Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
I want you to start driving South.
We'll take the one down pretty much the whole way.
Where are we going? That's about four hours away.
You won't tell me where I'm putting my life in your hands
here, man. It's near Rancho Los Pinos.
(00:27):
Previously on the island in the Pacific.
Yesterday's conversation with Sadie was very enlightening.
I think for the time being I want to take her at her word.
I think you should reconsider what you're doing.
What if you want me to help you?You need to pay one hour $5000.
(00:53):
I'm also sending you the coordinates of the island.
I just want to make sure this documentation isn't lost.
Absolutely, I'll set up a sharedcom folder for us.
Just be careful, use your instincts.
By this time tomorrow, I'll certainly find out whether I'm
the world's biggest fool or not.Yeah, this must be him.
(01:16):
You're recording it. Yeah, I just record for myself.
It's just for my notes. Turn it off.
OK, now. OK.
My name is Kathleen Goldstein, I'm an investigative journalist,
and this is The Island in the Pacific Episode 4, The Mexican
(01:37):
Part 2. It's near Rancho Los Pinos.
And there it is. Matthew is being taken to the
last area we know. Jeremy Wilson's phone had
tracked him, Rancho Los Pinos, about a four hour drive South
from Tijuana down Hwy. 1 on the western coastline of the Baja
(02:00):
Peninsula. While driving, Matthew records
much of his conversation with the contact, the man we know
practically nothing about a possible threat to Matthew, a
potential killer. We just don't know yet if this
man had any involvement with Jeremy's disappearance.
Matthew needs to stay vigilant. During this drive.
(02:23):
I was able to see Matthew's location through his phone
tracking. Although there were times that
were spotty and his phone location seemed to freeze up.
It would eventually relocate andshow me his whereabouts.
His steady Dr. S down Hwy. 1 through the seaside desert,
sprinkled with small villages and convenient marts along the
way. The audio recorder during
(02:45):
Matthew's drive with the contactmay have been positioned in a
way that made it a little more difficult to hear the contact
clearly. I've gone ahead and helped
enhance the contact side of the conversation for clarity, so you
may hear a little variation there.
Is it OK if I ask you some questions during this obscure
(03:06):
lengthy drive? You can ask, I may or may not
answer. What's your name?
I. Can tell you that.
Are you American? I am.
Are you military? I was.
(03:33):
Did you know Jeremy Wilson? Briefly.
Do you know what happened to him?
Up to a certain point. And can you tell me what that
point is? The last place I know where
(03:56):
Jeremy was physically was at an airstrip in Rancho Los Pinos.
All right. So did Jeremy get on a plane at
that airstrip? Yes, he did.
Was there anyone else on that plane with him?
Just a pilot, a Mexican. And you know where they went.
(04:24):
And, as far as I know, to an island somewhere out on the
Pacific Ocean. An island.
That's all I know. I'm just going to ask you this
man, did you have anything to dowith Jeremy's disappearance?
(04:48):
Listen, Matthew had to you paid me to deliver you information
about Jeremy, so that's what I'mdoing.
Neither the American authoritiesor the Mexican authorities will
go anywhere near the state. So I guess I'm just, I'm trying
to do the right thing. I didn't want to get involved,
(05:10):
but here I am. And no, I had nothing to do with
Jeremy disappearing. So hold up here.
The contact just stated that neither the American or Mexican
authorities will go near this case.
What does that mean? And that he's trying to do the
(05:30):
right thing and that he originally didn't want to get
involved. What's going on here?
You're good at your job, Mr. Reporter.
I looked you up. You were in Afghanistan.
Yeah, I was. Your reporting there was
(05:54):
accurate. I value that.
Did you serve there? I did and that's all I will tell
you about it. Fair enough, I am a little
curious. Why are you letting me record
this conversation? Like I said, I think you're a
(06:18):
good writer. You find the truth in things.
You need some time to research who you were.
But this whole situation with Jeremy, there's some really
weird shit going on, man. I think it needs to be
(06:38):
investigated. What kind of weird shit?
But if I know, maybe something bigger at play, you know,
something nefarious, I don't know.
What's making you feel this way?Was Jeremy involved in
(07:01):
something? I'll just break this down as
best I can, all right? I'm all yours.
Jeremy called me a few months ago asking for my help.
He's talking about on an island that he saw out in the Pacific
(07:23):
Ocean. He was flying over, wasn't on
his radar and he wasn't on any mass, and that's what caught his
attention. Like either You described it as
like an apparition, a mirage. I I.
Know that story? This fiance said.
He explained it to me. All right, so you know, it's
(07:46):
fucking crazy, man. I didn't believe him the more I
thought about it. And him disappearing.
