Hello and welcome to This Week in True Crime
The more laid-back weekly series that takes a look at current and ongoing events in the true crime world
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This week we'll be going over the recent news of how the remains of a woman who had been missing for three months
have been found and a man has been charged in connection to her case
How the police found a dismembered body in the back of a u-haul with some of the pieces being deep fried
And finally the return of a missing hiker's dog eight days after his owner was last heard from
All that and more coming right up
On the 28th of November 2020 Kayla Pierce was reported missing after her family hadn't heard from her for a few days
Kayla Pierce was a 29 year old mother from Handy Township in Michigan the USA
She was from a very loving family and was mother to two children aged ten and three
Kayla was last seen on the 23rd of November 2020 at 6:30pm when she had been driving to Detroit from her home in Handy Township, Michigan
This was a 60-mile drive which was a drive that she had made many times before
The only thing of Kayla's that was found by the police in their searches was her car
The 2013 black Chrysler was found parked in the city of Detroit but there was no sign of Kayla anywhere
Her family worked closely with the police for months they even set up an informational Facebook page which helped
Keep Kayla's friends and family and the general public up to dates on any information
But sadly their efforts were fruitless
Unfortunately despite a large search effort from everyone involved nothing emerged from their investigations
Either the family's investigations in search efforts or the police's
For over three months Kayla seemed to have simply vanished into thin air
Her family had to endure the holiday season without an integral part of their family with them
Finally after three months of searching for Kayla the news that kayla's family feared the most broke
Kayla's body had been found at 8pm on the 11th of February 2021 in Detroit
It's important to note that the exact location of where the body was found has not been released
Dowan Knighton a 47 year old man from Detroit has been charged in connection to the death of Kayla
Dowan is charged with three different counts
Including the mutilation of a dead body, concealing the death of an individual and tampering with evidence
There is no in-depth information released at this moment about what exactly happened between Kayla and Dowan
But we do know that he is currently being held in police custody
Dowan was given a $50,000 bond and is expected to be in court on thursday the 25th of February 2021
Kayla's two small children are now under the guardianship of Kayla's mother and will unfortunately never be able to see their mother again
A gofundme has been set up for the family and Kayla's children to help them transition through this difficult period
We have linked the gofundme in the description of this video
The next case that we will be looking at on This Week is the discovery of a dismembered body in a U-haul in Philadelphia
A man is facing charges after human remains were found bagged up in the back of his U-haul
When he was pulled over on a traffic stop on the 11th of february 2021
This U-haul had been followed by the police after they had been called out to a possible home burglary and they had witnessed this vehicle leaving the property
The property in question was owned by 70-year-old Peter Gerold
The two men driving the U-haul after they were pulled over were immediately taken in for questioning
When they had been told to exit the vehicle and get out of the U-haul by the authorities
The driver quickly admitted to the human remains that were within the U-haul
And they actually defended the other person who was with them in the vehicle by saying
"He had nothing to do with it he's just moving the body and there's one in the back"
In the back of the U-haul he police found the body of a man stuffed in a trash bag
They also discovered a knife in close proximity to the remains
According to the medical examiner's office they are still working to confirm the identity of the body parts
But they did reveal that some of the body parts recovered from the vehicle had been deep fried like a sick cannibalistic bargain bucket from KFC
The day before the U-haul was pulled over the police had actually conducted a welfare check on
70 year old Peter Gerold's home after a neighbor had called the authorities with concerns
The police found nothing to be of any particular concern when they had visited Peter's home
Put they were told by his neighbours that Peter's car had been missing for at least a week
The body parts discovered in the back of the U-haul were sadly not the only human remains found by the authorities
While a large amount of the body parts had been found in the back of this U-haul
A hands and leg were further found in a dumpster behind a convenience store in the evening of Thursday the 11th of February 2021
This dumpster was less than a third of a mile away from the home of 70 year old Peter Gerold
The police have said that these body parts could belong to the same person whose remains were found in the U-haul
As of presence it's unclear whether these remains are that of Peter Gerold due to identification not yet being made
The last case we will be delving into today is the return of a missing hiker's dog after it spent eight days alone in the wilderness
Josh Hall and his dog Happy had been out hiking in Boulder county on Wednesday the 3rd of February 2021
27 year old Josh Hall is from suburban Denver Colorado and is an avid lover of the outdoors
The pair started their hike from the Devil's Thumb lake trail where they were planning to complete the 12.1 mile long hike to the Devil's Thumb lake
They started their hike sometime between 10:30am and 10:45am and the pair were last seen at the Hesse trailhead that evening
This sighting in the evening was strange because Josh had an online class at 5pm so he would have completed the hike in time to make it to his class
According to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office Josh's phone last pings near the Devil's Thumb trail/Diamond lake cutoff
On the day that Josh was reported missing the first of two storm systems arrived in the same area that he and his dog had been hiking
These storms were set to cover the area in a thick layer of snow
The kind of storms that nobody wanted to get caught up in
Unfortunately this is what seems to have happened to Josh and his dog Happy
Searchers braved the winter storms to look for Josh and Happy
And more than 650 person hours were counted between the evening on Wednesday the 3rd and Saturday the 6th of February In their search efforts
The ground searches were called off on the 8th of february 2021
After the conditions outside made it nearly impossible for people to walk through the heavy snow that had fallen
For eight days no sightings or any indications of Josh or his dog Happy were found
Authorities sadly concluding that they had both met an unfortunate end and succumbed to their environments
However Happy was found wandering on the highway alone on Thursday the 11th of February eight full days after Josh and Happy had disappeared
This was a massive shock to all the people who had been searching for Josh
As many people were sure they were both not going to be found
The highway that he was found on was 13 miles away from where the pair had first started their hike
Happy had lost between 10 and 15 pounds in body weight over those eight days that he was missing
And the people that found him were really surprised that he didn't have frostbite
The weather conditions in the area plummeted during the eight day period that Happy had been missing
So it came as such a shock that a domestic dog managed to survive in extremely severe weather conditions and emerge with no frostbite whatsoever
It is unknown if Happy managed to survive these eight days alone or whether Josh was with him for the most part
Josh's mother said "I'm terrified that that means that Happy stayed with Josh until he succumbed to the cold"
As of making this video there has been no new information about the whereabouts of Josh Hall released
And that story brings us to the end of this episode of This Week in True Crime
My team are keeping a close eye on the news so that we can provide updates as they happen
So make sure you stay tuned for those
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And with all that being said i'll see you in the next case