WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: James Escalante Part 2 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:10.805 School of Humans. 0:00:11.845 --> 0:00:15.125 On June twenty fifth, twenty twenty, fifty six year old 0:00:15.205 --> 0:00:19.245 James Escalante, who also went by Blackhawk, left home on 0:00:19.285 --> 0:00:22.285 a red Mountain bike. He was headed out to help 0:00:22.325 --> 0:00:25.725 a woman named Dee, a friend of his, and his girlfriend, Sherry's. 0:00:26.325 --> 0:00:28.685 Dee's truck had gotten stuck out in the desert near 0:00:28.725 --> 0:00:32.165 Wonder Valley, but he never made it back home, and 0:00:32.205 --> 0:00:36.845 no one reported him missing until September seventh. Heather Escalante 0:00:36.845 --> 0:00:40.005 and her husband, John, James's son, started their own search. 0:00:40.965 --> 0:00:42.565 After Heather started. 0:00:42.245 --> 0:00:46.005 Posting on social media and looking for information, she heard 0:00:46.085 --> 0:00:48.685 that remains were found in the desert on August eighth 0:00:48.765 --> 0:00:52.805 by a hunter. The body was a John Doe. Half 0:00:52.845 --> 0:00:55.885 his face was missing, he had long black hair, and 0:00:55.925 --> 0:01:00.205 there was no id found. Heather contacted the detective working 0:01:00.205 --> 0:01:03.085 on the case in September to say she believed that 0:01:03.085 --> 0:01:07.285 that body could be James. On on December fifteenth, the family's 0:01:07.325 --> 0:01:10.925 worst fears were confirmed. They got a call from the 0:01:10.965 --> 0:01:15.445 coroner James as Galante was dead. The cause and manner 0:01:15.485 --> 0:01:19.525 of his death were undetermined. What happened out there in 0:01:19.565 --> 0:01:24.565 the desert? I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years 0:01:24.565 --> 0:01:28.085 of making my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned 0:01:28.085 --> 0:01:30.405 that there is no such thing as a small town 0:01:30.485 --> 0:01:34.445 where murder never happens. I've received hundreds of messages from 0:01:34.485 --> 0:01:37.085 people all around the country asking for help with an 0:01:37.165 --> 0:01:40.845 unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, and their communities. 0:01:41.605 --> 0:01:43.325 If you have a case you'd like me and my 0:01:43.365 --> 0:01:45.685 team to look into, you can reach out to us 0:01:45.725 --> 0:01:48.165 at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight 0:01:48.525 --> 0:01:51.845 seven four four six one four or five. That's six 0:01:51.925 --> 0:01:56.125 seven eight seven four four six one four five, or 0:01:56.365 --> 0:01:59.845 you can send us a message on Instagram at Helen gonpod. 0:02:00.645 --> 0:02:51.845 This is Helen Gone Murder Line. We got access to 0:02:51.885 --> 0:02:54.885 the coroner's report, which had some more details of what 0:02:55.005 --> 0:02:57.165 went down on the day that James's body was found 0:02:57.725 --> 0:02:59.285 and some details about. 0:02:59.045 --> 0:03:00.365 The exact condition of the body. 0:03:01.485 --> 0:03:05.285 According to the coroner's report, the hunter Kyle Gibson, was 0:03:05.485 --> 0:03:07.685 out in the desert off Highway sixty two when he 0:03:07.685 --> 0:03:11.525 saw a skeleton. He called the police, and Jason Board, 0:03:11.605 --> 0:03:15.365 a deputy from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, responded 0:03:15.405 --> 0:03:19.285 to the scene. The deputy found a skull with skin 0:03:19.405 --> 0:03:21.205 on the left side of the face and top of 0:03:21.245 --> 0:03:24.725 the head. Part of James's body was lying down with 0:03:24.805 --> 0:03:28.685 the legs spread wide apart. His head was pointed forty 0:03:28.725 --> 0:03:32.325 degrees northeast. He was wearing a pair of plaid shorts, 0:03:32.525 --> 0:03:35.365 a black sock, and a red and black Nike high 0:03:35.365 --> 0:03:40.005 top on his left foot, but James's right foot, his arms, 0:03:40.005 --> 0:03:43.005 and other body parts, including all