WEBVTT - The Waiting Game 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:20.965 School of Humans. I get a lot of emails about 0:00:20.965 --> 0:00:24.645 cold cases all the time, and I always google it 0:00:24.685 --> 0:00:26.045 and kind of look and see if it would be 0:00:26.085 --> 0:00:29.925 something that, you know, maybe we could help with. And 0:00:31.885 --> 0:00:35.445 this one first, I was kind of struck by the 0:00:35.485 --> 0:00:39.045 fact it's another girl, it's another situation where there are 0:00:39.085 --> 0:00:43.765 a lot of suspects, potential suspects. Usually when I look, 0:00:43.885 --> 0:00:46.005 you know, doing a lot of true crime stuff. And 0:00:46.085 --> 0:00:47.445 usually when I look at a story, I can tell 0:00:47.485 --> 0:00:50.245 in the first five minutes will probably happened. But this 0:00:50.285 --> 0:00:59.325 one's really strange. As I drive the long and winding 0:00:59.405 --> 0:01:03.205 roads into the Ozarks, I think about a conversation I 0:01:03.285 --> 0:01:07.165 had in a high school physics class. The teacher was 0:01:07.205 --> 0:01:11.125 talking about time travel. Where would we go? He asked 0:01:11.445 --> 0:01:15.325 if we could be instantly transported to any point in history. 0:01:16.005 --> 0:01:18.125 Some people said they would pop back to see a 0:01:18.165 --> 0:01:22.485 dinosaur or visit Jesus, But the response that stopped everyone 0:01:22.605 --> 0:01:26.485 cold was from the quiet kid in the back. I 0:01:26.485 --> 0:01:28.805 would go back to the day my mom was murdered, 0:01:28.845 --> 0:01:31.725 he said, so I could be there and stop it. 0:01:32.405 --> 0:01:34.845 And if I couldn't stop it, at least I could 0:01:34.845 --> 0:01:42.085 see who did it. Investigating a cold case murder is 0:01:42.125 --> 0:01:44.685 the closest thing I will ever get to time travel. 0:01:46.925 --> 0:01:51.085 A lot has happened since last season. After spending months 0:01:51.125 --> 0:01:54.045 in the Ozarks, I went back to New York City 0:01:54.085 --> 0:01:56.845 for my job, and I tried to get on with 0:01:56.925 --> 0:02:02.205 my life. But wherever I am interviewing an FBI profiler, 0:02:02.525 --> 0:02:06.045 riding the subway, and drinking beers with a date, A 0:02:06.085 --> 0:02:10.125 big part of my brain is stuck replaying September twentieth, 0:02:10.165 --> 0:02:14.285 two thousand and four, the day Rebecca Gould was murdered. 0:02:16.765 --> 0:02:20.605 Six months after our last season wrapped, I'm back in Arkansas. 0:02:22.085 --> 0:02:25.605 Like I said back then, when we started Rebecca's case, 0:02:26.205 --> 0:02:28.605 we thought we knew who the good guys were and 0:02:28.645 --> 0:02:32.965 who the bad guys were. But now I'm not so sure. 0:02:34.005 --> 0:02:36.725 We have given all kinds of information to the police, 0:02:37.405 --> 0:02:42.125 piles of documents and letters, uncut audio clips, as our 0:02:42.165 --> 0:02:46.325 intention has always been to help the investigation, and yet 0:02:46.525 --> 0:02:49.165 in many ways, the investigation feels just as still as 0:02:49.165 --> 0:02:54.365 it was before. For now it's a waiting game. But 0:02:54.525 --> 0:02:59.765 patience has never been my strong suit. Since the end 0:02:59.765 --> 0:03:03.765 of season one, I've received hundreds of messages about other 0:03:03.885 --> 0:03:07.605 unsolved cases in Arkansas. People reach out at all hours 0:03:07.605 --> 0:03:11.365 of the night on social media. I had no idea. 0:03:11.485 --> 0:03:13.805 There were so many unsolved murders and so many people 0:03:13.805 --> 0:03:18.325 who needed help. Then one night I get a Facebook 0:03:18.325 --> 0:03:20.725 message that says I should look into the mysterious death 0:03:20.765 --> 0:03:26.285 of Olivia Jane Ward. It started on September ninth, nineteen 0:03:26.325 --> 0:03:29.845 eighty nine, sixteen year old Janey headed out to a 0:03:29.885 --> 0:03:33.725 cabin in the woods outside the tiny town of Marshall, Arkansas. 