Speaker 1: Boston and Massachusetts. It's one of America's oldest cities. It
Speaker 1: was founded in sixteen thirty by Puritan settlers and became
Speaker 1: the cradle of the American Revolution. By the nineteenth century,
Speaker 1: it had transformed into an industrial powerhouse and a gateway
Speaker 1: for immigrants seeking new lives. Waves of Irish, Italian, and
Speaker 1: later Cape Verdean families arrived at its ports, building communities
Speaker 1: that would shape the city for generations. By February of
Speaker 1: twenty to nineteen, Boston Seaport District had transformed from industrial
Speaker 1: waterfront into one of the city's trendiest areas. Glass walled
Speaker 1: restaurants and upscale night clubs drew crowds every weekend. Young
Speaker 1: professionals and college students alike flooded the street after dark,
Speaker 1: seeking escape in the pulsing music and dim lights of
Speaker 1: establishments such as Venue. Venue was exactly the kind of
Speaker 1: place people went through to forget their troubles. On the
Speaker 1: night of the twenty third of February twenty nineteen, the
Speaker 1: temperature had dropped to the low thirties. It was cold
Speaker 1: enough that your breath missed in the air, cold enough
Speaker 1: that you wanted to get inside, get warm. Get somewhere safe.
Speaker 1: It was just after two a m. When the nightclub
Speaker 1: stores opened and guests filled out on to Tremont Street.
Speaker 1: The music had stopped, the lights had come up. Everybody
Speaker 1: was heading home. Among the crowd was a young woman
Speaker 1: in an orange jumpsuit and a denim jacket. She had
Speaker 1: no shoes. She was just barefoot on the freezing pavement.
Speaker 1: She was alone now, but she hadn't meant to be.
Speaker 1: There was an uber parked at the curb, its interior
Speaker 1: light glowing. The young woman tapped on the window, then
Speaker 1: climbed into the front passenger seat, but moments later, the
Speaker 1: door flung open. The woman fell from the car onto
Speaker 1: the sidewalk, landing hard on the coal concrete. There was
Speaker 1: a man standing nearby. He was watching. Jasse Corea was
Speaker 1: born in Prayer, the capital city of Cape Verd, on
Speaker 1: the twenty sixth February nineteen ninety six. The small island
Speaker 1: nation off the coast of West Africa was where her
Speaker 1: story begun, but it wouldn't be where she would grow up.
Speaker 1: When Jassy was just three years old, she emigrated to
Speaker 1: the United States with her father, settling in Dorchesterhire in Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: Her father had wanted a better future for his daughter.
Speaker 1: He looked at their life in Cape verd and then
Speaker 1: with the promise of America, and he had made a choice,
Speaker 1: the kind of choice that parents make when they believe
Speaker 1: impossibility over certainty. The United States he felt, offered opportunity.
Speaker 1: Jassie's mother lived in Portugal, and she didn't see her
Speaker 1: daughter very often. Dorchester became Jassy's home. There she grew
Speaker 1: up surrounded by a large, loving family, including Anne's uncles
Speaker 1: and cousins, who adored her. The close knit Cape Verdon
Speaker 1: community in Boston provided a bridge between two worlds, allowing
Speaker 1: Jassie to maintain her cultural routes while building a new
Speaker 1: life in America. She spoke Portuguese at home English at school.
Speaker 1: She belonged to both laces, in neither the way so
Speaker 1: many immigrant children do. Jassy was funny and bright, with
Speaker 1: a passion for two things that brought her joy, dancing
Speaker 1: and photography. Friend said that she was outgoing, the kind
Speaker 1: of perison who could get along with anybody. She had
Speaker 1: this ability to make people laugh, even at their worst moments.
Speaker 1: Her loved ones all said that there was something magnetic
Speaker 1: about her and energy that could draw just about anybody
Speaker 1: in When Jassie walked in their room, people noticed. In
Speaker 1: December of two thousand and sixteen, when she was twenty
Speaker 1: years old, Jassi gave birth to a girl she named
Speaker 1: Gabriella Gabby for short. Mother had transformed her. Those who
Speaker 1: knew her described Jassie as a devoted mother, somebody who
Speaker 1: treasured every moment with her daughter. She cherished the time
Speaker 1: she spent with her friends and family, and the simple
Speaker 1: afternoons at the park with Gabby. These weren't grand moments,
Speaker 1: they were ordinary, but to Jassie they were precious. Life
Speaker 1: for Jassie, however, had been easy. Gabby's father, Miguel Gastro,
Speaker 1: was violent. On the twenty eighth of January twenty eighteen,
Speaker 1: Jassie sent a text message to his mother which read,
Speaker 1: you need to help me. Miguel won't let me leave.
Speaker 1: Don't call him, He'll kill me. She attached a photograph
Speaker 1: of herself. What Castro's mother saw on that image was
Speaker 1: almost unrecognizable. Jassie had two black eyes and blood tinged
Speaker 1: tears were running down her face. Her nose was completely distorted,
Speaker 1: and her mouth was so swollen it wouldn't close. This
Speaker 1: was her son's work. She immediately called police. Officers responded
Speaker 1: to Castro's home and found Jassie hiding under the basement stairs.
Speaker 1: They found blood all over the home, blood spattered on
Speaker 1: Castro's clothing. He had punched Jassie so hard he had
Speaker 1: broken her nose and fractured her orbital bone. The police
Speaker 1: report read, in part, her injuries were so extensive that
Speaker 1: somebody who knew her most likely wouldn't recognize her. Castro
Speaker 1: was arrested and charged with mayhem, the intentional disfigurement of
Speaker 1: another person, as well as multiple counts of assault and kidnapping.
