Dr. Insanity - Police Hunt Down Man After He Killed His Entire Family

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

Got injured in an accident? You could be one click away from a claim worth millions. You can start your claim now with Morgan & Morgan at https://www.ForThePeople.com/insanity without leaving your couch. Remember, it's free unless you win. On June 13, 2022, police in Round Lake, Illinois, discovered a horrifying scene: Jason Karels’ three children - Bryant, Cassidy, and Gideon - unresponsive in his home. A bitter divorce and custody battle fueled Jason's twisted actions, leading to a desperate statewide manhunt and a high-speed police chase that ended in a disaster. DISCLAIMER: Dr Insanity works to promote transparency in government while providing educational, informative and local news coverage to empower the public with knowledge of the inner workings of the Criminal Justice System. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stand by. This is Jason Carrolls, and he's currently being chased by 12 police cars and one police helicopter. Come up on a break. We stuck a little bit of traffic here. The reason is that just a few hours ago, he killed all three of his children to get back at his wife for divorcing him. What's going on? I don't know. Why'd you do it?

I think I felt like I was saving them. However, this car chase would end in a disaster. in a disaster. Steel Bridge coming up. He's swerving. It all started on Monday morning of June 13, 2012. The police department of Round Lake Illinois received a shocking phone call from 30-year-old Debbie Carrolls who had just discovered her kids unresponsive.

911, let's address to the emergency. Hi. I'm a . Camden Lane. My kids, my husband killed my kids. Okay. Tell me exactly what happened. I came home to take the kids and they're all on the bed and there.

Okay. All right. How many children? Three. How were they killed? Please. They're cold. They're cold.

How, okay. Ma'am? Mm-hmm. Ma'am. How were they killed? I don't know. Maybe he suffocated them or cut them. They're laid in the bed. I'm assuming he shot them. Okay, where are you right, Sam?

Okay, we have officers there. Where are you right now? I'm upstairs. I come inside. I'm upstairs. Okay, she's upstairs. Please, please, guys, wake up, please. We're trying to put the... We know upstairs with the... We gotta get in there with the rescue guys. Let's just go in.

Let's just go in, I think we have enough. Forty-two locations. Police! Police Department! Police! Yeah, come on. Come on. Coming up.

Coming up. We've got blood here. There's blood all over. I have to sit here. Is there anybody else in the house, ma'am? Is there anybody else in the house? I don't know that it is now. What's going on?

Okay, ma'am, do you have any weapons? No, I don't know any weapons. I'm going to have you step out here with me. Come out of here. When officers made it to this horrifying scene, they quickly escorted the traumatized mother out of the room, and inside, they found. They found her three kids.

Bryant, Cassidy, and Gideon, all lying in the same bed, completely unresponsive. As of now, all the information officers have comes from Debbie's 911 call, where she claimed her husband committed the act. However, he is nowhere to be found. So they decide to ask her. You haven't spoke to him at all today? No. Oh.

Okay. What are you calling from there, sorry? Where am I coming from? Yeah. Debbie would go on to explain that she drove to this house to pick up the kids from Jason Carroll's, her 36-year-old ex-husband with whom she'd been going through a divorce. Two days prior to this crime, Debbie said she had given Jason their three kids to spend time with him. Not realizing this would be the last time she saw them alive,

when it was time to pick them back up, Jason wouldn't answer the calls, making Debbie grow nervous. That's when she decided to check up on her children herself. only to discover the scene Jason left behind. These facts alone are enough to make Jason the prime suspect. Police officers decide to check on the whole house and confirm that the suspect is on the loose and not hiding somewhere at the crime scene.

I want to make sure no one is hiding in the house that we're missing out on. If you guys want to be, I'm going to check the rest of these rooms. Police apartment. I got a knife in the bathroom. You got a knife there? I got a knife in the bathroom. Let's move the house. This address sounds familiar.

I'll come from over here. I'll look in there. No, I don't see anything in here. So I feel pretty confident up here. I'm guessing we shouldn't have anybody about a rescue from up, right? The rescue's coming up. That's it. It seems like Jason is not a nice.

house. The only thing this female officer finds is this knife near the bloodied sink along with a bloody razor blade. These could be possible murder weapons that Jason used in this disturbing crime. However, when the medical examiners arrived at the scene and had their first look of the victims, they would quickly dismiss this theory entirely. So, do you guys see the wounds on the kids? Because there's a lot of blood. I don't want to make you guys touch or anything with the body. There's... I don't see anything other than blood to the hands here. I mean, it's nothing that would ever be worth resuscitating at this point because they're just...

