Crime Weekly - Jade Benning | Her Phone Captured the Final Minutes Before She Collapsed (Part 2)

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

On the night of February 25th, 2023, 24-year-old Jade Benning called one of her oldest and closest friends. She wasn't calling to catch up. In fact, for much of the call, it seemed as if Jade wasn't even speaking to her friend, and instead, this friend listened as Jade confronted the man standing inside her apartment with her: Blaise Taylor, a man who jade had recently reconnected with. A man who's child she was carrying. A man who would later call himself her boyfriend. Jade sounded confused, her speech was becoming rapidly impaired; she said she couldn't feel her legs. And then she asked Blaze a question that would eventually become the center of a murder investigation: What did you put in my drink?Try our coffee! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.comBecome a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeeklyShop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shopYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcastWebsite: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.comInstagram: @CrimeWeeklyPodTwitter: @CrimeWeeklyPodFacebook: @CrimeWeeklyPodADS:https://www.WildGrain.com/CrimeWeekly - Use code CRIMEWEEKLY for $30 off your first box and FREE croissants for LIFE!https://www.MintMobile.com/CrimeWeekly - Cut your wireless bill to just $15 a month!https://www.AbsorbMore.com - Use code CRIMEWEEKLY at checkout for up to 35% off your first order!https://www.FactorMeals.com/CrimeWeekly50Off - Use code CRIMEWEEKLY50OFF to get 50% off and 1 FREE breakfast item per box for one year!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow. And I'm Derek Lavasar. And today we are diving into part two of the Jade Benning series. And I am very excited to do that because this case really has me. You left this on a cliffhanger last week. I didn't like it. I mean, I've been doing a lot of research into it and going through a lot of stuff and just trying to put stuff together that I don't understand as well. So I'm excited to kind of get it out here to you, Derek, and everybody else. And so maybe we can talk about everything in the comments. That would be great. But, Before we dive in, Derek, do you have something you want to say? Yeah, I'm making quick. I know we mentioned it last week as well. Criminal coffee, pumpkin spice. Now in stock. Also, the no theories, just vibe sweatshirts.

A lot of you guys were asking us about them, particular sizes. I was just looking at them. They're here. They look great. They feel great. The cooler weather is upon us, although it's like 80 degrees today. Grab your sweatshirts now. The crew nets are in stocking and head on over to criminal coffeeco.

com for the pumpkin spice or a crime weekly podcast. Podcast.com for the merch. All right, perfect. So let me just briefly go over what we already talked about. In part one, we met 24-year-old Jade Benning, a young woman who had built a life for herself in Nashville around the things and the people she loved. She was a chef. She was ambitious.

She was incredibly close with her family and friends. And by the end of 2022, Jade was preparing for what she believed would be the biggest and most exciting change of her life, becoming a mother. Now, the father of Jade's unborn child was Blaze Taylor, a highly accomplished former college football player who was working as a scout for the Tennessee Titans. Jade and Blaze had met on hinge and their relationship had been complicated, almost from the beginning. When Jade discovered she was pregnant, Blaze made it clear that continuing the pregnancy was not what he wanted. Jade made an equally clear decision she was having her baby with or without him. For almost two months, Blaze disappeared from Jade's life entirely, and then suddenly he came back.

By January of 2023, Jade and Blaze were communicating again, supposedly trying to figure out how they could build some kind of relationship and eventually co-parent their child. But as we went through their messages in part one, there was still an unmistakable disconnect between them. Jade was excited, she was planning for the future, she was moving into a larger apartment, buying things for the baby, planning baby, Shows, creating a nursery for the little girl she'd already named Ivy, and trying to, like, be excited with Blaze about this. But Blaze, meanwhile, repeatedly reminded Jade just how drastically this baby was going to change her life, not their lives. And there was something else that Jade's family would later say. Blaze was very concerned about, and that was privacy. Jade had not publicly announced her pregnancy. According to her mother and her best friend, Nijia, Blaze did not

want people to know about the baby, and he did not want his name connected to this pregnancy or this child in any way. So Jade planned to finally announce that she was expecting on her birthday, March 6th. She would never get that chance because on February 22nd, the blink camera inside Jade's apartment went offline, and three days later on February 25th, Jade invited blazeover for what she clearly intended to be a sweet, quiet date night. She cooked chicken Alfredo, She bought canvases and paint so the two of them could make artwork for Ivy's nursery. And Jade took photographs throughout the evening. Photographs that would later allow investigators to reconstruct pieces of what was happening inside that apartment.

And in those photographs were details that at the time probably seemed completely insignificant. We had two drinking glasses and then another cup with a lid and a straw, a cup that would later appear beside Jade's sink apparently washed. And then sometime later that night, one of Jade's oldest friends, Nyjaya Jackson received a phone call. And while Nyjaya listened from the other end of the phone, Jade asked the man standing inside her apartment a question that would eventually change the entire way investigators looked at her death. She said, what did you put in my drink. And then within minutes, Jade Benning would be unconscious. And from this point forward, almost every detail matters. What Jade said, what Blaze said, what was inside the apartment, when paramedics arrived, what was missing, when police later processed the scene, what doctors found in Jade's body, and what had. investigators initially fail to recognize about the emergency unfolding in front of them. You just really caught us up right there. But seeing a lot of your feedback from you guys in the comment section and both on audio and on video, obviously not very fond of blaze. And that's just from the perspective of the text messages, just the constant kind of manipulation of like, hey,

you did this to yourself. And you could see it was very transparent just in those text messages that the only reason he was still interacting with Jade because in his mind, he felt like maybe he could coerce her into not going through with this and terminating the pregnancy. That's what it looks like, yeah. Or at minimum, just making her feel terrible about her decision to go forward with it. So from the jump, a lot of you were definitely harping on Blaze. And picking up on that, yeah. Yep, picking up on it. But we have to continue to look at it from the perspective of the investigation, right?

evidence, yeah. He's an asshole. It doesn't mean yet that he's a murderer. However, as we get through the evidence that we're going to talk about tonight, which by the way, I have not looked up anything, that is going to be combined with a potential motive. And if you don't take anything else from those text messages, it should be that. That there is clearly a visual indication of a potential motive. If somehow Blaze is connected to this crime. Why would he want her dead? He doesn't. didn't want the baby. It's that simple. It's that simple. So that is important in the context of this overall case. So let's move to the day of February 25th, 2023. Jade Benning and Blaze Taylor had plans to spend the evening together at Jade's apartment. At 3.50 p.m., Jade texted Blaze and told him she was getting off at work. At 4.38 p.m., Jade arrived to her apartment, and at 603 p.m., she texted Blaze asking him to let her know when he was on his way. At 610, Jade posted to her Instagram story, a picture of Alfredo sauce simmering in a pot with the words, if you know, you know. Oh, we know, Jade. We know. I know. Every time I say chicken Alfredo, I'm like hungrier.

Just Alfredo. Just pasta, cheese and butter. My cholesterol is jumping as I'm saying. Alfredo with some like crusty bread. Sign me up. So then at 647 p.m., Jade took a series of photos showing the kitchen counter set with the crafts, the chicken alfredo, some croissants. So important, by the way. It seems insignificant at the time, but so important. I'm so glad she did. I'm so glad she did. So then at 6.51 p.m., Blaise texted Jade that he was on his way. And at 6.59 p.m., Jade received a call from Blaze that lasted 10 seconds. So it's obviously believed that this is the time he arrived at her apartment. And he was letting her know. And so by 7 p.m., Blaze and Jade had started their evening together. Now, Jade had also been texting with her best friend, Nijia Jackson, and Nigea had been on her college campus all day studying for an exam she had coming up the following Monday.

Nijia, who had never met Blaze in person before, decided to stop by Jade's apartment and grab some food. Now, according to Nijia, this had not been planned ahead of time, and she didn't want to stay long because she didn't want to intrude on the time that Jade had alone with Blaze. Yeah, she just grabbing some of that pasta. Who can blame her? She was hungry. I know. Listen, I don't want to impede on your date night together, but if you have a little extra pasta, I'll take it off your hands.

Exactly. It was a very spontaneous win for me to go there. I was just hanging out with some friends after we were studying in front of campus, and they had ordered food that I didn't want. And so I was like, oh, I'll just go eat at Jade. Like, just get food from Jade's house. So I called her, and I was like, hey, like, what y'all doing? I was like, I'm about to come by and get some food.

And she was like, okay. And then I told her that Kiante was going to come with me. And that's how I ended up over there. I just planned on picking it up and leaving, saying hi and by. I didn't plan on dining in with them. Okay, so personally, I'm not going to lie to you. I think this little drop by was planned earlier. Ah, okay.

But I don't think that there was anything nefarious about it. But earlier in the evening around 6 p.m., Jade had texted another person, and she mentioned that she was making Alfredo sauce and that Nijia might come over. So Nijia was also the person who had suggested to Jade, you should make Alfredo because you make really good Alfredo. And so if you're trying to impress him, you know, make Alfredo because it's good. It's my favorite. And so Nijia might have said something at that point, like, you know, if you make it, I might stop over. But I think Jade just really wanted her best friend to finally meet the father of her child, right? I was going to say, is it possible that it wasn't on record anywhere, but she's excited about the potential that her and Blaze could be back together.

I mean, he's coming over for a date night. It's a cute little thing. This isn't something you do with somebody you don't like, right? If you want to, you know, drop dot, because dropping by for pasta in the middle of a date does seem a little intrusive, right? Like, hey, you're like, you're coming over when we're having date night. So it does seem like there may have been a conversation prior to this where it's like, hey, if you want to meet them, it's not my fault. If you happen to stop by for pasta. Don't stay long, but, you know, come in. You can meet him and maybe this turns into something. It shows her friend, too, that there's more to this relationship than him just blowing me off. Like, see, he's over here. He's making an effort.

