Justice for Jacob - Update

Hi- This is my update and the latest episode of True Consequences. I wish it was better news.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Gather round, friend enjoin me bythe fire. I have a secret to
share. When I was a child, I lived with my grandma. She
allowed me to watch unsolved mysteries.Fast forward to two thousand eight, my
freshman year of college, a seriesof armed robberies on campus escalated into a
serial rapist's reign of terror. That'swhen I created my first crime podcast.

(00:27):
In January twenty fourteen, I pickedup the podcast again from my college roommate
who fell for an underage girl online, to the chilling story of a murdered
nun in nineteen sixty nine Baltimore.And in the Throwaway series, I share
my own journey of overcoming homelessness andhow that experience led me to unmask a

(00:48):
serial killer and identify three of hisJane Doe victims. This is foul play
crime series where the stories are realand the truth is waiting to be discovered.

(01:38):
It's me Eric Carter Lan Dean,and I hope you're doing well.
This episode is going to be alittle bit different from most of my episodes,
and it's going to be pretty personal. I started this show four years
ago because I wanted to make adifference in my community. I wanted to

(01:59):
help people who were fighting for justice, like my mom and I, and
initially I didn't want to talk aboutJacob's case. It was really scary for
me. I didn't want to putmy brother's story, my story, my
mom's story out there for the Internetto consume. But I realized that this

(02:20):
could actually be an opportunity for meto change things in my brother's case,
and I thought that maybe we mighthave a chance at getting justice for Jacob.
If you're listening and you're wondering whatare you talking about, Eric,
you need to go back and listento the first part of season two where

(02:44):
my mom and I tell Jacob's story. I also re released it recently,
edited a little bit better for soundquality. Didn't quite fix everything, But
the point is it's been a reallylong journey and we have been through so
much together because of you. Thedistrict Attorney in Sukoro County turned the case

(03:07):
over to the Attorney General about threeyears ago. Because of you, listener,
because of you true advocates, thathappened. Many of you were around
when we did the campaign, callingand emailing and writing to the Attorney General
and to the district attorney. Thatled to a three year investigation with the

(03:28):
Attorney General's Office, and I've kepta lot of this to myself. It's
not been an easy three years.Halfway through those three years, there was
a new Attorney General elected, sothe case sat there for a while,
not being touched. But I heldon to hope and I checked in occasionally.
But I was trying my best tonot bother the Attorney General's office or

(03:52):
the prosecutors that were looking into thecase, because I didn't want to annoy
them, and I was really hopingthat this was it. Prior to this
happening, my mom and I hadbeen told no. Thirty four years.
We've been told no in a bunchof different ways from different prosecutors. It's
been hard. It's been hard.It's hard to know that the person responsible

(04:16):
for killing your baby brother, forhurting you and your mom and probably countless
others, has been free to hurtwhoever he wants. For the last thirty
seven years, a lot was writingon the Attorney general's investigation. So in
December, the Attorney General's Office reachedout to me and asked if my mom

(04:41):
and I were available to meet withthem. Because of the holidays and my
travel schedule with my day job assoon as we were able to get to
the Attorney General's office was on Januaryeleventh, and my mom and I were
very excited. We were very positivegoing into that meeting, feeling like maybe
this was the right time and maybewe would finally see justice for Jacob and

(05:08):
make sure that nobody else can behurt by this man the way that he
hurt us. I kept saying thatI was being cautiously optimistic about it.
I didn't want to get my hopesup because I knew how devastating it would
be if I got my hopes upand we didn't get the intended action that

(05:28):
we wanted on the case. Sounfortunately, the prosecutors and the investigator that
was in charge of the case feltthat they did not have sufficient evidence to
bring charges at this time. There'sa few things that you need to know
first and foremost. I've confirmed thisJacob's case was covered up by the Skoro

(05:51):
Police SoCoRo, New Mexico. Whilewe know that there was a confession to
my brother's murder, we never knewwhat the confession said. There was no
recording, there were no notes.I actually spoke with the officer that took
the confession, and he in factsaid that he did record it, he

(06:12):
did capture it in note and itwas signed. The problem is, and
this makes it sound like a movieor made up, but I promise you
that it's not. In nineteen,I think ninety two maybe ninety one,
the District Attorney's office in Sacoro Countyburned down and a lot of evidence that

