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Do you know who Jaleah Davis is?

I have heard of Jaleah Davis. I didn't actually know her.

Do you know how Jaleah died?

I know what everyone said happened.

There was a suspicious car accident on 77 toward Marietta, I think.

I know there's a lot of naysayers who don't agree it was just an accident.

I believe she was hit by her own vehicle by somebody else and murdered.

Do you think the investigation was thorough?

I'm sure that someone knows something that they don't want to say, just to

protect themselves.

Mile Marker 181 is a true crime podcast and may contain discussion of graphic or

disturbing details.

I'm your host, Emily.

It's like this local lore, this obsession.

It goes through highs and lows, but it always comes back around, and there's

always somebody that wants to talk about it.

My covenant is with the truth.

I mean, think about it.

If it were you, wouldn't you want your family to know the truth?

And I'll admit, part of it's for my own nosiness.

I was never out to make money off of it.

I just want to know everything.

Why? I have to.

That's my character flaw.

I'm doing it. Okay, wait. Wi -Fi's up. Let's see if it's going to work.

Hi, Denise. I was in like a month ago and had given a FOIA request to Chief

Martin.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Call failed.

I'd be so annoyed if this, if I literally can't make any of these calls.

Tell us where we are.

The middle of fucking nowhere.

Hey, come on.

Come inside.

The coyotes don't get you.

Harvey Nestor. Go.

Go.

This is my wall.

These are everybody's timelines.

They've got Katie, Freddie, Kristen.

This is stuff that, like, I know is, like, on deck to be covered.

And then once I'm done with it, I just, like, move it over here.

I cut down the sound foam and made it this thing, and then I set my mic up on

its tripod and sit in the mic right here, and I just kind of talk into the

and it's like my own tiny little sound studio.

People think it's real glamorous or that I'm in, like, a studio or something.

I'm like, no.

Before I had that, I recorded in the closet.

When you get down to, like, the order of events for each individual, I mean, you

can see what a clusterfuck this is.

And that's a pretty organized way to put it.

It's detail heavy and I get people like a lot of people don't like the show for

that reason, but like I can't change the case.

If you want to like do a deep dive and actually do the investigative part of

you've got to go and you've got to like talk to people yourself.

I'm about to hop on this.

Hi, is this Camille Waldron?

It is.

Hi, this is Emily Nestor. I do the Mile Marker 181 podcast about the Julia Davis

case. But since you worked and you were lead on that case, you know, I'd love

to, if you're not willing to record, I understand that, but I'd at least love

have a conversation with you.

Was this handled correctly?

Absolutely not.

It's time that somebody, like, do it justice and have the balls to say, like,

this is what I think happened.

I read the case files and I was like, murder, cover up, what the hell? That

needs to be fucking handled.

So why not me?

Welcome to Mile Marker 181.

I'm your host, Emily.

I'll tell you a little bit about myself later, but for now, let's just dive

right in.

This story starts in 2011 on the evening of Friday, November the 18th. I could

tell you a lot of things about Julia Davis.

I could tell you that just like me, she just had her 20th birthday.

But unfortunately, I have to tell you, she never lived to see 21.

People that I've had that are experts that have looked at this said, you know,

by all means, it's bizarre.

It's a bizarre scene. Everybody agrees on the fact, hey, you know, it's not

average traffic accident. It very much looked like she was acting as a

pedestrian out of her own vehicle.

Based on injuries that she had, based on her clothing being placed over a

guardrail, normally her clothing is either on you or on the roadway. It

hang over a guardrail.

This is what we're calling the original point of impact right here.

Bam, right there.

We're essentially at what at least investigators consider to be the point

impact for Julia's vehicle.

What they're saying happened is her vehicle hit here.

She was ejected. Her head hit the guardrail post.

And then her car reentered the roadway. Her body was thrown nearly into the

median. And then her car continued more tenths of a mile further down the road.

So it perfectly came to rest against the 181 .8.

In between, you've got blood spatter, you've got brain matter, you've got

you've got team.

Her clothes were in a really suspicious order. It was bra first, then a t -shirt

over top.

And then her pink coat over top of that.

So what you're seeing with the whole scene is just totally bizarre.

The people involved that were with Julia that night were Freddie Scott, Katie

Nelson, and Kristen Bechtold.

She left her house. She went over to Kristen's. They drank. They went to the

nipping queue.

until approximately 3 o 'clock, and then that's when everybody's stories start

to get slightly different.

Julia had been dancing with the boyfriend of Katie. They had had an

admittedly, with her.

There was a lot going on. There was some tension.

So it becomes a situation of, you know, was there foul play?

What's the theory? They pulled over?

And they just got run over?

The common, like, rumor?

That they had pulled over, maybe gotten in a fight, or maybe kicked Julia out of

the car.

Kristen got in the driver's seat.

Julia was acting as a pedestrian, and then Kristen came along and plowed her

down. That's the rumor.

90 % points to murder.

From the blood patterns, from the clothes, from acceleration marks in the

roadway, to the way her body...

was in relation to her car three -tenths of a mile down. Everything about that

scene was totally just like something doesn't add up.

And then you get into everybody's individual story.

Kristen, before this, didn't have a good reputation.

Kristen, after this, has a much worse reputation.

I've had someone go so far as to say that she's not kind to animals.

Which, if you know anything about, you know, the psychology of murderers, then

that's a pretty damning thing to have somebody say about your past.

I also had somebody actually say that she's a bedwetter, too, which is also

really damning.

Who outed her as a bedwetter?

I can't tell you that.

You know I can't tell you that.

That's somebody that came to me privately that told me that. And I do

on the phone, but they want to be left anonymous.

Kristen Bechtel would not talk to investigators until she had a lawyer.

Even in high school, she was very polarizing. She was very popular, but it

seemed like everybody hated her.

I remember that, and I've never spoken to her.

Party animal within the community, dad's a doctor, privileged, at least for

Appalachia.

Spoiled. Who accuses Kristen of murder?

Mostly Julia's family accuses her of murder. Kim Davis.

You're listening to Mile Marker 181.

This episode will be the first time you get to hear Julia's mother, Kim Davis,

speak. I want to be perfectly clear. Kim is the only reason I'm able to do this

podcast. She obtained over 700 pages of documents through the Freedom of

Information Act.

