453: GF Helped Make His Sick Fantasy Come True While Babysitting Her Friend’s Daughter?! | Melissa Norby

A fire leaves one woman dead and a five-year-old missing. Once we looked inside, we found out that there was a body. I was really scared to hear about it all the time. If you don't find your child within first, what, 24 hours? I went from a homicide investigation to now we had an act of missing child case. I didn't do anything to a little girl. I had a scene with a girl. I didn't walk in the train. Hey true friend besties, welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialist's Weave. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialist's Weave, with me your host Annie Elise. So today's case, okay, it is, I was going to say it's nutty, but then I was going to say it's a wild one, but it is nutty. It's one where it's difficult to know like was this a somebody who masterminded this entire thing? Was it a murder or a cover-up who was involved? What really happened? It seems like it was a very elaborate plan. So I am curious to know your thoughts as we go through this. I've got my notes right here with me and we are going to go through this case together. Also really quickly before we get started, want to let you know that our fall merch collection is officially on sale, and you guys have been asking. You know that it's started my episodes, sometimes I say, I hope you're having a nice day, but I'm about to ruin it. It's officially on merch. Also lots of seasonal stuff, lots of spooky stuff. Our classic make it make sense with the eyes, in a hoodie version, lots of stuff. So you can grab all of it while it lasts. It's at anaeleast.com. Quantities are limited though, and the merch shop is going to be closing very soon. So put those orders in now, whether it's for you, a gift, holiday gift, whatever you can go shop now anaeleast.com. It was the early morning hours of June 22nd, 2016. Now just hours earlier, one of the mobile homes in the mobile home park in Ben Mitgi, Minnesota had gone up in flames. And at first, it seemed like just a typical run-of-the-mill house fire, a tragic one, yes, heartbreaking, of course. But unfortunately, things like that do happen relatively commonly. So most of the neighbors had already been awake for hours at that point, after hearing the sirens and smelling the smoke and seeing this house fire unfold. And as the morning went on, more people who lived further away started making their way over, gathering behind the barricades, trying to figure out what had happened, how this happened. And more importantly, whether whoever was inside this mobile home was okay. Were there more people in there? Was the home owner okay? Were there guests? Where is everybody? Then one woman at the front of the barricade caught everyone's attention. She was pleading with this officer who was blocking the scene, desperate to get closer to the home. She was crying and screaming that her five-year-old daughter had spent the night there. Now, as you can imagine, the atmosphere immediately shifted the moment that people heard that. Everybody that was within earshot felt quiet. Like, what do you mean? Oh my god, this woman's five-year-old daughter was inside this home. Is she okay? Was she brought out? Like, what's going on here? Everybody's stomachs just completely dropped. So they started looking at one another, seeing if anybody had the answer, realizing that if the little girl was inside that home, she should have been outside by now if she was okay. She should have been talking with firefighters or, at the very least, she should have been being checked out by the paramedics. But the problem was, nobody had seen a child. Even worse, it didn't appear that anybody had been taken to the hospital. But as frightening as that realization was for everybody who was standing there, it still wasn't as bad as the truth. The truth was, the firefighters and the investigators had already known for hours that this wasn't just a tragic house fire. They had determined that this fire was arson. Someone had gone to this mobile home. They had intentionally set that home on fire, and even more devastating, the firefighters knew that someone inside that home had died. But the little girl, she wasn't among the victims inside the home. She also, though, wasn't waiting outside for her mom. She wasn't with firefighters. She wasn't with police. She was simply gone. The owner of the mobile home was 35-year-old Melissa Norby. Melissa lived at the Hillcrest Manor mobile home park with her teenage son. Although thankfully, he had been staying with the cousin and out of town that night. Melissa was a single mom who was really doing her best to make ends meet. She earned money by babysitting children in the area for family friends, and even though she was raising her son on her own, she had a really solid support system. She had close family and friends, and she knew that she could always count on them. So when those family and friends had heard that there had been this house fire at Melissa's house, they were absolutely distraught, completely devastated, and then came even more heartbreaking news. Melissa had been found dead. But this case took a much darker turn almost immediately. Because when firefighters first arrived, they noticed several things that didn't sit right. The first being that there was a gas can still lying in the rubble inside the home. They also determined pretty quickly that the bulk of the fire had both started and remained concentrated in one of the southwest bedrooms. But oddly enough, no one was in that bedroom. So as firefighters searched the home room by room, they eventually found what appeared to be Melissa's remains. They were in a bedroom closer to the middle of the mobile home. Based on the description, investigators believed that it was her, and her family and friends later identified her as well. Now they of course still had to wait for official confirmation, but for the sake of everything else that I'm about to share with you, we are going to talk as though her identity had already been confirmed, okay? So she had already died by the time the fire fighters had reached her. And sadly, that really is not uncommon in house fires. I've covered so many cases before where entire families died from smoke inhalation by the time a fire fighter team arrived, because they inhaled all of that in their sleep, and unfortunately already succumbed to those injuries. And because this fire happened in the middle of the night, that probably seemed like the most likely explanation at first. But that wasn't what happened here. Because Melissa wasn't lying in her bed as if she had simply slept through the fire and then died from smoke inhalation, her body was actually found underneath the mattress in the bedroom, as though someone had tried to hide her. So that alone, as you can imagine, was a huge red flag. I mean, it's pretty common sense that if there is a fire, you don't crawl underneath a mattress to try to hide from it. That's not where you go, right? So investigators knew almost immediately that Melissa very likely hadn't put herself there. And then they got a closer look, and they noticed something even more alarming. Melissa's hands had been bound with duct tape. And that right there, that one detail, it changed everything. It told firefighters, "Okay, we are no longer dealing with a tragic accident that was caused by a candle or faulty wiring." And it resulted in this horrible tragic house fire, and then she died from smoke inhalation. No, no, no, no, no. This was deliberate. And they knew that they were dealing with something far more sinister than they could even imagine. Another major detail that the firefighters noticed was that even though the fire had started and was mostly contained to that southwest bedroom, Melissa's body and the mattress that was on top of her had been severely burned. Now at first glance, maybe that might not make a whole lot of sense, because here you have a body and a mattress that were found in a room far away from where the fire actually started. But then the investigators noticed another detail that helped piece together what had actually happened inside that home. Some of the windows in the mobile home were broken outward from the inside going out, being pushed out, smashed out. But this wasn't like somebody had taken a glass or a candle or an ash train had thrown it out the window as a way to escape or try to make the fire break free. It also didn't look like this had been shattered by an accident. By somebody accidentally knocking something over or falling into the window. And the reason being, the glass shards had traveled as far as 12 to 15 feet away from the home. So that told investigators that whoever started the fire didn't just use this gas can that they found inside. They also had used explosives. Now because of that, because of that detail, knowing that explosives had been used, after they put out most of the fire and cleared the home of anybody else dead or alive, they got out of there and then they called in reinforcements. Their job had been to put out this fire. But now there was something else entirely going on. They were no longer dealing with just a run-of-the-mill fire investigation. They were looking at a homicide. And this home was now very quickly officially becoming a crime scene. So at first, they had been searching for Melissa and her son. Then, they unfortunately discovered that Melissa was dead and they later learned that her son was in fact safe. He had stayed at that cousin's house and was out of town. Now keep in mind, by the time this is all unfolding, this is around noon on June 22nd. More than eight hours after first responders originally had been called to the home. So for those entire eight hours, investigators had been focused on documenting the arson, processing the scene, and really trying to understand what happened to Melissa. And at this point, they had not even started dealing with that woman who showed up at the barricades, that