WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Jarrod Green Part 1 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:16.845 School of Humans. 0:00:18.005 --> 0:00:21.565 On September thirtieth, nineteen ninety four, twenty year old Jared 0:00:21.605 --> 0:00:25.205 Green was scared. His sister, Shannon, who was three years 0:00:25.205 --> 0:00:28.125 older than Jared, remembered her baby brother as the kid 0:00:28.165 --> 0:00:31.645 he was always laughing and smiling, who had a mischievous 0:00:31.685 --> 0:00:35.245 sense of humor. Jared's middle name was Devlin, so they 0:00:35.285 --> 0:00:36.405 called him the little devil. 0:00:37.365 --> 0:00:40.165 I've used this expression before. He was like light and 0:00:40.325 --> 0:00:45.085 life and laughter. He was always making jokes. He had 0:00:45.125 --> 0:00:49.325 a really infectious laugh. He was always getting into trouble. 0:00:50.125 --> 0:00:52.245 My mom called him like a little monkey because he 0:00:52.365 --> 0:00:55.725 was climbing on stuff when we were kids and he 0:00:55.845 --> 0:00:58.445 jumped off the top bunk bed knocked himself out. But 0:00:58.565 --> 0:01:02.485 he was constantly doing silly stuff like that. If there 0:01:02.525 --> 0:01:05.205 was a mischief to be had, he was going to 0:01:05.205 --> 0:01:06.125 be in the middle of it. 0:01:06.845 --> 0:01:11.205 But his humor was always fun, never cruel. Shannon said 0:01:11.325 --> 0:01:14.125 that Jared was always a little bit naive. He was 0:01:14.125 --> 0:01:16.885 someone who always trusted others and someone who would do 0:01:16.925 --> 0:01:21.925 anything for a friend. Jared had a high IQ, Shannon said, 0:01:21.965 --> 0:01:25.685 genius level, so he was always smart, but as a 0:01:25.765 --> 0:01:30.085 kid he struggled to focus. Jared was diagnosed with ADHD, 0:01:30.725 --> 0:01:33.965 so their parents put him on Riddlin. Though the Riddlin 0:01:34.045 --> 0:01:37.085 did seem to help Jared focus at school, his parents 0:01:37.085 --> 0:01:40.045 believed that it was stunning Jared's physical growth, which meant 0:01:40.085 --> 0:01:42.725 that Jared was always small for his age, so he 0:01:42.845 --> 0:01:45.685 ended up being held back a year at school. Even 0:01:45.765 --> 0:01:48.565 though Jared eventually caught up physically and grew to be 0:01:48.645 --> 0:01:51.725 almost six feet tall, he always had kind of a 0:01:51.765 --> 0:01:55.405 slim build. In every picture I see of Jared, he's 0:01:55.445 --> 0:01:58.845 got this boyish face. He's got brownish blonde hair, and 0:01:58.885 --> 0:02:02.805 blue green eyes. He's smiling in every single picture, which 0:02:02.885 --> 0:02:05.005 goes with what Shannon said about him. She said he 0:02:05.045 --> 0:02:07.365 was full of life and always the life of the party, 0:02:08.205 --> 0:02:11.845 just a joy to be around. Jared graduated from Sersey 0:02:11.925 --> 0:02:14.725 High School in nineteen ninety three, and because he'd been 0:02:14.725 --> 0:02:17.205 held back a year when he graduated, he was actually 0:02:17.285 --> 0:02:20.485 nineteen years old. He continued to live at home after 0:02:20.565 --> 0:02:23.805 high school. Eventually he moved out of his parents' house 0:02:23.845 --> 0:02:26.805 and started junior college in bb He got a job 0:02:26.845 --> 0:02:31.165 at the Walmart distribution center, but then in nineteen ninety four, 0:02:31.525 --> 0:02:37.005 Jared's problem started. He started using methamphetamines and his family 0:02:37.085 --> 0:02:40.925 says that within a shockingly short period of time, Jared 0:02:41.005 --> 0:02:45.365 was showing signs of serious addiction. Jared's dark time began 0:02:45.485 --> 0:02:48.285 some time after fall semester started at college. 0:02:48.725 --> 0:02:51.405 By the beginning of October, it was all over. 0:02:53.765 --> 0:02:56.805 I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making 0:02:56.845 --> 0:03:00.085 my true crime podcast, Talent Gone, I've learned that there's 0:03:00.205 --> 0:03:03.285 no such thing as a small town where murder never happens. 