I got in contact with Kim about my interest in her daughter's case.

A week later, I had those same case documents and photos in my hands.

Anyways, enough from me. Here's Kim speaking about the day she lost her

child.

The day that it happened, my dad had gone to the scene. That it's

not an accident. This was murder. And my dad would never lie to me about that.

That's the post that killed Julia.

You're not driving your car, but somehow on the right -hand side of the road,

your head's hitting a post.

No. It was on the Justice for Julia site all over the community.

She was definitely murdered. I'll tell anybody

that. She was definitely murdered.

They killed her in one of the worst ways.

When you see the pictures of her laying there, you'll say the same thing, too.

Yeah. And I told Kim, I said, you cannot trust that sheriff down there. You

can't trust no cop.

Do you carry your gun right now? Oh, yeah.

Right there. Yeah.

Right there.

I carry that.

Why?

Because on the count of the cops, you know, it's all going well. All the

wouldn't come off and folded up when the dog got close.

No.

One cop alive for another.

Why do you think it was covered up?

Because Kristen Bechtel was the granddaughter of Lee Bechtel, point

Freddie Scott, his dad was a formal police officer in Carterburg.

Katie Nelson, her dad was a formal police officer in Carterburg.

That's why I feel it's covered up.

Plus, he's got a lot of money.

Kristen Bechtel's dad, he was rich.

So I feel that, you know, there might have been some money changes there.

That's my feeling.

I hope you get some closure on it.

Oh, I do too. I hope before I die, I'm 76 years old.

I hope I do.

We're going to follow any investigations.

Yeah, she's really good.

She's really good. I'm surprised Nancy Grace didn't jump on the desk.

I know.

Yeah.

Before we begin this episode, I want to remind you that in the Mid -Ohio Valley,

nothing stays secret for very long.

If you have information you think might be valuable, please contact Kim through

the Justice for Julia Facebook page or myself through the Mile Marker 181 page.

I wonder sometimes why Kim Davis did trust me. Somebody else had approached

about doing a podcast about this and she turned them down.

I just felt like I knew when I started, I knew what I was capable of.

And I know that I'm capable of telling the truth.

And I knew that, like, being local was going to be very advantageous.

That was an accidental I -77.

So I just read out of curiosity.

And you get out of the blog and you see all these big comments, right?

There was a kind of a curiosity. Okay, what's going on?

There was a podcast by a girl named Emily.

You know, getting that look from different places and people wanting to

was absolutely amazing.

Basically, people want justice in the area.

I love Sherlock Holmes.

I like just different crime shows, different documentaries, putting two to

together, looking at the smallest little detail in evidence and cracking the

case.

Emily's show, Mile Marker 181, that's my first podcast that I've ever followed

for any reason.

It's just crazy what they're trying to say had happened. That car's not going

go another quarter of a mile up the road without a driver in it. I can't wrap my

head around it.

The only way you're going to get your head ripped off on the guardrail post is

to be run down by the vehicle.

After looking at the body, yeah, I was pretty much sure that it was a homicide.

I didn't think it was no accident.

One of the girls supposedly beat her up and killed her on the interstate, or one

of the guys, kind of at first I wondered maybe if somebody hadn't.

Threw her out of the car and was beating her on something. The sheriff's

department said that she went out of her car and she hit the guardrail and she

went over to the car.

You know, I just don't think a body can bounce like that.

That's too wild of a story for me.

The family has a different opinion of what the police said, and they've been

trying to keep it alive.

She was an African -American girl. There's a lot of stigma, a lot of racism

the area and everything.

I just believe, you know, with a Caucasian girl.

it would have been more investigated.

People here don't have to be conspiracy theorists to believe that there's a lot

of corruption.

In Kim Davis's case, well, we have to give a lot of leeway for mourning

don't we? I mean, we just do.

Hi there, it's me. Welcome back to Mile Marker 181.

I think it's time I tell you a little about myself.

I don't plan on doing this often.

It's important I try not to insert my own personal opinions into this story or

tell you too much about myself besides what's relevant.

As for why I got into true crime, here's the story.

When I was 13, I was totally obsessed with Silence of the Lambs.

I grew up with true crime, but back then we didn't call it true crime. It was

Forensic Files and Dateline and John Walsh.

I wanted to be Clarice Starling. Closer, please.

Clarice Starling was from West Virginia. She had a slight Appalachian accent.

She was a great role model. You know, she was one of the only honest

and it was a strong female character.

I was watching The Keepers. I was watching Making a Murderer. Michelle

McNamara's book, I'll Be Gone in the Dark, came out. I devoured it, and I

thought, this is the kind of deep dive that I want to do.

I mean, up until this year, I worked at a doggy daycare, overlapped with waiting

tables at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Before Buffalo Wild Wings, I had bartended at a strip club because I

that would be a good idea.

Turns out I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. But I do have good

stories, which is the point, right?

Now I'm a full -time podcaster, which is still weird to say.

Hi, Crime Junkies. Today's episode is a gruesome one.

I had gotten into podcasts, and the more I got into it, the more it became an

obsession. Welcome to My Favorite Murder. Welcome to the Murder Squad.

Nancy Grace here. Wine and Crime contains graphic and explicit content

not be suitable for some listeners.

I've got two tattoos from the show Dexter. I've got, like, a blood slide,

I've got the hands from the ice truck killer.

We both have Richard Ramirez quotes. And full disclosure, not because we're,

like, love Richard Ramirez. No.

And I'm adding into that leg, like, a mom -style traditional tattoo with a

dagger through it. But instead of mom on the banner, it says true crime.

Yeah, who's your favorite murderer?

Israel Keyes.

Favorite?

My favorite murderer is Israel Keyes.

I already talked to you about this.

I'm her best friend. We wrestle back and forth about it all the time, and she'll

come back to me with new information and be like, hey, listen to this. Like,

this is why I think this happened or didn't happen now, and let's hash it

I love it.

She doesn't have any training whatsoever.

I don't know that that's a good thing. Well, no.

