Murder With My Husband - 242. Stolen In Plain Sight - Jermain Charlo

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

In this episode, Garrett and Payton delve into the mysterious case of Jermain Charlo. After she goes missing, her final known moments are captured on camera, sparking a sluggish police investigation that ultimately leads to heartbreak. Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Case Sources:  DailyMail.com - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13962375/video-missing-mom-jermain-charlo-missoula.html Uncovered.com - https://uncovered.com/cases/jermain-charlo KPax.com - https://www.kpax.com/news/mmip/missing-woman-jermain-charlos-family-pleased-with-national-spotlight-on-the-case#google_vignette TheSun.com - https://www.the-sun.com/news/12656616/jermain-charlo-missing-48-hours-michael-defrance-mmiw/ CBSNews.com - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jermain-charlo-search-michael-defrance-investigation-montana-timeline-48-hours/ DailyMontanan.com - https://dailymontanan.com/2023/05/02/judge-jermain-charlos-ex-boyfriend-guilty-of-illegal-firearms-possession-false-statements/ GreatFallsTribune.com - https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2021/08/05/ex-boyfriend-jermain-charlo-appears-federal-court/5499952001/ Oxygen.com - https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/jermain-charlo-missing-person-case-focus-of-new-podcast-series IndianLaw.org - https://indianlaw.org/issue/ending-violence-against-native-women#:~:text=More%20than%204%20in%205,2%20have%20experienced%20sexual%20violence GBVLearningNetwork.ca - ​​https://gbvlearningnetwork.ca/our-work/issuebased_newsletters/Issue-25/index.html RollingStone.com - https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/stolen-jermain-podcast-connie-walker-interview-1157200/ NewYorker.com - https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/is-there-hope-for-the-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women#:~:text=(The%20Bureau%20of%20Indian%20Affairs,Natives%20that%20have%20gone%20unsolved.) KatieCouric.com - https://katiecouric.com/news/why-are-indigenous-women-going-missing-and-cases-ignored/ Vogue.com - https://www.vogue.com/article/connie-walker-stolen-the-search-for-jermain-podcast NativeHope.org - https://www.nativehope.org/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-mmiw?utm_term=missing%20and%20murdered%20indigenous%20women&utm_campaign=MMIW+-+Search&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_tgt=kwd-499968175672&hsa_grp=144380966783&hsa_src=g&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_mt=b&hsa_ver=3&hsa_ad=646853914079&hsa_acc=3651624507&hsa_kw=missing%20and%20murdered%20indigenous%20women&hsa_cam=19633980915&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoae5BhCNARIsADVLzZcTrF8h2a9Pj6QNIFV3W0ILrzdntgZMcCiRZRil4CP_TmonKKBAnp0aAtP0EALw_wcB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Sephora Savings Event is here. World in my hand, I'll take this and that. And that. Ooh, and this. Oh, it's true. Find everything you want on sale at the Sephora Savings Event. It only happens twice a year, and it's on now through November 11th. Find brands like Rare Beauty, Glow Recipe, Valentino, K-18, and more, all for less.

Shop at Sephora today. Limitations apply. Must be a beauty insider. See terms at Sephora today. Limitations applied. Must be a beauty insider. See terms at Sephora.com for complete details. You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with my Husband. I'm Peyton Morland. And I'm Garrett Morland. And he's the husband. I'm the husband. If you're watching on YouTube, I feel like I look very corporate or like professional with this coffee in my hand. My legs, one of my legs crossed.

Don't spill it. Cheers. Thank you for being here. We love you all. If you want bonus content and ad free content, do not forget to subscribe to Apple subscriptions, Patreon, Spotify subscriptions. We have it all. You will get two bonus episodes each month and ad free content.

Again, thank you for being here, thank you for listening, thank you for supporting, thank you for following, thank you for downloading. We love you guys, we would not be here doing this podcast without you guys and we love that you like listening to our content. You got your 10 seconds? No, I don't, but I will think of one right now.

Peyton and I took pictures basically for the first time together since we got engaged. Eight years, eight and a half years, nine years, something, somewhere between eight and nine years. We're both on the same page about that, so no harm, no foul. But yeah, it's been a while since we took pictures and Peyton and I went and took pictures. We just got them back.

