The Truth Behind the Murder

In December of nineteen ninety A very concerned father was pacing around his kitchen, hoping that his daughter would call. The phone stayed silent. And as it did, you know, anxious pit formed in his stomach He was really worried about his daughter. He thought maybe she was in trouble Also, he was worried that he himself might have accidentally just done something that could make things even worse before we get into that story If you're a fan of the strange dark and mysterious delivered in story format, then you come to the right place because that's all we do. So if that's of interest to you, please hack the follow buttons Facebook account and go ahead and delete their date of birth so that nobody wishes them a happy birthday Okay, let's get into today's story But There's nothing like an action packed summer blockbuster, right? Well, Pluto TV has heart pounding movies streaming for free. 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On the night of Friday, december seventh, nineteen ninety A thirty nine year old woman named Janet Dennis set four dinner plates on the kitchen table at her home in a suburb of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma She had just finished making dinner for herself and her three kids, who at the current moment were watching a Christmas movie in the living room. Janet hummed along to the TV as she brought the food over to the table, and then she called her kids to come over and eat ush over, they sat down And as they began eating Janet told them about all these fun holiday plans that she had made for them over Winter Break So Janet really loved Christmas. She typically would decorate her house like the instant Thanksgiving was over. And earlier that same day, she had gone to a toy store and filled the entire backseat of her car with gifts for the kids. But Janet really wanted this Christmas to be especially memorable for her kids because the past few months had been really tough on Back in July, Janet had divorced their father, Lval and of the kids only saw their dad about once a week. Now Janet knew the kids missed him terribly, but actually, Liboy had never really been a very present father. which was part of the reason that Janet had asked for the divorce in the first place. They'd been married for sixteen years, and for most of that time Janet had pretty much felt like she was just a single parent top of being the primary breadwinner for the family And this was because Leoy owned and operated this ranch that was located about ninety miles away in a rural town called Ceiling. and this ranch really had never made much money And so Leri had begun working all these crazy long hours to basically avoid hiring extra help Because of that, he was usually gone before sunrise every single day and he didn't get home until very, very late. So he's gone all the time working, for not much return, not much money And so for years, Janet had picked up the slack. She worked as a school nurse. That way she could, you know, make some money And then also she could be home to meet the kids after school every single day And then when she was home, she managed the house by herself as well. And so that was ultimately really why a judge awarded her full custody of the kids back in July when the divorce was finalized I mean, Leroy undeniably loved his kids He simply couldn't provide for them And besides, at this point he was now living on that ranch and ceiling ninety miles away full time. And so, you know his kids' schools and social lives were here in Oklahoma City. It just it wasn't a match. And so now Janet put another serving of mashed potatoes on her plate did she reminded her twelve year old son, Tad, who was her oldest child, that he had a wrestling tournament at school in the morning they had to leave really early so they could get to the competition on time After dinner, Tad helped his mom clear the table And then they all went out to the living room to finish watching that Christmas movie together And then when it was over, Janet followed her kids upstairs and helped get them all ready for bed And then once they were all tucked in, she came back downstairs to finish cleaning up the kitchen This was about the time that Leroy, if they were still married, would be coming home from work But now that Janet was divorced, she got to spend her evenings however she wanted. She thought about heading out to the garage to grab all those gifts she had purchased out of the car and bring them in to wrap them. But then as she was about to head out, she saw a pair of headlights pull into her driveway At five thirty the next morning Janet's twelve year old son, Tad, shut off his alarm clock rolled out of bed to get ready for his wrestling competition nce he had a stuff together, he went downstairs, expecting to find his mother in the kitchen already making breakfast. But he didn't see her in there So he just went down the hallway to her bedroom and he opened up her door and he looked in and