Introducing: The Vanished

Few things are more devastating than a loved one going missing. On The Vanished podcast from Wondery, host Marissa Jones tells stories of missing persons that have gone overlooked by mainstream media. In a recent episode, Marissa looks into the disappearance of James Foster Chance. The 48-year-old man from Texas went missing in March of 2021. Devastated and without any leads, James’ family began searching for him. But in their search they began uncovering clues that James was not the man they thought he was. And worse -- that he may have disappeared on purpose. Listen to The Vanished at wondery.fm/TV_corpusmugshot

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Few things are more devastating than aloved one going missing. On The Vanished
podcast from Wondering, host Marissa Jonestells stories of missing persons that have gone
overlooked by mainstream media. She getsthe story from friends and family of the
missing person and frequently talks with lawenforcement and others close to the case.

(00:23):
Marissa wants to help families find theirvanished loved ones or a sense of peace.
In a recent episode of The Vanished, Marissa looks into the disappearance of
James Foster Chance. The forty eightyear old man from Texas went missing in
March of twenty twenty one, lastseen by his neighbors cleaning up after a

(00:44):
storm. Devastated and without any leads, James's family began searching for him,
but in their search, they beganuncovering clues that James was not the man
they thought he was, and worse, that he may have disappeared. On
this you're about to hear a previewof The Vanished. While you're listening.

(01:04):
Follow The Vanished on Apple Podcasts,Amazon Music, or wherever you get your
podcasts. Listen ad free by joiningWondery Plus in the Wondery app at the
beginning of this year. James FosterChance disappeared from Grapevine, Texas, sometime
in the sixty days between the endof January and the end of March.

(01:26):
During that time, Texas experienced arecord setting winter storm, leaving most of
the state without power for days.This seems to be a crucial point in
James's disappearance, though we don't knowthe exact day he disappeared, or even
the exact month. His disappearance hassome strange aspects and lots of unanswered questions,

(01:49):
but one thing that we do knowis that he hasn't been seen in
the last eight months. This isa story that will leave you questioning how
much you can really ever know someone. Do people only show you the side
of themselves that they want you tosee, And what could even your closest
loved ones be hiding from you.I'm Marissa and from Wondering. This is
episode three hundred and eighteen of theVanished James Foster Chance's Story. James's family

(02:23):
didn't know what to think when theygot that call from his landlord. They
began trying to trace James's movements.January nineteenth, twenty twenty one, was
James's forty eighth birthday. He receivedhappy Birthday text messages that he responded to,
so his family believes he was aliveand well. Then nearly a month

(02:44):
later, in mid February, itappears that James made a trip. According
to Connie, James drove from Grapevine, Texas about thirty miles north to Denton,
Texas and checked into a hotel.That's not odd, except that the
days he supposedly there were the daysof the Texas storm was coming out of
its worst, with many roads undrivableand many highways closed. After the February

(03:09):
eleventh one hundred and thirty three carpile up on a major freeway not far
from where James lived that killed sixpeople and injured dozens. That accident occurred
before the worst of the winter weatherhit the state, so officials had time
to treat and close the dangerously icyroads. By February seventeenth, the worst

(03:30):
of the storm was gone, butdamage left millions without electricity, Many roads
were still closed or unsafe, andthe entire region was in a very cold
standstill. But it's on this date, according to Connie, that James drove
his very small sports car a ToyotaMr two Spider thirty miles from Grapevine to

(03:53):
Denton to a hotel. For reasonsunknown, he made a trip to Denton,
Texas in the middle of February.We had that on his bank records
only, and we had contacted thatHe stated a Motel six and we have
contacted them and they were going tocheck their video to see we would like
confirmation that it was him. Thedates that he paid were seventeen eighteen,

(04:17):
nineteen February, and that the motelconfirmed that. Ken called them and they
confirmed that he was registered there forthose days. The bills went through on
I think it's nineteen twenty and twentyone or something like that, because it
was per night. James's father,Ken told us that he tried to confirm

(04:38):
further via surveillance video that it wasin fact James at the hotel and not
someone using his credit card and ID, but they were unable to get any
video footage. I actually talked tothe manager at the Motel six. He
was going to check their video andI've never heard from him. It was
quite late. He said, Idon't think we have anything. He did

(05:00):
confirm that that he checked in oras my wife pointed out, someone with
his name and driver's license and addresschecked in for those three days. Nobody
seems to have known anything about himhaving friends in Denton. This trip to
the Motel six is a major questionmark in the timeline of events, as
Ken said, James didn't have anyknown friends in that area. Was he

(05:24):
simply looking to get away, perhapsmeeting someone. No one has found the
key to unlock this part of themystery. James was known to keep his
two vehicles parked at his apartment.When they discovered that he was missing in
April, one of the vehicles wasalso gone. Connie explained how they were
able to find a date when thecar was still known to be at the

(05:46):
apartment. We were emergency contacts andthe power of attorney and everything. The
apartment complex called us in order tolocate him because his rent was overdue,
and in ten years that's never happenedfour so she was concerned. But they
did a wellness check for me onthe twelfth. That was when the apartment
complex called me. There was noone home, no one answered the door.

(06:10):
She opened the door and left thenotice inside the door and then went
back and called us to see ifwe had another contact. On the twelfth.
The thirteenth, I contacted the policethe second time, talked to a
second officer, and the report wasfiled on the fifteenth for the missing persons

(06:32):
and was assigned to a detective.At that time. The first officer that
went out there said nothing was amiss if the apartment was orderly and moping,
a sign of any trauma or anything, so he was pretty much willing
to let that go. The secondofficer that was involved read me his report
the next day, and we foundout from the second patrol officer, I

(06:58):
guess the first thing was off anyway, that they had contacted the toe company
for the apartment complex and they hadapparently February seventh, they still had.
They had checked a lot, youknow, for abandons or whatever on just
a routine drive through, and confirmedboth vehicles were there. My sister and

(07:21):
her partner went to the apartment onthe twenty third of April to see if
there was anything they could find out