The Last Ride | 53 Years Later, DNA Reveals Who Murdered Two Teenage Sisters

On the morning of May 3rd, 1973, a man out walking his dog in Key Largo, Florida, stepped into a stretch of woods about a hundred yards off U. S. 1. Near mile marker 99.5, under a layer of sticks, leaves and dirt, he found two teenage girls. They were sisters. Maggie Jenkins was 18. Mary Jenkins was 16. They had come down from New Jersey for a spring trip to Key West, and less than 24 hours earlier, someone had seen them standing on the side of the road with their luggage, trying to hitch a ride home. For 53 years, nobody could say who stopped for them. This September, that finally changed.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:14Derrick Levasseur?

  Hey everyone. Welcome back to Crime Weekly News. I'm Derrick Levasseur.

• 0:17Stephanie Harlowe?

  And I'm Stephanie Harlow.

• 0:19Derrick Levasseur?

  And today, you can probably see from the title, we're covering a cold case that was recently solved. And with Crime Weekly News, we usually cover more topical stuff that's in the headlines. And there's plenty of that, unfortunately. But part of the reason we're covering this case today is the whole mission statement behind Crime Weekly. It's not just to cover these stories and to quote unquote entertain people. It's to educate and inform, learn something from these cases and see how we can use this information to prevent it from happening to others. It's also about exposure, right? Using this community that we've built over the years to get attention on cases that may otherwise not be talked about. And to use things like Criminal Coffee and the funds that we raise there from you guys

• 1:05Derrick Levasseur?

  to fund these investigations that are in need of it in order to use the latest science technology to try and solve them. Well, we recently just funded our newest case with Criminal Coffee. And we cannot wait to give you more information about it. We're just ironing out the details, but the check has already been sent. What I will tell you is that is a unsolved homicide investigation. There is a Jane Doe. After going over the preliminary investigation, we are very optimistic about the possibility of finally solving this case. And so we wanted to cover a case today that that kind of reemphasizes our mission statement and that hope. And that even though these cases may go on for many, many years, and it would appear that there's

• 1:50Derrick Levasseur?

  not going to be any type of resolution, that is not the case. And these are constant reminders that we should always continue to fight and always continue to talk about these cases because we could be just one day away from finally getting the answers that we've all been looking for for so long. So for anybody who's not familiar with this case, and I'm sure a lot of you are not, on the morning of May 3rd, 1973, a man walking his dog in Key Largo, Florida, stepped into a stretch of woods about 100 yards off of US 1. Now, he was near mile marker 99.5 and under a layer of sticks, leaves and dirt. He found two teenage girls. They were sisters and their names were Maggie Jenkins, who was 18 years old, and Mary Jenkins, who was 16.

• 2:36Derrick Levasseur?

  They had come down from New Jersey for a spring trip to Key West. And less than 24 hours earlier, someone had actually seen them standing on the side of the road with their luggage, trying to hitch a ride home. And for 53 years, nobody could say who stopped for them. This September, that has finally changed.

• 2:57Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah, so this is a case that, I mean, obviously 1973. And we've talked a lot about how forensics and genealogy and new DNA technology is helping solve these older cold cases. And this is one that obviously we wanted to solve because we have these two young girls, Maggie and Mary. They were two of the Jenkins sisters from New Jersey, just 18 and 16 years old. Their older sister Sarah was 19 at the time. Years later, Sarah's husband, Dwayne Barlow, who knew the girls well, described them to Miami's WSVN 7 News

• 3:36Stephanie Harlowe?

  in a pretty simple way, in simple terms, quote, "Their interests were boys making money and they wanted to travel," end quote. So in other words, they were completely normal teenagers.

• 3:45Derrick Levasseur?

  Completely normal teenage girls. And I'm petrified even saying that because I got one at home right now.

• 3:52Stephanie Harlowe?

  Boys, music, fun. You know, that's what we like.

• 3:55Derrick Levasseur?

  Looking forward to it.

• 3:57Stephanie Harlowe?

  Well, Dwayne actually carries a piece of this story personally. He had hitchhiked from New Jersey down to the Florida Keys himself, and he told the girls all about it. And he believes that's where the idea for their trip came from. In that same interview, he said, quote, "If I had known what I know now, I would have never, never, ever," end quote. Like, he wouldn't have told this to them, right? Because now he's talking about this great adventure he went on. But he's a man, and I'm sorry, men can go on solo travels and not think twice about it.

• 4:27Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah.

• 4:28Stephanie Harlowe?

  Something might still happen to them. They might become the victim of some violence or a mugging or an attack. But they are not targets in the way that women are when they go on solo travels.

• 4:40Derrick Levasseur?

