NEW SHOW: The Truth About Natalie

Twenty-seven-year-old Natalie Jones vanished after a July 4th lake party in Alabama in 2020. Ninety-three days later, her car and her remains were found in a rural Georgia field. No arrest. No clear answer. No closure for the family left behind. The official theory was an accidental overdose. But a negative toxicology report, a drug baggie with no fingerprints, and a phone that never left Natalie's hand — one that’s still missing — tell a different story. Shortly before her death, Natalie had begun speaking out about the men in her life: a bitter ex-husband, an alleged childhood abuser, a lover tied to drug trafficking.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  If you know me, you know I love stories that make me go, wait, what? The kind that stop you in your tracks and send you straight down a rabbit hole. And my friend Delia Diambra tells stories just like that on Park Predators. Every Tuesday, Delia investigates true crime cases that unfold in the world's most beautiful places. From national parks to hiking trails, she reveals the shocking crimes, mysterious disappearances, and unsettling encounters hidden beneath the postcard-perfect scenery. If you're ready to discover what's beyond the trailhead, listen to Park Predators wherever you get your podcasts.

• 0:34Speaker 01

  Hi, Crime Junkies. This week, I'm taking my first, like, real, real vacation since starting this podcast eight and a half years ago. Like, truly unplugging can't be reached, or at least that is the hope as of this recording. Wish me luck. But you know I would never leave you hanging on a Monday. And actually, I've been working on something bigger than a single episode to bring you while I'm gone. I've been working on a lot, actually. There is a fan club episode available this Monday, now in video version on our YouTube channel. A case that will be totally new to any crime junkie who isn't in the fan club. And I already prepared a new episode for you next Monday. And while you wait, how about a limited series that I EP'd with Sean Kype?

• 1:18Speaker 01

  I know that you guys get deeply invested in mysterious death of cases. And this one takes the cake. It begins when 27-year-old Natalie Jones disappears after leaving a 4th of July gathering in Alabama. Nearly three months later, Natalie is found dead inside her car, hidden in the woods. Kind of. But instead of this discovery bringing answers, this discovery only deepens the mystery. The Truth About Natalie is a new Audiochuck Investigate series hosted by investigative journalist Sean Kype. Through exclusive interviews, original reporting, and Natalie's own recordings,

• 2:00Speaker 01

  the series takes a closer look at what happened and why people who knew and loved Natalie believe that there are still important questions left unanswered. Today, I'm going to share episode one of The Truth About Natalie right here in the Crime Junkie feed. And if you like it, the second episode is available for you wherever you get your podcasts. Enjoy.

• 2:26Speaker 02

  This podcast discusses issues such as drug use, self-harm, sexual abuse, violence, and assault. Listener discretion is advised.

• 2:43Speaker 03

  Particle Entertainment.

• 2:48Speaker 04

  First, let me say that I'm not mad at nobody.

• 2:57Speaker 04

  This is not why I'm sharing my story. I'm sharing my story because this is my life. This is my story. This is, this is what I made it out of.

• 3:12Speaker 04

  It's the truth. It happened.

• 3:16Speaker 04

  I have been ridiculed.

• 3:20Speaker 04

  That's what's wrong with the world these days because of the fact people get stuff done to them, and then they get ridiculed about it. Why?

• 3:31Speaker 04

  Why?

• 3:35Speaker 04

  It has been a long road, and God brought me out of this. And I know He's with me. I know He has a plan. And that is the only reason I'm sharing my stories, because I'm hoping to help somebody along the way

• 3:53Speaker 04

  to not give up no matter what.

• 4:00Speaker 02

  Natalie Jones was 27 years old when she died, not long after she recorded those words. A free spirit, Natalie was kind, loving, and always smiling. Or so it seemed.

