S03E10: Buried Truths: Justice for Crystal McCrory Jones

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:00):
Deed's podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:01):
On this episode, I want to dive into a case
that needs far more recognition and it needs your help.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
It's a case of that is.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Not well known and needs to be well known, and
the family of the victim are still fighting and still
trying to get justice. This is the case of Crystal
McRory Jones. Crystal Denise McRory Jones was born on May seventeenth,

(00:55):
nineteen seventy nine, in cross At, Arkansas. She was the
youngest child out of two to parents Janie mcgilton and
Doyle Dwayne McCrory. She graduated from Bastrup High School in
nineteen ninety seven. When Christil was younger, she spent time
as a waitress to take care of her two boys,
Corbyn and Mason, while her first husband was deployed in Iraq. Later,

(01:18):
she became a licensed office representative for State Farm. She
lived in New York and Shreveport, Louisiana for a while
before settling in Goodwill, Louisiana in twenty seventeen. She was
described as being full of life, energetic and fun. She
made it her mission to help other people and make
them happy. She enjoyed spending time with her family and

(01:40):
her beloved dog Rocket. On the morning of February ninth,
twenty twenty three, Christal woke up not feeling well, so
she called the doctor and made an appointment to be
seen at the East Carroll Medical Clinic her husband, Tony.
By the way, that's who her husband was at the time,
So if I mentioned Tony, this is him. When he

(02:01):
made multiple attempts to text and call his wife with
no answer, he contacted the medical clinic and was told
that Cristel never arrived for her appointment. Tony says he
tried to call Crystal a few more times and became worried,
so he contacted Deputy Chuck Harris to do a welfare check.
Owner When Harris arrived at their home, he stated that
Crystal's vehicle was still in the driveway. He knocked on

(02:24):
the front door, but he received no answer. Tony gave
him permission to enter their home as it was unlocked.
He then gave Harris directions to their bedroom to see
if Crystal was in bed. According to reports, this occurred
around four forty pm. Harris entered the bedroom to find
Crystal's deceased body with a pillow over her head and

(02:45):
a gunshot wound after being shot through the pillow. According
to the investigators, the gun was still in her hand
but had not chambered the next round. This condition, they claim,
is usually caused by a limp risk situation where the
shooter fires the weapon with one hand and the weapon's

(03:06):
not stable enough to eject the spent casing and chamber
the next round. And this is what Detective Alan Urby's
report stated. So I found the police report a little
odd that they would mention limp risting or a limp
rist situation. That's kind of a slang thing. I know

(03:27):
a bit about guns, obviously, I'm shot guns before, and
limp wristing is kind of the slang term. And when
you do that, it prevents a semi automatic handgun from
properly cycling because the frame absorbs the recoil energy it
needed to operate the slide. So when the slide doesn't
cycle fully, the next round doesn't chamber, and that's actually

(03:50):
called a failure to feed, which is how I've always
heard it described. So I'm not sure about that report
and why they put limp rists situation in there, but
that's interesting to me. So the police report detailed that
the investigators could not find the spent shellcase and keeped

(04:13):
out in mind we are coming back to that that's
kind of a big deal in this whole case. Alan
Urby interviewed her husband, Tony, a few hours after Crystal
was found. So at the time of her death, Crystal
was married to Tony Joe Jones. He was a former
deputy for the sheriff's office in their area, the West
Carol Parish Sheriff's Office. About a week before Crystal's passing,

(04:38):
she'd kind of grown suspicious about some of the things
that Tony was doing, so she began to track him
through a cell phone. She thought he was not being
honest with some things. Crystal's last location activity on her
phone was January twenty seventh, twenty twenty three, at five
point forty four pm, and it's believed that this is
when she kind of signed into his account.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Instead so she could track his activities.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
On February eighth, twenty twenty three, Tony had went through
his phone and deleted certain contacts, and this raised some questions.
One was a corner, another chief deputy, a pastor, and
a manager of a restaurant.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Twelve hours before Crystal's.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Estimated time of death, someone logged into the shared AT
and T account of Crystal and Tony. It thought that
Crystal logged into the account to try to piece things
together about what she was investigating going on with Tony.
Their marriage had a history of having some issues, with
Tony being very verbally abusive, even at one point telling Crystal, quote,
your other husband must have got the skinny version of

(05:38):
you and I got the fat one end quote. He
also had a history of cheating on Crystal, and he
liked younger women or girls. On February ninth, twenty twenty three,
the day of Crystal's death, Tony left he in Crystal's home.
On this morning, at eight fifty four am, he arrived
at an address in Bastor of Louisiana, supposedly to work

(05:59):
on a refriger He was not at this location very
long till about nine point fifty nine, and then at
ten fifty three am he arrived at three oh five
East Main Street in Oak Grove. This was saved than
his Google account is work. This was the West Carroll
Parish Sheriff's department at eleven oh nine am, only nine
minutes after arriving at the Sheriff's department. Tony left and
he went to the bakery barn close by. He was

(06:22):
there for around forty two minutes, which he claims is
when he stopped there to eat, and then he went
to Forest High School, which seems odd and Detective Herby's
report it says that Tony claimed he'd been at the
school working for the entire day, but we know this
to not be true.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
I'm sure what the protocols.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Are for this school for allowing visitors like so, I'm
sure they have some protocols, I should say, but contractors
can't really just come and go as they please in
a school whenever it's in session.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
I would imagine, you know.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Having like strange or unknown people in and out of
a school all day with kids there typically isn't a thing,
or at least I would hope isn't a thing. But
Tony was supposedly working at the school. He had a
revoked or expired business license, so essentially his LLC was
expired at this time, he had no insurance, and he

(07:19):
would not legally be able to do work for the
school unless he was asked to for whatever reason. And
they were unaware of this at one sixteen pm, a
FedEx package was delivered to Crystal and Tony's home, but
no one came to the door to answer. Crystal's cousin, Loretto,
was usually the one to deliver packages, and on this
day she delivered the package. She would stop in and

(07:42):
go inside the home at times to deliver packages when
she had to use the restroom, but on this date,
no one answered the door to her and she did
not go inside. The package included a new cell phone
for Tony. At two forty three pm, Tony checked his
daughter out of school at Forest High School.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
This was suspicious because she always rode the bus.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Home he didn't really pick her up, but on this
particular day he decided to pick her up. Some say
it could be because he didn't want his daughter to
go home and find her mother deceased if he had
murdered her, or you know alreadyknew of the situation going
on at home, So instead of taking the typical nine
minute route to the Sonic drive in, he took a

(08:22):
different route very slowly. He stopped in town for seven minutes,
but it wasn't recorded where he was exactly. It took
him thirty five minutes to make a six point two
mile trip. He stayed at Sonic from three to twenty
five pm until three fifty seven pm. He and his
daughter's next stop was at Walmart. He and his daughter
remained at the Walmart for only eight minutes. After this,

(08:43):
Tony google searched the East Carol Medical Clinic, presumably to
call them just to have Crystal amnatter appointment. Crystal's sister Janna,
arrived at her residence at five eight pm. At this time,
there were police vehicles lining the road, a corner's vehicle
was pulled into the driveway, and there was crime scene
tape in the front yard already. Tony was there and

(09:06):
he walked up to hug Jana and all he said
to her was, quote, it's a single gunshot wund to
the head end. Quote sounded pretty callous, pretty matter of fact.
He didn't seem very devastated about this, you know, he
wasn't panicking. I mean, his wife was dead, and he
just kind of walks up, matter of factly and says, yeah,
it was a single gunshot wounded the head, So that

(09:28):
suspicious in and of itself. One of the officials on
the seed told Tony that they still had to send
her body off for the autopsy, which is weird because
it kind of sounds like they already made up their
minds on what they were determining the cause of death
to be suicide because they said they still had to
send her body off for an autopsy, so basically they