Speaker 1: He was eventually convicted and sentenced to four and a
Speaker 1: half years in prison, followed by three years of probation.
Speaker 1: That conviction meant that Jassie was finally free. By early
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, she was twenty two years old and living
Speaker 1: in an emergency shelter in Lynne with her two year
Speaker 1: old daughter. If hadn't turned out for Jassie the way
Speaker 1: she had expected, the path had been harder, darker than
Speaker 1: anything she imagined as a girl in Dorchester. But with
Speaker 1: Castro locked away, Jossie was fighting for something better. She
Speaker 1: was working as a hostess at Del Frisco's restaurant in
Speaker 1: the Seaport neighborhood of Boston. It was quite a commute
Speaker 1: from Lynne, but Jassi made it work. She had big
Speaker 1: dreams and plans, but more import she had dreams for
Speaker 1: Gabby's future. She was working with the social worker mapping
Speaker 1: out the next steps, Determined to create a safe and
Speaker 1: loving home for her daughter. Jassie kept the notepad on
Speaker 1: the front she'd written in careful letters, life is my
Speaker 1: favorite adventure. Inside she had made lists including apply for
Speaker 1: jobs in person, go see family, take the test at
Speaker 1: least once. But mixed in with the two items were
Speaker 1: words of encouragement, messages to herself remind us of her
Speaker 1: own strength. You've got this, you can do it. Jassy
Speaker 1: was optimistic. After everything she had endured, the violence, the fear,
Speaker 1: the nights spent hiding, she still believed in better days ahead.
Speaker 1: She still had hope. She had a job interview lined
Speaker 1: up for the twenty fifth of February, the day before
Speaker 1: her twenty third birthday, but Jassy would never make it
Speaker 1: to that interview. She wouldn't make it to her birthday either.
Speaker 1: It was cold on the night of the twenty third
Speaker 1: of February twenty nineteen. Jassy's birthday was just three days away,
Speaker 1: but since it fell on a weekday, she made plans
Speaker 1: to celebrate that Saturday night. Instead, she and a friend
Speaker 1: from Western Massachusetts, Agia, were heading out in Boston. Jassi's
Speaker 1: saught her was staying with her grandmother for the weekend.
Speaker 1: It was a rare night off, a chance to be
Speaker 1: twenty two, not just a mother fighting her way out
Speaker 1: of a shelter. To start the night, Jassi headed to
Speaker 1: the apartment of her friend Neah, lived in Dorchester. Earlier
Speaker 1: that day, they'd gone shopping for an outfit. Jassi had
Speaker 1: picked out an orange jumpsuit, a denim jacket with wings
Speaker 1: embroidered on the back, and black high heeled shoes. She
Speaker 1: looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. The plan
Speaker 1: was simple, celebrate, stay over at nee a is A park,
Speaker 1: then collect Gabby. The next morning, another friend, Reggie, drove Asia, Jassie,
Speaker 1: and Nea to downtown Boston. They parked in a garage
Speaker 1: on Tremont Street, then walked one block to Venue, which
Speaker 1: was a popular nightclub. The line stretched her on the
Speaker 1: block by the time they made it inside It was
Speaker 1: already twelve forty a m. It was crowded, The music
Speaker 1: was loud, the kind that vibrates in your chest. The
Speaker 1: small group of friends claimed a corner of the bar.
Speaker 1: They shared a bottle of champagne and had a couple
Speaker 1: of shots of tequila. Then the women headed out onto
Speaker 1: the dance floor. Reggie stayed behind at the bar for
Speaker 1: a while. Everything seemed fine, normal, just friends celebrating, but
Speaker 1: something in the dynamic shifted. Nea had suddenly become angry
Speaker 1: and aggressive. Her mood had turned dark in a way
Speaker 1: that nobody could explain. She would later say she believed
Speaker 1: that her drink had been spiked, that the way she
Speaker 1: had been acting wasn't normal, wasn't her, But in the
Speaker 1: moment there was no explanation, just anger. When venue closed
Speaker 1: to a m, the group headed out on to the
Speaker 1: street and started walking towards the parking garage. The cold
Speaker 1: hit them immediately. The temperature had dropped. Nea was still
Speaker 1: in a combative mood. She shoved Jessie once, then again.
Speaker 1: After the first push, Jasie took off her high heels
Speaker 1: Eedga picked them up, holding them as they walked. Jassy
Speaker 1: was trying to calm Nae down, speaking to her softly,
Speaker 1: the way you might talk to somebody who's not quite themselves.
Speaker 1: Nea was acting irrational on the stable EDGEA told Jassie
Speaker 1: to leave Nea behind to come with her and Reggie
Speaker 1: back to the car, but Jassie refused. She said she
Speaker 1: wouldn't leave her friend behind. Even angry, even aggressive, Nea
Speaker 1: was still her friend. Jessy wasn't the kind of person
Speaker 1: who abandoned people. But it was late. Everybody else was tired, cold,
Speaker 1: and ready to go home. Aga asked Jassie how they
Speaker 1: would get back to Nia's apartment. Jassie said they would
Speaker 1: take an uber. At that point, Asia and Reggie left,
Speaker 1: walking back towards the garage. They left Jassie and Nea
Speaker 1: on the street, two women, one in an aggressive state,
Speaker 1: one barefoot, trying to be a good friend. It was
Speaker 1: the last time they would ever see Jassie alive. The
Speaker 1: next morning, Jesssie never arrived to pick up her daughter.
