Hidden True Crime - From Nu Skin Wealth to a Horrific Murder | The Summer Roney Case

Episode Date: April 12, 2026

Last year, Hidden True Crime introduced you to Summer Roney—a vulnerable young woman whose brutal murder shocked those who heard her story. Now, we’re going deeper. In this episode, Lauren Matthias uncovers disturbing new developments surrounding Summer’s life, her abuse at the hands of Robert McKell, and the ongoing case against her accused killer, Jacob Johnson—a case that appears to be stalling in ways that raise serious concerns. From alleged smear campaigns and erased articles, to courtroom delays, judge recusals, and the shocking placement of a murder suspect in a facility meant for non-violent offenders, this story forces us to ask: is this just dysfunction… or something more? And perhaps most haunting of all—who is controlling Summer’s story, even after her death? Sponsors: Avocado Green Mattress: Go to https://avocadogreenmattress.com/HIDDEN to check out their mattress and furniture sale. Mint: Shop Mint Mobile plans at https://mintmobile.com/hidden—new customers get 3 months of 5GB/month for $45 upfront (equivalent to $15/month); taxes and fees extra. About Hidden True Crime What started as a simple conversation at their dinner table became a captivating podcast. Join the dynamic duo of Dr. John Matthias, a criminal psychologist, and Lauren Matthias, an investigative journalist, as they delve into the psychological facets of unthinkable crimes every week. Their unique perspectives and in-depth analysis offer a fresh take on true crime storytelling. Thank you for your support through sponsorships, subscribing, listening, and becoming a Patreon member at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/HiddenTrueCrime⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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atora.orga.com slash remove. I want driving school? Hell yeah. Are you excited? I'm so excited. Now you can get your driver's license. That's your main gift from us. Last year in 2025, hidden true crime covered the murder of Summer Roney. A 30-year-old vulnerable adult whose life ended in one of the most disturbing cases that we have ever covered. Summer's story broke hearts across the world when we shared what happened to her.

She was just four foot 11 and under 100 pounds and had the mental capacity of a 12-year-old. But she had made a name for herself, Someroni, the one and only. And while on the surface, the case seems to be quiet, no trial date, in sight. Beneath the surface, as hidden shoe crime started pulling back the layers, we've learned that there is so much more happening in this case, both before and after. after Summer's murder that's left us surprised, uncomfortable, horrified, and realizing it's yet another case that deserves our attention, more attention than it's been receiving. There are hard questions that need to be asked and answers still needing to be found. We don't have all of the answers.

But maybe you can help or let us know your thoughts. Is there a cover-up? Are things being hidden? What is truly happening in this horrific and tragic case? Today, we are going over it all from beginning to now. We are asking those difficult questions and have uncovered some really shocking updates. It's a case where although charges were filed quickly, justice looks seemingly distant. I'm Lauren Matthias, and this is hidden true crime. Summer Roney, who was born in November of 1994, was just an infant when she was flown from Russia to the United States in a cargo plane with multiple other children. She was then adopted by Nedra Roney, a co-founder of the well-known and incredibly successful

Utah multi-level marketing company, New Skin. New Skin is a multi-billion dollar skincare brand that just last year alone brought in a revenue of $1.49 billion. And according to stock checks, has a net worth of $369 million as of this year. And Summer went from an infant in a Russian orphanage to Nedgeroni's mansion. From the outside, looking in, it sounded like a modern version of little orphanage. Annie. In 2006, when Summer was 12 years old, Nedra met Rob McHale, who she married in 2007. Summer was one of seven living children on Nedra's side, and Rob brought five children of his own into the marriage, making it a grand total of 12 children between the two of them. And again, from the outside, things looked like a fairy tale. Nedra, according to her 2020 obituary,

had always wanted a bustling, busy home with 12 kids and a farmer husband, and she was finally getting that dream. But as we've learned from our discussions of true crime, what something looks like on the outside is often far from the truth of what is happening behind closed doors. And this is especially true when it came to the closed doors of Nedra and Rob McHell's luxury homes and lavish jet-setting lifestyle. Summer was developmentally delayed, and that left her vulnerable. When she was a young teenager, she began being sexually abused by her stepfather, Robert McCall.

Although, like many children in sexual assault cases, Summer didn't report the abuse until years later. It was in January of 2013, shortly after Summer's 18th birthday, when Nedra and Rob applied for guardianship over. summer. And soon after that filing, Summer finally reported the abuse that she had endured at the hands of her stepdad Rob McHale, and criminal charges officially came down. After his arrest, Robert McKell spoke to the Salt Lake Tribune by phone telling them, quote, everything I am accused of is false. And for over four years, while Rob awaited trial, things were in limbo and a lot happened

in those four years between 2013 and 2017. So in January of 2014, Nedra and Rob officially resigned from their guardianship role over Summer. And after that happened, Summer kind of bounced around for a while in her big family. And then fast forward. But according to sources, it was discovered that Summer was allegedly being locked in her stepbrother's basement just down the road from Nedra and Rob's house with efforts being made to get Summer to change her testimony against her stepdad, Rob McHell. It was a victim's advocate who allegedly helped remove Summer from that house.

