Full Transcript for MISSING: Jermain Charlo

need you guys full attention for this one 72 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:48.400 because there could be someone who knows something that could 73 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:49.000 come forward. 74 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:52.560 Absolutely, and it's been apparent in this case already that 75 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:55.479 when people get loud and they bring it up again, yeah, it. 76 00:03:55.719 --> 00:03:58.120 Starts getting people acting in movies. 77 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:01.560 So it's important we keep highlighting these cases and amplifying 78 00:04:01.879 --> 00:04:03.199 indigenous voices out there. 79 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:05.240 So, without further ado. 80 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:07.360 Yeah, before we even dive in, I want to immediately 81 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:10.479 give a shout out to Connie Walker, who was one 82 00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:12.439 of the many sources that we looked into for this 83 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:15.240 instrumental in this case, but she did very in depth 84 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:18.680 reporting with the Stolen team for their podcast that they 85 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:21.839 did on Jermaine Charlot. There's three seasons out, I believe now, 86 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:23.879 but the first season is all on Dremaine story. So 87 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:27.920 check out the Stolen podcast. It's incredible reporting and Connie 88 00:04:27.959 --> 00:04:31.680 gets a lot deeper than the police ever get on 89 00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:33.439 this case. So just wanted to give a shout out 90 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:35.240 to her. And also just a reminder, if you're watching 91 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:37.279 this on YouTube, you're going to see some images and 92 00:04:37.319 --> 00:04:39.920 photos assets that are going to help you visualize the case, 93 00:04:39.959 --> 00:04:42.519 some maps and stuff. But if you are just listening 94 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:44.279 to the episode, you can also check out our socials 95 00:04:44.279 --> 00:04:46.959 that's at Clues podcast and you can see those same assets. 96 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:49.759 All right, let's dig into this one. 97 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:52.920 Just a quick warning on this episode. It does include 98 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:56.959 discussions of domestic violence, essay pregnancy loss, and sex trafficking, 99 00:04:57.319 --> 00:04:58.920 so please listen with care. 100 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:00.000 All right. 101 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:04.360 Our story starts on June fifteenth, twenty eighteen. That's when 102 00:05:04.439 --> 00:05:07.120 twenty three year old Jermaine Charlot just wanted to go 103 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:09.360 out for the night and have a little bit of fun. Now, 104 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:14.040 Jermaine lived around Missoula, Montana, and that evening she met 105 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:16.800 up with her ex boyfriend, twenty five year old Michael 106 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:19.639 de France. He is also the father of her two 107 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:21.480 young sons, who were two and three at the time. 108 00:05:21.959 --> 00:05:24.879 Jermaine and Michael had been broken up for about a year. 109 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:28.199 At this point. They had a pretty tumultuous, on again, 110 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:31.560 off again eight year relationship, but according to Jermaine's mother, 111 00:05:32.199 --> 00:05:34.920 Jermaine was hoping to get back on friendly terms with Michael. 112 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:36.879 I mean, they have two kids together. It's just going 113 00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:38.519 to be a lot easier if they can at least 114 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:42.240 be friends. By this point as well, it seems like 115 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:45.319 both of them have moved on from their relationship. Michael 116 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:48.199 had actually announced his engagement to a twenty one year 117 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:51.920 old woman named Cheyenne the previous December, so about seven 118 00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:55.959 months earlier. Jermaine even congratulated him on social media when 119 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.680 he did this, So by June fifteenth, they were ready 120 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:02.000 to catch up over some Jermain and Michael entered the 121 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:05.279 dark Horse Bar together in Missoula, Montana, around ten pm 122 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:07.720 that night. Missula is a college town there's a ton 123 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:09.720 of night life there, so when Jermaina and Michael left 124 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:12.000 the dark Horse a little bit later that evening, they 125 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:13.600 had a lot of options on where they wanted to 126 00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:16.079 go next. They ended up taking a five minute drive 127 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:18.959 to two bars that are located in the same building. 128 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:22.000 There's the Golden Rose bourbon bar and casino, and then 129 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:25.040 the bad Lander, which is known for its like dance 130 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.079 parties and DJ's playing edium. Now we know that a 131 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:31.800 few minutes before midnight, Jermain and Michael stepped out into 132 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.560 an alley behind the bad Lander, and we know this 133 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:38.360 because they're captured on surveillance video standing near this electrical box. 134 00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:40.920 They're chatting with a small group of people. This is 135 00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:44.319 something that Connie Walker reported on There's two hours of 136 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:49.160 this surveillance video, but only a very short snippet of 137 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:52.600 this has ever been shown to the public. And even still, 138 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:55.279 in that footage, you can see that Jermaine is interacting 139 00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:57.639 with a handful of different people. She is described as 140 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.319 being

this like incredibly social person that everyone likes. So 141 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:03.040 she's just popping around talking to some friends. Her body 142 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:05.759 language seems pretty relaxed, pretty playful. 143 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:07.879 She seems like she's having a great time. It's like 144 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:08.959 she's had a few drinks. 145 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:11.319 Yeah, she does like a little handshake with one of 146 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:14.040 her friends that you kind of see like it looks 147 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:15.560 like she's really having a nice night. 148 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.560 There's no audio, though, and that's something that would be 149 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:21.759 probably very helpful in this case. We don't know what 150 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:24.639 she's saying to who, but you can see that also 151 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:28.399 In this footage, next to her, there's Michael, and he 152 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:31.160 does not seem to be having the same type of 153 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:34.199 fun night that Jermaine is having. He's kind of standing 154 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:36.800 behind her the whole time. Then after a few minutes, 155 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:41.040 Jermaine and Michael leave this area together. They walk down 156 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:44.600 the dark alley away from the bar, and after that, 157 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:48.800 Jermaine Charlotte is never seen again. Let's rewind just a 158 00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:50.639 little bit and talk a little bit more about who 159 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:51.360 Jermaine was. 160 00:07:51.879 --> 00:07:51.959 So. 161 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:54.759 Jermaine was born on April twenty third, nineteen ninety five, 162 00:07:54.759 --> 00:07:58.399 on the Flathead Reservation in northwest Montana, to nineteen year 163 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:02.319 old Johnny Seawan Charlot and fifteen year old Jennifer Morizou. 164 00:08:02.759 --> 00:08:05.680 Like her parents, Jermaine is an enrolled member of the 165 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:10.040 Confederated Salish Incutiny Tribes or CSKT for short. 166 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:10.600 Now. 167 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:13.160 Unfortunately, from what we can tell, it seems like Jermaine 168 00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:18.240 had a pretty tough childhood. Her parents were teens when 169 00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:20.279 they had her. They had a lot going on in 170 00:08:20.279 --> 00:08:22.519 their own personal lives. There's reports of them struggling with 171 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:25.800 alcohol addiction, and they split up when Jermaine was about 172 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:28.600 a year old. Jermaine stayed with her mom, and she 173 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:31.319 didn't really see her dad much after that, but they 174 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.279 did stay connected over the years. Things didn't get much 175 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:38.320 better for her mom though, after her parents split. According 176 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:41.759 to Jermaine's best friend Jocelyn, Jermaine later witnessed her mother 177 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:45.320 being physically abused by a living boyfriend. It's not really 178 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:47.879 clear how old Jermaine was at the time, but luckily 179 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:50.120 she had other relatives that were willing to take her 180 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:53.759 in both on and off of the reservation. Her extended 181 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:57.679 family is described as being incredibly close. It's very typical 182 00:08:57.720 --> 00:09:00.600 for Jermaine's tribe as well. Elders in the Salis and 183 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:03.120 Coutney culture take a very active role in child rearing. 184 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:06.679 They're viewed as the leaders of their families. So throughout 185 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:09.879 her early life, Jermaine alternated between living with her mother 186 00:09:10.039 --> 00:09:14.000 and her great grandfather, Elmer Sonny Morjo, both in es 187 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:18.559 chileep Montana. Eshleep is this small town that's located on 188 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:21.919 the Flathead Reservation. It was previously called Dixon at the 189 00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:24.279 time that Jermaine disappeared, but in this episode we're going 190 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:26.960 to refer to it as s chilip Eschileepe is kind 191 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:29.919 of described as being this pretty boring small town. There's 192 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:32.480 not even a movie theater or mall. There's like nowhere 193 00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:37.159 to really get food. But Jermaine's childhood there was never boring. 194 00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:39.919 She loved nature. She had all kinds of pets. She 195 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:42.840 had flying squirrels and lizards. There was like a pair 196 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:45.039 of pigs that she looked after, and when she wasn't 197 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:46.919 taking care of them, she would go down to the 198 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.519 river where she would fish, or she would be in 199 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:52.759 her bedroom creating art. She used whatever she found around 200 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:56.080 the house for her projects, like Neil polish and grocery bags. 201 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:59.639 Her family described. Jermaine even dreamed of going to school 202 00:09:59.639 --> 00:10:01.879 at the end Institute of American Indian Arts in New 203 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:05.600 Mexico and becoming a professional artist. But in February of 204 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:08.679 twenty ten, when she was just fourteen years old, she 205 00:10:08.840 --> 00:10:11.879 met sixteen year old Michael de France, who moved in 206 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:14.840 down the street from her, and that changed everything about 207 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:19.799 her life. Now, there's something about Michael that is important 208 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:21.759 to explain because

it's actually going to play a really 209 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:25.679 big role in the investigation later on. But Michael's dad 210 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:29.200 is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Coutiny tribes, 211 00:10:29.399 --> 00:10:33.120 but Michael's mother is white, and so Michael was not 212 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:36.600 tribally enrolled at the time, even though his father was. 213 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:37.679 Now. 214 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:41.240 One thing that I was interested to learn about was 215 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:43.840 that a lot of people who live on the Flathead 216 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:47.799 Reservation are actually either non Native like Michael's mom, or 217 00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:51.320 their tribal descendants who don't have enough Native ancestry to 218 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:56.600 qualify for enrollment, which was Michael's case. And this created 219 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:00.480 a very weird dynamic on the reservation, which means family 220 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:02.279 talked about and actually her friends talk about a lot 221 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:05.279 where it seems like a lot of the Native women 222 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:09.240 on the reservation understand that most of the crimes that 223 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:12.919 are committed against Indigenous women on the reservation are actually 224 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:16.720 the perpetrators are not Native men. So when Michael moves 225 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:19.360 in and he's a non native man, her friends immediately 226 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:21.120 are kind of like, hey, be careful of this guy. 227 00:11:21.159 --> 00:11:23.360 Like we're just like looking out for each other. We 228 00:11:23.480 --> 00:11:25.519 know that this is the whole history here, like kind 229 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:27.679 of be wary of this guy. Within a month of 230 00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:31.200 knowing each other, they become an official couple. Jermaine started 231 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:33.480 skipping school and sneaking out of her house to go 232 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:36.159 see him, and almost overnight she was spending more time 233 00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:38.320 at Michael's place than she was at her own home. 234 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:41.440 In that fall, when she was fifteen years old, she 235 00:11:41.559 --> 00:11:44.559 became pregnant. She told her family right away that Michael 236 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:47.720 was the father. Jermaine's family sent her to her grandmother, 237 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:51.440 Vicki's in New Mexico to have the baby and finish 238 00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:53.799 high school there. They were afraid that if she stayed 239 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:56.399 in Eshley that she would end up dropping out of 240 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:00.279 school and running away to go be with Michael. Unfortunately, though, 241 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:03.399 Jermaine got so sick that she couldn't complete her pregnancy 242 00:12:03.559

