NEW SHOW: The Truth About Natalie

0:00This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is a frequent topic on this show, but let's talk about why people love it. You can check it out yourself, too, at betterhelp.com slash reviews. The reviews are updated every day with hundreds of people saying how much they love BetterHelp and how helpful it's been to them. More than 6 million people globally trust BetterHelp, and with an average live session rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars, based on over 1.7 million client reviews, the data speaks for itself. See the reviews, see what stands out, and see if BetterHelp is right for you. Visit BetterHelp.com slash Crime Junkie.

0:30That's BetterHelp.com slash Crime Junkie. What if finding the missing person didn't answer the mystery? What if it only made it stranger? In a new audio check limited series, The Truth About Natalie, host Sean Kuype investigates the disappearance and death of 27-year-old Natalie Jones. What starts as a missing persons case uncovers allegations of abuse, hidden secrets, conflicting evidence, and one haunting question. Was Natalie the victim of a tragic accident? Or did someone have a reason to silence her? Listen to The Truth About Natalie now, wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, crime junkies.

1:14This week, I'm taking my first, like, real, real vacation since starting this podcast eight and a half years ago. Like, truly unplugging can't be reached, or at least that is the hope as of this recording. Wish me luck. But you know I would never leave you hanging on a Monday. And actually, I've been working on something bigger than a single episode to bring you while I'm gone. I've been working on a lot, actually. There is a fan club episode available this Monday, now in video version, on our YouTube channel. A case that will be totally new to any crime junkie who isn't in the fan club. And I already prepared a new episode for you next Monday.

1:50And while you wait, how about a limited series that I EP'd with Sean Kipe? I know that you guys get deeply invested in mysterious death of cases. And this one takes the cake. It begins when 27-year-old Natalie Jones disappears after leaving a 4th of July gathering in Alabama. Nearly three months later, Natalie is found dead inside her car, hidden in the woods. Kind of. But instead of this discovery bringing answers, this discovery only deepens the mystery. The Truth About Natalie is a new Audio Check Investigate series hosted by investigative journalist Sean Kipe. Through exclusive interviews, original reporting, and Natalie's own recordings, The series takes a closer look at what happened and why people who knew and loved Natalie believe that there are still important questions left unanswered.

2:48Today, I'm going to share episode one of The Truth About Natalie right here in the Crime Junkie feed. And if you like it, the second episode is available for you wherever you get your podcasts. Enjoy.

3:04This podcast discusses issues such as drug use, self-harm, sexual abuse, violence, and assault. Listener discretion is advised.

3:21Particle Entertainment

3:26First, let me say that I'm not mad at nobody.

3:36This is not what I'm sharing my story. I'm sharing my story because this is my life. This is my story. This is what I made it out of. It's the truth. It happened. I have been ridiculed. that's what's wrong with the world these days because of the fact people get stuff done to them and then they get ridiculed about it why why

4:14it has been a long road and god brought me out of this and i know he's with me i know he has a plan and that is the only reason i'm sharing my stories because I'm hoping to help somebody along the way to not give up no matter what.

4:38Natalie Jones was 27 years old when she died, not long after she recorded those words. A free spirit, Natalie was kind, loving, and always smiling. Or so it seemed. but behind that smile lived pain hidden from much of the world around her. No one knew the secrets Natalie kept, that her life was a turbulent one filled with years of trauma and abuse. She kept a facade that would eventually crumble away. She made it her mission to help others by sharing those painful experiences publicly but in a tragic twist of fate, Natalie Jones wouldn't live long enough to tell her whole story, a story that some believe may have played a role in her untimely death.

5:30Through journal entries, social media, video, and audio recordings, you'll hear Natalie in her own words. She will recount allegations of abuse, grooming, and rape as we peer through a deeply candid and heartbreaking lens into her own personal struggles to answer the question, was Natalie's death a tragic and unfortunate accident, or was it something much darker? Was Natalie killed in the process of publicly sharing the darkest chapters of her life and naming names? That's what I aim to find out. Everyone has a backstory, and everyone has secrets. These are Natalie's secrets, and this is her story, the one she never had the chance to finish telling.

