Sunday, January 12, 2014

Matthew Palmgren on Wife's Disappearance

38 comments:

Statement Analysis Blog said...

Is there a transcript of this available?

if so, link or post?

Thank you,

Peter

John Mc Gowan said...

Gail Palmgren: New conference for missing Signal Mountain woman

Snipped:

Matthew spoke at the news conference and said, "For myself, we have done everything in our power to find Gail. We have hired a private investigator, we continue to look. We are turning over everything we can. Gail if you can hear us, please come forward...please show yourself soon."

http://www.examiner.com/article/gail-palmgren-new-conference-for-missing-signal-mountain-woman

Anonymous said...

Based on that brief quote from John at 1:58pm, and the first 10 min of the video, he seems to keep switching between present and past tense. He is also seemingly focused on blaming her "Gail,... Show yourself," rather than her safety?
In speaking of his feelings about the memorial (video), he just spoke about how great it was for his son's Boy Scout troupe to be there, and for his daughter's teachers to show. He didn't look or speak about his sadness, grief, pain, or loss. Maybe he does later in the video.

Tania Cadogan said...

first off he is asked about emotions and thoughts going through his mind and he immediately uses we and talks about what went on at the memprial and who showed up for his children, he didn't answer the question making it sensitive.

Tania Cadogan said...

man his words and facial expressions/ body language are well off, he is leeking lots of micro smiles especially when he mentions going back to day 1. Why would he be happy about the day she went missing?

lots of lip clamping ( think weiner) stopping himself from saying or showing something though it still leaks out. He keeps smiling when he talks about her beoing out somewhere. This is a woman who went missing, not somebody who went out for a spa day grrrr.

Tania Cadogan said...

why does he smile at 13:06 when he says tragic accident and it hurts to this day?

lots of headshaking when asked if it exoneratee him after several moments trying to come up with an answerr with lots of stops and starts

Big smile when he says he is not proud of anything

dropped pronoun in relation to "never did anything" Interesting he starts to say ki.. then changes to don't hurt the children

Anonymous said...

ummmm.... I thought Gail had been found a long time ago. Guess I lost sight of this story somewhere along the way.

So, is she still missing?

Sorry.

Anonymous said...

He repeatedly says he thought she was "just going off". Just going off the side of the mountain?

Kellie Sue said...

Anon on January 12, 2014 at 7:46 PM

She was found dead.

I completely understand Matt's responses and sensitivity. They had an on-going tumultuous relationship and I have no doubt that, right wrong or indifferent, he was glad to be rid of her. That doesn't mean he killed her though and I don't think he did. Matt's girlfriend, on the other hand, concerns me....

Anonymous said...

geeze sounds guilty whole way through. look at those real tears for his job -- but none for her.

Anonymous said...

tears for his job is because that would effect the kids in a bad way, her being gone is a good thing for the kids.

Anonymous said...

OT

Truth and Justice for Ayla Protest
25 January - Waterville,ME

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/16302360-ayla-reynolds-update-protest-for-justice

https://www.facebook.com/events/703678356333001/

John Mc Gowan said...

Heather Elvis Update:

Father Of Heather Elvis Desperate To Find Missing S.C. Woman.

The devastated family of Heather Elvis, a missing South Carolina woman who mysteriously vanished from Myrtle Beach nearly three weeks ago, is appealing to the public for help.

"We are worried sick. We need anyone that knows anything – even the smallest detail – to come forward," Elvis' father, Terry Elvis, told The Huffington Post on Monday. "I'm not ruling out foul play or anything else. I don't care what it is. I can forgive just about anything."

The missing 20-year-old was last seen at about 2 a.m. on Dec. 18, 2013, when she returned home from a date. She called a female friend about an hour later to tell her how the date went and that was the last time anyone spoke with Heather Elvis. She has not made contact with friends or family and has not showed up for her job at the Tilted Kilt Pub and Eatery in Myrtle Beach.

The first and only known break in the case came on Dec. 19, 2013, when Elvis's dark green 2001 Dodge Intrepid was found parked at Peachtree boat landing. The location is about an eight-minute drive from the missing woman's parents' house.

"It's in Socastee, on the outskirts of Myrtle Beach," Terry Elvis said. "It's known to the entire family."

He added, "She liked to go to the water now and then, but not at that hour of the night."

According to Terry Elvis, his daughter's cellphone was not found in her vehicle and is still missing.

Since Heather Elvis disappeared, there have been multiple searches for her. The most recent, organized by the CUE Center for Missing Persons, took place over the weekend. According to The Sun News, nearly 300 people participated.

A spokesman for the Horry County Police Department -- the lead agency investigating Elvis' disappearance -- said they are doing everything they can to locate her.

"Our major crimes detectives are continuing to investigate her disappearance around the clock," Lt. Rob Kegler told HuffPost on Monday. "We are working hand-in-hand with the CUE Center ... [and] we are following up on every lead that comes in."

