Latest / The Mind of a Man / Bizarre Facebook Post Led Detectives to a Shocking Discovery_ The Murder of Jasmine Pace _True Crime

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Bizarre Facebook Post Led Detectives to a Shocking Discovery_ The Murder of Jasmine Pace _True Crime · The Mind of a Man

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: 22-year-old community college student Jasmine Pace had plans to spend
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Thanksgiving 2022 with her family. To her mother's surprise, she
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: sent a text message last minute canceling those plans. On
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Jasmine's Facebook account, there was a new post. It read,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Enjoying Thanksgiving with my baby. Except the photo accompanying the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: post was not from Thanksgiving. In this photo, Jasmine's distinctive
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: tattoos were missing. It had to have been taken months earlier.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Concern turned to panic as her family realized the implications.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: No one knew where Jasmine was and someone was online
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: pretending to be her. Hi there, I'm Kevin and welcome
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: to Just Thought Lounge. Today's case is as gruesome as
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: it is heartbreaking. It's one of those stories that stays
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: with you long after it's over. There is a lot
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: to digest here, so let's take a look. The night
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: before Thanksgiving 2022, Jasmine Pace left her mother's home in Chattanooga,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Tennessee at just before 11.30 p.m. She drove her white
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Chevy Equinox. The next day, Katrina Pace received a message
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: from her daughter's phone. She planned to stay at the
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: home of her friend Emma for the rest of the week,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the text read. Jasmine had recently lost her grandmother to cancer,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: so when she opted out of the family gathering, it
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: didn't immediately raise alarm bells. She had occasionally chosen to
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: be out of contact for brief periods as she worked
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: through her grief. That abruptly changed, however, following a new
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: post on Jasmine's Facebook page. At first, what struck Katrina
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: about the post was the revealing outfit her daughter wore.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: It was not characteristic of Jasmine to post such a
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: revealing photo of herself online. It was another aspect of
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: the image that sparked waves of panic for Jasmine's father,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Travis Pace. Jasmine's many tattoos formed a kind of timeline,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: each obtained on a different date, months apart. In this image,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Jasmine's extensive tattoos on her upper right arm were missing.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: This post was not what it claimed to be. Katrina
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: spoke with Jasmine's friend Emma and confirmed what she had
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: already suspected by that time. Jasmine was not with her
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: family for the week, as the text had claimed. Several
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: other friends and family members had received messages, ostensibly from
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Jasmine as well, though no one had spoken with her directly.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: In each instance, the messages stated that the 22-year-old wished
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: to be alone. The family began immediately to search for her.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Jasmine's Chevy SUV was equipped with a GPS feature called MyChevy.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: The MyChevy app allowed her mother to track the location
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: of the vehicle. It was found parked outside of a
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: building of condominiums off of Mountain Creek Road in Chattanooga.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: By the time the vehicle was discovered, it was already 8.30pm
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: on November 26th, four days after Jasmine had last been seen,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: leaving her mother's late on the 22nd. As far as
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: the family was aware, Jasmine did not know anyone at
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the Signal View condos where the Equinox was parked. When
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: they accessed the vehicle, the driver's seat had been pushed back.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: It seemed that someone much taller than Jasmine's petite 5'2
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: stature had last been behind the wheel. A call was
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: placed to 911 to report her disappearance. Chattanooga police arrived
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: and took a report detailing what the family had discovered.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: We want her home and we want her safe.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: Bailey Putman is doing anything she can to try to
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: bring her childhood friend home. Jasmine Pace hasn't been seen
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: since November 22nd. Chattanooga police are investigating the case as
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: a missing person.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Her mom has not an ounce of sleep.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: I don't think she is eight.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Jasmine was last seen here on surveillance video leaving her
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: mom's house. They believe she was trying to leave town
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: to grieve a recent death in the family, but they
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: knew something went wrong when she didn't show up to
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: Thanksgiving dinner.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: And that is so very unlike her. There's not a
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: day that they don't hear from Jasmine, let.