0:03:34.565 --> 0:03:39.165 It was just another weekend, another high school party, But 0:03:39.245 --> 0:03:43.965 a few hours later, Janie was dead. The story goes 0:03:44.005 --> 0:03:47.525 that she died from falling off a porch, a porch 0:03:47.605 --> 0:03:51.325 that was no more than ten inches tall. As Jane 0:03:51.485 --> 0:03:55.285 lay there, dead or dying, her friends made the decision 0:03:55.485 --> 0:03:57.365 to load her into the back of a pickup truck 0:03:57.685 --> 0:04:00.405 and drive her to the middle of town. They ended 0:04:00.485 --> 0:04:04.005 up at the bank parking lot. One of the paramedics 0:04:04.045 --> 0:04:07.205 to examine Jane noticed that she was wet and covered 0:04:07.205 --> 0:04:11.765 in debris. The paramedic immediately concluded that she believed this 0:04:11.845 --> 0:04:16.085 was a suspicious death. In the thirty years since she died, 0:04:16.765 --> 0:04:20.005 her body has been exhumed twice. There have been three 0:04:20.085 --> 0:04:25.445 different autopsies conducted by three separate people and several investigations, 0:04:25.485 --> 0:04:29.645 both by police and by private detectives, but no one 0:04:29.685 --> 0:04:33.165 has been able to explain the inconsistencies, and no one 0:04:33.205 --> 0:04:39.445 can answer the question what or who killed Jane Ward? 0:04:40.045 --> 0:04:43.125 Was it an accident or could it have been murder. 0:04:44.445 --> 0:04:47.205 On a recent trip back to Arkansas to visit my dad, 0:04:47.805 --> 0:04:51.085 I saw a huge black pickup truck drive by. On 0:04:51.205 --> 0:04:55.005 the back I saw a faded bumper sticker. It read 0:04:55.205 --> 0:04:59.845 Justice for Jane. It hit a nerve with me because 0:04:59.845 --> 0:05:03.845 I've been waiting for justice for Rebecca. I'm going to 0:05:03.885 --> 0:05:06.565 see if I can figure out what happened to to Janey. 0:05:07.285 --> 0:05:10.205 So once again we have to go back in time, 0:05:11.685 --> 0:05:15.405 but this time we're going back to September ninth, nineteen 0:05:15.445 --> 0:05:20.205 eighty nine, the night Jane died. I'm Catherine Townsend and 0:05:20.245 --> 0:05:55.885 this is Helen Gone. So we're right off the main 0:05:56.365 --> 0:05:59.485 highway in Marshall. Marshall is a small town with a 0:05:59.525 --> 0:06:03.205 population of about thirteen hundred, half the size of Mountain View, 0:06:03.245 --> 0:06:06.205 where we spent last season. We're next to Kathy's flea market, 0:06:06.645 --> 0:06:11.085 which has knives and tools and lots of knick knacks. 0:06:11.125 --> 0:06:15.645 The main drage two lane Highway sixty five is lined 0:06:15.645 --> 0:06:20.765 with flea markets, a few churches, and sonic At one 0:06:20.805 --> 0:06:24.805 intersection is the business district. There's the Daisy Queen, an 0:06:24.805 --> 0:06:27.565 old school burger joint that's been serving up fried Twinkie 0:06:27.605 --> 0:06:31.445 Sundays to locals since nineteen sixty six. Just past Harp's 0:06:31.445 --> 0:06:36.405 grocery store, a road veers off toward the woods. This 0:06:36.605 --> 0:06:38.965 is the route that Janie took toward the party on 0:06:39.125 --> 0:06:42.565 Zach Road on the last night of her life. I'm 0:06:42.645 --> 0:06:46.085 riding with Gabby, one of our producers. Head north on 0:06:46.165 --> 0:06:49.325 Spring Street, then turn left onto East Main Street. We 0:06:49.365 --> 0:06:52.205 don't have time to see the site for thirty nine miles. Yeah, 0:06:52.445 --> 0:06:55.445 continue street, it's easy, right, Yeah, here's We're headed north 0:06:55.485 --> 0:06:58.885 to meet with our first contact, Mike Masterson. I guess 0:06:58.885 --> 0:07:02.845 could you talk about him? And like, yeah, Mike is 0:07:03.125 --> 0:07:06.325 a real old school investigative journalist And how I met 0:07:06.365 --> 0:07:09.765 him was after getting tipped off about this case, the 0:07:09.885 --> 0:07:12.965 Jane Ward case, I started looking into journalists who might 0:07:12.965 --> 0:07:15.005 have written about it locally. And Mike has written over 0:07:15.045 --> 0:07:19.005 two hundred