Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / The Disappearance of Jared Chavis Part 2

Transcript

The Disappearance of Jared Chavis Part 2 · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

0:01
The Concold podcast may contain violent or graphic subject matter. Listener discretion is advised.
0:09
The friends that were with nineteen year old Jared Wayne Chavis in Houston,
0:13
Texas the night he went missing Friday, January twelfth, twenty eighteen did not
0:20
call the police to report what took place. It wasn't until the following day
0:26
that they called Jared's family to inform them that he was missing, and then
0:31
Jared's family contacted the Houston Police to file the missing person's report. Specifically,
0:38
Jared's father, Willie, was the one who informed the police about the incident,
0:43
including the gun shots, though he was confused himself as to what really
0:48
took place since the friend's story didn't jibe, had changed more than once,
0:54
and was without a doubt one any person thinking reasonably would have reported to the
1:00
hops themselves. Jared owned a late model white Chevrolet Malibou, and that's what
1:06
he was driving the night of his disappearance. When the Houston police became involved
1:11
in the missing person's case, they theorized a connection between an attempted robbery and
1:17
shooting that took place a couple blocks away, But if later reports are any
1:22
indication that theory didn't last long. In fact, any suspected connection appears to
1:30
have fizzled out within a month. Jared's family never believed it, even though
1:34
it likely would have been a relief to them to believe that he was still
1:38
alive and just in hiding and not a victim of foul play, as his
1:42
friend's story strongly suggested. Last episode, we relayed two of the stories Willie
1:51
was told about his son's last known movements. Three of Jared's friends were with
1:57
him in his white Chevy Malibou that night d in the CBS drug store parking
2:01
lot. One story is that Jared and one of his friends exited his car
2:07
and got into the back seat of a black Ford Fusion. The missing young
2:12
man's friend and Houston police investigators at least at first said that a man nicknamed
2:19
bolt Swave was driving that black Ford Fusion. Reportedly, there was another man
2:25
in the passenger seat. In March of twenty eighteen, CW thirty nine TV
2:31
Houston released an article saying that the Houston Police Department was searching for bolt Swab
2:38
as a suspect in the case, and a story released by Dateline NBC online
2:43
almost a year later, in March of twenty nineteen, reported that the HPD
2:47
would neither confirm nor deny that they were looking for a man who went by
2:53
that name. In the dateline piece, Houston Police homicide Detective Gordon Sullivan says,
3:00
at this time, we're looking into multiple suspects. I'm not saying multiple
3:05
did it, but we are investigating multiple people. Jared's father, Willie,
3:09
high tailed it to Houston from Franklin, Louisiana, almost immediately upon hearing Jared
3:16
hadn't been seen. He's done absolutely everything he can to figure out exactly what
3:23
happened to Jared, including hitting the streets and asking people what they may know.
3:29
He discovered his son's unlocked car in the parking garage at an apartment complex
3:34
blocks away from the CBS drug store, where his friends said the car would
3:38
be. It had been cleaned out and the seat covers removed. A couple
3:44
of years ago. Willie told Gone Cold that at one point he tracked down
3:47
an individual who he heard was nicknamed Bolt Swave and who seemed to match up
3:53
with the suspect that could have shot Jared, But when he turned that information
3:59
over to police, they stated that this was not the person they were looking
4:02
for. Willie said that the Houston Police Department had told him that they'd already
4:09
tracked down the suspect known as bolt Swave themselves, but no charges had been
4:14
brought against this man since, nor is anyone any closer to knowing the truth
4:19
behind what happened that cold night in January of twenty eighteen. Considering what Willie
4:27
uncovered as he himself investigated his son, Jared Javis's disappearance, there were no
4:33
truly clear possibilities when Jared Chavis went missing from Houston, Texas in January of
5:03
twenty eighteen. He didn't know a lot of folks there, having only lived
5:08
in the city for about two months. Considering this fact, thinking his face
5:14
and description should be posted everywhere is not an ignorant presumption to make. I
5:20
would guess that every single person listening to this podcast right now understands that here
5:27
in the twenty first century, we have certain advantages Over past decades concerning both
5:32
missing persons and homicide cases. There have been major advancements in forensic technologies and
5:40
crime scene investigation techniques that have greatly improved the reliability of identifying a suspect in
5:46
