WEBVTT 1 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:31.399 Welcome back to the path went Chili. 2 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:35.079 I'm Robin, I'm Jules, and I want to welcome back Ashley. 3 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:36.920 How is Teddy's first Christmas? 4 00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:37.679 Oh? 5 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:40.759 My goodness, it was amazing. And what's funny is you know, 6 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:44.520 Teddy's three months old and so he knows nothing of 7 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:46.759 what's going on. It was another day for him. But 8 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:50.920 to watch my two little girls who are helping him 9 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:53.960 open gifts and playing with his toys, and just the 10 00:00:54.119 --> 00:00:57.520 joy of having just the greatest Christmas gift ever, which 11 00:00:57.560 --> 00:01:00.280 is a baby brother. And our new son has been 12 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.159 such a blessing. So could not be more excited. This 13 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:09.640 little man's starting to get his personality and enjoying playing 14 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:12.439 with the different things that he's getting. So just getting 15 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:15.359 to actually see a little human being come to form, 16 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:18.400 you know, and have his own little attitude and joy. 17 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:19.519 But the girls. 18 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:22.120 Watching them with him was the highlight of my Christmas break. 19 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:25.000 I love the photos you send us up them because 20 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:27.120 his eyes are kind of bulging out like in chock, 21 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:30.439 Like what's going on here? This overwhelming celebration going on. 22 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:32.159 But it's good to hear that he had fun. 23 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.760 Oh he is so full of joy. Well, I'm glad 24 00:01:35.799 --> 00:01:38.239 to be back, and I'm ready to dive right into 25 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:39.280 this week's case. 26 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:45.680 June twelfth, nineteen ninety three, Santa Clara, California, Twenty one 27 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:49.959 year old US Army Private Justin Bergwinkle leaves his girlfriend's 28 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.159 apartment and never returns. One week earlier, Justin had gone 29 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:57.000 a wall from Fort Lewis, the post where he was 30 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:00.599 stationed in Washington, and kept hinting to his friend that 31 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:03.760 he was working on some sort of secret mission. Three 32 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:06.879 months later, Justin's abandoned car is found at a motel 33 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:10.240 in Monterey with his military dog tags and most of 34 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:13.719 his personal items inside. And while the Army denies that 35 00:02:13.879 --> 00:02:17.479 Justin was ever involved in any secret operation, no trace 36 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:18.719 of him is ever found. 37 00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:23.479 After that The path went Chile. So this week we're 38 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:26.159 going to be exploring a bizarre mystery involving a missing 39 00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:29.520 soldier from the United States Army, the nineteen ninety three 40 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:33.520 disappearance of Justin Bergwinkle. You might recall that several weeks 41 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:36.240 ago we released a series of episodes about the nineteen 42 00:02:36.360 --> 00:02:39.800 fifty eight disappearance of Paul Whipkey, a first lieutenant in 43 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:42.919 the United States Army who disappeared while stationed at Ford 44 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:46.639 Ord in California. That case had been featured on Unsolved Mysteries, 45 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:49.719 and during our episodes we may mention of another case 46 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:53.080 from the show involving a soldier named Justin Bergwinkle, who 47 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:55.759 had also once been stationed at Fort Ord before he 48 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:59.840 vanished without a trace. During the mid nineteen nineties, unsawd 49 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.240 Mites went through a period where they produced a lot 50 00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:06.360 of segments involving potential conspiracies within the military. They would 51 00:03:06.439 --> 00:03:09.439 usually focus on American servicemen who were found dead under 52 00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:12.879 suspicious circumstances, but even though their deaths were officially ruled 53 00:03:12.919 --> 00:03:15.479 to be suicides, their loved ones were certain that they 54 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:19.439 were murdered and the military was covering something up. However, 55 00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:22.759 the Justin Bergwinkle case stands out from the others because 56 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:25.560 he went missing and was never confirmed to be dead. 57 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:29.479 After serving at Fort Ord, Justin was transferred to Fort 58 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:33.680 Lewis and Washington