In regard to the possibility of foul play, Kegler said, "There's no definite sign leading one way or the other at this point."

According to Terry Elvis, his daughter is responsible and does not have a history of running off.

"It's out of character for her to be gone for any length of time like this," he said. "She's never gone 24 hours without calling someone."

Elvis also said the family has yet to celebrate Christmas.

"It's on hold," he said. "The tree is still up and all the presents are there. We are hoping and praying she comes back so we can have Christmas with her."

The 5-foot-1 woman weighs about 118 pounds. She has brown/auburn hair and brown eyes. There is a $25,000 reward for information leading to finding her. The family has also set up a Facebook page and a reward donation account with a PayPal account under FindHeatherElvis@gmail.com.

"Her mother, sister, brother and I are frantically grasping at all straws to find out where she is at," Terry Elvis said. "If you know anything at all, please come forward. We just want our daughter back."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/06/heather-elvis-missing_n_4550195.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Anonymous said...

I hadn't heard of this case before, but it's interesting. http://www.chattanoogan.com/2011/6/9/203035/Signal-Mountain-Woman-s-Marriage-Was.aspx
http://www.chattanoogan.com/2011/6/13/203258/Witness-Says-She-Saw-Gail-Palmgren-On.aspx

http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/2011/08/gail-palmgren-she-needs-to-be-found.html

I haven't watched the video yet, but it looks like he was never accused. I tried to find a link to peter's statement analysis of this case from 2011, but couldn't find it.

Statement Analysis Blog said...

I have been unable to locate my analysis, as well.

Perhaps it was deleted when I switched addresses.

I will keep looking!

Peter

Anonymous said...

His smiles throughout this interview: dupers delight? He uses 'we' constantly, without it becoming clear who 'we' are. He avoids directly answering a lot of questions and talks about something else instead. Especially when he is questioned about what he was doing at the time of Gails death. Also, he speaks negatively about Gail.

There are of lot of things that would be expected in such an interview not being said. There is not one mention of how difficult it is that the kids have to miss their mom growing up; how tragic it is for such a young woman to die, what the positive qualities were of Gail, who he - although they at the end of the relationship obviously had difficulties - must once have loved. There seems to be no grief at all.

There are lots of red flags in this interview. I don't know the details of this case, but he might have killed her, drove her to the cliff, put her behind the steering wheel and pushed the car off to make it look like an accident.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Skeptical said...

I found Susan Murphy Milano's 2011 analysis of the known facts and events at this web site. Very interesting.

http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/2011/06/gail-nowacki-palmgren-follow-money.html

AllentownBlogger said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BringGailHomeNow said...

I just emailed you the ENTIRE TRANSCRIPT of Matthew Palmgren's 33 Minute Interview with John Madwell (a local Signal Mountain, TN...Chattanooga, TN Reporter with a local TV affiliate). The Interview was arranged for him by his attorneys ...Bryan Hoss and Lee Davis. It was Pre-Recorded a few days prior to the News conference by the local Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond. The news conference was called to announce the TRAGIC ACCIDENT scenario. (what a farce...good old boys network decided not to pursue the case as anything more than a tragic accident. Throughout the time Gail Palmgren was missing... whenever he was interviewed, the Sheriff never failed to mention THE COST of this "so called" investigation, to the taxpayers. I think on of the major reasons this was never really investigated as anything more than A TRAGIC ACCIDENT was because it would be too costly and suck money from his department that in his estimation, would be better spent elsewhere!!!
(and there seems to be many of those types of incidents in the area of Tennessee...I might add)

BringGailHomeNow said...

The Entire 33 minute interview TRANSCRIBED. Matt Palmgren Interview pre-recorded and arranged by Matt's attorneys Bryan Hoss and Lee Davis (Well know Criminal Defense attorneys in the Chattanooga area of Tennessee). The interview was pre-recorded (Matt and his attorneys also had access to all the questions PRIOR to the interview and had the ability to EDIT the footage PRIOR to it's release) and released and played for the Public within minutes of the end of a News Conference announcing that Gail's death was due to a TRAGIC ACCIDENT and they would be closing the case, as such....Unless someone comes forth with additional informational causing local law enforcement to believe otherwise. The Interview of the estranged husband of his deceased wife & mother to his 2 children...Gail Nowacki Palmgren) (33 mins.) transcript of interview.
33 Minute Interview with Matt Palmgren conducted by John Madewell, Channel 9
Part One
JM: What have the last eight months been like for you and your children?
MP: It’s been emotional for all of us. I think one of the things we planned on is that we got together and we set goals. One of our goals was to find Gail. And two, to protect the children. We wanted to protect them through this whole thing. So that led to a lot of our different actions, and so on.
JM: How did you break the news to them, as far as . . . that their mother was missing?
MP: We sat down with them, talked about it. They understood that there was a lot of emotions going on in . . . in the family. Their number one goal again was to find Gail. How do we find Mom? We hoped, you know, for the best, you know, we always did, throughout 8 months. We’d say prayers about it – “We just want to find where Mom went.” So my common (?factor? something) was that Mom was taking a break somewhere, you know, relaxing, uh, figure out what she wants. And that gave us a lot of comfort for 8 months.
JM: Have they had time to come to terms with losing their Mom?
MP: They have. We’ve sat down and talked about it. Through this whole thing one of my goals was to be transparent with them. They’re nine and twelve. They read the articles – they read everything. They ask any question they want. I think one of the best things that happened is that the Hamilton County Sheriff Detectives Office took them out to the Brow and allowed them to ask any questions that they would like to. So they sat down with the and Jared is a very intellectual little kid (smiles) and he had a lot of questions. Both detectives very well answering those questions for them and will in the future. So . . . I think that brought a lot of understanding to them also.
JM: When her jeep was discovered, what was going through your mind at the time?

