WEBVTT - 2 1/2 Blocks | 3 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:05.040 Hey listeners Jessica here. Be sure to check out new 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:09.680 episodes of Undetermined every Tuesday for free wherever you get 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:13.520 your podcasts. For early and ad free listening, check out 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:20.720 Tenderfoot plus on Apple Podcasts. The views and opinions expressed 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.680 in this podcast are solely those of the individuals interviewed 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.280 and participating in the show, and do not represent those 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:33.360 of Tenderfoot TV and Resonate recordings. All individuals described or 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:37.160 mentioned in the podcast should be considered innocent until found 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:41.320 guilty in a court of law. This podcast contains subject 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:45.239 matter such as violence and graphic descriptions, which may not 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:49.720 be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:53.240 I feel like. 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:59.000 If somebody has disappeared and they don't have a vehicle, 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.319 they don't have have a cell phone to communicate, they 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.880 don't have any means of paying for anything. 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:07.000 At that point you have to treat it like it's 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.759 a missing child. That means going door to door, going 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:13.120 and looking under bushes and cars. So don't make excuses 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:16.880 to me about manpower, because that just means you don't 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.640 want to. That's what I feel all of this boils 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:21.080 down to, is they just don't want to. 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:23.280 But when they get a call that there's a body 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:24.880 found two and a half, everybody. 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:26.080 Everybody shows up. 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.520 People in suits, don't even talk to you, people in 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:30.720 uniforms coming up and asking questions. 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:32.600 And the one detective. 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:36.360 That wasn't there an hour and a half before, there's 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:38.640 all of a sudden there and hey man, how are. 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.600 You guys doing. We just did your job and we 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:43.440 found our relative. How are you doing? 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.000 You know, all of a sudden you have more than 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:49.600 enough people to come out. 0:01:50.160 --> 0:02:28.040 That's kind of embarrassing. And I was probably about. 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:34.120 Where you see those uh those little like concrete things 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:37.160 over there, when I heard her yelling from over here, 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:39.480 and then they ended up calling me and I rushed back, 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:41.959 but there was a stop training over here, so I 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:43.760 had to hop over and walk. 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.119 And and just just kind of look down. That goes 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:51.200 pretty deep. It's way down there, so it's it's crazy. 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:54.519 And you guys see about where she lived, just down 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.320 the road, not very far at all, so it was 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:58.800 extremely close. 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.560 Yeah, gives me chills being back here. 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:12.960 This is on Thursday, August twenty second, twenty nineteen, about 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:17.639 a week after Jessica's disappearance. Sisters Audrey and Amanda, along 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:21.560 with their cousin Doug, made the long trek from Mississippi 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:27.960 to New Orleans. First stop in OPD District three, they 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:31.919 wanted to speak to Detective One, but when they arrive, 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:35.880 he's not there, so they make the best of their 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:40.440 time and start looking around Jessica's Lakeview neighborhood, the last 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:44.920 place she was seeing. Scouring a map of the area, 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.760 they decide to look just on the outskirts of the 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.800 residential part of the neighborhood. Something drew them to an 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:57.360 overgrown area just passed an interstate overpass. There's a pumping 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:01.320 station and a hillside that leads up to some train 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:05.360 tracks dividing Lakeview and its adjacent neighborhood. 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:08.280 I'm gonna led al drug kind of walk you guys 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:09.040 over there. 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:10.800 It was greways down there. 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.800 So me, Doug, and Amanda got here by the pumping 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.360 station number seven and was scouting out places to look at. 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:22.920 Amanda stayed in the car to talk to Maria to 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.480 tell her what was going on, what our next plan was, 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.480 And me and Doug got out the car and. 