Speaker 1: Hey listeners Jessica here. Be sure to check out new
Speaker 1: episodes of Undetermined every Tuesday for free wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. For early and ad free listening, check out
Speaker 1: Tenderfoot Plus on Apple Podcasts. The views and opinions expressed
Speaker 1: in this podcast are solely those of the individuals interviewed
Speaker 1: and participating in the show, and do not represent those
Speaker 1: of Tenderfoot TV and Resonate recordings. All individuals described or
Speaker 1: mentioned in the podcast should be considered innocent until found
Speaker 1: guilty in a court of law. This podcast contains subject
Speaker 1: matter such as violence and graphic descriptions which may not
Speaker 1: be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. On
Speaker 1: the night of Wednesday, August fourteenth, twenty nineteen, two officers
Speaker 1: responded to a wellness check at the Dernings home in Lakeview.
Speaker 1: It was called in by Jessica's friend Maria after not
Speaker 1: hearing from her for nearly two days. The officer spoke
Speaker 1: with Jessica's husband, Justin, for about seven minutes, and upon leaving,
Speaker 1: they let him know that another squad would be coming
Speaker 1: out to file a missing persons report. Just a few
Speaker 1: hours later, around one o'clock in the morning Thursday, August fifteenth,
Speaker 1: Senior Officer Lucretia Gantner and rookie Officer Tristan Griffin arrive
Speaker 1: at the residence. This is their bodycam audio, which we
Speaker 1: obtained from the family.
Speaker 2: Three five A third District.
Speaker 3: Here you.
Speaker 1: While Officer Griffin talks to Justin outside, Officer Gantner calls
Speaker 1: Detective Anthony Lunn from inside her police cruiser and explains
Speaker 1: the reason for being there.
Speaker 2: Okay, so we're at.
Speaker 3: Earlier tonight, around ten something, a friend from out of
Speaker 3: town called and said that she hadn't been able to
Speaker 3: get a hold of her friend since Monday.
Speaker 2: I think she's not answering her phone and all that.
Speaker 3: So an officer came out here, I think a leaf
Speaker 3: few officers came out did a wellness check. Well, when
Speaker 3: they did the wellness check, the husband says, no, I
Speaker 3: haven't heard from her either. Her phone's here, her purse's here,
Speaker 3: her meds are here, everything's here, But I haven't heard
Speaker 3: from her, and I don't know where she's at. And
Speaker 3: the friend that called from out of town said that
Speaker 3: she's afraid that the husband did something to her because
Speaker 3: they have a history of.
Speaker 2: I guess domestic issues.
Speaker 1: Now, before we get into the remainder of the bodycam audio,
Speaker 1: it's important that we addressed the weighty statement made by
Speaker 1: Maria because there's some context to it. It started about
Speaker 1: nine months earlier, near the end of twenty twenty. I'll
Speaker 1: let Maria fill you in.
Speaker 4: When they came to stay in my home at Thanksgiving.
Speaker 5: My middle son is in.
Speaker 4: Competitive cheer and they had a two day competition scheduled
Speaker 4: for the end of January early February in New Orleans.
Speaker 4: They were getting packed up ready to leave.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 5: She was like, I'm so sad.
Speaker 4: I don't want to leave. And I was like, I know,
Speaker 4: I'm going to miss you. And I was like, well,
Speaker 4: as a competition in New Orleans and it's a two
Speaker 4: day competition, so maybe we'll just come stay with you.
Speaker 4: She was like, yeah, of course, And you know, I
Speaker 4: mean we had just had them in our house for
Speaker 4: three days. Of course they were going to say yes,
Speaker 4: you know. So then just a few days before we
Speaker 4: were supposed to show up and stay at her house,
Speaker 4: I get this text from her and she says, Hey.
Speaker 5: I need to talk to you about this weekend. I'm
Speaker 5: hiding in the bathroom right now, so Justin doesn't hear me.
Speaker 5: We've been fighting, like fighting for the past three days
Speaker 5: about everything. He's threatening to kick me out, put me
Speaker 5: in jail. He's hit me.
Speaker 7: It's bad.
Speaker 5: He told me, you guys can't come, or it's going
Speaker 5: to be worse for me.
Speaker 2: Lo.
Speaker 5: I'm so sorry. I know it's the last minute, and
Speaker 5: I feel awful. I don't know what to do. I
Speaker 5: can recommend somewhere that's reasonable and nice. The Beyond Canal.
Speaker 5: We say they're a lot, or we used to hell.
Speaker 8: I'm scared.
Speaker 1: Both the police body came audio and the Edge text
Speaker 1: thread between Jessica and Maria raise a serious accusation about
Speaker 1: domestic violence regarding Justin. While I cannot speak to the
Speaker 1: accuracy of these claims, it's important to understand that Justin
Speaker 1: has never been charged with any crimes of domestic violence
Speaker 1: against Jessica.
Speaker 4: I mean, it was kind of an upsetting text to get,
Speaker 4: you know. I mean, she's putting a lot of detail
Speaker 4: in here, which is unusual. But he's threatened to kick
Speaker 4: me out with something that he did all the time.
