Speaker 1: Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
not intended for all audiences.
Speaker 2: Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 3: When you get the light tempt tests up for him,
then you'll just have.
Speaker 4: To contact me. Place your roast.
Speaker 3: He's said he's sixteen years old? Where are you going
to hear them? Take him?
Speaker 1: Didn't think we'd be back so soon?
Speaker 5: Did you?
Speaker 1: Always so pessimistic? We're so negative this audience. I don't
know what's wrong with you people. Anyway, I hope you
had a good holiday season. We have some big news,
so don't skip ahead just yet. We uh, we got
something to tell you, and I think you're gonna like it,
or maybe you won't.
Speaker 5: Who knows.
Speaker 1: You guys always complain about everything, so it's hard to tell.
It's really a losing battle sometimes with you guys such missingthropes. No, anyway,
this is season thirteen, episode three d and thirty three
of Sword and Scale. Is show that reveals what the
worst monsters are.
Speaker 3: Real.
Speaker 1: All right, here's what we got for you. Sword and
Scale Television is now available on YouTube. That's right, it's
on YouTube. You can get it for just ten bucks
a month on YouTube. Now here's the thing. A lot
of people are not very technologically inclined, so just understand.
It's a separate service, a separate subscription on a separate platform.
It's not connected to our website in any way. So
it's like a standalone kind of thing over there on YouTube.
If you just want to see the video and you
don't like the podcast for whatever reason, it's available as
a standalone video service, and you can add audio for
another ten bucks on top of it on YouTube.
Speaker 6: So there you go.
Speaker 1: That's what we got for you.
Speaker 5: I hope you like that.
Speaker 1: Monday, September two, twenty nineteen was Labor Day. It was
a day that many people circled on their calendars, the
unofficial end of summer. Well last chance to soak up
the sunshine, to hike and to explore. In southeastern Ohio.
There's no better place for that than Hawking Hills State Park.
With over twenty five miles of hiking trails, massive rock formations,
explorable caves, and towering waterfalls, this park is the perfect
place to get lost in nature. For many, it's like
a sanctuary. But on Labor Day twenty nineteen, it became
something else Entirely.
Speaker 7: Nine or one, where's your emergency.
Speaker 3: Okay, what.
Speaker 7: Treatment light? Okay, take a brook. You're an old man's cave, yes, okay.
And what happened you're say, flow down. I can't understan
what happened.
Speaker 8: On?
Speaker 7: A tree branch fell on some one? Yeah, okay, okay,
are you with that?
Speaker 1: Afternoon, the Hocking County nine one one dispatch center lit
up with panicked phone calls, all coming from teenagers. They
said a log had fallen from the cliffs at the
state park and hit a woman hard in the head.
Speaker 3: I remember being in.
Speaker 9: The park and just making goofy memories, and we decided
to go on a hike to one of the other places,
and he ended up getting lost. We were talking about
running marathons and just laughing and making good memories when
we started to hear a bunch of cracking tree branches
in a large cracking sound, almost as if a tree
had fallen. As I heard this sound, I turned around
myself and Bella, only being two steps away from her,
and I watched as a seven foot log falls from
the sky and strikes Missus Shaeffer in the head.
Speaker 3: My immediate reaction was to bend down to help her.
Speaker 1: The woman hit by the log was a forty six
year old professional photographer. She was also a beloved wife, daughter,
and mother of four children. Her name was Victoria Shaeffer.
Speaker 10: Victoria managed to complete her undergraduate schooling and later after
her marriage, she graduated with a master's degree. One of
Victoria's most fortunate life decisions was to meet and eventually mary,
someone she met while we were on a family vacation,
to maybe Fritz Shaeffer. While I had been notoriously hard
on all her previous boyfriends, this one appeared to me
to joe promise, and he definitely loved her. We were
blessed over the next several years with four wonderful grandchildren
who have made us extremely provident.
Speaker 1: As a photographer. One of Victoria's regular gigs taking portraits
for local high school students.
Speaker 11: I think she did fifteen weddings ninety or so high
school seniors. She owned a sports and school photography business
that she was building up in many other events.
Speaker 9: Victoria Schaeffer was one of the most kind hearted, amazing
people I have ever met. She never let anyone show
their face smile. How could you when you were around her?
She always knew how to make you smile, just the
way she wanted you to get the perfect picture. And
it wasn't just because she was taking your picture. You
were genuinely happy to be around her.
Speaker 1: On Labor Day of twenty nineteen, Victoria had gone to
Hawking Hills State Park with a group of high school seniors.
They had just finished a photo shoot and were walking
towards the parking lot to leave when tragedy struck.
Speaker 3: The other seniors.
Speaker 12: And I can tell you it started with the crack
of what sounded like tree branches falling down on us,
which having you friends particularly looking around, until my eyes
had met a huge log hitting the side of the
Schafer's head, bringing her to the ground instantly. And I
will say this image is in my night years, in
my mind forever. First light, second, I was in shock
before then jumping to see if she was all right,
but she was just lying there, lifeless. I tried calling
out her name, hoping to get a response, but there
wasn't one. At this point, we still had hope, just
thinking she was unconscious. But in the back of our
minds we all knew.
Speaker 1: From the teenager's perspective, a six foot long, seventy five
pound log had seemingly fallen from the sky. It came
down with crushing force, landing directly on Victoria, killing her instantly.
Speaker 13: The group was following along this trail back to the
parking lot when out of nowhere, a seventy plus pound
log came crashing down from above, crushing the photographer. The
students and other people nearby called nine to one one,
but her injuries were far too severe.
Speaker 5: She had a twelve inch.
Speaker 4: Long gash on the top of her head three inches wide.
Speaker 11: The broker's spine in two places, crushedber chest cavity and
broke six ribs, along with multiple other internal and external injuries.
Speaker 1: Since this tragedy had taken place at a state park,
two agencies were responsible for figuring out what happened. Victoria's
death was investigated by the Hawking County Sheriff's Office in
Ohio's Department of Natural Resources.
Speaker 14: We're right above the top of Oman's Cave. Is what
I know this has on top of here. To my
left is there's a walkway where the tunnel would be located.
In front of us is where the tree stomp was located.
And we'll be walking doing a walk through here and
what we believe is here located in this section is
where the approximately six foot log was located at which
you can still kind of see where the love was
looking had with this colouration, or it's been there for
quite some time. From there, it was carried over approximately
about where Nicole ian Rose is at where they're getting
ready to go off the side. They're going to do
a exact measurement from the edge down to where the female.
Speaker 4: Decease was found.
Speaker 1: Investigators quickly determined that Victoria's death wasn't a freak accident.
This wasn't the case of a tree falling or a
log simply rolling off a cliff by itself. All the
evidence indicated that someone had moved the log and thrown
it over the edge. In other words, Victoria hadn't simply died.
She had been murdered. This news not only stunned the community,
but it also left Victoria's family completely devastated.
Speaker 5: One of us called Victoria had died.
Speaker 15: Our family initially believed and there had been a natural
accident and acted God, if you will. In my mind,
I could have accepted that she died doing what she
loved and that no one was responsible beyond nature itself.
Speaker 4: It was only days later, when.
Speaker 15: Investigators told us that they believed that this was no
freak accident, that it began to feel differently about.
Speaker 16: How she was killed.
Speaker 1: The next step for investigators was to figure out who
had thrown the log that killed Victoria and why they
had done it. They questioned whether this had been a
planned attack or if someone had simply made a reckless
and deadly decision. Initially, only one thing was certain, whoever
threw the log hadn't come forward. They fled the scene
without ever saying a word. Eventually, investigators received a tip
about a young man who had allegedly taken responsibility for
throwing the log. Nineteen year old Isaiah Singrey had been
at Hawking Hills State Park and his family had reported
express concern that he might have been involved. A few
days after the incident, investigators went to Isaiah's home to
speak with him.
