Speaker 1: April millsap was a young teen who was just beginning
Speaker 1: to take on the world when her life was tragically
Speaker 1: taken away in twenty fourteen. April was walking her dog
Speaker 1: in a local park when a man snuck up behind
Speaker 1: her and attacked. However, what this man didn't know was
Speaker 1: that April had a fitness app running on her phone,
Speaker 1: and it would show police every detail of every step
Speaker 1: she was taking, and even every step of the murderer
Speaker 1: when he stole her phone and fled the scene. My
Speaker 1: name's Ben, I'm.
Speaker 2: Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and Gram, a true
Speaker 2: crime podcast.
Speaker 1: Warning. The following podcast and material intended for a mature
Speaker 1: audience listener discretion. It's up.
Speaker 2: We're back.
Speaker 1: We're back. Two week hiatus, two week vacation. Uh it went.
Speaker 1: It seemed like it just dragged on. It felt like
Speaker 1: a month.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, it did well. I think that was
Speaker 2: because we were sick for a part of it.
Speaker 1: So well, yeah, our hiatus was only going to be
Speaker 1: a week, and uh yeah, then we got super sick
Speaker 1: and we had to extend that, so our apologies. We
Speaker 1: didn't even have a voice for like nearly a week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: We're having a lot of people message us, where are you?
Speaker 2: You know, are you guys alive?
Speaker 1: Yeah, we were alive, barely and we are alive. Now.
Speaker 1: I'm much better than Nicole is a cold. You said
Speaker 1: you were sitting at what like, So.
Speaker 2: That's like, that's very much still on the end, right.
Speaker 1: I'm sitting at like ninety five ninety eight percent recovered.
Speaker 2: Well I got I got it a little a few
Speaker 2: days later.
Speaker 1: Than you, so makes sense, So I'm a bit ahead
Speaker 1: on the recovery schedule. Yes, sure, but yeah, we were
Speaker 1: down in Florida, went to Disney World, went to Universal Studios.
Speaker 1: We recorded our last episode and we were down there.
Speaker 1: We went to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal. Well we
Speaker 1: did it, And yeah, we did a little bit of
Speaker 1: work while we were down there. So it was a
Speaker 1: bit of a work trip slash vacation. And I mean
Speaker 1: in a place where there's so many people walking around
Speaker 1: in parks like Universal and Disney. It's only I mean
Speaker 1: understandable that we got as sick as we did. It's
Speaker 1: the germs everywhere, right.
Speaker 2: I still think I might have been okay, I think
Speaker 2: I might have been okay. It was you that you
Speaker 2: gave it to me, I might have been.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, but you still got it, I know, which sucks.
Speaker 1: Someone gave it to me and then I gave it
Speaker 1: to you. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was like almost feeling like clausterphobe because you were
Speaker 2: like sick as fuck and we were in a hotel
Speaker 2: room that didn't have a window or anything that you
Speaker 2: could freaking open.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the windows, so I'm like blocked from the outside.
Speaker 2: I'm just like, Okay, I guess I'm just doomed. Like
Speaker 2: I'm doomed pretty much pretty much. But that's okay. I
Speaker 2: mean I've pat that's marriage. You passed it back and forth.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so so uh, next time you get sick, just
Speaker 1: feel free to cough on my face. I guess I
Speaker 1: don't know, is that what you're after?
Speaker 2: No? No, okay, thank god, but I do have a
Speaker 2: free pass fair enough.
Speaker 1: We do have some patrons to thank who signed up
Speaker 1: even while the the hiatus was happening, even while there
Speaker 1: was no show occurring, you guys still signed up for
Speaker 1: Patreon to get that behind the scenes and exclusive access
Speaker 1: to all the content. So thank you very much to
Speaker 1: Tonya Carr, Christine and Marcus Smith, Chloe melsni Andre Casperne Smith,
Speaker 1: Martha Hatfield, Carrie Coleburn, Hannah Petty Dibsma ket Amy, and
Speaker 1: Jen Intel Nice. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2: Maybe they were missing those episodes so they wanted the
Speaker 2: Patreon episodes. Hey, potentially there is a whole slew of
Speaker 2: them on there, there is.
Speaker 1: We did not get a Patreon episode out for September
Speaker 1: with us being as sick as we were, unfortunately, but
Speaker 1: we argue making up by putting a total of three
Speaker 1: out this October, so there will be an extra one
Speaker 1: coming out plus the one we miss and then plus
Speaker 1: the October one.
Speaker 2: So yeah, and it's Halloween Week two coming up. It
Speaker 2: is so excited.
Speaker 1: Halloween wow upon us.
Speaker 2: That's crazy. I actually feel like I don't know, I
Speaker 2: don't feel like it's that time of year. I'm a
Speaker 2: little behind here.
Speaker 1: I am full Halloween mode.
Speaker 2: You are? You are?
Speaker 1: We don't have any decorations up because I mean, tiny home,
Speaker 1: we don't really decorate much for anything here. But I've
Speaker 1: been watching movies. I've been getting spooky, listening to tunes
Speaker 1: like the Monster Mash NonStop, even on Patreon, like we're
Speaker 1: doing a thirty one days of Halloween movie countdown, and
Speaker 1: like it's all movies that I'm watching and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which is cool. And I did get us a
Speaker 2: pumpkin pie the other day, which was lovely.
Speaker 1: And we got our chickens of pumpkin the other day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they carved us a little pumpkin.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just half a pumpkin now. But still, it's
Speaker 1: been good times enjoying the full Halloween. And of course
Speaker 1: with Halloween and Halloween Week coming, that means JACKO is
Speaker 1: going to be returning very soon.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, good old Jack.
Speaker 1: So you're ready for Halloween Week because that is that's exciting.
Speaker 2: That got me real excited.
Speaker 1: Actually, okay, do we have anything else we want to
Speaker 1: touch on? I mean, I do understand we've been two
Speaker 1: week hiatus, so we might have a little bit to cover,
Speaker 1: but well, I think we.
Speaker 2: Should just talk about that little event we have coming
Speaker 2: up though, and then we can dive into the podcast.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, talk about that little event.
Speaker 2: So we're doing a murder mystery, which is very cool.
Speaker 2: I can't remember the date though, it's October twenty fourth,
Speaker 2: I believe, okay, twenty fourth, so it's local Prince George.
Speaker 2: It's going to be a dead fall. Tickets are on
Speaker 2: sale and yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's only thirty tickets total. We've sold I think
Speaker 1: eleven so far. We haven't really marketed like at all,
Speaker 1: so I do know that they are going to sell
Speaker 1: out relatively quickly. But yeah, if you want to join,
Speaker 1: head over to our Facebook page, our wicketting Grim Facebook page.
Speaker 1: The event is there and there's a link where you
Speaker 1: can get the tickets and you can join up. But
Speaker 1: like Nicole said, it is an in person, local event.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and like you're going to dress up. We're going
Speaker 2: to have like a candy bar. It's on Thursday night,
Speaker 2: which I feel like most people you know probably are available.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's warming up into the Halloween stuff, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so most people are busy on the Friday Saturday sunmeal Halloween.
Speaker 1: So hit it on a Thursday where you can still
Speaker 1: make room for all your other Halloween events. Get dressed up.
Speaker 1: We will be there. We will be playing certain characters.
Speaker 1: We come up get information. But most importantly, this is
Speaker 1: not just a it's not a murder mystery that we
Speaker 1: just went and bought. We didn't go to someone say
Speaker 1: hey we need a murder mystery for a party, give
Speaker 1: us something. We have written the entire story. We have
Speaker 1: created all the characters that you will be talking to.
Speaker 1: Everything is written by us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which is wild actually.
