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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Jennifer Wix Part 2 · Hell and Gone: Murder Line

0:46
Speaker 1: School of Humans. Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold
0:52
Speaker 1: case murders in an effort to raise public awareness invite
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Speaker 1: witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially
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Speaker 1: be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights
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Speaker 1: from family and community members, their statements should not be
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Speaker 1: considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts
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Speaker 1: inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has
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Speaker 1: presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
1:17
Speaker 1: Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply
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Speaker 1: that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime
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Speaker 1: is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening.
1:31
Speaker 2: On March twenty fifth, two thousand and four, Jennifer Wicks
1:34
Speaker 2: and her daughter, two year old Adriana disappeared. Last week,
1:39
Speaker 2: we talked to Jennifer's younger half sister, Casey, who has
1:42
Speaker 2: been fighting for ants about what happened to her sister
1:45
Speaker 2: and her only niece. Casey said that since Jennifer disappeared,
1:50
Speaker 2: their family has heard conflicting stories about the last time
1:54
Speaker 2: that Jennifer was seen from Joey Benton, Jennifer's boyfriend.
1:57
Speaker 3: At the time.
1:59
Speaker 2: Since December of two thousand and three, Jennifer and Adriana
2:03
Speaker 2: had been living with Joey and his family on their property,
2:06
Speaker 2: first in an outbuilding and then in the Benton's three
2:10
Speaker 2: bedroom family home. But according to Casey and Jennifer's mother Kathy,
2:15
Speaker 2: Jennifer's life at the Benton House had become chaotic. Though
2:19
Speaker 2: obviously we're only hearing one side of the story, we
2:23
Speaker 2: do know from phone calls that arguments were happening between
2:27
Speaker 2: Jennifer and members of Joey's family. On March twenty fifth,
2:32
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, the day Jennifer and Adriana disappeared, Jennifer
2:36
Speaker 2: called her aunt Lisa. She told her Aunt Lisa that
2:40
Speaker 2: she was going to tell Joey that she was leaving
2:42
Speaker 2: the Benton House. She said she was going to try
2:45
Speaker 2: to get joe to move out with her, but she
2:47
Speaker 2: said that if Joey didn't agree, Jennifer was leaving with
2:50
Speaker 2: Adriana on her own and coming to her aunt Lisa's.
2:55
Speaker 2: Lisa said that they could stay at her house and
2:58
Speaker 2: left out her spare key, but Jennifer never used it
3:02
Speaker 2: and after that day she was never heard from again
3:06
Speaker 2: by anyone in her family. Jennifer's family has claimed that
3:12
Speaker 2: Joey told their family in law enforcement different stories about
3:16
Speaker 2: what happened that day. Casey said that Joey told her
3:20
Speaker 2: that on the day Jennifer went missing, he picked Jennifer
3:24
Speaker 2: and Adriana up at his family's home after leaving work.
3:28
Speaker 3: This was two thousand and four. Jennifer did not have.
3:30
Speaker 2: A cell phone, so Joey said that he drove Jennifer
3:34
Speaker 2: to a local grocery store and that she went.
3:36
Speaker 3: In to use the phone.
3:38
Speaker 2: He said that he then drove her and Adriana to
3:41
Speaker 2: a gas station in cross Plains. There, he says Jennifer
3:45
Speaker 2: and Adriana got into a vehicle, which he described as
3:48
Speaker 2: a white four door Sedan.
3:51
Speaker 3: After that they disappeared.
3:54
Speaker 2: Initially, Joey had told police a similar story about leaving
3:57
Speaker 2: work and then driving Jennifer and Adriana to a grocery
4:00
Speaker 2: store and then to an Exon gas station.
4:03
Speaker 3: But then in.
