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August 16, 2024 36 mins
Send us a textChapter 7: Joey...According to Others
What we know about William Joseph Benton, according to police reports, reports, and first hand experiences.

Joey declined our invitation to interview for the podcast.

Thank you to our episode sponsor:

Wicked Ever After Podcast  A true crime podcast on YouTube by Stephanie Moram

Don't miss Jules' weekly true crime podcast, True Crime and Headlines with Jules & Jen

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10 % of all profits from this podcast will be donated back to the Wix family to fund their costs in this journey of justice.

For more information, visit our website www.missinginhushtown.com

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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(01:53):
been listening. I'm your host, Jules Thorpe, an independent investigative
podcaster living in the same town where Jennifer and Adriana
Wicks went missing from in two thousand and four. This
is Missing a Touchdown Season one, Chapter seven, Joey. According
to others, the following is a text message verbatim which

(02:49):
I sent to Joey Benton's phone quote, Hi, Joey, this
is Casey's co producer for our podcast, and I wanted
to reach out again and ask if you would consider
being interviewed for the podcast. So much as being said
about you around you for you, but none of it
comes from you, and I wanted to give you the
opportunity to address anything you want. I can send over

(03:11):
questions for you to approve ahead of time. I encourage
all my guests to record our sessions as well for
their peace of mind. We can do a phone interview
for convenience if you wish, or I have an office
in Springfield Square at small Town Startup. I'm not asking
any questions about March twenty fifth, two thousand and four.
I want to know about you, your childhood, your small

(03:34):
town experience, your friendships, your love with Jennifer, how Adriana
adored you, what your life has been like since they disappeared.
Casey and I talked, and we want to tell everyone's
story and tell it fairly. End quote, no reply. I
had to sit on what I was going to do
next for a while. I didn't want to hurt anybody's reputation, career, relationships,

(03:58):
or life. And I know the podcasts are known to
dive deep into who people are. But Joey didn't reply,
He didn't give his consent to being involved in this project.
And then one day, behind the scenes, Casey calls me
and she shares with me that now we have confirmation
from inside the Benton family that we are no longer

(04:19):
looking for the girls alive. We now believe that we
are searching for their remains to bring home the remains
of Jennifer, the remains a baby Adriana, and I got upset.
For twenty years, Joey Benton has held on with a
firm grip to the narrative he put out into the

(04:40):
world that he dropped the girls off at the Exxon station.
And now I was sitting in my house listening to
Casey tell me in detail what and how we know
and what we know, and that the girls never made
it to the gas station, and I made a decision.
It didn't matter if Joey didn't willingly become involved in
this podcast. He involved himself twenty years ago when he

(05:04):
was promising a life to Jennifer. He involved himself twenty
years ago when he knowingly allowed a little two year
old girl named Adriana to become attached to him, to
trust him, to love him. My decision was this, tell
the story. Tell the story as involved, as respectful, but
as truthful as I could, because Jennifer and Adriana Wikes
never got to have a say and how their lives

(05:26):
ended no matter who was responsible. The truth we choose
to believe is this, someone in that Benton home knows
how Jennifer and Adriana died on March twenty fifth, two
thousand and four, and someone in that home went to
great lengths to make sure nobody outside of those four

(05:47):
walls would ever know. But they didn't account for the
dogged pursuit of Jennifer's family to bring her and her
baby home. When I taught high school English, we would
build a character chart based upon what people said about
and to the character you. So often someone can be

(06:09):
figured out by watching the way others react around them.
When people die, we tend to say how special that
person was, focus on their accolades, celebrate their strengths. But
Jennifer's family has never pretended that she was perfect. In fact,
Casey says, Jennifer was absolutely not perfect. She made some
poor choices. She made some impulsive choices. She didn't always

(06:31):
light up a room or look happy. She was real
and her family loved her as she was. But what
Jennifer wasn't was mean. She wasn't malicious, she wasn't abusive,
and from what I've heard about Jennifer, she would have
done anything in her power to protect her little girl,
and she absolutely wasn't going to go down without a fight. Now,

(06:56):
I do not believe we can even truly scratch the
surface on someone's identity without knowing them in some degree.
We need to know their upbringing, their bonded relationships, their experiences,
their successes, their failures, their traumas, etc. Everything that someone
has gone through has you know shaped who they are.
It's true for me, it's true for you listening. And

(07:18):
since we cannot get close enough for the podcast to
tell Joey's story, all we can do is tell it
in relation to Jennifer, because after this, this is a
story for Jennifer and Adriana. And Jennifer loved Joey.

