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Jaliek Rainwalker /// Part 2 /// 419

November 16, 2023 / 53:57

This episode covers the case of missing child Jalil Rainwalker, discussing the involvement of his parents, Steven and Joselyn, and the investigation's developments. Key topics include the family's behavior, search efforts, and legal proceedings surrounding the case.

The episode begins with a recount of Jalil's disappearance and the troubling behavior of his father, Steven. His mother, Joselyn, had previously expressed concerns about Steven's anger management issues, leading to her asking him to leave the home temporarily.

Listeners learn about the efforts of Jalil's grandparents, Barbara and Dennis, who actively participated in search efforts and sought custody of Jalil to ensure his safety. However, Barbara faced legal trouble when she was arrested for entering the home of Steven and Joselyn without permission.

The discussion also highlights the police's search for evidence, including a piece of clothing linked to Jalil. Despite extensive searches and investigations, the case has remained unsolved, with the police shifting the classification from a missing child to a probable homicide.

As the episode concludes, the hosts reflect on the ongoing investigation and the need for public assistance in solving the case, emphasizing the importance of finding Jalil and holding those responsible accountable.

TLDR

The episode discusses the unresolved case of missing child Jalil Rainwalker, focusing on his parents' behavior and the investigation's challenges.

Episode

53:57
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reading at truecrime garage.com yeah and that's enough of the business all right everybody gather
00:03:11
around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] crime [Music] jal's grandparents Barbara and her
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husband Dennis Smith well they publicly called out their son-in-law Steven in a capital news9 piece Barbara said quote I
00:03:53
believe that step is the only one who knows what happened to jelik on November 1st and I do believe he harmed him she
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elaborated that earlier in 2007 Joselyn asked Steven to leave the home because she was afraid he would
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harm the children according to Barbara Steven had anger management issues and had been going to counseling for them
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they were so bad that Joselyn had made him move out of the family home for brief periods this twice in 2007 because
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of aggressive behavior towards the children and after the stream incident that we talked about yesterday Joselyn
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forced Steven to pen a letter of apology to jelik for this and made him do the child's chores for one month Barbara and
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Dennis enthusiastically helped Elaine person found the find jelik task force getting Billboards erected holding video
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uals and organizing volunteer searches those searches continued weekly even after police scaled back their official
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searches for jelik this in May of 2008 and also in May of 2008 Barbara petition the court to assign custody of
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jelik over to her so that she could more actively pursue legal Avenues to locating him such as obtaining medical
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records and contacting homeless shelters on his behalf she said she also wanted to ensure that the boy had a safe and
00:05:36
stable home to come back to in the event that he was still alive a Warren County
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Judge ruled against her in July Jeffrey McMorris he's the attorney for the parents said of her request quote the
00:05:53
grandmother here was just worried about her own publicity end quote this lawyer has big of a dirt bag as the father is
00:06:02
at least he's getting paid to do so the the father's just being a dirt bag for fre no no he was he's getting paid too
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he's getting paid by the state that's true so they're both paid dirt bags continuing with July 2008 here Captain
00:06:17
the Albany Times Union reported that jal's grandmother the one that we were just praising was arrested and charged
00:06:24
with second degree burglary this is based on a complaint from Joselyn in Steven apparently Barbara entered the
00:06:33
unlocked Raven Way house this is where they were living right and used a flashlight to do a little snooping a
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little poking around if you will remember Steven and Joselyn were no longer living there at this time they
00:06:50
had already moved off to Vermont a neighbor reported that someone was in the house you know you can you've seen
00:06:57
this in the movies the all the light lights are out it's supposed to be dark over at the neighbor's home oh no you
00:07:02
can see someone walking around with a flashlight in there so the neighbor reported someone was in the house and
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since her entry technically was unauthorized by the owners Barbara was facing charges for this she did plea not
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guilty in court in a court proceeding which took place on July 15th I think more interesting than her arrest is what
00:07:27
could she have possibly found in the house or what was she looking for well and whatever she would have found they
00:07:33
would have it probably wouldn't have been am missible in the court of law well what we do have is shortly after
00:07:40
this burglary and I don't think this is any coincidence at all the police executed a search warrant on the home
00:07:48
good well I look here's a couple things I applaud what she's trying to do I also
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applaud that she has no problem throwing her son-in-law under the bus he doesn't
