WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: James Escalante Part 3 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:11.565 School of Humans. 0:00:13.805 --> 0:00:18.045 Six bodies were found in Wonder Valley, California, between December 0:00:18.085 --> 0:00:22.525 of twenty nineteen and January of twenty twenty one. Some 0:00:22.605 --> 0:00:25.365 of the bodies in the desert, including the disappearance of 0:00:25.405 --> 0:00:28.965 thirty seven year old single mother Erica Lloyd, started to 0:00:29.005 --> 0:00:32.685 make local and then national news, but there were no 0:00:32.925 --> 0:00:37.405 national news reports about James Escalante. I've been talking together 0:00:37.565 --> 0:00:41.965 Escalante about this case, and she's been disheartened by how 0:00:42.045 --> 0:00:45.405 little James's case has been covered compared to the others 0:00:45.405 --> 0:00:46.165 in Wonder Valley. 0:00:47.005 --> 0:00:51.085 They ended up doing a news broadcast out there in 0:00:51.165 --> 0:00:54.125 twenty twenty one. I do believe it was, and they 0:00:54.245 --> 0:00:58.125 actually interviewed Detective Halloway, who was the detective that was 0:00:58.125 --> 0:01:02.405 assigned to James's missing person's key, and they were talking 0:01:02.445 --> 0:01:04.485 about the amount of people going missing out in the desert. 0:01:04.765 --> 0:01:07.805 They mentioned Erica Lloyd, they mentioned Lauren to they mentioned 0:01:07.805 --> 0:01:10.685 some couple that had gone missing out there. They never 0:01:10.725 --> 0:01:12.325 made the first mention of James. It's not like he 0:01:12.365 --> 0:01:14.845 didn't know about James. He was the detective on his caase. 0:01:14.965 --> 0:01:18.245 Like they've made it abundantly clear to me, they're not 0:01:18.645 --> 0:01:20.565 look in the case now. And they're not going to 0:01:21.325 --> 0:01:25.005 Nothing has really worked for us in this We could 0:01:25.045 --> 0:01:27.525 barely get anybody that wanted to cover his story. That's 0:01:27.565 --> 0:01:31.245 been I mean like nobody. If you look up Eric Alloyd, 0:01:32.085 --> 0:01:37.565 there's i mean countless coverage on her story all the 0:01:37.565 --> 0:01:40.325 way up you know, pretty high in news coverage world. 0:01:40.805 --> 0:01:42.965 You can't get anybody to want to touch James's face. 0:01:45.365 --> 0:01:47.925 We're going to dive into the missing Persons report and 0:01:47.965 --> 0:01:51.605 compare accounts from the last people who saw James to 0:01:51.605 --> 0:01:54.245 see if we can shed more light into what really 0:01:54.325 --> 0:01:57.205 happened out there in the desert on June twenty fifth, 0:01:57.285 --> 0:02:02.125 twenty twenty. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years 0:02:02.125 --> 0:02:05.685 of making my true crime podcast, Helling Gone, I've learned 0:02:05.725 --> 0:02:08.125 that there is no such thing as a small town 0:02:08.165 --> 0:02:12.005 where murder never happens. I have received hundreds of messages 0:02:12.045 --> 0:02:14.805 from people all around the country asking for help with 0:02:14.845 --> 0:02:18.805 an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, and their communities. 0:02:19.365 --> 0:02:21.405 If you have a case you'd like me and my 0:02:21.445 --> 0:02:23.805 team to look into, you can reach out to us 0:02:24.125 --> 0:02:26.805 at our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight 0:02:27.165 --> 0:02:30.885 seven four four six one four five. That's six seven 0:02:30.965 --> 0:02:35.085 eight seven four four six ' one four five, or 0:02:35.325 --> 0:02:38.965 you can send us a message on Instagram at Helen Gonepod. 