Latest / Hell and Gone: Murder Line / Hell and Gone Murder Line: Jennifer Wix Part 1

Transcript

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Jennifer Wix Part 1 · 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
0:55
Speaker 1: witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially
0:58
Speaker 1: be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights
1:03
Speaker 1: from family and community members, their statements should not be
1:06
Speaker 1: considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts
1:10
Speaker 1: inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has
1:14
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
1:21
Speaker 1: that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime
1:24
Speaker 1: is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening.
1:29
Speaker 2: On March twenty fifth, two thousand and four, twenty one
1:32
Speaker 2: year old Jennifer Wicks was in crisis. Jennifer lived in
1:36
Speaker 2: Robertson County, Tennessee. She was a single mother to her
1:39
Speaker 2: two year old daughter, Adriana, who Jennifer adored. She and
1:44
Speaker 2: Adriana had moved in with her boyfriend, William Joseph Joey
1:48
Speaker 2: Benton and his parents, Cynthia and Frank Joseph Benton a
1:52
Speaker 2: few months before, in December of two thousand and three,
1:56
Speaker 2: for clarity, because the father and son have the same name.
2:00
Speaker 2: From here on out, we're going to call the father
2:02
Speaker 2: Joseph and the son Joey. The situation at the Benton
2:08
Speaker 2: home was volatile. Before moving in with Joey's family, Jennifer
2:12
Speaker 2: lived with her mother, Kathy Nail, and her younger half sister,
2:15
Speaker 2: Casey Wicks. Casey told us that Jennifer had been calling
2:20
Speaker 2: home and complaining to her mother that she wasn't getting
2:23
Speaker 2: along with certain members of Joey's family. Because Casey was
2:28
Speaker 2: living in the home, she was hearing some of these conversations,
2:32
Speaker 2: and also it was a topic of discussion in their house.
2:35
Speaker 2: So even though they were only hearing Jennifer's side of
2:38
Speaker 2: the story, Casey and Jennifer's mom, Kathy Nell, were forming
2:43
Speaker 2: an impression of Joey that wasn't great, So there was
2:45
Speaker 2: tension there. Over a period of a few months, Jennifer's
2:50
Speaker 2: family said the situation at the Benton home had become
2:53
Speaker 2: increasingly strained. Then, on March twenty fifth, something happened. No
2:59
Speaker 2: one knows exactly what happened, and law enforcement has not
3:02
Speaker 2: released much information due to this still being an open investigation.
3:07
Speaker 2: That being said, we do know a few things about
3:10
Speaker 2: the timeline leading up to that day. At some point
3:14
Speaker 2: during the day on March twenty fifth, Joey got a
3:17
Speaker 2: call at work and he left suddenly, saying that he
3:20
Speaker 2: needed to deal with a situation at home. He told
3:24
Speaker 2: police that he picked up Jennifer and Adriana at his home.
3:28
Speaker 3: He said they went for a drive.
3:30
Speaker 2: During that drive, Joey claimed that he and Jennifer decided
3:34
Speaker 2: to end their relationship. After that, Joey told police that
3:38
Speaker 2: he stopped at a grocery.
3:39
Speaker 3: Store so that Jennifer could use the phone there.
3:42
Speaker 2: Then, he said he drove her Adriana to a nearby
3:45
Speaker 2: gas station in Cross Plains, which was a few minutes away.
3:50
Speaker 2: Joey said at that gas station, Jennifer and Adriana got
3:54
Speaker 2: into a vehicle, which he described as a white four
3:57
Speaker 2: door Sedan. Jennifer and Adriana were never seen again. From
4:04
Speaker 2: the beginning, Jennifer's family has been suspicious of this story.
4:09
Speaker 2: They say they just don't believe that a young mom
4:11
Speaker 2: with a toddler would leave without any of her belongings
4:15
Speaker 2: and without ever calling her family. Also, they pointed out
4:19
Speaker 2: that Jennifer could have stayed with multiple family members who
4:21
Speaker 2: lived in the area, and that on the day she disappeared,
4:25
Speaker 2: she had actually talked to her aunt about staying with
4:28
Speaker 2: her and picking up a key, So why would she
4:31
Speaker 2: drive off with someone else and never contact her family.
4:36
Speaker 2: It's been almost twenty years, and those years have been
4:39
Speaker 2: filled with rumors, several searches of a property shifting, st
4:43
Speaker 2: worries about what really happened that day, a wrongful death lawsuit,
4:47
Speaker 2: and most recently, a severed body part connected to a
4:51
Speaker 2: family member found in a creek. And yet no one
4:55
Speaker 2: has found any trace of Jennifer Wicks or her daughter Adriana.
5:01
Speaker 3: I'm Catherine Townsend.
5:02
Speaker 2: Over the past seven years of making my true crime podcast,
5:05
Speaker 2: Helen Gone, I've learned that there is no such thing
5:08
Speaker 2: as a small town where murder never happens. I've received
5:12
Speaker 2: hundreds of messages from people all around the country asking
5:15
Speaker 2: for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families,
5:19
Speaker 2: and their communities. If you have a case you'd like
5:22
Speaker 2: me and my team to look into, you can reach
5:24
Speaker 2: out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at
5:27
Speaker 2: six seven eight seven four four six one four five.