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:31.080 We went over the railroad tracks. 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:38.240 We crossed the train and he told me go look 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.760 over that way by the woods, and that's what I did. 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:47.240 I went over there, and I was walking alongside of 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:50.520 the train and I seen like a white tarp down 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.880 there's like a leg a hill with rocks on it, 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:57.000 and I've seen a white tarp, and I thought, oh 0:04:57.080 --> 0:04:59.600 my god, I hope my sister's not underneath there. So 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:02.680 to walk down there, but I slid all the way 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:06.000 down and my foot hit the tarp, and I just 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.760 remember thinking, please, don't let my sister be underneath there. 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:12.840 And I pulled up the tarp and she wasn't there, 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:14.920 and I was so relieved. 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.920 Though Audrey felt a sense of relief in this moment, 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.960 her search continued. She had a strong feeling about this 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:28.760 area and felt something calling to her, urging her to 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:29.520 keep looking. 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:35.280 And then literally maybe five ten feet I just stayed 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.440 down there, and I jumped on a railroad tie and 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:41.400 then I turned around, and then as clear as day, 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:45.599 I heard a voice that said, no, look again. And 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:50.080 I looked again. And that's whenever. So when I seen 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:58.960 her legs, when I seen her back, and I started screaming. 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:06.320 No one heard me. I was just sitting here screaming. 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:15.400 I walked back up the hime, and then I walked 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:19.000 back down and I looked again because I thought, maybe 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:24.719 that's not what I'm seeing. And I fell to the 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:29.400 grand and just started screaming, and and then I called 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:43.120 my sister on the phone and I said, I found Jessica. 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.240 She was just laying there, and I knew it was 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:48.359 my sister, Like I knew it was her. 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:50.720 And it was her. 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:57.200 Knee that was black, and she had black shorts, she 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:03.279 had on a black shirt. Her feet were covered by 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.440 some bushes, and then like her head was kind of 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:07.880 covered by some bushes. 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.920 Too, but I could see her. 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.200 She was just laying there like someone set her down 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:20.880 or something like a pizza trush. She was only two 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:29.000 enough foughts from her house. She was a person, no 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:33.520 matter what what she was into or anything, she didn't 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:34.720 deserve to die like that. 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.880 We were all kind of shocked, you know, we were 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:48.720 all kind of kind of scared. Obviously, reality kind of 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:49.160 kicks in. 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.720 This is Jessica's cousin, Doug Schmidt, who accompanied Audrey and 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.920 Amanda in their search for Jessica. Doug works in the 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:05.280 funeral home industry and sees the deceased on a daily basis. 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:08.640 Still the scene was jarring to him. 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:15.120 She wasn't facing us, she was facing another direction, and 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:17.280 she was kind of more or less sitting in a 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:22.360 fetal position, and the surroundings didn't really seem really natural 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.280 as far as Okay, well, I don't know what's going on. 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.920 I'm not a police officer, not a detective. But I 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:31.240 told him, I said, look, if this is her or 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:34.679 if it's not, this is still a dead body, and 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:36.800 we need to get away from this right now and. 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:38.520 Call the police. 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:42.400 And they did just that. As they waited, Amanda call 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.960 Jessica's friend Maria to let her know what had happened. 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:49.080 She was like, we found a body. Police are on 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:53.360 the way, like just that quick, so fast, We're going 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:56.560 to look around. We found her, and I remember like 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:00.720 just howling like a bansheet and like walking around my 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:02.800 living room in circles and being like, oh my god, 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.520 I'm so sorry, just like I knew it was her. 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:08.800 Back at the scene, it wasn't long before the area 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:15.120 was flooded with emergency personnel and police, including Detective lun When. 