Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / The Disappearance of Jared Chavis Part 1

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The Disappearance of Jared Chavis Part 1 · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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The Concold podcast may contain violent or graphic subject matter. Listener discretion is advised
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for most of us. When we experience the loss of a loved one,
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it's a finite moment, it's sudden, and it's permanent. We are able
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to mourn and grieve. Closure might not be possible, and the grief might
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last forever, but we are able to know and to make at least some
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sense out of what happened. We hold memorials and funerals to mark the passing
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of our loved one and to remember their life. Whatever rituals or traditions we've
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been taught is owed to the deceased out of love and respect or helps us
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move forward. But for the families and friends of missing persons, there is
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no such certainty. In the early nineteen seventies, doctor Pauline Boss, a
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family therapist and professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, coined a term for
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this type of loss. She called the loss for family and friends of a
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missing person ambiguous loss. The uncertainty and lack of information or answers as to
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what happened to their missing loved one is incredibly traumatic, and, as doctor
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Boss writes, their grief is frozen in place. Closure or any semblance thereof
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is not possible. Ambiguous loss may never be resolved, a perpetual loop of
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reliving the same questions without answers, over and over again. Doctor Boss also
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speaks of a natural resiliency among some people who are able to adapt to the
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experience of loss, able to develop a tolerance and an ability to live with
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the ambiguity and the unanswered questions. Jared Shavis went missing twenty eighteen in Houston,
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Texas. The grief that doctor Pauline Boss describes can be seen in his
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family, an ambiguous grief frozen in place while they wait for answers and justice.
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And yet there's also a resiliency, a strength of spirit grounded in faith
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and love that pushes them forward, not only to move forward with their lives,
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but also to continue to do everything they possibly can to find answers as
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to what happened to Jared. Houston's West Timer Road stretches across nearly nineteen miles
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of the city from Bagbe Street downtown all the way across to the west side,
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specifically Westpark Tollway on the southern edge of George Bush Park. The road
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is sort of impamous in Texas's most populous city. It's so long that it
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encompasses many different cultures and class levels. Journalist John Nova Lomax even wrote an
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article about West Timer Road for the Houston Press back in two thousand and six.
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He said, quote, I've read that you can see West Timer from
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space. I've also read that it's the longest commercial thoroughfare in Texas. I've
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always thought of it as the soul of the west side of Houston. End
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quote. For those reasons, Lomax goes on to write, he decided to
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walk all nineteen miles of Westheimer. What he discovered from the journey wasn't any
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sort of spiritual enlightenment or personal epiphany, but he was able to write a
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pretty accurate description of the road more than any of the city's other thoroughfares,
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Lomax wrote, West Timer quote embodies Houston's cary enamored zoning free ethos, a
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near twenty mile phantasmagoria of strip malls, storage facilities, restaurants, big box
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retail office parks, apartment complexes, strip clubs, malls, supermarkets, and
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the occasional church end quote. He also specifically noted that During the walk,
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he passed six CVS drug stores. One of those was the location where Jared
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Shavis was last seen alive on January twelfth, twenty eighteen. Jared Wayne Chavis
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was nineteen years old when he went missing. He'd been living in Houston for
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a couple months with a cousin. After leaving the Air Force, Jared was
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looking for a fresh start, and Houston offered much more opportunity than his hometown
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of Franklin, Louisiana. He found a job installing satellite dishes and began taking
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information technologies college courses online. Everything seemed fine from the outside looking in.
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It was a Friday night when Jared vanished, and like every other day.
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He spoke to his mother, Angela on the phone at this time, around
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nine pm on January twelfth, twenty eighteen. Angela said nothing was out of
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the ordinary when they spoke. It seemed like a typical Friday night for the
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nineteen year old. He told his mother he was going out with some friends
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that night, friends who he knew from back home in Louisiana. Angela knew
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them too. They hung up and both went about their lives The following evening.
