MISSING: Christopher “Cole” Thomas

On Black Friday 2016, 22-year-old Christopher “Cole” Thomas was driving through rural North Carolina with two coworkers. Hours later, the coworkers approached police and said Cole had suddenly panicked, pulled over, and ran into the dark, never to be seen again.

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

• 0:00Ashley Flowers?

  Do me a favor. Put all five fingers up. Now, put one down if you have workout saved on Instagram that you haven't gone back to. Put one down if you were gonna go to a workout class this week, but there's just none that the times work out for. Put one down if you don't like working out at home because you don't know what to do and you need someone to push you. Put two fingers down if you want to stop this game. Babe, we are the same. I don't have a lot of time and honestly, I'm not even someone who likes working out. But Ladder actually changed that. I literally had to waddle into the studio to record this because my butt is so sore. Ladder is quick. I'm not wasting time wandering around or doing reps of something that won't matter. I'm in, I'm out. I have a coach along the way who can help me make 30 minutes with weights feel better than two hours of whatever I was doing before. And it's $1 a day.

• 0:45Ashley Flowers?

  So if price was ever stopping you before, you're officially out of excuses. Remove the guesswork with Ladder and get a real coach in your ear telling you exactly what to do for every workout. No thinking, everything planned for you. If you have an iPhone, head to ladder.fit/crimejunkie and take a quick quiz to find your perfect ladder plan. Use my link and get a free seven-day trial with no credit card and $10 off your first month if you join.

• 1:13Speaker 01

  89% of dog parents call their pup their best friend and 31% willingly share their dinner fork. Pure obsession. That's why Ollie exists. To match that devotion with fresh, chef-crafted food delivered straight to your door. Ollie's fresh recipes like fresh beef with sweet potatoes are vet customized to exact calorie needs. Pups go crazy for the flavor and the benefits speak for themselves. Vibrant energy, a noticeably shinier coat, and better digestion. Plus, the Ollie app keeps care effortless with a custom well-being score and on-demand vet support for quick advice on digestion or weight. Our dog, Birdie, is a big fan of Ollie and I'm a fan of knowing more about her health, plus the support I need with the custom well-being score on the Ollie app. Get ready for both you and your pup to be obsessed.

• 1:57Speaker 01

  Head to ollie.com/crimejunkie, tell them all about your dog, and use code CRIMEJUNKIE to get 70% off your welcome kit when you subscribe today. Plus, it's risk-free with their obsession guarantee. That's O-L-L-I-E dot com slash crime junkie and enter code CRIMEJUNKIE to get 70% off your first box. Ollie, feed the obsession.

• 2:17Ashley Flowers?

  Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Brett. And you guys, sometimes the hardest cases to crack aren't always the ones with nothing to go on. They're often the ones where everybody seems to know something, but they're too scared to talk. Because today's story isn't about someone disappearing into the dark alone. It's about a young man who vanished in front of, quote unquote, "friends" from work. Their first version: He panicked, pulled the car over, hopped out, and booked it. But the only people who say they saw what happened next are the same ones who can't keep their stories straight. And when the truth keeps bending like that,

• 2:59Ashley Flowers?

  it's not confusion, it's not bad memory. Usually, it's a bold-faced lie. This is the story of Christopher Cole Thomas.

• 3:44Ashley Flowers?

  It's just after 3 a.m. on Black Friday in 2016. But in the small town of Benson, North Carolina, no one's lining up to snag a deal on the latest iPhone or the biggest TV. It's quiet. Most people are asleep. And the streets are practically empty. Which is giving time for a couple of officers to finish up some paperwork in the police department parking lot. And it's in that quiet moment when two men walk up. Their names are Julian Vias Jr. and Jeremy Carpenter. Now, they're not panicked or screaming or anything like that. They just need a little bit of help. They're passing through after visiting Julian's family for Thanksgiving.

• 4:27Ashley Flowers?

  They were on their way back to Minnesota where they both work. But now they don't have keys to their car. And the story of how that happened is weird. They say that they were traveling with a third buddy, Christopher Thomas, who goes by Cole. And he's the one who was driving. But out of nowhere, he started acting paranoid. And before they knew it, he pulled over, took the keys, jumped out, and then like ran until he dropped out of sight. They don't know why or where he went. I mean, Cole couldn't have even known where he was because he's not from around there. He's from Florida. The only half explanation that Julian offers up is that he had heard rumors that Cole might have, quote, "mental problems," but he wasn't even really sure.

• 5:12Ashley Flowers?

  They said they tried looking for him themselves, but they can't find him and now they're just stuck. Now, the story is a bit odd, sure, but not enough to like set off alarm bells for these officers. Because even though it's an ungodly hour, these guys don't appear to be under the influence or anything like that, so the officers do what they can. The guys point them in the direction of North Johnson Street where they say Cole ran off. They checked the few places that might still be open for gas or coffee, but there's just no sign of him. No one who saw or heard anything either. So within hours, that's pretty much it. Because as far as police are concerned, this sounds like a grown man who just chose to leave.

• 5:57Ashley Flowers?

  That is not a crime.

• 5:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, but he didn't know anyone else in the area, did he?

• 6:01Ashley Flowers?

  No, and honestly, Cole didn't even really know these guys all that well. They had just met while working a contract construction gig up in Minnesota. It sounds like Cole basically didn't have plans to go home to Florida for Thanksgiving, so he kind of just like tagged along with them for something to do.

