When 43-year-old Crystal McCrory Jones was found dead in her Louisiana home, the official explanation was quick and convenient: suicide. But her family knew better. What followed was a trail of suspicious behavior, unanswered questions, and a system that seemed more interested in protecting itself and a potential suspect than getting to the bottom of what really happened. In this episode, we are walking through the timeline of Crystal’s final days and the details that don’t add up. Something happened here, and her family refuses to let it be hidden. This is only part one. Stay tuned for the constant unfolding of Crystal's story over the following weeks. We have a lot to discuss.
Please sign the petition in support of reopening the investigation into Crystal's death: https://www.change.org/p/reopen-investigation-into-death-of-crystal-mccrory-jones
Connect with Jana / Stay up to date on Crystal's case:
Connect with Paige:
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Please sign the petition in support of reopening the investigation into Crystal's death: https://www.change.org/p/reopen-investigation-into-death-of-crystal-mccrory-jones
Connect with Jana / Stay up to date on Crystal's case:
- Twitter/X: https://www.twitter.com/janaglautigar
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justiceforcrystalmccroryjones
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@justiceforcrystalmccrory
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3074535702847225
- Jana's Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/justiceforcrystalmccroryjones
- Justice Denied - A Sister's Fight for Justice by Jana Guyewski-Lautigar: https://tinyurl.com/bdcy6za3
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Reverie True Crime, your gateway to the
darkest corners of human nature, where we expose the hidden
truths of human depravity. These harrowing stories serve as a
sobering reminder to keep our senses keen and our awareness
sharp for predator's lurk in unexpected.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Places, patiently waiting and observing.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Join us as we unravel mysteries, explore motives, and seek
justice for victims as we bring awareness to these cases.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Listener discretion is advice.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Hello, and welcome to Revery True Crime. I'm your host page.
Sometimes the people we love are taken from us in
ways that don't make sense. And what hurts even more
is when those in charge of finding answers don't seem
to care enough to ask the right question questions. This
(01:02):
is one of those stories. Crystal McCrory Jones wasn't just
a mother, a sister, or a wife. She was the
glue in her family, the kind of person who gave
everything she had to the people she loved. And when
she died under deeply suspicious circumstances in February of twenty
(01:23):
twenty three, her family did what anyone would do. They
looked for the truth, but what they were met with
was silence, indifference, an outright dismissal from the very people
who were supposed to protect and investigate. This isn't only
(01:43):
a story about a woman who died. It's about what
happens when a community protects the wrong people, when evidence
is brushed aside, and when the system shrugs its shoulders
instead of stepping up. It's about a family left screaming
into the void, begging someone, anyone, to take them seriously.
(02:08):
These next few episodes may make you angry, and it
should because Crystal deserved better, her family deserves better, and
it's long past time someone listened. Let's talk about what
really happened to Crystal McRory Jones. She was born and
(02:30):
crossed at Arkansas on May seventeenth, nineteen seventy nine. She
was the second child and first daughter of Janie mcgilton
and Doyle Dwayne McCrory, and from early on it was
clear that Crystal had a strong will and even stronger heart.
She grew up in Bastrip, Louisiana, a tight knit community
(02:53):
where everyone knows everyone. Crystal graduated from Bastrip High School
in nineteen ninety seven, and not long after, she stepped
into the role that would define much of her life,
being a mom. Crystal had two sons, Corbin and Mason,
who quickly became the center of her universe. She raised
(03:18):
them with love and structure, and she worked hard, really hard,
to give them the kind of life she believed they deserved.
At first, she waited tables, grinding through long hours and
short paychecks, but her determination did not go unnoticed. Eventually,
(03:40):
she landed a job at State Farm Insurance as a
licensed office representative, a position that would not only offer
her stability, but also allow her to do what she
loved most, help people. Her coworkers and clients alike described
her as warm, outgoing and general trus the kind of
(04:01):
woman who remembered birthdays, brought in homemade treats, and always
had something encouraging to say. In her laugh, people still
talk about it, that full bodied, contagious kind of laugh
that just made you feel like you were in on
something special. In late twenty twenty, Crystal took a leap
(04:24):
of faith. Alongside her husband Tony Jones, she helped open
a martial arts studio in Oak Grove, Louisiana. It was
called Inner Peace Martial Arts. For Crystal, this wasn't just
a business. It was a passion project, a place where
people could feel empowered, supported and grounded. But like many
(04:47):
small businesses, the studio faced financial hurdles, especially toward the
end of twenty twenty two. Crystal made the tough but
responsible decision to return to her role at Sta Farm
in January of twenty twenty three, just a month before
her death. Her life was full of ordinary beauty. She
(05:10):
loved decorating her home, cooking meals from scratch, traveling with
her boys, and doting on her beloved dog Rocket. She
had a gift for bringing people together, whether for a
weekend barbecue, a holiday meal, or just a casual hangout
on the porch. Crystal wasn't flashy, she wasn't loud about
(05:35):
her accomplishments, but she left her mark on people in quiet,
lasting ways. Her friends talk about how she always made
time even when she was stretched thin. She could sense
when someone needed comfort before they even said a word.
And her family, they say that she was the glue,
(05:57):
the one who remembered every birthday, who called just to
check in, who would give her last dollar if someone
needed it. More. When Crystel passed away on February ninth,
twenty twenty three, it wasn't just a sudden loss. It
was a devastating rupture. And for those who knew Crystal,
(06:19):
the pain wasn't just about losing her. It was about
how she was lost, because nothing about her death made sense.
Not to them. They didn't just lose a sister, a mother,
a wife, a daughter. They lost a very bright light.
And when the questions about her final hours started to
(06:42):
roll in, it was the memory of who she was,
this picture of a strong, giving, ambitious woman, that made
it impossible to believe the official story. On February ninth,
twenty twenty three, in Goodwill, Louisiana, Crystal McRory Jones was
(07:02):
found deceased in her home from a gunshot wound. Her husband,
Tony Jones, supposedly concerned after she missed a doctor's appointment
and did not respond to calls and text got in
touch with Chuck Harris, a retired state trooper, current patrol
deputy at West Carroll Sheriff's Department, and school resource officer
(07:26):
at West Carroll School System, to perform a welfare check.
While Deputy Harris was entering the residence. Tony said that
he and Harris were on the phone the whole time,
and he told Deputy Harris how to get to the
bedroom and asked him to search there. Lying on the
bed with a pillow over her face and a handgun
(07:50):
in her right hand, the initial assessment by authorities suggested
a self inflicted gunshot wound. Before we get into the details,
let's step back and look at the events that led
up to this point. About a week before she died,
Crystal started tracking Tony's whereabouts through his cell phone. It
(08:11):
wasn't just a random act. She had grown suspicious about
certain aspects of Tony's life that she didn't think he
was being honest about. Due to those suspicions not being
totally confirmed by any rock solid evidence thus far, we
have to kind of leave it at that she was
(08:31):
very suspicious about something sinister. Crystal's sister, Janna, retrieved a
lot of her information from her cell phone that she
has documented records of. She found that Cristel's last location
activity on her phone was January twenty seventh, twenty twenty three,
at five forty four pm. Jana believes that this is
(08:54):
when Crystal signed into Tony's account to access his location,
because it was at that time when Crystal began tracking
the location and movements of Tony and his daily activities.
An email Jana found in Tony's trash folder in his
email account indicated he and Cristel had a ring camera
(09:18):
system at their home and that it had been updated
on that day as well, January twenty seventh. Sheriff Scott
Matthews has the only copy of that email. However, in
a recorded meeting with the sheriff that we will listen
to soon, Jana does tell him that her sister and
(09:39):
Tony have a ring doorbell camera and gave him the
email proof that a device was logged into that camera
on January twenty seventh. Tony told Cristel's brother Dane that
the camera had not been active in a month. Jana
came across something that really stood out. She had opened
(09:59):
Crystal's li laptop and noticed that, for whatever reason, she
was still logged into Tony's Google account. While she was
looking through it, Jenna ended up in his email and
there in the trash folder was a message stated February
seventh at nine fifteen pm, and she took a picture
of it. The email was from Google and it mentioned
(10:22):
that Tony's location history had been turned on in January.
It explained that location history is a setting tied to
your Google account. It basically creates a timeline mapping out
all the places you've been, your routes, and your trips.
Crystal must have seen this too and trashed it so
(10:44):
Tony wouldn't see it. This made it clear that she
had access to where Tony had been going. On February eighth,
twenty twenty three, the night before Crystal died, Tony went
through his phone and deleted some very specific contacts. It
wasn't just random names either. These were people whose connections
(11:07):
to him raised eyebrows, at least for Jana. A couple
of weeks later, on February twenty third, she and other
family members sat down with Sheriff Matthews and brought this
up in their recorded meeting as well. They even went
over the phone numbers tied to those deleted contacts, but
(11:27):
after that day it was never mentioned again. Sheriff Matthews
is the only one who still has copies of those numbers.
Jana had given them to him during that meeting, and
if you listen back to the recording, you can actually
hear him brushing it all off. He dismissed the fact
that Tony had deleted those contacts the night before Crystal's death,
(11:51):
like it wasn't a big deal. But here's the thing.
Some of the deleted contacts had their occupation saved in
Tony's fat One was a coroner, another a chief deputy,
a pastor, and someone listed as the manager or owner
of a restaurant called the Bakery barn An Oak Grove. Coincidentally,
(12:15):
that's the same place Tony had visited the day Crystal died.
Still February eighth, just about twelve hours before Crystel's estimated
time of death, something happened that's never sat right with Jana.
Someone logged into the shared AT and T phone account
that belonged to both Tony and Crystal. It was the
(12:37):
first time anyone had ever accessed it, and Jena only
knew about it because of an email she found buried
in Tony's trash folder. She wishes she still had that email,
but the only copy now is with Sheriff Matthews for reference.
During their recorded meeting with him, this came up as
(12:57):
well you'll hear Ja start to explain how all of
the pieces were starting to fit together. She showed him
more documents pulled from Crystal's laptop, including that at and
T email sent to Tony's inbox which said a one
time verification code had been requested. That happened at exactly
(13:20):
eleven forty am on February eighth, the day before everything changed.
The family truly believes, based on everything that they've gathered,
that it was Crystal who logged into the account. She
had begun to discover more than just suspicions. She was
(13:41):
following a trail piecing things together, and that log in
it feels like one of those final steps she took
and trying to understand what was really going on. February ninth,
twenty twenty three, at eight o six am, Tony Tis
and Crystal's home. That would be the last morning she
(14:04):
would be alive. By eight fifty four am, he had
arrived at an address and Bastrup. It was confirmed that
he was there to work on a refrigerator for a
man named Darren Billings. He didn't stay long. At nine
fifty nine am, he left that location less than an
(14:25):
hour later at ten fifty three am, Tony showed up
at three oh five East Main Street in Oak Grove.
