Going West: True Crime - Storm & Adagio Talifero // 325

Episode Date: July 25, 2023

In June of 2018, a vegan blogger and his son allegedly set sail from California, bound for Hawaii on a three month excursion. After they failed to contact family, it seemed as if they had both vanished at sea. But when one of their bodies washed ashore, their family began to suspect that there was never a boating trip after all. As the father’s complicated history came to light, far more sinister theories came into play. These are the disappearances of Gerald “Storm” Talifero, and his son, Adagio Talifero. BONUS EPISODES Apple Subscriptions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-west-true-crime/id1448151398 Patreon: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. News Break: https://original.newsbreak.com/@the-vivid-faces-of-the-vanished-1590506/2657658843029-his-father-said-he-took-his-son-sailing-with-some-friends-but-he-never-returned 2. Find Adagio Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/findadagio 3. Storm's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stormtalifero 4. Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/n8i83n/storm_and_adagio_talifero_a_raw_vegan_guru_and/ 5. NBC San Diego: https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/father-and-son-go-missing-on-sailing-trip/172135/ 6. Jinjee's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jinjee.garrick 7. Storm's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@stormtalifero/featured 8. Sarah Best: https://www.sarahbest.com/raw-gurus-can-you-trust-them/?cid=11436 9. Storm's home renderings: https://web.archive.org/web/20090213203604/http://stormtalifero.com/homes/index.html 10. The Rawtarian: https://www.therawtarian.com/rfp22-guest-jinjee-garden-diet 11. Raw Food Support blog: http://www.rawfoodsupport.com/read.php?2,275796 12. Beyond Veg: https://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/special/raw-vegan-gurus.shtml Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on to crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host, Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody. Today we have a very mysterious case out of California and technically out of Hawaii I guess if you want to go there you guys will see what I mean. There's some sailing involved so that's what we're talking about. It's a

weird and tragic story. Thank you so much to Missy for putting this one on our radar. Another newer case that I didn't know about. Thank you Missy. Also we just came out with a bonus episode for July. Sorry, I know they're coming out a little bit late, but we've been going through some wedding plans and just some family vacations. So we're trying to get those out as quick as we can. But yeah, we just came out with one.

It's an older case. Hopefully it'll be out by the time this episode comes out. I think it will. Yeah, it's gonna come out tomorrow. But it's about the story of Hazel Drew. It's a very mysterious murder that happened back in 1908. And that is the case that inspired a show. Many of us love Twin Peaks.

This is the case that inspired the murder of Laura Palmer on that show. So if you wanna listen to that one in over 90 other full length, add free bonus episodes That you're not going to get in a regular going West feed head on over to patreon.com slash going West podcast Or just subscribe right in Apple podcasts under the going West page. You'll see just head on over All right guys, this is episode

325 of going West so let's get into it. In June of 2018, a vegan blogger and his son allegedly set sail from California, bound for Hawaii on a three-month excursion. After they failed to contact family, it seemed as if they had both vanished at sea. But when one of their bodies washed ashore, their family began to suspect that there was never a boating trip after all. As the father's complicated history came to light, far more sinister theories came into play. This is the story of Gerald Storm Talafero and his son, Adagio Talaferro was born on January 7th, 1950 and he grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Though his given name was Gerald, he was more commonly known, both personally and professionally

actually, by his nickname, which was Storm. So that's what we are going to refer to him as today, Gerald is now Storm. So after moving from Michigan to California, he took a great interest in spirituality as well as plant-based nutrition. In 1972, when Storm was in his early 20s, he started eating a raw vegan diet. And this led to becoming well-known

in the vegan community for his approach, back when it was a much less mainstream to be maintaining a vegan diet. Settling in the Santa Barbara area of California, storm began leading raw vegan retreats in beautiful Ohai, where he would teach attendees different tips for sticking to the guidelines of a raw vegan lifestyle. And for those who don't know, like being a raw vegan means you eat plants like vegetables, fruits, nuts, raw sprouted grains, stuff like that. So I tried it once. It was really hard, but I felt really good.

