Episode 6: Run Full Speed

This podcast discusses issues such as drug use, self-harm, sexual abuse, violence, and assault. Listener discretion is advised. Part of the entertainment. I remember being a little kid. I was maybe eight or nine years old. This family member would make me do sexual things to her. I didn't even know what I was doing. I just remember crying and being very, very scared. I had to do it numerous times. I was a very little girl. And she never even told me she was sorry. But I never gave her. And I swear I'm going to stop tonight. Watching this video Natalie posted on social media, I can't help but wonder how much influence did trauma like this have on her as an adult? We know that trauma can shape a person. So could events like this have caused her to have an unhealthy lifestyle? What is the best way to deal with trauma? apparently, refused to accept. But Jonathan's troubles were just beginning. Unbeknownst to him, he was being investigated by law enforcement since February of 2020. He was arrested in April for possession of more than 28 grams of meth, a trafficking charge, and driving on a suspended license. He bonded out in June and was placed on probation, requiring him to wear an ankle monitor. One month later, in July, he violated those conditions by allegedly offering $5,000 to have a witness, a man then dating his ex-wife, killed. He was returned to custody. It was in that moment that a far darker dimension of Jonathan's character was revealed, raising serious questions about what he might truly be capable of. During his time of being incarcerated after Natalie vanished, law enforcement allegedly put a plant in with Jonathan. Jonathan had allegedly tried to take out a hit. On the very investigator that was investigating him, starting back in February of 2020. Days after Natalie vanished, Jonathan was arrested for breaking his bond terms. In August of 2020, while still incarcerated, a jailhouse informant told authorities that Jonathan had solicited the murder of a Troop County, Georgia deputy, a key witness. In his upcoming trial. New developments in the case of a man accused of trying to kill a local deputy. A judge just sentenced Jonathan Lawrence to 35 years in prison. Investigators say they found meth in his car in 2020, and that was in Troop County. An inmate confessed that Lawrence had hired a hit man against a drug investigator. A jury found him guilty of conspiracy to commit malice murder. Evidence used in court included a map to the officer's home that Jonathan had allegedly drawn for another inmate, Toby, who was to facilitate the murder. Again for $5,000. What Jonathan didn't know at the time was that Toby was working with investigators and was wearing a wire. I spoke with one of the jurors in that trial, Leslie Dye, and she filled me in on what transpired. Leslie Dye: So he's wired up. He says, "Hey, Jonathan, come here. I want to talk to you about what we talked about a couple of weeks ago." The law enforcement officer that he was accused of trying to have murdered lived down the street from him. They lived in the same subdivision. We're shown this map, and there's the recording, and they play the recording while Toby is on the witness stand. Toby says, "Well, I sat down with him. We were going to go over a map of the neighborhood to map everything out." You can hear him saying, "Okay, what's this road? What's that road? Where does this go? Where does that go?" Leslie Dye: Supposedly, Jonathan is drawing Toby this map to give to him. It's a map of their neighborhood. There are some vehicles. The police officer's vehicles are listed on one of the houses, but there are also some other neighbors' vehicles listed on their houses. He tells them, "Hey, when you go in my neighborhood, don't do anything crazy. There's a guy on the corner that's retired military. He might get alarmed, whatever." So we know they're going to Jonathan's house, at least. We know they're going to the neighborhood. Then, Leslie tells me about another inmate that testified. Leslie Dye: His name was Clifford. Clifford is brought in, finger casted, and one of the first things that they ask him is why he's wearing a cask. He tells everyone that his finger had been cut off. There was his gang affiliation. He was the cellmate of Jonathan, affiliated with the same gang that Toby is affiliated with. According to Leslie, Clifford stated in court that his gang cut off his finger because he was testifying. Leslie Dye: So we're all a little in shock at this point, right? Like, this is something you see in the movies. This can't be for real. This makes you wonder who Jonathan was really involved with. I mean, that's a serious repercussion. But there was concern from the jury if Jonathan had been put into this situation under questionable pretense. Leslie Dye: They wondered if this was entrapment. Leslie Dye: Toby was facing 38 years in prison himself if he had not agreed to testify against Jonathan. He had been in and out of prison already multiple times. Leslie Dye: Leslie also told me that at no point in the audio and video evidence