homicide investigations as quickly as possible if utilized correctly. But it's not just science
5:55
that gives us in the here and now the advantage here in techs, the
6:00
Clear Alert is intended to fill the gap between the Amber Alert for abducted children
6:05
and the Silver Alert for endangered missing seniors. It should be utilized anytime there
6:11
are witness accounts or evidence that a missing adult person has met with any type
6:15
of foul play. When nineteen year old Jared Chavis went missing, however,
6:21
the Clear Alert wasn't operational. It's still maddeningly under utilized anyway, a few
6:30
years after its implementation as a program signed into law by state government. But
6:36
there was a tool at police's disposal that could have been utilized more effectively than
6:42
it was in the case of Jared Chavis. Social media. To this day,
6:47
Houston Peade's use of social media, and even crime stoppers of Houston's use
6:53
of social media is more aken to public relations than an attempt to raise awareness
6:59
for crimes and missing people. To be clear, it is the opinion of
7:04
this podcast that law enforcement performing public relations activities are a very important and often
7:12
left out aspect for the cops. To concentrate on. But considering many significantly
7:17
smaller jurisdictions with far less crime than Houston that immediately come to mind dedicate at
7:25
least a third of their social media power to finding missing people or criminals,
7:30
it appears Texas's biggest and most populous city is far behind its small town counterparts,
7:35
and plenty of cases might the mystery of Jared's disappearance have become unraveled.
7:43
Had this case been publicized better on social media, it seems likely there would
7:47
have been more answers. At the very least. Though his picture could be
7:53
seen in the few news stories about the case that were eventually released, it
7:58
was a number of weeks before or a description of Jared Chavis would accompany the
8:03
reports. In the first several articles or segments describing Jared, he was listed
8:09
as five feet nine inches tall, but he actually stood just five foot seven.
8:15
On his inner right forearm, he has a tattoo that reads, no
8:20
weapon formed against me shall prosper. A tattoo of the letter J on his
8:24
right triceps and on his left triceps the letter C. It's also reported by
8:31
Texas Equa Search the letters JW on his left triceps. Another tattoo can be
8:39
seen on Jared's upper right arm that reads Helen Welch inside of praying hands.
8:46
He got this tattoo on the day of his grandmother, Helen Welch's funeral.
8:52
The nighty vanished, Jared was thought to be wearing jeans, a white T
8:56
shirt, a denim jacket, vest over a red hook, and bright orange
9:01
lebron James Tennis shoes. Had the Houston Police and Crime Stoppers released this information,
9:09
it certainly would not have hurt their chances at finding Jared. The descriptions
9:15
mattered and arguably, but would they have helped after all? According to friends
9:20
that were with him that night, gunfire erupted just after the last time they
9:26
saw Jared Chavis alive. But there were more conflicting details of the stories,
9:31
and seemingly different stories altogether than what we detailed here last episode, none of
9:39
which make much sense on their own. This episode of Gone Cold is brought
9:54
to you by Better Help. I've laid awake at night with thoughts racing through
9:58
my head plenty. No matter how tired I am, it sometimes seems those
10:03
thoughts won't let me rest, and when they do, they wake me up
10:07
In the middle of the night. It's not a problem that is unnavigable.
10:11
However, In fact, talking them through can help make the thoughts go away,
10:16
and therapy is the place to do it. It's helped me get over
10:20
some sleepless nights. It doesn't have to be trauma. Day to day stressors,
10:26
career decisions, and relationships can be incredibly difficult to navigate on your own.
10:31
If you're considering starting therapy, give Better Help a try entirely online.
10:37
It's designed to be convenient and flexible, suited to your schedule and availability.
10:43
Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch
10:48
therapists anytime for no additional charge. Get a break from your thoughts with Better
10:54
Help. Visit Betterhelp dot com slash Gone Cold to get ten percent off your
11:00
first month. That's Better Help HLP dot com slash gone Cold. As Willie
11:09
tried to get answers from the friends that were with his son the last night
11:13
he was seen, what he got instead was the runaround a series of statements
11:18
that were not necessarily full accounts of what had occurred, but instead a series
11:24
of separate events that didn't fit together necessarily and sometimes simply made no sense at
11:31
all. Again, the friend Willie initially spoke with said that he, Jared,
11:37
and two other guys were going to a party when a fight broke out
11:41
between others nearby. Gunshots were fired and everyone scattered and Jared was gone.