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In Franklin, Louisiana, Saturday, January thirteenth, twenty eighteen. Jared's
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mother and father became worried after he failed to answer her calls earlier in the
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day. Something that was incredibly unusual. Angela became overwhelmed by the feeling that
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something was terribly wrong, a mother's intuition, and she was right back in
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twenty nineteen, Gone Cold spoke with Jared's father, Willie about that night.
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After being unable to get a hold of Jared. Willie said they began phoning
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the friends who they knew he was with the night before. One friend told
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the mother they couldn't find Jared. When she told Willie, he called the
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friend back, He asked, what do you mean, you can't find Jared.
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This friend told Willie that he, Jared, and two other guys were
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going to a party when a fight between them broke out. Gunshots were fired,
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the friend went on and everyone scattered, taking off running in all directions.
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After that, he said, Jared was nowhere to be found. They
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had left Jared's car in the parking lot of a CVS drug store. The
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friend told Willie where they'd met two young men to go to the party together.
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Willie asked if anyone had called the police, and the friends said they
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did not because they thought Jared would come back for his car. When he
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hung up, Willie called a relative of his that lived in Houston and asked
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him to go and look for Jared's car, a white late model Chevy Malibu.
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Willie and Angela continually called Jared's phone, but it had been turned off.
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Relatives finally located Jared's car, but not in the drug store parking lot.
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Rather, the vehicle was found in an isolated spot in the parking garage
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at the Piney Point Apartments several blocks away. The complex was gated. Jared's
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car was unlocked, seemingly cleaned, and the seat covers had been removed.
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Willie sped to Houston to look for Jared himself. He spoke to his son
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through the press, telling him that if he'd been involved in something he shouldn't
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have been. If he'd done something wrong, to turn himself in. Reports
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had quickly surfaced that the Houston police had discovered Jared's vehicle was suspected of being
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involved in a robbery. Jared, some news outlets reported, might be a
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suspect in that robbery, though the media did a terrible job of reporting the
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facts and evidence that suggested it was highly unlikely Jared Shavis would have committed such
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a crime. It was not for his father's lack of trying. For one,
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Willie pointed out, Jared didn't know Houston well enough to stay hidden there
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for long. But what really cast doubt on the nineteen year old being involved
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in a robbery was his character, which will fully delve into shortly, along
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with other known details of the crime that took place. Although his family maintained
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at least some hope that Jared might be alive, Initially, every indication pointed
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to homicide, especially if the friend's account of what happened bore even the slightest
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ring of truth. But the story Jared's friend told of that night changed.
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In another rendition, Jared and the friend met some other young men at the
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CVS parking lot. They got into the back seat of a black Ford Fusion,
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after which a verbal disagreement occurred. The friends said, gunshots were fired
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by one of the men in the front of the car. This took place,
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the witness said, around ten forty pm. Jared's friend was able to
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run out of the car, but Jared never exited the vehicle and he has
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never been seen again. In the first story he told, apparently getting into
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this black Ford fusion was completely left out, calling into question the validity and
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truth of both versions. After the Houston Police became involved, they asked the
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public for assistance in finding a man that went by the name Bolt Suave,
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the driver. Police said of the black Ford fusion, what happened after Jared
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Shavis last spoke with his mom that Friday night is not clear at all really,
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But when reddits, subreddits, and other online message boards began lighting up
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with baseless theories, what happened to the nineteen year old Air Force veteran became
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further shrouded in mystery. This episode of Gone Cold is brought to you by
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com Slash Gone Cold. With missing persons cases, there's always some level of
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hope that the individual is still out there, and to be fair, they
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usually are and they're usually found quick. But for Jared's family, they absolutely
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know that if he were still alive, he would have found a way back
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to them. They were close. Jared's family was everything to him, and
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he had a new addition to the family to look forward to. The nineteen
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year old has a boy named Amir. Amir was born after Jared went missing
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and turned five years old. This year. In twenty twenty three, Jared
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wasn't there for his son's birth and has never held his child. It's been
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speculated online that Jared couldn't handle all that was going on in his life and
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ran away to avoid facing the responsibilities of being a new father again. His
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family is certain that that is not true, and that there is no way
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Jared would ever abandon a mere There is no indication that this could be the
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case anyway, only amateur sleuthing based upon no facts whatsoever. Because of Jared's
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character and what they know about what took place the night he went missing,
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his family can't help but think that Jared was murdered that day back in January
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of twenty eighteen. But how and why are seemingly impossible questions to answer at
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this point unless someone comes forward or perhaps comes clean. Proof that Jared Wayne
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Chavis didn't simply up and disappear on his own anyway can be found by looking
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no further than the young man's life. A few years ago, Gone Cold
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spoke with his cousin Latronica at length for earlier episodes we produced about Jared.