Speaker 1: Her family started calling her on to her friends. They
Speaker 1: soon learned that she had never made it back to
Speaker 1: Nia's apartment. Nie had made it home, She remembered that much.
Speaker 1: She said that she and Jassie had split up after
Speaker 1: Agia and Reggie left them on the street. She had
Speaker 1: assumed that after the argument, Jassi had just gone back home,
Speaker 1: back to Lynn, back to the shelter, But Jassie hadn't
Speaker 1: arrived at the shelter. She was missing. Her friends and
Speaker 1: family called her phone over and over, but it went
Speaker 1: straight to voicemail. The next day, Jassy never showed up
Speaker 1: for her shift at Del Frisco's. This wasn't like her.
Speaker 1: Jassie needed that job. She wouldn't just skip work. She
Speaker 1: wouldn't disappear without telling anybody, especially not when Gabby was
Speaker 1: waiting for her. Her father then called police to report
Speaker 1: his daughter missing. Somewhere in Boston, Jassi Corea had vanished.
Speaker 1: After Jassy was reported missing, detectives immediately spoke with her friends.
Speaker 1: They explained what had happened that night, Nea becoming angry,
Speaker 1: the shoving, Jassie staying behind with her friend even as
Speaker 1: the others left, But what happened after that nobody knew.
Speaker 1: Nea couldn't remember, she'd been too drunk, so detectives turned
Speaker 1: to surveillance footage in the area. The footage showed exactly
Speaker 1: what Ega and Reggie had described. It showed them leaving
Speaker 1: Jassie and Nea on the street walking back towards the
Speaker 1: parking garage. They had assumed that Na and Jassie stayed
Speaker 1: together after they left, but that wasn't what happened. Shortly
Speaker 1: after Ega and Reggie disappeared from view, Nea walked off
Speaker 1: in another direction, away from Jassie, away from anybody who
Speaker 1: might have helped. Jassy was left alone on the sidewalk, intoxicated,
Speaker 1: wearing a denim jacket no shoes, the cold pavement beneath
Speaker 1: her feet. There happened to be an Uber driver park nearby,
Speaker 1: waiting for Uber Exil customers. The surveillance footage showed Jassie
Speaker 1: tapping on his window, then climbing into the front passenger seat,
Speaker 1: but moments later, the door flung open, Jassie fell from
Speaker 1: the car on to the sidewalk. Detectives were able to
Speaker 1: track the Uber driver down. He told them that when
Speaker 1: Jasie climbed in, she tried to hire him through the
Speaker 1: Uber app, but the app wouldn't have loyed it, something
Speaker 1: about the ride request not going through. Besides, he explained
Speaker 1: he was only looking for Uber Excel customers. He could
Speaker 1: make more money from them, so he turned Jassie away,
Speaker 1: but the surveillance footage showed something else. There was a
Speaker 1: man standing nearby as all of this unfolded. He was
Speaker 1: watching Jassie. When she fell to the ground, he approached.
Speaker 1: He helped her back up. The camera captured him holding
Speaker 1: her hands, talking to her. Jassi looked around, turning her
Speaker 1: head as if she was searching for somebody, looking for Nea, perhaps,
Speaker 1: but Nea was already gone. Jassy in the unfamiliar man,
Speaker 1: then headed off down Tremont Street together. Further down the block,
Speaker 1: Jassie climbed on to his back. He carried her piggyback style,
Speaker 1: with her arms straped over his should. They continued walking
Speaker 1: before stopping near the Animal Rescue League. There was a
Speaker 1: car park there. The man unlocked it. He and Jassie
Speaker 1: climbed inside, then they drove away. It was three fifteen
Speaker 1: a m. Detectives released a description of the vehicle in question.
Speaker 1: It was a redness and altema. The footage was greeny
Speaker 1: pixelated when they tried to zoom in, but they could
Speaker 1: just about make out what the man looked like. Bronze skin,
Speaker 1: dark hair, dark stubble. He appeared to be wearing jeans
Speaker 1: and a dark jacket. Armed with this description, detectives made
Speaker 1: their wed a Venue, the club where Jassie had spent
Speaker 1: the night. They wondered whether the man had been inside.
Speaker 1: It was the closest nightclub to de remonstrate. It seemed
Speaker 1: plausible likely even that he'd been there. Thankfully, venue took
Speaker 1: photographs of IDs presented when guests centered the club. It
Speaker 1: was standard procedure. Detectives went through each and every one
Speaker 1: until they found somebody that stood out. Lewis Dake Holman
Speaker 1: the third. He was thirty two years old and from
Speaker 1: Providence in Rhode Island. He had a master's degree in
Speaker 1: physics from California State University, and he worked as a
Speaker 1: systems engineer at Raytheon in Waltham, Massachusetts, a company that
Speaker 1: built miss Island defense systems. On paper, he was educated
Speaker 1: employed stable. Detectives conducted a record check to see if
Speaker 1: Coman owned a vehicle that matched the one that Jassi
Speaker 1: had been seen climbing into, but he had no vehicles
Speaker 1: registered to him. Still, detectives continued looking at him as
Speaker 1: a person of interest. He looked far too similar to
Speaker 1: the man on the surveillance footage. The resemblance was undeniable.
Speaker 1: Detectives then reached out to police and Providence and asked
Speaker 1: them to conduct a welfare check at Coleman's apartment on
Speaker 1: Chestnut Street. Officers knocked on the door, nobody answered. The
Speaker 1: next morning, detectives decided to make the trip to Providence themselves.
Speaker 1: They too knocked, but nobody answered. But by now detectives
Speaker 1: had probable cause. They kicked the apartment door down. There
Speaker 1: was nobody inside. As soon as they entered, they felt
Speaker 1: a chill. Even though it was snowing outside. The windows
Speaker 1: were wide open, cold air was pouring into the apartment.