4:04
Speaker 2: Twenty thirteen, the Robertson County Sheriff's Office posted a statement
4:08
Speaker 2: about the case. They said that Joey had stated something different,
4:12
Speaker 2: that Jennifer had come back to his home and that
4:16
Speaker 2: he had seen her alive and well a day later,
4:19
Speaker 2: on March twenty sixth. In twenty twenty four, Joey's father,
4:24
Speaker 2: Joseph Benton Senior, was hit with multiple weapons charges and
4:28
Speaker 2: charges related to sexual exploitation of a miner. This led
4:33
Speaker 2: to the Benton family home where Jennifer and Adriana had
4:37
Speaker 2: been living, being raided. After that raid, Jennifer Wix's family
4:42
Speaker 2: filed a civil lawsuit against the Benton family for wrongful death,
4:46
Speaker 2: and in that lawsuit, they allege that Joseph Senior may
4:50
Speaker 2: have been responsible.
4:52
Speaker 3: For Jennifer and Adriana's death.
4:55
Speaker 2: After the raid, Joseph Senior was released but failed to
4:58
Speaker 2: appear for a hearing, so he ended up on the
5:01
Speaker 2: Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Most Wanted Fugitives list. Then Joseph
5:06
Speaker 2: Senior disappeared until on July fourth, twenty twenty five, a
5:12
Speaker 2: decomposing leg was found near Sulfur Fork Creek in Springfield.
5:17
Speaker 2: Days later, forensics confirmed that leg was Joseph Benton Seniors.
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Speaker 2: I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past seven years of making
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Speaker 2: my true crime podcast, Helling Gone, I've learned that there's
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Speaker 2: no such thing as a small town where murder never happens.
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Speaker 2: I've received hundreds of messages from people all around the
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Speaker 2: country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them,
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Speaker 2: their fa families.
5:44
Speaker 3: And their communities.
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Speaker 2: If you have a case you'd like me and my
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Speaker 2: team to look into, you can reach out to us
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Speaker 2: at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight
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Speaker 2: seven four four six one four five. That's six seven
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Speaker 2: eight seven four four six one four five, Or you
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Speaker 2: can send us a message on Instagram at Helen Gonepod.
6:07
Speaker 2: This is Helen Gone Murder Line. So this week I
6:54
Speaker 2: want to take a closer look at the conflicting information
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Speaker 2: that Jennifer's family say they have received over the years.
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Speaker 2: Could Jennifer have left voluntarily and started a new life.
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Speaker 2: Could she have left with someone in that white car
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Speaker 2: and then that person harmed her or Adriana, Or could
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Speaker 2: as the Wicks family suspects, the answers lie closer to
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Speaker 2: where Jennifer was last seen on or around the one
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Speaker 2: hundred acres.
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Speaker 3: Owned by the Bentons.
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Speaker 2: First, let's explore the theory that Jennifer could have left
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Speaker 2: with the person in the white car, and she could
7:28
Speaker 2: be living somewhere else and for whatever reason, just voluntarily disappeared.
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Speaker 3: And wanted to go off the grid.
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Speaker 2: Jennifer's family have been adamant they do not believe that
7:38
Speaker 2: this is a possibility, and I got another piece of
7:42
Speaker 2: information that makes me agree with Jennifer's family. According to
7:46
Speaker 2: what Jennifer's sister, Casey, has been told by law enforcement,
7:50
Speaker 2: since March twenty fifth, not only has Jennifer not been
7:54
Speaker 2: in contact with anyone in her family, there is no
7:57
Speaker 2: evidence that she has been in contact with anyone at all.
8:01
Speaker 2: There has been no trace of Jennifer or Adriana being
8:04
Speaker 2: alive anywhere else since that day. Casey told me that,
8:08
Speaker 2: according to her conversations with law enforcement, neither Jennifer nor
8:12
Speaker 2: Adriana's Social Security numbers, which she would have needed for
8:15
Speaker 2: lots of things, including doctor visits for herself and her daughter,
8:20
Speaker 2: was never used again. Kathy told Dateline she believed that
8:25
Speaker 2: her daughter was deceased, but at the time she was
8:29
Speaker 2: holding out hope that Adriana may still be alive and
8:33
Speaker 2: out there somewhere. Kathy told Dateline that even if something
8:36
Speaker 2: happened and someone killed Jennifer, that that person would not
8:40
Speaker 2: take the life of such a small, innocent child. That
8:43
Speaker 2: Adriana had been left somewhere or given to someone else.
