#267: Filipino Girl Went Missing In A Mall - Taken By Secret Tunnels In Fitting Room? Case of Jovelyn Galleno

25:09but one day she was going to be an amazing, fair, trustworthy police officer. One that would put these police officers working her case to shame. It felt like they had genuinely no idea what the hell they were doing. Javelin is reported missing and the police start their investigation at the mall, the Robinson Mall, because that is Javelin's last known location. Their plan makes a lot of sense. They would go through the CCTV footage, hoping to catch a glimpse of her movements. at least that way they could figure out what exit she took maybe she ran into a friend maybe she ran into someone in the mall or maybe she was taken in the mall we don't know, we gotta go through the CCTV footage but when the police arrive at the mall the owners are like well we don't want to help we don't want to give you the CCTV footage now this is where the urban legend comes into play I don't think that the public were coming into this guns a-blazing at the mall like oh my god remember the urban legend of the mall like it's the mall they just had the same reaction as the police okay she probably left the mall and then ran into foul play after she left right because the mall is so public it's so bright what's gonna happen in there we got to get the cctv footage see if she left with someone who did she leave with what exit did she take at least that gives us a direction that she might have been going but then suddenly the mall doesn't want to give cctv that's weird why would they not want to help unless they had something to hide the urban legend now started getting brought up with this case.

26:35Now, the urban legend is what threw this case into social media spotlight. People could not stop talking about how creepy the mall was, how her disappearance must be connected to the human snake. Others argued there was never a human snake, it's human trafficking. Regardless of what you thought, public enemy number one right now was the police and the mall. You know, a lot of people were saying, what do you mean, officer, that the mall said no? Like, since when do you guys take no for an answer? As a regular civilian, you ask me to do something, I take no. Bad things happen to me, but this big, fancy mall, they can say no to you all the time?

27:11People commented, a life is at stake and this is how much effort you're putting into it. Someone said no, so now you're done investigating. I'm sorry, is the mall more powerful than the police? This is kind of crazy, guys. Now, side note, Javelin disappeared in Puerto Princes, which is a beautiful tourist island. It's like a tiny little island that attracts a lot of local and foreign tourists. So news of her disappearance made a lot of people adverse to vacationing there. And that is what made police get more involved in the case. So originally the police were like, sorry, we can't get the mall CCTV footage.

27:43So like case is over. Bye, everybody go home, right? Now the public attention is what made the police get more invested in this case. They realized that the public was not just going to forget about her disappearance or her vanishing. And if they didn't solve it, nobody was going to go to the mall. Nobody was even going to come visit the island that relied heavily on tourist economy, on tourist money. So the government bosses, all of the officials, the people that are basically the bosses of the police, they're like, you need to figure this out. And with Jay Costora, the tarot card reader, along with other high-profile names getting involved, this case was getting bigger by the second.

28:21Not even by the day, by the second. Now, side note, there were a lot of theories forming. Many people believed that yes, indeed, it had something to do with the mall. Something very strange happened in that mall. And since the owners are wealthy, they're able to stand up against the police and refuse to give CCTV footage. Other small theories started to emerge. There were rumors that Javalin was having an affair with her boss's husband. Listen, I don't even know where this came from. And I don't even know how it started. But her manager's name is Karen. and people said that Karen had found out that her husband was hanging out a lot with Javelin and instead of leaving him, Karen became overwhelmed with jealousy and emotion.

29:05She channeled all that hatred, all that anger towards Javelin instead of her own husband and she thought, as long as she disappears, I can have my husband all to myself. People on social media went so crazy with this theory that news stations wanted to interview Karen, the manager. She came out and she denied having any resentment towards Javelin. She said, in fact, I've only ever spoken highly of her. Like you can see all of my other interviews. You can ask anybody. We had a good relationship. She has a great work ethic. She's dedicated to the job. She was one of my best employees. But people overanalyzed this interview and stated that she was way too emotionless.

29:44If a manager genuinely liked your employee, wouldn't you be emotional? Javelin's sister chimed in and said, well I was able to log into my sister's Facebook account after she vanished and I actually did see messages pertaining to the boss's husband. Javelin was talking to a friend of hers on Facebook about how she wanted to quit her job. Javelin said I don't like it anymore and the friend asked her why. Javelin responded my boss's husband messaged me out of nowhere regarding our products and merchandise one night and when I came to work the next morning my boss asked me why I was talking her husband.

