Sword and Scale - Episode 209

Episode Date: April 18, 2022

When Patricia Velazquez left her 12-year-old daughter Yhoanna home alone for a few hours on August 10th, 2017, she expected to return home to a living, breathing child. Yhoanna was a good kid who followed all of her mother’s rules, so Patricia felt no need to worry. The nightmare Patricia returned home to that evening would change her life forever. Yhoanna hadn’t been abducted from her home like many children are, she was dead on her bedroom floor.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. Hello and welcome to season 9, episode 209 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Once again, our premium service is called Plus. You can find it at Sword and Scale.com slash Plus. Right now, the base level gets you all the digital content you could ever want for just $5 a month, but that price is going up soon. If you're on SNS Plus like that's a separate completely separate service

that's available only on the Apple Podcast app and it's only for people that refuse to use our app. We'd rather you use our app, I think our app's better. I mean I might be a little biased there but you know if you really really really don't want to then you can use that other service. It doesn't have as many perks but you know, if you really, really, really don't want to, then you can use that other service. It doesn't have as many perks, but you know what I mean. Anyway, let's get going here, shall we? Goodlitzville, Tennessee, is just like many of the other tiny towns clustered along the outskirts of Nashville. Long, straight roads lined with cornfields and churches lead to nothing but residential streets and a few local businesses scattered around the town's hub.

This particular suburb gives its residents plenty of opportunity to purchase a spacious lot of land with a lovely view of the countryside. With Nashville literally a 20-minute drive south, families love the quiet Goodlitz ville area because they get the best of both worlds. So overall it's a great place to live, great place to raise a family, some of the best schools and all of middle Tennessee. Troy Leroy is a local musician who grew up in Goodlitzville, trekking the acres of pasture and learning to play his banjo. I was born, my parents lived in East Nashville and they moved right here to Gulletsville when I was two years old. I've been here ever since. It looked like I'm leaving anytime soon. I'm sure by now you've already conjured up an idea of this town's essence

just by hearing Leroy's low, slow, southern drawl. It's the kind of voice that evokes images of sipping sweet tea in a rocking chair on a porch somewhere on a muggy summer evening. There used to be a grocery store up on Long Hall of Pipe and it was called Harderson's Grocery Store. It's out there in the middle of nowhere and anyhow come to find out that they picked music up there every Tuesday night. One night sitting back behind the band on a bench, sitting behind the board. They was playing, fellow sitting next to me with the man to land.

Finally, the announcer up there said,, you all put your hands together for Bill Monroe and I didn't really and I knew who Bill Monroe was and a religious music and it followed me you know there I was right beside Bill Monroe. For those of you who don't know, Bill Monroe is a singer, songwriter and mandolinist from Kentucky. He's known as the father of Bluegrass and was inducted into the country music Hall of Fame in 1970. With Nashville just a short drive from Goodlitzville, it's no surprise that a star found his way to a grocery store in this Poe Dunk suburb for a late night concert.

Southern hospitality was granted and received by both your average Joe and straight up celebrities. When everyone around you seems friendly and charming, our little brains sometimes extrapolate that into a belief that the world at large is friendly and charming. Those of you who listen to this show, well, I'm sure a lot of you now know that's just not the case. Growing up from about 1970 to 2000, the world seemed a lot safer. In rural areas, people left their doors unlocked at all times. They sent their underaged children on long bike rides

to the store for cigarettes without a care in the world, and we certainly didn't have cell phones to keep track of everyone like we do today. The scariest thing about our reality during those years is that it was totally false. It was a complete facade, but ignorance is bliss, right? As we now know, 1970 through the year 2000 is known as the serial killer era. The intense surveillance and constant invasions of privacy that are now part of normal life in 2021 didn't pose a hindrance to killers back in 1970. That's for sure. You'd think with all the cameras, tracking apps, fancy doorbells and home security systems, we'd have much more peace of mind, but our paranoia has only grown.

There's a whole genre dedicated to feeding our sick anxieties, after all. It's a whole industry, and in fact, you're a customer of it right now. It seems that we're all massacists, aren't we? It's got to be the constant influx of global bad news surrounding us everywhere we go. There's no escape, and ignorance is definitely bliss. Just a 10 minute drive from the old grocery store in which Bill Monroe strummed his mandolin back in the day, sits a quiet little trailer park called Hillview Acres.

It's off Old Dickerson Pike, neighboured by cute ranch homes, slightly spread out from one another. Patricia Velasquez lived in one of those well-kempt trailers within Hillview Acres. She was a single mother, caring for her three children, 10-year-old Oscar, 12-year-old Joanna, and 14-year-old Jocelyn. Because Patricia worked a full-time job, she wasn't able to be home every minute of the day

that her children were there. Your parents out there know how difficult it is to have one kid in school, let alone three. Constant calls from the school nurse, coaches, teachers, administration, the interruptions are endless. We can't all take time off of work when we have a sick kid at home, and Patricia's children were getting old enough to be left home alone when it was absolutely necessary. Patricia was not a carefree hands-off mom, not by any stretch. Being a former architect from Mexico, she knew plenty about the dangers of the world.

Though she occasionally allowed her children to remain home without supervision, she had very strict rules that the kids knew they had to abide by for their safety. Well, we had many rules concerning that we weren't really accustomed to the area. One was we could not go outside. Another one was we could not look outside the windows. We could not be loud. Basically, that was it. Just be safe.

