Chase Massner

Chase Massner was a 26-year old Iraqi War veteran living in Canton, GA. He was married, with two young children, and - like many parents - was struggling to make ends meet. After an argument with his wife, Amanda, Chase went to stay with a friend... and has never been seen again.

Chase Tyler Massner was born on September 4th, 1987, to his father Corbin Massner and his mother Stephanie Cadena. Both parents were very young, just a hair above twenty years old, so it's not a huge shock to me that the two didn't grow old together.

Records for Chase's early life are few and far in-between, the only thing being an arrest for marijuana possession on August 22nd, 2005. Chase was just eighteen, and the mugshot of him is a far-cry from the man he would later become. The charge didn't stick, though, or else Chase wouldn't have been able to accomplish one of his life goals: enlisting in the United States Army.

In the latter half of the 2000s, Chase would join the US military, and he would later get sent halfway across the world to serve a year in Iraq.

When Chase returned, he was suffering from the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. At least, that's what his wife, Amanda, would later state.

Amanda and Chase would date and get married during this time period, the time around Chase's return from Iraq. He would be discharged from the Army, presumably due to cutbacks.

Christin Amanda Chattom, who was called Amanda by everyone in her life, would become Amanda Massner. The couple's first child, a beautiful daughter named Sydney, would be born shortly thereafter.

I wish I could say that things would come together for this young couple, who presumably didn't want to repeat the mistakes of Chase's parents. Unfortunately, their situation would become complicated over the next few years, creating a situation that would make any future investigation a nightmare.

It seems that, throughout his lifetime, Chase had remained close to his family.

His mother, Stephanie Cadena, has worked with a family-owned auto repair company for years now, and always had a close relationship with her son. Apparently, whenever Chase had trouble with Amanda, he would go to his mother's to stay the night or to simply talk and discuss his issues. The two seemed to have the type of relationship that any mother and son should have.

However, Chase's relationship with his dad is a definite mystery to me. Corbin Massner, Chase's father, as an entity that I consider a wildcard to the investigation.

He was apparently a truck driver, who in the months before Chase's disappearance, had moved in with Chase's family. He had apparently been let go from his job, for a reason I'll discuss later.

This would only compound a financial situation that was getting tricky for Chase and his wife Amanda to manage.

You see, after Chase had been discharged from the military, he would struggle to make ends meet. He would work random job, but struggled to stay employed to the point of providing for his family. Then, when Amanda became pregnant with their second child, that struggle worsened.

He took a job as the night manager of a nearby Quik-Trip, located off of Bells Ferry Road in Kennesaw, Georgia. This meant that he would have to work the overnight shift, but would be able to at least keep a roof over his family's head for the time being.

This Quik-Trip was about thirteen miles away from the Massner family home, located on Serenoa Drive in Canton, Georgia. However, it was just over a mile away from the home of Chase's friend, Brad Clement, who will come into play momentarily.

When one looks at pictures of Chase's home, located up in Canton, Georgia, they wonder how a family of four - five, if you include Chase's father, Corbin - was able to live in it off of just a single hourly wage. Word has been that the couple got a good deal on it, but as someone who's worked hourly jobs for the better part of the last decade, I truly wonder how far that extends.

Because of this financial instability, things had been growing tense between Chase and Amanda. Now with two kids on their hands, and Chase's schedule completely flipped on its head, things seemed poised to snap for the young couple struggling to make ends meet.

In March of 2014, the struggles between Chase and Amanda continued. Their arguments were becoming more and more frequent, and apparently Chase would use his mother, Stephanie Cadena, as an outlet of sorts to help mediate the issue.

At times, this would just be Stephanie called to help out with an issue or two. However, at others, it would mean Chase staying at her house for a night or two, to simply let the couple have some space and work out their differences at a later date.

Amanda called Stephanie, and apparently told her about the issues the couple had been having lately. Most of it stemmed from their financial woes, but there was a lot of frustration and tension there. According to both Stephanie and Amanda, it wasn't anything insurmountable, but it was leading the couple to a place that they didn't want to be. So it was decided that Chase would spend a few nights at his mom's house, to let cooler heads prevail.