30:19So I clarified what was going on, but honestly, that was that. Like, nothing happened, nothing went on, and it just, like, the whole thing, it just seemed like it threw off Javelin. She felt very uncomfortable, but there was nothing to indicate that Karen or her husband felt any type of way about it. So again, a lot of confusing rumors that aren't really propelling the case forward or helping in finding Javelin. Now, around this time, Rafi Tulfo, this massive TV personality and journalist and now a senator in the Philippines, he starts getting involved. He starts putting pressure on the officials.

30:52He even had the major of the police force on his show where he just grilled him for answers. The major just kept repeating the same responses over and over. It sounded like he was given a list of answers that were PR friendly, that were appropriate. And he just kept repeating those. I don't want to hinder the investigation. We're still keeping that in mind. We're still investigating the leads. were still trying to figure it out. Rafi wasn't having any of it. He kept pushing. And since Rafi was this high-powered senator slash journalist, the major was actually terrified of him. He was in kind of a pickle.

31:26He had to try and not hinder the investigation or make himself or the police force look bad, but also respond in a way that Rafi would be satisfied with. It was not a good position to be in. Every answer just made it seem like the major and the police were hiding something or that they just were the most incompetent people running this case. Overall, shitty, shitty situation. Rafi Tofu kept pushing the major to tell them if they were able to get the CCTV footage from the mall and what was seen on there. The major kept brushing off this question saying that he couldn't say anything that could jeopardize the investigation.

32:01But Rafi kept pushing and kept pushing and kept pushing and with enough pressure, the major stated, you know what? I'll give you my personal theory. He stated that he saw a figure that appears to be Javalin exiting the mall in the CCTV footage that they were able to obtain. Allegedly, she leaves through the employee door and gets picked up by an unknown sedan. He states that they are looking for the sedan right now. Now, the whole energy of that statement shifts the entire conversation. It shifts the whole investigation. The major made it seem like Javalin willingly got into some stranger's car.

32:36Even the way that he was saying it was just very, you know, why would she get into an unknown man's car? Maybe she ran off with a boyfriend. It's almost like that kind of route it seems like they're digging into. And since she's 22, she's an adult, she can legally make her own decisions. He almost made it seem like she's just this 22-year-old who doesn't care if her family is stressed out or worried for her and just wanted to go hang out with her boyfriend. That is the implication of this. It wasn't even the sedan itself that was the explosive news. So Rafi starts questioning the validity of this statement because this is the first time he's hearing of it.

33:10And it just it came out of left field. And again, with enough pushing, the major admits that he just made this up to say something, to say anything. Not a good look. So he didn't see her leaving. No, he was just like, I knew it was going to be a dead end. So I just wanted to say something, anything to get you off my ass. You can expect how the people felt about it. It seems like the major would rather lie than be truthful that they have nothing so far. So Rafi gets another police officer on the show. Starts grilling him too. It looks like the police officers work slower than turtles here. What's going on?

33:44Still no good response. The saddest part was Jonalyn, the sister, was on standby listening to everything. And she finally got on air and said, Please, sir, I need to clarify something. The sister states that she's upset that her sister is being portrayed as this indecent girl that would run into the car with her boyfriend and run off without caring for her family. She kept clarifying that she was able to gain access to her sister's Facebook accounts and there was no romantic messages, not even flirtatious conversations with anyone. Also, side note, how sad is that? The minute a girl is in a relationship, people are like, well, no point in looking for her now.

34:20She probably ran away with a boy. Or the minute someone struggles with mental health, people are like, well, no point in looking into their clearly suspicious, weird, bizarre death because they were probably depressed. It's crazy. So Javelin's sister passionately argued, please, she doesn't entertain any men. So she is focused on work and her studies. She just wants to graduate. So if you could, you could ask anyone in the neighborhood. You could ask all of our neighbors. Conduct a survey if you must to see if I'm telling the truth. You have to trust me. A lot of people sympathize with Javelin's sister.

34:56I mean, it's frustrating when people paint your loved ones to be someone that they're not. And even if she did have a boyfriend, it's frustrating that something like that could make her life less valuable. Rafi agreed. He went on to grill the head of the person in charge of the local police department. And he straight up just asked him, like, what is going on? Why did you lie? So the major says, I was just tired. So you mean to tell me when you guys are tired, you can just start making up stories and telling lies? And Major, adding insult to injury, why do you guys keep all implying that Javelin has a boyfriend or a suitor?

35:30We have Javelin's sister who says Javelin would never entertain any guys, so why do you keep imposing that her case is not an abduction and that she got into a car willingly? Before he could even respond, Rafi let the emotions get the better of him, and he exploded on the Major, and he said, Do I have to go to the headquarters of the National Police Department personally to request to talk to the chief of the entire National Police Force so that I can put you in the hot seat? You better do your job and get it together or else I will put you all under Senate hearing. Even that city director of yours, I will bring to the Senate.

