July 28, 2024 • 21 mins
What really happened to Jason Landry, the Texas State University student who vanished without a trace on his way home for winter break? Join us as we unravel the events surrounding his mysterious disappearance, starting from the haunting discovery of his abandoned car, to the baffling clues left behind. Was it a voluntary disappearance, or is something more sinister at play? Despite the use of advanced technology and exhaustive search efforts, Jason remains missing, and his family continues to seek closure, holding out hope that someone, somewhere, has the crucial information needed to solve this heartbreaking case.
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Be Weird. Stay Different. Don't Trust Anyone!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Welcome to Dark Crossroads Podcast, hosted by
Roxanne Fletcher.
This is your stop for allthings true crime and paranormal
.
From the infamous story of theNew Bedford Highway Killer to
the chilling tale of the BlackEyed Children, dark Crossroads
Podcast is a truly deep diveinto the stories that frighten
and fascinate you.
All links to the show will beprovided in this episode's
(01:33):
description, and don't forget tolet us know what you think of
today's episode.
Jason Landry left his apartmentin San Marcos, texas, around 11
pm on Sunday, december 13th of2020.
The 21-year-old, who was astudent at Texas State
(01:56):
University, had finished all ofhis finals and was heading to
his parents' home in MissouriCity, texas, for the winter
break.
He was in a good mood when heset out to make the 165-mile
drive to Missouri City, but henever arrived at his parents'
house.
His Nissan Altima was foundwrecked and abandoned later that
night.
It was just 30 miles away fromhis apartment.
(02:16):
Jason was not anywhere near hiscar and he was never seen again
.
A volunteer firefighterreturning home after a call
found the Altima on Salt FlatRoad near Luling, texas, shortly
after 1230 am.
He called the police and toldthem that the car had crashed
into a tree.
An officer with the TexasHighway Patrol responded to the
(02:37):
scene of the crash but found nosign of Jason.
Initially, the officer believedthat they were likely dealing
with a drunk driver who hadpossibly crashed his car and
then fled the scene to avoidgetting arrested.
He called for a tow truck topick up the Altima and took it
to an inbound lot.
When the car was found, itsheadlights were still on and the
keys were still in the ignition.
(02:58):
All of the doors, except thefront driver's side door, were
locked and Jason's cell phoneand some other personal
belongings were found inside.
Around 900 feet away from thecar, the officer found Jason's
backpack, a ball cap, a smallbag of toiletries and a small
plastic tumbler containing hisbetta fish, which were dead.
Inside of his backpack, theofficer found a small amount of
(03:20):
marijuana, jason's laptop andsome gaming equipment.
While the officer was waitingfor the tow truck to arrive, he
went through the glovecompartment and found the car's
registration.
It was registered to Jason'sparents, kent and Lisa Landry.
The officer called and toldthem that the Altima had been in
an accident and when theylearned that Jason was not at
the scene, kent, his father,immediately drove to Luling to
(03:41):
see what was going on.
Kent, who was the senior pastorof a Missouri City church, was
desperate to find his son anddid not feel that the highway
patrol were doing enough tolocate Jason.
He decided to conduct his ownsearch of the area.
Kent found several articles ofJason's clothing, including a
pair of shorts, a shirt, a pairof socks, a pair of underwear, a
(04:04):
pair of shoes and a wristwatch.
Interviews with Jason's friendsat the school later confirmed
that the items of clothing foundin the street were the same
items that he had been wearingwhen he left to make the drive
home.
This seemed to indicate thatJason had stripped out of his
clothing after getting out ofhis wrecked car, despite the
fact that the temperatures wereonly a few degrees above
(04:26):
freezing.
Investigators said that therewas no evidence that Jason's car
had been forced off the road.
All of the damage to his carhad been made when he impacted
two trees after skidding off theroad.
It was possible that he hadswerved to avoid hitting a deer
and then overcorrected,resulting in his spinning around
and slamming into the trees,hitting them trunk first.
(04:47):
There was no paint or otherevidence to suggest a second
vehicle had been involved byMonday night, state and local
police departments, as well asdozens of volunteers, were
involved in the search for Jason.