until he went absent without leave. Justin's 59 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:36.360 girlfriend still lived in California, so he traveled there to 60 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:41.120 visitor before he inexplicably vanished. Prior to his disappearance, Justin 61 00:03:41.159 --> 00:03:44.400 had been displaying paranoid and erratic behavior and implied that 62 00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:46.960 he was working on some sort of secret mission, though 63 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:51.159 the military has always denied this. The two potential explanations 64 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:53.520 seemed to be that Justin either got himself in way 65 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:56.120 over his head with something and became the victim of 66 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:59.360 foul play, or he suffered some sort of mental breakdown 67 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:02.400 and the so called mission was nothing more than a 68 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:05.680 fantasy he had concocted in his own mind. But if 69 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:10.120 that's the case, then what actually happened to Justin? Surprisingly, 70 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:12.159 this is not a story which has gotten a lot 71 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:14.960 of coverage in the media, as the only sources you'll 72 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:18.519 find online are the Unsolved Mystery segment and an article 73 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:21.879 that was published in the Sacramento b newspaper in November 74 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:25.079 of nineteen ninety three. In fact, it's not even clear 75 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:28.040 to me if there's still an active official investigation to 76 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:31.879 find Justin. But since we recently covered the Paul Whipkey disappearance, 77 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:33.680 I thought now it would be a good time to 78 00:04:33.720 --> 00:04:36.680 tackle this one, and we'll be making comparisons between the 79 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:38.240 two cases on these episodes. 80 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:42.560 My question for you is, does the military ever stop 81 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:45.519 looking for someone if they're considered a wall. Wouldn't that 82 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:48.639 be a mission to say, we're going to see why 83 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:50.319 this person abandoned their post. 84 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:53.000 Well, we talked about that in our Paul Whipkey episodes, 85 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.639 how he was only missing for about a day before 86 00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:58.199 the army declared him a wall and started cleaning out 87 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:01.560 his barracks, even though the standard proceed was that they 88 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:03.680 would have to be missing for at least thirty days 89 00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:07.279 before you took that step. And here in Justin Bergwinkle's case, 90 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:09.319 like they did declare him a wall, but it doesn't 91 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:12.000 sound like they have made any real effort to try 92 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.240 to find him. They just kind of figured that he 93 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:17.600 did his own thing and he's not really their responsibility. 94 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:20.519 But of course his parents and his girlfriend were concerned 95 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:23.319 because Justin kept talking about this secret mission he was 96 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:26.000 involved in. But the Army has always denied this is 97 00:05:26.040 --> 00:05:28.319 the case, but they think that some sort of cover 98 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:29.319 up has taken place. 99 00:05:29.879 --> 00:05:33.120 I guess that's also how many resources are they going 100 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:35.920 to put into looking for somebody when they truly are 101 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:38.839 a wall. Like in the Paul Wikey case, it seemed 102 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:41.959 like they did very little. But I think we settled 103 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:44.480 on the fact that there was some kind of conspiracy 104 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:47.399 or cover up with the military so the fact that 105 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:49.000 they were saying he was a wall and that they 106 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:53.639 were looking for him seemed unlikely. But here, yeah, that 107 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:56.079 is the question. How long are you going to look 108 00:05:56.120 --> 00:05:58.480 for somebody and what type of resources do you put 109 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:00.959 towards it. I really don't know the answer. 110 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:05.800 I think in the military, it's such a horrific offense 111 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:08.000 to go a wall, to abandon your post, and I 112 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:11.480 feel like there would be consequences that the military would 113 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:15.560 want to invoke or at least sever their relationship officially 114 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:17.639 by figuring out where you went and then you owe 115 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:21.680 us back resources. But I don't know. I'm not sure 116 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:22.680 how that works. 