Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Gorgeous petite teacher and mom of three vanishes before 'mystery texts' appear; breaking news on Jeanine Cammarata

Episode Date: April 4, 2019

New York mom and teacher Jeanine Cammarata vanished over the weekend, but police suspect a burned body found in a Staten Island storage facility could be her remains. Nancy Grace looks at the investigation with Cammarata's lawyer Eric Gansberg, her friend A.J. Carbonari, former detective Steven Lampley, Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Carole Leiberman, Atlanta juvenile judge and lawyer Ashley Willcott, CrimeOnline.com reporter Ellen Killoran, and Crime Stories reporter John Lemley. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. and teacher Janine Camerata. Police say the 37-year-old dropped her boyfriend off at his McVeigh Avenue apartment that night. He reported her missing Tuesday. We spoke to her longtime friend Jessica Pobega over the phone. She says she messaged Camerata on Facebook, but she's convinced it wasn't her responding. I was like, call me right now. You need to call me. I need to hear your voice. I don't believe you. I don't believe it's you. And then I even asked when last time I saw you and the person couldn't respond to it. They didn't answer. They just kept saying, I'm okay. I'll call you soon. But no phone call. Police say Camerata's roommate received a text message from Camerata's phone on Monday saying she's okay, but also does not believe it's her.

We spoke to her landlord about this. She told me that the way it was worded, it was not Janine. Because she would have known right away, you know, the way they speak. Landlord and friend Jose Perez says he hasn't seen her white Chevy Cruze parked outside her Cassidy Place apartment in days. The NYPD tweeted this picture of what it looks like. License plate number HSK8417. Officers were outside the home this morning. THE FAMILY IS STILL IN THE COURTROOM. THE FAMILY IS STILL IN THE COURTROOM. THE NYPD TWEETED THIS PICTURE OF WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE. LICENSE PLATE NUMBER HSK8417.

OFFICERS WERE OUTSIDE THE HOME THIS MORNING. SHE WORKS TWO JOBS TO SUPPORT HER FAMILY. SHE'S ALWAYS TRYING TO PROVIDE FOR HER KIDS. YOU KNOW, SHE'S A HARD WORKER. BUT A NO SHOW AT HER

TWO JOBS SINCE LAST WEEK. SHE TEACHES AT PS 29 ON VICTORY BOULEVARD AND THE STATEN ISLAND DOLLAR TREE. A P.S. 29 on Victory Boulevard and the Staten Island Dollar Tree. Her sister says she also didn't show up to court in the midst of a fight for the custody of her kids who are with her ex-husband. She was supposed to have an appearance Monday and she never showed. Police spoke to Camerata's boyfriend and they say he's not considered a suspect at this time. They're also questioning her ex-husband as part of the investigation. Now, police plan to use cell signals to try to pinpoint all her locations and get to the bottom of this. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

You are hearing our friend at CBS2, Jenna D'Angelis, reporting about the sudden disappearance of a schoolte, mom of three, who has seemingly vanished. I saw her photo early, early this morning, and it really, really spoke to me. It's a photo of Janine Camerata. She's just 37 years old, and she is with her children I immediately started searching for her online I found a photo of her with the biggest smile surrounded by all of her students and let me tell you this is a tiny lady she's about 411 she weighs about 120 pounds I would guess and the students her students are some of them bigger than her, but she's got the biggest smile. Where is Janine?

I'm being joined right now by two very special guests, but first, Ashley Wilcott, judge, lawyer. AshleyWilcott.com. Dr. Carol Lieberman, forensic psychiatrist. Stephen Lampley, renowned detective. Ellen Kalorin, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Joining me right now is a friend of Janine's, A.J. Carbonera, and her lawyer, a very well-known lawyer in the tri-state area. It is Eric Gansberg.