5:30
Speaker 2: That's six seven eight seven four four six one four
5:34
Speaker 2: five or you can send us a message on Instagram
5:37
Speaker 2: at Hell and Gonepod. This is Helen Gone Murder Line.
6:25
Speaker 2: We spoke to Casey, Jennifer's younger half sister, Jennifer. Casey
6:30
Speaker 2: and their middle sister, Heather have the same mother but
6:33
Speaker 2: different fathers, and there are three more sisters on Jennifer's
6:36
Speaker 2: father's side, so six sisters in total.
6:40
Speaker 4: He was just the cool older sister, ahead of all
6:44
Speaker 4: of us, and just all things school and boys and
6:49
Speaker 4: going through things in life that we hadn't yet gone
6:51
Speaker 4: through at the time that they disappeared. And she was
6:54
Speaker 4: artistic and quiet. She was not super outgoing, just very
6:59
Speaker 4: spoken and intrinsic, and she loved to write. She loved
7:05
Speaker 4: animals and horses and spent a lot of time outdoors,
7:09
Speaker 4: just a country girl in Robertson County, Tennessee.
7:13
Speaker 2: Jennifer's mom, Cathy, told Dateline that she and Jennifer were
7:16
Speaker 2: very close.
7:17
Speaker 3: She said that they were a lot alike.
7:20
Speaker 2: Which sometimes made them butt heads, mainly because she said
7:23
Speaker 2: Jennifer was headstrong like her. Casey told us that at
7:27
Speaker 2: age nineteen, Jennifer didn't go to college after high school.
7:31
Speaker 2: She continued to live at home and was trying to
7:33
Speaker 2: figure out her next move. That's when she met a
7:35
Speaker 2: guy named Billy. They had a brief relationship. Casey said
7:39
Speaker 2: that Jennifer wanted to be more serious, but that Billy
7:42
Speaker 2: didn't want to settle down, and so they broke up.
7:46
Speaker 2: Then a few months later, Jennifer found out that she
7:49
Speaker 2: was pregnant with Adriana. At that point, she wasn't sure
7:52
Speaker 2: who the father was. Even though the pregnancy was a surprise,
7:56
Speaker 2: the family completely supported Jennifer, and Jennifer adored her daughter.
8:01
Speaker 2: She worked multiple jobs to make ends meet.
8:05
Speaker 4: I took care of her as an infant while my
8:07
Speaker 4: sister worked like second and third fifth job. So I
8:10
Speaker 4: was very close with her and treasured my time with
8:13
Speaker 4: her that it was only two years. She was perfect,
8:17
Speaker 4: the biggest, brightest blue eyes, looked just like her dad,
8:21
Speaker 4: and just a tiny little thing, just innocent and beautiful
8:26
Speaker 4: and perfect. She's my own le niece and I have nephews.
8:31
Speaker 4: But definitely knew that we would have been close today
8:34
Speaker 4: if she were here.
8:36
Speaker 2: At first, Jennifer believed that another man who she dated
8:39
Speaker 2: before Billy was Adriana's father, but a DNA test proved
8:43
Speaker 2: that he was not. Then, after a chance meeting at
8:47
Speaker 2: the fair, Jennifer became convinced that Billy was Adrianna's father.
8:52
Speaker 4: They had ran into each other and he kind of
8:55
Speaker 4: looked down and was like, oh, my gosh, because she's
8:57
Speaker 4: a spitting image of him and is around the age
9:00
Speaker 4: of whenever, you know, they would have conceived her whatever.
9:04
Speaker 4: They met up after that, and he was like, I mean,
9:07
Speaker 4: she's clearly mine. It would you be okay? Like getting
9:10
Speaker 4: the fraternity test, and they did, and they just hadn't
9:13
Speaker 4: paid for the results yet and we didn't pay for
9:15
Speaker 4: those and get those until after they disappeared and found
9:18
Speaker 4: out he was her dad.
9:21
Speaker 2: In two thousand and three, Kathy got a job opportunity
9:24
Speaker 2: in Las Vegas, so she and Casey moved. Jennifer stayed
9:28
Speaker 2: behind in Tennessee. She was living with her aunt Lisa.
9:31
Speaker 2: In the summer of two thousand and three, Jennifer met
9:34
Speaker 2: Joey Benton through her cousin, Jeffrey.
9:38
Speaker 4: My sister Jennifer called my mom and was like, I'm
9:41
Speaker 4: at the boy. She met him through Jeffrey, my cousin.
9:45
Speaker 4: Jennifer and Adriana stayed with my aunt Lisa, which is
9:49
Speaker 4: just right down the road. From where Joey lived, and
9:52
Speaker 4: I guess like Joey and Jeffrey is my cousin's name.
9:55
Speaker 4: They were hanging out all the time. They were really
9:57
Speaker 4: good friends, and Jennifer got introduced to Joey and they
10:01
Speaker 4: fell in love and started dating. And yeah, they dated for.
10:05
Speaker 2: A short time, but then Casey said that she and
10:09
Speaker 2: her mom got a call from Jennifer in October of
10:12
Speaker 2: two thousand and three that alarmed them.