8:48
Speaker 2: Law enforcement has shared an age progress photo of Adriana
8:53
Speaker 2: in case Jennifer's killer or killers either took Adriana or
8:57
Speaker 2: gave her to someone else. Kathy told news Channel five
9:01
Speaker 2: that she also did an ancestry DNA test just in
9:04
Speaker 2: case Adriana is still out there, if there was any
9:08
Speaker 2: possibility of that, however remote. She wanted to make sure
9:11
Speaker 2: that Adriana could reach out to her family someday and
9:14
Speaker 2: that they could be reunited. But Kathy, Casey and the
9:21
Speaker 2: rest of the Whigs family feel that the Benton property
9:24
Speaker 2: could have answers as to what happened to Jennifer. And
9:28
Speaker 2: then there was Joseph Benton, Senior's decomposing leg You may
9:39
Speaker 2: remember that last week. Casey told us that in twenty
9:42
Speaker 2: twenty four, she met with the district attorney in Robertson County,
9:46
Speaker 2: but that the meeting got cut short after Joey came
9:49
Speaker 2: in and said that he had information that he wanted
9:52
Speaker 2: to turn over to investigators. After that, he allegedly told
9:57
Speaker 2: Casey and her mom, while Casey was on speakerphone, that
10:00
Speaker 2: Jennifer and Adriana were already dead in their room when
10:04
Speaker 2: he came home from work that day on March twenty fifth,
10:07
Speaker 2: two thousand and four, so Joey seemed to be saying
10:10
Speaker 2: he found their bodies but had nothing to do with
10:13
Speaker 2: their deaths.
10:14
Speaker 3: This was a huge and.
10:16
Speaker 2: Shocking revelation, and this led to Kathy and Casey following
10:21
Speaker 2: a wrongful death civil lawsuit against the Bentons. They stated
10:25
Speaker 2: in that lawsuit that Joseph Senior killed Jennifer and Adriana
10:30
Speaker 2: and that Joey helped him cover it up. In a
10:34
Speaker 2: July ninth, twenty twenty five filing responding to that lawsuit,
10:39
Speaker 2: Cynthia Benton and Joey Benton completely denied these allegations. They
10:43
Speaker 2: say they had no knowledge of involvement in or connection
10:47
Speaker 2: with the disappearance of Jennifer or of Adriana. We reached
10:52
Speaker 2: out to Joey and Cynthia for comment. We didn't hear
10:55
Speaker 2: back from Joey, and Cynthia told us she did not
10:59
Speaker 2: want to comment. Cynthia Benton has filed a motion to
11:03
Speaker 2: dismiss the civil lawsuit, and in that dismissal, she claims
11:07
Speaker 2: that the civil suit quote failed to show how she
11:11
Speaker 2: and Joey Benton caused injury or harm to Jennifer or
11:14
Speaker 2: Adriana end quote. While this was happening, while the drama
11:20
Speaker 2: with the raid and the civil lawsuit was unfolding, Joseph
11:23
Speaker 2: Senior seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth. Remember,
11:27
Speaker 2: police raided the Benton family property in March of twenty
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Speaker 2: twenty four. Leading up to that, in February of twenty
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Speaker 2: twenty four, there were domestic assault charges filed against Joseph
11:38
Speaker 2: Senior related to an alleged assault of his wife. He
11:42
Speaker 2: was arrested and held on those charges. Now, at some point,
11:47
Speaker 2: someone we don't know who alerted police to the presence
11:50
Speaker 2: of a photo that Joseph had in his possession, which,
11:53
Speaker 2: according to court documents, showed a minor child in a
11:57
Speaker 2: sexual situation. And someone also alerted police that Joseph had
12:01
Speaker 2: multiple weapons at home, which, as a convicted felon, he
12:05
Speaker 2: was not allowed to have. Then, in March of twenty
12:08
Speaker 2: twenty four, the raid on the Benton property happened and
12:12
Speaker 2: police found the weapons and a photo of a minor
12:15
Speaker 2: child in a sexual situation. As we said last week,
12:19
Speaker 2: that photo was not Adriana, and it turned out this
12:24
Speaker 2: raid had nothing to do with her and Jennifer's disappearance,
12:28
Speaker 2: but the photo, which according to court documents, was in
12:31
Speaker 2: Joseph's possession between January and March of twenty twenty four
12:35
Speaker 2: when the raid happened, was a photo of a family member.
