him, stuck in his mind through his whole career. so, when the cold case unit got involved, they broadened their search. they looked at every sexually motivated crime in the region and got a break. just two months after julie estes murder, 30 miles away, in another jurisdiction, there had been another convenience store crime, almost identical to julie s, except, in this case, the victim survived. a 19-year-old convenience store worker, carla nobles, had just closed the store and given a ride to a young man she met in the parking lot. sure, get in. thanks. she voluntarily let him in the car, having no idea what he was capable of. she did a quick drive to the post office, where he said he wanted to go. before they got there, the man pulled a knife, forced her to drive to an isolated field and sexually assaulted her. he then forced her to drive
his name was james elmen. elmen was the worst of the worst. we talk about he s the poster child of antisocial. it s a clue when the public defenders are afraid of him, when the doctors are afraid of him, when the people at the medical treatment facility are afraid of him. i was convinced if james elmen hit the streets of jacksonville again, women were going to start dying again, and i wanted to make sure that those cold case detectives had everything that they had to make sure that we could make the case. but investigators wanted to be sure elmen was responsible for julie estes murder. why? because if he wasn t, julie s
so you re always moving. constantly searching for the next opportunity to make the most of what life has to offer. your time is valuable. so you reach for something better. fewer calories. fewer carbs. more to experience. michelob ultra. the superior light beer. after years of searching for julie estes killer, investigators were convinced they d found him. he was serving time in prison for a similar crime committed 30 miles away.
because they were purple. the next day, investigators got a potential lead. police got a call from a man who had been kind of scrounging around behind another convenience store when he came upon a purple pair of shoes. the purple shoes are almost certainly julie s. the laces were missing. a bowling bag and some receipts with julie s name left no doubt the items were hers. the site was just a half mile from the convenience store where julie has last seen alive. we found evidence that things were taken out of the trunk of her car. and she was probably forced into the trunk, then she was driven five or six miles away from there, where her body was found. normally, the evidentiary value of the items would be significant, but not this time. the civilian that had found those items had at first taken them home.
one of your top factors in reviewing a case. it s very significant, very important. they make the case. with no leads, no evidence and no suspects, the trail of julie estes killer turned cold. julie s family started to believe her murder would never be solved. after a couple of years, we just gave up. i said, well, we re up here and they re down there. nobody cares. the case always bugged me. she went missing on my watch, and it bugged me. i mean, every time i drove by that store, i thought of her. after a few years, patrolman frank mackesy was promoted to chief of detectives with the power to recommend cases to the cold case unit. mackesy always had a strong desire to solve this case. this is a case that stuck with