There was his mom still lying in bed with the covers pulled all the way up over her head So Tad, thinking this whole thing was a little bit odd because his mom was all over everything He still called out for her to wake up because it was time to get ready to go His mom didn't move And so he walked into the bedroom right next to the bed and pulled down the couvers to shake her awake. But when he did that, He realized His mom is not in the bed at all What he was looking at underneath the covers was actually a pile of pillows, arranged to make it look like she was still sleeping in bed, which was really weird because to Tad It now seemed pretty obvious that his mother had actually left the house, but for some reason, she seemed to want him to think that she was still home And so just to make sure, Tad left the bedroom and ran to the garage to check And sure enough, his mother's car was gone. And now Tad like he really didn't know what to do Because in his entire life His mother had never just left without telling him And so Tad went back to the kitchen and he looked over at the clock on the oven and saw it was already six AM whichich meant he was already going to be late to his wreling tournament He wondered if maybe his mom had just like run out to the gas station or something quick like that and she'd be home any minute A few more minutes passed by And she still didn't come home At this point, Tad was becoming really anxious, and he started to worry that his mom had maybe gotten into a car accident or something So he did the only thing he could think of. He went over to the kitchen phone. he called his dad who was out at the ranch in ceiling his dad picked up, he told him everything that was going on Leoy was, you know admittedly sort of confused by this whole thing, but he told his son, Don't worry, your mom's gonna be home any minute, I'm sure of it But he also told them that just in case he would start driving over to their house right now just to make sure everything is okay Two hours later, Tad heard the sound of his father's truck pull into the driveway The instant heard it, he jumped off the couch to go unlock the front door When his dad walked into the house The first thing he asked his son was M hold. She's still not here. Le Roy nodded, but reassured his son that, you know his mom was gonna to be home soon, that she would have a good explanation. It's okay You know, as Tad followed his father all around the house at this point, basically looking for Janet and looking for any sign of maybe where she had gone Tab began to notice a look of concern growing on his father's face And that sort of gave Tad this sick feeling in the stomach that Maybe something's really wrong here And then, sure enough, at some point his dad after searching the whole house and just sort of standing there for a moment, he turned to Tad and he said, we gott to call the police Two days later, on Monday, december tenth, Lieutenant Detective Craig Gravel with the Oklahoma City Police District knocked on the door to Janet Dennis's house He'd spoken on the phone that morning to Janet's ex husband, Leeroy And now he heard Leoy's voice again, but from inside of the house right in front of him calling to his kids to go on upstairs for a minute later, the door opened and L Roy invited gravel inside So even though it had been two days now since Leroy had called nine hundred and eleven and reported Janet missing Gravel had only just been assigned to her case that morning His captain had wanted to wait out the weekend before investigating formally, because there had been no signs of violence at her home, and, generally speaking Most adults who get reported missing showh up within forty eight hours That morning, when the case landed on Gravel's desk and he'd begun reading over the details, his gut told him that something had happened to her In All appearances, she was a very responsible and loving mother with no history of just disappearing like this So Gravel had immediately put out an alert to all the police stations in the area to be on the lookout for Janet's car, which was a red Chevy bllazer And then he had called Lerooy and asked if they could speak And so now, Detective Gravel stepped inside of Janet's home, and right away he noticed how tidy and how covered in Christmas decorations it was whole house seems so festive. which made Gravel think that Janet very likely had planned to be home for the holidays. And so he followed Leoy into the kitchen They sat down at the table question he had for Leoy was, Have you heard from Janet since we spoke this morning But Leeri said no He said all he knew was that Janet had disappeared at some point between maybe nine PM on Friday night the kids went to bed and they had seen her when they went to bed. and six AM the next morning when Tad had called him saying, Mom's not here. And Leeroy said, you know, despite the fact that, you know, Janet is his ex wife and there wasn't a whole lot of love lost there He said he was really worried