WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Jenna Neilsen 0:00:46.480 --> 0:00:48.000 School of Humans. 0:00:49.240 --> 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 0:00:56.240 --> 0:01:00.120 forward and present evidence that could potentially be further investigated 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.760 by law enforcement. While we value insights from family and 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:07.720 community members, their statements should not be considered evidence and 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:11.520 point to the challenges of verifying facts inherent in cold cases. 0:01:12.320 --> 0:01:15.800 We remind listeners that everyone has presumed innocent until proven 0:01:15.800 --> 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 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.600 not been convicted of a crime is guilty of any wrongdoing. 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:27.120 Thanks for listening. 0:01:31.320 --> 0:01:33.800 At around four point thirty in the morning on Thursday 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:37.640 June fourteenth, two thousand and seven, a caller in Raleigh, 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.520 North Carolina, called nine to one one to report a 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:43.520 suspicious vehicle behind the America King Food Mart at s 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:47.440 seventeen oh nine Lake Wheeler Road, across from the North 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:51.320 Carolina State Farmers Market. The car was a gray Honda 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.440 Civic and two of the car's doors were open. The 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.720 light was on inside the vehicle, and there were newspapers 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:01.520 scattered on the ground around the car. The caller, who 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:05.960 was reportedly a newspaper delivery driver. Told the dispatcher that 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.880 he wasn't sure if this was an emergency, but he 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:12.400 said something looked wrong. He reported that the gray Honda 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.440 Civic that he said was normally driven by another newspaper carrier, 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.040 was sitting in that deserted lot with. 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:19.480 The light on. 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:26.200 Yeah, I don't know itally emergency. In that book there 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:28.800 was a car setting in front of another news of 0:02:28.920 --> 0:02:32.200 the bugs and I killed as normally as a newspaper 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:35.240 delivery gas car. Also about the lights. Owner inside the 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.360 car the papers of land across the ground beside his car. 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:40.520 So I wrote around the builder the TV's like out 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:41.320 try to build. 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:43.400 An eating rolt may about to build him. 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.520 When Carty had a college empty, it was funny because 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:48.520 of that you're late. But on the side of the 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.360 car the college put up in front of his in 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:56.000 front of his paper book. Yeah, lady had so I'm 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.600 still doing my paper up. Had a car as Utah 0:02:58.600 --> 0:02:59.440 all light and face on. 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:04.200 The ship colors. 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:06.680 Great, We'll get somebody go out there and check on them. 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:07.440 Okay, all right. 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:10.920 Police came to the scene to check out the car, 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:14.560 and when an officer walked behind the building, he found 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:18.120 a body. The victim was twenty two year old Jennifer 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:23.080 Kathleen Nielsen, who everyone knew as Jenna. She lived in 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.520 fu q Verena south of Raleigh, with her husband Tim 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:31.200 and their two little boys. Skyler was three, Cayden was 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.040 eleven months old, and Jenna was eight and a half 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.040 months pregnant with her third child, a son they had 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.760 planned to name Ethan. Ethan was due in early July. 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:46.200 Jenna was covered in blood and had been stabbed multiple times. 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:51.240 Her father, Kevin Blaine, later remembered answering the phone that night, 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:54.040 thinking he would get the news that his daughter had 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.760 gone into labor. Instead, he got the news that Jenna 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.800 and her unborn child were dead behind a gas station. 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:06.760 I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past eight years of making 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:10.040 my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned that there's 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.560 no such thing as a small town where murder never happens. 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:16.840 I have received hundreds of messages from people all around 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.040 the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:24.120 affected them, their families, and their communities. If you have 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:26.160 a case she'd like me and my team to look into, 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:28.560 you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.840 Murder line at six seven eight seven four four six' 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:34.960 one four or. Five that's six seven eight seven four 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.480 four six' one, four five or you can send us 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.880 a Message on Instagram at Hell. And gonepod This Is 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:43.600 Helen Gone. 0:04:43.920 --> 0:05:58.920 Murder line. 