Speaker 4: Sure SAMs the door.
Speaker 1: When an officer knocked on Isaiah's door, there was no
response For nearly fifteen minutes. About ten cops searched and
lingered outside his home. They peered through windows, looking for
any sign that someone might be inside, but they saw nothing. Finally,
the front door opened, but it wasn't Isaiah who appeared.
It was a young woman named Raven. She was Isaiah's
girlfriend where else?
Speaker 17: So if he's not here, you probably don't care for
us to step in and look, Raven, we're not playing.
Speaker 4: We know he's here.
Speaker 14: Don't get yourself and doesn't something you don't need to
be telling you.
Speaker 4: His butt out here.
Speaker 1: When investigators questioned Raven, she lied and told him that
Isaiah wasn't home, But when they pressed her and asked
if they could check the home, she shrugged her shoulders
and walked back inside. A few moments later, Isaiah finally appeared.
Speaker 4: Come on, Isaiah, are you yeah?
Speaker 5: You're scared shit out of him? What? Oh? No, I
never had done shars pull up to my house.
Speaker 4: Before looking for me. You never had that happen.
Speaker 5: That's a good thing.
Speaker 14: We need to talk to you about something serious and
need you're honest truth and want to get some something
care of.
Speaker 5: You need to get the walk or something.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're gonna go for a ride and what's this
all over? Well, that's what we're gonna go.
Speaker 5: Have a chat.
Speaker 1: His officers placed Isaiah in the back of a police cruiser.
Several of his family members began arriving at the house.
They were immediately questioned, Yeah.
Speaker 3: I watched the news yesterday the very ving, and.
Speaker 4: I had a feeling it was my kids.
Speaker 5: What made you think that?
Speaker 18: Because all the pictures on Facebook of them climbing.
Speaker 4: That wall, and I don't know, it was scary. What
did What did Isaiah tell you that they didn't know
they cut any other.
Speaker 3: That they didn't know if they did hurt somebody, They
didn't know.
Speaker 4: What did Isaiah say he talked over because he talked
about it.
Speaker 5: Oh, he didn't tell me.
Speaker 3: He talks anything over.
Speaker 5: Oh God, what did Isaiah say that?
Speaker 4: But they were climbing on rocks.
Speaker 9: Yeah, climbing on kave and something else supposed to be
on He said he didn't know what happened.
Speaker 3: He didn't know anything hurt anybody.
Speaker 4: Into the next day, Well, how do you think he
heard somebody something fell and landed on there?
Speaker 5: I watched it on kream at school today.
Speaker 4: Did Isaiah say what it was? He didn't.
Speaker 3: He was trying to look at it to see what
exactly happened on Krim.
Speaker 4: But it said that a log or a tree fell.
Speaker 1: On top of her.
Speaker 5: They say about it three year alone Isaiah.
Speaker 3: No, he just said that he was just saying that it's.
Speaker 4: The petty killed someone. That's what.
Speaker 1: Allegedly Isaiah. I thought it was dope that he had
killed someone. If you're older than me, that means cool
or hip or groovy man. Between his refusal to answer
the door when officers came knocking and these statements from
his own family, things weren't really looking rosy for Isaiah.
So investigators brought him and his girlfriend Raven, into the
sheriff's office for questioning, Well, why did.
Speaker 4: You why did you lie about it? Would Isaiah being there.
Speaker 18: Because he told me to tell you guys that that
he Wasn't.
Speaker 19: You think that's a normal response. Yeah, our experience, gilly
people usually high in line. Do you know what happened
on save porps? And why you're here talking to us?
No idea Isaiah thought he killed somebody?
Speaker 3: Well, my mom taught.
Speaker 20: Isaiah that him and my brother was being the playing
for killing somebody Labor Day.
Speaker 4: But I don't know that's what do you think we're
talking to you about it?
Speaker 21: Because they Isaiah and my brother was like off the trial.
Speaker 1: According to witnesses, Raven's brother and Isaiah had entered a
restricted area at Hawking Hill State Park. They'd climbed a
cliff that put them directly above the spot where Victoria
Schaeffer was killed. When investigators questioned Isaiah about this, he
seemed genuinely unaware of what had happened. During his interview,
Isaiah described the path he and Raven's brother had taken
through the park.
Speaker 22: So what happened I kind of called it a little
just on the news and I looked it up and
they didn't say anything about looking, praying anybody or nothing.
Speaker 5: Just something happened to lady at old Man's Cave.
Speaker 4: Well, let's get this, which what time did you get
through Saturday?
Speaker 22: I couldn't probably about two o'caoll because we said he's
gonna start about twelve when we used a couple of
hours later.
Speaker 4: And you guys into the men's cave. Yeah, So who
else do you know that was there with you? Uh?
Speaker 5: My girlfriend's brother.
Speaker 4: He was Zylan Dylan right.
Speaker 21: Yeah.
Speaker 1: During his interview, Isaiah described the path he and Raven's
brother had taken through the park. He also openly admitted
that he had climbed into a restricted area when the trails.
Speaker 22: That go up and around this world tall and he
could look straight down like this. It's a straight jawball. Okay,
we looked down like that, and then we noticed there's
a rock down below us. So we walked all the
way around. When we got to the bar, but ether
they had a sign and said don't climb, and we
only climbed up ply about so.
Speaker 19: There's a sign and he claimed up anyways, well, it's
only like they literally have chats that.
Speaker 5: But listen, it was only like ten twenty foot up.
Speaker 4: That was about hot. It's like you don't have a
somebody that says, don't push you right button, and you
push you rybun.
Speaker 5: Oh my, that's like ten to twenty foot high.
Speaker 22: And we got up there and we got our pictures
taking and stuff, and we climbed down. We didn't do
stupid shit angle I t we did this climb up
when like the rocks that said do you don't climb
one and.
Speaker 5: Take a picture a few but that was it.
Speaker 1: Isaiah claimed that the only thing he did after climbing
into that restricted area was to take some photos. He
said nothing about throwing a log or anything else off
the edge of the cliff.
Speaker 4: Well, there was comments that was made about you thinking
that you killed somebody?
Speaker 23: Was that?
Speaker 4: I mean, where did this come from?
Speaker 5: That?
Speaker 22: Because everybody said this is why her this is how
very first her ponent, my girlfriend's mom calls me crying
and she's like, I'm like that should be Yeah.
Speaker 5: I was like, what the hell is your called them?
Speaker 20: Dude.
Speaker 4: She's like, they're.
Speaker 22: Saying you and Dylan killed some girl at the National
Forest And I'm like, what are you talking about?
Speaker 5: And she's like, well, you guys went off the chaniel signed,
took the pages and stuff. They're saying that something flop
and hit some lady and killed her.
Speaker 1: As investigators spoke with Isaiah, it became clear that the
tips they had received were nothing more than rumors, most
of which had been started by his overly concerned mother.
Speaker 4: But something did happen that I was a person to
die out there cast quick day?
Speaker 15: It was.
Speaker 4: It was Monday.
Speaker 5: It was Monday, so I'm clear. I'm well, did you
do it?
Speaker 4: What did you call? Anything over? Is there anything over?
Speaker 5: I wasn't even there Monday Saturday.
Speaker 1: The truth was Isaiah, Raven and Raven's brother hadn't even
been at the state park on the day Victoria was killed.
They were there on Saturday, two days before the incident.
On Labor Day when Victoria died, both Isaiah and Raven
were at home all day with their kids.
Speaker 4: What day were you out of homens gave? What day
were you out there this last Saturday?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Did you come back any like?
Speaker 5: Good?
Speaker 7: Back?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Did you ever after Saturday?
Speaker 19: Did you back to wimenskav So you never came back here,
back to Livia back if it didn't go out to
the caves?
Speaker 4: It doesn't like that, No Saturday, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Fortunately for Isaiah he was cleared of any wrongdoing. Unfortunately
for investigators, they were back to square one. The question
of who killed Victoria Shaeffer was still unanswered, and it
stayed that way for a while.
