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Roger Huber Case

45:54 recording · EN · 2 speakers

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Brief overview

Cheryl Rucci vanished in 2005 before testifying against Roger Huber, a corrections officer.

  1. The witness vanished before the grand juryDeputies came to serve Cheryl's subpoena on August 9th, 2005, and she was reported missing the next night.
  2. Same department investigated its own officerThe Niagara County Sheriff's Office handled Cheryl's disappearance while Roger Huber worked there, and her family says she was labelled a fugitive.
  3. A road-side sighting was brushed asideAmy reported a teal four-door car, a woman mouthing "go, go, go" and, weeks later, a foul odor from the same woods; she says a detective told her Cheryl wasn't worth looking for.
Executive Summary AI
  • A 16-year-old special education student the hosts call Emily began journaling in January 2005 in Lockport, New York, and wrote that her friend Megan, 17, was in a secret relationship with an adult in law enforcement named Roger.0:59
  • A school administrator traced the name to 41-year-old Roger Huber, a correctional officer at the local jail, and Investigator Joe Taylor of the Niagara County Sheriff's Office opened a formal investigation, since New York's age of consent is 17 and the only question was when the relationship started.2:40
  • Huber's live-in girlfriend, 33-year-old Cheryl Rucci, who had a learning disability and whose cousin put her mental age at about 16, told Taylor that she and Roger had sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl together in the summer of 1999, a statement that made her both the key witness and a defendant.9:33
  • On August 9th, 2005, hours after hearing deputies had come to serve her with a grand jury subpoena, Cheryl disappeared from her apartment complex leaving her shoes and purse behind, and her family says the same department Roger worked for wrote her off as a fugitive who had run away.12:39
  • Roger was indicted on 21 counts, pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted rape and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, served 16 months to four years, later married Megan, and Cheryl is still missing twenty years on while a witness the hosts call Amy says her sighting that night was dismissed.15:46
Key Quote
“Tell Roger Huber to leave my students alone.”
— Ashley Flowers2:55
Key Quote
“And does this department know about Roger's case?”
— Britt14:27
Key Quote
“that Cheryl was just a crackhead whore.”
— Ashley Flowers14:04