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.440 To help earn money for her, Growing family jenna had 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:38.560 taken an overnight JOB Restocking usa today. Newspaper boxes her 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:42.200 family later explained that she was trying to contribute financially 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.800 while arranging her schedule around. Her children, Jenna's, husband tim 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:50.840 worked a day job at a revolving. Door manufacturer jenna 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.520 would normally leave every day at around midnight Work while 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.480 tim and her boys, were asleep and normally be back 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:01.160 home early in. The morning her newspaper route covered Parts 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.120 of Garner And south raleigh and Included The Americ King 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.080 food mart at seventeen Oh Nine Lake wheeler Road. In 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:11.240 raleigh according to media reports at, the Time The Americ 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.600 King food mart was an early Stop on. Jenna's route 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.560 some reports said the, first stop some said the second. 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:22.040 Or third at approximately four, thirty Am the raleigh police 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.480 officer who had responded to the call about, the vehicle 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:29.200 walked around, the building and According, to wral He found. 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:34.480 Jenna's Body so jenna was attacked soon after she started 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:38.080 her shift. That night is there anything that the, Crime 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:39.680 scene jenna's body in. 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:41.160 The condition of her car can. 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:45.240 Tell us jenna was lying, faced down she was, partially 0:06:45.280 --> 0:06:48.160 clothed there was a large amount of blood at, the 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.760 scene and her body had been found, pretty quickly so 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.960 investigators were able to narrow down the time of her 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:59.280 murder to a pretty short window. Of time they believed 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.320 she had probably been attacked sometime around. 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.800 Three or four o'clock. That morning but who would want To? 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:08.360 Hurt jenna and why was this someone who knew her 0:07:08.840 --> 0:07:13.240 or a. Random stranger jenna Was Born jenna Blaine on, 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.600 march sixth to nineteen eighty Five, In, glendale California To 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:19.960 kevin Blaine And. Lourenne blane she had two brothers and. 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:24.640 A sister her obituary described a young woman who, loved performing, playing, 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:28.920 piano dancing. And singing at, some point the family Relocated. 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:33.760 To utah jenna's family remembered her, as outgoing someone who was, 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:38.920 always smiling someone people naturally. Gravitated toward at, Some point jenna's, 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.440 parents divorced and her father, And, stepmother stacy Moved To. 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:46.360 North carolina Jenna and tim had been Living In, West, 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:50.400 geordan utah But after jenna's father and stepmother Relocated To 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.440 north Carolina in april of two thousand, And six Jenna 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:57.680 and tim. Followed them jenna's father and her husband ended 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:00.800 up taking jobs at the, same company so it seems 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:02.600 like that whole side of the family. 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:03.840 Moved together. 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:08.280 Jenna and her husband had Been In north carolina for 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:11.320 less than a Year when jenna, was Murdered so jenna 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.080 didn't really have friends or other family in, the area 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.760 and From what jenna's family, told investigators the Center of 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:20.760 jenna's life was her own, young family Her, husband tim 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:24.840 and their. Two kids the overnight newspaper job was one 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.840 relative told a local news channel So that jenna could 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.240 eventually be home full time with her, three kids and 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.160 according to, Her Father, kevin blaine and Her, Husband tim 0:08:34.680 --> 0:08:37.800 jenna actually liked going to work at night and coming 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.280 home at the crack. Of dawn maybe it was something 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:44.080 about having those quiet overnight hours. To herself she would 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:46.960 get up, around midnight work her route and normally be 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:48.920 back home in time to spend the day with. The 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:53.520 boys so since this murder Happened on jenna's, regular route 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:57.640 a natural question for investigators was was this a random 0:08:57.680 --> 0:09:02.160 attack or did someone know? Her routine was Someone targeting 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.880 jenna and? Stalking her or did somebody just see a 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:07.160 young woman alone in a parking lot at three or 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:11.480 four o'clock in the morning and act investigators were taking 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:15.080 a closer look at the area Around The American. Food 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.840 mart there were other businesses on, that property including an. 