Eric, what can you tell me about Janine's disappearance? Extremely troubling. Quite surprising based upon my knowledge of Janine. And I'm terribly worried for her, her family, and especially her children. Well, I'm just sick, Eric. I have two children, and I can't imagine that this mom, who's fighting so hard for custody, would just bug out and leave her three children. I'm not buying it, Eric. I don't believe it either. The husband had been served with the papers for the divorce and for custody on Thursday morning the 28th. I confirmed the court appearance with Janine. We spoke on Friday. She had made arrangements with the school to take off that day. I appeared in court. Her husband was there. She did not appear. We left a number of voicemails that went directly to her voicemail.

We emailed her, and there was never a response because she was not in court. And because the husband had asked for time to hire a divorce lawyer, the case had been adjourned. Later that day, I started learning of the particular circumstances. Well, another thing that speaks to me, and I'm going to go to Janine's friend, AJ Carbonera, and they are friends through another woman. AJ, are you friends with Janine through your girlfriend or wife yes it's my wife Jessica they've been friends for 25 years oh my stars oh my stars oh oh no is Jessica the person that received the text or the phone call yes that is

correct she received those messages I, she knew immediately that was not Janine. Tell me what happened, because what this says to me as a veteran prosecutor, A.J. Carbonera, is that not only does somebody have Janine or took Janine, that they are going to great effort to cover their tracks. And I'll follow that through. Stephen Lampley, renowned detective, that means it's not random. Her disappearance is not random, unless this really was her on the phone, Steve Lampley. A random kidnapper doesn't go to all the trouble to cover the person up. They kidnap, they rape, they kill, they kidnap, they rob,

and then that's that. But they don't go to all the let's call her best friend and pretend I'm her business, Steve Lampley. Agree or disagree? I agree with that, Nancy. And from the very beginning of this case and when I learned about it, you and I both know that when in a situation like this, it hardly ever ends well. Well, I'm holding out hope. Back to A.J. Carbonera. A.J., tell me what you can

about that mysterious phone call and those texts. Guys, with me, longtime friend A.J. Carbonera, his wife Jessica received mysterious texts and a phone call. She says it's not Janine. And also with me, a special guest, veteran trial lawyer Eric Gansberg in the tri-state area. AJ, tell me about the phone call and the text. Yeah, the text messages came over, and because of the history with Janine's ex-husband, they don't ever talk via text message on Facebook Messenger, only through actual phone calls and actual text messages on the phone because her accounts used to get hacked and her ex

would pretend to be her looking for information or whatnot. So when Jessica was suspicious about the calls and the text to begin with, she knew, she basically knew immediately that it wasn't her. And that's why if you read the messages, you see how quickly it escalated from, you know, you need to call me to I'm calling the police. You know, it really didn't take much time at all. It was only a matter of an hour. Well, what was said in the text message that aroused her curiosity, that made her suspicious?

Just the fact that it existed in the first place like I said you know Janine would does not talk to her via Facebook Messenger ever because of the past you know so the fact that they that they were coming through and then when Jess asked you know can you please call me it's very important or you know whatever it was whatever it was that she actually said. And then when she didn't, Janine would never do that. You know, they know each other better than anybody. And if Jessica would have asked, you know, to call in an emergency, Janine would have never hesitated. She has never been a flighty person at all, you know, and she would never do this. Her best friend, Jessica gets a text seemingly

from missing mom of three. He's holding down two jobs. Hard for me to imagine you work all day at PS public school, one 29. Then you go to your job at dollar tree. You never late. You always show up, but you don't show up for a court appearance that, okay janine is is seemingly texting best friend jessica and jessica gets a text that says don't call police quote i have to do this for the children something Please help us find Janine. 718-876-8500. 718-876-8500. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Her disappearing like this is not normal. Not since Saturday has anyone seen mother of three and teacher Janine Camerata.

