What Really Happened That Night on the Bridge – Accident or Murder? | Forensic Files

Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Brit. And the story I have for you today is one that has been
keeping me up at night because it shows you just how quickly a case can be closed when on paper it looks open and
shut. Even when nothing about the details add up. Because when a mom of two is found dead in the Puet Sound in
Washington at the start of the pandemic, investigators were quick to rule her death a suicide. But that didn't make
sense to her loved ones or to me. So we started asking questions about how a devoted mom could vanish in the dead of
night, about the witness who never told the same story twice, and about the husband whose answers only raised more
questions. But once we started pulling at those threads, we realized that nothing about this story is simple. And
it unraveled into something far more chilling than we expected. This is the story of Gwen Hasselquist.
All right, let me take you back to a time that we all wish we could forget. It is March 20th, 2020. The global COVID
pandemic had finally gripped the US and we couldn't just drink bleach to make it
go away despite previous advice from a president. >> Now, where our story takes place in none
other than Washington state, >> schools are closed, grocery shelves are empty, and stay-at-home orders are just
about to take hold. But while most people are hunkered down inside, Washington State Trooper Daniel Knox is
out on his regular patrol in Pierce County. The streets are quieter than normal, but not yet completely free of
traffic or traffic calls. And just after midnight, dispatch radios him about a minivan stopped on the shoulder of the
Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which is like this mile long suspension bridge that crosses over the Puet Sound from Gig
Harbor to Tacoma. Now, Trooper Knox drives over and he spots it right away. A Chrysler minivan pulled over against
the guard rail with all four doors wide open. And it's not just stopped. It's clearly been in an accident. Like the
passenger side is wrecked, like scraped and dented all the way down. And all three windows on that side have been
broken. The glass is shattered and scattered all over the road. When Trooper Knox gets close, he also notices
a guy reaching into the van through the driver's side door. And the guy is holding an open beer, kind of talking to
himself, and just like not making a ton of sense. >> So, Trooper Knox is probably thinking
that this is a pretty straightforward drunk driving accident. >> But the second that this man with the
beer starts talking, he realizes that nothing about this is going to be straightforward. Now, he learns that
this guy's name is Demetrius Jackson, [music] and Demetrius tells him a truly wild story. It turns out the van isn't
his and he wasn't driving it either. Demetrius claims that he was walking to his mom's house in Tacoma from his
girlfriend's place. And if we found the right girlfriend, her house would have been on the gig harbor side of the
bridge about a mile from the on-ramp. And so he says he is walking and all of a sudden this woman pulls over in the
van and offers him a ride. Now Demetrius says that he could see someone else in the back of the van, but he didn't get a
really good look at who. didn't matter. He was happy for the ride. So, he got into the van and the woman started
driving down the bridge. But then out of nowhere, she just stopped midway, gets out of the van, and started wandering
off toward the safety railing. Now, it doesn't explicitly say in the police reports that Demetrius followed her. But
he must have because he says when they got back to the van, like together, he saw that the side of the van was
damaged. >> He's just noticing it now. >> Yeah. So, super weird to me. I don't know if he's claiming he maybe got in on
the driver's side of the van before and therefore didn't notice it. But it's not
like the car could have been sideswiped while they were out of it because all the damage is on the side closest to the
guard rail. And actually to Trooper Knox, it kind of looks like it hit the guard rail. But Demetrius also isn't
saying anything about there being a crash while he was in the car. He says he has no idea how the damage happened,
but he says the woman had been acting weird. Like the only thing she said to him was something like it's nice to meet
you or it's nice to talk to you. But they didn't actually do any talking according to him. At least not more than
her offering him the ride. Demetrius said that all of it was just like too weird. So he decided to just leave. And
he starts walking back down the bridge on foot to get to his mom's house. But as he was walking, he said he got this
weird feeling and decided to turn around. And as he got closer to the van, he swears that he saw what he describes
as a dark figure standing by the railing. One minute that dark figure is there and then the next it's just gone.
And by the time he got back to the van, there was no sign of the woman or whoever was in the van with her. Where
did the beer he was holding come into all of this? And like why was he reaching back into the car when the
trooper pulled up? It sounds like he like just stole the van and now he's trying to cover his tracks. I know there
is no mention of the beer in the first report, but as for why he's reaching back into the van, well, there is a
story about that. So, he says that now that no one was near the vehicle, I guess he just decided the van was his at
that point because he tells Trooper Knox that he thought the woman gave it to him.
>> Not sure that's how that works. >> I know. He says he was trying to like him reaching in was him trying to like
push it down the road because he didn't have the keys >> which doesn't exactly track with her
giving him the van would need to come with it. >> And no surprise like of course he
doesn't have any papers proving that she gave it to him either since he just showed up and decided she did.
>> Yeah. >> But Demetrius tells Trooper Knox he just assumed that she wanted him to have it.
>> Okay. >> His story is all over the place. And unfortunately, at this time of night, at
this time of the pandemic, there are no other witnesses to back him up or even to refute his story. But either way,
Trooper Knox isn't buying it. So, he runs the registration on the minivan, and it comes back to a man named Eric
Hasselquist, who lives about 20 minutes away. But the van hasn't been reported stolen or anything, so they can't
actually arrest Demetrius. [music] So to figure out what's what, another officer who had made it to the scene by
that point leaves trooper knocks with Demetrius. And then this officer heads over to the address on file to check if
Eric knows what's going on with his van. Now, by the time the officer knocks on Eric's door, it's around 1:00 in the
morning. So, it's not surprising when no one answers right away, except through a
window, he sees that two kids are inside, a young boy and a young girl, like both elementary school age. So
through the window he's like, "Hey, are your parents home?" The little girl just
like shrugs, but then the kids do go and open the door to tell him that their parents are sleeping. And eventually
their dad, Eric, hears them talking to the officer, and he doesn't like come out, which I think is a little bit
strange. He just kind of yells from another room asking what's going on. Obviously, the officer tells him.