NEDRA was subsequently charged with witness tampering, and Summer's older sister, Michelle Tishner, took over as guardian of Summer. She was vulnerable, but she was perfect in every way. She had some developmental delays, but that's kind of what made her so special. and childlike and yeah she was adopted from Russia she had holes in her heart so she was adopted and they were they fixed that and then she's been kind of fighting her entire life since she came into it so when i say she was childlike she was genuinely childlike cute little petite it's not just her

looks, but she had an innocence to her where on some of these delays where, you know, she struggled to kind of understand consequences or backwards forward, forward, backwards thinking. But when I look at that, that's just what's so kind of special about her and who she was, is that she really just had this innocence to her. She was so, so good with something. It's like music. Oh my gosh. She was incredible with music.

She really related to it a lot. And every time I would see her, she would talk about, oh, I've got a song for you to listen to that she would think that would resonate with you and be impactful to you. But she did. She went to high school or she got her high school diploma. She did get it a little bit late. She got it at 20 years old.

And she worked really hard for that. And we're so proud of her for that. She also, after that, she really wanted to be a dolphin trainer still. And somebody said, well, that's going to be kind of hard to do in Utah summer. And she thought about that and she goes, okay, so that's when she went on to get her, her CNA. And again, she worked so hard to do that and pass that, that, the exam. It took her a little bit longer. She did it and we were so proud.

and it just fit her personality so well because she was such an empathetic caretaker and, you know, everybody at the senior living centers that she worked at just loved and adored her. So, yeah. And while all of this is going on, the changing guardianship to a safer person that summer trusted, to Nedra being charged with witness tampering, Rob McKell was still awaiting trial for his charges against Summer. And while Rob's trial loomed in the distance, an alleged smear campaign was launched, and multiple hit pieces on 4-foot-11-inch Someroni were published in the U.S. Observer. So according to Google, the U.S. Observer is a privately owned advocacy group focused on exposing corruption and injustices and vindicating the innocent.

It positions itself as a weapon against illegal government actions. And the articles referencing Summer as well as other family members, I mean, honestly, they're wild. They read like hit pieces, to me at least. And they revolved around Rob's charges and Rob McHale's upcoming trial. They refer to Summer as the accuser. And the articles were titled various things. I'll just read these headlines to you. Utah caught impossible cover-up.

McKell's accuser helped rape child. Yeah. And another was headlined, 10 million, and this goes away. Accuser's brother orchestrates false sex allegations. Yeah. I want to read a longer excerpt from one of these articles. I want to slow down and do this together because when I first read this, I couldn't even believe it.

So I want to take this slowly. I want to read this and process this together. Here it goes. Quote, blending a family isn't always easy. In fact, it can have disastrous effects. And Rob and Nedra McKell have found out it has been alleged that several of Nedra's children conspired to remove Rob from the family because they felt he was. as overbearing and mean. Their actions, along with those of several overzealous victims advocates, sheriff's deputies, and county attorneys have left Rob facing multiple sexual abuse charges,

and Nedra facing neglect and violation of a restraining order charge, among other things. Exemplifying the allegations of the children conspiring was when Nedra's son, Brooke, said in a phone conversation to her that it, it, meaning the charges, could all go away for $10 million. Nedra Roney-McKal co-founded New Skin Enterprises, a multi-million dollar corporation, and though her personal life brought many ups and downs, especially with marriages, one of the constants has been the love of family and that orphaned children deserve a home, love, and a future.

Nedra expanded her family beyond her one natural son, Brooke, by adopting seven children from around the world. Each child had their own significant issues to overcome in life, and Nedra felt her affluence and love could afford them the chance to succeed. And finally, Nedra found a man she could make a permanent home with for herself and her whole family, Rob McKell. Rob McKell being successful in his own right with McKell construction, but having growing up with meager means had his own five grown children when he met Nedra. And soon after Rob and Nedra married, Rob adopted her children as his own and treated them as such. It's surmising about the family and why the charges have been leveled against him. Rob stated,

I grew up learning hard work and sacrifice. It's how I was raised and how I was disciplined and how I disciplined my five children and how I approached raising these children. Because Nedra had profited from Newskin, her older children had been brought up in an environment of extraordinary privilege. They lived in mansions, went on exotic vacations, flew in private jets, and had personal chefs. They had nannies and were homeschooled. Their mother doted on them and spoiled them. They were her world. It was no surprise that they resented my new place in their lives and in Nedra's heart.

It has been reported that through the years, several of Nedra's adopted children who had issues when younger started showing signs of having serious physical and mental problems. According to witnesses, with troubles ranging from lying and violence to sexual promiscuity and abuse, two of the children found themselves in treatment programs and proctor homes because they became such a threat to the safety of the rest of the family. Family members tell of one adopted boy who was even convicted of sexually abusing a younger sibling. Both Rob and Nedra tried everything they could to protect their children. They got them what they thought was the best help available and tried to make every decision in their best interests.

The accuser, Summer McKell, is one of Rob and Nedra's troubled children. She was born in Siberia and reportedly was never touched or held as a baby. She suffers from what Nedra describes as attachment disorder. According to Randy Hyde, a clinical and child. child psychologist who saw Summer on multiple occasions and administered a Minnesota multifacic personality inventory or an MMPI2 test, which is widely used in adult psychopathology and personality assessment. Summer likely has a thought disorder and is blatantly paranoid. The MMPI2 showed that summer is likely to use projection as a defense mechanism and tends to be angry and is prone to fighting others. The report indicates Summer scored as a typical

runaway delinquent. The conspiracy. Nedris children were constantly at odds with Rob's parenting style. They either didn't like or couldn't understand being held accountable for their actions. It has been reported that Brooke was furious to have to get a job. Summer was constantly upset that her online privileges were being revoked and her behavior monitored. All of these children would rather see Rob gone, and they have gone on to record admitting it. The charges in any good investigation you want to collect as much evidence as you can, and with a supposed victim saying she was sodomized the night before, you would think the deputies of the Utah County Sheriff's Office would have thought to send Summer to the hospital to have DNA evidence collected.