0:02:39.685 --> 0:03:31.485 This is Helen Gone Murder Line. As we said last week, 0:03:31.885 --> 0:03:34.285 people go missing in the desert under a lot of 0:03:34.325 --> 0:03:37.845 different circumstances. One of the things that really stood out 0:03:37.885 --> 0:03:41.645 to me about James Escalante's case is that in Wonder Valley, 0:03:42.085 --> 0:03:45.005 a lot of the body discoveries haven't been made by 0:03:45.005 --> 0:03:48.325 the police at all, but by one man, a cave 0:03:48.405 --> 0:03:52.605 and mining expert named Doug Billings. Doug Billings was helping 0:03:52.685 --> 0:03:55.405 the family of thirty seven year old Eric Lloyd, who 0:03:55.405 --> 0:03:58.565 went missing nine days before James, and while he was 0:03:58.565 --> 0:04:03.205 looking for Erica's car, he found James's bike. But Heather 0:04:03.365 --> 0:04:06.325 said that not only did police know not find the bike, 0:04:06.845 --> 0:04:09.245 but that when Doug Billings told him about the bike, 0:04:09.765 --> 0:04:12.285 at first, they didn't seem to be interested. 0:04:13.205 --> 0:04:15.925 He had been helping search for Eric Alloyd and he 0:04:16.085 --> 0:04:18.485 had seen a bike out there and it has turned 0:04:18.525 --> 0:04:21.005 out to be recording the Sherry, the bike that James 0:04:21.085 --> 0:04:24.445 left on. It seemed out there twice. The first time 0:04:24.565 --> 0:04:27.245 he tried to report it to the police, they said 0:04:27.245 --> 0:04:29.885 they didn't think it was related. To Eric Alloyd's case, 0:04:29.885 --> 0:04:31.845 and of course James had not been reported missing yet 0:04:31.885 --> 0:04:34.565 at that point in time. Tops weren't interested at that 0:04:34.685 --> 0:04:37.165 point because at that point they were looking for Erica 0:04:37.165 --> 0:04:40.165 and a black car. You know, it didn't seem important 0:04:40.165 --> 0:04:42.405 to them at the time, so he did not take 0:04:42.445 --> 0:04:45.645 a picture at that time or anything like that. He 0:04:45.725 --> 0:04:48.245 again found it on it's still sitting out there on 0:04:48.405 --> 0:04:51.605 August ninth, so the day after the remains that turned 0:04:51.605 --> 0:04:54.405 out to be James's were found, because him and his 0:04:54.485 --> 0:04:56.645 team and went back out to that area. You know, 0:04:56.685 --> 0:04:58.445 it's at that time they clearly weren't sure if those 0:04:58.445 --> 0:05:01.485 were Eric Alloyd's remained and that's when he took a 0:05:01.525 --> 0:05:05.085 picture of the bike. He locked the coordinate. He notified 0:05:05.085 --> 0:05:08.685 the police again, but again, given the distance between where 0:05:08.685 --> 0:05:11.325 the bike was located and where James's remains were located, 0:05:11.365 --> 0:05:13.845 the police didn't think they were linked and left the 0:05:13.845 --> 0:05:14.405 bike there. 0:05:15.325 --> 0:05:18.525 Heather's family ran into Doug's team and got the picture 0:05:18.525 --> 0:05:21.765 of the bike from him and then sent that picture 0:05:21.805 --> 0:05:26.125 to James's girlfriend, Sherry. She said that, yes, that was 0:05:26.165 --> 0:05:28.605 the bike that James was riding the day he disappeared. 0:05:29.165 --> 0:05:32.365 Heather contacted law enforcement, and they finally went out to 0:05:32.405 --> 0:05:35.885 that intersection near Highway sixty two and Shelton Road and 0:05:36.005 --> 0:05:39.765 retrieved the red bike. But it was odd because when 0:05:39.845 --> 0:05:43.205 Heather talked to Sherry, Sherry said that they weren't able 0:05:43.245 --> 0:05:45.685 to go look for James because they didn't have a vehicle. 0:05:46.285 --> 0:05:48.925 But then she would tell Heather that they went out 0:05:48.925 --> 0:05:51.765 to talk to people, people who Heather said lived a 0:05:51.765 --> 0:05:55.765 lot further out than the intersection where James disappeared. So 0:05:55.885 --> 0:05:58.925 Heather was thinking, how could she get out there when 0:05:58.925 --> 0:06:03.045 she just told Heather she didn't have transportation. Heather has 0:06:03.085 --> 0:06:07.725 said multiple times that she's suspicious because over time, Sherry's 0:06:07.765 --> 0:06:09.845 story appeared to keep changing. 