Solving the Murders of Jasmine Pace and Megan Newton | Forensic Files

Julia:<i> This time on Killers</i> <i> Caught on Camera.</i> - Tuesday night is the last time I saw my daughter.
Julia:<i> In the US,</i> <i> in Tennessee, parents</i> <i> search for their missing</i> <i> 22-year-old daughter.</i>
Man: Is she in there? She's not in here. Julia:<i> The evidence leads</i> <i> to a fatal conclusion.</i>
- They found quantities of blood that were not survivable. Julia:<i> And in the UK,</i> <i> in Staffordshire,</i>
<i> a night out ends in murder.</i> Steve: They found a female laying on the bed, clearly deceased.
- This was a brutal and sustained attack, showing no regard for Megan's life. [tense music]
Man: It just sounds like something bad is happening to her. Woman: We know what happened because the video
tells us what happened. Man: I heard some gunshots. - I need to get rid of the gun.
- Man, that's good. Man: The camera doesn't lie. Julia:<i> In Tennessee,</i> <i> Hamilton County,</i>
<i> the city of Chattanooga.</i> [tense music] ♪ ♪ Julia:<i> 22-year-old</i> <i> Jasmine Pace,</i>
<i> known affectionately as Jazzy,</i> <i> was a student at the University</i> <i> of Tennessee.</i>
<i> Kentrell Harris went</i> <i> to high school with Jasmine</i> <i> and worked with her</i> <i> at a local restaurant.</i>
Kentrell: What made Jasmine special was her ability to be compassionate for others, to have empathy
for other people, to be that listening ear whenever you're going through something.
Jasmine was peaceful, loving, caring, friendly, supportive. - Jasmine was super sweet, outgoing.
She cared about people. And she had a lot of friends. She was very well-involved in the community.
- All right, bye. Love you, chick. Mwah. Julia:<i> Jasmine lived with</i> <i> her mom in Chattanooga</i>
<i> and worked for her family's</i> <i> construction business.</i> <i> She was extremely close</i> <i> to her great-grandmother.</i>
Nick: On November 22, her grandmother had passed away. She was with her family when her grandmother passed away,
and at some point that evening, she left. Julia:<i> But two days later,</i> <i> Jasmine failed to turn</i>
<i> up to Thanksgiving dinner.</i> - Thanksgiving is a massive deal. You're always around your family.
So if you're just randomly not at Thanksgiving dinner, it's gonna be pretty alarming.
Her mom gets a message from her that she's with her friend that she's not coming, which really
prompts immediate concern from her mother. Julia:<i> Then a post appeared</i> <i> on Jasmine's social media,</i>
<i> which seemed out of character.</i> - Something felt off because the photo was quite suggestive.
Jasmine normally wouldn't do that. Julia:<i> A distinctive tattoo</i> <i> on Jasmine's right shoulder</i>
<i> was also missing.</i> Nick: Because of the missing tattoo, it indicated that it was quite old
and it wouldn't have been from that day. Julia:<i> The family were</i> <i> increasingly concerned,</i>
<i> so Jasmine's mother used</i> <i> an app linked to her daughter's</i> <i> vehicle to track her movements</i> <i> and went to the car's</i>
<i> last known location.</i> Julia:<i> Chattanooga Police</i> <i> joined Jasmine's parents</i>
at the scene. - Hey. cop: Hello. So what's going on exactly? - She's been missing for four days.
- So our daughter, Wednesday said-- texted-- we never actually spoke to her-- texted and said she was going out of town for the week
with a girlfriend, Emma. OK? cop: OK. - I just talked to Emma today. She did not go out of town with Emma.
cop: OK. - So I tracked her-- her MyChevrolet app. Tuesday night is the last time I saw my daughter.
Wednesday, it came right here. It hadn't been moved since. I pulled up her phone records.
She has not made any phone calls since Tuesday night. And someone has been resetting her passwords.
cop: Have y'all been in, like, any arguments or anything recently? Nothing like that? OK.
man: Everybody's close. Her granny lived with us. She passed Tuesday night. cop: OK, sorry to hear that.
man: No, everybody's been fine. There's been no arguments. And she's never done that.
Julia:<i> Inside</i> <i> the car, the driving</i> <i> position had been changed.</i>
- The seat was further back than Jasmine would have had it. Jasmine was very petite.