It is common practice when someone is claiming rape, which in essence is what Summer did. Yet we have found no record of any evidence of this kind being collected. Why? Instead, you have investigators have Summer place a call to Rob and vaguely talked to him about one of the Summer siblings' rooms where some of the activity allegedly took place. It's called a pretext call. And the transcript of this one presented no clear admission or even suggested that anything other than a disagreement had taken place between Summer and Rob. But for the Sheriff's Office, this call along with Summer's statements were apparently enough. It was handed over to the county attorney who made the final decision to prosecute.

Rob McKell is currently charged with two counts of object rape and one count of forcible sodomy, of which there is no physical evidence, no corroborating testimony, just innuendo and accusations from a troubled young woman. It is amazing that these charges haven't been dismissed already. It all boils down to what one person says another person has done. You either believe a psychologically evaluated runaway delinquent who is allegedly a recorded liar or a man who has never before been accused of any of these behaviors, a man whose five grown children and all of their friends are staunch supporters of." End quote.

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Rob was sentenced to a year in prison for what he did to Summer, as well as three years of probation. And he is still, to this day, on the sex offender registry. In my opinion, that article reads like a page out of the Darvo 101 textbook. And if you are unaware of the term Darvo, it stands for deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender. So here you have, in my opinion, Rob denying the allegations, attacking Summer for coming forward, and then having a hit piece run that claimed Summer helped rape a child, which would be, the reverse victim and offender part to take Summer a victim and paint her to be the offender. It's a classic smear campaign strategy, Darvo at its finest. And luckily, that didn't work in the

case against Rob McHale, and he pleaded guilty. We also learned in this article that there is a psychologist offering an MMPI-2 test to Summer, which is a test for individuals 18 years and up. So given that Summer was the mental age of 12 years old at the time of her murder just 15 months ago, I would venture to say that it likely was not appropriate to administer such a test to a young, vulnerable adult with the mental capacity of a child and, I'd say even unethical to do so. When we dug into the details in this article, sources tell us that Rob McHale was the one who paid for the psychologist to do an assessment on Summer. And if that's true, that also seems to be a conflict of interest there.

And Rob McKell would seem to be absolutely the most likely source for everything behind that article, since any psychological testing would be sealed and Rob would have had access to Summers' psychological tests, an ethical psychological test. I also want to point out Robert's own words regarding Nedra's children, quote, I grew up learning hard work and sacrifice. It's how I was raised and how I disciplined my five children and how I approached raising these children. Because Nedra had profited from New Skin, her older children had been brought up in an environment of extraordinary privilege. They live in mansions, went on exotic vacations, flew in private jets and had personal shops. They had nannies and were homeschooled. Their mother

doted on them and spoiled them. They were her world. It was no surprise that they resented my new place in their lives and in Nedra's heart, end quote. First of a projection there. Let's just talk about that. Who's resenting who here? To me, that line is super manipulative. It reads like a motive for revenge, honestly. The reader, I hope, realizes that Rob expected to come into Nedra's life and become more important to Nedra than her own children and that her children were supposed to follow suit and get in line with the program. Notice how Rob positions himself as discipline and grounded while painting the children as privileged and spoiled. Like, he is clearly resentful of the love Nedra has for her children, clearly jealous.

And when you read that paragraph, I think to myself, that's all you need to know about Rob McHale. Jealous? Someone who has resentment towards Nedra's children. Someone who resents his stepchildren and someone likely capable of seeking revenge. And then the ending line, quote, it is amazing that these charges haven't been dismissed already. It all boils down to what one person says another person has done. You either believe a psychologically evaluated runaway delinquent,

who was allegedly a recorded liar, or a man who has never before been accused of any of these behaviors, end quote. I cannot get over the manipulation. After Rob McKell pleaded guilty, Summer had the opportunity to write a victim impact statement. And in that statement, which hidden to crime has exclusively obtained, she wrote, quote, I was adopted by Rob and the last name McHale haunts me every day. And quote.

From there on after, Summer referred to herself as Summer Roney Tishner. And leading up to her death, she had big plans to officially change her name to Tishner. and hold onto that sentence, Summer said, in her victim impact statement. Because later, a change appears that we discovered at hidden true crime, quiet, almost unnoticed, but unsettling enough to force us to ask who controls a person's story after they're gone, after they've been murdered. And in regards to that murder, I'm going to now lay out the horrific details from December of 24, just 15 months ago.