0:03:04.005 --> 0:03:06.845 I have received hundreds of men messages from people from 0:03:06.845 --> 0:03:09.725 all around the country asking for help with an unsolved 0:03:09.805 --> 0:03:13.885 murder that's affected them, their families, and their communities. If 0:03:13.925 --> 0:03:16.125 you have a case you'd like me and my team 0:03:16.165 --> 0:03:18.565 to look into, you can reach out to us at 0:03:18.565 --> 0:03:21.085 our Hell and Gone Murder line at six seven eight 0:03:21.365 --> 0:03:25.005 seven four four six one four five. That's six seven 0:03:25.085 --> 0:04:13.365 eight seven four four six one four or five. When 0:04:13.445 --> 0:04:17.605 I announced this new podcast, multiple listeners reached out to 0:04:17.605 --> 0:04:18.885 me about Jared Green's case. 0:04:19.605 --> 0:04:25.765 I'm just calling in for justice for Jared. You might 0:04:25.845 --> 0:04:27.445 have heard podcasts before, but. 0:04:28.405 --> 0:04:30.205 There was a group of us that already. 0:04:30.085 --> 0:04:34.765 I'm calling in about the case of Jared Green. He 0:04:34.885 --> 0:04:39.005 disappeared from Sarcy, Arkansas on September thirtieth, nineteen ninety four. 0:04:39.725 --> 0:04:42.685 I had actually heard from Jared's sister, Shannon Green, a 0:04:42.725 --> 0:04:45.165 while back, and I knew this was one of the 0:04:45.165 --> 0:04:49.005 first cases that I wanted to cover. At first, Jared's 0:04:49.045 --> 0:04:51.725 family wasn't exactly sure what was going on with them. 0:04:52.165 --> 0:04:55.285 Shannon said they were pretty clueless because she said her 0:04:55.285 --> 0:04:57.725 parents had never dealt with that type of drug abuse before. 0:04:58.445 --> 0:05:01.405 They did not know the signs to look for, and 0:05:01.685 --> 0:05:04.445 they didn't know how quickly this kind of thing could 0:05:04.525 --> 0:05:05.885 escalate or had to dangerous. 0:05:05.925 --> 0:05:09.565 It was not long after he graduated high school, when 0:05:09.565 --> 0:05:12.285 he was about nineteen, and that's when my mom found, 0:05:12.605 --> 0:05:15.125 like I think she found pot in his pants pocket 0:05:15.245 --> 0:05:17.165 that she was doing the laundry and she found it, 0:05:18.125 --> 0:05:23.085 and it was a really fast kind of transformation when 0:05:23.085 --> 0:05:25.725 he started doing that. That was when it was this 0:05:26.285 --> 0:05:31.805 deep decline and the change in him became just obvious. 0:05:31.885 --> 0:05:34.685 I dropped out of grad school and moved back home 0:05:35.685 --> 0:05:37.685 because my parents were kind of like, we don't know 0:05:37.685 --> 0:05:39.805 what to do, and I was so upset about it. 0:05:40.685 --> 0:05:43.205 He was over eighteen. We couldn't force him into a 0:05:43.285 --> 0:05:46.125 rehab It was terrible. We didn't know the extent really 0:05:46.125 --> 0:05:49.565 of what. We were just so naive. I've said this before, 0:05:49.645 --> 0:05:52.725 but like my parent you know, we were not exposed 0:05:52.765 --> 0:05:55.245 to anything. My parents they they went to church. We 0:05:55.685 --> 0:05:58.005 didn't drink, we didn't were We didn't you know, there 0:05:58.085 --> 0:06:01.845 was all this very kind of sheltered life. We didn't 0:06:01.885 --> 0:06:04.725 even know what was happening. I certainly had no idea 0:06:04.925 --> 0:06:08.445 of the depths of the corruption and the drug scene 0:06:08.485 --> 0:06:10.925 in Sursey. We had no idea about that at the time. 0:06:12.125 --> 0:06:15.125 In nineteen ninety four, Jared was living at home, working 0:06:15.125 --> 0:06:17.565 at the Walmart distribution center, and going to school. 0:06:18.325 --> 0:06:19.725 He quit his job at Walmart. 0:06:20.245 --> 0:06:22.925 Shannon said that at first his family thought this was 0:06:22.965 --> 0:06:26.045 because his job was interfering with school, but the truth 0:06:26.245 --> 0:06:28.965 was that Jared was using drugs and had gotten much 0:06:29.005 --> 0:06:32.245 more heavily into them. Jared moved out of his parents' 0:06:32.245 --> 0:06:34.405 house and in with a guy who lived down the 0:06:34.405 --> 0:06:37.685 street from his family. The apartment that he moved into 0:06:37.925 --> 0:06:40.365 was across the hall from a guy named Brandon Wheeler. 