That address was saved in his Google account as work.
But it's not just any workplace. It's the West Carol
Parish Sheriff's Department. And then at exactly eleven am, Crystal's
(14:50):
estimated time of death was recorded. That time is listed
on her death certificate officially given by the West Carroll
Parish corner Lewis Carter. That narrow window of time, those movements,
the locations, none of it feels like coincidence. At eleven
(15:10):
nine am, just nine minutes after arriving, Tony left the
West Carol Parish Sheriff's Department. Two minutes later, at eleven
eleven am, he pulled into the bakery barn close by.
He stayed there for about forty two minutes and then
left at eleven fifty three am. By twelve oh one pm,
(15:35):
Tony had arrived at Forest High School. This is the
place where Detective Alan Irby later claimed Tony had been
all day working. But that raised some serious red flags.
As someone who works within a public school system, Jana
knows how strict those environments are. She knows private maintenance
(15:58):
workers are not allowed to just go in and work
on school property, especially when their business license has been
revoked and they're not insured. Even if he had been
hired for something, school auditors would have flagged any payments
made to someone like Tony, considering he couldn't legally operate
(16:20):
under his LLC anymore. At one sixteen PM, a FedEx
package was delivered to the home that Crystal and Tony shared,
but no one answered the door. Then, at two forty
three pm, Tony checked out his daughter from Forrest High.
What strange is that any other day she would ride
(16:42):
the bus home, but on this day he took her himself.
Why did he not want her to walk into a
scene that would traumatize her for the rest of her life.
What followed next is even more suspicious. Records show that
instead of taking the direct nine minute route to Sonic,
(17:04):
Tony drove around Oak Grove slowly, so slowly that GPS
datus shows him stopping in town between three oh three
and three ten pm for a full seven minutes. No
exact address was recorded, and all in all, it took
him thirty five minutes to drive just six point two
(17:27):
miles to the Sonic drive in again, this was a
trip that would have taken no more than ten minutes.
He finally arrived at Sonic at three twenty five pm
and stayed until three point fifty seven pm when he left.
His next stop was Walmart, which should have just been
(17:47):
a three minute drive away. Instead, it took him six
minutes to go just one point five miles. At four
oh three pm, he and his daughter arrived at the
Walmart supercenter and left only eight minutes later at four eleven.
Then at four sixteen, a Google search was recorded from
(18:09):
a Galaxy S eight plus, which would be Tony's phone,
looking up East Carol Medical Clinic, Lake Providence, Louisiana. All
of this paints a timeline filled with questionable gaps and
strange detours on a day that already carried such heavyweight.
(18:30):
Jana arrived at her sister Crystal's home at exactly five
oh eight pm. What should have been a twenty six
minute drive from Bastrup only took her sixteen minutes. She
even drove through three separate towns. Meanwhile, Tony had only
been moving around within one town. When Jana pulled up,
(18:53):
the scene looked like something out of a crime show.
Several marked patrol cars line the road, emergency lights flashing.
In the dusk, A corner type vehicle was pulled into
the driveway and the front yard had already been wrapped
in yellow crime scene tape. The first person she saw Tony.
(19:17):
He walked up to Jana, hugged her, and with the
coldest kind of composure said, it's a single gunshot wound
to the head. No emotion, no explanation, just that. She
didn't respond, she couldn't. Instead, Jana slowly made her way
to the farthest edge of the crime scene tape, closest
(19:40):
to the road, standing just beside the Corner's vehicle. That's
when Tony's daughter came up to her. She hugged Jana
gently and didn't shed a tear, and simply said, my
best friend is dead. Tony was standing just a few
feet away from them when a man, one of the
officials she assumed doomed, walked up to him and said, quote,
(20:03):
we still have to send her body off for an autopsy.
Then the man backed the Corner's vehicle further into the driveway,
and right then, without hesitation or warning, Tony turned to
Jana and asked quote I kind of hate to ask
you this, but do you want her services in Bastrip
(20:24):
or Oak Grove? Jana couldn't believe what she was hearing.
She looked at him straight in the eyes and said firmly, Bastrip.
More and more of Tony's family came by. Some had
already been there when Jana had gotten there, Others trickled
in after. Out Of all of them, only two came
(20:46):
up to her, a woman named Sherry and another named Angie.
Sherry wasted no time. She went right into telling Jena
how quote sad and depressed Crystal had been. She spoke
about Crystal's medication, her antidepressants, and how they had clearly
led to her suicide. She insisted that quote, the signs
(21:10):
were there, and that no matter how many silly memes
she sent her, Crystal just wouldn't laugh anymore. While Sherry
went on with this narrative, the man with the coroner
vehicle informed Tony that they were about to bring Crystal's
body out. That's when Tony turned to Jana again and said, quote,
(21:31):
come on, Jenna, you don't need to see her like this.
She snapped, see her like what, Tony? He didn't respond,
neither did Sherry. They just walked away, leaving Jenna standing there.
The whole time, Crystal's own sister, her flesh and blood,
(21:52):
was completely ignored by every single officer, investigator, and coroner
on the scene. Not one of them even asked who
she was. But in that lonely moment, someone stepped forward. Angie,
one of Tony's relatives, maybe a cousin, maybe his sister.
(22:12):
She's still not too sure, but she came out of nowhere,
gently grabbed Jenna's right hand and said, quote, I know
you don't know me and we're not family, but you
don't need to go through this alone. That one act
of kindness that was Crystal. She knew it was. It
(22:33):
was like she reached through the chaos to make sure
that someone was there for her baby's sister one last time.
Jana stayed there for exactly thirty four minutes, long enough
to witness every single law enforcement official call Tony's family
by their first names, but not a single one of
them ever asked hers. At five point forty two pm,
(22:58):
she finally left and drove back home to Bastrip. At
five fifty six pm, Tony left the scene. Two he
drove twelve point two miles, but for some reason it
took him forty two minutes to get where he was going.
And where did he go? At six thirty eight pm,
(23:18):
he showed back up at three oh five East Main
Street in Oak Grove, the West Carol Sheriff's department, the
same place he had visited just before Crystal's estimated time
of death. At seven twenty eight pm that evening, still
reeling from everything that she had seen and heard, Jana
(23:39):
reached out to someone she trusted, someone she hoped could
help her figure out how to get through what was
starting to feel very very wrong. Jana sent a text
message to a shriff friend of hers, Mike Tubbs, the
current sheriff of Moorhouse Parish in Bastrip, Louisiana. She said said, quote, Mike,
(24:02):
this is Jenna. Hey. I know it's out of your jurisdiction,
but I need some help desperately. My sister died tonight
in West Carol Parish. Right now. It's under investigation as
a suicide, but I just want to be sure nothing
is left untouched because this just isn't my sister. Maybe
(24:22):
I'm in denial, but please please help If you can
to be sure they look for anything suspicious. Her name
is Crystal McRory Jones. He responded quickly saying, quote, I
will speak to them over there. We're flying home tonight.
It gave Jenna a tiny sliver of hope, just knowing
(24:44):
that someone she trusted might be able to get involved,
someone who wasn't already wrapped up in whatever was going
on in West Carroll Parish. She didn't know what he
might discover or how far he could go, but she
knew she had to try. Janna felt she owed that
(25:04):
much to Crystal. At eight fifty six PM, still in
shock and struggling to make sense of the day, Jana
reached out to another trusted friend, someone in law enforcement
that she'd known from Moorhouse Parish, Libby Brixi. She texted her,
holding back tears, but her fingers were trembling with urgency
(25:28):
and heartache. Quote, Hey, I know it's out of your jurisdiction,
but I need some help desperately. My sister died tonight
in West Carol Parish. Right now it's under investigation as
a suicide, but I just want to be sure that
nothing is left untouched, because this just isn't my sister.
Maybe I'm in denial, but please, please help if you can,
(25:52):
to be sure that they look for anything suspicious. Her
name is Crystal McCrory Jones. Libby, my heart hurts so bad.
Me and my brothers told my mom and she lost it.
I feel nothing but numb. Libby responded, quote, do you
know who's working it? Sheriff's office or police department? Janna
(26:16):
replied Sheriff's office. Her husband, Tony Jones, used to work
for the Sheriff's office there as a reserve officer, and
they relayed information to him that they wouldn't even relay
to me. For example, it was a single gunshot wound
to the head. They were sending her off for an autopsy.
They tried to whisper that while I was three feet away.
(26:39):
They set out loud that they didn't suspect foul play
end quote. Even just relaying it all probably felt unreal.
She was there, But at the same time, it was
like she was the outsider. Crystal's husband, someone who should
have been investigated like any other person in her life,
(27:01):
was instead being confided in, and Jana was just left
on the sidelines, watching, listening, hurting. The numbness had not
left her, but something else was beginning to grow alongside it.
Determination remember, on February ninth, twenty twenty three, at one
(27:22):
sixteen pm, a FedEx package was delivered to Tony and
Crystal's home. They found out the carrier on that route
that day was none other than Jenna's cousin, Loretta. Though
not Crystal's biological cousin, they were close raised together like sisters.
Because of this, Loretta often found herself stepping inside the
(27:46):
house when she delivered packages, whether to chat for a
few minutes or simply use the restroom. That day, Loretta
delivered a package containing a cell phone for Tony. Both
Tony's white work truck and Crystal's beige Tahoe were parked
in the circular driveway, yet no one came to the
(28:08):
door despite multiple attempts made by Loretta, who needed to
use the restroom. During the recorded meeting with Sheriff Matthews,
Jana brought this up as well. They discussed the package
and also the fact that Tony had paid over one
hundred and fifty dollars just the day before Cristel's death
(28:29):
to have a phone fixed Sheriff Matthews retains the only
copy of the receipt for that transaction. Jenna went on
to mention the package delivered that day at one sixteen pm,
making sure he realized the timing of it all. What
stood out even more was that Tony activated the new
phone at eight thirty five PM on the same day
(28:52):
that Crystal passed. Sheriff Matthews admits in the meeting to
giving Tony the package from the front doorstep. Jana also
shared with the sheriff that she had tried unsuccessfully to
reach Detective Alan Rby regarding that package. On February twelfth,
twenty twenty three, at five ten pm, Jana's grief and
(29:16):
desperation reached a breaking point. She sent Tony a long
text message, one that came from a place of deep anguish.
She begged him, pleaded with him to tell her something,
anything about her sister's final moments. Jana just needed to
know if she had suffered or if there was anything
(29:39):
she could understand about her last thoughts. Jana's text reads
as follows, Tony, my sister loved you with her whole heart.
She loved Cheyenne just like she loved her boys. I'm
so sorry that you're going through this, and my heart
breaks for Cheyenne. I'm a I'm sad, I'm numb, I'm
(30:03):
everything and nothing all at once. My sister was and
still is my best friend. I have so many regrets
of not calling and texting her more over the past year.
