MURDERED: Lizzbeth Aleman-Popoca

0:00Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And today's story, the one I have for you, is a powerful, tragic reminder that the most dangerous time in an abusive relationship often comes when a victim is trying to break free. And that sometimes the person closest to you can become your worst enemy. This is the story of Lisbeth Alman Popoca.

0:54It's Wednesday, July 1st, 2020, and Yeneth Allman's phone rings with a call that she's not expecting. On the other end is her sister's longtime boyfriend, Jonathan. Now, in all the years that she's known him, Jonathan has only ever called her for one thing, like to arrange child care for their daughter, Yeneth's seven-year-old niece. But this isn't one of those calls. I mean, right off the bat, Jonathan asks her if she knows where her sister, Lisbeth, is because he says she's fully just like MIA. And she's left their daughter, Astrid, at their East Haven, Connecticut apartment alone. And again, she's seven.

1:31In fact, it was Astrid who alerted him to Lisbeth's absence in the first place. I guess when she woke up, she realized that mom wasn't there and she called him. That was at like 9.15 in the morning, just as he was kind of wrapping up his shift at UPS. And he said he really didn't think much of it at first. Like he thought maybe Lisbeth just stepped out for a minute. So he kind of was just, you know, assuaged her concerns, you know, finished his shift, headed home as usual. But when he got there at around 10, there was still no sign of Lisbeth. And her car, a 2007 white Lexus, was gone too. When's the last time anyone saw her?

2:07Well, Yanneth talked to her sister the night before via Instagram. And Jonathan says that he was with her in bed and then he left for work. So that was at like 3.15 in the morning. He works that like kind of overnight shift. So it hasn't been that long that they've gone without talking to her. But Yaneth knows her sister's world revolves around Astrid. Like, there isn't a world where she would just leave her alone, especially since Yaneth is always available to babysit. Again, that's what she was kind of expecting the call to be. So Jonathan also says that Astrid isn't the only thing that she left behind.

2:41Her phone is still there. So he's like, I can't even try and call her. But even though her phone is there, along with her car, some other things are gone. Like her purse, her passport, some clothes, and apparently$10 ,000 from their safe. Oh, that kind of sounds like she left on purpose. Yeah. Or at least there's like some clear signs of that, right? Those like important things. Yeah. So Yaneth wonders if her sister maybe just needed some space. And so she asked Jonathan like the obvious question. Did you guys have a fight? And he admits like, yeah, we did have this like little argument the night before, but it wasn't serious.

3:20We kissed. We made up before bed. The thing is that Yaneth is pretty sure that's not the full story. Because Lisbeth and Jonathan have been together for over a decade since they were in high school. And though she was private, Lisbeth had confided in her sister about some issues that they had. And honestly, some issues is an understatement. Their relationship was straight up toxic. Like she caught Jonathan cheating multiple times. They had broken up, reconciled more than once. Like, over and over again, she stayed for their daughter, even though he wasn't exactly a doting father. And things had only gone from bad to worse recently.

3:57So back in May, this is just a couple of months before, Yeneth had planned this cookout. And her sister was supposed to come with Astrid. But they didn't end up going. And Lisbeth said that she didn't feel well. But the next time Yeneth saw her, her arm was in a sling and her shoulder was really swollen. and three fingers on her left hand were bruised, like almost purple. And Lisbeth said that she and Jonathan had gotten into a fight. But Yeneth told our reporter Nina that sometime after that, she noticed this shift in Lisbeth. Like Lisbeth seemed done this time, like done for real. She was looking for a job.

4:37She was reconnecting with her love of art by designing stickers and decals, hoping to turn that creative outlet into a business and gain some independence. And just a couple of days before all of this, on June 29th, Lisbeth even put in a rental application for an apartment in Yanneth's complex, planning to move there as soon as possible without Jonathan. Now, as far as Yanneth could tell, Lisbeth was ready to end things for good this time. And had Jonathan realized that? Yeah, she'd made it clear to him. Okay. But whether he understood how serious she was, I don't know, right? Like they've done this like back and forth thing before.