0:06:40.925 --> 0:06:43.845 Now Brandon Wheeler was someone Jared knew from high school. 0:06:44.605 --> 0:06:48.125 Living with Brandon Wheeler was his roommate Robert Webb. In 0:06:48.205 --> 0:06:50.965 nineteen ninety four, Robert Webb was turning eighteen years old 0:06:51.005 --> 0:06:54.365 and still a senior at Sarcey High School, Jared, Robert, 0:06:54.365 --> 0:06:57.805 and Brandon all started hanging out. Brandon Wheeler was a 0:06:57.845 --> 0:07:00.805 big guy. He was white, around two hundred pounds and 0:07:00.845 --> 0:07:05.085 pretty stocky. Robert Webb was pretty much his physical opposite, 0:07:05.205 --> 0:07:08.525 a lightmail and much smaller, about five foot one and 0:07:08.605 --> 0:07:11.485 around one hundred and thirty five pounds. By the way, 0:07:11.525 --> 0:07:14.085 in case it's not obvious, I'm giving physical descriptions of 0:07:14.125 --> 0:07:16.885 these guys because they will become very important later when 0:07:16.885 --> 0:07:18.765 it becomes clear that some of the people in this 0:07:18.885 --> 0:07:24.045 case are using multiple aliases. These guys were all young, 0:07:24.525 --> 0:07:27.005 but they were already moving into drug dealing, and police 0:07:27.005 --> 0:07:30.405 suspected that Brandon and Robert were dealing drugs for some 0:07:30.565 --> 0:07:31.485 very dangerous people. 0:07:32.645 --> 0:07:36.445 Brandon was always like, he wasn't popular in school. He 0:07:36.605 --> 0:07:39.645 was everybody thought he was kind of odd. I had 0:07:39.685 --> 0:07:43.805 no idea until really when he moved into that apartment 0:07:43.925 --> 0:07:48.205 that like Brandon was involved in the drugs, And still 0:07:48.445 --> 0:07:52.045 we still didn't know what the drugs were like this 0:07:52.205 --> 0:07:56.045 was it was still a mystery at this point. My 0:07:56.125 --> 0:07:59.605 parents really still didn't know. I definitely didn't know what 0:07:59.725 --> 0:08:03.285 was going on. He didn't tell us. He would hint 0:08:03.365 --> 0:08:08.045 at some things. He would co about things, and my 0:08:08.165 --> 0:08:10.285 mom would try to talk to him, but he didn't 0:08:10.285 --> 0:08:11.645 want to tell us what would happen. 0:08:12.765 --> 0:08:15.845 Jared and his roommate got evicted from their apartment, so 0:08:15.965 --> 0:08:19.125 he moved back home with his parents. Robert and Brandon 0:08:19.245 --> 0:08:22.325 ended up renting another house together in Sirce, North, Little Rock. 0:08:23.405 --> 0:08:25.925 Brandon's parents lived in Surse, a few miles from while 0:08:25.925 --> 0:08:28.605 he was running the house with Robert. It's important to 0:08:28.605 --> 0:08:30.805 remember that when I talked to Shannon about her brother, 0:08:31.285 --> 0:08:35.045 she's telling this story in hindsight, so it comes in pieces. 0:08:35.565 --> 0:08:38.085 But one thing she does remember vividly is how fast 0:08:38.125 --> 0:08:38.885 this all happened. 0:08:39.445 --> 0:08:40.645 She says that. 0:08:40.565 --> 0:08:43.765 Once Jared started hanging out with Brandon Wheeler and Robert Webb, 0:08:44.165 --> 0:08:48.805 his descent into drug use was quick and extreme. What 0:08:49.005 --> 0:08:51.965 she didn't know at the time was that Jared had 0:08:52.005 --> 0:08:55.405 allegedly moved from just using drugs into helping Robert and 0:08:55.445 --> 0:08:58.765 Brandon deal them. She later heard that he might have 0:08:58.805 --> 0:09:02.045 been possibly involved in some other way, either in selling 0:09:02.165 --> 0:09:03.125 or possibly cooking. 