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Cold Case Files - The Murder of Joel Lovelien · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep dive. For this deep dive, we're
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  tapping into that Halloween vibe, you know, that spooky mix
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  of thrills and chills.
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  Speaker 2: And diving headfirst into a real life mystery.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly a case that'll make you think twice about those
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  Halloween parties. We're talking about the unsolved murder of Joel
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  Lovelyan in Grand Forks, North.
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  Speaker 2: Dakota, a case that reminds us that sometimes the most
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  unsettling events happen when we least expect it.
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  Speaker 1: It's two thousand and seven Halloween weekend and the excitement
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  is in the air. But amidst the costumes and celebrations,
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  a tragedy unfolds, leaving a community searching for answers, and.
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  Speaker 2: Even years later, despite a trial and countless theories, the
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  question remains who killed Joel Lovelyan.
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  Speaker 1: It's a case filled with twists, dead ends, and enough
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  intrigue to rival any fictional thriller.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, to understand how this case has remained unsolved for
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  so long, we need to go back to the beginning,
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  to that fateful night in two thousand and seven.
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  Speaker 1: Let's set the stage. It's October three, seventh, the Saturday
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  before Halloween. What kind of night are we looking at?
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  Speaker 2: A night that's starts ard like many others, full of
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  anticipation for the Halloween festivities ahead.
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  Speaker 1: And our story takes place in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
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  Our victim, Joel Lovelyan, was out celebrating with his fiance
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  at a local bar called The Broken Drum.
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  Speaker 2: Joel was a well loved computer tech a big fighting
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  Sue hockey fan. In fact, he was even wearing a
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  Green Sue jersey that.
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  Speaker 1: Night, a detail, as we'll find out, that adds another
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  layer to this already complex case.
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  Speaker 2: Definitely now. Outside the bar, the atmosphere was lively. A
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  party bus was making the rounds, packed with people in
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  various costumes.
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  Speaker 1: Typical Halloween scene, right, costumes, crowds a recipe for a
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  memorable night? What kind of costumes are we talking about here?
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  Speaker 2: From what we've gathered, there was a mix cowboys, clowns,
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  even someone dresses a lion.
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  Speaker 1: Apparently a real Halloween ensemble. Sounds like your typical festive gathering.
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  So Joel's inside, party buses outside, Where does the trouble begin?
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  Speaker 2: Around eleven thirty that night, things took a turn. Joel
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  received a phone call and told his fiance say he
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  was going to check on someone outside, someone left behind
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  by that party bus.
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  Speaker 1: A simple act of kindness. Did anyone see where he
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  went who he was with.
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  Speaker 2: Witnesses saw him head towards the parking lot, but it
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  was dark, chaotic, and with everyone in costume details were
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  murky at.
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  Speaker 1: Best, and that's where the nightmare unfolds.
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  Speaker 2: Sadly, yes, minutes later, Joel was found brutally beaten in
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  that parking lot. He tragically died from his injuries.
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  Speaker 1: Just awful. What a horrible discovery. What did the police
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  walk into when they arrived at the scene.
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  Speaker 2: Pure chaos. You have to imagine a crowded bar, a
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  party bus full of costumed individuals, and then this horrific
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  scene in the parking lot.
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  Speaker 1: Witnesses everywhere, likely some still inebriated costumes, making it hard
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  to identify anyone. It sounds like the initial investigation was
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  a mess.
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  Speaker 2: It was witnesses contradicted each other, memories were hazy, and
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  the costumes only added to the.
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  Speaker 1: Confusion to make matters worse. Amidst all this, the police
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  discovered something else, a piece of a bloodstained costume near Joel, A.
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  Speaker 2: Yellow piece, possibly a paw or a foot. This clue,
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  right from the start would become central to the investigation.
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  Speaker 1: Naturally, their attention immediately turns to that party bus in
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  its costume passengers.
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  Speaker 2: They tracked down some of them, including the clown we
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  mentioned earlier. They found him at another bar, visibly shaken shaken.
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  Speaker 1: How what was he doing?
