Undetermined - Dragonfly | 10

Episode Date: February 7, 2023

How does Jessica's case go from Undetermined to solved? We review everything we've learned up to this point and reach out to both the District Attorney and the NOPD to share our recommendations, and seek answers about the status of Jessica's case. 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

Okay, Max, we have a new spot for Sunwing vacations. Okay, Sunwing Cyber Monday deals up to 40% off. Hang on, I think we got the wrong script. Yeah, it's 40% off, what's the issue? 40% off Cyber Monday vacation deals? Yes, why do you keep repeating me? 40% off? Huh, just think about what you could do with all those savings. I know, in fact it's in the script. When you save more, you can do more.

For daily door crashing deals, visit your local travel agent or... Almost every kid here has a absolute horror story. I don't even know how to explain it. Hidden in the redwoods of the Pacific Northwest, Hupa Valley grapples with a crisis. A series of unsolved disappearances spanning decades. And we've been hearing about a lot of them. I've been following your new season about Ashley Lois Blum. I'm sure you may have been contacted regarding the name of Alia Heavy Runner.

Many of the missing and murdered are indigenous persons. And we wondered, what factors make this tribal land a place where people just vanish? So we started looking into it. People seem to be very hesitant to come forward because they're scared for their own safety. You don't know if she was trafficked, you don't know if she is murdered. What's even more crazy is that person who ever did it is probably someone we all know here. From Tenderfoot TV, I'm Celicia Stanton,

and this is the vanishing point, an up and vanish series. Available now, listen for free on Apple Podcasts. Hey listeners, Jessica here. Be sure to check out new episodes of Undetermined every Tuesday for free wherever you get your podcasts. For early and ad-free listening, check out Tenderfoot Plus on Apple Podcasts. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individuals

interviewed and participating in the show and do not represent those of Tenderfoot TV and Resonate recordings. All individuals described or mentioned in the podcast should be considered innocent until found guilty in a court of law. This podcast contains subject matter such as violence and graphic descriptions, which may not be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. Through all the twists and turns in the three years since losing Jessica, the one thing her family has always managed to cling to is hope. For Audrey, all she needs is a small token from Mother Nature to remind her she's not alone in all of this.

Dragonflies are often revered as a symbol of transformation and rebirth. In some cultures, they're even believed to symbolize a link between this world and the next. Audrey tells me that the day she found her sister's body, she remembers seeing a dragonfly right there in that overgrown patch of land near the train tracks. If I'm standing right here, my sister was right there where that blue cover was. That's how close I was to her. And I just seen the most beautiful blue dragonfly I've never seen a bloom like that before ever. Audrey didn't make much of it at the time. It wasn't until one night after returning home to Mississippi that it sank in.

As she sat on her porch that evening thinking about her sister, she heard a buzzing sound. It was another dragonfly. And it didn't just pop in for a visit. It stuck around for some time. It was as if that little blue insect was trying to communicate with her. Audrey felt it had to mean something and looking back on it now, she's even more convinced

because these run-ins have become a regular occurrence. One time I woke up when I was crying and it was literally 20 or 30 dragonflies in my yard. They were nowhere else. They were just in my yard. And I don't know if that's just me holding on to hope or whatever, but I mean, I believe that that was my sister. For Audrey, the Dragonflies are a reminder that her sister Jessica is always with her.

She always has been. That gives her hope and strength to keep fighting. Momentum had now shifted in the family's favor. Jessica was finally laid to rest, and her case had moved into the hands of the family's favor. Jessica was finally laid to rest, and her case had moved into the hands of the DA's office, who were investigating it as a homicide. Things were looking up. Now, it was time to try and put Jessica's case to rest,

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American Express, don't do business without it. Terms and conditions apply if you visit mx.ca slash business platinum. We don't know how long he saw her before 1230. He said they talked about bills, they talked about this, they talked about that. Our time in New Orleans has been quite the roller coaster. Days of phone calls, interviews, and debriefs. We've learned a lot about Jessica's case, its own rollercoaster of sorts, and at this point,

we feel we've discovered most everything we can. Now, it's time we take a step back and examine all the pieces. Sitting inside our French Quarter Hotel room, Todd and I start creating a timeline board on Jessica's case, starting from January 2019, when that first message was sent to Maria from Jessica saying she was scared. We grabbed the biggest bullet in board we can find and prop it up on an easel against the white brick wall.

