True Crime with Kimbyr - Vanished on Her Morning Drive: The Chilling Disappearance of Jessica Dishon

Episode Date: January 1, 2025

On this episode of True Crime with Kimbyr, we delve into the haunting case of Jessica Dishon, a vibrant 17-year-old whose routine morning drive to school in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, ended in an unthinkable mystery. When her car was found in the driveway with her belongings inside—but no sign of Jessica—it left her small, trusting community in shock. What happened that fateful morning? Could someone close to her hold the answers? Join Kimbyrleigha as she unravels the layers of this tragic and gripping case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's been said that the average person walks past somewhere between 11 and 36 murderers in their lifetime. This disturbing theory begs the question, if you came face to face with a killer, would you know it? Would you realize what the person standing in line at the supermarket or sitting next to you at a movie theater is truly capable of? Would there be something that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up? Or would their sinister intentions be concealed behind a friendly smile? What if it were a respected member of the community like a police officer or a teacher? Or what if they were a little bit closer to home? What if they were your own flesh and blood?

Most of the time we live in blissful ignorance and we don't give much thought to the evil that brushes past us on a daily basis. This is a story of one girl whose disappearance rocked a small town and had everyone thinking, how well do you really know the people around you? Hi everyone. welcome back to my channel my name is kimberlea if you've never been here before nice to finally meet you jessica dondition was born on may 2nd 1982 to her parents edna and michael growing up jessica developed a special bond with her two younger brothers christopher and michael junior she loved them more than anything

and would often spend time teasing them like a lot of big sisters do and one of jessica's favorite things to joke with them about was saying that once she got her license she wasn't going to to drive them anywhere. However, when the time came, Jessica gladly took her brothers anywhere they wanted to go, because family meant a lot to her. Adults would often describe Jessica as being shy and polite. However, she let loose when she was surrounded by her friends. She had a really great sense of humor, so much so she would make her friends laugh so hard, drinks would come out of their noses. And that's when you know you got a really good laugh when you spit out your drink or it comes out of your nose. And despite her humorous antics, Jessica proved to have a serious side as well.

She wasn't just all about being silly. She got her first job while she was still in high school. After class, she worked at the fast food restaurant Hardee's with her best friend, and Jessica's boss referred to her as genuinely kind with a positive personality and a good work ethic. Speaking of school, Jessica was a remarkable student. She was very proficient in math. She loved math from a young age and I cannot relate. Numbers are definitely not my thing. But for Jessica, it came naturally to her. Many times she would play pretend

and she would act like she was running a store and count fake money. So her passion for mathematics grew stronger and stronger as she progressed through her education. And it was clear to everyone around her that Jessica had a natural talent for working with numbers. And as she matured, Jessica began to contemplate her future career path.

And while her initial inclination was to pursue a career, as an accountant because that makes sense, she loved numbers, or even go into the military, she had a deep affection for animals. Her love for them was evident in how much she cared for her pets and she volunteered at local animal shelters and now that's something I can relate to. The idea of becoming a veterinarian started to emerge in Jessica's mind as she got closer and closer to graduating from high school and she was trying to decide what her future plans were. She really liked the thought of caring for animals and positively impacting their lives and the lives of their owners. Although it was different from her original dream of becoming an accountant,

Jessica couldn't deny her passion for veterinary medicine. So she was trying to decide what she wanted to do, like many teenagers that are going from high school into college. And all of this made sense because Jessica and her family lived on farmland in Sheppersville, Kentucky. So it's clear to see where Jessica's work ethic and her love for animals stemmed from. During her early high school years, she was part of ROTC. If you don't know what that is, it's reserve officer's training corps. and the ROTC is a program that gives students the skills they would need if they wanted to go into the military. Joining the military was something Jessica had expressed interest in for years. And during her time in the program, she developed quite the reputation for being trustworthy and reliable.

