Crime Junkie - BWBRSA: Operation Fireball

Episode Date: December 4, 2020

We're dropping in your feed on an unusual day of the week to tell you an unusual Crime Junkie story. Thanks to the podcast Something Was Wrong, Ashley stumbled across a story that shook her to her core. She's convinced that a bigger operation is going on undetected and she needs you to listen and write in to help solve this mystery! This story is also a good reminder to always be weird, be rude, watch out for one another, AND STAY ALIVE!Sources cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/bwbrsa-operation-fireball/Check out Something Was Wrong HEREand check out Jez's new podcast HERE

Hi, Crime Junkies, I'm Ashley Flowers, and I'm Britt. And today is clearly not Monday, but there is a reason that I wanted to drop in your feed on an unusual day. It's because I have an unusual story to tell you. It's not our normal episode, but it is a story that if you're like me, will chill you to your absolute core, and I mean that. So Britt, you and I are big fans of the podcast called Something Was Wrong, hosted by Tiffany Rees.

Oh, love it so much. Yeah. Her podcast is all about different ways that people can be gaslit, or different types of gaslighters. It's really interesting. Yeah, it's a lot about psychology and manipulation, and it's really, really good. Yeah, and it's not just in romantic relationships, it's in all types of relationships. So informative, so educational, and we've been promoting it nonstop for the last, I think,

year and a half. We love it. Ever since we discovered it, yeah. Yes, love it. And a couple of weeks ago, Tiffany had this standalone episode called Predator. Not a lot can really spook me. I mean, it's literally my full-time job now to constantly be researching the worst of humanity.

Right, right. It's something about this story that I couldn't shake, I couldn't let it go. Yeah, you listened to it first and would not let me listen to it because you wanted to tell me the story here. Yeah, I was like, don't do it. I'm going to reach out to Tiffany. We have to tell this story, and I want you to hear it along with our listeners. I'm serious.

I had goosebumps all over, and for days, I just couldn't shake this uneasy feeling in my stomach because I was convinced that that episode that I had just heard was just the tip of the iceberg. And I really believe that if enough people heard this story, that we would find more victims out there who, if they came forward, could alert law enforcement to something really dark and sinister going on. So I reached out to Tiffany Reece, who was kind enough to let me retell this story and who put me in touch with the girl that she interviewed.

The girl this story is about. Her name is Jez. Now it just so happens that Jez is actually a crime junkie, and she found Tiffany's show through a recommendation from us. So it's a small podcasting world. But here's the thing, even though Jez was a crime junkie, even though she's listened to all of our episodes, and even though she's had years to reflect on the story I'm about to tell you, I think that she may not understand the gravity of what she really escaped until

now. Thank you. In 2013, Jez had just moved to Colorado. She grew up in Wyoming, but after some time in Idaho, she was excited about this new chapter in her life. Now, she didn't live like right in downtown Denver, but she lived in this little suburb outside of downtown Denver, like close enough that she could just like hop into the city and enjoy everything it had to offer that like a young woman in her mid-20s would want

to do. Right. Now, Jez didn't know anyone when she moved to Denver. She did what a lot of us would do, or at least what I know that I did when I moved to Arizona and didn't know anyone, she took to the internet to meet new people. Now, today, there are like a thousand different apps that you can use to meet people. Right. But this was in 2013, you said?

Yeah. Tinder had just launched in 2012, so not everyone was like swiping left and right by 2013. You had to use like good old fashioned dating sites, and Jez went to plenty of fish. So one day she logs on and sees that there's this handsome guy online. It will like show you when someone's actually online and his name's Jordan. And Jez says that his photo showed someone athletic with kind of like blue, green eyes, eyes that were bright against his olive skin. He was a handsome guy.

So they begin messaging, and this is like the early to mid afternoon. Now, she doesn't recall the small talk that they made now. Maybe she mentioned that she was new to town, maybe they talked about their jobs or their family. Like the basic like get to know you type things probably. Yeah. It's all fuzzy for her seven years later. But she does remember that only after a little bit of talking, maybe like an hour or so,

he asked her if she'd like to meet up for dinner or drinks. Now, this is what she's on the site for. So of course she says, yes, she's like, I'm not even the kind that wants to like talk endlessly online. Like I'm here to meet new people, you know, whether there's a romantic relationship or not. Like, yeah, let's just meet up in person. Just like add to her network.