6:22Now, I'll attempt to pick up where she left off and find out what really is the truth about Natalie.

6:50I'm Sean Kipe. From AudioChuck and Particle Entertainment, this is The Truth About Natalie.

7:04My name is Sean Kipe. I'm an Atlanta-based podcaster and investigative journalist. For me, Natalie's story all began more than a year ago. That's when Jennifer Peterson contacted me seeking help. It involves the high-profile case of Natalie Jones in 2020. She went missing and was found under very suspicious circumstances, and we were fighting to get justice for her. Before Jennifer Peterson reached out to me, I'd not heard the name Natalie Jones before. I asked her to send me some basic info about the case. And what Jennifer shared intrigued me. She became involved in the search for Natalie shortly after she vanished in July of 2020 and has since emerged as one of Natalie's fiercest advocates.

7:50Jennifer believes foul play was involved in Natalie's death, and her dedication to uncovering what happened has been unwavering. She is incredibly well-versed in every detail of this case. You'll hear from her often. Over the past few years, she's worked tirelessly with a small, determined team of like-minded advocates for Natalie to piece together the truth. Throughout this time, she would send me frequent updates, theories, interviews, case files, and as their work deepened, I couldn't help but find myself drawn in. The case was perplexing, and there was no clear explanation for what happened to Natalie Jones.

8:27And really, that's what this podcast is all about. What really happened to Natalie? What events transpired in her life that ultimately led to her mysterious death? And is there someone responsible for her death? I do have the entire case file, which myself, select group of others, and we do have a federal agent that will be reviewing the case. I think a lot of people don't realize how powerful Natalie's story is. It is incredibly powerful. Toward the end of 2024, I began to read through all the information I was sent once again, trying to wrap my head around what it all meant, trying to make sense of what happened and determine if a crime had in fact even been committed.

9:13What I learned left me with the uneasy feeling that there could be more to Natalie's death than what lay on the surface. On the evening of Saturday, July 4th, 2020, Natalie left a party in Jackson's Gap, Alabama, heading home about an hour and a half away to Corinth, Georgia. The intimate party she attended was a last-minute plan. A chance to relax and unwind. The year leading up to this point had been a rough one for Natalie. She'd struggled to hold a steady job and have a permanent place to call home for her and her two young children, Trent and Isaac, who were both staying with their fathers for the weekend.

9:51Recently, Natalie'd moved back in with her mother Elaine and her roommate. She'd planned to pick up her half-sister Tabitha's two children early the next morning and babysit them while Tabitha was at work. Wearing white jean shorts A red and white striped shirt And a pair of black sandals Emblazoned with sparkly plastic gemstones She placed her phone And white Oakley sunglasses Into her bag And tossed it into her car At some point Just before 11pm central time She waved goodbye one last time Through the windows of her hot pink 2002 Chevy Cavalier And drove into the night The last text Natalie sent was at 12.52 a.m.

10:32saying, I made it. Thanks. Much of what happened next remains a mystery more than six years later. Natalie Jones disappeared 4th of July weekend. A loving mother to two boys is missing. No contact, no sightings. Her family is desperately trying to find her. She left Alabama on July 5th, heading for home, but she never made it. Jones went missing. All activity on her social media and bank accounts. This is the last scene in Jackson's Gap, Alabama, in her hot pink Chevy. Is that her car? A bright pink 2002 Chevy Cavalier hasn't been spotted. Natalie never returned home that morning, never showed up to watch Tabitha's kids as planned, and wasn't responding to texts or calls.

