WEBVTT - RERUN Hell and Gone Murder Line: Justin Gaines 0:00:46.480 --> 0:00:48.001 School of Humans. 0:00:49.241 --> 0:00:53.000 Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold case murders in 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.200 an effort to raise public awareness invite witnesses to come 0:00:56.241 --> 0:01:00.121 forward and present evidence that could potentially be further investigated 0:01:00.121 --> 0:01:03.761 by law enforcement. While we value insights from family and 0:01:03.801 --> 0:01:07.720 community members, their statements should not be considered evidence and 0:01:07.761 --> 0:01:11.560 point to the challenges of verifying facts inherent in cold cases. 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:15.800 We remind listeners that everyone has presumed innocent until proven 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:19.080 guilty in a court of law. Nothing in the podcast 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:22.080 is intended to state or imply that anyone who has 0:01:22.161 --> 0:01:25.601 not been convicted of a crime is guilty of any wrongdoing. 0:01:26.241 --> 0:01:27.121 Thanks for listening. 0:01:31.401 --> 0:01:34.241 It was Thursday night, November one, two thousand and seven. 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.641 An eighteen year old Justin Gaines was getting ready for 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.081 a night out with his friends at Wild Bills, a 0:01:40.121 --> 0:01:44.840 club in Duluth, Georgia. Justin was a freshman college He 0:01:44.881 --> 0:01:47.561 had just started at Gainesville State, which was about an 0:01:47.561 --> 0:01:51.520 hour away from where his family lived his mom, Erica Wilson, 0:01:51.721 --> 0:01:56.241 his stepfather, Stephen Wilson, and his siblings. Justin was fairly 0:01:56.281 --> 0:01:59.001 newly single. He had broken up with his girlfriend of 0:01:59.041 --> 0:02:03.001 two years pretty recently, but according to Atlanta magazine they 0:02:03.001 --> 0:02:06.081 were still friends. In fact, Justin talked on the phone 0:02:06.081 --> 0:02:08.400 to his ex shortly before he went out that night. 0:02:09.641 --> 0:02:13.641 This was a close blended family. When Justin's mom and 0:02:13.721 --> 0:02:16.400 his stepfather married, they each brought their own children to 0:02:16.441 --> 0:02:19.641 the relationship. There were seven kids in all, and apparently 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.560 they all got along. Justin also had a good relationship 0:02:23.601 --> 0:02:26.521 with his stepdad, Stephen, who worked at a roofing company. 0:02:27.081 --> 0:02:29.960 Sometimes Justin would do odd jobs for Stephen to pick 0:02:30.041 --> 0:02:35.041 up some extra cash. Justin was handsome five foot eleven 0:02:35.601 --> 0:02:38.881 two hundred and thirty pounds. He was muscular and fit. 0:02:39.161 --> 0:02:41.400 He had blue eyes and short brown hair that he 0:02:41.441 --> 0:02:45.321 wore in a buzz cut. On the Thursday night, Justin 0:02:45.441 --> 0:02:48.680 was wearing a gray Abercrombie and Fitch long sleeve shirt 0:02:49.001 --> 0:02:52.001 and rip blue jeans. He also had a pair of 0:02:52.041 --> 0:02:55.441 diamond stud ear rings that he sometimes wore. That night, 0:02:55.521 --> 0:02:57.961 he was wearing a single diamond stud in his left ear. 0:02:58.801 --> 0:03:02.681 On thirsty Thursdays at Wild Bills, you only had to 0:03:02.681 --> 0:03:05.481 be eighteen years old to enter the club, but Justin 0:03:05.561 --> 0:03:07.921 did have a couple of fake id's with him so 0:03:07.961 --> 0:03:10.560 that he could buy drinks at the bar. He used 0:03:10.561 --> 0:03:14.401 the names Brad Allen and Brad's Shoe. His mom, Erica, 0:03:14.521 --> 0:03:18.641 later clarified on web slue that technically these weren't fake IDs, 0:03:19.121 --> 0:03:21.921 they were the IDs of some older friends that Justin 0:03:21.921 --> 0:03:25.001 would use. I relate to this because I did a 0:03:25.041 --> 0:03:27.161 lot of that when I was younger, old enough to 0:03:27.161 --> 0:03:30.441 get into the club, but too young to drink. So 0:03:30.881 --> 0:03:32.961 Justin didn't take a wallet out with him that night. 