Speaker 1: So complete original story you can't find anywhere else and cool. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So yeah, be there be Square. I guess there be
Speaker 2: Square's kidding. I know, it's like, I mean, most of
Speaker 2: our listeners are from PG so but the few that
Speaker 2: are or the son that are, like, grab your ticket.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see you guys there. But other than that,
Speaker 1: are we good? We can get onto the show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we should get on the show.
Speaker 1: Okay, there's been a little bit of a longer intro
Speaker 1: in today's episode. Sorry, we're just kind of catching up.
Speaker 1: But for now, let's get into the actual case. And
Speaker 1: this is the case. As I mentioned at the very
Speaker 1: beginning of April millsap Okay, so April Dawn millsap was
Speaker 1: born on January twod in the year two thousand, to
Speaker 1: Bobby and Jennifer millsap in Weiese County, Virginia. Now Jennifer
Speaker 1: April's mother had a condition called sarah Bella taxia, which
Speaker 1: is a neurological disorder that affects coordination, balance, and speech
Speaker 1: and eye movement a bit. Though Jennifer's ability to walk
Speaker 1: and speak. Was affected, her mind remains sharp. She's completely normal.
Speaker 1: It's I'm not gonna try and like compare different conditions,
Speaker 1: but just for a more an example that we can
Speaker 1: all really understand a bit more. Cerebral palsy for example, okay,
Speaker 1: where it affects people's motor functions, but they're completely fine,
Speaker 1: Like their mind is one hundred percent sound sort of thing.
Speaker 1: It's similar. So, yeah, she was affected a little bit,
Speaker 1: but she was completely normal other than that. And when
Speaker 1: April came into her life, she became Jennifer's focus and joy.
Speaker 1: Though Bobby and Jennifer eventually did divorce, by the time
Speaker 1: April was six, Jennifer had entered into a new relationship
Speaker 1: with a man by the name of David Litchenfeldt. Now together,
Speaker 1: the couple decided to relocate with April to a city
Speaker 1: called Armada. And this is more of a small village,
Speaker 1: I guess than a city. It's about thirty min north
Speaker 1: of Detroit in Michigan, with a population of just around
Speaker 1: two thousand people.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, that's small.
Speaker 1: Armada was a definition of a peaceful, close knit community.
Speaker 1: It's known for its friendly atmosphere, a strong sense of belonging,
Speaker 1: and it's surrounded by natural beauty and had a safe,
Speaker 1: affordable environment for raising a family. The village boasted a
Speaker 1: low crime rate, a solid school system, and charming park, shops, restaurants,
Speaker 1: you name it.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 1: It was the kind of place where you know, neighbors
Speaker 1: they knew each other, you know. It wasn't unusual for
Speaker 1: families to leave their doors unlocked, even at night, and
Speaker 1: it was just like a picture perfect place to raise
Speaker 1: a young girl.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I love that when people say that
Speaker 2: they don't have to lock their doors and stuff, but
Speaker 2: still lock your doors.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just love the door in turn that. Sorry, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to start saying as long I can't sing
Speaker 1: for shit, so but yeah. David and Jennifer made their
Speaker 1: home in a cozy house that was built in nineteen
Speaker 1: oh five, just located a few blocks from the town's small,
Speaker 1: charming downtown center. Together, they raised April, and David took
Speaker 1: on the role of her father with dedication, forming a
Speaker 1: deep bond with her as if he was you know,
Speaker 1: as if she was his own.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, I love that. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: The family enjoyed spending times in the time and the
Speaker 1: outdoors and Armada's tight knit community felts, so he offered
Speaker 1: a sense of security within all this. The local kids,
Speaker 1: including April, often played freely in the neighborhood, running up
Speaker 1: and down the streets, riding their bikes, and parents looked
Speaker 1: out for one another's children. You know, it was fine
Speaker 1: to just let your kid outside and not really pay
Speaker 1: attention because there was another parent around who would be watching,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I feel like all communities I wish
Speaker 2: were like that. Hey, but I know it's much easier
Speaker 2: to do when it's a smaller one.
Speaker 1: So it is. And even then, all it takes is
Speaker 1: one ad, one bad apple to ruin the whole thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, isn't that the truth?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: April was a bright and joyful child, often described as
Speaker 1: shy at first, but once she warmed up, her lively
Speaker 1: and fun loving personality quickly kicked in and emerged. She
Speaker 1: enjoyed dressing up, you know, having her hair done, always
Speaker 1: taking pride in her apparents sort of thing. And April
Speaker 1: also had a deep love for animals, growing up surrounded
Speaker 1: by pets who were more like siblings to her than
Speaker 1: anything else. The family had two cats, Fluffy, and Satan
Speaker 1: love the names, and two dogs, Bella, who was a
Speaker 1: pitbull lab mix and Penny, who was a black border
Speaker 1: Collie lab mix. Of all the animals, Penny held a
Speaker 1: special place in April's heart, following her everywhere from the
Speaker 1: moment she woke up every day. April's love for animals
Speaker 1: led her to dream of becoming a veterinarian from a
Speaker 1: very young age. She's looking at, you know, going to college,
Speaker 1: going to university, being a veterinarian, and helping the animals
Speaker 1: in her In her adult life now, her stepdad, David,
Speaker 1: who embraced the role of you know, dad father pretty
Speaker 1: much without the step part involved. You know, he's the father.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: He began setting aside money regularly to help her achieve
Speaker 1: this goal and support her through her college and university life.
Speaker 2: Later on, Oh my gosh, love that so much.
Speaker 1: And as she entered her teenage, April's interests began to
Speaker 1: shift a bit. Like many girls her age, she became
Speaker 1: more focused on you know, fashion, though she still held
Speaker 1: those dreams for a veterinarian right she was focusing a
Speaker 1: lot more on makeup, spending time with her friends, social media,
Speaker 1: her phone, and conversations about boys became a regular part
Speaker 1: of the world. She also experienced typical growing pains of
Speaker 1: you know, everyone's adolescence that we all navigate, feelings of
Speaker 1: insecurity and the complexities of attractions and as I already
Speaker 1: mentioned her case boys right. So, by twenty fourteen, April
Speaker 1: had turned fourteen and was in the eighth grade, approaching
Speaker 1: the end of the middle school year. At this point
Speaker 1: in her life, she had been dating a boy by
Speaker 1: the name of Austin for over a year, and things
Speaker 1: seemed to be going fairly well for her. One of
Speaker 1: April's favorite hobbies was, you know, staying active and keeping fit.
Speaker 1: Like many teens experiencing changes in puberty, this adolescent life right,
Speaker 1: fitness became a way for her to really kind of
Speaker 1: try and control her growing body and maintain us a
Speaker 1: self of a sense of self as we say. So,
Speaker 1: she used this fitness tracker app on her iPhone that
Speaker 1: her Mum and David had gifted her for Christmas, complete
Speaker 1: with a little Teddy Bear phone case. As well.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, okay, I love there's just like a
Speaker 2: little bit of innocence still because I'm like, gosh, she's
Speaker 2: already had a boyfriend for a year. Holy heck, but
Speaker 2: her little Teddy Bear phone case. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1: So she would regularly take long walks with her dogs.
Speaker 1: She would alternate which dog she brought along with her.
Speaker 1: Typically she would bring Penny because you know, they had
Speaker 1: a little bit.
Speaker 2: Penny was her girl, exactly.