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: Alone an hour.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Katrina also contacted the family's cell phone provider. Jasmine was
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: on their family plan, which granted her mother access to
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: her phone records. There had been no calls placed from
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the phone for days. With the call log in hand,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: the frantic mother began calling every number listed. She did
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: so in the presence of police. There was one number
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: that Jasmine had connected with for over an hour on
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the night of the 22nd. When Katrina tried this number,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the phone connected to a young man that Jasmine had
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: met on the dating app Bumble. Jason Chen was a
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: computer science major at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: The two had been dating for several months, though the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: relationship had not been serious enough to warrant an introduction
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: to her parents. Neither Katrina nor Travis had met Jason.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: The computer science student was informed that Jasmine was missing
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: had he heard from her. Not for days, he said,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: and when they had last spoken, it had only been
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: for a few minutes. Katrina knew this to be a
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: blatant lie. Jason's lack of concern was another red flag.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Katrina pleaded with officers to take further steps to investigate,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: but they did very little. Jasmine was an adult, and
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: there were no clear signs at that point in time
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: of foul play. A report was written and contact information
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: exchanged before they left the frustrated parents on their own
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: once more. So Katrina and Travis took matters into their
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: own hands. They began knocking on every door at the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: condominium complex. No one had seen Jasmine. A security guard
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: agreed to share the camera footage of the white Chevy
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: entering the parking lot. With the timestamps provided on the
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: MyChevy app, they narrowed in on the footage. On November 23rd,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: just past 8.30pm, the SUV drove into the lot and
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: in the direction of the location where it was later
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: found parked. The driver could not be identified. Unnoticed on
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Katrina's cell phone until this time was one final text
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: message that had been sent to her from Jasmine in
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the early morning hours of November 23rd. There was no message,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: just a pin-dropped location showing where her device was at
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: that time. It was received at 2.18 a.m. Her daughter
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: had never sent a message like this to her before,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: certainly not in the middle of the night. The day
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: after their concerns were dismissed by police at the condos,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the family promptly went to the location from the message,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the apartments at 110 Tremont Street. Again, the desperate parents
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: knocked on every door. All but one apartment 210 answered
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: or was accounted for. Neighbors recounted that they had heard
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: a loud disturbance from the direction of that unit in
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the early hours of November 23rd, around 2.15 a.m. Recollections vary,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: but somehow, Katrina and Travis made their way inside apartment 210.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: A notebook inside the door revealed the name of its occupant,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Jason Chen. It was a small unit, open concept with
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the kitchen only feet from the couch. A hallway led
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: to the only bedrooms There was one bathroom and a
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: laundry unit stacked inside of a closet. Most of the
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: apartment was visible immediately upon walking in. On the kitchen
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: counter sat a small travel bag. It belonged to Jasmine.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Cleaning supplies sat out. In the drawer of a desk,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Travis discovered his daughter's driver's license along with her credit cards.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: These he pulled out and left sitting in plain view.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Chattanooga police were once again called out. Officers spoke with
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Katrina once more. They also spoke with the neighbors. Then,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: they left. Believing that law enforcement was proving useless to
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: them once more, Katrina re-entered the apartment multiple times over
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: the next few hours. She took notebooks and electronics, multiple
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: cell phones, a camera, and an iPad, anything that she
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: thought could give an indication of her daughter's location. The
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: parents also searched through the dumpsters outside of the building.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: It was close to midnight before the Chattanooga PD returned
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: to 110 Tremont with a search warrant and began, formally,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: to commence their search. During the initial walkthrough, investigators noted
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: what appeared to be bloody stains on the hardwood floor,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: in the living room, absorbed by the grouting in the bathroom,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: on the bedroom carpet. Spatter was identified on the doors
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: in the bathroom wall. The abundance of cleaning supplies was
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: also extremely concerning. Trash bags had been emptied. Police checking
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the dumpsters found two white sneakers and a pair of