10:15
Speaker 4: Their relationship, you could describe it as volatile intense. My
10:20
Speaker 4: sister called my mom. We were still in Las Vegas
10:23
Speaker 4: at the time, and she called my mom and was
10:26
Speaker 4: very upset, and she had just been dropped off at
10:28
Speaker 4: her grandparents' house because Joey had pulled a gun during
10:32
Speaker 4: an argument that they were having and threatened to hurt
10:34
Speaker 4: himself and hurt Jennifer and Adriana, and so he would
10:38
Speaker 4: like just get them out of here, and his mom
10:39
Speaker 4: took them and dropped them off out her grandparents, which
10:43
Speaker 4: is not too far away.
10:45
Speaker 2: Jennifer and Joey broke up, and Casey and Kathy were
10:49
Speaker 2: so concerned they immediately moved back to Tennessee to be
10:53
Speaker 2: with her. Casey said that her mother believed that Jennifer
10:57
Speaker 2: would break off all contact with Joey.
11:00
Speaker 4: That was part of okay, you are breaking up, you're
11:03
Speaker 4: moving in with us, So she wasn't supposed to be
11:05
Speaker 4: talking to him and he wasn't allowed around, so they
11:08
Speaker 4: weren't supposed to be seeing on together.
11:11
Speaker 2: Despite that conversation, Jennifer and Joey at some point did
11:15
Speaker 2: reconnect and start seeing each other, and then in December
11:19
Speaker 2: of two thousand and three, Casey said she remembers the
11:22
Speaker 2: day that changed everything when Joey showed up at their
11:26
Speaker 2: house and said that Jennifer was coming to live with him.
11:39
Speaker 2: In December of two thousand and three, Casey said that
11:42
Speaker 2: Joey showed up at their house saying that Jennifer was
11:45
Speaker 2: coming to live with him.
11:47
Speaker 4: He walked in our house even though he wasn't supposed
11:49
Speaker 4: to be there, and went down the stairs where Jennifer
11:52
Speaker 4: and Adriana had this apartment area they were living in
11:55
Speaker 4: our basement, and he went down there and Jennifer had
11:59
Speaker 4: packed up their things, and he started gathering their things
12:02
Speaker 4: and was taking them out to the truck. Then my
12:04
Speaker 4: mom walks in and was like, WHOA, You're not supposed
12:07
Speaker 4: to be here, she's not going with you, and we're
12:10
Speaker 4: trailing them through the house, and my Mom's like, that's
12:14
Speaker 4: not a good environment. Jennifer's told me that there's drugs,
12:17
Speaker 4: there's guns everywhere within arm's reach in that house. It's
12:20
Speaker 4: not good for the baby. It's not even good for
12:22
Speaker 4: Jennifer's not good for my daughter. And he just looked
12:25
Speaker 4: right at my mom and says, you don't have a
12:27
Speaker 4: daughter anymore, bitch, and walked out of the house and
12:30
Speaker 4: goes put their stuff in the truck.
12:34
Speaker 2: Casey said her sister left with Joey and took Adriana
12:38
Speaker 2: with her. On that day, Casey claims that Joey kicked
12:42
Speaker 2: one of their doors off the hinges. There was a
12:45
Speaker 2: police report filed of this incident. Over the next few months,
12:50
Speaker 2: Jennifer and her mom reconciled, but Jennifer only saw her
12:53
Speaker 2: family sporadically. She was living with Joey's family. She didn't
12:57
Speaker 2: have a job or a car, so she had to
13:00
Speaker 2: rely on someone to drive her places. Casey helped work
13:04
Speaker 2: on a podcast called Missing in Hushtown. On that show,
13:08
Speaker 2: Casey said she and her mother worried that the Benton
13:12
Speaker 2: home was not a safe environment for Jennifer and Adriana.
13:15
Speaker 2: According to the podcast, Joey had issues in the past
13:19
Speaker 2: with drugs. His father, Joseph, also had a criminal record
13:23
Speaker 2: with multiple felony charges related to drugs and weapons. So
13:28
Speaker 2: Casey said that at first Jennifer, Adriana, and Joey were
13:32
Speaker 2: living in a trailer on his parents' property, but then
13:35
Speaker 2: as it got colder, they moved into the three bedroom
13:38
Speaker 2: house with his parents, Cynthia and Joseph, and that's when
13:43
Speaker 2: Casey said things started escalating.
13:46
Speaker 4: I don't know exactly when that move happened, but that's
13:49
Speaker 4: whenever things started to get tense and all the arguing
13:53
Speaker 4: started happening.
13:55
Speaker 2: Casey said the last time that she saw her sister
13:57
Speaker 2: alive was on her sixteenth birthday, when Joey dropped Jennifer
14:02
Speaker 2: off so that she could see Casey and her mom.
14:05
Speaker 4: Jennifer, I remember, came to our house and that's the
14:07
Speaker 4: first time we had seen her since everything that happened.
14:09
Speaker 4: In December. She started making up with mom, and Mom
14:13
Speaker 4: was babysitting Adriana and they were coming over on a
14:17
Speaker 4: regular basis, talking every day like usual.
14:21
Speaker 2: After that, Casey said that to her knowledge, the dynamic
14:25
Speaker 2: at the Bitton House got worse.
14:27
Speaker 4: There's an argument between Jennifer and Joey which Jennifer is
14:31
Speaker 4: asking him to move out of his parents' house and
14:34
Speaker 4: back into that shed born thing, and he's saying no,
14:37
Speaker 4: like you just won't hear her and doesn't want to.
