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I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.
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Hey, weirdos. My name's Ash. And my name is Elena.
I hated that. And this is Morbid. The mini-sos.
Yay. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini morbid.
Mini morbid, mini morbid, mini morbid. dudes i am back from colorado she is i feel like i don't know how to podcast anymore Shout out to Elena, though, for giving you guys a sweet episode.
I just had to stop myself from saying dang.
A dank episode. A postpartum episode, if you will.
A postpartum podcast. Postpartum podcast.
Dudes, Denver is amazing. You all should go.
And seriously, shout out to everybody that gave me recommendations while I was there.
I'm really sorry. But I couldn't get a drink or like hang out with any of you.
It was just like a crazy four days. But it was amazing.
I'm really jealous. I had the time of my life.
I got to see like a private DJ set. We were just like walking down the street and this guy was like, hey, there's a DJ set going on in there.
I don't know why I call it a DJ set. I don't think anybody else does that.
I kind of love it. A DJ. he was like yo Grizz is in there and we were like yeah fuck you no he's not and he was like go look and then Grizz was there So I got to see Grizz.
I got to see Big Wild and Weathen. Alina thinks I'm speaking Spanish.
This literally sounds like a different language.
I'm like, a grizz? What's a grizz? I went full wook this weekend.
And then I don't know what a wook is either.
I didn't go full wook. I don't know what any of this is.
I'm too old. It was dank. Where my oldies at?
Who else is sitting there going, what? Who?
Everybody's like, ah, shut the fuck up. Well, speaking of DJ sets and super hip... entertainment our second live show is sold out guys no i like to say sold the fuck out it is sold The fuck out.
No more tickets left. If any of them open up, we'll let you know just in case somebody wants to grab them.
But right now... I don't think they're gonna.
It's sold out. And that's pretty rad. And we will let you know when our next show is because we're definitely going to do one after that.
Hell yeah. Was this while I was gone? Murder Apparel like released a new shirt for us and it's fucking dope.
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I'm here for the chainsaw. I am definitely here for the chainsaw.
And it says morbid. A true crime podcast.
Which is what we are. That's us, everybody.
And if you... Want to go get that new shirt?
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Now it's time for your mini. It's time for my mini, guys.
Let's get it. Let's do this. Let's get it.
All right. What's your mini about? My mini. is the crazy, curious, what I believe is unsolved case of Jessica Renee Johnson.
Okay. Now, I had not heard of this one before.
I haven't. I just came upon it and I was like, Whoa.
And by the way, guys, if you hear like a giant hog.
Snorting in the background. It's not a hog.
That's my beautiful Puggle Bailey. Just snoring away behind us.
She's snoozing. And I don't want to wake her up.
We just can't. She's sleeping beauty right now.
And I feel like we owe it to her to let her sleep.
Because I brought another human into the house.
So I did her dirty. So she should be able to sleep.
I did her dirty. So. Now, this is another case of the investigation immediately focusing on what they wanted the crime scene to reflect.
Instead of actually looking at the crime scene deeper and seeing the signs that things were not what they initially appeared to be.
Perfect. You know those. You know those.
Was it the LAPD? It wasn't. Oh. This is very recent, too.
Oh, shit. So on June 2nd, 2017. Oh, bish.
Yeah. Jessica Renee Johnson. was found deceased in a bizarre and gruesome scene that has never been fully investigated or understood.
When I get to the scene, your brain might just explode because it's bonkers.
Dude, I should be like brain dead from how many times my brain has exploded on this podcast.
You really should. Maybe I am and I just don't realize it.
This might do it. You know someone out there listening is like, Ash is definitely brain dead.
100%. And guess what? You're not wrong. Jokes on you, you're right.
Jokes on you, I fucking know. I agree. So, all right.
So Jessica Johnson was a 37-year-old woman.
She was a mother of two children. Oh, no.
Yeah. Come on. She's a single mother. She was from Horn Lake, Mississippi.
She had a daughter who was eight years old and a son who was 19 years old.
Kind of a big gap. She was very petite, like 5'3", I think.
She was like 115 pounds. Just a very tiny little lady.
And a couple of things that legitimately every single person agrees on when describing her.
She's the nicest person that ever lived.
No, was that she, one, absolutely adored her kids and would do anything for them.
Good. And that she was absolutely stunning.
You look at any pictures of her and you're like, Oh, my God.
That is a beautiful woman. Like, she is just gorgeous.
I'm going to Google it. Gorgeous. And everyone, that's one of the first things.
And I know people are like, why is that the one thing?
But it's like one thing that really stood out about her is just like everyone agrees she's like universally just. beautiful.
Now everyone recalled that she wouldn't go out dressed like a slob or without some glam ever.
She was not one to walk outside. In pajamas.
She was not going to walk outside without makeup.
All her friends are like, she went everywhere glammed up.
She always had a full face of makeup on.
She always had... Her hair did. I literally just Googled her.
And the first article I opened said, she's fancy.
A glammed up diva. See? All her friends agree, like, she is a glamour girl.
Love that. Yeah, and, like, good for her, man.
Hell yeah, get it, girl. You gotta do it.
So she was going to look like a superstar no matter what she was doing.