Speaker 6 (07:33):
She did.

Speaker 5 (07:34):
Jennifer loved you, Joey. If you're listening, Jennifer truly loved
you Joey. Adriana truly loved you Joey, and you were
the last known person to see her alive. So let's
share what we know about Joey. According to others, Joey
is the youngest child to parents Cynthia Binkley and Joseph

(07:55):
Frank Benton. Now it does at times get confusing, as
they are two individuals in the household that go by
joe But to clear any confusion, Joey Jennifer's fiance will
always be Joey in this podcast. And as I battle
what is ethical and podcast journaling in regards to how
much to share about Joey in his life, I go

(08:16):
back to the foundations of my company and the Audio
House LLC. When I form that company, I put one
question down in front of me that I always want
to ask. Am I helping the case or hurting the case?
And this is currently an active case going on in
the background. I will not be diving into any speculation

(08:36):
about Joey's childhood of possible or not possible trauma, abuse,
mental health suspicions, or anything else. So this chapter will
be strictly based on need to know facts. When we
have to remember that unless we leave an open mind,
women being closed off to any other possible leads this
case will take us. As I am sure many people

(08:57):
are wondering at this point, Jules, do you think Joey
killed Jennifer and Adriana into that? I say, it doesn't
matter what I think, so no, I will never say
on this podcast whether or not I believe Joey killed
the girls. Do I believe Joey knows where the girls'
remains are?

Speaker 7 (09:14):
Yes?

Speaker 5 (09:15):
Oh yes I do and I can't And I will
back up that claim in the last episode of this
podcast with the help of our fierce Wicks warrior, Casey
and co producer on this podcast. And if I may
be bold enough to say this out loud on a
nationally published podcast, it is my opinion, after fifteen months
of intense research that Jennifer and Adriana Wicks never left

(09:40):
the Benton property alive, full stop. I cannot and will
not share my own theories. All I will do right
now is present the information we have, and then I'll
invite the conversations. That's what we have to do, is
get everybody talking. What we don't want to do is
insighte vigil anties. This podcast's purpose is to get the

(10:03):
conversation started and get it so loud that justice cannot
be drowned out any longer in a town. Who is
now shouting for answers, so let's keep going. Joey has
an older sister named Amy.

Speaker 6 (10:16):
Joe.

Speaker 5 (10:17):
Here's a childhood front of Amy sharing about what it
was like sleeping over at the Benton household when they
were young kids.

Speaker 6 (10:24):
My involvement was that I went to school with Amy
Joe in fourth grade and I would spend the night
at the house. And it's just really weird things that
would happen over there at that time that I didn't
think of as a fourth grader, but now that I'm
forty something that it's just really not right.

Speaker 8 (10:46):
Well, we'd get to the house, like after school, I
lived down the road from her, and the parents to
like my parents were all.

Speaker 6 (10:56):
Like, you know, real nice and everything, but once they
were alone away from like my mom and dad and stuff.

Speaker 8 (11:06):
And we were at their house a kind of weird.

Speaker 6 (11:10):
Standof fish sort of. And I can't remember the mama's name,
I just called her Miss Benton. She would immediately take
us from in the house. We'd go through the kitchen,
walk down a long hallway, go straight to Amy and
Joe's room and she'd shut the door and lock it

(11:31):
from the outside interestine mm hm, And so you know,
we'd be in there, and of course Amy's room was
next to the graveyard, and we'd talk about who's gonna
sleep on one side of bed, that sort of.

Speaker 8 (11:45):
Thing girls would do at that time.

Speaker 6 (11:47):
And I would just ask her.

Speaker 8 (11:50):
I'd be like, can I go to the bathroom?

