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Sean McDuffy Jr. /// Part 2 /// 223

November 16, 2023 / 52:38

This episode of True Crime Garage covers the mysterious disappearance of Shawn Patrick McDuffy Jr. in December 2015, his last known movements, and the investigation surrounding his case. The hosts, Nick and the Captain, discuss surveillance footage, phone calls, and potential suspects.

Shawn was last seen on December 21, 2015, after dropping off a friend in Clay County, North Carolina. He was spotted at a Walmart and a gas station, where he expressed confusion and fear of being followed in a call to his girlfriend. Shortly after, he lost cell service.

Days later, his rental truck was found abandoned on Bernard Creek Road, containing personal items but missing significant belongings, including cash and a gun holster. The hosts speculate on the possibility of foul play, discussing the involvement of Shawn's associates and the potential motives related to drug dealings.

The conversation also touches on various theories about Shawn's fate, including the possibility that he was intercepted and killed upon returning to Calhoun, Georgia. The hosts analyze the roles of individuals like Eric Brown and Stephanie Bigam in the events leading up to his disappearance.

Ultimately, the episode emphasizes the need for further investigation and the hope that new information will emerge to solve this case.

TLDR

Shawn McDuffy Jr. vanished in 2015 after fearing he was followed; his case involves drugs, potential foul play, and unresolved mysteries.