No, but seriously, she doesn't have any audio -visual training. She doesn't have

any recording, anything like that. She didn't go to school for journalism. She

doesn't have any background in forensics or crime or anything or being

in the public eye at all. And she just decided, hey, this is an opportunity

where I can try to teach myself something. And then she did it, and then

help somebody.

And then out of her own curiosity, and she just made it happen.

Yeah.

Yeah. Kind of like your life.

And I'm living it, man. I didn't say you weren't.

I mean, I realized through the process of this all that I have a voice.

And people will listen.

And if you use that voice for the right things, you can...

You can change a lot of things.

Harvey.

Harvey, you should run for sheriff.

I'd vote for him.

You want to be sheriff?

I'm not joking when I say he's like my true crime buddy.

Oh, he's so good.

He's so pure.

You're never going to do anything wrong.

You're too good.

Except poop in the house.

You know, just from Kim posting about it on the Justice for Julia page, I got a

lot of, like, traction that way.

Because anybody who, like, follows that case is obviously going to listen to

anything that comes out about it.

Okay, so, like, the Marietta Times had, like, two episodes out when they reached

out to me, and they were like, oh, we want to run a story on it. And I was

cool, when can I, like, expect it to be out? You know, we'd set up a call. She

interviewed me for, like, 30 minutes on the phone.

She's like, oh, it'll be front page tomorrow. I was like...

Okay, must be a slow news week.

It's pressure.

It's just like this, like, the more attention you get for it, the more,

accountable you have to be for what you're putting out.

Like, if nobody's paying attention, it doesn't matter if it sucks.

There's my bra strap showing. I've been working on that the whole time.

When anything has happened major in West Virginia, and you see it on the

national news, they do not portray us in a good light because not everybody in

West Virginia has no teeth or can't make a full sentence.

People do wear shoes here.

Give me a wave.

Or this way.

Emily kind of had the calling, I guess.

But because she didn't go to college, she just assumed, you know, I can't be a

profiler, which is what she kind of wanted to do, so I'll just go do this.

actually, you can solve some crime without a degree, with enough know -how

enough gumption.

I wasn't familiar with what a podcast was.

I was happy for her, but it didn't mean a whole lot to me. I'm like, okay, have

fun. Do what you want to do.

Do what makes you happy. So I really didn't understand what that meant.

But it really snowballed.

It, you know, from a snowflake to a great big hill of snow. So

it just has taken off in several different directions. It's not just one

It's multiple avenues.

Hi there.

CrimeCon is coming up quickly, and MileMarker181 will be there on podcast

If you are not familiar with CrimeCon, it's basically the Super Bowl of true

crime.

CrimeCon is like Comic -Con. You've got everybody involved with Golden State

Killer. You've got Nancy Grace. You've got Dateline. Like, it's some wild shit.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Paul Hull.

Host of The DNA of Murder.

How are you guys having fun here at CrimeCon?

Anytime I walk into a scene and I see something that is contradictory, that's

where I have to step back and go, okay, I need to look at that more closely.

Well, let me tell you, anytime is the right time to do the right thing. And if

you fail, you'll remember it the rest of your life.

Okay, so here I am.

This is Billy Jensen's podcast.

So they've got me in good real estate. I'm fine with it.

It's exciting.

Like, it feels good, but I'm like my own worst enemy. You know what I mean? I

am.

I self -sabotage.

What do you want to accomplish here at CrimeCon?

Well, honestly, I want to see my listeners shoot up.

It's about me exploring more opportunity.

To all the podcasters that are out there, you're here to have fun. You're

to learn.

But also just be mindful these are real cases involving real people. Be

respectful with your questioning.

Part of getting a case out has to also be entertaining because I've heard

podcasts that aren't entertaining and they're very fact -driven. And guess

People don't talk about the case actively. If you're going to use it to

bring exposure, I think a little bit of entertainment factor helps you.

You have a single blow to the back of the head.

I feel like the true crime community is a really good place, like when you're in

the right corner of it.

Now, was there a heavy amount of blood in her ear here? Because there are

that are just opportunists that just want to make like a buck off of it.

And they don't care about the people behind the stories.

But more good than bad.

I think that's hard to find in other genres of, like, entertainment.

These are podcasters. They can't be trusted.

I wouldn't call me to get me out of jail.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but I don't make money doing this podcast. I

consciously chose not to run paid ads.

Something about the idea of making money off of this felt weird.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Suspicious set of circumstances.

It's just kind of a lot of unanswered questions. And it's from my hometown.

So, Parkersburg, West Virginia.

I would love you to come on a podcast and talk about your show. Sure. And why

you care about it. Hold on.

Do you have videos?

I do, yeah.

There you go. Thank you.

What? What?

At CrimeCon, I'd met everybody that I was meant to meet to make this happen.

Hey there, I'm Stephanie Gamolka. I'm joined with the mind behind Mile Marker

181 podcaster Emily Nestor. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for

having me. The case was ultimately ruled accidental, but a lot of people think

that there was foul play. The last person that was with Julia was the

granddaughter of our former sheriff, and the sheriff's department is the

investigating agency in Julia Davis' death.

Got it.

Everybody was acting on emotion or what was best for them.

I don't think anybody in the whole thing, genuinely,

fully had Julia's story

and her life in mind.

Do you?

Do I have her life in mind?

I hope.

I try really hard.

This week, I'm angry. I'm angry because no matter how many small dots I feel

like I connect or Kim has long ago connected, no one is listening.

I'm not talking about you. You're listening. But is the law listening?

My name is Emily.

I'm your host.

And this week, I'm angry.

There's a study that shows that waitresses that wear red lipstick make

tips.

And that's kind of the philosophy I've adapted.

This is my little setup here that I travel with, my one little.

Yeah.

$400 piece of equipment there, though.

All right.

So what stood out to you the most about this case in particular?

Well, the fact.

that the driver was ejected out of the car, and then it was a sad scenario

she was hit by passing semi -trucks.

Do you think it's a possibility that things at the scene were moved, in

particular the clothing, perhaps even by law enforcement?

I don't think it's fair for me to answer that question.

But I guess what I'm trying to wrap my brain around is, in your opinion, you do

agree with the conclusion that it was an accident.

Yes, I do.