• 6:15Speaker 01

  And was it just for like the long weekend?

• 6:17Ashley Flowers?

  Yeah, like they all had to be back at work on Monday, which I think is part of the reason that Julian and Jeremy are stressed about getting stranded without the keys. Now, they eventually call up a locksmith, but strangely, when he gets there, he ends up finding the keys right underneath the car. So, the guys head back.

• 6:35Speaker 01

  They just leave Cole?

• 6:36Ashley Flowers?

  Yeah. I mean, like, he ran off on his own. They have to get back for work. I mean, they filed a missing persons report with the officers that they talked to, so they go home.

• 6:46Speaker 01

  Geez, what friends.

• 6:47Ashley Flowers?

  I know. And the thing is, though, like, you don't know the half of it. Because Brett, even though they told police what they say happened, neither of them actually bothered trying to reach Cole's family down in Florida. Like, you report him missing, but you don't call anyone. So his parents are completely unaware that their son is missing until Sunday, when they get an out-of-the-blue call from police in North Carolina. To say they were shocked is a gross understatement, because they didn't even know Cole was going to North Carolina. Not that he has to, like, tell them, he's 22, but it's kind of weird that he didn't even mention it, because he'd exchanged texts with his dad on Thanksgiving, just like a simple, "Hey, love ya, enjoy the turkey."

• 7:30Ashley Flowers?

  But there was zero mention of this cross-country road trip.

• 7:34Speaker 01

  Which seems like it's something that would at least come up in conversation.

• 7:38Ashley Flowers?

  You'd think. So, the family gets word of this. They get this phone call, and the only explanation that they're getting is that their son just, like, ran off into the pitch black in a place that he had probably never been to or even heard of before. And they had never heard the names Julian or Jeremy, since Cole had only been on that Minnesota job site for, like, less than a month. But get this, Cole's dad, his name's Chris, he told our reporter Madison that even though, like, his mind was, like, racing in that moment, he actually did know someone that he could call. The guy that Cole had been working under as an electrical apprentice? This is someone who he knew was working with this same crew up in Minnesota. So he at least has a name, Steven, right?

• 8:22Ashley Flowers?

  So, Chris didn't have his number, but like, lightning, he looks through Cole's Facebook friends, finds Steven, says, like, "Call me ASAP", and within minutes, Steven is hitting him up. And he spits out something like, Mr. Chris, I've been trying to get ahold of you, which, right away, Chris is thinking like, "No, you most definitely have not. Like, I'm not a hard guy to find."

• 8:43Speaker 01

  I mean, he could have done exactly what Dad did and found him on Facebook.

• 8:46Ashley Flowers?

  On Facebook, yes. And Chris is listed as Cole's father on his Facebook page.

• 8:50Speaker 01

  Oh, so he's like, right there.

• 8:51Ashley Flowers?

  Easy. But anyways, he doesn't harp on this. He is just listening. And what Stephen says next is far from reassuring. He wasn't on this getaway with these guys, but he sure seems to know a thing or two about it, because he starts rambling on something about a strip search, about Cole freaking out, and then he says something that stops Chris cold. "I think they killed him."

• 9:17Speaker 01

  They who?

• 9:18Ashley Flowers?

  That is exactly what Chris is trying to figure out. He is asking all of the questions, like, "A strip search for what? Why was he freaking out? Who are you talking about?" And that's when Stephen starts filling in some of the blanks. He tells him that the guys Cole was traveling with, Julian and Jeremy, they weren't just passing through North Carolina for Thanksgiving. They had driven there all the way from Minnesota to buy drugs. And he says, "They went to meet up with some, like, very dangerous dudes, and afterwards, something must have gone wrong." And this is like the foundation shaking for Cole's parents. Like, this is never the kind of story they would ever expect to be hearing involving their son. I mean, obviously, you

• 10:01Ashley Flowers?

  never really know who might be struggling with substance use or fall into a lifestyle of dealing, whatever, but Cole, like, this was never something they ever had to worry about with him before. Like, he grew up in a small town, graduated as salutatorian of his high school, earned some scholarship money to attend the University of Florida, and had plans to go into medicine, inspired by his younger brother who has autism. He was smart, he was driven, but like a lot of people in their early twenties, he was still figuring things out. So after a few years of college, he was like feeling kind of burnt out. He decided he just wanted to take a break from school. He was motivated to, like, make some money, get real-world experience, learning a new trade. It meant traveling, it meant working long hours with his hands, and being introduced

• 10:44Ashley Flowers?

  to new people from widely different backgrounds. But to his family, it sounded just like this temporary detour, a way to save up some cash. And look, his mom Kathy even told us that Cole was seemingly so open with her. He even admitted that he tried some party drugs here and there when he was in college. So, no, this situation that he's in, not impossible, but traveling across state lines for a drug deal, like, that's the part that like, it just didn't sound like the Cole she knew. And for him to change that much in just one month, right? It's like he's been gone for a long time, like, it makes zero sense. Of course, Cole's dad doesn't want to believe what he's hearing, but that's not a risk that he's willing to take.

• 11:26Ashley Flowers?