Episode

52:38
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[Applause] crime on the night of December 20th 2015 Shawn Patrick McDuffy Jr along with his
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quote unquote friend Eric Brown left Calhoun Georgia they were on their way to Clay County North Carolina to drop
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off Eric well they're successful in doing so and sha Patrick McDuffy Jr is making his way back home to Calhoun
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Georgia now he is spotted twice on his way home and this is on December 21st the following day he spotted two times
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on surveillance cameras first at a Walmart store and then second at a car City gas station that is located in
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Franklin North Carolina both of these sightings according to what was observed on the surveillance footage Shawn
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appeared to be alone at this time shortly after leaving the gas station he called his then girlfriend or exwife
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were a little confused on the relationship with the woman he lived with he called her on his cell phone
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explaining that he was confused and lost he did not know where he was going he did not know what road he was on but
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more importantly he told her please tell my children that I love them because I think that I'm being followed shortly
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afterwards he loses cell phone service and then for the next several days his Brandy King and his mother and his
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sister Megan they search for Shawn they see no trace of him they never hear from
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him after sending him messages calling him never hearing from Shawn Jr on December 30th Just 4 days after he was
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reported missing and now 9 days after anyone had spoke to Shawn his rental truck was found the vehicle is located
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by a private citizen sitting in the middle of Bernard Creek Road which is located within the natahala National
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Force this is a gravel on lane road that dead ends the road turns off of US Highway 64 West in Clay County North
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Carolina now we believe that Shawn was traveling on that road according to what we could see on the surveillance footage
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at the gas station during this time of year when it was located this road was seldom used
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other other than by a hunter every so often so it's really not surprising that it was not located that the truck was
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not located until several days after Shawn was reported missing as to the contents of the vehicle well
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one investigator states that it almost appeared as though Shawn was living out of the vehicle there were several bags
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of clothes and shoes along with with several personal items such as a calendar a day planner and various
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receipts including the one from the Walmart and various other small items in the bed of the pickup truck there was
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only a fishing pole a car jack and some loose garbage the only significance as to the location where the truck was
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eventually located and found is the fact that it turns off of US Highway 64 West
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now the plastic case for the holster or for one of the holsters that Shawn had purchased at the Walmart this was
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located inside the vehicle however based off of receipts found in the truck and from video footage there are some known
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missing items from the truck this includ includes the holster itself a knife a tobogan some ammo and gun cleaning
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solvent plus the cash he had on his person none of these items have ever been recovered M now we should point out
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that it is believed that Shawn had a large amount of cash on him when he was traveling back to his home and we know
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this because the rumors are that they were him and Eric were selling drugs the day before and possibly the morning
00:07:30
of and we also have the fact that we believe this to be about $1,700 in cash and where we get this information from
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is apparently that's what how much money he had told Brandy King that he had on him when he was traveling back home mhm
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so maybe this was that big score that he was looking to get or at least this was
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going to be some money to you know Brandy King wanted him to get out of the drug business you know to to clean
00:08:00
himself up and to get on the right path maybe that was Shawn's intentions we don't know the troubling thing here is
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his vehicle's found it's like 5 miles after that gas station right he didn't make it very far from that gas station
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now there or he chose not to make it that far yeah but there's also some there's some rumors and some stories out
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there that Shawn may have actually made it all the way back to calhon and the people responsible for his
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disappearance and ultimately his death mhm knew where he was coming from knew about this trip and they decided to drop
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the truck off somewhere along the way to make it look like he never had made it back to Calhoun they know that he's
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making this trip with Eric they know that he's selling drugs they know that he has some money they know that he
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possibly has some more drugs that just because they sold drugs we don't have any record do we of that all the drugs
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were sold that he didn't have any drugs left and meaning that you have now money
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and possibly more drugs as as a motive there but so you're saying that that these individuals followed him once they
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were able they followed him all the way back to his hometown once he gets back in town that's where they take him over
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murder him then they take his truck and drive it all the way back to this Midway
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point or a little more than Midway well the the way that the rumor was told to me is that potentially he made it all