Yeah. Exactly. So they exchanged phone numbers and they pick a spot. He actually picked the spot, the old Chicago in downtown Denver. Like I said, Jez lived a little out of the city. So this was like a half an hour drive for her. But she said that it was totally like reasonable. She loved going to the city.

Great. She'll be there. Now, the first good move Jez makes is she decides to drive by herself. This is after all the first time she's going to be meeting a stranger. Like he'd already chosen a public location, which was a good sign to her, but she wanted to make sure that she had her own transportation. She wasn't like putting herself in a vulnerable situation, being alone with a guy that she didn't know in a car.

Right. Makes sense. So evening rolls around and Jez heads out to the old Chicago. And as she's getting closer, her phone goes off and it's Jordan who shot her a text. He's running a little bit late. He's stuck in traffic. He says, listen, why don't you like grab us a couple of fireball shots and then we'll grab a table as soon as I get there.

So no problem. Like Jez says, you know, I wasn't like a super into shots. I'm not like a big shot girl, but like it won't kill me. And like maybe this is how we're just going to like loosen up and meet new people. Like, I mean, Lord knows it's nerve wracking. Right. So she gets to the bar. She orders these two shots and just takes a seat.

Now it's kind of early. So there aren't a ton of people in the restaurant and the way she explains it. I haven't been to an old Chicago, but she says the place is like really, really large. So she's sitting there. Like she's not going to take her shot until he gets there, right? Like, you don't want to be like that person alone in the bar, like throwing him back. So she's got the two shots in front of her. She's waiting, keeping an eye on the door, waiting.

And as she's waiting, this guy walks up and sits at the bar kind of near her, like not in the seat next to her, but maybe like one seat over. And after sitting there in silence for a little bit, the guy starts making small talk, like maybe thinking she's there alone, not knowing that she's actually waiting for a date. Now every once in a while, she gets a text from Jordan. Another apology, another excuse. And at some point the bartender, like it's long enough that the bartender actually offers like, Hey, why don't I just put these shots in a cooler for a little bit?

Because I think this guy's like, he might be a minute. And the waitress even pops by again. And she said, it's kind of weird because like she's not at a table. Remember she's sitting at the bar. So like normally wait staff wouldn't come check on you. But right. You just have the bartender, the bar staff. Yeah.

But she's like, this waitress is like super attentive. They keep seeing if I need anything, but she doesn't need anything. She's like, listen, I'm just waiting for someone I'm fine. So 10, 15 minutes after she'd gotten there, Jordan sends another text. He'd been pulled over. So he's still held up. He's delayed even longer. And this didn't make sense to her.

Like 10 minutes ago you're stuck in traffic and now you're being pulled over. And more than that, like as she's kind of thinking about it, she's like, listen, I don't, I, you know, I guess I don't know where he lives. I don't know what direction he came from, but like when she went there, there's no traffic whatsoever. This isn't like rush hour. I didn't see anything. What's he stuck in?

And now it's weird that he's getting pulled over. And this starts to become the first time that she realizes, well, crap, I think I'm being stood up. Right. It just sounds like this guy has like a ton of excuses as to why he's not there. Yeah. And, you know, being stood up might really upset a lot of people or depending on like what kind of day you had, what like stage of life you're in.

But Jess says, you know, I really wasn't that mad. She's like, I mean, I literally have known this guy for like a couple of hours, so I'm not super hurt. And another reason that she wasn't super upset, which she said she didn't even realize at the time, but when we were emailing back and forth, she said, quote, I am super gay and didn't understand slash know it at the time, end quote. So losing this guy was actually really no big deal. Yeah.

Like even though she hadn't like necessarily come to terms with that yet, she's like, yeah, I probably wouldn't have been as upset as like somebody who was like very straight and there to meet someone. She's like, I, yeah, I was fine. I was just gonna sit there. I was gonna hang out. Aw, little baby. So before she totally writes this guy off as like just an internet weirdo, she decides,

you know what? I'm just going to call him first. Like maybe this is like the worst case scenario of everything. I just want to get a sense from him over the phone, like what the heck is going on. So she dials the number that she's been texting all afternoon and it's not a working number. What? But, but she was texting it. Yeah.

I don't know. Like it is straight up a number that she said was it's not even like someone just clicked it over to voicemail or that they didn't pick up. It wasn't like you've reached this number, leave a message. It was like that your call cannot be connected because this number doesn't exist. Yeah. Did not stink and exist. Oh my God.