presented in court did Jonathan specifically ask for the officer to be killed, murdered, taken out, or anything else. It seems it was just implied, which caused speculation by the jury. In the end, he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit malice murder and, in addition to the drug charges, was sentenced to over 30 years in prison. I wrote to him asking him to speak with me, but never heard back. But how does this all tie into Natalie? Leslie Dye: Well, when she and Jonathan were together, she was living with him in the same neighborhood as the officer who was investigating him, the same officer he was allegedly trying to have killed. It made people wonder if Natalie had been approached by law enforcement in the same way that the inmates were, perhaps even asked to wear a wire. And during the trial, it came out. Leslie Dye: She was on the witness list. That's confirmed via transcripts and court records, 100%. And so, if you put yourself in Jonathan's mindset, regardless of whether she had been approached or not, if you know that your life is on the line and you're facing a multitude of charges, and perhaps Natalie could have been witness to certain things, she knew faces, she had overheard conversations, whether or not you know or thought you knew that she had been approached to be a witness, that would instill fear in anyone. Could that have instilled fear in Jonathan? As intriguing as this information is, Jonathan's ankle monitor placed him at a party 30 miles from the site where Natalie's remains were later discovered. Yet the allegations that surfaced during his trial, that he had offered payment to have two people killed, cast a long shadow. Could Natalie, scheduled to testify against him, have met the same fate? No evidence confirms she was murdered. But at this point, how many coincidences and anomalies in this case could truly exist if there was no foul play involved? But there is someone else who raised questions after hearing this. Someone whose name I've heard far more than any other. Someone who was not a man in Natalie's life at all, but a sister. Or rather, a half-sister. Tabitha was really the one who jumped in very quickly and got close to Elaine. She was constantly back and forth with the detective. And per Elaine, she's the one who told the detective that she's bipolar. She wanted to run away. She wanted to get away. She had just had a fight a couple weeks before she vanished with her mom. Tabitha had become one of the go-to people for Lieutenant Boswell regarding information on Natalie, as Elaine at the time was understandably distraught, and at times maybe even difficult. She was outspoken in media interviews and was online asking for help in locating her. The two had been spending a lot of time together prior to her disappearance. But it wasn't always that way. Elaine told me that growing up, Natalie was shunned by her half-siblings. That they never really accepted her. But a month or so before she vanished, that seemed to change. "That whole thing is weird to me, because Tabitha did not get close to Natalie up until about a month before she vanished and wanted to rebuild their sisterhood. Like, you know, let's, let's work out everything that was done. Let's go out to eat." So Tabitha moves five minutes, five to seven minutes away from Natalie and Elaine, gets close, and then they start mirroring each other. It's really weird that mirroring relationship of she gets $11,000 from Junior, Tabitha gets the exact same amount from Ira. Different plots of land, they're not right next to each other. Tabitha was still close to Ira, at that point, despite what Natalie had accused him of, which seems odd considering how close these two women were or appeared to be. But I've heard from several people that it was a very recent and seemingly sudden reconnection between Natalie and Tabitha. After Natalie came up missing, people began to question if Tabitha's rekindling of their relationship was authentic. Ricky Warren told me his views as he was close to Elaine through all of this. "Well, they never really had a relationship until then. She was jealous of Natalie because Natalie was such a beautiful person inside and out, and Tabitha had this really rough look. But when they found Natalie's body, and people started coming gathering at the house and all, and she would come by too every day. She would come by every day and say, 'You're half sister, and you say you love her. How can you always be smiling and laughing I'd heard claims of Tabitha being jealous of Natalie. Natalie was attractive and likable, with a personality that lit up the room. I've also heard that Tabitha was jealous of Natalie's relationship with Ira. Ricky wasn't the only one to have questioned her reaction to Natalie's death. Even I noticed during a videotaped interview she gave while searching for Natalie, she seemed almost nervous, standing with her arms crossed in front of her, fidgeting, showing little emotion, a stark contrast to Elaine and her other sister Jessie, who were standing next to her at the time. They were a wreck. Everyone deals