Photos discovered on an old cell phone help solve the case of Jade Colvin's disappearance | 48 Hours | Forensic Files

[music] We're looking for [music] this missing girl. Her name is Jade Culvin. >> She was a sweet little ray of sunshine.
[music] It's just an angel, a doll. This is a cold case that could just sit there
and no one let it. >> Jade went missing June 10th of [music] 2016. >> At the time she was 14 years old,
>> but she comes off as much [music] older. She's super cool, super smart, so interesting.
>> This one tugged at my heartstrings. We have families, we have kids, some of us
have daughters. You don't get to go home and turn off Jade Coven. >> There were so many people that were
involved in this. >> Lead detective, special agent, >> deputy US Marshall. I'm a detective.
[music] Everybody came together to figure out what happened to Jade. >> I first met her through one of my best
friends and we were inseparable from that moment. We just [music] always had a dumb good time wherever we were. She
loved doing her hair. She was really great at colors. She was [music] very artsy, had great
style. >> They were just like sisters. >> I don't think Jade had an easy life. >> Her mom would disappear for [music]
periods of time. She was put in foster care. Jade just really hated it. She ran away.
>> She kind of went from state to state, place to place. >> It was just hard to keep up with where
she was. But she always always always just would [music] check in and then one random day just nothing ever again.
Weeks went by then it's months then it's years. >> Once I was assigned this case [music]
every trace of her was gone. >> When we initially adopted the case she had been listed as a runaway.
>> How do you know at this point? Is this a runaway or is this somebody took her?
>> We didn't know. >> Jade's digital footprint last landed in Decor, Iowa. >> Really remote area that she did not
know. She was there for several days and was never seen again. [bell] >> The last place Jade [music] was living
was here. >> Absolutely. The house was straight on this driveway. >> There's a lot of places to look for a
young girl here. I mean, where did you even begin? >> It's a needle in a hay stack. I said,
>> "Who are the last people that were around her? Who lived in the same house or who was at the same place?
We don't know where loyalties and alliances lie at this point." >> We got a lot of tips from Massachusetts
to Oklahoma to Texas to Minnesota. >> My goal was always like, "Oh, we're going to find this girl." That was the
hope every day. We never forgot about her and just always wondered where she was. I was
afraid something bad had happened. I would have never in a million years thought it would come to this.
>> [music] [music] [music] >> Why is that not going on? >> I myself have thought of Jade several
times. There we go. Went not at work. You get to do the eggs. I think of my own children. Whoa. [laughter]
>> If you went a day not knowing where one of your kids was at. >> Very careful. You'd go crazy. Cheryl
Nablo, mother of three, is a detective with the De Moines, Iowa Police Department. She specializes in finding
missing kids. >> Nobody wants to be living in a world where they don't know where their kid is
or if their kid's safe. >> In 2022, Detective Nablau joined forces with Deputy US Marshal Justin Wallace,
Detective Chris Webker, and Special Agent John Turbett in the search for Jade Culvin. Jade was 14 when she was
reported missing in June 2016 after she ran away from a local shelter for troubled youth.
>> We are here to locate kids who run away. >> The US Marshall Service had adopted
Jade's case as part of a statewide effort [music] to find missing children called Operation Homecoming.
>> What are the challenges in finding missing children? >> When somebody goes missing, they want to
be missing. and they don't want you to know where they are. It's hard to [music] track them down.
>> At that point, Jade had been missing for more than 5 years. >> Where do [music] you begin?
>> You got to start at the beginning. You got to know who the person is, their friends, their family, their whole
background. >> And they soon discovered Jade had a troubled childhood. >> Jade [music] had a rough go of it
growing up. >> Things weren't the easiest for her. Detective Nablo learned Jade's mother,
Leiddon, had died three years after Jade went missing. >> So, I couldn't just reach out to her and
talk to her about everything that she knew about Jade. >> Jade's father, Kevin, had lost contact
with his daughter. Both parents had struggled with substance abuse. Something special agent John Turbett
explains had an impact on Jade. Jade Coven grew up with, I think, a pretty dysfunctional family [music] situation.
It was difficult. >> She didn't hold any of it. She just accepted it for like what it [music] was
and dealt with it and didn't let it get to her negatively. Loved her to death. Spent every day
together. Despite everything, friend Dne Lynn Greer and her mother Jamie Coupeman
described Jade as easygoing and upbeat. >> There was reasons she could have been
angry and she wasn't. Like she was very light, light and bubbly. I met her mom. Her mom was very
unreliable, but she kept telling me, "Oh, how much she loves Jade [music] and all that, you know, and I believe she
did. don't get me wrong, but she just couldn't make the choice [music] for stability.
She couldn't overcome her own demons. >> Her mom definitely cared about her. >> I think her mother loved her. The state
determined at some point that she was not able to care for her. In September 2015, when Jade was 13, the Iowa
Department of Human Services stepped in and Deputy Justin Wallace says Leiddon lost custody.
>> That's when they took Jade into foster care. >> For the next nine months, Jade was in
and out of different facilities and foster care, and she often ran away. >> Run away, been found, run away, been
found several times. >> Jade is doing what some other kids do. She's running away from the system.
She's not wanting to be placed in a stranger's home. >> When Jade was placed in foster care,
Leiddon would have limited access to her and she wanted more. >> She wanted Jade to live with her.
>> But without legal custody, Jamie Kman says Leiddon resorted to trying to hide
her daughter from authorities. >> I think she was just trying to hide [music] out to stay with her mom or to
stay where her mom could visit. Her mom tried to keep her out of the police spotlight, just trying to hide her out
different places. >> And according to [music] her aunt, Tandra Bruce, Jade became good at
hiding. [music] >> She would change her hair. She would change her appearance. [music]
>> So, she really knew how to run away and hide. >> She did. She really [music] did.
At that point, Jade was caught in the middle of a mother trying to do her best who arranged stays with friends and
family and being placed in foster care, but often living as a runaway. >> I felt so bad. I felt horrible.
