She was arrested on January 8, 2013, for criminal possession of a forged instrument, and a warrant was issued on May 24, 2013.

As of February 13, 2025, the warrants are all still active. Police generally do not disclose who they interview or don't interview during investigations, nor do they discuss any evidence recovered. Currently, there are no new tips on her whereabouts or circumstances of her disappearance.

DNA from family members, we are not disclosing from which ones, was submitted to NamUs. Periodically, NamUs runs the DNA through the system and will contact SCPD detectives if there is ever a hit. Currently, there are no hits. At this time, there is no evidence to suggest this is related to the Long Island serial killer case. Mary's family has told police that they do not want police to seek media attention on this case.

A missing person flyer was prepared and distributed to officers within SCPD, as well as outside agencies. Anyone with information on Mary's location is asked to call the 4th Squad at 631-854-8452 or 911.

Learning that Shannon's family had told law enforcement that they do not want media attention on the case was disheartening for Shannon's friends. We don't know if her family made this decision due to shame over where Shannon was in life at the time, but Laura remains determined to keep fighting for Shannon. She's even offering a reward for information that will lead to finding her.

It's my best friend and I think about her every day. I can't imagine she was my daughter. Who cares she was an addict? Who gives a shit? She did what she did. Oh, well. But I don't know. Maybe it's easier to be angry and not deal and move on. It's so hard to understand. Really frustrating. Who cares what people fucking think? I had an addict in my family and how each family deals, it's really hard to wrap your head around.

Because I want to get her name out there. I want her to be found and be at peace. Because she deserves that. She deserves more than that. It's so hard to do it. And then it's so hard to do and be sensitive of their feelings. How can I look for her and find her and get help? Something's stopping them. Whether it's denial and you don't want to come to reality and facts, or you do have reality and facts, but it's just too much for you to bear.

Peter carries a deep sense of regret and sadness over Shannon's disappearance. To him, Shannon was so much more than the difficult circumstances she faced. Believing that just like he did, she had the ability to turn her life around and find a better path forward. But unfortunately, she never had the chance to do so.

I went back on her Facebook, the stuff of 2012, and she was basically crying over health. I do it sometimes when I miss her. I just wish I could have done something that would have helped to done something more. And I wish I knew how bad the situation was and who she was hanging out with. She had everything. She had a really nice personality. There was just obviously something wrong. She just kept circling the drain with alcohol and eventually drugs.

Earlier, Laura mentioned that her last contact with Shannon was through Facebook Messenger. She admits that at the time, she was frustrated with Shannon and regrets not taking more action to help her. Today, Laura is left with the what-ifs and if-onlys that often haunt those with a missing loved one, wondering if things may have been different if she had acted sooner or pushed harder for help for Shannon.

I was very quick in my response back, very short rather. And looking back, I'm like, you asshole. Because I was upset with her.

I was like, nothing. I don't hear from you. Nothing. It's been over a year. I've heard from you. Nothing. I have a lot of regret. And then she did give me a nice, pretty long response back. And in the end, she was like, I will always love you. So I felt like that was kind of her goodbye in a way. From that point, I continued to just write her on Facebook, though I know she's not looking at it. She never saw it. She never read any ever again. So that was in 2012. So for 12 years, I've been writing to her on Facebook.

Laura is weighed down by regret, wishing she had done things differently. She believes that Shannon deserved so much more. And to her, Shannon is defined by the person she was, not the circumstances she found herself in when she vanished.

I just feel so terrible that it didn't matter to law enforcement that she was missed by people. They didn't really care. They were like, she doesn't want to be found. She doesn't want her arrest. And that took years, years for me to finally have somebody listen. And it had to be that I read

about an unclean body on NamUs that had descriptions that were like her. So finally somebody to take me seriously. It's just so sad and it's just terrible. What if I didn't care? What if I didn't push it? She wouldn't even have an official missing person case. I struggled for a long time with, she has two nieces that she's never met, thinking that her nieces will never know who

she even existed. But they do. I was in Target one day and I saw her brother's fiance and his two daughters. And I just went up to them and introduced myself. And I just started crying. And she said, oh, this is Shannon's friend. And I just started crying more. And I was like, they know her. They know who she is. And they said, of course she does. That just meant so much that she still is alive with them. They still do talk about her. So she's not totally forgotten.

So what happened to Shannon Mary after that heated phone call with her mother on March 31st, 2013?

At the time of her disappearance, Shannon was living with a woman named Helen and her son Artie. After the phone call, they claim Shannon left the house, without even leaving behind a sock. Despite the passage of time, no one has come forward with information about where Shannon went, nor has anyone seen or heard from her since that day. The uncertainty of Shannon's disappearance has weighed heavily on her loved ones, especially given the seven years it took for Shannon to even be reported missing.

In that time, Shannon's family and friends had no answers. And for years, they've struggled to make sense of her sudden absence. It's possible that Shannon left on her own and something happened to her. But those who knew Shannon are deeply concerned that the people she was living with may hold the key to what really happened. With the various dangers Shannon was surrounded by in her lifestyle, especially the risks in the drug world, her disappearance could have stemmed from a number of scenarios. Could she have been the victim of the Long Island serial killer?

Someone in her own circle, or an unknown stranger? Or could she have died from an overdose, and those she was with panicked, covering up her death instead of seeking help?

Despite all of the questions, one thing is clear. Shannon's disappearance has not been forgotten. Her small but determined group of loved ones continues to fight for answers, refusing to give up after all these years. They still cling to the hope that one day, the truth will come to light. If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Shannon Mary, please call the Suffolk County Police Department 4th Squad at 631-854-8452 or 911.

She deserves to at least have a chance. I certainly had treatment options as well. Got me where I am today. She didn't have the treatment luxury of going to like a 28-day program ever. She deserves to be found. I really don't get it. It's been 11 years. I wish that she was still alive, but how could she still be alive? There's been nothing. Nothing.

Shannon did not share a lot of that with us. But now that I can see how this whole thing has played out, I just think that she did keep a lot of these personal struggles and personal things to herself. They didn't even really care to report her missing after nobody had heard from her after that Easter weekend that she disappeared.

Who does that? If she were really, really, really deep into drugs and stealing and whatever happened was complete embarrassment, I get it that people go through really bad things. But hasn't this gone on long enough? Hasn't it been enough time where she's gone? Let's find out what happened. It's not like it's been six months, two years. This has been a long time. Don't you want to know?

That brings us to the end of episode 477. I'd like to thank everyone who spoke with us for this story. If you have a missing loved one that you'd like to have featured on the show, there's a case submission form at thevanishedpodcast.com. If you'd like to join in on the discussion, there's a page and discussion group on Facebook. You can also find us on Instagram. If you like our show, please give us a five-star rating and review. You can also support the show by contributing on Patreon, where you can get early and ad-free episodes. We'll

We'll be taking next week off, but we'll return on Monday, March 10th with a new case from Washington. Thanks for listening. If you like The Vanished, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. ♪

What's up, guys? It's your girl Kiki, and my podcast is back with a new season. And let me tell you, it's so good. And I'm diving into the brains of entertainment's best and brightest, okay? Every episode, I bring on a friend and have a real conversation. And I don't mean just friends. I mean the likes of Amy Poehler, Kel Mitchell, Vivica Fox. The list goes on. And now I have my own YouTube channel.

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