Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - HAUNTING NEW LEADS IN MISSING MOM & TOT, 2: WHERE IS JENNIFER & ADRIANNA WIX?

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

At 17, Jennifer Wix welcomes her daughter, Adrianna Nicole. With support from her family, Jennifer finishes high school while raising the baby girl she lovingly nicknames Nina. At 19, Jennifer begins working nights and meets Joey Benton. They move in together at his parents’ home. In late March, Jennifer suddenly stops contacting her family. She usually speaks with her mother at least once a day and frequently stays in touch with other relatives. Adrianna, 2, had been sick all week. After two days without contact, Jennifer’s family reports her missing. The Robertson County Sheriff's Office begins its investigation at the home Jennifer shares with her boyfriend, Joey Benton, and his parents, Joe and Cynthia Benton. Nothing appears out of place on the property, and foot searches reveal no sign of Jennifer or Adrianna. Deputies follow up on several possible sightings of the mother and daughter, but the sightings either can’t be verified or are determined to be someone else. What happened to Jennifer and Adrianna Wix?  Joining Nancy Grace today:  Casey Robinson  -  Sister Buddy Mitchell  -  Wix Family Private Investigator,  ABC Investigative Services Ben Powers  - Criminal Defense Attorney, Facebook: Legal Powers PLLC, https://legalpowers.com Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski - Forensic Psychologist, Author: Darksides", darksides.podia.com  YouTube: "Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski, Forensic Psychologist" Lauren Conlin - Podcaster/Reporter/Host- The Outlier Podcast & Co-Host of Primetime Crime on YouTube. Website: www.popcrime.tv & primetimecrimeshow.com,   X- @Conlin_Lauren, Instagram- @LaurenEmilyConlin,YouTube: @PopCrimeTV See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Haunting new leads in the case of a beautiful, young, missing mom and her two-year-old little girl. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

Mom and daughter missing. Their case classified as a homicide investigation. Still no suspects? How can that be? But in the last days, as I said, very chilling, haunting new leads have emerged in the case of this beautiful young mom and her taut girl, Adriana, just two years old. With me, an all-star panel, but I'm trying to figure out how the whole thing started. Listen. In late March, Jennifer suddenly stops contacting her family members. Jennifer usually speaks with her mom at least once a day and is in frequent contact with other family members. Even more strange, Adriana, too, had been sick all week. It isn't like Jennifer to travel with a sick baby. After two days of no contact, Jennifer's family reports her missing.

You know, that's often called routine evidence. Not that it is routine or typical or expected, but that it is evidence of a certain routine. And when that routine is broken, it bodes ill. Again, with me, an all-star panel. But first, I want to go to a special guest joining us. This is Jennifer Wicks' sister, Adriana's aunt, Casey Robinson, joining us. Hi, Nancy. Casey, thank you for being with us and keeping the case alive.

Yes. Casey, I'm very curious. The smoke signals in the distance that something ill was afoot seemed to start. Genesis would be when she was not contacting your mother as she normally did. Tell me about their relationship and how often they contacted each other and how. Yeah. I mean, Jennifer was very dependent on our family and she would speak to not only my mom, but a family member of hers on her dad's side or my mom's side almost every day and multiple people. So not just one person, but she would talk to someone a couple of times a day. And so it was really odd whenever she didn't do that.

You know, that's very curious, Casey, not that she was in close touch. Before my mom moved in with me, I talked to my mother and dad in the morning when I would be driving home from HLM and at night to make sure that they were okay. You said she was dependent. Now I'm very curious. What do you mean Jan was dependent? She lived with a family member. She was just 21 whenever she disappeared, but she lived with a family member, either my aunt, her grandmother, or my mom and me and my other sister her whole life, even after she had Adriana. And she did not have a steady job. She didn't have a vehicle. She didn't have a means or resources. Hold on just a moment, just a moment, just a moment. She was taking care of her baby, wasn't she? That sounds like a pretty steady job to me.

