Screams for Help /// Part 2 /// 656 | Forensic Files

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[Music] thank you [Music] the St John's Sheriff's Office ramped up their investigation quickly determining
that Michelle O'Connell's death was a suicide Michelle's family disagreed the Hasty closure of the
investigation and the rushed ruling did not sit well with them and they demanded
further investigation but this was very very complicated because not only was Michelle dating a
deputy in the St Johns County Sheriff's Office her mother and brother Scott worked for St John's Sheriff's Office as
well Scott was a deputy like Jeremy and actually introduced Michelle to Jeremy right Patty Michelle's mother was a
clerk in the office but despite their affiliation with the Sheriff's Office Michelle's family realized very quickly
that the Sheriff's Office had closed ranks almost immediately in order to protect one of their own
even at the crime scene this was very interesting to me here Captain this part right here this does not sit well with
me at all so let's go back to the crime scene Jeremy's family was allowed in to the home
Michelle's brother a sheriff's office deputy in that jurisdiction was held back by his fellow officers he was not
allowed to enter the home that makes zero sense of course they could have been trying to Shield him from seeing
his sister dying on the floor I get that but for another thing here her family Michelle's family says that
she would not have absolutely would not have killed herself and I get it most families in suicide cases say this but I
believe that there may be some proof here so let's start off with this idea one fact in this case is that Michelle
had just landed her dream job and was supposed to start this dream job the very next day she
would be working full time in a daycare center for kids this was a dream of hers
teaching and working with children the job offered things that she had been striving for working towards in her life
these things such as benefits including health insurance for her and her daughter and a retirement plan
and the Clincher she could bring her daughter Lexi to work with her every day Lexi would be allowed to attend the
daycare with her mom the daycare that her mom would be teaching at we also know that Michelle had plans to meet up
with a friend Mindy Fox on the night that she died furthermore around 10 pm Michelle text
her sister who was watching her daughter Lexi saying quote I'll be there soon to pick
up her daughter and Michelle was in fact packing to leave Jeremy for good right we know that based off of what Jeremy
said we know that off of one of the couples after the concert actually goes back to Jeremy's house with Michelle and
Jeremy they witnessed some of this they're only there for a few minutes but they say that when they left two
things happened Michelle was packing to leave Jeremy that night and Jeremy told the other couple
everything would be okay so they decided to leave but again look at the motive why would you be packing anything up if
you're so distraught and thinking of killing yourself exactly that's what I'm getting at here why would you tell your
sister you're picking up your daughter why would you tell your friend that you still intended to hang out with her that
night Mindy Fox and why we know that Not only was she packing based off of these
Witnesses based off of what Jeremy says but also the crime scene photos show suitcases packed why would she pack and
then kill herself yeah it almost seems like once that couple left well he knew that he was in control of
the situation now and he was going to try to stop her from leaving we also have Michelle's family that says they
have evidence that Jeremy was abusive saying that Michelle had confided in her family about this a few other details
that that need to be included here uh some information and we'll just throw the information out there and you can
interpret it in any way that you see fit their wonderful beautiful listener so some of the information is that Michelle
had lunch that very day the day that she died with her sister Chrissy and told her sister that she was scared of Jeremy
and was going to be leaving him that night after the concert Chrissy was one of the people that counseled her and
told her hey don't go to this concert at all just skip it forget about it right Michelle tells her
don't worry about it I purchased the tickets long before I'm going to the concert
her sister told the New York Times that Michelle told her that she was injured after Jeremy had shown her a quote
submissive move where he slammed her down now I've heard this referred to as a body slam type technique this story
seems a little complicated we have persons that say they believe this was abuse we have Jeremy and others that say
we were just goofing around and maybe it got a little out of hand he was showing
her a move this according to him and some others but again other people thought that there was something more
going on than just hey we were goofing around well it seems like everybody in her family and her friends said if you
viewed this relationship as a whole if you just simply said pass or fail or is it a positive relationship or a negative
one that most people thought it was a negative relationship too much fighting there's too much
arguing well and like I said earlier Captain sometimes these situations are abusive and sometimes they're just two
people physically fighting and we do know that Jeremy did admit that sometimes when they argued it had