articles for the Arkansas Democrats at opinion pieces 0:07:19.805 --> 0:07:22.045 on the Jane Ward case. He's been a really strong 0:07:22.085 --> 0:07:25.285 advocate for getting justice for her. Like I said last season, 0:07:26.045 --> 0:07:28.765 in this neck of the woods, you're either from here 0:07:29.605 --> 0:07:34.205 or you're from off, and since I'm in the latter category, 0:07:34.245 --> 0:07:37.405 it helps to find someone local who understands the case. 0:07:38.365 --> 0:07:40.845 We meet him and his wife at his home office 0:07:40.845 --> 0:07:47.445 in here. So that's my Chuado Winston. Since I don't 0:07:47.445 --> 0:07:49.405 know when I'll be going home, I brought him with me. 0:07:51.485 --> 0:07:54.285 Mike is friendly and smart, and he has a great 0:07:54.325 --> 0:07:58.445 sense of humor. Framed copies of his many expose as 0:07:58.525 --> 0:08:02.085 from the Chicago Sun, Times and other newspapers cover the 0:08:02.125 --> 0:08:05.445 walls of his home office. Yeah, on these wall, associate. 0:08:05.485 --> 0:08:07.765 The accumulation looks kind of like a museum, doesn't it. 0:08:09.125 --> 0:08:14.285 Maybe forty six year, seven year career in journalism. There's 0:08:14.285 --> 0:08:16.445 a cowboy hat on the back of his chair and 0:08:16.525 --> 0:08:20.565 a display bottle of Crown Royal on his shelf. He's 0:08:20.645 --> 0:08:24.445 eager to talk about Jennie. Jennie Ward case is I think, 0:08:24.485 --> 0:08:28.005 by far of the complex cases that I've been involved in, 0:08:28.965 --> 0:08:33.245 matters that I consider to be injustice that remains today. 0:08:33.765 --> 0:08:36.565 Mike didn't start writing about Jane until two thousand and four, 0:08:36.965 --> 0:08:40.525 fifteen years after she died. He got interested in the 0:08:40.565 --> 0:08:42.965 case after her family was trying to get her body 0:08:43.005 --> 0:08:47.885 exhumed for another autopsy. Mike had investigated numerous murder cases 0:08:47.885 --> 0:08:50.325 in Arkansas, so a colleague of his thought he could 0:08:50.325 --> 0:08:52.645 help with Jane's and a reporter from this newspaper in 0:08:52.685 --> 0:08:54.925 Harrison called me one day and he said, Mike, there's 0:08:54.965 --> 0:08:56.965 a case you need to look at and involves the 0:08:56.965 --> 0:09:01.765 death of a young girl in high school. So I 0:09:01.805 --> 0:09:05.765 got in touch with Ron. Ron is Janie's dad, and on, 0:09:06.925 --> 0:09:11.245 being the dedicated father he was to his daughter, his 0:09:11.365 --> 0:09:16.245 late daughter, had been collecting every scrap of information he 0:09:16.285 --> 0:09:17.965 could get. The more I looked at it, the more 0:09:17.965 --> 0:09:21.405 I realized this thing. Thanks to Hi, I haven't you 0:09:21.445 --> 0:09:24.365 know she didn't fall off a nine inch tall porch, 0:09:24.405 --> 0:09:26.405 which I described at one column as the length of 0:09:26.445 --> 0:09:30.965 my shoe and tear her spinal column in half. None 0:09:30.965 --> 0:09:34.165 of it made any sense. To this day, Mike is 0:09:34.245 --> 0:09:37.445 not convinced that Jane simply fell off a porch and died. 0:09:38.245 --> 0:09:40.125 And I want to trust him because he's seen the 0:09:40.205 --> 0:09:43.645 underbelly of this state, and for him, a cover up 0:09:43.685 --> 0:09:46.885 is never out of the question. We'll be right back 0:09:53.685 --> 0:09:57.365 in his two hundred columns about Janney. Mike kept asking 0:09:57.365 --> 0:10:01.525 his readers, what if Janie Ward was your daughter. After 0:10:01.565 --> 0:10:05.045 I'd been writing about this for probably a year, they 0:10:05.085 --> 0:10:09.245 had a at the Capitol Justice for Jenny rally. Some 0:10:09.365 --> 0:10:12.205 went down there and probably two hundred people from around 0:10:12.365 --> 0:10:16.285 Arkansas showed up at that big rally. It was obvious 0:10:16.325 --> 0:10:19.165 to me that this case had really touched the nerve. 