What I'm wondering is if this is dad. I'm not sure who's dad is, but I don't blame it's one of their. The victims had large, strange markings on their necks. The lips, skin, and even nails on all three of them were completely blue. It was clear the victims had been choked. But there were no signs of stab wounds. or similar on their bodies. This made the officers question

where exactly all the blood had come from. In every room the officers would look through, there were pools of it, especially in the master bedroom where the victims were found. This is where one of the officers would find a trail of blood droplets leading downstairs into the kitchen

where she would find their biggest clue yet. A letter to Debbie. Despite the difficult handwriting, there are several clues in the narrative, proving that Jason Carroll's wrote this note and left it in plain sight for Debbie to find. According to Jason, their marriage lasted for seven years before they filed for divorce and fought in court over the full custody of their children. Halfway through the note, it seems that Jason lost the court. And this is also confirmed by the disturbing sentence written in the middle of the note. If I can't have them, neither can you.

Finally, Jason ends the letter by saying he would end everything on his terms. Yet, it wasn't the most horrifying thing the officer would discover in the same room. She'd find another writing, now on the board. I'm sorry, I loved them too much to leave them behind. You promised, you swore, you lied. This is not just evidence. This is a confession that whatever happened to their kids, he knows the absolute truth. truth. But if he did what he promised to do, then police officers would have more trouble

finding his body than his confession. But luck was on the officer's side this time. Something was missing in that house, specifically in the garage. Jason's read 2010 Nissan Maxima, a significant clue that would help them find Jason. Moments later, the Round Lake Beach Police would alert police departments across the Chicago area to look for that exact car. The clock was But it wouldn't be long before an Illinois state officer discovered a car that fit the description perfectly and attempted a traffic stop. They weren't sure if this was their guy until the driver stepped on the gas and sped away quickly. This would result in a major police chase that would draft helicopters and a dozen units ending in absolute disaster. That officer wasted no time in calling all available units to help catch him, including a police helicopter equipped with thermal vision.

The adrenaline pumping chase continued like this for 17 minutes, with police driving as fast as possible, but Jason somehow going quicker. Even managing to slip out of the helicopter's vision for a brief time. You got vigil? Stationary Westbound Center with K-92. Former Westbound passing here, Westbound passenger here. All right, one-thirty is about falling on with state units. Looks like he's got a 1050 on 80 here. Outside shoulder now, outside shoulder.

Go right on him now, he's cut up the traffic. 541 on him. I got it. I got it too. Okay, yeah, moving over. Come up on brakes. Outside shoulder. If Jason had more fuel than the helicopter, there might have been a slight chance he could have gotten away.

But suddenly, this happens. Steel Bridge coming up. Steel Bridge coming up. Vehicles off the roadway. Vehicles off the roadway here at... He came all the way down, sorry. Water Street, Water Street in Duncan, Water Street and Duncan. Street in, Washington.

I can't see what I'm going to go out. That's your crossfire. I can't see what I can't see. I got no eyes on. I'm got no eyes on. Keep them up! Don't be going to be in. Keep them there!

All right, man, just keep him there! All right, man, so it's like to be able. Don't move, man. I know if you're fucked up, right? Don't move. Can you see his hands? Yeah. Give your hands, dude. Keep him up.

No, I'm not going to shoot you. Don't get your hands. Put your hands out of her. Put your hand out the car. You got any weapons in the car? No, no, no. No, no. My plan was to...

What? Leg right now, laceration's up on the arms. My plan was to drive... Hey, man, can you feel your feet? A little bit. Don't move your leg. Don't move your legs. right now?

Anything else? All right? You don't? You don't? Keep your eyes open for us, okay, bud? I have a Mr. What's that?

That's good, man. It's good news to get in here, anyone. I mean, exact yourself. Further inspection of Jason's state proves that Jason is unharmed, but clearly, but clearly struggles to stay semi-conscious. But even then, he has enough strength to admit what he did back at the house. That's it? You can get your kids?

They tried to get myself and then I walked up. And all of a sudden... He was dead. And I get you here. You remember what happened? I mean, I know what I did, but it's been killing it what I do you. I don't understand. Oh, man.

We're going to get you to help you, okay? Where are you from? Don't you know what I did? I've heard some stuff. I mean, it's all kind of new to me. We got to gather enough in place than what you said. So, hey, we got to get them out, but I want to keep control of this again. For the next 10 minutes, a team of rescuers would be working hard to cut off the roof of his vehicle and get him out safely.

