Criminology - Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin

Episode Date: February 25, 2024

In 2015, 56-year-old Jeffrey Navin and his 55-year-old wife, Jeanette, disappeared. Their son, 27-year-old Kyle Navin, was the last person who had spoken to either of them. Kyle was quickly suspected of being involved in the disappearance of his parents. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin. The Navins owned a waste management company and their absence was quickly noticed. As the details of the case emerged it was clear that Kyle and his girlfriend had planned to get rid of the Navins. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 296 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Morf. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing good.

They're doing a little bit of construction of my neighborhood. So every which way I go, the bridges are a little bit of a mess and traffic's backed up. But, you know, anything to make the neighborhood better. So I can't blame them for that. Yeah, it's kind of a catch 22 if you think about it. You know, you want them to fix stuff. You want everything to be as great as possible. But we don't really want to be inconvenienced by the work that has to go on to do it.

Yeah, but for the greater good of everybody, it's, it's worth doing. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Ashley Jean Murphy and Jean Francois, Gretton. So some great new support we really. appreciate it. Yeah, thank you for taking the time to support the show. It means a lot to us. And for anyone else that would like to, you can do so by going to patreon.com slash criminology. We just want to remind everyone that we're going to be at CrimeCon Nashville in just about 90 days. And we hope that we see you there. CrimeCon is happening at the Gay Lord Opry Land in Nashville,

Tennessee, May 31st through June 2nd. And it really is a place you can meet all of your favorite celebs from the world of true crime. And of course, you can stop by and and see Morph and I on Podcast Row. And as usual, we'll be doing our annual criminology T-Cat meetup with listeners. That meetup is going to take place Saturday night, June 1st at 9 p.m. at the Fuse Sports Bar, right on premises. So there's no need to drive or worry about catching a ride. I hope that a lot of you, like usual, will come out and hang out with us for a couple

hours. And if you're going, you might as well save some money and use our promo code when you book your trip at crimecon.com. be sure to use promo code criminology. Check out, that will save you 10% off your standard badges. But don't wait because rooms are booking fast and time is running out. All right. So now that we have all that out of the way, let's jump into this week's case.

It's no secret that murder cases in many instances come down to a very common set of motives. Jealousy, anger, crimes of passion, greed, financial gain, all of that type of stuff. the case we're talking about in this episode is clearly a case of the latter. But since the perpetrator in this case is a close relation to the victim, you could say there are elements of some of the others as well, which brings to light another interesting fact that most murder victims are not killed by strangers. They're killed by someone close to them. We're talking about the August 2015 murders of Jeffrey and Janette.

Naven. On August 7, 2015, Laura Thompson called the Eastern Connecticut Police Department to report the disappearance of her brother, Jeffrey, 53-owned J&J Refuse, a waste management company in Westport, Connecticut, with his brother William. But the trash along his route hadn't been picked up for days. It was unlike Jeffrey to miss work without telling anyone, and when William called him, it was clear that the phone was off, which was also unlike him. They also couldn't get in contact with Jeffrey's wife, 55-year-old Jeanette Nevin, who was a paraprofessional in the library at Weston Intermediate School. The couple hadn't been seen since three days earlier on August 4th. Their son, 27-year-old Kyle Navin, was the last person who had spoken to either of them.

Kyle also worked at J&J Refuse as an operations manager, but due to a recently broken back, he didn't work a regular schedule. Kyle had declined a dinner invitation from his parents on the morning of August 4th for the same reason. They came to visit him instead and asked if he wanted to go to dinner that night, but he was in too much pain. He thought that maybe they had gone to New York City for dinner while he decided to stay in. According to Kyle, Jeffrey and Jeanette did often sneak away for quick trips, basically on a whim, but they always returned quickly.

The couple hadn't mentioned to Kyle or anyone else, any vacation plans. And even if they had taken a spur of the moment trip, Jeffrey definitely would have made sure his routes were covered. Kyle was generally the one who would cover the routes. Since something clearly seemed to be wrong, the police quickly became involved. Easton Police Chief Tim Shaw confirmed that the situation of them being missing was odd,

telling the Connecticut Post. It's not uncommon for them to travel, although this is a long time for them to be away without notifying anybody. The only other information Kyle thought could be relevant, is that his parents were actually selling their business to Vento refuse, another similar company. Investigators spoke to the owner, Dominic Vento, who confirmed that he was interested in buying

J&J refuse, but that nothing had actually gone through and no deal had been made. And more than I think this is something that we see in many cases where someone goes missing. In this case, you know, two people, a couple, you hear people. talk about their routine. And it really kind of is that breaking of the routines or doing something that's out of the ordinary that a lot of times catches people's attention. You know, here we have a guy who owns a business. Okay, well, there's a lot of responsibility there. You really can't just all of a sudden decide that you're going to take a trip without notifying somebody, setting things up, you know, something along those lines.