According to Patricia, the kids weren't allowed to shower when she wasn't home either. She didn't want any noises coming from the trailer if the children were home without supervision, and she worried about one of the kids slipping and falling with no adult around to help. If Patricia or the children's father happened to be around to supervise, Oscar Joana and Jocelyn had a little bit more freedom, but not much. We would go to church, we would go to my grandma's house, we would go to my dad, eat, and things like that, park, or we would just be around the neighborhood

with my mom. There were no school-sponsored sports that Patricia wanted her children to be involved in either. Their whole world consisted of each other. We mostly focused on studying, but outside we would play together, maybe soccer, just a little basketball, and just our bicycles. One sport Patricia did allow her kids to join was Taikwondo. It was practical. It had a real-world application. These skills would surely assist her girls in self-preservation. Both 12-year-old Joanna and 14-year-old Jocelyn thrived. If I can memorically, I think I was at first like Bluebelt. This is Jocelyn. In Taekwondo, or the Korean martial art of kicking and punching, participants wear a white

uniform and a colored belt. Each belt signifies a different rank, much like in karate. And when the student advances from one rank to the next, the belts are always kept as a trophy. Belts can be white, yellow, orange, green, blue, red, and black, often with little pieces of colored tape on the ends, which can signify different accomplishments. I signify various things depending on the color. If you pass the steps on sparring, you get a tape.

If you remember all the kicks and steps and everything like that you would get another one depending on the accomplishments you've done in that one belt. Every belt has a pattern. So if you master that pattern you would get a tape signifying that you could show it in front of the people when you're trying to go to a new belt. In Jocelyn, N. Joanne's shared bedroom. The floor was littered not only with their Taekwondo accomplishments in the form of belts and uniforms, but also trash, clothes, snacks, and various other juvenile knick-knacks, much as you would expect in a typical girl's bedroom. knick-knacks, much as you would expect in a typical girl's bedroom. To put it simply, their bedroom was a bit of a disaster, but that's how they liked it.

The messiest bedroom you would ever see, it was closed everywhere. You could not step anywhere without something being below you because it's horrible. Patricia pleaded with the girls to clean up their room time and time again, but a kid with a clean room is an anomaly, frankly. The kids rooms were the only part of the trailer Patricia didn't have under control. She didn't have time to go in and clean it herself, so she kept the door closed and nagged her daughters about it every now and then. The girl's mattresses often lacked bed clothes. There would be occasions when we didn't want to put the sheets on. Joanna and her sister Jocelyn would grab a blanket

and just go to sleep on top of whatever might be on the mattress that day. Jordy Laundry, accessories and crumbs from open bags at chips often lived in the crevices of the bear beds, specifically Joanna's. Joanna, like many 12-year-olds, was a big fan of junk food. She knows chips any type of snack that she could get her hands on. Make no mistake, this was not a case of neglect in the parenting department.

Sometimes you just got to pick your battles. And this was not a battle Patricia had time or energy to fight. At the end of the day, it was Jocelyn and Joanna who had to sleep in that room every night, so hey, deal with it. Thursday, August 10th, 2017, was similar to other school days for Patricia Vasquez and her children. Except that Joanna stayed home. Just prior, the family had taken a trip to a roller skating rink, and Joanna was injured. I think it was the roller skating rink near Rivergate. Someone accidentally pushed her while she was trying the roller skate and so she fell on her knee.

I'm not her knee. Yeah, her foot. Joanna had injured her foot or her ankle badly enough that she needed to use crutches to get around right after the accident occurred. Her mother didn't want her trying to limp through the school so she stayed home and was instructed to stay off her feet. In addition to the other rules, the children were to follow when they were left home alone. I would tell them that they can't open the door if somebody would knock on the door. They were supposed to try to not make any noise if they heard anybody knocking,

to not get in the shower and take a shower when I wasn't there, and do not cook when I wasn't there. It may sound a bit harsh, but I could tell you from personal experience that this mirrors a lot of Hispanic households. The overly concerning parenting and domineering rules surrounding home security border on paranoia. There's a reason why a vast majority of homes and certain parts of South Florida, for example, have iron bars on every window and door. It's a cultural thing. Joanna spent the morning

with her mother until about noon. They sat on the couch together while Joanna ate her lunch. Sushi was her favorite food, so I was making sushi for her. Then she just went to sit down with me by her side, and then the time came where I had to go to work. I told her to go to her bedroom, because I didn't want her to be walking around the house, even though she was starting to walk a little bit already, but I didn't want her to walk around the house

because she could trip. And then at about noon, Patricia left. She worked at a dry cleaning facility, tagging items and running orders through the computers. Patricia wasn't able to check texts or take phone calls very often, and her boss didn't look favorably upon workers having to deal with personal issues while on the clock. Patricia didn't think much about her phone while she was working. Her children were largely independent and responsible, and because of the strict rules in place, they seldom needed her while she was out earning a paycheck.

After her shift ended, Patricia went to pick up her son Oscar. At 415, Joanna sent a text to her mother. Mom, someone is knocking on the door. For 19 p.m. I think it was the man who cuts the yard. I had gone to pick up my son, Oscar, who Hoseway and I was driving. At 607, Patricia texted her daughter back and said, OK, don't make any noises. She knew who got the yard.

