True Crime with Kimbyr - PART 1 Deadly Girl's Night Out - The Murder of Lindsay Nichols | True Crime Stories #truecrime

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

A night meant for fun ends in unthinkable tragedy. In True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha takes a compassionate, deeply researched look into the murder of Lindsay Nichols and the chilling events surrounding her final night out. Who was she with, what went wrong, and how did a familiar setting turn deadly? True Crime with Kimbyr carefully unpacks timelines, relationships, and unanswered questions, honoring Lindsay’s life while searching for the truth behind a case that still raises disturbing doubts. What was missed and why did no one see it coming? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. And you deserve it. You've been working hard all week. But what no one deserves is a normal night out that ends with their very last breath. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to my channel. My name is Kimberlya. If you've never been here before, nice to finally meet you. This case, like all of the, the rest has affected me, but this one way more than others. And they do say that you're connected to everyone and there's this six degrees of separation between all of us. And I am

personally connected to an aspect of this case. I didn't know it until I was done conducting all of my research, but I will tell you about it. Today's case is about a beautiful woman named Lindsay Marie Nichols. Lindsay reminds me me in a lot of ways. I was a single mom when I came here to Los Angeles and I said there's a connection between Lindsay and I. And it's not huge, it's not some mind-blowing connection, but it's what brought me to L.A.

It was a production company called Renegade 83. I worked for them right after I graduated law school and I was doing contracts for reality TV shows. That is how I met my daughter's father Jason. on set of a reality TV show. Renegade 83 produces shows for oxygen, and they produced one of the shows that featured Lindsay's case.

I got chills when I saw that Renegade 83 logo. Just to know that some of my previous coworkers may have sat in the same room as some of Lindsay's loved ones and that I would not be here doing what I do now if I never made the choice to work with that company. So it just made me pause and to think of these subtle,

but very meaningful connections. But I want to get back to the real meaningful part of you being here, and that's to get to know Lindsay Nichols. The very first thing I do when I research a case is I scour the internet and beyond for any information that I can find about what they were like, interviews with their parents, their family members, their friends, recounting memories together,

newspapers, reporting on events surrounding their death, anything. I will admit that this time there wasn't as much information about Lindsay. information about Lindsay's past as there was about what her life was like right before it was taken from her. I learned a lot about Lindsay from Lindsay herself, from her social media presence on Facebook. Although it wasn't that extensive, I was able to piece together information about Lindsay's personality, what she enjoyed, what kind of person she was, and what she was doing in 2015 before that fateful night right before Father's Day in New Orleans. Lindsay, Marie Nicol.

was born in Day Almond's Louisiana, April 2nd, 1984, to her mother, Jolene Richard. From everything I could gather online, Jolene was a single mom. If not from the start, for most of the time raising Lindsay. Jolene did end up getting married to a man named Adi Dufrean, and Lindsay had a sister, Kayla, from that marriage. Jolene always wanted a daughter, and her wish came true when Lindsay came into this world. She was Jolene's everything. Lindsay was a beautiful little girl, and she grew up to be a very gorgeous woman. She was born and raised in Desalmans, Louisiana. It's in the southeastern part of Louisiana.

It's a very small town, that's for sure, with only about 2,000 people living there up to the present day. This area is surrounded by bayous, which are slow-moving creeks or swampy sections of river or lake, where the water is still, and sometimes the bayou is seen as eerie or dangerous. There could be unknown creatures lurking under those still surfaces. It's the home to snakes and alligators, just waiting to pounce. But this is also Lindsay's home. It's the catfish capital of the universe. Popular things to do there are take airboat rides, crawfish boils, drinking out of the water on boats, and other outdoor activities like hiking, biking, fishing,

and that sort of thing. In this area of Louisiana, the locals identify as Cajian. Since there's not too much to do in this tiny town, you become good friends with the people you live near. Growing up, Lindsay had a very close-knit group of girlfriends, with one of her best friends being Jessica Barrios, who grew up with Lindsay. As Lindsay got older, she also found herself in a position like her mother, a single mom to the sweetest, most precious little son named Peter Paul Rose. He looks almost identical to Lindsay. Those big blue eyes. They're out of this world beautiful. Just like Lindsay was Julian's world, Peter was Lindsay's world. She wanted to do the best she could as far as her career and a stable life was concerned to provide Peter the best life possible.