0:09:04.365 --> 0:09:08.805 What I've heard is that Brandon and rob claimed that 0:09:08.885 --> 0:09:13.485 he owed them seventy five hundred dollars and that they 0:09:13.525 --> 0:09:18.245 would never let him pay them back. I do remember 0:09:18.325 --> 0:09:20.285 him saying that he could never be free because they 0:09:20.285 --> 0:09:24.045 would never let it be free. And I don't know 0:09:24.165 --> 0:09:26.965 what the money was for. I assume it was probably 0:09:27.045 --> 0:09:30.445 drugs that he was supposed to have either sold or 0:09:30.685 --> 0:09:33.685 transported for him. I don't think he actually, I don't 0:09:33.685 --> 0:09:37.645 think he ever dealt I don't know for sure. All 0:09:37.685 --> 0:09:40.765 I know is what people around him have told me 0:09:40.885 --> 0:09:44.965 that he didn't, but he was connected with people that 0:09:45.085 --> 0:09:50.205 were and I think that someone had mentioned that they 0:09:50.245 --> 0:09:53.405 were trying to introduce him because he was smart, that 0:09:53.485 --> 0:09:58.085 they thought, well, he could be a cook, and that 0:09:58.085 --> 0:09:59.725 that is, you know, one of the things that I've 0:09:59.765 --> 0:10:03.045 heard that that that's kind of what they were planning 0:10:03.085 --> 0:10:03.445 for him. 0:10:04.405 --> 0:10:07.725 When Jared came back home after getting evicted, Shannon said 0:10:07.725 --> 0:10:10.725 her brother had lost lots of weight. She also said 0:10:10.765 --> 0:10:14.685 he was extremely paranoid. She said that her brother was scared. 0:10:15.925 --> 0:10:18.765 Shannon describes how her brother's life started to fall apart 0:10:18.925 --> 0:10:20.005 once he moved back home. 0:10:21.285 --> 0:10:24.605 We could tell he was really like, he had lost 0:10:24.645 --> 0:10:26.885 a ton of weight, He didn't look right. He was 0:10:26.925 --> 0:10:31.285 extremely paranoid. I remember that one time I was on 0:10:31.285 --> 0:10:33.485 my way out the door to church, I had got 0:10:33.485 --> 0:10:35.165 a runner in my hose and I had to turn 0:10:35.245 --> 0:10:38.885 back into the house to go go change. And I 0:10:38.925 --> 0:10:40.805 came in like just busted to the front door, and 0:10:40.885 --> 0:10:42.685 Jared was standing at the top of the staircase with 0:10:42.765 --> 0:10:46.765 a gun drawn and like shaking because he was paranoid 0:10:46.965 --> 0:10:50.765 about somebody coming in after him. And so there was 0:10:50.805 --> 0:10:53.085 a lot of that where we were all kind of 0:10:53.085 --> 0:10:55.125 on tender hooks, like we didn't know where he was. 0:10:55.205 --> 0:10:58.325 He would go out and stay out until all hours, 0:10:58.365 --> 0:11:02.165 and I stopped sleeping because if I didn't hear our 0:11:02.165 --> 0:11:05.725 garage store open, I couldn't be comfortable because I was 0:11:05.765 --> 0:11:07.685 afraid something was going to happen. Like we didn't know 0:11:07.685 --> 0:11:10.205 what he was into. We didn't know what he was doing. 0:11:11.445 --> 0:11:11.605 Now. 0:11:11.645 --> 0:11:13.845 One of the most important questions in this case that 0:11:13.925 --> 0:11:17.685 came up later was how much of this paranoia was 0:11:17.845 --> 0:11:21.205 just the paranoia that goes with drug use, especially Matthews, 0:11:21.845 --> 0:11:26.085 and how much might have been legitimate fear for his life. 0:11:26.205 --> 0:11:30.285 That will become crucial later Jared asked his parents for help. 0:11:30.685 --> 0:11:32.765 He told them that he needed to get out of town. 0:11:33.285 --> 0:11:37.125 Then Shannon said, Jared did leave town for about a week. Now, 0:11:37.205 --> 0:11:40.005 where Jared went during that time remains a mystery, and 0:11:40.045 --> 0:11:43.285 it's something we're going to revisit. Shannon believed he was 0:11:43.325 --> 0:11:46.045 going to see about a job in Tennessee, but then 0:11:46.285 --> 0:11:49.485 after Jared came back, Shannon put a timeline together with 0:11:49.565 --> 0:11:52.605 her dad to try and track his movement, and later 0:11:52.765 --> 0:11:56.565 Shannon's dad found receipts from Jared's trip. They found out 0:11:56.565 --> 0:11:59.405 he had actually been gone longer, close to two weeks, 0:11:59.805 --> 0:12:03.165 and that he had actually visited Houston, Texas and Tuckerman, 0:12:03.285 --> 0:12:07.285 