BringGailHomeNow said...

MP: Well, when I get the phone call, it was like oh my god, you know, you think about the last 8 months, and we were in a different line of thought—
JM: What do you mean, a different line?
MP: We thought Gail went off somewhere . . . some of the things we thought she did. . . . She just went off . . . things that she was planning in advance . . . (smiling) . . . to, uh, go away a while for her stress levels or depression. That’s where we thought she was and where we continued to look and follow up on leads throughout the entire event. So that was our whole line of thought. When they called about the jeep it was like oh my gosh and it brings you back to day one. So it was like oh my gosh for the last 8 months (smiles) the line of thought so you bring it back to day one (smiles) and it starts – it’s just totally different – and it starts the thing all over again.
JM: I want to go back to day one, or that week preceding April 30th.
MP: Okay.
JM: You guys had a pending divorce.
MP: (nods affirmatively)
JM: And police had been called twice out to your residence.
MP: (nods affirmatively)
JM: …for arguments that had happened between the two of you, your guys disagreements there. What happened the following day?
MP: Well, if you go back to the first police report, the day before Easter – Good Friday. Uh, I wasn’t even at the house. This was, I mean – both those reports, I wasn’t even at the house. They were filed by Gail by herself if you actually read the reports. Umm, wanted to go to the lake house . . . I wanted to take a separate car . . . give us time to talk on that Good Friday . . . so I wasn’t even at the house when she filed the reports. We were (garbled) and she was discussing whether I should take the Jeep or not and she left and came back and went up the hill. I was not even there. So when she came back and talked to the police they just wanted to know if I was all right – they talked about a cooling off period. She went to the lake house and I followed the next day.
JM: You talk about you weren’t even there, are you talking about on the . . .
MP: I wasn’t even at the house on the 20th, Good Friday! (raises voice slightly) I was up the road a good bit, didn’t know the police were called. The police report was filed before I got back.
JM: You met with the police, right?
MP: They stopped and asked me if everything was okay. I said ‘everything’s okay.’ But, uh, Gail was driving erratic and I told her I want to get out of the car at the stop sign. And I did. And she drove back to the house and called the police.

BringGailHomeNow said...


JM: What about the 30th?
MP: On the 30th, I came home from the conference. I came home on the 30th. Uh . . . The alarms were changed. All the different codes were changed. I didn’t know what was going on. Didn’t know where my kids were. (smiling now) She said we/I (?) had taken off with the kids before without telling me. So I didn’t know what was going on. Had no idea. Uh . . . I guess, you know, she drove by the house. . . and I didn’t know where she was going but I was trying to call her numerous times. Alarms were going off in the house, as you might imagine. And I got in the car and followed her up to where she was going, trying to beep and say ‘hey, I’m home.’ Jared had an awards ceremony that day if it wasn’t for the tornadoes. And she, uh, pulled into the Signal Mt. Police Department. So that report wasn’t even filed at the Signal Mt. Police Department and we didn’t even have words. She said she didn’t want to talk to us, she was worried about something, and she went back to the house. I stayed there, per their request, and the police asked her to come back in 12 to 14 hours with the kids, and just have a cooling off period.
JM: What time of the day was it here at this point?
MP: About 11:30
JM: On the 30th?
MP: Mmmhmm.
JM: What happened after that?
MP: After that, we agreed. She went back to the house. The police were concerned at how long it was taking her there. We knew she was moving some stuff out. (smiles and laughs). And then came back up . . . police asked me to go up to Pruett’s (Food Town) and wait. And I did as they requested. And, uh, she went down to the lake house with the kids and I was in communication with them through text or via cell phone to make sure they were okay.
JM: Let me make sure I understand this right. You said 11:30 . . . are you talking about the 29th?
MP: The 29th. (nods in agreement)
JM: On the 30th, on the Saturday—
MP: On Saturday, uh, the only communication she had, she asked me. . . where I was . . . Jared called me and said they were on their way back. I said great—we were going to spend the weekend together. Gail and I agreed (smiling) that it was Dad’s weekend, since last weekend was Mom’s weekend. (smiles) And she called me, she came back and asked how long it was going to take for me to get there. Got up there and, uh, the kids were there. We’re just talkin’ and . . . there was no communication between Gail and I. On the 30th.
JM: Did you physically see her on the 30th?

