Hi, crime junkies. I'm Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And today's story, the one I have for you, is a powerful, tragic reminder that the most dangerous time in an abusive relationship often comes when a victim is trying to break free. And that sometimes the person closest to you can become your worst enemy. This is the story of Lisbeth Almond Popoka. It's Wednesday, July 1st, 2020, and Yeneth Almonds phone rings with a call that she's not expecting.

On the other end is her sister's longtime boyfriend, Jonathan.

Now, in all the years that she's known him, Jonathan has only ever called her for one thing, like to arrange

child care for their daughter, Yeneth's seven-year-old niece.

But this isn't one of those calls.

I mean, right off the bat, Jonathan asked her if she knows where her sister Lisbeth is, because

he says she's fully just like MIA.

And she's left their daughter, Astrid, at their East Haven, Connecticut apartment alone.

And again, she's seven.

In fact, it was Astrid who alerted him to Elizabeth's absence in the first place.

I guess when she woke up, she realized that mom wasn't there and she called him, that was

at like 9.15 in the morning, just as he was kind of wrapping up his shift at

UPS. And he said he really didn't think much of it at first. Like he thought maybe Lisbeth just

stepped out for a minute. So he kind of was just, you know, assuaged her concerns, you know,

finished his shift, headed home as usual. But when he got there at around 10, there was still

no sign of Lisbeth. And her car, a 2007 white Lexus, was gone too. When's the last time anyone saw her? Well, Yoneth talked to her sister the night before via Instagram. And Jonathan says that he was with her in bed and then he left for work. So that was at like 3.15 in the morning. He works

at like kind of overnight shift. So it hasn't been that long that they've gone without talking to her,

but Yoneth knows her sister's world revolves around Astrid. Like there isn't a world where she would

just leave her alone, especially since Yoneth is always available to babysit. Again, that's what she was

kind of expecting the call to be.

Right.

So Jonathan also says that Astrid isn't the only thing that she left behind.

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