Although he looks mostly uninjured, the EMS cannot take their chances and take him to the nearest hospital. It would be an absolute miracle for Jason not to have any damages, especially after a disastrous crash. He somehow survived escaping death this day. But the person he couldn't escape no matter what was, Detective Barrera. After being informed of Jason's stable condition, he and his partner were dispatched to the hospital. Their only goal was to get as much information out of Jason as possible about what had happened hours earlier, but more importantly, why it happened. To do this, they'd start with talking about his relationship to his former wife and the mother of his children.

So what's going on now in your wife, man? I mean, from my understanding, you guys have had some issues or what will my side of it and you can go in the fact that like text messages phone calls like for since we know each other I've always complained about how she she makes up things to justify how she treats me I put up with it because I have no self-worth and then and she's always like manipulated me and you put me down they've been need to me and the only time my guy really been mean to her. It's like I'm not even being mean. It's more like if she says something mean or rude that's not true to hurt me. So I say something mean, because I know if I say something

means, she'll tell me the truth. Clearly, this doesn't make much sense. It seems like Jason might be trying to portray his wife as a manipulative and toxic partner. However, it's hard to tell if this is a genuine feeling or simply an attempt to gain sympathy from the officer. So, Detective Barrera decides to keep digging. So what all transpired today? I mean, you have, you guys are married still, for my understanding, or separate? You guys are separated, but legally still married? I found out the day before yesterday,

then she cheated on me and left me for another guy the day after my birthday. Okay. And she's been keeping the kids from them, but she claims that she hasn't. But the truth is, I thought she was keeping the kids from me. But the truth is, is she was seeing somebody instead of, like, calling me with the kids. And so, you know what I'm saying? Like, if I found out she was she was lying, just lying to me.

You know, I was just very adamant. Because, like, when you're with someone for seven years, like, you know their poker face. You know what they're wanting to you. Yeah. kitchen like especially someone that lies as much as she does to me and yourself Jason is describing his wife as manipulative mean and the problem in their relationship which seems unlikely given what they know he's done this conversation is going nowhere so the officer decides to move on to more important things what happened to the kids

you said I don't know why I did what I did but like I know what I told myself when I did it, you know what I mean? Like, what was that? And it was like that they were, like, they deserved to be with me in that I felt like she was neglecting them. And I wanted myself and for some reason I thought it was okay to hurt them too.

I don't know why I did that. Like, I thought we would be together, like, you know, and whatever is after this life. Like, you know, and like the whole time I was trying to get up at home. I kept telling myself, they're waiting for you. is this something that you wanted to for her to feel your pain in that sense or you know yes or no honestly i don't think so okay what exactly honestly i just didn't want to be in pain and i think i told

myself that you actually hear it in the last time we talked i told her it's like if i'm not around you're just going to start taking it out i mean they don't deserve that and i think and i think I felt like I was saving them. I don't know why. I'm saving them into the pain that I did. It's almost as though he believes what he did was reasonable, at least in the moment he did it. If this is indeed the case,

it's likely he is genuinely mentally ill, which means he had limited control over what he did and can claim that in a court of law. But regardless of if he is mentally ill or not, detectives still need to build a case against him. So they decide to dig deeper, into what exactly he did to his kids. Just kind of walk me through today, kind of what was going on,

how were the kids, were they joyful, playful. They were awesome. Yeah, I mean, they, there wasn't, like, frustrating. Like, this was guest fame the day before. What was? I was, I did, everything I did, I started doing this morning, at one in the morning. So one in the morning is when everything happened?

Yes, sir. Okay, so what, what, what, what, what was going on. Because I know you guys spoke on the phone yesterday, right? Yeah. What time did your guys his phone call in? I want to say about midnight. About midnight?

Yeah. Okay, you guys, phone call ends around midnight. Yeah. And then what happens? Were you drinking? You say you don't drink, right? Okay. No, no, no.

Hey. No, I'm saying. Absolutely. Okay. So then, so then what kind of happened? And what kind of triggered you after the phone call ended? Were the kids sleeping? No, we were watching TV, and then I, like, I had to give them a bath.

