Chapter 58: A Search For Answers-The Death of Alex Vandalsen

SPEAKER 1: Hi guys, I'm Courtney and I'm Lisa and welcome to the next chapter in the book of the Dead. Brought to you by Dark Casts Network, indie podcasts with a twist.

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SPEAKER 1: Hi guys. Welcome to the next chapter. Lisa is back again.

SPEAKER 1: We said it on Patreon but not, I think here that when we do the interviews, a lot of the times I had to do them all, Lisa's at work. So that's why she was not in the interview with Thomas Williams and then the interview with Aphrodite that was like short notice kind of call because we wanted to get it done before the promo for her book was done. So that's why Lisa wasn't there but she's back.

SPEAKER 8: So I'm here and ready for another horrific rabbit hole.

SPEAKER 7: You want to take us all down.

SPEAKER 1: So the case I have for you today, I've actually been working on for quite a while. I've been working actually with the victim's mother and this is a pretty important case, pretty important case for people to know about.

SPEAKER 1: So we are going to jump right in because this family has been waiting for answers for a couple of years now and they don't need to wait any longer. This is the death of Alex Vandalen. Alex Vandalen was a young man with a good heart from Lafayette Indiana.

SPEAKER 1: I had the honor of speaking with his mom, Jennifer and she told me how Alex the second of her three children was one of those people who would give the shirt off his back to anyone. He was always dropping everything to go pick someone up that needed a ride or giving money to friends or family that needed it.

SPEAKER 1: Even if it was the last of the cash he had on him until payday, Jennifer told me how Alex was so trusting almost to a fault and believe there was good in everyone, even if they proved time and time again that they were just taking advantage of Alex and his kindness.

SPEAKER 1: As an example, Jennifer told me of an incident in 2019 where a supposed friend of Alex set him up to be robbed at gunpoint because this friend owed a dealer money for marijuana.

SPEAKER 8: Ok? That's not a friend, not a friend at all.

SPEAKER 7: Why would you do that somebody?

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, I have the same question. But you know, Alex was that kind of person that even after the fact still tried to tell Jennifer no, he's just made or they've just made really bad choices kind of thing. Like just one of those people that believed there was good in everybody, even if there probably wasn't.

SPEAKER 8: This young man sounds like a wonderful human being.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, he definitely sounded like it just from the stories that Jennifer told me, Alex was also a typical boy in the fact, but he was always keeping Jennifer on her toes. He loved to drive around and Jennifer recalled one day in the earlier hours of the morning, he had driven to work, even when Jennifer had warned him that he should stay home due to an ice storm outside.

SPEAKER 1: And he ended up calling her because he had blown a tire and drive into a ditch. Thankfully, he was ok. The car just needed two new tires. You know, obviously he was shaken up, but he was ok. But that's just one example.

SPEAKER 1: Another time, a few months before his passing, Alex had lost his wallet twice in the time span of six months and needed everything, replaced insurance cards, license, debit and credit cards. So Jennifer suggested maybe he should stop taking his wallet with him if he was going to keep losing it at one point, he lost it in a Laker stream, losing stuff.

SPEAKER 7: Sounds like you.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. So she was like maybe, maybe stop bringing it with you places and just take what you need, you know, like your license and your debit card or some cash, stop taking the whole thing with you.

SPEAKER 8: Because getting all new stuff is just a nightmare.

SPEAKER 1: Alex was also a severe asthmatic. He had exercise induced asthma and carried his inhaler around with him just in case he needed it. And this prevented him actually from continuing to play soccer, which Jennifer said he was really good at.

SPEAKER 1: And I want you to remember that as well that Alex relied on his inhaler. He was phenomenal with children and absolutely adored his sister's children.

SPEAKER 1: According to an article for the Purdue Exponent, Alex loves staying in to watch movies and make Tik Toks. And he and his girlfriend, Genesis Northcott love to hike together. Genesis told the Purdue Exponent. He was really sweet and funny. At around 18 years old, Alex approached his family with something and that was that Alex wanted to transition that he was transgender.

