Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch - The Vanishing of Janis Rose | 3. Pregnant

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

After escaping from a murderous boyfriend, where does Janis turn up next? With a child she may or may not have stolen in the South Louisiana Bayous. As more witnesses come forward, the investigator's ...cold case is suddenly white hot. Binge all episodes of The Vanishing of Janis Rose ad-free today by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge Crimes on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘subscribe’ or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access. From serial killer nurses to psychic scammers – The Binge is your home for true crime stories that pull you in and never let go. The Binge – feed your true crime obsession. A Sony Music Entertainment and Wildnight Media production. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:34 ad-free right now by subscribing to The Benge. Visit The Benge channel on Apple Podcast and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Or visit getthebenge.com to get access wherever you listen. The Benge. Feed your true crime obsession. Investigator Mark Ogden is now in his third year of chasing after Janus. But it's been a while since he'd actually done much chasing. The case was ice cold.
Starting point is 00:01:14 All he knew was that Janice had been involved with many men. He tracked her down to a diner in Poplarville, Mississippi, only to have her vanish again. And that's probably where she met her. demise. What he doesn't know is that Janice left Poplarville very much alive, because Janice wasn't leaving her fate up to the men in her life. And given that the diner owner she dated killed a woman, it seems like she made the right call. Instead, she'd left Mississippi for the Louisiana bayous, a new state, a new start, and a new job.
Starting point is 00:01:57 Remember, Janice had confided in a fellow diner waitress about being scared of her boyfriend. And that waitress told Janice to ask for a job at a bar two hours south in Louisiana. Turns out, Janice did. Gail Bon Valen meets Janice in the late 1970s, down in Raceland, Louisiana. She just didn't appeal to me. Gail was a local, and she is very clear. that getting to know the new girl Janice was not high on her to-do list.
Starting point is 00:02:32 I wasn't interested in getting friendly with her. So while Gail is over there giving Janice the side-eye, she has no idea that Janice had fled Mississippi. And that this is why Janice is here now, pouring beers at a bar that's become her newest safe haven. I hated that place. The bar was called Dupes, or Roy's, depending on who you ask. It's where Gail's ex-husband liked to hang out,
Starting point is 00:03:04 and let's just say it didn't bring back fond memories for her. I used to go get him and bring him home. One time I went to get him, and this woman was sitting right there by him with a bunch of beer, and I have never forget it. I had an orange purse. I sat it down, and I hit her and knocked her out and on the floor where she went. Come to find out, she'd just gotten off of the bus from somewhere and was innocent as could be. She shouldn't have been there.
Starting point is 00:03:34 This bar hired a lot of outsiders, women like Janice, people who needed a soft landing from whatever rough situation they'd found themselves in. But Gail found the whole operation kind of trashy. It was just an old bar, and all of the women that needed to come out of town or from whatever they come from would be. end up there and he'd hire them, and they had little houses in the back, and that's where they'd live. The owners let the employees live on the property. Janice moves in while she figures out what comes next. It doesn't take long.
Starting point is 00:04:11 The bartender hustle leads Janice straight into the arms of a new guy. Gail and her ex-husband owned a mechanic shop down the street, and a friend he worked with took a liking to Janice. They started dating, not that Gail approved. I just couldn't see him with her. It didn't make a match to me. Janice was still in her late 20s, and the man she was dating was nearly 50. Everyone called him Streetie, his last name. Gail considered him family.
Starting point is 00:04:45 He was recently widowed, and his first wife had been Gail's close friend. They just had a real good marriage, and I was surprised when he come up with this new lady, because she would have killed her. Probably a rebound, casual. Eventually, she'll blow out of town the way she came in. But Janice doesn't. Instead, they get married. And then they become even more bonded,
Starting point is 00:05:15 which Gail discovers one day when she goes to her exes to pick up the kids. Streedy was sitting here and she was sitting here and she's holding this little ball-headed baby. Janice now has a baby? What they're doing with a baby? It's streedy at his age, and her, she's come from somewheres. And here the next time they have this baby. Much as Gail doesn't like thinking about Janice, she had to admit.