0:06:10.925 --> 0:06:14.325 Nothing she said had made sense. The stories have changed, 0:06:14.365 --> 0:06:17.525 Like the main story, you know, d he got stuck 0:06:17.565 --> 0:06:19.765 in the sand. James went out to get her this 0:06:19.965 --> 0:06:22.285 he called, you know from this intersection. That stuff has 0:06:22.325 --> 0:06:25.845 never changed. The times have changed. The description of the 0:06:25.885 --> 0:06:28.565 shoes he was wearing has changed. How long it took 0:06:28.605 --> 0:06:30.765 them to get to that intersection once he left, that's 0:06:30.805 --> 0:06:34.405 all changed. What he was wearing, you know, like accessories 0:06:34.485 --> 0:06:36.885 that he was wearing has changed. Things that he's owned this, 0:06:37.365 --> 0:06:40.885 you know, all those things keep changing right, which has 0:06:41.045 --> 0:06:42.605 been nothing but red flags for me. 0:06:43.565 --> 0:06:46.285 Heather said that Sherry had told her two versions of 0:06:46.325 --> 0:06:49.725 the story. They both started out the same, with James 0:06:49.805 --> 0:06:53.485 leaving to go help their friend D, but Heather said 0:06:53.565 --> 0:06:57.885 Sherry gave her different times. According to Heather, Sherry first 0:06:57.965 --> 0:07:00.405 said that James went out early in the morning, around 0:07:00.405 --> 0:07:03.805 eight thirty am, and later she said that it was 0:07:03.845 --> 0:07:08.325 around ten or ten thirty am. In both versions, James 0:07:08.365 --> 0:07:12.445 never reached their friend D. But in one version, according 0:07:12.445 --> 0:07:16.405 to the Missing Persons report, Sherry told someone else that 0:07:16.565 --> 0:07:19.205 James never reached D and took a ride to San 0:07:19.245 --> 0:07:25.765 Bernardino and went to rehab. Finding Sherry unreliable, Heather started 0:07:25.805 --> 0:07:28.565 talking to more people. A lot of these people are 0:07:28.605 --> 0:07:31.285 difficult to find. We've been trying to reach out to 0:07:31.325 --> 0:07:34.125 them in Wonder Valley and it's been challenging. A lot 0:07:34.165 --> 0:07:36.205 of them live off the grid, and a lot of 0:07:36.245 --> 0:07:39.725 them have changed numbers since then, and Heather found out 0:07:39.765 --> 0:07:42.845 that James's love life was a little bit more complicated 0:07:42.885 --> 0:07:45.405 than it seemed to be on the surface. Heather talked 0:07:45.405 --> 0:07:47.365 to D, the woman who got stuck in the desert 0:07:47.645 --> 0:07:51.285 and who called Sherry for help, and D told Heather 0:07:51.605 --> 0:07:55.845 something she hadn't heard before. The story that Sherry told 0:07:56.285 --> 0:07:57.805 was that d had gone out in the desert in 0:07:57.845 --> 0:08:00.125 the early morning hours of June twenty fifth to go 0:08:00.205 --> 0:08:02.845 rock Honting. That's when her car got stuck in sand. 0:08:03.565 --> 0:08:06.645 But D filled in some more details. She told Heather 0:08:06.765 --> 0:08:09.405 the reason she had gone out so early was because 0:08:09.405 --> 0:08:11.885 she had been hanging out at James and Sherry's house 0:08:12.325 --> 0:08:15.325 and they had started fighting, and she said they were 0:08:15.365 --> 0:08:19.765 fighting about Tank. Now, remember Tank is the friend of 0:08:19.885 --> 0:08:22.605 James and Sherry's who also lived on that same property 0:08:22.645 --> 0:08:26.445 with them. Tank and Sherry had a history. At some 0:08:26.605 --> 0:08:28.485 point they were romantically involved. 0:08:29.285 --> 0:08:32.685 She told me that basically Sherry was kind of bouncings 0:08:32.685 --> 0:08:36.445 back and forth between Tank and James, and that she 0:08:36.525 --> 0:08:39.445 had been hanging out with them and she was really 0:08:39.485 --> 0:08:43.765 tired of hearing James and Sherry fighting about that, and 0:08:43.845 --> 0:08:45.925 so she left in the middle of the night, got 0:08:45.965 --> 0:08:49.085 out there, got part, took a nap, and woke up 0:08:49.085 --> 0:08:52.165 with the intentions of looking for rocks and fossils and 0:08:52.205 --> 0:08:54.405 things like that. So she colected them. So that made 0:08:54.445 --> 0:08:56.405 a little bit more sense because I was like, he's 0:08:56.405 --> 0:08:57.925 going to go out where there's like no street lights 0:08:58.005 --> 0:09:00.085 changing at four four foot thirty in the morning to 0:09:00.165 --> 0:09:01.925 hunt