With a slew of brightly colored index cards and post-its in hand and a bold black sharpie, we get to work. Pinning cards to the board for each and every notable event along with the corresponding date and time. every notable event along with the corresponding date and time. Visually, the timeline board helps Todd and I organize and connect the dots, allowing us to really zero in on some key points along the way. Based on the timeline, here's what we know. So let's start laying it out. So we're gonna start with January 16th, 2019.

And this is eight months before Jessica goes missing. Right. That's the day at three o'clock in the afternoon. She texts her friend Maria. And Maria is supposed to come and visit and stay with her in Justin and she texts her and apologizes that she can't stay with her because they're fighting. I'm hiding in the bathroom right now, so Justin doesn't hear me.

We've been fighting, like, fighting for the past three days about everything. He's threatening to kick me out, put me in jail, he's hit me, it's bad. He told me you guys can't come or it's gonna be worse for me. Low, I'm so sorry. I know it's last minute and I feel awful. I don't know what to do. I can recommend somewhere that's reasonable and nice. The beyond canal.

We say there are a lot, or we use to. Low, I'm scared. We say there are a lot, or we used to. Low. I'm scared. And Low is the nickname she uses for Maria. Right. So then fast forward to August 12, 2019. This day starts with an 11.07 AM call from Jessica to Maria. She calls her and Maria misses the call and she does this through Facebook messenger

She calls the second time. There's a three minute and eleven second conversation She calls a third time and there's a 52 second conversation and then at 2.43 p.m. that same day August 12th 2019 a at 2.43 pm that same day, August 12, 2019, a Facebook message from Jessica's Facebook messenger is sent to Maria. We have no way of verifying who is sending any of these messages. I wanna make that clear.

And she essentially in that message on Facebook, to Maria, is asking her to come and get her in that very moment. And Maria can't come right then. So they actually make plans for Maria to come the next morning and get Jessica. And the last thing that Jessica says in those Facebook messenger.

Okay, just hang on. I don't know what's going to happen when I get home. And that is the last time that Maria ever heard from Jessica. So moving into August 13th, the next day, 2019, that's the morning that Maria had planned with Jessica to come and get her. planned with Jessica to come and get her. But, Maria never hears from Jessica. The following day, August 14th, 2019, Jessica's family and her friend Maria start calling local shelters, hospitals, anywhere they think Jessica could be, but have no luck finding her. It's not until 9 p.m. that night that Justin gets on Jessica's Facebook messenger and sends a message to Maria asking if she knows where Jessica is. Is Jess with you? Grace and I are worried. If so, that's fine. We just don't know where she is and Grace can't handle stress like this right now.

No, she's not. When was the last time you spoke to her? About noon today and she left everything here. Keys, car, ID, money. What about her phone? Here too. Fucking weird. Worried. She's never done this. I have no idea. Check Check everything and everyone I know. Okay, well I'm sending the police over there.

Maria does in fact call in a wellness check at this time and police confirm they'll be heading to the Durnings residence. So, sometime after 10pm, the first unit of the District 3 Police Department show up for a wellness check based off of Maria's call to them. Out of concern that something has happened to her friend. Now when they show up, they don't seem armed with that information, they think it could be an elderly person living alone

or a sick person, and they meet with Justin at this time. Some notable information from that initial conversation with Justin with the two officers are that he tells them that we know that Grace likely came home from school at 3 p.m. Grace is there when he gets up. She tells him she hasn't seen Jessica. That's his statement, yeah. Right. When he woke up before she's not there, he noticed that there was a pizza made and that she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

Sometime prior to noon that day, before he goes and takes a nap, he tells police that he and Jessica sit down, they're having a conversation, they talk over their bills, what they're gonna have for dinner, things like that, and then he goes and takes his nap. Yeah, and lists that that's where we first find out that all these articles that a person would normally leave the house with were left behind, her ID, her phone, all her medications, her wallet,

and the car and car keys all there. Right. The officer admitted that the circumstances seemed suspicious, but it's important to note that police never entered the home during this first visit. The visit lasted about 15 minutes. And as the officers were leaving, they told Justin to expect a call, as they'd be sending out another unit to do a missing persons report.

