Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #26 - Sunshine On “A Mountain Mystery” - What Happened to April Jones? Part Two

Episode Date: November 23, 2023

Luna Shark Productions continues its mission of getting the story straight and giving voice to victims by presenting part two of “A Mystery Mountain: What Happened to April Jones?” So much has happened in the Murdaugh case over the past week. It’s honestly mind-blowing the twists and turns this story continues to take. We’ll get into ALL of this very soon. However, in this special episode of True Sunlight Podcast, Eric Alan Daume reports from the Blue Ridge mountains of South Carolina and continues his investigation into April’s death, as well as the deaths of Kevin Craig and John Evans and the disappearance of Faith Roach. While in the middle of reporting on this compelling story — and as more and more doesn’t seem to add up — Eric finds himself caught off-guard by grim news, deepening the mystery of these Oconee County tragedies. Eric Alan’s reporting is not only thorough and fearless, it’s compelling and will have you on the edge of your seat as he grapples with the unexpected and confronts the challenges we’ve all experienced in our reporting on true crime stories. In this latest episode, he has invited all of us behind the scenes on his journey to get at the truth about these mysterious deaths and disappearances in Oconee County.  It’s been a while since we first introduced “A Mountain Mystery.” We invite you to return to True Sunlight Episode #15 to relisten to Part One. And find Eric Alan’s YouTube channel where he has published a number of video episodes on this spellbinding saga Thank you to ALL OF YOU for listening and for helping us shine the light on this important case.  Learn more about Eric Alan and his Compelling True Crime Documentaries here: https://www.youtube.com/@Eric-Alan Join Luna Shark Premium today at Lunashark.Supercast.com. Premium Members also get access to searchable case files, written articles with documents, case photos, episode videos and exclusive live experiences with our hosts on lunasharkmedia.com all in one place. CLICK HERE to learn more: https://bit.ly/3BdUtOE. And for those just wanting ad-free listening without all the other great content, we now offer ad-free listening on Apple Podcast through a subscription to Luna Shark Plus on the Apple Podcasts App. SUNscribe to our free email list to get alerts on bonus episodes, calls to action, new shows and updates. CLICK HERE to learn more: https://bit.ly/3KBMJcP And a special thank you to our sponsors: Microdose.com, PELOTON, and VUORI. Use promo code "MANDY" for a special offer! For current & accurate updates: TrueSunlight.com facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/ Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod Twitter.com/mandymatney Twitter.com/elizfarrell youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Contact your Land Rover Authorized dealer for details. Hello and happy Thanksgiving. For starters, I didn't make the New York Times bestseller list, but that is okay. It was a crazy goal and a long shot dream, but missing out on making that list does not take away from all of the wins we have already gotten from this book. Like the guy who told me he was getting a book for his daughter for when she's old enough, so that she can learn how to stand up for herself at work and trust her instincts.

Or the woman who told me that the book inspired her to go back to therapy and start prioritizing her mental health again. Or all of the people who told me that they hate Charles and how he reminds them of horrible men in their lives. Y'all read it. You really did. You absorbed all the pain and emotion we poured into it, and that is what matters here. I'm going to take the advice from Taylor Swift on this one. And remember the scene from Miss Americana when she found out that reputation was not nominated for a Grammy. And she just said,

Well, I have to make a better album. Maybe. Just maybe. This is just the beginning of my author era. Maybe I didn't hit a home run on the first swing and that is okay. There is beauty in the process. And I just want to say that I am thankful for all of you for giving me the bravery to even say the New York Times goal out loud and getting me here.

There are no words to express that gratitude. So much happened in the Murdoch case over the past week. It is honestly mind-blowing. The twist and turns this story continues to take. I promise, we will be picking the story back up after the holiday because we have a lot to say about what is going on. For a preview of that, make sure to listen to the latest episode of Cup of Justice, which

aired on Tuesday. I will tell y'all, never in the history of Team Murdoch's machinations has this case required more sunshine on it, even with the world watching. The good old boys haven't given up on their mission to exploit the system and minimize and control every aspect of the consequences of the murder cases. Worse than this, Team Murdock is willing to ruin ordinary people's lives to get there. We will get into all of this later on. For now, I just want to say this, between Judge Newman stepping down, the plea deal struck

by the state and a smirking Ellie Khmurtok, as well as the announcement that Clerk of Court Becky Hill's son was arrested and charged in relation to accusations he recorded conversations with a county employee. It is clear to us that this case has turned a dark corner, and there are so many new questions that need to be answered. What new pathways does this plea deal open up for Elic? What does this do to his quest for a new murder trial? What happens now that Judge Newman is off the case?

And is the investigation into Becky's son politically motivated? Is it a ploy or some sort of legal workaround to get it Becky? In a world where there are no coincidences, there certainly seem to be many connected to this new development that are beyond belief. There's one thing I know for sure. In Elik Murdoch's world, no one is more important than him. And everyone is expendable when it comes to protecting his interest. But this is why we do the work that we do. Everything that is happening right now

is what has always made this case an elic mertoc a different sort of true crime story. This is why the mertoc family has been able to hold on to power in the low country for so long. This is why the good ol' boys seemingly act without fear of repercussion. This is why they keep on ticking. I think dick and gym are proud of themselves for wearing everyone down. But the cold hard truth is that the sun will continue to rise and shine on them every single day until the nonsense stops.