I don't know, ma'am. It's just what I put together.
Listening to Jeremy talk about it, speaking to a few people
about it, something about this whole thing, just.
(08:07):
It just seems odd. Did.
Jeremy, give you the coordinatesto the eyelid.
It's OK, I haven't. You don't have to hide anything.
Yeah, yeah, I gave. You couldn't.
And so you never felt curious yourself, Try to find it.
(08:27):
Yeah, of course I was, I am. But I mean, I've been working on
some jobs since it all went down, which forced me to leave
the country last month. You living here in Mexico now or
just working? I'd float.
(08:48):
So you said you knew Jeremy briefly.
Did you know him before all thiswent down?
Nah, a friend of mine, a ex military guy, he set us up.
The guy knew I was in Mexico andhad contacts down here.
He connected Jeremy to me. So anyway, Jeremy called me
(09:12):
asked if I could help him out. He said he needs an off the grid
seaplane. He wants to get out of this
island and investigate it. Listen, leave this card out of
your reporting or ask, fuck, hell, whatever.
I don't give a shit. I have this little side business
going down here. It's not all on the up and up.
(09:34):
You can get it. It's lucrative, but dangerous.
Anyway, through that business I know a wide array of people down
here and well, I mean I can get things, or at the very least
they know people that can get things.
Anyway, I reach out to some contacts.
(09:56):
One of them knows about a guy, some Mexican dude who owns an
old Albatross, one of those big sea planes that can land on
water. Apparently this guy is ex
cartel, retired so to speak, andhe has access to the plane that
one of the cartels had stolen years ago.
It's actually an old American plane they lay back in the day.
(10:20):
Grumman HU16 out of trot, decommissioned, had a U.S.
Coast Guard or Air Force One of those.
So I end up speaking with the Mexican.
You speak Spanish Esenor? Long story short, I'm able to
(10:42):
connect Jeremy with him. Jeremy pays him a bunch of money
to fly him to this so-called island.
I took Jeremy down this very highway, like the same way we're
doing things right now. I'm taking you to meet the
Mexican because, well, he's apparently the last guy to see
(11:03):
Jeremy alive. This is a huge development in
the case. What the contact has told
Matthew could be the next possible lead in finding out
what happened to Jeremy, and digging into the contacts
(11:25):
background does help place him abit better inside this puzzle.
Even with the limited amount of information we have on him, he
seems, at least at the moment, to want to help Matthew with
this case and could have much needed information on how we may
be able to locate the whereabouts of Jeremy Wilson.
(11:46):
Have you already set this up with the Mexican?
Does he have a name? It's set up, but I need to
confirm. These guys, they, well, they
flake out sometimes. It's just a heads up, OK, and no
lanes. But I did hear people around him
(12:07):
calling him by a nickname, OmbrePajaro, which translates to
Birdman. Birdman.
What, because he's like a pilot or something?
Yeah, I guess so. Probably, I don't know.
You think Jeremy maybe just got caught up with a Mexican drug
(12:30):
cartel? Do you think he was involved in
that world at all? Do you think this actually could
have just been foul play? That's a lot of questions.
To be honest I don't know man about all of it and it's
possible this whole island thingis purely speculation because I
(12:53):
have no proof of it. That being said, I mean I don't
know why Jeremy will go out of his way to have me take him 4
hours stop at Tijuana when he could have handled drug stuff
closer to the border and probably without my involvement.
Yeah, yeah, it's a good point. Did you see them take off from
(13:14):
that plate? Uh huh.
Yeah, but for all I know, I mean, that sounds awful, but I
mean, there's absolutely the possibility that the Mexican
took Jeremy's money, flew him out over that ocean and and just
dumped. Him threw him out of the plane.
(13:36):
Hey I'm just talking scenarios here.
I have no clue. Not like I know this Mexican
that well at all. And it's like the Wild West down
here, bro, especially when you're dealing with characters
like this, with this history. So, yeah, I mean, this could be
(13:57):
dangerous for you. And I want to give you an out
right now before I call them up.Do you want to stop?
Turn around? Go back to your cozy home in
Saint Louis? How do you know I live in Saint
Louis? I know a lot of things.
(14:22):
No, no, no, let's keep going. All right, I'm going to call him
right now. Fingers crossed.
The contact calls the Mexican. The phone call is in Spanish,
picked up by Matthew's recordingdevice, so we can only hear one
(14:45):
side of the conversation. Matthew has chosen to delve into
the unknown, an extremely dangerous unknown, and at this
point all I can do is watch a little tracking dot move slowly
S along my phone's map. The contact gives an alias that
(15:10):
he uses with these people he interacts with, even though it's
not his real name. We have decided to bleep it out
to protect his identity. I will translate this call for
better clarity. Ten.