She was short, and she was small. And the seat seemed to have been further back than a short, small woman
would have driven it at. cop: As far as right now, I can get her listed as missing
in the national database. So if anybody comes across her, it's gonna pop up bright red, missing person.
- If you look at missing person statistics, it's not that common for women in their 20s
to go missing and to not be found relatively quickly. So most missing persons who are female are juveniles.
cop: I'm gonna go ahead and call that investigator. - OK. - Jasmine's car being found in a random place,
her not making contact with her parents and missing Thanksgiving, those are all things that for Jasmine
are out of the ordinary. And so it's more those factors that make this an important case because those are
all unusual things for her. And when we look at missing persons, just like with any other kind of situation where there's
a big question mark, we're looking for things that are out of the ordinary for the specific individual.
We're looking for what are called changes from baseline. Julia:<i> The police were</i> <i> limited in what they could do,</i>
<i> but Jasmine's parents</i> <i> were convinced something</i> <i> sinister had happened.</i>
<i> They did their own</i> <i> detective work</i> <i> and tracked Jasmine's vehicle</i> <i> even further back in time.</i>
Nick: Because the car was attached to an app, they were able to track its movements,
and they were eventually able to discover that car had been to Tremont Street previously.
Julia:<i> The exact</i> <i> address had already been</i> <i> sent by Jasmine to her mom.</i>
Coty: Jasmine had dropped her location to her mother on the night she went missing in the middle of the night
at around 2:15 AM. Mom initially did not see the pin drop. It was only when the family was really searching for Jasmine
that her mother was able to go back in her text, and all of a sudden said, oh my gosh, she sent me her location.
Julia:<i> Jasmine's parents</i> <i> went straight there.</i> <i> It was an apartment</i> <i> complex on Tremont Street,</i>
<i> just five miles away from where</i> <i> Jasmine's car had been found.</i> Coty: When they get to the apartment building,
they started sort of canvassing the apartment building. This couple that lived in the building
also was able to identify a scream of what seemed like a female around the time Jasmine
went missing. Julia:<i> The neighbors confirmed</i> <i> to her parents, the scream</i>
<i> came from inside apartment 210,</i> <i> the occupant, a student named</i> <i> Jason Chen, a name familiar</i> <i> to Jasmine's parents.</i>
- Jasmine was a young female. She was not in a serious relationship. She was casually seeing a student
at the local university, Jason Chen. Some of her family members had met him, but her parents had not.
Nick: Desperate to find their daughter, Jasmine's parents decided to break in to Jason Chen's apartment.
[tense music] ♪ ♪ - I knew that something bad had happened when I learned that the family found Jasmine's personal items
in this apartment. They were items that you would not leave behind-- a driver's license, your credit cards.
I knew that something was wrong. Julia:<i> A few minutes</i> <i> after the 911 call,</i>
<i> officers arrived to pick</i> <i> up Jasmine's parents'</i> <i> investigation.</i>
cop: None of y'all are in here? woman: No, no one answered it. cop: All right. Just hang out over here.
We're just gonna make sure that obviously there is no one in here. cop: It smells like rotting food.
See that? cop: Yeah. cop: Long hair there. Get down here. That's definitely female.
woman: Is she in there? cop: She's not in here. cop: No one's inside. Paul: A missing child is one of the greatest fears
that any parent would have. You instantly go to very dark places. Is my child hurt?
Is my child alive? Is she being held against her will? Julia:<i> Officers needed</i> <i> to speak with the neighbors</i>
<i> who'd heard the scream.</i> - Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning, we were sitting on the couch right there.
Heard some yelling. I took a note on my phone. So I just wrote the time down around about that I heard it.
That was the date. I haven't changed it since. So November 23. That was Wednesday night.
I wrote down the time of 2:15 AM. Julia:<i> The time of the scream</i> <i> exactly matched when Jasmine</i>
<i> sent the pin drop to her mom.</i> <i> The police urgently</i> <i> needed to find her.</i>
<i> They started to look</i> <i> for Jason Chen.</i> <i> All they knew was that he</i> <i> was a university student</i>
<i> doing computer science.</i> Coty: Jason Chen was nowhere to be found. Police are calling him.
They are trying to contact him. They have his information. He is not responding.
And they do not know where he is at. Julia:<i> Alongside,</i> <i> a major search operation</i>
<i> was also underway for Jasmine.</i> Nick: Everyone is looking for Jasmine. Her mom's frantic and trying to find her daughter.