36:02Once my patience runs out, I swear I will have you all investigated because you're all working too slow. I want answers by tomorrow. Is that good? It was really, really intense. Now, Rafi did work very closely with Jovlin's family and even provided them with a new place to live, financial assistance to help start their own business because Javlin was the sole breadwinner. Rafi even paid the family's monthly bills at one point and the family, the netizens, Rafi, everyone was so frustrated watching these interviews. It felt like someone was hiding something and they thought that you were too dumb or too powerless to do anything about it.

36:38It was such blatant lies. It was like a slap in the face. It was so shady. But there is another perspective to this. Some people felt like Rafi was doing a bit too much. So they were saying, you know, it's one thing to draw public attention to a case and demand answers from the authorities that are being paid by taxpayer money. That's one thing. It's another thing to keep pushing people to a point where they could potentially jeopardize the investigation. So it's also a very tricky situation for the journalist because the journalist is expected to get answers. And if they don't get answers, they have to wonder why.

37:13Why are we not getting the answers? But at the same time, you got to use some reasoning. You got to use some nuance and there's got to be some common sense and some mutual understanding. I do think that the major was shady, but I don't think he was shady to that point. I think that there must have been a part of him that genuinely was like, I truly don't know what to say. I'm like getting grilled so hard right now and we've got nothing, but I can't say that we have nothing. And then I can't say anything that would jeopardize the investigation. So it was just a very tricky situation. So in another instance, Rafi was interviewing another police officer and the officer mentioned a piece of the CCTV footage where there was this visual presence of one of those giant metal cargo containers that are used to like transport goods.

37:58So maybe they were in like the cargo section of the mall and they're bringing in all these goods and it was near the employee entrance. The police officer stated something along the lines of she went inside the metal cargo container. Now, people are thinking, is this the next big lead? People were freaking out. Raffi was freaking out. How come we're just hearing about this? A metal shipping container? Are you kidding? Who owned the container? Why would she have gotten into one? That doesn't make sense. It's not part of her job description. Raffi immediately hung up with the officer, called the officer superior, who clarified, Wait, no, no, no, no, no.

38:31She went around the metal cargo container. To which Ravi responded, one of your men said that she went inside the container. That's why I'm asking you, what is inside? And if anyone has already checked who owns the cargo container, good grief, like that's what I'm asking you. Now, viewers at home, there is some nuance to this. Viewers at home were feeling a little bit frustrated because this one wasn't purely police incompetence or secrecy. The officer in question that mentioned the metal container, he spoke a different dialect. So he said went, but the way that he used the word in Tagalog made it seem like she went in, but it could have easily meant if she went around.

39:09But instead of clarifying, because it was clear that he didn't speak the same dialect, instead of Rafi being like, wait, wait, can you clarify? Did she go in or around? He just kind of like hung up and was like, OK, let me call the superior and make it a whole big thing. And everyone was like, that didn't need to be a big thing, you know. And then he's calling out police incompetency and secrecy, but then people were like, this one just feels like you made something really big for an explosive news segment, but it wasn't that big of a deal. People weren't happy about it, but as social media discourse was ramping up, so was the investigation, believe it or not.

39:45The investigators were able to get through the security footage of the mall, and they found Javelin. There was clear evidence that she made it to work that day, so okay, good, but there was no evidence that she left the establishment at the end of her shift. Why does it not show that? The mall stated there was a local power outage. So all of their lights and power and cameras shut off. Locals disputed this and said, we did not have a power outage that night. So what are you saying? And coincidentally, it happened the same time that Javelin was leaving the mall for her shift. It felt really, really, really sinister.

40:21So people kept bringing up the human snake. People kept bringing up human trafficking. There were just rumors that the mall owners had to deal with the police to ignore cases like this so that they can feed their human snake or do some sort of underground activities. I mean, people also wondered, what if this was news planted by the mall's competition, SM Supermalls? They're like the biggest competitors of Robinson Malls. What if they wanted Robinsons to go down so they keep pushing this mall narrative? This is like the Chinese school kids. Yes. It's like, when someone go missing, I feel like school or the mall, they should be the number one people on top of this.

40:57Yeah, not the police. Yeah, this should be hurting them the most. Exactly. I do think it's weird when the establishment that's getting hurt the most that is known for being super capitalistic is suddenly not capitalistic. Because capitalism would mean that you want to distance yourself from this. No, they think that, yeah, distance is the way to go. Like suppress it. Let's just get rid of the story. But instead, that only fuels more online discussion and more conspiracies. It's so weird. Wouldn't you rather just want to show the footage like, hey, she left them all. We got nothing to do with it.

