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[Music] Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks
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Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend. [Music] This week we are featuring Swish by
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clicked on the pint glass and helped us fill up the old garage fridge for this week's shows and for that we thank you.
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>> Yeah, BW are you in? Beer run. You want to keep the lights on in the garage. You
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listen to Off the Record. You're going to love it. We're going to thank you and keep us dry and the lights on in the
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garage. And Colonel, that's enough of the business. All right, everybody, gather around, grab a chair, grab a
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beer. Let's talk some true crime. [Music] There is now a cash reward being offered
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in the case of a missing Texas State student. It's been a painful six months for his family who is now asking anyone
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who knows anything to come forward. Janelle Bluda spoke to Jason's father. >> Jason's dad says they're still
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physically searching for his son every week, but says this reward is another tool. Hopefully, it will entice someone
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who might know something to come forward. He's counting the days. >> Today's day 156, so we're over five
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months. >> As any father would. They've done extensive physical searches. They've
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interviewed I don't even know how many witnesses and and different possible scenarios.
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>> 156 days since his son Jason Landry went missing without a trace. >> His car was found at about 12:30. Engine
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running, lights on. >> For the first time since Jason was last seen back in December, the family is
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offering a reward. $10,000 to anyone who has information that helps find him. Reward is a tool like any other to
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hopefully motivate the one person who might know something. >> Reward money that's being offered by
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Jason's family and friends. >> I would like nothing better than to be able to reward that money for the person
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who comes forward and helps us locate our son. >> He says there's so many theories into
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what happened that night. Jason left Texas State University in San Marcus on December 13th. He was on his way to his
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parents' house for Christmas break, but crashed his car on the way near Luling. That's where he vanished. Cell phone
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records show Jason's actions up until an hour before his car was found. >> But after that, there's no cell phone
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activity. We don't know, frankly, what happened in the next hour. >> He's hoping this reward will entice
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someone to fill in the blanks. >> He was a great kid and he wouldn't run away. That's just not that's not him.
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would not stay away willingly. So, until we know something, we're gonna keep hoping and praying.
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>> If you or someone you know have any information on where Jason might be, you're asked to call authorities or go
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to the missing person Jason Landry Facebook page and submit a tip. There is an expiration on the reward. We have all
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the information on our website, khou.com. Guys, back to you. [Music] Jason Landry was born on July 29th, 1999
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to parents Kent and Lisa Landry. Having two older siblings, Jessica and Kyle, Jason was known to be outgoing and
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charismatic. He was the goofball of the family. He's the baby and the goofball. From his early childhood to his adult
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years, Jason enjoyed cars, anything involving the outdoors, animals, and he always could be counted on for three
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things. wearing silly socks, having a cookie cake every year for his birthday, and having a deep love for Swedish fish
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candy. Now, Jason's mom, Lisa, says, quote, "Jason had the best smile. He could get away with anything. He loved
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music. He loved playing all sorts of instruments, and he gave the best hugs." End quote.
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>> Good-looking kid. >> Yes. When we catch up with Jason here in his life, he had just recently managed
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to complete his first semester at Texas State University, even though this was the COVID year. So, regardless of the
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effects of COVID 19 and what a pandemic can do to a school year, Jason had one semester down, one under his belt at the
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Texas State University. And by all accounts, he was eager and excited to get back to his hometown of Missouri
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City, Texas, to spend some time with family and friends over the long winter break. Yeah. There's something exciting
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about coming back home when you're on your right path. If you're not on your right path, you're like, "H, I'm
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dreading seeing my friends. I'm dreading seeing my family. I'm going to have to answer all these questions." But when
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you're on your right path and you're feeling good about life, you kind of want to show yourself off a little bit
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to your family. >> I love getting back together with the old gang regardless of the situation. I
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think it's a it's the best for me anyway. So Jason packs up his Nissan Ultima. He's putting some of his
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belongings in there. And the reports are that he left his apartment around 10:55
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p.m. on December 13th, ready to begin his destination home. So this is like a 2 to threehour drive to his parents'
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home in Missouri City, Texas. >> Yeah. So not too crazy of a drive. >> Yeah. So, the plan was to drive back
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home, stay at his folks place, and added bonus, actually the best bonus, you get
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to see a bunch of your buds from back in the day, and hopefully get some rad Christmas gifts as well. But none of
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that cool stuff is going to happen because Jason does not make it back to his parents' place. In fact, there is
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every indication that he didn't make it very far on his nighttime journey at all. He disappeared between point A,
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which was his apartment in San Marcos, Texas, where he was attending school, living, and working, and point B,
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Missouri City, Texas. This is approximately a 165 milei drive working out to be roughly there's three very
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common routes that one would take and they all take about 2 hours and 45 minutes to closer to 3 hours drive time.
