Undetermined - Gone | 2

Episode Date: December 6, 2022

When Jessica’s birthday passed without a word from her, her family feared the worst. But for her friend, Maria, it was more than just a bad feeling – she’d received an alarming message from Jessica leading up to her disappearance. 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

To support sustainable food production, BHP is building one of the world's most sustainable cottage mines in Canada. Essential resources responsibly produced. It's happening now at BHP, a future resources company. Almost every kid here has an 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 lost blood. 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 was 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

podcast. 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. On the night of Wednesday, August 14, 2019, two officers responded to a wellness check at the Durnings home in Lakeview. It was called in by Jessica's friend, Maria, after not hearing from her for nearly two days. The officer spoke with Jessica's husband, Justin, for about seven minutes, and upon leaving, they let him know that another squad would be coming out to file a missing person's report. Just a few hours later, around one o'clock in the morning, Thursday, August 15th, senior

officer, LaCretia Gantner, and rookie officer, Tristan Griffin, arrive at the residence. This is their body-kim audio, which we obtained from the family. 335 to 3rd district here. While officer Griffin talks to Justin outside, Officer Gantner calls Detective Anthony Lund from inside her police cruiser and explains the reason for being there. Hey, so where it is?

Earlier tonight, around 10-something, a friend from out of town called and said that she hadn't been able to get a hold of her friend since Monday, I think. She's not answering the phone and all that. So in Officer K. Mountier, I think a leak you Officer, I think a leak you officer came out, did a wellness check. Well, when they did a wellness check, the husband says, no, I haven't heard from her either. Her phones here, her persons here, her meds are here, everything's here, but I haven't heard from her.

And I don't know where she's at. And the friend that called from out of town said that she's a brave husband, that did something to to her because they have a history of, I guess, domestic issues. And before we get into the remainder of the body, him audio, it's important that we address the weighty statement made by Maria because there's some context to it. It started about nine months earlier near the end of 2020. I'll let Maria fill you in.

When they came to stay in my home at Thanksgiving, my middle son is in competitive cheer and they had a two day competition scheduled for the end of January, early February in New Orleans. They were getting packed up ready to leave. You know, she was like, I'm so sad, I don't want to leave. And I was like, I know I'm going to miss you. And I was like, well, as a competition in New Orleans.

And it's a two day competition. So maybe we'll just come stay with you. She was like, yeah, of course. And, you know, I mean, we had just had them in our house for three days. Of course, they yeah, of course. And you know, I mean, we just had them in our house for three days. Of course, they were going to say, yes, you know. So then, just a few days before we were supposed to show up and stay at her house, I get this text from her. And she says, Hey, I need to talk to you about this weekend. 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 going to be worse for me. Low, I'm so sorry. I know it's the 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. Though, I'm scared. Both the police body came audio, and the alleged text thread between Jessica and Maria raised a serious accusation about domestic violence

regarding Justin. While I cannot speak to the accuracy of these claims, it's important to understand that Justin has never been charged with any crimes of domestic violence against Jessica. I mean, it was kind of an upsetting text to get. You know, I mean, she's putting of an upsetting text to get. You know, I mean, she's putting a lot of detail in here, which is unusual.

But he's threatened to kick me out with something that he did all the time. So, it struck me as very odd because she had never put any kind of details about the relationship in writing like that. Later on that day, she called called me and she was like, I'm so sorry. You know, maybe we can find a room for you and I was like, it's cool, I've already booked something and I was like, but aren't you done with this yet? Like, are you tired? You have to be tired. Like you're not getting any younger. This doesn't get any better. She was like, yeah, I know. And then she just kind of changed the subject.

While Maria may have been shocked at the revelation, she remained fairly casual about it, giving off a certain familiarity with the situation. Turns out, at the time, she had just gotten out of a tumultuous relationship. It's a big reason why she alienated herself and lost touch with Jessica for a few years. Most of the people in her life didn't know what she was going through because, you know, you don't just tell people all your dirty laundry. So that's why I knew to be patient with her about it.