14:40
Speaker 4: He doesn't think it's good to have a baby out
14:42
Speaker 4: there with no running water, which is not but just
14:45
Speaker 4: the fact that she wants to move out there at
14:47
Speaker 4: all is very telling of what she's trying to get
14:50
Speaker 4: away from. In March, it's springtime, so it's starting to
14:54
Speaker 4: get warmer, like, let's move out there, but he just
14:57
Speaker 4: didn't want to do that. So that argument was happening
15:01
Speaker 4: the week of their disappearance. There was also jealousy stuff
15:05
Speaker 4: going on. Joey was the baby of the family. He
15:09
Speaker 4: was the only kid left at home with his parents,
15:12
Speaker 4: and he was very close with his mom, and so
15:14
Speaker 4: there was a lot of jealousy there this other woman
15:17
Speaker 4: coming in potentially taking her son and asking him to
15:20
Speaker 4: move out of the house, So I think some of
15:22
Speaker 4: that was going on, and then just his mom being
15:25
Speaker 4: upset with him because he was playing house and pretending
15:30
Speaker 4: to be dad to a little girl that wasn't his.
15:34
Speaker 2: Now, obviously we are only hearing one side of the story,
15:38
Speaker 2: the version that Jennifer told Casey and her mom, And
15:41
Speaker 2: to be fair to the Bittens, it is not uncommon
15:44
Speaker 2: to have arguments when you're living in a small home
15:47
Speaker 2: with a new baby with multiple people, especially since that
15:50
Speaker 2: baby was not their sons.
15:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, just out of nowhere. In March, Adriana had gotten sick.
15:58
Speaker 2: On Monday, March twenty second, two thousand and four, Jennifer
16:02
Speaker 2: called her aunt Lisa and told her that Adriana was sick.
16:06
Speaker 2: Lisa drove Jennifer and Adriana to.
16:09
Speaker 4: The hospital, say visit to that night at North Crest
16:12
Speaker 4: Hospital and runt a bunch of tests on her, and
16:14
Speaker 4: she had an infection dajinaida.
16:18
Speaker 2: This type of infection can be caused by things like
16:21
Speaker 2: diapers or soap and bathwater, and there are also other
16:25
Speaker 2: less innocent explanations. Ultimately, the pediatricians said they could not
16:30
Speaker 2: determine a cause for Adriana's diaper rash, but Jennifer was
16:34
Speaker 2: upset about something. I wonder did it have anything to
16:38
Speaker 2: do with this infection since it happened so close to
16:41
Speaker 2: the date of her and Adriana's disappearance. Then again, Jennifer's
16:45
Speaker 2: family said she and the Bentons were already arguing before
16:48
Speaker 2: Adriana got sick, so the timing could have been simple coincidence.
16:54
Speaker 2: Multiple sources have stated over the years that Jennifer was
16:57
Speaker 2: considering leaving the Benton home during this time. On Tuesday,
17:02
Speaker 2: March twenty third, Jennifer met her mom, Kathy, and Joey
17:05
Speaker 2: outside of a Dollar General store. Kathy gave Jennifer a
17:09
Speaker 2: homemade cream for Adriana's rash. She said she and Jennifer
17:14
Speaker 2: talked about bringing Adriana to stay with Kathy the following weekend,
17:19
Speaker 2: but that never happened because that meet up outside the
17:22
Speaker 2: Dollar General was the last time Kathy saw Jennifer and Adriana.
17:27
Speaker 2: The last time Kathy talked to her daughter was on
17:29
Speaker 2: the next day, March twenty fourth. According to Kathy, Jennifer
17:34
Speaker 2: was upset over a fight that she had with a
17:37
Speaker 2: member of Joey's family. There were multiple phone calls made
17:41
Speaker 2: on March twenty fifth and next week. In two of
17:44
Speaker 2: this story, we're going to go into much more detail
17:47
Speaker 2: about every single version of the story.
17:49
Speaker 3: That was told.
17:51
Speaker 2: Casey told us what she had heard about those phone calls.
17:55
Speaker 4: On Thursday, March twenty fifth, Jennifer and Adriana were at
18:01
Speaker 4: joe and his parents' house and Joey was at work
18:04
Speaker 4: that day. He had went to work with my cousin
18:07
Speaker 4: in Franklin, Kentucky, which is like thirty forty minutes north
18:11
Speaker 4: of where their house was. Joey worked with his dad
18:15
Speaker 4: a lot and his dad's friends and they did construction
18:19
Speaker 4: contract work, so they did steel work for commercial buildings.
18:24
Speaker 4: They put up those big racks we see in Costco,
18:27
Speaker 4: like big shelves. So he was at work and had
18:30
Speaker 4: ridden to work with my cousin that day, and Jennifer
18:33
Speaker 4: made a couple phone calls. So round eleven o'clock on
18:36
Speaker 4: that Thursday, she talked to her dad, which it was
18:39
Speaker 4: super uncommon for her to talk with her dad during
18:43
Speaker 4: the day because her dad worked, and she said, I'm scared, Dad,
18:46
Speaker 4: and he said, of what, and she said, Joey's mom.
18:51
Speaker 4: She's acting weird. And so he remembers that on that
18:55
Speaker 4: phone call, but he remembers the baby playing in the background.