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the way back to Calhoun that these individuals didn't have to follow him they were aware of this trip all they
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then need to know is that he's in fact made it back to Calhoun they intercept him there somehow he's killed in calhon
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and they take the truck back along this route that they know he would have traveled leaving the truck somewhere on
00:10:03
this route making it look like he never even made it back to Calhoun all right so then our major suspects in this
00:10:10
Theory would be Stephanie um bigam and go forth well yeah and that's what's interesting about this case
00:10:21
because there's no lack of suspects here when you talk about it I mean we have an
00:10:25
individual Shawn Jr that's you know he's involved in criminal act ity so he's hanging around with bad elements uh some
00:10:33
that might be worse elements than he is and along the way we you know we already
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said there's no real friends in this criminal ring these are just Associates and people that you are forced to have
00:10:45
interaction with to make money and the these are not people that have one another's backs these are people that
00:10:51
would likely turn on each other at the drop of a dime mhm and so there's no shortage of enemies for for this young
00:10:59
man so yeah it could be Stephanie it could be go forth it could be bigan it could be all three involved together but
00:11:08
I think just so we can be clear I think let's go through these one at a time to kind of clean this up a bit okay the
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first thought like you mentioned would be that he simply parked his car took the money that he made off of this
00:11:23
selling these drugs along the way to North Carolina walked off created a new life that sounds great
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and I hope you know I hope that Shawn is alive somewhere I wish that he would return and take care of his children but
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regardless there's no proof of any of that there's no evidence to believe that that is what happened other than we're
00:11:44
missing Shawn MH so we have to step aside from that theory then let's investigate all theories that
00:11:53
do not involve Foul Play okay the second theory would be that he committed suicide side or that he was in some kind
00:12:02
of meth induced hallucina hallucination mhm and remember it is rumored that he was a a drug addict or or at least using
00:12:12
drugs as well as dealing them and this story has a strange like Brandon Lawson feel to it doesn't it where you have an
00:12:21
individual who's driving somewhere doesn't seem to know where he is this sit sitation Shawn J thinks that
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he might even be be followed right there was there was a rumor now I just want to
00:12:35
say straight up just rumor with Brandon Lawson that he he might have been doing meth that he was a one-time meth uh user
00:12:43
and he may have gone back to that we don't know that to be the case or that he was on some other kind of drug
00:12:49
correct but the speculation being that in a in a fit he's out in the middle of nowhere driving his truck he's using
00:12:56
drugs he decides to he thinks something's going on that's not going on he decides to abandon his truck runs out
00:13:03
of gas whatever and he gets lost somewhere out there and and succumbs to the elements well and what there is some
00:13:11
some evidence possibly some speculative evidence right he stops at the Walmart he gets batteries for what we think is
00:13:19
for a flashlight I'm guessing it's one of those big you know where you get the D batteries or whatever like a MAG light
00:13:28
yeah and then he stops to get a gun holster mhm again something you can get when you get back correct flashlight do
00:13:37
you need it tonight you can get the batteries when you get back right it's almost like well I stopped at the
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Walmart now I'm going to stop at this gas station I'm going to get directions but what did he get
00:13:49
directions for did he get directions for to get back home or was it hey is there
00:13:54
any place I can fish around here or is there yeah cuz he did have the fishing pole on that right and just because
00:14:00
there's one doesn't mean that he didn't have two in there to begin with so all I'm saying is like the the the getting
00:14:07
the batteries almost seems like it was intentionally to get them for some reason before he got
00:14:16
back that's all I'm saying so that gives us some evidence that maybe hey I'm going to go off into this Woods After
00:14:24
I'm after I made a bunch of money going to do a little drugs do a little fishing
00:14:29
mhm never seen from again well and that's interesting you bring up a very interesting point here because like we
00:14:36
said yesterday there's not a ton of information out there well that's not even a fair statement to say there's no
00:14:43
information out there on this case this is a open case and they they probably have collected a lot of EV evidence and
00:14:50
information they've just not released it because it's not necessary to do so so where the story comes from that Shawn Jr
00:14:59
stopped and one of the reasons for stopping at that gas station was to ask for directions this comes from from
00:15:06
Brandy King we don't I've not seen anything or been told anything from somebody working at the gas station that
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that says in fact yes he did ask for directions for all we know maybe he didn't maybe he didn't ask for
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directions or like you said where did he ask directions to what seemed to be his
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destination was he asking for directions back to Calhoun or some other location and like you said he stopped off in an
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area that pretty pretty much only Hunters would travel at that time of year right so was it you know just hey
00:15:42
is there any place that I could see nature you know go on a hike I mean who knows I'm just saying that I think the
00:15:48
batteries getting the batteries before you head back is a sign of something mhm well here's here's the thing yeah and
00:15:57
you're right he picks up some strange items make some strange odd purchases let's say um it is winter time it is
00:16:05
cold so the toan I don't think is really an odd purchase yeah the holsters you could get those when you get back to
00:16:10
town unless he was eager you know unless he like oh I I got a gun I'm going to conceal it on myself MH um or or or did
00:16:20
he feel like he was being followed before he stopped at the the Walmart you know is another thought as well yeah
00:16:28
yeah and then the being followed was that just some kind of paranoia based off of the me using meth or or something
00:16:35
else and that in some kind of hallucination hallucination he thinks he's being followed he pulls off into
00:16:43
this wooded area into this rural area parks the car and gets out trying to flee whatever he thinks he's getting
00:16:51
away from and then subbs to the elements at some point it is winter time right and he could have been hungry and tired
00:17:00
when he exited the vehicle so there's a couple issues with that situation with if he would were to have committed
00:17:08
suicide or if he were to have parked the vehicle and succumbed to the element somewhere the problem with that is what