That said, I'm really excited and so thankful that we can share Episode 2 of our friend Eric Allen's podcast, A Mountain Mystery, What Happened to April Jones with you this week while we take a breather and spend some time with our friends and family. Eric's reporting is not only thorough and fearless, it is compelling and will have you on the edge of your seat as he grapples with the unexpected and confronts the challenges we have all experienced in our reporting on true crime stories. In this latest episode, he has invited all of us behind the scenes on his journey to get at the truth about these mysterious deaths and disappearances in a Coney County. It's been a while since we first introduced a Mountain Mystery. We invite you to return to True Sunlight Episode 15 to listen to Part one and find Eric Allen's YouTube channel where he has published a number

of video episodes on this spellbinding saga. Thank you to all of you for listening and helping us shine the light on this important case. Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. Here is Eric Allen. Hey man, that's true. Yes, drug overdosing prison. Really? Uh-huh. What do you mean I was just sitting here?

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Hey man, that's true. Yes, drug overdosing prison. Really? Mm-hmm. Jim and I were just sitting here talking about that. That's wild. Do you think there's any chance it has anything to do with the letter?

I think it's got me looked at. Yeah. It could be a coincidence, but... Yeah. The question is a coincidence, but yeah. The question is, is everybody in this case dying? I'm in a county county, South Carolina, and I feel like I've been thrown into a new world. While this is a beautiful place to spend time,

there's breathtaking mountain views, winding rivers, and the trees are bursting with colorful red orange yellow and green leaves. This place also harbors some dark secrets. Last episode, we talked about the first of three cases we're going to be looking at April Jones. A week after April was found dead, 26-year-old faithroach disappeared. She was last seen at a home that April was at just a few days before her death. Two months later, 32-year-old Kevin Craig dies under suspicious circumstances.

Investigators believe he died because he had information about faith's disappearance. A name that's been brought up in connection with all three cases is a man named Kevin Maler, aka Boston. At the time, he was a drug dealer in the area, and at one point, he had murder charges written up against him for the death of Kevin Craig. My initial working theory was, Kevin Maylor killed April and had to get rid of faith

and subsequently, Kevin Craig, in order to keep these murders covered up. They knew too much. I got my hands on a letter that was from a man in prison named John Evans, who wrote to a family member of his. He explained that Kevin Maylor told him he was going to kill April Jones, and that sometime after April's death, he got a hold of a phone from Kevin Maylor, that he found out was April Jones' phone.

I wanted to speak with John Evans, but before I could get to him. Hey, I hope I'm not about her. Um, no, you're good. That's what I tell you, uh, okay, so, you remember you was asking about John Evans? Yeah. He's dead. We'll talk more about John Evans later. As you continue to listen to this story, you're going to hear about more murders, deaths,

people going missing, homes burning down. All of these cases we cover occur in Wahala, South Carolina among the same group of people, and at the foundation of all of this mayhem lies one common thing, drugs. I decided to reach out to a former a county county sheriff's office investigator to learn more about this scene and try to wrap my head around it. And I couldn't have found a better person to speak with. David McMahon is 57 years old. He was born in a county county and has seen how drugs have affected and changed this

area over the years. I was born and raised in O'Coney because I decided to get in low enforcement because I wanted to help people. And that was my way of doing it. I retired in November of 2020. Here I am still heavily involved in things that's going on and I want to see things finished. What I saw in the mid 2000s, meth really took off in this area, methamphetamines. It was a thing to go on the internet and figure out a recipe to make meth. And all of a sudden, people were doing it everywhere

in the rural areas up in here. And I would go and get records of this drug store and this drug store and this drug store. It was buying pseudophilic, and I would lay them on the table and I would say, these guys were matching their buying stuff, and I knew that guy was gonna be making meth that night. So I busted 10 meth labs one year just by doing that.

It was like a puzzle. I enjoyed doing it because I hate meth. You take that first hit of meth and you always are chasing that same high from then on as I've interviewed people who are addicted to meth. So it results and I need more meth so I result in stealing. Stealing results later on in the possibly violence. So it's a downhill spiral. All your math now is coming from Mexico. Time you make it in the air for it to put into it, you can buy a hotter quality of math from Mexico.

So it's all coming in from Mexico now. And what is it like battling that kind of traffic into the area? Is it difficult to figure out where these sources are coming from or where these people are getting it? It's very difficult because in this part of the South Carolina, we have Atlanta, Greenville, and then we have Charlotte.

And guess what's trapped down in the middle of Oconi County on I-85? The trafficking of both of meth and other heroin and fentanyl is deadly coming from the south up into this area. And law enforcement doesn't have all the resources to set there and just constantly work those areas. We're starting to lose law enforcement now

because of the environment today. And young folks are not wanting to go to the academy because that is a dangerous job now. Why would a young man want to risk his life in today's environment to become a police officer? You've got to have it in your heart to do it. It's not just, hey, it's a job anymore. We have a little small war in her.