  Oh, women are absolutely more likely to be targeted. There's a lot of scary men out there who are prowling around just looking for a person to take advantage of. We had just recently talked about it in our bonus episode. Like, it happens all the time. And sometimes it's not even premeditated as far as who the victim is. It's just the opportunity, right? That's where that phrase comes from, victim of opportunity. They didn't know who you were beforehand, five minutes earlier, but they see you alone in a secluded area by yourself. Nobody around, maybe because of your stature, you're not really intimidating. And the perpetrator is banking on the fact that you're not going to be expecting this.

• 5:23Derrick Levasseur?

  You're not going to have some weapon on you to stop it, and they're going to be able to overpower you. That is the intent.

• 5:29Stephanie Harlowe?

  I actually, I was trying to find it, but there was a study I read recently where a bunch of men were asked if you could commit a sexual assault, and it's guaranteed that you would get away with it and not get caught, would you? And the results were very disturbing, okay?

• 5:51Derrick Levasseur?

  No doubt.

• 5:52Stephanie Harlowe?

  Very disturbing. I mean, they've done a few studies. I think they did the first one in 1981. They did another one in 2014. And then they did one more recently. And the amount of people who said they would if they thought they could get away with it stayed pretty much the same, around 30%. It was actually highest in the 1981 study, 35%. I think it's interesting because back in the 70s, you were less likely to get caught. And now you're more likely to get caught because there's cameras everywhere and your cell phones are being tracked and DNA and touch DNA and all of this stuff.

• 6:28Derrick Levasseur?

  Thank God.

• 6:29Stephanie Harlowe?

  But back in the 70s, yeah, that's why we saw serial killers kind of really on a rise out through the 60s, the 70s and the 80s, because they didn't have the technology we do now. And now serial killers are just far less prevalent.

• 6:43Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, because they're more likely to get caught.

• 6:44Stephanie Harlowe?

  Because they're more likely to get caught, exactly.

• 6:46Derrick Levasseur?

  They're able to build up a list.

• 6:47Stephanie Harlowe?

  Exactly. So the fact that there's so many men who are like, yeah, I would commit a rape if I knew 100% I could get away with it.

• 6:55Derrick Levasseur?

  Get away with it is disturbing.

• 6:56Stephanie Harlowe?

  It shows you how dangerous it is for women to to travel out in the world on their own.

• 7:01Derrick Levasseur?

  And I don't think it's sexist to point out the obvious. Like, obviously, the body makeup of a woman versus a man is different. And if you have a man driving alone and he sees you by yourself, even two women together, there's still a likelihood that if they approach you in a, you know, a friendly way and present themselves as someone who's there to help, in this case, a someone who's willing to give them a ride, you can divide and conquer, right? If you're able to get one of the girls, here's the real unfortunate human element of this. These are sisters. So more than likely, even if the perpetrator attacked one of them.

• 7:36Stephanie Harlowe?

  They're not going to leave.

• 7:37Derrick Levasseur?

  And now the sister's not leaving.

• 7:38Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah, this is very Abby and Libby.

• 7:40Derrick Levasseur?

  And you don't think that these monsters are thinking about that? Hey, if you move, if you try to run, I'm going to kill your sister. Now you're stuck. Now you've got to sit by, wait for it to happen, and then you're next. So it's a horrible situation. And I always say, you know, travel in pairs if you can, buddy system. The only thing I would add on to that is if you do have someone approach you and they're presenting themselves as someone who wants to help or they appear to be friendly, proceed with caution because it could all be an act. So even if there's a buddy system, even if you're with a friend, if that person has a weapon on them or they're large in stature, for all we know, you're going to tell me later that this person had a weapon, that's the ultimate equalizer, even when you're traveling in pairs.

• 8:25Derrick Levasseur?

  So there's a lot of variables that play into this whole story and other stories. And the number one thing is just don't trust anybody. That's really what I've concluded. You can't trust anyone.

• 8:37Stephanie Harlowe?

  I mean, unfortunately, and I'm going to be completely honest, I'm a woman. I don't travel outside my comfort zone by myself.

• 8:44Derrick Levasseur?

  You definitely don't.

• 8:45Stephanie Harlowe?

  I don't.

• 8:46Derrick Levasseur?

  You definitely don't.

• 8:47Stephanie Harlowe?

  So it's like.

• 8:47Derrick Levasseur?

  I couldn't get you to London.

• 8:48Stephanie Harlowe?

  No, in my hometown, okay.

• 8:51Derrick Levasseur?

  Maybe.

• 8:51Stephanie Harlowe?

  Maybe. If I'm going out of the state or going out of the country, I'm bringing a man with me. That's it. And I'm not like some, oh, I can't protect myself. I'm just a little girl. No, but I know that if I have a man with me. I am. But if I have a man with me, I'm less likely to be a target. That's the reality of the world. And while I don't like it, I have to recognize that reality. And I know there's.

• 9:16Derrick Levasseur?

  We should do a video where you and I just fight.

• 9:20Stephanie Harlowe?

  Fight? Yeah, okay.

• 9:25Stephanie Harlowe?