SPEAKER 1: You see, Alex was assigned female at birth. And after he came out to his family, he started to transition into becoming male. He wanted to do the whole transition himself, wanted to pay for it himself. In everything Jennifer had actually said, I will pay to have you have your name changed and all of that. But Alex said no, that he wanted to pay for his legal name change himself.

SPEAKER 1: And I kind of like I understand that this was something that he wanted to do for himself. Ok? Alex had a pretty good family relationship with most of his family and those that he did have that really great relationship with were very supportive, Alex and his transition and those that he wasn't close with, it was kind of like, you know what, it doesn't matter to me if you don't like it.

SPEAKER 1: Now, Alex did struggle with his mental health. He had depression and anxiety, but he seemed to be managing. Ok. On February 3rd 2021 Alex is 21 years old and at approximately 11:44 p.m. He leaves his house on foot. Based on home surveillance footage, Jennifer and her husband were at work at the time they worked the night shift.

SPEAKER 1: But Alex's youngest sister and his grandmother were now, Alex was supposed to be starting a new job that night, but he forgot the necessary paperwork. So his new boss was going to have him start a different day. So Alex left without his wallet, his phone and he didn't take his car.

SPEAKER 8: Ok, see I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.

SPEAKER 1: So he also wasn't dressed appropriately for the weather. Remember this is February in Indiana.

SPEAKER 1: It is stupid cold. It also snowed. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants and jeans or sweatpants and then jeans over it. A long sleeved shirt and his favorite sweatshirt and a beanie. That was it. No jacket, no jacket, no gloves, no scarf, no scarf, nothing to protect him from the elements. It's also worth mentioning that Alex hated the cold.

SPEAKER 1: Jennifer told me how Alex would keep the heater on in his room year round to the point where sitting and having a conversation would lead to her sweating.

SPEAKER 1: She told me how she would literally have to be like, I love you. I want to continue this conversation. But can we go in a different room because I'm dying in here like he hated being cold. So it was like a sauna in his room. Yeah. Basically, ok, hated being cold. So why are we going out in weather like that?

SPEAKER 8: I'm hoping that you're going to give me an answer for that.

SPEAKER 1: Well, clearly he's not dressed to be outside in that kind of weather and the family home was not walking distance to anything, especially in that weather, which according to the incident report written by Deputy Kiefer, it was 21 degrees outside, but the real feel that day was four degrees with 25 MPH winds and he went outside with a shirt and a sweatshirt sweatpants and a pair of jeans over it.

SPEAKER 1: So, like this was, that's what you wear. If you're gonna hop outside and maybe grab the mail, you said he was an asthmatic, a severe asthmatic.

SPEAKER 8: Yes, that is not whether that an asthmatic goes out into without even just a scarf to cover your nose and your mouth.

SPEAKER 8: Look, I'm an asthmatic. I know when it gets really, really, really frigid cold like that, it's hard to breathe outside because the air is so cold for your lungs that it physically hurts. So that's why you kind of do the, the scarf over your nose and mouth. So you're at least breathing a little bit of warm air.

SPEAKER 8: Yeah, because it's, it hurts, physically hurts, but at least it does me when it's that frigid cold out.

SPEAKER 1: So he goes out in this weather now around 2 a.m. Jennifer and her husband arrived home from work and as far as they knew and nothing was Amiss, Alex's car was in the driveway. It was the middle of the night. So the normal assumption was that Alex was in his room asleep in the morning.

SPEAKER 1: So the fourth Jennifer pops her head into Alex's room because usually in the morning they would sit and chat and, you know, kind of like, oh, how it was your evening, how was work kind of thing? But they were really, really close and wasn't in the kitchen or anything like that. So she pops her head into his room and sees that Alex is not there. Now, Alex frequently was picked up by Genesis leaving his car at home.

SPEAKER 1: So this really wasn't anything to be concerned about. She figured I probably missed him. He probably got up early to go hang out with his girlfriend.

SPEAKER 1: Ok.

SPEAKER 1: It's a normal assumption there was a cause for concern. However, that evening when Genesis showed up at the Vandalen looking for Alex because she hadn't been able to reach him on the phone all day. After hearing that Alex was missing from her daughter, Jennifer left work and checked a few of Alex's usual stomping grounds, but Alex was nowhere to be found.