And I think especially because his business was trash removal, you start going a couple days without taking away trash that's going to lead to a lot of problems and a lot of people complaining. So I think that was one hint that something was definitely wrong. And then as you mentioned, it's not one person that's deviated from their normal routine. It's two different people. So I think that's why police became so involved early because they were very concerned. Well, and we're also not talking about, you know, let's say someone in their early 20s who hasn't yet established their life, so to say, you know, much easier for them to kind of take off on a whim. We're talking about, you know, people in their 50s who have major responsibilities, family. It's just not something that you would expect to happen.

You know, I kind of think about myself and my wife. We can't just wake up one morning and say, well, we're going to Florida. I mean, we could. We'd have to put some things into motion, though, right? I mean, we've got to tell people, we've got to tell our kids what we're doing. That's just how it works. Yeah, I think the more established the routine is, the more noticeable it is when something strays from that normal routine.

At the Navin's rent-at-home in Easton, a Mercedes E-3-20 and a Mitsubishi truck were parked in the driveway. The home's owner, landlord Robert Hennessy, who lives in the home next door, allowed investigators to search inside the Navin's home. A third car, a Ford Model A was found parked inside the garage. However, the Navin's 2003 Dodge Ram was missing. Inside the home, nothing was out of place. The bed hadn't been made, but everything was clean. A to-do list on the refrigerator revealed no clues about their whereabouts, but it seemed to indicate some sort of trip. There were reminders to turn off the humidifiers and the lights in the home.

But dishes in the sink and glasses left on a table suggested that the Navans had planned to come back home on August 4th. A search of their phone records revealed no activity since August 4th. Both phones were turned off and not peeing anymore. Jeanette's last recorded phone call was 8.45 a.m. This two-second phone call was to Jeffrey. His final phone call was a few hours later at 1.23 p.m. With no clear motive or clues to work with pointing to what happened to the Navans, police began to look into their personal lives and finances looking for anything that may shed light on the disappearance.

Eight years earlier, in 2007, HSBC Bank USA, foreclosed on a home in Guilford, owned by the Navans, claiming that Jeffrey failed to pay the $1.3 million mortgage. Jeffrey appealed this decision twice, but both times, the judgment was the same. By 2015, the debt had grown to $2.2 million. Jeffrey tried to appeal the case again just two months before his disappearance, but the case was not reopened. In 2014, Connecticut Light and Power had also sued Jeffrey Navin for $138,000. in utilities at the Guilford home.

He was ordered to repay this amount with weekly payments of $35, as well as any interest that had built up. In June 2015, the Navin sold the Weston home they had lived in for 21 years for $900,000. So the one thing that really jumps out at me, Morp, is, I mean, obviously the Navans had some money. Now, how much money they had at the point, where they went missing, you know, that will have to figure out. But at one point, they owned two different homes. They obviously were, you know, pretty expensive homes, but there was a lot going on. It didn't seem like they were, you know, paying for one of the homes. It was foreclosed on. You know, to think about

owing $138,000 in utilities. Okay. That means you haven't been paying for, some time. Yeah, I think that's way past the point where they would start shutting stuff off. And I guess interest in penalties and fees are just accruing after that. Well, and you mentioned earlier that at the time they disappeared, they were living in a rented home. And I just said they sold the home that they had lived in for 21 years. So we don't have all of the details. But it does seem as though something changed financially over the years. Now, they still own this business, but maybe it wasn't doing as well as what it had been doing. Something definitely changed. There was immediate speculation that the Navans were either hiding from their debt or had been harmed over it. Attorney Kenneth R. Davis,

who knew the couple well, told the Connecticut Post, Jeff is a guy I've known for a long time, and I've never known him to be in any difficulties that would result in him being injured, or harmed. I don't think that's a situation. I just think he's an average guy. The Navan family released a statement to the media, and according to CBS News, it read in part, financial issues recently reported by the media have not been proven to be a factor for our family member's disappearance. Information from the authorities indicates that there are available funds still in their bank accounts that are untouched. It was unclear at the financial issues that the Navans faced had anything to do with why they were missing. And police kept looking for clues or evidence to work with.

But going back to these financial issues, you could see why maybe the police would want to focus in on those. You know, if you have a home that's foreclosed on, you owe the utility company a bunch of money, okay, who else might you owe? And could that debt be a reason for maybe why no one has heard from you. I think in cases like this, it's very common that the police basically put a microscope on everything and look closely at every little thing, including financial records, to see if there are any clues there for them to figure out what happened. Just after 1230 p.m. on August 9th, Connecticut State Troopers found the Navans missing pickup truck at the park and ride off of Merritt Parkways exit 42. The passenger door window.

had been shattered after it was parked. Near the parking ride, an abandoned home caught the attention of investigators. Westport Police Lieutenant Gillian Cabana saw obvious signs of forced entry, so she stepped inside. And she found evidence connected to the Navins. Multiple J&J refuse business cards were scattered about while the lead was an interesting development and gave police something to work with. It didn't explain.