woman who was screaming about her missing five-year-old daughter. Well, let's talk about that for a moment. That woman was Amanda Smith. And Amanda wasn't just someone who knew Melissa casually. She and Melissa were best friends. They were incredibly close. They had known each other for 30 years, essentially their entire lives. They had grown up together. They had been there for one another through everything, including the births of Melissa's son and Amanda's multiple children. And they were just best friends. Amanda's daughter was five-year-old Brittany Rose. Melissa had babysat Brittany many times before, and Amanda estimated that throughout Brittany's life, she probably had spent the night at Melissa's house at least 20 times. So Brittany wasn't a stranger to this home, and Melissa wasn't a stranger to Brittany. So that's why when Amanda arrived at the scene, crying and collapsing in front of these officers and screaming for her daughter, investigators were immediately concerned. Because now, they had a brand new question that they hadn't been looking for an answer to. Had they missed Brittany inside the home? They already knew that no one survived in the fire, and based on what they had found with Melissa, they knew that something terrible had happened there before that fire even broke out that night. So this scene was emotional to say the least. Amanda was, of course, desperate for answers, and the investigators were doing everything that they could possibly do to keep the details of the case under wraps. Because at that point, they didn't fully understand what they were dealing with here. They had already uncovered a devastating crime scene, and now they were trying to piece together exactly what happened inside that home. So investigators asked Amanda if she had established a fire safety plan with Brittany, which as a parent, I actually do think in hindsight 'cause I've never done this with my kids. I think it is actually something worth doing with your children, no matter how young they are, but putting a plan in place where God forbid, if a fire ever does erupt, where you go, how you handle it, I know when we were younger, we were taught duck cover and roll, but where do you go once you flee the house? Is there a safety meeting site? And I think that that is really important to have, not only for fires, but for earthquakes for anything, 'cause, you know, here in California, we are like home of the earthquakes, right, which knock on wood. I'm not inviting an earthquake anytime soon. So they were really trying to understand whether there was any possibility that Brittany had been able to get out of the home herself and escape the fire on her own. But Amanda told them that she was confident that Brittany was too young. She would have been too scared. She was five years old. She wouldn't have been able to come up with a plan and escape this house and, you know, flee a fire all on her own independently. She believed that if Brittany woke up and realized that something was wrong, she would have either immediately run to go find Melissa or she would have stayed right by her side. Now keep in mind too, at this point, Amanda did not know that the investigators already discovered Melissa inside the home. She had no idea that her best friend was deceased, that she had been bound with a duct tape on her wrist then stuffed underneath a mattress. She had no clue. She had like, which I have to say, she had no clue that her best friend had been murdered because that's what this was, right? It appeared that this was a homicide. So investigators searched the home again, but they still couldn't find Brittany. She wasn't near Melissa's body. She wasn't in another room. She wasn't hiding in one of the small spaces inside the mobile home. She was just gone. She wasn't there. So investigators immediately started focusing on looking for Brittany outside of the home, hoping that maybe Amanda had been wrong. Maybe Brittany had somehow been able to get out on her own. They searched the surrounding neighborhood, checked behind neighbors, cars, looked through backyards, searched the nearby woods closest to the home, really trying to look anywhere where this little five-year-old girl may have gone, but Brittany wasn't anywhere. And the reality was, if Amanda hadn't shown up and told the investigators that Brittany had even been staying the night that night at Melissa's house, they wouldn't even known to look for her. Amanda and Brittany's father, who for whatever reason is not named in the source that we pulled from, they were brought into the police station and questioned. And I don't think that investigators necessarily believed that either one of them had done anything wrong, but obviously in any investigation, they knew that they needed to clear everybody who was close to Brittany. And that happened pretty quickly. Both Amanda and Brittany's father had alibis for the night before. And investigators were also able to confirm that Brittany had been dropped off at Melissa's home by another family member. And as far as anyone knew, she had not been picked up by anyone afterward. So now the focus of the entire investigation completely shifted. The fire and Melissa's death were still being investigated, absolutely, but they were no longer the main priority. The priority was finding little Brittany. Publicly, investigators hadn't even announced yet that Melissa had died. They had only said that an unknown adult body had been found inside the home. Police discovered that five-year-old Brittany Rose Bulsar had been visiting the home last night and is missing. She was last seen wearing a black shirt and pink skirt with stars. She has blonde hair and green eyes. Police are asking for your help. If you have any information, you're asked to contact them. Based on what investigators knew at the time, which honestly wasn't really all that much, they started trying to piece together what could have happened inside that home. And one possibility that they considered was that maybe Melissa hadn't been the target. Maybe Brittany had been the intended victim. And maybe the fire and Melissa's death were all part of this elaborate attempt to cover up a kidnapping in abduction of little Brittany. Now I know, I know, I know that sounds like a pretty far out theory, but at the same time, this little girl was missing. And nothing about the situation was making any sense whatsoever. So investigators really were just trying to find any explanation that fit. And there was also another possibility that they had to consider in all of this. Maybe Melissa had been the target. And maybe whoever went there intending to hurt her didn't expect her to be babysitting a little five-year-old Brittany. But then perhaps they saw an opportunity and took it, a crime of opportunity as people call it. But no matter which theory that they looked at, one thing remained consistent. Brittany absolutely had vanished. And more than likely, she had been kidnapped. As investigators worked through both possibilities, they started to believe that whoever was responsible was likely someone that Melissa knew. Because for this to have been some complete random attack, it just didn't seem to fit, especially because of where Melissa lived. Hillcrest's manner, as I said, was a mobile home park, meaning that these homes were extremely close together, side by side. Melissa had neighbors all around her. And when investigators spoke with them, no one reported seeing anything suspicious or hearing anything unusual. No one heard someone breaking into Melissa's home, no one heard yelling or screaming or anything that would suggest that Melissa had been caught off guard. And to everyone who was around her, it seemed like a completely normal night. That is until the fire. So investigators started looking deeper into Melissa's personal life, really trying to figure out if there was anyone who could have had a motive, or if there were any warning signs that maybe they had missed. And sure enough, they quickly learned that Melissa had several different men who had been a part of her life, both in the past and at the present time. One of the first people that the investigators focused on was her ex-boyfriend. Apparently their relationship had been very on and off, a little bit, you know, tumultuous. At one point, they broke up and they didn't speak for years, but then they eventually ended up reconnecting. But just like before, their relationship eventually ended again. Now the reason that this ex-boyfriend immediately stood out to the investigators was because he did have a criminal record. More specifically, he had a past conviction for Erson. And given obviously what had just happened at Melissa's home, that was obviously something that the investigators needed to look into. So they quickly contacted him and they started asking him questions. But according to him, he and Melissa hadn't spoken for quite some time. Now of course, the investigators and anybody with a brain would have to consider that he was lying, right? He's probably going to, if he was involved, he's gonna distance himself. He's not going to just be like, oh yeah, we talk all the time and I was with her last night. Like there is a possibility that he's lying. But when they looked into the alibi that he provided for the night before, they were able to verify it and it was solid. So then the investigators moved on to another man in Melissa's life. However, this person was a lot closer to home, literally. This man wasn't just someone that Melissa knew. He was actually a neighbor, someone who lived right there in the Hillcrest Manor community. Apparently he would often babysit Melissa's son whenever she needed help. But investigators learned that their relationship went well beyond just a friendly neighbor helping one another out. They were also reportedly involved in a sexual relationship. And to be clear, there was nothing inherently wrong or illegal about that. Melissa was a single mom, she needed help sometimes and whether the