Investigators believed that thecrash had likely occurred
shortly before it was discovered, meaning that Jason had only a
limited amount of time to getout of the area before police
(05:09):
would arrive.
They weren't sure if he hadwalked off on his own or had
been picked up by somebody, butno one came forward claiming to
see him after this crash.
Texas Department of PublicSafety Sergeant Dion Cockrell
said that a handful of differentagencies were assisting in the
search, but by Tuesday nightthey still did not know what
happened to Jason.
He goes on to state that "wehave searched the entire area
(05:33):
with DPS helicopters, drones,other agencies have come out,
state and local, even the Texassearch and rescue team with
their canines", and all resultscame up empty.
Lisa Landry was worried thatJason had been injured in the
crash and was unable to make hisway home.
She goes on to state he's alone, he doesn't have his phone or
his wallet, and it's coldoutside and he's probably hurt.
(05:57):
A few drops of blood had beenfound on some of his clothing
that had been left in the road,but it was not enough to suggest
that he was seriously injured.
Despite the fact that they hadnot found any indications that
Jason was still in the area, sgtCockrell said the search would
continue.
He went on to state that theywere going to keep on searching
(06:17):
until they think that there wasno hope left, which could be two
days, three days, four days andso on.
He states they are going tokeep on searching until we
either find him or we find ananswer.
The search intensified onTuesday and Texas Ecusearch
joined the hunt for Jason.
Search teams combed through theremote area northeast of
(06:38):
Lolling where the car had beenfound.
A local man who owned propertyin the area told reporters it's
a place where someone couldeasily get lost.
There is a lot of old wells oldwells that were never capped or
cemented, just holes in theground and a lot of creeks and a
lot of steep banks.
Tracking dogs were able to pickup his scent leading away from
(07:00):
his car, indicating that he hadwalked away from this accident.
The dogs followed his scenttowards Lolling for about a
quarter of a mile before iteventually disappeared.
It was possible that he hadwalked away from this accident.
The dogs followed his scenttowards Luling for about a
quarter of a mile before iteventually disappeared.
It was possible that he hadgotten into a car with someone
at that point.
The search continued on toWednesday and officials decided
to search a pond that was nearthe accident site.
After search dogs seemed topick up Jason's scent near the
(07:23):
edge of the water, the searchteam got a sonar hit that did
resemble the shape of a body,prompting the decision to drain
the pond.
Jason's family tried to preparethemselves for the worst and
waited anxiously while the pondwas drained, but there was no
sign of Jason.
The Texas Department of Safetyand members of Texas AccuSearch
spent Thursday going back overseveral areas near where Jason's
(07:46):
car had been found, looking foranything that might have been
missed in the initial search.
They did not come up withanything, and they did admit
that they were starting to fearthe worst.
A reporter asked Kent if hethought Jason might be hiding
somewhere, maybe afraid to comehome because he had wrecked his
parents' car, but Kent didn'tthink that that was the case.
He did, however, have a messagefor Jason.
(08:08):
This message was don't worryabout getting in trouble, the
car is just a stupid car.
We love you.
Call someone, call the police,call home.
We just want you home.
A week after Jason went missing, there had been little progress
made in locating him.
A prayer vigil was held for themissing man on December 20th of
2020, and his parents thankedthe community for all of their
(08:30):
support during the searchefforts.
Kent noted we are living in theworst dreams of every parent.
It feels like a bad dream, abad dream that we've been hoping
to wake up from, and I pray myson is alive and pray that
someone is hopefully taking careof him.
The Caldwell County Sheriff'sOffice was not immediately
called to investigate Jason'sdisappearance.
The highway patrol officerhadn't thought that there was
(08:52):
anything unusual about theaccident.
This meant that theinvestigators from the Sheriff's
Office never had a chance tolook at the car before it was
towed to an impound lot.
Jason had been missing fornearly a week before the case
was transferred to them.
Caldwell County SergeantWilliam Miller admitted there
were certain things that weren'tdone in the first hours after
(09:13):
the discovery.
We were not conducting a truemissing persons investigation at
that time.
Once the case was handed overto the sheriff's office, they
had to play a lot of catch up.