Arkansas to see family, had been around to several places 0:12:07.325 --> 0:12:10.325 they never knew about, and then one day, out of 0:12:10.365 --> 0:12:14.125 the blue, Jared said he was coming home. At that point, 0:12:14.165 --> 0:12:17.405 Shannon said he seemed to be more relaxed. He said 0:12:17.445 --> 0:12:21.085 that everything was okay. He had been telling family and 0:12:21.205 --> 0:12:24.005 friends that he owed Brandon and Robert a lot of money, 0:12:24.205 --> 0:12:27.685 But after he came home, according to Shannon, it seemed 0:12:27.725 --> 0:12:30.605 like whatever issues he had with these guys, he had 0:12:30.605 --> 0:12:34.885 worked them out and made things right. So Jared returned 0:12:34.885 --> 0:12:38.005 home after that trip out of town, but he wouldn't 0:12:38.045 --> 0:12:45.965 be home for long. So this brings us to September thirtieth, 0:12:46.085 --> 0:12:49.885 nineteen ninety four, the day Jared disappeared. On that day, 0:12:50.285 --> 0:12:52.845 Shannon said, Jared woke up at around eight thirty am 0:12:53.005 --> 0:12:55.405 and left the house for a while. He came home 0:12:55.485 --> 0:12:57.885 later that afternoon and told his family that he had 0:12:57.885 --> 0:13:00.605 been shooting skeek, which Shannon said would not have been 0:13:00.645 --> 0:13:03.565 out of character for him. He brought back the skeet 0:13:03.565 --> 0:13:06.405 shooting thrower and the rifle that he used and left 0:13:06.405 --> 0:13:09.885 them at home. Then Jared made some phone calls that afternoon. 0:13:10.365 --> 0:13:12.445 He left the house at around eight pm. That night, 0:13:13.725 --> 0:13:16.565 he told his parents that he was meeting a friend 0:13:16.725 --> 0:13:19.925 at the Sarce Country Club. Then he walked out the door, 0:13:20.485 --> 0:13:23.645 out the driveway, got into his car, and drove off. 0:13:24.725 --> 0:13:28.325 That was the last time Jared's family ever saw him alive. 0:13:30.725 --> 0:13:33.845 Shannon later told reporter she has this flashback of Jared 0:13:33.885 --> 0:13:35.765 walking in front of a TV and walking out of 0:13:35.805 --> 0:13:39.005 the house, but she said that she was working at Hastings, 0:13:39.045 --> 0:13:41.805 a local grocery store, at the time, so she can't 0:13:41.845 --> 0:13:44.605 really remember whether the night she's thinking of was that 0:13:44.765 --> 0:13:49.805 night or possibly another night. Either way, Jared never came 0:13:49.845 --> 0:13:53.125 home for the next few days. His parents kind of 0:13:53.165 --> 0:13:56.405 agonized over what action to take because they were torn. 0:13:56.885 --> 0:13:59.525 They wanted their son home, but they were also worried 0:13:59.605 --> 0:14:03.325 that calling the police could bring Jared unwanted attention, maybe 0:14:03.325 --> 0:14:05.045 get him into trouble if it turned out he was 0:14:05.085 --> 0:14:08.485 holed up somewhere involved in drugs. And at that stage 0:14:08.485 --> 0:14:11.685 in Jared's life, it was not uncommon for Jared to 0:14:11.765 --> 0:14:14.325 leave for a couple days, possibly to go stay with friends. 0:14:15.085 --> 0:14:17.605 But when days went by and his family never heard 0:14:17.645 --> 0:14:21.085 from him, they began to suspect that something was very wrong. 0:14:22.605 --> 0:14:26.485 As you may know from listening to this podcast, one 0:14:26.645 --> 0:14:29.325 theme that I go over over and over again is 0:14:29.365 --> 0:14:33.205 the timeline, and in the beginning, police had very little 0:14:33.245 --> 0:14:37.005 information about Jared's timeline. We do know that he was 0:14:37.125 --> 0:14:40.445 planning on meeting his girlfriend that night. Now his girlfriend's 0:14:40.525 --> 0:14:44.725 name is also Shannon, so to avoid confusion with Shannon, Jared's. 0:14:44.405 --> 0:14:47.045 Sister, we're going to refer to his sister as. 0:14:46.845 --> 0:14:52.085 Shannon and Jared's girlfriend as s Jared's girlfriend later told 0:14:52.085 --> 0:14:54.885 police that she did talk to Jared that night. She 0:14:54.965 --> 0:14:57.885 