0:03:33.161 --> 0:03:37.161 He had no credit cards, just cash, his fake IDs, 0:03:37.241 --> 0:03:41.481 and his cell phone. His stepfather told Atlanta Magazine, which 0:03:41.521 --> 0:03:44.721 by the way, did a really long and in depth feature 0:03:44.761 --> 0:03:48.041 on this case, that he remembered that night very well 0:03:48.121 --> 0:03:51.641 because apparently, right before he went out, Justin was joking 0:03:51.681 --> 0:03:54.201 around with Stephen about what shirt he should wear to 0:03:54.241 --> 0:03:59.161 impress the ladies. Justin was a big, very fit guy. 0:03:59.241 --> 0:04:02.441 He could take care of himself. He was also charming 0:04:02.561 --> 0:04:06.161 and confident and, according to his mother, very social, someone 0:04:06.201 --> 0:04:10.921 who had no trouble talking to anyone, including strangers. He 0:04:10.961 --> 0:04:13.841 was a regular at Wild Bills. He knew the bartenders, 0:04:13.841 --> 0:04:16.361 and apparently he also knew some people who were going 0:04:16.401 --> 0:04:20.161 to be there that night. Justin had a car, but 0:04:20.241 --> 0:04:22.601 he wasn't driving. He left his car at his mom 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.561 and stepdad's house. He caught a ride with a friend 0:04:25.601 --> 0:04:29.681 of his named Chris Byers and Chris's girlfriend, Amanda. According 0:04:29.681 --> 0:04:32.601 to Atlanta Magazine, Chris and Justin had been friends for 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.400 a long time, ever since high school. They were now 0:04:35.521 --> 0:04:39.080 college roommates. Chris and Amanda picked Justin up at his 0:04:39.161 --> 0:04:42.361 house and they headed to Wild Bills. Along the way, 0:04:42.401 --> 0:04:44.721 they stopped at a gas station where Justin mixed some 0:04:44.801 --> 0:04:47.161 vodka and gas station energy drink in one of those 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:50.601 big fountain cups. Again, I used to do this all 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:53.001 the time as a team. It's an easy way to 0:04:53.041 --> 0:04:57.121 save money. Later at the bar, Wild Bills is huge. 0:04:57.561 --> 0:05:01.121 This club could hold thousands of people. It's closed now, 0:05:01.281 --> 0:05:03.921 but back in the day they had seven different bars 0:05:04.041 --> 0:05:06.921 and each bar had kind of a different vibe. They 0:05:06.961 --> 0:05:09.241 even had a tiki bar in there, and they would 0:05:09.241 --> 0:05:12.721 host all different kinds of events. They would host phone parties, 0:05:12.961 --> 0:05:18.041 sometimes mma fights, and they had line dancing nights. Most 0:05:18.041 --> 0:05:20.561 of their nights tended to have a country theme, but 0:05:20.641 --> 0:05:24.521 on Thursday Thursdays, the mechanical bull and cowboy boots were 0:05:24.561 --> 0:05:27.721 replaced with girls dancing on platforms and a DJ who 0:05:27.721 --> 0:05:31.200 would spend R and B mixed with hip hop. Thursdays 0:05:31.201 --> 0:05:35.001 were also apparently the only night where eighteen year olds 0:05:35.041 --> 0:05:38.760 could go into the club. So Chris, Amanda, and Justin 0:05:38.801 --> 0:05:42.321 got to the bar and were ready to party. They 0:05:42.321 --> 0:05:45.241 were aiming to get there by eleven pm, but they 0:05:45.241 --> 0:05:48.280 were a few minutes late, and this twist of fate 0:05:49.161 --> 0:05:53.760 being a few minutes late changed everything because after eleven pm, 0:05:53.921 --> 0:05:57.241 Wild Bills had a cover charge. It went from being 0:05:57.321 --> 0:06:01.321 free to ten dollars per person. Justin saw someone in 0:06:01.361 --> 0:06:03.681 line who he knew, so he was able to get 0:06:03.721 --> 0:06:06.161 a pass to get in for free, but Chris and 0:06:06.201 --> 0:06:08.881 Amanda could not, and they did not want to pay 0:06:08.881 --> 0:06:12.601 the cover charge, so they left Wild Bills and Justin 0:06:12.641 --> 0:06:15.041 went in on his own. He said that it was 0:06:15.121 --> 0:06:18.321 no problem, he would find a ride. This was something 0:06:18.361 --> 0:06:22.321 that he did often. Again, he was this big, strong 0:06:22.401 --> 0:06:26.681 guy who could handle himself. A