Still Missing WA - Courtney Holden, 27, not reported missing, was living with adoptive family, Spokane, Apr 2018
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PommyMommy
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FEB 4, 2020
Missing woman's family arrested in Texas in connection to her disappearance - KXLY
[...]
Another neighbor told police she saw Joshua in the backyard two nights in a row after Courtney disappeared. She said it looked like he was installing a swing set in the backyard under a few spotlights and that “she thought this was strange because Joshua was doing it in the middle of the night.”
[...]
A different neighbor said she had seen Courtney’s son at the their home in the months after her disappearance. The neighbor, who was close with Courtney, also told police she was often bruised and had endured years of abuse at the hands of Joshua.
[...]
Courtney’s friend said Courtney never had a car or a cell phone and that Judy and Joshua called her son “Forest,” which is not his legal name — and that Courtney’s son would call Judy “mom,” Joshua “dad” and his own mother by her first name.
[...]
Courtney’s brother’s girlfriend told police on Oct. 9 she had seen Courtney’s son every time she visited the Holden’s home over the last year and a half. She told police Judy and Joshua would often call Courtney “Cindy,” which was short for “Cinderella,” since “she was basically expected to be their household servant.”
[...]
Once a search warrant was executed on Oct. 24, police had reason to believe Joshua and Judy fled from their house with Courtney’s son as well as their pets. Police were called back to the house a few days later when neighbors saw a man in the Holden’s yard. According to the search warrant, it was Judy’s son-in-law from Texas — he told officers Courtney’s son was with Joshua and Judy, but when his wife walked up a few minutes later, she said Courtney and her son were together and she had no way of contacting her mother. The investigating officer suspected Judy’s daughter was covering for them while they were staying at her house in Texas.
Judy’s son-in-law confirmed those suspicions. He told police Joshua, Judy and Courtney’s son showed up at his house around Nov. 26. with all their belongings. Police said they spoke with another one of Judy’s daughters, who confessed to posing as Courtney in the call to Crime Check the day she was reported missing.
[...]
Officers ordered a warrant for cadaver dogs to search the Holden’s home as well as another property owned by Judy. Court documents show nothing was found in that search, though officers did recover 17 cell phones inside the house, which they will comb through for evidence.
[...]
Missing woman's family arrested in Texas in connection to her disappearance - KXLY
[...]
Another neighbor told police she saw Joshua in the backyard two nights in a row after Courtney disappeared. She said it looked like he was installing a swing set in the backyard under a few spotlights and that “she thought this was strange because Joshua was doing it in the middle of the night.”
[...]
A different neighbor said she had seen Courtney’s son at the their home in the months after her disappearance. The neighbor, who was close with Courtney, also told police she was often bruised and had endured years of abuse at the hands of Joshua.
[...]
Courtney’s friend said Courtney never had a car or a cell phone and that Judy and Joshua called her son “Forest,” which is not his legal name — and that Courtney’s son would call Judy “mom,” Joshua “dad” and his own mother by her first name.
[...]
Courtney’s brother’s girlfriend told police on Oct. 9 she had seen Courtney’s son every time she visited the Holden’s home over the last year and a half. She told police Judy and Joshua would often call Courtney “Cindy,” which was short for “Cinderella,” since “she was basically expected to be their household servant.”
[...]
Once a search warrant was executed on Oct. 24, police had reason to believe Joshua and Judy fled from their house with Courtney’s son as well as their pets. Police were called back to the house a few days later when neighbors saw a man in the Holden’s yard. According to the search warrant, it was Judy’s son-in-law from Texas — he told officers Courtney’s son was with Joshua and Judy, but when his wife walked up a few minutes later, she said Courtney and her son were together and she had no way of contacting her mother. The investigating officer suspected Judy’s daughter was covering for them while they were staying at her house in Texas.
