48 Hours - Taken Away - Encore

Episode Date: June 24, 2018

A father dreams his daughter has been killed, then later she disappears. What does her boyfriend know and could the dad's nightmare have been real? "48 Hours" correspondent Maureen Maher investigates.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. I remember having a nightmare that something was terribly wrong. Jesse was... was killed.

was killed. And when I woke up, it was just a dream. My name is Gary Bardwell. Jessie Bardwell is my daughter. Go in this way. Do it, Jessie. Do it. I called her my beautiful daughter Go in this way. Do it, Jessie. Do it. I called her my beautiful daughter, and I still do.

A beautiful Jessie. She lived in Orange Beach, Alabama. She just loved being around water. She would be in the water fighting the waves and having fun. She worked at a place called Cobalt the Restaurant. It's a beautiful place. I don't know why she decided to move. She just up and moved to Texas.

She said, like, I'm just going out there to clear my head. I'll be back. I'm just going for a couple weeks and I'll be back. My name is Kimberly Asbury. I was friends with Jessie. It just went from hearing from her a lot, talking to her, to nothing. I knew something was wrong. As the father of three girls, I was very determined to get to the bottom of what had happened to Jessie Bardwell.

My name is Kieron Hale. I was the lead detective on Jessie's case. Jessie was nowhere to be found when we got to Texas. I had the fear that we would never find her. Tell me what it felt like then to go two days, three days, four days. It was Hale. After so many days, it's kind of hard to believe that she's just going to come back

with shopping bags in her arms. It was just like, brace for impact. I knew she was dead. How did you know? I had that nightmare, and I felt it. She was not on this earth anymore. This story's about a young girl

thinks she finds love and it turns out he's pure evil. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge?

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Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. Yesterday, I went down to the river and just sat there and watched the boats go by and took some deep breaths and said, I don't know how much of this I can take, you know, any longer. There are days when it's hard for Gary Bardwell to get out of bed, but he always does. Determined to get justice for Jesse, his 27-year-old daughter who went missing from Richardson, Texas, in May of 2016.

I'm doing it for Jesse, taking one day at a time, one step at a time. Gary knew something was wrong before he even knew Jesse had gone missing. Something from my soul was gone, and I was afraid that it was her. That connection, that bond deeper than words, formed the moment Jessie was born, says Gary. As soon as she was born, I immediately started crying. It was just such a happy moment, such a happy moment. Jessie grew up alongside her older brother, Brandon. Me and Jessie have been two peas in a pod since we were young.

There's Brandon and Jesse. Gary, a now-retired firefighter with the Pascagoula, Mississippi Fire Department, loved being a dad. She kind of didn't want me out of her sight. She just liked to know where I was. She slept with this every night. I just love those days. Daddy's a little girl, for sure. When Jessie was 14, Gary and her mother, Carla, divorced. She loved her mother, too, very much so. Jessie spent her high school years with her father. I'll just have my coffee. You want some?

And her new stepmother, Gina. This is Jessie's graduation picture. After a few tries at college life... Somewhere along the line, she was having more fun than school. That's when Jessie moved to Orange Beach and started working tables at Cobalt, a popular beachside restaurant. We talked every day. She texts me every day. Like he came and they went boating and they went fishing. Jesse's good friend, restaurant manager Kimberly Asbury, found out Gary was an accomplished musician and booked him at the restaurant.

She'd go to his gigs. I mean, they were friends. They weren't just father and daughter. Jesse had been living with a long-term boyfriend, but surprised everyone when she fell for a new guy, Jason Lowe. It kind of came out of nowhere. Jessie's friend Terry saw the romance start. Jason seemed friendly. He definitely was outgoing as well. He was handsome, had two college degrees, and ambitious. For Jessie, not just a new love, but a ticket to a more exciting life.

When Jason went to Dallas for a six-figure job in the tech industry, Jessie decided she would join him and pursue her own dream of cosmetology. She thought of it as more of an adventure. Like, I'm trying something new. But Jessie failed to mention that she was about to go to Dallas when she saw her family that Christmas. I had no clue of what was going on. She knew that she was fixing to leave for Texas and I would have done everything I could to try to talk her out of it. Shortly after the holidays, Jessie left for Texas, and suddenly the girl who always had

her iPhone was now never on it. You couldn't reach her. The moment that I really started to get worried was when her phone number was cut off, and everything that we talked to her had to go through Jason. The only way to get Jessie was to call Jason's phone or the house phone. They would come to find out that Jason was monitoring all her calls. Eventually, every time Gary called Jesse, he only got Jason. I said, let me speak to Jesse. He said, she said she'll call you later. said, she said she'll call you later. Two months later, Gary finally got his chance to meet Jason Lowe. Jason and Jesse came to Pascagoula for a visit. Gary tried to persuade Jesse not to go back to Texas. I remember Jesse was, was hugging me more than normal. And I was going, are you okay? Yeah, yeah, I definitely want to go to Texas.