She was clearly very popular. She had clearly had a lot of people who cared about her.
And, you know, Chattanooga is such a close-knit community that when someone goes missing like this,
you'll see it spread like wildfire. reporter: Pace's disappearance has caught the eye of social media.
- Please stop scrolling and help me find my friend. - Share it. Get the word out.
Kentrell: When I heard the news that Jasmine was missing, it was truly horrific.
I couldn't believe that what was going on was truly happening. Coty: At this point in the investigation,
a search warrant was then executed by the Chattanooga Police Department. They utilized a tool that we basically refer to as luminol.
It is a substance that can identify the presence of blood. With the naked eye, most of the investigators
could not really see any blood, but when they utilized that luminol, turn the lights off.
[tense music] ♪ ♪ This was not a faint trace of blood. They found quantities of blood that were not survivable.
Julia:<i> A closer</i> <i> forensic examination</i> <i> of the apartment only confirmed</i> <i> the worst-case scenario.</i>
Coty: There was clearly a cleanup job, but not good enough. It was clear that not only had something gone terribly wrong,
but that most likely whosever blood that was was not alive. Julia:<i> Investigators</i> <i> needed to confirm</i>
<i> if it was Jasmine's blood.</i> Coty: Law enforcement took a sample from her toothbrush
at her parents' house to compare it to the blood in the apartment. We sent it off to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
and asked for it to be tested as soon as possible. Julia:<i> Outside</i> <i> the apartment by a dumpster,</i>
<i> the police discovered</i> <i> items covered in blood.</i> - Jason Chen, he's gone from a-- a person
of interest to the primary suspect in possibly a homicide. Julia:<i> Police were working</i> <i> around the clock to find him.</i>
<i> They checked the neighborhood</i> <i> for surveillance footage</i> <i> in search of digital clues.</i>
Coty: Law enforcement are seeking out video footage from different locations that Jason may have
visited nearby his residence. Julia:<i> Police got a lucky break</i> <i> when they checked the security</i>
<i> footage from a nearby store.</i> <i> The morning after</i> <i> Jasmine went missing,</i>
<i> Jason Chen was</i> <i> captured on camera</i> <i> buying cleaning products.</i>
- What was especially interesting to us is that throughout these videos and throughout this day,
Mr. Chen wears a very distinct hat that makes him extremely easy to identify, and we continue
to see this hat throughout the course of the investigation. Julia:<i> Another local store</i> <i> provided the police with even</i>
<i> more unsettling scenes.</i> <i> Jason was buying bandages</i> <i> and hydrogen peroxide.</i>
There's something called the illusion of invulnerability, which is when perpetrators think
that they can't get caught. So they're basically overconfident in their ability to get away with a crime.
And in this case, having a really distinctive hat could be an oversight, but it could also
be someone who's just incredibly overconfident and thinks it doesn't really matter what I wear.
It doesn't really matter what I'm doing because I'm not going to get caught. <i> The day after</i> <i> Jasmine went missing,</i>
<i> doorbell footage captured Jason</i> <i> returning to his apartment</i> <i> multiple times.</i>
<i> And when investigators checked</i> <i> footage from a street camera</i> <i> outside the apartment,</i> <i> they made</i>
<i> another shocking discovery.</i> - We were able to locate video footage of Jasmine Pace's vehicle actually leaving his apartment.
And this is when that hat becomes important again, because we believe that the figure in the driver's
seat of the vehicle can be identified as Jason Chen, based on the hat he's wearing.