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>> That's enough time to listen to two maybe three true crime garage episodes. >> Yes. Or three Mly Crew albums. But while
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he sets out on this three-hour tour, he unfortunately he never makes it. This is
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a disappearance of a young man. His vanishing is surrounded by mysterious circumstances.
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It's almost as if he drove off into the dark cold night and then decided to step
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out of his vehicle and into a black hole. And if that's not an overall consuming picture, this case, this true
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crime story, Jason's vanishing, his disappearance has consumed many of those who have come looking for answers.
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>> Yeah. Out of all the missing person cases we've looked into, this one I I would rate probably in my top five as
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far as just bizarre. How bizarre. How bizarre. >> It's a true mystery. So, let's fill in
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and fill out that night. What was the timeline? What were the details? And do we have any evidence as to what happened
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to this young man or really any clue at all? Where did he go? >> And listen carefully because your
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guesses are going to be probably just as good if not better than ours. >> From one of the truly greatest magazines
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of all time and one of the few great magazines that's still in existence to this day. This is from Texas Monthly and
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it reads, "The day before he went missing, meaning Jason Landry, he was thinking about socks." Socks, a colorful
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pair that featured a monkey in a suit and a tie holding a briefcase in one hand and a banana in the other with the
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words monkey business stitched across each ankle. They were the highlight of an extensive Christmas list. he text to
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his mother on December 12, 2020. So, this text, according to Texas Monthly, came about a day before Jason sets out
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on his trip back to Missouri City, Texas. This was kind of coincidental for us here, Captain. As you know, we had
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every intention of covering this case and it was already on our calendar. And it just so happens that a publication
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that does fantastic reporting and very underrated reporting on true crime stories, Texas Monthly, just so happened
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to include this story in their most recent publication. So, it very much coincidence that this sort of lined up
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for us and them all around the same time. Texas Monthly goes on to tell us that normally Jason was the opposite of
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a list maker. He wasn't a planner. He started Sam Houston State as a cleancut kid. This is a couple of years earlier.
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After leaving home, he embraced his inner slacker and he really, according to the magazine, didn't take much
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interest in class. So after it looks like after 2 years at Sam Houston State, he decided to transfer to Texas State
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University and he was going to buckle down, have more focus, and focus on getting better grades. But remember,
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this was the COVID year. It was weird for all kinds of reasons, of course, right? And according to the publication,
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the impact of a semester of remote classes and isolation with CO 19 was toxic for Jason Landry. In the long form
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brilliant think piece put together by Peter Holly for Texas Monthly, Jason Landry is described by his father. So
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his dad's name is Kent, as we had said. I think we may be talking a good deal about Kent as we go through this true
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crime story, but his dad describes his boy as quote pure extrovert, full of pure optimism, someone who had been
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making friends with strangers since he was a toddler. To cope, Jason retreated into a cloud of pot smoke. Quote, given
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his personality, isolating him was one of the worst things you could do to him, said his father. He was stuck in a small
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apartment in a small room on an empty floor. It was like solitary confinement for him and I am not surprised that he
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self-medicated. I have a lot of thoughts on this but this is brought up a lot and
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I I don't know what effect or what the thoughts are as far as his emotional state on his disappearance cuz yes it's
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the co time. So, if you are isolated and you're heading back to see your family and friends, well, guess what? You're
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going to be kind of happy. You're probably going to be out of that funk. The day before he goes missing, I mean,
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he's talking about these goofy monkey socks. Seems like my kind of my kind of guy, right?
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>> So, I this is brought up a lot. I don't know what what level of effect this might have had on him going missing.
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That's insightful and I appreciate the the extra thought there. One thing that I
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will say that that I'm very concerned with and it's not just isolated to Jason's case. It really goes to and and
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look, I'm no square. When when COVID hit here, out of boredom, my drinking increased straight up out of boredom.
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So, I'm not immune to any of this stuff. And I have some experience with some of
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these things, good and bad. And one thing that was concerning of me the more I was learning about Jason in this time
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period in his life was his age mixed with that amount of of of recreational drug use is always very concerning to me
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regardless of the person. Every situation can be unique obviously, but it also like, you know, we're not fully
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formed at that age and and that really that really scares me with anybody again, not just Jason's case, but with
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anybody. >> Yeah. But but I also think there's a thing here. There's something at play.
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And I think you see this throughout the investigation. I think you see this throughout the interviews with Jason's
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father. I think his father, which once was a lawyer and now a pastor, I believe, he's going to have a set of
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ideals for this world and how people live them. And I think some of this conversation is him trying to justify
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his son's actions and part of his lifestyle because it just doesn't line up with his.