Starting point is 00:05:43 This was odd. But I didn't, like I said, I wasn't interested, so I didn't question it. Look, I get it. Girl Code is real. But the stork is not. Babies usually come from pregnancy or an arduous adoption process. So the sudden arrival of this new baby is really strange, especially when you think this is a woman who already has four children back home,
Starting point is 00:06:12 some of whom will one day let an investigator swab their cheeks for DNA on the off chance that maybe it would match some Jane Doe body. But Janice is alive, apparently creating a new family. Janice's story started as a search for what happened to her. But now it's starting to turn into a story about what she did. It's what's had me thinking, Janice is the one in charge. Because what if she was never running from something? but searching for it.
Starting point is 00:06:58 In order to answer that, to understand the why behind all of this, we have to first follow the dominoes of Janice's escapades to learn everything about what she did and where she went. And that first domino falls in a familiar place.
Starting point is 00:07:15 A place Janice had recently fled, a place that seemed like she had no interest in returning to. Poplarville, Mississippi. From Sony Music Entertainment in Wild Night Media, you're listening to The Vanishing of Janice Rose. This is episode three, pregnant. I'm Larison Campbell. Janice had started a new life once again.
Starting point is 00:07:57 This time, down in Louisiana, with a new baby and a husband. But she seemed to still feel pulled back to a life she had in Mississippi. The story I'm about to tell you takes place before her little bald-headed baby was born. As the story goes, on this day, Janice is by herself. She's in her car on a road trip to visit her old life. Not her original old life in Columbia, Mississippi, where her family lived, but her most recent old life in Poplarville, where she'd worked in that diner and become close with Peggy Perkins' mom.
Starting point is 00:08:44 The drive is about two hours. As she exits off the highway toward Poplarville, I wonder if she's excited imagining their reaction. Nervous? Janice pulls into a familiar driveway. It's Peggy Perkins's house. Peggy's watching through the window, and this is how she remembers the story.
Starting point is 00:09:08 She sees Janice get out of a nice car. But that's not the only thing Janice is showing off. She's been putting on some weight since she's last seen Peggy. But it's not so much about the extra pounds as the big, exciting thing they convey. As Peggy watches her waddle up the driveway, Janice is cradling a rather pronounced baby bump. Peggy shouts to her mom.
Starting point is 00:09:36 Wow, Jan's here. Mom's like, what? Yeah, Jan's here. That's when she came to tell my mama she was pregnant. Peggy and her mom are both so thrilled to see their old friend. They'd been worried about her. And now she's not just here, but pregnant. Starting a new family with a new guy who clearly knows how to take care of her. She's really got it all. And then she tells them that she wants her old friends in this new life. Yeah, I want y'all to be a part of, you know, part of all it is. Coming down to stay like, you know, a weekend or something.
Starting point is 00:10:12 Peggy's still in high school. She thought Jan was cool back in the diner days when she would hang out there with her friends. But now, Jan might be the coolest person Peggy knows, her car for one thing. This car was souped up super. That thing had white leather tires on it, sporty-looking tires and rims. It was a dark blue with a black vinyl top on it. Oh, man, that thing was fine. That car was just like, it was my dream car. And getting out of town, you don't have to ask her twice. Literally what we did in Papaville when we did on Friday nights, we'd ride from one end of town to the other.
Starting point is 00:10:54 Just make a circle, go down, and just we met up with anybody. We'd stop and talk or whatever. So, I mean, you saw it after things to do. One weekend, Peggy and her sister and their mom head down to Louisiana to check out Jan's New Life for themselves. They had an older house trailer down there, but it was nice. It had addition to it. It was right there on the bayou.
Starting point is 00:11:15 you know, they had a boat ramp. And this new guy, David Streedy? He was a very nice, nice, well-dressed man. To her, she had the life she wanted. You know, David had money. David bought her cars. Streedy's a mechanic at the time. He works long hours during the day,
Starting point is 00:11:36 and when he gets home at night, he pours himself a whiskey, or four. And then he just kind of likes to hang out. Guys that he worked with, he'd bring them over, We'd have cookouts, swimming, and stuff like that, you know. Cookouts? Small town life? A husband who works a lot.