According to True Crime Daily, quote, she was always dressed up and really pretty and she knew it.
And that's what her sister Kayla Mansell said.
Okay. So she had struggled a bit in recent years, but was always there for her kids.
Her mother said she did suffer with drug addiction, mainly to Xanax.
On and off. That's rough. But she was trying to get it together.
She was having a time of it. She was a little lost.
Unfortunately, recently before her death, she had started to get in with a bad crowd.
All her friends agree with this. They're like, she was getting in with some bad people.
She was dating a guy named Garland Hart.
Garland? Yes. And he was a... He was a... A lot.
He was a guy... So we're not talking Judy Garland.
We are not talking Judy. We're talking like.
We're not talking Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
We're not doing any of that. We're talking Garland Hart. okay he was into drugs oh no he was into selling drugs oh no He was abusive.
Oh, fuck him. So he's just not a good doobie.
Not a good doobie. We don't have time for that, ladies.
We don't. And he used her car for drug dealing.
Oh, come on. Which it's like, why are you doing that?
Also, you're a drug dealer. Buy your own car.
Yeah, like, that's not cool. You have money.
I mean, he was in and out of prison. No bueno.
And all her friends were like, it's weird.
Like, he was not her type. Like in the past, like a tattooed, you know, like tough guy was usually not her thing.
But like recently she had been going for that.
So they were like, I don't know. I think she just wanted to fix people. people but like who hasn't been there yep yep so october 10th 2013 so going back a little bit Jessica was actually arrested for felony possession of a controlled substance and possession of paraphernalia.
Oh no. The charges were dropped. And it ended up that she was caught with some dudes and they had a bag of meth on them.
Ooh. But they weren't able to pin it down to whose it was.
It wasn't on her person. It was just in the group where they were.
Yeah. And that's why the charges were dropped.
But it's worth mentioning she was running into these situations as of late, unfortunately.
But again, recently, she was really trying to get it together.
Now it's said a lot. I've read a lot of like, you know, Reddit threads and like forums and articles that they kind of describe her. as like a party girl, or like she liked to party all the time, blah, blah, blah.
But her mother, Linda, who's very outspoken about her death, And I'll get to her a lot in this.
She actually commented herself on a Reddit thread about the case several times.
Oh, did she really? And she said that this was a complete misconception.
She said she was not. was like I admit like she was struggling with drugs like I'm not trying to paint her as this like angel that didn't have any flaws right but she wasn't a party girl she wasn't a heavy drinker at all she didn't go to clubs to like party she was more looking she said when she went like clubbing Before and stuff, she was more looking for like love and companionship.
Like that's what she was aiming for. and she said did she make some bad choices sure but she was not a full-on party girl she was a mother right And of course, you know, I think it was her father who was like, you know, she was a great mother.
And when she was with it and like she was never a terrible mom or anything, but like When she was having her struggles, sure, she wasn't like there all the time.
But she always cared about her kids. She always tried her best.
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The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn.
The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.
His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.
Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.
I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.
As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, I would like to address you all.
Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson, and journalist Leo Schick for The Mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption, and magic.
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I feel like the second you die and you're like a pretty young girl, they're like, oh, she'd love to party.
Yeah, they're like, oh, party girl. You're pretty.
You wear makeup. You're a party girl. Right.
So this brings us to the day of May 31st, 2017.
This was the last time that Jessica's mother saw her alive.
That's so sad. She left her mother's home where she lived Because she was living with her parents and her kids in her parents' home.
Mm-hmm. It was nice because her kids were growing up around their grandparents who...
Take care of them a lot. Like it was a good dynamic.
So she left the house and said she was going to be with Garland for a day or two.
They were trying to work on their relationship, all about yada, yada, yada.
So she ended up at a house on Angel Drive. where her boyfriend Garland was staying with a guy named Jesse.
And, you know, he wasn't super stable, so he was having to stay in these houses of other people.
Uh huh. This home was only about five miles away from her parents' house, so it wasn't far away.
Everyone in her life says that this relationship with Garland was not good.
It was not healthy, and her mother actually says that it was, quote, toxic.
Oh, no. This is giving me serious Phoebe Handstruck vibes.
Yeah, right? It kind of did. In fact, a lot of her friends and family really just couldn't understand this relationship because, like I said, she was never into dudes like this.
So they were like, what's happening here?
Yeah. Yeah, it was just very weird. And they were like, but lately she was just getting into this lifestyle and he was sucking her deeper into it.
So none of them were psyched about it. Well, and I think once you're connected to that lifestyle too, it's probably very hard to get away from it because you know things that...
They don't want you to know. Yeah, for sure.
Like, you've seen some shit. You've been involved with some shit.
Like, it's probably really tough. And...
You know, when you're trying to fix someone, you feel like you can't leave until the job is done.
You know what I mean? Yep. Honey, just leave.
Honey, just leave. I know. Let me tell you.
I know I want to scream it from the rooftops, but unfortunately she did not.
So in an article on WMC5 Action News, Linda, her mother, said, quote, She told me, Mama, if anything happens to me, go find him.
You know I'm not going to mention his name, but go find him.
Jesus. And in the same article, the owner of the home that he was staying at, Jesse, his roommate.