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:22.640 Adjoining subway this was not a remote. Country road it 0:09:22.680 --> 0:09:25.960 was a, commercial area but in the pre dawn hours it, 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.120 was deserted And once jenna got out of her car 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:31.840 holding the newspapers in her hands so that she could 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:36.240 restock the, newspaper boxes she would have. Been vulnerable police 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.800 immediately started looking around the, surrounding area and they found 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.720 that there were several homeless camps along the railroad tracks behind. 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:49.480 The store they began trying to retrieve, surveillance videos but 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:53.040 according to, news reports the surveillance cameras at the food 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:57.680 mart itself, were broken but very quickly they did find 0:09:57.720 --> 0:09:59.440 at least one person that they wanted. 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.120 To identify that lead came from. 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:06.280 A witness a witness described someone in his late teens or, 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:10.200 early twenties a man approximately five foot three and around 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.480 one hundred and, twenty pounds with longer black hair pulled 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:17.960 back into a. Long ponytail this person was wearing a 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.440 dark sleeveless shirt and baggy, denim shorts and they were 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.880 reportedly seen near the convenience store in the pre. Dawn 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:30.320 hours police produced a composite sketch of the person the. 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:35.680 Witness Described now early in, the investigation reports said police 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:39.400 thought the man might. Be hispanic that would, Later change 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:42.920 But in june of two thousand, And seven raleigh police 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.680 desperately won to know who this. Man was they weren't 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.960 publicly Calling him. Jenna's killer they, Were, saying hey this 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:52.840 is a person who witnesses saw near. The scene we 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:56.600 want to talk to. This person and just when investigators 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:58.480 were trying to put a name to the face in, 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:00.440 that sketch they got another. 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:02.640 Strange lead a. Phone call. 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:18.200 At about one thirty Am, On friday, june fifteenth roughly 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:21.400 a Day after jenna was, found dead someone called nine. 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:26.120 One one according To a raleigh, police spokesperson the caller 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.600 Was a spanish, speaking man he was using a payphone 0:11:29.680 --> 0:11:32.800 near the Intersection of South saunder Street And West south Street. 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:36.400 And raleigh this was near the, crime scene and according, 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.840 to police he said that he had information Related to. 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:44.200 Jenna's death then he quickly, hung up went to the 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:46.920 phone and checked the booth for fingerprints and other. Possible 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:50.720 evidence but since the case file hasn't been released due 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.960 to this being an, active investigation we don't know whether 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.720 or not any evidence was actually recovered from the phone 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:00.920 booth or exactly what this unknown caller's conversation was like, 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.960 With police and we don't know whether there was any 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:08.760 connection Between the spanish speaking caller and the man who 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:10.480 police wanted to identify from the. 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:12.520 Composite sketch those are two. 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:15.960 Separate leads they may have had absolutely nothing to do with, 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:21.080 each other but both appeared almost immediately after. The murder 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.640 so it does seem, as though reading through, online comments 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:27.720 that the two leads may have gotten conflated in some. 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.840 People's minds the description Of the hispanic man from the 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:34.320 anonymous caller and the fact that some people believed that 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.080 the composite sketch looked like it may have Been a. 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:41.040 Hispanic man to, be clear police have never said that 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:46.360 the composite sketch Person. Was hispanic police began receiving tips 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:49.840 after the sketch, Was released then another piece of evidence. 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:53.040 Turned up police were looking for the, murder weapon but 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:55.840 they didn't find a knife or any other sharp object 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:59.920 during their original search Behind The. America king someone else found. 0:12:59.920 --> 0:13:04.800 It First on, JUNE nineteenth wral reported that a man 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:07.840 had found a bloody knife less than half a mile 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.320 From where jenna's body had. Been discovered according to sources 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.800 who SPOKE, to wrl the man was Walking Along Lake 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:18.120 wheeler road on The day jenna was killed when he found, 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.400 the knife but rather than turning, it in the man 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:25.080 apparently panicked and threw the knife over. The fence the 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.760 man was a resident Of The healing Place Of, wake 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.840 county a program that served unhoused people with substance. Abuse, 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.560 problems later he went to the police and. 