WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Justin Gaines 0:00:08.285 --> 0:00:17.085 School of Humans. It was Thursday night, November one, two 0:00:17.125 --> 0:00:20.565 thousand and seven. An eighteen year old Justin Gaines was 0:00:20.565 --> 0:00:22.445 getting ready for a night out with his friends at 0:00:22.445 --> 0:00:26.885 Wild Bill's, a club in Duluth, Georgia. Justin was a 0:00:26.885 --> 0:00:30.005 freshman in college. He had just started at Gainesville State, 0:00:30.325 --> 0:00:32.725 which was about an hour away from where his family 0:00:32.765 --> 0:00:37.005 lived his mom, Erica Wilson, his stepfather, Stephen Wilson, and 0:00:37.045 --> 0:00:41.565 his siblings. Justin was fairly newly single. He had broken 0:00:41.645 --> 0:00:44.525 up with his girlfriend of two years pretty recently, but 0:00:44.565 --> 0:00:48.405 according to Atlanta Magazine, they were still friends. In fact, 0:00:48.605 --> 0:00:51.085 Justin talked on the phone to his sex shortly before 0:00:51.085 --> 0:00:55.245 he went out that night. This was a close blended family. 0:00:56.005 --> 0:00:59.085 When Justin's mom and his stepfather married, they each brought 0:00:59.125 --> 0:01:02.245 their own children to the relationship. There were seven kids 0:01:02.245 --> 0:01:06.205 in all, and apparently they all got Alongston also had 0:01:06.245 --> 0:01:09.205 a good relationship with his stepdad, Stephen, who worked at 0:01:09.205 --> 0:01:12.725 a roofing company. Sometimes Justin would do odd jobs for 0:01:12.805 --> 0:01:17.445 Stephen to pick up some extra cash. Justin was handsome 0:01:17.685 --> 0:01:21.285 five foot eleven, two hundred and thirty pounds. He was 0:01:21.405 --> 0:01:24.485 muscular and fit. He had blue eyes and short brown 0:01:24.525 --> 0:01:27.325 hair that he wore in a buzz cut. On that 0:01:27.405 --> 0:01:31.205 Thursday night, Justin was wearing a gray Abercrombie and Fitch 0:01:31.285 --> 0:01:35.165 long sleeve shirt and rip blue jeans. He also had 0:01:35.165 --> 0:01:37.805 a pair of diamond stud ear rings that he sometimes wore. 0:01:38.525 --> 0:01:40.845 That night, he was wearing a single diamond stud in 0:01:40.885 --> 0:01:45.565 his left ear. On thirsty Thursdays at Wild Bills, you 0:01:45.685 --> 0:01:48.125 only had to be eighteen years old to enter the club, 0:01:48.325 --> 0:01:50.725 but Justin did have a couple of fake id's with 0:01:50.805 --> 0:01:52.765 him so that he could buy drinks at the bar. 0:01:53.645 --> 0:01:57.965 He used the names Brad Allen and Brad's Shoe. His mom, Erica, 0:01:58.085 --> 0:02:02.205 later clarified on web slue that technically these weren't fake IDs, 0:02:02.685 --> 0:02:05.445 they were the IDs of some older friends that Justin 0:02:05.525 --> 0:02:08.565 would use. I relate to this because I did a 0:02:08.605 --> 0:02:10.725 lot of that when I was younger, old enough to 0:02:10.725 --> 0:02:13.965 get into the club but too young to drink. So 0:02:14.445 --> 0:02:16.485 Justin didn't take a wallet out with him that night. 0:02:16.725 --> 0:02:20.725 He had no credit cards, just cash, his fake IDs, 0:02:20.805 --> 0:02:25.045 and his cell phone. His stepfather told Atlanta Magazine, which 0:02:25.085 --> 0:02:27.885 by the way, did a really long and in depth 0:02:27.925 --> 0:02:31.325 feature on this case, that he remembered that night very 0:02:31.325 --> 0:02:34.845 well because Apparently, right before he went out, Justin was 0:02:34.925 --> 0:02:37.525 joking around with Stephen about what shirt he should wear 0:02:37.565 --> 0:02:42.725 to impress the ladies. Justin was a big, very fit guy. 0:02:42.805 --> 0:02:46.005 He could take care of himself. He was also charming 0:02:46.125 --> 0:02:49.765 and confident, and, according to his mother, very social, someone 0:02:49.765 --> 0:02:54.485 who had no trouble talking to anyone, including strangers. He 0:02:54.525 --> 0:02:57.405 was a regular at Wild Bills. He knew the bartenders, 0:02:57.405 --> 0:02:59.925 and apparently he also knew some people who were going 0:02:59.965 --> 0:03:03.725 to be there that night. Justin had a car, but 0:03:03.805 --> 0:03:06.245 he wasn't driving. He left his at his mom and 0:03:06.245 --> 0:03:09.245 stepdad's house. He caught a ride with a friend of 0:03:09.245 --> 0:03:13.285 his named Chris Byers and Chris's girlfriend, Amanda. According to 0:03:13.325 --> 0:03:16.285 Atlanta Magazine, Chris and Justin had been friends for a 0:03:16.365 --> 0:03:20.005 long time, ever since high school. They were now college roommates. 