That second unit arrived just a couple hours later. It's past midnight, so we're still in the same time frame. But it is now the next day same time frame, but it is now the next day before the next officers come to the house and meet with Justin. It's about 1am when officer Gatner and officer Griffin arrive at Justin's house to do the missing person report. He again meets them outside and they go to the driveway side of the house and they go inside this time. Yeah, they walk through the house as far as the open area where you immediately enter from that side of the house. They're seeing the living room and the kitchen at

that point. And also at this point, he lets them know that his daughter Grace and father Justin Sr. are sleeping. He offers to wake Grace up to talk to officers about Jessica, but they tell him that's okay, she's got to sleep. Justin gives his phone number to police. It is the same phone number he gives at the first stop with police He reiterates all the things that she's left behind Which is ID phone medication wallet car keys and they asked to see her ID that she is left behind and

at that time he goes to the side of the bed that is opposite of the officers at the far end of the bedroom that they're standing in and seemingly picks up Jessica's wallet from the floor. He brings it over, pulls out her ID, and we can see clearly. In the body camp footage, we obtained you can clearly see that it is a Louisiana state ID. The card is vertical unlike their driver's licenses, which are horizontal. We can't make out all the details on it, but the officer does comment that their last

names are different, implying the card reads Jessica Easterly rather than turning. Then he starts telling them the same information of timeline to these officers that they had a conversation that he took a nap around noon 1230, woke up at 4. However, he says when he woke up around 4 she was missing, but he did notice that there was and he couldn't remember what they're called He was doing he was showing with his hands You know the the pizza things that they're frozen you cook them and they say the pizza rolls and he said yeah There were pizza rolls when I woke up So they continue speaking to him He shows them the Facebook messenger

messages that he and Maria shared on Jessica's Facebook page. He pulls out the tablet, shows the officer that conversation. He had told them the last thing he saw her wearing was jeans and a t-shirt. She asks him, do you remember the color of her t-shirt? He tells her, I don't remember the color of her t-shirt because we were laying in bed together. After the officers finished gathering information and filling out their report, they returned to their cruiser. Officer Gantner calls her superior detective Anthony Lahn to voice her concerns over Jessica's disappearance, and this essentially gets the ball rolling

on a missing person's investigation. So at about 153 AM, the second unit of officers who've now taken his missing person's report for Jessica, leave his house. Two days later, August 17, 2019, is Jessica's 43rd birthday. Still no one has heard from her at this point.

Eight days later, from the time that she went missing, August 22, 2019, her family is in town and they're mapping out a search area within the Lakeview neighborhood, which they hope to be able to give to police. At 12.34 p.m. her family, her two sisters and her cousin, discover Jessica's body in an overgrown area about two and a half blocks from her home.

It's about a two-minute drive from her residence. She's found wearing a black tank top, She's found wearing a black tank top, black shorts, and black shoes. At 1,300 five hours, or 105 pm, she's pronounced dead on the scene. So when the family found Jessica, she was laying on her side in an overgrown area just on the other side of this overpass. And we also know from a source that was at the scene who makes their living dealing with dead bodies, she had liver mortis on the outside of her knee that was the opposite knee of the knee that was touching the ground. This would imply that Jessica died laying on one side of her body, but was found on the opposite side, which brings up an important question. Could she have been moved to the spot sometime after her death? Just days later on August 24th, 2019, the coroner's

autopsy report would reveal other suspicious findings. In that coroner's report, they documented she had a broken nose, a broken jaw, a postmortem broken seafore vertebrae, and a broken rib, postmortem. We also know from the toxicology report that was included in the coroner's report that they did tissue samples from her liver and found measurable levels of methamphetamine, amphetamine, well-buterin, which is antidepressant, and ethanol or drinking alcohol.

