0:00

On

0:00

a cold winter night just outside

0:02

of Denver, Colorado, Jim Matthews

0:05

arrived home late. He was feeling guilty

0:07

about missing his

0:08

twelve year old daughter's choir recital

0:10

and was excited to hear how it went. But

0:12

when he got inside, the house

0:14

was eerily quiet. His

0:16

daughter's choir sweater was on the couch,

0:19

but she was gone. And it would be

0:21

thirty five

0:22

years before her body would be found

0:24

by a construction crew just

0:26

a few hours from her home. After

0:28

the discovery of Jonelle Matthews'

0:30

body in twenty nineteen, the police

0:32

turned their attention to a man who had been

0:34

up assessed with her case since the day she

0:36

disappeared. Initially, he was dismissed

0:39

by law enforcement as a true crime fanatic

0:41

and armchair detective. but testimony

0:44

from his own ex wife

0:45

led police to question his innocence.

0:47

And now a jury will decide if Jonelle's

0:50

murderer was hiding in plain

0:52

sight this entire time.

0:54

Wondery campsite media's shocking

0:56

true crime podcast suspect is back

0:58

for a second season with a story

1:01

that attempts to separate fact from

1:03

fiction, compulsion from guilt,

1:05

and one man's true crime

1:06

obsession from a motive for

1:09

murder. I'm

1:09

about to play you a clip from the show.

1:11

While you're listening, make sure to follow the Amazon

1:14

Music exclusive podcast suspect

1:16

vanished in the snow. in the Amazon

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Music app. Download the app today.

1:25

Weld County is desert.

1:28

Feels relatively warm

1:30

outside for Colorado in December

1:33

in the the sky is just

1:35

this Caribbean blue.

1:38

It's winter, but it's hot out,

1:40

dry, and dusty. The snow

1:42

capped rocky mountains are all behind

1:44

us.

1:46

Ahead, it's flat. The

1:48

horizon goes on forever. I

1:50

feel like we're on the Wikipedia

1:51

of tumbleweeds. Don't

1:53

you feel rich in tumbleweeds? Yeah.

1:56

shit. People tear ass

1:58

down this road. A few

1:59

of the trucks passing us are souped

2:02

up, brand new, tires, jacked

2:04

high, oil and gas workers

2:06

apparently un bothered by speed

2:08

limits

2:08

if there is a speed limit

2:11

out here. We're

2:12

relieved to turn into a dirt driveway

2:15

of a lone rambling house Hi,

2:17

guys.

2:18

Hello again.

2:21

Oh,

2:23

no. Nice to meet you. I'm

2:25

Jodie.

2:26

and Jody Gilliland live so

2:29

far from most of their neighbors that it's

2:31

easier to drive to see them.

2:33

across from their house is a field

2:35

that stretches about a thousand

2:37

acres. It's full of brush

2:39

and weeds. The

2:40

kind of place where people often well

2:43

obey land in things. Old mattresses,

2:46

washers,

2:46

and dryers, even boats. It's

2:49

like, wow. almost

2:51

tender to hook that up and take it home. See what I

2:53

can do. But no.

2:55

I mean, people still still do dump

2:57

things out here, but it's usually

2:59

quick and round, quick and round. I mean, what

3:01

they can show off the back were trucking two seconds.

3:05

In

3:05

the summer of twenty nineteen, Vance

3:08

and Jody were in their kitchen when they saw

3:10

blue and red lights flashing across

3:12

the perimeter of their property. All

3:14

a sudden, there was cop cars

3:16

going by, and I was like, uh-oh, up

3:18

until it was dark actually. They were out there.

3:21

And

3:23

they were out there forever.

3:25

Fans and Jody soon learned those

3:27

oil and gas workers and their fancy

3:29

pickups, they'd unearth a

3:31

small human skull. with

3:34

a single bullet hole in it.

3:36

And

3:36

authorities knew exactly

3:38

who the remains belonged to. It

3:40

is the cold case that has baffled the

3:42

Greeley community for nearly thirty five

3:45

years, but tonight, police may be closer

3:47

to figuring out what happened to Janelle

3:49

Matthews.

3:49

The twelve year old disappeared from her home

3:51

in late nineteen eighty

3:53

four. Her remains were discovered

3:55

this week by a construction crew in

3:57

rural Weld County. Gone

3:59

for

3:59

thirty five years, today, human remains

4:02

founded in oil and gas fighting Greeley give

4:04

investigators new leads on a deck

4:06

kids old cold case.

4:09

Like a lot of Colorado residents

4:11

who had been following Janelle's

4:12

case since the nineteen eighties,

4:15

Vance and Jody

4:16

watched the news reports with fascination.

4:19

They

4:19

waited to hear what would happen next,

4:22

hoping that the remains in the

4:24

field would finally lead investigators

4:26

to the killer.

4:27

As it turned out,

4:29

it wouldn't be nearly so simple.

4:32

This

4:34

is a story about obsession, my

4:37

own. Sure. So

4:39

I am working on podcast

4:42

about the Janelle Matthews case.

4:44

I know you know about that case.

4:46

Right? I assume you're probably well versed.

4:48

I thought I'd try you one last time,

4:51

but also the obsession of a community

4:53

that kept pushing to find Janelle

4:56

to get her name into the national

4:58

spotlight. and

4:59

all the way to the White House.

5:02

For example, I learned about Jonelle

5:04

Matthews of Greeley Colorado who

5:06

would have celebrated a happy thirteenth

5:08

birthday with her family just

5:11

last month. And

5:12

it's about the obsessions of a

5:14

self described true crime junky.

5:16

A man who had started talking

5:18

about the Janelle Matthews case

5:21

just a few days after police

5:23

responded to a distress call

5:25

from her home. And over the

5:27

next thirty five years, he

5:29

kept talking

5:30

and talking It was just

5:33

me trying to be

5:36

a big man in the case. He's a

5:38

busy body. He gets himself in the middle

5:40

of murder cases. but that doesn't

5:42

necessarily mean he actually was

5:44

involved in them. People are like, oh, he's

5:46

just crazy and he's just he's he's

5:48

just being bad or or

5:50

whatever else. And he's he's

5:52

harmless. He wouldn't hurt anybody. He's

5:54

such a good liar that he can convince

5:56

the juror that he wasn't involved.

5:58

So, you

5:59

know, he's a liar. He is. He was a

6:02

good one. I turned around and I said,

6:04

you're gonna be arrested for obstructing. if

6:06

you don't get back in your car. And

6:08

he says, don't fuck with

6:10

me, officer Edgerton. I

6:12

bury more people than you'll know. When

6:15

he shot Janelle Matthews in the forehead, was

6:17

she begging for her life? Never

6:18

happened.

6:24

Hey Prime members, listen to the Amazon

6:26

Music exclusive podcast suspect

6:28

vanished in the snow in the Amazon

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Music app. Download the app today.