(09:48):
ruled it a suicide, but they're like, well, we're going
to send it off anyway. Even members of Tony's family
spoke to Jana about how Crystal's antidepressants it clearly led
to her suicide. They were just kind of blubber about that, saying, oh,
it's her inside of presence, Like everyone was convinced at
this point it was a suicide. At five fifty six PM,

(10:08):
Tony left the scene and he drove twelve point two miles,
but it took him forty two minutes.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
To do this.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
He drove to the West Carroll Sheriff's Department. Janno contacted
a friend of hers who was a sheriff of Morehouse
Parish and bachelor of Louisiana, Mike Tubbs. She told Mike
she needed some help investigating her sister's death because she
did not want anything left out as they were already
trying to roll out a suicide, but she didn't think that's.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
What it was.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Unfortunately, the area of Cristel's death was out of Mike's jurisdiction,
but he said he would contact West Carroll Parish to
make sure that they don't miss anything. Jane reached out
to another person in law enforcement in Morehouse Parish, Libby Brocksley,
for help. Jane explained to Libby that during the initial
investigation at the scene of the crime, the Sheriff's office
employees were whispering about the case, saying they didn't suspect

(10:56):
foul play. They were trying to keep it from being
heard by others. But yeah, Tony had all of this
information already about the gunshot and about it's a suicide
and how she was found and everything like that. But
this is because he used to work for them and
he was friends with them, and of course he had
sent his friend, Deputy Harris over to check on her,

(11:17):
and the deputy's the one that found her body. On
February twelfth, Jana texts to Tony about Crystal's death. She
wanted to know any information he had, if he could
just tell her something, And I'm going to read that
text for you. Quote, 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.

(11:37):
My heart breaks for Cheyenne. I'm angry, I'm sad, I'm numb,
I'm 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 or more over the
past year. My heart hurts so bad for my girls.
When they collapsed to the ground. When I told her
to see an eight year old baby scream out for
her aunt Crystal was the most gut wrenching thing I've

(11:58):
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 like beef jerkey 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.

(12:18):
I grieve different than everyone else. I feel like I
have to be strong for them, and be a heart
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,
and her final minutes that she was here. I want
to know that she didn't suffer. I just want to

(12:38):
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 she knew
she was loved. Please look for a note, a letter, anything,
anything that will give me closure to know that she
knew she was loved. Her demons want Tony, but she
will always be loved by you and so many more.
A sister's bond is like no other than anyone will understand.

(12:59):
My sister told me to straighten my hair, put on makeup.
She let me crawl into bed with her when I
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 Todds with
chili and cheese and a large cherry limeade. I don't
even have time to get into her favorites.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
At Olive Garden. You know how much she loved that place.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
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. My jac and my Aubrey adored her.
Please forgive me, but I'm being an ass. I miss her, Tony.

(13:42):
I'm scared of going on without her.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
End quote.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
And all Tony said to this was quote, I hurt too,
I told her when I got off the phone. I
loved her, and Cheyenne did too that morning before she left.
And I know everyone grieves different, and I love you
all too.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
End to quote. So, out of that very long text that.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
Jana had sent to him, he sent her basically two sentences.
On February thirteenth, twenty twenty three, at ten am, everyone
met at Cox's Funeral Home in Bastrop to discuss funeral
arrangements for Crystal. Tony arranged that Todd Neville, who was
primarily employed at the Oak Grove location of Cox's funeral Home,
come to the Bastrup location. It was suspicious that Tony

(14:24):
only wanted people from Oak Grove involved in aspects of
Crystal's death. Todd was not only employed at the funeral home,
Tony had also done a bit of handyman work for him,
so they knew each other. At the funeral home, the
costs of same day visitation and services were discussed. It
was noted that Cristel did not have any burial insurance.
Tony stated he received numerous donations from the Oak Grove community,

(14:46):
but he was considering taking out a loan to cover
the remaining expenses. Jana objected to this, saying that Cristel
would not want to be buried with a loan hanging
over her. Jana offered to take care of the remaining
balance herself. Todd suggested creating a GoFundMe to help with
the remaining cast Tony said he did not know how
to create a GoFundMe, and once again Janna said she
would just take care of it. She would take care

(15:07):
of creating the account or her name using her personal
checking account to fund it. Tony said there was a
bill totaling between six thousand and sixty five hundred and
that he had signed consenting to pay for it. During
this stay, at eleven fifty one PM, Tony google search
what's the appropriate time to date after the death of
his spouse. This just seems odd that only days after
Cristel's death, Tony was already seeking out others or.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
Trying to move forward.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
But once again, he had a history of doing things
like this, looking for women dating profiles, so it's odd,
but it's pretty common. It's pretty normal for him. Apparently,
on February fifteenth, Tony informed the funeral home that he
wanted to see Crystal in the casket as soon as possible,
fully made up and dressed. Tony, however, did not help
with arrangements in terms of finding someone to do Crystal's hair,

(15:52):
her makeup, and dress her. So Crystal's sisters spent hours
at the funeral home applying makeup to make sure Crystal
looked as beautiful as she always did. They went to
the store spent their own money on an outfit for Crystal.
They found a stylist to properly do Crystal's hair. All
of this was done because Tony wanted it done as
soon as possible. But despite all the work that Crystal's
sisters put into her to make her look beautiful for

(16:16):
her viewing, Tony never showed up to view her body
that day. While Jane and Julia were viewing their sister's body,
they noticed significant bruising. They brought this to the attention
of the funeral director, who told them this would not
have been the result of the adutopsy. She had abrasions
lacerations on her left forearm along with significant bruising, and
her left ring finger was missing a fingernail. There was

(16:37):
also bruising on her legs and in her thighs. These
marks had not been explained by anyone. The funeral director
advised Janna to take photos of Crystal's body, which they
did the next day. On February sixteenth, Tony came to
view a Crystal's body, but he brought along a woman
named Katrina Hendry. This woman was not family. She was

(16:57):
not a friend of the family. The funeral director, who
knew Tony well, even told Tony that bringing a woman
who was not related to him or her to view
his wife's body did not look appropriate. Later this day,
at five forty six pm, Tony phoned Crystal's brother Dane
to say that he had found the shellcasing in the
bedroom where a Crystal's death occurred, the same shellcasing that
investigators claimed they could never find. Investigators and cleaners had

(17:21):
already come into the room and cleaned up, yet they
all missed the shellcasing. Tony asked Dane not to question
Detective Herby about the shellcasing as a favor to him.
Janna called a long list of attorneys and district attorneys
in an attempt to delay Crystal's cremation so her body
could be examined again, especially since they had now saw
the bruising, but no one wanted to help her. On

(17:41):
February eighteenth, the day of Crystal's visitation and funeral service,
Tony handed Jana a bag with the funeral programs, the
DVD of the picture slide show, and the guest book
and thank you cards. It seemed Tony wasn't really interested
in keeping any mementos of Crystal. The next day, Jana
reached out to Tony about the funeral cost. She wanted
to know how much of the money he received that
actually been used for funeral costs. She wanted receipts or anything,

(18:04):
but Tony provided nothing and was uncooperative. Janna located a
laptop that was Crystal's. Crystal kept very detailed documents and
records of evidence. It turns out that Tony hadn't even
been licensed as a contractor since twenty eighteen, so even
longer than anyone thought. This laptop also contained emails, pass where,
its browser history, and the location of Tony's phone via

(18:24):
Google Maps. Jane asked Tony for any information, specifically a
suicide note.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
He claims he searched for one, but.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
If he would have, he would have been on Crystal's laptop,
and he would have known that she had been tracking
him and that she logged into his account, so he
probably wouldn't have handed the laptop over so easily if
there was things on the laptop that would obviously make
him look bad or embarrass him. Two days later, on
February twentieth, Crystal's body was cremated two days before her

(18:54):
autopsy results were even released. This was a violation of
the family's wishes. Crystal's autops he was inducted by doctor
Frank Peretti. On February twenty third, Jana went to Cox's
funeral home to retrieve the ashes of Crystals so she
could get Crystal Sun's portion shipped to New York, as
this is where he lived. Jana was informed when she
got to the funeral home that Tony had already picked

(19:14):
up the remains an hour earlier. The funeral worker told
Jana that Tony had refused to separate the ashes or
have them shipped to Crystal's son, Corban, free of charge.
Tony wanted to handle everything himself. Later that day, Jana
contacted the funeral director, Charles Evans, and Charles had confirmed
the funeral what the funeral worker had stated about Tony
not wanting to separate the ashes. Charles mentioned his close

(19:37):
friendship with Tony and said he could have Tony bring
the ashes back on Monday so they could be separated.
So basically, it feels like at this point, who the
heck doesn't Tony know?