So come by and meet him. I want my best friend to meet my quote-unquote boyfriend. And it's about, I think, starting to live parallel lives. You're having a child together. You want to know each other's friends. You want to hang out, have double dates, things like that, right? So I think that's really kind of what both Nijia and Jade wanted. But you also heard Nijia mentioned someone.

named Kianti, and she's referring to a friend and classmate of hers, Kianti Jones. So at the end of February 2023, Kianti had only known Nijia for about four months, and he'd only seen Jade two or three times in a group setting. He'd never been to Jade's apartment. He'd never communicated with her over text or phone call. He didn't even have her number. So at 724, Nijia texted Jade, quote, okay, we're close. End quote. At 7.30. 93, Nijaya called Jade. This call lasted nine seconds, and obviously it's believed that this was Nijia and Kianti arriving at Jade's apartment. When we got there, we said hi, and Jade started, like, packing up the food, and she, like, put the foil on it, put in a bag, and kind of set it off to the side.

She was in good spirits. I can't remember necessarily maybe, like, what she was wearing, but I'm assuming it was, like, lounge wear. She was at her house and the comforts of her own home. Some lines were about appearance and everything. She was in good spirits. She was excited to see Najaya and even myself at that time. I think we may have hugged and she welcomed us into her home. Normal, calm evening.

I remember there were, you know, small conversations, obviously, maybe some catching up and things like that. We were just like chit chatting about what they were going to paint. And we talked about like going to. like going to a concert and we were laughing at the fact that I didn't know how to play spades. So that was pretty much like the basis of the conversation. Yes, it was a gentleman there, yes. I was then at that point introduced to Blaze.

First impression, nothing really seemed to strike me as off-footy. Seemed like a decently put-together gentleman. He was quiet for the most part. and yeah like I said nothing really caught me off guard about meeting Mr. Taylor for the first time when I first saw Mr. Taylor when I came in he was kind of like I said

to himself quiet he was like shuffling some cards playing with what I believe at the time was like some Blue No cards or something like that and yeah that's pretty much what he was doing to himself quiet maybe chimed in a few times in the conversation but just to himself

he was sitting beside Jade at the island and he was engaging with some of the conversations and he was just shuffling Uno cards the whole time. When I got there, the food was on the stove. It was kind of packaged. The canvases were kind of off to the side. The island was pretty clear. I didn't, you know, and Jade had a glass of like a pink drink and Blaze wasn't drinking anything. I wasn't drinking anything. There was no cup in front of Blaze. Yeah, I saw, like, there was some, like, a glass out, maybe a glass or two,

and had, like, some juice in it or something like that. But from what I can remember, that was all that I saw as far as, like, beverages. Do you remember anything about some sort of pink juice? I can tell you right now, if it blaze is somehow responsible for this, he definitely didn't see this coming and was not happy that two potential witnesses showed up and put him at that apartment on that night. I mean, even if he's at that apartment on that night, the text messages show that, but now they can testify to what they saw on the counter, what color was the drink in her cup. Absolutely. And honestly, I don't know if Nijia and Kianti were like romantically linked at this time,

if it was sort of like, you know, maybe they were kind of talking. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. Kiante is a good-looking guy. He is. He's a good-looking dude. I know that's not what this episode's about, but that's- I know. I was thinking the same thing, and he's so nice. Nijia's beautiful. as well, but I'm just saying. Nijia is beautiful, but because they're going to try the defense is like, well, maybe Kianti and Jade had something going on. No, there was no communication ever between them. So they're trying to make Kianti seem like he was suspicious of something.

But it's like, I wish that if Nigea and Kianti weren't romantically involved, that Jade had ended up with somebody like that because you can tell this is a protective man, a man who has like moral fiber. Like he's not throwing Blaze under the bus. He's being honest. He's saying, yeah, there's nothing like genuinely off-post. about him when I came in. He was just quiet, you know, kind of interjecting every once in a while. But you could also tell throughout his testimony, they were like, do you see Blaze Taylor? And he

looked at Blaze. And he was like, yeah, I see him. Like, you know, at that point, he's like, I don't like this person. He definitely helped a lot with this testimony. Very descriptive in their remembrance of what happened that night, what they saw, including the pink drink. Pretty much lines up. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. This episode of Crime Weekly is brought to by our friends at Wild Grain, and I feel like fall is when I become fully delusional about the kind of person I am. In what way? So in that way where suddenly I think I'm going to be hosting cozy dinners,

baking things, lighting candles, making soup from scratch, casting innocent, magical spells, learning how to knit, a version of myself that I need Wild Grains help with because they deliver delicious things to me. They deliver sourdough bread, seasonal pastries, and French butter from small independent breakeries right to my door, and everything bakes straight from frozen in 25 minutes or less. And it's made with simple, recognizable ingredients you can actually pronounce, so it's not like grabbing something from the grocery store and trying to decode the back of the package when you get home. Which I appreciate because I want comforting food,

not a chemistry worksheet. I've been leaning on wild grain during busy weekends and weeks when I want something to feel special, but I absolutely do not want to leave the house or plan ahead. And because it bakes from frozen, you only make it when you need it. So you get fresh bread or pastries without worrying about everything that's going to go stale when you just leave it on the counter for weeks. You don't want that. Or worrying about, you know, having to defrost it overnight or thaw it out overnight. And there's sourdough bread. It's become a repeat favorite in my house.

It tastes better than what I usually grab at the grocery store. There's something about warm sourdough bread at home that actually makes dinner feel like I had a plan. Yeah, even when that plan started just 25 minutes ago, which is usually the case with me. Especially if that plan started 25 minutes ago. And also, listen, we talk about the sourdough bread, love them. We talk about the croissants, love them. They're huge amazing cookies. Love them.

But now, because it's fall, they have apple cider donuts. They are incredible. Oh, my God. This is not good. They are incredible. This is exactly the kind of seasonal item I wanted my freezer for when I need a cozy little treat. And listen, it doesn't taste like it was in your freezer. That's the best part.

Yeah, and it's incredible. The croissants, you cook them in the morning, and you feel like you just picked them up from a bakery. It's delicious. You can actually pass yourself off as a chef, even though clearly we are not. And the boxes are completely customizable as well. They have classic, gluten-free, vegan, or protein options. And they also have flexible subscriptions so you can cancel or skip anytime. Yeah, like if you have too many croissants and you're like, oh, I don't eat any more croissants this month, which is something that's never happened. When that will never be the case.

Yeah, which is something's never happened. You can skip or change your delivery date. So basically bread, pastries, delicious French butter, seasonal fall treats, no thawing, no No grocery on, no small talk in public. Yeah, that last one may be the real selling point for a lot of people. It absolutely is. So if you're looking for an easy way to enjoy bakery quality food at home, we definitely recommend giving Wildgrain a try. The fan favorite apple, cider donuts and other fall seasonal products are back for a limited time.

So make sure you get on there and you order before they sell out. Visit wildgrain.com slash crime weekly to get $30 off your first box plus free croissants for life. Again, that's wildgrain.com slash crime weekly for $30 off your first box. free croissants for life or use promo code Crime Weekly at checkout. Okay, so we are back. Now, while they were there, both Nigeria and Kianti were offered a drink. She had a ginger ale. He wasn't thirsty.

And they both remember talking to Blaze and Jade about what they were going to paint. Didn't necessarily observe him doing anything, like I said, peculiar. I guess there were conversations that were asked as far as to what was going to be, like, painted. And within those conversations, I remember Jays saying, she was going to be painting a butterfly. And Mr. Taylor, when asked that conversation, I don't want to quote anything wrong, but it was more so something like an ominous and dark image. Maybe he was going to be painting like a dark hole or something like that.

I don't know. Nothing too alarming except the comment he made about his artwork that he was going to make because the whole basis of this project was to make something for the baby's room. Your Honor, hearsay. I had asked, like, what they were going to paint, and Jade was like, I'm going to make something. She said that she was going to paint something for the baby's room. She didn't know what yet, but she knew that's what she was going to paint something to hang in Ivy's room. And when I asked Blaze what he was going to paint, he told me he was going to paint a black hole.

And I was like, a black hole, and he was like, yeah, I'm going to call it midnight. the further you look, the deeper you'll go. And I was like, okay, you know. But I was like, well, why don't we just add like a little bit of white to the, you know, canvas to make it look a little lively. And that was kind of that. But it was a very dark demeanor about this painting after Jade said that she was going to make something for the baby's room.

So it's funny because they keep objecting. One point, Nijia looks at the defense attorney, like, what the hell? And the judge was like, they're just asking her like what she heard. And they're like, that's hearsay. That's hearsay. And so finally, she's able to talk about what she wanted. So both Nijia and Kianti testified that they were at Jade's apartment no more than 30 minutes. They chatted a bit.

