Opinion ID: 1835515
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: o'grady's life and disappearance

Text: After graduating from high school in Omaha, Nebraska, O'Grady moved into an apartment with her friends Holly Stumme and Tracy Christianson, and at the time of her disappearance, she was working at a steakhouse in west Omaha. Shauna Stanzel, O'Grady's aunt, testified that she and O'Grady were very close and that O'Grady had lived with her for a time as a child. Stanzel said she spoke with O'Grady on a daily basis and agreed that it was sort of a habit that they would call each other daily. Stumme had been friends with O'Grady since they were both in the fifth grade. O'Grady and Stumme socialized together and talked and text-messaged all the time. They saw each other every day and also spoke on the telephone often. Stumme testified that Edwards worked at the same steakhouse as O'Grady and that O'Grady spoke to her about Edwards on a regular basis. Stumme and Christianson both described a particular evening in April 2006 on which Edwards came over to O'Grady, Stumme, and Christianson's apartment, and O'Grady and Edwards were flirting. Edwards was still there when Stumme went to bed, and the next morning, his clothing was still in the living room and his shoes were still by the door. Stumme and Christianson also said that Edwards had been at their apartment on May 9, 2006, the day before O'Grady was last seen. Stanzel last saw O'Grady on Wednesday, May 10, 2006, after a softball game. Stumme and Christianson last saw O'Grady on the evening of May 10, when they and some other friends met at their apartment. O'Grady was using her cellular telephone to send and receive text messages and had been talking about Edwards throughout the evening. Then after O'Grady received a telephone call, she took a shower, fixed her hair, put on makeup, and left at about 11 or 11:15 p.m. As she left, she told Stumme and Christianson to wish her luck, she was going to Chris' [residence] and would see them later. Keri Peterson, another friend of O'Grady's, said she and O'Grady routinely spoke on the telephone a [c]ouple times a day. It was unusual for the two of them not to talk to one another in the course of a day. They last spoke at about 11:30 p.m. on the evening of May 10, 2006, when O'Grady called Peterson. O'Grady told Peterson that she was in her car, on her way to Edwards' residence. Peterson received a text message from O'Grady about an hour later that said, No shenanigans for Jessica. Peterson explained that this was code for no sex for Jessica. Peterson did not reply and was unable to reach O'Grady the next day. The next day, Stumme was also unable to reach O'Grady, and by Friday, when O'Grady still had not come home, Stumme became concerned. Stumme went and talked to Stanzel. Stanzel had called O'Grady on Thursday and left a message, and she tried again on Friday. After speaking to Stumme, Stanzel contacted O'Grady's mother to see if she had heard from O'Grady. O'Grady's mother had not heard from her, so Stanzel's husband called the police. After O'Grady failed to show up for a Sunday softball game, Stanzel met O'Grady's friends at O'Grady, Stumme, and Christianson's apartment. All of O'Grady's personal effects were still there, as was her cat. Stumme described O'Grady as very attached to her cat, explaining that O'Grady would feed [her cat] everyday [sic] and any time she went out of town she would almost make me sign something saying that I was going to take care of [her cat]. Christianson similarly said that O'Grady held her cat all the time and called the cat her baby. Stanzel also went to the restaurant where O'Grady worked and discovered that O'Grady had not picked up her last paycheck. While she was there, Stanzel spoke to Edwards, who said he had not heard from O'Grady since May 9, 2006. Edwards said that he and O'Grady had planned to get together on May 10, but that he had canceled those plans. Stanzel never heard from O'Grady again. The last charge to O'Grady's bank account, other than a single regularly recurring charge, occurred on May 10, 2006. O'Grady's vehicle was found in a parking lot across the street from the restaurant where O'Grady worked, about a block and a half away. O'Grady's cellular telephone records reflect a pattern of making and receiving several telephone calls each day, including daily calls to and from Stumme and Peterson. Those records show that O'Grady's last two telephone calls occurred on the evening of May 10: an 11:29 p.m. call to Peterson and an 11:48 p.m. call to Edwards. O'Grady made no telephone calls after 11:48 p.m. on May 10. All the witnesses who testified about calling O'Grady after May 10 reported that their calls were immediately forwarded to O'Grady's voicemail, and O'Grady's telephone records indicated that all the calls made to O'Grady after May 10 were forwarded.