So in 1980, he started the Rainy Mountain Foundation, which taught children how to form a relationship with nature and use it to spark their awareness. Storm was also very athletic. Using the methods that he honed to maintain a high-protein diet while staying both raw and vegan. He became a bodybuilder, taking great pleasure in working on his fitness and bulking up. During this period, Storm was married and divorced, and that union produced a son named Snow. But after his divorce, he reconnected with a woman named Jinji, whom he hadn't seen since the pair

were acquaintances back in school. Now, Jinji Garrick grew up in Canada and went on to study at both York University in Toronto and at Santa Barbara City College. So a big part of a raw vegan lifestyle is kind of also holistic medicine, as well as natural medicine. And kind of going into medicine, as well as natural medicine, and kind of going into that,

Jinjee's half-sister sadly died from complications of a routine tonsil removal, so she was already raised to be very wary of doctors, but then when she was 25, she ran into some health problems of her own, and that's when she started seeking like alternative, holistic holistic and natural treatments. So this obviously happened to coincide with her reunion with Storm and the two now had

that passion in common. When they were connected and started dating, she followed suit and started eating a raw vegan diet as well. And with that, their joint venture, which is called the Garden Diet, was born. After they were married and as they began to market their teachings, Storm and Jinji also welcomed five children, Raven, Jome, Shail, Adagio, and Yaro. The parents were really excited to raise their children in the movement, so the kids were fed an exclusively raw vegan diet as well.

Jinji said in an interview on the podcast of a fellow raw vegan blogger that she monitored her children's weight closely and made sure that they were getting all the nutrients that they needed to grow. So Jinji explained, quote, it was scary, you know, raising kids raw. There wasn't really anyone else doing it, and the few people that you heard of popped up in the news saying, you know, they got their kids taken away, so it was very frightening. And, you know, also personally, personal responsibility for these little children going, well, I know I'm thriving on it and storms obviously thriving on it for years, decades now.

How will it work for children, though? You know, they have bodies to grow, not just sustain a body, so it's a whole different thing. So I thought I'd give it a try and take them for checkups, make sure they have all their nutrient levels and they're developing okay. And then every once in a while, if you notice one is looking a little skinny or showing any signs of not having enough energy, or there were never any really serious signs. But if even, you know, you watch very carefully as a mother, you can sense if your child is deficient in something I think. And Genji even joked in this interview that her kids had become so accustomed to raw food that they were repulsed when they smelled cooked food,

and grew to love preparing raw vegan options together as a family. Storm and Genji became known for their creative and wholesome recipes, including family favorites, a cheesy kale salad, a raw pizza, and apple cobbler. And the telepharaoh family came before, you know, there was really any saturation of bloggers or influencers across every social media platform. Especially in the raw vegan family arena, there was little to no content in the late 1990s, as you can obviously imagine. Yeah, I was actually raised vegetarian me and my siblings were, and my parents were both

vegetarian growing up, and I've talked to her about it recently because it was so much harder back then, too. I mean, obviously this isn't for raw veganism because back then there was cheese, and now with all the vegan substitutes that's still not raw but... That's being raw vegan back then was much harder. Yeah, this was a much smaller community. Exactly, so because of this, Storm and Jinji saw an opportunity to share their lifestyle with the world.

And in 1998, they started TheGardenDiet.com. Through writing blog posts, Storm and Jinji share their journey as an entirely raw vegan family, containing seven people of all ages. They had a large online presence, both parents authored e-books, wrote recipes, granted interviews, and were even hired for speaking engagements to share their unique story. The family also lived somewhat off the grid lifestyle, homeschooling all five children and moving around frequently so that their kids could commune with nature. Storm and Genji produced a

documentary called Breakthrough, which chronicled their family's raw vegan journey. Genji shared that at one point, sales of their meal plans were bringing in up to $15,000 a month. In 2008, the Tallahfarer was unveiled plans for a monumental new venture, a raw vegan village. So this is kind of interesting because they're essentially going to create like this village of just strictly vegan people. So the village was primed to be a collection of luxury eco-houses for up to 20 families, all of whom were devoted to a raw vegan lifestyle.