of the organs in 0:03:43.045 --> 0:03:48.325 his torso, were missing. Detectives found signs of animal activity 0:03:48.365 --> 0:03:51.485 on the body, shoe marks and the hips, rib cage, 0:03:51.525 --> 0:03:55.205 and legbones. One of the deputies who arrived on the 0:03:55.205 --> 0:03:59.325 scene was Elizabeth Gonzalez. She noted in her report that 0:03:59.445 --> 0:04:02.165 she saw a stain in the dirt about forty feet 0:04:02.205 --> 0:04:05.085 south of the body, and three feet away she found 0:04:05.125 --> 0:04:09.045 another more faint stain. She also found a pocket knife 0:04:09.045 --> 0:04:11.765 and a lighter near James's body. 0:04:11.805 --> 0:04:13.285 According to the coroner's report. 0:04:13.645 --> 0:04:15.565 He indicated that he was going to get it tested 0:04:15.565 --> 0:04:20.485 for fingerprints, but Heather said that this never happened. According 0:04:20.485 --> 0:04:23.485 to the autopsy report, a lot of tests could not 0:04:23.565 --> 0:04:26.085 be performed due to the condition of the body and 0:04:26.125 --> 0:04:28.325 the fact that James had been out in the elements 0:04:28.325 --> 0:04:31.885 for so long, but a drug panel showed he did 0:04:31.965 --> 0:04:36.605 test positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine at very high levels, 0:04:37.125 --> 0:04:40.605 which Heather said was not a surprise. She said that 0:04:40.645 --> 0:04:44.205 though police did do an investigation, she sometimes felt that 0:04:44.285 --> 0:04:46.885 due to James's drug use, that he was written off 0:04:46.925 --> 0:04:51.525 by law enforcement. His cause and manner of death were undetermined. 0:04:52.285 --> 0:04:55.645 I shouldn't neither one having to do this. No, I 0:04:55.765 --> 0:04:58.485 hear two one day at least done their due diligence, 0:04:58.485 --> 0:05:00.485 and I felt like they had at least done that 0:05:00.645 --> 0:05:04.765 much and just couldn't get anything. But like they've never 0:05:04.765 --> 0:05:08.045 looked at James, They've never looked at it, they've never 0:05:08.085 --> 0:05:10.245 been in it. When never going out there, how do 0:05:10.285 --> 0:05:11.965 you know that wasn't a crime thing you didn't want? 0:05:13.285 --> 0:05:15.325 Miyama don't know that he wasn't killed in there and 0:05:15.405 --> 0:05:17.045 dumped out in the desert. Like we have no idea 0:05:17.085 --> 0:05:18.165 because damn it looked. 0:05:19.605 --> 0:05:22.565 People do disappear out there in the desert, even people 0:05:22.565 --> 0:05:25.765 who know the area well. Like we said last week, 0:05:25.925 --> 0:05:27.725 this is a part of the country where a lot 0:05:27.725 --> 0:05:30.445 of people go missing for a lot of different reasons. 0:05:30.805 --> 0:05:34.525 Around nine days before James went missing, thirty seven year 0:05:34.565 --> 0:05:38.445 old Erica Lloyd also disappeared and Even though there's no 0:05:38.485 --> 0:05:42.445 official indication that Erica and James's deaths were connected, we 0:05:42.565 --> 0:05:46.565 wanted to see if anything about Erica's disappearance could help 0:05:46.605 --> 0:05:50.125 provide a clue about what happened to James. Family and 0:05:50.165 --> 0:05:52.485 friends say Erica had been going through a tough time. 0:05:52.965 --> 0:05:55.325 She was a single mother with a twelve year old son, 0:05:55.965 --> 0:05:59.645 and she had been battling depression. COVID had hit her 0:05:59.685 --> 0:06:03.565 hair dressing business hard. She was worried about money, though 0:06:03.565 --> 0:06:06.405 her mother, Ruth Lloyd, said that the family did not 0:06:06.605 --> 0:06:09.925 know the extent of Erica's mental health struggles until much later. 