• 4:15Speaker 02

  But behind that smile lived pain hidden from much of the world around her. No one knew the secrets Natalie kept, that her life was a turbulent one, filled with years of trauma and abuse. She kept a facade that would eventually crumble away. She made it her mission to help others by sharing those painful experiences publicly. But in a tragic twist of fate, Natalie Jones wouldn't live long enough to tell her whole story, a story that some believe may have played a role in her untimely death.

• 4:51Speaker 02

  Through journal entries, social media, video, and audio recordings, you'll hear Natalie in her own words. She will recount allegations of abuse, grooming, and rape as we peer through a deeply candid and heartbreaking lens into her own personal struggles to answer the question, was Natalie's death a tragic and unfortunate accident? Or was it something much darker? Was Natalie killed in the process of publicly sharing the darkest chapters of her life and naming names? That's what I aim to find out.

• 5:30Speaker 02

  Everyone has a backstory, and everyone has secrets. These are Natalie's secrets, and this is her story, the one she never had the chance to finish telling.

• 5:44Speaker 02

  Now, I'll attempt to pick up where she left off and find out what really is the truth about Natalie.

• 6:12Speaker 02

  I'm Sean Kype. From Audiochuck and Particle Entertainment, this is The Truth About Natalie.

• 6:26Speaker 02

  My name is Sean Kype. I'm an Atlanta-based podcaster and investigative journalist. For me, Natalie's story all began more than a year ago. That's when Jennifer Peterson contacted me, seeking help.

• 6:38Speaker 05

  It involves the high-profile case of Natalie Jones in 2020. She went missing and was found under very suspicious circumstances, and we are fighting to get justice for her.

• 6:52Speaker 02

  Before Jennifer Peterson reached out to me, I'd not heard the name Natalie Jones before. I asked her to send me some basic info about the case, and what Jennifer shared intrigued me. She became involved in the search for Natalie shortly after she vanished in July of 2020 and has since emerged as one of Natalie's fiercest advocates. Jennifer believes foul play was involved in Natalie's death, and her dedication to uncovering what happened has been unwavering. She is incredibly well-versed in every detail of this case. You'll hear from her often. Over the past few years, she's worked tirelessly with a small, determined team of like-minded advocates for Natalie to piece together the truth.

• 7:33Speaker 02

  Throughout this time, she would send me frequent updates, theories, interviews, case files, and as their work deepened, I couldn't help but find myself drawn in. The case was perplexing, and there was no clear explanation for what happened to Natalie Jones. And really, that's what this podcast is all about. What really happened to Natalie? What events transpired in her life that ultimately led to her mysterious death? And is there someone responsible for her death?

• 8:03Speaker 05

  I do have the entire case file, which myself, select a group of others, and we do have a federal agent that will be reviewing the case. I think a lot of people don't realize how powerful Natalie's story is. It is incredibly powerful.

• 8:21Speaker 02

  Toward the end of 2024, I began to read through all the information I was sent once again, trying to wrap my head around what it all meant, trying to make sense of what happened and determine if a crime had in fact even been committed. What I learned left me with the uneasy feeling that there could be more to Natalie's death than what lay on the surface.

• 8:43Speaker 02

  On the evening of Saturday, July 4th, 2020, Natalie left a party in Jackson's Gap, Alabama, heading home about an hour and a half away to Corinth, Georgia. The intimate party she attended was a last-minute plan, a chance to relax and unwind. The year leading up to this point had been a rough one for Natalie. She'd struggled to hold a steady job and have a permanent place to call home for her and her two young children, Trent and Isaac, who were both staying with their fathers for the weekend. Recently, Natalie had moved back in with her mother Elaine and her roommate. She'd planned to pick up her half-sister Tabitha's two children early the next morning and babysit them while Tabitha was at work.