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And so, and we I think there's a lot of people that can identify with this out in the communities where you go like
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take my father for example, great guy. He was a detective. You know, he he he lives by a certain
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set of rules. Those set of rules I don't live by. So, some of my actions don't make sense to him and some of his
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actions don't make sense to me. And I think that's just some of this. Uh, and I think sometimes his father is a little
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too concerned with trying to clean up a reputation that almost implying that like people are smearing his son's name
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by just stating how he was living his life. I don't think most people look down on or ruins Jason's legacy by
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saying, "Well, he he smoked some pot and he and he probably drank some beers." Okay.
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>> Well, yeah. And I see what you're saying. I I will say my take away from it was very different. One one thing
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that I before we get too far into this, no doubt, and I know you're saying the same, Kent and Lisa fighting very hard
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for their son. The one thing that was adding to the sad factor of the story for me was Jason looks a lot like his
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dad. Like if you have a picture of 20 people >> Yeah. in it. You can point to the kid
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and go, "Yeah, that kid is that guy's son." >> Absolutely. >> That's how much they they look like each
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other in my in my opinion. So, it's December 13th. It's nearing the holidays. Jason just finished up his
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first semester at the university in San Marcos, Texas. There, he was working toward getting accepted into their
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prestigious sound recording technology program. So, think about Jason's to-do list for that
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year. And remember, we had said he transferred with the idea that he was going to buckle down and start taking
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school seriously. And this is not uncommon. Most college kids that I that I knew,
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they did a whole lot of screwing around their freshman year. So, this is pretty on par for for just life in general, in
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my opinion. But Jason's to-do list would be wrapping up before before heading home for the holidays. So, he's got to
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complete his finals, check. Finish the first semester, check. And wrapping things up at work so he can go home for
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a while, check. He worked at Jimmy John's. >> I freaking love Jimmy John's. >> Yes. Earlier that that week, he had he
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had completed his final shift before heading home. Jimmy's John's, as they like to say. Get the number nine, the
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Italian nightclub. We're starting our timeline on that night, of course, December 13th, 2020. And the reports are
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that Jason Landry was last seen after having packed up his car leaving to go home around 10:55 p.m. all of the best
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reporting on this case has him leaving or just starting out starting to hit the road by 11:00 p.m. that night. But
00:19:01
before Jason leaves, >> it's late. That's too late in my opinion. I wish he would have slept and
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left the next day. Before he leaves, he does some facetime with one of his buddies. And this is where this is the
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part that we start to stray from the short version of the narrative about this case.
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>> Right? >> See, while it's true that Jason was going home for the holidays, his folks
00:19:27
were not technically expecting him. This, for me, at least makes sense because the strange hour, like you're
00:19:34
pointing out here, Captain, the strange hour of departure, because remember, he's last seen leaving at 10:55 to 11:00
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p.m. I'm sure mom and dad wouldn't love Jason rolling into their place at the very convenient time of 2:00 in the
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morning. >> Yeah, this makes me think that he was going to meet some friends back home.
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>> Yes, we actually know that to be the case. Okay. >> So, he's he's facetiming with the with
00:19:58
the buddy who lives in Missouri City that he's actually going to drive to that night. And at some point, hanging
00:20:05
out with friends will transition into him going to mom and dad's house. They are expecting him for the holidays. That
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date and time of when they were expecting him is a mystery to me. >> But even if it's a little early, then
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he's being a cool son and surprising his mom and dad. Hey, came home a little early. Here I am.
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>> So, as I understand it, Captain, Jason was heading home, but the plan was actually to meet up at a friend's house
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and play video games. So, Jason's on FaceTime with this friend who he plans to meet up with later. This is about an
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hour before he leaves his place. This is documented. We know that this happened for a fact. Uh the friend actually
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recorded the video for the conversation, but there's no audio. No audio was recorded. No audio exists, but the video
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still does. And I watched the video. In the video, to me, Jason appears to be very happy. He smiles multiple times. He
00:21:01
seems obviously excited about whatever he's talking about. I'm assuming he's talking about hanging out and some of
00:21:08
his recent experiences at college. But he seems excited and like the captain said, seems excited about going home.