BringGailHomeNow said...

MP: No. (shakes head no)
JM: My understanding was from the Sheriff that at 12:15 you were at home?
MP: I was at home, yes sir.
JM: And at noon, where were you?
MP: We stood there and talked about what we were going to do because the weekend before I didn’t get to see—
(Man’s voice off camera is Matt's Attorney): I think he’s asking you were you were at 12 o’clock?
MP: Oh, at 12 o’clock I was downtown. My Mom ran some errands. We were at a boutique store down on the North Shore. And that’s when we received the phone call saying where were you and I said I’ll be up there in about 20 minutes.
JM: So she was already at the house?
MP: She was almost there or was there.
JM: And she left the kids, is that right?
MP: She left the kids. She said she was going out to make some phone calls, uh, to her cousin, Sherry. That’s what the kids told me. That’s when we sat there and called her to find out where she was and what she was planning on. And she’s taken off to the lake house before from Louisville when we lived there, as well as when we lived in Birmingham. Just kind of went there for her peace of mind. So we kind of thought that’s where she went. So we spent the day together after that.
JM: When you didn’t see her on that Saturday, how much time passed before you started becoming concerned or when did you . . .
MP: The kids and I texted her, said . . . you know, there’s been patterns of this before. Said ‘we hope you’re okay’ . . . everything else . . . uh, find out what you’re thinkin’. Uh, she said she was going to spend the weekend down there and the kids were mine for the weekend. We were going to do baseball games, bike riding and everything else. And uh, I got a phone call Monday morning from her sister and Arlene saying ‘file a missing person, file a missing person’ . . . and I’m like, why? She’s at the lake house. (smiles) And . . . that’s where she is.
JM: This is Arlene Durham saying this?
MP: Right.
JM: What did you think when Ms. Durham said that?
MP: I said, ‘Arlene, how did . . . Gail’s down there.’ “Nope, I’ve been following your . . . lake house.” And I said ‘why are you following? What’s going on at my lake house and stuff?’ You know, and she just started ragging me that she knows it and she’s been over there and stuff. And I’m like ‘why have you been over there at our house?’ (smiling) You know. So finally I said ‘okay, if you guys are that concerned, I’ll go file it.’ So of course, I went right up the mountain about literally an hour after that conversation to, um, file a missing persons report with Officer Miranda.

BringGailHomeNow said...

JM: Now, Gail’s sister had all ready filed a missing persons report? Is that correct?
MP: (Nods head in agreement)
JM: May 2nd?
MP: Correct. (takes drink of water)
JM: Um, why did you wait to file the missing person’s report after her sister?
MP: Her sister didn’t tell me. Her sister called me also. There was nothing telling me that a missing person report had already been filed. So I went up there and was surprised. Officer Miranda came over and said a report had already been filed. And I asked him some questions about that. At the same time we know there’s a three-way call between her sister, Arlene Durham, and a neighbor trying to give her possessions back already. (smiles) I thought that was odd. Here they’re pushing to file a missing persons report and they’re worried about Gail’s possessions being a different people’s houses. That’s why I began wondering what the heck was going on, I’m doing missing persons reports and stuff. And I did not know anything about her sister filing that report until Officer Miranda told me.
JM: What did the results of this investigation mean to you?
MP: It was a tragic accident. I mean . . . we were havin’ marital issues. We’re workin’ throught ‘em. We’re tryin’ to find out the best things for the kids. Uh, it’s horrible. It’s awful. It’s like relivin’ (smiles) another death. You know. Um, I think all the Law Enforcement was doing their job all the way through. We were communicating with them., I think from day one we hired the best people we could because that’s what you do, in my job, you go find the best people to go find and meet your objectives. That’s why we hired Mike Mathis (Hoss & Davis's PI) and Lee Davis (Matt's attorney) and Brian Hoss (Matt's attorney) and the kids and I talked—let’s go find it. And that’s where we were going with this all, to get the best people and to find Gail. We searched Florida. I know I have cousins there. Everybody was giving us information that were (sp) feeding all through the . . . to give to the Law Enforcement. That first (something) we searched New York. There was tips in Vermont. There was tips we followed up on every lead we could. But we weren’t going to go public with it. We were going to keep it private. And this was the private issue we were trying to . . . trying to handle.
JM: Why did you make that decision to go private instead of public?

BringGailHomeNow said...