Yeah. Well, yeah, a stay-at-home mom is a job. You're right. And she was a good mom. So she definitely took care of Adriana with the help of all of our family members. So she relied on everyone for child care, a means to get to and from because she didn't have a car. She didn't have a cell phone of her own, a bank account. So when I say she was dependent, I mean, she was truly still dependent, childlike, still living with family. You know, that's really interesting. Of course, having given birth to twins and when I got pregnant, I didn't know I was going to have twins. I learned much later in the pregnancy. I don't know what I would have done without my mother and father.

You know, they would drive up. I was in Atlanta at that time at the drop of a hat. My husband, David's mother and father, everybody pitching in for me to keep working. Right. And to try to raise the twins the way I wanted them to be raised. And I don't know what I would have done without them. Right. So I'm hearing what you're saying. I don't find that curious, but it is.

I understand why you knew immediately, Casey, when no one had heard from Jennifer that something was wrong. Exactly. So she lived with the family. She didn't have a car. And so she, which is also not unusual. So they would give her rides wherever she had to go. She had to go to the grocery store, the pharmacy or the mail, the post office, anywhere.

And with a young child, you're going to the pharmacy. I would send my husband out at midnight for if we needed a formula or whatever we needed. And that's pretty tough in the middle of New York at midnight trying to find baby for me. You did it. So I get it. I get it. Now, when did you first realize, hey, wait a minute, I haven't heard from Jennifer. Yeah, that would be on Friday, March 26. My mom last spoke to her on Wednesday evening. And on Friday, by that time, we were like, something's wrong because she would have normally contacted my mom by then. And she had spoken to other family members on Thursday, but by Friday, she hadn't called my mom, told her that she would on their last phone call.

And that was when we knew. Don't stop the videos, New York. I'm seeing the most incredible videos. I believe I'm looking at you when you're a little girl. Yeah. I'm seeing the most incredible videos of baby Adriana and she is beautiful. She's got these piercing eyes. Are her eyes blue? Yeah, they're very, very bright blue, which is which is odd because Jennifer had brown eyes. But Adriana resembles her dad. You know, there she is in the hospital after giving birth. The bond between Jennifer and that's the one where she's, oh, my goodness. She, I don't know if you can see what I'm saying, but Adriana is just she she's like a little angel.

She's beautiful, like a little cherub. And what's so disturbing about this case? I'm going to circle right back to you, Casey Robinson. Lauren Conlon joining me. I'd like to keep the videos going because I want to keep looking at everything I can see and learn. Lauren Conlon joining me, investigative reporter and host of The Outlier Podcast and Primetime Crime on YouTube. Lauren, it's not just that Jennifer goes missing. Adriana goes missing too.

That is very rare. Actually, Lauren Conlon. If you look at statistics regarding criminal law, that a mother and the baby both go missing and there's no trace. Yes, Nancy, it's incredibly suspicious. And what's even more suspicious is that the family cannot exactly piece together Jennifer and Adriana's last days because the stories have been so conflicting. Two people to disappear at the same time. Joining me now is a special guest along with Casey Robinson. This is Jennifer Wicks' sister and the aunt of baby Adriana. Buddy Mitchell is with us. Now, number one, he is the Wicks family private investigator with ABC

investigative services. But for my purposes, this guy, 34 years on Nashville PD rising to Sergeant. That's not easy. And I can tell you in Nashville, you've seen it all. Buddy Mitchell, I've had a lot of kidnappings. I've prosecuted them. I've investigated them. I've covered them. But I don't see two people getting kidnapped at the same time very often. That's rare. And there's a reason I'm pointing this out.

What do you make of two people getting kidnapped at the same time? Well, it's hard to wrap your head around. First of all, it was put down as a runaway that she just left, which I find that was a little alarming. She would not leave her, the baby stuff at the house and the car seat. Hold on just a second. I'm trying to write down everything you're saying because Buddy Mitchell, right off the bat, that's an incredible insight. Now, it may seem like everybody's going, yeah, of course, but you may have overlooked that.