Sounds kind of fun. I mean, it kind of does. So this commune would feature stunning architecture sketched out by Storm himself, and in the style of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. These quote, custom designed eco-spaw houses would each feature a pool, a greenhouse, and a sauna. Wow. It's kind of like the, uh, organ country fare. Uh, kind of similar. So, in addition to features of each individual house, the neighborhood would boast a school,

an orchard, and community garden, a film production space, and a clubhouse for group gatherings. a film production space and a clubhouse for group gatherings. The neighborhood would be situated in beautiful, oh high California, which definitely and I love. Gorgeous there. So the Tallah Farrows were reportedly raking in investments and deposits on the homes, totaling at least $900,000. But in some reports, that estimate is over a million dollars. However, Storm seemed to be inflating his level of involvement and expertise in the project. So though he claimed that construction would begin by November of that year,

investors then discovered that he had actually not even secured the property on which he was planning to build. In fact, that area was not even zoned for residential use, and he had done very little to change that. Down payments and investments went to either the Garden Diet LLC, or a company called Topa-Topa Institute LLC. But when months passed and the plans that were being promised to investors failed to come to fruition, many began to suspect fraud. Complaints were made, and reporters began kind of sniffing around the story, and that's when investors discovered that the Garden Diet was actually not a registered limited liability company, or LLC, meaning there were far fewer legal protections in place if their money

was to be jeopardized. And not only that, but Storm and Jinji strangely weren't listed in the legal paperwork for either company. Instead, a woman named Julie Pitcher, who was a yoga teacher, was listed as the president of both companies. So that's kind of interesting because they don't really own these companies. Well, yeah, and there is actually no official report of this online, but there are sources that claim

that storm engaged in polyamory and that he was in a romantic and sexual relationship with Julie at the same time as his wife, Jinji. So maybe that's why Julie was in, but it just doesn't make sense if it was Storm and Jinji's company, it makes no sense that Julie is listed as the president. So one raw vegan blog even claims that Julie was living with the TALFARO's at the time,

and that Storm actually fathered two young children with her around the same time that Jinji's two youngest children, Adagio and Yaro, were born. But despite all the bad publicity, the Tallahfarer's maintained that their dream would become a reality. Storm said quote, maybe all our eyes aren't dotted and our teeth aren't crossed, but where we are coming from is a really sincere place and nobody is going to lose their money. But sadly, that would not turn out to be the case. Kind of figured.

Yeah. So, despite the best efforts of Storm and Ginji to launch this passion project, this vegan community, they couldn't even break ground on construction. In 2010, a fellow health food blogger, Ran and X-Pose, on the couple, just predicting that the investors had been, you know, swindled in that they would not be getting their payments back. And according to some investors, Genji sent out this mass email claiming that their accountant was to blame and that the money had gone to securing architects, contractors, and construction workers.

And then in 2012, multiple investors came back to the telephairs in court and sued them in hopes of getting their money back, but most of them did not. On one comment on Storm's Facebook asking if he had plans to resurrect the housing project, Storm had replied, quote, not in the moment, we were set back by the recession, but it's still something that is close to my heart. So I'm currently designing green solar hydrogen single family residences. Now while the couple's blog displayed this active, healthy, happy couple with five beautiful

children who are in their prime, this commotion revealed a less marketable side of the family. Jinji claims that Storm had trouble mitigating his emotion sometimes and that he occasionally fell victim to what she described as Paranoid delusions and she claims this is why he wouldn't allow his children to attend school because he was wary of all Government and medical institutions in general Some reports even alleged that he suffered from suicidal ideation at times once telling Jinji apparently quote What if we all just went to see and died together, which is very foreshadowing for the story? I was about to say that, yeah, a lot of foreshadowing.