They were working to determinewhere Jason had been in the
hours before the car crash andthey were interviewing his
friends and his classmates.
On December 22nd of 2020,volunteers with Texas Ecusearch
(09:35):
said that they would besuspending their search for
Jason.
At the time, they were feelingthat the entire area had been
thoroughly searched withoutfinding any evidence of him.
They assumed that his familywould launch another search if
the sheriff's office developedany credible leads about where
Jason might be.
Investigators combed through anadditional 300 acres of land
(09:56):
near Luling, but did not findany sign of Jason.
They also used a drone to takevideo footage of the entire area
, which was then painstakinglycombed through for any potential
evidence.
As with all the other searches,however, all results came up
empty again.
As the physical search forJason drew to a sad close,
caldwell County Sheriff at thetime, daniel Law, felt confident
(10:18):
that the missing man was notanywhere within the 31 square
miles that had been searched.
He states we will not speculateon what may have happened to
Jason, but we feel the vast areasurrounding the accident scene
has been thoroughly searched andJason still has not been found.
Detectives from the CaldwellCounty Sheriff's Office traveled
to Missouri City andinterviewed his parents and his
(10:41):
siblings.
They also collected severalthings that had been found
inside of Jason's car so thatthey could be processed for
potential forensic evidence.
Kent made a public appeal foranyone with any information
about his son's whereabouts toplease come forward.
He stated If someone knowssomething or might know
something might have seen him,please tell someone.
(11:03):
He was desperate to have hisson home in time for Christmas.
Sergeant Miller told reportersthat he didn't have enough
information to form an opinionabout what had happened to Jason
, but he was still hoping tofind him alive.
He went on to state.
We are trying to run down allour leads.
It would have been easier if wehad started a week ago.
Jason's family agreed they werevery critical of the way the
(11:25):
Texas Department of PublicSafety had handled the case and
wondered if Jason would havebeen found immediately had the
case been assigned to thesheriff's office from the very
beginning.
On January 29th of 2021, theCaldwell County Sheriff's Office
stated that they had been ableto gain access to most of
Jason's cell phone and computerdata.
(11:45):
They learned that he hadbriefly stopped using his GPS to
open Snapchat on his phone at11.24pm on the night that he
disappeared.
He missed a turn and ended upon Salt Flat Road where his car
was found at 12.31am.
Although his cell phone wasstill on and had a signal, he
never used it again after 11.24pm and officials were trying to
(12:07):
determine what happened afterthis point.
In a Facebook post, thesheriff's office wrote there is
no evidence that Jason wastraveling to meet with or had
communicated intent to meet withanybody in or around Lolling.
They believed he had ended upon the isolated dirt road simply
by accident after missing aturn he should have taken.
(12:28):
The Caldwell County Sheriff'sOffice and the Texas Rangers
were working together to processevidence in this case.
This included submittingseveral of the items for DNA
testing to confirm that theybelonged to Jason.
On February 26th of 2021, texasSearch and Rescue conducted a
three-day search for Jason.
The group used dog teams,searchers on horseback, drones
(12:50):
and helicopters to scourCaldwell County.
They covered around 50 squaremiles but unfortunately found no
sign of Jason.
In May of 2021, jason's familyannounced that they were
offering a $10,000 reward forany information leading to his
safe return home.
Tolita Copeland, a retired FBIagent who volunteered to search
for missing people, noted If youknow anything or if you've seen
(13:12):
anything, we can protect you.
We can keep you confidential.
Just call us and talk to us.
A year after Jason set out todrive home for the holidays, he
was still missing and althoughhis case remained open,
investigators had not been ableto develop any substantial leads
and still had no idea what hadhappened to him.
Both the Caldwell CountySheriff's Office and Texas
(13:34):
Search and Rescue had conductedseveral additional searches for
the missing student, but had notfound any clues to where his
whereabouts were.
Months went by and the casestarted to stall, and by
December of 2022, jason had beenmissing for two years and
investigators couldn't agreeabout what happened to him.
While detectives with theCaldwell County Sheriff's Office
(13:55):
believe that Jason walked awayfrom the accident and vanished
on his own, his parents and theretired FBI investigator think
that he was the victim of acrime.