with trauma differently, though, so honestly, that doesn't mean much on its own. But there was more that was called into question concerning Tabitha. Natalie allegedly had plans to babysit Tabitha's kids on July 5th, but the only source we have for this information is from Tabitha herself. There is no documentation other than Tabitha stating in her interview with law enforcement that she was supposed to come back the very next morning to babysit her kids. That's it. What I find really suspicious about that, after canvassing all the text messages, there's no communications. There's no text messages between Tabitha and Natalie to confirm this, nor to confirm Tabitha's son's phone. Jennifer's right. At no point before it was discovered that Natalie went missing, did Tabitha text to say, And there were no calls between them that night where it could have been discussed. So how do we know that Natalie had indeed planned on babysitting the day after the party? Elaine said Natalie never mentioned it to her. I also wondered, since everyone else involved in Natalie's life has provided an alibi that checked out, what about Tabitha? She stated to investigators that she was at work, but Boswell himself told me that police never contacted her work to verify that. A former co-worker of Tabitha's stated that her workstation was right next to hers, and their schedule was the same, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the occasional Saturday. So if that's accurate, was Tabitha really at work when Natalie vanished? But still, it gets deeper. I wanted to speak with Tabitha about the information I was hearing. There are always two sides to any story. She was incarcerated when I made my first attempt, writing her a letter, and when she was released, I tried again, this time reaching her sister Jessica, who flat out told me she will not speak to me, and that that side of Natalie's family is just ready to move on. But suspicion surrounding Tabitha, whether it's her simply having more information about Natalie's disappearance than she's let on, or something far more sinister, continues. And the first time these suspicions arose came mere hours after she was last heard from. It was something she posted online, as Jennifer tells me. She's on Facebook later in the day, says she's been driving around all day, which is, you know, if you've been working all day, like, have you been off and looking for your sister, or have you been working all day? There was a post, I think it said, man, has anybody seen her? Has anybody seen my sister? A slew of people started commenting underneath that Facebook post. A woman commented and said, have you checked Junior's? And she replied, she's not there. I rode by there last night, which would have been the fourth. I personally found it to be very strange that she said that she rode by there, referring to Junior's, way after she was released. And I thought, well, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. On July the 4th, after you take into the totality of, it's the pandemic, she worked all day, one would think she went to go pick up her two kids after work. So it's like, why would you go all the way out there in the middle of nowhere? What made you, like, what is your motive for going out to that area? You don't know Junior. You're not friends with any of those people out there. It's not your crowd. I found it really weird. And then how would you know she was missing? This red flag that caught Jennifer's eye also caught the attention of others. That statement is concerning. Why would she have went by Junior's looking for Natalie the night of the 4th when she wasn't yet reported or even known to be missing? But perhaps one of the most alarming things I've heard regarding Tabitha occurred weeks after Natalie was last seen. By that point, Heard County investigators had enlisted the help of cadaver dogs to attempt to locate Natalie, and they were preparing to search areas of interest. Tabitha visited Elaine at her home one night with a request that seemed reasonable at the time. She was heavily medicated, distraught, you know, laid out on the couch, essentially. Tabitha came up and she asked if she could get, like, a bag and go in Natalie's room and get some things because the dog search lady, who had requested those things. Elaine then goes on to say that, you know, she was so out of it, clearly, that she thought she was going to go into the kitchen and grab, like, a Publix or Target bag or something. She ended up coming out with, like, a garbage bag full of stuff and left. Remember what Elaine said previously about this? I said, what all did you take? You know, I mean, I know what Natalie wore, you know. Oh, I just got a hairbrush. Now, this immediately struck, me as odd when I heard it because I've actually worked with cadaver dogs before and I know a little bit about the process. In fact, I worked with and know the very same woman who, along with her dogs, searched for Natalie Jones. So, who better to ask about this? Well, hi, John. Hey, Trace. How are you? I'm doing awesome. How are you