And it's really important because Jeff Kieliszewski, joining me, forensic psychologist, author of Dark Sides. You can find him on YouTube, Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski, joining me, forensic psychologist, author of Dark Sides. You can find him on YouTube, Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski, forensic psychologist. Dr. Jeff, when I would fly home to Atlanta and then get in the car, it was an SUV, and pack it full of stuff to take the twins to Macon where my parents were living. You could hardly even look out the rear view mirror because it was packed up to the top. You know, two car seats, two baby beds, the whole thing, the bottle warmer, the this, the that. You want to tell me that this mom just takes off, puts her baby in a backpack and leaves by foot, didn't have a car. That's total BS. And I've had it

with local law enforcement. Whenever a woman goes missing, she's out with her boyfriend. What boyfriend? She's having some me time. That's not what happened. Why does this keep happening over and over? Run away. She's not a runaway. Right. You know, you mentioned earlier about the idea about people have their routines and the loved ones close to them know their routines. And if part of her MO and her routine in her history is not running away, not neglecting her baby, the idea that she would leave and leave all these things behind and run away just doesn't make sense. You wonder, is it the people investigating or asking the questions just want an easy out to move on from this?

Thinking through everything. Back to you, Casey Robinson. This is Jennifer's sister. When you first realized you hadn't heard from Jennifer, what went through your mind? Did you ever think, oh, she's just on a walkabout. She's with her other boyfriend, non-existent. She ran away without one bottle of formula, without one baby sock, nothing. Did that ever cross your mind?

No, not once. Adriana was Jennifer's life. I mean, that was literally all that she had to do in life at that point in time. So, I mean, that would have been all that she thought about, all that she cared about. She wouldn't have left without any of their things. The baby's stuffed Elmo that she couldn't go to sleep without. Things like that, that a mother, like you mentioned before, she wouldn't leave. But no, that never crossed my mind, not once.

Also, my sister and I were very close. So she cared for me as kind of like a mother-like figure. There's no way in the world she would have just left without, I don't want to say telling me if she had plans to leave, but like it wasn't character of her to just run off. And she cared so much and had big feelings and big emotions for the people she loved. And we were very close. She wouldn't do it. So, Casey Robinson, when you and your family realized you haven't seen her, you can't find her, did you believe what the cops said that she, quote, ran away, end quote? What did you do to try to find her?

No, immediately, myself, my whole family, my mom, we knew something was wrong. Something wasn't right. This was out of character for Jennifer. So we just started driving around looking for her around town, calling all of her friends, calling all of our family members, calling the people she was living with. We just really started looking for her because she had to be somewhere. What did police tell you, local law enforcement tell you at the get-go, Casey? At first, they said that she potentially just needed a break, that she just needed to take some time for herself and that she would be back.

The police actually said to you she needed a break. They said that. I can't believe this. Actually, I can believe it. That doesn't make it any better. What did you say back to that, she needed a break? We said that's just not true. There's something wrong.

She dealt with all of her issues head on. We had never seen her just run away from anything. So, yeah, we just didn't believe what they were saying. And we just knew something was wrong. So what did you tell them when they said that? What was your response? We said, we need you to go to where she's living. We need you to go there. Something's wrong. Did they do it? They did. Yes. They sent some deputies

over to the residence where she was living at the time. In late March, Jennifer suddenly stops contacting her family members. Jennifer usually speaks with her mom at least once a day and is in frequent contact with other family members. Even more strange, Adriana, too, had been sick all week. It isn't like Jennifer to travel with a sick baby. After two days of no contact, Jennifer's family reports her missing. A worried family desperately searching for a missing mom and daughter who disappeared from their home. The Robertson County Sheriff's Office starts at the home Jennifer shares with boyfriend Joey Benton and his parents, Joe and Cynthia Benton. Nothing seems out of place on the property and foot searches turn up no sign of Jennifer and Adriana.

