The Bluegrass Mystery

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1:25She was not going to leave her son. Officers talk to Ella's husband, Glenn. A spouse is the first place police are going to look. But Ella also has an ex-husband. Right. They were still really close. You find out his previous wife was murdered. Does that just kind of stop you in your tracks? Sure. It's enough to raise our eyebrows. They find Ella's diary. It's kind of hidden. She wrote how scared she was. And then the phone recordings. I'm done. I'm done with you. You're a monster. I was terrified. Any day might be her last. A phone, a diary, secret recordings, all clues she left behind. Could a missing mom help solve her own mystery?

2:08I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline.

2:19Here's Blaine Alexander with the Bluegrass Mystery.

2:33Ella was my mom and to me she was perfect she loved me she cared for me she made me feel safe happy and loved it's a beautiful song it was the only thing Alex Jackson could give his mother his words loving memories captured on tape. My mom deserved peace. She deserved safety. She deserved to live without fear. The depth of that fear, we'll likely never know.

3:12But we do know that on October 20th, 2019, Ella Jackson vanished from her home in Richmond, Kentucky. Can I just like how can I help you? Hi, my name's Glenn Jackson. The first sign of trouble came when Ella's husband, Glenn, called 911.

3:34He said his wife of seven years left a day earlier while he was at the dog park with their five-year-old son, Alex.

3:55Right. Has she ever done this before? Yes, and sometimes for weeks. But it's been a long time since she did. Detective Jason Friend is with the Richmond Police Department. Glenn made it very clear that she wasn't missing, that she just left. Which, that in and of itself isn't a crime and that's not a cause for an investigation. And so from that, really nothing happens. Right. That is, until the next day, when they got another 911 call. Hi, I need a wellness check done on my mom. I'm sorry, welfare? What's going on with her? Um, I last heard anything from her on Sunday. The call was from Philip Hans, Ella's 29-year-old son from another marriage.

4:49I sent her a message yesterday and she didn't reply to us, which is very weird. I mean, I talk to her every day all day long. So I just want to know that she's okay, if she's even there. This time, dispatch sent Officer Walker Crace and his partner to Glenn and Ella's home. So when I first got here, it was just like this. This door door was closed, but the main door was open. We knock and announce and we do a sweep of the residence. No one was home, and there were no obvious signs of foul play. So they did some basic background checks on the couple. Glenn was a respected English lecturer at a nearby college.

5:28Everybody's familiar with him, especially people that are local, especially people that go to Eastern Kentucky University. They learned Ella was Russian and had immigrated from Ukraine to the U.S. about 15 years earlier. From what we had learned, she has no family here. She is not from here. So at this point in time, we have Miss Jackson is gone. No one knows where she's at. The officers later found Glenn back at the home. The couple's young son, Alex, was playing outside. What kind of games you play? I just play a lot of woodlots. Glenn said he was now getting concerned. When his wife had left before, she had always checked in by this point.

6:22Glenn added that on the day she left, he overheard her on a lengthy Skype call with someone overseas. She was speaking Russian, but he did make out a few words in English. The only words I could make out on the phone were Uber, Lyft, airport, passport, and Motel 6. Police also called Ella's adult son, Phillip, and asked him to come to the house, but to wait at the top of the driveway. After he arrived, Officer Kreis tried to reassure him. I'm perfect. I honestly feel like it's nothing foul. But Phillip said he was worried and confused after trying to reach his mom when all of a sudden her phone appeared to be back online.

7:03And I was calling it all day today and it was off, and she was not receiving messages on Facebook until suddenly around 6.30 p.m. Her phone turned on. It started ringing. There was no answer. Philip hadn't arrived alone. He brought along a man named Jason Hans, Ella's ex-husband. Many times she has contacted me when something happens. She was feeling upset, unsafe, needing someone to talk to. investigators felt something wasn't right but couldn't put a finger on it not yet so a lot of circumstantial things nothing to say anybody's guilty but definitely something to tell us something's going on here all three men were brought to the station for further questioning philip was on your radar everybody was on her radar when you learned that detail about ella's ex-husband.

8:01What did you think? I thought, oh man, that's not good. Especially when I learned exactly what took place surrounding her murder. Now, police would zero in on Ella's inner circle. Everything okay? Any of the reasons why you're on your knees right now? No, I'm sorry. I'm a teacher, so I get down to talk to students.

8:38Richmond, Kentucky. Population about 40 ,000 is nestled among the rolling hills of the bluegrass state. Here, the bourbon is strong and horse farms are king. For people who've never been here, what is this community like? Richmond, I call it one of the smallest big town you'll ever be in. It's got the small town feel where everybody knows everything that's going on. Rodney Richardson is the police chief. Ella Jackson was missing, but so far there were no signs of a crime. Still, investigators wanted to know more about three men in her life. Her ex, her son, and her husband, Glenn. What do you come to learn about Glenn?