41:28Release that to everyone. Have fun, everyone. Yeah. So now it's like, what's going on with the security, the cameras? And it just sounds more and more and more fishy. They should come out and provide everything they have. They should be working with the investigators excitedly, like aggressively hunting down investigators. Unless they are doing something. Exactly. So people are going back to the tarot card readings and trying to connect the dots. Jay, the tarot card reader, said that there was a deal made even before Javelin had disappeared. So maybe the mall and the police had a deal. Maybe the mall had a deal with the human snake or some sort of shady organization or syndicate like Jay had alleged.

42:07Now, on top of that, Jay had stated that the people holding her captive were authority figures that had power. The mall owners have power. The police have power. Government officials have power. nobody could understand how there was no footage of her leaving the mall but they did provide the mall does come out and provide some records this is like an employee login and logout records where you log out at that time and you sign and it showed jovelin logging out of her shift and out of the mall but this could have easily been someone could have signed for her it did nothing to calm the public it just felt very shady like how is this good enough like you really think we're gonna be okay with this piece of paper?

42:46All these coincidences were making people feel very nervous about ever going shopping or even trusting the police.

42:56And then out of nowhere, a store outside the mall said that they had footage of Javelin outside of the mall after her shift at work. They said the CCTV footage showed Javelin outside waiting for a bus home. Police state that they studied this footage and believed it to be Javelin and they showed it to Javelin's family and they were all confirmed that it was Jovlin. Everyone, except for Jonalyn, this is a sister that has been outspoken and has been kind of the family representative in the news. So it's not like she's going against her family. I would say that the family is kind of more behind her.

43:27She said that she was skeptical about this video. She said that the only reason that her family originally confirmed that it was Jovlin was because they felt pressured by the police. But the more that they watched this footage over and over and over again, they felt like they could not confidently say that that was their sister. But as she's voicing her concerns, police stated, nope, it's her sister. She's mistaken. It's her sister. Because there were witnesses who saw her on the bus. This stopped people dead in their tracks. What do you mean? Saw her. So all of a sudden, this grainy footage of her outside the mall shows up because there's no other evidence that she left the mall.

44:04Suddenly, we have footage. And then you suddenly have people that came forward and said that, you know what? But actually, I did see her. Why did they not come forward prior to this? When everyone on social media was still talking about it. It's not like the case just exploded. So I don't know. The whole thing seems very, very fishy. But this was the strongest lead that the family was given. So they try everything. The public was able to find the driver of the bus. And he gave very wishy-washy answers. He said he had no clue if Javelin ever got on his bus. Because he focuses on driving rather than the passengers.

44:40Everything about it just felt weird. Like all of a sudden, people saw her on the bus. All of a sudden, she's on a bus. And then another family tragedy struck. Two of Javelin's cousins, do you remember Leo Burt and Joe Burt? Both in their mid-30s were involved in an accidental stabbing involving each other. Trust me, it gets weirder. The stabbing would result in both of them being jailed for Javelin's kidnapping and murder. Wait, wait, wait, slow down. They stab each other? Yeah. and it would result in them going to the hospital and then later to prison for Jovalyn's disappearance. Let me explain, okay?

45:14Let me explain. Leo Burt and Jovert had gotten drunk one night. This is like after Jovalyn disappears and somehow they enter into this super heated argument allegedly about Jovalyn. One of them was injured and required hospitalization. Now, it was reported to the police once Jovert came to the hospital because they're like this, I mean, you were clearly stabbed with a knife. Like, you can't tell me otherwise. So we're going to have to report it to the police because that's a knife fight. So both of them get brought into the police station. And Leo Burt, one of the cousins, starts to confess. His confession would rip his entire family apart or whatever was left of his family.

45:51It was it was bad. Leo Burt stated that he and Joe Burt planned to kidnap, assault and kill Jovlin, their own cousin, their own flesh and blood that they grew up around. They said they planned it for weeks and that they finally did it. The reason that the accidental stabbing occurred was because Leo Burt felt so guilty about what he did. It was eating him up on the inside. He just wanted to turn himself in, clear his guilty conscience, give Javelin's mom some peace of mind. He wanted to stop living his life looking over his shoulder constantly for the police. He tried to tell Joe Burt one drunken night, Hey, buddy, I want to tell the cops.