11:50
Then another contradicting account had Jared and one of the friends he was with meeting
11:54
some other men at a CBS parking lot off Westeimer Road in midwest Houston.
12:01
They got into the back seat of a black Ford Fusion when a verbal disagreement
12:07
occurred the car the mysterious man nicknamed Bolt Suave was supposedly driving, The friend
12:15
said, Jared and this man began arguing and gunshots were fired by one of
12:20
the men in the front seat. This took place at ten thirty nine PM.
12:26
As the story goes, Jared's friend, according to him, was able
12:30
to run out of the car. Jared, however, never exited the vehicle
12:35
and has never been seen again. Later police seemed to suggest that Bolt Suave
12:43
had been cleared, but when Willie was pounding the pavement looking for answers,
12:48
the word on the street, he said was closest to this story. To
12:54
further confuse matters. A November twenty eighteen report out of Lafayette, Louisiana said
13:00
Jared was quote sitting in the back of a car during a road rage shooting
13:05
and hasn't been seen since end quote. This publication spoke with Willie and claims
13:11
he was the source of this information, though this podcast could not find another
13:16
article quoting the father this way that could be confirmed to be independent, and
13:22
Willie certainly did not tell Gone Cold that a road rage incident was among the
13:28
stories he was told, but it is possible this version was told at some
13:31
point. Anyway, it's far from the last differing account. One of the
13:39
missing young man's friends said that he waited in Jared's white Chevy Malibu when Jared
13:43
got out and entered the black Ford Fusion. This friend told Jared's father,
13:50
Willie, that he waited there in Jared's car even after the gunshots went off,
13:56
but he couldn't explain how Jared's car ended up at the Pine Point apartment
14:00
complex, nor how and why the seat covers were gone. One friend,
14:07
who said he took off running after Jared got into the other car and shots
14:11
were fired, told Willie that he eventually came upon a city bus that he
14:15
hopped on and rode until he could meet a friend to pick him up.
14:20
This friend apparently put himself back in Jared's car after all this, but couldn't
14:26
explain why the Malibu ended up where it did and in the condition it was.
14:31
It's these particular stories that begged the most scrutiny, because Jared's car seat
14:37
covers were removed, but he was supposed to have been in the black Ford
14:41
Fusion when shots rang out. These two accounts of friends who placed themselves back
14:48
in Jared's car after gunshots were fired are suspicious at the very least. Ultimately,
14:56
one of the friends with Jared Chavis that night filed her assment charges against
15:01
Willie, so he can no longer seek information from this individual. When Jared's
15:07
father ran into one of the friends back home in Louisiana, they told Willie
15:11
to ask around the Houston streets about a man named Deshaun and try to talk
15:16
to him. He'd been in the black Ford focus that night. It was
15:22
the first time Willie had ever heard that name, and it's unclear if anything
15:28
ever came out of this clue or if it was just another piece of the
15:31
puzzle that didn't fit multiple people. According to the Houston Police, up to
15:39
five have been investigated concerning Jared's disappearance, and though the family understands that the
15:46
cops can't share all of the information that they have on the case, one
15:50
of the most frustrating things for them, Jared's cousin Latronica told us, is
15:54
that it feels like there should be more than enough information to piece together happened
16:00
that night. Three of Jared's friends were witnesses to the crime, so they
16:06
should be able to explain what they saw. Though it appears Willie couldn't get
16:11
the truth out of them, the police certainly have the ability to get at
16:15
least closer to it. Whatever happened seems to have taken place in a CBS
16:22
drug store parking lot, which would presumably have video surveillance. Those cameras might
16:29
not be able to pick up exactly what took place inside the car, but
16:33
police have the make and model of the vehicle, and they likely have a
16:37
license plate number as well. There's another tale of certainly possible surveillance footage the
16:45
Houston police blatantly and carelessly missed about two weeks after he went missing, Jared's
16:52
credit card was used at an undisclosed store in Houston. Willie saw the activity
17:00
quickly and contacted the store in an attempt to get their surveillance video footage.