Yeah. And, you know, like, I don't know, like, I just, something in my brain snapped because of the things she said to me on the phone. What was it that she said? You know, it's weird because she did say something. nice things to be eating in, but it's like, she said that was nothing, I deserve nothing, that was a terrible father, a terrible husband, and like all these things. And it was like, I don't know, like, something snapped in me. And like, and I know that makes it seem like I was

trying to get back at her, but it was like, it wasn't, it was never about getting back at her. It wasn't, as fucked up as it sounds, was doing something for myself. Okay. And like, that's what I told myself again. The detective makes a final note and leaves Jason on a little break before they can continue questioning. There might be something Jason hasn't mentioned yet, something like a sheet of paper with his handwriting, lying on a kitchen table, and a short note on the board. Detective Barrera comes back shortly after and informs Jason that there will be cops watching him for the next 24 hours to make sure he doesn't run away or try to harm himself. Barera then recites the whole timeline to ensure they're on the right track, with Jason making minor adjustments

to the story, and eventually Barrera stops to question Jason about one final crucial detail. One thing I did want to ask was, so I know one of the officers noticed there was a note left on the, what was in the kitchen. Now, was that when you left the house? So, like, something snapped to me. I wrote the letter and then I did it. Okay. Okay. That makes sense, then. I just, I haven't seen it, so that's why I was just looking for some help there. I think it starts off, like I mentioned about how she swore on the kids' lives, that she wasn't cheating on me, and like, you know, and then I said, I hope it were worth it. It was like, it wasn't like, I hope it was worth it how I'm getting back to me. I was hoping it worth it. Like, you pushed me to do something for myself.

Okay. So she swore on the kids' lives that she wasn't cheating. And I, in reality, she was. Snap, like, I don't know. So then, you, basically in your head, you're saying, you're thinking, and again, you know, correct me if I'm wrong. Any moment if I'll admit, part of me thought, like, if she's going to swear in their lives, they belong to be with me. Like, you know, like stuff like that. This statement confirms the writing on the board. You promised, you swore, you lied.

It seems like his supposed mental illness and urge to, quote, save his children, were not his only reasons for doing this. These statements make it seem like Jason partly did this to get back at his ex-wife for cheating on him, leaving him, and taking his children. It almost seems like he did all this to make her feel what he felt. However, at this point, Jason needed to rest, and the officers decided they were best off continuing interrogations the next day. Early the following morning, police officers would escort Jason out of the hospital in a robe

and get him to the police station where he would be placed inside an empty room and left with his thoughts. However, he was unaware that his ex-wife, Debbie, was sitting in an interrogation area only feet away from him. Debbie is sitting in a room filled with toys, coloring books, and a comfortable sofa, and extreme contrast to that of Jason's interrogation room. The reason for this is that they know for certain Debbie wasn't behind any of this, and that she's likely extremely traumatized and vulnerable right now. Their best chance at getting any information from her is to ensure that she feels as comfortable and safe as possible. Jason, on the other hand, will be put under pressure to confess as much as possible.

As of now, Debbie has no confirmation that Jason was the killer. She also doesn't know that he was caught just hours earlier. So now, it's time to break the news. I do this officially, you know, do this and we spoke earlier. I'm sorry. I don't, you know, this isn't part of me job I enjoy. And I do have to officially, you know, do this and I have to notify you that he didn't. Your three children? Oh, my God, I believe it. Did you buy him? Yes.

Is he done? No. Where did you find him? The police chase about an hour and 30 minutes away from here. He's in custody, and we're going to do our best. I'm a detective. I'm a detective in the detective unit. We're going to charge him the best as we can.

We're going to do this right. Everything Jason said up to this point was not. nothing but his own version of events. And Debbie, well, she never got the chance to talk about what she saw that day and what it made her feel. As a victim, her voice matters the most, and that voice would be the final nail in Jason's coffin. I woke up.

I ate, I went and contacted them until I was on the way to get them because they had the doctor's appointment today. When I went to Walmart to get diapers, I went to Walmart to get some fans for their playback. I got a bathing suit for my daughter. And then I went there and opened garage door and didn't notice anything. I didn't think about it. I walked in and I looked at the right and I saw the door broken off the hinges. And then I saw Drash's blood. And then I turned around and look at the garage and I saw that his car was gone.

I started calling him because I thought maybe he took the kids or went somewhere. And then I heard his phone upstairs. So I started walking up the stairs and I just saw more blood and more blood and then just started saying to myself, no, God, please no, please no. And I go to the room and I saw all three of them there on the bed. They were so cold. While Debbie was spilling her heart out, little did she know. Jason was sitting in the room next to her, staring down into the emptiness. her ex-husband, the father of their kids, and a vicious murderer. It's hard to understand what he thinks at that moment,

the memories he had with his children, or the regret he feels for making them leave this world too early. After 10 minutes of complete silence, Detective Barrera returns to the interrogation room for his second and last conversation with Jason, with no idea that he was about to discover a major piece of this. story that could have prevented this entire massacre from ever happening. How's your work situation? Do you work during a weekend?