Judy’s son-in-law confirmed those suspicions. He told police Joshua, Judy and Courtney’s son showed up at his house around Nov. 26. with all their belongings. Police said they spoke with another one of Judy’s daughters, who confessed to posing as Courtney in the call to Crime Check the day she was reported missing.
[...]
Officers ordered a warrant for cadaver dogs to search the Holden’s home as well as another property owned by Judy. Court documents show nothing was found in that search, though officers did recover 17 cell phones inside the house, which they will comb through for evidence.
[...]
Kitten72
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So people saw the bruises, abuse and her fear....knew she was called Cindy for Cinderella but nobody helped? I really don’t get it. If I saw someone with black eyes and bruises I would like to think I would help. That poor girl.
PommyMommy
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FEB 6, 2020
'I could've dug deeper': Friends regret not reporting missing Spokane mom sooner - KXLY
[...]
Hindsight is 20-20 for Holden’s soon-to-be sister-in-law CC, said knowing what she does now, she can’t help but question herself. CC has had to grapple with the possibility she might be without Holden on her wedding day, when she marries Holden’s brother Reuben.
“I feel like I could’ve done something for her. I wish I would’ve,” CC said in an exclusive interview with 4 News Now. “When I look back at it, I feel like I should’ve been there more for her. I did talk to her and I was there for her and I did listen to her, but I could’ve asked her more questions. I could’ve dug deeper.”
[...]
“That’s all she’s been around, so she thought it was okay to be treated that way and that it was normal,” CC said. “But she never fought to get out either, so that’s why I didn’t step forward and say ‘hey, I’m gonna make a call and I’m gonna get you out of this’ because she didn’t bring it to my attention that she was in it that bad.”
[...]
“I should’ve called when I knew. When I saw Courtney last, when I knew that she was being held and isolated,” she said. “I had maybe put it in my mind that maybe Courtney checked herself into a mental institution or something, and that she was getting some help. That’s what I wanted to believe.”
[...]
From the video:
'I could've dug deeper': Friends regret not reporting missing Spokane mom sooner - KXLY
[...]
Hindsight is 20-20 for Holden’s soon-to-be sister-in-law CC, said knowing what she does now, she can’t help but question herself. CC has had to grapple with the possibility she might be without Holden on her wedding day, when she marries Holden’s brother Reuben.
“I feel like I could’ve done something for her. I wish I would’ve,” CC said in an exclusive interview with 4 News Now. “When I look back at it, I feel like I should’ve been there more for her. I did talk to her and I was there for her and I did listen to her, but I could’ve asked her more questions. I could’ve dug deeper.”
[...]
“That’s all she’s been around, so she thought it was okay to be treated that way and that it was normal,” CC said. “But she never fought to get out either, so that’s why I didn’t step forward and say ‘hey, I’m gonna make a call and I’m gonna get you out of this’ because she didn’t bring it to my attention that she was in it that bad.”
[...]
“I should’ve called when I knew. When I saw Courtney last, when I knew that she was being held and isolated,” she said. “I had maybe put it in my mind that maybe Courtney checked herself into a mental institution or something, and that she was getting some help. That’s what I wanted to believe.”
[...]
From the video:
flute4peace
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Good heavens - this family is more twisted than a double pretzel. Yikes!
VanillaRose
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What a heartbreaking story. I can’t believe that no one ever called police!!! So sad for her son but glad he is away from the monsters. This case is really unbelievable 
VanillaRose
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Found this article that I didn’t see mentioned here. Her foster brother gives account of his time in the Holden house...
"I know Courtney was murdered": Spokane man details life in the Holden home
“A man named Jensen Tyler says... he lived with them for years.
"From the moment I had my first memory until I turned 12," Jensen said...
Jensen says he spent those years living in fear.
"I think at first (they took foster children in) for a monetary thing, they needed money and more income," he said. "But then, it turned into abuse."
Jensen, now a grown man, says he and his brother were some of the many foster children placed with the Holden family. He says the abuse was rough, but watching others get it, was almost worse.