17:04
They wouldn't give it to Willie, so he immediately called the cops and asked
17:08
them to get it. At this time, the case was still being handled
17:14
by HPD's Missing Persons unit. More than a month later, when a Houston
17:19
Police detective finally decided to follow up on this lead after Willie's urging a second
17:25
time, the footage was gone recorded over beyond. Frustrated by the foot dragging,
17:33
Willie eventually went to the store himself and put up Jared's missing Persons flyers
17:38
and began to ask around. At an apartment complex within walking distance, he
17:45
continued to drop off flyers door to door. Upon asking tenants if they were
17:51
familiar with a few names he was looking into, Willie told this podcast he
17:56
discovered one of the men had lived in the complex. This man had moved
18:02
away in July of twenty eighteen. A manager of the property told him and
18:07
had gotten rid of a black Ford fusion the previous January. Later in the
18:12
month, Jared Chavis went missing. Willie quickly told police and asked if they
18:19
looked into this individual, and they hadn't, although they were aware of him,
18:25
they told the father as is imaginable. These seeming missteps by police were
18:32
particularly frustrating for Jared's family, especially their failure to get the video footage at
18:37
the store where Jared's car was being used. Willie recalled to Gone Cold a
18:44
story where his vehicle was parked at a Houston restaurant and was hit by another
18:48
car who sped off. His insurance company told him to get the restaurant's surveillance
18:53
footage. Willie told us, and when he contacted them, they gave it
18:59
right up. Police should have been able to get the footage of whoever was
19:03
using Jared's cards easily had they not waited. Willie also wonders if the police
19:10
have even requested Jared's cell phone activity data for the night of January twelfth,
19:15
twenty eighteen. If they have, the cops are keeping it from the family.
19:22
The investigation lagged from the get go, Willie said, as if his
19:26
son's disappearance simply was not a priority for police. It wasn't as if Jared
19:33
disappeared while walking down the street he went on, or in any situation where
19:38
there were no witnesses to an obvious crime of some sort. It seemed pretty
19:45
clear Jared had been harmed the night of his disappearance, but still his case
19:51
was with the Missing Persons Department for months before it was eventually handed over to
19:55
homicide. Unfortunately, this may have resulted in key pieces of potential evidence being
20:02
lost. When we reached out to the Houston Police Department for a statement on
20:19
the Jared Chavis case, they emphasized that it is still a missing person's investigation
20:26
and still an active case that they are continuing to follow leads on. They
20:33
confirmed that Jared's disappearance had been transferred over to the homicide department, but they
20:38
stated this often occurs when a missing person's case requires additional resources that the missing
20:45
person's unit doesn't necessarily have. His case, in other words, is still
20:52
being treated as a missing person's case. The Houston Police Department told this podcast
20:59
that they are working with agencies like Texas Ecue Search to search areas where leads
21:03
take them. So they are looking for Jared's body and when they receive leads
21:10
about where he may be located, they search those areas. They also said
21:15
that they have looked into multiple persons of interest as potential suspects in the case,
21:22
but no one has been charged as of yet, not even close,
21:26
it would appear. They urge anyone with information to contact the Houston Police Department
21:33
or Crime Stoppers of Houston. Since he disappeared, Jared's family has reached out
21:38
to several private investigators. Each one, they said, has determined the same
21:45
thing, that there was nothing they could do. While the family waits and
21:51
hopes that the cops are able to gather enough evidence to charge someone with the
21:56
disappearance and potentially with the murder of Jared, they continue to do everything they
22:02
can as a family to keep his name in the public, to keep attention
22:07
on his case, and not let it go cold. At a Crime Stoppers
22:11
of Houston event on the first anniversary of Jared's disappearance, his cousin Latronica said
22:18
this, So, whoever you are, whatever you know, whenever he did,
22:27
remember that he was love. This is just one year. I don't
22:33
care. It could be five, it could be twenty years. We would
22:37
never stop. Latronica told us in twenty nineteen that both Jared's mother and father
22:45
had been back and forth to Houston countless times, conducting their own investigation,
22:51
hitting the streets, posting flyers, and trying to track down detectives who worked
22:56
the case to get answers face to face rather than over the phone. At
23:02