• 9:25Speaker 02

  Wearing white jean shorts, a red and white striped shirt, and a pair of black sandals and blazoned with sparkly plastic gemstones, she placed her phone and white Oakley sunglasses into her bag and tossed it into her car. At some point, just before 11:00 PM Central Time, she waved goodbye one last time through the windows of her hot pink 2002 Chevy Cavalier and drove into the night. The last text Natalie sent was at 12:52 AM saying, "I made it. Thanks." Much of what happened next remains a mystery more than six years later.

• 10:01Speaker 03

  Natalie Jones disappeared 4th of July weekend.

• 10:04Speaker 06

  His loving mother to two boys is missing. No contact, no sightings since July 5th.

• 10:09Speaker 03

  Her family is desperately trying to find her. She left Alabama on July 5th, heading for home, but she never made it.

• 10:15Speaker 07

  Jones went missing. All activity on her social media and bank accounts. Last seen in Jackson's Gap, Alabama, in her hot pink Chevy.

• 10:22Speaker 06

  Is that her car? A bright pink 2002 Chevy Cavalier hasn't been spotted.

• 10:28Speaker 02

  Natalie never returned home that morning, never showed up to watch Tabitha's kids as planned, and wasn't responding to texts or calls. Most concerning was that her phone went straight to voicemail, which it never did. Natalie was the type that was glued to her phone.

• 10:44Speaker 05

  They knew that something was wrong and I think that her mother really started screaming it out loudly the first.

• 10:54Speaker 02

  For Natalie's mother, Eileen Gordon, the panic instantly set in.

• 10:59Speaker 08

  The morning of July 5th, at like 6 o'clock in the morning, I started calling her phone.

• 11:07Speaker 08

  I never called her phone that early, you know what I'm saying? And it started going straight to voicemail. I called my roommate, Ricky, and I said, "Go in there, peek in Natalie's room and see if she's in there." So he did. He come back. He said, "No," he said, "she's not in here." I said, "Go out there and see if her car's out there in the yard." He did. "No, it wasn't out there." As a matter of fact, she didn't come home. That's what Ricky said.

• 11:35Speaker 02

  Eileen had spent the previous night of July 4th at her friend Sherri's house. Concerned, she went straight home.

• 11:41Speaker 08

  So I told Sherri, I said, "You need to get up. I said, "You need to take me home right now." I said, "My daughter's phone is going straight to voicemail." And I said, "This never happens. That never happens." I don't care if she's in the shower, that phone is in the bathroom with her. You know, wherever, she's there.

• 12:00Speaker 02

  Eileen called the police shortly after getting home, but was told she needed to wait 24 hours before Natalie was officially considered a missing person. She called the friends she had numbers for and her children's fathers with no luck. No one had heard from Natalie. She continued to text and call her phone too, but each time there was no response, and calls continued to go straight to voicemail. On Monday, July 6th, nearly 30 hours since Natalie last communicated with anyone, Eileen went to the Hurd County Sheriff's Office.

• 12:29Speaker 08

  It was Monday morning. I was down there at 7 o'clock in the morning, filing the missing report.

• 12:35Speaker 02

  Hurd County Investigator Dan Boswell is the officer who took the initial report and would take the lead on Natalie's case.

• 12:43Speaker 09

  You know, when you get a missing person report, you're trying to gather as much information as you can about the person, the friends, the family, what's going on in her life at the time. And of course, Elaine and Tabitha, Natalie's sister, they provided information that we would start looking at to try and determine where she might be. And of course, you know, in the very beginning, you're looking at this from an aspect, why is this person missing? You know, what's going on in their life that created the situation that caused them to be missing? Or even to a point, why at the time did Elaine or her sister believe she was missing?

• 13:29Speaker 09

  Because they know her life better than anybody else.

• 13:33Speaker 02

  Despite this, Eileen tells me that at first, Lieutenant Boswell seemed to push back a bit, or at least offer other possibilities for Natalie's absence, ones which did not sit well with Elaine.

