Crime Junkie - CONSPIRACY: Jonathan Luna

Episode Date: December 12, 2022

When federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna was found face-down in a creek with multiple stab wounds, homicide seemed like the obvious answer. Over time, though, public officials started to pose a different theory: that he took his own life. But for those who knew Jonathan, that wasn’t an option – and the more they learned about the circumstances surrounding his death, the more they started to wonder if it was being covered up by those in charge. If you know who we can contact, or which government agency in Maryland would be willing to take an unbiased look at Jonathan’s death, we want to hear from you! You can email us at [e-mail] get a deeper dive into Jonathan Luna’s case, check out David Payne’s podcast: Somebody Somewhere.Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit https://crimejunkieapp.com/library/ to view the current membership options and policies.Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit:

Hi crime junkies, I'm your host Ashley Flowers. And the story I have for you today is about a successful man found dead miles away from his home in the middle of the night. The investigation seemed cut and dry at first. That is until rumors sparked by the very agencies investigating his death turned the whole case on its head. This is the story of Jonathan Luna. It's between 5 and 6 a.m. on Thursday, December 4, 2003, and two employees of a well-drilling

company in Denver, Pennsylvania are getting ready to start their day when they notice a red light shining through the darkness down the road. The area they're in isn't super well lit, so it stands out like a beacon. It's actually so unusual that they decide to walk over and check it out. As they're approaching, they see that it's coming from the dashboard of a silver Honda Accord that's like teetering on the edge of this 4-foot embankment that slopes down into a creek. The car is still running, and even though it's dark, it doesn't appear to be damaged,

at least at first. So they assume that maybe a drunk driver just spun out of control or whatever. And it's kind of a logical assumption because the area they're in is somewhat remote and the road has, like, all these twists and turns, so if you don't know it well and, again, it's dark and you're impaired, you easily could lose control and run off the road. Again, especially if you're intoxicated. So thinking that a person might still be inside and might need help, they keep approaching the car.

But there is no one in the front seat, just blood. That's when they call the police and two state troopers respond. The troopers are kind of like scoping out the car, trying to determine what happened here, where the driver could be, and that's when they happen to look over the edge of that embankment. And there, face down in a stream, is the body of a man. The man is fully clothed, wearing what looks like a suit and an overcoat. I don't think they can actually see his face at this point, but somehow they can tell

that he's dead. So the troopers call in backup, and before long, both local and state police are there at the scene. When they check the man out, they can see that he has multiple stab wounds, which according to reporting by Brett Lovelace for LNP, are mostly around his chest and neck. And the interior of the car seems to be where the attack took place, because in addition to the blood in the driver's seat, they also find a large pool of blood on the rear passenger floorboard, as well as smears of blood on the driver's side door and the front driver's

side fender. So they're thinking, again, that the attack happened there, and then the man either got out of the car or was taken out of the car and made his way to the stream. Inside the car, they also find multiple $1 bills, $10 bills, and $20 bills, all scattered inside, although the exact amount of how much money was there has never been reported on. Now, one of the questions I had that I couldn't figure out is what gear the car was in. Brett Lovelace's article states that the car was put into neutral and likely pushed towards where the man was laying in an attempt to crush him.

But I haven't seen that reported anywhere else on a case that has been reported on a lot. Anyway, when it comes to identifying this person, there are multiple versions of how they do it. Some sources say he's identified by his ID on him, along with a key card to a courthouse that goes to Baltimore, Maryland, which is like two hours away from where he's found. But other sources say that he had this class ring on him and that his name was engraved on the inside.