Rock when you can't even really see them other 0:09:01.925 --> 0:09:04.325 than your headlights in the black light. Yeah, so that 0:09:04.365 --> 0:09:06.285 made it make a little more sense as to why 0:09:06.325 --> 0:09:09.885 she was out there at that hour. But apparently they 0:09:09.885 --> 0:09:12.725 were fighting and that's why it according her, that's why 0:09:12.725 --> 0:09:14.245 that she left. She got tired of hearing it. 0:09:15.085 --> 0:09:17.405 Heather tried to get the police to talk to more 0:09:17.445 --> 0:09:21.725 people about James's case, but she discovered that the police 0:09:22.045 --> 0:09:26.085 hadn't even canvassed people in the immediate area about James's disappearance. 0:09:26.925 --> 0:09:29.565 There's only like a handful of houses right there on 0:09:29.605 --> 0:09:33.285 that little stretch of Shelton, And I asked them specifically 0:09:33.405 --> 0:09:38.325 multiple times between September and January, like, Hey, have you 0:09:38.365 --> 0:09:40.765 guys gone out and questioned those people in those houses, 0:09:40.805 --> 0:09:42.685 like if they saw James around that time, they didn't 0:09:42.685 --> 0:09:45.805 have the bike ended up there anything. Oh, they've been questioned, 0:09:45.805 --> 0:09:49.685 They've been questioned. Finally I asked, I was like, Okay, 0:09:50.125 --> 0:09:52.805 who keeps saying they've been questioned? What questions did y'all 0:09:52.805 --> 0:09:55.845 ask them in relation to James. That's when it came 0:09:55.885 --> 0:09:58.165 out that oh, no, they had been questioned in relation 0:09:58.245 --> 0:10:02.885 to Erica Lloyd, And I said, okay, so you're telling 0:10:02.965 --> 0:10:05.685 me that y'all went out there knocking on these doors 0:10:05.925 --> 0:10:07.725 and asked them if they have seen a thirty something 0:10:07.765 --> 0:10:11.325 year old white girl in a black car. And you'd 0:10:11.325 --> 0:10:13.405 think that was sent to somehow spawn them to say no. 0:10:13.445 --> 0:10:15.765 But I saw this fifty something year old Indian man 0:10:15.805 --> 0:10:18.445 on a red bike. Like that's not even in the 0:10:18.485 --> 0:10:21.325 realm of the same thing. But I can tell you, 0:10:21.405 --> 0:10:25.445 like I have the missing person's file from James's case. 0:10:25.565 --> 0:10:30.845 It's nine pages, one sided, not too exited. Just the 0:10:30.845 --> 0:10:33.525 amount of information I provided to law enforcement should have 0:10:33.525 --> 0:10:34.605 been more than nine pages. 0:10:35.885 --> 0:10:39.525 So let's look at that missing person's report. When police 0:10:39.565 --> 0:10:42.965 talked to Sherry on October first, twenty twenty, according to 0:10:43.005 --> 0:10:46.005 the missing Person's report, the story she told them was 0:10:46.165 --> 0:10:49.445 again different from the one she told Heather. She said 0:10:49.485 --> 0:10:51.765 that d called between eight and eight thirty on the 0:10:51.805 --> 0:10:54.565 morning of June twenty fifth, and that d told her 0:10:54.645 --> 0:10:57.925 she was stuck in her truck, not that James actually 0:10:58.005 --> 0:11:01.525 went out at that time. Sherry told detectives that after 0:11:01.565 --> 0:11:04.765 that she called Gary, another friend of theirs, and Gary 0:11:04.805 --> 0:11:07.845 went out to get but Gary was unable to move 0:11:07.885 --> 0:11:11.405 D's vehicle, and then Gary and D both showed up 0:11:11.445 --> 0:11:15.285 at Sherry's house. She said James was there also. At 0:11:15.285 --> 0:11:17.805 some point D went back out to where her truck was. 0:11:18.325 --> 0:11:21.005 Then D called again at around one fifteen to one 0:11:21.125 --> 0:11:24.445 thirty in the afternoon. That's when James put air into 0:11:24.445 --> 0:11:26.845 the bike tires and went out to look for D. 0:11:27.365 --> 0:11:31.565 Now again, this is still according to Sherry. Several hours later, 0:11:31.645 --> 0:11:33.765 Tank showed up at their house. This was at around 0:11:33.765 --> 0:11:37.405 three thirty. Then, when they realized they hadn't heard from James, 0:11:37.805 --> 0:11:41.565 