Kent thinks that the initialofficer on the scene wrote Jason
off the moment that he foundmarijuana in his backpack.
He stated it just feels likeyour child is discarded because
they treated everything withthis investigation with such
(14:17):
indifference.
Kent went on to point out thathe was the one who found Jason's
clothing in the road afterJason's car had already been
towed.
By the second anniversary oftheir son's disappearance, kent
and Lisa had resigned themselvesto the fact that Jason was
likely no longer alive, but theywanted to know what actually
happened to him and they wantedto bring him home for a proper
(14:38):
burial.
Abel Pena, a retired FBI agentwho heads Project Absentees, a
non-profit organization thathelps the families of missing
persons, said that he and histeam of investigators believe
that Jason met with foul play.
He states I think that thebiggest red flags for us were
the clothes just being laidwhere they were.
We all agreed it appeared likeit was staged.
(14:59):
He doesn't believe Jason wasbehind the wheel of the car when
it crashed.
Caldwell County Sheriff'sCaptain Jeff Ferry agrees that
Jason is likely dead, but hedoesn't believe that it was a
result of a crime.
He noted that Jason hadmessaged his friends about
marijuana and other personalthings that night.
He states when we look at thetotality of things, it really
(15:19):
paints a picture of almost aninternal crisis that Jason was
dealing with.
He thinks that Jason fled onfoot after crashing his car and
they have just been unable tofind his remains.
Jason's parents just want tofind him, no matter what the
reason behind his disappearancewas or might be.
Kent pointed out that the lawenforcement seemed to make their
mind up immediately that Jasonwas just a college kid on drugs
(15:43):
and thus put little effort intofinding him.
They saw his clothes lying inthe middle of the road and
didn't even bother to pick themup.
If you literally think there issome college student naked in a
30 degree weather night,shouldn't you at least search
for him?
For Jason's parents, siblings,friends and other relatives, he
will always be more than justanother missing college student.
(16:04):
They have done everythingpossible over the past two years
to raise awareness aboutJason's disappearance and make
sure that he is not forgotten.
They have held prayer vigils,organized searches and raised
reward money.
They hold their breath everytime an unidentified body is
found and they hold on to thememories of all the good times
that they shared with Jason,praying that they will one day
(16:26):
be reunited with him.
Jason David Landry was just 21years old when he went missing
from Lulling, texas, in Decemberof 2020.
Jason was driving home toMissouri City, texas, from his
apartment at Texas StateUniversity in San Margo when he
vanished.
The circumstances surroundinghis disappearance are murky and
(16:48):
investigators have been unableto determine exactly what
happened to him that night.
Jason has brown hair and browneyes, and at the time that he
disappeared he was 6 feet 1inches tall and weighed 170
pounds.
Jason has a scar on his leftankle and one on the right side
of his neck.
If you have any informationabout Jason or if you know
(17:10):
anybody who does, please contactthe Caldwell County Sheriff's
Office at 512-398-6777.
You can also call anonymouslyat 726-777-1359.
There is also a Facebook pagethat you can follow that friends
and family really contribute to, and it is titled Missing
(17:33):
Person-Jason Landry Alrighty.
So it's that time, guys, to saygoodbye.
But before I do so, I just wantto send a thank you to all of
my listeners for your continuedlove and support and for sending
(17:55):
in cases that you want coveredand stories that you want read
on the podcast.
We truly accept all stories,including scary, paranormal and
funny.
Any cases you want covered orstories that you want read on
the podcast, just please sendthem in to darkcrossroadspodcast
at gmailcom.
Thank you for hanging out againtoday and if you want any more
information about the podcast orcases and stories that we cover
(18:18):
, then head on over to thewebsite at
wwwdarkcrossroadspodcastcom.
There you can find all of theinformation about the podcast, a
link to our merch and also ourblog covering all of the cases
that we cover.
You can also find us on allsocial media platforms.
Don't forget to like share ratereview.
Subscribe wherever you'relistening to us.
(18:39):
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(19:03):
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And with all of this said,please don't forget to be weird,
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and their information will beincluded in our show notes.
Welcome to Dark Crossroads Podcast, hosted by
Roxanne Fletcher.