Police say the 37-year-old dropped her boyfriend off at his McVeigh Avenue apartment that night. He reported her missing Tuesday. We spoke to her longtime friend Jessica Pobega over the phone. She says she messaged Camerata on Facebook, but she's convinced it wasn't her responding. I was like, call me right now. You need to call me. I need to hear your voice. I don't believe you. I don't believe it's you. And then I even asked when last time I saw you and the person couldn't respond to it. They didn't answer. They just kept saying, I'm okay. I'll call you soon. But you are hearing the voice of her best friend, Jessica Carbonera, with me, her lawyer, Eric Gansberg.

Eric, you have stated before that she was, quote, terrified of her husband. Why do you say that? Well, from the information she provided to me over the time that I, from the time I first met her to the time she formally retained me, she had left the house that they were sharing back in 2017 due to domestic violence. She did not then have a stable residence at which to stay, so because the children lived close by her on Staten Island, and because they were in the home that they had grown up in, she, for that moment, felt okay leaving the children there, but she was able to see them. Apparently, the husband was evicted from that residence in July or August of 2018, and that's when he relocated to, I think, as far as Hills Queen,

no, Far Rockaway, excuse me, and that's when she came back to see me and said, we have to get things moving. Guys, we are getting breaking news right now. A body has been found at a storage facility on Staten Island. Is it the teacher, mother of three, who has been missing? We are getting information from within the investigation from senior law enforcement. The circumstances surrounding the discovery of a body at a storage unit are not clear. But at this moment, there is a huge law enforcement presence.

There's a huge storage center. We are learning that cops are working now to determine if this is the body of 37-year-old Janine Camerota. She has not been seen since Saturday night at her home in New Springville. Eric Gansberg with me, her lawyer and longtime friend, A.J. Carbonera, his wife Jessica, best friends with Janine. A.J., what can you tell us, anything about a storage unit did the husband have a storage unit to your knowledge I I don't know 100% but it coincides with the information that we do know about the last time her vehicle was seen

coming in and out of that island what do you mean by that what do you know about her vehicle a few days, my wife and I, we went looking for her car because it was a piece of the puzzle that was missing. And we came across two task force police officers who told us they were also looking for the vehicle. And they showed us the Verrazano Bridge pictures of when her vehicle crossed over from Brooklyn to Staten Island last. And it also shows that Michael's minivan did the same thing, not long after hers. So it looked very suspicious to us because he really has no reason to be in Staten Island

other than to drop off his daughter, who still goes to school there. But this was on a Sunday. I got a question for you, AJ Carbonera. The Staten Island photo of the bridge, that's like a traffic cam. Who was driving the car? Could you make it out? The cameras, I don't think, are designed to see who's really driving. Recently, the Verrazano Bridge has become a toll-less bridge,

so now they just take photographs of all the license plates. And if you have E-ZPass, they bill your account. If you don't, they send you a ticket in the mail for the bill. So I think it's mostly aimed at the the license plates they showed us pictures I couldn't see anybody who was driving let me ask you a quick yes no question AJ carbonera uh wife best friend of Janine I know that you got she got the unusual text but I understand there was an unusual phone call as well was there a woman on the other end of the line um that i'm not sure i'm not sure of that that doesn't ring a bell to ashley wilcott judge lawyer anchor you can find her at ashley

wilcott.com see to me the plot thickens because who who is part of this Was a woman on the line repeatedly saying, I'm okay, I'm okay, but then wouldn't answer any questions? Who was driving her vehicle and who was driving his vehicle? Hold on. AJ, when you see on the Verrazano Bridge her vehicle vehicle which i believe is a what a white chevy how much longer after the white chevy crosses the verizono bridge do you see he has the husband's vehicle well it was on two different occasions it was early in the afternoon around like four o'clock ish that's when her car first came in maybe maybe around 5 or 5.30ish. The van came in. They both went back to Brooklyn later on and they both came back to Staten Island once

again around between 9 and 11. Right now we do not know if the body found in the storage unit has anything to do with Janine Camerata's disappearance. As you Wilcott, what do you make of it? Because I know there has been domestic abuse allegations in the past. Now she goes missing. He shows up to court to fight for custody, and she's a no-show. Totally unlike her.

