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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Jenna Neilsen · Hell and Gone: Murder Line

0:46
Speaker 1: School of Humans.
0:49
Speaker 2: Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold case murders in
0:53
Speaker 2: an effort to raise public awareness invite witnesses to come
0:56
Speaker 2: forward and present evidence that could potentially be further investigated
1:00
Speaker 2: by law enforcement. While we value insights from family and
1:03
Speaker 2: community members, their statements should not be considered evidence and
1:07
Speaker 2: point to the challenges of verifying facts inherent in cold cases.
1:12
Speaker 2: We remind listeners that everyone has presumed innocent until proven
1:15
Speaker 2: guilty in a court of law. Nothing in the podcast
1:19
Speaker 2: is intended to state or imply that anyone who has
1:22
Speaker 2: not been convicted of a crime is guilty of any wrongdoing.
1:26
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.
1:31
Speaker 3: At around four point thirty in the morning on Thursday
1:33
Speaker 3: June fourteenth, two thousand and seven, a caller in Raleigh,
1:37
Speaker 3: North Carolina, called nine to one one to report a
1:40
Speaker 3: suspicious vehicle behind the America King Food Mart at s
1:43
Speaker 3: seventeen oh nine Lake Wheeler Road, across from the North
1:47
Speaker 3: Carolina State Farmers Market. The car was a gray Honda
1:51
Speaker 3: Civic and two of the car's doors were open. The
1:54
Speaker 3: light was on inside the vehicle, and there were newspapers
1:57
Speaker 3: scattered on the ground around the car. The caller, who
2:01
Speaker 3: was reportedly a newspaper delivery driver. Told the dispatcher that
2:06
Speaker 3: he wasn't sure if this was an emergency, but he
2:09
Speaker 3: said something looked wrong. He reported that the gray Honda
2:12
Speaker 3: Civic that he said was normally driven by another newspaper carrier,
2:17
Speaker 3: was sitting in that deserted lot with.
2:19
Speaker 1: The light on.
2:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know itally emergency. In that book there
2:26
Speaker 4: was a car setting in front of another news of
2:28
Speaker 4: the bugs and I killed as normally as a newspaper
2:32
Speaker 4: delivery gas car. Also about the lights. Owner inside the
2:35
Speaker 4: car the papers of land across the ground beside his car.
2:38
Speaker 5: So I wrote around the builder the TV's like out
2:40
Speaker 5: try to build.
2:41
Speaker 4: An eating rolt may about to build him.
2:43
Speaker 5: When Carty had a college empty, it was funny because
2:46
Speaker 5: of that you're late. But on the side of the
2:48
Speaker 5: car the college put up in front of his in
2:50
Speaker 5: front of his paper book. Yeah, lady had so I'm
2:56
Speaker 5: still doing my paper up. Had a car as Utah
2:58
Speaker 5: all light and face on.
3:01
Speaker 4: The ship colors.
3:04
Speaker 5: Great, We'll get somebody go out there and check on them.
3:06
Speaker 6: Okay, all right.
3:08
Speaker 3: Police came to the scene to check out the car,
3:11
Speaker 3: and when an officer walked behind the building, he found
3:14
Speaker 3: a body. The victim was twenty two year old Jennifer
3:18
Speaker 3: Kathleen Nielsen, who everyone knew as Jenna. She lived in
3:23
Speaker 3: fu q Verena south of Raleigh, with her husband Tim
3:26
Speaker 3: and their two little boys. Skyler was three, Cayden was
3:31
Speaker 3: eleven months old, and Jenna was eight and a half
3:34
Speaker 3: months pregnant with her third child, a son they had
3:37
Speaker 3: planned to name Ethan. Ethan was due in early July.
3:42
Speaker 3: Jenna was covered in blood and had been stabbed multiple times.
3:47
Speaker 3: Her father, Kevin Blaine, later remembered answering the phone that night,
3:51
Speaker 3: thinking he would get the news that his daughter had
3:54
Speaker 3: gone into labor. Instead, he got the news that Jenna
3:58
Speaker 3: and her unborn child were dead behind a gas station.
4:03
Speaker 3: I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past eight years of making
4:06
Speaker 3: my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned that there's
4:10
Speaker 3: no such thing as a small town where murder never happens.
4:14
Speaker 3: I have received hundreds of messages from people all around
4:16
Speaker 3: the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's
4:20
Speaker 3: affected them, their families, and their communities. If you have
4:24
Speaker 3: a case she'd like me and my team to look into,
4:26
Speaker 3: you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone
4:28
Speaker 3: Murder line at six seven eight seven four four six'
4:31
Speaker 3: one four or. Five that's six seven eight seven four
4:35
Speaker 3: four six' one, four five or you can send us
4:38
Speaker 3: a Message on Instagram at Hell. And gonepod This Is
4:42
Speaker 3: Helen Gone.
4:43
Speaker 6: Murder line.
