Mike Cooley says Corey Kaufman went to steal irrigation pipes from Carson's lot and never came back.
1. The Trials of Frank Carson aftershow, "A Disappearance," revisits Corey Kaufman's disappearance in Turlock, California, during March 2012.
2. Christopher Goffard, the show's writer and host, speaks with Los Angeles Times Deputy Metro Editor Steve Clough about the investigation and episode evidence.
3. The episode's central question is how authorities connected Kaufman's disappearance to Frank Carson while Carson refused to cooperate without written questions or a warrant.
4. Kevin Pickett gave investigators conflicting dates, first identifying March 28, 2012 through a $46 Modesto Junk Company receipt and later selecting March 29 for the missing-person flyer.
5. Mike Cooley, a friend of Kaufman and a thief who admitted using heroin and meth, said Kaufman went toward Carson's lot for irrigation pipes and did not return.
6. Cooley later faced a meth-possession charge carrying 10 to 12 years before pleading to a misdemeanor, serving four months, and becoming a government witness.
7. Investigators interpreted Carson's surveillance of his Turlock property and his request that Robert Woody and Bobby Atwal confront Cooley as links to the disappearance.
8. The hosts examine a recorded office confrontation in which Carson calls 911, describes officers' guns, and says he will make a citizen's arrest.
9. A search-warrant application cited Carson's representation of Russell Jones, who buried a body in a three-foot grave, as possible evidence that Carson understood concealment methods.
10. Listeners interested in missing-person investigations, courtroom evidence, and investigative reporting.