Speaker 6 (11:52):
And she'd say, well, we have to knock on the door,
and mom would come and take us to the bathroom.

Speaker 5 (11:58):
What like That was a typical thing for Amy.

Speaker 7 (12:03):
That wasn't odd to her.

Speaker 6 (12:04):
Yeah, No, she seemed like it was just a totally
normal thing. And Joey would be in his room and
like they had those little latch latches from the outside,
like on a screen door, from the outside of the
door to like.

Speaker 8 (12:20):
The little thing, I can't think of it, the little
you know, part around the door, and they'd latch it.

Speaker 6 (12:29):
They'd lock us in our rooms, and they'd locked Joey
in his room, and so like Amy would have to
go up to the door and she knock like three times,
and the mama would come to the.

Speaker 8 (12:40):
Door, open it up and say, what do y'all need?

Speaker 6 (12:43):
And I'd be like, I have to go to the restroom,
and so she would walk me to the bathroom and
shut the door and lock it from the outside. It's
just really screwed up.

Speaker 5 (12:54):
What, Yeah, you had to knock to get out of
the bathroom.

Speaker 8 (12:57):
I had to knock to get out of the bathroom.
And then it was that must like.

Speaker 6 (13:00):
You were in jail, and you'd have to go out
of the bathroom and then take a left and go
down the hall straight back to Amy's room, and she'd
shut us in there and she'd say, I'll bring y'all
some drinks and a snack in about fifteen minute.

Speaker 8 (13:16):
Child should be fine.

Speaker 6 (13:19):
I would ask Amy. I was like, why are they
locking us in here?

Speaker 8 (13:23):
You know, why can't we go to the den and
watch TV or something.

Speaker 6 (13:28):
And she'd say, well, they just want to keep us
away from dad. Mom wants to just keep us away
from dad. I don't know at that point, as a
fourth grader, I was like, oh, okay, you know, maybe
he's just not.

Speaker 8 (13:41):
In a good mood today. But she'd come back and she'd.

Speaker 6 (13:47):
Have like kool aid and it used to be ding
dongs came in a silver wrapper and.

Speaker 8 (13:55):
She'd open the door, and it would be in a
little bob, not.

Speaker 6 (14:01):
Like on a plate or on a little TV tray
or something. For us.

Speaker 8 (14:05):
It was like a little hardbore box.

Speaker 6 (14:07):
And she'd say, when y'all are finished with this, just
set it on the inside the door, inside the room,
and I'll come and check on y'all in thirty minutes
and bring y'all dinner. And she blocked the door back.

Speaker 8 (14:21):
And then when I found out later.

Speaker 6 (14:23):
That she was so drugs and messed up and went
to a mental place and whatnot, I was like, Okay,
something is must have been happening while I was not
at the house my SHO was growing up.

Speaker 5 (14:45):
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(18:42):
direct customer messaging, and in app marketing tools, They're your
ultimate local list hometown connect. In a police report with
the Robertson County Sheriff's Office, it's documented that Kathy stated
how Joey Benton's parents seldom let Joey out of their

(19:04):
sight and do things on his own. I don't know
the extent of this, but it appears to align with
the things we've heard. Joey grew up in Robertson County, Tennessee,
where his home address is in the city of Springfield,
but it's just a few roads away from cross Plains,
and cross Plains is where the small town high School

(19:25):
of East Robertson is. And this is the same high
school that Jennifer went to for ninth and tenth grade,
the same one that Joey graduated from. Joey was a
few years older than his former friend CC Collins. When
we were asking around the community for any friends or
any former friends of Joey, Benten's to come forward and
talk to us. TC collins name continued to pop up.

(19:49):
Casey reached out to him and asked if he would
consider coming onto our podcast. After thoughtful consideration, he said yes.
One of TC's main motivating factors for coming on the
podcast was to clear his name. Throughout the years since
the girls went missing, there have been numerous rumors, and,
according to TC, allegations that he knew or was involved

(20:11):
with what happened to Jennifer and Adriana Wicks. The following
excerpts from my two and a half hour sit down
conversation with TC. What I think you'll find especially interesting
is that TC came into Joey's life as a best
friend less than a month after the girls disappeared. Yes,
they had known each other and seen each other around,
but it wasn't until Jennifer and Adriana disappeared and TC

(20:34):
went through a devastating heartbreak that the two became close.
Take a listen.