5:30
Speaker 3: To help earn money for her, Growing family jenna had
5:33
Speaker 3: taken an overnight JOB Restocking usa today. Newspaper boxes her
5:38
Speaker 3: family later explained that she was trying to contribute financially
5:42
Speaker 3: while arranging her schedule around. Her children, Jenna's, husband tim
5:47
Speaker 3: worked a day job at a revolving. Door manufacturer jenna
5:50
Speaker 3: would normally leave every day at around midnight Work while
5:54
Speaker 3: tim and her boys, were asleep and normally be back
5:57
Speaker 3: home early in. The morning her newspaper route covered Parts
6:01
Speaker 3: of Garner And south raleigh and Included The Americ King
6:04
Speaker 3: food mart at seventeen Oh Nine Lake wheeler Road. In
6:07
Speaker 3: raleigh according to media reports at, the Time The Americ
6:11
Speaker 3: King food mart was an early Stop on. Jenna's route
6:14
Speaker 3: some reports said the, first stop some said the second.
6:17
Speaker 3: Or third at approximately four, thirty Am the raleigh police
6:22
Speaker 3: officer who had responded to the call about, the vehicle
6:25
Speaker 3: walked around, the building and According, to wral He found.
6:29
Speaker 3: Jenna's Body so jenna was attacked soon after she started
6:34
Speaker 3: her shift. That night is there anything that the, Crime
6:38
Speaker 3: scene jenna's body in.
6:39
Speaker 1: The condition of her car can.
6:41
Speaker 3: Tell us jenna was lying, faced down she was, partially
6:45
Speaker 3: clothed there was a large amount of blood at, the
6:48
Speaker 3: scene and her body had been found, pretty quickly so
6:51
Speaker 3: investigators were able to narrow down the time of her
6:55
Speaker 3: murder to a pretty short window. Of time they believed
6:59
Speaker 3: she had probably been attacked sometime around.
7:01
Speaker 1: Three or four o'clock. That morning but who would want To?
7:04
Speaker 3: Hurt jenna and why was this someone who knew her
7:08
Speaker 3: or a. Random stranger jenna Was Born jenna Blaine on,
7:13
Speaker 3: march sixth to nineteen eighty Five, In, glendale California To
7:16
Speaker 3: kevin Blaine And. Lourenne blane she had two brothers and.
7:20
Speaker 3: A sister her obituary described a young woman who, loved performing, playing,
7:24
Speaker 3: piano dancing. And singing at, some point the family Relocated.
7:28
Speaker 3: To utah jenna's family remembered her, as outgoing someone who was,
7:33
Speaker 3: always smiling someone people naturally. Gravitated toward at, Some point jenna's,
7:38
Speaker 3: parents divorced and her father, And, stepmother stacy Moved To.
7:42
Speaker 3: North carolina Jenna and tim had been Living In, West,
7:46
Speaker 3: geordan utah But after jenna's father and stepmother Relocated To
7:50
Speaker 3: north Carolina in april of two thousand, And six Jenna
7:53
Speaker 3: and tim. Followed them jenna's father and her husband ended
7:57
Speaker 3: up taking jobs at the, same company so it seems
8:00
Speaker 3: like that whole side of the family.
8:02
Speaker 1: Moved together.
8:05
Speaker 3: Jenna and her husband had Been In north carolina for
8:08
Speaker 3: less than a Year when jenna, was Murdered so jenna
8:11
Speaker 3: didn't really have friends or other family in, the area
8:14
Speaker 3: and From what jenna's family, told investigators the Center of
8:17
Speaker 3: jenna's life was her own, young family Her, husband tim
8:20
Speaker 3: and their. Two kids the overnight newspaper job was one
8:24
Speaker 3: relative told a local news channel So that jenna could
8:27
Speaker 3: eventually be home full time with her, three kids and
8:31
Speaker 3: according to, Her Father, kevin blaine and Her, Husband tim
8:34
Speaker 3: jenna actually liked going to work at night and coming
8:37
Speaker 3: home at the crack. Of dawn maybe it was something
8:40
Speaker 3: about having those quiet overnight hours. To herself she would
8:44
Speaker 3: get up, around midnight work her route and normally be
8:47
Speaker 3: back home in time to spend the day with. The
8:48
Speaker 3: boys so since this murder Happened on jenna's, regular route
8:53
Speaker 3: a natural question for investigators was was this a random
8:57
Speaker 3: attack or did someone know? Her routine was Someone targeting
9:02
Speaker 3: jenna and? Stalking her or did somebody just see a
9:04
Speaker 3: young woman alone in a parking lot at three or
9:07
Speaker 3: four o'clock in the morning and act investigators were taking
9:11
Speaker 3: a closer look at the area Around The American. Food
9:15
Speaker 3: mart there were other businesses on, that property including an.
9:18
Speaker 3: Adjoining subway this was not a remote. Country road it
9:22
Speaker 3: was a, commercial area but in the pre dawn hours it,
9:26
Speaker 3: was deserted And once jenna got out of her car
9:29
Speaker 3: holding the newspapers in her hands so that she could
9:31
Speaker 3: restock the, newspaper boxes she would have. Been vulnerable police
9:36
Speaker 3: immediately started looking around the, surrounding area and they found
9:39
Speaker 3: that there were several homeless camps along the railroad tracks behind.
