WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Jarrod Green Part 2 0:00:08.285 --> 0:00:10.845 School of Humans. 0:00:11.605 --> 0:00:14.605 On the last episode of Helen Gone Murder Line, I 0:00:14.685 --> 0:00:17.765 discussed the case of Jared Green, a twenty year old 0:00:17.765 --> 0:00:22.085 young man who went missing from Sarcy, Arkansas, on September thirtieth, 0:00:22.205 --> 0:00:26.485 nineteen ninety four. We talked to Jared's sister, Shannon, who's 0:00:26.525 --> 0:00:29.165 been fighting to get justice for her brother for almost 0:00:29.165 --> 0:00:32.885 thirty years. She told me the pain that she and 0:00:32.925 --> 0:00:35.645 her parents had gone through when they discovered that Jared 0:00:35.685 --> 0:00:38.765 had developed a drug habit, and as he began to 0:00:38.805 --> 0:00:43.165 descend further and further into methamphetamine addiction, he started hanging 0:00:43.165 --> 0:00:45.725 out more and more with Brandon Wheeler and Robert Webb, 0:00:46.445 --> 0:00:50.085 two guys he knew from high school. According to police, 0:00:50.125 --> 0:00:53.245 Brandon and Robert were involved in drug dealing. They'd given 0:00:53.325 --> 0:00:56.045 Jared a large quantity of meth Somehow, he ended up 0:00:56.125 --> 0:00:59.445 owing Brandon and Robert a lot of money, somewhere between 0:00:59.485 --> 0:01:03.925 seventy five hundred and eight thousand dollars. On September thirtieth, 0:01:04.485 --> 0:01:07.365 Jared left home and met a friend at the Sarcey 0:01:07.405 --> 0:01:11.525 Country Club. This friend told police that Jared got a 0:01:11.605 --> 0:01:13.445 gun back from him and that he was scared that 0:01:13.565 --> 0:01:16.005 night that he planned to meet with Brandon Wheeler and 0:01:16.045 --> 0:01:20.445 smooth things over regarding this debt. After that night, Jared 0:01:20.485 --> 0:01:24.565 Green disappeared. His abandoned car was found a few days 0:01:24.645 --> 0:01:28.325 later at a Walmart supercenter. The keys were underneath the 0:01:28.365 --> 0:01:32.965 front seat, the windows were rolled down. Jared Green's family 0:01:33.045 --> 0:01:36.925 has never seen him since that day. It's been almost 0:01:36.925 --> 0:01:43.125 thirty years, and Jared Green's family wants answers and justice. 0:01:43.245 --> 0:01:46.725 I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making 0:01:46.725 --> 0:01:49.805 my true crime podcast, Telling Gone, I've learned that there 0:01:49.885 --> 0:01:52.405 is no such thing as a small town where murder 0:01:52.485 --> 0:01:56.405 never happens. I have received hundreds of messages from people 0:01:56.485 --> 0:01:59.165 all around the country asking for help with an unsolved 0:01:59.245 --> 0:02:03.565 murder that's affected them, their families, and their communities. If 0:02:03.605 --> 0:02:05.925 you have a case you'd like me and team to 0:02:05.925 --> 0:02:08.205 look into, you can reach out to us at our 0:02:08.205 --> 0:02:11.485 Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven four 0:02:11.565 --> 0:02:15.765 four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven 0:02:15.805 --> 0:03:05.245 four four, six one four or five. Just a few 0:03:05.285 --> 0:03:08.965 weeks after Jared Green went missing, police find out the 0:03:09.005 --> 0:03:12.405 people he allegedly owed money to, Brandon Wheeler and Robert Webb, 0:03:12.525 --> 0:03:15.565 have left town and that their rental house is caught 0:03:15.565 --> 0:03:19.725 on fire. Fortunately the fire did not burn down the 0:03:19.845 --> 0:03:23.445 entire house, but police later said that it looked like 0:03:23.485 --> 0:03:27.765 someone poured accelerant in the garage. Clearly this seemed like arson, 0:03:28.205 --> 0:03:32.165 but no charges were ever filed. Now police were trying 0:03:32.205 --> 0:03:35.445 to track down Brandon Wheeler and Robert Webb, they talked 0:03:35.485 --> 0:03:38.845 to another neighbor, a woman named Shelby Watson, who lived 0:03:38.845 --> 0:03:41.125 next door to the house Brandon and Robert had been renting. 