gotten physical in the past he told law enforcement that in his statements we should also note that Jeremy is six
foot one 225 pounds at the time and Michelle's five foot four 119 pounds at the time well here's where I disagree
with you when I when you're saying that sometimes there's an abusive situation and sometimes it's a couple that fights
and then they get physical as a man you then have to remove yourself from that situation and if
if you continue to have arguments that escalate into violent situations as a man
you should remove yourself from that relationship and on top of that he's a deputy
if domestic violence calls come in and they show up at his house and he gets arrested he can lose his job
but I don't think in any stretch of the imagination that this Jeremy Banks man is any definition of a man we have some
evidence of him being a hot head like I said yesterday and this comes from Thanksgiving 2009 when Jeremy had an
argument with Michelle's brother Justin because Justin did not feel that Jeremy was treating his sister very well
so Justin asked Jeremy to and Jeremy let it be known that he was caring at the Thanksgiving
dinner table this the real mature this guy's a piece of [ __ ] and I would have been like oh
you're carrying I I am I'm going to castrate you you son of a [ __ ] that's what I would
have said uh who gives a [ __ ] oh I'm carrying and here's the thing too is because somebody stuck up for her I
wouldn't be surprised if there was a lot of abuse physical verbal emotional mental abuse this guy seems like a turd
basket I think we should take a better look at the crime scene or the death scene
we know that Jeremy's service pistol was found lying on the floor on Michelle's left side reminder she was right-handed
her family pointing out that they believe this is an issue and does not jive with the story or the findings of
the Sheriff's Office the retention holster that held his gun was there as well the holster is
designed a retention holster is designed for someone unfamiliar with the weapon to have trouble drawing it from this
holster to pull the weapon out of the holster we have a a few different sides to this argument one
if you don't think it's suicide you might make the argument that Michelle may not have known how to pull the gun
from The holster and therefore could not shoot herself the other argument would be she lived with this man for over a
year and he may have shown her at some point how to remove the gun from The holster
this is what is typically referred to as a level three security when it comes to
these types of holsters there's from my understanding Captain there's like four different levels and what you have here
in in this situation again I don't know exactly what kind of holster he was using at the time but typically what you
have in this situation is level three retention there's four levels of retention holders
the higher the number the more retention the more difficult it is to get the gun
out of the holster typically when we're talking about law enforcement they usually carry level three retention
holsters this to make it difficult if they are in an altercation for someone to take their
weapon out of their holster right makes sense I go back to his carelessness of just having his gun and his holster out
when he claims that he said to her you know don't do something stupid or don't do something to harm yourself if you
actually thought that she was going to harm herself and you're not the giant the biggest giant piece of [ __ ] in this
world you go make sure that your gun is secure you make sure that your gun is locked away that's correct captain and
here's the thing the the there were two shots that were fired and we know that based off the evidence at the scene the
9-1-1 call and Jeremy's statements to detective Heinz most people will argue in a suicide type
situation you would not expect there to be two shots that just the simple fact of having two shots is an indicator that
something else was going on that she was being attacked rather than deciding to take her life
I'll counter that by saying that I don't think the second shot necessarily determines anything for us
outright because there are there's plenty of proof that in these types of scenarios that a
suicidal individual has fired a test shot prior to turning the gun on themselves right now you could also
argue that there's an altercation taking place there's a physical attack going down and maybe that first shot was
delivered by Jeremy intended for her and it missed its mark in this physical altercation again I
think that it's just too irresponsible to say that because there were two shots it couldn't be a suicide I think that's
just as irresponsible as the investigation or lack of investigation that they did initially in this case to
begin with so if you're faulting them for their lack of Investigation don't do the same thing yourself yeah a lot of
people think that they're covering for their Deputy but like we stated there's members of Michelle's family that works
for that County so I think some of their protection is for their lack of Investigation I think
they should have done their due diligence again bring in other law enforcement to double check your work
okay captain and here is something that is almost unheard of in fact we've reviewed
hundreds of these types of cases maybe not this exact scenario but hundreds of True Crime cases and I've never seen
