14 | The Alibi

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3:01Finding Joseph? Hello? Hello? This is Finding Joseph Hotline. Is anybody there? Hello? Hi. Hello, um... Um... Who are you trying to call? Um, nobody. We were just seeing if the phone number will work. For the 5e Joseph? Yeah. Yes, this is the phone number. What were you guys calling for?

3:47We were just trying to call a missing guy. A missing guy?

3:56We were just trying to call.

4:02Okay. Did you know something about a missing person?

4:09So, my friend says he's seen him out at council. What did you know? I've seen him the last time before he started hiking. Okay, when? Like five, six years ago.

4:33I saw him before he was leaving his truck. But then I went to camp.

4:41And then a week later, I didn't see him anymore. And then what? I saw him. But then I got to camp. and then the day I came back, I didn't see him.

4:57Okay, where did you see him getting out of his truck? I don't remember.

5:06I'm sorry for calling. Bye.

5:20Do-da-da-da-da-da-da Do-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da Do-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da The voice you heard on the other end of the call was computer generated for their own protection, but it was an actual child who made that phone call. We also chose to take out a few small details for now, details that we believe may be crucial to the investigation, which as I speak is very much active. If you're tired of hearing the play-by-play events of the weekend Joseph went missing, trust me, I am too. But it's something I found myself coming back to over and over again because it just doesn't make any fucking sense.

6:20And it's so very important. In every case, there's always inconsistencies. But at what point do you say, there are too many inconsistencies? Trying to connect the dots of every single thing that happened that weekend is like putting together IKEA furniture, meaning next to impossible. So impossible that in the nights that I've lost sleep about this, I've sat there pondering, why? It's almost as if it was meant to be confusing. I truly try to stay as consciously objective as possible. But no matter how many angles I've looked at this, there are some major flaws and red flags in what people are claiming to have happened the weekend Joseph went missing.

7:04But it wasn't until recently that things started to click. I found some tape from an interview the first PI conducted. He's speaking to a man named Jim West. He's one of the guys who helped spearhead the search and rescue efforts for Joseph right after he went missing. He's also the guy who ultimately towed Joseph's truck for police to examine, which we know they didn't. The PI starts the conversation with Jim, laying out the days and dates, just like you've heard a million times before. Because even eight years ago, he sensed that something didn't make sense. And I'm ready to break this down for you.

7:45Friday night, the 24th, the 25th would have been Saturday, the 26th would have been Sunday, and the 27th would have been Monday, which he didn't show up to work. Right, well, there was a wedding Sunday. Sunday, guys coming back for the wedding early in the morning. They spot the truck coming back in. Our family friend was getting married that day, so we were coming back in early. Sunday the 26th. The reason it stood out, I mean, he was right on the edge of the road. When you're going to go park off the road and go do something, you pull off. Hasty parking job. Dan, you believe it's between 1040 and 1045 or 1040 and 1050?

8:301040, 1045. Sunday morning now, Trooper Cross went to his camping couch. On Sunday, Trooper Sergeant Cross saw the truck at 1 o 'clock. A trooper sees his truck the same place at 1 p.m. But then the P.I. Andy Klamzer talked to one of Joseph's co-workers and learned this. I texted, hi Jake, search and rescue needs to double check what day and time did you last see him? Jake responded, it was about 1 o 'clock p.m. on Sunday when I saw him leave. Sunday. Sunday. I texted back immediately, positive Sunday? He says positive. Sunday at 1 p.m.

9:14Jake said he saw Joseph alive and well in the hallway of the home around 1.30 p.m. on Sunday. Sunday. Sunday morning after Joseph had stopped responding to anyone. Which would be a little out of his character. And then he was never heard from again. But then Jake's story completely contradicts this. So Andy talked to Jake's mother, Bonnie. Do you recall seeing him at any point during the weekend that he disappeared?

9:45Sunday, we were at camp. I'd seen his vehicle drive by. We were outside working on the addition at camp, and I remember saying, how do you mean he didn't stop? About what time was that? Three or four in the afternoon, probably. One more sighting. But this time Joseph's truck is moving, driving. Where was he heading? So did Jake mention to you seeing Joseph at the house Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon? So when I had called Jake and asked him, he said it had to be around 1. And it was just in passing. Remember anything else he said? He said, well, do you remember what he was wearing? He said, no.