Speaker 1: Penny was her girl. But she'd ensured that she didn't,
Speaker 1: you know, play favorites, and she walked the other dog
Speaker 1: as well too. Her usual route was the McComb County
Speaker 1: Nature Trail, a well known spot in the community where
Speaker 1: many people went for walks and riding bikes. You know,
Speaker 1: families going up and down the trail sort of thing, right,
Speaker 1: runners going through getting their run on, And these walks
Speaker 1: became a part of her routine, happening nearly every day,
Speaker 1: or at least every other day. April Wood head to
Speaker 1: the trail, usually starting from the trailhead just down the
Speaker 1: street from her house, and her typical walk lasted about
Speaker 1: an hour and a half, including the time it took
Speaker 1: her to get there and back. With thirty minutes of
Speaker 1: walking each way along the scenic trail.
Speaker 2: That's really good for her, hey, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: So it was Thursday, July twenty fourth, twenty fourteen, and
Speaker 1: it started off as a typical summer day for April
Speaker 1: and her family. She woke up around noon, as many
Speaker 1: teens do during summer vacation from school, and she spent
Speaker 1: her morning chatting with friends on her phone, making plans
Speaker 1: to go shopping and hang out before you know, school
Speaker 1: finally resumed in the fall. For lunch, she woke up
Speaker 1: and made herself a salad, and David always lightheartedly teased
Speaker 1: her by calling it rabbit food. Before he eventually headed
Speaker 1: off to work, he said, as usual, goodbye to April,
Speaker 1: not knowing it would be a day like no other.
Speaker 2: Oh boy, I'm actually quite impressed with her though, because
Speaker 2: I feel like at that age people aren't necessarily that
Speaker 2: like health conscious.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's very health conscious. Yeah, she's got a fitness
Speaker 1: app th here, very impressive. She's going for a an
Speaker 1: hour and a half walk at least every other day.
Speaker 1: She's ensuring that she's eating vegetables like salad. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: so she's doing good, and she's she's looking forward to
Speaker 1: her future education as a veterinarian. Like she's got a
Speaker 1: good head on her shoulder.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she really does. So.
Speaker 1: By late afternoon at Around five pm, April was getting
Speaker 1: ready for one of her routine walks. She packed up
Speaker 1: her black leather backpack with the essentials some dog treats,
Speaker 1: a water bottle, and a collapsible dog bowl. Aw yeah.
Speaker 1: She then grabbed Penny's leash, and by five thirty she
Speaker 1: and Penny were headed out the door, ready for the
Speaker 1: familiar walk along the nature trail. April and her mom, Jennifer,
Speaker 1: exchange a quick goodbye that afternoon. There were no lingering
Speaker 1: words of affection, no final hug, just the routine expectation
Speaker 1: that April will be back soon. As always. Had Jennifer
Speaker 1: known it would be the last time she'd ever see
Speaker 1: her daughter alive, I'm sure she would have held her clothes.
Speaker 1: But it was just another day as far as they knew,
Speaker 1: and April was simply stepping out for what they thought
Speaker 1: regular walk.
Speaker 2: She probably wouldn't have let her.
Speaker 1: Go right, Probably not now. As time passed, Jennifer started
Speaker 1: to notice the clock. By seven pm, she realized that
Speaker 1: April hadn't returned yet. Usually, April was never out for
Speaker 1: more than two hours at most, But still, Jennifer wasn't
Speaker 1: too concerned. At first. She knew that sometimes April would
Speaker 1: take these walks as an excuse to meet up with
Speaker 1: her boyfriend Austin at the park.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Even though Jennifer was aware of this, she let
Speaker 1: April think that she was being sneaky now, figuring it
Speaker 1: was just harmless, the two young teens and love sort
Speaker 1: of thing, right, nothing to worry about. So, however, something
Speaker 1: began to not Jennifer's instincts. April hadn't packed a whole
Speaker 1: lot of food or water for Penny, which was out
Speaker 1: of the ordinary for such a long walk. It was
Speaker 1: a small detail, but it raised slight concern. Hoping for reassurance,
Speaker 1: Jennifer texted April. April was usually glued to her phone
Speaker 1: and she always replied within minutes, but this time, as
Speaker 1: minutes ticked by, there was no response. Once Jennifer texted again,
Speaker 1: still nothing. Her concern began to grow and she tried calling,
Speaker 1: but I went straight to voicemail. It wasn't like April
Speaker 1: not to answer her phone, and Jennifer felt a subtle
Speaker 1: unease turning into real worry. By eight pm, the concern
Speaker 1: was undeniable. Jennifer texted Austin, April's boyfriend, asking if he
Speaker 1: knew where April was or if they were together. Austin
Speaker 1: replied that he hadn't seen or heard from April that day,
Speaker 1: and Jennifer decided to call him, explaining that April was
Speaker 1: missing and asked if he and his friend Alex could
Speaker 1: help look for her. As Jennifer waited for Austin and
Speaker 1: Alex to arrive, a sinking feeling was settling in her stomach.
Speaker 1: Something clearly wasn't right, and she couldn't shake it. Unable
Speaker 1: to sit and wait any longer, she grabbed her keys
Speaker 1: and decided to drive to the trailhead herself, the place
Speaker 1: where April always began her walks. She needed to find
Speaker 1: her daughter, and time was ticking and Jennifer's motherly instincts
Speaker 1: were screaming that something was wrong. There at the trailhead,
Speaker 1: there was no sign of April or Penny when Jennifer
Speaker 1: reached it, and with her motor condition, navigating the trail
Speaker 1: would be a little bit difficult for her, so, realizing
Speaker 1: she needs to actually go out and search, she made
Speaker 1: the right choice to turn back and return home and
Speaker 1: wait for help from Austin and Alex. By eight thirty pm,
Speaker 1: Austin and Alex showed up and the three of them
Speaker 1: quickly formed a plan to search for April, but before
Speaker 1: they left, Austin mentioned something unsettling. He had actually received
Speaker 1: a text from April earlier that day, so it was
Speaker 1: at about six twenty eight pm that Austin received a
Speaker 1: text message that read quote I think I almost got kidnapped. Omfg,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is like really just heartbreaking. You're really setting
Speaker 2: this up to like just destroy us? I think. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's the story, it's the story.
Speaker 1: It's the story. It's definitely the story. But yeah, it
Speaker 1: it's undeniable that your heart's going to break here for sure.
Speaker 1: So at text like this, it wasn't something that April
Speaker 1: would just send and make up. It's not like her
Speaker 1: to do that. So there's dramatic, not dramatic like that. No,
Speaker 1: So something is clearly wrong and they were alarmed. They
Speaker 1: decided to split up cover more ground quickly. So there
Speaker 1: were three possible paths April could have taken, so each
Speaker 1: took one. Alex drove north, Austin took April's bike and
Speaker 1: headed on the trail to the trail, and Jennifer still
Speaker 1: in her car, drove further south, hoping to spot her
Speaker 1: daughter somewhere along the way. As she searched, Jennifer also
Speaker 1: called David, informing him that April was missing, and without hesitation,
Speaker 1: he informed his boss he was leaving work and rushed
Speaker 1: to help with a search. While they were scouring the area,
Speaker 1: it wasn't long before Jennifer got a call from Austin.
Speaker 1: He told her to meet him at the intersection of
Speaker 1: Fulton and deep Boat near the trailhead. Austin mentioned that
Speaker 1: animal control was there and that people were gathered around,
Speaker 1: possibly because Penny had somehow gotten loose. Thinking Penny had
Speaker 1: simply just escaped, oh, Jennifer's.
Speaker 2: Grasp, Yeah, no, looking for the dog kind of thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, Jennifer rushed to meet Austin there. When she arrived,
Speaker 1: two uniform police officers were already speaking with Austin. Jennifer
Speaker 1: introduced herself and explained that they were looking for April.
