Barri bumgarner we had several suspects. John short i just thought his behavior reeked of guilt. An innocent man doesnt act like that. Keith morrison he lied, lied and lied and lied. About sex, sex, and sex. Libby sullivan there are a lot of people that cheat. It doesnt make them a murderer. Morley swingle all of a sudden, this puzzle all came together. Patrick rogers at The End of the day, No One Else had a motive. Libby sullivan steves on the phone, and hes got a gun. He was crying. I said, fight this. This is crazy. Keith Morrison Voiceover a College Student is murdered. And detectives discover a Trail Leading uncomfortably close to home. John short oh, my god. Its going to look bad. Keith Morrison Voiceover he could have been sunbathing here in the grass. Naked, but for a pair of blue shorts. His face turned up toward the june sky. Was beautiful. It was afternoon by the time someone noticed him, though hed been lying here still, silent since before daylight. Here, among the old rooming houses in columbia, where University Of Missouri students were winding down their school year. It was june 5, 2004. John short back then, we were on pagers. Keith morrison sure. Of course, i knew my bosss phone number. And it had a 911 behind it. And i was ordered to come to help investigate. Keith Morrison Voiceover by the time the news got to Detective John short, Uniformed Cops had strung up their yellow tape, were taking their pictures. Keith morrison what did they see . It was obvious to them at that point that this was a homicide. Keith Morrison Voiceover the Medical Examiner arrived. Thats her there, sitting on the left. Dr. Valerie rao waiting for her turn. When i got to the scene, there were a lot of people watching what was going on. Keith Morrison Voiceover even then, as she took it all in the crowd, the yellow tape, the young male body lying there on the grass it was quite obvious to dr. Rao, this was a deliberate, determined killing. He had a gaping wound on his neck. And the blood was oozing out from there onto his neck. Keith Morrison Voiceover she looked closer. The cut across his throat was deep and not quite smooth, as if it had been made perhaps, by a serrated knife. Valerie rao when we turned the body, i could see that the grass adjacent where he lay was blood soaked. Keith Morrison Voiceover so much blood, but not exactly where the Medical Examiner expected it to be. There was no blood on the front of his body at all. Keith Morrison Voiceover meaning, what . Had to be a reason. Shed work on that. But who was he . No id at all. Just this slender, young man with unseeing eyes. There wasnt a lot known at all. We just know that we had a deceased individual. We were trying to garner information. Keith Morrison Voiceover they sent officers around the neighborhood with a picture of the body. Did anyone know who he was . As a shocked afternoon deepened into evening, someone did know exactly who he was. The whole time, all day long, i kept having a funny feeling. Keith Morrison Voiceover far away in kentucky, over the rural hills and down Country Roads was a mother named Linda Valencia. She was eating dinner with her sister and fretting about her son, jesse. Linda valencia i told my sister i said, its so weird that hes not calling me. And she said, well, hes probably ok. She just said, you know jesse. Keith Morrison Voiceover after dinner, Lindas Sister dropped her off at her house. And then, it seemed, just a few minutes later. Linda valencia i saw her headlights coming back up The Hill to my house. So i went to the door and opened it. And i remember laughing. And i asked i ask her if she had missed me so much, that she had to come back . Keith Morrison Voiceover but her Sister Wasnt smiling. I said, is it jesse . And she just she never answered me. And i remember just backing away, and i just wanted to run. Keith Morrison Voiceover but of course, there was no running. Not from this. The police wanted to talk to her. They said that they were sorry to inform me that my son had been killed. And i basically called him a liar, and i said its not true. Keith Morrison Voiceover whats a person to say . To do . Deny. Deny. Her world collapsing around her, Jesses Mother fainted. In colombia that june night, Crime Scene Techs busied themselves behind the yellow tape, while more cops scoured the neighborhood. They noticed a nearby Apartment Door propped open. And so they walked through it, into a mystery that would turn their world upside down. Coming up from the time jesse was six or seven years old, he told me mom, im not going to live to be very old. Did he tell you where that thought came from . He never did. Keith Morrison Voiceover and later, a surprising friendship that would shock a city. Did it lead to murder . He said, mom, Guess Who showed up on my doorstep. Stay ahead of your childs moderatetosevere eczema. 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Subject 8 yeah subject 7 Yay Subject 9 when we came here, we didnt know what tomorrow would hold. St. Jude showed us that tomorrow theres hope for our Little Girl to survive. Announcer lets Cure Childhood Cancer together. Please donate now. Feeling ughh from a backed up gut . Ughh. Miralax works naturally with the water in your body to help you go. Free your gut and your mood will follow. For 8 grams of fiber, try mirafiber gummies. For 8 grams of fiber, Keith Morrison voiceover when he was about seven years old, Jesse Valencia asked his mom to sit down. Linda valencia and he told me, im not going to i dont want you to get upset, and dont cry. Dont get emotional. And this as a little kid now, talking. And he said mom, im not going to live to be very old. He said, im going to die at a very young age. Why would he say that . Its just so strange. Linda valencia its like he knew. And he told me that for years. And i mean, he was constantly telling me that. Because he said he was trying to prepare me for his death. Did he tell you where that thought came from, or why he thought that . He never did. He just said he knew that he was going to die young. Keith Morrison Voiceover and now at the age of 23, jesses awful prediction had come true. His halfnaked body found lying in a lonely patch of grass so far from home. Linda valencia i never dreamed