doing? Busy. Yeah. Yeah, which is good. Tracy Sargent is, like, the go-to in the South for searches involving cadaver dogs when a police department doesn't have them in-house or needs additional assistance. She's extremely passionate about what she does, and I think most in law enforcement in the South know her or have at least heard of her. When I reached out to her, she immediately remembered Natalie's case and her pink car. So, in Natalie's case, I do recall going to the residence where she was living with her mother and the mother's room. And I recall Natalie's sister, Kavitha, being there as well. We searched outside, around the property, and then inside, around the property. I asked Tracy what the process was for retrieving scent articles from a missing person or known victim that the dogs can use to track. When we're involved in these investigations, because of each individual having a use case, and we're looking for a unique scent, we as canine handlers will obtain a scent article of that person we're looking for ourselves because we want to maintain the integrity of that article not only for investigation purposes, but also for the dog itself. So, the dog is familiar with my scent, that if by some chance I do get my scent on that article, the dog knows, okay, I'm going to get my scent on that article. So, generally, really without exception, if we are needing a scent article of someone that we're looking for, we, as canine handlers, would always obtain those scent articles ourselves. And just in case there was any question about this particular situation, I asked Tracy directly about Tabitha collecting things at her request. No, I would have not told Tabitha or anyone else. To get a scent article or clothing or any items from the missing persons for us to use for the dogs to search for that person. Because that would potentially contaminate the scent. Not only contaminate the scent, but as an investigator myself, is that we have to approach these things. We don't know what's happened. We have a lot of questions. And we want to maintain the integrity of that case at all times. No matter what. So, why would Tabitha go in Natalie's room, really, if not for scent articles for the dogs? What else could be of interest to her? I asked that question to Elaine. I don't know. I do know that a Trent told me that his mama told him, do not go in that closet because she had money saved. Up in there that that they was going to, you know, get their place and live with Trent told me that his mama said, don't ever go in the closet. Natalie had allegedly kept the shoebox full of cash that she was saving in her bedroom closet. That shoebox and the money inside have never been located. I also wonder about the CD with supposed evidence against Ira on it that Natalie had taken to an attorney. Could that have been hidden in her room as well? Could that be what was going on? of interest knowing that tabitha was close to ira and there's one more thing when jennifer and the rest of natalie's advocates were meticulously pouring over the photos taken by the medical examiner they spotted something that's the blonde hair on the driver's side door a group of people that were canvassing the photos and again because when you're looking at especially photos like you need as many people looking at things as possible and one of those was one of our community advocates and she had zoomed in on the driver's side door on the driver's side exterior window there is a like when i say blonde like it's bleach blonde this wasn't like a a darker blonde shade this was a very light pigmented blonde it was in an upside down u-shape in one photo you can see what does appear to be a shoulder length blonde hair on the outside of natalie's driver's side window stuck to the glass but what struck jennifer and others is alarming that was tabitha's hair length bleach blonde hair same length again it was never mentioned in the case file we found that if the car were outside in the elements for 93 days as believed by law enforcement how would a single strand of hair still be stuck to the window this has helped strengthen the theory that the car was potentially moved into place shortly before being discovered i've also confirmed that there were no agents or officers on scene with similar hair so it couldn't have come from any of them the length and color is the same as tabitha's was at the time and while i'm sure there were many other women locally whose hair was similar in color and length did any of them have a connection to natalie what would place them at her car again this podcast is not to cast blame or guilt on anyone it's simply to find the truth to explore the questions that have arisen during the entire investigation into natalie and again i reached out to tabitha for comment but had no luck in one final attempt to make sense of all i've learned to answer arguably the most important question of all concerning the night of july 4th 2020 what happened to natalie and was she really alone that night i looked back to the phone data it's the only solid evidence that exists tracking natalie's