where the missing couple was. The same day the truck was found, investigators interviewed the Navin's son Kyle. According to him, he said he last heard from his father, Jeffrey, around noon on August 4th, and they talked about work. Two days later, he was interviewed again, and this time his story changed. He said that he had seen his mother that morning and that they had met at the Exit 42 Park and Ride. According to Kyle, he was driving the garbage truck. His mom got in, and they went on his route together until his back.

began to hurt him. He said at that point he called his dad and arranged for him to take over the route. At around 10.30 a.m. They met up at the daybreak nursery and Jeanette got into Jeffrey's truck and that was the last time he saw his parents. From there, Kyle said he drove to his parents home in Easton to retrieve a paycheck his dad had taped to the front door for him. Then he drove back home to Bridgeport where he stayed in bed and rested for three days due to his debilitating back pain. on August 13th, Kyle was interviewed a third time. His story once again changed. He added that he and Jeanette had gone to Bridgeport around 9.20 a.m. on the 4th because

they needed paperwork with his route information so that his mother could take over for him. Due to the fact that Kyle's story kept changing, police asked him to take a polygraph exam and he refused. Shortly after the last interview with authorities, Kyle pack some of his belongings and left home. As is true in many cases, where foul play is suspected, those closest to the victims are always looked at first until they can be ruled out as being involved. And to this point, police could not rule out Kyle. And I think it's pretty easy to see why police can't rule out Kyle.

I think any time a person's story changes multiple times, that's. a red flag. A lot of times police see the refusal of a polygraph as a red flag. I don't necessarily see it that way. But with all of this going on, you could see why not only could they not rule him out, I'm sure they were looking at him pretty intently. And when you find out that, you know, shortly after the last interview, he kind of packs up some stuff and, and leaves. Okay, that doesn't look good either. And I don't think it's uncommon for somebody's story change slightly. Maybe they misremember something where they just failed to mention it in their first interview.

But when you have three different interviews and the story changes multiple times, I think that's really what is a red flag to police, the fact he changes story so many times. And then, you know, as you mentioned, the polygraph test, in the eyes of the police, they're thinking, hey, he's going to want to cooperate. and clear his name and help get answers about what happened to his parents. But when he didn't take that polygraph test, I think that just elevated him on their radar a little bit more. And I'm telling you right now, my thoughts on polygraphs have changed so dramatically since, you know,

I started researching so much true crime. I don't think I would take any polygraph for any reason today. I just don't think I would do it. because I would be so afraid of failing even though I was innocent that I'm just not sure that it would be a wise decision. I'm sure opinions vary, but I don't know. I would be extremely concerned. Let me put it that way.

Yeah, on one hand, I would want to clear my name so the police are looking for the right person. If I know I didn't do it, I'd want to cooperate. But at the same time, sort of along the lines of what you were saying, if somehow I'm telling the truth and they think I'm not, does that mean they're going to spin their wheels and lock in on me as a suspect? I wouldn't want that. Well, I've given, you know, depositions. I've testified in court, you know, over the years. In those instances, I have been extremely nervous. I mean, those are pressure cooker type situations. My thought is taking a light of test might be along those same vein. So, you know, am I going to spike? Am I going to cause the needle to do something that makes me look guilty?

Just for the mere fact that I'm so nervous about taking this test. I guess that's what I would worry about. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency. We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, Blood and Water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.

A closer look at the Navin's cell phone records revealed that at 9.20 a.m., Jeanette's cell phone was using a tower near Kyle's home. At 1.23 p.m., Jeffrey's cell phone during his final call also used that tower. During this time, Kyle's phone was accessing the same tower. All of that pointed to Kyle and his parents being together, something Kyle's story didn't match. Text between Kyle and Jeffrey show a much different version of that day than Kyle described, and they were disturbing, showing that Jeffrey was worried about something very bad. After Jeanette stopped responding to text and calls that morning, Jeffrey was worried for her safety. not only that, but he seemed to think that Kyle was trying to frame him for murder.

According to CBS News, one of Jeffrey's frantic texts to Kyle read, I'm not going home until I know mom is okay. Another text read, did you hurt mom? Kyle responded with a text that read, no, absolutely not. Why would you think that? Jeffrey didn't believe him. He responded, I go home and I get framed for murder. to which Kyle replied, oh, stop, but Jeffrey was apparently serious.

His next text to Kyle read, I'm going to the police first. One of his final texts read, You are setting me up. There were 63 calls from Jeffrey to either Jeanette or Kyle that day. So there obviously was a flurry of activity and Jeffrey clearly seemed to know that something was wrong. But for whatever reason, he didn't go to the police.

