Jessica Johnson /// Part 1 /// 282 | Forensic Files

explore today's musthave Trends and Innovative Styles at Mrs be's clearance and outlet shop oneof aind finds in
today's musthave Trends explore wall to--all deals Furniture flooring mattresses Home Accents seasonal
favorites and more discover unique new home decor pillows accessories and more there's something perfect for your style
and budget there's new inventory every day add up to 80% off suggested retail discover the style and savings of Mrs
be's clearance and Outlet when it comes to Quality sleep Ashley has you covered with top mattress brands
at winning prices and with special financing options available you can snooze now and pay later plus your
mattress purchase helps give the gift of better sleep to children in need and US
Special Operations forces visit your local Ashley store or shop online today and make every snooze count financing is
subject to credit approval C store or ashley.com for [Music] details [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever
you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who built
this garage with sticks and stones and elevator bones and rock and roll he is the captain yeah nothing's going to stop
us now it's it's good to be seing and it's good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a
[Music] friend this week we are featuring Paradise Lost by Southern prohibition brewing in Mississippi garage grade 4
out of five bottle caps this has got to be spb's hoppiest beer this is a deep golden IPA with oats and heavy-handed
double dry hop plus full flavors of peach mango and pineapple and this week fridge it's full thanks to the following
first up thanks to Sarah and napan Ontario Canada and a big cheers mates to Don and Shannon Mississippi and also a
shout out to Karen and ashaa Ontario and in Jacksonville Florida we have Kelly and Charles and here's a big cheers to
Danielle and concy New York and last but certainly not least we have Santa Santa
Claus and last but certainly not least we have Santa and Joe in Everett Washington thanks to everybody for going
to True Crim garage.com and helping out with this week's beer fund and go to our
store Page immediately True Crime garage.com click on the store Page we have new True Crime we're calling them
True Crime garage plumbing company shirts and it features one of the captain's favorite famous
phrases starts with a USA ends with a it and it's not us a plumber right check out the store Page
at true Crim garage.com that's enough of the business everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some
true [Music] [Music] crime [Music] [Music] Horn Lake Mississippi June 2017 it's a hot morning and early summer
in a town of about 26,000 located just about 5 minutes from the Mississippi border and fewer than 15
Mi south of Memphis a US Postal Service mail carrier is delivering the mail on Angel Drive
she nears a black metal mailbox mounted on a sturdy wooden post but as she was about to reach in to drop the mail the
mail carrier draws back in horror sitting on the ground below the mailbox tied to the post with what
appears to be Sho strings is a woman she is clearly dead her head is tilted upwards at an
angle her mouth is open authorities are alerted and told that they would find a young woman tied
by the neck and jaw to a rural mailbox post how long had she been there how many cars passed by the mailbox and
never noticed a sight that none of us would forget if it weren't for all the Tall
Weeds up by the road and surrounding the mailbox someone would have spotted her hours
before who could have done this how did this happen and why this week we discussed the case of
Jessica Renee Johnson [Music] Jessica Johnson was 37 years old when her body was discovered on June 2nd
2017 Jessica was a brunette and she was 5' 3 in tall 115 lb with greenish hazel eyes even though Jessica was in her mid3
she lived at home in Horn Lake with her parents Linda and David Johnson this was
largely because Jessica was a single mom with two children a daughter who was just 8 years old when Jessica died and a
son who was 19 until a few months before her death Jessica worked at a logistics service in
Memphis but lately she was unemployed her parents helped out with child care her son lived with Jessica's
grandparents whose home was just y yards away when we talk about who Jessica was
as a person there's a lot to talk about but one thing that is very often said is
that Jessica was very pretty yeah and you often see this in cases where they talk about the victims looks or whatever
but in this case it's it's like a 100% consensus yeah she's described by all as exceptionally beautiful according to her
family and friends she knew it and worked it she was always dressed up and really pretty and she knew it said her
sister Kayla her friend summer said Jessica loved to quote Glam herself up and wear pretty clothes and go out yeah
just like the colonel and in fact she would not generally go out without being done up
according to friends and family now Jessica tended to change her Facebook profile picture constantly updating it
with a new filtered selfie or or lighted head shot her public posts were largely
peepy inspiring quotes from glamorous women like Coco Chanel or Audrey heurn Jessica was very social and had lots of
friends her page shows that she was quote Facebook friends with over 1900 people she loved to go to clubs and hang
out with friends and Friends describe her as the life of the party unfortunately in the few years before
before her death Jessica's parents say that Jessica started to fall in with the wrong crowd while she was a good mom as
long as she was in a good place she had her problems her father David said right
but you often see this with people that stay in the town that they went to high school in MH where they start going out
and partying and yeah it's like mid 20s great late 20s not so bad get into your 30s and now the only people that are
showing up to these bars are are people in their 20s mhm you see what I mean it's like you know it's fun for a while
but those scenes always have some shady characters as far as I can tell this all
seems to have started about 5 years earlier when Jessica began dating lesie Taylor uh this guy was bad news and used
Jessica's car as his drug dealing Hub finally he was busted Jessica's car was confiscated and the drug dealing