Speaker 2 (19:47):
In that town.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Everybody's friends with him. He knows everybody in a grove.
So this makes it very difficult for Jana and anyone
in Crystal's family to get anything done in terms of
the MS negation.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
Jana had finally got her meeting.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
With Sheriff Matthews to present her findings and to try
to get the case reinvestigated, because, mind you, they ruled
it a suicide about an hour and forty minutes after
it happened, and I guess everyone was kind of on
board with that, Oh, it's a suicide, we're closing it,
done and over with, but of course Crystal's family knew
that wasn't the case. Janna provided documentation that Chrystal had

(20:25):
been tracking Tony's location and screenshots from the laptop showing
his location being at a hotel. When the sheriff recognized
one of the locations, he stated that they had talked
to Darren Billings already, aman Tony supposedly worked for the
morning of Cristel's death. Janna provided all location data for
Tony's phone the day of Crystal's death, and even Tony's
browser history and personal documents saved by Crystal. Nothing on

(20:47):
her laptop suggesting she was depressed or you know, had
been contemplating suicide or anything of that nature. Crystal's brother,
Dane added that Christal had recently become a grandmother. She
just recently had been told that her son's wife was pregnant,
and she was so excited about becoming a grandmother and
things were going well, you know, despite the fact that

(21:09):
Tony was being shitty and cheating and things of that nature.
She was just super excited that she was going to
be a grandmother and she had some good things going
for at the time. There was nothing on the laptop
to suggest that she was depressed. They discussed the shellcasing,
which Tony claims he found eight days after Crystal's death.
Sheriff Matthews stated that the shellcasing could have been caught

(21:30):
in Curstl's hair or her clothing at the time, and
that he had a crime scene photo with the shellcasing
in it, but none of the crime scene photos Jana
had seen had contained the shellcasing. Matthews told Jenna that
Tony may have learned the details of Crystal's death before
the autopsy because he himself may have told Tony to
eat the shock of losing his spouse. Jana and Dane

(21:51):
discuss everything with Sheriff Matthews, even finances. Dane talked about
recent money coming into Tony and he used it to
pay off his credit cards, make payments on his storage
in Tennessee, a rental car book for Hawaii cryptocurrency purchases.
Days after Crystal's death, the donations were seemingly being used
by Tony for everything but Crystal's funeral expenses. Dane also

(22:15):
learned about Tony's past and how Tony's ex wife, Shanna Jones,
had a retraining order against Tony. Julie later joined the
meeting as well, telling Sheriff Matthews that Crystal was right handed,
which raised red flags when the injury locations on autopsy
were mentioned. Tony was spreading a story immediately after Crystal's
death that she had not been taking her Abilify, which

(22:37):
is an antidepressant, and that that's probably why she committed suicide.
Crystal's siblings described her mental state, insisting she had no
signs of severe depression at the time. When they mentioned
Tony's controlling and abusive behavior, Sheriff Matthews said he believes
everything they're saying. But that being a bad person does
not make someone a criminal. Tony might be dishonest, manipulative,

(22:58):
even cruel. Until they could prove a crime had occurred,
there was only so much the law could do. Sheriff
Matthews did admit that Tony was a chronic liar. He
had still been claiming he worked for the sheriff's office
at the time, even though he didn't. Sheriff Matthews assured
them that they were still looking into the case, having
the gun tested, and that if he thought his team
could not handle it, he would send the case to

(23:20):
the state. He kept insisting the case had not fully
been closed, even though it had. Headjes Spen Roll to
suicide so quickly, only about an hour and forty minutes
after the investigation began. There's a recording of this conversation
between Sheriff Matthews and Crystal's siblings. It's about an hour long,
and if you're interested in listening to it, I can

(23:41):
place it in a separate episode, or you can listen
to it on Revery True Crime, episode one seventy six.
Crystal McRory Jones, He's a chronic liar, but not about this.
Part two of five, So you can also listen to
this by finding it on Jana's pages as well, which

(24:04):
I will place links to all of that when I
post this episode. On February twenty fifth, a Facebook post
was written by a friend of Tony's, Adrian Murray, encouraging
others to file financial wrongdoing against Jana. Conversations between Dane
and Tony suggested Tony had still planned to return the
ashes to the funeral home. This was until Tony figured

(24:26):
out he would not be getting any of the GoFundMe
donations that Janna received on her GoFundMe for Crystal's funeral expenses.
Tony publicly accused Janna of misusing the GoFundMe donations and
accuser of Graham larceny. The other person making these accusations
was Katrina Hendry, the woman TONI had brought to view
Crystal's body. And all of this was odd to me

(24:48):
that he's accusing Jana of misusing funds. But look what
he did with the donations from the town. You know,
the people that donated to him personally, he I wasn't
spending them on the funeral expenses or they would be
paid off. I just think that's rather ballsy of him
to accuse other people of stealing funds when he himself

(25:10):
was so This woman, Katrina Hendry, also got involved, of course,
and a bunch of other friends of Tony's. Janna made
a post on her Facebook about the situation. So I'm
going to read that post along with some Facebook comments.
Janna wrote, I have had several people text to ask

(25:32):
me why I blocked them on Facebook, so I felt
the need to log back into my account and post
this status. It's long, but if you're in any way
associated with me as a friend, family, acquaintance, please make
sure you take the time to read this. I will
leave my Facebook active for the rest of the day
to be sure everyone has an opportunity to see this post.
Then I will be deactivating it for an undetermined amount

(25:52):
of time.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
It could be a week, two weeks, a month, I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
If you want my cell phone number, send me a
private message, as my messenger will also be be activated
to at the same time. This is for my own
mental well being. I thought seeing my sister in that
casket was going to be the worst part of my
grieving process, but it wasn't. I'm angry, I'm actually beyond angry,
and for the sake of my children and my career,
my family, my anger has to be contained to those

(26:16):
I trust the most. There are details and things that
will only come to light when they're supposed to. I
knew my sister better than anyone. I've been to those
same dark places my sister tried to desperately pull herself
out of. People keep saying I can't imagine the thoughts
that were running through her mind.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
Well I can.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
That's because I've been there, But I had a support
system pulling hard against the devil to be sure I
came back. Please don't read this and call my mama
or my daddy and tell them you're worried about me
doing something to myself, because that's not the case, and
that is not what this status is about. This is
about me making sure I get through this angry part
of grieving while still being able to continue with my
quote unquote normal life. The status is about making sure

(26:59):
my sister death is not in vain. There are still
a lot of questions I'm waiting for answers to and
best believe I will get them. My sister deserves so
much more than she got. Also, at the wishes of
myself and the rest of my family. My sister will
have a burial plot and headstone so that we will
be able to visit her locally, next to a person
who is very dear to her.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
The GoFundMe account is still.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
Open to help with those expenses as well, though nations
can still be made directly to Cox's Funeral Home to
cover funeral expenses. Due to others pocketing money and paying
credit card bills that was given to them for funeral expenses,
our family has paid two thousand dollars towards funeral expenses,
but others do not know that because I purposely posted
them under anonymous for this exact reason, and obverseas were