We love them. They turned out really good. I'm sure Peyton will post some of them, but it was, I know it was kind of crazy. It's crazy how fast time can go. And all of a sudden you're like, whoa, we haven't taken pictures together in X amount of years. Like the time just flies by as you start working and I don't know, real life hits you and, Payton, I don't even have kids. I can't imagine when you have kids, like time just starts flying by.

I don't know, I guess that's my 10 seconds. It's more of a chill 10 seconds. I was just thinking about that the other day. Our sources for this episode are DailyMail.com, Uncovered.com, Kpax.com, TheSun.com, CBS News, DailyMontanen.com, Great Falls Tribune.com, Oxygen.com, IndianLaw.org, GBVLearningNetwork.com, kpax.com, thesun.com, CBS News, dailymontanen.com, greatfallstribune.com, oxygen.com, indianlaw.org, gbvearningnetwork.ca, rollingstone.com, newyorker.com, katikurek.com, vogue.com, and nativehope.org. In 2016, the National Crime Information Reporting Center released a staggering statistic. That year, there were 5,712 missing women and girls

from the American Indian and Alaska Native community. However, only 116 of those cases were logged in the U.S. Department of Justice's database. This community of women is 12 times more likely to be murdered and go missing than any other demographic in the U S and Canada. I mean, think about that. That is a scary number.

Yeah. And while we've covered murdered and missing indigenous women's cases in the past, today's story is a perfect example of why we have a lot of progress to make as a nation because over 4,000 of these cases have run cold and they manage to do so even when officials have a pretty good lead on a primary suspect, which is why Jermaine Charleau's case is one that will leave you asking, what do we have to do to start getting justice for these MMIW women? So today we're headed to Montana to the Flathead Reservation. This is about 40 miles outside of Missoula. This is where Jermaine Charlo, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribe,

grows up. Now on the reservation, the phrase, it takes a village, was taken pretty literally. So when Jermaine was born on April 23rd, 1995, everyone from her grandparents to her cousins, her aunts and uncles were there to lend a hand with raising her, especially since Jermaine's parents were no longer together and she was mostly being raised by her single mother. Now, it was clear early on that Germaine was incredibly artistic. When she wasn't drawing or knitting, she was thriving in the great outdoors, fishing or hunting, or taking care of one of her many, many pets. She had squirrels to dogs to pigs. And as she got older, Germaine had dreams of going to the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico and finding ways to

blend both her heritage and culture with her incredible talent. But life had other plans for Germaine. When she was just 14 years old, Germaine met a boy that she fell hard for. It was 16-year-old Michael DeFrance who was a non-tribal citizen. So the two began a relationship, but before Germaine even hit her 20s, she found herself pregnant with her first son and then her second son soon after. This might be a question, maybe not for you, but for any of our listeners that are Native American and part of that, is that like a no-no? Like, is that something that's looked down upon

or you're not supposed to do? Yeah, I would have no idea. I think that that's like a cultural question. Yeah, well, if anyone is part of that culture and community, let us know because I'm actually I'm curious. I don't know. Now I do need to say that over the years that they were dating, things were hot and cold between Jermaine and Michael.

But Jermaine always put a strong face on for her two kids. She was eager to teach them about their heritage, how to fish, how to hunt. But parenthood definitely got in the way of her art school dreams. Instead, Jermaine worked a bunch of odd jobs around the reservation. The big river cantina, a tree planter with the tribal forest services.

At one point, she even had an interest in becoming a firefighter. This is all to say that Jermaine was passionate about her community and her people. And she never ventured too far from home. She always stayed very connected to her roots. This is something Michael, who was definitely controlling at times, could never take away from Jermaine. But in 2017, Michael actually seemed to move on from her. He had gotten engaged to a new girlfriend. And Jermaine, according to her Facebook status in 2017, had gone from single to in a relationship

with someone new herself. But with two young boys tying them together, Michael and Jermaine continued to see each other from time to time. That was at least up until June of 2018. So on June 14th, Jermaine and Michael attended a monster truck rally together. Then on June 15th, Jermaine woke up and spent the first half of her day doing what most 23 year olds loved to do at this time, making lip syncing videos for TikTok. It was a platform that she was very active on according to her friends and family.