For all I know, it could have been both, but regardless, they come away with one name, Jonathan Luna, and it's even the name on the car's registration. What police at the scene don't know, though, is that at the very time they're processing this scene, Jonathan is being reported missing. You see, he's an assistant US attorney and today was the final day of a trial for him. So when he didn't show to court, he's reported missing and the FBI are quick to link this report with the crime scene. Once his identity is confirmed, both he and his car are removed from the scene and an autopsy

is performed later that same day, while investigators on the federal, state and local levels all search the area for anything that might give them a clue as to what happened. Now full disclosure, the autopsy report has never been published. So what we know about it only comes from statements that the medical examiner and investigators have made over the years. But based on those statements, Jonathan had a total of 36 stab wounds of varying depths, some really deep, but a lot of them are superficial. And noteworthy, none of them are really wide, leading the investigators to believe that the

knife used to kill Jonathan wasn't very big, likely some kind of pen knife or a pocket knife. But even that kind of small knife was enough to cause a lethal cut to his carotid artery. Now this cut would have caused him to bleed out in minutes, but that's actually not how he died. The medical examiner finds signs of drowning, meaning that Jonathan was alive when he went into the creek and that is what ended up killing him. It's notable that there are also other signs of trauma on his body, including a wound on the right side of his head that they think was likely due to the forefoot drop into the

creek. In an article for LNP by Tom Merce reports that there are what looks like ligature marks on his wrists indicating that he was bound at some point, although the coroner later says that he has no knowledge of those. So I'm not sure who made that assertion initially, or if it's true or what. But between those supposed ligature marks and the number of superficial wounds that he has, this theory starts to emerge that he had been tortured, so his manner of death is ruled as homicide.

But by the time the autopsy is finished, investigators back at the scene are struggling to come up with anything that could be related to Jonathan's death. They've got over a hundred people out there searching nearby fields, roads, even the creek itself, but they don't come up with a murder weapon or any other physical evidence. So since they can't find anything, investigators start focusing on the question of who might have wanted Jonathan dead. But the more they learn about him, the less they have to go on. He's this well-liked guy, he's hard-working, he's been a prosecutor with the US Attorney's

Office in Baltimore for several years. But maybe that's where they should look, because over his years as a prosecutor, he's tried some more challenging and even violent cases involving everything from drug dealers to child predators. So naturally, eyes quickly turn to the case that he was prosecuting at the time of his death. Like, remember, he was actually in the final stages of a trial when he died. He'd been prosecuting two men who were accused of selling heroin and running a drug ring

from a recording studio there in Baltimore. And even though they were in custody when the murder took place, authorities start to wonder if maybe they'd somehow orchestrated Jonathan's murder from behind bars. But almost as quickly as they come under suspicion, those guys are actually cleared. You see, just the day before, their lawyers had spent hours with Jonathan negotiating plea deals that they were going to actually accept the morning Jonathan was found deceased. So really, they seemed like the last people who would want him dead. Of course, just to be sure, investigators look into any correspondence that they might

have had with people outside of prison, but they can't find anything suspicious. So they start working backwards, diving into other cases he'd worked on to see if there's anyone else who might be holding a grudge. And as investigators are doing that, they also start trying to retrace Jonathan's last movements, where he went, who he talked to. And within the first few days, they're able to put together a pretty detailed timeline of what his last 24 hours looked like, but what they learn only baffles them. So the day before he was murdered, Jonathan was in court, and he stayed afterwards to

work out those plea bargains with the two men's defense lawyers. Those agreements were reached between 5 and 6 p.m. And afterward, Jonathan went home to have dinner with his wife and his two young sons before security cameras captured him returning to the courthouse at 8.48. While he was there, he made two calls, one to each of the defense attorneys that he'd met with earlier, saying that, listen, I'm still working on the plea agreements, you know, making sure everything is there, everything's correct, whatever. Now he was supposed to fax copies of those agreements to the attorneys that night.

But then those faxes never came through. Instead, security cameras captured Jonathan leaving the courthouse at about 11.40 p.m. Now, as far as everyone knows, he has nowhere to go. He should be going straight home. But instead, his car starts driving in the opposite direction of his house. After this, Jonathan went on a four hour drive through Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. His route is kind of difficult to describe, so if you want to follow along, we actually have a map in the show notes on the website.