Deputies follow up on several possible sightings of the mom and daughter, but the sightings either can't be verified or turn out to be someone else. Through interviews, deputies find Joey Benton is the last person to see Jennifer and Adriana. I want to talk about those sightings, too. Lauren Conlon joining us, host of Primetime Crime on YouTube. What about the sightings? The sightings turned out to be completely bogus. There were reports that Jennifer and Adriana were at a grocery store, at a gas station. Those turned out to be not true. Casey Robinson, do you remember getting the news that there had been a sighting of your sister, baby Adriana? Yeah, we remember hearing that initially that they had went to the local grocery store and went to the local gas station there in Cross Plains. But again, we didn't know that for certain.

So we were just asking law enforcement to follow up on those sightings and to corroborate it. You know, Casey, you just mentioned sightings in Cross Plain, Tennessee. Now, it's my understanding there's a very low population of less than 2,000 people in Cross Plains. Is that right, Lauren Conlon? Yes, ma'am. The population was about 1,300 people. Now, in 2024, is it closer to 2,000? Just thinking through whether that helps or hurts.

Joining me, Ben Powers, a high-profile lawyer out of Tennessee. He is at LegalPowers.com. Ben, thank you for being with us. And the reason I'm asking about the population is because I'm trying to deduce what may have happened when you've got a giant population. I just recently was investigating a body that was found, a young girl's body in a trash bag, actually on the side of the street, a sidewalk in New York. That could have been anybody.

There's millions of inhabitants. But when you have a town as small as this, 2,000, I mean, I grew up in an area that wasn't even a town. It was unincorporated. That vastly reduces your suspect pool. It does. It's a small community. It's tight-knit and cross-plains. And so with that small of a community you're going to notice people that are not part of that community regularly so you'll notice an outsider that's come in but you're also going to know about each other's business because a lot of cross plains and small communities it's very family oriented larger families you know where moms dads cousins aunts uncles grandparents all live together and they're friends with other families that are equally large.

So everyone looks out for each other. Everyone's into everyone else's business. And so with that small of a pool of a populace, it does provide a short over eight miles, eight miles in all, 8.3 square miles. That also reduces the territory, the land that law enforcement has to cover. Of course, someone that took her and or killed her could easily drive past that and get rid of a body, destroy the body, bury the body, burn the body. But it does give a smaller frame of search. So we've got that going on as well. Now we also learn, of course, the grocery store sighting, no good, the gas station sighting, no good. So where is not only Jennifer, but she's

got baby Adriana in tow. How easy is it to just disappear on your own? I mean, I guess you could take a bus, a bus route. That would be hard to do. She doesn't have a car. There's no Metro. There would be a record of a taxi. None of that happened. So where is she? Now we know that she was last sighted by the boyfriend, Benton. Listen. Joey Benton tells Robertson County sheriffs that he last saw Jennifer and Adriana at their home on Owens Chapel Road two days ago around 9.30 p.m. Benton says someone driving a white four-door sedan picked Jennifer and Adriana up and he hasn't heard from her again. Benton can't say who was driving the car or what kind of car it was.

I want to analyze that just in itself. He tells Robertson County Sheriff's he saw her at home, Owens Chapel Road, two days before. Let me just start with that. Two days before. Right there, I've got a problem. Casey Robinson joining us. This is Jennifer's sister. Number one,

they go to him. He doesn't call anybody and say, hey, where's Jennifer? Have you seen Jennifer? Where's the baby? He doesn't go to police. He doesn't contact mom. He doesn't contact you. Nobody. Two days, two days. If I had not seen my husband in two days, I'd be standing on my head. I would have called police after five hours, not knowing where he was, not just seeing him, but not knowing where he was. No, right there. I've got a problem. But in his defense, didn't he say, Casey, that they were having a tiff? Yeah. He said that they were having an argument that evening. So, Casey, in the past, was there ever an incident where she had had an argument, and that's common when you've got a baby and the stress of raising the baby and all that,