12:40
Speaker 2: After the raid, Joseph Senior was briefly locked up in jail,
12:45
Speaker 2: then he disappeared. According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's
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Speaker 2: Most Wanted Information, Joseph's last known address was listed as homeless.
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Speaker 3: According to media reports.
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Speaker 2: Cynthia Benton said she had no communication with her husband
13:02
Speaker 2: since his release from jail in March. She said she
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Speaker 2: had no idea where he was. She had also filed
13:08
Speaker 2: for divorce after the raid since he hadn't been seen
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Speaker 2: in months. The Tennesseean asked the Robertson County Sheriff's office
13:16
Speaker 2: if there had been a missing persons report filed for Joseph.
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Speaker 2: The department said no, there had not. Then there was
13:23
Speaker 2: the shocking news about Joseph's leg being found in Springfield
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Speaker 2: near a creek. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed that
13:32
Speaker 2: they were able to test the DNA from the leg
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Speaker 2: against the CODIS database and because Joseph Senior had pleaded
13:40
Speaker 2: guilty to that count of possession of prohibited weapons in
13:43
Speaker 2: US of twenty twenty four. His DNA was in the system,
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Speaker 2: so they got a match. Joseph Senior's remains were found
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Speaker 2: about ten miles from the Benton home.
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Speaker 3: But it's been difficult.
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Speaker 2: To find out any more information about what's going on
13:59
Speaker 2: with this investigation into Joseph's leg and his disappearance. The
14:04
Speaker 2: Tennesseean reported they have the same problem. In fact, the
14:07
Speaker 2: newspaper wrote they couldn't figure out who was leading the investigation.
14:11
Speaker 2: The newspaper reported that they had reached out to a
14:14
Speaker 2: spokesperson for the TBI, and this person referred them to
14:18
Speaker 2: Robertson County Law Enforcement, saying that they were leading the investigation.
14:22
Speaker 2: But then when the newspaper contacted the Robertson County Sheriff's
14:26
Speaker 2: Office for comment, they were apparently told the Springfield Police
14:29
Speaker 2: were in charge, but a spokesperson for Springfield told the
14:34
Speaker 2: newspaper the Robertson County Sheriff's Office and the nineteenth Judicial
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Speaker 2: District Attorney General's office were the ones leading the investigation.
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Speaker 2: This is very confusing, and they were not the only
14:45
Speaker 2: news outlet trying to get answers and clarity. On August
14:48
Speaker 2: twenty fifth, twenty twenty five, news Channel five also reported
14:52
Speaker 2: that they reached out to the Springfield Police for more
14:55
Speaker 2: details about the investigation. They said the department got back
14:59
Speaker 2: to them and stated that the leg was the only
15:02
Speaker 2: body part found, that there were no other body parts found,
15:05
Speaker 2: and they said there was quote no indication of foul
15:08
Speaker 2: play at this time end quote.
15:12
Speaker 3: Now, a lot of people posted.
15:13
Speaker 2: Comments on YouTube under that news story that reflected what
15:16
Speaker 2: I'm sure a lot of you were thinking, which is,
15:19
Speaker 2: how do you find a severed leg and come to
15:21
Speaker 2: the conclusion immediately that there's no foul play. There are
15:26
Speaker 2: a couple of possibilities that.
15:27
Speaker 3: Occurred to me.
15:28
Speaker 2: Again, we don't know anything about the evidence that the
15:31
Speaker 2: police have, so this is pure speculation.
15:34
Speaker 3: But one possibility could.
15:35
Speaker 2: Be that Joseph Senior was out in the woods and
15:38
Speaker 2: either took his own life or possibly died of natural causes,
15:42
Speaker 2: and then there was some animal likedvity and that could
15:44
Speaker 2: be the reason why his leg was separated from the
15:47
Speaker 2: rest of his body.