10:28I mean, we didn't really even talk that much. I mean, the age gap was, is Jake still the young kid. Was, is, was. Call me an overanalyzer, but recalling what your roommate was wearing the day that they went missing has nothing to do with how well you knew each other. If these accounts are true, then Joseph's just moving around all strange, completely ignoring the love of his life. But as I dug deeper, I found another interview that honestly gave me goosebumps. We had one of the last debriefings and trying to go over different areas of what they covered, you know. And the question is, when was he last seen?

11:11In one of the briefings that we had, Bonnie stated very adamant that he was with Christine 1.30 to 3 on the beach. Sunday. Sunday or Saturday? I asked her. Point blank. Was it Sunday? She says yes. So Bonnie states that she saw him on the beach Sunday. She's very abrasive about that. She swears that positive was Sunday. So we're getting conflicting information right from the get-go. So I'm sitting there scratching my head again. I said, okay. And then about that time, the family came in. And then she quieted up. Jake said that he'd seen him Sunday morning. So it doesn't make sense for the truck to be out there and him in town.

12:07And I can't figure it out. Why would the truck be out there and him in town? She was very adamant. Very adamant that it was Sunday. Bonnie. Bonnie. That he was with Christine on the beach Sunday. And then she started to back off that when family came around. Did that strike you as odd? Well, he filed it in the back of my head. I don't know. It seems awful suspicious. If you were me, what would you want to do, knowing everything that's been done, where would you want to pick up? I'd go back and I'd re-interview a roommate. Jake? I'd lean heavy on him. Selena had noticed a bunch of scratches and stuff, rosy mark on his cheek.

12:57Find out who in the hell he was with. Seems awful strange.

13:11James. Jake continues to say that he observed Joseph coming out of his bedroom about 1.30 p.m. on Sunday and leaving the house. So I called Jake a bunch of times, like 11 times, and he always had his phone set to not accept calls. You know, I feel pretty strongly that the most likely explanation for Joseph's disappearance is that someone has done something to him.

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15:10Taxes and fees extra. See MintMobile.com. Long before this season came out, I was actively trying to contact pretty much every single person in this case. Jake being one of them. My first attempt to contact him was on December 6, 2023. I got his phone number and I texted him. I said, hey Jake, this is Payne Lindsey. Jake responds, who is this? Why are you trying to contact me? So I said, again, my name is Payne Lindsey. I hope all is well. I'm an investigative journalist. I tried to add you on Facebook recently. Jake replied, yeah, why? I don't know who you are. Dude, I've told you who I was twice already.

15:55I responded saying, yeah, we've never met. I'm investigating the disappearance of Joseph. I'd love to grab a few minutes of your time. I think it's crucial to closing this case out. Jake's response was, no thanks. Alrighty. Then I said, why is that? I'm trying to help. At this point, my eye messages were turning green. So we obviously know what happened there. He blocked me. It's at this point that it all starts to unravel. Alaska State Troopers went to Jake's residence. It was partially recorded. And I say partially because it seems like some of it's missing. Maybe there was an error. They discovered on his phone after a forensic analysis that Jake had texted his friends Emery and Tyler trying to create an alibi.

16:45I don't have all these texts, but I do have some of them. He texted his friend saying, I had to use you in a story for the state trooper. Friend responded, What did you say? Jake responded, That us three took a drive to Solomon at 8 p.m. and got back at 1 a.m. This is supposed to be the Saturday night, the day before he went missing. He asked what I did Saturday and if I saw him and whatnot. Obviously, to the troopers, it looked like Jake was trying to set up an alibi. So they talked to his friends Emery and Tyler. and they have no recollection of this trip, at least in the location that Jake's referring to.

17:23In Nome, Alaska, as a young adult, a popular thing to do is bridge jumping, jumping off bridges with your friends into the rivers outside the city. This is what Jake alleged he was doing, but he felt the need to tell his friends that it happened in a place that it didn't, and during a period of time that is incorrect. When the troopers talked to Emery and Jake, they found out he lied about where he was going. where Jake initially claimed he was, out by Solomon, is hours away from where his friends say they were. So for whatever reason, Jake felt the need to lie about that. This is where we all get to start paying attention.