They're trying to figure out who has their minivan. And that's when Eric finally comes to the door. He tells the
officer, "No one is supposed to have the van. the whole family is home. So, he and the officer go and take a look
outside where the van is usually parked. And of course, it's not there. >> But the family's other car is there
parked in the driveway with the lights on and the door open. Now, there's nothing in the officer's report about
the other car looking broken into or damaged. Just lights on, doors open. So, maybe whoever stole the van, if it was
stolen, did that too. Maybe. But Eric tells the officer that he last saw the van at around 1000 p.m. Now, weirdly,
there's no mention about whether they asked him if there was any damage to the van before this. I'm assuming if it was
already wrecked that like that would have come up somehow >> as like a description of like my van was
this color. Also, there's a scrape all the way down the passenger side. >> Windows are blown out, but again,
remember that glass was like on the thing. So, I think they're really focusing on the accident happening there
at the time. So, whoever took the van had likely gotten into an accident and made it onto the bridge all within a
couple of hours. Now, as the officer is talking to Eric, he notices that they have a Ring camera, which like glorious,
maybe they'll have the thief on tape, and this can all be wrapped up before shift change. So, he asks if he can take
a look at the footage. And Eric shows him a screenshot from the ring cam that shows his wife Gwen leaving the house at
around 10:19 p.m. >> Wait, like he just whipped out the screenshot all ready to go or he had to
like go through the footage and then took the screenshot with the time code? >> Unclear. I know if you have a Ring
camera, you can see the full recording history in the app, but it only shows what looks like a screenshot unless you
like click in to play the full video. So >> I assume that first screenshot is what
Eric is showing the officer. >> Okay. Now, he doesn't push Eric for more, though. He's just like, "Okay,
great. Well, if she left at 10:19, did she come back?" >> Right? Like, did she have the van? Maybe
she was the woman Demetrius said he met on the bridge, right? >> Or are we looking for someone else who
stole your van? >> Right. So, Eric says, "Yes, she came back. She's inside right now resting
because she just got tested for CO and he was pretty sure that it was going to come back positive." Does he show him a
video or screenshot of that? >> No. The report just says that there is no video of anything else. Not of Gwen
coming home, not of anyone in the driveway, at least that he sees. And Eric tells the officer that's because
the Ring camera sensors don't like always trip. And look, I don't know about you if you have one of these, but
like my camera at home catches like a squirrel crossing my falling. Yeah. >> So, I'm like a little bit side eyeing
this. >> Yeah. I mean, I think you can adjust sensors on your cameras to make them
like less sensitive or whatever. like I don't know in this situation just go talk to Gwen. Wake her up. Ask her what
happened when she got home. All of it. She's right there. >> Well, this is where the complexities of
the time come in. Because of social distancing protocols, the officer doesn't go inside to talk to her about
where she went and what time she got back or anything. [music] And listen, like what makes this all even stranger
to me is that Eric doesn't seem that concerned about the van. I mean, it's about to be towed away after sitting
wrecked on a bridge in the middle of the night. But according to the report, he's
like whatever. Like no big deal. >> Which like I'm also thinking it's a minivan. They have two kids. Like this
is probably like the primary family vehicle and it's just like gone and he doesn't care.
>> Yeah. And even though police like note his reaction and it's a little bit odd,
they seem far more interested in and suspicious of Demetrius, the man they found with the wrecked van. So the
officer writes a stolen vehicle report and just kind of goes on his way. He notifies Trooper Knox back at the bridge
that he should arrest Demetrius for possession of a stolen vehicle. And that's that. Case closed for about an
hour. Then around 2:00 a.m., Eric calls 911 to report his wife, Gwen, missing. The same wife that he had just told the
officer was home in bed sleeping. She's now gone. The world is full of mysteries that make
us question everything we've ever known to be true. These events leave us with a
sense of wonder and yearning for understanding. I'm Evette Gentile. And I'm her sister, Rasha Pecarero. And each
week on our podcast, So Supernatural, we take a deep dive into the world's most bizarre and puzzling mysteries. Ready to
dive into the unknown? Join us every Friday for a new episode of So Supernatural, available wherever you
listen to podcasts. Eric tells police that after the officer left his house, he went to go check on
Gwen. And that's when he says he realized she was actually not home. >> Why did he say she came back then?
>> Well, he doesn't actually mention why he says that. But if Gwen was selfisolating, maybe he thought that she
just kind of slipped back in at some point to like keep away from him and the kids.
>> Okay. But if my van was gone and found in a wreck and I had found footage of my
husband Justin leaving but not coming back, even if I had a glitchy camera, I think I'd be worried enough to check
right away when the officer was like there looking for [music] him. Unless I was absolutely sure had laid eyes on
him, knew he was home. Yeah, I hear you. Maybe he didn't want to wake her up because she was sick or I don't know. I
I don't know. But she went out at 1000 p.m. Like [laughter] I'm kind of questioning how sick can she
be? Also, where is she even going at that time of night if she's sick? And I think she has co Eric doesn't know. He
doesn't know where she would have been going. All he knows is that he says she didn't take her phone or her wallet with
her. Like that's back at the house. But he did notice something else, something unsettling when he was looking around
the house for her. He says that her bottle of Clinazipam, which she takes for anxiety, was gone. Eric found three
loose pills on the floor, but the bottle itself, which he thinks would have had like 60 pills in it, was nowhere to be
found. So, he thinks she was suicidal. I I guess what is he saying with this? I mean, he's not saying that outright, but
he does tell police that before she went missing, Gwen was convinced that she had
COVID. She had been tested for it earlier the day before and she was like beside herself upset about it. Now Gwen
is immuno compromised and some of the autoimmune disorder she had like Shoggrren's disease and interstitial
lung disease can affect the lungs which would make her more vulnerable to COVID specifically.
