MURDERED: Jody LeCornu

[00:00] Hi, Crime Junkies. It's Britt, and I have big news. One of my favorite seasonal shows, CounterClock, is back with a brand new season, and it is wild. Host Delia D'Ambra is digging into the 2008 Lane Bryant murders. I mean, this isn't just a recap. It is a reinvestigation. She's talking to law enforcement, people from the community, even sources who have never spoken publicly until now. And you know I love a show that asks all the questions. Listen to CounterClock Season 8 now wherever you get your podcasts. [00:31] Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And the story I have for you today came about in kind of an interesting way. So a couple of months ago, I was doing this short true crime segment on Access Hollywood. And afterwards, someone who didn't know me, never even heard of Crime Junkie, reached out on Twitter because she saw me there and she goes, listen, I don't know you. I don't know your show, but it seems like [01:01] help someone named Jenny. Now, she tagged this Jenny person on this Twitter comment, and I'd never heard of Jenny or the case she was advocating for, but it became very clear very quickly. Her twin sister, Jodi LaCornu, had been murdered. And Jenny has spent the last 23 years not only trying to cope with her grief, but also trying to learn the truth about what really happened that night to her identical twin. [01:29] Music

[02:00] So a few months ago, I reached out to Jenny like this person on Twitter suggested. And I didn't want to bother her, but basically I let her know, like, listen, I'm here if you want help. And Jenny responded almost right away. And within a few days, her and I had set up a time to talk about her sister's case. And Britt, like right away, I felt like I'd known Jenny forever. And my heart just broke as she told me how over the years her sister's case has gone cold. And she's tried to get answers. She's been roadblocked by police and politicians. [02:29] And sometimes even questioned by her own family about why she can't let this go. She's this wonderful, kind, and impassioned person. And I could still hear the grief in her voice when she talked about losing her twin sister like it was yesterday. Because for her, it's that vivid. It's as if that night over 23 years ago is happening right now still. And here is what happened on that night. [02:59] Savings Bank in Hunt Valley, Maryland, which is in Baltimore County. Now, she was working part-time there as a receptionist to help herself go through school at Townsend State University. She was actually studying geriatrics. And like a lot of 23-year-olds, Jodi wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do with that degree. But like the girl was young. She had plenty of time to finish her senior year to figure out what was next. Now, during this time of her life, Jodi lived in an

[03:29] Steve and his relationship with her sister. [03:33] But she met her boyfriend who she was with the night that she died. She met him in a bar. And she was untruthful about her age. She was a lot older than her. And they both had a drinking problem. I mean, he was a nice guy. But he definitely, that was a lot of their relationship was the drinking problem. [03:53] Okay, so that doesn't sound like a super healthy relationship for Jodi to be in. Yeah, I mean, probably not since a lot of it centered around their drinking problems. And, you know, they both suffered from the problem and it was probably making things worse. Yeah, I'm sure that kind of fed into each other. Yeah, enabling each other. Now, just the day before on April 30th, Jodi and Steve had had a fight and they'd gone to bed mad at one another. And Britt, I don't know if you've ever gone to bed mad. I have. I tend to wake up mad. [04:23] So Jodi was still mad when she left for work that morning. And that's why when she got off work, she didn't want to go home and just like continue the fight. So instead, Jodi decides to go meet her friends at her favorite bar, which is the Mount Washington Tavern. [04:38] Now, this was a great way to avoid Steve for a couple more hours, but it was only going to make the fight worse because their whole fight revolved around her going out to the bar. He didn't want her to. Because he didn't want her drinking or? No. So actually, even though she had been to rehab in the past and it was a well-known issue among her friends and family, Steve's own issues with alcohol meant that he really wasn't worried about the fact that she was drinking. Like I said, they both had problems with alcohol. It was actually where she was drinking that caused the fight.