It had to be the time. It had to be the exact right time to go. Maria waited as patiently as she could. And then, seven months later, the morning of Monday, August 12, 2019, just two days before police responded to the wellness check. Just like a reached out. So a slid the phone open and put it on speaker phone. I was like, hey, she said, hey, I said, what's going on? And she was like, I just really need to get out of here. Can you come get me?

I was like, well, I can't come right now. I've got to pick up the kids in like two hours. But if you're really ready to go, I could be at your house by 10.30 tomorrow morning, but you gotta be ready to get in my car, like no looking back and turning back into a pillar assault, like you've gotta be ready to go. And she said, okay, I said, well what's going on?

She was like, it's just so bad. And I was like, well what does that mean so bad? Cause I was trying to feel her out because she had been ready to leave for a long time. And she was like, well, what does that mean so bad? Because I was trying to feel her out because she had been ready to leave for a long time and she was like, it's just so bad. We're just fighting. I'll just, I'll tell you everything when you get here. I said, okay, tomorrow morning.

And she was like, yeah, okay. And she was like, okay, I gotta go. I think he's waking up. After their call, Maria sent a Facebook message, letting her know that she was going to talk to her boyfriend about Jessica staying with them. Jessica then called Maria to let her know she was at a doctor's appointment with Grace, and would have to see how things were when she got home. This call was followed by a reply from Jessica

to Maria's original Facebook message. It came through at 243 in the afternoon. It read similar to what she had told Maria over the phone. Okay, just hang on. I don't know what's gonna happen when I get home. And that was the last time I ever spoke to her. As the world's population grows, so does the need for resources like Potash to support sustainable food production. This is why BHP is building one of the world's most sustainable Potash minds in Canada.

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American Express, don't do business without it. Terms and conditions apply as at mx.ca slash business platinum. The day Maria had planned to pick up Jessica, August 13, 2019, came and went without a word from her. Maria thought maybe Jessica had gone home and she and Justin patched things up, anticipating she'd hear from her at a later time. But instead, the following night, Wednesday, August 14th, at 9pm, while Maria and her boyfriend were getting ready for bed, her phone dinged.

It was a message from Justin, the one Maria described before, which set off a chain of events. Here's their full exchange. 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 everything and everyone I know. Okay, well I'm sending the police over there. Okay, you're gonna freak out Grace, but... If Jonathan came home from work and all my stuff was here and the kids didn't know where

I was, he'd already be talking to the police. I know how to file a missing person's report. Do you think I heard her or something? The police can't do anything until after 24 hours. She's an adult. I'm checking hospitals and jails now. About an hour later, just after 10 p.m. Called hospitals and both jails and not any of them. Called police and missing

persons is 24 hours after last scene to file a report. I have got to be missing something. Of course by now, you know it wouldn't end up taking an additional 24 hours. In fact, police would respond just minutes later after Maria called in for a wellness check. You heard the audio from this visit, but remember, just a couple hours later, around 1 a.m. on August 15th, a second unit would return to the home to file a missing persons report. So now that you're up

to speed, let's go back to the Bodycam Audio from that second visit, which came from responding officers Gantner and Griffin. When is the last time you saw her sir? 12 30. Like noon? Correct around 30. Okay. And what was, did you guys talk to each other then? Seated inside her cruiser, Officer Gantner plays liaison, asking Justin some questions while relaying information over the phone to detective Anthony Lund, who investigates missing person cases. So they talked, they talked to Chi, he said they talked around 12-30, they were talking about bills, they were talking about what they were going to do later, what they were going to have for dinner, and he said that she looked at him and said he looked tired

and he said I am So he went and lay down Either there's two other people that live in the house with you all there's two other people that live in the house with you Okay, he has your daughter spoken to her and your dad has not spoken to her Okay, which is really And your dad has not spoken to her? He had a senior. Okay. Which is really, but it's not bizarre for my dad. They haven't, the daughter, how old is your daughter? It's 15.