I really didn't pay attention to that. I just thought that she just never called me back and I thought the guy had left. Joanna never sent a response. It certainly would be very startling for a 12-year-old girl who is home alone who has been told by her mom to fear strangers and to hide from him in the house. To look out the window and see a strange man knocking on her door while she's home alone. In fact, we know she was startled because she thought enough to text her mom to tell her someone is not going to the door. I think it's the man who

cuts the yard because she was scared. It's sort of, you know, the premise of half of the Hollywood scary movies of a young girl home alone and a scary guy lurking around outside. Of course, she was startled by that. Come on, it's happened to all of us, right? The first time it happens, it can be terrifying. Joanna was just starting her seventh grade year, still a pre-teen. I remember one afternoon when I was homesick from school, my mother was at work, and I was alone. Lying on the couch with a movie playing in the living room, I suddenly hear a loud pounding on the front door.

It went on for a good 20 minutes and then the solicitors walked around the yard to our back door and did the same thing for another 10 minutes or so. I crouched down on the carpet and tried to stay as quiet as I could and I called my mom. I described the man to her in a panic thinking they were going to break down the door and come for me. Turns out, they were Jehovah's Witnesses. Hardly a threat, but scary nonetheless.

Joanna likely felt the same fear, but she knew her mom wasn't able to take phone calls, so she texted her. Patricia assumed her daughter left the door locked and unanswered, but what if the person knocking was insistent? What if they continued for half an hour or more, and she finally gave in? What if Joanna had answered the door? On August 10, 2017, 12-year-old Joanna Artega was left home from about noon to 6.30 pm while her mother was at work and her siblings were at school. After texting her mother to inform her that someone was knocking on the door, Patricia Velasquez told her daughter to stay quiet.

Don't make any noise. Patricia drove home with her other children in tow and pulled into her parking spot at Hillview Acres trailer park. 14-year-old Jocelyn ran inside and went straight to her bedroom, followed by her brother Oscar and her mother Patricia, who made a beeline straight for her own bedroom to relax. Not a few seconds after setting foot in her room, Patricia heard Jocelyn yelling, something had happened to Joanna. Patricia speaks very limited English, so she uses an interpreter.

This audio includes both the voices of Patricia and her translator. I ran, I walked fast. I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, I was screaming, door. I entered a quarter, and I entered the room. I got a tira and I saw Joana on the ground. I said, I got a tira. Salty, you know, my little Joseline, go out, call 911. 911, what is the address of your man? I'm a registered sick, I'm just a home, you're a home of all. Just as the operator asks for the phone number and name of the person calling, Patricia takes over for her daughter, Jocelyn, and frantically attempts to explain what she's seeing on

her daughter's cluttered bedroom floor. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four.

One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, one, two, three, four. One more, two, three, four. One more, two, three, four. One more, two, three, four.

One more, two, three, four. One more, two, three, four. One more, two, three, four. One more, two, three, four. One more, two, three. One more, two, three, four. One more, two, three, old. I went to work at 12.30. Her pants and underwear pulled halfway down. And a Taekwondo belt twisted so tightly around her neck, you wouldn't have been able to slip even a finger between her skin and the belt. I touched Joana and she was cold. I'm sorry.

I'm getting out of here. I knew that she had been hurt. I knew that she had been hurt. I was hurt. She had her pants lower than normal. She had a heart attack. She had a karate belt in her neck. She had two rounds around her neck and it was tied in the back with a double knot. It was too tight.

Her neck looked very too thin. She had blood in her mouth. I'm too old. Okay, is your daughter awake? Really? Is your daughter awake? This poor girl's neck was so constricted, like a corseted waist by a taekwam do belt. She had blood pooling in her mouth in ears. She was cold. Patricia had already mentioned these facts several times to the operator by now, but we all know the rigorous training that 911 dispatchers go through.

These glorified operators, these ex- go. Ah, yeah. Ah, yeah. Hey, stop here. I'm sorry. I should have gone all over. Her neck was very bad. Oh, I was really long. I was really long. I was really long.

I was really long. I opened her mouth to unlock her tongue. No, no, no, no. It's like, it's definitely here, that's all. Oh, no. And when one asked me if I had a disability later, it's like, I'm going to be a child, and I'm going to be a child, and I'm going to be a child. And in that moment, I could only think of how to take the blood out of her mouth.

Patricia was hysterical. She held her beautiful young daughter, who she often referred to as Princess Joanna, and gingerly attempted to clean the blood from her mouth, nose, and ears. All she could think to do was use one of those suction bulbs, those things they used to suck mucus out of baby's noses. I was in shock at that time, I didn't know what to do. I was like, I don't know, I was like, I don't know, I was like, I don't know, I was like, I don't know what to do with my career. What to do with my career?

What to do with my career? I know what one told me to put her on her back and to put her neck back. I think I know what to do. But I had seen how to do it. I think I know how to do it. I had seen how to do it. había visto como de primas sinyas para esa situación yo creo que yo creo que lo sé yo he visto como de primas sinyas para esa situación

¿qué pensé? ¿cuál era la respiración? el único que pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé me pensé que me pensé que pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que me pensé que pensé que me pensé que me pensé Okay, I'm going to tell you how to get now, now the best place your hand on for forehead. Your only hand must be burnt. Then tilt the head back, so as you sit your nose close, make a flaky, plumber from now with your mouth, then close to your right to your breath, and sit alone, about one second each. Then check your right to each breath.

As instructed, Patricia began a few tile attempt at CPR. And I saw her test how it would go up and down. You can't be used to be that woman. And I thought I think that she's breathing, I thought. What a tragic image. Patricia knew her daughter was dead. She was cold. She had no pulse. But hope is the last thing to be extinguished, if it ever is.