9:43
Speaker 3: The store they began trying to retrieve, surveillance videos but
9:49
Speaker 3: according to, news reports the surveillance cameras at the food
9:53
Speaker 3: mart itself, were broken but very quickly they did find
9:57
Speaker 3: at least one person that they wanted.
9:59
Speaker 1: To identify that lead came from.
10:02
Speaker 3: A witness a witness described someone in his late teens or,
10:06
Speaker 3: early twenties a man approximately five foot three and around
10:10
Speaker 3: one hundred and, twenty pounds with longer black hair pulled
10:13
Speaker 3: back into a. Long ponytail this person was wearing a
10:18
Speaker 3: dark sleeveless shirt and baggy, denim shorts and they were
10:21
Speaker 3: reportedly seen near the convenience store in the pre. Dawn
10:24
Speaker 3: hours police produced a composite sketch of the person the.
10:30
Speaker 3: Witness Described now early in, the investigation reports said police
10:35
Speaker 3: thought the man might. Be hispanic that would, Later change
10:39
Speaker 3: But in june of two thousand, And seven raleigh police
10:43
Speaker 3: desperately won to know who this. Man was they weren't
10:46
Speaker 3: publicly Calling him. Jenna's killer they, Were, saying hey this
10:50
Speaker 3: is a person who witnesses saw near. The scene we
10:52
Speaker 3: want to talk to. This person and just when investigators
10:56
Speaker 3: were trying to put a name to the face in,
10:58
Speaker 3: that sketch they got another.
11:00
Speaker 1: Strange lead a. Phone call.
11:14
Speaker 3: At about one thirty Am, On friday, june fifteenth roughly
11:18
Speaker 3: a Day after jenna was, found dead someone called nine.
11:21
Speaker 3: One one according To a raleigh, police spokesperson the caller
11:26
Speaker 3: Was a spanish, speaking man he was using a payphone
11:29
Speaker 3: near the Intersection of South saunder Street And West south Street.
11:32
Speaker 3: And raleigh this was near the, crime scene and according,
11:36
Speaker 3: to police he said that he had information Related to.
11:39
Speaker 3: Jenna's death then he quickly, hung up went to the
11:44
Speaker 3: phone and checked the booth for fingerprints and other. Possible
11:46
Speaker 3: evidence but since the case file hasn't been released due
11:50
Speaker 3: to this being an, active investigation we don't know whether
11:54
Speaker 3: or not any evidence was actually recovered from the phone
11:56
Speaker 3: booth or exactly what this unknown caller's conversation was like,
12:01
Speaker 3: With police and we don't know whether there was any
12:04
Speaker 3: connection Between the spanish speaking caller and the man who
12:08
Speaker 3: police wanted to identify from the.
12:10
Speaker 1: Composite sketch those are two.
12:12
Speaker 3: Separate leads they may have had absolutely nothing to do with,
12:16
Speaker 3: each other but both appeared almost immediately after. The murder
12:21
Speaker 3: so it does seem, as though reading through, online comments
12:24
Speaker 3: that the two leads may have gotten conflated in some.
12:27
Speaker 3: People's minds the description Of the hispanic man from the
12:30
Speaker 3: anonymous caller and the fact that some people believed that
12:34
Speaker 3: the composite sketch looked like it may have Been a.
12:37
Speaker 3: Hispanic man to, be clear police have never said that
12:41
Speaker 3: the composite sketch Person. Was hispanic police began receiving tips
12:46
Speaker 3: after the sketch, Was released then another piece of evidence.
12:49
Speaker 3: Turned up police were looking for the, murder weapon but
12:53
Speaker 3: they didn't find a knife or any other sharp object
12:56
Speaker 3: during their original search Behind The. America king someone else found.
12:59
Speaker 3: It First on, JUNE nineteenth wral reported that a man
13:04
Speaker 3: had found a bloody knife less than half a mile
13:07
Speaker 3: From where jenna's body had. Been discovered according to sources
13:11
Speaker 3: who SPOKE, to wrl the man was Walking Along Lake
13:14
Speaker 3: wheeler road on The day jenna was killed when he found,
13:18
Speaker 3: the knife but rather than turning, it in the man
13:21
Speaker 3: apparently panicked and threw the knife over. The fence the
13:25
Speaker 3: man was a resident Of The healing Place Of, wake
13:27
Speaker 3: county a program that served unhoused people with substance. Abuse,
13:31
Speaker 3: problems later he went to the police and.
13:34
Speaker 1: Told them what.