0:03:42.725 --> 0:03:45.205 Shelby said she was in her late teens at the time. 0:03:45.285 --> 0:03:47.965 She lived with her parents, and she started hanging out 0:03:48.085 --> 0:03:52.565 at the guy's residence in August. Not surprisingly, because these 0:03:52.605 --> 0:03:54.965 guys always had money and drugs, it seemed to have 0:03:55.005 --> 0:03:58.645 become kind of a neighborhood party house. While she was 0:03:58.685 --> 0:04:01.405 hanging out there, Shelby said she met a guy who 0:04:01.445 --> 0:04:06.405 called himself Felix, and again, figuring out who these people 0:04:06.485 --> 0:04:10.365 really are, who Felix really was, is part of the mystery. 0:04:11.165 --> 0:04:13.525 Shelby said she and Felix kind of hit it off, 0:04:14.005 --> 0:04:17.565 they became friends, but then, she said, in late September, 0:04:17.685 --> 0:04:21.645 Felix disappeared. He had told her he lived in Tennessee, 0:04:21.845 --> 0:04:25.045 so Shelby thought maybe he was moving back there. She 0:04:25.205 --> 0:04:29.885 said that she got worried. She told police that Felix 0:04:29.965 --> 0:04:34.645 owed Brandon something like ten thousand dollars, but unlike Jared Green, 0:04:34.765 --> 0:04:39.325 Felix reappeared. When she asked him about the money, he said, basically, 0:04:39.365 --> 0:04:42.125 don't worry about it, I've already paid it back. Shortly 0:04:42.165 --> 0:04:45.085 after that, though, she said, Felix disappeared for good and 0:04:45.125 --> 0:04:48.565 she never saw him after that. So what we have 0:04:48.725 --> 0:04:50.725 are a lot of people dropping in and out of 0:04:50.725 --> 0:04:54.125 that house, a lot of people who potentially owe Brandon 0:04:54.205 --> 0:04:56.885 and Robert a lot of money, and who seemed to 0:04:56.925 --> 0:05:01.685 mysteriously disappear. But police did reveal in the investigative file 0:05:01.965 --> 0:05:07.685 that they have figured out Felix's real name, Barren Stafford. Honestly, 0:05:07.725 --> 0:05:11.405 as an investigator, I know, as other listeners of this 0:05:11.485 --> 0:05:13.965 podcast know, that I've had my problems with law enforcement 0:05:14.005 --> 0:05:16.725 in the past. But the frustrating part is that the 0:05:16.805 --> 0:05:20.725 bad police officers out there really make the job of 0:05:20.765 --> 0:05:23.845 the good police officers, the ones who diligently are working 0:05:23.845 --> 0:05:27.365 for justice, so much harder. And there was an investigator 0:05:27.365 --> 0:05:31.725 in this case named Tim Webb. Looking back at his work, 0:05:31.765 --> 0:05:35.045 at least the written notes it seems like he was 0:05:35.325 --> 0:05:39.245 trying to track these people down. Tim Webb wanted to 0:05:39.285 --> 0:05:42.525 find Baron Stafford, the guy who had been known as Felix. 0:05:43.485 --> 0:05:46.005 He said that he tried all the phone numbers that 0:05:46.005 --> 0:05:49.125 he had for Baron Stafford but got no response. Then 0:05:49.165 --> 0:05:51.125 he said he talked to Baron's brother, who told them 0:05:51.165 --> 0:05:53.565 Baron was out of town and that Baron was not 0:05:53.605 --> 0:05:56.965 coming back to Sercy. So now you have Brandon and 0:05:57.045 --> 0:06:00.805 Robert who had both vanished without a trace, without police 0:06:00.845 --> 0:06:04.365 ever talking to them, and now Baron Stafford was gone too. 0:06:04.965 --> 0:06:06.965 And the reason that he wanted to find him was 0:06:06.965 --> 0:06:10.085 because Tim Webb looked through the phone records for Brandon 0:06:10.165 --> 0:06:13.085 and Robert's landline and he saw a lot of calls 0:06:13.125 --> 0:06:16.005 between their rental house in North Little Rock and Baron 0:06:16.045 --> 0:06:19.925 Stafford's house. In fact, the last call from Baron Stafford's 0:06:19.965 --> 0:06:23.565 residence to Robert and Brandon's house was on October fourth, 0:06:23.685 --> 0:06:28.045 nineteen ninety four, at ten thirty am. The calls continued 0:06:28.325 --> 0:06:32.605 between Brandon and Robert to a residence in Nashville, Tennessee. 0:06:32.725 --> 0:06:35.205 From reading through these notes, it seems like Tim Webb 0:06:35.565 --> 0:06:39.325 developed a theory that Baron Stafford had gone to Nashville 0:06:39.365 --> 0:06:42.605 and that he was staying with family there. This could 0:06:42.605 --> 0:06:46.965 have been crucial because Tennessee was also somewhere where Jared 0:06:47.005 --> 0:06:50.005 had gone in the past and mentioned to his family 0:06:50.005 --> 0:06:53.445 that he could be going. In December, Tim Webb got 0:06:53.485 --> 0:06:56.885 in touch with Metro Nashville Police. He asked for help 0:06:57.045 --> 0:07:00.525 figuring out the location of his telephone number that Brandon 0:07:00.525 --> 0:07:03.325 and Robert had been calling, and he did his due diligence. 