>> And even though Eric says that her test hadn't come back yet, Gwen was scared
and overwhelmed by like just the possibility that she had it. So, he doesn't say that she had a history of
suicidal ideiation or anything like that, but I think when police put all these pieces that he's been giving them
together, they begin to worry that maybe Gwen [music] is out there and maybe in danger of hurting herself. So, right
after police finish talking to Eric, like still in the early morning hours of March 20th, same day they found the van,
they go back to Demetrius, who is in jail now. They show him Gwen's license photo and he's like, "Yeah, that's the
woman who was with the van. That's the woman from his story." Which, by the way, just before seeing this picture,
that story changed a bit. So, when he was in the back of Trooper Knox's patrol car, he gave a slightly different
version of what happened on the bridge. This time, Demetrius says that he's walking across the bridge when the van
pulled over. And when he tried to tell the woman inside, you know, now that we know it was Gwen, when he tries to tell
Gwen, that she couldn't park there, he's like, she just didn't respond. Now, he says there is still a mystery person in
the back of the van. And that whole thing just like weirded him out. So, in this version, he never even got in. He
just walked away to like go have a beer. But curiosity got the best of him. So, he went back to the van. And this is
where the story stayed consistent. On the way back, he says he sees this dark figure on the bridge by the safety
railing [music] on the side closest to the water. And as he got closer, he realized that the figure was just gone.
So now with this new story, I mean, which is kind of the same as the old story, like at least the part that
matters. And with everything that Eric told them about Gwen's state of mind, police asked Demetrius directly like,
"Did you see anyone jump off the bridge?" And he says he assumed that she did. So he figured maybe giving him the
van was the woman's quote dying wish. >> Dude really wants that van. >> We're still back to this. I know.
>> But if he thinks Gwen jumped, there's still another person. Like who was that mystery person in the car,
>> right? >> And where are they now? Like where did they go? >> Eric told the officer that no one else
was supposed to have access to the [music] van. So I assume in an effort to make sure Eric wasn't that mystery man
in the van. They show they do show Demetrius Eric's photo, but Demetrius says no. Like, I've never seen Eric
before. Seems like they take him at his word because they don't even end up charging
Demetrius with anything. [music] Not even trying to steal the van after he found it, which is a little odd to me.
But they just let him go. And Gwen is entered into the system as a missing person that night. If everyone's stories
are true, and she did jump, police are racing against the clock to try and find her before it's too late. So, they call
the Coast Guard out to help them search the Puget Sound below the bridge. The search goes on for hours without any
sign of her, and Eric does his own form of searching for his wife as well. Just before 6:00 a.m., police see that Eric
has posted the full ring cam footage of Gwen leaving the house on Facebook, not just the screenshot this time. And he's
asking people to help find her. Now, we actually got that video from police. And
here is the entire clip that he posted online. Okay, so you can see like it's super
dark out. You can just see like the stoop of their house. Gwen leaves. It looks like she's like about to lock up.
She's getting her keys ready, but she's like like stop like like she's in like the
the the bolt lock and she can't quite get the key in or like isn't finding the keyhole and now she's down at the handle
with the same key. She's missing the handle. Like she's not even But it's not even like full
fumbling. It's like she's like staggering a little. >> Yeah. And she's almost when she's not getting it, she's not
correcting herself right away. She's like >> pausing >> pausing like wait, let me focus like
>> Yeah. >> really hard to try to do this. She's finally like leaning into the door. I
can't She's blocking her hands. I assume she's like trying to lock it some more.
>> She's not in pajamas or anything. She's in like it looks like workout clothes
and that's pretty much it. >> Then it just cuts off. Yeah. Police's interpretation of that video is that she
looks really out of it. >> Like maybe the clinazipam that was missing. She took it and it was already
kicking in when she left, which is just adding to the suicide [music] theory. And I mean, watching that footage, you
can't help but wonder what happened after Gwen walked out that door. Now, the footage doesn't show her getting
into the van or driving away. It just like cuts off while she's at the door. >> Yeah. And did they ever request the full
video? Not that I can tell. If they did, if they got it, they have not shared that with us, but they might not have
thought to because of what happened next. At 2:19 p.m., a kayaker paddling in the Puet Sound about 7 mi from the
bridge where the van was found, finds Gwen's lifeless body. When authorities pull her out, they can tell that it's
her because she's wearing the same clothes that she had on in that Ring camera video. They can also tell that
her arm is broken. And one detective on the scene noted that there was a 1 to2 in tear on the back of Gwen's left hand
and cuts on her left wrist that weren't consistent with self harm. I wasn't looking for that when I was watching the
video, but did she have that on her hand in the ring video? >> I don't see anything big that stands
out, but I also don't know what it is they're looking at when they say that. Like they didn't share the autopsy
pictures. Now, they say that she had tiny shards of broken safety glass stuck to her clothes and even inside her bra.
The same kind of glass that was scattered around the bridge by the van and the guardrail. And in her pockets
are the van's keys. None of the police reports come right out and say this yet, but when you look at the conversations
with Eric and Demetrius and the details police document here, everything points to them treating this like Gwen crashed
the van and then jumped into the water. But a medical examiner will make the final call. When the autopsy report
comes back, the Emmy does note those cuts and the broken arm that they saw at the scene, and X-rays show multiple rib
fractures. She has faint bruising on her neck, deeper bruises on her leg, and her
chest had been flattened. Now, she's missing a front tooth. There's a small scratch-like mark inside her mouth from
her upper to lower lip from what seems like blunt force trauma. And the Emmy thinks that all of these injuries are
consistent with a jump from the bridge into the water 195 ft below. When toxicology reports come back, they show
that clinazipam is in [music] her system about 25 nanogs per milliliter plus a high level of its metabolite, which is
enough to indicate a possible overdose. And if she overdosed, even given how she
was in that video, would she have would she have even been able to drive? Not well. I mean, the drive is still a
question for the ME's office, too. In an investigative report, it's noted that how Gwen made it to the Puet Sound isn't
clear. But maybe that explains the accident. But if she already overdosed, why would she drive out to a bridge and
jump? Well, overdose doesn't mean that it's fatal. I guess like Clinazipam, even in large doses, actually usually
isn't fatal. Maybe she didn't know that and she realized it wasn't doing what she intended. Maybe she didn't want to
be in the house where her kids might find her. Listen, the autopsy will tell you what, not [music] why,
>> right? >> And the what is enough for the Emmy to rule Gwen's death a suicide from
multiple traumatic injuries consistent [music] with jumping from a height. When police send a chaplain to notify Eric
that Gwen's [music] body has been found, they expect shock, grief, anything. >> But the chaplain says he shows almost no
emotion. He's just like unfazed. And though earlier he claimed that she had no previous suicidal ideiation, he is
just like really quick to accept Gwen's death for what it is. Like on social media he posts that Gwen was depressed
about having CO and that she just lost her will to live. But Gwen's loved ones don't believe that for a second. They
tell police that she was doing well leading up to her death. I mean, she was in therapy and she had just started
reconnecting with her family, but she was making plans for the future. I >> mean, anything there that would play
into this, >> the the therapy? >> Yeah. >> So, she was in therapy for this childhood trauma, and she had distanced
herself from some family members. And I did get a little more from her family on
what exactly it was and and how serious it was. I could see it being a factor, but a her family told us that she was
never suicidal over the issue. B, [music] Eric never once brings this up as a reason that he thinks she would
have taken her own life. He only ever points to CO. And C, her family says that she never ever would abandon her
kids. I mean, she loved them more than anything. And they claim ever since her death, Eric had been isolating the kids
from them. So over the next few months, they beg police to just take a closer look at Eric. And they point out an old
domestic violence allegation made by Gwen against him from when he was stationed at a nearby military base
between 2011 and 2014, which police do find a record of. The record says that he allegedly assaulted Gwen after
threatening to take his own life. And her loved ones also show police some of the strange things that Eric had been
posting online since Gwen died. Like just days after her death, Eric posted that the family's dog died of COVID,
too. But the timing felt super off to Gwen's friends and family. Like almost too quick.