13:35
Speaker 3: Had happened, after that a woman you worked nearby reportedly
13:39
Speaker 3: helped investigators retrieve the knife from the fence property where
13:43
Speaker 3: it had. Been thrown at, This point raleigh police would
13:46
Speaker 3: not publicly confirm that the knife was Connected to. Jenna's
13:49
Speaker 3: homicide they weren't even publicly confirming her cause of. Death
13:53
Speaker 3: yet but a, month Later when jenna's autopsy, WAS released
13:57
Speaker 3: wril reported that investigators had recovered the bloody knife near the.
14:02
Speaker 3: Crime scene police still hadn't said whether.
14:05
Speaker 1: It was the actual.
14:06
Speaker 3: Murder weapon as far as the Public record i've, reviewed
14:09
Speaker 3: goes they. Still haven't and that is a. Huge question
14:13
Speaker 3: was the blood that the man living at the homeless
14:15
Speaker 3: encampment told Them about? Jenna's Blood was jenna's blood on?
14:19
Speaker 3: That knife was ANYBODY else's dna? On it did testing
14:23
Speaker 3: confirm that that was the? Murder weapon or was it
14:26
Speaker 3: simply a bloody knife that happened to turn up near
14:29
Speaker 3: the crime scene on the. Same day another important piece
14:33
Speaker 3: of the puzzle Came on, july nineteenth two thousand, and
14:35
Speaker 3: seven when the autopsy findings. Became public they Confirmed that
14:41
Speaker 3: jenna was stabbed to death and had suffered a single.
14:44
Speaker 3: Fatal wound one stab wound to the left side of.
14:47
Speaker 3: Her neck according to the autopsy findings REPORTED, by wral
14:53
Speaker 3: the wound was approximately one. Inch wide the blade traveled
14:56
Speaker 3: about three point seven Inches into, jenna's neck and along
15:00
Speaker 3: that path it struck both her carotid artery and her internal,
15:03
Speaker 3: jugular vein which meant she would have bled to death.
15:06
Speaker 3: Fairly quickly but the fatal stab Wound wasn't jenna's. Only
15:11
Speaker 3: injury jenna had. Other abrasions she had cuts on, both
15:15
Speaker 3: elbows and an abrasion on her right knee and another
15:18
Speaker 3: one on her. Left shin the medical examiner said those
15:22
Speaker 3: injuries could have Resulted from jenna falling or possibly from.
15:25
Speaker 3: Being dragged they also found, something else a single hair
15:30
Speaker 3: on the Back of jenna's. Right hand the released information
15:34
Speaker 3: doesn't say whether the hair Belonged to jenna or to.
15:36
Speaker 3: Someone else her pants and underwear had been. Pulled down because,
15:41
Speaker 3: of that investigators collected out thedence for a, rape kit
15:45
Speaker 3: but according to the, autopsy report there was no documented
15:49
Speaker 3: Evidence that jenna had been raped or. Sexually assaulted that
15:53
Speaker 3: finding Reportedly brought jenna's father some measure, of Relief because
15:57
Speaker 3: kevin said he had feared that his daughter had been.
16:00
Speaker 1: Sexually assaulted before.
16:01
Speaker 3: She died so was sexual assault the motive and, if
16:06
Speaker 3: so why did the offender stop the assault where? They
16:10
Speaker 3: interrupted did someone? See something and, if so is that
16:14
Speaker 3: person still? Out there police did consider this possibility another
16:20
Speaker 3: possibility popped into. MY mind i wondered if perhaps Someone
16:24
Speaker 3: attacked jenna and planned to sexually, assault her but then
16:28
Speaker 3: saw she was pregnant. And stopped if they approached her
16:32
Speaker 3: from behind as she was getting out of, the car
16:34
Speaker 3: maybe they weren't able to see that she was pregnant.
16:36
Speaker 3: Right away wral reported that sources close to, the Case
16:41
Speaker 3: not raleigh police, speaking officially believe that it was possible
16:45
Speaker 3: somebody had attempted to Sexually assault jenna and that she
16:48
Speaker 3: was fatally wounded when.
16:50
Speaker 1: She resisted there are.
16:52
Speaker 3: Other possibilities, for example the clothing could have been pulled
16:55
Speaker 3: down to stage the murder so that it appeared to
16:58
Speaker 3: be a, sexual assault but given the fact that her
17:01
Speaker 3: pants were, pulled down an interrupted sexual assault is an,
17:05
Speaker 3: obvious Possibility and jenna wasn't the only. Victim here the
17:10
Speaker 3: autopsy also documented the injuries to her, Unborn, baby ethan
17:16
Speaker 3: and this is one of the places where the early
17:18
Speaker 3: Description of jenna as simply eight months pregnant or eight
17:21
Speaker 3: and a half months pregnant doesn't really capture the reality
17:24
Speaker 3: of how horrific this. Attack was according to, the autopsy
17:29
Speaker 3: she was further along Than that she was estimated at
17:32
Speaker 3: approximately thirty eight to forty. Weeks gestation that's a full.
17:36
Speaker 3: Term baby ethan weighed about six point three, Five pounds
17:40
Speaker 3: he was almost twenty, inches long and he was just described.