Jade and Blaze had not started painting yet. And then they got their food and they left. They both testified that Jade seemed absolutely fine and normal. And they both said they saw her. drinking something pink, right? So we have consistent reporting as to what Ellie's Jade was drinking. At 803 p.m., Nyjaya texted Jade, quote, that was a cute interaction we all had. I hope y'all had a great date, and I love you, end quote. And Jade replied agreeing that it was a good time, and she said that Blaze had told her they should have stayed or they should all hang out again. Nijia texted back and said it was sweet

for Blaze to say that, and she didn't want to intrude that evening, but they could plan to get together again, and Blaze could teach her how to play spades. Now, at this point, Jade and Blaze are alone in her apartment. And the only way we can piece together what happened is to look at information from Jade's phone, which we are going to do. So if you're watching on YouTube, you're going to see all the pictures that we're talking about, be referenced on screen. If you're listening on podcast, then I suggest after you finish listening on podcast,

maybe you go to at least this section of the YouTube video, and so you can see each photo being put up because they're important. Yeah, you sent them all to me and I can see them all here and they're going to be critical to understanding this case. Yeah, I'm so glad that Jade was taking all of these pictures for her trying to memorialize this night because she thinks it's a step forward in their relationship. It's almost sad and a good thing at the same time where, you know, a normal date like night like this, if it was a common occurrence, most people wouldn't memorialize it with a bunch of photos and selfies and all these things because it would be something that's just kind of like what you normally

do. But like you said, because of their dynamic and this being such a big step potentially in the right direction, you could tell she was excited. And she was taking more photos than I think most people would on just a regular paint and date night inside an apartment. Yeah, because they're making something for the baby's nursery, right? And they're doing these things specifically for this. And to her, this is something that's important. A little did she know. Oh, it's very sad. So at 8. 29 p.m., Jade's phone was unlocked. And at the same time, Jade took a lot of photo of the counter setup. Now this is the photo that shows Blazes Canvas and it's painted all black. And then you see Jade's canvas and there's some colorful wavy lines throughout it and then

the two waterglasses and the pink straw cup sitting to the left of Blazes canvas at the edge of the counter. Now at 9 p.m. Jade's phone went on Pinterest and searched for motivational words and this Pinterest activity continued until 91958. But in the middle of that Pinterest activity, Jade took another photo of their painting progress at 9.10 p.m. And in this photo on Jade's canvas, you can see some words painted, love at the top, followed by hope, followed by inspire, followed by peace. And then you can see Blaz's canvas and now has what looks like, I don't know, like a moon. Yeah, I was going to say a moon. Or a white gray hole in the middle, a round thing in the middle of the canvas and then some random white gray splotches around.

I'm just going to say he didn't put a lot of effort into this. Wasn't some great work of art. Now at 91949, Jade's phone entered an unlocked state, and then at 92059, her phone entered a locked state, and it stayed locked until 929.06. But then, at 92433, Jade's phone took a series of 12 photos. These photos are very, very, very important. So I'm going to break everything down. All 12 of these photos are Jade.

and blaze together. Now, I went through because in the trial, they call it a series of photos, and they call it sometimes like a burst of photos. And anyone who has an iPhone knows what a burst of photos means. It's kind of like you set it up and the timer will just take a bunch of photos. That is not what happened here. That is not what happened here. Based on the timestamps of these photos, based on the content of these photos. It looks like some may have been taken with a timer and then some were taken while Jade held the phone. We don't have access to all the pictures. The first three pictures, I couldn't see.

They don't really have the pictures on the screen all the time. During the trial testimony of Detective Thomas Miller, who forensically extracted Jade's phone, the camera does not show all the pictures as he's going over them. But we see enough to get the idea. So I don't believe we see the first three. But we do have timestamps for those first three. But the first ones we see, which I believe are pictures,

four, five, and six. Those ones look to be taken with a timer. And they show Jade and Blaze sitting together holding their paintings. What I would assume is their completed paintings. In one of these photos, Jade is kissing Blaze's cheek. Yeah, the phone's clearly set up on the counter here. You can tell it's not in her hand. Or somewhere, yeah. The next series of three photos shows Jade and Blaze positioned differently. They're standing with each other, but the photos are framed from the waist up. And in the first one, you can see Jade is closer to the camera, like she's setting it up or hitting the timer. And in that one, Blaze is still seated with the hood of his sweatshirt up, the way he had it in the previous photos of them holding their paintings. But then in the next photo, his hood is down.

He's standing with her. They're very close. They look like a couple. In the next set of photos, it looks like Jade is holding the phone. Once again, they are very close. And in that last one of that series, they are kissing. Okay? So the final photo takes.

in that series of 12 photos was taken at 928.45 p.m. Once again, this looks like a selfie. So if you've been paying attention to the timeline, you would realize that these 12 photos were all taken during a time period where Jade's phone was in a locked state. Detective Miller explained that this was possible because Apple allows limited camera access from the lock screen so you can swipe left on the lock screen or press the camera shortcut and open the camera app without authenticating. with face ID, touch ID, or the phone's passcode. So the final photo was taken at 92845, and then at 929.06, Jade's phone was unlocked. And at 92912, that final photo, the 12th one taken, was marked for deletion.

Now, Detective Miller testified that in order to mark a photo for deletion, you would have to have the phone unlocked and have full access. So in Jade's call log, it also shows an outgoing call to her best friend, Nijia Jackson, at 92927. And this call lasted for six minutes and nine seconds. Okay, so we've got a pretty tight timeline here. Now we're going to talk about what happened during that six minute phone call because this is very important. And like I said, super tight timeline here. So let's take a quick break and we'll be right back.

This episode is brought to you by MintMobile, and I feel like your wireless bill should not be one of life's great mysteries. It should be pretty straightforward. You need service, data, talk, text, whatever it is. You shouldn't have to decode your bill and treat it like it's evidence in a case file. Exactly. I already spent enough time trying to figure out what happened, who knew what, and why something makes no sense. I do not need that same energy from my phone plan, and that's why MintMobil does make sense. Right now, all of Mint's plans are $15 a month, even their unlimited plans.

And all plans come with high-speed data, unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. With Mint, you can bring your current phone and your numbers so switching doesn't have to be a whole production. You sign up online, choose from three, six, or 12-month plans, and get three months of premium wireless service for just $15 a month. And keeping your number is huge because we've all been there to get a new phone and then all of a sudden you have to change your number. We have to send out these new number texts that always feel suspicious. You know, like are you switching carriers? Are you fleeing the country? Which is it. And honestly, I love that it's online. Everything is online. So no awkward store appointment, no waiting around, no being sold seven accessories you didn't come in for. Yeah. And like I just said a couple seconds ago, Mint Mobile took what's wrong with wireless and made it right with premium wireless for just 15 bucks a month. So if you're tired of opening your wireless bill and feeling personally attacked, this is a good time to make the switch. Less bill drama, same phone, same number and a plan that actually makes sense. Ditch overpriced wireless with MintMobile.

To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com slash crime weekly. That's mintmobile.com slash crime weekly. Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com slash crime weekly. That's it. There's no catch. Up front payment of $45 a month for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12 months, plan required, $15 per month equivalent, taxes and fees extra, initial plan term only, greater than 50 gig, Mayslow when network is busy, includes up to 20 gig hotspot,

capable device required, availability, speed, and coverage varies. C. Mintmobile.com All right, we're back. So after leaving Jade's apartment, Nigea and Kianti went back to his place, and they ate their chicken alfredo. And then Kianti was going out with friends that night, so he was getting ready. And then Nijia only stayed for a little bit before she headed out to go home. But Nijia had to get gas before she went home. So she stopped at a gas station on her way home, and that is when her phone rang, and it was Jade calling.

And as I was walking back to my car, I gave a phone call from Jade, and I answered it. And I was like, hello, just normal. And she immediately starts saying, what did you do? What did you put in my dream? Then I heard her say, Blades, you're saying. scaring me and he was like you're scaring me and she was like I know you put something in my

dream she was like I know my drink tasted funny and she was asking him to empty his pockets and she was like let me see what's in your pockets let me see and he was like I don't have anything so this whole time I'm like Jay Jay like trying to get a

response from her so because I didn't get a response from her I text her and I was like are you talking to me what's going on Wow. So are we to believe that's a but dial? I don't know. And let's talk about the rest of it because I want to ask you, I don't know what this is. Was it intentional? Like, was she that in tune where she's like, I'm going to call her and let her hear this conversation in case I pass out? Well, we have the deletion of that 12th photo happening right before the call to Nigeria. So who deleted that 12th photo? Why? Was it an accidental deletion because Jade was trying to call Nigeria? What's going on? I don't know.

It seems like at that point Jade is still in possession of her phone. So my first gut reaction is that it was on her end. Maybe she didn't like how she looked or he looked. And then right after, that's when she's still in possession of her phone. Clearly, Blaze is not. I was thinking that too, but they both look cute. And that's what they're like kissing. You know, like that would be one she'd want.

And she would have had to put her passcode in and unlock it. Nijia was her last call. Remember, she called her when they got to the apartment. So it might have been an accidental thing. I don't know. But I also think you could tell if you were Nijia because if the phone is in Jade's hands or close to Jade, it's going to sound different, right? Like it blazes off in the distance.

You know, it's hard to describe, but... The phone was definitely in Jade's possession when the call was made. Right. And that's after the deletion. That's after the deletion. That would lead me to believe it was Jade. Her reasoning behind it, you said she looked cute in it. Maybe she didn't like it.

Maybe she was like, eh, I got a couple other ones I really like. Or maybe it was accidental. Like maybe when she unlocked her phone, that was still up, that 12th picture was still up. And as she was trying to like swipe away and maybe try to hit the call button, it was, yeah, I don't know. I think for the for the importance of the story, it seems like it was still in her possession at that point. Yes. So Nijia did in fact text Jade during this call. There's evidence of that.

She sent a message at 93017 asking what's going on. And another message at 93022 asking, are you talking to me? And then she was like, I know you put something in my drink because I can't even. walked straight. She was saying that she couldn't feel her legs. And then she said it again. She was like, you put something in my train. You did this or something at the time. Sorry, give her just a need. You made a clean act. Can you repeat the last thing that you heard Jay say? She said that you did this so something could happen to the baby. She was saying like, I'm about to feel like I'm about to pass out.