The 15 year old daughter and his elderly father haven't seen her. So, he never either. You saw her in person, right? Yeah, he saw her in person. She was here at the house. So, this, this, this, this, say you know, this is actually my neighbor. He lives like three houses away from me. And he's a very strange. What's that?

She leans back out of the cruiser to ask Justin another question. You, you said you guys haven't had any recent issues, right? No, in their recent issues. Turning back to her film call, she gets a little more candid but detective-line. Here's my concern. It's not even worried about this and to live her friend from out of state. It's an officer who's over here to look for her to make sure she was okay. Like, he's just rolled notch a lot. Like, oh, you know, I have the officers come to the Polk Street side?

They're my dad and my daughter sleeping. I don't want to wake them up. But then when we get here, he's like, do you guys need to do this in the car? Or do you want to come in? You can come look through the house if you want. He's just being really weird about it. Gintner tells Lund she's been trying to get in touch with Maria to know LaVale. She then asks her partner, Officer Griffin, to look at the house for any visible cameras, but he doesn't see any.

Once more, she leans out the window to clarify something with Justin. Did she mention to you that she was going anywhere? No, I know where. Did she work? No, she longed to support her. OK. It's going to be so rough. That's all right.

You're on my neighbor. I was trying to figure out who. Yeah. With the light I couldn't see. Did she left like this before? No, that's what I was. And it's not common for her to be gone like late at night. Okay, do you have a picture of her like a current picture?

Okay, can you get that in your ID please? She asked Justin if they can come inside to get a photo of Jessica. He graciously invites them in, warning them about his dog. They make their way through the side door by the driveway, where Jessica's Range Rover is parked, and step into the disheveled living room. Piles of clothes are mounted on the couch and strewn across the floor just below. Next, the officers make their way to the hallway and strewn across the floor just below. Next, the officers make their way to the hallway and turn left entering the couple's bedroom.

Officer Gantner pivots back to the mat or at hand. This time, prying a little harder. Okay, so what prompted you to say, okay, I need to report her missing. Like around eight o'clock, even though it was starting to get dark. Okay, what did you wake up from here that? She ran from here about four o'clock, she got home in three, and kind of what stopped, right?

She booked me up with something I had to sign for brainy. And she's like, dead, you're dead, you're like, yeah, I was in a room, like yeah, I was in a room. So you were sleeping in here, you were sleeping in here. She was sleeping in here. My wife and I both sleep in here. I said, if you see mom, what's going on? And she goes, no, she goes, and the sceneer, I was like, okay.

And I actually had mentioned her doctors in Folsom, but there's no RTA to get to Folsom. So, me and the I thought were friends with him and he's older, he's, you know, his 60s but his son's my age and I thought, well, maybe, you know, she got a ride with him because sometimes he comes into the city. I called him, though, that didn't happen. Honestly, unless there's something, when I say, you see his brown bodies, we don't know much,

if, when I say if there's something that I am absolutely oblivious to. Did she have family here? No, she's not in front of us, she's in front of us. She have any close friends here, anything like that. Only one of those people I was telling you about that was on Facebook. I mean, I'm happy for more than happy to pull it up for you, so you can show it.

Has she updated anything on Facebook? She hasn't logged on, she hasn't changed passwords to anything to our bank accounts, to anything she can't find me. She still has power to turn down me. You have an idea, like yours. Justin opens the tablet to show the officers her Facebook page, and then pulls up a message from Maria that she sent to Jessica earlier that day.

This should sound familiar to you. This is the only thing that threw me was I need to talk to **** about everything tonight when we get home from **** practice. I said, I want to have her sons And my wife put, okay, hang on. But I mean, I get all of this on my phone. The officers get the tablet from Justin and start looking over the messages. So what is she saying we need to talk about everything?

I have no idea. I mean, only thing I can think of was was that maybe they were planning on doing something. So I put in there, you know, I'm like, would you think I would hurt her or something? You know, I mean, I, the girl doesn't like me. She never has. Oh, okay. So this is y'all talking to me. Yeah, the last conversation that you had, that's me talking to her. And she, she lives in Alabama. Yeah, she lives in like the hood in Alabama. She's got like a litter of kids. my wife's always been the same year, the rescuer. It's just been a pain in the ass, man.

