A mother's search for a missing daughter

NBC video 2: A mother’s lonely mission May 8: Becky Kraemer Marzo’s mother did everything -- she hired a private detective and consulted psychics. She’s still looking everywhere for where her daughter might be. Dateline NBC

Christina Randol, one of Becky’s best friend turns out to be the last person to see Becky on December 13, 2003— months before that string of unanswered calls from her family. That night they went out to a club together.

Christina Randol, friend: And she couldn’t wait to go.  And she was so happy that day.

Christina says she picked Becky up at Carl’s house where Becky was staying. They were having a fun evening at a club when Carl called Becky. They argued and then Becky hung up, but Carl continued to call.

Rob Stafford, Dateline correspondent: How many times did her cell phone ring that night?

Randol: I think he called at least four times after they had argued on the phone before she finally turned it off.

Stafford: And what was he asking about?

Randol: She said he was asking when she was gonna be home.  Where she was, what she was doing, who she was with.

Stafford: The place closes, then what happens?

Randol: I took her home. She went upstairs and waved at me and told me I’ll see you later    I had fun. And we’ll talk tomorrow.

But they wouldn’t talk the next day... or any other day.

Randol: I went over there and there was no answer at the door.

Stafford: She had gone to Florida on her own before. How did you know she didn’t just leave town?

Lisa, friend: ‘Cause it wasn’t like her. When she went to Florida the first time, she contacted us, she contacted Desiree, she contacted my sister, she contacted my mom. She came straight to my house the night she got back from Florida.

Unable to reach Becky for a week after their night together at the club, the friends went to the police.

Desiree: Our friend is missing and we have a feeling that her boyfriend has something to do with it because he was real abusive.

Stafford: What did the police say?

Desiree: Pretty much just blew us off because we weren’t family.

And when Becky’s mom, Karren, called the police in march to file a missing person’s report, she says they talked her out of it, saying Becky was a runaway.

Desperate, Karen put up fliers and knocked on every door in this neighborhood, where Becky lived with Carl. She held a vigil to get the public’s attention.

She also hired a private detective and consulted  psychics, who said her daughter might be secretly buried in a cemetery or along railroad tracks. Karren looked everywhere where she thought her daughter might be.

Stafford: And are you worried about what you might find?

Karren Kraemer: Yeah. I shouldn’t be the person to find my daughter’s remains, but I’m going to look for them.

Becky and Carl were an interracial couple and lived in a mostly black section of Milwaukee, which is where Karren concentrated her search.

Stafford: As you’re going into the black community in Milwaukee, what kind of reception are you getting?

Karren Kraemer: Wonderful.  People have helped me.  They’ve told me stories.  They’ve hugged me.  They’ve taken posters and passed ‘em out at their neighborhood meetings.  They’ve embraced me.

Ellen Corella heard about Karren’s story and offered to help.  She’s a former prosecutor, who now is a private investigator specializing in adult children who have gone missing.                 

Stafford: You start looking into Becky’s disappearance.  And what do you find?

Ellen Corcella (private investigator): She’s a victim of domestic violence. And everything we know about theories of domestic violence say that the perpetrator gets more violent than less violent.

And she says Becky’s behavior was typical of someone who is being abused: running away from her abuser. Becky tried several times—at times moving in with friends, her parents, or going to Florida.

Corcella: The abuser calls and lures them back.  Then when she gets her sense of power again and is beaten worse, she leaves.

And in many cases, after he romances her back, the abuse begins again. Becky wasn’t the first woman Carl had allegedly beaten. He’d had been married before meeting Becky. And although Carl denied it, his first wife did allege abuse.

Corcella: Well, the public record shows testimony about him having been abusive to his wife and it’s the main reason that the marriage is dissolved. He has a pattern of abuse. 

What’s more, since Becky’s disappearance, her credit cards haven’t been used,  her last paycheck was never cashed, her driver’s license hasn’t renewed, and no one has reported seeing or hearing from her.     

Corcella: She has for all intents and purposes, walked off the face of the earth.

Stafford: Becky Marzo  alive?

Corella: No.

Stafford: You’re absolutely convinced of—

Corella: I’m absolutely certain that that’s the case.

Stafford: What do you know about what the boyfriend did in the days after Becky was last seen?

Corella: What we do know from the phone records is that he apparently traveled to Canada to meet a girl that he had met online.

Stafford: Why is that significant?

Corella:  Men who have thought that they have committed the perfect crime by disposing of the body in a way it can’t be found, take a breather and look to see if the attention’s gonna turn to them, or if the police are gonna float on to the next case.

Stafford: So they leave town to see if the police are following them.

Corella: Yes.

Karren continued to badger the Milwaukee police about her daughter’s case. Then, 10 months after Becky went missing, to Karren’s shock, police made what some have called an outrageous move: They set up a meeting between her and the man she was accusing.

Karren Kraemer: And he said, “Mrs. Kraemer, tell this boy what you think he did to your daughter.”

Stafford: And you’re face to face with Carl Rogers?

Karren Kraemer: We were sitting side by side.  And—

Stafford: What do you say?

Karren Kraemer: I just looked at him and I said, “What did you do to Becky?  I know you killed her.”  And he said “The b*tch wasn’t worth it.”

Dateline tried to reach Carl Rogers but he didn’t respond.

The Milwaukee police department declined several interview requests by Dateline but did tell us that they are doing everything they can to solve the disappearance of Becky Marzo.

But Karren Kraemer isn’t waiting for the police.  She’s still out there searching.   What drives her is not the hope she’ll find her daughter alive, but find her nonetheless.

Karren Kraemer: I have to know what happened to her.  I have to be able to touch her coffin and tell her how much I loved her.  I gave birth to her.  I deserve the right to bury her.

If you have information on Becky Kraemer Marzo, contact the Milwaukee Police Department at (414) 935-7403 or go to the http://findbeckykraemer.com/ Website. You can also   discuss the case on our message boards.

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