In short
Up and Vanished: Episode 20 - The Midnight Sun: Emergency Broadcast
Podcast Overview Host: Payne Lindsey Setting: Nome, Alaska Main Cases: Disappearances of Florence Okpealuk and Joseph Balderas Episode Type: Real-time dispatch - not the finale
Episode Summary In this episode, the release of the final episode focusing on the cases of Joseph Balderas and Florence Okpealuk is postponed due to unexpected new information. Host Payne Lindsey details a crucial two-hour conversation with Oregon Jon, who was Florence’s last known contact, marking a significant development in the case investigations.
Key Developments
- Emergency Call from Oregon Jon:
- After a year of silence, Jon reaches out, leading to an urgent two-hour discussion.
- His insights have the potential to reshape the narrative around both cases.
- Unexpected Episode Structure:
- The episode was meant to conclude the investigations but turns into a real-time update on new findings.
- Lindsey emphasizes the need to pause and analyze the new information responsibly.
Reflections on True Crime Podcasting
- Balancing Integrity and Business:
- The host grapples with the challenges of maintaining the integrity of the investigation while managing the demands of producing a podcast.
- The emotional weight of discussing real people and families affected by these cases is highlighted.
- Importance of Listener Trust:
- Lindsey expresses concern about listeners perceiving delays as a lack of commitment or transparency.
- He reiterates that the focus is always on solving the cases.
Key Insights from the Discussion
- Information on Joseph's Disappearance:
- A witness claims to have seen Joseph’s truck with him and another male (possibly his roommate Jake) on the day he went missing.
- This contradicts Jake's previous statements and raises questions about his involvement.
- Ongoing Investigation into Florence's Case:
- Oregon Jon's involvement is critical as he may hold information regarding Florence's last known moments.
- Lindsey emphasizes the need for a candid discussion with Jon, who has shown a willingness to speak openly.
- Potential Connections Between Cases:
- There are several implications that the cases of Joseph and Florence may be interconnected, requiring careful exploration of both narratives.
Next Steps
- Follow-Up Conversations:
- Lindsey plans to continue communication with Jon to gather more information, with the hope of delivering substantial updates soon.
- Episode Structure Moving Forward:
- The team plans to regroup and prepare for the next episode, which will focus on the new findings related to both cases.
Conclusion This episode serves as an urgent update on the investigations into the disappearances of Joseph Balderas and Florence Okpealuk, showcasing the evolving nature of true crime storytelling and the commitment to uncover the truth, even when it requires pausing previously scheduled content.
Key Takeaways
- Adaptability in True Crime: The importance of being flexible and responsive to new information in ongoing investigations.
- Emotional Weight of Investigations: The real impact on families and communities affected by disappearances.
- Listener Engagement: Transparency with the audience regarding the investigative process is crucial to maintaining trust and credibility.
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Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast.
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3:02This was not part of the plan. Come on, Mikey. Let's go. Oh, hey. What do you think, man? Like, after talking to him for the sloth, have you changed your mind about him? I don't know, man. A part of me during that call, it felt like I was getting close to a confession.
3:43From Tenderfoot TV in Atlanta, I'm your host Payne Lindsey, and this is Up and Vanished in the Midnight Sun.
3:55Yeah, and I was in the middle of editing. I was like, who's calling? I was like, oh my god, it's John. I have to answer. So talk about derailing the original plans today. Yeah, talk about good timing. Good timing and also bad timing for a podcast listener. What's crazy is that this reminds me so much of February 2017. I was going on episode 12 of Up and Vanished season one, Tarek Renstead. And because I was, I mean, I was new to podcasting at the time. I was making the episodes week to week. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. And for the first time ever, I pat myself on my own back because I got an episode done early.
4:38And I was like, yes. And so that Friday morning, I go to the office. I get there super early, crack my fingers like, all right, I'm gonna start digging into the next part of this season. I'm ahead for the first time. And as soon as I open Adobe Audition, I get a phone call that there's a press conference coming and that episode goes bye-bye and now we're on a whole new track. The irony of that happening here today is, it's annoying, it's serendipitous, but also it's kind of literally what we've been trying to generate here is, like we can't control what people do, we can't make people talk, we can't make people confess, We can't arrest anybody.
