Young Mother & Daughter Still Missing 20 Years Later: Where Are Jennifer & Adrianna Wix?
01:22:41 Share

This episode of true crime mechano ray is brought to by progressive insurance, fiscally responsible, financial genius, monetary magicians. These are all things that people say about drivers who switched their car concerns to progressive and save hundreds.

Because progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more, plus you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need IT so your dollar goes a long way, visit progressive doc condesa if you could save on car insurance, receive casually insurance company and affiliates tes potential savings will vary not available in all states or situations. What's the five dollar meal deal in mcDonald? Pick a MC double or a MC chicken, then get a small fry, a small drink and a peace. That's a lot of mcDonald for not a lot of money. Price participation for the.

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to a true crime with candle ray. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you are new, then welcome.

So guys today wearing me talking about a case that is unbelievably sad and very, very frustrating. Working me talking about not one victim, but two vics, Jennifer and Adrian and a wax who have been missing now for twenty years. And when I first start looking into the case, just naturally, I started thinking that the reporting and most of the reporting was accurate.

I mean, I think it's just human nature to assume that a reputable source is reporting the right information. But after a to their family, which they are going to be joining us today, the interview clips and kind of tell the story as obviously they can tell IT best themselves. I realized how much misinformation is out there and how much the reporting on the case has LED people to just believe the wrong things.

Jennifer wicks was only twenty one years old when he went missing, and her daughter, a gerano was only two. And not only does the narrative need to be corrected, but their story needs to be shared far and wide, because twenty years is too long for a family to have no answers. And i'm so grateful that their family reached out there.

Amazing people. I'm so, so impressed by them. And i'm happy that there are going to be here to discuss the case along with me.

Their family has truly never given up. Even after twenty years. They're still fighting as hard as they can and they're not going to stop. They're truly such warriors, and i'm just honor to be able to collaborate with them today.

And I as always, when I invite a family onto the show, I really hope you guys can be extra kind in the comments because I know there are going to be reading IT and it's a lot of pressure to come onto a channel like on to a show like this. And you know it's it's a big platform, can be really overwhelming in a little scary, especially talking about the worst thing that has ever happened to you. So i'm very grateful to have them, and I hope you guys can really show them some support today.

And i'm also really excited to tell you guys that my new foundation, hirey od foundation, has awarded one of our first grants to the wax family. On top of obvious emotional toll that this is taken on them, they ve also entered so many financial burdens through this whole process. And obviously, they never could have prepared for that or knew that was coming.

And so i'm really happy that we are able to award them our hope grant. Now the hope grant serves to relieve some of the financial pressure associated with the murder or disappearance of a loved one, and currently in the process of working with them to decide where exactly the funds will be allocated. But to step to date on all of this, you can follow our instagram page, where we will be posting updates on the ground as they start to allow too many different families.

We actually have a few in process right now. And and thank you. This foundation would not be possible without all of you. And if you would like to support higher hope, you can check out our website, which is hired hop dot org, and there is a button to easily donate, or you can purchase any of our merch. And a percentage from any of the shows will go directly to the foundation as well.

Before we jump in here, I do have to, of course, say that everyone I mention in this episode is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. And I just hope their day in court comes soon. But without, let's go ahead and jump in.

And I want to start out by telling you about Jennifer wix. So Jennifer k. Wax was born on August sixth, one hundred and eighty two, in the rural city of springfield, tennessee, to her parents, coffee and Michael. And although her parents ultimately didn't stay together, jenner er always really had a strong sense of family from a Young age.

He was always very close with her father and even inherit much of her completion from him, but in the divorce, he ended up living with her mom, who went on to have two more daughters, heather and casey. So in total, Jennifer would end up being the oldest of six girls, which is a huge responsibility. And he took on that responsibility with a lot of pride.

SHE was a naturally and nurturing person, and that was reflected in all of the relationships that he had in high school. Her mom, Cathy, says that Jennifer really gravitated towards the students who had a learning differences and was overall a very inclusive type of which is always really impressive at a Young age. Jennifer was also a very driven person, a very determined person, especially when I came to things that he was passionate about.

And one of the things that he was most passionate about when he was growing up, wear horses. And because her family can afford a horse, Jennifer had to get creative. One time back when he was in middle school, SHE asked her mom to driver to a local barn that SHE found.

And Kathy didn't know what her plan was, but agreed to take her anyway. And when they got there, jennie told her to wait the car. m. SHE went into the barn, and SHE was able to offer them a deal where he would work there in exchange for lessons. And this is only in middle school.

So the more I learned about Jennifer, the more I realize to that he was just, yeah, super, super driven and gonna get what he wants and was just uniquely herself. Cathy describes her as being a spit fire and headstrong, but that definitely didn't make her the loudest person in necessarily. In fact, Jennifer more described as being the strong, a silent type, however, being more in soft spoken and prevent Jennifer from speaking her mind.

I just meant that SHE found alternative ways to express herself. And one of the ways that jennie like to express herself was through writing. And he was very much known for writing letters to her friends, to her family.

And he would sometimes do this to resolve conflict, or to work through her feelings, or just expressed her love. And those letters from her are something that her loved ones will always terisa. But it's also something that they really miss.

And one of the things that they will really remember her by the most now, like I said earlier, Jennifer is not the only way. In this case, in the spring of two thousand, one, about a year after he graduated from high school, gender forgot pregnant in january of two thousand two, her beautiful little girl, Adrianna, was born. And honestly, jennie pregNancy was a shock to their family.

SHE was Young, but after getting over the initial wave of surprise, they all chose to love and support her through IT, especially considering that he was going to be parenting as a single mother. And obviously, that is very, very difficult. But that being said, their family never let general felix SHE was alone in this.

In fact, Kathy and her husband had this bonus room above their garage, and they ended up turning IT into almost like a studio apartment for the girls, which was really convenient for everyone because Jennifer didn't have her own car. So when I came to her mom and sisters helping look after Adriana, they were all living under one roof, and they really became that village. They definitely all did their fair share of watching the baby and because Jennifer er was also working often late evening or even night shifts taping, the girls step in and watch Adriana for her.

Casey said that he would actually sleep in the universe room with Adriana at night and those are some of the memories that SHE holds closest to her heart. And gosh, learning more about egeria a when I talk to them on phone just broke my heart. He sounded like such an incredible little girl at age two.

And I just loved hearing all of the little details that made Adriana. Adriana, Kathy told me that he used to walk around with this wag and put snacks in IT, like her snacks, waging almost her own little food truck, and would go around to everyone trying to get them to eat from IT. SHE also had a little stuff, ed elmo, and this is so cute.

He called her malmo. And little malmo was every to her. SHE couldn't sleep or practically do anything without IT. And here's casey and coffee to tell you a little bit .

more about them. Jenner was my big sister, and I am the baby of the family. Mom would say that because there is a six year age gap between us, you would say that, Jenny, help take care of me.

When I was little like I was her baby, all SHE would change my clothes in my outfits, in everything I would describe my sister as, like an indian princess, like pokhara est is how always think of her like strong, regal, silent type with, like, flowing dark hair. And I got all of tone, a really pretty olive ve tone completion. And instead of blue eyes like mine, SHE had, like the deepest, darkest Brown eyes you've ever seen.

I wouldn't describe her as like a bold bubble type, but more of like an artistic and transit rilton m. With her emotions, I would also describe like an outdoors type. SHE was a tomboy, so SHE didn't have like a girl fashion sense.

He was in that kind of girl. He was more like a tomboy. And you know, SHE like to be with animals and SHE like to be outside. One of my most fond memories is getting off the school bus with Jennifer. We lived um you know pretty far back off the road at a long driveway.

So on our walk back to the house, we just canna stop and lead like on this bank on the side of the driveway, just looking up at the clouds saying what the clouds were shaped like and making uh clover flower clouds. And um yeah that's one of my favorite memories of my sister when adeno was born. That was a really special but emotional day.