I just want you to be proud of me, you know. They left. I watched the car drive away. Even though Jesse never let on that anything was wrong, Gary had a bad feeling. He went into his studio, Jesse's childhood room, She said, Daddy, don't worry. and wrote this song. It's gonna be all right.

That song, Taken Away, was written the very last time I saw Jesse. As they were leaving That song, Taken Away, was written the very last time I saw Jessie. It was written about seeing them leave. Me getting a gut feeling that something was bad wrong. She said, there is nothing you can say or do to make me stay. In May, four months after Jesse moved to Texas, she stopped answering his calls altogether. Gary called Jason and insisted on knowing where Jesse was. He says Jason told him he didn't know. What was he saying? I don't know where in the hell she is. We don't live codependent. She can go and come as she pleases. But when she didn't call her mom and stepmom on

Mother's Day, Gary had had enough. I said, we're leaving in the morning. Let's pack some bags and we're going to Texas. Hotshot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets,

the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney,

I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now.

In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of them. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it,

people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. When Gary Bardwell got in his truck and headed to Texas, he was angry. Very angry. I get so angry that it scares me.

His little girl was missing, and he believed Jason Lowe was behind it. I text him on the way there. I said, if Jesse is not there, when I get there, you are in a tremendous amount of trouble. But when he got to Jesse and Jason's apartment, she was nowhere to be found. Gary immediately filed a missing persons report with the Richardson Police Department. 804-2017. Over the next 24 hours, the police repeatedly visited the apartment. And still, she never showed up.

That's when Detective Hale got assigned to the case. He first made contact with Jason by phone. was on May 8th, which was Mother's Day, that morning at 10 a.m., and she left in her Acura. And is that car still gone? Yes. The next day, Detective Hale made a house call and made another audio recording. Still hadn't heard from Jesse, right?

By then, Jesse had been reported missing for three days. It seemed everybody was desperate to find Jessie, except the man who claimed to be in love with her. We just did our own thing always. I didn't question her, she didn't question me, and it worked. The detective looked around the apartment and saw no sign of a struggle. Jason stuck to his story that she left home in her Acura. There was just

one problem with that story. The police learned that Jesse and Jason had sold that Acura three weeks before Jason claimed she drove off in it. They found it in the new owner's driveway. Jason's lies were not very smart. Who would lie about an Acura that had been sold? It was pretty clear that there was definitely something other going on other than just a missing person. It became even clearer the following day. A team of detectives, including Hale and his partner Eric Willitson, returned to the apartment. They saw what appeared to be a line of cocaine. Do you have a photo on the countertop? A line of it? Yes or no?

Yes, sir. But it was an odor coming from the garage that really got their attention. So it smells really bad in here. Yeah, I know. It stinks to the heart, right? Yeah, it does. It's a smell that you never forget. Once you've smelt it, you know instantly when you smell it again.

It was the smell of death, and it was coming from the back of Jason Lowe's black Audi. Detective Hill opened the hatch door. There was no Jesse Bardwell, but a body had clearly been there. There was standing fluid in the back hatch, and it smelled like just decaying flesh. It had front-end damage. It did not have the bumper. The bumper was inside the vehicle and it had a lot of mud on the inside and on the outside. Jason told the detectives he'd gotten stuck in the mud while searching for Jesse.

He still held on to the fact that he did not know where Jesse was. But when they sprayed the chemical Blue Star in the cargo compartment of the Audi, it lit up like crazy, indicating the presence of blood. It pretty much turned into a homicide investigation at that point. We're wondering if you don't mind coming down to the station so we can talk? Like right now? Yeah. Jason Lowe was initially arrested on drug charges and thrown in jail.

Detectives used the opportunity to further question him on Jesse's whereabouts. We spent a long time speaking with him. To try to relate to his emotions, his feelings. The girl you were in love with. The girl that you wanted to marry. And nothing seemed to work. Don't f***ing patronize me. He didn't seem to care.