Speaker 4: So it struck me as very odd because she had
Speaker 4: never put any kind of details about the relationship and
Speaker 4: writing like that. Later on that day she called me
Speaker 4: and she was like, I'm so sorry. You know, maybe
Speaker 4: we can find a room for you. And I was like,
Speaker 4: it's cool, I've our I booked something. And I was like,
Speaker 4: but aren't you done with this yet? Like are you tired?
Speaker 4: You have to be tired, Like you're not getting any younger,
Speaker 4: this doesn't get any better. She was like, yeah, I know,
Speaker 4: and then she would just kind of change the subject.
Speaker 1: While Maria may have been shocked at the revelation, she
Speaker 1: remained fairly casual about it, giving off a certain familiarity
Speaker 1: with the situation. Turns out, at the time, she had
Speaker 1: just gotten out of a tumultuous relationship. It's a big
Speaker 1: reason why she alienated herself and lost touch with Jessica
Speaker 1: for a few years.
Speaker 4: Most of the people in her life didn't know what
Speaker 4: she was going through, because you know, you don't just
Speaker 4: tell people all your dirty laundry. So that's why I
Speaker 4: knew to be patient with her about it. It had
Speaker 4: to be the time, It had to be the exact
Speaker 4: right time to go.
Speaker 1: Maria waited as patiently as she could, and then seven
Speaker 1: months later, the morning of Monday, August twelfth, twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: just two days before police responded to wellness check. Jessica
Speaker 1: reached out, so.
Speaker 4: I slid the phone open and put it on the speakerphone.
Speaker 4: I was like hey, she said hey. I said, what's
Speaker 4: going on? And she was like, I just really need
Speaker 4: to get out of here? Can you come get me?
Speaker 4: I was like, well, I can't come right now. I've
Speaker 4: got to pick up the kids in like two hours.
Speaker 4: But if you're really ready to go, I could be
Speaker 4: at your house by ten thirty tomorrow morning, but you
Speaker 4: got to be ready to get in my car, like
Speaker 4: no looking back and turning back into a pillar. Assault,
Speaker 4: Like you've got to be ready to go. And she
Speaker 4: said okay. I said, well, what's going on? She was
Speaker 4: like it's just so bad. And I was like, well,
Speaker 4: what does that mean so bad? Because I was trying
Speaker 4: to feel her out because she had been ready to
Speaker 4: leave for a long time. And she was like, it's
Speaker 4: just so bad. We're just fighting. I'll just I'll tell
Speaker 4: you everything when you get here. I said, okay tomorrow
Speaker 4: morning and she was like yeah, okay, and she was like, okay,
Speaker 4: I gotta go. I think he's waking up.
Speaker 1: After their call, Maria sent a Facebook message letting her
Speaker 1: know that she was going to talk to her boyfriend
Speaker 1: about Jessica staying with them. Jessica then called Maria to
Speaker 1: let her know she was at a doctor's appointment with
Speaker 1: Grace and would have to see how things were when
Speaker 1: she got home. This call was followed by a reply
Speaker 1: from Jessica to Maria's original Facebook message. It came through
Speaker 1: at two forty three in the afternoon. It read similar
Speaker 1: to what she had told Maria over the.
Speaker 9: Phone, Okay, just hang on.
Speaker 5: I don't know what's going to happen when I get.
Speaker 4: Home, and that was the last time I ever spoke
Speaker 4: to her.
Speaker 1: The day Maria had planned to pick up Jessica, August thirteenth,
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, came and went without a word from her.
Speaker 1: Maria thought maybe Jessica had gone home, and she and
Speaker 1: Justin patched things up, anticipating she'd hear from her at
Speaker 1: a later time, but instead, the following night, Wednesday, August fourteenth,
Speaker 1: at nine pm, while Maria and her boyfriend were getting
Speaker 1: ready for bed, her phone dinged. It was a message
Speaker 1: from Justin, the one Maria described before, which set off
Speaker 1: a chain of events here's their full exchange.
Speaker 10: Is Jess with you? Grace and I are worried? If so,
Speaker 10: that's fine. We just don't know where she is. And
Speaker 10: Grace can't handle stress like this right now.
Speaker 7: No, she's not.
Speaker 5: When was the last time you spoke to her?
Speaker 10: About noon today? And she left everything here? Keys, car, id, money?
Speaker 7: What about her phone here?
Speaker 11: Too?
Speaker 10: Fucking weird?
Speaker 2: Worried.
Speaker 10: She's never done this. I have no idea, checked everything
Speaker 10: and everyone I know.
Speaker 5: Okay, well, I'm sending the police over there.
Speaker 10: Okay, you're gonna freak out, Grace.
Speaker 5: But if Jonathan came home from work and all my
Speaker 5: stuff was here and the kids didn't know where I was,
Speaker 5: he'd already be talking to the police.
Speaker 10: I know how to file a missing person's report. Do
Speaker 10: you think I heard her or something? The police can't
Speaker 10: do anything until after twenty four hours. She's an adult.
Speaker 10: I'm checking hospitals in jails now.
Speaker 1: About an hour later, just after ten pm.
Speaker 10: Called hospitals and both jails, and not any of them
Speaker 10: called police and missing persons. It's twenty four hours after
Speaker 10: last scene to file a report, I've got to be
Speaker 10: missing something.