46:27Joe Burt was pissed. He's like, we agreed to do this together. You can't just turn yourself in because then I got to turn myself in. I'm not ready to go to jail. You can go to jail by yourself. Why should I have to go to jail? So he grabs a knife and threatens to kill Leo Burt. Leo Burt pushes him and attempts to defend himself and it resulted in Jovert accidentally stabbing himself with the knife. They had been brought in. Jovert had been subdued and Leo Burt felt like now that he was no longer around his cousin and he wasn't scared, or no longer around Jovert, he was no longer scared for his life, he could confess.

46:59He stated that he was overcome with remorse and guilt. This freaked out a lot of people. For a number of reasons. The small one being, Jay's tarot card reading stated that the people who took Javelin were authority figures. In the Philippines, it's much like the rest of Asia. You are grown up to show cousins, especially that are 10 years older than you, you have to show them respect. They are also your authority figures. No one had thought of it like that. People are like, wow, we kept thinking about government officials and police officers when it could really be the person closest to you. Mainly everyone was freaked out though because these were her cousins.

47:38What motive would they have in kidnapping her? Leo Burt was asked that and he said it all started a few months before she vanished. He and Joe Burt kept talking about how Javelin was so pretty. How beautiful she was. And at first it started as like a fun family banter. Like oh my god our cousin is so pretty. But they said that they became fascinated by her looks. And they said that they were even more intrigued by her contrasting tomboyish manner. her. I don't know what they're trying to say with that. Something about her was irresistible, Leo Burt said. Now, at first, it starts off as a simple joke.

48:11They were joking. I don't know how this is a joke or how it's funny, how they would kidnap her and what they would do to her if they could kidnap her. And for about a month or so, this is how they planned it. The more they talked about it, the less of a joke it seemed and the more feasible, the more excited they got for this plan. And then one evening they put their plan into action. They said that they knew where the bus would drop off Javelin near the house and it was very dark. She would get off alone and they would forcibly grab her. Now, if this were true, if this is true, I cannot imagine the emotions that she went through first being grabbed, the fear, the terror.

48:46And then when you look and you see it's your cousins, maybe you have this moment of like a release of tension because you probably assume that they're playing a joke on you. And then that fear comes rushing back when you realize they're not. This is not a joke. They stated that they grabbed and restrained Javelin, causing her to lose consciousness. Leo Burt said they dragged her to a grassy area in their hometown, subjected her to rounds of horrific essay by her own two cousins, her own family members, and Leo Burt stated that she never gained consciousness ever again. They realized that she was dead, which was kind of their plan because there's no way that they could do this to their cousin of all people and expect her to not say anything to anyone.

49:25Leo Burt said they dragged her lifeless body to an area with even taller grass and less foot traffic. They dug a shallow grave, buried her. They said that they scattered her belongings through the field as an attempt to hide the evidence. And apparently this was their masterful plan that took them over a month to come up with. The confession of the crime is strange and it doesn't sit right with a lot of people. But either way, August 23rd, 2022, just 18 days after Jovlin vanished, Leo Burt led the police to the locations where he and Jovert allegedly hid Jovlin's body. This is where things get puzzling because at this point, people are thinking, I don't really believe this confession.

50:05Maybe the guy's on drugs. Maybe he's drunk. Maybe he's like having a mental breakdown because this doesn't make sense. Who can really do this to their cousin? Jovlin had been missing for 18 days and he pointed out where her body was buried. The level of decomposition on her body was extremely severe. She was completely skeletal at this point. There were no remaining soft tissues, nothing. It was nearly impossible to do a comprehensive autopsy. There was no way to even prove that she had been essayed before her death because of how advanced the decomp was at this state. A lot of forensic experts who saw the crime scene photos also stated that the bones almost looked a little too clean.

50:41I mean, yeah, you could argue that being in a humid, tropical environment could lead to faster decomposition, but something about the scene felt oddly staged. That's how the public felt. That's how experts felt. Another puzzling revelation was just how close to home Jocelyn was. Even her things that were scattered about, like her ID, her bag, her sunblock, gum, wallet, all of it was discarded so, so close to her home. Even her body was found so close to her home, it didn't make sense. A lot of neighbors wondered how her neighbors, Jocelyn's neighbors, the same ones that were searching high and low for her, how they never smelled or spotted her remains when she was found a thousand feet away from her own home.