And then like towards the end of the conversation, she was like, is key. And then nothing else. She was like saying it was very wavy and she was like, is, I heard is. And I heard with and I heard Key. And so I then merged Kianti on the phone because I'm like, I don't know what's wrong with Jay. Like, something sounds wrong. Like, listen to her. And he's like, Jay, like, I'm here.

And at that point, you just really couldn't understand what she was saying anymore. At that point, I get a phone call, a very frantic phone call from Nagea. pretty much, you know, panicking. She's, I can tell she's in distress. She's crying a little bit. And I'm trying to ask her what's going on. And all I can really get out of her is like, is something wrong with Jade.

There's something wrong with Jade. There's something wrong with Jade. What do I do? I stay on the phone. Okay. And who, if anyone, was on the phone? Nah, Jay. I get merged with Jade.

So it's the United States. Three-way. Three-way conversation. Were you able to hear the voice of Ms. Benny? Able to hear the voice to make out what was being said? No. Soft, faint, not within the same coherence of the voice that I had previously just heard a hour ago. It was like we discussed earlier, just the fact that it seemed like she was in distress.

She sounded very scared. She did not see. sound like herself. She sounded like she needed that. The only thing he responded to was when she said that he was scaring her. He then said, like, you're scaring me. And then when he was asking her if she had any, I mean, when she was asking if he had anything in his pockets and for him to show her, he was like, I don't have anything.

And that was kind of all he said. I know we have a lot more to talk about. I mean, I don't know if it was intentional or accidental, this phone call. but it's so critical to this case. I mean, to have that information that we otherwise would not have, I mean, if she in that moment realized something was wrong and even just had the know-how to call her best friend and let her listen in because she realized in that moment, I'm about to pass out. Something's not right here.

Incredible. But even if it was accidental, you just got to think about not to get religious or anything, but in that moment to hit that button, to have her call Nijia and to have Nijia pick up, the testimony that Nijia is giving us, giving us an inside look into what was being discussed in those moments. We've been doing this a long time. You normally don't have that. Yeah. And then for Nijia two, three-way call with Kianti, right? Incredible. Another corroborating witness. It's incredible as far as the evidence. The defense is like, well, why'd you call Kianti? Like, why'd you? And she said, well, those last things she was saying, like, I thought I heard her say Kee. And we call Kianti,

key. Like, that's what we call him. And so I thought maybe she wanted to talk to him because, you know, he was just there and he was a man. And maybe she felt unsafe. And the defense was like, well, what was going out with Jade and Keante? Like, was she? Oh, shut up. Yeah, exactly. So, and I mean, I don't even know if Jade was trying to say key as in Keonti. Yeah, it might have been a piece of a longer word. Who knows? Because she's so out of it at that point. Right. And then also connections and, you know, going in and out, she may have misinterpreted what she said. But what was critical there is the things that She clearly heard, you did something, you put something in my drink. You put something in my drink.

You did this because of the baby. I can't fill my legs. I can't fill my hands. Empty your pockets. I knew my drink tasted weird. Yeah. She says that deliberately. Like she identifies the reasoning behind what she's feeling.

She knows immediately something was in my drink. Mm-hmm. Yep. And she said, you did this because of the baby. She's laying out the motive, right? We have the text messages. There's no disputing the fact that Blamey. did not want this baby.

Mm-hmm. I agree. And based on everything that he was saying, without knowing anything else, because I know we have a lot more to cover, that's my initial thought as well. At minimum, if he's not trying to kill Jade, he's trying to kill the baby. Exactly. Because she's choosing not to do it herself. I think anybody with half a brain would go there and think that. Then we have the call ending at 935-36. And Nigeria said, I did not end the call, right? I did not hang up, which means somebody on Jade's end did. And then at 9.35.49, so less than 10 seconds later, or a little bit over 10 seconds later,

Jade's phone entered a locked state, and it remained locked until 644 the following morning. And then at 93813, Blaze Taylor called his father, Trooper Taylor. Now, according to his later statement to the police, Blaze called his father because he said Jade started feeling sick. So he called his dad and he said, dad, she's really sick. What am I supposed to do? And his dad told him to immediately call 911, which he did at 938. Now, Blaze talks to the 911 operator and he says he's at his friend's house and he thought she was having an allergic reaction. Okay.

Is she waiting right now? Yes. And she was up, do you think she's up allergic reaction to food? I don't know, we have something to talk with her. I don't know if she's done, if you're doing anything today or anything, but everything was fine and then I don't know what's happening. So you got to be talking out of my opinion she's taking. Oh, so you can't talk to your reaction to do it. Not that's right?

I don't know. I don't think she's a lot of anything. I don't know. Don't get chances or not. If you can do a liquor reaction. So are you next door? Yes. Yes.

Okay, does he give me good for the only? Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. Okay, can you have any difficulties in? I don't know. I'm not. I'm not talking. I'm not looking. Yeah, you see the way.

Okay. So if you need this nearly roller or off your side right now? You're actually going to die. Okay. Does she have a deputy pen? Uh, did you know, like, you think? Yeah, everything. I don't think so much of you not responding.

This 911 call is interesting. I would love to compare the, the shortness of breath, his sense of urgency with what Nigea was hearing on the call. And what was interesting here is the dispatcher's asking for information about what was going on prior to him calling 911. And he fails to mention that her hands were numb, that she couldn't feel her. feet that she was saying there was something in her drink. Doesn't mention any of that. Nothing, no. He's going with the allergic reaction, which that's not what Jade said to him. He's going with, I don't know what's happening. It could be an allergic reaction. I have no idea. Right. And if he wasn't responsible for whatever was in her drink, why wouldn't you say before

she went unconscious or before she became non-responsive? She was saying something about a drink something about being off with her drink. Yeah, saying she thought I put something in her drink. Like, I didn't, but that's what she was saying. So. But she was saying something. about her drink. That would be information you would want to relay to first responders, especially if you have nothing to hide. You're going to tell them everything. Hey, she was definitely saying before she went unresponsive, she felt like her drink was off. Yes, exactly. So, and you'd also say that like, you know, to the police. They could keep whatever was in the cup, right? Absolutely. Yeah, but he doesn't say that. And they're like, is she swallowing properly? And he's like,

I don't know. I'm not a doctor. Yeah. What? What's interesting about this too, because I don't want to forget to say it, is right now where my thought is, and you may change my mind based on what you're going to relate to us, but I'm just going in real time as I'm hearing this for the first time. My thought is that he realizes that she made a phone call or that she butt dialed someone. And now he has to act quicker than he probably planned on acting because now he knows there was a call in real time placed to people she's close to. So he has to now call his father. He has to now call 911 because optically you would look at it and go, well, if he's responsible, why did he call first responders so quickly right after calling his dad?

Well, if he was aware there was a phone call that was made, now he has no choice because if he waits too long, that looks suspicious. I mean, I'm not saying this is what happened, but he could have called his dad and said, hey, she started like seizing and then she made a phone call to her friend. And his dad was like, well, she made a phone call to her friend. You better call 911 immediately because that's on record. Potentially. Yeah, allegedly, potentially for sure. I'm not saying this what happened. I'm just saying it could have been. And just to remind everyone, because I keep getting confused, trooper is not an actual state trooper. That's just his first name.

College football coach, not a state trooper. College football coach, not a state trooper. But also, I thought it was interesting that he's like, yeah, she's breathing normally. She's awake. And then they're like, does she have an epipen? He's like, she's not responding. So is she awake? No, he asks her.

He asks her. Hey, do you have an epipen? Yeah, she's not answering. She's not responding. Is she awake breathing normally? If she's awake and breathing normally, why can't she respond? because as far as you're saying, she's breathing normally, which doesn't sound like an allergic reaction, but either way, at 940 EMS was dispatched, they would arrive around 948.

But at 947, Nigea called Jade's phone and Blaze answered. Well, he answers the phone, and I was like, Blaze, like, what's going on? What's going on? Like, FaceTime me. Like, let me see her. And he doesn't FaceTime me. But he tells me that he's about to. call 911.

And you said that you asked him what was going on. Did he answer you? He just kept saying, I don't know. I don't know. There was a point where he asked me if she had an epipen. Did that make any sense to you? Not at all. After Blaze tells me that he's calling 911,

he's like, I got to go. Like, I'm calling 911. The phone disconnects again. That was not on me. And then I called Jade's mother. Ms. Jackson, do you remember was Keonti jumped on that second call? Do you remember that specifically? Yes.

And do you remember if Keante said anything to him or if he said anything back? He was asking him, what did he do? So the timing of this doesn't make sense because according to the records, Blaze called 911. Exactly. At 938. But when he's on the phone with Nigea at 947, a minute before EMS arrives, he's saying, I got to go. I have to call 911. It makes perfect sense.

Yeah. Why does it make perfect sense? Because he's trying to, I don't know. He's trying to get off the phone with Nigeria. He doesn't want to say anything that's going to trip him up. He's already called 911. They're about to arrive, but he's just bullshitting her. Like he would have known at that point if he already called 911.

He would have clearly said, I already called 911 on their way. He's just trying to get off the phone with her because she wants to FaceTime. Ah, yes, yes. He hasn't had a chance to make sure everything's good. he's I gotta get off the phone I get off the phone I gotta call 911 I can't FaceTime because I have to call 911 That's not something you would forget that's not something you would screw up You know if you've already called or not So clearly it's a lie you can call 911 with your phone and FaceTime me with Jade's phone

You answered it but I don't know and also also what does he ask nijia It does she have an epipen who asked him about the epipen the 911 operator yeah So we know that this call was after the 911 call which he would have been aware of and yet he's telling her I got to go. I got to go. I got to call 911, which we know is a lie. Yes. So he just doesn't want to be on the phone with her. He doesn't want to FaceTime. So. Yeah, she's going to trip him up. When Nijia was making those phone calls, she's driving on the interstate, heading towards Jade's apartment. And then when Jade's mother, Bridget got Nijia's call. Then Bridget and her husband, they were out at that time. But they immediately went home. They packed. They headed for Nashville. So that's where we're at right now. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by the Absorption Company. And I feel like wellness has become one of those things where everyone's talking about the newest trend, the newest supplement, the newest you need this immediately product. Yeah, but the real question is whether your body can actually absorb and use it. Exactly.