"It was like my brother was a dog and just there for Joshua to beat up," he said...
"Predators are always looking for the opportunity," he said. " That's what they do. It started with me and my brother. When we left, they started doing it to Courtney. Courtney told me all these horrible things they were doing."
He says it was Josh who was Courtney's primary abuser. Court documents outline allegations that she wasn't his only victim.
"I know Courtney was murdered," he said. "These people don't want to be held accountable. When they sense accountability is coming, they run."
Josh and Judy Holden are fighting extradition.“
"I know Courtney was murdered": Spokane man details life in the Holden home
“A man named Jensen Tyler says... he lived with them for years.
"From the moment I had my first memory until I turned 12," Jensen said...
Jensen says he spent those years living in fear.
"I think at first (they took foster children in) for a monetary thing, they needed money and more income," he said. "But then, it turned into abuse."
Jensen, now a grown man, says he and his brother were some of the many foster children placed with the Holden family. He says the abuse was rough, but watching others get it, was almost worse.
"It was like my brother was a dog and just there for Joshua to beat up," he said...
"Predators are always looking for the opportunity," he said. " That's what they do. It started with me and my brother. When we left, they started doing it to Courtney. Courtney told me all these horrible things they were doing."
He says it was Josh who was Courtney's primary abuser. Court documents outline allegations that she wasn't his only victim.
"I know Courtney was murdered," he said. "These people don't want to be held accountable. When they sense accountability is coming, they run."
Josh and Judy Holden are fighting extradition.“
PommyMommy
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MAR 3, 2020
Adoptive family of missing Spokane woman no longer in Texas jail | FOX 28 Spokane
The adoptive mother and brother of a missing Spokane woman, believed by Spokane Police to be dead, are no longer in the custody of Texas authorities.
[...]
Judy and Joshua have been fighting extradition, leading to Spokane Police securing a warrant Washington State Governor’s Office to bring them back to Spokane.
[...]
Adoptive family of missing Spokane woman no longer in Texas jail | FOX 28 Spokane
The adoptive mother and brother of a missing Spokane woman, believed by Spokane Police to be dead, are no longer in the custody of Texas authorities.
[...]
Judy and Joshua have been fighting extradition, leading to Spokane Police securing a warrant Washington State Governor’s Office to bring them back to Spokane.
[...]
inmyhumbleopinion
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UPDATED: Thu., March 26, 2020
By Jared Brown
“Spokane police could soon know more about what happened to a missing Spokane woman feared dead. A local lawyer has taken on the case of her adoptive mother and brother, who fled to Texas during a criminal investigation last fall.
Attorney Steve Graham said in court Thursday that releasing them from law enforcement custody would expedite their return to Spokane to face the minor charges against them, after weeks in federal facilities waiting to be transported.
Graham said a family member is prepared to drive them to Spokane from Texas so they can set the record straight on the disappearance of Courtney Holden, who hasn’t been seen in more than a year and a half.
Joshua and Judy Holden are each accused of identity theft and custodial interference due to suspicion they accessed bank accounts for Courtney and hid her 7-year-old child from police and his father. Multiple people familiar with the family, including neighbors, friends and a former foster child, have told KHQ that Joshua is violent and they believe he and Judy killed Courtney.
[SBM]
Graham said the Holdens have not provided any new information about Courtney’s potential whereabouts, but he plans to locate her as a part of his defense for Judy and Joshua.
[SBM]
Joshua and Judy were both arrested in Plano, Texas, while staying with family in December. Courtney’s child was later reunited with his father.
[Randy] Lesser, [a] Spokane police detective, said he was not pursuing charges against Joshua’s and Judy’s family members, whom he found impersonated Courtney during phone calls with police and communicated with Joshua from jail about hiding some of his belongings.
[SBM]
At the time Joshua and Judy were arrested, they refused to talk to police and would not agree to be extradited back to Spokane. The U.S. Marshals Service then began the process to transport them home to Spokane earlier this month.