On Wednesday, March 26th, Amanda picked up Chase from his mother, Stephanie's home. The kids were in the backseat, waiting to see their Dad once again. They all said their goodbyes, Stephanie having no idea at the time that it would be the last time she'd see her son.

This is where the story begins to enter the murky territory of "he said/she said." From this point forward, all we have to go on is the testimony of the band of characters around Chase Massner: namely, his wife, and the friend I mentioned just a moment ago, Brad Clements.

On the way home from Chase's mother's home, apparently, the arguments struck up once again. It was apparently so bad that the couple didn't even make it home together; some have rumored that Amanda kicked Chase out of the car, but all we know is that Chase would be dropped off just a few miles way, at the Quik-Trip location he worked at off of Bells Ferry Road.

Seeing as how the couple lived over ten miles away, north in Canton, it goes to reason that the couple had been in the car for only a few minutes before the argument got so bad that they couldn't even make it home together.

James Bradshaw Clement, most commonly referred to by his middle name Brad, was a friend of Chase's. I can't tell you how the two became friends - whether they knew each other before Chase's deployment to Iraq or not - but they were roughly the same age, and both of them grew up in the Atlanta, Georgia area. They had apparently only hung out together a few times, so I'm curious as to how they became acquainted.

Brad lived in Kennesaw, Georgia, which is a small town about half an hour to the north of Atlanta... on a good day. I live not too far from this area, so I can just tell you that the Atlanta area itself is very, very busy, but the surrounding areas are surprisingly beautiful. You can travel just a few miles outside of Atlanta and hit some scenic patches of forest. Kennesaw is no exception, with a beautiful downtown and a population hovering at around 30,000.

Brad worked with computers for a living, which he would fix up in his house. Records show that he was also working for T-Mobile at around this time period, but without speaking to him, I can't verify that.
Nonetheless, Brad was a pretty self-made man. He owned his own home - a rather nice one, at the end of a cul-de-sac on Farmbrook Trail. He seemed like a regular guy - still does, despite the maelstrom that has become his life in the years since.

After Amanda dropped Chase off at the Quik Trip he worked at, which was just over a mile away from Brad's home, he apparently went to pick up his buddy.

For the rest of the evening, these two friends apparently spent a good chunk of their time talking. Brad remembers that Chase told him all about the issues him and Amanda were having, and that the two just hung around to shoot the breeze.

And, according to Brad, he also tried to play mediator for a bit. For a while after Chase's future disappearance, text messages between him and Amanda on the night in-question would become analyzed by investigators, but apparently most of them were sent by Brad himself. He was texting Amanda through Chase's phone, trying to help the two of them bridge the gap.

In his texts to Amanda, he apparently had begun floating the idea of a barbecue. You see, Brad was having roofers working on his house throughout this time period, in March of 2014, and he was planning to host a barbecue for them the next night. He wanted Chase to invite Amanda and their kids, and hopefully help calm things down with some burgers and hot dogs. Or whatever it was they were cooking, maybe I'm just hungry and daydreaming.

The next morning, on Thursday the 27th of March, Brad woke up, with the intention of delivering a computer to a client's home. He had been working on it for a bit, and had been finishing it up the previous night, as he spoke to Chase. He told Chase to hang out at his house for a bit, just to sleep in and catch a bit of a break.

This is where one of the most peculiar aspects of the story come into play. When Brad left to deliver the computer, he took Chase's cell phone with him.

Chase's cell phone case was also his wallet, so this meant that Brad was taking away Chase's lifeline, essentially. However, he states that he was doing this in an effort to keep Chase at his home; after all, without his cell phone or his wallet, how would Chase get anywhere?

Needless to say, the story continues to get muddled after this.

One of the biggest hurdles facing this story is whether or not Brad Clements was telling the truth. Because, as sad as it is to say, all we know about Chase's final hours are based off of his testimony.

He recalls the day that Chase vanished as a rather mundane one. He had taken Chase's cell phone with him, to prevent Chase from leaving his house, and ran some errands with it in his possession. He delivered his computer, came back home, and apparently Chase was still there. But then he states that he left again that afternoon to pick up groceries for the barbecue, and around this time was when Chase disappeared.

People have questioned whether Brad was telling the truth about all of that. Any of that, rather.