Speaker 1: But what she and Austin didn't yet realize was that
Speaker 1: authorities weren't there just because Penny had gotten loose. See
Speaker 1: earlier that evening, at around eight twenty pm, a couple
Speaker 1: twenty six year old Matthew and his wife had been
Speaker 1: walking alone on the trail when they spotted Penny. Penny
Speaker 1: was running along the trail, darting in and out of
Speaker 1: the trees, but staying kind of in the same general area.
Speaker 1: They were concerned, and they decided to approach Penny, and
Speaker 1: Penny seemed to kind of dart off into the bush
Speaker 1: a bit, and they decided to follow, you know, hoping
Speaker 1: to help.
Speaker 2: Yeah, whatever's wrong, Oh yeah, lost dog kind of thing.
Speaker 1: Penny led them off the path, off the path and
Speaker 1: over into a small ravine and towards a drainage ditch.
Speaker 1: It was there at the bottom of this ravine where
Speaker 1: Penny led them that they made the horrifying discovery. Matthew
Speaker 1: first saw what he thought was a mannequin in the bush,
Speaker 1: but he quickly realized with horror that he was looking
Speaker 1: at the partially nude body of a deceased young girl.
Speaker 2: No, no, no.
Speaker 1: The shock at it, the shock of it, left him
Speaker 1: and his wife shaken. They ran back to the trail,
Speaker 1: found someone nearby, and immediately called nine to one one.
Speaker 1: Michigan State Police were dispatched to the scene. They were
Speaker 1: the ones speaking with Jennifer and Austin at the trailhead.
Speaker 1: It was here that officers had the devastating task of
Speaker 1: informing Jennifer that her daughter had been found, but she
Speaker 1: was no longer alive.
Speaker 2: Oh that just it makes my stomach just sick. Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't imagine being in this position like that.
Speaker 2: No, I mean just for like for the mom, but
Speaker 2: for all parties involved too, Like this is just like devastating.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now, I do want to clarify. In this exact instance,
Speaker 1: police weren't certain it was April, right, Yeah, so they
Speaker 1: had to go through identifying her and everything first before
Speaker 1: you know, confirming.
Speaker 2: But what and the damn dog too, like just oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, frantically probably wanting someone to help, Like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Penny didn't leave her.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I am not well right now, Like
Speaker 2: I could saw very easily this hole, this whole scene
Speaker 2: is just yeah, it's not okay.
Speaker 1: Well, let's get into the scene where April's body was discovered.
Speaker 1: It told a brutal story of what happened. Investigators noted
Speaker 1: that the area where April was found was well off
Speaker 1: the main trail, completely out of you in this ravine
Speaker 1: and drainage ditch. It was clear she had been forced
Speaker 1: down into the secluded spot. The condition of her body
Speaker 1: revealed the violent nature of the attack. April was dressed
Speaker 1: in gene shorts with a black stripe along sides, but
Speaker 1: they had been pulled down to her ankles long with
Speaker 1: her underwear. Her white tank top was torn and pulled up,
Speaker 1: exposing her chest, and her bra had been ripped apart
Speaker 1: between the cups. Her white tennis shoes were scattered near
Speaker 1: her remains, showing signs of the struggle. Perhaps the most
Speaker 1: horrifying detail was the shoe marks found on her skin,
Speaker 1: on her forehead, cheeks, and neck.
Speaker 2: What the shit? What the shit? This person's a complete
Speaker 2: piece of shit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're not wrong. We'll get into it though, don't
Speaker 1: you worry.
Speaker 2: Oh, I know, it's just gonna get worse and worse.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure I'm ready for this.
Speaker 1: So the discovery of April's murder shook this entire town
Speaker 1: of Armada. You know, the town of two hundred, sorry,
Speaker 1: two thousand people. That's this little peaceful town, little peaceful
Speaker 1: community that doesn't lock their doors at night. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: were shook. They hadn't seen a murder in over forty years.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: And the violent nature of this crime left everyone absolutely speechless.
Speaker 1: Investigators painstakingly went over the crimes, gathering as much evidence
Speaker 1: as possible, documenting every detail before April's body was eventually
Speaker 1: transported to the Medical Examiner's office. Sorry, I said office,
Speaker 1: really weird Medical Examiner's office.
Speaker 2: It's okay.
Speaker 1: In the early hours of July twenty fifth. The next day,
Speaker 1: Austin and his father were brought in for questioning. As
Speaker 1: we all know, you know, the significant other is always
Speaker 1: suspect number one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but also well, I mean, they have to do
Speaker 2: their due diligence, but I feel like if he was involved,
Speaker 2: he wouldn't have got a text like he did from her.
Speaker 1: You know, well potentially who knows. Well, I'm going to
Speaker 1: touch on that here, like right now. So Austin told
Speaker 1: detectives that last time he's seen April was on Sunday,
Speaker 1: July twentieth. The two hadn't really been speaking much because
Speaker 1: they'd gotten into a little bit of an argument that day,
Speaker 1: but he recounted the last text message he received from her,
Speaker 1: the one that was sent at six twenty eight pm
Speaker 1: that said I think I almost got kidnapped. Omfg. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And when detectives pressed him and why he hadn't responded
Speaker 1: to such an alarming text. Austin explained that he hadn't
Speaker 1: actually seen it until much later due to poor cell
Speaker 1: service at the time where he was.
Speaker 2: Oh okay.
Speaker 1: Initially, Austin's story raised a lot of suspicions to investigators.
Speaker 1: They wondered if he could have actually sent the text
Speaker 1: to himself from April's phone, if he was potentially responsible,
Speaker 1: oh shit, possibly trying to cover his track, showing that
Speaker 1: she's texting him for help when really, you know, he's
Speaker 1: the actual perpetrator, right, I.
Speaker 2: Guess yeah, in my head, didn't really go there, but
Speaker 2: I guess. Yeah.
Speaker 1: However, after thorough investigation and further questioning, Austin's alibi checked out,
Speaker 1: and he was eventually cleared of any involvement in April's death. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of information going on in the questioning
Speaker 1: and stuff, but the sum of it, yeah, he's he's
Speaker 1: not guilty. So it's not even necessary to go into
Speaker 1: some of the questioning and stuff that they did.
Speaker 2: He's in the clear clear.
Speaker 1: So, realizing that the local police force in Armada would
Speaker 1: be insufficient for this investigation because it's a very small town, right,
Speaker 1: fifty additional officers were called in to assist with the investigation.
Speaker 1: Fifty fifty.
Speaker 2: They were taking this shit real series.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was like FBI and stuff coming in, which
Speaker 1: this is good. Yeah, it's a massive presence for this
Speaker 1: small Yeah. Now, the crime scene was corded off with tape,
Speaker 1: and authority set up a makeshift command center at the
Speaker 1: Armada Middle School to coordinate the efforts and hold the
Speaker 1: additional fifty officers because their police station ain't holding that
Speaker 1: most people, not at all. The medical examiner report soon
Speaker 1: came in and it confirmed the brutality of the attack.
Speaker 1: April's cause of death was blunt forced trauma to the
Speaker 1: head and exphyxiation from neck compression.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh.
Speaker 1: The doctor's examination revealed that she had suffered a devastating assault,
Speaker 1: with bruises over her right eyelid and small hemorhaging in
Speaker 1: both eyes inside her mouth. There were further injuries to
Speaker 1: her upper lip and lower lip, and her left eye
Speaker 1: was swollen shot. The list of injuries basically just goes on.
Speaker 1: Her face was covered in cuts bruises, all indicating she
Speaker 1: endured a prolonged and violent beating. Investigators believed her head
Speaker 1: injuries were caused by a smooth blunt object, ruling out
Speaker 1: something like sticks or rocks or anything. Right, So this
Speaker 1: blunt object would have been a very smooth surface.