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The best I can tell with no audio. Now, in the video, he's also rolling joints. He is very obviously discussing the weed
00:21:24
that he has, and he is very talkative in this video. Even though you can't hear the sound, I can see his lips moving
00:21:34
constantly. So, he's very talkative and it that rings true with what we've been told about his personality. So, this is
00:21:43
all right on par with his personality. Based off of what little I know about him, but what the family and friends and
00:21:51
everybody has said about him, this video, nothing about it seems strange to me at all. If anything, it seems
00:21:59
positive, right? when you're looking at pieces of information to try to lead you
00:22:06
down whatever rabbit hole you're going, I can look at this video and and based on I agree with everything you just said
00:22:12
about the video, but to me I go, "Well, this is this is a positive reinforcement
00:22:18
as far as what his mental state could be at that time." >> Yeah. And we have a good solid list of
00:22:23
Jason's confirmed or in some cases believed movements and actions for the night in question. Before we go down
00:22:31
that road, San Marcos, where Jason was living at the time, is a city in Hayes County, Texas. The city is a part of the
00:22:40
greater Austin metropolitan area. San Marcos city limits extend into Caldwell County and Guadalupe County, which we
00:22:50
will be talking about. Caldwell County quite a bit during this true crime story. San Marcos is on the Interstate
00:22:57
35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio. Its population was just over 67,000 people in 2020. And of course,
00:23:05
it's the home of Texas State University. So, this is a 160 mile trek eastbound as
00:23:14
Missouri City is right near Houston. This timeline of confirmed or in some cases believed movements and actions for
00:23:21
the night in question is a mashup from a few different timelines that are out there. So for more detail and this is
00:23:29
from Fox 7 out of Austin. Jason Landry facetiming his friend. The friend was in Missouri City approximately 1 hour
00:23:38
before leaving his San Marcos apartment. Calwell County Sheriff's Department, Captain Jeff Ferry, said Landre's friend
00:23:47
screen recorded the conversation because quote, "Jason was so messed up that he didn't think he was going to remember it
00:23:55
later." >> Now, that's not a good sign. >> No. And and so the the way I take this
00:24:00
is that the friend's like, "Oh, I'm going to show this to him later. We'll all have a big laugh about it because I
00:24:06
don't think he's going to recall the conversation." >> Right. This report too says Jason spent
00:24:12
45 minutes talking to the friend on FaceTime. Texas Monthly says at some point that night, Jason decided to drive
00:24:19
home. He packed a bag of toiletries, a PlayStation game console, a laptop, and a handful of joints hidden inside a pill
00:24:28
container because the police never look inside the pill container. He stuffed all of this into a black backpack. He
00:24:35
placed his Siamese fighting fish, Sparky, into a plastic tumbler that he used as a pet carrier and then he was
00:24:44
going to be on his way. >> I mean, does this crack you up at all? He he packed up his fish.
00:24:51
>> That tells me he's going to be gone for an extended period of time. >> Yeah, >> that's, you know, somebody needs to feed
00:24:58
the fish and take care of the fish, so he's just going to take his pet with him back home. Well, but let me tell you
00:25:04
what concerns me a little bit is some people think, well, you can't drive drunk, but you can drive high. And
00:25:11
that's not always the case. I would just say if you're impaired, you're impaired.
00:25:17
I mean, I've I've taken allergy medicine that's made me sleepy and I was probably
00:25:22
just as dangerous if I would have been driving drunk or high. So, I don't like this and I don't like him leaving so
00:25:30
late. And I understand he's going to a friend's house, but this is very late. But again, he's in his early 20s. We all
00:25:37
make stupid mistakes. >> Another thing that should be of concern as well and does, depending on who you
00:25:44
talk to, play a big role in this mystery is that a cold front was moving into the
00:25:52
area. In fact, it already moved in earlier. There was there was high winds and the temperature plunged into the 30s
00:26:00
that night. So, it was particularly cold for this area. Jason set out on his trip
00:26:07
back to Missouri City. He was dressed for the car ride, but not dressed for being out in the elements.
00:26:19
[Music] All right, we are back. Cheers, mates. To the windows, to the walls. Cheers to
00:26:41
you, Colonel. >> Cheers to you, Captain. Raise them high and raise them proud. Tall can hands in
00:26:47
the air to everybody out there listening. As we said earlier, 10:55, Landry leaves his San Marcos apartment
00:26:55
for his parents' home, home city of Missouri City, where he is expected to spend the holiday break. From my
00:27:05
understanding here, and this seems to be the general consensus, Captain Landry had driven home only twice
00:27:14
prior to this trip, which makes a lot of sense because he's in his first semester
00:27:19
there at Texas State, >> right? >> At 11:05 p.m., this is according to the Caldwell
00:27:27
County Sheriff's detectives. They say that Jason is driving his Nissan Ultima on Texas Route 80 and passes under
00:27:38
Interstate 35 in San Marcos. And then he continues south on Texas 80 into Caldwell County. and he is in the
00:27:48
Martindale area around 11:11 p.m. 4 minutes later at 11:15, Landry continues on Texas 80, passes Texas 130,
00:27:58
and goes through several small towns, including Stairtown, Prairie, Leah, and Fentress. Texas Monthly tells us that
00:28:08
Jason spent some portions of this drive communicating with a friend and also communicating with an exgirlfriend
00:28:15
on FaceTime and on Snapchat. Just pointing out the obvious here. If his friend was correct about filming the
00:28:24
FaceTime, Jason was so messed up he wouldn't remember it. We now have a guy that is potentially driving impaired,
00:28:32
communicating on both FaceTime and Snapchat with at least two other individuals.