I remember crying my eyes out and just felt really close to gennifer just being close to her as a sister. But throughout her pregNancy and after Adriana was born, I hope take care of Adrian out a lot. I was there for a lot of Adrian as first, you know, some of the first foods that SHE tried, or patten her little back and rock in her to sleep, giving her bath, changing her diver, things like that, and then a lot of the photos that we have, our mean Adrian, just having fun and doing little photo shoots and things like that. We were very close, and he was the most beautiful baby girl. They're both very love to very .

miss Jennifer SHE was my first born, told me all about what unconditional love really meant. He was my first to three daughters at Jennifer and either. And casey jo fer was a headstrong child, and he was very independent.

And SHE was fiercely protective of everyone that he loved. SHE was very smart and especially creative. SHE had A A very creative, sad to her.

He was loving and he was kind to everyone and made friends and all circles of life. SHE especially loved animals and especially horses. SHE never owned her own, but he spent a lot of time with friends who had them.

SHE dreamed one day of becoming either a park ranger or working in a question and therapy for children with disabilities. That was sudden, that was very close to her heart. SHE just had a had a passion about, and I believe that had SHE had the opportunity, SHE would indeed have made those dreams come true.

SHE loved to draw child, liked to journal right poetry and letters. He wrote a lot of letters and blessed to still have some of those letters because I can look back on on an aconites, hear her talking through her letters. I remember we went to a event skill concert when SHE 不像， and when he played a pretty little late, jana SHE looked at me, and she's moby and have a daughter.

I'm going to name my Diana. Well, when Jennifer turn night, SHE was just barely nineteen. SHE found out SHE was pregnant. IT was unexpected and SHE was scared.

But, you know, we assured her, myself and all of her family assured her that everything would be OK, SHE would be fine, that with the love and help and assurance from her family, that everything would work out and everything would be fun. And IT was Adriana. Neco was born on january the fourteen of two thousand two.

And jennie has her pretty little Adriana. And Adriana was quite a blessing to us, but jennie SHE know he took the motherhood really well. SHE was a wonderful mom, and again, fiercely protective of her baby rianna.

SHE was very funny. SHE was a joy to be around. SHE was a good baby.

SHE was just adorable. And I had the priest Sparkling blue eyes, just gorgeous, gorgeous little girl. Now.

around the time that egeria turned one, Cathy ended up getting an exciting job promotion that would require her to move los vegas. And her husband and her daughter, casey all decided to move with her. Now, to be clear, all three of her daughters were invited to move in a vata with her, but Jennifer and having decided to stay back, and Jennifer's main reasoning for that was SHE wanted Adriana to grow up and be raised in Roberts and conny.

That's, of course, where he had grown up and SHE still. I had a lot of other family members in the area that he wanted her daughter to be able to spend time with and be close with people like her on t and her grandparents, who just meant a lot to her and the family that still live there were happy to take them. This episode of true crime of canal ray is brought you by huggies little movers.

Huggies knows that babies come in all shapes and sizes and of course, the touch is due to how he's bitting diver is their little movers with its curved and straw fit. Parents out there know that there is nothing worse than an l fitting diver, especially for your active babies. We have been using huggies as our primary dib brand since my daughter was born.

We love them. We know that we can rely on them. My daughter sleep eleven to twelve hours every night, and never once have I gotten her out of her crib in the morning and had a league.

And that's because they offer up to twelve hours of protection against leagues, which is a huge game changer. And hugged little movers are curved, so my baby feels comfortable no matter how much she's moving around. And she's moving around a lot these days so get your babies butt into huggies base fitting diver that's hugging little movers.

We got you, baby. So when Cathy first moved, Jennifer Adrian were sort of bouncing between different family members houses until july of two thousand three, when they finally settled in at her aunt leases house. And when SHE in adjieu were living there, her cousin jeffrey on lissa son was living there as well.

And he ended up introducing Jennifer to a guy name, William Joseph benton, or joe, as everyone called him. And he is, unfortunately, the reason that we are talking about their disappearances today. So let me go back to the summer of two thousand three and explain.

So after Jennifer was introduced to joy SHE, joey began dating and write out the gate. Their relationship was unstable. IT was very toxic, very, you know, on and off again.

And red flags were just popping up, left and right. I will say that maybe from a very distant galanes, IT appeared as if joie really cared for Jennifer. Adriana maybe loved them, and maybe for a period of time he did.

He had built to Adrianna this little rocking horse that he loved. And he had shown some willingness to be a sort of fatherly figure to her despite not actually being her father biologically. And I do know for a fact that Jennifer loved him very much.

I mean, so much so that he was planning to one day marry him and maybe even have children with him. But I don't want anyone listening to this for a second to believe that joie was a safe person for them to be around. Jennifer had once confided in her mom that SHE and the baby were always within arms reach of weapons and drugs that joe kept around.

And as you'll hear me explain his temper dude was out of control. So by late summer of two thousand, three, Jennifer was living between her and leases house, and then also her Peterson al grandparents house. However, he did not stay that way for long.

Jennifer joy were actually broken up at this time, so her mom, Cathy, invited them to come out to vegas for a little bit, just for a couple of weeks and stay with them, and they did. The thing is though, when they came back, Jennifer ended up getting back together with joy. And not only that, SHE and Adrian ana moved in with him.

And just to paint you guys a real clear picture, because context is super important, this case joe lived on the same property as his parents on their land in springfield, tennessee, which is about ten minutes west of cross planes. Now his parents, Cindy and joe, were living in a brick, three bedroom and style home, and then joe lived in makeshift barn, which he and his friends actually called the party barn, because they would party there, obviously, and also do drugs. So when I say that Jennifer and igerne were living with joe, I mean that they were living on his parents property where his parents were also living.

But win Jennifer and egeria ana moved in. Things went downhill from there pretty quickly. One day in the fall, Cathy received incredibly alarming phone called from Jennifer, who said that he had just been driven from the benton house to her graining wix's house by joys.

Mom, Cindy. And just to clarify, granny is what jenee called her, Peterson al, grandma. I am just gonna refer to her as granny wax, so that it's easier to keep track of who am speaking about.

And he lived about fifteen minutes down the road. And so on this call to her mom, she's crying. And he explains that SHE enjoy had gone into an argument and that he actually pulled a gun on her on a gerona and himself, and threatened to actually go through with using IT.

At this point, they had only been dating for a few months. So big red flag, I mean, big red flag at any point, but especially so early on in the relationship. And of course, her on Cathy is not call that she's freaked out so much so that in october, SHE decides to move back across plans just to be closer to Jennifer a briana, her ses.

The casey also moved back. And Cathy ended up setting up another place in the house where Jennifer and Adriana could live, just like he had done before. But there was one rule when I came to living with her, and that was that jolie was not allowed over there under any circumstances.

And up until december twenty first, that wasn't really an issue. But on that day, everything changed because IT turned out that Jennifer and joe had actually gotten back together and SHE plan on moving back in with him on december twenty first. And as you can imagine, Cathy, casey and either were all extremely concerned about this very much against that, I was just very evident that the benton home was not say for Jennifer and especially not safe for a errant a. And that evening there ended up being a pretty big incident.

Came home, the girls told, I see, I believe you tell me, joyce here. And so I went to find out what was going on. Jennifer joy were in her room packing hers and Adriana things. I asked what was going on. Jennifer er, told me that they were gonna get married, which was a totally shocker to me because I know, you know, they were reconciling.

So immediately turned to joie and I said, joe, you know, I said, how you going to do this, where you're going to leave, how you gonna take Carry on for an Adrian, and you going to, you gna stop doing drugs and you going to get rid of the weapons around your house that jenners told me, or in arms, reach everywhere. How are you gonna take care of my daughter and my granddaughter, I need to know. And he's looked at me and he said, you don't have a daughter anymore.

Beach hum, never forget that. Never, ever forget that. He picked up their bags and he took on out to the truck. Jennifer was following and I was close behind. I locked the door and locked him out.