At 12.28 p.m., Jeffrey was at Westport Way Station. Bob Meeker, the Waymaster, remember seeing him there on the Way Scale screaming into his phone. Meeker didn't know what he was yelling about or who he was talking to, but according to Westport now, he recalled that it was very heated. Phone records show that at that moment, when Jeffrey was seen by Meeker, he was talking to a son, Kyle. And my first thought here is, you know, you're, you think about that number, 63 calls. It seems like a big number. And it really points to the fact that there was something going on.

And when you couple it with the texts that definitely provide information in the way of, you know, what was really being said, things are not looking good. Yeah, I think it's pretty clear that. Jeffrey wouldn't just out of the blue start worrying that something happened to his wife and that his son Kyle might be responsible. I think there had to be something going on in the background leading up to that that made him think that, that made him suspect that he was in danger, that his wife was in danger, that he might be framed for murder by Kyle. So something big going on in the background. Yeah, these are not your everyday kind of text, right?

I text a lot with my two daughters. None of them have ever gotten to, you know, this type of level. Think about a father afraid that his son is framing him for the murder of, you know, the wife, the mom. This is very strange stuff. When to. Yeah, it's not concerned. Like, hey, Kyle, have you heard from mom?

I'm worried about her. This is him flat out accusing Kyle of harming her. so very striking. According to CBS News, during a search of Kyle Navin's home, investigators found a receipt dated August 5th, someone, either Kyle or his girlfriend, Jennifer Valianti, who lived with him, bought dryer sheets, cleaning spray, germicidal bleach, hair and grease drain opener,

gougon stain remover, and contractor cleanup bags from Home Depot the day after his parents were last seen. They also found two guns, ammunition, bags with, heroin residue in them, hypodermic needles, and empty prescription bottles for Xanax and oxycodone. Surveillance photos from the Home Depot showed both Jennifer and Kyle shopping for the bleach, drain cleaner, and contractor bags. When questioned about their purchase, Jennifer claimed that they needed the drain opener for a clog in an upstairs bathroom sink. The cleaning spray and stain removal was explained away too. She said their dogs had recently thrown up and she needed to

clean it up. The bleach was for Kyle's laundry, probably his underwear and t-shirts. She mentioned that they washed their clothes separately. But Jennifer slipped up a little bit when she tried to explain the purchase of the bleach. She explained that they needed bleach due to all the stuff that was going on on Wednesday, but she wouldn't elaborate on what she meant as to what things were going on that Wednesday. But she did say that it had been a mistake to say what she said. There was another receipt from August 5th, too. Around 2 p.m., Kyle went to Park City Tactical, an indoor gun range in Bridgeport. He was there for about a half hour, including shooting and cleanup. He told investigators that he stopped shooting because his back was hurting him so badly.

In how many cases have we done or, you know, have people seen where someone goes missing or someone is found murdered? And the next thing you know, there's a receipt from Home Depot, Lowe's some hardware store and maybe even surveillance video as well. But it's the purchases, the things that are bought that are really scrutinized. It's bags, cleanup type stuff, in some cases, shovel and line. Now, you can try as Jennifer did to explain some of this stuff away because it could be that any of us would go to Home Depot to buy these things.

I just think when it comes aligned so closely to someone's disappearance, well, then obviously it's going to be looked at. But the other thing that really kind of jumped out of me was, you know, Kyle going to this gun range to go shooting. I thought that was very strange because if his back was hurting his back, as badly as he said it was, as has been portrayed. Well, anyone who, you know, has gone shooting, target shooting, you know, that recoil, that couldn't have been good on a really bad back.

Yeah, especially because you have to stand like in a shooting position and put your arms out and it doesn't seem like a comfortable position if you have back problems. No, it just seemed like a really strange choice to go shooting. A closer look at Kyle's cell phone records and texts also revealed that he and his girlfriend, Jennifer, often spoke about using drugs. They had been together for four years and lived together for most of that time. According to CBS News, months before Jeffrey and Jeanette disappeared, Kyle texted Jennifer that he had thought of a perfect plan that would set them up with money for life.

because his plan, which he referred to as a plan to wipe out the infection, as he called it, would solve every single problem and give us a wealthy amazing life. If they were successful in their plan, he told her they would have hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy my truck and you a new car and enjoy life taking vacations, having fun with friends, no stress, no contact ever again with bad, people. Investigators realized that Kyle was selling at least part of his oxycodone prescription. One of his buyers was interviewed and had key information. According to CBS News, on August 5th, days before Jeffrey and Jeanette were reported missing, Kyle told his buyer

that he was dealing with a lot of family issues and that it looked like his parents were missing. This was at odds with the fact that Kyle told the police he had no idea anything was wrong until he spoke to his uncle on August 6th. A day after he made a day after he made. mention his parents were missing to his buyer. So more, if I don't think I'm really going out on a limb here by saying Kyle's not looking real great, right, at this point in the store. You have the cell phone data that puts him kind of in the area of his parents at the time that they're thought to have gone missing.