babysitting came before or after their relationship became physical. I mean, the fact that two consenting adults were involved, that was not the issue, obviously not. The reason that the investigators paid attention to him was kind of because of a combination of things. He was not only sexually involved with Melissa, but he also lived extremely close by. So you have two factors involved in this, meaning theoretically he could have said that he was home all night, yet he still could have had the ability to walk over to Melissa's house without anybody thinking twice about it. And that was another thing that really made this situation stand out. If another neighbor had seen him walking toward Melissa's home, it wouldn't have seemed suspicious. If they were all a community, they were all neighbors. It would have just looked completely normal because of the relationship that already existed between the two of them. However, just like the ex-boyfriend, this neighbor was also very quickly cleared as a suspect. It wasn't until investigators sat down with Melissa's cousin Tuesday, the same cousin that her son had been staying with the night of the fire, that they finally started getting somewhere with this investigation. Now as uncomfortable as it might have been to dig into Melissa's personal life, her sex life, her private life, including all of these exes and relationships that she was in and out of and continuing with, investigators knew that they needed to understand every single part of her world. They needed to know who she was, who was she close to, who had access to her. Was there anyone who could have any sort of reason to want to hurt her? So they asked her cousin Tuesday pretty directly if she knew anything about Melissa's sex life. And right away, Tuesday said yes, she did know something, but she also made it clear that it was something that she didn't necessarily agree with or approve of, which that immediately caught the investigator's attention because they were then, of course, left wondering what exactly they were about to hear. Like, what do you mean you know more about her sex life, but you don't approve of it? What are you about to share with us? What kind of bomb are you about to drop on us? So Tuesday went on to tell investigators that Melissa had been involved in a secret relationship now. Exactly why this relationship was kept secret. It isn't completely clear, but I do have a pretty good idea, which I'll get into shortly here. What investigators learned was that Melissa was dating someone, but this wasn't a relationship that a lot of her family and friends knew about. And she described it as quote, daddy little girl situations, which look, I know people have all different kinks and personal sex fetishes and things like that. Some people like calling your partner or your sex partner, daddy and this and that or reenacting situations where you are the little girl in the school girl outfit and he's the big bad dad or adult or principal or whatever, like it's not to shame anyone. But it does become sometimes a little bit concerning when you now find this woman dead and a little girl missing, right? It's like, oh, now things are starting to feel a little bit problematic potentially. And it did not end there. Tuesday went on to say that this man that Melissa was saying, chance, that's his name, that he liked things rough. Now for my audio only listeners, I am putting air quotes around rough because I think that that word can mean very different things to different people. However, according to Tuesday, what chance considered rough went far beyond just a little tiny hair tug here and there or a little bit of a toss on to a bed. According to her, it was violent. Tuesday explained that Melissa confided in her that during one of their encounters involving that daddy, little girl role play dynamic, things escalated to the point where chance allegedly punched her, then choked Melissa so intensely that she almost lost consciousness. And it didn't end there. He then apparently put her in the back of an SUV and sexually assaulted her. And as if that wasn't already enough, Melissa even had sent Tuesday pictures showing bruises that had been left behind on her body afterward. Thankfully, Tuesday had been there for Melissa. She allowed her to confide in her. And according to Tuesday, she encouraged Melissa to leave him and eventually she did end that relationship. Now keep in mind, that incident happened back in 2015 about a year before Melissa was murdered. So at first, it did seem like this could be a major break for the investigators. But it actually opened up even more questions. The investigators started searching their systems for any records, reports or information that was connected to chance. But almost every single search came back empty. It was like chance didn't even exist at all. Eventually, investigators also learned that chance was just a nickname. It wasn't his real legal name. It was just the name that he went by and Tuesday apparently didn't even know his real name. However, police were able to figure it out and his real name was Jacob Kin. He also went by Jake. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to call him Jake moving forward because that's what investigators would later refer to him as. So Jake lived in the area and he owned and operated a local food truck called Jake's Eats. Now the story that Tuesday told investigators about what Jake allegedly did to Melissa, it was obviously extremely concerning. But it wasn't even the most shocking thing that they would learn about him. You see, just like Melissa's other ex, Jake also had a history with law enforcement. And when investigators started digging into his background, they found something that was far more serious. Jake wasn't just someone with a few run-ins with the law. He was on the registry. And at the time of Melissa's murder, he was still on probation for a 2012 offense. The details surrounding that conviction were very deeply disturbing and truly painted a picture of someone with a very troubling history. And this is why investigators took it very seriously as they worked to understand what happened to Melissa, having this new information and his hit criminal background, his history, the allegations of their dynamic in their relationship. It all was just like beyond alarming and tons of red flags going off. Now before I get into that part of Jake's past, I do want to warn you that the details are extremely difficult and very upsetting. So take a breath, grab something to drink, you know, get in whatever zen place you need to get to, because it's about to get intense. In 2012, Jake put up a Craigslist ad, and in this ad, he was straight to the point. He wasn't even trying to hide at all what he was after or what he wanted. He said, quote, "I'm looking for a young girl, two to nine years old, to model for my private collection. Nothing illegal, just skimpy outfits and whatnot." Which, I'm sorry, I don't care if there's a technicality on that being illegal or not, the fact that you are literally posting an ad in Craigslist, saying you're looking for young children, two to nine years old, wearing skimpy outfits that you can photograph. It is illegal. Because even if they're not fully new, you're essentially creating CSAM material and you're advertising it. You're putting an ad out on Craigslist that you want to create CSAM material and that you are hoping someone will respond an answer to that ad and allow you to do that. It is so diabolical. Now thankfully, the police department became aware of what Jake was doing before an actual child was harmed through these ads. So in order to investigate and build a case against him, they set up an undercover sting operation. An undercover officer posed as the mother of an eight-year-old little girl and she communicated with Jake as part of the investigation. According to investigators, Jake believed that the situation was real, so he continued engaging in the conversation, ultimately giving these officers the evidence that they needed to move forward with the charges. But despite all the evidence, Jake was only convicted of possession of child material. And he was sentenced to only 120 days in jail with probation. Which this never ceases to amaze me, that these monsters get off with like a slap on the wrist. And it's like, this is something that is not fixed, okay? It's wired in their brain. It's part of their DNA. So they're going to re-offend. And once they re-offend, they're going to escalate. Things are only going to get worse and worse because then they're going to become desensitized to the photos. They're going to want to act it out. They're going to want to then escalate even further than that. And it's just like, I don't understand how we are still in such an archaic space legally where we cannot hold them longer knowing and seeing a clear history and pattern of re-offenders. It blows my mind. Now what really shook me to my core after hearing about Jake and this conviction was that in 2012, when police were still investigating his case, they actually recorded an interview that they had with Jake, where in this interview, he admitted to being a sexual predator and also admitted to what his sexual preferences were. Take a listen. Looking at child pornography doesn't give me a sexual gratification. It did a while ago. You share any of the clips with anybody, send anybody? Did you receive any from other people? How old do you think they are roughly? I have no idea. You guess five, six, seven? First of all, is there an age that you consider too young? It just doesn't matter for you how long you're, how long you're six. Do you know that these children that you watch in these clips where Sam and I aged him? I guess not. Yeah. I used to. Look at it, I guess. It could really be the one to do. So that recording existed before he was sentenced and years before Melissa's murder. It was why investigators also knew the name Jake Kinn so well, which is why when they learned that Jake was the mystery