Speaker 2: Huh. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1: So the extreme force using the attack, according to the
Speaker 1: medical examiner, was something typical seen in severe car accidents
Speaker 1: or falls from great heights. The staggering twenty three individuals
Speaker 1: injuries found on April's head alone spoke volumes. The damage
Speaker 1: to her neck was equally disturbing. Bruises on her throat
Speaker 1: showed a distinct hammerd or sorry herringbone pattern? Which were
Speaker 1: the shoe prints uh pressed into her skin?
Speaker 2: Gosh?
Speaker 1: Yeah? It indicated that the attacker likely stomped on her
Speaker 1: face and neck and used their foot to crush her
Speaker 1: windpipe and eventually suffocate her.
Speaker 2: What a complete piece of shit? Was? She also like
Speaker 2: sexually abused.
Speaker 1: We'll get there. I'm like two sentences away from that, okay.
Speaker 1: Across across the rest of her body, she had additional
Speaker 1: fourteen areas of injury, including internal bleeding near her a
Speaker 1: order valve of her heart. Investigators believed the killer intended
Speaker 1: to sexually assault April due to her being found with
Speaker 1: her clothes mostly removed. However, the attacker seemed to have
Speaker 1: stopped short for some unknown reason, possibly perhaps someone passing
Speaker 1: by on the trail interrupting the attack causing him to flee.
Speaker 2: The scene, or like she was fighting pretty hard and
Speaker 2: like ended up him killing her first or something.
Speaker 1: Hey, I don't know, potentially, and then he didn't want
Speaker 1: to cross that that line. Yeah, but who knows. For
Speaker 1: whatever reason, the assailant stopped short of sexual assault.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, Now.
Speaker 1: The attack itself is estimated to have lasted approximately ten
Speaker 1: minutes from the initial blow to her head until her
Speaker 1: net was compressed and finally stopping her breathing.
Speaker 2: Just like ten minutes of complete hell yeah.
Speaker 1: And they estimate that the foot on her neck could
Speaker 1: have been there for up to three minutes, pushing.
Speaker 2: Down on her throat totally frigg.
Speaker 1: The estimated time of death death is placed between six
Speaker 1: thirty pm and eight pm.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's like raugh a, that's very right. It's very
Speaker 2: hard to digest this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot going on in this case and
Speaker 1: process everything that actually occurred, especially considering this being a
Speaker 1: small town in a popular walking area during the summertime.
Speaker 1: It's not to say that there was a lack of
Speaker 1: people walking on this trail. There were still people walking
Speaker 1: on this trail. Yeah, and this still occurred.
Speaker 2: You have to wonder too, like what he did with
Speaker 2: the dog when this was going on. You know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, Penny is clearly of very good girl because
Speaker 1: I mean, she didn't attack the man. Maybe I don't know,
Speaker 1: she's not going to attack a person, but she still
Speaker 1: was not leaving April fide oh man.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So, as the investigation ramped up, law enforcement knew that
Speaker 1: they had to act swiftly on this, but unfortunately, the
Speaker 1: investigation was turning up very few clues, with the only
Speaker 1: real piece of physical evidence recovering from the scene being
Speaker 1: the distinct shoeprint found on April's body. No DNA was
Speaker 1: president the site, and detectives couldn't locate several key items,
Speaker 1: including April's phone, backpack, and Penny's leash. Most crucially, they
Speaker 1: needed to track down her phone because they hoped that
Speaker 1: it might provide valuable information. Detectives decided to attempt to
Speaker 1: track her phone by pinging local cell towers. Unfortunately, they
Speaker 1: only received one weak ping signal before it disappeared, likely
Speaker 1: due to the phone being either dead or damaged. So
Speaker 1: with the hope of finding the phone and other missing items,
Speaker 1: authorities or organize a team of forty people comprising of detectives,
Speaker 1: officers and search specialists to comb through the area. Police
Speaker 1: dogs were brought in to assist, and one particular bloodhound
Speaker 1: named Buster played a pivotal role in the search because
Speaker 1: Buster managed to retrace april steps along the trail and
Speaker 1: eventually led the officers to her phone, discarded in some
Speaker 1: bushes about half a mile east of where her body
Speaker 1: was found. This was a big breakthrough. Forensic experts immediately
Speaker 1: began analyzing it for any sort of leads. But just
Speaker 1: as investigators were preparing to delve and dive into the
Speaker 1: phone's data, they received a tip. A local man by
Speaker 1: the name of Eric Rushki came forward with information that
Speaker 1: could prove crucial to the case. Eric had been riding
Speaker 1: bikes on the trail with his two daughters that very
Speaker 1: same evening. He recognized April from their encounter on the
Speaker 1: day she was killed. His daughters, aged nine and thirteen,
Speaker 1: had exchanged a smile and a way even a quick
Speaker 1: hello with April as they walked. As she walked Penny
Speaker 1: because they actually kind of knew each other. They went
Speaker 1: to the same school.
Speaker 2: Yeah from school, Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: So April she was headed down the trail, focused on
Speaker 1: her phone, and it was at around six twenty five
Speaker 1: pm that he had passed her. However, what really caught
Speaker 1: Eric's attention wasn't exactly April herself. It was a man
Speaker 1: walking alongside a motorcycle on the trail behind her. See,
Speaker 1: motorized vehicles were prohibited on the path, which made the
Speaker 1: presence of this bike a little bit unusual. Now, the
Speaker 1: man wasn't riding it per se, so he's not exactly
Speaker 1: doing anything wrong, but it's still unusual, right. The man,
Speaker 1: still wearing the full faced helmet, had been sorry, hadn't
Speaker 1: been riding, but it was walking alongside and Eric didn't
Speaker 1: get a clear look at the man's face because of
Speaker 1: his helmet, but he recalled several key details. The man
Speaker 1: was about six feet tall, possibly two hundred pounds, wearing
Speaker 1: long plant long pants, a black shirt, and a backpack.
Speaker 1: As a motorcycle enthusiast himself, Eric was able to give
Speaker 1: police a detailed description of the bike. Okay, he identified
Speaker 1: it as a modern style street legal off road dirt bike,
Speaker 1: blue and white in color, likely from the two thousands.
Speaker 1: He also noted that it was an enduro bike, a
Speaker 1: model known for its square headlight.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's so interesting because most people would probably not
Speaker 2: I recall much details, right, unless you had an interest
Speaker 2: in that. So that is Yeah, that's.
Speaker 1: Good, exactly, and that makes us a very key piece
Speaker 1: of eyewitness because this is a very specific statement he's giving.
Speaker 1: He's not like, oh, he had a blue and white motorbike. Well,
Speaker 1: is it Harley? Is it a street bike? Is it
Speaker 1: a dirt bike? Is it a street legal bike? Is
Speaker 1: it not? No, he's saying it's a street legal, off
Speaker 1: road dirt bike, very specific, very specific style, likely from
Speaker 1: the two thousands, with that square headlight.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, because I would pass someone like that and
Speaker 2: probably be like, my description would be like, yes, some
Speaker 2: weird dude wearing a helmet pushing a bike down the trail.
Speaker 2: It wouldn't be much, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So he was able to give quite an in
Speaker 1: depth description, which was very helpful.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now this tip connected a few dots for authorities. As
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, the weapon likely used in the attack
Speaker 1: was blunt, something smooth, something like a motorcycle helmet.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 1: Now, soon after receiving Eric's tip, one of the detectives
Speaker 1: working the case had a stroke of luck.
Speaker 2: Not a stroke oh okay, I was just like, holy shit,
Speaker 2: someone's had a stroke.