0:07:03.365 --> 0:07:06.405 He also called the phone company. Both the phone company 0:07:06.445 --> 0:07:10.365 and Nashville Police confirmed that there was a phone number 0:07:10.765 --> 0:07:15.045 on Berwick Trail in Nashville, Tennessee. They found the woman 0:07:15.085 --> 0:07:17.685 that this phone belonged to. They identified or as a 0:07:17.765 --> 0:07:21.325 woman named Sherry Dotson. And this is just another heartbreak 0:07:21.325 --> 0:07:25.245 in my opinion, because Tim Webb asked for permission to 0:07:25.285 --> 0:07:29.965 go to Nashville. He wanted to do surveillance on that house. 0:07:30.005 --> 0:07:32.405 He wanted to see if Baron Stafford was at that 0:07:32.445 --> 0:07:37.445 residence in Nashville. But his bosses told him basically to 0:07:37.525 --> 0:07:40.965 forget it and to request that the Nashville Police Department 0:07:41.005 --> 0:07:45.445 sent someone over, and the Nashville police seemed to kind 0:07:45.445 --> 0:07:48.525 of blow Tim Webb off. I'm not blaming them. They 0:07:48.525 --> 0:07:51.365 were really busy. I know that there's investigative red tape 0:07:51.365 --> 0:07:54.165 people have to go through and administrative procedure, but it 0:07:54.245 --> 0:07:57.365 seems crazy that for the sake of a five hour 0:07:57.445 --> 0:07:59.605 drive they could not just let this officer, who clearly 0:07:59.645 --> 0:08:02.365 cared about the case, ride over to Nashville and check 0:08:02.365 --> 0:08:05.365 out this residence. This also, by the way, seems like 0:08:05.605 --> 0:08:09.125 one of these cases where if someone like me or 0:08:09.205 --> 0:08:13.325 another licensed private investigator was allowed to help police, perhaps 0:08:13.405 --> 0:08:16.845 they could fill in some of those gaps. Unfortunately, Tim 0:08:16.885 --> 0:08:21.245 Webbs seemed to hit a dead end. In the investigative notes, 0:08:21.685 --> 0:08:24.405 police stated they did figure out that Robert Webb and 0:08:24.445 --> 0:08:27.765 Brandon Wheeler were dealing large quantities of methamphetamine in Sirce 0:08:27.965 --> 0:08:31.765 and White Counties. They said that an Arkansas State Police 0:08:31.805 --> 0:08:35.605 investigator had actually tried to make a deal with Brandon 0:08:35.645 --> 0:08:38.885 and Robert to try to make them confidential informants, but 0:08:39.005 --> 0:08:42.685 it hadn't worked out. From Tim Webb's notes, it seems 0:08:42.725 --> 0:08:44.805 like he was very frustrated that he could not go 0:08:44.845 --> 0:08:47.845 to Nashville, that he got stonewalled, and that nothing happened. 0:08:49.605 --> 0:08:53.765 In nineteen ninety five, Tim Webb tried again there's a 0:08:53.805 --> 0:08:58.205 handwritten note in the case file saying, quote, on eight 0:08:58.325 --> 0:09:00.845 three ninety five, I met with Chief Thomas in reference 0:09:00.845 --> 0:09:03.885 to the information. I had to express my views on 0:09:03.965 --> 0:09:06.845 follow up investigations, which might require some time and the 0:09:06.885 --> 0:09:10.325 need for some assistance. Chief Thomas advised me I needed 0:09:10.325 --> 0:09:12.725 to get with him on the thirty first for further instructions. 0:09:13.005 --> 0:09:13.485 End quote. 0:09:14.365 --> 0:09:18.045 Then there's another memo about Chief Thomas saying there would 0:09:18.045 --> 0:09:20.485 be an investigator helping Tim Webb two days a week, 0:09:20.925 --> 0:09:23.725 and then another note saying the investigator who had been 0:09:23.725 --> 0:09:27.365 assigned was extremely busy on several other cases. So I'm 0:09:27.405 --> 0:09:29.405 going to go back to Tim Webb's notes to some 0:09:29.445 --> 0:09:32.485 of the very legitimate questions he was trying to answer 0:09:32.525 --> 0:09:36.645 about this case. One of them involves the mysterious phone calls. 