this in any case that we've covered so far there is a follow-up interview with Jeremy and rightfully so because I don't
think that the first one was very well structured to begin with but in this follow-up interview Jeremy
admits to detective Heinz that quote I've already read the report I know I probably shouldn't have I just wanted to
know what went down on the other side end quote okay well have we ever reviewed a case where a
person who may be sitting in the suspect chair someone who maybe looked at as being involved in someone's death
had the privilege of reading the police report or the report that's been put together by the Sheriff's Office prior
to being interviewed a second time by one of the detectives in charge it's completely irresponsible he should not
have been privy to that information and also where are these tests done why why didn't they do a ballistic test to see
if he fired a gun that day why not do a test on on Michelle to see if she fired a gun that day correct him reading this
report too gives him the ability to know what lies to prepare in advance to explain away evidence that points
away from suicide and the reason why this is completely irresponsible is because he has actions
that day that showed that he was trying to control the narrative the way he was acting on the 9-1-1 call the way he
started acting when they got a pulse and then making statements in the initial interview again like you said maybe it
was too casual I think that would be a tough situation to be in especially when somebody's being erratic but he's then
telling in the initial interview that he was basically trying to control the narrative yes this is when Miss
Congeniality detective Heinz should stand up end that follow-up interview March into the Sheriff's
Office and say look boss our investigation has been completely compromised Jeremy's read the report
even when he knew he should not have he just admitted that to me on tape right it would be responsible it would be the
right thing for us to do boss to cancel our investigation and bring in an outside agency if you didn't do it on
day one this was your opportunity right and detective Heinz decided not to do that she continued to conduct a very
casual interview follow-up interview with her colleague Jeremy Banks everybody say it with me all at once
dropping the ball you're dropping the ball according to a scathing expose by the New York Times the St John's
Sheriff's Office rushed to judgment that the case was a suicide or more disturbingly decided to cover up a
murder as a result they never bothered to one collect or even check Jeremy's phone or Jeremy's and Michelle's
computers two canvas the neighborhood three require the officers on the scene that night to file reports documenting
their observations as required by Saint John's Sheriff's Office protocols four assemble a timeline for that night
or maintain a crime scene log five collect and test evidence at the scene including a bloody t-shirt and a
glove six test the gun handle and Trigger for Michelle's DNA they also did not check
any of the bathroom sinks or shower traps for blood evidence they also fail to interview the family
Michelle's family despite repeated requests by the o'connells for an opportunity to weigh in well tell me if
I have this right we have a picture of Jeremy banks at the concert and that shirt that he was wearing at the concert
has not been found that's absolutely correct I mean 100 correct like come on people to put it plain and simple
the O'Connell family repeatedly requested an independent investigation into the death of Michelle O'Connell and
despite it being protocol when there was an officer involved suspicious shooting
the Saint John's Sheriff's Office desperately tried to keep the investigation in-house in fact they even
sat down with the o'connells and explained why the FDLE had not been requested to help out
Lieutenant Charles Bradley said to the O'Connell family in a recorded interview quote to be honest with you my
investigators are far and above better than what FDLE is ever going to give you end quote this of course
is false and self-serving the two investigators on the case had handled just three homicides between them
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how language is learned foreign [Music] we are back a much a much needed beer break because
this case Colonel just gets me steamed it's under your skin I'm steamed I just I don't I I just don't
get it I don't understand why there's so many cases where it's like you you sign up to be a cop so you can
protect and serve so you can do the right thing live by the letter of the law and it just seems like so many of
these individuals are are willing to compromise their integrity well Deputy Menard does not fit into that group in
my opinion in fact she was one of the first on the scene that night she goes on to tell 2020 that protocol
we are trained that when we arrive to every scene the the scene it's a homicide scene that we
have arrived at until proven otherwise but she says in this situation quote immediately it was almost like they were
taking Jeremy's word that she shot herself at that point we were told it was a suicide
so that goes against their training it goes against this Sheriff's Office protocol and what they train their
deputies to do when they arrive on a scene where there's been a death well no and so let's let's unpack that a little
bit because like you said the protocol is to go this is a homicide until proven otherwise