SPEAKER 1: So she went home and called the police around 10 p.m. They said they would send someone out 10 30 rolls around.

SPEAKER 1: No one shows up. So Jennifer calls again. Finally, a couple of officers show up just after midnight, she calls at 10 o'clock.

SPEAKER 8: And they don't show up until midnight. 00, they would have some splaining to do. No, no, your, your, your job is to protect and serve making this mom who is probably frantic looking for her son and they nonchalantly come by two hours later. That is not good.

SPEAKER 8: Not good.

SPEAKER 7: Not good at all.

SPEAKER 1: Well, they took a report and according to Jennifer, they really didn't do anything else even though Jennifer told them how Alex didn't have his inhaler with him and relied on it.

SPEAKER 1: So she already knows he's out in this weather for approximately 24 hours now with no inhaler.

SPEAKER 8: And there was no cause for concern on the police's part.

SPEAKER 1: No, they didn't.

SPEAKER 8: This could be somebody's life.

SPEAKER 1: Exactly. And they didn't, there was no silver alert issued at any point like no one in the area was alerted that someone with a medical condition because that's what asthma is, a medical condition was out missing in the elements in freezing weather. So they've already dropped the ball.

SPEAKER 7: They dropped the.

SPEAKER 8: Ball by not showing up for two hours. Ok. Yes, this is all my opinion. Please do not mistake that. It is completely 100% my opinion.

SPEAKER 8: But if they don't show up for two hours, they drop the ball. You have a missing person that for all intents and purposes has COPD because an asthmatic can be viewed as having COPD. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is that a problem?

SPEAKER 8: And a big problem if he carries his inhaler around with him and has to stop playing sports because it affects his, the asthma, his condition. This could be life or death. And you're going to take two hours. No, no, no, I'm, I'm already incensed.

SPEAKER 1: Well, the morning of the fifth, Jennifer learns of a retired officer with the search dog.

SPEAKER 1: Mind you, she doesn't learn this from the police after getting in contact with the retired officer, that officer gets a hold of the police and said that she is going to conduct a search with her dog.

SPEAKER 1: So two officers come to the home to meet her. According to Jennifer, one of the officers in particular was a very rude and dismissive.

SPEAKER 1: He said that he had been to the home the year prior for a wellness check and he basically thought this was just going to be the same situation that Alex had run off or something, except according to Jennifer during this quote unquote wellness check.

SPEAKER 1: She and Alex were both present when the officer had come by, Alex. Alex nor his siblings had ever run off. And the whole reason a wellness check was even conducted was because someone kind of overreacted when Alex had overslept for work.

SPEAKER 8: So, so it's not even overreacting.

SPEAKER 8: Somebody had a concern that he was not. Ok.

SPEAKER 1: No, I understand. But what I'm saying is, is like it was, it was an overreaction in the sense that nothing was wrong. He had just overslept and that's why the police were there. Like it wasn't a wellness check because he ran away. It was a wellness check because he oversleep.

SPEAKER 1: That's, that's what I mean by that.

SPEAKER 8: No, I understand that. I, I fully understand that. But this dare I say nonchalant attitude on the police. You have a young person who relies on an inhaler. Yes. The first time that they called was he he overslept?

SPEAKER 8: Ok, great. I can, you know, police officer? Great. I can write my report that you're fine that you overslept. It doesn't mean that this time is not an emergency.

SPEAKER 1: Absolutely. Besides the fact that Jennifer explained how Alex would never not contact his mom.

SPEAKER 1: They were incredibly close. He literally had never gone any long period of time without talking to his mom or calling her to facetime her. Like for him to go over 24 hours without talking to Jennifer was a definite cause for concern because he was literally always talking to his mom, either they were talking at home or he was calling on the phone. They were facetiming.

SPEAKER 1: They were always in contact. Sounds like somebody I know. So they conduct the search. But according to the statement that Jen gave to me, the search was called off early by the deputies because they weren't prepared for a cold weather search and confused.

SPEAKER 8: And I think maybe some of our listeners are confused. It's freezing out.

SPEAKER 8: You've already expressed to me that it was 25 degrees with a real feel of four.