guy that Melissa was seeing and dating, they were immediately concerned that he might be involved with, not only Melissa's murder, but Brittany's disappearance as well, especially given his history or interest in children. Now, even though Melissa and Jake's relationship was kept fairly private, a few people in Melissa's life did know about it. And according to those people, what her cousin Tuesday told investigators, it lined up with what they knew about the relationship. But there was one detail that came as a shock and surprise. Apparently, Melissa knew about Jake's past, and even more than that, she knew that he was on the registry. Which, honestly, in hindsight, that could have been one of the reasons why she kept the relationship so private, because she was embarrassed by it. She knew his history and she didn't want people judging her or him or whatever. I mean, she likely understood that if people found out that they were together, it would just raise questions about her relationship. And it would also raise a lot of concerns about the environment around her child and the children that she babysat and cared for. Because remember, Melissa wasn't just a mother, she also made her living caring for other people's children, including little Brittany. So that made her relationship with Jake even more concerning to investigators. Now, this is a little bit of a side note, but according to her cousin Tuesday, Jake wasn't the first man in Melissa's life with this kind of history. Melissa's ex-husband had also been arrested back in 2010 shortly before their divorce, and that arrest was for indecent exposure. And the father of her son was also on the registry in Nebraska. He had a prior conviction stemming from a 2002 third degree sexual assault case. So when Tuesday then learned about Jake, she confronted Melissa about this. She specifically asked her how she could be with someone who was on the registry, especially considering that he shouldn't have even been around her son. But Melissa's response? It was, quote, oh, well, he did something really bad, but he didn't do it, and he got in trouble. So I can't really have him around the kids. So at this point now, one thing that the investigators couldn't ignore was that Melissa seemed to have a pattern of becoming involved with men who had troubling histories, whether that was simply a coincidence or something more, it was impossible not to notice. But by the time that the investigators had finally pieced all of this information together, it was already late around 10 pm that night. So they immediately went to Jake's house. However, by the time they got there, Jake wasn't home. So at that point, the urgency of the investigation, it skyrocketed. Investigators already knew that Jake had a history of predatory behavior, particularly involving children, but they still didn't know whether he had anything to do with Melissa's murder or Britney's disappearance. The problem was, though, if he did, the fact that he was now suddenly gone, that was incredibly concerning. So their minds went to the worst case scenario almost immediately. Had he taken Britney and run? Was he trying to leave the state or worse the country? So not wanting to waste another minute. The detectives reached out to Jake's probation officer, hoping that they could make contact with him and get answers about Britney before it was too late. It was risky, though, knowing that if he was the one who had Britney, they were essentially tipping him off that they were on to him. But shockingly, Jake got back with the probation officer and he agreed to come into the station for questioning. At the beginning of the interview, the investigators made it very clear that he wasn't in any sort of trouble and that he was not under arrest. They just wanted to see if he could fill in any of the blanks for them. "Are your probation officer telling you what's going on? Well, I already knew that there's a couple of sheriffs at my food stand today. So, okay, they mentioned what was going on." "What did they say? "Just that there's a missing girl. Okay, we'll have people in the detail." Okay. Well, here's the deal. We give missing kids. Guess who the first people we talked to. Us? Yeah. I already knew that. I figured both. And that's why you're here. We're talking to any money that's registered that has any connection with kids. When you get a kid missing, and who do you look at? All they look at parents and work out from there. Right away, Jake gave his alibi. He claimed that he was working at his food stand, his food truck, whatever you want to call it, and that when he was done, he had gone fishing. But he said that he had gone fishing alone. And that's essentially where he says he was for the last 48 hours. But then, the interview started getting a lot more interesting because the investigators then shifted the conversation to Melissa. They wanted to know whether Jake knew her, how the two of them had met, what their relationship was like, and, most importantly, when he had last seen her. Yeah, did you hear about the fire? Yeah, okay. I didn't know that lady actually. Okay. I haven't talked to her for like six or eight months, but she worked at Anderson Fathers. Okay. Before or something. And that's how you know her. Yeah. Um, and what's her name? Melissa Murray. Okay. Okay. If that's right. Yeah. That's why I was asking. Right. What have you said Lady in another time? Oh, good. Yeah. Right. So you worked with her at Anderson? And she's okay. Well, it was the last time that you've seen her. Like six or eight months ago. Also, it's been like time. Yeah. Do you have any way to get all over her? No. I'll inform her. Okay. Okay. What else do you know or casually through work or new of her? Do you know of her newer casualment? I stopped at her post once because a mutual friend left a chair there that she didn't want. He said I could have it, but then I didn't want it either. So with that host at Hillcrest. Yeah. Okay. That was like a year and a half ago. All right. I stopped there. So, um, I mean, she's, she's also a focus of investigation. You know, there's a fire. You know, there wasn't body foam. Um, we don't know what happened. Okay. Um, but, you know, we also have a missing kid. So how is this all connected? We're trying to figure out. Anytime we have a missing kid, again, you guys are the first person to be you know, is it fire? Who knows, but until we know, well, yeah, it's a little annoying, but I understand. Yeah. And I appreciate you coming in. Um, so far, the investigators were playing nice with Jake. Since he was there willingly, they obviously didn't want him to run off or get spooked just yet, but still they were noticing some red flags. Jake told them that his and Melissa's relationship was casual, which everyone has different interpretations of things. But I definitely personally wouldn't consider what Tuesday described to the police as being casual. When I think of casual, I think maybe a work acquaintance. Maybe you don't really see them all that much or talk to them all that much outside of the workplace from nine to five, you know, you don't know much about them. They don't know much about you. Maybe if you're sexually involved with somebody casually, it looks more like you hang out once a month than you have sex or even less than that. But from what Tuesday described and what some of Melissa's friends had described, they were anything but casual. And what I found interesting was that as the interview went on, Jake definitely seemed like he was trying to distance himself from Melissa. He was talking about what she was like as if he truly didn't know her at all or had just observed her from a far from time to time. Well, she was a little odd. I mean, you know, it's but a lot of people up there are. So I thought like on how just the way she talked and, you know, wait the first time I met her, she came up and she started talking to me and then she started to remember bands that me and a couple other people and just, you know, more kiddish stuff I guess. Which kind, you know, just threw me off from a really wanting talk to her. I mean, I talked to her a few times, but she had a hair mask on. She'd remember bands. Quite a good actually function. At one point, the investigators straight up asked Jake if he and Melissa ever dated and he was very quick to shut that down. She did anybody there? No. You dated her at all? No. All come. I was dating somebody else and I didn't like her like that. In person, you ever talked around the phone? She ever call you, try to date you again, send you messages or anything like that? Or try to, you didn't date her, but you know, we did talk a few times on the phone, but a couple of years ago, I don't know. Anything recent? No, no, no, nothing recent. So all right, so you last saw her 16 months ago and what I've seen her, you know, like, her own account, but I mean, talk to her, I didn't contact her once. Slowly but surely, the investigators start to go from being nice and understanding, taking notes on everything he says, almost as if they believe him, to then becoming more skeptical of his version of events. Everything that told us is the truth. Everything that told us is the I'm sure we'll see you tonight. You're wearables, anything like that? - My wearables are exactly what I told you. - But here's the problem. Even though he says he's being honest, the investigators weren't so sure. Starting with his alibi, he claimed that he had been fishing, but that he was fishing alone. So it's not like he was with a group of people who could verify that, right? Not to mention, he wasn't even sure where he was fishing. - Who can put you there tonight? - There's somebody there that signed it there. There's our owner. - I caught my ex on the phone, okay? - My machine knew I was ill-fishing up there. - So you're at this resort that you don't know the name of? Can you describe it to us? Can it help us out a little bit with that? Just a resort. - You know, long-sighted, dark painted, or any discreet