I mean, Ashley, come on. We both shop at the Dollar Tree. We both have been in school teaching before, subbing. Long story short, a woman that's holding down two jobs never late never misses she's going to miss a court date Ashley yeah unfortunately it's not good because all of the signs all of the red flags are she would not go away voluntarily and leave her children the custody battle her friends thank goodness her best friend

trusted her gut and said, wait a minute, this text is not from her. I don't believe it, number one. Number two, thank goodness everybody's been involved reporting because somebody knows something. The missing vehicle is a huge piece of this. Somebody knows something. I'm prayerful. I hate that this has happened happened I hate it for her children but regrettably I don't see it ending well to dr. Carol Lieberman forensic psychiatrist let me ask you a very narrow question dr. Lieberman what do you tell the children when nobody knows where mommy is yes that's a tough question um we know obviously first of all the children have gone

through so much before this so much uh tumult because of all the domestic violence and the separations and all of that so they are starting off with a very fragile kind of psychological state um you just have to tell them until you know that she is dead and that that's her body. For example, you have to tell them that we're looking for mommy that mommy loves you. We know she wouldn't leave you, you know, want to leave you and we're still looking for you.

Keep up some hope until you know for sure that she really is dead. Here is our friend Candace McAllen at WABC. Listen. Investigators have spent more than 24 hours questioning Janine Camerata's estranged husband here at the 120 precinct. He's charged with assault for now for admitting to hitting Janine in the past. Now detectives have been at Michael Camerata's far Rockaway home and we're getting a timeline of the days leading up to Janine's disappearance. Thursday Janine's attorney says Michael was served THEIR CHILDREN. THE CHILDREN ARE IN THE HOSPITAL AND THEY ARE IN THE HOSPITAL. THEY ARE IN THE HOSPITAL AND

THEY ARE IN THE HOSPITAL. WE ARE GETTING A TIMELINE OF THE DAYS LEADING UP TO THE DISAPPEARANCE. THE ATTORNEY SAYS MICHAEL WAS SERVED WITH DIVORCE PAPERS. FRIDAY, MICHAEL INVITED HER OVER TO SEE THE CHILDREN AND

SHE WAS LAST SEEN SATURDAY ON STATEN ISLAND SAYING SHE WAS GOING TO SEE THE KIDS AT HER ESTRANGED HUSBAND'S HOME. SHE HASN'T BEEN SEEN IN FOUR DAYS AND HER ATTORNEY IS CONCERNED. I HAVE BEEN DOING almost 35 years. Nothing surprises me anymore, unfortunately. This does not sound like it's going to end well. Police have not publicly connected Michael to his

estranged wife's disappearance. Welcome back. The search for missing teacher and mother of three, Janine Camerota, is on and with me. A renowned attorney in the tri-state area, Eric Gansberg, who is representing Janine Camerata. Eric, I want to know what your response is to the fact that right now we are hearing reports about a body in a storage unit. Do you know of any connection between that unit and Janine, and what do you make of it? Only from what I heard from news sources, so I have no personal knowledge of any of that. If it is true, it's devastating. Because of their mother and because of the circumstances, they seem to now be losing their father because of actions that he may have committed. The devastating effect on the family, the friends, and especially the children.

It's heartbreaking. With me, her lawyer, Eric Gansberg, who is steering her, navigating her through a divorce and trying to get custody of her children. Eric, thank you for being with us right now. We are hearing live information. I'm looking at a live aerial view coming from ABC 7 right now as tons of police are now swarming a storage unit. This is in New Springville, a body found early, early today. Is it Janine Camerota?

I'm going now to Ellen Kaloran, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Ellen, I'm also learning about other surveillance video. Hold on. Ellen, A.J. Carbonero wants in, and he is really the source of our knowledge right now. AJ Carbonera, what can you tell me you're learning from Jessica? Just the latest is that the police, it was confirmed from the police department, but they're still going to run tests. That they do think that it is her. You know, that nothing has been printed officially.