00:28:38
That's what's been reported. And he's also using his Ways app to guide him on his route.
00:28:45
>> I hate distracted driving. >> Put your damn phone down and just drive the damn car.
00:28:51
>> Yeah. Not to criticize, but there's a lot of going on in this car. A lot of stuff going on in this car and not
00:28:58
all of it has to do with focusing on >> the road, >> driving safely. >> Where we're going, we don't need no
00:29:05
roads. >> Now, I will say regarding his outfit, I'm the kind of guy if I know I'm
00:29:10
driving a a three-hour trip, I like to travel comfortable as well. So, I didn't find anything strange about his his
00:29:20
outfit. While it's not great for being out in the cold, to me that tells me either A, he's not thinking clearly,
00:29:27
which could be the case according to his friend, or B, he has no intention of leaving his vehicle until he gets to a
00:29:35
warm, comfortable place, i.e. his friend's house at the other end of his trip. >> Yeah, I'm not saying it's a negative
00:29:41
thing. I'm just saying that it's a a sign of his age. I mean, you know you're you're approaching your midlife crisis
00:29:48
when you start making sure that your car has a spare jacket in it the whole time.
00:29:54
At 11:24 p.m., he's about well, so he's roughly a half hour into his drive. Jason enters Lulling from Texas 80. As
00:30:04
he moves through the intersection, this is one of the key points here. This is something that's always highlighted in
00:30:11
every story about this case. And it states as he moves through the intersection of Hackberry Street where
00:30:19
Texas 80 becomes Austin Street, he turns off the ways app and begins using the Snapchat app. This is according to the
00:30:30
police. Well, one of the things that's fascinating about this case is how much data that we have from his cell phone.
00:30:38
So, we know a lot about his movements. >> Yes. And the reason why I said that leading into our timeline in that kind
00:30:46
of weird fashion is what we're tracking here. We're getting a lot of this information from his phone. That to me I
00:30:54
can't I won't say that we can definitively say that these are every one of his movements and I will not
00:31:02
definitively say that he is alone during all of this. >> I think to do both to do either would be
00:31:09
irresponsible. I think the probability I think it's most likely that yes, he these are his movements and most likely
00:31:16
he was alone during most of this trip if not all of it. >> Yeah, I don't believe we have any
00:31:23
evidence that there was a second person. >> According to the information from police, Jason then continues on Austin
00:31:29
Street to Magnolia Avenue where his digital footprint ends. Authorities believe that instead of turning right on
00:31:36
Magnolia, Jason drove straight through the intersection on East Austin Street to Spruce Street, which turns into Salt
00:31:45
Flat Road. Okay, we'll we'll go back to Salt Flat Road here in a second, but to hone in on this part of our timeline a
00:31:52
little bit, this is where we can really start to throw in a lot of speculation. He's turned off the Ways app. Was this
00:31:58
an accident? He's only made this drive twice before, or was this intentional? >> That's a very good question.
00:32:06
>> Texas Monthly says basically the same thing. Instead of turning right, he goes
00:32:10
straight for several blocks. The street eventually bends to the left and turns into Salt Flat Road, leading him further
00:32:18
away from his destination, and he continued on that road for five miles. regarding that Snapchat information.
00:32:28
This is what I love about Texas Monthly so so much. They're only going to cover Texas cases, but when they when they dip
00:32:34
their toes in a true crime and it's a Texas case, you get some very complete and thorough reporting on a on a story
00:32:42
here. And so Texas >> Texas Monthly says that that Snapchat communication was a selfie that Jason
00:32:51
sent of himself inside the vehicle that he sent to his ex-girlfriend. And in in that picture, she says and the other
00:33:00
people that have seen it say that he looked calm and confident. So, it doesn't it doesn't appear that if
00:33:06
whenever things started to go wrong for Jason on this trip at 11:28, it appears based off of the evidence of that
00:33:13
picture that everything is fine at this time. >> Yeah. But my concern and and I want to
00:33:19
know what your expert opinion is because to me, if you look at where his school was and where he's heading to, this
00:33:27
doesn't seem to be in the right direction. >> Well, that's what they're saying. He
00:33:31
>> this seems like a detour. And then then my question becomes, well, if he's rolling a bunch of joints and you know,
00:33:38
spoiler alert where they find these joints later in his car, you go, was he heading there for some other reason? I
00:33:46
mean, cuz this is very late at night. Was he stopping by to pick up some more marijuana or pick something else up?