0:10:20.085 --> 0:10:22.085 I think a lot of people in this state and 0:10:22.365 --> 0:10:26.245 other states, but in this state have had injustices happened 0:10:26.285 --> 0:10:29.005 to them, and so in many ways, I think they 0:10:29.045 --> 0:10:32.405 could relate to what the words were going through trying 0:10:32.405 --> 0:10:35.965 to get answers. Can't get answers. When I get answers, 0:10:36.085 --> 0:10:39.085 nobody does anything. And I told Ron when we first 0:10:39.125 --> 0:10:43.165 started this, I said, you know, Ron, I can write 0:10:43.285 --> 0:10:46.165 a million words about what happened to Jenney, but you 0:10:46.165 --> 0:10:49.725 need to understand that at some point the system has 0:10:49.765 --> 0:10:52.445 to work. The system doesn't work. It doesn't matter how 0:10:52.445 --> 0:10:55.125 many words I write, or how many people in Arkansas 0:10:55.245 --> 0:10:58.485 know how bad this was and can see a lot 0:10:58.525 --> 0:11:00.845 of the truth of this case. It won't matter because 0:11:00.965 --> 0:11:03.725 nobody will take action that has the authority to take action. 0:11:09.365 --> 0:11:12.925 While he was writing about Jane. Mike Masterson became close 0:11:13.005 --> 0:11:15.805 with the Ward family, and he's agreed to set up 0:11:15.805 --> 0:11:20.765 a meeting with Janie's mom, Mona. Janie's dad, Ron passed 0:11:20.765 --> 0:11:24.205 away last year. You never met Ron, but what was 0:11:24.245 --> 0:11:28.405 he like as a person? Straightforward, six foot five three 0:11:28.605 --> 0:11:32.045 d and thirty pounds, big big man, had hands twice 0:11:32.085 --> 0:11:37.725 the size of mind, very driven. Ron was an extremely 0:11:37.805 --> 0:11:40.645 driven person to find out what happened to his daughter. 0:11:45.365 --> 0:11:48.805 The next day, we head to the Townhouse Cafe in Harrison. 0:11:49.645 --> 0:11:52.765 Mike is already there. He directs us to a table 0:11:52.805 --> 0:11:54.885 at the back of the restaurant, near the kitchen that's 0:11:54.925 --> 0:11:59.125 gearing up for a very busy lunch hour. Mona arrives 0:11:59.125 --> 0:12:03.045 along with her daughter and Janie's younger sister, Crystal. They 0:12:03.125 --> 0:12:08.125 hugged Mike. Their familiarity is almost like that of soldiers. 0:12:08.725 --> 0:12:13.525 They've clearly been through a lot together. Mona is emotional, 0:12:14.605 --> 0:12:18.405 but she's also tough. It's obvious that, no matter how 0:12:18.445 --> 0:12:21.325 hard this is for her, she wants to get her 0:12:21.405 --> 0:12:24.405 daughter's story out. I can recall it, but I've blocked 0:12:24.445 --> 0:12:28.525 out a lot on purpose to keep from dwelling on 0:12:28.565 --> 0:12:32.645 it because it's painful. Mona immediately dives into what happened 0:12:32.685 --> 0:12:37.005 on September ninth, nineteen eighty nine. All Right, the night 0:12:37.125 --> 0:12:42.885 happened a distant cousin he came and said that Janie 0:12:43.685 --> 0:12:45.725 had had an accident and she was in the hospital 0:12:45.765 --> 0:12:48.045 in Harrison, and so we just jumped in the car 0:12:48.125 --> 0:12:52.125 with him. And when we got to sixty five, instead 0:12:52.125 --> 0:12:56.365 of taking a left to go to Harrison to the hospital, 0:12:56.565 --> 0:12:59.845 it took a ride and Ronnie said, where are you going? 0:12:59.885 --> 0:13:01.365 What are you doing? He said, we got to go 0:13:01.405 --> 0:13:05.365 by the Sheriff's office, and we knew then something was happening, 0:13:05.565 --> 0:13:08.365 and right, and when we got there, there was probably 0:13:08.405 --> 0:13:12.205 over one hundred people, parents and children, and we just 0:13:12.405 --> 0:13:15.925 had to elbow way in. And when we got in 0:13:16.205 --> 0:13:19.685 it was lined with people, you know, small sheriff department. 0:13:20.725 --> 0:13:24.805 And then I was asking people, well, what's wrong, what's wrong? 0:13:25.245 --> 0:13:27.565 And when we got in the Sheriff's office, you know, 0:13:27.645 --> 0:13:34.405 he said, Jannie was there no explanation. After the sheriff 0:13:34.445 --> 0:13:37.645 told him the news, Mona said, he abruptly walked out 0:13:37.685 --> 0:13:40.405 of the room and didn't answer any of their questions. 