SPEAKER 1: And that's coming straight from the incident report Jennifer provided me with everything the incident report that the police officer filled out, literally recorded the temperature outside.

SPEAKER 8: Ok.

SPEAKER 8: So we've done over this, it's 25 degrees out with a real feel of four and they're not prepared to do a cold weather search.

SPEAKER 7: Apparently not.

SPEAKER 8: Did they think, like, automatically that this was gonna be the middle of summer?

SPEAKER 8: Like I, I'm, I'm confused. I'm beyond incensed. The question is we mean you're not prepared.

SPEAKER 8: What do you mean you were not prepared for a cold weather search? It's cold outside like this is common sense, it feels like it's four degrees that is cold while they continue to search themselves.

SPEAKER 1: The search dog lost the sense at the end of the driveway where it is believed by Jennifer that Alex would have potentially gotten in someone's car. She told me that she believed where he would have been picked up was out of sight of the security cameras and that this was possibly because whoever was picking him up was possibly some one that Jennifer didn't like or want Alex hanging around.

SPEAKER 1: So it could have been possible, maybe he was going to get into the car with someone that night and that's why he wasn't dressed appropriately like he was going to go from the house to the car and that was it. Maybe he didn't expect to be out that long, but that could be why he wasn't dressed appropriately because he was going to get in someone's car. That's why he was leaving the house.

SPEAKER 7: Well, ok, I.

SPEAKER 8: I get that, that's fine. I'm still stuck on the police and the excuses because as far as I'm concerned again, my own opinion, it's an excuse of not to do what they're supposed.

SPEAKER 1: To be doing. Friends and family members came out to search and the retired officer had a friend come out with his thermal imaging drone, but he was unable to get anything with it.

SPEAKER 1: Jen told me how over the coming days she and her husband searched every day for Alex and how eventually they would switch off who would go into work each day so that someone was always searching finally on the eighth. According to Jennifer, a detective Tilo was assigned to Alex's case.

SPEAKER 1: The incident report provided to me by her also confirms this on the ninth, almost six days after Alex went missing. According to the incident report, Tilo and another detective go to Jennifer's where they meet with her, her husband and Genesis.

SPEAKER 1: Jennifer provided police with a map laying out where they had searched as well as the missing persons flyer with identifying information.

SPEAKER 1: So they provided police with all of this work. We searched here here here here, you know, we circled everything. It's all within like around a five mile radius. Maybe a little bit more.

SPEAKER 1: Here is the flyer with all of the identifying information, you know, he has tattoos here, here you go. Do your job with it.

SPEAKER 8: Well, if they haven't done a bang up job prior, I'm not sure that they're gonna do a bang up job now. Unless you are going to dazzle me with a rock star police department.

SPEAKER 8: I'm kind of doubting you're right to doubt because at this point, Alex has been missing for six days that poor family must have, must have been going out of their minds, try to come up with. All right, we've done, we've looked over here. All right, we have to concentrate here. We have to concentrate. They must have been out of their minds.

SPEAKER 1: At around 1 p.m. That day, a city snowplow worker came across a body in a remote area approximately 10 miles from the home.

SPEAKER 1: This particular area was near the Crosser Sports Complex and was not a very well known area. I watched three hours of body camera footage. Ok. All of which was provided to me by Jennifer. And there's a lot of interesting information, especially when you compare it to the incident report and the autopsy report. It's a lot of interesting information.

SPEAKER 1: A lot of in several clips, they reference a vehicle stuck in the snow in that area. It's like a silver van type of car that'll be relevant in a bit. They speak to the snowplow driver who found the body and they asked if he saw any tracks. The driver said that based on the snow they had gotten in the last few days because it had snowed on and off for the last six days.

SPEAKER 1: It would have covered anything. But he said there may have been snowed over footprints or vehicle tracks. Now, I will say to preface this and I should have prefaced it before all of the information that Jennifer was given by the police and then subsequently gave to me a lot of it was censored.

SPEAKER 1: A lot of the body, camera footage was heavily edited and a lot of it that wasn't edited was muted by police. So there's a lot of conjecture and guessing. Ok, so everything that I'm telling you is either I could see it but couldn't hear anything or I could hear it if it's like what they were directly talking about, I could physically hear what they were saying.