So by 2013, the couple had sustained too much adversity to survive. And they filed for divorce. Jinji made plans to move back to Canada, settling in Nainimo, which is apparently on Vancouver Island in British Columbia with her two young daughters, Shail and Yaro. Raven and Joan were already out of the house at this time, and Adagio, who was apparently closest to his father, Storm, decided to stay in California to live with Storm on the farm. The two described themselves as transient and continued to post content on Storm's YouTube

page together about their travels, their diet, and also their time and nature. Though Adazio had never attended formal schooling, he's remembered as extremely intelligent and curious, especially where science was concerned, and loved being a part of his dad's work. In 2018, the two were living on a farm in Camdenville, California, but sadly that summer, Jinji was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was receiving treatment in Canada. On May 28, 2018, Jinji and Adagio, who was 14 at the time, caught up over the phone, and she remembers that her son was his usual happy self. Adagio mentioned that he and his dad may head out sailing in the next few days, but other than that, there was nothing to report.

Jinji recalls, quote, I was told that they might go sailing. That's all that I was told. Other family members were told that they were sailing to Hawaii. On June 4th, Jinji underwent a successful surgery for her brain tumor. And as she was recovering, she stopped hearing from both Storm and Adagio. And apparently, Jinji was contacted by friends and family who would also not heard from or seen either of them. And by early June, she had reported them both missing. Before that quick break, Heath let us know that Adagio told his mom, Genji, that he and his father storm planned to sail to Hawaii from California. Now, this is, I mean, this sounds crazy to me, but Heath and I were talking about it earlier,

and apparently it's a thing that people do. Yeah, I mean, people sail everywhere all the time. Oh, yeah. You know, people go sailing to the Caribbean and stuff like that. I mean, this is a really long trip. I think you pulled it up and it was about 2,500 nautical miles, which is pretty far, but. Yeah, it would take some people two to three weeks

to travel. It actually reminds me of the Caribbean. My mom, part of her childhood, she lived in Florida. And her dad loved to boat and took the family. My mom, her sister Carol Wilson Croft who went missing, we covered her case in episode 100, and then my grandma, and they sailed to the Caribbean, and they got stopped by pirates who ransacked their boat

and held them at gunpoint, like when my mom was a kid. Yeah, I mean, that definitely happens. That's one of those things you have to worry about when you're a sailor, and that's just a sad part of it, but obviously sailing is a beautiful thing, and there's so many wonderful places to see in the world. So I'm sure that they were just trying to, maybe spend some time together as father and son, but.

Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm terrified of the ocean, so maybe that's why this is so crazy to me, but especially just because from California to Hawaii, like just that, the great Pacific ocean, you know? But it's very vast. It excites some people, I'm sure. So basically, Jinji, after she reported them missing, it was difficult for her because she again,

was up in Canada. They were in California and allegedly had gone on this trip, but she didn't have any details for the trip. So she did whatever she could to track down any information about them. So she still had access to Storm's online accounts and knew his passwords, so she logged into his Facebook and Gmail to see what she could find. And in Storm's draft folder of his email, he had written an email explaining to her that they were joining some friends from Washington