--> 00:12:07.080 and she had a medically necessary termination while she was 243 00:12:07.080 --> 00:12:10.360 in New Mexico, and this caused a really big rift 244 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:12.519 between Michael and Jermaine, and it ended up leading to 245 00:12:12.759 --> 00:12:16.399 a breakup. Eventually, though, she came to miss her mom 246 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:19.320 and her siblings back in Montana, and in twenty twelve, 247 00:12:19.639 --> 00:12:22.960 Jermaine moved back, splitting her time between her great grandfather's 248 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:25.399 place in Ashley and her mom's new home, which was 249 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:28.960 forty miles away on the shores of Flathead Lake. And 250 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:32.440 soon after, sixteen year old Jermaine got back together with 251 00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:35.440 the now eighteen year old Michael, and they spent most 252 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:37.720 of their nights sleeping in a camper on the Defrance 253 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:42.759 family's property. On September second, twenty thirteen, Jermaine posted this 254 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:48.159 YouTube vlog about her life, and in this video, she said, quote, 255 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:50.799 I do have a boyfriend. That's where I live. My 256 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:53.000 parents aren't happy about who I'm living with, and my 257 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:56.480 family is not happy at all, but hey reality. And 258 00:12:56.600 --> 00:12:58.799 later in this video she refers to Michael as her 259 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:03.279 boyfriend slash fyance. But there's also something kind of strange 260 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:06.039 that Jermaine says in the video, and that's that she 261 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:09.879 describes herself as quote a lazy ass bitch who's supposed 262 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:14.480 to be a housewife. Now, this was the total opposite 263 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.600 of how her family saw her. They knew her as 264 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:20.840 this brilliant artist with ambitions and all these skills. She 265 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:24.399 loved hunting and fishing, She knitted and crocheted, Like eventually 266 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:27.679 she goes on to crochet all of her children's clothing. Yeah, 267 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:29.320 she's like a very hard working person. 268 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:30.279 She's so talented. 269 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:32.519 You guys will see some pictures of her art and 270 00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:35.360 it's really beautiful, and like she was so resourceful. I 271 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:37.679 mean you mentioned nail polish and grocery bags. Yeah, she 272 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:42.440 was crocheane the grocery bags, like right, so resourceful and crafty. 273 00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:45.519 But then she's calling she's demeaning herself in this video, 274 00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:48.000 and so her family starts thinking like, well, is this 275 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:50.600 what you think about yourself? Or is this what someone 276 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:53.320 is telling you? Where's this coming from about yourself? Where 277 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:56.639 is this coming from? Exactly? And unfortunately after this, things 278 00:13:56.679 --> 00:13:59.480 get a little bit tougher for Jermaine. When she was 279 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:01.960 eighteen years old and a senior in high school, she 280 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:04.679 got pregnant again with Michael's baby. He was twenty years 281 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:08.240 old at the time. On July eleventh, twenty fourteen, nineteen 282 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:11.360 year old Jermaine gave birth to her first baby, boy, 283 00:14:11.879 --> 00:14:15.440 and then in December of twenty fifteen, Jermaine gave birth 284 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:19.200 to her second child with Michael, another boy. But the 285 00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:22.480 next few years for the couple was really on and off, 286 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:25.440 and that's kind of putting things lightly. They argued a lot, 287 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:28.600 and eventually Jermaine realized it was best if she and 288 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:31.000 Michael parted ways for good. She went back to live 289 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:33.559 with her family while the two of them figured out 290 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:36.840 custody agreements with their children, and a couple of years later, 291 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:39.600 in December of twenty seventeen, she gets a job bartending 292 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:42.919 at the Big River Cantina in Eshileep and that same 293 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:46.159 month that's when Michael announced that he was now engaged 294 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:49.320 to a new woman. But Jermaine was busy with her 295 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:51.799 own life. I mean at that point, she was training 296 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:55.200 to become a firefighter. She's also dating other people too. 297 00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:57.960 In May of twenty eighteen, she starts dating this guy 298 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:00.480 named Jacob. We don't know a ton of about him 299 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:02.399 other than the two of them met on a dating app. 300 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:05.120 He graduated high school in two thousand and nine, making 301 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.919 him probably around twenty seven when they met. That was 302 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:11.720 four years older than she was. However, Jermaine wouldn't tell 303 00:15:11.960 --> 00:15:14.639 people his name, but she would talk about how much 304 00:15:14.679 --> 00:15:18.080 better he treated her than how Michael treated her, and 305 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:21.360 her life was really looking up at this point. She 306 00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:24.679 has this new boyfriend, she's starting her firefighting training. She's 307 00:15:24.679 --> 00:15:27.639 actually about to start that on June eighteenth, twenty eighteen, 308 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.559 but things in her life

took a turn just three 309 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:42.480 nights before, on Friday, June fifteenth, So that brings us 310 00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:46.320 back to the last night that Jermaine was seen. After 311 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:48.919 the security footage of her leaving the bar and walking 312 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:53.240 with Michael down a dark alley, things got even stranger. 313 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:57.480 Strange feels like an understatement, but that brings us to 314 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:00.360 our first clue. Less than an hour after jam was 315 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:03.759 last seen in that security video, which was just before 316 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:08.240 one am on June sixteenth, Jacob, her new boyfriend, tried 317 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:10.799 to call her. She was supposed to stay at his 318 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:13.799 place in Missoula that night, even though he was out 319 00:16:13.799 --> 00:16:16.679 of town, and he says the phone rang before going 320 00:16:16.679 --> 00:16:19.879 to voicemail, but that he thinks the call was ignored 321 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:24.000 and sent to voicemail by someone doing it on purpose, 322 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:26.519 by you know, holding that side button on most phones. 323 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:26.960 Yeah. 324 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:32.399 Later, Jermaine's phone records do confirm that the call was 325 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:39.159 manually silenced, so somebody it's unclear who must have had 326 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:40.039 Jermaine's phone. 327 00:16:40.600 --> 00:16:43.440 Yeah, it was confirmed that Jermaine did not make it 328 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:46.559 to Jacob's house that night, but things got even more 329 00:16:46.600 --> 00:16:50.000 worrisome because no one had heard from her by Saturday, 330 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:53.759 June sixteenth either. Her grandmother Vicky around the time tried 331 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:56.639 calling her, and when Jermaine didn't pick up or call back, 332 00:16:56.679 --> 00:17:00.200 that day, Vicky knew that something was wrong. I mean 333 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:04.880 always had her phone and she always answered her grandmother's calls. 334 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:08.079 I mean, that is one thing that Michael complained about too, 335 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:09.559 is that she was always on her phone, but she 336 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:12.119 was a text backer. Like she had her phone on 337 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:14.519 her she was always texting her friends. So it's very 338 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:17.880 strange when she doesn't text her family back. Plus on 339 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:20.559 top of that, she's very active on social media the 340 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:21.279 entire time. 341 00:17:21.559 --> 00:17:24.319 Yeah, huge, I mean she was making tiktoks yep until 342 00:17:24.440 --> 00:17:27.720 going out that night. Yes, Like her family knew she 343 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:31.000 was very good about her phone, and like

they immediately 344 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:34.160 were on Facebook trying to message her, trying to FaceTime her, 345 00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:36.799 like they knew something was up by her not responding. 346 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:39.160 And all of that. Social media goes dark after that 347 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:42.559 moment as well, so both of those things become huge 348 00:17:42.599 --> 00:17:46.319 read flags. Vicky ends up calling Jermaine's mother and her aunts, 349 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:49.279 who say they hadn't heard from her either, neither had 350 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:51.400 anyone else in the family. They're all at this point 351 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:53.319 trying to get in touch with her, and on Sunday, 352 00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:58.519 the seventeenth, Jermaine's mother, Jennifer, reports her missing to the 353 00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:01.559 tribal police. Get a little bit more into the dynamics 354 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:03.640 between the tribal police and the local police in just 355 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.759 a bit, But they say that since Jermaine went missing 356 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:10.200 in Missoula, that's where she would have to be reported missing, 357 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:12.240 and there wasn't much that they could do, but the 358 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:17.119 Missoula police wouldn't take a report by phone, So it 359 00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:18.960 was going to be a couple of days before someone 360 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:21.240 in the family could actually make that forty mile drive 361 00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:24.480 to Missoula. So in the meantime, they all just started 362 00:18:24.519 --> 00:18:26.680 looking for Jermaine on their own. And I see you 363 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:28.960 picking up that botchboard. That's absolutely right. 364 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:33.319 Yeah, I mean you can't take a report over the phone, Like, clearly, 365 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:37.799 there's special circumstances, and this is someone who is missing 366 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:41.920 and she's an Indigenous woman. Like this is a huge 367 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:45.079 problem in a lot of places. So Montana has a 368 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:50.079 population six percent are Native American Indigenous people, twenty four 369 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:54.039 percent of their missing person cases are indigenous people. 370 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:56.359 Like, yeah, they describe it there as an epidemic. 371 00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:58.640 Yeah, it is absolutely Come on, you're not going to 372 00:18:58.680 --> 00:19:02.160 take a report over the phone, get real, take the report, 373 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:03.400 take the report. 374 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:04.359 You're losing time. 375 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:06.240 No, so they just wait for someone to be able 376 00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:08.720 to make that really long drive, which is hard if 377 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:11.359 you don't have access to a vehicle. So in the meantime, 378

00:19:11.400 --> 00:19:13.119 the family just decides that they're going to start looking 379 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:14.839 for Jermaine on their own because they don't have any 380 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:18.319 support from the police. They I mean, do like, really 381 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:19.799 the only thing you can think of to do in 382 00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:22.559 that moment, which is called the hospitals and the homeless 383 00:19:22.599 --> 00:19:24.759 shelters in the area, just to see if she wound 384 00:19:24.839 --> 00:19:27.559 up at either of those. None of them have seen her. 385 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:30.960 On June twentieth, which is four days after Jermaine was 386 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:34.839 last seen or heard from, her aunt, Velnda finally goes 387 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:37.200 down to Missoula and she's able to file a missing 388 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:41.519 person report in person. But the police, once they get 389 00:19:41.559 --> 00:19:45.680 this report, start the investigation incredibly slowly. Nah, they do 390 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:47.759 the same things that the family has already done. They 391 00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:50.200 go back and they call all the same hospitals, they 392 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:52.480 call all the same homeless shelters. They won't really listen 393 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:54.680 to the family when they tell them that they've already 394 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:57.279 done that. So at that point, Jermaine's family basically is 395 00:19:57.359 --> 00:19:59.880 begging them to do a full blown search. To take 396 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:03.079 spanned the radius of people that they're talking to, and 397 00:20:03.160 --> 00:20:06.480 so the volunteers are still searching the areas anywhere they 398 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:08.880 can think of for Jermaine, and that's when the police 399 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:11.799 decide that there is one person that they're interested in 400 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.160 talking to, and that's who they can basically at that 401 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:17.960 moment agree is maybe the last person to see her, 402 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:20.440 and it's her ex Michael de France. 403 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:24.160 Finally, finally we get there, and that brings us to 404 00:20:24.200 --> 00:20:28.759 our second clue, Michael's story. Due to the confidentiality rules 405 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:33.319 in Montana, we don't know exactly when this interview actually 406 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:36.039 took place, but it is likely that it was in 407 00:20:36.519 --> 00:20:39.920 the first few days of Jermaine's disappearance, but after the 408 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.559 days they already wasted because they wouldn't, you know, take 409 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:46.519 that missing person report. Here's what Michael said. He admitted 410 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:49.039 that he had given Jermaine a ride after they left 411 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:51.920 the bar that night, but

he said that she was 412 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:55.000 only in his car briefly before he dropped her off 413 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:59.119 at the Orange Street Food Farm. The food farm is 414 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:02.640 a grocery store about a five minute walk from Jacob's place, 415 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:05.480 so this would have made sense if Jermaine didn't want 416 00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:08.279 Michael to know she was walking over to someone's house 417 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:12.720 or who she was dating. But here's the thing, Michael 418 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:16.039 changes his story about that night later on. In a 419 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:18.720 later interview with police, he said that he actually left 420 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:21.640 Jermaine eight blocks away from the food farm in a 421 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:24.640 residential area where Jermaine said she was spending the night 422 00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:30.039 with a friend named Cassidy, But detectives never found anyone 423 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:33.480 named Cassidy who lived in that area or even had 424 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:36.839 a connection to Jermaine. The police kind of considered that 425 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:39.759 maybe she invented Cassidy as another way to hide Jacob 426 00:21:39.799 --> 00:21:43.960 from Michael. Police did go on to check Jacob's alibi 427 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:47.759 that was rock solid. He wasn't even in Montana the 428 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:52.279 night she disappeared. So as days tick by with no 429 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:58.039 word from Jermaine, Michael was looking more and more suspicious. 430 00:21:58.599 --> 00:22:01.400 Early on in the investigation, Ramaine's family used Facebook to 431 00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:04.640 get the word out about her disappearance, and these posts 432 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:07.799 got hundreds of shares. Many of the reposts came from 433 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:10.279 locals willing to show up in person and help search 434 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:12.799 for her. Her family also got in touch with a 435 00:22:12.839 --> 00:22:16.640 local Christian nonprofit group in the area called the Lifeguard group, 436 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:20.319 They printed up flyers and immediately sent a whole search 437 00:22:20.359 --> 00:22:22.759 party to the area where Jermaine was last seen. They 438 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:26.799 even canvassed every home. They showed people pictures of her 439 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:29.480 and asked if they had seen her, and that didn't 440 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:32.319 really pan out, so they organized volunteers for a larger 441 00:22:32.359 --> 00:22:36.400 scale search with up to sixty people. Jermaine's family also 442 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:40.079 led their own searches at this time, and then on 443 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:43.440 June twenty sixth, ten days after Jermaine was last seen, 444 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:48.160 Detective Guy Baker with the Missoula Police Department officially

