The Disappearance of Hailey Buzbee

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[SPEAKER_00]: Warning check the locks podcast is a true crime podcast and may contain graphic descriptions of violence, murder, sexual assault, and more.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Check the locks podcast is not appropriate for all listeners.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Listener discretion is strongly advised.

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[SPEAKER_01]: An Indiana teen gets good grades and works a part-time job at a local restaurant.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And her free time, she enjoys playing video games.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Not realizing she's being targeted by a monster.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Join me, John Connor, as I discuss the abduction of Haley Busby.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This is Check The Locks Podcast.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, and thank you for joining me as I dive into yet another truly terrifying true crime case.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Before we get started, I just wanted to take a moment to give a huge thank you to the members of our Facebook group.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Today is actually my birthday.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm recording this episode.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I turned 41 today, and I'm recording this episode on my birthday.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I was just absolutely blown away by the messages and the Facebook group comments.

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[SPEAKER_01]: all the kind things that were said in the messages that were left.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I just wanted to say a big thank you to anybody who reached out, anybody in our Facebook community who took time out of their day to wish me a happy birthday.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It really does mean a whole heck of a lot.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I was lucky enough to get to spend the day with my wife and then

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[SPEAKER_01]: dinner with Millie and some friends and things like that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it was a really great day and having all of you wonderful people in the community reach out, it just made it that much better.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for taking the time to do that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: With that being said, let's talk a little bit about what we're going to be diving into this week.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So this is a developing story and I will tell you it's not the longest case, but it's very interesting and it is currently unfolding and there's going to be some updates coming as we go through.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, as time passes.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So this is definitely one that we're going to keep an eye on as the year continues to to move out, but I'm really interested to see if this is a case that you are familiar with is this one that you have seen in the news, a case that you have been following.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So with that, we will go ahead.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We will quit the Gabby Gabby will get into the stabby stabby unless breakdown this week's case.

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[SPEAKER_01]: a teenager with a bright future ahead of her.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Haley attended Hamilton's Southeastern High School in Indiana, where she earned good great, and when she wasn't in school, she worked part-time as a server in a local restaurant.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like most teenagers, she enjoyed video games.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now with online games like Roblox and League of Legends being so popular, teenagers spend countless hours playing and interacting with one another, a seemingly innocent enough activity.

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[SPEAKER_01]: On January 5th, 2026, Haley was home with her parents.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But when they woke up in the morning, Haley was gone.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The family immediately contacted the police and reported their daughter missing.

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[SPEAKER_01]: However, because Haley was 17, authorities originally believed that she may have run away, and because of this, no Amber alert was issued.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But the police still worked the case.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was around this time that the detectives caught a break.

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[SPEAKER_01]: A neighbor told police that their dogs had started barking at around 3.30am on the night of Haley's disappearance.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was around that same time that her cell phone disconnected from the family's Wi-Fi network.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But it was what was caught by security cameras in the neighborhood that really helped the most.

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[SPEAKER_01]: A dark-colored acuro was seen driving down the street and around the same time Haley disappeared.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Investigators were able to track the car's movement using license plate readers in the area, and they determined that the car actually belonged to a woman.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But when they make contact with the owner, she shared that she had been in Florida at the time of Haley's disappearance.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This man was 29-year-old Tyler Thomas.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The owner of the car provided the police with Thomas' cell phone number, which they were able to use to track his movements on the night that Haley vanished.

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[SPEAKER_01]: When the records were pulled, they found that Thomas had driven from his residents in Columbus, Ohio, all the way to Haley's home in Fisher's Indiana.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He then drove back to Columbus before driving to an Airbnb in Hawking County, Ohio.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They also noticed that on January 7 after driving to the rental property, Thomas then drove to the North Country Trailhead in the Wayne National Forest, where his phone stayed for almost five hours.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, with the help of the Columbus police,

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[SPEAKER_01]: Thomas admitted to picking Haley up, but he claimed that he left her on the side of the road once they crossed into Western Ohio.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But investigators weren't buying his story.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And on January 17th, Haley's case was upgraded to an endangered missing juvenile.

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[SPEAKER_01]: On January 21st, a search warrant was issued by the Columbus Police Department's homicide unit.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, Tyler Thomas was uncooperative at first, refusing to leave his home.

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[SPEAKER_01]: However, he would eventually comply, and a search would be done of his home and the Accura.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The Hawking County Sheriff's Office also searched the Airbnb, and they were able to find evidence suggesting that Hayley had, in fact, been at the rental.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was now confirmed that Tyler Thomas had driven a juvenile over 160 miles, traveling over

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[SPEAKER_01]: Once in custody, Thomas began sharing some of the truly disturbing details that took place.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He told investigators that he and Haley had met online while playing video games.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They would use social sites like Snapchat and Discord to talk, and when they wanted to communicate privately, they would use an encrypted messaging app called Session.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Because of this, Thomas's phone and electronic devices were searched as well, and it was then that detectives found something truly horrible.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Sexually explicit images and videos of Haley on Thomas's phone.

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[SPEAKER_01]: All with the timestamp of January 6th, the day the Haley disappeared.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It appeared that Thomas had attempted to delete the files but was unsuccessful.