But based on data investigators gather from his EasyPass, they find that he crossed into Delaware at 12.46 a.m. His credit card records show that he stopped at a gas station near Newark, Delaware at 12.57 a.m., where he withdrew $200 from an ATM. According to an article by Gail Gibson for the Baltimore Sun, the gas station did have security cameras, but they weren't able to capture the transaction super clearly. Just something quick to note. I'm not sure if the $200 that he pulled was the money that was also found in his car,

or maybe just part of that was found in his car, because, again, the amount has never been released. I don't know if it was $200. Something I brought up to someone else was I was like, oh, well, there were ones and tens and 20s. I only ever get 20 bucks from the ATM, and someone said that they get different denominations, which I've never gotten from an ATM, so I might be using ATMs wrong. I don't know.

Anyways, the next time that he shows up is 2.37 a.m., and that's when he got on the New Jersey Turnpike. And the timing of this part of his journey is weird, because from the gas station to the Turnpike should only take 45 minutes, but it took him an hour and 40 minutes. So it's possible he's driving around aimlessly and took a weird route. It's possible he got lost, but for him to get lost indicates that he had a destination, and they still have no idea where he was going and why, or maybe he could have gone somewhere specific in that gap.

But the question is, where? The next time he pops up is just 10 minutes later, that's at 2.47. He gets onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and then at 3.20, his card was used to buy gas at another gas station. But instead of just paying for one tank of gas, he actually pays for two. Luckily, this gas station had security cameras, and on the tape, there's another person there at the station, but from everything I've read, I guess it's unclear if this other person, which is a man, it's unclear if he's traveling with Jonathan, or if they

just happen to be there at the same time. I don't know if he put the gas in another car, or if he put it in a tank that's missing. Maybe he was just doing something nice for a random stranger, I have no idea. I tried to find out if they ever tracked that other person down, but I can't find anything about this guy. So either they were able to find him and clear him, or maybe they're specifically not releasing something, or maybe he's just a frustrating loose end. I have no idea either way.

What I do know is that while Jonathan was there, he went to a nearby convenience store and bought some soft drinks. And investigators are able to contact the guy who was working that night, but he says that Jonathan seemed calm, seemed like nothing was wrong. However, he also thinks that someone was with him, like he might not have been alone, although he doesn't know who was with him. And as far as I can tell, he can't really give them a description. And I kind of agree with him only because when I read that he bought drinks with an

S multiple, to me, that kind of adds to the idea that he's not alone. He's buying two tanks of gas, he's buying multiple drinks. Is it the guy at the gas station who was seen? Again, I don't know. Finally, the last time they can account for his car is at 4.04 a.m., when he exited off the turnpike and went through another toll. But this time, instead of using his easy pass, he actually purchased a ticket. And this is weird because if you have an easy pass, like it works on all of these toll roads.

Why would you stop, get a ticket when you could just drive through and pay the exact same way? Well, according to reporting by Susan Levine, Frederick Kunkel, and Alan Lengel for the Washington Post, when investigators go to track that ticket down at the toll booth, because if you've never used a toll booth before, you basically have to get a ticket at the one where you're getting on and you like give your ticket back at the one where you're getting off. But they track that ticket down and disturbingly, they find that it has a spot of blood on it.

So they send that off to be tested. Now that last gas station that he was at is about 46 miles east of where his body would ultimately be found. So based on when his body was discovered, police think that Jonathan must have gone straight from that gas station to the embankment where he was found deceased. But even after putting this whole timeline together, it still doesn't give investigators any clues as to what actually happened. I mean, in fact, it does the opposite.

Everyone just has more questions. Like was Jonathan traveling alone, got two tanks of gas, he got two drinks? Why? Why did he purchase the toll ticket when he had an easy pass? Could someone else have been driving his car at that point and just didn't know he had one? Was he already injured? Hence the spot of blood.

I mean, everything about what they learn is so confusing. But buckle up, because this is just the beginning. Jonathan's entire route took him about four hours from start to finish. But the spot that he was found in is only two hours from the courthouse. So to try and see if he stopped anywhere else, the FBI sends agents to hotels along that route and asks employees there if they saw anyone matching his description during the time that he would have been traveling past. But they all say no.