5:24But if we push the right buttons and present things in the right way, we can hopefully create a scenario where something goes pop. And today that happened. And now it's like, OK, what do we do? Because we have we're sitting on an entire podcast session that was essentially going to be part one of of the rest of our Joseph Balderas investigation. And so much of this weaves into Florence's case. And now we have Oregon John back on the line. And so we just talked to him for two hours. It's frustrating because this is a real true crime podcast. These are real people. I deal with the real families.
6:06I talk to the sisters and the moms of these victims. I talk to the real suspects and persons of interest and locals in the community. But at the end of the day, also, Tenderfoot TV, we're a podcast business. We're a media company. We make shows, right? And so we have obligations and deadlines. And so I call this emergency Zoom with you guys because I'm sitting here thinking, okay, what's the right thing to do here? I know in my gut what the right thing to do is. We got to hit pause and we got to sift through this information that we just got and deliver it in the way to honor the victims of this story and to actually make a difference.
6:46At the same time, I don't want to, I don't want our own listeners to think that we're just putting things off and giving them some fluff to make an extra buck or like that we're bluffing for the sake of it. Interrupting everyone's Friday and saying, hey, don't publish that episode yet. We can't. Dylan, take a Zoom call while you're driving. Mike, cancel your wife's dinner plans. Actually, don't do that, Mike. She'll kill me. But seriously, that's where we're at. And so my first thought was, okay, I want to preserve the integrity of this show. I want to preserve the integrity of the lives of Joseph Balderas and Florence Okpealuk.
7:28And also the time and energy we've spent into trying to solve these cases and all the people that we've worked with along the way in the community and even some law enforcement. We didn't come this far to rush something out when we have brand new information that changes absolutely everything. My goal is the same as it was on day one, which is fucking solve these cases. We don't get to that point by rushing things out. And so I'm calling this emergency Zoom meeting to get your two cents because this is not what anyone else on the business side of our operation wants to hear. If anything, let's just start recording what we're dealing with right now.
8:16And I think the true diehard listeners will understand. And hey, we always come through. Let's just kind of unpack where we're at and what the best game plan is. Because we're trying to get this information out as soon as possible. When something new and bigger comes in that changes the narrative and is what you've been looking for for two years, you've got to adapt on the fly. What do y 'all think? A hundred percent. I mean, we have, it's kind of unbelievable how much stuff we have just from this week alone. Just from the last two hours. Yeah. Yeah. Especially that. But I mean, even including last week, the week before that, everything we've been doing, a lot of it's just kind of all coming to an end.
9:00Yeah. I mean, I feel like I should say this because I know that a portion of this, if not this entire zoom call is going to become part of an episode today or the episode which is not what somebody was expecting so I want to qualify a few things I think one of the biggest mysteries about true crime podcasts and I'm speaking solely for up and vanished here and how we operate is that there are things that we are doing behind the scenes that we that we don't tell you because we can't right but I'll go ahead and pull one cat out of the bag for you right now just to give you you an example. We had Joseph's truck months ago, back in October.
9:40It made no sense to go to the internet or to the RSS feed or drop on Apple or Spotify, iHeart, some episode that says, hey, we got Joseph's truck. No, no, no. We don't want to put that out there and give room for people to intercept that, interrupt our plans. So we sometimes have to work in silence a little bit. And obviously, his truck's been out there for a long time. We had high hopes. We didn't know what we would find. But based on our initial assessment, it seemed like the statistics and the odds of us finding anything substantial were pretty low. But after hours of digging around, we did find some things in that truck that may ultimately be of value.
10:27The second part of that entire mission for me was to show those who are responsible for Joseph's disappearance that we are actively looking at this. On one end, yes, it's a show. It's a podcast. It's for you to listen to and follow along and maybe even help us solve or at least show your support or maybe get you through your workout routine. I don't know. But on the other end, this show is just as much tactical as it is, I hate even using the word, entertaining. Part of the entire Truck Forensics episode was to show those who may be guilty of something that we also have some cards up our sleeves.
11:18And we're not going to unveil those to you right now. We will eventually. And it's not like we're trying to hold out on the listener. But damn, did that not work beautifully? Because ever since we've dropped that episode, what's happened in Joseph's case? Probably the most feedback and the most new information we've ever received to the point where the entire outline we had structured with with information and tips that we were holding on to and vetting to make sure that they were 100 percent, 100 percent solid. Those are almost becoming secondary. And so we're sitting here today going, OK, we literally have a full episode, 45 minutes in an Adobe audition session on your computer, Mike and mine.