This one last crum of hope diluted Patricia into thinking that the rising and falling of her own breath in her daughter's lungs was a sign of life. But Joanna was gone. Soon police arrived at the scene and patricia was no longer allowed to be near her daughter. As I was pulling in and getting out of the vehicle, I saw the mother coming out of the trailer, hollering and waving at me. She didn't speak any English to me that whole time.

She just wanted me to come with her and very quickly back into the trailer. When I went into the room, I noticed her. I kind of directed the mother out real quick. About that time Officer Samson was coming up, I directed Officer Samson to take her on out. I then went back to the room, checked pulse real quick. Notice that she had been deceased.

There was clothes all over the room. Ligature marks around Joanna's neck were blatantly obvious to the responding officer, and the medical team who arrived shortly thereafter. There were no signs of a break-in. No items were stolen, and Joanna was dead on the ground, strangled by a symbol of her own accomplishments. Isn't that some seriously dark irony? Outside Patricia Velasquez was frantic,

not only because she had just discovered her dead child, but because Joanna's killer could still be lurking in the shadows. And Patricia still had two living children to en el que se ha hecho. Yo no sé si la persona que le había hecho, a yo no sé, ahí. Una idea no es la persona que me ha hecho, a quien me había hecho, que era ahí. No era la red. El tema de detectos de un número de policía de propósitos de departamento son las propuestas de la situación.

Nosotros nos vamos a poner a todos los propósitos que nos necesitan saber los distancios de la vida en este momento de la gente de la gente We pull out all the stops. We need to know what circumstances were in this mobile home between 530 and 645. This is officially a case. It's being handled by Madison Precinct and Techist, but I'm told detectives from various units of Metro National Police Department have been out here,

including the cold case unit as they worked to find out who killed this young 12 year old girl and how inside her home off Old Dickerson Pike. Patricia and her children would go to sleep that night knowing that Joanna's killer was on the loose, maybe even lurking in their own neighborhood. Based on Joanna's final text to her mother, that was likely the scenario. Mom, I think it was the man who cuts the yard. On August 10, 2017, Patricia Velasquez returned home from picking up her two children to find her 12-year-old daughter, Joanna Artega, dead on her bedroom floor. After five days of crime scene analysis and a full

autopsy of Joanna's badly injured body, investigators still didn't know where to turn. Joanna gave them a very important clue though. Many times it's impossible to determine who may have been the last person to see a murder victim alive, especially when that victim is a 12-year-old child. This is a horrible brutal thing. I've never seen anything this brutal in my entire career. It would seem to indicate that she knew the person responsible.

We haven't confirmed that, but that's certainly a good possibility. I'm sorry, but no shit, Sherlock. The very last text Joanna had sent her mother mentioned that there was a knock on the door, and she thought it was the guy that mosed the lawn. Patricia had one other property over in Greenbrier, and she hired a man to take care of the lawn, but a different man mowed the grass every week for their primary residents in Hillview acres. His name, Roy Coons Jr., and he lived just two trailers down from Patricia and her children. The 45-year-old with an ugly neck tattoo lived with his father Roy Coon's senior in his trailer off and on.

But he lived mostly out of the shed in the back. Classy. Coon's mode lawns for extra cash, and when he'd fight with his father's wife, he'd take off and spend some time at a camp behind a truck stop. Coon's at a long rap sheet. Since the early 90s, he'd been arrested for more than 30 offences. Many of them felonies. Many of them.

Violent. As much as I want a shit-talk Nashville PD for taking so long to make an arrest in this case, it seems that this was one of those frustrating instances where police had to slowly build a case against their prime suspect before making an arrest. And that's exactly what they did. The more the crime scene was investigated, the more they found. But if we're going to be blunt here, Joanna's final text message was a smoking gun. She unknowingly played a huge role in the resolution of her own murder case.

I think that when our officers arrived and when the investigators started looking at the case, he was brought to their attention and so he has been monitored from that time forward. For Kun's crime was a way of life, it seemed. Multiple DUIs, arrest evasions, aggravated assaults, reckless endangerment, unlawful possession of weapons, disorderly conduct, vandalism, aggravated burglaries, multiple instances of outright theft, and several charges for criminal impersonation. That's right, he was arrested for pretending to be someone else. After all, who would really want to be Roy Coons Jr.? The list goes on and on.

Let's not spend time scrolling miles through his criminal history though. Let's focus on the fact that it took this many violent crimes before Coons finally worked up the nerve to do his worst. Too bad Tennessee isn't a three-strike state, right? A wait. It is. So why wasn't Roy Coons Jr. put away after three violent offenses? The death of this little girl could have been easily prevented by the justice system. When you see his history, was there anything that could have been done to try and get him off the streets a little early? It's always very troubling when we make an arrest of someone who has been arrested multiple times, convicted multiple times, but yet back out on the street. And to say that I would have the complete answer to what works and what doesn't work.

