Rotten Mango - #267: Filipino Girl Went Missing In A Mall - Taken By Secret Tunnels In Fitting Room? Case of Jovelyn Galleno

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

When a 22 year old mall employee vanishes without any trace - netizens can’t help but bring up the dark whispers of the past. “How is it possible that there is no footage of her leaving the mall?��� - people wondered. Then does that mean she’s still in the mall? When there are no answers to the case - people start to wonder if the tunnels were back. Rumor has it, the mall had an underground tunnel system that connected to each of the fitting rooms. When a young, beautiful woman enters, the floor drops open, sending her sliding through the tunnels to be taken. Taken for what? Human trafficking? To be fed to the son of the mall owners? Was this an urban legend? Or was this the cause of her vanishing? Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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at thefarmerstog.com slash time together 23. Better being better, boo. There is an urban legend in the Philippines that revolves around shopping malls and beautiful young women that go missing inside of these shopping malls. The legend goes something like this. A young couple wear in a shopping plaza

in this massive mall, and the place is, it's bustling with people. It's the weekend. There's a lot of people in and out. I mean, there's just activity everywhere. It's supposed to feel safe. I mean, you feel safe when there's so many witnesses, when there's so many people, yeah?

I mean, most of the time, right? Now, the couple they walk into this woman's clothing store, the boyfriend is already bored. She tells him it's just gonna be one second, like just hold on a second. He leans up against the wall of the store, he's looking at his phone, scrolling through, she's running around the store,

picking out a few pieces, and she lets him know, hey, I'm just gonna go try this on in the fitting room, and it's gonna be super quick, we can leave immediately after. He nods again. He does not look up from his phone. It is not until about 10 minutes passes, he realizes, wow, she's taking an extra long time right now. What's going on? Maybe her zipper is stuck? Maybe she needs assistance. Maybe she needs my opinion on something, not that we care, okay? But he makes his way to the back of the changing rooms, and every single one of them has their doors wide open. They're all

empty. Sorry, Miss, you work here, right? Have you seen my girlfriend? She was just in their changing, trying on some clothes? I'm sorry. I'm not sure I know what you're talking about. You don't have a girlfriend. Early is not that we know of. You walked in here alone. Why would I walk into a woman's clothing store alone? I came in here with my girlfriend. She literally was in that changing room right there. Perhaps you were buying a gift, but sir, you were alone.

Nobody has been in the fitting room since this morning. The boyfriend starts to feel agitated, angry, and potentially even confused. He might almost be questioning, what a damn minute minute like, did I really come in here alone? I mean her birthday is coming up was like, was I trying to buy her a gift and I blacked out like this is weird. But then you remember the legend of the half snake, half human. Look, some people believe that this is just human trafficking, but others believe that

there are false floors in the changing rooms. Women walk in, they are spied on by two-way mirrors or cameras that are installed into the changing rooms, hidden cameras. If they are chosen, the bottom of the fitting room floor falls out, they're transported into this long tunnel slash slide that leads them to an underground hidden maze slash tunnel system underneath the mall. From there they are either human traffic according to the urban legend and never seen again vanishing into thin air. It would imply that the malls are in on it okay including all the retail workers but more people believe it's actually the half human half snake. The legend isn't as old as

you would think it is it started in the 90s in the Philippines and it kind of died down until recently a case connected a missing woman with the half human half snake legend. Legend says there is a half human half snake living in the secret basement of a popular mall near Manila called Robinson's Galleria. There are two versions of this part of the legend, some say that the owners of the mall know the human snake is in the basement. And at first they thought of all the ways

to get rid of this human snake, but then they realized the human snake is what's bringing in the fortune. That's what's making this mall successful, so we need to do whatever it takes to keep the human snake happy. That is our price for fortune. The other to keep the human snake happy, that is our price for fortune. The other variation says the human snake is actually a child of John Gokengue, the owner

of Robinson malls. The human snake was allegedly the twin brother of Robina, which is John's daughter. So this is a very public family, very wealthy family, they own the malls and they're saying no, no, no, she actually is not just a daughter. She had a twin brother. He's the half human half snake. The legend says, John's wife had given birth to both human twins.

And originally, everything seemed very, very normal. Now, as time passes, the boy twin starts to grow stronger, faster, but also kind of stranger. Instead of legs, he ends up growing a snake body. This is the urban legend. Now, the growth of his body was so uncontrollable that within a couple of months, this infant toddler is taking up the space of a living room. Soon, the first floor, there's no way that he can play, live, and exist.

And it's not like they can just let this half human half snake outside. He's going to be shot dead or held in a science lab somewhere. So now the family is thinking, okay, what do we do? We got to figure something out. They also realize a little catch. It's not just the fact that he's half human half snake, but it's also the fact that this little boy, this little creature, does not like to eat anything, but pretty young woman. Will not eat eggs, rice, nothing, just pretty young woman.

Now, it's debatable what he does with these women. Some versions of the urban legends say that he swallows them whole like a snake. Others say that he digs his fangs into their necks and drains them of every drop of their blood, just leaving bloodless empty shells of dead women all around him. Either way, the family was forced to build a massive compound to house their son, that happened to be half human half snake,

and they had to constantly find young women to feed their son. But you cannot just throw a big building in the middle of nowhere and have a bunch of young woman disappear that's connected to that building and think that nothing is going to happen. So the only solution that they could come up with that made logical sense was a mall. It would give the family unlimited access to girls and it would house their son in the underground basement. The fitting rooms were said to have these hidden cameras and sometimes there would be two-way mirrors that allowed their son to see these girls. He's very particular.

He likes them young and pretty. He has a style. Even though he's trapped in the basement, he would pick the ones that he wanted, and with the press of a button inside the fitting rooms, the floor would disappear from underneath them, and they would slide down the tunnel straight into his mouth. Now, I do think that the urban legend would have died down in the 90s had it been just that, but a famous celebrity somehow gets involved in this. Alice Dixon was crowned the Philippines' misinternational, so this is like a Philippines beauty

contest, and she is now working as an actress. She had this promotional shoot at the Robinson Galleria Mall, and you know, she's trying on clothes and they're taking pictures of her and they direct her to a department store on the fourth floor. They're like, hey, use this fitting room to change into your next set of clothes for the next shot. She goes in and she just, she said she couldn't shake this feeling. Someone was watching her.

Now, since she had entered this mall, she had felt that, but she brushed it off, because she's a celebrity. There must be people watching, and you know, they're taking pictures of her. That's gonna draw attention, but even in this fitting room when she's supposedly alone, she feels eyeballs on her. It's weird. There was this growing sense of unease to the point where she didn't even want to change, and boom, it all happened so fast she didn't even have time to scream.

The floor to the changing room dropped. She found herself in a slide that led to the basement of the mall. It didn't even look like out of the back rooms. It straight up looked like an abandoned sewage tunnel. A horror movie. Oh wait, this is true story or? So there are allegations about it that we're going to get into. Okay. Yeah, so she said in that moment that she was confronted by a human snake.