Speaker 24: Here at Second in Walnut Streets in downtown Chilicothee, just
forty eight hours after Victoria Shaeffer's death, in front of
her photography studio, here people have already started to drop
off candles and flowers to remember her.
Speaker 23: It still hits me with a lot of shock that
she's just not here, and I feel worse for her family,
especially her younger daughters.
Speaker 24: Hoped for a resolution to the mystery surrounding her death.
And the apprehension of the person or people the ODNR
says are responsible for somehow dislodging the tree limb that
fell on Schaeffer, killing her as the group hiked Hawking Hills,
snapping senior photos along the way.
Speaker 23: They probably never meant for that to happen, because Victoria
was so loved. I couldn't think of somebody would want
to hurt her.
Speaker 3: Just I hope that they come forward, you know, and
admit what they have done.
Speaker 18: Her family deserves that.
Speaker 24: Odn R, the Hacking County Sheriff's Department, and BCI are
all investigating the incident. They're asking anyone that may have
seen something suspicious regarding Shaeffer's death to call authorities.
Speaker 1: For over a month, there were no answers to the
mystery surrounding Victoria's death, but in early October twenty nineteen,
the Hawking County Sheriff's Office received a credible tip, this
time from a mother and her teenage daughter.
Speaker 25: My daughter is a student at Logan Heights Colfox, and
she has the friend that she writes to us with
and this friend boyfriend admitted to her that he took
part in the guest of I'm trying to think of
what her name was, Miss Shaeffer. Actually, I'm going to
have you speech to my daughter. She can give you
the information a little bit better than what I can't.
Speaker 3: Okay, Hello, Hie.
Speaker 26: A girl at the bus list Bailey Cherry, her now
ex boyfriend, Jordan Buckley, apparently was one of the two.
Speaker 25: Boys at the park who partook in the branch falling
down and hitting Miss Shafer. He says he's not the
one who hit it. His friend who he's with was,
but I don't know his friend's name.
Speaker 4: What grade is Jordan named tenth and apparently.
Speaker 25: The other boy involved in eleventh grade, but I Bailey
said his name, but I can't recall it because I've never.
Speaker 4: Heard his name before.
Speaker 1: Investigators were given the name of a suspect, sixteen year
old Jordan Buckley, a student at Logan High School in Logan, Ohio.
They looked at a Jordan and confirmed he'd been at
hacking Hill State Park on the day Victoria died. Then
they got access to his social media messages. That's when
it all started to make sense. Victoria's death wasn't the
result of a random accident or a planned attack. Her
death was caused by two teenage boys who had made
one very reckless and irreversible decision. On September two, twenty nineteen,
forty six year old photographer Victoria Schaeffer was killed at
Hawking Hill State Park when a log fell from a
cliff and brutally struck her in the head. At first,
this tragedy appeared to be an accident, but it quickly
evolved into a murder investigation.
Speaker 6: This actually happened back on the Labor Day of last
year in twenty nineteen, and at first everyone thought it
was just a terrible act of nature. A log comes
rolling off a click in a wilderness area and then
it evolves. So we pretty quickly find out from investigators
that it was maybe not an accident, and I think
that shocked everyone.
Speaker 1: After weeks with no answers, investigators finally identified as suspect
a sixteen year old high school student named Jordan Buckley.
According to one of Jordan's classmates, he had admitted to
doing something terrible at the state park. Investigators went to
Logan High School, took over a conference room and invited
Jordan to have a conversation with them.
Speaker 5: But now I know this is about I was there.
Speaker 27: I think I don't know what day was on. It's
next September. So this last month me and my friends.
Speaker 5: Were you're nervous and you're going to get it all out.
That's great, and we want you to get it on.
Speaker 28: Just let me finish up a few things right here
and we'll get We'll let you talk as much as
you want.
Speaker 5: Nothing really happened.
Speaker 1: When Jordan was brought in for questioning, he seemed eager
to tell his side of the story and talk about
the day that Victoria died. That was, of course perfectly
fine with investigators that day.
Speaker 27: Me and my friends, I don't know if you guys
want me to give you their names or not. Oh yeah,
it doesn't really matter. Jadien Churches, mariand the Spencer and aj.
I don't know a J's last name.
Speaker 5: And it's just us. We were just walking around board
so we were like, what's going to hiking?
Speaker 27: Just went on an ike, say he was an escape. Yeah,
we were on skate that's where it went. And then
when we went there, nothing was happening. But we went
up like on the backside of the hill and we
came back because some guys I told us to someone
got smashed by branch. He said, we turned around and
we went down towards the bottom part. As we came
back up and there was a bunch of like ems,
people going to past us and sirens and everything.
Speaker 5: Really, yes, we just.
Speaker 1: Went up to Jordan explained that he was at Hawking
Hill State Park with three of his teenage friends, Jaden Churchis,
Miranda Spencer, and aj Warren. Jordan claimed that while they
walked the trails, a man came running past them and
warned them not to continue on the path they were
on because someone had gotten hurt. So the four teenagers
simply turned around and left.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we were on top and then some guy came
up to us.
Speaker 15: I don't know who it was.
Speaker 27: It was an African American guy. He had long dreads
and he came up to me and he said, don't
go that way. And I asked him why and he
said a branch fell down and smashed some woman. And
I said a branch. He said, yeah, like a tree
branch fell off. So we went down and then we
walked down the stairs and we.
Speaker 5: Just came back and.
Speaker 1: Nothing really happened, naturally. The investigators were skeptical of Jordan's
version of events, and they knew he was leaving a
whole lot out of the story.
Speaker 5: Jordan, MH, I want should be honest with you dead.
Speaker 4: Yeah, before we come in here, we've already got our answers. M.
Speaker 5: We asked a serious questions that we have answers to you.
Speaker 29: All right, So this is the time of Clinton because
there's allegations that brought me in shoe were they Well,
you were there, you confirmed.
Speaker 5: That she was there.
Speaker 15: Didn't know that she was there.
Speaker 4: So there's more to this story.
Speaker 5: That's about the branch fan up on top. Well that
I didn't do anything like I wasn't. I just don't
like to snitching on people. The problem this is the time.
It's not about station.
Speaker 30: This is about telling the truth, and telling the truth
gets you even further than not telling the truth.
Speaker 27: We were me and Jayden walked all the way part down,
like clear to the end, not for the battle bridges.
This guy did say that to us, but we did
end up going back down.
Speaker 5: But I just skipped a part of what we did.
We walked all the way down to the end end
of this and Jayden kicked off a branch, not a branch.
It was a log. It was a big dog like
this while this all he kicked it and.
Speaker 27: It rolled off to the cliffs and it made a
loud bang. So we ran and we ran into Miranda
and aj They had no idea.
Speaker 4: We didn't tell him that load.
Speaker 5: Yes, that log, that lo. He just kicked it. He
didn't kick it up, pushing or anything.
Speaker 7: He just kicked it.
Speaker 1: It took investigators less than twenty minutes to get Jordan
to break and to get him talking about the log
that killed Victoria Schaeffer, though his account of how the
log ended up rolling off the cliff didn't make much sense.
He claimed that his friend Jayden had simply kicked it,
but investigators knew that couldn't be possible.
Speaker 27: I don't know if I wasn't like paying attention what
he was doing. So I don't know if he intentionally
kicked it or if he, like someone.
Speaker 4: On it, did pick it up first and carry it.
Speaker 5: No, he didn't pick it up at all.
Speaker 4: About glasshole, how to get on the other side of
the tree.
Speaker 21: I had no idea.
Speaker 30: That log that you just pointed to me right later,
right here there was a pile of them right yeah,
the tree, two of them remember those.
Speaker 5: There was a tree and it was in between the streets.
Speaker 4: It was like this, and he kicked it.