said when they spoke on the phone, Jared seemed irrational 0:14:58.285 --> 0:15:00.525 and he wanted his girlfriend to leave town with him. 0:15:01.045 --> 0:15:03.285 She said he was disturbed because he was acting really 0:15:03.325 --> 0:15:06.165 out of character, so she told him that she was 0:15:06.205 --> 0:15:10.165 going out with some girlfriends instead. She said that Jared 0:15:10.245 --> 0:15:14.165 was super upset, crying, and that after she didn't go 0:15:14.245 --> 0:15:16.845 with him that night, she never saw or heard from 0:15:16.885 --> 0:15:21.605 him again. Over the next few days, Jared's family began 0:15:21.645 --> 0:15:23.045 to get more and more worried. 0:15:23.805 --> 0:15:27.765 So he went missing on September thirtieth, and he was gone. 0:15:27.925 --> 0:15:30.525 And like I said before, like he would he would 0:15:30.525 --> 0:15:33.445 go for overnight, go to Jonesboro, whatever, go stay with 0:15:33.485 --> 0:15:35.845 his girlfriend. He wouldn't come home. He was, you know, 0:15:36.485 --> 0:15:39.165 twenty years old, so he wouldn't always tell us he would, 0:15:39.245 --> 0:15:41.525 you know, he would usually call or he'd usually show 0:15:41.605 --> 0:15:44.045 up home the next day. So when he didn't come 0:15:44.045 --> 0:15:47.405 home the first night, we weren't we were scared because 0:15:47.405 --> 0:15:49.285 of what we knew was what was going on, but 0:15:49.365 --> 0:15:54.925 we weren't fannicked. But when when you know, the next evening, 0:15:55.725 --> 0:15:58.845 we don't haven't heard from him. And I was working 0:15:58.885 --> 0:16:02.045 at Hastings of the time, and his girlfriend and she 0:16:02.165 --> 0:16:05.045 hadn't seen or heard from him, and so that really 0:16:05.565 --> 0:16:07.885 that was really scary. It's like, okay, wait a minute, 0:16:07.925 --> 0:16:10.205 something is not right. So then we started calling people, 0:16:10.285 --> 0:16:14.685 you know, we called the Wheelers, called Brandon and he 0:16:14.765 --> 0:16:16.605 was like, no, we haven't seen Jared. Don't have any 0:16:16.645 --> 0:16:19.245 idea where he's at. The normal panic that you go 0:16:19.285 --> 0:16:21.005 through when someone goes missing, and you're like, okay, where 0:16:21.005 --> 0:16:23.765 could they be? Don't overreact, this is you know, he's 0:16:23.765 --> 0:16:27.085 an adult, He's probably somewhere. But when we still hadn't 0:16:27.125 --> 0:16:30.885 heard on that third day, the panic had started to 0:16:30.925 --> 0:16:33.365 set in. My parents were super scared because they didn't 0:16:33.405 --> 0:16:35.285 want to get Jared in trouble, and we're afraid that 0:16:35.325 --> 0:16:38.165 if they told the police what he was involved with, 0:16:38.205 --> 0:16:42.085 he would go to jail. And so they were debating, 0:16:42.205 --> 0:16:45.245 you know, what do we do. How do we best 0:16:45.285 --> 0:16:47.445 help our son? Do we call the police? But you know, 0:16:47.485 --> 0:16:48.605 they were just scared to death. 0:16:49.645 --> 0:16:52.485 Then a few days after Jared went missing, one of 0:16:52.485 --> 0:16:56.005 his friends, a guy named Mitchell Johnson, told Jared's family 0:16:56.045 --> 0:17:00.325 that he saw Jared's car at the Walmart supercenter. Jared's 0:17:00.325 --> 0:17:03.925 family had no idea that his car was sitting abandoned 0:17:03.925 --> 0:17:06.405 at the Walmart supercenter and that it had been there 0:17:06.445 --> 0:17:10.365 for days. Mitchell said that when he saw the car, 0:17:10.485 --> 0:17:13.285 he pulled up and waited twenty or thirty minutes to 0:17:13.285 --> 0:17:15.365 see if Jared would come out, but he said when 0:17:15.445 --> 0:17:18.725 Jared didn't come out, Mitchell left the parking lot. 0:17:19.085 --> 0:17:21.125 On October fifth, another. 