0:09:37.085 --> 0:09:39.925 Remember there was a mysterious caller who called police and 0:09:39.965 --> 0:09:43.485 identified himself as Jared Green's father. Shannon said this was 0:09:43.525 --> 0:09:48.205 an impersonator that never happened. On October tenth, nineteen ninety four, 0:09:48.925 --> 0:09:54.445 Jared Green's girlfriend Es told police that someone called her workplace. 0:09:54.925 --> 0:09:58.165 They didn't identify themselves, but they told her this mystery 0:09:58.165 --> 0:10:02.845 caller that Jared was okay. So I'm wondering who was 0:10:02.925 --> 0:10:05.565 that person who was calling the police saying that they 0:10:05.565 --> 0:10:09.325 were Jared's father, who called Jared's girlfriend's workplace and said 0:10:09.325 --> 0:10:12.045 that they were Jared's friend. Was it the same person? 0:10:12.845 --> 0:10:15.325 I want to understand more about that person and why 0:10:15.325 --> 0:10:19.485 they were trying to mislead the investigation. And obviously I'm 0:10:19.485 --> 0:10:23.085 also wondering the screaming red flag. What was the story 0:10:23.205 --> 0:10:26.125 with Robert Webb and Brandon Wheeler. Why didn't the police 0:10:26.245 --> 0:10:29.685 ever talk them after they left town. It turned out 0:10:29.765 --> 0:10:32.525 the police did want to talk to Robert Webb, but 0:10:32.565 --> 0:10:37.165 they couldn't because sometime in the summer of nineteen ninety five, 0:10:37.965 --> 0:10:46.125 Robert Webb disappeared. Robert Webb went missing sometime in the 0:10:46.165 --> 0:10:49.765 summer of nineteen ninety five. Again, the timeline here is 0:10:49.805 --> 0:10:53.165 a little confusing. His mother later told police the last 0:10:53.205 --> 0:10:55.605 time she heard from her son was on July fourth, 0:10:55.805 --> 0:10:57.925 nineteen ninety five, and that no trace of him has 0:10:57.965 --> 0:11:00.965 been seen since. His family said he would never drop 0:11:01.005 --> 0:11:05.485 out of contact for that long. Robert's mother officially reported 0:11:05.685 --> 0:11:10.285 Robert missing around ten months after Jared disappeared. According to Shannon, 0:11:10.325 --> 0:11:13.405 people who know Jared had their own suspicions about what 0:11:13.525 --> 0:11:16.805 might have happened to Robert Webb. In later court papers, 0:11:16.885 --> 0:11:20.125 Robert Webb is described as Brandon Wheeler's roommate and best friend. 0:11:20.525 --> 0:11:24.565 There's an excerpt from the investigator's reports that reads, an 0:11:24.645 --> 0:11:28.725 investigator reported, during this time, the aforementioned individual, meaning Robert Webb, 0:11:29.365 --> 0:11:31.605 was bragging he was a part of the disappearance of 0:11:31.685 --> 0:11:36.005 Jared Green just before his own disappearance end quote. So 0:11:36.165 --> 0:11:39.925 clearly police talk to people people who said they suspect 0:11:40.245 --> 0:11:43.365 the same person or people who killed Jared Green might 0:11:43.405 --> 0:11:46.885 be responsible for Robert Webb's death. Maybe they saw eliminating 0:11:46.965 --> 0:11:50.765 him as collateral damage, just another brutal and violent way 0:11:50.885 --> 0:11:55.085 to tie up loose sins. In nineteen ninety five, Sir 0:11:55.205 --> 0:11:58.165 C Police, from reading through the case file, seemed to 0:11:58.165 --> 0:12:01.405 be developing a theory, a theory that Brandon had something 0:12:01.445 --> 0:12:05.205 to do with Jared's disappearance, but they had no real evidence. 0:12:05.965 --> 0:12:08.845 Then there was another very strange twist in the case. 0:12:09.645 --> 0:12:12.965 Shortly after that, investigators interviewed a man named Charles Langley. 0:12:13.765 --> 0:12:16.845 Charles Langley was in prison doing time on an unrelated matter. 0:12:17.405 --> 0:12:21.205 When police talked to him. Charles told police that Brandon 0:12:21.325 --> 0:12:23.725 came to his house to try to sell some crystal meth, 0:12:24.605 --> 0:12:27.085 and while he and a friend of his were there, 0:12:27.685 --> 0:12:30.085 they quote asked me if I wanted to get rid 0:12:30.125 --> 0:12:32.165 of someone for them, because he owed them seventy five 0:12:32.245 --> 0:12:34.925 hundred dollars. The guy they wanted me to get rid 0:12:34.965 --> 0:12:38.445 of was Green. Sometime later in December, they came to 0:12:38.485 --> 0:12:41.485 my house again and said Jason Green. And he did 0:12:41.525 --> 0:12:45.085 say Jason, though later Charles said he meant Jared was 0:12:45.125 --> 0:12:47.405 no longer a problem, that he had been taken out 0:12:47.405 --> 0:12:50.005 of the picture. They told me they had grabbed him 0:12:50.045 --> 0:12:52.765 at the Walmart store and took care of him end quote. 