that he was going to die that way. Keith Morrison Voiceover whatever happened to him, the investigators figured, must have started here behind this Open Door down the block from the crime scene. It was the door to Jesses Apartment. Looked like jesse may have flung it open, fleeing his killer. With Jesses Body being found away from his home, the bottom of his feet were dirty, he was obviously moving. He was running. Running or walking away. We believe, he was headed to a Friends House to get help. Because there was a friend of his that lived in that Path Line from his house to the Friends House. And his assailant chased him. Caught up to him. Yeah. Attacked him. Yes. Keith Morrison Voiceover and showed no mercy. Details linda could not bear thinking about. She was just 21 when she had jesse. Keith morrison the two of you kind of grew up together, right . Linda valencia yeah, pretty much. From the time he was born, i took him everywhere with me. I wouldnt even go out on dates, unless i took him with me. And everybody accepted it. I cant remember a time that he wasnt with me. Keith Morrison Voiceover just the two of them, and then a stepdad and two sisters, and a Family Farm in perryville, kentucky. A one stoplight town. Linda valencia every store we went into, everybody knew him. Everybody was hollering hey, jesse, how are you . Even three and four years old, he would just talk your head off about everything. Keith Morrison Voiceover read about everything. Knew about everything. Lindas nickname for jesse was college prep. Kristin arevalo met jesse on the School Bus in High School. Kristin arevalo i think bright is a really great word to describe jesse because of his intellectual brilliance, but also, he just was a real bright light. Keith Morrison Voiceover irrepressible. Sort of kid who if it was raining would dance in it, or, with kristin, Scrawl Graffiti under the town bridge. Kristin Arevalo Jesse just had this real and pure love of life. Erin bailey i can just remember thinking like, this guy is going to do something big. Like, hes going to do big things. Keith Morrison VoiceoverErin Bailey met jesse at a school dance. They talked about movies and music. Jesse told her he wanted to get out of perryville one day. He tried modeling after High School. Proud he could do that. But, said erin, he was always down to earth. Always attentive. Hed get me to sing for him. Ave maria was his favorite. And how would he do that . There were times he would call me like at night in the middle of the night and be like, will you sing to me . And im like, [clears throat] its 1 30 in the morning. Keith Morrison Voiceover but she didnt mind. Not really. Back then, she was a little bit in love with jesse, even though she knew, she wasnt his type. Jesse was gay and proud of it. Erin bailey he loved who he wanted to love, and thats a brave way to be in life. He was really outgoing and outspoken. He was the type of boy that would tell you exactly what he thought. And if you didnt like Hearing It, he would try to sugarcoat it a little bit for you. But he would always tell you exactly how he felt about something. Didnt hold back. Linda valencia no, he didnt. And he might have got that from me, but he was always excited about everything. And life, in general, to him was just amazing. He just loved life. Keith Morrison Voiceover and linda certainly thought he was brave when jesse packed up the modeling and decided to go to college. First in his family to go. He ended up at the University Of Missouri, which seemed as far away from perryville as could be. Linda valencia i was happy and excited that he wanted to do that, but i did not want him to go out of state. And i just kept emphasizing to him that it was not going to be a good thing for us to be so far apart. Keith Morrison Voiceover no. And now, the worst of her premonitions had come true. That lovely son of hers, that promise horribly snuffed out. I mean, he was my whole life. And i just couldnt believe that he was gone. Keith morrison can you remember what what was it like for you . It was just dread. Like, i just wanted whoever did this, i wanted, like, them to immediately be apprehended. Like, it just was like this feeling of urgency. Yeah, urgency of panic. Keith Morrison Voiceover but this one wasnt going to be quick or easy. Although, cause of death was perfectly obvious, said the Medical Examiner. The gaping Knife Wound in his neck. But other things were harder to explain. Valerie rao usually with knife injuries, one tends to get Defense Wounds on the hands so youd Get Knife injuries on the hands. Keith Morrison Voiceover but jesses hands were unmarked, which made the me wonder, maybe jesse hadnt been conscious when his throat was cut . They found him flat on his back. If he was that way when the killer cut him, it would explain the lack of blood on his body. If he was standing, then the blood would run down the front of him or the back of him. And if he walked walked after he sustained the injury, then there would be blood on the bottom of his feet. There was none of this. Keith Morrison Voiceover there was still one puzzling thing, a pattern of angry bruises across Jesses Chest and back and under his jaw. We had to think of all the possibilities of how this came about. Keith Morrison Voiceover so she sent his fingernail clippings and blue shorts off to the lab for testing. And waited. And the detectives . Jesse was was kind of a free spirit from what i understand. Keith Morrison Voiceover know your victim, investigators like to say. So they started digging, especially into Jesses Life in colombia. And what they discovered was not so much a long list of enemies, but rather, a long list of lovers. Coming up some guy called in and said this kid was crying inconsolably. Keith Morrison Voiceover tears in the night and persons of interest in the light of day John Short ed readily admitted that him and jesse had, had sex on the day before the body was found. Eric said something to the effect of, i wouldnt care if he was dead. Keith Morrison Voiceover when dateline continues. Sounds like you need to vaporize that cold. Dayquil vapocool . Its Dayquil Plus A rush of vicks vapors. Vapocooooool woah. Dayquil vapocool. 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