while later, in the 0:06:26.721 --> 0:06:29.681 early morning hours of November two, two thousand and seven, 0:06:30.441 --> 0:06:33.881 Justin walked out into that parking lot in Duluth and 0:06:33.921 --> 0:06:40.320 no one ever saw him again. I'm Catherine Townsend. If 0:06:40.361 --> 0:06:42.241 you have a case you'd like me and my team 0:06:42.281 --> 0:06:44.561 to look into, you can reach out to us at 0:06:44.561 --> 0:06:47.561 our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven 0:06:47.641 --> 0:06:51.041 four four six one four or five. That's six seven 0:06:51.081 --> 0:06:55.400 eight seven four four six one four or five. This 0:06:55.561 --> 0:07:32.801 is Helen Gone Murder line. The disappearance of Justin Gaines 0:07:32.881 --> 0:07:35.881 became a big story in Atlanta because no one could 0:07:35.921 --> 0:07:39.561 figure out how this guy just walked out into the 0:07:39.681 --> 0:07:43.841 night and never showed up again. So remember this was 0:07:43.721 --> 0:07:47.921 two thousand and seven. Instagram had just launched, and even 0:07:47.961 --> 0:07:51.201 though pretty much everyone had a cell phone then people 0:07:51.321 --> 0:07:55.081 weren't constantly shooting video all the time like they do today. 0:07:56.521 --> 0:07:59.121 There were cameras at Wild Bills, so there was some 0:07:59.201 --> 0:08:04.401 surveillance footage, but according to Justin's mom, Erica, most of 0:08:04.441 --> 0:08:07.761 the cameras were focused on areas that handled money, like 0:08:07.801 --> 0:08:11.521 the register and the front and back doors. Erica did 0:08:11.601 --> 0:08:15.161 an interview with a podcast called Unfound, and in that 0:08:15.281 --> 0:08:20.041 interview she explained that an FBI agent who was a 0:08:20.081 --> 0:08:22.841 friend of her, someone she knew, had come in to 0:08:22.961 --> 0:08:25.841 unofficially help her with the case, and the FBI agent 0:08:26.001 --> 0:08:29.161 was able to pull some of that surveillance footage. The 0:08:29.161 --> 0:08:32.040 footage showed that at the club, Justin had some drinks, 0:08:32.481 --> 0:08:35.001 he was on camera talking to a female bartender who 0:08:35.081 --> 0:08:39.001 he knew. Later, that bartender talked to Erica and told 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.601 her that Justin seemed normal, like he was having a 0:08:41.641 --> 0:08:44.721 good time, and she said he did not appear to 0:08:44.761 --> 0:08:48.401 be super intoxicated. He apparently even made a comment to 0:08:48.441 --> 0:08:52.560 this bartender about not getting too smashed. While he was 0:08:52.601 --> 0:08:55.320 in the club, Justin made a couple of phone calls 0:08:55.361 --> 0:08:58.401 to friends of his who he believed were inside. We're 0:08:58.441 --> 0:09:01.680 not sure exactly what Justin was doing the whole time 0:09:01.721 --> 0:09:03.201 he was in the club because we only have a 0:09:03.201 --> 0:09:07.521 few moments on camera, but at one point he apparently 0:09:07.601 --> 0:09:11.720 did start talking to a girl. Later in some media reports, 0:09:12.121 --> 0:09:15.321 some reporters asked questions about what they called a minor 0:09:15.401 --> 0:09:21.201 altercation over a woman who Justin was apparently dancing with. Apparently, 0:09:21.201 --> 0:09:23.921 this woman had a boyfriend, and Justin and the guys 0:09:23.961 --> 0:09:27.521 who were with this woman exchanged a few words. Some 0:09:27.601 --> 0:09:30.601 of these details came from a private investigator who was 0:09:30.681 --> 0:09:34.881 later hired by Erica Justin's mom, but the PI said 0:09:34.921 --> 0:09:37.641 he could never nail down a description of the two 0:09:37.721 --> 0:09:41.081 guys who Justin was supposedly talking with. There are a 0:09:41.161 --> 0:09:44.161 lot of moments from Justin's time inside the club and 0:09:44.201 --> 0:09:48.041 afterward that are missing. But Justin was there for a 0:09:48.081 --> 0:09:50.841 while after he talked to this girl. He seemed to 0:09:50.881 --> 0:09:55.441 be in good spirits and he was chatting to people. Then, 0:09:55.641 --> 0:09:57.961 at around one point thirty he got ready to leave. 