0:06:11.165 --> 0:06:13.805 Erica dropped her son off to stay in Walnut Creek, 0:06:13.925 --> 0:06:17.085 where they lived. I've seen some media reports that say 0:06:17.125 --> 0:06:19.805 she dropped her son off with a friend. Others say 0:06:19.805 --> 0:06:22.605 that her son was dropped with his father. Either way, 0:06:22.925 --> 0:06:26.205 he was staying there with someone. Walnut Creek is in 0:06:26.285 --> 0:06:30.565 northern California, between Sacramento and San Jose. She told people 0:06:30.605 --> 0:06:33.885 she was going on a pandemic road trip. Erica didn't 0:06:33.885 --> 0:06:37.285 seem to have an exact itinerary. The San Bernardino Sentinel 0:06:37.285 --> 0:06:40.125 newspaper reported that Erica may have been planning to see 0:06:40.165 --> 0:06:43.045 a friend someone who had reportedly moved to twenty nine 0:06:43.085 --> 0:06:47.205 Palms in April of twenty twenty, but so far that's unconfirmed. 0:06:48.045 --> 0:06:51.805 According to The Sentinel, Erica originally left on June eleventh. 0:06:52.405 --> 0:06:55.365 She drove straight over five hundred miles down the I 0:06:55.565 --> 0:06:57.965 five and her two thousand and six black Honda accord. 0:06:58.805 --> 0:07:02.645 Her destination was Joshua Tree National Park. She parked at 0:07:02.645 --> 0:07:05.445 the Jumbo Rocks campground and stayed there for two nights. 0:07:06.565 --> 0:07:09.085 While she was there, she wrote in her journal that 0:07:09.125 --> 0:07:13.005 she met two people named Christian and James. On Saturday, 0:07:13.125 --> 0:07:16.565 June thirteenth, she drove back home to Walnut Creek again 0:07:16.845 --> 0:07:19.645 in one single drive. She spent some time there with 0:07:19.685 --> 0:07:23.725 her son and her roommate. On June fourteenth, she left 0:07:23.725 --> 0:07:26.845 Walnut Creek to go back to that same campground. She 0:07:26.925 --> 0:07:29.725 did not appear to be in distress, though before she 0:07:29.845 --> 0:07:33.365 left she did delete her Facebook page. She was active 0:07:33.405 --> 0:07:37.085 on Instagram until the next day, June fifteenth. She told 0:07:37.125 --> 0:07:39.405 people while she was home that these people she met, 0:07:39.525 --> 0:07:43.325 James and Christian, were watching her stuff. On June fourteenth, 0:07:43.325 --> 0:07:46.565 when she got back to the Jumbo Rocks campground, apparently, 0:07:46.845 --> 0:07:51.085 James and Christian were no longer. There, she called her mother, Ruth, 0:07:51.405 --> 0:07:54.285 and according to the Sentinel, her mom said that Erica 0:07:54.365 --> 0:07:57.605 was talking really fast. She said she could tell by 0:07:57.605 --> 0:08:02.245 the background noises that Erica was driving her car. After that, 0:08:03.005 --> 0:08:07.725 Erica's family never heard from her again. Park rangers found 0:08:07.765 --> 0:08:09.845 the car and saw that there was damage to the 0:08:09.885 --> 0:08:15.405 rear window, windshield, and dashboard. Then, on Tuesday, June sixteenth, 0:08:15.485 --> 0:08:19.525 twenty twenty, surveillance video showed Erica's car leaving the north 0:08:19.685 --> 0:08:23.885 entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. Then later the car 0:08:23.925 --> 0:08:26.405 was seen on surveillance video at two fifty pm in 0:08:26.485 --> 0:08:28.045 the town of twenty nine Palms. 0:08:28.645 --> 0:08:29.885 At four pm, a. 0:08:29.885 --> 0:08:33.765 California Highway patrolman spotted a car parked on Shelton Road, 0:08:34.165 --> 0:08:37.085 just north of the intersection with Highway sixty two near 0:08:37.125 --> 0:08:38.045 twenty nine Palms. 0:08:39.005 --> 0:08:40.765 The car was blocking. 0:08:40.365 --> 0:08:43.525 The roadway, so the Highway patrol called in nearby auto 0:08:43.565 --> 0:08:46.685 repair company to come and tow the car. News Channel 0:08:46.725 --> 0:08:49.485 three talked to the owner of that towing company. They 0:08:49.485 --> 0:08:52.005 said the windows of the car were busted out, the 0:08:52.165 --> 0:08:55.925 radio was shattered, and the air bag had deployed. And 0:08:55.965 --> 0:08:59.005 this is where the story takes a really tragic turn 0:09:00.085 --> 0:09:02.565 because This turned out to be Erica's two thousand and 0:09:02.645 --> 0:09:07.605 six black Hondo cord Ell. Lloyd's family reported her missing 0:09:07.685 --> 0:09:10.805 on June seventeenth. This was the day after a car 0:09:10.845 --> 0:09:14.005 had been towed off Shelton Road, the car that turned 0:09:14.005 --> 0:09:17.845 out to be Erica's, and even after she was reported missing, 0:09:18.165 --> 0:09:21.645 at first, no one connected the abandoned car with her. 0:09:22.365 --> 0:09:25.285 Since the California Highway Patrol didn't know that there was 0:09:25.325 --> 0:09:26.205 someone who had been. 0:09:26.045 --> 0:09:28.565 In the car, they just towed the vehicle. 