Sword and Scale - Episode 362

Episode Date: August 2, 2026

In Delray Beach, Florida, a routine traffic stop led police to a young man covered in blood. By the next morning, a body had been discovered. What followed was a tense interrogation — and a motive that felt disturbingly small compared to the violence it produced.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

Sword and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. A knife in my hand, and I think the blanket was over his head, and I pulled the blanket off. And I think I started stabbing him in the throat. I saw the like to leave his eyes and everything. All right, so I put the videos in a higher tier, and you guys complained. So after a while I bring it down and I make it available to the lowest tier available And then the guys in the higher tiers complain

And it seems like no matter what I do this year You've all woken up in 2026 with something shoved up firmly up your ass It's like everybody's on their period or something Yeah, I said it. That's what it's like from my end. I get it from every one of you, all of you, complain to me for some reason. As if I give a shit. I mean, I do give a shit.

I do want you to enjoy the show and what I'm producing here, but you got to stop. I'm going to produce whatever I'm going to produce. I'm the one deciding that as the creator of this program. And you can like it or you can. not like it. And that's why there's a million choices available online. You can just go to something else you like. You don't have to attack me personally.

And try to dig up secrets about me and, like, you know, try to ruin my life and all that shit. Like, what is that? What is wrong with you? Grow up. Boko Rattan, Florida, sits on the Atlantic Coast, manicured neighborhoods, gated communities, palm lines streets.

A sun-drenched tropical paradise, where tourists find it easy to forget that life just kind of happens here. And residents have to get a move on with their routine and get things done. Just a few miles north in the smaller city of Del Rey Beach, that routine continued on the night of February 2nd, 2020. Traffic moved through intersections, patrol cars, idled and lighted. Nothing was unusual. That is, until the traffic cop pulled over a white Ford Explorer. It's going to be the 1,100 block, South Federal. So white Ford Explore reference snowlights.

Can you put your hands on the little, buddy? Okay. Hey, I'm Officer Smith. The reason why I pulled you over is you don't have any lights on. Behind the wheel was a man in his mid-20s. He didn't appear intoxicated his. speech was steady. His demeanor calm. If anything, he seemed apologetic, but something about him stopped the officer cold. His face, his chest, his hands were all spattered with blood.

Are you okay, bud? Yeah, I just had a nose bleed. You sure? You don't need paramedics or anything? Okay. Are you able to turn your lights on? Yeah. You sure you didn't get like beat up or anything? No, I just had a nose bleed. I get him all the time. Oh, okay. Do you have your license on your buddy? I don't actually, but I have my identification. Yeah, yeah, if you have your ID. The strange man with a nosebleed handed over his license, which identified him as 26-year-old Jared Neumann.

As the officer returned to his patrol car to run Jared's information, another unit pulled up. The second officer immediately noticed the blood. He's got blood all over his face. You see all the blood on his face? He said he had a really bad news. Dude, it is. I know.

That's why I was like, bro, you need FD, okay? Got to fight? Like, no, I decided to real bad doing. Holy shit. Unfortunately for Jared, the blood wasn't the only issue. When officers ran Jared's information, they discovered something else. His driver's license, which was actually a learner's permit, had expired. All right, so I'm sure you know that your license isn't good.

This is not good. It's been expired since 2016, and it's a E-class learners, which means you're supposed to have someone 21 or over that's licensed with you. Oh. So. I didn't know it was out of eight. It's fine. I'm only giving you a citation.

You do have to show up to court. Okay. He would need to call someone to pick him up. I'm going to tell you this, you're not allowed to drive. Okay, so I'm going to pull a little bit of a thing, you know. That's what I suggest. Yeah. Listen, you're an adult.

You get caught driving. I mean, it's already going to show that you got a court date, you know what I mean? So they're not going to give me any breaks. It's going to arrest you. Next, the officers returned to questions about the blood. By now, they had noticed the scratches, the small cuts on Jared's hands, and forearms. They knew that all the blood did not come from a nosebleed.

You just covered a blood. I don't know what else to tell you besides I had a nose to. The blood all over your toes. It's like you bathe the blood. That's not just a note. If you're part of something... You're actively bleeding from your elbow. So it's not just a nose.

Here, just step out real quick. All right. All right. After stepping out of the vehicle, Jared changed. changed his story. He admitted the blood hadn't come from his nose. The blood, all of your feet, it wouldn't run from your nose to your feet. You're bleeding from the elbow, firmly. Your knuckles are bleeding. So what happened? For real? I got on a fight with somebody, and they hit me and just beat up.

Where this is happening in Boka? Yeah. Do you want to report this? Um, I mean, I really... No, it's no big deal to me. I mean, you beat the shit out of me pretty bad. Who is this person? I don't really know him like that. He was just somebody that was arguing with me. After hearing his new explanation, the officers requested EMTs to the scene and asked them to do a basic checkup on Jared. At the same time, they contacted Boca Raton dispatch to check for any reports of a fight.

Hey, it's Officer Smith with Delray PD. Hey, I just pulled over a guy. named Jared Neumann. He said he got into a fight in Boca with somebody. I'm trying to see if you guys had any batteries recently that you're looking for this dude. He said he was covered in blood. The Boca Raton dispatch reported no recent calls about a fight. No one there was looking for Jared.

So the Del Rey officers had a decision to make. What should they do with Jared? And what should they do with this Ford Explorer? I got to tow the car. And it looks like you live in it and you work out of it. So you able to call somebody? I'm really not. Can you please, like, not totally caught?

That's what I'm saying. If you can call somebody. I don't have anybody to call. If you take that car, I have nothing. I'm going to be sleeping on. I understand that. But it's also a liability on me if I knowingly let you leave with the car and then something happens.

It looks bad on me. It's going to happen. I'm just going to pull over in the near spot and just, that's it. No. Jared pleaded with the officers not to tow his vehicle. He told him he worked out of it, lived out of it. It was all he had. So the officers gave him a break.

They allowed him to move the vehicle to a nearby parking lot, on the condition that he wouldn't drive again until his expired license situation was resolved. Jared agreed, and just like that, he was free to go. The next morning, about 10 miles south in Boca Raton, A parking garage employee arrived for work and discovered something waiting outside. Something horrible. He comes up to show for work.

He turns up the ramp. He sees the black peg right on the other side of that pillar. There's a black bag. Don't know if it's connected or not. But he sees it. And while he didn't see the blood yet because he's in his car, he sees the bag. And he's been here for like 15 years. So he's used to seeing homeless people here.

So right away he's thinking, there's a homeless guy in here somewhere, makes the turn. As he's coming up the ramp, he's looking straight at that. He sees that, doesn't know what condition he's in, he sees the blood, shoots up top, parks the car, walks down, sees him, and calls 911. 911. What's the location of the emergency? It is in the parking garage of one South Ocean Boulevard in Bocco. There is a dead gentleman here with a knife wound, blood all over the place. And he is dead, not breathing?

Yep. He is dead. Is he in a car? No. He's laying on the ground. Is he white, black, or Hispanic? White. Is the broken knife?

No, the handle is right by his head, and the knife part is about four feet away from him, on the ground. And where is the staff room? There is blood around his head and shoulders. And is there any kind of car around him? No. There's no car. It looks like a homeless person because he has his max. and his coat and his flip-flop sandals.

And nobody else is around? Did you see anybody going to leave as you were coming in? No, no. After the parking garage, Walker discovered what appeared to be a homeless man stabbed at death, he called 911 and detectives quickly arrived. What they found was an area saturated with blood and clear signs of a very brutal attack.

Almost looks like he was sleeping there and got attacked. Yeah. All right, stay back over here. here, because we got some blood over here. I got footprints here. Just please watch. There's blood footprints coming away from him.

So, yeah, please. As detectives processed the scene, they noticed a trail of bloody footprints leading away from the body. It didn't take long for them to form a theory about what happened. They assumed the homeless man had been sleeping in the parking garage

when he was attacked and stabbed repeatedly. There were signs of brief struggle. Then the killer must have fled. Yeah, there's a knife handle is next to him up there and then the blade is over here. It looks like he was sleeping and got attacked and then wound up over here and dropped. But whoever was with him walked out this way. Nearby detectives also recovered a murder weapon, a cheap knife, long, sharp and broken. Yeah, he fought. Yeah, he's got, you can see slice wounds.

defensive, his hands are up on it. Yeah. He's got a stab. He broke the handle off the knife off. The hand broke the handle off the knife. It's a pretty good, pretty good blade. Knife still up there and everything? Yeah.

After several hours, the body was removed from the parking lot and transported to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy. And hopefully, an identification. As detectives continued their work, Word began to spread. The local media reported that a man had been found dead inside a Boca Raton parking lot. Residents woke up to the news of a violent crime in their community with few answers and no suspect in custody. Bokerton Police closed off the one O'Sha Plaza parking garage on Monday as they investigated how a man ended up dead with a knife wound. This section of A1A is a popular place for walkers and cyclists.

Kevin Metzler says he's never seen this kind of crime around here. You know, pretty shocking. You know, East Boker atone you think it'd be very safe. For our hopes, it's an ice ice. incident. It's sad, and it could be just a one weird accident that happened. It could be something odd, because I wouldn't anticipate that this would be the norm, because this is a very, very lovely community. And as of right now, Boca Raton police haven't released any information about who the victim is and their death investigation continues. For a moment, the Boca Raton police had no suspect, no name,

no clear direction. Just a body. in a parking lot and a trail of bloody footprints leading away. What they didn't know, what no one in Boca Raton knew, was that just a few hours earlier, a Del Rey Beach traffic cop had already stopped the man responsible for this murder. He had blood on his face, on his chest, on his hands, and they just let him go. On the morning of February 3, 2020, Boko-Raton detectives were investigating a fatal stabbing inside a parking lot. A man had been found dead.

Bloody footprints led away from the scene. There was no suspect in custody. Just hours earlier, in a neighboring city, a patrol officer had stopped the white Ford Explorer driven by a young man covered in blood. The two encounters had not been connected yet. But that wouldn't last. After reviewing surveillance and processing the scene, detectives began zeroing in on a name.

An arrest warrant was issued for 26-year-old Jared Neumann, and it didn't take long for Boca Raton police to find him. Once again, Jared was behind the wheel of a white Ford Explorer. But this time, when officers pulled him over, they approached him with their guns drawn. Turn your vehicle. Keeping your hands outside of the vehicle. Use your left hand to open the driver's side door and step out.

During this traffic stop, Jared was taken into custody without incident. His explorer was seized and Jared was brought into the police station, where two homicide detectives were waiting to question him. So your first name is Jared, right? Yes. And your last name? No, I'm an N-O-I-M-A-N. And what's your birthday?

11694. And you have an address? No. What do you currently stay at? My car. In your car? What kind of car is that? A Ford Explorer.

Is it registered to you? Yeah. How are you been doing that? What? In the car? A couple of years now. Oh, well. I have a job, though.

I'm trying to get a place. It's not work you doing. I do, like, restaurant, like, firehouse hubs. Okay. You're in the city? Yeah. Okay. Do you like it?

I don't particularly like it, but I need the money, so I make sure I go every day. Before outright addressing their murder. investigation, the detectives took their time and began the interview by asking Jared about his background. You said your parents got divorced when you were 12, right? But then you live with mom. Yeah. And you stayed in Ohio then? When did you move down here to Florida? When was 18. You're 18? Okay. And who did you stay with when you got down here? I just moved down here. I stayed by myself.

In like a apartment, a house? Or? Like, I just been staying in my car. From the start, something about Jared's responses felt a little off. He didn't appear nervous or confused, but his answers were guarded, and they didn't always add up. Follow-up questions about his background often contradicted details he had just mentioned moments earlier. So your parents don't go together. Right. Okay. Do you see them often?

My parents? No. I don't know. I'm down here. How am I going to see? Oh, I mean, did they come visit or anything? Do they work? Yeah, my mom's working.

What do they do? My mom's a nurse. I'm not really sure what my dad does. I stopped talking to him. Oh, you guys have fallout? I like a fallout. I just, you know, I just, nobody in the family really talks to him. Like, I don't talk to him.

My brother doesn't talk to him. Why is that? It's just, I don't know. He's just a weird person. Do you have mental problems or drugs? I think he does, but he won't admit it. He's like the type of person that says, tells everyone else they're crazy, and then everyone else is saying, no, you're crazy, and he's like,

no, I'm not. So, you know, you just distance yourself from people like that. What was the last time you sold? It's been a few years. Oh, really? How about your mom? It's been several years, yeah. Next, the detectives shifted their focus to a key piece of the investigation. Jared's vehicle, the white Ford Explorer.

That car that you have, does anyone else drive it? No. You're the only one that drives it. Yeah. Because there was, like, some tools and stuff in there. What are those who are? That's for work. Okay, so what do you do with those?

There was a painting job I had. What kind of painting? Um, what do you mean, what kind of painting? Like interior, exterior, finishing, business. Just exterior painting. Okay. How long ago did you do that? Um, this is, like.

We're just kind of curious. We're just trying to get into know, because we saw all that stuff in there. It almost seems like there's more than one person. Really weird questions. No, it just seems like there's more than one person living in the car and stuff like that. More than one person living in the car. There's a lot of stuff.

Right, right. For more than one person, yeah. Just you? Yeah. Okay. And you said it's registered to you? Yeah. First, Jared told detectives he worked at Firehouse Subs.

But when asked about the tools and supplies in his explorer, he claimed to also be a painter. The story didn't really add up, and detectives already knew the vehicle wasn't registered to Jared. They also knew that he wasn't the only person living out of it. Oh, you had that car? Oh, wow. Two years. Okay.

And you live in the car? Is that what you do? Yeah, I do live in the car. Where do you normally stay? Like, where do you park at night? Um, like, probably, like, in the parking lot. Here, at both of? Yeah.

You normally park in the front or in the back? Um, just towards the back. Okay. What do you do to get cleaned up and stuff? Um, I got a membership at LA Fitness. Oh, okay. Fitness and shower. The detectives also questioned Jared about his criminal history.

Even though they already knew this wasn't his first encounter with law enforcement. Have you been in trouble before? In what? Have you ever been in trouble before? Have you ever had them written to you? Yeah. What were you in trouble before before? Um, just like, like,

It's just like small altercation and stuff that, you know, I just made a mistake and, you know, didn't make it. Not a major. They're all down there and done the same thing. Yeah. All bad decisions. Anything recent? Not really. None of what Jared told detectives about his record was true.

At just 26 years old, he had already accumulated a growing list of pretty serious criminal charges. Police say this isn't Noyman's first run in with the law. He was arrested on February 22nd and June 19th. for simple battery against strangers. And he was interviewed by law enforcement in October after posting Facebook comments with threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting, or an act of terrorism. After hearing Jared lie about his record and the ownership of the Ford Explorer, detectives shifted their focus to the night before.

The bloody traffic stop in Delray Beach. When the Delray cops asked why Jared had been covered in blood, he offered a simple explanation. He claimed he'd been in a fight. So take it back through again when this incident happened last night, because that's the main thing that we're concerned about, is this person trying to locate them. I don't know anything of information.

You don't have anything else? You know their phone number or anything like that? I don't know them like that. So after you left the traffic stop in Delray, did you go anywhere to clean yourself up? I mean, what is all this for? Why am I being questioned with all this stuff? Well, you're pretty, you had a lot of blood on you, right?

Last night when they came into question. That's my problem, really. Right, but when a violent crime happens in Boca, then it becomes our problem, because we have somebody out there who I can't, I can't go get the guy for you. I don't know where he lives. I don't know him like that.

Well, there's just certain things that you've been telling us that just kind of don't, like, they're like really easy questions. that, like, it seems like you're not telling us the truth on. After pressing Jared a bit more, detectives were able to get him to give up a few more details about this supposed fight that he had. He just approached me.

He was very aggressive, and we argued for a minute, and then he started attacking me, and I fought back, and we just kind of got into a fight, and eventually, you know, he just stopped and got tired, and just walked off, and I walked off, and that was it. Where did this happen at? It was in Boca. But, like, where?

It was, like, somewhere on Yamato. Like, I was walking, you know, and he just approached me. I've seen him a couple of times. Like, he kind of knows me, but not really. Do you know, like, your mom? Yamto was a pretty big road. Yeah. Like, I don't know.

Like, I was, like, just walking on it. And, like, Peyton was specifically where I was, you know? And who's the guy that confronts you? I don't know his name. How do you know him? Like, how have you seen him? I've just seen him a couple times. Like, he's talked to me before.

like briefly but like where you see where you see him at i just like around like here and there can you describe them i mean like how male female male white black Hispanic black male yeah black male yeah about how old i don't know how old he is i have no idea i mean 20 30 40 i don't know do you think you got the best of him or he got the best of you he definitely got the best of me oh really yeah so you got the worse with the cuts and everything. Yeah, he was fine. How annoying is it when people are vague like this? Intentionally obtuse.

Tell me your lying without telling me you're lying. As detectives continued pressing for specifics, his demeanor began to shift. For the first time, Jared's composure appeared to slip. Where'd you end up going after work? Where'd you end up going after work? Just in my car. Is there something else going on that?

You want to tell us? about you look like you're upset about something. You just looked like you got lost in thought for a second. I just want to make sure that there's not a missing piece to this that you're holding back on anything. You're all right? Yeah, I'm okay. Okay. Up to this point, the detectives had allowed Jared room to talk, to explain, to revise, to hedge.

But eventually, that changed. detectives stopped trying to understand his story and began challenging it. And we know it didn't happen on Yamato, and we know that your car wasn't at the McDonald's, and we kind of know where you were. All right. So what can you tell us about what actually happened? I don't have any more information. I just, whatever I said is what I said.

Were you by the beach history? What is this about? Just asking you, were you going to meet you yesterday? I don't want to answer any more questions. I feel like I'm being like targeted or something. The shift in the detective's tone had a noticeable effect. Jared began to retreat. His answers grew shorter.

Then he stopped answering altogether. But the detectives didn't ease up. They doubled down and confronted Jared with more of the inconsistencies in his story. We know that you were over by the beach last night. Okay? You're on video at 7-Eleven. Okay? We know, I don't know why, you're distancing yourself from your dad.

You don't want to talk about your dad. We know the vehicle's registered to him. Okay, it's not registered to you. We know that you guys were together in the vehicle a month ago, right? You got arrested. You got into a domestic with him. You were living down here with him. And you're lying and telling us that he's living with his mom.

somewhere. So there's all these things that you're telling us that you're lying to us about, and I think it's because you're upset with what happened last night, understandably, okay, but you need to tell us the truth about what exactly happened because you're lying, there's all these things that we know that you're lying about, but we just need to know exactly what happened. What did happen? That's what we need you to tell us, Cher. Can you tell me what happened? Because I don't know what happened. After more than an hour of questioning the detectives stopped circling. They moved directly to the reason why Jared was in that room, the bloody and fatal stabbing in the parking lot. So we saw how much blood there was on you. I also see the injuries

that you have. All that blood was not your blood. Okay. So that blood's going to be in your car. Okay? And you know who that's going to come back to? What? Who's the blood going to come back to? What do you mean? In your car. The blood in your car, that was all over you that's not yours because you only have a couple small injuries. I didn't even see any blood in my car. There was blood all over you last night. All over your face, all over both of your arms, all over your pant legs, all over your feet. I can see it on the outside of your car and on your armrest and on the center console.

From standing outside your car you can see it. That blood, that was a lot of blood. We know who you got to fight with. We need you to tell us who you got to fight with. We know the person. I don't know the person. We don't. How do you know the person when you were just telling him when you just asked me about them?

Because we're seeing how honest you were going to be with us and we don't think you're honest at all. Next, the detectives turned their attention to the victim. They already knew who he was and so did Jared. Since that's your dad's car, how do we get a hold of your dad to tell him that's his car and we have it? Because we got it released to somebody. Where is it? Do you have a number for him? No.

What was the last time he sold? Why even... Why is that a tough question for you? It's really not. It's just, I don't even know I'm being asked. Who do you, who cares? Which is one of the last time you saw your dad, because I would like I said,

we need to get his car back to him. No, I'm the one using it. You don't understand. It's registered to him. Okay. The law, he's the only one that can get the car back. Okay, then he can come get it when he needs to get it. He won't know where it's it.

Yeah, we need to contact him. I can contact him. How? I just don't want to answer any questions. questions. What was the last time you saw your dad? When was the last time you saw him? Well, I'm going to say

today. Today? The victim in this homicide investigation, the man found brutally stabbed to death inside a Bocoritan parking lot was 59-year-old

Jay Neumann. He was Jared's father. So obviously, Jared, we're hearing about your dad. We can't be more clear about that. Why are you here about my dad? Tell us.

I would like you to tell me. Why are you here about my dad? What happened? I think it's obvious that you know because all the questions that you've been avoiding today have had some sort of relation to your dad. There's certain things that you've been honest about and certain things that you've lied about and every single thing that you've lied about

has had to do with your dad. What's going on? When the conversation turned to his father, Jared responded the same way he had all along. He acted as if he didn't understand what the detectives were asking. It's like all of a sudden he doesn't understand English. Some people really suck at lying. It's unfortunate, Jared. What is it is unfortunate?

Because, as my partner said, you're well aware of why you're here and you're well aware of the situation that's going on? No, I'm not. Sit here and you sit here and act like you are. I thought you were more of a man and I thought you were more of a decent person. I know. There really ain't much to me. I'm homeless, I'm poor. I fucking, I don't have a friend.

I'm not making excuses. Oh, you're making an excuse. Why? What do you mean is an excuse? I'm just saying that's what I'm saying that I'm not a great person, okay? I'm homeless, I'm poor. I don't have a lot of stuff in my life. When confusion failed, Jared changed his approach.

And he cast himself as a victim, of course. Aw, poor little Jowit. Yet, even in that shift towards self-pity, his story remained inconsistent. What? So you don't even know what's my dad? They were talking to this, but we need to confirm it before we say it. You think it is? Yeah.

So you don't know? Well, yeah. So my dad's fine. You just don't really know. I don't know. You just don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

Maybe I don't want to tell you. Same like you don't want to tell me. I don't know. You have to tell me anything. You sure? Yeah, I mean, I know everything in my life is fine, so... It is. Yeah.

But you just said it shit two minutes ago. Despite Jared's attempts to steer the conversation elsewhere, detectives kept bringing it back to his father. You know, the victim. Before long, they raised a recent incident, one that had resulted in Jared getting arrested for assaulting his dad. So what I'm asking is, I know what pisses me off about my dad. I'm trying to figure out what set you off that day.

About the little assault charge that they dropped because they didn't even have evidence? That's unfortunate. Yeah. It was nothing. He just, he was like a wimp. He just called the police. But like what, why? Like, what was the whim?

Okay. It's like, you know, he just, he's like the first person that just like jump on the phone and call him on one. Does he like get pissed off? that you aren't working as hard as you should? I don't know. I don't know anything about my dad. I don't know. Like, I never knew him since the day I was born to now.

I never knew a single thing about him because he doesn't like to share. He doesn't like communicate. He's standoffish? Yeah. I mean, he's in his own little egotistical world where it all revolves around him. So I can't, you know, it's like I'm talking to a wall

when I talk to him. Right. So how do you get your point across? I don't. You don't? No, I just get ignored. Bringing up the recent assault shifted the tone of the interview. Jared began speaking more freely about his father,

about their relationship, the tension between them. So the detectives leaned into that and let Jared continue. When somebody starts digging, hand him a shovel. I mean, some people just don't like that. You know what I mean? No matter how much you talk to and how about you say, you're not going to get through to him. Well, yeah, he seems frustrating.

you know, just try to cooperate with somebody and they don't want to cooperate. What are you trying to cooperate on? Everything. Everything. I tried everything to cooperate and have agreement and peace and he was not interested.

Captain Vagness began to unload his frustrations about his father. Before long, the detectives attempted to steer the conversation towards a resolution, offering him a softer path forward. They asked him to tell them what really happened. The picture that you kind of painted, I'm kind of on your side as to what you're going through and what your dad was putting you through and the pressures you were feeling and the

personality conflict. So I can understand that if something happened between you guys and it broke bad, but unless you tell us what you're going to be. what actually happened and stop beating around the bush. I don't even know what you're even talking about. Last night. Okay. Tell us what happened. It's not that hard.

It's very basic. Like, what did I do last night? Yeah. The strategy didn't work. Jared retreated once again, responding as though he didn't understand what detectives were asking. The conversation stalled, circling back over ground they had already covered. I want you to tell me about what you got into your most recent argument about.

The most recent argument? Mm-hmm. Why do you want to know what the most recent argument was about? Because everything here revolves around your dad. Everything here would mean... Yeah, the reason why we're here right now. Oh, it revolves around my dad. Okay, so are you going to tell me what happened with my dad?

That's what I want you to tell me. Why would I know what happened with my dad? Because you're with him. What do you mean I'm with him? You were with them. When? Earlier this morning. Yet again, the detectives shifted tactics.

They returned to confronting Jared with the inconsistencies in his statements. So the dad, who you told us earlier tonight, lives with his mom in Ohio. Now, just listen. Just listen. Just listen. So your dad's mom is deceased, correct? Yes. Okay, so he doesn't live with her. And then you told us that you haven't had any contact with him in years, which she just pointed out of the case a month, where you arrested because you and him are fighting in a parking lot.

And then I just ask you a question if you and him live in the truck and you said yes. And then I asked you if his stuff is in the truck and you said yes, correct? Is that correct? Why don't have to answer that? You don't. That's just serious question I'm asking that showed you're being deceitful. And you said you believe in the truth and you believe in facts. So obviously you're lying because you don't believe in the truth and you don't believe in facts. Is that correct?

I just... That's a yes or no? You can just throw it through my head into another world. I didn't mean to do that. I apologize. He's trying to explain to you all the things that you lied about today. Yeah, I feel like I have to put my business out there like that, you know.

Well, when it comes to matters that are involving the police and the reasons that we're questioning you, then, yeah, it matters. Well, it may matter, but it's still, you know, my business. And if I don't want to share my personal business with other people that I don't know who aren't doing anything good for me. Right, but, but how do you think that's going to look for you? Look, in terms of what? Next, the detectives began laying out the physical evidence. Step by step, they explained how it contradicted Jared's claim of being attacked, and instead pointed to him as the attacker. Do you know what the evidence is telling me right now?

You said I injured the person. It's telling me that you were the aggressor. Really? Mm-hmm. So that's why I'm out. asking you for your side of the story because all the physical evidence and by physical evidence I mean the blood everything else that's on scene the video surveillance your phone everything all of that is telling me that you were the aggressor in this situation and without knowing the reasoning we're kind of stuck and I don't want to picture you as a bad person who would just go out and do something for no

reason I don't think that's the case I think that there's a reason for what happened. But unfortunately, unless you tell us, walls we're stuck with is the facts and what we're looking at. And the facts don't make you seem very good. I didn't know that he was injured that bad. Yeah. I mean, I thought I was more injured than him. I didn't see them get injured. I was the one on the ground. He was standing over me. Despite the evidence, Jared continued to insist that he had been attacked, not his father. But by an unknown black man, he claimed it, confronted him. Yet again, detectives challenged this claim immediately. Then the tone in the room shifted. Patience wore thin, and this interrogation began to break down completely. So here we are back to that when you don't

feel of asking, answering the questions, you answer the questions and you have good dialogue with us, but when Jared does get uncomfortable and Jared doesn't find it's very uncomfortable, it's stupid to me. It's not stupid. Well, and again, you have enough evidence to give me somebody, according to you people, So what more do you need out of me? Let me just look. Yeah, go ahead. I said before you don't care. No, I do you care.

You don't care. Okay, what do you mean? Because that's the attitude you take. Instead of answering a question, you laugh about. What do I not care about? This whole situation and the person that you heard. Okay, as far as I know, I didn't hurt anyone. So I don't know how I'm supposed to care about somebody I don't even know about it.

You don't have any of an altercation. Yes, that person did not look injured to me. They walked away like your time. We're really telling you they are. Okay, um, then if they want to pursue charges, then I do care. I didn't, I didn't mean to injure them. I just have no knowledge. How did it happen?

How did you injure them? I guess when we were fighting, I don't know. I guess I must have hit him. I mean, he hit me. I can tell you the injuries aren't consistent with fighting. Did you have a weapon on you? Did you have a gun with you? I had four guns.

I'm good. Did you have any knives with you? Maybe a hundred. What kind of knives? Uh, uh, the machetes from the jungle. Okay. Any other weapons?

I had a laser fork. What's that? It's a fork that shoots the laser. Yeah, it's the new scientific invention. Megan, the smush, he said before the smart, elegant answers when you're sitting here. I mean, you guys... Go back to the... I asked you if you had a weapon.

And I already answered you, I told you no. And then you didn't take my word for it. You kept pasturing me, so then you get a stupid man. I didn't expect us to take over your word for it when you lied to you. for it when you've lied to us so many times. Okay, that don't take my word for anything. You apparently have evidence. What more do you need? We're giving you more and more chances to try to be honest with us. And we already told you what we want out of you. We want to lie. Why? Why? Why what? Eventually, the detective stepped back. The interview had reached a standstill. But before

they left the room, something unexpected happened. Something that doesn't happen often during a police interrogation. The suspect freely admitted that much of what he said wasn't true. All right, Jared. Raise your right hand for you? Do you swear everything he told me today? Is it truth, the whole truth, nothing about the truth to help you done? No.

No? No. I know I'm lying. I don't know those things I said. I told you I was lying. Do you want to tell us anything truthful before we go? I mean, not really. Jared delivered this admission calmly and casually, with an unusual confidence.

He acknowledged that he had lied. But when detectives left him alone in the interrogation room, his composure didn't hold up. Jared broke down and began sobbing uncontrollably. Hey, you heard some noises coming out of here. Are you all right? Yeah. What's going on? What's going on with you?

What's got you so upset? What you did? You're crying? No, not. There's water coming out of your eyes. Believing they were on the verge of a breakthrough, the detectives re-entered the room. They tried to steady Jared with that big brother, big sister thing they do.

to reason with him, to guide him towards a full account of what had happened. But in this moment, didn't hold. I think you're torn, Jared, between taking responsibility to this and not. Like I said, as far as I know, I didn't do anything. So I'm going to trial. You have evidence and you can get a conviction and good for you. I'm going to be going to trial. All right.

The interrogation finally came to an end. Detectives had challenged Jared, pressed him, confronted him with the inconsistencies, and the evidence. But without a clear admission and without enough established probable cause for murder, their options were limited. Jared was booked on a traffic offense, and then he was released. After hours inside that interrogation room, after the blood, after the contradictions, Jared walked out of the station a free man. For the moment, there was nothing that law enforcement could do to stop him.

On the night of February 2, 2020, a White Ford Explorer was pulled over in Delray Beach, Florida. The driver was 26-year-old Jared Neumann. He was calm. cooperative and covered in blood. Jared offered shifting explanations and was eventually allowed to park his vehicle and walk away. The next morning, about 10 miles from that traffic stop, inside a Boca Raton parking garage, a man was found stabbed to death. Detectives recovered a broken knife near his body and a trail of bloody footprints leading away from the scene.

The victim was identified as 59-year-old J. Noy. He was Jared's father. By the time detectives brought Jared in for questioning, they believed the evidence pointed directly at him. Inside the interrogation room, Jared deflected. He contradicted himself. He blamed a stranger. He broke down.

But without a clear admission, and without enough to establish probable cause for murder, detectives were forced to release him. For brief time, Jared Neumann was a free man. But then something unexpected happened. The following day, Jared returned to the Boca Raton Police Department and asked to speak with detectives again. You said you wanted to talk to me? Yeah.

What's up? I would just, I would like to confess to the murder of my father. Okay. I appreciate you coming in and manning up and saying that. Jared didn't only return to the police station. He came back to confess to killing his father. And when he began speaking, he gave detectives what they had been trying to uncover since the beginning. Jared told them why.

I think I just had a huge lapse of judgment. My dad, I mean, I'm not trying to make excuses for why I did what I did because there's no excuse for it. But I was very stressed out and unhappy. My dad would constantly. disrespect me and I felt like I was being bullied and harassed. And when I was in jail and prison and around all these like criminalized people, they always talked about how when people do bad things to you, you have to stand up for yourself and you have to usually, you know, retaliate with violence.

And it's been so ingrained in my head that I was consistently on a consistent basis thinking about violence when people were mean to me. And I didn't know how to make them stop otherwise. You know, my dad would always call the police on me if I got violent towards them, Like physically, and then, you know, it just got to a point where I was like, the only way to make it stop is to do this. And I didn't, I didn't, you know, I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know what I, he didn't deserve that. I just didn't know, like, I didn't know what I did until it was, it was over.

And I realized what I did. I didn't understand, like, what the hell did I just do? Like, as Jared explained why he killed his father, his tone was much different than a day. The defiance, the guarded answers were gone. In their place was something else. Whether it was remorse, guilt, or simply exhaustion, it sounded real. My dad didn't deserve that. I mean, he wasn't the nicest person to me, but I don't think he deserved to die like that.

It was horrible. I mean, I remember every second it was awful. It didn't do that. It just felt like I was pushed too far. I just reacted in a bad way. after Jared explained why the detectives turned to the details asking him to walk them through exactly what had happened between him and his father does he always sleep outside of the car and you sleep in the car even when it's cold out i mean usually either takes two blankets or you

like sleep in this like corridor spot but okay where so where was the car parked um just like on the first floor. And where was he sleeping at? He was upstairs on one of the higher floors. Okay. So what happened that let up take me through exactly what happened? I mean, nothing really like happened that made that happen. It's just like something I'd been, like I just thought of, you know, it's just like kind of just came over me. Jared admitted he had been contemplating his father's death for some time. And on a cold February night, he put that thought into motion. I know this part's hard to talk about, but can you tell me exactly what you did to him?

Yeah, he was sleeping, and I walked up, and I had a knife in my hand, and I think the blanket was over his head, and I pulled the blanket off, and I think I started stabbing him in the throat, like blood, like, you know, telling me to stop, like, and I didn't, you know, and I, I I said no. And I didn't know what I was doing at all. You know, and he fell on the ground at some point, and, you know, I started choking him. And I just told him just to go to sleep. You know, stop fighting.

Just go to sleep. I saw the life to leave his eyes and everything. Jared described the attack as sudden, chaotic and bloody. He stabbed his father, repeated. There was a brief struggle. In the end, Jay was overpowered. The assault was so forceful that the blade of the knife eventually snapped from its handle. Where did the knife that you used?

How did you get that? I bought it with a dollar store. That day or earlier? That day. Earlier that day. So you went in there and you bought that knife. Did you buy anything else with it? At the dollar store?

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I bought a bunch of trash bags. and in some gloves. When you went to the dollar store initially to buy that a knife, is that what you were thinking about? Well, that's why I bought the knife, yeah. To kill your dad? Yeah.

By Jared's own account, this killing wasn't spontaneous. He admitted to planning it. And he even admitted to thinking about the better option, which would have been to simply walk away from his father and start over somewhere else. And it was hard to decide that, to just deal with it. things, but I told myself, you know, like, maybe I just need to work hard and do the right thing, you know, and just, like, just move out when, you know, when the time comes and then I can buy

all my own stuff, you know, I don't have to do anything to him and take his stuff. And, you know, yeah, I don't know, like, just something, like, it's just something, for whatever reason I ended up going back in there and just decided to buy the stuff anyway, and I just put in the car. As Jared continued explaining his reasoning and his thoughts, thought process. The grievances he described began to feel smaller. He characterized his father as abusive, harsh, controlling, and difficult to live with. But when pressed for specifics, the examples he offered painted a picture that was much less extreme. Like, in all honesty, I was tired of, you know,

kind of being like woken up early in the mornings and, you know, kind of being stressed out. And I'm me honest, I thought things like, oh, like, you know, if I kill him, I'll just be able to, like, take the car, just, like, be able to sleep. And, you know, my life will be better. I'll be free. And I won't have to deal with this anymore. And stupid shit like that, you know? You know, I tried everything I knew how to do.

And this was the only thing I didn't try. So I thought it was my only option. I didn't realize what I was doing. Jared and his father were living out of a Ford Explorer. At night, Jared slept inside the vehicle, and his father often slept out. outside. But Jay had to wake up early for work. When he did, he would wake

Jared up as well, start the engine and drive to a painting job. Jared resented that. He didn't want to be woken up. He wanted to sleep all day. And over time, that resentment deepened into something very dark.

Jared saw only one way out, for some reason. So, he decided to kill his father. And as part of that plan, he even went as far as to dig a shallow grave. Actually, I did, you know, about 1 a.m., I went over to the beach and actually tried to dig a hole that I was going to put the body in. It was right out on the beach by some grass. There was like a huge hole that dug.

Okay. And was it within view of people, the hole? Well, it was pitch dark outside, so I don't think anyone really saw it. But like by morning, I'm sure they would have seen it. After digging a grave on the beach, Jared returned to the parking garage where his father was sleeping. By then, the decision to kill had already been made. So after that, where do you go once you give up on digging the hole? I think I just went straight to him.

No, I went to the car. I waited a little bit because my arms were hurting from digging the hole. And then I just was like, you know what? You know, it's time, basically. And I went up and I just kind of did it. And when you walked up to him, when you first walked up to him, was it slow or fast? I think it kind of moved, like, not like slow, slow, but kind of like creeped up on, I guess. Jared approached his father barefoot, hoping not to wake him.

In his hand was the dollar store knife he had purchased earlier. Then Jared struck. Do you remember where you hit him with a knife? right in his neck and he was sleeping when you when that first sat when you first when I first stab him yeah he was sleeping okay and did he wake up immediately when that happened did he say anything to you immediately told me to stop okay did he say anything else um I don't think so I don't remember but I don't think so was there a lot of blood yes what happened after you stabbed him the first time he he jumped

up and was screaming he so he stood up well yeah he jumped up really fast and started trying to fight me off and who's telling me Jared stop and I you know I said no and did you just stab him the one time and then get back up or did you hit him a couple times? Did I hit him a couple times. Do you know if you had to guess how many times would you think that you hit him? I don't know exactly what I would say several so I mean maybe like I couldn't even count at least four or five or five times stabbed him and it was that where those all in the neck area or? I think so, yeah.

Okay. An autopsy later determined that Jay Norman had been stabbed 27 times. And the wounds were not confined to his neck. They were spread across his body. So it got dropped? No, the accident and the knife broke. Oh, it broke? Yeah.

And so the pieces just fell over. When, that first time, when you stabbed him a couple times, where did the other stabs come? if the knife broke? I actually stabbed him a couple of times with the broken knife. With the broken knife? Yeah, it was like a little piece left, but I kept stabbing him. Okay.

During the attack, Jay tried to fight off his son. Defensive wounds on his body confirmed there had been a struggle. But in the end, Jared, the son, overpowered the father. And then what happens now that you're both standing? Um, I, for some reason, I can't exactly remember this part, but at some point we both ended up on the ground and I was on top of him choking him. And now what happens? Um, I just kept telling him go to sleep and, um, I said, I don't know, I don't remember everything I said. I just remember, um, saying that he was very cruel to me. And, you know, I think I remember I said I didn't want to do this to him.

And that it was that I said he was very cruel to me. And I probably said a couple of things. other things I don't remember, but that was really good until you passed away. Jay Neumann's final moments were violent and horrific. While bleeding out from more than two dozen stab wounds, the last thing he saw was his own son choking him to death. Burn that image into the back of your retina. Imagine seeing your own son, choking the life out of you. How did you know that he was dead? I saw the life leave his eyes.

Okay. Did you see him breathing at all? It's not like he was breathing, but like his body was like reacting like, like it was like trying to have air or something. I kept, I thought maybe he was still alive so I kept like forcing his windpipe down. And, uh, but then I realized like when I took my hands off, it was just his body like doing something that he was dead. And like, I took my hands off. Like, I took my hands off and, like, a huge amount of air, like, sucked into him. And then I got off at him. After killing his father, Jared abandoned his plan to move the body to the beach.

It was a pretty fucking dumb plan to begin with because a lot of people like to go to the beach. It's a very populated area. So, probably not a great place to bury a body. And again, this homeless idiot was a homeless idiot. So he simply fled the scene, leaving Jay where he had fallen. Evidence and all. The crime would not be discovered until the following morning. But that was soon enough.

I tried to use the trash bag, but then I just, like I saw, and across the apartment that there was a light on, and I didn't know what was being washed or something, so I got really scared. And I just said, oh, I can't be here or something like that. And then I got in the car and just, You know, I took his keys, and I got in the car and just took off immediately. And then, yeah, and then I just started heading north.

And then that's when the Delray police stopped me and saw the blood all over me. Hey, I'm Officer Smith. The reason why I pulled you over is you don't have any lights on. Oh, it sucks. Are you okay, bud? Yeah, I just have a move to. Do you sure? You don't need paramedics or anything?

After pulling Jared over and finding him covered in blood, Delray Beach police allowed him to walk away. He wouldn't be arrested or questioned. about his father's death until after Jay's body was discovered. During that initial interview, Jared lied repeatedly as detectives pressed him for the truth and tried to uncover a motive. But the following day, he returned to the police station, and this time he explained why he did it. You're upset because he wanted to wake you up in the morning?

Yeah, no, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I just, I didn't want to get up. Like, he was saying, like, you know, that, you know, he needs to go to work. and stuff. He was, oh, right, he was talking about, like, okay, well, if you don't want to get woken up, just sleep outside, you know, you can take the blankets. And I said, no, I can't do that. You know, I said, it's too cold and I can't do it, blah, blah, blah. And then he said, you know, I don't know how God was this point really, but for some reason, he said, you know, would you make happy if I slept outside? And I just said, yeah.

This confession eventually ended, and detectives left the room. Jared remained seated at the table. The camera is still recording. Alone. In the interrogation room, he began to speak out loud. Not to the detectives, but to his father. After hearing all that, Dad, I'm sure you're very furious. I don't have an excuse for what's wrong with me.

I don't know. I'm sure you're very angry. You can be mad at me. What I do what's wrong and stupid? I should never did that. You don't have to forgive me. It was wrong. Very wrong.

I turned myself in, okay? So, I'm trying to do what I can do, you know, make up for it. I can never make up for it. So I'm trying to do it. I'm trying to do right there. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I was sick. I'm sorry, I was such a sick I went ahead.

I'm sorry, I'm so sick. I'm sorry. A short time later, Jared was escorted out of the interrogation room and formally booked on murder charges. 26-year-old Jared Neumann is now charged with first-degree murder after police say he turned himself in Tuesday and confessed to murdering his father in this parking garage Monday morning. Police also say surveillance video identified Neumann as a suspect. Police say Noyman confessed to stabbing and strangling his father as he slept because he did not like the way his father treated him. Noyman remains in jail for premeditated first-degree murder with no bond. He's scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning.

After his arrest, Jarrett's legal battle began. Any remorse he had expressed during his confession faded away as he entered a plea of not guilty. Much like any sympathy you may have had for him should. have faded away. After learning that this manipulative sociopath murdered his own father, admitted to it, and rather than accept responsibility and take punishment, he pleads not guilty. Because why not waste a bunch of taxpayer money also? At trial, Jared claimed he had killed his father in self-defense. That claim unraveled during cross-examination. Mr. Norman, your statement in the police is so different than it is today.

right? A little bit. Well, now you're saying you bought a knife for self-defense. Right. Oh, so you can kill your father in self-defense, is what you bought the knife. I wanted to protect myself, yes. So you planned out this self-defense where you were purchasing a knife in anticipation of self-defense? If I needed to, yeah.

And you bought trash bags in self-defense? Yeah, I did. Well, no, I was thinking if that happened, I would, like, I was, like, stupid. and I was thinking there was like a way to like hide this body but it wasn't right you're gonna hide a body in self-defense too that's part of your play well if I kill somebody self-defense I don't want like you know you gotta hide this body somewhere right yeah it seemed like I did it you bought gloves to defend yourself as well right well I didn't want to leave finger friends right right you don't want to get caught when you killed when you killed them in self-defense right right uh you dug a hole at the beach in self-defense right um I that was like stupid but uh I guess yeah I was like thinking that I could have buried him, but I wasn't able to do that. During the trial, prosecutors argued that Jared's claim of self-defense was a lie, because it was. A story constructed after the fact to avoid responsibility.

They told jurors the evidence showed something much more deliberate. Jared had grown resentful of his father, planned the killing meticulously. and then carried it out. Hours upon hours of conversations with police officers, telling them what happened in all these lies, right? Oh, yeah. And the first time you came up with this story was today, five years after you murdered your father, right?

I just might have said it differently. Okay, well, when did you make up this story about what you just, when did it come to you in your mind to make up this story? It's not a story I made up. I mean, I was just not telling the police everything. You didn't like you're dead? No, right? You hated you dead?

Maybe a little bit. Prosecutors also emphasized a critical detail. When Jay Neumann was attacked, he was asleep. They argued that fact alone undermined any claim of self-defense. You can't get attacked by someone who's unconscious. Didn't we learn that from the DoorDash girl? When you stabbed them with the knife, he wasn't awake. Right?

Yes. Eyes were closed. Yes. And you took off your shoes so that he wouldn't hear you coming, right? Yes. And do you remember telling the police that he told you stop? Yes. Yeah.

Right? And you didn't stop. No. You stabbed them multiple times. some of them to his back. Because when you stabbing someone in the back, that's not self-defense, right? If you were trying to defend yourself and you had to keep hitting them, maybe hit them in the back by accident, defend yourself from a sleeping man?

No, no, but I mean if it was like a situation where somebody was doing something, you defended yourself from a person that's asleep on the ground? No. Unsurprisingly, the jury sided with prosecutors and returned a guilty version. Jared was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for killing his father. What happened to your dad that things kind of spiraled and you and him are living out of his truck together? Did you just have a bad turn of events? Business went back? What was the... You can ask him.

But that's kind of a going from having a business and a condo and that to you guys living out of the same truck. It's kind of... That's his problem. I'm not saying that's a problem. I'm just curious as to, did he mismanage his money? Did someone take advantage of them? Drug with alcohol? Bad luck?

I'm not that involved. It's unclear how or why Jay Neumann ultimately found himself living out of a Ford Explorer with his son. What we do know was that life inside that vehicle wasn't easy for either of them. Living in such close quarters is hard. The space. is small, but privacy non-existent. Every little frustration

lingers a bit longer when there's nowhere to escape it. By all accounts, Jay was trying to make it work. Friends had offered him a place to stay, a way out. But he refused. He knew his son was struggling

and he didn't want to leave him alone. At the same time, Jay understood that Jared could be violent and volatile. Moving his son into a friend's home simply wasn't an option. So, Jay chose another path. He continued living out of his vehicle alongside his son. That kind of loyalty is difficult to measure.

It's the quiet, stubborn kind of love that doesn't disappear when things get messy. The kind that stays, even when staying, is the hardest thing on earth. Jay chose to remain with his son. Tragically, his son chose something else. In the end, this wasn't a crime born of imminent danger or desperate survival. It was a calculated decision, rooted in resentment, in small grievances that were allowed to grow unchecked, dealt with by an emotionally immature idiot.

Jay Neumann stayed with his child when others might have walked away. And that choice cost him, his life. Some people spend their entire lives searching for unconditional love. Jay Neumann died by giving it. That does it for another tragedy. I don't know why you guys listen to this stuff, but I guess it's nothing new. I mean, the Greeks loved their tragedy, right? So, not much has changed in thousands of years.

I don't suspect much will change in thousands of years. So until next week, stay safe.