Mm-hmm. Kind of spun a convenient narrative about what happened to Jessica.
Of course he did. Yeah, and it seems, it's suspicious if you ask me.
So he says this guy, Jesse, who was the owner of the home that she was going to be hanging out with Garland at for a couple of days.
He said, quote, from the time that they showed up on Wednesday to Thursday, Jessica seemed out of her normal self.
That's the first time I've seen them in months together.
And she just, I don't know, she was just really, I think, lovesick.
She was more dramatic than I'd ever seen her. like what does that mean and once you find out what this whole thing is like what happened here you're gonna see why this seems very convenient like oh okay she was being dramatic and emotional Like, I see why you're saying that.
So apparently the evening of June 1st, 2017, there was a lot of people at this home who In and out, in and out.
Like, you know, drugs, partying, all this was going on.
Uh-huh. And this... And according to this guy, Jesse...
Jessica and her boyfriend Harlan got into an argument outside.
They were arguing most of the time they were there.
And he said that when they were arguing on the driveway, she pulled the shoe strings out of her sneakers and said... that she was gonna kill herself okay which like that doesn't make sense and i and he said that garland was like oh whatever like get out of here and just like shut the door on yeah like left that's nice now keep this in mind because this is very convenient later when you find out what happened to jessica that he happened to see this scenario And also, did she just throw up a timeout sign and be like, hold on, and then pull out each of her slings and be like...
Very dramatic moment, you know what I mean?
Like, it's like, she didn't just yank them out of her, like, you would pull out, like, a tablecloth.
Right, right, right. You know what I mean?
It doesn't make sense to me. I'm like, I don't think that happened.
So the guy... So Jesse, again, the owner of the home... said later that night june 1st he also got a text message from her after garland had been like get out of here like you're crazy go away okay And this text message, he said, was her talking about, quote, she just didn't want to feel the pain anymore or anything. convenient again.
Now, on June 1st, Jessica spoke with her mother and her daughter on FaceTime.
So on that day, she had spoken to her mother.
She had spoken to her daughter on FaceTime.
And she told both of them, I'm going to be coming home today.
She didn't. Obviously, that's not like her.
This was not it's it's not common for her to say, I'm going to be home and then just not come because. she cared about those kids she wouldn't do that to them it just wasn't she wasn't in the habit of dicking her kids around it just wasn't And according to True Crime Daily, her mother Linda said, quote, Thursday I kept trying to get in touch with her.
I said, this is very unusual for Jessica.
She always made sure that she texted and most of the time she would even send me her location.
And she didn't do any of that. She couldn't get in touch with at all at 3 29 a.m on june 1st so that night after garland has already told her go like fuck off Her son, her 19-year-old son, received a text message from her phone at 3.30 in the morning.
Saying? I have not been able to find what this text message said.
Oh, come on. I can't find it anywhere. But why would she text her son at 3.30 in the morning?
That doesn't make any sense. Now, in what was in the text message isn't so important.
It's the time that this text message was sent.
And keep that time in mind. 3.30am. 3.30am.
So on the morning of June 2nd, a woman mail carrier walked up to the mailbox that was outside of this home.
Mm-hmm. and discovered Jessica's deceased body next to the mailbox the scene was horrifying Yes, next to the mailbox, but you'll never guess how.
So this mail carrier ran and got another mail carrier to come to the scene because she like freaked out.
Yeah. And this person, this mail carrier took an infamous photograph of the crime scene.
Which is good that they did because honestly, the police botched this so bad.
I don't even know if they would have taken a photo.
The photo is very chilling. It's very graphic.
Did you look at it? It's not likely how Jessica would want to be Remember the trade.
I looked at it for this case because it's her mother actually sent this photo to two news outlets when she did interviews because she was like, show this photo because this is not what they're saying it is.
Right. And be warned, if you Google it, it is it's an upsetting photo.
It's not a fun thing to look. If you Google the case, Jessica Renee Johnson, it will pop up just so you know if you want to or not.
So Jessica was found in front of the home she had been staying at.
She was next to the mailbox. She was in the kneeling position, sitting up.
This mailbox was surrounded by tons of long grass, like overgrown.
There were two shoelaces tied together. So she was hung on the mailbox.
One of the shoelaces was pulled tightly across her face.
Oh, Jesus. And across her mouth as well.
So it pulled her top lip up in this like creepy snarl.
Mm-hmm. Kind of thing. And her head was looking upwards, like tilted up.
Mm-hmm. To me, this would make it look like someone stood behind her and strangled her while she looked up at them.
But we'll get into that after. Now, if you were... Because they initially... Obviously, everybody's like, suicide.
She hung herself on a mailbox. If you were to kill yourself in this manner, you would need to use your body weight to strangle yourself.
Mm hmm. So you would likely face away from the post and lean forward to use your weight as leverage to strangle yourself so that you could just kind of like fall forward and let your body weight do the work for you.
She was found leaned against the post with the string across her face, which would mean she would have to just like pull her head to the side to strangle herself.
Which doesn't make any sense. She wouldn't be able to give herself enough.
And then wouldn't she have just, like, stayed in that position?
Exactly. And we're going to go very far into this later, but it's just all weird.