At one point, she was even put in charge of inventory that was worth more than $100,000. So that is quite the responsibility for a teenager. However, despite enjoying everything the ROTC had to offer, she actually decided to quit during the of her senior year. It was her final year in school and she really just wanted to enjoy it to the fullest. And by then, Jessica had changed her mind about joining the military altogether. So dropping out of the ROTC made sense. Jessica's dreams like many of ours went into many different directions. And even though she had considered things like becoming a vet, as she got older, she had become a lot more artistic. She loved cooking. And for instance, she had been planning and preparing food for her entire family, even though her brother

did say that some of her meals were a little questionable, but they're brothers, right? And they're just giving her a taste of her own medicine and teasing her back. Besides, that is how art is made. It's refined through process of trial and error. Jessica planned on honing her skills and possibly going into culinary school after she graduates. So she just wanted to get her hands into a lot of different things. And unlike her parents, she didn't want to stay cocooned in the comfort of her own town. She planned to leave Shepersville as soon as she could and see what the world had to offer. When you think of living on farmland, you might think of being all alone on acres of vast land. But Jessica and her family were actually surrounded by a lot of people. They had a lot of friends and family.

For one thing, Jessica's dad, Mike, he was born into a very large family. He had six siblings and her mom, Edna, had five siblings. So that was a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins around. Their property also shared a border with another family's land. The Brooks family, and over the years, the Brooks family had been really helpful and kind neighbors to Edna and Michael Dishan's family. And according to Michael, one of their sons, David, who everyone called Bucky, he would come over, help the family. They were very close. And according to Michael, Bucky, he was delayed in learning and he did have some challenges, including a low IQ, but he was a very hard worker and would help out both his families and the Dishens on the farm from time to time. So this was a very active family with lots of people offering their friendship and support. This is what the area looks like. It's another small town. Lots of land.

Here is the Dishan's home and the road that they lived on. You can see there's a lot of farmland, but they're also homes nearby. But then again, on this side of Deedsville Road, it is a lot more rural with no homes in sight. So it's definitely more off of the beaten path than a highly populated city and someone could definitely get lost out in those woods or even just anywhere on this land. Shepherdsville, Kentucky is a pretty safe area though. It's located within Bullitt County, which is in an area historically known for its salt mines. In contrast to a neighboring city of Louisville, which is bubbling with activity, Shepherdsville is a very sleepy suburban town and very little crime there. If you are an avid viewer of these true crime stories, you've probably heard more than

once about quiet towns where nobody even locks their doors and you might question if those places actually exist. Well, despite the cliche, I'm going to tell you, Shepherdsville really was like that. Edna and Mike had lived there their entire lives. They came from very similar families and backgrounds. When you live in such a small community for so long, you pretty much know everyone around you. Their shared background and the sense of community might have made Edna and Mike a little more trusting of those around them, which is why when that trust is broken in such a vicious way, the betrayal is much more heartbreaking. In September 1999, Jessica was 17 years old. She was a senior at Bullitt Central High School, which was only eight miles away from her home. She had always been

very responsible and focused. Friends and family and her teachers were always impressed by her determination and dedication to her schoolwork. And that's why they were stunned with what happened one seemingly normal day that fall. For the Dishin family, the morning of Friday, September 10th, 1999 was pretty normal as weekdays go. The house was buzzing with activity as school lunches were made, teeth were being brushed, and coffee was quickly being gulped down. I'm sure we all can relate to those busy mornings. Edna, the matriarch of the family, was typically the very first person to leave the home in the morning. She worked at a daycare center and she left the home at around 6 a.m. every day. Her husband Mike was the second to leave.

He was a drywall finisher and he was out of the house by 6.30 every day. You might think it's a little bit strange for parents to leave work before getting their children to school. But the kids were a bit older and they could handle the responsibility. The two younger boys, Michael Jr. was 13 and Christopher was 12 and they were both in middle school. They caught the bus every morning around 6.45 and it would come pick them up right outside of their home. This meant there was not much of a chance for them to get them. in much trouble in 15 minutes between when their dad left and the school bus arrived. At around 6.45 that morning, Michael Jr. and Christopher left for school right on time. Before they walked out

the door, they noticed that their sister was still in the bath, which was pretty typical for her. Jessica, like many girls her age, like to take her sweet time getting ready for school in the morning. But she always made it to school on time. So just like every other morning, Around 7 a.m., Jessica walked out of her house and headed towards her car. It was her red Pontiac and she loved her car. This girl worked so hard to pay for it. She finally saved enough money to just buy it outright. Senior year was going to be great for Jessica.