12:03But I don't feel right in my heart putting this out when we know what we know within the past 24 hours. Just give me y 'all's take on that dilemma and I don't know, potential paths forward to do this the right way. Yeah, it's really tough because it's hard to explain it without giving anything away. You know, but we had to pivot. Like this, how it is now and how it was going to come out today just unfortunately cannot happen. No, it can't. And, you know, it's not that my number one concern is making sure the listeners aren't like, oh my God, they're just bluffing. That is not my concern. But at the same time, what I what I am concerned about is, is that I do want the people who genuinely care about these cases to to know and believe and to trust me and us with what we're saying.
13:01And so I kind of made a little hit list of stuff I want to touch on that we can safely do right now without blowing anything in the next 24 hours for us to show that there's stuff going on and it's not some bullshit. Stuff that is done and was going to come out today anyways. Yes. Let me pull up that little Google Doc. I feel like I've made 35 Google Docs today. I don't know about you guys. I think I'm a little more than that. Yeah. I mean, so I'm just going to go down the hit list here because a lot of this stuff was about to come out tonight and it's still coming out in the episode. But it's now going to be paired with new information that is more urgent that fills in gaps that need to be filled in.
13:52And I'm not in the business of I'm not in the business of parsing this out. If I was, I would drop some republished episode. This is harder to do right now. Dylan's driving to his – where are you driving to, Dylan? Somewhere more important than – where are you driving to? One of my sister's graduations. Technically, I'm on vacation today, but this is so important. Your sister's graduation can wait, Dylan. I'm just kidding. But exactly, like, this is not what anyone was planning on doing. But let me just go like go down some of these things. And let's just talk about them briefly. So this was even new to you guys, because there's I've received so many calls for both Florence's case and Joseph's case, I usually am pretty good about immediately uploading them to the shared Dropbox we have and trying to label them to make sure that it makes sense.
14:51But on occasion, I'll be on the road or be in some place with weird service. And it'll just be a voice memo on my phone. And it kind of gets lost in the sauce. And then a month later, I'm recataloging and I'm like, oh, yeah, this one. And so some of these like, I know, Mike, you hadn't even heard yet. And it's crazy because when I heard it the first time, I knew that it was important. But coupled with everything else I've heard since then, when I listened to it again, when we were building what was supposed to be today's episode, it hit different. So I spoke to this woman who called me anonymously.
15:29I confirmed her identity. She's from Nome. I know who her mother is. She, this is her account. Joseph's truck was seen. She swears to God. It was Joseph in the truck. It was the blue Dodge Dakota. It was out by mile 44. It was on the Saturday afternoon when Joseph was last seen that we know of. But there was someone else inside that vehicle and it was a male. And I asked her point blank, did you recognize this person? Who is it? She's not guessing. She is convinced. she saw this Saturday the day that Joseph went missing and the person in the other seat was no other than Jake Joseph's roommate now this is her account I don't have a video of this I'm taking her word for it but she is 100 % confident that Joseph wasn't alone out there that Saturday in his truck, but that there was another male in the vehicle.
16:38One that she claims with 100 % certainty is Jake, his roommate. That, if true, is not good at all because one, it goes against Jake's entire alibi and his story. It also doesn't mean that Jake did anything, but it also makes you wonder why he lied about this among all the other lies he had. So that's a big one. But it gets me back to the truck, right? We learn all this stuff after we do the forensic examination of the truck, and we're sitting on a box of hairs, fingernail clippings, what could be samples of blood, gum wrappers, items, and little pieces that may contain trace DNA. Now, if there's an individual who claims that they were never in Joseph's truck, As the weather gets cooler, I'm swapping in the pieces that actually get the job done.
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20:56You just sent me some of this stuff today. A lot of this stuff. But yeah, no, this is potentially just insane. I mean, how many people are out there that saw something and have listened to this podcast, but aren't saying something? I think that's the bigger thing. There's a lot of people who have, it could be small information. They have it and they're just now coming forward. They're going to come forward soon. Who knows? and this is something that mike you and i have both learned me from season one you starting from season two a lot of times when the podcast is coming out it does tend to affect the locals perception of the case right yeah the hornet the hornet's nest is is kicked at that point.