This is your stop for allthings true crime and paranormal
.
From the infamous story of theNew Bedford Highway Killer to
the chilling tale of the BlackEyed Children, dark Crossroads
Podcast is a truly deep diveinto the stories that frighten
and fascinate you.
All links to the show will beprovided in this episode's
(01:33):
description, and don't forget tolet us know what you think of
today's episode.
Jason Landry left his apartmentin San Marcos, texas, around 11
pm on Sunday, december 13th of2020.
The 21-year-old, who was astudent at Texas State
(01:56):
University, had finished all ofhis finals and was heading to
his parents' home in MissouriCity, texas, for the winter
break.
He was in a good mood when heset out to make the 165-mile
drive to Missouri City, but henever arrived at his parents'
house.
His Nissan Altima was foundwrecked and abandoned later that
night.
It was just 30 miles away fromhis apartment.
(02:16):
Jason was not anywhere near hiscar and he was never seen again
.
A volunteer firefighterreturning home after a call
found the Altima on Salt FlatRoad near Luling, texas, shortly
after 1230 am.
He called the police and toldthem that the car had crashed
into a tree.
An officer with the TexasHighway Patrol responded to the
(02:37):
scene of the crash but found nosign of Jason.
Initially, the officer believedthat they were likely dealing
with a drunk driver who hadpossibly crashed his car and
then fled the scene to avoidgetting arrested.
He called for a tow truck topick up the Altima and took it
to an inbound lot.
When the car was found, itsheadlights were still on and the
keys were still in the ignition.
(02:58):
All of the doors, except thefront driver's side door, were
locked and Jason's cell phoneand some other personal
belongings were found inside.
Around 900 feet away from thecar, the officer found Jason's
backpack, a ball cap, a smallbag of toiletries and a small
plastic tumbler containing hisbetta fish, which were dead.
Inside of his backpack, theofficer found a small amount of
(03:20):
marijuana, jason's laptop andsome gaming equipment.
While the officer was waitingfor the tow truck to arrive, he
went through the glovecompartment and found the car's
registration.
It was registered to Jason'sparents, kent and Lisa Landry.
The officer called and toldthem that the Altima had been in
an accident and when theylearned that Jason was not at
the scene, kent, his father,immediately drove to Luling to
(03:41):
see what was going on.
Kent, who was the senior pastorof a Missouri City church, was
desperate to find his son anddid not feel that the highway
patrol were doing enough tolocate Jason.
He decided to conduct his ownsearch of the area.
Kent found several articles ofJason's clothing, including a
pair of shorts, a shirt, a pairof socks, a pair of underwear, a
(04:04):
pair of shoes and a wristwatch.
Interviews with Jason's friendsat the school later confirmed
that the items of clothing foundin the street were the same
items that he had been wearingwhen he left to make the drive
home.
This seemed to indicate thatJason had stripped out of his
clothing after getting out ofhis wrecked car, despite the
fact that the temperatures wereonly a few degrees above
(04:26):
freezing.
Investigators said that therewas no evidence that Jason's car
had been forced off the road.
All of the damage to his carhad been made when he impacted
two trees after skidding off theroad.
It was possible that he hadswerved to avoid hitting a deer
and then overcorrected,resulting in his spinning around
and slamming into the trees,hitting them trunk first.
(04:47):
There was no paint or otherevidence to suggest a second
vehicle had been involved byMonday night, state and local
police departments, as well asdozens of volunteers, were
involved in the search for Jason.
Investigators believed that thecrash had likely occurred
shortly before it was discovered, meaning that Jason had only a
limited amount of time to getout of the area before police
(05:09):
would arrive.
They weren't sure if he hadwalked off on his own or had
been picked up by somebody, butno one came forward claiming to
see him after this crash.
Texas Department of PublicSafety Sergeant Dion Cockrell
said that a handful of differentagencies were assisting in the
search, but by Tuesday nightthey still did not know what
happened to Jason.
He goes on to state that "wehave searched the entire area
(05:33):
with DPS helicopters, drones,other agencies have come out,
state and local, even the Texassearch and rescue team with
their canines", and all resultscame up empty.