MP: Talking to Gail’s family, we all decided it was a private issue. We know Gail’s had some issues in the past. We don’t want that out there. And we just said we’re going to handle this privately. I thought we were all on the same page if you look at the press conference that was handled at Signal Mountain, we’re all asking Gail to come home. Unfortunately like I said it was a tragic accident. And it hurts to this day.
JM: Do the results of this accident, do you in your mind, do you feel they vindicate you? Do you feel exonerated?
MP: (stammers) I don’t think there’s any . . . I uh . . . I wish we found it day one. I mean, there’s no vindication. I’m not proud of anything. (smiles) I’m glad of closure for me and the kids and stuff. Uh, the public . . . they were mean. (smiles) I’ve learned a lot about what people can do to somebody’s life, you know. And people that don’t back you up. People that . . . even your work that you’ve done so well for, you know, that people jump to conclusions. There’s assumptions out there . . . and the one thing that we did was stick to our goals. That was to find Gail and to protect the kids and . . . no matter what I did with the protecting the kids, I mean, people scrutinized it. Whatever.
My kids are so proud of it all. They knew who they can trust. They knew who are true friends are now. (smiles) So . . . vindicated? I never did anything. I told them that from day one. To . . . all the people. And there’s nothing to be vindicate really for.
JM: Is this a relief for you, as far as the findings of the accident?
MP: Uh, I don’t know if it’s a relief. When you really think about my psyche for the past 8 months thinking Gail was off with friends or somebody. I’ll wait till they find the Jeep. The kids believed that. I don’t know if it’s a relief. I think that LE and Cue and everybody brought in did an excellent job and everything. I think I believe 100% in what the findings are. Even some are (to) my surprise. (smiles)
JM: You said Cue?
MP: Cue is the . . . uh, Kevin, Gail’s brother helped sponsor that in. (smiles) And we were supportive of it. He did it behind the scenes. Again, we kept our names out of Facebook and everything else. I didn’t even know Kevin was behind it but he is a sponsor. (smiles) And he did a great job of bringing them in – that’s the missing persons—
JM: Group from California?
MP: From, uh, I think South Carolina or California? But they’re all over. So they did some nice work with the Sheriff’s Office. All I asked for was constant communication between that group and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department.

BringGailHomeNow said...

Part Two
(Begins at 15:32 of interview)
JM: You were talking about how the public can be mean.
MP: (drinks water, smiles)

JM: The suspicions, I mean these were widely out there in the public, the criticism, even accusations towards you…
MP: Sure. (nods affirmatively)
JM: How did that affect you?
MP: It bothers you, but I have two small kids. (smiles) And no matter what, it’s like, I’m a big boy and I said ‘I’ll take it—just don’t hurt the children.’ We didn’t get proactive on some things until they started posting stuff about the kids. Whether the kids should be taken away or not taken away. The lawsuits and everything else. And that’s when we got proactive because it got away from our goals of protecting these kids from everything. I mean, one’s in Elementary School and one’s in Middle School so they’re going to hear things. That’s why I always said let’s be transparent with them. They’ve read the articles. They’ve read, uh, filings. They completely understand what’s going on. So . . .
JM: You’re talking about they’ve read the articles. Did you ever fear that your children would be exposed to this? I mean in the media? It was all in the media.
MP: We protected them from the media. We were quite clear from the media and the schools—the schools were fantastic. Principal Randolph and Principal McCullough (sp) were great. We had it clear that if they saw something that was out of the ordinary to call me and I would be down there immediately to talk to them. We had them proper counseling all the way through the whole thing. And so, that’s what we did was protect those two kids.
JM: Did you ever have any fear that particularly J since he was older, that they might believe some of these things that were going around?
MP: Yeah, we’ve talked about it. Uh, they never believed it. Their biggest concern was that they were scared of some of the people on the Internet. Arlene Durham especially. That’s why we filed harassment charge against her when she got too close to our kids. (smiles) You know, she was frustrated and she wanted to know stuff so she started going to our kids. And the kids were scared to death of her to this day. So I wasn’t concerned because our kids and I have a great relationship and they come to me all the time. We’d sit down …they’d literally get upset and call the newspapers ‘liars’ because they knew some of the true facts that were out there.
JM: What was your personal low point?

BringGailHomeNow said...