He seemed irritated and thought that we were trying to pin things on him that he hadn't done. Will you tell me where she's at? I don't know any of that, man. I'm wrapped up. I'm not going to be accused of stuff, and I'm done talking. Even without a body, Jason Lowe was charged with murder. I had no doubt that he had killed her. But they did have doubts, grave doubts, that they would ever find Jessie.

Texas is a huge state. We've got lots of rivers, lots of lakes, lots of ponds, fields. There are a hundred million different places you could hide a body in Texas. Back home in Pascagoula, the town rallied around the family. Jesse's grandmother, Miss Kitty. They had a candlelight vigil at the beach, that she'd be found maybe safe somewhere. On May 19th, almost three weeks after Jesse was last seen alive, they finally got an answer. The police had reason to believe Jesse was on a remote ranch in North Texas. Gary says

they wouldn't tell the family how they knew, only that it was a reliable source. Chief Jimmy Spivey called the Bardwell family into the station. The chief said, it's gonna be a bad day for y'all today because we do not expect to find your daughter alive. A team of detectives, FBI investigators, and

prosecutors made their way to that remote ranch. Detectives, where are we? We're in Farmersville, Texas. They arrived late afternoon and started walking through the fields. We saw where he'd gotten stuck in the mud. You could still see the car parts on the ground? We could. We found a piece of metal. Looked like it was shielding something, kind of a makeshift burial area.

And at that point, you could start to smell the kingflesh. So we walked closer. She was covered with a sheet. So you could tell, but you could see the outline of the body under the sheet. Jesse Bardwell had been crudely wrapped in a blue fitted sheet and covered with a pile of debris, including a red blanket and two red and gold towels. What was the condition of this body?

It's one of the worst we've seen. It would take seven days to officially identify her body. The medical examiner ruled Jesse's death a homicide, but her body was so badly decomposed, officials could not say how she was murdered. I got Jesse's ring. That's her ring. That's her ring. Against his better judgment, Jesse's father read the autopsy report. I felt it was my responsibility as Jessie's daddy to read the report. She was brutally murdered, and she was thrown away like a piece of trash, wrapped up in a sheet, barely looking like a person. And they sent the hearse to Texas to pick her up.

And my fireman buddies loaded her into the back of the hearse. This is my life now. I love you. This is my life now. I love you. Over 900 people showed up at First United Methodist Church to mourn the death and celebrate the life of 27-year-old Jesse Bardwell. If this town could be washed with all the tears that were shed over Jesse, it'd be real clean. We wouldn't even need for it to rain for the tears that were shed for Jesse.

While the Bardwells spent the next year grieving, a very different-looking Jason Lowe was in a McKinney, Texas jail cell preparing his defense. One of the key issues in this case is whether or not to have our client testify. Jason's court appointed attorney, Andy Farkas, says he is sure that Jason did not murder Jesse. He's not so sure Jason can convince a jury, but he has a plan. I've been a lawyer for 42 years. I have never done this before. Never done this before. As the months passed after Jessie's death, her father Gary struggled through his grief and through his rage.

I'd get a 12-pound sledgehammer and I had a stump outside the house. And I would print out pictures of his face and I'd set it on the stump and beat the hell out of it until I couldn't swing anymore. There was only one thing that kept him going, waiting to see Jason Lowe face a judge and jury in a court of law and be convicted of the murder of his only daughter. I think about what I think happened to her, and I couldn't protect her.

It's just unimaginable. It's unthinkable. It's unthinkable. It's unforgivable. I don't feel he's guilty of murder. In August of 2017, we went to the Cullen County Jail with attorney Andy Farkas to meet his client. He is in which one? This one.

This one right here. Jason Lowe. He is in which one? This one. This one right here. Jason Lowe. We met Jason Lowe, but he would not talk to us on camera. He told us he's saving his story for the witness stand. Farkas believes that allowing Jason to tell his version of what happened to Jesse will help him get acquitted of murder.

And to gauge how a jury will react... OK, good morning, everybody. ...Farkas is doing something he's never done before. He and co-counsel Maria Tu are conducting a mock trial. Be seated. It's essentially a simulated trial with pretend jurors who will pass judgment. Maria Tu will act as the prosecutor. And we know that the defendant put her there. And Farkas, the defense.

The state can't tell you how, where, when, or why this happened. While the defense maps out its strategy in mock court, the real prosecutors, Wes Wynn and Cynthia Walker, are fitting together the pieces of what they admit is a mostly circumstantial case. Do you know how Jesse is murdered? No. Do you know why Jesse was murdered? No. And do you know where Jesse was murdered? No.