Lisa Landry was worried thatJason had been injured in the
crash and was unable to make hisway home.
She goes on to state he's alone, he doesn't have his phone or
his wallet, and it's coldoutside and he's probably hurt.
(05:57):
A few drops of blood had beenfound on some of his clothing
that had been left in the road,but it was not enough to suggest
that he was seriously injured.
Despite the fact that they hadnot found any indications that
Jason was still in the area, sgtCockrell said the search would
continue.
He went on to state that theywere going to keep on searching
(06:17):
until they think that there wasno hope left, which could be two
days, three days, four days andso on.
He states they are going tokeep on searching until we
either find him or we find ananswer.
The search intensified onTuesday and Texas Ecusearch
joined the hunt for Jason.
Search teams combed through theremote area northeast of
(06:38):
Lolling where the car had beenfound.
A local man who owned propertyin the area told reporters it's
a place where someone couldeasily get lost.
There is a lot of old wells oldwells that were never capped or
cemented, just holes in theground and a lot of creeks and a
lot of steep banks.
Tracking dogs were able to pickup his scent leading away from
(07:00):
his car, indicating that he hadwalked away from this accident.
The dogs followed his scenttowards Lolling for about a
quarter of a mile before iteventually disappeared.
It was possible that he hadwalked away from this accident.
The dogs followed his scenttowards Luling for about a
quarter of a mile before iteventually disappeared.
It was possible that he hadgotten into a car with someone
at that point.
The search continued on toWednesday and officials decided
to search a pond that was nearthe accident site.
After search dogs seemed topick up Jason's scent near the
(07:23):
edge of the water, the searchteam got a sonar hit that did
resemble the shape of a body,prompting the decision to drain
the pond.
Jason's family tried to preparethemselves for the worst and
waited anxiously while the pondwas drained, but there was no
sign of Jason.
The Texas Department of Safetyand members of Texas AccuSearch
spent Thursday going back overseveral areas near where Jason's
(07:46):
car had been found, looking foranything that might have been
missed in the initial search.
They did not come up withanything, and they did admit
that they were starting to fearthe worst.
A reporter asked Kent if hethought Jason might be hiding
somewhere, maybe afraid to comehome because he had wrecked his
parents' car, but Kent didn'tthink that that was the case.
He did, however, have a messagefor Jason.
(08:08):
This message was don't worryabout getting in trouble, the
car is just a stupid car.
We love you.
Call someone, call the police,call home.
We just want you home.
A week after Jason went missing, there had been little progress
made in locating him.
A prayer vigil was held for themissing man on December 20th of
2020, and his parents thankedthe community for all of their
(08:30):
support during the searchefforts.
Kent noted we are living in theworst dreams of every parent.
It feels like a bad dream, abad dream that we've been hoping
to wake up from, and I pray myson is alive and pray that
someone is hopefully taking careof him.
The Caldwell County Sheriff'sOffice was not immediately
called to investigate Jason'sdisappearance.
The highway patrol officerhadn't thought that there was
(08:52):
anything unusual about theaccident.
This meant that theinvestigators from the Sheriff's
Office never had a chance tolook at the car before it was
towed to an impound lot.
Jason had been missing fornearly a week before the case
was transferred to them.
Caldwell County SergeantWilliam Miller admitted there
were certain things that weren'tdone in the first hours after
(09:13):
the discovery.
We were not conducting a truemissing persons investigation at
that time.
Once the case was handed overto the sheriff's office, they
had to play a lot of catch up.
They were working to determinewhere Jason had been in the
hours before the car crash andthey were interviewing his
friends and his classmates.
On December 22nd of 2020,volunteers with Texas Ecusearch
(09:35):
said that they would besuspending their search for
Jason.
At the time, they were feelingthat the entire area had been
thoroughly searched withoutfinding any evidence of him.
They assumed that his familywould launch another search if
the sheriff's office developedany credible leads about where
Jason might be.
Investigators combed through anadditional 300 acres of land
(09:56):
near Luling, but did not findany sign of Jason.
They also used a drone to takevideo footage of the entire area
, which was then painstakinglycombed through for any potential
evidence.