Why, AJ, why? What had Janine been going through trying to get a divorce, trying to get custody? She was so excited for it. I mean, it's been a long time coming. The lawyers and her were trying to serve him for I'm not sure how long, but it was for a while. And when it finally happened this past week, I think it was Wednesday, he was finally served. She, she was just so excited. She called Jessica immediately, you know, and then a few days later, she disappears, you know, so we kind of, we kind of knew. You know, when you say you kind of knew, you know, AJ Carbonera, there've been so many times in court when I've had homicides or kidnaps or missing people.

You know, you know, and that's not anything you can put on in a court of law. You can't go take the stand and go, I just knew. I would bring on witnesses or try to anyway, but I'd have a hearsay problem and say the last thing she said is if anything happens to me x did it or i want to give you a spare key to my place in case there's an emergency i mean words like that can't come into court because they're hearsay and you can't go in front of a jury and say i know this is what happened tell me why articulate to me as best as you can why you and Jessica believe you know what happened. It's just the history. We've been close with them for a long time, and Mike has always been on my radar as an abusive person, although I had never actually seen it in person, but just the stories that we've been told,

and we just, there was no other suspect in our mind. It's amazing to me that he, if you're right, if you're right, we don't have an arrest on this. We don't have a charge. We have nothing innocent till proven guilty. Okay. We all know that, but it's amazing to me that he would show up in court, you know, well-groomed, dressed with his lawyer, blah, blah, and she's not there. She would never not show up to court to get her children. That's all she wanted.

She's working two jobs to afford a lawyer to fight and get her kids. That's what she lived for. You're 100% correct. And as he stood in that courtroom, if this had happened prior to that Monday, he had already known she wasn't going to show up. To me, that takes a special kind of evil. Man, you're not kidding. You're not kidding. AJ Carbonear, a question.

I'm also learning that other surveillance video obtained by police show the husband with a large bag leaving his rockaway apartment shortly after janine then later showing up at the storage facility on Arden Avenue. Was she afraid of him? Was she afraid he would harm her, A.J.? She always was. There was times when she called us from her phone, but the phone, she didn't answer. She just left the line open for us to listen, and I would just hear him fighting and arguing with her and at one

point it got to it got so bad that jessica and i we live in new jersey we we jumped in the car and actually just drove over there because i we were afraid that something was going to happen so nothing did that night but this is this is the kind of stuff that we've dealt with over the last you know seven eight years when you were listening to him ranting and raving what why was he angry what was he arguing about uh just their relationships uh the fact that she wasn't happy all the time and you know i i think that was pretty much the very beginning of when the divorce was being put in motion you know or separation i should say was being put in motion and uh know, or separation, I should say, was being put in motion.

And, you know, he just didn't want to accept it, obviously. And here's another thing. If you're in a relationship, since nobody asked me, Ashley Wilcott, and you have to hack into your partner's email to find out what's going on, or you have a partner hacking in right there, you need to get out of that. One time, one time, Ashley, once in all the years I've known David Lynch, I read his email. I didn't hack because I knew the code.

It's so obvious. And my head nearly blew off. It was so boring. It was awful. I thought I was just, my eyes were bleeding. I had to quit. So that was, you know, that was years ago I haven't even considered hacking into his email I don't want to read his email I'm perfectly I hope these

words don't come back to bite me in the neck but I'm perfectly convinced I don't need to read his email and he has all my codes I want him to read my email and see how busy I am and beg for help. So, you know, the fact that she knows he's hacking in and she won't even, you know, send regular emails and texts to her friend, Jessica, that is very, very probative. It proves something to me. Oh, absolutely. And the thing that's so tragic in domestic violence cases that have horrible, tragic endings, and I hope this one doesn't, but sounds like it's gone that direction. She was doing the right thing to get out of it. She recognized that as a red flag. She finally says, I'm going to do the right thing. I'm going to file for divorce. I'm going to fight for custody of my children. I'm going to a lawyer. I'm retaining the lawyer. All of the right steps. And yet she disappears. Ellen, Laura, what about their relationship? As AJ told us,