(27:40):
kept end quote. So that was the end of Jana's post,
and then Tony made a post stating quote to everyone
who still wants to help with funeral expenses, please send
to Cock's Funeral Home directly and not to the GoFundMe
that has been set up by her sister. It has
come to my attention that the money is not going
to the funeral and is going to a head stone
and plot, and that is not what was.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
Discussed at the time arrangements were made.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
Of course, Tony's female friend Adrian, who had also been
making accusations against Jana before, made a post for Tony
showing users how to submit claims about the misuse of
their go fund me donations against Jana. I'm not going
to get too deep into it. There's a lot here,
but essentially some arguments broke out on Facebook between Tony Jana,

(28:27):
friends of Tony's friends, and families of family members of Jana.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
Even the woman.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
Tony took to view Crystal's body, Katrina, once again got involved.
When Jana asked her quote, were you the one Tony
took to view my sister's body prior to the services
end quote? Katrina responded, yes, me and I was. Tony
and my husband are very close friends. My husband was
in Texas working and he asked me if I could
drive him, and I did what any friend of Crystal, Tony, Mason,

(28:55):
Chian or Corbyn would do. Yes, Corbyn, We've taken him
tubing in our ski boat. I love Crystal. Katrina then
posted a separate comment saying anyone who was given to
the GoFundMe can request the refund here.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
Even Katrina's husband got involved.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
He was trying to act like a badass and cursing
people out on Facebook.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
I guess because he shared a Facebook with Katrina, So.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
Not gonna get too into that, but I have a
specific feeling about people to do that. But he got
in there and was accusing people of attacking with his
wife and stuff like that. So he posted, let me
tell you something. I'm her husband. I know exactly where
my wife is. You can go fuck yourself. You people
like you are taking up air for good people to breathe.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Now fuck off. We help everybody.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
I don't give two shits who talks about me, but
I draw the line at my wife.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
If you have anything else to say, you can call me.
End quote.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Katrina's husband and her continue to go back and forth
with Jana and her friends on Facebook, before once again
posting screenshots from GoFundMe on how to request refunds. There's
always got to be that one person that's got to
get on there and be very immature and curse at
people and flip out on people. And that was them.

(30:16):
That was those two right there. On February twenty seven,
twenty twenty three, after Crystal's headstone had already been purchased,
Tony informed Crystal's brother Jane that he would not be
returning any of Crystal's ashes to the funeral home. He
stated that none of Krystal's family would be receiving any
of her ashes, not her siblings or her mother, only

(30:37):
Crystal's sons, and he would be the ones to control this.
Tony also wrote quote, man, all I can say is
I already know y'all have mental problems. Y'all need to
get some help end quote. Janna reached back out to
Sheriff Matthews to see if she could get copies of
the documents she gave him, as her original copies had
been misplaced. At first, Matthews was cooperative and apologized for

(30:57):
the delay and agreed to fat the documents to Jana
at work. No documents ever came. She reached back out
to Matthews, who said he would no longer be faxing
her any documents and that she would need to come
back and pick them up in person. On February twenty sixth,
Chief Investigator Alan Urby emailed a copy of Crystel's autopsy
report to dam On this report, there were some serious mistakes.

(31:20):
Crystel's first name had been misspelled. Her hair color was
listed wrong as being blondish brown, but her hair was
a very very dark brown. This was kind of an
odd mistake because you can clearly see obviously the body
during the autopsy, and blonde versus super dark brown almoss black.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
That's kind of an obvious thing.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
Her eye color was listed as hazel, but her eyes
were a very deep brown. The report stated that her vagina, cervix, uterus,
and phallopian tubes were unremarkable, but yet she had undergone
surgeries to remove her ovaries. She had a hysterectomy, so
she didn't even have these organs, and that wasn't listed

(32:01):
in the report. They were just claiming, oh, they were unremarkable,
nothing to say about them.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
They weren't there. That was odd.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
The report noted there was no signs of any old
fractures and her spine or anything. Yet, in twenty eleven,
Crystal had been in a car accident where she broke
her back, surnum, and multiple ribs. Jana reached out to
Sheriff Matthews on March first, but got no reply. She
reached out again on March third, and he simply replied
that if she wanted to talk about the case, she

(32:28):
would have to come in. This is not what Sheriff
Matthews had told her at their previous meeting, where he said,
do not hesitate to call me with any questions that
you may have. Do not call anyone else. You can
call me directly. Once me and the guys go over this,
if we discover anything, we will call you immediately. Janet
informed Matthews that the private investigator and attorney Dane had
retained had already received the documents she was asking for,

(32:51):
so she didn't need them from him anymore, while they
did not retain a PI or an attorney yet, she
felt that she had to tell Matthews this. Maybe it
would get him, you know movie, Maybe it would lay
a fire Undrien, But of course it didn't. Onwards twelve,
Janna received an email from GoFundMe stating that her account
was now under a formal investigation as it had been

(33:12):
reported for misuse of funds. Jana had to prove where
every dollar went, itemizing receipts, submitting any documents, and show
a clear paper trail of how the funds had been used.
Janna could easily do this because she kept records of
everything she had used the funds on and they had
all went for Crystal's expenses, so this was easy for her.

(33:34):
It was frustrating because she wasn't misusing them, and it
was annoying that all these people were reporting her. But
she had proof she wasn't misusing the funds. So she's like, Okay,
I'm going to send this and we're going to close
this argument down for good, because I'm going to prove
that I use these.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
Funds for what I said I was going to use
them for.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
She provided all the receipts and everything of that nature,
and GoFundMe informed Janna that all the documentations she provided
was sufficient and that the allegations were false. They advised
her to post one final update on the fundraiser and
close it down. She made the final post public and
close the account on April twenty eighth. The Facebook post

(34:16):
accusing Jena of stealing over thirty seven hundred dollars were
still visible for everyone to see. Even if Jana had
proven she did not misuse funds. No one deleted the post,
no one apologized to her for the accusations. When Jana
had filed to get a death certificate sent to her
it was finally sent and the time of death was

(34:36):
stated as eleven am. She reached back out to Sheriff Matthews,
who had a phone conversation with her, trying to explain
away all the discrepancies in Tony's stories and the time
of death. Matthew seems to get increasingly prostrated in this
phone call. This is one of those calls you can
listen to as well on the Revery True Crime podcast.

(34:58):
I had mentioned or through Janna's posts, so, like I said,
I'll get the links for those. Channa reached back out
to Matthews. They had a phone conversation. He got very
frustrated in this phone conversation, especially when Jana speaks about
Crystal's time of death, like at stated and that this
is when Tony is phone pinged near the house. So

(35:21):
I think his phone pinged near the house at around
ten thirty five am, and he had a phone call
with Crystal at around this time for like fifteen or
twenty minutes. And it's kind of odd to me because
from what it sounds like he was on the phone
with her, but he was near the house. Very weird,
and Matthews tells her there's absolutely no way she died

(35:41):
at eleven am, and that if you go line up
ten professionals that are in the same business, all ten
of them are going to tell you there's no way
within a reasonable amount of time that somebody could say
she died at eleven They went back and forth for
a bit on this. On the time of death, Matthews
tells her that things they have brought to him are
not valid or relevant to the case.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
He said he didn't mind digging into anything.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
They brought him, but that what they had brought forward
to him has absolutely no bearing on the case. Once again,
they discussed the time of death, with Janet telling him
that a state register had signed off on the death certificate.
Matthews explains to her that he is basically a nobody
and he's just a clerk that sits s in in
office and he receives the report and has it stamped

(36:25):
just being official. She tells him it says the certifier
was Lewis Carter. Lewis Carter was the coroner. Carter was
the coroner for this investigation, and Matthews explains that he
doesn't establish the cause or time of death.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
The pathologist that does the autopsy does that.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Matthews explains multiple times throughout the phone call when he
gets a little frustrated that he hates talking in this
tone of voice, but he's given her the answers. Well, basically,
the phone call is weird because when he gets a
little grouchy in there, he warns her before he's about
to do it, He's like, well, I hate talking in
this tone of voice. But once again, and then he
gets a little crouchy and you know, a little heated