In a recent interview on Nancy Grace's podcast, Brad tells of how him and Chase smoked some weed and drank some alcohol on the night in-question, but doesn't go into much detail. He also states that when he picked up Chase, he found the Army veteran looking for "roxy" pills: also known as roxicodone, an opiate pain reliever that has become popular over the last few years.

You'd think that this would be a huge clue for the investigation. If someone is ever trying to score drugs, all they need is a contact to get the drugs, and the money to purchase them.

Brad pleads ignorance when it comes to that kind of substance, stating that he had taken them in the past after a car accident and disliked them, but didn't know where to get any. However, he also claims to have given Chase $60 before his disappearance, which leads me to think that Chase might have been looking for a substance for any reason at all: whether it be his relationship issues, his claimed PTSD, or whatever.

This is something that a lot of media outlets seem to have overlooked. Brad, while perhaps being the "wild card" of the entire story, is the only person we have that can vouch for the final 24 hours of Chase's life, and most of what he says is brushed off to the side as people rush to suspicions about him, personally.

As I said just a moment ago, during this time period, Brad was having work done to his house. Primarily, having his roof replaced by a small operation known as Ducks Roofing.

Brandon Duck, the owner and operator of Ducks Roofing, was at Brad's house for a large chunk of that day, along with a couple of his employees.

When Brad returned from running errands, the roofers remember seeing him and interacting with him. They had also seen him that morning, when they first showed up. They were also planning on staying, as Brad had invited them for a cook-out.

Brad returned from the grocery store, and began preparing for the barbecue. He claims that, in the process of getting the grill going, that he accidentally caught a section of his backyard on fire. He apparently had to go through quite an ordeal putting it out, and when he came back inside to talk to Chase about it, his friend was allegedly gone.

This is when the following phone call takes place.

This voicemail establishes just a couple of things.

First off, this means that Chase had disappeared or gone missing in the middle of the day. You'd think that someone would have seen him leaving, since Brad's house was at the end of a cul-de-sac and it would have taken Chase a good walk to get out of the neighborhood.

A social media posting from Brandon Duck just days after Chase's disappearance

However, another thing it establishes is that Brad's testimony was getting shaky. You see, those roofers that were working on his house? Brandon Duck, who had at least two coworkers with him? None of them remember seeing Chase at all; not in the morning, not in the afternoon, and definitely not leaving Brad Clement's home.

I don't want to throw any stones at Brad Clement; for all I know, he's as innocent as anyone in this story, but things like that don't do him any favors. He would later state that hearing that Chase had left from his roofers was just a simple miscommunication, but one has to wonder how such a thing happens. How would someone tell you a house-guest had left when they had no idea they were there in the first place? It just boggles the mind.

Needless to say, though, the search was beginning for Chase Massner.

Apparently, before Brad made his call to Chase's phone, word had already spread to Chase's family.
I couldn't tell you how the game of telephone worked, but at this point, Brad was under the assumption that Amanda had picked up Chase from his home while he was in the backyard.

However, it was clear that Chase's family had begun discussing Chase's extended absence just a tad beforehand.

That was a call from Stephanie Cadena, Chase's mother, placed roughly fifteen minutes before Brad called Chase. In it, she's already worrying about Chase's whereabouts, after learning that he had never made it home with Amanda the prior evening.

They began to work their way through the motions: finding out where Chase had last been, and working their way from there. Amanda and Stephanie got in touch with Brad, who informed them that Chase had slipped out that afternoon, apparently being spotted by the roofers working on his home... which we now know didn't happen. However, they began to get in-touch with Chase's other friends and associates, but had no such luck in finding him.

No one in Brad's neighborhood recalls seeing Chase that afternoon. You can't really blame them on that. Would you be aware of someone walking around your neighborhood in the approximate time-frame of 1:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon? I wouldn't. But the odds of NO ONE spotting him has to be pretty low, I wager.

Nonetheless, Chase had disappeared without a trace. His story was soon called in to the police, but unfortunately, they began investigating him as a voluntary departure. Meaning, of course, that they believe he disappeared willingly.

One of the many aspects of the case that has continued to haunt it, now three-plus years later, is the fact that it was first investigated by Chase's hometown Cherokee County police force.