  I'm claustrophobic, man. The second there's too much pressure on me, I'm out.

• 9:28Derrick Levasseur?

  You're just like in the movie, just like punching me in the chest.

• 9:31Stephanie Harlowe?

  I wouldn't even, I wouldn't even try. Like, there's no, there's no reason.

• 9:34Derrick Levasseur?

  Just lay on the ground like a possum.

• 9:35Stephanie Harlowe?

  Reason for it. Exactly. I just curl up and I play dead. So I don't like it. And I know there's a lot of women because I see you guys brave on TikTok and you're like, I went to Indonesia, I went to Bali by myself. You can do it. You can do it. You can do it. You have to take precautions and I still would not suggest it.

• 9:54Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, it's a risk. A lot of things in life. I mean, I could, you can make an argument that going to the grocery store these days is a risk. Everything is a risk, but it's an educated risk. You try to put yourself in the best position so that you and whoever you're with is safe. That's all you can do.

• 10:08Stephanie Harlowe?

  Well, in April of 1973, these two sisters Maggie and Mary, they headed south. According to WSVN's reporting, their parents gave them some money for bus tickets and they took a bus to Key West. Once there, they met up with friends from their hometown and they enjoyed the trip the way a lot of young people did in Key West in the early 70s. But by early May, the money had run out. So instead of buying bus tickets home, Maggie and Mary apparently decided to do what many young travelers did back then. They would hitchhike. And I mean, this was also before a time where you could call your mom and be like, hey, can you cash out me? A couple hundred bucks, right? It would have to, you'd have to transfer it like wire transfer. Or what was that one where you could send money?

• 10:51Stephanie Harlowe?

  Do you remember what it was called? It was like a very popular thing for a while because it was like, you can send money in, in hours, you know, but. Western Union, Western Union.

• 11:00Derrick Levasseur?

  Western Union, yeah.

• 11:02Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yep.

• 11:02Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, I think that's still a thing, by the way, but it's.

• 11:04Stephanie Harlowe?

  It is, but now we have Venmo and Cash App and PayPal and all these ways you can get money to your loved ones if they're in a pinch. But back then they couldn't do that. So they ran out of money and they decided to hitchhike back home. And I want to pause on that because I know a lot of listeners today here hitchhiking and they immediately tense up and they're like, bad idea, bad idea. Yes, this is what happened with Brittany Drexel, right? In Myrtle Beach. We think that she got into this guy's car because he was offering her a ride and she thought he was there to help. But in 1973, especially among young people, it was very, very common. It was actually how a lot of people got around. These girls were not being reckless by the standards of their time, to be fair. So on May 2nd, 1973, Maggie and Mary were seen hitchhiking on Stock Island.

• 11:49Stephanie Harlowe?

  This is the island just east of Key West, around mile marker five. And that is the last confirmed sighting of these sisters. A witness later told investigators he saw the two girls standing there with their luggage. He came back about 15 minutes later. They were gone. Someone had picked them up. And then the next day, May 3rd, a local man walking his dog found their bodies in the woods about 100 yards off of US 1, near mile marker 99.5 in Key Largo. So this is where we kind of started. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.

• 12:26Stephanie Harlowe?

  This episode is brought to you by Aura House. When I'm getting the house ready for people to come over, I can get very invested in the details. The lighting, the table, the decorations, and then how the house smells is part of that. Ideally, the first impression is this is lovely, not someone recently made broccoli.

• 12:43Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, I mean broccoli does tend to announce itself, doesn't it?

• 12:45Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah, without being invited into the conversation, but I also don't want an overpowering fragrance competing with everything else. I don't want somebody to be like, I'm having an allergic reaction or, you know, I, I can't, what is this smell? Where is it coming from? I want something that makes the room feel inviting. Now Aura House is a cold air fragrance diffuser that uses the same technology a lot of high-end hotels use to create that signature scent when you walk into the lobby. It covers up to 650 square feet, which is a lot, with no flame, no heat and no wax.

• 13:15Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah. So there's no candle to keep checking and no water tank to refill or clean, which that can be disgusting over time. The setup is magnetized with no pouring or measuring and each fill lasts about 30 days.

• 13:26Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah. And you can control it through your app. So you can adjust the intensity. You can set a schedule. So if you're at work and you're going to be home in about an hour and you want it to smell good when you walk in, you can set it up to do that, which is useful because I want to choose how much fragrance is in the room. You can smell it from the driveway is not my goal.

• 13:43Derrick Levasseur?

  No doubt. And depending on your room size, you want to adjust it so it's not overpowering.

• 13:46Stephanie Harlowe?

  Mm-hmm. And the diffuser itself is really nice looking. It's sleek aluminum. So you can sit it on a shelf with the rest of your decor. You don't have to find somewhere to hide it.

• 13:55Derrick Levasseur?

  Let the people know what kind of scents they have.

• 13:56Stephanie Harlowe?