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see seem to be cooperative he doesn't seem to give a [ __ ] you claim that this boy went missing on his own accord and
00:08:08
you move the none of this stuff makes any sense you're ripping down posters uh of this kid you are not Cooperative with
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police you are caught lying over and over you're still collecting money for a kid that you're not taking care of you
00:08:29
you basically tried to kill this kid by Drowning him this is not a good dude and
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I applaud the effort by turning on him and throwing him under the bus but at the same time we're not looking for a
00:08:43
missing person anymore we're we should be looking for a body if the father is responsible which it just makes the most
00:08:51
sense The Logical connection he's not responsible for the kid going missing he's responsible for the kid's death and
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we need to be looking for a dead body what the police was looking for with their search warrant was one item of
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Interest this was reported to be a piece of clothing that they stated that Barbara
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saw while she was inside that home this was a bright yellow fleece pullover the one jelik was said to have been wearing
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when he disappeared the same one that Searchers were looking for as they scanned the woods fields and waterways
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usually that's one of the things that they're really pointing out here with in regards to the searches when you're
00:09:37
looking for someone it's very helpful when you're able to tell them tell the Searchers hey he or she was last seen
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wearing this bright red sweater right or this bright yellow fleece pullover something that's easy to spot so you can
00:09:51
move and clear land and keep going well this fleece that they were told he was last wearing was found by Barbara in the
00:10:00
home and then later by police after they executed the search warant turns out obviously this thing was in the house
00:10:07
this whole time well it's just more proof that they're Liars it's odd too that it was even left
00:10:13
behind when they moved right like it this it it seems like an oversight because wouldn't this
00:10:21
be something you would try to get rid of if you realized after the fact oh this happens to still be here and I told
00:10:27
everybody this is what he was wearing I don't think these are good people I think these individuals try to use the
00:10:34
system well if we adopt these kids we're going to get set $1,500 a month as a stien we're not going to really clothe
00:10:42
these kids or take care of these kids we're not even going to try to pay for electricity or have Heating in the house
00:10:49
and so to me it's not an oversight that's just what kind of people these people are they're lazy pieces of [ __ ]
00:10:57
that don't want to work that don't want you know that don't want to care for people that they're going out of their
00:11:04
way to take responsibility of these kids but they don't even want to take care of
00:11:08
those kids they just want the stien therefore they don't have to work as hard and also kind of reminds you of the
00:11:16
Dior Coon's case where they found an article of clothing in their home that he was supposedly wearing when last seen
00:11:23
at the campsite yeah the police did submit this fleece for testing I don't know what really came of it there's not
00:11:32
been much said about it since it was located right we did have this weird voice analysis thing and we've seen this
00:11:38
in some other cases and this was brought in and gone about because remember Steven would not agree to the polygraph
00:11:45
test so some people said you know you can use data using data to determine whether he was lying or not with this
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voice analysis stuff right so remember there was that strange inter interview that Steven and Joselyn gave to News 10
00:12:03
this was almost immediately after jelik disappeared all right the one where they
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didn't really answer a bunch of questions correct well at the request of this fine jelik task force that has been
00:12:15
formed Texas Equis search brought in two leading voice analysis experts to use a
00:12:22
method called layered voice analysis which measures changes in voice frequency to detect truthfulness and
00:12:30
analyze the interview audio voice analysis expert and private investigator TJ Ward said quote I have dealt with
00:12:39
family members and this is not the way family members react to someone missing not at all end quote
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okay but what do you make of this bringing in this expert does it doesn't seem like a huge
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waste of time to you we already have evidence that this guy is a liar so why spend any more time on the fact that
00:13:02
he's not truthful well you're grasping for straws here is what you're doing it's it's you know it's the task force
00:13:10
bringing in these experts via Texas Equis search but do you think it's in some way shape or form like well we know
00:13:19
he's lying we know we've caught him lying multiple times right is this their way of if we bring them these experts
00:13:27
and maybe they state that he's lying maybe that puts a little more uh heat on the fire a little more flame uh a little
00:13:35
more pressure on him to possibly come forward it's an interesting tactic because it's not the police bringing in
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these experts right and it probably didn't cost them anything to do this work and to publicly state that they are
00:13:51
doing this work really you're as you stated turn up the heat a little bit shake some trees see what falls out
00:14:00