0:12:54.245 --> 0:12:57.925 At first this would seem to be a potentially groundbreaking 0:12:58.005 --> 0:13:01.845 moment in the case, but as with so many things 0:13:01.845 --> 0:13:03.685 in this case, it was not all it was cracked 0:13:03.725 --> 0:13:07.965 up to be, because later, when another investigator interviewed Charles 0:13:08.005 --> 0:13:12.765 in two thousand, Charles recanted his entire statement. He straight 0:13:12.845 --> 0:13:15.125 up said he had been lying to get a reduced sentence, 0:13:15.965 --> 0:13:18.485 and he said that when he gave this information to investigators, 0:13:18.485 --> 0:13:21.525 he was just repeating these third hand rumors. He said 0:13:21.525 --> 0:13:24.165 he didn't know Brandon and Robert. He said that his 0:13:24.245 --> 0:13:27.365 statement had been quote an attempt to shorten my stay 0:13:27.485 --> 0:13:30.045 or possibly even keep me from going to prison, but 0:13:30.165 --> 0:13:33.885 most of which was a lie end quote. This is 0:13:33.885 --> 0:13:37.645 why it's so important for investigators to ask more detailed questions. 0:13:38.565 --> 0:13:41.565 Charles had no information that he couldn't have heard through 0:13:41.605 --> 0:13:46.045 local rumors. In fact, as we mentioned before, this information 0:13:47.005 --> 0:13:50.485 appears to be pretty unbelievable because I think it's very 0:13:50.565 --> 0:13:53.845 unlikely that the Walmart parking lot was the primary crime 0:13:53.885 --> 0:13:56.725 scene where Jared was attacked. I think it's far more 0:13:56.805 --> 0:13:59.445 likely that car was driven there. But that's the kind 0:13:59.445 --> 0:14:02.565 of thing that if you're just hearing stuff based on 0:14:02.605 --> 0:14:04.765 local rumor, you know a car was found in the 0:14:04.765 --> 0:14:08.085 Walmart lot, you could just repeat to investigators as a 0:14:08.165 --> 0:14:13.685 plausible story. On December thirty first, two thousand, Baron Stafford, 0:14:13.965 --> 0:14:16.645 who police still had not talked to, spoke to his 0:14:16.725 --> 0:14:20.005 cousin who was also his pastor. The pastor would later 0:14:20.045 --> 0:14:23.645 tell police Baron said he knew vital information about two 0:14:23.645 --> 0:14:28.925 different murders. He meant Robert Webb and Jared Green, and 0:14:29.005 --> 0:14:32.565 shortly after that, on New Year's Eve two thousand, Baron 0:14:32.645 --> 0:14:38.165 Stafford reportedly took his own life. After that, Jared Green's 0:14:38.165 --> 0:14:42.165 case went cold for years, but then in two thousand 0:14:42.165 --> 0:14:46.525 and six, there was another shocking twist because that was 0:14:46.565 --> 0:14:48.845 the year that an officer in Portland, Oregon, pulled a 0:14:48.885 --> 0:14:51.845 car over for a routine traffic stop. There were two 0:14:51.885 --> 0:14:54.965 men in the car. According to an incident report, the 0:14:55.045 --> 0:14:58.125 officer noticed crack cocaine in the car, and then during 0:14:58.125 --> 0:15:00.445 the stop, he saw one of these men throw something 0:15:00.485 --> 0:15:03.285 outside the window a few feet away. It was something 0:15:03.325 --> 0:15:06.805 black and metal. The officer saw that it was a handgun. 0:15:07.645 --> 0:15:10.365 After police arrested the two men, they tracked down the 0:15:10.365 --> 0:15:14.045 gun serial number, and that gun and that serial number 0:15:14.085 --> 0:15:17.405 were traced back to Circe, Arkansas, and to Jared Green. 