>> Did you tell her you can come here anytime? >> I did. >> Call me whatever you need.
>> I did. Call me and I'll be here for [music] you. >> She was jumping all over for a while, so
it was hard to track her. The Iowa Department of Human Services lost track of Jade after she ran away
from that shelter in June 2016. I had hope that she was out there somewhere and she would get a hold of somebody
eventually. >> And then there is nothing. >> Investigators learned Jade's family and
friends spent years searching for her online. We saw in [music] the social media accounts that friends and family
were trying to reach out to her and continue to look for her. >> Everybody's reaching out to her at her
birthday saying, "We love you. We miss you. We just want you back home." >> Every year I'd go on Facebook, "Happy
birthday, Jade. Please call me. We still love her. You know, anytime she wants to
come home, it doesn't matter what kind of trouble you got yourself into." I thought she'd pop back up. We just
wanted her to know like we were there for her. >> According to Deputy Justin Wallace,
Jade's mother, Leiddon, also posted, "She misses her and wants her to come back."
>> Posts like this one from September 2018. It's hurting all of us so much. Please
call someone, Jade. I'm seriously physically dying of a broken heart. >> There was no response to any of those.
And when Jade's mother died a year later, there was still no response. >> Leiddon passed away. She never came to
the funeral. She never showed up at the funeral. She would have been there. >> Jade's family and friends still held
hope. Jade would surface when she turned 18 and would be free of foster care. >> I had hoped that she had run away and
was laying low. And we thought when she turned 18, when it was safe, she would get a hold of us again. And when her
18th [music] birthday came around and she didn't get a hold of us, we knew, we knew something was very wrong.
As Detective Nablo and Deputy Wallace worked to find Jade, [music] they got help from state and national
organizations that shared these missing posters on social media. >> That was [music] huge. That's when a lot
of tips started coming in. >> And there would be a potential break in the investigation. a tip from a hospital
worker in Minnesota. >> We're not too far [music] away from Iowa. There's this girl.
We think maybe that's Jade. [music] We wanted to chase every single lead, every single tip as far [music] as we
could. And when De Moines PD Detective Cheryl Neblo got a tip, Jade Culvin might have
been in a hospital in Redwing, Minnesota, she was hopeful. A staff member had observed a female
come into the hospital and the person that she was with was kind of controlling the conversation. It drew
suspicion and they thought it maybe looked like Jade. So, there was follow-up done to get the video footage
to try to figure out who that person was. When you have a lead, you work your lead
until you either prove it's Jade or prove it's false. And ultimately I was able to identify who that person was and
it was not Jade. >> Additional tips poured in from all over the country. >> You know, ranging from Massachusetts to
Oklahoma to Texas. People were definitely paying attention. >> Look at that. Are those all the leads
that you explored in the different ways you went about the investigation? >> Yeah, it's a lot of leads.
It felt like each tip was hope, right? cuz like she could have been out there. >> The first big break in the case came
[music] when Detective Nablo was able to figure out where Jade had gone after she
ran away from that shelter in June 2016. Detective Nablo had obtained search warrants and got access to Jade's social
media. Instagram messages from March 2017 caught her attention. >> You can see where her mom is coming to
get her in Arizona. I just talked to mom. Jade wrote to her friend Dan Lynn. She's coming next week.
I'm in Arizona right now. Jade wrote to another friend. I should be back in Iowa
today or tomorrow. Detective Nablo learned Jade had been staying in Arizona for several months, and it seemed
Leiddon was going to bring her back to Iowa. Detective Nablo also got access to Leiddon's accounts and on her Facebook
there was a message mentioning the town of Dora. >> Decor is just a small rural Midwest Iowa
town. >> As Detective Nablo combed through Leiddon's Facebook, she saw messages Leiddon had sent to Jade and uncovered a
clue. a mention of someone named James. Investigators learned James was James Buckmer, a man Leiddon had been dating
for several months. >> Leiddon and him met online. They began a romantic relationship. Leiddon would go
and stay with him occasionally. I think one point was living with him. Deputy Justin Wallace found out James Buckmer
Murski owned a farm in Dora, Iowa, and had two sons, Brian, aged 19, and James Jr., age 21. Investigators gained access
to voice messages Leiddon had sent Jade, detailing a plan for her daughter to stay at the farm while she lived 3 hours
away, dealing with some legal issues. You're going to live here until you are probably 18 and able to get out of the
system if I don't already have you out of the system and you'll have a good life, baby. It's what I want. I love
you. >> It was just a temporary I'm going to get right with the court and then Jay could
come live with me. >> How big a lead is that? Are you thinking we've got a break in this case?
>> Yeah, it was huge. I remember going over to the US Marshall's office and and they
were excited. The marshals reached out to local law enforcement near the Bachmki farm for
help talking to the family and that's when Detective Chris Webker from the Wines County Sheriff's Office officially
joined the team. First of all, decor. I mean, where where are we? [music] What is this town known
for? >> God's country. >> It is God's country. >> It's in northeast Iowa, kind of way up
in the top corner. So tell me about getting the call to first, you know, start the investigation
into this young missing girl, Jade Coven. Who called you? >> So we uh we received a call from the US
Marshalss and they reached out to us and said, "Hey, do you guys know the Black MKIs? Can you guys help us uh go and
talk to them?" And so that's ultimately what we where we started. The goal was to talk to them and say, "Hey, look,
we're looking for this missing girl. Her name is Jade Kovven. And your names were
brought up in social media. What can you tell us about her? [music] >> They found Brian Buckmer first.
According to Detective Webker, Brian confirmed Jade had been at the farm. Her mother dropped her off and left. A few
days after she arrived, Brian and Jade had lunch at this pizza ranch and took several photos together.
[music] So right here, this booth. >> Yep. >> I mean, you look at this photo >> and you see, you know, she has a genuine
smile. [music] >> And it seems like they're, you know, sort of goofy face, like having fun with
each other. They got along. >> Teenage kids and and everything. And yeah, absolutely.