0:09:28.965 --> 0:09:32.045 They mailed the toe slip to Erica's apartment, which obviously 0:09:32.205 --> 0:09:36.645 she never received. Eventually, the Walnut Creek Police Department notified 0:09:36.685 --> 0:09:39.285 the Highway Patrol that Erica was missing, and they started 0:09:39.285 --> 0:09:42.725 to look for her. Erica's family flew out on the nineteenth. 0:09:42.885 --> 0:09:45.325 They started putting up flyers. They kept trying to call 0:09:45.365 --> 0:09:50.765 her cell phone. On June twentieth, finally someone answered, but 0:09:50.885 --> 0:09:51.685 it wasn't Erica. 0:09:52.085 --> 0:09:57.285 It was a man. 0:10:01.045 --> 0:10:04.045 Erica Lloyd's family was calling her cell phone in a 0:10:04.125 --> 0:10:08.005 desperate attempt to find her, and on June twentieth, someone 0:10:08.085 --> 0:10:10.485 picked up the phone, but it wasn't Erica. 0:10:10.565 --> 0:10:11.685 It was a strange man. 0:10:12.685 --> 0:10:15.805 He told Erica's family that he had found her cell 0:10:15.845 --> 0:10:19.485 phone on June eighteenth on Cottonwood Drive in twenty nine Palms, 0:10:20.445 --> 0:10:23.885 so they were wondering how did she get separated from 0:10:23.885 --> 0:10:27.325 her car and her phone. Some people suggested that Eric 0:10:27.405 --> 0:10:30.405 had been kidnapped or killed by a serial killer, but 0:10:30.485 --> 0:10:33.685 the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said no foul play 0:10:33.765 --> 0:10:38.245 was involved. Investigators pieced together a theory that Erica had 0:10:38.285 --> 0:10:41.845 crashed her car and left her vehicle, then she became 0:10:41.885 --> 0:10:45.485 disoriented in the desert heat. They believed this because there 0:10:45.525 --> 0:10:48.805 was also significant damage to the bottom. 0:10:48.445 --> 0:10:51.605 Of her car. Underneath it, it looked like she had. 0:10:51.445 --> 0:10:53.645 Crashed into one of those berms out on the side 0:10:53.645 --> 0:10:56.725 of the road, the areas that kind of slope up 0:10:56.725 --> 0:10:59.485 on the side of the highway one of the natural barriers. 0:11:00.245 --> 0:11:03.885 Investigators thought that after she crashed, Erica might have seen 0:11:03.925 --> 0:11:06.765 the Marine Corps base in the distance and mistook it 0:11:06.805 --> 0:11:09.565 for the town of twenty nine Palms. This may have 0:11:09.725 --> 0:11:12.805 caused her to walk off of Highway sixty two to 0:11:12.845 --> 0:11:15.485 try and cut through there. This could have been a 0:11:15.485 --> 0:11:18.365 fatal mistake because that would have led her through miles 0:11:18.405 --> 0:11:22.005 of desert in sweltering heat and what no one knew 0:11:22.005 --> 0:11:24.605 at the time was that the spot where police found 0:11:24.605 --> 0:11:27.245 her car on Highway sixty two and Shelton was not 0:11:27.445 --> 0:11:31.245 the original crash site. Because shortly after Erica abandoned her car, 0:11:31.805 --> 0:11:34.965 two people, David Krow and Tila Campbell, saw it on 0:11:35.005 --> 0:11:37.285 the side of the road. They hooked it up to 0:11:37.325 --> 0:11:40.205 a big truck they had, and they started towing the 0:11:40.205 --> 0:11:43.045 car and driving south, But they only made it about 0:11:43.085 --> 0:11:45.965 two miles from where it crashed before the car overheated, 0:11:46.605 --> 0:11:50.725 so they detached Erica's vehicle and bailed. This means that 0:11:50.765 --> 0:11:53.525 when the search effort began for Erica, it started at 0:11:53.565 --> 0:11:56.965 the wrong spot. The police focused on the area around 0:11:57.005 --> 0:11:59.565 where the car had been dropped off by David and Tila, 0:12:00.205 --> 0:12:02.885 not the spot where Erica had actually crashed her car 0:12:03.085 --> 0:12:06.485 and started wandering around in a daze. There is no 0:12:06.645 --> 0:12:09.405 indication that David and Tela knew the car had been 0:12:09.445 --> 0:12:12.285 abandoned by someone who was in trouble, but they didn't 0:12:12.285 --> 0:12:13.205 call the authorities. 