Speaker 1: Something was off. Detectives searched the apartment and noticed some peculiarities.
Speaker 1: The shower curtain was missing, a cushion from the sofa
Speaker 1: was gone. There were two packages of hooded coverall sitting out,
Speaker 1: two respiratory masks in a dumpster. Outside, they found white
Speaker 1: trash backs, a bag containing plastic sheets, men's chains with
Speaker 1: bleach stains, a belt, a white nie long hooded coverall,
Speaker 1: an empty box of baking soda, dock tape packaging. He's
Speaker 1: weren't the belongings of an innocent man, they thought. Detectives
Speaker 1: began scoring surveillance footage from the interior exterior of the
Speaker 1: apartment complex. They found Coman on camera on the twenty
Speaker 1: fourth of February. It was about four am when he
Speaker 1: pulled into the parking lot. He locked the car and
Speaker 1: headed up to his apartment, but he didn't stay for long.
Speaker 1: Minutes later, he was seen going back down to the car,
Speaker 1: This time he was carrying a white comforter. He spent
Speaker 1: some time maneuvering the car around in the parking lot
Speaker 1: repositioning it. Then he was seen carrying a body. She
Speaker 1: had long hair and she was limp. She was dressed
Speaker 1: in an orange jumpsuit, but the top half had come down,
Speaker 1: exposing her breasts. It looked like Jassie. Coleman entered the
Speaker 1: lobby and put the woman on the floor, then dragged
Speaker 1: her over to the elevator. Her body moved like a
Speaker 1: dead weight. The camera in the sixth floor hallway showed
Speaker 1: Coleman dragging her towards his apartment, number six oh two.
Speaker 1: The timestamp read four to twenty three am. Over the
Speaker 1: next few days, surveillance showed Coleman making trips in and
Speaker 1: out of the building. He was seeing carrying Walmart bags
Speaker 1: into the apartment. Then on the night of the twenty seventh,
Speaker 1: he appeared with a large blue suitcase. Shortly after one am.
Speaker 1: The next morning, he was recorded dragging that same suitcase
Speaker 1: to the elevator and out to his car. It appeared
Speaker 1: heavy the way he moved with it. He made several
Speaker 1: additional trips, more bags, boxes, a computer tar Then at
Speaker 1: four am he drove off. Detectives working convinced that Coleman
Speaker 1: had killed Jassie, brought her body to his apartment, and
Speaker 1: then placed her in that suitcase. They released a photograph
Speaker 1: of Coleman, along with the photograph of his vehicle in
Speaker 1: the surveillance footage. They asked him to come forward. They
Speaker 1: also asked if anybody knew anything about his whereabouts to
Speaker 1: reach out immediately. Jassie was still missing. Detectives didn't know
Speaker 1: if she was still with Coleman, or whether he had
Speaker 1: left her somewhere, dumped her body, or worse. As the
Speaker 1: search continued, Jassy's father, Walking pleaded for information. His voice
Speaker 1: broke as he said, I need my daughter back. I
Speaker 1: want to see my daughter. The situation is really bad.
Speaker 1: He was a man who brought a three year old
Speaker 1: daughter to America. For a better life, who had worked
Speaker 1: in sacrifice so that she could have opportunities that he
Speaker 1: never had. Now he was begging strangers to help him
Speaker 1: find her body. Here's something that most of us don't realize.
Speaker 1: We're probably not getting enough magnesium, and even if you're
Speaker 1: taking a drug store supplement, you're likely missing the bigger picture.
Speaker 1: Between industrial farming depleting our soil, chronic stress, and just aging,
Speaker 1: our magnesium levels take a hit. The problem is that
Speaker 1: almost every supplement out there uses just one form of magnesium.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. Magnesium comes in multiple forms, and
Speaker 1: each one supports your body differently. That's what makes Qualia
Speaker 1: magnesium plus different. Sure everybody knows magnesium helps with sleep,
Speaker 1: but different forms also support muscle recovery, brain function, heart health,
Speaker 1: bone health, mood regulation. Qualitia Magnesium Plus is the only
Speaker 1: product that combines ten bioavailable forms of magnesium with more
Speaker 1: than seventy trace minerals that help fuel magnesium support. It's
Speaker 1: full spectrum magnesium designed to deliver its complete potential. We're
Speaker 1: talking about sleeping deeper, thinking sharper, recovering faster from workouts,
Speaker 1: supporting muscle strength, maintaining a steadier mood and stress response,
Speaker 1: and better energy metabolism. I'veen using it for a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks now and I've genuinely noticed a difference in
Speaker 1: my sleep quality and falling asleep easier and waking up
Speaker 1: feeling more rested. My recovery after exercise feels quicker too.
Speaker 1: Experience the most trusted magnesium for purity, potenty and performance.
Speaker 1: Plus it's non GMO, vegan, and gluten free, making it
Speaker 1: a choice you can feel good about it. Go to
Speaker 1: qualialife dot com slash morbidology for fifty percent off and
Speaker 1: here's a bonus. Use the code morbidology for an additional
Speaker 1: fifteen percent off your order. That is qa lia life
Speaker 1: dot com slash morbidology and use the code morbidology. Thanks
Speaker 1: to Qualia for sponsoring this episode. It wasn't long before
Speaker 1: detectives discovered that Coleman's car had on Star, a vehicle
Speaker 1: tracking system they had the company activated on an emergency basis.
Speaker 1: This allowed detectives to see live location information for the vehicle.