Tank went out to d to rescue her. This is 0:11:41.765 --> 0:11:44.485 a big difference. First of all, this would mean that 0:11:44.565 --> 0:11:46.845 instead of James going out at eight or eight thirty 0:11:46.925 --> 0:11:49.365 in the morning, this would mean he was out in 0:11:49.485 --> 0:11:52.925 the hottest part of the afternoon, and there appears to 0:11:52.965 --> 0:11:57.125 be a discrepancy of several hours. There's something else in 0:11:57.165 --> 0:12:00.805 the police report that Heather says is inconsistent. Sherry told 0:12:00.845 --> 0:12:04.325 detectives she had contacted several people about James being missing, 0:12:04.725 --> 0:12:08.405 including Heather Connie, who was James's legal wife, though they 0:12:08.405 --> 0:12:10.685 hadn't been in a relationship or lived together in a 0:12:10.685 --> 0:12:14.565 long time, and several other people. Meanwhile, none of these 0:12:14.605 --> 0:12:18.885 people said that Sherry had contacted them. Sherry told police 0:12:18.925 --> 0:12:21.765 that James was a heavy heroin user, that he would 0:12:21.805 --> 0:12:24.765 use thirty to thirty five CC's per day. She said 0:12:24.805 --> 0:12:27.685 that he used drugs to deal with various physical problems 0:12:27.685 --> 0:12:31.205 that he had, and it's certainly possible that something happened 0:12:31.245 --> 0:12:34.365 to James that did not involve foul play. Maybe he 0:12:34.525 --> 0:12:37.965 was doing drugs that day, maybe he accidentally overdosed. But 0:12:38.005 --> 0:12:41.325 if that's the case, Heather wants to know so that 0:12:41.365 --> 0:12:43.405 she and her husband, John, and the rest of their 0:12:43.445 --> 0:12:46.405 family can have some kind of closure. She does not 0:12:46.645 --> 0:12:49.565 believe that that should be the automatic assumption by police 0:12:50.085 --> 0:12:53.885 just because James had a drug habit. Police also talked 0:12:53.925 --> 0:12:56.445 to Tank. He said he was at work when he 0:12:56.485 --> 0:12:59.085 got a call about d being stuck that day. He 0:12:59.125 --> 0:13:01.485 said that he came to where he and James and 0:13:01.525 --> 0:13:04.925 Sherry lived. He said that he helped James fill up 0:13:04.965 --> 0:13:08.485 those by Sickles tires with air, and then several hours 0:13:08.565 --> 0:13:12.205 later D and Gary showed up in Gary's truck. Then 0:13:12.445 --> 0:13:14.525 he said they all three went out to the desert 0:13:14.605 --> 0:13:17.365 to pull D's truck out, that they were finally able 0:13:17.405 --> 0:13:20.245 to get it unstuck from the sand. D had a 0:13:20.285 --> 0:13:24.005 slightly different story. She told police she left home at 0:13:24.005 --> 0:13:26.805 around four thirty am to go rock hunting near Shelton 0:13:26.885 --> 0:13:30.085 Road in Highway sixty two. Then she said that around 0:13:30.125 --> 0:13:33.045 five thirty am, her truck got stuck on a barrier 0:13:33.205 --> 0:13:36.565 somewhere south of Highway sixty two. She described it as 0:13:36.605 --> 0:13:40.045 being two streets away from Shelton Road. Since it was 0:13:40.045 --> 0:13:42.365 still dark, she said she decided to wait it out. 0:13:42.645 --> 0:13:44.405 She took a nap in her truck, and then she 0:13:44.485 --> 0:13:47.925 woke up at six am. That's when she called Gary 0:13:48.005 --> 0:13:51.165 and Sherry for help. She said that Gary came out 0:13:51.205 --> 0:13:53.925 first and tried for around four hours to pull the 0:13:53.965 --> 0:13:57.805 truck out. He was there by himself, but he didn't 0:13:57.805 --> 0:14:01.245 have any luck. By this point, D said she was overheated, 0:14:01.565 --> 0:14:04.165 so she rode with Gary in his vehicle back to 0:14:04.245 --> 0:14:07.085 Tank's trailer to lie down, which was on the same 0:14:07.085 --> 0:14:10.765 property where James and Sherry lived. D said that Gary 0:14:10.885 --> 0:14:13.285 and Tank left there and went to pull her truck 0:14:13.285 --> 0:14:17.885 out without her. Now again, if you notice, it's the 0:14:17.925 --> 0:14:21.365 same general story, but if you look closer, some very 0:14:21.445 --> 