So by this point, I mean, she definitely doesn't understand it. Like how do you text and then the phone not work. But she's like, I for sure got stood up and she kind of says that out loud. And the guy that she's sitting next to that was kind of chatting with her, like he's being super nice. He's like, well, how about, I feel terrible, like how about I buy you dinner, like we can just sit here and chat. Like, why don't we actually just get a table together?

And she's like, you know what? Like this is like pretty much all I needed tonight. Like I'm going to buy my own dinner. I'll be fine. Yeah. Like let's just like call it a night. Yeah. Yeah.

Walk it off. Get over it. Yeah. But she was like, you know, I drove 30 minutes. I'm going to sit here and eat. And she's like, you know, I'm happy to keep talking to you, but like you do not need to buy my dinner. That's totally fine.

And so he's like, well, how about can I, do you care if I like come sit next to you and we can chat? And she's like, absolutely sure. So they continue to chat about nothing in particular. Just kind of small talking make with a stranger and they have a drink. It's nice. It's fine. And at this point, Jez has been at the old Chicago for like about 30 minutes.

She has to use the restroom. So she asked her new friends sitting there like, Hey, can you just watch my person make a coat? I'll be right back. So she walks to the restroom and she doesn't even make it to the stall when the door she just walked in swings open. And it's that waitress who'd been checking on her and she looks terrified. She's wide frantic.

She looks at Jez and says, I need to talk to you. Now Jez can't figure out why this woman who she's never seen before would be in such a panic and need to talk to her. Like it feels awkward. So I mean, straight up this woman is acting weird. So Jez kind of tries to break the tension with a joke. She said something like, I feel like it's a little early on for a conversation like this, but like, okay.

And right. And the waitress was not having it. And she immediately was just like completely serious again and said, I have to talk to you about that guy. And Jez is like, like he stood me up, but what do you mean you have to talk to me about him? And she goes, no, not the guy you were supposed to meet, the one sitting next to you. And she goes, okay.

And just about this time is when Jez says she got this incredible sinking feeling like she knew whatever was about to come out of her mouth next was not going to be good. So the waitress looks at her and she says, this is going to sound crazy, but whatever reason you're here, he got you here. He is the reason you are here sitting at this bar. And Jez can't comprehend it. She's like, I don't, I don't understand what you mean. How do you like, I, I just met him and the waitress goes on to tell her this story.

And she said, basically over some time now, and she didn't know exactly how long we tried to piece it together later. We're thinking weeks, maybe a couple of months, but she said over some time now, we have seen the same thing with this same guy play out. Someone comes in, they sit at the bar, they order two fireball shots and they're always waiting for someone, usually a date or like a potential roommate. And this guy, the guy sitting next to her is always there. He always sits one seat away and whoever it is that came and ordered the two shots always

gets stood up. She goes on to tell her that like, he does the same thing. He offers to buy them dinner. He says, Hey, why don't we go get a table? Most of them do, but the waitress is saying, listen, it's all wrong. Like he never comes back with the same person twice. It's the same routine. Oh my God.

And over and over again, and even more worrisome, the people that he meets, they like, again, we'll sit down with him. They drink, they have dinner, but they always seem to be more intoxicated than they should be after what we serve them. She says he always pays in cash. We have no idea who he is and they always leave with him. So she keeps going and she says, listen, this is why we have been paying so much attention to you.

I've never been able to talk to any of these people before. Like I've never had a chance either. They weren't in a position where they were alone or they were again too intoxicated to actually have a conversation with and she's like, you're the first person I can warn. I don't know what's going on, but whatever it is, it isn't right. So Jez is like shaking, panicking like, well, now what? And that's when it hits her. Like her purse is out there with this guy and she's not worried about her money.

It's like her ID, her full name, her home address. She doesn't know what she's going to do, but the one thing she decides is she can't even like comprehend how deviant this guy is or what he has planned for her. But she's like, whatever it is, like I'm scared and I can't let him know that I'm like on to him. Right. She has to be like super cool. Yeah.

So she's like, you know what? I'm going to go out. I'm going to like have a full meal. I'm going to like try and ride this thing out until basically until he walks away because she's also like, I don't want to like, I'm not just going to go walk to my car and have him follow me. I don't know who he is or what he wants or whatever. So heart pounding, Jez leaves the restroom and heads right back to her seat, right back

next to this stranger who got her here, but she has no idea why. Now as she's walking back, like obviously she can't help trying like piece it together in her mind. But she never saw him texting when she was communicating with Jordan. So like she's thinking, was he holding a phone down at his side? And again, we come back to why would that phone be disconnected when she tried to ring it? Right.