117 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:24.720 Well. 118 00:06:24.759 --> 00:06:28.240 Our story begins in nineteen ninety three, and our central 119 00:06:28.279 --> 00:06:32.160 figure is twenty one year old Justin Bergwinkle. Justin was 120 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:36.600 originally born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to parents Walter and Diane Bergwinkle, 121 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:40.439 and has two brothers. After being an honor student throughout 122 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:44.160 high school, Justin enlisted in the US Army following graduation 123 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:48.600 and initially set his sights on becoming a paratrooper. Following 124 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:51.240 his completion of boot camp during the summer of nineteen 125 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:54.839 ninety Justin, who had been an excellent foreign language student 126 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:58.279 in high school, earned a spot at the Defense Language Institute, 127 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:03.000 located at the Presidio of Monterey in California. While there, 128 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:06.720 he specialized in Korean language training and reportedly told his 129 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:09.279 family that he was eventually hoping to serve in the 130 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:14.519 elite combat unit, the Army Rangers. However, Justin's military career 131 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:17.920 hit a major snag in early nineteen ninety one after 132 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:21.399 a shoplifting incident where he and some friends were caught 133 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:25.079 stealing some tapes from a video store. As punishment, Justin 134 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:28.240 was drummed out of the Defense Language Institute and sent 135 00:07:28.279 --> 00:07:32.160 to Cook's School in South Carolina. He was subsequently sent 136 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:36.000 back to California and reassigned to Fort Ord, located just 137 00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:40.040 outside Monterey, where he became a culinary specialist who prepared 138 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:44.480 meals for his fellow soldiers. Justin was left pretty discouraged 139 00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:47.480 by the situation and was unable to rise above the 140 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:50.519 rank of private But things started to look up for 141 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:53.560 him in August of nineteen ninety two when he became 142 00:07:53.639 --> 00:07:57.879 romantically involved with a woman named Yolanda Antunas. Yolanda was 143 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:01.680 a computer science student at Santa Clairs University who lived 144 00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:04.360 in an apartment in the city and even though Santa 145 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:07.360 Clara was located eighty five miles away from Fort Ord, 146 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:10.519 Justin took frequent trips back and forth in order to 147 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:14.720 visit Yolanda. Even though they had a strong relationship, Yolanda 148 00:08:14.839 --> 00:08:18.279 did notice some odd behavior from Justin, who would sometimes 149 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:21.120 abruptly end their dates or cut off his visits by 150 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:24.560 saying that he needed to go back to Monterey. During 151 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:28.600 her Unsolved Mysteries interviews, Yolanda stated, quote, all of a sudden, 152 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:30.560 he would just stop what he was doing with me 153 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:33.200 in the afternoon, and he would just say, I'm sorry, 154 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:35.559 but I have to go to Monterey and see some people, 155 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:39.240 but I'll be right back. End quote. Justin would attempt 156 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:42.200 to explain his behavior by telling Yolanda that he was 157 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:45.440 involved in something secret and couldn't tell her about it. 158 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:49.919 Okay, you have this dichotomy of who Justin really is. 159 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:53.480 He's this man who's dedicated to his military service, with 160 00:08:53.639 --> 00:08:57.559 huge dreams of moving up in the service, but then 161 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:03.600 you see behaviors that cost him that opportunity. He's stealing things, right, 162 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:07.320 and petty theft and things like that. But he's also erratic, 163 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:11.039 and his mental health and stability already seemed shaky from 164 00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:14.519 what his girlfriend's telling us. Is there a potential that 165 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:18.759 he's involved in drug dealing or drug use and that's 166 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:19.879 part of the problem here. 167 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:22.480 Yeah, we'll be talking more about this later on in 168 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:24.960 our episodes. But the alternate theory that has been pushed 169 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:27.200 forward is that Justin was not actually involved in a 170 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:30.200 secret mission for the military, but could have been involved 171 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.679 in something illegal, such as drug dealing, and just used 172 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:35.960 that as a cover story because it did look like 173 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.919 his military career was really going anywhere, So he could 174 00:09:38.919 --> 00:09:41.360 have got himself involved in something else on the side 175 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:44.279 and then just used that as an excuse if he 176 00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:47.679 needed to go somewhere like Monterey and just abruptly cut 177 00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:49.000 off dates with his girlfriend. 