[05:08] So apparently Steve preferred to stay at home and drink, whereas Jodi liked to go out. And he didn't like that she would go out that much. And that is what was putting a strain on their relationship. But she's pissed at him, so she does what she wants to. She ends up staying out all night with her friends, just like having a good time. And now Mount Washington Tavern is like her local hangout place. She knows most of the people there. She's even friends with the bar owner. She's a regular. Yeah. And like the whole night, nothing crazy happened. [05:38] it's not until after the bar closes that a series of almost unexplainable events are set into motion. So when closing time rolls around, Jodi agrees to give one of the bar employees a ride home. Now, this is both very strange and also kind of totally normal for Jodi. It's strange because she's very safety conscious. Like, she wouldn't usually drive a strange man home, but it seems kind of normal as well to her family. [06:08] super kind, a super giving person who's known for doing things for people when she can help. So when the owner, who she like knew really well, vouched for this guy, she wanted to step in. And I think this is one of those things that many people really tried to read into. And I think we would just spiral on it. And I really don't think it's important to the central point of the story. So whether it was strange, whether it was normal, she gives this person a ride home. Now, this bar employee gets home just fine. But here's where things get really weird. Jodi doesn't go home. [06:37] Instead of going home, she drives to an ATM to get some cash and then goes to a liquor store for a six-pack of beer. And at this point, you'd think maybe Jodi was like picking up a six-pack, going to head back home. Right. Like she has to go back eventually. And it's the wee hours of the morning.

[06:54] Jodi still doesn't go home. Instead, she does something totally out of character. She goes to a parking lot only a couple of minutes away from her apartment to make some phone calls from her car and just like... [07:09] hang out there. [07:11] I mean, I don't know a lot about Jodi, but... [07:14] That kind of seems strange for anybody. No, I totally agree. Like, her and her boyfriend were fighting, but it's not like she was moving out. Like, you could have gone home. Right. And you don't just go sit in a parking lot alone in Baltimore at, like, 3 o'clock in the morning. Like, I don't feel like this fits the normal pattern for most people. And it really doesn't fit for her normal pattern, especially because Jodi was, like, extra paranoid about something happening to her. Yeah, I mean, same. Totally. I mean, I know all of us crime junkies are super paranoid all the time. [07:44] a step further than that by being preparanoid. Like, it's a healthy dose of both things. Yeah, prepared and paranoid. Hashtag preparanoid. But here's the thing. Jodi was on another level, more than just preparanoid. And... [07:56] This might be a weird comparison to make, but when I covered the Burger Chef case on Red Ball, in episode three, I talked about how one of the victims, Mark, was like crying and didn't want to go into work the night he was abducted and murdered. And the other employee, Jane, was super sad and wanted to be held. Like I made the analogy, like maybe they knew something was going to happen to them. And I almost feel like there was something subconscious in Jodi that felt that too.

[08:26] Jodi was always really vocal about her fear of something bad happening to her. And this is what Jenny told me. [08:33] I mean, she used to say she was terrified to live in Baltimore. She was afraid she was going to get shot. Oh, yeah, that's like a very specific fear. Yeah, a very specific fear and one that would come to fruition. [08:48] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [09:07] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now. [09:14] wherever you get your podcasts. [09:18] So it's super early in the morning on March 2nd now, like after 3 o'clock in the morning. It's cold. It's snowing. Not the kind of night that you'd expect to find anyone alone in an empty parking lot, especially not someone with such a noticeable fear of these kinds of situations. [09:35] Jodi is there. [09:36] However, she's not alone for long. [09:40] A person, a man according to witnesses, drives up behind Jodi. He's in a white BMW. And he gets out of his car, goes to her car, and she rolls down her window. And like through the window, they start having a conversation. Wait, was she like meeting someone there? So honestly...

[09:59] We don't know. Still to this day, as far as anyone knows, she didn't have plans to meet up with anyone. But it makes more sense to me than her just like hanging out there alone for no reason. So here's what we know. [10:11] This guy in the white BMW gets out to talk to Jodi. Jodi rolls down her window willingly. The two have an exchange for a few minutes. Then the man walks away back toward his car. And when he gets to his car, he pulls out a handgun and fires a single shot through the rear passenger side window of Jodi's car. Now, the bullet hits Jodi in the back and severs her spinal cord. But Jodi doesn't die. Here is what Jenny told me. [10:41] It wasn't a straight shot out of the parking lot. She was able to get out of this parking lot, not, you know, the twists and turns or whatever, and then cross over the five lanes and then go across to the huge shopping center. Wait, didn't you say that Jodi's spinal cord was severed? Yeah. I mean, I guess the effects of that can be, like, based on where in the spine someone gets hit, but that's, like, a pretty serious injury. How in the world was she even able to drive? So that's what Jenny wants to know. [11:11] the many unanswered questions around this case. So according to a Baltimore Sun article from 1996, delivery crews at the nearby Giants Foods hear the shot at 3.41 a.m. and they're the ones that call police. And if you can even believe it, this is where things get even weirder. So Jodi tries to drive off. She makes it across that like five-lane road into another parking lot across the street. And instead of fleeing the scene,