And I want you to know it's 2018. So she is active on TikTok before TikTok really became TikTok. I think it already changed from Musical.ly. Okay, I was gonna ask, is it Musical.ly or is it TikTok? I think it had already changed. Okay. But just barely.

Yeah. So she's posting on TikTok. She was very active on it. And in the post, Germaine seems happy. She's in great spirits, actually. And then she hits the bars in downtown Missoula later that evening. Now, she stops at the Dark Horse Bar till around 10 p.m. before heading next door to two more places.

That would be the Golden Rose and then followed by the Badlander. Now, Germaine has a few drinks, she's having fun, she's out for the night, she plays pool, she hits the dance floor. And everyone who sees her this night says that she looks like she's having a great time. But a bartender at the Badlander, remember this is the third place she's gone to,

says that that night Jermaine was on her phone a lot. Now again, it's 2018. I think being glued to your phone as a 23 year old is honestly not that strange. But what the bartender does find strange is that there is a guy there with Jermaine who keeps trying to get her attention at the bar. He's kind of following her around like a little puppy.

And the bartender also says neither Jermaine nor this guy she's with really seem to be too intoxicated. Imagine the amount of things. Okay, let me clarify things. Imagine the amount of crazy and unique events that bartenders see daily. Yeah. Whether people are sober, whether they're drunk, just the amount of different people and unique situations that they see is probably a lot. And I do think it's interesting that bartenders actually can recall pretty heavily

like the people that they were serving that night. I know, me too. It's probably because they're sober. And the people probably talk a lot. Yeah. I think it's also important to note that the bartender says me too. It's probably because they're sober. And the people probably talk a lot. Yeah. I think it's also important to note that the bartender says that Jermaine's not just hanging out with this one mystery dude who's following her around. There's groups of people that she's bopping around to, she's socializing with throughout the night, and then she leaves the bar sometime after midnight with one of these groups. And she's actually seen on security footage,

talking with them outside the bar, and then she walks off, but that same guy who's kind of following her is trailing a bit behind her. So by the middle of the next day, Jermaine's family hasn't heard a peep out of her, which is scary because Jermaine always called to check in and she was constantly posting on social media but since the night before Jermaine had gone dark and now she's not answering her phone. So

Jermaine's grandmother is actually the first person to notice it so she calls Jermaine's aunts for help and after a few more hours with no sign of her they start calling around hospitals, shelters, everywhere they can think of to try and track her down. But by the following day, June 17th, they are so sick with worry, because she still hasn't come home or answered, that they contact the Flathead Reservation's Tribal Police Department. head reservations, tribal police department. Now here's where things start to kind of get complicated because the tribal police say that they can't do much because Jermaine's disappearance happened

off of the reservation. It was in Missoula at the bars. So then it would have to be. Yes, family need to go to the Missoula police and file with them. Okay, so they call the Missoula police and file with them. Okay, so they call the Missoula police who say, oh, you're going to have to come down to the station in person to file this missing persons report.

Is that normal? I mean, yeah, I think they probably do want to meet with you in person. But they probably just didn't believe them. So on June 19th, the family make the hour and 15 minute drive down to Missoula to do exactly that. Okay. When they get there and actually file the missing persons report with Missoula police, they immediately get the feeling

that there is zero sense of urgency. And the family doesn't know if that's because Germaine was over 18, so legally she can disappear without telling anyone, or because she had been bar hopping that night and drinking so police aren't taking it seriously, or probably more likely because she was an Indigenous woman from the reservation. Yeah.

While they speak with Missoula police on June 19th, the police don't actually file the reports until the 20th, and then they don't sign a detective to her case until the 21st, which like, if you know anything about missing persons cases, wasting two days just to file the report and assign a detective is insane. And then that detective goes on vacation. So he's in charge of her case,

and then he leaves on vacation. So her case just sits there with no one investigating it for another five days until a different detective realizes, hey, we had this missing person report and like literally none of us have looked into it. It's interesting. I mean, I know. I don't know. I just as a detective, someone in law enforcement, wouldn't you feel... And look, I'm also aware of the amount of fluff that comes through in departments, right? Like, I'm understanding of that. But there's also a lot of real things that is not fluff, that is serious, that needs to be taken seriously. Wouldn't you feel guilty? Like, wouldn't you be like, dang, I should probably, I should probably check on this. I think the average person would, but I also think that this is an epidemic.