SPEAKER 1: So they did ask the snowplow driver. There's a couple of things that police say that I could actually here in the clips regarding the deceased, they were censored, but there was a layer of snow on the body because it again had been snowing frequently.

SPEAKER 1: So they used the leaf blower to gently clear some snow from the face and the body and the police very clearly spoke about how the scene looked suspicious. The deceased was on their back, legs crossed and hands were in his pockets, which was mentioned by police multiple times, hands in pockets.

SPEAKER 1: Upon examining the head, there was a bullet entrance and exit wound present. Although while watching the camera footage, I noticed that there was no blood on the ground could have been covered with snow. I'm not saying that that's impossible, but there was no visual blood present anywhere around the body.

SPEAKER 1: In another clip, the police are discussing the vehicle stuck in the snow claiming that it was suspicious. And also saying that it was possible that the deceased was posed where they were found. They stated on the body, camera footage that they believed it was a homicide. These are words coming directly from the officer's mouths.

SPEAKER 8: Ok. Well, this young man was shot. Yes.

SPEAKER 8: Well, you said there's solid entrance and an exit. Ok. So this, this person was shot. You also said that his hands were in his pockets.

SPEAKER 1: Yes, hands were in that sweatshirt pocket.

SPEAKER 7: Ok. I get that.

SPEAKER 8: And they're saying they believe it's a homicide. Yes. Ok. I'm just clarifying, just clarify.

SPEAKER 1: According to the coroner's report written by the deputy coroner at the scene, Evan Leadman, the Lafayette police used the metal detector to find a shell casing but they couldn't find one at all. Once the police make the connection that there was a missing person's report matching the description of the deceased.

SPEAKER 1: Detective Kinslow went to Jennifer and showed her a tattoo of a rose on the decedent's hand. She identified this tattoo as the one Alex had and this was used as the identification. So the body that was found was Alex.

SPEAKER 1: When asked how Alex had died, she was told by Tis low that there was no obvious signs of trauma. Tilo also claimed to Jennifer that he himself had not been at the scene, but that would be false. That's false. He lied. And the reason I know he lied is because I read the report that he wrote and his own report said that he showed up at the scene. So he knew that there were obvious signs of trauma because he was there.

SPEAKER 1: So I'm just going to say that again. He did lie. He lied because I read the report. He also says in his report that after telling Jennifer that Alex body had been located, he handed off the investigation to the Lafayette Police Department and that's because he was from the county police and this was state police. He was found within the city limits.

SPEAKER 1: So jurisdiction. So I get that in regards to the vehicle stuck in the snow, it had been there for approximately 10 hours and they identified the owner as Candace Brown, her boyfriend, Jonathan Davies actually showed up via lit that day saying that he was meeting the tow truck to retrieve the car.

SPEAKER 1: Now, Jonathan and Candice both had differing stories about the car, he was driving and got the car stuck, she was driving, got the car stuck. But outside of preliminary questioning, there's no other information on that. What's very interesting though is that Tis bird report two days later that he had attended the autopsy?

SPEAKER 1: Which is interesting because you said you handed it off to somebody even more interesting was that a full autopsy was not conducted? Why? Because Alex's body was still partially frozen.

SPEAKER 1: So instead of waiting or doing something to thaw his remains, they only conducted an autopsy on his outside of toxicology where everything was normal. According to the autopsy report, there were fractures found on the base of Alex's skull which is not consistent with the gunshots at the t I wouldn't think so, but I am not a medical examiner.

SPEAKER 8: So I have to go with what.

SPEAKER 7: You're telling me.

SPEAKER 1: Well, there are questions about the actual gunshot wound as well because according to the autopsy report, the entrance wound was on the right side and the wound was 6.5 by five centimeters with soot and a potential muscle impression present that would be indicative of like a close contact.

SPEAKER 1: The exit wound was significantly smaller at 1.5 by one centimeter.

SPEAKER 1: I'm not an expert on firearms, but it seems strange to me that the alleged entrance wound was bigger than the alleged exit wound. It's also strange that no law enforcement didn't seem to investigate any cause for the skull fractures at the base of Alex's skull. There was nothing to hit his head on based on the body camera footage. So where this fracture come from and they ultimately rule Alex's death as suicide.