  So, within hours of that call with Steven, he and Cole's mom Kathy throw their things in the truck and they start driving from Florida to North Carolina. Because if there is even a small chance that their son is still out there, hurt or scared, hiding or otherwise, they are gonna find him themselves. Now, the drive from Florida to North Carolina should take less than eight hours, but that weekend, with holiday traffic, it takes a heck of a lot longer. And the whole time, it is just like, absolutely brutal being in that car. The drive is a blur for both of them as they try to wrap their heads around what they've just been told. So, when they finally do get to Benson, North Carolina, it is the middle of the night, and they don't waste a second.

• 12:11Ashley Flowers?

  They go straight to the police station and tell officers the bits and pieces that they heard from Steven, even though it's not much to go on. It's like, you know, more than they had gotten from Julian and Jeremy, or more than they told police when they were in town. So, the cops, when they hear this, they call Jeremy and Julian back up and like, try to get to the bottom of what's really going on. Now, when they reach them, the men are supposedly still traveling back to Minnesota. And at first, Julian and Jeremy stick to the same story, but officers don't just ask once and accept their answer. I don't know if they eventually rat out Steven as their source or what, but at some point, these two end up admitting it, or like, some of it. It's true, they didn't go all that way for Mom's mashed potatoes.

• 12:56Ashley Flowers?

  It was to buy meth, not like, a ton, I don't think, but like, enough for them, enough to maybe sell to some of the guys. At their job site back in Minnesota. And Julian is from North Carolina, so he is the one who had this hookup down there. They all drove down there. They went to the town over from Benson. It's called Mount Olive. And that's where they met up at a house of this guy who Julian knows. His name was Rodolfo De Leon Jr., AKA Rudy. And they also met with apparently Rudy's buddy, Anthony James Jr., who goes by TJ. So Rudy and TJ. Now Julian and Jeremy don't really say what else happened or who else might have been there. Just that they did this deal and then they left.

• 13:39Ashley Flowers?

  And sometime later in the car, the story that they first told kind of picks back up. Cole becomes frantic. But this go around, they're not saying anything about mental health struggles anymore. They're a little bit more honest. They say that he was maybe paranoid about the drug deal and thought that they were being followed by the cops. So that's why he ran. Now investigators are sensing that like something is up. That maybe they still don't have the full story. So together from like what we got from Steven, this theory starts to emerge. That something with the drug deal went wrong. Or Cole, who may have just been the driver, because Julian and Jeremy, they didn't have their licenses. Maybe he realized that he was in way over his head and like freaked out.

• 14:24Ashley Flowers?

  If that part about him taking off is even true, though. I mean, the truth is, at this point, police don't even have proof that Cole was ever in Benson at all. Like, all they have is that report from them, right? For all they know, the entire story about Cole pulling over there, running away could have been made up to cover for whatever really happened to him, to keep police from knowing Cole's real last whereabouts. Though, that whole part about them being like 40 minutes away over in the town of Mount Olive when they met up at Rudy's with whoever else? That might actually be legit, because police tracked down video from a handy mark convenience store there from earlier in the night. This would have been Thanksgiving Day.

• 15:07Ashley Flowers?

  The department wouldn't share that video with us, but we spoke to Benson Police Chief Greg Percy about it. And he said that Cole, Julian, and Jeremy can all be seen on this video between like 11:37 PM and 11:50 PM. This is just about three hours before Julian and Jeremy would eventually report Cole missing to the cops. But at this time, Chief Percy says that everything seems completely normal. Cole goes in, grabs a drink, apparently he doesn't look paranoid at all. In fact, nothing about his behavior stands out as far as Chief Percy can tell. So, knowing that their son was somewhere around this area in North Carolina, right? Like, we know we can put him there.

• 15:50Ashley Flowers?

  Cole's parents, Chris and Kathy, know that this is gonna have to become home base for them for a while.

• 15:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:56Ashley Flowers?

  So they go back to Florida, they pack up what they can, and then they turn right back around and head to North Carolina. This time with an entire travel trailer. And they set up at a campground nearby. Every day, they're out putting up signs, they're working on billboards, they're driving roads, checking ditches, using search dogs, combing through areas that even have already been cleared just in case something was missed. All while police are collecting surveillance footage from Mount Olive, from Benson, and parts in between. And back then, Chief Percy wasn't chief, he was captain. And it was his job to go through all of the footage that they were collecting, hours of it. And it takes him weeks, completely consumes him. I mean, talk about bringing your work home with you.

• 16:40Ashley Flowers?

  Percy cannot just leave this at the office. He is literally reviewing footage at home in the night, like, at all hours. And it's actually in one of those late nights at his kitchen table in December when he finally catches something. Now, the footage he is looking at is from a camera at the Walgreens in Benson. And it's pointed at the parking lot, but you can also kinda see like across North Johnson Street, where you get like the slightest view of a bank in its parking lot. And it's pretty good as like video, like footage goes, or like it would be if you were in the Walgreens parking lot, like, close to the camera, but that's not where he spots movement. At 1:10 a.m., he sees something moving through the frame in the distance.

• 17:24Ashley Flowers?