• 13:45Speaker 08

  She just wanted to get a break. She wanted to get away from her mama and her two boys. She ran away. And I tell this man, I said, "Let me tell you something. Her two boys are her world. I mean, she lives and does everything for her boys." And I said, "Me, you know, even though we might bicker about the grandchildren, it's me, her, and her two boys. That's all our little village consists of."

• 14:12Speaker 02

  As Jennifer Peterson tells me, that even if by some chance Natalie had split town or needed a break from life for a few days, as she was known to do from time to time, she wouldn't just ghost everyone. She had plans on Monday that she would not have missed.

• 14:27Speaker 05

  Her son, her youngest son Isaac, had a little accident in the pool and had to get a cast on his arm. And he was supposed to go back to the doctor that Monday. And that was when she was supposed to take Isaac to go get, I can't remember if it was just like an appointment or get the cast off or something like that. She would have been back to make that appointment. She loved her sons and poof, she's gone. So for her to just completely go missing, I think that was the first like red flag that something was wrong. And this is not something common that Natalie had ever done before. She's never just gone off the grid.

• 15:13Speaker 00

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• 16:00Speaker 01

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• 17:03Speaker 02

  An official investigation was opened by the Hurd County Sheriff's Department, and flyers went up around town. Not long after, friends, family, and volunteers began searching local fields and long roadways, even traveling every possible path they could find from Jackson's Gap, Alabama, where the party was, to Natalie's home in Corinth, Georgia. What else could Eileen do? Sitting around and waiting for Natalie to call or show up wasn't an option.

• 17:29Speaker 08

  Oh, I'm out looking. I've got my sister and a friend of mine. We riding five and six, seven hours a day looking for her. And I mean, we rode, we rode, we rode.

• 17:45Speaker 05

  Everyone's talking, everyone's riding around on their four-wheelers or they're out in their cars, they're doing foot searches. The whole county is just crazy.

• 17:56Speaker 02

  Elaine and Natalie's friends were still calling anyone she might have spoken to or that might know where she could be, though it was highly unlikely that she would leave and not tell her mother or her children about her plans. Police began questioning those closest to Natalie, looking for information, for a place to start. The first thing police did was pull cell phone records in an attempt to locate Natalie, or at least see who she'd been communicating with.

• 18:21Speaker 09

  For us, one of the most important resources that assisted us in this investigation were her phone records. Having her phone number was extremely important in determining who she last contacted, who she last text, location information. All those things become extremely important because, you know, with technology nowadays, all that information's pretty closely available to you.

• 18:47Speaker 02

  While investigators worked to pull phone records, Elaine provided them with Natalie's movements beginning on July 3rd, the day before she disappeared.

• 18:56Speaker 08

  I was at my friend's house over at Sherri's. And she came over and we swam. We grilled out steak. We danced. She left probably about seven o'clock, maybe. And I said, where are you going? And she said, I'm just gonna go home. And I said, are you okay? Yeah, you know, she said, stay here with Sherri and enjoy yourself. I stayed there. I didn't see Natalie on the fourth because she took Tabitha's kids and got the daughter's nails done, you know. She washed her kids that day.

• 19:32Speaker 02

  And Tabitha, again, is Natalie's half-sister. They share the same father, or at least that's the consensus. No DNA test has ever confirmed this, and Elaine has her doubts. Jennifer continues on with Natalie's known movements on July 4th.

• 19:47Speaker 05

  Natalie was a bit of a social butterfly. She bounced around. She was single and she ended up confirming with an old, I would consider him the love of her life boyfriend that she had been putting feelers out with. He invited her out to come celebrate the 4th of July with him and his family. Natalie initially was gonna come and she wanted to bring her youngest son, Isaac. He gave the indication that he didn't want the kids or the kid to come. And she said, sorry. She just kind of blew him off, basically.

• 20:28Speaker 02

  When she picked up Tabitha's kids around noon on the 4th, Natalie confirmed she would go to the party. She took her niece to get her nails done while her nephew waited in the lobby playing games on his phone.