so once everybody starts assuming it's a suicide and not investigating as a homicide anybody that's set by and
watched that happen anybody that step by and let that happen and let them just go
well this was a suicide and we're not going to investigate it they're they're just as guilty in my mind
when you when you see the wrong thing happening and you just stand by you're as wrong as that wrong thing happening
like this is what's wrong with the world well I don't fault Deputy Maynard at all
I mean she's telling us what she witnessed and what she believes is wrong with this investigation no no
I'm not blaming her I'm just saying that all the other deputies that were there that just went along with this narrative
and didn't do the work to go hey we need to stop what you're talking about we need to investigate this as a homicide
they're equally as wrong as what I'm saying the other weird thing here Captain is the pills that were found in
Michelle's purse and found in her jeans pockets but none were in her system and the facts of the matter are this
those pills in the pill bottles that they found in her purse or in her jeans Pockets belonged to Jeremy right they
were not Michelle's pills her family pointed out that if she wanted to die and I agree with this one
thousand percent why wouldn't she have OD'd on these pills instead of shooting herself right and we should note
that per the Sheriff's Office investigation none zero none not one single pill or bottle
had Michelle's DNA on them this according to tests that were later conducted that in itself is one of the
most suspicious things in this investigation and that was found at the death scene yeah I'd say it's number two
for me as far as suspicious things because like you said if there's no DNA found on the pills or the bottle that
means somebody placed these pills in these bottles in those locations to me the only person there at the scene
is Jeremy so why would Jeremy do this it it's to establish a narrative and it's the narrative that he's been trying to
establish in other points of this investigation it goes along with the the statements that he's
giving to detective Heinz in the back of her car just an hour and a half after the bodies
found yeah and you know I was able to talk to a retired detective about you know showing up to a scene and and
working in the scene knowing that it's possibly a suicide and the first thing he said is look
statistically women don't kill themselves by gunshot then this detective said to me do you
know what one of the number one things that women do on the day that they commit suicide if it's planned
they get their hair done and do their makeup and all that stuff yeah because they want to look presentable
even in death put in a barrel of a gun and pulling the trigger I'm not saying it's impossible because
she's a woman unfortunately it happens every day I what this detective is telling you is absolutely true the
statistics bear that out and tell us that but unfortunately it does happen every day
so I don't want to circle around that too much when there's other to me bigger red flags glaring red flags
with with things at the at the scene there now within a four month period And this is four months of increasing
pressure by the public and by the family to bring in an independent impartial investigator
or investigators the sheriff in charge of St John's this is David B shower he begrudgingly requested an independent
review of the case in January of 2011. within two weeks of starting on the case agent Rogers who came in from
the FDLE uncovered two female neighbors who were standing outside around 11 pm on the night of the shooting they're
outside chatting and smoking the women were Stacy Boswell and Heather ladley Rogers interviewed them
separately under oath and they both said that quote a man and a woman were screaming they could hear a man and
woman screaming Ms Boswell said in an interview with the New York Times there was something wrong there was nothing
playful no nothing it was somebody that was scared they were arguing we heard her yell help and there was one gunshot
and then she yelled help again and there was a second gunshot Ms ladley told agent Rogers after that they heard
silence saying that it was probably 10 maybe 15 minutes and then the sirens came
according to Ms Boswell that's why they didn't call anybody they hear this screaming the screams for help people
were arguing they hear gunshots they don't call this in because they hear the sirens coming within 10 to
15 minutes now I will say this Captain this 10 to 15 minute window you could look at it
two ways as suspicious or it's relatively quickly after they're hearing the shots we know that the call came in
at 11 20 and Deputy Menard says that they were on the scene by 11 25. so that's all that's five minutes of your
ten minutes or that's five minutes of your 15 minutes just the response time to the scene so it doesn't
sound to me like if these Witnesses are right with what they say and what they say that they've heard it doesn't seem
to me like there was much of a delay in calling in 9-1-1 now of course every minute counts and it would appear that
there would have been some delay the other thing that's interesting to me here is someone yelling help
you don't yell help and then shoot yourself yeah that doesn't make any sense I don't yell help twice you do
yell help when you're being attacked I don't know if you yell help in the situation