All that's done the way of her dreams was just one more year of high school. And after that, she would be as free as a butterfly, which she was obsessed with. She even had a tattoo of a butterfly on one of her hips. All in all, life was looking good for Jessica. And sure, like many of us, she did have challenges she was working through, but as a whole, life wasn't bad. New school year, new car, and even a new boyfriend. As Jessica walked through her car that morning, the air had a slight edge, which signaled that fall was on its way. She got into her Pontiac ready to drive the short distance, that 12-minute drive to her school.

But Jessica never made it to school that day. A few hours later, around 1.30 in the afternoon, her mom came home from work. She saw Jessica's car in the driveway right where it had been when she left that morning. Edna immediately knew that something wasn't right. Jessica was definitely not the type to skip school for no reason. So Edna thought to herself, maybe I should check inside. I shouldn't be alarmed. Maybe she's feeling sick and took the day off.

Or she had car trouble and she couldn't even make it to school. But when she walked through the house, Jessica was nowhere to be found. She didn't know what to make of the situation, so Edna called her husband thinking maybe he dropped off at school. If not, at least maybe he knew where Jessica could be. However, the sinking feeling in her gut grew deeper. As Mike let her know, he had no idea where their daughter could be.

Neither of them have received a call from the school to let them know that Jessica hadn't turned up. They had gone through the whole day as if it were the same as any other, all without knowing that their daughter had seemingly vanished. With each passing moment, Edna's worry for her daughter grew stronger. The fear and the uncertainty compelled her to search in and around Jessica's car. And when Edna took a look inside, she noticed a few things that were immediately red flags to her. First of all, Jessica's lotion, her purse, her school books, a water bottle,

and her backpack were all in the back seat of the car. All of these were essential items that she would have had with her. That did not make any sense. Why would she have left them inside like that? But then Edna got an even worse feeling when she saw the keys to the car were on the floorboard. However, among these belongings, one in particular stood out. Sitting on the passenger seat was Jessica's cell phone. And she could see one single shoe had been left behind.

Here is that silver flip phone right on the seat. Edna's heart was racing. She knew this wasn't right at all. This is an evidence photo of the backpack and the purse. You can see they look like they're packed up ready to go. So where is Jessica and why would she leave these things behind? Mike and Edna knew they needed to act quickly. So they made calls to everyone that knew their daughter.

All of her friends, her cousins, family members. They hoped to hear that their daughter had just gone over a friend's house and that she was safe and she would be back in no time. But the initial calls did not bring them any closer to knowing where she was. Jessica's best friend Sarah Bailey, who was also just 17 years old, said that both of them were scheduled to work that night at Hardee's, and she knew that Jessica would never just miss work. And she would have never just left either.

She would have let somebody know what she was doing. When Jessica's brothers arrived home from school, Edna asked them when they saw their sister last, and they informed her that they heard Jessica in the bathroom that morning getting ready for school. Well, Edna wasted no time. She called Jessica's high school to ask about her attendance. And to her shock, she was informed that Jessica had not attended any of her classes that day.

And this made her very angry. She didn't understand why she had not been told her and her husband, neither one of them had been told, that Jessica never made it to school that day. I just covered a case of a college student named Nadia Kajuji. She went missing and I'll link it in the cards. But interestingly, I talked about how in grade school, they usually do call the parents right away to let them know their child has not shown up. But as teens, when they become adults 18 and older, that stops. And the colleges and the schools have no duty to report anything.

Well, here's the case where the grade school seems to have dropped the ball. Jessica is not yet an adult. After making calls and finding out that no one knew where she was, it became abundantly clear that Jessica, did not leave willingly. At around 5 p.m. that evening, Edna and Mike called the local police department to inform them that their 17-year-old daughter was missing. However, we've heard this many times. To their dismay, the officers refused to take any action. They labeled the situation as a teenager who ran away. But remember, they weren't even that far into this case yet. There wasn't a case. This was merely a phone call to alert authorities. No investigation was going on.

and the family felt so frustrated. Here they are deeply concerned about their daughter's well-being, and they would not accept the lack of concern displayed by these officers. So they were determined to find their daughter on their own. Edna and Mike decided to take matters into their own hands. I would too. The first thing they did is they've reached out to all of their relatives. Remember, there's a lot.

