0:00

On

0:00

a winter night and a small community near

0:02

Denver, Colorado, Jim Matthews arrived

0:04

home late. He expected to find his twelve

0:06

year old daughter, and then dropped off after a Christmas

0:09

concert. But when he called out, hey Janelle,

0:11

the house was really quiet. His

0:13

daughter's shoes were on the floor, but she

0:15

was gone. And it would be thirty five

0:17

years before she would be found. dead.

0:20

After the discovery of Janelle Mathew's

0:22

body in two thousand nineteen, the police turned

0:24

their attention to a man who had told law enforcement

0:27

years ago that he knew something. but

0:29

they dismissed him. The man

0:31

did seem obsessed with the case. But is

0:33

that all he was? A true crime fanatic

0:36

or a killer? Now a jury will decide

0:38

if Janelle's murder was hiding in plain sight

0:41

the entire time. Hi. I'm

0:43

Matt Sharon. I'm the host of season one of

0:45

Campside Media shocking true crime

0:47

podcast suspect. We're back for

0:49

a new season with a story that attempts to

0:52

separate fact from fiction, compulsion

0:54

from guilt and one man's true crime

0:56

obsession from a motive for murder.

0:59

About to play clip as suspect season

1:01

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1:04

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1:17

Weld County is a desert.

1:19

Hills. relatively warm outside

1:21

for Colorado in December, and

1:25

this the sky is just this

1:27

Caribbean blue. It's

1:29

winter, but it's hot out, dry,

1:32

and dusty. The snow capped

1:34

rocky mountains are all behind us.

1:37

Ahead, it's flat. The

1:39

horizon goes on forever. I

1:42

feel like we're in the Wikipedia

1:42

of tumbleweeds. Don't

1:45

you feel rich and feel bridge and something

1:46

like this. Yeah. Oh,

1:47

shit. People tear

1:49

ass down this road. A few of the

1:51

trucks passing us are souped up,

1:54

brand new, tires, jacked high,

1:56

oil and gas workers apparently un

1:58

bothered by speed limits.

1:59

If there is a speed

2:02

limit out here.

2:04

We're relieved to turn into a dirt driveway

2:06

of a lone rambling house.

2:08

Hi, guys.

2:10

Hello again.

2:12

Oh,

2:15

no.

2:15

Nice to meet you. I'm Jodie. You can try it.

2:18

Vance and Jodie Gilliland lives so

2:20

far from most of their neighbors that it's

2:22

easier to drive to see them.

2:24

Across from their house is a field

2:27

that stretches about a thousand

2:28

acres. It's full of brush

2:31

and weeds.

2:32

The kind of place where people often

2:34

will abandon things. Old

2:36

mattresses, washers,

2:37

and dryers, even boats. It's

2:40

like, wow. Almost

2:42

tempted to hook that up and take it home, see what I can

2:44

do. But Snow.

2:47

I mean, people still still do dump

2:49

things out here, but it's

2:51

usually quick and round. Quick and round. I mean,

2:53

what they can show up the back, what trucking two

2:56

In the summer of twenty nineteen,

2:59

Vance and Jody were in their kitchen when

3:01

they saw and red flashing

3:03

crossed the perimeter of their property. All

3:06

of a sudden, there was cop cars

3:08

going

3:08

by, and I was like, uh-oh, up

3:10

until it was dark actually, they were out there.

3:13

And

3:14

they were out there forever.

3:16

Vance and Jody soon learned those oil

3:18

and gas workers and their fancy

3:20

pickups, they'd unearth a

3:23

small human skull with

3:25

a single bullet hole in it.

3:27

An authorities knew exactly

3:30

who the remains belong to.

3:32

It is the cold case that has baffled the

3:34

Greeley for nearly thirty

3:36

five years, but tonight, Police may be

3:38

closer to figuring out what happened to Janelle

3:40

Matthews.

3:41

The twelve year old disappeared from her home

3:43

in late nineteen eighty four.

3:45

Her remains were discovered this week. by

3:47

a construction crew in rural Weld

3:50

County.

3:50

Gone for thirty five years

3:52

today, human remains founded in oil and

3:54

gas fighting Greeley give investigators new

3:56

leads a decades old cold

3:58

case.

3:58

Like

4:00

a lot of Colorado residents who

4:02

had been following Janelle's case

4:04

since the nineteen eighties.

4:06

Vance and Jody watched the news reports

4:09

with fascination. They waited

4:11

to hear what would happen next,

4:13

hoping that the remains in the

4:15

field would finally lead investigators to

4:18

the killer. As it turned

4:20

out, it wouldn't be nearly

4:22

so simple.

4:25

This is a story about obsession,

4:28

my own. Sure. So

4:30

I am working on podcast

4:33

about the Janelle Matthews case.

4:35

I know you know about that case.

4:37

Right? I assume you're probably well versed.

4:39

I thought I'd try you one last Crimes.

4:42

but also the obsession of a community

4:45

that kept pushing to find Janelle

4:47

to get her name into the national

4:49

spotlight. And all the

4:51

way to the White

4:52

House. For example, I learned about

4:55

Jonelle Matthews of Greeley, Colorado,

4:58

who would have celebrated a happy thirteenth

5:00

birthday with her family just

5:02

last month. And

5:03

it's about the obsessions of a

5:05

self described true crime junky.

5:07

A man who had started talking

5:10

about the Janelle Matthews case

5:12

just a few days after police

5:14

responded to a distress call.

5:16

from her home. And

5:18

over the next thirty five years,

5:20

he kept talking

5:22

and talking It was just

5:24

me trying to be

5:27

a big man in the case. He's

5:29

a busy body. He gets himself in the middle

5:31

of murder but that doesn't

5:33

necessarily mean he actually was

5:35

involved in them. People are like, oh, he's

5:37

just crazy and he's just he's he's

5:39

just ding bad or or whatever

5:42

else. And he's he's harmless.

5:44

He wouldn't hurt anybody. He's such a

5:46

good liar that he can convince the juror

5:48

that he wasn't involved. So,

5:51

you know, he's a liar. He is. He

5:53

was a good one. I turned around and I

5:55

said, you're gonna be arrested for obstructing

5:58

if you don't get back in your car.

5:59

And he says, don't

6:02

fuck with me, officer Edgerton. I

6:04

buried more people than you'll know.

6:06

When he shot Janelle Matthews in the forehead, was

6:08

she begging for her life?

6:10

Never happened.

6:15

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6:18

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