As I stated before, he lived in Canton, Georgia, with his wife, Amanda, his two children, and now his father, Corbin.

Therefore, it fell upon Cherokee County police to investigate his absence. But, when things like this happen, things fall in between-the-gaps. I covered this type of occurrence back in the Long Island Serial Killer episodes, when some of the girls - namely Shannan Gilbert - disappeared in one area, but had their cases handled by their hometown police force, who often lived miles away.

Chase was last seen in Kennesaw, Georgia, which is located in Cobb County. Because of the overlap, this saw the case hit some hurdles from the very get-go. The most insurmountable disadvantage Chase's family saw was when police investigated Chase's disappearance as a voluntary absence. This meant, basically, that they thought he had run away.

On Nancy Grace's podcast episodes featuring an interview with Brad Clement, he states that Chase had stated - on more than one occasion - that he was going to run away and live in the woods. Obviously, I can't say that this was a common expression of his. I can't find anyone else that vouches for these statements, but police must have found some hint of truth in them, because they didn't think that there was anything nefarious about Chase's disappearance.

But as the hours turned into days, the belief that he had simply gone willing into the night began to be stretched thin.

The last known photo taken of Chase Massner

He supposedly had his debit card and cell phone with him, but the last that his debit card was used was the night before his disappearance: Wednesday, March 26th. This was also the night that he had gone over to Brad's home. It was just for a couple of dollars, I believe, meaning that it could have been for anything: soda, a beer, a snack, chap stick, etc.

The last time that Chase's phone would be used was the next day, March 27th. This was the day he disappeared. He had made a call the night before, on Wednesday, at roughly 10:30 in the evening, but I couldn't tell you to who that call was made.

You see, the unfortunate thing is that - just like Chase - we have no idea what happened to his cell phone. Some statements would have you believe that Brad was holding onto it all day long, but there's just no evidence to support that. And some statements have perhaps been taking out-of-context to imply that Amanda has had it, but we do know that Chase had upgraded his phone a month or so before his absence... meaning that Amanda may have simply had Chase's old phone, which would likely still have old text messages, photos, contacts, etc.

However, none of this would help police. Even when they began to investigate Chase's case more urgently - and it was finally handed back to the Cobb County police squad, whose jurisdiction was the area where Chase actually disappeared - all trace of him was gone in the wind.

Brad Clement has not been alone in facing backlash regarding statements made after Chase's disappearance. Amanda Massner, Chase's own wife, has also become one of the internet's prime suspects, because of conflicting statements she made about the last night she was with Chase, Wednesday, March 26th.

In the days after her husband's disappearance, Amanda supposedly gave conflicting statements about where, exactly, she had dropped him off. Stephanie Cadena, Chase's mother, recalls hearing from Amanda that she had dropped him off at the Quik Trip he worked at. However, she also recalls hearing in another instance how Amanda had dropped him off directly at Brad's home.

Brad Clement in a recent interview with Nancy Grace

Here's a phone call Amanda was making to someone, in which she mentions how scrutinized she would become in the weeks and months after Chase's disappearance.

Amanda would also face scrutiny from Brad Clements himself, of all people.

In his recent interview with Nancy Grace, Brad alleges that Amanda came to him the day after Chase's disappearance, not only looking for weed, but also hitting on him. He says without explicitly saying that she was flirting with him, as if she was mad at Chase for running away, and wanted to get back at him in some way. Brad also alleges that Amanda's mother was growing weed, and that Amanda was somehow involved in that operation, but gives no real details.

Here's Amanda, when questioned by a veteran's group who would launch a search for Chase.

A few things to unpack from that:

First of all, it's hard to differentiate whether or not she's talking about Chase having an issue with marijuana or heroin at the end there. Before this audio, I was honestly unaware that Chase had struggled with any hard narcotics in the past. When you read about him, it's generally very positive stuff; when it comes to missing persons reports, you don't often hear about the negatives of their life. Which sucks, in my opinion, because it's often those negatives that can help create leads to find out what happened to them.

Case-in-point: if Chase had had issues in the past with heroin, and was out looking for an opiate, it makes sense to think that he might have gotten ahold of some. But I'll get into that later.