>> Wait, were pets dying from CO, too. >> Thank you. I did a double take on that,
too. I had to do some Googling. It's possible. Per the Mayo Clinic, it's more likely to spread from person to animal
than like animal to person. and you would need to have close contact with the pet while infected.
>> Okay, >> so if Gwen had COVID, she could have spread it to her dog. But the weird part
to me is that the Mayo Clinic website says, quote, "If your pet gets sick, try not to worry. Of the small number of
dogs and cats that have been infected by the CO 19 virus, some had no symptoms. Most of the pets that got ill had mild
symptoms. They could be cared for at home. pets have rarely become seriously ill with CO 19. End quote.
>> Okay, that's great information, but I also have to think like when this is happening, we don't know a lot about CO.
You're reading this today in 2025 where there's been a lot more research, how would he in 2020 have known that on the
other hand, rarely is not never. So, like like the Mayo Clinic said, it's possible, but like Yeah, it still seems
wildly unlikely to me. Yeah, I I don't know. So, make of the dog what you will. The thing that really pushed her family
over the edge and made them suspicious was a Facebook post that Eric made on May 30th, barely 2 months after Gwen's
death. That's when he posted that his kids were pushing him to meet someone new and that he was ready to date again.
>> His kids that are like elementary school age, just to be clear. >> Mhm. And like in the middle of a
pandemic, just to be clear. So, not even 2 weeks later after that post on June 12th, he uploaded a video
to YouTube of his wedding to a woman from Kenya that he had just met a couple of weeks earlier. What? But even though
Eric's behavior definitely raises some eyebrows, >> my eyebrows are raised. >> I can see none of it directly proves
that he had anything to do with Gwen's death. So, police are sticking to their thought process. This was a suicide.
Case closed. Not case closed. It feels like there are so many open questions here. Like, I get
this is the easy answer, maybe even like the likely answer based on what they have, but I don't feel like they have
>> everything. Like, how can you just write it off as her taking her own life without making sure? Like, Ashley, the
video footage, I need to see the rest of it. And like, how did she drive 20 minutes away to this bridge with this
toxic dose of Clinazipam in her system? I know they ruled out Demetrius. I still
have questions about his story, too. >> I know. >> Also, did we even confirm that she did
in fact have CO? Like that's the whole premise of her being in this state, right?
>> So that's one of the things that is so odd to me. >> Okay, so hospital records confirmed that
Gwen was tested on March 19th, like Eric said she was, >> but the ME's office didn't test for it
during the autopsy. And listen, I don't know what the situation was with tests at that point in Washington. I mean,
again, it's like early days. >> We didn't have like rapid tests. There was like a lot of like scarcity,
>> right? So there there's no telling if she actually had CO, >> which to your point I think is like a
critical piece of information. And so for all the reasons above, all the ones that you just mentioned, Gwen's loved
ones have not been able to accept her death as a suicide. >> So that's when we came in and we started
digging ourselves, requesting records, talking to everyone we could, including Eric. And what we found just left us
with a lot more questions. So earlier this year, 5 years after Gwen's death, we picked up where police
left off with the case closed as a suicide. And we started from the beginning by trying to retrace Gwen's
last known steps on the night that she died. But as soon as we did, the cracks in the official ruling started to show.
Because when we talked to Gwen's best friend, she did not buy that Gwen could even have made that drive to the bridge
alone. And not necessarily just because of the clinazipam though, which like just quick side tangent [music] here,
even how much she took is like hard to pin down. So >> what do you mean? >> Well, we actually asked a toxicologist,
Dr. Heather Clintworth, to review this one, and she told us the clinazipam in Gwen's blood was within therapeutic
range. like a normal dose, >> but the metabolite, which is like the byproduct of the drug breaking down,
that was at a level edging into toxic in her system. According to Dr. Clintworth,
that means Gwen likely took a heavy dose before leaving the house. But she also told us that the science is kind of
messy here. Postmortem changes can affect those levels, and the report doesn't include stomach content
analysis, so it's hard to pin down. Yeah. which would show you maybe how many pills are actually
>> the residual of the pills. >> So, we really don't know. But even though Dr. Clint said that Gwen likely
took a large dose, she doesn't think that the tox test showed high enough levels for her to have taken 60 pills.