Lindsay's childhood friend Jessica had a daughter close to Peter's age, so the two of them spent time together with their kids who also became very close. But the girls also like to have some fun, and it wasn't hard to find it either. New Orleans is only 45 minutes northeast of desalments, but being there, you could feel like you're transported to another world. New Orleans, Louisiana is a one-of-a-kind destination. I'm sure that you have least heard of Mardi Gras. And if so, you probably think it's just a lot of drinking, partying, necklace-wearing people with outrageous outfits walking down the streets of Louisiana. But the tradition is actually religious in nature. It's from the French Catholic. celebrations of the carnival feasts and an expedition for the French to take claim over Louisiana territory. But it evolved over the years and of course it's now known as Fat Tuesday, the day before

Ash Wednesday. But sometimes it's celebrated way longer. It can go from a one to three month period and that's when the streets come alive with art and music and costumes. There are different parts of New Orleans though. And Mardi Gras is traditionally celebrated in the French Corridor, but about 20 minutes away you'll find New Orleans East. And those two areas are like night and day. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, this area, like many others, was practically destroyed. Just look at Six Flags Amusement Park. They had to permanently close their doors after the entire park flooded. It was underwater. By 2015, almost a decade later, the Little Woods neighborhood in eastern New Orleans was ranked first among the most dangerous neighborhoods.

Parts of eastern New Orleans are really rough. But those who grew up there, they don't know any difference. So Lindsay wasn't afraid. She was popular among the locals. She considered people here her people. This is where she found herself on the night of June 20th, 2015. But we have to backtrack for you to understand what brought Lindsay out that night. I said Lindsay was popular. Well, because of how pretty she was, she did get into modeling. She did a lot of it. And you can tell she really enjoyed getting dolled up, having her pictures taken, her hair, the makeup, everything. And it was obvious that men liked looking at her too. Generally speaking, Lindsay was sexy. So those were the types of

pictures that were taken of her, either in lingerie or a sexy dress. I mean, she looks good in anything, even when the pictures weren't professional. And you can tell from the comments, Lindsay knew that she caught the attention of men with no problems. Sometimes this means unwanted attention to, but Lindsay was sweet. She was kind-hearted and she made friends easily. She wasn't the type to give anyone any issues. And that's why she was popular. She made people feel important and she was fun.

Lindsay liked to go out. She liked to have drinks. She loved Outback Steakhouse to dance, spend time with friends. And of course, in order to play hard, you usually. have to work hard. By the summer of 2014, Lindsay was looking for a job. She wanted something serious and she ended up finding one. However, it took her out of Louisiana and into Texas. By October 2014, Lindsay was saying goodbye to her Louisiana friends on Facebook and moving. Lindsay worked as a timekeeper at Texas construction sites. She would be on the move to different

worksites all day, every day and she was a hard worker very serious about her position. But anytime she had off from work, she wanted to go back home and be with her core group of friends. That was Jessica Ann, Lauren, and Jessica Barrios. Of course, since Lindsay was outgoing and funny and fun to be around, she had lots of friends and even more acquaintances. But her close girlfriends are the ones that she couldn't wait to get back to every time she left. She would go back and forth every few months until she moved back to Louisiana. And this is what I was gathering according to Lindsay's Facebook. because she posted that she actually bought a place and was coming home to pack and move.

That was on May 24th, 2015. That was an exciting time. Summer was coming up. There was a lot to do in New Orleans for the summer. By June, Lindsay was back in Louisiana and aching to meet up with her girls for a girl's night out. It was Saturday, June 20th, 2015. Lindsay was back in town and she was ready to party. By 9.30 p.m., Lindsay was calling her friends.

She called Jessica Ann first. Jessica was in the middle of getting her hair done, but she could tell that Lindsay was excited to get out and have some fun that night. Lindsay's friends knew that she was back in town and she just wanted to cut loose because she worked hard. Like I said, Lindsay worked seven days a week, sometimes 12 hours a day. The job she did meant that she had to travel to different locations doing timekeeping in this construction industry and it can be a pretty fast-paced career. Since her friends knew this, they didn't want to let her down. So Jessica was ready to celebrate that Lindsay was back in town.