Like this is very, this is something that happens often. It's so insane to me. It is insane. So it's not actually until June 26th, this is almost 10 days after she has last been seen that night, that the Missoula police finally start questioning things about Jermaine. 10 days. It's too late. I mean, I know that sounds horrible, but it's too late.

Like it is too late. If there was any chance. If there's any chance it's gone now. It's so slim now. Yeah, it's messed up. So the family isn't losing hope during all of this though. In the meantime, in those 10 days, they had taken matters into their own hands. They had put up pictures,

handed out flyers, anything to get the word out around the reservation, which is devastating. They also organize volunteer searches, but the reservation is 1.3 million acres of land along a lot of mountains and flowing rivers. Plus, the last time Dermaine was seen was actually off the reservation. So the community that her family is reaching out to is actually an hour away from where she was last seen. So where do you search?

Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time a native woman had gone missing from the Flathead reservation though. So presumably a lot of these people searching had actually combed these lands before. Also, I just want to clarify, we're in 2018. Yeah. This isn't 1980s. This isn't the 1990s, 2018.

Yeah, we should know better by now. It's insane. Alright you guys, I've got to ask when it comes to keeping track of your finances, how do you do it? Honestly, I used to be overwhelmed until Garrett and I found Rocket Money. Peyton and I have been using Rocket Money for years. We love it. It makes it so easy to see your different bills, your credit cards, your bank accounts,

everything just in one app. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that empowers you to save more, spend less, and take control of your financial life. With Rocket Money, you can actually see all of your checkings, savings, credit cards, and investments in one convenient place, allowing you to understand your spending trends. And Rocket Money can actually help you set up a custom budget by identifying top spending categories and suggesting areas where you can adjust your spending habits. They'll actually calculate your monthly spending allowance and alert you when

you're close to going over budget so you can save more and spend less. They also have a goals feature that automatically saves money for you. So you don't even have to think about it. Whether your goal is to pay off your credit card debt, set away money for a house or simply save your money. Rocket Money makes it easy. Rocket Money has over 5 million happy members and has saved its users over one billion across all of the app's features.

So let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Get Rocket Money today at RocketMoney.com slash husband. That's RocketMoney.com slash husband. RocketMoney.com slash husband. So the search doesn't produce any results. There is still no sign of Jermaine, but the police have already been working on some theories about what happened when they got 10 days later

when they decided to start looking at it. And for starters, they feel pretty confident that this wasn't a runaway situation, especially since as we know, Jermaine is a mother. She left two little boys back at home. So that's when they jumped to other possibilities. Either Germaine disappeared due to some drug related crime, someone she knows is involved in her disappearance,

maybe she was trafficked. At first, police say they have good reason to investigate the human trafficking angle because Detective Guy Baker, the one who is officially now taken on Jermaine's case, says they have some information about people coming from out of state into Missoula to traffic girls. Holy crap.

Now from what I can tell, this was something they had come across before at the Missoula police station, and it's particularly because there is a major interstate that runs through the area by downtown Missoula police station. And it's particularly because there is a major interstate that runs through the area by downtown Missoula. And as the Missoula County Deputy Attorney put it, they could be quote, swept away in an instant, which is why trafficking is a problem here.

Especially with the lack of GPS signals and cell towers in the area, it makes it easy for people to kidnap someone and get them out of state before they can even make a phone call. Now, this is really all the information I have on the human trafficking theory. And I know that the police don't have much more

than this either because they rule it out pretty early in the investigation. So it's the first thing they jump to, but they end up ruling it out, especially when they get a piece of evidence that shows what Jermaine was doing and who she was with on the night of her disappearance. So remember how I mentioned the last bar Jermaine was at,

the Badlander bar, had security cameras set up outside. It was basically pointed in an alleyway next to the bar. And on the night Jermaine went missing, she was seen talking to a group of people out there and obviously we know that one unidentified man that has been confirmed as the guy that was kind of following her around all night is there. And I assume I guess we'll get to it did the bar have cameras? Let's find out. So in this footage I mean if you're just basing it kind of off-body language it's almost as if Jermaine is kind of trying to shake

that man that's following her. Like she's trying to insert herself into other people hoping that he gets the message that she's like not wanting to be with him. They are walking quickly behind her, but they can't really catch up with her pace. Now, luckily what the footage shows is a large group of people who saw Germaine the night before she vanished.