Without any prompting, Justin randomly mentions a call he made to his attorney friend. I just don't understand. If I could wrap my brain around it, I think I'd be okay, you understand. But it just doesn't make any freaking sense at all. It's just a good friend of mine, it's a prominent lawyer here, I called him, and I was like Ralph. Well, in his last name, like Ralph, he goes, I did remember what a reasonable person would believe. Like, okay, you know, he goes, what's not reasonable about this? It's not the reasonable about this.

Like I said, the only thing I can think of is, but I mean, you guys deal with the mass six, if somebody was gonna pick up and leave, they'd take the shit, right, or something. Mr. Justin, we are not going to what if this, and I could do this done, it's my turn. And say, well, if someone did this, then this happened, or we're not going to do that. OK, that's not going to happen.

Can you get your ID in her ID first? Justin grabs his wallet from his back pocket and hands over his ID. He then walks past their unmade bed to the other side of the bedroom to pick up her wallet from the floor. And again, makes mention that all her medications were there as a hands-over her ID,

which, to clarify, is not a driver's license. It's a Louisiana State ID, with her name listed as Jessica Easterly, her maiden name. The officers asked Justin for his phone number, and he gives the same one he gave the first unit who came out for the wellness check. The number he claimed he'd been using since his phone was broken, supposedly having fallen off his motorcycle. Just a note here, while he states the phone number belongs to Jessica, her friends and family on the other hand, have it saved as Justin's number in their phones and have a different number saved as Jessica's.

But regardless, it's the phone number he'd claimed he'd been using as a flight, and this bit of information will be important as a story develops. Back at the Durnings home, officers ask a photo of Jessica, a physical one, but Justin claims he doesn't have one that's not electronic. So instead, he shows them a screenshot of Jessica on the tablet and says he will email it to them. As the conversation continues, Justin tells the officers that he is called local hospitals, as well as a sheriff's office, looking for Jessica.

Officer Gantner asks once more if there was any arguing or fighting before Jessica went missing. And Justin goes on to tell her that same story regarding the pizza and the nappy tug. But this time, a slightly different version. And you said when you spoke to her around 1230, there was no arguing or anything like that. She didn't say, hey, I'm gonna go. She didn't tell me she was leaving at all.

She said, you look tired of us and I am. She went and made some little pizza, putting the whole damn thing. Pizza rolls. It's horrible. Yeah, pizza. Yeah, I guess the frozen ones. She went and made those. We ate, you know, just kind of in here. And then Justin tells the officer something he hadn't told them yet.

And she had been mentioned in that. She had been kind of in a depressive cycle and kind of couldn't get over it. I'm like, maybe we spent 13,000 with a white daughter, say, even say, a cowboy and a kid. And I was like, maybe just, you know, we just need to communicate and talk. And that's one of her things. She keeps everything inside. I don't want to be sexist, but women tend to do that.

You know, at least to me, but in that way. And then give it all to me at one time. And versus where I'm as soon as I'm feeling something, I'm like, we need to talk about this. Because, you know, that's right. I'm sorry if I'm all like sketchy, I'm nervous, right? At this point, the officers head back to their vehicle to call in the missing persons report and write up all the information they'd obtained from Justin. Just before getting in, Officer Kentner makes an interesting comment to Officer Griffin. I've lived here for three years now and I've never seen her, but I see him with him.

I've lived here for three years now and I've never seen her, but I see him live with him. Once inside the vehicle, Deantner calls her superior Sergeant James Young. It's actually my neighbor, they live three houses away from me. Yeah, he's a strange individual. She takes a few minutes to get her sergeant up to speed on things and then offers a little bit of insight. Well that's what I told Griffin. I've lived here for three years now and I see him outside all the time but I never I have never seen this woman ever. I've always wondered where his wife is. I knew that he was married, but I've never seen her.