(37:13):
and starts explaining to her, arguing with her. So he
explains that Tony is absolutely not a murderer and he
did not murder Crystal. The evidence of the scene is
one hundred percent consistent with the result of the cause
of death. He tells her to please trust him when
he tells her there's an NFL play. On March seventeenth,

(37:36):
Janet decided to have a look at the West Carroll
Parish Sheriff's Department website just to see if Tony was
listed as still working there. Unfortunately, she found that Tony
was still listed as being a deputy with the department,
even though the family was repeatedly being told by the
department that Tony was not employed at the Sheriff's office.
After all, Tony said he had known Sheriff Matthews and

(37:58):
Detective Herbia for over twenty years, and his Facebook still
said he was employed at the Sheriff's office. Around this time,
Tony began sharing some ominous TikTok videos on Facebook that
seems to be directed towards Crystal's family.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
So they were kind of aggressive.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
They were hinting that anyone that was coming for him,
you know, was in the wrong, and blah blah blah.
It was all this like trying to be a badass,
per se. And then he posted a TikTok that sounded
like he was speaking about getting rejected within a relationship.
Very odd only a month after Crystal's death, But as

(38:40):
I've said multiple times, he was known to be cheating
with profiles on various dating sides. So apparently at this
time one of the ladies rejected him and he was
feeling some type of way about it, so he had
to post a TikTok about it. Finally, on March twenty second,
Tony walked into the post office and mailed what he
claimed to be Crystal's remains to Corbyin this days after

(39:00):
he had learned the gofunding accusations were dismissed and he
wouldn't be getting any.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
Of the money from the fundraiser.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
The same day, Janna got a call from investigator Daniel
Graham with the Louisiana State Police. She went over her
conversation with Sheriff Matthews and how he argued with her
and how he treated her about the time of death.
Gyrim shared that while he was not an expert in
death's certificates, his brother in law dealt with them every day,
and when he told his brother in law how Sheriff
Matthews handled things, he was shocked and disgusted. Janna then

(39:30):
sent Gyram the full recording of her conversation with Matthews.
After this, though, she had never heard from him again.
When Corbyn received his mother's ashes, they were packaged in
a very small urn, a quarter of what he should
have gotten, in a beat up brown box with no
documents or anything. There were documents included when her ashes
were picked up that were meant to stay with any

(39:51):
portion of the ashes, so that if divided, each set
could clearly be tied to crystal, but Corbyn had not
gotten any of these documents. The family contacted the US
Postal Inspection Service to open an investigation because Tony had
not followed proper protocol. He didn't even tell the post
office that what he was mailing was human remains, and

(40:13):
he ignored federal regulations for transporting human remains, so he
basically just threw it in there, all sloppy, in a
beat up box, no documentation saying that those remains were
even crystals, and he was just doing that to kind
of get that out of the way, and he slopped
it together. On March twenty ninth, Crystal's siblings, Janna and

(40:34):
Dane sat down with the district attorney Penny Doucier and
DA investigator Victor Smith. Jane asked for another copy of
the police report and was told she just needed to
look at it there, and that she's not really supposed
to be having that report. Dane also explained that Matthews
stated that her information and evidence was irrelevant. The DA
told him that she didn't think that their information was

(40:56):
relevant either. Even after Dane gets upset and wants if
Jannah wants to stay and feugh the crime scene photos,
which she had not seen all of them, they explained
the bruising they saw at the funeral home. But it's
explained it's just post mortem lividity and not bruising. But
it's really obvious by the way, post mortem lividity is
pretty obvious compared to bruising. Bruising doesn't happen after death. Obviously,

(41:21):
you don't have blood flowing to the location where you
were hit. So if you were you know, bumped or
beat during you know your autopsy, you're not gonna have
bruising because there's no blood flow. You're dead, And lividity
looks a lot different, and it was pretty obvious to
them this was not lividity, but of course they explain

(41:42):
it away. They just say, oh, it's post mortem lividity.
Penny claims that Matthews did a very thorough job and
tastes and chase down a lot of things they found suspicious.
Penny said that after she read the police report and
saw the autopsy, she doesn't have a doubt in her
mind that it was a self inflicted wound. Dane tells
Penny that was dead because she was getting ready to
leave Tony or have him locked up because there were

(42:04):
some accusations of him doing things with underage girls. So
apparently enrollment at their karate school had plummeted and people
were pulling their children out of the school left and right.
And there's not a lot about this, And obviously he
hasn't been charged with this, but I can assume it's
because of the accusations against Tony. There was evidence turned

(42:28):
over to the State Police about Tony and what he
was doing with these underage girls. I don't have that evidence.
I don't have that report, and as far as I know,
Tony has not been charged with it yet.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
But the karate school.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
Wasn't doing good, and one can assume it's because of this.
So the discussion continued, but Jannon Dank got nowhere. The
DA's office had considered the case closed. It was a suicide,
even after all the inconsistencies and the investigation, the timeline,
the physical evidence, all because of the autops he said
it was a suicide. Later that evening, Jana emailed Miss

(43:05):
Rashonda Ward, executive officer to Colonel Lamar Davis of the
LA State Police. Miss Ward replied telling her that someone
would be in touch, and the next day they were.
Investigator Jesse Nielsen had been frustrated with the way the
case had been handled and said he had been speaking
with Guy Rum about it. Jana was asked why she

(43:26):
was trying to change her sister's death from a suicide
to a homicide. She said she was not trying to
change her sister's death and that she only wanted answers
and wanted things looked at fairly. Nielsen asked her to
send everything to him, but told her just promised me
that if we look into this and nothing comes.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
Up, that you'll let it go.

Speaker 1 (43:46):
Jana trusted that he would look into it, but she
wasn't going to let anything go. And I don't blame
her for that because this is all just way too
fishy to me. It's crazy how people cater to Tony,
and it's obvious and it's weird, and you never stopped
fighting for your loved one, and I would either. On
April twentieth, after not hearing anything, Janna contact to Nielsen.

(44:09):
He told her to access any real evidence from the
Sheriff's department, that she needed to hire an attorney and
final a formal Freedom of Information Act requests. So he
told her she needed to do all this to get
any information Nielsen clarified that Crystal's toxicology report was misrepresented
during the DA meeting. The amount of xanax found in
Crystal's system was so small that it suggested it was

(44:32):
leaving her body, and that it was taken the night before,
not the dangerously high amount that they had been led
to believe was in her system at the time. It
contradicted the implication that Crystal had overdosed or was mentally
compromised at all at the time of her death. He
also told Jane that West Carroll Parish had refused to
let the state police conduct an investigation. They had already

(44:53):
closed the case. According to them, there was no wrongdoing,
no crime, and no reason for anyone else to get involved.
When Jana retained an attorney and drafted a formal records request,
she was told she could pick up the records in
Oak Grove for a ten dollars fee. When she retrieved
the records, they were not the same ones that she

(45:13):
and Dane had read on March twenty ninth with the DA.
These reports included new details. The details that were added
were some of the evidence that Jana and Dane had
presented to make it look as though the Sheriff's office
had done a thorough investigation. So basically, the office had
a really shody investigation and they knew it, and Jana

(45:33):
and Dane had provided them with their own investigation, and
now the office was using their information to put it
on the police report and make it look like, oh,
they did everything they could, they investigated everything, and it
still came out of suicide. So they had ordered the
report essentially. Jana then submitted a second request for the

(45:54):
crime scene photographs. She wanted to see them due to
Sheriff matthews lie where he stated that the showcase can
be seen in the crime scene photographs. When Jane reviewed
the photos, no shellcasing was seen in any of them.
Jana also sent a request to Coroner Lewis Carter for
every piece of information he had regarding Crystal's death. On
the police report that Janner received, it stated that the

(46:16):
firearm and Ballistic Information Network report were still in process
at the Shreveport Crime Lab. It noted that the North
Louisiana Crime Lab had not completed their work yet. Janera
shout to the crime lab in Shreveport to see if
she could get an update on the firearm analysis The
lab's forensic toxicology supervisor told her that their policy did