And if you're wondering why they can't nail down every movement he made with cell phone records, well, that's because he left his cell phone at his office in the courthouse. He also left behind his glasses. And this is especially concerning because his friends all insist that he couldn't drive without his glasses. And to my knowledge, he didn't own another pair or wear contacts. So this would almost imply that someone else had to have been driving, right? Was he forced to leave the courthouse without his things?

I mean, there are so many questions. And remember, there is security footage from the courthouse, him coming in, him going out. But that has never been released, and police have never said if he actually left alone or not. As if all of those questions aren't enough, this is when rumors start swirling that Jonathan wasn't just stabbed in the chest like investigators originally said. Some people start saying that he was actually stabbed in the groin as well. Others are saying he was stabbed in the back.

I'm not sure who comes up with those assertions originally, but Gil Smart and John Rutter report for LNP that authorities do clarify that he wasn't stabbed anywhere else other than the chest and neck. But that doesn't make the rumors die down because basically people get all conspiratorial as we are known to do. And they're like, okay, we haven't seen any report. You won't release it. So we're not going to put this rumor to bed just quite yet.

And speaking of rumors, as investigators are digging into Jonathan's work life, they also take a look at his personal life. And things start coming out about Jonathan that challenge this family-oriented, successful perception that much of the public has of him. The first thing that comes out about him is that he had some credit card debt. He apparently had accumulated about $25,000 worth of debt that his wife didn't know about. All of this on a credit card that he hadn't told her about. Next, it's revealed that his internet search history showed messages and posts by someone

going by the name of Jonathan Luna on a website where he was looking for someone to sleep with. Now, it's important to know this. These posts were made six years before his death. And from what I can tell, there wasn't anything else fishy between when those posts went up and then when he died. He was married six years before, and by all accounts, he and his wife didn't have an open relationship.

So people find this strange. And finally, the other thing that comes out through that same Baltimore Sun article by Gail Gibson is that investigators are looking into relationships that he may have had with at least two other women at the time of his death. But here is the thing with all of these statements. A lot of them were made to the press, specifically the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post by unidentified federal sources who leaked the information under the condition of anonymity. So basically, we don't know who these sources are, how they're involved with the investigation,

and why they think it's appropriate to leak this borderline defamatory information about Jonathan's character to the public. For sure, maybe he had some debt. Maybe he was unfaithful to his wife. But what does that have to do with the investigation right now? The links were never really made, and there weren't leaking stuff about the crime scene or stuff that could actually help. They're linking stuff like making him look like a bad guy.

So if telling us this stuff is not going to tell us who killed him, then what's the point of publicizing the information in the first place? I mean, his whole thing is pretty unusual to say the least. Now the rumor mill doesn't end with his personal life, and people who work with Jonathan say that they'd heard his job may have been in danger. It was well known in the Baltimore Legal Circuit that Jonathan and his boss didn't really get along, and some of his co-workers believe that he was going to be let go. The Maryland U.S. Attorney, Thomas DiBaggio, publicly denies that allegation at the time,

stating that Jonathan's job wasn't in danger. But all of this, his personal life, his work troubles, it all starts to sway public opinion of the type of person Jonathan was. But none of the stuff coming out, again, has actually helped get answers in the case. So investigators are really banking on there being some physical evidence from the car that does help them. And for a moment, when those results come back, they're hopeful, because they did end up finding both DNA and partial fingerprints from an unknown person in the car.

Now I couldn't find where they got the DNA from, if it was like, not only like where on the car, but was it blood, was it touch DNA, what have you, I don't know, but whatever they got, and however they tested it and compared it, apparently they didn't get any matches. And the blood that was on the toll ticket turned out to be Jonathan's. So that doesn't tell them anything new, or I guess doesn't point to anyone else. But to me, at least what this does say is this is just more evidence that there is another person, right? Like the totality of the circumstances, the multiple drinks, the multiple tanks of gas.