However, another piece from that audio is at the very beginning, when Amanda mentions that she had closed off from everyone.

In the weeks after Chase's disappearance, Amanda was very much in front of the case, pleading with everything and everyone to help bring about some results. However, over time, she has become more withdrawn, eventually leaving Georgia and refusing to speak to anyone.

This is mainly because of a man named Paul Libri.

Paul Libri was a private investigator, operating out of Georgia, who became embedded in the search to find Chase Massner in 2014. He endeared himself to Amanda Massner, and I'm assuming was eventually hired by the mother of two to find her missing husband.

However, unbeknownst to Amanda, Paul Libri was facing charges of impersonating a police officer in another investigation, which would eventually land him in prison with a conviction.

He had apparently pretended to be a cop during the investigation of a missing teenage girl in Palmetto, Georgia. In 2015, he was found guilty of two charges of impersonating a police officer, and one charge each of both identity fraud and obstruction of justice - charges spanning across multiple occasions where he had pretended to be a cop.

It was after this - after putting so much faith and information in the hands of a private investigator - that Amanda began to shut herself off from the outside world. She hasn't spoken to the media in quite some time: not about Chase, his disappearance, or anything involving the two. She left Georgia with her daughters and moved to Iowa, under odd circumstances.

If I may, I'll turn the focus back on Brad Clement for a bit.

In the weeks after Chase Massner's disappearance, Brad was not suspected of any wrongdoing. Police didn't believe that he had anything to do with Chase being missing... after all, they were originally investigating him as a voluntary departure.

Brad was originally asked to take a polygraph by the police, but refused. He stated that his nerves would have been too messed up to take one; and honestly, I can't blame him. After doing a good amount of research on polygraphs, I don't believe that they're good indicators of truth whatsoever. Anyone with a brain can try and figure out how to fake one, which I talked about a bit in the Misty Copsey episodes of this podcast. Also, they don't measure truth whatsoever, just someone's stress level regarding a question; the verbiage of which can be what triggers a response, not the question itself.

For example, if I were to ask you "did you kill this person?" You might have a strong response no matter whether you did or not. I can't blame Brad for not wanting to subject himself to that and implicate himself based on a heartbeat.

However, word began to reach police that Brad, who had been having work done on his home, had had a dumpster in front of his house. Several people, many of Chase's friends and family, wanted police to investigate this.

Police would eventually get around to it, some time after Chase had already gone missing. However, they would later discover that the dumpster they had examined - at a local landfill - had been the wrong one. By the time they recognized their mistake, it was too costly to remedy. The dumpster had already been dumped into a local landfill, and they've openly admitted to Chase's family that the cost of going back to search the area where the dumpster was disposed of would be upwards of seven digits.

Sadly, even if this was more than just a hunch, it would be a very costly endeavor. And the chances of them finding something, after more than three years, would be slim to none to begin with.

But that was just another mistake in a long list of them that would go on to damage the integrity of the investigation.

Brad Clement was never an official suspect by police, even though the story of this mysterious dumpster and his ever-changing alibi have made him a prime suspect in the public eye. He has faced severe public backlash in the years since, which even drove him out of his home and out of the area he grew up in. He moved out of his home just months after Chase disappeared, and his only public sighting was during his interview with Nancy Grace just a month or so ago.

Brad Clement's home, where Chase Massner was last seen

I'll get into some theories of mine in just a moment, but I had the opportunity to speak to famous personality Nancy Grace not too long ago. I know that she's a very divisive figure when it comes to true crime, but I was pleasantly surprised that she took the time to speak to me about Chase Massner, which is a story she has done a lot to promote.

Also, I'll apologize for some of the audio quality. After my digital recording got corrupted, I had to utilize my backup recorder's version of the conversation. It was my first interview, so I hope you all cut me some slack.

But here you go, my conversation with Nancy Grace.

I'm really grateful to Nancy for speaking to me. At the time, I wasn't too well-versed on some of the issues, but she really helped clarify them for me and explained her thoughts on the matter. So, if you're listening, Nancy, thank you. I know many have disagreements on how she broaches certain stories, but she was nothing but nice to me.

There were a few things, however, that I disagree with her about. Namely, of course, the issue of drugs and mental illnesses, which I've briefly touched on in this episode.