I mean, to me, it's just like, something's not right here. And I don't think that she would just leave her daughter, because her daughter just got out of the hospital. Her daughter was in the hospital for three days. He is just explaining himself to death. Didn't you get that feeling? Yeah, he's like overly explaining himself. Sorry, I'm sorry. Yeah, all. Sorry, I'm sorry.

Yeah, and he said, I'm sorry, if I seem sketchy, this was just all weird to me. And he's just constantly trying to... And he's just like, overexplaining everything. So, and it got to the point when he was talking to the friend, through Facebook Messenger, she just stopped messaging her. The one thing that is weird is he told the friend, I contacted the police and the police said that I can't report her missing for 24 hours, which is bullshit. We would never tell anybody that. And the dispatcher's not,

or the call takers, is not going to tell somebody that. The whole thing is just like something's not right. Because the whole thing is very sketchy to use his word. And it kind of makes me a little uneasy because he lives three houses away from me. But anyway, let me help him with this. I just wanted to let you know, because it does seem very unusual to me. His story sounds reversed. As the officers wrap up the call and finish their paperwork, they start a search for any calls or complaints

filed from the address, specifically looking for any domestic calls. Spell is your last name. It's E-A-S-T-E. E-A-S-T. A-A-S-T or no one. OK. The search doesn't come back with anything, and through our own public records request, it appears as though Jessica had never reached out to law enforcement. They probably don't call the police when they have issues. A lot of people don't, you know? Well, especially out here.

Yeah. The officers exit the vehicle and return to Justin to wrap things up. I said I want to walk out a missing person affidavit with you. Anytime there's so many missing and then this is what we say to you. Justin reads over the report and then signs the affidavit. After doing so, the officers ask for some clarification one last time. You did talk to your daughter and ask for a daughter

if she heard from her or teen her. I mean, I don't know if I'd rather wake up if you want me to get her out with her. No, I don't. I don't wake her up. It's too long for one morning. She has to go to school tomorrow. She does.

But no, she and I I right before you guys actually showed up right after the first two showed up. I went one big deal just yet, you know what I mean? And you said she just had jeans into T-shirt on, you don't remember like what color T-shirt or did she have shoes on, you don't kind of shoot. I mean we're really embedding in pizza rolls, so I mean that's what she had on when she was there, you know what I mean? And I checked, I went one, one, one, one. He doesn't finish that thought, but it's what he said just before that that stood out to Todd Me. Earlier he told officers that he alone went to bed and when he woke up he found a pizza that Jessica had made in the kitchen and Jessica was gone.

This time he claims they were in bed together eating pizza rolls. Possibly just a slip-up, but still interesting nonetheless. Now, being that you live so close to me, I just want to let you know. If something happens, don't come knocking on my door. All right, call 911 or there's going to be a detective contact you, contact the third district and speak to the detective, but just don't come knocking on my door.

Yeah. I just want to make that clear, OK? The officers leave the house with the report and signed up for David in hand and start heading back to their cruiser. Justin follows them out and tells the officers the same thing he told the other officers who came out for the wellness check

about his aspirations for joining the force. Here I am looking at JPSO. I know I'm home too much. My kid even told me like that. I'm like, well, I just don't know if I could do the domestic. But he looked him far. No John Kelly. Mm-hmm.

John Kelly, sorry. Anyway, he and I are really good friends with people. That's how people. My best friend really is Black, of course, and my police, but I called him and he was like, let's go read the policy, what would you do? I'm like, man, I got to stay here and see what's going on. But, you know, he just knows a lot of people and a walk past

here, I was constantly going to meet him. He's got the, I can't see a little bit of less of a shot. Eventually, Officer Gantner reels him back in. He's actually the armor of our NCIS and the Orleans. OK. He came over here and asked me how to completely feel him back in. That's um, but I don't remember. Okay. And um, I detect it.