Speaker 1: Of course by now, you know it wouldn't end up
Speaker 1: taking an additional twenty four hours. In fact, police would
Speaker 1: respond just minutes later after Maria called in for a
Speaker 1: wellness check. You heard the audio from this visit, but
Speaker 1: remember just a couple hours later, around one am on
Speaker 1: August fifteenth, a second unit would return to the home
Speaker 1: to file a missing person's report. So, now that you're
Speaker 1: up to speed, let's go back to the body cam
Speaker 1: audio from that second visit, which came from responding officers
Speaker 1: Gantner and Griffin.
Speaker 2: When is the last time you saw her, sir? Twelve thirty?
Speaker 2: Like late noon?
Speaker 12: Correct? Around thirty?
Speaker 2: Okay? And what was did you guys talk to each other?
Speaker 12: Then?
Speaker 1: Seated inside her cruiser, Officer Gantner plays liaison, asking Justin
Speaker 1: some questions while relaying information over the phone to Detective
Speaker 1: Anthony Lunn, who investigates missing person cases.
Speaker 3: I see, so they talked, he said, they talked around
Speaker 3: twelve thirty. They were talking about bills. They were talking
Speaker 3: about what they were going to do later, what they
Speaker 3: were going to have for dinner. And he said that
Speaker 3: she looked at him and said he looked tired, and
Speaker 3: he said, I am. So he went and laid down
Speaker 3: and then he hasn't seen or heard from her since then. Yeah, well,
Speaker 3: what about there's two other people that live in the
Speaker 3: house with you all, there's two other people that live
Speaker 3: in the house with you.
Speaker 2: Okay, has your daughter spoken to her? And your dad
Speaker 2: has not spoken to her, hadn't seen her?
Speaker 12: Okay, which is really what it's not dad, they.
Speaker 3: Haven't the daughter.
Speaker 2: How old is your daughter?
Speaker 12: Good?
Speaker 3: Fifteen year old daughter? And his elderly father haven't seen
Speaker 3: her either. You saw her in person, right, yeah, he
Speaker 3: saw her in person. She was here at the house.
Speaker 3: So this this so you know, this is actually my neighbor.
Speaker 3: He lives like three houses a week from me, and
Speaker 3: he's a very strange.
Speaker 2: What's that?
Speaker 1: She leans back out of the cruiser to ask justin
Speaker 1: another question.
Speaker 3: You said, you guys haven't had any recent issues, right, No,
Speaker 3: in the recent issues?
Speaker 12: My answers back to schoolship, you know.
Speaker 1: Turning back to her phone call, she gets a little
Speaker 1: more candid with Detective Line.
Speaker 2: Here's my concern. He was not even worried about this
Speaker 2: until her friend.
Speaker 3: From out of states and officers over here to look
Speaker 3: for her to make sure she was okay. Like he's
Speaker 3: just rolled nonchalant, like, oh, uh, you know, have the
Speaker 3: officers come to the polk straight side there? My dad
Speaker 3: and my daughter are sleeping. I don't want to wake
Speaker 3: them up. But then when we get here, he's like,
Speaker 3: do you guys need to do this in the car
Speaker 3: or do you want to come in? You can come
Speaker 3: look through the house if you want. You know, he's
Speaker 3: just being like, really weird about it.
Speaker 1: Gantner tells one she's been trying to get in touch
Speaker 1: with Maria to no avail. She then asks her partner,
Speaker 1: officer Griffin, to look at the house for any visible cameras,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't see any. Once more, she leans out
Speaker 1: the window to clarify something with Justin.
Speaker 2: Did she mention to you that she was going anywhere work?
Speaker 2: Does she work?
Speaker 12: No?
Speaker 3: She long supp Okay, that's all right.
Speaker 12: I was trying to figure out. I was trying to
Speaker 12: figure out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, see you has she left like this? People? And
Speaker 2: it's not common for her to be gone like late
Speaker 2: at night?
Speaker 11: It was not especially since my daughter got out.
Speaker 2: Okay, do you have do you have a picture of her,
Speaker 2: like a current picture? Okay? Can you get that in
Speaker 2: your please?
Speaker 1: She asked Justin if they can come inside to get
Speaker 1: a photo of Jessica. He graciously invites them in, warning
Speaker 1: them about his jog. They make their way through the
Speaker 1: side door by the driveway where Jessica's Range Rover is parked,
Speaker 1: and step into the disheveled living room.
Speaker 12: That's where.
Speaker 1: Piles of clothes are mounted on the couch and strewn
Speaker 1: across the floor just below. Next, the officers make their
Speaker 1: way to the hallway and turn left, entering the couple's bedroom.
Speaker 1: Austin Gantner pivots back to the matter at hand, this
Speaker 1: time crying a little harder.
Speaker 3: Okay, so what prompted you to say? Okay, I need
Speaker 3: to report her missing?
Speaker 12: Like around eight o'clock it was starting to get dark.
Speaker 2: Okay, what e did you wake up from?
Speaker 11: Me?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 12: From here about four o'clock? She got home at three?
Speaker 12: Uh kind of what stopped Rick? She Uh, she woke
Speaker 12: me up with something I had to sign. Okay, okay,
Speaker 12: She's like, Dad, you're dead at the world. I'm like, yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 2: Were sleeping in here. You were sleeping in here, right yeah, okay, yeah, my.