And the reason they could only, at this point, test her liver, was because when she, her body was recovered, she was in advanced decomposition stage. Then on January 15th, 2020, the corner gave their ruling on the cause and manner of Jessica's death, undetermined. And then things go quiet for a stretch. During this time, Audrey remains steadfast, hounding the N.O.P NOPD, hoping for any new information.

When out of nowhere, she gets a call from a couple in Jessica's Lakeview neighborhood. March 15, 2020, nearly six months after Jessica's body is recovered. A couple named Chukka Margaret, find Jessica's ID in the area where her body was discovered. The ID is also a Louisiana State Identification Card that is vertical, not horizontal, as a driver's license would be, it also states her name as Jessica Easterly, her maiden name, and this identification expires in 2023. The ID when they find it appears to have been run over by a lawn mower, so when they find it it's crumpled, and a little torn, but completely legible. After police obtained the ID,

the family is left wondering its significance and how this wasn't found until some seven months after Jessica's body was discovered. But after some time, the family starts to feel like this could be yet another dead end. That is, until they hear from another Lakeview neighbor, J. Royce. October 15, 2020. More than a year later, a man named J. Royce notices that Justin Durning on a neighborhood app, or someone using Justin's account and

photo, is posting about neighborhood stuff. But in those posts that he's putting into this neighborhood app, he's also posting his phone number. It is the same phone number that over a year earlier, the night he reported Jessica missing to police, it's the same phone number that he gave to them. This brings us to that text exchange between Jay Royce and an unknown individual who he believed to be Justin. As you heard in a previous episode,

the text conversation got pretty volatile, and near the end of it, J makes some strong accusations. And this pretty much summarizes the timeline, but after stitching together this immense timeline board, we look at one of the final pinned index cards, J. Royce Text, October 15th, 2020. There's been a lot of question about who may have sent those texts to J. Royce, and whether they are a critical piece of evidence that could help solve Jessica's case, or merely

a random coincidence. To this point, there's not been any clear answers provided that we know of. These are important questions, and their answers have an expiration date. Todd remembers that the service provider for the numbering question only keep phone records with historical location for two years. After that, they are purged, for two years. After that, they are purged, meaning authorities only have until October of 2022 to preserve the records before this evidence is gone forever, along with any chance of ever identifying who sent those messages. So knowing Jessica's case had moved into the hands of the DA's office, we decided it's

time to reach out to Jason Williams with an urgent recommendation. While we did not record our conversation with the DA, per his request, I can share with you the context of it in very general terms. Most of our conversation was, of course, centered around those text messages from October of 2020. Obviously, these text messages are very concerning in nature, but they're even more concerning when compared to Jessica's case, and more specifically her death. Here's why. We know from the Corners report that Jessica received a broken nose and fractured jaw while still alive.

This could be indicative of injuries that would occur from a fall in the bathroom, which is exactly what the individual described in their text message. She had liver mortis on the outside of her leg, facing the sky, indicating she died elsewhere and was later dumped in the spot she was found. And in those text messages, when the individual was asked how she ended up there, they said they panicked and drove her there. Both of these statements are consistent with crime scene and autopsy findings that were not released to the public.