That is the issue because you can have the most impressive ingredient list in the world. But if your body isn't absorbing it, then what are we doing? And that's what makes the absorption company different. They're focused on solving one of the biggest issues with supplements, which is low absorption. Their supplements use pharmaceutical-grade absorption technology designed to help nutrients actually work, which is why I was interested in the WLP1 because everyone is talking about GLP 1 right now, but not everyone wants injections, extreme side effects, or a massive monthly bill. I feel like nobody wants that.

I definitely don't want injections. I'm afraid of needles. WLP1 is their daily weight management solution. It supports weight management with premium ingredients clinically proven to increase natural GLP1 by 321%. It's designed to support seeded-eat-eat, thermogenesis, and metabolic health, while also helping reduce the absorption of fats and carbs. Yes, and that's the part that feels realistic to me, right? Because weight management is not always about restriction or trying to become a completely

different person overnight. Sometimes it's just about support, appetite support, craving support, helping you feel full and giving your body something that works with your goals. The absorption company's larger point is that supplements only matter if your body can use them. Whether you're looking at WLP1, magnesium, berberine, COQ10, or anything else, absorption is the key. The absorption company is built around better bioavailability, better absorption, and supplements your body can actually utilize. So if you're looking for a different approach to daily weight management support or you're just tired of wondering whether the supplements you're taking or actually doing anything, check out the absorption company. Once again, whether you're looking for WLP1, magnesium, berberine, coQ10, or dozens of other science back supplements, start.

taking supplements your body can actually absorb, go to absorbmore.com and enter Crime Weekly at checkout for up to 35% off your first order. That's absorbmore.com and then use crime weekly at checkout for 35% off your first order. Okay, so the first medics on the scene were Marisol Baldwin and Andrea of Rose with the Nashville Fire Department, and they testified that their ambulance was responding to a call about an allergic reaction. And then when they got to Jades Apart, they were led in by Blaze Taylor. We found her in the bedroom to the right of this kitchen. She was on the bed.

It looked like a comforter that she was on and she was face down. She was laying horizontal, so not how you would typically sleep where the pillows are. She was towards the end of the bed and she was on her face, face down. We rolled her over and we immediately noticed that she was unresponsive. She didn't respond to us flipping her over on her back. And we noticed that she had some kind of fluid around her mouth. It was like a light pink in color. And right here, what am I circling?

That's where she had vomited. And what did that look like? It was like a pink fronthi sputum. Sounds like an overdose. Yes. So first of all, remember, though, that the 911 operator had told Blaze to make sure Jade was on her side. He said, roll her over on her side. And Blaze immediately responded, yes, she is on her side. But when first responders arrived, they found Jade face down at the end of her bed in her bedroom. And that's also very interesting to me because based on pictures and body cam footage of Jade's apartment,

she and Blaze were not in her bedroom when her phone took that series of 12 photos. In the pictures, you can see that Blaze and Jade are sitting on some sort of chairs or stools with higher black backs. And in the photos of Jade's apartment, you can see two of these chairs, but they're like placed in the living room. They're set up in the living room off the kitchen, steps away from where they were doing their paintings at the kitchen counter. So the last of the 12 photos was taken at 9.28.45 p.m. Jade called Nigea at 92927 p.m. That's 42 seconds. 42 seconds between when the last photo was taken and Jade was called. calling her best friend panicking because she wasn't feeling well, asking Blaze what he put in her drink, saying her legs felt weak and then becoming unable to speak. So how did Jade make it from the

living room into the bedroom? Great question. And how did she end up in that position at the foot of her bed face down on a comforter? Because if she's talking to Nigeria, 42 seconds after taking that last photo while they were in the living room. And she's saying she's weak and her legs aren't working and she's not even able to speak, would she have been able to walk into the bedroom and then fall face down on the comforter? I agree with your assessment. I think she was probably brought there.

However, just to play devil's advocate, is it possible she tried to get away from him and ran to her bedroom or walked to her bedroom because she felt like she was going to pass out and she did fall onto the bed? We can't rule it out 100%, but I'm with you, by the way. I think that they didn't make it to the bedroom.

She was more than likely brought there. However, for anybody who wants to push back on that, I could see the argument as to like, oh, my God, I feel like I'm about to pass out. I want to fall on something soft. It doesn't seem like the apartment was huge. Her last ditch effort there to kind of like protect herself may have been to go to the bedroom and get away from the person who she was alleged and put her in the state. Yeah, I don't know. It's very interesting to me. I'm with you, though.

I think you make a solid argument. I'm just pointing out the other side. Either way, it doesn't change anything. we're talking about. At that point, let's just say she did make it to the bed on her own. If he was caring for her at the direction of the dispatcher, he would have put her on her side. On her side, which she wasn't when the paramedics got there. Right. So regardless of where she fell, it still doesn't make sense based on the directions of dispatch. Exactly. So according to the paramedics, Blaze Taylor was more of a nuisance than anything else. And he didn't seem to have a lot of helpful

information about the woman whose apartment he was standing in. And when you got to the apartment, was that seen considered safe? Initially, yes, but we didn't really have our firefighters there yet. And with uncooperative family or bystanders, we deemed it unsafe. What do you mean by uncooperative and my members? The mail there was kind of getting in our working space, and we couldn't properly assess and treat the patient. Okay, what do you mean by that, that he was getting in your working space?

He wasn't letting us do our job. He was in our face, just trying, I don't know what he was trying to do, but we were trying to get her on our stretcher and wasn't following the commands that we were asking him. Okay. And what commands were you asking him? We usually don't want family in our, working space. So we were probably telling him to step aside. And at any point did the mail in the apartment try to touch the spinning? Yes. Our firefighters were pulling their truck into the parking lot.

So they were a little bit behind us, but we couldn't physically carry her, my partner and I. and he took it upon himself to do it, and we don't allow help from outside agency, like, from our people. And he attempted to do that, so that's what I meant, that he wasn't listening to our commands. And then he eventually placed her on the floor right in front of the island. And were you trying to get any medical information from Mr. Taylor? Yes. He just told us that she was pregnant and he couldn't tell me how far long she was, nothing, no medical history and anything like that. Okay. Was he saying anything while you were in the apartment?

Yes, he did say that she ate bad food. That's what he kept telling us. We tried to assess the patient. Like I said, we tried rolling her over and he would not allow us to. He just kept being very handsy with the patient and not allowing us to properly take care of the patient. Did you perform CPR misfitting inside the apartment? did not. Why? Because the scene was not safe. So for the patient's well-being, it was better off just to get her to the truck. We call it load and go. But the scene's not safe. That's what we do. I think it's important that, you know, he's in their way. He's touching her. He's not listening to what they're telling him to do. And he doesn't even know how far along Jade is in her pregnancy,

allegedly. Yeah, which is crazy. Which is crazy because we know he does because she's updating him constantly. And you do have situations where you're in a small, confined space and you have family members or friends who are frantic. And in most cases, they are actually, they are trying to help, but they're just, they're getting in your way. It's a small space. You're trying to work. You're trying to assess and you're unable to do it because you have people on top of you, around you, yelling, screaming. Based on the facts and circumstances, we don't know if he's trying to be helpful and is just not being helpful or he's trying to delay whatever measures they they need to take in order to save her.

The one note I want to make here is, again, another case of them asking him directly what was happening prior to our arrival. You don't want to know how far along she was in her pregnancy? Okay, you're just an asshole. But there was specific information that she told you before becoming unresponsive. She said she felt something or tasted something weird in her drink. And then she had numbness in her hands and loss of feeling in her feet. She said that there was something in her.

drink and yet at no point do you mention that to the people that could save her life. I think a reasonable person would come to a conclusion that that piece of information, even if it doesn't make you look great in the moment, would be critical to saving her. Yes. And I mean, at this point, too, he had as a small apartment, I get it, but they're in the bedroom. So if they're like, get the hell away from us, he can move out to the living room and let them do their work in the bedroom. But he's hovering and he's like touching her and moving her and that shouldn't have been happening. So he also, when he was on the phone with 911, we didn't play this, but they were like, where is she? What's her address? And he was like, I don't know. Like, he couldn't give them her address. So I think that was delaying as well.