0:03:20.805 --> 0:03:23.165 Chris and Amanda picked Justin up at his house and 0:03:23.165 --> 0:03:26.445 they headed to Wild Bills. Along the way, they stopped 0:03:26.445 --> 0:03:28.885 at a gas station where Justin mixed some vodka and 0:03:28.965 --> 0:03:32.885 gas station energy drink in one of those big fountain cups. Again, 0:03:33.125 --> 0:03:35.005 I used to do this all the time as a teen. 0:03:35.605 --> 0:03:37.845 It's an easy way to save money. Later at the bar, 0:03:39.005 --> 0:03:43.285 Wild Bills is huge. This club could hold thousands of people. 0:03:43.805 --> 0:03:46.245 It's closed now, but back in the day they had 0:03:46.285 --> 0:03:49.005 seven different bars and each bar had kind of a 0:03:49.045 --> 0:03:51.885 different vibe. They even had a tiki bar in there, 0:03:52.325 --> 0:03:54.965 and they would host all different kinds of events. They 0:03:54.965 --> 0:03:59.605 would host phone parties, sometimes mma fights, and they had 0:03:59.685 --> 0:04:02.885 line dancing nights. Most of their nights tended to have 0:04:02.925 --> 0:04:06.485 a country theme, but on Thursday Thursdays, the mechanical bowl 0:04:06.565 --> 0:04:10.485 and cowboy boots were replaced with girls dancing on platforms 0:04:10.525 --> 0:04:12.485 and a DJ who had spend R and B mixed 0:04:12.485 --> 0:04:17.125 with hip hop. Thursdays were also apparently the only night 0:04:17.365 --> 0:04:21.725 where eighteen year olds could go into the club. So Chris, Amanda, 0:04:21.765 --> 0:04:24.285 and Justin got to the bar and were ready to party. 0:04:25.725 --> 0:04:28.605 They were aiming to get there by eleven pm, but 0:04:28.645 --> 0:04:31.525 they were a few minutes late, and this twist of 0:04:31.565 --> 0:04:36.285 fate being a few minutes late changed everything because after 0:04:36.365 --> 0:04:40.365 eleven pm Wild Bills had a cover charge. It went 0:04:40.405 --> 0:04:44.325 from being free to ten dollars per person. Justin saw 0:04:44.365 --> 0:04:46.965 someone in line who he knew, so he was able 0:04:47.005 --> 0:04:49.285 to get a pass to get in for free, but 0:04:49.405 --> 0:04:52.205 Chris and Amanda could not, and they did not want 0:04:52.205 --> 0:04:55.365 to pay the cover charge, so they left Wild Bills 0:04:55.605 --> 0:04:58.365 and Justin went in on his own. He said that 0:04:58.405 --> 0:05:01.205 it was no problem, he would find a ride. This 0:05:01.405 --> 0:05:05.085 was something that he did often. Again, he was this big, 0:05:05.525 --> 0:05:10.125 strong guy who could handle himself. A while later, in 0:05:10.165 --> 0:05:13.205 the early morning hours of November two, two thousand and seven, 0:05:14.005 --> 0:05:17.445 Justin walked out into that parking lot in Duluth and 0:05:17.485 --> 0:05:23.885 no one ever saw him again. I'm Catherine Townsend. If 0:05:23.925 --> 0:05:25.805 you have a case you'd like me and my team 0:05:25.845 --> 0:05:28.125 to look into, you can reach out to us at 0:05:28.125 --> 0:05:31.125 our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven 0:05:31.205 --> 0:05:34.605 four four six one four or five. That's six seven 0:05:34.645 --> 0:05:38.925 eight seven four four six one four or five. This 0:05:39.125 --> 0:06:16.365 is Helen Gone Murder Line. The disappearance of Justin Gaines 0:06:16.445 --> 0:06:19.445 became a big story in Atlanta because no one could 0:06:19.485 --> 0:06:23.125 figure out how this guy just walked out into the 0:06:23.245 --> 0:06:27.285 night and never showed up again. So remember this was 0:06:27.365 --> 0:06:31.485 two thousand and seven. Instagram had just launched, and even 0:06:31.525 --> 0:06:34.765 though pretty much everyone had a cell phone then, people 0:06:34.885 --> 0:06:38.645 weren't constantly shooting video all the time like they do today. 