Law&Crime Sidebar - Human Remains & Shocking Secrets: Disturbing Twists in Missing Mother, Daughter Case

Episode Date: October 5, 2025

A young mother and her two-year-old daughter vanished without a trace. Now, shocking discoveries are shaking up the case. Police raided the home of Jennifer Wix’s former boyfriend, Joey Benton, uncovering weapons and disturbing material. Jennifer’s younger sister, Casey Robinson, who has spent two decades searching for answers, joins Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber to discuss the ongoing fight for justice.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/sidebar to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A young mother and her two-year-old daughter vanished seemingly without a trace. But now, years later, shocking discoveries are shaking up this story. Police have raided a home, a home connected to Jennifer Wicks' former boyfriend, uncovering weapons, disturbing material, This summer, a human leg has been identified in a local creek. We are going to speak with Jennifer's younger sister, Casey Robinson, who has spent two decades searching for answers.

Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. If you don't know about this story, you really need to. It's been years since a young Tennessee mother and her little girl disappeared without a trace. now new developments are shaking up the investigation. We are talking about Jennifer Wicks. Jennifer Wicks was just 21 years old, her daughter, Adriana, barely two years old, when both of them disappeared. For two decades, their family has held vigils. They put up billboards. They've hired private investigators. They have been desperately searching for answers.

But this is a case that sat mostly silent until recently. Today, we're not just talking about the investigation. We are actually going to hear from Jennifer's own sister Casey, who has been fighting for justice all these years. I had an opportunity to meet her at CrimeCon. That is why we're doing this story today. But I want to rewind to where it all began. Jennifer was a young mom in Robertson County. She was trying to juggle life after high school while raising her baby girl.

Family says she leaned heavily on her younger sister Casey for help. The two were inseparable, especially when Jennifer had worked nights. But then the reporting indicates that things had changed when Jennifer started dating a man named Joey Benton. And eventually, she moved in with him and his parents. Then you go to March of 2004. Jennifer called her mom sounding upset, saying that she had a heated argument with the Bentons. Adriana could be heard crying in the background. And that phone call would be one of the last her family ever got.

The next day, Jennifer's mom expected a call back, but it never came. The family started to panic. Joey eventually told them that he'd broken up with Jennifer, dropped her and Adriana at a gas station that someone in a white car had picked them up. But no one ever saw them again. Police searched the Benton property, but never named any suspects. For years, Jennifer and Adriana's faces, they were printed on flyers. They were posted on signs.

Their family pleaded for leads. In 2013, investigators officially reclassified this case as a homicide, but still, no arrests. And then 20 years later came March of 2024, the exact 20 year anniversary of their disappearance. Law enforcement raided the Benton home. And inside, investigators say they uncovered dozens of weapons, explosives, disturbing material, and that led to more than 40 charges against Joey's father, Joseph. Benton, Sr. And then, this past July, another shocking twist. A human leg was discovered in a local creek. DNA confirmed it belonged to Joseph Benton, Sr. The same man facing all of those

charges after the 2024 raid. It's interesting because apparently there was no missing person's report for him. His wife did indicate it had been a minute since she last saw him. But still, again, no answers as to what happened to Jennifer. and Adriana. Two decades later, the Wicks family says their mission hasn't changed. They want answers. They want Jennifer and Adriana home, and they're not giving up. Hey, everybody, I just want to take a quick second to thank Upside for sponsoring this episode of Sidebar. So Upside is a free app that gets you cash back on daily essentials like gas, groceries, dining. Now, believe it or not, I do know how to pump my own gas. I don't know if that was controversial or not, but when I do, I can use the

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sidebar and get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's promo code sidebar for an extra 25 cents back on your first gallon of gas. And no one knows that better than Jennifer's younger sister, Casey Robinson. Casey was just 16 when her sister and niece vanished. She has been searching for them ever since. And I had the opportunity to meet Casey at CrimeCon, where I live. learned a little bit more about this story. I wanted to cover it here on Sidebar, and we have Casey with us right now. Casey, thank you so much for joining us, for coming on to talk about

what's happening here. I will tell you once again, I'm so sorry for what you and the family have been going through for such a long time. I want to get into some of these updates, but first of all, what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Jennifer and you think about little Adriana? Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is just heartbreak. There's just that big hole missing in our family, missing in myself. So, I mean, unfortunately, the first thought is that. Trailing right behind that is Jennifer was my big sister.