Okay. And if this is going to continue in this direction, I'm not going to have

any further conversation because you're asking me to second guess investigation

of what they've done at the time. And I do not feel that that's fair to be doing

that, nor do I want to sit here and debate.

I think that's pretty much it as far as that goes, because

there were some more like heavy hitter questions there, but we'll skip those.

Well, thank you, because I know some of that stuff. That's like the questions I

have to ask. You know what I mean? I have to play devil's advocate, but I

totally respect you not wanting to answer them.

I understand, but I thought you knew me better than that.

What? Oh, I'm not even.

Hey, I have to dig and see what I can get. You know what I mean?

Can you blame me?

I'm sorry, but I'm considerate.

Oh, I'm sorry.

So are we done?

I believe so, yeah. I think so, yeah.

I don't know what you're doing.

I'm highly

disappointed in her.

It sucks because I feel like I'm just working for the truth. And, like, the

truth is really ugly.

And I understand you don't want to throw people, like, under the bus.

But that's kind of bullshit.

Because if those people fucked up that investigation, then that's the reason

there's never any justice brought up. This one fucking person, that is such

bullshit. And that's such a bad excuse.

Like, that's such a bad excuse.

You've got to be able to, like, have some balls and say,

Like, these people could have possibly messed this up.

These people could have possibly, and I didn't even ask him the worst question

of all.

I said, do you think it's possible that Kristen Bechtold, like, wiggled her way

out of an involuntary manslaughter charge because her grandpa used to be

sheriff?

That was more like, I hate being misunderstood. Like, it's one of my

favorite things. I feel like I'm, like, chronically misunderstood.

It just sucks, like, when somebody takes, like, offense to something that

actually had good intentions with.

This is my job. Like, that's my job.

But people don't take it serious because I'm working for myself.

Like, I'm not working for a paper. I'm not working for, like, a news source.

And, like, it's funny because I don't belong with the journalist and I don't

belong with law enforcement and I feel like I'm floating somewhere in between.

People don't like assertive women.

There is a monologue from Silence of the Lambs that I could almost recite.

I can't read it. I'm going to be emotional over it.

I hate being vulnerable and I hate being... I know.

I'm fine with being, like, on camera because I can ignore it, but, like,

vulnerable in front of one person is hard.

It's not even the camera.

It's, like, the three people in the room.

Okay. They don't exist.

Oh, yeah, that's true. Just read it to me. Okay.

You know what you look like to me with your good bag and your cheap shoes.

Like, that's such a good, like... Yeah. Yeah.

Like, a good, like, backhanded compliment.

You look like a rube, a well -scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste.

Good nutrition has given you some length of bone, but you're not more than one

generation from poor white trash.

Are you Agent Starling and that accent you're trying so desperately to shed?

Pure West Virginia.

And oh, how quickly the boys found you, all those tedious, sticky fumblings in

the back seats of cars, while you could only dream of getting out, getting

anywhere, getting all the way to the FBI.

That's fucking epic.

You know what I mean? Like, that's way too close to home.

Yeah, but what did it make you think?

Fucking, like, be brave and fucking tell the truth, even when it sucks balls.

Yeah.

It's so amazing that she's been doing this for such a short period of time.

It's fascinating how podcasting has become like this.

I'm not trying to imply anyone can do it.

But if you're really good, it doesn't take much of an investment, and you can

launch.

And Emily is a really good example of that.

If you don't know what the rules are, I mean, it's wide open. You can do

whatever you want.

Journalists are bound by rules. If you worked for a newspaper, you really can't

just spend time with a police officer and kind of find out how things are.

That would be totally against the rule.

Hello everyone and welcome to our latest episode of The Trail Went Cold. I'm

here with a host of Mile Marker 181 and this accident makes no sense whatsoever.

I do these cases all the time on my podcast where they're cold cases and you

can't come up with a logical solution which makes 100 % complete sense.

And I think this one qualifies because even if she legitimately died in an

accident, you at least want to know the truth.

If they're saying that it's an accident, we're missing some teeth.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, there's a missing piece there. Well, you never know with podcasts. They

sometimes get these cases reopened and solved, so.

Yeah.

Knock on wood. Yeah.

So my mom and I are going to drive Kristen's alibi drive.

I guess technically it's really more Freddy's. So the route that Freddy Scott

said that they took from dropping Julia off to the McDonald's drive -thru.

Freddy and Katie Nelson both say that they.

go to mcdonald's and they each name a route kristen you know she says they get

mcdonald's but she's like oh i don't remember how we got there like she

even remember what car they're in i don't buy either of the stories on

part i just don't buy it so we're gonna start this timer at 3 27 a .m it's a

friday night it's the same day of the week and it's the same time of day

so how are you waving it oh

You're also on camera.

This is going in a documentary.

Freddy is kind of the wild card of this thing. Like, you can't really figure out

how he fits into the whole scenario, but he could know more than he's telling.

Absolutely. Oh, can we trust him at all is even my kind of question.

Kristen, Freddy, there were pictures of them caught on the video cameras at the

McDonald's before they went all the way to the highway.

They were kind of, you know, you can't touch me, that kind of thing.

Kristen's rich.

She has a lot of money. And Freddie, you know, his father was in law enforcement

and everything like that. So basically they were acting like they were

untouchable.

Freddie's story is that he, Kristen, and Katie took 7th Street to McDonald's. At

3 .32, Freddie leaves the McDonald's drive -thru with two passengers.

So, I mean, his route actually makes no sense out of anybody's, which makes

sense to me because we know Freddie Scott went to McDonald's. His face was

the video.

So we are pulling back into the McDonald's drive -thru and ending our

experiment. And it is 3 .34, and it took us approximately 7 minutes, 10 seconds

to conduct this experiment. But look.

It's still not accurate to what they're saying.

Either that timestamp is wrong, which is possible, or something's, like, wildly

off here.

Because, you know, we pulled in, like I said, 333, 334. They were already

leaving the drive -thru by 332.

Something in our data, like in this case, is wrong.

Whether it's cell tower data, the timestamp of the McDonald's video

someone is telling a massive lie.

I just don't see them getting to the 181 in time for murder.

The weirdest part of the accident scene were Jaleah's clothes, which were found

off her body and neatly folded up onto the guardrail.

