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ARCHIVAL LOCAL NEWS · AIRED DAYS AFTER 12/24/24
[ video pending · Filming Block A, Oct 12–18 ]
FAMILY FOUND SAFE — CHRISTMAS EVE MYSTERY, CONT'D
Good evening. An update tonight on a story we've followed since Christmas Eve, when a widespread power outage coincided with the disappearance of six members of one local family, across two states.
Ryan, Chris, Rachel, Sydney, John, and Courtnie were all reported missing within the same hour, during what family members describe only as "a very unusual evening."
All six were located safe in the days that followed. Officials have declined to say where, or by whom. No suspects have been named. No arrests have been made.
We reached the children's father, who agreed to speak with us — briefly.
BRAD GRAYBILL — FATHER
"Honestly, I still don't have a good answer for you. One minute the power's out, and the next... [beat] I don't know why this happened to us. I just know I got all four of my kids — and two people brave enough to marry into this family — back safe. That's the only present I needed this year.
[half-smile, looks off camera] Some things you just have to have a little faith in. [beat] That's all I've got tonight. We just want a normal Christmas."
"When we reached out to the sheriff's department for further comment, we were told only that the investigation is, quote, 'complete, in the sense that it has ended.'
The case is now considered closed. Back to you in the studio."
UNIDENTIFIED SOURCE · VOICE ALTERED, SILHOUETTE ONLY
[ video pending · script drafted, awaiting lock ]
"IF YOU WISH TO SEE YOUR CHILDREN AGAIN, YOU MUST PRESENT ME WITH AN ITEM THAT RELATES TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM BY FRIDAY NIGHT. I DON'T CARE WHERE YOU GET IT, BUT PLEASE MAKE SURE IT IS ETHICALLY SOURCED. I HAVE TO DO MY BIT. MAYBE THEN, AND ONLY THEN WILL YOU RECEIVE NOT ONLY YOUR WRETCHED CHILDREN, BUT A LETTER FOR THE 2024 CHRISTMAS YEAR.
BEST, (OR WORST)
COOKIE (:<"
"That was written by something called Cookie. I'll get to what that is. I want to start with what it did.
Two Christmases ago — December 24th, 2024 — six people were reported missing within the same hour, in two different states. Ryan, Chris, and Rachel, together, in Arizona. Sydney and John, together, in Colorado. And Courtnie, alone, in Arizona, for reasons nobody has ever accounted for.
All six came home. Nobody explained where they'd been. No one was arrested. No one was named. The demand you just read was never paid, and as far as any public record shows, it was never investigated. Local news covered it for one segment and moved on. I've watched that segment. It's the most confident piece of reporting I have ever seen about a story nobody understood.
That's the file as it exists. Closed, unsolved, and — I want to be precise about this — nobody in it was ever distinguished from anyone else. Six names, one outcome, no follow-up.
I'm not here about whether Cookie acted alone, or what Cookie is, or why an item had to be, quote, 'ethically sourced.' Those are real questions. They're not mine tonight."
—
"This is a letter the family wrote themselves the following Christmas — 2025, a year after the tape. Addressed the way this family addresses that kind of letter: 'To Mr. Claus, Santa, care of Mr. Graybill, Brad.' I'm not going to explain that convention. I don't think I need to.
It's a long list. Most of it's a joke. I read all of it, twice, because somewhere past the fortieth item — after the earthworms, after the Chili's margarita ranking — there's this.
Item forty-seven.
'Talked Cookie out of a violent threat for the lack of offering made by Santa last year in return for his children.'
Read that again if you need to. I did.
That sentence was written a full year after the six of them came home. Which means whatever happened on December 24th, 2024 didn't end that night. The case everyone quietly agreed was closed was still open, privately, inside this family, twelve months later — and somebody was managing it alone.
Four of them wrote this letter. Nobody has ever said who wrote this line.
The letter's signed 'we.' Everything this family writes to Santa is signed 'we.' I don't think all four of them wrote that sentence. I think one of them did, and the rest have been saying 'we' about it for a year without asking which one."
"One of you talked Cookie down. I'd like to know which."
"I'm not going to tell you who I am, or why I'm asking — except that I have to be careful, so for my safety, this is how I'll be showing up. That's all I can give you right now.
Case reopened."
Not open yet. Check back after this episode airs.