5:16So as Yanneth's talking to him, she has all of this like history running through her mind. But she's still not panicking. Not yet. The leaving her daughter behind does not make any sense like any way you cut it. But other signs point to her getting away just for a minute. So Jonathan and Yanneth make arrangements for her to watch Astrid so he can go looking for Elizabeth. And of course, the second they're alone, Yeneth starts doing what we would do. She's like asking Astrid questions. I mean, Astrid's seven. She's old enough to know kind of what's going on. So like, did you hear your parents fighting?

5:51Do you have any idea where your mom went? And Astrid says that her mom took her to bed in Elizabeth's room the night before. And she was there when Astrid fell asleep. But then Astrid said when she wakes up, her mom is just gone. And her side of the bed was already made. But Astrid doesn't remember any arguments. She doesn't remember any strange noises, like nothing woke her up in the night. And while she doesn't seem frightened, she is acting sort of odd. Like she's looking around Yaneth's apartment with almost this intense focus. And then she tells her aunt that she's going to be living here now.

6:27Wait, that Astrid is going to be living there with her aunt? Yeah, and she's like taken aback. Like she doesn't know what it means, but she doesn't even really dwell on it at first. So a few hours pass and it's weird because there's just no word even from Jonathan. So Yanneth eventually calls him to check in. And he says he's talked to a couple of Lisbeth's friends. No one knows anything. And then he's like, well, I'm going to go do some laundry now. OK. I mean, unless he's like out of underwear, what's the rush? Like, even if you are like, it's it's strange because to Yanneth, like he doesn't seem at all worried.

7:04So Astrid ends up staying the night with Yanneth, almost like the first sign of this self-fulfilling prophecy. And the next day is an even harder one, because the next day actually is Lisbeth's birthday. Now, this is when Jonathan finally shows back up, but he's not there to pick up his daughter. He's dropping off groceries, like a lot of groceries, as if he is planning on Astrid staying with Yanneth for a while. So Yoneth sits him down and presses him for information. And that's when Jonathan starts painting a troubling picture of Lisbeth. He says that she just hasn't been herself lately, that she's been severely depressed.

7:44She's been drinking a lot, smoking weed, even seeing other men, specifically a guy named Jose that they knew from high school. And in fact, Jonathan says that he's trying to track down where Jose lives to see if maybe she's there with him. Because as far as he's concerned, you know, the reason he's like, I'm not worried, is he thinks Elizabeth isn't in danger. She must have just run off with some guy. And Yanneth knows Elizabeth has been struggling, but everything else he's saying doesn't line up with the sister that she knows. Jonathan's making himself out to be almost like the victim here, saying that he doesn't know what he did to deserve this, and he's wondering about how he's going to care for Astrid.

8:21And it's just like, well, it doesn't seem like he's planning on taking care of Astrid. Like, it seems like he's going to leave her there with Yaneth. Yeah. And the more he talks, the more uneasy Yaneth feels. And that's when she realizes it's time to tell their dad, Albino, what's going on. Now, Lisbeth and Albino aren't super close. You see, Lisbeth and Yaneth grew up in Guerrero, Mexico. And when their parents moved to the U.S. in 2001, the girls actually stayed behind with their grandparents. But their parents split. Their mom basically kind of bowed out of their lives and they didn't join Albino in Connecticut until around 2010.

9:01That's when Lisbeth was 16. So there was like a lot of formative bonding years that were missed. And rebuilding that relationship had been tough. But at the end of the day, Lisbeth is still his daughter. So he comes over while Yanneth and Jonathan are still there, still talking this out. And when he hears what's going on and he hears Jonathan's version of events, Albino can't shake the same feeling Yanneth has. Like, none of this makes sense. But there's a new detail now that Jonathan adds. He insists that Lisbeth actually did take her phone with her. He says not her regular cell phone, but one of those, like, phones that only works on Wi-Fi.

9:42So Albino's like, okay, I need to see this for myself. That night, he makes Jonathan take him back to their apartment and he checks all over inside. But there's like nothing weird. No sign of a struggle, no damage, no strange smells, no clues at all even about where Elizabeth might have gone. So the next morning, this is now Friday, July 3rd, Albino drives by their place again just to see if anything has changed. There's still no sign of Elizabeth or her car. And that's when he decides it's time to bring in law enforcement. So he calls Jonathan, who agrees to meet them at Yeneth so they can all go to the East Haven Police Department together.