My heart hurts so bad for my girls when they
collapse to the ground. When I told them to see
an eight year old baby scream out for her aunt
(30:25):
Crystal was the most gut wrenching thing I've ever experienced.
I wish I could wake up from this and it
would just be a dream. Every time I turn around,
I see something that reminds me of her. I can't
even eat a steak without thinking of her, because, let's
be honest, who else eats a steak that's cooked more
(30:46):
like beef jerky other than me and my sister For
thirty three years, I had her thirty three years, Tony,
and now I don't. My heart will never be the same.
I grieve different than everyone else. I feel like I
have to be strong for them and be a hard
(31:07):
ass and hold it in. You know me well enough
to know that I have RBF worse than anyone on
this planet, but know that I do love you, and
I love Cheyenne, and I'm sorry. I just want to
know my best friend's last thoughts or words or actions
in the final minutes that she was here. I want
(31:29):
to know that she didn't suffer. I just want to
know someone, anyone, told her that they loved her before
she took her life. My sister is gone, my only sister.
I just want my heart to rest knowing that she
knew she was loved. Please look for a note, a letter, anything,
(31:51):
anything that will give me closure to know that she
knew she was loved. Her demons won Tony, but she
will always be loved by you, you, and so many more.
A sister's bond is like no other that anyone will understand.
My sister taught me to straighten my hair to put
on makeup. She let me crawl into bed with her
(32:13):
when I was little and got scared. I rode a
greyhound bus for thirty two hours when I was eight
and ten years old to New York to visit her.
She taught me that the best thing at Wendy's to
eat was a baked potato with bacon and cheese. Sonic
was definitely tater tots with chili and cheese and a
large cherry limeade. And I don't even have time to
(32:37):
get into her favorites. At Olive Garden. You know how
much she loved that place. We could finish each other's
sentences and finish the song lyrics that we were thinking of.
I'll never be able to mix up her clothes hangers
colors in her closet anymore, just to get on her
nerves or send her funny memes that no one gets
but her. She loved my girls, Tony with everything she had.
(33:03):
My JC and my Aubrey adored her. Please forgive me
if I'm being an ass, but I miss her Tony,
and I'm scared of going on without her. After Jena's
long emotional message, Tony said quote, I hurt too, and
I told her when I got off the phone I
loved her, and Cheyenne did too that morning before she left.
(33:27):
And I know everyone grieves different, and I love y'all.
Two end quote. On February thirteenth, twenty twenty three, at
ten am, Jana and others met with mister Todd Nevills
to discuss the funeral arrangements. For Crystal at Cox's funeral
Home in Bastrip, Louisiana. Though mister Neviles was primarily employed
(33:50):
at the Oak Grove location of Cox's funeral home, Tony
insisted on having him come to Bastrip for the meeting.
Once again, it seemed that Tony only wanted people from
Oak Grove involved in any aspect of her sister's death.
What was also troubling, though not immediately clear to them
at the time, was that mister Nevills wasn't just an
(34:13):
employee of Cock's funeral home. Tony had done quite a
bit of handyman work at both the Oak Grove location
of the funeral home and at mister Nevill's own home.
Work notes and records kept by Crystal, which Jena later
obtained from her laptop were included in the very well
(34:34):
organized documents of evidence that Janna gave to the police.
To make matters worse, it came to life that Tony
was not a licensed contractor and that his license had
been inactive and revoked since twenty eighteen. There is also
documented evidence of this. But going back to the meeting
with mister Todd Neviles, it was attended by Jena, Crystal's sister,
(35:00):
Cristel's brother, Julie, Crystal's sister in law, Tony, Crystal's legal spouse, James,
Tony's father, and Todd Nevills, of course, the representative of
Cock's funeral home. They discussed the cost of same day
visitation and service versus having it on a different day,
(35:23):
and the fact that Cristel had no burial insurance. Tony
stated that he received numerous donations from the Oak Grove community,
but that he was considering taking out alone to cover
the remaining expenses. Well. Jana could not let that stand,
she objected, saying that Cristel would never have wanted to
(35:46):
be buried with a loane hanging over her. She offered
to take care of the remaining balance herself. This was
before Jenna had even acquired the laptop and the evidence
that plainly showed they'd all been lied to about Tony's
whereabouts on the day of Crystal's death. Todd Nevills suggested
(36:07):
creating a GoFundMe account to help with the remaining costs.
Tony replied that he didn't know how to create one,
so Jenna told them both that she would take care
of it. Creating the account under her name and using
her personal checking account to fund it. They talked about
the funeral expenses a little more, and Tony did acknowledge
(36:30):
that there was a bill totaling between six thousand and
six thousand, five hundred which she signed, consenting to pay
for it. The conversation continued with questions about the service. Jana,
Crystal's brother Dane, and Julie, Crystal's sister in law, answered
most of the questions about family names, birthplaces, and other
(36:55):
details that the funeral home needed to complete their arrangements.
On February thirteenth, twenty twenty three, at eleven fifty one PM,
Tony google search to quote what is the appropriate time
to date after the death of a spouse. It felt
surreal to Janna that just days after Cristel's death, he
(37:18):
was already seeking out guidance on moving forward romantically. The
timing of this search was unsettling, especially in the midst
of all the uncertainty and the mounting questions surrounding her death.
On February fifteenth, twenty twenty three, Tony had previously informed
(37:40):
the funeral home that he wanted to see Crystal in
the casket as soon as possible, fully made up and dressed.
Despite his specific request, he failed to provide any assistance
when it came to finding someone to do her hair
and make up, or even help in finding clothing that
would suit her. For this, that responsibility fell on Julie
(38:03):
and Jana. She and Julie spent hours at the funeral
home that afternoon applying makeup to make sure Crystal looked
as beautiful as she always did. It was a difficult
emotional thing to do, but they knew Cristel would want
them to take care of her with love. Julie too,
spent hours going from store to store, using her own
(38:26):
money to buy a suitable outfit for Crystal, one that
matched the way she had always wanted to be seen.
Julie also found a stylist who was willing to properly
groom Crystal's hair for the service, and made sure to
pay for the stylist's services herself. All of this was
done to fulfill Tony's wishes, because the funeral home had
(38:49):
contacted Julie asking for these things to be taken care
of immediately because of him. Yet, despite all the work
that the pair put into making shit Crystal was presented
beautifully for the service. Tony did not show up that
day to view her body. While Julie and Jena were
(39:09):
preparing Crystal for her final services, they noticed something that
made their hearts ache even more. There was a lot
of bruising on Crystal's body. It wasn't something you would
expect to see, especially when considering the supposed nature of
her death. When they brought it to the attention of
(39:30):
the funeral home director, he said to Julie, quote, none
of these injuries would be the result of an autopsy process.
The injuries were undeniable abrasions and lacerations on her left forearm,
along with significant bruising. Her left ring finger was missing
(39:50):
a fingernail, and although her nails had been freshly painted,
there was dirt and debris beneath them. There was also
extensive bruising on her legs and in her thighs, marks
that no one could explain, and it all left them
feeling sick. The funeral director advised Julie to take photos
(40:13):
of Crystal's body, which they did. Those photos have also
been provided as evidence to police to show what they
saw things that should not have been there. The next day,
February sixteenth, Tony had a female friend, Katrina Hendry, accompany
him to view Crystal's body. She was not a relative,
(40:37):
and the funeral director, Charles Evans, who knew Tony pretty well,
told him that bringing a woman who was not related
to him to view his wife's body did not look appropriate.
The situation became even harder for Jane to process, having
something like this added to everything else that had been happening.
(41:00):
The same day, at five forty six pm, Tony called
Cristel's brother Dane to tell him something that was chilling.
He said that he himself had found the missing shellcasing
in the bedroom where Cristel's death occurred. This was a
week later, and investigators and cleaners had come into the
(41:21):
room already. The room was small, about fifteen by fifteen feet,
and neither Dane nor Jenna could understand how they could
have missed something like that. Tony then asked Dane quote
not to question Detective Herby about the shellcasing as a favor.
(41:42):
This was a strange request, especially considering the circumstances. The
shellcasing will be discussed later in the recorded meeting with
Sheriff Scott Matthews, but at this point it seems like
there was more being hidden. On February seventeenth, at seven
point fifty nine a m. While Jana was at work,
(42:04):
her phone rang. It was Dane, his voice alone, tinged
with frustration, let her know the gravity of the situation.
This is when he told Jana that Tony had called
him the night before, saying that he had found the
missing shell casing in the room where Cristel's tragic death
had occurred. Her heart sank. It had been a full
(42:28):
week since law enforcement and cleaners had combed through that
very room. How could this casing be overlooked, and why
was Tony the one to find it. In a quick
attempt to delay Crystal's cremation, a final step she had
always opposed, Jena called a long list of attorneys and
(42:51):
district attorneys who are all across northeast Louisiana. She poured
her heart out to each one, explaining the discovery of
the shellcasing and the disturbing questions it raised. Despite her please,
her attempts to halt the cremation were met with silence
(43:11):
and indifference. No one took action. The family's wishes went unheard.
After Crystal's funeral services, Jana began texting with Sheriff Mike
Tubbs of Morehouse Parish. These were difficult conversations, but she
felt she had no other choice. Jana told Mike about
(43:33):
the shellcasing that had been found over a week after
Cristel's death, and expressed to him her growing concern that
her death had not been investigated properly. Mike was someone
she trusted during her undergraduate degree internship. She worked under
him at the Moorhouse Parish Sheriff's department and the Juvenile Division,
(43:57):
so when she reached out to him, it was as
a friend, hoping he might be able to help or
at least offer some guidance. After the funeral, Jana texted
Mike again, telling him she was ready to talk. The
phone records of their conversations are included in the evidence.
It was a difficult thing for her to even think about,
(44:20):
but she had to try every possible avenue to make
sure nothing was overlooked. Also on February eighteenth, twenty twenty three,
the day of Crystal's visitation and funeral service, the air
felt so heavy, overloaded with grief and the weight of
(44:40):
all these questions that hung over everything. Jana and her
family went through the painful process watching Crystal being laid
to rest, but still the mystery of her death remained unresolved.
At the end of the services, Tony handed Jena a
bag from Cox's funeral home as people were filing out.
(45:03):
It contained the programs, a DVD of the picture slide show,
the guest book, and thank you cards, all the mementoes
of Crystal's final farewell. Tony had no interest in any
of it. You keep it, he said, with an air
of indifference that seemed out of place for someone who
(45:25):
had just lost a spouse. The next day, February nineteenth,
Jana reached out to Tony through text. She needed answers
about the funeral expenses and the donations that had been collected.