So I'm trying to see it from the other perspective. Like, theoretically, if

there was foul play and someone else was responsible for her death, why would

they take her clothing and neatly fold it up and place it on the guardrail? Is

there any logical reason for that?

I don't think that there is. Okay.

One important detail that I do want to discuss is glass at the scene.

The witness said that when he was walking around the scene, he never saw

broken glass that should have come from her passenger side window if she was

ejected from it.

Just as I crested over the hill, I seen another trucker along the guardrail with

a vehicle down in front of it.

All I could tell was a pair of blue jeans laying in the road.

My truck just thumped, thumped, thumped across the top of it.

And my ability just pulled off the road.

You know, you were there for a while. Do you ever remember seeing any glass

anywhere?

No. Because if she had been ejected out that window, there would have been

glass. Right.

Okay.

So, Julia's passenger side window, investigators say it was busted out. The

Davis family thinks that maybe something else occurred there because of the way

that the glass was thrown all the way up under her driver's side, under the gas

and brake.

So, I'm going to bust this, and then I'm going to test the visibility of the

glass in an environment where it's totally dark.

Oh, it's tough.

I might not be able to get it.

Well, that was satisfying.

Like, that felt really good.

You see the way that all this is breaking up. It's almost like crystals.

So tell me how you go out a window and not have glass in your scalp, your hair,

nothing.

I am walking from a far distance to kind of see at what point.

this pile of glass becomes recognizable as a pile of glass. You know, is it

significant that the first witness said, oh, I saw no glass at that scene, but

he would have never been close enough to identify the glass as glass.

So him saying, oh, I didn't see glass, and that's mysterious, that's not

meaningful.

Like, what the hell?

What are you doing now?

I'm just getting some stuff for, like, my social media and for, like, science

things.

I've seen this happen with some people who have reached out to podcasters and

tried to make their relative's death look like foul play, but then the

shows it was an accident.

Oh, wow. That's interesting.

So I guess the final question is, are there any extra steps that can be taken

help solve this case?

Any other outside agencies who might be willing to look at it if the local law

enforcement doesn't?

The best way to, quote, solve it or put the issue to rest is to just hire

experts at this point.

Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

This is only my second time looking at a microphone, and I'm madly in love with

it. Like, I've already looked up how much it is to, like, own a microphone

machine.

um i'd rather buy that than a tv like right now like this is way more

entertaining to me than anything on television except maybe like mine hunter

found something that pertains to the davis family

from december of 1986.

it was an article about julia's grandfather and his brother two

brothers again alleged police harassment

They name Julia's grandpa, Roger, and his brother.

There's a pathology behind that family's history with radical claims of

disagreement with law enforcement.

It's like somebody reached out and was like, take this information and run with

it. But it's just so wild. So Julia's grandfather, the one that said this is a

murder and they're covering it up, has had a running history of...

and issues with law enforcement.

But I'm not finding that this is murder. I'm finding that this is an accident.

Like, in this story, you can't trust anybody to give you the full truth

everybody's trying to cover their own ass in some manner.

I'm going to record so I have this audio for the later episode.

I am here with Paul Holes.

He is a DNA expert who solved the Golden State Killer case.

We met at CrimeCon. What was your first impression on this case when I sent you

those files?

My initial assessment when I took a look at this case is this vehicle did not

strike a pedestrian that was standing in front of it. There is no damage to the

front end of this car, to the hood.

to indicate that this car struck anything head -on.

Shalia is in this vehicle when it strikes the guardrail. She has a

amount of alcohol in her system.

Yes.

The damage is along the right side of the car. So if somebody's inside this

vehicle without a seatbelt, they will be flung both forward and to the right at

the same time, out of the passenger window.

So as her head and upper body is hitting the guardrail, she's going to be flung

up onto the trunk of the car, into the middle of the street. And then the car,

because of the flat tires on the passenger side, is going to end up

the right, back over onto the right side of the road again, when it will

eventually come to rest.

And then unfortunately, in this case, after she rolls off the trunk and is in

the middle of the road, that's when she gets hit by another vehicle.

People who follow this case.

In general, we all have issues with the clothing. That's like the number one

thing. When you start talking about the clothing, where now her body is being

pulled along a guardrail and her clothing is going to catch on different

that is not surprising at all to see a jacket coming off the body.

Yeah. So if she's being ejected out of that window and the glass is cracking, I

mean... Realistically, is it possible she doesn't have any glass particles in

her hair, in her skin?

That tempered glass on the passenger side could easily have been fractured as

result of the impact of the vehicle. It's already in the process of dicing up

and falling. So by the time her body impacts the windshield, well, the

glass in the front passenger window is already gone.

She's going through an empty window.

So in my opinion, I don't think the absence of glass in Julia's hair or in

clothing or anything is significant at all.

It's just when you do have circumstances that are suspicious, it's fodder to

start going down different type of rabbit holes that really don't have

to do with the facts.

Report the facts.

And not circumstantial. Yes. Yeah. Yes.

Cut the cards, Emily.

What's your first question?

Am I on the right path regarding my career? Cut.

There's not very much information here.

The universe is not able to connect, even though I know there are angels that

are trying to connect with you, but they say you don't listen.

Don't worry about your success.

That's not the issue.

You're not listening to your angels.

The career you choose is supposed to benefit others, but your talkativeness

going to bring you harm.

Use it to your advantage.

Remember this, Emily. Your words have power. They're like a vehicle.

They can go forward, backward, or run amok.

Watch what you recycle.

So it's turned into kind of a monster that I didn't know that it was going to

become. Yeah.

It's been an interesting learning experience as far as kind of I haven't

trained in this formally by any means. And podcasting is so relatively new as

far as a medium for journalism.

Yeah, it is. And I think traditionally trained journalists sometimes get a

little annoyed when people like me and you, you know, are kind of having some.

success in this digital journalism. But true crime fans, I imagine, are loving

it. I was binging all weekend.

What are your plans? Where is this going? What's the end game here?

So as far as this project goes, I want to see it through. I want answers. I

to know what the truth is.

If it was murder, someone should be held accountable.

Looking at that scene, even just as a normal civilian, you look at that and

you're like, how in the world did this happen?

the way that they're claiming.