So you've got Jonathan's blood on this ticket, he's already bleeding. Something is happening here. And all of it points to there being another person. Oh, and one of the biggest things to me, I mean, they are like a month in and they haven't found the murder weapon. Is that because someone took it with them away from the scene? So in my mind, I'm like, yeah, we need to put all of our attention into finding whoever this other person was, like that person has got to be the key to this investigation.

But authorities take a very different, very puzzling approach. They instead start to pose this theory that Jonathan may have died by suicide. To those who knew Jonathan, they don't think that that's an option for multiple reasons. For one, they say that he'd never expressed feelings of suicide to anyone, not his wife, not his friends. And while those experiencing suicidal thoughts may not express them out loud, his loved ones also insist that there's no way he would leave his kids. The location is also pretty significant to them, because those who often take their own

lives usually choose to do so in an area that they know. And as far as anyone can tell, Jonathan had never been to that area of Pennsylvania. He had gone to Pennsylvania to work on some prior cases, but the routes that he took to go there were always direct, not super random, like his drive was on the fourth. Oh, and something I didn't mention above in my list of circumstantial evidence that, to me, screams that someone was with Jonathan, was the freaking potential ligature marks. And again, I keep coming back to this weapon, explain to me how he got rid of the weapon if he took his own life.

You can't hide a knife somewhere after you've died. Even if you fell into the creek, it's not like it was this fast-moving river that could have carried it away. And they searched the area. It just doesn't make sense. And it makes even less sense when that pen knife is suddenly found two months after Jonathan died. It's reported that a blade was found in a field near where Jonathan's body was discovered.

I'm not exactly sure how far away from his body the blade was, like if it was a distance where he could have thrown it or placed it and then made it back to the creek. But I don't really believe that second option, because remember, he was bleeding out. So if he, first of all, even had the energy to go like plant the blade somewhere else and come back, there's no trail of blood from his car to somewhere else back to the creek, which you would expect if he planted it there himself. But just to throw a curveball at you, some sources have claimed that the knife was found in the same stream where Jonathan was located, which actually makes a little more sense.

But that is a huge discrepancy. So I'm kind of wondering, again, I don't know if both are true. Maybe both are partly true. What if maybe the blade of the knife could have been in the field and the handle of the knife could have been in the stream? That also doesn't make sense to me. But the reporting just isn't all that clear. But regardless of where it was found, the biggest question literally everyone has is

how it wasn't found earlier during that initial search. They had over a hundred people searching that stream, searching the fields and the roads. So how was it missed to so many people following this case? This is it. Definitive evidence that he couldn't have killed himself. The county coroner even comes out with a statement saying their quote just isn't any way. This is suicide end quote. But despite all of that, anonymous federal sources keep leaking information to the media

saying that he killed himself. On March 12, 2004, investigators hold a press conference where they say that they're looking into three theories, that he was killed by someone he knew, that he was killed by a stranger, or that he killed himself, which is like, yeah, those are the only three options unless you want to throw in aliens. And like at this point, that actually makes much more sense than suicide to me. But let's just go with those three. They also announced that the FBI is offering $100,000 reward for information, especially

about the gaps that they had in the car ride that he took the morning he died. Time keeps going on and authorities keep leaking more reasons why Jonathan may have wanted to take his own life. And actually something comes out that isn't too far out there. They disclose that Jonathan was supposed to take a polygraph in relation to some missing evidence from another case that he prosecuted a year before his death. And once again, this whole story cast Jonathan's character in an unsavory light. And I'll give you the scoop on that story.

Basically in 2002, Jonathan prosecuted a bank robbery case and he won, but the trial itself isn't really what's important here. It's what happened afterward. When the trial ended, there was a total of about $36,000 that went missing from evidence. Now, at the time all this is coming out, the public doesn't know many details. In fact, that investigation is still ongoing. But quickly it comes out that the polygraph regarding the missing money was actually scheduled for just two days after Jonathan was found dead.