>> Brian told investigators he didn't know what happened to Jade. He said the last
time he saw her was 2 days after their lunch at Pizza Ranch around 1000 p.m. before he said he worked the night shift
at Walmart. Brian claimed he texted with Jade until just after midnight when she
suddenly stopped responding. Deputy Wallace wasn't convinced by Brian's story. >> There were several of us thought that we
probably weren't getting all the information out of them. that included Detective Webker.
>> There's something that doesn't feel right about this as to what's going on. >> And there was something else that
troubled Detective Webker. >> That was the last time that she ever had any from Facebook, from Instagram, from
Snapchat. She never had another digital footprint again. >> And for a teenage girl, how unusual is
that? >> Extremely unusual. >> How could Jade seemingly disappear without a trace? According to Deputy
Wallace, Leiddon thought it was unusual, too. And she went to the farm to confront James.
>> We're able to interview one of the friends who said she drove Leiddon out to the farm in Dora. The friend stayed
in the car while Leon went inside the house to talk to James Bachmer. >> Leiddon's friend told the Marshalss
James claimed Jade ran away. Suspecting there was more to the story, Chris Webker called special agent John
Turbett from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and asked him for help.
>> Chris laid out what we knew, what the marshals had been able to unearth. And as I'm sitting there listening, I said,
"It's very likely that Jade is no longer alive, and we actually need to start treating this as a homicide
investigation. >> [music] >> So this here is the farm. >> Yep. So this is the where Bachmer
Merskis lived. >> Having established Jade was at this farm in Dora, Iowa in March of 2017.
Detective Chris Webb hoped new leads could be [music] developed to solve the mystery of what happened to her.
This farm really is at the end of the road. Here >> it is. The house at the end of the road.
>> House at the end of the road. >> You can see how secluded it is. >> This is a young girl who has a history
of running away. When you get out here, is it possible? Do you think she could have run away?
>> Our evidence showed that she didn't. >> And if you were to run away from here, I
mean, there is just farmland and empty space. I [music] mean, direction. Uh, you're not from here. I bet you which
way were we facing right now? I mean, she's not going to know where she's at. [music]
>> When investigators first visited the farm in 2022, James Bachmer no longer lived here, and the house had been
gutted and renovated, but the new owners let them look around. >> We tried to find anything we could in
the area, and ultimately we didn't. You have this farm where we know Jade is last seen. So we draw a box around the
farm and we say who's living in the farm? Who are the guests at the farm? Certainly the owner of the property, the
one who's having contact with Leiddon and Jade is James Bachmer senior. And then you have these two sons, James Jr.
and Brian. >> Having already talked to Brian, detectives were eager to reach James Jr.
Turns out he had an alibi. He wasn't living in the area at the time and was never at the farm with Jade. So that
left James Bachmer senior to be interviewed. We had known from that initial contact with the kids that Bach
Murski had moved away and he was in Georgia. >> Special Agent John Turbett made the
trip. >> We located the house and it was out in the middle of nowhere. What's the
mindset going into an interview and a first interaction with somebody like him? >> I think despite what a lot of people
think, I am really trying to take off the the the police hat and a lot of the the things that come with that and I
need to sit down with James and I need to be John and he needs to be James and can we have a good conversation about
this young lady that he clearly had out on his property and has never been seen.
When John Turbet knocked on the door, James Bachmer agreed to talk. These are excerpts of the audio interview. I
>> think one of the first things out of his mouth, if not the first, was a >> number of years ago something happened
in Iowa and it's affected my life forever. >> I've knocked on doors a lot in my career
and that would be on the, you know, that would be an outlier for for opening remarks. You're like, okay, is he
thinking of something that, you know, I'm not? I'm making it clear. I'm talking about Jade. And he continues,
>> "Okay, I have that clip. I'm gonna play for you." >> You know what I think? >> What?
>> We got to find answers. >> Yeah, I agree with that. >> All I want to do is to go to my grave to
know that my kids had nothing to do what was going on. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I >> I don't know what they do.
>> It's interesting. He said, "I don't want to implicate my kids." >> Yes. >> But in so doing, is he implicating his
kids? Well, it it seemed like it. So, he immediately is talking about someone being implicated, which says in my mind
he thinks a crime was committed. Now, it's a question of was it me? Was it my boys?
>> James Bachmer confirmed he was in a relationship with Leiddon and that she brought Jade to his farm to hide her and
keep her from being put in foster care. >> What I thought was going to happen, to
be honest, I thought we were going to be a family. He admits that there's a plan
to bring Jade back, you know, to Iowa. He's saying this woman was trying to reunite with her daughter and and get to
a new life. >> Did he say when in that interview he last saw Jade? >> Yeah. >> To my knowledge, she was getting ready
to do a bunch of laundry and I had to go to Norbe for something. >> Norbe, which is like a farm and fleet
store. And the next thing I know, she'd vanished out of thin air. James Bachmer talked for several hours
that day, but after the interview, John Turban and Chris Webker were still no closer to finding out what happened to
Jade. They wondered if there were any additional clues to be discovered back at the farm.
>> When he got back, we came up with the plan of what else can we find? And that's when we came across a neighbor
that said, "Hey, by the way, I have this barn uh that James Bachmer property is left in in 2018. He was left in a real
hurry and left all of his stuff behind." And so we're like, "Oh, really?" And so
we went there and and found this dusty old phone in a box. >> It was James Bachmer's cell phone.
>> This was a real find. I mean, if you're looking for a smoking gun, you're getting a cell phone instead.
>> This was something that was unbelievable to come across. >> On the phone, they found these photos of
Jade at the farm. [music] There's this one with her mother, Leon, when she dropped her off and left. And this one
from the day after Brian and Jade had lunch at Pizza Ranch of them at a bonfire.
>> There was a number of photos with them at that bonfire roasting hot dogs [music] and stuff like that.
They're the last known photos of Jade. On Bach Mursky's phone, there were also text messages Jade had sent, including
the ones Brian had mentioned when he said he worked the night shift at Walmart, the same night Jade was last
heard from. [music] >> Those last text conversations were monumental in my opinion.