• 20:38Speaker 05

  She drops the niece and nephew off and she goes back home. She grabs some things and then she heads off into Alabama.

• 20:48Speaker 02

  Initially, investigators knew nothing of Natalie's movements after she left the party. One would think that as they learned more, the clearer the picture would become. But with Natalie's case, everything learned about her actions that night only brought on more questions.

• 21:16Speaker 02

  News of Natalie's disappearance hit local media within days. Police asked local TV stations and newspapers to advertise their BOLO for Natalie in her car, that hot pink Chevy. Surely, someone had to have seen that. And while they likely began this investigation just like they would any other, Natalie's family didn't feel enough was being done initially.

• 21:37Speaker 05

  I know that there was a bit of back and forth between the family and law enforcement. They could not get Hurd County to organize a ground search, so they organized one themselves. And I think there was a bit of frustration from Natalie's friends and family. They were saying that she didn't just run away. She wasn't trying to get away. This isn't like her. And I think that they were just trying to tackle everything as best that they could early on because those early hours are so crucial.

• 22:11Speaker 02

  Several weeks after Natalie was last seen or heard from, and with few leads, social media began to do its thing. True crime buffs across the country picked up on Natalie's story and shared it on their platforms, creating a buzz.

• 22:32Speaker 02

  People took to podcasts, YouTube, and TikTok to report on what was known about Natalie at the time, which really wasn't much. She had left the party and she hadn't been seen since. They all seemed to focus on the fact that no one had seen her hot pink car. It became a calling card for Natalie.

• 22:50Speaker 05

  I've seen some crazy cars in various states I've lived in and hot pink is, it's pretty bold. That's a bold decision. And it's rare, but on top of that, how does someone vanish in a hot pink car? That was really the biggest, the hot pink car is the focal point for me.

• 23:09Speaker 02

  By midsummer, the story had gone national. Still, Hurd County officials were tight-lipped on the case, making no official statements, which caused citizens and even local media to chime in and wonder, why aren't they saying anything? Even if to simply dispel rumors as interest in the case grew.

• 23:26Speaker 05

  It became worldwide headlines at that point. You know, Natalie's case started off with local headlines and then it rolled up into regional headlines, making Atlanta news coverage and whatnot. And then it shot all the way up to Daily Mail, which is worldwide, Dr. Phil, People, Nancy Grace. And at that point, it's pretty standard, in my opinion, that a press conference is owed to the public and that never happens.

• 23:56Speaker 02

  Looking back, Lieutenant Boswell agrees that it was a mistake to keep the media in the dark the way they did. It only fueled speculation and fear in an already tense and emotional situation.

• 24:08Speaker 09

  During an investigation, you got to be careful what information you release because if there is somebody that's possibly you may look at, you don't want to release that information. And that's standard in any investigation, right? The one thing I would have done differently is, I mean, while we did get out on the news to try and put out there that she's missing and a description of car and her and as much of that information as we could, I think what I would do differently now is I would get ahead of the social media flurry of information that came in that was so inaccurate and misleading

• 24:49Speaker 09

  and put it out to the public, first off, that we are, that we're working the case, right? And just keep them updated as much as we can on that information.

• 25:01Speaker 02

  Then Elaine and other members of Natalie's family started receiving odd and increasingly disturbing messages, like the one that Natalie's sister, Jessica Bishop, received.

• 25:11Speaker 10

  I just got a text message from some number that I don't know that says that they have Natalie and she's sick and that there's a ransom of $7,000.

• 25:24Speaker 02

  Coupled with silence from investigators, rumors spread throughout the community like wildfire.

• 25:30Speaker 05

  The theories were just all over the place during those days. You know, law enforcement approached her to be a witness and they put her in protective custody. They put her through a wood chipper at this landscaping company. And then they poured acid on what was left to dissolve it. Natalie was in the back of a truck in a cooler. She was frozen. Natalie was in a witness protection program, was being held in a cabin that she was being sex trafficked.