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.360 They showed up, it was a few detectives and we 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:22.360 walked them to where we found her and of course, 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:26.360 they doing their thing. They're asking questions about what's the 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:28.840 story here, and we kind of filled them in a 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:30.559 little bit about what we knew up to that point 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:34.680 that look, she was missing. We came down because it 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.360 had been ten days and we were worried about our 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:43.040 relative and went over everything with them, and of course 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.880 they took pictures. Corners Office showed up and removed her 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:52.840 and all. And I remember my cousin Mandy really wanted 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.640 to see because at the point, you know, you couldn't 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.160 really see anything, and the level of decomp ten days 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.839 and the heat in that area, I mean, it kind 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:04.080 of was rapid. 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:06.800 We asked them, said, look, these are her sisters. 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.320 Man to hear wants to see her because she wants 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:12.160 to know if this is her or not, because they 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:13.080 had this gut. 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.720 Feeling that look, no, that's that's my sister. I remember 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:18.800 him saying, the level of d comp's bad. 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:22.360 Soft tissues are removed, it's you don't want to see. 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:28.160 The family was certain it was Jessica, but sadly, due 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.000 to the level of decomposition from the New Orleans heat, 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:35.520 they wouldn't get a positive identification that day. In fact, 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.000 they didn't feel like they got much of anything out 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:42.280 of the NPD that day. According to Doug, the scene 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:43.959 was cleared within an hour. 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.360 Looking back, I kind of expect a little bit more. 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:50.560 They interviewed us, of course, they took some pictures of 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:54.480 the immediate area, and then that was it. They didn't 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.960 really expand past just that one little section, And that 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:00.440 always seemed kind of to me. 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:03.880 It really did, really really odd. 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:06.839 It didn't seem like it wasn't as big a deal 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:08.880 as it should have been to them. This was a 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:12.680 missing person's case that was reported missing. This wasn't like, 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:15.240 oh she was missing and no one reported its Like. 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:16.320 No, they knew. 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.760 They knew our level of interest, our level of involvement. 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:24.480 They knew it. The detective that we were going to 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.240 see that day showed up on the scene and talked 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.320 to us. You know, of course we're kind of looking 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:32.960 at them, like, I mean, the house is a straight 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:35.920 shot from here. This seems awfully closed for so many 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.600 miss in ten days, and three amateurs who don't even 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:41.839 live in the area, have never been to this area 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.559 can put two and two together and just start looking around. 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.440 Even looking back, it just still feels odd to me 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:54.800 because I expected more. I expect a lot more, and 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:56.680 it just never happened. 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:58.160 It just never happened. 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:03.920 And when the NOPD wrapped up at the scene, what 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:08.120 was left was a police report, a fairly brief one 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:13.079 at that the incident is listed as an unclassified death 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:17.440 and specifically states that is not a result of a 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:22.880 hate crime or domestic violence. The narrative says, in part. 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:29.040 At approximately twelve thirty six pm, police officer Everett Briscoe 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.360 was dispatched to the intersection of Orleans Avenue in Kenilworth 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:36.280 Street to investigate a report of a miscellaneous incident, Whereas 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:40.560 the reporting person, Amanda Barnes, stated, while searching for her sister, 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:44.600 who was reported missing, she located the deceased body of 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:45.880 an unknown white female. 