0:14:26.045 important details have been changed because the story that D 0:14:26.245 --> 0:14:29.965 told the police was that she was calling Sherry at 0:14:29.965 --> 0:14:32.925 around one thirty that afternoon. Sherry did put her on 0:14:33.005 --> 0:14:36.045 with James. James said he would go out there to 0:14:36.085 --> 0:14:38.885 help her get the truck unstuck. But then the story 0:14:38.965 --> 0:14:42.285 seems to make even less sense because D said that 0:14:42.405 --> 0:14:45.405 on that three way call, she was honking her horn. 0:14:45.845 --> 0:14:48.165 She heard him say I hear the horn, but he 0:14:48.245 --> 0:14:51.605 never showed up, she said. She later assumed that James 0:14:51.725 --> 0:14:54.125 was angry, that he didn't want to deal with it anymore, 0:14:54.245 --> 0:14:56.525 or maybe he just got too hot and bailed out. 0:14:57.445 --> 0:15:01.765 But if that's true, then her others story about being 0:15:01.845 --> 0:15:05.485 taken back to Sherry's property to lie down can't be true. 0:15:06.245 --> 0:15:09.765 So which one is it? Where was D? Was she 0:15:09.965 --> 0:15:13.725 back at Sherry's trailer or was she back at her truck? 0:15:13.725 --> 0:15:17.365 And if so, who drove her there? These stories don't match, 0:15:17.765 --> 0:15:20.525 yet law enforcement did not seem to ask too many 0:15:20.605 --> 0:15:25.565 questions about these inconsistencies. Police reached out to Gary. His 0:15:25.685 --> 0:15:27.645 story is that he was at home that day. He 0:15:27.685 --> 0:15:30.565 said he lived near Sherry in Wonder Valley. He said 0:15:30.605 --> 0:15:33.485 he got the call between around eleven and noon. He 0:15:33.525 --> 0:15:38.405 said Sherry called him, not d. D drove a Champagne 0:15:38.445 --> 0:15:41.405 colored Ford Expedition. He went out to the desert and 0:15:41.485 --> 0:15:44.645 was unable to get the vehicle out, So by that 0:15:44.765 --> 0:15:47.445 point his story seems to match D's. He said she 0:15:47.525 --> 0:15:49.885 was super dehydrated. He took her to Sherry's house so 0:15:49.925 --> 0:15:52.645 that she could lie down. While he was at Sherry's house, 0:15:52.645 --> 0:15:55.445 he picked up Tank, who again lived there, in a trailer. 0:15:56.045 --> 0:15:58.445 They went back out to the vehicle and got it unstuck. 0:15:59.365 --> 0:16:03.765 So in Gary's version of the story, only he and 0:16:03.845 --> 0:16:07.005 Tank are out there with the truck. After they got 0:16:07.005 --> 0:16:10.205 it unstuck, He said, Tank drove D's car and he 0:16:10.285 --> 0:16:12.645 drove his own truck. He said when they got back 0:16:12.645 --> 0:16:15.925 to Sherry's it was around three to four pm. Gary 0:16:16.045 --> 0:16:19.005 said he never saw James that day. He said he 0:16:19.085 --> 0:16:21.245 never met James. He had no idea who he was, 0:16:21.685 --> 0:16:24.485 and he had no idea that James had gone out 0:16:24.525 --> 0:16:29.485 to assist D on a bike. Police executed a search 0:16:29.525 --> 0:16:32.125 warrant to get Sherry's phone records, but they hit a 0:16:32.165 --> 0:16:35.005 wall there because Sherry at that point no longer had 0:16:35.045 --> 0:16:38.285 the same phone or a phone plan. She told police 0:16:38.325 --> 0:16:41.085 the phone she had at the time James disappeared, was 0:16:41.085 --> 0:16:43.925 stolen from the Tortoise Rock Casino. That she had a 0:16:43.925 --> 0:16:46.525 new phone and no access to the old account, so 0:16:46.605 --> 0:16:49.565 it seems like police didn't pursue it any further. So 0:16:49.685 --> 0:16:52.885 the phone appeared to be another dead inn. But then 0:16:52.925 --> 0:16:55.925 Heather talked to Detective Halloway, the investigator in charge of 0:16:55.925 --> 0:16:59.445 the case. Detective Halloway was able to do a data 0:16:59.525 --> 0:17:02.125 dump of the calls and text messages for the month 0:17:02.165 --> 0:17:04.925 of June from James's phone logs, and we have seen 0:17:04.965 --> 0:17:08.405 a copy of those phone logs now. One thing to 0:17:08.485 --> 0:17:11.285 note is that almost all of the calls and texts 0:17:11.285 --> 0:17:15.165 on James's phone are incoming. When he has an outgoing text, 0:17:15.205 --> 0:17:18.885 it's usually one or two words, so Heather's comments about 0:17:18.965 --> 0:17:22.885 James being a man a few words appears to be true. 0:17:22.925 --> 0:17:25.845 Almost all of the calls are very short in duration, 0:17:26.125 --> 0:17:29.325 just a few seconds, maybe up to a minute. But 0:17:29.445 --> 0:17:33.565 we did notice something else, James was talking to other women. 