Yeah, it's very confusing. And I'm wondering if Freddie and the crew there

to McDonald's to establish an alibi or whether or not they just happened to be

there and those people in that car did not kill Jaleah. Right. Yeah, I mean,

there's a lot of gray area here. Okay.

It is compelling, though. It is compelling.

Yeah, it really is. It's pretty shady.

Oh, yeah.

Is it hard trying to talk about it as a murder when you think it was an

accident?

I just realized you're doing that during it and I was like, oh, you were like,

had to click into a mode that is like dangerous territory.

Like where I need to cover my own ass?

As far as a storyteller?

Yeah. It's a skill I'm learning.

I just have to ignore everything that I've learned along the way and act like

I'm investigating it actively.

I mean, I still am. Like, I'm not closed -minded.

Like, somebody can prove to me that it was a murder. Like, I'm open to that.

it's hard to prove a murder when it wasn't one.

Is that what you're trying to do?

Is it really all?

about finding the truth on this or is there some kind of i mean i'm guilty on

this myself for being here is there some kind of personal gain that's involved

with that and what is the ethics of that your ethics or my ethics

well you're telling a story about what i'm trying to do and what i'm trying to

tell a story about within that story is something that i've been in deep for

over a year now I just hope we're doing it for the right reason.

Welcome back to Mile Marker 181. I'm your host, Emily. Thanks for joining me

Season 2.

Let's face it, you're probably here because you're really into true crime.

If you're like me and you collect serial killer T -shirts, check out Dead Co.

Apparel and their true crime -influenced clothing.

Use the promo code M -I -L -E during checkout. Let's get back to the alibi.

first time I read this statement, my jaw dropped. This episode, let's talk about

lies. Listen up. You can start an Audible membership and save 66 % on your

three months. If you enjoy other true crime podcasts, you'll have to check out

True Crime Idol Candles, dedicated to the heroes of true crime and one of

everyone's favorite detectives, Paul Holt.

Spoiler alert. This doesn't end where you hope it will.

I don't want to lead a massive witch hunt. I'm just stating the facts as they

are. I can't help that they appear to be suspicious to the average person.

That's right. The Chris that Jaleah had been flirting and texting with is the

same Chris that dated Katie Nelson.

I'm not sure what the term I'm looking for is, but the best that comes to mind

immediately is love triangle.

The podcast hit 20 on iTunes, like on all of iTunes, not just like the genre.

Vulture and then BuzzFeed.

Featured it on a list.

I'm almost to 2 million overall downloads now.

That's pretty fucking crazy.

Marker? I'm excited about things that are happening behind the scenes.

Action, Emily.

Yes, there is a documentary that is currently in production, and one day

get to see the outcome.

I'm sorry, just do it one more time.

My Instagram's kind of blowing up right now.

If you wanted to grab a mile marker 181 or Justice for Julia shirt or hoodie,

you'll be able to order those until the 31st of this month.

I've worked with Warby Parker, so, like, I get a free pair of glasses. I just

need to go get my eyes checked.

An Away suitcase, which I really wanted one of those for a long time, so I was

so pumped when they sponsored the show.

When I started the show, I told Kim that it would be possible that advertisers

would jump on later and that I wasn't, like, really opposed to it. But then,

like, the more I got into it, the more, like, sleazy that it felt to make money

off of essentially somebody's death.

And then it came to the point where, like, The podcast was just becoming,

too much to do, like, in my spare time.

Like, it got serious pretty quickly.

So when the network reached out and wanted to do, like, advertisements, I

said yes.

What Kim's saying is I'm only out for profit and all of this just insane

She thinks she's being exploited now.

If you're going to go with that and roll with that and accuse me of exploiting

somebody, then every single piece of journalism is exploitation.

Like, somebody is the feature of the story.

I've known that I'm a polarizing character and I'm not everybody's cup of

but I just kind of have to lean into that and own it.

Like, that's what Nancy Grace does.

She's doing all right.

what are you doing filming what are you doing are you drunk

too

You keep the same when you are the same thing.

Now what's right is right, and you ain't been right yet.

We'll need food to make the longest.

That's just one day to lose.

One day to die.

All right, how about a round of applause for Emily?

All

right,

and a little more.

And you're good.

How's that? Yeah.

I really, I still can't believe Kim. Like, she's genuinely pissed over

that I can't.

like, rationalized being pissed about.

Isn't the goal, like, to get more coverage for your daughter's case?

I don't think she has, like, faith in me at this point for whatever reason.

I don't know if she thinks that, like, I'm going to, like, Hollywood with this.

I wonder if maybe she

has her own doubts and she's not even aware of her own doubts about the case.

Do you see what I'm saying? Like, does she maybe in the back of her mind in a

place that she can't even consciously, like, go to, does she

not want to know if it was an accident?

Welcome back to Mile Marker 181. I'd like to remind you that I'll be speaking

the Parkersburg Public Library. I'll discuss Julia's case and citizen

and supply you with some Mile Marker 181 stickers.

Thanks, everybody, for coming.

My name's Emily Nestor, which you may already know.

I'm your host of Mile Marker 181 about the Julia Davis case.

I've used this quote a lot lately. You can hire me, but the one I'm working for

is the victim.

And that's kind of my philosophy on the truth as well.

There are going to be things that I cover that people aren't going to like

the time this is done. You've got a massive, massive rumor mill, and then

can't even begin to dig around and figure out where something got started.

just following, like, the breadcrumb trail.

Somebody's got a question.

Yeah.

A theory out there is Kim thought or you thought that maybe Jaleah and Kristen

get in her car, they're going to drive, and then maybe Freddie Scott and Katie

follow her.

Kristen and Jaleah get in a fight, and that's how they're able to so quickly

leave the interstate and get to McDonald's. You know, they freak out,

they're like, okay, we've got to go somewhere. Do you get into theories

that, or is it just kind of like we don't have anything?

So you'll hear it in the next episode.

That's all I'm going to say.

But as far as the McDonald's footage, I mean, now that I have those pictures

from Julia's phone to reference of what everybody was wearing, I'm going to go

back through and look at every angle and see if I can place the clothing.