maybe he maybe does feel the pressure and he goes and he talks to police I mean at some point in these
00:14:06
investigations when you really feel like you have the person or know the person to be responsible for whatever act it is
00:14:13
or misdeeds that were done if you got nothing on them you got nothing on them right but you still have them there in
00:14:21
the spotlight and they can react they can make mistakes we've seen this and I want to be clear about that alleged
00:14:30
behavior and actions of this man that don't seem to be well out or well planned and we've seen talk of him
00:14:40
flying off the handle maybe you turn up the heat and he does something dumb right well he he is dumb Barbara and
00:14:48
Elaine uh and jal's other Advocates prayed that these type of things would bring charges against Stephen Kerr but
00:14:57
we have to keep in mind just just like polygraphs this layered voice analysis the results of these are not admissible
00:15:05
in court articles noting the oneyear anniversary of jal's disappearance stated that police were still meeting
00:15:15
regularly to discuss the case and share any leads or tips that might have come in but the optimism was really fading
00:15:24
around this one-year anniversary well I was just going to say they need to be doing search is around his father's
00:15:31
cabin where they were at that night and and then the cabin that they lived in with kadaver dogs and and I don't know
00:15:39
if that has been done but th those are the searches that need to be done they they were doing that early on within
00:15:46
within the first hours and days of the boy having gone missing but the problem with all this is this is an area where
00:15:52
there's a lot of wooded area right so it's a lot of ground to cover yeah they did a fem radius search with the
00:16:01
assistance of many different agencies including the forest rangers the state forest rangers so around this first year
00:16:10
anniversary we have Chief Bell who states that at this point there was really little that they could do they
00:16:18
being the police other than investigate leads that were coming in and wait for a
00:16:25
break in the case cuz they've kind of exhausted everything by this point the investigation he said had cost a fortune
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to that date putting the police department well over their budget the missing persons flyer issued they issued
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a new one around the same time for jik by the state division of Criminal Justice
00:16:47
Services it was updated at this time to reflect that jalik had not run away but had disappeared under unknown
00:16:56
circumstances as for the parents the lawyer issued a statement saying that they continued to quote pray he is safe
00:17:06
and will return home soon do you think the mother just doesn't know I think that if the mother knows
00:17:14
what happened the only way she knows what happened is if she was told I don't think she witnessed anything firsthand
00:17:21
or was a part of anything in regards to the first 24 hours or 48 Hours of the boy being missing right 18 months age uh
00:17:30
into this thing roughly May 13th 2009 police and state force rangers searched the banks of the Baton Hill River this
00:17:41
is an area well it's it's an area that is called the hellhole and it's described
00:17:49
as a swirling bulge in the river water kadav dogs hit near this location and police were aware that steveen cerr was
00:17:58
was very familiar with the area sounds like a lovely place oh cuz he's a [ __ ] bag that goes with hell hole right well
00:18:05
the family would camp in this area and and had been known to do so hey kids let's go at the old hell
00:18:13
Hall nothing was found in this search of the banks uh Chief Bell said we continue
00:18:20
to get tips uh the interest has not died off we still want to find jelik this is all per
00:18:27
News 10 and about a year and 4 months later investigators returned to this area again this time with State Police dive
00:18:35
Crews on hand the water level of the Baton kill River fluctuated especially in the quote unquote hellhole and it was
00:18:46
often unsafe for divers quote it's a dangerous place to dive there is metal and rebar and other stuff down there
00:18:54
said Chief Bell this is per the Times Union the chief described the site as a Gorge at the bottom of a hydroelectric
00:19:03
Dam which leads to a WHL pool a New York State Police spokesperson said that the
00:19:10
dive team searched that specific area because of its proximity to a hydroelectric Dam because of the water
00:19:18
pressure created by the dam anything in the water there is pushed down into a very small area so I mean this sounded
00:19:27
like a perfect spot to hide something to hide a body maybe right the search unfortunately was fruitless or for
00:19:37
fortunately was fruitless in 2009 a hunter walking in the woods near Lake desolation in Northern Saratoga county
00:19:49
found skull fragments on the ground it was determined that they were in fact human and they were deemed de to be the
00:19:59
remains of a child estimated to be 10 to possibly 12 years old it looks like at the time in 2009
00:20:09
Captain there were six missing persons cases in the area that would meet or could meet this criteria right law
00:20:17
enforcement officials they jumped all over this of course and jik was one of the possible six missing persons that
00:20:27
they thought it could be fortunately it was not him and some of their estimates were wrong with their findings it turned
00:20:37
out that the skull uh was the remains of a 18-year-old girl from Colorado her name
00:20:45
Jennifer Hammond who went missing in August of 2003 in March of 2010 police released an aged enhanced
00:20:57
port pit of jelik that had been prepared by the national Center for missing and exploited children police held a press
00:21:06
conference announcing the release of this photo to the media Chief Bell said quote I'm hoping this might spark some
00:21:13
interest in the parents to come forward it's 2 and 1/2 years later and they act like this never happened they
00:21:22
need to reach out and be cooperative with law enforcement end quote one thing I will really