The human snake was astonished by her beauty for a split second and it froze. It was just soaking in her beauty. So she ran. She ran through the dark chambers of the tunnel and did not stop running. Eventually she heard a change in the air. She said that she had blocked out at this point. She didn't even know how she got out. Somehow she ends up in the lobby of a hotel nearby, confused,

on how she even managed to escape. Tabloid headlines and small news articles start coming out about this bizarre near-death experience. People start going nuts. You know, they want to know more. Everyone just assumed that this whole thing was an urban legend. There is no way it actually happened to someone.

And there's actually no way that there's a half human half snake. Come on. The legend only grew stronger. When supposedly, Alice was supposed to appear on this big talk show to discuss what happened to her. And just as she starts sharing her experience and the truth of what happened, the TV signal falters and the show stops midair. People at home were losing their minds.

It felt like someone really, really did not want this story to get out. And the mystery only grew stronger from there. Because, you know, it's like, okay fine. Get Alice to a different show. It's not gonna falter again, right? This time maybe do a live audience. Well, it was impossible because out of nowhere, Alice decides to just drop out of show business

and abruptly ghost the industry and moves to Canada. What? She's no world. No longer interested in doing interviews about anything and whispers started speculating that the owners of the mall had compensated her 15 million USD to ensure her silence. Alice would eventually come back to the industry, but she never really talked about it again. Now there are allegations of people saying that it was made up for attention or maybe it was she was forced to lie about something to take the attention off of something else

that was happening in the news or people didn't want in the news or people were saying maybe it wasn't a half human half snake, maybe it's a human trafficking ring and she was forced to lie that it was the urban legend and then was compensated. I don't know, okay, but it was it it definitely served the urban legend a lot. I just kept going further and further So the unsettling feeling that people associated with the mall was it's pretty cemented in stone after that and in August 2022 like half a year ago The popular urban legend regained its grip on the Philippines. A young retail employee of the Robinson Galleria went missing in the

mall. Her name is Javilan Galleno, and her disappearance would stir up conspiracies of a human snake lingering in the mall, allegations of a human trafficking ring, and a very, very mysterious tarot card reader who is set to have gotten to the truth of what happened to Javlan predicted everything correctly before the police did. How did the tarot card reader know what happened to her? Did it have anything to do with the urban legend? Let's dive in. Now, as always, full show notes are available at ronminglepodcast.com. Since we are covering another Filipino case today, we had our wonderful Filipino researcher help with gathering of the facts, understanding the public's response, and even just trying to grasp the complexities surrounding this case. She actually resides in the Philippines, so I think that

she had a really good understanding of just generally how people felt, what this urban legend was about, and I hope that this will be a comprehensive deep dive on this very, very frustrating and very puzzling case of Jovellin. But as always, with international cases, let us know if there's anything that was missed or anything lost in translation. So with that being said, let's get into it. Have you ever used or gotten a tarot card reading? When I was in middle school, it was trendy in China. Oh! Yeah, all the girls has a stack. They met your future, okay?

What did they tell you? I think they predicted everything, yeah. Yeah, they're like, you're gonna meet a Korean girl? Yeah. And she's never gonna stop talking. So a lot of people refer to tarot cards as a soul map. You have a stack of cards that all mean something, whether it's about your love life, work life or family,

and actually researching about tarot cards makes me wanna get into tarot cards. So you pull randomly from a deck of these very specific cards and you think about the questions in life that you want answered, then you start interpreting these cards and this think about the questions in life that you want answered. Then you start interpreting these cards. And this is oversimplifying the beauty of tarot cards. I clearly don't read tarot cards.

I do find it fascinating. Now I will say typically, and I've been vocal about this, I hate when tarot cards or psychics are involved in true crime cases. I just think that it's a lot more pain than it is productive, but this case is particularly interesting because the tarot card reader is spot on with practically everything. Now obviously it could have gone the complete opposite way, but it was interesting. So I did go on Reddit and I did look up tarot cards and a lot of people who regularly use tarot cards say that it's just a way to meditate.

You're not trying to base life decisions off the cards. You're not trying to figure out your future. It's not really something that tells you what's going to happen to you. In fact, it lets you have a deeper understanding of oneself. So you're asking a question, there's almost this gut feeling of what you want the cards to be. Or it pulls out a card that makes you self-reflect in a different perspective that you might not have done before.

Yeah, I can see that. And that makes me want to get into Darryl cards. Yeah, so it's just a medium for you to think, like your mind wander. People say that it's not really about talking to a spirit, like people make it out to be or predicting the future or even like trying to get you to do a life decision off of it, it's genuinely just meditation, they said. Instead of journaling, you're just asking yourself these questions. That makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, and I kind of like it. Yeah, and I feel like there's actually science behind that. Yes, because it might be a fresh perspective to these problems or obstacles you're facing. And the cards are vague enough that it applies to a lot of things, so you start wandering with your mind. In that sense, very cool. But when the news broke that a young, beautiful,

22-year-old, myl employee went missing in the Robinson, Galleria, social media was all over this case. A concerned citizen took it upon herself to seek the guidance of a renowned tarot card reader in the Philippines, J. Costura. Now, she is very famous, she is very well-beloved, she is on YouTube. Yeah, she does a lot of these tarot card readings for big cases and just just things in general. So the tarot card readings of what happened to

Javalan, the missing woman, were posted on YouTube. I know, very controversial, all of the above, But the readings were fascinating. J. Custard went into detail about the what the cards were filled. This is like literally right after the 22-year-old goes missing. Nobody has any clue what happened. All people know is that she went missing in a mall, and J. starts doing the tarot card reading.

And I just want to make it very clear. The tarot card readings went the best way possible in this scenario. If you can even call it that, but there are countless cases where people have predicted what happened so publicly was so much conviction and it turned out to be wrong. And this is happening in the US as well, okay? Or it just turned out to cause more distress amongst the victim and their families. So just keep that in mind. The cards were laid out on the table. There were these beautiful, like luminescent gold colored cards, and the light was reflecting

off of them beautifully. They felt very rich, they felt very tangible, and it just kind of contrasted sharply with the air of mystery and anxiety. It just felt very anxious in the video when you watch it. Now, a few of the cards were chosen, revealed, and analyzed. Both women, Jay Kostera and the Concern Citizen looked very stressed. They looked very focused. Now, this case at this point had been a blank slate.

22-year-old Javlin had walked into the mall for her shift. She was a sales lady. She finished her shift, texted her family that she was hungry, vanished. We don't know she left the mall. We don't know she's still in the mall. Did she leave alone? Did someone take her home? Did they say that they would drive her home? Did she get on a bus like she normally does? Nobody knew anything. I'm talking blank slate. She just vanished. And of course there's more pressing questions like, is she still alive? What happened? Can we

rescue her? J read the cards and emphasized the belief that Javalan Gayeno was still alive. Jay continued to flip the cards and studied them and talked to the viewers at home. She presented a compelling narrative. She stated that the cards suggested that Javalan was still alive, being held captive by powerful individuals or individuals who had power over her. They were authority figures of some sort. She looks at the cards and says, see, this is what I was afraid of. Here I see a substantial amount of money, which can mean that her captors may have profited off of her. Jay went on to continue. And this part is interesting. But she states that the abundance of red cards compared to black

cards suggests to her that there was a surprising sense of lack of envy or jealousy in Jovellan's life, meaning that Jovellan had a very tranquil energy that emanated off of her, suggesting again, or suggesting to Jay that Jovellan's disappearance was not due to an angry friend or partner, it was not a crime of passion where someone just hated her, despised her, was jealous of her, or someone was upset with her or had something against her. It seemed almost random. Or maybe they just genuinely wanted her because of the way she looked.