Julia:<i> But why would Jason</i> <i> Chen be driving Jasmine's car?</i> <i> As investigators continued</i> <i> to search through hours</i>
<i> of surveillance footage,</i> <i> another glimpse of Jason</i> <i> aroused suspicion.</i>
- The one piece of video evidence that's really stuck, drew me in and captured my imagination
was the camera that we have installed on a street corner, and it just so happened to look up Tremont Street
to Jason Chen's apartment. On that, I could see Jason Chin coming and going. And ultimately, I could see him taking
a suitcase out the front door of his apartment and then driving away. Julia:<i> The contents of the</i> <i> suitcase remained a mystery.</i>
<i> Jasmine was still</i> <i> nowhere to be found.</i> <i> Then the DNA results came back.</i>
<i> The blood in the apartment</i> <i> was confirmed to be Jasmine's.</i> Coty: The moment with the family
in which we had to tell them that we did not expect to find Jasmine alive based on the blood found
in his apartment was when we just had to be honest with them. At that point, we were all realistic that we were
simply looking for a body. Julia:<i> Eight days after</i> <i> Jasmine went missing,</i>
<i> police were finally able</i> <i> to access Jason's cell</i> <i> phone location data.</i>
<i> It led them on a drive two</i> <i> hours away from Chattanooga</i> <i> to Nolensville, Tennessee.</i>
[knock on door] <i> A house owned by Jason</i> <i> Chen's parents.</i> Julia:<i> He emerged</i> <i> from the shadows.</i>
Julia: Asking the police officers whether they have probable cause, it feels like legal language, which
could suggest that he's been researching the kinds of things the police need to have in order to arrest him,
but also in terms of the kinds of evidence they need to prosecute him. And that, to me, given the circumstances,
does feel suspicious. - Chattanooga Police say blood spatters found in a young man's apartment led them to charge him
with homicide in the case of missing 22-year-old Jasmine Pace. Coty: When Jason was taken into custody,
police tried to conduct an interview with him. And at that point in time, he chose not to say anything.
Julia:<i> But a search</i> <i> of Jason's parents' house</i> <i> led to more</i> <i> incriminating evidence.</i>
Coty: They had a one-car garage, and it was his vehicle that was meticulously cleaned that was in his parents' garage
while his parents' vehicles were in the driveway. Julia:<i> Police also</i> <i> discovered handwritten notes</i>
<i> about Jasmine's life</i> <i> and a complete timeline</i> <i> of their interactions.</i>
<i> Jason Chen was now in custody,</i> <i> but Jasmine was still missing.</i> <i> All search efforts were focused</i> <i> on finding Jasmine's body.</i>
- In any homicide prosecution, we always want to have a body. It is vitally important to prove
one of the essential elements in that there was an unlawful killing. Absent a body, there's always a reasonable doubt
that that person is still alive. - We knew that he was a suspect in a homicide, but we did not have Jasmine Pace,
and that's what we needed. Julia:<i> Using Jason Chen's</i> <i> cell phone location data,</i>
<i> investigators worked</i> <i> on pinpointing</i> <i> his movements around the time</i> <i> Jasmine went missing.</i>
Coty: When law enforcement began to go through those records, we found that he was all over town, but in a very
suspicious place at one point on the bank of the Tennessee River. [tense music] ♪ ♪
- When the investigators arrived in the secluded area off of Suck Creek Road west
of Chattanooga, they immediately noticed a suitcase. They dragged that suitcase up onto the flat ground,
opened it up, and immediately felt what they recognized to be a human body. Julia:<i> The medical</i> <i> examiner took X-ray images</i>
<i> of the suitcase's contents.</i> - The body was wrapped in three separate garbage bags.
It was curled into what's described as the fetal position. Julia:<i> The body was</i> <i> confirmed to be Jasmine Pace.</i>
Paul: Jasmine Pace was handcuffed twice, once with a handcuff to her wrist attached to her right leg, another
with a set of leg shackles. One of the shackles was affixed around her elbow area and the other one to her opposite left leg.
The report of our medical examiner was very chilling. It told us that Jasmine Pace had
been stabbed 60 times, in her shoulder, in her throat, in her head, in her abdomen.
It described a large portion of a large knife being broken off in her lung. She died of blood loss and aspirated on her own blood.
♪ ♪ - When the body of Jasmine Pace was positively identified, it really shook the entire city.
People just wanted to understand why could someone do this to this girl. Julia: This is a really brutal find.
And specifically, the fact that she was stabbed so many times makes it really clear that this had nothing
to do with self-defense. It had nothing to do with someone who is acting impulsively maybe once or twice.
This is someone who is intentionally going back and back and back in order to cause either maximum damage
while she's still alive or maximum damage to her body afterwards. So this is an obvious and clear case
of overkill, where someone is maybe emotional, but in a way that is sustained, not in a way that
is sort of a rash reaction. ♪ ♪ Coty: This was a tough case for everybody, just the gruesome nature of it, the-- the uniqueness
based on what we typically see in terms of violent crime in Chattanooga. So this had been a tough process.