Now, oddly, her hair is down and the shoelace that was tied around her neck was also tied over her hair.
Like her hair wasn't pulled out of the shoelace for it to lay against her skin.
Yeah. That's weird. And there's... There's been a lot... This has been a topic of interest, this one piece of evidence, because...
When you would like think about it as a as a girl or or anybody with long hair for that matter, if your hair is stuck in something, you pull it out.
It's instinctual. And if you were trying to kill yourself by hanging yourself with a shoelace string...
You would want that shoelace to be up against your skin, not buffered by your hair.
Right. Because that wouldn't give you enough to strangle.
So just keep that in mind. Her purse was open and situated on the ground between her legs.
Her right hand was also between her legs and appears to be clutching a wallet or a small change purse of some sort.
And her other hand is not really seen, but it's like slightly behind her on the ground.
Yeah. Like, just in a weird position. She's also wearing really casual clothing.
She's wearing a gray camo t-shirt that's like baggy and just like regular jeans.
Which like wasn't her deal. No. And she doesn't have any makeup on and her hair is not done at all. which normally wouldn't be of importance, but Jessica is a known glamour girl, and she was never seen without makeup done.
Right. This is weird. Those clothes that she was wearing, everyone who's looked at that that knows her is like, I've never seen those clothes on her.
That's weird. Like, she did not own those clothes.
And they were like, and she wouldn't wear that.
Right. It's just not something she would do.
Now, police really botched this shit from the jump because this is a really weird fucked up scene.
It's a woman hung on a mailbox in broad daylight.
Like, it's just very odd. They were apparently parking their cars way too close to the body in the scene.
And if you look at crime scene photos, you can see...
They've cordoned off the scene, but the cars are like right on it.
Right. So there's like exhaust. There's people walking through it.
It's like they really fucked it up. And they basically looked at Jessica as a sometimes struggling addict hanging out with tough people.
And they said, well, this is clearly a suicide.
Case closed. That's not fair. They didn't even consider another possibility.
They were like, suicide. She hung herself on the post.
So the DeSoto County Coroner, Jeff Pounders...
Said her death was suicide via asphyxiation by ligature, and that was it.
And her mom was like, yeah, right. Go fuck yourself.
Exactly. And on the death certificate, it says that no autopsy was performed.
Is that normal? Well, later they discovered that a partial one was performed.
So that's weird. Yeah. And immediately everyone she knew was like, no.
Nope. No way. And of course, everyone's going to.
I know people here like that. She would never commit suicide.
I know her. She wouldn't do that. A lot of them said that.
And of course, none of us can know what's going on in someone's brain.
I will devil's advocate that and say, like, you could say... i i would never peg that person that commits suicide literally if every single person you know is saying that it's like i mean that it's sure for sure but like i can also see how that's like For sure You can see both sides You can't always know Someone who's struggling They can put on a happy face I mean Robin Williams You know like Yeah, sometimes suicide does shock the people around you.
Like Chester Bennington, he was super depressed and had done it, like tried it before.
But the night before, there's like a video of him smiling, happy, playing with his family.
Oh, that's so sad. Oh my God. Chester Bennington destroyed me, guys.
I'm not going to lie. So the suicide angle just doesn't make sense.
And it's worth noting that That she did not OD.
That was proven. There was a toxicology report.
But she did have meth and Xanax in her system when she died.
Okay. There was not enough to kill her or incapacitate her.
But that wasn't her system. And this is why a lot of people think the case isn't getting the proper attention that she deserves.
Because they just... Yeah. Investigators are just looking at it like she's a drug addict.
Right. She got in with a bad crowd. She was probably depressed.
She's on this stuff. She probably just went crazy and hung herself on a mailbox.
Yeah, no. Doesn't make any sense, but that's probably what they're thinking.
Lazy detective work. Exactly. Now, also...
There was a security camera that was owned by the homeowner, Jesse.
And it was pointed at the mailbox. So it was like pointed because the mailbox was right on the road, you know, like it's pointing towards that area.
It would include the mailbox. Tell me what happened to this video.
Well, obviously, that's the smoking gun that's going to tell us what happened, right?
Yeah. Yeah. Nope, police never asked to access it, and the homeowner never offered it or looked at it himself.
And now it's gone. So he literally, so this happens on your mailbox outside.
You have a video camera that points right at it and you never look at that video.
To be like, I need to know what happened?
Yeah. Or give it to the police? Yeah. Yeah, weird.
According to True Crime Daily... Jesse also had tons of different stories when it comes to this video camera.
It wasn't just like, oh no, here's one story.
He's like, it's actually not even mine. Yeah.
He literally said he never looked at the video.
He said he didn't. It required a passcode and he didn't have the passcode.
Oh, you don't have the passcode to your own security system?
Cool. Yeah. And then he said... Oh, you know what?
It might not have been on at the time. Oh, you know what?
I think it already recorded over like the next day. you know the police didn't ask me like he came up with literally 45 different stories and so far we have no idea what was on the actual truth that would tell you So obviously the Johnsons don't believe any of this shit.
And they hired a private forensic scientist and investigator named Maurice Godwin.
And Maurice Godwin worked on the Casey Anthony case.