State for a sailing trip from Galita Beach to San Diego. This is a much easier trip than from California to Hawaii because Galita is in Santa Barbara. So Santa Barbara to San Diego is like a four or five-hour drive. Yeah, I mean, not that far. So obviously a huge difference. Yeah, so this is kind of confusing to her because she's not sure which trip actually

happened or if any of them even did, but as she kept reading the email, she things kind of became more clear. So in the rest of the email, it explained that they would then drop off any of the participants like in San Diego who were getting seasick or didn't want to carry on or didn't feel like they could handle the full journey because at that point after leaving San Diego is when they would embark to Hawaii. So Storm and Adagio would spend some time together in Hawaii before returning via plane to San Diego. Storm had even asked the owner of the Camdenville Farm, which they were living on, to pick

him and his son up at the airport after their flight on September 1st, 2018. So it was all planned out. Jinji also found that Storm had booked two tickets from Hawaii to San Diego for himself and Adagio. And this was shocking and a very scary revelation for Jinji, because now she feared that they were lost at sea or perhaps that storm was attempting to take Adagio even further away from her. Apparently, she had been trying to convince Storm to enroll Adagio in school and he had been obviously pretty resistant to this idea because like I mentioned, he's not into the government or school or doctors or anything like that. So according to fellow residents of the Camdenville farm, the last time that anybody saw Adagio was either Friday, June 1st or Saturday, June 2nd of 2018. And again, they're planning to return on September 1st, so they were supposed to be gone for months.

to return on September 1st, so they were supposed to be gone for months. After that, he and his dad supposedly departed for the Galita area and did not return. The trip from Camdenville to Galita would take about 7 and a half hours, and no one can be sure that Adagio even made it there. The next few days were a string of strange circumstances for Storm. It seems impossible to know what his state of mind was based on his movements, and in the days following his departure from Camptonville, Storm booked two hotel rooms. The first one was located in Frazier Park, California, a small mountain town about two hours outside of Santa Barbara.

Storm's son from a previous marriage, Snow, lived in Frazier Park at one time, so it was possible that Storm was there to visit him. And the next hotel room was in Santa Barbara. He reserved each room for dual occupancy, seeming to convey that Adagio was with him, but no one ever saw him, even though they were normally attached to the hip and did everything together. Then on June 6, 2018, Storm actually recorded and posted a YouTube video from inside his hotel room, but again, Adagio was nowhere to be seen. To some, it seems as if Storm was making the rounds, saying his goodbyes, and giving away

his last earthly possessions in that final week before he went missing. But he apparently even sent $700 to a friend back in Camdenville. And thanks to Missy who recommended this case, we have first hand knowledge of what happened in those days. Missy explained that Storm was actually her dad's best friend, and that shortly before he had gone missing, he had stopped by her dad's house in Ohai to say goodbye. When her dad was in home, he left a note that read QUOTE, Storm was here, and that was

the last time that he ever heard from Storm. On June 7, Storm had lunch with his son,ome, who is now living in the Santa Barbara area. And the last pictures known to exist of Storm were taken at that very lunch. Jome had snapped a picture of Storm, who was kind of like slumped over in the booth of the restaurant kind of falling asleep at the table. And according to Jome, Storm explained that he and Adagio were headed to Hawaii on a 30-foot sailboat with some friends. When Joam questioned where Adagio was, Storm said that he was already on the boat,

which was docked in Galita Beach. So all sources, including Missy, thank you Missy, claimed that it was very odd to ever see Storm without Adagio, like he said, attached at the hip. But after their visit, Joam dropped his father off at the dock at Galita Beach, along with a kayak that Storm was apparently going to paddle out to where the boat was anchored. Joan told his mom, Jinji, that he was rushing to get to work and declined his dad's offer to go see this boat. And Storm didn't tell him the name of the boat or the names of the people that he was going to be sailing with, but Jinji believes that if the plans were real, these friends from

Washington were in the raw vegan community. When Jinji reported her son and ex-husband missing, she contacted the coast guard just hoping that they knew of this boat's Pacific crossing, but unfortunately, they had no knowledge of this alleged boat making its way from California to Hawaii. And there was only one boat sailing that route at that time. And that boat was participating in a sailing contest and had no affiliation with either Adagio nor with Storm. According to what Storm had been saying, the two were due to be in Hawaii by mid-July

at the latest, but their family never heard from them again, and they also missed their scheduled flight from Hawaii to San Diego in September. So the Coast Guard obviously sent out alerts on their radios, but no vessels along that route had seen any sign of the two, or of an errant sailboat. Jinji monitored Storm's bank accounts and credit cards, but they remained untouched after June 7th. She attempted to obtain his phone records, but because they were no longer married, she was unable to do so. On July 24th and July 26th of 2018, remains of a deceased adult male washed up on Galita