9:25Just his standing in the community. He was teaching college kids, just being the average husband in a quiet little community whose wife had walked away. And that's what Glenn told investigators. What do you think happened to her? Where do you think she's at? I don't know. Going to get her mother is my best guess because it's lights up so nice on time. He said after overhearing Ella's Skype call, he thought she might have gone to meet her mother, possibly in Russia. Glenn told police he cared about his wife and wanted her home soon. We waited forever to get married, you know, wait till late in life.

10:02And we were together five years before we got married. And I've just always been horribly serious about marriage. They just always seemed absolutely happy and just full of, you know, love and seemed like a wonderful couple. Joe Hamm thought the world of his close buddy Glenn. You kind of had all the chicks, you know, as far as being a good neighbor, being somebody that you could rely on. It just provided a warmth and just a sense of belonging and connection. Dana Caproni was one of Ella's best friends. Do you remember what she first told you about him? You know, she's falling for him. He's kind.

10:41He's a professor. Did she seem excited about him? Yeah, I think she was giddy. and these home videos captured that giddiness that's ella laughing off camera with baby alex and glenn a seemingly perfect family picture joelynn stevenson says she and ella evolved from neighbors to confidants what was your first impression of ella soft-spoken very easy to smile She had a comfort about her, like, you know, good old Southern cooking or something. She wasn't nice. I feel like there's a difference between nice and kind. Nice is very surface level. But she would go, how are you? And she would wait for that real answer.

11:29She really wanted to know. She wanted to know. She cared. Right. In fact, Ella was a friend to many, including her ex-husband, Jason. They met in 2003 when he was traveling in Ukraine where Ella was living after a recent divorce. She's like the most intelligent woman I've ever met. That's something that really stood out to you. Yeah, absolutely. Jason and Ella got married and moved to the U.S. with her young son, Philip. Jason was a professor at the University of Kentucky. Their marriage ended after five years. He said they just couldn't make it work to have two people who are married go through a divorce, but then still remain very close, very present in each other's lives.

12:16Close friends. You don't see that very often. You know, I didn't want to be married to her, but I still loved her. Jason had remarried, but was he still in love with Ella? That's something Glenn wondered, too. Have you ever questioned that she might be doing something that would be adultery-wise as far as your guys' relationship? I have. I have. And including her most recent ex-husband. She talks to him regularly. When we were outside the house that night. I do know you guys were pretty tight. From what I can gather, y 'all very close. The police officer asked me, knowing our past and our relationship and that we remain close and so on.

12:57And he's like, you know, sometimes couples who break up, they get back together for flings or whatever. Do you know that she might have ran over the guy before? No.

13:13She's, how to say, she, you can tell me how you got to tell me. I'm just, no, that's not her character. Sure. While the officer never directly asked Jason if he was sleeping with Ella, Jason understood what he meant. You know, were you guys sort of fooling around? What's going on here? And you can kind of see in his questioning that he's trying to see what were you up to. Yeah. That was only the beginning of the questions police had for Ella's ex. Especially after they discovered something about his first wife. You talk to her ex-husband and find out that his previous wife was murdered in a case that is still unsolved.

13:54I mean, does that just kind of stop you in your tracks? Sure. It's enough to raise our eyebrows.

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15:39People are reported missing every day, and people come back or they make contact with a family member. So then we know what happened to them. But that hadn't happened with Ella Jackson. At some point, does this shift to maybe she ran away to maybe something was done to her? Yeah, I think it does. I think we have a mother that left a child behind her car that was still there with her purse still in it. Car keys were still there. They had asked Glenn about that. How would she leave if her car is at the house deal? Well, I always say that she did pick up what she has done before. Who's picking her up?

16:17She says that she calls Uber. I never noticed a deal from an hour or anything, but she talked about it. And there was something else. Ella hadn't taken her phone with her. Glenn said he found it the day after she went missing and turned it over to police. I mean, this day and age, almost everybody were connected with our phone. Most of us wouldn't leave our phone behind. You don't go five feet without taking your phone with you. 48-year-old Ella Jackson has been missing since Sunday afternoon. Police had added Ella to the missing persons database. And after five days with no sign of her, Chief Richardson decided it was time to ask the public for help.

16:56We're concerned. We're deeply concerned. But like I said, we're going to eventually find out what happened to Ms. Jackson. In those first days, what message were you trying to get across? We're looking for any information that anybody has. As the search for Ella grew, even Glenn called the police tip line. I'm worried about the missing poster that I just saw for my wife, Ella Jackson. Uh-huh. He'd spotted something wrong. The problem is one of the two pictures is not my wife. It's someone else in her family, and I'm worried that that is not going to help locate her. Family and friends were doing everything they could to find out what happened to Ella.

17:34We went to the places where we had known, you know, that we had gone to her with. We went to the park. We had gone to the libraries. No luck. Detectives considered every lead, including one more than 500 miles away. It happened 17 years earlier. A young woman was shot and killed walking home from a metro station in Prince George's County, Maryland. When something like this happens in the community, does it just kind of strike a sense of fear? It is very scary because Prince George's County is a pretty safe place. County Executive Aisha Braveboy oversees the police department in charge of the case.

