Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / What Happened to Jermain Charlo?
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: All right, so today we're diving into a case that's
- 0:02just baffling. It's the disappearance of Jermaine Charlow six.
- 0:06Speaker 2: Years ago, vanished just like that.
- 0:09Speaker 1: Yeah, it's strange.
- 0:10Speaker 2: She was last seen on some honestly pretty fuzzy security
- 0:14camera footage just slipping into an alley behind a bar
- 0:17in Missoo, Montana.
- 0:18Speaker 1: And that's the last we see.
- 0:20Speaker 2: Of her gone. And what's really eerie is she wasn't
- 0:23someone who seemed like they were trying to just disappear.
- 0:27You know, she had a family that loved her kids,
- 0:29even a social media presence. This wasn't someone off the grid.
- 0:32Speaker 1: It makes it even more unsettling, you know that someone
- 0:35like that could just vantage.
- 0:36Speaker 2: Exactly and for six years, very few answers. But there
- 0:40are some twists, some turns we've got to untangle. So
- 0:43let's rewind back to June fifteenth, twenty eighteen, the night
- 0:47she disappeared.
- 0:48Speaker 1: A night that starts out normal enough but.
- 0:50Speaker 2: Takes a dark turn. We know she was at the
- 0:52bad Lander Bar, and there's that security footage of her
- 0:56outside in the alley, but with her ex boyfriend, Michael.
- 0:58Speaker 1: De France, and that's where things get complicated totally.
- 1:01Speaker 2: First off, what were they doing in the alley? Right?
- 1:03What was said out there? What happened that wasn't caught
- 1:06on camera?
- 1:07Speaker 1: And here's what's even more strange. De France, he tells
- 1:10the police that he dropped Jermaine off at a supermarket
- 1:13after the bar.
- 1:14Speaker 2: Standard kind of story.
- 1:16Speaker 1: Seems plausible, you'd think so, But then later on he
- 1:20changes his story. Oh really says he actually left her
- 1:23in a residential area, okay, because Jermaine told him she
- 1:26was staying with a friend nearby, a Cassidy.
- 1:29Speaker 2: And I'm assuming this Cassidy is as mysterious as they said.
- 1:32Speaker 1: Oh absolutely. Investigators couldn't find any trace of this person.
- 1:35It's like Cassidy never even existed.
- 1:37Speaker 2: So that's a huge red flag right there. Changing your
- 1:40story a friend who doesn't exist.
- 1:42Speaker 1: It gets you thinking, right, why change the story at all?
- 1:45Speaker 2: Exactly what's he trying to hide and hold on?
- 1:47Speaker 1: It gets even more wild. We know from other sources
- 1:50that Jermaine was actually planning to stay at her new boyfriend,
- 1:54Jacob's apartment. He was out of town, gave her the key, so.
- 1:58Speaker 2: She wasn't even planning on being with this Cassidy.
- 2:01Speaker 1: Nope, And around one point am that night, Jacob tries
- 2:05calling Jermaine, no answer. He even told police he thought
- 2:09someone hung up on him purposely.
- 2:11Speaker 2: Okay, So now I've got Jermaine leaving the bar with
- 2:13her ex, conflicting stories about where she went, a mysterious
- 2:16friend who's nowhere to be found, and a boyfriend who
- 2:18can't get a hold of her.
- 2:19Speaker 1: And this is just the beginning. It's like everyone involved
- 2:21as a suspect.
- 2:22Speaker 2: Right now, there's one piece of evidence that really throws
- 2:24Defrance's whole story into question.
- 2:26Speaker 1: You're talking about her phone.
- 2:28Speaker 2: Her cell phone data. Days after she disappears, Jermaine's phone
- 2:32pings off a power near Ivero Hill and Everro Hill is.
- 2:36That's where Defrance lived.
- 2:37Speaker 1: So he couldn't have dropped her off at a supermarket
- 2:40or a residential area in Missoula If her phone was
- 2:43pinging miles away near his place hours.
- 2:46Speaker 2: Later, it just doesn't add us.
- 2:48Speaker 1: So what's his explanation for that? Okay?
- 2:49Speaker 2: Get ready for this. Defrance claims that Jermaine left her
- 2:53phone with him that night. He even said he'd tried
- 2:55to access it but couldn't get in. Okay, And then
- 2:58he claims that he threw the phone own away in Idaho.
- 3:01Two days later, he.
- 3:02Speaker 1: Threw away her phone while everyone was searching for her. Yeah,
- 3:07that's suspicious, to say.