Speaker 1: The evidence at the crime scene told investigators that the
log had been moved before it dropped from the cliff.
Its original location was several feet from the cliff sete.
There was simply no way that a single kick or
even several picks would have caused it to fall.
Speaker 5: You've been following us on TV phone, What the story
on TV?
Speaker 6: See anything on TV?
Speaker 5: Social media? I'm seeing anything about it. Nothing.
Speaker 4: You don't even know what happened that day, Now, I.
Speaker 5: Just didn't acknowledge any You didn't acknowledge it. Yeah, I
just didn't think anything of it, said, you know what
what happened?
Speaker 18: Not really?
Speaker 4: Yeah, no idea, not really.
Speaker 5: So when you sent a text to your girlfriend at
the time, I mean.
Speaker 27: Yeah, I got well, I knew what happened, but I
didn't know what happened to cause that, like completely what happened.
Speaker 5: Like I was there with my friends, but I wasn't
doing I did it, and I know that it killed.
Speaker 27: The one when it fell down on her and I
heard the loud bang, and I saw Jade running and
I was running with Jade.
Speaker 18: So what do you mean?
Speaker 4: What didn't go nine one one?
Speaker 5: Why didn't you do anything?
Speaker 31: Because I was freaking out and I thought I was
going to get in trouble for it, okay, and.
Speaker 27: I didn't want to get charge expressed against me. I
can voluntary mansipire or something.
Speaker 5: So you have researched this, No.
Speaker 4: I just known a lot.
Speaker 1: Not only was Jordan's story impossible, but investigators could tell
he had already researched the criminal charges he might face
if the truth came out. And that wasn't all. The
investigators knew that Jordan and Jaden had made a secret
pack to stay quiet about what had happened at the park.
In other words, the murder they committed was supposed to
stay between them.
Speaker 5: You and Jade hooked any more about this?
Speaker 4: Nope, I didn't make a pack and say, man.
Speaker 5: Never gonna say anything.
Speaker 4: You gotta keep his secret.
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, we did say that.
Speaker 27: That's why I told you that story. But then after
I realized the severity of it, I could get in
a lot more trouble for his like his actions if I'm.
Speaker 18: The one not doing anything.
Speaker 4: But and I don't want that to happen.
Speaker 5: So I kind of texted the agent, I can do.
Something's gonna happen.
Speaker 4: This We're gonna get caught.
Speaker 5: I said, I don't know what do you want me
to say, but I'm not getting in trouble for you.
Speaker 31: I said, I won't tell them, but if they asked me,
I'm not gonna completely lie and get.
Speaker 5: Myself in trouble.
Speaker 1: And then he said, Okay, I'm not really worried about it,
as you might expect a teenager to do. Jordan put
all the blame on his friend, insisting that Jaden was
solely responsible for what had happened. You also claim that
Jaden seemed proud of what he had done.
Speaker 32: You could hook me up to a live text because
I can't kick it out and throw it. Almost all
Jayden told me was I kicked long offs. I will
I swear on everything he didn't put the live attack
of tests on me, and I'll say the same because that's.
Speaker 5: Exactly what happened.
Speaker 4: Did Jaden say he did? Yeah, Jaden says, Jayden's told
me that he did people and his girls.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he said that for anything.
Speaker 4: So the girl said, say, he said, I already caught
a body by the age sixteen.
Speaker 27: So you more about him with this funny he said, Look,
I already got a body at the age of sixteen.
He said, I don't think it's funny. I think that's
the only reason want to tell you is if I
making a serious someone for someone being stuated and messing around.
Speaker 1: According to Jordan, Jaden had said, quote, I already caught
a body at the age of sixteen. If that was true,
investigators figured they might be dealing with a complete sociopath.
But moron Jayden in a minute. As for Jordan, investigators
already knew he had admitted to throwing the log, not
to them, but to another one of his friends, so
naturally they wanted answers. If he hadn't touched the log,
why tell someone he did? Jordan explained he was simply
trying to impress a girl, because apparently bragging about murder
is how you get pussy. Can we get some dat
as around here?
Speaker 27: Nay?
Speaker 5: And the one person I told with baby, what did
you tell her? I told her that me and Jayden
threw a ball?
Speaker 27: Wrong, Okay, but I was just saying that you were
cool because I thought it was cool.
Speaker 5: But it's not. After everybody's the severity.
Speaker 4: Of it and he love cools on the n Sip
Churches church was burn.
Speaker 5: I know, but that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 27: If it comes down to it, I would literally take
a lot of type of tests before this back.
Speaker 5: If you guys do not believe me, I had nothing
to do with it, and I did not or touched
that ball, Why didn't you still say something? Because I
don't know.
Speaker 27: I was freaked out about it because I thought it
was just called going to go away and everybody would
have forgot about it.
Speaker 5: You're gonna forget about it death?
Speaker 4: No, I don't know.
Speaker 5: It's you're sure what a woman looks like with her
head mash up? But do you want to say it now?
Speaker 18: Yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker 17: It's irresponsible act. I know four kids with my mom,
husband's wife grew up. It's time to grow up right now?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 19: That there's anything you got not toward us, anything you
held that anything you don't want to tell us.
Speaker 4: Maybe you guys were kicking the wall to him.
Speaker 31: You tell him, I don't.
Speaker 5: I did not kick that log with him. I'd swear
on everything.
Speaker 4: Did you touch that log?
Speaker 5: Boom? So I pushed I touched the log to move
it out of the area, but I to move it.
Speaker 27: It was right in between these streets, and you pushed
it out, and then I helped him push it out,
but he kicked it down and I didn't kick it,
so I didn't touch the wall.
Speaker 5: So you had helped him. No, I didn't know he
was king it off, would you I helped to.
Speaker 18: Pull it out.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Once again, Jordan's story changed. He still insisted he wasn't
the one who threw the log, but he finally admitted
to moving it. But even with this admission, Jordan's story
still didn't make much sense.
Speaker 5: It's lit told you that I had a special compere
to come.
Speaker 28: In called a conversation that reconstructed this little scene because
the trajectory of the log going over the edge, and
the possibilities of what that load weight, and what the
possibility is of one versus throwing it versus different people.
Speaker 5: I don't. I mean, if you want to, you can,
if you can do that, already have.
Speaker 7: Truth.
Speaker 5: I didn't throw it off. I swear on everything truth.
I am. I'm telling the truth. I didn't throw the
log off. Yes, I am, I'm telling the truth. I
didn't not throw that load off. He helped me. No,
I did not. I did not throw the load off.
Possible to pick up the six foot bow, but I
don't know. I didn't throw the lord off with it,
I swear on everything. Did you grab one end? Did
you grab the other hand? Nope? All I did was dragon.
That's the only thing I did.
Speaker 1: There were several things about Jordan's story that were either
implausible or impossible. First, there was the size and weight
of the log six feet log seventy five pounds. It
wasn't likely that one person could have thrown it alone,
especially a scrawny, little juvenile shit like Jordan or Jaden. Second,
just below the cliff where the log came from, there
was another ledge, a protruding rock formation. For the log
to clear that it would have taken serious effort and force.
The most likely scenario is that both Jordan and Jaden
moved the log and threw it together, just two teenage
boys experimenting with gravity, because that's the extent of their intellect.
Speaker 5: Miranda, and he would tell you that I throw it
off to it was Jade.
Speaker 4: He threw off four back and then he threw it off.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but I didn't know he was. Yeah, but I
didn't know he was off.
Speaker 4: So every time we talk we get a little bit
different story. Now Miranda and ages there.
Speaker 1: Initially, Jordan told investigators that the girls he was with
that day hadn't seen anything, but like every other part
of his story, that turned out to be a lie.
His friends Miranda and aj had seen exactly what happened,
and investigators questioned them both, starting with the fifteen year
old Aj Warren.
Speaker 5: But I'm told us about going to the park.
Speaker 15: There.