where she had left the home with Benton and come back and not gone back to Benton. Yes. Had that happened before? Yes. A couple of months prior to this. Yeah. Okay. Ben Powers, you see where I'm going with this. High profile defense attorney like yourself can make a lot of hay with that. He would argue that, well, this wasn't unusual. Whenever they have a fight, she goes home to mommy. Yeah. The past relationship and the history of it, where there's some kind of dust off that leads to her leaving and going to some other location to reside, seems to be a basis to say this was more normal than unnormal that, you know, after an argument, she would go somewhere else. But on the other hand, see, this is the way you win a case. You figure out what they're going to say, and then you figure a way to destroy what they're going to say.

All right, that may be true, Casey Robinson, that she had left where she lived with the boyfriend, Benton, that she had left before and come home to mom. But he didn't even call and ask about her after two days. the boyfriend, Benton, that she had left before and come home to mom. But he didn't even call and ask about her after two days. Authorities had to go to him. And then he goes, yeah, I hadn't seen her in two days. He didn't even call. Is that normal, Casey?

No, it's not normal at all. The first time that happened, because they were in a short relationship, it was very short. The first time that it happened, they stayed in contact with each other. He kept trying to get her back. And so, no, that's not character for that situation. March, Jennifer suddenly stops contacting her family members. Jennifer usually speaks with her mom at least once a day and is in frequent contact with other family members. Even more strange, Adriana, too, had been sick all week. It isn't like Jennifer to travel with a sick baby. After two days of no contact, Jennifer's family reports her missing.

Where is young mom Jennifer Wicks and her baby girl, Adriana? Now, we know that the live-in, the boyfriend, Benton, stated they had an argument about where they were going to live two days before, and he hadn't called to check on the baby or her in the last two days. Curious. He gave a story, but then he elaborates. Listen. Benton says he picked Jennifer and Adriana up, and they drove around town having a conversation about their tense living arrangements. That conversation turned into an argument. Jennifer ended their relationship and refused to return to their home, so Benton dropped her off at a gas station and crossed planes around 9.30 p.m.

Benton claims he watched Jennifer from a church parking lot across the street for 10 minutes before someone driving a white four-door sedan picked Jennifer and Adriana up. Okay, Lauren Cullen joining me, investigative reporter and star of Primetime Crime on YouTube. Okay, Lauren, give me that again very slowly. Now, at first he states that she left in a white four-door sedan, but then he elaborates. Didn't necessarily change the story, but did add some facts. Explain to me what he said. Yes. So Joey claimed that first he brought her to a grocery store to use the phone. And then Jennifer asked if he could bring her and Adriana to this gas station where some friends were going to pick them up. He says he drives to the church parking lot. He waits about 10 minutes. And actually his story was that he saw them get into a white four-door Mustang, which we later find out

it doesn't exist. A four-door white Mustang does not exist. You know, I can't stress how important car makes and models can be. For instance, in the case of Rex Huberman, the accused Long Island serial killer, multiple witnesses point out they see the victims leaving with a giant of a man and a Chevy Avalanche, which was no longer made since about 2013, I believe. Years later, when bodies are starting to be discovered along Gilgo Beach, what's parked in his driveway? The avalanche. If that had been followed up on at the time, maybe some lives could have been saved. Let's see. What's another one? Oh, here's a great one.

Coburger. Coburger. And Koberger, remember the whole way he ends up getting arrested is because a white Elantra is seen and he drives a white Elantra. I mean, it goes on and on and on how cars, vehicles connect back to solving a case. Now, in this case, it's really curious, Lauren Conlon, that he gives the specificity of a four-door white Mustang. And there's no such thing as a four-door Mustang. No, there's not. Now, no one has been named as a suspect in this case, much less a defendant. But, you know, when people add details to their story, the devil is in the details. A four-door Mustang. Later, that story is a white four-door sedan picked up Jennifer and Adriana. So, Casey Robinson, this is Jennifer's sister.