Speaker 12: Daughter's rooms right on the other side.
Speaker 6: I said, if you see mom, if you you know
Speaker 6: what's what's going on?
Speaker 12: And she goes, she goes and seen.
Speaker 11: I was like, okay, And I know she had mentioned
Speaker 11: about want her doctors.
Speaker 12: It folesome, but there's no RTA to gets falsome. So
Speaker 12: immediately I thought, we're friends with him. And he's older,
Speaker 12: he's you know, his sixties, but his son's my age.
Speaker 11: And I thought, well, maybe you know she got a
Speaker 11: ride with him because sometimes he comes into the city.
Speaker 12: I called him. No, that didn't happen. Honestly, don't don't
Speaker 12: unless there's something. When I say, we you see this
Speaker 12: for homebodies, we don't have much if when.
Speaker 11: I say, if there's something that I am absolutely oblivious to.
Speaker 2: Does she have family here?
Speaker 12: No?
Speaker 2: You see from Do she have any like close friends here?
Speaker 12: What I was telling you about that was on Facebook?
Speaker 12: I mean, I'm moren't happy to pull it up wid you.
Speaker 2: Has she updated anything on Facebook?
Speaker 11: She hasn't logged on, she hasn't changed passwords to anything,
Speaker 11: to our bank accounts to and she handles all the time.
Speaker 12: I mean, she still has power returning on me.
Speaker 1: I mean, I like you justin opens the tablet to
Speaker 1: show the officers her Facebook page and then pulls up
Speaker 1: a message from Maria that she'd sent to Jessica earlier
Speaker 1: that day. This should sound familiar to you.
Speaker 11: And this is the only thing that threw me was
Speaker 11: I need to talk to about everything tonight when we
Speaker 11: get home from practices.
Speaker 12: So one of her sons.
Speaker 11: And my wife put okay, hang on, but I mean,
Speaker 11: I get all this on my mom.
Speaker 1: The officers get the tablet from Justin and start looking
Speaker 1: over the messages.
Speaker 12: So what is she saying we need to talk about everything?
Speaker 12: I have no idea.
Speaker 11: I mean, the only thing I can think of was
Speaker 11: is that maybe they were planning on doing something. So
Speaker 11: I put there. You know, I'm like, would you think
Speaker 11: I would hurt her or something? You know, I mean,
Speaker 11: the girl doesn't like me, she never has.
Speaker 2: Oh, okay, so this is y'all talking to you.
Speaker 12: Yeah, the last conversation that yet, that's me talking to her.
Speaker 12: And she she lives in Alabama. She lives in like
Speaker 12: the hood in Alabama. She got like a litter of kids.
Speaker 11: And my wife's always been the same year the rescuer.
Speaker 12: It's just a man ass man.
Speaker 1: Without any prompting, Justin randomly mentions a call he made
Speaker 1: to his attorney friend.
Speaker 11: I just don't understand if I could wrap my brain
Speaker 11: around it. I think I'd be okay, you understand, but it.
Speaker 12: Just doesn't make any freaking sense at all. It's just
Speaker 12: just sudden it. You know, a good friend of mine's
Speaker 12: a prominent lawyer here. I called him and I was like,
Speaker 12: Ralph Wellen is his last name? Like Ralph? He goes,
Speaker 12: I didn't remember what a reasonable person would believe? Like, okay,
Speaker 12: you know, he goes, what's not reasonable this?
Speaker 11: There's nothing reasonable about this, Like I said, the only
Speaker 11: thing I can think of it.
Speaker 12: But I mean, you guys deal it with domestics.
Speaker 11: If somebody was gonna pick up and leave, they'd take
Speaker 11: their ship right or something.
Speaker 2: Mister Justin, we we are not going to And yeah,
Speaker 2: I could do this and.
Speaker 3: Say, well, well if someone did this, were not going
Speaker 3: to do that, So okay, I'm going to have can
Speaker 3: you get your ID in? Her ID?
Speaker 2: Sirs.
Speaker 1: Justin grabs his wallet from his back pocket and hands
Speaker 1: over his ID. He then walks past their unmade bed
Speaker 1: to the other side of the bedroom to pick up
Speaker 1: her wallet from the floor, and again makes mention that
Speaker 1: all her medications were there as he hands over her ID, which,
Speaker 1: to clarify, is not a driver's license. It's a Louisiana
Speaker 1: state ID with her name listed as Jessica Easterly, her
Speaker 1: maiden name. The officers ask Justin for his phone number,
Speaker 1: and he gives the same one he gave the first
Speaker 1: unit who came out for the wellness check, the number
Speaker 1: he claimed he'd been using since his phone was broken,
Speaker 1: supposedly having fallen off his motorcycle. Just a note here.
Speaker 1: While he states the phone number belongs to Jessica, her
Speaker 1: friends and family, on the other hand, have it saved
Speaker 1: as Justin's number in their phones and have a different
Speaker 1: number saved as Jessica's. But regardless, it's the phone number
Speaker 1: he'd claimed he'd been using as of late, and this
Speaker 1: bit of information will be important as a story develops.
Speaker 1: Back at the Journings home, officers ask for a photo
Speaker 1: of Jessica, a physical one, but Justin claims he doesn't
Speaker 1: have one that's not electronic, so instead he shows them
Speaker 1: a screenshot of Jessica on the tablet and says he
Speaker 1: will email.