>> So, let's go through these a little bit. Here it is. Jade reaching out to him
around a little after midnight. >> It says, "Hey, Brian, it's Jade." And I always love this because uh you know,
the typical teenager saying, "Jade, you know, >> she's just checking in with him?
Is it going okay? Tired yet?" >> Yeah. Just, you know, just the typical conversation.
>> And she's like, "If you want to call on your hour break, we still can if you want." So, they're planning for his
break like within >> ultimately planning to talk again that night on March 30th.
>> And then he's like, "Well, I guess just text me when you can." This is 2:00 already. 2:03. He's on his break.
>> Yep. And fully expecting that Jade's going to be texting >> and doesn't get anything.
>> Those text messages along with Brian's time sheets from Walmart help confirm his story and cleared him. We're able to
cooperate things he's telling us. We kind of took him off of the table. Ask him if you could.
>> As Chris Weber and John Turbett continue to search through information from Bach
Mursky's phone, they say they made an important discovery. Several deleted messages.
Those were mostly family that was reaching out to find Jade, to talk to Jade, >> including messages from Leiddon, who
sounds desperate to reach her daughter. Please let my baby girl know I love her and need to talk to her.
>> He's selectively removing what we would consider evidence or or helpful information. suspicious behavior then
>> I would think so. >> But it would be two seemingly random photos found on Bakerski's cell phone
that changed the course of the investigation. One of his kitchen and one of his bedroom taken just 2 days after Jade had
that last text exchange with Brian. >> Describe for me what you see here. This is from the time frame of April 1st,
2017. >> So, this is a a picture of the Bachmer kitchen. This is a very unique picture
where everything is cleaned up. Everything is organized. There's no garbage laying around. It's clean.
>> Was it a crime scene? >> And as we talk to people, Brian included, he talks about the condition
of this house uh when he had lived there and been there. He does not say that they were good
housekeepers. I mean, it was it was not good. So, to see pictures like this, this is way out of what law enforcement
knew. This is way out of description. >> And in another photo on the phone taken
2 months later on June 5th, 2017 of Brian and James Jr. in that same bedroom, investigators say it appeared
the bed was new, that the bed in the earlier photo had been removed and replaced. The mattress is smaller.
There's no headboard anymore. [music] And you can see the condition of the room is back to messy. You're thinking,
[music] you know, evidence has been cleaned up. We are now looking at all of these
pieces and [music] it seems undeniable. It is time to tell him that case facts show us that you were involved in the
death of Jade Culvin. [music] >> The more time we spend in this investigation, the case facts just
continue to all point in one direction and at one person. And that one person was James Bachmer.
>> James Bachmer senior. >> More than two years into the investigation to find Jade Kulvin,
special agent John Turbett believes he knows what happened to her. >> I thought James Bachmer had killed and
disposed of Jade's body. >> Now he needed to prove his theory. Armed with the photos from the cell phone, he
went back to Georgia. >> The second interview is going to be different than the first. I I actually
open with, "Hi, James. I'm John from Iowa. Do you remember me?" "How are you, buddy?" "You remember me?" "No, I'm
John. I'm the officer from Iowa that talked to you about 5 months ago. We sat right in at your kitchen table."
>> And he's like, "No." And I'm like, "Okay, so that would obviously something would be really wrong if a human being
could not remember that." >> And I'm not even going to lie. I'm not even close to being sober.
>> He tells you that he's drunk. He can't seem to remember things. Did you believe
him? >> I didn't. If you recall in that first interview, his level of detail was
fantastic. Then we get back and it's like, he doesn't know me for starters. He can't place Leon or Jade. And that
all seems remarkably unbelievable. >> Turbet pressed on and he asked Buck Mki about those photos from his phone.
>> A couple days after this little girl's never seen or heard from again, ever. This is your bedroom. So, you cleaned
your bedroom. Great job. See how clean that is? >> No. >> The floors are shiny. You see that?
>> So, I guess you're thinking that there was >> evidence there that I tried to get rid
what you're saying cuz And I'm telling you right now, I'll guarantee you there isn't.
>> Guarantee you there isn't. >> What are you thinking when you hear that? >> Well, I mean, as you listen to that
clip, he says, "Well, you must think I've, you know, hidden evidence or destroyed evidence." And I'm like, well,
it's getting hard for me to reach any other conclusion at that point. >> According to Turbet, Bachmer had an
explanation for why he took those photos. >> He floats the idea, hey, I was going to
sell or lease the property, but I don't think that was ever proven to be the case.
>> The truth is good. We'd agree, right? >> The truth is, but I don't know what you
want. >> Just the truth. >> And what is the truth? Because I don't know what it is. What is it? The truth
is where Jade ended up. >> All right. Where? >> Well, I'm I'm I'm going to ask you that
question >> and I'm asking you because I don't know. >> I'm pleading with him to just talk about
the truth. And he's admitting the truth is good, but we're not quite having a truthful conversation. At that point, it
is time to tell him that based on everything, the case facts show us that you were involved in the death of Jade
Culvin. And it's a very important moment. All right, let's listen to you're saying that to him
>> at this point is that the case back show us you were involved in Jade's, you know, Jade's death.
>> You do know where Jade's at. >> Dead. >> Yeah, I told you last time she >> Yeah, you keep saying death.
>> She's dead. >> She's dead. >> Why do you say that? >> She's dead. >> I think James Bachmer just wanted to
know, had we somehow pieced this all together? >> The truth of James. I already >> We should talk about that.
>> A long time ago. Figured >> I'd go to the grave before I'd tell the truth. >> About this?
>> Yes. >> I'd go to the grave before I' I'd talk about this? >> Yes. >> Did you take that as a confession?