15:49
Speaker 3: I will say.
15:49
Speaker 2: Though, that, in my opinion, though it does seem a
15:52
Speaker 2: little odd to immediately assume there's been no sign of
15:55
Speaker 2: foul play. They may mean the leg did not appear
15:58
Speaker 2: to be cleanly severed, meaning that it wasn't immediately obvious
16:02
Speaker 2: that Joseph had been dismembered. But as with so many
16:06
Speaker 2: things in this case, the exact status of the investigation
16:10
Speaker 2: into Joseph Benton's senior's death is unclear. So where does
16:14
Speaker 2: this lead the investigation into Jennifer and Adriana's disappearances and
16:19
Speaker 2: Jennifer's family. Over the years, Joey Benton has not said
16:24
Speaker 2: much publicly about the state of the investigation. Joseph Benton, Sr.
16:29
Speaker 2: Did talk to some journalists in two thousand and eight.
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Speaker 2: He told Fox seventeen News, quote, we done everything we
16:35
Speaker 2: could for a year to try to help find Jennifer,
16:38
Speaker 2: and we just don't know where Jennifer is end quote.
16:44
Speaker 2: Eventually Casey started doing her own investigating. Now, obviously Casey
16:49
Speaker 2: and her mother are not impartial. They have made it
16:53
Speaker 2: very clear that from the beginning they were suspicious of
16:55
Speaker 2: Joey and his family. They started a Facebook page in
16:59
Speaker 2: twenty eleven, and more recently, in twenty twenty four, Casey
17:04
Speaker 2: was interviewed on a podcast called Missing in Hushtown. And
17:08
Speaker 2: in that podcast, she claimed that at the time Joey
17:11
Speaker 2: and Jennifer were dating, that he had issues with drugs
17:15
Speaker 2: and that he had had police reports filed against him
17:18
Speaker 2: by other women. And as she kept digging, Casey found
17:23
Speaker 2: even more discrepancies in Joey's story about what really happened
17:27
Speaker 2: the day Jennifer and Adriana disappeared. Since Casey started investigating,
17:44
Speaker 2: she's heard a lot of conflicting information about what Joey
17:48
Speaker 2: said in the day's following Jennifer and adrian His disappearance. Remember,
17:53
Speaker 2: Joey and Jennifer had initially met through Jennifer's cousin, Jeffrey,
17:57
Speaker 2: and Jeffrey told Casey about something that happened on the
18:00
Speaker 2: night of May twenty fifth, two thousand and four.
18:03
Speaker 4: That night, there was a bonfire happening at his house
18:06
Speaker 4: that Jennifer was supposed to be at, and it was
18:08
Speaker 4: kind of like a couple's bonfire. There were three couples,
18:12
Speaker 4: and Jennifer was one of the couples with Joey, and
18:15
Speaker 4: so my cousin was there and my cousin's like, well,
18:18
Speaker 4: where's Jennifer And he says, she's at a friend's house.
18:22
Speaker 3: This seemed odd to Casey.
18:24
Speaker 2: Why would Joey tell Jeffrey that Jennifer was at a
18:26
Speaker 2: friend's house when he told police the next day that
18:29
Speaker 2: he and Jennifer had broken up in that car ride
18:31
Speaker 2: to the grocery store and then went to.
18:34
Speaker 3: The gas station.
18:35
Speaker 2: When the Robertson County Sheriff's Office put out that statement
18:38
Speaker 2: on their website in twenty thirteen, they said they were
18:42
Speaker 2: changing Jennifer and Adriana case for missing persons to homicide,
18:47
Speaker 2: and in that post they said that there was quote
18:50
Speaker 2: no independent confirmation that Jennifer had been at either the
18:54
Speaker 2: grocery store or the gas station on March twenty five
18:58
Speaker 2: to Casey's shop. The post also said that at some
19:02
Speaker 2: point Joey told law enforcement that Jennifer stopped by his
19:05
Speaker 2: house on the next day, on March twenty sixth.