Speaker 2: It to them.
Speaker 1: As the conversation continues, Justin tells the officers that he
Speaker 1: has called local hospitals as well as a sheriff's office.
Speaker 1: Looking for Jessica. Officer Gantner asks once more if there
Speaker 1: was any arguing or fighting before Jessica went missing, and
Speaker 1: Justin goes on to tell her that same story regarding
Speaker 1: the pizza and the nap he took, but this time
Speaker 1: a slightly differ.
Speaker 3: And you said, when you spoke to her around twelve thirty,
Speaker 3: there were no there was no arguing or anything like that.
Speaker 2: She didn't say, hey, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 12: She didn't tell me she was leaving it at all.
Speaker 12: She said, you looked tired us that I am. She
Speaker 12: had and made some little pizza.
Speaker 5: What are you cool damn things?
Speaker 2: The little pizza.
Speaker 12: Pizza? Yeah, I guess the frozen ones. She went made those.
Speaker 12: We eight, you know, just kind of in here, and
Speaker 12: I mean, as far as I know, she was just
Speaker 12: gonna do some work on the computer and and that
Speaker 12: was it.
Speaker 1: And then Justin tells the officer something he hadn't told
Speaker 1: them yet.
Speaker 11: And she haven't mentioned in that she had been kind
Speaker 11: of in a depressive cycle.
Speaker 12: Mm and kind of couldn't get over it.
Speaker 11: I'm like, maybe we spent thirteen thousand, we wiped out
Speaker 11: our savings account, putting our kid.
Speaker 12: I was like maybe just you know, we just need
Speaker 12: to communicate and talk, and that's one of her things.
Speaker 12: She keeps everything inside.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I don't want to be sexist, but women tend
Speaker 11: to do that, you know, at least to me put
Speaker 11: it that way, and they give.
Speaker 6: It all to me one time versus where as soon
Speaker 6: as I'm feeling something, I'm like, we need to talk
Speaker 6: about this because you know anyway, Oh man, I'm sorry
Speaker 6: if I'm all like like sketchyt a nervous wreck.
Speaker 1: At this point, the officers head back to their vehicle
Speaker 1: to call in the missing person's report and write up
Speaker 1: all the information they'd obtained from Justin. Just before getting in,
Speaker 1: Officer Cantner makes an interesting comment to Officer Griffin.
Speaker 3: I've lived here for three years now and I've never
Speaker 3: seen her, but I see him all the time.
Speaker 1: Once inside the vehicle, Gaittner calls for Superior Sergeant James Young.
Speaker 3: It's actually my neighbor and they live three houses away
Speaker 3: from me. Yeah, he's a strange individual.
Speaker 1: She takes a few minutes to get her sergeant up
Speaker 1: to speed on things, and then offers a little bit
Speaker 1: of insight.
Speaker 2: Well, that's what I told Griffin.
Speaker 3: I've lived here for three years now, and I see
Speaker 3: him outside all the time, but I never I have
Speaker 3: never seen this woman ever. I've always wondered where his
Speaker 3: wife is because I knew that he was married, but
Speaker 3: I've never seen her. I mean, to me, it's just
Speaker 3: like something's not right here. And I don't think that
Speaker 3: she would just leave her daughter because her daughter just
Speaker 3: got out of the hospital. Her daughter was in the
Speaker 3: hospital for three days. He is just explaining himself to death.
Speaker 3: Didn't you get that feeling. Yeah, he's like overly explaining
Speaker 3: to herselves all your frien Yeah, And he said, I'm
Speaker 3: sorry if I seem sketchy.
Speaker 1: This is just all weird to me.
Speaker 12: She's all she punched.
Speaker 2: And he's just like over explaining everything.
Speaker 3: So and it got to the point when he was
Speaker 3: talking to the friend through Facebook messenger, she just stopped at.
Speaker 2: The one thing that.
Speaker 1: Was weird is he.
Speaker 2: Told the friend I contacted the police.
Speaker 3: And the police said that I can't report her missing
Speaker 3: for twenty four hours, which is bullshit. We would never
Speaker 3: tell anybody that, And the dispatcher's not or the call
Speaker 3: taker's not.
Speaker 2: Going to tell somebody that.
Speaker 3: The whole thing is just like something's not right, because
Speaker 3: the whole thing is very sketchy, to use his word,
Speaker 3: and it kind of makes me a little uneasy because
Speaker 3: he lives three.
Speaker 2: Houses away from me. But anyway, let me help him
Speaker 2: with this.
Speaker 3: I just wanted to let you know because it does
Speaker 3: seem very unusual to me.
Speaker 9: His story sounds rehearsed.
Speaker 1: As the officers wrap up the call and finish their paperwork,
Speaker 1: they start a search for any calls or complaints filed
Speaker 1: from the address, specifically looking for any domestic calls.
Speaker 2: Spell her last name.
Speaker 12: It s t E.
Speaker 2: A story.
Speaker 12: Okay, can you put an address in the EPR.
Speaker 1: The search doesn't come back with anything, and through our
Speaker 1: own public records request, it appears as though Jessica had
Speaker 1: never reached out to law enforcement.
Speaker 2: They probably don't call the police when they have issues.