She asked him point blank how much of the money
had actually been used for Crystal's funeral costs. She pressed
(45:46):
for receipts, anything to shed light on where the money
had gone, but Tony was uncooperative, providing nothing in return.
The silence only added to the growing un ease she felt.
The following day, Jena contacted Sheriff Mike Tubbs again. This
(46:07):
time she was determined to get in touch with Wes
Carol Sheriff Scott Matthews. She needed someone who could help
her make sense of the events surrounding Cristel's death. Every conversation,
every message felt like a step closer to finding the truth,
but each day also felt like a step further from
(46:28):
any real answers. The weight of Cristel's death, combined with
the number of questions, began to take its toll on Jenna.
But the day was far from ordinary. As Jenna's mind
was reeling, and she turned her attention to a laptop
that she had purchased for Crystal years ago. Tony, almost
(46:49):
too willing to cooperate, had handed it over along with
the password to unlock it. This is when she found
out that Cristel was logged into Tony's Gmail account, which
she had never owned. The pieces were slowly coming together.
Jana began digging deeper into the contents of the laptop.
(47:09):
She hit the information jackpot, emails, user names, passwords, browser history,
but the most critical find was the location timeline from
Tony's phone via Google Maps, the very device that could
hold the key to understanding the tragic events of that day.
When Jana confronted Tony about this. His response was cold
(47:33):
and evasive. Quote was there something specific you were looking for?
He asked. Jana's voice, still steady despite the growing pit
in her stomach, simply replied, quote a suicide note. Tony
claimed he'd search TI and low for one, but if
he had really looked, he would have known that the
(47:55):
laptop Crystal used every day had his own information logged in.
Yet it seemed he hadn't bothered to check it, so
he had no idea. February twentieth, the unthinkable for the
family happened that afternoon. Cristel's body was cremated, two days
(48:15):
before her autopsy results had even been released. It was
a jarring violation of the family's wishes. Two days later,
Cristel's autopsy was completed by doctor Frank Peretti, yet another
step in a process that had already been clouded by
haste and negligence. Jana, refusing to let go of her suspicions,
(48:38):
continued to text Sheriff Mike Tubbs from Morehouse Parish. She
needed to get in touch with Sheriff Scott Matthews from
West Carroll Parish. The walls were closing in, but she
wouldn't stop fighting for the truth. Jana's frustration reached its
peak as she texted Sheriff Scott Matthews. She was desperate
(48:59):
for any information regarding the time of death in the case.
The responses she had been getting so far were sparse
and unsatisfactory. February twenty third, the same day as the meeting,
Jana made another trip to Cox's funeral home in Bastrip.
She was hoping to finally retrieve the remains of her sister,
(49:21):
but what she learned when she arrived was unsettling. Jana
had previously made arrangements with her nephew, Crystal's eldest son, Corbin,
to have his portion of the ashes sent to him
in New York, but when she got there, she was
told by Josh Lebron, a funeral homeworker, that Tony had
(49:43):
already picked up the remains an hour earlier. Josh told
Jenna that Tony refused to let the funeral home separate
the ashes for the family, or even ship them to
Corbin at no charge. Instead, he insisted on ha everything himself.
A sense of unease flew all over Jenna. Why was
(50:07):
Tony acting so weird about something so simple. The remains
were meant to be shared among family, yet there he
was taking control of everything. Later, at five seventeen PM,
Jena texted Charles Evans, the funeral director, asking if he
had spoken to Tony about the ashes. Mister Evans returned
(50:29):
her call and confirmed what Josh had said. He mentioned
his quote close friendship with Tony, which seemed to play
a significant role in how he'd handled the situation. Mister
Evans assured Jena that he could get Tony to bring
the ashes back by Monday so they could be properly
divided and sent to the family. But as Jana hung
(50:52):
up the phone, the gnawing feeling that something wasn't right
just grew stronger. Why was Tony being so sick, secretive,
and controlling about something as simple as the ashes? The
long awaited meeting with Sheriff Matthews took place. I will
give a quick run through of the meeting, but I
(51:13):
will also upload the full recorded meeting as a separate episode.
It's a little over an hour, but I wanted you
all to be able to listen to it for yourselves
as well. When Jana sat down across from Sheriff Matthews.
The weight of her sister's death hung in the air
like a storm waiting to break. She wasn't alone. Her
(51:36):
brother Dane and cousin Kara were there too, both holding
on to stacks of evidence, questions, and heartbreak. The purpose
was clear. They were not walking into that Sheriff's office
to point fingers. They came to present a full, carefully
constructed picture of what had happened and to ask for
(51:58):
the truth to be treated like it mattered. Jana began
by laying out the foundation. She presented the sheriff with
documentation that Cristel had been tracking Tony's location before her death.
Screenshots from her laptop showed his whereabouts pinned to a
hotel and bastrup. That alone raised questions, but the pattern
(52:21):
of concern did not stop there. The sheriff listened, nodding
as he recognized one of the addresses. He acknowledged his
team had already spoken with Darren Billings, a man Tony
claimed to have worked for that morning of Cristel's death.
Jana made it clear that she was not speculating. She
had corroborating text from the sheriff. In another perish to
(52:46):
verify this location detail. She wasn't just grieving, she was proving.
From there, things spiraled deeper. Jana brought up the fact
that Tony's location history had had been enabled on his
Google account. That laptop had become a gold mine of truth,
(53:06):
containing everything from Tony's browser history to a detailed Google
Maps timeline of the day Crystal died. The more they learned,
the less things added up. Alongside these digital trails were
deeply personal documents Crystal had saved, like quotes, mental health reflections,
(53:28):
snapshots of her tidy, color coded life. Nothing about her
digital or emotional footprint hinted at suicidal thoughts. Dane added
that Crystal had recently become a grandmother, something she was
so excited about. Kara pointed out the inconsistencies between Crystal's
(53:49):
behavior and the suicide theory, saying what they all felt,
the timelines and the facts did not align with that conclusion.
Then they talked about the shell casing which Tony claimed
to have found eight days after Crystal died in their
small fifteen by fifteen foot bedroom, A shellcasing in plain view,
(54:12):
supposedly overlooked by detectives and a professional cleanup crew. When
confronted about it, Sheriff Matthews admitted it had been missed.
He said it could have been caught in her hair
or clothing, even though Crystal had short hair and was
only wearing a bathrobe and underwear at the time. He
(54:33):
insisted it was visible in a crime scene photo that
his team had taken, but Jenna, having seen those photos
later on, would learn the casing was not in any
of them. That fact stayed with her. It was the
kind of thing that didn't just bend the truth, it
broke it. As the discussion went on, Sheriff Matthews tried
(54:56):
to clarify how Tony might have learned details about Crystal's
death before the autopsy was even completed. He suggested that
maybe he himself had told Tony it was a gunshot
wound to ease the shock of losing a spouse, but
this didn't sit right with the family. Jana had arrived
at the scene only seventeen minutes after Tony, and she
(55:19):
remembered exactly what he said, quote, it's a single gunshot
wound to the head. That wasn't something a man in
shock just blurts out without knowing it. For sure, the
meeting went deeper than just the crime scene. They went
into finances. Dane talked about new money coming in, such
(55:40):
as credit cards being paid off, payments on a storage
unit in Tennessee, a rental car booked for Hawaii, and
even a purchase of cryptocurrency. All of it was happening
just days after Crystal's death. Jena had found documentation for
all of it on the laptop. Then there was the
(56:02):
GoFundMe donations from a community mourning Crystal, while Tony seemed
to be using the money for anything but funeral expenses.
And then the conversation took a turn towards something else.
Dane spoke up about what he'd learned regarding Tony's past,
including a restraining order from an ex wife. He explained
(56:26):
that Cristel had started suspecting some very serious things, let's say,
before her death. Sheriff Matthews asked for contact info for
the ex wife, Shanna Jones, and Jana said that she
would reach out on Facebook. But the suspicions that Christel
had happened to also be the final straw in Shanna
(56:49):
and Tony's marriage. Allegedly, Julie joined the meeting. Later and
added even more layers. She talked about how Cristel was
right handed, something that raised flags when the autopsy and
injury locations were discussed. She recounted how Tony had claimed
Cristal's suicide was caused by her not taking Abilifi, a
(57:13):
story he spread immediately after her death. Julie also described
Cristel's mental and emotional state, insisting she had seen no
signs of severe depression, only love for her kids and
excitement about becoming a grandmother. When Julie mentioned Tony's controlling
behavior and verbal abuse, Sheriff Matthews responded. He said he
(57:37):
believed everything that they were saying, but he also said
that being a bad person doesn't make someone a criminal.
That was something he repeated often. Oh, Tony might be dishonest, manipulative,
even cruel, but until they could prove a crime had occurred,
there was only so much the law could do. Still,
(57:59):
the sheriff didn't shy away from calling Tony what he was,
a chronic liar. He said it plainly, again and again,
making it clear that even though Tony had told people
he worked with the Sheriff's office, he didn't. He said
Tony could claim whatever he wanted publicly, even post it
(58:19):
as his workplace on Facebook. That didn't make it true,
he said. Julie reminded Sheriff Matthews that it's illegal to
impersonate a police officer. The sheriff responded with frustration, saying
that unless someone filed a complaint about Tony pulling people
over or making traffic stops, there wasn't much they could
(58:41):
act on. He told her that she had to quote
let that go, but letting it go wasn't exactly what
any of them could do, especially Jenna. When the talk
came back around to the investigation itself, Sheriff Matthews assured
them that he was taking the case seria. He said
his department was having the firearm tested and that they
(59:04):
were still actively looking into things. He also promised that
if he ever felt his department was not capable of
handling it, he'd hand it off to the state. He
insisted again that the case was never truly closed. As
the meeting wound down, he became more personal. The sheriff
(59:25):
admitted that he had a different way of talking and working,
said he wasn't a politician and didn't want to play
games with people's grief. He told them that he could
see the pain in their eyes and if there was
anything he could do to relieve it, he would. He
handed out his personal phone number and told Jana to
call him directly if anything else came up. Not a deputy,
(59:49):
not an assistant him. He even asked if he could
pray with her. And as everyone left the room, emotions
raw and hearts very heavy, Jana was left with that
card in her hand and a mountain of questions still
in her chest. She had gone in with hope, hope
(01:00:11):
that someone would finally hear them and take it all seriously.
Whether that hope was justified or not, she still didn't know.
But she said what needed to be said, and she
was not done, not by a long shot. The recorded
meeting will be available to listen to by the middle
(01:00:32):
of the week. We have so much more to dive into,
including what Tony told the police about February ninth, twenty
twenty three, what he did that day according to him,
and so much more. So stay tuned for Part two
coming out later this week, which will be the recorded meeting,
and then part three will be next Monday. There are
(01:00:56):
some things you can do in the meantime, follow her
sister Janna on social media to stay up to date
on the latest news about Crystal's case. Her links will
be in the show notes, as well as the petition
that you can sign in support of reopening the investigation.