You have the drug aspect in the fact that he was using and selling. and then you have some of these texts to Jennifer. Okay, I've got this plan. It's going to set us up for life. And I'm always amazed that people don't think some of these things they send electronically are going to come back to bite them in the ass. You know, how is Kyle planning to get hundreds of thousands of dollars? And what is this term wipe out the infection?

it's kind of hard not to think that it's all relating back to his parents and Kyle's case it's not one or two little things that make him look bad it's a cumulative amount of things just piling up on him against him that are probably just setting off red flag and bells and whistles for police and I'm sure by this point they were locked in on him as being involved in his parents disappearance. Yeah, based on everything we've talked about at this point, I don't know how they couldn't have been looking at him as, you know, suspect number one. Though he lived in Mississippi, Kyle's younger brother Taylor suspected him almost immediately.

He told CBS News, when I heard my parents were missing, I thought to myself, they either went on vacation or my brother did something to them. The family relationship had apparently never been great. In 2006, the Department of Children and Families had been called due to Jeffrey's emotional and verbal abuse of Kyle. The relationship, which Taylor described to the Trumball Times as not good at all, was thought of as normal within the family. According to Taylor, it's always been like that. On August 21st, investigators interviewed Kyle's girlfriend, Jennifer. for Valianti, but she didn't have much to say. According to Oxygen.com, many of her answers were short,

simple answers like, I don't know, or I don't remember. But during the interview, Jennifer told detectives that Kyle really likes his gun. She also admitted that Kyle had asked her to drive behind him in her car while he drove his dad's truck. They drove to his parents rented home in Easton, and Kyle parked the truck before getting in Jennifer's car. They then drove back to Bridgeport together. this is all confirmed by surveillance video. So I wouldn't call, you know, these answers by Jennifer, you know, bombshells, but just like with everything else, right, none of it makes Kyle look good. You know, why is he driving his dad's truck, parking the truck at their rented home,

and then getting in a car with Jennifer? You know, these are things that he's going to have to explain. and this comment that she made that he really likes his gun, I thought was a strange comment as well. On September 8th, Kyle Navin was arrested on federal gun charges resulting from the discovery of the two firearms during a search of his home. According to CBS News, an unlawful user of and a person addicted to heroin. By law, possessing firearms is illegal. Kyle entered a plea of not guilty, but was held on a bond of $2.5 million. He was held at the Wyatt detention facility in Rhode Island, where he had fled to after his third interview with police.

Kyle's girlfriend, Jennifer, was arrested in charge with conspiracy to commit murder and hindering prosecution. A judge set her bail at $2 million. For her part, Jennifer denied any knowledge of or any role in the murder. her attorney, Elliot Warren, told CBS News, she was looking for Kyle's parents as soon as she realized they were missing and trying to help find them. We're sad, we're disappointed at the nature of the charges, but we're looking forward to being in court and establishing her innocence. While Jennifer's defense attorney seemed to defend her, it was clear to investigators that Kyle's text to her about his master plan for getting money. It was always both of them as a team.

One of the texts from Kyle to Jennifer read, that'll allow us to stay in her. her house and pay for a full top line remodel new garage. Attorney Elliott-Warned denied that these texts were about harming the Navans, adding that they had been taken out of context. Whatever she thought the plan was, she seemed to have some reservations. One response from her to Kyle about this plan read, I hear you. It sounds very good. I just don't know. And I want to go back to these arrests and these bond amounts and the charges. You know, Jennifer is charged with conspiracy to commit murder gets a $2 million bail. Kyle was arrested in charge with illegal possession of firearms and gets $2.5 million

bail. My thought is they had to have known that more charges were coming. It seems strange for him to have a higher bail than her based solely on those charges. Yeah, I get the sense that they were probably. be building more of a case against him and they charged him with what they initially could. And then once they felt strong enough with the rest of the charges, they would bring them at a later point. At the time of the Navin's disappearance, Jennifer worked at the dump, leading investigators

to search landfills in the area, a search of the Putnam Ash Residue landfill, a 186 acre site used as a dump site for ash from waste to energy plants all over Connecticut. Turned up no evidence. While police searched for Kyle's parents, not once did Kyle call investigators for an update on his parents' whereabouts or the state of the case. This was noted as suspicious in Jennifer Valiente's arrest warrant, despite the uphill battle and lack of evidence. Police kept searching for the missing couple.

convinced that their son was at the center of their disappearance. And this is something fascinating to me that I don't know a lot of people, perpetrators think about, right? It's not only what you do that stands out to police. Sometimes it's what you don't do. You know, here in this situation, Kyle's parents are missing. And not once did he call investigators saying, hey, what's going on? Can you give me an update on the search for my parent?

Well, could that possibly be because he doesn't need an update? He already knows what happened to them. Yeah, I think most people, if their loved one was missing, they'd be camped out at the police station trying to get updates every day to the points where the police are saying, you know, give us a break. We'll call you when we hear something. But here it's the complete opposite. he has no interest in finding out what's going on.