19:09
Speaker 4: He says that Jennifer comes back to his house on
19:12
Speaker 4: Friday Friday. He was working at the same job site,
19:15
Speaker 4: but they got off work early, and so he was
19:18
Speaker 4: sitting in the living room and Jennifer pulls up to
19:20
Speaker 4: their house in the same white car, but alone. She's
19:23
Speaker 4: driving this car without Adriana, and she comes in to
19:27
Speaker 4: get a few things, the car seat, the diaper bag,
19:30
Speaker 4: and a change of clothes and stuff. And she's there
19:32
Speaker 4: to get her tax refunds money, her five hundred dollars
19:35
Speaker 4: and he says, well, my parents aren't here to give
19:37
Speaker 4: it to you, and she says, okay, I'll come back tomorrow,
19:39
Speaker 4: and of course never shows up.
19:42
Speaker 2: Later said that Joey's mother wrote her mother Kathy, a
19:46
Speaker 2: check for the five hundred dollars that she said Jennifer
19:49
Speaker 2: had gotten from her tax returns and deposited into one
19:52
Speaker 2: of Joey's family member's accounts because at the time, Casey said,
19:56
Speaker 2: Jennifer did not have her own bank account. Casey also
20:00
Speaker 2: has questions about the car. Joey told law enforcement that
20:05
Speaker 2: the white car that Jennifer drove to his house was
20:08
Speaker 2: the same one that Jennifer had gotten into the day before,
20:11
Speaker 2: but he said he couldn't identify the car more precisely
20:15
Speaker 2: than saying it was a four door white vehicle.
20:18
Speaker 4: He can't make out what kind of car it is,
20:21
Speaker 4: even though he changes that story. Originally in the police report,
20:24
Speaker 4: it says a white fourd do or Camaro or Mustang,
20:27
Speaker 4: which those do not exist, so he changes it from
20:30
Speaker 4: that to just a white board or car.
20:33
Speaker 2: We know that Jennifer was arguing with the Bentons, but
20:37
Speaker 2: we don't know much about those arguments or who the
20:40
Speaker 2: main family member was who Jennifer had a problem with.
20:44
Speaker 2: As we said last week, law enforcement have said the
20:47
Speaker 2: last person to talk to Jennifer was her father, Michael,
20:51
Speaker 2: at around eleven am on March twenty fifth, two thousand
20:54
Speaker 2: and four. That was the conversation where Jennifer told Michael
20:58
Speaker 2: that Joey's mom was acting strange and that she was scared.
21:02
Speaker 2: Casey told me something else about that phone call. Apparently,
21:06
Speaker 2: at some point Jennifer was under the impression that she
21:09
Speaker 2: and Joey were going on a picnic on that day,
21:12
Speaker 2: a detail that Casey is not sure that Joey told police.
21:17
Speaker 4: On the phone call with her dad after she said
21:19
Speaker 4: I'm scared, dad, and he said of what she said
21:22
Speaker 4: of his mom, she's acting weird. Her dad said, well,
21:24
Speaker 4: why don't you have your Grainny come get you or
21:27
Speaker 4: your mom come get you? And she's like, no, Joey's
21:29
Speaker 4: on his way home. We're going to go on a picnic.
21:32
Speaker 4: At that point in time, I guess joe had already
21:35
Speaker 4: told her before he left her work or she had
21:37
Speaker 4: talked to him earlier in the day. I don't know
21:39
Speaker 4: what it was, but they had plans for him to
21:41
Speaker 4: come home early. She knew he was on his way home.
21:45
Speaker 4: That's kind of an important thing to note because when
21:48
Speaker 4: we're thinking about who made the phone calls from the house,
21:51
Speaker 4: that it potentially could have been her.
21:53
Speaker 2: Casey spoke to Joey and says he told her that
21:56
Speaker 2: he and Jennifer did have a picnic, but that it
21:59
Speaker 2: wasn't any particular destination, that they just hung around the
22:02
Speaker 2: barn on the Benton property, and that after that he
22:06
Speaker 2: and Jennifer went on the drive. Over the years, Casey
22:13
Speaker 2: says she and the rest of her family have only
22:15
Speaker 2: become more convinced that Joey and his family were hiding something.