Or her age. J also noted that there was no card that features the Ace of Flowers, which J associates with water and a change of location. She believed strongly that Jowelyn was still in the confines of the island. Now, this was the very first session that was posted online. These are the details that she reads from her tarot cards. Another secondary session was posted with the same concern citizen and the tarot card reader, and this time they had a new deck of cards.

The new deck still indicated to Jay that Jovlin was alive, and the new card suggested a sense of betrayal in Javilan's case. A deal or agreement appears to have been made, potentially involving Javilan. She is being held against her will by someone or a group of people, and despite being held captive, the card suggests that she is being very well taken care of. Jay stated the card suggests that Javilan possesses the strength to escape if she can just discover a way.

Jay continued to state that she senses the captors, or at least some of the captors, are considering releasing Javilan but the heightened attention surrounding her case complicates their decision. Jay reiterates that although Javilan's disappearance in her belief is premeditated, it's not driven by anger, animosity, or jealousy or revenge, it is unrelated to romantic relationships or personal attachments. She believed Javilan to be in close proximity to her home. She states that the captors wanted to take Javilan somewhere else, but unseen obstacles

prevented them. She stated that she saw Jowl in entering a car willingly, and that she had left them all willingly. She concludes her session by saying, The individuals holding Jowl in captive are likely part of a syndicate, or possess significant influence and power over her. She also states that there are more things that the cards have revealed to her, but because of the ongoing investigation

She doesn't want to release that information Now I believe in the Philippines terror card reading is generally more accepted and believed So there was some pushback of oh, I don't think we should be doing this But most people who are listening I don't think that they took it so seriously that they were like Oh my god, this syndicate we got to bring down this syndicate It was more of you know They listen to this and they feel more connected to the case.

They feel more passionate about this case, which I think ultimately did lead to positive things. So the public starts putting pressure on the police to do something, find something, take action. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. I think with our marriage looming over us like a dark cloud. Okay, I know it sounds like a horror movie. I swear I'm excited to get married later this month.

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And plan to start at his little is $9.99 a month. Max, the one to watch. Subscription required, visit max.com. So, let's start with what we do now. The night of August 5th, 2022, Jovellin's mom was home with Jovellin's two sisters, Jonnellin and Jocelyn. So Jonnellin, Jovellin and Jocelyn, okay? They're all hanging out downstairs waiting for Jovellin to get home from her shift at the mall so that they could cook up some dinner. Jonnellin, her sister, was scrolling through her phone when it buzzed.

Jovellin, hey what are we eating for dinner? Mom, Jovelyn wants to know what's for dinner. Mom's confused. Wait, I thought she was bringing home food. Or at least that's what she said this morning. But, okay, maybe she's tired. Forget it. Just tell her to come home.

We'll have something. So the mom gives the sister some money and sends her out to buy some takeout. She goes out and she texts Jowlyn on the way saying, hey, I'm grabbing food, is there anything particularly you want to eat? Jowlyn never responds. The sister brings back the food

and the family waits around the table. Like the food is waiting, it's hot, it's steaming, they're sitting around and they're like, okay, any minute now, she's gonna be bursting through the door and we're all gonna feast on some dinner. Maybe she's working overtime? No, but usually when she's working overtime at the store, she texts us to let us know that she's gonna be running late.

Either way, they decide to eat without her. But even when they were done, Jowelyn was still not home. They kept trying to message her throughout the entirety of the dinner and no response, and finally they called her, which I imagined that they were avoiding calling her in case that she was working, and the phone rang. Someone picks it up. Hello?

Hello? Whoever was on the other line did not say anything. It was silent. There wasn't a single word, a single noise, nothing. It was really unsettling. Maybe it's in her pocket and she accidentally picked it up and she's busy? They couldn't hear clothes rustling or inventory being put away so they didn't really know what to make of it. That night it was really hard for any of them to get sleep without Jowlyn being home. It just wasn't like her.

The next morning they wake up and Jowlyn is still not home, so Jowlyn's mom and her two sisters they rushed to the mall and wait for it to open hoping that Jovlin is there. Maybe something happened and she had to sleep overnight. Maybe I don't know, okay, they're coming up with all these reasons in their head because that's the best case scenario. But when she's not there, they ask any of her colleagues, do you know where she's gone? Like, this doesn't make sense.

They have no clue. In fact, they turned that store upside down. There was no sign of Javlin anywhere. There was no signs of struggle. There was no signs that anything happened last night. That morning, she would officially be registered a missing person. At just 22 years old, Javlin Gaye no had vanished.

The police are gonna try and convince us that she didn't just vanish, she ran away, or she willingly got into a strange man's car because she was just crazy like that. Even if that were true, you should still be looking for her. But in the case of Jowlan, it just didn't make sense. Jowlan was working as a sales girl at the Robinson Mall, and her boss had only, only great things to say about her. She was consistently on time. She delivered great performance. The customers loved her.

She was polite, eager, literally what is there not to love? When she wasn't working, she was studying criminology at the local college. Her dream, her ultimate dream, was to become a police officer. And I imagine that if she became an officer, she would not fail the families of victims like the police would fail her family. Everyone who knew Jovellin said, her whole life could be summed up into two things.

She had this very strong, unbreakable sense of familial unity. Like she was, she was the type that would do anything for her family. As the eldest sister, she would take on odd jobs while she's studying in college. She wanted to make sure that her sisters never had to work for food or were eating well It's like she had more hours in a day more days in a week than most people on Sundays. She never missed church service Everyone described her to be just so utterly wholesome

She's the type of student our daughter that other parents would be like, why can't you be more like Jowlyn? please that other parents would be like, why can't you be more like Jowlyn? Please. She never went out drinking, never went out clubbing. She was dedicated to her goals and nothing was gonna get on her way. Like even fun. The only time that she stayed out late was when she had to stay after closing

to help with packing and inventory. But even then, she never came home after 9 p.m. She was actually one of the odd young people that really found comfort in just staying home. She was very one of the odd young people that really found comfort in just staying home. She was very happy to stay home. Even her cousins, Leobart and Jovert were both in their thirties. If they ever got hungry, these are full grown men in their thirties. If they ever got hungry, if they ever couldn't afford food, they went to Joflin to 22 year old Joflin. She would cook for anyone that she cared about. Not only would she cook for you,

she would sit you down, make you feel warm, and ask you about yourself. Is everything okay? She loved like a good heartfelt conversation. And now she's just gone. She just vanished. And this whole family, they're like, we have a giant hole in our hearts.

Like what are you talking about? The cousins are begging for her return. Her sisters are distraught. Her mom is beside herself. What is going on? Also side note, another thing that was very, very rare for Javilan's age is that she knew that ego could destroy relationships and careers. So she never let her ego get in the way of resolving a fight. So everything is just saying that she's not a pushover. She is very, very strong-minded, has a good head on her shoulders, and it just doesn't make sense. I imagine working very early on, and having this financial burden of caring for her family

was a big part of growing up early, but one day she was going to be an amazing fair, trustworthy police officer. One that would put these police officers working her case to shame. It felt like they had genuinely no idea what the hell they were doing. Jovlin is reported missing and the police strike their investigation at the mall, the robins and mall because that is Jovlin's last known location. You know, their plan makes a lot of sense. They would go through the CCTV footage hoping to catch a glimpse of her movements.