11:15Most concerning was that her phone went straight to voicemail, which it never did. Natalie was the type that was glued to her phone. They knew that something was wrong, and I think that her mother really started screaming it out loudly the first. For Natalie's mother, Elaine Gordon, the panic instantly set in. The morning of July 5th, at like 6 o 'clock in the morning, I started calling her phone. I never called her phone that early, you know what I'm saying? And it started going straight to voicemail. I called my roommate, Ricky, and I said, go in there, peek in Natalie's room, and see if she's in there.

12:00So he did. He come back. He said, no. He said, she's not in here. I said, go out there and see if her car's out there in the yard. He did. No, it wasn't out there. As a matter of fact, she didn't come home. That's what Ricky said. Elaine had spent the previous night of July 4th at her friend Sherry's house. Concerned, she went straight home. So I told Sherry, I said, you need to get up. I said, you need to take me home right now. I said, my daughter's phone is going straight to voicemail. And I said, this never happens. It never happens. I don't care if she's in the shower. That phone is in the bathroom with her.

12:35You know, wherever, it's there. Eileen called the police shortly after getting home, but was told she needed to wait 24 hours before Natalie was officially considered a missing person. She called the friends she had numbers for and her children's fathers with no luck. No one had heard from Natalie. She continued to text and call her phone, too, but each time there was no response, and calls continued to go straight to voicemail. On Monday, July 6th, nearly 30 hours since Natalie last communicated with anyone, Elaine went to the Heard County Sheriff's Office. It was Monday morning. I was down there at 7 o 'clock in the morning, filing a missing report.

13:13Heard County investigator Dan Boswell is the officer who took the initial report and would take the lead on Natalie's case. You know, when you get a missing person report, you're trying to gather as much information as you can about the person, the friends, the family, what's going on in their life at the time. And of course, Elaine and Tabitha, Natalie's sister, they provided information that we would start looking at to try and determine where she might be. And of course, you know, in the very beginning, you're looking at this from an aspect, why is this person missing? You know, what's going on in their life that created the situation that caused them to be missing?

14:01Or even to a point, why at the time did Elaine or her sister believe she was missing? Because they know her life better than anybody else. Despite this, Elaine tells me that at first, Lieutenant Boswell seemed to push back a bit, or at least offer other possibilities for Natalie's absence, ones which did not sit well with Elaine. She just wanted to get a break. She wanted to get away from her mama and her two boys. She ran away. And I tell this man, I said, let me tell you something. Her two boys are her world. I mean, she lives and does everything for her boys. And I said, me, you know, even though we might bicker about the grandchildren, it's me, her, and her two boys.

14:48That's all our little village consists of. As Jennifer Peterson tells me, that even if by some chance Natalie had split town or needed a break from life for a few days, as she was known to do from time to time, she wouldn't just ghost everyone. She had plans on Monday that she would not have missed. Her son, her youngest son Isaac, had a little accident in the pool and had to get a cast on his arm. And he was supposed to go back to the doctor that Monday. And that was when she was supposed to take Isaac to go get, I can't remember if it was just like an appointment or get the cast off or something like that.

15:26she would have been back to make that appointment. She loved her sons and poof, she's gone. So for her to just completely go missing, I think that was the first like red flag that something was wrong. And this is not something common that Natalie had ever done before. She's never just gone off the grid. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is a familiar name around here, but it's worth taking a moment to look at just how much people truly love the service once they try it. Instead of just taking someone else's word for it, check out BetterHelp.com slash reviews to see the amazing real-time customer feedback updated every single day.

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18:04An official investigation was opened by the Herd County Sheriff's Department and flyers went up around town. Not long after, friends, family, and volunteers began searching local fields and long roadways, even traveling every possible path they could find from Jackson's Gap, Alabama, where the party was, to Natalie's home in Corinth, Georgia. What else could Elaine do? Sitting around and waiting for Natalie to call or show up wasn't an option. Oh, I'm out looking. I've got my sister and a friend of mine. And we're riding five and six, seven hours a day looking for her. And I mean, we rode, we rode, we rode.