Speaker 1: No, I just realized my pausing and cadence on that
Speaker 1: was off, that they had a stroke of luck.
Speaker 2: Sorry.
Speaker 1: Ok So, while driving back to the command center, something
Speaker 1: unusual caught this detective's eye. There was a long driveway
Speaker 1: headed up to a garage, and parked outside that garage
Speaker 1: was a blue and white motorcycle matching the description Eric
Speaker 1: had provided. The detective snapped a photo of the bike,
Speaker 1: jotted down the address, and quickly went back to the
Speaker 1: command center to bring this information the investigation team. Investigators
Speaker 1: returned later that evening to the home and knocked in
Speaker 1: the door to ask some questions. By now, the motorcycle
Speaker 1: was gone, but a man by the name of James
Speaker 1: Muse answered the door. He told police he didn't know
Speaker 1: anything about the bike. He didn't own one, and that was.
Speaker 2: That, but one, curiously, but it was in his fucking driveway.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But once it was revealed to him that this
Speaker 1: was regarding a murder investigation, James suddenly changed his tune
Speaker 1: and opened up a little bit more. He told authorities
Speaker 1: that he didn't own that motorbike, but someone he knows does,
Speaker 1: someone that was recently at his place dropping something off.
Speaker 1: His dealer was dropping off some weed.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, why is he hiding this?
Speaker 1: Hesitant to tell police that his dealer was just dropping
Speaker 1: off some weed at his house.
Speaker 2: Okay, I guess that kind of makes sense.
Speaker 1: Then totally makes sense. And why he's hiding that from authorities?
Speaker 2: Okay, because I'm like, this is this is sketchy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No. He continued to tell police that his dealer
Speaker 1: was someone by the name of James Van Callis. He
Speaker 1: didn't know much about the guy, but he did know
Speaker 1: the approximate area that he lived in in the township
Speaker 1: of Wales. It was about twenty five minutes away a
Speaker 1: couple towns over. Now this information allowed police to do
Speaker 1: a name search and they got a hit on James
Speaker 1: Van Callis, who lived at eight seven four to four
Speaker 1: Marquette Road in Goodell's, Michigan, right in the area he
Speaker 1: was reported to be by James Muse. Police headed to
Speaker 1: the home and knocked on the door. An older man
Speaker 1: answered the door and identified and identified himself as James
Speaker 1: van Caallis. Now, police were expecting someone a bit younger
Speaker 1: from the description that was given by Eric and honestly
Speaker 1: a couple other eyewitnesses that I haven't really talked about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they were looking for someone like in their thirties, right,
Speaker 1: and this man was in his sixties. His dad, Well,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what they're saying. Is there another James van
Speaker 1: Callis Like, oh yeah, my son is James van Callis junior.
Speaker 1: So at James van Kallis senior and James Mancallis junior. Now,
Speaker 1: James was friendly and answered all the questions. James Bencallis Junior,
Speaker 1: I should say he answered all the questions that police
Speaker 1: had for him. He even confirmed he was in the
Speaker 1: area as reported, and gave a brief timeline of what
Speaker 1: he was doing, starting at about five pm when he
Speaker 1: left the house and he went back for his sunglasses
Speaker 1: and went over to his brother's place and stopped at
Speaker 1: the gas station. Like he gave the timeline everything. Police
Speaker 1: were happy with his cooperation, but they knew they needed
Speaker 1: to dig deeper into this James Van Callis Junior. In
Speaker 1: doing so, they found that the home of James van
Speaker 1: Callis Junior and Senior was in fact a grow up
Speaker 1: for marijuana. Oh shit, a legal one mind you. Oh okay,
Speaker 1: but still it was a grow up. Now, legally, they
Speaker 1: were allowed to house a crop of thirty six plants maximum.
Speaker 1: Investigators used this to their advantage. This gave them an
Speaker 1: excuse to serve the property as an inspection of the
Speaker 1: grow up. What they found was an excess of thirty
Speaker 1: six plants, which meant that they were illegally growing more
Speaker 1: plants than their license allowed them to, so technically this
Speaker 1: was now an illegal grow up. In turn, police were
Speaker 1: able to obtain a search weren't for the property and
Speaker 1: dig much more deeper into the house. Now via the
Speaker 1: information that James Van Callis Junior gave authorities with the
Speaker 1: initial questioning when he was cooperating, which did change, of course,
Speaker 1: his cooperation. I meant with this information they were able
Speaker 1: to find most of the clothing that James was reported
Speaker 1: to have worn that day, in puting his camel pants.
Speaker 1: Now even they found his motorcycle helmet as well. Okay,
Speaker 1: but the helmet contained fibers from a cloth which indicated
Speaker 1: that it had recently been cleaned meticulously okay.
Speaker 2: Which I don't feel like it's super abnormal though, it's not.
Speaker 1: Imagine on your helmet getting like a little bit streakd
Speaker 1: some bugs on it whatever, cleaning it right, Well, I feel.
Speaker 2: Like you always, like you think of people that have
Speaker 2: like motorcycles or whatever, bikes, like they spend time, like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, polishing.
Speaker 1: Taking care of it usually shit. Yeah, but it's it's
Speaker 1: still a little bit of a red flag. It's not
Speaker 1: unusual to clean your motorcycle helmet, but given that this
Speaker 1: could be the suspected.
Speaker 2: Weapon, yeah, it's still the timing is there.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit odd. Yeah, although like you say,
Speaker 1: it makes sense at the same time. Now, police were
Speaker 1: not able to find his hoodie though, or his shoes
Speaker 1: that he was wearing on the day of the attack.
Speaker 1: It seems like they had been mysteriously disappeared. Now what
Speaker 1: I should say, though, is James had actually reportedly worn
Speaker 1: a different He told police he wore a different pair
Speaker 1: of shoes, but his girlfriend thankfully was able to give
Speaker 1: some valuable insulight insight to the authorities. She told them
Speaker 1: that James had a very favorite pair of shoes that
Speaker 1: he was that were no longer in the house. Oh,
Speaker 1: and she also told police that James had been acting
Speaker 1: strange since that night. She even found him awake at
Speaker 1: about three am, cleaning his helmet and rubbing these favorite
Speaker 1: pair of shoes and cleaning them with rubbing alcohol, both
Speaker 1: of them.
Speaker 2: Oh shit, Okay, that's like really weird.
Speaker 1: So he's cleaning is.
Speaker 2: I would be very alarmed if I woke up to
Speaker 2: you at three in the morning's cleaning shit.
Speaker 1: Now, Reportedly, James was a little bit very controlling over
Speaker 1: over his girlfriend, so poor part of the house. Only
Speaker 1: only part of the house had electricity, I'm sure because
Speaker 1: it was like most of it being fed grow up.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and the other part, which they lived in,
Speaker 1: was run by generator. That generator was only allowed to
Speaker 1: run when he wasn't home or when he was home
Speaker 1: and he turned it on. So when like he's controlling
Speaker 1: the electricity, he's controlling when she's on Facebook all these
Speaker 1: sort of things. So she doesn't have much control in
Speaker 1: this relationship sort of thing, like almost to the point
Speaker 1: of being abusive. Well it is being abuse.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's alarming, fir.
Speaker 1: But she did find him at three I'm cleaning this
Speaker 1: helmet and his favorite pair of shoes, with rubbing alcohol,
Speaker 1: and since then she hadn't seen the shoes or the
Speaker 1: hoodie that he had worn that day, either the black
Speaker 1: car heart hoodie which Eric had reported and other people
Speaker 1: wearing a black shirt. So she noted that he wore
Speaker 1: these shoes all the time. They were his absolute favorites.