boyfriend went to prison but the damage was done and around this time Jessica started being involved in the drug scene
in fact we know that Jessica was arrested on October 10th 2013 by Horn Lake PD the charges listed in the arrest
record are one felony possession of a controlled substance and a possession of paraphernalia did she uh post her mug
shot as her Facebook profile I don't know I don't think so uh the charges ended up being dropped Jessica was
caught with some male friends from high school in possession of a bag of meth but the cops could never prove who it
belonged to so it seems that Jessica like to party and some of that involved drugs she would have had periods where
she had her act together in other times where she wasn't as reliable and was using Al substances that had a negative
effect on her life right even worse she was participating in drug deals working as a middleman between her friends and
the dealers going on drug runs and scoring some for herself to use as well as making a little cash right at the
time of her death quote I was disappointed in her in the choices she was making and what she was doing said
her father David David and Linda did not agree with their daughter's choices of late but they did all they could do to
support her and help her when she needed it well I'm sure they loved her and I'm
sure they loved their grandkids and that's why they allowed her to live there but that also allows her to go out
because she constantly has like a live-in babysitter well let's get to the time frame in question this is May 31st
to June 2nd so starting on the afternoon of Wednesday May 31st 20 17 Jessica left
her parents home with her on again off again boyfriend his name is Garland Hart Jessica told her mom the two were going
shopping at a thrift store to get Garland some clothes we know that on that Wednesday night the two went to a
club called canvas where there was some something of a drug scene going on on Thursday the 1st of June Jessica
facetimed with her daughter Linda Jessica's mother participated in the call as well well Jessica was calling
from the front yard of a house she was at in this call Jessica said she was coming home but she didn't at 3:29 a.m.
on the morning of June 2nd so this is now late Thursday night turned into early Friday morning yeah Jessica's
teenage son received a text to his phone from Jessica's phone it said that Jessica would be spending the day with G
and that G and I will see you later this afternoon according to Linda the G refers to Garland yeah which if you look
up this Garland heart guy uh he looks like he smells like garlic farts I get a kind of a shady Vibe just from his
picture around 11:00 a.m. on the morning of Friday June 2nd a US postal worker was making her rounds in Horn Lake she
approached the post-mounted mailbox at number 7520 Angel Drive the mailbox was one of
those cheap black metal ones you can get at any hardware store with the stick on
numbers and it was mounted on an unfinished grayish 38 in wooden post that was sunk into the ground do we know
if the mailbox post was encased with concrete or not uh I I don't know that it that it did but from witness accounts
it was sunk into the ground but it still wiggled a little if you were to pull off
on it right this mailbox belonged to a house that was set back a few hundred yard from the road this is down a dirt
or gravel driveway the Box itself was partially enveloped in Weeds and tall grasses that had grown up around it this
wasn't a home that someone was carefully Landscaping right when the mail carrier
neared the box to her horror she saw someone sitting at the base of the post but this was not someone sitting there
taking a break or waiting for a ride what she saw was the death stricken face of a young woman her head and neck tied
to the mailbox post and when we say sitting there she wasn't sitting on her on her butt she was on her legs it's
like a squatting position yeah the Male carrier panicked and backed away from the mailbox she parked her truck and
called a colleague who was delivering mail nearby saying she didn't know what to do uh before the Horn Lake PD arrived
on the scene this second Male carrier arrived and snapped a photo of the grizzly scene which is the photo that uh
all we have to go off of here regarding the the the scene itself we're going to talk a lot about this photo so it might
be something that you want to Google image we are not going to post this on our social media page or on our website
no but but it's easily found right if you Google the victim's name Jessica Johnson yeah because I don't want
anybody to go to our website looking to buy a t-shirt or something and see this and be disturbed so it's not a it's not
a pretty sight it's it's U look at it at your own risk yeah it's tough to it's one of those things you can't unsee it
and well here's what the the photo depicts Jessica Johnson is sitting at the base of the mailbox post away from
the street side on her knees her feet tucked under her and out of view she is sitting in 3ft Tall Weeds crushing them
down beneath her she is wearing jeans and a gray camo t-shirt a gray leather purse is propped between her knees it is
open and a pink phone charging cord is visible Jessica's right arm is dangling down between her legs and it appears her
right hand is touching or even hold holding a black leather pouch that that may be a wallet a small black cord from
this wallet like item seems to be draped over her right thumb Jessica's other arm
her left arm is tucked behind the mailbox post with her left shoulder leaning on the post the left side of
Jessica's face basically her cheekbone is against the corner of the mailbox post and horrifyingly around her neck
entangled in her hair is a cord or string that later would turn out to be two white shoelaces tied together
Jessica's head is facing upwards at an angle the shoelace winds around her neck once disappears into her hair and then
another part of the shoelace is visible coming out of her hair at her jawline and stretching tightly across her face
running up between her nose and mouth so that it pulls her upper lip aside her upper teeth and gums are visible the
shoelace stretches up from her face around the post and is embedded in the crack where the parts of the wooden post
are joined the scene is horrible and the photo that we we have from the mail carrier although partially blurred out