  So they have a lot of scents. There are bright, fresh options like citrus grove and coast. There's earthy options like Yellowstone, which I really like, and grounding. And hotel-inspired fragrances like George the Fifth. So you can choose something that fits the atmosphere you want at home. And if you're looking at the names thinking, well, that sounds nice, but what would I actually like? There's a scent quiz on their website to help you narrow it down. So if you don't love your first scent, they'll actually swap it for free. Plus, the oils are formulated without parabens or phthalates, so it's not bad for you to inhale. For me, the appeal is how little tending it needs. When you're hosting, you already have food to check, drinks to put out.

• 14:34Stephanie Harlowe?

  And someone asks where the extra glasses are, having the fragrance set on a schedule is one detail you can take care of ahead of time and set it and forget it.

• 14:42Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah. And the most important part.

• 14:43Stephanie Harlowe?

  So if you're the type of person who notices the details, this is a pretty easy one to fix. Use code CRIMEWEEKLY at aurahouse.com for a discount on your first order. And also if you're watching on YouTube, the link's in the description box, or if you're on podcasts, the link is in the show notes.

• 15:05Stephanie Harlowe?

  All right. So we're back. So I want to quickly set the stage for anybody who's not familiar with this area. They were last seen on May 2nd, hitchhiking on Stock Island. And then they're found May 3rd, they're dead, Key Largo. Okay? So think about that geography. Stock Island is down at the bottom of the Keys. Mile marker 99.5 is up near the top. So that's roughly 95 miles of overseas highway. Well, over an hour and a half of driving, crossing bridge after bridge, including the Seven Mile Bridge. So here's what we know. On May 2nd, the sisters were last seen near Key West with their bags, trying to get a ride. On May 3rd, they're found almost 100 miles away in Key Largo. Somewhere in between is the missing piece of their final hours.

• 15:50Stephanie Harlowe?

  So whoever picked them up likely drove them almost the entire length of the Keys. The direction they wanted to go, toward the mainland and closer to home. They're in New Jersey, but it's going in the direction of New Jersey.

• 16:03Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah.

• 16:04Stephanie Harlowe?

  Both girls had been severely beaten. Both had gunshot wounds, which investigators later said were their primary cause of death. One sister had been stripped of her clothing and the other sister's clothing had been pulled up to her chest. A detective later described the scene this way. He said they were covered with sticks and leaves and dirt, basically dumped like garbage in the wood. So the Monroe County Sheriff's Office collected evidence from the scene and importantly, for where this story ends up, they kept that evidence, including the clothing the girls were wearing. In 1973, there was no DNA testing. There was no national database. Two girls had been picked up by a stranger on a highway that tourists, locals and drifters used every day.

• 16:48Stephanie Harlowe?

  So investigators could not identify a single suspect. Back in New Jersey, the family got the call that no one ever wants to get. The sister, the older sister Sarah, who was just 19, she actually traveled to Florida right away. She stayed for about a month with her mother and with Dwayne, who was her partner then and would later become her husband. And they didn't just wait by the phone. As Sarah put it, quote, "We did our own investigation, but obviously we were in their way and they kept telling us to go home," end quote. And eventually after about a month, they did go home without answers. The case went cold, but it never fully disappeared. In 2007, Dwayne spoke to WSVN as Monroe County Cold Case Detective Mark Coleman resubmitted the preserved evidence to the lab.

• 17:32Stephanie Harlowe?

  So this was in 2007, when they're taking the evidence they have from the 70s, they're resubmitting. And obviously right now they're going to be looking for DNA, hairs and fibers. Coleman called the killer sick and twisted and said that the person who did this to Maggie and Mary might still be alive. And so this was in 2007, the families notified. Dwayne told reporters he was still calling detectives every week. Every week for a case that was already 34 years old at that point. So this is something the family was very big on solving. They're in New Jersey. This happened in Florida, but they're still calling every week for over 30 years, seeing if there's any updates and kind of, I think, reminding detectives.

• 18:13Derrick Levasseur?

  Of course.

• 18:13Stephanie Harlowe?

  That this happened and that they need to be kind of doing something with it.

• 18:17Derrick Levasseur?

  Well, that's the reality, right? We tell the story to you guys, but it's someone else's living nightmare. It doesn't go away for them. When you leave our episode, we wrap it up. We tell you to stay safe out there and that's kind of the end of it for most of you. But for the people that we're discussing in these cases, they have to live with it every day with that unknown question of what happened, who's, and also the question of who's responsible.

• 18:40Stephanie Harlowe?

  Responsible. And they're still out there. Yeah.

• 18:42Derrick Levasseur?

  But, but talking about the facts before we get into where we are now and what, what, what kind of happened after that, we now know a little bit more, right? We know that these girls were more than likely picked up, promised a ride home. And for a short period of time, they went through the Keys, thinking they were going in the right direction. When in reality, the person driving had other plans.