And our country and the police officer is the take-and-run. One of the missing girls who I won't actually be covering in this season is a woman named Tammy. David knew her. This, again, is personal and maybe because we're a small community and I went to school with Tammy. I knew her and I watched her decline.

And I lost contact with her. It's gradually over the years. You know, I had a family and raised a family. You know how you kind of lose contact with people. But Tammy did decline into that drug world over the years, you know, I had a family and raising a family, and you know how you kind of lose contact with people. But Tammy did decline into that drug world, you know, it's sad, I mean, I don't know really what to say, but yeah, it was a decline. And like I said earlier, sometimes the math is so powerful and addictive, it's that ultimate

high is what I've been told as I interview folks that are addicted to meth and heroin. You're always chasing the next high, you know? And so you'll do whatever you may be somebody that you get back to. Don't have that willpower to resist. Others do. I had a really interesting perspective shift

while creating this podcast. I had never known anyone go from clean to a drug addict. I think I subconsciously saw these types of drugs only affecting certain types of people, a weaker type of person, like someone who was already kind of lazy, probably lived in an unkempt house, generally unproductive,

who would easily give in into whatever desires they felt. So when drugs came along, they were the prime type of person to do them. But that's not the case. I was able to see photos of various people throughout the years, and watch them in photos go from good looking, well dressed, and put together people to completely wrecked by a drug addiction. And there could be various reasons people would initially turn to drugs, from a desire to be more productive and a person recommending a little meth now and then, to someone just

wanting to escape the emotional weight of some incredibly tragic things that have happened to them. And before they know it, their whole life has changed. A few quick caveats here, one, I'm not saying every drug is bad, and two, I'm not saying I know how to fix the drug problem or the right or wrong ways to do it, but it is a big problem that needs attention. David saw this problem in his community, so he was happy to help. He even went along with me as I went to some of the more dangerous areas for this podcast.

He asked for nothing in return. He said this when I mentioned that I wished I could pay him. You don't owe me nothing. I'm glad you're doing this. I'm a big advocate for the world drugs. And I feel like you're helping with the oral drugs, so I'm helping. I'm glad you're here. And there's no money can pay for that.

Well, I really appreciate that. I do. He seemed to know everybody, and everybody seemed to know him. And people felt comfortable around him. They saw him as someone who could and would help. For example, at one interview later on in the series, the lady I was there to speak with chatted with David for about 30 minutes before we got started. David was just giving her helpful advice on how to deal with some overdue tax bills on her property.

Anyways, remember from last episode, David actually knew John Evans. Knowing what we know now, this next clip is tougher to listen to. Evans knowing what we know now this next clip is tougher to listen to. Maybe he's always try to give people a benefit of the doubt. Maybe he's going to have a turn around his life. I hope he does. He's got some really good people in his family. He wasn't raised that way. You've heard that saying before he wasn't raised that way.

He really wasn't raised that way. It's just something to happen. Drugs, I'm sure. Yeah. Got into the wrong circles. Just one month later, John Evans was dead. So let's talk about John Evans. I was in Wohala driving somewhere when I got a call from a source. I had no idea what it was about. So I pulled over and turned on my recorder. I don't know what happened. Trying to find out, uh, seems like you all

let you know. But yeah, I just now seen the post down there. I'm kind of freaking out. So I might hit a little bit. I thought he was in prison. Did he, did he get out? Uh, I don't know.

It's an upshot figure out. As soon as I find out what happened to him, I'll let you know. I'm a little bit shocked. Please do. Yeah, I'm, I'm kind of in shock too. Yeah, let me know if you find out more information and I'll do some digging too.

And I'll let you know what I find out. Wow, thank you for calling me, seriously. After the call, I set and recorded some of my thoughts. The timing of this call and John Evans' death was suspicious to me. Like Faith may have and like Kevin Craig may have, John Evans had information that could potentially implicate Kevin Maylor for murder. And I had just spoken with Kevin Maylor for the very first time that week. So I just got a call maybe five minutes ago saying that all over Facebook people are posting about John Evans being dead. That's the only information I

have. I don't know how. I don't know what's going on. But I spoke on the phone yesterday. It was yesterday the first day. I was there before yesterday. I can't remember, but with Kevin Maylor and we started going over everything. I'd never mentioned John Evans though. I mean, not even close. I was stressing out pretty badly in this moment. I couldn't find much information on John Evans' death other than the fact that he was in prison and died of an overdose. I've had people tell me that

one thing they believe Boston does is get information about people and hold it over their heads to get them to do things for him. If Boston had heard that John Evans wrote this letter, accusing him of killing April, could he have had someone give John Evans a deadly dose of drugs? After I got the call about John Evans' death, I needed to confirm the information but couldn't find anything online about it. I'm going to introduce them in a later episode, but through investigating these cases so deeply, I'd gotten to know that two lead investigators for the Acone County Sheriff's Office. I texted one asking if it was true that John Evans had died and he texted back,

it's absolutely true. I turned on my recorder and called him immediately. I mean, hey man, that's true? Yes, drug overdosing prison. Really? Mm-hmm, Jim and I will just sit here talk about that. That's wild. Do you think there's any chance it has anything to do with the letter? I think it's got to be looked at. Yeah. Yeah, it seems like one coincidence after the other.