Well, we've done many disappearance cases. I mean, how many times have we talked about, you know, the parents of a missing person or the family of a missing person, not only hounding police for information, but sometimes even coming out to the media and, you know, kind of bashing the authorities for what they perceive to be a lack of effort. So the fact that, you know, as the sun, you're not even wanting to know what's going on. Yeah, huge red flag. While landfills didn't yield any evidence, Kyle's car and home, however, were both full of it and warrants allowed police to find and collect it. Jeanette's blood was found in the passenger seat of Kyle's truck, which also had two bullet holes in it. Based on where

the bullet holes were, investigators believe Jeanette had been. shot in the chest. A hole in the seatbelt suggested that she had been buckled in when she was shot. Jeffery's blood was found in the basement of Kyle's home. A large area of the carpet in the basement had been cut out and was missing. The back door of his home had the glass broken out of it. The debris from this was still in the trash, suggesting it had happened recently. The evidence that Kyle killed his parents was overwhelming. So that statement morphed that, you know, the evidence was overwhelming. It's almost an understatement. And I think the other thing is that we're not talking about, you know, a mastermind criminal here, obviously. The things that they bought at Home Depot and whatever

they thought they were going to do with it obviously didn't work exactly the way that they thought it would. You know, googon is great stuff. But to completely, completely erase all traces of blood. As we've found out in many episodes is a tall order. I think, you know, the bullet holes in the truck, a large area of carpet being missing. All of these things are just screaming out, right? That something bad happened both inside the truck and in the house. And he didn't even get.

get rid of the stuff in the trash. It was still there. Yeah, on one hand, it seems like he's trying to cover it up, but on the other hand, he's just not carrying it out that well. I mean, did he think that the police weren't going to eventually see that he's got bullet holes in his in his car seats? I just, I wonder if part of it is the drugs that they just clouded his mind and, you know, he just wasn't able to think clearly enough to try and cover it up. And, you know, luckily, you know, For the police, he didn't cover it up, and it made the case against him that much stronger. One of the biggest decisions for a new parent is who you trust with your child's health. We chose Dr. Tiffany Fishman at Salas Health.

She's a respected pediatric leader and mother of four who taught at Harvard Medical School and has spent her career caring for children. And Salas supports their pediatricians with a team of emergency room clinicians who are available to your child 24 hours a day. It's true concierge pediatrics. Virtual visits and house calls available. Learn more. as Salashealth.com and mention code Pediatrics 10 for 10% off your child's first year. According to CBS news, less than a week before her disappearance, Jeanette told one of her close friends that Kyle was very tempestuous in that he had been using drugs. He wasn't paying them

for the mortgage or any of the taxes on the home they bought for him. He owed them at least $133,000. She also told her friend that they were going to remove Kyle from their will once they sold their business and stopped supporting him financially. This proposed deal with Vento refuse meant that Kyle wouldn't inherit J&J refuse from them as he expected. According to the Connecticut Post, Jeanette told a friend that Kyle will be on his own without any financial support from the family. She was so upset as she revealed what was going on that she was crying. On top of this debt to his parents and the threat of being cut out of their will and left without a job, Kyle was struggling with an addiction

to opiates. A confidential informant told investigators that in the months before the Navans disappeared, Kyle's daily habit had gone from costing him about $150 a day, up to $600 every day. to keep up appearances and obviously to keep from going into severe withdrawals. The one thing he couldn't lose was his access to money. So no doubt this was a pretty severe addiction. You know, when you think about $600 a day, approximately $18,000 a month, that's a lot of money. That's a lot of drugs.

And at what point does a person, get desperate, especially if they find out that they're about ready to be cut off financially. And I think that's what we're looking at here. Yeah, it's a very clear motive. I think police seized on that. Kyle did seem to have a legitimate back injury. Like so many who sadly ended up addicted to opiate painkillers, it started with an actual need to kill physical pain and ended in a never-ending quest to just stay okay.

He was being seen for this back injury by a doctor's office called pain and spine specialist. But in June 2015, one of the required drug test he had to take to comply with the program showed that he had been using heroin. This was against the narcotic agreement he signed, and he was kicked out of the program. And this would line up with the time that Kyle had started to spend up to $450 more on heroin every day. According to Westport now, it was also around June 2015. that Jeffrey Navin called Darlene Vento, a Vento refuse, sounding anxious and desperate. During the call, he mentioned Kyle was missing a lot of work and the business was suffering.

It seemed that both of the Navans were concerned about and disappointed with their oldest son. For their part, both Kyle and his girlfriend, Jennifer, denied any knowledge of Kyle's parents' will or state. Jennifer downplayed or claimed that the Navy's... were getting rid of Kyle's trash route, but only because he had hurt his back and needed time to rest. He was also considering having back surgery and would need to recover from that before he could return to work and cover his route. It was temporary as far as she was concerned, but no doubt a cloud of suspicion hung over Kyle. On October 29th, human remains were discovered in the backyard of an abandoned home in Weston. The homeowner, his son, his son.

and a third person helping them were trying to clear the yard with a skid-steer machine when they found something that was definitely not normal yard debris. The bodies were wrapped in plastic contractor bags, sealed with duct tape, and covered by a blue tarp, which was covered by leaves. DNA and dental records confirmed that these were the remains of Jeanette and Jeffrey Naven, but none of the investigators were surprised. Both bodies were found wearing J&J refuge shirts. They had been killed by a 40-calibre handgun.