00:17:16
information I could find seems like the search for him in that area where his truck was found was extensive like it
00:17:25
went on for days and they used every resource they had had to look for this individual they never turned up anything
00:17:32
well and you believe because we had so many items we do know there's so many items in the truck that these dog you
00:17:40
know if they use um scent dogs they're going to pick up on this scent mhm and I'm assuming that they didn't or if or
00:17:49
whatever scent they did pick up on led to um a dead end well and I also spoke with a firefighter and a gentleman that
00:17:57
works in the park services okay and these are people that aren't necessarily um the thing is the reason
00:18:08
why they're important is because of their backgrounds the backg they have backgrounds in searching for people and
00:18:14
searching areas such as this for people now what both of them told me was with what they could see what they could find
00:18:23
of what was used and how the length of time that was involved in these searches for Shawn
00:18:29
they thought that should have turned him up and if that didn't turn him up what they were even more surprised by was
00:18:37
that when the next hunting season comes around you know when spring when spring breaks and and people start returning to
00:18:43
this area they believe that Shawn would have been found his remains would have been stumbled upon by a hunter a hiker
00:18:51
something of that nature now keep in mind we're 2 and A2 years removed and he went he went missing in late December so
00:18:58
we've now had two Springs we've had two hunting seasons and more and two summers
00:19:05
that have passed and nobody has stumbled upon his remains so making it look less
00:19:11
and less and less likely that he succumb to the elements out in this area where his truck was found and we learned that
00:19:19
one of the other rumors that floating around town is that he the destination that him and Eric were going to correct
00:19:28
that was killed there but we kind of squashed that because we do have two sidings of him yeah yeah and that was
00:19:35
kind of the the the first big rumor that came out when he went missing was that you know it's the short story of this
00:19:42
guy goes up to some spot in North Carolina he must have been killed there CU he was never seen again and like you
00:19:48
said we have the two situations of the surveillance video footage of Shawn Jr on his route back to Calhoun so we know
00:19:57
he at at least made it there to the destination dropped off Eric he had some interaction according to rumors with
00:20:04
this Jericho character for which he traded guns for drugs and moneyone drugs correct money and guns yeah all those
00:20:13
fun things mhm these are a few of my favorite things and so any rumor that he was
00:20:21
killed by this Jericho guy or even Eric Brown who he was last seen with I'm not saying it's impossible that neither of
00:20:30
those guys had anything to do with him but what makes it less likely is that we know that that Shawn Jr left safe and
00:20:37
sound from that location I don't think it changes anything as far as percentage wise there and and I'm sure this has
00:20:45
been talked about but you drop a individual off he's going to visit his family this is a guy that claims that
00:20:54
you stole money from him mhm um he is the man main reason you're there right he's putting you in this situation Eric
00:21:04
put you in this situation right just follow follow me on this I'm foll you so he was the main reason hey I need to go
00:21:14
see my family but I'm I need you to take me but we're going to make it worth your
00:21:19
while because we're going to sell some drugs once we get up there mhm okay cool we'll make a little little bit of cash
00:21:25
you're my friend which I just ACC accused you of stealing some money from me $1,000 if this is a big payday oh man
00:21:34
wow you know uh sha Jr gets his big payday of 1,700 well then $1,000 going missing that's a pretty big wad of cash
00:21:44
right so Eric then concocts this plan hey I'm going to get you up take me to North Carolina we make the drug dealer
00:21:53
uh we make the drug deal with Jericho mhm this guy probably has a faux hawkk right bohawk confirmed and what we do
00:22:03
know what we do have again is it evidence I'm not I'm not saying it's evidence but starts making a little more
00:22:13
sense when you go he's on the phone with his girlfriend saying hey I think I'm being followed to the point where he
00:22:20
says tell my children I love them right again I believe that he if he felt like he was being followed whether he's in a
00:22:27
drug state or not whether it's paranoia or not I think he felt that before uh Walmart stops gets batteries for the
00:22:36
flashlight gets the gun holder then he starts heading down to the gas station still thinks he's being followed stops
00:22:42
to get directions as talking to his girlfriend says hey I'm being followed tell my kids I love them the people that
00:22:49
were following him could have been Eric or Jericho or both I guess or both and the thing what I'm saying is who puts
00:22:56
you in this situation Eric does right so it's definitely an angle that needs to be looked at and like I said all I'm
00:23:04
saying is don't lessen the percentage of what you think their involvement is until we we clear that path does it make
00:23:11
does it make more here's the thing if you get him up to North Carolina and you kill him there now you got to get rid of
00:23:18
the truck but now he's not seen anywhere mhm like what a better thing like hey here's what I'm going to do I'm going to
00:23:26
follow him back I'm going to wait for him to stop and get gas so he's seen by somebody then that's when I'm going to
00:23:35
kill him mhm and but then he'll be seen by somebody else which then will give me
00:23:39
an alibi and my alibi will be up in North Carolina and The Alibi is probably somebody in his family so for Jericho
00:23:47
though if you're going to kill Shawn and your Jericho mhm wouldn't you figure out
00:23:53
a way to get the money to get the drugs rather than trading him potentially weapons that he could use to
00:24:01
kill you for the drugs right this is this would be getting speculative evidenced against this point for Jericho
00:24:09
mainly but then if let's say this was it doesn't rule out Eric because Eric would
00:24:14
have walked into that situation not knowing hey Jericho's going to trade guns you know what I mean like for this
00:24:20
situation to work out for Jericho to be innocent right then we're just saying hey look I've provided you some some
00:24:28
some weapons that you could defend yourself with and and and kill me right if I'm trying to take you down it seems
00:24:35
unlikely that Jericho has any involvement where you have Eric who's along for the ride doing these drug
00:24:41
deals as well and he doesn't know that that uh Sean's going to be offered some guns but imagine that situation if
00:24:47
you're Eric you're like [ __ ] I was I was going to kill this guy and now tring kill this bastard and now he's arm now
00:24:53
he's got two guns armed and ready to go and look that's other thing that I kind of Wonder here you think you're being
00:25:02
followed so you stop this stop at Walmart is this odd to me it would be different if you picked up you know some
00:25:11
potato chips and I mean I don't know what was on that receipt I don't think we know for sure what's on that receipt
00:25:18
if he was just picking up potato chips and so some of the items that so as far as the receipt goes and for the
00:25:24