18:58
Speaker 4: You could hear like cartoons on the TV. And then
19:02
Speaker 4: he also remembers hearing someone approach Jennifer while they were
19:06
Speaker 4: on the phone. On her call like walk up to
19:09
Speaker 4: her and say something. But he didn't hear what they said,
19:12
Speaker 4: but she said stop, I'm talking to my dad, and
19:16
Speaker 4: he thought that it sounded like a woman's voice.
19:19
Speaker 2: The details of that call are stated in a civil
19:22
Speaker 2: lawsuit that was launched by Jennifer's family. The lawsuit stated
19:26
Speaker 2: that Jennifer told her dad that quote, she was scared
19:29
Speaker 2: of her boyfriend's mother and that Cynthia was quote acting
19:34
Speaker 2: weird end quote. Again, a civil lawsuit is only one
19:39
Speaker 2: side of the story. We did reach out to Joey
19:42
Speaker 2: and Cynthia Benton. Joey did not reply. Cynthia replied that
19:47
Speaker 2: she had no comment, but in a court filing they
19:50
Speaker 2: have denied the allegations in this civil lawsuit. We know
19:55
Speaker 2: that Joey left work at some point. He claimed that he, Jennifer,
19:59
Speaker 2: and Adriana drove around. Joey had told police that during
20:02
Speaker 2: that drive, he and Jennifer decided to end their relationship.
20:06
Speaker 2: Then he dropped Jennifer and her daughter off at that
20:09
Speaker 2: gas station to be picked up by a friend. Jennifer's aunt,
20:13
Speaker 2: Lisa told Dateline that Jennifer also called her on Thursday,
20:16
Speaker 2: March twenty fifth, and told her she didn't want to
20:19
Speaker 2: live at the Benton house anymore. She said she was
20:22
Speaker 2: going to tell Joey that day that she was leaving.
20:25
Speaker 3: Jennifer's aunt said.
20:26
Speaker 2: Jennifer asked her aunt if she did leave, if she
20:29
Speaker 2: could come to her house. Her aunt said, of course.
20:32
Speaker 2: Lisa said that she would leave out a spare key
20:34
Speaker 2: for Jennifer. Lisa went into a job interview, but when
20:38
Speaker 2: she got home, the key was still there and there
20:40
Speaker 2: was no sign of Jennifer. On March twime twenty six,
20:44
Speaker 2: no one in Jennifer's family had heard from her, which
20:47
Speaker 2: Casey said was very unusual. They started calling the Benton
20:51
Speaker 2: home repeatedly, but Casey said no one answered. Then on
20:56
Speaker 2: March twenty seventh, Cathy reported her daughter missing. Pulice did
21:00
Speaker 2: talk to Joey, since the Bentons were some of the
21:03
Speaker 2: last people known to have seen Jennifer a live, Lisa
21:06
Speaker 2: told Dateline she finds it implausible that Jennifer would get
21:09
Speaker 2: into a vehicle with someone and disappear with her daughter
21:13
Speaker 2: when she had authors from family members to stay with him,
21:16
Speaker 2: and even if she had, she and Casey believe that
21:20
Speaker 2: Jennifer would have called them to let them know where
21:23
Speaker 2: she was. Jennifer's cousin and Lisa's son, Jeffrey Grayson, was
21:28
Speaker 2: the cousin who Jennifer had met Joey through. He and
21:32
Speaker 2: Joey were friends. He was at work with Joey that day.
21:36
Speaker 2: Jeff told Dateline that he talked to Joey at work
21:38
Speaker 2: that day. He confirmed that Joey got a call and
21:40
Speaker 2: had to leave. He told Dateline quote, it was really fast.
21:44
Speaker 2: It was really something happened. You know, we gotta go,
21:47
Speaker 2: I gotta go. You know, it was really really, really
21:50
Speaker 2: really urgent end quote. Casey says that at the time,
21:56
Speaker 2: members of her family talked to Joey. She claims that
21:59
Speaker 2: he told their family slightly different stories about what had
22:02
Speaker 2: happened to Jennifer.
22:04
Speaker 3: Casey claims that on the day when.
22:06
Speaker 2: Jennifer went missing, there was a bonfire party and both
22:11
Speaker 2: Jeffrey and Joey were present at that party. She claims
22:15
Speaker 2: that Joey told her cousin Jeffrey, that Jennifer was with
22:18
Speaker 2: a friend. For years, nothing seemed to be happening with
22:23
Speaker 2: this case, but in twenty thirteen it made headlines again.
22:27
Speaker 2: The Robertson County Police Department posted details on their website.
22:31
Speaker 2: They posted quote, the investigation led deputies to the Robertson
22:36
Speaker 2: County home of Jennifer's boyfriend Joey Benton, where Jennifer and
22:39
Speaker 2: Adriana had been living with Benton in an outbuilding on
22:42
Speaker 2: the property. Joey Bitten claimed that on the evening of
22:45
Speaker 2: March twenty fifth, two thousand and four, Jennifer asked him
22:48
Speaker 2: to take her to a grocery store in Cross Planes
22:51
Speaker 2: to use the phone.
22:52
Speaker 3: End quote.