17:44
Speaker 3: As healthy So when jenna was Killed on, June fourteenth
17:48
Speaker 3: Jenna and tim were only weeks away from bringing their third. Son,
17:52
Speaker 3: Home instead Jenna and ethan were buried Together in utah
17:59
Speaker 3: after laying her. To rest from, The beginning jenna's family
18:02
Speaker 3: started doing almost everything they could think of to keep
18:05
Speaker 3: the CASE Visible. Usa today jenna's employer ran advertisements asking.
18:10
Speaker 3: For information the murder received. National coverage the family canvass
18:15
Speaker 3: the neighborhood with the. Composite sketch they had, candlelight vigils they.
18:19
Speaker 3: Printed flyers they tried to get the story out in
18:21
Speaker 3: public as much as. They could jenna's family also created
18:25
Speaker 3: a Website called Justice for Jenna, dot org and they
18:30
Speaker 3: appeared on national television Shows Like America's, Most Wanted The Steve, wilco.
18:34
Speaker 1: Show And nancy Grace featured.
18:36
Speaker 3: Jenna's case her family did a ton of, media outreach
18:40
Speaker 3: especially in the years between two thousand, and seven and
18:44
Speaker 3: the family announced rewards in return for information that would
18:47
Speaker 3: help Lead to jenna's killer first ten. Thousand dollars later
18:51
Speaker 3: that was up to Fifteen and, Jenna's Father, kevin blaine
18:55
Speaker 3: became one of the most persistent public voices in. The
18:58
Speaker 3: case but while the family worked the, media side detectives
19:03
Speaker 3: were collecting a lot of, physical evidence and we know
19:06
Speaker 3: that because some of the search warrants eventually. Became Public
19:10
Speaker 3: in august of two thousand, AND seven wril reported on
19:14
Speaker 3: recently released search warrants Connected to. Jenna's murder according to those,
19:18
Speaker 3: warrant records investigators had spent about twelve hours Processing The
19:22
Speaker 3: america king and the subway next to it and. Five
19:25
Speaker 3: vehicles they seized thirty nine items of evidence from the.
19:29
Speaker 3: Crime scene the Vehicles Included Jenna's, honda civic but also,
19:33
Speaker 3: other cars A Burgundy, chevrolet silverado and A Green, ford
19:37
Speaker 3: explorer but the reporting doesn't identify who those vehicles belonged
19:42
Speaker 3: to or why they. Were chosen the thirty nine items
19:45
Speaker 3: police collected included at least twelve, blood samples ten, cigarette
19:49
Speaker 3: buds a strand, of hair a, broken earring a flip,
19:52
Speaker 3: flop shoe and a piece of broken red vehicle. Light
19:55
Speaker 3: lens the warrants indicated that investigators were looking for things including, HAIR,
20:01
Speaker 3: fibers dna and, possible weapons which might indicate that they
20:06
Speaker 3: had not definitively confirmed that that knife that was found
20:11
Speaker 3: by the person living in the shelter was the. Murder weapon,
20:14
Speaker 3: but again it's just not clear from the search warrants
20:18
Speaker 3: what was relevant and what may have belonged to the
20:20
Speaker 3: killer or what was just random convenience.
20:23
Speaker 1: Store debris we just.
20:24
Speaker 3: Don't know there was another round of search warrants in
20:28
Speaker 3: the fall of two thousand, and seven and these. Were
20:30
Speaker 3: different investigators went closer. To home they Went into Jenna
20:35
Speaker 3: and tim's. Email accounts ACCORDING to wral Warrants dated September
20:40
Speaker 3: seventeenth september. Twenty First in october FIFTH sought ac Access
20:44
Speaker 3: to Hotmail and yahoo accounts Shared by Jenna, and tim
20:47
Speaker 3: along with their.
20:48
Speaker 1: Individual accounts it.