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We fear and feel strongly that something tragic has happened to him, Latronica told
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us sometimes we use past tense when we're talking about him, not because we've
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given up searching, but because we know the type of person he was.
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Foul play Jared's family unanimously believes is involved in his disappearance. Speaking to Latronica
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about what type of person Jared was gives you the sense that he would never
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be involved in any sort of robbery beyond he himself being the victim. While
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will explore the robbery theory further coming up, almost all the evidence negating the
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possibility that Jared was involved in a criminal act can also be applied as evidence
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against any theory suggesting he took off to avoid the responsibility of his forthcoming family.
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By all accounts, he was caring, generous, ambitious, athletic,
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independent, and strong willed. He had been plans for the future that presented
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themselves in high school, where Jared was a football player and honor roll student.
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He wanted a career and his own family, something he was well on
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the way to creating, and something he often conveyed through posts he'd make on
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his social media accounts. Jared had ambitions, and he always set out to
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achieve his goals without letting anything stand in his way. We come from a
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very small town of about nine thousand people, Latronica told us. Everybody sort
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of knows everyone, But there were people in this town who knew Jared and
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who he had close relationships with that I didn't know. That's the type of
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person he was. Latronica described Jared as personable, outgoing, hard working,
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and as an old soul able to connect, able to connect with people across
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different age groups, sometimes folks three and four times his age. He was
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the favorite student of teachers from kindergarten up. Latronica said, people just loved
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him. He made himself visible. When her parents came to visit Latronica and
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Abu Dhabi, Jared called her mom via video chat about seventeen years old.
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At this point, Jared had painted the outside of her house. It was
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the type of person he was, Latronica told us. He was the nephew,
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she said, who would go to his aunt's mow the lawn and even
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paint the house. He always made himself of service to others. Jared grew
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up in Franklin, a small city in South Louisiana. He excelled in school
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academics and athletics, and when he graduated high school, he decided to join
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the Air Force, but he soon realized it wasn't the right fit for him.
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For her, Latronica explained to us, college was the way out of
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small town life, but for Jared, it was the military. Unfortunately,
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he hadn't really thought it through. Jared was strong minded and strong willed,
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someone who likes to be in control of his own situations and surroundings. It
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was most likely the rigidity and strict rule following of the Air Force, Latronica
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said that turned him off of it so quickly. Being told when to wake
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up, when to move, to make your bed, and how where and
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when to do everything else was something that was not going to work in any
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long term way for Jared, So after only about ten months of service,
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he got an honorable discharge. Details of how are not known to us.
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Jared was a good kid, his father Willie told this podcast, just trying
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to explore life. While he was still in the Air Force, Jared met
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and began dating a fellow cadet. When he disappeared, she was still serving
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and pregnant with Amir, Jared's child. She and Jared were still dating,
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and he often posted on social media about settling down, finding a good career,
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and starting a family with his girlfriend. It was, without a doubt
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the path he was on. Jared was looking forward to being a dad,
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but he never got to hold his baby boy. Being born after his father
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disappeared perhaps sent Amir down a very specific path of his own. Described as
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an independent child, Amir was more interested in exploring and learning than being held
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and doated on as a baby, characteristics that could be considered genetically handed down
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by the father he's never known, or a result of that absence itself.