21:45It is. And there's a it's a double edged sword. There's a good side and there's a bad side of that. The good side is that, hey, what was once complete silence is now a loud roar. Now everyone's talking. Problem is that sometimes and only sometimes, but it does happen. Sometimes people who who contact us claiming to be a witness of something become influenced by what they heard on the podcast. And it's our job to kind of decipher whether or not the account that they're recalling is in any way influenced by what they may have already heard. And so, for example, the story of this lady who saw Joseph's truck the day he went missing with Joseph inside the vehicle and another man she claims to be Jake.
22:37This story is true. It's unadulterated. It's because the story was told years before the podcast ever came out. It wasn't until the podcast actually was out that somebody realized that it didn't make sense for Jake to be there at all because they didn't know that at the time because we were playing eight-year-old police tape, Andy's interview tapes. These things had never, this audio had never seen the light of day. And so for a long time, no one knew who was supposed to be where or what. You could see Joe Schmo here and it mean nothing to you unless you knew that that person said once upon a time to the police officer who was investigating this case that I wasn't there.
23:28Then you go, holy shit, but I saw them there. And so in a lot of ways, that's what's happening right now. But we still have to be on high alert with how we are digesting the new information that's coming in and coming in really fast. The other thing that we've that we've talked about in season four, obviously, you can't mention Joseph Balderas and not mention the last name Pascoya. Right. And that's only to say because they knew each other. They hung out a lot. And Jake was Joseph's roommate. Christine Pascoya was who he was allegedly last with on the beach that Saturday morning with the kids.
24:17Kim was also out at the bar that night. So no matter how you slice this, the Pascoya family, no assertion of innocence or guilt here. They're tied into this. They were friends. They were family friends. He would go to outings with them. I do find it a little odd that after all these years and how highly they spoke of Joseph, that instead of participating and helping find him, they're just radio silent. And so one of the names that came up a lot and wasn't talked about to the deepest degree, which we're planning on talking about in the episode that was supposed to come out today. I'm sorry it's coming out, but I'm going to let you know it.
25:06I'm going to give you some insights on it now. Kevin Pascoya, right? This is Christine Pascoya's uncle. We've heard a lot of strange stories about this guy. I don't know which ones are true or which ones are not, which ones are false or which ones are false. What I do know is that I've heard enough stories from different people that are credible, ones that match the other stories, that there is some truth to some of them. Now, Kevin Pascoya sadly has passed away, and his name became central in Joseph's disappearance for a multitude of reasons, starting as early as the search they were conducting when Joseph's family was there.
25:59There were several stories of Kevin Pascoya on his ATV seemingly driving roughly through the terrain in a way that made family and friends feel like he was trying to throw off tracks. Now, this is just somebody's observation. But regardless, we're talking about an ex-cop. Maybe that wasn't his intent. but damn do it a little softer and selena joseph's sister she's no police expert but she's a smart person she thought that's weird why is he doing it like that right then you got the whole weird rifle thing why does why does a rifle go missing that that jake had and came from kevin and or did it?
26:53And why is there any mystery surrounding this at all? And so his name has come up, but we haven't put too much focus on him because, hey, that's all we know. What we did figure out is that he passed away a few years ago, which is really sad, which is really sad. But Mike, and Mike, you can vouch for this, I feel like at this point, all these years into this true crime game, we've gotten pretty good at finding stuff like death records and anything of that sort. What have you been able to find on his death? For sure. Yeah, we have experience doing that. No doubt about it. But Gnome is, I feel like, a different kind of town.
27:50It's a really small town. Things are done differently. I mean, even the newspapers are different. The mail's delivered differently. There's a lot of just different things about this town. I don't think people understand, but it is a little weird with the lack of information you can pull up. And honestly, with the lack of transparency from some of the departments related to the city. So I know that you spent months on this because I kept asking you, what'd you find? What'd you find? What did you find as the cause of death for Christophe Pascoya? I was not able to find anything personally. Is that normal to you based on all the years and dozens of cases we've worked on?
28:39No. So, you might not get the exact cause, but you usually at least get some kind of idea. So, no, I don't think that is normal in that sense. Well, in a small town like Nome, assuming that an autopsy was performed, somebody somewhere should have some knowledge of this. And so the troubling part, and it's frustrating, you know, it puts us back to square one in this sort of speculative guessing game, which is never a good place to be. We don't know his cause of death. It could be something very natural. And I say this with all due respect to the Pascoya family. But, and I say but here, and it's a big one.