0:13:41.365 --> 0:13:45.925 And I just lost it and Ronnie did too, and 0:13:45.965 --> 0:13:48.565 then they said you have to go. We had to 0:13:48.605 --> 0:13:50.845 take you to the moor again. I couldn't do it. 0:13:51.245 --> 0:13:53.485 I did not want that to be my last memory 0:13:54.045 --> 0:13:57.085 of Jane. I couldn't do it. Still in shock from 0:13:57.125 --> 0:14:00.965 the news, Ron went with the police to identify Jannie's body. 0:14:01.285 --> 0:14:03.325 I was going to say that I remember Ronnie when 0:14:03.325 --> 0:14:06.125 we had a long talk about this too several times. 0:14:06.605 --> 0:14:10.005 But he mentioned when he saw Jannie in the mortuary 0:14:10.765 --> 0:14:14.605 that she was wet, had the sand, and that he 0:14:14.605 --> 0:14:17.045 he touched her her neck just he could tell her 0:14:17.085 --> 0:14:22.405 neck was broken. Ron described Haimona what he saw. Janie 0:14:22.445 --> 0:14:25.365 was lying on a table and he immediately noticed her neck. 0:14:26.805 --> 0:14:31.085 It looked broken. He saw bruising on her face and 0:14:31.125 --> 0:14:34.205 down her neck. He ran his hands through her hair 0:14:34.525 --> 0:14:37.405 and felt what he believes to be sand, and he 0:14:37.485 --> 0:14:40.645 saw the condition she was in. And he told me 0:14:41.845 --> 0:14:44.765 and later I wish I had it so I could, 0:14:45.205 --> 0:14:48.085 you know, confirm everything he saw. But although I knew 0:14:48.165 --> 0:14:51.965 he saw what he saw. And they said to him, 0:14:52.005 --> 0:14:54.085 they said, do you want to use this funeral home, 0:14:54.125 --> 0:14:56.205 our funeral home or the other funeral home, And he said, 0:14:56.245 --> 0:14:59.765 I want an autopsy. Ron was suspicious that the coroner 0:14:59.805 --> 0:15:04.205 didn't immediately suggest an autopsy, but once he insisted, the 0:15:04.245 --> 0:15:07.045 police took Janie's box to the State Crime Lab in 0:15:07.085 --> 0:15:11.005 Little Rock, and when she got there, she was dressing 0:15:11.085 --> 0:15:13.205 all together different clothes than what he saw her in 0:15:13.245 --> 0:15:17.845 and what she let the house in, so naturally, you know, 0:15:17.885 --> 0:15:21.285 he knew then, and I saw the pictures of what 0:15:21.325 --> 0:15:23.605 she was in. She was in a T shirt that 0:15:23.685 --> 0:15:29.045 she wouldn't have ever worn. It was a T shirt 0:15:29.085 --> 0:15:34.365 with a scaping mouthed skeleton on it. And she would 0:15:34.365 --> 0:15:36.965 have never mourning thing like that. She wasn't even into 0:15:37.725 --> 0:15:41.965 that sort of thing or heavy metal music. It just 0:15:42.165 --> 0:15:45.085 wasn't hear at all. When Ron saw Janie's body, he 0:15:45.245 --> 0:15:47.365 said she had been wearing a blue and white pin 0:15:47.445 --> 0:15:50.645 striped shirt, but by the time Jennie was delivered to 0:15:50.685 --> 0:15:54.285 the State Crime Lab for the autopsy, a photograph taken 0:15:54.285 --> 0:15:57.005 of her showed her wearing a black T shirt with 0:15:57.085 --> 0:15:59.165 the band def Leppard on the front when he saw 0:15:59.205 --> 0:16:01.365 her at When Ron saw her at the morgue, was 0:16:01.405 --> 0:16:04.245 she wearing the pin striped shirt or the T shirt? 0:16:04.605 --> 0:16:07.685 Ronnie said she had on pinstriped shirt. She buttoned her 0:16:07.725 --> 0:16:11.445 top shirt buttoned because it was bloused and he buttoned it. 0:16:12.085 --> 0:16:13.925 That's how we know it must have been changed at 0:16:13.965 --> 0:16:18.525 the morgue. And also she didn't she didn't do drugs, 0:16:19.485 --> 0:16:24.405 she didn't smoke pot, and there was two rolled marijuana 0:16:24.485 --> 0:16:27.525 joints in her pocket, not in her system, so they 0:16:27.565 --> 0:16:31.405 depicted her. You know, it's like picking her as a 0:16:31.445 --> 0:16:34.565 wild child or something. And I'm not being naive. I 0:16:34.645 --> 0:16:37.005 knew my daughter very well, and I knew her friends, 0:16:37.325 --> 0:16:40.685 and she was totally out of her element, her league 0:16:40.685 --> 0:16:42.805 of friends. None of her friends were there that she 0:16:42.925 --> 0:16:45.685 ran with. Uh. I mean, she went to school with 0:16:45.725 --> 0:16:48.285 the kid. These kids were there that were there, but 0:16:48.325 --> 0:16:54.005 they were the the wablins, you know, And that wasn't her. 0:16:54.205 --> 0:16:57.365 It weren't her type. Mona has already raised a lot 0:16:57.365 --> 0:17:01.325 of questions for me. First, what happened to Janie's shirt? 