Because Janet would never just leave their kids alone, never However, he did tell the detective that while he had been just walking around the house for any clues about where she might have gone He said he had noticed that her toiletriry bag was gone So now he didn't really know what to think. That sort of did suggest that maybe this was planned, but just very out of character Grable nodded and then asked Leoy, could he think of any place that Janet might go to? maybe go blow off steam or something someplace if she was really stressed, where would she go Li Roy said, you know, in the past, Janet had gone to Las Vegas to gamble, but again, she would never just go without warning and also would never just leave the kids unsupervised B Roy said, at a minimum, she would have let him know if she was going away because again, they have kids together Even though they were divorced, they still basically were on Deent terms. Gravel nodded and wrote down everything Lerooy said To him, Leeroy was definitely a suspect But at this moment, he seemed to be cooperating. Gravel wrapped up the interview and headed out Because for right now, what he really wanted to do was go speak to another person who had also called the police station that weekend. about Janet Dennis Parent guilt isn't something that's talked about much, but it's a feeling we all know well. When daily life gets in the way, it can feel impossible to measure up to our beloved pets's unconditional love Traveling for work is never the hard part. Leaving behind my six cats and three dogs is. My daily routine goes from loud and chaotic to way too quiet But one thing I never compromise on is their health and nutrition. Every one of them is on Hill's pet nutrition, so I know they're getting exactly what they need to stay happy and strong And so even when I'm away, missing all the barking, the purring, the nonstop attention, I still have peace of mind because they're not just pets, they're family You're doing better than you think you are. 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You know how you look around your house and you think, man, this room could really use an update, but then you also convince yourself that it'll be so expensive or just like a massive project and so you don't do it. I've definitely done that until I realized even a few small changes can still completely transform a space Wayfair has thousands of products to help you make your space feel like you furniture and decor to outdoor essentials and storage solutions, also without breaking the bank Plus, Wayfair Verified makes shopping way easier by highlighting hand vetted items that have been checked for quality, functionality, and just overall value I've used Wayfair for a couple of different projects around my house. 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Gravel told Arthur that no, they still did not know where she was yet However, he said that Leroy had told him that occasionally Janet would go to Las Vegas to gamble to blow off steam Arthur echoed the same sentiment as Leoy when he brought this up which is like, yeah, Janet would occasionally go to Las Vegas But she would never do that without first making sure her kids were okay. She would never just leave in the middle of the night. That is not something she would do And also, Arthur said, if she had gone to Vegas, like if that's where she was now She wouldn't be alone. She would have gone with her new boyfriend And when Arthur said this, that caught gravel by surprise Because Leoy, the ex husband, had definitely not mentioned a new boyfriend. In fact, no boyfriends have been mentioned at all. And so Gravel asked Arthur to tell him more about this boyfriend because this is the first he was hearing of him At which point, Arthur said, Well, you know, my daughter's actually been keeping this boyfriend a secret both from Leoy and from the kids Arthur said the guy's name was Jim Umbenhauer, and he was a soldier stationed at Fort Sill, which was an army base just a few towns over. But then this look of regret crossed Arthur's face. He told Gravel that he had actually only just met Jim for the first time This past weekend after Janet was already missing And the reason he met with him is he gave Jem a key to Janet's house. Gravel at this point looked up from his notepad and asked Arthur like What does that mean? Why did you do that Now, Arthur went from looking regretful to looking straight up embarrassed. As he explained And he told Gravel that just a few hours after Janet was reported missing Jim had actually called him And Jim had told him that some of his belongings were actually at Janet's place and that Janet would definitely not want Leoy to find those things because their relationship was a secret. So Jim had told Arthur that His plan was to wait until Leeroy took the kids out somewhere, and then when the house was empty, he would sneak in using the key that he was asking Arthur for And he would just grab up all his stuff that way, you