A bullet was recovered from Jeanette's chest, and a second bullet was recovered from Jeffrey's pelvic area. The property the Navans were found on had been vacant for around a decade, but it had once been the home of one of Kevin's friends, Brian Kerrigan. They had lost touch, but obviously Kyle remembered the location, and it turned out that it was Brian and his father Thomas, who found Jeanette and Jeffrey's remains. Police wasted no time in charging Kyle Nevin with his parents' murders, and now they had a lot of evidence to build a case against him. In November 2017, Jennifer Valiente, now 32 years old, took an Alford plea, deal on a hindering

prosecution charge and was sentenced to eight years in prison and additional eight years suspended and five years of probation. There were also requirements of drug addiction, treatment, and mental health evaluations. She was not admitting guilt, but agreed with the state that their case was strong enough for a jury to convict her. So despite pleading guilty, she maintains her innocence. In court, Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin scolded her saying, you could have stopped the madness.

You really could have. He added, the real regret to me, and I hope to you, is that you did not take the opportunity to stop it because you really could have. Jennifer had nothing to say to the judge during her sentencing hearing. Looking closer, it seems Jennifer seemed to share Kyle's resentment of his father. She sent multiple texts to Kyle about Jeffrey and how his parents didn't treat him fairly. One May 2015 text read, That POS has to be in charge of everyone, everything at all times.

By July, two months later, she seemed even angrier in her text, saying, I don't like that they call the shots. Jennifer asked Kyle, Did you put them in their place for accusing us of hiding? when Kyle explained that he didn't bring up whatever fight she was referring to because they had been nice to him that day, she said, you should regulate that shit. The hatred for Kyle's parents continued to build. According to Westport now, in August, just days before their deaths, Jennifer asked Kyle, did you ask your mom why she told your dad you were shit talking about comp and your lousy pay? And did you tell her how you got verbally abused? for having a broken back and simply asking about your tax money and paycheck.

Even if Kyle was ready to let it go, it seemed as if Jennifer wasn't. She was basically making sure that he stayed angry at his parents. She reminded Kyle texting, don't feel like you're being pushy. That's your money. When you don't go to work, they're on the phone with you nonstop bitching at you. So when they don't pay,

you should be doing the same thing. On April 16, 2018, just one day before he was set to go to trial, 29-year-old Kyle Navin changed his plea to guilty. Before sentencing Kyle to 55 years in prison, the judge told Kyle that he was black-hearted. He actually received 55 years for each charge of murder, but since their concurrent sentences, the total was 55 years with no possibility of parole. Kyle used his time to speak, generally, a time for offering remorse or a message to the victims and those affected to say, I don't want to be a show pony for the media.

It's disgraceful and disgusting. Everything from the beginning on my behalf. I don't want to be a show pony for the media. I don't even know what in the hell that means. You know, you said it more if that time that a person, you know, gets to speak, a lot of times, most times, that's a chance to be remorse for. to send a message to the victims, victims' families. He can't even do that.

All he can say is that I don't want to be a show pony for the media. I think it tells you a lot about this guy. Yeah, there's not much in the way of remorse. If anything, it sounds like he's upset that he's going to get some negative attention out of it. Though Jeanette and Jeffrey had not changed the wills they signed in 1987, leaving all of their estate to Kyle and Taylor, under Connecticut state law, Kyle is not able to inherit a cent since he was found guilty of their murders. He lost literally everything and he didn't gain anything from it.

His parents seemed to care about him and likely could have used their resources to help him get back on his feet and into a good treatment program. He had a house in his name and could have provided for himself and Jennifer. But it seems like they were so bitter that even just the threat of some tough love, sent them over the edge. And that was a thought that I did have, you know, as we were talking about Jeffrey and Jeanette, as it relates to Kyle, it does seem as though they had provided a lot for him and were continuing, right? It was kind of this threat of, you know, we can't keep doing this. We can't keep supporting you that,

maybe send him over the edge. This guy, Kyle, was like 25, 26 years old when these murders happened. So, you know, they had been supporting him, helping to support him for a very long time. I think much longer than most parents financially support their children. I think back about, you know, the time that I was 25, 26 years old, I was definitely on my own. I was definitely on my own. I was not getting any support financially from my parents. Emotionally, yeah, sure. But they weren't giving me money to help me live. I mean, here he's got a house that they helped him to be in.