But Joshua recently was released from federal custody in Oklahoma due to concerns about his health issues in light of potential COVID-19 outbreaks in detention facilities, according to Graham. He has since returned to Texas, though Judy remains in a federal facility in Nevada, Graham said.
Graham argued Thursday for a judge to order Judy’s release and quash Joshua’s felony warrant so he won’t be re-arrested, Graham said. Judy, 74, who has health issues herself, could catch the novel coronavirus and die in custody, and they’re accused of minor charges at this time.
Spokane County Superior Court Judge John Cooney did not quash Joshua’s warrant, because he is free to return to Spokane any time but said Judy should be released if Spokane police can confirm Courtney’s child is safe.
[SBM]”
Lawyer: Relatives of Spokane woman feared dead want to return home after Texas arrests, clear up ‘sinister’ accusations
By Jared Brown
“Spokane police could soon know more about what happened to a missing Spokane woman feared dead. A local lawyer has taken on the case of her adoptive mother and brother, who fled to Texas during a criminal investigation last fall.
Attorney Steve Graham said in court Thursday that releasing them from law enforcement custody would expedite their return to Spokane to face the minor charges against them, after weeks in federal facilities waiting to be transported.
Graham said a family member is prepared to drive them to Spokane from Texas so they can set the record straight on the disappearance of Courtney Holden, who hasn’t been seen in more than a year and a half.
Joshua and Judy Holden are each accused of identity theft and custodial interference due to suspicion they accessed bank accounts for Courtney and hid her 7-year-old child from police and his father. Multiple people familiar with the family, including neighbors, friends and a former foster child, have told KHQ that Joshua is violent and they believe he and Judy killed Courtney.
[SBM]
Graham said the Holdens have not provided any new information about Courtney’s potential whereabouts, but he plans to locate her as a part of his defense for Judy and Joshua.
[SBM]
Joshua and Judy were both arrested in Plano, Texas, while staying with family in December. Courtney’s child was later reunited with his father.
[Randy] Lesser, [a] Spokane police detective, said he was not pursuing charges against Joshua’s and Judy’s family members, whom he found impersonated Courtney during phone calls with police and communicated with Joshua from jail about hiding some of his belongings.
[SBM]
At the time Joshua and Judy were arrested, they refused to talk to police and would not agree to be extradited back to Spokane. The U.S. Marshals Service then began the process to transport them home to Spokane earlier this month.
But Joshua recently was released from federal custody in Oklahoma due to concerns about his health issues in light of potential COVID-19 outbreaks in detention facilities, according to Graham. He has since returned to Texas, though Judy remains in a federal facility in Nevada, Graham said.
Graham argued Thursday for a judge to order Judy’s release and quash Joshua’s felony warrant so he won’t be re-arrested, Graham said. Judy, 74, who has health issues herself, could catch the novel coronavirus and die in custody, and they’re accused of minor charges at this time.
Spokane County Superior Court Judge John Cooney did not quash Joshua’s warrant, because he is free to return to Spokane any time but said Judy should be released if Spokane police can confirm Courtney’s child is safe.
[SBM]”
Lawyer: Relatives of Spokane woman feared dead want to return home after Texas arrests, clear up ‘sinister’ accusations
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First time poster, long time reader being so involved in so much information across all these forums!
This is so heartbreaking! Have I just overlooked it or does it say why Courtney as a 27 year old was living with a foster family? I'm a little confused about that.
This is so heartbreaking! Have I just overlooked it or does it say why Courtney as a 27 year old was living with a foster family? I'm a little confused about that.
inmyhumbleopinion
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Welcome to Websleuths!
It appears that Courtney was taken in as a foster child by the Holden family at first and then eventually adopted by them.
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Thank you Inmyhumbleopinion!