know, Leerrooy wouldn't find it Gravel when heard this was shocked becausecause to him it was like so obviously a bad idea for Arthur to have given Jim that key. Because as far as gravel was concerned, Janet's house could be an active crime scene Arthur seemed to guess what Gravel was likely thinking here because he said, you know, he knew now that that had been a mistake Back on Saturday, he just didn't believe Janet was truly missing here. Like he expected her to to come home like this couldn't be a big deal, right And now he said he was absolutely sick with guilt Shortly after this, Gravel wrapped up their interview, and then he hopped in his car, and he drove right back to the station His top priority now was to track down the secret boyfriend Jam Umenau. As soon as he got back to his desk He learned there was actually a more pressing lead for him to follow up on. Janet's car had been located. Oklahoma City Airport An hour later, Detective Gravevel turned his car into the long term parking garage at the Oklahoma City Airport. He was there to follow up on a lead about Janet Dennis, who had disappeared from her house overnight on Friday, leaving her three young kids unattendance And right away, Gravel saw another police cruiser at the far end of the garage behind a Chevy blazer Janet's Chevylazer And so gravel, he pulled up behind the other cruiser and then he got out and just began walking around Janet's car, getting a look. And eventually he walked up and cupped his hands over his eyes so he could look through the window into the back seat And when he looked in there, he saw it was completely full of new toys, which he assumed were Christmas presents for her kids. And when Gravel saw those presents, he instantly had a bad feeling in his stomach Like his gut was telling him that Janet did not drive her car to this location Somebody else did Also at this point Gravel also had proof. that she wasn't in Las Vegas So right before Gravel had come out to the airport, his team had called into the centralized database that could access all of the hotel reservations in the Las Vegas area And there were no reservations anywhere in the entire city under Janet's name Now of course, she could be there with somebody else, maybe under their name But this at least suggested very strongly suggested that she was not And so now Gravel was confident that Janet had not skipped town for some the moment gambling truck Now at this point, if something had happened to Janet, well, Grabble's primary suspect at this point was Janet's new boyfriend, her secret boyfriend? Gem Ubenhouse. However, Gravel still had not looked into him yet Which meant if he was involved in any way in Janet's disappearance, well, by today, by now, he could be anywhere And so as Gravel is thinking about this, he was interrupted by the sound of a vehicle approaching He turned and he sees a car pull up right behind his cruiser And then after they parked, this guy got out wearing a full army uniform and he walked over to gravel and he introduced himself as Jim Umbenhauowerer Late that afternoon, Gravel sat in an interview room at the station across from Janet's secret boyfriend, Jim Umbenhauower And Jim was hooked up to a polygraph machine So back at the airport Jimin had claimed that he'd been worried sick about Janet all weekend and he'd been literally driving around town looking for her car. He claimed he had no idea that it, the car or detective gravel. would be at the airport when he arrived. And it had just been like a total coincidence that he had just happened to find Janette's car at the exact moment. Police had found it To gravel, this felt like a fairly obvious lie Because the chances of Jim just running into Janet's car at the exact moment that police are finding it and that he's arriving to look at it. It just felt like not possible. And Grappvel figured that Jim must have already known where Janet's car was and had somehow learned that the police had found it, and so he had just sort of shown up Gravel knew it was actually common for killers and kidnappers to actually intentionally insert themselves into an ongoing investigation of their victims to like you know influence the investigation or just keep a pulse on what's happening under the guise of being really helpful. And right away, Gravel had gotten the sense that Jim was doing just that So Gravel had immediately asked Jim to not only come back to the station to talk but to take a polygraph test And Jim had a great And so now the polygraph examiner, so the person actually administering the polygraph, nodded to gravel that they were ready to start And so Gravel asked Jim, why did you ask for a key to sneak into Janet's house that past weekend? Now, Jim looked genuinely surprised that Gravel even knew about that But he told Gravel that he had simply gone over there to get a box of love letters from Janet's bedroom that were between he and Janet He said that Janet had wanted to keep their relationship private, especially from Leroy. As