18:16I think it's just the randomness of it. a young woman to have her dreams cut short because of a gunshot. Sergeant Greg McDonald worked the case. Where was she found? Her body was found lying on the roadway right here. She made it to this point here. She was fatally shot. Shot in the head, left right here. Shot in the head, left right here. It appears that she didn't see it coming. Police found her clutching a can of mace, but no signs of a struggle. How far do you think that the shooter was? Six feet minimum. Was this somebody who was almost laying in wait for her, maybe? Possibly. A day planner, credit cards, and work ID were all still in her backpack.

18:57That's how police were able to identify her as 26-year-old Irina Hans. She was the wife of a young professor, Jason Hans. At two in the morning, two police officers knocked on UK professor Jason Hans' door. I was pretty much, I was a mess. If we catch the person or persons that did this, will it give me satisfaction? No. When you learned that detail about Ella's ex-husband, what did you think? I thought, oh man, that's not good. You still got an unsolved murder of a wife, and then we have a wife that's missing who's still really close with the ex-husband. Whether something's happening to her, whether she left, this is going to be a tough one.

19:44And now, here he was again, two decades later, talking to police about his ex-wife who'd gone missing. I've got to keep an open mind as in, she's left. Right. That's, and I know, that's, there's a lot of stuff that keeps me wanting to go down that trail very far. I've tried to go down that. Yes, there are things that don't allow it. Jason said he only wanted to help the investigation. Is there anything we can do more? And, you know, it's not comfortable to sit at home and not do anything at this point. Oh, I know. Meanwhile, police turned to someone else close to Ella, her son. The more they learn about Philip, I think he's definitely somebody that we would want to look into.

20:28Is that good? Yeah, that'd be good. What was it about Philip that made you say, let's take a closer look? I think him just being as close to his mother as he was and that he used to live there and now he's not.

20:54Could there have possibly been some bad blood that made him leave the house or any number of questions? Did Ella ask him to leave? Was he there too long? Did he overstay his welcome? I was actually planning to move back in this Sunday when the last time I spoke to her was. The three men were giving investigators a lot to ponder. An ex-husband with a past, a son who couldn't pull away, and a husband who would keep drawing attention to himself. What's wrong? Okay. Is everything okay with you?

21:43After more than a week with no word from Ella, police concluded she must have been the victim of foul play. But they didn't know what happened or who was responsible. Initially, yeah, everybody was on her radar. That included Ella's son, Philip. But he insisted he had a great relationship with his mom, and he knew she would never leave her young son, Alex. I know something happened, and that's why I've been crying all day, and I'm trying to keep... I understand. I understand what it was literally. Both Philip and Ella's ex-husband, Jason, said they were with other people in another town when Ella went missing, and those alibis checked out.

22:20Jason also said he did not have an affair with Ella. Detective Friend found no evidence that he did and also learned Jason was never a suspect in his first wife's murder. we were able to substantiate all of it. So you talked to Jason, you talked to Philip, you cleared them both. Yes, that's right. Philip was adamant that they needed to take a second look at his mother's current husband, Glenn. She's told me numerous times that if she ever goes missing, that she would never, ever, ever do that. She would never just take off and that it's not an accident. Anything like that happens. That it's him, 100%.

23:01The detective was ready to take that second look. Glenn's a very smart guy. And you kind of get the sense when you talk to Glenn that he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. Nine days after Ella went missing, police got a search warrant and collected evidence from Glenn's house and his car. And detective friend brought him to the station for another chat. Even though we brought you up here, you know, you can leave anytime you want to. Glenn didn't leave. In fact, he stayed in that tiny room for more than six hours. He definitely likes to talk. The way he would pontificate, it almost felt like a verbal judo match.

23:42He wanted to be the smartest one in the room. Did you kind of lean into that a little bit? Sure, yeah. I even call it my Columbo. Columbo, the famous detective, he would give the impression that he was not very smart, that he was a duller. You've read too many mystery stories, Columbo. Oh, no, sir, I never read them. I tried. Can't figure them out. And that was this detective strategy. Let Glenn be the smart one and do all the talking. When they have that boost of confidence, then they're more likely to say things that they probably shouldn't have said. Friend focused on the day Ella went missing.

24:19I would ask him a very straightforward question. I would say, Glenn, what were you wearing on October 20th, 2019? And he would say, well... I almost never put jeans on anymore. I don't wear boots. I've just got a whole lot. Clothes look just like this. Gosh, you can't remember exactly what color shirt or anything like that? I had very recently found my green flannel, but I don't think I had that on. Not only had he not answered the question, but we ended up on a completely different topic of conversation. And never has he told you what he was wearing on that day. Glenn said he went to a dog park that Sunday, and when he got home, Ella was gone.