Yeah, exactly. Was there a chance that because of something I did, Boston found out about the letter and I'm indirectly responsible for his death? This thought initially terrified me, but I realized it was very unlikely. While I only knew of a few people that knew about the letter, information like this can spread like a wildfire, especially in this area that I've been in. And the more I thought

about it, the more confident I was that I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I even went back and listened to all of the conversations I had with Kevin Maylor, and there's no point where it's even alluded to. But the initial thought was terrifying. Anyways, here's me recording my thoughts right after getting off the phone with the investigators. You'll hear that I'm cut off by a phone call. There's a little part of me that is worried that I might have had something to do with

it. There's a little part of me that is worried that I might have had something to do with it, but the more I think about it, I just can't imagine that I do. I mean, I had the letter and just seemed so much more likely that if he died because of that letter, it was someone else. Kevin's calling me right now. This is a global telling telling print paid calls from Kevin, Iowa. An inmate at South Carolina Department of Corrections.

So just moments after hanging up with the investigator, while I'm recording my thoughts on it all, I get a call from Kevin Maylor. My mind was racing. Should I bring up John Evans, will that help or hinder the investigation? The last thing I want to do is hurt an investigation. I had to make a split second decision. Hey, did you know John Evans? I decided to mention it. Here's why. It's much harder to fake a reaction to hearing news like that for the first time. And at that time, I was likely the first person he spoke to since John Evans died.

There's a whole process the investigators have to go through to speak with an inmate in prison. Boston speaks with people from the outside regularly, so by the time the investigators got to him, the news would have made its way to him already. And he'd be able to say, yeah, I heard about that a long time ago, that's sad. I had an opportunity to get his first reaction to the news. And I took it. I'm going to play a section of our talk

without any edits. No ums or pauses or cut out or shortened or lengthened, so you can really feel what the conversation was like. Keep in mind, I'm processing if I should tell him or not in real time, processing if I should tell him or not in real time and processing how to tell him without him knowing why I even know who John Evans is in the first place. To be honest with you, I mean I don't want you to just do nothing to disappear my life. Yeah I won't want to say I'm just a dying person and I do every once in a few more years. Yeah, oh, for sure. For sure.

So, uh, Hey, did, did you know John Evans? John Evans, yeah, I know. Um, so I, because I, I've just been getting to kind of know like all the whole like circle in Wahala really, you know, kind of everyone around there. And, you know, kind of everyone's names come up. So I'm really trying to get to know everyone. But I guess he, I just found out that he, he overdosed and prison and died yesterday. No, don't tell me that yeah yeah i'm sorry to break that team and

i know yeah and again man i'm sorry to break that to you. It's just, you know, I figured, you know, maybe hearing it from me as opposed to just, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you

know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, Yeah. He was another one that was always there for me like, Kettle. Yeah. He called you his big brother.

I'm going to be honest, I didn't really think past what to do or say after I told him, and I found myself in a really odd situation. I was either listening to a man who was responsible for the death of John Evans, acting out fake grief. Or, I was listening to a man who was genuinely grieving because he lost a close friend. What do you say to that man when you don't know which one is true? One thing I did note in the conversation is when I bring him up I say, did you know John Evans? I'm speaking in the past tense because I already know he's dead. Boston replies with, yeah, I know John Evans. He doesn't use past tense. I saw this as a little evidence supporting the idea that he didn't know John

was dead and didn't have anything to do with his death. Anyways, my plan to speak with John Evans was derailed. I had to accept the fact that if you had more information than what was included in the letter, it was lost forever. But I did still have the letter to go off of. So let's investigate John Evans' claims to see if they fit into what we know about April's death. In the letter, John Evans says that Boston said

he was going to use a certain substance in order to kill April. I'm assuming he was going to do this by putting this substance in drugs he would sell her. I'm going to call the substance John Evans speaks about in his letter, substance A. It's very unlikely they would have tested for the presence of substance A during the autopsy.

Substance A has very little research on what happens if it's intravenously injected into the bloodstream, but one published research paper studied two instances. In one instance, the person survived with medical treatment, and in the other, the individual died about 48 to 72 hours The individual died about 48 to 72 hours after the injection, though this person had also injected other substances into his body in addition to substance A. All that to say, if Kevin is telling the truth about when he last saw April, he could still be responsible for her death. He could have given her drugs with substance A mixed in, and if she took them that night, she would potentially be dead within the next 72 hours. And we know that April was found a little more than 48 hours after Kevin Mayler last claims

he saw her. Substance A can also cause kidney and liver failure, which can lead to easy bruising and bleeding, which may explain why she had so many bruises on her body. But those are all things I found with my initial research. Months later, shortly before recording this podcast, I did a really deep dive on Substance A and spent hours trying to find as much information as I possibly could. By the end of my research, I do not think Substance A was used to kill April. This stems from issues in getting enough of substance A mixed

with the drugs without April knowing, and other red flags that should be obvious during an autopsy if April had died as a result of substance A. If Kevin killed April, I do not believe that he used substance A. The one mentioned in the letter from John Evans. The revelation that it's extremely unlikely that substance A was used to kill April does not mean Kevin Maylor is not responsible for her death. He could have simply used a different substance. But as I'm doing my research and forming my opinion on matters, I like to think of information as weight on a scale.