[11:38] The shooter follows her. What? Why? No one knows. He not only follows her, he waits for her to die. Now, Jenny later learned from a witness that the killer didn't seem to be in any kind of hurry, which is really weird for someone who just committed a murder in a public space with witnesses. Now, this witness sees the mystery guy follow Jodi to the other parking lot, [12:08] reach into Jodi's car, put it in park, but still doesn't flee the scene. [12:13] They said he reached in over her body and put her car in park and took items out of her car. [12:19] So all these years, they said something was taken from her car, but we don't know what it was. I mean, this honestly doesn't really feel like a crime of passion or like an exchange gone bad. I mean, for him to follow her, like, slowly and methodically, it feels super, super intentional and targeted. No, it does, right? Yeah, and like, pieced together with what you're saying, I'm wondering if maybe there was, like, supposed to be an exchange? [12:46] I don't know. What do you mean? [12:48] Okay, so hear me out. Jenny said that when he followed her to the next parking lot, he leaned into the car window and put her car in park, right? Yeah. So... [12:56] that means her window was, like, still open the whole time. Right. Like, after he walked up to her car, she had rolled it down, they talked, and he walked away, and she kept the window down. Right. Like, if you didn't know that person or weren't expecting...

[13:10] to be talking to somebody, like, or even if that person, like, [13:13] It was at all sketchy. Like, if a guy walked up to me in a parking lot, like, in general, let alone at 3 o'clock in the morning, and I didn't want to talk to him, I would have rolled my window up immediately and driven off. Yeah. [13:25] She didn't. She left her window down. Like, was she waiting for him to come back? Yeah, I mean, I guess maybe, right? So, I mean, I think you're totally right. I think if she had rolled it down, even if she, like, had kind of expected him or she wasn't scared at first, I guess I just don't know where things went from, like, things are a fine enough exchange for her to roll down her window and keep it rolled down to him, like, shooting her. Right. You're right. Like, it doesn't feel like it... It does. It feels more like she met him. I don't know. Again... We don't know. It makes... [13:53] No sense to me. And going back to Jenny's statement about how scared Jodi was in general, like, I don't think she would play fast and loose with personal safety. [14:03] After the killer gets this mystery thing out of Jody's car, he finally drives off heading south on York Road. Now, Baltimore County police talked to the Baltimore Sun just days after the murder and mentioned that Jody's purse and phone were missing, leading them to believe at the time that the shooting might have been a robbery. And maybe that's like what he leaned over to take. But, Britt, like I go back to what you said. That doesn't make sense for me because it doesn't explain why the killer waited around, why he shot her from behind. [14:33] If this is truly a robbery, if you see a car just parked in the middle of a parking lot, come up to the window with the gun the first time. You know what I mean? Right. And, like, I'll give you my purse. I'll give you my wallet.

[14:42] Why follow her to the other side of the parking lot? Why be so intent on parking her car and making sure that she's dead before you drive off? Again, it just doesn't make sense to me. But whatever the killer's reasoning, he is gone by the time police arrive. Now, instead of turning to the public for help, police take an unusual and possibly damaging approach that alters the entire investigation. Okay. [15:09] According to Jenny, police never made a composite sketch of the suspect or released one to the public. [15:16] Now, the police did have a color and make of the vehicle that the suspect was driving. But, again, they choose not to release that to the public either. Really? Yeah, this was a huge frustration for Jenny and her family as they were trying to piece together what happened to Jodi's case back then and even decades later. They had a description of the suspect. Why didn't they release, like, a sketch in the beginning? You know, they had the white BMW. Why didn't they put a picture out of the car? [15:46] seen photos until 20 years later to People Magazine and Baltimore TV stations. [15:52] That just seems... [15:54] Yeah, really crazy. Like, I get not wanting to release the crime scene photos, like, right away, or honestly, even at all in some cases, but the car, like... [16:02] That's part of the suspect profile, right? Listen, I totally agree. And I'm on the same page, too, about the crime scene photos. So, like, what I could find, I couldn't find the TV station that she was talking about, what pictures they released. But I did find the People magazine article. And there were only two pictures that I could see in that. And I don't think they're really helpful in identifying a suspect. And here, Brett, I'll actually send them to you so you know what I'm talking about. And we'll put these on our blog post as well if anyone else wants to see them.