>> So, maybe she did take them with her, but only took some TBD. Either way, clinazipam aside, Gwen's best friend
told us that Gwen needed glasses to drive. like she could barely see without them. And we know from the ring footage
she wasn't wearing those glasses, right? I mean, maybe one explains the other in
the situation. Maybe she's in an altered state. Doesn't even think about taking her glasses with her. Or I mean, I don't
know, like the terrain or the roads. Like maybe it was a straight shot drive. Oh, it definitely isn't that. Gwen's
stepsister actually did the hard part for us. She retraced the whole route from Gwen's house and filmed it to like
where the van was on the bridge. And when I watched it, I agree with her. Like there is no way Gwen got all the
way to the bridge. >> Or at least it doesn't feel likely to me because this drive is about 15 miles of
curving treeline road to the bridge. Not a ton of street lights that I could see
and it would have been really dark when Gwen left the house. But I do kind of wonder if there's a third option.
doesn't necessarily address the clinazipam. But what if she kept a pair of glasses in the van
>> or even in the car? Maybe that explains why the other car door was open. >> Open. The light was on. She was looking
for them. >> We know she isn't wearing her glasses in the ring footage, but that doesn't
completely rule out any idea of her putting them on at some point. But as far as I can tell from the police
reports, police don't really run this down. I would have loved if police would have asked Demetrius about this or even
if like someone could have like drilled in on Eric about where she kept glasses because from what I pieced together, I
think she had two pairs. But here's the really frustrating thing. There might even have been an image of her or
whoever was driving in the van that night. You see, to get onto the bridge, you have to pass through a toll booth.
So, we were thinking like if Gwen drove through, there should be a record. >> Yeah.
>> The thing is when we filed foyers for the traffic and bridge cam footage, we were told that the traffic cam was just
a live feed. So, nothing was saved. The toll booth footage is not considered public record. So, we couldn't get it.
And I don't think police ever requested that because it wasn't mentioned or listed anywhere in the documents that we
foyed. But why not? Yeah, >> I mean it could prove whether or not she was the one driving the van to the
bridge that night. >> At the very least, it could give you a timestamp so you would have like another
like known sighting of her confirmed. Like even the simplest things, >> this is why I think it's so important
because there is something about the crash that doesn't add up to me. Why is Gwen covered in glass?
>> What do you mean? >> I mean, when they find her, right, she's got glass stuck to her jacket, even in
her bra, >> right? They took that as proof that she was in the car when the accident happened and
therefore must have drove there, crashed, and jumped. That doesn't line up for me. Yes, she had to have been in
the car for the accident. All the windows that were shattered were on the passenger side of the van, which
feels like to me that she would have been in >> in the passenger side when the accident
happened, aka not driving. >> Right. But question number two, did the accident even happen on the bridge?
>> Wait, is there a question about that? I thought we knew that like as fact. >> So, hear me out. I had heard that there
was wood chips found in the van. And with all the other weirdness, I'm like, "Okay, what if the crash happened before
the bridge? What proof do we have that it actually hit the guardrail? Surely they had proof because that's what we're
going with. It hit the guardrail. That's why it scraped all the way down the side. the windows are blown out, etc.,
etc. >> So, I'm looking through the pictures that we got of the van through our foyer
request, and we only have a few, and the few that we have are just of the van. What I keep looking for is the
guardrail. There should be paint transfer where she hid it. There should be some sign of wood anywhere.
>> Yeah. >> Why is everyone sure that it happened on the bridge? >> I mean, you said they found glass there
on the bridge, right? >> Well, yeah, but how much glass? None of the pictures I saw were of the glass on
the ground. So, did all the glass shatter right there? Or did the glass shatter somewhere else and then just
come out as the doors were open and like when people got out of the van? And listen, we actually got to talk to
Trooper Knox about all of this. And guess what? He [snorts] told us that the damage on the van looked like more than
what you would expect from a single scrape against a guardrail. And there was wood debris stuck in it, which he
thinks could have come from the van hitting a sign or something at some point. And some of the damage to the van
was even higher than the guardrail itself. >> So it couldn't have been the guardrail.
>> Yeah. So Trooper Knox thinks that whatever happened to the van happened before the van ever made it onto the
bridge. >> So is he saying someone tried to make it look like Gwen hit the guardrail?
>> No. I mean, he said the accident didn't look staged. and he thinks that the glass was blown out on the passenger
side, which would be consistent with hitting a guardrail or part of the bridge. The thing is, he's like, "No, I
never found the exact spot or the exact point of impact." >> Which is weird, right?
>> To me, yeah. I mean, it's not like the van had time to move a ton. He said that
Gwen's van would have caught attention. I guess suicide was common on this bridge. And when those occur, he usually
gets calls after the fact about people who were seen walking the pedestrian path or a car spotted. And with the fact
that all the doors on this van were open, he doesn't think that it would have been very long between when the van
stopped and when he arrived on the scene. And here's where the video footage from the toll booth could have
confirmed this because that's something else that doesn't line up. Because if the screenshot that Eric showed the
police is correct and she left the house at 10:19 and it's a 20 minute drive to the bridge,
>> that doesn't totally line up for me. Trooper Knox doesn't find her or get called out there until 12:20.