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: blue trousers. These items were collected. Back inside the unit,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: they spotted fragments of broken glass in the living room.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Indications of a violent incident were accumulating. Furniture appeared to
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: have been moved around. In the bedroom, there were marks
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: on the carpet which indicated where furniture had sat for
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: some time and had been subsequently moved to other parts
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: of the room. the rearrangement of the room itself. was
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: likely done in an attempt to cover a large stain
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: that was spotted underneath the bed. On top of the
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: bed sat a kitchen knife. In virtually every room, investigators
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: identified stains that could be blood. The crime scene unit
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: was called in to spray down areas of the apartment
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: with Blue Star, the forensic agent used to identify areas
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: where blood may have been cleaned up or invisible to
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: the naked eye. The hallway lit up. The case of
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Jasmine Pace's disappearance became a homicide. Detectives obtained security camera
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: footage from the apartment building and the surrounding area. They
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: were able to piece together a timeline of Jason Chen's
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: movements with the aim of hopefully gaining an understanding of
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: where they might find Jasmine Pace. Investigators could be certain
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: that she had arrived at 110 Tremont before midnight on
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the 22nd. Her Chevy Equinox was captured taking a right
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: turn into the building parking lot. The Chevy was also
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: captured leaving. Indeed, it could be tracked to the condominium
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: buildings from Jason's apartment building. At about 8.30pm the day
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: after Jasmine arrived, a figure in a light-colored hoodie was
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: captured driving it from the building towards the Signal View condos.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: A dark-colored Prius, likely a hired taxi, collected that driver
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: from the condos and dropped them off in front of
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Jason's building. A ring camera from the apartment door directly
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: beside an exit door to the parking lot captured Jason
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Chen leaving the building on multiple occasions on the 23rd,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: including at 8.27 p.m., three minutes before the driver in
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: the light hoodie took Jasmine's SUV to the Signal View
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: condos and left it there. There were a few additional
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: trips made by Jason Chen over the Thanksgiving holiday that
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: piqued the interest of investigators. The first was a morning
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: trip to Walmart alone, where he purchased, amongst other things, band-aids, peroxide,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: and cleaning products. Captured using the self-checkout, he ran a
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: few of the more expensive items through as asparagus. The
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: overhead Walmart camera offered a clear view of Jason's pair
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: of white sneakers. These shoes were thought to be the
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: same pair found discarded outside of the apartment dumpsters. On
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: the evening of the same day, Jason stopped at a
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Walgreens and purchased a package of paper towels. Sometime between
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: his trip to Walmart that morning and the time he
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: left the blood-stained and hastily cleaned apartment, he must have
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: taken Jasmine from the building, discarding items of his clothing
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: as part of an attempt to cover his tracks. As
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: investigators tracked the computer science student on various footage throughout Chattanooga,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: they were aided by his notable white hoodie, a bright
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: and distinct article of clothing that could be identified even
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: in dark and sometimes fuzzy surveillance video. At almost 6 p.m.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: on the 23rd, the white hoodie emerged from the building
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: once more. This time, the figure was struggling to pull
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: a large suitcase from the front door of the building
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: towards the parking lot. Moments later, Jason's black Toyota Camry
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: was captured leaving. On November 29th, one week after Jasmine
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: was last seen, Jason Chen was located at his parents'
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: home in Nolensville. Arresting officers noticed lacerations on Jason's right
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: hand and feet, indicative of a violent struggle.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: He's going to catch you now.
• 14:05
  Speaker 5: He's going to play some games.
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: The officer is going to arrest you. Just call us
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: and you go to the back of the car so
• 14:12
  Speaker 6: we can.
• 14:14
  Speaker 6: So you said.
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: There was a search warrant for me?
• 14:18
  Speaker 8: Correct.
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, there's a search warrant for your person. So we're
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: from the police department.
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: We're going to be connecting you to.
• 14:26
  Speaker 8: The police department. We're assisting you.
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: Okay. And is there any public health or anything?
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 14:33
  Speaker 8: We're going to let them do that.
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: I don't want to speak for them.
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: We don't want to misinform you of anything.
• 14:38
  Speaker 8: So they'll tell you all that when we get down there.
• 14:40
  Speaker 8: So just take it from them.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: They're going to.