22:20
Speaker 2: The Sheriff's off estated quote no one, including Joey Benton,
22:24
Speaker 2: has been eliminated as having potential involvement in the disappearance
22:28
Speaker 2: of Jennifer and Adriana.
22:30
Speaker 3: Wicks End quote.
22:32
Speaker 2: Between two thousand and four and twenty thirteen, the Robertson
22:36
Speaker 2: County Sheriff's Department has searched the Benton property on four
22:39
Speaker 2: separate occasions, They reportedly drained a pond on the land
22:43
Speaker 2: as well. Jennifer's family told the Tennessee And that there
22:47
Speaker 2: was another search in twenty twenty one that scent and
22:51
Speaker 2: cadaver dogs were on the Benton property and that ground
22:54
Speaker 2: penetrating radar was also used. They told the newspaper that
22:58
Speaker 2: the dogs and the radar ultimately did not lead to
23:01
Speaker 2: any human remains being found. Then there was the big
23:05
Speaker 2: raid in twenty twenty four on the Benton property, and
23:08
Speaker 2: before Casey knew that the raid wasn't related to her
23:12
Speaker 2: sister and niece's disappearances, the family briefly had hope again,
23:17
Speaker 2: they said in a statement to news Channel five, quote,
23:21
Speaker 2: twenty years ago today we reported the missing. Law enforcement
23:25
Speaker 2: have never been on that property to conduct a warranted search.
23:29
Speaker 2: That house has the answers we need, and we're hoping
23:33
Speaker 2: this is the day we get them.
23:35
Speaker 3: End quote.
23:39
Speaker 2: We don't know a lot of details about the searches
23:42
Speaker 2: that have happened on the Benton property over the years,
23:45
Speaker 2: but reportedly nothing of evidentiary value related to Jennifer's case
23:51
Speaker 2: has ever been found there by law enforcement. When Robertson
23:55
Speaker 2: County Sheriff Bill Holt contributed to that posting on the
23:59
Speaker 2: department website in twenty thirteen, he said that the Sheriff's
24:02
Speaker 2: office was quote absolutely committed to not letting Jennifer and
24:06
Speaker 2: Adriana Wicks be forgotten, and he went on to say, quote,
24:10
Speaker 2: I strongly believe that there are persons.
24:12
Speaker 3: In this community who know what happened to Jennifer.
24:15
Speaker 2: And Adriana, but who have been reluctant to come forward
24:18
Speaker 2: for one reason or another. We today strongly encourage our
24:23
Speaker 2: citizens to help us provide answers and closure to the family,
24:27
Speaker 2: and as circumstances warrant justice to these two young persons
24:32
Speaker 2: who chose to live in our area.
24:34
Speaker 3: End quote.
24:35
Speaker 2: So from that statement, it seems like police believe there
24:38
Speaker 2: are people, maybe people right there in that community who
24:42
Speaker 2: have information that could lead to finding Jennifer and Adriana
24:46
Speaker 2: or the remains. The police have a number that you
24:49
Speaker 2: can call with tips at the Robertson County Sheriff's Office.
24:53
Speaker 2: The number is six one, five three, eight four, seven
24:57
Speaker 2: nine seven one. It's also listed on the department's Major
25:01
Speaker 2: Unsolved Cases page. There's also a crime tip section on
25:05
Speaker 2: the sheriff's department website at www.
25:08
Speaker 3: Dot robertson sheriff dot Com.
25:11
Speaker 2: From there you can navigate to the crime tips page.
25:15
Speaker 2: There are still so many unanswered questions in this case,
25:19
Speaker 2: including did Joseph Senior's disappearance have anything even indirectly to
25:25
Speaker 2: do with Jennifer and Adriana's case, and if not, what
25:28
Speaker 2: happened to him? And where is the rest of his body?
25:33
Speaker 2: Since I wrote this episode, there have been some updates.