0:09:58.761 --> 0:10:01.800 Justin walked outside the club at one thirty eight am. 0:10:01.881 --> 0:10:04.961 You can see that on the security footage. He started 0:10:05.001 --> 0:10:09.040 calling friends trying to find a ride home. Again, remember 0:10:09.121 --> 0:10:12.081 this was a time before ride shares became a huge thing. 0:10:12.681 --> 0:10:15.401 Uber didn't come on the scene until around twenty ten. 0:10:16.441 --> 0:10:20.681 There were taxis, but it's never been reported how much 0:10:20.801 --> 0:10:24.041 cash Justin was carrying, So I wondered did he have 0:10:24.081 --> 0:10:27.121 a big wad of cash or just enough to cover drinks. 0:10:27.561 --> 0:10:29.401 He may not have had enough money to call a cab, 0:10:30.001 --> 0:10:32.121 and even if he did, some of his friends said 0:10:32.201 --> 0:10:34.321 he wasn't really a person who had a habit of 0:10:34.361 --> 0:10:37.721 calling taxis. He would hit up his friends for rides instead. 0:10:38.721 --> 0:10:41.321 His mother, by the way, made it clear that he 0:10:41.321 --> 0:10:44.281 could have called home at any time and she or 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.001 her husband would have come to get him. She told 0:10:47.001 --> 0:10:50.641 Atlanta Magazine quote, I think he didn't call Stephen because 0:10:50.641 --> 0:10:53.521 he didn't want to disappoint us, and that haunts me, 0:10:53.721 --> 0:10:56.641 you know, because nothing the kids do would ever disappoint me. 0:10:57.121 --> 0:11:01.601 End quote. I find myself really feeling for Justin again here. 0:11:03.041 --> 0:11:05.121 He just wanted to go home. He made a ton 0:11:05.161 --> 0:11:08.321 of calls, but no one was able to come get him. 0:11:08.721 --> 0:11:11.281 And I can relate to this part too. He probably 0:11:11.361 --> 0:11:14.681 didn't want his parents to know he'd been drinking again. 0:11:14.921 --> 0:11:17.961 As a fit guy, he probably thought he could take 0:11:17.961 --> 0:11:23.721 care of himself. Often a person's size, especially a man's size, 0:11:23.801 --> 0:11:27.361 will give them a false sense of security. Most guys 0:11:27.361 --> 0:11:30.641 I know, especially young ones around this age, just don't 0:11:30.641 --> 0:11:32.721 feel that they're in danger in the same way in 0:11:32.801 --> 0:11:36.280 general as young women would. Plus, this was a safe area. 0:11:37.121 --> 0:11:40.761 Over the next half hour or so, Justin made twenty 0:11:40.801 --> 0:11:44.681 four calls to eleven different people, none of them could 0:11:44.681 --> 0:11:48.081 come get him. Justin's last call was to Chris, the 0:11:48.161 --> 0:11:51.401 friend he rode with to Wild Bills. He made that 0:11:51.481 --> 0:11:55.961 call at two two am. Chris later told Atlanta Magazine 0:11:56.041 --> 0:11:57.841 that Justin had called him and he was kind of 0:11:57.881 --> 0:12:02.001 half asleep. He remembered Justin asking for a ride, but 0:12:02.121 --> 0:12:05.361 Chris said he had borrowed his girlfriend's dad's car. He 0:12:05.401 --> 0:12:07.721 said he couldn't really go out at that time of night, 0:12:07.801 --> 0:12:11.201 and asked for the car again. He thought that Justin 0:12:11.241 --> 0:12:14.241 would be fine, and later of course, said that if 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:16.441 he had had any idea that his friend was in trouble, 0:12:16.481 --> 0:12:19.881 he would have gone and gotten him instantly. After that 0:12:19.921 --> 0:12:26.721 phone call nothing. At first, Erica wasn't worried when Justin 0:12:26.761 --> 0:12:29.161 didn't come back home the next morning. She knew he 0:12:29.241 --> 0:12:31.041 was going out to party and he's an eighteen year 0:12:31.041 --> 0:12:34.961 old guy. But then the weekend went by. She didn't 0:12:35.001 --> 0:12:37.921 hear from him on Saturday, and on Sunday morning, she 0:12:37.961 --> 0:12:41.361 started calling his friends. He never came home to get 0:12:41.361 --> 0:12:44.521 his wallet or to pick up his car, and on 0:12:44.601 --> 0:12:48.801 Monday morning, November fifth, she became seriously alarmed because he 0:12:48.881 --> 0:12:51.161 never showed up to give Chris a ride back to school. 