Early on, kind of, it wasn't long after that I started noticing some concerns and she had confided in me that he had pushed her up against a wall and had been just saying some terrible, like just verbally abusive. And so I did report that. the police. I did reach out to his ex-wife and kind of try to understand who this person is. I just got a really, really bad, like my intuition was saying something's not right here. And I reached out to Jake's father as well. As a parent, I would want to know if there was something that I could, if my son was, you know, behaving in that way.

to join help, right? It wasn't to be malicious or, you know, say anything mean. It was just trying to understand or trying to let them understand what I had observed because I was so concerned. So towards the end, she did hide from me that she was seeing him because she was afraid that and Jake said that I was trying to get his kids taken away from him by reporting this. So I was not allowed to know. I mean, the isolation was next level with this, with this guy. So that makes it so, so right. So rather than understanding that you're caring about her and you want to make sure he's,

he is behaving and good to her or leaving her alone, he's now saying, no, you're getting my children taken away. Were his parents receptive when you called them? Um, you know, so what Jake's passed, it was the way that basically, the part that stands out to me today and even going back through that was that Jake could hold his own in a fight, but would never lay a hand on a woman. That's what you're told by his family. Yeah. So they didn't listen. They didn't hear you.

I mean, that's how I'm hearing that. Yeah. To me, it felt like they, you know, as I felt when I first looked into him, is that, yes, Jake had a past. And to me, it felt like they were possibly thinking that I was causing issues. But they said, even his bitter ex-wife wouldn't, hasn't said anything like that. So it was. So they called her bitter. They called her bitter.

Yep. But nothing wrong with Jake. He would never heard of one. woman. He would never lay hands on a woman. In December, 2024, Summer was 30 years old, but again, her mental capacity was that of a 12-year-old child. She also looked much younger than her age from her four-foot 11-inch height, her petite frame, and Spider-Man backpack that she carried everywhere. She was childlike in both mind and in heart. According to her sister and guardian Michelle Tishner.

Summer had been in an on and off again relationship with a man named Jacob or Jake Johnson for four years. But it was believed the relationship had finally come to an end months prior. Just after midnight on New Year's Eve, 2024. Happy New Year, everybody! An officer spotted a white Jeep Cherokee parked across multiple parking stalls in a 7-11 parking lot in Harriman, Utah. the man in the driver's seat, he was unconscious. And the officer walking up to the car had no idea what he was about to see. When he got to the window, the man in the car who was later identified as Jacob Johnson was speaking and moving slowly while nodding off. And when

the officer looked in the back or trunk window of the Jeep, he saw a woman inside a cardboard box. That woman was later identified as Summer Roney. When the back of the Jeep was open, Summer was found with an orange extension cord and clear packing tape around her neck. She was curled up with her knees to her chest, wearing only underwear, and her body was covered in bruises, lacerations, and dried blood. Not only was it clear that she was no longer alive, was also clear that her death, had been very, very brutal. Inside the box, along with her body, were bloody paper towels, a black trash bag, and a clear scotch tape roll.

The cardboard box also had numerous bloodstains on it. And in the passenger seat of the car, officers found a hammer with blood on it, a knife, which officers described as at least eight inches. It was sitting in between the passenger seat of the center console. And just below that, on the passenger floorboard, was a red gas can and a chlorox bleach bottle. They also found other large knives, hatchets, another empty bleach bottle, a Spider-Man backpack that belonged to summer. With her ID inside, footy pajamas that summer loved to wear, they were cut upwards. And her child-sized two white crocks were there, as well as men.

clothing, which was wet and had blood stains on them. Jacob Johnson was arrested immediately, and an investigation ensued. Investigators worked on obtaining a search warrant, and when they did, they found clear proof that Summer's murder had taken place in Jacob Johnson's home. To start, the house smelled like bleach, obviously indicating cleanup and someone trying to hide evidence. But despite the obvious cleanup efforts, blood was everywhere, including the bed sheet from the primary room bed and the wall at the top of the stair landing. In the kitchen, there was blood on the kitchen counter, the kitchen blinds, the paper towel roll, and the floor had bloody drag marks. There was hair in the kitchen sink as well as a baseball bat which had smudges as if it had

recently been washed. In the basement, the following items were found with blood on them, a cushion cover, a mattress protector, and a jacket. There was also blood on the carpet and the wall, baseboard, and stair post along the stairwell. A piece of the bloody carpet was cut out, and it was damp and smelled like bleach, yet again, indicating some type of cleanup had been attempted. The affidavit goes on to say, in the garage, the pole of a push broom was located on the track of the garage door that kept the door from being opened. Detectives removed the pole and lifted the garage door. Detectives located a mattress in the garage wrapped in plastic with bloodstains,

as well as a paper towel with hair and what appeared to be a small piece of skin. An empty chlorox bleach bottle was located on top of the mattress in the garage and white, blue and orange Jordan shoes were located in the garage with blood stains on them. Two large black trash bags were located with multiple items inside that had blood stains. Two include a karaoke machine, lampshade, and a body weight swing. Also inside the trash bags were multiple towels that were beginning to crust and appeared to have bleach stains. As police continued to try to put the timeline together, they were able to get surveillance footage from both Jake's neighbors and the 7-11 where Summer and Jake were found.