At least that way, they could figure out what exit she took. Maybe she ran into a friend. Maybe she ran into someone in the mall. Or maybe she was taken in the mall. Like, we don't know. We gotta go through the CCTV footage. But when the police arrive at the mall, the owners are like, well, we don't wanna help.

We don't wanna give you the CCTV footage. Now, this is where the urban legend comes into play. I don't think that the public were coming into this guns of blazing at the mall like, oh my god, remember the urban legend of the mall? Like, it's the mall. They just had the same reaction as the police. Okay, she probably left the mall and then ran into foul play after she left, right? Because the mall is so public, it's so bright. What's going to happen in there? We got to get the CCTV footage. See if she left with someone. Who did she leave with? What exit did she take? At least that gives us a direction that she might have been going. But then suddenly, the mall doesn't want to give CCTV? That's weird. Why would they not want to help unless

they had something in the hide? The urban legend now started getting brought up with this case. Now, the urban legend is what threw this case into social media spotlight. People could not stop talking about how creepy the mall was, how her disappearance must be connected to the human snake. Others argued there was never a human snake as human trafficking. Regardless of what you thought, public enemy number one right now was the police and the mall. You know, a lot of people were saying, what do you mean, officer, that the mall said no?

Like, since when do you guys take no for an answer? As a regular civilian, you asked me to do something, I take no bad things happen to me, but this big fancy mall, they can say no to you all the time? People commented, a life is at stake, and this is how much effort you're putting into it. Someone said no, so now you're done investigating. I'm sorry.

Is the mom more powerful than the police? This is kind of crazy, guys. Now side note, Javilan disappeared in Puerto Princes, which is a beautiful tourist island. It's like a tiny little island that attracts a lot of local and foreign tourists. So news of her disappearance made a lot of people adverse to vacationing there, and that is what made police get more involved in the case. So originally the police were like, sorry, we can't get them all CCTV footage,

so like cases over, bye, everybody go home, right? Now, the public attention is what made the police get more invested in this case. They realized that the public was not just going to forget about her disappearance or her vanishing, and if they didn't solve it, nobody was going go to the mall. Nobody was even gonna come visit the island that relied heavily on tourist economy, on tourist money. So the government bosses, all of the officials, the people that are basically the bosses of the police, they're like,

you need to figure this out. And with Jay Kastora, the tarot card reader, along with other high profile names getting involved, this case was getting bigger by the second, not even by the day, by the second. Now side note, there were a lot of theories forming. Many people believed that yes indeed, it had something to do with them all. Something very strange happened in that mall, and since the owners are wealthy, they're able to stand up against the police and refuse to give CCTV footage. Other small theories started to emerge. There were rumors that Jovelyn was having an affair with her boss' husband. Listen, I don't even know where this came from and I don't even know how it started. But her manager's name is Karen, and people said that Karen had found out that her husband

was hanging out a lot with Javilan and instead of leaving him, Karen became overwhelmed with jealousy and emotion. She channeled all that hatred, all that anger towards Javilan instead of her own husband, and she thought, as long as she disappears, I can have my husband, all of myself. People on social media went so crazy with this theory that news stations wanted to interview Karen, the manager. She came out and she denied having any resentment towards Javilan, she said, in fact,

I've only at first spoken highly of her, like you can see all of my other interviews, you can ask anybody, we had a good relationship, she has a great work ethic, she's dedicated to the job, she was one of my best employees. But people overanalyze this interview and stated that she was way too emotionless. If a manager genuinely liked your employee, wouldn't you be emotional? Javilan sister chimed in and said, well I was able to log into my sister's Facebook account after she vanished. And I actually did see messages pertaining to the boss's husband.

Javilan was talking to a friend of hers on Facebook about how she wanted to quit her job. Javilan said, I don't like it anymore, and the friend asked her why. Javilan responded, my boss's husband messaged me out of nowhere regarding our products and merchandise one night, and when I came to work the next morning, my boss asked me why I was talking to her husband. So I clarified what was going on, but honestly that was that, like nothing happened, nothing went on. And it just, like the whole thing, it just seemed like a threw-off jawel in. She felt very uncomfortable.

But there was nothing to indicate that Karen or her husband felt any type of way about it. So again, a lot of confusing rumors that aren't really propelling the case forward or helping in finding Jovelyn. Now around this time, Rafi told FOTE this massive TV personality and journalist and now a senator in the Philippines, he starts getting involved. He starts putting pressure on the officials. He even had the major of the police force on his show where he just grilled him for answers.

The major just kept repeating the same responses over and over. It sounded like he was given a list of answers that were PR friendly, that were appropriate, and he just kept repeating those. I don't want to hinder the investigation. We're still keeping that in mind. We're still investigating the leads. We're still trying to figure it out. Raffee wasn't having any of it.

He'd get pushing. And since Raffee was this high-powered senator or slash journalist, the major was actually terrified of him. He was in kind of a pickle. He had to try and not hinder the investigation or make himself or the police force look bad, but also responded a way that Raffee would be satisfied with. It was not a good position to be in.

Every answer just made it seem like the major and the police were hiding something, or that they just were the most incompetent people running this case. Overall, shitty, shitty situation. Rafi told Folk kept pushing the major to tell them if they were able to get the CCTV footage from them all, and what was seen on there. The major kept brushing off this question, saying that he couldn't say anything that could jeopardize the investigation. But Rafi kept pushing and kept pushing and kept pushing and with enough pressure, the

major stated, you know what, I'll give you my personal theory. He stated that he saw a figure that appears to be Jovelyn exiting the mall in the CCTV footage that they were able to obtain. Allegedly, she leaves through the employee door and gets picked up by an unknown sedan. He states that they are looking for this sedan right now. Now the whole energy of that statement shifts the entire conversation. It shifts the whole investigation. The major made it seem like Jowllin willingly got into some stranger's car.

Even the way that he was saying it was just very, you know, why would she get into an unknown man's car? Maybe she ran off with a boyfriend. It's almost like that kind of route. It seems like they're digging into. And since she's 22, she's an adult. She can legally make her own decisions. He almost made it seem like she's just this 22 year old who doesn't care if her family is stressed out or worried for her and just wanted to go hang out with her boyfriend. That is the implication of this. It wasn't even this sedan itself that was the explosive news. So Rafi starts questioning the validity of this statement because it's the first time he's hearing of it and it just, it came out of left field. And again, with enough pushing, the major admits that he just made this up to say something, to say anything.

Not a good luck. So he didn't see her leaving? No. He was just like, I knew it was going to be a dead end, so I just wanted to say something anything to get you off my ass. You can expect how the people felt about it. It seems like the major would rather lie

than be truthful that they have nothing so far. So Rafi gets another police officer on the show. Starts grilling him too. It looks like the police officers work slower than turtles here, what's going on? Still no good response. The saddest part was Johnalyn, the sister was on standby listening to everything.