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:52.280 Officers reported her as wearing a gray shirt and blue shorts, 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.120 and also noted that she was in an advanced stage 0:12:56.240 --> 0:13:05.000 of decomposition. It, in essence, that's the police report. As 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:08.320 Doug Audrey and Amanda drove away from the scene that afternoon, 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.120 they were at a loss. The only thing they knew 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.800 for sure in that moment was that Jessica was no 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:24.320 longer missing. She was gone forever, you know. 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:25.800 There was a lot of emotions going on. 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:27.360 There was a lot of anger, there was a lot 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:31.240 of confusion, a lot of sadness, and it just felt 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:34.320 like it was just like a roller coaster. I know, 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:38.760 we all had hoped that she was still alive somewhere, 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.520 and you kind of hang on to that, and then 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.719 you start hoping that maybe this wasn't her. 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:47.880 Because me not being. 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:52.319 Near as close to Jessica as my two cousins were, 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:57.640 I felt the degree of sadness because I mean, I 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:00.920 I can't even imagine I couldn't you know, I have 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:06.280 three sisters of my own, and even trying to look 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:10.640 at it from their perspective just makes me just want 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:11.280 to shut down. 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:17.800 Eventually reality would set in, but it would take some time. 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.120 It wasn't until nearly three months later, in November of 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:25.080 twenty eighteen, that the body would officially be matched to 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:30.280 Jessica through DNA. According to the family, the delay was 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:34.000 a result of the NPD misplacing the original DNA sample 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:40.640 submitted by Jessica's mother. Nonetheless, they got their answer, a 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:44.600 rather unwanted one, and there would be more to follow. 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.600 Two months later, January of twenty twenty would turn out 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:54.040 to be a quite eventful month for the case. The 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:57.440 corner listed both the cause and manner of death as 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:03.520 undetermined or a coroner's examination. They typically include the cause 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:07.200 and manner of death. Manner of death can be natural, 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:14.200 accidental suicide, homicide, or if it's unknown but is not 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:20.160 considered natural causes, they can classify it as undetermined. In 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:23.760 Jessica's case, her injuries, which we'll get to in a minute, 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:28.360 did not indicate exactly how she died. Therefore, they also 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:33.120 ruled her cause of death as undetermined. This obviously didn't 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.080 sit well with the family. It seemed they were even 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:40.480 further from closure than they thought. Everything was up in 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:45.160 the air. To make matters worse, that same day, Audrey 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:47.720 and Amanda learned that they wouldn't even be able to 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:51.680 lay their sister to rest. Her remains were released to 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:56.040 her husband justin This came as a surprise to them 0:15:56.600 --> 0:16:00.880 and they were crushed. And as if that wasn't enough 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:05.040 bad news for one month, the most shocking revelation would 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.120 come the last day of the month, January thirty first, 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:12.400 twenty twenty, when the coroner released the autopsy report to 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:17.840 the family. They hoped it would provide some answers. Instead, 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:23.480 it would only raise more questions. We were given access 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:27.160 to the report by Jessica's family. Here's what it says. 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.640 Jessica's time of death was listed as August twenty second, 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:36.840 twenty nineteen, one h five pm, which is when she 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:41.720 was found and officially pronounced deceased at the scene. The 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:46.040 autopsy indicates several injuries to Jessica's body, including a broken 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:51.440 nose and jaw. She also sustained post mortem injuries, meaning 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:56.000 they happened after she was deceased. Those include a broken 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.880 rib and C four vertebrae, which is located in the neck. 