She hadn't seen her in quite some time, so they decided to go get some drinks and hang out for a little while. They went to a sports bar called Gabby's. They also invited Lauren, but she does have kids, and she couldn't get a babysitter that night. She decided to stay home, and she said they could do something another night. Gabby's is in the New Orleans East area. There's food, they have pool tables, drinks, music, plus the girls knew just about everyone in that area.

So once they got there, they were bumping into people left and right there saying hello. They were hanging out, having drinks, and having fun. Now, usually when the girls go out, Jessica is the one that goes home first. She's kind of looked at as the mom of the group. She's down to earth and grounded and cautious. She's the I got to get home at a certain time type of girl. So as it was getting a little later in the night past midnight, Jessica did let Lindsay know that she was planning on going home. But before they said good night, they went to another bar.

called Spice Bar and Grill. This was about 1 o'clock in the morning. They were going there to meet up with another friend, Melanie, and Melanie was going to continue hanging out with Lindsay when Jessica proceeded to go home. Because at this point in the night, Jessica was uncomfortable. The night had been wearing on her,

and she just had enough she wanted to leave. It wasn't as though Jessica didn't like spice or she didn't like the atmosphere. She just felt weird for whatever reason. She kept telling Lindsay, she thinks they should just leave and call it a night. But since Lindsay hadn't been out in a while, she wanted to continue partying. Just before Jessica left, this guy, Bam, shows up.

This is someone that the girls are familiar with. They've hung out in the past. Not really a good friend, but not so much an acquaintance either. It's someone that Lindsay had known for a couple years. At this point, it's about 1.30 in the morning. Jessica's leaving Melanie, Bam, and Lindsay decide that they want to continue the party. It is Father's Day just after midnight. And Lindsay offers to buy BAM a drink and take the group to a strip club.

They leave, they part ways with Jessica, and the three of them go to a place called Passion Strip Club. A lot of people that are local to this area in New Orleans East go there. This is a rougher side of town. This isn't an upscale establishment whatsoever. It's kind of a hole in the wall, but it is cheap. I went to research it and I found out it's cheap and there's a lot of reasons why. Not to mention the fact that there's a lot of scandalous. stuff that has been known to go on there.

Many underage girls have come forward complaining about all types of really bad things happening to them, even being pimped out to clients. But apparently, they have really cheap drinks and a really cheap cover charge. So it's like $5 to get in. So the group of friends decided they would just go hang out, have some fun, just for a few more hours. I was really interested in this establishment and you're going to find out why in just a few moments, but I went on Yelp and even though they're permanently closed at this point,

I went back and read some of the reviews from people who actually hung out of passions just to get an idea of what it was like. What I read wasn't great. I mean, they only had six reviews, so it's not a great representation of this place, but there were really negative things. People got robbed, pickpocketed, scammed. It wasn't an overall great place to hang out. But one, of the reasons people did was because it's open until four o'clock in the morning or later. It seemed like sometimes it was open later than that. I don't think it had rules. Let's just let's just put it that way. A lot of times if you're getting out of a bar or a club that closes at let's say one or two o'clock in the morning and you still want to have drinks and hang out, you could go somewhere

like passions. So Melanie, Lindsay and Bam head over there. As soon as they get in, Lindsay starts saying hi to people. She knows a lot of people that are working there and she just knows a lot of people that are hanging out there that are from the area. Lindsay's very friendly and as a matter of fact, when she does drink alcohol, she becomes even more friendly. Some of us can relate. Inhibitions are lowered when you're drinking. Lindsay is also very attractive. She had a number of guys flirting with her, coming up to her, giving her hugs, saying their hellos, buying her drinks and hanging out. A couple guys did end up joining their group and one of them seemed to know Lindsay really well. Because when he came into the club, Lindsay ran over to him and gave him a hug and sort of jumped into his arms and he

picked her up. He was really cute, really outgoing, beautiful, big white smile. And he and Lindsay, they matched, their energy matched. And they were having a really fun time together. Everything was going just fine. Everyone was having a great time. But finally, you know, it's getting later, or shall I say earlier, because now it's heading into the early morning. At this point, Bam and Lindsay leave together, leaving Melanie behind. The next morning, or later in that morning, it's Father's Day, and Jolene, Lindsay's mom, text her to remind her to text her husband, Happy Father's Day message. She doesn't get an answer back, but that's not unusual.