0:17:20.805 --> 0:17:23.445 Friend of Jared's, a guy named Jason, came to the 0:17:23.445 --> 0:17:28.045 family home. Now Jason knew Jared from high school. Jared 0:17:28.085 --> 0:17:30.285 had started going to Sarcey High in the eighth grade, 0:17:30.725 --> 0:17:34.245 so he and Jason became friends. They also hung out 0:17:34.285 --> 0:17:38.125 with another guy named Greg. According to the case file, 0:17:38.165 --> 0:17:41.245 in the fall of nineteen ninety four, Jason was going 0:17:41.245 --> 0:17:44.925 to college in Jonesborough. He lived with he and Jason's 0:17:44.965 --> 0:17:47.845 mutual friend Greg, and during that time period they all 0:17:47.925 --> 0:17:50.405 hung out together. Jared would come over to their house 0:17:50.405 --> 0:17:53.365 and he would hang out with Jason and Greg pretty regularly. 0:17:54.565 --> 0:17:57.845 Jared shared with Jason the fact that he was scared 0:17:57.885 --> 0:18:01.165 of Brandon Wheeler and Rob Webb. He said he owed 0:18:01.205 --> 0:18:04.005 a lot of money to Brandon Wheeler. Now I have 0:18:04.125 --> 0:18:06.885 not seen the entire case file because technically this is 0:18:06.885 --> 0:18:11.125 still an open case. However, Jared's sister Shannon, was able 0:18:11.165 --> 0:18:14.205 to get some of the investigator's notes and she has 0:18:14.285 --> 0:18:17.925 shared some of those with me. So those are invaluable 0:18:17.925 --> 0:18:20.365 because I can see some of the steps that police 0:18:20.405 --> 0:18:23.045 took and how frustrated some of the investigators were when 0:18:23.045 --> 0:18:26.285 they were trying to make progress on this case. The 0:18:26.365 --> 0:18:29.525 investigators at the time talked to some of Jared's friends, 0:18:29.525 --> 0:18:33.565 and what they figured out was that Jared was telling 0:18:33.605 --> 0:18:37.365 people Brandon Wheeler gave him a pretty large quantity of meth, 0:18:37.525 --> 0:18:41.245 maybe around a kiloh to sell. But something went wrong 0:18:41.365 --> 0:18:44.405 with this drug deal. Either the sale got messed up 0:18:44.565 --> 0:18:47.885 or Jared did some of his own supply. Whatever the cause, 0:18:48.245 --> 0:18:51.285 the end result was that Jared owed Brandon Wheeler around 0:18:51.285 --> 0:18:55.245 seventy five hundred or eight thousand dollars and Jared couldn't 0:18:55.245 --> 0:18:59.885 pay it back. Jason said that Jared owed him money too. 0:19:00.565 --> 0:19:02.885 He said that he had given Jared around six hundred 0:19:02.925 --> 0:19:05.205 dollars so that Jared could score some drugs a few 0:19:05.205 --> 0:19:10.365 weeks earlier, but right before Jared went missing, Jason said 0:19:10.565 --> 0:19:13.805 he needed his money back. So this is interesting because 0:19:13.845 --> 0:19:16.685 we have yet another person who potentially was in a 0:19:16.725 --> 0:19:19.245 monetary dispute with the victim at around the time he 0:19:19.285 --> 0:19:24.445 went missing. Jason told Shannon, Jared's sister, that he started 0:19:24.445 --> 0:19:27.125 calling Jared and asking him for his money back. He 0:19:27.165 --> 0:19:31.445 said Jared didn't respond, and there was another crucial fact here, 0:19:31.565 --> 0:19:35.845 which is that when Jared borrowed that money from Jason, 0:19:36.565 --> 0:19:39.525 Jared gave Jason his gun as collateral and Jason was 0:19:39.525 --> 0:19:43.045 supposed to hold the gun for him. After weeks of 0:19:43.125 --> 0:19:46.445 not hearing back from Jared, Jason, who was still holding 0:19:46.525 --> 0:19:49.085 Jared's gun, said he got a call out of the 0:19:49.125 --> 0:19:54.045 blue on September thirtieth, the night Jared went missing. Jason 0:19:54.365 --> 0:19:57.445 was the friend who Jared met at the Sarce country Club. 0:19:59.445 --> 0:20:02.445 Jason later told police that he went to meet Jared 0:20:02.485 --> 0:20:05.085 at the country club because he was concerned about his friend, 0:20:05.125 --> 0:20:08.485 but also so understandably, he said he wanted to get 0:20:08.485 --> 0:20:11.645 his money back. At first, it seems like he thought 0:20:11.765 --> 0:20:14.205 Jared had called him because he wanted to return the money. 