0:12:51.161 --> 0:12:54.481 Remember they were roommates. Erica told Dateline that at that 0:12:54.561 --> 0:12:58.201 point she logged onto Justin's online school portal, which she 0:12:58.241 --> 0:13:01.121 had access to. That's when she saw that he had 0:13:01.161 --> 0:13:03.521 not turned in some homework, and she knew that that 0:13:03.641 --> 0:13:08.521 was completely out of character. She reported Justin missing friends, 0:13:08.601 --> 0:13:11.721 family and volunteers started trying to retrace his last steps. 0:13:14.041 --> 0:13:17.361 The police did a search as well, but Erica said 0:13:17.401 --> 0:13:20.201 that it really took about two weeks for police to 0:13:20.241 --> 0:13:25.681 start seriously searching. Everyone was trying to retrace Justin's steps. 0:13:25.681 --> 0:13:28.521 They were trying to figure out from that parking lot 0:13:28.641 --> 0:13:32.321 what his next move would be. Several people came forward 0:13:32.401 --> 0:13:34.641 and said that they had seen him sitting on a 0:13:34.681 --> 0:13:37.881 bench in the back parking lot on his cell phone. 0:13:37.921 --> 0:13:40.041 We know that he was making a ton of calls 0:13:40.121 --> 0:13:45.441 during that time. Shortly after two two am, Justin's phone 0:13:45.601 --> 0:13:50.921 pinged one more time, and then the phone appeared to die. 0:13:51.201 --> 0:13:53.361 Erica said that he had a habit of sometimes letting 0:13:53.401 --> 0:13:56.801 his phone die. So did the battery die or did 0:13:56.841 --> 0:14:00.601 someone shut it off? Did Justin get tired of waiting 0:14:00.641 --> 0:14:03.401 for a ride, did he decide to try to walk 0:14:03.401 --> 0:14:06.721 toward home or could someone have picked him up there. 0:14:08.681 --> 0:14:12.841 In the weeks following Justin's disappearance, some news outlets checked 0:14:12.881 --> 0:14:16.281 Justin's court history. They saw that Justin had a public 0:14:16.321 --> 0:14:18.761 intoxication charge on his record from the summer of two 0:14:18.801 --> 0:14:22.401 thousand and seven. It happened after he fell asleep in 0:14:22.401 --> 0:14:24.521 the backseat of his car with an open bottle of 0:14:24.561 --> 0:14:27.961 vodka in there. He got caught with the open container 0:14:28.001 --> 0:14:32.001 and a fake ID. So some people suggested that maybe 0:14:32.041 --> 0:14:35.801 Justin had left voluntarily to avoid going to court on 0:14:35.841 --> 0:14:40.041 November twenty first. But this seemed extremely far fetched right 0:14:40.081 --> 0:14:43.641 from the beginning, and his family immediately dismissed this theory. 0:14:43.801 --> 0:14:49.001 They knew it wasn't plausible. Also, these were not serious charges. 0:14:49.881 --> 0:14:52.081 There was no reason for Justin to have left on 0:14:52.121 --> 0:14:54.441 his own. And by the way, if he was leaving, 0:14:54.441 --> 0:14:56.881 why would he leave his wallet with his real ID 0:14:57.081 --> 0:15:03.921 and everything else behind. Justin's family did everything they could 0:15:04.001 --> 0:15:07.521 to help the search. Erica turned her home garage into 0:15:07.521 --> 0:15:10.761 an office. She started printing up flyers. The family put 0:15:10.801 --> 0:15:14.401 billboards up on Highway I eighty five. This tidbit was 0:15:14.401 --> 0:15:16.481 in the Atlanta magazine article. By the way, and it's 0:15:16.481 --> 0:15:19.881 so heartbreaking to me, because I've heard this before in 0:15:19.961 --> 0:15:24.161 Rebecca Gould's case and in some others. According to the article, 0:15:24.601 --> 0:15:29.481 people called Justin's stepfather to report buzzard sightings, and he 0:15:29.521 --> 0:15:32.721 would take his four wheeler out to look and see 0:15:32.721 --> 0:15:36.001 if there was a body out there, but he never 0:15:36.041 --> 0:15:40.281 found anything other than animal carcasses. Of course, police talked 0:15:40.321 --> 0:15:44.281 to Justin's friends. There were rumors early on that Chris 0:15:44.561 --> 0:15:49.281 wasn't being super helpful to law enforcement. Apparently, Chris believed 0:15:49.441 --> 0:15:53.001 that police were too hard on his girlfriend, Amanda, but 0:15:53.401 --> 0:15:57.321 Erica later clarified on a web sluse forum that after 0:15:57.361 --> 0:16:01.241 some initial friction, all of Justin's friends had been cooperative 0:16:01.681 --> 0:16:04.801 and police confirmed Chris and