It was a tough process to go through with her family. So as trial approached, it was somber.
Julia:<i> And while</i> <i> they were preparing</i> <i> for the trial, a crucial late</i> <i> discovery of more evidence.</i>
- We got a call from the detective in the case, who said we found her SIM card, and it was in Jason Chen's backpack.
The fact that the criminal defendant has the victim's SIM card in his possession
is just great evidence. There is no explanation for that. And so we put that on top of everything that we already had,
and it was sort of the cherry on top of this case. Julia:<i> A vital</i> <i> piece of evidence</i>
<i> that proved Jason had</i> <i> been impersonating</i> <i> Jasmine after she was killed.</i>
- She was murdered around 2:15 in the morning AM. And then it wasn't until that night, around 6:00 to 6:30 PM,
that we know that he takes her body to the bank of the Tennessee River. During that day, he's also texting her
as if she is still alive and ensuring that her phone, which he had in his possession,
appears that these messages were read. Paul: He posted a picture of him holding a drink in his hand.
The problem with that is the photograph metadata. Well, it showed that it was actually taken months and
months before the homicide. So it was fake. He knew that Jasmine Pace was dead, and he was trying to create a digital alibi for himself.
Julia:<i> The trial</i> <i> began in January 2025.</i> Coty: It was shocking to us when in the defendant's opening
statement, his attorney admits, yeah, he did kill her, but he did it in a state of passion.
He was provoked. Julia: The defense that something is a crime of passion is a line of defense that has long
been used by people, especially by men killing women, especially men killing intimate partners.
And that is something that is changing in terms of the societal perception of acceptability.
It's no longer seen as something that should excuse murder or even potentially be a mitigating circumstance.
The question we should also be asking as a society is do we care? Because really, people should be
able to control their emotional responses, even to strong and threatening situations.
And murder is never an acceptable option, no matter how angry you get. Nick: The defense claim that Jasmine
had attacked Jason with a wine bottle after discovering that he was messaging other girls on Tinder.
It seemed basically impossible that one, that she could have posed any physical threat to Jason,
and that two, with the cell phone data, it was revealed that the day before Jason killed Jasmine,
he had not received one message on Tinder. Julia:<i> But the cell</i> <i> phone data revealed</i>
<i> Jason did use a dating</i> <i> app within six</i> <i> hours of killing Jasmine.</i>
Nick: Jason had been messaging other girls mere hours after he had killed Jasmine Pace and was telling them, hey,
I guess we're boyfriend-girlfriend now. And also, he was playing video games after.
Like, with her body still in the apartment, he was talking about, like, hey, let's run some<i> Call of Duty.</i>
Julia: All of this is happening while Jasmine is dead in the apartment. It does feel like the act of a psychopath.
It feels like someone who doesn't care and is getting on with his life, rather than panicking
and trying immediately to deal with the consequences. <i> After an eight-day trial,</i> <i> Jason Chen was found guilty</i>
<i> and sentenced to life</i> <i> in prison without parole.</i> - What he did was so heinous in this case,
was so unprovoked, so uncalled for, that I think Jason Chen has forfeited his right
to ever be back in society because we don't need monsters like that in our society.
Kentrell: I miss Jasmine's personality, her compassion, her empathy. Jasmine should be remembered for her kind spirit.
We did a vigil, a candlelight for her, you know, celebrating her life and who she was as a person.
There were about 200 people at the vigil candlelight, and just seeing all the students come out and
show their love and support, it was a positive atmosphere for anyone to come out and to celebrate
the memory of Jasmine. And she left a really big impact on the community. And that shows with a lot of people
coming to her candlelight. Coty: We would like Jasmine to be remembered as the ray of sunshine within her friends and family group
that she was. She was vibrant. She was beautiful. She was always there. She was loyal.
She had everything going for her. And that's part of why this was so tragic. But she certainly was a ray of sunshine.
And that's a message that we'll continue to try to get across. [somber music] ♪ ♪
Julia: In murder cases, victims almost always know and trust the perpetrators, which is why the perpetrators are able to get them
into compromising situations in the first place. They effectively hijack the victim's intuition.
And what they're doing is they're overriding all the cues that you could be looking for, all the red flags,
and they're turning them around and making themselves instead seem like nice guys.
