Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.

And I'm Britt.

And the story I have for you today is one that actually came to us by way of a listener

named Jessica from the UK. And it's about a boy rapidly becoming a young man and starting

to carve out a bright future for himself, until a night on the town with his best friend

changed everything. That was 25 years ago. And the mystery of his disappearance still lingers

even today. This is the story of Damien Nettles.

November 3, 1996 is a typical Sunday morning for the Nettles family in their cozy home

on the Isle of White, just off the South Coast of England. Now, if Sundays aren't slow,

it's never slow at their house. There are three kids in the house with a fourth just

off to university. So Valerie and her husband Ed are up making breakfast and starting to

work their way through their weekend to do list. Nine-year-old Melissa's in the living

room watching cartoons. And their sons, 12-year-old James and 16-year-old Damien are doing what

teenagers everywhere are doing at 8.30 on a Sunday morning.

Yeah, sleeping.

Sleeping, you got it.

According to Valerie's book, The Boy Who Disappeared, she hears James start to stir upstairs.

And so she figures it's as good a time as any to get Damien up and at him too, before

you know, the day gets away from him. So she sends Melissa upstairs to wake him up, a

job she's thrilled to do because, you know, little sisters. But not even a minute later,

Melissa's back downstairs saying that Damien's not in his bed. And Valerie's like, what

do you mean he's not in his bed? Are you sure? Did you check the bathroom? But Melissa's

...