Oh, shit. So he's really he's like noted as like working on high profile cases.
Mm hmm. Uh, he also disagreed with the suicide angle, like vehemently.
He was like, immediately he was like, no.
He's like, yeah, no. Yeah. Not even a little bit.
And he also said was the one that was like a partial autopsy was performed.
I don't know why it says there wasn't one. he told Crime Watch Daily that he doesn't agree with any of this.
And he said, quote, based on the way the string is around her Adam's apple here, She would have never been passed out anyway, because I don't think there was enough pressure to cut off the air.
And he said the majority of the force and the pressure was on her cheekbone.
And he also said in this position, she would have been in excruciating pain the entire time.
He was like, this is literally the worst way to go.
Because if she really did this to herself, she would have been pulling to the side and literally slowly strangling... while her hair's ripping out in the shoelaces.
Yeah, you just wouldn't do that to yourself.
None of it makes sense. It doesn't make any sense.
So he also said about the shoelaces themselves, because there were two shoelaces tied together.
One's tied in a noose around her neck. The other one is tied to the pole and they're tied together.
They were tied together at the very ends of the shoelaces, like very precisely.
And she was supposedly even doing this, if she did it herself, in the middle of the night.
Yeah. In complete darkness. Right. And she did this perfect, precise...
Sorry, I don't think so. And Dr. Godwin said, quote, in my opinion, she didn't tie this.
The knot used to tie the shoelaces together is so precisely tied really close to the end.
So to me, that would be difficult to tie this without proper lighting.
And the Johnsons also hired another expert who was a former Memphis police officer named Roe Moreno.
He said, quote, someone that's coming in a radically trying to hang themselves in the cover of darkness.
And you look here and this is a rural rural area.
Rural juror. It was very dark, no streetlights, no nothing.
It's not going to be a precise knot. To me and to anyone that has any common sense, they would know that this is not suicide by hanging.
She was placed here. 100%. And they both say this was a stage scene.
She was staged. She was set up. either as a message or either way she was set up to look like she killed herself, but they didn't do a good job.
They just happened to get it past the fucking police officers.
Where was this again? Mississippi. Okay.
Now, the whole scene is bizarre, obviously, but the purse to me screams that this was staged.
Because her hand is resting next to it and clutching what looks like a wallet.
And this wouldn't be the case if she was desperately and in an odd way trying to hang herself in the dead of night.
Why would her wallet be in her hand? No, why would she be holding her fucking wallet?
And how would it stay that way? Like, it wouldn't.
And to be honest, it makes it look like more like she was murdered because it looks like she was it was either staged that way, which I don't know why it would be staged that way. after her dying somewhere else, or she was possibly desperately trying to plead with her killer to stop and perhaps pulled her wallet out to, like, bribe them or something?
Yeah. Why would she be holding that? And coming out of the purse is like a pink phone charger cord that's like spilled out of the top of the purse.
Mm hmm. And it's just odd because it looks like she was looking through her purse when something happened.
Yeah. It was placed in a way that makes it look like she was on her knees... digging in her purse maybe trying to get something out and then boom something happened was her phone in her purse do you know her phone we're actually going to get to the phone the phone is a big deal Also, one side of the purse with a strap, like the metal part of the strap connects to the purse.
It was ripped like someone tore it away while she was holding it.
Okay. Yeah. It was weird. That's bizarre.
So none of this was looked at as evidence.
Good. None of it. Awesome. Great. Yeah. So when the family saw post-mortem photos of Jessica taken at the morgue, they also noticed something else strange about it that nobody had mentioned.
What? Her left arm, the one that's obscured in the photo...
It was in shocking condition. What was wrong with it?
First, there was a mark that looked suspiciously like a shoe print on her arm.
And they were trying to, investigators try to say now like, oh, I think it was the grass that was like imprinting into her.
No. It's clearly, it looks like a boot print.
It looks like somebody stood on her arm.
Ouch. And it was like very insane indent.
There was also clear bruising around her wrists, like ligature or was grabbing her.
And then there's these bloody speckles all over her hand and arm.
And it looks like a chemical burn. Like somebody splattered like something, some chemical on her that left little burns in her skin.
Okay, and nobody thought anything of that?
No. No. And then also, there's clearly blood around and in her fingernails. uh what where the fuck did that come from right what she's just bleeding out of her fingernails like that doesn't make any sense to me all the time and it's under her fingernails none of it was tested None of it.
And nobody questioned this chemical burn and these ligature grabbing marks on there?
Well, that's like fucking... What's her name?
Tammy? Yeah. That huge burn on her face.
When they were like, oh yeah, that's a rug burn.
It's fine. They were like, oh yeah, for sure.
Like, her friend Leigh Ann Moreno said, quote, there were holes in her hand.
Holes. There's a picture of her left arm, the one that they were looking at and the one that they took online.
If you Google this case, it will come up in images, just so you know.
And it's shocking. You're like, what? That's not a normal hand.
Right. Like, did they just not, like, did they just not want to do anything that day?
I guess so. It's very odd. um so they and her mother said there were marks on her wrists and arms like we said and she said it looks like she was bound and possibly injected with something like some of the bruises looks like yeah it's very odd now the next thing is her cell phone okay what's up with that Her cell phone was found.