As with all the other searches,however, all results came up
empty again.
As the physical search forJason drew to a sad close,
caldwell County Sheriff at thetime, daniel Law, felt confident
(10:18):
that the missing man was notanywhere within the 31 square
miles that had been searched.
He states we will not speculateon what may have happened to
Jason, but we feel the vast areasurrounding the accident scene
has been thoroughly searched andJason still has not been found.
Detectives from the CaldwellCounty Sheriff's Office traveled
to Missouri City andinterviewed his parents and his
(10:41):
siblings.
They also collected severalthings that had been found
inside of Jason's car so thatthey could be processed for
potential forensic evidence.
Kent made a public appeal foranyone with any information
about his son's whereabouts toplease come forward.
He stated If someone knowssomething or might know
something might have seen him,please tell someone.
(11:03):
He was desperate to have hisson home in time for Christmas.
Sergeant Miller told reportersthat he didn't have enough
information to form an opinionabout what had happened to Jason
, but he was still hoping tofind him alive.
He went on to state.
We are trying to run down allour leads.
It would have been easier if wehad started a week ago.
Jason's family agreed they werevery critical of the way the
(11:25):
Texas Department of PublicSafety had handled the case and
wondered if Jason would havebeen found immediately had the
case been assigned to thesheriff's office from the very
beginning.
On January 29th of 2021, theCaldwell County Sheriff's Office
stated that they had been ableto gain access to most of
Jason's cell phone and computerdata.
(11:45):
They learned that he hadbriefly stopped using his GPS to
open Snapchat on his phone at11.24pm on the night that he
disappeared.
He missed a turn and ended upon Salt Flat Road where his car
was found at 12.31am.
Although his cell phone wasstill on and had a signal, he
never used it again after 11.24pm and officials were trying to
(12:07):
determine what happened afterthis point.
In a Facebook post, thesheriff's office wrote there is
no evidence that Jason wastraveling to meet with or had
communicated intent to meet withanybody in or around Lolling.
They believed he had ended upon the isolated dirt road simply
by accident after missing aturn he should have taken.
(12:28):
The Caldwell County Sheriff'sOffice and the Texas Rangers
were working together to processevidence in this case.
This included submittingseveral of the items for DNA
testing to confirm that theybelonged to Jason.
On February 26th of 2021, texasSearch and Rescue conducted a
three-day search for Jason.
The group used dog teams,searchers on horseback, drones
(12:50):
and helicopters to scourCaldwell County.
They covered around 50 squaremiles but unfortunately found no
sign of Jason.
In May of 2021, jason's familyannounced that they were
offering a $10,000 reward forany information leading to his
safe return home.
Tolita Copeland, a retired FBIagent who volunteered to search
for missing people, noted If youknow anything or if you've seen
(13:12):
anything, we can protect you.
We can keep you confidential.
Just call us and talk to us.
A year after Jason set out todrive home for the holidays, he
was still missing and althoughhis case remained open,
investigators had not been ableto develop any substantial leads
and still had no idea what hadhappened to him.
Both the Caldwell CountySheriff's Office and Texas
(13:34):
Search and Rescue had conductedseveral additional searches for
the missing student, but had notfound any clues to where his
whereabouts were.
Months went by and the casestarted to stall, and by
December of 2022, jason had beenmissing for two years and
investigators couldn't agreeabout what happened to him.
While detectives with theCaldwell County Sheriff's Office
(13:55):
believe that Jason walked awayfrom the accident and vanished
on his own, his parents and theretired FBI investigator think
that he was the victim of acrime.
Kent thinks that the initialofficer on the scene wrote Jason
off the moment that he foundmarijuana in his backpack.
He stated it just feels likeyour child is discarded because
they treated everything withthis investigation with such
(14:17):
indifference.
Kent went on to point out thathe was the one who found Jason's
clothing in the road afterJason's car had already been
towed.
By the second anniversary oftheir son's disappearance, kent
and Lisa had resigned themselvesto the fact that Jason was
likely no longer alive, but theywanted to know what actually
happened to him and they wantedto bring him home for a proper
(14:38):
burial.
