A MISSING person case has been bolstered by a podcast and an increase in reward money to bring it all to an end.
Angela Green, from Prairie Village, Kansas – about 20 minutes south of Kansas City – disappeared from her home on Tomahawk Road on June 20, 2019, at age 51.
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Five years on, the case is still open and is receiving an extra boost from private investigator Steve Ridge from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and true crime podcast Crime Junkie.
“I’m confident that I know what happened and who was involved,” Ridge told The U.S. Sun.
“Finding Angela’s remains would all but assure a successful prosecution.
“There are several people who know virtually everything.
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“Eventually, one of them will crack.”
Keeping his cards close to his chest, the PI did not reveal any further information about his theories behind Green’s disappearance.
However, confident that “eventually, someone will talk,” Ridge has increased the financial reward for the location of Green or the recovery and positive identification of her remains.
Ridge has doubled the reward money to $50,000 in an attempt to smoke out those with knowledge of Green’s case.
LAST MOMENTS BEFORE DISAPPEARANCE
Originally from China, Green moved to the United States in her 20s before marrying Geoffrey Green and having her daughter Ellie Green who was 18 when her mom vanished.
“She basically gave her life to me,” Ellie told The Kansas City Star.
“She put all of her time and effort into raising me and making me the best that I could be so she is amazing.”
However, on June 20, 2019, the mother and daughter got into an argument about “something insignificant,” according to Ellie, who claims she can’t remember what it was they fought about.
The University of Kansas student had only just returned to her parents’ home from studying abroad in Italy.
The argument resulted in Ellie being kicked out of the house by her mother, so she went to stay at her boyfriend’s house for the whole summer.
“I left and I never saw her again,” Ellie said.
WEB OF LIES
Angela didn’t contact her daughter after the argument and a few days later, Ellie’s father Geoffrey allegedly texted her to say that she was in a psychiatric hospital, according to the Daily Mail.
By July 16, 2019, Ellie’s father told her that Angela had died of a stroke in the hospital but told her not to share the news with her mother’s family, according to the Huffington Post.
“I basically fell to my knees in the driveway. I didn’t have any words and I couldn’t cry,” Ellie told The Star.
Despite the alleged tragedy, there was no funeral or obituary and Angela’s family was not informed until Ellie grew suspicious of her father’s claims months later.
When Ellie started having doubts about her father’s story, she started recording their phone calls.
In a call obtained by local Fox affiliate WDAF, Ellie questioned her father’s claim that he had her mother cremated.
Ellie claimed that her father said someone had hand-delivered the ashes to the family home and he paid $1,500 in cash for the cremation and did not work with a funeral home.
“I’m surprised to you, like just readily got her, agreed to get her cremated without any paperwork or proof or anything?” Ellie told her father in the recording.
“Oh, it’s it seems unusual, much later looking back on it, but at the time it did not seem odd since I’d never done it before,” her father replied.
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Geoffrey allegedly sent his daughter a picture of an urn which he said contained her mother’s ashes but she has never actually seen them, according to Crime Junkie podcast.
Eventually, in February 2020, Ellie phoned her aunt, Angela’s sister, to tell her about her mother’s death and her aunt requested a copy of the death certificate.
Ellie then visited the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in Topeka but they could not find any records of Green’s death.
“I knew when there was no death certificate that my stomach sank and something was wrong,” Ellie told the Star.
“I wish I had closure to this.
“I don’t believe she is alive anymore. I think she would reach out to me. Have some sort of contact with me.”
Before Ellie filed the missing person’s report in February 2020, her cousin Michelle Guo requested a welfare check on Angela at the Greens’ home.
Geoffrey claimed his wife was away with friends, according to Huff Post.
Capt. Ivan Washington from the Prairie Village Police Department confirmed to the outlet that the police “received conflicting information regarding [Angela’s] whereabouts” which was “concerning.”
It was after the welfare check that Ellie filed the report and while she was at the police department speaking to detectives, her father called and once again she hit record.
A recording obtained by Huff Post saw Geoffrey change his story about her mother’s hospitalization.
“I didn’t want you to think that she had run off with some stranger to do something,” he told his daughter.
“The truth is that she kind of disappeared.”
When cops searched the house in March for evidence of Green’s disappearance, she had left behind her purse, phone, passport, driver’s license, and car.
In addition to this, Guo states that there has been no action on Angela’s bank accounts since she was last seen.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Key moments in the Angela Green case:
June 20, 2019
- Angela Green and her daughter Ellie have an argument which sees Ellie go to stay with her boyfriend for the summer.
- The last known time and place that Angela was seen.
June 23, 2019
- Geoffrey Green texts Ellie to say Anglea had been “committed to a psychiatric hospital.”
July 16, 2019
- Geoffrey told his daughter that Angela had died of a stroke and that her family in New York should not be told.
- A few days later he said he paid $1,500 for someone to hand-deliver Angela’s ashes in an urn which he sent Ellie a picture of.
February 2020
- Ellie informs her maternal aunt about her mom’s supposed death.
- Geoffrey Green allegedly promises to send his daughter a picture of Angela’s death certificate but then fails to do so.
- She later discovers that there is no official record of Angela’s death and no trace of a death certificate.
- A welfare check is completed by police at the request of Angela’s niece and Geoffrey claimed his wife was alive and had run away with a friend.
- Ellie filed the missing person’s report.
- Geoffrey allegedly called Ellie admitting that he had lied about Angela’s hospitalization and death.
- Geoffrey hires a criminal defense attorney who has consistently maintained that they have no comment to make on the case.
March 2020
- Prairie Village Police Department issued two warrants to the family home and a location where Geoffrey stores vintage cars.
July 2020
- Angela’s case is ruled cold by police
March 1, 2023
- Private investigator Steve Ridge announces a financial reward of $25,000 for information in the case of Angela’s disappearance.
March 13, 2024
- Ridge doubles reward money for information that leads to Angela’s location or an identification of her remains.
Green allegedly hired a criminal defense attorney shortly after the missing person’s report was filed, Ellie claimed.
Detective Sergeant Adam Taylor from the Prairie Village Police Department told Heavy that because it is still only a missing persons case, and there is not enough to “lead us to criminal charges,” Geoffrey is not a suspect.
However, the officer added that Angela’s husband “has not been cooperative and “has not wanted to talk to us.”
Prairie Village police have searched property owned by Geoffrey Green and the FBI has been involved in the investigation.
No arrests have been made and no charges have been filed and the case was ruled cold in July 2020.
Geoffrey and his lawyer have maintained that there is no comment they wish to issue about the case.
HOPES FOR CLOSURE
With the family continuing to go through “living hell,” Ridge hopes that the increase in reward money will finally help bring the mystery to a close.
“Daughter Ellie Green, her cousin, Michelle Guo, and Prairie Village Police lead detective, Sergeant Taylor are all very supportive of this increased reward as a potential means of cracking this case,” Ridge said in an email to The U.S. Sun.
“I am fully confident that more than one person knows exactly what happened to Angela and where remains likely were placed.
“Eventually, someone will talk.”
“My goal is to accelerate discovering the truth,” he added.
“This has been five years of living hell for Angela’s loving family.”
Anyone with information who wishes to qualify for the reward should contact the Prairie Village Police at 913-642-6868.
Meanwhile, anyone with other tips is encouraged to call Prairie Village Police or contact the anonymous Crime Stoppers TIPS Hotline at 816-474- TIPS (8477).
The U.S. Sun has contacted Geoffrey’s defense lawyer Paul Cramm for comment.
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