- 3:09Speaker 2: The least, incredibly suspicious. I mean, why even't get rid
- 3:12of it unless you're trying to hide something. It's a
- 3:14huge red flag.
- 3:15Speaker 1: It's like the opposite of helpful.
- 3:17Speaker 2: And this is a real turning point in the investigation
- 3:19because understandably, suspicion really starts to focus on to France.
- 3:25Speaker 1: So what happens next? I mean they have to be
- 3:26looking at him hard now, right?
- 3:28Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, the investigation really ramps up. They're doing community searches,
- 3:33they're interviewing anyone and everyone who might have information. They
- 3:37even looked into the possibility of human trafficking, though that
- 3:40was ruled out.
- 3:41Speaker 1: So they were really covering all their bases.
- 3:43Speaker 2: They're incredibly thorough.
- 3:44Speaker 1: But no Germaine.
- 3:46Speaker 2: No Germaine. It's like she just vanished into thin air.
- 3:48Speaker 1: It's chilling.
- 3:49Speaker 2: And here's where it gets even wilder. While they're searching
- 3:52to France's property, they uncover something truly unsettling.
- 3:57Speaker 1: Okay, this can't be good. What do they find?
- 4:00Speaker 2: They find firearms on his property.
- 4:02Speaker 1: Okay, And that's a big deal because.
- 4:03Speaker 2: Because Defrance had a prior conviction for domestic violence against Jermaine,
- 4:07he was legally prohibited from owning any guns.
- 4:10Speaker 1: Oh wow, So not only is he a person of
- 4:12interest in her disappearance, but he's also breaking the log
- 4:16just by having those guns.
- 4:17Speaker 2: It just adds another layer to this whole thing.
- 4:20Speaker 1: It's a mess. And through all of this you have
- 4:22to remember Jermaine's family, her loved ones, just waiting hoping
- 4:27for answers.
- 4:28Speaker 2: It's a reminder that there are real people at the
- 4:30heart of these cases, people whose lives are forever changed.
- 4:33Speaker 1: I can't imagine the frustration for them. For the investigators too,
- 4:37It's like hitting a brick wall.
- 4:38Speaker 2: And for years it seemed like that's what it was,
- 4:40a dead end. But then in twenty twenty three, de.
- 4:42Speaker 1: France gets arrested finally yea, but not for Jermaine's disappearance.
- 4:47Speaker 2: Right. He was charged in relation to those firearms they
- 4:50found on his property back in twenty eighteen. The FBI
- 4:53built the case against him, and he was eventually convicted
- 4:56on multiple counts of illegal firearm possessions.
- 4:58Speaker 1: So even if it's not directly about that's your main
- 5:00it's got to put even more pressure on him. Yeah.
- 5:02Speaker 2: Absolutely. It brings her case back into the public eye too.
- 5:05Someone who maybe knew something but didn't say anything before.
- 5:09It might jog their memory.
- 5:11Speaker 1: You just never know. Maybe someone listening right now has
- 5:14that one little detail. It's like those missing person posters,
- 5:17her face out there. Someone somewhere has to know something.
- 5:22Speaker 2: You would hope so. But here's the thing that gets me,
- 5:26even after all of this, the suspicion, the lies, the
- 5:30illegal firearms, the friends was never officially named as a
- 5:33suspect in her disappearance.
- 5:35Speaker 1: Wait, seriously, how is that even possible? They never had
- 5:37enough to actually connect them to it.
- 5:39Speaker 2: Never officially. It's a question that still hangs over this case.
- 5:42He was convicted for the firearms charges, he's even appealing
- 5:45that right now, but nothing still to tie him directly
- 5:48to Jermaine Vanishing.
- 5:50Speaker 1: What now It's been six years, her family they still
- 5:52don't know what happened. It's heartbreaking, it is.
- 5:54Speaker 2: It's a reminder that sometimes there are no easy answers.
- 5:58These cases. They stay with you, the what ifs, the.
- 6:01Speaker 1: One who is She shows you how fragile things are.
- 6:03One minute someone's there, the next gone, and sometimes that's
- 6:08all we get.
- 6:08Speaker 2: But even with that, you never completely give up hope
- 6:12someone out there might have that missing piece, that one
- 6:15detail that changes everything exactly.
- 6:17Speaker 1: So, if you're listening to this and you remember anything
- 6:21anything at all about that night, how about your main
- 6:24anything that seemed off, Please contact the Missoula Police Department.
- 6:27Even the smallest thing could be what brings her home.