18:46Everyone's talking. Everyone's riding around on their four-wheelers or they're out in their cars. They're doing foot searches. The whole county is just crazy. Elaine and Natalie's friends were still calling anyone she might have spoken to or that might know where she could be. though it was highly unlikely that she would leave and not tell her mother or her children about her plans. Police began questioning those closest to Natalie, looking for information, for a place to start. The first thing police did was pull cell phone records in an attempt to locate Natalie, or at least see who she'd been communicating with.

19:22For us, one of the most important resources that assisted us in this investigation were her phone records. Having her phone number was extremely important in determining who she last contacted, who she last texted, location information. All those things become extremely important because, you know, with technology nowadays, all that information's pretty closely available to you. While investigators worked to pull phone records, Elaine provided them with Natalie's movements beginning on July 3rd, the day before she disappeared. I was at my friend's house over at Sherry's, and she came over, and we swam.

20:04We grilled out steak. We danced. She left probably about 7 o 'clock, maybe, and I said, where are you going? And she said, I'm just going to go home. And I said, are you okay? Yeah. You know, she said, stay here with Sherry and enjoy yourself. I stayed there. I didn't see Natalie on the floor because she took Tabitha's kids and got the daughter's nails done. You know, she watched her kids that day. And Tabitha, again, is Natalie's half-sister. They share the same father, or at least that's the consensus. No DNA test has ever confirmed this, and Lane has her doubts. Jennifer continues on with Natalie's known movements on July 4th.

20:48Natalie was a bit of a social butterfly. She bounced around. She was single, and she ended up confirming with an old, I would consider him the love of her life, boyfriend that she had been putting feelers out with. He invited her out to come celebrate the Fourth of July with him and his family. Natalie initially was going to come, and she wanted to bring her youngest son, Isaac. He gave the indication that he didn't want the kids or the kids to come. And she said, sorry. She just kind of blew him off, basically. When she picked up Tabitha's kids around noon on the 4th, Natalie confirmed she would go to the party.

21:34She took her niece to get her nails done while her nephew waited in the lobby playing games on his phone. She drops the niece and nephew off and she goes back home. She grabs some things, and then she heads off into Alabama. Initially, investigators knew nothing of Natalie's movements after she left the party. One would think that as they learned more, the clearer the picture would become. But with Natalie's case, everything learned about her actions that night only brought on more questions.

22:17News of Natalie's disappearance hit local media within days. Police asked local TV stations and newspapers to advertise their bolo for Natalie in her car, that hot pink Chevy. Surely someone had to have seen that. And while they likely began this investigation just like they would any other, Natalie's family didn't feel enough was being done initially. I know that there was a bit of back and forth between the family and law enforcement. They could not get Hurd County to organize a ground search, so they organized one themselves. And I think there was a bit of frustration from Natalie's friends and family.

22:57They were saying that she didn't just run away. She wasn't trying to get away. This isn't like her. and I think that they were just trying to tackle everything as best that they could early on because those early hours are so crucial. Several weeks after Natalie was last seen or heard from, and with few leads, social media began to do its thing. True crime buffs across the country picked up on Natalie's story and shared it on their platforms, creating a buzz. Natalie Jones went missing during 4th of 2020. Natalie attended a crime. Family and friends do not believe that she went well in line. People took to podcasts, YouTube, and TikTok to report on what was known about Natalie at the time, which really wasn't much.

23:40She had left the party, and she hadn't been seen since. They all seemed to focus on the fact that no one had seen her hot pink car. It became a calling card for Natalie. I've seen some crazy cars in various states I've lived in, and hot pink is pretty bold. That's a bold decision. And it's rare. But on top of that, how does someone vanish in a hot pink car? That was really the biggest. The hot pink car is the focal point for me. By midsummer, the story had gone national. Still, Heard County officials were tight-lipped on the case, making no official statements, which caused citizens and even local media to chime in and wonder, why aren't they saying anything?