Speaker 18: It was me and Miranda and Jada and Jordan.
Speaker 16: Then we decided to go to the caves and the
boys saw a log or were picking it up, and
they're like, you know, they were going to start off,
and you.
Speaker 15: Said not to do that because you have not like.
Speaker 16: You don't know what's over there.
Speaker 29: I don't know someone over there, you know.
Speaker 16: And so they dropped the log to the ground. I
come to the cliff that we were on and it
rolled back off, and so we started walking away. A
man started walking or was pasting running. He said that
a woman got hit.
Speaker 5: The large.
Speaker 18: Branch or log and he believes that.
Speaker 3: He believes that you didn't make it.
Speaker 5: She was dead.
Speaker 21: So you know, we obviously were very I was shaking
up about it and didn't not to do. We knew
it was wrong, and we knew that.
Speaker 4: Whether it wasn't intentional.
Speaker 21: You know, they weren't trying to hurt somebody, and they
weren't trying.
Speaker 5: To kill somebody.
Speaker 1: Putting it mildly. AJ's version of events made a lot
more sense than Jordan's, but one critical question remained. Who
actually threw the log?
Speaker 4: Who touched the log?
Speaker 33: About?
Speaker 16: Jordan picked it up, well, didn't pick it up, but
he grabbed it from one end.
Speaker 21: To make it stand up, and they were going to
push it off.
Speaker 16: So then Jayden looked and they dropped it on, not
off the cliff, but onto the ground, and it rolled,
it fell.
Speaker 4: Back off the cliff.
Speaker 5: So let me get this straight.
Speaker 34: Jordan's holding this, well on it said, okay, it's picked
it up, it's standing on the end, and he's holding it.
You're stating that Jayden went over looked over the edge
to see if anybody was over there and stated that
he couldn't see anybody.
Speaker 2: Was that right?
Speaker 5: Yes? Okay, Now what happened? Jordan's just Jordan's still holding this.
Speaker 18: He's and.
Speaker 4: And so Jordan let go the other end, not pushing.
Speaker 35: Its holding it, let's go, let's go, not pushing it
or not kicking it over the edge.
Speaker 18: But he lets go and it hits the ground. Like
if you were if we were further from the.
Speaker 21: Edge and he dropped it, it wouldn't don't think he
would have run off, but it was.
Speaker 4: It was close to the edge.
Speaker 18: Georgia dropped it and like just rolled back off.
Speaker 34: Jordan, let's go it. It falls, goes back to the
ground and rolls off. Yes, one hundred percent, positive, absolutely,
one hundred percent.
Speaker 5: That is what happened. Whatever I remember, Yes, sir, But.
Speaker 1: That explanation didn't add up. It wasn't likely that simply
releasing the log would have given it enough force to
clear the ledge below. To complicate things further, the other witness,
nineteen year old Miranda Spencer, gave investigators a similar story,
but with the roles reversed. She claimed Jordan only looked
over the edge to make sure no one was below,
and it was Jayden who actually sent the log off
the cliff.
Speaker 20: Jordan looks over the cliff and is like, there's nobody
done the liking good dude, and then Jaden either case,
upper poses is off.
Speaker 18: I'm not sure, but he definitely didn't pick it up,
so it's just like rolled off.
Speaker 4: Basically, Jayden picked up the lawn, pick it up.
Speaker 18: I don't think he didn't pick it up, but he's.
Speaker 5: The one that pushed it off. Jason pushed it off.
Speaker 18: Yeah, Jadon, Jordan didn't touch the lawn at all.
Speaker 17: Had anybody in your party touched it prior to that
to move it to that location?
Speaker 1: Like aj Miranda was adamant about what she saw, but
their accounts didn't match, and investigators wanted to know why.
Speaker 18: What I'm saying is what happened, like like, I'm not kidding.
Speaker 5: How about the law? How long went?
Speaker 4: How long was it?
Speaker 5: Who held a law? Who moved? He moved?
Speaker 34: Then what Jordan did Jayden?
Speaker 20: Jordan said that he like, he looked over the legend
said that there was nobody down there. So Jayden pushed
it off because he didn't think he was going to
hurt anybody.
Speaker 4: But jay didn't will log.
Speaker 1: These conflicting accounts didn't make sense. Aj was certain that
Jordan rolled the log. Miranda was just as sure it
was Jaden. How could either of them be wrong about
something like that? And if someone was lying, the question
was why.
Speaker 5: Your story and Miranda's one major law. You can't figure
that out for the life of me.
Speaker 30: Why I don't say what is but just can't figure
out for the life of me why there's one major
difference here.
Speaker 5: Amazing.
Speaker 18: I had no idea. Everything I told you is.
Speaker 21: Exactly what I remember.
Speaker 1: As investigators tried to make sense of the conflicting statements
from aj and Miranda, they also had a decision to
make what should they do with Jordan and what you
charges would he face?
Speaker 5: Am I going to get arrested for what?
Speaker 33: I don't know?
Speaker 5: And that's what I'm saying. I don't know if there's
any charges that I can get for witnessing a murder?
Speaker 4: Hey, what would you you murder?
Speaker 23: What?
Speaker 5: I know? But I wouldn't voluntarily did it? I didn't.
It wasn't my fault that it happened.
Speaker 4: What happens you and the rubber store? He shoots the heels.
Speaker 5: Clerk, Well, I get in trouble for me with him?
Speaker 4: Do you get charged for murder?
Speaker 5: Sus So, I'm going to get charged for the voluntary
manslaughter for.
Speaker 4: I consider just murder.
Speaker 5: So I'm going to get murdered.
Speaker 1: Say that before investigators could move forward with any charges
against Jordan. There was still one critical step left. They
needed to talk to the other teenager, the one who
had allegedly bragged about killing someone. They needed to question
sixteen year old Jaden Churches. On Labor Day twenty nineteen,
forty six year old Victoria Schaeffer was killed when a
six foot log was thrown from a cliff at Hawking
Hill State Park. The investigation led to two sixteen year
old boys, Jordan Buckley and Jaden Churches. Jordan had already
been questioned, but his version of events wasn't just questionable,
it was impossible. Next, investigator sat down with Jayden and
the s Game School conference room where they had questioned Jordan,
But this interview came with one key difference. Jaden's mother
was also in the room.
Speaker 21: I'd be setting in for two hours.
Speaker 5: I'm trying, I said here. I sent two hours.
Speaker 26: Stings. Yeah, he would have been here if I did.
It was meant to take two hours.
Speaker 5: Bot to you.
Speaker 1: When Jaden's interview started, there was already a good bit
of tension in the air. His mother was frustrated. She'd
been waiting for hours before investigators were ready to speak
with her and Jaden, and the tension only grew from there.
Speaker 3: You can't hear us, so we get recorded or something.
Speaker 4: Well, everything we do is.
Speaker 5: I record it. Then right.
Speaker 1: About ten minutes into the interview, and just staff her
investigators read Jayden his Miranda rights. A school employee stepped
into the room to bring Jayden some lunch.
Speaker 18: Take their out chicken sandwiches and.
Speaker 3: Just take it every time he eats lunch here, they're
out of everything.
Speaker 1: After Jaden's mom made it clear she was ready to
complain about literally everything, the investigators finally got around to
asking Jaden some questions.
Speaker 5: We do ride my.
Speaker 27: Bike right Leanster skate park the next place right beside
the pool, like going up.
Speaker 5: To I couldn't do anything.
Speaker 9: I mean, I like the hunt.
Speaker 5: I like the duck hunt as stuff, But hiking, I
don't like walking a lot. So I just ride my
bike a lot and staying down. My friends, he's your friends,
Johnny cole Gere at Mace just a lot of football players.
Speaker 1: Interestingly, when Jaden was asked about his friends, he left
out one important name, but Jordan Jordan.
Speaker 5: What's Jordan?
Speaker 3: Though?