0:12:13.805 --> 0:12:14.645 We don't know. 0:12:14.645 --> 0:12:17.365 If they saw the reports of Erica missing on the news, 0:12:17.925 --> 0:12:21.045 but if they had called, there's a possibility they could 0:12:21.085 --> 0:12:22.885 have saved her life. 0:12:23.005 --> 0:12:23.565 Tragically. 0:12:24.165 --> 0:12:26.765 Searchers might have been able to find Erica if they 0:12:26.805 --> 0:12:29.565 had just searched closer to where she actually left the car, 0:12:30.045 --> 0:12:33.765 but we will never know that for sure. We reached 0:12:33.765 --> 0:12:36.965 out to Erica's mother, Ruth Lloyd. She responded in an email. 0:12:37.765 --> 0:12:40.245 She said that she had been wary of some podcasts 0:12:40.285 --> 0:12:44.085 in the past that were, in her opinion, erroneously trying 0:12:44.125 --> 0:12:46.965 to make connections between Erica's case and a serial killer, 0:12:47.565 --> 0:12:51.285 or implying Erica and James Escalante's cases were connected. 0:12:52.365 --> 0:12:54.005 Ruth wants to make it clear. 0:12:54.165 --> 0:12:57.565 She believes Erica crashed her car and succumbed to the elements, 0:12:57.645 --> 0:13:00.565 and that law enforcement did a good job. Her email 0:13:00.645 --> 0:13:04.285 reads quote, because especially in the first several years, we 0:13:04.405 --> 0:13:07.165 found that there were some crime podcasters and sluice that 0:13:07.245 --> 0:13:10.125 were looking to find entertainment and exploiting the tragedies of 0:13:10.125 --> 0:13:13.525 the victims and or their families. So we felt that 0:13:13.605 --> 0:13:16.965 you had better understand Erica's sudden mental health break. And 0:13:17.045 --> 0:13:19.125 it is sadly what caused Erica to be where she 0:13:19.205 --> 0:13:21.285 ended up in the desert that day, where her car 0:13:21.365 --> 0:13:24.405 crashed and got stuck on a sandburm in Wonder Valley, 0:13:24.965 --> 0:13:29.405 which getting stuck is not uncommon in the desert end quote. 0:13:29.605 --> 0:13:32.525 Ruth talked about going out to Wonder Valley and discovering 0:13:32.565 --> 0:13:34.805 the challenges of being in that part of the desert, 0:13:35.005 --> 0:13:38.165 which she described as a mix of homestead junkyards with 0:13:38.285 --> 0:13:42.645 the occasional Airbnb renovated with the hot tub. She wrote, quote, 0:13:42.925 --> 0:13:46.245 from everything we know, we don't believe Erica had any 0:13:46.245 --> 0:13:48.765 intention of being out where she was, and this was 0:13:48.805 --> 0:13:51.885 definitely an area she was not familiar with. Even for 0:13:52.045 --> 0:13:55.125 us being from Maryland, going out in the desert at 0:13:55.125 --> 0:13:57.405 that time of the year was like going to Mars 0:13:57.685 --> 0:14:00.565 end quote. Ruth talked about how going to the area 0:14:00.645 --> 0:14:03.085 in the intense heat, with the smoke and the ash 0:14:03.085 --> 0:14:06.485 from the California wildfires, how beautiful it was, but how 0:14:06.525 --> 0:14:09.845 it was ninety eight degrees even at night, it can 0:14:09.925 --> 0:14:13.605 be an unforgiving place. She said that the family got 0:14:13.645 --> 0:14:15.885 a lot of calls and texts from people who thought 0:14:15.885 --> 0:14:16.645 they saw Erica. 0:14:17.285 --> 0:14:18.285 She talked about how. 0:14:18.165 --> 0:14:21.365 They found five homeless women, all of whom looked a 0:14:21.405 --> 0:14:25.805 lot like Erica, and how many people are wandering lost 0:14:25.885 --> 0:14:27.285 in one way or another out there. 0:14:28.085 --> 0:14:29.525 She wrote, quote, we. 0:14:29.685 --> 0:14:33.085 Found many of these women and men live wherever they 0:14:33.085 --> 0:14:36.125 can find a place to stay, crawl into, or get under. 