  So he like spots it, he rewinds, he zooms in, hits play again. When he realizes what he's looking at, he gets this rush of adrenaline. He actually wakes up his wife to show her too, because for the first time, he can prove it. Cole was actually in Benson, like a five-minute walk from where the car was left, just like Julian and Jeremy said. Except, he didn't run off alone. In the footage, Cole is just walking, and there's someone following, on foot, right behind him. Most people pick a bank at 16 and never look back. Well, traditional banks love to gatekeep the best rewards and pile on hidden fees

• 18:09Ashley Flowers?

  unless there is a massive balance. At 23, I was paycheck to paycheck, trying to make sure I didn't get charged fees just to have my own money. Like, make that make sense. Well, Chime says it doesn't. And they're changing the way that people bank by offering a rewarding, fee-free experience. There is no monthly fees, no minimum balance requirements, and no overdraft fees. Instead, Chime maximizes every dollar. And everyday spending helps build credit safely with no credit check required. Savings grow faster too, thanks to an interest rate that is nine times the national average. Also, if things ever get tight, SpotMe allows fee-free overdrafts of up to $200. Join the millions who are already banking fee-free with America's number one choice for banking.

• 18:53Ashley Flowers?

  Head to chime.com/crimejunkie. That's chime.com/crimejunkie. Sign up now, it only takes a few minutes. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services and Chime Card provided by Chime's Bank Partners. Qualifying direct deposits required. Terms and limits apply. Go to chime.com/disclosures for details.

• 19:13Speaker 01

  Everyone has those go-to wardrobe staples that get reached for constantly. The sweater that works with everything, the perfect-fitting jeans, or the bag carried everywhere. Quince specializes in those exact, permanent fixtures. Quince creates elevated essentials using luxury materials like organic cotton, washable silk, and 100% Mongolian cashmere, with cashmere sweaters starting at just $50. Beyond knitwear, the collection includes premium-stretched denim, leather bags, footwear, and 14-karat gold jewelry designed to pull any look together. By partnering directly with ethical factories and removing middleman markups, Quince offers high-end quality at 50% to 80% less than comparable brands. That same approach extends beyond clothing into home goods, including hotel-quality bedding, bath, kitchen essentials, and thoughtfully-designed furniture.

• 19:55Speaker 01

  Quince has been my go-to for wardrobe staples for years now, but I recently started upgrading my bedding, towels, and even some kitchen essentials from Quince. And, as usual, the quality of the items are impeccable, the aesthetic is unmatched, and the price is unbelievable. Find the fall pieces you'll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com/crimejunkie. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash crime junkie.

• 20:28Ashley Flowers?

  At exactly 1:10 a.m., in the top middle of the screen, you can see two figures, and like only the bottom halves of their bodies are visible. And at first, it looks like they're walking, like, right across frame, but when they disappear behind something dark, and then they don't reappear, you realize that, like, the depth perception is a little weird without context. And the two people are actually walking right to left on-screen, but I think they're walking behind the bank? Hmm. And so it takes 20 seconds, but then you see them reappear on the other side of the building. Police determine this is Cole, and walking slowly behind him, maybe kind of even to

• 21:08Ashley Flowers?

  the side, is one of his fellow travel companions, who they determine to be Jeremy Carpenter. Now, it's not like he's sneaking up on him or anything. Cole most certainly knows that Jeremy was there. I mean, to me, it even looks like Cole is like gesturing, like maybe they're talking as they walk off camera. Now, of the three hours of footage from that Walgreens camera that we got from Cole's family, that's it. Just like 30 seconds that eagle-eyed Percy caught. But it was enough to prove that the guys were still lying to them. Yes, he was in Benson, but he did not walk off alone. So when they go back to Jeremy and confront him with this, the story evolves again.

• 21:51Ashley Flowers?

  Not a completely different version or anything. It's like Jeremy just drops another breadcrumb. Something like, oh, yeah, okay, so after Cole got out and walked off, I went after him so that I could calm him down or whatever. And then at some point, he says that they end up outside a nearby church. And supposedly, one, that's like a pretty short walk from the bank. So it wouldn't have been like long after we saw them on that camera. And suddenly, it sounds like Jeremy, too, is convinced that they're being followed. Because he's now saying that he's just as freaked out as Cole.

• 22:24Speaker 01

  Wait, where's Julian in all of this?

• 22:26Ashley Flowers?

  I don't know. I think he's actually staying behind with the car. Like, he's not seen on any of the footage, and it's not part of his story that Julian's like with them.

• 22:33Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 22:33Ashley Flowers?

  But anyways, Jeremy and Cole are supposedly at this church. And according to Jeremy, Cole says that he has to pee, so he walks off to go take care of that. And that's when Jeremy tells police that he like gets down on his knees and starts praying.

• 22:47Speaker 01

  For what?

• 22:48Ashley Flowers?

  Maybe that, like, if somebody's really after them, they don't find them? Or maybe that they come out of whatever this is, okay? I don't know. But like, per Jeremy, by the time he says amen, Cole's just gone. Except later, another breadcrumb drops. And he admits, well, okay, actually, while I was out there, I did hear a car door. But then that car door sound eventually turns into, I think I may have heard gunshots.

• 23:16Speaker 01

  So he's saying someone picked up Cole? Or now maybe shot Cole while he himself was...

• 23:24Ashley Flowers?

  Praying?

• 23:25Speaker 01

  Praying.

• 23:25Ashley Flowers?

  I guess. But he says that essentially, like, when he opens his eyes and he sees that Cole is gone, that like, he actually does say he like tries to go look for him. But after he looks and looks and he can't find Cole anywhere, at some point, he realizes he needs some water. According to him, he's diabetic, so he actually like really needs it. And lo and behold, one of the only places still open in a small town at this hour, he spots those like bright golden arches.

• 23:50Speaker 01

  Mickey D's.

• 23:51Ashley Flowers?