took 445 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:51.599 over the case, and within twenty four hours of him 446 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:54.960 taking over this he finds a key piece of evidence. 447 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:59.000 Crazy what happens when jobs are done as they should be. 448 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:01.559 Now, when you look into something, this key. 449 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:05.359 Piece of evidence is our third clue. On June twenty seventh, 450 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:09.000 eleven days into the search, police get Jermaine's cell phone 451 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:14.200 records and right away they see something pretty concerning. Between 452 00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:18.920 two am and ten am on June sixteenth, so after 453 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:21.559 Jermaine was last seen, her cell phone was pining a 454 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:24.799 tower in ever O Hill. This is a densely forested 455 00:23:24.839 --> 00:23:28.359 area at the southern end of the Flathead Reservation north 456 00:23:28.359 --> 00:23:33.000 of Missoula. It also happens to be where Michael was 457 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:36.799 living at the time, and everyone's alarm bells are like 458 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:40.839 going off even more. And so when police confront Michael 459 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:44.720 about this, can you guess what he does? He changes 460 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:49.440 his story again again. He said that Jermaine forgot her 461 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:51.960 phone in his car. He said he wanted to go 462 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:54.680 through her phone and read her messages, but he didn't 463 00:23:54.680 --> 00:23:57.319 know the code to unlock it, so he claimed that 464 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:00.960 he broke it in frustration. And then two days later, 465 00:24:01.319 --> 00:24:04.960 on Monday, June eighteenth, he threw her phone out of 466 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:08.440 his truck at mile marker ninety four on Highway twelve. 467 00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:12.039 This is near a place called three Devil's Creek in Idaho. 468 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:16.359 It's one hundred and thirty seven miles southwest from where 469 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:19.480 Michael was now living with his family, like an insanely 470 00:24:19.559 --> 00:24:20.319 far distance. 471 00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:22.240 You broke it. 472 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:24.400 It's not your it's not your phone. Police end up 473 00:24:24.440 --> 00:24:27.599 going to this area. They search for the phone. Of course, 474 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:30.839 they never find it. And if you're thinking this seems 475 00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:36.079 extremely suspicious, well, police had the same exact thought, because 476 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:39.759 the more they looked into Michael and his relationship with Jermaine, 477 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:45.200 the more they realize just how toxic it was and 478 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:48.000 that Michael could be their main suspect. 479 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:49.880 So we're gonna hop back. 480 00:24:49.799 --> 00:24:52.359 In time again a little bit here, because there's a 481 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:54.880 lot we haven't really told you guys about Jermaine and 482 00:24:54.920 --> 00:25:00.880 Michael's tumultuous again understatement, seven year relationship, and that includes 483 00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:03.839 a pretty upsetting history of domestic violence, which is our 484 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:07.160 fourth clue. Here is what we know. One of the 485 00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:12.440 earliest incidents we can pinpoint happened five years before Jermaine disappeared. 486 00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:16.240 Late at night on April thirteenth, twenty thirteen. The police 487 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:18.880 are called for help at an address in Ashley. By 488 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:22.160 the time a deputy with the Sanders County Sheriff's Office arrived, 489 00:25:22.440 --> 00:25:26.079 it was just after midnight on April fourteenth. The deputy 490 00:25:26.119 --> 00:25:29.720 found Jermaine out front of the residence, upset and injured. Nearby, 491 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:34.119 two tribal police officers were detaining Michael. Jermaine told the 492 00:25:34.119 --> 00:25:37.000 deputy that her night started with plans to meet Michael 493 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:39.920 about forty miles away in Missoula for a trip to 494 00:25:39.960 --> 00:25:43.079 a wal Mart and a China buffet, but Jermaine had 495 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:48.000 decided to stay home instead, so Michael returned to Ashley furious, 496 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:50.400 saying that he had waited over an hour for her 497 00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:54.480 to meet him and she didn't show. According to Jermaine, 498 00:25:54.519 --> 00:25:57.039 she grabbed her belongings she had at Michael's place and 499 00:25:57.119 --> 00:25:59.519 told him she was going to her great grandfather's house, 500 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:03.480 but as she tried to walk away, Michael ended up 501 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:06.240 attacking her from behind. He ended up shoving her into 502 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:09.759 his family's van, pinned her down, punched her in the 503 00:26:09.799 --> 00:26:14.839 ear temple and cheekbone, spat on her, verbally abused her, 504 00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:18.359 and then he walked off. Jermaine also told the deputy 505 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:22.319 that Michael had previously said things to her like quote, 506 00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:26.839 if I can't have you, nobody can. After taking her statement, 507 00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:30.400 the deputy photographed Jermaine's face, which showed bruising on her 508 00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:34.200 cheekbone and around her left temple. Officers also took pictures 509 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:37.960 of Michael's hands, showing swollen knuckles on his right hand. 510 00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:41.599 The deputy arrested Michael and charged him with partner family 511 00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:46.759 member assault or p FMA, which is essentially

Montana's way 512 00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:50.599 of describing misdemeanor domestic violence. Michael did spend the night 513 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:54.039 in jail and these details were uncovered by Connie Walker, 514 00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:57.599 the journalist we mentioned who she ended up actually seeing 515 00:26:57.640 --> 00:27:02.440 this full arrest report, including police photos of Jermaine's bruce 516 00:27:02.519 --> 00:27:07.000 cheekbone and Michael's swollen knuckles. But before those bruises really 517 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:10.359 even got a chance to heal, Jermaine and Michael had 518 00:27:10.359 --> 00:27:15.079 seemingly gotten back together. And this is obviously a very 519 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:18.319 complex situation. I mean, I talk about it on TWOA 520 00:27:18.400 --> 00:27:20.680 takes a lot, because we do get a lot of 521 00:27:20.680 --> 00:27:23.480 these stories from you know, people writing in, but it 522 00:27:23.799 --> 00:27:28.279 on average takes someone seven attempts to leave an abusive relationship, 523 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:32.160 and there's so many psychological factors and we're really kind 524 00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:35.839 of just beginning to study this. But regardless, this is 525 00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:37.920 kind of where Jermaine and Michael stood at this point. 526 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:41.839 So on her eighteenth birthday, April twenty third, twenty thirteen, 527 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:44.960 Jermaine took all of her stuff from her mom's house 528 00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:48.359 and officially moved back in with twenty year old Michael. 529 00:27:49.200 --> 00:27:52.799 Less than a month later, on May sixth, Michael officially 530 00:27:52.839 --> 00:27:57.119 pleaded guilty to assaulting Jermaine. He was sentenced to one 531 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:00.960 day in jail with credit for time served find and 532 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:04.599 then he was ordered to complete a domestic violence counseling 533 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:07.160 program for about a year. I saw on one source 534 00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:09.079 it was about a year, but I think it was 535 00:28:09.079 --> 00:28:10.240 only like forty. 536 00:28:09.880 --> 00:28:14.200 Hours, right, And I read this other statistic that said 537 00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:18.000 they basically do nothing. Yeah, like there's no evidence that 538 00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:19.799 those ever correct any behavior. 539 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.200 I would be very curious what the curriculum looks like 540 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:26.519 for that program, but I was shocked by how many 541 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:27.160 few hours. 542 00:28:27.160 --> 00:28:28.480 And don't quote me on that. 543 00:28:28.599 --> 00:28:31.240 I'd have to like look into the exact program, but 544 00:28:31.359 --> 00:28:34.519 I did see somewhere about that. I'm like forty like 545 00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:36.799 like a couple, like a work week, one work week. 546 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:38.599 You have a year to complete forty hours. 547 00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:43.000 It just it was underwhelming for me, given the severity 548 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:46.839 of this abuse. But that is according to Jermaine's relatives 549 00:28:46.839 --> 00:28:49.559 who did speak with Connie Walker as well, and they 550 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:53.440 said that that also kind of became Jermaine's problem, Like 551 00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:56.640 Michael actually blamed her that he had to take time 552 00:28:56.720 --> 00:28:58.839 off work and go to these counseling sessions. 553 00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:02.799 Right, it's her fault that he has to do these sessions. 554 00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:07.440 Because she reported him, which as she should, right, Like 555 00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:10.759 this it's giving Darvau, which if you're on to a 556 00:29:10.839 --> 00:29:13.400 takes like you know, this is a common manipulation tactic, 557 00:29:13.480 --> 00:29:17.759 but it essentially stands for deny attack and reverse victim 558 00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:21.759 and offender. So the person who is the abuser will 559 00:29:21.799 --> 00:29:24.519 often like, I didn't do that, and if you took 560 00:29:24.519 --> 00:29:26.720 it that way, it wasn't meant to be taken that way, 561 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:29.559 and they kind of will then start attacking the victim 562 00:29:29.559 --> 00:29:31.400 and then reverse it, so it's like, it's not my 563 00:29:31.480 --> 00:29:33.880 fault I did what I did to you, it's your 564 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:35.559 fault that I'm in this situation. 565 00:29:35.799 --> 00:29:38.079 Yes, okay, that makes sense. I feel Yeah, that comes 566 00:29:38.119 --> 00:29:40.039 up a lot in a lot of domestic abuse. 567 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:43.599 Yeah, I read about it's clear that's exactly what you 568 00:29:43.640 --> 00:29:47.559 bring this out in me. Yes, he's darvaing her. And 569 00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:51.640 before Michael had even finished this counseling, he and Jermaine 570 00:29:51.720 --> 00:29:56.240 did get pregnant with their first little boy, but pregnancy 571 00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:59.039 really didn't protect Ermaine from Michael's temper. 572 00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:01.359 I mean, I feel like it does. You're just so 573 00:30:01.480 --> 00:30:03.359 much more vulnerable when you're pregnant. 574 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:05.920 You're an easy target. You're such an easy t You're 575 00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:06.519 an easy target. 576 00:30:06.519 --> 00:30:10.839 You're vulnerable, you're a little slower, you're everything. And I 577 00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:14.880 mean there's stats out there that homicide is the number 578 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:16.799 one cause of death for pregnant women. 579 00:30:17.160 --> 00:30:19.079 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, five percent. 580 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:19.839 It's out there. 581 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:21.279 When I was reading through this case, I was just 582 00:30:21.279 -->

00:30:25.079 thinking about because now I'm eight months pregnant, but like 583 00:30:25.319 --> 00:30:28.640 just days I've had where I can't get off the couch, 584 00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:31.359 and I've had, by all means like an easy pregnancy, 585 00:30:31.799 --> 00:30:33.759 days where I'm like crying because I can't even make 586 00:30:33.799 --> 00:30:36.839 food for myself, like just needing someone to take care 587 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:38.599 of me, which I'm not used to. And so I 588 00:30:38.599 --> 00:30:40.920 can't even imagine being in a situation where you're also 589 00:30:41.720 --> 00:30:44.160 you need to flee someone, or someone's taking advantage of 590 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:45.880 the fact that you can't fight back at all. It's 591 00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:47.920 just it's some of the most heartbreaking stuff I've ever 592 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:48.400 read about. 593 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:53.039 It is. It's really tough, and Germaine did not have 594 00:30:53.160 --> 00:30:55.640 a safe and easy pregnancy by the sounds of it. Yes, 595 00:30:55.960 --> 00:30:57.960 according to a lot of friends and family members who 596 00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:02.839 spoke with Connie, Walker and Michael continued fighting the whole time. 597 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:06.119 It was two weeks before Thomas was born that they 598 00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:09.960 actually had an altercation that also involved one of Jermaine's aunts. 599 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:14.359 And this ended up with Michael being arrested for assault. 600 00:31:14.839 --> 00:31:17.880 Connie was actually able to find an official record of 601 00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:20.960 this arrest, but there's no record of him ever being 602 00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:22.279 charged or convicted. 603 00:31:22.359 --> 00:31:23.880 Well, this is what I was talking about earlier when 604 00:31:23.880 --> 00:31:26.720 we kind of get into the dynamic of Michael's family, right, 605 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:31.240 because he's not a registered tribal member, Yeah, he can't 606 00:31:31.240 --> 00:31:33.839 be convicted by the tribal police. He can be arrested, 607 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:36.319 but he can't be convicted by the tribal police, and 608 00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:41.000 oftentimes that's the only investigating agency looking into these crimes. 609 00:31:41.079 --> 00:31:42.920 Which I don't understand this. 610 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:46.000 And if we do have any listeners that like live 611 00:31:46.440 --> 00:31:49.000 on a reservation or are familiar with this, like, can 612 00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:51.640 you explain this to me? Because this seems like it 613 00:31:51.640 --> 00:31:55.079 should be a botched board because if someone who's not 614 00:31:55.160 --> 00:31:57.440 a tribal member walks on a reservation and commits a crime, 615 00:31:57.480 --> 00:31:59.680 they can't be tried or convicted because they're not a 616 00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:00.759 tribe member. 617 00:32:00.640 -->