0:14:36.525 --> 0:14:39.365 So it makes you wonder when they are alone and 0:14:39.445 --> 0:14:43.845 die in the desert, who's looking for them? End quote. 0:14:44.285 --> 0:14:46.365 Ruth said that their family had a search team out 0:14:46.405 --> 0:14:48.965 on June twenty fifth. This was the day that James 0:14:49.085 --> 0:14:51.405 Escalante headed out to the desert to help de get 0:14:51.405 --> 0:14:54.445 her truck unstuck. The team stopped at noon that day 0:14:54.685 --> 0:14:57.725 when it got too hot. James was at the corner 0:14:57.765 --> 0:15:00.565 of Shelton in Highway sixty two when he made the 0:15:00.605 --> 0:15:03.325 call and then headed up Shelton Road. He would have 0:15:03.365 --> 0:15:05.445 had to carry his bike because of the loose sand. 0:15:06.325 --> 0:15:08.885 The bike was later found with some drug paraphernalia on 0:15:08.885 --> 0:15:11.365 the side of the road. It was found by the 0:15:11.405 --> 0:15:14.925 caving and mining expert who worked with Erica's family. But 0:15:15.085 --> 0:15:18.445 what happened to James after that? Did he stash the 0:15:18.485 --> 0:15:20.765 bike there or did someone else dump it out there. 0:15:22.965 --> 0:15:26.045 Erica's body was discovered by hikers near Danby Road and 0:15:26.045 --> 0:15:29.485 Amboy Road in Wonder Valley on January thirty first, twenty 0:15:29.525 --> 0:15:32.965 twenty one. In June of twenty twenty one, Tila Campbell 0:15:33.005 --> 0:15:35.805 and David Crowe were arrested. They were charged with stealing 0:15:35.885 --> 0:15:38.805 Erica's car. They admitted that they had seen the car 0:15:38.845 --> 0:15:41.965 out there in the sandburn got it off there, hauled 0:15:42.005 --> 0:15:45.085 it off and drove it until it overheated, then abandoned 0:15:45.085 --> 0:15:48.805 the vehicle. David Crowe was sentenced after a plea deal, 0:15:49.165 --> 0:15:51.805 but Tila Campbell's case is still going through the courts. 0:15:52.285 --> 0:15:56.125 According to Erica's mom, Tila's next hearing date is set 0:15:56.125 --> 0:16:00.685 for January twenty twenty five. Erica's family did travel to 0:16:00.765 --> 0:16:03.285 Joshua Tree to give a family impact statement in front 0:16:03.325 --> 0:16:04.165 of Tila and David. 0:16:05.525 --> 0:16:06.245 Wrote quote. 0:16:06.445 --> 0:16:09.325 At the hearing, they both appeared to understand the consequence 0:16:09.525 --> 0:16:13.245 of what their actions caused Erica that day end quote. 0:16:13.325 --> 0:16:15.725 Ruth said that the defendants appeared to be sorry and 0:16:15.765 --> 0:16:18.725 remorseful in court, and that the family felt a certain 0:16:18.765 --> 0:16:21.685 amount of peace and closure in being able to address 0:16:21.685 --> 0:16:24.165 both of them and let them know how they had 0:16:24.205 --> 0:16:28.125 devastated their family. Ruth said that they met the homicide 0:16:28.165 --> 0:16:32.165 detectives that handled Erica's case and James's case. She said 0:16:32.205 --> 0:16:35.525 detectives said they found no indication that the cases were connected. 0:16:36.685 --> 0:16:39.685 Erica's cause and manner of death has never been revealed, 0:16:40.525 --> 0:16:44.565 but Heather Escalante said she wonders about that and if 0:16:44.605 --> 0:16:47.365 it's possible that the James in the desert that Erica 0:16:47.405 --> 0:16:50.445 wrote about in a journal could be her father in law, 0:16:50.725 --> 0:16:52.365 James Escalante. 0:16:52.605 --> 0:16:55.045 I still think Eric Alloyd's what the narrative that has 0:16:55.085 --> 0:16:56.725 been put out. I'm gonna be honest with you. Please 0:16:56.725 --> 0:16:59.965 excuse my langage, but I think it's bullshit. Honestly, Yeah, 0:17:00.045 --> 0:17:03.285 I still think their cases are connected. There was a 0:17:03.525 --> 0:17:06.725 James and Christian holding her can fight for her. I 0:17:06.805 --> 0:17:09.245 get James as a common name, but that's a little wild. 0:17:09.285 --> 0:17:10.885 I also think I know who Christian is. 0:17:11.805 --> 0:17:15.605 And then Heather found even more inconsistencies in Sherry's story, 0:17:16.205 --> 0:17:19.365 inconsistencies that might connect him with eric A. 0:17:19.445 --> 0:17:19.725 Lloyd. 