is equally horrible and it raises so many questions how did Jessica end up tied to a mailbox post on a quiet stre
in Horn Lake who did this to her how long had she been there and and whose house was it the Horn Lake PD was
dispatched to the scene at 11:29 a.m. after the second mail carrier called the police upon observing the cord around
Jessica's neck the cops and the doto County coroner arrived according to Jessica's family and friends they
initiated a complete sham of an investigation according to Linda Johnson police made up their mind about this
case before they even looked at the evidence the police report which was filed on June 3rd States right up front
quote no crime says that the scene involved a young white woman hanging from a mailbox and she was already stiff
the report notes that Jessica's purse was located between her knees like it been sat there and Jessica's hand was
resting on it officers collected Jessica's driver's license from the mail carrier who had already rifled through
Jessica's bag and pulled it out compromising any evidence compromising the scene Linda tells us that police
cornered off the property but neglected to protect the mailbox area another retired Memphis police officer who
worked with the family on this case has said that photos from the scene show police cars parked too close to the body
potentially destroying evidence well like you said this is a very small town so you would assume that there's not too
many crimes like this happening or scenes like this happening yeah yeah I mean this is a very unusual scene and I
forget about small town this is an unusual scene for you and I who've already looked at over a 100 cases since
we've been doing this garage thing here yeah it's one thing for somebody to commit suicide maybe in their house but
the fact that they're trying to say that there's no crime and that they believe that she committed suicide by hanging
herself from somebody else's mailbox mhm very strange well and continuing down the road of evidence or lack thereof or
failing to collect certain pieces of evidence because that's just kind of the tip of the iceberg what we're getting at
one major thing and I think this is a huge thing here Jessica's phone was found inside her purse that had been
propped between her knees but the phone was locked and nobody knew the code Linda her mother says that the code had
been changed and she believes that whoever killed her daughter if someone did kill her daughter had changed the
code possibly after sending the 329 a.m. text to her son Jessica's fingerprint would have unlocked the phone but the
police department clined to use this method to this very day the family Jessica's family does not have access to
the contents of her phone that is absolutely ridiculous mhm that is that is beyond
irresponsible yes and because they can get phone records obviously if they lived with her there it's a possibility
that they even paid for the phone records or if they're going to pay the remaining bill they might be able to get
a phone log as far as um you know who she called but who calls people now you have to be a complete psychopath to pick
up the phone and actually call somebody everybody texts now you called me last Thursday I call you call you every
Thursday cuz I'm a complete psychopath but this text message this is the stuff that's the most important now I'd also
wonder if if it was an iPhone or something like that was it hooked up to another device and you know like all my
text messages go to my computer so if something happened and you and you found me uh dead and you couldn't get into my
phone while you can get into my computers and see my text messages through that way so I wonder if the
family has looked into those angles but like you said there's no information that they have from that that cell phone
well and the short answer is they have they they've attempted to figure out what could be on this phone using every
Avenue they could think of uh even with the help of a retired uh law enforcement
member right uh the other thing too is it was determined as we said earlier that the cord well but hold on a second
I just want to throw this out because I'm assuming that they're the ones that were responsible for the funeral and if
they were did they have the contacts did they have the phone at that point where
they could have used her fingerprint to get into the phone during that time I believe this is
I I don't have that answer you see what I'm saying right my guess is I do know some of
the items that was found with Jessica were returned to the family but we don't know when right I don't think that was
right away you know um this would these things would have been collected and after this scene if they would have if
they had properly secured the scene cataloged everything once that was done at some
point they could have used her finger to open up that that phone yeah sounds so morbid and I understand that you know
there are other ways of getting that information if you're law enforcement but that would have gave it
to you right away you know we we we hear so many times about the first 48 Hours of an
investigation we know that current day well that's when there is an investigation right but when somebody's
showing up and going no crime here nothing to see well and and when we talk about the first 48 hours we know that in
current day investigation the first thing that they're looking for on on somebody is a phone yeah you know where
where's that phone who were they communicating with what was said what was supposed to be going on before this
happened this crime happened and that's going to get more and more important as we turn more and more into zombies just
staring at our phones all day but back to the cord that was determined to be two white shoelaces tied
together the immediate question is did these laces come from Jessica's shoes uh would there have been any touch DNA on
them you know if someone had tied her up right or used that to strangle her you'd
think there might be some touch DNA the problem with the DNA on the the shoelaces is we don't know if there was
any DNA on them because at some point the shoelaces have disappeared oh right right because there's no no need to
investigate because if you show up to a scene and it looks like it's suicide and
you have these shoelaces test the shoelaces if it comes back that it's just her DNA on the shoelaces and nobody