And she finally got on air and said, please, sir, I need to clarify something. The sister states that she's upset that her sister is being portrayed as this indecent girl that would run into the car with her boyfriend and run off without caring for her family. She kept clarifying that she was able to gain access to her sister's Facebook accounts

and there was no romantic messages, not even flirtatious conversations with anyone. Also, side note, how sad is that? The minute a girl is in a relationship, people are like, well, no point in looking for her now. She probably ran away with the boy. Or the minute someone struggles with mental health, people are like, well, no point in looking into their

clearly suspicious, weird, bizarre death, cause they were probably depressed. It's crazy. So, Javilan's sister passionately argued, please, she doesn't entertain any men, so she is focused on work and her studies she just wants to graduate. So if you could ask anyone in the neighborhood, you could ask all of our neighbors, conduct a survey if you must to see if I'm telling the truth. You have to trust me.

A lot of people sympathize with Dravallin's sister. I mean, it's frustrating when people paint or loved ones to be someone that they're not. And even if she did have a boyfriend, it's frustrating that something like that could make her life less valuable. Raffia agreed. He went on to grill the head of the person

in charge of the local police department, and he straight up just asked him like, what is going on? Why did you lie? So the major says, I was just tired. So you mean to tell me when you guys are tired you can just start making up stories and telling lies? And major adding insult to injury, why do you guys keep all implying that Jovelin has a boyfriend or a suitor? We have Jovelin's sister who says Jovelin would never entertain any guys, so why do you keep imposing that her case is not an abduction and that she got into a car willingly? Before he could even respond, Rafi let the emotions get the better of him and he exploded on the major and he said, do I have to go to the headquarters of the National Police

Department personally to request to talk to the chief of the entire National Police Force so that I can put you in the hot seat? You better do your job and get it together or else I will put you all under Senate hearing. Even that city director of yours, I will bring to the Senate. Once my patience runs out, I swear I will have you all investigated because you're all working too slow. I want answers by tomorrow, is that good? It was really, really intense. Now, Rafi did work very closely with Jowlyn's family and even provided them with a new place to live. Financial assistance to help start their own business

because Jowlyn was the sole breadwinner. Rafi even paid the family's monthly bills at one point and the family, the netizens, Rafi, everyone was so frustrated watching these interviews. It felt like someone was hiding something and they thought that you were too dumb or too powerless to do anything about it. It was such blatant lies. It was like a slap in the face. It was so shady. But there is another perspective

to this. Some people felt like Rafi was doing a bit too much. So they were saying, you know, it's one thing to draw public attention to a case and demand answers from the authorities that are being paid by taxpayer money. That's one thing. It's another thing to keep pushing people to a point where they could potentially jeopardize the investigation. So, it's also a very tricky situation for the journalist because the journalist is expected to get answers and if they don't get answers, they have to wonder why, why are we not getting the answers.

But at the same time, you gotta use some reasoning, you gotta use some nuance, and there's gotta be some common sense and some mutual understanding. I do think that the major was shady, but I don't think he was shady to that point. I think that there must have been a part of him that genuinely was like, I truly don't know what to say.

I'm like getting grilled so hard right now, and we've got nothing, but I can't say that we have nothing. And then I can't say anything that would jeopardize the investigation. So it was just a very tricky situation. So in another instance, Raffi was interviewing another police officer and the officer mentioned a piece of the CCTV footage

where there was this visual presence of one of those giant metal cargo containers that are used to transport goods. So maybe they were in the cargo section of the mall and they're bringing in all these goods and it was near the employee entrance. The police officer stated something along the lines of, she went inside the metal cargo container. Now, people are thinking, is this the next big lead?

People were freaking out, Rafi was freaking out. How come we're just hearing about this? A metal shipping container? Are you kidding who owned the container? Why would you have gotten in to one? That doesn't make sense. It's not part of her job description. Raffi immediately hung up with the officer,

called the officer superior, who clarified, whoa wait, no, no, no, no, no, no. She went around the metal cargo container. To which Raffi responded, one of your men said that she went inside the container. That's why I'm asking you, what is inside? And if anyone has already checked who owns the cargo container, good grief.

Like, that's what I'm asking you. Now, viewers at home, there is some nuance to this. Viewers at home were feeling a little bit frustrated because this one wasn't purely police incompetent or secrecy. The officer in question that mentioned the metal container, he spoke a different dialect. So he said, went.

But the way that he used the word in tagalog made it seem like she went in, but it could have easily meant if she went around. But instead of clarifying, because it was clear that he didn't speak the same dialect, instead of raffee being like, well, can you clarify, did she go in or around? He just kind of hung up and was like,

okay, let me call this superior and make it a whole big thing. And everyone was like, that didn't need to be a big thing. You know, and then he's calling out police incompetency and secrecy, but then people were like, this one just feels like you made something really big for an explosive news segment, but it wasn't that big of a deal. People weren't happy about it, but a social media discourse was ramping up,

so was the investigation, believe it or not. The investigators were able to get through the security footage of them all and they found Jovelin. There was clear evidence that she made it to work that day, so okay, good, but there was no evidence that she left the establishment at the end of her shift. Why does it not show that? The mall stated there was a local power outage. So, all of their lights and power and camera shut off. Locals disputed this and said, we did not have a power outage that night. So, what are you saying? And coincidentally, it happened the same time that Jovlin was leaving the mall for her shift. It felt really, really,

really sinister. So people kept bringing up the human snake. People kept bringing up human trafficking. There were just rumors that the mall owners had a deal with the police to ignore cases like this so that they can feed their human snake or do some sort of underground activities. I mean, people also wondered, what if this was news planted by the mall's competition SM Super malls? There, they're like the biggest competitors of Robins and malls. What if they wanted Robins and to go down? So they keep pushing this mall narrative.

This is like the Chinese school kids. It's like, once someone go missing, I feel like school or the mall, they should be the number one people on top of this Yeah, not the police. Yeah, this should be hurting them the most exactly I do think it's weird when the establishment that's getting hurt the most yeah That is known for being super capitalistic is suddenly not capitalistic because capitalism would mean that you want to distance yourself from this No, they think that yeah distance distance is the way to go.

Like, suppress it. Let's just get rid of the story. But instead, that only feels more online discussion and more conspiracies. It's so weird. Wouldn't you rather just want to show the footage like, Hey, she likes them all. Exactly. We got nothing to do with the buy.