And why wouldn't this guy just use his own picture to meet women? She said, like, listen, he's, he's handsome. So like the only thing she could think of is that like, he doesn't want people to know his real identity. Oh, this is like part of his whole game. Exactly. So she sits down back at the bar and she had a drink sitting there. Like she'd been sipping on, but now she's like, listen, this drink has been sitting

alone next to this guy. Like there's no way I'm finishing this. She can't drink it. Yeah. Yeah. So she orders an iced tea and she says, right when she orders an iced tea, he seems really irritated and he keeps pushing, come on, let me buy you dinner. She keeps saying like, thanks, but no thanks.

Like honestly, I'm fine. She's trying to be polite. She's trying not to piss this guy off. And she's like, you know what, she decides to herself, like, I'm, I'm for sure going to sit here. I'm for sure going to eat my food. I'm going to wait this out. Eventually he's going to realize this isn't going anywhere and he's going to leave, but

he keeps pressing. She keeps saying no. And so when it's clear that she's going to like eat her meal alone at the bar and pay for it herself, he gets agitated and starts making these other suggestions. Like, he's like, oh, you know, I know this place that down the street, it has like these great martinis. We should go there. And she's like, dude, no, I'm like, thank you, but I'm fine.

This has been a weird day. I'm going to eat my dinner. I'm going to go home. And he's like, oh, no, no, no, come on. Like you're already out. You're already here. Like we can't let you waste the day. You know, he's trying to like be positive, but there's something like at a certain point

where you're like, why won't you just let this go? Why? Yeah. Why can't you just drop this? Yeah. So he keeps pushing, keeps pushing. And so finally she's like, you know what, like it's getting dark out. She's like, I don't know what to do because he's not giving up like I thought he would.

So she decides that she is going to like make up this friend. So she brings out her phone and pretends to like start texting. And after some time she's like, oh, like, great, I was just texting my friend. She's going to come down and meet me tonight. It's not a bust after all, like, bye, basically, like you can go. If that was the reason to try to get me out, like don't worry about it. I'm going to hang out with somebody else. I've got a friend.

Yeah. If you're truly a good guy who just doesn't want me to be alone after I got stood up, like nothing more for you to worry about, but this dude won't give up. So he's like, well, why don't we like have her meet us out somewhere and then we'll like get a drink. And then he was being really weird and trying to like get Jez to like go to this martini place and then meet her friend. Like everything in him was like trying to get her to this secondary location.

So now at this point, Jez is like, you know what? Any normal person, whether they knew his like game or not would be annoyed. And so she's like, I need to keep acting like a normal person who isn't like in on this would act. And so she's like, finally I just got kind of in his face and I was like, dude, I don't know what you don't get about this, but like I'm not going with you. And he gets really pissed. He tries to press one more time and this time more telling her like, let's go here and then

she can meet us. And then she snapped back and she's like, I am not going with you. And she just kind of stared at him like, dude, what is your deal? And that's when he just looked at her and said, fine, whatever. And he walks out. So he walks out of the restaurant. She's left alone. She's like breathing a sigh of relief and the server and the bartender come over and

they don't know what to do. I mean, they're kind of like trying to break this down. They're trying to talk about it, but no one knows who this guy is. No one knows like what the plan was. And more than anything, Jez is terrified to go to her car. So she ends up sitting there at the whole Chicago for like four more hours. It's like, oh my God, just like decompressing and like waiting for it to be safe. Yeah.

Waiting it out. She's like, I don't know if he, you know, he was so determined. Is he waiting for me right outside the restaurant? Did he, did he know where I parked? Like she doesn't know the answer to any of these things. So eventually after like four hours, the bartender walks her to her car. She's able to get in her car. She is able to get home safe and she never saw this guy again.

She said, as far as she remembers that Jordan profile that was online disappeared, she did try to call police. Like she just didn't call 911, like just the department. And she's like, listen, I don't think there is anything you can do, but like, I just need you to know about this, like something, this just feels wrong. And I mean, sure enough, and I, I'm going to kind of understand this. They said, listen, we can't do anything. Like no crime has been committed here.