SPEAKER 7: Wait, excuse me.

SPEAKER 1: They ruled it a suicide.

SPEAKER 8: How did they rule, rule it as suicide? His hands were in his pockets. Did you not tell me that?

SPEAKER 1: Yes, they ruled it a suicide.

SPEAKER 8: How like it doesn't make sense?

SPEAKER 8: Ok. I, if you're going to, if you're going to take your own life by a gun truck, your hands can't be in your pockets or at least one can't be in your pocket. Maybe the other one is, but you can't have both in your pocket and be able to hold a weapon to your temple. You, you can't do that.

SPEAKER 8: It doesn't work that way.

SPEAKER 1: I understand that. Now they're going with the theory because they did end up finding the gun, the gun was underneath Alex underneath his back by his ribs. So now they're going with the theory that he was sitting cross legged on the ground and shot himself and fell backward and his hand ended up in his pocket and his hand apparently ended up in his pocket and the gun ended up behind him or under him.

SPEAKER 8: I do not think that is physically possible.

SPEAKER 8: Am I an expert? No, I can't imagine any scenario where you're going to take your own life and you have a weapon and you're holding it up to your temple and you pull the trigger and then your hand ends up in your pocket.

SPEAKER 1: The inconsistencies and lies from police don't stop there. Remember how Jennifer was told that there were no obvious signs of trauma. That's all she knew. She, that's what she knew. There were no obvious signs of trauma. She's waiting for the autopsy to come back.

SPEAKER 1: But while she's waiting, she starts planning the funeral for her son. That's how she found out how he died from the funeral director because they were going to do an open casket. She gets a call from the funeral director telling her that based on the autopsy reports, they would have to look at different avenues like a different type of casket if she really wanted to do an open casket. And she asks, what are you talking about?

SPEAKER 1: What do you mean?

SPEAKER 1: And he, the funeral director said he shouldn't be the one to tell her this. It was not his place to do so.

SPEAKER 1: But Alex had a gunshot wound to the head. So they needed to look at the different casket.

SPEAKER 1: That is how she found out.

SPEAKER 1: The police did not tell her the foreigner didn't tell her.

SPEAKER 1: The funeral director had to tell why. Well, when he was confronted, Tis said he didn't mean to mislead them.

SPEAKER 8: According to you.

SPEAKER 1: He straight up loving he did based on his own report that he wrote that he signed off on, he was there, he saw the body, he was 1000% aware of how Alex died. And he chose to tell Alex's mother that there were no obvious signs of trauma.

SPEAKER 1: Why would you lie?

SPEAKER 8: Is this some thing where you want to spare his mother? Ii, I don't understand. I'm grasping at straws here. But again, if you straight up lie, like if you're gonna lie, people, please make it believable. Obviously, this is not believable because you know, he's straight up lie and didn't you say that he, he was at the autopsy?

SPEAKER 7: Yes, you did say that.

SPEAKER 1: Yes. So even if he wasn't at the scene, he was at the autopsy.

SPEAKER 7: That's what I mean.

SPEAKER 8: And you couldn't tell, you know, this is, this is the bad part of your job, but it's your job to at least tell her this is how it happened or this is what happened or this is what we found were, you know, I've turned it over to the state police so they can do a further more thorough investigation.

SPEAKER 8: But, you know, I, I don't want you to hear this from anybody else. Like what did they think that she was going to, you know, she, she's going to bury her child.

SPEAKER 1: So the police ran with the suicide ruling and refused to investigate further. They claimed that Alex walked 10 miles in the middle of the night in the snow. Alex who was a severe asthmatic and committed suicide with a gun that they can't really explain how or where he got it from.

SPEAKER 1: They know that he had access to guns. It was not one of the ones that Jennifer had in her home. In fact, they didn't even investigate where the gun came from until Jennifer pushed them to figure out where the gun came from.

SPEAKER 7: Why is it?

SPEAKER 8: I can't wrap my head around the fact that they are calling this a suicide.

SPEAKER 1: Especially considering they couldn't find a shell casing to prove suicide.