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  Speaker 2: Witnesses said he was incredibly distraught, shaking, crying, very unusual
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  behavior considering the festive atmosphere.
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  Speaker 1: Definitely raises some eyebrows. You see someone that's shaken up,
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  it makes you wonder what they might.
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  Speaker 2: Have witnessed exactly. And then there was the cowboy. He
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  was also located, but he initially gave the police a
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  fake name and was quite confrontational.
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  Speaker 1: So we've got a crying clown and an uncooperative cowboy.
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  Not exactly painting a picture of innocence.
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  Speaker 2: No, not at all. These were just the first of
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  many leads the police would follow, each more puzzling.
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  Speaker 1: Than the last, the makings of a real life Halloween mystery.
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  You'd think with those reactions they'd be prime suspects. Right,
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  did the clown or the cowboys costumes match that yellow
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  piece found at the scene.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's where things take an even stranger turn. Neither
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  of their costumes matched. The yellow piece. Seemed like a
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  dead end until two days later, when a nursing student
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  named Travis Stay walked into the police station.
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  Speaker 1: Hold on a nursing student, How does he fit into
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  all of this?
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  Speaker 2: Turns out Travis had heard about the incident and the
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  description of that yellow costume piece. He came forward because
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  he had been wearing a bloodstained lion costume that night,
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  a yellow hoodie he had put together for Halloween.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so that's our yellow piece. What did Travis say
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  happen that night?
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  Speaker 2: He claimed he had gotten into a fight earlier that
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  evening with another guy from the party bus, someone dressed
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  as a hunter.
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  Speaker 1: Another costume character added to the mix. Did this fight
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  have any witnesses?
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  Speaker 2: It did, and they confirmed Travis's story. He even had
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  bruises on his hands to back it up. But here's
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  the thing. He insisted that he had been drinking a
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  lot and couldn't remember much else from that night, adamant
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  that he would never hurt Joel the.
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  Speaker 1: Old too drunk to remember. Defense convenient, but was it true?
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  They had the DNA evidence right, did that match up
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  with his story?
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  Speaker 2: It did. The blood on his costume was a match
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  for Joel. The police arrested Travis, charging him with Joel's murder,
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  and on the surface, it seemed like a pretty solid case, right.
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  Speaker 1: They had the DNA, the eyewitness accounts of the fight,
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  and Travis's own admission that his memory was fuzzy. What
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  more could they need?
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  Speaker 2: Well, here's where the prosecution hit a snag. Remember how
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  Joel was described a big guy six foot three over
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  two hundred pounds.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely not someone you'd want to mess.
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  Speaker 2: With exactly, and the defense was quick to point out
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  the difference in their sizes. Travis was significantly smaller than Joel.
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  They argued that it would have been incredibly difficult, if
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  not impossible, for him to inflict those kinds of injuries
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  on Jewel in a one on one fight.
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  Speaker 1: So it becomes a question of whether Travis could have
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  even physically overpowered Joel. Did the prosecution have a counter
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  argument to that?
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  Speaker 2: They did. Their case hinged on the party bus having
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  already left when Joel was attacked.
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  Speaker 1: Meaning if the bus was gone, it would have just
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  been Travis and Joel in that parking lot.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly. But there was a problem with this theory, a
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  big one. Security footage from the bar told a different story.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, here we go. What did the footage show?
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  Speaker 2: The footage revealed that the party bus was actually still
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  at the bar when Joel was attacked.
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  Speaker 1: So the timeline the prosecution was presenting it wasn't accurate.
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  What did the police make of that?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it threw a wrench in their initial theory, to
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  say the least, because if the bus was still there,
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  it means those other costumed individuals, the clown, the cowboy,
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  the hunter, they could have still been at the scene.
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  Speaker 1: So we're not just talking about Travis. There were potentially
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  other people who could have been involved in Joel's death.
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  Speaker 2: And it gets even more complicated. Remember that taxi driver
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  who picked up Travis, the one.
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  Speaker 1: Who found him about a mile from the bar, right He.