else's well look then we go hey it looks like a suicide there's evidence that it's just a suicide but if it comes back
with multiple forms of DNA and multiple people of DNA not meaning that they actually tied it but that gives us
probable cause to say hey there was a crime here and now we need to investigate it well at least gives you
somebody else to talk to and you know the the shoelaces they were in the possession of
the police department at some point but but they they've vanished now the same thing goes for the cloth that Jessica
was wearing that day it's believed that they were burned by the funeral director
who handled Jessica's body well we'll get more into the inadequate investigation was that a common thing
for them to do whatever clothes are going to be put in if they know that they're not going to uh
be buried in those clothes that they burn the clothes that they came in yeah I would think that that's fairly common
yes okay uh some more evidence came to light that makes the this whole situation even more confusing when
Jessica's Family went to view her body in the funeral home they were horrified to observe Jessica's left arm remember
this is the arm that was hidden from view in the picture that we have the one that was sort of smooshed behind the
mailbox post right this arm is in rough shape to put it plain and simple for one
thing there's a visible indentation or print of some kind running across Jessica's forearm that looks to have
been made possibly after death there are dark bruises on her wrist some people believe that there is indication that
she may have been bound at some point or at least restrained right and there are
mysterious scabby holes peppering her lower arm all over the back of her hand they look almost like she was burned or
spattered with acid there is blood visible in her fingernail beds particularly her pinky nail the photo of
the arm taken by family members is visible online released by the family because they believe it shows that
something very bad happened to Jessica yeah but I think the whole jumping to the conclusion that her hand was burned
with acid I mean her hand could have been burned by grilling something or cooking other things but this idea that
it was just burnt with acid well that's not an idea that's just me describing what it looks like okay no nobody has
suggested what these unusual marks have come from um that's just my easiest way to describe it to people who have not
seen this photo despite all these strange circumstances and the bizarre unexplained injuries to the body an
autopsy on Jessica Johnson was never conducted in fact the doto county coroners office issued its report on
July 12th 2017 stating that the cause of death was expiation by ligature hanging and the
manner of death was suicide doto County coroner Jeff Pounders said that Jessica's was one of the strangest cases
he had seen and he had been a coroner for 35 years but based on evidence and the toxicology results he gave the
official explanation of death by expiation when Jessica was found around 11:00 a.m. on June 2nd rigger mortise
had set in and it appeared she had been there since the early morning hours ponderers said he acknowledged quote I
don't know how many people drove by the mailbox and not seen her the weeds were so tall a Toxicology test was done and
according to the death report revealed meth and xanx intoxication despite this corner
Pounders told the media that Jessica had not ODed Horn Lake Police have investigated this death in great detail
said Pounders quote I've talked to the crime lab and she died from asphixiation hornlake police have not been able to
find anything other than she hanged herself end [Music] quote this show is sponsored by better
help do you look forward to the holidays maybe you struggle with season Blues this time of year can be a lot and it's
natural to feel some sadness or even anxiety about it but adding something new and positive to your life can
counteract some of those feelings therapy can be a bright spot something to look forward to to make you feel
grounded and to give you the tools to manage everything going on if you're thinking of starting therapy give better
help a try it's entirely online designed to be convenient flexible and suited to
your schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapist
at any time for no additional charge find your bright spot this season with betterhelp visit betterhelp.com garaget
toay to get 10% off your first month that's betterhelp hp.com garage explore today's must have Trends
and Innovative Styles at Mrs B's clearance and outlet shop oneof aind finds in today's must have trend
explore wall to- wall deals Furniture flooring mattresses Home Accents seasonal favorites and more discover
unique new home decor pillows accessories and more there's something perfect for your style and budget
there's new inventory every day at up to 80% off suggested retail discover the style and savings of Mrs be's clearance
and Outlet Rosetta Stone is the language learning program with a lasting impact I've been using their W to learn French
and it's not just about m memorizing words but actually having real conversations and it's not just French
they offer 25 languages right now Rosetta Stone has an awesome holiday deal 50% off their lifetime membership
every language unlimited access forever for anyone keen on diving deep into a new language check out rosettastone.com
it's a [Music] GameChanger all right we're back cheers mates cheers to you Captain yeah let's get back to
the case that they didn't want to investigate well Johnson's family uh the Johnson family and Jessica's friends
were shocked at this determination according to Jessica's Family the Horn Lake PD basically looked the other way
when it came to investigating this case they were familiar with Jessica's past and the people she associated with and
chocked her death up to just another junkie Dying In fairness they did do the toxicology report so they did
investigate that part but I think it led them to a conclusion of a lot look a lot
of these small towns are dealing with a lot of deaths by drug addicts mhm and so
and record numbers particularly uh heroin right and so you do the toxicology report and this is happening
all over the country and you go okay but we have a piece of evidence like I said with the shoelace that you