22:53
Speaker 2: The post said Jennifer told police that after he drove
22:56
Speaker 2: Jennifer and Adriana to a grocery store so Jennifer could
22:59
Speaker 2: use the phone, he then drove them to a local
23:02
Speaker 2: excellent station and dropped them off. The post had a
23:06
Speaker 2: few more details. The post read quote, Joey said he
23:09
Speaker 2: pulled across the street and watched as a white four
23:12
Speaker 2: door car pulled up and Jennifer and Adriana got inside.
23:16
Speaker 3: End quote.
23:17
Speaker 2: The Robertson County Sheriff's office stated that these stories that
23:21
Speaker 2: Joey dropped Jennifer and Adriana off at the gas station
23:24
Speaker 2: or that they had been at the grocery store. Quote
23:27
Speaker 2: were never independently corroborated, despite countless hours of investigation and
23:32
Speaker 2: numerous interviews end quote. The department's website confirmed the last
23:37
Speaker 2: person known to have spoken to Jennifer was her father, Michael,
23:40
Speaker 2: at approximately eleven am on March twenty fifth, four and
23:44
Speaker 2: that Michael quote told detectives that his daughter spoke of
23:48
Speaker 2: arguing with Joey Bitton's family and that she looked forward
23:51
Speaker 2: to seeing him in Manchester on the following Sunday end quote.
23:57
Speaker 2: There were more details on the website that Casey said
24:01
Speaker 2: her family wasn't aware of before then. For example, police
24:05
Speaker 2: stated that Joey said he saw Jennifer again the next day,
24:09
Speaker 2: on March twenty six, two thousand and four. The department
24:13
Speaker 2: website reads, quote, Jennifer showed up back at his property,
24:17
Speaker 2: collected her belongings, and said that she needed some time
24:20
Speaker 2: away end quote. And the police announced that they were
24:24
Speaker 2: reclassifying the disappearance of Jennifer and Adriana from a missing
24:28
Speaker 2: person's case to a homicide. There are a lot of
24:41
Speaker 2: questions about what went down on March twent twenty fifth,
24:44
Speaker 2: two thousand and four. Police confirmed a few facts. They
24:48
Speaker 2: did confirm Jennifer talk to her father and her aunt,
24:51
Speaker 2: Lisa said on the day she disappeared, Jennifer also called her,
24:55
Speaker 2: telling her about arguments in the Benton home and about
24:58
Speaker 2: potentially leaving. Who called Joey at work that day to
25:02
Speaker 2: tell him to come home? Was it a member of
25:05
Speaker 2: Joey's family or could it have been Jennifer telling him
25:08
Speaker 2: to come back to the house again. We're going to
25:11
Speaker 2: go more in depth on the phone calls and get
25:13
Speaker 2: into exact details and conflicting stories in part two next week.
25:18
Speaker 2: There have been several searches done of Joey and his
25:21
Speaker 2: family's property. They own multiple acres of land along Owen's
25:25
Speaker 2: Chapel Road, and in the years since Jennifer and Adriana
25:29
Speaker 2: went missing, Casey says that they have built a log
25:32
Speaker 2: cabin on the property. She said Joey still lives on
25:35
Speaker 2: the property and so does his mother, Cynthia. The case
25:40
Speaker 2: went radio silent again for a long time after two
25:43
Speaker 2: th thirteen. Then on March twenty seventh, twenty twenty four,
25:48
Speaker 2: days after the twentieth anniversary of Jennifer and Adriana's disappearance, police.
25:54
Speaker 3: Raided the Benton property.
25:56
Speaker 2: They executed a search warrant and announced that Joey's father,
26:00
Speaker 2: Joseph Benton Senior, was facing over forty charges, including possession
26:04
Speaker 2: of explosives, multiple weapons, and, most terrifyingly for Jennifer's family,
26:10
Speaker 2: sexual exploitation of a minor. According to court records, this
26:16
Speaker 2: happened after a twenty year old picture was discovered of
26:19
Speaker 2: what was described as a child in a sexual situation.
26:24
Speaker 2: Because Joseph was a fellain, having weapons was a violation
26:28
Speaker 2: of his parole and so he was immediately arrested. It
26:32
Speaker 2: was later announced that the picture of that child was
26:35
Speaker 2: not Adriana and that the raids actually had nothing to
26:39
Speaker 2: do with Jennifer and Adriana's case. The timing of the
26:42
Speaker 2: fact that the house got raped basically on the twenty
26:45
Speaker 2: year anniversary was just a crazy coincidence. Once again, Jennifer's
26:54
Speaker 2: family was anguished at the lack of progress. Casey and
26:58
Speaker 2: her family have always continued to fight for answers. In
27:02
Speaker 2: twenty eleven, Cathy started a Justice for Jennifer and Adriana
27:06
Speaker 2: Wick's page on Facebook. Casey has helped with the page
27:09
Speaker 2: since the beginning, and eventually she took over and in
27:13
Speaker 2: the last few years Casey told me she started doing
27:16
Speaker 2: even more of her own investigation. She told me that
27:20
Speaker 2: after over twenty years, she decided to go back over
27:24
Speaker 2: everything and see if there was anything that she could learn,
27:27
Speaker 2: and incredibly, Joey agreed.
27:30
Speaker 3: To talk to her.