Like the old-school scale balancing with two plates on either side, I'm continuously adding weight to one or the other side of the scale as new information comes in. The amount of weight being proportional to the significance of the new piece of information. My belief in something is proportional to the unevenness of those scales, which are rarely completely weighed down on one side. of those scales, which are rarely completely weighed down on one side. If the scale is even or level, the odds are 50-50, one way or the other. If all of my research had pointed to Substance A, being the cause of April's death, I would have added a large amount of weight to the guilty side of the Did Kevin Kill April scale. Finding that the substance John Evan mentions is very likely incorrect,

doesn't cause me to put a ton of weight on the knot guilty side, as Kevin could have simply changed his mind after he spoke with John Evans and used another substance. But it does cause me to put a little weight on the knot guilty side. And as I dug through all the information I gathered, I found more and more weight to put on that not guilty side of the scale and even reason to take some weight off of the guilty side. I take creating these podcasts seriously and the last thing I want to do is make an innocent man look guilty. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I'll speak more in this later, but one of the biggest struggles I had when creating this podcast was the fear of letting people down. To the point that I honestly thought about not creating this podcast at all and leaving

the true crime world behind. I got to know Kevin Meyler. I spent time with him. I spent time with his daughter who believes he's innocent and desperately wanted my help defending her father. I also spent time with the families and loved ones of April Jones, Faith Roach and Kevin Craig, many of whom believe Kevin Maylor is responsible for their loved ones' deaths and desperately wanted to expose Kevin Maylor, find answers, and find justice. I'll get into more of that in later episodes, but right now we're talking about some of

the things that led me to doubt whether Kevin Maylor was involved in April's death or not. There's a lot to cover, so let's break things down one by one. Q the next song and load up on Tim's loaded bulls, packed with hearty ingredients for a satisfying meal. Our four flavors hit the right notes. Choose from Chipotle's steak, barbecue crispy chicken, habanero chicken, or cilantro lime chicken.

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he was going to kill April. Like we've spoke about earlier, drugs make you do things you wouldn't normally do, and I don't mean just being high on drugs, but if you're addicted, the lack of drugs will push you to do things you never would have considered doing before you were into drugs. This is why drugs fuel so much crime. People will do anything to get to the next high,

whether that's violence, theft, or even lying about a good friend of yours. You can get drugs in prison, but it's not nearly as easy as when you're out on the streets. If John Evans was going through with draws, he might have been trying to figure out a way to get out of prison sooner, so he could have easier access to drugs. He was friends with a man who was the suspect of various deaths, and maybe he thought he could have easier access to drugs. He was friends with a man who was the suspect of various deaths, and maybe he thought he could leverage that. If he said he had info about a murder, could he cut a deal with the police and get out early, maybe write an official statement for them or testify in court? And the fact that he overdosed in prison would

fit this idea well. It's not uncommon for people who haven't had access to drugs for a while to overdose. When they are regularly using drugs, they build up a tolerance and gradually increase the amount that they use to get the same effect. But when you haven't done drugs in a while, you don't have that tolerance anymore. And if you take the amount that you're used to

when you did drugs regularly, there's a significant increase in risk of overdose. Next, I want to look at Kevin ending up with April's phone. This felt like pretty big evidence against Kevin Mailler. If April was murdered, Kevin ending up with her phone does not look good for him. Here's what Kevin says about the phone situation. So, the neighbor gave me the performance as he couldn't find my phone. He gave me a couple of phones, but I don't even know what happened to him. They had lots of them, so they weren't that used to me. Gotcha, sir.

The store is not the part of me. She went through all her back and I was thinking, good finally, pass the phone. So, he's not like six or seven phones into the gaming table. So, Kevin says April and Tom gave him a ride in Tom's truck, and Kevin left his phone in the truck.

I would later get a little more clarity on this when I got to know Kevin better. So did you go anywhere with Tom and April when they came? No. No. So they just parked outside of the house that you were at. No, they parked up the road. I walked up the road and that was not. I mean, you know what I was up the road and got what was that?

I mean, you know what I was doing. Yeah, we don't need to explicitly say that, but you didn't go anywhere with them. They parked up the road. You walked down there, got in the truck with them for a few minutes and okay, gotcha. So Kevin says that he met with April and Tom and he accidentally left his phone in their truck. When Kevin realized his phone was missing, he got his friend Barry Neal to take him over to Tom Smith's house, April's next door neighbor,

to get the phone. When he couldn't find it, Tom gave him a few phones he had lying around. Two days later, as when April was found dead. Originally, this story felt suspicious to me. If he couldn't find his phone, why would Tom just give him some phones he had lying around? I didn't quite understand this, and kind of felt like he may have been making this story up to try to portray a legitimate reason as to why he would have wound up with April's phone after she was found dead, that maybe he never lost his phone and had April's because he killed her. But person A's story of Kevin saying that girl's got my phone actually corroborates Kevin's story that he lost his phone and believed April had it.