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Either way, the characteristics and the fact that he looks just like as daddy
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helped Jared's mother and father cope with the uncertain loss of their son. Amir
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is a driving force for the family to keep pushing for answers, to keep
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fighting to find out what really happened to Jared. Some have speculated that Jared
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simply got caught up in a situation he could not get out of, suggesting
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that his possible role in a crime just kind of happened a perfect storm of
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timing and bad company, but his friends and family couldn't be clearer Jared Chavis
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was no follower. He would not have sold out his principles over a little
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peer pressure or even if he was threatened. This particular personality trait, however,
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admirable and honorable, only further led his family to believe early on that
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something terrible had happened to him. Still, because of a specific crime occurring
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not far from the CBS drug store where Jared was supposedly last seen, and
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the fact that the Houston Police were reporting his car was involved in a robbery,
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his family had no choice but to entertain the possibility he'd done something out
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of character. It was not only a scenario that confused them by taking everything
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they knew about Jared and twisting, turning and stretching that into something they didn't
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even recognize, but also a scenario Willie Angela and the rest of Jared's family
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simply did not believe, and for good reason. When searching for news articles
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about Jared Chavis's case on Google, in the earliest reports after he went missing,
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you'll find a lot of talk about the possibility he was involved in an
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attempted robbery on the night of his disappearance. This is something that it seems
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was very seriously considered by the Houston Police Department, and it's not for nothing.
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Just down West Timer Road from the CBS drug store parking lot where according
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to the friend of Jared Chavis, gunfire erupted in a black Ford fusion after
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a disagreement, an attempted robbery occurred. According to the Houston Police website,
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on Friday January twelfth, twenty eighteen, at around eleven o five pm,
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two men jumped twenty two year old man named William and held him at gunpoint
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in a shopping center parking lot. The man demanded William's wallet after assaulting him.
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One of the men then shot William in the arm and then both fled
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the scene. The victim went into a check Casher store at eighty nine hundred
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Westheimer Road and called police, who responded to the scene in minutes. The
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suspects in this shooting slash attempted robbery were both black males, and each wore
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a hoodie, one black and one red. Both were approximately five feet eleven
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inches tall. Within days of this incident occurring and upon considering, Jared went
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missing. The same night, the Houston Police Department told the Chavis family that
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Jared may have been involved in that attempted robbery. It's unclear exactly why or
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how stly the cops believed the two cases were linked, but news outlets spared
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no effort in their attempts to suggest a connection. That much is certain.
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However, no detail has been provided by police or media that suggests an even
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tenuous reason to believe there is one. It's a stretch that Jared Chavis was
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involved in the attempted robbery slash shooting, but the fact that he was thought
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to have been wearing a red hoodie the last time he was seen, and
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that at five feet nine inches Jared's most reported height at the time to the
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suspects are perhaps factors, but those seem to be the only similarities, and
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one may not even be true. Judging by official missing persons data released by
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police and others, Jared Chavis is listed at five feet seven inches tall.
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That's considerably shorter than the feet eleven inches of the attempted robbers. Even ignoring
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the evidence that suggests Jared's personality would not have allowed him to take part in
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such a crime, doubt can be found, and virtually every other aspect for
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one. Jared's family told us that he had plenty of money in his bank
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account. He was not under any pressure or any desperate need to rob a
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guy who probably didn't have much. Though the close proximity of the crime and
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Jared's disappearance might be a coincidence hard to ignore in a place like Mineral Wells,
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Texas, meaning a small, relatively low crime city, it is far
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from unheard of in the behemoth city of Houston, the city that is most
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often at the top of the state's violent crime rate, by leaps and bounds.