  Yes. Now, police are actually able to verify that he went to the McDonald's that night. Because in more surveillance footage that police got, that again, Cole's family shared with us, there goes Jeremy by himself, walking into the parking lot. It looks like he's like speaking to someone who works there, maybe like seeing if he needs to go in, or maybe he could just go through the drive thru. He ends up walking through the drive thru and he gets his cup of water just after 2:20 in the morning. No Cole in sight.

• 24:19Speaker 01

  And no Julian either.

• 24:20Ashley Flowers?

  No Julian either. But he has to meet back up with Julian at some point, somehow, because we know that they're together like 40 minutes after this, talking to cops and reporting that Cole ran off. That was at like 3 a.m. But here's the super interesting part. Julian and Jeremy aren't just alone the rest of the night. Obviously, the police and later a P.I. brought on by Cole's family, get phone data for all the men that night. And based on location data, it seems like Jeremy and Julian are still with and around Rudy and TJ sometime after Cole goes missing.

• 25:01Speaker 01

  And where was Cole's phone?

• 25:02Ashley Flowers?

  Well, I think everyone originally made the assumption that he walked off with it. That's what you would think, right? Turns out, that was a wrong assumption. Because when they finally got Jeremy and Julian to come back to North Carolina to be questioned in person, they were like, "Oh yeah, by the way, here you go."

• 25:21Speaker 01

  Wait, they had Cole's phone?

• 25:22Ashley Flowers?

  This whole time.

• 25:25Speaker 01

  Why didn't they tell police that?

• 25:27Ashley Flowers?

  I don't have an answer for that. Like, it might be as simple as nobody asked, but like, they're asking for it now.

• 25:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:35Ashley Flowers?

  And they get it. Not only do they have the breadcrumbs that Jeremy and Julian have been dropping, now they actually have a digital trail that shows Cole's movements the whole night. And lined up with the other phones, it tells an interesting story. One that the family's private investigator, David Marshburn, really helps put together by dumping all of the data points into an app called Cellhawk. If law enforcement agencies aren't using things like this, this is my PSA. I mentioned a similar application, Badge App, in the Melissa Cassius case recently. These programs are for law enforcement and they take basically huge data dumps, put them into a map that you can actually like see and make sense of.

• 26:20Speaker 01

  Like processes the data.

• 26:21Ashley Flowers?

  Something that tells a story. Right. Now, just like the surveillance footage showed, the phone puts Cole at the Handy Mark Convenience Store in Mount Olive at 11:38 PM on November 24th. They now know that this is after the drug deal took place. From there, Cole's phone starts moving. Based on what point they hit when, it is clear that these guys are in the car, but their driving doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Like getting back to Minnesota should be a straight shot on the highway. And it seems like they're making their way there for a while. But then, at some point, they start like cutting through random side roads and it looks like they like are like looping back.

• 27:04Ashley Flowers?

  Their phones show continuous movement from Mount Olive all the way to Benson, from 11:52 PM to 1:07 AM. And 1:07 AM is when their phones finally come to rest near where Cole pulled the car over. And here's what's strange. We know that Cole and Jeremy get out of the car and walk away, but it doesn't look like their phones move. From 1:07 on November 25th to a little after 3:45 AM, their phones just stay put. Presumably left behind in the car when they took off, which like, I don't know why you would leave your phone behind.

• 27:43Speaker 01

  Right.

• 27:44Ashley Flowers?

  But and when confronted with this data, Jeremy and Julian eventually say as much that Cole left his phone behind in the car and ran off. But after they report Cole missing to police, the phones start moving again, including Cole's. The guys say that what they did is they called Rudy to come pick them up so that they had somewhere to stay while they waited for the locksmith. Instead of just like waiting with the car.

• 28:07Speaker 01

  But this is odd, right? Like the fact that Cole's phone isn't moving too, not just like in the car.

• 28:13Ashley Flowers?

  Yes. He's missing at this point, and instead of leaving his phone in the car in case he comes back, they take it with them as they all leave Benson completely, traveling back towards Mount Olive. And just after 4 a.m., Cole's phone goes dark. Investigators suspect that everyone in that group wised up and eventually turned off anything tracking their location at that point.

• 28:40Speaker 01

  That's not good.

• 28:42Ashley Flowers?

  No, especially when you hear what comes next. Cole's phone does eventually come back on hours later. But it's not in Benson where he supposedly walked off. It is still over in Wayne County.

• 29:00Speaker 01

  Is that where like Mount Olive is, where Rudy is?

• 29:02Ashley Flowers?

  Mount Olive is in Wayne County, yeah, but like Wayne County encompasses more than just Mount Olive. And all police would tell us was that Cole's phone was somewhere in Wayne County. Which means whatever happened to Cole, it sounds like it didn't end in Benson. Now, at some point when Cole's phone is turned back on, for some odd reason, Jeremy and Julian just start repeatedly calling it.

• 29:30Speaker 01

  I mean, to make it like look like they were looking for him, maybe?

• 29:33Ashley Flowers?

  Or investigators think it might be that they were trying to get into the phone, possibly to get rid of stuff. Like maybe they thought somehow like if they, if it was locked, right? If you answer it while it's a call, could they break into it? I don't know, like it's password protected. That's not how it works.

• 29:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's.

• 29:49Ashley Flowers?

  It doesn't make sense to me, I know. And I don't think they were actually able to access anything. That's just the theory that police have. So now investigators are looking at a group of people who had Cole's phone, maybe tried to access it and didn't turn it over right away.