Like we don't, you know, we thank you for calling, but like there, they can't even like build a report on that. No. Now she never went back to that old Chicago. She doesn't know the names of the bartender or the waitress who potentially saved her from a terrible fate. And listen, I, again, I know this story ended great. Nothing happened, but there is, there is still a reason that I like, I can't stop thinking

about this. And I, I think it's because I truly believe that there was something terrible waiting for her. Like when I listened to that, something was wrong episode. And even when I talked to Jess myself, like her feeling about what this was all about was very different than mine. And I didn't want my thinking to influence her. So I didn't tell her what I was thinking.

She probably won't learn this until she hears this episode because I wanted her to tell me her thoughts first. So I asked her, I said, you know, the guy didn't appear to be texting. How do you think that he was making this happen? And in her email to me, she said, quote, I think he had to have been texting me by holding a different phone down by his side or something, the side furthest from me, but I don't know. Maybe there was some way he was doing it on his own phone, but I don't recall seeing him holding his phone as though he was receiving and or sending messages, end quote.

But Brit, I think there was someone else thought that was my first thought was this guy cannot be doing this alone. Yet to me, this has all the hallmarks of a very sophisticated trafficking operation. Like there was the person who got her there. And then there's another person who would like get her out of there. And I think they were working together. They had this system down. I believe they'd done it before and I believe they probably did it again.

And the fact that Jez was new to town, I don't think that was a coincidence. When I asked her, she couldn't recall if she told the, you know, online Jordan that she had just moved to the area or she couldn't remember if she said she didn't know anyone, but she said she wouldn't be surprised if that had come up. And again, I can't tell you why, but I can't, I can't shake the story because again, when she breaks it down too, she talks about how like, I think he pushed me to going to the bar. She's like something about the way he said, like grab some shots and then we'll get a

table. She's like psychologically, he was telling me where to go. So I'd be at the bar where that guy could sit down next to me. If she would have gotten a table versus just getting a table and waiting, it would have been like, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to just kind of like make small talk, kind of sidle up and make those moves. Yeah. Yeah.

All the way deep in my bones. I feel like there is something bigger here. I did a lot of internet digging to see if I could find stories like this in and around the Colorado area at the time. And I kind of had this like weird thing happen where I found this case that has like, like very few, some similarities on the surface, but I didn't think was connected because there's like some big things that to me don't match up. Then I had this other like weird moment, like it honestly felt a little like fate.

And I mean, second guess myself, I don't know. Like I'll probably do a little extra for the fan club because this is something I can't prove. I don't want to muddy up this story because I think the story is really important. But basically like ultimately what I found is that there isn't anything online about this scam or this operation, which could mean that it's been going on since 2013 undetected. And the only way to know for sure is to get the word out. Tell your friends to listen to this episode, share this episode, talk about this episode

and if something like this happened to you, I want you to email us crimejunkieataudiochuck.com. Jez's story took place sometime between June and October of 2013 in Denver, Colorado, but I don't care what time I don't care what year this happened. I don't care if this thing happened in another state. I'm serious email us crimejunkieataudiochuck.com and if anyone in law enforcement is listening, I know the folks who heard Jez's story couldn't do much, but please all I'm asking is hear this story, share this story with other people in the law enforcement community because if enough officers have gotten those one off strange calls, but maybe we can start piecing

them together, maybe that's how we find the victims that weren't as lucky as Jez. And that's the other thing, Jez wasn't just lucky. Everyone was looking out for her. Even though Jez took all the right steps, she met in a public place. She drove her own car. She was still vulnerable. This stuff can happen to all of you. Do you hear me?

Like, thank God that waitress was comfortable being weird and cornering Jez in the bathroom. Thank God Jez was comfortable being rude to the handsome guy with the kind face. She is still a lie. So look out for yourself, look out for one another. It can be a scary world out there and we need each other. And I'm serious, please, if anything like this happened to you, if you were stood up by a date or a roommate, you had the two fireball shots or anything like that and a man at a bar bought you drinks, please email in.

The only way to know the truth about who that man was or what he was or is doing is by people coming forward and sharing their story like Jez. If you guys want to hear this story told by Jez herself, check out the podcast Something Was Wrong. You can find Jez's story in season six, episode two titled Predator. You will also link out to it on the blog post for this episode, which you can find at crimejunkiepodcast.com. And be sure to follow us on Instagram at CrimeJunkie Podcast. And we'll be back on Monday with our regularly scheduled programming.

CrimeJunkie is an audio chuck production, so what do you think Chuck, do you approve?