27:31
Speaker 4: Whenever I picked up the investigation a couple of years ago,
27:34
Speaker 4: I just decided I'm going to talk to everybody all
27:36
Speaker 4: over again, and everybody Joey of course, as one of
27:39
Speaker 4: those people. And so last year, before the girl's twenty
27:43
Speaker 4: aeth anniversary and before the raid at their house and everything,
27:46
Speaker 4: I had started to make contact with him and asked
27:48
Speaker 4: him if he would talk to me, and after the
27:51
Speaker 4: raid he agreed to. So we got on a phone call.
27:55
Speaker 4: The phone call lasted for about an Hour's my first
27:57
Speaker 4: time talking to him, and he was seemingly very helpful,
28:03
Speaker 4: and he was very cordial. I went about the conversation
28:07
Speaker 4: like with and you were one of the last people
28:09
Speaker 4: that knew my sister very well like I was young.
28:11
Speaker 4: She didn't share parts of her life with me that
28:14
Speaker 4: she would have with you, like you know, I want
28:16
Speaker 4: to know about her, I want to know about y'all's relationships.
28:19
Speaker 4: I want to know about you. You know, like, what
28:21
Speaker 4: were y'all's plans and stuff? And he told me on
28:23
Speaker 4: that call that they loved each other, that he loved
28:27
Speaker 4: Jennifer and Adriana, that they had plans to get married,
28:31
Speaker 4: that they had plans to have another baby. Those were
28:34
Speaker 4: recent plans at the time the girls disappeared, and that's
28:37
Speaker 4: what they were planning then, And so he shared all
28:40
Speaker 4: of that with me, and then I was able to
28:41
Speaker 4: ask him the story that you told dropping them off
28:44
Speaker 4: at the gas station and everything, like was that true?
28:47
Speaker 4: And he said, yes, yes, that's true. All that's true.
28:50
Speaker 4: I did what she asked me to do. I took
28:52
Speaker 4: her where she told me to take her, and that
28:56
Speaker 4: was back. And when I got off that phone call,
28:58
Speaker 4: I just remember thinking, like am I wrong? Like are
29:04
Speaker 4: we looking at the wrong person here? Like did someone
29:07
Speaker 4: pick her up in that white car? Or was it
29:10
Speaker 4: someone else that new Jennifer that we're just overlooking, you know,
29:14
Speaker 4: started to like really question myself.
29:17
Speaker 2: On May third, twenty twenty four, Casey set up a
29:21
Speaker 2: meeting with the District Attorney's office and said that she
29:24
Speaker 2: was surprised when after the lunch break, the DA told
29:27
Speaker 2: her they would have to leave because Joey was coming
29:29
Speaker 2: in to talk to them.
29:31
Speaker 4: They ended up interviewing him for hours, and he said
29:36
Speaker 4: that he was ready to tell everyone everything. So that's
29:41
Speaker 4: what he did for the next couple of hours, and
29:43
Speaker 4: we just kind of waited and waited, and then that
29:46
Speaker 4: meeting ended and our law enforcement team came out and
29:49
Speaker 4: just said, we've got a lot of work to do,
29:51
Speaker 4: and that's where that left off.
29:53
Speaker 2: And then Casey and her family learned that when Joey
29:58
Speaker 2: talked to law enforcement, he revealed some shocking information, something
30:03
Speaker 2: that they had never heard before.
30:05
Speaker 4: Joey and his sister reached out to us after that meeting,
30:10
Speaker 4: and that's whenever they started sharing a location with us
30:14
Speaker 4: that Jennifer and Adrianas remained to be found.
30:19
Speaker 2: Casey claims that Joey said that on the day he
30:22
Speaker 2: got that phone call and rushed home on March twenty fifth,
30:25
Speaker 2: two thousand and four. When he got home, Jennifer and
30:28
Speaker 2: Adriana were already dead, so he gave law enforcement information
30:33
Speaker 2: about their alleged locations while not admitting any guilt. We
30:38
Speaker 2: don't know exactly what story Joey told law enforcement, but
30:43
Speaker 2: after joe So we spoke to the DA law enforcement
30:46
Speaker 2: did search a location, reportedly the coordinates provided by Joey
30:50
Speaker 2: and his sister, looking for Jennifer and Adriana's remains, but
30:55
Speaker 2: nothing was found at that location. Then Casey said that
30:59
Speaker 2: Joey wanted to meet with Jennifer's mother in person.
31:04
Speaker 4: He wants to meet with my mom face to face,
31:06
Speaker 4: and we had already been on a phone call before,
31:08
Speaker 4: but he's like, I'd rather not do a phone call.
31:10
Speaker 4: I need to tell her that's to her face. And
31:12
Speaker 4: so my mom goes to meet with him locally in Springfield,
31:15
Speaker 4: and I'm on speakerphone, and she sits down with him
31:18
Speaker 4: for about two hours, and he just jumps right into
31:21
Speaker 4: it and starts telling us what happened that day. And
31:23
Speaker 4: I don't share a lot about what he says because
31:26
Speaker 4: I believe it's just another story that's been told in
31:29
Speaker 4: a way that benefits him. But what I do share
31:33
Speaker 4: is that he said whenever he got home from work
31:35
Speaker 4: that day on Thursday, March twenty fifth, two thousand and four,
31:39
Speaker 4: that Jennifer and Adriana were already dead and that they
31:42
Speaker 4: died at his home. So I do share that, and
31:47
Speaker 4: he did go into details with Mom about how they died,
31:52
Speaker 4: and he did go into details about what came after,
31:56
Speaker 4: which is I mean, those are horrible things that I
32:00
Speaker 4: just won't share.