Speaker 10 (20:40):
I am Thomas Collins. I grew up in Cross Plains, Tennessee,
and everybody knows me as TC Collins. I only actually
spent about a year of my life hanging out with
Joey and that started about a month to the day

(21:01):
after the girls came up missing. But the first time
I hung out with and now I knew who he
wasn't and and you know, from around town, I heard
his name a couple of times, but I, for whatever reason,
it never clicked that he was the one that everybody
was talking about. It was his girlfriend and her kid

(21:22):
that was missing. Never occurred to me, but my girlfriend
at the time, after we left hanging out that very
first time, she said, you know who that was, right? So, well, yes,
joe she said, you know, you know he's the one
with the missing girlfriend and kid.

Speaker 7 (21:40):
And it floored. I was like, you're kidding. And so.

Speaker 10 (21:45):
After that it just it was I mean, I hate
to get into big time story time or anything, but
this is just how it happened beginning.

Speaker 7 (21:53):
And then.

Speaker 10 (21:56):
Me and her actually broke up within that next week
or two, and so Joey called me for something. However,
it was we hooked up, and we kind of struck
up a friendship. I, like I said, had hung out
with him once before I even knew and and he

(22:18):
made an impression on me. You know, it just seemed like,
you know, a cool dude. He was in sports I was.
And then after the fact, whenever we hung out and
it was just us, we found that we had in
common that we were both going through a tough time,
you know, with his being with Jennifer and adriannimiss and

(22:41):
mind being with having that breakup, because it was my
first real breakup.

Speaker 8 (22:46):
I was a kid.

Speaker 7 (22:46):
I was like eighteen years old, so you know, it
was it was a bigger deal than it sounds like.
I mean, it was. We were both pretty pathetic that's time.
But I never did I didn't spend a whole lot
of time around his mom and dad.

Speaker 10 (23:05):
But the times that I spent around him, Miss Cindy
was always just sweet and.

Speaker 7 (23:13):
Nice to me. I did not.

Speaker 10 (23:16):
Ever in my life meet Jennifer or Adriana, and I
didn't know that Joey had a girlfriend until after the fact,
you know. And the first time me and the ex
girlfriend went and hung out that was I want to
say April twenty fourth or fifty. It was almost to
the day a month, so it was just, you know,

(23:38):
a coincidence. But I guess, I really I cannot understand
why people think that if he did something that he
would told anybody lit on me we had only known
each other for a couple of months, you know. I
mean he had other friends you know too, in particular,
but that were there honestly and had been for years.

(24:01):
They were all cronies. My main objective is that if
there's anything I can say about my experience there that
will help's case and get those girls found, that's what
needs to happen. I want more than anything for these
girls to be found. It would I lose sleep over

(24:23):
it now because it runs through my mind constantly that
if I had just not been so naive, maybe if
I wasn't so lonely then needs a friend so bad
just like he did that maybe I had been maybe
I'd have paid more attention to things that would have
been helpful. But I did not want to believe that

(24:46):
my friend or his family were capable of something like this,
because it's terrific. I mean, it's a baby even in
never mind you know the mother, you know what I mean?
Just maybe alone is enough to make me feel like
I mean, I just I don't know how people anybody's

(25:09):
capable of, you know, Honestly, I did not have a reason.
I knew in the back of my mind I had
to be careful about making assumptions or pre assumptions because
me and him were compatible, and I liked him and
I needed a friend, and I knew that, you know,

(25:30):
I'm smart, and I've gotten wherewith all know that, you know.
But I didn't see anything that told me that these
people were killers or that there was a motive. But
I will say it is I don't know why they've
asked me so many questions over the years, because in

(25:52):
the past maybe month or two, I found out more
about in a front Agerana in the case and the
Venton's in that whole time period right before I came
around then, I have ever known, never witnessed him.

Speaker 7 (26:11):
Do a search or even.