[16:28] Oh, yeah, it's literally like a picture of her car from the outside and one on the inside. [16:34] Like I was saying, I get why these weren't released, but not releasing a sketch of the suspect or a description of the car he was in... [16:41] What do they get from not even making a sketch? What do we even have the news for if not to, like, disseminate this kind of information in cases like this? Well, and that's why this is so weird. It's like we talk about in our episode on the D.C. sniper a few weeks back. Like, they caught the suspects because the guy at the truck stop recognized the car from descriptions that police had released to the public. So why not do the same thing here? [17:11] at the time of the shooting. Again, I have not spoken to any of these people, but it sounds like they even have enough to like try and create a sketch. So the fact that it's not even like police never released the sketch, what Jenny's telling me is they never even tried to do one. And according to Jenny, not only did they not do the sketch, but they didn't even release the description immediately, which is totally weird. But according to Jenny, not asking the public to be on the lookout is only one of the strange things police do in this case. So they give the car back to my [17:41] pretty quickly with the fingerprinting kit in the car. It was like sloppy from the beginning. So Britt, they're collecting fingerprints, which is great, but leaving the kit in the car is not a good look. No, not great. No, I went back to the Baltimore Suns archives because I wanted to know more about like what the police were doing in the early days of the investigation. And I found this article from March 4th of 96. This is just two days after Jodi was killed. And in that article, police were already saying

[18:11] Wait, after only two days? [18:15] They have multiple witnesses. They can pull video. They took fingerprints. They've got a description of the car and the suspect. Like, [18:22] That doesn't sound like leads are dwindling to me. No, I totally agree. That is, again, amateurs over here, but plenty of evidence to go on. So I don't understand why not keep tracking it down before making this like premature judgment call to the public that like, oh, probably not going to get anywhere. The public that you haven't even like informed properly to. Right. Now, in the same article, police also mentioned that they hadn't checked all of Jodi's phone records or her bank accounts yet, which, again, sounds like there's still work to do. [18:52] be like throw in the towel just yet. Yeah. So police are able to pull surveillance footage from the businesses around where this attack took place. And all of this happened in this like strip mall type area. And there was this like Boston Market right there, this 24 hour giant foods. But Jenny told me that the giant food surveillance system just happened to be down that night. How does that always happen? No, it's so funny. Like as I was researching [19:22] so many times with unsolved cases. But I think it's less of like an overall conspiracy and more of just like, [19:30] maybe the ones without video aren't getting solved. So those are the ones that we keep hearing about over and over and over. So, [19:37] Of the footage that they're able to get from the other stores, it's not super helpful. Now, mind you, this is the mid-90s. The quality isn't awesome. But more than that, it was snowing on the night that Jodi was murdered, which like totally messes up the tape's visibility even more. And this ends up making it impossible for investigators to get a license plate, get any kind of like real solid clear picture of the guy or the car or like anything that could help identify him.

[20:02] Now, they were able to pull fingerprints off of Jody's car, but they don't return any hits in the law enforcement database. [20:09] And... [20:09] It's at this point, if maybe you want to say now that leads are dwindling, fine. Like, we've checked the video. We've checked the prints. Like, at least everything's been checked. Yeah. [20:17] But, [20:18] there's also something different. [20:20] fishy going on. [20:24] So the description that we had got before of that stocky African-American man in the camo jacket, within six months, [20:32] We find out that the Baltimore County police had narrowed down on a suspect who matched that witness description. But here's the fishy thing. It took police 15 years to tell Jenny and her family about him. I thought you were going to say 15 days. And I was like, that's a really long time. What? 15 years. And it's not like they weren't asking during this time. I mean, she would ask them, you know, why haven't you put out more information about him or his car, [21:02] I mean, as she wants to be, like, updated on the investigation, because, again, like we talked about, cases really do get solved that way. But in those first 15 years, all of those times she was asking, you know, why haven't you done it? Why haven't you done it? Why haven't you done it? She's never told that it was because they already had someone in mind. So in those early months and years, as the investigation starts to stall, the LaCornu family gets more and more involved.