Release that to everyone. Have fun, everyone. Yeah. So now it's like, what's going on with the security, the cameras, and it just sounds more and more and more fishy. They should come out and provide everything they have. Yeah, they should be working with the investigators excitedly, like aggressively hunting down

investigators. Unless they are doing something. Exactly. So, people are going back to the tarot card readings and trying to connect the dots. Jay, the tarot card reader, said that there was a deal made even before Jovelyn had disappeared. So maybe the mall in the police had a deal, maybe the mall had a deal with the human snake,

or some sort of shady organization, or syndicate like Jay had alleged. Now, on top of that, Jay had stated that the people holding her captive were authority figures that had power. The mall owners have power. The police have power. Government officials have power. Nobody could understand how there was no footage of her leaving the mall. But they did provide. The mall does come out and provide some records. This is like an

employee log in and log out records where you log out at that time and you sign. And it showed Jowlan logging out of her shift and out of the mall, but this could have easily been someone could have signed for her. It did nothing to calm the public. It just felt very shady. Like, how is this good enough? Like, you really think we're going to be okay with this piece of paper? All these coincidences were making people feel very nervous about ever going shopping or even trusting the police. What if comparing car insurance rates was as easy as putting on your favorite podcast? even trusting the police. the rate and coverage you like. Quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 29 million drivers who trust progressive. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates comparison rates not available in all states or situations prices vary based on how you buy. Whether you're doing

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And then out of nowhere, a store outside the mall said that they had footage of Jowlin outside of the mall after her shift at work. They said the CCTV footage showed Jowlin outside waiting for a bus home, police state that they studied this footage and believed it to be Jowlin and they showed it to Jowlin's family and they were all confirmed that it was Jowlin. Everyone, except for Jowlin, this is a sister that has been outspoken and has been kind of the family representative in the news. So it's not like she's going against her family, I would say that the family is kind of

more behind her. She said that she was skeptical about this video. She said that the only reason that her family originally confirmed that it was Jowlin was because they felt pressured by the police. But the more that they watched this footage over and over and over again, they felt like they could not confidently say that that was their sister. But as she's voicing her concerns, police stated, nope, it's her sister, she's mistaken, it's her sister, because there were witnesses who saw her on the bus.

This stopped people dead in their tracks. What do you mean, saw her? So all of a sudden this grainy footage of her outside the mall shows up because there's no other evidence that she left them all. Suddenly, we have footage. And then you suddenly have people that came forward and said that, you know what, actually I did see her. Why did they not come forward prior to this?

When everyone on social media was still talking about it, it's not like the case just exploded. So I don't know, the whole thing seems a very, very fishy. But this was the strongest lead that the family was given. So they try everything. The public was able to find the driver of the bus, and he gave very wishy-washy answers. He said he had no clue if Javila never got on his bus because he focused on driving rather than the passengers.

Everything about it just felt weird. Like all of a sudden, people saw her on the bus, all of a sudden she's on a bus, and then another family tragedy stuck. Struck. Two of Jowelyn's cousins, do you remember Leo Bert and Jovert? Both in their mid-30s were involved in an accidental stabbing involving each other. Trust me, it's harder. The stabbing would result in both of them being jailed for Jovellans kidnapping and murder. We will slow down. They stab each other. Yeah. And they would result in them going to the hospital and then later to prison for Jovellans disappearance. Let me

explain. Okay, let me explain. Leo Bert and Jovert had gotten drunk one night. This is like after Jovlin disappears. And somehow they enter into this super heated argument allegedly about Jovlin. One of them was injured and required hospitalization. Now, it was reported to the police once Jovert came to the hospital because they're like this, I mean, you're clearly stabbed with a knife like you can't tell me otherwise. So we're going to have to report it to the police because that's a knife fight. So both of them get brought into the police station and Leo Bert, one of the cousins, starts to confess.

His confession would rip his entire family apart or whatever was left of his family. It was it was bad. Leo Bert stated that he and Joe Bert planned to kidnap Assault and kill Javilan their own cousin their own flesh and blood that they grew up around They said they planned it for weeks and that they finally did it The reason that the accidental stabbing occurred was because Leo Bert felt so guilty about what he did It was eating him up on the inside. He just wanted to turn himself in clear his guilty conscience Give Javilan's mom some peace of mind. He wanted to stop living his life looking over his shoulder constantly for the police. He tried to tell Jover

one drunk in night. Hey buddy, I want to tell the cops. Jover was pissed. He was like, we agreed to do this together. You can't just turn yourself in because then I got to turn myself in. I'm not ready to go to jail. You can go to jail by yourself. Why should I have to go to jail? So he grabs a knife and threatens to kill the oboe. The oboe pushes him and attempts to defend himself and it resulted in Jovert accidentally stabbing himself with the knife.

They had been brought in, Jovert had been subdued and the oboe felt like now that he was no longer around his cousin and he wasn't scared or no no longer around Joe Verte. He was no longer scared for his life. He could confess. He stated that he was overcome with remorse and guilt. This freaked out a lot of people for a number of reasons.

The small one being, Jay's tarot card reading stated that the people who took Jowel in were authority figures. In the Philippines, it's much like the rest of Asia, you are grown up to show cousins, especially that are 10 years older than you, you have to show them respect. They are also your authority figures. No one had thought of it like that. People are like, wow, we kept thinking about government officials and police officers when it could really be the person closest to you.

Mainly everyone was freaked out though because these were her cousins. What motive would they have in kidnapping her? Leobert was asked that and he said it all started a few months before she vanished. He and Jovert kept talking about how Jovelyn was so pretty. How beautiful she was and at first it started as like a fun family banter. Like oh my god our cousin is so pretty. But they said that they became fascinated by her looks and they said that they were even more intrigued by her Contrasting tomboyish manner. I don't know what they're trying to say with that

Something about her was irresistible the obert said now at first it starts off as a simple joke They were joking. I don't know how this is a joke or how it's funny How they would kidnap her and what they would do to her if they could kidnap her. And for about a month or so, this is how they planned it. The more they talked about it, the less of a joke it seemed, and the more feasible, the more excited they got for this plan. And then one evening, they put their plan into action. They said that they knew where the bless would drop off, droveling near the house, and it was very dark. She would get off alone and they would forcibly grab her.

Now, if this were true, if this is true, I cannot imagine the emotions that she went through, first being grabbed, the fear, the terror. And then when you look and you see it's your cousins, maybe you have this moment of like a release of tension because you probably assume that they're playing a joke on you. And then that fear comes rushing back when you realize, they're not. This is not a joke.

They stated that they grabbed and restrained Jovelyn causing her to lose consciousness. Leo Byrts said they dragged her to a grassy area in their hometown, subjected her to rounds of horrific essay by her own two cousins, her own family members, and Leo Byrts stated that she never gained consciousness ever again. They realized that she was dead, which was kind of their plan because there's no way that they could do this to their cousin of all people and expect her to not say anything to anyone.

Leo Byrte said they dragged her lifeless body to an area with even taller grass and less foot traffic, they dug a shallow grave, buried her. They said that they scattered her belongings through the field as an attempt to hide the evidence. And apparently this was their masterful plan that took them over a month to come up with. The confession of the crime is strange, and it doesn't sit right with a lot of people. But either way, August 23rd, 2022, just 18 days after Jowlyn vanished, Leo Bert led the police to the locations where he and Javirt allegedly hid Javilan's body.

This is where things get puzzling because at this point people are thinking, I don't really believe this confession, maybe the guys on drugs, maybe he's drunk, maybe he's like having a mental breakdown, because this doesn't make sense. Who can really do this to their cousin? Javilan had been missing for 18 days and he pointed out where her body was buried. The level of decomposition on her body was extremely severe. She was completely skeletal at this point. There were no remaining soft tissues, nothing.

It was nearly impossible to do a comprehensive autopsy. There was no way to even prove that she had been essayed before her death because of how advanced the decomp was at this state. A lot of forensic experts who saw the crime scene photos also stated that the bones almost looked a little too clean. I mean, yeah, you could argue that being in a humid tropical environment could lead to faster decomposition, but something about the scene felt oddly staged. That's how the public felt.