Beach, including parts of a leg in the torso. And just really quick, the fact that they washed up on Galita Beach of all places, which is where they were leaving from, before heading down to San Diego, like that's really bizarre. And very sketchy. And the Santa Barbara County Police Department suspected that they may belong to Storm. The first DNA test was inconclusive, so one of his daughters offered a DNA sample to the medical examiner for comparison purposes. Then in March of 2021, so two and a half years after he went missing, Genji announced on Facebook that the remains did indeed belong to Storm Talafero.

She wrote quote, in remembrance of Storm Talafero, Storms remains have been found, and he will be cremated in California, where his ashes will be scattered in the sea by his kids. Storm was a wonderful, complex, dynamic, funny, and colorful human being, father, healer, and artist. He is missed by his children and friends. I anticipate we'll see him on the other side where all will be healed. But in all this, where was Adagio? So obviously there are plenty of theories as to what could have happened in these two, and two of them are the most pervasive. So one, that storm and Adagio had

some sort of accident like on the farm in the car or otherwise and that adagio died suddenly. Yeah, because obviously no one had really seen adagio, especially when storm went to lunch with his other son, Joan. Joan didn't see adagio either and nobody else had seen adagio on that farm. Exactly. And remember, storm had said that adagio was at the boat, but was he really at the boat? Was this trip happening? Like you're asking, you're wondering all these questions, or did something happen after Storm Return to the boat where Adagio may have actually been? And why was Adagio not with his dad

and his brother at lunch that day? Especially because everybody says that they were always with each other, why would he leave his 14-year-old son on a boat by himself I mean maybe he wasn't alone maybe these friends from Washington did exist but and I guess 14's not that young but you know what I mean it doesn't really make sense that he wasn't with him so people wonder either if something happened to a dog yield before the lunch with Jim or after they wonder if maybe storm had been so racked with also that he did have

Suicidal ideation at one point right so the other Theory is that this was maybe you know again. This is these are just theories We don't personally know these people so I know I'm mostly saying this because I know missy does and she's listening So I don't want to come off as disrespectful ever we never do But these are just kind of the theories that are floating around with police and of course with everybody online. And I'm sure some people that know Adagio and Storm as well. So the other theory is that this was possibly a murder suicide or even a suicide pact.

But obviously Storm's motivation behind this would be incredibly unclear. Now, Missy did pose the theory that adagio was being held hostage during the time that storm was at lunch potentially by an enemy that has dad had made from his bad business dealings which is why we went into all that sketchy stuff with the business because maybe that's part of this yeah that could be another angle to this story.

Obviously, money and finances can be a huge motivator and murder. Exactly. So maybe Storm knew that they were going to be killed. So he kind of took his time saying goodbye to everybody and his loved ones. But again, it's just, it's so bizarre why it would all unfold this way.

But also it makes everything a lot harder because as I said, there was some, I don't know how to say this in not a grotesque way, but there were various bodily remains found of his, which means that his body was not in one piece, whether that was done by marine life or just water exposure to water, whether not sure. Decomposition or something.

Yeah, but we also don't know his cause of death. It hasn't been released, and I'm sure it hasn't been released because police don't know. So that makes things a lot more complicated as well. But anyway, there are also some other theories as well. So this one doesn't explain what happened to Storm or why he was killed if he was, but some believe that Adagio is alive and simply took off to start a new life at 14. Yeah, I know, right? I mean, we always got to bring this one up even though it oftentimes is not the case.