00:32:04.119 Not by the tribal police, by regular or by local 618 00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:07.799 law enforcement official law enforcement agencies. But I think the 619 00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:11.200 issue here I have did a little research on this. 620 00:32:11.400 --> 00:32:14.319 Tribal police have inherent authority to enforce tribal laws on 621 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:18.920 reservation lands and exercise criminal jurisdiction over tribal members. They 622 00:32:18.920 --> 00:32:23.240 can arrest and detain non Native Americans for delivery or 623 00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:27.079 state or federal authorities, but they cannot prosecute them due 624 00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:30.599 to a nineteen seventy eight Supreme Court decision Oli font 625 00:32:30.680 --> 00:32:33.039 versus Esquamaship for getting in the weeds on it. The 626 00:32:33.079 --> 00:32:36.000 single most damaging legal ruling for Indigenous women's safety is 627 00:32:36.039 --> 00:32:37.200 what that one is described as. 628 00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:41.640 Yeah, it just seems like you tied like tribal law 629 00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:43.920 enforcement's hands and you're not giving them a way to 630 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.000 solve or like hold people accountable for any justice. 631 00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:51.680 Yeah. Here I have that many reservations have just three 632 00:32:51.799 --> 00:32:56.920 or four tribal officers patrolling over a million acres. That's insane, 633 00:32:56.920 --> 00:32:57.920 and they can't prosecute. 634 00:32:58.000 --> 00:32:59.599 Yeah, it's almost. 635 00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:02.440 Like, I don't know, it's really hard because it feels 636 00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:05.640 like there's a lot of like like almost a cop 637 00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:07.599 out then where it's like, well, that's not our jurisdiction 638 00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:10.240 and we can't do anything there. But it's kind of 639 00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:12.440 like that is the only means of getting justice because 640 00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:15.440 he's a non tribal member. Yeah, but yet there's a 641 00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:19.240 lack of action. This is really it's really complicated. So 642 00:33:19.480 --> 00:33:21.000 if you can, I've learned how. 643 00:33:20.960 --> 00:33:22.720 So much doing this episode, and all of it has 644 00:33:22.759 --> 00:33:25.279 been bad and upsetting. Yeah, unfortunately. 645 00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:31.559 Yeah, So our timeline does advance on and after their 646 00:33:31.640 --> 00:33:35.559 second son was born in twenty fifteen. Jermaine at this 647 00:33:35.640 --> 00:33:38.920 point is starting to realize that she didn't want her 648 00:33:39.000 --> 00:33:42.680 boys to grow up watching their father hurt her. She 649 00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:45.559 wanted this cycle of abuse to end with her. And 650 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:47.519 you know, we kind of hear that from people that 651 00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:49.640 have been in these shoes, like I wanted it to

652 00:33:49.799 --> 00:33:53.119 just stop with me, So she started speaking up when 653 00:33:53.119 --> 00:33:56.440 the abuse happened. Connie Walker spoke to a tribal police 654 00:33:56.480 --> 00:33:59.599 officer on the Flathead Reservation who said he was called 655 00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:03.279 out to Remain's house for domestic violence at least three times. 656 00:34:03.799 --> 00:34:06.200 So back to kind of what we were saying earlier. 657 00:34:06.200 --> 00:34:09.440 But jurisdiction issues between tribal and non native police departments 658 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:12.679 are a big part of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous 659 00:34:12.679 --> 00:34:17.000 People crisis box scars that advocates say that Native people 660 00:34:17.039 --> 00:34:20.840 asking for help often get bounced between tribal, county, and 661 00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:24.920 federal law enforcement agencies, and none of them will take 662 00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:26.280 the case, or one of them will take the case, 663 00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:27.679 but they don't talk through the others, and it just 664 00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:29.800 becoumes this whole mess. In twenty twenty one, the US 665 00:34:29.800 --> 00:34:33.719 Supreme Court ruled unanimously that tribal police officers can quote 666 00:34:34.079 --> 00:34:38.000 investigate and detain non Native people suspected of committing crimes 667 00:34:38.039 --> 00:34:41.559 on tribal land. But tribal officers say that that does 668 00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:44.000 not solve the problem because when they detain a non 669 00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:47.039 native person, they still have to call a non native 670 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:50.000 law enforcement agency to make an actual arrest. 671 00:34:50.199 --> 00:34:51.880 Again, hands are so tired. 672 00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:53.480 So tired, and if nobody shows up, they have no 673 00:34:53.559 --> 00:34:57.639 choice but to let the perpetrator go. So it makes 674 00:34:57.679 --> 00:34:59.800 sense that even with all of these calls that were 675 00:34:59.800 --> 00:35:03.400 having to the tribal police for domestic violence and otherwise, 676 00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:08.239 Michael was not collecting criminal charges during this time. By 677 00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:11.239 May of twenty seventeen, when Jermaine was just twenty two 678 00:35:11.320 --> 00:35:14.639 years old, it seems like, you know, maybe she wanted 679 00:35:14.679 --> 00:35:17.079 to take things into her own hands because nothing was 680 00:35:17.079 --> 00:35:19.360 being done for her case. One of her sons was 681 00:35:19.360 --> 00:35:21.199 two months away from twenty three, her other son was 682 00:35:21.280 --> 00:35:24.199 seventeen months old and Jermaine decides that she's going to 683 00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:26.760 come forward and tell everyone the truth of what was 684 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:27.280 going on. 685 00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:31.239 And that whole truth is our fifth clue, a story 686 00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:34.159 Jermaine told in her own words about how serious the 687 00:35:34.199 --> 00:35:37.800 abuse had gotten. You won't see it on Jermaine's public profile, 688 00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:41.039 but Connie was actually able to go and view Jermaine's 689 00:35:41.159 --> 00:35:44.159 private Facebook posts, like posts that had been archived or 690 00:35:44.519 --> 00:35:49.119 just not released publicly, and so. On May fifteenth, twenty seventeen, 691 00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:53.599 Jermaine posts about the reality of her relationship. In it, 692 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:56.000 she says that Michael has been using their kids to 693 00:35:56.079 --> 00:36:00.480 blackmail her into staying with him. He says if she leaves, 694 00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:04.840 he'll make sure she can't see them anymore. Then, Jermaine 695 00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:07.559 describes an incident where she turned down a goodbye kiss 696 00:36:07.760 --> 00:36:11.440 when Michael was leaving for work, so he threw her 697 00:36:11.519 --> 00:36:14.559 up against a pull up bar and strangled her. She 698 00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:17.639 didn't report the incident to law enforcement, and later that 699 00:36:17.679 --> 00:36:20.159 same month she left the relationship for good. 700 00:36:20.440 --> 00:36:23.239 But Jermaine was not the only one who was saying 701 00:36:23.239 --> 00:36:25.880 that Michael was using her kids to control her at 702 00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:29.480 this time. According to her aunt Danielle quote, when Jermaine 703 00:36:29.519 --> 00:36:31.599 started to create a life without him. It seems like 704 00:36:31.679 --> 00:36:33.920 things got worse for her. She was the mother of 705 00:36:33.960 --> 00:36:36.679 his kids and had to kind of walk on eggshells 706 00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:40.519 around what Michael wanted or how you know, he pictured 707 00:36:40.559 --> 00:36:42.920 her or wanted her to be as a mom. It 708 00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:45.760 was clear that Michael was getting his way in this too. 709 00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:48.639 On May thirtieth, twenty seventeen, which was not very long 710 00:36:48.639 --> 00:36:50.679 after they broke up, Jermaine and Michael went to a 711 00:36:50.719 --> 00:36:54.000 Deaf Leopard concert, and this was confirmed by private Facebook 712 00:36:54.000 --> 00:36:59.679 posts that Connie saw. After this concert, things got really bad. 713 00:37:00.280 --> 00:37:03.320 Allegedly pushed Jermaine out of a moving car on I 714 00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:07.199 ninety near Boulder, Montana. Someone that night saw Jermaine walking 715 00:37:07.239 --> 00:37:09.679 down the freeway after midnight with no shoes on, so 716 00:37:09.719 --> 00:37:12.480 they called the police, and the next day, on June first, 717 00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:17.519 a Bolder prosecutor charged Michael with another count of PFMA, 718 00:37:17.719 --> 00:37:21.719 his second one at that point, and based on court records, 719 00:37:21.760 -->

00:37:24.559 it looks like they didn't actually arrest him though. They 720 00:37:24.599 --> 00:37:26.559 just wrote a document for these charges hit it with 721 00:37:26.599 --> 00:37:30.159 the botchboard. They just wrote a document for these charges 722 00:37:30.199 --> 00:37:34.760 and sent him a notice to appear in court. A 723 00:37:34.840 --> 00:37:36.960 second offense could get Michael up to one year in 724 00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:39.159 jail in a maximum thousand dollars fine, as well as 725 00:37:39.199 --> 00:37:42.800 probation and more of that mandatory counseling that we've already 726 00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:46.639 talked about that really doesn't do much. Michael, however, pled 727 00:37:46.760 --> 00:37:49.599 not guilty, and a month later, on June thirtieth, the 728 00:37:49.599 --> 00:37:51.719 case was set for a jury trial, and about a 729 00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:55.000 month after that, on August first, Jermaine's beloved great grandfather 730 00:37:55.159 --> 00:37:58.480 and the family patriarch, Elmer, died at the age of 731 00:37:58.519 --> 00:38:02.920 eighty eight. According to her family, Jermaine took this loss 732 00:38:02.960 --> 00:38:06.960 pretty hard, and then on August thirty first, the prosecutor 733 00:38:07.360 --> 00:38:11.599 ended up dismissing Michael's charges, and it is unclear at 734 00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:15.039 this time as to why. But then three weeks later, 735 00:38:15.480 --> 00:38:19.480 Jermayne shares a poem about forgiveness on Facebook. Now, at 736 00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:23.440 this point, Jermaine and Michael were both gearing up for 737 00:38:23.480 --> 00:38:26.559 a custody battle, and typically with non married couples, the 738 00:38:26.599 --> 00:38:29.480 mother is given first priority when it comes to custody. 739 00:38:29.639 --> 00:38:33.239 That actually wasn't the case here, though, so Michael hired 740 00:38:33.320 --> 00:38:37.119 a lawyer, Jermaine couldn't afford one, and she ended up 741 00:38:37.159 --> 00:38:40.920 having to represent herself. Now, according to Connie Walker, their 742 00:38:40.960 --> 00:38:44.039 custody hearing took place in tribal court and all of 743 00:38:44.079 --> 00:38:47.280 the proceedings there are confidential, so we don't really have 744 00:38:47.320 --> 00:38:49.760 a lot of information about what kind of evidence the 745 00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:52.719 tribal judge looked at or what Michael's lawyer was saying 746 00:38:52.760 --> 00:38:57.320 about Germaine. However, on October twenty third, twenty seventeen, Jermaine 747 00:38:57.440 --> 00:39:01.239 found out that Michael had been awarded residential custos today. 748 00:39:01.280 --> 00:39:05.119 This means his address was the kid's primary residence for 749 00:39:05.199 --> 00:39:09.199 things like school enrollment and health insurance, and he got 750 00:39:09.199 --> 00:39:12.079 primary decision making authority for them because they are considered 751 00:39:12.119 --> 00:39:16.480 to