purchases he made at Walmart um some of those items have been made public not it's my understanding not all of them
00:25:32
and what's confusing about it is we have the purchase of the batteries and the uh
00:25:38
at least one gun holster right but remember we have a later report that says due to receipts found in the
00:25:46
vehicle and things seen on surveillance footage there were items that they thought they would find in the truck
00:25:53
that were never recovered right so we know that some of the items have been reported but clearly not all of them
00:26:00
yeah and so again that's the tough thing about some of these cases you go to me there's something there with the Walmart
00:26:08
the the stop at Walmart but again if you tell me on the list that there was a cup
00:26:14
of Co you know some coca-colas there was a slice of pizza or something from or a
00:26:19
pretzel or something you know sometimes they have the Pretzel shops in there or whatever if you tell me that's on the
00:26:26
receipt too and then by the way while he was in there he just bought some items right okay no big deal that stop doesn't
00:26:34
seem as random but you know you you go batteries and gun holder I go if you feel like you're being followed and you
00:26:42
have this gun why not get a holder why not get some batteries for your flashlight and is it possible that at
00:26:50
that second stop that when he got back in the car and he lost signal that he said you know
00:26:56
what screw this I'm just just going to pull off 64 and whatever's falling me they're
00:27:02
they're going to stop or they're going to keep going right but if they stop I'm I'm
00:27:07
armed now if they search this site a lot you'd think that they would find some bullet casing right
00:27:16
right um now this is why it kind of leads me back to a Poss Jericho or a possible Eric cuz what if he pulls off
00:27:26
the person pulls in his gun is drawn and he then realizes I know this person mhm so I don't know
00:27:34
it's I mean this is that's just where my brain is taken me hearing this for the first time okay so let's go into this
00:27:42
other theory of that he actually made it back to Calhoun okay and the way that this Theory works is like this was that
00:27:50
Shawn was that this trip was not like a super secretive trip that there were other people that would have had some
00:27:57
general knowledge of what was going to go on that they were going up there to sell drugs and Shawn was coming back to
00:28:03
Calhoun with a large sum of money with him okay now there there have been people out there that have told me look
00:28:12
we don't know whether or not that he actually made it back to Calhoun but there is nothing really out there that
00:28:19
would suggest otherwise there's nothing out there that would make us believe that there wasn't a chance that he M
00:28:26
didn't make it back you you see what I mean meaning just because of where his truck was
00:28:32
found we know that the truck was found about 5 miles from the approximate distance of where he lost cell phone
00:28:39
service we do know that but we don't know that it was found you know we don't know that it was in that spot 5 10
00:28:45
minutes after he lost cell phone service we just know that it was found there 4 days later I'm sorry n Days Later
00:28:53
somebody had n days to get that truck to that location if they wanted to so there's people out there that that have
00:29:01
mentioned this rumor and this theory that Shawn actually made it back and at some point he was intercepted by go
00:29:09
forth now go forth the rumor is he enlisted his buddy the help of his buddy who we will call Cowboy well hold on we
00:29:18
need to take a quick beer break so we'll go back to go forth with his buddy Cowboy right after this quick beer
00:29:26
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out rosettastone.com it's a [Music] [Applause] GameChanger all right we're back time to go forth with this go forth
00:31:51
and cowboy Theory cheers Captain so the theory works like this that at some some
00:31:57
point Shawn returns to Calhoun there are people out there that suggest that there's nothing out there no evidence to
00:32:03
suggest that he didn't make it back to Calhoun and when he arrives he's intercepted by go forth and cowboy now
00:32:11
Cowboy is is I shouldn't say rumored to be um there's many reports out there that this is a very violent individual
00:32:21
that he welcomes violence and is capable of possibly making somebody disappear and this would be why go forth would
00:32:29
have enlisted his help in this situation that they had this guy that they wanted
00:32:34
to take care of so he brings in cowboy now why is this a rumor well there are many people in coun this is one of those
00:32:43
stories okay this is one of those cases Captain where you go I wonder where the evidence is
00:32:50
because if if this thing was investigated in the way that we were able to do this just by talking to
00:32:55
people right there's plenty of theories out there because there are plenty of people that have said hey I heard this I
00:33:01
heard that there you you talk to somebody in Calhoun they've heard something that means you know the result
00:33:08
of what why Shawn has disappeared and right but what we talked about earlier in the cases that
00:33:14
sometimes law enforcement know what happened they just can't prove it well I think what the problem here is is that
00:33:19
there are several rumors out there and some of them point to some individuals being involved and some of them point to
00:33:27
others other individuals being involved so the rumors regarding go forth and cowboy are that cowboy took Shawn to a
00:33:36
deserted drug housee and there he shot him and there are several stories as to what he did with Shawn's body one being
00:33:46
that he was placed in the woods another that he was cut up and thrown in a creek
00:33:51
another that he was buried so under these situations though where we have further rumor to back up these
00:33:59
stories there would later be several women that would say that either go forth or Cowboy or both at one time had
00:34:08
shown them Shawn's body so we have the rumors of go forth and cowboy going around town telling people that they've
00:34:15
killed Shawn Jr MH and then later we have women stating that not only did I was I aware that they had killed him but
00:34:24
they showed me his body yeah well that that seems like uh something I'd really want to take notice of you know what I
00:34:34
mean mhm like this is not just a rumor floating around town now we have rumors of women saying I've seen his body
00:34:42
correct correct so here's the other weird thing now we have to throw this into the mix there are several people
00:34:50
that reported that the day after Shawn disappeared remember Stephanie who was selling drugs she was maybe Shawn's boss
00:34:59
at one point um that she was spotted with a large W of cash on her the day after Shawn went
00:35:08
missing this is very this is very Troublesome right because we know that Shawn We Believe Shawn had a large
00:35:16
amount of cash on him there's lots of evidence to suggest this so how did Stephanie get this money now she claims
00:35:23
well she's a drug dealer too but go ahead no I get that I get that but it's also the day after this individual goes
00:35:30
missing mhm she claims when asked about this money that she won it at a poker machine that sh that paid out cashh so
00:35:38
she that's how she acquired this large sum of money now here's where I think things are strange because we have this
00:35:47
we squash the rumor that he was killed at the destination in North Carolina right Eric's family's place