0:17:41.285 --> 0:17:45.565 Heather said that Detective Holloway told her that he'd taken 0:17:45.605 --> 0:17:48.125 a look at the phone records and that Sherry's phone 0:17:48.125 --> 0:17:52.765 records basically matched James's. Another question I have is when 0:17:52.885 --> 0:17:56.005 did the detective actually see and compare those phone records, 0:17:56.005 --> 0:17:59.405 because I thought he told Heather that Sherry didn't have 0:17:59.445 --> 0:18:03.245 the account anymore. Heather said that she was told since 0:18:03.285 --> 0:18:06.285 everyone basically admitted to being out there in the desert, 0:18:06.365 --> 0:18:08.805 there was no need to subpoena any more phone records 0:18:09.165 --> 0:18:11.605 because it appeared on the surface that the story about 0:18:11.605 --> 0:18:15.925 the three way call was true. James's incoming text do 0:18:16.085 --> 0:18:20.365 show that shortly after nine am, James was receiving texts 0:18:20.365 --> 0:18:24.085 from Sherry, first a location at seventy six fifteen Shelton 0:18:24.165 --> 0:18:28.005 Road in twenty nine Palms. Then Sherry texted him I 0:18:28.125 --> 0:18:30.285 gave her your number for her to call you, so 0:18:30.365 --> 0:18:35.165 answer your phone. Then another one saying my location. The 0:18:35.245 --> 0:18:40.405 final incoming text came from D and Heather says that 0:18:40.445 --> 0:18:44.205 the address that she texted was not right at that intersection. 0:18:44.565 --> 0:18:49.005 It was the address of a private home. So what 0:18:49.205 --> 0:18:53.285 could D and potentially James have been doing at someone 0:18:53.285 --> 0:18:57.645 else's home and was that homeowner? Ever questioned? I took 0:18:57.645 --> 0:19:00.525 a look at James's phone logs from the days before 0:19:00.645 --> 0:19:03.285 he disappeared to try and understand what was going on 0:19:03.405 --> 0:19:06.845 in his life. The night before, on June twenty fourth, 0:19:07.245 --> 0:19:09.765 there was a text from Sherry just after ten PM, 0:19:10.245 --> 0:19:15.005 asking you planning on staying out all night. James replied no. 0:19:16.245 --> 0:19:20.325 Sherry also texted him earlier that day saying that Nancy 0:19:20.445 --> 0:19:22.445 James's X was trying to get a hold of him. 0:19:23.005 --> 0:19:25.765 She had been looking for him regarding James moving some 0:19:25.805 --> 0:19:29.205 of his stuff off of her property. So James did 0:19:29.285 --> 0:19:32.085 have some conflict in his love life. But on the surface, 0:19:32.405 --> 0:19:34.725 it does look like James was out in the desert 0:19:35.285 --> 0:19:39.285 looking for d James's phone records showed that he did 0:19:39.325 --> 0:19:42.565 get an incoming call from Sherry. The duration was twenty 0:19:42.565 --> 0:19:44.605 two seconds at nine to twenty three in the morning. 0:19:45.285 --> 0:19:47.965 Then there were three more calls from Sherry at nine 0:19:48.045 --> 0:19:51.165 twenty five, nine thirty five, and nine forty nine. None 0:19:51.165 --> 0:19:55.645 of them went through after that nothing. This would seem 0:19:55.685 --> 0:19:58.005 to be very out of character for James, just based 0:19:58.045 --> 0:20:00.645 on looking at this spreadsheet of his calls and texts 0:20:00.645 --> 0:20:05.045 and looking for patterns, because yes, most of James's calls 0:20:05.085 --> 0:20:08.245 were very shortened duration, but there were multiple incoming and 0:20:08.325 --> 0:20:11.725 outgoing calls every single day, the line's share of them 0:20:11.765 --> 0:20:17.325 were to Sherry, and then there was absolutely nothing at all. Also, 