So these are people who might know the conversation she was having and who this mysterious guy was. So detectives head down to the Badlander and they start questioning anyone who might have seen Germaine that night. And they find out that person that was seen following Germaine around Was her ex-boyfriend?

Surprise And father of her two kids? Surprise Michael Now from what I can tell they don't get much context from these witness interviews other than Michael's identity But it's definitely enough for them to call him into the station for an interview. That's... Ah...

Now Michael admits, yes, he was out with Jermaine that night. And after they left the bars, they got into his Dodge pickup truck. So this is more than police have learned this entire time. They now are getting from Michael where Jermaine went when she left the camera. He says he drove her three minutes down the street to a little grocery store called the Orange Street Food Farm. This is just before 1 a.m. Jermaine apparently told him she was meeting a friend named Cassidy who lived right around the corner there and she was planning to actually spend the

night at Cassidy's house. So Michael drops her off and he says she hopped out and that was the last time he saw her. But when police look into this Cassidy person, they can't find anyone by that name that Germaine knows, which is extremely suspicious for one very good reason. And it's because Michael and Germaine had a pretty dark past. So when police start looking into their relationship, they find an old report from April 14th of 2013 It was filed in Sanders County Which the reservation is on just outside of Missoula and according to these documents

Michael had punched germane three times back in 2013 on that night So he pled guilty to the assault. He didn't serve any jail time Instead he was fined and given 40 hours of domestic violence treatment. I do have to say Mystic violence is horrible and paint and I the other day were streaming on Twitch and we were watching a bunch of like road rage moments the amount of people who Like can't control their anger and go straight to violence or straight to hitting. Yeah. There are so many people, they instantly, they get upset about something and it's a

punch, hit, violence, something along those lines. And it's just horrible. Why teaching emotional regulation is one of the most important things you can- It's crazy. Just going straight to violence? Like, no, we don't solve problems with violence. Like, end of story. Yeah.

So he's also told that he's not allowed to possess any firearms, OK? But this is just the tip of the iceberg. With such few consequences, the abuse continues. The following year in June or July of 2014, it happens again. This time, Jermaine and Michael have a fight at her aunt's house. Michael throws her on the hood of a van, hits her four times in the face and head, and then tosses her on the ground and spits on her.

Okay. He's arrested again. And from what I can tell, there is no real consequences. In November of that year, Jermaine calls the police again, says Michael has grabbed her, stole her phone, and tossed it in some water. This is actually illegal, and again falls under the category of assault because the offender damaged the victim's phone when they were trying to call for help. Only the police say once more, eh, there's not really much we can do. It's considered civil, not criminal. Okay.

So we're obviously seeing a pattern here now, and it keeps getting worse worse to the point where germaine isn't even trying to hide it anymore in May of 2017 she posts a youtube video about her relationship with Michael and she talks about how He's abusive and now he continues to pressure her to stay together or he's gonna go to court and try to get full custody Of their kids She says the last time she refused a kiss from him Michael threw her against a pull-up bar and choked her. What in the world is happening right now? Now, the worst incident might have been the one shortly after that post. Jermaine and Michael were driving home from a concert when apparently he pushed Jermaine

out of his moving vehicle on Interstate 90. Now Michael is arrested again and nothing happens. The charges are dismissed. Now according to some sources the couple does break up for good after this in 2017 but in early 2018 just a few months before Jermaine disappears, Michael follows through on an old promise and he decides to take Jermaine to court for custody of their two kids. Now, here's Michael. He is from a white family

and honestly he has a lot more resources than Jermaine's family. So he has a lawyer, Jermaine can't afford one, which is probably why a judge ends up ruling in his favor. He says Michael has residential custody, but Jermaine can have her kids Monday through Wednesday and then every other weekend. I'm so mind blown.