Right. Had to call law enforcement. Had to call someone because of the butt dial slash call. But yet he's still trying to be. By a little time. Yeah, he's trying to delay certain things to kind of stretch out the amount of time until somebody arrives. Yes. So by the time Nigea showed up, Jade was already in the ambulance. First responders described Nijia as being very upset. She was crying. She was asking about Jade. She was trying to see through the wind. windows of the ambulance, and she was asking over and over again if Jade was going to be okay. Blaze, on the other hand, did not seem all that hysterical, and he never once asked if Jade was going to be okay. Both Nijia and Blaze followed the ambulance to Vanderbilt Hospital. Now, when Jade had been in the ambulance, she was in cardiac arrest. She had no blood pressure and no pulse. She'd been given oxygen, Narcan, and Epi, and she was intubated. When Jade arrived

at the hospital emergency room, she said, still did not have a pulse and her pupils were dilated and fixed, which the doctor who treated her that night testified was a signal of neurological damage. Jade was put on life support, and then the police were contacted. Over the next several hours, many people would arrive to that emergency room. Jade's family and friends and multiple police officers, but the first two people there were Nyja Jackson and Blaze Taylor. The third person who arrived was Jade's stepmother, Andrea, and she said when she got there and she was in a room with Blaze and Nigeria, it was tense. And everybody who came that day, Jade's mom, Jade's stepmom, obviously friends, family,

they all said the same thing. Blaze was there. They'd never met him before. He didn't really talk to anybody. He was kind of just sitting there usually on his phone. He wasn't like interacting with them or speaking to them. Now Andrea gets there and Nigeria had already told medical staff about what she'd heard on the phone and she repeated this information to Andrea and then obviously Nijie is going to tell the police too. The first responding police officers were Officer Jack Fyfer, Sergeant James Smith and Officer Lindsay Fish. Now Officer Fish spoke to medical staff and Jade stepmother while Officer Fyfer spoke to Blaze Taylor. And Fyfer said that since he was not the primary investigating officer, he was just taking preliminary statements. There is body cam

footage of this interaction between him and Blaze Taylor, but the audio is just so terrible. But basically, Blaze says, I don't know what happened. This is what happened. I was at her apartment. We had dinner. And then suddenly she started not feeling well. Now, after that, Fyfer gave this information to Officer Fish and then he spoke to Nijia Jackson. So essentially, Nigea told as many people as she could at the hospital that she was concerned something nefarious had happened to jade due to that horrifying phone call that she'd been privy to. Sergeant James Smith spoke to Blaze Taylor just a few minutes after. midnight and Blaze told Smith that he'd arrived at Jade's apartment around 7 p.m. for a date night. They had eaten dinner. Then Jade started to feel sick and he said the situation escalated rapidly. And when Jade threw up, that's when he called his dad. Which is interesting because he does not mention Jade throwing up on the phone with a 911 operator until he's already on the phone. And then I believe like during the call he says like, oh, she threw up. But that's happening now. So now he's telling Officer Smith, Jade threw up and that's when I called my dad. That's what worried me.

Now, he also explained his situation with Jade, how they'd dated, broken up, and then gotten back together just a few months prior, how she was pregnant with his child. Blaze was asked if he and Jade had been arguing recently, if there were any issues or if Jade would have any reason to accuse him of anything because by now Sergeant Smith's talked to Nijia. Oh yeah. He knows, he knows that there's something he needs to look into. Yeah. So Blaze said, No. He said he and Jade never really argued, and he knew that she had called Nigea, but he didn't know why. Blaze also said that he had just found out from Jade's mother that she'd recently tested positive for COVID. And he was like, well, Jade didn't tell me that, but I just found out. So that could be like what's wrong with her. And then Blaze was asked about the cup Jade had been drinking out of that night. And Blaze said it was a clear glass. And he said he thought it should be in the sink maybe because he hadn't done any cleaning up after dinner. So Smith asked Blaze. Now, if I go over to her apartment, if I get that glass and I run it through the lab, there's not going to be anything on that glass, right?

And Blaze said no. Now, I want to go back to a person I briefly mentioned last week, Lauren Weber. Now, this was Jade's friend from work. Remember, Lauren's, I think, brother co-owned the restaurant with Jade's Uncle Jay. Now, that night, Lauren had been working a private event at the restaurant, but she'd seen Jade earlier that day because Jade had worked a shift earlier, and then she saw Jade before she left work. And Lauren said that Jade was more happy than usual that day because she had a date night planned with Blaze. Later that night, Lauren was told by Jade's Uncle Jay that something had

happened to Jade, and so Lauren called Jade's mother Bridget to ask if there was anything she could do to help. I called her mom and asked her what I needed to do, and she asked me to go by Jade's apartment because it was left unlocked. So I went there and went inside, got her key. I was. I was left unlocked. I went there and went inside, got her keys off of the counter, blew out a candle in her room, took pictures, and left. Things looked as they would if you were painting and cooking. There was paintings on the table. There was still food sitting out, but something just seemed off to me. It just didn't smell like food was freshly cooked. So it just kind of put, you know, my brain. much telling me, you know, just get the keys. You need to not, you need to leave.

It just, I don't know, it just didn't make me feel right being in there. I just felt like it, like it was clean. Then normally if someone cooks. Now, Lauren took two pictures that night, time stamped 11, 29 p.m. of the countertop with the two paintings. There are two clear glasses on the counter, one next to Jade's painting, and that glass had about, I don't know, three fingers of water in it, and then one next to Blaise's painting, and that glass was totally empty. So after locking and leaving Jade's apartment, Lauren went to the hospital and she gave the keys to Jade's stepmother, Andrea, who then gave them to Jade's mother, Bridget, when Bridget arrived around 3am. Now, at that time, Bridget also got Jade's

cell phone from Andrea, who had gotten it from Nigeria, who had gotten it from Blaze. At some point did you look at her phone? Yes. And did you have your daughter's passcode? Yes. And when you got in her phone, what, if anything, did you do? I went directly to her plane camera. And can you describe when you looked in her phone, what was it an image of her balcony with her blinds open looking out the back, her window off onto her balcony, in her bedroom. What did you think when you said? I immediately went into a painting and asking why her camera had been moved because I knew my child had her camera in her kitchen facing her door. Now, we are going to talk about this blank camera and all the different things that happened

with the blink camera. Because we talked a little bit about it last episode as well. As far as what the app shows and how it got moved and who moved it as far as we know there's a lot to talk about that. We're not going to do it this episode, but we will do it next week. But we could all acknowledge that if you're using this type of camera, it's for security purposes, it's to keep an eye on things, and what are you going to be watching as it's looking out your balcony? What sense does that make?

In the bedroom facing outside towards the balcony. It serves no purpose. You might as well unplug it. Yes. So now remember another friend of Jades. This was Lindsay Wallace from Little Rock Childhood Friends. and Lindsay's mother, Stephanie, was best friends with Jade's mother, Bridget. And we heard from Stephanie last week.

She talked about how Jade was a cheerleading captain and how she was highly respected, this, this, and that. But what we need to know is that through Bridget, Jade's mother, Stephanie had been keeping up with the progress of Jade's pregnancy. And so when Stephanie found out what was happening with Jade, she and her daughter, Lindsay, also got right in the car to drive to Nashville. and they went straight to the hospital's ICU where Jade was at at that time. Now, at this point, everyone was feeling like something was not right with how things had gone down. Bridget, Jade's mom, she was stressed because, of course, she's talked to Nijia, and now the blink camera's been moved. And Nijia was stressed because of the phone call, and somehow all of this ended up with Stephanie,

along with her daughter, Lindsay, and Nijia getting the keys to Jade's apartment from Bridget and entering Jade's apartment at around 4 p.m. on February 26th. This is very important, and I can't wait to get your take on it. I think I know what it's going to be. But let's take our last break and we'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by Factor and listen, it's September. Everyone pretends like life is going to calm down because summer's over, but then somehow it gets busier. Yeah, travel slows down, summer plans slow down, but the actual obligations do not.

Yeah, the fun stuff. down, but, you know, you think you're getting back into a routine and suddenly it's work, recording, researching errands, kids schedules, appointments, emails, car appointments, and at some point dinner becomes whatever you can eat while standing up at the kitchen with one shoe on. That's where a factor helps. They make chef-crafted, dietitian designed, ready-to-eat meals so you don't have to choose between real food and convenience. And that's huge for us because I know I can't just keep relying on takeout every time my

schedule gets chaotic, right? Factor makes it so much easier to eat actual real food without grocery shopping, cooking, or cleaning up a whole kitchen afterwards. And sometimes that's really the part because you eat and then you're full and tired and you don't want to clean and you don't want to leave it there for the next morning. And the meals at Factor are they ready in just two minutes with no prep and no cleanup. So even on days when your schedule's completely out of control, eating well is still achievable. Factor also has over 100 nutrient-dense menu items every week, including options like, salmon burgers, which, by the way, let me stop right there for a second, one of my favorites. If you like salmon and you like a good burger, definitely give those a try. But if that's not

your thing, they also have shredded pork, collard greens plus add-ons like pumpkin-flavored cheesecakes and protein shakes. Yeah, that pumpkin-flavored cheesecake. Yeah, there was emphasis there, Stephanie. There was emphasis. That was the hint that you need to try it. That's the add-on I support, right? You want to eat real food. You want to take care of yourself, but I also want to treat myself, right? And their protein shakes are actually very, very, very good as well. I'm very picky with protein shakes, so they are good. Factory meals are also designed around over 175 band ingredients, which is awesome. So every meal is built around what supports a healthier lifestyle and nothing that doesn't. And 97% of users agree that factor meals

help them live a healthier life. That makes total sense to me because it takes one major decision off your plate literally. We use Factor and you should too, especially if you're trying to get back into a healthier routine, but your life has not gotten the memo. Real food, ready fast, and no cleanup. Honestly, you know that how I feel about this. No cleanup might be the most romantic phrase in the English language. So let's eat real. Head to Factor Meals.com slash Crime Weekly 50 off and use code Crime Weekly 50 off to get 50% off and one free breakfast item per box for one year while supplies last until October 31, first, 2026. That's code Crime Weekly 50 off at factor meals.com. Crime Weekly 50 off at factor meals.com. See website for more details. All right, we're back. So Stephanie gets to Nashville.