And I looked up to her in every way possible. She was a straight 90s kid and just like my idol. as a little girl. We were very close. And so whenever I think about her, of course, all of the good memories are part of that thought process, too. And Adriana, I mean, she was just too whenever she disappeared.

So we didn't get a lot of time with her. But now as a 37-year-old woman looking back, like I just think of her, I took care of her a lot as a young girl. I help my sister out with her a lot. And so now, whenever I think about Adriana, I think of her as a daughter, but she would be 20-something years old today. And so she's just kind of frozen in time as that two-year-old for me. But, I mean, Adriana was perfect in every way, just the cutest little toddler, angel, baby that ever existed.

So a lot of good memories and just I miss them every day. and it's hard to wake up and do that every day and miss someone and not know where they are. And so it's just kind of whenever I think of them, it's just kind of a mixture of all of those things together. What was Jennifer like as a mother? What did that mean to her? Adriana was Jennifer's entire world. She, you know, got pregnant really young, found out she was having Adriana really young. And at first that was a real big shot to all of our family.

But we all just kind of jumped in and were a part of that process. And so whenever I say, I took care of Adriana whenever she was little as an infant. And I was, you know, in my early teens. I mean, I slept overnight with the baby, got up with her in the middle of the night and fed her and everything while my sister was working second and third shift jobs, trying to make something of herself, you know, straight out of high school and having a baby. She didn't go to college or anything like that. She was very artsy and intrinsic. She loved to write. She loved music and poetry and wrote poetry herself and wrote songs and would write everyone.

She knew letters. And so she just had that side of her that was emotional and she was quiet. And she wasn't like you're loud in your face kind of person. personality, she was more so like the quiet, shy girl. Of course, everyone that knew her said that, you know, she was very kind to them all throughout high school. And as her sister, I know a different side of her, which is the more fiery side where sisters would, you know, argue and fight and everything.

But, yeah, she was, I mean, just starting out in the world and didn't really get the chance to figure out what life had in store for her. Can you take us back over 20 years ago, those final days in March of 2004? Do you remember, like, the last time you saw her, the last time you spoke with Jennifer? It's really hard for me to remember the last time that I saw her because of everything that we've been through my memory attaches to, like, the last traumatic experiences that we had. The last time that I really remember seeing my sister would have been on my 16th birthday whenever she and Adriana came by her house and dropped by to celebrate with us.

But I know that I worked at McDonald's whenever I was young as my first job. And my other sister, Heather, did too. And Jennifer would bring Adriana to the playplace day while we were working and have a meal for them or whatever. So I believe that I saw her last, probably at McDonald's for my first job. And then on my birthday, probably would have been the last time that I saw her. But as far as talking with her, I can't, it's so hard because I can't remember back that far. It's been so long that I can't remember because of everything that's happened. And I don't really have memories of our last conversations.

Do you recall what those first hours and days were like when you couldn't reach her, when the family couldn't reach her, that panic, what it was like? Yeah, definitely. Whenever we first kind of heard that no one could get in touch with Jennifer, which was super unusual, she would be in contact with someone or multiple people in our family multiple times a day. it was kind of like her pastime as a stay-at-home mom. So just her way of talking to other people and not just hanging out with a two-year-old. But whenever we kind of realized no one could get in touch with Jennifer, everyone just started showing up at our house. And I was 16 at the time.

And so I didn't really know what was going on. I didn't really understand the gravity of the situation until probably later on. in the coming weeks and whenever I realized she wasn't coming back. But the initial panic was just seeing like all of the adults in my life showing up at our house and everyone going out driving, trying to find Jennifer to see if she was with someone, you know, there in town or from a really small town. And so you could just drive down the road and see someone driving down the road. And so that's what everyone in my family was doing.

And they all were just kind of congregating at our house just coming up with a game plan like okay you call this person you call this person um you know before we filed the missing person's report it was just kind of no one knew what to do um everyone felt something was wrong but we didn't know where to start and because we couldn't get in touch with jennifer she didn't have her own phone she didn't have her own car and things like that it made it even even more scary like we couldn't get in touch with her at all We had to rely on the last people that saw Jennifer and that she was living with. And they were saying they didn't know where she was.