Now again, no matter who sent these texts, this is considered circumstantial evidence, which is fine, but in this case, it also has potential to lead to physical or direct evidence. If Jessica really did fall in the bathroom, breaking her nose as a result, and then laid their dead for an extended time, there could still be blood present in whatever bathroom the incident occurred in. There could also be blood in the individual's vehicle as they admitted to moving her body. But police would need probable cause to obtain a search warrant, which means they need to

determine who sent those text messages through historical records for that phone number. But for now, their priorities should be to simply preserve these records before they are purged. That's why we refer the DA to an expert who taught knows personally in their area. Dealing with service providers can be tricky. You have to know what you're doing in this line of expertise. So it was important that we referred someone we knew was properly qualified. But about six months later,

Todd ran into that very expert whom he had recommended to the DA at a conference he was attending. Unfortunately, when Todd asked him how this case was going, he discovered that the DA never contacted him. So in January of 2022, more than a year since we spoke to the DA on the phone, and five months after his press conference announcing his co-case unit, we reached back out to him to find out if there's been any movement on Jessica's case. You've reached Curtis on with the third communications directors of the District Attorney's Office of New Orleans.

Unfortunately, I'm away from that. Since leaving a voicemail, we've yet to receive a callback. Aware of the clock, we're up against what the text message is. We reach out to the NOPD to relay the same information regarding phone records, now with even more urgency, hoping maybe they will heed Todd's advice just in case the DA hadn't. We make a call to Lieutenant Ernest Luster, whom we may remember from a previous episode. This call was on January 25th, 2022. Hi, Lieutenant Luster, this is Todd McCommer's. Clawney back.

Yes, yes. Hey, first of all, thanks so much for taking time to talk to me. So basically, we found something that we feel like we have to pass on to you. That could be important to your case. So if you got a second, maybe the ability to take some notes, I'll pass it on to you real quick. Okay, so there was a neighbor of Justin Dernie's. He goes by Jay Roy. We go on to share the same recommendation with Lieutenant Luster that we shared with D.A. Jason Williams regarding the potential importance of the text messages and the urgent need to preserve the records.

Just to let you know we've turned this act of investigation over to the DA's office, so they're looking into it as well. Okay, well this is information we did pass on to the DA as well whenever we had to have our meeting with them. I tried to get it to you first, I think you were on vacation or something I wasn't able to connect with you. So I had to provide this to them during that meeting. Yeah, send it to me because what I'll do is I'll send it up to the digital forensic unit because we do have one and see where it because they have the technology that can track cell phone data and locations and what towers. I'll support this information to digital friends and you can see how they can help us out. Lieutenant, you're a good man. I appreciate you for your time. Thank you. And I'll listen, send me your email address as well. I'll keep

in the loop as the where we are with it. Hey, you're the man. For a long time, we waited patiently. Checking in every so often for any sort of update, hoping to get confirmation, the records from the phone that sent and received those text messages had been analyzed properly, or at the very least, had been preserved. And then, on January 25, 2023, exactly one year to the date since our last conversation with Lieutenant Luster. And just weeks before this episode's release, Todd received a call from the N.O.P.D. So they said you had information on the case?

Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. Would you say your name was Detective One? Yeah, how you ended? Okay. So you were working in the... McCall is from Detective Anthony Lahn. You might remember us mentioning him earlier in the podcast. He was the missing person's investigator who was initially assigned Jessica's case back

in 2019. We were surprised to learn that he had some relevant information to share about her case. Was that about a neighbor receiving sex? It was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I used to be, for the Indian state police here, I was, before I retired, I was in the West R.A.L.A. in June, so I was like, oh, yeah, this is a case like I would work all the time. So yeah, so we actually looked into that actually before you sent a DM phone. Okay. It actually, we didn't get anything out of it.

The phone's actually not to him. So, so at that time, even, it was subscribed to you by someone else. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we thought we had something and then it turns out it was something else. We did a phone record request and everything came back. So you could tell by the people that phone was communicating with that these weren't people in just a dirty life. Like the whole profile of life analysis in my life.

Yeah, so we looked into it, we followed up with that. I mean, I can't really give you much because I mean it's an ongoing investigation. Okay. All right. So, babe, but you can't say that number that the neighbor texted that was given on the Justin Durning profile and next to her app, that number was not in the possession of Justin Durning on that day. I mean, I can just say we did a follow-up on it.

I mean, the case is still open and still investigation. OK. Do you guys have it now, or does the DA's office have it? Should I ask you that? Right now, we both have it, I guess. Oh, you're just both kind of sharing duties on it. Yeah. OK.