It was in her purse. Her phone was locked, and no one has the code.
Now the passcode was changed during this time.
After that 3.29 a.m. text message was sent to her son, the passcode was changed.
Now, if she's trying to kill herself in the middle of the night, And sending a thing to her son somehow.
Are you going to go change your passcode?
No. No, you're not. Now, this could mean that somebody sent those texts that were supposedly sent by Tess Jessica, which is what I believe.
Yeah. To, like, throw off the timing and, like, make it look like that.
And the person could have either known the passcode, which supposedly Garland did.
Mm-hmm. Or they could have used her finger to unlock that thing And then they had already and that could have been when they already killed her or incapacitated or even just used her finger right now police have not tried to access it the police were like nope we can't access it why No idea.
And they outright refused to use her fingerprint to open it.
Because even now she's dead, you can use her fingerprint to open it.
And even though the cell phone is in her father's name, it's not even in her name.
And her father is alive and well. Yeah, he can say.
Apple won't unlock it. why i have no idea but it's making me nuts and i'm like what i feel like i'm gonna be so frustrated i'm already frustrated and i think i'm just gonna be frustrated Police could have used her fingerprint and they didn't.
It makes me nuts. It's such a botched opportunity.
And now... She's cremated. Oh, shit. Yep.
So the opportunity is completely gone. Now, what happened was Jessica's parents were so like distraught and just like, crazed when this happened, that they made the decision to cremate her for financial reasons.
And now they are, like, filled with regret.
Because they thought... That the police had taken all this into evidence.
And they thought that the phone could be opened.
They didn't think they would have to use her deceased finger to open it.
Why the fuck would you ever think like that?
So they didn't think any of that was going to be an issue.
And now she's cremated and they've lost a lot of...
There still has to be some way to get into her phone, though.
Like jailbreak it or something. Why can't Apple open it?
Yeah, Apple could. I don't know why they won't.
It's ridiculous. So everybody thinks that that cell phone holds everything.
They were like, they think it's going to tell you everything you need to know about what happened.
And I bet it does. I bet they're going to lose it in evidence.
And I'm sure because, oh, they lost some evidence, so...
Good call on that one. I'm truly not shocked.
Yeah, I was going to say, are you shocked?
Now remember, like I said... Her son received a text message from her at 3.29 a.m. that day.
Dr. Godwin, the forensic investigator that the Johnsons hired... said that he thought Jessica had been dead for at least eight hours, according to what he had seen.
So she would have already been dead at that time.
Yeah, when the mail carrier had found her.
That would mean that the text was sent either right around when she was dying or even after she was dead.
And... What he said is, quote, either somebody had her phone somewhere else and sent that message Or they were standing at the mailbox at around 3.30am, sent the message to try to throw everything off, and then just put it in her purse and walked away.
Right. Either way. And now, they're thinking her time of death is... actually between 12 and 2 a.m. that night.
So even earlier than they originally thought.
So that would put That text message way after she died.
Right. So she didn't send that text message.
It didn't happen. It didn't make sense to me anyways because she's a mother.
She's a caring mother. Despite any of her faults.
She's not going to text her kid at 3.30 in the morning.
That's like, that just, it didn't make sense to me.
So what happened? I don't know. Now, the boyfriend Garland definitely looks like a good suspect.
100%. Him and Jesse, in my opinion. uh garland and her relationship was volatile like we said there was abuse um but he's him and jesse and this is crazy to me, are both saying now that they don't think it was suicide.
Well, yeah, that's convenient. But they're agreeing now being like, no, I don't think she killed herself.
Like, we didn't do it, but I know somebody... Which could either be...
Wow, they're telling the truth. Or it could be, wow, that's a really good way to throw off.
Yeah, that's what I think. Which is kind of what I think.
And also, Garland has a girlfriend now who he was, I believe, cheating on Jessica with at the time.
And she claimed recently that Garland was with her that whole night.
When Garland and everyone who was at that house... are already saying that he was at that house.
Like, girl, shut the fuck up. So she's giving him a weird alibi that he doesn't need.
It's like, you're just making it look worse.
Now it's looking even worse. Go away, girl.
Go home. Now, her friends said he was mentally abusive, physically abusive to her.
And that she knew that he could hurt her.
That's what they said. And some of them actually said, I think her friend Michelle Bland said, said that at more than one occasion, she would have to, like, come get her after they were fighting.
Aww. And she would say, this guy is gonna kill me.
Okay, that's not good. Which, that's not good.
And again, Jesse said when they showed up on Wednesday, they got in a huge fight and were fighting the entire time.
And on Thursday before she died, she actually called a friend to help her.
And they said it was Leanne. I think it was Leanne Moreno.
She said, quote, she was locked in the bathroom with her cell phone, afraid of Garland.
She wanted her girlfriend to come pick her up and get her out of there.
That's not good. So that should tell you something.
She said when she got there, Garland wouldn't let her in.
He said that Jessica was being crazy. She was the one starting everything.
She was the problem. And he said... You know maybe you should just take her out of here.
I can't handle her. I'd be like yeah I'm taking my friend and she's never coming back.