I mean, if like, there's anybody that you can call that I know where she is or, you know, that's the only thing I can tell you. Or if you know where she, you know, a place she might go to or something, if you want to go look or if you can tell us and we'll go look. I do want to have it, but I'm in there. Like I said, there's one place that she goes to bed. She has a lot of my ultrasound and she's impressive by polar, so she doesn't have a great Right right right anyway, I know you guys and then if she if she contact you or comes home let us know tell Call nine Okay, all right and reference that item number when you call okay? Okay Alright. Alright. Three, four, five. Three, four, five. Three, four, five. Three, four, five. Three, four, five.

That's okay. I mean, I'm not asking for parental advice, even if I'm asking for a portion of someone to let me in. I mean, to choose. Yeah, I tell her you had to make a missing or a person report that you haven't seen her since 1230. Right, for sure. I mean, that's your kid.

You can tell her whatever you want, but I mean, I would be honest with her. Yeah. But anyway, I'm a live with her. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Thank you. This NBA season make every three-pointer alley-oop and buzzer-beater even more exciting with Fandool.

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Be careful along our tracks, and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. Enjoy the classic taste of the holidays at Tim's with the new non-alcoholic Bailey's flavored holiday menu. And stay safe. Following the visit, Jessica's missing person's bulletin is issued within the NOPD. Jessica Renee, Easterly, 5'6", 130 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, Celtic Tech 2 on groin. The missing person's report and Affidavit reads, The Easterly is found, please notify Third District, D.I.U. Upon arrival, the officers met with a reporting person, Mr. Justin Durning, who stated the following. Miss Jessica Easterly was last seen on Wednesday, August 14, 2019, at approximately 1 p.m. before

Mr. Justin went to bed. Mr. Justin woke up from sleeping on the same day at approximately 3pm to find his wife missing. Mr. Durning observed Ms. Easterlies purse, wallet, phone, and keys left at the residence. Mr. Durning did not observe any missing items from their home. The household's only vehicle was still in the driveway. He observed no changes to her social media. Mr. Durning stated that his wife suffers from bipolar indapression. Her medicine was left at the residence.

Mr. Durning contacted local hospitals and jails about his wife's whereabouts, but was met with negative results. It should be noted that a wellness check was requested by one of Easterly's friends earlier that day. Officer Gantner called Easterly, but no one picked up on the line. Office of Gantner notified third district person crimes detective A-Lun, unit 1-335. And with that, Detective Anthony Lun

is officially assigned to the case. 600,000 people go missing every year in the US according to the National Missing and Unidentified Person System, known as Namus. As I write this, in Louisiana, there are 416 open missing persons cases, and in New Orleans, there are 35 missing persons in the Nam of database.

Now Jessica had become one of them, but she's obviously more than a statistic. She's a friend, a sister, a daughter, a wife, a stepmother. Though right now what mattered was she was missing and hope was fading fast. Then the next day, I was actually with my girlfriend that lives here. And she was like, so what's going on with that? And so I was kind of bringing her up to speed on it. And I was like, I don't know what to do. She was like, are you going to feel bad if something terrible's happened to her? I was like, yeah, of

course, I'm gonna have forever. There was a part of me that really wanted to believe she just had someone else because she was very concerned that if she did come stay with me, he would just be right behind her. He would know exactly where to find her. I was holding out some hope that she was okay, but I didn't feel like she was okay. While Maria was not feeling too hopeful about the situation, what's really sad is that at the time, Jessica's family wasn't even aware of her disappearance.

Mitzed all the chaos, they were never informed. Maria wasn't in contact with the family back then. It would have required Justin or the police saying something. That didn't happen. But just two days later, they'd learn the news in a rather unconventional way. It was Saturday, August 17th, on what would normally be a very special day.

Jessica's sister Audrey calls her to wish her happy 43rd birthday. Her call goes unanswered. Then, the next day, Audrey pulls up Jessica's Facebook page and sees a post that stops her cold. and she's a post that stops her cold. I've always talked to my sister on the birthday, but that day I just thought she was out. Then on the 18th, when I got home from work, I seen Maria, we have mutual friends, I seen Maria's post about Jessica missing.