Speaker 2: A lot of people, don't, you know, well especially Yeah.
Speaker 1: The officers exit the vehicle and return to Justin to
Speaker 1: wrap things up, said, I want.
Speaker 2: To walk through the entire house. The dogs still up.
Speaker 3: Okay, we have to fill out a missing personal for
Speaker 3: David with you anytime there's somebody missing, and then this
Speaker 3: is what we send you.
Speaker 1: Justin reads over the report and then signs the affidavit.
Speaker 1: After doing so, the officers asked for some clarification.
Speaker 3: One last time, you did talk to your daughter and
Speaker 3: asked your daughter if she'd heard from her or actually
Speaker 3: seen her.
Speaker 12: I mean, I'd rather wake up. If you want me
Speaker 12: to get her, I will.
Speaker 2: No, I don't have to wake her up.
Speaker 12: It's two lots one morning.
Speaker 2: She has to go to school tomorrow.
Speaker 11: She does, but no, she and I right before you
Speaker 11: guys actually shut up.
Speaker 12: Right after the first two showed up.
Speaker 11: I went in there and asked her, I said, did
Speaker 11: you see the commotions?
Speaker 12: She's like, I don't know what commotion?
Speaker 2: Okay. But prior to that, did you ask her if
Speaker 2: she had seen her mind? Yeah?
Speaker 11: Yeah, okay, of course I was like no, And I
Speaker 11: didn't make a big deal out of it, because it
Speaker 11: was a big deal.
Speaker 12: Just she had you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And you said she just had jeans and a T
Speaker 3: shirt on. You don't remember, like what color T shirt?
Speaker 3: Or did she have shoes on? You know what kind of.
Speaker 12: Shoes were betting the piece of roles? Okay, I mean that's.
Speaker 2: What she had on.
Speaker 11: When okay, you know, and I checked, I went on.
Speaker 1: He doesn't finish that thought but it's what he said
Speaker 1: just before that that stood out to Todd me. Earlier,
Speaker 1: he told officers that he alone went to bed and
Speaker 1: when he woke up, he found a pizza that Jessica
Speaker 1: had made in the kitchen, and Jessica was gone. This time,
Speaker 1: he claims they were in bed together eating pizza rolls.
Speaker 1: Possibly just a slip up, but still interesting.
Speaker 3: Nonetheless, Now being that you lived so close to me,
Speaker 3: I just want to let you know. If something happens,
Speaker 3: don't come knocking on my door. All right, call on
Speaker 3: on one or there's going to be a detective. Contact you,
Speaker 3: contact the third district, instick to the detective.
Speaker 2: But just don't come knocking on my door.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, I just want to make that player, okay.
Speaker 1: The officers leave the house with the report and signed off,
Speaker 1: a David in hand and start heading back to their cruiser.
Speaker 1: Justin follows them out and tells the officers the same
Speaker 1: thing he told the other officers he came out for
Speaker 1: the wellness check about his aspirations for joining the force.
Speaker 12: Here I am looking at JPSOD. I just I'm home
Speaker 12: too much.
Speaker 11: Just my kid even tells like Dad, you know, I'm like, well,
Speaker 11: I just don't know if I could do the message.
Speaker 2: John yell.
Speaker 13: Anyway, and I have a really good friends with people.
Speaker 13: My best friend really is black. Of course Michael loves that.
Speaker 13: But he I call him and he was like, well,
Speaker 13: let's go recon see what you do. I'm like, man,
Speaker 13: I gotta stay here and see what's going on.
Speaker 12: But anyway, you know, he just you.
Speaker 11: Know a lot of people, and I walk past your
Speaker 11: house constantly, gone to meet him because he's got I
Speaker 11: can't say a little.
Speaker 12: Bit lesson John.
Speaker 1: Eventually, Officer Gantner reels.
Speaker 9: Him back in.
Speaker 12: He's actually the armor for n cis New Orleans.
Speaker 11: Okay, people here them completely Field Strip fifteen.
Speaker 2: I'm like, you don't remember that's I member for the report. Okay, thanks,
Speaker 2: and a detective to other Like.
Speaker 3: I mean, if like there's anybody that you can call
Speaker 3: that I know where she is or you know that's
Speaker 3: the only thing I can tell you, or if you
Speaker 3: know where you know a place she might go to
Speaker 3: or something, if you want to go look, or if
Speaker 3: you can tell us and we'll go look.
Speaker 6: If I'd be more than happy about.
Speaker 11: But I mean, like I said, the one place that
Speaker 11: she goes is to bed she has over miles and
Speaker 11: she's depressed by polar so you shouldn't have a great.
Speaker 3: Right, great right anyway, I know, and then if she,
Speaker 3: if she contacts you or comes home, let us know,
Speaker 3: tell nine on one and called.
Speaker 12: The district call nine three.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks, all right, and reference that item number when
Speaker 2: you call. Okay, all right, thank you. Version, that's okay.
Speaker 12: I mean, I'm not asking for parental advice. You've master
Speaker 12: which is on my kid. I mean it's the truth.
Speaker 3: Yeah, tell her you had to make a missing person
Speaker 3: report that you haven't seen her since twelve thirty.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's your kid.
Speaker 3: You can tell her whatever you want, but I mean
Speaker 3: I would, I would be honest with her.