0:06:40.085 --> 0:06:42.725 There were cameras at Wild Bill's, so there was some 0:06:42.765 --> 0:06:47.965 surveillance footage, but according to Justin's mom Erica, most of 0:06:48.005 --> 0:06:51.325 the cameras were focused on areas that handled money, like 0:06:51.365 --> 0:06:55.085 the register and the front and back doors. Erica did 0:06:55.165 --> 0:06:59.405 an interview with a podcast called Unfound, and in that interview, 0:07:00.005 --> 0:07:03.885 she explained that an FBI agent who was a friend 0:07:03.925 --> 0:07:07.165 of her, someone she knew, had come in to unofficially 0:07:07.205 --> 0:07:09.645 help her with the case, and the FBI agent was 0:07:09.725 --> 0:07:13.165 able to pull some of that surveillance footage. The footage 0:07:13.205 --> 0:07:16.125 showed that at the club, Justin had some drinks. He 0:07:16.245 --> 0:07:20.365 was on camera talking to a female bartender who he knew. Later, 0:07:20.525 --> 0:07:23.605 that bartender talked to Erica and told her that Justin 0:07:23.685 --> 0:07:26.445 seemed normal, like he was having a good time, and 0:07:26.765 --> 0:07:29.685 she said he did not appear to be super intoxicated. 0:07:30.245 --> 0:07:33.045 He apparently even made a comment to this bartender about 0:07:33.085 --> 0:07:36.965 not getting too smashed. While he was in the club, 0:07:37.325 --> 0:07:39.485 Justin made a couple of phone calls to friends of 0:07:39.525 --> 0:07:43.365 his who he believed were inside. We're not sure exactly 0:07:43.725 --> 0:07:45.565 what Justin was doing the whole time he was in 0:07:45.605 --> 0:07:47.965 the club because we only have a few moments on camera, 0:07:48.765 --> 0:07:52.165 but at one point he apparently did start talking to 0:07:52.245 --> 0:07:56.725 a girl. Later in some media reports, some reporters asked 0:07:56.805 --> 0:08:00.845 questions about what they called a minor altercation over a 0:08:00.885 --> 0:08:05.125 woman who Justin was apparently dancing with. Apparently this woman 0:08:05.125 --> 0:08:07.805 had a boyfriend, and Justin and the guys who were 0:08:07.805 --> 0:08:11.445 with this woman exchanged a few words. Some of these 0:08:11.445 --> 0:08:14.845 details came from a private investigator who was later hired 0:08:14.885 --> 0:08:18.805 by Erica, Justin's mom, but the PI said he could 0:08:18.845 --> 0:08:21.845 never nail down a description of the two guys who 0:08:22.005 --> 0:08:25.085 Justin was supposedly talking with. There are a lot of 0:08:25.165 --> 0:08:28.285 moments from Justin's time inside the club and afterward that 0:08:28.325 --> 0:08:32.485 are missing, but Justin was there for a while after 0:08:32.525 --> 0:08:34.605 he talked to this girl. He seemed to be in 0:08:34.645 --> 0:08:39.365 good spirits and he was chatting to people. Then, at 0:08:39.365 --> 0:08:42.605 around one point thirty, he got ready to leave. Justin 0:08:42.685 --> 0:08:45.525 walked outside the club at one thirty eight am. You 0:08:45.565 --> 0:08:48.885 can see that on the security footage. He started calling 0:08:48.925 --> 0:08:52.765 friends trying to find a ride home. Again. Remember this 0:08:52.925 --> 0:08:55.645 was a time before ride shares became a huge thing. 0:08:56.245 --> 0:08:58.965 Uber didn't come on the scene until around twenty ten. 0:09:00.005 --> 0:09:04.245 There were taxis, but it's never been reported how much 0:09:04.365 --> 0:09:07.565 cash Justin was carrying. So I wonder did he have 0:09:07.685 --> 0:09:10.685 a big wad of cash or just enough to cover drinks. 0:09:11.125 --> 0:09:13.005 He may not have had enough money to call a cab, 0:09:13.565 --> 0:09:15.685 and even if he did, some of his friends said 0:09:15.765 --> 0:09:17.885 he wasn't really a person who had a habit of 0:09:17.925 --> 0:09:21.285 calling taxis. He would hit up his friends for rides instead. 