It seems to me that the topic of drugs haven't really been brought up at all in relation to Chase's disappearance. He was arrested for the possession of marijuana as a baby-faced eighteen-year old, and according to the conversation we listened to between Amanda and another woman, Chase may have had issues with heroin in the past.

Then, of course, we have Brad saying that Chase was looking for "roxies," aka roxicodone, an opioid pain reliever. While this may just be a byproduct of Brad deflecting, it's a worthy lead to consider, that I haven't seen a lot of people talk about.

During the research for this episode, I happened to stumble upon a few articles talking about heroin use in Georgia, most printed at around the time period that Chase disappeared.

Now, I'm not saying that I believe Chase did heroin. For all I know, he never touched the stuff. So I just want to preempt the discussion by saying that. However, considering that we've heard audio of his wife discussing the fact that he may have had a problem with narcotics in the past, and that the last known person Chase spoke to said he was looking for opiates, I think it's at least worthy of a discussion.

With that said, I think it's relevant to note that between 2013 and 2014, the amount of people killed due to drug overdoses increased by over 10%. That's not nothing. In 2010, the state faced just three deaths caused by heroin overdoses. In 2013, that number had risen to 32. Then, in 2014, that number had nearly doubled from the year prior, to 59 deaths caused by heroin in the state of Georgia.

The following is from a WSB-TV Atlanta news clip.

That was a heart-breaking story, which I find very similar to that of Chase Massner's. Davis Owen was a promising young man with the entire world in front of him.

It's also note-worthy that this story was presented by WSB-TV less than a week before Chase Massner's disappearance, and came at around the time a batch of tainted heroin had hit the area of Atlanta.

Davis Owen attended school at Kennesaw State University, not even five minutes away from the Quik Trip that Chase worked at; just three or so miles away from where Brad Clement lived.

Here's a phone conversation between Brad Clement and Amanda Massner, on April 16th of 2014, just a few weeks after Chase had disappeared. It's also worth noting that this conversation took place at 2:00 in the morning, which explains why Amanda sounds so tired.

To me, it sounds like Brad is implying that Chase might have searched out a local drug dealer - or someone that he had associated with drugs in the past. It seems like in the beginning, Brad is hinting at something other than weed, which Amanda casually states. Maybe that's just me reading too much into it, after listening to that recording dozens of times, but I find this conversation very intriguing.

Like I said earlier in the episode, I don't want to believe that Chase Massner was the victim of a heroin overdose. But, unfortunately, the alternatives don't sound much more plausible. I don't believe that someone would have tried to abduct Chase - an Army veteran who was still in great shape - and I also don't believe that he would have willingly ran away and left his family behind.

The only other plausible alternative, I feel, is that Chase was suffering from severe mental health issues. He had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, after his tour in Iraq, which we know after hearing his wife, Amanda, say so in an audio clip. I've also seen reports that Chase may have been suffering from the beginning stages of bipolar disorder, but that seems more like internet speculation than anything. He would be at the right age for a mental instability to start manifesting itself, but we have no definitive proof that that's what was happening.

Brad Clement said in an offhand remark that Chase had talked about running off and living in the woods. Who knows? Maybe he did. Maybe he's been living in the Georgia woods for years, surviving and scavenging. That's what I'd like to think happened to Chase Massner.

Amanda and Brad Massner, with their daughter, Sydney

In the years since Chase Massner disappeared, many of the lives he touched have struggled to move on.
Brad Clement, the friend who was the last known person to see Chase, has struggled. He gave up his big house in Kennesaw, Georgia, and has struggled to remain employed. He states that the scrutiny brought upon him, following the disappearance of his friend, is just too much. He hopes that his recent interview with Nancy Grace will help clear his name.

Amanda Massner, Chase's wife, moved out of Georgia with the couple's two kids roughly a year after Chase went missing. She also faced her fair amount of scrutiny, and decided that it wasn't a good environment for their two children to grow up in. She moved to the Burlington region of Iowa, which not coincidentally, is where Chase's father, Corbin, lives.

