#thezests

REPORTER- “Welcome back to tonight’s episode of Unexplained Mysteries, I am Robert Stead. We are talking tonight to Nancy Landgraab; in regards the the disappearance of her life long friend, Bella Goth. Bella disappeared 16 years ago, this week.  So Ms. Landgraab you were going to say before the break, your opinion as to what happened with Bella Goth.”

NANCY- “It’s very simple really. And me knowing Bella’s state of mind at the time of her disappearance, it makes the most sense. She was unhappy with her marriage, unhappy with her life as it was nothing like she envisioned. Bella wanted to be a concert pianist and travel the world. But instead she became a mother and wife. All good things of course, but she wanted more. She wanted it all. She wanted to be a wife, and a mother and an artist and travel the world. Ultimately she couldn’t do it. 

  Bella always was mentally disturbed. She refused to see it, and refused to get help. What does one do in her condition when they feel trapped?  They run.  She did exactly as she told me she wished she could do. Run away where no one could find her. If Bella Goth wanted to be found, she would have been by now. If she had been kidnapped or worse, murdered, they would have found that out by now. Bella ran away. Simple as that.”

REPORTER- “How could one run away, disappear and never be found?”

NANCY- “Don’t ask me. But Bella found a way. Sixteen years and not one trace of her. “

REPORTER- “Thank you so much Ms. Landgraab…Okay that’s it for tonight’s show. Make sure you tune in next week when we visit the home of Nancy’s daughter-in-law and Bella Goth’s own daughter, Cassandra Goth-Zest, who was only 17 when her mother mysteriously vanished. Here is a preview of next weeks show….”

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REPORTER- “Ms. Zest, some have said over the years that your mother was mentally ill, what do you say about that?”

REPORTER - “Good evening viewers, I am Robert Stead and this is Unexplained Mysteries.   Tonight is the second episode in the series of the Disappearance of Bella Goth. Sixteen years ago this week, Bella Goth mysteriously vanished and has not been seen since.  Her husband, Mortimer Goth had her declared dead one year later, but many people, including her daughter, believe that Bella is still alive somewhere out there.  Tonight we are at the home of that daughter, Cassandra Goth-Zest....

“Cassandra, you were seventeen years old that fateful day when your mother traveled to a piano recital in Willow Creek and was never seen again. Can you tell us, what kind of relationship did you and your mother have at that time”?

CASSANDRA- “During that time, I would have to say that our relationship had deteriorated. Prior to that my mother and I were very close. We did everything together. But about a year before my mother went missing I met Johnny, and needless to say my mother was not happy. This caused a great deal of friction between us, and the very morning she went missing we had a terrible argument.”

REPORTER- “An argument? What about and how did it conclude?”

CASSANDRA- “Unfortunately, it never concluded, there was no words of forgiveness or making up, as I never saw her again after that morning. The argument was the worst we had over that period of a year. I had found out three days earlier that I was pregnant, a senior in High School, only seventeen and pregnant.... and that morning I told her. And she become uncontrollable. She threw things, she was screaming calling me horrible names, and called Johnny even worse names. She actually calmed down a little when I was finally able to tell her that not only was I pregnant, but was pregnant with twins.”

REPORTER- “Do you remember her last words to you, Cassandra?”

CASSANDRA- “Oh, Yes they have played over and over in my memories for the last sixteen years.  She looked me dead in the eye and said...”Well I hope you are happy, because now you will never make anything of yourself, and Johnny will never amount to anything.” From that day on, I had to prove her wrong.  And thanks to my father, and Johnny, I finished High School, had my twins, went on to college, graduated with honors, went to law school, passed the bar and now run my father’s firm. So I proved her wrong, but she isn’t here to see it. Oh, and Johnny did make something of himself too.”

REPORTER- “Yes, he did. He went on to be a world-known comedian and award winning actor. Being only seventeen, and also pregnant at the time, how did your mother’s disappearance effect you, personally?”

CASSANDRA- “I blamed myself for years. I thought that because I had disappointed her and got pregnant that she left because of me. Then when all the rumors started about father having an affair, and then her maybe she was also having an affair... it was all very confusing. It took me a long time to forgive myself. It also affected my brother.  Alexander was only 13 when it all happened, and he and mother were extremely close. And of course father was lost for a long time. 

ZEST FAMILY

Johnny Zest

Cassandra Goth-Zest

Micah Zest

REPORTER - “Welcome back, we are here with Cassandra Goth-Zest, discussing the strange and mysterious disappearance of her mother 16 years ago...

“Ms. Zest, some have said over the years that your mother was mentally ill, what do you say about that?”

CASSANDRA- “Some?, you said some have said... There is only ONE person that has made that claim that my mother was mentally ill, and that bitch can go to hell.... and yes, I know she is the mother to my husband, but Nancy Landgraab is a manipulative, self centered, narcissistic bitch... Next question?”

REPORTER- “Okay...you said earlier that there were some rumors of infidelity, both of your father, Mortimer and your mother.  Can you tell us about that?”

CASSANDRA- “The rumors about mother began first. She was last seen coming out of the home of Don Lothario, who at the time was my father's best and closest friend. This went back to when they were children. Of course Don denied it, but Don was a womanizer, always has been and always will be. I don’t doubt for a minute that he didn’t try to seduce my mother as he had most of the other girls in the county. Did my mother succumb to his advances? One will never know, I suppose.  I for one think it is possible, as during college they went on a couple dates, but once she and my father got back together, Don was out of the picture.”

REPORTER- “And what about the rumors of your father?”

CASSANDRA- “Father did become involved with Dina rather quickly, which was odd, as she was dating Don Lothario at the time of my mother’s disappearance. But father and her were not involved until after that, almost a year later. But I did find out a few years later that my father did have a short affair with none other than Nancy Landgraab. Even stranger than that was the fact it was Nancy that introduced my father to Dina. There had to be something in it for her, or she never would have been involved with any of it. And this wasn’t the first time my father and Nancy Landgraab were involved. For a brief time in college during a time when my parents had called things off, Nancy came in like a vulture and seduced my father then. She wants everyone to believe that she and my parents were these close friends that confided in one another. There was nothing further from the truth. My mother hated her.  

REPORTER- “So was your mother against Johnny because Nancy was his mother?”

CASSANDRA - “I don’t know why she was so against Johnny, because no one knew he was her son when he first came to Oasis Springs. Maybe it was just because he was 19 and I was 17?  When Johnny came to Oasis Springs his name was Johnny Ward. Everyone including him, up until that time thought Judith Ward and Copper Ward were his parents. But in reality Judith was his aunt, and they made up this elaborate story that Johnny was her child, because Chester Landgraab would have disinherited Nancy if he knew she had a child with a married man. And their plan worked. Nancy inherited everything including his company.”

REPORTER- “You have a theory about your mother’s disappearance, will you tell us about that?”

CASSANDRA- “First, I know my mother isn’t dead. And secondly, I know she would have never left Alexander and I regardless of how disappointed she was in me, or even father. I think she was kidnapped and brainwashed or something.  Maybe had an accident and has amnesia.  And I think Nancy Landgraab has something to do with all of it.  She pushed and pushed for dad to have her declared dead within a year of her vanishing. I think Mother found something out about Nancy.  Something far worse than an illegitimate son. And Nancy had her removed.  I don’t know how, or were she put her, but I firmly believe she is alive and Nancy Landgraab knows exactly where she is!”