Well, it was better than the one I reckon. Okay, that's the case. Okay, well, I appreciate your time. I appreciate you calling me back. Are you still with missing persons? Or are you in homicide now? No, I just deal with the person crimes. The robbery.

Okay, so, can I ask you if this sets within missing persons now or the IU or? I mean, it's still, it's still this has an unclassified death. Right. That's how it's being investigated. Can I ask you what unit that means it's left with? I mean, it's still with me and I guess the A's office now. Okay. But if you get anything else, just give me a call and I'm looking for it. All right, we'll just take the line up for you to call.

To be honest, Todd was caught off guard by Lund's call, as well as what we learned from it. That's because Lieutenant Luster told us the NOPD was no longer officially investigating Jessica's case, and had handed it over to the DA. But now, Detective Lawn tells us that both the NOPD and the DA's office are actively working in, and that the NOPD did follow through and look into the phone records, and were able to confirm that Justin was not the user of that phone number at the time when those texts were sent. At the end of the day,

this call from one provided some major updates in Jessica's case. Though one's response is helpful in trying to understand the origin of the messages, the vague nature of it does leave a lot unanswered. On a technical side saying, we looked into that, does not answer other important questions, such as what type of records they obtained, who analyzed them, and what type of analysis was conducted.

In other words, it doesn't tell us how they reached their conclusion, and furthermore, who sent those text messages. In discussing this with Todd and piggybacking off of his original recommendation to the DA and Lieutenant Luster, we meet several attempts to follow up with Detective One over the phone, but we have yet to receive a call back. With that, we shift at our focus back to the other agency we've been told is working Jessica's case, the DA's office. Maybe they can shed some more light on everything.

If they are working the case, one of my questions to them would be if they did their own analysis of those phone records as Todd recommended among other things. The problem is we don't know who at the DA's office is working this case. That's something we've been trying to determine for over a year now. Todd asked Detective Lawn via text if he knew who the investigator was at the DA's office,

but he never received a reply. So we're left to try and figure this out ourselves. This NBA season make every three-pointer alley-oop and buzzer-beater even more exciting with FanDuel. Download the app today to see why we're North America's number one sports book. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gamlincom call 1866-531-2600 or visit connectcentario.ca. Enjoy the classic taste of the holidays at Tim's with the new non-alcoholic Bailey's flavored holiday menu. Whether you're hanging holiday lights

or driving up to your folks, you can enjoy your Tim's and Bailey's anytime, anywhere, at participating restaurants in Canada. I didn't understand that people go missing this way. It's a very odd thing. You have no idea what it's like to lose a human being on your watch. Gary DeVore was an A-list screenwriter who disappeared without a trace in 1997. I had the biggest action stars in Hollywood searching for my husband. But nobody really knows what happened.

We try to find out on Witnessed Fade to Black, available now wherever you get your podcasts. We start by visiting the DA's website. We see that he is a page dedicated to the cold case unit, supposedly overseeing Jessica's case, with a phone number and the following promise. The Colt case unit of the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office is charged with getting murderers off the streets and bringing healing to families. So we call that number. Good afternoon.

I may help you. Hi, may I speak to the district attorney's cold case unit? Okay, what are you calling in regards to? I'm calling about the Jessica Easterly Durning case. Okay, so they have your information. I remember speaking with you. Just to clarify, I had called the DA before. This was just the first time I'd called the front desk,

asking specifically for the cold case unit. Is it justice for Jessica? Do you know that website? I do know that website, but that is not on the Audrey. She seems to think I'm Jessica's sister Audrey. I try to clarify. Well, I'm not affiliated with that website. I just know of it. Okay, but what's your relation to Jessica?

I am an investigative journalist. I'm working on a podcast about her case. And I attended the press conference and spoke to the district attorney Jason Williams last year about the coldquays unit and her case. And I just wanted to do a follow-up to see where things are good. Okay, so you're not a family member. No, ma'am. All right.