• 14:42
  Speaker 9: Lead on this.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: A search warrant was obtained for the house. In the
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: room used by Jason, a black backpack and a collection
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: of handwritten notes were confiscated. Some of these notes appear
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: to have been Jason trying to get his story straight.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: One stated that he had last seen her on November 19th.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: They had spoken on the 22nd. He wrote that she
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: had a history of running away and had a restraining
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: order against an ex. It seemed that Jason had planned
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: for his inevitable interview with police by recording that Jasmine
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: had also been homeless. He wrote that he thought her
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: mother was an alcoholic, all suggestive of her being an
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: unpredictable runaway. In his backpack inside of a glasses case,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: detectives found a SIM card. It was for Jasmine's device.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: They also obtained Jason's phone and downloaded the data. On
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Jason's cell phone, detectives found a picture of Jasmine standing
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: in his bathroom taken on the night of her disappearance.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: There were multiple screenshots saved as well of text messages
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: he had gotten from Jasmine, but the actual texts themselves
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: were missing. On the morning after she had likely been killed,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: he sent her a photo along with a note, slept
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: like a baby. Later that day, he asked, hey, Are
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: we still good for dinner tonight? The photo's metadata revealed
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: it was taken two years prior. From Jasmine's phone data,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: detectives could see that her device had taken the trip
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: to Walmart along with Jason that morning, though he was
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: shown on camera driving and shopping alone. Finally, the phone's
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: movements revealed where he had traveled after loading the large
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: suitcase into his Camry. He had taken a drive to
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Suck Creek Road. The road ran parallel to the bank
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: of a river. On Thursday, December 1st, walking along the
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: bank of the river, investigators spotted an item. It was
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: what they were, unfortunately, expecting to find. Jason Chen's large suitcase.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Inside the suitcase, they found 98-pound Jasmine Pace. She was
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: wrapped in three trash bags and had been shackled with
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: two handcuffs. Her right arm was cuffed to her right ankle,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: and her left ankle was linked to her right elbow.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: They were not law enforcement-style handcuffs. These were less substantial.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: The chain of one was broken. An autopsy determined that
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Jasmine had been stabbed no less than 60 times. Her
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: wounds were centered in one area of her body, primarily
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: the upper left side. The tip of a knife was
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: removed from her chest. Jasmine was a devoted aunt to
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: two nieces and godmother to a little boy named Waylon.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: According to her older sister Gabby, Jasmine wanted nothing more
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: than to have children of her own and always talked
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: about what kind of mother she would be. She was
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: also an animal lover and cherished her four cats. To
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: those closest to her, the fun and sweet 22-year-old had
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: always been known as Jazzy. Fiercely protective of her family
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: and friends, Jasmine is remembered as someone who is always
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: there for a friend in need, to share her love
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: and support.
• 18:09
  Speaker 7: There was a moment when you're with her, you realize
• 18:13
  Speaker 7: how clever, how smart, how brilliant she was. Knowing how
• 18:17
  Speaker 7: many lives that she touched and then spreading the word
• 18:21
  Speaker 7: on my sister, I think it also touched other people's
• 18:24
  Speaker 7: hearts that have probably gone through a situation like this.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: I've known her my entire life and I've never seen
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: her burn a bridge or have ends with someone badly.
• 18:33
  Speaker 7: She just always made it a point to know, for
• 18:36
  Speaker 7: you to know, that she was thinking of you and
• 18:39
  Speaker 7: that she loved you. She was fierce over her family.
• 18:42
  Speaker 7: She was fierce over her friends.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: In December 2022, a judge set Jason Chen's bond at
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: $ 5 million. As the gruesome nature of the murder reached
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the news media, many expressed disgust that Jason was offered
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: a bond at all. By this stage, a complete timeline
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: had been pieced together, including evidence that showed Jason had
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: used Jasmine's phone and SIM card to access her banking information,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: her social media accounts, and to post fake updates after
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: the murder. To a woman he had connected with on Tinder,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: he messaged, I guess we're dating now, as Jasmine allegedly
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: still lied dead in his bedroom. To friends later that night,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: he arranged to play Call of Duty online. He just
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: needed to finish cleaning up his apartment, apparently. It was
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: difficult to imagine what defense, if any, Jason Chen's legal
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: team would put forward when the case came to trial,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: which it did in January 2025. In a shocking development
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: on day one, defense attorney Josh Wise did not fund
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: for his client's innocence. In opening statements, he told the
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: jury Jason Chen killed Jasmine Pace, but that he didn't
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: do it with premeditation. This is a case of voluntary manslaughter.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Although the state was not pursuing the death penalty Jason
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: faced a life sentence without the possibility of parole if
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder. His best defense was
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: to argue a lesser charge applied.
• 20:19
  Speaker 10: This is the suitcase in which Jason Chen.
• 20:31
  Speaker 11: Stuffed the 98-pound body of Jasmine Christensen. That's where I'm
• 20:38
  Speaker 11: going to begin the story.