And I was like, holy shit. So I, of course, tried to contact Maria. She was already asleep and she called me the next morning and told me everything. And then I called my sister and I called my parents. They're like, oh no, she's fine. Maybe they had a fight. She went over to a friend's house. Maria, still clinging to that last bit of hope, also tried reaching out to Jessica on her birthday. I was like, okay, she would not let me wonder

if she's alive or dead on her birthday. Like by now, she would have reached out and let me know, Hey, I'm safe. Leave me alone. I'm just going to stay safe for a while. And I've been like, cool, run, bam, be run. You know, you need some money. Like, what do you need? But she wouldn't have let me wonder that long. That Sunday afternoon on August 18,

Maria calls in OPD multiple times and struggles to get anywhere talking with person after person. Seemingly, no one can tell her anything. And then, finally, a detective reaches back out to her. She gives him a rundown of what had happened a few days before. And so they were like, okay, well, we'll go over there

and we'll check on her. Chances are she's probably home now and she's just not allowed to talk to you because you're the friend and if she's in this relationship like you say, she is, you're probably just cut off Because she tried to leave so she's probably home now everything's probably fine Super dismissive I was like she's not fine and she would let me know if she was fine

And she certainly just wouldn't be fucking home and fine and let me worry about her Especially not when I'm putting her on blast is missing all over social media and so they went over there and They knocked on the door and they were like, well, I guess he's not home. But he was like sending me hostile texts about sending the police to his house. I was like, that's funny that you think he's not home because he's texting me about y'all being there

right fucking now. There's like, sorry, it can't make anything happen. Amidst all the frustration and uncertainty, Maria, Audrey, and the rest of Jessica's family did their best to remain steadfast. I of course still had that little bit of hope, you know, like, maybe she's just somewhere. And then we decided to call the hospitals and stuff, domestic violence shelters, gels, the corner, the morgue, and no one.

She wasn't there. Days of confusion turned into a week of sleepless nights. That's when Jessica's family took matters into their own hands. Her sisters, Audrey and Amanda, decided it was time to pay a visit to New Orleans, a visit that would end up taking them to the neighborhood of Lakeview, where Jessica was last seen.

Their cousin Doug made the trek with them. I was talking to Amanda on the phone and she was kind of filling me in about the whole thing with Jessica. I mean, something's not right here. And she had discussed going down to New Orleans, talking to Project Nola, and talking with the detectives down there and we went to the detectives to go talk with them and they weren't they weren't there so we We had decided to kind of do our own little thing kind of canvas area a little bit kind of get an idea kind of get a feeling for it and it's a very big residential area and at the end of both sides of this huge residential area

were water. You try to apply logic to it. Okay well this would be a good place to form a search park. Let's get a little more familiar with it. You never expect to actually find anything. You really don't. Under-termment is a production of Resonate Recordings and Tenderfoot TV in conjunction with Cadence 13, written and hosted by me, Jessica Nol, and produced by Dennis Cooper and Todd McCommas with additional production by Whitney Bozar. Executive producers for Dennis Cooper, Mark Minnery, Jacob Bozar, Donald Albright, and Payne Lindsay. Our senior producer is John Street.

Editing, mixing, mastering, and sound design by Caleb Melcher, Dayton Cole, and Pat Kid Cliter of the Resonate Recordings 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 Dirtcore Robbins with additional scoring by Dayton Cole. Additional score for this episode by Andy Walker. Our cover art is by Station 16. Voice acting by Sabrina Seaworth, Whitney Bowsart, and Paul Freels. You can follow Undetermined Podcast on Facebook and on Twitter at undetermined pod. 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, great, and review.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated. And finally, if you have any information about this case, call Crime Stoppers at 1-877-903-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877-877 call Crime Stoppers at 1-877-903-7867. The tone and inflection used by those 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 0 to 100. You're going to go to 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 Anilake, former Navy SEAL. And this is DownRange. DownRange is available now. Listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.