could have just tested and that would have got us further down one of the rabbit holes suicide or Foul Play well
Leeanne Marino this was Jessica's good friend she became a spokesperson for the family she told the website heavy that
Horn Lake PD were quote grossly negligent and clearly had no intention of investigating Jessica's death as a
possible crime once they got wind of who was dead they believe coroner Pounders declared it was a suicide the cops were
relieved of further work and the case was closed but Jessica's family and friends State flat out that she would
never ever have committed suicide for one thing she was a good mom and lived for her kids she never would have left
them alone she told her mom via Facebook that she was coming home and texted her
son that she would see him the next day none of this added up to someone who would kill herself but even more
convincingly Linda Johnson said that no way would her daughter kill herself this
way saying quote my daughter was too vain Jessica's sister Kaylee said there's no way she's going to have
herself displayed out for the world to see her like that she had no makeup on that that's not her if she were going to
kill herself Linda said Jessica would have glammed herself up and taken pills she would have went to sleep and believe
me Jessica would have had herself fixed up she would have looked like Sleeping Beauty Linda said if I'm the head
detective or I'm a part of this law enforcement team I'm taking into account what they're saying I'm not saying that
I'm going to believe it look there's plenty of times where somebody takes their life and and then somebody says
hey they never would have done this and all the evidence points that they did so
but I'm not going to dismiss that and so we have the toxicology report but we got
this weird hanging on the mailbox now you got the family coming forward saying look if she if she was going to kill
herself we don't think it would be this way right right and at some point they even cite a uh something that took place
when when friends and Jessica were watching a movie called 13 Reasons Why MH the group discussed that they would
never inflict violence on themselves they all agreed that if they were to take their own lives pills would be the
way to go so the the problem with this whole scenario to me is I agree I agree with what you said I
I agree that you take those statements of she would have never killed herself and if she would have she wouldn't have
done it this way you take that you take that into account and and you have to play that and apply that to everything
that you're seeing and the information that you're collecting right now now you could push back on the family too well
did you ever think that she was going to be taking drugs as as hardcore as methamphetamines well yeah but what what
I was getting at is that I I understand that we have a whole bunch of people saying well she would have never have
done this I don't know what state of mind we can say she would have been in regarding what we now know with the
toxicology results right so we do have some more information about what happened or may have happened that day
although partially from sources who might have less than honest motives the house that Jessica was found out the
mailbox that she was tied to was owned by a very good friend of her boyfriend Garland's named Jesse Isaacs in fact
Garland had occasionally lived at this house which was less than 5 miles from Jessica's home and Jessica stayed with
him for periods of time Jessica was very familiar with the house and with the homeowner Jesse she seemed comfortable
being there although her friends her girlfriends say they were not and this was a known Party House Jess and Garland
ended up over there we believe sometime Wednesday night May 31st right Jesse said that he had not seen Jessica and
Garland together in some time until then and also that Jessica seemed off he said
she was being even more dramatic than usual at some point on Wednesday night or Thursday June 1st Garland and Jessica
had a big fight Jessica locked herself in the bathroom and called a friend to come and get get her this is backed up
by Jessica's friend Leanne Marino who says that Jessica hit in the bathroom because she was afraid of Garland but
when this girlfriend arrived Jessica was nowhere to be seen and after waiting for
45 minutes the friend then left we know that sometime before 4:30 on Thursday Jessica facetimed her daughter and
mother from the yard also a girl who served as Jessica's driver for her drug deals as well as the girl's
mom showed up at the house and witnessed a big fight between Jessica and Garland
or the aftermath of a fight M this was around 4:30 Jessica was distraught and left the
house this is because she was supposed to pick up her friend Katie Jackson from work at 5:00 but Jessica did not arrive
there until 5:15 Katie says that when Jessica arrived at Katie's work she was almost
hysterical saying that someone had told her that Garland was in the house in the
back room with two women Katie gave Jessica two Xanax and drove back to Angel drive back to that house well I'm
a little confused so the when she shows up to pick up her friend she's telling her friend well I'm I'm pissed off
because Garland was in the back with two women she she's telling her friend that
someone told her that at some point Garland was in the back room with two women so garlic fart is getting it on
with two women in the back or that's the rumor once back at the angel Drive house
Katie told Jessica to stay in the car while she was going to go inside and collect Jessica's things Katie went
inside and confronted Garland who was just emerging from the bedroom with two girls Garland told her that Jessica was
irrational and he couldn't handle her and Katie should take her home or take her
elsewhere Katie returned to the car and told Jessica that they were leaving but then Jessica jumps out of the car and
she's running around she said she she had to talk to Garland Katie later said that Jessica was not only running around
but behaving irrationally right Katie left and never heard from Jessica after that now no one knows what happened at
this point Garland's friend Jesse told the media that Jessica left the house around
6 the next time anyone that we know of saw her she was dead yeah this is confusing though too because Jessica