• 30:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:05Ashley Flowers?

  That sounds a lot like interfering with an investigation, my friends. So fast forward to mid 2017. Grand jury indictments lead to the arrests of the four guys that they know about so far, who they believe are connected to Cole's case. Julian Vias Jr., Jeremy Carpenter, Rudolpho DeLeon Jr., AKA Rudy, and Anthony James Jr., known as TJ.

• 30:32Ashley Flowers?

  They are all charged with concealing Cole's death, and all but Rudy also get hit with obstruction of justice charges. All of the suspects plead not guilty to all the charges. And this was more than just like a small win till I get on the board. This was a strategic move on behalf of law enforcement. Police were hoping that, separated, and maybe under pressure, maybe, just maybe, the weakest link might finally break. But even with all four of these guys in custody, the case doesn't just magically fall into place. It takes some serious legwork and a dedicated P I to come to the realization that these four guys

• 31:16Ashley Flowers?

  are actually just a piece of the puzzle, not the whole thing. And to even get there, it was dangerous. The P I David had to basically infiltrate this network of people, and his presence didn't go unnoticed. I mean, once he started learning more and asking more questions, he says that he started receiving threats, including this voicemail that he shared with us.

• 31:42Speaker 02

  Look, I'm calling you because I know you're an investigator for this case. Somebody supposed to be calling you today. If they don't call you today, I will find out. I want you to answer this phone at nine o'clock tonight. If you don't answer this phone,

• 32:05Speaker 02

  it's gonna be personal stuff between me and you.

• 32:09Ashley Flowers?

  David believes that whoever that was who called him is part of something bigger, and that this was more than just a one-off drug deal gone wrong. Through all of the conversations that he has had and the phone data that he's mapped out, David starts to piece together what he now believes may have been the plan all along. He thinks it's possible that Julian may have been double crossing everyone.

• 32:38Speaker 01

  Meaning what?

• 32:40Ashley Flowers?

  So, based on everything he's hearing, Cole, and honestly, maybe even Jeremy, probably thought that the plan was simple. They were gonna go there, pay for drugs, bring them back to Minnesota, maybe even sell them to like the guys at the job site. But like, that's what they thought.

• 32:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:55Ashley Flowers?

  But David believes that maybe Julian was working with the guys that they met up with, and the plan was actually for them to sell the guys this like meth, and then somehow, some way that night, steal the drugs back.

• 33:10Speaker 01

  So, they get paid for the drugs they sold, but they get to keep their supply?

• 33:14Ashley Flowers?

  Precisely. And according to David, there are a couple of things that could have thrown off this whole plan. First of which is Cole himself. Everyone we spoke to still believes that when Cole agreed to drive his coworkers down to North Carolina, he probably had no idea the level of danger that he was actually getting himself into. But, according to David, it seems like Cole may have slowly and surely been figuring it out, like, on the fly. You see, Julian didn't know something about Cole. He'd only known him for a month, and might have made some assumptions about him.

• 33:55Ashley Flowers?

  Like, for instance, that this pre-med white kid from rural Florida only spoke English. But that wasn't the case. And it's very possible that Cole picked up on the fact that he was in danger that night before he was supposed to ever even know.

• 34:15Speaker 01

  This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. There are plenty of reasons we put off getting support, and for a lot of people, cost is one of them. With BetterHelp, insurance options may now be available nationwide with an average copay for eligible members of just $23 per session. And while we're reconsidering old assumptions, maybe there are a few others worth questioning, too. Think about the pressure to be ambitious but never intimidating? The demand to be available for everyone while still carving out personal time? Perhaps the belief is that a career should be Perfectly defined by now, or that being a reliable partner or friend means being reachable 24/7. Extending grace to oneself is just as important as showing compassion to others. If you've been waiting to start therapy, BetterHelp works with more than 125 health plan networks, and eligible members have an average copay of just $23 per session with insurance.

• 34:59Speaker 01

  Don't have insurance or don't live in the United States? You can still get 10% off your first month. Visit betterhelp.com/crimejunkie to explore your payment options. That's better H E L P dot com slash crime junkie. Navigating unexpected body changes or sudden mood shifts can feel completely overwhelming. That unsettling thought of, what is happening to me? And unfortunately, when it comes to seeking hormonal health support, most women walk out of a doctor's office with no real answers. However, discovering Midi Health means finally finding clarity. Midi Health exists to change that narrative with expert clinical care built specifically for women navigating hormonal shifts. Midi isn't another one-size-fits-all telehealth platform. It's virtual care exclusively focused on women's hormonal health.

• 35:42Speaker 01

  Built by women who understand what patients go through firsthand. Care is covered by most major insurance plans and getting started is easy, too. Just visit joinmidi.com, share a little about your symptoms, and get matched with a trained clinician. My favorite part? Appointments are available in days, not months. Clinicians offer personalized care plans spanning hormonal treatments, non-hormonal options, and targeted supplements. It's time to get back to feeling like you again. Visit joinmidi.com right now to book your first visit today. That's join M I D I dot com to book your first visit. Joinmidi.com. Insurance coverage varies. Check with your plan for coverage. With the leaves turning and the air getting crisper, cold and flu season is right around the corner. Staying ahead of the inevitable sniffles and being prepared shouldn't mean overpaying for prescriptions.