if he's confronting you with the gun maybe that's the first thing that instinctively flies out of your mouth
to me it doesn't the whole help thing doesn't make sense either way but it's certainly 100 percent does not make
sense with the suicide well no it makes sense if he's beating you now agent Rogers arranged for the Secret
Service to give both of these women polygraph tests and according to agent Rogers they passed these tests now
remember Jeremy stuck to his story that he and Michelle had not argued their breakup was somewhat peaceful I guess
he's outside she's inside while she's packing but here's another point of contention because you've got these two
eyewitnesses and if you believe them then Jeremy's story is not correct because if she did yell for help for
whatever reason before she killed herself he would have heard that and so why wouldn't he report that to
the other officers the thing that I do not like here is the sheriff then goes out of his way to say
look these two witnesses are not credible they said they're outside smoking uh they're potheads and they can't even
figure out if they were stoned that night or not so they're not credible well Jeremy's not credible either if you
want to go down that rabbit hole because he's telling you well I had about I don't know five six tall boys so that
means you had you know roughly 12 Beers that's that's a lot of alcohol here's what I say to the sheriff when he calls
into question The credibility of these two possible ear Witnesses you do not get to decide sir you chose that night
not to Canvas the neighborhood and interview neighbors you cannot then decide later when another agent comes in
and finds ear Witnesses you do not get to have an opinion about these Witnesses because you disregarded them from the
initial steps of the investigation as soon as your deputies put a [ __ ] foot on that scene you disregarded any
opportunity for a witness statement you do not get to decide you do not get an opportunity nor an opinion in my opinion
well these ear Witnesses they don't have a dog in the fight so you're going to believe everything that your Deputy says
this Jeremy Banks this [ __ ] bag he's threatened people you know people think that he's been violent with Michelle in
the past he's definitely definitely a douchebag and then on top of that when when they
get a pulse he starts putting dents into a police car and and that's the person you want to protect
that's the person you want to stand up for that that means you're as big of a piece
of [ __ ] as he is in March of 2012 we now have a special prosecutor that's been brought in and this is to handle
the case because now keep in mind basically the the the very nuts and bolts of this thing
is that the Sheriff's Office investigation concluded suicide FDLE is brought in it looks like they
think that this is a homicide and Jeremy Banks is the suspect that's the very simplest form to put it
without going through a lot of information to get there right in March of 2012 a special prosecutor uh met with
the O'Connell family and actually announced the closure of the case telling them that they found
insufficient evidence to prosecute Jeremy Banks the prosecutor told the family that
here's why we cannot prosecute Jeremy Banks there was GSR on Michelle's hands three medical examiners ruled her death
a suicide and her DNA was found on the gun so the prosecutor says the facts as they
currently exist do not support the prosecution of Jeremy banks for any homicide offense so once again this
investigation is over there's so many red flags but the number one for me is the ear Witnesses
Michelle yelling for help that's what they heard makes no sense that you'd yell for help
and then kill yourself the other thing that is a giant red flag is these pills in the pill bottles
that's obviously somebody at that scene is tampering with evidence and then on top of that
his erratic actions his past the negativity surrounding him and Michelle's relationship
the fact that we can't find this shirt that he was wearing that night again tampering with evidence
and then him trying to control the narrative and his horrible acting job and I think his Freudian slip
well I'll tell you the truth and then he gets all calm and then he becomes clear proving that his initial
demeanor on the 9-1-1 call was a fraud I mean how can you not investigate this more and like you said
well eventually they do but the thing is is I think maybe they missed their window and if they would have done
certain things and investigate it like a homicide and let the evidence take you where it
needs to take you maybe that's the reason why they're not able to prosecute this individual
they're also not able to prosecute because they did not do a thorough invest ing right as
you set foot at that scene we have it being worked like a suicide this is per one of the deputies on the
scene and from my understanding the deputy that arrived second at the scene is stating this much
and we know that the from the sheriff's own words he admitted that the Sheriff's Office
failed to Canvas the neighborhood for Witnesses failed to interview family members of Michelle's
which you would in suicide situations or homicide situations to figure out State
of Mind of all the individuals involved so on and so forth failed to isolate Jeremy banks failed to interview Jeremy
Banks fail to photograph Jeremy banks in a structured environment after the shooting occurred
so you go well there's insufficient evidence to prosecute well maybe that's because when you showed up to the scene