Starting point is 00:11:54 To me, this looks a whole lot like the life Janice left. There's even a child on the way. Was this life on the bayou really Janice's plan? Or had she left her old life to discover that, for a woman in 1970s, Mississippi, with a 10th grade education, there were very few plans available. There were at least less tangible differences here. Janice and Streetie seemed to get along really well,
Starting point is 00:12:23 and their house was buzzing with friends and neighbors dropping by. Teenage Peggy starts coming down to Louisiana just by herself. For her, Jan's life was freedom. I was having fun with my friend Jan. It was like a whole weekend, And then I was staying summers. School starts tomorrow, I'll be home. And, you know, in a teenager, you're thinking, wow, you know,
Starting point is 00:12:49 I got the world by the seat of the pants right now. I mean, I was a bad kid. You know, I wanted to smoke. I wanted to drink. I wanted to do, do, do, do, do, do, you know. And Jan's not strict, like Peggy's mom. She might have been nearing 30, but she lets Peggy smoke cigarettes. Went to like 100s and the golden red pet.
Starting point is 00:13:09 To Peggy, it was all carefree, Late nights on the bayou, cicadas humming, smoking a sighing and gossiping about Peggy's crushes. She was just the type of person that I wanted to be around. I felt real close to her. Like, we was more like sisters, you know, good hangout. Next thing I know, she's in the hospital and laboring, this, that, and other. Next thing I know, you know, because they had a baby boy. Janice has a baby boy.
Starting point is 00:13:34 David W. Streetie, after his dad. And since he was the third, everyone called him Trey. Seeing her with baby Trey, this was a different side of Jan. Very doting, very loving, there wasn't nothing no better than her being a mom to him. You could tell she loved it. Peggy continues to visit. It's a little different now over at Jan's with an infant in the house, but that's not what changes their friendship. Janice might have been a good hang, but I'm learning that she could also turn on a dime.
Starting point is 00:14:09 And, well, Peggy says she learned this. the hard way. One afternoon, Peggy is hanging out with Janice when she notices something that seems a bit off. It's about Little Trey. She and Janice are in the nursery with him. I was in the bag in there with her one day we was changing him. As Peggy looks down at him, she thinks,
Starting point is 00:14:32 he doesn't look much like his parents, his complexion specifically. You know, it's kind of like Catulip Tan. So she makes this offhand comment to Janice. I said, Janice, this baby's a little dark-complexed. Peggy's a teenager. To her, this isn't a loaded statement, more an observation. But as soon as the words leave her mouth, Janice just crumples.
Starting point is 00:14:58 The statement was, in fact, a big deal. But not for the reasons you might assume. And she just almost broke down in tears. Janice hurries out of the room. Peggy knows she stepped in it. but she'll be damned if she knows what the hell it is. A moment later, Janice returns, with a document in her hand. So she came and showed me a piece of paper.
Starting point is 00:15:23 It's folded up. Janice clutches the paper, tears now streaming down her cheeks. I said, why are you crying? And she said, well, I'm scared you're not going to want to have anything to do with me anymore. I opened a piece of paper, and it was a birth certificate. For Trey. But under mother, Jan's name isn't there. It had Willamina Butler on it.
Starting point is 00:15:48 Willamina Butler. So she pointed to the race on the birth certificate. Black. Though Peggy had always assumed Janice was white. Who is this, Peggy asks. It's me, says Jan. This is my real identity. Willamina Butler was a real name
Starting point is 00:16:10 and Jane was her alter ego. She said, well, it'll probably change the way you feel about me. I was like, no. I mean, why would that change the way I feel about you? And I can still hear her saying that. All these years I can hear her saying that. I don't remember how many days it was that I was still there. But I left to went home and it was the last time I went down there.
Starting point is 00:16:35 Peggy's never invited back. She calls it the cutoff. That's when she got real, okay, I'm going to tell you this, and I'm cut your loose. To set the record straight, Willamina Butler is not her true identity. This is a lie. Janice was born Janice Rose Swayze
Starting point is 00:17:01 and grew up in Columbia, Mississippi. She's the baby in a family of six. and a mom to four little girls. And she's also not black, neither is her baby. He just has a darker complexion than Janice. So what is Janice's plan here? A new story, perhaps? Matter of fact, she tries one out on someone you've already heard from.