00:21:29
really want to commend Chief Bell and others that do stuff like this again we we have a situation where we look at it
00:21:37
from afar and we can say it really points to two possible outcomes yeah maybe the boy ran away but we have
00:21:46
evidence that the father is being less than truthful and is not being cooperative with police and by his own
00:21:54
admission in everybody else's account as well he's the last one to have seen the
00:22:00
boy one he has also temper issues and he can be violent so if the boy didn't run
00:22:05
away this is your responsible person your responsible party right and one thing that I love about Chief Bell is
00:22:12
anytime they have any reason to go to the media at all he's circling the wagons and saying hey we're putting out
00:22:20
this information one for the public to help us out but two because we want the parents this is this is in efforts to
00:22:28
get the parents to cooperate with us to talk with us to help us out now Captain we need to introduce somebody named
00:22:36
Scott Thorp age 37 okay and his involvement or non involvement in this case I don't know how you want to look
00:22:46
at it but he's certainly in my opinion a big part of the story because in April of 2010 Scott Thorp kidnapped a man who
00:22:56
owed him money for drugs he beat the guy up and showed him a photo of what appeared to be a dead body
00:23:04
along with jelik missing persons flyer he told the guy that he beat up that he had killed the kid and he would do the
00:23:12
same to this guy if he didn't pay up on his debts then he and his goons dumped this
00:23:20
kidnap victim off in kingsberry right a body in one of the photos is said to have some resemblance to
00:23:31
jelik and the victim was told that it was in fact jalik this is all per an investigator this was reported in the
00:23:42
Times Union paper they said that police recovered all of these photos during a search of Scott thorp's house apparently
00:23:53
this guy he fled the area he went down to Florida and was on the run for a while
00:23:58
until the US Marshals caught up with him and arrested him in late June of 2010 D
00:24:06
on the Run yeah douche On The Run Thorp was of course locked up and charged with
00:24:13
the attempted murder and kidnapping and he was extradited back to Washington County where at that time he was being
00:24:20
held for an eventual trial on the charges now investigators at the center for missing and exploited children
00:24:30
examined these photographs that were found in thorp's possession at his home and specifically the one that was
00:24:38
thought to be jelik their final ruling Captain was that it was not jelik in that
00:24:45
photo unfortunately any of the information out there to the public does not address who it was in the photograph
00:24:55
or my thoughts maybe it was a doctor photo that it wasn't anything right like what Scott Thorp was telling us it would
00:25:04
be the good news is we know that whatever it was in that photo dead body or not it's not our missing boy
00:25:20
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offered by T-Mobile and Verizon May [Music] [Music] 2023 all right we are back cheers
00:27:59
everybody thanks for joining us what a frustrating case yes frustrating indeed cheers to all the people up
00:28:08
front people in the back come on spend up spend up I think I think you're just getting excited cuz you're heading off
00:28:17
on your vacation I'm going to upset everybody before he's been drinking heavily all right captain
00:28:24
captain captain we mentioned the naal Center for missing and exploited children several times throughout this
00:28:31
case we've mentioned them on the show dozens of times before not because not just because they've been involved in
00:28:37
other cases we've covered but also because we've encouraged people to seek them out and maybe offer up a little bit
00:28:44
of donation be it money or time because they are doing fantastic work they are working their damnedest to bring
00:28:52
children home now in this case they've continued to support law enforcement and continued to help in the
00:29:00
investigation and the search for jelik rainwalker we mentioned that the national Center for missing and
00:29:08
exploited children created an age progression photo of jelik but in 2012 that organization took on a larger
00:29:19
role representatives of the ncmec or Nick Mech as John Douglas likes to call it came to Washington County to
00:29:29
undertake the daunting task of reviewing the investigation and all of the evidence compiled by four 1 two 3 four
00:29:40
law enforcement agencies that investigated this case not not only are you good at computer you're good at
00:29:47
counting I can also go 4321 in the opposite direction the Nick Mech report turned out to be 80 Pages it was an 80
00:29:56
page report that was eventually released to laww enforcement investigators said that it opened up a few leads that would
00:30:04
be pursued after working with the ncmec in late 2012 the Cambridge green witch police finally changed the
00:30:16
classification of jal's case this is something you were pointing out and you've been you've been pounding
00:30:23
the desk and pounding the table and saying this is what we need to be doing here changed the classification of J's
00:30:29
case from a missing child to a probable child homicide yeah at a December 2012 press conference Chief Bell made the
00:30:39
announcement that jelik was the victim of a quote probable child homicide not a runaway State Police Major Crimes unit
00:30:49
backed this up investigators acknowledged that they had exhausted all leads in the case although they insisted
00:30:57
that it was not a Cold Case at the press conference Grandma Barbara and her husband both spoke about how painful it
00:31:06
was to continue to have hope every day that jelik was still alive and yet to have no answers for all this time a plea
00:31:16
was made to the public to help find the missing boy authorities also requested that the media stop disseminating the
00:31:25
Old National Center for missing and exploited children's age progressed photos of jelik and the organization
00:31:34