that night you weren't looking for evidence right to prosecute that's why you don't
have it after the fact it now you talked about the ear Witnesses not having a dog in the fight
and that's why we like them that's why we lean on the side and give them credibility they pass polygraph tests
administered by the Secret Service that should add to the credibility as well here's somebody that maybe has too many
dogs in the fight and I really did not see this coming based on how the early stages of this
investigation and story go but Scott O'Connell Michelle's brother who works for the Sheriff's Office
may have too many dogs in the fight it's his sister who is now deceased it's his Department that he works for
declaring it a suicide he has sided with the sheriff and with the Sheriff's Office
and so he is the only person the lone wolf of the O'Connell family that stands with the Sheriff's Office
and from my understanding their there is no speaking to Scott O'Connell the the remainder of the O'Connell
family does not speak with Scott O'Connell yeah like he said he has maybe too many dogs in the fight but
maybe that's self-preservation maybe he knows that if he doesn't stay in line with his his Department that they'll
figure out a reason to get rid of him I don't know why somebody would put their job above their family but
um it's possible I think that he must believe that the sheriff's office is correct there is a Dr Phil episode where
you can see the family squabbling uh back and forth in front of millions of viewers where he is stating
our sister killed herself and my family just refuses to believe it the the other weird thing here too and
I've we've seen this once or twice but it's still very uncommon this this goes down
to November of 2013. this is when Jeremy Banks sued the FDLE and agent Rogers claiming that they violated his civil
rights by wrongly accusing him when the case had been ruled a suicide now keep in mind it was his Sheriff's
Office begrudgingly as it may be that asked for the FDLE to come in and do a review of the case right
so when you ask for an independent agency to come in and do a review of the case
it doesn't necessarily mean that they care a whole lot of what the determination was prior to them being
brought in so I don't know that this technically violates his civil rights according to
as he stated it in the lawsuit wrongly accusing him after it had been ruled a suicide
what we do know too is that Rogers did detain Jeremy banks for a very brief period of
time he had put into place that they would search Jeremy Banks's home while he was being questioned
at the station by agent Rogers the interview ended a lot earlier than the agent had
anticipated this because Jeremy request an attorney so there's going to be no more questions at this time he should be
free to go however the agent not wanting Jeremy Banks to be on scene and potentially manipulate evidence
detained him from going home at that time now the short of it without a whole lot of back and forth this didn't didn't
go down overnight but a judge did dismiss this lawsuit that his civil rights were not in fact
uh violated by the FDLE or agent Rogers Jeremy Banks should be pissed off too because if he is not a murderer and he
is just a victim of Michelle taking her own life he then becomes a victim of them not
doing their due diligence and not doing a thorough investigation from the beginning
and if I was being questioned by anybody I would be pushing for that you need to do a thorough investigation
you need to make sure that you cross your t's and Dot your eyes because if the family starts questioning this if
the community starts questioning this we have answers for all those questions because I want to leave no doubt that I
wasn't involved in the death of Michelle one thing that we've not hit on yet here
Captain is something that was brought up by the state attorney's office citing examples of issues with potential
evidence in this case and there were several but among other things was a black glove that was
photographed at the scene of this air quotes investigation that was not taken into evidence and the state attorney's
office is on record as saying quote and because that item was not collected we were not able to determine the
evidentiary value of that end quote what would have been found what could have been found on this black glove had
it been collected you have to wonder could it have been a whole lot of gunpowder residue a whole
lot of GSR on this glove that's certainly a possibility but what is not a possibility is Michelle
O'Connell putting on the glove shooting herself removing the glove and placing it outside of the house where it is
later photographed that's not a possibility the other problem that I have with this
is Michelle's jaw was fractured into locations and there's two camps one is saying well
this could have been caused by the gunfire and others saying that that doesn't necessarily always happen
so again you have people that hear an argument getting out of hand you hear a woman yelling for help
they said she sounded scared well is it possible that he was beating on her as that took place
is it possible that he fractured her jaw before he put the gun in her mouth again
not a doctor I've said it a few times just in case people get confused I've said it many times throughout the years
I'm not a doctor here but I can rely on what I've heard in the statements given by the doctors who have personally