Speaker 1: On the twenty eighth, they learned that it was traveling
Speaker 1: near Wilmington in Delaware. They sent this information to local
Speaker 1: officers who were immediately dispatched to search for the vehicle.
Speaker 1: It was just after two pm when the car was
Speaker 1: spotted driving along Interstate ninety five. Trooper Hassan Hallis saw
Speaker 1: the car as it merged onto the highway. He followed
Speaker 1: it down the interstate, keeping his distance in radio four assistants.
Speaker 1: Then he turned on his lights. The car slowed down
Speaker 1: and pulled over at the side of the off ramp.
Speaker 1: By now more officers had arrived. They approached the driver's
Speaker 1: side of the vehicle with their guns drawn. In the
Speaker 1: driver's seat was Lewis Coleman. He looked calm. An officer
Speaker 1: asked if anybody else was in the vehicle. Coleman responded,
Speaker 1: She's in the trunk. Coleman was handcuffed and placed into
Speaker 1: the back of a patrol vehicle. The officers then turned
Speaker 1: their attention to the car. They slowly opened it up.
Speaker 1: Lying in the trunk was a blue suitcase, the same
Speaker 1: one s on the surveillance footage, the one that Coleman
Speaker 1: had dragged out of his apartment in the early morning
Speaker 1: ours They zipped it. Inside was the cushion cover that
Speaker 1: had been missing from the sofa in Coleman's apartment. Another
Speaker 1: layer another barrier between what he'd done and the world.
Speaker 1: They unzipped that stuffed inside, folded into a fatal position,
Speaker 1: was Jassie. She was bond with duct tape. She was
Speaker 1: covered in white powder baking soda they would later determine
Speaker 1: used in a futile attempt to mask decomposition. Her face
Speaker 1: was bruised and caked in blood. The officers stepped back.
Speaker 1: Some of them had children, daughters. This was someone's daughter.
Speaker 1: The road was closed off as crime scene investigators and
Speaker 1: detectives descended on the scene. Traffic backed up for miles
Speaker 1: as officers worked carefully methodically to preserve the evidence. Jasse's
Speaker 1: body was carefully removed and then transported to the medical
Speaker 1: Examiner's office. Here it was discovered that her head and
Speaker 1: torso were covered in bruises, showing that she had been
Speaker 1: beaten before she was strangled to death. The autopsy also
Speaker 1: revealed mail DNA in her vagina and wrecked them at
Speaker 1: DNA came back as a match to Lewis Coleman. Coleman
Speaker 1: was booked at the Delaware State Police troop to barracks
Speaker 1: and placed into a holding cell. One of the guards
Speaker 1: noticed a large bandage on the right side of his face.
Speaker 1: He asked Coleman if it needed to be looked at.
Speaker 1: Coleman responded, it's from the girl. After the tragic up
Speaker 1: the Jassey's family gathered at one of their homes. The
Speaker 1: news had traveled fast. Her cousin carried the pain and
Speaker 1: spoke to reporters through tears and said she was a mother,
Speaker 1: She was brave, she was strong. She did not deserve this.
Speaker 1: She went out to celebrate her birthday and never returned home.
Speaker 1: We want justice for her death. Somewhere in that gathering
Speaker 1: was two year old Gabby, too young to understand why
Speaker 1: her mother wasn't coming back home, too young to know
Speaker 1: that the man who took her had been caught. The
Speaker 1: family set up a gofund made a help care for Gabby,
Speaker 1: and within days it reached over one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Strangers from across the country donated. They'd seen
Speaker 1: Jassie's face on the news, they heard her story. They
Speaker 1: wanted to help the little girl who would now grow
Speaker 1: up without her mother. Venue, the nightclub where Jassie had
Speaker 1: spent her last hours dancing with friends, donated two thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars. Coleman's vehicle was impounded so that it
Speaker 1: could be examined more closely. Inside the trunk, officers also
Speaker 1: discovered Coleman's computer tor the same one seen in the
Speaker 1: surveillance footage, carried out his apartment alongside the suitcase. When
Speaker 1: the hard drive was analyzed, detectives found a digital trail
Speaker 1: of his intentions. Between the twenty fourth and twenty seven
Speaker 1: of the February Coleman had conducted a series of searches.
Speaker 1: He had searched for whether a body could fit in
Speaker 1: a suitcase, how to pull teeth that aren't loose, turkey
Speaker 1: basters and pie pets, how to embalm a body. And
Speaker 1: these weren't the searches of someone panicking. These were the
Speaker 1: searches of someone planning. There were also recently purchased items
Speaker 1: in the trunk, including pruning shears, pliers, a gas container,
Speaker 1: and a lighter. The vehicle itself showed signs of a
Speaker 1: violent struggle. There were two spider cracks near the top
Speaker 1: of the passenger side of the windshield. It looked as
Speaker 1: though somebody had kicked the windshield with the heels of
Speaker 1: both feet. Jassy had fought back the windshield was swabbed
Speaker 1: in DNA from both Jassi and Coleman came back. Their
Speaker 1: DNA was also discovered on swabs taken from the interior
Speaker 1: of the front passenger door. Jassy had fought for her
Speaker 1: life in that car. Detectives were able to piece together
Speaker 1: Coleman's movements and activity from that night. He had been
Speaker 1: in venue as well. He had arrived around twenty minutes
Speaker 1: after Jassie and her friends. At one point they were
Speaker 1: so close they could have actually touched shoulders. While in
Speaker 1: the club, Coleman had started talking with a young woman
Speaker 1: named Lorna. As a near closing time, Coleman and Lorna
Speaker 1: were heading towards the restroom together, but they were intercepted
Speaker 1: by Lorna's brother. His sister was drunk. He was protecting her.