On neighbors' surveillance footage, they could see clearly that at 206 p.m. on the 30th of December, Jake was organizing the trunk area of his car. A few minutes after that, he backed his car up into the driveway with his garage door open. After that, he was seen trying to close the trunk of the car. And he was able to get it mostly closed, but he could be seen having a hard time getting the back door of the Jeep latched. 7.5 hours later, that's when he was first seen on surveillance at the 7-11 just before 10 p.m. He went in, bought a couple things, and then went back to his car. Surveillance caught his car moving just slightly before it stopped again, around two hours later. So shortly after midnight on New Year's Eve, that was when the officer noticed his

car and saw him passed out in the driver's seat, which led to the eventual finding of Summer. Police continued to talk to those who knew Summer, trying to figure out what happened, and here's what they discovered on Friday, December 27th. Summer told the couple that she was living with, who she knew through work, that Jake had gotten a hotel room for the night of December 28th, and that he was going to pick her up and they were going to stay there. To this couple, Summer seemed to be looking forward to the hotel stay. While Summer and Jake had been broken up, Jake had just gotten out of a drug and mental health facility on Christmas Eve, so just four days earlier. And he was headed to a new and different inpatient facility the following Monday.

And so despite their previous rocky relationship, I think that maybe Summer, thought possibly it was going to be a fresh start. Maybe Jake had made some changes in rehab. Obviously, though, that was anything but absolutely was not the case. Another friend told law enforcement, the summer would frequently talk about the physical and emotional abuse that Summer experienced at the hands of Jacob Johnson, and in November, just a month before she died,

Summer told her that Jake had choked her and nearly killed her. Another person law enforcement spoke with was a male co-worker of Summers, who they referred to as NM in the charging documents. And just a couple of months before Summer's life was taken, she had confided in this co-worker on a drive-to-work that Jake was verbally abusive and that he had hit her multiple times. Even after she asked him to leave her apartment, summer said that Jake was still harassing her by texting and calling her.

A few days later, when the coworker picked Summer up again, Summer told him that Jake was still verbally abusing her and had threatened to find her. After that, it seemed like Summer and Jake broke up. She moved on and she was not bringing Jake up much anymore to anyone at work or to any of her friends. But then she showed up for work over two hours late on Saturday, December. 28th, so two days before her death. And even though Summer was often 15 to 20 minutes late to work, she didn't have a driver's license and she either walked or depended on rides, she was never two hours late and her phone never usually went to voicemail like it did that day when her co-worker

called. But Summer finally did show up to work two hours late. And when she did, she seemed off and told him that she didn't have her phone. Two days later, someone was late for work again, except that time she never showed up at all. Hours later, her body was discovered in Jake Johnson's Jeep Cherokee. I don't know about you, but a lot of people are starting to question why phone bills are still so expensive.

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According to the affidavit, Summer's entire body was covered in bruises with chunks of skin missing from her knees and other areas of her body. Summer had several marks and open wounds caused by a claw hammer, including several to her face. face and head. She also had a ruptured and hemorrhaged liver, hemorrhaged lungs, a hemorrhaged heart, hemorrhaged arteries, broken ribs, a possible brain bleed, and fractured bones. Her cause of death was ruled a totality of her injuries from blunt force trauma. Jake was charged with one count of aggravated murder, one count of obstruction of justice, one count of purchase, transfer possession, or use of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person in relation to the hammer that was used to hurt summer, and one count of abuse or desecration of a human body. The aggravated first-degree murder

charge was due to, according to charging docs from, I'm going to quote this, the homicide being committed in an especially heinous, atrocious, cool, or exceptionally depraved. manner, any of which must be demonstrated by physical torture, serious physical abuse, or serious bodily injury of the victim before death. End quote. He was given no bond, and he was to await trial in jail. Keep that in mind, because we are going to circle back to that. That's going to play an important role in what we've uncovered is happening in the case right

now who's supposed to be awaiting trial in jail. But just days after he was charged with Summers' murder, a new case popped up. Jake Johnson had been charged with one count of child abuse injury, reckless, and one count of unlawful detention of a minor stemming from an incident in August of 2024 where a neighbor child was put in a headlock by Jake. As news about Summer's murder began circulating, Jake's ex-wife, did an interview with KSL where she shared information about their nine-year marriage and the abuse she suffered throughout it. She also talked about Jake's struggles with addiction and the fight she was going through to keep her kids safe. Take a listen. I actually met Jake 10 days after he got out of prison.

He robbed a pharmacy when he was 18 years old and got he was addicted to drugs at age 14. So I met him at a singles ward ho-down at my local church the first time that he stepped back into a church after so many years. And I saw this guy with tattoos coming out of his sleeves and this huge smile and this cowboy hat and just somebody who was ready to, in my mind, be saved, which I had my own childhood trauma. So I think that that's how I found myself worth. And I think that that's how a lot of us who do do. stay with abusers that we find our self-worth is by saving somebody or rescuing somebody or helping them to see the light in themselves and the good in themselves. And there was light too. There were good things throughout the years, but there's also so much dark. So we met at the singles sword

hoe-down and then he wasn't ever, he wasn't ever active in the church that I was in the Church of Jesus Christ to Lattery Saints. He would come, but he never fully was converted. We were married for nine and a half years. And honestly, our marriage was hell on earth, but I had the biggest smile on my face the whole time. And there was a lot of paranoia that started very early on, where if I, if I talked to another guy at church or was smiley or friendly, I noticed really early that he would get really jealous and he would think that I was hitting on the guy, even though I was just smiling. And so I made moves to avoid that. And I actually asked, my bishop if I could be taken off of the welcoming committee because it made him so uncomfortable.