• 26:06Speaker 02

  There were unconfirmed sightings of Natalie or her car, several attempts at extortion, one from as far away as California. Even some who said Natalie was murdered and they knew what happened to her, but provided no real evidence.

• 26:19Speaker 08

  That she was tied up, you know, and being mistreated. I even received a phone call saying that to come up with $5,000, you know, and I could get my baby back. And I said, okay, I said, let me speak to her, you know? Let me hear her voice. Let, just let her say something, you know? And I mean, I done made arrangements. I was just gonna put the title up for my vehicle that I done just got, you know? I mean, I was just, I was just gonna come up with that money if he would have showed me a picture or let me hear her voice. And then he went all the way down to $100, talking about he wanted to get his baby, a baby doll for Christmas.

• 27:03Speaker 02

  Much of what circulated online was dismissed as baseless gossip and rumor. By August, police had utilized every available tool to track Natalie's movements, but progress was agonizingly slow. They scanned footage from traffic cameras and analyzed cellphone data from the morning of July 4th, hoping for even the faintest trace of Natalie. Investigators checked her bank activity, finding no transactions or cash withdrawals since July 2nd. Helicopters combed the area in aerial searches and officers followed up on every lead or possible sighting, yet every effort seemed to lead to another dead end. As the weeks stretched on, the hope surrounding the search began to slip away.

• 27:46Speaker 02

  Elaine Gordon found herself consumed with questions. Was her daughter still out there? Would she ever see Natalie again? And looming over everyone involved in the case was an unanswered question. Where could Natalie Jones be?

• 28:00Speaker 05

  It just, it's so perplexing to think about, how does someone fall off the face of the earth?

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• 31:19Speaker 02

  Over the summer of 2020, as the world grappled with COVID, the search for Natalie Jones intensified. Investigators, now working with assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, uncovered a series of puzzling clues. They learned from her family that Natalie had applied for a passport and planned a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, allegedly with a scheduled flight on July 8. So they wondered, could she have changed her flight and left early to get away? She'd applied for her passport weeks earlier, but it wasn't issued until July 15, a week after she disappeared. A GBI inquiry confirmed that Natalie had not left the country, at least not legally. Following multiple leads, authorities searched properties across the county, responding to reports

• 32:04Speaker 02

  that Natalie had been tied up in a remote cabin, drugged, or even killed. Each location turned up empty. No sign of Natalie, her car, or evidence that she'd been there.

• 32:16Speaker 09

  That's when all sorts of things started just coming out about she was being sex trafficked in Whitesburg. We went there and we went to all these houses and nothing was going on at these houses. We spoke to people. There was supposedly some cabin in Whitesburg where they were going to. And this information was just coming in from various individuals in that circle that the people who knew Natalie or Elaine at the time. We got the Drug Task Force involved. We got the GBI involved. We went door-to-door and knocked on all these doors. All these people asking questions that just neighbors and everything

• 33:01Speaker 09

  came up with zero. So we were inundated with a whole bunch of leads that ultimately led to nowhere.

• 33:11Speaker 02

  On August 11, Natalie's sister Tabitha was interviewed by investigators. She revealed shocking details. Just days before Natalie's disappearance, her recent ex-boyfriend Jonathan had shown up at Tabitha's house unannounced while Natalie was visiting. Jennifer elaborates further.

• 33:28Speaker 05

  What we had initially heard is that Jonathan came to Tabitha's house and Natalie was there and they were hanging out on the front porch. He came over within one to three days before she vanished and just pulled up, like, knowing that she was there. He allegedly was making statements about wanting to get back together with her. It was just this kind of macho, possessive, "we're gonna be together." And Natalie had made a statement somewhere along the lines of, "You're not gonna get away with everything that you're getting away with. Like, you're going down for this."