00:35:56
yeah or in the area of right and now we bring up this theory that maybe he made it all the way back to
00:36:04
calhon I here's here's my thoughts on this I wonder if why can't it be somewhat both okay could it be that Eric
00:36:16
Gets that they get to North Carolina sha leaves on the 21st how do we know that that was the
00:36:24
plan any chance that the plan was hey I'm going to stay the night on the 21st I'm going to wake up first thing in the
00:36:30
morning and then I'm going to I'm going to hit the ground running in the morning
00:36:34
and make my way back to coun right and what I'm getting at with this is is there a chance that several of these
00:36:42
players are somewhat involved that they may have different levels of involvement
00:36:47
but they're all somehow involved in what ended up happening in the end meaning was Eric in conversation with
00:36:56
people and saying saying look he's he's trying to leave I know we said that we were going to do this here because if
00:37:02
you were going to set this up if this was premeditated murder and the reason why I'm kind of circling around the
00:37:08
thought that there's Foul Play here and murder involved one when we covered when
00:37:12
you listen to the trailer of yesterday's show that's a straightup report from law
00:37:16
enforcement where they're stating that there were things found in their in this jurisdiction that led them to believe
00:37:23
Foul Play was involved mhm they don't seem to believe that he just walked off on his own so that's why we're circling
00:37:29
around the thought that somebody murdered this individual and I don't think that it's any coincidence that
00:37:35
this guy is making this trip where he could make a bunch of money and he has all these known drug Associates that
00:37:41
probably knew about this trip they got the drugs from somebody that they ended up selling that person probably knew
00:37:48
about this trip and then we have Stephanie who who who's supposed to be the link between Eric and Shawn Jr so
00:37:57
she may have known about the trip we have Eric's cousin Derek who knows about the trip so many people probably knew
00:38:03
about this trip and what I'm getting at is if this is premeditated first-degree murder of Shawn Jr well the most
00:38:10
opportune time my thought would be to get him while he's out of town to get him when he when you know he's going to
00:38:17
be up in North Carolina get rid of him there and this is going to cause a bunch of confusion because the people that
00:38:25
need to be investigated in The Disappearance of Shawn Jr all live and reside in coun out of the jurisdiction
00:38:32
of where the murder actually would have taken place now think about this let's say Eric's up there and Shawn
00:38:40
Jr is hinting around like hey I don't think I'm going to stay the night I think I should probably just get back
00:38:43
it's close to Christmas time or now I got all this money I'm itching to spend it or or get it back to my girlfriend or
00:38:50
wife or whatever she is right mhm and then he starts communicating with these people and saying look I know you guys
00:38:56
were going to come up here and get rid of him tonight or in the morning but he's heading back now he's he's saying
00:39:02
he's going to leave and guess what I can't stop him from leaving at some point he's going to leave you guys need
00:39:08
to get up here and what I'm wondering about Captain is there a chance that is there a chance that he he was intended
00:39:16
to be killed there in North Carolina Shawn Jr intended to make it back to Calhoun but the people that were going
00:39:24
to kill him they were in route or had to be in route sooner than they had planned
00:39:31
and then they're hoping to intercept him somewhere along the way so in a sense both theories are somewhat truthful
00:39:38
meaning that one that was the initial plan and two hey if we can't intercept him somewhere along the way we're going
00:39:45
to have to get him once he gets back here to Calhoun yeah and I didn't really like the whole idea of the when he gets
00:39:51
back here we're going to get him right the reason why it seems a little too Loosey Goosey doesn't it like like too
00:39:58
many things could go wrong with that plan no I I think it's it's probably look at least um go forth and cowboy
00:40:07
would be on their own turf right so that would make a little more sense because you know the law enforcement you know
00:40:14
what the at least what the cop cars look like right right um you know so that's one thing but the thing that
00:40:23
always kind of went well that theory doesn't sit well with me was the convenience of where his car was parked
00:40:31
or where the rented truck was parked in cordinance of the last place he was seen
00:40:37
the last place he's told his you know girlfriend he was seen yeah he's making communication through his cell phone and
00:40:43
then he loses contact and then the truck is found roughly what 10 days later from the time he went missing
00:40:53
roughly in that spot around that area right so okay so as you're telling me this
00:40:59
stuff that doesn't sit well but then I start thinking and I'm not this is just hypothetically but
00:41:06
hypothetically did you know did she was she a part of this right right just but and I think that's less likely
00:41:17
than Shawn Jr gets back with the money possibly drugs who knows these guns and we have forth in cowboy and
00:41:27
they take care of him they kill him and then they find out through rumors that he's missing right right and
00:41:36
they know people that know people and then they find out that he was on the phone on the phone to his girlfriend and
00:41:45
he lost connection around this area mhm right well you just killed this guy you have this rented truck that that's the
00:41:56
biggest problem right but now you know where he lost signal with his cell phone and you probably hearing some rumors
00:42:05
around town you you would know exactly where to go drop off the truck right to start pointing the fingers as other
00:42:14
possibilities well and that's interesting that you say that because I suspect that there there may have been
00:42:22
people in coun that had an idea of where Shawn was when he went missing meaning they may be aware of that phone call
00:42:30
that he had with Brandy King why because Brandy King was actively looking for Shawn within the days after he
00:42:37
disappeared so how does that conversation go down when I'm if I'm Brandy King and I'm talking to you and I
00:42:43
say hey look I last spoke to sha here he said he was here and he left this gas station and or I guess the thing that
00:42:52
complicates that is Brandy King stating that it it sounded to heard that Shawn didn't know where he was so maybe that
00:42:59
complicates that a little bit but you could still have that conversation of saying look I was on the phone with him
00:43:05
and we dropped service and I've not been able to talk to him since then I've not
00:43:09
been able to communicate with him since that occurred so I think that I think for me what seems to be the most
00:43:16
plausible theory is that I think that these individuals that are involved or potentially involved with this that they
00:43:25
are street smart enough to know that if if if we need to get rid of Shawn or if I need to get rid of Shawn I need for it
00:43:34
to happen when he's out of town why because that creates a lot more possibilities than just me being
00:43:41
involved right it creates a lot more possibilities that maybe nobody even coun was even involved because he he
00:43:47
went missing or was killed so far away from here then I think guess what when that plan is uprooted by him leaving