>> Uh, that's about as close as you could probably get. At the end of that interview, any doubt I had, if there was
any, had been removed. >> You've got the right guy. >> We've got the right guy. >> In August 2024, James Buckmer was
charged with murder in the second degree. >> My heart just dropped. Eight years after Jade was reported
missing, her friends and family, including her aunt Tandra Bruce, finally learned the teenager they cared so much
about was never coming back. >> You just don't want to believe it. It hurt me so bad.
>> That she's gone. >> Yeah. That she's gone. >> Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott
Brown felt the evidence against James Bachmer was strong. Jade was at James Bachmer's residence.
He was the last person to have seen Jade alive. >> He had those cell phone photos of James
Bachmer's clean kitchen and bedroom and the deleted messages from Jade's family.
>> Communications like where Liddon is looking for Jade. >> And he had James Bachmer's own words
>> a long time ago. Figured I'd go to Gray before I tell the truth. >> Why would you make that statement if you
had nothing to do with Jade Culvin's death, >> but what Scott didn't have was Jade's
body. >> Jade Culvin has never been recovered. Her body was never found. Usually, there
is a body. So, a jury would look at that and okay, obviously a crime has been committed.
But here we have to prove that a crime [music] was committed, that Jade is missing, and that she didn't leave on
her own. >> And with the case about to go on trial, would it be enough to convince a jury of
Bach Mursk's guilt? >> How do we make that not only make sense, [music] but make sense beyond a
reasonable doubt? Is it enough? Certainly, that was a concern here. >> [music] >> For more than three years, Deputy US
Marshal Justin Wallace says a dedicated and passionate group worked tirelessly to try and find out what happened to
Jade. >> There were so many people that were involved in this. All of us put in a lot
of work, a lot of time, a lot of effort. That team included detective Cheryl Neabau, Detective Chris Webker, and
Special Agent John Turbett. >> There was never a doubt that we had the right person.
>> The murder trial against James Bachmer, now gay-haired, began in August 2025.
Prosecutor Scott Brown explains [music] how Bachmer's actions after he claimed Jade had run away pointed to his guilt.
Why isn't he calling law enforcement? Hey, there was this girl that was staying at my place and now people can't
find her. Why wouldn't he do that? >> The defense argued there was no evidence Jade Culvin was dead or that James
Bachmer had killed her. There was no DNA. They said no murder weapon and no damning Google searches. But there was
Jade's history of running away. Brown says that's irrelevant. >> She did have a history of running away,
but she always resurfaced. She always stayed on her cell phone. Why would she stop using her cell phone? That was a
big hurdle for them. Special Agent John Turbett and Detective Chris Webker say throughout the week-long trial,
Bakerski, who did not testify, showed little emotion. >> He seemed emotionally detached. He just
tried to stay stoic. >> And there was information the jury wouldn't hear. [music] James Bachmer had
a criminal history, including a prior charge for harassment. And in 2013, Bachmeri spent nearly a year behind bars
after being charged with child endangerment against his own children and took a plea to a lesser offense of
assault. Deputy Justin Wallace described some of the violence as alleged in court
documents. He had a metal chair with a battery hooked up to it and when the boys
misbehaved, he put him in the chair which essentially shocked them. >> Oh my gosh. I mean, when you hear that,
are you already thinking the worst of what he could have done to Jade? >> It definitely does creep to the
forefront of your mind. >> Deputy Wallace believes Leon didn't know about his history of violence.
>> She probably did not have any idea of who he truly was. That's something Jamie
Coupeman believes as well. >> I know Leiddon would not have taken Jade somewhere that she thought this of all
things would happen. >> As for a motive for why Bachmer Murki would kill Jade Culvin.
>> There was some evidence that we had that he was attracted to Jade. He took all
those photos of her. >> When the jury began deliberations, Scott Brown was confident in the case he
presented. Within several hours, we the jury find the defendant guilty of murder
in the second degree. >> James Bachmer was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Considering he's 67 years old, it is
essentially a life sentence. Jade's aunt Tandra Bruce was relieved. >> And when you heard the verdict, what did
you think? I thought finally justice is being done. >> I was super grateful that the family was
able to get that outcome in the case. It makes it all worth it. This was about justice for Jade.
>> Looking back on it, it kind of seems pretty amazing how it came together. >> Everybody just kept their head down and
kept going. >> I think it it gives a lot of people hope that there are people who are as
passionate and committed as the team that went into trying to find out what happened to Jade Culvin. Yeah, this was
very special for us, but but there are a lot of of police officers out there doing the exact same thing.
>> But everyone involved believes the case is not over yet. >> My hope is to get Jade someday. This
isn't one that's going to stop for for me. We all agree that we're going to continue to see if we can find out where
she is and bring her home to them. Just because James was charged and convicted doesn't mean that she still
doesn't deserve [music] to be found. >> I want to bring her home. I want to have
a proper burial for her. I want somebody out there. They know something to please
come forward. >> Until then, those who love Jade continue to struggle with their grief.
I have pictures and you know I just want to [music] think of her as when she was
happy. >> I talk about her. I don't let people forget about her. She didn't deserve any of this. And I never want
anybody to think that she did anything wrong or that [music] it was any way her fault.
I [sighs] I [snorts] just wanted more people to know about her that she existed and she
was a person. She got everything she didn't deserve in life. She deserved the entire world. And
she would have made the world a better place every day [music] that she would have been here. [snorts]
>> [music] [music] >> Welcome to Postmortm. I'm your [music] host, Ann Marie Green, and today we're
discussing the case of 14-year-old Jade Culvin. She was reported missing in June
of 2016 after she ran away from a local shelter in Iowa for troubled youth. But then her case went unsolved for years
until a new team of investigators set out to find answers, following leads all the way to a remote farm in Dora, Iowa.