And that's so sad looking back that he was manipulating my light and trying to get me to hide my light even back then. So what happened in May is my children told me that he was gone all night when I picked them up the next day that he was gone all night and that he had been jumped in the neighborhood walking through the nice neighborhood and herrimand that he lived in. And my 10-year-old son came home and said, so mom, dad had a huge cut under his eye, and he had scratch marks all over the front of his neck. And he said he got beaten up by some gang members in the middle of the night. So first of all, I was very concerned, and I called the herrimand police the next day to find out if it's legal. Number one, to leave a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old at home all night long, unsupervised.

And that's not illegal, which I was shocked about. And two, I felt very strongly that night that there was a woman who was attacked because you don't get scratch marks all over the front of your neck by getting beaten up by men. You do that when you are assaulting a woman. That is where you get. So I called to just at least make an informative report. And I actually contacted Summer's sister at that time because I had her, she'd been concerned about her before to just make sure that Summer was okay. So at that point, with the police reports and everything, I filed for a child protective order to protect my children. How can I send my kids with somebody who's throwing knives at invisible people? That's terrifying and it was denied.

The 4th District Provo Court denied that because they said that it was mental health and that he should be protected. My children needed to be protected from those knives that were being thrown. My hope and my prayer and my ask is for people to have eyes that see, for judges to have eyes that see, that are willing to look at the evidence in front of them and make the right choice for lawmakers to see that whether it's mental health, whether it's drugs, whatever it is, protect these children for those who are in abuse. My prayer and my call to action is to have eyes that see to take a deep breath and to have eyes that see

for those who the neighbors of those who are in it in that hidden emotional abuse or physical abuse. Because emotional, it leads to the physical. It's for them to have eyes that see and to be willing to listen. I had a lot of people in my life who I've reached out to this last six months because I knew that he is capable of murder. I knew he was capable of this and I reached out to people and they didn't listen. they just, I think that they thought I was being dramatic. And I am not being dramatic. I needed to protect my children.

So I want people to open their eyes, have eyes that see and to understand emotional abuse and psychological abuse. And to shine light on this because we need change in this world. These kids need to be protected. Michelle Tishner, Summer's sister and guardian, interviewed with me at Hidden True Crime last year and shared more about who Summer was and the loss and grief she was facing. Take a listen. I mean, when I first found this out, I was frantic of, because I just didn't know anything. They can't tell you a lot. And I thought, well, where's her Spider-Man backpack?

And I just was looking for that. And like, you guys use a size two little boy's shoe. You might not be looking for the right stuff. And she wore onesies. Like it's, and she's so tiny that it could easily be. mistaken for his son's stuff. And so I went to and kind of searched through her bedroom and everything. And I said, guys, it's not here.

She never, where is it? Where is it? The Spider-Man backpack. The Spider-Man backpack. Yeah. And they did end up in that report say that her Spider-Man backpack was located. But my fear was that he was taking her to dispose of her. And that fear was absolutely.

absolutely correct because of what was found in his car along with the summer. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, including gasoline and things that would help him try to get rid of a body. Yes, just brutal. Just brutal. Absolutely brutal. It's so brutal.

I have to ask you, and I feel like nobody's asking this question, but I'm listening to this and usually, you know, when it comes to domestic, not usually often when it comes to domestic, perhaps it's a crime of passion. That's the category they put something in. This almost feels, I have to be honest, like something premeditated. Is that, am I jumping to conclusions from what you know and of what you've heard? No, I don't, I mean, from what I know, I mean, this is, this is all me speculating and putting things together, but I absolutely think there's a level of this premeditation. I mean, one of the things that I had said in my police report

is that he had threatened to kill her. And I believe that she was going to try and give him some space with whatever to try and get heal himself. And was communicating that, at least from what I've understood, understand and have learned that there's a good chance that I just absolutely there's this seems to be that he got her over to that house because they had spent as you saw in the document that they had spent he had gotten a hotel and and and she kind of had that conversation and so for her to just kind of go over there there could have I mean there's so much but this absolutely feels

like there's a level of premeditation absolutely and it's just sick me to me We have a link to the full interview in the description of this episode, if you want to hear more from Michelle. And after that interview with Michelle, and after our last coverage of Summers' story, in November of 2025, so six months ago, Jake took a plea deal in the case regarding the neighbor child. The child abuse charge was dismissed with prejudice, and he bleated guilty to the unlawful detainment charge. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, which was counted as time served since he had already been in custody since December 31, 2024 due to being charged in summer's murder. But this is where the story takes a turn, where things stop adding up. Because what comes next isn't just unusual. It forces us to look deeper into what's hidden and ask whether something bigger is at play here.

Let's go back to 2004. So 22 years ago, in 2004, Jake Johnson is arrested, charged, and he pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and a legal possession and use of a controlled substance. In any event, those charges were the beginning of a long rap sheet of charges for Jake, ranging from DUI to drug charges, to theft charges, to weapons charges, and ultimately, the aggravated first-degree murder charge when it came to summer. And again, to remind you, the reason for the aggravated part of his first-degree murder charge instead of just first-degree murder is due to the homicide being committed in an especially heinous, atrocious, cruel,

or exceptionally depraved manner, any of which must be demonstrated by physical torture, serious physical abuse or serious bodily injury of the victim before death. Let that sink it. But there is also another reason it becomes an aggravated first-degree murder. Even if Someroni's murder wasn't categorized as heinous or exceptionally depraved, under Utah law due to Jake's previous aggravated burglary charge in 2004 that he pleaded guilty to, that history alone makes his first-degree murder charge aggravated. and aggravating factors, in any case, make sentencing and punishment harsher. It's time to bust out the tongs and enjoy USDA certified tender steaks,