the fact that she wouldn't even use Facebook Messenger or any other platform besides her phone to communicate with her friends because she was so fearful that her estranged husband would hack into them tells us a lot. And so does the text message exchanges between this person purporting to be Janine and her friend. Her friend is saying to her, I need to hear from you. I need you to pick up the phone and call me. And she's trying to call her friend and she's not picking up the phone. She's sending one sentence replies. I'm okay. I'm okay. I need to turn my phone off. That is very, very suspicious. And as we know, Janine's friend, Jessica, knew right away that something was very wrong because of the history.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Breaking news. At this moment, we are learning police are swarming. I'm watching a live feed of it right now. A New Springfield storage facility, a body has been found there if you have any information regarding the whereabouts of a missing mom of three janine camarada please dial 718-876-8500 or 1-800-577-TIPS at crimeonline.com. You can see her photo and all information, and we are Facebook tweeting and IG-ing all the information. Please look at her photo. To John Limley, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter joining me right now. What have you learned, John? You've been investigating

the search of the storage unit. What do you know? Right, a lot of activity taking place there around that storage facility that you've been talking about. We're just receiving word that yes, a body believed to be that of Janine has been found at this Staten Island storage facility. Police were tipped off about this storage facility thanks to surveillance

video police acquired this video. It shows her estranged husband, Michael, with a large bag leaving his Rockaways apartment, then showing up later at this storage facility on Arden Avenue. Again, cops have recovered a body at this storage facility. We must say that it has not been confirmed to be that of Janine Camerata. Two police cars, a city medical examiner's vehicle among the many emergency vehicles there still parked outside the storage facility. Detectives still processing the scene. Now, one update, if you can call it that, that we've been able to receive from investigators is that they're still puzzled about what to make about this series of

cryptic messages sent from Janine's phone in the hours after she vanished. Cops are still trying to ascertain the meaning of the text and whether Janine or someone else sent the bizarre missive to her worried friend. I'm going to circle back on the text, but one of them says, when Jessica writes, I'm going to call police, the cryptic text says, I don't want that. I have the kids. I apologize. I have to do this for the children. Jessica's saying that's not how she would talk, not how she would talk at all. This series of cryptic messages. Joining me right now, A.J. Carbonera, longtime friend of Janine's. His wife, Jessica, has been her best friend for 25 years.

Right now, those text messages may be some of the strongest evidence police have, AJ. Again, what was in the messages that aroused your wife's suspicion? Just the fact that she would not have used a Facebook message. And the other thing is, is that we were calling her cell phone and it was going directly to voicemail, which told us that it was either off or battery was dead or whatever, but it was not working, yet we were still receiving messages from Facebook Messenger, which, again, is so out of the ordinary for Janine that, you know, it was just an immediate red flag. That's exactly what her landlord tells us. Jose Perez says that she would always text him where she's at or what's

happening but he has not heard from her now we know she and the husband have had a very let me just say tumultuous relationship and they were going through a divorce in ongoing child custody what do you make of claims AJ Carbonera do you know anything about this him harass harassing her, following her in her car? And I understand that she had a boyfriend. And if that's true, that probably could have been the last straw that broke the camel's back. Yes, but she's had another boyfriend before. We thought we were over this.