be quote living with him and just visiting Germaine. 752 00:39:16.679 --> 00:39:21.280 Okay, Yeah, We're going to give custody of two young 753 00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:24.920 vulnerable children to a known abuser. 754 00:39:24.519 --> 00:39:27.119 To a maniac. Okay, okay, and keeps getting these charges, 755 00:39:27.280 --> 00:39:31.079 but yeah, is never prosecuted, so I guess it's not 756 00:39:31.119 --> 00:39:35.599 showing up on his record. Jermaine would have the boys 757 00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:37.639 from Monday to Wednesday each week, and she would also 758 00:39:37.679 --> 00:39:40.920 have them every other weekend. She was also ordered to 759 00:39:40.960 --> 00:39:45.199 pay Michael eight hundred dollars in child support, even though 760 00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:48.239 she technically has the boys more than he does. When 761 00:39:48.320 --> 00:39:49.760 you look at that schedule. 762 00:39:49.599 --> 00:39:51.800 I'm so bad at math, but like that is not 763 00:39:52.119 --> 00:39:54.079 adding up eight hundred. 764 00:39:53.840 --> 00:39:59.360 Dollars in child support. That that's a lot of money 765 00:39:59.480 --> 00:40:03.199 for who has the kids more than the father? 766 00:40:03.800 --> 00:40:06.800 How how how do you even afford that? 767 00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:07.119 Like that? 768 00:40:07.199 --> 00:40:08.679 Yeah, she couldn't afford a lawyer. 769 00:40:08.920 --> 00:40:10.599 She couldn't even afford a lawyer. So she's going to 770 00:40:10.679 --> 00:40:13.079 come up with it's just so, and she has the more. 771 00:40:14.599 --> 00:40:17.280 Jermaine wasn't working at the time also, but if she 772 00:40:17.280 --> 00:40:19.840 didn't pay the child support, her family believed that Michael 773 00:40:19.880 --> 00:40:21.519 would just use that as an excuse to keep the 774 00:40:21.559 --> 00:40:24.719 kids away from her. So, as you can imagine, this 775 00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:27.239 custody situation sends her spiraling. 776 00:40:27.320 --> 00:40:28.719 Yeah, those are her babies. 777 00:40:28.400 --> 00:40:30.960 Tells her cousin at this time that she starts having nightmares, 778 00:40:31.519 --> 00:40:34.519 and one night that winter, Jermaine messaged a friend to 779 00:40:34.559 --> 00:40:37.519 say that she did make an attempt on her own 780 00:40:37.559 --> 00:40:40.599 life because of her problems with Michael, and that she 781 00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:43.440 was now in the hospital. But as bad as her 782 00:40:43.519 --> 00:40:46.400 mental health really got that winter, she did keep going 783 00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:49.599 because she still wanted to see her two sons, who 784 00:40:49.639 --> 00:40:53.800 were now two and three. Years old, and it appears 785 00:40:53.840 --> 00:40:55.760 like she decided she was going to play nice with 786 00:40:55.840 --> 00:40:57.440 Michael so that she could make that happen. 787 00:40:57.719 --> 00:41:02.039 I mean, what else could she do? You have to 788 00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:02.559 play nice? 789 00:41:02.679 --> 00:41:04.159 So really backed in a corner at that point. 790 00:41:04.320 --> 00:41:07.760 Oh, someone as manipulative as this. But this brings us 791 00:41:07.800 --> 00:41:10.559 to our sixth clue. It turns out Jermaine had spent 792 00:41:10.599 --> 00:41:14.440 two evenings with Michael leading up to her disappearance, Friday, 793 00:41:14.519 --> 00:41:19.360 June fifteenth, and the night before that, Thursday, June fourteenth. 794 00:41:19.400 --> 00:41:22.000 On Thursday, they went to a Monster Truck rally together, 795 00:41:22.519 --> 00:41:24.719 or at least that's what Jermaine told her aunt they 796 00:41:24.760 --> 00:41:29.159 were doing. And Jacob, Jermaine's new boyfriend, told police that 797 00:41:29.199 --> 00:41:31.599 he was planning to meet her at the Orange Street 798 00:41:31.599 --> 00:41:34.599 food Farm near his place in Misula after the rally 799 00:41:34.599 --> 00:41:38.079 had ended, but before he could leave, he actually saw 800 00:41:38.119 --> 00:41:42.400 her running towards his house. She explained that Michael had 801 00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:44.960 dropped her off at the food farm as planned, but 802 00:41:45.079 --> 00:41:48.000 then he started yelling at her, demanding to know if 803 00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:51.199 she was dating someone. Jermaine said Michael wanted to get 804 00:41:51.239 --> 00:41:54.480 back together and he was really pressuring her, so she 805 00:41:54.719 --> 00:41:57.239 ran to get away from him, Jermaine didn't want to 806 00:41:57.239 --> 00:42:02.360 tell Michael about her relationship with Jacob. I mean, completely understandable. 807 00:42:02.400 --> 00:42:05.159 At this point. It's also kind of making sense how 808 00:42:05.199 --> 00:42:06.000 maybe Michael. 809 00:42:05.719 --> 00:42:08.679 Would have that story about the food farm and dropping 810 00:42:08.679 --> 00:42:12.039 her off there despite Jermaine not wanting him to find out. 811 00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:15.800 It does seem like he found out anyways, and he 812 00:42:15.880 --> 00:42:20.400 clearly wasn't happy, And then, as we know, the following night, 813 00:42:20.920 --> 00:42:21.960 Jermaine goes missing. 814 00:42:28.920 --> 00:42:31.760 Think about some of the cases that defined true crime 815 00:42:31.760 --> 00:42:36.280 in America. Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, 816 00:42:36.519 --> 00:42:40.280 the Karen retrial. Some crime cases are so shocking they 817 00:42:40.280 --> 00:42:43.519 don't just make headlines, they forever change a country. I'm 818 00:42:43.559 --> 00:42:46.239 catering host of America's most infamous crimes. 819 00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:47.320 Each week, I. 820 00:42:47.400 --> 00:42:50.400 Take on one of the most notorious criminal cases, whether 821 00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:54.280 it's unfolding now or etched into American history, revealing not 822 00:42:54.440 --> 00:42:57.519 just what happened, but how it forever

changed our society. 823 00:42:58.039 --> 00:43:02.199 Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that kept detectives 824 00:43:02.280 --> 00:43:05.199 up at night, and investigations that changed the way we 825 00:43:05.239 --> 00:43:09.800 think about justice. Each case unfolds across multiple episodes, released 826 00:43:09.800 --> 00:43:12.960 every Tuesday, through Thursday, from the first sign that something 827 00:43:13.039 --> 00:43:16.199 was wrong to the moment the truth came out or didn't. 828 00:43:16.599 --> 00:43:19.480 These are the stories behind the headlines. Listen to and 829 00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:24.400 follow America's most infamous crimes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, 830 00:43:24.559 --> 00:43:26.239 or wherever you listen to your podcasts. 831 00:43:30.679 --> 00:43:33.360 So once the police learn about the history between Jermaine 832 00:43:33.360 --> 00:43:37.719 and Michael, the possessiveness, the custody battles, all the domestic 833 00:43:37.719 --> 00:43:40.119 abuse that had been occurring, and not to mention the 834 00:43:40.119 --> 00:43:42.920 fact that Michael was the last one scene with her, 835 00:43:43.840 --> 00:43:47.800 changed his story about that night and had her phone 836 00:43:47.920 --> 00:43:49.320 after she vanished. 837 00:43:49.639 --> 00:43:53.880 Her phone was ping pinging out his place until ten am. 838 00:43:54.360 --> 00:43:57.519 Ten am in the morning late disappeared. Things are not 839 00:43:57.679 --> 00:44:00.239 looking good for Michael's case at this point. For a 840 00:44:00.280 --> 00:44:03.039 long time, Jermaine's family didn't know if the police had 841 00:44:03.360 --> 00:44:06.679 even searched Michael's property. But when Connie Walker went to 842 00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:10.599 Montana to record her podcast Stolen about this, she stumbled 843 00:44:10.639 --> 00:44:13.719 across some information that even the family had not seen 844 00:44:13.760 --> 00:44:13.960 at this. 845 00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:18.800 Point, and that information is our seventh clue. The search 846 00:44:18.840 --> 00:44:23.639 warrant applications. Every search warrant application basically lays out the 847 00:44:23.719 --> 00:44:26.559 current theory of the case, or at least parts of 848 00:44:26.599 --> 00:44:29.079 it if the cops want a judge to see it. 849 00:44:29.360 --> 00:44:32.800 The first application was filed on June twenty seventh, the 850 00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:36.920 same day detectives got Jermaine's phone records. In that one, 851 00:44:37.119 --> 00:44:39.840 detectives said that they wanted to search Michael's property for 852 00:44:39.880 --> 00:44:44.159 any clothing or personal items belonging to Jermaine. That same day, 853 00:44:44.239 --> 00:44:47.800 police went to the Defrance family's eleven acre property in 854 00:44:47.880 --> 00:44:52.119 the Varro Hill area. They ended up speaking with Michael's mother, 855 00:44:52.599 --> 00:44:56.199 who claimed

that Jermaine had never been to the family's 856 00:44:56.239 --> 00:45:00.480 new house, which may or may not have been true. 857 00:45:00.519 --> 00:45:04.079 She also denied Jermaine was ever living in the camper 858 00:45:04.559 --> 00:45:07.800 on their previous property too. I don't know how you 859 00:45:07.840 --> 00:45:12.000 dispute a YouTube video made by Jermaine herself, but okay. 860 00:45:12.199 --> 00:45:14.800 She also said that Michael was still in love with 861 00:45:14.880 --> 00:45:18.119 Jermaine and wanted to get back together with her, even 862 00:45:18.199 --> 00:45:21.760 though he'd been engaged to another woman at that time, Cheyenne, 863 00:45:21.840 --> 00:45:25.320 but apparently they had called off the engagement about a 864 00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:30.079 week before Germaine disappeared. Now, the detectives didn't seize any 865 00:45:30.119 --> 00:45:33.039 evidence in that search. According to an evidence log, they 866 00:45:33.039 --> 00:45:35.840 submitted to the court, so until another lead came up, 867 00:45:36.320 --> 00:45:39.079 police tried to rule out other possibilities. 868 00:45:39.400 --> 00:45:41.880 For the rest of the summer, police pursued the theory 869 00:45:41.920 --> 00:45:46.800 that Germaine could be a victim of human trafficking. The 870 00:45:46.840 --> 00:45:50.159 Department of Homeland Security says Native American and Alaska Native 871 00:45:50.199 --> 00:45:53.760 communities are disproportionately impacted by human trafficking, so this was 872 00:45:53.800 --> 00:45:57.360 something that was worth looking into. We found a quote 873 00:45:57.760 --> 00:46:01.679 from tribaltrafficking dot org that reads, quote, there is an 874 00:46:01.760 --> 00:46:04.559 unfortunate lack of reliable data on the problem of sex 875 00:46:04.599 --> 00:46:08.679 trafficking in Indian country. This lack of reliable data is 876 00:46:08.760 --> 00:46:12.679 tied to the limited amount of methodologically sound research articles 877 00:46:12.719 --> 00:46:16.280 and reports on the topic. However, the limited Native specific 878 00:46:16.320 --> 00:46:20.559 research that has been done and anecdotal evidence suggests that 879 00:46:20.760 --> 00:46:24.119 Native women and girls are overrepresented in the sex industry 880 00:46:24.119 --> 00:46:29.119 and that sex trafficking disproportionately impacts Native women and girls. Also, 881 00:46:29.199 --> 00:46:32.559 according to the Montana Department of Justice, human trafficking there 882 00:46:32.840 --> 00:46:36.920 is on the rise. The state tracked nineteen hundred percent 883 00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:39.840 more human trafficking cases in twenty twenty three than it 884 00:46:39.880 --> 00:46:41.079 did in twenty fifteen. 885 00:46:41.320 --> 00:46:42.400 That's fucking horrendous. 886 00:46:43.079 --> 00:46:47.880 This is really horrendous I found. I mean, have you 887 00:46:47.920 --> 00:46:51.719 heard of the man camps? This is like a side note. 888 00:46:52.280 --> 00:46:56.239 You hear about those or man camps, and especially in 889 00:46:56.280 --> 00:46:59.440 like oil towns. Yeah, like that's what Minnesota. So I've 890 00:46:59.480 --> 00:47:00.920 heard of them in like North Dakota. 891 00:47:01.280 --> 00:47:02.360 Yeah, and. 892 00:47:04.039 --> 00:47:07.639 Yeah, there seems to be a lot going on there. 893 00:47:07.920 --> 00:47:08.119 Yeah. 894 00:47:08.159 --> 00:47:11.719 I had a little stat here from in the back 895 00:47:11.760 --> 00:47:15.119 in oil region, which spans North Dakota and Montana, violent 896 00:47:15.159 --> 00:47:17.719 crimes increased seventy percent between two thousand and six and 897 00:47:17.719 --> 00:47:21.760 twenty twelve, and sexual assaults were up thirty percent. And 898 00:47:21.880 --> 00:47:24.119 during the oil boom, one hundred and twenty five plus 899 00:47:24.159 --> 00:47:27.239 Indigenous women went missing, which they do think is a 900 00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:30.159 significant under count. And that was when these man camps 901 00:47:30.159 --> 00:47:33.440 would crop up around like oil rigs, basically like these 902 00:47:33.440 --> 00:47:36.960 whole towns of men coming in to do the oil extraction, 903 00:47:37.920 --> 00:47:40.280 and all of a sudden there's this like huge increase 904 00:47:40.320 --> 00:47:41.559 in crime against Native women. 905 00:47:41.800 --> 00:47:44.599 I literally just got full body chills. And you mentioned 906 00:47:44.599 --> 00:47:46.960 a number two. You said like one hundred something, one. 907 00:47:46.920 --> 00:47:48.920 Hundred and twenty five plus missing women. 908 00:47:48.719 --> 00:47:50.920 And I remember in one of the sources for this 909 00:47:51.079 --> 00:47:53.960 and maybe our amazing producers behind the camera can look 910 00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:56.599 it up as we kind of moved through, But there's 911 00:47:56.599 --> 00:48:00.760 some crazy stat where those are the ones that are reported, 912 00:48:01.480 --> 00:48:04.159 but like during that same period, over like four thousand 913 00:48:04.159 --> 00:48:05.079 actually went missing. 914 00:48:06.199 --> 00:48:07.400 Yeah, and it's just like. 915 00:48:07.320 --> 00:48:12.840 It's this insane thing where it's like why, like how 916 00:48:12.880 --> 00:48:13.480 is this happening? 917 00:48:13.480 --> 00:48:15.920 How is this epidemic still fucking happening. 918 00:48:15.960 --> 00:48:18.480 Well, I was even reading about like just the history 919 00:48:18.519 --> 00:48:22.039 of why, like Indigenous women the reporting is so underreported, 920 00:48:22.199 --> 00:48:23.760 And some of it had to do with the fact 921 00:48:23.760 --> 00:48:26.880 that like if they couldn't figure out exactly what tribe 922 00:48:26.920 --> 00:48:28.880 you were from, they would just write you as being white, 923 00:48:29.440 --> 00:48:32.039 so it got classified as white women, or they would 924 00:48:32.039 --> 00:48:36.000 write N, which they were