When you first heard that story about your sister, and he didn't tell you himself, I don't think. Didn't he, this is Jennifer's sister. When you first heard that story about your sister and he didn't tell you himself, I don't think, didn't he tell the police that? Yes, he told that to the police. Did he ever tell you what happened? He told my older sister. So she was in between Jennifer and I in age and my sister actually got in contact with them and he said that they had broken up and he dropped her off at this gas station. But he didn't go into detail about the car with us. No, just law enforcement. I mean, you'd think, Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski, that when the baby and the mommy are both gone, that every detail would matter. And Casey's telling us, yeah, he didn't say anything about

her getting picked up. I mean, they're trying to find her. And he didn't mention anything about the white sedan, nothing? Yeah, I think there's a couple of things here. First of all, when you approach this from an investigative angle, you think what would people reasonably do? You know, just the idea that he never called to report them missing or where their whereabouts were for a couple of days. That's not what a reasonable person would do. Another thing, this guy just breaks up with his girlfriend, probably pretty emotional.

He drops her off. She gets into a strange car and he doesn't, he's not interested in who she's going away with. So, you know, what would a reasonable person do? The other part too is if a person's not being entirely truthful and they haven't really planned out what their report is going to be, they blurt things out and then they try to either embellish if it's a falsehood or they try to provide details, sometimes losing track of what their concocted story is because they haven't planned it out yet. And that's where they make

mistakes. And that's where they make mistakes. And that's why the devil's in the details for sure. And then there's more. Listen. Benton says the next day, Jennifer returned to their home without Adriana, driving the same white car that picked her up the night before. Benton says Jennifer collected some of her belongings and wanted her tax return money, which had been deposited into Joey's parents' account. Joey says his parents weren't home, so Jennifer planned to return for the money later.

Benton says this is the last time he saw Jennifer. And then we learn about an intense argument in the Benton home. Listen. Jennifer told family members Benton's parents were upset by Adriana's constant crying while the toddler was sick, and they had a blowout argument during dinner. My mom talked to her on Wednesday night, but apparently there had been a lot of arguing and fighting with the family that night, his family. The baby had been crying a lot. I don't know what they could have been fighting about. Jennifer didn't go into a lot of detail, but she just said like his mom had like thrown their dinner out the back door onto the ground and told her to go and get it.

She better hurry and get it before the dogs do. Just like a bunch of like really mean, nasty things. So Jennifer was in the room. My mom could hear the baby crying. So my mom asked her, like after they talked about the fighting and everything, like, let me come get y'all. And like, we're not that far, you know, 20-minute drive maybe. And Jennifer's like, no, it's okay, Mom. Like, I can handle this.

Joey and I, we're going to go on a picnic tomorrow. We're going to talk about everything because she wanted to move out of their house. My mom said, okay, call me tomorrow. Let me know how everything goes. Well, she never did. She never called my mom. So Casey Robinson, Jennifer's sister, there was a lot of trouble brewing in the Benton home the night before she goes missing. Yeah, the family was fighting.

Everything had been tense for that entire week. There were some events leading up to that argument on Wednesday, March 24th. And Jennifer had gotten into an argument with Joey's mom. And she was throwing their food out, like I mentioned in that video, and talking about how she's an unfit mother. And Jennifer just wanted to move out of this house and Joey wasn't listening. Bottom line, she didn't have a car. She couldn't just crank up and drive away, but everyone wanted her to come home. Listen, Jennifer made a couple of phone calls that day. So she made one phone call to my aunt and one phone call to her dad.

And both phone calls, they both, you know, talked about like the fight from the night prior that she had had with his parents. And my aunt had left her a key outside and they had talked about like, well, if things get crazy, you know, you can come here. Okay. So there was her plan. I'll call you tomorrow. I love you. The last words a mother hears from her daughter as her granddaughter wails in the background. To Casey Robinson, that has always been the story. All this time, since Jennifer and Adrienne are missing, in the last days, you have a conversation with Benton. What happened? We had a conversation recently with him and we hadn't talked to him in 20 years.