10:20But this is when things get really strange. So within minutes of that call to Jonathan, at 1040 a.m., Yanneth's phone buzzes with messages that stop her in her tracks. Okay, so the incoming texts are from a number that Yaneth doesn't recognize with a Florida area code. Again, they're in Connecticut. So the area code is 727. And the person who's sending these texts are claiming to be Lisbeth. But they're written in Spanish. Now, I wrote out what the rough translations are that I'm going to have you read. Okay. They say, Hey girl, how are you? Sorry for what I did with Astrid. I'm not going to be able to help Jonathan by myself, please.

11:07I'm good. Don't worry about me, please. I'll call Jonathan now to tell him how things are. I don't want to talk to anyone for the moment. Give me my space. I just want to put down my thoughts and what I want to do. So she gets these and does the immediate thing that I would do. She hits the call button and tries to get this person on the phone who's claiming to be Lisbeth. She waits. She waits. The phone rings and it rings and it rings. That timing, it feels so coincidental, way too coincidental. Yeah, no one is picking up on the other end. And when Jonathan arrives, he's like, oh, guess what I just got?

11:44I got these texts from Lisbeth, too. And he says that she basically told him she wasn't happy with him, that she wanted a fresh start, and that someday after she gets her life together, she's going to come back for Astrid. And while the text might have set off all the, like, sister spidey senses, Jonathan is just like, well, now we know what happened. Like, nothing more we can do here. Let's just keep, like, living our lives. Certainly no reason that we need to, like, get the cops involved. Like, right, folks? No, absolutely wrong. Yeah. So her dad and her sister are more convinced than ever that they need to go to the police.

12:17And they do get Jonathan back on board with that plan. He just wants to do one thing first. Like, can I real quick sign over custody of Astrid to Albino and Yanneth? I guess he's worried that going to the police will trigger a report to the Department of Children and Families, and he doesn't want them to take Astrid away. So to him, signing over custody seems like the safer option, which like, I would say you have experience with stuff like this. Yeah, like can he even do that without the other parent there? Like he's only one of two people who have custody of Astrid. The short answer is no. Something like that requires a court order.

12:55He says he wants to basically just get like a notarized letter or something. which again, like not how it works, but they do, they go, they do that. And it feels weird to everyone, but they have bigger concerns on their minds that afternoon. So they do this, then they go to the police, and then they sit down with an East Haven officer who asked Jonathan to walk him through everything. And he gives them the same story. And while there are no new details, there are a couple of interesting takeaways. Even though him and Lisbeth aren't married, he keeps referring to her as his wife. and he just completely leaves out everything about the text that he supposedly had gotten from her.

13:35Wait, the ones that made him, like, feel so much better and nothing's wrong. Right. Now, luckily, Yanneth's there, too, and she's like, oh, by the way, like, show him the messages that she supposedly sent you. I'll show you the messages she supposedly sent me. So he shows the officer the messages, and the officer tries calling the number himself, just like Yanneth did. He doesn't get an answer, but he leaves a message asking Lisbeth to contact East Haven Police Department when she gets the message. I'm going to be honest. I don't think Lisbeth is going to get the message. I don't either. So while the officer waits for that callback, he ticks the basic like missing person boxes, like checks the hospitals, enters her information into their system, enters her car information into their system, into like their state database.

14:19But during the next couple of days, it doesn't sound like much else happens on law enforcement's end. Although I know that a cop does go by Jonathan's to speak with him at least once. Maybe they were thinking that Elizabeth would come back on her own. I don't know. But her family isn't going to just sit around and wait. They, along with Jonathan, start driving around, looking every place they can think of for her or her car. They check beaches, train stations, motels, everywhere and anywhere they can think of. And all the while, they can't help but notice that Jonathan still doesn't seem very worried.

14:55And that only ramps up Yoneth and Albino's suspicions. He was the last person to see her. If he doesn't know where she is, then who does? Every possible scenario is running through their heads, each one worse than the last at this point. And were they close with Jonathan before this? Like, is this kind of, I guess I'm trying to figure out, like, is this in line with what they know about him? Like, do they have, like, any sort of context? I don't know. I don't know if you could call them close. I mean, they weren't all best friends. But I mean, in the beginning, everyone liked him. He and Yaneth hung out because of Lisbeth.