Certainly we know that rehabilitation works in a good many cases. But when we see situations where that it's over and over, then we think the society has given those people their chance. So I don't think there's a member of this police department that's not troubled by the fact that when we arrest people that very, very often for violent crimes that they have been arrested many times before and convicted, but are yet on the streets. The old rehabilitation versus punishment debate. The old left versus right. Should we be tough on crime and put violent

criminals behind bars for as long as possible? Or should we treat them like poor innocent little victims of their environment and their upbringing, teach them trades and expend resources, then open their cells, send them on their way, and hope for the best? forces, then open their cells, send them on their way, and hope for the best. In 2016, a law was passed in Tennessee that put mandatory minimum prison sentences in place for repeat burglary or drug charges. If this had been in place when Coons began his life of crime, perhaps we would have locked them up a long time ago and throwing away the key. I suppose even the tough on crime red states get it wrong every now and then too. Sadly, hindsight is 2020. With Coons on

their radar after the discovery of Joanna Artega's body, police had to mount the evidence against him. Perhaps they knew this career criminal would never confess. The first encounter between detectives and Roy Coons Jr. occurred on the day of Joanna's murder. Just as the first arriving officer was being led into the home by Joanna's mother, the second officer on the scene encountered Coons as she drove in through the other road leading into Hillview acres. When I was pulling up to the trailer that was on the scene and countered Coons as she drove in through the other road leading into Hillview acres. When I was pulling up to the trailer that was on the left, as I pulled in the opposite

way of Officer Fips, when I first got there, I saw Mr. Roy Coons walking his white pit bull towards me and he walked past the police car. When I pulled in and he kind of motion towards, it was like a half motion kind of towards the trailer, which he very well could have been motion towards the other police car. I'm not sure. Regardless, Koons was out strolling around the neighborhood with his dog, happy to offer a helping hand

to the arriving officers, pointing them in the direction of the crime scene, one of which he already knew every detail. Why is it always the child murder murders who stick around for the investigation and pretend to be all innocent and concerned? Go back home and think about what you've done. Hell is hot. Later, during the canvassing of the neighborhood, police spoke to many of the mobile home occupants surrounding Patricia's residence. This included the trailer Roy Coons Jr. lived in.

They spoke with him on record twice that day. The first time, he was friendly and helpful. Hey, Dennis. Doing well. I'm going to start the phase of what you name, Roy Coons. Roy Tunes, I think I've been up ahead. You've been here pretty much all day or? I've been here now.

Pretty much most of the day, I believe, over some days, but I actually remember it. So you've been just kind of in and out, and we'll get to hear that stuff like that. Yeah, I don't know. It's a building out of work, everything. You think you were here more than gone up to them. Oh, yeah. Um, where you've hiked up inside? Are you doing a shant work that was the mental adult? You know what?

It's written right here on the wall. I'm just gonna put it in the bucket. Roy Cooons was a 45-year-old criminal on disability. They're always on disability, aren't they? Just milking the government for every penny. He was home alone all day while his elderly parents went out and worked full-time. A real catch, ladies. On August 10th, he told the officer he hung around all day by himself, played with his

dog and worked on some projects. Maybe it went out a couple times to run some errands. Not a great alibi. Have you seen anything unusual gone? Not exactly. I was out earlier. So like I said, where are I hanging out? No, the time I really get out and in the neighborhood was around 30 blocks.

I went to the middle of a bar, a second middle. Mm-hmm. Okay, man. I'm working up often. That means right down here with a computer. I'm going to hang out. I'm going to hang out. I'm going to hang out.

I'm going to hang out. I'm going to hang out. I'm going to hang out. I'm going to hang out. I'm going to hang out. I'm going to hang out. I'm going to hang out. I'm going to hang out. I'm going to hang out. Okay, man Porting up after that name right down here We'll go Okay, there's something over there I'll go down here for a minute And there's some gears getting off school bus

You know what I'm trying? I think One of the dollars I've lived around the problem So I'm here Okay I said it's all for me And I got a lot of excuses I was there

We walked back up I came here And I was there And I watched the street King And my hair falls on I didn't even know the job was out here I came here, and I watched the script. In my hair, I was like, I didn't even know the job was out here. And I came out to walk a dollar, because they blew up. I was like, oh, over.

Can't see me. Frank Bickle's out here. No, but I'm telling you, I was walking my dog out of the door a little while ago. I'm telling you, I didn't know the idea of the heal. Stop me, and you know, it know, concerned about what was going on. I had to write nine years 17, you know, write on 17 years.

Well, you know, I had to put it back to the front. And she said, is she was at the gas station there here and there was the Mexican panoramic, the panoramic, the panoramic. Then they're fighting. And one of them was in a truck, a big of big, custom filters up in kind of this way.

So I don't know, you know, I got to see that. Yeah, she said it was just not long, you know, is that the name of them? Ah, of course. Blame it on them, dirty Mexicans, right? And you never saw anything unusual, strange, something that stood out to you, except when he sees a nice TV in someone's house that he'd like to snatch or when he's forced to violently assault someone, or when he feels

the uncontrollable urge to rape a child. I know those people. You may have only an area in the solar area. I don't know, you know, you don't know. It's right on a phaser to dry it. You know, an aeroplane or something. What just been dry? What just done? You see many of them today?

Anybody in my hands? No, she's the... I'm very excited to be involved in the goings-on of the neighborhood, why did he have Patricia's work schedule nearly memorized? Weird. The second time police spoke to Coons on that day, just about 45 minutes later, things didn't go as smoothly. Coons was no longer the laid back friendly neighbor just coming to explain and to come me down. I thought we were going to live there. It's not that big. It's breaking me work.

Okay, I'll open here and I'll try to bring you down. That's all I'm doing. It's crazy man. This payout, no shit in my life. And I'm not this shit. And when I try to bring you down, you say you're the best. I'm not that good. You're the best guy.