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and then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers. It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads. seem to follow you everywhere. That's where ORA comes in. ORA actively removes your data from broker's sites and keeps it off. They also instantly alert you if your information shows up in a breach or on the dark web. But ORA goes beyond data protection. With one app, you get a VPN, anti-virus, password manager, spam call protection, dark web monitoring, and even up to $5 million in identity theft insurance, all backed by 24-7 U.S.-based fraud support. Other companies might

sell just credit monitoring, or just a VPN. ORA gives you all of it. it together at the same price competitors charge for just one service start your free trial today at aura.com slash remove protect yourself now at aura.com slash remove so what does jake do after he's arrested for summer's murder while behind bars he made a motion to change his plea in the 2004 aggravated burglary case yes 22 years after the fact he decides to fight his guilty plea it was denied But Jake appealed. That was denied. And now Jake is appealing yet again. While there are other aggravating factors mentioned in the charging docs, Jake's previous aggravated burglary charge would solidify the aggravating factors

and make it nearly impossible to lessen the charges and harsher sentencing. Harsher sentencing that Jake faces. And in my opinion, no wonder Jake is fighting. summer's loved ones are watching this play out in court hoping the court does not overturn Jake's plea nearly 22 years after the fact and while Jake focuses on his past pleas summer's case seems to be nearly at a standstill not much has happened in the last year but there is there is a preliminary hearing scheduled for august 4th and august 5th 2026 but whether that will actually happen or not we'll see because hearings in Someroni's case have been repeatedly delayed. One reason for the delays, the defense has tried to push several hearings back,

and I've certainly wondered if it's been a conscious effort to delay while they work on getting Jake's aggravated burglary case overturned. The second reason for the delays, though, is a bit more interesting. It's due to the recusal of a judge that was presiding over the case. And a recusal of a judge always catches my attention, So I dug in. The recusal came after motions for disqualification were filed by the defense over a relationship that the judge had with a defense witness, who is one of Jake's close family members. And upon research of public records, evidence points to it being Jake's sister.

According to the motion for disqualification filed, it states, quote, Witness told defense counsel that she knew Judge Bates and that she and her former spouse had a relationship with Judge Bates and his wife. On Tuesday, April 8th, 2025, Witness clarified to defense counsel some details of her relationship to Judge Bates and his wife. Witness and her spouse at the time lived near Judge Bates and his wife either in or near the Quaylebrook apartments. The two couples attended the same ward in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The relationship at its closest spanned from approximately 2003 to 2007, the individuals involved are still friends on social media. During this time period, Witness and her husband maintained a friendship with Judge Bates and his wife. The relationship

involved seeking and receiving religious counsel. Witness and her former spouse married, but were sealed in a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at a later time. As part of their religious development of becoming what members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints characterized as temple-worthy, the couple would discuss past behavior. behaviors that are not consistent with LDS teachings, such as prior incarceration and substance abuse. When this recalls Judge Bates acting as either the bishop, was part of the three-member presiding bishopric of their congregation and possibly acting in a home study capacity to her and her spouse. During this time period, witness was attempting to have a child and would confide with Judge Bates'

wife about fertility struggles. The witness was also aware that her former husband would consult with Judge Bates about receiving financial support from the church, though she was not part of those conversations. To her knowledge, Judge Bates had a role in approving financial assistance to her family. The couples would have dinner together and would attend other religious activities together. The two couples each had a child. These children were the same age, attended the same school, would play together, and were friends. The witness has expressed discomfort to defense counsel about Judge Bates acting in the role of the judge in this case, end quote. Jake does come from a devout LDS family. As of last year, when we first shared Summer's story,

Jake's father, Randy, was actually working for the LDS Church as a research engineer for family search, and it actually worked for the LDS Church for at least 16 years prior. So given that history, I am sure this family has numerous connections and ties with different people in the state of Utah. But in any case, after the motion was made by the defense, the prosecution did not argue. They actually agreed. And the judge recused himself pretty quickly, understandably. And it was just another delay, though. And then, this is interesting, there was also a recusal in Jake's 2025 child abuse case with a different judge, although, as I mentioned earlier, that case has since reached a conviction. But get this. Okay. This is what blows my mind. Jake, who was supposed to be

sitting, just sitting in the Salt Lake County Jail on aggravated first-degree murder charges, is actually at the OXPO facility. So what's the OXPO facility? You ask? Well, we did some research because we had the same questions. And we were shocked to learn that the Oxbow facility is for non-violent offenders and that Jake was there in Oxbow. We researched more and learned it was a more lenient facility than jail and that it focuses on rehabilitation. Yeah, I just thought it couldn't be so. Like the more I research, the more I thought impossible. There's no way. I must be wrong. Thus, we decided to verify exactly what the Oxbow facility was and called the jail ourselves. And here is what they told us.