• 34:08Speaker 02

  Jonathan had been out on bond since April of 2020, stemming from charges for trafficking meth and had to wear a court-ordered ankle monitor. Shortly after Natalie went missing, he was arrested again, this time for influencing a witness, breaking his bond terms, and was sent back to jail. Then, in late September, investigators heard the most disparaging news to date. A cellmate of Jonathan's came forward to police with a startling claim.

• 34:35Speaker 05

  There was an inmate that came forward who was incarcerated with Jonathan in August, in late August of 2020, that gave testimony that Jonathan had told him that he, being Jonathan, and Natalie were together in Alabama. And there were two other guys present. One of them wanted to have sex with Natalie and asked Jonathan for permission to have sex with her. He agreed to it. And there was, you know, some choking involved, which led to Natalie's demise. And then she was chopped up.

• 35:17Speaker 02

  According to the GBI file, the inmate then told police that Jonathan said, after Natalie was dead and her body dismembered, they disposed of the remains in a salt mine somewhere in Alabama. But even his cellmate was initially skeptical of Jonathan's story. Why would he confess this to someone he'd only just met? Still, the confession was taken seriously, because what if?

• 35:42Speaker 05

  You can't always discount them because you just never know, you know? Addicts speak truth. People in jail cells will speak truth. You can't discredit them.

• 35:59Speaker 02

  By early October of 2020, Natalie's case had been shared around the globe and had created a buzz on social media. It eventually attracted the attention of Adventures with Purpose, a crowdfunded team of volunteer divers who traversed the country looking for missing persons in lakes and rivers. They arrived in Hurd County, Georgia, around October 4, after hearing of Natalie's case from subscribers on their YouTube page. Adventures with Purpose showed up largely unannounced and began searching bodies of water in the area, as that was another theory of the locals, that Natalie's car somehow ended up in a lake or pond in Georgia. But just as Adventures with Purpose got to work on October 6, news broke that no one saw coming.

• 36:44Speaker 11

  While Samuel Ginn and his partners with Adventures with Purpose were searching various ponds in the area for Natalie, they got word that her pink car had been found.

• 36:56Speaker 12

  Breaking news in the search for a missing Georgia mother, Natalie Jones.

• 37:00Speaker 13

  Tonight, a somber confirmation from the GBI. Investigators confirmed that her car has been located and sadly, the body of a young woman was found inside.

• 37:09Speaker 12

  The GBI tells us the car belongs to Natalie Jones, but the GBI has not confirmed if the body inside is hers.

• 37:24Speaker 02

  The car was located near the intersection of Roosterville Road and Welcome Road in Rupville, Georgia. That's when a nephew of the landowner was hired to bush hog the property and stumbled upon it. Parked along the tree line of the property and partially covered with overgrown weeds, the car's bright pink color was unmistakable, a stark contrast to the shades of green and brown surrounding it. There was no question. The unthinkable had happened. This was the car they'd been searching for over the past 93 days. In the driver's seat were the remains of a woman, and although forensic testing needed

• 38:05Speaker 02

  to confirm the identity of the deceased, to most, it was obvious. The remains were those of 27-year-old Natalie Jones. The search was over. Elaine tells me what she remembers of hearing this soul-crushing news.

• 38:22Speaker 08

  At this time, I had done put my mattress on the living room floor, sleeping in the living room, you know, by the door. I just didn't want to go in my room. I was so tired. I was just, I couldn't hold my eyes open, you know? I was just so worn out mentally, physically, the whole nine yards. And all the horrible thoughts was in my head about my baby. Somebody got her, somebody holding her, somebody mean to her. My sister, she seen her county come down to my house, and she said, "Oh, Lord." So she jumped up and she ran down there, and she told him, she said, "Stop.