[21:32] who was a former Marine that, like, really took charge and was doing the work. [21:37] I was not involved in the investigation. My father was a prosecutor for drug and violent crime in another county. And so he was the one [21:45] that would work with the detective and get the updates and everything. And he was such a gentleman. He's from the South, from Nashville. He trusted everybody. He would never distrust [21:58] that the police wouldn't question them. [22:01] In the early 2000s, it becomes harder for John to be the point person for the family anymore because at that point, he's diagnosed with cancer. And in 2007, he passes away. Now, for Jenny, this is a new tragedy and this is a turning point. With her father now gone too, she has two options. Either try to forget about her sister's case and move on with her life or take her dad's place. And there was really only one option for her. [22:31] continuing on her father's mission to bring Jodi's killer to justice. And that has led her to where she is now. In the 12 years since her father passing, she's done interviews. [22:42] all over the world. Communicated with suspects, interviewed inmates. She stayed active on social media as an advocate for Jodi's case. She's been doing everything she can to keep awareness on the unsolved crime. [22:54] Now, early on, [22:56] When she decided to, like, pick up where her father left off, Jodi would try and get updates from the police on where her sister's case stood. And according to her, at first, she was told that her sister's case file was just collecting dust somewhere. But then the story changed after Jodi started doing more press and wanted to get a PI on the case.

[23:16] I did Crime Watch Daily. I think that was... [23:21] That was with Chris Hansen. That was about five or six years ago. And that's when... [23:32] I met a private investigator when we were doing that, and he said, "Why don't you try to get the records?" He would start helping with Jody's case. And he had a friend that was a lawyer, and he ended up, like we tried to get, we filed the Maryland Public Information Act, and they said, "No, you're not getting anything." And that's when my lawyer was like, "Well, we'll just sue them for the records." That's how that all started. [23:58] You know, I had the lawsuit. My family put in almost $30,000 with almost $20,000 in legal fees trying to get records. You know, we filed the Maryland Public Information Act. We couldn't even see the original police report, which is public record. I mean, they would show us nothing. [24:13] I'm assuming they wouldn't give her the file because they said it was an active case. Right. But that's what makes Jenny so frustrated. Because, again, before she was told that her sister's case was collecting dust. And now that she had someone willing to, like, brush it off, she was told that it's active. And she, you know, being told that it's active, but she didn't feel like they were actually being straight with her and working on it. Because, you know, she's saying, you're telling me it's active, but I'm not hearing about any progress. I'm not seeing action. Yeah. Right. So what happened with the lawsuit? [24:43] you [24:44] Well, eventually they reached a confidential agreement, so Jenny couldn't go into too much detail about it. But she did tell me, and this is a direct quote, that the deal is pretty much, quote, basically I shut up and go away and they're going to get active on the case again, end quote. Which sounds nice in theory if it means they get busy, but they filed this suit in 2016. It is almost 2020 now, and she says they're still in the same spot that they were on March 2nd, 1996.

[25:14] And as you can imagine, Jenny is... [25:16] unbelievably frustrated. Because not only are these offices not giving her and her representatives access to the files they want, they're also refusing help from other reputable sources. So according to Jenny, earlier this year, MVAC offered to fly out to Maryland and do their tests at a local private lab. Wait, what's MVAC? Okay, so I had to look it up too. I'd heard of it a thousand times, but I didn't know the details. So it's this advanced type of DNA testing that's [25:46] traditionally like super hard to collect from. Like it's really good for porous surfaces. Like in one case, they used it to get DNA off of a river rock and maybe off of wet clothes in another case. So and their testing also covers larger areas than traditional DNA test kits. And this isn't like a random startup. Like MBAC tests are used all over the country. This is like a super legit thing. So this MBAC company sees Jenny's appearance on NBC News with Lester Holt and they [26:16] free, but [26:17] Like, the police have to, like, let us in. We can't just, like, that's not how it works. We can't just come in and take everything. Right. And the police turn them down. [26:25] they've been offered that MBAC testing for free. Because when I did the interview with Lester Holt, they were convinced that this, they did like a reenactment of the crime scene. They said that this person touched Jodi and, um, [26:38] And they were offered for free to do this MBAC testing. They were going to come to Maryland and do the filters, the DNA filters in a private lab. And they refused. They won't do it.

[26:48] Well, they say, well, we didn't say we wouldn't do it, but it's going to be our last resort. And I'm like, 23 and a half years later. [26:56] Because of instances like this, Jenny wondered out loud to me often, what do they not want me to see? What are they hiding? [27:07] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [27:26] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now. [27:33] wherever you get your podcasts. [27:37] Remember how I said Jenny told me that police had a suspect at one point or that person of interest? Yeah. Well, Jenny eventually found out that they actually had two. [27:48] So there's two that they say they've been looking at, and neither one that had any [27:56] that they could put together with Jodi, but they say that fit the description, had that type of car. [28:05] One had, you know, they had brought in, had failed lie detector tests. [28:11] They said that they did it twice, the lie detector test. And he had lied about his alibi, who he was with.