(46:36):
not allow any release of information to anyone outside of
the DA's office or the agency that had submitted the
request for testing.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
They could not.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
Even disclose if they had a report at all, let
alone any information on the report. Jana emailed the West
Carroll Corner's office on May twelve. Since she had not
heard anything from them either, she directly emailed Corner Lewis Carter.
He responded her email saying she would get her information
the following week. On May fifteenth, Shanna drove to the
Sheriff's office to retrieve a disk of photos from the

(47:08):
crime scene. She noticed some of the photos were labeled
with this with the name screenshot. They were not captured
in world time at the scene. Officers had left the
scene overnight unattended. As well, these screenshots were being used
to represent crucial evidence, like the projectile from the firearm.
There were four new photos which had never been shown
to Jana, yet the office claimed she had seen everything

(47:31):
regarding her sister's death. Also on this day, Janna received
a call from Lewis Carter. He told her that her
and her family deserve to have all the records related
to Crystel's death, and he promised he had no intention
of hiding anything from her. He told her he wanted
to send the documents by certified mail because he didn't
feel comfortable sending them electronically. So two days later the

(47:53):
envelope from Lewis Carter arrived in the report. The time
stamp read ten thirty five am, but was crossed out,
and five oh five took its place five oh five pm.
By the way, four thirty four pm has when Deputy
Chuck Harris officially called her death, but that was not
the time of her death. Ten thirty five would have
been far more accurate. Plus why was it crossed out?

(48:15):
Her name was also once again misspelled. Her body temperature
was not taken. It simply said cold. The report read
cardiopulmonary arrests due to close contact wound to right side
of the head. Even though her death had been ruled
as suicide, the personal history section failed to mention that
Crystal did have a suicide attempt, but that was over

(48:36):
a decade before this happened. If they wanted to call
her death a suicide, it would seem that they would
want any and all proof, so they would want her
past suicide attempt on there because that shows, oh, she
had a history of this, so you know, we're trying
to prove that she attempted again and this time succeeded.
So it was weird that they didn't bring that up
on there at all. The personal history section had also

(49:03):
dated she had anxiety, insomnia, atrial fibrillation, and that's not
something she was ever diagnosed with or traded for, so
it's weird.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
I'm not sure where they got all of this information.
It stated that she.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
Was a diabetic, had diarrhea, pneumonia, history of seizures, but
none of this was true either, so no one mother
to even check her medical records or her medical history
and get the real information about or the real scoop about.
Or they just put down some common health conditions and
claimed she had those and she didn't have a history

(49:38):
of any of this, none of it not even close.
Under the section labeled Circumstances of death, it stated that
Crystal had been found by Chuck Harris.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
Chuck's address was listed.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
As being one house down from Tony's address, which was
not his address. He did not live next door to
Toni and Crystal. Under the Summary of Circumstances Surrounding Death,
Coroner Lewis Carter stated that Deputy David Voight was the
only officer at the scene that he had interacted with.
He also noted no slug, to my knowledge, was ever recovered,

(50:10):
but the police report stated the police found the slug
that was fired from the gun and it was recovered
by someone while Carter.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
Was on the scene.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
According to Tony's location data, he left the crime scene
at five fifty six pm, but he did not give
his statement to police until six forty five pm, even
though the Sheriff's office, like I had mentioned previously, is
only twelve miles away. Photos of the bullet were labeled
on the disk as being screenshots. They were not taken
on the day Crystal died. They were screenshots taken from

(50:41):
a phone days after the crime scene had already been
left unattended. On May twenty third, Janner received a report
from the crime lab. It was the Firearms Analysis Report.
This report was requested by Jannel on May tenth, but
she never filed a formal request for it, and if
you recall, she was told by the lab that she
wasn't allowed to have that information. She wasn't allowed to

(51:03):
have that report. Apparently the lab must have informed the
Sheriff's office that she was asking for it and they
gave it to her. This report proved that the evidence
Sheriff Matthews said was being tested back in February had
not even been turned over to the crime lab for
testing until March, two days before Janet's schedule meeting with
the DA. The document stated that the firearm testing did

(51:26):
not begin until May eighth and ended on May eighteenth.
The report stated the firearm had just been received on
March twenty seventh, thirty two days after Matthews told them
the fireroom was being tested. The report listed four items
in total, a sealed box containing a Roguer nine milimeter,
A sealed plastic bag containing a bullet with information stating

(51:49):
it came from the wall behind the bed of the
Jones' home. Item two stated it was a sealed plastic
bag containing one fired nine milimeter cartridge case. There was
no mention of where the casing was found or anything
in this line. If anything, this should have had the
most information attached to it, in my opinion, and been
the most scrutinized piece of evidence. Considering it wasn't even

(52:12):
found until eight days after Crystal's death. On August eleventh,
twenty twenty three, after contacting a board of the Elementary
and Secondary Education, Janas submitted a request for public records
concerning Tony Jones' employment for Forrest High School and if so,
how is this permitted given that his license had been revoked.

(52:34):
The response from West Carroll Parish superintendent was that he
was employed there and had been allowed to continue working
despite his revoked license. The conflict of interest also ran
deeper when Tony made Facebook post just days after Crystal's death.
His posts were commented on and reacting on by the

(52:54):
wife of chief investigator on Crystel's case, Alan or Be.
Also a month after Crystal's death, Tony changed his profile
photo from a photo of hean Crystal to a photo
of himself. Doesn't seem like a big deal, right, People
change their profile photos all the time. It's just a
profile photo. But guess who liked this photo? Alan Erby's wife,

(53:16):
Heather hill Irbie. Around this time, Crystal's family had reported
to Sheriff Matthews that they feared Tony would flee. Tony
then posted on Facebook quote just a PSA. If anyone
has any questions about what has went on, or if
I'm leaving town, please feel free to contact me and
I will answer any questions that you have.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
Thank you. End quote.

Speaker 1 (53:39):
So it seems that Tony's buddies at the Sheriff's office
were telling him private information that was told to them
by Crystal's family, essentially provoking any issues between Crystal's family
and Tony. This is information that Crystal's family provided the
Sheriff's department in private, saying that they were afraid Tony
might run. And then of course the Sheriff's department told

(54:03):
Tony you know that Chrystal's family was saying this, and
Tony made this post on Facebook to be a smart
ass about it. So it's just devastating that her family
can't even provide information in private without it getting.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
To Tony somehow.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
On December twenty fifth, twenty twenty three, Janny emailed doctor
Frank Peretti, the man who performed Crystal's autopsy. She wanted
to know about the overwhelming amount of mistakes in Crystal's report.
Doctor Piretti got back to her on December twenty seventh,
stating that yes, the name and hair color were wrong.
Eye color can change after death, and that Crystal's past
vertebrae fracture was not noted because they typically only examined

(54:42):
the anterior vertebrae unless told to do otherwise. He corrected
the report to reflect that Crystal had to hyserectomy. Also,
he stated no bruising was seen on her thighs and
wrists during the autopsy and that it could just be
post mortem lividity. Once again, he also stated that no
fingernail was missing the autopsy, suggesting it could have been lost. Later,

(55:03):
Crystal stated that she has crime scene photos to prove
that the fingernail was missing before the autopsy. Jane asked
doctor Parii if Crystal's hands were bagged during the autopsy.
He simply responded hands were not bagged. She also asked
if the betting had been collected along with Crystal's body.
He stated that no betting was received. He did say
that when her body arrived at his office, she was

(55:26):
wearing a robe and panties along with a blood soiled
sheet which was disposed of. So they didn't investigate the
sheet that she came in with. They just chucked it,
just threw away. Jana also asked if the West Carroll's
Sheriff's department had asked him to look for any shellcasings.
He told her he always does this, whether he's sold
to or not. Jannah wanted to verify if the conversation