Amanda were at home in 0:16:04.841 --> 0:16:10.361 bed when Justin went missing. Erica told the Unfound podcast 0:16:10.401 --> 0:16:12.641 that she does not believe that Justin walked out of 0:16:12.641 --> 0:16:15.881 that parking lot. It was late, but not super late. 0:16:16.481 --> 0:16:19.561 There were people around, and Justin was in the back 0:16:19.641 --> 0:16:22.761 parking lot, which was less busy than the front parking lot, 0:16:23.121 --> 0:16:25.841 but it wasn't deserted. In fact, it was somewhere where 0:16:25.841 --> 0:16:28.521 in the past Justin had hung out and had some 0:16:28.641 --> 0:16:32.681 drinks with friends again Wild Bills was in a safe area, 0:16:32.761 --> 0:16:37.521 pretty much in the middle of suburbia. Erica believes that 0:16:37.681 --> 0:16:41.161 if Justin decided to walk along the highway toward home, 0:16:41.961 --> 0:16:44.201 she believed someone would have seen him, and I think 0:16:44.241 --> 0:16:47.401 she's right. A big guy like that probably would have 0:16:47.441 --> 0:16:51.041 been spotted on a camera somewhere or by some witnesses, 0:16:51.681 --> 0:16:55.921 which means that Justin almost certainly got picked up in 0:16:56.041 --> 0:16:59.801 that parking lot, So the question is who picked him up. 0:17:03.401 --> 0:17:07.121 Police have said they believe that Justin may have been 0:17:07.120 --> 0:17:10.561 picked up by a blonde woman, possibly driving a black car. 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:15.761 They got this information from a friend of Justin's named James. Now. 0:17:15.761 --> 0:17:20.120 According to Erica, James, who knew Justin from college, saw 0:17:20.241 --> 0:17:22.921 him getting into a car with a blonde woman wearing 0:17:22.961 --> 0:17:28.160 a black dress. Unfortunately, James has since passed away. So 0:17:28.761 --> 0:17:31.920 who is this mystery woman? Was it someone who knew 0:17:32.001 --> 0:17:35.281 Justin before or a stranger who lured him into the car? 0:17:36.321 --> 0:17:39.680 Was she alone or was she with people? Could this 0:17:39.801 --> 0:17:43.521 have been some kind of robbery set up. Justin did 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:47.121 not seem to have any enemies, but the Atlanta magazine 0:17:47.161 --> 0:17:50.041 reporter did talk to a friend of Justin's. This person 0:17:50.161 --> 0:17:53.041 wasn't named, but they told the reporter that he and 0:17:53.241 --> 0:17:56.561 Justin would occasionally break into cars that were unlocked around 0:17:56.561 --> 0:17:59.801 their off campus apartment. Basically, what they do is just 0:18:00.041 --> 0:18:02.121 pull the handle of the car see if it was unlocked, 0:18:02.121 --> 0:18:04.321 and if it was, they would go in and take money. 0:18:05.121 --> 0:18:07.281 The friends said there was a drug dealer living there. 0:18:08.161 --> 0:18:10.801 Apparently Justin thought that this person might have a lot 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:13.001 of cash in his car, so they went up to 0:18:13.041 --> 0:18:15.481 the car, but they said the drug dealer was standing 0:18:15.561 --> 0:18:17.841 right there on the porch, so in the end they 0:18:17.881 --> 0:18:19.961 didn't go to the car and there was no confrontation. 0:18:23.361 --> 0:18:26.041 But it did get me thinking if he had a 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:28.721 habit of pulling on car doors, could he have opened 0:18:28.721 --> 0:18:31.201 someone's car or maybe tried to sleep in someone's car 0:18:31.241 --> 0:18:33.121 if he couldn't find a ride in his battery was dead. 0:18:33.721 --> 0:18:39.601 Stranger things have happened. According to Justin's mother, Erica, one 0:18:39.761 --> 0:18:42.840 very early name that came up to her was Dustin 0:18:43.001 --> 0:18:47.241 Dylan Glass, a career criminal and gang member. Now apparently 0:18:47.641 --> 0:18:49.961 Dustin showed up at a pawn shop in the early 0:18:50.001 --> 0:18:54.680 morning hours of November two. Police have found surveillance footage 0:18:54.761 --> 0:18:57.881 that pawnshop and there is an image of Dustin. He's 0:18:57.881 --> 0:19:00.081 wearing a diamond studd in his ear that looked very 0:19:00.161 --> 0:19:02.321 much like the one that Justin had been wearing that night. 