Speaker 1: He didn't know this man, and he didn't want her
Speaker 1: going anywhere with him alone. It was instinct, the kind
Speaker 1: of protective instinct that saves lives. Coleman and Lorna had
Speaker 1: exchanged phone numbers before her brother led her away. Coleman
Speaker 1: was in the lobby texting Lorna when he learned that
Speaker 1: she had already left with her brother. Surveillance captured him outside.
Speaker 1: After that, he headed down towards Tremont Street, where Jassy was.
Speaker 1: Surveillance captured him standing beside the uber as Jasie was
Speaker 1: pushed out onto the pavement. He leaned over and helped
Speaker 1: her up. He probably seemed kind. Then they headed to
Speaker 1: his car. Lorna's brother had possibly saved his sister's life
Speaker 1: that night. He just didn't know it, but Jassy had
Speaker 1: no one. All of her friends had left her alone.
Speaker 1: In the hours after Coleman killed Jassie, he was texting Lorna.
Speaker 1: He told her that he was about to catch a
Speaker 1: flight back to California. The reality was that he knew
Speaker 1: he was going to be occupied figuring out what to
Speaker 1: do with Jase's body. He said that he would text
Speaker 1: her when he was back in Massachusetts. Lorna asked, you
Speaker 1: live in Cali before riding, definitely hit me up and
Speaker 1: wake him meet up. Coleman replied, yeah, sounds like a plan,
Speaker 1: followed by a smiley face. After a couple of messages
Speaker 1: back and forth, Laurna then texted, you were too good
Speaker 1: to be true. Of course I would mate a guy
Speaker 1: who doesn't live here. Luis Coleman was charged with kidnapping
Speaker 1: resulting in death and was ordered to be extradited back
Speaker 1: to Rhode Island. The charges were filed by federal prosecutors
Speaker 1: since Coleman had traveled across state lines with Jassie's body,
Speaker 1: that meant that if he were convicted, he would be
Speaker 1: facing the death penalty. He was ordered to be held
Speaker 1: without bail, and he pleaded not guilty. After the charges
Speaker 1: were announced, Suffolk District Attorney Rachel Rawlins said Jassy was
Speaker 1: not in the wrong place at the wrong time. She
Speaker 1: was right where every woman has a right to be
Speaker 1: celebrating her birthday on a night out with friends. Let's
Speaker 1: not fall into a discussion about whether we should walk
Speaker 1: home alone or how many people we should call when
Speaker 1: we're leaving the club. She said that of anything, women
Speaker 1: should be reminding the men in their lives that violence
Speaker 1: against women isn't a women's issue. She continued steering, it's
Speaker 1: a problem that men take responsibility for in their lives,
Speaker 1: in their sons lives, and in their social lives with
Speaker 1: friends and colleagues. Her message was clear, this wasn't about
Speaker 1: Jassei making mistake, This was about Coleman making a choice.
Speaker 1: Coleman's monkshop was shared across the media in the wake
Speaker 1: of his arrest. When Amber Hersey Smith saw the photograph
Speaker 1: of Coleman, she thought he looked familiar, disturbingly familiar. In
Speaker 1: two thousand and fourteen, her friend Ashley Milith was found
Speaker 1: half buried in the dirt on a wooded walking trail
Speaker 1: in Brockton. She was buried on top of the skeletal
Speaker 1: remains of fifty one year old Linda Schufeldt. Detectives at
Speaker 1: the time believed that both women had been killed by
Speaker 1: the same man. Unknown mail DNA was discovered on both bodies,
Speaker 1: and it had come from the same man who had
Speaker 1: committed at least three violent rapes in October and November
Speaker 1: of two thousand and thirteen and in January two thousand
Speaker 1: and fourteen. In those cases, the rapist had picked up
Speaker 1: vulnerable women, violently beaten them, and then dumped them at
Speaker 1: the side of the road. After Coleman's mugshot appeared online,
Speaker 1: Amber stared at it for several moments. She thought that
Speaker 1: it looked remarkably similar to the Parabon Nanolabs DNA fine
Speaker 1: typing sketch of the man who had killed her friend
Speaker 1: Ashley and Linda and committed the rapes. They had predicted
Speaker 1: that the suspect skin was brawn or light brown with
Speaker 1: brawn or black hair. They'd released the sketch back in
Speaker 1: March of two thousand and seventeen, hoping that somebody could
Speaker 1: identify him, but nobody had come forward. Amber remarked when
Speaker 1: Ashley's case first came out, they said to look out
Speaker 1: for a normal looking man. He preys on vulnerable girls. Ashley,
Speaker 1: the other victim from Ashley's case, and Jassie were all
Speaker 1: young and vulnerable. Beth Stone, a spokeswoman for Plymouth District
Speaker 1: Attorney Timothy Cruz, announced that they were going to look
Speaker 1: into the case and whether Coleman could have been responsible.
Speaker 1: While that was being investigated, more than one hundred people
Speaker 1: huddled together in the cold in Dorchester on the eighth
Speaker 1: of March. They were there to honor Jassie. Friends, family,
Speaker 1: and strangers alike, held white candles wrapped in paper and
Speaker 1: spoke about happier times, about the girl who made everybody laugh,
Speaker 1: the devoted mother, the friend who wouldn't abandon someone even
Speaker 1: when it would have been safer to walk away. Queen Warnham,
Speaker 1: whose daughter was friends with Jassie, said we just have
Speaker 1: to stick together as family, friends, the community, and just
Speaker 1: have to be careful with people today. It's sad. You
Speaker 1: just don't know who to trust, and sometimes we trust
Speaker 1: the wrong people. Jessie's cousin, Fernada, spoke about Jassie's daughter
Speaker 1: and said she has no idea, She's just looking for
Speaker 1: her mom. Gabby is three years old now, the same
Speaker 1: age Jassi had been when her father brought her to America,
Speaker 1: when he had believed in a better future for his daughter.