Starting point is 00:17:29 This brings us back to that woman in Louisiana, who never had any interest in getting to know Janice, or her little bald-headed baby. I just wasn't interested in getting involved. Yeah, her. See, she was only ever introduced to Janice as Willie Joe. Never heard of a Jan. That's what her husband Streetie called her,
Starting point is 00:17:53 how he introduced her to all of his friends. And if Baby Trey's arrival had been expected, even eagerly anticipated by teenage Peggy, this sleight of hand wasn't one she tried, on the Louisiana crowd. They never thought that she'd been pregnant. She just said he was adopted. Adopted?
Starting point is 00:18:14 The woman Peggy remembers waddling up her driveway with a bump? She said they adopted him. And I didn't question her because I wasn't that interested. As uninterested as Gail maintained she is about this new baby, there is something about it that sticks with her.
Starting point is 00:18:34 I just kind of wondered how she got him so fast. You know, you have to go through legal stuff and be investigated and things like that. And you just can't go one day and come back with a baby and say, I adopted him. You can't just do it overnight. That's right. You can't just do it overnight. But Janice doesn't stick around town for these questions. Pretty soon, she hits the road again.
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Starting point is 00:21:31 That's simplysafe.com slash crimes. There's no safe like SimplySafe. Now we know Janice has lied about her name and maybe her race too. She's told one group of people she gave birth to her baby and another that she adopted him. And those four daughters
Starting point is 00:21:51 she actually gave birth to? As far as we can tell, she's not talking about them to anyone. And it's about to get even more complicated. because Janice is once again driving back into Poplarville, Mississippi, that town with the truck stop diner where Peggy lives. Karen Sullivan was just a kid back in Poplarville. On Saturdays, you could probably find her next door at her grandmothers.
Starting point is 00:22:21 We were always at her house on the weekends and having get-togethers with all my uncles. My dad had five brothers. And her uncle Cliff stood out. He was a handsome devil, and he wore these blue button-up shirts, and he was just Rico Suave. Like, I thought he was part Italian or something. I, you know, squeeze your hand real hard when he shakes it and just a lady's man. You know, there was always with different women.
Starting point is 00:22:53 When Karen's around seven, her uncle Cliff starts dating someone new. No surprise. Not long after, he brings her around to Karen's grandma's house. One of those weekend parties with Karen and her cousins running around in the yard. I see this beautiful lady. She looked like she was at a magazine.
Starting point is 00:23:13 You know, she was all tan and wearing her short shorts and her blonde hair. And she knew she looked good. It's Janice. Like Peggy before her, Karen is fascinated. Like I loved her attitude. Lucky for Karen, this one sticks around for a while, a feat for her Rico-Swavel bachelor uncle.
Starting point is 00:23:37 Cliff had been a regular at the diner. Peggy told me that's where they met. He's one of the guys Janice casually dated before moving on to the owner and then high-tailing it for Louisiana. But this time around, they're serious. I'd seen him bring other women, and they were just nothing to him.
Starting point is 00:23:57 There'd be another one, you know, a different time. But she moved in with him. They move into this big house together. It's behind the Sonic Drive-in restaurant. It just seemed like a big, a big baby doll house. They had an upstairs, and I'd never seen it upstairs. We'd go over there. And that's when I knew she lived there.
Starting point is 00:24:19 And I'm like, oh, my God, she's my aunt. And we started calling her Aunt Willie Joe. Willie Joe, her new fake name. I want to pause here because it's one thing to strike out for a new town, adopt a brand new identity with brand new people. But Janice is doing something curious. She's gone back to this town of 2,500 people who all knew her as Jan. She's even dating a guy who once called her Jan.
Starting point is 00:24:51 All while saying, her real name is actually Willie Joe. She doesn't seem to operate by the typical liar playbook. You're not supposed to get sentimental and go back to the same friends. You've got a hoodwink new people. How did she explain her new name? Had she produced the same birth certificate she'd shown teenage Peggy? Given her boyfriend Cliff the same story? Or maybe that identity switch with Peggy wasn't as much a misstep as a trial run for this next bolder move.