Where was she for the like hour and 20 minutes in between? I mean, maybe the missing time helps explain how
she got there without her glasses and with the clasopam in her system. like she could have been driving really
really slowly. She gets into an accident somewhere else and then >> that's the only thing that makes sense
to me. But where? And does that tell us anything else about what happened? But maybe finding out what happened in the
missing 2 hours isn't even the right question because we're basing all of that off of a screenshot on Eric's phone
and I don't think it was even the video that was timestamped. So, I think Eric's
screenshot might have just shown his whole screen, >> which has like the time that it actually
is. >> Yeah. In our foy, we didn't actually get to see the screenshot. So, if if we're
just seeing like a screen, like if we're just getting it from him, we're just getting the screenshot at the top of his
phone. >> Mhm. >> Because the actual like video, the one that we all just watched, like that one
that we got from Pierce County Sheriff's Office, that doesn't have a timestamp anywhere on it. I couldn't even pull one
from the metadata. So, all we have to go off of about when Gwen was last seen are
police records where they mentioned the time, but not a timestamp specifically. And the only thing I see where they're
getting the time is from Eric, >> which means we can't even be sure if honestly if the footage is from that
night, >> right? I mean, the thing I will say is Gwen's clothes that she's found in do
match what she's wearing in that footage, but I mean, like, I know I wore the same outfit for like a week straight
more often than I like to admit during the pandemic. >> Oh, for sure. >> So, that's not enough for me. And I
wanted to know if the footage could have been cropped or manipulated somehow. So,
we actually reached out to Ring and they told us that downloaded footage doesn't
always show a timestamp like the video we got, although the file name does. So, we asked Eric if we could just get the
original file cuz even the one that police got, they like downloaded from Facebook, right? And more than anything,
I just wanted to see the rest of the footage. Like, how and when does the other car door get open? If she left and
this was a suicide, did she do that? Why was she in the driver's seat when she left? Did anyone
in the family come in and out of the house in all of that time? Cuz I don't know about you, but the fact that the
kids were awake when police showed up at 1:00 a.m. is wild to me. Yeah. I mean, I
know schools were closed, whatever. It was a wild time. We were all trying to figure out our new normal, a new
routine, but like these kids, when I say they were elementary age, they were eight and 10. And like eight and 10
awake by themselves. was like their dad wasn't even out like the dad was even out there with them. Like it wasn't even
like they were trying to get them back to bed or anything. It seems It does seem completely bizarre. But I have to
ask, did the police interview the kids? I don't think so. There is nothing in the police reports about that. Like
their investigation pretty much ends after Gwen's death is ruled a suicide, which is bonkers to me because they were
awake when the officer showed up to notify Eric, >> which again alone is a huge standout to
me. >> So the ring footage is everything here. But we reached out to Eric and he says
he thinks he deleted it. >> Thinks? I mean, can he check? We asked him, but he said that he couldn't find
it. Here's what's even weirder to me. The image, the footage that he put on Facebook. It looks cropped compared to
my doorbell cam. >> Okay, >> not trying to make assumptions like maybe we have different kinds of
cameras, models, whatever. So, when our reporter talked to Eric, we specifically
asked him what his camera covered. What could you what all you could see? Yeah, >> I'm going to play that clip for you.
>> Yeah, it covers the whole front of the house. So really anybody coming up or down the driveway you can see. And that
house is nice cuz it's uh it's totally surrounded by really thick woods. So the only way you can get up can get to that
house really is on the driveway and it's totally covered by the camera. So I always like that. Felt really secure in
that house. Like if anybody comes in to the house or you know comes down to the house or gets out of the house, it's all
captured on that one camera. Ashley, I watched the video. We watched the video. I saw the front door
again, like the stoop, not really the whole front of the house. >> Yeah. And listen, police have never said
that the footage was manipulated or cropped. And everything that we've gotten from them seems to indicate that
they believe the 10:19 time that Eric gave or showed them on the screenshot. This all feels like something they could
have pretty easily verified if they had gotten like a warrant for the ring footage or just asked Eric for the whole
thing, right? Cuz like I'm not trying to make the guy look extra shady. Police don't even seem to ever ask him for it.
>> So, did she actually drive away alone? Even if she did, was she alone the whole
time? Did she stop somewhere in the missing two hours? Did she at any point end up in the passenger seat before the
crash? The only person who would know what happened on the bridge for sure, at least to me, is Demetrius. Now, we
couldn't talk to him ourselves. He died in 2024, but we looked into him and found a few criminal convictions like
some DWI, shoplifting, assaults, and so we requested his full records, and found
some concerning details. In 2017, he was charged with fourthderee assault. And then in May of 2020, this is weeks after
Gwen's death, he was arrested [music] again for fourthderee assault and for violating a domestic violence no contact
order. Now, the victim in those cases was his ex-girlfriend, likely the woman whose house he was walking home from the
night that Gwen died. And the records show that that woman filed a restraining order against Demetrius before the
assault and filed another after, but Demetrius broke them. And eventually, the charges were dismissed, not because
the evidence wasn't there, but because a judge ruled him incompetent to stand trial.
Now, as far as we know, he had no connections to Gwen. But I also don't know if police even checked any of this
out because to me, I'm like, why did we just take this guy's word about what happened, right? Like, who's to say she
didn't leave Solo and then came in contact with Demetrius like somewhere else along the way. Maybe she was even
passed out in her car and he took the van from her with her in it. Maybe he tried to steal the van and things like
took a turn. >> This is why I'm saying it would be real nice to have that toll booth footage
right about now. >> Yeah. I mean, did we ask Eric if police told him anything about Demetrius?
>> Dude, this is the other thing. Eric told our reporters he didn't even know Demetrius existed cuz police police
never mentioned him. And Eric has never tried to look at Gwen's case file. I mean, sorry. What do you mean? They
never even mention Demetrius. >> Just never came up according to Eric. >> Okay, back up. [laughter]
>> How do we know he had no connection to Gwen or even to Eric for that matter? Like,
>> Trooper Knox told us that he never found a connection. >> Well, it's real easy to not find a
connection if you don't ask a question. >> Of course, we cannot know for sure >> without talking to Demetrius. The thing
Trooper Knox will say is he's like, "Listen, Demetrius was very cooperative." So, he just didn't think
he had anything to do with Gwen's disappearance or her death. >> Okay, follow-up question.
What happened to the mystery person in the back seat that Demetrius mentioned in like every version of his story,
right? That just never gets brought up again. And maybe he made this third person up to take the heat off himself.
I don't know. Listen, Trooper Knox obviously didn't work the investigation part of this, but even he says it's
weird. Like he's like, "Listen, one minute it's this stolen van and then within an hour this case is something
else entirely." And he says he still has a lot of questions about it. But Eric doesn't. He still believes that Gwen was
distraught over possibly having CO and died by suicide. Okay, so if Gwen did jump,
I guess I'm still not getting the why. Like having CO is scary and definitely incredibly scarier March 20th.
>> Yeah. And like for Gwen especially, but this still feels like a really big reaction to that.
>> Especially in my mind because she didn't even know for sure if she had it yet.
Mhm. >> But again, I like I I try to keep reminding myself beginning of the pandemic co we knew nothing, you guys.