00:33:54
Well, and it would seem that if he knows anybody in this area or was communicating with anybody in this area
00:34:00
that either that information I is being kept back for some reason or there's no information telling any of the
00:34:10
investigators or his family that he knows anybody or was communicating with anybody in this area. So, it's really
00:34:17
tricky, right? You look at this this this very big question mark on his trip and you go, "Okay, instead of turning
00:34:25
right, he just continues to go straight and then he's veering off of his route to his destination."
00:34:32
>> Absolutely. >> Was that just pure accident or was that intentional? Now, what as
00:34:41
far as reporting goes and what his family has reported and what the detectives are reporting, there doesn't
00:34:47
seem to be anything telling them that he intentionally was going off of his route. But again, he turns off the th
00:34:54
this is this is where I'm going to show my age a little bit and my lack of experience on some of these social
00:35:01
platforms. I've never used Snapchat. I I said this probably a hundred times throughout the time we were covering
00:35:08
Deli. I don't know. Does it are you required to shut off another app to go into Snapchat? My guess would be no.
00:35:16
Again, he's he's trying to navigate a lot of things, right? You're trying to to stay on track. You're trying to check
00:35:22
the ways app. You're trying to drive and you're also communicating on social media or FaceTime with friends,
00:35:32
>> right? Again, was shutting off the ways app intentional or was that just an accident?
00:35:38
Just happen stance. What we do know is regardless of what's going on, according to the information, at 11:28, he appears
00:35:48
calm and confident in that picture that he sends to his friend. Then the authorities are telling us that they
00:35:55
believe that Jason crashed his car or experienced a vehicle accident at 11:34 p.m. So this 6 minutes after he appears
00:36:06
calm and confident, >> but there's a whole lot of question marks here because if he did crash the
00:36:14
car or there was a accident with the vehicle at 11:34, it's not this vehicle is not spotted by anybody until 12:31
00:36:24
a.m. So we got a bunch of time that goes by where we don't really know what's happening. And again, his digital
00:36:32
footprint had or ended at this time. And then it appears that if he was driving and if he was traveling by himself, he
00:36:42
was in a onecar vehicle accident. >> Yeah, it seems like his car hit a a tree, but it makes you wonder, was it
00:36:52
the distractive driving that caused that? Was he impaired to the point where, you know, he just lost control of
00:37:00
the vehicle? Because if you look at the footage of this road, it's it's a very rural road.
00:37:06
>> Yeah. >> And again, some of the speculation that I think you could, again, it's just a
00:37:12
guess, but it's like, okay, he gets off the freeway. Is he just trying to turn around cuz he was heading in the wrong
00:37:19
direction? And so I'm just going to turn off the Waves app and then try to head back to the freeway. But then this wreck
00:37:27
happens and then we have now this this crime scene and we have his car and it's it's not like a little fender bender.
00:37:37
Man, he messed this car up and now he's in this location. And it could be that he crashed for another reason. uh a
00:37:47
animal ran out into the middle of the road. Uh maybe he got into some kind of accident with another car and they drove
00:37:55
off. Who knows? The report is this that at 12:31 a.m. Jason's Ultima was found crashed and abandoned. The lights were
00:38:04
still on, the keys in the ignition, and the front passenger side door was locked. The vehicle was found in the
00:38:12
2300 block of Salt Flat Road. A local volunteer firefighter driving through the area is the one that spots the
00:38:20
vehicle and reports it. According to Texas Monthly, the car was wedged against a tree and facing the wrong
00:38:26
direction. The airbags did not deploy. Significant damage to the body of the vehicle and rear window was shattered.