went to pick up her friend right then they drive back to this house that they're partying at right this is the
house that they also found her hanging from the mailbox mhm same house mhm so Garin is in the
back doing something with two women and that's the rumor that's why she's pissed
off that's why there's a fight but then at some point her friend leaves well how
does her friend leave is there a car there for her friend to leave or does Jessica have to get in the car and drive
her somewhere because she was her friend's ride right so that's kind of confusing
yeah yeah that's that that is interesting um but of course Jessica's acting a little strange because we know
from the toxicology report that she's on some kind of drug that night and also her on again off again boyfriend is
rumored to be cheating on her so yes she's going to act a little emotional mhm well and regarding the vehicle I
don't have confirmation of this but I believe that the vehicle in question that Katie left in may have been Katie's
car all right so Katie goes to work and says Jessica you can use car borrow my car that's why she needs a ride from
from work and also that makes more sense too because if if it wasn't your car and
somebody was 15 minutes late picking you up you wouldn't really care so much but
if they're baring your car you're like you should be back here right at 5:00 well one thing about this house
though it's equipped with a video camera which does face the mailbox but any footage that may have been taken by the
camera has never been released and we don't know whether if it was ever even viewed by
the police Jesse why would it be viewed there's no crime well Jess Jesse the homeowner was evasive as to the footage
he told True Crime daily that he's never looked for the video then that he didn't
know the passcode then that the camera may not have been on or that it may may have
been recorded over already so he's been asked directly by someone regarding this
footage right but this is again a huge misstep if you know that there's a camera again you can assume all you want
that this is a somebody committed suicide or that this is some kind of you know accidental uh drug death that
they're going to cause suicide but now you have somebody saying that there is a video camera
recording the scene of the suicide or Foul Play and and you're not going to take one or two
steps to get that information so you can review it I mean how lazy are these people right right well let's let's
discuss the two major theories at work here right because law enforcement has determined that Jessica committed
suicide and the family is convinced that she was murdered so let's try to break down the evidence for each Theory first
could Jessica have committed suicide her family says there's no chance her friends say no Jessica was full of fun
and life but we know from some of the celebrity suicides lately that family members are sometimes the last to know
that their loved one was suffering right and we can never really know who is likely to self harm often it is those
you would least expect so I know as I'm saying this some of you are thinking of someone out there statistically drug
addicts are more likely to kill themselves than non drug addicts are and there is some indication that Jessica
was a tortured Soul her Facebook page is full of quotes that are a little dark some examples she posted in the 18
months before her death are quote this shade of black really brings out the color of my soul and quote we're not
broken just bent on the other hand some of her quotes are more upbeat quote positive mind Positive
Vibes positive life but it seems that those are in the minority and may have been her way of trying to lift her
spirits someone who knew her commenting on in online form after her death said that Jessica was so kind talented funny
but she was a very very sad person she hit it well but she had a troubled life of course she had troubled life for all
indications she's a meth user yeah and and and I would venture to say very likely addicted to
Xanax uh a meth user and addicted to would be my my guess here and you have one kid that's living with your
grandparents and then you have a 8-year-old and but but he's 19 though that's a little different it's not like
he's five well my question would be how long has he lived there because if he's lived there since he's five then
something's been going on I don't get that Vibe I get the vibe that he probably he's an adult and that's he's
choosing to live there and if that's the case that's fine but again my point being is here's somebody that was you
know a beautiful person everybody says so and she's seems to be full of life she has one kid that she raises then she
has another kid and she has a lot to live for but you know once you get addicted
to these things a lot of people can't shake that and that even puts you more into a spiral of depression so a lot of
times family members would say the the Jessica I know wouldn't kill herself well the Jessica you also really know
and love she wouldn't be using methamphetamines well yeah I mean from the outside looking in here's what you
have the most convincing argument for Jessica possibly committing suicide is it's a whole bunch of things that are
going on in her life that that we can see from the outside looking in right she's a struggling unemployed single
mother she's an addict and with a meth habit as we said she has mood swings we know this from the witness eyewitness
reports regarding the timeline of those three days and she's possibly in a an abusive relationship at this time well
and the other thing too about them saying she's too vain well if she was really that vain
she wouldn't be using methamphetamines mhm we've seen the before and after pictures of that mhm doesn't go so well
well and according to her friend and family that in the recent years leading up to this Jessica made some bad choices
especially when it came to her love life um she started dating men that were less
than desirable in her family family's mind yeah a note to all the wom out there again there are nice guys out
there it's possible to find one well regarding this relationship so this this is what we do know and what has been
said Jessica and Garland were dating on and off for over two years and Linda Johnson describes the relationship as
toxic Jessica's friends say that Garland was emotionally and physically abusive stringing her along and going back and