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:05.520 At the time of her autopsy, Doctor O'Sullivan, a forensic 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:10.560 pathologist with the Orleans Parish Corner's Office, collected evidence samples 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:15.199 from Jessica's body, including two envelopes of fingernail clippings, a 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:19.720 heart charmed necklace from her neck, and her clothing black 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:23.800 tank top, black shorts, pink underwear, and a pair of 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:28.639 black shoes, which contradicted what the nopedie reported her wearing 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:33.520 gray shirt and blue shorts. The doctor also notates a 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:38.440 sun and moon tattoo on her lower right abdomen following 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:43.480 the autopsy, a toxicology screening was conducted by forensic toxicologist 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:50.159 doctor Sherry Katinko with NMS Labs. Testing shows levels of 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:58.800 memph amphetamine, amphetamine, alcohol, and prescription drugs including buproprian and 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:04.760 hydroxyu approprian. The report raises a lot of questions, and 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.760 I wanted to better understand what everything meant to do 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:12.240 that I sought on an expert, a woman I had 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:15.760 connected with a few years back, ironically in New Orleans 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:19.639 during Crime con an annual true crime convention, where she 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:21.760 was speaking as a forensics expert. 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:25.160 My name is doctor Kimberly Massik. 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.040 I am an assistant professor of criminology and Victimology at 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:33.000 Indian River State College, as well as the founder and 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:35.120 director of. 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:39.640 The Institute for Cold Case Investigations, which works directly with 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:44.439 law enforcement agencies going through cold cases that are in 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:45.720 our local area. 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:51.800 While doctor Masnik hasn't conducted an official investigation into this case, 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:54.359 we asked her to look over the documents we have 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:56.520 and share her thoughts. 0:18:57.680 --> 0:18:59.280 And the Jessica Easterly case. 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:05.800 Jessica was found ten days after she actually went missing. 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:07.920 She's in New Orleans. 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:13.639 She's in a fairly good state of decomposition from the 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:18.920 trunk up so the body is Jessica's body is removed 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:23.360 and she is taken to the examiner's office and when 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:27.120 they receive her, she is received in the bag upside down, 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:33.200 and the process for her very little is actually done 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.320 because of the level of decomposition. And you have to 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.639 think it's New Orleans is very much like where I 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.720 live in Florida. It's extremely hot, it's extremely humid, which 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:48.200 is going to make the person their level of decomposition 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:53.320 happen much quicker. So she's not in the most pristine 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.000 condition she can be in to run all of the 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:01.399 tests that would normally be run. You go ahead and 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:05.960 do toxicology on her, but unfortunately they can't take it. 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:07.480 We can't get blood samples. 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:09.800 She's been out there for ten days, so either her 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:15.159 blood has dried up or because of the decomposition, the 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:20.760 blood has flowed into her body cavity, so therefore it's compromised. 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:24.120 So the one thing that they're really able to do 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.920 is to send off and have a piece of her 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:31.880 liver examined. Again, you have to remember that Jessica's liver 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:34.600 has now been out and in the public sun that 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:39.159 and everything else for ten days, so it is also 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:43.480 going through changes both chemically and physically. 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:48.159 There are many challenges experts face when dealing with a 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:53.320 highly decomposed body, as was the case here. Doctor Masnik 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.400 puts it simply, if you don't test for it, you're 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:00.640 not going to find it. But in Jasica's case, they 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:02.520 were able to find some things. 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:07.040 So there were only about five or six drugs that 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:09.280 were tested for that we know of. 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:12.040 Most of them come back to either. 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:16.600 Illicit drugs that she was on potentially for depression, or 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:21.360 she was being given by somebody for depression, or they 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:25.760 are items that could have shown up in her liver 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:29.119 in her system just simply due to this. The ethanol 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:33.040 is absolutely an alcohol, a drug that shows up in 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:37.960 the system due to decomp When I look at the 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:42.760 things that are said about Jessica in the report, the report. 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.760 Say she's either a very low. 