178 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:52.440 I mean, it could be something as simple as infidelity. 179 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:55.320 Maybe he met another woman and he was using this 180 00:09:55.399 --> 00:09:57.759 excuse of, oh, it's a secret mission or I have 181 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:00.960 to go meet some people. It doesn't necessarily have to 182 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:04.559 be something nefarious. And I do find it interesting too 183 00:10:05.159 --> 00:10:07.600 that when we looked at the Paul Whipkey case, we 184 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:12.279 saw somebody with an exemplary record. His mental health was 185 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.200 declining due to the exposure that he had with that 186 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:19.399 training But in this case, we see a situation where 187 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:23.919 he had a lot of potential, but Justin doesn't have 188 00:10:23.960 --> 00:10:27.279 the exemplary record that we saw with Paul Whipkey. 189 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:31.320 Yeah, he's not exhibiting any kind of discipline here. He's 190 00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:34.080 got the big dreams and the potential because he's excelling 191 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:38.320 in language, he's getting selected for some elite programs, but 192 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:41.240 then it's as if he's not disciplined enough to stay 193 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:44.159 on that track, which makes me wonder too, is there 194 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:47.080 potential that there's already some mental health issues going on 195 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:51.360 before any of this begins. But the quick cutting her 196 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:53.240 off and saying I'll be back, I have to go 197 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:56.440 see people, it just seems odd. Like you said, Jules, 198 00:10:56.600 --> 00:10:59.440 could actually be something like maybe there's somebody else he's 199 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:02.399 going to see romantically. It could be that he's off 200 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:07.000 to secure drugs or sell drugs. But like Robin alluded to, 201 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:09.799 it makes sense that this quote secret mission could be 202 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:14.000 something of another part of his character or another part 203 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:17.639 of his pursuit of something that he just didn't want 204 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:18.600 people to know about. 205 00:11:19.159 --> 00:11:21.519 And on the subject of infidelity, we'll talk more about 206 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:24.960 this later, but I have seen some unconfirmed rumors online 207 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:27.679 from people who claim to have known Justin personally that 208 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:31.240 he may have had another girlfriend on the side besides Yolanda, 209 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:33.720 and that could have been his excuse for like abruptly 210 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:37.600 cutting off there get togethers. Things became more complicated in 211 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:40.720 February of nineteen ninety three when Justin was transferred from 212 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:44.200 Florida or to Fort Lewis, which was located in Washington State, 213 00:11:44.279 --> 00:11:47.480 over eight hundred miles north from Santa Clara. But in 214 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:50.320 spite of this, Justin continued to maintain his relationship with 215 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:53.840 Yolanda and would travel back to California to visitor whenever 216 00:11:53.879 --> 00:11:57.120 he could. In May of that year, Justin was granted 217 00:11:57.159 --> 00:11:59.360 a two week furlough from Fort Lewis and went to 218 00:11:59.399 --> 00:12:02.519 stay at his apartment, but she noticed that his behavior 219 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:06.440 was becoming even stranger. Justin brought along a briefcase on 220 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.039 the trip, which he was very secretive about and would 221 00:12:09.080 --> 00:12:11.639 never open in front of anyone. If he did open 222 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:14.639 it inside Yolanda's apartment, Justin would ask her to turn 223 00:12:14.679 --> 00:12:17.080 her head and not look. But there was one moment 224 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:19.399 when she managed to catch a glimpse of Justin over 225 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:22.200 her shoulder, and she saw him pulling small pieces of 226 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:24.759 paper out of the briefcase, which he tore apart with 227 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:28.600 his hands. There was also another incident where Yolanda found 228 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.840 Justin's sobbing alone inside her living room, but he