0:15:18.725 --> 0:15:21.405 So how did the gun show up in Oregon after 0:15:21.445 --> 0:15:25.205 all those years, Shannon says she has never gotten an 0:15:25.245 --> 0:15:29.685 answer to that question. In December of two thousand and eight, 0:15:29.725 --> 0:15:33.165 according to the Daily Citizen, detectives searched the grounds of 0:15:33.205 --> 0:15:36.685 an old well on a property on Pine Canyon Road 0:15:36.885 --> 0:15:39.885 off Highway thirty six near Circe after they got a 0:15:39.925 --> 0:15:42.325 tip that Jared's body might be in a well in 0:15:42.365 --> 0:15:45.925 this old house. But no trace of Jared was found there, 0:15:46.445 --> 0:15:50.885 just another heartbreak for his family. In twenty sixteen, police 0:15:50.925 --> 0:15:54.605 did another search. They went to a rural property acting 0:15:54.645 --> 0:15:58.285 on information of a confidential informant. They were looking near 0:15:58.325 --> 0:16:01.325 a deer stand in some woods and at that spot 0:16:01.565 --> 0:16:06.605 cadaverdogs alerted. Later, the pond was drained, no human remains 0:16:06.605 --> 0:16:12.805 were found. Police consulted the prosecuting attorney named Rebecca Reed McCoy. 0:16:12.845 --> 0:16:16.045 After she reviewed the evidence and saw that the dog 0:16:16.085 --> 0:16:20.245 had alerted, she signed an arrest affidavit for Brandon Wheeler. 0:16:21.445 --> 0:16:25.085 So just a few months later, in twenty seventeen, Shannon 0:16:25.125 --> 0:16:28.645 Green said her family got mind blowing news. They found 0:16:28.645 --> 0:16:32.205 out Brandon Wheeler had been arrested and authorities were planning 0:16:32.205 --> 0:16:35.125 to charge him with Jared's murder and abuse of a corpse. 0:16:39.765 --> 0:16:43.685 In twenty seventeen, Shannon Green and her family learned that 0:16:43.765 --> 0:16:46.445 Brandon Wheeler, the man they had long suspected of being 0:16:46.445 --> 0:16:50.245 involved in her brother Jared's disappearance, had been arrested and charged. 0:16:51.445 --> 0:16:55.285 Brandon was arrested in Ohio and eventually extradited to Arkansas. 0:16:55.965 --> 0:16:59.885 He was questioned by police and released on bail. Then, 0:17:00.485 --> 0:17:06.165 in November of twenty seventeen, in another complete reversal, the 0:17:06.205 --> 0:17:09.445 prosecutor decided to not move forward with the charges against 0:17:09.445 --> 0:17:12.445 Brandon Wheeler. Now at the time, she said this was 0:17:12.485 --> 0:17:15.965 because quote, additional evidence is expected to be recovered and 0:17:16.045 --> 0:17:19.045 DNA testing would not be completed within the timeframe set 0:17:19.045 --> 0:17:23.445 by the court end quote. What she actually meant was 0:17:23.485 --> 0:17:26.885 that she was facing a situation of having to prosecute 0:17:26.885 --> 0:17:31.725 Brandon Wheeler on a no body homicide. Just reading between 0:17:31.725 --> 0:17:33.965 the lines, although this is just a guess on my part, 0:17:34.125 --> 0:17:38.645 it seems as though the prosecutor decided to roll the dice, 0:17:38.805 --> 0:17:41.805 thought that evidence would be found when the cadaver dogs 0:17:41.805 --> 0:17:44.845 alerted and after they drained that pond, but draining the 0:17:44.885 --> 0:17:48.765 pond failed to secure any additional evidence. In the end, 0:17:49.045 --> 0:17:52.525 the charges against Brandon Wheeler were dismissed with prejudiced, which 0:17:52.565 --> 0:17:56.645 means if additional evidence ever surfaces, they can be refiled. 0:17:57.885 --> 0:18:00.685 If the prosecutor had gone forward with the charges then lost. 0:18:00.685 --> 0:18:03.245 Of course, Brandon Wheeler could not be retried based on 0:18:03.245 --> 0:18:06.965 the double jeopardy rule, so he was suing individual officers 0:18:07.005 --> 0:18:11.285 and also the entire police department. He sued the officers 0:18:11.365 --> 0:18:14.565 in their individual and in their official capacities. You can 0:18:14.605 --> 0:18:16.725 look up the lawsuit online and We're going to provide 0:18:16.725 --> 0:18:18.885 a link to the judgment in our source list at 0:18:18.885 --> 0:18:22.285 the end of the episode. In a nutshell, Brandon Wheeler 0:18:22.285 --> 0:18:25.205 and his attorneys argued that Brandon Wheeler should never have 0:18:25.285 --> 0:18:29.045 been arrested and detained on that evidence. They said the 0:18:29.045 --> 0:18:32.685 officers who wrote up the arrest affidavit indicated in that 0:18:32.765 --> 0:18:36.085 affidavit that the cadaver doogs had alerted, but they left 0:18:36.165 --> 0:18:39.365 out the part about no evidence of a body or 0:18:39.405 --> 0:18:44.165 any remains being found. Brandon's lawyers also said that the 0:18:44.165 --> 0:18:48.805 Circe police officers mentioned this confession they had gotten from 0:18:48.885 --> 0:18:52.245 Charles Langley that they knew that later he'd recandidate, but 0:18:52.245 --> 0:18:54.765 they didn't mention that in their affidavit either. And there 0:18:54.765 --> 0:18:58.125 were other problems that Brandon Wheeler's legal team claimed that 0:18:58.165 --> 0:19:01.245 they found in the affidavit. They claimed it was completely misleading. 