Speaker 4: I know the Jordan.
Speaker 5: I mean he's a great under and you're not hung.
Speaker 15: Out or what.
Speaker 5: Jaiden, we've been picking around the bush and I'm just
gonna get stranger.
Speaker 4: There's summer.
Speaker 5: There's an incident at Hocking Hill stick for I know
that she was there. That's all Claire, Okay, tell me
about that day. Get pulled up.
Speaker 27: We were about to go hike and go down and
look around, and then some dude comes running back and
he's like somebody just got to with someone and thinks that.
So we're like what, and we turn around and we
leave because we don't even want to go down there
and see it or anything. And then once we walk
and now there's like ambulets going up and all this.
Speaker 4: The miranda.
Speaker 1: The initial stories that both Jaden and Jordan gave investigators
were nearly identical. When they were first asked what happened,
Neither of them mentioned the log being thrown from the cliff,
at least not until investigators confronted them with it directly.
It's almost as if they had rehearsed what to say
before we.
Speaker 5: Come in here. We already have all the answers, might
be one or.
Speaker 8: Two if we don't do We've already talked to people
about as serious accusations been run against you, and this
is the time to tell the truths to help yourself,
because right now it's really.
Speaker 5: Serious, really really serious, and you need to be honest.
Speaker 4: We know a lot more than what you think, and
you need to.
Speaker 3: Talk to me certain private because he's underaged.
Speaker 26: He's under age, and it sounds like you're you know
exactly what happened, so you you should go tell me
exactly what happened, and then I will talk to him,
because I don't like you saying that you knew what happened.
And okay, then you know who did it and what happened,
so good. Then we'll go in the other room and
you can tell me if.
Speaker 1: He partici hated and it's just it's not I wonder
if this mom's name is Karen, it should be.
Speaker 4: Your son did something the result in death.
Speaker 15: No.
Speaker 26: No, but somebody ought to be proven to me before
they're saying something like that to him, because it's very upsetting.
Speaker 18: We want to know.
Speaker 4: There's always I'm not liking this.
Speaker 18: I don't like it either.
Speaker 3: Excuse me. I know that I have felt very bad
about that.
Speaker 26: That is sickening to me, and I have even said
this is a horrible thing that for you to sit
here and say that he had.
Speaker 1: Something to do with this, to do the other Jaden's
mom became understandably distraught. She tried to step in and
defend her son, but there wasn't much she could do
except sit there and watch him take the heat.
Speaker 36: But I wouldn't know it was this an accident or
is this something that he meant to do, because that's
a big difference.
Speaker 4: If this is an accident where you were.
Speaker 5: Trying to do this, I didn't do it. I was there.
Speaker 4: Okay, So tell me what happened, step by step.
Speaker 7: Like they see what I was saying.
Speaker 27: When we walked up by the stairs, Jordan walks. We
were walking and then there's the log, and he kissed it,
and it starts to start.
Speaker 4: To say Jordan kicked it, and.
Speaker 5: Then it slid and then he left.
Speaker 1: Unsurprisingly, Jaden pointed the finger at Jordan, just like Jordan
had done to him. He claimed Jordan had kicked the log,
sending it over the edge of the cliff. So much
for that secret packed they had made to keep this quiet.
Isn't that right, Jaden?
Speaker 36: I know about your pack, Jordan. You guys already had
this reverse. Did you touch the law because we talked
to Jordan's I grabbed the log.
Speaker 35: Okay, so you touched the law. I touched it, but
I did not kick it off or thrown You know
what happened to it? How did that smash? You got
kicked off the edge?
Speaker 4: You kicked Jordan? Jordan kicked it? Yes, are you sure?
Speaker 1: Once again, investigators were put in a difficult spot. Each
suspect was blaming the other, and all they could do
was keep pressing Jayden for the truth.
Speaker 33: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I did not kick him off, did no, sir? Not
trying to hide anything.
Speaker 5: I'm giving you the answer, the draft for truth.
Speaker 27: Do you know what.
Speaker 26: I'm being very om patient with this, But it sounds
like you're trying to talk him into saying something that.
Speaker 4: He's trying to talk.
Speaker 18: And he just truth.
Speaker 3: So you're trying to get him to say something that I'm.
Speaker 4: Trying to tell us the truth. That is what I'm
trying to do, not a truth.
Speaker 3: I don't understand you.
Speaker 5: Have.
Speaker 4: We're just trying to get him to tell us what happened,
because the truth, at the end of the day, that
lady lost her life.
Speaker 26: I know that I'm very sack with me. I was
sick in my stomach when I heard about this, and
and and then to find out that he was there.
Speaker 1: The investigators kept pushing back, but having Jaden's mom in
the room didn't make their job any easier.
Speaker 4: So should I arrest Jordan today for homicide? Because that's
what's going to happen?
Speaker 5: Really better?
Speaker 3: Did the lighting detectors have some Jordan? Don't you think
before you arrest him for homicide?
Speaker 5: There say?
Speaker 26: It doesn't matter what he says. You guys have to
do it, don't You're just just talk like detectives talk.
You can't do you think I would let you arrest
him like Jordan's spears are gonna let you arrest Jordan
without a lighter detective test.
Speaker 4: You don't have the choice in the United States or problem, cause.
Speaker 20: You know what I have.
Speaker 26: So you're gonna have to just You're just gonna have
to talk to get attorney with the minimum wage.
Speaker 21: Two jobs that I work, because you know what, we
do have choices.
Speaker 26: When you get when you get pay, when you get
I know this lady died, When you get the light
detective tests up for him, then you'll just have to
contact me ask for Nale Jane, and I will be
leave him.
Speaker 4: That's leave James, who place your arrest?
Speaker 3: He said he can't be He's said he's sixteen years old.
Speaker 4: He did something that result and end of death. I'm
gonna shave him.
Speaker 3: Where are you think you're gonna take him?
Speaker 4: Do you not all the attention?
Speaker 15: No?
Speaker 1: Jayden remained adamant that he hadn't thrown the lock, and
every time investigators pushed him to admit otherwise, his mom
stepped in.
Speaker 4: You gotta be completely honest. This is your life.
Speaker 5: I know.
Speaker 4: Miss Schaeffer's life is already over. We gotta make her
life right.
Speaker 35: I told you, get all you want to said, and
your head explodes.
Speaker 3: Are you gonna showing a picture of that too?
Speaker 4: Picture of good?
Speaker 3: That's pretty?
Speaker 5: Do you want to see it? Sure?
Speaker 4: Show you what your son did.
Speaker 3: Excuse me, I'm asking what my son did.
Speaker 4: There's witnesses to this.
Speaker 26: There's not witnesses. They're all saying that each other did
it well, and so you have and so you have
some some pretty good. Stop then I know I don't
I don't want to believe any of that.
Speaker 4: I don't want I'm not asking you.
Speaker 3: I want to see some lady's head spattered. I don't
want anybody to be injured.
Speaker 26: Whoever did it, whoever was responsible for making the mall
go over that they put out exactly. Yes, you know,
whether the kids were playing, whether it was I'm sure
they didn't do it on purpose because they were playing.
Speaker 3: If they were saying, I'm sure they was just going
to say, I want to kill some lady. Let's grit
a ball on her head. I mean, who knows that.
Speaker 1: Jaden's mom and the investigators continued to butt heads, but
in the end it was a losing battle for both sides.
Jaden's mom couldn't stop her son from being arrested, and
investigators couldn't get him to admit he had thrown the log. Eventually,
Jaden and his mom were informed that a judge had
already signed off on Jaden's arrest. He was going to jail,
and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.
Speaker 3: That's doing to me, that's with a long You cannot
do that because you can't take him to jail. There's
fat people there, well they're not good people.
Speaker 26: There's bad people there along the head because you're trying,
you're trying to take him away from something that.
Speaker 4: You can't say him because this is not mean.