So we don't know how, we don't know why, and we don't know exactly where. That's correct. But you have the body. And that's enough for you to create the picture? Yes. They have no doubt that Jesse Bardwell was murdered by Jason Lowe, a man whose dark side she didn't see, they believe, until it was too late. Jessie really thought she was in love with this guy and everything was good.

At first, Jessie told her father life in Texas was great. But then, only a month after moving, they had a big fight. Jason would later say it was because Jessie had a brief affair before moving to Texas and got pregnant. He was furious when he found out. Eventually, he says, Jesse had an abortion. She called me really upset. She was crying, said, you were right. I should have never come out here. Jason kicked me out. I'm freezing. Fortunately, a friend of a friend took her in for the night. Gary bought her a plane ticket to Alabama for the next morning. One of her friends went to the airport the next night

when she was supposed to be there and waited seven hours for her to get there, and she never came. Jessie told her father that Jason felt bad about the fight and would try to trust her again. She was 27, a grown woman, so Gary reluctantly let it go, a decision that haunts him to this day. My mind never stops. It never stops. Thinking, why did you not go out there sooner?

If there were any more incidents, Jessie didn't let on to the folks back home. And she was even less forthcoming with her new Texas friends. You messed up my hair. Regina and Tommy Jordan. She was just real timid and quiet. We just seemed to be real shy.

We could never pull anything out of her. She didn't really talk much. Did they seem like they were a happy young couple? He made it seem like that. The Jordans were so fond of the couple. We took him under our wing like one of our own children. They asked them to house sit their home and dog while they went out of town for a few days. They left on May 1st. The last time you saw Jesse alive was here at your home? Yes. When they returned, everything seemed normal. But then they heard the shocking news.

Jason had been arrested for murdering Jesse. Did you think he was capable of doing something like that? Not at all. We all kind of thought he was innocent. Tommy went to the jail to talk to Jason. All right, you pick up the phone, and that's your video. A videotaped conversation... What's up, brother?

What's up, man? ...that would become a key piece of evidence in this case. Back up from the monitor a little bit. It's scaring me. And I go, man, I didn't know. What happened? I mean, I, like, I f***ed up and made a mistake.

Like, it was an accident, and I know what I'm guilty of. I'm guilty of criminal negligence. It was a stunning statement. Jason was now admitting he was there when Jesse died. Back at the mock trial... Criminal negligence. Acting prosecutor Maria Tu... I hope everybody heard that.

...seizes on those words as evidence of his guilt. He knows he's guilty. He's guilty of criminal negligence. Andy Farkas knows that tape will be one of his biggest problems. That's the only piece of evidence they have that ties him to her death. So Farkas roadests Jason's story.

It was all an accident. So the story that Jason is going to tell on the stand, does the prosecution have any idea? Have they heard this story at all? No. They have no idea? No idea. But Farkas tells Jason's entire story to the pretend jurors. He's eager to learn their verdict.

They deliberate over lunch. We don't have any evidence to show what actually happened. And neither does the state. That's right. I can't believe the D.A.M. took this. Okay, frankly. And the mock jurors reach a verdict. What was the verdict after they heard the whole story?

It was 15-0 acquittal. Not guilty? Angle? Of murder. Of murder. After hearing those two words, not guilty, Jason thinks there's a good chance he'll walk out of jail a free man. Jail a free man.

Hear what the mock jury thought of Jason on Facebook at 48 hours. The time had finally come. Gary Bardwell said goodbye to his fireman buddies. And then, the hardest goodbye of all. You're going to be all right in Texas. His mother. You're going to do a good job. You're going to do this for Jesse.

Justice for Jesse. You remember that? Just, I love you, son. I love you. I love you. For the first time in 30 years, Gary got on an airplane, as he and his wife Gina headed to Texas for the trial of the man accused of murdering his daughter, Jessie. He had waited a year and four months for this day. My stomach is in knots. I just don't know how I'm going to react when I get in the courtroom.

Prosecutor Wes Wynn calls Gary as his first witness. I was shaking so bad that I was afraid that people could see me shaking. Is that a photo of Jason? Yes, it is. Sir, I know this is difficult. Just take your time. The state portrayed Jason Lowe as a man with a dark side,

a man with a long history of drug abuse, a pathological liar who often told people he was a Navy SEAL but was never actually in the military, a man who abused women. I think I would most certainly be killed by him if I had continued dating him. The state managed to find two of Jason's ex-girlfriends, Haley McDaniel and Chrissy Chambers.