• 36:27Speaker 01

  That's where GoodRx comes in. GoodRx makes it easy to take control of your health and your budget with savings on preventative cold and flu medications and your everyday prescriptions. It's free and super easy to use. You just search for your medication on their website or app, compare prices, and bring the free coupon to show your pharmacist. You can save at over 70,000 local pharmacies nationwide, like Walgreens and CVS, or get prescriptions delivered right to your front door. Remember, GoodRx is not insurance, but it works whether you have insurance or not, and it could even beat your insurance copay price. I recently switched medications, and the first thing I did when I got my prescription was head straight to GoodRx to see how much I could save. And as usual, it was easy and really made a difference. Save time and money on your prescriptions this season.

• 37:09Speaker 01

  Check out GoodRx at goodrx.com/crimejunkie. That's goodrx.com/crimejunkie.

• 37:20Ashley Flowers?

  From what we heard, Cole actually knew a good bit of Spanish. Enough that if Julian, Rudy, or their guys started talking about the real plan around him, Cole might have been able to pick up on it.

• 37:33Speaker 01

  Which could have been why he was panicked on that drive back. Like, it could have been warranted.

• 37:38Ashley Flowers?

  Right, right. David believes that could explain why Cole was so freaked out. Maybe why they were cutting through Benson to begin with. Why he didn't just think that they were being followed. He may have known that they were being followed.

• 37:50Speaker 01

  And it wasn't the cops he was afraid of. It was the drug dealers following them.

• 37:55Ashley Flowers?

  Potentially. And there's a possibility that they didn't even have all of the drugs to give back to them if the dealers caught up with them. Because you see, depending on who you talk to, at some point during that drive, apparently some of the drugs got thrown out of the car, probably by Cole, possibly by Jeremy.

• 38:14Speaker 01

  Trying to get rid of them?

• 38:16Ashley Flowers?

  Or just like, I don't know, they're scared. I don't know if that's giving them back, trying to get them off their hands, something. And David believes that some of the drugs may have even been hidden by Julian without everyone knowing. So like, say they catch up with them. They realize everything's not actually there. They wouldn't know who had it. But who's the easiest to blame? The person who probably tossed the drugs out. The same person who doesn't really belong there to begin with.

• 38:43Speaker 01

  Cole.

• 38:43Ashley Flowers?

  Cole.

• 38:44Speaker 01

  And are police bought in with David's theory?

• 38:47Ashley Flowers?

  So our reporter Madison asked Chief Percy about this. And while he says it's definitely possible, he thinks it's also possible that whatever went down could have been even way less complicated than double crossing. But he does think that whatever happened involved missing drugs. He said that there is a world where maybe Julian's boys had fronted them money for drugs, and then said drugs were thrown out the window. Well, now someone's gotta pay up. It's also possible that harming Cole wasn't part of the original plan. Chief Percy says that he got intel that Cole may have fought back when confronted about the missing meth, and maybe things just escalated from there. But even if there are multiple possibilities about what led up to Cole walking away from

• 39:32Ashley Flowers?

  the car after 1 o'clock in the morning, everyone seems to agree on one point after the fact: that there was likely someone else there. Someone who encountered Cole after Jeremy lost sight of him. According to what David uncovers, there is another guy who keeps popping up. A guy everyone calls Gordo. And he is one of the guys that Julian and Rudy may have been coordinating with throughout the night once things took a turn. So it sounds like Cole really did take off of his own free will. But then he and Jeremy supposedly get separated, and then Jeremy thinks he hears a car door sign, maybe a gun, right? Somewhere like in the distance.

• 40:17Speaker 01

  Right.

• 40:18Ashley Flowers?

  Well, based on phone records that police have, when Cole had first taken off, it sounds like Julian may have contacted Rudy, who then gets in touch with some of his guys, to include Gordo, and they set out to try and track Cole down, who is now on foot, possibly to try to figure out what happened to their missing drugs, see if they can find out where they were tossed, if that is what happened. The thinking is, maybe that car door that Jeremy heard was real. Maybe they got Cole into another car, and maybe it was Gordo's car. David's able to track Gordo down and gets him to work with the police, maybe in exchange for some kind of deal. He talks, he never ends up with any charges related to Cole's case. That simple.

• 41:03Ashley Flowers?

  Because no one else will say a word, and investigators need someone on the inside. So eventually he says, yes, he was there that night, and he, along with some other guys, were instructed to find Cole.

• 41:19Ashley Flowers?

  Which they did. And per his story, Cole just gets into the car willingly.

• 41:24Speaker 01

  I doubt that.

• 41:26Ashley Flowers?

  Yeah, P I David knows an already paranoid Cole ain't gonna be getting in the car with strangers.

• 41:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:31Ashley Flowers?

  So like, he keeps pressing him when they're having this conversation. And the story evolves, like these stories in this case keep doing. At one point, he says they threaten him with a gun. Then in another version, they catch up to him, disorient him by hitting him with a baseball bat, and they take Cole into the car with them.

• 41:48Speaker 01

  Okay, but take him where, though?

• 41:50Ashley Flowers?

  That's the million dollar question. According to Gordo, they are instructed to take Cole and hold him until the rest of the guys get back to do whatever they're gonna do with him, I guess. But he claims that he doesn't know what happened after that. Whatever it was can't be good, though.

• 42:09Speaker 01

  But does he say where he took Cole to?

• 42:12Ashley Flowers?