[28:20] that that came out later. [28:22] So I asked Jenny to like kind of lay out the timeline for me a little bit because I remember we knew about that first suspect like six months in. They didn't find out for 15 years after Jodi's death. And we find out, she told me, that they didn't tell her about the other suspect until four years ago, which is 19 years after Jodi's murder. [28:41] Now, because of stuff like this, Jenny has perceived there to be a lack of communication from the lead investigator. And she told me when she does get to communicate with him, she kind of gets these like flippant remarks that makes her believe that her sister's case really isn't a priority. Like, for example, this is what she told me about a time after she learned about the two suspects when she wanted to know if they were going to go talk to one of them in prison. [29:04] and and when he looked at me and i was like when are you going to go talk to him because the guy's locked up and he looked at me and he said oh well there's a great [29:12] near where the sky is locked up. There's a great chicken and crab cake restaurant near there. I'd like to make my way down there and try that. [29:21] like talking about [29:23] going to interview [29:24] the person that they think killed my sister. [29:27] Now, this is one of the tamer interactions Jenny says she's had with them. She said there were more off-color remarks made that she wasn't comfortable sharing. But it's because of stuff like this that she has made repeated requests for a new detective to be put on the case. But all of those requests have so far been ignored, even years after Jodi's case went cold. And this is what Jodi's been up against since 1996 with local law enforcement in Baltimore County as she tries to find her twin sister's killer.

[29:57] turns out, Jodi was shot just over the county line. So technically, it is a Baltimore County police case. And they're the ones in charge of the investigation, not Baltimore City. Now, the two departments do work closely together. So at one point, the Baltimore City police chief actually reached out to Jenny. This was like a couple of years ago. And they offered to help. But again, before they could do anything, they have to get approval and permission from the [30:27] to butt out, which blows her mind. It kind of blows my mind. Yeah, me too. I mean, what does the county have to lose by letting the city police come in? Well, again, this is why Jenny can't help but get a little conspiratorial when every offer for outside help is rejected and she knows that nothing is happening internally. [30:47] Like they're protecting somebody. I mean, I don't understand like how all that works, but that's what a lot of people say to me. They're like, it sounds like it was like an informant. Is that what they call it, right? Yeah. Like somebody that works for them. [31:01] that they're protecting. [31:02] When I talked to Jenny, she just kept saying, like, look at all the evidence they have up to this point. They have a handful of witnesses. They have fingerprints. They have video footage. They have a suspect description and a description of the car and possible persons of interest. Like, people. [31:15] It is a significant chunk of information. Yeah, I guess just to be clear, her theory is that maybe whoever did this was somebody that the police needed, like a confidential informant or something. Right. So that's what she's maybe thinking. Again, I mean, she's the first one to say she has no idea. She just is trying to come up with an explanation for why these things are happening. But I don't know. Like, I'll be totally honest. It's a little hard for me to see.

[31:45] cold-blooded murder to keep an informant? I mean, unless it was part of something bigger. I mean, I guess. I mean, this could be like a small piece to a bigger case, but you'd think that they would have explained that like 10, 15, 20 years after to the family. Like to me, it's more likely that maybe mistakes were made in the investigation. Like Jenny herself said, it was sloppy early on. Maybe they just don't want sloppy to be exposed. And I mean, it's Baltimore. [32:15] no sloppy has been done in Baltimore County before. And anytime I brought this case up to people I know in law enforcement here in Indiana, they'd be like, oof, Baltimore, like you're not going to get anywhere. And, [32:26] It very well could be an overgeneralization, but departments tend to get a reputation for a reason. [32:32] Well, and it makes you wonder when a case is mishandled, you know, who's policing the police? Whether something is being covered up or it was just mistakes that were made, like, how do they get held responsible for correcting it? And that's exactly what Jenny said. So she started looking for ways to actually try and hold them accountable. And that's when she got inspiration from an unlikely source. In late 2017, a movie came out called Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. [33:02] But it tells a story of a mother fighting to keep attention on her daughter's unsolved murder case by putting up three billboards calling out law enforcement and demanding to know why they haven't made more progress on catching the killer. Now, the movie gave Jenny an idea. She knew that specific type of pain all too well. And she tried and tried and tried to get answers from law enforcement and politicians but was getting nowhere. So she wondered, like, hey, why not make life imitate art?