a precaution, he had, you know asked Arthur to get the key to go in and get the letters. And he said, you know, the letters were actually right now out in his car Gravel knew that would be easy enough to verify So he just moved on And he asked Jim, where were you on Friday night, which was the last night that Janet's kids had seen her And Jim actually said that He had been at Janet's house that night which caught gravel completely off guard Jim explained that he had gone over to Janet's house after the kids had gone to sleep so that he and Janet could secretly spend some time together Now, at this point, Gravel really had to just stop for a second and collect his thoughts before asking more questions because you really had not seen this coming I mean, all day he had been trying to place someone at Janet's house after nine PM on that Friday And now here was Jim admitting he had been there at the house on that Friday night after nine PM making him the official last known person have seen Janet. After a minute, Gravel told Jem to just go on. Tell me more about your last time seeing Janet And Jim explained that he had stayed at Janet's house for a few hours and then he had left really late to drive back to Fort Sill, because he was actually supposed to deploy to Afghanistan the very next day. But when he got back to base that night, he learned that his deployment had actually been delayed for a few weeks So Jim said the next day he had called Janet's house Tell her the good news, that they had a few more weeks together before he went overseas But he said Janet didn't answer the phone. A family member had, and they had said that Janet was missing Grabble just sat back in his chair, taking all this in To him, it just seemed impossible that Jim would be the last person to see Janet before she just vanished And then he also just so happened to find her car at the exact moment the police arrived to investigate? So, Gravel began asking Jim more questions, predominantly about his personal life And it was at that point that he learned Janet was not Jim's only girlfriend. Right now, he was actually living with another woman in a town closer to Fort Sill Jim admitted that he knew this looked bad But he swore that the relationship with this other woman wasn't working, and he really just wanted to be with Chanet But Gravel at this point, felt like he had heard enough. I mean, this guy really had dug himself a hole And so what he really wanted to do was just discuss the results of this polygraph test with the examiner in private So he ended the interview and sent Jim home And once Jim was gone, Gravel turned to the examiner And the examiner said Jim failed his test which meant he had been lying throughout the interview. And this was sort of unnerving for gravel I mean, because this guy that he had just interviewed very likely was the man responsible for Janet's disappearance? D Gravel knew that he would need more than polygraph results and sort of a gut feeling to arrest him and charge him with some sort of crime. right now, he needed more evidence This is a paid ad by Better Help Even in twenty twenty six, stigma can get in the way of a lot of things, like for example, getting support for your mental health Maybe you've encouraged friends to consider therapy while avoided taking the first step yourself because you're busy. Or maybe you're worried about what others might think, or maybe you're just telling yourself you should handle it alone I mean, I've definitely had times when I told myself I could handle it on my own and just kept pushing forward instead of taking care of what was bothering me. But now, looking back, that really usually just made things way harder than they had to be But therapy with Better Help, the world's largest online therapy platform, can be a space to slow down and talk through what's been building before it feels unmanageable. 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Chime is not just smarter banking, it's the most rewarding way to bank To Join the millions who are already banking fee free today. headad to chime dot com slash baallin. That is chime d. com slash baallin. It only takes a few minutes to sign up Chime is FintTech not a bank. banking services for Chime card provided by Chime's bank partners. optional products and services may have fees or charges. Stated cashback for Chime Prime only, no minimum balance required checking account ranking based on a JD Power survey, published october twentieth, twenty twenty five. For more information on travel perks, go to chime dot com slash disclosures A few days later, Detective Gravel was in his office pacing around, reading through some documents. So after his interview with Jim, Gravel had decided to go to the school where Janet worked to speak to her colleagues about her relationship with Jim. Now, he didn't even know if anybody at the school would know about her relationship at all because she had basically kept it secret. And so Gravel had been really surprised