Speaker 36: This is the prosecutor's office, This is the actual prosecutor
in the juvenile court judge.
Speaker 4: This is not my aims.
Speaker 3: You're just gonna take him out of here with him
right now through this school that How does that make
you feel?
Speaker 17: It hasn't made me feel very good at all. Since
the beginning of this is September seven and sixty twenty,
when I got that phone call and I've seen that lady,
it has not made.
Speaker 5: Me feel good at all. This doesn't make me feel good.
Do you know what?
Speaker 26: I have racist point for seventeen years by myself, and
this does not make me feel good.
Speaker 3: Why would you take him out of the school like
this in front of these people. He's not gonna away
from me. You can't just take him beyond here.
Speaker 4: So stay, no, you go us. You're going to have forty.
Speaker 1: Jaden was officially placed under arrest and when the handcuffs
came out, his mom all but lost its.
Speaker 5: Cuffs or something.
Speaker 26: Oh, graves, start off your life when you're seventeen. Can't
you just like walk him out? He's not a criminal.
Speaker 4: In the shif six years old for me, the Schaffer's
twenty six years old.
Speaker 3: I know how she has I read what are you telling.
Speaker 5: You that for?
Speaker 4: You're saying he's so a team to.
Speaker 18: Old?
Speaker 26: All right, but you know, I feel really good for
this lady that's going in her family. This is not
good to do to our family.
Speaker 1: Jaden had the benefit of having his mom in the
room during his interview, while Jordan had to face investigators
on his own, though Jordan did get to call his mother,
and the difference between two parents couldn't have been more stark.
Speaker 21: Were you a part of it, Jordans?
Speaker 5: I didn't like push it off, but I moved the
log with him. I pulled it out. I didn't know
he was going to kick it off.
Speaker 21: Though, But a woman died.
Speaker 7: Why did you not tell?
Speaker 18: Chris and I I.
Speaker 5: Freaked out.
Speaker 18: It doesn't matter.
Speaker 21: I've taught you to do right. Jordan's a woman lost
her life and you knew it. Always coming first is
what you do.
Speaker 4: So I want to ask him for his DNA sample.
It's just a swab of the mouth.
Speaker 25: Yes, yes, I mean if he's in the wrong, he
knows that.
Speaker 21: I've taught my kids that they take the punishment, okay, and.
Speaker 5: So we have your permission to take that swab. Yes, okay.
Speaker 1: On one hand, Jaden's mom was ready to defend her
son no matter what he may have done. Jordan's mom, however,
seemed ready to hind and over the police on a
silver platter. I'm not a parent, so I'll reserve my
judgment on this one. And you guys don't like it
when I judge anyway, So you judge for yourselves. Who
handled it better, Who is the better parent in this situation.
I know you'll have your own thoughts, leave them in
the comments. After Jaden was arrested, investigators took Jordan back
to Hawking Hill State Park. Once there, they walked him
through his version of what happened the day Victorias Schaeffer
was killed, though much of his story still didn't add up.
Speaker 5: How did you move it? Put my foot like well?
I grabbed it at first and it wouldn't.
Speaker 32: Move, so I took my foot and I pushed it
like this my foot.
Speaker 27: I just messed around. I wasn't even gonna I was
gonna put it back. I was just messing around so bored,
and he was high. That's probably why he did it.
And then after it went off, it roared and it
bounced again. After this, that's where it.
Speaker 5: I kind of flent over that and there was a
lip right there, so I hit the lip and it bounced.
Speaker 27: That's why I pounced. I knew it bounced, but I
didn't know why. So that's why I thought he threw it.
But he did say I'm going to throw it. After
this happened, I kind of just realized the severity of
it and how someone lost her life, Like, how would
I feel wish if that would happened to my mom
when she was taking pictures of me or something for
my senior pictures. That's not fair to them to not
know the answer to it, And that's why I feel bad.
Speaker 1: During this walkthrough, Jordan claimed he felt bad about what happened,
but let's be honest, it was a little late for that.
If he really felt bad, he would have come forward. Instead,
he made a pact with Jayden to keep the murder quiet,
and even bragged about it later to impress a girl
he liked. Not exactly the behavior of someone with a
guilty conscience. Not exactly the behavior of someone with a conscience, period.
Speaker 4: So what do you think should happen to you?
Speaker 27: Well, I'm hoping that I don't see anything too extreme,
but I know that I probably an't going to get
charged for being a witness.
Speaker 4: You know we're saying anything about it, well, being a witness.
Speaker 14: If you don't get charge for men a witness, Yeah,
but you charge if he did something or if you
lie about it, how's we'll gets you in trouble.
Speaker 5: I haven't lied.
Speaker 1: About things so far, Jordan claimed he hadn't lied about
anything so far. In reality, he'd lied about nearly everything,
right up until investigators called him out. At first, he
left out the log entirely. Then he claimed Miranda and
aj hadn't seen what happened. After that, he insisted he
never touched the log at all. None of this was true.
All of this begged a question, what else was Jordan
lying about.
Speaker 5: Our victim was down here with her head bashed in. Okay,
so it's impossible for that log to roll wall.
Speaker 4: And then we landed here.
Speaker 28: You had to have traje Street had had force, some
kind of force to get out this then foot where
she was at.
Speaker 5: So right now, this is the time.
Speaker 27: I'm trying totand you're trying to be walker with me.
Speaker 5: I need the truth Right now, I'm trying to tell
you them trying of things. So if you're standing there and.
Speaker 27: I'm holding this log, that he was thrown out whoo
where she was at?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 37: So this is the point in time where you tell
us either you see do it, you both hit it,
or it was more than than two of you. Whatever
happened needs to come out now because we can't tell you.
Speaker 13: I did not do it.
Speaker 4: I did not do it, and Mirandon and aj had
nothing to do with it.
Speaker 1: One of the strangest parts of this case was how
all four teenagers described the log is simply rolling off
the cliff and not being thrown. But that didn't make sense.
For the log to land where it did, it would
have taken considerable force. The reality was someone or multiple
people had to have thrown it, and none of the
teenagers could explain that inconsistency. The only thing that made
sense was that both Jordan and Jayden picked up the
log together and flung it off the cliff.
Speaker 4: I did the open do it. I don't remember what
he did to get it off.
Speaker 5: I just know Jayden did it.
Speaker 4: I don't remember everything.
Speaker 5: I don't remember that specific detail.
Speaker 27: Yes, that's the only thing that trouble remembering the whole time.
Speaker 5: That's the only thing be in my shoes right now.
Speaker 29: Okay, you can remember everything, but you can't remember that
specific detail.
Speaker 5: So I'm sitting here thinking, man, because Jordan happened so fast.
I happened so fast.
Speaker 6: I turned around.
Speaker 5: He said, I'm going to throw it off. I turned
back around, and it was and he was already going down.
Speaker 1: Another unanswered question was why the two female witnesses pointed
fingers at different people. Miranda said Jayden through the log.
Aj claimed it was Jordan. Miranda even went as far
as saying Jordan never touched the log at all, which
made no sense considering Jordan himself admitted that he helped
move it.
Speaker 5: Jordan has admitted.
Speaker 4: Jordan's didn't move along, he admitted to me.
Speaker 5: But why would he admit to me that he moved
the lag.
Speaker 20: I'm telling you that Jordan Jayden was the one that
moved the log. Like that's what I remember.
Speaker 18: That's what I'm trying to tell you, Like me and
Jordan have no connections, Like like.
Speaker 23: I don't like Jordan at all.
Speaker 5: I took Jordan to the scene we've gone to walk through,
and he was telling us how he moved the lag
where he was standing, not lying.
Speaker 4: What I remember, and if what I remember is wrong,
then I can't help that.
Speaker 3: Like, but I'm trying to tell you what is but
as you know.
Speaker 7: I can't help that.
Speaker 1: Investigators later suspected that Miranda was lying to protect herself
because of a prior romantic relationship she had with Jordan.