He had been stalking her for quite a while. I mean, this was going back, I want to say maybe three years. And she fell in love with someone and was dating someone for about a year and a half. And he actually passed away, sadly, from, I think it was a diabetes-related illness. And that just crushed her. And then she met Aaron, her current boyfriend Dollar Tree and you know but Mike Mike was out of the picture by then for quite a long time so the fact that this all happened again is just so sudden you know what this woman has been through to dr. Carol Lieberman when you have an ex following you around in your car hacking into your emails it doesn't get better after working at the

battered women's center in Atlanta for nine years as a volunteer I have told so many women it doesn't get better until you break the cycle. You have to leave. You've got to start fresh. That's when it's going to get better for you. You have to, and you don't want your children growing up seeing this because they'll do the same thing unwittingly when they seek out a partner, Carol. Yes, they, they repeat this and they have difficulties forming close relationships because they seem

dangerous. But you know what's so important about this is as a warning to women, battered women, is that this is the most dangerous time when a woman finally decides to leave. Of course, you know, they should when it's gotten to this point and even before, but this is the most dangerous time when you finally leave even if they've been estranged for a while the man who's a batterer does not want to be abandoned by the woman and this this final abandonment as he feels it brings out the violence in him and it's so you have to be so super careful during this time that you are separating making the final cut

Exactly, that's what brings out their extreme anger. Take a listen to our friends at ABC 7 King good morning. Janine Camerata has been missing since Saturday and she now has family coming into town today to help KING, GOOD MORNING. JANINE CAMEROTTA HAS BEEN MISSING SINCE SATURDAY AND SHE NOW HAS FAMILY COMING INTO TOWN TODAY TO HELP AS THEY SEARCH FOR HER. HER FRIENDS REALLY BECAME CONCERNED WHEN SHE DIDN'T SHOW UP TO WORK HERE AT PS 29 WHERE SHE WORKS AS A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER FOR THE PAST TWO DAYS. NOW FRIENDS SAYING THAT IS REALLY UNLIKE HER. THIS IS THE 37-YEAR-OLD MOTHER OF THREE. SHE WAS LAST SEEN LEAVING HER BOYFRIEND'S HOME SATURDAY NIGHT.

SHE TOLD HIM SHE WAS GOING TO QUEENS TO SEE HER CHILDREN AT HER ESTRANGED HUSBAND'S HOME of three. She was last seen leaving her boyfriend's home Saturday night. She told him she was going to Queens to see her children at her estranged husband's home. And this week she didn't show up for work at both of her jobs at the school or at a Dollar Tree. And her friends say what is magnifying their concern are strange texts from someone they say is claiming to be Janine. When the friend threatened to call the cops after they hadn't seen Janine, the reply from Janine's phone was that she didn't want that going on to say I have to do this for the children. But the children were no, she didn't see the children this weekend. So I don't know who that was and what they were covering for.

Something bad happened and I don't know what it is and I really hope I'm wrong. You're hearing the voice of her dear friend Jessica Jessica's husband AJ Carbonero with us. Where are the children AJ? Who has them right now? Yes the children are actually I believe with child protective services at the moment. Oh no oh no. Her sister flew up from Louisiana this past Tuesday. Ashley Wilcott, juvenile judge. The children are just lost in the sauce by, of course, no intent of Janine Camerota. I just can't get that picture of her out of my mind that's online of her with all of her students and this big plan about creative writing she had created.

Weigh in, Ashley. So here's what's hard about the, you know, child welfare system really is one of the best in the world. However, when you have two parents absent and there's no one else in right in the immediate geographical area who can take the children, typically child welfare has to take the children. The problem is it's not so easy that then a relative comes in from out of town and they get the children right then. Instead, typically there has to be a home evaluation. They have to consider the home. If it's out of state, it has to go through what's called ICPC, which can take time.

So now these children are a victim of the system because she was a victim. The last thing I've got to say, Nancy, nobody else is saying it. I do not believe, I know the husband has not been charged. I know that. However, I do not believe that he was not involved in her disappearance. Investigators have recovered a body inside extra space storage on Arden Avenue in Arden Heights. A.J. is just receiving information

from inside the police investigation that it is confirmed to be Janine. Right now, our prayers are with her children. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.