took them off of their website this is weird right because earlier we are condemning the father for tearing down
00:31:43
the posters of the the prayer vigil and saying any publicity is good publicity but here we have law enforcement tearing
00:31:51
down their own photos and telling people to tear up the old age progression photos that we sent out they're doing
00:31:58
this because what they're saying at the time is all they are getting from these age progression photos are false leads
00:32:06
right they're spinning their tires they're out chasing ghost well we see that a lot of times with missing person
00:32:14
cases even people that we know people that were close to authors that have gone up to other countries and showed
00:32:23
people pictures of a girl and and they get these leads and you think oh my God it's going to be solved it's people
00:32:31
misremember people want to see things that they didn't see they want to help people are mostly good-natured people
00:32:38
they want to help and uh they'll try to give you some information that creates like you said a false lead well and also
00:32:44
what you have here too is I I think is it's really underlining what they believe it's really putting the
00:32:53
exclamation mark on hey we know longer believe that we're looking for a missing child yeah it's sad and although at this
00:33:04
press conference there there was nobody would actually come out well Chief Bell did not actually come out and name any
00:33:13
suspects but he did say quote certain people have been eliminated and certain people have not yeah he said flat out
00:33:22
that the police have not received any cooperation from Steven and Joselyn and he pleaded with them to come in and sit
00:33:31
down with him the grandparents on the other hand well they did not mince words they said if you did nothing wrong and
00:33:39
you have nothing to hide why don't you cooperate with law enforcement to find your son these were the words of Dennis
00:33:47
Smith in response to the press conference stepen and Joselyn released the following statement oh they released
00:33:55
another note yeah well this is their this is the way that they this is their third note in the case that they're
00:34:01
releasing well their statement they they have a rebuttal or at least it's not a no comment thing I I I don't know what
00:34:09
to make of this you could take it either way either let's hear it either condemn
00:34:14
them for dodging the media or condemn them for releasing a statement I don't know what to make of it but they said
00:34:21
despite everything that law enforcement has had to say we know that he is out there meaning jelik
00:34:27
and will return to us someday we pray that the reclassification of the case will not result in the lessening of
00:34:36
efforts to bring jelik home to his family the statement also expressed objections to the discontinued use of
00:34:45
the age progression photo arguing that people needed to know who to look out for this is a statement one half of the
00:34:53
parties that provided this statement was a man that was tearing down down posters
00:34:58
for a vigil at one time yeah I mean I don't know if they know how big of piles of [ __ ] they are of
00:35:10
people this Joselin that's the key to it all right is Joselin is what I think I think she now
00:35:20
knows I think she might not have known before but I think it maybe a temper tantrum and one of his little
00:35:31
rages that he slipped up or maybe there was some evidence that he left behind because he's a lazy pile of
00:35:38
[ __ ] and he slipped up and now she knows and now she's either scared and she feels like she has to protect her
00:35:47
children and other adopted child or or she's also afraid if she goes to police that they're not going to be able to
00:35:54
protect her possibly or what is he going to do because we know he's a known liar how much is he
00:36:02
going to throw her under the bus will he try to blame her for everything that has
00:36:11
happened these are are individuals that the kid goes missing and they've done nothing everything they've done every
00:36:21
step that they've taken is to muddy the waters and to me that's all that's all the
00:36:31
proof we need we're not you're not going to get anywhere unless you find his body but
00:36:39
again I think in these circumstances it's like you know that that's finding a needle on a hay stack unless somebody
00:36:47
comes forward and says I know what happened and I know some details and I could lead you to an area that could be
00:36:54
easier searched I but this this son of a [ __ ] ain't going to come forward and say [ __ ] so
00:37:02
maybe one day it's it's going to wear on her more and more cuz the these are her
00:37:08
parents that are coming out saying you guys are awful people right and if you had nothing to
00:37:15
do with this be cooperative with the police these are her her parents that is going to wear on
00:37:23
her and grind on her and it should it should wear on you and whatever God or whatever you think you pray to that
00:37:32
[ __ ] ain't going to help you and when you get to the other side you're just going to burn in hell for all your sins
00:37:38
that's what I think I don't I don't know that they're trying to muddy the waters it their actions to me look more
00:37:48
like pretend the water doesn't exist I mean it's right from the get-go right from Jump Street Grandma's over at the
00:37:57
house and she's saying they're acting like nothing happened they're they're more concerned about a doctor's
00:38:03
appointment and going to a birthday party and should they feed me some breakfast it's it's like as soon as he
00:38:10
was gone regardless of how he was gone right even if the kid ran away there was no there was no almost even no mention
00:38:20
of it to her like like they they called her and told her this is what's going on
00:38:25
she shows up wants to help and they're they're concerned with other things and it's been that way since the the minute
00:38:32
that it happened yeah but hold on that's that's what I'm saying though it's kind
00:38:35
of weird CU it it is both happening at the same time it's back to Forest gum it's both happening at the same time yes
00:38:43