to learn that not only did everybody at the school seem to know about Jim, but when they talked about Jim, they spoke with, you know huge adoration. I mean, they really loved Jim and thought that he was great for Janet And on top of that, they all seem to think sort of collectively that Leroy was a terrible husband and had been glad when Janet finally dumped him They said Leoy was very argumentative and he was very controlling and said the divorce had been really messy And for Grable, you know, he found that kind of interesting because Until that point, he had thought that Leoy and Janet were basically on good terms sudden, it seemed like maybe that was not the case. So, Gravel had gotten his hands on a copy of Janet and Lerooy's divorce settlement, and those were the documents he was looking through. And as Grable thumbed through it all He saw that Leroy actually owed Janet a lot of money thirty thousand dollars plus half of his ranch in Ceiling. I mean, that was a really big deal because that was Leoy's entire livelihood. So to owe her half on top of the cash was like a huge deal Plus, Gravel also knew that Janet had been given full custody of their kids. And so the way Gravel saw it, I mean, Lery He had a lot of reasons to be mad Travvel wondered if maybe he had been mad enough to do something to Janet Just then, the phone on his desk rang and Gravel answered it It was an uersheriff named Jerry Jones who worked in Dewey County, which is where Lerooy's ranch was located And he told Gravel that he had heard about Janet's disappearance and he wanted to help with the investigation in any way that he could And he explained that right now, there were lots of rumors sort of flying around ceiling. Leoy had killed Janet One of Leeroy's neighbors had spotted a big bonfire on Leeroy's property just about at the same time that Janet had disappeared The next day, Gravel was back in the interview room with the polygraph examiner, and this time Leoy was the one sitting across from the table from them hooked up to the polygraph machine At first, Leoy definitely seemed nervous about taking this test. Like he just seemed anxious But as soon as they actually started, he quickly relaxed. It was almost like this was no big deal. Gravel began the interview by just asking him basic questions about his relationship with Janet and about their divorce. And Leeroy would admit that he and Janet did fight a lot when they were married And he said initially he had been very upset about owing Janet half of his ranch and ceiling But he insisted that these days, they were basically on good terms and that he just really tried hard to focus on being a good father And so not long after these sort of initial questions Gravel asked Le Roy to simply walk him through the night Janet disappeared. Like tellell me where you were what you were doing Lerooy told Gravel that he had been at his mother's house that night. which was near his ranch and ceiling and that the two of them just watched TV together and then they both went to sleep This was the same story that Leoy had already given Gravel a few weeks ago when they first spoke And Gravel had already called Leroy's mom and she had backed it up Now at this point, Gravel really wanted to ask Leoy about that bonfire that someone had spotted on his property But he didn't want Leroy to know how suspicious of him he was So Gravel decided that first, he would check the polygraph test so far to see whether Leoy had been truthful throughout the interview He asked Leroy to hang tight for a few minutes while he stepped out into the hallway and spoke to the examiner about his test results. Lerooy was like, Okay, great, yeep, seeee in a few minutes But as he sat back down, Gravel could see, he definitely looked anxious. And so Gravel, he went into the hallway and he walked over to the examiner, and the examiner told him that unfortunately Le Roy's results were inconclusive couldn't tell if F Leoy was lying or telling the truth And so feeling frustrated, Gravel went back into the room and just ask Leoy Hey, would you mind taking this test again Leeroy, he glanced at his watch and said, no He' been there for three hours already and he had to get home to the kids, so no, he couldn't He clarified to Gravel that he had actually moved the kids from Janet's house in Oklahoma City back to his ranch all the way out in the ceiling because the daily commute had been too hard for him And so now he had a long drive back home and he just wanted to get going. He also told Gravel that he had heart problems And so part of him didn't want to take the test again simply because it was too stressful and he was worried about his heart Gravel thought that was a pretty strange excuse. I mean, the kids were one thing Heart issues being the reason you can't take a polygraph, that just felt a little fishy But at the same time, he couldn't force Leeroy to stay at the station. Still, he didn't want to come out of this three hour polygraph session empty handed, so