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[SPEAKER_01]: detectives also obtained a search warrant for Thomas' bank records, where they'd learn that all the way back in June of 2025, Thomas had driven from Ohio to visit Hayley while she worked at the local restaurant.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They also reviewed the pair's Snapchat communications, finding that in July of 2025, the two discussed talking over the phone, as long as Hayley's parents weren't home.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, all of this time, Hayley's family had held out hope that she would come home alive.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But on February 1, 2025, the FBI came to the Franklin County jail to pick up Tyler Thomas, driving him to the trailhead in the Wayne National Forest.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Once they arrived, Tyler Thomas led investigators to Hayley Busby's remains.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And sadly, her family's worst fear became reality.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Tyler Thomas has been arrested in charge with pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor, tampering with evidence, one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, and one count of travel and interstate commerce with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, all federal charges.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now as of today, February 16th of 2026, he has not been charged with the murder of Haley Busby.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, this may be because at this point, there has been no official cause of death either determined or released yet, but I will definitely keep an eye on this case to make sure that I circle back with any updates, any leads in the investigation, anything of that nature.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's all I have for this week's case, and you know that, like usual, I do like to share some final thoughts with you before we get into the debult test, and my thoughts on this case.

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[SPEAKER_01]: If you listen to this podcast every week, you'll know that last week we talked about polycloss, who was abducted.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Someone came into her home and took her out of her home during a sleepover.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I think this case is just as terrifyingly heartbreaking in the exact same way, but the difference is nobody had to physically enter the home.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Tyler Thomas got into this house without anyone knowing.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And this is just absolutely terrifying.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He spent almost a year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: grooming haily right talking to her we've seen these kind of cases just time and time again where you know it starts off like hey how you do whatever and it gradually just gets more sexually oriented and and

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[SPEAKER_01]: someone like Thomas just kind of pushing for what they want and sadly it seems that this case is ended up in murder.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I have to tell you going through the research on this and reading about the story, it struck a personal nerve with me.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I think part of it is because I have a seven year old daughter and she has friends that play Roblox and play League of Legends and play these online games.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She's asked me several times.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, hey dad, can I play Roblox?

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[SPEAKER_01]: And my answer is always no.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely not, because, and obviously I don't have this conversation with her in detail, but you just never know who is out there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And a child at seven, I mean, this case demonstrates that there are people out there who are going after children who are 17, right?

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[SPEAKER_01]: So to have a seven year old,

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[SPEAKER_01]: on these platforms to me is just absolutely, it's just unthinkable.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, I don't know, this one, just thinking about all the time that we spend, you know, making sure the doors are locked and windows are locked and alarms are set.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And there are some monsters that can get in through a headset.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, just playing what should be an innocent video game.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and the thought that your kid can just be up in their bedroom and you think they're just up there, you know, being safe playing games talking with their friends and really they're snap chatting and having encrypted messages with

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[SPEAKER_01]: grown as adults who are looking to take advantage of them, terrifying.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And thinking about how my child is going to grow up and things of that nature, it just, it shakes you sometimes.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I know we have a lot of parents who listen to this podcast and a lot of,

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[SPEAKER_01]: parents of younger children.

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[SPEAKER_01]: One thing I will tell you, especially for those kids who you have expressed interest in things like Roblox and stuff like that, there is a game that we have that my daughter is allowed to play, there is no internet connection involved in it's a world building game called Toka Boca or Toka World, T-O-C-A World.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You can even go into the iPad and block any like on like in-app purchases or anything of that nature That way, you know, they can't download anything or charge anything But it lets them be creative and play in these worlds without having to fear I've anybody you know trying to talk to them there as well.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So just on my one to share because it's something that we use here personally, but

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[SPEAKER_01]: I know Australia just recently passed a social media band.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's for kids like under like 16 or 17.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have all the details, but I know it's basically like social media is not good for kids.

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[SPEAKER_01]: There are too many predators on social media trying to take advantage of kids.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I do know that in going through the research, Hayley's father Bo and her stepmother actually

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[SPEAKER_01]: spoke in the I believe it was a house of representatives in Indiana on I believe it's around February 9th talking about this exact same thing like this would not have happened to their daughter without that social media aspect without somebody being able to reach out to her over the internet you know that wasn't there Haley would still be with us

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[SPEAKER_01]: So there's a lot of different factors and things like that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But at the end of the day, it's just heartbreaking that parents lost their daughter, right?

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[SPEAKER_01]: There's many people in this community that absolutely seem to love Haley, and you know, she seemed to even impact on the people that she met and because of someone like Tyler Thomas, who would get into his car and drive across state lines to hurt someone.

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[SPEAKER_01]: is, uh, it's just heartbreaking.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So for me being a dad, I mean, again, this freaks me out in ways I can't even point to words.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to put this at a 10 for sure, but as always, I want to hear from you, the listeners, the locksmiths, where does the murder of Haley Buzz befall on your devil test?

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[SPEAKER_01]: You can let us know, reach out to me on Instagram, check the locks pod, find me on Twitter, check the locks,

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's a great, amazing group of wonderful people.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And if you fit that category, we would absolutely love to have you.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's all I've got for you for this week's case, but please make sure that you're subscribed to check the locks on your favorite podcast apps so that you never miss an episode.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I will see you again next week with another truly terrifying true crime case, but until then remember, monsters are real.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So stay safe, stay ready, and don't forget to check the locks.

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[SPEAKER_01]: See you next week.