Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Woman's Body Found Stuffed in Fridge in Forest

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law & Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A New Jersey mom goes missing and months later, a man stumbles upon a fridge in a forest and her body is inside. I'm looking into the twisted case of Christopher Blevins and where he was last seen. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy.

Starting point is 00:00:25 You may have taken a walk in the woods before, but you probably haven't found a refrigerator covered with a carpet. That happened to a hiker last month in Cape May County, New Jersey. Inside of the refrigerator was the body of 50-year-old Laura Hughes. A criminal complaint says the fridge was wrapped in a sleeping bag and secured with blue ratchet straps, the carpet placed on top. The fridge was found in the Belle Plaine Forest. The hiker called police to the section of the park in Dennis Township, and this is a large, large forest. It's 23,000 acres. Now, at first, police could not identify the remains, so New Jersey State Police released

Starting point is 00:01:05 descriptive details and photos to the public for help. A Facebook post said, The remains are believed to belong to a Caucasian or Hispanic female, approximately 5 feet 1 inches tall. The individual had two tattoos, a koi fish tattoo on the upper right portion of her back, shoulder blade area, and a rose tattoo on her left ribs, extending from her chest to her hip. Additionally, a distinctive yoga mat and necklace were recovered at the scene. Now from that post, a friend recognized the tattoos and necklace and called police. Laura's ex-husband shared the sad news on his Facebook page three days later. He wrote,

Starting point is 00:01:50 as many of y'all brought in the new year with good vibes and celebrations, I had to inform my children this woman missing is their mother and changed their life forever. The senseless act robs my children of their mother. Please keep my children in your prayers and thoughts as we navigate through this difficult time. I thank everyone who has supported and reached out. May the new year bring understanding and justice. Now, it didn't take long for police to consider the victim's boyfriend, 45-year-old Christopher Blevins, a suspect given the couple's history of domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse. During the investigation, authorities searched Blevins' apartment and found blue straps, a gun, and a calendar, which displayed an X on each subsequent day of the year prior to July 24th, however, stopping on that day. According to court documents, Blevins' communication and data records indicate a significant gap in activity around the time that Laura went missing.

Starting point is 00:02:46 An automated license plate reader traced the movement of Blevins' green Dodge Ram at two separate locations. Specifically, a license plate reader revealed the Dodge Ram in Long Beach Township on July 24, 2024 and in Seal Isle on July 25, 2024 at 4 p.m. Detectives observed the outline of a large rectangular object resembling the outline of a refrigerator in the bed of the truck underneath of a tonneau cover. New Jersey State Police say that Christopher Blevins hid a body. I decided to search him on Truthfinder.com to see what would come up. Truthfinder is one of the largest public record search services out there. Blevins name came back and there were criminal and traffic results from North Carolina and Virginia.

Starting point is 00:03:33 Truthfinder is really great because it will show you where a person has lived, phone numbers, possible relatives and social media accounts. And one thing that I really love about it is it will show you the names of sex offenders who live in your neighborhood. I've got a great deal for you right now. You can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to www.truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix. Log on and start accessing information about almost anyone. New Jersey State Police say that cameras captured Blevins' truck crossing the southern border into Mexico from Brownsville, Texas. They say he remained in hiding for several weeks.

Starting point is 00:04:11 The complaint states on August 27th, 2024, Blevins voluntarily surrendered to authorities in Mexico City. During his confession, he admitted to being involved in a violent incident in Runnymede, New Jersey, and stated that he panicked afterward. He stated he may have killed involved in a violent incident in Runnymede, New Jersey, and stated that he panicked afterward. He stated he may have killed someone in a bar fight. Right now, Blevins faces charges of disturbing and desecrating human remains and hindering apprehension. There's clear evidence of an effort to hide remains, but so far, a murder charge has not been filed in this case. Investigators have also not said how Laura Hughes died. We'll have more on that later. And it's not clear when Blevins could be returned from Mexico

Starting point is 00:04:51 to face charges. Now, if this case wasn't strange enough, the man who discovered the body, John Tyrell, was also charged with obstruction for refusing to turn over his cell phone to officers who later got a warrant. Tyrell was later released. Laura was the mother to two teenage girls and had recently moved from White Plains, New York to be closer to both of them. I want to bring in Tracy Walder. She is a former FBI agent and CIA officer. So Tracy, this case is crazy because Christopher Blevins, they're saying, left this refrigerator in the woods in New Jersey and then took off for Mexico in July and then talks to authorities in Mexico in August and confesses that he may have killed somebody in a bar fight.

Starting point is 00:05:41 Yes. Well, thank you for having me, Ingenit. This is obviously an interesting case, especially because, too, law enforcement, upon searching his apartment or his residence, found blue straps that matched the refrigerator. They found a gun. They found all kinds of evidence there. And what's also interesting to me is the fact that he voluntarily surrendered himself to Mexican authorities. With that information, I would expect Mexico to reach out, obviously, to either U.S. Marshals or the FBI legal attache office that's there in Mexico City and let them know that they have this American citizen who has voluntarily surrendered and quite frankly has admitted to a crime. Yeah. I mean, a very serious crime.