Julia:<i> In the UK, in</i> <i> Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent,</i> <i> one of the largest cities in</i> <i> the Midlands with over 250,000</i>
<i> people, known as the home</i> <i> of pottery in the UK with</i> <i> a football team</i> <i> nicknamed the Potters,</i>
<i> but statistically a higher than</i> <i> average crime rate, it was home</i> <i> to 18-year-old Megan Newton.</i>
<i> Megan was studying sports</i> <i> science at Newcastle College.</i> <i> She was a talented</i> <i> football player</i>
<i> and recently got a tattoo</i> <i> to show her love for the game.</i> - Megan had three jobs.
She not only did that, in her spare time, she coached an under seven girls' football team.
She was a caring person, dealing with children. She loved children. She gave up her spare time to help them get better.
Julia:<i> Megan's dream was</i> <i> to get a sports scholarship</i> <i> to study in America.</i>
- She had real ambition for her life. Julia:<i> Friday, April 19, 2019.</i> <i> Megan was working her</i> <i> usual evening shift</i>
<i> in a local fish and chip shop.</i> - Megan finished at around 9:30 working in the chip
shop that she worked in. Julia:<i> After her shift, Megan</i> <i> went home to get changed.</i>
- She went to meet some friends in a pub. And then they all went to a club together.
They were having a lovely evening. Megan was happily showing off a new tattoo that she had.
Julia:<i> At 2:45 AM, Megan left</i> <i> the club and took a taxi home.</i> <i> The next morning, a worrying</i> <i> discovery-- neighbors</i>
<i> found a set of keys covered</i> <i> in blood in a car park</i> <i> outside Megan's apartment.</i>
Steve: Some people who live in the block were able to establish it belonged to one
of the ground floor flats. So out of concern for the occupant there, they opened the door.
They went in. And what they found was there was a naked female laying on the bed, quite clearly
deceased and quite clearly suffering from some horrendous injuries. So they came away and dialed 999.
[sirens blaring] Julia:<i> Police immediately</i> <i> responded to the scene.</i>
Steve: When the officers arrived, the witnesses took them to the flat, and it was quite obvious from her injuries and the blood
at the scene that this wasn't an accident. Inside, they also found a knife, a knife that they
believed was the one that caused the injuries, making this a crucial piece of evidence.
They would have been in no doubt that this was now a murder investigation. Julia:<i> The woman was</i> <i> confirmed to be Megan Newton.</i>
Steve: Her flat was now a crime scene, meaning it would be locked down and it would need to be forensically examined
to look for any trace that could indicate not only what had happened there, but who it was that killed her.
Julia:<i> Investigators urgently</i> <i> needed to find Megan's killer.</i> - The next important step was to build
up a picture of her movements that night, that evening. Where had she been? Who'd she been with?
Julia:<i> Police needed</i> <i> to track Megan's route,</i> <i> retracing how she got to the</i> <i> nightclub the night before.</i>
- Police will be looking for what we call quick wins, CCTV that could potentially give some clues as
to what went on and importantly, who the killer may have been. Julia:<i> Police found CCTV</i> <i> footage from outside the club.</i>
<i> They were able to identify</i> <i> Megan leaving in a</i> taxi. - In that taxi was one of her female friends and a male.
This clip shows the three of them getting in the cab, Megan in the middle and the friend
closest to the passenger side. They all look comfortable, and all intents and purposes, there's nothing suspicious going on here.
Julia:<i> Police searched</i> <i> for surveillance</i> <i> cameras close to Megan's home.</i>
<i> They found footage</i> <i> of Megan and the man</i> <i> walking towards her apartment.</i>
Steve: By now, the cab has dropped them off, and there are just the two of them now.
Julia:<i> As police tracked</i> <i> Megan's movements on camera,</i> <i> they got a major breakthrough.</i>
Steve: There was actually cameras in and around Megan's flat, cameras that overlooked her front door.
Julia:<i> When detectives</i> <i> searched through the recording,</i> <i> they identified</i> <i> Megan arriving home.</i>
Steve: The footage showed her arriving at around 3:45 AM, and she wasn't alone. She was with a male, tall, slim, young, white
with dark hair. This is the best quality CCTV so far. They're smiling. They look happy.
There was no aggravation between them. There was definitely nothing at this point
that you would point out as looking suspicious. Julia:<i> Analysis</i> <i> of the man's behavior</i>
<i> revealed a subtle</i> <i> change in his demeanor.</i> Roberta: What was once quite relaxed shifts.