00:43:55
early now there has to be a new plan and plan a is can we intercept him on his way
00:44:01
back and if we cannot do that then we're going to need Eric and maybe it requires
00:44:08
the help of Stephanie I don't know to set up another trip maybe a month from now to North Carolina and give it
00:44:15
another go at this whole thing if that's your plan and I think unfortunately unfortunately for Shawn
00:44:21
and for his family personally I think that I think he got intercepted on the way home wow I think that that that like
00:44:30
you said and like he said on the phone that he thought he was being followed mhm I think he he truly believed he was
00:44:38
being followed and I think what happened was when he was on what was that 64 West
00:44:43
mhm I think he sees this little Bernard Creek Road that shoots off the side and he thought you know what whoever's
00:44:52
following me if I'm far enough away from them let me pull on to this Little Country Road and maybe I duck them right
00:44:58
and they keep going yeah go ahead I was just going to say a little tip if you ever feel like you're being followed
00:45:05
take you know four right turns or four left turns because you're going in a circle obviously and if by doing that uh
00:45:14
you'll you know it would almost make zero sense for somebody to do that uh those turns you know what I mean so if
00:45:22
you're ever being followed just a little tip for you well if you're in a city or
00:45:25
a town go to a police department or a fire station right yeah but but Shawn's out in the middle of nowhere so he's
00:45:31
going to have to improvise let's say well and he's a man so we're we're also not the brightest the problem with him
00:45:39
turning on to this Bernard Creek Road is that it's actually a dead in Road um unbeknownst to him he wouldn't have
00:45:47
known that however I don't think that mattered at all because the vehicle was eventually located approximately a
00:45:53
quarter mile up the road so he never even and it was he would have been heading toward the dead end so it doesn't appear
00:46:00
that he made it to the dead end and tried to turn around it looks like something happened before he could even
00:46:07
realize this is a dead end road that either he thought he was being followed I'll duck off on this country road and I
00:46:14
and and hey if I see the car coming or maybe I flee the vehicle and get away from the vehicle I think what happened
00:46:22
was I think he was intercepted on his way home to Calhoun and I think something happened somewhat close to
00:46:27
that truck I don't know if he was abducted from there or if he was unfortunately killed there but I think
00:46:35
something happened close to that truck now I you think we'd heard I I think we would have heard more rumors about that
00:46:42
well yeah and that that's interesting because there are the rumors of people having seen the body or claiming to have
00:46:48
seen the body and then there's the the rumor of him being taken to a deserted house somewhere and being shot there the
00:46:56
deserted house doesn't bother me at all what what here's a couple things that bother me first one why are you there
00:47:02
Eric that's suspect to me Eric also says to his friend that he's going to kill him because he thinks that he stole
00:47:09
$1,000 so suspect right mhm don't like it don't like the stopping to get batteries that seems like it's
00:47:18
purposeful of that day don't like it what I also don't like is that he is telling his girlfriend friend I'm being
00:47:27
followed don't like that at all right mhm where the B where the truck is found don't like that at all but the thing
00:47:36
that I don't like the most is these women coming for you know coming forward saying I saw his
00:47:45
body that's the thing that so out of all the things that don't make a lot of sense to me that I feel like there's
00:47:51
something more tangible there that out of all of them just goes well that doesn't sit well yeah so I tell you what
00:48:00
though Captain here's here's at the end of the day what I think is I hope this case does not go cold because I think
00:48:09
this is a very solvable case and what I mean by that is I think that there's enough rumor and there's enough stories
00:48:17
that there's got to be enough people talking yeah there's enough people talking but there's got somewhere if you
00:48:22
sift through it enough there's got to be some truth in there behind one of these
00:48:26
stories or little hints of Truth in in in several of the stories and I think what can happen is I think that this
00:48:34
could work itself out I think that it could be solved we're going to need some people to come forward we're going to
00:48:39
need some people to talk and we're going to need some we might need some people to turn on one another because in my
00:48:45
opinion there might be good chance that five six seven people know what happened
00:48:50
that that they have maybe not firsthand knowledge but they've been told exactly what has happened we talked about this
00:48:57
when we covered uh Tara grinstead's case right we had an individual that had firsthand knowledge or knew a good
00:49:04
amount of firsthand knowledge and he tried to tell six seven a dozen people everybody just thought oh he's just he's
00:49:12
just joking he's just making this up for 11 years basically confessed to seven to
00:49:16
nine people yes right and I'm hoping that at some point at some time the guilt in these people catches up with
00:49:23
them and they start coming forward and telling the appropriate people tell law enforcement what happened because I
00:49:29
think there are many people out there that know what happened to Shawn Jr now I will say this one thing that our
00:49:35
investigation and looking into this case has turned up is we have been told that
00:49:42
there is at least one individual out there that claims to have information regarding the where possible whereabouts
00:49:50
of Shawn Jr of of his remains or maybe what had happened to to him that is now willing to speak with law enforcement
00:49:59
and was not before now what information does this individual know we don't know that exactly but what we have been told
00:50:07
is this information is being reported to law enforcement maybe this is the tip they need maybe this is the tip they
00:50:14
need now some other keys to possibly solving this case um there is a rumor that that his body Shan's body might be
00:50:23
in The Sims Mountain area area uh and and there's actually local rumor of a more specific location than
00:50:31
just the Sims Mountain area but I couldn't find anything in the newspapers or anything through the course of the
00:50:38
investigation that suggests that that area has ever been searched so it'd be nice to see if if if they think there's
00:50:44
enough weight there in that rumor to search that area or that more specific area the other thing is interview go
00:50:51
forth interview this individual that we've called go forth because this individual's in prison now just 2
00:50:59
years later and the information I've been told is he's serving a life sentence so if there's somebody
00:51:05
something that he knows somebody that he could roll over on this would be the time to talk to him I couldn't nobody
00:51:12
everything that I found and and everybody that we spoke to nobody could suggest that go forth has been
00:51:19
interviewed at any point or was willing to cooperate in the investigation [Music]
00:51:29
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Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most heartbreaking
  • 60
    Most shocking
  • 60
    Most unpredictable

