Peggy Walla Does it Again!
On October 25, 2003, Michelle "Angie" Yarnell disappeared from her home in Ivy Bend, Missouri. Her husband of three years, Mike, claimed that she must have run off with another man. Their relationship had been troubled. Angie's mother, Marianne Asher-Chapman, knew that her daughter, with whom she was very close, would never have left without a word. Marianne filed a missing persons report, and worked to get media attention. With the help of local reporter reporter RaVae Edwards, Marianne was invited to appear on the Montel Show a year later. That very day, Mike disappeared.
On October 20, 2007, four years after Angie's disappearance, Marianne was a guest on Todd Matthew's "Missing Pieces" radio Show. During the interview Marianne told Todd that ten days after she filed the missing persons report she received a post card, postmarked Harrison, Arkansas, and apparently from Angie, stating that she was with a man named Gary, and would be in touch. During the broadcast Todd offered to have a handwriting analyst look at the post card.
Knowing that she had used a handwriting analyst with great success in the past, Todd contacted his friend and colleague Vicki Siedow, founder of FLIP. Vicki in turn put him in touch with FLIP member Peggy Walla, a questioned document examiner, handwriting analyst and private investigator in Columbus, Texas. Peggy has cracked more than one case for FLIP, and was featured in the Flip Mysteries: Women on the Case premier.
Peggy reported that the post card was not written by Angie. Evidence indicated it to have been written by Angie's husband Mike. She further discerned from the handwritten police statement of Mike Yarnell, he had killed Angie, and that if he could be found he would confess and lead authorities to Angie's body.
Upon receiving Peggy's report in March, 2008, police began to actively look for Mike Yarnell. Yarnell was located in August in Mississippi, police from Missouri went to Mississippi. During their questioning, Yarnell admitted to writing and sending the post card to Angie's mother in an effort to stop the investigation. Yarnell was then extradited back to Missouri on Nov 5, 2008, on charges of forgery and mail tampering with physical evidence and was held on a $25,000.00 cash only bond.
Just as Peggy said, he confessed to writing the post card and murdering his wife, Angie. Additional charges of second-degree murder, two counts of voluntary manslaughter and one count of involuntary manslaughter. The handwriting indicated the disposal of the body would involve water, Yarnell is leading police to her remains he took by boat to an uninhibited island off the Osage River near Ivy Bend (about 4 miles from the Yarnells' former home).
Our condolences to Angie's family, and our thanks to Todd Matthews, Vicki Siedow. and especially Peggy Walla for assisting law enforcement in solving yet another case.
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