Speaker 1: She even pointed to a photo of him on Facebook
Speaker 1: that showed him wearing these pair of shoes, these pair
Speaker 1: of Jordan shoes. You know, Michael Jordan' sho's right, This
Speaker 1: pair of shoes would have shared the same or similar
Speaker 1: herring bone pattern that was found imprinted on April's skin.
Speaker 2: Oh shit, okay, huh.
Speaker 1: But James of course said he was wearing a different
Speaker 1: pair of shoes that day.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, while the search was being conducted, the information from
Speaker 1: April's phone had come back, and it was a gold
Speaker 1: mine of information that measured April's every step. See the
Speaker 1: fitness app that she often used while she was off
Speaker 1: on her walks was still running an April's phone during
Speaker 1: the attack. Through April's fitness tracker, investigators were able to
Speaker 1: uncover the exact path she had walked via the cashed
Speaker 1: GPS information on her phone. It painted a horrific picture.
Speaker 2: Oh no, oh no.
Speaker 1: Her walk started normally, you know, headed to the trail,
Speaker 1: zigzagging a bit, you know, to allow Penny to sniff
Speaker 1: and do dog things. But it's going down the trail normally,
Speaker 1: when all of a sudden, her path becomes erratic and
Speaker 1: even darts off into the bush. This occurs exactly moments
Speaker 1: before she texted her boyfriend that she almost got kidnapped.
Speaker 2: Oh shit.
Speaker 1: Her path then begins to return to normal for a while,
Speaker 1: as she clearly made for an escape, but before long
Speaker 1: it once began once again becomes a ratic back and
Speaker 1: forth into the bushes, stopping, starting, slow, speeds up. It's
Speaker 1: clearly her running through the bush in an attack. Yeah,
Speaker 1: being being pushed down, being beaten, her maybe hide all
Speaker 1: these things, going back and forth all over the place
Speaker 1: for as I mentioned, an estimated ten minutes.
Speaker 2: That's terrifying.
Speaker 1: Then the GPS takes off down the path once again,
Speaker 1: in a straight line, going thirteen.
Speaker 2: Miles an hour, so like on a bike or something exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was clear that at this point April had
Speaker 1: been killed and whoever had done it stole her phone
Speaker 1: and took off, most likely on a well clearly on
Speaker 1: a motorized vehicle, because a human cannot go that straight,
Speaker 1: true and fast, not even close, So they were off
Speaker 1: on a motorized vehicle, most likely the motorbike that was
Speaker 1: spotted right rail. The path continued through neighborhoods and ended
Speaker 1: up right where the phone was eventually found though this path.
Speaker 1: Through this path, investigators were able to pull security footage
Speaker 1: from a local gas station that showed a man on
Speaker 1: a motorbike exactly as described driving along the route exactly
Speaker 1: at the time the GPA yes showed them passing. However,
Speaker 1: the individual on the bike was too far away to
Speaker 1: confirm any sort of identity or license plate, but it
Speaker 1: did show him passing through. So we have confirmed the
Speaker 1: bike on camera yep, eyewitnessed bike on the path yep.
Speaker 1: And now we have someone James van Kallis Junior, who
Speaker 1: is confirmed to own a similar bike.
Speaker 2: Well and doing suspicious shit and doing very much suspicious shit.
Speaker 1: So before the phone was smashed and discarded in the bushes,
Speaker 1: the path was headed in the direction of James Van
Speaker 1: Kallis's house, though it was still in the township of Armada,
Speaker 1: and he had another like twenty plus minutes to go
Speaker 1: Before he got to his house, it was headed in
Speaker 1: that general direction. Police knew that they had their man,
Speaker 1: and an arrest on him occurred immediately. It was on
Speaker 1: unrelated drug charges. I mean, he was dealing illegally and
Speaker 1: the house had more plans than it was allowed, so
Speaker 1: his arrest was pretty easy, and through some more background searches,
Speaker 1: police actually found that James Vankallis Senior was a registered
Speaker 1: sex offender convicted of having sex with the persons of
Speaker 1: under the age of thirteen. Oh my gosh, Okay, it
Speaker 1: seems that James Vancallis Junior may very well be a
Speaker 1: lot like his father. In fact, James even made a
Speaker 1: comment to police during his arrest that he learned everything
Speaker 1: he knew from his father.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, this is really disturbing.
Speaker 1: James van Kalis Junior also had a criminal record in
Speaker 1: two thousand and five. In two thousand and six, he
Speaker 1: was charged with breaking and entering and failing to pay
Speaker 1: child support. Yeah he's a father. In the courtroom after
Speaker 1: a preliminary hearing, James van Kallis Junior, thirty four years old,
Speaker 1: was charged with a long list of unrelated crimes, but
Speaker 1: most importantly, the first degree murder of April millsap James
Speaker 1: insisted he was innocent, and during his trial, as his
Speaker 1: defense attorney pointed out, there's no DNA evidence at the
Speaker 1: crime scene or in April's body linking him to the
Speaker 1: vicious murder.
Speaker 2: I'm surprised there wouldn't be any, Hay, Yeah, I think
Speaker 2: that seems surprising to me.
Speaker 1: There's no DNA, there's no hair, no fibers, nothing, which
Speaker 1: is very much so true. In fact, investigators never found
Speaker 1: the shoes that made the imprint on April's neck either.
Speaker 1: All they had was circumstantial evidence and some witnesses. In fact,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, there were other witnesses that came forward,
Speaker 1: and there is one witness that I have yet to
Speaker 1: tell you about who also saw the man on the
Speaker 1: motorcycle on the path near April that day, and she
Speaker 1: claims that she was one hundred percent sure that James
Speaker 1: was the man that she saw. Okay, but also James's girlfriend,
Speaker 1: her witness and testimony to the police played a very
Speaker 1: big part in this case. She told authorities about the
Speaker 1: cleaning of the helmet and the shoes that he owned. Yes,
Speaker 1: she pointed to Facebook photos of proof that he previously
Speaker 1: owned those shoes, because there is photos of him like
Speaker 1: showing off these shoes, wearing them, you name it. Ok,
Speaker 1: but these shoes could just simply no longer be found.
Speaker 2: They just disappeared.
Speaker 1: They just disappeared. She even remembered him getting her to
Speaker 1: do his laundry and she found a clump of hair
Speaker 1: and leaves in the pocket of the hoodie.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh.
Speaker 1: When she found it, she was shocked and didn't know
Speaker 1: what to think of it. Yeah, and she placed the
Speaker 1: hair on the edge of the sink, not knowing what
Speaker 1: to do. It too had vanished by morning.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, gosh, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1: After a two and a half week trial, the jury
Speaker 1: reached a verdict and found James Van Callis Junior guilty
Speaker 1: on all counts, including the murder first dree murder of
Speaker 1: April Milsap. James Van Callis Junior received a sentence of
Speaker 1: life without parole and is sitting behind bars today. Huh okay,
Speaker 1: And that's the story of April.
Speaker 2: Wow, wow, wow, wow. That story is just like heartbreaking
Speaker 2: to me, isn't it? Holy shit? Because like I was,
Speaker 2: I loved April, Like she just seemed like she was
Speaker 2: just the sweetest and had so much potential and stuff,
Speaker 2: and like this just doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 1: I know. And it's like their family just seems so
Speaker 1: fucking perfect too, like her stepfather who took on the
Speaker 1: role of father. So I'm going to cut out stepfather.
Speaker 1: Her father saving for her, you know, her college education,
Speaker 1: and she she's quite young still, she's got several years ago,
Speaker 1: but he's making sure he's saving.