Well, let me give you Kendra's email address and you can email Jason's assistant and they will take it from here. So without any further information about the Colquise Unit or Jessica's case, we take the woman's recommendation and reach out via email to Kendrick, the DA's executive assistant. While he's unable to set up a meeting for us with the DA,

stating that Jason Williams is in the middle of prosecuting two murder trials, he does offer us two investigators within the Colquise unit to call. Hello. Hi Naomi Jones. Yes. Hi Naomi, this is Todd McComis. And I'm calling you about a specific case you may or may not be assigned to.

And that's the Jessica Easterly Durning case? The what? Jessica Easterly Durning case? I am not assigned to that. Okay, are you currently assigned to the cold case unit at the DA's office? Yes, I'm in the Sexual Assault Kid Initiative unit. Okay. Which does co cases. Okay, but you are not assigned or working in any way on Jessica Easterly, Darning's death investigation. No, no, I am not. Would you by chance know who is? I do not. Okay, you're just not familiar with the case at all.

I mean, I've seen it in the news, but other than that, no, I'm not. No luck with the first detective. So we try the other detective he recommended. Hey, can I speak with Mary Glass, please? She's actually not in yet. Can I take a message? Yeah, that'll be fine. My name is Todd McComus, and I have some questions about your unit. Do you work within the same unit? I do.

Okay, is this, I believe, the DNA unit? No. We work specifically on cold case sexual assaults. Okay. Do you have a cold case homicide unit there within the DA's office? No, I work in my little corner, and I don't know. But let me give you a quick. So Kendrick's contacts for the code case unit

weren't exactly helpful. But then we remember that we do know of one other detective within the DA's office, the one who was initially assigned Jessica's case, and who I met briefly at the DA's press conference, Detective Joe Lorenzo. Looking him up online, it appears as though he may have left his position at the DA's office and moved into real estate. Nonetheless, we're hopeful he can provide some information

as to where the case stood when he left. Hello. Hi, is this Joe? Yes. Hey, Joe. My, is this Joe? Yes. Hey, Joe. My name is Todd McComus. I'm a retired detective with Indiana State Police. And currently, I work with Resonate recordings that's doing the Jessica Easterly Durning case.

I don't have anything to say, brother. Thank you. OK. Are you retired? So no help from the former investigator either. In a moment of peer frustration, Todd tries the cold case phone number listed on the district attorney's website one more time. And this time we seem to be getting somewhere.

The woman at the desk gives us contact information for the DA's first assistant, Ned McGowan. We promptly make a call. Ned McGowan. It's not available at the moment. At the tone, record your message to end your recording. Press number sign to reach an operator, press zero. Hi, Ned. My name is Todd McComus.

I am currently working with Resonate Recordings that is doing the podcast on the Jessica Easterly Durning case. For months now, I've been trying to just get a simple answer from someone at the DA's office. To answer the question, does the DA's office have a cold case homicide unit? Is your office actually investigating cold case homicide? Or members of your cold case homicide unit actively working in the Jessica East really, turning case? It all needs specifics, sir.

As of this episode's release, we have not been able to confirm who at the DA's office is investigating Jessica's case, or if there is even a detective assigned to investigating homicides in their court case unit. I also want to point out that the family has not heard from anyone in the DA's office since the press conference a year and a half ago, despite numerous calls and in-person visits from Audrey. I find myself in familiar territory yet again, with many questions and very few answers. The same place the Jessica's family has become all too familiar with over the years.

As you know, DA Williams called that press conference to address the thousands of unsolved homicides in New Orleans, and announced his intentions of establishing a dedicated co-case unit, with Jessica as a proverbial poster child for that endeavor. He also publicly announced for the first time that her death would be investigated as a homicide. But for now, the status of the investigation remains unknown, despite any recommendations we've given to the DA directly. For Todd and I, finding out who, if anyone, is investigating Jessica's death has felt more challenging than discovering what happened to her in the first place.