& That makes MUCH more sense, and kind of the route that I was originally thinking but I guess since she was 27 I figured I had to have missed something!
& That makes MUCH more sense, and kind of the route that I was originally thinking but I guess since she was 27 I figured I had to have missed something!
PommyMommy
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WHAT?! I am so confused.
How is releasing them from LE custody going to expedite their return to Spokane when Joshua has already gone the opposite direction (from Oklahoma to Texas) after being released due to health issues? When they were in Spokane they were uncooperative. After they were arrested in TX they refused to talk to police and wouldn't agree to be extradited back to Spokane. And now we're supposed to believe they'll just return if they're released from custody?
Why aren't they pursuing charges against the family members who impersonated Courtney and talked to Joshua about hiding his belongings?
Why aren't they excavating the backyard where Joshua set up spotlights two days in a row and constructed a swing set in the middle of the night?!
ADKGemini
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Courtney Corrinna Holden – The Charley Project
Details of Disappearance
Courtney lived with her adoptive mother, Judy Holden, her adoptive brother, Joshua Holden, and her young son on Heroy Avenue in northeast Spokane, Washington at the time of her disappearance. Photos of Joshua and Judy are posted with this case summary.
Joshua has a prior arrest record, and family members said he had said it would be easy to kill someone and hide the body. Neighbors and family members described him as "dangerous, violent, and unpredictable" and said Judy seemed to be afraid of him. He had been charged with rape in 2005, but the case was dropped before trial because the victim stopped cooperating with prosecutors.
According to neighbors, the Holdens' residence had numerous security cameras around the outside. Courtney did not own a cellular phone or a car, and confided to a neighbor that she was afraid to leave the house without permission from Joshua. One neighbor regularly noticed bruises on her, and when she asked about them, Courtney said Joshua "would beat on her." When Joshua found out she had a Facebook account and was using it to talk to people, he made her stop using it.
Judy and Joshua referred to Courtney as "Cindy", short for Cinderella, in reference to all the household chores she performed. Visitors to the house noted Courtney's son called Joshua, "Daddy" and Judy, "Mom."
Courtney had been taking prescription medication for about a year or two prior to her disappearance, getting a refill every month or two. The last refill she got was in July 2018. The last time anyone outside the family saw Courtney was sometime that summer. One neighbor saw her carrying a large duffel bag out the front door of the house. Judy chased after her calling for her to come back, and Courtney said, "I'm not staying here anymore." Joshua forcibly picked her up and carried her back inside.
No one is known to have seen Courtney since then, although money continued to get withdrawn from her bank account, and groceries kept being purchased with her food stamps.
Joshua and Judy told various stories to explain Courtney's absence: that she was traveling with a boyfriend who was a long-range truck driver, that she had run off with a fiance, or that she was in fact at home with them but just wasn't available to see or speak to anyone.
Courtney was not reported missing until early October 2019, more than a year after she was last seen. The father of her son, and his current girlfriend, asked the police to perform a welfare check, saying they hadn't seen or heard from Courtney in two years.
When police went to the Holden home, Courtney was gone, and Joshua and Judy didn't want to cooperate with them. Judy did, reluctantly, show a police detective Courtney's room. The detective noted the mattress was bare, and it didn't look as if anyone had stayed there for awhile. After the police saw Courtney's room, Judy asked them to leave.
Investigators opened up a missing persons investigation. The day the missing persons report was filed, Joshua and Judy withdrew money from Courtney's bank account. That same day, a woman claiming to be Courtney called Crime Line to say she was fine. A police dispatcher also spoke to someone who claimed to be Courtney. The caller turned out to be Courtney's adoptive sister, however, and wouldn't say why she had pretended to be Courtney.
By October 24, the police came to the Holdens' house to execute a search warrant and discovered Joshua and Judy had moved away, taking their six pets and the DVR from their home surveillance system. Police searched the house with cadaver dogs, but didn't find anything of interest.