Both say Jason drove a wedge between them and their families, just like he did with Jesse. It was just all manipulation and control. They say he would get furious, accusing them of cheating. One night, Chrissy says, he pushed her to the floor and sat on top of her. He had one hand over my mouth and another hand over my nose and was just pushing pushing pushing pushing on top of me and he wouldn't get off I'm thinking that he's gonna kill me because he looked me in my eyes and he told me he was he said I'm killing you right now

Jason denies any of this happened but the jury won't get to hear Chrissy and Haley's stories because, in the end, prosecutors decided it wasn't necessary and likely inadmissible. They are confident Jason Lowe's sadistic side will come through. He's about as cruel of an individual as I've dealt with, and I've been doing this a long time. It wasn't just the act of murder, say the prosecutors. It's what he did and did not do after the murder to cover up his crime. While Jesse lay dead in the back of Jason's Audi, decomposing, Jason was using her phone to send these text messages, pretending she was still alive. That's what criminals do. They want to find a way to get away with it.

And one of those ways is to pretend that this other person is still alive. Prosecutors think Jessie was killed on or about May 1, the last day she was seen alive by the Jordans. They believe Jason kept her body in his car day after day after day, eight days in total before dumping it. And when Jesse's body was finally found on May 19th, prosecutors say the way in which she was discarded said it all. This wasn't some accident. It's not how you would leave someone that tragically died, someone that you

love, someone that you care for. It told me that she was murdered. The physical evidence at the scene, the red blanket, the red and gold towels, the blue fitted sheet Jesse's body was wrapped in, all led back to the home where they had been house-sitting. This is your linen closet? Yes. Regina still has the matching top sheet to the blue one Jesse was wrapped in. You kept it? I kept it. I don't know why I kept it. It just gives me creeps just even thinking about it.

After the first week of trial, Gary FaceTimes his mother. Our lawyers have a plan. They know what they're doing. You've got to remember that. You've got to remember that. But I know it's exhausting. It's got to be exhausting. I have heard that Jason Lowe is actually going to take the stand. It's going to get harder this week, and that's when it's going to get nasty. You've got enough prayers to hold you up and give you strength.

You're going to have the strength that you need. Love you. Love you, too. Bye-bye. Bye. It was the moment Gary had been dreading, and Jason had been waiting for. Defense calls Jason Lowe. His chance to convince the real jury he is innocent of murder.

The defense tries to humanize him. He admits getting hooked on drugs at age 13. Oxycontin, heroin, and Xanax. heroin and Xanax. With his parents listening in court, he talks about growing up an only child in a well-off family, working on his master's degree, and meeting Jesse Bardwell.

Were you in love? Yes, sir. He says they had plans to get married and buy a house. And then it all came crashing down. It was the evening of May 1st. He and Jesse were house-sitting at the Jordan's. He claims they had taken GHB, a sedative often called a date rape drug. They were getting intimate in the shower.

While we're having sex, I'm standing here bracing myself, and I start to slip. First, he slips. Then, Jesse. He says she falls and hits her head on the porcelain tub, and then sits on the edge. She just kept saying, I feel hot. She was like, I feel a little bit dizzy. And she was, I mean, like what I would say, kind of bugging out is what I thought. Instead of getting medical help, they go to sleep.

When Jason woke up in the morning, he says Jessie was lying on his chest. I tried to kind of shake her. She kept knocking. The dog kept barking. She didn't move. She was dead. The defense would claim of a possible brain injury. What was it like for you to watch him get up on the stand and tell his story? It was like somebody ripped my heart out and ripped my soul out.

My soul. Gary does not believe a word of it. But Jason continues. He says he heard a knock on the door. I just panicked, and I opened the door. It was Robert Gwynn, a.k.a. Cowboy. Jason says he's his drug dealer, and it was he, Jason claims, who took the sheet from the linen closet. He wrapped her up.

And together, they put Jesse's dead body in the back of Jason's Audi. Wes Wynn wasn't buying it. You're just watching as the love of your life gets bagged up in a fitted sheet. And then the two of you carry her outside, right? Yes, sir. And you toss her in the back of your Audi. Placed her. Oh, affectionately, I'm sure.

