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Man arrested in connection with Shelbyville teen found dead in July · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: All right, So we're diving into a case out of
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  Shelbyville today and wow, this one, this one's got me hooked.
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  The disappearance and tragically the discovery of Maria Lucas Gaspar.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's one of those cases that really it grabs you,
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  you know, and it reminds us why we do this work.
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  Speaker 1: It does, it does, and you know, as always, we're
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  sticking to the facts here, trying to piece together what
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  we can from the information that's available.
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  Speaker 2: No speculation, just the facts, right right exactly. We got
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  to let the evidence speak for itself and see where
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  it leads.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. So you've been digging into this case. What kind
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  of timeline are we looking at here?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? So June twenty ninth, twenty twenty four, that's the
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  last time anyone sees Maria at her home in Shelbyville.
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  The next day, June thirtieth, her mother reports her missing.
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  And can you imagine that nine days of just agonizing, agonizing, waiting.
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  Speaker 1: Nine days just unimaginable, and then tragically, those nine days
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  end with her remains being found. And it's less than
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  a mile from her own.
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  Speaker 2: Home, Yeah, more than a mile. It's that detail that
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  really really gets me, you know, because what does that
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  tell us? It tells us that whoever was involved, they
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  were either incredibly brazen or maybe maybe they knew the area,
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  maybe they felt comfortable there. It's a chilling thought, it
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  really is.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, when I was looking over your notes,
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  you'd even highlighted that it was even closer than that,
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  like less than two blocks. Yeah, and that just that
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  makes you think was this was this a place that
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  maybe she was familiar with? Was there a sense of
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  safety there? You know, that maybe someone took advantage of
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  It's it's just heartbreaking.
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  Speaker 2: It is, and it just compounds the tragedy of this
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  whole situation, you know. And then on October eleventh, you
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  have the arrest of Justin Pickle.
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  Speaker 1: Justin Pickle, right, yeah, and this is in Colombia, Tennessee.
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  Speaker 2: Right, that's right, different town altogether.
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  Speaker 1: Different town altogether. So now you're thinking, Okay, was he
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  trying to run? Was he trying to get away? Did
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  he have ties to that area? It raises all these questions,
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  it really.
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  Speaker 2: Does, and I think it's important to look at the
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  charge of that he's facing too. So he's facing charges
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  related to leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, okay,
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  and also tampering with evidence.
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  Speaker 1: So those those are prett significant. Can you kind of
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  unpack those a little bit? What does that mean in
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  this context?
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  Speaker 2: Sure? Sure?
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  Speaker 1: So.
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  Speaker 2: Leaving the scene of an accident, often what the prosecution
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  has to prove is whether the driver knew or should
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  have known that they were involved in an accident. So
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  that adds this whole other layer of complexity to it. Right,
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  did he know? Could he have known? These are all
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  questions that a jury would have to decide, and then
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  you have tampering with evidence, which is exactly what it
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  sounds like, right. It's a deliberate attempt to conceal what happened.
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  It suggests, you know, a cover up, and it begs
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  the question what was he trying to hide?
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  Speaker 1: Did it over back to those.
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  Speaker 2: Nine days exactly exactly? And we know that that Pickel
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  has a history, I mean, his record goes all the
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  way back to two thousand and seven. But we also
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  have to remember, you know, innocent until proven guilty, right,
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  These are accusations and it's up to the prosecution to
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  prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, right.
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  Speaker 1: Right, Absolutely, So we're left with a tragic loss. We
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  have a suspect with a history, and still more questions
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  and answers, and I.
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  Speaker 2: Think you know, for me, the question that I keep
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  coming back to is what could possibly explain that nine
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  day gap between her disappearance and the discovery of her
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  remains so close to home. It's a question that I
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  hope as this investigation continues, will we'll start to get
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  some answers to.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a case that definitely stays with you and
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  one that I think you know, we're going to be
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  following very closely as more information comes to light. Absolutely well,
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  thanks for diving into this with me. It's always good
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  to kind of unpack these things and try to make
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  sense of it all.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, anytime