• 19:02Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah, they probably drove for about an hour and a half.

• 19:04Derrick Levasseur?

  Right. And they were in a, they were in possession of a firearm. Obviously the main intent was sexual in nature, based on what we have from the crime scene. And it appears that they were, you know, beaten up, but also, as I mentioned, probably held at gunpoint. So even if they wanted to run, even if one of them had the capability of getting away, one, they're not going to leave their sister. And then secondly, even if they did try to run. They're gonna get shot in the back. So you're really in a bad spot. There's nothing you can do here. There's nothing you can do here. And the only way to avoid it, and I hate to say it, but the only way to avoid it is to not get into that car in the first place.

• 19:43Stephanie Harlowe?

  But like I said, in this time, this was perfectly common. This is how people got around. Yeah.

• 19:47Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah. But it is, it is the reality of the situation. And unfortunately, as soon as they got into that car, that was it.

• 19:54Stephanie Harlowe?

  Well, this happened so much. I think that's when people stopped, right?

• 19:57Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah. I mean, and it probably happened a lot more on cases that are still unsolved. You know, that where the person disappeared and we don't know why. And the reality is they got picked up and the body was placed in an area where it was never found.

• 20:10Stephanie Harlowe?

  And if you think about it, there's times too, where it's not even that someone's willingly getting into the vehicle. Maybe they're walking down the road, someone pulls over and bamboozles them and pulls them in the vehicle. Yeah.

• 20:21Derrick Levasseur?

  Or in this case, right? I'm sitting here saying they voluntarily got in the car. How do I know? There's also a possibility. He drives up to him and he points the gun out the window and says, don't make a sound, get in or you're dead. Right?

• 20:35Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah. If he's got the gun, he can intimidate them anyway.

• 20:38Derrick Levasseur?

  Ultimate equalizer.

• 20:39Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah. So we don't know if they drove that hour and a half across the Keys, knowing that this was bad.

• 20:45Derrick Levasseur?

  That their fate was already sealed.

• 20:46Stephanie Harlowe?

  Or maybe he got someplace and then he's like, hey, I actually want to show you, before you guys head back to the, you know, to New Jersey, I want to show you what the great thing that the Florida Keys has to offer. You know, I'm a local.

• 20:57Derrick Levasseur?

  I would imagine that would be the, the best way to do it for him, to keep him at ease. Also, I just want to, again, we're not victim blaming. We're not Monday morning quarterbacking. It doesn't change what happens here, but we're always trying to learn. And it was a different time. So I, I concede that point. What you're saying is absolutely true. Talking 50 years ago, people were getting rides with strangers all the time. However, even though you're not that old, and I'm posing this to you guys listening and watching right now as well, how do we feel about the fact that one of them was 16 years old hitchhiking? Does that come into the equation? I mean, that seems.

• 21:33Stephanie Harlowe?

  I mean, look at the Manson family. They were all like.

• 21:36Derrick Levasseur?

  I'm a boomer, I guess, but you know, like, that seems young.

• 21:38Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah, they were all in the Manson family. They were all young and they hitchhiked. And that's how they met the Beach Boys, you know? So it was pretty, uh, pretty all loose and fun back then, until it wasn't.

• 21:48Derrick Levasseur?

  I'm looking forward to some people who may be a little bit more seasoned, right? Who are around during those times to weigh in on this. Was that a common thing where when you were 15, 16 years old, you, people that you knew were hitchhiking at your age? I'm interested to hear the response on that.

• 22:03Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah. But here's the thing, right? Like, we're looking at our parents' generation.

• 22:08Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah.

• 22:08Stephanie Harlowe?

  Right? So my mom's born in 54. She would have been, you know, young in the, in the 60s. And I think that because they saw people hitchhiking so much and bad things happening, that's why we were encouraged and told not to do it, that that was never, don't talk to strangers, don't talk to strangers, right? So let's take a quick break and we'll be right back.

• 22:31Stephanie Harlowe?

  Thank you to Mint Mobile for sponsoring this episode of Crime Weekly News. So your phone bill can become one of those expenses you stop questioning. It comes out every month, your phone works, everything's great, you move on. But I've been paying this forever isn't necessarily a compelling reason to keep doing it.

• 22:46Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, especially if you haven't checked the alternatives.

• 22:48Stephanie Harlowe?

  Exactly. We'll spend 20 minutes choosing what to watch tonight, but give a recurring bill absolutely no further consideration. But Mint Mobile has wireless plans starting at $15 a month for new customers on their first three month plan. That's $45 paid upfront for those first three months plus taxes and fees. And all plans include high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network.

• 23:12Derrick Levasseur?

  Absolutely. I think one of the most important parts for people who are listening or watching this right now is going to be the fact that you do not have to get a new phone.