So you're telling me that he has all of these charges and not charges, just history of violence on his record. They can see when the cops are called, they can see all this. The judge can see all of this. And it's chosen to give him custody of the kids. Well, he's the one who has a lawyer. She showed up without one.

It's crazy though, as a judge, like, yeah, let's look at the dang paperwork, man. The judge says, and because he's getting majority of custody, you also have to pay child support. Oh my gosh. $800 a month is, you also have to pay child support. Oh my gosh. $800 a month is what she's ordered to pay. The one who showed up without a lawyer because she couldn't afford it.

I'm so pissed right now. So all this to say. But I'm not gonna be violent and I'm not gonna hate anything. The police are looking at all this and they're like, ooh, sheesh. The last person to be seen with Jermaine is Michael. And there's an ugly history between the two of them.

There's a lot of domestic abuse. But here's what police find after speaking with Michael. The last person to be seen with Jermaine is Michael, and there's an ugly history between the two of them. There's a lot of domestic abuse. But here's what police find after speaking with Michael. That Cassidy person that Michael said Jermaine brought up, that might have been a name that Jermaine really did give Michael at some point because she didn't want him to know where she was really going later that evening, which was to her new boyfriend's house, the one who lived just a few blocks from that Orange Street food farm. This is the same guy she seemingly changed her relationship status on Facebook for, and his name was

Jacob, who Jermaine was texting at the bar in the hours before she disappeared. So naturally when police learn about Jacob, they question him as well, and he says he met Jermaine on a dating app, the two of them had a pretty strong connection. Things were going really well. But he says he was actually out of town on the night Jermaine disappeared and he can prove it. He says, yeah, Jermaine and I were texting that evening. She asked if she could go stay at my apartment, even though I was gone. And he said it was fine. But around 1am, he called Jermaine to check on her, presumably to see if she got inside his apartment okay. He said the line rang a few times. Then it seemed like someone purposely ignored the call

and sent it to voicemail, and he never heard from her again. So with Jacob's alibi, they're able to rule him out as a suspect pretty quickly, but he offers up something that puts the spotlight back on Michael. Jacob says Jermaine told her, the day before she vanished, she and Michael had been fighting again. He was yelling at her, asking about who she was dating, said he wanted to get back together,

which would make sense why Jermaine could have lied to Michael that night and said she was staying with a person named Cassidy. Only police learned Jermaine, or at least Jermaine's cell phone, actually never made it into Jacob's apartment that night. When police start collecting data from Jermaine's cell phone, they find that the call Jacob made to her on the night she disappeared

was silenced, just like he thought. And they also learned that between the hours of 2 a.m. and 10 a.m. that morning, her cell phone actually traveled back to the area near the Flathead Reservation, specifically to a place called Ivarro Hill. And the cell was pinging towers around there. Crazy. And you know who else's phone was pinging those same towers at that same time in the middle of the night?

Who else's phone, babe? Michael's. Surprise. And that's because he lives in this area. So Michael finds himself back in front of detectives because he says, I dropped her off and she went to sleep at Cassidy's, but really

Her cell phone silenced a call from her boyfriend and then traveled back basically to where Michael lives. I love technology I just love that everyone can get caught now with cell phones pinging and it's amazing. So they're like hey Michael Why did her phone ping at your house basically later that night and he's like, oh at your house basically later that night. And he's like, oh, she left her phone in my car. And he's like, I actually tried to go through her text messages when she left it, but I couldn't crack the code. When that happened, he said he decided to toss it out

of his truck on highway 12. So he's like, she leaves it in my car. I try to open it up. I can't figure out the password. So I decided to just throw it out. He says he even remembers the mile marker. He says it was 94. Now you gotta think, this is pretty suspicious

for this young woman to forget her cell phone in her ex-boyfriend's car on the night she vanished. But to offer up where he left it down to the mile mark, that seems almost too good to be true, which it is, because when the police go to that mile marker, there's no cell phone. So in late June, officers pay a visit to Michael DeFranc's home in Ivaro Hill, where he presumably still lives with his parents.