29:33I have heard from numerous people, numerous, and I'm talking since 2023 here. Since we first started poking around in both of these cases, I have heard over and over again an identical story about how he may have passed. Now, I'm going to loosely gloss over it here because there is still information that we're sorting through that adds more nuance to this. But the story that I've heard is that he was found in his own truck miles and miles outside of town. Miles and miles outside of town. allegedly he had told someone he was going to the airport he went the opposite direction what I do know for a fact is that for a couple of days they were searching for him so for a minute there Kevin Pascoy was missing ultimately they did find Kevin and his vehicle he was inside of it from what I know, from what I've heard because there are no official reports on this, which I find very weird.
Read the full transcript
31:01But the consensus by three to five sources that I trust, by at least five sources that I really trust, is that his truck was found somewhere along Mile 38 down Council Road. not too far from where Joseph's truck was found on mile 44. Maybe that's a coincidence. Maybe he wanted to take a drive and that's just where he ended up. I don't know where things get darker or all the other details that everyone I've spoken to who I've trusted and I've vetted. Have told me and it involves. It involves pills. It involves a bottle of liquor, a bottle of liquor. And it involves some sort of handwritten note of sorts.
32:05Now, we can sit here and speculate all day what that might mean. but I talked to someone who has first-hand knowledge of this and I'm not going to play their call right now because I need to do this in the correct order
32:25but regardless of what happened to Kevin and rest in peace there are conflicting narratives because I've also spoken to someone from the Piscoya family who I will not name yet, but you will know their name when this drops. And they have a completely different story. I didn't find their story to be any more convincing. The troubling part here is that I don't want to open up any more old wounds for anybody, right? I don't want to. Any death in the family, no matter who they were, what they did, that's awful. And that is something you have to deal with for the rest of your life and heal from. But at the same time, Joseph Balderas and his family, they don't even know where he is.
33:23They have no clue what happened. There isn't some debate as to whether or not it was a suicide or an accidental death or a heart attack or some sort of accident. He just disappeared. He just disappeared. And when it's being suggested in very serious ways that there may be a legitimate link to what happened here to Joseph's disappearance, I cannot ignore it. And so that's one of the things we're grappling with that you will hear more of. and that's just one of those strange dilemmas. Dylan? Yeah, it's tough. You don't want to speak ill of the dead. Nobody does. But if he is involved, that's an avenue we have to investigate because if it turns out this is all connected and we don't do it just for that reason that we don't want to poke that hornet's nest, we're going to regret it.
34:28We're going to leave a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up. And there are just a lot of weird things about it, a lot of coincidences that beg for it to be investigated. I think it's important that we look into it. We have to poke in uncomfortable places in order to get the answers that we need. And that kind of brings me to part one as to why there's not the official finale episode dropping right now today. One of the reasons is that a member of that family, there is a story that is validated by multiple sources that changes everything. And it's one thing to, you can't look at anyone. It's like if you get arrested, one of the first things they're supposed to say is you have the right to remain silent, right?
35:27Because you know good and well they're going to use whatever the hell you say against you. That's just the way it works. So hiring an attorney or staying silent, that does not mean guilt. Let's establish that right off the rip here. That's just the way it is. And so we are approaching it from that perspective, and I respect that. Now, what I do find troubling is that the way the Pascoya family, and I mean everyone in that family, the way that they described their loving relationship with Joseph, from all the tape and all the interviews that the private investigators conducted nearly a decade ago now does not match the way that they are behaving now.
36:22Now, I'll play devil's advocate in their favor. Maybe they're like, oh man, that thing I said doesn't make me look good. So I'd rather just not say anymore so I don't look worse. Okay, I could understand that. What I don't understand is that you were so convincing that you cared about this person. And when I've made multiple, polite, valiant, respectful attempts to talk to every one of these individuals, and it's been met combatively, what am I supposed to think about that? I didn't make anything up about you guys. This is just some shit you said one time. I wasn't even around. I was working on another case.
37:16I didn't even know about this case. That concerns me. Now, back to part one as to why we're not getting a full episode finale today, tonight. is that there is a major story that I believe to be true that is very vetted that has to do with a member of a particular family moving Joseph's vehicle. And again, this was a story told years ago. been in this other family's circle for a long time. But it didn't mean that much to them because they didn't know the ins and outs of this. We got to remember here, all this tape, all this audio from the private investigators, the police, these interviews from 2024 and 2025 of the people involved in these cases and the locals.