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: Except, I want you.
• 20:43
  Speaker 11: To remember that as you hear evidence in the next week,
• 20:47
  Speaker 11: that this is not a story like.
• 20:50
  Speaker 12: The one that you read in a novel where you.
• 20:52
  Speaker 10: Have to imagine the appearances of characters.
• 20:55
  Speaker 12: The evidence that you will hear in this case.
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: Is very real.
• 20:59
  Speaker 11: The evidence will not require that you use your imagination.
• 21:04
  Speaker 10: Jasmine Pace was very real.
• 21:08
  Speaker 8: And Jason Chan really killed her.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: For the crime to be deemed voluntary manslaughter, the defense
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: needed to convince the jury that Jason had killed Jasmine
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: in a fit of passion, that he had been provoked
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: somehow into reacting in an irrational way, which led to
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: her death. The theory they posited was that the couple
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: were drinking wine at his apartment late into the night.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: When Jasmine entered the kitchen to get another bottle, she
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: heard the distinct sound of notifications from the Tinder dating app.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: These rang out repeatedly from her boyfriend's phone. Angered by this,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: she began to argue with him. The claim was that
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Jasmine attacked Jason with a broken wine glass. Having used
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: a kitchen knife to remove the seal from the previous
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: wine bottle in the bedroom, he had left it sitting
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: on the bedside table. It was this knife that Jason
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: instinctively reached for when he was attacked. Wise explained away
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the shackles found on Jasmine's body by arguing that Jason
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: had panicked after the stabbing He applied the handcuffs in
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: order to make Jasmine fit inside of the bags and
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: the suitcase. The timeline of the murder and attempted cover-up
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: was detailed extensively through videos, Jason and Jasmine's cell phone data,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: as well as testimony from neighbors in the apartment building.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Courtney Brewer reported hearing an altercation take place after 2 a.m.
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: On the night of November 22nd, and early hours of
• 22:36
  Speaker 6: November the 23rd. Was there an incident that you recall?
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: Yes, I was woken up in the middle of the
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: night by a loud scream.
• 22:46
  Speaker 6: Can you kind of take us, and you can go slowly,
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: through the events that woke you up and everything that
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: you heard from that point until you.
• 22:54
  Speaker 8: Didn't hear it?
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: There was a scream that startled me out of my
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: sleep while I was up. I checked my phone to
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: see the time because I was going to call 911.
• 23:03
  Speaker 10: It was around 2 a.m.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: There was a voice that was screaming words, the words
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: I couldn't understand fully.
• 23:15
  Speaker 13: Was it a male voice or female?
• 23:16
  Speaker 11: A female voice.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: And then there sounded, assuming that the apartment above mine
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: is laid out the same as mine, there sounded like chasing,
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: A lot of footsteps going across towards the front door.
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: One person's footsteps or two?
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: It sounded like multiple.
• 23:35
  Speaker 13: You said towards the front door. Was it towards the front.
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: Door or towards the bedroom?
• 23:39
  Speaker 8: Towards the front door because I was in the bedroom.
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: When I heard it.
• 23:43
  Speaker 13: You had said that you heard a scream.
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: Can you describe it this way?
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: Distressed.
• 23:51
  Speaker 10: Not quite angry, ecstatic.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Recreating a possible scenario for the murder itself was heavily
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: dependent upon the physical evidence left at the crime scene.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: This is where the case became messy. Not only had
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Jason used various types of cleaning agents inside the apartment
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: and disposed of many items, including the broken knife, the
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: scene had also been accessed and searched by Katrina Pace,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: now Katrina Bean, multiple times. Questions were raised over potential
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: contamination of the crime scene.
• 24:29
  Speaker 9: Why would the apartments look different after a police went
• 24:35
  Speaker 9: in there than when they were in there? Who changed it?
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: The defense called its own crime scene expert to walk
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: through the many changes that were visible at the scene
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: between the first time police were called out to the
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: point in time that it was photographed and processed. Furniture
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: had been moved. Items had been taken. They questioned whether
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: evidence could have been planted. Travis Pace testified that he
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: did not recall seeing a knife on the bed when
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: he first entered with his ex-wife to search for his daughter.