No, I don't work at all. That's why I don't think I should be watching and seeing them a lot more. Okay, all right. How long have you been unemployed? Since December. Since December? Okay. What did you do before? I worked at Bob Schen's grab on. Okay. Okay. Are you still keeping contact with your co-workers? No? No. Okay. ever get any ever uh talk to any of them uh i did reach out one to one to one to one of them after i found out that he was cheating because i because she had claimed that he she met him at

bar and then one of her co-workers gave him her number so i just mess his mind whoever i was like hey can i ask you a question and he's like all started and i was like oh never mind like you know i figured it out and then i kind of broke down later and i was like i just found out and i told him like everything because he was the one person that I felt like I could trust. Have you talked to him since? No. How long ago, how long ago have you had contact with him? That was like two days or that was like Saturday or Sunday.

And so Saturday kids get dropped off, wrong with nothing? Did they get dropped off? I want to say one. It was afternoon. Afternoon? Yeah. Okay. How were the kids?

Were they happy to see you, joyful? Yeah, they were happy to see me. Like, well, because the kids were out of time. thing on the suites and stuff, so like I started asking her on, like, like, I was very, like, calm and, and I was just asking questions about, like, you know, who she was seeing and, like, you know, how she met him and stuff, and then, um, and she would say, like, she didn't want to talk about it anymore, and I would say stuff, like, where you have to lose, like, like, whether you're cheating on me or not, it doesn't change anything with the custody battle, because it won't, like,

I know the law, but, like, you know, it wasn't a bad, That exchange? It wasn't bad, it wasn't good. It was just, you know. I had handled it great until I had got mad and texted her later. And, like, I don't remember what I said in the text. Okay. Because I was just so mad that she was, like, that she's still lying to me, you know,

having that, and that, yeah. So then, so then you, you send her a message and you, um... And I was, I was getting upset to me. I was getting upset, too, because she kept saying that, like, you should be spending time with the kids. And I'm, like, I'm messaging you because they're sleeping. Like, I'm messaging you because, like, I'm playing. I can play with them and text you at the same time. Yeah.

With all of these events combined, there would be one last phone call that pushed Jason to his limits. But that same phone call could have prevented this murder, if not, for Jason's hatred. And you mentioned it was the phone call that kind of. kind of shut things off maybe that's the thing like i mean there was a phone call and then about a half hour 45 minutes later is when i started everything but like even the phone call it's like it ended well you know like it had a great ending even the phone call like she was willing kind of like she was willing to work with me and stuff but i don't i think i just didn't believe it like you know yeah and i just didn't want i know it i don't know it's doubt

It messed up, but I just didn't want this to end. Like, I didn't, I wanted to be with them forever. And I felt like this was the only way. It sounds like Jason actually was close to resolving a lot of his frustration with Debbie. But something after this call and before the attack must have triggered him to go through with this insane and horrifying plan. Like, I don't mean, like, I don't want her. but I'll say something sometimes to hurt her because she hurt me.

Okay. But I wasn't doing it to hurt her. Like that was not my intent. Because if I, if that's what I wanted, I would have, if I really wanted to hurt her, I would have stayed home. I would have waited for her to see the kid like that and I would have hurt her too. Okay.

You know what I mean? Like I would. I believe, Jason. Yeah, I don't think my enemies of my sitting here and saying me wanted to hurt her, you know. I mean, again... I don't heard anybody. Okay.

Now, let me ask you this. Now, you knew at some point she would come and find you guys. What Detective Barrera just said catches Jason by surprise, because his actions contradict his statements heavily. How could Jason claim that he didn't plan to hurt her when all his actions would. ultimately lead to Debbie finding all three of them unresponsive. It wasn't until about noon, 12.30, like, so 12 hours later almost that that's when I realized,

like, she's going to be here soon. I don't want to hurt her. I don't want to, I can't be here when she's here because I'm just going to end up hurting her to give myself more time to be with that. Okay. Yeah. And so, like, my whole thought process, was the only way to get more time to do it is that I'll go driving into something, but then there was just too many cars on the road. I didn't want to hurt anybody else. So I drove to the city, which I don't know my way around. I don't know anything about the city. I've only ever been to Chicago for sporting events, and that's it. His response to Barrera's question completely falls apart when it's clear his actions left Debbie to discover the gruesome scene, traumatizing

her forever. All of this made it clear, not just a detective, but later a jury that he was mentally ill and was not fully in control over what he did. In June of 2022, he was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and in February of 2024 pleaded guilty but mentally ill. This means he will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole while also receiving mental health treatment. After the story went public, Debbie chose to start a go-fund me page in order to raise money for the funeral and court expenses. Gaining over $70,000. As of December 2024, she's decided to maintain her privacy, but we can hope she's doing her best to move forward and recover from this tragedy.