Jolene knows when her daughter goes out, she's probably going to sleep in the next day. However, Lindsay's mom, she sees that she has a missed phone call, and the person left a message on her voicemail. She went ahead and played the message, and what she heard had so many thoughts going through her head. It was kind of unusual, considering the phone call was from a man who Jolene had sold her home to. This is the home back in Lindsay's hometown, but the message that she heard was even more strange and out of the ordinary. He said that the cops had come to the house looking for the parents of Lindsay Nichols. At that point, Jolene knows that something is wrong and something was very wrong.

To understand this message, we have to go back to early that morning around 6 o'clock a.m. New Orleans Police Department, they get a phone call from some security officers. They say that there's an abandoned, possibly stolen vehicle out in New Orleans east on a desolate stretch of road on Miss Youd Boulevard. This isn't considered an emergency so no one is sent out right away. but then another phone call comes in. This one's about 8 o'clock in the morning. That second phone call is from someone saying that the same vehicle in that same location

was now on fire. It's described as a black vehicle with dark tinted windows and the caller says he couldn't see if anyone was inside the car and what led to the fire. The fire department is alerted immediately and they go out there to put the fire out.

When firefighters arrive, they realize that the car isn't exactly engulfed in flames. There is more smoke emanating from the car than a raging fire. Nevertheless, they need to douse the vehicle in order to get inside and let the smoke out. They open all of the doors. When they get to the trunk and it's opened, they're shocked by what they find inside. They can tell that there is a human body inside the trunk and they are no longer alive. And that is when my new favorite homicide detective, Detective Pereira, arrives. This man is amazing. He is a phenomenal homicide detective. Robert Pereer gets the phone call. He's sent out there with his team.

And when something like this happens, everyone has to stop what they're doing. Firefighters have to stop. Obviously, the fire is still put out. There's nothing happening in regard to the fire being out of control or anything like that, but at this point, it is a homicide investigation. That department needs to come on the scene and take the lead. Now I want to show you exactly where this location is. Remember I mentioned Six Flags? There was a reason I specifically pointed out the fact that Six Flags had been destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. This vehicle was parked just two minutes from the entrance of Six Flags. This is a very, very desolate area. Considering the park is no longer in use of, anymore. There's no one coming to that area. This used to be a place where all types of people came,

locals and people from all over various parts of Louisiana. But as you can see, there is nothing out here. There are a few residential areas. But as you're getting into this exact location, the only thing we're seeing here is nature for miles all the way around, swamps, lakes, forests, and this desolate, abandoned amusement park. So what was this? car doing there? And how did someone end up deceased in the trunk? Detective Barrear arrives on the scene. He's one of the first people to take a look inside the vehicle and in the trunk to examine and investigate the circumstances surrounding this horrific crime. Upon opening the trunk, Detective Barrier does see a partially charred body of a white female with blonde hair. Now remember I said

this vehicle was not completely on fire, well, that's a good thing. If there's one good thing in this terrible tragedy, because the vehicle was never up in flames, there was so much evidence left behind. This fire was started deliberately. It was apparent because in the attempt to burn the evidence, including human remains, lighter fluid bottles were still intact. This was an arson. Since whoever did this was unsuccessful, Detective Barreer was a able to see how horrifying this murder truly was. And that makes it so much worse. Sometimes you have to guess what a perpetrator did. But in this case, Detective Barre was able to see every single step. He had been doing this long enough to be able to piece this puzzle together pretty quickly. Not only