So in November of 2018, which is a few months after they went missing, multiple reports came in of a possible sighting of both men in Hawaii, or I'll say both males in Hawaii, but their faces and heads had been shaved. Now we know now that storm was already deceased by then, but it's possible that it could have been a daugio on his own with somebody else. The month after this, which was December of 2018, someone reported seeing a daugio in the cafeteria

of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. That's so strange. Yeah, so then he's just like going to college at age 14. That doesn't make any sense to me. On June 24th, 2020, so two years after they disappeared, someone reported having seen a doggie walking on the side of the road in Ventura, California, near a hotel heading toward the beach.

Now, for those who don't know the area, Ventura is very close to Santa Barbara. Ventura is also right next to Ohio, so this is in the area of which they lived. Now, this young man was reportedly wearing a bucket hat, a jacket over a sweatshirt, baggy jeans, and sunglasses. So, let's take into account that he's pretty covered up. So... Might be kind of hard to tell if that's actually him.

Exactly. Then on July 31st, 2021, one of Adagio's sisters claims that she spotted him, all the way in their hometown in Canada. So, Jinji took to the Find Adagio Facebook group to right quote, My daughter is almost certain she saw her brother, my missing son Adagio,

here in the NIMO Vancouver Island British Columbia two days ago. Genji, Genji's mom and her daughters plastered the area in missing posters with the updated information. And according to her daughter, Adagio was in the passenger seat of a blue SUV driven by a brunette woman believed to be in her late 30s.

So that's pretty bizarre. But obviously, Genji was elated by this, just hoping that this meant that Adagio was finally coming home to them and that he just didn't know where to find them. Like, she had gotten a new phone and phone number since moving back to Canada and Adagio didn't know her address. So she waited anxiously for the phone to ring, but sadly nothing came of any of the tips. Even though some of them did apparently seem quite promising, but he wasn't found at the end of this. And other places that were suggested as a possibility were as far reaching as Greece, Thailand, Mexico, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Now while Genji still hopes for answers in her son's mysterious disappearance, she's

come to terms with the fact that he may not be coming home. Just three months ago from when we're recording this, Genji shared on Adagio's Facebook group quote, just wanted to let everyone here know that I've had a spirit contract with Adagio from the other side, letting me know that he is fine. Not on our world anymore, but happy where he is. That is comforting for me and I'm at peace. I have closure. Thank you so much for all your support, prayers, and shares. But by her

own admission, Jinji is quote, recovering from a raw vegan lifestyle. And she actually wrote a whole blog post about this. I'm not going to read it because it's not relevant. It's just really her going into why she stopped being raw, why her kids stopped, different things about like eating disorders and digestive issues. She was basically just saying that her husband had kind of taken things too far. Right. And that, you know, her kids were kind of going hungry and they had a lot of energy, deficiencies, not to turn anybody off if that's your diet or how you feed your kids like do your own thing. But yeah, this is just what Jinji is saying personally.

Yeah, exactly. So she's just saying that she moved them onto a more balanced diet, including like a bunch of different healthy food groups and stuff like that, cutting down processed food. But it's a whole post if you want to read it. It's online. But back to the case itself, this is such a difficult story because I know there's not a ton of evidence here that anything happened as far as we know. We don't know what happened to the boat.

If the boat that they were supposedly taking, again, if this trip was even real, did a boat even exist? What about these friends from Washington? We don't know anything about if they existed, if they were really going on this trip again, if this trip was even real, like I don't know why they would make this whole trip up, why would he buy the two plane tickets back, why would he set up a ride home from the airport?

Like I feel like they were really supposed to go on it. I mean it felt like, or at least it seemed like that this trip was going to happen. I mean who buys plane tickets from Hawaii back to San Diego? I mean, it could have been a whole ruse, but again, why? Yeah, it absolutely could have been, but the strangest part is that Storm's body was, in fact, found in the ocean. So, what happened? Yeah, what happened? Where is Adagio? Did they get lost at sea? Maybe Storm didn't die via homicide.