0:17:02.405 --> 0:17:04.885 Ron insisted that she was wearing a different shirt at 0:17:04.885 --> 0:17:07.125 the crime Life than what he saw her in at 0:17:07.165 --> 0:17:10.885 the Morgan Marshall. He also saw injuries on her face 0:17:10.965 --> 0:17:15.165 and neck, So why didn't the coroner suggest an autopsy immediately? 0:17:15.965 --> 0:17:19.605 As an investigator, I know that every suspicious death should 0:17:19.605 --> 0:17:22.765 be treated as a homicide until it can be proven otherwise, 0:17:23.325 --> 0:17:25.445 And why was Jane at the party in the first place. 0:17:26.125 --> 0:17:29.885 According to her family, it seemed out of character when 0:17:29.885 --> 0:17:31.565 you said that she wasn't part of the crowd at 0:17:31.565 --> 0:17:34.205 the party that night. Can you just tell us a 0:17:34.205 --> 0:17:35.885 little bit about what she was like, what her life 0:17:35.925 --> 0:17:41.405 was like at that time. I she was she had 0:17:41.445 --> 0:17:44.845 her crowd, you know, everybody does. They have their little 0:17:44.885 --> 0:17:51.805 Bruce and hers worth saying more like the giddy twosy girls, 0:17:51.965 --> 0:17:57.285 you know more more so, you know not and once 0:17:57.325 --> 0:18:01.605 she those girls, these people at this part were the 0:18:01.605 --> 0:18:06.605 the snobs, the preppies. You know. Ever seen Rome and 0:18:06.685 --> 0:18:10.085 Michelle's high school reunion. This is Crystal, Janie's sister. Well, 0:18:10.205 --> 0:18:14.445 my sister was like the B group and the other 0:18:14.485 --> 0:18:17.405 girls were the A group, And that's kind of like 0:18:17.645 --> 0:18:20.325 how they treated her. And she had a job, right 0:18:20.605 --> 0:18:26.965 she was, Yes, she worked, and she was smart Maga grades. 0:18:27.325 --> 0:18:31.125 Everybody that knew her, unless they were in the A group, 0:18:31.525 --> 0:18:34.325 loved her. She really was. Jennie was a wonderful person, 0:18:34.485 --> 0:18:37.245 and I mean she just did. She just was for 0:18:37.325 --> 0:18:41.565 the underdog. She always worked and she would spend her 0:18:41.605 --> 0:18:45.005 money on other people. She would, she really would. If 0:18:45.005 --> 0:18:46.965 there was somebody poor than we were. She'd go out 0:18:46.965 --> 0:18:49.725 of her way to make sure that they had something. Yeah, 0:18:49.845 --> 0:18:52.205 Crystal told Jannie the story about a little girl on 0:18:52.285 --> 0:18:56.845 her grade who said all she wanted for Christmas is 0:18:56.885 --> 0:18:58.925 that she just wanted a Barbie doll. Oh, she didn't 0:18:59.165 --> 0:19:02.445 never have a Barbie doll. And Crystal told Janie, and 0:19:02.645 --> 0:19:06.365 Jane said, well, Crystal, you got it new Barbie doll. 0:19:06.445 --> 0:19:10.765 And you got Barbie dolls, plenty of Barbie dolls. And 0:19:10.805 --> 0:19:13.045 she said you could give her your new Barbie doll. 0:19:13.565 --> 0:19:20.845 And christ was like, come out, and Janey's relented, you know, 0:19:20.885 --> 0:19:25.045 I said, okay. So Janey bought balloons, you know, for 0:19:25.125 --> 0:19:27.925 the little girl because it was Valentine's Day. So she 0:19:28.005 --> 0:19:32.285 brought her balloons, and Chrystal contributed the new Barbie doll 0:19:32.805 --> 0:19:36.005 and had it put in the bag, and then Crystal 0:19:36.125 --> 0:19:38.725 had it sent by the flower shop to the little 0:19:38.765 --> 0:19:43.645 girl in her classroom. Chisticated for a kid to do