18:01And some of this tape you've heard, but I'm about to play you the rest of it. Jake, originally you told me that you went out for a drive. And then I talked to your buddies and they said that didn't happen. They told me that you specifically went for a drive that way. And then they told me that they weren't with you or that didn't happen. And then I talked to you and I learned that you were out bridge jumping, which is what Tyler had told me. But my issue is when confronted with, hey, what did you do last weekend, I wouldn't say I went for a drive someplace I wasn't. To me, it seems like either you're lying now because you're covering it, covering it for something that you don't want to tell us for that four-hour period, or you were lying then.

18:47when you told me that you went in a completely different direction with two guys that you weren't with. And either way, it doesn't sound like you're being 100 % truthful with me. In Jake's alibi text to his friends, he told them to say they got back from bridge jumping at 1 a.m. But when the troopers talked to his friend Tyler, they learned a different time frame. So now he's lied twice. So what time was it that Tyler said they got back? Tyler said they got back here around 20, 20, 100 at, so 8 o 'clock. So, so that's the time frame that, you know, when you guys got dropped off. And you originally told me that you got back here sometime around 1.30 and I can even, I can even say, you know, 12.30 is pretty damn close to 1.30, but it's still not, that's not close to 8 o 'clock.

19:38So again, we're still back in that, we got four or five hours in the evening that I'd love to know what you did. Because I can remember what I did two weeks ago. You know, for you to go, I just don't remember when you remember right up to that point what happened from bridge jumping to 12.30. We're talking about we got a four or five-hour gap in the evening. Four-hour time gap where no one knows where Jake was. The concern about the time gap from 8 p.m. to 12.30 a.m., they couldn't make sense of it either but they knew at this point jake had lied twice but their third concern was where jake was after midnight you came back here at 12 30 but what happened after you guys went and tyler dropped jobs that's the question who do you remember who you were with i honestly don't i really cannot remember

20:40So when you guys came back, where did you go? Did Tyler drop you off somewhere? He dropped you off here. Did he drop you and Emery off together? Yes, you. Did he drop Emery off at his house? Jake, what I'm trying to understand is if he dropped you off at midnight 30, he dropped you off and then you said he made it home at midnight 30. So what was the rest of it, brother? What did you do the rest of the night? I honestly can't remember. It's been so long.

21:09Were you drinking that night? Were you drunk when you came back? Or is there any other reason? Is there any reason why you don't remember? I don't. So whatever timeline you want to believe here, or whoever's memory's messed up, there's still the huge question of where was Jake and what was he doing after midnight? The troopers then go back to Jake's claim that he saw Joseph at his house on Sunday. See, at 1.30, you see Joseph kind of watching. Is 1.30 in the morning or 1.30 in the afternoon? In the afternoon. In the afternoon, okay. I'm guessing you probably didn't sleep 13 hours if you came home at 12.

21:42Or is that typical on the weekend for you to sleep that long? My life's dead up later. Two, three. Okay. Just hanging out here? Do you think you might have gone to another second? I honestly think so. Okay. 13 hours of sleep. Really? On a Saturday night? In the summer? Mmm. Maybe. But unlikely. You got dropped off. And then, to be honest, I'm already just going to play video games. Okay. Finally, Jake speaks. Regardless of what happened during the day, which is still an absolute mess and full of lies and contradictory statements, Jake does say that when his friend Tyler dropped him off, he stayed at his house by himself and played video games for the rest of the night.

22:33The second private investigator, Andy Klamzer, was on a mission. He found Jake's friend, Tyler, the one he had texted about making an alibi for Saturday. And the last story that Jake settled on was that he was dropped off by Tyler at his house that night. And from about midnight onward, he stayed at his house by himself and played video games.

23:03Are you Tyler? Yes. No, I'm Andy Klamzer. Nice to meet you. Let's go upstairs to the conference room. I'm a private investigator. I'm a retired cop. I've been doing this for about 20 years. Probably 95 % of what I do is just interview people. Seems very odd that they didn't find anything out there. That was a major search.