SPEAKER 1: And they also couldn't even prove there with there being no cell casing there. And again, I don't know if there was blood at the scene. I couldn't, I didn't see any on the body, camera footage. But if there's no but at the scene and they don't find a shell case saying who's to say he even died there?

SPEAKER 8: I would think more than likely.

SPEAKER 8: That's not the place where he did that if there's no blood, if there's no shell casing, if there's no anything, OK, there's no shell casing, which again, common sense tells you that there's going to be shell casing.

SPEAKER 1: Yes. And the bullet did exit the body, there was an entrance wound and an exit wound and there was no fragments, right?

SPEAKER 8: So you have no showcasing his hands are in his pocket. I I can't wrap my head around that one because I do not. If there's somebody out there that can explain that. Please let us know please because I cannot fathom where you're committing suicide and your, your hand ends up in your pocket.

SPEAKER 1: Absolutely. There's also the issue of the wound itself because the deputy coroner who was, who was called to the scene. Evan led man claims that the left side was the entrance and the right side was the exit wound and that's in his report.

SPEAKER 8: And you're going to tell me.

SPEAKER 7: That he was right handed.

SPEAKER 1: Well, according to the official autopsy, the entrance was on the right side during the examination of the body.

SPEAKER 1: And this is from Evan led man. I noticed what looked to be a contact wound on his left temple and a large exit wound on his right temple. So if that's correct, because now we have two differing opinions. It makes no sense for the wounds to be self inflicted because Alex was right hand. He would not have shot himself on the left side. Ok.

SPEAKER 8: So this is just, this is I'm beyond incensed. No show Casey hands in the pocket and his left hand, which is not, which is not his dominant hand, quote, unquote, pulling the trigger to commit suicide. That doesn't add up in my brain.

SPEAKER 8: It just doesn't add up not by any stretch of the imagination.

SPEAKER 8: Oh, and excuse me, I forgot a severe asthmatic walk 10 miles in frigid 25 degree feels like four degree weather with a sweatshirt. A shirt, a sweatshirt, sweatpants and jeans and no coat or anything like that.

SPEAKER 7: That's what you're telling me.

SPEAKER 1: That's what the police are saying.

SPEAKER 8: Yeah, I'm not buying it. Not one word of it.

SPEAKER 1: It's possible that due to Alex's struggles with mental health that it influenced the investigation in the police's mind.

SPEAKER 1: It's also possible that there was just a bias because Alex was transgender, but that also can mean that his death was not that we believe it's a suicide, but it could have been a hate crime because you have a trans man that has died under mysterious questionable circumstances and you're just ruling it a suicide when there should be an investment done.

SPEAKER 8: This is a human being, period, a human being lost their life. There are so many questions, common sense questions that they're not giving answers to meaning the police by doing a proper investigation because somebody lost their life. Now, if it was a suicide, then do your due diligence and prove it. And if you can't prove it, which again, I'm not buying it for a second.

SPEAKER 8: But if you can't prove it, then you have to go with the foul play homicide and you have to do your due diligence, which means either way the police need to do their due diligence and they need to get answers for this family that has lost a very important part.

SPEAKER 7: Of their family.

SPEAKER 1: Absolutely. They also found a list of items in Alex's room to return to Genesis that they claimed was a suicide note. The police, it doesn't look like one at all. It says please return to Genesis keys boxers with her phone number written down a couple of times. It doesn't look like one.

SPEAKER 1: In fact, Jennifer told me that initially, the police agreed, it didn't look like a suicide note. But after the fact they changed their minds, she has been fighting every day to get answers in her son's death. The police are giving her the runaround like sure they gave her the body camera footage after it was heavily edited.

SPEAKER 1: And in fact, she told me that they gave her the wrong footage initially like it was from a motorcycle accident. The footage they gave her to begin with how that mistake was made. I will never know they stopped responding to her emails. They charged her an arm and a leg for all of the reports.

SPEAKER 1: She placed trust in the police and they have consistently and repeatedly let her down. She has not received a single answer. Now around June, she hired a lawyer and filed civil rights in a federal suit against the Lafayette police.