Until next time, friends, stay safe and take care.
Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Thank you for listening to this episode. As we close out,
let us not forget. Awareness is our greatest defense in
a world that can be dark and grim. Vigilance is
our beacon of hope when it comes to the cases
we have explored together that have remained unsolved. If you
happen to hold a piece of the puzzle, there to
step forward. As author Lois McMaster bouge Hold once said,
(01:01:44):
the dead cannot cry out for justice.
Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
It is a duty of the living to do so
for them.
Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
Until we reconvene, my friends, stay vigilant and stay informed.
You're listening to Reverie True Crime, your gateway to the
darkest corners of human nature, where we expose the hidden
truths of human depravity. These harrowing stories serve as a
sobering reminder to keep our senses keen and our awareness
sharp for predator's lurk in unexpected.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Places, patiently waiting and observing.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Join us as we unravel mysteries, explore motives, and seek
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Speaker 2 (00:34):
Listener discretion is advice.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Hello, and welcome to Revery True Crime. I'm your host page.
Sometimes the people we love are taken from us in
ways that don't make sense. And what hurts even more
is when those in charge of finding answers don't seem
to care enough to ask the right question questions. This
(01:02):
is one of those stories. Crystal McCrory Jones wasn't just
a mother, a sister, or a wife. She was the
glue in her family, the kind of person who gave
everything she had to the people she loved. And when
she died under deeply suspicious circumstances in February of twenty
(01:23):
twenty three, her family did what anyone would do. They
looked for the truth, but what they were met with
was silence, indifference, an outright dismissal from the very people
who were supposed to protect and investigate. This isn't only
(01:43):
a story about a woman who died. It's about what
happens when a community protects the wrong people, when evidence
is brushed aside, and when the system shrugs its shoulders
instead of stepping up. It's about a family left screaming
into the void, begging someone, anyone, to take them seriously.
(02:08):
These next few episodes may make you angry, and it
should because Crystal deserved better, her family deserves better, and
it's long past time someone listened. Let's talk about what
really happened to Crystal McRory Jones. She was born and
(02:30):
crossed at Arkansas on May seventeenth, nineteen seventy nine. She
was the second child and first daughter of Janie mcgilton
and Doyle Dwayne McCrory, and from early on it was
clear that Crystal had a strong will and even stronger heart.
She grew up in Bastrip, Louisiana, a tight knit community
(02:53):
where everyone knows everyone. Crystal graduated from Bastrip High School
in nineteen ninety seven, and not long after, she stepped
into the role that would define much of her life,
being a mom. Crystal had two sons, Corbin and Mason,
who quickly became the center of her universe. She raised
(03:18):
them with love and structure, and she worked hard, really hard,
to give them the kind of life she believed they deserved.
At first, she waited tables, grinding through long hours and
short paychecks, but her determination did not go unnoticed. Eventually,
(03:40):
she landed a job at State Farm Insurance as a
licensed office representative, a position that would not only offer
her stability, but also allow her to do what she
loved most, help people. Her coworkers and clients alike described
her as warm, outgoing and general trus the kind of
(04:01):
woman who remembered birthdays, brought in homemade treats, and always
had something encouraging to say. In her laugh, people still
talk about it, that full bodied, contagious kind of laugh
that just made you feel like you were in on
something special. In late twenty twenty, Crystal took a leap
(04:24):
of faith. Alongside her husband Tony Jones, she helped open
a martial arts studio in Oak Grove, Louisiana. It was
called Inner Peace Martial Arts. For Crystal, this wasn't just
a business. It was a passion project, a place where
people could feel empowered, supported and grounded. But like many
(04:47):
small businesses, the studio faced financial hurdles, especially toward the
end of twenty twenty two. Crystal made the tough but
responsible decision to return to her role at Sta Farm
in January of twenty twenty three, just a month before
her death. Her life was full of ordinary beauty. She
(05:10):
loved decorating her home, cooking meals from scratch, traveling with
her boys, and doting on her beloved dog Rocket. She
had a gift for bringing people together, whether for a
weekend barbecue, a holiday meal, or just a casual hangout
on the porch. Crystal wasn't flashy, she wasn't loud about
(05:35):
her accomplishments, but she left her mark on people in quiet,
lasting ways. Her friends talk about how she always made
time even when she was stretched thin. She could sense
when someone needed comfort before they even said a word.
And her family, they say that she was the glue,
(05:57):
the one who remembered every birthday, who called just to
check in, who would give her last dollar if someone
needed it. More. When Crystel passed away on February ninth,
twenty twenty three, it wasn't just a sudden loss. It
was a devastating rupture. And for those who knew Crystal,
(06:19):
the pain wasn't just about losing her. It was about
how she was lost, because nothing about her death made sense.
Not to them. They didn't just lose a sister, a mother,
a wife, a daughter. They lost a very bright light.
And when the questions about her final hours started to
(06:42):
roll in, it was the memory of who she was,
this picture of a strong, giving, ambitious woman, that made
it impossible to believe the official story. On February ninth,
twenty twenty three, in Goodwill, Louisiana, Crystal McRory Jones was
(07:02):
found deceased in her home from a gunshot wound. Her husband,
Tony Jones, supposedly concerned after she missed a doctor's appointment
and did not respond to calls and text got in
touch with Chuck Harris, a retired state trooper, current patrol
deputy at West Carroll Sheriff's Department, and school resource officer
(07:26):
at West Carroll School System, to perform a welfare check.
While Deputy Harris was entering the residence. Tony said that
he and Harris were on the phone the whole time,
and he told Deputy Harris how to get to the
bedroom and asked him to search there. Lying on the
bed with a pillow over her face and a handgun
(07:50):
in her right hand, the initial assessment by authorities suggested
a self inflicted gunshot wound. Before we get into the details,
let's step back and look at the events that led
up to this point. About a week before she died,
Crystal started tracking Tony's whereabouts through his cell phone. It
(08:11):
wasn't just a random act. She had grown suspicious about
certain aspects of Tony's life that she didn't think he
was being honest about. Due to those suspicions not being
totally confirmed by any rock solid evidence thus far, we
have to kind of leave it at that she was
(08:31):
very suspicious about something sinister. Crystal's sister, Janna, retrieved a
lot of her information from her cell phone that she
has documented records of. She found that Cristel's last location
activity on her phone was January twenty seventh, twenty twenty three,
at five forty four pm. Jana believes that this is
(08:54):
when Crystal signed into Tony's account to access his location,
because it was at that time when Crystal began tracking
the location and movements of Tony and his daily activities.
An email Jana found in Tony's trash folder in his
email account indicated he and Cristel had a ring camera
(09:18):
system at their home and that it had been updated
on that day as well, January twenty seventh. Sheriff Scott
Matthews has the only copy of that email. However, in
a recorded meeting with the sheriff that we will listen
to soon, Jana does tell him that her sister and
(09:39):
Tony have a ring doorbell camera and gave him the
email proof that a device was logged into that camera
on January twenty seventh. Tony told Cristel's brother Dane that
the camera had not been active in a month. Jana
came across something that really stood out. She had opened
(09:59):
Crystal's li laptop and noticed that, for whatever reason, she
was still logged into Tony's Google account. While she was
looking through it, Jenna ended up in his email and
there in the trash folder was a message stated February
seventh at nine fifteen pm, and she took a picture
of it. The email was from Google and it mentioned
(10:22):
that Tony's location history had been turned on in January.
It explained that location history is a setting tied to
your Google account. It basically creates a timeline mapping out
all the places you've been, your routes, and your trips.
Crystal must have seen this too and trashed it so
(10:44):
Tony wouldn't see it. This made it clear that she
had access to where Tony had been going. On February eighth,
twenty twenty three, the night before Crystal died, Tony went
through his phone and deleted some very specific contacts. It
wasn't just random names either. These were people whose connections
(11:07):
to him raised eyebrows, at least for Jana. A couple
of weeks later, on February twenty third, she and other
family members sat down with Sheriff Matthews and brought this
up in their recorded meeting as well. They even went
over the phone numbers tied to those deleted contacts, but
(11:27):
after that day it was never mentioned again. Sheriff Matthews
is the only one who still has copies of those numbers.
Jana had given them to him during that meeting, and
if you listen back to the recording, you can actually
hear him brushing it all off. He dismissed the fact
that Tony had deleted those contacts the night before Crystal's death,
(11:51):
like it wasn't a big deal. But here's the thing.
Some of the deleted contacts had their occupation saved in
Tony's fat One was a coroner, another a chief deputy,
a pastor, and someone listed as the manager or owner
of a restaurant called the Bakery barn An Oak Grove. Coincidentally,
(12:15):
that's the same place Tony had visited the day Crystal died.
Still February eighth, just about twelve hours before Crystel's estimated
time of death, something happened that's never sat right with Jana.
Someone logged into the shared AT and T phone account
that belonged to both Tony and Crystal. It was the
(12:37):
first time anyone had ever accessed it, and Jena only
knew about it because of an email she found buried
in Tony's trash folder. She wishes she still had that email,
but the only copy now is with Sheriff Matthews for reference.
During their recorded meeting with him, this came up as
(12:57):
well you'll hear Ja start to explain how all of
the pieces were starting to fit together. She showed him
more documents pulled from Crystal's laptop, including that at and
T email sent to Tony's inbox which said a one
time verification code had been requested. That happened at exactly
(13:20):
eleven forty am on February eighth, the day before everything changed.
The family truly believes, based on everything that they've gathered,
that it was Crystal who logged into the account. She
had begun to discover more than just suspicions. She was
(13:41):
following a trail piecing things together, and that log in
it feels like one of those final steps she took
and trying to understand what was really going on. February ninth,
twenty twenty three, at eight o six am, Tony Tis
and Crystal's home. That would be the last morning she
(14:04):
would be alive. By eight fifty four am, he had
arrived at an address and Bastrup. It was confirmed that
he was there to work on a refrigerator for a
man named Darren Billings. He didn't stay long. At nine
fifty nine am, he left that location less than an
(14:25):
hour later at ten fifty three am, Tony showed up
at three oh five East Main Street in Oak Grove.
That address was saved in his Google account as work.
But it's not just any workplace. It's the West Carol
Parish Sheriff's Department. And then at exactly eleven am, Crystal's
(14:50):
estimated time of death was recorded. That time is listed
on her death certificate officially given by the West Carroll
Parish corner Lewis Carter. That narrow window of time, those movements,
the locations, none of it feels like coincidence. At eleven
(15:10):
nine am, just nine minutes after arriving, Tony left the
West Carol Parish Sheriff's Department. Two minutes later, at eleven
eleven am, he pulled into the bakery barn close by.