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  Speaker 2: Said when he picked Travis up, he was disoriented, covered
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  in blood, and he didn't even seem to realize he
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  was injured.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, talk about adding fuel to the fire. So now
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  we've got conflicting timelines, a bustload of potential suspects, and
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  an injured Travis who can't remember what happened. It's no
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  longer a simple, open and shutcase, not at all.
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  Speaker 2: This is where the case takes a turn from a
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  possible drunken brawl gone wrong to something far more complicated.
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  And the jury had a tough decision to.
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  Speaker 1: Make with so many unanswered questions, how could they possibly
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  come to a conclusion. This is what makes this case
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  so fascinating and so frustrating.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's safe to say they had a lot to.
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  Speaker 1: Unpack with all that evidence in those conflicting accounts. What
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  happened when it was time for the jury to make
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  their decision.
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  Speaker 2: It took them five hours of deliberation before they reached
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  a verdict.
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  Speaker 1: Five hours. That's a long time. Yeah, it makes you
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  wonder what they were grappling with, what ultimately swayed them.
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  Speaker 2: It really highlights just how much was writing on their decision.
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  You can bet they were going over every detail, every
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  piece of evidence.
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  Speaker 1: Trying to make sense of those timelines, the DNA evidence,
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  the witness testimonies, and those costumes.
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  Speaker 2: Don't forget the added layer of confusion with everyone in
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  disguise right.
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  Speaker 1: Trying to piece together a clear picture of that night
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  has been incredibly difficult. So after those five long hours,
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  what was the verdict.
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  Speaker 2: The jury found Travis Stay not guilty of Joel Lovelan's.
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  Speaker 1: Murder not guilty. So officially this case, yeah, it's unsolved.
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  Speaker 2: Unsolved and a painful reminder for Joel's family and friends
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  that they may never have definitive answers about what happened
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  that night.
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  Speaker 1: It's a haunting reminder that sometimes even with a mountain
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  of evidence and a room full of potential suspects, the
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  truth remains elusive, and.
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  Speaker 2: It raises so many questions about the reliability of eyewitness accounts,
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  particularly in situations like this.
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  Speaker 1: Right you have a chaotic scene, a dark parking lot,
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  people in costumes, alcohol involved. It's no wonder memories.
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  Speaker 2: Get muddled, exactly, and that's what makes cases like this
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  so challenging. It's not just about finding the evidence, it's
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  about interpreting it, making sense of it. Within the context
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  of all these conflicting accounts, it.
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  Speaker 1: Becomes a matter of perspective, of interpretation. And when you
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  can't even be sure who was who or what they saw,
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  how can you definitively say what transpired?
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  Speaker 2: It highlights the limits of our justice system. Despite everyone's
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  best efforts, sometimes the pieces just don't fit neatly together.
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  Speaker 1: It's unsettling to think that the person or person's responsible
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  for Joel's death might never be held accountable.
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  Speaker 2: It is, but it's also a reminder that even in
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  cold cases, hope remains. Sometimes all it takes is that
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  one tip, that one detail someone remembers to break a
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  case wide open.
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  Speaker 1: So to our listeners, if you were in Grand Forks
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  on Halloween weekend in two thousand and seven, if you
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  have any information about that night, about Joel Lovely and
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  or the events surrounding his death, please come forward.
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  Speaker 2: Even the smallest detail, something you might dismiss as insignificant,
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  could be the missing piece of this puzzle.
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  Speaker 1: Don't let fear or doubt keep you silent. Your voice
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  could be the key to bring inclosure to this case
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  and some peace to Joel's loved ones. This case, as
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  with all unsolved mysteries, reminds us that the pursuit of
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  truth is ongoing and every voice matters in that pursuit.
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  Speaker 2: And sometimes it's those unexpected voices that shed the most
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  light on even the darkest of events.
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  Speaker 1: If you have any information about the Joel Lovely in case,
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  please contact the Grand Force Police Department and For more
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  on this case than others, visit our website for case
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  files and additional resources. Until next time, stay curious, stay informed,
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  and stay safe.