did someone kill this woman. They tried to destroy her remains and so their disgusting deeds would never be found out. Her body was burned, but not to a point that she was unrecognizable. Tattoos were still visible on her body. The crime scene investigators could see that she had a tattoo on her arm and another one that was on her hip. One of the officers noticed there was a driver's license located in the side of the driver's side door. They retrieve it from that location and they're able to visually and preliminarily identify the body in the back of the trunk as that of 31-year-old Lindsay Nichols. The first thought that Detective Breyer had was what is she doing here? Why this location? What brought her here? You could tell she was dressed in a little black dress, something that you

would wear out to a nightclub and nothing like that was nearby in this location. So how did Lindsay end up in this situation? Detective Barre is a father. He just had to say goodbye to his children before he left to come on the scene that father's day. I say this. every time, but it does not get easier. They see homicides in Louisiana day in and day out, especially in this area, but the circumstances surrounding Lindsay's murder were very horrifying. It was one of the worst scenes that he had seen in his career up into this point, and that is obviously why we're talking about this case today. Lindsay was in somewhat of a fetal position with burn marks to her body, but they could see that she had also been shot.

As they moved some of the items, just set them aside, they were able to see a firearm in the trunk. It was also burned. But again, not to the point that it was unrecognizable. And this is what I mean when I say that they could see the steps that were taken because the evidence was not destroyed as they intended. Once photographs were taken of the scene, everything inside the vehicle, outside the vehicle, and all around the premises surrounding the vehicle, it's time to remove Lindsay. remains. Sometimes it's the first thing we want to do because it's hard to see someone in that condition to know that this was their final resting place. It's so inhumane and devastating.

But the procedures have to be followed. Now they can finally remove her. And when they did, they made an even more horrific discovery. It was obvious that she had been strangled. And there were actually multiple gunshot wounds to her body. How does this beautiful, vibrant, loving, hardworking woman that's only 31 years old who's out enjoying friends and having a homecoming of sorts come face to face with an absolute monster? That's exactly what detectives want to know. And it's crucial that they find out as much as they can as fast as they can. The first 24 to 48 hours are crucial when you're dealing with a homicide investigation. They've already preliminarily identified her with not only her driver's license, but they also went ahead and

ran her license plate. The number came back to Lindsay Nichols. They also retrieve an identification lanyard that she would wear around her neck when she was working. And there was a photograph of Lindsay and her son Peter on it. And this part was heartbreaking to me. One of the investigators pulled that item from inside the vehicle and he took note of what it said. On the back, it emphasizes safety and it says why I swore for safety. So why I choose to be safe. And it's a picture of her and her son. It just humanizes the entire situation because you realize that this person had a family. This person has a son and she's not coming back to him. One thing that the death investigation technicians were able to ascertain was that her body was in full regamortis. It was very stiff.

So they estimated that she was killed sometime between midnight and 5 a.m. But at this point, she is transferred to the morgue for a full autopsy. When Lindsay's removed from the trunk, the investigators are able to get inside and collect evidence left behind. They notice there are bullets inside the trunk, leading them to believe that she was shot while she was lying in the of this vehicle. Then the gun was thrown inside and everything was lit on fire. The handgun used was a Taurus 9mm. You do not have to necessarily be trained in arson to ascertain that an accelerant was used. There is a pattern to the way that something burns and you can tell that something was thrown on top, drizzled, doused, not to mention the fact that they did recover

the actual lighter fluid containers. They were bright yellow in color and were going to show you one up on the screen. It looks as though accelerant was thrown inside the trunk on top of Lindsay and on other areas of the trunk as well as outside the vehicle and inside on the dashboard. And that all of those areas were then set on fire. It doesn't seem like this person has experienced burning a vehicle. It's not a normal skill that we learn in practice. It's actually very difficult to burn a vehicle and also burn a human body. At least, not hot enough to demolish them completely. The accelerant was called ronsanol. It's a standard lighter fluid, but it's the one that comes in a smaller bottle, and it looks like it's intended to refill

something like a zippo lighter. It's not a big gas can. So either this individual had this on hand, maybe they're a smoker, or Detective Barrear thought, they could have picked it up somewhere like a gas station or a convenience store. So the first thing he thinks of is that they should go to nearby, stores that would have been open in the middle of the night. If they sell this type of lighter fluid, maybe they can get a lead. There was something significant recovered from the attempted arson. A plastic bag inside the vehicle. It was burned on the outside, but the contents inside were still intact. That bag contained what appeared to be men's clothing and they wanted so badly to just