examined the decedent and what we have here is a little bit of pushback right where if she was in the middle of a
physical altercation with Jeremy Banks and then he shoots her the pushback is well wouldn't there be some bruising on
Michelle and the medical examiner who we've not gotten to this yet did a follow-up autopsy after Michelle's body
was exhumed in January of 2016 his response to that question well shouldn't there be some bruising on Michelle if
that in fact was the case his response was that the amount of bruising can depend on how quickly the person is
killed after those blows or injuries are administered meaning that if if that was the case and
she dies relatively quickly after some hits then we may not see the bruising here
yeah I want to give the body a chance to create the Brew the bruising the jaw being fractured and it was a
pretty obvious fracture which was weird that it was missed the first time around
but his answer to that is this we do not he does not believe that it was done or
occurred because of the gunshot because there was no damage to soft tissue areas that would he would expect
to see if it was done per the gunshot and what's interesting to me here is the amount of force that it would take to
break the jaw the jaw is one of the most one of the strongest bones in your body
right so the amount of force that it would take to break that jaw what do they say
in boxing you and I love love to watch a little boxing they say chin music right
give them a little chin music knock them out hit them right bust them right in that jaw with an uppercut knock them out
this medical examiner says that there's a good chance that she took a hit maybe with the butt of a gun and that the
force of that blow the breaking of that jaw may have knocked her unconscious and
then she was shot through the roof of her mouth go back to what the sheriff's office
said earlier the detective said it would be very difficult for a person in an altercation to allow a gun to get
into their mouth really close your mouth you can easily turn your head from side to side you
could duck you could Bob you could weave there's a million things you could do to
get the nose of that gun out of your mouth and they're saying it had to be this is
one of the determining factors for us amongst others that it had to be suicide because we would not expect to see a gun
in the mouth of a shooting victim well guess what if this medical examiner is right after
the exclamation and says she may have been unconscious when that shot occurred that changes that whole perspective
right then and there yeah it's just sad you know because if it's suicide then they didn't do right
by their own officer to do a correct and thorough investigation but it's it's but it's just a
it's a sad and frustrating case overall Dr William Anderson who did the second autopsy pro bono so he's not being paid
for his opinion he's giving his expert opinion after conducting a second autopsy
Dr William Anderson says in my opinion it was a homicide quote there was a gunshot wound to the mouth that put a
hole in the tongue but didn't do any other damage to the teeth to the gums to the floor of the mouth the very soft
tissue that basically would have been destroyed if there had been enough force from that blast to break the jaw end
quote Anderson goes on to say that the mandible is a very strong bone one of the strongest in
the body for it to break and no other damage to the mouth to be caused indicates it was not caused by The
Gunshot and this fracture was fresh not old furthermore he noted that Michelle's
tongue was retracted and blocking her Airway as it could have been if the gun was forced
into her mouth but it would not have been if she put the gun in her mouth herself quote the findings are most
consistent of blunt force trauma causing incapacitation of Ms O'Connell and subsequent gunshot wound inflicted by
another again his opinion it was a homicide yeah you have the fractured jaw you have
the pills with no DNA for Michelle on them you have the ear Witnesses you have his erratic Behavior you have their past
relationships you can't find this shirt one of the Deputy thinks that he cleaned
himself up I mean there's just so much pointing towards that he's guilty of this crime but even if he's not guilty
then you need to do your due diligence to figure out if it's a homicide or a suicide so where does the case stand
today I think that we can sum up where it stands today and I'm going to refer to a
letter that was written by the mother by Patty O'Connell this letter was written
to the Saint Augustine Record and it says my daughter Michelle O'Connell was found shot dead September
2 2010 and her Deputy boyfriend's home he told his co-workers she did this Deputy Jeremy Banks co-workers failed to
investigate they only took his side no investigation was possible for Michelle the public needs to know that no one in
the St Johns County Sheriff's Department or state attorney's office ever asked our family what happened
why no one from the Saint Augustine Record has ever interviewed us even after the
New York Times and the PBS Frontline stories in November of 2013. why Sheriff shower admitted to major
mistakes but claimed to the record in a story December 12 2013 that he quote got
it right how the sheriff investigated his deputy the conflict of interest quote no man
can serve two masters end quote the FDLE should have been called in immediately our family told the
sheriff's office that Michelle told us and her friends that she was a victim of domestic violence