Starting point is 00:25:28 If Peggy believed her, and she seemed to, maybe Jan could pass herself off as Willie Joe to more people in her old life. Was it worth risking at all for this old fling cliff? Of course, little Karen doesn't know any of this history. What she knows is she's got a new aunt and a new toddler cousin. When she came into the picture, she had trades too. and they acted like they had been together a while, but we had just found out about her. As a seven-year-old, these dynamics aren't really explained to her.
Starting point is 00:26:11 But from Karen's point of view, Toddler Trey was her first cousin by blood. He was cute as a button, and we love playing in the swimming pool. One of those little plastic blue swimming pools from the hardware store. And then Aunt Willie Joe turned that fun up to a hundred by moving it to the base of their backyard slide. That was the coolest idea ever, Willie Joe had, putting the slide in the pool.
Starting point is 00:26:37 She took a lot of time with us. She played with us. She'd play games with us. She'd do things with our hair. She was that fun aunt that really, like, involved herself in our lives. Janice, aka Willie Joe, weaves herself in with the rest of Karen's family.
Starting point is 00:26:58 She fits right on. She took my dad all over the coast to put in job applications, and I'd sit in the back seat, you know, and give me a drink. Aunt Willie Joe and Uncle Cliff were hanging out with her parents a lot more. They would play cards. They'd cut up. My mom loved her to pieces. My dad did, too. He just felt she was lying about Trey. Lying about Trey. Karen remembers her dad and Cliff getting into it back then. I imagine her one night in her pajamas.
Starting point is 00:27:31 Maybe she's getting ready to get into bed when she hears Ray's voices in the living room. Not angry, but insistent. He said, Cliff, I'm telling you that ain't your kid. I'm telling you that ain't your kid, you need to do some digging. He's like, shut up, Archie, just stay out of it. And I remember him and my mom talking about it and saying, I don't know how she's got Cliff believing that that is his son.
Starting point is 00:27:56 If you're keeping count, this is now. the third origin story for toddler Trey. There's the story she told about Trey being adopted. Then there's the story that she's his biological mom and Streetie, her husband in Louisiana, is his dad. And now she's back in Poplarville telling everyone here that she and Cliff are his biological parents. Trey was born about two years after she'd married Streaty, so she must have had visits with Cliff in between. Otherwise, how could he believe? believe he's Trey's biological dad. And even if Cliff does want to believe her, it's still a risky move.
Starting point is 00:28:37 This one-horse town is the same town teenage Peggy lives in. And Janice never tells Peggy she's back. Does she ever worry she'll see her or her mom at the grocery store? The gas station? That one of them might recognize her car. Because that is exactly what happened. happens. Peggy's still in high school, and on this particular day, she's gone out for lunch. We'd all meet up at the Sonic, and right behind there used to be a redwood-stained house.
Starting point is 00:29:11 The big house behind the Sonic Drive-in, aka Karen's Doll House, the one Uncle Cliff and Willie Joe slash Janice, moved into. And outside, a familiar souped-up Ford. Navy with a black ragged. top, Peggy's dream car. I'm like, well, I know that car. Peggy doesn't know what Janice would be doing back in Poplarville. So she walks over and knocks on her door. But when Janice answers, well, she looks just like someone who's been confronted with a part of their past, they hoped to forget.
Starting point is 00:29:51 She's tense. You can feel that, you know. Peggy blows right past this. She's like, tell me every. Why are you back in town? What are you doing? You know, did you and Streety, you know, divorce or whatnot? You know, what happened? She just didn't want to really answer those questions. Janice is not down for a hang session and quickly wraps up the encounter, leaving Peggy to return to class very confused.
Starting point is 00:30:18 That evening, Peggy fills her mom in. Turns out Janice's husband, Streedy, back in Louisiana, was looking for Janice. Mama said that Streetie called and want to know if we had seen Jan and he said because she left with that baby. Took Trey and skipped town. I think that's by the time Cliff found out that wasn't his baby and whatever, so she left and went to Texas.