He stayed there for about forty two minutes and then
left at eleven fifty three am. By twelve oh one pm,
(15:35):
Tony had arrived at Forest High School. This is the
place where Detective Alan Irby later claimed Tony had been
all day working. But that raised some serious red flags.
As someone who works within a public school system, Jana
knows how strict those environments are. She knows private maintenance
(15:58):
workers are not allowed to just go in and work
on school property, especially when their business license has been
revoked and they're not insured. Even if he had been
hired for something, school auditors would have flagged any payments
made to someone like Tony, considering he couldn't legally operate
(16:20):
under his LLC anymore. At one sixteen PM, a FedEx
package was delivered to the home that Crystal and Tony shared,
but no one answered the door. Then, at two forty
three pm, Tony checked out his daughter from Forrest High.
What strange is that any other day she would ride
(16:42):
the bus home, but on this day he took her himself.
Why did he not want her to walk into a
scene that would traumatize her for the rest of her life.
What followed next is even more suspicious. Records show that
instead of taking the direct nine minute route to Sonic,
(17:04):
Tony drove around Oak Grove slowly, so slowly that GPS
datus shows him stopping in town between three oh three
and three ten pm for a full seven minutes. No
exact address was recorded, and all in all, it took
him thirty five minutes to drive just six point two
(17:27):
miles to the Sonic drive in again, this was a
trip that would have taken no more than ten minutes.
He finally arrived at Sonic at three twenty five pm
and stayed until three point fifty seven pm when he left.
His next stop was Walmart, which should have just been
(17:47):
a three minute drive away. Instead, it took him six
minutes to go just one point five miles. At four
oh three pm, he and his daughter arrived at the
Walmart supercenter and left only eight minutes later at four eleven.
Then at four sixteen, a Google search was recorded from
(18:09):
a Galaxy S eight plus, which would be Tony's phone,
looking up East Carol Medical Clinic, Lake Providence, Louisiana. All
of this paints a timeline filled with questionable gaps and
strange detours on a day that already carried such heavyweight.
(18:30):
Jana arrived at her sister Crystal's home at exactly five
oh eight pm. What should have been a twenty six
minute drive from Bastrup only took her sixteen minutes. She
even drove through three separate towns. Meanwhile, Tony had only
been moving around within one town. When Jana pulled up,
(18:53):
the scene looked like something out of a crime show.
Several marked patrol cars line the road, emergency lights flashing.
In the dusk, A corner type vehicle was pulled into
the driveway and the front yard had already been wrapped
in yellow crime scene tape. The first person she saw Tony.
(19:17):
He walked up to Jana, hugged her, and with the
coldest kind of composure said, it's a single gunshot wound
to the head. No emotion, no explanation, just that. She
didn't respond, she couldn't. Instead, Jana slowly made her way
to the farthest edge of the crime scene tape, closest
(19:40):
to the road, standing just beside the Corner's vehicle. That's
when Tony's daughter came up to her. She hugged Jana
gently and didn't shed a tear, and simply said, my
best friend is dead. Tony was standing just a few
feet away from them when a man, one of the
officials she assumed doomed, walked up to him and said, quote,
(20:03):
we still have to send her body off for an autopsy.
Then the man backed the Corner's vehicle further into the driveway,
and right then, without hesitation or warning, Tony turned to
Jana and asked quote I kind of hate to ask
you this, but do you want her services in Bastrip
(20:24):
or Oak Grove? Jana couldn't believe what she was hearing.
She looked at him straight in the eyes and said firmly, Bastrip.
More and more of Tony's family came by. Some had
already been there when Jana had gotten there, Others trickled
in after. Out Of all of them, only two came
(20:46):
up to her, a woman named Sherry and another named Angie.
Sherry wasted no time. She went right into telling Jena
how quote sad and depressed Crystal had been. She spoke
about Crystal's medication, her antidepressants, and how they had clearly
led to her suicide. She insisted that quote, the signs
(21:10):
were there, and that no matter how many silly memes
she sent her, Crystal just wouldn't laugh anymore. While Sherry
went on with this narrative, the man with the coroner
vehicle informed Tony that they were about to bring Crystal's
body out. That's when Tony turned to Jana again and said, quote,
(21:31):
come on, Jenna, you don't need to see her like this.
She snapped, see her like what, Tony? He didn't respond,
neither did Sherry. They just walked away, leaving Jenna standing there.
The whole time, Crystal's own sister, her flesh and blood,
(21:52):
was completely ignored by every single officer, investigator, and coroner
on the scene. Not one of them even asked who
she was. But in that lonely moment, someone stepped forward. Angie,
one of Tony's relatives, maybe a cousin, maybe his sister.
(22:12):
She's still not too sure, but she came out of nowhere,
gently grabbed Jenna's right hand and said, quote, I know
you don't know me and we're not family, but you
don't need to go through this alone. That one act
of kindness that was Crystal. She knew it was. It
(22:33):
was like she reached through the chaos to make sure
that someone was there for her baby's sister one last time.
Jana stayed there for exactly thirty four minutes, long enough
to witness every single law enforcement official call Tony's family
by their first names, but not a single one of
them ever asked hers. At five point forty two pm,
(22:58):
she finally left and drove back home to Bastrip. At
five fifty six pm, Tony left the scene. Two he
drove twelve point two miles, but for some reason it
took him forty two minutes to get where he was going.
And where did he go? At six thirty eight pm,
(23:18):
he showed back up at three oh five East Main
Street in Oak Grove, the West Carol Sheriff's department, the
same place he had visited just before Crystal's estimated time
of death. At seven twenty eight pm that evening, still
reeling from everything that she had seen and heard, Jana
(23:39):
reached out to someone she trusted, someone she hoped could
help her figure out how to get through what was
starting to feel very very wrong. Jana sent a text
message to a shriff friend of hers, Mike Tubbs, the
current sheriff of Moorhouse Parish in Bastrip, Louisiana. She said said, quote, Mike,
(24:02):
this is Jenna. Hey. I know it's out of your jurisdiction,
but I need some help desperately. My sister died tonight
in West Carol Parish. Right now. It's under investigation as
a suicide, but I just want to be sure nothing
is left untouched because this just isn't my sister. Maybe
(24:22):
I'm in denial, but please please help If you can
to be sure they look for anything suspicious. Her name
is Crystal McRory Jones. He responded quickly saying, quote, I
will speak to them over there. We're flying home tonight.
It gave Jenna a tiny sliver of hope, just knowing
(24:44):
that someone she trusted might be able to get involved,
someone who wasn't already wrapped up in whatever was going
on in West Carroll Parish. She didn't know what he
might discover or how far he could go, but she
knew she had to try. Janna felt she owed that
(25:04):
much to Crystal. At eight fifty six PM, still in
shock and struggling to make sense of the day, Jana
reached out to another trusted friend, someone in law enforcement
that she'd known from Moorhouse Parish, Libby Brixi. She texted her,
holding back tears, but her fingers were trembling with urgency
(25:28):
and heartache. Quote, Hey, I know it's out of your jurisdiction,
but I need some help desperately. My sister died tonight
in West Carol Parish. Right now it's under investigation as
a suicide, but I just want to be sure that
nothing is left untouched, because this just isn't my sister.
Maybe I'm in denial, but please, please help if you can,
(25:52):
to be sure that they look for anything suspicious. Her
name is Crystal McCrory Jones. Libby, my heart hurts so bad.
Me and my brothers told my mom and she lost it.
I feel nothing but numb. Libby responded, quote, do you
know who's working it? Sheriff's office or police department? Janna
(26:16):
replied Sheriff's office. Her husband, Tony Jones, used to work
for the Sheriff's office there as a reserve officer, and
they relayed information to him that they wouldn't even relay
to me. For example, it was a single gunshot wound
to the head. They were sending her off for an autopsy.
They tried to whisper that while I was three feet away.
(26:39):
They set out loud that they didn't suspect foul play
end quote. Even just relaying it all probably felt unreal.
She was there, But at the same time, it was
like she was the outsider. Crystal's husband, someone who should
have been investigated like any other person in her life,
(27:01):
was instead being confided in, and Jana was just left
on the sidelines, watching, listening, hurting. The numbness had not
left her, but something else was beginning to grow alongside it.
Determination remember, on February ninth, twenty twenty three, at one
(27:22):
sixteen pm, a FedEx package was delivered to Tony and
Crystal's home. They found out the carrier on that route
that day was none other than Jenna's cousin, Loretta. Though
not Crystal's biological cousin, they were close raised together like sisters.
Because of this, Loretta often found herself stepping inside the
(27:46):
house when she delivered packages, whether to chat for a
few minutes or simply use the restroom. That day, Loretta
delivered a package containing a cell phone for Tony. Both
Tony's white work truck and Crystal's beige Tahoe were parked
in the circular driveway, yet no one came to the
(28:08):
door despite multiple attempts made by Loretta, who needed to
use the restroom. During the recorded meeting with Sheriff Matthews,
Jana brought this up as well. They discussed the package
and also the fact that Tony had paid over one
hundred and fifty dollars just the day before Cristel's death
(28:29):
to have a phone fixed Sheriff Matthews retains the only
copy of the receipt for that transaction. Jenna went on
to mention the package delivered that day at one sixteen pm,
making sure he realized the timing of it all. What
stood out even more was that Tony activated the new
phone at eight thirty five PM on the same day
(28:52):
that Crystal passed. Sheriff Matthews admits in the meeting to
giving Tony the package from the front doorstep. Jana also
shared with the sheriff that she had tried unsuccessfully to
reach Detective Alan Rby regarding that package. On February twelfth,
twenty twenty three, at five ten pm, Jana's grief and
(29:16):
desperation reached a breaking point. She sent Tony a long
text message, one that came from a place of deep anguish.
She begged him, pleaded with him to tell her something,
anything about her sister's final moments. Jana just needed to
know if she had suffered or if there was anything
(29:39):
she could understand about her last thoughts. Jana's text reads
as follows, Tony, my sister loved you with her whole heart.
She loved Cheyenne just like she loved her boys. I'm
so sorry that you're going through this, and my heart
breaks for Cheyenne. I'm a I'm sad, I'm numb, I'm
(30:03):
everything and nothing all at once. My sister was and
still is my best friend. I have so many regrets
of not calling and texting her more over the past year.
My heart hurts so bad for my girls when they
collapse to the ground. When I told them to see
an eight year old baby scream out for her aunt
(30:25):
Crystal was the most gut wrenching thing I've ever experienced.
I wish I could wake up from this and it
would just be a dream. Every time I turn around,
I see something that reminds me of her. I can't
even eat a steak without thinking of her, because, let's
be honest, who else eats a steak that's cooked more
(30:46):
like beef jerky other than me and my sister For
thirty three years, I had her thirty three years, Tony,
and now I don't. My heart will never be the same.