the sheriff did not investigate the sheriff and the prosecutors rushed to conclude it was a suicide without
evidence the sheriff's national accreditation must be reviewed by the Council on Law
Enforcement accreditation this week and be suspended revoked or placed on probation
Jeremy Banks was allowed to read the investigation before his formal interview and treated like a brother not
a suspect why two respected crime scene experts determined it was a homicide and three
determined it was not suicide but no charges were filed why deputies did not canvas the neighborhood
why the cut and bruise on Michelle's eyelid was the result of violence yet we were
told that a gun discharged forward not backward that Michelle used her non-dominant left
hand to grasp the gun upside down with no hand injury and that the shell casings ejected on
the wrong side all physical impossibilities why two witnesses heard an argument a scream
and a shot another scream and a second shot the sheriff knowingly lied to the justice department about them the deputy
claimed there were no raised voices one medical examiner changed his mind another barely looked at the file
Lieutenant Bradley callously said my Michelle busted every tooth in her head he wouldn't let me see any photos I held
firm this made him angry he showed me some photos but not all why after claiming it was a suicide the
sheriff would not look me in the eye and would not look Michelle's Daughter Alexis in the eye either
why the sheriff bragged about paying for Michelle's funeral why the only person currently under
investigation was agent Rusty Rogers who suspected sheriff's deputy Jeremy Banks
and Michelle's death why there must be an FBI and Federal grand jury investigation of Michelle's death and
possible civil rights violations cover-ups collusion and other Crimes by law enforcement
I am grateful for the public support for this our family is thinking about a Michelle O'Connell house a safe place
for victims of the national epidemic of officer-involved domestic violence yeah it's a very powerful letter by
Michelle's mother and that is where that investigation that story sits today the
o'connells still needing help and still Seeking Justice for their daughter Michelle but then in January of 2019
the teenage boy came home to find his father shot dead this is a homicide that many have
suspected could be directly connected to the death of Michelle O'Connell but we'll have to dive into that next
week [Music] I want to thank you guys so much for joining us here in this true crime
garage flying garage ship if you're looking for our bonus episodes or the first 50 episodes those are
available at True Crime Garage in our store so check those out Colonel do we have any recommended reading for the
beautiful listeners this week Captain we are recommending the angel maker arsenic
a midwife and modern history's most astonishing murder ring by Patty McCracken this just came out yesterday
and this is a great read you're going to want to check this one out you can find
that recommendation along with many many more on our recommended page on our website truecrime garage.com and until
next week be good be kind and don't live thank you foreign [Music]

Screams for Help /// Part 2 /// 656

Part 2 of 2

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September 2, 2010 - a 911 call comes in requesting help. When deputies arrive at the scene they find a woman that is unresponsive. The 911 caller is the homeowner, boyfriend of the woman and a deputy as well. He tells his fellow officers that he was outside in the garage when he heard a shot. He says he ran inside and heard a second shot. He tells emergency services and the responding officers that his girlfriend shot herself after the two broke up that night. It was immediately apparent that it was his service gun that was used in the shooting. What is unclear is whose finger pulled the trigger. This began one incredibly questionable investigation. Was the Sheriff’s office covering for one of their own? Join us in the Garage as we review the suspicious death of Michelle O’Connell.

Beer of the Week - Order and Chaos from Tactical Brewing Company in Orlando, Florida

Garage Grade - 4 and a half bottle caps out of 5

Brief Summary

Michelle O'Connell's suspicious death raises questions of foul play and investigation failures by law enforcement.

Key points

Michelle O'Connell's Death. Michelle's death was ruled a suicide, but her family disagrees and demands further investigation.
Jeremy's Control Over the Narrative. Jeremy Banks read the police report before his follow-up interview, raising concerns about the investigation's integrity.
Investigation Failures. The St John's Sheriff's Office failed to follow proper protocols in Michelle's case, leading to accusations of a cover-up.
The Homicide Scene. The investigation begins at a homicide scene, but assumptions lead to a suicide conclusion.
Witness Testimonies. Two neighbors report hearing screams for help before gunshots, raising questions about the narrative.
The Investigation's Flaws. Criticism of the Sheriff's Office for failing to investigate properly and ignoring key evidence.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Why would you be packing anything up if you're so distraught?

Questioning the circumstances of Michelle's death.

6:44WatchMar 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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