type. Believe the, well, the cabins are usually what I see in my long-sighted eyes. - Well, maybe I think it might even be named clearly resorted. I mean, not positive. Well, I think of that. - Maybe. - About an hour into the interview, the vibes shifted significantly. The first half of the interview was just a lot of taking notes. The second half though, this is where they really started to question the things that Jay had been saying. - Here's a deal. It looks like they're a five-year-old. A lot of girls, and I hope they're five-year-old. So they way, so they way, and that's our goal. We would likely help though we can. - Jay, we got reports that you had a relationship with Melissa. - Yeah, I heard a lot of the same thing. - What did you hear? - That we had dated. - Okay. - Tell us a moment. - There was nothing to tell. I was dating another girl of work and she got pissed off. - Who was that girl? - Just the one here. - Okay. - This was two-year-old, two years ago. - Okay. - But, you know, smoothed over whatever. She's not by the house, a couple times we argued. - You can say we, you and Melissa. - Yeah, but not like, are you to argue? You know, she said she wanted to be with me. I said no, you know, I got a thing, but it wasn't anything. - Yeah. - That's what we've heard. - There was never actually a relationship. - Which is what I already said. - Well, yeah. - Well, we heard that, no, there's more of a relationship than just her wanting to date you, anything. It was, you guys were having sex and it was a relationship. - Yeah, no, no. - All right. - Or maybe we're not using a relationship, right? Did you guys were having sex? - Yeah, no. - Okay. - Not sex partners or friends with them. - Yeah, it's a relationship. - Okay, that's what I mean. - Even when the investigators started to apply some of that pressure, Jake still denied everything. Any sort of relationship with Melissa, in any sort of way, romantic, sexual, all of it, he was denying it. But the investigators were not going to give up that easily. - Do you know where son-in-law? - I've never met him, no. - Okay. - I've seen him, but I haven't talked to him. - Is there a reason why he would say that you guys had a relationship? - Not that I know of. Melissa's mom said we did, but otherwise no. - All right, what about our co-workers, which he's working on? - I don't know any of the co-workers. - Well, I don't know where she's working now. - Okay, well she, the co-workers indicated that you guys were having sex. - I don't know any of the co-workers, so I can't say anything to that. - Okay, well, I'm not asking to account for what they said, just that they said you're having sex, you're, again, saying no way. I wasn't at least a bit attracted to her, and we didn't have a relationship so I don't know where to work. - And we're not going to find anything later on that you did. - What do you mean? - You know, we have a relationship sex talk on Facebook or anything like that. - I don't know if Facebook and, or, but I didn't, anything like that. - How about your phone or her phone? - Related text messages or anything? - You wouldn't find anything on my phone. - Okay. - I don't know how I don't have her phone. - I don't know anything on her phone, but I'm aware of it, it's not for me. - Jake's story just wasn't adding up. Remember, Tuesday wasn't the only person who knew about Melissa and Jake's relationship. Investigators had multiple people telling them that the two of them were involved, and at the very least that they were having a sexual relationship. Yet Jake was now claiming the exact opposite. According to him, they barely knew each other outside of work, and he also insisted that he had never even been attracted to Melissa, which those two versions of events couldn't both be true. So detectives kept pressing him, pointing out the consistencies, asking him to explain them. And as the questions continued, Jake started getting visibly frustrated, all until he finally announced that he was done talking and he was going to leave. Here's the thing. Right after he walked out of that interrogation room, he walked right back in. He was still free to go though, so I don't know entirely why he came back, but he did. - She's dating a guy. She's seen a guy with blue eyes as a film truck. - That's you. - She's telling people about that. - Okay, anything else? Percuss it in the cities. Jake owns a food truck, sells food by Rutgers. That's you. - Now we're co-workers. - Describe you. - No. - And has anybody seen you in there? - Here's a deal. That one night encounters, maybe because you can go to the bar dancing with her and no one saw you. Why wouldn't Melissa break about you or have a relationship with you to someone that doesn't even know you, they're in the city course, so yeah. I could be lying to Chad that I'm dating some supermodel. Well, Chad would know because I work at you and see me. You would know, you know, for someone that lives in Nebraska in the cities, they don't know you, they'll never run into you. Well, why would Melissa say she has a relationship with you? She could say anybody. - She could. - Why would she give your name? So, if it's not just one person, Jake, her son talks about you. Her cousin, co-workers, the school in Nebraska, that's five different people. - I would never say you, it's you. - I've never met any of them. - I know, so why is Melissa describing you? She could say to her friend in the city, she could say she's dating a mayor of Bemidji, right? - Yeah. - Why you? - I don't know, but she had a crush on me. Long time ago, and she won a day, I already told you this. - That's years ago, a year ago, two years ago, yes. - Yeah, it just doesn't make sense that she doesn't even work at Anderson Fabric anymore. - I don't know what you're talking about. You haven't seen her talk to her in 6/8 months, okay? - Whether or not Jake knew Melissa, it wasn't the only discrepancy that the investigators were concerned about. At some point, they had also looked into the places where his cell phone had pinged, and they were pretty unsurprised to find out that it was not where Jake said he was when he was on his little fishing expedition. - Let's talk about that now, get out in front of it, and let this community heal. And you know, you know what I'm saying? Let this community heal. There are people out there looking for this little girl right now. - Yeah, there's lots of people. If it was my daughter, I'd be going breaking down doors myself. Yeah, but I didn't do anything to little girl. I haven't seen the little girl. I haven't seen Melissa in a long time. I haven't done anything. I was in bed sleeping. I'm sorry, I don't live with anybody to corroborate that story. But today I was working. Yesterday I was working. Now I was fishing. And he is. I've been seen to either one of them, or to talk to either one of them, but nobody can put you fishing. That's a hard part. And even if people didn't see me, like yesterday, Jake, yourself, I don't know who it was. Your cell phone is not even close to where you say you're fishing. That's concerning to us. Yeah, and I understand that, but I can't explain it. You should have been within a five mile radius of where you were fishing, and it's like 40 miles away. Like I said, yeah, that's concerning, because I kind of was like, "Oh, what was he doing?" But I can't explain it, because I was fricking fishing. Is there fishing rods in your jeep? There's an A fishing rod. Is there an A-tack of box, yes. You can't search my jeep, but you can see, I'll let you see the fish rod on the tack box. Why won't you let us? Because at this point, I'll trust you guys. Did we lie to you? You're pushing me to say something that I didn't do, and we're concerned that I had a relationship with Melissa. No one is here pushing me to say I had a relationship with somebody. I did not have a relationship. No, we are trying to add our own identity. Ever grab and see. And I'm clear of how I knew. And I'm sorry, she told five, six different people that she was in a relationship with me, but it's not true. And you said, at first you were saying she was telling these people my name was Chance. I don't know a chance. I've never been called Chance or Chase or whatever it was. Fair enough, I mean, so is it Jake or is it a chance that she has some relationship with? It's Jacob. No, it's not Jake. She never had a relationship with Jake. And I can't explain it. It's not my deal. I wish I could help you find a little girl. I'm sorry, something happened to her, but I had nothing to do with it. I always find it interesting when investigators point out that multiple people are telling a completely different story. And when the suspect then just responds to that being like, well, I don't know why there's a discrepancy. Well, I don't know why things that wouldn't be adding up as if that is somehow enough to explain it away. Because hello, that doesn't explain anything. It just creates even more questions. Regardless, Jake told investigators they weren't going to be searching his Jeep, almost like that was his decision to make. But by that point, the truth was detectives were already in the process of obtaining a search warrant. And when Jake learned that, his reaction was very telling. So it's going to happen. Based on the information that we got from these people, both your connection with Melissa, okay? Based upon cell phone. Location that we got. We're going to be executed in a search warrant. It's fine. You don't even need one. You can just ask Tiffany if you can. Oh, I thought you could. We're not going to ask her, okay? Use the execute search warrant. We'll be on your person, your vehicle, in your home. It's fine. Okay. You can't have access to those things right now. I have to. I can't sleep anywhere else. And you don't have the search warrant yet. That's correct, but it's, it's being done. It's nice, but I can't sleep anywhere else. It's conditioned by probation. Well, you can work that out. Tiffany, you don't have to do it now. And. That Tiffany's