0:09:22.285 --> 0:09:24.885 His mother, by the way, made it clear that he 0:09:24.885 --> 0:09:27.805 could have called home at any time and she or 0:09:27.845 --> 0:09:30.565 her husband would have come to get him. She told 0:09:30.565 --> 0:09:34.205 Atlanta Magazine. Quote, I think he didn't call Stephen because 0:09:34.205 --> 0:09:37.085 he didn't want to disappoint us, and that haunts me, 0:09:37.285 --> 0:09:40.205 you know, because nothing the kids do would ever disappoint me. 0:09:40.685 --> 0:09:45.165 End quote. I find myself really feeling for Justin again here. 0:09:46.605 --> 0:09:48.685 He just wanted to go home. He made a ton 0:09:48.725 --> 0:09:51.445 of calls, but no one was able to come get him. 0:09:52.285 --> 0:09:54.925 And I can relate to this part too. He probably 0:09:54.925 --> 0:09:58.245 didn't want his parents to know he'd been drinking again. 0:09:58.485 --> 0:10:01.525 As a fit guy, he probably thought he could take 0:10:01.525 --> 0:10:07.285 care of himself. Often a person's sigh, especially a man's size, 0:10:07.365 --> 0:10:10.925 will give them a false sense of security. Most guys 0:10:10.925 --> 0:10:14.205 I know, especially young ones around this age, just don't 0:10:14.205 --> 0:10:16.725 feel that they're in danger. In the same way in general, 0:10:16.765 --> 0:10:19.845 as young women would, plus this was a safe area. 0:10:20.685 --> 0:10:24.325 Over the next half hour or so, Justin made twenty 0:10:24.365 --> 0:10:28.245 four calls to eleven different people, none of them could 0:10:28.245 --> 0:10:31.645 come get him. Justin's last call was to Chris, the 0:10:31.725 --> 0:10:34.965 friend he rode with to Wild Bills. He made that 0:10:35.045 --> 0:10:39.565 call at two two am. Chris later told Atlanta Magazine 0:10:39.605 --> 0:10:41.405 that Justin had called him and he was kind of 0:10:41.445 --> 0:10:45.565 half asleep. He remembered Justin asking for a ride, but 0:10:45.685 --> 0:10:48.965 Chris said he had borrowed his girlfriend's dad's car. He 0:10:48.965 --> 0:10:51.005 said he couldn't really go out at that time of 0:10:51.125 --> 0:10:54.325 night and ask for the car again. He thought that 0:10:54.485 --> 0:10:57.645 Justin would be fine, and later, of course, said that 0:10:57.685 --> 0:10:59.605 if he had had any idea that his friend was 0:10:59.605 --> 0:11:01.885 in trouble, he would have gone and gotten him instantly. 0:11:03.005 --> 0:11:09.725 After that phone call nothing At first, Erica wasn't worried 0:11:09.765 --> 0:11:12.325 when Justin didn't come back home the next morning. She 0:11:12.405 --> 0:11:14.085 knew he was going out to party and he's an 0:11:14.085 --> 0:11:17.405 eighteen year old guy. But then the weekend went by. 0:11:18.165 --> 0:11:21.045 She didn't hear from him on Saturday, and on Sunday 0:11:21.045 --> 0:11:24.605 morning she started calling his friends. He never came home 0:11:24.645 --> 0:11:26.645 to get his wallet or to pick up his car, 0:11:27.805 --> 0:11:31.485 and on Monday morning, November fifth, she became seriously alarmed 0:11:31.525 --> 0:11:34.085 because he never showed up to give Chris a ride 0:11:34.085 --> 0:11:37.685 back to school. Remember they were roommates. Erica told Dateline 0:11:37.685 --> 0:11:41.445 that at that point she logged onto Justin's online school portal, 0:11:41.485 --> 0:11:44.285 which she had access to. That's when she saw that 0:11:44.325 --> 0:11:46.885 he had not turned in some homework and she knew 0:11:46.885 --> 0:11:50.605 that that was completely out of character. She reported Justin 0:11:50.645 --> 0:11:54.605 missing friends, family and volunteers started trying to retrace his 0:11:54.685 --> 0:12:00.045 last steps. The police did a search as well, but 0:12:00.365 --> 0:12:03.085 Erica said that it really took about two weeks for 0:12:03.205 --> 0:12:08.525 police to start seriously searching. Everyone was trying to retrace 0:12:08.685 --> 0:12:11.285 Justin's steps. They were trying to figure out from that 0:12:11.405 --> 0:12:15.245 parking lot what his next move would be. Several people 0:12:15.325 --> 0:12:17.925 came forward and said that they had seen him sitting 0:12:17.965 --> 0:12:20.125 on a bench in the back parking lot on his 0:12:20.205 --> 0:12:23.165 cell phone. We know that he was making a ton 0:12:23.205 --> 0:12:27.565 of calls during that time. Shortly after two two am, 0:12:28.205 --> 