0:20:15.085 --> 0:20:18.445 They arranged to meet at the country club on September thirtieth, 0:20:18.645 --> 0:20:22.725 somewhere between around nine and ten thirty pm, but Jason 0:20:22.805 --> 0:20:26.445 told police that after he showed up, Jared admitted he 0:20:26.525 --> 0:20:29.605 didn't have his money, but he did tell Jason he 0:20:29.685 --> 0:20:33.765 needed his gun back. Jason said Jared was scared that night. 0:20:34.525 --> 0:20:36.525 He said Jared told him he was going to meet 0:20:36.525 --> 0:20:39.805 Brandon Wheeler. He knew that he owed Brandon money and 0:20:39.845 --> 0:20:43.365 he hoped to straighten situation out, but Jared told him 0:20:43.405 --> 0:20:47.005 he wanted that gun for protection, so Jason told police 0:20:47.045 --> 0:20:49.405 that he agreed to that. He said that he gave 0:20:49.485 --> 0:20:53.165 Jared's gun back to him and kept Jared's wallet as collateral. 0:20:54.085 --> 0:20:56.725 Jason said he continued to reach out to Jared over 0:20:56.765 --> 0:21:00.885 the next few days. Jason explained to Shannon that Jared 0:21:00.965 --> 0:21:03.165 told him that if he didn't have his money back 0:21:03.205 --> 0:21:05.925 in a certain amount of time, that he Jay could 0:21:05.925 --> 0:21:07.765 go to Jared's parents and ask them for the money. 0:21:08.325 --> 0:21:10.645 So he said, on October fifth, that's what he did. 0:21:11.045 --> 0:21:14.365 He showed up at Jared's family home and went in 0:21:14.405 --> 0:21:16.405 to talk to his parents about getting that money back. 0:21:17.125 --> 0:21:20.125 That same day was when Jared's father got the tip 0:21:20.285 --> 0:21:24.885 about Jared's car being the Walmart parking lot, so Jared's 0:21:24.925 --> 0:21:28.005 father drove over there to Walmart, and that's when he 0:21:28.045 --> 0:21:31.725 found Jared's car. The door was unlocked and there was 0:21:31.805 --> 0:21:35.205 no sign of foul play, but Shannon said her family 0:21:35.285 --> 0:21:38.525 knew immediately Jared never would have left his car just 0:21:38.685 --> 0:21:42.925 unlocked like that and walked away from it voluntarily. Over 0:21:42.965 --> 0:21:45.165 the next few days, Shannon said she and her family 0:21:45.205 --> 0:21:48.205 looked everywhere for Jared. They called all his friends, they 0:21:48.245 --> 0:21:51.045 called the Arkansas State Police, and they called the FBI. 0:21:51.685 --> 0:21:53.325 It turned out they had a relative who was in 0:21:53.325 --> 0:21:57.325 the Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA. He told them the 0:21:57.365 --> 0:22:00.285 DEA authorities would not be looking very hard at a 0:22:00.285 --> 0:22:03.805 twenty year old who was a legal adult and had 0:22:03.845 --> 0:22:08.605 the right to voluntarily disappear. And unspoken in all this 0:22:09.005 --> 0:22:12.165 is the fact that because Jared was known to have 0:22:12.205 --> 0:22:15.365 a drug habit, that also played a role in the 0:22:15.405 --> 0:22:18.325 authority's decision not to look for him as hard as 0:22:18.325 --> 0:22:22.125 they would perhaps some others. Shannon described, while Jared sometimes 0:22:22.125 --> 0:22:24.005 would drop out a site for a couple days, he 0:22:24.045 --> 0:22:28.525 would never sever contact with his entire family. Jared also 0:22:28.645 --> 0:22:30.965 took pride in his car, so it made no sense 0:22:31.005 --> 0:22:34.005 the car would be left there abandoned like that. 0:22:34.005 --> 0:22:36.645 That is not like him. He did not walk away 0:22:36.685 --> 0:22:39.525 from that car, didn't leave it there like that. But 0:22:39.605 --> 0:22:42.805 of course that's when the police were like, whatever, you know, 0:22:42.845 --> 0:22:46.005 they really didn't. That's when the non investigation started. 0:22:47.205 --> 0:22:50.805 Just hearing this set of circumstances in which Jared's car 0:22:50.925 --> 0:22:54.325 was found. My instinct as an investigator is that someone 0:22:54.685 --> 0:22:58.125 probably staged this crime scene, that someone else drove the 0:22:58.125 --> 0:23:01.645 car there. Otherwise, why would Jared's keys be left there 0:23:01.805 --> 0:23:05.085 under the seat of the car. Do you think the 0:23:05.125 --> 0:23:07.525