0:20:17.725 --> 0:20:21.005 the time when Sherry was calling James. That was much 0:20:21.045 --> 0:20:24.485 earlier than Sherry told detectives he went out. And also 0:20:24.805 --> 0:20:27.685 it's odd that there are absolutely no messages or calls 0:20:27.685 --> 0:20:31.445 after that, not one text asking where James is, Is 0:20:31.485 --> 0:20:35.205 he okay? When is he coming back? I feel weird 0:20:35.285 --> 0:20:39.085 about going through James's phone records because if someone has 0:20:39.125 --> 0:20:42.085 a complicated or messy love life, I really hate to 0:20:42.165 --> 0:20:46.365 invade their privacy. Unfortunately, it's really a crucial step in 0:20:46.405 --> 0:20:49.405 figuring out what's going on. We do know he was 0:20:49.445 --> 0:20:52.325 talking to women other than Sherry. One of them was 0:20:52.365 --> 0:20:56.245 an ex girlfriend named Nancy. Nancy told police she last 0:20:56.285 --> 0:20:58.645 talked to James in June when they argued about him 0:20:58.685 --> 0:21:01.525 moving a trailer off her property, and that matches what 0:21:01.565 --> 0:21:05.205 we've seen in the text and phone records. But there 0:21:05.245 --> 0:21:09.125 were other rumors going around after James disappeared. One was 0:21:09.125 --> 0:21:11.765 that someone had put a hit out on James, and 0:21:11.845 --> 0:21:15.405 that rumor intensified when something else was found on James's phone. 0:21:15.885 --> 0:21:19.325 Apparently there was an image on the phone. There was 0:21:19.365 --> 0:21:22.845 a woman who, according to Heather, is the girlfriend of 0:21:22.885 --> 0:21:26.565 a guy who knew James. This guy has a long 0:21:26.605 --> 0:21:30.565 criminal record. Police talked to this woman and She told 0:21:30.685 --> 0:21:33.485 investigators that she had seen James years ago, but that 0:21:33.525 --> 0:21:36.045 she had not seen him in a long time. She 0:21:36.205 --> 0:21:39.085 confirmed that the photos on the phone were hers. She 0:21:39.245 --> 0:21:41.565 said she had no idea why they were there, how 0:21:41.605 --> 0:21:44.085 they got there, or why you would have them. She 0:21:44.205 --> 0:21:46.805 said she did not know James like that a guess, 0:21:46.885 --> 0:21:50.845 meaning she didn't know him intimately. Police talked to another 0:21:50.925 --> 0:21:54.885 man who, according to rumors, had been asked by this 0:21:54.925 --> 0:21:59.285 woman's boyfriend to remove someone from a property, presumably meaning 0:21:59.325 --> 0:22:02.165 to take James out. But when this guy was questioned 0:22:02.205 --> 0:22:04.965 by police and asked if he had had anyone ask 0:22:05.045 --> 0:22:08.885 him to removed someone, he completely denied ever having any 0:22:08.965 --> 0:22:13.045 part in anything like that. There's something else that's interesting 0:22:13.125 --> 0:22:16.245 in this missing person's report because one of the people 0:22:16.285 --> 0:22:20.005 who police questioned was a guy named Christian. Remember Erica 0:22:20.125 --> 0:22:22.725 Lloyd wrote in her journal and told people she was 0:22:22.765 --> 0:22:26.045 camping in Joshua Tree with two men, James and Christian. 0:22:27.125 --> 0:22:30.605 Heather still wonders if these mystery men could have been 0:22:30.725 --> 0:22:35.005 James Esclante and his friend Christian, who was questioned by police. 0:22:35.165 --> 0:22:38.365 Detectives did talk to Christian, but it's just a couple 0:22:38.405 --> 0:22:41.565 of lines in the report. Police asked Christian if he 0:22:41.605 --> 0:22:44.565 had ever gone camping with James or Erica Lloyd. He 0:22:44.685 --> 0:22:48.565 said that he hadn't. There were a few more things 0:22:48.605 --> 0:22:51.765 found at that intersection other than the bike that could 0:22:51.805 --> 0:22:55.205 be potential clues. It turned out Doug Billings found more 0:22:55.245 --> 0:22:57.885 than a red bike out there at the intersection of 0:22:57.965 --> 0:23:00.925 Danby and a Boy Road, near where the bike was found, 0:23:01.005 --> 0:23:03.685 in less than a mile from where James lived. Doug 0:23:03.685 --> 0:23:07.565