So the timing of his death in relation to the polygraph is framed as suspicious. But maybe not the way you'd think, or at least not the way I think. Like my first thought when I learned about the money was along the lines of like, okay, maybe someone thought he knew something and therefore killed him to keep him quiet. But that's not what authorities say. More quote unquote anonymous sources frame it as the reason that he may have wanted to take his own life. Or at the very least, they say that it could have been an accident.

Like maybe he staged the attack to gain sympathy and then accidentally nicked an artery and then bled out. To back up this theory, they point to the fact that he'd postponed the polygraph. He was actually supposed to have it before, although I'm not sure what the original date was supposed to be. And they also claim that shortly after the money went missing, Jonathan received over $10,000 from an unknown source. And without ever actually claiming that that money came from the stolen evidence, again,

these people who are leaking this information is insinuating that this $10,000 that he came into from an unknown source must have been because he took the $36,000. That went missing. So again, this adds to the picture of Jonathan that's been forming. Credit card debt, stolen money, mysterious $10,000, upcoming polygraph. Basically these anonymous federal sources paint the picture of a man who was willing to steal evidence to get out of debt and then accidentally or purposefully killed himself to get out of trouble.

But I don't know why all the blame is like kind of pointing at Jonathan for the missing money because it's not like he was the only person who had access to it. In fact, he didn't have free access to it. The FBI are the ones who had custody of it, so they were the only ones who could get to it. It's also worth noting that Jonathan wasn't the only one who was supposed to take a polygraph. The majority of people involved in that case were questioned in polygraph. So to me, a polygraph isn't proof that he's a suspect.

Now while Jonathan's character is kind of under assassination, that's when Thomas DiBaggio, who if you remember was Jonathan's boss, kind of goes, not kind of, absolutely goes back on what he'd previously stated about Jonathan's job not being in jeopardy. An article by Stephanie Haynes for the Baltimore Sun reports that Thomas only stated Jonathan wasn't going to get fired for his family's sake. But he says now that behind closed doors, it was a very different picture. So Jonathan was one of maybe like five black attorneys working under Thomas, and according to a retired ADA named Jackie Rodriguez Cross, who used to work with Jonathan, Thomas was

far more critical of Jonathan's performance and opinions. Jackie was actually interviewed for a podcast series called Somebody Somewhere, which is hosted by David Payne. Die Hard Audio Check fans will know that name because he actually helped deal with season four of Counter Clock. Now he did some incredibly in-depth reporting on Jonathan's case for his podcast, so if you want to really get in the leads on this case, I highly recommend you go listen to Somebody Somewhere.

But anyways, Jackie says in that podcast that Jonathan had previously filed an equal opportunity complaint against Thomas, which alleged that he had experienced discrimination. His complaint was one of several filed by other employees too. So at least at the time, very few of the people of color working for Thomas felt comfortable in that workplace. Jackie also describes an incident where Thomas literally forced Jonathan to leave the Department of Justice building in Baltimore and locked him out. She said she can't remember why that happened, but she does know that it wasn't a warranted

response to whatever was going on, and so eventually Jonathan was let back in. So again, this kind of adds to what's going on. Like in everyone's like the public opinion's mind, things are bad for Jonathan, his boss hates him, he's going through all this discrimination, and proponents of the suicide theory point to these incidents and basically say, look, he was clearly not in a good work environment, he's maybe gonna get fired, and all of that pressure may have led to his decision to end his life. And at the time of his death, that pressure had increased due in part to that trial that

he was prosecuting. Now I know I said earlier that the men he was prosecuting were determined to not have any connection to his death, and that is still true, but there's one detail from this trial that I think is important to bring up here. The FBI used an informant when they were building their case against these two drug dealers. This informant was a known drug dealer himself, and while he was working with the FBI, he was supposed to be under 24 seven supervision, but he somehow managed to slip his supervision, purchase illegal substances, and just generally wreak havoc.