0:19:04.241 --> 0:19:07.441 I'm not clear on why police first got tipped off 0:19:07.441 --> 0:19:11.840 to him, but once Dustin's name was mentioned, police continued 0:19:11.881 --> 0:19:15.481 to track him. Time went by with no arrest and 0:19:15.521 --> 0:19:18.321 no sign of Justin and no body. Tips started coming 0:19:18.361 --> 0:19:22.561 in from everywhere, everything from random sightings of Justin that 0:19:22.561 --> 0:19:26.080 would turn out to be bogus to psychics who said 0:19:26.121 --> 0:19:27.880 that they believed that he was in a body of 0:19:27.921 --> 0:19:30.640 water somewhere, which is, by the way, what psychics always 0:19:30.681 --> 0:19:33.401 seem to say. It drives me crazy. Side note there. 0:19:35.001 --> 0:19:38.600 The Walton County Sheriff's Department cold case investigator Michael Rising, 0:19:39.001 --> 0:19:41.721 who is now in charge of the investigation, told Dateline 0:19:41.761 --> 0:19:44.961 in twenty twenty three that police had investigated a couple 0:19:44.961 --> 0:19:48.281 of different theories early on. One that Justin could have 0:19:48.281 --> 0:19:50.321 been flirting with a girl who had a boyfriend and 0:19:50.361 --> 0:19:52.961 that there was some kind of altercation, and the other 0:19:53.041 --> 0:19:56.521 theory was that someone targeted Justin for a robbery based 0:19:56.561 --> 0:19:59.921 on his clothes and his diamond earring. On the Wild 0:19:59.961 --> 0:20:02.880 Bill's website back in two thousand and seven, there was 0:20:02.921 --> 0:20:05.680 a statement about Justin being missing and it read quote 0:20:06.361 --> 0:20:09.360 last scene walking toward a car that he called his ride, 0:20:09.521 --> 0:20:13.001 with two men standing by the car. Reports also say 0:20:13.041 --> 0:20:15.440 he was seen in the parking lot of Barnacles another 0:20:15.481 --> 0:20:19.721 bar with these same two men end quote. Now this 0:20:19.881 --> 0:20:22.961 is just a rumor. It's unconfirmed, and honestly, I can't 0:20:23.041 --> 0:20:26.041 find that information anywhere else. I don't know if it's 0:20:26.121 --> 0:20:29.600 just something someone posted, or if it was a legitimate tip, 0:20:30.761 --> 0:20:34.321 and I wonder who first said it. There does seem 0:20:34.361 --> 0:20:37.241 to be more than one source saying that Justin was 0:20:37.281 --> 0:20:40.120 talking to some men that night. Again, it wouldn't have 0:20:40.121 --> 0:20:42.001 been out a character for him to talk to people. 0:20:42.361 --> 0:20:45.161 His mom and his friend say he talked to strangers 0:20:45.201 --> 0:20:49.321 all the time. But for a while, those two police 0:20:49.361 --> 0:20:52.881 theories appeared to just be dead ends. Over the next 0:20:52.881 --> 0:20:57.321 few years, justin moms Erica said openly she struggled. Even 0:20:57.361 --> 0:21:00.321 though she was printing up flyers and stickers and talking 0:21:00.321 --> 0:21:02.801 to the media, there were days where she found it 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:05.200 hard to get out of bed, and the family had 0:21:05.241 --> 0:21:08.881 another setback in twenty eleven when one of Justin's brothers died. 0:21:09.721 --> 0:21:12.201 But even when she was going through dark times herself, 0:21:12.401 --> 0:21:15.401 Erica never stopped trying to get media coverage of this case. 0:21:17.321 --> 0:21:19.921 Police looked in a lot of different directions. They really 0:21:19.921 --> 0:21:22.600 didn't have anything to go on. They looked into rumors 0:21:22.641 --> 0:21:25.201 that could have been the National Forest serial killer Gary Hilton, 0:21:25.401 --> 0:21:29.200 but there was absolutely no evidence of that, and of course, 0:21:29.281 --> 0:21:32.281 every single time an unidentified body was found in the area, 0:21:32.601 --> 0:21:35.001 the family would have to go through the agony of waiting. 0:21:35.641 --> 0:21:39.840 None of them were Justin. As we said before, Erica 0:21:39.921 --> 0:21:44.761 hired a private investigator named Bob Pulno. He started his 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.401 investigation in two thousand and eight and basically he's never stopped. 