not going to be checking to me. Where exactly am I supposed to go? I don't, you go hang out with your mom and dad's? I can't. What? They live and own a mental health home. I can't stay there. Okay. No. You can't have access to your car or your house. And can I ask what exactly that's written? Because you said I was free to leave when I walked in here. But now we're going to be executed search warrant. You are still free to leave. But you're not, you're not free to drive away in your vehicle that we are doing a search warrant. You're not free to leave in the clothing that we're going to seize. We'll get you some clothing. Yeah, I like to shoot a judge's order for that. Well, yes, but I'm leaving right now. So you bring me the judge's order. Yeah, because I know my rights. I can drive away in the clothing I'm wearing when you get the search warrant. We don't find me. You can see at home sleeping. Jake, we can seize your car because it's a mobile. It's mold. It can't be driven away. So the car will be here. My clothes are mobile. That's why we're going to get up for it. Or you know, you're not. You can't take my clothes unless you're arresting me and you have no problem caused to arrest me. Well, let's argue like this. Yeah, you know, if you're safe, if you have that, you'd be arresting me. Well, at some point we'll make an arrest decision. And whether that's tonight or next week or whatever, we'll get DNA back. You're already said that I was free to go. You are? I'm not changing clothes. That's your stripping me a lighter. It's there. I do know my rights. Give me a phone. I'm going to make a phone call or a few. If I can't get a hold while I'm leaving English and I'm calling an attorney. And you guys are sitting here and telling me I have to change my clothes and I can't drive away in my vehicle, which all my stuff is in my inhaler, my cigarettes, my pop, everything. Tell me I have to go sleep on the fucking street. Because I don't have anywhere else I can go. Is what you guys are saying. And you cannot do that without a judge's order. So you can either go get me the judge's order right now, not like right this second, or I am walking on the door and taking my car with me. Okay. The investigators weren't lying. They were working on the search warrant. But Jake did have a point. He was allowed to leave without that warrant. So just like that, he walked out. Did you know when you released him that he held the answers to where this little girl was? Definitely. It was him. No doubt in our mind. It was him watching him walk out that door had to be tough. Yeah. The one positive thing was that even though Jake walked out of the interview, he left behind everything that the investigators had asked him to, including his clothing, his phone, and his Jeep within minutes of him leaving the detectives began searching his phone. And what they found was incredibly disturbing. As you might expect, his time in jail and on probation, it hadn't changed his behavior. Investigators found numerous explicit images involving children on his device. During his interview, Jake had mentioned that he had four young children. They lived with their mother and because of his criminal history, he was only allowed supervised visits. So it's unclear whether these photos on his phone were of his own children, other children he knew, or images that he perhaps obtained online independently. The important thing, though, was that none of the children in those photos appeared to be Brittany. So while what they found was, yes, deeply concerning and potentially relevant to Jake's criminal behavior, it didn't help answer the biggest question that the investigators had. Where was Brittany? So detectives were still trying to figure out their next move when everything suddenly changed. As the team sat together, comparing their notes, the special agent examining Jake's phone suddenly shouted out, bingo, the agent had uncovered a whole series of deleted text messages on Jake's phone. Now Jake may have thought that by deleting them, they would get rid of the evidence they'd be gone forever, but as we all know by now, deleted does not necessarily mean gone forever. And these messages were between none other than Jake and Melissa. So right away, investigators knew that Jake had lied. They had already suspected that he was being dishonest about the nature of their relationship, but now they had proof right there in black and white. What shocked them, though, wasn't that Jake and Melissa had been texting. What shocked them is what they had been texting about. The conversations weren't about their relationship or the two of them meeting up. Instead, investigators found messages discussing a plan that Jake and Melissa had allegedly come up with together. A plan to kidnap Brittany. When detectives read those text messages, they were stunned. It was not the direction that they expected this investigation to take, not at all. What do you mean? and she was plotting with this deviant to kidnap her best friend's daughter. What do you mean, like she appears to be complicit in all of this, yet still ended up bound, burned, and under a mattress in this house fire? What is going on here? I mean, the idea that Jake might have killed Melissa to abduct Brittany, that was one thing. But the possibility that Melissa had allegedly been involved in planning Brittany's kidnapping, that was almost impossible to wrap your head around. And just to reiterate, again, the close relationship between Melissa and Brittany's mother Amanda, they weren't acquaintances, they weren't neighbors, they weren't new friends, they were lifelong best friends for 30 years, which this made the investigators all the more shocked when they were reading these messages. And I don't say that to me in that this wouldn't have been shocking or upsetting in any other situation, even if they were acquaintances. But the fact that Amanda trusted Melissa so much, this was a lot to take in. Now luckily, Jake and Melissa, they were not the sharpest tool in the toolbox. They literally documented every single detail of their plan over text. And what they said to one another, it is going to shock you. The special agent who was going through the text messages literally said that this was probably one of the most well-documented crimes that he had ever worked on. The original kidnapping was supposed to happen a week before the fire and Melissa's death. The original plan was for Jake to assault Melissa. And I don't know if this was physically, sexually, or both, but then he was going to quote, "Carjack her car and take Brittany." Except when Melissa talked to the investigators, she was gonna say that it was all random. She was gonna claim that she had no idea who this man was that attacked her. Pretty much making it seem like everything was completely random and unexpected because she was going to be assaulted in the process and then she was gonna be confused. She wasn't gonna know what happened. And the hope was that she would just look like a victim in all of this and that because of her attack, all of the small details would get overlooked. Now when it came to Brittany, their plan was to hide her. Now whether that was for a short period of time or the rest of her life, I don't know. I don't actually even know if they knew. But the most twisted part of all of it is that this wasn't just a situation where Jake and Melissa wanted to raise a child together and run off into the sunset and have Brittany as their own because Melissa loved Brittany so much. According to these text messages, the alleged plan, it all centered around Jake's sexual interest in Brittany. Almost as though Melissa was procuring Brittany for him and not almost as it is that, right? So investigators believed that this conversation showed that they were discussing Brittany as an object for Jake's gratification and the language that they used. Oh my God, that was incredibly disturbing. In these messages, they allegedly referred to Brittany as Jake's toy, which this whole thing, it is beyond vile and disgusting. So the weekend that this was supposed to go down, Brittany ended up getting sick. So her sleepover with Melissa ended up being canceled. But then, as we know, a week later, she was headed back to Melissa's. Now what's interesting is that there is no conversation in their text messages about changing the plan from carjacking to what it ended up becoming. Just based on the initial plan, the investigators believed that Melissa likely did agree to being tied up. It would have been the same as the assault plan that they had, the one that was supposed to take place the week before. So all of that did seem to align, but what transpired was very different from what they were texting each other because they were talking about her pretending to be tied up, which we know she was bound and duct taped. And investigators believed she had actually been restrained and then intentionally killed. And based on what they uncovered, it appeared that her death likely wasn't a part of this original plan, which my thought goes to, oh yeah, he was lying to her. He was saying they were gonna live happily ever after that she was just gonna help him and it was gonna be fine, but he didn't give a shit about Melissa, why would he care about Melissa when he cared about children? Like, that's what his end goal was in this, right? She was gonna just be collateral damage and the facilitator. So the investigator started piecing together what they thought may have happened. And their theory was that Jake and Melissa changed the plan once they were together in person. Like I said, Melissa may have agreed to being tied up, believing it was some kind of part of the sexual situation, but then something changed. What if Melissa had changed her mind? What if in the aftermath of their plan, she saw her best friend grieving her missing daughter and then decided to come clean with what really happened and where Brittany was and who was responsible. But like I said, maybe she was just a pawn in this