0:17:20.965 --> 0:17:23.645 Heather eventually got access to James's call logs from his 0:17:23.725 --> 0:17:27.165 cell phone. When she went through them, she found that 0:17:27.205 --> 0:17:31.085 Sherry's timeline of James's location in the past month did 0:17:31.125 --> 0:17:33.725 not align with what she found in their text messages. 0:17:34.605 --> 0:17:36.925 One of the things I found interesting was that Sherry 0:17:36.925 --> 0:17:39.725 had claimed that my James couldn't be the James that 0:17:39.765 --> 0:17:42.005 was with eric A. Lloyd that month because she was 0:17:42.045 --> 0:17:43.685 with him the whole month, or he was with her 0:17:43.805 --> 0:17:45.645 the whole month, but if you read through their text 0:17:45.685 --> 0:17:49.885 messaging lags, there's nothing like almost all their text messaging 0:17:49.925 --> 0:17:51.885 back and forth that month was like her saying are 0:17:51.885 --> 0:17:52.845 you ever coming home? 0:17:53.525 --> 0:17:54.365 So he wasn't with her. 0:17:55.285 --> 0:17:58.445 Heather said that Cherry actually mentioned eric A Lloyd in 0:17:58.485 --> 0:18:01.445 kind of a cryptic way, and Heather revealed something else. 0:18:02.125 --> 0:18:04.725 She said that Sherry is actually friends with the two 0:18:04.765 --> 0:18:08.125 people Tela and David, who had been charged with stealing 0:18:08.245 --> 0:18:11.045 Erica's car. The place where they dumped the car was 0:18:11.085 --> 0:18:14.805 also the exact same intersection where apparently they were hanging 0:18:14.805 --> 0:18:18.085 out and where James went missing days later. There are 0:18:18.165 --> 0:18:22.405 other unanswered questions from Erica's case, like who are Christian 0:18:22.405 --> 0:18:26.845 and James? Are those their real names? Then there's Erica's campsite. 0:18:27.205 --> 0:18:30.285 When the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department searched the Jumbo 0:18:30.365 --> 0:18:33.565 Rocks campground where Erica was that day, they did find 0:18:33.605 --> 0:18:37.365 her gear, but they found something else, an expensive, yeti 0:18:37.445 --> 0:18:41.485 cooler that Erica's family said they didn't recognize. Could someone 0:18:41.525 --> 0:18:44.125 else have been out there with her? Could it have 0:18:44.205 --> 0:18:48.805 been James Escalante? It may seem far fetched, but no 0:18:48.805 --> 0:18:52.725 one has ever found Christian or James. Signs may point 0:18:52.765 --> 0:18:55.685 to her car crash being an accident, but I wonder 0:18:56.325 --> 0:18:58.445 how do we know for sure that she was alone 0:18:58.445 --> 0:19:04.005 in that car or what caused her to crash. Erica's 0:19:04.045 --> 0:19:06.885 car ended up getting abandoned at Highway sixty two and 0:19:06.965 --> 0:19:10.925 Shelton Road. As we know, this is exactly the same 0:19:11.005 --> 0:19:14.165 area where James Escalante was headed nine days later on 0:19:14.245 --> 0:19:17.885 June twenty fifth, twenty twenty. It's where he stopped at 0:19:17.925 --> 0:19:21.165 that intersection and used his cell phone to call Sherry, 0:19:21.205 --> 0:19:25.005 telling her that he couldn't find d or her car. Now, 0:19:25.045 --> 0:19:27.525 the story that Heather and detectives were told was that 0:19:27.565 --> 0:19:30.205 Sherry made a three way call with James and D 0:19:30.685 --> 0:19:33.205 that D told him to honk his horn. He seemed 0:19:33.205 --> 0:19:35.325 to hear the horn and said I got it and 0:19:35.405 --> 0:19:39.205 hung up, but he never got to D. Eventually, she 0:19:39.285 --> 0:19:42.685 was rescued by two other friends. No one ever heard 0:19:42.725 --> 0:19:47.045 from James again. After James was found, searchers went back 0:19:47.045 --> 0:19:50.685 out to the area. We have filed multiple freedom of 0:19:50.765 --> 0:19:54.525 information requests with San Bernardino County. They first told us 0:19:54.565 --> 0:19:57.445 we would have a response by January ninth, The most 0:19:57.525 --> 0:20:00.045 recent date they have given us is January twenty first, 0:20:00.165 --> 0:20:01.645 so I will keep you updated. 