I grieve different than everyone else. I feel like I
have to be strong for them and be a hard
(31:07):
ass and hold it in. You know me well enough
to know that I have RBF worse than anyone on
this planet, but know that I do love you, and
I love Cheyenne, and I'm sorry. I just want to
know my best friend's last thoughts or words or actions
in the final minutes that she was here. I want
(31:29):
to know that she didn't suffer. I just want to
know someone, anyone, told her that they loved her before
she took her life. My sister is gone, my only sister.
I just want my heart to rest knowing that she
knew she was loved. Please look for a note, a letter, anything,
(31:51):
anything that will give me closure to know that she
knew she was loved. Her demons won Tony, but she
will always be loved by you, you, and so many more.
A sister's bond is like no other that anyone will understand.
My sister taught me to straighten my hair to put
on makeup. She let me crawl into bed with her
(32:13):
when I was little and got scared. I rode a
greyhound bus for thirty two hours when I was eight
and ten years old to New York to visit her.
She taught me that the best thing at Wendy's to
eat was a baked potato with bacon and cheese. Sonic
was definitely tater tots with chili and cheese and a
large cherry limeade. And I don't even have time to
(32:37):
get into her favorites. At Olive Garden. You know how
much she loved that place. We could finish each other's
sentences and finish the song lyrics that we were thinking of.
I'll never be able to mix up her clothes hangers
colors in her closet anymore, just to get on her
nerves or send her funny memes that no one gets
but her. She loved my girls, Tony with everything she had.
(33:03):
My JC and my Aubrey adored her. Please forgive me
if I'm being an ass, but I miss her Tony,
and I'm scared of going on without her. After Jena's
long emotional message, Tony said quote, I hurt too, and
I told her when I got off the phone I
loved her, and Cheyenne did too that morning before she left.
(33:27):
And I know everyone grieves different, and I love y'all.
Two end quote. On February thirteenth, twenty twenty three, at
ten am, Jana and others met with mister Todd Nevills
to discuss the funeral arrangements. For Crystal at Cox's funeral
Home in Bastrip, Louisiana. Though mister Neviles was primarily employed
(33:50):
at the Oak Grove location of Cox's funeral home, Tony
insisted on having him come to Bastrip for the meeting.
Once again, it seemed that Tony only wanted people from
Oak Grove involved in any aspect of her sister's death.
What was also troubling, though not immediately clear to them
at the time, was that mister Nevills wasn't just an
(34:13):
employee of Cock's funeral home. Tony had done quite a
bit of handyman work at both the Oak Grove location
of the funeral home and at mister Nevill's own home.
Work notes and records kept by Crystal, which Jena later
obtained from her laptop were included in the very well
(34:34):
organized documents of evidence that Janna gave to the police.
To make matters worse, it came to life that Tony
was not a licensed contractor and that his license had
been inactive and revoked since twenty eighteen. There is also
documented evidence of this. But going back to the meeting
with mister Todd Neviles, it was attended by Jena, Crystal's sister,
(35:00):
Cristel's brother, Julie, Crystal's sister in law, Tony, Crystal's legal spouse, James,
Tony's father, and Todd Nevills, of course, the representative of
Cock's funeral home. They discussed the cost of same day
visitation and service versus having it on a different day,
(35:23):
and the fact that Cristel had no burial insurance. Tony
stated that he received numerous donations from the Oak Grove community,
but that he was considering taking out alone to cover
the remaining expenses. Well. Jana could not let that stand,
she objected, saying that Cristel would never have wanted to
(35:46):
be buried with a loane hanging over her. She offered
to take care of the remaining balance herself. This was
before Jenna had even acquired the laptop and the evidence
that plainly showed they'd all been lied to about Tony's
whereabouts on the day of Crystal's death. Todd Nevills suggested
(36:07):
creating a GoFundMe account to help with the remaining costs.
Tony replied that he didn't know how to create one,
so Jenna told them both that she would take care
of it. Creating the account under her name and using
her personal checking account to fund it. They talked about
the funeral expenses a little more, and Tony did acknowledge
(36:30):
that there was a bill totaling between six thousand and
six thousand, five hundred which she signed, consenting to pay
for it. The conversation continued with questions about the service. Jana,
Crystal's brother Dane, and Julie, Crystal's sister in law, answered
most of the questions about family names, birthplaces, and other
(36:55):
details that the funeral home needed to complete their arrangements.
On February thirteenth, twenty twenty three, at eleven fifty one PM,
Tony google search to quote what is the appropriate time
to date after the death of a spouse. It felt
surreal to Janna that just days after Cristel's death, he
(37:18):
was already seeking out guidance on moving forward romantically. The
timing of this search was unsettling, especially in the midst
of all the uncertainty and the mounting questions surrounding her death.
On February fifteenth, twenty twenty three, Tony had previously informed
(37:40):
the funeral home that he wanted to see Crystal in
the casket as soon as possible, fully made up and dressed.
Despite his specific request, he failed to provide any assistance
when it came to finding someone to do her hair
and make up, or even help in finding clothing that
would suit her. For this, that responsibility fell on Julie
(38:03):
and Jana. She and Julie spent hours at the funeral
home that afternoon applying makeup to make sure Crystal looked
as beautiful as she always did. It was a difficult
emotional thing to do, but they knew Cristel would want
them to take care of her with love. Julie too,
spent hours going from store to store, using her own
(38:26):
money to buy a suitable outfit for Crystal, one that
matched the way she had always wanted to be seen.
Julie also found a stylist who was willing to properly
groom Crystal's hair for the service, and made sure to
pay for the stylist's services herself. All of this was
done to fulfill Tony's wishes, because the funeral home had
(38:49):
contacted Julie asking for these things to be taken care
of immediately because of him. Yet, despite all the work
that the pair put into making shit Crystal was presented
beautifully for the service. Tony did not show up that
day to view her body. While Julie and Jena were
(39:09):
preparing Crystal for her final services, they noticed something that
made their hearts ache even more. There was a lot
of bruising on Crystal's body. It wasn't something you would
expect to see, especially when considering the supposed nature of
her death. When they brought it to the attention of
(39:30):
the funeral home director, he said to Julie, quote, none
of these injuries would be the result of an autopsy process.
The injuries were undeniable abrasions and lacerations on her left forearm,
along with significant bruising. Her left ring finger was missing
(39:50):
a fingernail, and although her nails had been freshly painted,
there was dirt and debris beneath them. There was also
extensive bruising on her legs and in her thighs, marks
that no one could explain, and it all left them
feeling sick. The funeral director advised Julie to take photos
(40:13):
of Crystal's body, which they did. Those photos have also
been provided as evidence to police to show what they
saw things that should not have been there. The next day,
February sixteenth, Tony had a female friend, Katrina Hendry, accompany
him to view Crystal's body. She was not a relative,
(40:37):
and the funeral director, Charles Evans, who knew Tony pretty well,
told him that bringing a woman who was not related
to him to view his wife's body did not look appropriate.
The situation became even harder for Jane to process, having
something like this added to everything else that had been happening.
(41:00):
The same day, at five forty six pm, Tony called
Cristel's brother Dane to tell him something that was chilling.
He said that he himself had found the missing shellcasing
in the bedroom where Cristel's death occurred. This was a
week later, and investigators and cleaners had come into the
(41:21):
room already. The room was small, about fifteen by fifteen feet,
and neither Dane nor Jenna could understand how they could
have missed something like that. Tony then asked Dane quote
not to question Detective Herby about the shellcasing as a favor.
(41:42):
This was a strange request, especially considering the circumstances. The
shellcasing will be discussed later in the recorded meeting with
Sheriff Scott Matthews, but at this point it seems like
there was more being hidden. On February seventeenth, at seven
point fifty nine a m. While Jana was at work,
(42:04):
her phone rang. It was Dane, his voice alone, tinged
with frustration, let her know the gravity of the situation.
This is when he told Jana that Tony had called
him the night before, saying that he had found the
missing shell casing in the room where Cristel's tragic death
had occurred. Her heart sank. It had been a full
(42:28):
week since law enforcement and cleaners had combed through that
very room. How could this casing be overlooked, and why
was Tony the one to find it. In a quick
attempt to delay Crystal's cremation, a final step she had
always opposed, Jena called a long list of attorneys and
(42:51):
district attorneys who are all across northeast Louisiana. She poured
her heart out to each one, explaining the discovery of
the shellcasing and the disturbing questions it raised. Despite her please,
her attempts to halt the cremation were met with silence
(43:11):
and indifference. No one took action. The family's wishes went unheard.
After Crystal's funeral services, Jana began texting with Sheriff Mike
Tubbs of Morehouse Parish. These were difficult conversations, but she
felt she had no other choice. Jana told Mike about
(43:33):
the shellcasing that had been found over a week after
Cristel's death, and expressed to him her growing concern that
her death had not been investigated properly. Mike was someone
she trusted during her undergraduate degree internship. She worked under
him at the Moorhouse Parish Sheriff's department and the Juvenile Division,
(43:57):
so when she reached out to him, it was as
a friend, hoping he might be able to help or
at least offer some guidance. After the funeral, Jana texted
Mike again, telling him she was ready to talk. The
phone records of their conversations are included in the evidence.
It was a difficult thing for her to even think about,
(44:20):
but she had to try every possible avenue to make
sure nothing was overlooked. Also on February eighteenth, twenty twenty three,
the day of Crystal's visitation and funeral service, the air
felt so heavy, overloaded with grief and the weight of
(44:40):
all these questions that hung over everything. Jana and her
family went through the painful process watching Crystal being laid
to rest, but still the mystery of her death remained unresolved.
At the end of the services, Tony handed Jena a
bag from Cox's funeral home as people were filing out.
(45:03):
It contained the programs, a DVD of the picture slide show,
the guest book, and thank you cards, all the mementoes
of Crystal's final farewell. Tony had no interest in any
of it. You keep it, he said, with an air
of indifference that seemed out of place for someone who
(45:25):
had just lost a spouse. The next day, February nineteenth,
Jana reached out to Tony through text. She needed answers
about the funeral expenses and the donations that had been collected.
She asked him point blank how much of the money
had actually been used for Crystal's funeral costs. She pressed
(45:46):
for receipts, anything to shed light on where the money
had gone, but Tony was uncooperative, providing nothing in return.
The silence only added to the growing un ease she felt.
The following day, Jena contacted Sheriff Mike Tubbs again. This
(46:07):
time she was determined to get in touch with Wes
Carol Sheriff Scott Matthews. She needed someone who could help
her make sense of the events surrounding Cristel's death. Every conversation,
every message felt like a step closer to finding the truth,
but each day also felt like a step further from
(46:28):
any real answers. The weight of Cristel's death, combined with
the number of questions, began to take its toll on Jenna.