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: And then this past Monday, you were in this room
• 25:12
  Speaker 6: and you saw Katrina Pace testify on that stand, right?
• 25:19
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 25:19
  Speaker 6: Were any of those statements true?
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: We remember it differently.
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: You heard Katrina testify that she went back into the
• 25:31
  Speaker 6: apartment multiple times after that night, or after that morning?
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: I heard that.
• 25:37
  Speaker 13: Were you with her those times?
• 25:38
  Speaker 8: I was with her.
• 25:39
  Speaker 6: You know, she did an apartment during those times? Your ex-wife,
• 25:43
  Speaker 6: Katrina Bates, does she have a reputation for being honest? Objection,
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: your honor.
• 25:51
  Speaker 13: Mr.
• 25:51
  Speaker 6: Tyson, in your opinion, does Katrina Bates, is she a
• 25:55
  Speaker 6: honest person?
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: If the scene itself was considered suspect, the conclusions made
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: by the medical examiner were not, and they pointed to
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: a premeditated attack.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: Dr.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Stephen Cogswell, the Hamilton County medical examiner, concluded that based
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: on the location of the wounds, Jasmine had been in
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: the fetal position while she was attacked. The shackles that
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: she was found wearing had therefore likely been applied when
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: she was still alive.
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: If someone were stabbing a person 60 times, you would
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: expect them to try.
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: To get away. But what if they can't?
• 26:43
  Speaker 8: What if they can't because their right hand has changed
• 26:48
  Speaker 8: their right leg, their left leg chained to their right elbow.
• 26:54
  Speaker 13: Makes it difficult to run.
• 26:56
  Speaker 8: Makes it difficult to do anything.
• 27:01
  Speaker 6: Dr.
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: Gosselow told you that she was stabbed in.
• 27:03
  Speaker 8: The fetal position 60 times.
• 27:07
  Speaker 6: We'd also expect that if she's being attacked on the
• 27:09
  Speaker 6: right side of her body, that she.
• 27:11
  Speaker 8: Might try to defend herself with both hands. There should
• 27:18
  Speaker 8: be injuries on both hands. Instead, what we have is
• 27:23
  Speaker 8: are injuries to the.
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: Left hand, no significant injuries to the right hand.
• 27:29
  Speaker 8: That's consistent with her being in the fetal position with
• 27:34
  Speaker 8: a hand unable.
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: To move.
• 27:38
  Speaker 13: On the ground.
• 27:44
  Speaker 6: It's consistent with exactly what we see.
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: On the screen right there, her being handcuffed.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Dr. Cogswell also found no alcohol consumption upon her death,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: countering Jason's claim that they had drank wine for hours.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: The provocation that he had pointed to in order to
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: make the murder fit the definition of manslaughter, those Tinder
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: notifications which apparently angered Jasmine, were also a lie. When
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: the data from the app was examined by a state expert,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: they found that he had not received a single Tinder
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: notification to his phone that entire day. Jason Chen chose
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: not to testify in his defense. Evidence was presented over
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: six days. In closing arguments, his legal team essentially abandoned
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: their attempts to support his original story, pointing instead to
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: a lack of ligature marks on Jasmine's wrists, which they
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: said would be present if she was alive when handcuffed.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Their crime scene expert had attempted to introduce doubt that
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Jasmine had been cuffed when alive, by pointing to what
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: could have been a bloody handprint on the bedsheets. Under cross-examination, however,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: he said that he couldn't be certain of what the
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: transfer stain was. It had never been tested. Explanations to
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: counter the rest of the state's evidence was not forthcoming.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: In addition, the shackles were not the only indication that
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: the murder was premeditated. The number of wounds indicated that
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: there was ample time for Jason to have contemplated and
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: ended the attack. Prosecutor Cody Wamp concluded by recounting the timeline,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: specifically Courtney Brewer's recollection of hearing people running towards the
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: apartment door at exactly 2.11 a.m.
• 29:34
  Speaker 12: Courtney was 2.11 a.m. The phone location to her mom was... 2.18,
• 29:41
  Speaker 12: seven minutes. She screamed. Things happened. She was able to
• 29:50
  Speaker 12: know she was in enough danger that she needed to
• 29:53
  Speaker 12: send her mother her location. It wasn't fast. It wasn't
• 29:59
  Speaker 12: fast at all, and we know that. 2-11 is seven
• 30:03
  Speaker 12: minutes from 2-18. It wasn't fast. She knew she was
• 30:08
  Speaker 12: in danger.