You're the best guy. Well, I'm just trying to come me in. I'm trying to come me down. I know. I, I'm sure you've come here. I'm sure you've come here. No, no, I know my property. I'm not home. But I know I've been out of the building. I save myself. So you still have my phone?

Yes, I have. And I told him I've been there repeatedly. He kept calling you. He kept calling you. I have him. I know his name. Right. Then he's going to do my name.

And you say, but you're being. Right. Then he'll stop. Then he'll know what he's talking about. Come on, man. Then he'll know his name. And I'm sorry. I don't know you, Danny, but which one do you just do? I can't go with this. This is more. We're not trying to be a part of our channel. Kuhnj was no longer an inconspicuous bystander.

When police came by one too many times to ask him the same questions, he became enraged. Could he have been sensing their suspicions this early? Was he getting a little paranoid? Everything that we talk to kids, the fan now, what to say, what happened to our American government at P.E. She's sick, I know the bit, man. She's sick, I know the ill. She's sick. I got enough blood.

And the other reason we want to talk to you more because you were at home a little more than everybody else. And like I said, I'm really sad about this, I don't feel bad because I don't have an ill friend and I get brow ill. He didn't go outside because he knows he gets riled up. What the hell does that mean? Riled up. Like does he get rapy?

What does that mean? We can only assume he's talking about his long rap sheet. At this present moment, Koons was out of prison claiming to be doing better in his life. Was he trying to say that he doesn't go outside because he's afraid he'll commit crimes? Like he has no control over it, just happens. Either way, it's kind of a weird thing to say, isn't it? Back at Patricia's trailer, the evidence was mounting. I went in and saw all the, it was being directed through the scene,

just for what was where and the rooms where people were, where the victim was, down at the end of the hallway, to the right. And I came back up to the kitchen and I was asking about anything up here. You know, is any of this out of place? Do we, is there anything we need to do with this? Nobody knew.

We're trying to get it together to get some photographs of that area, show it to the family, the mom, the sister, dad, and whoever lived there, you know, because they don't know if something's out of place. You know, if you come into my house, you wouldn't know if my TV's in the wrong spot, but I would. As this detective made his way around the residence, he noticed a closed door. This was strange because the trailer had already been cleared. Usually when a room or building is cleared, doors are left open to signify the completion of that task. I asked everybody to check that and they were like, yeah, the house is clear. I'm like, well, who checked it? I don't know. So I got some rubber gloves, opened up the door to look just to make sure, you know, if this is a room, they hadn't been checked.

I didn't want our bad guy to be back there, hide him all the way out here, up front. So I'll go in there to check that. And there was nobody in the room. But I did see, because that led to the bedroom, I guess it would be the master bedroom. And then there was a door on the backside of that, that was closed.

And in through there was a bathroom and that's it just didn't didn't look right. The first thing that I saw was the the paint of glass in the sink. So I saw the paint of glass in the sink I was like well where could that come from so my attention immediately went to the window, and I saw the ripped curtains that were there. And then in front of the window, I see shelving and stuff that's knocked over right below here is the toilet. And the shelving is actually laying on the toilet. The curtain in this bathroom was torn and off kilter.

The room was much more disheveled than the rest of Patricia's spaces. The curtain being flipped up like that, it's not the way the curtains in my house are. So my first thought was, you know, while this is potentially the window that our perpetrator exited through. After seeing the inside of that, my natural curiosity, after seeing the window and the window pain removed and the curtain hanging through it and thinking somebody exited from there is, well, let's go see what's on the other side of the window. Because I've had it where people have dropped things, you know, sometimes a wallet, I've actually had wallets fall out of people's pocket and they're just laying right there

outside the window. So, I went to the other side to go look. He walked around the trailer and began to inspect the window from the outside. When he noticed something that could indicate the killer actually entered through this window as well. There looked to be some primarks on the back of the windows and little indentations on the bottom of the windowsill, both on the left and right side and they seemed to be about in the same space either way, on each side. This made sense. Joanna's final text to her mother stated that she thought the man knocking on the door was the guy who cuts the grass. But she also added one other note. She said, I think he's gone, but he wasn't. Roy Coons had just left to figure out another way to

enter the trailer through the window. This trailer was not uncharted territory for Coons. Before Patricia and her children moved in two years prior, a family friend occupied the mobile home for about 15 years until his death. Koon's and his father spent a lot of time in and around the trailer during these years, even doing some repairs inside at one point. This man he was familiar with the windows, the layout, the thick tree line around the back of the mobile home could provide cover for him while he climbed in the Patricia's bathroom.

And while Johanna Artega was laying in her bed on her iPad in the front of the trailer, this man was climbing in for a window in the back. This man entered into Johanna's room and from the scene evidence it's clear, Johanna didn't get very far. He struck her in the head, causing subdual, subgaly obliterating, bleeding underneath her scalp, bruising

around her eyes. She fell and sustained an impact to her cheek and her right angle, consisting with a dresser next to her bed. Her body fell in between the narrow space, between her dresser and her bed on top of her clothes and her blankets, Taikwondo belts, shoes. Once this innocent child was subdued by his vicious blunt force attack, Kunz ripped her pants and underwear down and likely attempted a sexual assault. It's unclear based on the autopsy, but he may have been successful. He pushed her stomped on Joanna's face, smashing it into the bottom of a shoe so forcefully that the tread marks were permanently etched into her skin.