Well, americano comigo. I have the American with me.
Are we still good? See.
(15:36):
Yes, three hours. OK, what do?
You say? Friend I can.
Bring him soon, only hours away.I understand, no.
(16:00):
No, no, no problem man. But no worries, nothing to worry
about. No.
Why though? Amigo.
He's looking for his friend. It was total, that's all.
No, no, no, no, no, no. Police here, amigo.
(16:24):
No police friend. OK, Italian.
I understand. See and then you.
Understood. How you?
(16:47):
How did that go? Well, and you're back an hour.
No, no. Seem nervous I I told him you
were a friend, not the police. He seemed nervous.
I'm supposed to be the nervous 1.
(17:09):
I don't understand. He said he doesn't want to get
involved. I'm sorry.
Can we just show up? We can, we can talk to him
anyway, you know. These are these are not people
you show up to see uninvite. That's a no go my friend.
I also have a reputation to holddown here, so remember that all.
(17:33):
Right, I'm I'm going to pull over.
We need to figure this out. This is a brutal moment for
Matthew, Sadie, and this entire investigation seemingly getting
so close to the source of Jeremy's last known whereabouts,
only to have the rug pulled out from under you.
(17:56):
I can tell you from experience, the feeling Matthew must have in
this moment is like being punched in the gut repeatedly.
Illusion, anger and bad decisions can often be the next
emotions to take over. We have to try again.
We have to, all right, Call him.Call him and tell him I'll pay.
(18:18):
He just said no. Listen, man, listen.
I paid you a lot of money. A lot.
And Jeremy needs our help. Imagine being in his shoes, dead
or alive. Wouldn't you want someone to do
whatever it took to find you if you were missing?
(18:40):
Come on man. Just.
Please just call him back. Please come on, just call him
back. OK.
(19:11):
Hi friend, it's me again. I want to.
Try and change your mind. My friend needs to talk to you,
please. No see.
(19:35):
I understand, but he will pay. See the pagara.
Yes, he will pay you. No, no, no, no.
So much like policia, it's no, it's policia.
So it's an amigo, OK? We are not police.
He is not police, just his friend, OK.
Uh huh. Hey, see Sibelco correcto.
(19:59):
I see, right? See Give up and Write.
Yes, he will pay you dollars. OK, see in the deal.
Yes, I understand. Hey, Mato Menos Tresora.
About 3 hours. And yes.
Thank you. Thank you friend.
(20:20):
Yes, thank you. Same place.
Great bye friend. OK, well have some good news,
some bad news for you. Good news is he changed his mind
(20:42):
and he won't meet. You all right?
Thank God. What's the bad?
Well, it's going to cost you. How much?
2 grand fit for the meet up. OK.
(21:04):
And if you want to get on that plane, guessing it's not going
to be cheap, so you may want to prepare yourself for that.
Thank you, seriously, thank you.We're just going to need to stop
with the next town so I can pullsome cash.
(21:29):
I want to find out what happenedto Jeremy too.
And why didn't you ask the Mexican to fly you to that
island when you found out Jeremywas missing?
Now, how did you find out by theway?
And fiance, ma'am. She kept fucking calling me.
Like nonstop. He told me he hadn't contacted
(21:50):
her since he left and I checked into it.
Mexican told me that he flew back out to the island three
days later, I think to where therendezvous pickup spot was, and
Jeremy never shows up. Mexican waited as long as he
could but had to fly back to themainland.
I told her that and she just kept calling me.
(22:14):
I had to separate myself from her after that.
Blocked her number and shit. I didn't want to, I didn't want
to get involved with it man. I I didn't know what to think
and they from dealing with thesecartel guys can be tricky.
Like I said, I'm running a bit of a business down here, so me
(22:36):
interfering in things that are not my business could be a death
sentence to what I'm doing to make money or possibly even
myself. Not the heroic answer that you
want to hear, but I just, I didn't want to get involved.
I was one of the last people to be with Jeremy before he
disappeared and the Mexican authorities came around, started
(23:01):
looking into me and what I do. No bueno, amigo.
Get it? Yeah.
So yeah, that's that's why I'm helping you, because you might
be able to actually find out what's going on with all of this
(23:22):
and if there actually is some secret fucking island out there,
whatever that means. Delusion, anger and bad
decisions can sometimes work in your favor.
Matthew and the contact continueto drive South three more hours
to eventually meet up with the man known as the Mexican,
(23:45):
nicknamed Hombre Pajaro, translated in English to
Birdman. Matthew sends me a text during a
stop for gasoline, letting me know he's OK and checking to
make sure I can still see his location through the app.