• 30:09
  Speaker 14: She tried to get out of the door, and Courtney
• 30:11
  Speaker 14: told you that she heard a door slam. Jasmine knew
• 30:17
  Speaker 14: she was in trouble. She had time to use her
• 30:21
  Speaker 14: phone before he started killing her.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Jurors began deliberation at about 4.15 p.m. following the closing arguments.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: They came back with a verdict just after 5.
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: With respect to count one of presentment 315228, we, the jury,
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: find the defendant, Jason Chen, guilty of first-degree premeditated murder.
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: This is an emotional verdict, and everyone needs to maintain
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: their cool, please.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: A juror later revealed that Jasmine's family members entering the
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: crime scene repeatedly had little impact on the jury's decision, stating,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Every single person who went into that room or that
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: apartment had a part in contamination, but it kind of
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: didn't matter on our deliberations because we already knew what
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: was admitted, that he had murdered her. During the sentencing
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: phase of trial, jurors were faced with the decision of
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: whether Jason Chen should be given an opportunity to seek
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: parole at some point in his life. Through a translator,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Jason Chen's mother made an emotional plea to the jury.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: He is a very good child. He is not a
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: bad person. I pray that the judge and jury will
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: give him a chance so that he can go home
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: and restart his life. Wise asked the jury to offer
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: his client the hope of redemption. He stated that the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: justice system is not only a measure of how we
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: treat the most virtuous and innocent among us, but also
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: a reflection of how we treat the condemned.
• 32:03
  Speaker 13: By allowing Jason the possibility of parole, we affirm our
• 32:06
  Speaker 13: society's belief that the most condemned among us can strive
• 32:10
  Speaker 13: to rebuild their humanity. You're not tasked with forgiving Jason
• 32:16
  Speaker 13: Chen or even excusing his actions. You are tasked with
• 32:22
  Speaker 13: ensuring justice, a justice tempered with mercy, not because Jason
• 32:29
  Speaker 13: deserves it, but because it's a reflection of our humanity
• 32:35
  Speaker 13: as a whole. I ask that you And we ask
• 32:41
  Speaker 13: that you give Jason the opportunity at a 73-year-old man
• 32:46
  Speaker 13: to seek his redemption. Let him spend the next five
• 32:49
  Speaker 13: decades behind bars reflecting on the choices that he made
• 32:54
  Speaker 13: when he was 22 years old.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: The jury returned with their sentencing decision in under an hour.
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: With respect to the sentence of the defendant, Jason Chen,
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: on count one of presentment 315228, we, the jury.
• 33:10
  Speaker 5: Do unanimously find the following statutory aggravating circumstances beyond a
• 33:14
  Speaker 5: reasonable doubt, in that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious,
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: or cruel, and that it involved torture or serious physical
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: abuse beyond that necessary to produce death, and do unanimously
• 33:25
  Speaker 5: agree that the defendant's sentence shall be life imprisonment without
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: possibility for life.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: During the trial, Jasmine Pace's family filed a wrongful death
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: lawsuit against Jason Chen's parents. accusing the pair of harboring
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Jason and providing him with money and information in the
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: days after the murder when he was the prime suspect,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: and they were searching desperately for their daughter. The loss
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: of Jasmine and the subsequent legal proceedings clearly took a
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: toll on the Pace family. Travis Pace testified that he
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: and Katrina's relationship was difficult. When he took the stand
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: to testify, called as a witness by the defense, many
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: family members walked out of the courtroom. Nonetheless, with the
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: sentence delivered, much of the family's ordeal is now over,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: and they receive the justice they sought against a man
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: they called a monster, and whose crime was described by
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: prosecutors as heinous, atrocious, and cruel. And that was the
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: tragic case of Jasmine Pace. Thank you for joining me,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: and a special welcome to Ace Clark and Taylor Tyree,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: who have joined our members lounge. I'm Kevin, this is
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Just Thought Lounge, and I'll see you in the next one.
• 35:03
  Speaker 6: Found out that now's.
• 35:04
  Speaker 10: Just what you thought.
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: Found out that now's just what you thought.