She goes to the hospital. Bridget is stressed out. She's like somebody with the camera. Like I'm very concerned about this. And with the other friend, Lauren Weber, that was kind of, yeah, that was kind of understandable where it's like Jade's apartment was left unlocked. Can you please go in, get the keys, and lock it. But now it kind of felt like Bridget was saying, can you go in and look around and investigate? Yeah. And this is where it becomes a little iffy. Yeah, this is not a good decision. I can tell you right off the rip. Not a good decision. And we're going to talk about it, but some police officers were like, yeah, we told them not to go in the apartment. And other police officers were like, we told them not to go in the apartment. But at that time, also the apartment

wasn't a crime scene and hadn't been locked down. Yeah, so we couldn't stop them from going in the apartment. Yeah, that was a mistake by them. It was also a mistake by law enforcement. Stephanie said, listen, I didn't do this all willy-nilly. Before I entered this apartment, I called my son. And my son is a police officer in Little Rock. And I got suggestions from him on how to proceed through Jade's apartment

without contaminating a potential crime scene, even though at that time it wasn't. Stephanie's son told her wear gloves. He said don't touch anything that you don't have to touch to gain entrance. He said, take pictures, take video for documentation, and then get out of there. So let's go over some of the pictures that Stephanie took because these are also important. So we have another photo of the counter with the paintings and the water glasses. And this photo looks exactly the same as the photo Lauren Weber had taken the night before around 1130. We also have a picture of the kitchen.

And you can see Lindsay's over to the left. and then it's kind of like showing a picture of the whole counter as if you were standing at the end of it facing the sink. And in this picture, we can see a pink straw cup set to the right hand side of the sink. They took a picture of a pretty clean, pretty sparse refrigerator that had a container of pink lemonade on its side on the second shelf from the top. They also took a picture of Jade's bedroom and the blink camera, which was set up on the windowsill. it was plugged in and facing towards the window and the blinds in the window were open. And then they took a picture of Jade's comforter with a pinkish staining on it where, you know, obviously this is where Jade threw up. And here's where things get iffy, though.

First of all, the blink camera at that point was moved again by Nijaya back to its original positioning by the stove. So Nijia took the blink camera from where it was in the window, which was already moved from where. it used to be on the kitchen counter. We don't know who moved it, but Nyjaya took it and moved it back and put it on the kitchen counter, where it should be. Second of all, they closed the blinds

in Jade's room before they left. And third of all, they took the comforter from Jade's bed with them. Now, Stephanie says they were very careful while doing this, and they documented everything. They documented everything. They took pictures. They took videos. They used gloves. They put it in a garbage bag.

They put the garbage bag in the trunk of Stephanie's car and they took a picture of all of this. But they still took the comforter from the bedroom. Yeah, stupid. Sorry. Just got to call it what it is. It is stupid. It is stupid. Yeah, I'm with you. You're not an evidence custodian. You're not a law enforcement officer. There's a chain of custody issue. You're contaminating that that comforter by putting it anywhere else where now DNA fibers, trace evidence can be transferred to that comforter. It's not only, it's going to contain your DNA potentially too, depending on if you're a DNA shed or just, I don't think we need to tell people who are listening or watching that, although their hearts were in the right place, this was the wrong

decision. Before you continue, just because I'm a spectator right now along on this journey with our audience, the pink cup picture that you are describing that's on the sink in the background to me, and maybe the viewers will feel differently, I know what I'm looking for because I can see the pink cup on the counter prior in this episode that we talked about it previously. That was from a police photo. Yeah, that was from the police. This pink cup that's on the counter next to what it appears to be like a paper towel holder, it almost looks orange to me just to point that out.

So it's still the same cup. You can tell by the shape, but based on lighting, it almost looks a little like orangeish pinkish to me. Yeah, probably because the police are using like digital cameras and she's using like a phone camera. Well, it's also far away. But I'm just saying that if people are looking at that photo where there's a person in the photo right in front of the island, you can see the cup because of the shape that it's the same one that was on. the counter, but from this angle, it looks orange to me, but that is the same cup. It is the same cup.

So this is going to become a real issue during the trial. As it should. The comforter being removed, yes. Yeah, that's a big deal. And here's why. I mean, from multiple reasons, obviously, because the defense, I mean, they know it looks bad for Blaze. They know all of this looks bad for Blaze, right?

But the defense is going to try to grab onto any little thing they can to pull up reasonable doubt or to say the scene was contaminated. Well, yeah, get evidence thrown out. And this is actual, let's be honest, scene contamination, okay? No doubt. Yeah. Now, it wasn't technically a crime scene, but whose fault is that is the police's fault? And also kind of, you know, if the police told you guys, hey, don't go, but technically

we can't stop you, but like, probably you shouldn't. You probably shouldn't have. Lock the place up. Leave it, leave it locked until law enforcement says, hey, you're good. You guys have access to the apartment again. We're done with our investigation. So according to Dr. Aaron Carney. the medical examiner who performed Jade's autopsy.

Jade had died from acute cocaine toxicity. Now, Dr. Carney explained, and I learned a lot, by the way, which I'm not trying to seem excited, but I like when I learned things. And I learned a lot during this case about a lot of things, like photographic stuff and how it comes in the phone and how different photographs, if they come from an app or if they come from the camera, very interesting. We're going to talk about that next time. But here's what I learned about cocaine.

specifically in the blood. So Dr. Carney explained that Jade's blood toxicology showed 78 NG slash ML of parent cocaine, and then 1,800 NG slash ML of benzodia lecene, and 7800 NG slash ML of ECOG of EMPL of EME-E, so basically the parent cocaine would be the actual cocaine. And then the other two, The latter two that we talked about, that's breakdown products of cocaine. And so Dr. Carney testified that unusually large amount of EME, that's 7800 NG slash ML. Yeah, that would be nanograms per milliliter, I believe. Nanograms per milliliter. That was very important because EME is not typically found circulating at such high concentrations in a living person.

Instead, cocaine can continue breaking down after the blood has been drawn because enzymes called estuaries remain active in the blood. I had that happen in a Devin Schmidt's murder investigation that we did out of Seattle. So in Jade's case, this blood was collected at 1031 p.m. on February 25th when she goes to the hospital. And it had been placed in a clear top tube. And Dr. Carney said the tube was very important because we use certifying. certain tubes when we're drawing blood in autopsies. And I wanted to see what kind of tube this was. This specific tube they used at the hospital, the clear top, it did not contain a preservative that was normally used to inhibit this continued breakdown of the enzymes. So according to Dr.

Carney, much of the cocaine that had originally been present in Jade's blood, therefore hydrolyzed into EME. So at the time when the blood's taken, they're not testing it for cocaine. She tests it during the autopsy. But by the time she's doing the autopsy, which is like a week later, the cocaine that was present in Jade's blood had hydrolyzed into EME while the specimen sat in the tube because it didn't have the top on that would preserve it. So for that reason, Dr. Carney said that 78 nanograms per mill liter of EME was treated as cocaine that had originally been present at the time of the blood draw. And then she added it to the 78 nanograms, per milliter of remaining parent cocaine.

And this made her arrive at an estimated original cocaine concentration of 7,878 nanograms per mill liter, which is a lot. Yep. And I'm not a doctor, but I've seen enough autopsy reports and toxicology reports to know that is a lot. Well, Dr. Carney testified this was an extraordinarily high level of cocaine. Far beyond what she typically saw in fatal cocaine intoxications, which in her experience were generally below about 1,000 nanograms per milliliter. She said she had never personally encountered a concentration this high in an autopsy. And the only comparable case she could identify involved a concentration of roughly 10,000 nanograms per millimeter in a person believed to have swallowed cocaine while being taken into custody.

So like they were afraid of being caught with the cocaine on them, so they swallowed it, right? And she also pointed to drug trafficking cases in which packets of cocaine are swallowed, hoping to get them through customs, and then they rupture internally. And she said that's another example where concentrations can reach similarly extreme high levels. But based on the concentration, the toxicology pattern, and the surrounding investigative information, Dr. Carney testified that in her opinion, Jade's exposure was most consistent with a very large oral ingestion of cocaine. and basically meaning this was not sniffed, this was not injected, this was dissolved in a liquid, and Jade consumed and ingested that liquid. Yeah. Interesting that you would come to that conclusion with what we know about the phone call.

She ultimately certified Jade's death as resulting from ingested cocaine toxicity. Now, it's interesting that you say interesting that we hear that based on what we know. Dr. Carney also knew all of this at the time she did her autopsy. And I don't know if that's wrong because they kind of made it, the defense made it seem wrong at the time. So I think there's two ways of looking at it. On one hand, you could say if she came to this conclusion without knowing that information, then it's even more compelling. But you could also push back on that and say, listen, when these pathologists are conducting their reports, it's important to have context. It's important to know the factors of the investigation so that they have a fuller picture of not only what they should be looking for, but what conclusions they can come to based on the information they have and the scientific results of the autopsy report itself. So I see both sides.

I can see an argument where it's like, wow, she didn't even know about the phone call and she said this. Now we know there's something here. If the pathologist didn't do a thorough enough job, we would be calling them out saying, well, why wouldn't they look at the report at the time? to make sure they knew all the facts and circumstances surrounding the case. Well, here's the thing. So this wasn't an issue where Jade arrived at the hospital deceased, right? She arrived. She was still alive.

They put her on life support. And then at some point, a few days later, the doctors were like, Jade is brain dead. Okay. And most likely, she is going to die. And that's when they contacted Dr. Carney so that Dr. Carney could get the blood samples and all of that so she could start, like, preserving the evidence and testing things. So it was kind of like a preemptive. The hospital and the police are contacting Dr. Carney.