[33:32] started putting up billboards around Baltimore County, Maryland, where Jodi died. That's actually a pretty great idea. I thought so too. So starting in the fall of 2018, that's exactly what Jenny does. She commissions a billboard of her own asking for information leading to Jodi's killer. And it's really striking. I saw photos on NBC News and Jenny even sent me some of her own copies. And there's Jodi with her big, bright smile, long blonde hair, just like, [33:58] frozen in time with the words, find my killer emblazoned above her head. Now, Jenny followed up that first billboard with three more this past March to mark the anniversary of Jodi's death. Some of the billboards point towards getting information about the killer. Others are directed right towards law enforcement asking for Jodi's records. And when I say like direct, I mean, they are direct, like straight out calling people out by name. After her first billboard, Jenny [34:28] billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, the main character directly names members of law enforcement who she believes haven't worked hard enough to solve her daughter's case. So Jenny's billboards in the spring of 2019 do the same thing. In one, there was Jodi's photo with like this little quote bubble calling out the state's attorney. And it said, quote, S.A. Schellenberg, release my records. Okay. [34:51] Another one after that goes right after the governor. And there's Jodi again, smile frozen in time, asking, quote, Governor Hogan, will you please help my family find my killer? Yeah, those are pretty direct. Yeah, and I think these billboards appeal to her so much because to her, when it is that public, Jenny is finally not the only one asking the questions. It challenges the viewer because once you see the billboard, you're asking, too, well, yeah, who killed Jodi? Where are her records?

[35:21] pressure on the government and law enforcement to provide real substantive answers. All in all, Jenny has put up seven billboards over the past year and continues fighting despite the impact it's had on her life and her relationships. [35:35] You know, when my husband found out some things I was doing because I was lying. You know, as long as I was having an affair, but I was lying about trying to solve my sister's case. And he's like, don't let the bullet that took her... [35:49] So many people in Jodi's family can't understand why she can't let this go. But [35:55] It's her sister. I mean, I get it. And we can help. Jenny says the only way for her sister's case to be solved is for people to never forget about her and to continually put pressure on law enforcement and public officials to solve this case. Jenny wants to continue putting up billboards around Baltimore, but she's depleted most of her personal funds at this point. Like those billboards can cost like two to three grand per placement for just a couple of weeks. So we gave Jenny funds [36:25] December 16th, 2019, and she started a GoFundMe for more. So if you feel compelled to help, like you can. I never want any of us to forget that every week we're talking about the worst life-altering moments in real people's lives. Jenny lost her sister forever. So even if you can just contribute a dollar, please do. If you can't afford anything, what you can do is share Jodi's story on social media, get a friend to listen, get people talking.

[36:55] Because that is just as valuable. And the more I talk to people like this, you know, talking to Jodi reminded me so much of talking to Sarah Turney about losing a sister. And sometimes, like, I look at them and it has to feel like you are just screaming into a void. And sometimes no one is listening. And how can people not care enough to just be enraged that this is happening? So it's important to always remember, again, these are real people. [37:25] episode, there is something you can do. [37:27] While Jenny's primary focus remains on planning her next billboard and solving Jodi's case, she is also turning her attention to a greater good. So she's been in contact with other families going through similar things. And together, they're all in the very earliest stages of coming up with legislation designed to get more information from law enforcement. Now, this is something that is, you know, probably far in the distant future, but it's another small step on Jenny's road towards closure, both for herself and for her sister, who she loved so much. [37:57] If you want to donate to Jenny's Billboard Fund, I'm going to have a link on our website, CrimeJunkiePodcast.com. We'll also have pictures from this case and all of our sources. And be sure to follow us on Instagram at Crime Junkie Podcast. And we'll be back next week with a brand new episode.

[38:27] Thank you. [38:51] you [38:51] *music* [38:53] you [38:56] *music* [38:59] Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? [39:06] Okay, Crime Junkies, you know I absolutely love a twist and a turn, especially when it comes to people who turn out to be someone they're not. That's why I have been obsessed with the podcast Chameleon. Every Thursday, host Josh Dean deep dives into a scam so bizarre, it will leave you wondering, how did they get away with that? [39:25] It is truly one of my favorite podcasts right now and I've been listening for years. [39:29] I think you'll love it too. [39:30] Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.