Maybe their boat capsized. I mean, I feel like maybe such remains would have been found of the boat. And I think it's very interesting that the Coast Guard didn't know anything about this trip or about this boat. And they were very aware of this route. They were monitoring it. There was a sailing contest going on. I feel like we would have known if they had gotten into the water. Yeah, I mean that is a really great point. The fact that the Coast Guard couldn't track them. Basically said that they knew exactly what boats were taking those, or that route. And it didn't seem like Storm and Adagio's boat was there. But that's why I think it's so interesting

that Storm's body washed up in Galita on Galita Beach because that's where they were supposed to leave from, which makes you wonder did they even leave at all. And if they did leave, how did his body wash up in Galita? I just think especially going, like if you're looking his body wash up in Galita? I just think especially going, like if you're looking at the coast going from Galita Beach down to San Diego, they probably wouldn't have gone too far out into the ocean.

You know, they would have just sailed along the coast. So you would imagine that this boat would have been found and anybody on board would have also been found, which makes me feel like they didn't leave Galita Beach. And if they didn't leave Galita Beach, how did Storm's body get into the water? And where is Adagio? Totally, yeah.

And why don't we have a clear picture of an autopsy? Was there anything to suggest that foul play was involved here? Right, and also, if they never made it onto the boat, let's just remove the boat from the equation here. If something happened because of storms past, because of the kind of sketchy business dealings, the whole thing about the vegan community, and a lot of investors losing their money, if that is involved in this or some other motive is, and both of them were murdered, it's possible that storm's body was kind of taken out

and disposed of at sea, and that's how it was found, because a lot of bodies do wash up to shore when they're disposed of in the sea. But then again, what happened to Adagio? There's so many questions here. Well, it's very interesting to me that there were numerous people that said that they saw Adagio.

And especially the one that really gets me is the fact that his sister said that she saw him because you really know your siblings pretty well and your family members pretty well. Yeah. And it would be, I think, fairly easy to be able to point out an appearance of one of your family members pretty well. Yeah. And it would be, I think, fairly easy to be able to point out, you know, an appearance of one of your family members.

So it was at the case here. I hear what you're saying, but my thing with that theory and not to discredit the sister at all. But I'm just thinking about like, how would a dodgy will have gotten up to Canada, let alone the exact area that they live in that the family lives in and he's in the passenger seat of some brunette woman's car.

You know, so that is the thing is she saw him through a window of a car where it's obviously not as clear as if she passed him right by on the street. Again, not to discredit her, but I don't, what are the chances he would have been taken up to the exact area of Canada? And why? That's very true, but also, I kinda wanna know a little bit more about this Julie person, because does Julie have Brunette hair? Is it possible that she still had connections?

I mean, I don't know. It's just a mystery, to be honest. It's a crazy story. A dajio telepharo would now be 19 years old. He was biracial and had brown hair and brown eyes. He was between five feet four inches and five feet seven inches tall, and weighed about between 100 and 120 pounds.

He also goes by the nickname Dodge. And one defining characteristic is that one of his front teeth protrudes a bit. If you have any information about the disappearance of a Dodge-Yotella Faroe or the death of Storm Telefero, please call the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office tip line at 805-681-4171 or email tips at espsharef.org. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Friday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Please let us know what you think about this case again. I know with cases like this it just feels like we're speculating but it could help because

right now there's really no evidence of anything. So if you saw anything, if you were in the area, like please reach out to the tip line or the email because this case needs so much more attention than it's getting, it's just such a mysterious story. I mean, if somebody could just at least recognize the boat or be able to explain that there actually was a boat in this case. I mean, this is one of those cases

where you just really wanna keep digging and digging and digging and digging, you know? I know, like I wanna keep talking about this case for. This is a very captivating story. So please, please make sure you share this one guys, especially if you're on the west coast of the United States. I appreciate you listening and we'll see you in a few days. All right guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

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