Speaker 10 (26:16):
Participate in event or a search, and I definitely never
witnessed him try to call her. Actually, I guess in
twenty years, this the first time I've ever really put
that one together. I never really did see him try
to find him. I mean, I know, you know it's

(26:38):
been said, you know you're not helping, doing anything to help,
but no, Actually, to my knowledge, I never once seen
him take any initiative. But now, at the same time,
what I was, you know, my friend of mine then
was well, you know, that they broke up and he

(27:03):
said he was done, period, didn't mourner around. It's crazy.
You know where I'm from, small town, and it's funny
how everybody talks until it makes the difference. I talk
because I'm not scared. I'm going to tell what I
have to say, period. I'm not afraid.

Speaker 7 (27:21):
And the thing is, they.

Speaker 10 (27:24):
Everybody I've asked a million times, what is my motive
for not telling? Everybody knows I didn't know Joey then
you know, I just happened to meet him like a
month later. I mean, not meet met, but it was
the first time we ever spoke one on one. Please
understand I'm one hundred percent different persons today than I

(27:46):
was then. Yeah, I wanted to put a stot to
it because there's a couple of things I need to say.
I might get arrested for it, but I'm gonna have
to say it. This part's important, and this is what
I want people to know because I haven't been allowed
to say it in twenty years, and I'm tired of
them telling me what Canny can't say.

Speaker 7 (28:06):
It's censorship.

Speaker 10 (28:09):
I understand not hindering an investigation, but I gave these
folks information twenty years ago that they've done nothing with,
Like the TBI told me not to tell Robertson County
or anybody else anything because they were flubbing the investigation

(28:30):
as was. Robertson County told me not to tell the
TVI or anybody else because it was their investigation. I
witnessed the man one time in the year that I
knew him, cry crocodile tears one night telling me this story.

(28:54):
It's hard for me to believe that he put on
a show like that was Joey, didn't have a flair
for the dramatic at all, and tears to me coming
from him, He's in pain one way or the other.

Speaker 6 (29:17):
And so.

Speaker 10 (29:20):
I, in my personal opinion, I believe it knows something.
I just don't believe that he had the heart to
do anything to either of them girls, but.

Speaker 7 (29:32):
Helping cover it up. This is all speculation. I don't know,
and I've not been told that.

Speaker 10 (29:40):
I mean, I was told something, but it was like later,
you know, he told me it was a lie in
TBI and Robertson County couldn't do anything. Well, okay, I'll
tell you the details. And he came to me a
couple couple weeks later and said, well, that story I
told you wasn't true. I told you that just because

(30:02):
there were so many rumors going around at the time,
and I had and I made that one up, and
I wanted to see if it got back to me,
to see if I could trust you. Sounds good, but
it sounds now that I'm almost a forty year old man,
like a crocer stuff. It's now sounding very convenient. But

(30:28):
what if I told that story to somebody and that
that was if I only told the one person and
it just happened to be the right person, that that
was the thing that caused the problem. In a case
like that, they want somebody to blame. You know, I

(30:50):
couldn't take that chance. I mean, still not willing to
take that chance. But I'm willing to do everything that
I can do to help this family. But what I
want people to know is that I have not been
allowed to. You know this is this was the thing
that I kept getting for a solid at least five
to seven years. It was constant, constant. Message is constant.

(31:15):
You know, I see somebody sees me at the story.
They got to stop me. Just tell me how screwed
up it is that I would, you know, help defend
the murder and this, and that it's like I've always
done exactly what I'm doing now. I tell the truth
best my ability. My opinion has changed a little. But

(31:39):
back then, if somebody asked me if I thought they
did it, I said, I would say if he did,
he didn't tell me, and he's doing a real good
job hoting, I said, but no, I don't believe that
he did.

Speaker 7 (31:57):
And I still don't. I I believe that the.

Speaker 10 (32:03):
I believe it'd be more feasible to think that something
happened and he got put into the middle of it
by family members or somebody that he cared about.

Speaker 7 (32:20):
And you know, because.

Speaker 10 (32:25):
After seeing him, you know, cry that night, and after
telling the story he told me, you know, it just
appeared to me that.

Speaker 7 (32:40):
It was either.