15:27Like, he seemed respectful, responsible. He was working two jobs. I mean, he had the one at UPS. He had another one at a local Italian eatery. But Yaneth has seen, or at least she's had exposure to his manipulative side over the years. So I think their, like, perception of him changed a little bit. Like, he would barely help with Astrid. But the minute Lisbeth tried to pull away, he would use her, Astrid, as like a ploy to reel her back in. And even during the like good times, Yanneth noticed Lisbeth never seemed truly happy with Jonathan. There was always like a missing spark. But even with everything she knew, including their recent physical fight, Yanneth said that she never imagined that her sister might be in real danger around him.

16:14But now that has all changed. So by Sunday, July 5th, Albino and Yaneth decide to conduct their own search. So while Jonathan is at work, they head to St. Andrew Avenue where he and Lisbeth live. Their duplex is at the end of this dead-end road right next to an elementary school. Now Lisbeth and Jonathan are on the bottom floor and their landlord lives upstairs. So that's actually where they start. And the landlord tells them that he didn't hear anything unusual that night that she disappeared or in the early morning hours. No commotion, no loud noises. But he does remember something strange. He says that Lisbeth's white Lexus was parked in the driveway for a while on the morning of July 1st.

16:59In fact, his wife had to ask Jonathan to move the car just after 11 a.m. because it was blocking her in. And this was so odd because Jonathan and Elizabeth always parked on the street. They never parked in the driveway. Well, and I thought he said her car was gone when he got home. Bingo. He did say her car was gone when he got home. Which is just more confirmation that they're on the right track. But they need proof. Solid proof, like video footage. Now, the landlord doesn't have any. And as they visit neighbors, they are told again and again that cameras they have don't work. Or they won't let strangers just look through their video.

17:36So just as they're ready to give up, Yaneth tries one last house down the street from Lisbeth's apartment. And this resident agrees to let her check her camera that was working. And that is when they see it. Lisbeth's so-called missing Lexus going up and down the street twice on July 1st. Once at 5.51 p.m. and once again at 8.22 p.m. and none other than Jonathan is behind the wheel. So the moment Yanneth sees that video, I mean, her blood runs cold. And in that moment, just then, guess who drives by? Jonathan is pulling up onto the street, which is like perfect timing. And they're not going to play coy.

18:27Like they have proof now that he is lying to them. So they walk right over and confront him. And at first, it's like more of the same. Like, oh, she must have run off with some guy. He has no idea where she is. And then he switches it up and he's like, okay, listen, I know she's okay, but I can't tell you what she's doing. She has to be the one to share that. It's not mine to share. And then he changes it again. And he's like, okay, fine, fine, fine. I'll tell you the truth. Now he claims that Elizabeth went to Mexico. Now, since she's undocumented, he says that her plan was to marry someone to, quote unquote, fix her papers.

19:07But thanks to the missing persons report that they filed, now she's stuck at the border. And the only way he says that they can help her is by retracting that missing persons report and telling police that she's not actually missing. Hold up. She went to Mexico to marry someone to get her U.S. immigration papers in order? It doesn't make sense. And now she's supposedly stuck in Mexico or the U.S.? I truly have no, like, I don't know what he's saying. I don't know if he's saying she's in America or I don't know if he's saying that she's in Mexico. I don't know. But he's been lying to everyone about this because?

19:40Because he says that he didn't know how to break the news to Albino that his daughter ran off to Mexico. Like, he was just so worried about Albino's feelings. Okay, none of this BS even explains the car, though. Like, if you're going to tell us a story, tell us a whole story, Jonathan. Yeah. So according to him, she did take her car at first, but then she came back because she'd forgotten something and then she needed to go meet this guy. So he says that he drove her somewhere. And where is her car now? Dude, I don't know. Like, Yoneth wants to like explode. Like, it doesn't make sense. And she wants to demand that he like sit down and actually tell them everything.

20:21But by now, she's seeing a pattern. Like, if she can stay calm, if she can just let Jonathan talk, every time he does reveal something new, even if each detail contradicts the last and even if it all feels like lies, like, it does feel like we're getting somewhere. Right. So she plays along like, OK, look, you're the only one who can help us find the car. Just tell us where it is. And he starts naming a dozen different spots. It's in a garage. It's by a beach. It's under a tree. Until finally he levels with them. It is actually parked on the street near his relative's house in nearby New Haven.