Yeah. And she said that it happened, but after like 45 minutes, her friend ended up leaving and Jessica stayed at the house. because she was like she wasn't coming with me she wanted to work things out i was like whatever i'm like thanks for wasting my time exactly Now, recently, Hart was up for domestic abuse charges and assault charges recently against someone else.
Perfect. So he's got it in him. Yeah. To be a shit now.
And he's also claiming he's really leaning into this.
He's saying, you know, I don't even care about my name being cleared.
And like that family is accusing me of this.
And I understand that they need someone to blame. like he's trying to play he's trying way too hard and he's saying but all I want to know is what happened to Jessica I don't care if my name gets cleared in this yeah right And then he's going like, you know, why is her mother spreading all these lies?
Doesn't she want to know the truth? Doesn't she want to really investigate this?
And it's like, dude, she is. Yeah, like what the fuck are you talking about?
Yeah, it's like, come on. Now it's worth mentioning that at some point during the stay at Jesse's house, Jessica went to pick up her friend, I believe her name was Katie. up from work.
And when she went to get her, she was very upset, Jessica.
And Katie was like, oh shit. Apparently, Jesse had called Jessica and was like, hey, Garland is in the bedroom with two ladies.
Oh, no. And she was like a mess. So Katie drove her back to the house and was like, I'll go get your stuff for you and I'll just take you away from here.
Like, fuck that guy. Yeah. But Jessica was so upset and she was like, I want to talk to him.
I want to work things out. I want to see what's going on.
And Katie ended up being like, whatever, dude.
And just because at some point you just have to be like, yeah, like she was like, I can't do this.
Right. So this is when the suicide threat with the shoelaces allegedly happened that Jesse was talking about where like they were fighting and she was like, I'm just going to kill myself with these.
And so that was when he sent her packing.
That's when he was like, I can't handle you anymore.
You're crazy. Go away. That was like around 6 p.m., I think they said.
So then there's nine hours between then and when she's found that are unaccounted for.
When she's found at Jesse's house. Right outside of her house.
Yeah, it's like right outside of the house.
She wasn't just chilling there for nine hours and no one noticed.
No, that's the thing. It doesn't make any sense.
And so again the fact that she so the fact that she didn't pull her hair out from under that string makes no sense.
Hold on. Why would she go back there to kill herself?
Exactly. It's like, where did she go? Right.
And then like came back and was like, you know what?
I'm going to do it at this point. this mailbox like no that's and in this outfit that no one has ever seen me wear not it's none of it makes no And now her cause of death is still asphyxiation by hanging, suicide.
It's still labeled like that. uh the state medical examiner was going to do another report i couldn't find anything about what came out of that or if it has come out of that it still could be happening because those can take Or ever.
But a couple of other things that make this even weirder... is there was blood found on her shoes, the sneakers that were San's laces.
Those shoes were not on her when she was found.
They were in the house. Okay, so that makes no fucking sense.
And the shoes were never processed, and that blood was never tested.
What the fuck? And those shoes were sent back to her family.
With blood on them. What? Yeah. And it would also make sense to check those shoelaces for touch DNA, right?
Because if somebody else tied those, someone else's hands was on them.
Yeah. Well, yeah, but they lost them. Wait, they lost the shoelaces?
They literally lost the thing that killed her.
What? Lost them. Don't know where they are.
Like the biggest piece of evidence at that scene, they lost.
Are you kidding? What? Yeah. I can't. I don't know how that happens.
It's like, how in a chain of custody situation in evidence...
Do you lose evidence? I don't understand that.
That doesn't make any sense to me. They obviously just didn't give a shit.
Because it's like, where's the chain of custody?
Where did it get broken? Or they didn't lose it, and this is like some weird fucking cover-up.
Yeah, there's no chain of custody there.
Also, the clothes she was wearing... The ones that everybody's like, what the fuck are those clothes?
They lost those? They were... So nobody could find these clothes.
Like, they were lost. And they were like, what the fuck?
Her clothes were incinerated. At the funeral home.
Because they were sent to the funeral home in a biohazard bag.
Which doesn't make sense because they didn't have any fluids on them.
Right. So they were incinerated. So any evidence on them are gone.
The shoelaces are missing. This is botched as fuck.
Right? And also, that night she had collected like 500 bucks.
From three friends, because she was going to be buying meth with it.
Mm-hmm. She didn't spend it all on the meth.
Meth is $500. No, I guess it's not. Oh. So she had, like, a ton left over.
Okay. I think, like, all together, she had $500.
She didn't get him, like, $500 from friends, but, like, she... all together had that on her.
Her wallet was empty and the drugs were not in her purse.
And her wallet, remember, was in her hand.
And it had no money in it? It's like, did someone kill her, then go in her wallet, take that money, and take the drugs, and peace?
Maybe. Like, you don't know. So all this and we still don't have that video footage.
The camera that was pointed at the fucking mailbox.
And what I would love to see is the report, like the autopsy report, because I want to see like lividity. like rigor state like i want to see all of this because none of this is out there and it's so pertinent in the report you can't find so it's like i don't know what's going on here I also want to know, and I haven't found it yet.
If I do, I'll update this. If there was petechial hemorrhaging or petechiae on her because that's common in hanging cases.