rip through that bag and find out exactly what's inside this car, but it had to be towed back to the police headquarters. for more extensive advanced crime scene investigation, and they needed a search warrant first. Another thing Detective Barre takes note of is that this seems like a very personal crime. The fact that someone is strangled, put into a vehicle, their own vehicle,

driven somewhere, and set on fire, it's a lot. But this really leads him to where a lot of investigations start anyway, and that's with whoever was one, was with the victim last or the people close to the victim, a boyfriend, someone that she might have been seeing, somebody that could have been upset with her. They need to know everything and anything they can find about Lindsay herself and what she was doing. The first thing, of course, they have to notify her family. Now we're back in the original timeline. When I told you that Lindsay's mother, Jolene, was notified by the person that she sold her previous residence to

that the police were there looking for the parents of Lindsay Nichols. Julian called around until she got a hold of the department that was responsible for handling Lindsay's case. Once she was giving the information, her only choice was to come down to the morgue the following day to identify her daughter. It's absolutely gut-wrenching. To know as a parent that there's nothing you can do, you can't protect your child, you can't say goodbye and you're left with so many questions. And in this case, you're left with a grandson who doesn't have a mother. And the word was traveling fast, especially through their small town. One of Jessica and Lindsay's mutual friends called up Jessica and told her to turn on the news

because there was a vehicle found on the side of the road that looked like Lindsay's. And it had a body deceased in the trunk. As soon as Jessica went to, ahead and turned on the news, she just got this overwhelming, terrible intense gut feeling and just broke down. So many thoughts were going through her head because at that moment, you don't know if this is your friend. I could imagine thinking if this was my friend. Am I responsible in some way? Did I do something wrong? Did I make a bad choice of like leaving her there that night? And at this point, we don't even know what happened. We don't even know if Lindsay had spoken to anyone after she left passions because it was the only thing that her friends and family could do, they go and visit the

morgue. They were there to support one another and within 24 hours of her body being found, she was positively identified as Lindsay Marie Nichols. But that's not the hardest part. Jolene had to explain to Peter why his mom wasn't coming home. Peter was nine years old. Jolene doesn't have experience letting a child know that their mom has been killed. It's not something you can plan for. It's not something you practice. And she didn't know how to break the news as she was trying to explain it to say, your mommy's been shocked.

She's been killed. Peter didn't think she was serious because how can a child's mind understand what's going on? I mean, adults have a hard time processing this and it's all happening so fast. so let alone a child's mind that's not even developed yet. I had to listen to Jolian explain this part, and it had me in tears. Because when they tried to tell Peter, he just kept thinking that they were teasing him, that they were just being funny. It's not something that you would be funny about.

But again, in a child's mind, he just thought they were being silly. But when he finally realized that they were telling him the truth, that this is what really happened to his mom, of course Peter couldn't handle it. There was just so much crying, so much heartbreak. It's going to change that child's life forever. And I've heard this in other stories that I've done where family members, they don't get the chance

to see their loved one. They don't get to see the body and say goodbye. So there isn't this closure. Although they've been told your loved one is deceased. They're gone. There's no way for them. to close that chapter because they just can't put their hands on them and say goodbye and see it for themselves and there's just this lingering feeling like is this really true clearly it is in these

cases but i can understand that disconnect of not having that proof not having that moment where your brain can really wrap around what's going on and one of the biggest questions in everyone's mind is who could have done this to lindsay her mom has no clue She didn't know where she was that night or who she was with. Plus, she couldn't think of anyone who would want to do something so horrific to her daughter. And they didn't even know the extent of what happened in this moment because the autopsy wasn't completed. A lot of times we assume that these investigations move fast, but they don't. And what I mean by that is that people just come forward immediately, that friends and family just come right in to talk to police.

That's actually not how it usually happens. Detective Barrear has to track down the most credible witnesses, not just anyone and everyone that knew the victim. And by this time, it's getting later into the evening. By the time everything was processed and brought back to the station. So Detective Barre says, you know what, I think we should start with a lighter fluid because he had that hunch that it could have been purchased nearby.