51:19And she wasn't found in like an abandoned field. One neighbor said that the grassy area that she was found, it had some foot traffic because people would walk through it as a shortcut. It's not like a jungle. It's like just a grassy area. And since it wasn't being put to use, some of the neighbors even planted herbs and veggies. Kids would play in that little yard area. Sometimes dogs would play fetch. Even if a stray dog had died there, which has happened before, everyone would have known because of how badly it smelled, I would imagine it's worse with a human. There's even a store from where Javalin was found that's 300 feet away.

51:52And you're telling me, no one smelled anything? No one saw anything? No, I mean, everyone in the area is looking for Javalin, and no one smelt something so strange, like a decomposing body, and thought, it's probably got nothing to do with the missing girl. Like, that doesn't make sense. The family did confirm some of the items found nearby were Javlins. but not all of it. The underwear that was supposedly hers were not hers according to the family, but the wallet ID and some of the other things were. Now, there was no way for them to ID her based on appearance because of how her remains were found.

52:26But Javelin's mom said, in my heart, I genuinely believe that she's still alive, that she is somewhere out there because I don't know if someone harmed her. In my mind, she's still alive. When I saw those bones, I didn't feel anything. It's as if they didn't belong to Javelin. So this further fueled the online theory that whoever was found was not Javelin. Netizens suspected that the police planted the bones there so that they could stop investigating this case. That it was some sort of big cover-up. But the police kept going with this. Two days later, on August 25th, 2022, they instructed Leo Burt to guide them to where he allegedly buried Javelin's jewelry and phone.

53:03So this is another odd thing. The jewelry and phone were separated from the rest of her belongings, and they were buried super close to Leo Burt's house. So either he's a super confident criminal, dumb, or this just felt strange. It felt weird. Like if you think of it from a criminal's perspective, especially if you were related to the victim, wouldn't you want to get as far away from their items as possible? Soon after, what the police believed to be a shut and done case, because, you know, we can have all the theories in the world, but only the killers would know the location of Javlin's remains and her belongings, right?

53:35And Leo Burt led them there, so it must be him, right? Well, Leo Burt's attorney came out to say that whenever Leo Burt was talking and guiding officers to the evidence, Leo Burt would look at the officer waiting for some kind of sign or go ahead or some sort of signal. At this point in the case, people didn't really know what to believe. Netizens were even questioning if they had gone too deep down into the conspiracy rabbit hole and they were just trying to create the most insane narrative of things now. People didn't know. Are we crazy? Is the police crazy? Or is this real? because you know sometimes things happen that are so sick and twisted it almost feels like a conspiracy when you start thinking about it people wanted answers or at least some clarity another person that could have that is joe vert the other person involved in the crime the other cousin now he hadn't been as involved in this investigation thus far because he was hospitalized for accidentally stabbing himself a radio show tracked him down in the hospital and asked for an interview.

54:32Their aim was to just get to the bottom of the mystery, answer all the unrelenting questions, tell us why did you do it, what happened, tell us the truth. But in reality, all it did, all this interview did was muddy the waters even more. Jovert was so emotional during his interview, he stated that none of it was true, none of it. Even the accidental stabbing, none of it had to do with Javelin. I'm sorry, what? Then why did you accidentally stab yourself? I confronted Leo bird about the rumors rumors that he was trying to hit on my wife i was drunk i confronted him and he looked me in the eye and you know what he said he got defensive he said hey you better be careful about making accusations like that and i started getting angry i got into a fit of anger and i was drunk i grabbed the knife i pointed at him i demanded he'd take me seriously just answer the question that's all i wanted from him and then i end up in the hospital and charged with the murder of my cousin i mean i have no involvement in my cousin's disappearance i loved her.

55:28I can't comprehend why I'm even being connected to the case. He talks about how he has a criminal history and yeah, he might have been involved in some shady things in the past like drugs, but this he swears. He swore up and down. I truly had no part in this. I cannot fathom what's being thrust on me right now. This is the honest truth. When Javlin went missing, I was at work with my managers. I can confirm that. They can confirm that. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine taking a person's life or even committing such a despicable act of sexual assault. Please, you have to believe me.

56:02August 30th, 2022, a few days after Jovlin's supposed remains were found, a DNA test was released by the police to the public, stating that the remains did indeed belong to Jovlin. With this, the police formally charged Leo Burt and Jovert of rape and homicide. Now, most of the charges did rely on Leo Burt's confession and narrative. The police completely brushed off Jovert's claims of innocence and stated that thing that he said about work, it's just him trying to create an alibi. What do you mean? That even raised eyebrows. Exactly what you said. Either he lied about his alibi or he didn't. Like, what does it mean when you say it's an attempt at him creating an alibi?