Speaker 2: He knows that she's, you know, going to do things
Speaker 2: exactly like he's starting to prepare.
Speaker 1: And her mother just knowing that she's off in the
Speaker 1: park with her boyfriend, but letting her go off beh
Speaker 1: and knowing that she's been gone too long for the
Speaker 1: amount of water and treats she took to give Penny
Speaker 1: along the way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have to wonder if like she was just
Speaker 2: kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time,
Speaker 2: or if this because like she did this regularly so,
Speaker 2: or if he was like knew of this and her
Speaker 2: and you know, had planned this to some extent.
Speaker 1: Their authorities were unable to draw any direct link between
Speaker 1: the two. I think I believe the only link that
Speaker 1: they were able to draw was now, I don't have
Speaker 1: this written down, so I could have this information a
Speaker 1: little bit incorrect, but I'll clarify what I do and
Speaker 1: do not know that James Vankalis Junior his kid or
Speaker 1: or cousin or that's the part. I don't know the
Speaker 1: relation of this child. But he was related to a
Speaker 1: child that went to the same school as April. That's
Speaker 1: the only link they were able to find, Okay, but
Speaker 1: it was a link that proved insufficient for them to
Speaker 1: know each other or know of each other.
Speaker 2: And yeah, so it could even just spend like they
Speaker 2: crossed pass and he's like a terrible person.
Speaker 1: That is most likely what it is. It's just a
Speaker 1: uh spur of the moment to spur the moment decision
Speaker 1: that James van Callis did no.
Speaker 2: See, that's that's kind of stuff I find just like terrifying.
Speaker 2: Like you're just like living your life and something this
Speaker 2: bad just happens.
Speaker 1: You know, you just happened to be in the wrong place,
Speaker 1: wrong time, and someone decides to take advantage or do
Speaker 1: something horrible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and that just makes me like, gosh, how
Speaker 2: can stuff like how can that happen? Like how can
Speaker 2: that that just happened to someone with like so much light, you.
Speaker 1: Know, yeah. Now, there were some interviews and stuff I watched,
Speaker 1: like news interviews with like the family and and people
Speaker 1: that went to school with April in the town and everything,
Speaker 1: and uh, during the search for James Van Callis Junior
Speaker 1: and trying to find who did this and everything, the
Speaker 1: town was like putting pink ribbons all over the town
Speaker 1: and everything in in memorial of April, of course. But
Speaker 1: one of the girls that went to school with April
Speaker 1: and and the mother as well, they're talking about how
Speaker 1: these pink ribbons were not only like in memory of April,
Speaker 1: but it was also of we hope that whoever did
Speaker 1: this sees these ribbons and knows that we're looking for them.
Speaker 1: And it's just like this fucking town's just their heart's breaking.
Speaker 1: And they're not only their heart's breaking for April, but
Speaker 1: they're like, you fucking better watch out because we're fucking
Speaker 1: coming for you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're gonna get you.
Speaker 1: It's like that's a place to live, honestly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no shit. So yeah, but you struggled with this
Speaker 2: case a little, didn't you.
Speaker 1: I did, Because don't get me wrong, I do believe
Speaker 1: James Van Callis Junior is the individual who perpetrated this
Speaker 1: crime one hundred percent, But during research I felt like
Speaker 1: I was missing a key part of the story because
Speaker 1: the arrest and conviction came on circumstantial evidence, and I
Speaker 1: feel like I don't know how the court was able
Speaker 1: to get him on that evidence. It doesn't seem sufficient
Speaker 1: enough to make that arrest and conviction. They don't have
Speaker 1: anything technically linking him to the crime. Because what if
Speaker 1: there is someone out there, another couple towns over with
Speaker 1: a similar bike, yeah, who wore a black shirt and
Speaker 1: happened to be a shoe enthusiast like James was. Because
Speaker 1: James owned like a lot of shoes, hence why his
Speaker 1: favorite pairs were these Jordans and stuff. So what if
Speaker 1: this person had a similar bike, owned similar shoes, and
Speaker 1: wore a black shirt that day. That's all it would
Speaker 1: take for it to be a different person. Right now,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's the case. I'm like, ninety nine
Speaker 1: point nine percent sure it's James Vancalis Junior, But there
Speaker 1: is that one percent, and I'm surprised that the jury
Speaker 1: and the courtroom were able to convict them with their
Speaker 1: being room for doubt.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, like the witnesses though too right, like
Speaker 2: the girlfriend and stuff, like he was doing some pretty
Speaker 2: sketchy things.
Speaker 1: Really he was. But again the girlfriend says, there's a
Speaker 1: clump of hair, wears his clump of hair. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: girlfriend says, he was cleaning his helmet and shoes with
Speaker 1: rubbing alcohol. As we already talked about. It's not abnormal
Speaker 1: to clean your most fatal health.
Speaker 2: In the morning, and shit, yeah, like I don't know.
Speaker 1: Now, Yeah, of course, the shoes would be the biggest
Speaker 1: thing that could link this whole crime together. Can't find them,
Speaker 1: so there.
Speaker 2: Probably would have been like something on those.
Speaker 1: Shoes most likely, and even if there wasn't, those shoes
Speaker 1: would match the herring bone pattern. That would be enough,
Speaker 1: I believe, to actually connect this crime. But you can't
Speaker 1: find the shoes to connect it. All you can find
Speaker 1: is a photo, and that photo of him wearing them
Speaker 1: says maybe hm hmm.
Speaker 2: But I mean he knew this stuff, right, he knew this,
Speaker 2: and like he got rid of this stuff he did
Speaker 2: intentionally he did. But yeah, I know, I see, I
Speaker 2: see what you're saying.
Speaker 1: So I do believe he did it. I one hundred
Speaker 1: ninety nine point nine percent sure he did it. But
Speaker 1: there's room for doubt, and that room for doubt made
Speaker 1: this very difficult for me to research and put the
Speaker 1: story together because I felt like there's something missing. Yeah, story,
Speaker 1: but that's all the information we have.
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, it's there, like there's a tiny bit
Speaker 2: of room, I guess, because like you said, someone else
Speaker 2: would be very much so described this way as well, right,
Speaker 2: and like people have similar shoes and yeah.
Speaker 1: All it takes is for someone to have a similar motorcycle,
Speaker 1: a similar pair of shoes, and to be in the area.
Speaker 1: That's all it makes.
Speaker 2: Also, though James does seem like he's a terrible person.
Speaker 1: Oh he is, aless, he is a terrible person regardless.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and yeah, uh jeez, that is just that is heartbreaking.
Speaker 2: That's a heartbreaking story.
Speaker 1: It is so hopefully you guys, hopefully you're able to
Speaker 1: get through this one. It is tough. And I want
Speaker 1: to know what your guys' thoughts are on the circumstantial
Speaker 1: evidence and the arrest and conviction. Clearly, it was strong
Speaker 1: enough for the courts to do it, because they did,
Speaker 1: But I want to know your guys' thoughts on the
Speaker 1: court making that decision with the circumstantial evidence versus you know,
Speaker 1: concrete evidence, so shoot us a message or an email
Speaker 1: or something let us know your thoughts. If you want
Speaker 1: to check out all our links, they're in the description
Speaker 1: of this podcast. We got Patreon, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, where
Speaker 1: you can actually go and check out the event where
Speaker 1: we are doing our murder mystery here coming up this month,
Speaker 1: and of course Halloween Week is on its way.
Speaker 2: Yay, so excited.
Speaker 1: We are excited, so thank you for being here and
Speaker 1: until Friday, because we are back in our full schedule.
Speaker 1: We are done our vacation slash recovering from being super sick,
Speaker 1: so we'll see you on Friday, and until then, stay wicked.