38:25This is the first time a lot of people in Nome are ever hearing this. And some of them are saying, holy shit, that doesn't make sense with what I saw. Now what I saw that I thought I had of gut, weird gut feeling about actually has some much larger implications. And so that is still being, I wouldn't say that, that is still being investigated in the sense of we want this to be even more rock solid. But you're going to hear from the exact person, persons, and they're telling the truth. and someone else is lying. And you'll get to hear that. We had an episode pretty much ready to go. So the initial play of the day, before we're on this Zoom call right now that you're hearing on your podcast feed, we were going to do a part one finale strictly focusing on Joseph Balderas first because there's at least an hour of material that needs to be heard.
39:35Now, in the background for the past two weeks, I've been working my ass off on trying to do what I thought was impossible. And honestly, I'm I was telling Dylan, Mike, before you hopped on how much I still don't believe this that this was pulled off. Let's go back to Florence Okpealik's case for a second. We know that there are some sketchy individuals that she was around on West Beach that night. We know that that is where the story ends one way or the other. The facts are this. Her shoes, her phone, among other items, were found outside of Oregon John's tent. John Gerton is his name. I know you remember his name.
40:33because I catfished him, and he met me in Ketchikan at a bar, and we talked for several hours, and you heard what he had to say. Now, that wasn't my desired way to approach him, but I had a gut feeling that any other way wasn't going to work. But since then, I have made contact with John again. And I told him straight up, I'm sorry that I tricked you, but based on the situation, I didn't think you'd talk to me. And he basically agrees. A lot of that is water under the bridge. Now, John and I have spoken for a little bit, and he's expressed to me that he wants to get his side of the story out there.
41:23I said, done. I'll give you the mic. Let's do this. This is not a witch hunt. I'm not trying to frame anybody. I'm basing it off the facts. The facts are, from what I know, Oregon John was the last person to see Florence. The stories he tells me about that night don't make sense. There are contradictions. These are facts. These are facts. Now, it doesn't mean he did anything, but it means that he's one of the most valuable players in trying to figure out what happened to her. Am I right? Thousand percent right. Yeah. I mean, how much are we releasing on this call? I don't want to say too much.
42:10So, okay. I think it's safe to say this. I was debating, but this just happened. This is actually part two of why you're getting this episode today. This is actually the real biggest reason. For the last several weeks, I've been trying to make contact with John again. You may remember from the finale episode before we took a long break that I did make contact with John. And he expressed gratitude and told me that he was having a rough time in Ketchikan. And I said, hey, man, I want to help you clear the air. And he said, all I want to do is tell you the truth. And I said, that's all I want to hear, too.
42:56And at that point, he gave me his real cell phone number. And my plan was to set a time and date and have that conversation man to man. No Facebook trickery. No catfishing. Just get down to it. It's all good. Just tell me your version of events. Problem was, I tried to reach out to him. Boop, boop, boop. Number's not working. Okay, well, let me try one of the other ones. Boop, boop, boop. Nothing. This number. That number. That number. Okay, now we got a problem. So I got desperate. I just, I started calling other places. I called the local jail. They actually said that they fingerprinted him about a month ago on another charge that he's been released on.
43:51But he's not been there. Called the homeless shelter. Not there. Called pretty much any place I could think of. And I don't know where he is. I called his former parole officer. No clue where he's at. And so I'm now dealing with somebody who expressed in what I thought was a genuine way that they wanted to tell their true side of the story and clear their name. And now they're a ghost. I don't like when people do that. If you don't know that already. And it just so happened to hit me at the time where I must have been in the right mood or something. but I just literally sat out of my bed at 11.30 p.m.
44:39and said, fuck this, I'm going to find John. And I'm like, wow, deja vu. Wasn't there an episode called Finding John in the first part of this season? Well, Finding John Part 2, which you will hear, is a lot more insane than the first one. But the end result is a lot better. And so without going into too much detail, I had to pull out a lot of resources and I will give credit to some listeners out in Ketchikan, some listeners of Up and Vanished, who had sent an email a year prior that I ended up referring to and in a long story short, helped us locate Oregon John. Have you just wrapped another cold case or unsolved mystery?
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46:49Mint is still$15 a month for premium wireless. And if you haven't made the switch yet, here are 15 reasons why you should. One, it's$15 a month. Two, seriously, it's$15 a month. Three, no big contracts. Four, I use it. Five, my mom uses it. Are you playing me off? That's what's happening, right? Okay. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three-month plan. $15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer first three months only. Then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com. John and I talked for over two hours. I think I saw the realest side of John Gerton that I've ever seen.
