The World's Unluckiest Car Thief | Forensic Files

About 2 hours before Jay's body was discovered, an officer patrolling a neighborhood about 45 minutes away in a
city called Hayward noticed a blue Toyota acting kind of sus. There had been a string of sexual assault in the
area recently, so the cop figured he should like check this out. But when he initiated a traffic stop, the Toyota
peeled off and it turned into a whole high-speed chase situation. But God bless dumb criminals, right? because the
driver raced over a set of railroad tracks and not at a railroad crossing and crashed right into a house on the
other side. Now, the driver, a blonde 20some, jumped out of the car, fled on foot, and got away. But when police ran
the car's place and found that it was registered to Jay, they eventually touched base with SFPD, who immediately
think that they've got their killer or at least a description of their killer. Now, I don't have the exact like
playbyplay, but one way or another, the blonde guy ends up getting IDed and located. And dude is shocked to learn
that the car he'd crashed belonged to a homicide victim. He denies any involvement in Jay's death, swearing up
and down that he just lifted the car from where it was parked at Golden Gate Park. And as unbelievable as I know that
sounds, his story actually checks out. Seriously, he's literally just like the world's unluckiest car thief, which is a
bummer for investigators because it means that their promising early lead turns into a dead end real fast. And
with nothing else to go on and knowing they weren't making any connections to a larger pattern of crimes yet, it kind of
feels like everyone just shrugged their shoulders and said like, "Oh well, we tried." Now, our team talked to Ron
Huberman, who was the first openly gay investigator with the San Francisco DA's office in the 70s. And as you can
imagine, he had unique insight into the tense dynamic between the gay community and law enforcement at the time. And he
said the simplest way to put it was that there was a ton of hate crimes happening
at the time. The murders, he said, were like next level. But what he saw from the inside is that police just did not

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Brief Summary

A police chase leads to a homicide investigation involving Jay and insights from Ron Huberman on law enforcement's challenges in the 1970s.

Key points

High-Speed Chase Unfolds. A police officer notices a suspicious Toyota, leading to a dramatic chase and crash.
Unlucky Car Thief. The driver of the crashed Toyota claims he stole the car, complicating the investigation.
Investigator's Insight. Ron Huberman shares the tense relationship between the gay community and law enforcement.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

God bless dumb criminals, right?

Commenting on the driver's reckless behavior during a police chase.

0:19WatchMay 25, 2025

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