acting like nothing happened completely but also oh by the way we found this note that suggests that he ran away now
00:38:50
I might have gave him that as a homework assignment but I I can't remember that but he probably ran away now let's Act
00:38:56
like nothing happened and let's do that for a time period okay now things are getting a little hot in the kitchen
00:39:02
here's some other random note that is typed saying that he's alive or he's fine I I believe whole hardly or
00:39:12
wholeheartedly that they're responsible for that note and so yes I agree with you there's there's a definitely there's
00:39:19
these moments of let's just act like this kid never existed right but I think there are these times where they're
00:39:27
they're throwing wrenches in you know into the case to muddy the water in regards to the anonymous letter that
00:39:35
shows up to Media I don't know man that's just a weird thing it's it you could see it
00:39:42
being the parents because they chose to send it to the media I could also see it
00:39:46
being just a complete hoax yeah I mean we have the attorney saying hey there's there's stuff in there that only jelik
00:39:54
would know that doesn't mean mean anything that's that man's opportunity and uh and the parents opportunity to
00:40:03
say see we told you so even even if they didn't mail it they go oh oh we got lucky some some weirdo decided to mail
00:40:10
in a an anonymous letter to the newspaper I would like to talk to a major newspaper and ask him how many
00:40:16
Anonymous weirdo letters do they get on the rag right like is what's what do you
00:40:21
put the what do you put the Mark at the quota is it somewhere a couple couple week yeah once a week I imagine back in
00:40:29
the day that it was it was more often but in late 2013 what was interesting here is that
00:40:35
rumors started to swirl that there was an arrest in this case that was going to be happening and soon but Chief Bell
00:40:44
said that there was no truth to these reports so we got all excited and worked up for nothing yeah half chub you know
00:40:52
what seemed to spawn these rumors was the current Washington County DA announced on the anniversary of ji's
00:41:00
disappearance that he believed a prosecution for jal's murder could go forward he didn't name anyone but
00:41:09
reading between the lines here this likely meant that he believed that there was sufficient EV evidence to bring
00:41:16
charges against Stephen Kerr now it's important to note that this public statement was issued in the middle of a
00:41:24
bid for reelection which the da did not win the current one did not win so when the new DA took over his office reviewed
00:41:33
the police investigative file for the case but did not proceed with any prosecution citing Double Jeopardy as
00:41:41
the reason that the nobody murder case should be put on hold until the evidence was Rock Solid in the case then in 2018
00:41:51
the case well received a terrible blow we had uh the man who had headed up the investigation from the beginning the
00:42:00
man who refused to let the case die the man who never gave up on finding jelik Chief George Bell very sadly he passed
00:42:09
away suddenly in March of 2018 according to the Times Union in his 39-year law enforcement career Chief
00:42:20
Bell had never missed a day of work 39 years work in law enforcement Chief Bell never
00:42:29
missed a day of work he had been having flu like symptoms leading up to this and
00:42:36
he died of a heart attack after leaving a hospital in Bennington Vermont in 2019 an article in The Post Star says
00:42:47
jelik disappearance spawned one of the most indepth investigations by local state and federal officials in
00:42:56
Washington County in decades and even after 13 years a group of investigators continued to work on the case according
00:43:05
to the same publication Washington County district attorney Tony Jordan's office has been reviewing the evidence
00:43:12
police amassed which was turned over to his office in the spring of 2018 shortly
00:43:18
before Bell's death they are cautiously assessing the material in the file with an eye toward possible
00:43:28
prosecution this here is another bizarre thing in this case here Captain you got
00:43:33
to wonder how strong is any of this evidence how strong is any of this case what do they have what could they
00:43:41
possibly have is it a case where it's just minus the body right and once we find that boom we're moving forward with
00:43:49
charges so this guy should be on the edge of his seat at all times he should be very afraid because we are one piece
00:43:56
away from convicting this guy and putting him away for a very long time or is this posturing to try to get this
00:44:03
dude to make a mistake but again he's pretending as nothing has happened I think there's a lot of stuff out there
00:44:11
in the open against the son of a [ __ ] so what do they have behind closed doors
00:44:17
let's say it's equal to now we got a pretty strong case but they we always know that they're weak cases if you
00:44:23
don't have a body so focus on that find the body once you find the body then you can bring this
00:44:32
bastard to trial and he can spend the rest of his life Behind Bars and once you figure out that his wife knew about
00:44:39
it she could spend the rest of her life behind bars as well see I don't know that I share that same opinion I don't
00:44:46
know that I believe that Joselyn is convinced that Steven did something and I say that because her action
00:44:56
before the boy went missing were to protect the children in the house she even complained to others
00:45:05
her mom and other people that stepen wasn't behaving or parenting the way that she wished that he would right so
00:45:14
for me I kind of look at it and go I I really wonder if she truly felt that he had done something that all the other
00:45:23
children are potentially in danger as well now we would know based off of the ages that we listed earlier that here in
00:45:33
2020 all of these kids would be adults now they would be young adults but they would be adults but still you would have
00:45:41
a period of over 10 years to be concerned that he could do something to one of these other children and I always
00:45:50