0:19:02.365 --> 0:19:05.645 When I talked to Shannon, she discussed the toll that 0:19:05.725 --> 0:19:09.485 this lawsuit had on the investigation because she says, for 0:19:09.525 --> 0:19:14.805 the two years that Brandon's lawsuit dragged out, the investigation stopped. 0:19:15.725 --> 0:19:18.405 Now Brandon Wheeler, by the way, claims he has no 0:19:18.445 --> 0:19:22.325 involvement in Jared's death. This arrest was completely unjustified. He 0:19:22.365 --> 0:19:25.885 says he's suffered lost wages and severe mental anguish as 0:19:25.925 --> 0:19:29.045 a result of being stuck in Arkansas. He said he 0:19:29.125 --> 0:19:32.965 was subject to unreasonable seizure, that officers violated his fourth 0:19:33.005 --> 0:19:37.525 and fourteenth Amendments, and that they subjected him to cruel 0:19:37.565 --> 0:19:41.325 and unusual punishment and excessive bail. He also, by the way, 0:19:41.365 --> 0:19:45.925 alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress, and this lawsuit is 0:19:45.965 --> 0:19:50.405 still playing out. In twenty twenty, the United States District 0:19:50.405 --> 0:19:54.085 Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas sided with Brandon Wheeler. 0:19:54.725 --> 0:19:58.125 The court found that once you took what his attorneys 0:19:58.165 --> 0:20:01.845 called misleading statements out of that arrest affidavit, that those 0:20:01.885 --> 0:20:05.325 officers did not have probable cause to arrest Brandon Wheeler, 0:20:06.045 --> 0:20:09.245 and the Court of Appeals affirmed that decision in twenty 0:20:09.285 --> 0:20:14.365 twenty one. I have so many questions about this lawsuit, 0:20:14.405 --> 0:20:17.765 the way everything played out. I still find myself wondering 0:20:17.885 --> 0:20:21.405 why did they arrest Brandon Wheeler in that moment. Apparently 0:20:21.445 --> 0:20:23.525 they thought they did have enough to move forward with 0:20:23.525 --> 0:20:29.045 a no body homicide. Unfortunately, they miscalculated. And there's more 0:20:29.085 --> 0:20:32.885 bad news for Shannon's family because the judge ruled that 0:20:32.965 --> 0:20:37.045 Brandon's interview with the police could not be admitted as evidence. 0:20:37.605 --> 0:20:40.365 So Shannon and her family only saw five minutes of 0:20:40.365 --> 0:20:43.165 that video interview in the pre trial hearing. So now 0:20:43.205 --> 0:20:46.525 we're wondering what else did Brandon Wheeler say in that interview. 0:20:47.085 --> 0:20:50.565 We may never know. Brandon Wheeler has left the state 0:20:50.565 --> 0:20:54.925 of Arkansas, and I'm sure he's hired a legal team. 0:20:55.685 --> 0:21:00.365 I wonder have police lost their only chance at getting 0:21:00.365 --> 0:21:03.045 Brandon Wheeler or is it possible to get more evidence later. 0:21:04.605 --> 0:21:07.565 It seems like over the years, Jared's case has had 0:21:07.605 --> 0:21:12.365 investigators who cared about it. Shannon told me that Jared's 0:21:12.365 --> 0:21:15.885 case actually became this notorious unsolved case in Sirce, and 0:21:15.965 --> 0:21:19.445 that when new recruits would join the police force, a 0:21:19.525 --> 0:21:22.485 detective would sort of present Jared's case as a challenge 0:21:22.565 --> 0:21:24.005 that the rookies could try to solve. 0:21:25.005 --> 0:21:28.085 They just basically used to try that case out and 0:21:28.125 --> 0:21:30.165 give it to the new guy and just say, here, 0:21:30.285 --> 0:21:33.445 see you can do anything with this. But anytime they 0:21:33.485 --> 0:21:38.005 got close. What I was told by the last investigators 0:21:38.165 --> 0:21:40.885 in the case, well that anytime they got close to something, 0:21:40.885 --> 0:21:43.525 when they started finding things like, hey, I really want 0:21:43.565 --> 0:21:47.365 to go talk to this person. Their boss who's not 0:21:47.485 --> 0:21:50.565 there anymore, was like, no, just give them a call 0:21:50.725 --> 0:21:52.365 and then have somebody else do it like they would. 