20:50
Speaker 3: Appeared as though investigators were exploring another possibility and wanted
20:54
Speaker 3: to know whether they were on the, right Track whether
20:57
Speaker 3: jenna might have known. Her killer they wanted to figure
21:00
Speaker 3: out if someone had contacted her or maybe, threatened her
21:03
Speaker 3: or if there was a relationship they didn't. Know, about
21:06
Speaker 3: now this seemed like a departure from what they had
21:08
Speaker 3: said earlier that this was a stranger. Homicide situation but
21:13
Speaker 3: when those warrants became Public in october of two thousand,
21:16
Speaker 3: and seven police said they had no indication that anyone
21:20
Speaker 3: Close to jenna was, a suspect and they continued investigating
21:24
Speaker 3: the case as a. Stranger, homicide sadly as we've discussed
21:28
Speaker 3: before on, this podcast it is not uncommon for women
21:32
Speaker 3: to be murdered. During, pregnancy statistically it is one of
21:35
Speaker 3: the most dangerous times, for women and again just looking at,
21:38
Speaker 3: the numbers the most obvious place for investigators to start
21:42
Speaker 3: when a young pregnant woman is murd is close. To
21:45
Speaker 3: home women are far more likely to be killed by
21:48
Speaker 3: someone they know than by, a stranger and with pregnancy,
21:51
Speaker 3: in particular intimate partner violence accounts for a substantial share
21:55
Speaker 3: of homicides during pregnancy and the year, after Birth and
22:00
Speaker 3: jenna's murder happened during a Period Where north carolina had seen,
22:03
Speaker 3: several horrific highly publicized murders of. Pregnant women seven, months
22:10
Speaker 3: earlier twenty nine Year Old michelle young had been found
22:13
Speaker 3: beaten to death Inside Her wake. County home michelle was
22:17
Speaker 3: about five, months pregnant and her two year old daughter
22:20
Speaker 3: was found alive in. The house, Her Husband, jason young
22:24
Speaker 3: was eventually convicted of her murder after two highly. Publicized
22:27
Speaker 3: trials six Months after, jenna's murder Pregnant Marine maria lauterbach
22:33
Speaker 3: Disappeared From campbell june after a highly. Publicized trial the
22:38
Speaker 3: man she had accused of sexually, assaulting her who, was
22:41
Speaker 3: married would eventually be convicted of killing her and burying
22:44
Speaker 3: her in. His backyard these other two cases that received
22:49
Speaker 3: a lot of media coverage involved women who had been
22:53
Speaker 3: killed by men they were romantically, involved With but jenna's case.
22:57
Speaker 3: Was different raleigh police said they Had investigated jenna's family
23:02
Speaker 3: and the people closest, to her and they kept coming
23:04
Speaker 3: back to a very different theory that the person Who
23:07
Speaker 3: killed jenna was.
23:08
Speaker 1: A stranger.
23:19
Speaker 3: Police did seem to have one, promising lead the. Composite
23:22
Speaker 3: sketch at, the beginning that sketch was. Everywhere again early
23:26
Speaker 3: reportings said police thought the man might, Be hispanic but
23:30
Speaker 3: two years later something happened to the way police viewed,
23:33
Speaker 3: that sketch and police had changed the way they talked
23:36
Speaker 3: about the person in It because by two thousand, and
23:39
Speaker 3: nine detectives were warning people that the composite sketch itself
23:43
Speaker 3: could be hurting. The investigation, side note a lot of
23:47
Speaker 3: people commenting on online threads had brought up the possibility
23:51
Speaker 3: that the composite sketch could have been a woman because
23:55
Speaker 3: of the slight build and. The ponytail police have never
24:00
Speaker 3: confirmed that or said anything publicly, about it but by
24:04
Speaker 3: two thousand, And Nine Lieutenant karen rigsby Of The Raleigh
24:07
Speaker 3: Police Department's Major crimes division said investigators had.
24:11
Speaker 1: Actually backed away from the.
24:12
Speaker 3: Composite image police said they were concerned the drawing might
24:16
Speaker 3: have narrowed the information that was. Coming in they said
24:19
Speaker 3: the sketch might even have, been misleading and detectives specifically
24:22
Speaker 3: said the person's ethnicity was. Not known they urged people
24:27
Speaker 3: not to make assumptions from. The description this also raises
24:31
Speaker 3: questions about the, original sighting like was this composite sketch
24:35
Speaker 3: a reliable lead, or not how many witnesses actually saw
24:38
Speaker 3: this person and what was going on when they did see.
24:41
Speaker 3: This person was this just a random guy who was
24:44
Speaker 3: around the business or was there anyone who actually saw
24:46
Speaker 3: this person Interact. With jenna jenna's father later said there
24:51
Speaker 3: were eyewitnesses plural who had seen the person, of interest,
24:55
Speaker 3: but publicly we still don't have the complete.
24:57
Speaker 1: Witness account and.
24:59
Speaker 3: The interesting, thing is even though police made that statement
25:02
Speaker 3: in two thousand, and nine and even though they seemed
25:04
Speaker 3: to become more cautious about, this composite they didn't abandon.
25:08
Speaker 3: It entirely they still wanted information about, a short slightly
25:12
Speaker 3: built young man with black hair worn in.
25:15
Speaker 1: A ponytail.
25:17
Speaker 6: There was.
25:18
Speaker 1: Another lead at.
25:19
Speaker 3: One point some people believe this composite sketch looked a
25:22
Speaker 3: lot like another. Convicted Rapist America's, most wanted who covered
25:26
Speaker 3: the case stated a lot of people had called in
25:29
Speaker 3: to their tip line to say they believe the man
25:32
Speaker 3: in the Sketch in jenna's case looked a lot like
25:35
Speaker 3: another rape Suspect In, Ocean, Springs Mississippi, jess green nicknamed
25:39
Speaker 3: The baby.
25:40
Speaker 1: Faced Rapist jess.