But the day was far from ordinary. As Jenna's mind
was reeling, and she turned her attention to a laptop
that she had purchased for Crystal years ago. Tony, almost
(46:49):
too willing to cooperate, had handed it over along with
the password to unlock it. This is when she found
out that Cristel was logged into Tony's Gmail account, which
she had never owned. The pieces were slowly coming together.
Jana began digging deeper into the contents of the laptop.
(47:09):
She hit the information jackpot, emails, user names, passwords, browser history,
but the most critical find was the location timeline from
Tony's phone via Google Maps, the very device that could
hold the key to understanding the tragic events of that day.
When Jana confronted Tony about this. His response was cold
(47:33):
and evasive. Quote was there something specific you were looking for?
He asked. Jana's voice, still steady despite the growing pit
in her stomach, simply replied, quote a suicide note. Tony
claimed he'd search TI and low for one, but if
he had really looked, he would have known that the
(47:55):
laptop Crystal used every day had his own information logged in.
Yet it seemed he hadn't bothered to check it, so
he had no idea. February twentieth, the unthinkable for the
family happened that afternoon. Cristel's body was cremated, two days
(48:15):
before her autopsy results had even been released. It was
a jarring violation of the family's wishes. Two days later,
Cristel's autopsy was completed by doctor Frank Peretti, yet another
step in a process that had already been clouded by
haste and negligence. Jana, refusing to let go of her suspicions,
(48:38):
continued to text Sheriff Mike Tubbs from Morehouse Parish. She
needed to get in touch with Sheriff Scott Matthews from
West Carroll Parish. The walls were closing in, but she
wouldn't stop fighting for the truth. Jana's frustration reached its
peak as she texted Sheriff Scott Matthews. She was desperate
(48:59):
for any information regarding the time of death in the case.
The responses she had been getting so far were sparse
and unsatisfactory. February twenty third, the same day as the meeting,
Jana made another trip to Cox's funeral home in Bastrip.
She was hoping to finally retrieve the remains of her sister,
(49:21):
but what she learned when she arrived was unsettling. Jana
had previously made arrangements with her nephew, Crystal's eldest son, Corbin,
to have his portion of the ashes sent to him
in New York, but when she got there, she was
told by Josh Lebron, a funeral homeworker, that Tony had
(49:43):
already picked up the remains an hour earlier. Josh told
Jenna that Tony refused to let the funeral home separate
the ashes for the family, or even ship them to
Corbin at no charge. Instead, he insisted on ha everything himself.
A sense of unease flew all over Jenna. Why was
(50:07):
Tony acting so weird about something so simple. The remains
were meant to be shared among family, yet there he
was taking control of everything. Later, at five seventeen PM,
Jena texted Charles Evans, the funeral director, asking if he
had spoken to Tony about the ashes. Mister Evans returned
(50:29):
her call and confirmed what Josh had said. He mentioned
his quote close friendship with Tony, which seemed to play
a significant role in how he'd handled the situation. Mister
Evans assured Jena that he could get Tony to bring
the ashes back by Monday so they could be properly
divided and sent to the family. But as Jana hung
(50:52):
up the phone, the gnawing feeling that something wasn't right
just grew stronger. Why was Tony being so sick, secretive,
and controlling about something as simple as the ashes? The
long awaited meeting with Sheriff Matthews took place. I will
give a quick run through of the meeting, but I
(51:13):
will also upload the full recorded meeting as a separate episode.
It's a little over an hour, but I wanted you
all to be able to listen to it for yourselves
as well. When Jana sat down across from Sheriff Matthews.
The weight of her sister's death hung in the air
like a storm waiting to break. She wasn't alone. Her
(51:36):
brother Dane and cousin Kara were there too, both holding
on to stacks of evidence, questions, and heartbreak. The purpose
was clear. They were not walking into that Sheriff's office
to point fingers. They came to present a full, carefully
constructed picture of what had happened and to ask for
(51:58):
the truth to be treated like it mattered. Jana began
by laying out the foundation. She presented the sheriff with
documentation that Cristel had been tracking Tony's location before her death.
Screenshots from her laptop showed his whereabouts pinned to a
hotel and bastrup. That alone raised questions, but the pattern
(52:21):
of concern did not stop there. The sheriff listened, nodding
as he recognized one of the addresses. He acknowledged his
team had already spoken with Darren Billings, a man Tony
claimed to have worked for that morning of Cristel's death.
Jana made it clear that she was not speculating. She
had corroborating text from the sheriff. In another perish to
(52:46):
verify this location detail. She wasn't just grieving, she was proving.
From there, things spiraled deeper. Jana brought up the fact
that Tony's location history had had been enabled on his
Google account. That laptop had become a gold mine of truth,
(53:06):
containing everything from Tony's browser history to a detailed Google
Maps timeline of the day Crystal died. The more they learned,
the less things added up. Alongside these digital trails were
deeply personal documents Crystal had saved, like quotes, mental health reflections,
(53:28):
snapshots of her tidy, color coded life. Nothing about her
digital or emotional footprint hinted at suicidal thoughts. Dane added
that Crystal had recently become a grandmother, something she was
so excited about. Kara pointed out the inconsistencies between Crystal's
(53:49):
behavior and the suicide theory, saying what they all felt,
the timelines and the facts did not align with that conclusion.
Then they talked about the shell casing which Tony claimed
to have found eight days after Crystal died in their
small fifteen by fifteen foot bedroom, A shellcasing in plain view,
(54:12):
supposedly overlooked by detectives and a professional cleanup crew. When
confronted about it, Sheriff Matthews admitted it had been missed.
He said it could have been caught in her hair
or clothing, even though Crystal had short hair and was
only wearing a bathrobe and underwear at the time. He
(54:33):
insisted it was visible in a crime scene photo that
his team had taken, but Jenna, having seen those photos
later on, would learn the casing was not in any
of them. That fact stayed with her. It was the
kind of thing that didn't just bend the truth, it
broke it. As the discussion went on, Sheriff Matthews tried
(54:56):
to clarify how Tony might have learned details about Crystal's
death before the autopsy was even completed. He suggested that
maybe he himself had told Tony it was a gunshot
wound to ease the shock of losing a spouse, but
this didn't sit right with the family. Jana had arrived
at the scene only seventeen minutes after Tony, and she
(55:19):
remembered exactly what he said, quote, it's a single gunshot
wound to the head. That wasn't something a man in
shock just blurts out without knowing it. For sure, the
meeting went deeper than just the crime scene. They went
into finances. Dane talked about new money coming in, such
(55:40):
as credit cards being paid off, payments on a storage
unit in Tennessee, a rental car booked for Hawaii, and
even a purchase of cryptocurrency. All of it was happening
just days after Crystal's death. Jena had found documentation for
all of it on the laptop. Then there was the
(56:02):
GoFundMe donations from a community mourning Crystal, while Tony seemed
to be using the money for anything but funeral expenses.
And then the conversation took a turn towards something else.
Dane spoke up about what he'd learned regarding Tony's past,
including a restraining order from an ex wife. He explained
(56:26):
that Cristel had started suspecting some very serious things, let's say,
before her death. Sheriff Matthews asked for contact info for
the ex wife, Shanna Jones, and Jana said that she
would reach out on Facebook. But the suspicions that Christel
had happened to also be the final straw in Shanna
(56:49):
and Tony's marriage. Allegedly, Julie joined the meeting. Later and
added even more layers. She talked about how Cristel was
right handed, something that raised flags when the autopsy and
injury locations were discussed. She recounted how Tony had claimed
Cristal's suicide was caused by her not taking Abilifi, a
(57:13):
story he spread immediately after her death. Julie also described
Cristel's mental and emotional state, insisting she had seen no
signs of severe depression, only love for her kids and
excitement about becoming a grandmother. When Julie mentioned Tony's controlling
behavior and verbal abuse, Sheriff Matthews responded. He said he
(57:37):
believed everything that they were saying, but he also said
that being a bad person doesn't make someone a criminal.
That was something he repeated often. Oh, Tony might be dishonest, manipulative,
even cruel, but until they could prove a crime had occurred,
there was only so much the law could do. Still,
(57:59):
the sheriff didn't shy away from calling Tony what he was,
a chronic liar. He said it plainly, again and again,
making it clear that even though Tony had told people
he worked with the Sheriff's office, he didn't. He said
Tony could claim whatever he wanted publicly, even post it
(58:19):
as his workplace on Facebook. That didn't make it true,
he said. Julie reminded Sheriff Matthews that it's illegal to
impersonate a police officer. The sheriff responded with frustration, saying
that unless someone filed a complaint about Tony pulling people
over or making traffic stops, there wasn't much they could
(58:41):
act on. He told her that she had to quote
let that go, but letting it go wasn't exactly what
any of them could do, especially Jenna. When the talk
came back around to the investigation itself, Sheriff Matthews assured
them that he was taking the case seria. He said
his department was having the firearm tested and that they
(59:04):
were still actively looking into things. He also promised that
if he ever felt his department was not capable of
handling it, he'd hand it off to the state. He
insisted again that the case was never truly closed. As
the meeting wound down, he became more personal. The sheriff
(59:25):
admitted that he had a different way of talking and working,
said he wasn't a politician and didn't want to play
games with people's grief. He told them that he could
see the pain in their eyes and if there was
anything he could do to relieve it, he would. He
handed out his personal phone number and told Jana to
call him directly if anything else came up. Not a deputy,
(59:49):
not an assistant him. He even asked if he could
pray with her. And as everyone left the room, emotions
raw and hearts very heavy, Jana was left with that
card in her hand and a mountain of questions still
in her chest. She had gone in with hope, hope
(01:00:11):
that someone would finally hear them and take it all seriously.
Whether that hope was justified or not, she still didn't know.
But she said what needed to be said, and she
was not done, not by a long shot. The recorded
meeting will be available to listen to by the middle
(01:00:32):
of the week. We have so much more to dive into,
including what Tony told the police about February ninth, twenty
twenty three, what he did that day according to him,
and so much more. So stay tuned for Part two
coming out later this week, which will be the recorded meeting,
and then part three will be next Monday. There are
(01:00:56):
some things you can do in the meantime, follow her
sister Janna on social media to stay up to date
on the latest news about Crystal's case. Her links will
be in the show notes, as well as the petition
that you can sign in support of reopening the investigation.
Until next time, friends, stay safe and take care.
Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Thank you for listening to this episode. As we close out,
let us not forget. Awareness is our greatest defense in
a world that can be dark and grim. Vigilance is
our beacon of hope when it comes to the cases
we have explored together that have remained unsolved. If you
happen to hold a piece of the puzzle, there to
step forward. As author Lois McMaster bouge Hold once said,
(01:01:44):
the dead cannot cry out for justice.
Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
It is a duty of the living to do so
for them.
Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
Until we reconvene, my friends, stay vigilant and stay informed.
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