• 39:07Speaker 08

  Let me go in here and be with her. I know what y'all here for." They came in, and this woman, she squatted down and she said, "Miss Gordon, we found Natalie's car, and she's deceased." Whoa. I jumped up and I started screaming at them, talking about, "Y'all a bunch of failures. Y'all didn't do nothing." I told them, "Get out of my house." I said, "I tell you, get the F out of my house, right now." You probably see a devil in my eye. I went in and I punched my kitchen wall.

• 39:52Speaker 08

  I just, I went berserk, and so would nobody take me down there at the scene.

• 40:00Speaker 02

  Elaine's worst fear had seemingly just become a reality. She did eventually collect herself enough to go to where Natalie's car was found. Tabitha had stopped by to see if she heard the news yet and gave her a ride. By the time she arrived, people had already begun congregating down the road from Natalie's car because the hosts of Adventures with Purpose were already live streaming on YouTube. Investigators pushed everyone back and cordoned off the area, treating it as a potential crime scene. Not even Elaine was allowed to see Natalie's body.

• 40:33Speaker 08

  And when I got down there, I like started like wanting to go up to the thing, and you know, they told me to stop. You can't go past this thing. One of the deputies had his foot popped up on the front of the car, you know, and there was a bunch of police cars up there.

• 40:53Speaker 02

  Elaine sat bewildered in the passenger's seat of Tabitha's car, her shoulders sagging from the weight of learning of her daughter's death. Unable to fully process what was happening, all she could do was cry between long periods of expressionless stares. All anyone else could do was try to console her. After giving statements to local news, there was nothing left for her to do but go home, grieve, and wait for answers.

• 41:19Speaker 08

  I was in shock. You know, I was in like, I was like in total shock. I couldn't believe it. I mean, it was like, how could somebody do this to her? I just screamed. I screamed so long, so many times. I couldn't believe my baby wasn't coming home. She was my world. She was my rock. She kept me in line, you know what I'm saying? Where I was just a big screw-up.

• 42:00Speaker 02

  Now it was time for police to pick up the pieces and figure out what happened. How did Natalie end up dead in her car? Why was she parked in this overgrown field in a rural part of the county? Why had she sent a text message saying she'd made it home when clearly she never did? And the biggest question of all, was Natalie's death the result of some tragic accident? Or was it murder? For answers, investigators needed to comb through the evidence. And what was found, did anything but provide a clear picture of how Natalie Jones's life ended, and instead only sparked more fear, doubt, and speculation?

• 42:38Speaker 05

  She was slumped down in the seat. She was barefoot. She's missing her belt that she was wearing that day. There were strands of hair in the door jamb. She was missing teeth, multiple teeth.

• 42:53Speaker 14

  They're not in the car. They're not in her clothes. They're not on the ground when you opened the door. They didn't fall out. You know, where are those teeth?

• 43:02Speaker 09

  Is that the way you want to find somebody? That's not. I can still see it in my mind right now.

• 43:08Speaker 05

  The thing of nightmares that I will never be able to shake ever again, like it changed me.

• 43:15Speaker 15

  There's some things that just don't add up. It doesn't look like a natural cause of death. I totally believe she was murdered.

• 43:31Speaker 01

  If you're already hooked, you can listen to the second episode right now. Just search The Truth About Natalie wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget, you can also watch a new video episode of Crime Junkie today over on the Crime Junkie YouTube channel, and I'll be back with you next week.

• 43:56Speaker 02

  The Truth About Natalie is an AudioChuck original, produced by Particle Entertainment. I wrote and produced the series. Executive producer is Ashley Flowers. Additional research provided by Community Advocates for Natalie Jones. Original music written and performed by Jackson Epley. And a special thanks to Elaine Gordon and her family. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available at the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233. You can find me on social media at SeanKypeOfficial or at SeanKype.com. And you can email me any information about this case to [email protected].

• 44:39Speaker 02

  Don't forget to rate and review the show wherever you listen to podcasts. And as always, thanks for listening.

• 44:56Speaker 16

  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 around, listen close, and stream Full Body Chills wherever you get your podcasts.