Jake Johnson is labeled as in Oxbow. Oxbow is a facility near the jail that offers programs such as vocational and substance abuse programs to non-violent offenders. We were told it is more lenient and it helps prepare an inmate for re-entry, meaning re-entry into society. Yeah. Yeah, you heard that right. He programmed for nonviolent offenders to prepare the inmate for reentry. This is a man who was charged with first degree aggravated murder, who had a woman's body in the back of his car when he was found at a gas station, the body of a vulnerable adult. He also had her Spider-Man backpack and her little white crocks. and her footy pajamas were cut. Charging docks state the atrocious, heinous,

depraved and torturous killing of Someroni, the one and only, as she proudly called herself. Jake Johnson has yet to even go to trial or even had a preliminary hearing, and he is already at a facility that prepares people for re-entry. What is going on here? It's maddening, who's pulling these stories. strings. I want to read a letter that one of Summers' friends who she met in Job Corps wrote to the

judge, because I think it paints a picture of what the loved ones in Summer's lives are hoping for and thinking about every day as the case continues to drag on. It states, quote, Your Honor, my name is Morgan. I'm writing to speak on behalf of my friend Summer, who has taken from us far too soon. I met Summer during our time at Job Corps, and from the moment I knew her, I was struck by her kindness, her patience and her ability to bring light into every room she entered. She had the kind of laugh that lifted others up and the kind of heart that made you feel safe and understood. Losing Summer in this way to violence and at the hands of someone who should never have had that kind of power over her has deeply affected me. It's changed the way I see people,

the way I trust and the way I move through the world. Knowing that her life was taken by Jacob Johnson is something I will never forget. And it is something, I believe, should never be forgiven by the justice system. Summer deserves so much more than what happened to her. She deserved a future. She deserved to be safe. She deserved to live. I respectfully ask this court to sentence Jacob Johnson to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

That may never bring Summer back. Nothing can, but it would send a message that her life mattered, that her loss is not invisible, and that justice still means something. Thank you for considering my words, end quote. So Jake Johnson is sitting, not in jail, but in an OXP facility, a facility nearby the jail that offers programs such as vocational and substance abuse programs to nonviolent offenders. He is busy fighting a 21-year-old aggravated burglary charge, clearly in home. of a more lenient sentencing and punishment. And let's circle back to what Summer had written in her victim impact statement

against Rob McHale years before she was murdered. This is so important. She stated, quote, I was adopted by Rob and the last name McCall haunts me every day. Look at her handwriting there, Summer Roney's own handwriting about the name of her abuser haunting her. And when we first started covering this case, every article, including her online obituary, referred to Summer as Summer Tatiana Roney. Yet recently, we noticed

something. We noticed that her obituary was changed to now state Summer Tatiana McKell. And that is actually when we started digging. That was officially what made us start questioning so much more. We made some phone calls to Summer's family, asking them if they had noticed the change too. If they had changed her name from Roney to McKell and to understand why, they told us that while they are the ones who wrote her obituary and who published her obituary through the funeral home, they are not the ones that changed her name in the obituary to reflect McKell as her last name, and that they would never allow that change due to Summer's victim impact statement and her wishes to never be associated with the name McKell ever again. We were then allowed to see that portion of Summer's impact statement in her own childlike handwriting, showing us what she told the court, and we were given permission to share it here.

The name McKell haunts me every day. She makes it very clear. Another part of that victim impact statement was Summer asking the court to be awarded money so that she could afford to legally change her name. In 2021, Summer, with the help of her sister and guardian Michelle, filed a civil suit against Rob McHell based on the sexual assault claims. The suit was dismissed based on a motion Rob had filed saying that she filed past the statute of limitations. However, when appealed to the Supreme Court, that dismissal was overturned and the suit was sent back to the district court. Just five months after that was when Summer was murdered. Had Summer not been murdered, I personally think that suit likely would have had a favorable outcome for her.

But as I dug deeper, I also found that on January 28, 2025, less than one month after Summer died, Rob McHale filed suit against Summer's sister and guardian Michelle Tishner to be the personal representative over Summers' estate, despite the fact that he had admitted to sexual crimes against her. That case is in litigation right now, according to records online. And it makes no sense to me. You have a man on the sex offender registry for harming this young woman, a man who was currently living in a 26,000 square foot mansion that his deceased wife, Nedra, the adoptive mother of this girl, his victim, left to rob upon her passing, along with who knows how much more money, Nedra left him. And he is filing lawsuits over the estate for Summer Roney? And while Summer never got

around to legally changing her name, the question is who and what is behind the name change on the funeral home website. No other article or obituary site. has changed it. Who was controlling Summer's story even after she has passed? Is this a plot for power, for revenge, for an estate fight, for control? And how is Jake in a program for nonviolent offenders? How has a case essentially not moved at all? With two judges recusing themselves in a year, both citing conflicts of interest, the conflict citing church relationships. Are these all just strange coincidences, or is there more to this than meets the eye? That is what hidden true crime is asking right now and digging into. Because oftentimes, when something looks strange from the surface,

something as simple as a name change on an obituary site, the roots and root cause tend to be buried a lot deeper than we ever anticipated. So I want to know now. What do you think? Let us know your thoughts. Let us know any questions you have or anything that you might know. Feel free to email us at hidden true crime info at gmail.com. And I also want to say thank you for supporting our channel. Thank you for supporting our podcast and for supporting our work here at Hidden True Crime. Thank you for your compassion in the comments and in this community. Thank you for subscribing.

It means so much as we continue our work here on covering what's hidden. Happy New Year, everybody. Most people don't realize how much their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the Internet, and then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers. It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere. That's where ORA comes in.

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