Corbin Massner, who had been living with the couple in the months before Chase's disappearance, is an enigma to me. I can see that he has a bit of a checkered past when it comes to the law - which I won't go into detail about here - and was let go from his job in 2013 because of it. That's why he was living with his son's family during this time period.

It seems like Amanda chose to remain close to Corbin, her children's grandfather, and followed him back to Iowa.

Stephanie Cadena, Chase's mother, still lives in Georgia, and has remained the most vocal proponent of finding Chase over the past few years.

Answers about Chase Massner have been few and far in-between. He received a strong show of support from the online community in the first year or so after his disappearance, but bickering and infighting between the groups led to much of the conversations getting blocked or deleted. I've been trying to speak to the largest Facebook community in search of people that know Chase, but have gotten nowhere.

A short while after Chase went missing, a mysterious comment by his father Corbin inspired a bit of controversy. He told members of the online community to "stop posting about Chase," and implied that he'd never be found. This comment, while very odd and off-putting, has resulted in no new information coming to light.

Several groups, including some veteran's groups and Missing in America, have conducted searches in the area around Cobb and Cherokee County to try and track down Chase. Unfortunately, after three years, they have yet to find anything concrete.

Chase Massner stood six-foot-two, and weighed about one-hundred-and-seventy-five pounds at the time of his disappearance. He was a physically attractive young man, with dark hair and multiple tattoos. He had tattoos on his chest, including two roses, his last name "Massner" scrawled along the top of his back, the phrase "Never Depart 02-07-2010" on his right forearm, and other miscellaneous tattoos. He was last seen wearing a red Quik-Trip sweatshirt and khaki pants.

If any of these sound familiar, please get in touch with the Cobb County Police Department at 770-499-3945. The reward for information is now $5000, and this case has been forwarded to the cold case unit.

The story of Chase Massner is still unresolved.

Update #1

August 1st, 2017 Micheal Whelan

It's not often that I get to make an update for a prior story, but it's beginning to look like one is in store for the story of Chase Massner.

When I last spoke to you about Chase Massner, I told you all about him: that that he was a 26-year old Iraqi War Veteran, with a wife and two daughters, who was living in the area of Canton, Georgia. At the time of his disappearance, he was working at a Quik-Trip convenience store, which was just a stone's throw away from the home of one of his friends, named Brad Clements.

Chase and his wife, Amanda, had been having relationship issues, and he had been staying at his mother's home for a few days. After another argument, Chase went over to spend the night with his friend, Brad, and was never seen by anyone again.

This was in March of 2014. In the years since, most of the speculation has fallen on the shoulders of that friend who last saw him, Brad Clements.

The neighborhood where Brad Clement lived

In a recent interview with Nancy Grace, Brad spoke about Chase's desire to get his hands on some drugs; in particular, an opiate named roxicodone. These comments always stood out to me, because a recorded phone conversation between Brad and Chase's wife, Amanda, quoted Brad as saying that he'd never let a friend overdose at his house. According to him, he'd know what to do if that were to ever happen.

Well, according to news reports, he shouldn't be so confident.

After the story began to blow up, Brad Clements sold his house in Kennesaw, Georgia, and moved away. He has apparently become a bit of a vagrant, at least according to Nancy Grace's description of him on her own podcast. I reached out to Brad Clements in the making of my own episode and never heard back.

However, a few weeks ago, news broke that cadaver dogs picked up on a scent in the backyard of Brad Clement's old home.

Police carrying away remains discovered at Brad Clement's old house

Now, CBS 46 Atlanta is reporting that a body has been discovered in that backyard, and an autopsy is already underway. I expect that we'll be learning more in the coming days and weeks, but I just wanted to let all of you know as soon as possible.

If needed, I assume that police will be performing some sort of identifying tests to confirm the identity of the victim, but I'd feel pretty confident saying that any remains discovered in that backyard are likely to be that of Chase Massner.

We can only hope that the answer helps bring some closure to the family and friends of Chase Massner; some of whom, like Chase's wife, Amanda, have been persecuted in the years since for misconstrued comments and the like. I can only hope this test brings peace to them, and I'll keep you updated with any new developments in the story.

Barring any more updates over the next few days, I expect that you'll all be hearing from me this weekend, when I bring you part three of the Alcasser Girls story, aptly titled "The Fugitive." Until then, stay safe everyone, and give your family a hug tonight.