56:40Was he or was he not at work? Like, it just felt like the police were being roundabout for no reason. You could literally just say he lied. He wasn't at work. But they were like, that's his attempt at creating an alibi. It was really strange that the police kept taking these convoluted routes with this investigation. It felt like they refused to investigate or even entertain Jovert's claims and simply focused on what Leobert said. And just before Leobert was officially taken into custody, Jovlin's mother, filled with a mix of anger and confusion, confronted him and she screamed and demanded answers.

57:14She asked, how could you commit such a crime against your own cousin, your own flesh and blood. How can you live with yourself? Leobert turned around and he cried and said that he was coerced by the chief of the city's anti-crime organization, Richard Ligad. He begged his aunt to believe him. He cried out, you know me, you know me, you know, that's not me. You know, I could never do this. Please. I didn't do it. Auntie, you have to believe me. I didn't kill Jovlin. I was forced to take the blame. Please. You have to believe me. I didn't have anything to do with it at all. You've known me since I was a kid.

57:43You know what kind of person I am. please, I would never do something like that. Wait, wait, wait, what? She was so taken aback by his words. She was torn between her desire to believe him because she doesn't want to believe that someone she trusted, her own flesh and blood as well, could do something like this to her child. But then there was so much circumstantial evidence against him. And, you know, she did think back to all those great moments of Leo Burt and their family. And it was just so hard to accept that he could have done something like this. She tried to get some clarity. She spoke with him while he was in jail.

58:18And later, Jovlin's two sisters, Jocelyn and Jonalyn, would even go on air with Rafi Tolfo to talk about what was going on with their cousin, Leobert. Leobert had alleged that it wasn't just the Richard, the chief Richard, that was trying to get him to take the blame. Multiple officers were heavily involved. Allegedly, they instructed him to point at random locations, So they brought him to like a field. They were like, point in that direction. And then he would point in that direction, creating the illusion that he was the one that told him that told them where the body was and where the belongings were.

58:50So they were just like using random clips of him. But they just took him to a predetermined spot and told him to point. So he did. And sure enough, her body and belongings were found. And he said that he was gutted and shocked, but also terrified because that just made him look like the guiltiest man alive. Allegedly, Leobert only complied with Richard and the police because they kept threatening his family. The sisters were able to record a conversation with Leobert, and he does in fact seem terrified for his life. He stated how Richard told him exactly how to respond to the questions he would ask, but he also alleged that Richard physically abused him when he didn't do what was asked of him.

59:25He sent the sisters pictures of scars and bruises all over his body. The police responded to Leobert's change in attitude by stating, we have his confession where he admitted to committing the crime with jovert that is the information we currently have and we're going to rely on it if there are claims of additional individuals involved in the crime we will conduct a thorough investigation into that matter wow this is so shady i don't think anyone was satisfied with that response it felt like the entire case and the entire investigation the police just kept taking the scenic easy route they didn't even care to investigate they just wanted to say oh well that's what we have so So even if it's not true, that's what we have.

1:00:01So we're going to stick with it. The lack of transparency, the inconsistencies throughout the investigation made it difficult to even have faith in the authorities. The family ended up reaching out to the National Bureau of Investigations, the NBI, to help assist with the police and getting justice. Honestly, they just wanted another DNA test. I think they just wanted to make sure the police weren't lying and that indeed was Javalin's body. I don't think any family could live on comfortably knowing that they were skeptical of something like this. And I think it would just drive people crazy. The NBI started their own investigation parallel to the police.

1:00:37And in the end, the NBI's results were the same as the police. They confirmed it was Javelin's remains. It said Javelin's family was feeling a mix of relief and sorrow. The NBI experts did what the police failed at doing, which was giving the family a reason on how that happened They said the weather conditions played a big role Additionally, they stated the presence of crocodiles in the area could have accelerated her soft tissue decomp It seems like Javelin's family were satisfied with the response Many people in the public were not They brought up a few things that didn't track For example, if there were crocodiles, how come there was no bloodstains in the grass?

1:01:15If you're saying the crocodiles came to consume her remains, there must be traces of either bodily fluids or even tissue left behind because a lot of the times they'll take remains to a secondary location to eat, consume. But the entire area seemed pretty clean. Another reporter, Tommy Abile, stated, There is a recurring phenomenon where authorities attempt to conceal the truth by targeting vulnerable individuals and forcing them to shoulder the blame for crimes they didn't commit. They employ tactics of intimidation, issue death threats, and instill fear by involving family members if they refuse to cooperate and confess.