If so, they can pull security footage, which would give them a visual on the, the suspect rather than wait to understand exactly what happened and who Lindsay was with, it's almost their best witness, a camera. You don't have to worry that the camera is lying or it didn't remember correctly. It's right there in front of you. So he sets out going store by store to ask if this particular lighter fluid was purchased in the last day or so. He's also nearing it down to a store that would be open 24 hours because in his mind this was something spur of the moment. It wasn't planned, especially with how haphazardly that everything was carried out.

It was something he thought the perpetrator did in the moment. And either they thought of it right after committing the crime or while they were in the commission of this crime. Because of the Rickermortis, he had a preliminary timeline. He went to a number of these stores and either they didn't sell that brand of lighter fluid or they hadn't sold it to anyone in the last couple days. There's also a possibility that this person that committed this crime drove from a far distance to get rid of Lindsay's vehicle, which could mean the convenience store that he's looking for could be way far from this area. And he doesn't have a lot of time. It's much more important for him to go back to the station and do things he can do from there.

One of those things is looking through social media because these days with modern crimes that are happening within the last 10 years or so, We have social media. We have that social media footprint so we can go and backtrack. Maybe Lindsay posted something. There's Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. So that is the next plan of action. Another thing they can get from social media is potential witnesses, friends, people that can provide them with more information in an interview style, sit down, meeting the next morning. And I feel like investigators do not sleep. It seems like they are always doing something, even at home. Now that they want to bring their work home, but going through social media, that's something all of us can do right here, right now.

We can be armchair detectives. A lot of crimes have been solved recently because of social media like Gabby Petito comes to mind. With the internet just coming together and being able to look for clues from all over the country, if not the world, especially when you're invested in a crime. And a person like Detective Barare, this is their job. They're invested and they're going to spend hours and hours scouring the internet for clues. I wouldn't say that Lindsay had a big social media presence, but because she was interested in modeling, she did have a lot of photos on her Facebook page. And her Facebook is still up. It's in the in remembrance mode, but there's a lot of beautiful photos of Lindsay.

There were also a couple of posts within the last few weeks and even the last day before the crime happened. And they were suspicious, or at least of interest to detectives. I went ahead and collected these so that we could see them. up on the screen. This one is from June 8th, 2015, and it said, some shit just makes my nerves bad as fuck. So glad I moved and certain people don't know where I live anymore, just saying.

This was only a few weeks before Lindsay ended up dead. What did it mean that she had something getting on her nerves, that she was nervous about something, was she upset, and she's glad that she moved. Was there someone following her, stalking her, stalking her. And she says certain people. So who are these certain people or person? Could they have followed her from Texas back to Louisiana? And she says, she's glad they don't know where she lives anymore. But do they know where she goes out? Do they know the people that she hangs out with? Are they

jealous? Do they have ill will toward her? And she's posting this publicly. So did they see this post? These are the questions detectives have to ask. And it's why it's good. that social media exists sometimes. It is a double-edged sword. There's also a photo that was taken right before this post. It's from the same day. It looks like Lindsay was visiting a bar or a restaurant. You can see TVs in the background. It looks like sort of a bar and grill, like a sports bar. There were 19 comments on this particular photo. So investigators have to go through them. However, there wasn't anything suspicious when they go through those. They move on to another post. That was on June 19th, 2015.

This was just a day before she went out with her friends. It says, I've learned something so beautiful from a really messed up situation, so bittersweet and so enlightening, where do I go from here? And then there's an emoji of a pen. That's a lot to decipher. I don't know Lindsay. I'm not a detective. It's not my job to sift through, understand, and analyze things like this.

but it's clear because it's in her own words that she was in a really messed up situation. Although she is saying she learned from it and it's bittersweet and enlightening, but the question is, did it involve someone else? Do they see it as enlightening and bittersweet? And there's a pen at the end of her comment, as though she's not done writing her story. However, somebody did close that chapter for her. She didn't know where she was going from there.