• 23:19Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah, you can bring your current compatible phone and your number, which is helpful because changing your number means updating everyone, changing accounts, inevitably missing somebody who's still texting your old number six months later, or a 2FA code from the bank, which was a big thing for me where I couldn't access my bank account for a while because I had my old phone number. But you can check your phone's compatibility and coverage, choose your plan and sign up online. So looking into switching doesn't have to become an afternoon spent standing in a store.

• 23:46Derrick Levasseur?

  No, it actually makes it easier to get it done.

• 23:48Stephanie Harlowe?

  Sometimes the thing keeping you with the service is the assumption that changing it will be a hassle. Being able to keep your phone and number removes two pretty big reasons that people put off. And if you're comparing plans, think about what you actually need from your wireless service, calls, tax data and coverage where you use your phone, then look at what you're paying for those things. You don't need to wait until you have a new phone to reconsider the plan attached to the one you already have.

• 24:10Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah. So that means the phone can stay, but the bill can change. We, we, we accept that. We're, we're all in for that.

• 24:17Stephanie Harlowe?

  So for a new wireless plan, starting at 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com/crimeweekly. That's mintmobile.com/crimeweekly. Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/crimeweekly. $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

• 24:45Stephanie Harlowe?

  All right, we're back. So they're resubmitting the evidence and the key piece of evidence turned out to be a blood stain on one of the victim's underwear. Analysts were able to pull a partial male DNA profile from it, meaning it came from a man and that man was not either of the girls. So here's how it all came together. In 2018, detectives from the sheriff's office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, they developed additional genetic markers from that partial profile. They entered it into CODIS, the National DNA Database. There was no match. Whoever this man was, he'd never been entered into the system.

• 25:21Derrick Levasseur?

  Which happens a lot.

• 25:22Stephanie Harlowe?

  Which happens a lot.

• 25:23Derrick Levasseur?

  If they haven't been arrested, more than likely, they're not going to be in there.

• 25:26Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yes. So then in 2023, Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy Program took the case and they partnered with Othrum. Uh, this is a private lab in the Woodlands, Texas, which uses what it calls forensic grade genome sequencing to build a much more detailed profile, one that could be compared against genealogy databases.

• 25:49Derrick Levasseur?

  And this is what we use all the time. We, we, we use Moxie Forensics very often and they have a lab that they go through. I think it's Resolve.

• 25:58Stephanie Harlowe?

  And you have Jeremy, right? And he does the family tree stuff for you.

• 26:01Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah. So he's the, he's the genealogist. So we have essentially Ryan and Jeremy, who you guys who have been following us for a while, no, they are both genetic genealogists. They do the family tree stuff, right? So the sequencing is done and Othrum's not the only lab to do it. They take the DNA, they turn it into a mathematical equation, a number, and then that sequencing is made into a profile that can be entered into these genealogical databases where you can start to identify relatives of this person. Now that gives you a lot more people to choose from because it's not only people in CODIS who've been convicted of a serious crime. Now you have people who've uploaded their DNA for a plethora of reasons and you don't need the

• 26:42Derrick Levasseur?

  exact match, right? The DNA database will tell you this is a distant cousin or an uncle or a brother. And from there, you can reverse engineer it. And that's what Jeremy and Ryan do.

• 26:53Stephanie Harlowe?

  And so that's what they did. They took the genome profile and then Florida Department of Law Enforcement genealogists did the family tree work, finding distant relatives who matched the DNA and building their tree until they narrowed in on one man. And then in early 2026, detectives got a reference DNA sample from one of that man's living relatives. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement Crime Lab compared it and confirmed he was the source of the DNA left at the scene. And I do want to say this is interesting for listeners who do follow these cases. This was the 66th publicly announced Florida case where Othrum's technology helped identify someone.

• 27:35Derrick Levasseur?

  There's a lot. Othrum's a big, is a big company, a big lab. They do a lot of work. A lot of their stuff gets publicized because they're big on social media. There's a lot of great labs out there doing amazing cases. And it seems like every single day now, these types of cases are being solved by labs all over the country because now the technology is, we're kind of familiar with it and it's getting better and better every day. And now that we understand it and how to use it and what to look for, the process of going through it is a lot easier and a lot more efficient and effective. So.

• 28:05Stephanie Harlowe?

  But it's still incredibly expensive.

• 28:08Derrick Levasseur?

  I mean, I'll tell you guys straight out, it's, it's public information. It's going to be on our website and it's all because of you guys. This most recent case that we're doing involving this Jane Doe who was murdered, $7,500.

• 28:19Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah.

• 28:19Derrick Levasseur?

  Would not be possible without your guys' purchases through Criminal Coffee, but $7,500. And in fact, uh, Moxie Forensics is starting this project called the Magnolia Project, where they're going to take on 30 unsolved cases and they're going to try to solve them. And we've already talked to them directly. We're going to try to fund as many as we can. Although, when you think about how much that one cost, I mean, we were, we've already contributed, I want to say off the top of my head, it's on our website, 26 to 27,000 dollars.