And as jen ford, please listen to me and to please reconsider what he was doing, to think about what SHE was doing, IT just wasn't a good move. SHE was trying to open the door to let him back in, and I grab T A realist and said, they will listen to me. When I did that, he pulled away from me and kind of pushed me.

And I stumbled back and coffee table casey had ran with a juana to the back, the house, to my bedroom. So SHE couldn't hear all this either. When he heard me fall, SHE came into the room in, her in.

Jennifer began to discover about that time the door flow off. The hindus are completely off. The hind's out into the floor. Jolie had kicked the door in, they left.

Unbeknown to me, casey was a dadda on one, of course, when he kicked the door in and the police came and, you know, a riano had to go back with her mom. So joys, mom and Jennifer showed up to get a genna and they took her with the amen, which we knew they had to. But I was just a very sad day, and one that is just shared into memory that i'll never.

I personally believe, and I think most of you will agree, that Kathie's reaction to gennifer wanting to move back into the bench was very justified. I mean, given everything that jennie had told her about, what it's like living there and how scary he was, mean, abusive, playing a gun, the, you know, drugs and guns being in arms, reach of the two of them.

I mean, any parent would be terrified, but of course she's an adult, can make her own decisions. All he wanted was for them to be safe, and he knew that they would not be safe living with joy out in the party barn. And not just because the weapons and drugs IT was, also because the party barn had no running water and no heat.

And just keep in mind that this is tennessee in december, so pretty damn cold, and it's really not safe for anyone to live in conditions like that, especially not in almost two year old. Luckily, though, Jennifer did, realized ed very quickly that IT was not safe for them to the barn. So SHE, jolie and a gerona all ended up moving back into the main house on the benton property.

SHE and jolie were given their own bedroom, and Adriana had a room to herself as well, which I will be talking more about. But back to the night of the incident, as you heard her say, Cathy ultimately can do anything to stop Jennifer from leaving. All he could deal was press charges for vandalism.

And on top of everything else that at really happened, this whole situation only made the rift between her and jennie even deeper. In fact, jennie ended up completely shutting her sisters out of her life for a couple of weeks and wouldn't talk to any of them. Christmas, new year's Adriana second birthday were all celebrated without Cathy casey either.

And what makes IT even more heartbreaking and painful is the fact that this would end up being their last holiday season before the two of them disappeared. Thankfully though, I was really happy here. This Jennifer was able to mend things with them.

Everything else happened, which i'm gona start getting into now. Did you know most americans think they spend about sixty two dollars a month on subscriptions, but the real number is closer to three hundred. That's a huge difference, even if just a couple subscriptions fall off.

Your right are those reoccur ring payments that you don't even know about can really add up. And before using rocket money, I had no idea how much I was wasting in subscriptions. I can't knew that I had some I should probably cancelled, but to be honest, I just didn't want to deal with customer service because I can be really stressful dealing with customer service when they are pressuring you not to cancel.

But rocket money just takes care of IT for you. So now I know exactly what subscriptions I have active, and they're only the ones that I want. And if I ever want to cancel one at any time, rocket money can do IT.

For me, rocket money is a personal finance APP that helps you find and cancel your subscriptions, monitor your spending, and helps you lower your bills that you can grow your savings. You can see all of your subscriptions in one place and know exactly where your money is going to. And Fanny, you don't anymore.

Rocket money can help you cancelled with a few taps. Rocket mony's dashboard gives you a clear view of your expenses across all of your accounts. You can easily create personalized budgets with custom categories, help keep your spending on track, see your monthly spending trends in each categories.

You know exactly where your going. You can get alerts if your bills increase in Price. They didn't even alert you when you have a bill coming up that week or there's unusual spending activity.

Maybe you're close to going over budget. And like I said, rocket money can even try to negotiate to lower bills for you by up to sometimes twenty percent. They automatically scan your bills to find opportunities to save, and then you can ask them to negotiate for you and they deal with the customer service, which to me is the best part.

Rocket money has over five million users and has saved a total of five hundred million and candles subscription, saving members of two, seven hundred and forty dollars a year when using all of the apps features so stop wasting money on things you don't use cancer your on one subscriptions by going to rocket money. Dom flash. Kendall ray, that's rocket money.

Com slash candle ray, once again, rocket money. Dom flash. So in february of two thousand and four, they really started to repair things.

And by march, Jennifer and Cathy, we're back to speaking every day, if not every other day, and something that you should know about gennifer, that he was always in contact with someone, whether that was her mom or one of her sisters or her Green wigs or her on lisa, someone was always in touch with Jennifer truly, a day didn't go by without her calling someone in the family. But one thing that's important to note is that Jennifer actually didn't have her own phone. Obviously, this was a different time as the early two thousands, and a lot of people didn't have their own cell phone.

But when he would call any other family members, IT would have to be from the betton homework one or from joye cell phone, which he did have a cell phone. And so on monday, march twenty second, Cathy ended up getting a call from Jennifer, which was Normal. But this time IT was different because SHE was calling her out of concern.

And before I get into this next section, I do want to give a bit of a trigger warning that we are going to be talking about potential child essay, which I know is very disturbing to some. So I sort of wanted to get that warning. But later that evening, Cathy learned that Adriana was hysterically crying any time that he tried to go here.

And Jennifer explained how worried SHE was in that he wanted to take her er to the E. R. But none of the bentonite drive them there. They said that he was probably just diverge and that SHE would quote, get over IT.

So cafe, of course, offered to take them, but because of how much the bentz hated her due to the vandalism charges against joe, Jennifer didn't think he would be a good idea for her to come and pick them up. Luckily though, her aunt lisa was able to come and pick them up and take them to the r to get Adrian and a checked out. And by this point I was close to midnight, but a doctor was able to see them and figure out what was going on.

And IT turns out that ariana tested positive for the vin itself, not a sexually transmitted infection. However, IT can be caused by a sexually transmitted infection and and IT can also be caused by a variety of other things, even something like a wet dip being left on for too long, which they learned later that day on tuesday, march twenty and third, just a few hours after they were discharged from the yard. Grey weeks, Jennifer and Adriana to see her pediatric.

And the pediatrician basically confirmed what I just told you, that vaccinated could have been caused by something like wearing a wet die for too long. But as you can imagine, as IT would for most parents, not only what caused that gave Jennifer a whole lot of anxiety, of course, he thought maybe I was just caused by wearing wet diver too long, which does happen, but was IT possible that someone in the benton house could have been abusing her? Now, of course, i'm not making any accusations here and their family isn't either.

It's not something that we have definitive answers too. But at the time, Jennifer was deeply concerned that maybe Adriana was being abused. And on top of that, he was also really upset because joe was parting really excessively, and that was very frustrating to deal with.

Plus just the whole element of not having her own phone was really difficult, because whenever he would call her mom to talk about these things, joe would get at her for using his minutes, which is exactly what ended up happening later that day. Jennifer er had used joyce phone to call her mother Cathy because Cathy had made some type of cream for a dran as wash, and he wanted to meet up with her to get that. And because he had used his phone, this Sparked an argument with joe.

But he did end up a Green to drive her in igerne to the dollar general, to meet up with Cathy and to get that cream. And when Cathy saw her, he could just tell that something was wrong. Adriana looked sick and tired, and Jennifer was clearly having a hard time, looked very upset.

But like he always did, SHE reassured her mom and pretty much everyone else in her life that SHE was going to figure out that he was gonna OK. No matter how many times that coffee and other family members tried to tell her to get out of that relationship and to move in with one of them, Jennifer always just said he would figure that out. And sadly, this would end up being the last time that coffee or anyone in the work family ever physically saw the girls again.

So something important to note here that will come up and be important later on is that win. Jennie met up with Cathy. SHE told her that joys, mom, Cindy had not been at work that week. So just remember that. So jumping forward a day to wednesday, march twenty, that ended up being an even more difficult day for Jennifer.