21:08as East Haven Captain Joseph Mergo told us when investigators pull up to this house on Monday July 6 they are stunned because right there a mile from Jonathan and Elizabeth's apartment is Elizabeth supposedly missing Lexus now they have a lot of questions for Jonathan's relative the person whose house this is by but this person says Jonathan never mentioned that he was leaving the car there He just dropped it off a few days ago. And when this guy, his name's Carlos, when he asked Jonathan why, Jonathan claimed that he couldn't fit the Lexus at home because he was already working on a few cars and he didn't have room in the yard for it.

21:48But like, hi. That's a lie. It's a lie. Police know that's a lie because when they'd been by to speak with him before, there were no other cars in the yard. Now, Carlos may be cooperating, but it's not like he's totally on their team. Because again, like this is his cousin. And guess who Carlos called at some point? While the officers are still on the scene, Jonathan rolls up, totally unannounced, to just, like, help fill in some of the gaps, you know, make sure they have, like, the right narrative. And Jonathan admits he is the one who drove the Lexus there on Thursday, July 2nd, and that he lied about it being missing.

22:26And he claims that he was embarrassed that Lisbeth had left him to go to Mexico to start this new life. So, yeah, he knows that he's lied about the car. He knows that it looks bad, but he's like, it doesn't really change anything. Not really, because the bottom line, he says, is that she left on her own and she's totally fine. So police tow the Lexus to headquarters and the next day they do an emergency ping on that 727 number, the one that was texting them saying Lisbeth. Which, by the way, like so weird, no one's called them back. And oh, also super weird. It's not a number that is registered to a specific person like a landline or cell phone would be like something where you would go through a provider.

23:06No, this is registered to a pinger, which is one of those apps that lets you basically get a free phone number. But like any level of pseudo stealthiness ends here because the account is registered to Jonathan with the email address Jonathan Jarrah 2020. His full name is Jonathan Jarrah Acupina, by the way. So like real brilliant here. So they decide it's time to look harder at the last place Lisbeth was known to be, which is the apartment. And Jonathan agrees to let them take a look around. He even hands over his and Lisbeth's phones along with her laptop. He also goes to the station for another interview.

23:46And this time around, he refers to Lisbeth as his ex-wife. Oh, yeah. And he says that he knew she wasn't happy. He knew she wanted to leave him. She'd been struggling with depression, he says, and they've been having problems. And he admits that he had been unfaithful, but says that she was also seeing other men. And in fact, they had discussed the possibility of having an open relationship at some point. and she mentioned he says wanting to visit various guys in Mexico. And he says that their daughter even told him that Lisbeth wanted to marry someone else. But he swears he never laid a hand on Lisbeth, despite what her family might think.

24:25And actually, he claims she was the one who got physical during that fight a few months back, that she hit him and that's how she hurt her arm and hand. Mm-hmm. And what does he have to say about that 727 number? He's like, he's shocked. He's totally stunned. He had no idea like how it's even possible. Maybe someone set it up under his name using an old email address that was his, which like, I don't know if they were able to subpoena the records before talking to him. But like, old email might ask. It's the year 2020. Yeah, like you're telling me Jonathan Jarrah 2020 was not from 2020. Like, OK, my guy.

25:02But it gets even better or like, I mean, honestly, it gets even worse because over the next few days, he keeps denying any connection to that number. Even after police discover that it was last used from an IP address that matches his home Wi-Fi. OK, so now what? She's like texting everyone from the bathroom that she's hiding in? Again, he's like, I has no explanation. He just insists it is not him. The only way to break this guy is basically to catch him dead to rights in the lie. So they walk away from that interview to go gather information. They do another search of his house. They get more cell phone records, including from Pinger, showing that the account with the 727 number was created at 1038 a.m.

25:49on Friday, July 3rd, which is right after, yes, Albina told Jonathan to meet them so they could go report her missing. I was going to say, the text came through at 1040? I know, and exactly two minutes before Yaneth got that first text from Lisbeth. So Captain Mergo and another investigator sit down with Jonathan that Saturday evening, and they are gravely aware that no one has seen or heard from Lisbeth, the real Lisbeth by this point, for 10 days. And East Haven PD actually gave us a clip of that interview. We are giving you an opportunity to come clean here. And I see how uncomfortable you are because, quite frankly, sir, you should be.