IF YOU WISH TO SEE YOUR CHILDREN AGAIN, YOU MUST PRESENT ME WITH AN ITEM THAT RELATES TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM BY FRIDAY NIGHT. I DON'T CARE WHERE YOU GET IT, BUT PLEASE MAKE SURE IT IS ETHICALLY SOURCED. I HAVE TO DO MY BIT. MAYBE THEN, AND ONLY THEN WILL YOU RECEIVE NOT ONLY YOUR WRETCHED CHILDREN, BUT A LETTER FOR THE 2024 CHRISTMAS YEAR.
BEST, (OR WORST)
COOKIE (:<
[ clean photograph pending — prop re-shoot, Oct 5–14 ]
Seasons Greetings,
We write to you this evening to inquire about our status on the Naughty or Nice List for the calendar year of 2025. Since we have not received any formal communication regarding our official status on the aforementioned list, we'd like to submit a more complete list of acts we've performed this year that we feel may aid our appeal. Please consider the following points when finalizing your list:
Nice Things We Did This Year (in no particular order)
- Herded 14 earthworms off the sidewalk in the rain
- Repeatedly turned up the music in the car so the people next to me could listen to something better than their music
- Picked up 48 pieces of litter
- Dropped 3 pieces of litter
- Utilized municipal recycling services
- Took a daily multivitamin, approximately four times a week
- Took the last cookie in the box before grandpa could
- Privately advocated for reindeer rights
- Donated to a GoFundMe for better working conditions for the elves
- Helped an old woman across the street and made sure to film and monetize it so others will do the same
- Helped a toddler across the street, forgot to tell their parents beforehand
- Practiced scientology but escaped and warned others (it only took 4 months)
- Bought gifts for all of the reindeers (except that ***** Blitzen. You know what you did)
- Thought about God for one day
- Forgot about God for 364 days
- Taught a PG-13 word to a 12 year old
- Streamed Ed Sheeran's new album every single day for a month straight so he could afford to feed his family
- Told our siblings we love them without any threats of harm
- Forgot how to spell noughty
- Remembered how to spell Nice
- Enlightened the people (shared a rating list of Chili's margaritas) (see Attachment B)
- Practiced journalism (wrote a rating list of Chili's margaritas) (see Attachment B)
- Used inappropriate emojis only as appropriate
- Didn't get any prank tattoos
- Only got real tattoos
- Used AI once to find a perfect Christmas drink recipe and it only raised winter temperatures in Florida by 10 degrees Celsius
- Used AI once to cheat on a chemistry problem, got the wrong answer
- Used AI a second time on the next chemistry problem with full trust, still got the wrong answer
- Consistently said please and thank you to ChatGPT, even when the answers were wrong
- Eventually did my homework all by myself
- Kayla bought her brother a ring camera for Christmas so he would move out sooner
- Bought my one year old nephew a toy drum set for his birthday
- Told a friend that the chicken they were eating died for their sins
- Got diagnosed with GERD
- Painted my apartment and couldn't reach one spot, so I just left it beige in that corner
- Moved to Georgia to make pancakes for my future father in law, but his business failed and now he's unemployed somehow this is my fault
- Moved to Florida to make pancakes for my future father in law, TBD
- Conducted my own personal Hunger Games with the roaches I found in my apartment upon moving in, except there was no victor
- Brought a Buddhist to a Methodist church to sing the songs, neither of us became Methodists
- Bought Suki a 60 pack of tinsel balls
- Cleaned up hairballs with minimal complaints (some were kind of… sparkly?)
- Went shopping at Trader Joe's on the Sunday before Christmas and didn't commit any crimes nor harm any organic vegetables
- Didn't cry when the Trader Joe's employee didn't offer me candy or stickers at checkout
- Was very brave for my tattoo and graciously accepted candy for it
- Made sure to only vacuum my second story apartment between the hours of 10PM and 4AM, as to not bother the neighbors that might work night shifts
- Did a load of laundry after 11PM, even though the lease says we're not allowed to do laundry after 10PM, but didn't wash any shoes or bulky items
- Talked Cookie out of a violent threat for the lack of offering made by Santa last year in return for his children
- Introduced myself to one of my neighbors (it was very brave of me)
- Consistently said hello to every neighbor's dog
- Spoke to my family multiple times this year
- Bought all of my Christmas gifts over a week (±a few days) before Christmas
It has been brought to our attention that this list may have devolved from a list of alleged 'nice' acts into simply a list of our confessions for the year. Please take our emotional vulnerability into account during your considerations, honesty is always considered a valued quality of those on the Nice list.