And he took one of those Taekwondo belts thatan and their sister were so proud to have earned, and he tied it around Johan's neck, and he started to pull tight. And he pulled so tight that it caused a little blood vessels to a rupture in our face around our eyes and her lips and behind her ears. And he pulled so tight that it caused the cornyas of her eyes to fill up with blood. And he pulled so tight that it impeded the flow of blood and oxygen through Joanne's neck. And after a little while, Joanne went unconscious and after a few minutes of applying that pressure, Joanne, our ticket died. Let us remind you once again of how long it actually takes to strangle someone until they've

died. This is not an instant process, not like in the movies. Roy Kun's couldn't simply close his eyes, look away and pull a trigger. He sat there with this young girl pulling her taekwondo belt tighter and tighter as her eyes filled with blood and her face turned purple. He watched, thought about what he was doing, and continued. Strangulation is physically exerting, also. Coons was putting some serious effort into this process. And at no point did he decide to stop what he was doing.

At no point did Roy Coons look around the room and realize he was taking a precious, innocent soul from her loving family, from her hobbies, from her friends. And so he continued until she was dead. And then he left, already dedicated to the lies he would soon tell investigators. Cel Tower records showed inconsistencies in Koons timeline that day. So let's put it all together. On August 10, 2017 at 4.15 p.m., in 16 seconds, Johanna tags Mom.

Somebody is knocking on the door. Few seconds later, she tries to correct her misspelling of door. She corrects it again, correctly, a few seconds after that to quit the. Sometime around, possibly 4.16, we know from the screenshot that that was taken at 419 that the call was 3 minutes ago, she tried to call her mom.

We don't have an exact time, but we know she tried to call her mom and she didn't answer. 418 and 35 seconds, she said, he's gone and she miss bells, flay, was she correct, a few seconds after that. And then at 419 and 13 seconds, she says, I think it was the man who cuts the arm. At 432 in 25 seconds, the cell-site data shows that Roy Coons has an incoming call that goes to his voicemail and he doesn't answer and he is in the trailer park. We know that from the face of the tower that it pings off of when he's in the trailer park. At 439, Coons calls his voice mail and the cell site data from the

South O'Hallar shows he's moving away into the direction of Cedarville Park. At 439. At 513, he tries to make another call and he's also away from the trailer park in the same direction. During the most important stretch of time, the time during and after the killing of Joanna, Roy Coons left the trailer park, and he didn't mention this little excursion to police, of course. When he returned a little after 5pm, he made a visit to another neighbor's house. Madj Green had just returned from a long day at work. She got inside her trailer and turned on her favorite show, Jeopardy.

She got a knock on her door and it was Roy Coons. He wanted to tell me that he had been up there to do the cocking. And so we went out on the porch and he showed me what he did up on top. That he got up on top and cocked it from the top. And then he showed me from the bottom that he had cocked it. We stood there and talked for a few minutes and about how he done my fortune. We were going to do my patio. And so I went on in and got the money. We finished talking. I went in and got the money to pay him. And he left.

After Koons left her property, Madge left to pick up her roommate. When she returned, she saw all of the police activity. Madge hadn't been a part of the canvassing of the trailer, so she didn't have any details about what had occurred earlier in the day. During an open investigation, it's anything we need to be worried about? He said, no, just going inside. During an open investigation, it's common for police to withhold the details of the case from the public. This allows for unreleased details to surface during witness interviews, hopefully pointing to a suspect. Only the police and Joanna's family knew what happened to her.

When Roy Coons mentioned rape and strangulation in one of his interviews with police, alarm bells sounded in the minds of detectives. How could Coons have known these details if he wasn't involved? Finally, as if all this wasn't enough, Roy Kun's conscience got the best of him. And he had some strange conversations with a few transient nomads camping in Nashville. Police caught up to these people and boy did they have an interesting story to tell. Me and my father, we were traveling and our car broke down. He had to go to the hospital and then because of that, I didn't have anywhere to go because of our car broke down.

So I had to go to the mission, the woman's mission. It was around this time that the woman met someone by the name of Moses. The homeless shelter this woman was staying in was becoming overcrowded, and Moses introduced her to a campsite behind a truck stop in Nashville. It was small and secluded with just a few tents clustered in the bushes. and he showed me other areas and resources that I could go to for help. Soon she met another man by the name of Ray. Spoiler alert, it was actually Roy Coons. He'd been living at this camp long before this transient woman arrived,

and his tent, neighbored hers. In... Then, sometime after August 10th of 2017, did you have an unusual conversation or did right have unusual conversations or conversations with you about God? Well, I did hear him ask if God wouldives someone for healing someone. The final nail in Koons coffin was DNA evidence. His DNA was found not only on Joana's body, but on the bathroom window sill where he presumably entered the home. It was time to make an arrest. One month and three weeks after this horrific murder.

Just a few hours ago, the police department made an arrest for the brutal murder of 12 year old Johanna Artega that occurred on August 10th of this year. Ray Coons, who lived two doors down from Johanna Artega, was taken into custody without incident this afternoon by members of the police department's special response team, a canine unit, Madison precinct detectives, and other members of the Metro Police Department. Lead detective Josh Hill met with the Davidson County Grand Jury this morning regarding evidence concerning this case. The Grand Jury returned a multi-count indictment, charging coons with first-degree murder,

two counts of first-degree felony murder, attempted rape of a child, and especially aggravated burglary. And how do you think he pleaded? I'll give you one guess. That's right. Not guilty. On July 15th, 2019, after a little over three hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict in this case. All right, would you please stand and reach a verdict? We'll talk about this right. First of all, let's revisit that name for a second. Ronald Donald Coons.