And we know that because he ended up calling her mother and told her everything and what he had to say, it's just horrible IT turns out that joe wasn't the only person causing issues for Jennifer. His parents were two. Over the course of this phone call, Jennifer had opened up about IT all about the things that Cindy was doing. insane.

E to her that night alone, Cindy was verbally attacking gennifer parenting style and get this SHE actually threw Jennifer and Adriano's food out the kitchen door onto the ground outside and told them they can go out there and eat like the dog's deal which is just it's so hard to wrap your mind around how I don't even mean there's no words for IT just a complete lack of humanity. And from the things that Jennifer was telling Cathy, IT was very obvious that Cindy was very pissed off. And IT seemed to be due to her disagreements.

When I came to Jennifer's parenting style, and he was even met joy, her own son, because he was sort of, I guess, acting like a father to Adrian ana. And what's weird though, is Jennifer even told her mom that even joy's dad, whose name is joe, was being very verbally aggressive to her. And he was Normally the one that was, I am not nice to her, but nice or to her than Cindy ever was.

SHE basically felt that him having this anger towards her so suddenly was just really out of the blue. And of course, hearing all of this, cappy was really worried and said that he would absolutely come and pick the two of them up, no questions asked, and get them out of that situation as soon as possible. The bentonite made IT clear to they didn't want her in the house anymore.

So Cathy was more than happy to have her come back home. But Jennifer, like I said in the beginning, he was so independent and he just told her that he could handle IT SHE even promised coffee SHE would give her call the next stay and updated on things. But unfortunately, that call never came.

And that call on the tony fourth was the last time that the two of them spoke. So the following day, march twenty fifth, two thousand and four, is the day that Jennifer in Adriana weeks went missing. And today, after more than twenty years, we still done over where they are or what happened.

And before I get into everything, just know that some of the things about to share with you, unfortunately cannot be CoOperated. The reason for that is a lot of IT is coming from joe benton, and he is someone who very recently has mated to lying. So let me start with what we do now on the morning of march twenty fifth, at eleven A M, Jennifer r.

Used the benn's homework one to call her dad Michael. The call lasted about thirty minutes. And in that time jennie talk to him about everything that had been going on and everything that went down the night before.

And SHE specifically mentioned being scared. And when Michael asked her what he was scared of, SHE actually said, joe, mom, Cindy, that she's acting strange. Now cording to the benton family.

Nobody besides Jennifer was home that day. It's unclear what exactly joe was doing. It's possible that he had an oncology appointment, but Cindy and joe were apparently at work.

Now reason I bring that up is because when Michael was on the home of Jennifer, he distinctly remembers hearing the sound of a woman's voice in the background. And not only that, he actually remembers genever saying, i'm on the phone with my dad. So who was he talking to if no one else was home? And obviously he wasn't talking to ader erna.

I mean, she's two years old. She's not going to say i'm talking to my dad. He's gna say, you know, talking to gramp or you know, just he can tell when she's speaking to her two year old daughter versus when she's speaking to someone else and he hears a female voice.

So who is that if Cindy is at home? And if you remember, Jennifer had mentioned to her mom that Cindy hadn't been at work that week, even though he claimed to have been at work that day. Michael l.

Asked if he would want her mom or graining weeks to come in picker, given everything that was going on. But Jennifer said no. He said he could handle IT plus SHE said that SHE enjoy had plans that afternoon to have a picnic when he got home from work.

And of course, just like caffey, Michael was also concerned about 还是 加点 granddaughter。 But I mean, really nothing could be done without Jennifer agreeing to accept their help. And sadly, this would end up being my goes last communication with his daughter. So then around one time that afternoon, made one final call and again shared what he had been going through.

But the difference in this next call, which I will explain how he was talking to an everything, is that this time genie is seem to be more open to accepting, or at least agreed, that he would plan on accepting help in an event where SHE needed IT. So this call was to her aunt lisa, and SHE basically told her that when joe got home from work, he planned on having a conversation with him. He planned on telling him that he no longer felt comfortable living in the home with his parents and that he wanted to move back out into the party barn, which obviously wasn't very ideal either.

And he told lisa that joe didn't agree to that. If he didn't want to, then her plan was for her in Adriana to just move out altogether. And after hearing this, lisa told Jennifer that he was more than welcome to come to her house if he needed somewhere to stay.

And SHE even told her that he would leave a spare key out just in case. and. From my understanding, Jennifer said that he would use that Sparky if her conversation with jolie didn't go well.

But this is where things just completely drop off. SHE never went to her onto list, and SHE never called her or anyone else to tell them that SHE enjoy had worked any of their issues out. And since that call, nobody has seen or heard from either of them since.

The only person who claims to have seen her is joe. However, at no point in the last two decades has anyone, not even law enforcement, been able to corroborate his story. Or should I say stories? Because joe ben has told a variety of stories when IT comes to when he last saw the girls.

And in order to explain in his multiple versions of events, I need to go back to the morning of thursday, march twenty, twenty fifth. So according to joe, he got up that morning, and like Normal, he went to work. However, on this day, his car was in the shop, so he ended up hitching a ride with jenner's cousin, jeff re, who also worked at the same construction site, which was less than our north in Franklin kentuchy.

But here's where things start to get weird at some point during his work day joins up getting a call from his family's hometown one. And while we don't know who this color was, we do know that once joe got off the call, he started to act strange. And in fact, he seemed to be in quite the hurry to get home.

All he did say was there was a family matter back at home, and he needed to get back urgently. So one of his co workers and his girlfriend as well ended up driving him home. And they said on the way home, he was acting really strange.

They can't like pinpoint specifically what about his behavior was off. They just even twenty years later. Remember that I felt bizarre that the vibes were different. I will say that law enforcement has since confirmed that that phone call joye received was made between when jenner called her d and when SHE called her and t so her family does think it's possible that Jennifer could have been the color.

But even if this wasn't some sort of nefarious call, I believe his behavior overall is just concerning, especially when you think about how many stories he told when I came to the girls going missing. And unfortunately, like I mentioned earlier, news stations over the years have really just done a poor job in reporting the full facts on the case. Like, for example, many of the things that joe has said have been reported as fact when they do not represent the truth.

So my goal today is for you guys to walk away from this episode, knowing really what the full picture is and where the case stands. And to do that, I need to jump forward now to friday, march twenty six. The two people had spoken the general on the twenty fifth, and nobody that day had concerns about her warehouse ts.

But on the twenty twenty love ones really started to worry, starting with grainy wix. I mentioned earlier that grainy wicks was the one who drove Jennifer and Adriana to the pediatrician on the tony third. And because of that, he was well aware of adjacent as diagnosis of so in, I didn't call her that day, he really started to worry.

SHE tried calling Kathy to see if maybe he knew that was going on. And when he said that, he also hadn't heard from Jennifer. This is when IT all started to click between grey, wix, Cathy and lisa, who now all in communication with one another.

IT was clear that nobody had heard from gennifer since the day before and something about this just didn't set right with them especially when they thought about Adriano's recent medical condition in the fact that Jennifer er had just shared about being afraid and uncomfortable around the bench on family so that very night Cathy and heather began driving around cross planes just looking for the girls now because it's been more than twenty years since all of this happened and because going through something traumatic like this can also have an effect on memory. Some of the details regarding this time got a little bit mixed up. The timeline, ines, are a bit confusing, and the information has sort of shifted over the years based on new things that their family has learned.

So i'm gonna do my best to break that down in the clearest way possible. So to the best of our knowledge, when Cathy hether were driving around looking for the girls, a few things happened. And one those things was a bond fire.

On the evening of march twenty sixth, joie hosted this bond fire on his parents property. And originally, IT was planned by him and Jennifer to be sort of a couples thing, but clearly Jennifer wasn't there. And because there were only two other couples at this bond fire, IT was pretty that SHE wasn't there.

And IT just so happens that one of the people who was there was Geoffrey, Jennifer's cousin, and he just straight up asked, jolie wears Jennifer and he said that he had driven her and era to a friend's house. Helga and Jerry Jackson. Helga and Jerry Jackson are a couple.