That's how experts felt. Another puzzling revelation was just how close to home Jocelyn was. Even her things that were scattered about like her ID, her bag, her sunblock, gum, wallet, all of it was discarded so so close to her home. Even her body was found so close to her home, it didn't make sense. A lot of neighbors wondered how her neighbors, Jocelyn's neighbors, the same ones that were searching high and low for her, how they never smelled or spotted her remains when she was found a thousand feet away from her own home. And she wasn't found in like an abandoned field.

One neighbor said that the grassy area that she was found, it had some foot traffic because people would walk through it as a shortcut. It's not like a jungle, it's like just a grassy area. And since it wasn't being put to use, some of the neighbors even planted herbs and veggies. Kids would play in that little yard area, sometimes dogs would play fetch. Even if a stray dog had died there, which has happened before, everyone would have known because of how badly it smelled, I would imagine it's worse with a human. There's even a store from where Jovlin was found, that's 300 feet away.

And you're telling me, no one smelled anything? No one saw anything? No, I mean everyone in the area is looking for Javalan, and no one smelled something so strange, like a decomposing body and thought, I just probably got nothing to do with the missing girl. Like that doesn't make sense. The family did confirm some of the items found nearby were Javalan's, but not all of it. The underwear that was supposedly hers were not hers according to the family, but the wallet ID and some of the other things were. Now, there was no way for them to ID her based on appearance because her how her remains were found, but Jovellans mom said, in my heart, I genuinely believe that she's

still alive, that she is somewhere out there because I don't know if someone harmed her. In my mind, she's still alive. When I saw those bones, I didn't feel anything. It's as if they didn't belong to Jovellin. So this further fueled the online theory that whoever was found was not Jovellin. Netizens expected that the police planted the bones there so that they could stop investigating this case. That it was some sort of big cover-up.

But the police kept going with this. Two days later, on August 25th, 2022, they instructed Leobert to guide them to where he allegedly buried Jovlin's jewelry and phone. So this is another odd thing. The jewelry and phone were separated from the rest of her belongings, and they were buried super close to Leobert's house. So either he's a super confident criminal dumb or this just felt... Strange. It felt weird. Like if you think of it from a criminal's perspective, especially if you were related to the victim, wouldn't you want to get us far away from their items as possible?

Soon after, would the police believe to be a shut and done case? Because, you know, we can have all the theories in the world, but only the killers would know the location of Joplin's remains in her belongings, right? And Leo Bert led them there so remains in her belongings, right? And Leobert led them there so it must be him, right? Well, Leobert's attorney came out to say that whenever Leobert was talking and guiding officers to the evidence, Leobert would look at the officer, waiting for some kind of

sign, or go ahead, or some sort of signal. At this point in the case, people didn't really know what to believe. Netizens were even questioning if they had gone too deep down into the conspiracy rabbit hole and they were just trying to create the most insane narrative of things now. People didn't know, are we crazy? Is the police crazy? Or is this real? Because you know sometimes things happen that are so sick and twisted, it almost feels like a conspiracy when you start thinking about it.

People wanted answers or at least some clarity. Another person that could have that is Jovert, the other person involved in the crime, the other cousin. Now, he hadn't been as involved in this investigation thus far because he was hospitalized for accidentally stabbing himself. A radio show tracked him down in the hospital and asked for an interview. Their aim was to just get to the bottom of the mystery, answer all the unrelenting questions, tell us why did you do it, what happened, tell us the truth. But in reality, all it did, all this interview did was muddy the waters even more.

Jovert was so emotional during his interview, he stated that none of it was true, none of it. Even the accidental stabbing, none of it had to do with Javilan. I'm sorry, what? Then why did you accidentally stab yourself? I confronted Leo Bird about the rumors. Rumors that he was trying to hit on my wife. I was drunk, I confronted him, and he looked me in the eye, and you know what he said? He got defensive. He said, hey, you better be careful about making accusations like that.

And I started getting angry. I got into a fit of anger, and I was drunk. I grabbed the knife. I pointed at him. I demanded he'd take me seriously. Just answered the question, that's all I wanted from him. And then I end up in the hospital and charged with the murder of my cousin. I mean, I have no involvement in my cousin's disappearance.

I loved her. I can't comprehend why I'm even being connected to the case. He talks about how he has a criminal history and yeah he might have been involved in some shady things in the past like drugs but this he swears he swore up and down. I truly had no part in this. I cannot fathom what's being thrust on me right now. This is the honest truth. When Jovelyn went missing I was at work with my managers. I can confirm that. They can confirm that. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine taking a person's life or even committing such a despicable act of sexual assault,

please you have to believe me." August 30th, 2022, a few days after Jowlin supposed remains were found. A DNA test was released by the police to the public stating that the remains did indeed belong to Jowlin. With this, the police formally charged Leobert and Jowvert of f**king homicide. Now most of the charges did rely on Leobert's confession and narrative.

The police completely brushed off Jowvert's claims of innocence and stated that, thing that he said about work, it's just him trying to create an alibi. What do you mean? That even raised eyebrows, exactly what you said. Either he lied about his alibi or he didn't. Like what does it mean when you say it's an attempt at him creating an alibi? Was he or was he not at work? Like it just felt like the police were being round about for no reason.

You could literally just say he lied he wasn't at work. But they were like that's his attempt at creating an alibi. It was really strange that the police kept taking these convoluted routes with this investigation. It felt like they refused to investigate or even entertain Jovert's claims, and simply focused on what Leobert said. And just before Leobert was officially taken into custody, Jovlin's mother filled with a mix of anger and confusion confronted him and she screamed in demanded answers. She asked, how could you commit such a crime against your own cousin your own flesh and blood?

How can you live with yourself? Leobart turned around and you cried and said that he was coerced by the chief of the city's anti-crime organization Richard Ligad he begged his aunt to believe him. He cried out you know me you know me You know that's not me. You know I could never do this. Please. I didn't do it on to you have to believe me. I didn't kill Jorvlin I was forced to take the blame, please you have to believe me I didn't have anything to do with it at all. You've known me since I was a kid You know a kind of person. I am pleased. I would never do something like that Wait, wait, wait, what?

She was so taken aback by his words She was torn between her desire to believe him because she doesn't want to believe that someone she trusted her own flesh and blood as well could do something like this to her child. But then there was so much circumstantial evidence against him and you know she did think back to all those great moments of Leo Bert and their family and it was just so hard to accept that he could have done something like this. She tried to get some clarity. She spoke with him while he was in jail. And later, Jovellins, two sisters, Jocelyn and Johnalyn would even go on air with Raffi

Tulfo to talk about what was going on with their cousin Leo Bert. Leo Bert had alleged that it wasn't just the Richard, the chief Richard that was trying to get him to take the blame. Multiple officers were heavily involved. Allegedly, they instructed him to point at random locations, so they brought him to a field. They were like, point in that direction. And then he would point in that direction.

Creating the illusion that he was the one that told them, that told them where the body was and where the belongings were. So they were just like using random clips at him. But they just took him to a predetermined spot and told him to point. So he did ensure enough her body and belongings were found and he said that he was gutted and shocked, but also terrified because that just made him look like the guilty as man alive.