Yeah, when Joey Benton initially told you that Jennifer left with someone in a white car, drops them off at a gas station, someone picks them up. What was your reaction to that and what followed from that? Yeah, our first reaction is that's just not true. Like Jennifer would not just up and leave with someone that no one does. knew. And so whenever we're calling around to all of her friends, the people that she had regular contact with and that she would potentially go with, everyone said, you know, no, we haven't seen her, we haven't heard from her. And so that left Joey as the last person to see Jennifer

and Adriana. And so our initial reaction was like, something's not right, that's not right. She wouldn't just leave with a random person. She had also made plans the day before. for speaking with my aunt to come to my aunt's house. So she had already kind of made a plan if she were to go somewhere. So for him to say that she just got into this arbitrary white car with someone that we did not know and just had no contact anymore, that just was super out of character for her and something that she just would not do. What was Joey's relationship like with Jennifer?

What was your relationship like with Joe? I didn't really have a relationship with Joey. Jennifer and Joey's relationship was short. They started dating in July 2003 and they disappeared in March 2004. And so it was a short nine months or so relationship on again, off again. In the fall of 2003, my mom and myself, we lived out west outside Las Vegas. My mom took a job out there and we moved back because of an incident that. happened with Jennifer and Joey. They got into an argument. They had only been dating for, you know, a month or two at the time. So, um, so I had never met him. And then whenever we moved back to cross planes, uh, Jennifer and Adriana moved in with us. And then the only other time that I really saw Joey, um, he was moving my sister, my niece out of our house, telling my mom, she didn't have a daughter anymore. Only impressions of Joey. And they were traumatic and scary and things that I had never, you know, seen before at that point in my

life. And so they had this on again, off again relationship that were throwing up red flags left and right. And then she moved in with him and I guess decided to continue that relationship. And from January to March, I didn't really see Joey at all. But I guess Jennifer and Joey's relationship was going okay. We didn't really hear of any arguments that they had. And then in March, they started arguing again because Jennifer wanted to move out of his parents' house. And so the arguing picked up not just with Joey, but with also his parents, Joe and Cindy. Didn't you recently speak to him?

Yeah. Was that about it? Yeah, I talked to him for the first time. ever in April of 2024. So this was after the girl's 20 year anniversary of their disappearance. There was a big raid at their family's house. And we thought potentially that it had to do with Jennifer and Adriana, but it didn't. There were some other things going on with his dad and illegal weapons and things like that.

And he received 40-something plus charges from that raid at their house. And then shortly after that, I talked to Joey for the first time. And I told him, you know, can you and I talk? I just want to know my sister better. You were the last person that was really around her that knew her probably better than anyone else at that time. So can we talk? And he said, sure.

So we were on the phone for over an hour. And I got the opportunity, you know, to ask him about their relationship. And he said that they loved each other, that they had plans to have another baby to get married, that he really loved them. and I asked him, you know, about the last days leading up to their disappearance. And I asked him if all of that was true about him taking them to the gas station and dropping them off and the white car and all of that. And he said that, yes, that all of that was true.

So we ended that first conversation. He was super cordial on the phone, said that we could talk again. He would love to talk anytime. But I left, after that first conversation, it left me kind of feeling like, like maybe we have this all wrong. He really did love them and he was very nice to me. Like maybe we just never gave him the opportunity to talk. And so that was our first conversation and it left me feeling that kind of way, like kind of like maybe we're looking at the wrong people. Maybe she did get in this white photo car. Maybe he's telling the truth. And so that was our first conversation.

But I talked to him again in July of last year and it was a completely different conversation. They, his family was going through a lot of things because of that raid. And so they were kind of turning on each other, if you will, that Joey and his other family members had turned his dad in for some material that they had found on the computer, these illegal weapons and things. One of the charges that his dad received was sexual exploitation of a minor. And that was one of the things that they turned him in for. And so because of all these disagreements and the tension in their family, Joey decided to interrupt a meeting that my family had with the district attorney at the time. And he came forward and said that he was ready to tell law enforcement and my family everything. And he did tell law enforcement and he sat face to face with my mom in town in Springfield, which is where Jennifer and Adriene had disappeared from.

field and cross planes we kind of use interchangeably because they lived on the line of those two cities. But he met with my mom face to face. I was on speakerphone. This was my second conversation with him. And he said that the gas station story, everything that they had told and had been telling for the last 20 years was a lie. So completely different conversation from the first one that we had in April. Did he explain the circumstances about how she died? Yeah, yeah. He did tell a version, which I'll refer to as another version and potentially another well-thought-out lie, like the lie that they told for 20 years. So he said that whenever he got home from work on March 25th, 2004, that Jennifer and Adrianna were already dead. And he did tell what

happened to Jennifer and Adriana, but that's not a story that we believe. And it's not a story that law enforcement can prove or corroborate in any kind of way. And so we're not putting that information out publicly right now what he said happened because we don't want to, we don't want another story to be believed that's not true. We just want to get down to the truth of it. So we're not going to share those details and help him in any way. But in your opinion, why has there been no arrest in this case, particularly after what you just told us? Yeah.