entire sick game and he killed her so there would be no witnesses at all. I mean, there were just too many loose ends. Melissa's autopsy report later showed that she had been strangled to death. And of course, she was already tied up when Jake went to go and choke her. So there was no way she could fight back. The fire was probably just an attempt to cover up any evidence. However, these text messages were both a huge break in the case and a terrifying discovery. Because on one hand, they did give investigators hope. If Jake was still following through with his plan, his plan to keep Brittany alive and keep her hidden, then there was a chance that she could still be out there somewhere, but on the other hand, it made the situation far more dangerous. Jake had just left the police station. He knew investigators were looking into him. He knew that they were suspicious. And now they had evidence that connected him and Melissa in a way that they never had expected. So my first thought was that Jake could have hurt Brittany and then tried to hide her somewhere to avoid getting caught. It was a race against the clock. And investigators knew that whatever happened next could determine whether or not Brittany would be found alive. While Jake was being interviewed, the detectives were also taking a closer look at the outside of his Jeep. They were still waiting on the search warrant, which would allow them inside of the Jeep, but they knew that the exterior of the vehicle could also tell them just as much as the inside. And in this case, they were right. When investigators examined the undercarriage of the Jeep, they noticed several things that immediately stood out. There was a significant amount of vegetation stuck underneath the vehicle, everything from grass to small yellow and white flowers. The tires were also completely covered in mud. And to investigators, these details suggested that the Jeep had recently been somewhere other than normal roads and parking lots and freeways. Question was, where? So this was a major detail to note. Granted, it didn't point directly to where he could have been driving the Jeep recently, but it did show that he was driving on unpaved roads. He had probably been driving somewhere more rural, which, you know, I hate that word, but somewhere like that. So pretty quickly after Jake left, the investigative team found that Jake had a family member who did in fact own a more rural stretch of land. It was about three miles from the cell phone tower where his phone had pained also. The same tower that he had no explanation for when he was confronted during their investigation. So the investigators started heading that way. By this time, it was night. And the deeper that they got into these rural areas, the darker it became. To make matters even worse, it started to rain. The visibility in the area was next to nothing, even with flashlights and car lights trying to help guide them through the heavy rain and the darkness, it was very challenging. Eventually, though, the sun came up and the rain started to lighten up, which that made all the difference. And pretty soon, the investigators found something major. They found tire tracks in both the muddy, rural road nearby and also in a field of grass. When they found the tire tracks, the investigators got excited, nervous, optimistic. I mean, all the feelings that they could possibly feel in that moment. But when they did a comparison and confirmed that the tire tracks were an exact match to Jake's Jeep, they were feeling more hopeful than ever that they were on the right track here. So investigators followed the tracks through the tall grass. And about half a mile into the field, they found something they weren't expecting, a camper, sitting completely alone in the middle of the field. Now, at first glance, it looked completely abandoned. This camper van, it was so far away from everything that if you didn't know that there was an active investigation happening, you might have just assumed that somebody had parked it there for storage or planned to come back later. There was nobody outside of it. And from what the investigators could see, there didn't appear to be any movement inside the camper, either. Which, you know how sometimes if you see a camper, you'll see it rock or shift a little bit when they're not properly secured and kind of moving around, well, that wasn't happening. Then they got closer to the door. And that's when they noticed something that immediately raised concerns. The handle had been wrapped shut with black electrical tape. Almost like someone had intentionally sealed the door closed, locking someone on the inside. At that point, investigators knew that they had to be careful. They had no idea what was waiting for them on the other side of this door. So they started recording everything. Whatever was inside that camper, they knew that they needed to document it. And I'm going to play some of those clips for you. But for my audio-only listeners, you may want to go over to YouTube after this to see those clips. - Hey, Mommy's name's (beep) - Hi, what did you say your name was again? I'm going to take a little video. (beep) - Hey, how'd you get here? (beep) - Thank you for being here. - Oh, what's his name? Okay, when did he bring you here? Right now, okay, does he have a car? What kind of car does he have? Wait, thankfully this wasn't a situation where investigators arrived too late. Brittany was inside the camper and she was alive. She was lying there, alone on one of the beds and it was clear that she had been through something so traumatic, just beyond words, beyond comprehension so the investigators immediately started consoling her and checking on her. They also found that same black electrical tape that was used to seal the door shut, wrapped around Brittany's ankles and legs. And seeing this footage, that black tape in contrast to her neon pink pajamas, it's hard to think about, let alone for the investigators to see this. The innocence of these sweet pajamas, the sweet little girl and electrical tape just bound around her ankles and legs. Can you show me your feet? Right there? Okay, where are you taped at? Okay, anywhere else? Did you have tape on your arms? Brittany bravely explained it to the officers that the only thing that hurt were the few scrapes and bruises on her arms and hands. I mean, when I say brave, this little girl was so beyond brave. Brittany continued to talk to the officers while they were waiting for the first responders to arrive. And she explained everything that she had experienced in the last 26 hours since being taken from Melissa's house, so she of course didn't understand that it had been 26 hours. To her, it had probably been either a very short, scary period of time or much longer, scary period of time. Did you go to his house at all? You know what color his house is? What's it look like? Is it a big house or a small house? Small house. Okay. Does he have any animals or. no, okay? As incredible as it was for these investigators to find Brittany alive, it was an absolute miracle for her family. And it's important to remember the timeline here because all of this happened within about 24 hours of time from that fire. Brittany's family had spent the entire night terrified watching it rain outside, knowing that she could be out there somewhere alone, cold, scared, or worse, that they may never see her again. So when they finally got the call that Brittany had been found alive, the relief was overwhelming. Her family said that they immediately broke down crying, happy tears of course, and some were so overcome with emotion that they collapsed to the floor when they heard the news. But the investigation, it wasn't over. About an hour and a half later, an officer spotted Jake driving his dad's truck in the direction of the camper. They were able to pull him over and they were able to arrest him, which honestly, I cannot even imagine what was going through his mind at that moment while he's on that drive beligning it to that camper. Was he planning to move Brittany? Move the camper? Kill Brittany? Get rid of evidence? We don't know. What we do know is that Jake already knew investigators were on to him. He knew that he was the main suspect in Brittany's disappearance, and people can make terrifying decisions when they feel like they are running out of options. All right, Jake, if you're under arrest, I have to see that. Has anything changed from who we talk last? Other than being confused, just why am arrest being arrested now and what changed from what a bomb was going, I don't even know what time it was, no. Yeah, 10 o'clock in the morning, yeah, so three hours, you're on two, three hours, you know. All right. Last night when we talked, he said you had no contact with Melissa Norby. He didn't date her. You weren't seen her. You didn't have a relationship with her, is that true? You've never petted her in her house, have been there once, once, one of the last time that you were there. A year or a half ago or something, when we looked at a chair that, I'm going to be your friend left there and I want her to be in, I want to look at it, that was a year ago, so I'm there. Okay. Okay. And you had no contact with the little girl, you see her, she income to your food station, you didn't see her at Melissa's house, you don't know her parents, and there's going to be no connection between you and her, right, and wasn't whatsoever in any way she ever heard, whatsoever. Okay. And no connection between you and Melissa. Well, I mean, I think connection, is there going to be evidence that says you're in Melissa's house? I don't know. Okay. And the gas can that we talked about showed you a picture, is that any year evidence going to be on that, you know, DNA or fingerprints? I don't know where. Okay. So nothing's changed from last night. 