• 28:49Stephanie Harlowe?

  Close to 30. Yeah.

• 28:50Derrick Levasseur?

  In cases. All thanks to you guys. We have no plan on stopping. The more we do, the more cases we fund.

• 28:56Stephanie Harlowe?

  It is, it does feel good to know that you're giving a victim back their name and you're giving a family the answers that they've, they've wanted for decades at some, at some areas. Yeah.

• 29:05Derrick Levasseur?

  And kudos to law enforcement at that time, because it's all contingent on this, by the way. Seizing the evidence, capturing it and preserving it in a way that it can be used later by everybody involved. The laboratories now, because there have been cases where the DNA is so degraded because it's not preserved correctly, it's not secured correctly, and we can't use it. So kudos to the law enforcement officers, the detectives that worked that case that had the foresight to say, you know what? We're kind of hindered by our technology and the time we live in right now.

• 29:36Stephanie Harlowe?

  But they saw the future.

• 29:37Derrick Levasseur?

  Exactly. Exactly.

• 29:39Stephanie Harlowe?

  You're right. There's a lot of, of police officers and, and police bodies that during this time, 60s, 70s, even 80s, they were not. Keeping evidence in a way that it could be preserved to be used later.

• 29:51Derrick Levasseur?

  Michelle Norris, 1988, Stephanie, drives me insane. I lost friends because it happened in my own police department.

• 29:59Stephanie Harlowe?

  And you were like, what the hell were you people thinking?

• 30:00Derrick Levasseur?

  I called them out on national TV. Had to do it. Just, it was there. I mean, putting in a plastic bag is not hard. It, don't get me started. But that, I would not be telling you guys every time you ask me, what's your case? What's your case? What's your case? I would not have to continuously say Michelle Norris if evidence was preserved correctly. That's the truth.

• 30:22Stephanie Harlowe?

  I agree. It is very sad, but at least in this case, we have a, an answer because they come out on September 2nd, 2026, Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsey announced that the man who killed Maggie and Mary Jenkins had been identified. His name was David Allen Snyder. Records show Snyder lived at several addresses in Key West between 1972 and 1974. So when two teenage girls were standing on Stock Island with their thumbs out in May of 1973, he was living right there. And he was never caught. Snyder died of natural causes on October 28th, 2008 in Mountain View, Idaho. He was 57. He lived 35 more

• 31:01Stephanie Harlowe?

  years after the murders. Years that Maggie and Mary never got. And I would be now tracking his addresses and seeing if there was other similar cases in his area and seeing if those cases have DNA connected to them as well.

• 31:16Derrick Levasseur?

  Agreed.

• 31:17Stephanie Harlowe?

  Because, yes, he's dead. He's never going to be charged. There is never going to be a trial. But you could at least say like, this guy was capable of doing this? And why would he stop after that time? And maybe you can give more families, more answers.

• 31:33Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, we're not going to be able to hold him accountable, but I do think those families would find something in knowing what happened. Yeah, completely agree.

• 31:41Stephanie Harlowe?

  So authorities have publicly named him as the suspect and they say that DNA confirms he was the source of the evidence in one of the girl's underwear, her bloody underwear, okay, at the scene. He was the source of that. So I think it goes without saying, right? We don't need a trial. We don't need to build out a case. How did that DNA evidence get there other than him being responsible for their assaults and their murders? We, we know that much. It is this guy, David Allen Snyder. Of course, he's got three names. They always do. And Sheriff Ramsey thanked his major crimes-

• 32:16Derrick Levasseur?

  That is so true.

• 32:17Stephanie Harlowe?

  I know. I know. It's like, starting to become a, a pretty evident pattern. But Sheriff Ramsey thanked his major crimes detectives for bringing closure to the family of these two victims and said the case shows their commitment to solving crimes, no matter how long it may take. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Commissioner added that the agency will use every resource and technology available to search for answers for the victims and their families. So a name obviously answers the biggest questions, but not all of them. What happened in those missing hours between Stock Island and Key Largo? Why did a man living in Key West drive almost 100 miles north? Was he leaving the Keys? Or did he

• 32:59Stephanie Harlowe?

  say he'd take them all the way to the mainland? Where did he get the gun? Was it ever found? Where did Snyder go after 1974? How did he end up in Idaho? And the question every case like this raises, which we've already touched on, were Maggie and Mary his only victims? Now, the-

• 33:17Derrick Levasseur?

  It's a big one. It's a big one.

• 33:18Stephanie Harlowe?