Well, for the past 20 years, everything in our case has been primarily circumstantial. There's no physical evidence in our case. If what Joey's saying is true and Jennifer and Adriene had died on March 25th, 2004, and that's the last time that anyone in our family had to contact with them, we reported Jennifer and Adrienne a missing month Saturday. So a few days had passed before we filed a missing person's report and before law enforcement it was able to go do a welfare check. and actually walk through the property.

The first time they tried to do the welfare check, they were told by Joey they need to come back with a warrant. And so they got a permissive walk through on Sunday after we reported the missing. And so by that time, I think that any evidence of a crime, you know, signs of a conflict or a struggle that they would have been looking for could have been cleaned up surveillance footage that was at the gas station by the time.

law enforcement was able to try to get that footage, it had been taken over. So a lot of the evidence in our case, because there were, you know, those couple of days where, you know, from the time it happened, the time we're reporting missing and they started actually questioning and looking into things, I think that that was time missed and evidence loss. And then not to mention the last 20 years of, you know, being told, no, you can't search on our property by the Bentons. Every search that we've ever tried to, set up, being, you know, met with aggression and them trying to get the search called off. Every search has been permissive.

There have been a few search warrants that were executed in our case, but search warrants are very specific. And so, you know, they did not also turn into us locating any evidence or anything to do at Jennifer Neatrina. So I just don't think that their property has been fully searched thoroughly. And therefore, because there's no physical evidence, Everything being circumstantial. I just think there can't be any arrests unless a district attorney is going to move forward and bring charges for a no-body homicide, which is a possibility in the future. But with everything that happened last year, with him coming forward and making that statement last year, I think that our law enforcement team is still working on it and trying to bring charges and locate Jennifer and Adriana without having to go that. route. And just to be clear, the search from last year, was there anything from that search of

the property, anything that connects to Jennifer or Adriana? We believe that there is. We're told that that search had nothing to do with Jennifer and Adrienne. It had to do with the illegal weapons. He was a convicted felony. He wasn't allowed to have those. And then during that search, they found bomb making materials and then the 20-year-old photograph of a minor. and the charge he received for that sexual exploitation of a minor. So we believe that that photograph could potentially be connected to our case. We're told it's not Adriana or Jennifer. But with that kind of history, you know, having that kind of material on your computer,

we believe that that could potentially be a motive for Jennifer and Adrianna's disappearance or their possible murders. But right now there's no connection between those. So that search did not lead to anything directly related to Jennifer and Adrian's case. I also have to ask you about what happened this past summer, right? Investigators, they identified this leg, human remains belonging to Joey's father. How did you process that discovery of police told you how he died, whether or not that is connected to your case at all?

I mean, that's a big revelation. Yeah, yeah, it is. So after his dad, his dad served one year for all of those charges from the raid back in 2024. All the other charges were dismissed, including the exploitation of the minor. And he served one year for the bomb making materials. He got out in March earlier this year. And from the time that he got out, no one knew his whereabouts. So his wife had filed for divorce and had an order of protection against him.

So technically, he wasn't allowed. back at their home, at his home, that he had lived in for all of this time. So he wasn't technically allowed there, and he was listed as homeless, but he was on probation. He didn't show up for a probation meeting. And so from the time he got let out in early March until July 4th is whenever they found this leg, then TBI and the local police department law enforcement agencies had to identify it. And they told us probably about two months ago that it came back identified.