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If the shooting at or near the CBS parking lot took place at thirty
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nine pm, the time the Houston Police are reporting that the gunshots went off
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that might have killed Jared, he could not have taken part in the attempt
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at robbery and shooting of William, which occurred at eleven o five pm,
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according to the Houston Police. Further, considering that Jared's disappearance was assigned to
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a homicide detective relatively quickly, and that they continually maintain the ten thirty nine
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pm timeline, it appears they have reason to believe he was the victim of
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foul play. Their lack of mentioning the attempted robbery in later reports, suggests
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that perhaps police no longer theorize a connection. At the time of this recording
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in September of twenty twenty three, five years have passed since Jared Chavis went
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missing. One of the organizations that's been the most active in helping Jared's family
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get the word out about his disappearance is Crime Stoppers of Houston. They printed
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up and passed out flyers and held multiple media events. In twenty nineteen,
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Gone Cold spoke with Andy Kahan, the director of Victim Services and victim Advocacy
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for Crime Stoppers of Houston, who was working directly with the Chavis family by
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accompanying them to media interviews and passing out flyers around where Jared was last seen.
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A little over a year before we spoke, Andy told us crime Stoppers
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of Houston implemented a new program to spotlight missing persons cases and offer rewards for
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any information leading to the arrest of the suspect or suspects involved in a case
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assuming that a criminal act took place. Using Jared Chavis's case as a prime
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example, he explained detectives working the case would get permission to issue a reward
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flyer. Crime Stoppers of Houston will then crank out a rewards flyer asking for
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information and offering a reward, sometimes upwards of five thousand dollars for any information
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that would lead to an arrest in the case. Whenever they enhance the reward.
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Whenever there's additional reward money that's coming in, say from a private business
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or family member, it gives crime Stoppers the opportunity to get the case back
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out in front of the public, which happened in Jared's case at that time.
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Andy continued, Jared's family had kicked in an additional amount, what they
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call a supplemental reward, which boosted the reward in this case to ten thousand
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dollars. With crime Stopper's newly implemented program, a press release is issued and
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the case goes out over the social media accounts of Crime Stoppers of Houston and
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relevant law enforcement agencies. The case also hits all local media, and he
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said, and the word gets out fast. On the one year anniversary of
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his disappearance, Jared's family, along with Andy Kahan, held a vigil and
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memorial ceremony, which he said gave them another proverbial bite of the Apple.
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Andy's job, he told Gone Cold, is to make sure Crime Stoppers of
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Houston is doing everything they possibly can to make sure not just the city of
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Houston, not just the state of Texas, but the entire nation is aware
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of Jared's case. All it takes, after all, is one person out
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there to come forward with good information the public, and he is fond of
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saying are the best eyes and ears because they're the ones who actually know what
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happened. The idea is to put it out there at the right moment in
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time when you'll catch the right person's attention and hopefully strike a chord of conscience
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where they'll do the right thing and come forward. And he said with Jared's
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case, he went on, there are tons of questions and few answers.
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It frustrates authorities and his torture for family as someone who has worked with the
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families of murder victims for over twenty five years, and he said in a
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homicide, grief is intensified when justice is lacking. Four years after Andy Kahan
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of Crime Stoppers of Houston spoke those words to us, Jared Chavis and his
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family have not seen justice. On the next episode of Gone Cold. We'll
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talk more about the circumstances of Jared's disappearance and learn more about what his family
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and others are doing to find out the truth of what really happened. If
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you have any information about the disappearance of Jared Wayne Chavis, please contact the
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Houston Police Department's Missing Persons Unit at seven one three seven three one five two
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two three. You can also give information while remaining anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers
31:19
of Houston at seven one three two to two eight four seven seven. You
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may be eligible for a ten thousand dollars reward by providing information leading to the
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arrest or indictment of an individual or individuals involved in Jared's disappearance. We'd like
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to thank Willie, Latronica and Andy for their contributions to this episode. This
31:47
episode was co written by Christina nor If you have not already, look for
31:53
Gone Cold on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter by searching Gone Cold and looking
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with information about a case here's the show and comes forward with what they know.
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Every little bit helps, and we appreciate y'all support immensely, however you
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choose to give it. Sources for this episode can be found in the episode's
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show notes. Thanks for listening, y'all.