He stands quite close to Megan. He looks around. We don't know if he's responding to a noise
or just scoping out to see if someone's watching him, but there's definitely something that's shifted.
[tense music] ♪ ♪ Julia:<i> Two hours passed, then</i> <i> he appeared on camera again.</i>
Roberta: As the man leaves Megan's apartment, it looks like he is quite calm. He walks.
He doesn't run. He seems very composed as he makes his way to the door. Steve: The footage is on her front door,
so there's no dispute as to who went in and who came out. Julia:<i> An exterior</i> <i> camera captured the man</i>
<i> as he left Megan's building.</i> Steve: This, to me, looks really very casual.
And with his right hand, we see him throw something down. Julia:<i> The object appeared</i> <i> to land in the same spot</i>
<i> where the neighbors had found</i> <i> Megan's keys covered in blood.</i> Roberta: Again, he seems quite calm, doesn't
particularly seem fazed. He's even checking his phone. It doesn't seem to be that anything's amiss.
- Of all the video footage, this clip, to me, is the one that really hits home. As he's walking away, he looks down.
And we can see that there's something on his hand. You can see the color of it. It's red.
Julia:<i> When police spoke</i> <i> to Megan's friends,</i> <i> they discovered the man in</i> <i> the footage was Joseph Trevor,</i>
<i> a 19-year-old semi-professional</i> <i> footballer who had attended</i> <i> the same school as Megan.</i>
<i> Both of his parents</i> <i> were police officers.</i> - Remarkably, it wasn't the first time
he'd come to notice of police because that evening, before he met Megan, he'd been stopped by bouncers
and found to have white powder on him, and they called the police. And he was dealt with by them for this white powder that
turned out to be ketamine. The police detained him, but the decision was made that he was not fit to be
detained, i.e. he'd been drinking, potentially taking drugs. So those drugs were taken from him,
and he was given a bail date to come to the police station at a later time. Julia:<i> After Joseph Trevor</i> <i> was released from the police</i>
<i> station, he went straight</i> <i> to the Kiln Nightclub</i> <i> where he met Megan.</i>
<i> And just a few hours after he</i> <i> left Megan's apartment alone,</i> <i> officers were called out</i> <i> to a potential suicide threat.</i>
- The police were called to a male who was sitting on the side of a bridge over the A500.
And when police arrived, they found that that male was Joseph Trevor. He was sat there in a way that caused concern.
He's on this side of a bridge overlooking a road. Is he somebody that may be looking to take their own life?
Julia:<i> Joseph was</i> <i> taken to the hospital.</i> <i> He was seen by a mental</i> <i> health worker</i>
<i> and picked up by his dad.</i> Roberta: We don't know exactly what was going through Joseph Trevor's mind.
It could be guilt. It could be remorse. It could be shame. However, in these instances, self-preservation outweighs
guilt. And what unfolded may have been much more in response to a fear of the consequences, rather than true remorse
for what he had done. - Joseph Trevor had gone home to his house. He lived there with his mum and dad.
Julia:<i> He decided</i> <i> to confess to his family.</i> - He says to them, I've done something bad.
Roberta: For Joseph Trevor's parents, who were both police officers, hearing the news about what he did
must have been devastating. But the reality is there was only one outcome. In order for Megan to have justice,
they had to forgo protecting their son. Steve: His parents phoned the police and informed them that the murderer of Megan Newton
was, in fact, their son, Joseph Trevor. [tense music] Julia:<i> Joseph Trevor</i> <i> was arrested and</i>
<i> charged with the murder</i> <i> of Megan Newton.</i> Steve: When someone commits a crime such as this,
it's important to understand well, is this a one-off? Have they done anything like this in the past?
In the case of Joseph Trevor, it appeared that he had. When he was 15 years old, he'd been arrested
for a sexual assault. That was never prosecuted, but it gave a clue as to why and how this happened to Megan.
Julia:<i> The autopsy report</i> <i> revealed the full extent</i> <i> of Megan's injuries.</i>
<i> Dr. Brett Lockyer is</i> <i> a forensic pathologist.</i> Brett: In Megan's case, the pathologist
was able to determine that there were nine stab wounds to the back of her neck. Those stab wounds had entered into her chest
and had injured both her lungs. The pathologist had found injuries to her neck, which would indicate
that she had been strangled, that there had been a period of neck compression followed by nine stab wounds.