And I also want to clarify, it's been reported that joe them, that she's at a friend's house and didn't mention driving them. So you know, multiple stories, different reporting, gets a little confusing. But either way, at the end of the day, his story for why they weren't there is that they were at this friends house.

And this wasn't his only story that night, because lisa and hair got two different stories themselves. So let's start with what heather had been told. As you've probably heard me mention once or twice, maybe many times, I have hand pets.

There are mammals. I love them so much. I have rabbits, cats and dogs. But I ve got to say, no matter what, at the end of the day, I am a cat person, I will always own a cat.

Cats are just the best companions, and my cats bring me so much joy my life. Another, they're all in their senior years. I want to make sure that i'm giving them the best cat food that money can buy.

And for years I tried to upgrade them to Better quality brands, but they are so picky they would never eat IT. But that until we found smalls, smalls catford is protein act recipes made with preservation free ingredient said you would find in your fridge and it's delivered right to your door. That's why veterinarians got org de smalls ten out of ten for ingredient quality.

And our cats just love IT. They absolutely go wild for IT. And we feel so much Better knowing that they're getting Better quality food. And if you're still not a believer in smalls, new york magazine calls smalls the best cat food, according to veterinarians, while buzfuz said, my cats went completely ballistic for this stuff.

Smes was started back in two thousand and seventeen by a couple of guy's home cooking cat food, and small for their friends, and then just a few short years later, they they have served millions of miles to that's all across the united states. And after making the switch to smalls, eighty eight percent of cat owners reported overall health improvements. Now that's a big deal.

So now is the time to make the switch to smalls had to smaller com flash canal ray and use promo o cra check out for a percent off your first order plus free shipping as the best offer. You'll find that you have to use my code call ray for fifty percent off your first order one last time, that's promotion de kendall ray for fifty percent off your first order, plus free shipping. Now it's unclear this happened before or after the bonfire, but we do know that at some point, while they were driving around looking for the girls, joe e picked up one of headers s calls.

And in this version of events, he explains that the day before march ti. Fifth, he and jane re gone to a fight and broke up. And at the last he saw her was when he dropped her off at the x on gas station.

So clearly, this is a completely different story than what he had told jeff y. And the next he and his father, joe end up telling another completely different story to her on lisa. In the time that Cathy, heather were driving around looking for the girls job in joe dad had called lisa, aren't lisa, and left a message for her.

And in the message, he said that he was looking to get in contact with the Jennifer to get her her five hundred dollar attack refund, which is something I also need to explain. One of the many reasons that the week's family does not believe that Jennifer ran away was because he was expecting a five hundred dollar tax refund, which was a very significant amount money to her, and he'd been interesting, sly, waiting for that money to hit. The thing is, though, jennie didn't have her own bank account, so the refund was actually scheduled to be deposited into job ends account.

And so now joe is calling lisa, asking where Jennifer is so that he can give her this money and the week's family feels. And this is their opinion. But I do agree that joe was penticost just trying to make IT same, like he didn't know that Jennifer was missing.

Like why is he suddenly so concerned about getting Jennifer this money, especially after the way that they have treated her? IT feels very odd also when you think about the fact that jolie had said jennie was going to come back and get the check. And what even stranger is that night, joe and joe just show up at least his house and try to explain yet another version of events.

According to this news story, joe told lisa that on march, tony fifth, he drove Jennifer and Adriana to the local food value grow sy store, where he went inside to make a phone call, and after this, Jennifer supposedly told him to take her Adriana. X on gas station by interstate I sixty five north exit one twelve. And this is also important to note, there is actually only one x on gas station in all of cross planes.

So joy says he takes them there, where he proceeded to let them out of his car. And then he drove across the street to the church, where he waited about ten minutes until he saw them get picked up in what he described as an older model for door White vehicle. Now he tells lisa that he doesn't know which way they went, but he does give a description of who else was in the car.

And the description matches that couple I mentioned earlier, helga and Jerry. Joe also told lisa that Jennifer r was drunk when he dropped her off, but her family says that Jennifer r wasn't type to get intoxicated. So this detail just really sticks out is strange to them.

And the last thing to note from that night is that after all of this, Cathy and heather were notified that Jennifer could potentially be with helga and Jerry, so they try to get in touch with them. They're unsuccessful in doing so, at least that night. And by the morning of march 4 th， their family is in a state of complete panic.

There was still no work from Jennifer and joy's stories were starting to between all of them, and none of what he had said made any sense. And then helder and Jerry showed up at Cathy's house, and they confirmed that their suspicions were true because they said that they hadn't seen sense november. And they told Cathy that of jolie was saying Jennifer was with them.

Then something was seriously wrong and cappy fully agreed. So that day he went to the Roberts and county share of office and filed a missing person's report for gene. And Adriana SHE requested that the shafts office go over to the bends and perform a welfare check, and they agreed, so they go over there.

And this did not go well because joe was the only one home. And when he entered the door, he told them to leave and not to come back unless they had a search warrant. And according to the police report, which was filed by deputy mike a cambell that day, joe, and no surprise here, gave sort of three different stories within his initial statement, which he did agree to provide a statement.

So i'm just gonna head and read this report directly. You can hear IT for yourselves. And just a reminder, joe's real name is William so when he is referred to his Williams, they're talking about joe IT says deputy cambell spoke with William and he stated that he had not seen Jennifer since thursday when he left with a friend.

When deputy cambell asked who the was, William said that he didn't know. Williams then stated that he was mistaken and took Jennifer in the two year old baby girl to axon and drop them off on nine thirty thursday night, t. Cambell, ask William what ax on and William statement was that he didn't remember the cambell as William.

A few more questions concerning the whereabouts, Jennifer and her daughter and before leaving deputy Campbell as volume again, when was the last time he saw Jennifer Williams response was that Jennifer left his house in a White ford or nothing and then stated, no, IT was a White ford narrow no. Obviously, there are quite a few concerning things about this initial statement. Starting with the fact that he claims he doesn't remember which x on he had taken them to, but remember he had told lisa that he had brought them to one specific axon, which IT only could have been one specific axon, since there is only one x on on in all of cross planes.

And then the next concerning thing is that he mentions they got into a four door White camera or a four door White must. And maybe some car lovers out there will know this, but neither of those exist. There is no such thing as a ford or White money and a ford White camera.

So why would he say that? The wax family, and I definitely see their point here, they believe that he told these lies within his statement so that he could possibly get his entire statement thrown out. So after joie gave this statement and deputy cambell wrote police report, some local news stations came out route articles that references what joie had said specifically about the type of car that picked the girls up.

And then when these articles came out, joe and his dad went into the police station and argued that the deputy had lied on his report about joyce statement. Because joy was a car guy, they claimed he never would have said anything about a ford dor musty or camera because he knows that they don't exist. Therefore, they argue that the deputy was trying to entrap him but get this, rather than just telling this potential suspect that he trust the report of his own deputy, he ends up changing the report and then fires mike cambell to clarify, this didn't happen like right away.

But still, of course, many people want to know why. Why was this potential suspect given more credit over a rocky deputy who had no reason to lie? And honestly, I feel component, I say that the Roberts and count y shares department did not do a thero job, especially in the first days of this investigation, which we all know are the most important.

Sure, a bolo beyond the look out was put out on the twenty, but at no point was Jenny or Adrian is picture circulated on any new station that night. And then on the twenty eighth, the sharp's department claim to do their first search of the benton property. But it's not exactly what you would think.

The bentz did agree to let officers walk their property and look for signs of fall play, but they had full control over where they were allowed to look and where they were not allowed to look. And honestly, I could just go on and on about the failures, in my opinion, of the year department. But we saw a lot to go over.

So let's move on to the twenty nine, which is win. Another story from joe emerges that day, deputy cambell and his partner went to cat this house to ask some follow up questions. And while they were there, they spoke to lisa, became clear them that joe wasn't being honest through leases statement.