SPEAKER 1: And about a month ago, she shared with me that the lawyer for the city of Lafayette reached out via email about the pending suit and asking about how much Jennifer was asking for in terms of a settlement.

SPEAKER 1: She did respond to the amount for each defendant which I'm not obviously going to disclose that's no one's business and that she was also requesting any and all video photographic or documentation related to Alex's case without red action.

SPEAKER 1: She was also asking that officials implement better training and stricter guidelines for officers utilizing body cams. As much of the footage was muted. As I said, she told me though that this all she really wants is answers.

SPEAKER 1: She files her suit pro se so that they would have to answer her questions to her face, not through a lawyer. She wanted to ask the questions. So it's possible that they're entertaining the idea of a settlement. So they won't have to answer any of her questions.

SPEAKER 1: But as of like last week, there was no response. It was the only response she got was ok. Thanks. Basically, like, thanks for letting us know. It has been almost three years and she is still searching for answers in the death of her son.

SPEAKER 8: I think we all have questions. At least I know I do and I know you do in regard to this case, is there any sort of I want to say petition? And I know I said this another episode, but is there any sort of petition that can be signed?

SPEAKER 8: Because I think, and we've seen it happen or I've heard it on other podcasts where a petition does really help because it gets to, I want to say the right people and they reopen the investigation and they look at the facts and go wait a minute.

SPEAKER 8: This doesn't add up, which is exactly what I'd be saying. It certainly does not add up, do something about it where they, you know, they bring it to the state or whatnot and things happen.

SPEAKER 1: I do believe. Yes, that there is a petition and there is a Justice for Alex Bed Olson Facebook group. I'll provide the links for that.

SPEAKER 1: I believe there is a petition. Yes. So we'll sign it. You guys. We urge you to sign it. Alex has received no Justice. His death has not had any proper investigation and Alex's family deserves closure. He was a young man with a bright future and his family deserves to know what really happened to him after he left his home.

SPEAKER 1: I asked Jennifer if she had any idea of anyone who would want to hurt Alex and there was at least one person who had come to mind that has proven time and time again that they were just using Alex.

SPEAKER 1: I want to thank Jen for sharing all that she did with us, emails the body cam footage, the incident report, the autopsy report. Like I mean everything she had, she shared with us and it means a lot that she trusted us to tell her son's story.

SPEAKER 8: We are so I I know this sounds just like a line, but we truly are very, very sorry for your loss and we really do hope that this brings light to your son and to maybe getting a proper investigation done. You're never gonna have closure because he's no longer physically here. But he deserves Justice and they, his family and his friends deserve to know why he was taken so soon.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, I, I truly hope that she gets the answers she's looking for.

SPEAKER 1: I will provide the number for the Lafayette police in the source notes. If you or anyone, you know, has any information that could help, I urge you to contact them or you know, just say, hey, you should look into this case. Don't harass the police though because that'll get you drunk.

SPEAKER 8: No, but signing the petition, signing a petition is a wonderful thing because it really can help if there's enough signatures on there. It really can. If nothing else for force the police to do the proper investigation that this young man deserves.

SPEAKER 1: Absolutely. That was the death of Alex Van Elson. There needs to be some sort of action taken because Jennifer has been waiting for answers and she's been fighting every day for answers and that's all she wants is answers. So again, those notes or those numbers, the petition, all of that will be in the source notes below and hopefully soon we will have an update where the answers have been discovered.

SPEAKER 1: I hope so. That is, and you know, we will keep you updated if there's any sort of resolution or they reopen the investigation or anything like that. We will keep you updated, but that's it. We'll see you on the next one guys. We hope you have a lovely rest of your week.

SPEAKER 8: We will see you next time or you'll hear us next time.

SPEAKER 1: Bye guys.

SPEAKER 1: Thank you so much for listening to this chapter of the Book of the Dead.

SPEAKER 1: And don't forget that you can always connect with us on Instagram.

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SPEAKER 1: We also have a merch to as well that we have frequent discount codes coming out for so that you guys can get merch hand on by myself at a better cost.

SPEAKER 8: We hope you have a lovely rest of your week and just remember, please be kind and don't forget to always stay safe, stay curious and stay vigilant.

SPEAKER 1: Bye guys. Bye.