And simply put, that's not okay. Jessica's not just a case number. She's not just a poster child for Colk case unit initiatives. She was a human being being and she was loved. Jessica, like so many of us, was a woman who was finding her way. She wanted a family and a happily ever after. And with so much of her life hidden away, it's hard to say exactly what was happening behind the curtain. Jessica's family entrusted Todd and I to tell her story with respect, empathy, and compassion.

Our goal was to do just that and hopefully bring more awareness to her case, uncover truths about her suspicious death and shed light on her investigation. But along the way, we uncovered a systemic issue in the city of New Orleans. Jessica's case is just one of countless others that have gone unsolved by a system

whose main players don't seem to be on the same page. On one hand, we have a coroner who has ruled both her cause and manner of death as undetermined. And told us that their work is done until the NOPD gives them more evidence to rule her manner of death as anything else. On the other hand, we have the person who supervises NOPD detectives tell us that they're not allowed to investigate an undetermined death. And, in addition to all of this, we now have a detective telling us that despite that classification,

he is still actively working her case. Until someone in authority re-evaluates this process and takes some sort of action. Questions surrounding Jessica's suspicious death remain unanswered and her case remains undetermined. So where do we go from here? Well, even if there is someone assigned to investigate Jessica's case as Detective Lawn told us, why not seek additional resources? We know there are other agencies who, if invited in,

could assist in the investigation. One such agency is the Louisiana State Police's Bureau of Investigations, but they can only join existing investigations upon request by local law enforcement and invitation, if you will. And the person who holds the reins of the New Orleans Police Department is the superintendent, and her superior is the mayor of New Orleans who appoints the superintendent. So with that said, here's what can be done. Mayor Latoya Cantral can encourage

NOPD's superintendent, Michelle Woodfork, to extend an invitation to the Louisiana State Police to help investigate Jessica's case. We worked with Jessica's sister Audrey to create a new petition on Change.org asking the mayor of New Orleans to do just that. You can sign the petition at Change.org slash Justice the number 4, Jess. Or on our website, undeterminedpod.com.

I encourage you to read the petition and consider signing it in hopes that Jessica's case can get the help it needs so her family can get a step closer to answers. Thank you to all who participate and thank you for listening. Undetermined is a production of Resonate Recordings and Tenderfoot TV in conjunction with Caden's 13, written and hosted by me, Jessica Nol, and produced by Dennis Cooper and Todd McComas, with additional production by Whitney Bozarth. Executive producers are Dennis Cooper, Mark Minnery, Jacob Bozarth, Donald Albright, and Payne Lindsay. Our senior producer is John Street. Editing, mixing, mastering, and sound design by Caleb Melcher, Dayton Cole, and Pat Kit-Klider of the Resonate Recording's

team. If you have a podcast or are looking to start one, check us out at ResonateRecordings.com. Our theme song and original score is by Dirt Poor Robbins with additional scoring by Dayton Cole. Voice acting by Sabrina Seawurt, Whitney Bozar, and Paul Frails. You can follow Undetermined Podcast on Facebook and on Twitter at UndeterminedPod. Show notes as well as bonus content can be found on our website undeterminedpod.com. If you enjoyed this episode, please take time to subscribe, rate, and review. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. And finally, if you have any information about this case, call Crime Stoppers at 1-877-903-7867.

The tone and inflection used by voice actors is not contextually accurate and is a matter of creative interpretation. You can't imagine what it's like until you're actually there. My heart weight went from zero to 100. I figured the automatic weapons fire outside. A adrenaline rushes through your body and you do what you've been trained to do. He gets maybe 40 feet and he collapses. You better have that pit near stomach. Once you commit, it's game on.

We started going down the road and then I hear this. Bravery, Valor, Determination. These are the stories of our heroes like you've never heard them before. It felt like somebody had hit me with a baseball bat and a lower back. I opened up my eyes and I looked at him and he was like, I thought you were dead, son. And I was like, I did too. A new podcast from Tenderfoot TV and Telegraph Creative.

I'm Remy Annelke, former Navy SEAL. And this is Downrange. Downrange is available now. Listen for free on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. or wherever you get your podcasts.