The First 48: Missing Persons

Detective Ayanna Corbin:
[to her partner as they arrive at a house to question people] I'm gonna be bubbly; you can be mean, Mike, okay?

Detective Ayanna Corbin:
Now, I guess we gotta go t' talk to Kathy again. [Looks straight into the camera in her car] F**k, I'm never gonna eat or pee.

[Sarah has been missing only two weeks]

Narrator:
After Sarah disappeared, Kathy moved her own things into Sarah's bedroom.

Detective Ayanna Corbin:
Okay, so, now where would Sarah's stuff be?

Kathy Hicks, suspect:
Almost everythings I packed in a great big sack.

Detective Carol McLaurin:
[about suspects] Did we ever suggest taking Kathy and her boyfriend to the lie box?

[Note:
"lie box" means lie detector test]

Detective Pam Childs:
So you had the safe haven for, you know, all the girls.

Greg Wright, person of interest:
Just about. Their sanctuary... They come there. They sit there. They don't have to worry about no man disrespectin' 'em.

Detective Joe Struck:
What was your cut?

Greg Wright, person of interest:
[only a s**t-eating smile]

[Detective Pam Childs has only asked about a missing person]

Butch, acquaintance of missing person:
If I knew who did it, I would tell you.

Detective Pam Childs:
If you knew who did what?

[silence]

Ameer Zughair, son:
[about missing mother] She always saying, "I wanna go back to my country".

Detective Bob Berent:
To Iraq?

Ameer Zughair, son:
Yeah

Detective Bob Berent:
Oh great

Detective Selles Morris:
When I'm out in gang territory... I like to have the missing-person flyer with me, and I let 'em know, hey, look, I'm just there to work on the missing-person case. So you don't get on an adversarial thing with 'em... you don't want 'em pulling their gun on ya.

Detective Selles Morris:
I can't believe somebody's been smoking in my car.

Detective Pam Childs:
This is not your personal vehicle.

Detective Selles Morris:
You're not supposed to smoke in police vehicles, period

Detective Selles Morris:
[showing photo of missing girl to two gang members] You gotta take your hands out your pocket; I'm a policeman. Let's see that hand, man.

Detective Patrick Riley:
[on hot day, to missing person's son-in-law] I'm treating for water. Who wants water?

Detective Selles Morris:
[driving through "Gangster Two Six Nation" territory] This is near where that lady got shot, pushing her kids to a trick or treat.

[Throughout the episode, Detective Skrip teases her partner, Detective Struck, about his driving. Now, the narrator jumps into the act, too]

Narrator:
Even with Struck at the wheel, it takes 30 minutes to get to the alleged girlfriend's house.

Maria Perez:
[about her son who left the "Gangster Two Six Nation" gang] He got beaten when he got out, and I handed him another one.

Detective Laura Skrip:
[handing car keys to Detective Struck] The man in you wants to drive. 'Cause I know you.

Detective Joe Struck:
The survivalist in me wants to drive.

[Detective Charity Musial, looking for her missing person Milton Chalmers, inquires at the morgue]

Cook County Medical Examiner's office:
[on phone] Negative on the Chalmers. [jokingly] So he's not visiting the hotel.

Detective Joe Struck:
Sleep is like little slices of death.

Narrator:
Morris, the lead investigator on the Lopez case, has been with Missing Persons since 2001. Preferring to work alone, he's known as "Morris the Cat".

Detective Laura Skrip:
[about a boyfriend who just stopped his suicidal fianc?e from jumping off a bridge] He said from the first time he laid eyes on her he knew that was the girl for him.

Detective Selles Morris:
We've had a lot of shootin's around here lately - drive-bys, walk-bys, bicycle-bys.

[police think they are being played by the missing person's family]

Detective Dave Matual:
[about missing person's clothes, found by the family near train tracks] You would swear to god that those clothes were there before you guys went out there?

Aracely Reyes, cousin of missing person:
I would not swear to god for anything in this world.

Detective Selles Morris:
[about the missing person] Best-case scenario is he's just sick of his family, and he's with some friends.

Freddy Reyes, brother of missing person:
We came from Michigan. We started high school here. But we came with this different mentality - a little naive. Somebody pushed us, we were upset, you know? And we didn't know that here you don't get upset, you just take it, and you stay quiet because there's a group of people that are part of a gang, they're gonna beat you up.

Detective Judy Rolston:
[previously assigned to Homicide] You know, work in Homicide, there's just no happy endings; somebody's dead, and that's it. With Missing Persons, we can reunite the family, so it makes for a happier ending.

Detective Nari Isakson:
Not everybody can be me.

Detective Jose Diaz:
[chuckling] No, god forbid, I wanna be two foot tall with blond hair.

Detective Nari Isakson:
I'm sorry - I shouldn't swear, which my New Year's resolution, by the way, is to not swear.

Detective Jose Diaz:
My new resolution - I'm gonna swear twice as much; I'll make it up for you.