Allegedly, Leobert only complied with Richard and the police because they kept threatening his family. The sisters were able to record a conversation with Leobert and he does in fact seem terrified for his life. He stated how Richard told him exactly how to respond to the questions he would ask, but he also alleged that Richard physically abused him when he didn't do what it was asked of him. He sent the sisters pictures of scars and bruises all over his body. The police responded to Leobert's change in attitude by stating, we have his confession where he admitted to committing the crime which overt. That is the information we currently have and we're going to rely on it. If

there are claims of additional individuals involved in the crime, we will conduct a thorough investigation into that matter. Wow, this is so shady. I don't think anyone was satisfied with that response. It felt like the entire case and the entire investigation, the police just kept taking the scenic, easy route. They didn't even care to investigate. They just wanted to say, oh, well, that's what we have. So even if it's not true, that's what we have. So we're going to stick with it. The lack of transparency, the inconsistencies throughout the investigation made it difficult to even have faith in the authorities. The family ended up reaching out to the National Bureau of Investigations, the NBI, to help assist with the police and getting justice. Honestly, they just wanted another DNA test.

I think they just wanted to make sure the police weren't lying and that indeed was Jovellan's body. I don't think any family could live on comfortably knowing that they were skeptical of something like this and I think it would just drive people crazy. The NBI started their own investigation, parallel to the police. And in the end, the NBI's results were the same as the police. They confirmed it was Jovellans remains.

It said Jovellans family was feeling a mix of relief and sorrow. The NBI experts did what the police failed at doing, which was giving the family a reason on how that happened. They said the weather conditions played a big role. Additionally, they stated the presence of crocodiles in the area could have accelerated her soft tissue decomp. It seems like Dravelins family were satisfied with the response. Many people in the public were not.

They brought up a few things that didn't track. For example, if there were crocodiles, how come there were no blood stains in the grass? If you're saying the crocodiles came to consume her remains, there must be traces of either bodily fluids or even tissue left behind because a lot of the times they'll take remains to a secondary location to consume. But the entire area seemed pretty clean. Another reporter, Tommy Abowel, stated, there is a recurring phenomenon where authorities attempt to conceal the truth by targeting vulnerable individuals and forcing them to shoulder the blame for crimes they didn't commit.

The employee tactics of intimidation issue death threats and still fear by involving family members if they refused to cooperate and confess. So a lot of people agreed with him, they stated, none of it makes sense. Even Jowelyn's remains that were belongings that were found, they looked very dry, like her wall at her ID. I mean, if her body decomposed at that rate, her belongings just look so fine. Just didn't make sense. It looked like they had been tossed in the grass that morning.

There was another moment that stood out and allegedly during an interaction between an officer and Leo Burt that was caught on tape. The officer asked Leo Burt, where's Joblin's necklace? Leo Burt seemed genuinely confused, but not confused in the sense of like, oh shoot, I forgot to hide her necklace, but confused in like a, wait, there was a necklace?

Almost as if like, nobody told me about the necklace, like I don't know about a necklace. People took it as, maybe this guy has no idea what's going on. Maybe he's being fed information to repeat, but he is no insider information. Everything is saying, maybe it's just what he's told to say, and when they go off script he has no idea what's going on because he didn't commit the crime. You know how I said, the families seemed to somewhat accept that those were Jowelens

remains that were found. That doesn't mean that they were believing whatever the NBI or the police were saying. In fact, as many of the family members were conflicted on how to handle Leo Byrts' claims of innocence now. Some of the family members reached out to a local congressman to help pay for Leo Byrts' bail. It's not clear how much the bail was, but the congressman agreed to pay for it. And he said that he has no opinion in the case he just wanted to help someone. Meanwhile, Joe Byrts took a polygraph on Rafi's show and he passed with flying colors. Leobert did not. So it's kind of a shit show. Yeah. Wow. So that feels the conspiracy even more. Yes. Of like, okay, now there's a

conspiracy that only Leobert was involved. He was dragging his cousin into it for no reason. Then there's the conspiracy of neither of them were involved, or there's the conspiracy of maybe the overt tested and failed the polygraph because he has been so convinced and so, I guess, mentally abused by the police. He doesn't even know it's true anymore because that's what happens. There's false confessions where a lot of criminals start believing in, wait, did I actually do that? The police are saying that they have all the evidence. And they're playing out these scenes and I can picture it in my head and it almost feels like I did that then.

On November 25th, 2022, the country woke up to news that the court had dismissed charges against Jovert and Leobart. The court stated that they could not establish a direct link between the individuals in question and the crime. No way. They're freed. Yeah. I mean, I imagine this was very confusing for Jovelland's family. Like, there must be some members who believe in the Obert's innocence.

Then do they? They don't trust us. It's open again, right? Yes, the case is open again, but it doesn't look like the police are making progress, or at least they're not letting us know if they're making progress So it does seem like travelans family they accept that Jovlin is dead They want everyone to accept that she's dead But they it does seem like they don't want justice

They have come out with a statement and stated we do appreciate that everyone still hopes that Jovlin is alive And we fully understand why it might be hard to accept. Especially since we were only given skeletal remains and nothing more. But the experts provided good explanation and reasoning as to why her bones are left. We should respect this as they are professionals and they are doing their job. Now again, I think this part, a lot of people took it as, oh, like now the family is in it with the police, right? No, I think when there's an open investigation,

as much as you hate the police for their incompetence, to a degree the families of victims have to please the police to a certain level in hopes that they will investigate your loved one's death. You cannot piss off the only people that have the power to bring you justice right now. It's kind of with this Howard tragedy, you know, like all the victims' parents, they were still hopeful that the president could do something.

So they still, regardless of their political beliefs, regardless of her shitty house job and handling the situation, they had to still be nice to her and they still had to talk with her and beg her in a kind manner instead of demanding things from her because she might be the only one that could help. That's kind of, I think, how this situation is. They stated, we're hoping that all of you can respect and accept the truth for our sake and our peace, and so you can join us in praying for Jowlyn. We know the results are hard to accept, but we believe the PNP and the NBI did their job

well in conducting the investigation. They went on to thank the media for the coverage and helping and investigating. They ended the letter with, our last wish is that we all keep our minds open and embrace the possibility that Jovelyn is really gone. Let's all learn to accept this and be understanding about the whole ordeal.

For now, we may not be able to understand everything about what happened and why it had to happen, but we just need to trust the process and have faith that God went through this with us from the beginning until the end. So it doesn't seem like the case itself is closed, but it's just such a puzzling case that I don't even know what to believe. Like the deeper I go down this rabbit hole, the less I understand about this case. And I feel like I haven't researched a lot of those cases in a while, where I'm like, the more I know, the less I know. I genuinely have no stance on what happened because I'm so confused.

And it's just a case that has frustrated a lot of netizens, and more than anything, I think the only thing that I can take away from this case are one of the very few things. Is I think this show showcases just how little trust that people have in authorities these days. To know fault of our own, it's just become harder and harder to take the authorities' words for things. I think humans, we just want proof now.

And I think maybe the police should kind of learn from that. And it's just, it's scary, it's disheartening. And I'm glad that the family was able to find some closure that they need to move on from all of this. But that is all we have for today. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Please stay safe. And I will see you guys on Sunday for the mini-shoot. Bye!