0:12:32.605 Justin's phone pinged one more time and then the phone 0:12:32.605 --> 0:12:36.005 appeared to die. Erica said that he had a habit 0:12:36.045 --> 0:12:39.645 of sometimes letting his phone die, so did the battery 0:12:39.725 --> 0:12:43.365 die or did someone shut it off. Did Justin get 0:12:43.405 --> 0:12:46.325 tired of waiting for a ride, did he decide to 0:12:46.365 --> 0:12:49.725 try to walk toward home, or could someone have picked 0:12:49.765 --> 0:12:55.245 him up there. In the weeks following Justin's disappearance, some 0:12:55.365 --> 0:12:59.245 news outlets checked Justin's court history. They saw that Justin 0:12:59.325 --> 0:13:01.805 had a public intoxication charge on his record from the 0:13:01.805 --> 0:13:05.165 summer of two thousand and seven. It happened after he 0:13:05.165 --> 0:13:07.325 fell asleep in the backseat of his car with an 0:13:07.365 --> 0:13:10.685 open bottle of vodka in there. He got caught with 0:13:10.725 --> 0:13:14.165 the open container and a fake ID. So some people 0:13:14.205 --> 0:13:18.805 suggested that maybe Justin had left voluntarily to avoid going 0:13:18.845 --> 0:13:22.405 to court on November twenty first, But this seemed extremely 0:13:22.485 --> 0:13:26.205 far fetched right from the beginning, and his family immediately 0:13:26.245 --> 0:13:30.885 dismissed this theory. They knew it wasn't plausible. Also, these 0:13:30.925 --> 0:13:34.885 were not serious charges. There was no reason for Justin 0:13:34.925 --> 0:13:37.085 to have left on his own, and by the way, 0:13:37.125 --> 0:13:39.285 if he was leaving, why would he leave his wallet 0:13:39.485 --> 0:13:46.485 with his real ID and everything else behind. Justin's family 0:13:46.525 --> 0:13:49.765 did everything they could to help the search. Erica turned 0:13:49.885 --> 0:13:53.125 her home garage into an office. She started printing up flyers. 0:13:53.605 --> 0:13:56.365 The family put billboards up on Highway I eighty five. 0:13:57.205 --> 0:13:59.685 This tidbit was in the Atlanta magazine article, by the way, 0:13:59.725 --> 0:14:02.645 and it's so heartbreaking to me because I've heard this 0:14:02.805 --> 0:14:06.965 before in Rebecca Gould's case and in some other According 0:14:07.045 --> 0:14:12.485 to the article, people called Justin's stepfather to report buzzard sightings, 0:14:12.805 --> 0:14:15.445 and he would take his four wheeler out to look 0:14:15.885 --> 0:14:18.565 and see if there was a body out there, but 0:14:19.165 --> 0:14:23.085 he never found anything other than animal carcasses. Of course, 0:14:23.205 --> 0:14:26.565 police talked to Justin's friends. There were rumors early on 0:14:27.165 --> 0:14:31.685 that Chris wasn't being super helpful to law enforcement. Apparently 0:14:31.845 --> 0:14:35.925 Chris believed that police were too hard on his girlfriend, Amanda, 0:14:36.485 --> 0:14:40.565 but Erica later clarified on a web sluse forum that 0:14:40.645 --> 0:14:44.125 after some initial friction, all of Justin's friends had been 0:14:44.165 --> 0:14:48.245 cooperative and police confirmed Chris and Amanda were at home 0:14:48.285 --> 0:14:53.285 in bed when Justin went missing. Erica told the Unfound 0:14:53.325 --> 0:14:56.125 podcast that she does not believe that Justin walked out 0:14:56.165 --> 0:14:59.445 of that parking lot. It was late, but not super late. 0:15:00.045 --> 0:15:03.125 There were people around, and Justin was in the back 0:15:03.205 --> 0:15:06.365 parking lot, which was less busy than the parking lot, 0:15:06.685 --> 0:15:09.365 but it wasn't deserted. In fact, it was somewhere where 0:15:09.405 --> 0:15:12.085 in the past Justin had hung out and had some 0:15:12.205 --> 0:15:16.245 drinks with friends. Again, Wild Bills was in a safe area, 0:15:16.325 --> 0:15:21.085 pretty much in the middle of suburbia. Erica believes that 0:15:21.245 --> 0:15:24.765 if Justin decided to walk along the highway toward home, 0:15:25.525 --> 0:15:27.765 she believes someone would have seen him, And I think 0:15:27.805 --> 0:15:30.965 she's right. A big guy like that probably would have 0:15:31.005 --> 0:15:34.605 been spotted on