That day, the deputies realized that he had been telling different people, different things, so they returned to his house to talk him again. And ultimately, he continues to tell more stories until about a month after the girls had first gone missing, which is when his final story emerges. And here IT is in fall, on thursday, march, tony faith joy says that after returning home from work, jennie locked herself and Adriana in their bedroom.

Then after getting her to come out, he says that the two of them went on a drive to talk, but while they were on that drive, the two of them get to a big fight and decided to break up. And then, according to him, when they get home, Jennifer refuses to get out of the car. Instead, he apparently tells joe that he wants him to drive her in egeria a to the local food value, and when they get there, he gets out of the car and goes inside to make a call.

And later on, the enforcement actually win and spoke to the manager at the food value, and no one has any recollection of Jennifer or anyone else coming inside that night to make a phone call. Now, according to him, after he allegedly makes the phone call, SHE asked joe to take her in addressing a to the x on gas station. By this point, IT was about nine thirty P.

M, and the two of them exit the car, but rather than drive away, joe says he across the street into the church parking lot where he waited until someone came and pick them up. And this is when he says he saw the two of them get into what he is noun is just a White ford or car and drive away. And just to make this really clear, know, this is confusing.

This time he does not mention a specific type of car, which is weird considering the first report, he says, a former White musing or a ford White camera, which are non existing cars, and this time he also says that he didn't see who was driving, contradicts what he had told lisa earlier. I just wanted to remind you that jennie said he was going to her aunt lisa house if her conversation with jolie didn't go well, and in order to get to the grocery store and the gas station, they have had to pass by lisa's house. So the idea that he went off someone else just makes no sense.

So on the next day, the twenty six. Joe says that he and his work crew had finished up their project early, so he ended up going home early, and IT was either the late morning or the early afternoon, and it's unclear exactly who drove him home, but he was either jeoffry or that other guy, nolan. And this is when joe claims that Jennifer showed back up at their house, and he said that he was driving that same way that SHE had supposedly gotten into the night before, but that Adriana wasn't with her, and he said that he was there to collect her five hundred or attack refund.

But since his dad wasn't home, jolie told her that he the money. So then, according to joe, Jennifer r says that sh'll be back to get that five hundred dollars fund the following day. And while she's there, SHE picks up a few of her in Adrian as belongings, including egeria's car seat.

Now, even though joie is straight to claiming that Jenny picked up the car seat on the twenty six, we can confirm that this part of the story is in fact, a lie. And we know this because win deputy had first gone to the house to speak with joe and he's talking him at the front door. He can see over his shoulder into the corner of the room.

And what does he see in the corner the car seat? And maybe you're thinking they could have had two car seats. No, we know that is in the case.

They only had one. So this means that we know jolie lied about at least one part of his story. And obviously there are many reasons to believe that he could be lying. But that especially, I mean, if he is willing to tell one line and what else is he lying about? And I should also note that law enforcement did go to the house at a later date, and this time the car seat was missing.

the story that jillie told, which ended up being kind of like the final story that stuck for the last twenty years. I didn't believe IT. I didn't believe IT from the get go.

Um of course, there's always like that tiny shred of hope that maybe they're out there somewhere but but I just didn't feel ride and sit right. I never felt like that my sister would leave not just my family but like really unselfishly me I I didn't think that he would leave me and take Adrian. I just really didn't I didn't make sense to me that he would leave or five hundred dollar tax refund.

And there wasn't anyone that he had asked to borrow money from. There was no exit plan. There was nothing found on the benton computers that would suggest that he was making an exit plan and was planning to leave.

None of IT made sense. That also really didn't make sense outside of the inconsistent stories that he told at the gas station. IT didn't make sense that he would drive them past my ant house and past our house. We both lived on the same road, and IT was on the road on the way to the exon gas station. And if there really were a problem being that he had talked to my mom the night before and my unt literally that day, IT didn't make sense that he would drive, pass our houses.

And one of the big things that stuck out to me was whenever his dad, joe, called my ant on friday, march twenty six, in the evening, after joe said that he had come earlier that day for her income tax refined. So that was always really suspicious to me that he called to give her her tax refund money whenever he had already said, i'll come back to get IT, according to joe. So my opinion of his final story is that I never believed that was true. I didn't feel right. There were way too many inconsistently, and there were just a few small things like that that stuck out to me that that made me feel, in my god, like, I know this isn't the truth.

Now, in April of two thousand four, joe did agree to take a polygraph test, and he did pass IT. Of course, if you are familiar with light detector tests, they are not admissible in court. They are not one hundred percent accurate.

So IT doesn't tell us a whole lot, but that being said, his parents so in Cindy did not agree to take one, which of course, that they're right and IT doesn't necessarily mean anything, but I don't know. In my opinion, that's pretty strange. This episode of true crime mechano ray is brought to by progressive insurance, fiscally responsible, financial genius, monetary magicians.

These are all things that people say about drivers who switched their car and turns to progressive and save hundreds, because progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need IT. So your dollar goes a long way.

Visit progressive dot com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive casually insurance company and affiliates, potential savings will vary not available in all states or situations. OK class, today we're going to talk about careers.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Nathan, I want to be an influencer. Yes, influencer.

OK, how about Julie? I want to help people Better benefits. What you guys don't guess what? There's one career that offers all of those things, anyone? The answer .

is teaching.

Illinoy needs teachers more than ever, especially in bilingual ducaine special education and in rural and urban areas. As an educator, you're helping to build a brighter future for your students and your community every day, and you get go on the teacher's long start your teaching journey today and become a teacher. Dad com.

But also, the Robertson and county share of department hasn't seemed to really push them that hard at all. And Cathy really feels that they have just treated her daughter as this scorned lover who chose to run away. Even there is absolutely no evidence for that whatsoever.

And I want to talk a little bit more about coffee because he is just so strong, in my opinion, such a role model to me as a mother. And in her fight for justice, SHE ended up taking a leap of sence from her job and made IT her full time mission to fine Jennifer and Adriana. And believe me, SHE did a lot at some points.

Ee has felt like they also lost their mom on top of losing Jennifer and Adriana, but he understands why. I mean, how could you just give up? This loss has impacted their family in ways that are just impossible to recover from.

And I know for a fact that they will not stop looking until justice is served. I could tell from my call with them that that's just not an option for them. And I completely get IT. How could you ever just let you go, you know, try to move on with life?

Since the natrona disappeared up and living in pure hail, my love changed forever. That day, everything about me changed how I view the world, how I saw other people, how I thought about things, how are bonded with people. IT changed me as mom. I became a lot more worried all the time about my kids everywhere, that when he was difficult, because they, they just wanted live their life, and I just wanted to keep them near me all the time. And I didn't want to let go of them to let them grow up.

And I also got to me away from the um and you know in my searches for justify an ada I I wasn't there for them in times that they needed me the most as as teenage girls and and I was so distracted with looking for their sister that that I wasn't there for the am a lot so because a lot of regrets that I have there but I did changed me IT changed me IT changed my family IT changed our whole family dynamics. My mom IT changed her IT changed my grandparents. They were still allowed at the time.

Everybody was so consumed with this, I said I couldn't think of anything else. And then on top that I was like, we were, have to fight. We have to fight for the justice girls who have fight the justice system.

We haven't defied the small town law enforcement just, you know, be loud and stomp our feet dispell like that. We will be intreated like our cars. Stereo was stolen or something than our dog was laws.

Not that my kids were missing. IT drove wages between family members, friends. Everything totally, completely changed. I tell people i'm stuck with one foot in two thousand four and one foot in the present, and I just can't get both feet together at the same time to be able to move forward.

And until I have some sort of closure to have found my kids and target justice for was done to them, I don't think that I can move on in any since of the word. But this is who I am now, you know, this is my rosse to bear, and i'm willing to bear IT. I'm willing to be their voice. For as long as I have voice and me, I will never, ever.

ever give up. And over the years, on the bends side, they have been completely uninvolved. In fact, they have not once offered to help search for the girls they don't want to be part of at all.