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:51.000 Level user of myth because it doesn't say anything about, 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:54.240 you know, major blemishes to her skin, her teeth, or 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:59.359 in fair condition. There's nothing that we see when we 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.480 look at people that are major meth addicts. 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:08.440 However, she says it's important to understand how meth metabolizes 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:09.240 in the body. 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:15.120 Meth breaks down very quickly based on when you take 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:17.480 it and how much you take and how you take it. 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:23.440 So it's more than likely that if they're finding meth 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:28.560 in her body, that it was very recently taken and 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:31.920 it would not have been ingested because the stomach would 0:22:31.920 --> 0:22:35.119 have dissolved it. That would lower the level very quickly. 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:41.240 Meth isn't going to increase because of decomposition. 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:44.000 Or anything else. If meth is there, then meth is there. 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:48.640 We asked doctor Masnak. If there's a potential overdose here. 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:53.080 You have to remember they were not able to run 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:57.040 tests as extensively as they would have if it had 0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:01.800 been a fresh or an interior past. You have to 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:05.440 realize they used her liver to do most of the testing, 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:09.399 so the liver itself was also going through changes. 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:13.000 So yes, it is very likely that it did go down. 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:16.840 But then again, I still have to I'm speculating, and 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:22.520 it's based on just my knowledge of what the average 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:28.080 meth addicts looks like. One, if she's not a consistent user, 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:32.760 and two, even a heavy dose ten hours later, only 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:35.240 half of it's going to be in her system. And 0:23:35.320 --> 0:23:38.520 then After that, you've got the ten days until we 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:41.800 even pick her up, and then you've got extra time 0:23:41.840 --> 0:23:43.720 before the autopsy even happens. 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:46.360 So there's no way. 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:49.520 Of knowing exactly how much meth was in her system 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:50.680 at the time of her death. 0:23:51.400 --> 0:23:54.720 You have to go back and look. There's nothing. 0:23:55.400 --> 0:24:01.919 Nobody mentions anything about her. The husband is saying, you know, 0:24:02.040 --> 0:24:04.240 they were taking a nap, so it's not like they 0:24:04.280 --> 0:24:07.520 were at a party. There's nothing there that jumps out 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:10.560 to me and says that she took a heavy dose 0:24:11.080 --> 0:24:13.880 of myth at that point in time, even though there's 0:24:13.920 --> 0:24:16.000 also nothing that tells me that she didn't. 0:24:17.240 --> 0:24:20.560 And while Jessica had traces of methamphetamine in her system 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:24.919 at the time of her toxicology examination, her family doesn't 0:24:24.920 --> 0:24:30.000 believe she was habitually using meth. It's also unclear what 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:34.280 exactly Jessica had prescriptions for and whether or not the 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:36.280 drugs found in her system at the time of her 0:24:36.400 --> 0:24:41.240 death or prescription. But apart from the drugs, I also 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:44.240 wanted to know if there was any way to determine 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:47.840 what Jessica's cause of death could have been based off 0:24:47.880 --> 0:24:50.000 her injuries she. 0:24:50.119 --> 0:24:55.600 Was found with Basically her nose is broken and her 0:24:55.680 --> 0:25:00.560 jaw is broken, and they do not state, so I 0:25:00.560 --> 0:25:05.400 can only assume or presume that that was either. 0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:08.760 Pre mortem or anti mortem. 0:25:09.520 --> 0:25:12.560 They don't ever mention whether or not there's any blood 0:25:12.960 --> 0:25:18.400 in or around those areas, so I can't tell exactly 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:21.480 at what point she received those. But they do state 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:25.040 that her C four vertebrate as well as her rib 0:25:25.280 --> 0:25:29.440 or broken, and those are post mortem. I am feeling, 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:36.040 based on what very little information we have, that this 0:25:36.240 --> 0:25:37.440 is Jessica's. 0:25:36.920 --> 0:25:40.800 A dumb sight. Because we have such little information. 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:45.080 That's why the coroner up there turns around and gives 0:25:45.119 --> 0:25:49.480 us a manner and cause of death of being undetermined. 0:25:50.520 --> 0:25:53.760 As much as I don't like it, undetermined is actually 0:25:53.800 --> 0:25:55.919 probably the best thing to leave it at at this 0:25:56.000 --> 0:25:56.600 point in time. 0:25:58.240 --> 0:26:01.560 Although doctor Masnik is of the belief that Jessica's body 0:26:01.640 --> 0:26:05.480 was dumped at the site, implicating some degree of foul play, 0:26:05.920 --> 0:26:09.800 she says ultimately there's just not enough information to know 0:26:09.920 --> 0:26:14.520 for sure, and adds that a classification of homicide would 0:26:14.560 --> 0:26:18.359 be an overreach without definitive evidence on her body to 0:26:18.400 --> 0:26:22.840 support it. But before we move on, I want you 0:26:22.880 --> 0:26:26.159 to know there was something else found on her body. 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:30.399 That further supports the theory of it being moved, something 0:26:30.440 --> 0:26:32.760 my partner Todd and I discussed at length. 0:26:34.359 --> 0:26:38.560 We do know from a source that was at the 0:26:38.640 --> 0:26:42.000 scene when her body was discovered, who makes their living 0:26:42.800 --> 0:26:48.399 working with dead bodies, she had liver mortis on the 0:26:48.480 --> 0:26:52.960