25:36
Speaker 2: We just learned today that more remains have been found
25:40
Speaker 2: in Springfield. Smoky Mountain News reported that they had rec
25:43
Speaker 2: received a statement from the City of Springfield confirming that
25:47
Speaker 2: possible human remains had been recovered near the Greenway by
25:51
Speaker 2: sul for Fort Creek. This is the same general area
25:54
Speaker 2: where Joseph Senior's leg was found. This happened on October
25:58
Speaker 2: fourth and October fifth. The statement from the City of
26:01
Speaker 2: Springfield explained that on those two days, the Springfield Police
26:05
Speaker 2: Department was contacted concerning the discovery of possible human remains
26:10
Speaker 2: in the creek near the Greenway. The department stated that
26:13
Speaker 2: they also conducted additional searches, including an underwater dive unit
26:17
Speaker 2: in canine cadiver units. On the next day, October sixth,
26:21
Speaker 2: as of this recording that was yesterday, the department wrote
26:25
Speaker 2: in a statement, quote, the Springfield Police Department can confirm
26:29
Speaker 2: that possible bone remains were recovered in the water located
26:33
Speaker 2: in close proximity to the Greenway and Springfield on all
26:36
Speaker 2: three dates listed. All potential remains showed significant signs of
26:41
Speaker 2: decomposition end quote. The department went on to say they
26:45
Speaker 2: have not identified any of the remains and that the
26:48
Speaker 2: remains have been sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office
26:51
Speaker 2: for further identification. Again, this is a developing story. We
26:56
Speaker 2: don't know if the bones are human, if they are human,
26:59
Speaker 2: if they could be Joseph Senior or someone else, And
27:02
Speaker 2: the department stated that we won't know more about the
27:05
Speaker 2: identification until they get a report back from the State
27:08
Speaker 2: Medical Examiner's office. This could take weeks or months, but
27:12
Speaker 2: we will keep you posted. Again, this is a developing
27:16
Speaker 2: story and we will keep following it. After so many years,
27:21
Speaker 2: it just goes to show even in the coldest cases,
27:25
Speaker 2: things can still happen, and Jennifer's family has never given up.
27:30
Speaker 2: I ask Casey if she believed today that Adriana.
27:34
Speaker 3: Could be alive.
27:37
Speaker 4: No, I don't feel like Jennifer or Adriana are alive.
27:42
Speaker 4: I mean, there's a lot of people over the year
27:44
Speaker 4: that say, I can understand how someone could do that
27:46
Speaker 4: with an adult. You know that someone's arguing with you
27:49
Speaker 4: in the heat of a moment or whatever. But people
27:52
Speaker 4: can't seem to grasp someone doing that to a two
27:54
Speaker 4: year old. And I always tell them it happens every day.
27:57
Speaker 4: We cover these cases, and people are hurting and harming
28:00
Speaker 4: children every day. I would like for that not to
28:03
Speaker 4: be the case. But hearing him say that for the
28:05
Speaker 4: first time last year just really solidified for me that
28:09
Speaker 4: they are dead.
28:11
Speaker 2: I'm Catherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Helen
28:16
Speaker 2: Gone Murder Line is a production of School of Humans.
28:19
Speaker 3: And iHeart Podcasts.
28:20
Speaker 2: It's written and narrated by me Catherine Townsend and produced
28:24
Speaker 2: by Gabby Watts. Special thanks to Amy Tubbs for her
28:27
Speaker 2: research assistance and James Wheaton for legal review. Noah Cammer
28:32
Speaker 2: mixed and scored this episode. Our theme song is by
28:35
Speaker 2: Ben Sale, Executive producers of Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr and L. C.
28:40
Speaker 3: Crowley.
28:41
Speaker 2: Listen to Helen Gone ad free by some describing to
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Speaker 2: the iHeart True crime plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If
28:48
Speaker 2: you were interested in seeing documents and materials from the case,
28:51
Speaker 2: you can follow the show on Instagram at Helen gonepod.
28:55
Speaker 3: If you have a case you'd like me.
28:57
Speaker 2: And my team to look into, you can reach out
29:00
Speaker 2: to us at our Helen Gone Murder line at six
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Speaker 2: seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's
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Speaker 2: six seven eight seven four four six one four five.
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