Speaker 10 (32:42):
He did something accidentally or he didn't do anything at all.
And he was crying because he was number one, absolutely
going to be screwed for being involved. But the people
that he was protecting are people you can't not protect. Honestly,

(33:04):
I mean, what do you do if it's if it
happened allegedly to be your mother and father.

Speaker 7 (33:11):
You know, I've asked myself that a million times.

Speaker 10 (33:14):
What would I do if if if my mom and dad,
you know, a totally different situations, totally different people. But
but but if that didn't it happened, you know, what
would I What would I do, you know if if
something like that happened. But I still am holding on

(33:35):
to hope that they are innocent. But I'm not holding
on very much, you know. I just I think it's
more pride and ego telling me that I was so
naive that I missed something that big, because now I

(33:57):
feel like I should have asked more questions, I should
have paid more attention.

Speaker 7 (34:01):
But like I said, I did not want to know.
I you know, Plausible deniability.

Speaker 5 (34:07):
The duplicity of Joey. The side that others saw who
was patient with Adriana, kind to Adriana, and loved Adriana.
The side of Joey who wanted to become a family
with Jennifer. The side of Joey who handbuilt and carved
a wooden rocking horse for Adriana, one that was still
there in the party bar when TC became friends with

(34:27):
Joey after the girls was disappearance.

Speaker 10 (34:30):
He handmade rocking horse that he made for Adriana. That
was like one of the first things that I saw
when I came in. I think, oh, cool rocking horse.

Speaker 7 (34:43):
You know.

Speaker 10 (34:43):
It was a nice little rocking horse. And he said, yeah,
I built that for Adriana. She never even got to
sit on it. I want to say he didn't burn
it or anything. I but I'm not saying he didn't.
I just I know that a law of the wood,
those around there got burned. You know, we have bonfire

(35:06):
and the same spot every night for like three months.

Speaker 5 (35:10):
When we look at single incidents like the time Joey
brought out a gun and threatened to harm Jennifer and
Adrianna back in the fall of two thousand and three,
it's just that an incident. However, what we want to
make sure is that this isn't a pattern of behavior,
and unfortunately I do believe it is. But then there's
that other side of Joey, the Joey who appeared to

(35:30):
struggle with drug addiction, who had police reports filed on
him by other girlfriends for his aggressive behavior. I say
all this to say, how could a family who knows
this history be so shocked When people start to wonder
if they had anything to do with the disappearance of
two girls who were living on their own property. But

(35:52):
then again, if the girls' remains were on the property,
when it couldaverdogs be able to find them? What if
I told you that three different cadaver dogs with three
different handlers hit on one spot in the woods on
the bent and property. Next time on the smash. Thank

(36:48):
you to our episode sponsors Prater Industrial Services providing complete
piping construction on the industrial level and honest air heating
and cooling honest, fast, reliable. Missing in Hushtown was executive
produced and written by Me your Host Jewles with Anlee
Audio House LLC. Casey Robinson was co producer. Special thanks

(37:10):
to John Thorpe, Patrick Robinson, my parents and Jen Rivera,
and to our children. To follow our continued efforts on
Justice for Jennifer and Adriana Wicks. You can find us
on Facebook at Justice for Jennifer and Adriana Wicks. This
page is personally managed by Casey herself and you can
find me Jewles Hi on Instagram at your Host Jewles.

(37:31):
Notes and updates can be found on our website www
dot Missing in Hushtown dot com. Please help us continue
to grow by considering leaving a five star review and
rating wherever you're listening. If you have a tip for
this case, please please call one eight hundred TBI find
help us bring the Wicks girls home. To donate to
this family's continued fight for justice, please visit GoFundMe dot

(37:54):
com slash Jennifer and Adriana Wicks and to support the
podcast and to help us continue this production, you may
click support the show in the show notes and donate
a wis Kiss. Ten percent of all profits from season
one I'm Missing in Hushtown will be given to the
Wicks family indefinitely. As always, You're wanted, you are loved,

(38:17):
and you deserve to be found. Don't you forget it.
I'll see you next time.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
Hey guysid is Ryan.

Speaker 11 (38:25):
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