0:20:02.725 --> 0:20:04.325 Commenters on Reddit who live. 0:20:04.245 --> 0:20:06.525 In the area talk about how the mob used to 0:20:06.605 --> 0:20:10.205 dump bodies out there in the desert and how people 0:20:10.245 --> 0:20:14.965 who use and deal methamphetamine are also around. The commoner 0:20:15.005 --> 0:20:18.365 on Reddit, who says they live nearby, kind of nailed 0:20:18.405 --> 0:20:21.325 the sometimes strange mix of people who populate the area 0:20:21.365 --> 0:20:24.245 when they wrote quote, I've heard the local meth heads 0:20:24.285 --> 0:20:26.285 make some comments about how easy it is to throw 0:20:26.325 --> 0:20:30.325 a body in a dryer, put the dryer in a wash, etc. However, 0:20:30.805 --> 0:20:34.845 it's become very popular among tourists, especially lately, and the 0:20:34.845 --> 0:20:38.245 sheer number of people is a newer development. Many of 0:20:38.285 --> 0:20:41.525 these tourists being folk who already live in southern California. 0:20:41.645 --> 0:20:43.605 I think that gives them a false sense of security. 0:20:44.085 --> 0:20:46.285 They think they know what the heat is like. They 0:20:46.325 --> 0:20:50.565 don't realize how vast the park really is, and the landmarks, 0:20:51.045 --> 0:20:54.725 while gorgeous, can easily all look the same end quote, 0:20:55.725 --> 0:20:59.925 and sometimes we discover the desert has become a dumping 0:20:59.965 --> 0:21:07.565 ground for killers hoping to cover their tracks. The desert 0:21:07.645 --> 0:21:10.965 where Erica Lloyd and James Escalante went missing is a 0:21:11.005 --> 0:21:14.445 spot where killers have been known to dump bodies. On 0:21:14.605 --> 0:21:19.485 June seventeenth, twenty fourteen, nineteen year old Aaron Corwin disappeared. 0:21:20.525 --> 0:21:23.045 Aaron was pregnant and she was married to a Marine 0:21:23.525 --> 0:21:26.085 who was stationed at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat 0:21:26.165 --> 0:21:29.565 Center in twenty nine Palms. The case made national news 0:21:29.605 --> 0:21:33.125 and everyone was looking for Erica, and after two months, 0:21:33.325 --> 0:21:36.485 her body was found hidden in an abandoned mine shaft 0:21:36.605 --> 0:21:39.565 near Joshua Tree. I want to note here that the 0:21:39.645 --> 0:21:42.725 person who led the search that found Erin was not 0:21:42.845 --> 0:21:46.245 the police. It was Doug Billings, the same cave and 0:21:46.325 --> 0:21:51.685 mining expert who found James Escalante's bike. It turned out 0:21:51.725 --> 0:21:54.365 that Aaron was actually having an affair with another marine, 0:21:54.525 --> 0:21:58.285 twenty seven year old Christopher Lee. Christopher was also married 0:21:58.285 --> 0:22:01.805 to someone else. He and Aaron were neighbors. Christopher was 0:22:01.885 --> 0:22:06.045 obsessively jealous and controlling of Erin. He later confess that 0:22:06.125 --> 0:22:09.205 after meeting her on the night she disappeared, he strangled 0:22:09.205 --> 0:22:12.005 her and through her body head first down the one 0:22:12.085 --> 0:22:15.405 hundred and forty foot mine shaft. He first lied to 0:22:15.445 --> 0:22:18.645 investigators about the affair, but after Aaron's body was found 0:22:18.805 --> 0:22:21.485 along with some mountaineering rope and a propane tank that 0:22:21.525 --> 0:22:25.285 were similar to ones Christopher owned. Evidence kept piling up, 0:22:25.605 --> 0:22:28.165 and he confessed to strangling her in a jealous rage 0:22:28.325 --> 0:22:30.885 and hiding her body in the mind. He said that 0:22:30.925 --> 0:22:33.805 he was depressed because he was not being redeployed. 0:22:34.205 --> 0:22:36.045 He was due to head back to his home state 0:22:36.085 --> 0:22:36.725 of Alaska. 0:22:37.605 --> 0:22:40.245 He also stated he believed that he might be the 0:22:40.325 --> 0:22:43.765