And, you know, they gave him a role in the company, you know, working there. So it's not like they just turned the backs on. I mean, they were supporting them to some degree. And it sounds like maybe they just got to a point where they didn't know how to deal with his. drug problem and it was just wearing on them and at what point does someone say, I can't do this anymore. And maybe they were just at that point and he didn't like hearing that. He didn't like finding out that they were going to cut off the finances for him. And maybe they thought at a certain point, they were just enabling him to continue to use drugs. We mentioned it, right? At one point,

and he had a $600 a day habit. Well, where was he getting the money to buy those drugs? And maybe his parents thought to help him, they had to cut him off. I don't know. I'm speculating a little bit, but at a certain point, I think that does enter the mind of some parents. You know, we don't want our son or daughter to continue to use drugs. We don't know how to help.

them, we've tried, we've done this, we've done that. The one thing that we can do is stop giving them money, stop enabling them. According to the Daily Beast, one of Jennifer's relatives, speaking anonymously, said, Jennifer had a drug problem for a long time and revealed that it wasn't rare in their family to be addicted to some substance. They weren't surprised that Jennifer was involved in the murder, but expressed a bit of remorse for being unable to stop her from heading down that path. they said when you have an entire family unit like that what do you do it's like going into a pack of wild dogs and trying to tame one of them while the rest of them are tearing you apart it's not easy right this opiate epidemic affects a lot of people and i think if you have like in in this case

what this person is saying the entire family doing it how how do you help just one of them that would be very tough. Yeah, when you're in that environment and it's around you, it's hard to escape that. The Navin family was well known in their community. Jeffrey and Jeanette had both graduated from high school in Westport and Kyle played sports and was well liked. He was the co-captain of his hockey team in 2006. Many people were shocked by not only the murders, but that Kyle could have anything to do with them. Jilda Manikas, who knew. the Navans through Kyle and Taylor's hockey team told the New York Times. It's just mind-boggling. None of it makes sense. John Englehart, who had known the Navans since their children were all in

high school, told the Daily Beast, it's beyond heartbreaking. These are real people, and they're all good people. The shock doesn't wear off. In February, 2003, Jennifer Valianti was released from prison. By December that year, she was arrested after she failed to. to register for the Connecticut State Police deadly weapon offender registry unit after a release from prison. It was a requirement she had to fulfill within 14 days of her release, so a warrant was issued for arrest. She was charged with violation of deadly weapon offender registry. It's unclear as of now what the outcome of this arrest was. Kyle Navin remains in prison. So here's what I don't get. You have a prison sentence and they tell you,

you're about ready to get out. I don't know what that feeling must be like. I've never been in prison. Knock on wood. I never have to find out what it's like. But in Jennifer's case, you know more if they had to have told her explicitly. Here's what you have to do within 14 days of being released.

And she failed to do it. Why? Do you want to go back to prison? I'm sure it's not that tough to go to wherever you have to go and do this registration. Yeah, it was definitely a second chance for her to stay on the right side of the law and stay out of prison. And, you know, I don't think we have any evidence to support this, but maybe she went back to her old lifestyle and started using drugs again and just lost track of what she was supposed to do. I mean, that's pure speculation, but you have to wonder. Well, and it wouldn't be the first time.

And it always baffles me that if someone is in prison for X amount of time, you would think that would be a place where you would get clean, although there are drugs in prison. We know that if you want them. But the number of times that people get out and just go right back to doing what they were doing before. We've seen it time and time again. Now, like you said, we don't know that's what happened, but it definitely could have been. As we mentioned at the beginning of this episode, the motive in this case was greed.

And I think you would definitely have to say, fueled at least in part, maybe a large part, by drug use. And it was a deadly combination that ripped the Navin family apart. So as we wrap this one up, it's always tough for me to come. come to terms with the fact that a family member makes the decision, that their best course of action is to kill one or more members of their family. I will never understand it. And going back to something that you said, you know, how much of Kyle and maybe Jennifer's thinking as well was clouded. buy this addiction to oxy and heroin and whatever else it was,

I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. But the fact that you could sit down and say, here's what we have to do. We have to kill these people in order to continue to live our lives the way that we want to and we'll even better our lives because we're going to get a bunch of money and we can, you know, be on easy street. It's just hard to fathom how that conversation goes down and how people agree that that course of action is the way to go.

Yeah, there's no voice of reason there to say, hey, this isn't a good idea. You get in trouble for this. This isn't right. You know, I wonder if here it's because they're both using drugs and under the influence, they can't make decisions that they might make if they were sober and clean.

And to me, a large part of this was that, you know, $600 a day happened. What am I going to do? I have to have these drugs. In order to have these drugs, I need to have money. So here's how I'm going to get it. I think that was a large part of this case. I really do. It's sad, but I think it's the truth. Yeah. It's very unfortunate that it tore this family apart the way that it did. But that's it for our episode on Jeffrey and Jeanette Naven. If you love the show, but haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, give us a five-star rating. You can leave a review as well.

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We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.