Because while Michael's not there, they do speak with his mother, and she says Germaine has never been to their house, which feels kind of unlikely, considering they dated for years and shared two kids together. But she also says her son loved Germaine. He wanted to get back together with her,

which I suppose was her reason for thinking that he was innocent. Dude, I get it. I mean, I guess I get being a parent and trying to defend your kid, but there's no way she's never been to the house. Like she's lying. You lying.

She's lying. Yeah. So police actually decide to come back a week later with a search warrant. And while they comb the house for any sign of foul play or other personal property belonging to Jermaine, they don't find anything. And over the next few months, though-

Months. Police believe they know the area. But they just can't find the body. Yeah, they're like, we think that this is probably where the evidence or the body is hidden. It's a pretty heavily forested area where Michael lives. There's a lot of wildlife. It's a place that covers hundreds of square miles where an animal might get to the remains before any human would even come across them. Actually using helicopters and aerial surveillance would be a waste of time because of how dense

the brush is in this area. And while searching, they do find a lot of bones, but none of them are human. And police are like, listen, this is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But after hearing the evidence, Jermaine's family feels confident that this is probably her final resting place, which is why they put up a billboard in the area. It's one with Jermaine in a baseball cap. It's a screen grab from one of her last social media posts that she made on the day she disappeared. And while police haven't officially ruled Michael DeFranc a suspect, they keep a close

eye on him over the next few months. And in October, they actually returned to his house with another search warrant. And this time, they find something that's a bit problematic for Michael. They discover a large collection of guns. Now, I don't know if they missed this the first time or if this was some kind of strategy. Because if you remember, ever since that 2013 charge for domestic abuse, Michael is not allowed to own any firearms

and cops pull a lot out of his house. I mean seven different weapons, tons of ammunition. And when they ask Michael if he knew that this was part of his probation, he's like, oh, I didn't really know that. I didn't know I was not supposed to have guns. It also seems during this search, they find something else with a team of cadaver dogs. They located several items that appeared to be blood stained. And those were sent to the crime lab.

The problem is none of that DNA could be conclusively tied to Jermaine and they don't arrest Michael that day. From what I can tell, they just take away his weapons. I don't know. I don't know. I'm surprised that they haven't been able to find anything yet. Like more concrete. And with all of this happening, I mean, they could have arrested Michael for those guns. For sure. They chose not to. Yeah, that part, yes. Maybe because

they're thinking, we'll just arrest him for his disappearance. I guess I'm pointing at the murder. Right. Or whatever happened here. Yeah. So because of this, Jermaine's case runs cold and her cold and her family and her community are left to continue the investigation pretty much on their own. More billboards are put up all over Montana calling for any information on Germaine. The Confederated Salish and Kootenay Tribal Council increased the reward for that information to $10,000 and just when it seems like Germaine's story might be another MMIW case that falls into obscurity, an indigenous Cree reporter from the

Oakenese First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada swoops in to make sure that that doesn't happen. And her name is Connie Walker, and she creates a podcast called Stolen, The Search for Jermaine. Okay. Now Connie roots herself in Montana, traveling between the Flathead Reservation in Missoula, trying to unravel the mystery behind Jermaine's disappearance.

And after the eight episode series airs in March of 2021, it brings a lot of national exposure to the case, which also means a lot of pressure on local authorities, because she's like, hey. What's going on? What's going on? Where is she? We're pretty confident we have a suspect.

So in July, 2021, after this podcast has gained a lot of eyes on it. Everyone starts going hard. Police finally just arrests Michael. Oh. Just like, it took this journalist to come in, which like, yes, we've seen happen happen before when you put pressure on a case police are gonna be more likely to try and do something about it But it's just it's sucky. That's interesting. They arrest him because no evidence has really well