Update #2

This is the second update I will be making for Chase Massner, whose story I detailed back in May. And, seeing how events regarding this story have transpired over the past month or so, it will likely be the final update I make for some time.

Chase Tyler Massner was a 26-year old Iraqi war veteran who disappeared in March of 2014, after staying with a friend in Kennesaw, Georgia. He had a wife, Amanda, and two young daughters, who have had to grow up without their father.

I told you about Chase's troubled marriage, his relationship with his parents, and just about everything that's been publicly released about him. I also told you about the friendship he had with a man known as Brad Clement, who would later go on to become the main person-of-interest throughout the case.

Clement, a friend of Chase who lived nearby his workplace, was the last person to see Chase alive. For years, he spoke openly about his friend leaving his home on the fateful day of March 27th, 2014.

Shortly after Chase's disappearance, Brad Clement sold his home in Kennesaw, and basically became a vagabond. I detailed some of his odd habits back in episode 21. He basically fell off of the grid, but recent news has brought his personal past into question.

Earlier this month, I came to you with news about Chase Massner. A break in the story. Various news agencies picked up the story that human remains had been found in the backyard that once belonged to Brad Clement. For many, this was vindication; proof that their suspicions were right all along. For others, though, this was just a stark reminder that a once-bright light in their lives, Chase Massner, was gone forever.

The latter was proven true just days ago. On August 23rd, 2017, another news story broke. The body found in the backyard of Brad Clement was proven to be that of Chase Tyler Massner.

James Bradshaw Clement - most commonly referred to as "Brad" - told detectives that he was going to turn himself into police the day after the body was discovered. This was back in the beginning of August, when I brought you the first update on the story.

At that time, news agencies were reporting that Brad had already turned himself in. However, this was not verified.

After that conversation with detectives, Brad decided to go on the run. For about a week, nobody knew where Brad Clement had gone to. Police and the media reached out to his family, but they seemed to be as much in the dark as everyone else.

Brad's decision to run stands in a stark contrast to the pose he presented just weeks beforehand, when he spoke to an Atlanta-area CBS affiliate and declared his innocence. He seemed poised and calm, which didn't match up with what we know of killers.

However, now that the heat was coming down, Brad became more concerned. He called in to that CBS affiliate after the body had been discovered in his former backyard, claiming that he had been framed. Gone was his poise and calm demeanor; he sounded scared, angry, and frightened.

When news agencies actually dug into Brad Clement's backstory, they found some surprising information about his life in the years since Chase Massner's disappearance. In the three years since Chase disappeared, Brad had been arrested and charged with forgery, using a fake name, and the possession of heroin.

On August 11th, 2017, after a week on the run, Brad Clement was captured in DeKalb County, Georgia, just east of Atlanta.

The white van that Brad had run away in was found in the parking lot of a Publix. Photographers were there to capture a photo of Brad, handcuffed and laying belly-down on the concrete parking lot while rain poured upon him.

After his arrest, Brad Clement was denied any bond and has been charged with concealing a death. I'm sure that more charges will follow.

I would like to make a brief statement about the case, however. This is an ongoing case, so there are many moving pieces and things are in constant motion. While it doesn't take a criminal expert to say that Brad's current situation looks poor, I just want to reiterate that this is an open case. I probably won't be making any more updates until the criminal trial against Brad Clement begins, but at this point, he has not been charged with the murder of Chase Massner. It is a possibility that he is not guilty of the crime, and we should respect the legal process.

With that being said, it is with a heavy heart I say that the story of Chase Massner seems to have found its ending. It is not a worthy ending for a father, a husband, a soldier, or a son, but it is an ending nonetheless. I am happy for the Massner and Cadena families to have found some kind of resolution, and I can only hope that putting Chase to rest can help bring them some closure. Our prayers are with all of them.

Rest in peace, Chase.

Chase Massner

Chase Massner was a 26-year old Iraqi War veteran living in Canton, GA. He was married, with two young children, and - like many parents - was struggling to make ends meet. After an argument with his wife, Amanda, Chase went to stay with a friend... and has never been seen again.

Update #1

Update #2

Sources & further reading