Like everyone was scared. Everyone was confused. So, however unbelievable that sounds to
us now, it might have felt possible to police and to Eric and to people back then, but it never felt possible to
Gwen's loved ones. They just don't believe she would have spiraled the way that Eric claimed she did if she even
had CO. And I don't know if I mentioned this, but Gwen was actually a nurse. So,
I mean, she'd seen illness up close her whole career. And her stepsister shared texts that Gwen sent her where she never
once seemed terrified or even like super anxious about having CO. She just said that she was going to take it easy while
she waits for her results to come back. >> So, she wasn't even like spiraling in
those conversations. >> Yeah. Not in those text messages, but I know those are just texts. They don't
prove her state of mind one way or another. So, I was like, "Oh, I have an idea. Let's, you know, I know the me
didn't see if she had CO, but she took that test." So, we went and asked Eric, "Can you clear this up for us? Did Gwen
have CO or not? Like, did the results come back?" And he told us that it was confirmed. She did have CO, but of
course, we can't verify that without her medical records, which we can't get without his permission. And when we
asked Eric if he'd be willing to share her test results with us to put this question to bed once and for all, he
said no. Now, a source also sent us screenshots of Eric's Facebook posts from the time that Gwen [music] was
missing. The night that the van was reported stolen, he posted that a nice officer told him his van was found on
the bridge and Gwen was missing. He was hoping for answers in the morning, but he didn't ask in the post if anyone had
heard from her or knew where she was that day. He also posted, "All I can think about is how cold the water is.
God, I miss her." And Brett, that's before Gwen was even found in the water. >> And Gwen's stepsister was actually with
Eric at the house all day, March 20th, while Gwen was missing. and she told us that instead of going out to search for
Gwen with the search teams, he stayed home, which for her raised red flags. Again, I don't know, pandemic things,
whatever, or how they were isolating. >> But she says at the time, she kept asking him why he wasn't doing more to
help find Gwen. Like, in her mind, >> she's with the kids. Like, they're safe. He had the space to focus on the search.
But then Eric got a call. Search and rescue that had been combing the water looking for Gwen all day was ending the
search. They even sent a PowerPoint showing where they looked and what resources they used. And after that
call, Gwen's stepsister said Eric offered her a shot. She took a sip, he finished his, and then she watched him
pass out multiple times at the table and then again on the couch. And that made her wonder whether he struggled with
alcoholism. And in our reporting, we found that Eric had actually been described as an alcoholic to police. And
that could explain all the weirdness >> maybe, which like I can see the lack of response when he's first notified about
Gwen's death maybe being attributed to him being like drunk or numb or whatever. And like again, maybe like
even some of like his weird reactions or the things he said. I don't know. And Gwen's stepsister actually remembers the
moment that the chaplain told Eric that Gwen was gone, the one we talked about earlier. And she said his reaction just
stuck with her. She claims that he went into the house afterwards and did something strange. He like kissed his
fingers and then touched them to Gwen's photo like one by one and whispered why and then turned each picture face down
until eventually he just laid on the floor repeating why why. And to Gwen's stepsister it felt just
very performative. >> Mhm. Oh, and before this, a former c-orker of Eric's showed us texts that
Eric sent her after the search was called off, but hours before Gwen was officially confirmed dead, where he
said, quote, "Gwen's gone. I'm a single dad now." Again, before they found her, right then they said that within about a
week, Eric burned Gwen's clothes and photos in the backyard fire with his kids there.
>> Oh my god. And then pretty soon we know he met his second wife, this woman from
Kenya, married her less than 3 months later >> and met online, I'm assuming. >> Mhm. Eric was clear that they met after
Gwen's death. And when our reporter asked him about moving on and marrying again so quickly, he quoted what he
claims Gwen always told him. Life is for the living. But it's like the way he went about living is what I think people
had problems with because a source close to Gwen told us that Eric >> made the kids call his new wife mom and
told them to start calling Gwen their own mother who had just passed away by her first name. Like just Gwen or
Gwendalyn. And speaking of weirdness, Gwen's loved ones think that Eric isn't being upfront about the dog's death,
which a source told us happened when he took it for a walk, by the way. So, the dog is so sick from COVID that it just
drops dead, but in the middle of a walk that it was healthy enough to go on. >> Well, when we talked to Eric, he said
the dog was never diagnosed with CO. >> Okay. He said, quote, "Something ran through the house and the day after
Gwen's death, the dog got sick and then by the end of the day, the dog was just gone." Now, our source claims that Eric
told them he threw the dog's body in the woods after it died. What? This is something we haven't been able to
independently confirm. I can't confirm what happened to the dog and what Eric did with the dog after cuz we didn't get
another chance. Like, by the time we learn this, we didn't get another chance to talk to Eric.
>> But to me, it just feels like this dog's death just it adds another layer. I mean, you got Gwen's clothes, her
photos, now even her dog all gone. And from there, Eric appeared to be trying just to move forward. You know, life is
for the living and all, >> right? >> And Eric may have needed some distance to heal because he also told us starting
in March of 2021, so a year later, he and his new wife spent long stretches in Kenya where she was from, like 3 to 6
months at a time, and then they would come like for a month or two back to the States while the kid stayed with his
parents. And at some point while he was living in Kenya, he texted that former coworker that I mentioned and let them
know that his wife gave him the go-ahad to take another wife, which he claims is
common there. And yes, polygamy is legal in Kenya. But that might have been a point of contention for Eric and his
parents because in June of 2024, while he was back in the US, Eric got arrested at his parents' home after a drunken
fight with his dad. According to a criminal complaint, Eric's parents learned about an affair that he had in
Kenya that resulted in a pregnancy and they asked him to leave the house. Apparently, he agreed, but by the end of
the day, Eric hadn't left. So, his dad checked on him, found him drunk. And when his dad told him he had to go, Eric
got angry and attacked him. Police were called. They gave Eric a breathalyzer. He blew a.244,
[snorts] three times the legal limit. >> He gets charged with disorderly conduct
and domestic abuse. That case is still open and Eric plead not guilty. But this behavior from Eric doesn't seem new
based on what we heard from loved ones. And her best friend told us that they'd had conversations, her and Gwen, about
Eric drinking again, about him threatening suicide and having been violent in the past, including that
incident in the military when he was living on the base, which she says Gwen claimed led to him being discharged.