the same one year anniversary event, Jared's father, Willie told Fox twenty six
23:07
News, I just beg that someone come forward and say what you did,
23:11
Say what happened. It's unreal. A year into this and we still don't
23:15
know anything. As he held a Mere, the son born to Jared Chavis
23:22
after he went missing, Willie said, bring my daddy home, as he
23:26
pointed to the boy's shirt, which read the very same message. That's all
23:32
we want. Willie continued. Angela, Jared's mother, said her son wanted
23:37
nothing more than to start a family, and now, because his life was
23:41
cut short, he has a son who will never know his father. Everyone
23:48
in the family that Gone Cold spoke with stressed their fears that a mere would
23:53
never know what happened to his daddy. They also chuckle lovingly when imagining the
24:00
type of father Jared would have been and what kind of man he would have
24:04
become. They're sure he would have done great things, no matter the level,
24:10
big or small. Jared also has a little sister who's had to struggle
24:15
with the loss of her big brother and the uncertainty that comes with this type
24:19
of loss, this ambiguous loss. When we spoke with family members, another
24:27
thing they all continued to drive home was that they would not allow Jared to
24:32
be forgotten. Sharing memories and information on social media are among the ways they've
24:38
continued to keep this promise. Not long after he disappeared, an advocate started
24:45
the Facebook page Jared Chavis Veteran Missing from Houston, Texas. Activity on the
24:52
page because there has been virtually no new information released or any push by the
24:57
Houston police asking for the public's help, and quite some time, has slowed
25:03
to a crawl. As of a report by Fox twenty six Houston in February
25:08
of twenty twenty two, news stories have also ceased. There wasn't even an
25:15
anniversary story in twenty twenty three. Jared Chavis's missing person's profile can be found
25:22
on NamUs, Missing Veterans, Texas, eque Search, and the Charlie Project,
25:27
to name a few. To close out this episode, I'd like to
25:33
go over the clear alert guidelines since clear alerts seem to be seldom utilized.
25:41
What follows might help you or someone you know should a loved one who is
25:45
eighteen to sixty four come up missing like the Amber Alert prior to the inclusion
25:52
of the Athena Alert, the criteria for a clear alert to be issued is
25:57
specific on the Texas Department of Public Safety's website. That criteria is defined as
26:06
one, the missing individual is eighteen to sixty four years of age and their
26:11
whereabouts are unknown. Two, a preliminary investigation has verified the adult is in
26:17
eminent danger of bodily injury or death, or that the disappearance is involuntary,
26:23
such as in the case of an abduction or kidnapping. Three, the clear
26:29
alert should be requested within seventy two hours of the individual's disappearance. On a
26:34
side note, please remember you do not have to wait twenty four hours or
26:40
even twelve hours to report someone missing. And finally, number four, there
26:45
is sufficient information available to disseminate to the public to help locate the individual,
26:52
such as a suspect description or vehicle description used in the incident. If you
27:02
have any information about the disappearance of Jared Wayne Chavis police, contact the Houston
27:07
Police Department's Missing Persons Unit at seven one three seven three one five two two
27:14
three. You can also give information while remaining anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers of
27:21
Houston at seven one three two to two eight four seven seven. You may
27:26
be eligible for a ten thousand dollars reward by providing information leading to the arrest
27:33
or indictment of an individual or individuals involved in Jared's disappearance. We'd like to
27:41
thank Willie, Latronica and Andy for their contributions to this episode. This episode
27:48
was co written by Christina nor If you have not already, look for Gone
27:55
Cold on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter by searching Gone Cold and look for
28:00
the Texas logo. If you'd like to support the show and get the episodes
28:04
at free, go to patreon dot com forward slash Gone Cold Podcast. Thanks
28:11
to all of you who support us there. It's a huge deal to us.
28:17
If you're not in a position to help Gone Cold financially but would like
28:21
to in some other way, well I've got just the thing. Leaving us
28:26
a five star rating and written review on iTunes particularly helps Gone Cold's visibility.
28:32
The more folks who find us and listen the greater chance someone with information about
28:37
a case here's the show and comes forward with what they know. Every little
28:41
bit helps, and we appreciate y'all support immensely, however you choose to give
28:47
it. Sources for this episode can be found in the episode's show notes.
28:53
Thanks for listening, y'all,