MP: Uh . . . (chuckles and smiles) . . . I think when I had to tell my kids that I don’t have a job. (appears to get emotional, nods, starts to cry.) I mean they always knew that Dad takes care of them. (gets Kleenex) And they were worried and they were scared.
(talks to attorney sitting beside him ? garbled words)
JM: How do you see life moving forward for you and your children?
MP: Well we sat down and talked a lot. Uh, they’ve laid out some of their . . . and they love some people up there in the community. (smiles) Some people in the community, very silent people, have always been there for us, picked up the kids when I couldn’t be there, or took them to their house. And, um, really wrapped their arms around them in the community and stuff, so we’re working forward on that. We’re not sure where we’re going to stay right now. I’ve … I’ve set goals with them and you know January, February, and March will be a big time for us to sit down and it’s a good time for them to say, you know, ‘what do you really want to do?’ So I think over the next few months that we’ll um be trying to figure out what we actually want to do. Like I said, I told you about the Boy Scouts before . . . boy, the Boy Scouts up there, that troops been phenomenal for J. And so, so have certain people up there.
JM: What about your relationship with Gail’s family? How is it now? Did it change it?
MP: Uh, some things have changed. We’re still working through some issues. Um, I hope they find some comfort in the report, what actually happened. We’ve always reached out to them. They have not accepted that (smiles) and I understand that—they’ve lost a sister. We’ve always been close. I’ve always been close to the family. Some of the family has come to me and, um, really supportive. Some people have been completely silent. (smiles) And other people just don’t say nothing. I think they could’ve been more supportive through this to tell you what kind of person I really am (smiles) instead of people reading or not reading the whole story in news reports or police reports and so on. ‘Cause they’ve known me for 14 years, and probably 17 years. Three years before we even got married.
JM: Do you feel like they had some suspicions?
MP: Uh, they at first, uh . . . Arlene was drivin’ a lot of suspicions. Unfounded. (smiles) To everybody. And unfortunately you can’t always defend yourself because if you say something it’s going to be taken one way or another. (smiles) And we chose as a family a plan to remain silent and to keep the focus on finding Gail. And it’s like that was the whole goal, it’s like unless they came and started doing something to the kids, or something detrimental, we were going to stay silent. We were going to have the best people on this, support LE and everybody else on finding Gail.
JM: What was your relationship before Gail went missing as far as Arlene Durham?
MP: Arlene’s not Gail’s best friend. (shakes head no) She is not. I mean, they printed that over and over again. Uh, media outlets have had communication from both sides of the family explaining that she’s not a spokesperson for us, for Gail’s side of the family, or my side of the family. Uh, we have asked them not to print stuff that’s not true. If you go back and take all the radio interviews and stuff, now that we know the outcome of the event, they’re lies. They’re lies to stir up stuff and to hurt me. Which ended up not just hurting me, but my kids.
So the relationship’s never been good. She’s been a caretaker of our houses. She’s done odd jobs for us. But beyond that, yeah, we’d go down and visit her little farm with the kids. But beyond that . . . (shakes head no). She’s not . . . we know who Gail’s best friends are. We contacted them early. One lives in California and one lives in Ohio, and a couple live in Buffalo, New York. And those are Gail’s true best friends.

BringGailHomeNow said...

JM: Do you feel like you were slandered?
MP: I think so (nods). I think people took things out of context. (smiles) I think things . . . uh . . . they’re definitely untrue. I’m not that type of person. I’ve never abused Gail. I’ve never verbally abused Gail. Only one person’s come out and said that. The kids know the truth and I know the truth and that’s what we stuck by through the whole thing.
JM: How hard has it been to live on Signal Mt. with all the things that were going on?
MP: Uh, you’re more vigilant, I won’t say it’s hard. There are some tremendous people up there. And those people just asked to not to be brought into the Facebook stuff, the things that were going on, the slander stuff. I got personal phone calls that said ‘we’re there for you’ and ‘what do you need us to do for the kids?’ I’ve had people who took J on a canoeing trip several weeks after who said ‘I will make sure he’s by my side every second of this trip and you don’t have to worry about it, and that’s what he needs.’ Then I have other people who just ran and hided (sp) and then aided some of this stuff. (smiles) So you had both things, but we tried to stay above that. I mean, the kids wanted their friends up there.
JM: Did you feel like people were staring at you or judging you with all the innuendo that was out there?
MP: I don’t . . . they might have been . . . but it really didn’t bother me because if you stick to the goals that we talked about it doesn’t really matter. Let’s find Gail. You know, and I wish we didn’t get distracted over some of this stuff (smiles) that was being said and maybe did some more of the other stuff—research and walking and thinking about it—that’s out there, you know.
JM: After the Jeep was discovered, and the investigation was leaning towards an accident at that point, Clive Bonnick, who had been critical of you, had some innuendo from his part there.
MP: (drinks water, and nods affirmatively)
JM: He apologized directly to you. Did you see that or hear it?
MP: I saw it a few days later. I didn’t . . . one of the things I stayed away from was the news (smiles) a little bit. And the newspapers. And my family when we sat down and talked about who’s role was to look at that stuff and contact me or the team we put together to look at some of those things because there might have been some clues in there. A lot of things Arlene said or whatever . . . there might have been some clues to where Gail went. But, uh, with Clive—I’ve known Clive five . . . we coached Soccer together. He coached the girls team, I coached the boys team for the spring leagues up there. I think Clive was just lookin’ . . . uh . . . I’m not sure where Clive was goin’ with some of the things he was sayin’. I think some of it was frustration on his part. But that’s up to Clive and not to me to figure out what he was thinkin’.

BringGailHomeNow said...