They have shown literally no interest in helping the enforcement solve the case. And in this very short clip, i'm about to play for you. IT shows the extent of joy's concern for the missing girls. And I think IT tells you quite a lot.

Just let us know you OK just a few weeks after the girl went missing, joe dropped off trash bag filled with Jennifer and adjieu is belongings two of his house, as if he knew they weren't coming back home. And in those bags was Adriana s purple winter coat, which was her only winter coat. And if Jennifer had truly decided to run away, SHE never would have left without IT, especially while temperatures were still so low.

Plus her elmo or her malmo was in their two. And Jennifer never ever would have left without her daughter's memo when I talk to them. That's one of the main reasons why they think there's just no way they would have run away.

IT makes no sense that would have left mal behind. SHE knows that her daughter is not going to sleep, that she's going to be miserable without him. I just any other parent out there, you know, if your child has that special item that they need to like function and sleep, that you're not going anywhere without IT.

That's like the number one priority to have. And another really concerning element to all of this is, right around the time the girls went missing, the bentz were in the process of building a new house on their property. And this is gonna concerning to hear, but they had been specifically pouring concrete and in the process of putting in a new septic c tank.

Now, long enforcement has said they have searched the concrete column. However, the week's family has no record of this. They have no way to know if they had actually searched the entire foundation. They have no proof of that. And as much as I want to, of course, trust that law enforcement cared enough to be thrown, their previous actions in this case make me question if they actually did so.

Over the years, IT has been reported that law enforcement has conducted for ches on the government property the wix's family is aware of at least, but none of these have yielded any results. And we don't know how throw they were. We do know that they did drain a pond after a tip came in.

But again, nothing was found. But you ve gotten keep mind that most of these searches were not done under the order of a search warrant. The wake's family has recently learned that at some point a search warrant was performed.

However, they don't know which search IT was and what was searched, but to their family's knowledge, these were all permissible searches that we're done under the watchful ly of the benton family. And this is forward quite a bit. But in twenty twenty one, joy's grandfather, who also owns fifty one acres of that land, invited their family to search.

And this backs right up to the land that the benton family lives on. You let them come in with cadover dogs and ground penetrating radar, and several dogs indicated on the same spot. Now their private arrange for the spot be excavated and they didn't find anything.

However, IT is believed that this location was where there was a lot of run off from other parts of the property, basically suggesting that whatever the dogs detected could be somewhere. And I bring this example up because even though something was detected, the police didn't do any kind of follow up surge. They basically just told them, let us know if you find anything, which is strange, because long enforcement did show up that day, but not to help with the search.

They actually showed up because either joe or joe e had called them to say that people were trust passing on the property, even though their grandfather had given them written permission to search there. And unfortunately, mister benton b grandfather has passed away sense. And now joe, the dad, owns all of his land as well, which has made further searching of that property even more difficult.

As time has gone on, though, the wax family has lost hope. Doesn't mean it's been easy, but like I said, they've never given up, and I really don't think they ever. Well, the national center for missing the exploited children got involved and has added them in creating age progressions of the girls.

And shows like america's mos wanted has released to try to keep their names out there. But still in all of this time, no leads have panned out. In a press conference in twenty thirteen, he was announced the case was finally being replaced fied as a homicide.

However, whatever information LED to this has never been shared in the same statement, though the share of did say that nobody, including jolie benton, has ever been ruled out as a suspect, the tennessee bear of investigation has also been assisting on the case, and IT was also did that they would not be taken over, unfortunately. And this is just the horrible reality of this case. Coffee, casey and the rest of their family believes that Jennifer in Adrian and never lived a day past march twenty fifth, two thousand.

four. And I know I say this often, but you should never be the responsibility of a family to solve their loved one's case. But they feel like they have no choice that if they don't stay involved and keep online enforcement and pushes harder, they can, then who else will? Like i've been saying, they are just so inspirational, and they have been relentless in their pursuit of justice.

And I truly believe that one day those efforts are gonna pay off and there will be justice for Jennifer, Adriana. Their family has held countless visuals, balloon releases and events to encourage the public to remember Jennifer and Adriana. And they always have continue to keep the pressure on the enforcement.

There's a beautiful mural that was painted in june of this year in spring field and it's an image of a horse in her full to represent Jennifer and Adriana and in my opinion is so beautiful. It's very, very powerful and I think it's such a good representation of the two of them. In over the years, there have actually been many attempts by the band family to intimidate them.

This makes me so mad, and I think tells you a whole lot these people. But there is one time where they actually fired guns into the ground in the middle of one of their visuals. But not even that nothing, and I mean, nothing is going to stop them in their pursuit of justice.

They also put on another event, which is called the chain of hope, where dozens of motorcyclists come together to ride in honor of the girls and is a day to remember them for the lives they lived and an effort to keep their memory alive. And I just think it's so cool how the community has really come together to support this family and make sure that Adriana and Jennifer are not forgotten. Casey is also running a facebook page, which is called justice for Jennifer and Adriana weeks, which I highly encourage you guys to follow.

Not only will get updates on the case, but like i've always tried to drill in my episodes, you showing that extra step to these families just does wonders. Having more and more support is what's going to keep them going. And I really encourage you to either you leave a comment here for them to read with words of encouragement, or actually go to their facebook page and.

Leave them something like that as well because I just know that makes a huge, huge difference. And another really cool thing that they've done is they've actually helped co produce this podcast, which was just released recently on Jennifer birthday this past August called missing in hush town. And IT goes through every last detail pertained to this case.

So if you want to get even more deep into the case and go over some of the things that we didn't have time to include in this episode, I definitely recommend supporting them by downloading that tracking IT out, giving them a listen, maybe a review, just so that we can help get more eyes on IT. And I know that sounds like I am wrapping up the case here, but there's actually more information to share. Some very shocking information has come up very recently in 2， and all of IT has just further confirmed what this family believes.

On march twenty seventh twenty twenty four, on the twenty year anniversary of the girl's being reported missing, a RAID and search warrant was executed on the benton residents. However, this was not in connection with the girl's disappearances, but IT wasn't intel April twenty nine that the week's family learned what IT was about. And that's because that day casey and Cathy both received a facebook message from none.

Joe batten's sister, her name is amy. And while some of her message cannot be shared, there are a few parts that I can share. Amy was basically reaching out because he said he had some urgent information that he needed to share with them.

And the RAID back in march was one of the things that he wanted to explain. According to her, their family had found some things belonging to joe benton, her father, that they felt needed to be turned over to police, specifically a sexually explicit photo of a minor that had been taken twenty years prior. And to be clear, because I know exactly what you're probably thinking, this actually was not a photo of frana.

I'm not able to share who the victim is for their own protection, obviously. But yes, IT was not Adriana, but IT was another minor, so terrifying. But essentially, the rate was the result of law enforcement looking for whatever else they could find pertaining to child's sexual exploiting.

The thing is, though, turns out joe betton was R A convicted felon, which means he is not allowed to own any weapons. And I bet you can guess, when they raided his home, they found weapons. And not only that, they also found bomb making materials.

yeah. So as a result, he is now facing any charges and his next hearing is actually scheduled for the day after this episode errors, which is october nth. Now amy also gave them a bunch about their information that was incredibly I opening.

Like I said, I can't share any of that, but just keep that mind. And so all of this happening made casey want to push joe even harder. And he had been trying to reach him for a while and was unsuccessful up until recently, April 4 th。 And he asked if they could please talk. And surprisingly, he agreed .

earlier this year, in April of twenty four, I was able to talk a joy for the first time. And i've been doing kind of like my own investigation, and i'm kind of a person that needs to hear and see things for myself.