In mid-December, authorities located Joshua and Judy in Texas. They were living with one of Judy's other daughters and they had Courtney's son with them. The boy was given to the care of his father, and the Holdens were arrested and charged with identity theft (for taking money from Courtney's bank accounts) and custodial interference (for concealing her son). They have not been actually charged in her disappearance, however.
Courtney is described as a loving mother who wouldn't have abandoned her child. Investigators believe she may be deceased; their investigation has turned up no evidence that she is still alive.
Details of Disappearance
Courtney lived with her adoptive mother, Judy Holden, her adoptive brother, Joshua Holden, and her young son on Heroy Avenue in northeast Spokane, Washington at the time of her disappearance. Photos of Joshua and Judy are posted with this case summary.
Joshua has a prior arrest record, and family members said he had said it would be easy to kill someone and hide the body. Neighbors and family members described him as "dangerous, violent, and unpredictable" and said Judy seemed to be afraid of him. He had been charged with rape in 2005, but the case was dropped before trial because the victim stopped cooperating with prosecutors.
According to neighbors, the Holdens' residence had numerous security cameras around the outside. Courtney did not own a cellular phone or a car, and confided to a neighbor that she was afraid to leave the house without permission from Joshua. One neighbor regularly noticed bruises on her, and when she asked about them, Courtney said Joshua "would beat on her." When Joshua found out she had a Facebook account and was using it to talk to people, he made her stop using it.
Judy and Joshua referred to Courtney as "Cindy", short for Cinderella, in reference to all the household chores she performed. Visitors to the house noted Courtney's son called Joshua, "Daddy" and Judy, "Mom."
Courtney had been taking prescription medication for about a year or two prior to her disappearance, getting a refill every month or two. The last refill she got was in July 2018. The last time anyone outside the family saw Courtney was sometime that summer. One neighbor saw her carrying a large duffel bag out the front door of the house. Judy chased after her calling for her to come back, and Courtney said, "I'm not staying here anymore." Joshua forcibly picked her up and carried her back inside.
No one is known to have seen Courtney since then, although money continued to get withdrawn from her bank account, and groceries kept being purchased with her food stamps.
Joshua and Judy told various stories to explain Courtney's absence: that she was traveling with a boyfriend who was a long-range truck driver, that she had run off with a fiance, or that she was in fact at home with them but just wasn't available to see or speak to anyone.
Courtney was not reported missing until early October 2019, more than a year after she was last seen. The father of her son, and his current girlfriend, asked the police to perform a welfare check, saying they hadn't seen or heard from Courtney in two years.
When police went to the Holden home, Courtney was gone, and Joshua and Judy didn't want to cooperate with them. Judy did, reluctantly, show a police detective Courtney's room. The detective noted the mattress was bare, and it didn't look as if anyone had stayed there for awhile. After the police saw Courtney's room, Judy asked them to leave.
Investigators opened up a missing persons investigation. The day the missing persons report was filed, Joshua and Judy withdrew money from Courtney's bank account. That same day, a woman claiming to be Courtney called Crime Line to say she was fine. A police dispatcher also spoke to someone who claimed to be Courtney. The caller turned out to be Courtney's adoptive sister, however, and wouldn't say why she had pretended to be Courtney.
By October 24, the police came to the Holdens' house to execute a search warrant and discovered Joshua and Judy had moved away, taking their six pets and the DVR from their home surveillance system. Police searched the house with cadaver dogs, but didn't find anything of interest.
In mid-December, authorities located Joshua and Judy in Texas. They were living with one of Judy's other daughters and they had Courtney's son with them. The boy was given to the care of his father, and the Holdens were arrested and charged with identity theft (for taking money from Courtney's bank accounts) and custodial interference (for concealing her son). They have not been actually charged in her disappearance, however.
Courtney is described as a loving mother who wouldn't have abandoned her child. Investigators believe she may be deceased; their investigation has turned up no evidence that she is still alive.