Starting point is 00:30:45 Texas. Once again, a new chapter, a new state. They just broke up, I guess. We never heard anything else. about her. Janice had a gift for connecting with people in a way that was deep and genuine, that made kids like Peggy and Karen feel seen, even loved. Or that's how it seemed. Because as we know, Janice also had a gift for walking away. So were these close relationships just a lie?
Starting point is 00:31:22 Or were they just casualties of a much bigger lie? A lie Janice was finally learning how to protect. One slip could unravel the whole thing. So when these slips happened, when someone started to catch on, maybe it was best to do what Janice had always done well. Move on, start fresh. But that won't work forever. During the Volvo Fall Experience event,
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Starting point is 00:32:44 Ogden's tracked Janice all the way to the Poplarville diner, learned she wanted to get away from her boyfriend slash boss their dick, but he hasn't been able to find anything. about her whereabouts since then, or the web of lies she started to spin. As far as Ogden knows, she could have been killed by the diner owner, or that serial killer,
Starting point is 00:33:06 or met some other awful fate. He has heard gossip that Janice came back through Poplarville later, claiming she'd had Cliff's baby. But that's it. Whatever became of this baby is just as murky to him as Janice's current status.
Starting point is 00:33:23 But Ogden hopes this guy Cliff will have some information. So he gives him a call. And left messages, tons and tons of messages. Never would return my call. And I found out his daughter still lived in Pearl River County. And I gave her a call.
Starting point is 00:33:41 And he said, let me talk to dad. And a week went by, yeah, he don't know anybody by that name. He wants you to quit calling him. He's not going to talk to you. Doesn't know a Janice? Well, and it's suspicious as hell. For the record, Cliff wouldn't return my calls either. Rickwell, again.
Starting point is 00:34:05 Ogden hangs up the phone. He's running out of avenues to explore, but he continues to cast a wide net. Every few months, I would run her picture through Crown Stoppers. The online post are succinct, smiling photos of Janus and the last place she was confirmed seen. Pearl River County when she was working at the diner. All the while, Janice's daughters are never far from his mind.
Starting point is 00:34:31 They would call and ask for an update, and I'd love them. I'm working on it. I'm talking to the people. I'm not getting anywhere. She could hear the frustration in my voice, so she knew I'd give a damn, you know. She knew I was working it, but something was going to happen to be able to get information to go in a different direction. and put it off to the side and hope something one day shows up to pick it back up.
Starting point is 00:34:58 Every so often, when Ogden finds himself with a little time, he repost his crime stoppers bulletin. The comments are typically unhelpful. Beautiful woman. Have you looked at any serial killers in the area? He also continues calling around. So-and-so tells him to call so-and-so, who probably knew her because she was close with so-and-so.
Starting point is 00:35:20 I talked to a couple old waitresses that worked there. I was lucky to find them. One tells him about dupes, the borrower Janice ran off to in Raceland, Louisiana. Ogden talks to people in that area. He's able to confirm that she did in fact work there, which is huge. If she made it out of Mississippi, maybe he's not chasing a dead body after all. Though this tip doesn't take him any further. At this point, he's been working this case. for three years. He continues to widen his net to other regions
Starting point is 00:35:55 in states where he posts his Crime Stoppers' Bulletin. Who knows which way she went and how far? Then one day, one comment changes everything for his investigation.
Starting point is 00:36:10 It's February 2022. He'd put up the Crime Stoppers post again. And this time, he gets a call from someone at Crime Stoppers, He said, Mark, have you read the comments?
Starting point is 00:36:24 Like, no, not today. She said, get on there, read it. We told you how far to go down. Ogden's on the phone, scrolling, scrolling. There's a lady that's saying she knows her. I was like, really? He lands on the commenter of Peggy Perkins. Soon after, Ogden's knocking on her door.
Starting point is 00:36:43 Peggy's not home, so the investigator leaves his card. When Peggy gets in later, My husband says, the police come out here looking for you. I said, well, he said, no, he says it's about a comment you made on Facebook. Did I mention Peggy loves Facebook? It's a fun hobby. Facebook is my friend, whoever, whatever, Google. We do it all.
Starting point is 00:37:06 She uses it for a little light stalking, what she considers staying informed. But this post, which her sister had sent her, was a little different. She said, is that just a little bit? Jan? I said, yes it is. I haven't heard anything from her for years and years and years, years, years, years, years. I mean, I'm thinking, well, maybe something happened to her. Under the Post, Peggy writes just three words. That is Jan.