So joining me today is 48 hours correspondent Natalie Morales who reported on Jade's case. And once again,
Natalie, it's always good to have you here. Thanks again for having me, Amory. Now I should point out this is a case
about the passion and the persistence of so many investigators who really work together to try to solve this yearslong
mystery of what happened to this missing young girl. Absolutely. Uh I want to give everyone the quick reminder as per
usual. If you have not watched or listened to this episode, it's called Jade Culvin is missing. Go check it out
and then come back for this conversation. All right, Natalie, we learn very early on in the hour, Jade
Culvin's had a tough, tough childhood. Both her mother, Leiddon, and her father Kevin, they struggle with substance
abuse. Jade is only 13 when she's placed in foster care, but she's in and out of
different facilities, and she runs away a lot. So when she ran away in 2016, in a way this was part of a pattern. So I'm
wondering why for Jade's family and for her friends, why they thought this was different. Well, I mean, she literally
just fell off the map. You know, as you mentioned, she did frequently run away. She ran away from a shelter. She was
hiding from the foster care system. Her mother, Leon, also tried to hide her from the system as well. She didn't want
her daughter to be in foster care. She wanted her daughter to be with her. But as you mentioned, Leiddon and Jade's
father, both had a history of substance abuse. Kevin, the father, also had lost contact with Jade. She was officially
reported missing in 2016 by the shelter when when she ran away. Her reaching out
to friends and family. That all stopped in March of 2017. And that's when friends and family started to think,
okay, this is unusual, but it was when she would have turned 18. She would have aged out of the foster care system. and
some of her family and friends, that's when they started to fear something had happened to her. So, I mean, I hate to
to say this, but you know, I mean, plenty of young women go missing. They disappear into the night, and often
those cases are not followed up on. What encouraged authorities to keep looking for Jade after so many years? Well, the
investigation into her disappearance really picked up in 2020, and it was with the US Marshalss. They had this
statewide operation called Operation Homecoming. It was an effort to find missing children. Now, Jade's case was
one of 24 young adults that they were looking into. And the incredible thing is they were able to solve and find all
but two of them. Unfortunately, Jade was one of them and another person who is still missing. In 2022, this team of
various agencies has called in as well. And I want to give credit to the people involved. Detective Nablo is with the De
Moine PD. She joined forces with the deputy US Marshal Justin Wallace who then called in Detective Chris Webb in
Dora, the sheriff's office there. And the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, brought in special agent
John Turbett, all in the search of Jade Coven. Detective Nablo, she was the one who went to Instagram and Facebook and
and she subpoenaed them and and said, "I need to get access to Jade Coven social
media account." And that's when she discovered that Jade completely stopped communicating with anyone in March of
2017. And as you know, you have teenagers. I have teenagers. So, um, for them not to have any kind of social
media presence, very unusual. So this team once they saw that they said something here is wrong. As special
agent John Turbet said if we can't find her we want to get justice for Jade. In fact um mentioning special agent uh
John Turbet I want to play a clip. He explains why Jade's case was so important to his team.
>> We have kids. Some of us have daughters. And you see your your own uh loved ones
in some of these situations. Jade's picture was uh hung up on my, you know, whiteboard and I I looked at it every
day for a couple years and and she was smiling and that's how I always wanted to remember. I'm like, that's why I'm,
you know, trying to find her. >> So, you hear that passion right there with the special agent talking about how
this case resonated. It really hit home to him. Yeah. You know, I I totally get that. When I think about the pictures
that were in the hour, I kept on thinking she looks like any kid, you know, in my own daughter's high school.
So, I totally get what in what investigators felt. Um, I also thought it was really interesting that she was
still, despite all of this dysfunction, really close to her mother. And this is something that the detectives kind of
pick up as well. Investigators, they find new evidence. And what they find is that after Jade ran away from the
shelter in 2016, they're discussing a plan Leiddon had hatched for Leiddon to bring Jade to this farm in Dora, Iowa.
It's owned by a man that she's been dating not for a very long time. His name is uh James Bachmeri. And this is
the plan that Jade would stay there until she's 18. At that point, she'd be free of the uh foster care system.
Leiddon will continue to live three hours away because she's dealing with some legal issues. It is quite an
elaborate plan. Yeah. I mean, Leiddon had, as you mentioned, was dating Buck Murky for all of four months. Bachmer
Murki was virtually a stranger to Jade as well when Jade got dropped off there. Uh, but the idea was, you know, Leiddon
really wanted her to be with her eventually. Uh, she didn't want her daughter in the foster care system. She
didn't trust the foster care system. And everyone, I should point out who we spoke to, they all said that they
believe Leiddon did this from a place of love. You know, they she wasn't putting
her daughter there certainly not to endanger her. She was a mother who thought she was doing her best at the
time despite all of her demons. Unfortunately, Leiddon died 3 years after Jade went missing. So
investigators as they started their search, they didn't have the ability to go talk to Leiddon.
>> Did anybody in the family call police when she went missing from the farm? Not
initially, because after she disappeared from Buck Morski's farm, they believed that Jade was running away again from a
situation that she didn't want to be placed in. So Leiddon goes back to Bachmursky's farm at one point and she
went to investigate. She asked James Bachmeri, you know, where's my daughter? What happened to her? And he also told
her, "Well, I she ran away." So, you know, and again, going back to the fact that Leiddon really did not trust the
system. She's not going to be the one who who goes to the police and and raises alarm bells. Now, we did hear
from Jade's aunt in the hour. Her name is Tandra. She clearly cared very deeply for her niece. Well, I wondered about
whether or not, you know, family could have intervened before she ended up in foster care.