Speaker 2: Yeah anyway, okay, all right, thank you.
Speaker 1: Following the visit, Jessica's missing person's bulletin is issued within
Speaker 1: the in OPD Jessica Renee Easterly five six, one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, Celtic TAK two
Speaker 1: on groin. The missing person report and affidavit reads.
Speaker 7: Mister Justin Derning stated his wife, Miss Jessica Easterly, was
Speaker 7: last seen on Wednesday, August fourteenth, twenty nineteen, at approximately
Speaker 7: twelve thirty pm. Mister Derning stated that she was last
Speaker 7: seen wearing a T shirt and jeans. If Miss Jessica
Speaker 7: Easterly is found, please notify Third District DIIU. Upon arrival,
Speaker 7: the officers met with a reporting person, mister Justin Derney,
Speaker 7: who stated the following. Miss Jessica Easterly was last seen
Speaker 7: on Wednesday, August fourteenth, twenty nineteen, at approximately one pm
Speaker 7: before mister Justin.
Speaker 12: Went to bed.
Speaker 7: Mister Justin woke up from sleeping on the same day
Speaker 7: at approximately three pm to find his wife missing. Mister
Speaker 7: Derning observed missus Easterly's purse, wallet, phone, and keys left
Speaker 7: at the residence. Mister Derning did not observe any missing
Speaker 7: items from their home. The household's only vehicle was still
Speaker 7: in the driveway. He observed no changes to her social media.
Speaker 7: Mister Darning stated that his wife suffers from bipolar and depression.
Speaker 7: Her medicine was left at the residence. Mister Darning contacted
Speaker 7: local hospitals and jails about his wife's whereabouts, but was
Speaker 7: met with negative results. It should be noted that a
Speaker 7: wellness check was requested by one of Easterly's friends earlier
Speaker 7: that day, Officer Gantner called Easterly, but no one picked
Speaker 7: up on the line. Officer Gantner notified Third District Person
Speaker 7: Crimes Detective A Line Unit one three three five.
Speaker 1: And with that, Detective Anthony Lunn is officially assigned to
Speaker 1: the case. Six hundred thousand people go missing every year
Speaker 1: in the US, according to the National Missing and Unidentified
Speaker 1: Person System known as NAMES. As I write this, in
Speaker 1: Louisiana there are four hundred and sixteen open missing persons cases,
Speaker 1: and in New Orleans there are thirty five missing persons
Speaker 1: in the name of database. Now Jessica had become one
Speaker 1: of them, but she's obviously more than a statistic. She's
Speaker 1: a friend, a sister, a daughter, a wife, a stepmother.
Speaker 1: Though right now what mattered was she was missing and
Speaker 1: hope was fading fast.
Speaker 4: Then the next day I was actually with my girlfriend
Speaker 4: that lives here, and she was like, so, what's going
Speaker 4: on with that? And so I was kind of bringing
Speaker 4: her up to speed on it, and I was like,
Speaker 4: I don't know what to do. She was like, are
Speaker 4: you going to feel bad if something terrible has happened
Speaker 4: to her? I was like, yeah, of course, I forever
Speaker 4: there was a part of me that really wanted to
Speaker 4: believe she just had someone else, because she was very
Speaker 4: concerned that if she did come stay with me, he
Speaker 4: would just be right behind her, he would know exactly
Speaker 4: to find her. I was holding out some hope that
Speaker 4: she was okay, but I didn't feel like she was okay.
Speaker 1: While Maria was not feeling too hopeful about the situation.
Speaker 1: What's really sad is that at the time, Jessica's family
Speaker 1: wasn't even aware of her disappearance. Amidst all the chaos,
Speaker 1: they were never informed Maria wasn't in contact with the family.
Speaker 1: Back then, it would have required justin or the police
Speaker 1: saying something that didn't happen, But just two days later
Speaker 1: they'd learned the news in a rather unconventional way. It
Speaker 1: was Saturday, August seventeenth, on what would normally be a
Speaker 1: very special day. Jessica's sister, Audrey calls her to wish
Speaker 1: her happy forty third birthday. Her call goes unanswered. Then
Speaker 1: the next day, Audrey pulls up Jessica's Facebook page and
Speaker 1: sees post that stops her cold.
Speaker 8: I've always talked to my sister on her birthday, but
Speaker 8: that day I just.
Speaker 14: Thought she was out. Then on the eighteenth, when I
Speaker 14: got home from work, I seen.
Speaker 2: Maria.
Speaker 12: We have mutual friends.
Speaker 14: I seen Maria's post about Jessica missing, and I was like,
Speaker 14: holy shit. So I of course tried to contact Maria.
Speaker 14: She was already asleep, and she called me the next
Speaker 14: morning and told me everything. And then I called my
Speaker 14: sister and.
Speaker 12: I called my.
Speaker 14: Parents and they're like, oh, no, she's fine. Maybe they
Speaker 14: had a fight. She went over to a friend's house.
Speaker 1: Maria, still clinging to that last bit of hope, also
Speaker 1: tried reaching out to Jessica on her birthday.