like, this will mean Native American, 925 00:48:36.519 --> 00:48:39.320 but when the paperwork was actually being filed, they thought 926 00:48:39.559 --> 00:48:40.960 this is like way back in the day, they thought 927 00:48:41.079 --> 00:48:43.119 N meant Negro, so they were getting classified as black 928 00:48:43.119 --> 00:48:45.480 women who were going missing. So there was just like 929 00:48:45.519 --> 00:48:49.599 a huge undercount of the of the Indigenous. 930 00:48:49.119 --> 00:48:51.280 Women, which also like if you're putting out these missing 931 00:48:51.280 --> 00:48:54.599 people reports and they're classified wrong, like how do people 932 00:48:54.639 --> 00:48:58.559 even know who they're looking for? Like it's insane, our 933 00:48:58.679 --> 00:49:01.960 amazing producer, I get back to us here on that 934 00:49:02.079 --> 00:49:04.000 stat I was trying to remember, and so I'm going 935 00:49:04.039 --> 00:49:07.800 to read you guys this. There were five thousand, seven 936 00:49:07.880 --> 00:49:11.760 hundred and twelve reports of missing American, Indian, and Alaska 937 00:49:11.840 --> 00:49:15.079 Native women and girls in twenty sixteen alone, according to 938 00:49:15.119 --> 00:49:19.559 the National Crime Information Center. However, the US Department of 939 00:49:19.719 --> 00:49:24.880 Justices Federal Missing Person's database only logged one hundred and 940 00:49:25.159 --> 00:49:27.280 sixteen of those cases. 941 00:49:27.880 --> 00:49:31.440 So they missed five thousand. 942 00:49:32.119 --> 00:49:35.000 Again, bat a math, five thousand, five hundred dish like, 943 00:49:36.480 --> 00:49:37.480 what the fuck? 944 00:49:37.800 --> 00:49:38.039 Yeah? 945 00:49:38.039 --> 00:49:41.320 And you know, eventually law enforcement does rule out Jermaine's 946 00:49:41.360 --> 00:49:45.199 case as being human trafficking. We don't know. I mean, 947 00:49:45.199 --> 00:49:47.480 there's like details around that that haven't been revealed as 948 00:49:47.480 --> 00:49:49.320 to why. I mean, it seems like they do have 949 00:49:49.400 --> 00:49:52.000 one suspect in mind the entire time of who could be, 950 00:49:52.039 --> 00:49:54.440 but I wonder who. Yeah, So eventually it is rule 951 00:49:54.480 --> 00:49:56.559 that she was not a victim of human trafficking. 952 00:49:56.880 --> 00:49:59.440 And maybe one of the reasons why they did start 953 00:49:59.519 --> 00:50:03.039 thinking not human trafficking is because of our eighth clue. 954 00:50:03.719 --> 00:50:07.639 On August first, twenty eighteen, the Missoula County Sheriff's Department 955 00:50:07.719 --> 00:50:12.679 applied for another search warrant. Deputies wanted Google to hand 956 00:50:12.679 --> 00:50:16.159 over data from Michael de France's Gmail account, including his 957 00:50:16.599 --> 00:50:21.679 location history, search history, browsing history. They did already have 958 00:50:21.960 --> 00:50:24.679 his cell phone records from Verizon, but this was going 959 00:50:24.760 --> 00:50:27.760 to be way more thorough than the one from just 960 00:50:27.920 --> 00:50:30.400 the cell phone service provider. I mean, just think about 961 00:50:30.400 --> 00:50:33.119 how much data gets stored in the cloud. And as 962 00:50:33.159 --> 00:50:36.000 we've talked about in past cases, I mean, if you're 963 00:50:36.039 --> 00:50:38.719 signed into your Google account and have your location history 964 00:50:38.719 --> 00:50:43.320 turned on as well as location reporting enabled, your whereabouts 965 00:50:43.320 --> 00:50:45.159 of your device and where it is, basically down to 966 00:50:45.280 --> 00:50:49.360 the foot is being tracked and stored, even if you're 967 00:50:49.360 --> 00:50:53.559 not actively using any Google app. We don't know what 968 00:50:53.639 --> 00:50:57.880 exactly the Sheriff's Department got from Google, but they got something, 969 00:50:58.559 --> 00:51:02.880 because the very next day, on August second, they filed 970 00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:06.920 a new search warrant application. This one specifically said they 971 00:51:06.920 --> 00:51:12.679 were investigating Michael for deliberate homicide. The previous warrants did 972 00:51:12.719 --> 00:51:16.599 not say any of that. Jermaine was legally a missing person, 973 00:51:17.000 --> 00:51:21.480 not a homicide victim, so something big must have changed, 974 00:51:21.920 --> 00:51:25.400 and the August second warrant was pretty interesting. The police 975 00:51:25.440 --> 00:51:29.440 wanted permission to use aerial surveillance and thermal imaging on 976 00:51:29.559 --> 00:51:34.039 the Defrance property for ten days to visually observe and 977 00:51:34.039 --> 00:51:37.599 photograph the area. The warrant application said they were specifically 978 00:51:37.639 --> 00:51:41.320 looking for some sort of hidden structure or other area 979 00:51:41.440 --> 00:51:45.400 where a body could be concealed. They believed that at 980 00:51:45.480 --> 00:51:48.719 some point in the next ten days Michael was likely 981 00:51:48.760 --> 00:51:53.000 to move or conceal evidence related to a deliberate homicide. 982 00:51:53.360 --> 00:51:57.840 The warrant was approved, but there was no document describing 983 00:51:58.079 --> 00:52:01.880 what evidence they actually collected. All the police will say 984 00:52:01.960 --> 00:52:06.000 about it on record even now is that Jermaine has 985 00:52:06.119 --> 00:52:06.960 not been found. 986 00:52:07.440 --> 00:52:09.920 So by the fall of twenty eighteen, a few months 987 00:52:09.960 --> 00:52:13.119 after Jermaine was last seen, it seemed like the investigation 988 00:52:13.280 --> 00:52:16.119 was really stalling, especially for Jermaine's family, who at the 989 00:52:16.119 --> 00:52:18.079 time didn't even know that the police were filing search 990 00:52:18.079 --> 00:52:22.599 warrants against Michael. Meanwhile, Michael still had custody of his 991 00:52:22.679 -->

00:52:26.280 in Jermaine's children, and once the investigation started to focus 992 00:52:26.320 --> 00:52:29.639 on him, he stopped letting the four year old and 993 00:52:29.679 --> 00:52:33.239 the two year old see Jermaine's family. He also got 994 00:52:33.280 --> 00:52:36.719 back together with his former fiance. However, Guy Baker, the 995 00:52:36.840 --> 00:52:39.239 lead detective, on the case was gearing up for another 996 00:52:39.280 --> 00:52:42.599 big search, and that one was finally underway in October 997 00:52:42.639 --> 00:52:43.400 of twenty eighteen. 998 00:52:44.079 --> 00:52:46.880 I'm so pissed. I know, I'm so mad, you guys. 999 00:52:47.320 --> 00:52:49.760 The fact that he's withholding those children from them. 1000 00:52:49.719 --> 00:52:52.239 Just it's control. It's all of its control. 1001 00:52:52.280 --> 00:52:56.559 It's insane. But this brings us to our ninth clue. 1002 00:52:56.960 --> 00:53:00.559 Starting on October second, Detective Baker and his team the 1003 00:53:00.639 --> 00:53:05.360 eleven acre de France property extensively. It lasted for two 1004 00:53:05.400 --> 00:53:09.559 full days with the help of special FBI trained kadaverdogs, 1005 00:53:10.199 --> 00:53:11.199 and they found something. 1006 00:53:11.920 --> 00:53:12.519 I'll give you. 1007 00:53:12.519 --> 00:53:16.360 Detective Baker's exact words to Connie on this one, because 1008 00:53:16.599 --> 00:53:18.559 I think the phrasing is important. 1009 00:53:18.880 --> 00:53:19.239 Quote. 1010 00:53:19.840 --> 00:53:23.119 It was blood on multiple items of personal clothing and 1011 00:53:23.239 --> 00:53:27.159 inside a location that seemed reasonable that would explain what 1012 00:53:27.239 --> 00:53:30.760 happened to Germaine, and that coupled with other evidence that 1013 00:53:30.760 --> 00:53:33.039 we had led us to that location. 1014 00:53:33.599 --> 00:53:34.280 End quote. 1015 00:53:34.519 --> 00:53:37.199 Obviously, if the blood on the clothing items turned out 1016 00:53:37.199 --> 00:53:40.159 to be Germane's, it would really help this case and 1017 00:53:40.519 --> 00:53:43.599 lead investigators down a path to maybe getting justice. So, 1018 00:53:43.679 --> 00:53:46.840 of course, Detective Baker sent the evidence off to the 1019 00:53:46.880 --> 00:53:50.960 Montana crime Lab. But when the report came back, it 1020 00:53:51.079 --> 00:53:55.639 was inconclusive. According to the National Institute of Justice, inconclusive 1021 00:53:55.679 --> 00:53:58.920 DNA testing results can be due to multiple contributors to 1022 00:53:59.079 --> 00:54:05.119 a sample contamination or degradation. So unfortunately, the bloody clothing 1023 00:54:05.800 --> 00:54:08.840 wasn't this smoking gun that Detective Baker was hoping for. 1024 00:54:09.800 --> 00:54:13.239 But he did find some literal guns, which was a 1025 00:54:13.280 --> 00:54:17.679 problem because Michael was actually prohibited from owning firearms after 1026 00:54:17.760 --> 00:54:22.480 his twenty thirteen conviction for assaulting Germaine. So the Missoula 1027 00:54:22.519 --> 00:54:27.039 police confiscated those weapons. When Detective Baker asked Michael directly, 1028 00:54:27.440 --> 00:54:30.400 quote and you know you're not supposed to have guns, right, 1029 00:54:31.280 --> 00:54:35.320 Michael replied quote, I was never clear on that. However, 1030 00:54:36.000 --> 00:54:38.280 this was a giant bump in the road for Michael 1031 00:54:38.400 --> 00:54:42.360 that would come back to haunt him later, but not immediately, 1032 00:54:42.719 --> 00:54:46.159 because they did confiscate those guns, but charges were not 1033 00:54:46.239 --> 00:54:47.639 immediately filed on them. 1034 00:54:48.119 --> 00:54:50.159 No keyword later. 1035 00:54:50.639 --> 00:54:53.519 So as that search was happening on Michael's property, Jermaine's 1036 00:54:53.559 --> 00:54:56.639 tribe and family were putting up missing person's billboards for her, 1037 00:54:56.679 --> 00:54:59.880 with her face on them and Detective Baker's phone number 1038 00:55:00.079 --> 00:55:03.039 on them. The location of the billboards was a very 1039 00:55:03.079 --> 00:55:06.000 strategic choice on their part. They put it on Highway 1040 00:55:06.079 --> 00:55:07.920 ninety three, right on a route a person would have 1041 00:55:07.960 --> 00:55:11.559 to take to get from Ivaro Hill to Missoula. Whenever 1042 00:55:11.679 --> 00:55:14.840 Michael drove by with Jermaine's two sons in the vehicle, 1043 00:55:15.079 --> 00:55:18.960 they would all see their mother's face and keep remembering her. 1044 00:55:19.519 --> 00:55:21.719 At that point, it was the only way Jermaine's family 1045 00:55:22.199 --> 00:55:25.760 had to reach the boys, since Michael still refused to 1046 00:55:25.920 --> 00:55:30.320 arrange any visitation with them. Meanwhile, time ticked on their 1047 00:55:30.320 --> 00:55:33.280 youngest son's third birthday, which was in December of twenty eighteen, 1048 00:55:33.599 --> 00:55:36.400 passed and there was no progress on the case. Then 1049 00:55:36.480 --> 00:55:39.599 came the first anniversary of Jermaine's disappearance in June of 1050 00:55:39.599 --> 00:55:42.519 twenty nineteen. Her tribe mark the moment by offering a 1051 00:55:42.519 --> 00:55:45.559 ten thousand dollars reward for information leading to an arrest 1052 00:55:45.559 --> 00:55:48.400 in her case, and by March of twenty twenty one, 1053 00:55:48.719 --> 00:55:51.800 more than two years after Jermaine was last seen, her 1054 00:55:51.880 --> 00:55:54.880 friends and family held a protest outside of the Missoula 1055 00:55:54.920 --> 00:55:59.119 Police Department demanding justice for Jermaine. On the third anniversary 1056 00:55:59.159 --> 00:56:03.280 of her disappearance, still with no progress, the reward was 1057 00:56:03.400 --> 00:56:07.719 up to fifteen thousand dollars. Jermaine would have been twenty 1058 00:56:07.760 -->