Starting point is 00:37:33 Later on, when Peggy calls the number on Ogden's business card, he asks if she can head to the station. Can he come down and give me a statement? She said, sure. Peggy's there the next day. I don't even know what to call her to be honest we're just going to call her Janice Bullock because that's her legal name the name she was born with
Starting point is 00:37:56 I don't know because it's twisted trust me and first we sit in his office and I started talking he said no come on put me in an investigating room and shut you shut this door because I'm not staying here okay
Starting point is 00:38:11 this is not going to be my permanent residence no no no I'm scared of jail he said well I'm going to put you here so we can record you because you talk a little fast. She was a fountain of information. We sat down and talked for a long time. Peggy's got so much information. Ogden's not even sure where to have her start.
Starting point is 00:38:32 Peggy confirms the rumors that Janice dated Cliff and she dated the owner of the diner. Peggy tells Ogden that Janice lived in Raceland with a guy she married named Streetie, that at one point they had a little boy. But there's also plenty that Peggy didn't know about Jan. So she's got four daughters. Shows her pictures of them. Oh my God, I was in shock. I couldn't believe it.
Starting point is 00:39:00 She'd never heard a word about Janice's girls. Peggy gives him the full arc of her friendship with Janice, how after Janice revealed this birth certificate with the name Willimina, Peggy was once again out of her life. I'm thinking that was the time she was trying to transform into Willie Joe from Janice. That was her changing to her Willie Joe Streetie, you know, ID or whatever they want to call it. Ogden takes it all in stride. So many of these pieces are falling into place, except for one.
Starting point is 00:39:40 Janice's pregnancy and that baby boy. Ogden is intrigued and maybe a little confused. Fortunately, Peggy's arrived ready. She's got a photo of Trey. Showed him a picture, you know, he was a baby, but he was a sitting-up baby. And there's a big reason why this would sound off to Ogden. According to his investigation, it was physically impossible for Janice to give birth again. Those four biological daughters, they were her last biological children.
Starting point is 00:40:16 She had a hysterectomy right after. After, that is, she gave birth to her fourth daughter. Janice's family told Ogden she had a hysterectomy. But Peggy had seen Janice's round stomach with her own eyes. Yeah, she looked pregnant. She had, yeah, I don't know what she had in them bridges, but she looked pregnant. And she had my turny pants on. You know, sometimes when she'd pull them up or something like that,
Starting point is 00:40:41 they'd have the big elastic right there. Your maternity pants. But apparently, it was all a lie. You read about things like this. You see things like this on TV and the movie, stuff like this, people changing identities. I know who you really know somebody that did that? Peggy walks out that day with a whole new list of daughters to check out on Facebook,
Starting point is 00:41:02 and a lot of new disturbing information to process. But the investigator Ogden has even more. A new name, Willimina, and connections to two real people. She had her son, and she was married to the boy's father. So, what can you say to that? That's huge, huge break. We're on the trail of David Streedy now. Where is this son?
Starting point is 00:41:39 And where did he come from? Does he have the answers? And better yet. Where is Jan now? Don't want to wait for that next episode? You don't have to. Unlock all episodes of The Vanishing of Janice Rose, ad-free right now, by subscribing to the Benge Podcast channel. binge on Apple Podcast and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on Apple? Head to get thebenge.com to get access wherever you listen. As a subscriber, you'll get binge access to new stories on the first of every month. Check out the binge channel page on Apple Podcast or getthebenge.com to learn more. media for Sony music entertainments, The Binge. The show was written, hosted, and executive produce by me, Larison Campbell.
Starting point is 00:42:48 The executive producers for The Binge are Jonathan Hirsch and Catherine St. Louis. The show's senior producer and story editor is Lindsay Kilbride. Sheba Joseph provided production support, and Aaliyah Pape's is the story's fact checker. Mixing and sound design for this series by Scott Scylla. Somerville, with music from Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions. The show's theme song is Shake Me by Lydia Ramsey. Legal Review by Davis Wright-Tremaine.

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