And it made the FBI look pretty bad, but it was also a problem for Jonathan, because it turns out he didn't disclose that information to the defense, which is a huge freaking no-no, you all know that. It's basically a prosecutorial misconduct, Brady violation, all that. So when they found out, that's when talks of a plea agreement started, basically to get these guys in prison and to save Jonathan's case. And so again, those who believe Jonathan may have died by suicide, double down on it. Because that violation is a huge deal.

So if he's already on thin ice with his boss, this may have been the final straw. And ultimately, over a year into the investigation, that's kind of where things are left. Public opinion of Jonathan's character isn't great. And so the pressure to solve his case just kind of dissipates. But for those who knew Jonathan, the story they're being told just doesn't make sense. His friends, colleagues, family, they all think something fishy is going on here. And their suspicions are actually bolstered when a new county coroner makes a claim that makes everyone question just how seriously the FBI is taking the investigation.

The coroner comes out and says that he was asked by the FBI to change the manner of death ruling on Jonathan's case from homicide to suicide. But he says that he refused, and he stands by the original ruling that Jonathan was murdered. He even offers to hold the coroner's inquest, but the FBI just never responds to him. And can we please have a little round of applause for this guy? Like I feel like we have been eyeballs deep in sussy Emmys, and this dude is sticking to his guns and looking at the evidence.

It feels like a breath of fresh air, which then honestly kind of depresses me because this shouldn't be a big deal. And listen, he's not being stubborn. Again, he's like, you know what? If you have questions, let's do this formally. I'm willing to talk about it. I'm open to new ideas, but we got to go through the process. I'm not just going to change it in a vacuum because one guy is telling me to.

So the public even put some pressure on the FBI for this, like, yeah, let's do the inquest. Let's get to the bottom of this once and for all. But the FBI refuse. Why though? If there's all this speculation, all these questions, why not just hold the inquest or publish the autopsy report? If you think he died by suicide, then there's not really anything to investigate, right?

So what's the holdup? And really, at least as far as an official investigation is concerned, that's kind of it. I mean, no one is really investigating. Everything is super tight lipped. And even though the FBI seems to think that Jonathan died by suicide, they do keep his case open so that none of the evidence or case file or whatever is ever released. So that's the story everyone was told, the official story anyways.

And you all know, there's always more than meets the eye in these types of cases. And in the years since Jonathan's death, multiple people do their own deep dives into his past, into his death, and into why the FBI might not want to solve his case in the first place. One of those people is a man named Bill Keisling. He didn't know Jonathan, but the case has haunted him ever since he learned about it. So much so that he wrote a book about it called The Midnight Ride of Jonathan Luna. He does his own investigation and he talks to the people who prepared Jonathan for his

funeral as well as an undertaker working at the funeral home. And according to Bill, those people remember the extent of Jonathan's injuries being very different from what was reported. First, they say Jonathan wasn't just stabbed in the chest and neck. He had stab wounds on his back below his shoulder blades, which he couldn't have caused himself. And Bill also says they noticed multiple stab wounds to his groin, including a large slash to his scrotum. And finally, there were multiple severe wounds to his hands, as in his hands were shredded,

like long cuts between his fingers and slices to the fronts and backs of both hands. Now all of this is technically just a he said they said. And without the autopsy report, it can't be verified. The FBI never responds to these claims either. But if this is true, it fits with the theory that Jonathan had been tortured. You aren't going to stab yourself multiple times in the groin if you're just trying to take your own life. And he physically couldn't have caused those stab wounds to his back.

Over the years, other people keep digging. There's a private investigator who's retained by one of Jonathan's friends and he spends years tracking down leads, but eventually he can't get much further without access to things like the autopsy report or footage from the courthouse or the gas station or any of the evidence that was collected. So years pass without any headway being made on the case. By all accounts, authorities stick with the suicide theory, but they won't officially close it so documentation stays sealed.