refused 229 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:34.000 to say what was bothering him and said there was 230 00:12:34.039 --> 00:12:38.120 nothing wrong. The strangest event which occurred during Justin's visit 231 00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:41.039 was when Yolanda received a phone call at her apartment 232 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:44.679 from an unidentified man who asked for Justin. When Yolanda 233 00:12:44.759 --> 00:12:47.200 told the caller that Justin was out with friends, he 234 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:49.559 asked her to let him know that quote unquote the 235 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:53.720 missions off Even though Yolanda asked for clarification about what 236 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:57.120 the caller meant, he simply responded to quote, just tell 237 00:12:57.159 --> 00:13:01.080 him the missions off end. Quote. When Justin returned to 238 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:03.960 the apartment later that night, Yolanda believed that he looked 239 00:13:04.039 --> 00:13:06.519 very pale, and she told him what the caller said. 240 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:10.080 This caused Justin to become enraged and start storming through 241 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:12.879 the apartment, but when Yolanda asked what was going on, 242 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.559 he replied, quote, you don't want to know. After Justin's 243 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.360 furlough ended, he returned to Fort Lewis and phoned his 244 00:13:19.399 --> 00:13:21.759 parents in Clinton, and they said that they did not 245 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:25.679 notice anything unusual about him. But around the same time period, 246 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:29.279 credit card records would show that Justin purchased two handguns, 247 00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:32.519 a three fifty seven revolver and a ninety nine millimeter 248 00:13:32.600 --> 00:13:35.600 semi automatic, as well as over one hundred rounds of 249 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:39.799 ammunition and some gun cleaning equipment. At four thirty am 250 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:43.000 on Friday, June fourth, Justin was scheduled to report for 251 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:45.759 kitchen duty at Fort Lewis, but he never showed up. 252 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:49.279 Since he had a good record, the dining facility decided 253 00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:52.559 to hold back on reporting Justin's absence to the superiors 254 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:54.840 as they hoped they could find him and deal with 255 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:59.000 the situation internally. However, by Monday, June seventh, Justin had 256 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:02.200 still not turned up, so he was officially reported as 257 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:06.919 absent without leave aka awol okay. 258 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:09.960 So he's officially been listed as a wall. But when 259 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.159 you go back and you're looking at his behavior, he's 260 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:16.799 visiting with his girlfriend and he has this briefcase that 261 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:17.840 she cannot open. 262 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:19.399 Could it be. 263 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:23.039 Something created like this reminds me some of like Ray Rivera, 264 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:27.279 where that briefcase could be something like the notes and 265 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:29.799 things that Ray had around his house that made no 266 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:33.840 sense right. They were to him clues to something, and 267 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.440 yet they were likely created by him. Here is it 268 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:43.879 possible that the briefcase contains some fictitious item or something 269 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:48.279 that he's constructed in his mind as important, or could 270 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:51.720 it include drugs or something like that and names of 271 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:53.919 people who owe him money or he's supposed to deliver 272 00:14:54.039 --> 00:14:58.120 drugs to. It is odd when this phone call comes 273 00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:01.240 into play that it wouldn't be necessarily just quote made up, 274 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:04.960 because when you have this man say the missions off 275 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:07.399 and the girlfriend wants to know what's he talking about, 276 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:11.039 and he becomes so defensive, justin so angry you don't 277 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:15.120 want to know, and starts to buy guns and weapons 278 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:19.159 and ammo and things, almost as if to protect himself 279 00:15:19.159 --> 00:15:22.960 from something. It really makes me feel like there's something 280 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:28.000 either a drug deal or drug dealing or sex trade 281 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.600 or something that's happening that he's gotten involved in, and he's, 282 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:33.639 like you said, just in over his head. 283 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:36.879 The little pieces of paper were interesting to me, So 284 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:41.600 it could be somebody who's shredded documents that were important 285 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:44.200 or they didn't want other people to see. But to 286 00:15:44.279 --> 00:15:47.080 harken back to what actually just said about the drug dealing. 