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:35.000 Told them what. 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:39.760 Had happened, after that a woman you worked nearby reportedly 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.080 helped investigators retrieve the knife from the fence property where 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:46.680 it had. Been thrown at, This point raleigh police would 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.960 not publicly confirm that the knife was Connected to. Jenna's 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:53.400 homicide they weren't even publicly confirming her cause of. Death 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:57.240 yet but a, month Later when jenna's autopsy, WAS released 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:02.680 wril reported that investigators had recovered the bloody knife near the. 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:05.560 Crime scene police still hadn't said whether. 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:05.920 It was the actual. 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:09.320 Murder weapon as far as the Public record i've, reviewed 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:12.280 goes they. Still haven't and that is a. Huge question 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:15.880 was the blood that the man living at the homeless 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:19.520 encampment told Them about? Jenna's Blood was jenna's blood on? 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:23.400 That knife was ANYBODY else's dna? On it did testing 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:26.840 confirm that that was the? Murder weapon or was it 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:29.480 simply a bloody knife that happened to turn up near 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:33.600 the crime scene on the. Same day another important piece 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:35.920 of the puzzle Came on, july nineteenth two thousand, and 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:41.160 seven when the autopsy findings. Became public they Confirmed that 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.360 jenna was stabbed to death and had suffered a single. 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:47.680 Fatal wound one stab wound to the left side of. 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:52.640 Her neck according to the autopsy findings REPORTED, by wral 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.480 the wound was approximately one. Inch wide the blade traveled 0:14:56.480 --> 0:15:00.240 about three point seven Inches into, jenna's neck and along 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.760 that path it struck both her carotid artery and her internal, 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:06.800 jugular vein which meant she would have bled to death. 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:11.720 Fairly quickly but the fatal stab Wound wasn't jenna's. Only 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:15.640 injury jenna had. Other abrasions she had cuts on, both 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.880 elbows and an abrasion on her right knee and another 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.200 one on her. Left shin the medical examiner said those 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:25.800 injuries could have Resulted from jenna falling or possibly from. 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:30.440 Being dragged they also found, something else a single hair 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.880 on the Back of jenna's. Right hand the released information 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.680 doesn't say whether the hair Belonged to jenna or to. 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:41.640 Someone else her pants and underwear had been. Pulled down because, 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.920 of that investigators collected out thedence for a, rape kit 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.120 but according to the, autopsy report there was no documented 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.840 Evidence that jenna had been raped or. Sexually assaulted that 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:57.120 finding Reportedly brought jenna's father some measure, of Relief because 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.320 kevin said he had feared that his daughter had been. 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:01.560 Sexually assaulted before. 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:06.640 She died so was sexual assault the motive and, if 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.960 so why did the offender stop the assault where? They 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:14.120 interrupted did someone? See something and, if so is that 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:20.080 person still? Out there police did consider this possibility another 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:24.720 possibility popped into. MY mind i wondered if perhaps Someone 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:28.200 attacked jenna and planned to sexually, assault her but then 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.960 saw she was pregnant. And stopped if they approached her 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:33.920 from behind as she was getting out of, the car 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:36.760 maybe they weren't able to see that she was pregnant. 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.840 Right away wral reported that sources close to, the Case 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:45.200 not raleigh police, speaking officially believe that it was possible 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.840 somebody had attempted to Sexually assault jenna and that she 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:50.200 was fatally wounded when. 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.400 She resisted there are. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.880 Other possibilities, for example the clothing could have been pulled 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:58.200 down to stage the murder so that it appeared to 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:01.520 be a, sexual assault but given the fact that her 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:05.720 pants were, pulled down an interrupted sexual assault is an, 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:10.840 obvious Possibility and jenna wasn't the only. Victim here the 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.920 autopsy also documented the injuries to her, Unborn, baby ethan 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.200 and this is one of the places where the early 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.240 Description of jenna as simply eight months pregnant or eight 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.640 and a half months pregnant doesn't really capture the reality 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:28.920 of how horrific this. Attack was according to, the autopsy 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:32.280 she was further along Than that she was estimated at 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:36.520 approximately thirty eight to forty. Weeks gestation that's a full. 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:40.560 Term baby ethan weighed about six point three, Five pounds 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:44.240 he was almost twenty, inches long and he was just described. 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:47.920 As healthy So when jenna was Killed on, June fourteenth 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:52.400 Jenna and tim were only weeks away from bringing their third. Son, 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:58.760 Home instead Jenna and ethan were buried Together in utah 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:02.640 after laying her. To rest from, The beginning jenna's family 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:04.960 started doing almost everything they could think of to keep 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:10.040 the CASE Visible. Usa today jenna's employer ran advertisements asking. 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:15.240 For information the murder received. National coverage the family canvass 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.960 the neighborhood with the. Composite sketch they had, candlelight vigils they. 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:21.800 Printed flyers they tried to get the story out in 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.680 public as much as. They could jenna's family also created 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:29.960 a Website called Justice for Jenna, dot org and they 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:35.200 appeared on national television Shows Like America's, Most Wanted The Steve, wilco. 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:36.720 Show And nancy Grace featured. 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:40.720 Jenna's case her family did a ton of, media outreach 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:43.640 especially in the years between two thousand, and seven and 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:47.640 the family announced rewards in return for information that would 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:51.160 help Lead to jenna's killer first ten. Thousand dollars later 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:55.000 that was up to Fifteen and, Jenna's Father, kevin blaine 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:58.440 became one of the most persistent public voices in. The 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:03.080 case but while the family worked the, media side detectives 0:19:03.120 --> 0:19:06.400 were collecting a lot of, physical evidence and we know 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:09.880 that because some of the search warrants eventually. Became Public 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:14.040 in august of two thousand, AND seven wril reported on 0:19:14.120 --> 0:19:18.040 recently released search warrants Connected to. Jenna's murder according to those, 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:22.520 warrant records investigators had spent about twelve hours Processing The 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.640 america king and the subway next to it and. Five 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:29.200 vehicles they seized thirty nine items of evidence from the. 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:33.320 Crime scene the Vehicles Included Jenna's, honda civic but also, 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:37.200 other cars A Burgundy, chevrolet silverado and A Green, ford 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:42.080 explorer but the reporting doesn't identify who those vehicles belonged 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:45.640 to or why they. Were chosen the thirty nine items 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:49.560 police collected included at least twelve, blood samples ten, cigarette 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:52.360 buds a strand, of hair a, broken earring a flip, 0:19:52.360 --> 0:19:55.640 flop shoe and a piece of broken red vehicle. Light 0:19:55.720 --> 0:20:01.440 lens the warrants indicated that investigators were looking for things including, HAIR, 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:06.640 fibers dna and, possible weapons which might indicate that they 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:10.960 had not definitively confirmed that that knife that was found 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:14.080 by the person living in the shelter was the. Murder weapon, 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.400 but again it's just not clear from the search warrants 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:20.600 what was relevant and what may have belonged to the 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.280 killer or what was just random convenience. 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:24.760 Store debris we just. 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.080 Don't know there was another round of search warrants in 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:30.360 the fall of two thousand, and seven and these. Were 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:35.320 different investigators went closer. To home they Went into Jenna 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:40.280 and tim's. Email accounts ACCORDING to wral Warrants dated September 0:20:40.360 --> 0:20:44.080 seventeenth september. Twenty First in october FIFTH sought ac Access 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:46.920 to Hotmail and yahoo accounts Shared by Jenna, and tim 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:48.120 along with their. 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:50.600 Individual accounts it. 