Gravel asked Leeroy to do one last thing before he left to sign a consent to search form, which would allow investigators to come out to Ceiling and search his ranch And to Gravel's relief, Leoy said The morning after Leoy took his polygraph test Detective Gravel made the long drive from Oklahoma City to Ceiling, where Leoy's Ranch was located and where Gravel hoped to find the at this point body of his missing person, Janet Dennis. The previous night, Gravel had placed a call to Undersheriff Jones, the officer from Dewey County who had volunteered to help with Janet's case Scrable knew that Leerrooy's ranch was over fifteen hundred acres, so it's massive. and that it would likely take weeks to search the entire property So, Gravel had the Undersheriff's recon team actually begin that big search, while Gravel and his team began speaking to some of Leroy's neighbors And so now gravel pulled up a long driveway and parked outside of a big farmhouse. And then after he stopped, he got out walked up and knocked on the front door A moment later, a middle aged woman answered, and Gravel explained who he was and that he had heard that one of Leoy's neighbors had seen a huge fire on Le Roy's property around the time that Janet Dennis had disappeared And this woman's eyes immediately went wide and she said that she was the one who had seen the fire. And it had caught her attention because there was a ton of smoke, so it must have been huge Gravel felt the surge of adrenaline because he had this feeling that This woman was likely about to lead him directly to Janet's body. She was going to show like where this fire was. But then, a guilty look came across her face and she apologized to Gravel, and she said, you know, after I had told some people about this fire, I learned that actually The fire I saw had occurred a few days before And for gravel, I mean, this was truly crushing. You know, he asked the woman if she had spotted any other weird behavior on Leoy's ranch the woman just said no Grable ultimately thanked her for her time and then felt completely defeated as he walked back to his car. Gravel spent the next few hours going door to door in the area, asking more of Leooy's neighbors about the rumors flying around town that Leoy had killed Janet Pretty much everybody said that those rumors were largely connected to the bonfire that actually happened a few days before Janet disappeared. which meant that by the time Gravel headed back to Oklahoma City He had no actual proof that either Leroy or Jim had been involved in any way in Janet's disappearance He really barely had any evidence at all that a crime had even occurred. And even though he strongly believed that Janet had been abducted and potentially killed It was still technically possible that Janet disappeared by choice and was alive and well somewhere And so at this point, Gravel was completely out of leads. and he would just have to wait to see what would turn up on the ranch at the end of this massive search of the fifteen hundred acres Six weeks later, in early February of nineteen ninety one Gravel answered the phone in his office. person on the other end of the line said that they had information about Janet Dennis. And this was fantastic news Because at this point, Gravel's investigation had completely stalled out Nobody knew what happened to Janet. She had not turned up. It was basically dead end after dead end. And also so far, the search of Leoy's property, which was still ongoing had yet to turn up anything useful for this investigation The only other recent development in the case had happened a few weeks ago when Leoy had contacted Gravel about a box of Jim's belongings that he had found at Janet's house. Now by this point, you know Jim was no longer a secret. Leeroy knew about the secret boyfriend When Gravel looked inside this box, he found this VHS tape It was a pornography tpe It was not like homemade. It was not Janet or Leoy or Jim or anybody. It was, you know real actors in this pornography tape, but it was a really specific type Pornography It showed this woman being Hide up and burn Fictional, but that was the script. That's how the pornography went. When Grapple saw this He wondered if this tape was actually why Jim had tried to get the key from Janet's father to sneak into Janet's house. if the real reason for that was actually to try to find this tape, this, you know torture porn and get it out of the house. And so Gravel had actually brought Jim down to the station to question him about the pornography tape, But Jim swore up and down. He had no idea where that video came from And he had even taken another polygraph test. And this time, he passed. And so now Gravel really didn't know what to believe. And he was desperate for really any new information And so this caller saying they knew something about Janet, was like the only positive development in the case that he had seen in quite a while Cer said that they actually had remembered something that might be important.