like to to rely on the um previous actions of of an IND individual will usually lead you to what their future
00:45:59
future actions and behavior will be and that's what we saw on the outside looking in before in regards to
00:46:07
Joselyn I'm not so naive to believe that she doesn't maybe at some level suspect
00:46:13
something but what I truly think is going on here is one of two situations well I shouldn't say that cuz
00:46:21
here I go here I go narrowing myself to two situations when immediately a third popped into mind let's say and you've
00:46:28
been hinting at this a little bit along the way and I can can agree with this a little bit there is a chance that
00:46:36
there's something so much more horrible under the surface going on that that never reached any of the public never
00:46:45
reached anybody that knew these people that there's just some really bad horrible stuff going on and it had been
00:46:51
going on for a very long time there is always that small possibility that that is a truth however where I lean with
00:47:01
this case and I'm going to go a little glass half full and a little glass half empty at the same
00:47:09
time okay why are we laughing I don't even know what that means well you will when I finish my
00:47:16
thought so where I'm going with this is one of two things I think is probably likely here either either a jelik did
00:47:24
run away and his adopted father was kind enough and concerned enough please hear
00:47:34
the sarcasm in my voice to give him enough time and opportunity to get as far away as possible so that he could
00:47:43
not find the boy and nobody else could find him and return him to the household if that did not happen I feel like he's
00:47:52
convinced his wife that that's what happened all right so do you want to know what I think sure I think
00:47:59
we all know what I think so we don't have to go over it right well this you know that I I think he's responsible I
00:48:08
think she knows or or like you said there's something maybe it's it's the way he told the story one time maybe
00:48:17
it's her finding the jacket that he claim that that he would he would have been in when they were looking for the
00:48:24
kid I think there's something in her deep down in her gut that's telling her this guy murdered a
00:48:35
child and I've been supporting him again maybe also in a sense if I'm here that I
00:48:42
can protect my children but um but it might not be a confirmed knowledge but I think I'd be really interested to see
00:48:54
what they have behind closed doors what evidence that they have that hasn't been shown to the
00:48:59
public H but I think it's really going to take finding a body in order to bring the charges against this individual that
00:49:08
need to be brought against him yeah and I think you're hitting on something really interesting there Captain because
00:49:14
there's a lot of gray area and there's a lot of what we do not know about Steven's cell phone that they were
00:49:23
tracking that night we know that they were tracking okay we know that they believe he was
00:49:28
out driving that gold minivan around that night I have to believe with all these swirling rumor rumors that they
00:49:38
keep going back to time and time again every so often that we have evidence to prosecute we might an arrest might be
00:49:47
happening soon I wonder if they have more information that's based around that cell phone and based around
00:49:56
activity that they know took place with that gold van that night and here is uh a statement from a former State Police
00:50:05
investigator who's now retired and he was involved in this investigation for six years or so and he said that there
00:50:15
was significant he used the word significant significant evidence in the case that has not been revealed publicly
00:50:24
and he went on to say that the national Center for missing and exploited children when they reviewed the case
00:50:30
years earlier that we reported on u in this episode he said they deemed it to be quote prosecution ready so you have
00:50:39
to wonder yes are they just looking for that one final piece now this is a case that that more
00:50:48
than just as much as any case out there but more so than than than a lot of them
00:50:54
needs the Public's help we need information from the public and if anybody knows anything at all in
00:51:04
regards to their suspicions about Steven their suspicions about where jalik could
00:51:08
be or what could have happened to this young boy then they need to come forward it's been too long and report this and
00:51:18
point law enforcement in the right direction please again anybody with information they're asking that you
00:51:25
contact either the New York State Major Crimes unit or the national Center for missing and exploited children and we'll
00:51:34
have those numbers posted for you on our website at true Crim garage.com on the blog for jelik rain Walker's
00:51:45
[Music] case for our bonus show Cod off the record check us out on Stitcher premium also if
00:52:01
you would like to check out our old episodes they're all for free on the Stitcher app just go to the iTunes Store
00:52:08
download the Stitcher app and listen to all the old catalog for free and before we wrap up we have a little recommended
00:52:15
reading this week we have a really good one as always it's called Hellhound On His Trail the stalking of Martin Luther
00:52:23
King Jr and the international hunt for his assassin this is by Hampton sides he's a bestselling author Hellhound On
00:52:32
His Trail is an intense narrative about the assassination of a great man and great leader Martin Luther King Jr and
00:52:40
one of the largest manhunts and American history that led investigators to Canada
00:52:46
Portugal and England so check out Hellhound On His Trail by Hampton sides and you can find that title in many more
00:52:55
at True Crime garage.com on the recommended page and until next week be good be kind and don't
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[Music] litter you can start your day off right when you find a professional on Angie to get
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Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most heartbreaking
  • 60
    Most shocking