Because I want to say somebody had stripes on, and that's going to be

that picks up pretty easily in footage.

What is your opinion that most of the people that were considered a suspect

no choice?

The timing of it was really, I mean... Damning? Right.

Obviously, it is situational.

Sure. It comes down to being situational.

So when you lift up a rock and you look deep enough down, you're going to find

things in everybody's past that look really bad.

Some other people, yeah. I work with her grandmother.

And at one time, Freddie Scott came to work.

And seeing Freddie Scott threat his stuff in front of her grandmother, I

there was speculation at one time that they had her head out the window and was

bumping her head on the guardrail. But they had held her out the window and

drugged her.

And to hear her say, that's my baby, that's my baby, how could somebody do

to my baby?

You know, it's just... It goes back to the caring part.

Yeah, right.

As your supporters, is there anything that we can do as a community that could

help you or help this case?

That's a loaded question.

Keep listening.

There's stuff that I haven't covered in the podcast yet. There's a lot that

hasn't been covered.

You do tend to piss people off when you're pursuing the truth because not

everybody likes it. Everybody thinks they want the truth, but rarely do they

actually like it.

You want to ask any questions?

Well,

thanks everybody for coming. I do have stickers here if anybody wants them.

I'm a big fan. You totally got me into like every single true crime podcast.

Good, yes, yes.

Yay. It's like my mini crime con.

Also, I want to tell you that I admire you so much. I really do. And

I think that if there is any justice,

this is the justice she's going to get. I mean, the fact.

that now everybody knows that is the justice that she's going to get. She

not have had any had it not been for you. Thanks. Thank you.

Since I started the podcast, I did up my

anxiety medication.

It's like aged me like a president.

I mean, my hair is thinning.

People started to demand answers out of me that, like, aren't answers that I'm

obligated to give them, or, like, people would demand facts.

You know, when I close my computer after I put a new episode out, I'm relieved

for about 12 hours, and then I go back to being stressed about it. It's

definitely high stress, and it's a high pressure to perform, but also do it with

respect towards Julia, with respect towards her family.

That's a really hard line to walk.

Because when you start these kind of projects or cases, you're so, like, you

the pavement so hard at the beginning that you're not even processing, like,

about the victim. You are, but it's just, it's like a cape.

You can't think about it too hard. But I think the longer that you're in it, the

more you see the humanity in the person and the harder it becomes to not care

and to detach completely.

So I've got to consider that.

Look around you.

Look down the bar from you at the faces that you see.

Are you sure this is where you want

to be?

I think it's really important that we talk about Julia as a human being, not

just as a victim. These are your friends, but are they real friends?

Do they love you?

As much as me.

Are you sure this is where you want to be?

She was a sister, a daughter, a granddaughter, a friend.

You seem in such a hurry to lead this kind

of life.

And you've caused so many pain and misery.

She's not just a character somebody made up.

But look around you and take a good look at all the local

used -to -bes.

And are you sure that this is where you want to be?

I think a lot of what people misunderstand about what I was trying to

like, they think that I was in this to, like, exploit Kim.

I really had, like, these high hopes, like these Nancy Drew hopes of coming in

and being the person to fix this.

Did you talk to Freddie Scott?

No, I did not talk to Freddie Scott.

Did you talk to Katie Nelson?

I reached out to Katie Nelson, but I have not talked to Katie Nelson.

Did you talk to Kristen Beckle?

I reached out to her some back to her, but I did not talk to her.

Not directly.

When we first connected and started bonding earlier this year, I thought you

were primed to really do something significant.

And I was excited for you. I mean, I saw you at CrimeCon, and you were really

good on camera. And then just slowly, I just saw you.

sabotaging it with poor choices, I think there's just a lot of information that

you haven't shared.

There's not a lot from this year that I feel great about.

And it's not my typical behavior either.

It just sucks that it, you know what I mean? Like along with the self

of like the podcast and everything, you have to also push yourself like a

product in a way.

You know, especially when you believe it's a murder and you're trying to push

for that justice and you want that crowd behind you, you want that support, like

the latter your voice is, you know, if there was an injustice here, if she was

murdered, that that's much more powerful to go into that fight with people

behind you.

Well, I think that's the usefulness of sort of like media.

Yeah, for sure.

put the spotlight on cases that are being neglected. Yeah. The central

narrative. And that's what I thought this was. The central narrative of the

private citizen either working with or against law enforcement, the

establishment. That's the compelling narrative that even though it's like

of been done to death, it's still relevant and fresh.

Yeah. Well, you still have the mile marker 181 platform. Yeah, no, and it

And you really should use that to address all of this. Oh, that's the

That's been the plan.

So we didn't make it all that.

I mean, you can give me a fucking diagnosis of the situation because I'm

and I can't fucking see it anymore when you're in it.

I mean, like, I don't, I literally, after that, I don't even know if I'm a

person anymore.

That's how that made me.

It's gonna happen to me when this comes out.

Hey, how are you? Good, how are you? I'm Chris.

Hi, Kristen. I'm like a filmmaker.

I haven't listened to that Mile Marker 181 podcast.

So, like, your name has, like, been associated with it the whole time. And

like, I don't know. Like, I've heard a couple of the podcasts, and I feel like

she tries to kind of, like, make me love that. And that's why I stopped

listening, because I'm like, it just makes me upset.

We have nothing to do with it.

And yet she keeps, like, persisting, like, it was Kristen, it was Katie and

Freddie. And, yeah, it's sad.

My name is Frederick Scott.

I'm from Parkersburg, West Virginia.

I've never spoken to him about it ever, not once, to nobody.

I am the real Katie Nelson, the one that's in the articles or whatever.

Is that you? Yeah, that's me.

Did you murder Julia?

I didn't murder Julia.

Nobody murdered Julia, especially not Kristen Bechtold. Kristen Bechtold did

murder Julia Davis.

freddie scott did not murder julia davis nobody murdered julia whenever i heard

that emily made a podcast um i was like i'm not listening to that i don't want

to listen to that because it's all shit you know i was like oh my god these

idiots are all sharing this idiot's podcast who is this girl and what is she

doing shut up you know like why i just met julia that night

so we were in the bar

And then Julia approached me and said she was ready to leave.