(55:48):
ever happened between Paridi and the Sheriff's office where they
claimed he had called them to report that no shellcasing
was ever found. He did not confirm or deny if
this conversation ever took place. Earl of twenty twenty four,
Jana asked if there was any diagram of her autopsy
and was told now by doctor Peretti. On April fifteenth
of twenty twenty four, she requested a copy of the

(56:10):
invoices and payments related to Cristel's autopsy, but doctor Pretti's
office replied that the West Carroll Parish Corner's Office would
have these records since they are the official keepers of
documents as such in Louisiana. On December twenty third or
twenty fourth of twenty twenty four, Jana asked doctor Piretti
if she could have a copy of his case notes.
He declined, telling her that his case notes are considered

(56:33):
work product and that all information is included in the
autopsy report. On January eleventh of twenty twenty five, she
emailed to ask if any X rays of Crystal had
been taken during the autopsy, but she still never got
a response, So to backtrack a little bit more, Jana
went to Washington, d C. Alongside private investigators Ray Andriachio,

(56:56):
Pam Cruise, Serriff Smith, and Shielosaki to speak for Crystal
and so many others whose cases have been closed too
soon or just ignore altogether. If you're really into crime,
you should know that Shila Issaki is a legend. She
helped saw the case of her best friend Angelus Simoda
that had been called for twenty five years. After this,

(57:20):
she became a PI and vow to help others whose
cases have remained unsolved. Janet and the pis met with lawmakers.
They shared their stories, and they pled for change on
how suspicious depths were handled, especially when bias, influence, or
indifference had been allowed to create the outcomes, such as
in the case of Crystal due to Tony previously working

(57:41):
for the Sheriff's office that handled her case. Unfortunately, a
devastating blow came after this on the same day, Janne
received a formal letter from the Louisiana State Police saying
they would not be reopening Crystel's case. But on June seventeenth,
twenty twenty four, Sheriff Matthews had for some reason retained
legal counsel. Council had stated that Christel's case had remained

(58:02):
open and that it wasn't closed. But for months the
Sheriff's office had been adamant that her case was closed,
and even the state Police said it was closed and
it was a suicide and that was that. But now,
after garnering some national attention, the Sheriff's office wanted to
keep the file open. A whole year after Christl's death,
On November twenty fifth, twenty twenty four, her story finally

(58:24):
aired on k and E, a local Louisiana news station.
It hid all the points about the inconsistencies in the case,
the questions, and the family's calls for transparency in the case.
The story featured Jana, private investigators, and loved ones who
refused to accept silence or any dismissive this as an answer.
Christl's name was finally out there on February twenty first,

(58:46):
twenty twenty five, JANA filed a formal complaint with the
Arkansas Board of Medical Examiners against doctor Frank Peretti. The
complaint detailed as multiple errors and inconsistencies in the report.
Complaints were also submitted to the Department of Justice Civil
Rights Division Attorney General's Office, calling for further review of
doctor Pretti's conduct and conclusions. Three days later, a letter

(59:06):
arrived from the Arkansas Attorney General's Office in response to
the complaint JANA had filed against doctor Peretti. It stated,
thank you for contacting the Arkansas Attorney General's Office regarding
doctor Frank Peretti. The situation you describe and your complaint
falls outside the Consumer Protection Division's role and authority. We
are not able to facilitate a resolution for your complaint.

(59:28):
You may wish to reach out to the Arkansas State
Medical Board for possible assistance or information. You may wish
to contact a private attorney to discuss your legal rights
and options in this matter. A list of attorneys can
be searched for by city, county, and area of practice
via the Arkansas Bar Association's website for civil matters, and
depending on your income, you may qualify for assistance from

(59:50):
Arkansas Legal Partnership. We regret that we have been unable
to assist you. However, if we can be of service
to you in the future, please do not hesitate to
contact us. On February twenty seven, twenty twenty five, the
Department of Justice Civil Rights Division responded to the complaints submitted.
Team members from the Civil Rights Division review the information
you submitted. Based on this information, our team determined that

(01:00:13):
the situation you described does not appear to be within
the jurisdiction of the federal civil rights laws we enforce.
For that reason, and in the exercise of our enforcement discretion,
the Division will take no further action regarding our correspondence,
even when the division as jurisdiction over particular matter is
within the Division's discretion to determine whether to pursue a

(01:00:34):
particular matter for various reasons, including the availability of evidence,
among other considerations. What you can do your issue may
be covered by other federal, state, or local laws that
we do not have the authority to enforce. We are
not determining that you report les merit.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
Your state bar.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
Association or legal aid office may be able to help
you with your issue. Even though the Department of Justice
cannot thank you for taking the time to contact the
Department of Justice with your concerns. We regret that we
are not able to provide more help on this matter.
So then, on April fifth, twenty twenty five, Janner received
a response from the National Association of Medical Examiners regarding

(01:01:12):
the complaint that she had submitted against doctor Frank Perette.
This letter is regarding your ethics claim received by the
National Association of Medical Examiners without a determination of the
merits of the claim. It is clear the information you
relate in your note to the National Association of Medical
Examiners Ethics Committee created distress and anguish over the events

(01:01:32):
themselves and the investigation and reporting process. We express our
condolences in scheering some of this frustration. The Ethics Committee
is bound to operate under the Association's spy Laws, specifically
Article ten and the associated Policy and Procedures Rules. The
information you sent in was provided to the Committee and
formally discussed electronically March twenty fourth, twenty twenty five to

(01:01:54):
March thirty first, twenty twenty five. The first requirement is
for the Committee to determine if there is a jurisdiction
or the individual and the issues under the bylaws, and second,
if there is probable cause to believe the complaint is
well founded. In summary, the alleged conduct included claims that
the subject of the complaint, as outlined under the NAAN Bylaws,
Section ten, Section one, Paragraphs A, B, and C, did

(01:02:17):
not refrain from exercising professional or personal conduct adverse to
the best interest and purposes of the Association or to
the medical examiner profession, did materially misrepresent his or her
educational training, experience, area of expertise, certification, membership status within
the association, or official title or position in a medical

(01:02:39):
legal system, and did not refrain from providing any material
misrepresentation of data a bomb which an expert opinion or
conclusion is based. After the deliberations and voting by electronic means,
with aquorum responding, the committee determined the complaint is not
well founded and therefore will be dismissed. The committee rolled
the complaint reflects poorly on the office per processes perhaps

(01:03:01):
better addressed by the Medical Board, but certainly outside of
our authority under the bylaws, or the issues do not
rise to the level of an ethical violation. The committee
does not reinvestigate cases nor insert itself into the associated
medical decision making. The issues in the claim are more
related to whether an individual office has appropriate policies and
sufficient procedures in place in an attempt to reduce these errors.

(01:03:24):
Error may occur, and when they do, it is certainly alarming,
but an error in and of itself is not an
ethics violation nor a misrepresentation. On April fourteenth, twenty twenty five,
a long awated response from the Arkansas State Medical Board
arrived regarding the complaint against doctor Perei. Again, buried in

(01:03:46):
these materials were pages eight and nine of the original
police report that Dana and Jana had been denied in
their March twenty twenty three.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
Meeting with the DA.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
So this moment was kind of validating, heartbreaking because they
were told they could not have this report, and then
after months they finally received it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
So when Jane finally heard back from the Arkansas State
Medical Board, she was kind of holding onto a little
hope that someone would acknowledge.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
These mistakes during Crystal's autopsy. But of course this letter
was also disappointing. They viewed the complaint filed.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
And.

Speaker 1 (01:04:32):
Basically they determined there was no violation of the Arkansas
Medical Practices Act, no disciplinary action would be taken against
doctor Frank Peretti.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
In their words, the autopsy.