movements and communications that night i took every single bit of phone data every cell tower ping movement time stamp and provided it to a criminal analyst for review the analyst chose not to be identified in this podcast because they currently work in law enforcement and have for the past 22 years i asked questions that could hopefully explain the random movements natalie appeared to make that night such as the ghost pings seen in the data meaning that her phone appeared to hit off towers far away 20 to 30 minutes drive then appears immediately back where she was centrally located movements that aren't physically possible well it's not vpn's cell spoofing or hacking or anything that technical i'm told it's just an anomaly that happens with verizon sometimes which was natalie's cell provider also line of sight weather conditions topography and trees or other obstructions can make this happen cell signals bounce off the tower with the clearest line of sight even if it's not physically closest to the phone so these theories are pretty much all explained away but they did tell me that the phone was moving and likely in a vehicle based on the data but then i learned that if someone had access to natalie's icloud account which we know jonathan had not only could they see all of natalie's messages pictures and location but information could be remotely wiped or deleted as well and that might prove to be crucial the official cellular analysis survey team or cast report on natalie's phone data compiled by the fbi mentions specific activity and possible account control as well as missing communication logs and states logs appear intentionally missing deleted or sanitized in their key findings this means that data files were missing or intentionally removed i asked our analyst what that really meant and was told this it is absolutely suspicious and concerning add to that the fact that the talk screen and autopsy showed no drugs in her system the fact that her car was hidden off the roadway plus her phone being missing and never found would make me highly doubt that she was alone when she died whether it was accidental or intentional it is my personal opinion that there's someone that knows how she died and was with her at that time investigator boswell who retired from heard county sheriff's office shortly after my interviews with him told me as much and that if they could find out who that person was there may still be a chance at getting justice for natalie if they played any role in her death in our circle of into jules who have looked at this case between me and a couple of the investigators that had looked at it over the years we believe there's a possibility that there was somebody there so if we were able to identify that individual be a far reach but it's possible it could be still even to this day prosecuted because there's no statute of limitations on murder with no clear cause of death this is an uphill battle but it's not impossible why would any data be intentionally removed from natalie's phone what images locations texts or emails could she have sent or received that night that someone didn't want others to see and who had the motive means and opportunity to do this but while these questions remain unanswered for now this gives people like jennifer peterson hope here a seasoned analyst who specializes in this after we've been in this case now for three years since it was closed officially say that that there appear to be missing files things that have potentially been scrubbed it gives me a little sigh of relief to know that we're not just these conspiracy theorists that that are just looking for something that isn't there that's always been really important to me of course there are a lot of nefarious people in natalie's case but the data leads you where the data leads you and i believe in data so if that's the case and there's missing files scrubbed data controlled access of any capacity it makes you step back and wonder why why did that happen who did that what is the reason for doing that i don't know the answer to that question i don't know i don't know the answer to really just why if there was nothing there if all these events that were put out there took place and were as they were presented then why would anyone in any capacity need to remove data from natalie's phone that's the bigger question the search for answers will continue until the truth is known because in the end the truth about natalie is what natalie herself wanted the world to know natalie's story is is it's hard to swallow especially after death for a lot of people we have personally had a lot of people come to us even not so much today because i think that they understand who we are why we're here but a lot of people that'll say let her rest in peace or this is over it's done and look all of us in our community we're not related to natalie we're not her family her family first and foremost was her mother for better and for worse she loved her mama you know i've told elaine from day one from the beginning if there's ever a point that you just can't