And now Dr. Carney is going to talk to the investigating officers. And so it wasn't like I'm sneakily talking to the police to get an opinion. It was like this poor woman is brain dead on life support. Her child passed away. And most likely within the next few days, she too is going to pass away. So we have to get ready and start getting everything in a row for an autopsy. When you go to the doctors and you go to the doctors and, you have something, an issue with yourself and you go in there. One of the first questions

they're going to ask you is, what symptoms are you having? Right. So the body's very complex. She's trying to identify what happened to this young woman. So the first thing she's going to do is look at the police report to see if anyone reported any symptoms before she was unresponsive. That is a reasonable thing to do as a doctor. Was there anything reported that she was having some type of symptoms prior to her becoming non-responsive. That's what she did. And there were multiple reports that Nijia had a phone call with her and she reported certain symptoms before that and also reported tasting something weird in her drink. That would be common sense. Now, if she didn't have that information and she came to a different conclusion, we would be criticizing her saying,

well, if you had the full picture, maybe you would have been able to deduce further how she inhaled or how she ingested these toxins, these drugs. So I think it's part of the process. You know, you can't blame her for being thorough. And I mean, the defense is going to say, we don't know if Jade said any of that in the phone call. The only person who said she did is Nigea because even Kianti didn't hear her say that stuff. So how do we even know she said that stuff? Well, good luck. Good luck convincing the jury because Nijia becomes off very believable. And that's part of the game. Then we have the comforter, right? So when it was eventually tested, because eventually the police do get it, and we'll talk more about that next time. When they eventually

test it, the stained area of the comforter contained cocaine-related compounds. So the place where Jade threw up, cocaine-related compounds. And it also tested positive for fentanyl. But fentanyl was not identified in the blood toxicology results we just discussed. Okay? Even more importantly, fentanyl was also detected in the so-called case blank. So this was a section of that same comforter that was supposed to serve as a clean comparison sample. Not the place where Jade threw up, but a place that hadn't been touched by any bodily fluids. Yeah. So now there were multiple possibilities. Was the fentanyl actually present in material that came from Jade, the vomit? Was it already somewhere on the comforter? Had it been some kind of transfer or contamination? Had something happened while the

comforter was being handled, transported, stored or tested? Is the whole way they're testing for fentanyl on the comforter completely wrong because if it's showing up in the vomit portion and then also on the blank portion, is it just showing up fentanyl when there is no fentanyl there? And because this comforter had not gone directly from Jade's bed into police custody, there was no perfectly controlled chain of custody that could answer all of those questions. Now, this didn't erase the cocaine findings in Jade's body, which were extremely high. And it didn't mean the comforter had no evidentiary value, but it did create another layer of uncertainty in a case that's already full of them and will become more full of them.

This was a piece of evidence that might have helped clarify exactly what happened inside Jade's apartment. Instead, it becomes one more piece of the puzzle. What was actually on the comforter when Jade became sick, what got there later, which of those findings could the jury really rely on? And then you have the fact that when Jade got to the hospital, there was a urine sample taken that didn't have fentanyl in it. But then a later urine sample showed positive for fentanyl, but then the hospital said they didn't administer fentanyl to Jade, even though there was an order for fentanyl to be administered to Jade, but they said they didn't give it to her. They ended up throwing it away, which now makes me feel like, what's going on

at the hospital? Are you ordering fentanyl for patients who you know aren't going to have that fentanyl? And then you're saying, oh, we decided the patient didn't need that. And then you're just- There's a new crime weekly news right there. You're taking it because I know that happens. Yep. But then if a later urine sample is showing present with fentanyl, but you said you didn't give her fentanyl. But then there was another doctor that said, oh, yeah, we did give her fentanyl, but it was at a weird timing where the urine sample wouldn't make sense. Yeah, there was a lot going on here. And we have to talk about all of that when we come back next week.

And then we also have a surprise witness, right? So not only do we have Blaze talking to another woman at the time when he's. you know, apparently reuniting with Jade, but we have an ex-girlfriend who's going to pop in and she's going to be like, oh, yeah, actually, I've talked to Blaze before about how there was another pregnant girlfriend and he was going to use something to make sure she lost the baby. And just so you know, cocaine is one of the drugs. And Dr. Carney testified to this one of the few drugs that is known to cause what's, what's referred to as a placental abruption.

So cause a miscarriage in a woman if she uses this cocaine. And the defense is going to be like, Jay took that cocaine on her own. She's a drug user and she was using that cocaine maybe before Blaze got there, maybe while he was there. But she was knowingly using it. He has nothing to do with this, which is just absolutely ludicrous, especially at those high levels. But the defense is going to say, oh, actually, those levels aren't as high as they say, but yes, they are because Dr. Carney broke down the science behind it, which was very interesting.

Yeah, so Jade decided to pop a cocaine pill after her friends left. It's a kind of nightcap the night. To put a bunch of cocaine in her drink? And then frame Blaze. Okay, well, listen, I'm not going to be oblivious to what we've talked about here. It's not looking good for Blaze. It looks like he did exactly what it sounds like where he was trying to kill the baby. Maybe he wasn't intending on killing Jade. I don't know. We'll wait. We'll hold up. off on that question until the end of the series, but at minimum, he was trying to get rid of the baby based on text messages, based on conversations that we know happened based on Jade's call to Nigea and what was said on that call based on the behavior that was displayed in front of Nijia

and Kianti before they left, everything seemed normal, the photos, the cup being moved, but not anything else. There's so much here that incriminates Blaze. However, saying all that, we can also acknowledge that now there are multiple voids, multiple questions, multiple angles for the defense to exploit. And understandably, that's what they're going to do. That's their job. The question is, are those doubts that they're going to create? Are they going to outweigh the totality of circumstances, the preponderance of evidence in this case for a jury to say, you know what? We believe there's enough here to suggest that it wasn't blaze and something else happened here. Maybe it was Jade. So I have heard rumblings. There are some comments. I'm not going to say him here,

but I am interested to see how this one plays out. What rumblings have you heard? I don't want to put them in the episode, but listen, I'm not living under Iraq, and I read a lot of what you guys are writing, and there have been some developments in this case. And so unfortunately, people are putting that out there, and I'm seeing it. So I'm not completely blind, guys. But I want to go through this journey as if I'm not coming to a conclusion before hearing the of the facts. And that's kind of the way I'm approaching it. So where I sit right now, Blaze looks guilty as hell, but I can also acknowledge that there are now holes in this case that are going to be filled by the defense. And is it enough? Is it enough to get an acquittal?

We'll have to wait and see because I have a feeling. Blaise is going to be arrested and this is going to go to trial. Well, we know it goes to trial. Of course. Of course. And that's what I'm saying. I don't want to get ahead because I know there are people who a lot of you have said, I've never heard of this case before and you're going along on this whole journey with us, which we appreciate. But yeah, we're going to see how it plays out. This is a horrible case. Just a tragic set of circumstances.

I can't help but think about Nijia in this moment and the guilt that she must carry, knowing that she was right there moments before having her friend call her, her last ditch effort to get help. Whatever the reason, Jay did it, even if it was accidental, Nijia having that conversation. But kudos to her because from what I've seen, the limited amount of trial footage that you've showed us, she's done an incredible job. And she's extremely believable and likable, which is important in a jury trial. Yeah, I agree. And I think she's really out there, like, genuinely showing that she does feel this guilt. And she's trying to, she's fighting for Jane. And she has since moment one, because she got to that hospital, Blaze was like, I'm her boyfriend. I'm Jade's

boyfriend. And I was like, since when? You know, like, and, Sassy. She's on a mission. And then the person at the hospital was like, well, what's Jade's date of birth? And Blaze was like, uh, and I Jia was like, I thought she was your girlfriend. You don't even know like what her, what her birthday is. And so Nijia was not letting Blaze kind of slink away with anything. And it seems, it seems minor. But the fact that she called Keanti in that moment to three way him into the call. I agree. Just gives even more credibility to what she was hearing. Because if it wasn't something incriminating where she felt that someone else needed to hear this, she probably would have said, oh, you know, I couldn't understand anything I hung up.

No, the call was ended on Jade's end. She felt it was significant enough to get Keante into the call. She had heard certain things. And even Keante could kind of hear rumblings in the background, well, they couldn't make out a lot of words. So clearly in the moment, when it was all happening, there was enough there for Nijia to call him and get him as part of it. So I believe her 100%. Yeah, I do too.

Yeah. 100%. And so, unfortunately, that's not all that's going to. to be a part of this case. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of it. We appreciate you guys being with us. We're getting a lot of feedback, a lot of engagement from you on this particular series and on the previous series that we've been covering. A lot of you have been talking about hyping up the episodes for us specifically on YouTube. We greatly appreciate that. That's giving more exposure to crime weekly and the cases we're covering, which also gives more exposure to our

underlying mission, which is the main core of what we do, which is bringing attention to cases that may not have it, and that's where criminal coffee comes in. So it's this one ecosystem, and it all contributes. It may seem like that hype isn't significant. Trust me, it is. And we can see the difference that it makes. The more views we get on these videos, the more listens we get, the more sales we have from criminal coffee, the more money we're able to donate, the more of an impact we're able to have. So trust me, it's cyclical. It all helps. And you guys are a part of it. And we wouldn't be able to do it without you. Any final words from you, Stephanie? Nope, that's it. I can't wait to get back here and talk more on next week about this case. It's a very important one to me, so let's do it.

Absolutely. You're doing a great job with it. You always do. But like the detail and the journey you're taking us on and the visualizations that you're giving us, it's painting a clear but unbiased perspective of what happened. And we're being allowed to ask these questions. So I appreciate it. I know everyone else appreciates it. Guys, we appreciate you being with us each and every week. We will be back next week. Until then, please stay safe out there. And we'll see you soon. See you soon.