25:43
Speaker 3: Green got that nickname because of, the young feminine features
25:46
Speaker 3: his victims described he looked a lot like the man
25:50
Speaker 3: in the. Composite Sketch jess green attacked several victims at
25:55
Speaker 3: a walmart just two Weeks after jenna's murder detectives At
25:58
Speaker 3: The America's Most wanted hotline posted online they had gotten
26:02
Speaker 3: in touch with Police In. Ocean springs they said they
26:05
Speaker 3: Learned That jess green Was In north Carolina when jenna,
26:08
Speaker 3: was murdered so there were, some similarities except that there
26:12
Speaker 3: was a. Height discrepancy the Man in jenna's case was
26:15
Speaker 3: described as, being shorter around five, foot Three While jess.
26:18
Speaker 1: Green is six.
26:19
Speaker 3: Feet tall according To, the post detectives did Go to
26:23
Speaker 3: mississippi and They Interviewed. Jess green they said he denied
26:26
Speaker 3: having anything to Do with, jenna's murder but there's no
26:29
Speaker 3: follow up from police on whether he was actually eliminated
26:32
Speaker 3: as a suspect, or not and, if so how detectives
26:35
Speaker 3: were able to. Do that then in two thousand, and
26:38
Speaker 3: nine the public learned that investigators had another piece, of
26:41
Speaker 3: evidence potentially the most important one in the, ENTIRE. Case
26:45
Speaker 3: dna for almost, Two years raleigh police had not publicly
26:50
Speaker 3: disclosed that THEY possessed. Dna Evidence Then tim nielsen mentioned,
26:54
Speaker 3: it Publicly And kevin blaine also discussed it On The
26:58
Speaker 3: Steve wilco show when he was interviewed there in two thousand.
27:00
Speaker 3: And nine when asked what he believed happened. That night, kevin,
27:04
Speaker 3: said quote somebody, jumped her took her behind, the building
27:07
Speaker 3: and stabbed her to death. End quote so what happened TO?
27:12
Speaker 3: That Dna on, june seventeenth two thousand, And Nine raleigh
27:16
Speaker 3: police did. Confirm It Lieutenant karen rigsby would not say
27:20
Speaker 3: WHERE the dna had, been collected and she didn't say
27:23
Speaker 3: when investigators. Discovered it rigsby DESCRIBED the dna as something
27:27
Speaker 3: capable of focusing investigators on. One person she said police
27:32
Speaker 3: essentially needed a suspect to compare, against it so it
27:35
Speaker 3: did seem as though they were DEVELOPING a dna profile
27:38
Speaker 3: for a. Single killer by, TWENTY ten wral reported that
27:43
Speaker 3: Police considered jenna's homicide very solvable because OF the dna
27:47
Speaker 3: evidence that was found at the. Crime scene so what
27:51
Speaker 3: exactly IS the? Dna evidence is there a single source
27:54
Speaker 3: mail profile or is it? A mixture could it be
27:57
Speaker 3: retested now and RUN through codis or could they use
28:00
Speaker 3: newer technology like forensic genealogy.
28:03
Speaker 1: In two thousand.
28:04
Speaker 3: And nine in, Twenty ten raleigh Police said jenna's case
28:07
Speaker 3: had never. Gone Cold karen rigsby said investigators worked on.
28:11
Speaker 3: It daily that's what makes this case. So frustrating police
28:15
Speaker 3: have done hundreds, of interviews and they do have. Some
28:17
Speaker 3: evidence they have, a body a, crime scene a narrow window,
28:20
Speaker 3: of time and some. Physical evidence but no one has
28:24
Speaker 3: been arrested. Or charged so what are we? MISSING here
28:28
Speaker 3: i keep coming back to. THE knife a man finds
28:31
Speaker 3: a bloody knife less than half a mile from the
28:33
Speaker 3: scene on the Same day jenna. Is murdered he says
28:36
Speaker 3: that he panics and throws it over. A fence he
28:38
Speaker 3: later tells police. About it investigators retrieve, the knife then
28:43
Speaker 3: the autopsy Establishes that jenna was stabbed once in. The
28:46
Speaker 3: neck maybe police tested the knife and found that it
28:50
Speaker 3: had nothing to Do.
28:50
Speaker 1: With jenna that is.
28:51
Speaker 3: A possibility, if so that should end. That mystery but
28:56
Speaker 3: if police never publicly ruled, IT out i want to.
28:59
Speaker 3: KNOW why i also want to know if the knife remains,
29:02
Speaker 3: in evidence was there enough material on it FOR modern?
29:05
Speaker 3: Dna Testing is jenna's blood on? That knife could the
29:09
Speaker 3: handle CONTAINED? Touch dna, and crucially COULD the dna testing
29:14
Speaker 3: differentiate the prince of the man who eventually handled the
29:17
Speaker 3: knife from other prints from whoever previously. Handled it how
29:22
Speaker 3: did the knife get to where it. Was found if
29:25
Speaker 3: it was the, murder weapon did the Attacker Leave Lake
29:28
Speaker 3: wheeler road on foot or did they throw it from a.
29:31
Speaker 1: Moving vehicle i'm interested in.