So I texted Kirsten. I said, your friend's ready to go.

So we leave there.

We get in an argument. Like, she's trying to get her keys. Because I'm

dude, you're not fucking driving. You're wasted.

And she's, like, crying and saying I'm a fucking bitch or whatever. So anyway,

it gets to the point where she's, like, trying to fight me. And I'm like, dude,

just take your fucking keys.

And then what?

Julia got out.

I just drove off.

What's the last image you remember of seeing her?

Her just walking towards her car.

I heard that I hit her with my car, that I stole my car the next day. I heard

that I picked Kristen up after it happened.

What did you hear about Kristen?

Um, just that she, like, threw out of her car, even though she didn't.

They're like, there's no way that you can be driving and go through your

passenger side window. Of course, there's a way that that can happen if

like think about it for a second instead of think that everyone else is like

murderers. Like, don't you think that maybe the experts know what they're

talking about?

And maybe you don't.

Sally and your fucking double Y.

They try and say that we were like.

Tried to kill her. We were jealous of her. All this crazy stuff. And the day

after this happened, her mom started saying that we did it.

And I'm like, what the fuck? Like, I literally came home and did nothing.

It's crazy. I mean, I've had death threats coming from a family that has

She wants to blame everything on me.

It just sucks. Like, this whole thing fucking sucks.

And I just, like, I literally just wanted to go away.

To be honest with you, this is ruining my life.

At first, I liked the Justice for Julia page.

But then I'm like... Wait a second.

What are you guys talking about?

Justice for, like, I mean, you're trying to, mm -hmm.

So I think I unliked it.

You know? I was like, mm, like.

Why do you think people believe in conspiracy theories?

They love drama.

They love, like, having something to talk about. Like, they feel like they're

part of something. I know 100 % for a fact that Kim Davis knows that we didn't

do anything wrong.

How? Because one, like, science backs us up.

You know what I mean?

Timing backs us up.

Like, nothing we could have done would have led to that, nothing at all.

And the thing is, like, she knows she's making up all these lies.

So it's like, I don't know what her real objective is with this, like, at all.

Do you think it comes from grief?

I mean, losing a kid, you know, would make you a little crazy.

But, like, what she's doing now is, like, over -the -top crazy. Like, trying

like, damage people's whole lives, careers. Like, it doesn't make any sense

me at all. Like, not even a little bit.

I met Julia's grandfather shortly after it happened, talked to him, told him

what really happened.

He didn't believe me, called me a liar and stuff.

Then he said, if I do think you're lying to me, I'm coming back to my 44 or

something like that. And I was like, okay, good talk.

Julia's grandpa came to my house, and I just started freaking the fuck out. I

was like...

shaking i was like um no i said get the cops here like who

knows because people had been saying crazy stuff like i'm gonna kill you and

know what you did you know and then literally the cops come and they're like

well he has a gun and i'm like well that's scary you know because

you didn't come to the girl's house that you think was involved in your

granddaughter's death With a gun?

Just to, like, shoot the shit, you know?

Maybe we should all let her rest.

Shit.

All right, let's do this.

I don't want to be out here.

This is Roger.

Hi, how are you? Good, how are you?

This is Emily.

Is this Emily? This is Emily.

Hey, how's it going?

You come out here every night?

No, not every night. But every once in a while? Yeah, oh yeah.

Well,

I know something happened to Julia.

Kristen Beck told her Julia's keychain.

And how do you know that she didn't kill other people? You know, a serial

killer, that's what they do. They take people's belongings or not.

Yeah. Right.

Yeah, it bothered me.

You okay?

No, I'm not okay. No one's out.

Everything's okay.

For me, I want to sit there with fucking Roger and look him in the eye like I

believe what he's fucking saying. I wanted to vomit.

I'm not ready to confront them with my truth about it yet.

So it was really, really hard to be around him just now. And I'm trying to

out content about something that I no longer believe. This has fucking given

problems.

I'm done. I'm just done.

I understand.

Don't care. I'm done.

As consumers of true crime, we listen, watch, or read about the most horrific

things that humanity endures.

We are all removed from the direct impact, and then we turn off the lights

we go to bed every night.

And I understand for many of you this is passive listening. This is even

entertainment.

In the past few months, I've spent hours staring at a blank screen, trying to

type out words before they left my brain.

Writing and creating a podcast that revolves around a traumatic and

death comes with its own challenges, and the biggest one I've found is just

finding the right words.

I started this podcast based on a personal need to find the answers about

really happened to Julia Davis.

I genuinely feel like telling the truth is sometimes the absolute hardest thing

you will do.

The raw audio I'm going to share with you now was recorded a few days ago on

phone.

I feel like there's no way to prepare for telling people the worst thing that

they ever hear.

But as I'm learning into crime, sometimes things aren't what they

What happened to Julia was a horrible, horrible, tragic accident.

It was not murder.

A lot of people have issues with law enforcement. And people, when they look

Julia, I think that they see their loved ones that have maybe not had justice.

And so people use Julia like a projector screen.

And so I can understand why there is this community that supports Kim.

Because she lost someone that she loved more than anything in life.

But there's a difference between supporting someone and allowing for

information to be put out and people's names to be run through the mud.

And I'm talking about the Davis family and myself as well.

Hopefully... Somebody out there who has been hurt by what happened to Julia can

hear this and find some peace in it.

It had to be done, right?

Somebody had to say it.

A listener note, this story contains violent content and language. Hello,

friends, and welcome back to the show. Hello, and welcome to Crime Lore, the

podcast. Welcome to fact and suspicion.

This is Obsessed with Murder. And we're here to bring these dead stories back to

life. Today we are discussing a case that is not typical for us. You know,

one's a beauty. I go back and forth trying to decide if this is a mysterious

death or...

A full -blown conspiracy. I went down a dark rabbit hole after I got a random

email from a stranger. She definitely had something going on. It was a

suspicious death.

Some people just want answers. How, then, do we unravel fact from fiction? I

can't believe more people aren't talking about this. It's all really sad, but

what a story.

In my personal opinion, it was definitely murder. Murder. Murder.

case confirms stress? You never really know.

There really is room for interpretation of the facts.