32:02
Speaker 2: Casey made it clear that she absolutely does not believe
32:06
Speaker 2: Joey's version of the story that day. But what did
32:10
Speaker 2: happen that day and what's the state of the police
32:12
Speaker 2: investigation now? With all these different stories out there. After
32:19
Speaker 2: Jennifer's family heard about the raid, including getting the information
32:23
Speaker 2: about Joseph being charged with sexual exploitation of a minor,
32:27
Speaker 2: the Wicks family decided to take the case to civil court.
32:31
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty five, the Wicks family filed a civil
32:35
Speaker 2: lawsuit in Robertson County Circuit Court against the Benton family,
32:39
Speaker 2: Joseph Benton, his wife, Cynthia Benton, and Joey Benton. They
32:43
Speaker 2: are seeking a jury trial for damages in connection with
32:46
Speaker 2: Jennifer and Adriana's deaths. The civil suit read quote the
32:50
Speaker 2: wrongful acts of William, Joey Benton, Joseph Benton, and Cynthia Benton,
32:54
Speaker 2: including the acts of killing Jennifer and Adriana Wicks, of
32:58
Speaker 2: hiding their bodies, and of otherwise hiding or destroying evidence
33:01
Speaker 2: to impede the investigation into their deaths have been intentional, fraudulent, reckless,
33:07
Speaker 2: and malicious end quote. And it gives more alleged details
33:11
Speaker 2: about those arguments that took place between Jennifer and the
33:14
Speaker 2: Benton family, including the fact that in the day before
33:17
Speaker 2: Jennifer and Adriana disappeared on March twenty fourth, two thousand
33:21
Speaker 2: and four, Kathy could hear Jennifer quote screaming in the
33:25
Speaker 2: background and was told by Jennifer Wicks that Cynthia Benton
33:29
Speaker 2: had thrown her, Jennifer and Adriana's dinner outside and told
33:33
Speaker 2: them they could eat like dogs.
33:34
Speaker 3: End quote.
33:36
Speaker 2: It's very important to note here Joey and Cynthia have
33:40
Speaker 2: never spoken publicly about this case. They have completely denied
33:43
Speaker 2: any of these allegations. In a response to the Wicks
33:47
Speaker 2: family lawsuit filed on July ninth, Joey and Cynthia say
33:51
Speaker 2: they had no knowledge of involvement in or connection with
33:55
Speaker 2: the disappearance of Jennifer or Adriana end quote. Neither Joey
34:01
Speaker 2: nor Cynthia, nor anyone connected with the Minton family has
34:04
Speaker 2: ever been arrested or charged in connection with Jennifer or
34:08
Speaker 2: Adriana's disappearance. According to court documents. Cynthia said she is
34:14
Speaker 2: not communicated with Joseph Benton since his release from jail
34:18
Speaker 2: after the raid in March, and again when we reached
34:21
Speaker 2: out to Cynthia Benton, she told us that she had
34:24
Speaker 2: no comment. Joseph Benton Senior was sentenced to a year
34:29
Speaker 2: as a result of his charges on weapons and sexual
34:32
Speaker 2: exploitation of a minor. His sentence included time served, so
34:36
Speaker 2: he was immediately released, but he did have to follow
34:40
Speaker 2: the conditions of his probation. Joseph reportedly missed his first
34:44
Speaker 2: probation hearing and after that he disappeared. Cynthia Bitton had
34:52
Speaker 2: filed for divorce and also in order of protection from
34:55
Speaker 2: Joseph while he was behind bars, so she and Joey
34:58
Speaker 2: have told police after Joseph was released from prison they.
35:02
Speaker 3: Had not seen him.
35:04
Speaker 2: No one saw any trace of the sixty eight year
35:07
Speaker 2: old for months until a few months ago on July fourth,
35:11
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, when a severed leg was found at
35:14
Speaker 2: soul for Fort Creek in Springfield, about ten miles from
35:18
Speaker 2: the Benton home. Forensic testing revealed the leg was Joseph
35:23
Speaker 2: Benton Seniors. I'm Catherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line.
35:31
Speaker 2: Helen Gone Murder Line is a production of School of
35:33
Speaker 2: Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's written and narrated by me
35:37
Speaker 2: Catherine Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts. Special thanks to
35:41
Speaker 2: Amy Tubbs for her research assistance and James Wheaton for
35:44
Speaker 2: legal review. Noah camer mixed and scored this episode. Our
35:48
Speaker 2: theme song is by Ben Sale, Executive producers of Virginia Prescott,
35:52
Speaker 2: Brandon Barr, and LC Crowley. Listen to Helen Gone ad
35:56
Speaker 2: free by subscribing to the iHeart True Crime Plus channel
35:59
Speaker 2: on Apple Podcasts. If you were interested in seeing documents
36:03
Speaker 2: and materials from the case, you can follow the show
36:05
Speaker 2: on Instagram at Helen gonepod. If you have a case
36:09
Speaker 2: you'd like me and my team to look into, you
36:11
Speaker 2: can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder
36:13
Speaker 2: Line at six seven eight seven four four six one
36:17
Speaker 2: four five at six seven eight seven four four six
36:21
Speaker 2: one four five
36:26
Speaker 1: School of Humans