  The authorities haven't said whether Snyder had any criminal record or whether he's being looked at in other cases. If that changes, we'll update you. But I am curious as what kind of life was this man living? Did he have a wife? Did he have children? If we talked to those people, would they say, yeah, it was weird. Dad would go off or around this time, he seemed different. He seemed disturbed. You know, all of that is, is important. But for 53 years, Maggie and Mary's sister Sarah lived with these questions. And she went to Florida at 19 to find answers and was told to go home. Dwayne, her husband, called detectives every week. Through all of it, a blood stain on a piece

• 34:00Stephanie Harlowe?

  of clothing sat in an evidence room, waiting for the science to catch up. So it finally did. David Allen Snyder will never have to answer for what he did, but at least Maggie and Mary's family finally know who took them and who was responsible. Maggie or Marguerite, was her name? Maggie Jenkins was 18. Her sister Mary Jenkins was 16. They wanted to travel. They wanted to see the world. They deserved to be able to do that in safety and come home. But this guy, David Allen Snyder, took their lives away from them in a, in a very violent way. I mean, if we are testing a blood stain in the underwear of one of the victims, we can probably tell that this wasn't a consensual experience.

• 34:43Derrick Levasseur?

  No, absolutely not. Here's what I'll say. Clock's ticking for these people, right? I know that we're getting a lot of these stories where the science and technology is finally caught up and we're solving these older cases. And unfortunately, in some of them, it's too late. They're already passed. But, you know, depending on what you believe in the afterlife, he's in a tough spot right now, if you believe in that stuff. Um, but overall-

• 35:06Stephanie Harlowe?

  I mean, it's things like this that make me want to believe in that, but I just know, like, this guy lived his whole life.

• 35:10Derrick Levasseur?

  No, but that's what I'm saying. The clock is ticking on these people out there because now that the science and technology is here, the more recent cases that are occurring, you're not going to spend your whole life out there. If you left anything behind, we're going to get you. And speaking of which, just to kind of wrap it up, if you want to go over to criminalcoffeeco.com and look up our, our Fight Crime tab, you can see a little bit of information about the case that we just funded. There's some, some demographics there. You'll see that this case is, uh, it's actually out of Perry County, Mississippi. It's a Jane Doe case from 2001. This is a case that is an unsolved homicide. So you can get the facts over there, learn a little bit about the case, although there's not

• 35:51Derrick Levasseur?

  a lot of information. And as always, we always put the amount donated at the bottom for you guys. In addition to doing that, if you go to the Fight Crime tab, as I've mentioned before, in between these big cases that we're funding, because they're, they're hard to find and get all the logistics right to make sure that you got, your money's going to the right place. We also donate to different foundations and organizations all the time. And there's a running banner along the bar, bottom on the donations page, where you can see some of the causes that we have already donated to on your behalf. Happy this guy was caught in the sense that we know who he is. It's unfortunate that he's no longer with us, but I am glad, like you have said multiple times, that we finally have answers for, for their family. Because this is something where, like you said, they have been living

• 36:36Derrick Levasseur?

  with it every single day. They don't get to just shut off the podcast or turn off the YouTube channel and go, oh, that, that was interesting. You know, we'll see what happens. For Maggie and Mary's family, they were wondering the same question every single day, and they finally have those answers. So let's see what else comes of it. This might just be the tip of the iceberg. Maybe this scumbag is connected to other crimes and we can give other families some answers who are also seeking justice in their case as well, understanding at least at minimum, what happened to their loved one. Any final words from you?

• 37:08Stephanie Harlowe?

  No, that's it. But once again, uh, no, we're not hitchhiking anymore and that's great, but always be vigilant. Always be aware of your surroundings.

• 37:16Derrick Levasseur?

  But there's other issues now. Not that I, I use it all the time, but I always think about things like Uber and, and Lyft and, you know, the other, the new things that we do now where in, who knows if 10, 15 years from now, there aren't going to be people evaluating how we live going, what were they thinking?

• 37:33Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah, getting into a car with a stranger, either way, right?

• 37:36Derrick Levasseur?

  You know what I mean? Like, you know, it's so common now. It's like, you don't even, it's like Google. You just say, oh, I'm going to Uber there. It's like so common. But you never know.

• 37:45Stephanie Harlowe?

  And you think you're safe because there's a record of it on your phone, but it doesn't matter. Some of these people don't care if there's a record. Like, people are out of their minds. It's not even about not getting caught anymore. They're not thinking about it. They may not have even been thinking about hurting you when they picked you up. And then something about you makes them want to hurt you. Like, you don't know. And it wouldn't matter if somebody tracked it down on your phone after. You still ended up in a place you didn't want to end up. So.

• 38:09Derrick Levasseur?

  No doubt. Well, we're thinking of everybody involved. We're glad there's some answers and we're hoping there's more for Maggie, Mary's family and for everybody else who might be connected to this or might have a connection to it that they don't even know about yet. So we'll keep you guys updated if there's more updates. We're going to be back later this week with Ashley Flynn, Part Three. This series, you guys are really invested into it. These, these two that we're talking about here, Caleb and Aaliyah. There's something. We'll just say that. So we'll be back later this week. Until then, please, everyone stay safe out there. We'll see you soon.

• 38:39Stephanie Harlowe?

  Bye.