00:38:38
The engine was shut off. Keys are still in the ignition and the headlights were shining. Texas Monthly states that at
00:38:45
1:15ish a.m. police arrive. This is the Texas Department of Public Safety. Later, we
00:38:54
would hear investigators say that they think that the car crashed into a tree and barbed wire fence after Jason
00:39:03
overcorrected on the gravel road and spun out of control. The rear window of the vehicle was broken as a result of
00:39:10
the impact with the tree. I this one part of this case that was frustrating for me. I saw plenty of pictures of the
00:39:18
p of the vehicle, but none of the spot. I couldn't confirm the exact spot where this accident took place. Going off of
00:39:27
what my eyes tell me looking at his vehicle. And actually, I think had I seen the scene, I might have a different
00:39:34
I might have a different opinion. So, take this with a grain of salt. But looking at the car, man, This to me
00:39:42
looks like there's two impacts, right? A a rear impact to the vehicle and then a
00:39:47
front driver side impact to the vehicle. I It's hard for me to imagine regardless
00:39:55
of terrain how you could do that amount of damage to these parts of the car in in the same impact. Yeah, that's why I
00:40:03
think the speculation that it could have been an accident with another vehicle and they took off makes some logical
00:40:11
sense. I would like to have seen pictures from the rear of the vehicle to see what the So, what I can see here is
00:40:19
the trunk is damaged beyond all get out, my friend. Like it like the the bumper is off the
00:40:26
>> Yes. The rear of the vehicle is all smashed in like a like a crushed beer can the back of this car and the the
00:40:34
rear window is so I I get what you're saying because I mean had he stopped abruptly and some it if this was an
00:40:43
impact with another car he either very at a high rate of speed backed into somebody or backed into that tree
00:40:52
or he slams on his brakes and somebody smashes into the back of him. >> Right. >> I say all that to say this that police
00:41:01
are adamant that they're saying we found no evidence of another vehicle at this accident scene. And I think what we can
00:41:10
without having to be too imaginative, I think we all can agree that if the other
00:41:16
car looked like his car, we should be seeing parts or pieces of that car at the scene as well.
00:41:22
>> Yes, I agree. But a couple things. one, when they do the investigation initially, I mean, one of the smart
00:41:29
things, and you can actually see this online, but the law enforcement keep their body cams going, so you can
00:41:35
actually see footage of them going through items, but there was a bunch of items of Jason's that people found later
00:41:44
down the road and and what have you. So, was there pieces of another vehicle that
00:41:49
they just didn't collect? That I guess that could be a possibility. And that's where it gets very strange. You look at
00:41:56
his car, you look at the the wreck, the wreckage of his car and you go, "This doesn't make a lot of sense unless he
00:42:04
hit multiple things and then his final landing point was that tree and it smashed the back end up." But it makes
00:42:12
you wonder too like did he hit uh an animal or something? But doesn't seem like we have any evidence of that
00:42:20
either. If he hit an animal, he hit several things after hitting that animal because an animal didn't do this damage
00:42:26
to >> that car. Unless it was maybe the front front driver side if it's was a Sasquatch. Uh but other than that, so
00:42:35
what it looks like to me is it's not uncommon for people to back into something, especially at a high rate of
00:42:43
speed because it it's difficult to see anything behind you, right? Especially at night. this place is this area is not
00:42:52
well lit. And sometimes you even have situations where you might smash into something that is tall enough to smash
00:43:01
up your bumper or maybe even the trunk of your car, but you can't visually see it from the rear window view because
00:43:10
it's just not tall enough, >> right? >> And it's in it's kind of in that dead spot, that blind spot where you can't
00:43:16
see it in your rearview mirrors either. And so the way I kind of visualize this potentially going down is that he's
00:43:25
driving, remember they say he continued for several miles in the wrong direction
00:43:30
after failing to turn right. And a lot of times where do people how do people get lost and turned around? It's not
00:43:37
necessarily you got turned around, it's you missed a turn and you just keep going straight and straight and
00:43:42
straight. At some point, I think the terrain tells him, I'm lost. I'm not where I'm supposed to be.
00:43:49
I don't know if in a fit or a or just trying to hurry along. He's like, "Slam it into reverse." Boom. Doesn't see
00:43:57
something. Smashes into something at a high rate of speed. It had to been if if if the impact of this, and I believe it
00:44:04
was the impact, is what shattered his rear view uh the rear window. It was a high rate of speed either either hitting
00:44:12
him or he was traveling. And I would just wonder had he slammed it into reverse to turn around, smashes into
00:44:20
something and it's the natural reaction for most people when you slam into something going into reverse is to very
00:44:28
quickly go forward, >> right? >> And it almost looks to me like he smashed into something at high rate of
00:44:34
speed and then I'll use the detective's words here, the police officer's words, overcorrected
00:44:41
and tried to go forward and wasn't really looking, still exp, you know, still trying to figure out what happened
00:44:50
when he was going in reverse and then hits something when he goes forward. We're going to find a lot of his
00:44:56
belongings outside of the vehicle, but yet the vehicle the lights weren't turned off, the keys were in the
00:45:03
ignition. That doesn't make any sense to me. >> No. And then there's a trail heading in a direction. And I've I've
00:45:12
seen different reports and I think sometimes you get these different reports and they're it's not nefarious.