>> And and Tandra did. She actually took Jade in and her two younger sisters for
for a little over a year. I believe it was when Jade was 9 or 10 years old. According to Jade's aunt in that year
that Jade was there, uh she really blossomed. And at that time, Tandra, you know, she had three kids of her own. Her
husband had just died. She was also putting herself through school. Um she even apparently moved a couple of times
to be in a house that so that each of the girls could have their own room. Uh she bought them beds. She bought them
new clothes. She even took them to you know Build-A-Bear for birthday parties. It seemed like this was the only time in
her life that she had a semblance of normaly in in all those years growing up. At one point Tandra told us that
Kevin uh Jade's father did get clean. Um he regained custody. So, she would have
liked to have done more for them, but at that time she felt, well, Kevin, her brother, seemed to have gotten his act
together. And to this day though, Tandra says she regrets she couldn't do more and that she couldn't keep them. That is
tough. I mean, it sounds like she did an awful lot. All right, so then fast forward uh to 2022. The US Marshalss
reach out to local law enforcement near Bachmursky's farm for help talking to the family and that is when Detective
Chris Webker from the Wishy County Sheriff's Office officially joins the team. James Bachmer is no longer living
there. The house has been gutted. It's been renovated. There are new owners. They allow law enforcement to look
around. Natalie, in reporting uh for this hour, you also went to Decora to to see what this location looked like. Um I
thought it was really interesting because there's this kind of really wide drone shot and immediately as I saw that
shot, I thought there's no way she ran away. Where is she going to run away to? It really gave me a sense of how remote
at least it felt. And goodness knows you looked cold. Um >> it was freezing. >> Yes.
>> We went there in the middle of January, I should point out. And I've done shoots
in this type of weather where it is just it's so cold. I know sometimes it gets so cold you can't I can't even say my
own name because there's too many syllables in my name. Like you can't move your mouth properly. And it looked
that cold there. >> Oh yeah. Your eyes are tearing up. You know it was -14°. If it had been I believe 3° colder. The
drone that we used would not have been able to fly. It would have been frozen in the air. Um our crew wore speaking of
my eyeballs freezing. They were wearing ski goggles and ski gear uh so that they
wouldn't freeze. And you know, I really should highlight the importance of going
to these locations and seeing them in person because when you stand in the middle of nowhere like that in that
farm, it is beautiful, but you also know the situation that this young girl was placed in. She was completely isolated
on this remote farm. It's kind of hilly. And as you saw by that shot, it was over
200 acres. Um there is really nowhere to go if you're running away because the town downtown decor which is really cute
and quaint it's about eight miles from the farm. And as we were driving with Detective Webker he said look where we
are. I mean these are all they're all farms farming people here. These are good salt of the earth kind of people.
And if somebody saw a teenager walking alone on the side of the road there they would certainly stop and ask if if she
needed help. So, right away he knew this is not a case of Jade running away. Welcome back. Before the investigators
[music] track down James Buckmer cuz he's moved out of state, they find one of his sons. His name is Brian. He'd
been living in Dora at the time of Jade's disappearance. According to detective Webker, Brian confirmed that
Jade had been at the farm and he said that the last time that he heard from her was just a few days after she
arrived when they were texting during his night shift at Walmart and she suddenly stopped responding. Why didn't
Brian report Jade missing back then? Well, Brian says he did eventually follow up with his father about what
happened to Jade. Uh Bob Murski at the time gave him a lot of excuses. said that she might even be a cam girl
somewhere. However, there's some evidence as well that Brian didn't believe his dad. I mean, Buck Murki did
have a criminal record. As you see in the hour in 2013, we report that he spent nearly a year behind bars after
being charged with child endangerment against his own children. He pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of assault,
but he did serve some time. In the hour, we learn details of this child endangerment case from uh court
documents. Bachmer used a metal chair hooked to a battery to shock his sons when they misbehaved.
I mean, we saw your facial expression. >> Yeah. I mean, it was pure horror because
if he's able to do that to his own kids, what is he capable of doing to a young girl who's not even his own kid?
>> Absolutely. In 2023, investigators tracked down Bachmurski at his new home in Georgia. He spoke with special agent
John Turbett for several hours, and he indeed confirmed that he had been in a relationship with Leiddon, and Jade had
stayed with him at his farm back in 2017. Now, Mcmmer said that the last time he saw Jade, she was getting ready
to do laundry. He said he ran out to a local store and then when he came back, she had vanished. Different story than
what he told his son, by the way. But then about a year and a half after Jade went missing, he sold that farm and he
moved to Georgia. Right. And it was interesting because according to special agent John Turbet, his decision to
relocate and the timing of the move uh not long after Jade disappeared, that all added to their suspicions. You know,
when he moved to Georgia, he also started using an alias. He was going by the name Bob Sage. So he, the agents
told us, seemed to be like a guy who was trying to hide. Now, he also had some other criminal charges from Iowa,
including a probation violation from 2018. So there was some indication there was extra heat on him from law
enforcement. Special Agent John Turbet. When he got there, he saw, you know, this guy clearly seems to be like he's
hiding out in this new location. It certainly seems like he left Dora in a hurry. He pretty much abandoned a lot of
his belongings at a neighbor's barn. And when the neighbor lets investigators know, hey, I still got all this stuff
here. They really strike gold. Uh they find Bachmk's old cell phone and there's some shocking new evidence. Right. That
phone really became the key to their investigation because on that phone they found deleted text messages from Jade's
family trying to find her, including from Leiddon. you know, desperately trying to get a hold of her daughter.
They also found photos of Jade at the farm, the last photos of Jade alive, which also suggested to investigators he
took a lot of photos of Jade. So, they thought perhaps this showed some attraction that Buck Murki had to Jade.
Now, the phone also contained, as you saw in the hour, these photos, which really became key evidence. One photo
shows his very clean kitchen, which was very unusual and out of the norm according to those who knew and saw the
condition of that home. And also a bedroom photo that was taken 2 days after Jade disappeared. And then
contrast that to a photo of the bedroom taken a couple of months later. The first photo showed a bed with a
headboard. The second photo showed there was no more headboard. It looked like that mattress was new according to
investigators. So, it appeared to the investigators that it looked like if there was a scene there, it might have
been cleaned. Now, we should mention that the cell phone um also helped investigators clear Brian, the son,
because they found those text messages that Jade was was having with Brian as he worked that night shift at Walmart.
So, it checked out with his story. Something that I kept on thinking of was, okay,
if she's been killed, she's got to be somewhere on this farm, but it's huge. Were investigators able
to search the farm? How do you go about searching a property that large? Well, as Detective Chris Webker from the
Wesique County Sheriff's Office, you know, said, it was really like looking for a needle in a hay stack. They
searched the 200 plus acres. They used cadaavver dogs. They didn't find any human bones or DNA, but I will say they
did find a pile of bones. They were animal, I should say, not human. Um, the dog did not signal on any human scent
there. Uh, Bachmer Murski, though, we should point out, according to to Chris Webb, he was a skilled hunter. Um, I
asked Weber what struck him about those animal bones since it's not unusual to hunt in Iowa.