So I asked him where you just talk to me and he said, sure, we on the phone for about an hour and during that conversation, a lot of the conversation was him sharing his concerns about his dad being and Roberts and county jail, uh, if his dad were to get out of jail he was worried what he would do um he, his mom and his sister were all kind of fearful of their lives he was sharing with me and I was able to kind of get some clarification on some things as far as the timeline in the details of the case that we've always had questions about. Uh, I felt like I was going straight to the source, so I wanted to ask him. He shared with me that he really loved Jenny and he really loved Adrian, that they were planning to they together, that the uh, house that they were living in was going to be his in Jennifer.

They had plans to get married and he had given her a ring and ask him about the picnic that Jennifer mentioned to her dad on the phone on one of her her last phone calls to him on that thursday. And he met in the picnic and joy being on his way home. They were going to talk about some things and go on a picnic.

And he said, well written, called IT a picnic. He said Jennifer had made some sandwich es, and we just went over to the barn so we could have some privacy to talk about things whenever he said that I knew immediately, like that's another contradictory statement with the final story that he had told my mom back in April of two thousand four, he said that they just drove around, decided to break up. Well, he never mentioned the picnic up until this year to our family.

And I ask him about, you know, the details about driving her into cross planes. Like, did you take her to the food value? Did you go to the x on and in a White car to rap? He said, yes, yes. All of that true with a lot of conviction. Uh, the tone and his voice just sounded very matter of fact, very certain.

And I just remember getting off that phone call, call me mom and just thinking to myself like like this guy could be telling the truth and I I built kind of sorry for him in very leg, conflicted internally with with where I was in in my theories about what had happened after that phone call. Just remember, he could be telling the truth, someone could pick them up in that White car, and it's just unfortunate that no one can prove IT. Yeah, I think that day I got a lot of clarity and I felt like I had started a relationship, if you will, with him where we could a communicate freely.

Now the next big update came a couple days later, on may third. That day, the week's family had a meeting planned, the general D. A.

Robert nash. And in that meeting, they were joined by D, A, J. And White, as well as members of the T, B. I. And the Roberts and counting shaft department and IT started out really positive.

They were having a really open conversation about where the case stands today and how they could potentially get just as one day. But then they took a break for a forty five minute lunch break. And at this point they, i'll agreed that they were happy with the direction that things were going.

But then after the lunch break, they were asked to leave. And IT turns out that joie had showed up for whatever reason, and they weren't allowed back in after that. And then they found out later that apparently when joe gone in, he had told them everything that had happened to Jennifer in ajiaco.

But what we don't know, though, is what version he told, and that's not all. That same day, amy reached out to casey and Cathy again and said that he was certain he could tell them where Jennifer in Adrian as bodies were. SHE even provided them with a possible location for their remains and urged to get law enforcement to look there.

And what I can say is that law enforcement has checked this out, that IT was a location local to them, and that joe went with them to look. But IT doesn't appear that anything was found. And at this point time, all the week's family is willing to share.

The reality is they have had to be extremely careful with what information they share publicly because after all these years, they do not want to jeopardize anything, which I completely understand. And i'm sure you guys do as well, especially don't want to jeopardize the relationship if you can even call IT that, that they have sort of started to build with joy. Now in transparency.

In june and early july, frustration really started, and casey had actually texted joie and said, are you going to help us or not? And this must have triggered something in joe because his response was, i'm ready to tell you everything. So on july nine th, he actually met up with coffee and SHE. He had cases on speaker phone the entire time, and he didn't waste a second getting into everything.

In july of this year, my mom was able to meet with joy for the first time in twenty years h probably since they met face to face in April two thousand four ish whenever he told the final story that um bin, can I told this fact for the last twenty years and they met at a local restaurant in spring field, our private investigator in a rain as dad were nearby in case they were needed. And IT was a two hour conversation. I was on speaker phone and mom was there in person across the table from him. He said that he felt like he needed to tell mom this information in person and not over the phone and whatever he said through text message before we set up this meeting, that he was ready to tell us everything we were kindly confuse, because a half prior he had said everything that he had been telling for twenty years was the truth and a very matter of of effect.

And so we were interested to hear what he had to say and we're hopeful that that he would tell us where Jennifer ager and a war um so we sit down and I think probably the biggest take away from that meeting was that he let us know that whenever he got home that day, Jennifer janina were already dead and he said that the story that they had told, the gas station, the food value and driving them across planes, all of that have been made up uh they they had come up with that story and and told that story. And I had been made up and with a lie for twenty years. And I know everyone wants to hear all the details of that meeting.

And unfortunately, h, we don't feel like sharing a lot of details from that meeting will be beneficial to our case. IT could even hurt future chances of prosecution and jeopardize justice for Jennifer ny. Drina, which we refuse to do. Um so not gonna go into a lot of details about how he saying that they died, but I think that .

with that information that .

piece of information him saying that when he got on that day they already dead and is giving a potential location for their remains. I think people can use that information to reduce their own initial theories of what may have happened until I am able to to share that information. Now my personal opinion is is that um this is another fabricated story similar to. They're fabricated story that they made up and told the last twenty years. Now I do believe that there's always a little bit of the truth in every line that told. And so I think that there's a possibility that there are pieces, pieces of, uh, he told us that are true now which pieces were still trying to figure out and and i'm still in communication with him trying to work through that and see see if I can get the rest of the story because we just don't feel like what he's told that those any possible way that is true because the .

work's family doesn't ve joye is telling the whole truth and because their bodies still haven't been found. Obviously, the fight for justice is not over, but there is a thin line that needs to be walked now that joyce seems to be communicating with them, and I just have to hope that he does the right thing.

In the end, jolie has made IT clear that their family no longer has a relationship with his father and that if joe is let out of jail, is not welcome home. And that gives me some hope that this house of cards is crashing down in a way that will reveal where Jennifer er in Adriana r because this case has technically never been closed, the week's family has never been granted access to any of the files related to the disappearance of the girls. So it's possible there is information out there that none of them know that could, you know, at least make sense of what happened.

All of the information that their family has has either been things that they have uncovered themselves, or things that have come from their P I, who has been working proponent on this case since two thousand fifteen. So big shout out to that's amazing if there's one thing that we all can save for sure at the end of the days that there's two families involved in this nightmare and only one of them, the waxes, have ever done anything to try and untangle this mess. And it's because of their fight for justice.

They are fight to get answers, their diligence that I even heard about this case to begin with because like I said, there's not been much covered on IT. So I am really, really grateful. But they reached up to me and that I was able to learn about the case through them.

And there are a couple of things that you can do to help the week's family if you're interested. First, like I said, you can follow their facebook page, justice for Jennifer and Adriana wix, which I, of course will have been to below as well, their instagram and tiktok, which will be linked below. You can also donate to their go fund me, which is raising funds to help pay for legal representation.

Our new foundation, higher hope, is aiming to make a big impact for them through our hope grant. But of course, any additional part from you guys is always appreciated. So yes, please check out their go fund me any amount helps.

And then another super easy thing that you can do is sign or change work. Petition is just getting started, so i'm sure they would appreciate as many signatures as possible. And that petition is to have the bentang property throughly searched.

And lastly, something super easy that you can do is just continue to spread the word about Adriana and and you know, you can do that just by word of mouth or by sharing a flying, or by sharing this episode, or maybe the podcast that they've recently put out. Sharing their story as much as possible is going to keep you from going cold, obviously, things heating up. So that's great.

Let's keep that moment in going by continuing to share up their story. That is going to be IT for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on spotify, an apple podcast. IT really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find IT on my youtube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search can and ray, I will be back with another episodes soon, but until then, stay, say about there.

OK class. Today we're going to talk about careers. What do you all want to be when you grow up?

Nathan, I want to be an influencer. Yes, influencer. OK, how about july? I want to help people Better.

You, what? You guys don't? Guess what? There's one career that offers all of those things, anyone? The answer is teaching. Illinoy needs teachers more than ever, especially in bilingual education, special education, and in rural and urban areas.

As an educator, you are helping to build a brighter future for your students and your community every day, and you get go on the teacher's long start your teaching journey today and become a teacher. dt. com.