They have a big family and all of Jessica's friends. Mike called all of his brothers and sisters, seeking their aid and support in the search for his daughter. And luckily, that support system was ready to join jump into action. Her relatives and friends took immediate steps to raise awareness and start searching for her. They posted missing person's flyers all over Bullet County in churches, gas stations, convenience stores, and this became vital for spreading the word about Jessica's disappearance. Here's what some of those flyers looked like. They had a picture of Jessica on them,

who they currently said had short strawberry blonde hair because in the picture, I think it was black and white, you wouldn't have been able to tell, but she has strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, she was 5 foot 4, and 112 pounds. A young girl going missing like this was not the norm. As a matter of fact, no one could ever remember anything like this happening in Shepherdsville. This area is vast. This is an actual evidence photo from the case. You can see how much land there is, and many of the residents live on 10 acres, even up to 100 acres of land. I told you, someone, could easily go missing and you would not be able to find them, at least not easily. If you were landowner and you heard that someone was missing, it would take a very long time

to comb your own property, not to mention venturing out beyond the land you own and helping with the search in other areas. The police had told Edna to just call back if Jessica hadn't returned by the next morning. I don't know how parents are expected to do this, but Edna had no choice. She actually decided to stay home and wait to see if her daughter came back. Meanwhile, her husband, her sons, and all the family and friends, they went out and searched for Jessica in the surrounding farmland. It was a really hard night for Edna. Of course, she couldn't sleep. But she was relieved when after tossing and turning all night, the son finally came up. This meant she was able to report her daughter missing. So this time, the officers actually

took a report from Edna. She stressed that everyone who knew Jessica knew that she was not the type to run away many parents have to say this. Jessica was known for being reliable. She was smart. She was family oriented. And that family told the police that there's no way Jessica left on her own. She loved her brothers way too much. She would never just pick up and leave them behind. The fact that she left all of her items behind intensified the family's feelings, the foul play was involved. Her money was still inside the wallet that was inside her purse. She couldn't have gotten that far if she had left on her own accord who would with all their belongings left behind. So at this point, a young deputy was dispatched from the Bullitt County Sheriff's Office out to the Dishan family home.

Deputy David Greenwell, he was pretty fresh when he was assigned to this case. He'd only been working on the fours for seven months. And he was still getting his bearing straight, but despite not being that experienced, as soon as he took note of everything that was going on, the belongings inside the car, everything still being there, the one shoe that looked like it had been missing from the pair, he knew something was amiss. Right away, Deputy Greenwell called a colleague that had a lot more experience under his belt. His name was Detective Charles Mann. He had been on the job for over a decade. And being a police officer in a small town like Shepherdsville, you get to know the people. You know all about the different neighborhoods, the behavior of the people

that live there, and you might even start to think that you can predict the outcome of a case, even before you've taken a look at it. And that's why, when this rookie cop called Detective Mann that afternoon about a girl who had disappeared, he shrugged it off. He said, that's just another runaway because in his mind, he was pretty certain that they would soon find Jessica. She would get tired of life on the run, and she would go right back home. except there was nothing typical about this case.

Teenage runaways don't typically leave behind their cell phones, their purses, their cars. They don't typically leave without packing clothes, and they don't typically walk away wearing only one shoe. So I'm really surprised that they didn't even give it a second thought about what happened here. But Deputy Greenwell wasn't satisfied with his superior's response. So he decided to call him again after being. dismissed the first time. Maybe the second time he thought Detective Man would come around and start taking him seriously. However, when he called that second time, Detective Man told him the same thing. You see, it was the weekend and nothing would keep Detective Man from