>> Now, we asked Eric if he'd be willing to share his military records with us. He
said no. We tried to foyer them, but we were denied. Still, Gwen's friend claimed that her relationship with Eric
had gotten so bad by the end that she even worried it would end in a murder suicide.
>> But Eric didn't paint that same picture in an email to our reporter. He insisted
that he didn't hurt Gwen. Now, when we tried to talk to him, like I said a second time about these allegations, he
declined our request for a follow-up conversation. He told our reporter that he wanted to stop talking about Gwen's
death so he can focus on healing. But I do want to leave you with one last piece
of information straight from Eric. >> I want to be open with you, Rachel. I'm not trying to hide anything. And I just
the only thing I ask is as you're, you know, making your the podcast or whatever you're putting together, I just
really ask that you be respectful for Gwen and for her memory. I mean, I think maybe the reason this turned into a
story is cuz I tried to hide the fact that she had committed suicide. >> Oh, really? Did you cuz you feel like
you tried to hide that? What do you mean? >> I did. Oh, I absolutely did. I didn't
want people to know that. >> Is that why you said the COVID stuff or what do you mean you tried to hide it?
>> If you look at the uh the obit that I wrote >> Mhm. >> you know, it doesn't mention suicide.
>> Yeah. >> And and I didn't want that for her. I mean, he posted about her taking her
own life on socials. It does feel contradictory. We gave Eric the opportunity to respond to all of
these allegations against him and he told us he already said everything there is to say, that this was the worst day
of his life and he wants the opportunity to move on. And I mean, maybe this whole
case is exactly what Eric says. It is a tragic death, but not a suspicious [music] one.
The problem is like every path we went down, nothing feels like it adds up. We tried reaching out to Eric's parents,
too, but they didn't respond to us. I was really hoping for the opportunity to understand what their kids are going
through. I mean, what do they believe? What do they remember? But those kids deserve to move on and heal more than
anyone. So, I'm not going to push there. >> And maybe one day they'll have some of
the same questions we do. The unfortunate thing is that I don't think they'll be able to go to law enforcement
for answers because more wasn't done on the front end of this investigation. I think that we'll forever leave this case
open to questions even if police were right in their conclusion. I think I've said this a lot and I mean it cannot be
stressed enough. I know a lot of current and prospective law enforcement people listen to this show.
>> So I want to hammer it home. I've always been told by good investigators that
each case should be treated as a homicide investigation until you can prove it's not. So, if you're listening
and you have any information about Gwen Hasselquist or her death or her movement
the night of March 19th or the early morning hours of March 20th, 2020, we want to hear from you. Law enforcement
considers this case closed, but you can email me tips@auchuk.com. And if you or a loved one is struggling
with thoughts of suicide or self harm, you can call or text the Crisis and Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or
visit 988life.org. You can find all the source material for this episode on our website,
crimejunkie.com. And you can follow us on Instagram at crimejunk [music] podcast. We'll be back next week with a
brand new episode.

When 42-year-old Gwen Hasselquist is found dead in the Puget Sound on March 20, 2020, investigators in Pierce County, Washington quickly rule her death self-caused. But the evidence, and the timeline, tell a far more complicated story.

Hours earlier, Gwen’s minivan was discovered wrecked and abandoned on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge with all four doors open. A strange man at the scene claimed she had given him the van before disappearing into the night. Within hours, Gwen’s husband, Erik Hasselquist, told police she was safe at home — only to call 911 later to report her missing.

When Gwen’s body surfaced the next afternoon, she was still wearing the same clothes seen in Ring camera footage from her home, the same footage Erik showed police but never shared in full. The medical examiner ruled her death as self-caused, but her loved ones have never believed it. They point to inconsistencies in the story, bruises that don’t match a fall, and Erik’s behavior in the days and weeks after her death — including marrying another woman just three months later.

From the eerie scene on the bridge to the unanswered questions about Ring camera footage, the missing two hours, and a witness whose story kept changing, this case will make you question whether justice was ever truly served.

Join Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat as they dive into the mysterious death of Gwen Hasselquist… a case that’s officially closed, but may be far from solved.

Key Episode Moments 0:00 - 0:52 — Intro 0:53 - 2:18 — Van Found on Bridge 2:19 - 5:06 — Demetrius’ Story 5:07 - 7:24 — Police Visit Eric 7:25 - 9:10 — Ring Footage 9:11 - 11:16 — Gwen Reported Missing 11:17 - 12:52 — Body Found in Puget Sound 12:53 - 15:20 — Autopsy & Toxicology 15:21 - 17:04 — Suicide Ruled 17:05 - 18:58 — Questions About the Crash 18:59 - 21:24 — Missing Toll & Ring Data 21:25 - 23:30 — Erik’s Behavior After Death 23:31 - 25:18 — Dog’s Death & Social Posts 25:19 - 27:08 — Domestic Violence History 27:09 - 29:00 — Demetrius’ Background 29:01 - 31:18 — Erik’s Second Marriage 31:19 - 33:24 — Unanswered Questions 33:25 - 36:42 — Outro --------

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Brief Summary

Gwen Hasselquist's mysterious death raises questions about suicide and potential foul play involving her husband.

Key points

The Mysterious Case of Gwen Hasselquist. A devoted mom vanishes during the pandemic, leaving behind a tangled web of questions.
Gwen's Disturbing Departure. Eric reports his wife missing after claiming she was home resting, raising suspicions.
A Drunk Driving Accident?. Trooper Knox encounters a man with a wild story about a woman in a wrecked van.
Gwen's Mysterious Death. Gwen's body is found with injuries inconsistent with suicide, raising suspicions.
Eric's Suspicious Behavior. Eric quickly accepts Gwen's death and posts about moving on, raising eyebrows.
Unanswered Questions. The investigation reveals inconsistencies and unanswered questions about Gwen's death.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Nothing about this story is simple.

Ashley introduces the complexity of Gwen's case.

0:49WatchOct 28, 2025

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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