This sustained and brutal attack is the reason why Megan died. Julia:<i> The autopsy</i> <i> also confirmed Megan</i>
<i> had been sexually assaulted.</i> Roberta: This is a very disturbing and violent crime.
From a psychological perspective, this is overkill, and overkill really does often suggest
there is an intense emotional experience like rage, sadism. It's about power and control.
We also have to acknowledge that the throat is where our voice resides. So strangulation can also be seen as a way
to silence a victim, especially if they've been rejected or if there's resistance or even to silence the victim
from speaking about what actually happened. In that moment, the perpetrator has that person's life
literally in their hands. They choose if they live or die. It's about inflicting anxiety, terror in the victim,
but also exerting dominance. Julia:<i> In court, the full</i> <i> details of the evening Megan</i>
<i> was killed came to light.</i> - On that evening, she'd taken him home in order to stop him getting into trouble with his parents,
and Trevor has repaid her by raping her, murdering her, and then leaving her dead in her own apartment
before fleeing the scene. This was a brutal and sustained attack, showing no regard for Megan's life.
Roberta: Joseph Trevor had expressed a desire not to go home because he was intoxicated
and he didn't want his parents to see him in that state. Megan, being the understanding friend that she was,
offered to share her sanctuary with Joseph Trevor, but he abused it, took advantage of it
and attacked her and killed her in her own home. This really does highlight how Megan's act of kindness
was met with betrayal and ultimately her losing her life. Julia:<i> The video</i> <i> evidence gave police</i>
<i> a rare insight into the mind</i> <i> of Joseph Trevor.</i> - It's quite unusual to actually
get a glimpse of a killer soon after the murder has taken place. You don't often get that look into their eyes
as you do in this instance when he's coming out of that flat. - Knowing that this man's the killer
invites us to look at this clip differently. The calmness that we're seeing takes on a different quality.
It's quite chilling. It's cold. It's callous, and it has no indication of what's just
taken place moments before. Julia:<i> In February</i> <i> 2020, Joseph Trevor</i>
<i> was sentenced to 21</i> <i> years for the murder</i> <i> and rape of Megan Newton.</i>
Roberta: It's really important that talking about Megan's murder doesn't take away her dignity.
Why it's an important case that real lessons can be learned. We have to hold in mind that a real woman, a young woman,
a woman who had her whole life ahead of her, is at the center of this. Megan brought lots of joy to many people.
She was kind, compassionate, and caring, and she will be missed by not only her friends and
her family, but her community. Megan was a keen footballer, not only in terms of playing, but also teaching the younger
generation to play the sport and encouraging women to get involved. This is inspiring.
This is incredibly hopeful. This is what Megan should be remembered for. [somber music]
♪ ♪ [tense music] ♪ ♪

Digital forensics help unravel the tragic cases of Jasmine Pace and Megan Newton. Subscribe to FilmRise True Crime For More Full Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@FilmRiseTrueCrime

Killers Caught On Camera is a true-crime series with a voyeuristic twist: video footage from home security cameras, CCTV, and dashcams take center-stage, helping detectives catch perpetrators in moments of criminal intent to acts of pure evil. Family members of victims and law enforcement provide first-hand accounts of how these chilling events unfold while experts like Criminal Psychologist Dr. Julia Shaw dissect the darkest corners of the mind.

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Brief Summary

Jasmine Pace and Megan Newton's tragic murders highlight community impact and violence against women.

Key points

Blood Evidence Found. Investigators discover significant blood evidence in Jason Chen's apartment, indicating foul play.
Jasmine Pace Goes Missing. 22-year-old Jasmine Pace disappears just before Thanksgiving, raising alarms among her family.
Jasmine's Body Discovered. A suitcase containing Jasmine's body is found, confirming the worst fears of her family.
Jasmine Pace's Brutal Murder. Jasmine Pace was stabbed 60 times, indicating a premeditated attack.
Crucial Evidence Found. A SIM card belonging to Jasmine was discovered in Jason Chen's backpack, linking him to the crime.
Joseph Trevor's Arrest. Joseph Trevor was arrested for the murder of Megan Newton after confessing to his parents.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The camera doesn’t lie.

A man reflects on the evidence of a crime scene.

1:12WatchMay 25, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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