And what it is, is it's hemorrhages that occur when blood leaks from the capillaries.
That are in your eyes. And it ruptures because of the increased pressure on the veins in the head.
And when the airways are obstructed. Okay.
So that's why it often happens in hanging cases.
What they show up as are like tiny, tiny little like pinpoint dots of red.
And they're often found in like the conjunctiva of the eye, which is... the part underneath your eyelid, like that shit under there.
Uh-huh. And it can also be found, like, around your face, like, around your eyes, and...
It's hemorrhaging because your airways are cut off.
Yeah. When these are found, it kind of suggests that the victim was hung while still alive.
Oh, so it is often very helpful to look between like a murder that is staged to look like a suicide or an actual suicide.
Because if the person's dead before they pretended to hang them, they're not going to have petechial hemorrhaging.
But if they have petechial hemorrhaging, they were alive when that noose went around their neck.
Right. So that would be very pertinent in this case.
Yeah. Because if she had them... Then it doesn't still doesn't prove that she did it herself, but it would show us that she was alive when she was next to that mailbox.
Right. There's just so much botched opportunities.
Now, Linda, Jessica's mother, is a fierce advocate for her daughter's case.
And there's a Facebook page run by her called What Happened to Jessica Johnson?
And I'm going to link this Facebook page in the show notes.
Mm-hmm. I got some of this information, like the one about her friend Katie, you know, bringing her back to the house after finding out about the two girls.
I found that out from a YouTuber named Ellie Vickier.
I think it is. Vickier. She does. She's like awesome.
Her channel. Really? Yeah. I fell into like a hole in her channel.
I love it. She does these like true crime, I think like Sundays or something.
She goes really hard into a case. Cool.
And she did a great job on this one. So if you're looking to hear more, go check her out because she's pretty rad.
And she does a lot of true crime really justice.
And she actually spoke to Linda for her episode.
Oh, wow. Yeah, so she got some stuff directly from Linda.
And what she said was Linda told her that any information would ease her mind.
So she said if you have any information about this case or know anybody surrounding this... to contact Linda via the Facebook page.
And she was like, the police don't give a shit about this case, so nobody's coming after you.
That's so sad. Just tell me. And she was like, all I want to know is what happened to my daughter.
Because she didn't kill herself. Right. And that's where it ends.
That's like really frustrating. I need so many more answers.
I know. I hate when you do that. I know, I'm sorry.
But this one was such a, like, mind bender.
And I'm not telling you all to go look at the photo, but the photo will just...
Have you sitting there scratching your head because you're like, how do you look at that and say suicide?
Right. How? And then, again worth noting, Jessica wouldn't have done it that way.
That's not how... I can buy that not everybody knows when someone is suicidal.
People can hide it very easily. I'm not saying she was suicidal.
But she could have been depressed. Who knows?
But you know the person and you know that they wouldn't have done it a certain way.
Yeah. There's no way she would have done that.
And who would think to tie themselves to a mailbox?
The weirdest way to do it in the lab. And then she disappeared for like nine hours.
Like she wasn't just sitting. Exactly. At the mailbox for nine hours.
For nine hours. And it's like, she was not... And her mother said, I think it was her mother and her friends, they all said...
If she was going to kill herself, if we're buying into that...
She would have taken Xanax and she would have had a full face of makeup and would be laying in bed like Sleeping Beauty.
They were like, she would have looked phenomenal.
Yeah. And they were like, there's no way.
And statistically, women, like females, do tend to kill themselves in more passive ways.
Right. taking overdoses. So this is out of the norm, and obviously people do deviate from the norm.
It's not all statistically perfect, but...
This just doesn't make sense. Especially somebody that's like very... Like has the same tendencies their whole life.
And is like very all about... how they are presenting themselves this doesn't this is a a brutal way to present yourself for your last yeah Yeah, it just doesn't.
And it's like the way that the shoelaces like uncross her face and makes her like snarl up.
You just wouldn't do that to yourself. Yeah, it just doesn't.
And like the physics of it don't make sense when you look at her because the way she would have fallen, it doesn't make sense that she would have been able to.
The fact that they couldn't find the video or, like, did nothing with the video was super shady.
The hair in the... in the string instead of on top of the string where it would have made more sense right none of it it's just it's really frustrating yeah i don't understand any this one I 100% do not believe she killed herself 100% no one part of me believes it no me either So that is the really unfortunate and very open case because they are still trying to get this thing.
You know, cracked back open. And the police all say like, well, it's a death investigation.
If something else comes up, we will. It's like we've given you 400 different things.
Well, like what do you have left to look at?
Exactly. Because you fucking lost everything.
Well, that was like a wild ride. Yeah. That was a good one to come back to.
I'm saying. So that is the brutal and... hopefully someday solved case of the death of Jessica Renee Johnson.
Well, while you guys are looking more into this case, make sure you head over to Instagram and follow us at... Morbid Podcast.
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We're going to be able to do one like every week. yeah I love that also check out the website that Alina designed morbidpodcast.com we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird I don't think I'm going to do one.
Yeah, that's a rough one. But not so weird that... No. yeah no oh my foot's asleep just not super weird that's all just don't just don't do it you If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
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