Eventually, Matthew and the contact reach Rancho Los Pinos,
the airstrip where the Mexican is located and the last known
(24:08):
sighting of Jeremy Wilson. Just over there, I think.
Yeah, right, right. You can pull in right there,
yeah. All right.
The contact calls the Mexican letting him know they have
arrived and the meeting takes place.
Hola amigo. Hey.
(24:39):
Perfecto. Oh, he's here.
Pull up to that warehouse. Here we go.
Matthew keeps his recording device on since he has it tucked
(25:00):
away during the meet up. The audio from the Mexican does
come out a bit soft or hard of hearing occasionally.
I'll introduce you, just stand next to me.
(25:21):
Hola amigo. Graduate for resignation.
Hola Hola como esta esto amigo. See the Ellis, Matthew and just
it's it's an amigo. The men continue to speak in
Spanish, apparently the Mexicansonly language.
(25:43):
You're asking for the money. Thanks.
You go. Now he's asking what you want to
know. Ask him if he knows where Jeremy
Wilson is. The man, he flew to the Isle.
(26:06):
Esta preguntano cisabe dunes 5 de americano que MO la de la
Isla ah. Loye vena viona la Isla prezios
espuesta fiero cojero pero nuncaparecion El Punto en cuento
esperion pardeoras. He's saying he flew Jeremy to
(26:27):
the island, went back three dayslater to pick him up, but he
never showed up and he waited a couple hours for him.
Why didn't you? Wait longer.
No. No.
You said there was a storm coming in.
(26:48):
You had to get the plane out of there.
So why didn't you go back to? Get him the next day.
ES El trato no puello permitir me bolares A cotas Y dinero
tengo que pagar El mantenimientola gasolina.
(27:11):
He said that was the deal they made.
He couldn't afford to fly that plane without being paid.
He had to pay for the upkeep andgasoline.
Everything needs to be paid for.Unca parecio Los Peres ES
lugares peligrosso Napole a Wolver.
He's saying that he never showedup and you waited for him.
He says that place is dangerous and he couldn't go back again.
(27:35):
What does he mean it's dangerous?
He said it's replaced with devillips.
What does that mean? He's just repeating that it's a
(28:00):
very dangerous place. Ask him if he'll take me there.
I'll pay him. Este americano este El querida
la Islam. Estono is possible.
You know Y porque El quiena dinero para tip E pagara si pero
(28:23):
necesito. Mucho.
He's saying it's not possible. But I, I mean, I told him you
will pay. He's saying it will cost a lot.
I think you can get him to do it,
(28:51):
OK. You think it's going to cost you
20,000 dollars? 10,000 each way?
Wait, that's crazy. That's crazy.
I'll pay 10,000 total. That's all I can do.
Oh no. No.
(29:15):
Por favor please. Por favor 5000 Each way fives
cinco por favor. Uno peligrodo.
Muy Peligrodo. ES peligroso de es peligroso.
He's saying it's too dangerous to go there.
(29:35):
What about it is too dangerous? The island.
He seems nervous. But I'm going.
He can leave. He can drop me.
I leave. I'll pay him, I'll pay you.
(30:07):
Please. He's agreed that he wants the
money up front. Thank you.
(30:27):
Of course. Yeah, yeah, I can.
I can send Bitcoin. I hit that Bitcoin.
He actually can. Yeah, Bitcoin will work.
Do you have a lot of that stuff?A little chump.
The Mexican has agreed to take Matthew to the island.
(30:49):
An unbelievable break for Matthew, as far as he knows.
Manana pola, manana polamo necesito dinero antes dienos
pero manana no Ramos. OK, he said.
Tomorrow morning he'll fly you out.
You need the money transferred to him before you go.
But tomorrow you go, you're going to the island.
(31:16):
I'm going to the island. Next time on the island and the
Pacific. I don't know if I'm crazy.
I don't know if this is the right thing to do.
If you get any information from her, she can be trusted.
(31:39):
OK, I know Jeremy had survival skills.
The question becomes, was he good enough to survive with
those skills? For sure there's a risk at play
here whenever you're dealing with people like this.
I might be walking into the exact same trap as Jeremy.
This will work. You're going to find this place
and Jeremy. If I don't.
(32:01):
He knew this place existed. He was right.
Please, if you go get him and bring him back to me.
Music contributors are listed inthe show notes.
Please like, share and follow tohelp support this podcast.
And leaving a positive rating will also help get Jeremy Story
(32:24):
to more people. This podcast is produced by
Steel Valley Productions.