When they dated, Jordan may not have reached Ohio's age
of consent, which was sixteen. By the way, Yeah, Ohio sucks.
It's possible Miranda did not want to implicate Jordan, fearing
he might turn around and exposure. She may have been
trying to avoid facing statutory rape charges.
Speaker 5: Do you have any relationships with Jordan?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Did you understand that?
Speaker 1: Miranda admitted she'd been in a relationship with Jordan, but
denied ever having sex with him. Nonetheless, Miranda was never
charged with any form of sexual assault. Instead, she was
charged with obstruction for lying during the investigation of Victoria
Schaeffer's murder.
Speaker 38: Miranda Spencer of Nelsonville received a suspended ninety day sentence
guilty to obstructing official business.
Speaker 1: In court, Miranda changed her story instead of blaming Jaden
She claimed she couldn't remember who touched the log which
of the boys had sent it over the cliff. As
for Jaden and Jordan, both were indicted on charges of murder,
involuntary manslaughter, and reckless homicide. Despite being just sixteen, both
were charged as adults, meaning they were now facing the
full weight of the criminal justice system.
Speaker 6: They ended up both taking plea deals where they would
plead only to involuntary manslaughter in exchange for having the
other charges murder and reckless homicide dropped.
Speaker 33: Seventeen year old Jordan Buckley walked into court with his
family and pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Are Buckley then
stood up turned in a durss Victoria's family, including her husband, prints.
Speaker 4: I understand that my actions had.
Speaker 27: Caused your fans like to change, and myer from all
of this disease is tron to.
Speaker 5: Learn and with the rest of my life.
Speaker 16: In a way to arm the shads.
Speaker 1: Both teens took plea deals in exchange the murder and
homicide charges were dropped and their cases were sent back
to juvenile court. At their sentencing hearings, both Jaden and
Jordan offered weak apologies to Victoria's family first.
Speaker 2: I wanted to apologize the mis shaper's family. I know
that no matter what I say, nothing will bring your
loved one back.
Speaker 5: I know what I did was wrong.
Speaker 2: I hope that you know I never intended to hurt
anyone that day at Hawking Hill. However, I realized now
that my actions can have unattended consequences. I want to
lay I know that I think about this this reading
for the rest of my life. I have learned from
my own coactions and will take this opportunity to become
a better person and hopefully use.
Speaker 1: This experience and hope of At the sentencing, victorious family
members took turns speaking. Her younger sister was first to
address the court.
Speaker 15: I'm confronted daily by ways in which my sister is missing.
I'm sud mindedly thinking of texting her when she crosses
my mind, missing or encouragement when I need it most,
and the guidance that only older.
Speaker 5: Sister can't provide.
Speaker 15: We've been catching the closes of her face and my
own reflection. I believe that is why, over one year later,
not only still heart looking over the loss of someone
so critically important in my life, but I'm angry that
the individuals responsible did not immediately come forward, in fact
hiding the secret among them for over a month until
someone else turned them in.
Speaker 1: Next to speak and deliver a truly heart breaking impact
statement was Victoria's husband.
Speaker 11: Victoria's death was so tragic, so devastating, and so senseless.
Speaker 5: It's unimaginable.
Speaker 4: And whatever I say here.
Speaker 11: Today won't come even close to describing how.
Speaker 5: Painful this has been for me for my family.
Speaker 11: The night before she died, we were up late and
she was editing the photos.
Speaker 3: It was probably after one am.
Speaker 5: She didn't have to get up early. The next day,
it was Labor Day.
Speaker 11: She was looking forward to going to Old Men's Cave
and doing the photo shoot with her senior reps.
Speaker 4: We were lying in bed and she was in my arms.
Speaker 5: And she told me something she never told me before.
Speaker 11: She said the happiest part of her day was at
the end of the night and she was in my arms.
Speaker 33: She told me she loved me.
Speaker 11: And couldn't wait to spend the rest of her life
with me. I loved her more at that moment than
ever before.
Speaker 5: And the next night she was gone.
Speaker 1: The loss Victoria's family endured was unimaginable. But despite their grief,
they agreed to the plea deals that had been offered
to and Jordan.
Speaker 11: I want to first clarify how we came to this agreement.
Speaker 4: Because it was very, very difficult.
Speaker 5: We said we'd think about it for a few days.
Speaker 11: My children are very compassionate, and what ultimately helped us
make the decision to offer this as one deal was
a Victoria was a very compassionate person. We'd all felt
that she would have wanted to give them a second chance.
Speaker 1: In the end, it was the compassion Victoria had instilled
in those around her that likely spared Ja and Jordan
from a lifetime behind bars. During sentencing, Victoria's daughter read
an impact statement written by Victoria's mother. In it, Jaden
and Jordan were offered only one path to redemption.
Speaker 39: I need to know that you will do your very
vast to turn your life around. I need to know
that when you are released from this sentence, you will
have become a man who will make a contribution to
the society, not just take from it. This is an
early chapter in your book of life. I sincerely pray
for you that Victoria's loss will not be in vain.
Let this tragic circumstance catapult you to even greater goals
that you can imagine today, that you will dig in
and dig deep to meet the challenge of becoming a
great man, a man who will bring honor to Victoria,
to make up in some way for one you so
care carelessly have taken from all of us. Let the
story of your life proclaim to all that you understood
the gravity of your actions, and that you did all
in your power to be a credit to society. Only
that goes satisfyed.
Speaker 1: The forgiveness and the compassion that Victoria's family showed in
the court was truly remarkable, far more than they would
have gotten from me, that's for sure. The guilty please
were entered and the impact statements were made. All that
was left was for a judge to deliver a sentence
the pain that.
Speaker 3: You heard from them and describe them.
Speaker 4: Why can't.
Speaker 40: I got I get angry listening to it, so I
don't know if I could be as forgiving as they are.
Speaker 38: Do you understand Do you understand that you took a
mother of children your age, your same age, you took
their mother? Do you understand that they are a wife, sister,
and that's a void that can never be filled for them.
Speaker 4: Now you're gonna have some time to sit in uys
and do you understand that right?
Speaker 40: But you understand you're getting a second chance here now
because they are forgiving you understand that?
Speaker 9: Correct?
Speaker 40: You you understand and you understand that that's not and
this is shape of that correct if you're getting the
second chance to shet a docu.
Speaker 1: In the end, both Jordan Buckley and Jaden Churches were
sentenced to just three years in juvenile detention, a slap
on the wrist if there ever was one. As for
the biggest question of all, who actually threw the log?
The truth is no one seems to know. Investigators couldn't
prove it either way, and neither Jaden nor Jordan ever
admitted to it in court. Maybe Jaden did it, maybe
Jordan did it, maybe they both did, or maybe that
detail doesn't matter as much as we think, because at
the end of the day, both teenagers were legally responsible.
Both of them made a choice to move, shove, kick, roll,
or throw a seventy five pound log off a cliff,
A log that came crashing down with enough force to
shatter a skull and take the Torrea Shaeffer's life in
an instant, and both were held accountable in a way
that reflected the wishes of Victoria's family. So what else
is there to do? The conclusion of this case doesn't
come with a whole lot of satisfaction, that's for sure.
It's messy, but usually murder is messy. There are still
unanswered questions and the whole thing feels unfinished. But sometimes
that's the only justice there is, and sometimes you know,
that's just life. I can't believe this is our thirteenth year.
It's absolutely madness. I did not think this is how
my life was gonna go. Let's put it that way anyway.
Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so
much for being a fan, a listener, supporter, whatever, any
little thing you guys do, we appreciate, I promise you,
even if it's just hitting a like button on a
video or leaving a comment, it's all very much appreciated.
Thank you so much for being Herepe twenty twenty six
is a wonderful year for.
Speaker 4: All of you. Scaris socialis Agaris socialis
Speaker 3: Agarisocial a Laris