as Joey's dad, Joe, and it was his leg. And we were told that the condition of the leg, it was severely decomposed and the condition of the leg would mean that he is likely to cease, but they have not found other parts of his remains. They've searched multiple times, but have not been able to locate any other parts of his remains. So it's definitely a big revelation in our case. We've been pushing for them to go search the Benton property,

not just for Jennifer and Adriana, but for possible evidence of foul play in Joe's death. I think that, you know, having three suspicious deaths from that property, from, you know, surrounding that family would mean that law enforcement would go and search there regardless if he was technically allowed there or not. So at this time, law enforcement is still investigating, you know, his death. They haven't given us a cause of death yet. I don't think that the medical examiner can determine a cause of death just from finding his leg. I think that they would need other remains to be able to determine that, but they haven't been able to. So right now we're just still in a waiting period and still waiting on them to go and search the Benton property for all three of these people's deaths. you say three people's deaths in your heart do you think there's a possibility that

Jennifer and Adriana could be alive no I don't no we've really felt it and known it for a long time Jennifer would not just she had no means to and she would not just disappear she was way too close with family depended on family and that's very difficult to do with a baby. And so, you know, people have brought up, like, going underground and witness protection and things like that. But law enforcement gets notified and if that's the case. They are able to find someone if that's the case and they just let you know, you know, we found them. They're safe.

They don't want contact with family. But their social security numbers have never been used. She's never tried to enroll Adrienne in school. We have all the things, you know, family tree, DNA, 23 and me, ancestry. If they were still out there, Jennifer would have made contact that now. It's just not possible. And then that paired with him coming forward and admitting to their deaths at their home. After all this time, it just kind of solidified what we've always known. So now we just need to know the why and the where. You have spent 20 years.

fighting for them. You have launched a podcast to document your search. What keeps you going after all this time? And what do you hope people take away when they listen to you and listen to this story? Yeah, I've spent a long time. I do this every day. Every day of my life, I wake up and I think, how can I move the case forward? What can I do to find Jenfren Adriana today? Who can I talk to, you know, should I reach out to Joey and his family again? Every day I do interviews with as many people as I can, constantly bugging our law enforcement team, district attorney and everything. I'm also working on legislative stuff for trying to get changes made for other families in Tennessee,

but also on a federal level partnering together with other families who have been in my shoes or who are in my shoes. So I do this every day. My mom, the rest of my family, we do this every day, but we don't want to. Our main goal and what I want everyone to know is that if we could just find Jennifer and Adriana, we don't have to know the why or the who. And I think that a lot of missing persons families probably feel the same. After so much time has passed, we just want to find them and to know for sure. and end the not knowing peace. That's the hardest part.

Every family will tell you that. And it's the hardest part for us, too. Of course, we would like to see justice served. If not on a criminal side, we're pursuing justice or form of it on the civil side as well. So what I would like everyone to know is that whenever you have someone you love or two people in our case that go missing and you don't know where they are,

this doesn't end for you. You have to continue it. And in some cases, that means passing it down generation to generation. I wasn't investigating the case every day for the past 21 years. My mom did it for 17. And then I took the case from her. And I just really hope that my kids aren't doing it for me one day. I wake up every day hoping that today is the day that we get the call.

that someone's been arrested or that they've located gym for an adrina so we can we can rest and we can put them to rest that was one of the reasons i wanted you on the program is to shed awareness to this to bring light to this if people are listening to this people are watching this what can they do to help you guys what can they do well first and foremost what you can do to help us is social media is a powerful thing. You know, your show is a powerful thing. Share anything that you possibly can, especially if you're local in our area. We are of the mindset that there's only three people that know what happened to Jennifer and Adriana. One of them is likely to see. So there's only two others. But in that local area, we need continue added pressure. Other missing

persons, families, they need help adding pressure in their communities to keep the case top of mind. It's extremely important to not let the case be forgotten, not let your loved ones be forgotten. Jen for and Adriana, be forgotten. You have to continue it. So sharing on social media is the biggest thing you can do. And then whenever you see our families fighting for change, this is something that no one ever wishes on anybody else. I certainly don't. But if you see us pushing for change, sign our petitions, get behind us, talk to your lawmakers, and talk to your local politicians, and get this on everyone's radars because it's a big problem. And it's going to continue to be a big problem unless we can get in front of it. And we just

need people to do that. We need people to make change. Well, Casey, I really appreciate you coming up to me at CrimeCon telling me this story. I appreciate you coming on. Our hearts, our thoughts, our prayers are with you, your family. As you navigate this, I hope you get the answers that you and the family are desperately looking for and searching after all these years and maybe someone who's watching this or listening to this can help you guys in some way too. So really, Casey, thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate you. And that is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. You can

follow me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.