287 00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:53.679 Some people will sell drugs packaged individually, like in folded 288 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:56.240 up little pieces of paper, whether it be newspaper or 289 00:15:56.279 --> 00:15:59.080 other types of paper. Some people do it in plastic bags. 290 00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:02.919 So it could be something where he was portioning out 291 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:07.279 paper in order to put drugs in to sell. I 292 00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:08.519 mean that's a possibility. 293 00:16:09.960 --> 00:16:12.080 I mean they have talked about the idea that he 294 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:14.440 was doing this all for show that there was nothing 295 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:16.879 important in the briefcase, but he wanted to make Yolanda 296 00:16:16.919 --> 00:16:19.080 believe he was a lot more important than he was 297 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:21.759 and working on some secret mission, and that's why he 298 00:16:21.799 --> 00:16:24.679 did this whole facade with the briefcase. But the interesting 299 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:26.519 thing about the phone call is that the whole thing 300 00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:29.919 about the mission's off. You could assume that perhaps Justin 301 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:32.240 made the phone call himself just as part of this 302 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:35.759 elaborate trade to make it look like make Yolanda think 303 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:38.039 that he's working on something important. But I do think 304 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:40.440 that she would have recognized his voice if that was 305 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:43.000 him on the phone. So the fact that she talked 306 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:46.240 to an outside party does suggest that that Justin was 307 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:49.600 involved in something, though it may not have necessarily been 308 00:16:49.639 --> 00:16:50.799 connected to the military. 309 00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:54.600 Okay to play Devil's advocate, though you could very easily 310 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:58.399 ask a random person just on the street be like, hey, 311 00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:00.960 I'll give you, you know, five bucks or whatever, I 312 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:02.679 need you to make this phone call and this is 313 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:03.759 what I need you to say. 314 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:06.759 Well, i'll talk about this more later. But it has 315 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:09.880 been alleged that Justin would get other members of his 316 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:13.359 army units to make phone calls on his behalf, So 317 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:15.680 it does not sound like that kind of thing would 318 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:18.839 have been out of character for Justin in this particular situation. 319 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:23.720 Well, it turned out that Justin had made an unexpected 320 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:26.920 trip from Fort Lewis to Santa Clara on June fourth, 321 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:30.359 and surprised Yolanda by arriving at her apartment that night. 322 00:17:31.079 --> 00:17:33.400 He remained there for the next several days, and would 323 00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:36.559 frequently leave to take what he described as important trips 324 00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:40.559 to Monterey. Yolanda also noticed that Justin was carrying the 325 00:17:40.599 --> 00:17:44.240 two guns he'd recently purchased at all times. When Yolanda 326 00:17:44.359 --> 00:17:47.759 learned that Justin's absence from Fort Lewis was not authorized, 327 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:51.240 she advised him to phone his parents. Justin agreed to 328 00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:53.319 call them and told his parents that he was not 329 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:57.039 actually a wall but working. Though he refused to share 330 00:17:57.079 --> 00:18:01.039 any specific details about what he was doing, the Bergwinkles 331 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:04.799 still advised Justin to contact fort Lewis, so later that night, 332 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:06.799 he phoned his unit to let them know that he 333 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:09.759 would report back as soon as possible after he took 334 00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:13.079 care of a few things. However, Justin continued to remain 335 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:16.240 at Yolanda's apartment, so she made an attempt to follow 336 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:19.480 him on one of these so called clandestine trips to Monterey, 337 00:18:20.119 --> 00:18:23.519 but before they even exited the building, Justin saw Yolanda 338 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:26.880 and a confrontation ensued, which led to her demanding an 339 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:30.799 explanation about what he was doing. Justin's only response for 340 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:34.319 her was to watch the movie White Sands, a thriller 341 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:37.200 which had been released the previous year and featured a 342 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:40.240 story about a protagonist who becomes involved in the world 343 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:44.599 of international arms smuggling. Justin had also mentioned White Sands 344 00:18:44.680 --> 00:18:48.359 during a previous conversation with his parents, and specifically told 345 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:51.480 them to pay attention to the character played by Mickey Rourke, 346 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:54.599 an arms dealer who turns out to be a CIA agent. 