Speaker 1: The next day, Jassy's funeral was held at Saint Peter Parish.
Speaker 1: Her white casket was adorned with white flowers, along with
Speaker 1: the poster board filled with photos of Jassy and her daughter.
Speaker 1: During the service, Jasse's father Walking called her his good
Speaker 1: child and my dear Jassy. He said he wished her
Speaker 1: eternal rest in paradise. He had brought her to this
Speaker 1: country for a better life. He'd worked and sacrificed, He'd
Speaker 1: done everything a father could do, and she had still
Speaker 1: been taken from him. As the prosecution and defense were
Speaker 1: busy preparing for trial, it was announced that Cooman wasn't
Speaker 1: a suspect in the other murder and rape cases. Its
Speaker 1: DNA didn't match the suspects DNA, ruling him out. The
Speaker 1: case pressed on, and in November twenty twenty one, federal
Speaker 1: prosecutors announced that they weren't going to seek the death
Speaker 1: penalty commens Jan's attorney, David House said, the defense team
Speaker 1: has felt from the onset that this case was not
Speaker 1: appropriate for a capital prosecution, and with that, the trial
Speaker 1: date was scheduled for May of the following year. Lewis Coleman,
Speaker 1: the Third arrived in court on the eleventh of May
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. During opening statements, it became clear just
Speaker 1: how contrasting the two versions of events were. While there
Speaker 1: was no denying that Coleman had killed Jassy, the crux
Speaker 1: of the case hinged on what exactly happened during the
Speaker 1: car ride from the club. Prosecutor Elianna and Nusman described
Speaker 1: Jassie walking with Coleman to his vehicle and climbing into
Speaker 1: the passenger seat. She said whatever he said that Jassey
Speaker 1: made her feel safe enough to walk to his car
Speaker 1: with him. Safe. That word hung in the courtroom. Jassy
Speaker 1: had felt safe with him, She trusted him. Nusman showed
Speaker 1: the surveillance video of Coleman carrying Jassie's partially nude body
Speaker 1: into his apartment. He watched in silence as Jassie was
Speaker 1: dragged across a lobby floor like something disposable. Defense attorney
Speaker 1: David House told the jury during his opening statements that
Speaker 1: Coleman was not guilty of kidnapping and that was the
Speaker 1: only charge that juror should focus on. He said that
Speaker 1: despite allegations raised by prosecutors, Coleman hadn't been charged with manslaughter, murder,
Speaker 1: or rape. He said, Coleman is more than a terrible
Speaker 1: series of events that took place in the early morning
Speaker 1: hours of February twenty fourth, twenty nineteen. Nobody wants to
Speaker 1: be known or remembered by the worst thing of their lives.
Speaker 1: According to the defense, Coleman had only wanted to help
Speaker 1: jasse when he saw her being pushed from the uber,
Speaker 1: who said there clearly was a fight between Jasey and Lewis.
Speaker 1: What happened in that car was not a planned event,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't instigated. He claimed that Jassy was the aggressor,
Speaker 1: that she had attacked Coleman in his car that it
Speaker 1: was her who didn't survive the alter cation. He said
Speaker 1: that surveillance from earlier and that night showed Jassi in
Speaker 1: an altercation with Nea. He said that she had been sewing.
Speaker 1: He said that she had been showing signs for gression
Speaker 1: that night. The defense was painting Jassie as violent as
Speaker 1: the one who started it. After that, the testimony began.
Speaker 1: The jury heard from Jasse's friends who were with her
Speaker 1: at the club that night. Aga condered what the defense
Speaker 1: said that Jassi was aggressive. She said that Jassi was
Speaker 1: only trying to cam Nea down, that she was trying
Speaker 1: to help her friend the way she always did. Nea testified,
Speaker 1: I don't remember anything. She said that her drink must
Speaker 1: have been spiked for her to act the way she did.
Speaker 1: The memory was gone, blacked out completely. The jury then
Speaker 1: heard from detectives who testified about the items that Coleman
Speaker 1: had purchased after he killed Jassie. The bleache, the plastic sheets,
Speaker 1: the air freshener, the pruning shares and pliers. These weren't
Speaker 1: the purchases of somebody who panicked. These were the purchases
Speaker 1: of somebody covering their tracks. Doctor Jenny Vushofsky the pathologist
Speaker 1: who conducted Jasie's autopsy, was the next to take the stand.
Speaker 1: She said that Jassi had been strangled to death by hand.
Speaker 1: There was bruising all over her body, including a T
Speaker 1: shaped bruise on her forehead and on the right side
Speaker 1: of her head. She said that there were bite marks
Speaker 1: found on Coleman's forearm and face, indicating that Jassie had
Speaker 1: fought for her life. She'd fought hard. The jury learned
Speaker 1: that there was a twelve minute stop soon after Coleman's
Speaker 1: car started out from Tremont Street. The prosecution said that
Speaker 1: this was when Coleman raped and strangled Jassi. The trial
Speaker 1: then drew to a close and closing arguments were presented.
Speaker 1: Prosecutor Robert Richardson told the jury that Coleman had lured
Speaker 1: Jassy to his car by promising her ride back home.