Starting point is 00:06:33 You know, the whole thing about the bar fight, we don't really know what that means. But, you know, just the fact that he fled to Mexico, obviously, you know, that shows a consciousness of guilt. And then the refrigerator is not found for many months. Laura Hughes has been missing since July. It was very interesting to me how they were able to put out those photos to help identify her, because I'm assuming that her body would have been in a horrific state of decomposition by that time. Yes, absolutely. It's pretty remarkable how they were able to do that, especially.

Starting point is 00:07:11 And obviously, I don't want to get too graphic. But being that it was summertime, you're exposed out in the elements. Obviously, heat does speed up decomposition. And obviously, it's not a plugged-in refrigerator. So there's no kind of cooling going on. So she was probably in a very advanced state of decomposition. And obviously, it's not a plugged in refrigerator. So there's no kind of cooling going on. So she was probably in a very advanced state of decomposition. And if there was no identification on the body, such as a driver's license, passport, those kinds of things, it would have been very, very difficult to identify her. So it is impressive what they were able to do. How difficult, you know, would it be as an

Starting point is 00:07:46 American investigator to track down somebody in Mexico once they've taken off and gone across the border? I mean, is that really hard to track somebody down? The answer to that question is yes and no. The reality is, is it's time. Time is the factor that really increases the ease or the difficult nature of capturing someone. And so I think the issue that we see in this case, as you mentioned earlier, was that it sounds like this refrigerator dump most likely happened in July. He turned himself in voluntarily in August, but the refrigerator wasn't found until December. And so the reality was, is I'm not sure that all the law enforcement agencies put those pieces together and were able to discern that Blevins could have been responsible for this. Now, had they found it immediately and then been able to sort of trace his journey, which is how they believed that he crossed the border in that Brownsville

Starting point is 00:08:51 crossing area, it may have been, I don't want to say easy because nothing like this is easy, but they would have then let Mexican authorities know we have a really good relationship actually with Mexican law enforcement. And they also would have let the FBI's legal attache office know that this individual was there. That would have then tipped off Mexican law enforcement and Mexican authorities that when this individual turned himself in, he was someone that was wanted by the United States. Now, as I mentioned earlier, a murder charge has not yet been filed in this case, but Christopher Blevins would certainly be the prime suspect. I spoke with retired forensic pathologist, Dr. Mary Jumbelek, about whether it could be difficult to determine a cause of death

Starting point is 00:09:35 in this case. Dr. Jumbelek, when a body has been in a refrigerator out in the elements for five months or so, I mean, does that make it harder to determine a cause of death or would the body have been somewhat preserved possibly in the refrigerator? Well, it's really difficult to say. I think that certainly, you know, forensic pathologists, we are used to dealing with bodies in all conditions. So from those that might have died just hours earlier to someone who's not uncovered for 20 years. So it's quite the spectrum. And within our profession, we look at all the parameters of the environment and the person and how they were killed and how they were stored and if they were treated with any chemicals or anything along those lines, because all of that will affect the body and the condition of the body. That being said, the environment plays a large role. So if it's extremely warm outside,

Starting point is 00:10:34 very humid outside, then there's going to be more rapid decomposition. If it's very cold, it's going to preserve the body more. Being in an insulated container like a refrigerator, if it was within a hot environment, that might be not very good for the state of the body. If it's in a cold environment, it would protect it. So I'm guessing the refrigerator wasn't run by a generator or electrical power. So it really is just functioning like an insulated container at that point. What struck me about this, and obviously there's so much we don't know about this, but what struck me was the fact that New Jersey State Police were actually able to get images of the tattoos on Laura Hughes's body and recreate those or do something and put some

Starting point is 00:11:27 images out to help identify her? Well, tattoos can be very useful, especially if they're unique or characteristic for the person, maybe, you know, hand done or even unique designs. And they don't decompose as rapidly because they're deeper into the skin. They're in the dermal layer where the ink is injected into the dermal layer of the skin. So the superficial skin can come off, can decompose, can slough off, and you still can see the remnant of a tattoo in the dermis. Oh, so that's really interesting. So there could have been the decomposition. Obviously obviously decomposition would have been taking place, but the tattoo would have still been kind of embedded in layers of skin. Yes. And then the deeper layer in the dermis.

Starting point is 00:12:16 Interesting. Interesting. Well, it will be interesting to see how they determine this. I mean, the boyfriend in his confession, according to court documents, said he thought he killed somebody by getting into a bar fight. So maybe that will help lend some clues to investigators, or maybe that's just something he said. We really don't know. Well, and if the dermis was there, then potentially other portions of the body were there. So the neck organs, if there was a strangulation or the bones, if there was a fracture or breaking or some deeper trauma inside the body might still have been visible to the medical examiner. Very interesting. Well, thank you so much,

Starting point is 00:12:56 Mary Jen Bellick, Dr. Mary Jen Bellick for your time. You're welcome. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being here. I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Woman's Body Found Stuffed in Fridge in Forest

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Woman's Body Found Stuffed in Fridge in Forest

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