Really? Ronald Donald? He was found guilty of all of the rest of the charges, too, but second degree murder? This means the jury decided that this was not a planned attack. Those of you well-versed in true crime already know that choosing strangulation as your method of murder almost always implies premeditation. Premeditation encompasses a lot more than most people realize. It can refer to just the few seconds during which someone decides what they're going to do, and we know that Roy Coons had minutes upon minutes to turn around and leave.

He had plenty of time to stop the strangulation before it killed Joanna, and yet he continued. Though not as satisfying of a verdict as everyone hoped, Roy Coons was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of this innocent young girl. Luckily, the judge in this case added an additional 25 years in prison for the attempted rape of a child. These extra years are to be served consecutively with his life sentence, meaning that he will start that additional 25-year countdown just as soon as his life sentence is over. In Tennessee, that means he has 51 years to go before he starts the extra 25. before he starts the extra 25. It's safe to say that Coons will likely die in prison, where he belonged all along, way before this murder occurred. I guess it's too much to ask for Roy Coons to take some accountability for his crimes. He, of course, had some things to say at a sentencing. I understand this is a sensitive and delicate case,

and there's a 12-year-old girl about it. I know the arteg of eminence prosecution won't someone to be held accountable for your heart's murder. I would assume that everyone wants that person that's really responsible for the drugs for justice. He's out of their run just like he had it from Nazi. The latter, from the being of the prosecution, the thing he's got away with such a violent murder just like you had from Knoxville. The latter from the beginning, the prosecution, the same thing,

they can just got away with such a violent murder so far we have. If I'm sentenced to a day without a doubt and no questions ever made, there will never be a closure for anyone involved, especially the Arteta family. To the Arteta, I could imagine what y'all been through for the last two years. I could imagine what y'all want to go through the rest of the y'all's entirety without going home. I know losing a child at such balance is gotta be worse than the parents that ever in school. I'm afraid it'll be great if you ask courage and strength.

I'll think you could get through this to make y'all strong. We could produce this. I hope and praise the java in the real truth. That's the way I happen to want to act. Also know the truth as soon as possible. I'm no monster and I'm no murderer. I know that you are in myself that's seen each other enough that she could have been a factor. And I said, I thank you with you. I can't apologize for crime like in the community, but I will say I'm sorry for your loss.

I mean, like I said, it's got to be the hardest time. You're on the ground with some of this crime. I did, where do I rise their home? I didn't take the stage with myself. I messed up on them, and I didn't murder you going on. I've been caught a lot of things in my life, I've been accused a lot of things in my life. And yes, I've made mistakes in my life.

No, mistakes, I've made my biggest mistake. But this is one of my mistakes. I didn't just wake up, I think I'll go with a face in my own time. I think I'll go with a face in my own time. I think I'll go with a face in my own time. I think I'll go with a face in my own time. I think I'll go with a face in my own time. I think I'll go with a face in my own time. I think I'll go with a face in my own time.

I think I'll go with a face in my own time. I think I'll go with a face in my own time. I think I'll go with a face in my own time. I think I'll go with a face in my own time. I think have not had a lot, but I was happy. I was doing good. Whatever may be this guess is a serious prosecution habit that will wrong. If you haven't heard all the evidence in this case, Roy Coons plea to the judge might sound convincing to you.

He speaks about this other killer out there on the loose, thinking he's gotten away with his crimes. But the only killer in trailer C2 that evening was Roy Coons himself, and he knows it. Joanna was the one who was happy, the one actually doing well in life. Joanna had a bright future ahead of her. Accomplishments in both school and Taikwondo already under her belt despite her youth. And now that's gone. Joanna's dreams can never come to fruition. Her robust potential has been quashed forever. While Roy Coons Jr. sits in prison filing appeals on his case, thinking that a life in prison is not what he deserves, Joanna's body rests inside the cold earth. Her life is now an unfinished novel, left with an awful cliffhanger, and no resolution.

Her grave is inscribed with an image of a teddy bear and reads, In God's care. If you ask your average kid where they feel the safest, many will tell you that they feel the safest at home. Joanna Artega was of the age many children are left home alone for a few hours at a time and she followed all of her mother's rules to a tea. She stayed in her bedroom and didn't make a sound. She didn't answer the door, she didn't talk to strangers. She did everything, right? Right. Despite all of these precautions, Joanna is still dead, murdered in her own bedroom. The one place in the world meant to be a safe haven from this dangerous, awful world. If even these spaces are no longer safe, than what the hell is left.

That's going to do it for this episode of Sword and Scale. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. And if you can, you know, try joining Plus. It's still only five bucks a month until that changes sometime in the future. Sword and Scale dot com slash plus. Our call in line is 954-889-6854. Give us a call. Let us know what you think.com slash plus. Our call in mind is 954889-6854. Give us a call, let us know what you think. And stay safe. 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

1.5% 1.5% 1.5% Hey, Mike, the Sword and Scale Team, I just wanted to say that you guys are the cram of the cram of Tugeton Podcast, you know, I tried listening to a couple other ones and none of the other ones really have like submerged me into the story like you guys do, you guys have really gotten me through some tough times, no BS, with a separation and you're seeing a little one from across the state able to dive back into work and listen to you guys' stories on the way in California traffic has been a God's been. So yeah, I don't know men, I just wanted to thank you guys because you guys are really

doing it. Forget what the haters say, keep on playing. Y'all. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one.

I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. Thank you. you