but we know where she ended up. These Facebook posts were not giving them any leads, but it didn't take long before both Jessica and Melanie, who were with Lindsay the night before, came forward. They come down to the homicide department to be interviewed. It's tough, having to recount the moments that you spent with your loved one, who is no longer here, but it is so important to provide any and all information you can before you forget everything, everything you know,

up until the last point that you saw them. It's imperative in order to catch you. who did this. And Jessica knows this. She's more than willing to help. She comes in armed with her phone going hour by hour letting detectives know step by step what the girls did that night. I already relayed a lot of that information to you. They were at Gabby's until about one o'clock. Then they headed over to spice bar and girl. Melanie came there to meet them around 1.30 or 145. Jessica tells detectives that she wanted to leave. She was tired and uncomfortable and she tells them about BAM that BAM met them at spice and while they were still there

Lindsay Bam and Melanie took a photo together which she provided to them and Detective Barare printed it out Barare took note that BAM was a black male around six feet tall and probably 200 pounds He definitely needs more information about this man including his real name so he presses Jessica about whether Lindsay had any violent relationships in the past boyfriends and And Jessica almost instantly, before he's even done asking the question, butts in and insist, a boyfriend did not do this to Lindsay. She says this is not going to be a boyfriend that did this.

And she adds that sometimes when Lindsay gets drunk, she becomes overly friendly. Now, Pereira needs to speak with Melanie. And Melanie's waiting in another interview room for him to arrive. He needs the timeline to be picked up from where Jessica left off. So Melanie tells Pereer, she doesn't think they got to Passions until around 3 o'clock in the morning. She explains that Lindsay drove Bam to Passions and that she followed them in her own car. Pereira wants to know more about Bam, but Melanie says she doesn't know him,

but she does think that Bam must know something because he was the person that Lindsay left passions with. And then she plays an audio recording of a phone call between her and her. and Lindsay, which by the way, I was confused about. How does she record a call? This had me so mind-fucked. Maybe I'm thinking too hard because I can actually hear it ring in the beginning. And then I hear Lindsay pick up. And Melanie's asking her, you know, where are you? But how does she have this record? Let me know in the comments. How is she recording this? I just had to let that part go because I didn't understand how to be able to do it. I know you can pull up voice messages

and all that, but an actual phone call. In any case, you can hear Lindsay in her own words telling Melanie that she's GPSing back to Bam's car. This was after Lindsay and Bam decided to leave. Melanie asked her, where are you going after this? She tells her she's going to hang out with her people from the east. She's referring to New Orleans East side. Listening to that call, Melanie breaks down

because Melanie had said, call me if you need me. And then you just hear Lindsay's laugh. And that hurts because she did need someone. She may not have thought she would, but she needed someone. She probably felt like she had everything under control in any situation, especially because of this next bit of information that Melanie provides. Lindsay had a gun.

Melanie explains that if Lindsay felt safe with you, she would leave the gun in her center console. But if she didn't feel safe, she would keep the gun in the side door of her car and keep her arm down near it. Berr then asked if Lindsay was with anyone else that night at Passions. And she explains that Lindsay must have known a number of people there because she was having all kinds of conversations, very friendly conversations, hanging out with both dancers and people at the bar.

Melanie said that Lindsay must have known this one guy really well because she jumped into his arms when she saw him, that Melanie has no idea who any of these people are. From the information that Jessica and Melanie provided a rare, he's narrowed down the timeline to a three to four hour period that's unaccounted for. From about 4 a.m. until the first call came into police about someone seeing Lindsay's black Honda Accord on the side of the road.

So at this point, the biggest lead that they have in this case is that Lindsay left with a man named Bam. They know what he looks like from the photo that Jessica has shared with them. They're able to put his name into the system and they somehow get information about where Bam lives. So they decide they're going to pay him a visit. Right now, everything is pointing to Bam. Either he had something to do with it or he knows something. There was not a lot of time that passed between the time that they left passions together

and when that car was found on the side of the road. So what happened? The theory at this point is that either Bam wanted to cause Lindsay and, so they leave together and something transpires between the time they leave and the time they get to BAM's vehicle or that she brings him back to Spice to get his vehicle drops him off and then go somewhere else or that someone saw her when she's dropping him off and that other person causes her harm and leaves her on the side of the road