00:56:10.079 six years old if she was found alive. At that point, 1059 00:56:10.119 --> 00:56:13.239 prosecutors were still holding onto one card that they had 1060 00:56:13.280 --> 00:56:15.960 to play, but it was a very risky one, and 1061 00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:19.480 the next month, July of twenty twenty one, they would 1062 00:56:19.519 --> 00:56:20.079 decide to. 1063 00:56:20.039 --> 00:56:20.639 Go for it. 1064 00:56:27.559 --> 00:56:31.440 On July twenty eighth, twenty twenty one, federal prosecutors working 1065 00:56:31.559 --> 00:56:34.559 for the U. S. District Attorney's Office in Montana filed 1066 00:56:34.599 --> 00:56:37.559 an indictment against twenty year old Michael de France for 1067 00:56:37.679 --> 00:56:42.199 four gun crimes, one count of prohibited person and possession 1068 00:56:42.280 --> 00:56:46.320 of a firearm, and three counts of false statements during 1069 00:56:46.400 --> 00:56:49.480 a firearm transaction. He had falsely sworn that he had 1070 00:56:49.480 --> 00:56:52.960 never been convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence during the purchase 1071 00:56:53.000 --> 00:56:56.679 of a gun. On August third, Michael appeared in federal 1072 00:56:56.679 --> 00:57:00.320 court to plead not guilty. He had to fit a 1073 00:57:00.400 --> 00:57:03.719 courtroom full of Jermaine's family members and supporters, and by 1074 00:57:03.719 --> 00:57:06.840 this point all of them believed that Michael was guilty. 1075 00:57:07.400 --> 00:57:10.440 On May first, twenty twenty three, not quite five years 1076 00:57:10.440 --> 00:57:14.360 after Jermaine disappeared, Michael was found guilty on all charges 1077 00:57:14.719 --> 00:57:17.400 and a little over four months later, on September twenty first, 1078 00:57:17.760 --> 00:57:20.639 Michael was sentenced to twenty one months in prison and 1079 00:57:20.800 --> 00:57:24.760 three years of supervised release. He was ordered to self 1080 00:57:24.760 --> 00:57:28.800 report to prison. It wasn't the homicide conviction that Jermaine's 1081 00:57:28.800 --> 00:57:31.880 family was hoping for, but at least Michael would be 1082 00:57:31.960 --> 00:57:36.480 going to jail. They're thinking, or would he Well, Michael 1083 00:57:36.519 --> 00:57:40.480 appealed his federal conviction to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 1084 00:57:40.599 --> 00:57:41.960 and we don't know for sure if he had to 1085 00:57:42.000 --> 00:57:45.000 service prison time while the appeal played out, and if so, 1086 00:57:45.079 --> 00:57:47.760 how much of the time he actually served. He reportedly 1087 00:57:47.800 --> 00:57:51.599 remained free after sentencing as he appealed to his conviction. 1088 00:57:52.239 --> 00:57:56.239 Michael does appear in the Bureau of Prison's Federal Inmate Locator. 1089 00:57:56.360 --> 00:58:01.159 He's number five eight one four nine dash five h nine, 1090 00:58:01.239 --> 00:58:03.519 so he was at least added to the system at 1091 00:58:03.519 --> 00:58:06.480

some point, but he's not shown as being in custody 1092 00:58:06.519 --> 00:58:07.840 and there's no release date listed. 1093 00:58:08.159 --> 00:58:11.320 It's giving botched maybe, yeah, like, why is he. 1094 00:58:11.320 --> 00:58:14.199 Not he was found guilty. I thought you still had 1095 00:58:14.199 --> 00:58:15.400 to wait on your appeal. 1096 00:58:15.559 --> 00:58:18.320 No, Well, what we do know is on December thirtieth, 1097 00:58:18.400 --> 00:58:22.079 twenty twenty four, the Ninth Circuit reversed Michael's most serious 1098 00:58:22.079 --> 00:58:27.079 convictions definitely botched, vacated his sentence, and remanded the case 1099 00:58:27.280 --> 00:58:29.760 to the lower courts for possible resentencing on the other 1100 00:58:29.800 --> 00:58:32.920 three charges. In other words, the court found that he 1101 00:58:33.159 --> 00:58:35.960 was not actually a prohibited person in possession of a 1102 00:58:35.960 --> 00:58:40.800 firearm due to this loophole in the system. Essentially, but 1103 00:58:40.880 --> 00:58:46.239 he can still potentially be resentenced for other charges. So today, 1104 00:58:46.559 --> 00:58:50.199 thirty two year old Michael de France remains free. According 1105 00:58:50.199 --> 00:58:54.199 to Jermayne's family, Michael still also has sole custody of 1106 00:58:54.280 --> 00:58:58.599 Jermaine's sons, who are ten and eleven at the time 1107 00:58:58.639 --> 00:59:01.400 of this recording. They've not been able to see them 1108 00:59:01.400 --> 00:59:05.320 in that much time, and unfortunately, that is pretty much 1109 00:59:05.320 --> 00:59:07.840 where the case stands now, more than seven years after 1110 00:59:07.960 --> 00:59:14.239 Jermaine vanished, unless new evidence appears. But before we end 1111 00:59:14.320 --> 00:59:16.480 this episode, there is a small update on someone else 1112 00:59:16.519 --> 00:59:19.519 who's involved in the case. Remember Cheyenne, the woman Michael 1113 00:59:19.599 --> 00:59:22.880 was engaged to both before and after Jermaine disappeared. What 1114 00:59:23.719 --> 00:59:26.480 In twenty twenty four, she shared an Instagram post celebrating 1115 00:59:26.519 --> 00:59:29.920 the third anniversary of her decision to leave an abusive 1116 00:59:29.960 --> 00:59:33.960 relationship here's a little bit of the caption. She writes, quote, 1117 00:59:34.199 --> 00:59:37.360 today marks three years. Three years since we said see 1118 00:59:37.400 --> 00:59:39.599 you later to our home, three years since I finally 1119 00:59:39.679 --> 00:59:42.920 walked away from you for my own safety and our children. 1120 00:59:43.800 --> 00:59:47.559 She could only be talking about Michael in this post 1121 00:59:47.559 --> 00:59:51.119 because both the boy Cheyenne welcomed in twenty twenty and 1122 00:59:51.199 --> 00:59:54.320 her baby girl born in twenty twenty one do have 1123 00:59:54.440 --> 00:59:58.320 his last name. Based on the timeline of her twenty 1124 00:59:58.360

--> 01:00:01.280 twenty four post, within less than two months of giving 1125 01:00:01.280 --> 01:00:04.480 birth to her daughter, Cheyenne left the state of Montana 1126 01:00:04.519 --> 01:00:08.639 to get away from Michael. Sadly, her escape probably meant 1127 01:00:08.679 --> 01:00:11.440 the end of her relationship with Jermaine's sons, who are 1128 01:00:11.480 --> 01:00:14.559 in a lot of Cheyenne's old photos, but they're not 1129 01:00:14.559 --> 01:00:17.800 in any of her recent ones. But lately, Cheyenne's been 1130 01:00:17.800 --> 01:00:20.280 commenting on some posts about Jermaine, and it seems like 1131 01:00:20.320 --> 01:00:24.679 she has some suspicions about their shared x. In October 1132 01:00:24.679 --> 01:00:26.639 of twenty twenty four, she replied to a post about 1133 01:00:26.679 --> 01:00:30.760 Jermaine's forty eight Hours episode confirming that she had watched 1134 01:00:30.760 --> 01:00:33.559 it and that she was reading all the comments, and 1135 01:00:33.599 --> 01:00:36.599 in January of twenty twenty five, she thanked a missing 1136 01:00:36.679 --> 01:00:40.239 person's page for sharing Jermaine's story. 1137 01:00:40.480 --> 01:00:43.440 Wow, I got Chell's. I know, Cheyenne girl, you hear 1138 01:00:44.159 --> 01:00:47.280 see you in the comments? Maybe I know. Speaking of comments, 1139 01:00:47.320 --> 01:00:51.360 there's a lot on you know, Reddit and kind of 1140 01:00:51.440 --> 01:00:54.280 all over the internet on this case. There is a 1141 01:00:54.320 --> 01:00:58.960 comment from someone that was allegedly the roommate of someone 1142 01:00:59.000 --> 01:01:02.000 that was dating Michael before and after she disappeared. Maybe 1143 01:01:02.039 --> 01:01:06.360 Chyenne's room mate uncleared. They don't mention, but they say 1144 01:01:07.440 --> 01:01:10.719 he told us that quote. He thinks she was kidnapped 1145 01:01:10.760 --> 01:01:12.039 because she was a drug addict. 1146 01:01:12.519 --> 01:01:13.000 End quote. 1147 01:01:13.440 --> 01:01:16.920 I never liked him and would ask he not come 1148 01:01:16.960 --> 01:01:19.159 to our house when I was home. Less than a 1149 01:01:19.239 --> 01:01:21.320 year after I moved out, I had to send my 1150 01:01:21.400 --> 01:01:24.239 roommate money because he got really violent with her and 1151 01:01:24.280 --> 01:01:27.480 she needed money to escape him. She moved to Missoula 1152 01:01:27.559 --> 01:01:30.239 with him and was pregnant with their second child. He 1153 01:01:30.320 --> 01:01:32.360 is a bad man, and I went one hundred percent 1154 01:01:32.559 --> 01:01:36.440 feel he did it again. That's allegedly It's on Reddit. 1155 01:01:36.480 --> 01:01:38.480 It's an ayess. We have no idea who's coming from, 1156 01:01:38.519 --> 01:01:42.880 but it literally gives you the chills, and like I 1157 01:01:42.920 --> 01:01:48.119 am a title to my subjective opinion yeah, but if 1158 01:01:48.199 --> 01:01:50.679 you look at this man, he is dead in the 1159 01:01:50.719 --> 01:01:54.599 eyes hot take for the day like there is It 1160 01:01:54.639 --> 01:01:56.239 is just like it's scary. 1161 01:01:56.559 --> 01:02:01.599 It's scary. Like I'm I'm just beyond bath how he 1162 01:02:01.719 --> 01:02:05.119 was able to like even just like taking her. 1163 01:02:05.400 --> 01:02:07.719 How do I want to put this. I'm just beyond 1164 01:02:07.840 --> 01:02:11.360 baffled by this case. And it's so insane to me that, 1165 01:02:12.039 --> 01:02:14.119 you know, it took so long for them to start searching. 1166 01:02:14.679 --> 01:02:17.519 In that time, he was able to dispose of her 1167 01:02:17.679 --> 01:02:22.199 phone again never found. It's there's just so many holes 1168 01:02:22.239 --> 01:02:25.159 in this case that are beyond frustrating. And I think 1169 01:02:25.199 --> 01:02:28.440 it does, you know, speak to that larger epidemic of 1170 01:02:28.559 --> 01:02:30.199 missing and murdered Indigenous women. 1171 01:02:30.719 --> 01:02:32.880 I mean, this is just it's horrible. 1172 01:02:32.960 --> 01:02:37.199 Yeah, the miscommunications between like maybe intentional miscommunications between the 1173 01:02:37.239 --> 01:02:40.519 police and the tribal police, Like I don't know, the 1174 01:02:40.519 --> 01:02:41.519 ball is being dropped. 1175 01:02:41.639 --> 01:02:45.039 Yeah, and people need to quit pointing fucking fingers and 1176 01:02:45.079 --> 01:02:48.320 get this together, quit copying out, quit blaming the other, Like. 1177 01:02:48.280 --> 01:02:50.400 Well now it's getting together much time, So how do 1178 01:02:50.480 --> 01:02:53.559 you even search after all this time? If anything was 1179 01:02:53.559 --> 01:02:54.280 ever found? 1180 01:02:55.119 --> 01:02:58.320 Well, and it's like the the frustrating part is too 1181 01:02:58.960 --> 01:03:02.280 her phone was pinging on that property or near those towers, right, 1182 01:03:02.320 --> 01:03:05.760 you know, whatever the police have in that data, but 1183 01:03:05.960 --> 01:03:08.960 it was there until ten am. Family was already like 1184 01:03:09.000 --> 01:03:10.880 that morning kind of like hey where is she? Like 1185 01:03:11.280 --> 01:03:14.920 they could have gone before, you know, any time was 1186 01:03:14.920 --> 01:03:16.360 allowed to conceal evidence. 1187 01:03:17.400 --> 01:03:20.880 Yeah, there is evidence. Evidence was concealed. It was destroyed, 1188 01:03:20.880 --> 01:03:23.400 It was destroyed. Where is it? Where's the phone? Where's 1189 01:03:23.440 --> 01:03:24.360 the your phone? 1190 01:03:24.559 --> 01:03:28.599 Yeah? Well, for our advocacy section today, we want to 1191 01:03:28.639 --> 01:03:31.559 encourage anyone who has any information at all on Jermaine's 1192 01:03:31.559 --> 01:03:33.920 case to please come forward. There's still a very real 1193 01:03:34.039 --> 01:03:37.920 chance to find her and hold whoever harmed her accountable. 1194 01:03:38.639 --> 01:03:41.360 You can