They don't arrest him for anything related to germane. They decide to arrest him for possession of those fire Years after the fact gosh, can you even do that? I mean, I guess it's just insane. They're like, we'll just try to make everyone happy and arrest him for the firearms. And I'm not saying they need to arrest him for Jermaine's disappearance, because like you said, there's not much evidence,

but just maybe, you know, fire up the investigation again. Push a little harder. So he finally gets his day in court in April of 2023 and he is found guilty on four counts of firearms related felony charges. And in September, 2023, he is sentenced to 21 months in prison. He files an appeal that same day. And as far as I'm aware, Michael has yet to serve any real jail time as he awaits the results of his

appeal. Holy, I want to say bad words here. This is going to end and there's going to be, no one's going to be bad words here. I this is gonna end and There's gonna be no one's gonna be charged for this even though she was last seen with Michael a very domestic abusive Relationship they just don't his phone was still pinging in his car. He said he threw it out. They've never found the phone They've never found the body. It was pinging back at his house found the phone, they've never found the body. It was pinging back at his house. So I think at this point, the reason they're not going to is because one, it has national news, so it'd be hard to find a jury. Two, honestly, I don't think he'd be convicted, which is horrible and sad because I, personal, Garrett's opinion, I think he did it. Allegedly sue me. I don't give us

anyways, that sucks and Meanwhile those billboards of germane they remain along the roads and highways throughout parts of Montana Just waiting for the moment that someone comes forward with more evidence Maybe a smoking gun in germane's case a weapon DNA a body None of it has been found yet, which is why Michael DeFrance, or anyone else for that matter, has yet to even be named a suspect in Jermaine's disappearance. And also, if her case had been taken more seriously

before 10 days had passed, if they had found the evidence of this ping within those first couple days, could the body have actually been on the property? Did he move it during those 10 days? I was gonna say he had 10 days to move, do whatever, hide. Get rid of evidence. 10 days is a long time to clean and hide and get rid of any evidence. But these are the devastating realities behind a lot of cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous women. Jermaine's aunt, Valinda, hinted in an interview that she isn't exactly surprised by how the case has been handled.

She said quote, MMIW isn't something that just started. It honestly has happened since colonization and we've all kept so quiet about it. I think the world is finally realizing what Native American go through. She vows to continue the fight for Jermaine and be the voice she no longer has. But really, I think that voice can be amplified. We might not be able to be boots on the ground. We might not be able to find Jermaine or solve any of these MMIW cases, but we can still draw attention to them. We can pass them on. We can put pressure on authorities. And honestly, that is probably our biggest responsibility.

My biggest responsibility as a storyteller, a journalist, a podcaster, that is how I can help make a difference. And you guys listening and talking about these cases make a difference just doing that as well. However, if you do have any information regarding Jermaine's case, you could provide the missing piece by calling the Missoula Police Department

at 406-396-3217 and that is the unsolved missing case of Germain. Wow, I... It's crazy. I mean, he's going to be out of prison soon. He's not even in prison yet. He appealed. He appealed that gun charge and they're still waiting for results.

So he hasn't even served a day. Which is ins... Oh my gosh. I don't know. I mean, I... It sucks that more evidence hasn't been found because I think at this point he wouldn't be convicted, but just horrible. I'm not saying that's okay. I'm just saying if I think about it logically from the justice system standpoint, I don't know if he'd be convicted. Do you? I guess it depends on the jury, it just depends. Well, also I think that if we could get some- Attention.

Some larger scale searches going on in the area by his house, because unless he moved her during those 10 days, the phones were last pinging in that area. The problem is he's had years now to change it. To change it, to move, to do whatever. I mean... And again, there's so much wildlife there.

The body could be scattered. And if there's no other evidence outside of that, which doesn't sound like there is, that's horrible. It sucks. Unless, yeah, unless they find some DNA evidence of her blood in the house, which it sounds like they didn't. And at this point, you've had years. It would have to probably be a confession.

Oh, that mom. Yeah. Oh, I hope she's listening to this. What a, what a. Maybe she doesn't know. But she was living there. I don't give, I'm pissed. I'm pissed.

Honestly, I obviously don't have kids, but like, if my son's girlfriend and baby mama, and I mean that in not a derogatory way, like legitimate baby mama, went missing and her phone was last pinging with my son's phone on or near my property, I will be sitting his little booty down and saying, talk.

Yeah, no, it's not. Talk. Cause like, I still love you, but this is the right thing to do. Talk. Yeah, no it's not. Talk. Yeah. Cause like, I still love you, but this is the right thing to do. Yeah. All right you guys, thank you for listening to this case today and we will see you next time with another episode.

I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.