47:33And I want to believe that he's being sincere and genuine when he says that he wants to clear his name and that he wants to help Florence's family get closure. Now, I'm not done talking to him. I literally had to tell him about 30 minutes ago, I got to go and call you back because we got to do this Zoom call. But he's willing, he is willing to talk. And I am very willing to listen. I do not have a dog in the fight. All I know is that if anyone holds the key, knowingly or not, to what happened to Florence Okpialik or where she might be today, this man might be able to help. And so two things are going on.
48:31There's a two hour conversation that you're going to hear. I'm also going to call him again. This is not the episode you were expecting today. But I'm sitting here, honestly, with so many mixed feelings that I don't even know which one comes to mind first other than stressed out. But this story isn't over. Just because you call something a finale episode doesn't mean that we're not going to solve it. So I want to just thank you for your patience. our plan is to regroup the rest of tonight and tomorrow on Saturday finish what we had started and give you the part one of the Midnight Sun finale that we were initially planning to give you that primarily focuses on Joseph's disappearance.
49:27And in the meantime, I'm continuing my conversations with John and I'm hoping that as soon as Monday, part two, the finale of Florence Okpeolek's story in our current investigation airs and shortly thereafter we have a date, if not that same night, where we go live. No gimmicks, no BS, no editing. Just straight and raw. Me, Payne Lindsey, John Gerton, what happened? So that's what's coming down the line. And it's not coming in weeks. It's coming in days. And as much as I regret to inform you that it's not coming today, a part of me is ecstatic that after all these years, all this work, all the support from the locals and Nome, just the families staying strong, believing.
50:29and even the persons of interest, lending their voice at all and not being a coward. This is how we get to the truth. And I'm telling you, we've never been this close in these cases. So bear with us. We will keep you posted. And yeah, anything you guys want to add? I got to say, I was on the call. I mean, Dylan and I were on that call with you and John and the difference between him talking to you like you were a stranger looking for a job opportunity versus how he talked to you on that call was just night and day it felt he felt more candid you know i think it's just inherently how we talk to strangers versus with somebody who, he knows what you do now.
51:22He knows who you are. And I think it made a huge difference. There was some emotion in there. And it's hard to decipher entirely, which is why I wanted to be a face-to-face thing in the end. And, you know, my bullshit radar is always on high alert. But I believe that some of the emotion he showed today in the call was real. some of it I questioned but I'm not done talking to him and I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now because he's participating this is not a witch hunt I just want the truth and I don't know who could help me out more in finding out what happened to Florence Okpialik than the person who last saw her in his tent who has her things and has no good explanation for it.
52:18Yeah, he was a different guy this time than the first time we met. I mean, you could tell he just really seemed like he wanted to help. Whether or not that's true or he's, you know, just avoiding something is yet to be told. But I think it's really important that he has this time and this space to tell his side of the story. And I think, you know, just from hearing the conversation, I think a lot of times especially in podcasts there's this idea that the people of interest are guilty until proven innocent and I think you did a really good job of staying neutral giving him time to say his truth without leading him or without making him feel guilty but also still asking him the tough questions I agree that's how I call it this is John Hello?
53:38and Cooper Skinner. Editing by Mike Rooney and Cooper Skinner with additional editing by Dylan Harrington. Supervising producer is Tracy Kaplan. Additional production by Victoria McKenzie, Alice Kanique Glenn, and Eric Quintana. Artwork by Rob Sheridan. Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Mix and Mastered by Cooper Skinner. Thank you to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, Beck Media and Marketing, and the Nord Group. Special thanks to all of the families and community members that spoke to the team. Additional information and resources can be found in our show notes. For more podcasts like Up and Banished, search Tenderfoot TV on your favorite podcast app or visit us at tenderfoot.tv.
54:18Thanks for listening.
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55:46It was a story too important to stay buried. I'm Stephanie Tinsley, and this is Everything They Missed, a new true crime investigation. Episodes drop weekly. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
From the publisher
We were supposed to release the final episode today. Joseph’s case. Florence’s case. It was all ready—until everything changed.
In the last 24 hours, Oregon Jon—Florence’s last known contact—called us. After over a year of silence, he talked. For two hours.
This episode is not the finale. It’s a real-time dispatch from the middle of the storm. A raw, behind-the-scenes look at what just happened, how it’s changed everything, and what comes next. New episode next Monday.
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