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:54.600 Appeared as though investigators were exploring another possibility and wanted 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.160 to know whether they were on the, right Track whether 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:00.440 jenna might have known. Her killer they wanted to figure 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:03.160 out if someone had contacted her or maybe, threatened her 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:06.160 or if there was a relationship they didn't. Know, about 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:08.960 now this seemed like a departure from what they had 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:13.160 said earlier that this was a stranger. Homicide situation but 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:16.480 when those warrants became Public in october of two thousand, 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:20.000 and seven police said they had no indication that anyone 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:24.480 Close to jenna was, a suspect and they continued investigating 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:28.760 the case as a. Stranger, homicide sadly as we've discussed 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:32.080 before on, this podcast it is not uncommon for women 0:21:32.120 --> 0:21:35.360 to be murdered. During, pregnancy statistically it is one of 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:38.840 the most dangerous times, for women and again just looking at, 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:42.280 the numbers the most obvious place for investigators to start 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:44.920 when a young pregnant woman is murd is close. To 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.760 home women are far more likely to be killed by 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:51.480 someone they know than by, a stranger and with pregnancy, 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:55.760 in particular intimate partner violence accounts for a substantial share 0:21:55.800 --> 0:22:00.000 of homicides during pregnancy and the year, after Birth and 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:03.800 jenna's murder happened during a Period Where north carolina had seen, 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:10.000 several horrific highly publicized murders of. Pregnant women seven, months 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:13.120 earlier twenty nine Year Old michelle young had been found 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:17.000 beaten to death Inside Her wake. County home michelle was 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:20.040 about five, months pregnant and her two year old daughter 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:23.800 was found alive in. The house, Her Husband, jason young 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:27.560 was eventually convicted of her murder after two highly. Publicized 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:32.640 trials six Months after, jenna's murder Pregnant Marine maria lauterbach 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:38.280 Disappeared From campbell june after a highly. Publicized trial the 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:41.040 man she had accused of sexually, assaulting her who, was 0:22:41.120 --> 0:22:44.760 married would eventually be convicted of killing her and burying 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:49.440 her in. His backyard these other two cases that received 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:53.400 a lot of media coverage involved women who had been 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:57.640 killed by men they were romantically, involved With but jenna's case. 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:02.000 Was different raleigh police said they Had investigated jenna's family 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:04.480 and the people closest, to her and they kept coming 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:07.320 back to a very different theory that the person Who 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:08.480 killed jenna was. 0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:09.560 A stranger. 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:22.600 Police did seem to have one, promising lead the. Composite 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:26.760 sketch at, the beginning that sketch was. Everywhere again early 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:30.080 reportings said police thought the man might, Be hispanic but 0:23:30.200 --> 0:23:33.480 two years later something happened to the way police viewed, 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:36.200 that sketch and police had changed the way they talked 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:39.160 about the person in It because by two thousand, and 0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:43.120 nine detectives were warning people that the composite sketch itself 0:23:43.360 --> 0:23:47.600 could be hurting. The investigation, side note a lot of 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:51.200 people commenting on online threads had brought up the possibility 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:55.200 that the composite sketch could have been a woman because 0:23:55.360 --> 0:24:00.520 of the slight build and. The ponytail police have never 0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:04.360 confirmed that or said anything publicly, about it but by 0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:07.320 two thousand, And Nine Lieutenant karen rigsby Of The Raleigh 0:24:07.320 --> 0:24:11.160 Police Department's Major crimes division said investigators had. 0:24:11.080 --> 0:24:12.320 Actually backed away from the. 0:24:12.360 --> 0:24:16.080 Composite image police said they were concerned the drawing might 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:19.080 have narrowed the information that was. Coming in they said 0:24:19.160 --> 0:24:22.840 the sketch might even have, been misleading and detectives specifically 0:24:22.840 --> 0:24:27.120 said the person's ethnicity was. Not known they urged people 0:24:27.200 --> 0:24:31.400 not to make assumptions from. The description this also raises 0:24:31.480 --> 0:24:35.120 questions about the, original sighting like was this composite sketch 0:24:35.120 --> 0:24:38.640 a reliable lead, or not how many witnesses actually saw 0:24:38.640 --> 0:24:41.320 this person and what was going on when they did see. 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:44.000 This person was this just a random guy who was 0:24:44.040 --> 0:24:46.760 around the business or was there anyone who actually saw 0:24:46.800 --> 0:24:51.280 this person Interact. With jenna jenna's father later said there 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:55.000 were eyewitnesses plural who had seen the person, of interest, 0:24:55.360 --> 0:24:57.720 but publicly we still don't have the complete. 0:24:57.720 --> 0:24:59.120 Witness account and. 0:24:59.080 --> 0:25:02.560 The interesting, thing is even though police made that statement 0:25:02.600 --> 0:25:04.680 in two thousand, and nine and even though they seemed 0:25:04.720 --> 0:25:08.640 to become more cautious about, this composite they didn't abandon. 0:25:08.680 --> 0:25:12.800 It entirely they still wanted information about, a short slightly 0:25:12.840 --> 0:25:15.240 built young man with black hair worn in. 0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:16.480 A ponytail. 0:25:17.520 --> 0:25:18.160