enjoying some time off. Not even a missing child apparently. Deputy Greenwell did not know what to do, so he just went out to the scene, took some photos, and then he went home. The dismissal of Jessica being a runaway, became the first mistake in a case which was riddled with police incompetence. It's well known that in a missing person's case, that first 48 hours are critical. After that, the chances of finding a person alive decrease significantly. All of us know that by now, and we're not even detectives. Despite the police not taking Jessica's disappearance seriously, Edna and Mike were still out there

with a search party of their own. However, when those 24 hours went by and they still had not found any sign of their daughter or where she had gone, that's when Jessica's parents decided to call in the big guns. They tried to get the attention of the FBI, and they did. It was the unusual state of the scene outside the Dishan's home in Jessica's car. That was enough to get the FBI's attention. On Monday, the 13th of September, the FBI officially took on the disappearance of Jessica Dition. That's when the search for the missing teen intensified. Six FBI agents from Louisville joined the investigation. It's probably Louisville. I don't know how to say some of these

places and locations. Always leave them in the comments because you teach me something. One of the first things the FBI did was impound Jessica's car for analysis. By then, it was generally believed that she had been kidnapped as she was trying to get into her car and go to school. Investigators had found a piece of plastic that belonged in the vehicle, on the vehicle, and it had broken off and it was laying in the front seat. They thought this probably happened during a struggle. Then when the investigators took a look at her phone, they found that Jessica had dialed a single digit, the number nine. This led the investigators to believe that someone had attacked her inside her vehicle and she was struggling and she had attempted

to call 911 for help. But before she could finish dialing, the assailant had gained an upper hand on her and dragged her away from her own car and that is absolutely frightening. It looked like as she was being dragged out of her car, she grabbed onto the interior and she broke off that piece of plastic from the bottom of the driver's seat. Unfortunately, this car, even though it was a crime scene potentially, it was no help to this investigation because if this was a normal case, Jessica's car would have been a treasure trove of evidence. Maybe her assailant left fingerprints or DNA. However, this was not a normal case. The lack of police work or diligent work in this case was shocking. Why in the world would they fail to secure their biggest

piece of evidence? The first day on the scene, they should have seized that car, taken it away, and kept it in a safe place, so it wouldn't become contaminated. Instead, during that weekend, when the police were off doing, we don't even know what, friends and family members, they were in that car, in and out of it, doing their own investigation because the police had ignored their police for help. A news reporter had even to done, I'm not kidding, a segment from inside the car. And I can see something like this happening today. It would probably be TikTokers, but they would be out there trying to be first with the biggest

missing person story. And as sad as it is, the public interest is there. So when there's a demand, someone has to supply the information and that can lead to missteps. Because the evidence in the car was compromised. It was pretty much useless. Trying to even run fingerprints would have been just so incredibly difficult because, because there would be so many. Because of that, the FBI was left with very few starting points

for this investigation. One significant challenge they faced was the timing of Jessica's disappearance. It happened after everyone in her household had left. They couldn't establish a clear timeline. So without that crucial information, the police were at a disadvantage in their search efforts. The authorities were not even sure what Jessica was wearing

when she went missing. They didn't know what to be on the lookout for. And this lack of knowledge would further complicate things. Without a description of her clothing, it would become very hard for potential witnesses to have relevant information and even looking at surveillance footage. Edna tried her best to rack her brain guessing what her daughter might have been wearing by going through her clothing and trying to narrow down what is missing. She believed it could be jeans and a yellow Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt with red or orange letters on it. The agents did search Jessica's tiny bedroom. They went

through all of her drawers, they look through papers that were on her desks and notes on her nightstand, and look through an address book. One of Jessica's second cousins, Donna Mattingly, she even provided the FBI with a full list of all the calls that Jessica had made from her cell phone in the past six months and good for her, good for this family. They were on the ball and I mean, wow, I'm impressed. We would be all so lucky if we had family members like that who cared about us and are willing to go that extra mile. It's more than I can say for this police department. That's for sure. And after Jessica had been missing for almost a week, various authorities were brought in to assist in the search finally. They had police divers out there in various bodies of water

nearby. There was a pilot that had joined forces with them trying to look from the sky and see what was going on there. As the investigation gained traction throughout the town and beyond, the tips came in. There were hundreds of tips every day related to Jessica's disappearance.