a camera somewhere or by some witnesses, 0:15:35.245 --> 0:15:39.485 which means that Justin almost certainly got picked up in 0:15:39.605 --> 0:15:43.365 that parking lot. So the question is who picked him up. 0:15:46.965 --> 0:15:50.685 Police have said they believe that Justin may have been 0:15:50.725 --> 0:15:54.125 picked up by a blonde woman, possibly driving a black car. 0:15:54.965 --> 0:15:59.325 They got this information from a friend of Justin's named James. Now, 0:15:59.325 --> 0:16:03.685 according to Erica, James, who knew Justin from college, saw 0:16:03.805 --> 0:16:06.485 him getting into a car with a blonde woman wearing 0:16:06.525 --> 0:16:11.725 a black dress. Unfortunately, James has since passed away. So 0:16:12.325 --> 0:16:15.485 who is this mystery woman? Was it someone who knew 0:16:15.565 --> 0:16:18.845 Justin before or a stranger who lured him into the car? 0:16:19.885 --> 0:16:23.285 Was she alone or was she with people? Could this 0:16:23.365 --> 0:16:27.325 have been some kind of robbery setup. Justin did not 0:16:27.445 --> 0:16:31.045 seem to have any enemies, but the Atlanta magazine reporter 0:16:31.165 --> 0:16:34.445 did talk to a friend of Justin's. This person wasn't named, 0:16:34.525 --> 0:16:37.365 but they told the reporter that he and Justin would 0:16:37.405 --> 0:16:40.445 occasionally break into cars that were unlocked around their off 0:16:40.445 --> 0:16:43.925 campus apartment. Basically, what they do is just pull the 0:16:43.965 --> 0:16:45.765 handle of the car see if it was unlocked, and 0:16:45.765 --> 0:16:47.885 if it was, they would go in and take money. 0:16:48.685 --> 0:16:50.845 The friends said there was a drug dealer living there. 0:16:51.725 --> 0:16:54.405 Apparently Justin thought that this person might have a lot 0:16:54.405 --> 0:16:56.565 of cash in his car, so they went up to 0:16:56.605 --> 0:16:59.045 the car, but they said the drug dealer was standing 0:16:59.125 --> 0:17:01.405 right there on the porch, so in the end they 0:17:01.445 --> 0:17:03.525 didn't go to the car and there was no confrontation. 0:17:06.925 --> 0:17:09.605 But it did get me thinking, if he had a 0:17:09.645 --> 0:17:12.285 habit of pulling on car doors, could he have opened 0:17:12.285 --> 0:17:14.805 someone's car or maybe tried to sleep in someone's car 0:17:14.805 --> 0:17:16.685 if he couldn't find a ride in his battery was dead. 0:17:17.285 --> 0:17:23.165 Stranger things have happened. According to Justin's mother, Erica, one 0:17:23.325 --> 0:17:26.405 very early name that came up to her was Dustin 0:17:26.565 --> 0:17:30.805 Dylan Glass, a career criminal and gang member. Now Apparently, 0:17:31.205 --> 0:17:33.525 Dustin showed up at a pawn shop in the early 0:17:33.565 --> 0:17:38.245 morning hours of November two. Police have found surveillance footage 0:17:38.285 --> 0:17:40.885 to that pawnshop and there is an image of Dustin. 0:17:41.205 --> 0:17:43.405 He's wearing a diamond studd in his ear that looked 0:17:43.485 --> 0:17:45.525 very much like the one that Justin had been wearing 0:17:45.565 --> 0:17:50.485 that night. I'm not clear on why police first got 0:17:50.485 --> 0:17:53.485 tipped off to him, but once Dustin's name was mentioned, 0:17:54.365 --> 0:17:58.365 police continued to track him. Time went by with no 0:17:58.525 --> 0:18:01.325 arrest and no sign of Justin and no body. Tips 0:18:01.325 --> 0:18:05.725 started coming in from everywhere, everything from random side dings 0:18:05.765 --> 0:18:07.965 of Justin that would turn out to be bogus, to 0:18:08.125 --> 0:18:10.925 psychics who said that they believed that he was in 0:18:10.965 --> 0:18:13.045 a body of water somewhere, which is, by the way, 0:18:13.125 --> 0:18:15.965 what psychics always seem to say. It drives me crazy. 