1:01:48So a lot of people agreed with him. They stated, none of it makes sense. Even Javelin's remains or belongings that were found, they looked very dry, like her wallet, her ID. it i mean if her body decomposed at that rate her belongings just look so fine just didn't make sense it looked like they had been tossed in the grass that morning there was another moment that stood out and allegedly during an interaction between an officer and leobert that was caught on tape the officer asked leobert where's javelin's necklace leobert seemed genuinely confused but not confused in the sense of like oh shoot i forgot to hide her necklace but confused in like a wait there was a necklace almost isn't like nobody told me about the necklace like i don't know about a necklace people took it as maybe this guy has no idea what's going on maybe he's being fed information to repeat but he has no insider information everything he is saying maybe it's just what he's told to say and when they go off script he has no idea what's going on because he didn't commit the crime you know how i said the family seemed to somewhat accept that those were were believing whatever the nbi or the police were saying in fact many of the family members were conflicted on how to handle leo bert's claims of innocence now some of the family members reached out to a local congressman to help pay for leo bert's bail it's not clear how much the bail was but the congressman agreed to pay for it and he said that he has no opinion in the case he just wanted to help someone meanwhile joe bert took a polygraph on raffi's show and he passed with flying colors leobert did not so it's kind of a shit show yeah wow so wow so that feels the conspiracy even more yes of like okay now there's a conspiracy that only leobert was involved he's dragging his cousin into it for no reason then there's the conspiracy of neither of them were involved or there's the conspiracy of maybe leobert tested and failed the polygraph because he has been so convinced and so i guess mentally abused by the police he doesn't even know it's true anymore because that's what happens there's false confessions where a lot of criminals start believing in wait did i actually do that the police are saying that they have all the evidence and they're playing out these scenes and i can picture it in my head and it almost feels like i did that then on november 25th 2022 the country woke up to news that the court had dismissed charges against jovert and leobert the court stated that they could not establish a direct link between the individuals in question and the crime no way they're freed yeah i mean i imagine this was very confusing for jovelin's family like there must be some members who believe in the obert's innocence then do they justice it's open again right yes the case is open again but it doesn't look like the police are making progress or at least they're not letting us know if they're making progress so it does seem like jovelin's family they accept that jovelin is dead they want everyone to accept that she's dead but they it does seem like they still want justice they have come out with a statement and stated uh we do appreciate that everyone still hopes that jocelyn is alive and we fully understand why it might be hard to accept especially since we were only given skeletal remains and nothing more but the experts provided good explanation and reasoning as to why her bones are left we should respect this as they are professionals and they are doing their job Now, again, I think this part, a lot of people took it as, oh, like now the family is in it with the police, right?

1:05:16No, I think when there's an open investigation, as much as you hate the police for their incompetence, to a degree, the families of victims have to please the police to a certain level in hopes that they will investigate your loved one's death. You cannot piss off the only people that have the power to bring you justice right now. It's kind of with this Heor tragedy, you know, like all the victim's parents they were still hopeful that the president could do something so they still regardless of their political beliefs regardless of her shitty ass job and handling the situation they had to still be nice to her and they still had to talk with her and beg her in a kind manner instead of demanding things from her because she might be the only one that could help that's kind of i think how this situation is they stated we're hoping that all of you can respect and accept the truth for our sake and our peace.

1:06:06And so you can join us in praying for Jovlin. We know the results are hard to accept, but we believe the PNP and the NBI did their job well in conducting the investigation. They went on to thank the media for the coverage and helping in investigating. They ended the letter with, our last wish is that we all keep our minds open and embrace the possibility that Jovlin is really gone. Let's all learn to accept this and be understanding about the whole ordeal. For now, we may not be able to understand everything about what happened and why it had to happen. But we just need to trust the process and have faith that God went through this with us from the beginning until the end.

1:06:41So it doesn't seem like the case itself is closed, but it's just such a puzzling case that I don't even know what to believe. Like the deeper I go down this rabbit hole, the less I understand about this case. And I feel like I haven't, I haven't researched a lot of those cases in a while where I'm like, the more I know, the less I know. I genuinely have no stance on what happened because I'm so confused. And it's just a case that has frustrated a lot of netizens. And more than anything, I think the only thing that I can take away from this case, or one of the very few things, is I think this showcases just how little trust that people have in authorities these days.

1:07:19To no fault of our own, it's just become harder and harder to take the authority's words for things. I think humans, we just want proof now. And I think maybe the police should kind of learn from that. And it's just, it's scary. It's disheartening. And I'm glad that the family was able to find some closure that they need to move on from all of this. But that is all we have for today. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Please stay safe. And I will see you guys on Sunday for the mini-sode. Bye!