Prosecutors don't even bother to call Cowboy to the stand. Do you believe that Robert Gwynne, Cowboy, had anything to do with the murder of Jesse? No. Do you think he had anything to do with covering it up? No. After Jesse's body was loaded into the back of his car, Jason admits he parked it in the garage, left her there for days, and began reaching out to other women. Sexting.

I'd love to have you bent over like that while I give you what you want. And sexting. I want to taste you so bad. And sexting. I want to taste you so bad. And sexting. You were sending photos of your penis to other women while the love of your life rotted in the trunk of your car. What was that like for you to hear him talk about that? My first thought was that I had to find a way to get to him

and kill him with my bare hands. Prosecutor Wes Wynn is gunning for a guilty verdict. Never once said there's been an accident. And Jason Lowe is in his line of fire. Never once called the police. He aims right for the bullseye. The love of your life sits rotting in your trunk. And after all, it was just an accident.

And hits his mark. You didn't want anyone to know she was dead. You didn't want anyone to find her body. After seven hours of tears... She was asleep. Excuses. I didn't know what to say. And denials. I knew I didn't willingly and intentionally kill someone.

Kill Jesse. Kill the girl that I was in love with. and denials. I knew I didn't willingly and intentionally kill someone, kill Jesse, kill the girl that I was in love with. The defense plays its last sympathy card. Who pointed out to the police where Jesse was buried? I didn't. Remember when the police wouldn't tell the Bardwells how they found Jesse's body? Well, it was Jason Lowe who told them where to find her. His lawyer says Jason did it for the sake of Jesse's family. But the prosecution says the only reason is because he cut a deal. You're getting something in exchange for that agreement, right? If convicted, instead of serving 99 years,

the most Jason Lowe will serve is half that, 50 years. And why was that deal offered? It's important for the family. It was important to find her. After five days of testimony, the lawyers sum up their cases. You can't trust a word that comes out of the vehicle. The lawyers sum up their cases. You can't trust a word that comes out of his mouth. For the state, it comes down to Jason Lowe's character. Evil typically doesn't announce itself.

You rarely see it. That's what we have here. But the defense argues the state did not prove murder over accident. Their case is built on, he lied to the cops, he hid the body, therefore he's guilty. That's not proof beyond all reasonable doubt. It was now up to a jury to decide. After six hours of deliberations, the jury hands its verdict to Judge Scott Becker.

Can it please rise? We the jury find the defendant guilty of murder as charged in the indictment. It was so sweet to know that monster is going to be put away for a long time. Before sentencing, Gary finally got the chance to face the man who killed his daughter. I looked him straight in the eyes, and it frightened me for about five seconds. There was nothing in his eyes, nothing. I'm very sad and angry.

Standing beside Gary for support, Jason's ex-girlfriends. If I could say anything to Jesse, I would say run. Save yourself. That same day, Judge Becker sentenced Jesse's killer to the negotiated maximum. You can go with the deputies. 50 years. We took one last trip to Collin County Jail to see if Jason would finally own up

to what he had now been convicted of. So I am walking in right behind me into the jail, and I'm going to ask him face to face, did you kill Jesse Bardwell? Hey, Jason. Hello. Thank you for doing this. Yes, ma'am.

Have a seat, please. Thank you. Did you have anything to do with the death of Jesse Bardwell? No, ma'am. Did you murder Jesse Bardwell? No, ma'am. Why are you sitting here for 50 years? I'm reaping what I sowed.

Like I said, you know, I lied. I was scared, and I thought I could fix this. I thought about just myself. I didn't think about her family. I didn't think about her. He'll have half a century in a Texas prison to think about all that pain he sowed. If her parents were here right now,

is there something you would want to say to them? I'm sorry. And what are you sorry for? For being a piece of dirt. After the trial, Gary Bardwell and his family went back to Mississippi, where he used to spend long summer days on the water with his daughter, Jessie. Only now is he able to get back in a boat and go to some of the places they used to go. A bittersweet reminder of the daughter he lost.

Jason Lowe took away a beautiful soul, a beautiful heart, the life of the party, a smile that would light up this dark room. I always called her my beautiful little girl. My beautiful daughter, Jessie. How many breaks can my heart take Until it's taken away Jason Lowe is appealing his murder conviction. He will be eligible for parole in May of 2041. He will be 52 years old.

Gary Bardwell has set up a scholarship to help students achieve their dreams in Jesse's name. Watch Gary Bardwell's loving tribute for his daughter, Jesse, now online at 48hours.com. if you like this podcast you can listen ad-free right now by joining wondery plus in the wondery app before you go tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com survey