00:45:18
It's just people making a mistake. But it seems to me like they they say at some point, well, all all the digital
00:45:26
evidence of his movements stop at a certain point. But I've seen people where they say, "Oh, well, his his cell
00:45:34
phone last pinged in this location, which was a different location than his car." But I believe his cell phone was
00:45:41
found in his car. >> Correct. >> So, it makes you wonder, does he is he disoriented from the crash, which we've
00:45:49
seen this in the past. We've seen other cases where somebody gets in a bad wreck
00:45:53
and they go missing. He's heading down this path. He leaves his book bag. He starts leaving
00:46:00
clothing behind. And what I want to know, and I don't know this, maybe you know this, maybe you can fill us in.
00:46:06
Those pictures that he's sending to his ex-girlfriend through Snapchat, what shirt is he wearing? And do we find that
00:46:14
shirt on the side of that road? >> Let's go back to Texas Monthly here. They say the wreck might have seemed
00:46:19
unremarkable to the trooper had it not been for something else that the volunteer firefighter who called this in
00:46:27
right calls this to his attention and says about 800 ft from the vehicle Jason's black backpack was sitting on
00:46:34
the side of Salt Flat Road. Inside was his wallet laptop as well as his marijuana stash and his ziplockc bags
00:46:43
full of the toiletries that he had packed up. The plastic container, the tumbler that we had mentioned earlier
00:46:50
that was holding his pet fish had been placed on the ground nearby and the fish unfortunately was dead inside
00:46:58
this container. >> Right. >> His clothing, Jason's clothing, was lying in the middle of the road, dropped
00:47:04
neatly into small piles as if someone had casually stripped down to get into a shower. There was a faded red t-shirt
00:47:13
from a Christian summer camp where he had worked. one of the arm holes facing upward and beneath it was his wristwatch
00:47:22
that was facing up. Nike shorts followed by a gray by gray underwear with a small
00:47:28
blood stain on the waistband. A pair of black slide sandals and two socks resting nearby. So, every article of
00:47:36
clothing this dude was wearing is not on his body at this time and was found lying on the ground. And it seems like
00:47:46
that shirt that you referenced is again with some of the details of this case, I
00:47:53
think we would be irresponsible to say, we can definitively say, 100% say, but everybody seems to agree that that was
00:48:02
the shirt that he was wearing that night. >> Right. I've not seen anybody say in
00:48:09
pictures he wasn't wearing that or you know everybody everybody that knows this knows Jason
00:48:16
and had interactions with him believe that to be the shirt that he was wearing that night. Now,
00:48:25
none of the from from the way I understand it, none of the first responders that are responding to this vehicle
00:48:34
accident, this abandoned car, none of them entered the vehicle from my understanding. And the vehicles then
00:48:41
towed to an impound yard. But again, I think one of the reasons why this case is so fascinating but also bizarre is
00:48:50
think about how many missing person cases we have where there was a a car wreck or something, but we we can only
00:48:57
speculate of what the cops were finding and what the cops were thinking at the time. You can watch the footage because
00:49:06
law enforcement decided to release this information to the public. And again, one thing that seems very there's a lot
00:49:15
of things that are strange and odd and bizarre about this case and and maybe we won't ever fully understand everything.
00:49:24
Let's pretend he was traveling by himself. Let's pretend there was no other vehicle there. There's no other
00:49:29
person there in this area. I can on the one hand go, "Oh, he he maybe he hit his
00:49:34
head or he was he was all messed up from the the accident." that wouldn't be out
00:49:41
of the realm of possibility and and that's why he didn't take the keys with him or he didn't turn off the lights to
00:49:48
the car, >> right? >> But then the flip of that is he removed his backpack, his personal
00:49:57
belongings, and his fish from the car. So the two don't go hand in hand for me. It's it's why would you do one without
00:50:06
the other? Unless he gets in this wreck, he's disoriented. He tries to gather his items. He starts
00:50:14
heading down the road and you know how sometimes you you you slip and fall and you get right back up and and you start
00:50:23
walking and you think you're fine and then that fifth or sixth step you go, "Oh, nope. I I really did something to
00:50:30
my ankle." Right? Maybe that's a that's a possibility here. Or I just wonder if there was a collision again with
00:50:41
another vehicle, which doesn't make a lot of sense cuz we don't have evidence of it. It's like, did somebody else go
00:50:46
through his belongings? >> That's right. And as we said, remember Jason packed up a bag of toiletries, a
00:50:52
PlayStation game console, a laptop, a handful of joints hidden inside a pill container,
00:50:59
all stuffed into his black backpack. He's got his Siamese fighting fish Sparky and a plastic tumbler that he
00:51:06
used regularly as a pet carrier. All of these items were found either in the vehicle or near the crash scene. It's
00:51:14
like Jason is the only thing that was missing. So much more to get to in the bizarre
00:51:29
missing case of Jason Landry. Join us here in the garage, back here in the garage for part two. Until then, be
00:51:37
good, be kind, and don't let [Music]