0:00

On a wintery night, in a

0:02

small community near Denver,

0:04

Colorado, Jim

0:06

Matthews arrived home late. He

0:09

expected to find his twelve year old daughter

0:11

who'd been dropped off after a Christmas

0:13

concert. But when he called

0:15

out, hey, Jonelle, The

0:18

house was eerily quiet. His

0:20

daughter's shoes were on the floor, but

0:23

she was gone. And

0:26

it would be thirty five years

0:29

before she would be found dead.

0:33

After the discovery of Jonel Mathew's

0:35

body in twenty nineteen, the police

0:38

turned their attention to a man who

0:40

had told law enforcement years ago

0:43

that he knew something, but

0:45

they dismissed him.

0:48

The man did seem obsessed with the

0:50

case. But is that all

0:52

he was? A true

0:54

crime fanatic or a killer.

0:58

Wondry, and campsite media's

1:01

shocking true crime podcast suspect

1:04

is back for a second season, with

1:06

a story that attempts to separate

1:08

fact from fiction, compulsion

1:11

from guilt. And one man's

1:13

true crime obsession from

1:15

a motive for murder. We're

1:18

about to play a clip from suspect vanished

1:21

in the snow. While you're listening,

1:23

follow suspect wherever you get your podcasts.

1:26

Hey, Prime members. You can binge

1:29

all six episodes Add

1:31

free on Amazon

1:33

Music. Download the Amazon Music

1:35

app today.

1:39

Weld County is a Des cert.

1:41

Feels relatively warm

1:43

outside for Colorado in December,

1:46

and this the sky is just

1:48

this Caribbean blue. It's

1:51

winter, but it's hot out, dry,

1:54

and dusty. The snow happed

1:56

rocky mountains are all behind

1:58

us. Ahead, it's

2:00

flat. The horizon goes on

2:03

ever.

2:03

I feel like we're in the Wikipedia of tumbleweeds.

2:06

Don't you feel rich in Tombridge and Tombleeds?

2:09

Yeah. Oh, shit. People

2:11

tear ass down this road. A few

2:13

of the trucks passing us are souped

2:15

up, brand new, tires, jacked

2:17

high, oil and gas workers

2:19

apparently unbothered by speed

2:21

limits if there is a

2:23

speed limit out here. We're

2:26

relieved to turn into a dirt driveway

2:28

of a lone rambling house. Hi,

2:31

guys. Hello

2:33

again. Nice

2:38

to meet you. I'm Jodie. You can try it. Vance

2:40

and Jody Gilliland live so far

2:42

from most of their neighbors that it's easier

2:44

to drive to see them. Across

2:47

from their house is a field that stretches

2:49

about a thousand acres. It's

2:51

full of brush and weeds. The

2:54

kind of place where people often well

2:56

abandon things. Old

2:58

mattresses, washers, and dryers,

3:00

even boats, It's like, wow.

3:04

Almost tended to hook that up and take it home and see

3:06

what I can do. But No.

3:09

I mean, people still still do dump

3:11

things out here, but it's

3:13

usually quick and round, quick and

3:14

round. I mean, what they can show up the back, what trucking

3:16

two seconds. In

3:18

the summer of twenty nineteen, Vance

3:21

and Jody were in their kitchen when they saw

3:23

blue and red lights flashing across

3:26

the perimeter of their property. All

3:28

of a sudden, there was cop cars

3:30

going by, and I was like, uh-oh. Up

3:32

until it was dark, actually, we're out there.

3:36

They were out there forever. Vance

3:39

and Jody soon learned those oil and

3:41

gas workers and their fancy pickups

3:43

they'd unearth a small

3:45

human skull with a

3:47

single bullet hole in it. And

3:49

authorities knew exactly

3:52

who the remains belong

3:53

to.

3:54

It is the cold case that has baffled the

3:56

Greeley community for nearly thirty

3:58

five years, but tonight, police may be

4:00

closer to figuring out what happened to Janelle

4:02

Matthews. The twelve year old disappeared from

4:04

her home in late nineteen eighty

4:06

four. Her remains were discovered this

4:09

week. By a construction crew in rural

4:11

Weld County. Gone for thirty

4:13

five years, today, human remains founded

4:15

in oil and gas fighting Greeley give investigators

4:18

new leads on a decades old

4:20

cold case.

4:22

Like a lot of Colorado residents

4:24

who had been following Janelle's case

4:26

since the nineteen eighties. Vance

4:29

and Jody watched the news reports

4:31

with fascination. They

4:33

waited to hear what would happen next,

4:35

hoping that the remains in the

4:37

field would finally lead investigators

4:39

to the killer. As it

4:41

turned out, it wouldn't be

4:43

nearly so simple. This

4:47

is a story about obsession, my

4:50

own. Sure. So

4:52

I am working on a podcast

4:55

about the Janelle Matthews

4:56

case. I know you know about

4:58

that case. Right? I assume

5:00

you're probably well versed. I thought

5:02

I'd try you one last time, but

5:05

also the obsession of a community that

5:07

kept pushing to find Janelle

5:09

to get her name into the national

5:11

spotlight. And all the

5:13

way to the White House. For example,

5:16

I learned about Jonelle Matthews

5:18

of Greeley, Colorado. Who

5:20

would have celebrated a happy thirteenth birthday

5:22

with her family

5:24

just last month. And it's about

5:26

the obsessions of a self described

5:28

true crime junkie. A man

5:30

who had started talking about the

5:32

Janelle Matthews case just

5:34

a few days after police responded

5:36

to a distress call from

5:39

her home. And over the next

5:41

thirty five years, he

5:43

kept talking

5:44

and talking. It was just

5:46

me trying to being

5:49

a big man in the case. He's a

5:51

busy body. He gets himself in the middle

5:53

of murder cases, but that doesn't

5:55

necessarily mean actually

5:57

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

5:59

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

6:01

just being bad or or

6:03

whatever else he's he's harmless.

6:06

He wouldn't hurt anybody. He's such a

6:08

good liar that he can convince the juror

6:10

that he wasn't involved. So

6:13

You know? He's a liar. He is. He

6:15

was a good one. I turned around and

6:17

I said, you're gonna be arrested for obstructing.

6:19

If you don't get back in your car,

6:22

And he says, don't fuck

6:24

with me, officer Edgerton. I

6:26

buried more people than you'll know. When

6:28

he shot Janelle Matthews in the forehead, was

6:30

she begging for her life. Never

6:32

happened. Hey,

6:37

Prime members. You can bench all

6:39

six episodes of suspect, finished in

6:41

the snow, ad free on Amazon

6:43

Music. Download the Amazon Music

6:45

app today.