Looks up like this, girls. She's got my phone. He runs out of the house. Runs out. But Kevin's story still felt a little off. Why would April give up her phone just because Kevin couldn't find his? Two things to touch on here. One, after getting to know Kevin better, he clarified the situation involving getting phones from Tom and April. But Tom gave you a few phones. From forms and I, I pod.

Why did, why did he give you this? I told him I wasn't leaving without something. I mean, yeah. I just, I knew he knew where my phone was and wasn't leaving without something. Uh... I mean... Yeah. I just... I knew he knew where my phone was. And he wasn't giving it up. Gotcha. So, say you felt like he was just trying to keep your phone and you were like,

well listen, if you're not going to give me my phone, you're going to give me something. Yeah. Kevin believed they had his phone and were lying to him about not having it. So he essentially strong-armed Tom into giving him a few phones. 2. I think Kevin might not have actually had April's phone. Let me explain. The reason

we believe he wound up with April's phone is because of the John Evans letter and a few people I spoke with who saw this phone. But why did they believe it was April's? Well, they actually couldn't get into the phone because it was password protected, but there was an SD card in the phone with pictures on it, and April and her family was in many of those pictures. Remember last episode when I mentioned that during the days leading up to April's death, she had stolen her mother's phone? I think this might be the phone that Kevin wound up with.

It wouldn't make sense for Aprilel just to give up her phone since Kevin lost his, but wouldn't surprise me if they gave him her moms when he was being pushed about it. Moving on, let's look at Person A's story some. I said, oh, by the way, I said, if you're going to leave, don't go that way, because there's a day go down there. It's motherfucker. It's what it got.

Looks up like this and goes, she's got my phone. And Brun's out of the house. Brun's out. Human Barry did not come back until 7 a.m. When I really thought about this piece of information, much of it could be explained by other things. Let's suppose for a moment, Kevin did not have anything to do with April's death. If Kevin did leave his phone with April April and then she died, he should freak out about it. He's a drug dealer. That phone would incriminate him on some serious drug charges. If April had it on her when she died, well, now the police had Kevin's phone.

And I actually think if this moment is true, it could point to his innocence, or at least be a little wait to put on the not guilty side of the scale. Let me explain. When April was found, she was cold to the touch. She had been dead for roughly six to 36 hours. Are we supposed to believe that Kevin killed her, but only realized that leaving his film with her was bad news for him after Person A brings up her death. He had known she was dead or going to die for a few days and had known that she had his phone, but didn't make the connection that that was a bad thing until after she was found. It seems more likely he didn't know she was going to die and when he found out she did,

he freaked out because he knew she might have his phone on her. But what about Kevin knowing it was April when Person A said there's a dead girl down the road? This could be explained by a few things. One, Kevin is a drug dealer who was connected to everyone in that area. It wouldn't be surprising at all if he had heard about April's death before Person A did. Another possibility is Person A could simply be

misremembering parts of the story. And I actually know this to be true for some parts of it. I looked up historical weather data for the night April was found and it did not rain. January 28th is on April back heel. You had something to do with that shit that happened to April because you left here in 1130. I'll never forget this. It was not raining when he left. but when he came back it was in his 2.30 A.M. We'll talk more about Person A in future episodes, but this was not the only instance of information from Person A that simply was not true. And the more I spoke with Person A, the less credible they became in my view. I want to be clear. Am I saying right now that I believe there is

no chance that Kevin Maylor had something to do with April's death? No, I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is we need to take off some weight on the guilty side of our did Kevin kill April's scale and place some on the not guilty side. Speaking with Kevin, he mentioned there are scenarios involving April's death that no one is talking about. There's a lot of things that one being told. He was having a affair with a next door neighbor because that's the last place I've seen him. Without one to the neighbor's house.

And she finally came out of the woods. She was scared to death, and it was the first time. I mean, I told you I was known her eight times years. That was the first time I've ever told you I didn't know what I was like. It was the first time I've ever seen a car in a gun. Um, especially for my husband. There is then a lot of history of abuse between them too. I don't know if he knew about this. Her and the neighbor, but it isn't long for a long time.

And I'm not saying nothing bad about it because I like the girl look. Yeah. I don't want anybody to say anything bad about it because I like the girl who I don't want. I don't want anybody to say anything bad about it because she really wasn't a good girl. She just wasn't at it. Yeah. Like the rest of us. Yeah. With this information, let's consider a few other theories in regards to April's death. Allegedly, April was having an affair with the man next door. Tom. He was actually the last person in the timeline who claimed to see her.

The police report says that Tom said she left to go to the neighbor's house across the street. I spoke with that neighbor and he told me April was never at his house that day. Now I don't see this as a huge red flag. Yes, Tom said she went across the street to the neighbor's house, and that neighbor says she never showed up. But that doesn't mean she didn't leave Tom's house, with Tom believing she was going to the neighbor's house. She could have told him that and went somewhere else. I actually don't have much to say about Tom, because the people who I spoke with about April's case didn't have much to say about Tom either.