(06:33):
was being held there, documents,things like that were destroyed in the fire.
Now, I don't have any proofof any nefarious arson that happened.
But what's interesting is the suspect whoI believe is responsible for murdering my baby
brother, Jacob when he was ninemonths old, had the keys to every

(06:54):
county building in the County of Sacorol. He was a custodian for the county,
cleaned all of the county offices.I'm not saying that he did it.
I'm just saying that there was ampleopportunity for that to happen. It's
really hard for me to accept thatbecause of the corruption in the police department

(07:15):
at the time in Socorro County.Because of that, Jacob has not had
justice for thirty seven years. Andthe fact that The state of New Mexico
has not only failed Jacob, buthas failed every child who has been killed
at the hands of the people whoshould have been caring for them, of
the people who should have had theirbest interest in heart. I used to

(07:39):
say this all the time, andit still stands true. New Mexico has
always failed child abuse victims. Thestate of New Mexico, the government of
New Mexico, the child Protective Servicesin New Mexico, has always failed protecting
children. The legal system has failednot just Jacob, countless children. I'm

(08:05):
not giving up on justice for Jacob. I don't want you to think that's
what's happening here. In fact,I feel like I'm even more emboldened to
continue. So I'm not going tostop. I'm going to keep telling Jacob's
story. I'm going to shout itfrom the rooftops. I'm going to go
on national and even global media ifI have to. I'm going to do

(08:26):
whatever it takes so that everybody whohears my voice knows the dirty secret of
what's going on here in the stateof New Mexico. What's persisted for decades,
and all we get is lip servicefrom our representatives in the State Senate.
All we get is lip service fromstate and county and city officials.

(08:50):
We get gnashing of teeth, weget people who cry on television, but
nothing changes. You can't deal withcrime until you deal with child abuse,
until you deal with domestic violence,until you deal with mental health issues,
until you deal with poverty and drugaddiction and alcohol addiction. This isn't the

(09:13):
last that you've heard of me onJacob. We are not giving up on
justice for Jacob just because one AttorneyGeneral's office thinks that the case is not
able to be prosecuted. So we'rereadjusting the plan. And I felt like
it was really important to give youthis update. I haven't been able to

(09:35):
update you on Jacob's case in avery long time. I want to say
thank you. Thank you for standingwith me and my mom as we navigate
through this very challenging and difficult situation. You have been a source of hope
when others ignored us. You listenwhen others were ready to give up.

(10:01):
When I was ready to give up, you helped me. When I call
you true advocates, I don't usethat lightly. I can't thank you enough
for what you've done for my brotherand me and my mom, the petition
sharing asking creators to cover Jacob's case. All of that has been so appreciated,

(10:24):
and I'm never going to forget that. Know that I'm not going to
stop. I may be changing theway I'm doing things, I may be
changing my approach. I'm not stopping. And even if Jacob's killer never goes
to jail for Jacob's death, Ihope that what we've done has scared him
enough to where he won't hurt others. But I'm also going to look into

(10:50):
laws that need to be changed andstart lobbying for those things. I'm going
to continue shining a light on NewMexico's dirty secret. Justice for Jacob is
just for all kids in New Mexico, And so even if that looks like
me and my mom making sure thatno kid and no family has to go

(11:11):
through what we went through, thenthat's what we'll do, or at least
we'll get close. I don't havea call to action for you right now,
I'm sure that I will in yourfuture as I start to work with
my mom to plan out our nextsteps, I guess the one thing I
could ask is if you just continuesharing Jacob's story and telling people about Jacob,
because the more people are aware ofwhat's going on here, the less

(11:33):
likely it is that we can beignored. We've got to make it politically
unpopular for the Attorney General's Office toignore us, and so I ask that
you just hang in there with me. I will promise you as soon as
I can give you another update onwhat's going on, I will. And
this episode, like I said,is a little bit different. It's a

(11:54):
little bit shorter than what we're usedto, but I needed to come on
here and let you know what's goingon. I also want you to know
that the podcast isn't going anywhere.We are going every other week, but
we will be really working and gearingup to help families that are fighting for

(12:16):
justice. I've got a few familiesthat I'm working with here in the near
future, and I'm super excited tohelp advocate for more cases and bring light
where their darkness. Thanks for listening, and stay safe New Mexico. To