forth between Jessica and other women Garland was known to do heroin and deal heroin but it said that Jessica was
unquestionably in love with Garland but the dramatic swings of the relationship these are obvious even to
us looking at this because you have things like a Facebook post that say the heart gets confused when it's constantly
told I love you by the same person who destroys it this was from April of 2017 then there's a post December of
2016 that says I don't hate you I love you but loving you is killing me so this is goodbye even if I don't want it to be
which clearly that wasn't goodbye since we know in June of 2017 Jessica was still
right or again you know with Garland now Garland's friend Jesse the homeowner says that after Jessica left the house
on June 1st which keep in mind where we aren't even sure is factual right that Jessica sent him a text saying
essentially that she didn't want to feel the pain anymore now Jessica's friend summer Leed better saw the text and says
that to her that it just meant that Jessica was frustrated and that she not you know not that she wanted to leave
this world but she didn't want to be with her boyfriend anymore right and that's a possibility the other
possibility is is it a text of I don't want to feel the pain anymore of this relationship or is it I don't want to
feel the pain anymore of being addicted to these drugs or is it a combination of
all that well so Jesse did give some more information that may point to Suicide as being likely okay I if this
information is to be believed he did tell a local news station that quote one of my roommates told me Jessica was out
in the driveway and pulled the shoe strings out of her shoes and was threatening suicide and he basically
kind of just Shrugged it off and told her you know get out of here with that I don't want to hear it and he shut the
door on her that's what he's saying he was told by somebody else right he says that this would have went down around
6:00 p.m. according to Jesse now after this he said he didn't see Jessica again until she was found 16 hours later dead
at the mailbox well again he's pointing all these things towards suicide but he had a piece of equipment in his house
recording that mailbox and we could have had those answers if Jesse he would have
turned those over well he was not that's the tricky thing though according to his
answers we don't know if anything was recorded on that right you know what I mean we we don't know if it was working
you know he gives multiple answers so only one of them can be correct now but if Jesse is telling the truth about that
statement about what he said a friend of his witnessed in the his front yard essentially and we only have his word
for this because we have no indication that the police backed this story up with any other Witnesses right but if if
he is telling the truth then that means that Jessica pulled the laces out of her
Converse sneakers and killed herself now to do that she would have had to carefully tie the laces together to make
a large Circle the small knots are very close to the ends of the laces so then she would have had to Loop the knotted
lace around her throat twist it into a figure eight and loop the other end over the top of the mailbox post and then
lower herself down onto the ground the mailbox is only 38 in tall at its highest point it is doable but seems
very strange it's it seems like a very strange specific plan for a distraught woman that is high on meth to see a
mailbox and figure out how to hang herself from it rather than a tree it's also a shoelace so you'd question the
strength of the shoe string itself could is this even possible to kill myself using this right you do have to question
the the the strength of it now it wouldn't be required to to support her weight just a portion of it right so
there is one major argument against suicide in this case and that people believe that no woman would commit
suicide in such a public place in such a public Way by hanging herself from a roadside mailbox for the whole world to
see generally women commit suicide in a private setting by using pills and alcohol now this is would be just what
Jessica's mom said would be more likely for her to if she chose to commit suicide and even if Jessica were
hysterical high and determined to kill herself the property she was on had lots of trees on it with with accessible
branches yeah well you need a tree but then you normally need rope so maybe shouldn't have access to the to rope
yeah well unfortunately there is a very public Trend right now of people killing
themselves using low hanging you know tying themselves to door knobs and and things like that so it's not completely
out of the question so if Jessica didn't kill herself then someone else did the Johnson family is convinced that Jessica
was murdered and the Horn Lake authorities are not interested in finding out the truth in fact the police
report filed on July 3rd States specifically and clearly quote the the positioning of Jessica in the method use
sparked some concern that maybe there was more to this incident and that detectives advised they would do a more
thorough death investigation but nothing came of this and the family was permitted to view only three pages of
the seven page police report so a few months after Jessica's death the family started working with Dr Maurice Godwin a
forensics expert who has provided his consulting services in several high-profile cases Dr Godwin analyzed
the evidence in this case and came to the conclusion that Jessica was murdered and the death scene at the mailbox was
staged so let's look at the evidence that points to possible murder here right Jessica was found tied up with shoelaces
the shoe the shoes that the laces apparently came from a pair of brownish gray Converse Allstars were found either
inside or near the police report is unclear about this or near the house where Jessica was found hanging we can
only assume that they were hers although Linda says it was almost unheard of for
Jessica to wear shoes of this type so they may not have been Jessica's shoes no one thinks it's very likely that
Jessica would have pulled the laces out of the shoes in the driveway or inside the home and then walk Barefoot all the
way to the roadside to kill herself remember we said the house in the mailbox are separated by a few hundred