do this anymore just need to let it go for your own healing for the kids for their healing we will stop and we will fully walk away and that will be that because that's the respectful thing to do i've looked at elaine face to face in person in the eye so many times and i've asked her because it's on my conscience as well to you know be a good human do good things is this what you want to do and she said this is what my baby wanted this was part of her story run full speed jennifer peterson jennifer peterson like many others alongside her have spent like many others alongside her have spent like many others alongside her have spent monumental amounts of their time and energy monumental amounts of their time and energy monumental amounts of their time and energy searching for answers searching for answers searching for answers not for money or for accolades but for the not for money or for accolades but for the not for money or for accolades but for the truth truth truth simply because it's the right thing to do i'm very grateful for my life i'm very grateful for my life i'm very grateful for my life there was a time that i I was not, there was a time that I could not stand myself. I didn't even know what I wanted. I didn't know who I was. I didn't know anything. I thought that was the way that it's just got to be, and it's not. It's not the way that it's got to be. There is hope. There is love in this world, and it starts with you as a person, whether you're going through something or you're not going through something, whether you're in the easy times or the hard times. Bless somebody. You get blessed. Bless somebody. Don't forget the next person behind you. You know what I mean? Just keep on going and keep on building each other up. I'm not mad at anybody. I don't have a grudge against anybody. Through the things that has happened, I'm still going to be me, and I'm still going to love me. I've gotten to know Natalie Jones in some way through her videos and her journals. I feel a tremendous sadness for her, for her friends, her family, her children, because as much as Jennifer, you, or I, want answers, those who knew and loved her are the ones forced to carry the burden of not knowing, of having questions that may forever go unanswered. For as much as she was a funny, attractive young woman, opinionated and strong-willed, Natalie Jones was also vulnerable and lost, crying out for help. She made mistakes, and although she made choices you or I may not have made, she was working to overcome them. One by one, the best that she knew how. Her sole purpose in life, her only real dream, was to give her children the life that she never had. One full of unconditional love, safety, and security. She was willing to do anything to give them that. I admire that about her. Elaine still feels certain that Natalie's death was not as simple as an accidental overdose. She'll keep asking questions and continue to be a thorn in the side of anyone, who tells her otherwise. I think she just feels she owes her daughter that much. And the only thing she wishes for now, is just a little more time with Natalie. To hear one more laugh, feel one more embrace, spend one more minute together. Because aside from the visits with her grandchildren, her only tangible connection to her own children, to Natalie, all she really has left, until they meet again, is time. ♪ Oh you know I've got time on my hands ♪ ♪ Oh you know I've got time on my hands ♪ ♪ And if I could have you here with me, it wouldn't be enough time still ♪ ♪ Oh you know I've got time on my hands ♪ ♪ Oh you know I've got time on my hands ♪ ♪ Oh you know I've got time on my hands ♪ Y'all, no matter what's going on in life, if you are up under a bridge and a box and you have lost everything and everybody, you have God. And He loves you more than anything. So, love you. And keep on going and don't ever give up. No matter what happens, no matter what goes down, I know in my heart that God has a plan. And I know in my heart that I have a forever home. So, I love y'all. I want to thank y'all. Love you, Mama. We're going to be alright. ♪ I won't hold you tight again ♪ ♪ Someday soon I will ♪ ♪ Mmm ♪ ♪ Someday soon it will be alright again ♪ ♪ Ooh, someday soon it will ♪ ♪ I'm just gazing out the window of a room ♪ ♪ On a planet rolling round a star ♪ ♪ Oh you know I've got time on my hands ♪ the truth about natalie is an audio chuck original produced by particle entertainment i wrote and produced the series executive producer is ashley flowers additional research provided by community advocates for natalie jones original music written and performed by jackson epley and a special thanks to elaine gordon and her family if you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence help is available at the national domestic violence hotline at 800-799-7233 you can find me on social media at sean kipe official or at sean kipe.com and you can email me any information about this case to info at sean kipe.com don't forget to rate and review the show wherever you listen to podcasts we think chuck would approve you