call four zero six three nine six three 1195 01:03:41.360 --> 01:03:44.440 two one seven with any tips or sightings, and that's 1196 01:03:44.480 --> 01:03:46.760 the same number that you'll see on Jermaine's billboards if 1197 01:03:46.760 --> 01:03:51.559 you drive through Montana on Highway ninety three. Sadly, Jermaine's grandmother, 1198 01:03:51.679 --> 01:03:54.480 Vicki Morjou, died on June sixteenth, twenty twenty three, with 1199 01:03:54.559 --> 01:03:58.000 Jermaine still missing, and there are still so many loving 1200 01:03:58.039 --> 01:04:00.800 family members and fierce advocates fight for her, and they 1201 01:04:00.840 --> 01:04:04.679 all deserve answers. Somebody out there must be holding onto 1202 01:04:04.719 --> 01:04:07.199 that last clue that would finally bring Jermaine home. But 1203 01:04:07.280 --> 01:04:10.360 Jermaine's case is just one part of a much bigger issue, 1204 01:04:10.400 --> 01:04:12.760 so we also wanted to highlight some important resources for 1205 01:04:12.800 --> 01:04:16.199 people like Germaine and her family. There's the Snowbird Fund, 1206 01:04:16.400 --> 01:04:19.280 which is a product of the Montana Community Foundation, and 1207 01:04:19.360 --> 01:04:23.239 it offers immediate financial help for Native families in Montana 1208 01:04:23.239 --> 01:04:26.400 who are leading the search for missing loved ones. To 1209 01:04:26.440 --> 01:04:29.079 apply for help or to make a donation, you can 1210 01:04:29.079 --> 01:04:33.000 go to Snowbirdfund dot org. There's also a national helpline 1211 01:04:33.039 --> 01:04:36.559 specifically for Native Americans and Alaska Natives experiencing domestic and 1212 01:04:36.599 --> 01:04:41.880 sexual violence. Go to Strongheartshelpline dot org to chat online 1213 01:04:42.000 --> 01:04:44.880 or call one eight four four seven six two eight 1214 01:04:44.880 --> 01:04:47.119 four eight three to talk to them on the phone. 1215 01:04:47.400 --> 01:04:50.719 They can provide immediate peer support and crisis intervention, as 1216 01:04:50.760 --> 01:04:54.079 well as referrals to Native centered service providers around the country. 1217 01:04:54.320 --> 01:04:56.079 And if you're looking to partner with a good cause, 1218 01:04:56.079 --> 01:04:59.239 you can reach out to media at Strongheartshelpline dot org 1219 01:04:59.280 --> 01:05:00.000 to reach their staff. 1220 01:05:00.719 --> 01:05:04.280 I do just want to plug that quiz on Love 1221 01:05:04.360 --> 01:05:07.880 Isrespect dot org again, Like, if you after this episode, 1222 01:05:08.480 --> 01:05:13.000 you recognize any behaviors in your relationship, or you're looking 1223 01:05:13.400 --> 01:05:17.039 for a safe exit plan, there are resources available. Please 1224 01:05:17.079 --> 01:05:19.360 go and check out the links in our description because 1225 01:05:19.400 --> 01:05:22.199 there are resources out there to help you. And sometimes 1226 01:05:22.320 --> 01:05:25.440 the safest exit plan is not saying anything and just going. 1227 01:05:25.800 --> 01:05:29.639 So please look out for yourself. And on that note, 1228 01:05:29.960 --> 01:05:31.760 let's move on to our missing Person of the week. 1229 01:05:33.280 --> 01:05:35.159 When we were doing the research on Jermaine's case, I 1230 01:05:35.199 --> 01:05:38.920 actually came across another missing Indigenous woman in the same 1231 01:05:38.960 --> 01:05:42.320 area as Jermaine. Her name is Hikaya Blue Harding. She 1232 01:05:42.480 --> 01:05:44.880 was last seen in Billings, Montana, on the morning of 1233 01:05:44.960 --> 01:05:48.480 July twenty fifth, twenty eighteen. That is pretty close to 1234 01:05:48.559 --> 01:05:52.079 Jermaine's case. Very A bus ticket was purchased in Chikaia's 1235 01:05:52.159 --> 01:05:55.119 name for Grand Junction, Colorado, but there is no evidence 1236 01:05:55.159 --> 01:05:57.800 it was ever used. The ticket was purchased the July 1237 01:05:58.000 --> 01:06:01.480 fourth weekend in downtown Billings. There have been multiple possible 1238 01:06:01.639 --> 01:06:07.079 sightings in Phoenix, Arizona, specifically the Children's Hospital, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Airport, 1239 01:06:07.239 --> 01:06:10.920 Bad Habits, Gentlemen's Club One McDowell, and at the intersection 1240 01:06:11.199 --> 01:06:15.000 of North nineteenth Av. And Dunlab Av. There's also been 1241 01:06:15.000 --> 01:06:18.559 possible sightings in Great Falls, Montana, specifically near the Sam's 1242 01:06:18.559 --> 01:06:22.360 Club by Northwest Bypass tenth Ave and twenty third Street 1243 01:06:22.639 --> 01:06:25.639 and near Walmart on tenth av. She has been sighted 1244 01:06:25.679 --> 01:06:29.199 in both of these locations with an older male. She 1245 01:06:29.280 --> 01:06:33.199 also has connections in Fort Bellknap, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, 1246 01:06:33.239 --> 01:06:36.719 and Fort Riley, Kansas. Her date of birth is November 1247 01:06:36.719 --> 01:06:38.880 twenty eighth, nineteen ninety eight. She was nineteen years old 1248 01:06:38.920 --> 01:06:41.519 at the time of her disappearance. She's described as having 1249 01:06:41.679 --> 01:06:44.519 black hair, brown eyes, being five foot four around one 1250 01:06:44.599 --> 01:06:48.480 hundred and twenty five pounds, Jakaia has a five inch 1251 01:06:48.639 --> 01:06:51.679 long scar on her left shin and her hair may 1252 01:06:51.679 --> 01:06:55.360 be short, and there's evidence that she may have a limp. 1253 01:06:55.440 --> 01:06:58.559 At this time. She also may be going by Kaya 1254 01:06:58.880 --> 01:07:01.679 or her middle name Blue, and she may spell her 1255 01:07:01.760 --> 01:07:07.400 name s h A kai Ah, which is different than 1256 01:07:07.440 --> 01:07:09.320 the spelling we have on the missing poster, which is 1257 01:07:09.480 --> 01:07:12.920 s h A c ai Ah, And she also might 1258 01:07:13.079 --> 01:07:16.480 use the last name h a u g h t 1259 01:07:16.719 --> 01:07:19.440

y n G. It is believed at this time that 1260 01:07:19.440 --> 01:07:22.400 Shaikaia is a victim of human trafficking, so if anyone 1261 01:07:22.440 --> 01:07:26.519 has any information on Shokaia's whereabouts. You can contact Detective 1262 01:07:26.639 --> 01:07:29.880 jam at four O six two five six two nine 1263 01:07:29.880 --> 01:07:32.760 two five or the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office at four 1264 01:07:32.800 --> 01:07:35.679 oh six two five six two nine two nine. 1265 01:07:35.880 --> 01:07:37.400 That is all we have for you guys on this 1266 01:07:37.440 --> 01:07:40.679 episode of Clues. Share your thoughts with us on social media. 1267 01:07:41.000 --> 01:07:45.880 Finding Jermaine is obviously so so important. Maybe one of 1268 01:07:45.880 --> 01:07:48.239 you out there is the key to doing just that. 1269 01:07:48.840 --> 01:07:51.079 We want to hear from you, guys, so share all 1270 01:07:51.119 --> 01:07:54.559 your thoughts, any theories you may have, and some feedback. 1271 01:07:54.880 --> 01:07:57.079 That's what makes this community so special. 1272 01:07:57.239 --> 01:08:00.159 Yeah, at crime House, we really value your support, So 1273 01:08:00.159 --> 01:08:02.639 you can share your thoughts on social media. Remember to rate, 1274 01:08:02.719 --> 01:08:05.159 review and follow clues to help others discover the show. 1275 01:08:05.280 --> 01:08:08.400 We also read through the YouTube comment section two for 1276 01:08:08.480 --> 01:08:10.000 other missing persons cases. 1277 01:08:10.079 --> 01:08:12.679 Yes, that's been a big help you guys. So yeah, 1278 01:08:12.760 --> 01:08:15.920 just keep adding the missing people pieces that you know 1279 01:08:16.000 --> 01:08:18.600 about that are maybe local to your area and haven't 1280 01:08:18.600 --> 01:08:19.359 gotten the word out. 1281 01:08:19.479 --> 01:08:21.640 Yes, that's been great. And like even as we were 1282 01:08:21.720 --> 01:08:23.840 kind of shouting out listeners at the beginning too, like, 1283 01:08:24.119 --> 01:08:27.720 we love hearing about your connections to cases, if you 1284 01:08:27.800 --> 01:08:30.600 know the person or if you are part of that community. 1285 01:08:30.640 --> 01:08:32.560 Like it's always just so interesting to hear about So 1286 01:08:32.600 --> 01:08:34.399 I really love hearing from you guys. 1287 01:08:34.560 --> 01:08:37.319 We had so many connections to Elizabeth Smart and so 1288 01:08:37.920 --> 01:08:41.319 someone shared a really powerful story about her in the 1289 01:08:41.319 --> 01:08:45.359 comments of that episode, how like another missing girl ended 1290 01:08:45.479 --> 01:08:49.840 up getting like escaping in Wisconsin, and Elizabeth like went 1291 01:08:49.960 --> 01:08:52.560 there and like talked to the town about how they 1292 01:08:52.560 --> 01:08:57.039 should handle it and like treat her after. So really 1293 01:08:57.079 --> 01:08:59.159 important that you guys keep commenting it. It means the 1294 01:08:59.159 --> 01:08:59.760 world to us. 1295 01:09:00.479 --> 01:09:03.039 All Right, we will be back next week with another episode, 1296 01:09:03.319 --> 01:09:07.319 and until then, we'll see you guys later. Bye bye. 1297 01:09:11.720 --> 01:09:14.720 Some crimes are so shocking they don't just make headlines, 1298 01:09:14.880 --> 01:09:18.159 they forever change our society. I'm Katie Ring, host of 1299 01:09:18.199 --> 01:09:21.439 America's Most Infamous Crimes. Each week, I take on one 1300 01:09:21.439 --> 01:09:24.920 of the most notorious criminal cases, whether it's unfolding now 1301 01:09:25.079 --> 01:09:29.119 or etched into American history. Serial killers who terrorize cities, 1302 01:09:29.439 --> 01:09:33.119 unsolved mysteries that kept detectives up at night, and investigations 1303 01:09:33.199 --> 01:09:36.239 that change the way we think about justice. Each case 1304 01:09:36.279 --> 01:09:40.439 unfolds across multiple episodes, release every Tuesday through Thursday. From 1305 01:09:40.479 --> 01:09:43.039 the first sign that something was wrong to the moment 1306 01:09:43.079 --> 01:09:46.039 the truth came out or didn't. Listen to and follow 1307 01:09:46.119 --> 01:09:50.439 America's most infamous crimes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, 1308 01:09:50.600 --> 01:09:52.279 or wherever you listen to your podcasts.