yards Dr Godwin suggests testing the laces for touch DNA but as we know unfortunately the laces have been lost
or they were destroyed so therefore not testable yeah furthermore Jessica's clothing that she was wearing that night
also destroyed burned any evidence on those clothes or potential evidence is lost forever Linda Johnson does not
recognize the clothes that Jessica is wearing in the death photo as belonging to Jessica she says Jessica always wors
spaghetti strap tank tops in summertime not camo t-shirts and in fact Jessica was wearing such a tank top when she
left Linda's house that Wednesday the clothes Jessica was wearing when she was found by the mailbox where did they come
from who did they belong to and where did Jessica's real clothes go Dr Godwin pointed to a tiny pin siiz St stain or
mark on the sole of one of the sneakers that he says should be tested for blood but since the shoes were returned to the
family clearly this was not done by law enforcement well the family making the statement before saying that she wanted
to kill herself again I I don't put a ton of weight to something like that because we don't know what other people
are struggling with what the struggles are inside and like you said which is a a great point is a lot of times the
family is the last to know how bad a family member is struggling but the fact that they don't
recognize her clothes at all and she lives with them yeah is is something strange there now it could be a simple
explanation but I don't know if we're going to get it from Jesse or Garland right right and and as you said earlier
the shoelaces being a weird thing to to be used in either a suicide or a murder for that matter right and we both agree
that that it's shoelaces are a strange thing to to use here well here here's what I wonder though is to me a shoelace
is more likely to be a murder weapon than it is a something that somebody use to commit suicide but see you know what
I go back and forth on that because I almost wonder like I don't know I I just I just feel like it I question when and
where did the shoelaces come out of the shoes is the whole thing for me right it
makes it actually makes more sense to me that the person intending to use them for suicide might have removed them from
their own shoes that's just the way the way that I lean um some of the items that were found with her so we have
Jessica's purse that was found between her legs the the purse was open and you can see that it contains a pink charging
cord a phone charging cord her black wallet is near her hand with a cord of some sort over her thumb yeah why would
she kill herself with her hand hands on her belongings like this it it just it looks much more like someone placed
those objects there afterwards now one thing I want to make sure that we point out here because this is very fishy this
is very suspicious Linda Jessica's mother says that as part of the drug deal that Jessica did that
day Jessica would have had over $500 in her possession or should have had over $500 in her
possession only $80 was found in Jessica's wallet right and that's something that they should look into but
we don't know her whereabouts we don't have every detail of where she went so was were there multiple drug deals that
took place did she buy more drugs did she give the money to somebody else there's a lot of details that were
missing yes she she I I think the word should have that money um we we don't know if she should have that money or
not Dr Godwin noted when the family got Jessica's purse back the clasp on the side the the piece of metal attaching
the long purse strap to the bag right was broken as if there was some type of struggle you maybe two people were
pulling at the bag in some kind of fight maybe there was some kind of robbery is
is what getting at with there she may have had or should have had $500 in her possession well that's what's so
frustrating with all these little points of evidence that point to possibly it not being a suicide it least warrants an
investigation an investigation into what actually [Music] happened and make sure you head over to
our website click on the store Page and order your true crime garage plumbing company shirt with the captain's famous
quote use a piece of [ __ ] all right everybody join us back here in the garage tomorrow until then be good be
kind and don't litter [Applause] [Music] you can start your day off right when you find a professional on Angie to get
your plumbing right first connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well
visit angie.com you can do this when you Angie that

Jessica Johnson /// Part 1 /// 282

Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

June 2017, Mississippi - A mail carrier out on her route discovers the unimaginable. As she made her rounds on a rural road she sees the lifeless body of a woman tied to the post of a black metal mailbox. How long had she been there? How many cars passed by the mailbox and never saw her? How did this happen and why? Beer of the Week - Paradise Lost by Southern Prohibition Brewing Garage Grade - 4 out of 5 bottle caps

Beer Fund: https://truecrimegarage.com/home

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com (https://pcm.adswizz.com) for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brief Summary

Jessica Johnson was found dead tied to a mailbox, raising questions about murder versus suicide and the investigation's integrity.

Key points

Jessica's Life Before Tragedy. Jessica Johnson, a single mother, struggled with her choices and relationships before her death.
The Discovery of Jessica Johnson. A mail carrier discovers a horrifying scene at a mailbox in Horn Lake, Mississippi.
The Investigation's Flaws. Jessica's family criticizes the police investigation as a sham, raising questions about evidence handling.
The Mysterious Death of Jessica Johnson. Jessica's death is ruled a suicide, but her family believes otherwise. They argue she would never leave her children.
Conflicting Theories. Law enforcement claims suicide, while Jessica's family insists she was murdered. The evidence is debated.
Toxic Love. Jessica's relationship with Garland was described as toxic, with emotional and physical abuse.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Nothing's going to stop us now!

1:56WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Garage TV

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.