JM: Clive did not know Gail, did he? Or did he?
MP: Clive met Gail on April . . . in April . . . my soccer team played his soccer team. Uh, Gail was across the field because I remember it. I introduced Gail to Clive around April of 2010, I believe.
JM: What did you think of his apology?
MP: I’m glad he apologized. (smile) He stepped back from that apology all ready. Uh, but I mean, that’s up to him. He has to figure out what he’s thinkin’ and find closure on his own. My thing is to protect my kids away from some of that stuff. (smiles)
JM: Do you think other people owe you an apology?
MP: I don’t need one. If they have ‘em, they can. I think the big apologies need to go to my kids for some of the stuff that they’ve had to put up with. Let’s face it, people post things on Facebook, teenagers get to read it. Elementary Schools now read it. Kids get to read it. And that’s the stuff that gets back to your kids. And that’s why we’ve been so transparent with them. And their comments and several people’s comments get back to the kids. That’s what people have to remember through this whole thing.
JM: Clive had said this and others did ~ they wanted to know why you didn’t participate in the searches?
MP: Well, because some of the things at the beginning, Signal Mt. police force were making some innuendoes towards me. (smiles) And saying you’re guilty of something so I didn’t know what to actually do. So that’s what brought on bringing this team together with attorneys and everything. And I didn’t want the searches to become about me. We supported things on the backside. We had . . . you know I asked Lee Davis ‘who is the best person to go find Gail? Who knows these mountains? Who’s been here the longest?’ And that’s where Mike Mathis and his team came in to go look. We had people searching.
What I could do was look through things, find things, go through books, find anything we can turn over to get any inclination of what was going through Gail’s mind or where she might have gone. So we were working that side as a private matter. And to go walk through the woods—I’m glad people were doing it, I knew people were doing it. To have myself do it for several hours it might have looked good. But I could spend several hours going through Year Books and finding best friends and looking through some of her documents and say ‘is there something there we can turn over to LE to give these detectives a helping hand?’ and seeing where she was and following up on it? We were quite frankly following up on all the leads.

JM: What would you say to those around the dinner table and probably you had something to do with it?
MP: (shrugs) They’re wrong. I’ve said that from day one. I never had anything to do with it. It is not within me/my to do something like that. People that know me. If people actually ask the people that know me who was on Gail’s side of the family or on my side of the family or my best friends, even some of Gail’s best friends . . . if you took all these rumors (smiles) and put them aside, people knew that I didn’t . . . that I had nothing to do with Gail’s disappearance. And it’s like, so, I would tell them to go back and if they need to have closure and stuff, look back at what’s fact versus rumor.

BringGailHomeNow said...

JM: Speaking about fact versus rumor, I wanted to kind of circle back to this accident report. What do you think that will say to the public when it becomes public?
MP: It will say it’s a tragic accident. Uh, I think based on the science behind it, the thorough job the Ham. Co. Sheriff’s Department and all the experts . . . I mean Lee talked to me about all the experts they contacted so it’s just not their experts it’s every expert. It was a tragic accident that happened on a day. And . . . hopefully the public will come to some closure around it. To say, ‘this was a tragic accident.’ Things do happen tragically. And it’s sad for me, it’s sad for the family, it’s sad for Gail’s family. It’s sad for the community out there.
JM: There’s a divide between what’s been out there in the public sphere versus what you knew privately. Does it make you feel any better to do this interview, to get some of this out?
MP: It makes me feel better. I want people to know about the kids and what we’re thinking. And the kids were part of the discussion on what we were going to release or not release. They were part of the discussion of whether I was going to get in front of the media or not in front of the media. If they had said ‘Dad, you need to get out in front of the media’ then I would have got out in front of the media. We all talked privately and like I say they’re smart little kids.
Attorney off camera: (paraphrasing him somewhat) No matter what the kids said about being in front of the media, I wouldn’t have let you.
MP: (smiling from ear to ear) Okay. (to JM) You can take that out, or leave it in. Never let me out in front of the media. But I mean it was really about the kids. And to see so much that was hurtful out there, no matter what I said publicly it was going to be twisted. (smiles) And that would just confuse the kids. So I was better off talking with them privately than I was anytime publicly.
JM: The last question I have is not a question. If there’s something you want to say or you want to interject, I’ll leave it open.

BringGailHomeNow said...

MP: I just hope the media channels and stuff just really look at it and base theirselves (sp) on facts and stuff in the future. Not listen to a single source. (smiles) Not listen to one person out there. And if they are going to, do a background check. Check out who these people actually are. Uh, don’t bury the facts as we know they have on some things. (smiles) Don’t spend a lot of time doing research only to come out with the research that says look to one area and making assumptions. I really hope they learn some lessons. Even the Times Free Press article about how they’re changing their blog-in policies and stuff . . . and who can actually post . . . on stories now because of things that have happened to me, with my job and with the kids reading that stuff. I hope people really take a self-reflection over . . . over this.
JM: I’ve asked you before if you thought you were slandered. Do you plan to take any action?
MP: I’m not sure at this time. Our goals are really . . . we’re still with the ‘tragic accident’ (smiles) . . . and I said it was like, go back seven months, eight months, you’re thinking one thing, and now you’re thinking . . . we’re still in the stages of ‘wow, what can we do best to memorialize Gail’? What’s the best thing we can actually do? So we haven’t even gotten to that stage yet. It’s more about talking to the kids and finding out what their future wants, to answer your previous question. That’s the important thing.
The End

AllentownBlogger said...