Speaker 1 (01:04:43):
Findings, even with the acknowledged spelling errors and inaccuracies about
Crystal's medical history, did not, in their judgment, amount to
gross negligence or incompetence under the laws definitions. The board
said that while mistakes were made, they believe the errors
weren't sufficient enough to warrant any kind of ac action
against doctor Peretti or his medical license. So they noted

(01:05:05):
the concerns about the death certificate and how the story
had been aldered, and the misstatements about Crystal's health history,
but they claimed there was no evidence of wrongdoing in
this situation. On April sixteenth of twenty twenty five, Janna
received more responses from the Arkansas Attorney General's Office and
the Governor of Arkansas. It remains to be seen whether

(01:05:28):
anything will be done through these platforms or not through
these means of communication. When Jane fought a formal complaint
against the West Carroll Parish Sheriff's office with the Louisiana
Commission on law enforcement.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
They told her it was outside of their authority to help.
They referred her to the.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
Louisiana State Inspector General and the Attorney General's offices. Jana
also reached out to legislators and representatives across Arkansas and Louisiana.
She received a response from Representative Joy Walters simply saying,
I will fight for your family. She also spent time
speaking with Courtney Fleming, the legislative assistant to Representative Matthew Willard.

(01:06:06):
She promised to read Jenna's book about Crystal and look
into potential legislation, maybe even a law named in Crystal's honor.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
In Arkansas.

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
Representative Jerry Warid's office followed up with the phone call
after a Facebook message assuring Jana that they were reaching
out to the Public Health and Safety Office, and Representative
Ron McNair asked her to forward her concerns in his email.
These weren't really you know, large solutions or definite solutions,

(01:06:41):
but they were something for Janna. You know, there were
some signs that some people were finally listening and looking
into this case for what it was, and it was
a botched investigation, and finally some people were starting to
notice and that means something to the family. Whe came
April twenty third, twenty twenty five. Their response from Governor

(01:07:04):
Sarah Huckeybee Sanders office hit hard. Though doctor Frank Peretti
was licensed and lived in Arkansas, this office claimed they
had no jurisdiction over his actions because he'd been hired
in a private capacity to perform Crystal's autopsy in another state,
which being Louisiana. Jane I had followed every single official
path she could. She filed complaints, she requested records, she

(01:07:32):
pleaded for oversight, but now she was just told that
there was no investigation to be had about this situation,
even though there was Crystal's autopsy, which had been older
months after her cremation. There were two case numbers, two
sets of findings, but no one could be held responsible

(01:07:53):
for this. So the only option they said was a
private autopsy. But the problem is Crystal had already cremated.
On April twenty ninth, twenty twenty five, Crystal's family finally
received the second page of crystal soxecology report, which showed
high levels of to pere mat or, topomax and diphenhydramine

(01:08:14):
in her system. So doctor Frank Pretti never explained any
of this to the family. Crystal would have been too
sedated at this point they thought to even hold a
gun and carry out a suicide, and they have asked
that the complaint against doctor Frank Pretti be reopened since
he did not even disclose this information or explain it

(01:08:35):
in any capacity to the family. So to peer, maate
or Topamax is typically given to people for migraines. I
was on it for a good while. It can definitely
make you loopy and kind of disassociate. Don't recommend it
and then diephenhydramine. Of course everyone knows what d diephen
hydromine is, so she had very high levels of those

(01:08:56):
in her system and at that point, now obvious, I
don't know what the levels exactly are, But at that point,
if you're that loopy, how can you even plan out
a suicide and properly carry it out, especially the pillow
over the head and the shooting.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
And I don't understand why.

Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
The pillow would be placed over her head if she
chose to do it herself. Typically that's often done as
a way of silencing a gun so that no one
else hears the shooting, which at this point she was
home alone, and if she had committed suicide, what does
it matter that anyone heard the gun shot?

Speaker 2 (01:09:31):
In my opinion, I don't think.

Speaker 1 (01:09:33):
That somebody that's that suicidal is going to think that
through and care about other people hearing the gunshot. Versus
if you are a criminal and you're committing a crime
and you were shooting somebody, you don't want people around
hearing the gunshot.

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
So in that case, set and of itself right there
with the pillow, looks.

Speaker 1 (01:09:50):
Like somebody was trying to silence the gun so that
nobody else in the neighborhood heard the gun shot. And
that's just my opinion there that somebody who committed to
us I wouldn't really care about others.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
Hearing a gunshot.

Speaker 1 (01:10:03):
On April fourth, twenty twenty five, Corner Lewis Carter had
actually been charged with domestic abuse in battery for attempting
to strangle his wife, Stacy. He was given a year probation,
a five hundred dollars fine, and a suspended prison sentence
for six months.

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
His wife also received.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
A permanent or of protection against him, which he was
not allowed to go near her. That's interesting in and
of itself. You want someone like that being your corner
for a death investigation, someone like that who attempts to
strangle his wife. So when that was found out, that's

(01:10:43):
infuriating in and of itself that the person they had
working this case as the corner was violent like that.
Just recently, actually four days ago, on September seventeenth, the
corner which I just mentioned, Lewis car actually passed away.
I'm not saying it's good. I'm not saying it's bad.

(01:11:03):
I'm just saying he passed away. And now I'm not
sure how things are gonna go. Maybe there will be
a new corner that is better, you know, that isn't
so close to the Sheriff's office, that isn't involved in
their you know, scheming and drama, and maybe this corner
will look.

Speaker 2 (01:11:22):
Into it better.

Speaker 1 (01:11:25):
I hope, you know, before this this office can kind
of get to them and poison their mind about the case.
That would be ultimately the best situation. But as of now,
I have no idea who the corner is or who
they will be. So as of right now, this case
is still open and Janna and the family are still

(01:11:47):
fighting for justice. Still trying to get it to be reinvestigated,
and yes it may be, it may be open, but
it's not being investigated. Basically, everyone in the Sheriff's department
has kind of just said, yeah, it's open, but it's
still a suicide. They're never going to reinvestigate it. They're
never going to charge anybody with it. So they kind
of have that attitude even though it's still open and

(01:12:09):
they claim it's still open.

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
So this is where we comment.

Speaker 1 (01:12:14):
We got to get the word out there, and that's
what Jana and Crystal's family are trying to do. And
that is ultimately why I made this episode. I want
this case to be heard. I was reached out to
by Jianna, and as soon as I looked at this
case and I saw all the discrepancies, I knew I
had to get it out there because I just don't

(01:12:35):
agree with the findings.

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
It's so suspicious.

Speaker 1 (01:12:37):
It's devastating for the family and for anyone that hears it. Really,
it's just so obvious. It is so obvious when you
go over this that this is not a suicide. It
can't be any more obvious. I could sit here and
say this forever, but if you really look into this.
I promise you you're going to question it as well,
and you're going to go down a rabbit hole. And

(01:12:58):
I did, and I researched and listen to all the
other podcasts about it, looked at the news articles, listen
to the phone conversations between Crystal's family and the shareff
and Jana also has books out about this, which I
will post links to as well. But it has all
of the information, obviously a lot more information than I

(01:13:18):
can give you on my episode about the investigation.

Speaker 2 (01:13:22):
And things of that nature. So I will, like I said.

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
Post those as well so that you can check out
the books if you would like to read them. You
can visit Jana's instagram at Justice for Crystal McCrory Jones.
There's also a Facebook group it's private, you have to join.
It is Justice for Crystal McCrory Jones as well. And
please please sign the petition. I will put a link

(01:13:46):
for the petition as well. I've signed it, and then
the petition is also on the link tree. You can
find all the links related to her case on the
link tree featured on her pages.

Speaker 2 (01:13:57):
Like I said, including the petition.

Speaker 1 (01:14:00):
I will include all of these links on my Instagram
and in the episode description, So please listen to this
and get it out there. We want more platforms seeing this.
I know my podcast isn't large, but if we can
get some of the larger podcasts that news outlets to
hear this case, we might get somewhere with it, we
might get further. So I just asked that you, after

(01:14:22):
listening to this episode further check it out, check into it,
look at all the links, read all the information, because
this case needs to be heard and justice needs to
be found for Crystal. All right, everyone that can cluse
this episode, Thank you for listening, and until next time,

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