Episode Highlights

  • The Disappearance of Shawn Patrick McDuffy Jr.
    On December 20, 2015, Shawn vanished after a troubling call to his girlfriend, expressing fear of being followed.
    “Please tell my children that I love them.”
    @ 04m 39s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Alibi Plan
    A complex plan unfolds involving alibis and potential murders in North Carolina.
    “Here's what I'm going to do...”
    @ 23m 21s
    November 16, 2023
  • Walmart Stop Mystery
    The significance of a Walmart stop raises questions about Shawn's intentions and actions.
    “There's something there with the Walmart stop.”
    @ 26m 06s
    November 16, 2023
  • Rumors of Violence
    Rumors circulate about Cowboy's violent past and potential involvement in Shawn's disappearance.
    “This is not just a rumor floating around town.”
    @ 34m 31s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Interception Theory
    Shawn believed he was being followed and took a country road to escape.
    “I think he truly believed he was being followed.”
    @ 44m 34s
    November 16, 2023
  • Hope for Resolution
    There's hope that the case can be solved if people come forward with information.
    “I hope this case does not go cold because I think this is a very solvable case.”
    @ 48m 07s
    November 16, 2023
  • Rumors and Truth
    There are many rumors surrounding Shawn's disappearance, but some may hold truth.
    “There's got to be enough people talking.”
    @ 48m 19s
    November 16, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • Please tell my children that I love them.
    Sean McDuffy Jr. /// Part 2 /// 223
  • I hope that Shawn is alive somewhere.
    Sean McDuffy Jr. /// Part 2 /// 223
  • What a better thing like hey, here's what I'm going to do...
    Sean McDuffy Jr. /// Part 2 /// 223
  • This is not just a rumor floating around town.
    Sean McDuffy Jr. /// Part 2 /// 223
  • I think that these individuals are street smart enough to know...
    Sean McDuffy Jr. /// Part 2 /// 223
  • There's got to be enough people talking.
    Sean McDuffy Jr. /// Part 2 /// 223

Key Moments

  • Last Call04:39
  • Mysterious Circumstances04:39
  • Drug Involvement07:27
  • Alibi Strategy23:21
  • Street Smart Theories43:21
  • Being Followed44:34
  • Solvable Case48:07
  • Need for Information48:19

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown