True Crime All The Time - Jayne Salazar-Chavez

Episode Date: September 10, 2026

17-year-old Jayne Salazar-Chavez was a bright, outgoing high school student with dreams of becoming an Air Force pilot. In November 2022, her Army boyfriend unexpectedly arrived at her Decatur, Georgia, home and discovered suggestive messages on her phone from another man. A heated confrontation followed, and later that night Jayne and her boyfriend returned to her house, where a gunman opened fire on their vehicle. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Jayne Salazar-Chavez. Jayne was killed, and her boyfriend was seriously wounded. As investigators dug into the case, Jayne’s phone, a photograph, phone records, and location data provided crucial clues and revealed a deadly love triangle that would ultimately lead authorities to the person responsible.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 531 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime, Mike Gibson. How are you? I'm doing good. Okay. Did you need to say it like Chef Boy R.D? That's just how it came out. Oh my goodness.

We had a pizza tonight. Yeah. So maybe this is some of the Italianano. We did. Do you say Italianano? That's how we say. Okay. Yeah.

from the small region I'm from. Which is what? BFE, Ohio? Because that's where you're from. Let's be honest. Yeah, that's true. All right. So you ready to get into this episode of True Crime all the time?

We're talking about Janie Salazar Chavez. When 17-year-old Janie Salazar Chavez's boyfriend drove to her home for a surprise visit after being granted leave from his army base, she was shocked to see him. Janie's boyfriend became suspicious and he checked her phone and discovered that she had been texting another man. After getting into a verbal altercation with the man over the phone, Janie and her boyfriend were hit by a hail of gunfire outside of her house.

The Bullage... Bullets? Let's go with bullets. Yeah. Injured her boyfriend and killed Janie within minutes. So he comes home thinking, oh, man, I am so excited. I'm going to drive there and see her. And he gets there and he's like, something's up.

Yeah. It also sounds like it might have been a surprise visit. Yeah. Like he may not have warned her ahead of time. It kind of takes the fun away, though, right? Yeah. Like, hey. Well, it takes the surprise away for sure.

When you're always telling me, you miss me, miss me, and I'm will show up. I'm like, I'm here. But then you're like, First of all, I have never said I miss you. No, but you assume that people miss each other. Oh, okay. You said you and then you're looking at me.

No. No. You mean you as in the general you. Okay. Let's just lay all of our cards on the table. You don't miss anybody besides your kids and your wife. Yeah. It's very rare. Yeah.

That, I mean, I enjoy our weekly recording session. But you usher me out pretty quickly. In the six days in between. Yeah. It's not like I'm sitting around thinking, you know what? What about that give he's doing? I really miss giving. Yeah.

Let me call him up and just see what he's doing. You call me up. I'm thinking something's going to be wrong. There's a problem, right? Because I don't talk to a lot of people. I don't make a lot of phone call. No, or text, to be honest. Or text.

Here's the funny thing. And I said this before. I could text you a paragraph. I'm going to get one word back. Okay. Or no. No. It's usually no if you're asking me for something.

So Janie Salazar Chavez was born on July 25th, 2005. She lived with her family in Decatur, Georgia. Janie was a junior at Towers High School. She was a group commander of her schools, Air Force, JROTC program. She was also involved in soccer and student government. So pretty active. Yeah, I think she was active. Did your school have an ROTC program?

They did. Yeah, mine did too. I wasn't into it. But when I was in college, I did take some military courses. I don't know why they offered them. It was like shooting M16s. It was repelling down some of the campus buildings. Yeah.

It was fun. It just seemed like nothing I would ever use in my business life, which is what I was going to school for. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense at all. Although, I guess if you're in a high rise and you're into some business and things go sour, you might need to repel down. Maybe there's a lesson there on sometimes in business world, you've got to take a step back, repel down to your foundation before you climb back up again.

That's not the dumbest thing you've ever said. No, that's... Although that's not a clear, very high bar, but it's not. I kind of get the, where you're going there. Friends describe Janie as sweet and down to earth. A post made by her principal on the school's social media account said, Janie, you were such an inspiration and a great student leader. We will miss you, my dear.

Janie's friend, Taylor Forrest said she was outgoing, positive and bright. Her friend, Jaden Chick, agreed that Janey never made. met a stranger and could bring people out of their show. Yeah, you always hear such good things about these people that end up being killed. You know, it just breaks my heart. You know, I feel bad for their families, for their friends, you know, because they just sound wonderful. Like, yeah.

These are people you want in our world. Yeah. And I have a couple of different views on that. Number one, some of these people just are that amazing. Sure. But then number two, you know, who really wants to say something, even in the least bit negative, about someone who's just done? Well, that's true. I mean, you'd have to be a different type of person to be able to be like, well, be honest.

We've heard it. Yeah, we have. We have heard. People say, I'm glad the person was dead. I hated them. But it's not the norm. No. Right.

Especially if you're dealing with friends and family, of course, they're going to have a lot of good things to say about the person. But, you know, let's be honest, there are some people who are just that positive. Of course. Yeah. In life that, you know, they positively affect everyone around them. And they're fun to be around. Yeah, they are. Janie's goal was to become a pilot for the Air Force.

She had already enlisted in the Air Force and hoped. to pursue an education after completing her service, Janie's mother, Amparo Salazar, told 11 alive that Janie was looking forward to graduation. Well, I mean, ROTC, the Air Force Day, they used to. I don't know if they still do, but they used to give, you know, a healthy amount of money towards your college education. Oh, I think they still do. Yeah.

And it's a great way to, you know, number one, serve your cops. country, but then when you come out, kind of have your next steps in line and a lot of your school paid for and all of that. Helpful. Shortly before her death, Janie was crowned Homecoming Queen. This was said to have been an exciting moment for her, but no surprise to her friends who were confident that kind, outgoing Janie would win. Weren't you the Homecoming King?

I was not. I was on the court. That's what it was. You're on the court. But I was not selected. Yeah. I'm fine with that. But here we just got done talking about, okay, is she really that wonderful or are people just kind of hyping her up after the fact? Well, before her death, she was crowned homecoming queen. Again, that says a lie. It does. Now, I would say, at least from my experience, that is mostly a popularity award. it always doesn't have, you know, something to do with how nice you are, but it can't play a factor. They can for sure. At the time of her death, Janie was in a relationship with Brandon Lee Wilson, who's in the Army. 16-year-old Janie met 22-year-old Brandon in October 2001 while he was on Lee. Janie was a waitress at the restaurant he was visiting, and they hit it off.

a lot of people, you know, can find that, right? You know, you're working and somebody comes in, you're like, hey, how you doing? And they're like, hey, how you doing? And next thing you know, you're always like, go out. Both the man and the woman are talking like Joey from friends? Sometimes it happens. Okay.

Yeah, it's the Joey theory or whatever, not the theory, but you know I'm talking about. You know, just twirling your fingers like that doesn't help you come up with something. I know. I can look up like I do some. You do that a lot too. Yeah. But you're right. I mean, you know, if you pulled all these people who are in relationships and asked them,

how'd you meet? Yeah. There's going to be a lot of meat cues, but a lot of people are going to meet in just kind of benign ways. My wife and I met at work, which a lot of people do. You remember what aisle you met in? I don't for sure. But, you know, also, you know, you know, this is kind of a. the diner waitress situation.

You go in to get some food. You see somebody that is your server. You're very attracted to them. I could see the sparks flying. It wasn't long after this that they began a romantic relationship. Most of their relationship was long distance because Wilson was stationed in South Korea or North Carolina. Well, that would be long distance. Especially South Korea.

Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be maybe some Zoom calls or whatever people have the opportunity to do. You're not going to be seeing each other in person. No, very much. Wilson later testified that going into November 22, their relationship was, as he put it, pretty rough. He and Janie argued often and he suspected something wasn't right. And that Janie might have been cheating on it. That's probably what?

She's going into her senior year, I think, if I'm thinking right. Maybe. You know, so, you know, that's, I always told my kids, your senior years, that's, that's your time to let loose, have fun before you go into college, you know? So. Yeah, I did not use that advice. I was pretty much, uh, I was just a relationship guy. Yeah.

I always have been. Yeah. It's probably one of the reasons I've been married for, you know, over 30 years. Yeah. I like continuity. You do. I like being in a relationship. I was never that guy to just, you know, randomly date people or hook up or any of that stuff.

I would not have been like a Tinder user or any of that. No. Because I just like relationships. Well, if you were a tenure user, you'd probably swipe, and the first person that you found would be getting married. You're getting married. No, I don't know that I could thrive in today's environment. No, too, stressful. You're kidding me?

You would not, no. Not to mention the fact that now I'm so heavily into true crime. Yeah. And all of the research and, the investigation that we've done, I don't think I would be able to trust anybody. I mean, it's fair, fair to say. Yeah. I don't know.

It would be tough. I'm sure I'd figure it out, but it's not something I would look forward to. Yeah. Absolutely not. On November 10, 2022, Brandon was given time off and decided to surprise Janie with a visit while he was on his way home to Georgia. Brandon was stationed at Fort Bragg. I'm sure a lot of people have heard about Fort Bragg, you know, very famous base. Brandon drove straight from Fort Bragg to Decatur that afternoon.

He arrived between 10.30 and 11 p.m. But he didn't tell Janie he was coming. So she was very surprised when he showed up. She didn't seem all that happy to see him. She was surprised, not a happy, like, oh my gosh, you're here. I missed you. Come here. More like a, what are you doing?

Almost maybe more shocked than surprised. But surprises can be good and bad. They can be. I understand the use of that word. Janie walked out of her house and got into the backseat of Brandon's vehicle, which surprised him. According to court documents, when Brandon and Janie were in the car together, he noticed she seemed withdrawn.

He asked if she was. seeing someone else and demanded to see her phone. Well, I think when you get there and the person you want to surprise comes out and doesn't sit in the front with you but sits in the back, you got to realize there's probably a problem. Yeah, well, first of all, this is not an Uber. Right. We're in a relationship who doesn't sit in the front seat. Unless, you know, that person gets in the back and they're like, hey, come on back here with me.

that's a different kind of surprise. Yeah, I don't know what kind of life you're living, but that doesn't happen to me very often. I have a feeling your life is way more exciting than mine, maybe. So when he looked at Janie's phone, he saw a suggestive text message from a contact labeled ZZ3. The message was sent at 1024 p.m. And said,

I'm horny right now. According to Brandon in his last, later police interview. So there's a couple of things here. First, ZZ3. That's not a person's name. No. And, you know, there have been, I think, many of people over the years since cell phones

have become ubiquitous who, you know, if you're having an affair, you're not going to put that person's name in there as a contact. Yeah. But to put ZZ3 is not helping the situation either. right it just stands out yeah i mean why not but like uh whatever the local pharmacy is or or why not just like ted or a male or you know something like that barbara i'm not taking you know i'm telling people how to get around stuff but uh it just seems so strange and then on top of that when the text coming from this contact says i'm horny right now it does not leave a lot

to the imagination no it does not this is not you know light banter light flirting this is uh hey i'm i'm coming right out and uh putting it all on the table yeah i guess you can say it's got to be one of those scam scam text messages yeah because that's a good way to get money out of people i mean that this is not the Nigerian prince email this is not the you know i need five best buy gift cards they don't normally start out that way as far as I know. Janie refused to tell Brandon who ZZ3 was. So he called the number.

The man on the line said hello and then hung up when Brandon didn't respond. After Janie refused to tell Brandon anything about the man, he called back. He and the man reportedly exchanged words. According to court documents, Brandon was mad, cussing and threatening the the man. They were going back and forth. The man was also shouting, cursing, and laughing. They argued about who was actually Janie's boyfriend. Brandon hung up and sent the man text from Janie's phone, warning him to leave her alone. The man responded by telling him to do something about it. Those are fighting words right there. They are. As we used to say back in the day,

I don't know if people still say that or not. they probably do do something about it if you don't like it yeah now they didn't come through text when you and i were young because there were no text these were things said right to your face and you either had to react or cower and slink home and wasn't no there was no polling period no no that's the thing right with text it's like people can say whatever they want behind it's not even anonymity really at this point but um they can say whatever they're want behind their screen. Sure.

Because they're not right in front of the person. Back when you and I were growing up, when somebody said that, you had a real decision to make it. It was either you're going to fight or you're going to run away and in shame. That's right. And that's kind of all there was to it. I'll mess you up. You know, you say that in the text.

I mess you up. You better. Now, to be fair, you did have some of those people who, you know, ran their mouth. But then when it came time to it, they were asking their buddies to hold them back. You know, they wanted to seem like they wanted to fight, but they had no intentions of fighting. I always love the ones that start kicking off their shoes. You know, I know karate. Oh.

You know, I'm lethal with these. I'm thinking, no. No, you're not. Absolutely no. Okay, folks, here's something my younger self definitely would have benefited from. And that's Chime. Chime is changing the way people back. They're nothing like the old traditional bank.

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And pull up meaning bring it, I guess, or whatever. No one was there, so they left again. But the man wouldn't stop calling Janie's phone. He demanded she give his things back, including a ring, and told Janie he was outside her home. So, I mean, the one thing you'd have to say, Gibbs, is this has gone from, you know, zero to 60 pretty quickly. It has ramped up there. Yeah. To the point where, you know, it's found out that there's another guy.

Brandon is talking to this guy. and things are getting heated. Obviously, this relationship was a little bit more than just a casual flame. Yeah. I'm just trying to think, you know, I'm, one, I'm surprised she's in the car with them. I can't imagine the conversations are going very well. Maybe that's why she got in the backseat. Yeah.

And then if I'm, if I'm him, I'm got concerns about moving forward with a relationship anyway. Well, and then, you know, the other thing is, so he's demanding things back, a ring. Yeah, that tells me this relationship had progressed. Absolutely. And I shared with you recently, right? Most of the times that I got broken up with was right after some gesture, whether it was a ring, on Valentine's Day, and we're not talking big bucks. I didn't have big bucks, but it was just a gesture that maybe was perceived as over the top.

Yeah. By my then girlfriend. And the next thing, you know, I got dumped. It just happened. There's a lot of people right now going on, poor Fergie. Yeah. It did happen. I'm being quite honest with it.

It still shakes you up, even today. I can see it in your eyes. If I cry, just take over and talk while I compose myself. But, you know, here's the thing. You know, this is kind of an escalating situation. When you start kind of throwing out those terms like, what are you going to do? Yeah. Pull up.

Let's get it on. Yeah. And not in a good way, right? because that saying can go a couple of different ways. I mean, those are fighting words. And he's a young guy, you know.

The testosterone is, is flowing. Military, you know, that's a good point. I mean, this guy, you know,

I'm sure he's in good shape. He went through boot camp. He trains. Probably not the type of person to want to back down. No, from a fight. There's a sense of honor there. Yeah.

I think there is. In a subsequent call, the man told Brandon to pull up again, but also added, handle his problems like a man. Okay. So now you're questioning a guy's manhood. Yeah. And that just adds it another level to it. Janie and Brandon arrived at her house at 11.04 p.m. When Brandon parked, he saw a shadowy figure near Janie's man.

mailbox and a red laser pointed at his car. And I think very quickly, his military training kicked in and he realized someone was pointing a gun at them. Now, I don't know. You've seen it in movies, right? The laser. Sure. And, you know, you can have them on pistols.

You can have them on rifles. I've never had one. I think they're very popular. in operator situations where you can get a laser that operates with your night vision. Oh, okay. So instead of looking down the barrel, barrel, you've got night vision and that laser works with it somehow.

I've never had any of this stuff, so I don't know the particulars. I don't think that's this one. I think this is just a greener red laser. and they're not that expensive. But theoretically, if you have, you know,

kind of sided it in, like you do red dots or anything else, then wherever you point that laser, that's where the bullet should go. Yeah. I was just thinking, you know, this guy tells them on the phone,

come here and settle this like a man. how is this settling like a man this is not when someone says settle it like a man I'm not thinking that uh we're gonna pull out guns and shoot each other thinking old school settle like a man like fist a cuff yeah lift your fist up and let's go yeah i'm with you so this man started shouting and then according to brandon bullets started flying and you know i'll be honest i've never been in in this type of situation I've never been shot at. Right.

I can only imagine that it would be absolutely terrifying and maybe a little disorienting. Like, what do you do? Somebody's shooting at you. I'm assuming you've got to figure a way to, you know, get away from the flying bullets. Yeah. So he put the car in reverse and started driving away amid this hail of gunfire. While racing through the neighborhood, Brandon heard Janie screaming. He recalled she was choking on her blood.

Then I called 911. He held Janie's throat to try to help her and quickly pulled over at a gas station to render it. But Brandon testified she was gone. So, I mean, in this scenario, she's still in the car, right? Yeah. So if he is, you know, putting it reverse, driving away, way, racing through the neighborhood. But this other individual is firing on the car.

How hard would it be for her to be struck by a bullet? Not hard. And it sounds like that's exactly what happened, at least according to Brandon. Officer Irving Hun responded to Brandon's 911 call and began performing CPR on Janie. Paramedics arrived minutes later. First responders detected a faint pulse and continued CPR. But tragically, Janie died five minutes later. From a gunshot wound to the chest, she had also been shot in the back and abdomen.

That's hit multiple times. Yeah. And I don't know if that is because at first he's reversing and then he turns around to get away. But the bullets are still coming. maybe that's why Brandon had been shot in the knee and was badly injured. So I think if you're law enforcement and you're reviewing the statements, you're reviewing the injuries, I mean, what are you going to make of it? What's your first impression going to be?

Oh, I mean, you're thinking from the top of dry by shooting. Well, no, because he's telling detectives, hey, this guy. Oh, if he's told the detectives. Yeah, which I'm assuming he would have. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Yeah, at that point, then obviously you're thinking this guy, this other boyfriend or whatever he is, is unhinged. And killed Janie and shot Brandon.

I don't know how you could come up with anything other than that. Who else could you blame, right? Right. Based on his accounts and the wound. Yeah. They would seem like, okay, initially they might back that up. Officer Hun questioned Brandon while he was in the back of the ambulance. He explained that the shooting happened at Janie's house, not the gas station.

And he saw the shooter and a red beam of light before the shots were fired. Brandon's car had 20 bullet holes in the driver's side door and windshield, which did seem to support his story. That's a lot of bullet ones. Bullet holes. That is. That's a lot of bullet holes. I mean, what's the only other scenario that you could even think of?

If he's lying about all of this, then he would have had to have shot up his own car. Yeah, he'd have to step out, shoot up his own car and his girlfriend. And then at some point shoot himself in the... knee. Yeah. No other way around it. That's the only other way to do it. Right. If he's the perpetrator, Brandon was taken to the hospital for treatment. Meanwhile, officers rushed to Janie's home in hopes of catching the suspect in the area. They secured the scene and searched the neighborhood, but they didn't find the shooter or the gun. The murder weapon was never found. Officers knocked on the door and had to break the news to Janie's loved ones. They were

devastated because as we said, right, they were a loving, close-knit family. Yeah. And I always think of that, you know, these, these officers, detectives, whoever it is, man, that's got to be a terrible part of the job to notify people that their loved one is dead. Yeah, that's the part I wouldn't want to do. No. And I'm sure none of them do as well, but somebody's got to do it. Absolutely.

As hard as it is. Janie's mother reported that she did hear gunshots, but she didn't realize the severity of what she heard. And she never called 911. Janie's brother explained that earlier, she got a phone call and walked out of the house. They didn't know who contacted her or where she was going. According to Officer Hun, Janie's family trusted her and knew she was a good kid. She didn't hang out with the wrong crowd, so they didn't have a lot of questions for her. When she went out, Janie's family had no idea who could have harmed her.

And how frustrating would that be, right? Because you're thinking, one, who would ever hurt her? But now, you know, they're trying to figure out, okay, I don't know who would, but somebody did. So who was that person? What are you going to come up with? Nothing if, you know, she has no known enemies. There's nobody in her life that at least in your opinion would want to do her harm. Right.

Who are you going to offer up? Now, we know who the authorities are going to look at. Right. They're going to look at these two men. Absolutely. Who by all appearances seem to be involved in some kind of. of love triangle with Janie kind of at the center. Yeah.

But I do want to go back for a minute and just talk about, you know, hearing gunshots. Janie's mother even admitted. She heard gunshots, but didn't call 911. And it's something that we kind of talk about quite a bit. Yeah. I don't know if I would. I heard one. I feel like I need to qualify them.

This would not be in my way of thinking gunshots like across the street in a field. Yeah. This is outside your home. I have to imagine it's fairly loud. I think if I heard that outside my home, I would, I know I would. I would get up and look. Yeah. You know, or look at my cameras.

I wouldn't look too close because bullets are flying. But if anyone has shot guns or they've been to the range, you know how loud it is. Even wearing ear protection, it's still pretty loud. Yeah. And without it, it's very loud. Strange when someone doesn't go investigate. Or at least call 911 and say, hey, I'm hearing gunshots outside my home. Now, I'm not bad mouth in her mom.

Not at all. I'm just saying it does seem a little strange to me. But we've talked about it, right? Could people think it's a backfire from a car? Yeah. I feel like there was 20 bullet holes, though. Yeah. But you're probably not thinking gunfire, right?

You're probably thinking, sounds like gunfire that you see on TV, but I don't think nobody who would ever shoot anything around here. Yeah, maybe it's firecrackers. Yeah. But there are some reasons why maybe you can make it out to be something else. You know those pieces in your closet that you find yourself wearing on repeat, the sweater that goes with everything, the perfect pair of pants, or the tea you somehow always reach for first. Those are the pieces that make getting dressed easy, and that's what Quince does best.

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Which is bizarre. It is. Why would you say, well, not to say my girlfriend. Why I say a friend. Yeah. I think it's very strange because we all know, everybody watching, listening, knows the difference between a boyfriend slash girlfriend and a friend. Yeah.

It's a big difference. It is a big difference. And this is not a new relationship. They'd been in it for some time. So to say friend, I can understand why the authorities kind of looked at it. that as being very suspicion. Yeah. After Brandon received treatment at the hospital, he had a formal interview with the police.

At first, he said he would be more comfortable making his statement with his dad and lawyer present. Brandon explained that he wanted a lawyer because his dad always told him to always have a lawyer present when speaking to the police. I mean, he's not wrong. No, he's not wrong. it's something that I know you've harped on a lot. I've agreed with it.

Yeah. You know, if my daughters were being questioned in something like this, I would want them to have an attorney present. Guilty or innocent doesn't matter. I mean, it just protects yourself. That's all.

Because the attorney's going to say, you know, hey, don't answer that. Whereas if you go in by yourself, I think a lot of people, they would be so nervous. they don't know what they can answer, what they don't have to answer. Right.

You want that person who studied all of that and can give you the guidance. Because once it's out there, you know, you can't take it back and it will be used against you. You know, how we feel about when you go in, you say one story and then you come back and tell a different story, how it's looked at. Yeah. You know, so you want to make sure you tell the story. story. Or don't say anything. Or don't say anything. And sometimes that is the best course of action. Detectives talk to him more and he agreed to give a statement. Brandon was quickly ruled out as a suspect. So detectives turned to Janie's phone for answers. And I thought this was fascinating,

right? He said he wanted his dad and a lawyer present. Well, they don't have to allow his dad there, right right as far as I know how old was he was he only 17 no he was 20 okay she was younger yeah yeah at this point he would have so he's an adult yeah his dad doesn't need to be there but he does have the right to have a lawyer there sure and it seemed like he was on the right track right with that yeah but then he said you know what screw it I'm going to give you a statement right And they pretty quickly ruled him out as a suspect. So, you know, again, they turned to Janie's phone. The problem was her phone was locked and no one knew the password.

While waiting on search warrants for her call records, investigators searched Janie's bedroom. They found her journal, which contained a number that turned out to be the past quote to her phone. How lucky her is that is that. Yeah, I mean, it was a major break in the case because you would think these high-tech law enforcement agencies could crack those iPhones and things. Right. But I've heard it's not as easy as people think it would be. No, it's not like you using one, two, three, four, five, six, you know.

Which is my default go-to. Yeah. Well, who's going to guess that? Yeah, that'd be too simple. Right. That's the way I always look at it. A selfie, Janie took a few days. before the shooting was also a key piece of evidence.

There was an unidentified man in the photo, as well as a firearm stuck between the driver's seat and the center console. Okay. You think that's going to peak investigators? I think so. I don't know if you, from that picture you can tell what type of gun it is.

If it's the same caliber that killed her, I don't know. Yeah, I guess it depends on how much you can see of the gun and all that. but regardless, they're going to want to talk to this guy. Absolutely. The problem was no one in Janie's family recognized the man, but police soon received an anonymous tip that the man was 23-year-old Nikita Dorsey. Detectives compared his license photo with the man in the selfie and it was a match. Okay.

So they went to his address to question him, but he wasn't home. detectives talked to his sister instead. She was asked if he had talked to her about any problems lately. She said he had been in trouble or he had been arrested before. They didn't really talk about any of the girls he was seen. But he did have multiple firearms at the house. But none of them matched the murder weapon. Authorities also recovered three phones,

one of which was used to call Janie on the night she was killed. Okay. So, you know, I think very early on, okay, yeah, Brandon's got to be looked at. They rule him out. Now they've got this guy. Things are looking promising. Yeah, I mean, they got the phone where he called her. Obviously, he knows how to shoot.

He has plenty of guns. It does have a lot of guns. Yeah. But they don't find the actual murder weapon. No. Location data also places. Dorsey at the crime scene. So I think you can look at all the other stuff and say, okay, it doesn't look great,

but when they can actually place you at the crime scene at the time of the crime, that is not looking good for you. That's a problem. Yeah, it's a huge problem. Nikia Dorsey was arrested on February 2nd, 2003, and charged with malice murder and two counts of aggravated assault, investigators believed his motive was jealousy. That's the only thing that can be, right?

So he's in a relationship with this woman, with Janie. Brandon is in a relationship with Janie. Brandon comes home and Nicaia is jealous because he doesn't want to lose her. That's, I'm assuming what the authorities would think. I follow that completely. Well, and, you know, go back through time, right? How often is jealousy at the root of, you know, some of these murders?

Oh, man, they're huge. I mean, it's, it's, you know, jealousy, you know, from the love triangle or not even a love time. So much it's just raw jealousy, you know? I mean, what's the other stuff? stuff. You know, so it's money related. Yeah. Obviously, you have money, greed, finances, stuff like that. But, you know, the love, jealousy angle is, is big as well. Yeah. And, you know, it's a very old motive. It is. You know, it's been around for a very long time. Janie's mother told

11 alive in February, 2003, that when she learned of Dorsey's arrest, she was in pain and tears. She wish she could have saved her daughter from violence. Her only piece was knowing Janie's heart was full of love for others and hope for the future. Nikia Dorsey's trial started on July 24, 2023. The DeKalb County DA's office argued that Dorsey killed Janie because she was cheating on him. Yeah, I mean, what they're coming out saying is right. you know, they're saying that he killed her because he thought she was cheating on him. Well, you're saying it's right.

Well, if you're on the jury, you're going to say the minute they say that statement, oh, yeah, they must be right. Well, I'm thinking. They got to prove it. They got to prove it. Okay. Yeah. So is it right or?

No, I think they can prove it based on text messages and other things. I'm just giving you a hard time. Because when you say it's right, you're like, like you're just automatically giving it to them. Yeah. I think they're on the right track as well. I just wouldn't say that 100% they're right. But I do think ultimately it's going to end up that way.

It wasn't disputed at trial that ZZ3 was Nikia Dorsey or that he was the man communicating with Janie on the night of November 10th, 2002. Cell records showed 11 calls between. Dorsey's phone and Janie's phone on the night of the shooting. And I think, you know, if you're a defense attorney, there's going to be stuff that you just have to concede to. Right. You can't get out of it.

You can't get around it. So you're better off just conceding, but then making an argument as to what that means. Yeah. Or something along those lines. An FBI agent testified about Nika, Janie, and Brandon's cell phone location. that night. When the first call was made at 10.28 p.m. Dorsey was at his home and Janie was at her home.

At 1047 p.m., Dorsey's phone pinged off the tower, close to Janie's home. At 11.17 p.m., the phone pinged at his residence again. Now, he just lived four miles from Janie, so he could have easily driven back home after the shooting. but that's you know that's good information for the prosecutor sure it is right at this time the first call he's at home roughly 20 minutes later he's pinging off a tower close to her home and then by 1017 p.m. he's p.m. he's pinging back home so that call in between i'm guessing when he called and said hey i'm out front once you show up here and uh do this like a man.

Well, and then the shooting happens, and then they probably put him back home after that. Yeah. A forensic analysis of the phone found 27 pictures of Janie and a screenshot of a news article about the case. The phone's data also showed that the user took 288 steps between 11.01 p.m. and 11.09 p.m., which would have been right about the time of the shooting.

That's the time he got out, started shooting, did his sweep of the car and then came back. Got back in his car, maybe had some steps walking back into his home. On November 12, Janie's contact photo was changed to a ghost with the tongue sticking out. And it's so strange. It is. Right? If you're involved in this murder, you were having a relationship with this woman. Yeah.

Even though she was having a relationship with somebody else's time as well, you had her picture in as her content. And then after the shooting, you change it to a ghost with the tongue sticking out. Why? Now, does it mean anything definitively? No,

but is it something that the jury might take into account? Yeah, possibly. It sure seems like you're not sad. No, that's a good point. Is it a little flippant? Is it, you know, disrespectful? I think at the very least it would be looked at is that. On November 7th, no, August 7th, I'm sorry.

2003, Nikia Dorsey was found guilty of felony murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and two counts of aggravated assault. He was found not guilty of malice murder. He was sentenced to life plus 25 years. He received 20 years for aggravated assault against Brandon Wilson and five years for possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

The aggravated assault count merged into felony murder, according to Dorsey v. State. So no joke. No. As to what this guy was sentenced to, life plus 25 years. And then on top of that, now I don't know if it was concurrent

or if it was consecutive, but he got 20 years for aggravated assault and five years for possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. I mean, either way, he is not going anywhere. No, likely not, right? He's never going to be a free person ever again.

Later that month, Dorsey filed a motion for a new trial, which he amended in October 2025. In December of that year, following two hearings, the trial court denied his motion. On August 13, 2006, the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the conviction and sentence. Which is good.

You know, this is a guy that shouldn't get out. You know, um, he chose his own will to get out of his recliner or wherever

he was doing at his house, drive over there and shoot the car up. I mean, he could have just stayed at home and said, man, this sucks,

this relationship's not going to work. You know what else he could have done? He could have left the gun at home. He could left the gun at home. He could have showed up and maybe challenged the guy to a fist fight. Yeah. I'm not saying that's the right thing to do, but, you know, just thinking back to like our

younger days, there wasn't a lot of guns involved. No. Like there were fist fights. There were. I did see one of my best friends beat to, you know what, with a pool stick. That was pretty brutal. But, you know, people walked away from a lot of these things. things right now their pride was hurt i'm sure for getting their ass kicked or whatever it was

and i'm not advocating for fighting but it's different when you bring a gun and you make the decision to use that gun the chances for finality go up a thousandfold right oh yeah i mean i feel like back of my day it was like fist you know maybe a chain now and then and somebody who was this anchor man it was like uh did you kill somebody with a trident the warriors you know there are numbed numb num num num no mtooks or nun chokes without the end yeah um yeah i just feel like okay you walked away with a bloody nose a split lip and yeah it wasn't good i'm never advocating for it but when you introduce a gun into the situation I mean, there's such a great chance that someone's going to lose their life.

Yeah. No two ways around. He's going to escalate in something really bad. But here we have him going through the appeals process. You know, he gets to the Georgia Supreme Court, gets no relief whatsoever. So what's the next step? He could take it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Yeah.

They're never going to hear this case. I don't think so. ever they're very picky about what they hear yeah so i don't know what other options unless there's some bombshell piece of evidence that that comes out i feel like he's going to be in prison for the rest of his life yeah there is where he'll get to show his manhood that he wanted to show that night that he didn't yeah i just wonder how often he's saying hey you know bring it or whatever the words he used yeah but you know when you look at this case gibbs Janie Salazar Chavez had an unbelievably bright future.

She was hardworking. She was a kind young woman who wanted to serve as a pilot in the military before continuing her education. Her life was tragically cut short by a love triangle that turned deadly due to an act of extreme senseless gun violence. You know, and then you have Brandon that said, I just wanted to go home and surprise my girlfriend. Yeah. And then I have this tragic event that happened. Plus I got my knee shot up all over because this jackass decided he needed to pull a gun out.

Yeah. Yeah. You feel bad for Brandon, right? Obviously, he wasn't expecting to find that. No. That his girlfriend had maybe moved on from him or at the very least was seeing somebody else. but that doesn't mean she should have been killed. No, not at all.

Is that illegal? No. She, you know, now you can say, well, ethically, morally,

should you just have ended it before you started dating somebody else? I get that. They weren't married. No. She wasn't committing adultery or, you know, something like that.

But yeah, you can make an argument that it would have been better to end it with him before starting something. something that's fine but she wasn't doing something to the point where she should have lost her life no no absolutely but that's it for our episode on janey salazar shavez um yeah it's just it's one of those things man you you kind of said it earlier which is love uh like love triangle yeah this revenge you could put in there for maybe, you know, him not being happy that she's actually

still with this guy. And again, we don't know what they all knew. Sure. About each other. Yeah. Or what she had had told any of them. Jealousies is bad, man. Jealousy. That's the word I was looking for. But the thing to me is whether or not you agree with how she handled this situation, she didn't deserve to die. Not at all. She didn't do anything that was so unbelievably horrible that, you know, her life should have been. I guess I just wish people would, like,

look, if someone doesn't want to be with you, just end it. If someone is doing something you don't like in the relationship, just end it. Yeah. You know, just walk away and say, I don't want a piece of this anymore. And you've been pretty clear about that over the year.

Yeah. Right? do you know how many people are in this country? In U.S., I think it's like 340 legal people and 110 illegal? 340 to 350 million or, you know, give or take or whatever. I guess I only say that to say there are a lot of people, and that's just in this country. There are a lot of people out there.

Yeah. I understand you're in love with. this person. But if this person doesn't want you, move on. There are many other people out there. Yes, you really are. There's plenty of fish in the sea. The old saying, right? That is the old saying. I don't really understand it. Plenty of fish. Because you're equating partner with fish, which, first of all, you hate fish. So that's a very strange saying for you. you hate all seafood. But yeah, that's it for our another episode of true crime all the time.

So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.