0:18:16.285 --> 0:18:20.685 Side note there. The Walton County Sheriff's Department cold case 0:18:20.725 --> 0:18:24.125 investigator Michael Rising, who is now in charge of the investigation, 0:18:24.525 --> 0:18:28.165 told Dateline in twenty twenty three that police had investigated 0:18:28.165 --> 0:18:31.525 a couple of different theories early on. One that Justin 0:18:31.565 --> 0:18:33.245 could have been flirting with a girl who had a 0:18:33.245 --> 0:18:36.125 boyfriend and that there was some kind of altercation, and 0:18:36.165 --> 0:18:38.765 the other theory was that someone targeted Justin for a 0:18:38.845 --> 0:18:42.965 robbery based on his clothes and his diamond earing. On 0:18:43.005 --> 0:18:45.685 the Wild Bill's website back in two thousand and seven, 0:18:46.125 --> 0:18:48.485 there was a statement about Justin being missing and it 0:18:48.605 --> 0:18:51.805 read quote last scene walking toward a car that he 0:18:51.925 --> 0:18:54.725 called his ride, with two men standing by the car. 0:18:55.365 --> 0:18:57.885 Reports also say he was seen in the parking lot 0:18:57.925 --> 0:19:02.765 of Barnacles, another bar, with these same two men end quote. 0:19:02.965 --> 0:19:06.125 Now this is just a rumor. It's unconfirmed, and honestly, 0:19:06.165 --> 0:19:09.285 I can't find that information anywhere else. I don't know 0:19:09.325 --> 0:19:12.045 if it's just something someone posted or if it was 0:19:12.125 --> 0:19:16.245 a legitimate tip. And I wonder who first said it. 0:19:17.005 --> 0:19:19.805 There does seem to be more than one source saying 0:19:19.805 --> 0:19:23.125 that Justin was talking to some men that night. Again, 0:19:23.205 --> 0:19:24.845 it wouldn't have been out of character for him to 0:19:24.885 --> 0:19:27.765 talk to people. His mom and his friends say he 0:19:27.885 --> 0:19:31.845 talked to strangers all the time. But for a while, 0:19:31.965 --> 0:19:34.925 those two police theories appeared to just be dead ends. 0:19:35.885 --> 0:19:39.285 Over the next few years, justin moms Erica said openly 0:19:39.365 --> 0:19:42.965 she struggled. Even though she was printing up flyers and 0:19:43.005 --> 0:19:45.965 stickers and talking to the media, there were days where 0:19:46.005 --> 0:19:48.085 she found it hard to get out of bed, and 0:19:48.125 --> 0:19:51.245 the family had another setback in twenty eleven when one 0:19:51.285 --> 0:19:54.405 of Justin's brothers died, But even when she was going 0:19:54.405 --> 0:19:57.645 through dark times herself, Erica never stopped trying to get 0:19:57.685 --> 0:20:02.045 media coverage of this case. Police looked in a lot 0:20:02.045 --> 0:20:04.445 of different directions. They really didn't have anything to go 0:20:04.525 --> 0:20:07.485 on into rumors that could have been the National Forest 0:20:07.485 --> 0:20:10.565 serial killer Gary Hilton, but there was absolutely no evidence 0:20:10.605 --> 0:20:14.645 of that. And of course, every single time an unidentified 0:20:14.645 --> 0:20:16.965 body was found in the area, the family would have 0:20:17.005 --> 0:20:19.685 to go through the agony of waiting. None of them 0:20:19.685 --> 0:20:24.205 were Justin. As we said before, Erica hired a private 0:20:24.245 --> 0:20:29.485 investigator named Bob Pulno. He started his investigation in two 0:20:29.525 --> 0:20:33.125 thousand and eight and basically he's never stopped. According to 0:20:33.165 --> 0:20:36.525 Atlanta Magazine, Bob is retired now, but this is one 0:20:36.525 --> 0:20:39.445 of those cases he can't let go of. Bob did 0:20:39.485 --> 0:20:41.845 lots of interviews, and in two thousand and eight he 0:20:41.965 --> 0:20:46.125 said he identified several people of interest. He also looked 0:20:46.125 --> 0:20:50.205 into theories that Justin could have been extremely intoxicated or drugged. 0:20:51.165 --> 0:20:54.925 The PI also tried to track down everyone who Justin 0:20:54.965 --> 0:20:58.165 talked to on the phone that night, and he found 0:20:58.205 --> 0:21:00.845 a pattern. No one felt that Justin was behaving out 0:21:00.845 --> 0:21:04.485 of the ordinary. It's the same story with the video 0:21:04.525 --> 0:21:07.845 surveillance footage, Eric has said. And if you look online, 0:21:07.885 --> 0:21:11.365 you can see Justin walks out of the club. He's 0:21:11.405 --> 0:21:15.365 calmly walking forward, not stumbling. He has his phone pressed 0:21:15.365 --> 0:21:17.765 to his ear. He looks like he's walking with