Looking at his record, he doesn't have any violent crime charges, mainly traffic and DUI charges with one drug charge. I did attempt to speak with him, and he politely declined. Really, all I have to go on here is nobody else seeing Tom as a suspect, and him being polite when I briefly attempted to speak with him. Next theory. When there is a suspicious death, the first person to always look at is the significant other.

Let's talk about Andy a bit. Here's what a few different people had to say about him and April's relationship. I always tell him that they had a vital attraction. Because they loved each other, that they hated each other. Listen, I'd have to go over there and get between them fighting. I would have a golf club about to swine get at him.

Yeah, that's bad. Me and five. They basically fought. Either get the good side or get the bad side. That's all I gotta say. I watched her run after Andy with a shovel before. Oh, gosh. Yeah, it was bad. I watched her T-bone Andy and the trope.

With a razor. Like, it was bad. I watched her T-bone, Andy, and then wrote, just with a writer. Like, you ain't going nowhere. Stuck to buy your grandma Who drinks her shard and nail the nights Stuff to make you big and strong Stuck we can't make it in this song Stuck for long to begging holes Take big on the stump at Amazon Stop! Business notifications out of hand

Thrive Command Center keeps your customer emails, texts, and social messages all in one place so you never miss a message. Small business runs better on Thrive. Get it free today at thrivethrivy.ca. Terms and conditions apply. Free plans have limited functionality. So, Andy and April had a pretty toxic relationship, but from what I could gather, both of them played a major role in it.

But then I kept hearing from different people that the day is leading up to her death, April was acting paranoid about Andy specifically. This sounds pretty damning for Andy, but there could be an explanation for this. Here's a quote from Cornerstonehailingcenter.com. Meth affects its user's brain chemistry, often resulting in symptoms such as psychosis or paranoia. Paranoia is a mental health disorder where an individual is unaware of their surroundings.

Meth users often fear that everyone around them is out to get them. After using, they feel they're being lied to or even the closest people to them have malicious intentions. Meth-induced paranoia also involves psychosis, a mental disorder that affects a person's emotional and logical state.

The individual experiences hallucinations or delusions where they often claim to experience an event that never occurred. They experience a lot of confusion and will be emotionally reactive." End quote. If April was having an affair, the worry in paranoia about Andy finding out

would be massively escalated because of what she had in her system. Additionally, the neighbor Tom Smith called Andy when April was in the worst of her drug binge on Sunday morning. Here's what the police report said about this. Thomas had called her husband Andy Jones, who came over seeing the victim and her state.

Thomas Smith told investigators that Andy told him to just call the police and let them handle it. Tom says that he didn't call the police because he didn't want to do that to April. Thomas stated that the victim was tearing up his bathroom and his bedroom. Thomas stated that she was acting paranoid, also due to the drug she was on. End quote. So even the neighbor Tom described April as being paranoid. Andy told me that when April gets on drugs, that's when she can get physical and he would wind up in trouble for it.

He learned it was better to just let the police handle it. I don't fault him for this, and I think this account that is told by both Andy and Tom gives credence to the idea that Andy wasn't in a state to kill his wife. He was actually trying to make sure they didn't get into an altercation. Lastly, I wanna talk about the possibility

of the coroner being correct, an April dying of an overdose in hypothermia, with no foul play involved. Here's an excerpt from the police report. I, Sergeant Rowletter, along with Lieutenant Williams, have both observed former inmate April on several occasions when she was brought to jail, to be in what appeared to be an intoxicated state on some type of unknown substance. On these times that she was brought in, she had bruising to multiple parts of her body. When we would ask her about her bruises, she would tell us, it's none of your business. We observed

her to be in a paranoid state and would not let some officers get close to her, with her saying, y'all are trying to kill me, y'all are trying to do something to me. She would be sweating profusely and talking out of her head. This would hinder us in our duties to book her in for up to two to three days. While under observation, we would see her stripper close off and would lay in the floor, oftentimes she would be on her knees, with her shoulders down, with her head also down on the floor. She would hit her head on the glass on the tank door as well as hit her head on the concrete floor. Even after she was booked and processed, she would continue to be in a type of paranoid state.

This would continue to last from two to three days during her incarceration. A different paragraph from the report says, quote, after an investigation of this case, the investigating officer is closing this case as a drug-induced death. There was no evidence at the scene to indicate that the victim had been assaulted.