And I reached out to him and just said, hey, can we talk? And he said, sure. And so we jumped on a phone conversation. We talked for about an hour and he stuck to the gas station story, asked him, did that really happen? Was that true? And he said, yes, that's all true. I took her there.

I did what she asked me to do. And we talked a little bit about their relationship and how I just wanted to, you know, talk more about her and learn more about her because I was so young then. He said he'd be willing to talk to me anytime. He said, call me anytime after seven o'clock. And that was the first conversation that I had with him. And I've had two. What happened next? Well, what happened next is, is we had some meetings set up with local law enforcement and our district attorney's offices here in Robertson County. And I had let Joey know that on that first phone conversation and also social media. So he knew that we had these meetings coming up.

And he actually visited the district attorney's office on the same day that we had our meeting. So our meeting was cut short. He came in and we learned from him directly that he came there to tell them everything. And it wasn't until maybe like a month or two later that my mom sat down with him for the first time in 20 years. An astonishing development in the search of a missing mom and her baby girl. To you, Buddy Mitchell, joining us, the Wicks family private investigator, former national PD, 34 years. Buddy, what other evidence is there? And of course, no one has been named a suspect. No one has been named a suspect at all in this case.

A very important, and you're talking about details in this case, the car seat he said the car seat was uh when she took the car seat and the baby and got into the four-door car and two days later the first officer that went to check on him put in his report and that the car seat was in the living room. So that couldn't be in the living room if they took it to the car. And he asked the person too, Joy Benton, how many car seats they had. She said he told them only the one. So the car seat is still in the living room. So I think that's a very important part of the evidence. So at this point, so much forensic evidence is gone. So bottom line, you've got to either have

another witness. You don't have to have a body, but you have to have at least another witness. You've got to catch him in conflicting statements if they even exist. Again, he's not charged. So there's going to have to be a corroborating witness. One of the other alleged perps is going to have to crack or they've got to find the body. Bottom line, Buddy Mitchell. That's exactly right. And we have looked several places for the body. I was there when the mother met with Joey. We was like five feet away. They heard the whole conversation. There is, like Casey said, a lot of important information that we cannot give out now because the police and DA asked us not to. But there is details that would lead to a conviction, I believe. Details.

Well, I know they're not anything forensic because it's too late to use luminol at the home or anything. That's absolutely correct. So I can deduce that you're referring to a corroborating witness that saw something or can confess to something. Can you at least tell me that much? It is other witnesses, and I think we can find the bodies. It might take a little time, but we can find the bodies.

And another thing, even if the killer discussed what happened with someone else, that can come into evidence. If you're talking about what the defendant said and the defendant is body, all of that can prove the case without the actual body. But for some reason, Buddy, you feel convinced you'll find the remains. Yes. And I can promise you myself and the Wicks family will never give up until we find the bodies and have closure in this case. I promise you that. We will never, ever give up. You know, taking an adult is bad enough, an unarmed young mom, but the baby too?

To kill the baby too. Casey Robinson, this is Jennifer's sister, Adriana's aunt, has never let go of this case. You're not telling me, and I understand that, and I actually applaud that. I don't want to hurt the investigation in any way. I think that just the dynamics of their family and how things are playing out, that's typically in cold cases and longer term cases, how, you know, cases are solved. It takes time and someone turning on the other person. I definitely think that's going to happen. And there's never been, you know, a full, thorough search of their property, the last place that they were seen. So that's something that we're pushing for.

I think that law enforcement and the D.A.. And yeah, he's right. We'll never give up. Most of our evidence is circumstantial, but I know that there are cases built around circumstantial evidence. But I think with everything that we have and if law enforcement and we continue working on it, we can definitely solve it. Fine, Jennifer and Adriana. Again, let me say that there are no formal defendants or suspects named in this case. And we are waiting for justice to rain down like water. Nancy Grace signing off. Good night, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.