Abel Pena, a retired FBI agentwho heads Project Absentees, a
non-profit organization thathelps the families of missing
persons, said that he and histeam of investigators believe
that Jason met with foul play.
He states I think that thebiggest red flags for us were
the clothes just being laidwhere they were.
We all agreed it appeared likeit was staged.
(14:59):
He doesn't believe Jason wasbehind the wheel of the car when
it crashed.
Caldwell County Sheriff'sCaptain Jeff Ferry agrees that
Jason is likely dead, but hedoesn't believe that it was a
result of a crime.
He noted that Jason hadmessaged his friends about
marijuana and other personalthings that night.
He states when we look at thetotality of things, it really
(15:19):
paints a picture of almost aninternal crisis that Jason was
dealing with.
He thinks that Jason fled onfoot after crashing his car and
they have just been unable tofind his remains.
Jason's parents just want tofind him, no matter what the
reason behind his disappearancewas or might be.
Kent pointed out that the lawenforcement seemed to make their
mind up immediately that Jasonwas just a college kid on drugs
(15:43):
and thus put little effort intofinding him.
They saw his clothes lying inthe middle of the road and
didn't even bother to pick themup.
If you literally think there issome college student naked in a
30 degree weather night,shouldn't you at least search
for him?
For Jason's parents, siblings,friends and other relatives, he
will always be more than justanother missing college student.
(16:04):
They have done everythingpossible over the past two years
to raise awareness aboutJason's disappearance and make
sure that he is not forgotten.
They have held prayer vigils,organized searches and raised
reward money.
They hold their breath everytime an unidentified body is
found and they hold on to thememories of all the good times
that they shared with Jason,praying that they will one day
(16:26):
be reunited with him.
Jason David Landry was just 21years old when he went missing
from Lulling, texas, in Decemberof 2020.
Jason was driving home toMissouri City, texas, from his
apartment at Texas StateUniversity in San Margo when he
vanished.
The circumstances surroundinghis disappearance are murky and
(16:48):
investigators have been unableto determine exactly what
happened to him that night.
Jason has brown hair and browneyes, and at the time that he
disappeared he was 6 feet 1inches tall and weighed 170
pounds.
Jason has a scar on his leftankle and one on the right side
of his neck.
If you have any informationabout Jason or if you know
(17:10):
anybody who does, please contactthe Caldwell County Sheriff's
Office at 512-398-6777.
You can also call anonymouslyat 726-777-1359.
There is also a Facebook pagethat you can follow that friends
and family really contribute to, and it is titled Missing
(17:33):
Person-Jason Landry Alrighty.
So it's that time, guys, to saygoodbye.
But before I do so, I just wantto send a thank you to all of
my listeners for your continuedlove and support and for sending
(17:55):
in cases that you want coveredand stories that you want read
on the podcast.
We truly accept all stories,including scary, paranormal and
funny.
Any cases you want covered orstories that you want read on
the podcast, just please sendthem in to darkcrossroadspodcast
at gmailcom.
Thank you for hanging out againtoday and if you want any more
information about the podcast orcases and stories that we cover
(18:18):
, then head on over to thewebsite at
wwwdarkcrossroadspodcastcom.
There you can find all of theinformation about the podcast, a
link to our merch and also ourblog covering all of the cases
that we cover.
You can also find us on allsocial media platforms.
Don't forget to like share ratereview.
Subscribe wherever you'relistening to us.
(18:39):
You can subscribe to thepodcast for bonus information.
There is a link in all episodesin the notes that will send you
to our subscription page andwith that you will get bonus
content, discount on futuremerch and a lot of extra goodies
.
Every single dollar that comesthrough donations or through our
subscription goes straight intothe podcast, helping fund
research and it really helps usout and keeps this podcast going
(19:03):
.
And with all of this said,please don't forget to be weird,
stay different and don't trustanyone.
Dark crossroads podcast isbrought to you by Problem
(19:37):
Wildlife.
Problem Wildlife serves all ofwestern Massachusetts and has
been humanely protecting yourhouse and your family from
unwanted pests for over 20 years.
Take back your space with ananimal control service that you
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They are family-owned, fullylicensed and are knowledgeable
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To find out more about theirservice, simply visit their
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