that. Actually, 0:19:43.925 --> 0:19:46.605 that's the way she was. She just always did things 0:19:46.645 --> 0:20:01.605 like that. After Janie's death, Ron started obsessively collecting articles 0:20:01.645 --> 0:20:06.085 about the case, interviewing witnesses, and demanding everything piece of 0:20:06.085 --> 0:20:09.365 paperwork from police and from the Arkansas State Crime Lab. 0:20:09.805 --> 0:20:12.405 He was the one that had pursued it all this time, 0:20:13.925 --> 0:20:17.125 promise I'd carry it on. But you know, I can't 0:20:17.245 --> 0:20:20.005 do that because I can't do it. Do it like 0:20:20.125 --> 0:20:23.005 he did, because I can't. I can't handle that. But 0:20:23.045 --> 0:20:25.485 I guess by doing it like this, I am keeping 0:20:25.525 --> 0:20:28.765 my promise to him that I would would. Was it 0:20:28.805 --> 0:20:35.685 a heart or cancer or it WASDPD. Yeah. Yeah, he 0:20:35.765 --> 0:20:40.925 was a changemoker ever since Chaney died, and he would 0:20:40.925 --> 0:20:43.645 have been sixty nine in September. And I mean we all, 0:20:43.725 --> 0:20:46.845 we all three smoked cigarettes, but Dad really he did 0:20:46.925 --> 0:20:50.405 eat them. I mean like one after the other, because 0:20:50.405 --> 0:20:51.885 that's all he pretty much did it. Laid in bed 0:20:51.925 --> 0:20:54.685 and smoked the last set, got on the computer, read 0:20:54.725 --> 0:20:58.005 and stuff. The last several months, that's all he did. Yeah, 0:20:58.045 --> 0:21:01.445 he was a change smoker. Last several months. Ron wrote 0:21:01.485 --> 0:21:05.645 a letter to Jannie, promising her that he would get justice. 0:21:06.165 --> 0:21:08.605 He put it in her coffin before she was buried. 0:21:09.325 --> 0:21:11.325 I've never asked you that. I didn't get a chance 0:21:11.365 --> 0:21:15.205 to ask Ron. What did Ron say in that note? 0:21:15.405 --> 0:21:19.205 What did he tell her? You know, the promise that 0:21:19.325 --> 0:21:23.605 he would he would avenge her or you know the 0:21:23.645 --> 0:21:26.405 original letter. I think it was the original letter where 0:21:26.445 --> 0:21:30.845 he made the promise that he would have there would 0:21:30.885 --> 0:21:35.565 be justice for her, or that he would pursue justice 0:21:35.925 --> 0:21:38.525 as long as he lived. After two hours of talking, 0:21:39.365 --> 0:21:43.885 everyone is exhausted. Mona mentions that she's brought everything Ron 0:21:43.965 --> 0:21:46.845 collected over the years, and she's agreed to let us 0:21:46.885 --> 0:21:51.005 look through it. We pay the bill and head outside. 0:21:52.525 --> 0:21:58.125 The main box is a blue plastic bin. It's huge, 0:21:58.365 --> 0:22:00.565 and there's a second one. It's a little smaller. It's 0:22:00.565 --> 0:22:05.285 it brown. They're both a lot heavier than he was. 0:22:05.805 --> 0:22:08.205 Do you put the seats down? We don't know if 0:22:08.205 --> 0:22:10.565 we can even fit them into our car, and I wouldn't. 0:22:10.565 --> 0:22:14.445 We were going to go to Mount View and oh 0:22:14.525 --> 0:22:18.685 yeah no, We'll all right, we'll get it to you 0:22:18.685 --> 0:22:23.885 the next few days and I'll have Yeah, we're gonna 0:22:23.885 --> 0:22:26.045 guard it with our lives like it's gonna be well 0:22:26.045 --> 0:22:29.045 looked after. I mean, I feel good about it. I'm 0:22:29.085 --> 0:22:31.005 just saying, you know, I understand it. It's a huge 0:22:31.085 --> 0:22:34.365 It's just it's just a really huge saying because it 0:22:34.645 --> 0:22:38.165 so much to our family. And just promise my dad, 0:22:39.565 --> 0:22:44.645 you know, carry you're carrying the torch right, the torch 0:22:44.685 --> 0:22:48.565 hadn't died, right, but we take it extremely seriously. Run 0:22:48.925 --> 0:22:54.845 runs responsible for her being here too. It is yep. Otherwise, 0:22:54.925 --> 0:22:58.565 I mean, why this case years later, as long as 0:22:58.605 --> 0:23:01.085 E been since we were I was doing this. It's 0:23:01.125 --> 0:23:05.845 gonna fifteen years. You say goodbye