Speaker 1: She was vulnerable, intoxicated, he seemed kind. Instead, he raped
Speaker 1: her and then strangled her. The defense, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: said that Jasy and Coleman had consensual sex, but that
Speaker 1: the encounter then turned violent. Defense attorney Jane Peachey said
Speaker 1: that it was Jassie who attacked Coleman, who she said
Speaker 1: panicked when she died. The defense argued that Coleman hadn't
Speaker 1: set out to Boston with the intent to kill. They
Speaker 1: said he had texted friends inviting them out. The defense
Speaker 1: attorney said that Coleman hadn't called police because he was
Speaker 1: a black man in America who had already been beaten
Speaker 1: once by the police. It wasn't debatable that Jassy had
Speaker 1: been killed by Coleman. That much was fact, but the
Speaker 1: jury needed to decide whether the prosecution had proved beyond
Speaker 1: a reasonable doubt that his actions constituted kidnapping resulting in death.
Speaker 1: The jury was sent off to deliberate. They soon returned
Speaker 1: with a verdict guilty. Coleman was found guilty of kidnapping
Speaker 1: resulting in death. In October, Lewis Coleman returned to court
Speaker 1: for the sentencing. Face Jassie's family laned up before Judge
Speaker 1: Sailor to describe the pain and grave he had inflicted
Speaker 1: upon them. One by one, they spoke. Her mother, Celette,
Speaker 1: said that Coleman had taken her daughter's life and destroyed
Speaker 1: the whole family. She said, through an interpreter, it's been
Speaker 1: three years since I lost Jassi, and since then, I
Speaker 1: don't even feel like living because life became senseless to me.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I recall from Jassi is
Speaker 1: that whenever she was in need of something, she would
Speaker 1: reach out to me, and mister Coleman took that chance
Speaker 1: from her to call me to come rescue her. Celite
Speaker 1: described Coleman as a heartless person and a monster. Jassie's father, Walking,
Speaker 1: described how they had arrived in the United States for
Speaker 1: a better life in May of nineteen ninety nine. He'd
Speaker 1: brought a three year old daughter across the ocean full
Speaker 1: of hope, he then added, but unfortunately Jassy didn't find it.
Speaker 1: He then tearfully said, I showed her the right and
Speaker 1: the wrong, but unfortunately life hasn't been easy for the
Speaker 1: career of family. Jassy was free to do whatever she
Speaker 1: likes because she was much older, she was an adult. Today,
Speaker 1: I have this profound pain because Jasie's daughter is five
Speaker 1: and she's soon going to turn six. This is a
Speaker 1: moment where she's going to start asking questions about her mother,
Speaker 1: questions like why everybody has a mother but she doesn't
Speaker 1: have hers with her. The courtroom was silent except for
Speaker 1: the sound of people crying. Lewis Coleman was asked whether
Speaker 1: he wanted to address the courtroom. He paused for a
Speaker 1: moment before saying no, you're honor. Judge Sailor then addressed
Speaker 1: Jassi's family and said, I don't have a magic wand
Speaker 1: I don't have a time machine. I can't go back
Speaker 1: in time to the sidewalk in February twenty nineteen, and
Speaker 1: it's difficult for me to think of anything to say
Speaker 1: to provide some level of comfort for the family. All
Speaker 1: murders or senses, I suppose, since all human life is precious,
Speaker 1: the circumstances of this case seem unusually senseless, unusually troubling.
Speaker 1: He then handed down the sentence life in prison without
Speaker 1: the possibility of parole. Coleman would die behind bars. He
Speaker 1: would never walk free again. Later that day, Coleman's defense
Speaker 1: attorney said they planned on filing an appeal. David Hoose
Speaker 1: announced it's a sad day for both families. I think
Speaker 1: that the thing that was most difficult for Ausin for
Speaker 1: Coleman was hearing him portray it as a monster. He's
Speaker 1: not a monster. He's a bright, intelligent young man who
Speaker 1: had a great future ahead of him. And it's difficult
Speaker 1: to explain or for anyone to understand what happened that
Speaker 1: night when two troubled people's lives intersect did with a
Speaker 1: horrific result to troubled people, as if Jassi was somehow
Speaker 1: equally responsible for what happened in that car. That appeal
Speaker 1: came in February of twenty and twenty four. The appeal
Speaker 1: argued that while Coleman never contested that he cause Jassie's death,
Speaker 1: he wasn't charged with homicide, and that the government's kidnapping
Speaker 1: case wasn't strong enough it was largely circumstantial. They argued
Speaker 1: that the state didn't prove that Coleman had held Jassi
Speaker 1: against her will for an appreciable time. That appeal was denied. Well,
Speaker 1: that is it for this episode of Morbidology. As always,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening, and I'd like to
Speaker 1: say a big massive thank you to my new supporters
Speaker 1: up on Patreon, Alex Kelly and Heather. The link to
Speaker 1: Patreon is in the show notes if you'd like to
Speaker 1: join In exchange for your support, I upload ad free
Speaker 1: in the early release episodes behind the Scenes, and I
Speaker 1: also upload bonus episodes of Morbidology. Plus that aren't on
Speaker 1: the regular podcast platforms. I also send out a thank
Speaker 1: you card along with some cool Patreon exclusive merch. Morbidology
Speaker 1: is also now up on Apple Subscriptions, where you can
Speaker 1: get bonus episodes of Morbidology plus there as well. Remember
Speaker 1: to check us out at morbidology dot com for more
Speaker 1: information about this episode and to read some true crime articles.
Speaker 1: Until next time, take care of yourselves, stay safe, and
Speaker 1: have an amazing week. Pe