The autopsy was performed by Dr. Woodward just after 11am on January 29th, 2019. Dr. Woodward stated from the results of the autopsy, there was no evidence of the victim being assaulted or tied up. The victim had been exposed to the cold, causing the color of her bruises to be a red color. Dr. Woodward stated that some of the injuries were healing from a prior date being scabbed over. Dr. Woodward stated that it appeared that the victim had been passed out for a period of time where she was in the dog down position, causing the red bruising on her arms, hands, knees, and her forehead. The victim had rolled over on her back at some point in which this is the position she died. Dr. Woodward stated that it appeared to be a drug-induced death. The toxicology

report that we received on 4-3-2019 did confirm that the victim did die from a drug induced overdose. The investigating officer also spoke with a county county detention center employees who stated that the victim would lay in a dog-down position on the floor and it would take two days sometimes for them to be able to complete the booking process due to the victim's behavior when she would come in to the Acone County Detention Center while on drugs. This case is closed." When I look at the photos of April's body, there seems to be much more going on than just some bruises from being in a dog-down position. But I'm not a medical

doctor and I do believe there is a chance that there is no foul play in April's death. I want to note here a bias that I noticed in myself when creating this section. If the initial police report is correct, this is still an incredibly tragic event, but also relatively simple. Leaving me without much of a story to tell. I have an incentive to downplay the initial thoughts on the case to make other theories more interesting. I also felt there was some bias or maybe self-imposed pressure to downplay this police narrative because

the family doesn't believe this narrative to be true, and presenting things that run counter to what April's loved ones believe can feel uncomfortable, I guess. April's life was a roller coaster and she seemed to be a real life juggle in high. She spent time in a net of jail. She lost custody of her kids. She stole from loved ones to buy drugs. lost custody of her kids, she stole from loved ones to buy drugs. When people die, sometimes it seems as if they're talked about through rose-colored glasses. Their good deeds are amplified far beyond reality. I didn't get that feeling from people when I spoke with those that knew April. When she was good, she was really good. She was genuinely loving and caring, and would often put others before herself.

Oftentimes, she was the type of person you just wanted to be around. You were happier when April was in the room. I go to sleep that night. I go woke up at 4 o'clock that morning. I walk through the living room, and there's my friend Bella. She, she lived in Central at the Thomas Rond, just something was wrong. When I was in the kitchen, Andy was sitting there. I stepped out and it looked like he's seen a ghost. I was like, yo, I do not tell me that my mama is not as soon as I was saying that my mama is gone. As soon as I was saying that, my mother said, baby, your mama's gone.

That night, I was the piece of me that I'm never here back. And somebody that's so pissed, and it's dark and it's twisted, as it gets, I did that to my mama. Their day reckoning is going to come. Their judgment day is going to come. You took my mom... ...do a daughter...

...took a wife... ...a sister... ...and aunt... ...for what? Now... ...my mama is not gonna be at my wedding one day. She's not gonna see my first kid. You took that away from me.

17 years old. You took my mom. After my life, everybody still get everything else from me. I had nothing, and you still took everything from me. It's not fair. I'm telling you right now this past four years has been the most fucked up years of my life.

I've went through so many changes as a person. I've screamed, I've cried. I've literally went and laid on my mom's grave all night. Drunk went and laid and cried. I feel there wasn't me all the time. But it's not the same. While we've gone over all the counter arguments to the theory that Kevin killed April and the other theory surrounding her death, we haven't been able to rule out the theory that

Kevin killed April either. And the timing of her death with faith's disappearance one week later makes it hard for me to believe there isn't some sort of connection here. Remember, two days before April was found dead, she had met with Kevin Maler at the White House. You know, people would tell me that she was at the end of my dirt road at the White House, meeting Kevin Maler out there, getting drugs. I have been told that fight was out there. Really, that same time with... Or can you say who told you that?

No, I was not. I was... and that's a good... It's a good soul. When I asked Kevin about this, he didn't say that house specifically, but described exactly where that house was at. I don't really want to get into wine, but... Yeah, you don't have to tell me why, but where did they meet you at?

Down the road. Down the road? Yeah. Okay. Um... You can't get into where? Down the dirt road, down by, uh, crossing the school. Okay, I gotcha.

This is where faith was last seen about a week later. Not only that, Faith's aunt told me about a conversation she had with Faith shortly before she disappeared. In this next clip, she says the name of the guy who lives at the White House and I redact that name, but know that she is referring to the White House. They were at the house. Faith went to the bathroom.

She heard two men beating these schnites out of a female in the back room. The next day, they found April John's dead. This is one thing that led me to believe Kevin may have killed Faith. Was this woman getting beat up April Jones? Were the two men beating her Kevin Mailer and Barry Neal? And did faith see this?

Next on a Mountain Mystery. Barry Neal, do you have him? I did a search warrant on his house and I finally found a face nerve and it's made it. I believe Barry Neal's nose worse her body is. I believe you got something with it. But yeah, you just, you know how you're that close but yet you're so far.

Yep. I even found bones underneath this bed. I've got a bird that she's in a barrel and acid of there on the same property. I'm a nervous wreck right now because none of it makes sense to me. And I try to make it make sense, but I can't. Barry and Boston come up there with face foam and Barry was deleting shit off of it and Barry says they're never gonna find her it

was a blood bath. Eric here I want to cap off every podcast reminding you not to form strong opinions. There is so much more in this story to be told. If you enjoyed this episode there will be a condensed video version with interview footage footage footage of Wahala, the workshop, April and her family, published on my YouTube channel. Depending on when you are listening to this, it may be a few weeks before that is released, but in the meantime, I've got videos on other cases that I think you will really enjoy. I'd be honored if you checked it out. Simply go to youtube.com slash Eric Allen videos or search Eric Allen on YouTube and my channel will show up.

That's ERICALAN. See you on the next one.