to the family, giving 0:23:05.845 --> 0:23:08.045 them our word that we won't let anything happen to 0:23:08.085 --> 0:23:11.325 the boxes. Gabby and I get in the car and 0:23:11.445 --> 0:23:15.525 watch moaning Crystal drive off. Then all of a sudden, 0:23:16.165 --> 0:23:19.445 the emotion of the case hits us. Yeah, I'm not 0:23:19.445 --> 0:23:22.885 gonna cry in front of them because they you know, 0:23:23.525 --> 0:23:26.165 I don't do that, because like they shouldn't be humping me. 0:23:26.405 --> 0:23:28.765 You know. She just seemed like I was kind of 0:23:28.805 --> 0:23:30.485 trying to read it. She just seemed like I'm here, 0:23:30.605 --> 0:23:33.725 you know. So I was like, okay, let's just roll then. Yeah, 0:23:33.845 --> 0:23:37.525 so she doesn't repeat yourself. Yeah, I don't think they 0:23:37.525 --> 0:23:39.325 would have handled that box to anybody else. I'll tell 0:23:39.325 --> 0:23:41.165 you that right now, like unless Mike got involved, you know, 0:23:41.205 --> 0:23:46.005 unless we roll. And I just feel like, yeah, for them, 0:23:46.085 --> 0:23:48.605 they have to balance. They have children and families and lives, 0:23:48.605 --> 0:23:51.845 so you can't spend the rest of your life leaving 0:23:51.925 --> 0:23:55.325 it for your you know, you can't spend. At some 0:23:55.365 --> 0:23:57.925 point you do have to detach emotionally going with your life. 0:23:58.005 --> 0:24:00.245 But so it's really good when someone comes in and 0:24:00.765 --> 0:24:04.605 does that stuff for you, because it's also I can't 0:24:04.605 --> 0:24:08.045 imagine being like the Bravery. The dad had to have 0:24:08.125 --> 0:24:11.205 to do that investigation himself, to hear all that stuff 0:24:11.285 --> 0:24:14.365 over and over and you know, try to be objective. 0:24:17.645 --> 0:24:20.005 After a long day, we make our way back to 0:24:20.045 --> 0:24:23.885 my dad's house in Mountain View. We take the elevator 0:24:24.205 --> 0:24:26.445 and put the boxes in my dad's game room on 0:24:26.485 --> 0:24:30.765 the top floor of his house. Actually, I call it 0:24:30.805 --> 0:24:34.485 my war room because it's where I started investigating Rebecca's 0:24:34.525 --> 0:24:37.645 case all those years ago. But should we opened first? 0:24:37.885 --> 0:24:40.725 Maybe this big one, Yeah, I'm just curious how heavy 0:24:40.765 --> 0:24:44.285 it was? It probably one hundred pounds. Yeah, easy, because 0:24:44.285 --> 0:24:47.485 I carried the when I did for Rebecca's case, I 0:24:48.085 --> 0:24:50.045 was seeing a heart abeat to carry one hundred pounds 0:24:50.045 --> 0:24:53.045 demy and I don't think it was that heavy. Maybe 0:24:53.045 --> 0:24:55.365 it's just that seems to bulk here. But I opened 0:24:55.405 --> 0:24:59.245 the blue box wow, and immediately am hit by the 0:24:59.325 --> 0:25:04.045 overwhelming smell of stale cigarettes. I close my eyes and 0:25:04.085 --> 0:25:08.045 I can almost see run chainsmoking late at night, obsessing, 0:25:08.645 --> 0:25:14.685 making notes, circling, highlighting, trying anything to get answers. The 0:25:14.725 --> 0:25:17.165 first thing I see is a Manila folder labeled to 0:25:17.245 --> 0:25:22.845 do to do file he left us. Wow, this is 0:25:23.165 --> 0:25:30.365 information on It's like press clippings, some emails of my 0:25:32.645 --> 0:25:37.285 This looks like an autopsy. There are more folders and 0:25:37.325 --> 0:25:41.725 binders full of documents like transcribed interviews with witnesses, police notes, 0:25:41.925 --> 0:25:45.125 letters from Arkansas citizens interested in the case, and old 0:25:45.165 --> 0:25:49.365 newspaper clippings about Janie. The box is also packed with 0:25:49.405 --> 0:25:52.805 photos of Janey and at the bottom there's an aluminum 0:25:52.885 --> 0:25:55.205 tin with an imprint that says Dad on the top. 0:25:56.165 --> 0:25:59.325 Inside is a pocket knife. It's likely one of Janey's 0:25:59.365 --> 0:26:04.045 last gifts to her dad. So there's cassette tapes garried 0:26:04.125 --> 0:26:09.325