Speaker 4: I was like, she would not let me wonder if
Speaker 4: she's alive or dead on her birthday, Like by now
Speaker 4: she would have reached out and let me know, hey,
Speaker 4: I'm safe, leave me alone. I'm just gonna stay safe
Speaker 4: for a while. And I've been like, cool, run, Bambi, run,
Speaker 4: you know you need some money, Like what do you need?
Speaker 4: But she wouldn't have let me wonder that long.
Speaker 1: That Sunday afternoon on August eighteenth, Maria calls NPD multiple
Speaker 1: times and struggles to get anywhere, talking with person after person.
Speaker 1: Seemingly no one can tell her anything, and then finally
Speaker 1: a detective reaches back out to her, she gives him
Speaker 1: a rundown of what had happened a few days before.
Speaker 4: And so they were like, okay, well we'll go over
Speaker 4: there and we'll check on her. Chances are she's probably
Speaker 4: home now, and she's just not allowed to talk to
Speaker 4: you because you're the friend. And if she's in this
Speaker 4: relationship like you say she is, you're probably just cut
Speaker 4: off because she tried to leave. So she's probably home now.
Speaker 4: Everything's probably fine. Super dismissive. I was like, she's not fine,
Speaker 4: and she would let me know if she was fine,
Speaker 4: and she certainly just wouldn't be fucking home and fine
Speaker 4: and let me worry about her, especially not when I'm
Speaker 4: putting her on glasses, missing all over social media. And
Speaker 4: so they went over there and they knocked on the
Speaker 4: door and they were like, well, I yuess, he's not home.
Speaker 4: But he was like sending me hostile texts about sending
Speaker 4: the police to his house. I was like, that's funny
Speaker 4: that you think he's not home because he's texting me
Speaker 4: about y'all being there right fucking now. They're just like, sorry,
Speaker 4: he can't make anything happen.
Speaker 1: Amidst all the frustration and uncertainty, Maria, Audrey, and the
Speaker 1: rest of Jessica's family did their best to remain steadfast.
Speaker 8: I of course, still had that little bit of hope,
Speaker 8: you know, like maybe she's just she's just somewhere. And
Speaker 8: then we decided to call the hospitals and stuff, domestic
Speaker 8: violin shelters, Gel's the corner the morgue, and no one
Speaker 8: she wasn't there.
Speaker 1: Days of confusion turned into a week of sleepless nights.
Speaker 1: That's when Jessica's family took matters into their own hands.
Speaker 1: Her sisters, Audrey and Amanda decided it was time to
Speaker 1: pay a visit to New Orleans, a visit that would
Speaker 1: end up taking them to the neighborhood of Lakeview, where
Speaker 1: Jessica was last seen. Their cousin Doug, made the trek
Speaker 1: with them.
Speaker 15: I was talking to Amanda on the phone and she
Speaker 15: was kind of filling me in about the whole thing
Speaker 15: with Jessica. I mean, something's not right here. And she
Speaker 15: had discussed going down to New Orleans talking to Project
Speaker 15: and talking with the detectives down there. And we went
Speaker 15: to the detectives to go talk with them, and they weren't.
Speaker 15: They weren't there, So we had decided to kind of
Speaker 15: do our own little thing kind of canvas area a
Speaker 15: little bit, kind of get an idea, kind of get
Speaker 15: a feeling for it. And it's a very big residential area.
Speaker 15: And at the end of both sides of this huge
Speaker 15: residential area were water. You try to apply logic to it. Okay, well,
Speaker 15: this would be a good place to form a search part.
Speaker 9: Let's get a little more familiar with it.
Speaker 15: Did you never expect to actually find anything?
Speaker 9: You really don't?
Speaker 1: Undetermined is a production of Resonate Recordings and Tenderfoot TV
Speaker 1: in conjunction with Cadence thirteen, written and hosted by me
Speaker 1: Jessica Nole and produced by Dennis Cooper and Todd McComas,
Speaker 1: with additional production by Whitney Bozart. Executive producers are Dennis Cooper,
Speaker 1: Mark Minnery, Jacob Bozart, Donald Albright, and Payne Lindsay. Our
Speaker 1: senior producer is John Street. Editing, mixing, mastering and sound
Speaker 1: design by Caleb Melcher, Dayton Cole and Pat kid Glider
Speaker 1: of the Resonate Recordings team. If you have a podcast
Speaker 1: or are looking to start one, check us out at
Speaker 1: Resonate Recordings dot com. Our theme song and original score
Speaker 1: is by Poor Robbins with additional scoring by Dayton Cole.
Speaker 1: Additional score for this episode by Andy Walker. Our cover
Speaker 1: art is by Station sixteen. Voice acting by Sabrina Seaward,
Speaker 1: Whitney Bozart and Paul Frield's. You can follow Undetermined Podcast
Speaker 1: on Facebook and on Twitter at Undetermined Pod. Show notes
Speaker 1: as well as bonus content can be found on our website,
Speaker 1: undetermined pod dot com. If you enjoyed this episode, please
Speaker 1: take time to subscribe, rate, and review. Your feedback is
Speaker 1: greatly appreciated. And finally, if you have any information about
Speaker 1: this case, call crime Stoppers at one eight seven seven
Speaker 1: nine zero three seven eight sixty seven. The tone and
Speaker 1: inflection used by voice actors is not contextually accurate and
Speaker 1: is a matter of creative interpretation.
Speaker 12: F