100% sure? 95% sure. What's the 500? I'm tired and groggy, and yes, take me up all night and try to sleep at, you know, sleep at, you know, be able for two hours, I'm still, well, tired, groggy, extremely tired, yes. Okay. When Jake was first taken into custody, he continued to act confused. He maintained that he didn't understand why he was being arrested, and he acted as if he had done nothing wrong. But then, investigators showed him something on one of their phones, which I would assume that it was a picture of Brittany after she was found safe. And the second that he saw this, his entire attitude seemed to change. The confidence and the confusion, all of that stuff that had been showing moments earlier, it just disintegrated, disappeared. And his reaction was completely different. It started to happen too, what's it going to do? We still want to go, okay? She'd gotten older me, and we talked, when we weren't dating the word, we actually hadn't had a sexual relationship, but we, you know, role played on a phone. We were all playing on what was her role, and it was daddy, daughter, that kind of stuff. You know, I went over there, you know, and I, what, what, hey? Today's Thursday. What? Three minutes. Two minutes? Awesome. Back, back to two, they do. Yeah. I'm thinking, I'm, I'm thinking, I'm, I'm thinking, I'm, I'm thinking, I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Eventually, Jake decided to talk a little bit more. He still wasn't exactly open or cooperative, but he at least started answering some of the investigators' questions. The one thing that he was adamant about though, was that according to him, none of this was his idea. He claimed it was all Melissa's plan, not his. If you go there for her, or for Melissa, who was Melissa, and do you know that she was going to be there? Yeah. Was she part of the role-playing, did Melissa bring her in for role-playing? How do you know that? Did you ask her to bring her in? Did she offer it up? Do you think some mother knew what was going on? No idea. Did you? No. Did you know that? No. How did all that come about? Did she, did Melissa offer, hey, I came to get a five-year-old girl here? You guys, couple years ago, you know? For a split second, literally only a couple of minutes, Jake admitted to something, something extremely disgusting, and so, so vile. He told the investigators that Brittany had been present and nude one time when they had sex, and the purpose of that was to enhance their own sexual experience. referring to him and Melissa. So before Brittany was ever even kidnapped, she was a victim. The two of them having sex with this little girl naked standing nearby to in "enhanced" the experience. Filthy, disgusting. I don't even have the words. But that was about all the information that they were able to get from him before he finally made the decision to not talk to anybody else and to lawyer up. Now whether or not Jake was willing to talk didn't really matter at this point. Investigators already had enough evidence to arrest him and they started piecing together their own theory of what happened. And unfortunately, as the investigation continued, they would uncover even more disturbing details. Investigators determined that after Jake had killed Melissa and set her house on fire, he took Brittany back to his own home. There, he did sexually assault her, before then moving her to the camper. It was a horrifying discovery that showed just how much danger Brittany had truly been in. But you know what? I also want to pause because remember we talked about her bravery and how she only complained of cuts and bruises. And I don't know if that's because she didn't know what happened to her truly or because she was just being so courageous and brave. I really don't know. But it is like devastating to think about this five-year-old little girl. I mean, on one side, as I'm saying it out loud, maybe it's a blessing that maybe she didn't fully understand what had happened to her because she was so young, but also it's devastating the thing that maybe she was so numb and in shock that all she could complain about was the bruising and the cuts. I just. Children are the most vulnerable victims out there. Children and the elderly. And these cases are so difficult to wrap your mind around the fact that there is such evil out there in the world with such sick perversions. And even though she had come out of this situation alive, she hadn't been unharmed. Now, shockingly, Jake's initial charge was only one count of felony kidnapping. After being found competent to stand trial in June of 2017, he was also charged with second-degree murder from Melissa's death. The following day, Jake pleaded guilty to three different charges. Second-degree murder, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and kidnapping. Ultimately, Jake was sentenced to 52 years in prison. During his sentencing, Brittany's godmother read a letter to Jake on Brittany's behalf and it spoke volumes. Quote, she told him she hated him. She doesn't like the way that he plays with her. She doesn't want to play with him, but thank you for letting me play with your kitties. He bribed our baby with kitties because she loves animals. So somehow, she is strong enough with everything he did to still be thankful that she got to play with a kitty, which hearing that, it not only illustrates what a predator he is trying to bribe this little girl with kittens, but the fact that she still is expressing that thankfulness of your monster, like, I hated playing with you. I didn't like the way you played with me, but thank you for letting me play with your kitties. There's just heartbreakingly, and it's going to make me cry thinking about it, such an innocence in that, which makes this even more evil and cruel that this little innocent girl who still luckily has that innocence intact was exploited by this monster. It's sick. Today, Brittany's family is beyond thankful that she is still alive and with them, that she's able to grow up and experience the life that she deserves. But it doesn't mean that anything that happened to her or anything that happened to her family has been easy. Brittany has gone through extensive therapy, something that has been a saving grace, but something that she never should have had to even do in the first place. Her mom said that she is full of life and spunk by day, but at night, she has night terrors, and she has flashbacks that wake her up out of her sleep, confused, and scared. Brittany's family, Amanda specifically, will never understand the things that happened to her. They trusted Melissa, and they thought that they really knew her. Amanda not only had to grieve a friend that she thought she knew, but she also had to actually grieve her in the literal sense, the loss of her friend physically, while coping with everything that her daughter had gone through and will continue to go through mentally and emotionally throughout her life. And even though this case, yeah, did have a happier ending than some that I cover with you, nobody came out unharmed, not mentally, emotionally, or physically, and I have to say, hot take possibly, but my personal opinion, I'm glad he killed Melissa in that fire. I'm glad he bound her, strangled her, and burned her. I hope that she was scared. I hope that she was terrified, because what a freaking monster, to be so caught up in your own perverted relationship with this man, that you procure your best friend of 30 years' daughter for his playtoy. Now to mention, you're a mother yourself. What is your something about all of this? It is devastating to think about, and good riddance to her, good riddance to Jake. I wish she got more than 52 years. I wish she got the needle or life in prison. It's just, it is so sick. And going back to what we talked about earlier in the episode, I don't know why there are not stricter punishments for offenders like this, because they will more times than not. I would bet my life 99.9% they will reoffend. So why even allow the opportunity? Why even take the risk of allowing them back on the streets? Why? So they can victimize more people? So they can escalate to murder? So they can continue to traumatize young children? I will never understand it. Whoever came up with the rules of punishment, I don't know if that's like, you know, maybe I need to look into that. Maybe I'm like, brain dead right now and brain, brain rot, so I can't figure this out. But whoever came up with the Bible of punishments and what sentences go for each charges, someone needs to reevaluate that, okay? I don't know if it's in like, you know, constitution, the judges, the Supreme Court, wherever it lives. This needs to be re-evaluated, okay? Point, blank period. So I know today was very tough guys. I appreciate you sticking with me. Thank you for hearing this story, for hearing Britney's story. And hopefully it helps raise a little bit of awareness that you can't always trust the person next door or sometimes even your own best friend. You always have to be cautious. And I think that's why in this day and age two, there are far few sleepovers happening because you never know what somebody's true intentions are. Thank you so much. Don't forget, subscribe, like, share the link to this episode, whether that's on your social media, your group chat, wherever. Hopefully we can raise some more awareness about this topic. It is an incredibly important one. And I just appreciate you being here. All right. Now really quickly before you go, just a reminder, all of our fall merch is officially on sale, but it will not last and the merch shop will be closing soon. AnnieElise.com, get all of your merch while you can. The make it make sense. I hope you're having a good day. I'm about to ruin it. Stay spooky. It's true crime documentaries or Christmas movies. There is no in between so many different pieces of merch. So go grab it. AnnieElise.com. But warning, some of it is already starting to sell out. So grab it quickly. I'll be back on the mic with you Thursday going over everything happening this weekend through crime. But until then, be nice. Don't kill people. Protect your children. And don't date skeezy people. All right. Bye.