29:33
Speaker 3: The man who found the knife because reporting at the
29:36
Speaker 3: time quoted police sources who explicitly said there was no
29:40
Speaker 3: indication that resonance of the healing place where this man
29:43
Speaker 3: was living were Connected to. Jenna's death but how do they?
29:47
Speaker 3: Know that they do know that robbery did not appear
29:50
Speaker 3: to be. The motive jenna's purse and keys were in,
29:53
Speaker 3: the car and of course Whoever killed jenna could have
29:56
Speaker 3: stolen the, car itself but chose. Not to some people
29:59
Speaker 3: Wondered if jenna was, carrying money because she did collect
30:03
Speaker 3: from the, newspaper Machines but jenna's family said this would
30:06
Speaker 3: have been very. Little money the Amounts that jenna got
30:10
Speaker 3: from these machines were very small amounts. OF change i
30:14
Speaker 3: also have questions about the nine to one. One caller
30:18
Speaker 3: the call happened at one point thirty in the morning
30:20
Speaker 3: the Day after jenna, was murdered so reports about the
30:23
Speaker 3: murder would have been on the news. That night the
30:26
Speaker 3: call came from a Payphone Near South saunder Street And West.
30:29
Speaker 3: South street the caller dial nine one one said he
30:33
Speaker 3: had Information about jenna's death and then. Hung up so
30:36
Speaker 3: why would that person call nine one one at? That
30:39
Speaker 3: time if it was a, prank call why call from
30:43
Speaker 3: a location that's so near the. Crime scene if this person,
30:47
Speaker 3: was scared what? Frightened him when they, Went public jenna's
30:51
Speaker 3: family stated they wanted to help change the Law In.
30:54
Speaker 3: North Carolina when jenna was killed in two thousand, And
30:57
Speaker 3: Seven north carolina did not have a fetal homicide law
31:00
Speaker 3: that would have allowed prosecutors To treat ethan's death as a.
31:03
Speaker 3: Second homicide that devastated, her family and they began pushing.
31:08
Speaker 3: For change, Years Later north carolina Passed The unborn Victims Of,
31:12
Speaker 3: violence act known publicly in connection With the nielsen family's
31:16
Speaker 3: Campaign As. Ethan's law the law took effect in. Twenty
31:19
Speaker 3: eleven ethan would finally. Be, recognized unfortunately at, the time
31:26
Speaker 3: it became for a lot of people a political issue
31:29
Speaker 3: between pro choice and pro, Life activists But for jenna's
31:33
Speaker 3: family that wasn't. The point this was not a political thing.
31:36
Speaker 3: For them They wanted ethan to, be recognized so the
31:40
Speaker 3: law change was A victory in, that sense but legislation
31:44
Speaker 3: couldn't answer the question that had driven the Family since,
31:47
Speaker 3: june fourteenth two thousand. And seven Who killed Jenna? And
31:50
Speaker 3: ethan there has been some recent activity on. This case
31:55
Speaker 3: in an Episode Of, crime capsule The current, Raleigh Prosecutor,
31:58
Speaker 3: melanie shaquita talks about her team's frustration in trying to
32:02
Speaker 3: find Justice. For jenna she said that a potential Suspect
32:06
Speaker 3: in jenna's.
32:06
Speaker 1: Case may already be in Jail.
32:08
Speaker 3: In mexico she didn't name, this person but she said
32:12
Speaker 3: the suspect is incarcerated in His native mexico and has
32:16
Speaker 3: been charged with a. Homicide there investigators say he is
32:19
Speaker 3: a person of Interest in, jenna's murder but they haven't
32:23
Speaker 3: been able to get him extradited TO. The, Us meanwhile
32:26
Speaker 3: jenna's family struggle to understand who could have brutally attacked
32:30
Speaker 3: a visibly pregnant woman who was just trying to earn
32:33
Speaker 3: money for. Her family and, Her Father, kevin blaine says
32:37
Speaker 3: he still struggles with the fact that he lost not just,
32:39
Speaker 3: his daughter but his grandson, as well and that even,
32:42
Speaker 3: years later he is still haunted by the fact that
32:46
Speaker 3: her killer is still out on. The streets Investigators and
32:52
Speaker 3: raleigh are still working on.
32:53
Speaker 1: This case they've asked.
32:54
Speaker 3: Anyone with any information to Call The Raleigh police department
32:59
Speaker 3: at nine one nine two two seven six two.
33:01
Speaker 1: Two Zero I'm. Catherine townsend This Is Helen Gone. Murder Line.
33:09
Speaker 3: Helen Gone murder line is a Production of School of
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Speaker 3: Humans And. iHeart podcasts it's written and narrated By Me
33:14
Speaker 3: catherine townsend and Produced By Etily's perez special Thanks To
33:18
Speaker 3: amy tubbs for her research Assistance And james wheaton for.
33:21
Speaker 1: Legal Review noah camera mixed and scored.
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Speaker 3: This episode our theme song Is By, Ben sale executive
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Speaker 3: Producers Of, Virginia Prescott, brandon barr.
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