purpose, 0:21:17.805 --> 0:21:22.005 and he's talking on the phone. Seven years after Justin disappeared, 0:21:22.405 --> 0:21:26.605 a local news station WXIA broadcasts some additional footage that 0:21:26.765 --> 0:21:30.085 was taken from inside the club that night. This footage 0:21:30.085 --> 0:21:33.245 showed Justin walking out the door toward the back parking lot. 0:21:33.925 --> 0:21:36.725 Right after him, a group that looked like three girls 0:21:36.725 --> 0:21:40.285 and a guy walked outside the club. Justin seems to 0:21:40.365 --> 0:21:42.965 kind of veer left, and they look like they're veering right, 0:21:43.445 --> 0:21:45.645 but there are also a couple of other guys standing 0:21:45.645 --> 0:21:48.765 outside in that parking lot. A few minutes later, two 0:21:48.845 --> 0:21:51.805 men and a woman enter the club. They come from 0:21:51.805 --> 0:21:56.325 the same direction Justin was seen leaving. Another couple leaves. 0:21:56.725 --> 0:21:59.605 This woman has long, dark hair and jeans on. You 0:21:59.605 --> 0:22:01.365 can only see the guy from the back, but he's 0:22:01.365 --> 0:22:04.165 wearing a number twenty two jersey that the news anchor 0:22:04.205 --> 0:22:08.085 pointed out as pretty distinctive. There are also two guys 0:22:08.125 --> 0:22:11.245 in white shirts. They look like they're going into the club, 0:22:11.245 --> 0:22:14.845 but then they turn around after Justin passes them. They 0:22:14.885 --> 0:22:17.765 don't go in, and then when footage is shown from 0:22:17.805 --> 0:22:20.885 a few minutes later, you can see them entering the club. Now, 0:22:21.405 --> 0:22:23.845 I'm not saying that any of these people had anything 0:22:23.885 --> 0:22:28.085 to do with Justin's disappearance, but they may have seen something, 0:22:28.725 --> 0:22:33.125 even something small, that could help crack this case. Again, 0:22:33.405 --> 0:22:35.805 wild bills can hold thousands of people. It was a 0:22:35.805 --> 0:22:39.845 crowded night. It is mind boggling that no one saw anything. 0:22:41.365 --> 0:22:44.845 In September of twenty fifteen, seemingly out of nowhere, there 0:22:44.845 --> 0:22:48.965 were two arrests and someone said they knew exactly what 0:22:49.005 --> 0:22:51.885 happened to Justin Gaines. That it went down at a 0:22:52.005 --> 0:22:55.725 dark garage at a house in Snellville. This person said 0:22:55.885 --> 0:22:58.685 Justin had been lured to that residence and then when 0:22:58.685 --> 0:23:03.125 he walked in, he was attacked, robbed, beaten, and murdered. 0:23:13.485 --> 0:23:16.645 In September of twenty fifteen, after a long period of silence, 0:23:17.125 --> 0:23:19.765 there were two arrests in connection with the disappearance, and 0:23:19.845 --> 0:23:23.205 now police believed death of Justin Gaines in two thousand 0:23:23.205 --> 0:23:27.645 and seven. The police's original person of interest was Dustin 0:23:27.765 --> 0:23:31.805 Dylan Glass. He had been arrested for distributing methamphetamines, among 0:23:31.845 --> 0:23:35.525 other things, and was facing some serious charges, according to 0:23:35.525 --> 0:23:39.725 the arrest warrant. After he was arrested, he started cooperating 0:23:39.765 --> 0:23:42.765 with police. He told police that he and another man, 0:23:42.925 --> 0:23:46.525 fifty seven year old Martin Leonard Wilkie, had assaulted Justin 0:23:46.605 --> 0:23:49.765 and robbed him. He said that this assault and robbery 0:23:49.845 --> 0:23:55.165 of Justin had ended with Justin being fatally shot. Dustin 0:23:55.245 --> 0:23:57.605 told police that he took the earring from Justin, but 0:23:57.685 --> 0:24:00.565 said that Justin was alive when he left him. The 0:24:00.605 --> 0:24:03.965 detective who talked to reporters later said he believed Dustin 0:24:04.045 --> 0:24:06.605 was saying this to kind of confess in a roundabout way, 0:24:07.085 --> 0:24:09.565 and it seemed to me the detective believed Dustin was 0:24:09.685 --> 0:24:13.925 kind of taunting the detective. Martin Wilkee was arrested and 0:24:14.085 --> 0:24:18.045 charged with concealing a death. Then a woman backed up 0:24:18.125 --> 0:24:22.085