He was an avid outdoorsman that knew how to handle himself and how to harvest animals and then discard them
>> and being able to handle and kill animals like that. >> Yeah. >> You think the same could be said for for
humans and just being able to discard people? >> He definitely had the knowledge of of of
where he lived and and how to do things that way. Yes. That gives you the creeps
just hearing that and and knowing the possibilities when you see a property of that size what he might have been able
to do. >> So even though investigators have not found Jade's body, they do have some
damning new evidence from Buckmy's phone. Special agent John Turbett went back down to Georgia to interview Bach
Murski again, but this time Bach Mursky's demeanor is completely different. He claimed to be drunk and
that he couldn't remember any details, but special agent Teret pressed him about Jade. And I want you to listen to
a clip of what Bachmki said to him. >> I'd go to the grave before I tell the truth about this.
>> Yes. >> I'd rather go to the grave than tell what happened here in this case. Yeah.
Turbett said, "Uh, this was as close to a confession as you could get because Buck Murki is saying there is so much
here you are never going to know and I'm never going to tell you." Yeah. Well, clearly investigators and prosecutors
believe they have enough by August of 2024. James Buckmer is charged with Jade Culvin's murder. His trial began about a
year later, and I I have to say, it seemed to me like the prosecution had a real challenge. I didn't think this case
was particularly strong, even though there's a lot of evidence. There's no blood, there's no murder weapon, there's
no body. >> Yeah. And the no body being the big part of that, this case was purely
circumstantial. Um, you know, but Bachmurski, by his own words, admitting Jade was at his
residence under his care right before she disappears. That cell phone evidence that they had was key. I mean, those
deleted messages along with those photos that seem to show the before and after Jay disappeared. He replaced that bed.
He cleaned that kitchen. He took pictures of it. Bach Murski, however, explained he was cleaning and doing all
of this because he was planning to sell the farm, which he eventually did. But most incriminating were those words you
just heard. You know, his own words. I'd go to the grave before I tell the truth.
>> But here's the thing. If I was the defense, I would just say, "Well, you don't even have any proof that she's
dead." And that was that was a big part of the defense's argument. They tried to
say there's no evidence she's dead. They said she had a history of running away.
You know, in fact, they even hired their own investigator who said there were unconfirmed sightings of her. It is hard
to combat the the fact though that Jade was at Buck Murky's residence under his care and then poof, she just disappears.
Nobody ever heard from her again. Well, the prosecution did their job. Uh the jury found Bokorski guilty of murder in
in the second degree. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison. So he's 67 years old. So that's essentially a life
sentence for him at the time. In the hour, Jade's aunt Tandra said that the sentence was a relief. Do we know how
the rest of Jay's family felt about this? Well, Tandra and and I think you could see that in in the interview. She
she struggles. I mean, she really wants to be able to find Jade's body, give her
a proper funeral. The whole family hopes that someone watching the show or listening to this who has any
information will come forward. You know, I think that's what they're all looking
for is some sense of closure, if there is such a thing. Yeah. Um, all of the investigators that we spoke with though
said this is still not done for them. It is still an open missing person's case with the De Mo PD until they find Jade's
body. >> I totally get that. Still so many loose ends. You really do want to know what
happened to her um before you could really have peace. I can get it. So listen, Natalie, I want to ask you about
something that you had actually mentioned at the top of the podcast. In addition to Jade, there was another
missing child that US Marshalss were not able to locate. This is part of this Operation Homecoming. What do we know
about that last case? >> Yeah. Yeah. Really important because again, we use this as an opportunity to
call out anybody who may know something. Uh Frederick Workman is the name of of the young man. Um he was reported
missing from De Moine in August of 2013 when he was about 15 years old. A lot of
work has been done on his case. However, that case remains open as well. So again, if anybody has any information,
they can contact the US Marshall's office at 5154008140 or they can submit a tip to the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children. I know there's going to be all kinds of people as soon as they hear
this podcast are going to be getting online and looking this case up and hopefully hopefully it'll make a
difference. Um Natalie, once again, another really really fascinating hour and at least you know Jade's family got
some closure. It would be really really nice if they could find out the rest of the story about what happened to this
this young woman who had I mean so much potential, so many possibilities, right?
[music] And it's just so tragic that she really never got to find out who she was
in life. Yeah, so true. Well, thanks again, Natalie. [music] Thank you, Anmarie. And to all of you out there, if
you like this episode, please rate and review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Watch "Jade Colvin is Missing" and then catch up with "48 Hours" correspondents Anne-Marie Green and Natalie Morales as they discuss the case of 14-year-old Jade Colvin on "Post Mortem," who went missing after running away from the Iowa foster care system.

00:00 Jade Colvin is Missing 41:59 Watch the "Post Mortem" podcast

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Jade Culvin, missing since 2016, was found to be murdered by James Bachmer, who was charged in 2024 after extensive investigation.

Key points

The Search for Jade Culvin. Jade Culvin went missing in 2016, sparking a multi-agency investigation that continues today.
A Troubled Childhood. Jade's upbringing was marked by instability and foster care, leading to her running away.
The Investigation Intensifies. Detectives uncover clues about Jade's last known whereabouts, leading to a potential break in the case.
The Discovery of Jade's Last Photos. Investigators find crucial photos of Jade on a cell phone, revealing her last moments.
Bachmer's Confession?. During an intense interview, Bachmer hints at his involvement in Jade's death.
Justice for Jade. After years of investigation, James Bachmer is charged with murder in Jade's case.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You don't get to go home and turn off Jade Coven.

Reflecting on the emotional impact of Jade's case.

0:51WatchMay 10, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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