Now the people who know Jonathan never come around to the presented theory. But then the question remains, if Jonathan was murdered, who would have wanted him dead? Well, on September 25th, 2019, there's at least one potential lead that pops up. So the defense attorney for the bank robbery case all the way back from 2002, that's the one with polygraphs or whatever, that defense attorney is arrested. And there are some interesting coincidences that connect him to Jonathan and that missing $36,000 that people can't just shake. His name is Ken Ravenel, and he's charged with conspiracy for helping a client avoid

charges and money laundering. For his podcast, David Payne got to know the defendant in that case. This guy named Naco Brown, and Naco provides this really interesting perspective about what it was like working with Ken specifically around the time when money went missing. Basically, Naco says that Ken should have tried to use the fact that the money went missing to Naco's benefit because evidence going missing in a federal court case is like a huge deal. But he says that's not what happened.

It seemed like Ken wanted to just kind of get the case over with as quickly as possible. And if that's not fishy enough, Naco claims that on the day that the money went missing, Ken didn't bring his usual compact little briefcase to court. He had this significantly bigger bag with him. Now to be fair, all this should be taken with a massive grain of salt. Based on records of who had access to the money and how evidence is transported and locked down, Ken wouldn't have been able to get close to it. But Naco's claim presents an interesting theory.

Since Jonathan's polygraph was coming up, whoever stole the money would have had the motive to kill Jonathan if they thought he knew something. But then that comes back to who took the money? Well, David Payne looked into that too. And the only people who had custody of that evidence was the FBI there in Baltimore. And that is the same office that investigated Jonathan's death. And possibly the same people who leaked the comments about Jonathan's character. So this to me is also a weird coincidence to say the least.

Honestly, it seems like a conflict of interest. I don't even know how they can investigate the case and not pass it off. So here's where the case stands today. As recently as 2021, a court ruled that the autopsy records for Jonathan's homicide will remain sealed. It's still considered a homicide despite the FBI's request to change the ruling. And they're keeping a vice grip on the records, the very records that would answer so many questions for the public and Jonathan's friends and family.

In the Somebody Somewhere podcast, David asserts that the suicide theory just does not make sense for a multitude of reasons. And what we know of the physical evidence points to something far more sinister. When it comes to who had the motive, I can't say for sure. But I do know one thing, Jonathan's case needs to be looked at by someone other than the original investigative agencies, because there is still that DNA found in his car. There's still over an hour where he's unaccounted for. There are still the questions about the extent of his injuries.

Now, Jonathan's wife and sons have never publicly spoken about what they think happened that night in 2003. And I hate to leave things like this, because in cases like these, you know, I always want to tell you how you can make a difference, what petition to sign or who to contact. But as of right now, I can't tell you to do any of that because there's nothing. There are no petition to get his case reassigned. No one in power to contact who can make the documents like the autopsy records available. At the end of David's podcast, he urges his audience to put pressure on Baltimore officials

to convene a special council to look at the evidence again. People who weren't involved in the original investigation, who don't have any skin in the game. So crime junkies, this is where you come in. If you know who to contact or which government agency in Maryland would be willing to take an unbiased look at Jonathan's case and be allowed to, we want to hear from you. You can email us at crimejunkieataudiochuck.com. And hopefully this won't be the last time that you'll be hearing about Jonathan Luna.

You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com. Don't forget to check out David Payne's podcast, Somebody Somewhere, to get a deeper dive into the Jonathan Luna case. And you can follow us on Instagram at crimejunkiepodcast. I'll be back next week with a brand new episode, but stick around, I'm going to get a few more shout outs. Oh, and did you know that you can also listen to crime junkie on Amazon music? Hey, Alexa, play crime junkie on Amazon music.

All right, you guys, thanks for sticking around to the end, because it's that time again. Five fan shout outs to celebrate five years of crime junkie, because we literally couldn't do this without each and every one of you. So hi to my fellow crime junkies, Becca from Tokyo, Japan, Stephanie from Boston, Massachusetts, Lily from Rostock, Germany, Dominique and Melody from Hearst, Texas, and Sarah and Phil from Warrington, Cheshire, UK. You guys are the best. Thank you so much for listening.

I love all of you. Crime junkie is an audio check production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?