  This is the thing, it's not clear, like just some guy's house in Wayne County.

• 42:17Speaker 01

  Which is the area where the phone was.

• 42:19Ashley Flowers?

  Right. Now, here's where things get tricky, though. Investigators get a warrant for the car in question that he was supposedly like transported in. They search it, they're looking for blood, DNA, anything that could confirm this story that Gordo is telling. But they don't end up finding anything definitive. So they're still seemingly not telling the whole truth. Cole's dad, Chris, and the P I David feel so close, yet so far. And they know what they really need is one of those like core four to flip. They believe that they know what happened.

• 43:00Ashley Flowers?

  So they start thinking outside of the box, like how do we get someone to finally give it up? And what they come up with is out of the box and has to be so painful for Cole's dad. They decide to hone in on TJ because compared to the others, he doesn't seem as deeply tied into this drug scene. Not necessarily totally innocent, but maybe less culpable. So Chris makes the decision. David is a P I and a bondsman. And Chris puts up the money, essentially taking on the risk of bonding out someone who may have been involved in whatever happened to his own son to get him out of prison,

• 43:42Ashley Flowers?

  to get him away from the other three guys who are tied up in this. The thinking being that maybe if you can separate him, he could think for himself, save himself if he was given the chance. So they free TJ. And for a little while, it actually seems like it might work. Because once he's away from the others, he is willing to do a long sit down with them. David recorded this conversation. Legally, I might add, North Carolina is a one-party consent state. And Cole's family shared that audio with us. So here's TJ.

• 44:20Speaker 03

  Only thing I know exactly. He went when the, um, when the drugs got missing. He got missing. I don't know where he's at. I really don't know. I don't know where they deal with him.

• 44:40Ashley Flowers?

  He's sort of hinting something went wrong. But they already knew that. He just won't say what. But minute by minute, you can tell that something's slowly shifting, though. And at a certain point, they decide to bring in someone else. Kathy, Cole's mom, thinking that maybe she can appeal more to his emotions, convince him to tell the whole truth. And when she sits down with him, she doesn't come in all aggressive or angry. She just talks to him as a mom, asking about her son, asking what happened, trying to get him to understand what this has done to their family.

• 45:19Speaker 01

  That would be so hard.

• 45:21Ashley Flowers?

  And according to what they describe, this is when they sense that TJ is starting to break. Now, he doesn't tell them everything, but he does say something, something that sticks.

• 45:35Speaker 03

  He's gone.

• 45:38Speaker 04

  What did they do to him, TJ? Tim?

• 45:42Speaker 03

  He's gone, y'all.

• 45:45Ashley Flowers?

  This makes it feel all the more real. Now they know what everyone already suspected. But they won't get to know anymore because TJ won't go much further. They get fragments, but nothing that could actually hold up in court. And that continues to be the pattern with just about everyone connected to this case. People talk, but only to a point. And so far, no one is willing to give this family what they really need. Proof, or even a body to bury. All four men served some time, but eventually the concealment and obstruction charges against TJ,

• 46:24Ashley Flowers?

  Anthony James Jr., and Rudy, Rudolpho DeLeon Jr., Julian Vaez Jr., and Jeremy Carpenter, they all end up getting dropped. According to Chief Percy, this was done, at least in part, to avoid compromising any potential future homicide prosecutions. Now, we tried reaching out to everyone named in this episode, every which way we could think of, but as of this recording, we haven't heard back. Julian Vaez Jr. is currently behind bars on drug charges unrelated to Cole's case. Still, we sent him a message, so far no response. And unfortunately, we will never be able to talk to Jeremy Carpenter. Per an online obituary, he passed away in 2024.

• 47:10Ashley Flowers?

  Now, some people believe that Jeremy may have been in the same boat as Cole, that he was just as surprised by the turn that things took, and that everything he did that night, his silence and the evolving stories that followed, were out of both fear and survival. But it means that we will never be able to ask him the one question we have for everyone in this case. Where's Cole? Because when it comes to that detail, the part that matters most, everyone conveniently claims they just don't know that whatever happened next, happened in secret. But with this many people possibly involved, with some of their phones moving together, that's hard for me to believe.

• 47:54Ashley Flowers?

  Because somebody knows where Cole is, and it's time that they say it out loud before the data does the talking for them. Because no one is done with this case. Not Cole's parents, not Benson PD. They are on a mission, and they might be closer than ever to answers. So if there ever was a deal to be made, I think someone's running out of time to make it. So if anyone out there knows what happened to Christopher Cole Thomas, you can contact the Benson Police Department at 919-894-2091. Or you can email [email protected]. You can also contact the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation

• 48:38Ashley Flowers?

  at 919-779-8188.

• 48:56Ashley Flowers?

  You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkie.com.

• 49:01Speaker 01

  And you can follow us on Instagram, at @crimejunkiepodcast.

• 49:04Ashley Flowers?

  We'll be back next week with a brand new episode.

• 49:43Ashley Flowers?

  Crime Junkie is an AudioChuck production. I think Chuck would approve.

• 49:52Speaker 05

  When the nights grow longer, the shadows start to stir, and that can only mean one thing: Full Body Chills is back. This season, step inside original tales where every doorway leads somewhere darker, every stranger carries a secret, and nothing is ever quite what it seems. Each story takes you somewhere new, but be careful: you never know what might follow you home. So gather round, listen close, and stream Full Body Chills wherever you get your podcasts.