Matthew Palmgren and his deceased wife Gail Nowacki Palmgren both had their Doctorates in Pharmacology and were very intellegent, well educated individuals.

Statement Analysis Blog said...

I am doing the analysis of his interview...I had done it a few years ago, but could not find it. Susan had a link to it, but it is a dead link...

AllentownBlogger said...

So many inconsistencies in this interview. He claims to hve 3 DIFFERENT REASONS for hiring an attorney and a Private Investigator throughout the interview. Which one should we believe? Was it really TO DIND GAIL for the children? or was it TO PROTECT MATT FROM THE ALLEGED ACCUSATIONS BEING SHARED WITH HIM BY THE SIGNAL MOUNTAIN POLICE upon their initial investigation into Gail's disappearance? I think I recall Matt Palmgren having at least 3 DIFFerent REASONS throughout the 33 minute interview for his needing his attorneys. Is this NORMAL? Do Y'all believe a word he is saying? I don't!

BringGailHomeNow said...

http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/2011/06/gail-nowacki-palmgren-follow-money.html http://www.chattanoogan.com/2011/6/9/203035/Signal-Mountain-Woman-s-Marriage-Was.aspx

Anonymous said...

As someone who followed this case closely at the time, I do have one theory about Matt Palmgren's behavior I haven't seen anywhere else: He knew months before anyone else did exactly what happened to Gail.

There was a user on the Websleuths forum named "Oriah" who posted at the end of September, 2011, that they apparently had GPS info for Matt's new vehicle, Gail's missing Jeep AND Tammy Helton (Matt's girlfriend's) car. That post was deleted, for obvious reasons, but one "Oriah" posted earlier still remains in the Websleuths archives: "Gail's phone trace did not go quiet for several days after Gail went missing. Her vehicle trace did not either."

Of course, many of us wondered how someone could get this information.

But then a little over two months later, Gail's Jeep was found. Interestingly, a reporter named Jana Barnello tweeted from the news conference: "Matthew Palmgren's atty: HCSO told them they know crash time/date b/c cell "ping" shows when device height above sea level changed suddenly." (quoted on Websleuths; HCSO is Hamilton County Sheriff's Office)

This was mentioned before the remains were even confirmed to be Gail's, so very very early on. It seems likely the sheriff's office already knew about that sea level change, the question was how SOON did they know it?

People asked about this for quite some time, all over newspaper articles and Websleuths and other sites, but there was never any specific date given as to when the sheriff's office knew about this GPS "drop".

My theory is that the sheriff's office and Matt's lawyers knew for months that Gail's cell phone showed that big drop in sea level change, assumed she'd gone off one of the many cliffs around there, and basically shrugged it off until winter when the foliage was gone and it would be easier to see.

The family and law enforcement knowing this info but being asked not to say anything would explain all the weird stuff that went on in this case. It would explain Matt not even looking for Gail, and how Gail's siblings and in-laws wanted help at first, then ended up trying to get Facebook pages and Websleuths posts deleted and discouraging active searches for her.

But of course, they couldn't admit they knew all along, since they'd have to explain why they allowed volunteer searchers to waste their time. They'd also have to explain why Matt's lawyers trashed Gail in statements meant to "defend" Matt, and why Matt's friends and family went on Facebook and other sites to imply that Gail's friend Arlene was somehow involved in her disappearance.

Basically, lazy law enforcement plus a husband with sociopathic tendencies made this look like a murder case. It probably wasn't, but I'll tell you one thing: Matt Palmgren is the kind of guy who thinks Gail's death was the best thing that could have ever happened to him. He's a creep.

Anonymous said...

I'm the anonymous above. I wanted to add one more thing:

On the Websleuth's forum, a moderator named JBean was related to Matt Palmgren by marriage. She hinted at having more info, too, including this: "I also 100% believe /know-but cannot link it for you so give it as much weight as you are comfortable with-that gail made it to the base of the mountain. from there she simply vanished"

http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148344&page=3

I think JBean was telling us in a roundabout way that the cell phone info showed Gail made it to the base of the mountain.

And a quote from an article the day the Jeep was found:

"Sheriff Hammond says the area where they believe her jeep was located, is, in fact, an area where they received one of the last hits from her cell phone."

https://web.archive.org/web/20111203211839/http://www.newschannel9.com/articles/mail-1006945-case-newschannel9.html

It was asked at the time by several people: How many people knew about this cell phone info? How long did they know it? And why wasn't anyone told that they had cell phone ping info that lead to this cliff near a house (where two doctors resided, IIRC) where people said they heard a crash that day?

It seems obvious law enforcement knew about where her Jeep was, so why leave her there for eight months until she's nothing but a few bones?

Thanks for letting me comment here, I appreciate it.