347 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:58.160 Will be providing more details about White Sands in Part two, 348 00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:01.640 but at the time Justin's reference to the film really 349 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:04.359 didn't shed much light on what he was actually doing. 350 00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:09.160 Okay, so not to knock any position in the military, 351 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:11.920 because they're all important. In fact, my fantasy at one 352 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:13.880 point I thought, wouldn't it be cool to be in 353 00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:18.839 the army band or choir, you know, jobs like that? 354 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:22.799 Yes? Yes, are you saying, yeah, what cats you do? 355 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:25.559 Absolutely right, he said. 356 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:31.160 But here he's a cook, right, and when you have 357 00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:35.440 a idea that maybe he's been called up for some 358 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:39.599 secret mission. In our other case, with our military man 359 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:44.599 who goes missing, it makes sense because of his exemplary record. However, 360 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.440 here you have somebody who's been demoted, who's been moved 361 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:52.759 to a new unit because he was shoplifting, and is 362 00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:56.960 now in the kitchen crew. I don't see them necessarily 363 00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.640 going to that crew to say, we have this highly 364 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:04.680 secret operative mission for everybody. We're gonna go pick one 365 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:07.160 of the line cooks and get him up here to 366 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:11.200 do this secret mission. It doesn't make sense, especially because 367 00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:14.599 Justin very recently has been in trouble in the military, 368 00:20:14.920 --> 00:20:17.960 so he's showing that he's not dependable, and to me, 369 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:21.480 it almost seems like whatever quote mission this is is 370 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:24.839 him taking that frustration out of I'm not moving up 371 00:20:24.920 --> 00:20:26.640 quick enough, I'm not getting where I want to be 372 00:20:26.680 --> 00:20:28.920 in the military. So I'm going to take life by 373 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:31.960 the you know, by the horns, and make money and 374 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:38.279 clout somewhere else, aka in drugs or trafficking or whatever 375 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:41.480 else he might be getting involved in. And he's finding 376 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:46.079 his worth there versus the military or the CIA or 377 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:49.240 somebody actually calling up Justin. It just doesn't fit with 378 00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:52.039 his behavior and record in the military. 379 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.799 Wouldn't the CIA tap somebody from an elite unit like 380 00:20:55.880 --> 00:20:59.480 Seal Team six to do a secret mission. If they 381 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:02.279 were going to bring somebody into the CIA, they would 382 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:04.119 bring They've got the pick of the litter. They can 383 00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:07.279 choose anyone they would like. They would want somebody with 384 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:11.240 an exemplary record. They wouldn't take somebody who'd been kicked 385 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:15.440 out of the Defense Foreign Language Academy and demoted to 386 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:19.039 cook And he can't can't be he can't go above 387 00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:21.079 the rank of private. It doesn't make any sense. 388 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:24.519 Yeah, And that is the big difference between this case 389 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:26.839 and Paul Whipkey, because, like we just talked about, he 390 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:30.519 had an exemplary record, and unlike Justin I don't believe 391 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:33.559 Paul was ever in a relationship like he was devoted 392 00:21:33.559 --> 00:21:36.200 to the military. He had no wife, no children, And 393 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:37.920 those are the type of people that you would want 394 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:41.240 to choose for secret missions because they have no ties 395 00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:44.079 and are willing to throw themselves into it one hundred percent. 396 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:47.119 And here's a guy who's got kind of a mediocre 397 00:21:47.160 --> 00:21:50.319 record and was caught shopped lifting, and I hear in 398 00:21:50.359 --> 00:21:53.640 the military they treat that very seriously because they feel 399 00:21:53.720 --> 00:21:56.000 if you steal from us, you're someone that we can't 400 00:21:56.039 --> 00:21:59.200 trust with important secrets, So why we should we send 401 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:01.839