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:52.600 According to Atlanta Magazine, Bob is retired now, but this 0:21:52.721 --> 0:21:54.561 is one of those cases he can't let go of. 0:21:55.401 --> 0:21:57.921 Bob did lots of interviews and in two thousand and 0:21:57.961 --> 0:22:01.880 eight he said he identified several people of interest. He 0:22:01.961 --> 0:22:04.641 also looked into theories that Justin could have been extremely 0:22:04.681 --> 0:22:10.121 intoxicated or drugged. The PI also tried to track down 0:22:10.161 --> 0:22:12.681 everyone who Justin talked to on the phone that night, 0:22:13.481 --> 0:22:16.401 and he found a pattern. No one felt that Justin 0:22:16.521 --> 0:22:20.401 was behaving out of the ordinary. It's the same story 0:22:20.441 --> 0:22:23.440 with the video surveillance footage. Eric has said. And if 0:22:23.481 --> 0:22:26.961 you look online, you can see Justin walks out of 0:22:26.961 --> 0:22:31.001 the club. He's calmly walking forward, not stumbling. He has 0:22:31.041 --> 0:22:33.201 his phone pressed to his ear. He looks like he's 0:22:33.241 --> 0:22:36.841 walking with purpose, and he's talking on the phone. Seven 0:22:36.961 --> 0:22:41.721 years after Justin disappeared, a local news station WXIA broadcasts 0:22:41.761 --> 0:22:44.681 some additional footage that was taken from inside the club 0:22:44.721 --> 0:22:48.321 that night. This footage showed Justin walking out the door 0:22:48.361 --> 0:22:51.880 toward the back parking lot. Right after him, a group 0:22:51.961 --> 0:22:54.680 that looked like three girls and a guy walked outside 0:22:54.721 --> 0:22:57.880 the club. Justin seems to kind of veer left, and 0:22:57.921 --> 0:23:00.600 they look like they're veering right, but there are also 0:23:00.721 --> 0:23:03.281 a couple of other guys standing outside in that parking lot. 0:23:04.041 --> 0:23:06.200 A few minutes later, two men and a woman enter 0:23:06.281 --> 0:23:10.041 the club. They come from the same direction Justin was 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:14.401 seen leaving. Another couple leaves. This woman has long, dark 0:23:14.481 --> 0:23:16.961 hair and jeans on. You can only see the guy 0:23:17.001 --> 0:23:19.041 from the back, but he's wearing a number twenty two 0:23:19.121 --> 0:23:22.001 jersey that the news anchor pointed out as pretty distinctive. 0:23:23.041 --> 0:23:26.481 There are also two guys and white shirts. They look 0:23:26.601 --> 0:23:28.441 like they're going into the club, but then they turn 0:23:28.521 --> 0:23:32.521 around after Justin passes them. They don't go in, and 0:23:32.561 --> 0:23:35.041 then when footage is shown from a few minutes later, 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:38.160 you can see them entering the club. Now, I'm not 0:23:38.201 --> 0:23:40.561 saying that any of these people had anything to do 0:23:40.601 --> 0:23:45.481 with Justin's disappearance, but they may have seen something, even 0:23:45.761 --> 0:23:50.160 something small, that could help crack this case. Again. Wild 0:23:50.201 --> 0:23:53.001 bills can hold thousands of people. It was a crowded night. 0:23:53.521 --> 0:23:57.880 It is mind boggling that no one saw anything. In 0:23:57.921 --> 0:24:01.400 September of twenty fifteen, seemingly out of nowhere, there were 0:24:01.401 --> 0:24:05.721 two arrests and someone said they knew exactly what happened 0:24:05.721 --> 0:24:08.641 to Justin Gaines. That it went down at a dark 0:24:08.721 --> 0:24:12.561 garage at a house in Snellville. This person said Justin 0:24:12.601 --> 0:24:15.241 had been lured to that residence and then when he 0:24:15.281 --> 0:24:30.001 walked in, he was attacked, robbed, beaten, and murdered. In 0:24:30.041 --> 0:24:33.081 September of twenty fifteen, after a long period of silence, 0:24:33.561 --> 0:24:36.200 there were two arrests in connection with the disappearance and 0:24:36.281 --> 0:24:39.600 now police believed death of Justin Gaines. In two thousand 0:24:39.641 --> 0:24:44.120 and seven, the police's original person of interest was Dustin 0:24:44.201 --> 0:24:48.241 Dylan Glass. He had been arrested for distributing methamphetamines, among 0:24:48.281 --> 0:24:51.961