0:21:52.605 --> 0:21:55.765 They could never go actually do any investigation outside of 0:21:55.805 --> 0:21:56.925 like our local area. 0:21:58.005 --> 0:22:00.485 The case is also complicated by the fact that so 0:22:00.645 --> 0:22:04.005 many people connected with it have either died or disappeared. 0:22:04.805 --> 0:22:07.965 As we mentioned earlier, Robert Webb vanished in July of 0:22:08.045 --> 0:22:12.325 nineteen ninety five. He's presumed to be dead. Some people 0:22:12.325 --> 0:22:15.605 out there have a theory that Robert Webb faked his 0:22:15.685 --> 0:22:19.285 own death to escape the heat, but his family insists 0:22:19.325 --> 0:22:21.165 that would be completely out of character. He would never 0:22:21.245 --> 0:22:23.485 do that, and there's been literally no sign of life 0:22:23.525 --> 0:22:28.205 since nineteen ninety five. We know that Baron Stafford, who 0:22:28.205 --> 0:22:31.645 went by the name Felix, reportedly took his own life 0:22:31.885 --> 0:22:35.925 in two thousand. Shannon says that she is not given up. 0:22:36.085 --> 0:22:40.165 She says that in twenty twenty three, she hoped to 0:22:40.205 --> 0:22:44.165 have additional private dog teams who would volunteer to investigate. 0:22:44.765 --> 0:22:47.645 She also said she hoped that now that the lawsuit 0:22:47.645 --> 0:22:51.125 has mostly played out, that some of the investigators who 0:22:51.165 --> 0:22:54.325 were so devoted to Jared's case would get some additional resources. 0:22:54.565 --> 0:22:56.645 She said so far that it hasn't happened. 0:22:57.405 --> 0:22:59.525 We had two dog teams that were lined up that 0:22:59.565 --> 0:23:02.325 were willing to search, but for some reason, there has 0:23:02.365 --> 0:23:08.245 been a stop. So the original investigating officer, who is 0:23:08.325 --> 0:23:12.285 awesome and I have nothing but respect for he was 0:23:12.765 --> 0:23:15.325 like put on patrol after that mess with Wheeler when 0:23:15.325 --> 0:23:17.605 they sued. But then he was moved back into CID 0:23:17.765 --> 0:23:19.845 and he got promoted and now he's leading a team 0:23:19.885 --> 0:23:24.005 of investigators. And so I thought when that happened and 0:23:24.005 --> 0:23:27.165 he had these additional resources, that they were going to make, 0:23:27.365 --> 0:23:30.725 you know, really be able to dedicate time to Jared's case. 0:23:30.805 --> 0:23:33.565 But that has not been the case. And I don't 0:23:33.565 --> 0:23:36.365 know why. I haven't really been able to talk to them. 0:23:36.365 --> 0:23:38.165 I don't know if this because there is a new 0:23:38.205 --> 0:23:42.565 police chief and so maybe he's restricting their you know, 0:23:42.885 --> 0:23:45.965 my access to them. Like it's not that people aren't 0:23:46.005 --> 0:23:49.165 letting me talk to them, it's just like I really 0:23:49.205 --> 0:23:52.365 hoped that with this, with this edition, of these three 0:23:52.485 --> 0:23:55.205 or four other people, that do get some progress. 0:23:55.845 --> 0:23:59.405 So what can we do next? What needs to happen now? 0:24:00.085 --> 0:24:03.085 There were four key locations Shannon said needed to be 0:24:03.125 --> 0:24:06.685 searched they've searched one, but there's still three more to go. 0:24:07.365 --> 0:24:09.525 She's hoping to get a dog team out there and 0:24:09.645 --> 0:24:13.565 keep searching that land. Shannon continues to be the advocate 0:24:13.605 --> 0:24:16.805 for her brother. She said she's not giving up hope. 0:24:17.485 --> 0:24:20.765 Shannon said she needs people to come forward. She is 0:24:20.845 --> 0:24:24.085 begging anyone who knew her brother Jared or had any 0:24:24.165 --> 0:24:26.805 kind of interaction with him, no matter how small, to 0:24:26.925 --> 0:24:30.045 please come forward because you never know which piece of 0:24:30.045 --> 0:24:31.845 information will be key to cracking this case. 0:24:32.685 --> 0:24:36.165 We need someone to break their silence. We know people 0:24:36.365 --> 0:24:39.325 are withholding information. I think that there are people that 0:24:39.485 --> 0:24:44.365 have information about what happened that night that will not 0:24:44.405 --> 0:24:48.045