Episode Highlights

  • The Search for Jelik
    Barbara and Dennis Smith publicly call out their son-in-law, believing he knows what happened to Jelik.
    “I believe that step is the only one who knows what happened to jelik.”
    @ 03m 53s
    November 16, 2023
  • Voice Analysis in the Investigation
    Experts analyze the parents' interview, noting unusual reactions to their child's disappearance.
    “This is not the way family members react to someone missing.”
    @ 12m 41s
    November 16, 2023
  • Chief Bell's Plea
    Chief Bell urges the parents to cooperate with law enforcement in the ongoing investigation.
    “I'm hoping this might spark some interest in the parents to come forward.”
    @ 21m 13s
    November 16, 2023
  • Reclassification of the Case
    In December 2012, the case was changed from missing child to probable child homicide. Chief Bell announced this at a press conference, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation.
    “Jelik was the victim of a probable child homicide, not a runaway.”
    @ 30m 39s
    November 16, 2023
  • Chief Bell's Legacy
    Chief George Bell, who led the investigation for years, passed away in March 2018. His dedication to finding Jelik was unwavering throughout his career.
    “Chief Bell never missed a day of work in 39 years of law enforcement.”
    @ 42m 29s
    November 16, 2023
  • Continued Investigation
    Even after 13 years, investigators remain committed to the case, reviewing evidence for potential prosecution. The Washington County DA's office is cautiously assessing the material.
    “Jelik's disappearance spawned one of the most in-depth investigations in decades.”
    @ 42m 50s
    November 16, 2023
  • Significant Evidence Unrevealed
    A retired investigator claims there is significant evidence in the case that hasn't been made public.
    “There was significant evidence in the case that has not been revealed publicly.”
    @ 50m 15s
    November 16, 2023
  • Public's Help Needed
    Law enforcement urges the public to come forward with any information regarding the case.
    “We need information from the public.”
    @ 50m 56s
    November 16, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • I believe that step is the only one who knows what happened to jelik.
    Jaliek Rainwalker /// Part 2 /// 419
  • This is not a good dude and I applaud the effort by turning on him.
    Jaliek Rainwalker /// Part 2 /// 419
  • I'm hoping this might spark some interest in the parents to come forward.
    Jaliek Rainwalker /// Part 2 /// 419
  • It's sad and painful to continue to have hope every day.
    Jaliek Rainwalker /// Part 2 /// 419
  • Their actions look more like pretend the water doesn't exist.
    Jaliek Rainwalker /// Part 2 /// 419
  • Please again anybody with information, they're asking that you contact.
    Jaliek Rainwalker /// Part 2 /// 419

Key Moments

  • Chief's Appeal21:10
  • Press Conference30:39
  • Hope and Pain31:06
  • Parental Accountability36:16
  • Chief's Passing42:09
  • Ongoing Investigation43:10
  • Gut Feeling48:24
  • Significant Evidence50:15

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown