318. What Happened to Jamie Laiaddee?

On this episode, Payton and Garrett dive into the case of Jamie Laiadee. Jamie thought she had found love, but behind her boyfriend’s charm was a web of lies, deception, and secrets no one saw coming. Links: Netflix Video Every Monday @11am PST, 12pm MST, 2pm EST 1pm CST https://www.netflix.com/murderwithmyhusband Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband NEW MERCH LINK: https://mwmhshop.com Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Case Sources: EastValleyTribune.com - https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/8-years-after-slaying-chandler-womans-remains-are-found/article_be00c4d6-86b7-11e8-9737-e7b69e27f5ff.html CBSNews.com - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remains-found-in-arizona-idd-as-long-missing-woman-jamie-laiaddee/ ParamountExpress.com - https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/cbs-news-and-stations/shows/48-hours/releases/?view=34077-after-years-of-being-conned-by-a-boyfriend-a-young-arizona-woman-vanishes-did-she-move-on-to-start-a-secret-life-48-hours-the-stranger-beside-me 12News.com - https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/body-found-in-chandler-linked-to-2010-case/75-569356815 APNews.com - https://apnews.com/general-news-44a4438f2edc4bb9996533019cfa0ef8 CNN.com - https://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/29/arizona.missing.woman/index.html KTAR.com - https://ktar.com/arizona-news/remains-found-in-chandler-identified-as-woman-killed-by-boyfriend-in-2010/2124903/ AZCentral.com - https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/chandler-breaking/2018/06/29/human-remains-sun-lakes-chandler-identified-jamie-laiaddee-homicide-rick-valentini/746841002/ PhoenixNewTimes.com - https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/bryan-stewart-aka-rick-valentini-gets-54-years-in-prison-for-presumed-murder-of-jamie-laiaddee-6640869/ ABC15.com - https://www.abc15.com/news/region-southeast-valley/chandler/remains-found-identified-as-jamie-laiaddee-missing-since-2010 Tucson.com - https://tucson.com/news/body-of-arizona-woman-missing-for-8-years-found/article_5fbfc8ce-7bed-11e8-b54b-978450fb4f32.html The Help Find Jamie Laiaddee Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/132396723440185/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

• 0:01Payton Moreland?

  You're listening to an Ono Media Podcast. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Payton Moreland.

• 0:07Garrett Moreland?

  And I'm Garrett Moreland.

• 0:08Payton Moreland?

  And he's the husband.

• 0:09Garrett Moreland?

  And I'm the husband.

• 0:10Payton Moreland?

  We gotta jump straight into Garrett's 10 seconds today because it is like 9:00 PM. We've been at the bagel shop all day and Daisy is confusion why we are not in bed yet. So.

• 0:21Garrett Moreland?

  Welcome back. Happy Monday. Another episode, another grateful day.

• 0:26Payton Moreland?

  I tried. I tried to skip it and get right into it.

• 0:29Garrett Moreland?

  Listen.

• 0:30Payton Moreland?

  I appreciate it.

• 0:31Garrett Moreland?

  Pretty cool life if we're all here watching Murder with My Husband, you know?

• 0:34Payton Moreland?

  I agree.

• 0:35Garrett Moreland?

  I don't know. Hashtag blessed. Here we are. Hope everything's going great. Not gonna talk about the bagel shop right now because taking a break for a second. But I will talk about something that I saw in true crime that people, people have been wanting us to cover. What was it? Oh, the, I think it was a couple of, well, no, uh, you will know it. David?

• 0:56Payton Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 0:58Garrett Moreland?

  Apparently he just got sentenced.

• 0:59Payton Moreland?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:00Garrett Moreland?

  Or convicted.

• 1:01Payton Moreland?

  Charged.

• 1:02Garrett Moreland?

  Charged?

• 1:03Payton Moreland?

  Yeah. Which everyone knew, like.

• 1:05Garrett Moreland?

  I saw that on TikTok, but I don't know much about it.

• 1:08Payton Moreland?

  Um, everyone knew that he had done it. So they were wondering why it was taking so long and like, it's just like not what you see on TV. It takes a long time for a prosecution to be like, yeah, we're ready to move forward.

• 1:21Garrett Moreland?

  Kind of crazy.

• 1:22Payton Moreland?

  And I do think it varies state to state about like who's willing to like make the arrest and hold him.

• 1:26Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 1:27Payton Moreland?

  And tell trial and who's, who wants to get trial ready and then charged.

• 1:32Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, I don't know much about it. I just know, I think the only thing that I saw was that the body was in the trunk.

• 1:40Payton Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 1:40Garrett Moreland?

  Or something along those lines.

• 1:42Payton Moreland?

  He's like an artist, musical artist.

• 1:45Garrett Moreland?

  I need to say something, uh, skipping right into my 10 seconds here because I have a lisp on the podcast.

• 1:53Garrett Moreland?

  I would like to say I don't really have a lisp in real life. Our editor every week says we need, I need to fix something on our mics and I don't do it. I promise. No, I'm not, I'm not knocking lists. If anyone else has a lisp out there, power to you, brothers, homies, hugs, kisses, XOXO. But I just feel like sometimes I listen to one of the episodes. There's no way.

• 2:17Payton Moreland?

  Dude, my mic does that with my vowels. It mixes up my EE.

• 2:23Garrett Moreland?

  No, that's not your mic. Sorry to tell you, not your mic, baby.

• 2:27Payton Moreland?

  Okay, that's an accent. It's an accent.

• 2:29Garrett Moreland?

  I'm telling you for my, for me, it, I, it's something in here.

• 2:34Payton Moreland?

  Yeah, it does get significantly worse because even.

• 2:37Garrett Moreland?

  It takes it from like a 5% to like a 60%.

• 2:40Payton Moreland?

  You have like a very small hint of it and anytime it's in the mic, it's 10 times worse.

• 2:45Garrett Moreland?

  It makes it like, I do have a little lisp on certain words sometimes.

• 2:48Payton Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 2:49Garrett Moreland?

  When I say my S's, but.

• 2:51Payton Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 2:52Garrett Moreland?

  And personally, I feel like you can't really.

• 2:53Payton Moreland?

  No.

• 2:54Garrett Moreland?

  You don't really notice it.

• 2:55Payton Moreland?

  You know how, no, it's the mics. Okay, Jordan.

• 2:58Garrett Moreland?

  Okay, how?

• 2:59Payton Moreland?

  You know how I know it's the mics is that when we went and recorded with Mile Higher.

• 3:04Garrett Moreland?

  Yes.

• 3:05Payton Moreland?

  It was so bad on their mics.

• 3:07Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, I do remember that.

• 3:08Payton Moreland?

  It's just different mic settings.

• 3:09Garrett Moreland?

  Certain mixers and certain mics.

• 3:13Payton Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 3:13Garrett Moreland?

  It just brings it from, like I said, like I'm not getting defensive here. I'm just saying it gets pretty crazy. Anyways, I just wanted to say that because I felt like I had it.

• 3:23Payton Moreland?

  Oh, okay. Well, I like you list 5%, 1%.

• 3:28Garrett Moreland?

  Not that I'm self-conscious about it or anything. Anyways, that's my 10 seconds. That's what I got. I think that's all I got. Yeah, we are recording at night. We don't usually do this.

• 3:39Payton Moreland?

  Get into it.

• 3:40Garrett Moreland?

  After we record, yeah, we can get right into it. But after record, I'm gonna go upstairs. I'm gonna take a shower. I'm gonna go to bed just in case anyone's curious what I'm doing with the rest of the night. So on that note, let's get into this week's episode.

• 3:53Payton Moreland?

  Our sources for this episode are eastvalleytribune.com, cbsnews.com, paramountexpress.com, 12news.com, apnews.com, cnn.com, ktar.com, azcentral.com, phoenixnewtimes.com, abc15.com, tucson.com, and the Help Find Jamie Lady Facebook page.

• 4:15Garrett Moreland?

  Sorry, before we get into it, is Aquaphor? If anyone from Aquaphor is watching, I use this daily.

• 4:23Payton Moreland?

  That was, put that back up in the mic. It was very ASMR on headphone.

• 4:27Garrett Moreland?

  It sounded better the first time. Anyways, if you want to send me like 2,000 of these, I'll take them.

• 4:32Payton Moreland?

  Okay. My favorite thing is whenever we have an episode that Garrett's like, oh, tired. Can we get through then? You have to interject just to talk about your aqua four.

• 4:42Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, because lots of going through my mind. Lots going on.

• 4:46Payton Moreland?

  I know. Okay. Now, getting into the episode. Most of us have someone in our life that we talk to on a daily basis. A parent, a friend, a partner, even a child. Someone who would notice immediately if things were out of place. That's how a lot of these cases even start, right? A coworker doesn't show up to the office. A daughter misses her daily call to her mom. A wife doesn't come home from the grocery store. The people around us are the ones who look out for us. Who can tell when something is wrong, who can call the police and say, hey, this is out of character. You need to look into this. But not everyone in this world has someone like that.

• 5:30Payton Moreland?

  And those are probably some of the most heartbreaking cases to cover because the more time that passes, the harder an investigation becomes. Not only does time erase evidence and memories, it can erase a person too. Which is why today's case will prove it is actually way better to keep your friends closer than your enemies. I want to introduce you to 32-year-old Jamie Laity. Now, Jamie grew up in Pasadena, California. She always felt a bit different than a lot of her friends. Unlike the laid-back, relaxed parents a lot of the kids had in California around her,

• 6:15Payton Moreland?

  Jamie's upbringing was tougher. It was more rigid. Her parents, Jimmy and Vani, were immigrants from Thailand. They had come to the US hoping for a better life with more opportunity. Searching for that American dream, if you will. And because of that, Jamie and her older sister felt a lot of pressure to succeed growing up. She understood her parents' struggles to get here, to give her a better life, and she didn't want to let them down. But it also shaped the person Jamie would become and her relationship with her parents down the line. While Jamie was confident and bubbly, she could also be quiet and reserved.

• 6:59Payton Moreland?

  And it wasn't until college when she found other like-minded people that she really started to grow into her own. So Jamie grows up, she attended the University of Michigan, and for the first time, there was some real distance between her and her parents, which Jamie does seem grateful for. She could only take so much pressure from them about going to medical school. And at times, she might have felt like her life and her choices weren't really her own. But now Jamie was on her own for the first time in her life, able to make her own decisions, which she really embraced and loved.

• 7:41Payton Moreland?

  And that distance between her and her family when she left for college, it grew. Friends said Jamie didn't really talk much about her family. She would change the subject whenever they were brought up in conversation. Eventually, her friends just got the vibe that she probably wasn't on good terms with most of them. Okay. But some of Jamie's friends at the University of Michigan could relate with this. This whole like going to college and kind of creating that space between you and your parents. A lot of the people in her friend group were also children of immigrants. They knew kind of what that pressure felt like to succeed.

• 8:23Payton Moreland?

  And Jamie found a lot of comfort in knowing that she wasn't alone in this. And she also found comfort in something else during that time, and it happened to be college football. She and her group of girlfriends were obsessed with their college team. They would watch the games every single weekend. For Jamie, it almost becomes like a part of her identity with her friend group. But then the years go by, graduation day came and it was time for all of them to move on with their lives. And Jamie and her close group of friends all went their separate ways. And life took Jamie out to Phoenix, Arizona, after she got a great, high-paying job selling

• 9:04Payton Moreland?

  medical supplies. Soon, Jamie had made enough money to actually buy her own home in the trendy neighborhood of Chandler, Arizona. But life outside of work had become a bit lonely for Jamie. Like, she kept in touch with some of her college friends, mostly just sending an email or a phone call. She's making great money. She has a great job, but she had had this amazing life in college and then moved. At this point, just looking for people in Phoenix she could connect with because she wasn't communicating with her friends on a daily basis. Okay. And eventually, she actually found a University of Michigan alumni group out in Phoenix.

• 9:48Payton Moreland?

  So they would get together to watch the football games every weekend. And while it was nice to have a new community and some new acquaintances, it obviously still wasn't the friend group she had back in college. Though eventually, it did seem worth it because that's how 29-year-old Jamie met 30-year-old Brian Stewart in 2007. Now, Brian was a personal trainer, living in Scottsdale at the time, again, 2007, about a 25-minute drive from Phoenix. And during one of their alumni events, he and Jamie caught each other's eye. The two bonded over their shared alma mater.

• 10:29Payton Moreland?

  She also loved how funny he was and that he really seemed to care about her a lot. And soon, they become a full-blown couple. About a year later, in 2008, they decided they were ready to take the next step, and Brian moved into Jamie's house in Phoenix. And she didn't seem to mind being the breadwinner for the couple. While Brian was still doing his personal training, Jamie was making over six figures, and she was happy to share it with the man that she was, you know, thinking she was gonna spend forever with. Okay. She helped him pay most of his bills. She got him a new car.

• 11:05Garrett Moreland?

  Dang.

• 11:06Payton Moreland?

  But over time, the two started to only spend time with each other. Again, Jamie had always been a pretty private person, but now even she had stopped going to the University of Michigan alumni event. So she was no longer really keeping in touch with her college friends, none of the new friends she had made. Many of Jamie's friends said she stopped making an effort, so things sort of fell off. She only talked to her parents every few months or so. They said they were just kind of giving her space while she was off living her own life. But by the summer of 2009, it seemed like Jamie and Brian had basically cut off the outside world entirely. Seemed like the two of them were just in their little love bubble.

• 11:52Payton Moreland?

  And Jamie seemed satisfied with simply just going to work and then coming home to her life with Brian and Brian only. But that August, Jamie received some tough news. She was actually being laid off from her high paying job, something she did not see coming. Jamie spent the next several months looking for work and she wasn't even being picky. She was searching all over the country, willing to move to Florida, New Jersey, wherever it took to find something comparable. Now meanwhile, the housing economy was in a steep decline and the value of Jamie's home that she had bought started to plunge, which worried her even more. She wondered if she would even see any profits from that investment.

• 12:36Payton Moreland?

  So basically Jamie is entering a difficult period in her adult life. And it started to take a toll on her relationship with Brian too. Eventually, according to him, it got to the point where he went back to Scottsdale and rented an apartment there. So he moves out. And it kind of looks like things weren't going to work out long term after all. In fact, on the night of March 17th, 2010, Brian said he was planning to have a conversation with Jamie. He was gonna tell her about the new apartment. And he was gonna let her know he was moving out, that he'd got this new apartment and he was officially going. But Jamie had other plans that day.

• 13:17Payton Moreland?

  That afternoon, she went to get an oil change and then she stopped at a Wells Fargo bank. Afterwards, she went home and just as Brian was about to break the news to her, he says she dropped a bomb on the conversation instead. He says, hey, I've gotten a job in Denver, Colorado, and I want you to move there with me.

• 13:44Garrett Moreland?

  Oof.

• 13:45Payton Moreland?

  So he's coming to be like, I'm moving out, I'm done. And she's like, look, I got a job and I want you to move.

• 13:51Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 13:52Payton Moreland?

  As we know, Brian wasn't interested. He told Jamie, uh, I'm gonna stay here in Arizona. I just don't see a future with you.

• 14:00Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 14:01Payton Moreland?

  And the two get into an argument about it that night. Eventually, Brian said things calmed down and they went to bed. The following morning, March 18th, he got up for work super early in the morning around 3:15 a.m. Jamie was still sleeping. He gave her a kiss goodbye, told her he loved her and got into his truck to go to work. So when he got back to her house later that day, Jamie was already gone. And that same afternoon, Brian emailed one of their mutual friends from the alumni club, a woman named Marlene. And he told her that Jamie dumped him and moved to Colorado.

• 14:43Garrett Moreland?

  Which he said that in the email.

• 14:44Payton Moreland?

  Yes, this day, which as we know, she didn't dump him.

• 14:47Garrett Moreland?

  It was the opposite, basically.

• 14:49Payton Moreland?

  And she hasn't moved yet.

• 14:50Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 14:50Payton Moreland?

  Like.

• 14:51Garrett Moreland?

  But it was the opposite, like he dumped her in a sense.

• 14:54Payton Moreland?

  Yes. So Marlene said Brian sounded a little upset about it, but she didn't find it all that surprising that Jamie would decide to move for a job and just leave a boyfriend behind like that. But after this, 10 weeks go by.

• 15:11Payton Moreland?

  No one hears or sees Jamie Laity. Remember, she's fired, so she's not reporting to work. She's supposed to be moving to get a new job. So 10 weeks go by.

• 15:25Garrett Moreland?

  Why would he?

• 15:28Payton Moreland?

  No one hears.

• 15:29Garrett Moreland?

  I'm not convinced that he's the killer yet, so let's keep going. 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.

• 15:55Payton Moreland?

  Women inherit a lot of unwritten rules. Be ambitious, but not intimidating. Be there for everyone, but still make time for yourself. Have it all together, but don't look like you're trying too hard. And I have definitely fallen into all of these traps. But if you have been wanting 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. If you don't have insurance or don't live in the United States, you can still get 10% off your first month.

• 16:27Garrett Moreland?

  And Peyton and I are big advocates for therapy. Give it a try. Life can be crazy. There's a lot going on. Like we were talking about, sometimes it feels like you need to have everything figured out. You don't. Go talk to someone. Go see what's going on. Visit betterhelp.com/husband to explore your payment options. That's betterhelp, H E L P, dot com slash husband.

• 16:49Payton Moreland?

  This message is sponsored by Greenlight. You know, there were many times growing up in school where I was like, when am I ever going to use this? And let me be real honest with you. A lot of those things have turned out to be true. But you know what I wish they would have taught in school? Financial literacy. So Greenlight takes the mental load of family life and kind of puts it all into one place. It keeps your whole family in sync, money, safety, and everyday life. All in one place. When you're using it, you can see what your kids are spending, right when they spend it. You can also easily send them money via Greenlight instead of like digging around for cash.

• 17:33Payton Moreland?

  And Greenlight just helps your household run smoother. Chores happen without nagging because you can do it all through the Greenlight app. There's also like a schedule that is up to date in real time. So when you're out of milk or someone needs new cleats, it just goes on this shared list that everyone can add to. Join the 6.5 million family members who trust Greenlight. Garrett has younger siblings. They've used Greenlight and it is so amazing to watch them learn about money in the safety of their home. You've got enough on your plate. Greenlight keeps it all in sync. Get started at greenlight.com/husband. That is greenlight.com/husband. Greenlight.com/husband. Go check it out now.

• 18:17Payton Moreland?

  So not only this, 10 weeks have gone by. No one has seen or heard from her and no one really is that worried until finally in May, Brian calls that friend Marlene that he had talked to basically the day after they broke up to say he's a bit concerned because he hasn't seen or heard from Jamie since they broke up and he knows that no one else has heard from her. Now, hearing this, Marlene, a normal human, starts to worry. She figures, okay, we all know Jamie is a private person. Maybe she just wants space, but Brian, the one person she spoke to daily also hasn't heard from her?

• 19:01Payton Moreland?

  That's not a good sign. So Marlene calls another mutual friend of theirs from the alumni club and they know a private investigator who can just help look into it, do a wellness check. And he finds Jamie's credit card activity and sees that there's been no activity on it for a while. Now, these two girls, when they see this, like they, they come to, they go to this private investigator. They're like, we're not really sure anything's wrong, but you're like, you're a friend of ours. Can you look into this? The private investigator looks into it and is like, yeah, there's been no activity on her card. These two girls immediately are like, we're suspicious of Brian.

• 19:41Payton Moreland?

  Her ex-boyfriend who brought this all to attention. So they're like, a private investigator friend, can you run a background check? On Brian, keep in mind, police are not involved yet because they're still not even like they, they're not super great friends with Jamie. So they're just, they're just your average worried person. Nothing comes up on this background check against Brian that surprises them. The only thing interesting is they find that he lived at two Michigan addresses at one point was someone named Rick Wayne Valentini. Probably a roommate or relative, nothing worth noting, but they're like, oh, he lived with this person.

• 20:22Payton Moreland?

  So after this, Marlene asks Brian, hey, like, okay, you haven't seen her. Have you spoken to her parents at all? And he's like, no, I haven't. So she's like, you should call them, which he does. And on May 28th, he finally calls Jamie's dad, Jimmy, to tell him, hey, no one has seen or heard from your daughter since St. Patrick's Day. And that's when Jimmy Laity calls the Chandler police to report his daughter missing.

• 20:51Garrett Moreland?

  I'm just trying to figure out the long time.

• 20:53Payton Moreland?

  10 weeks.

• 20:54Garrett Moreland?

  And no one realized?

• 20:56Payton Moreland?

  She just didn't, I mean, she didn't, it was just, she wasn't going to work anymore. She didn't really talk to her family. The only person she talked to was him and he didn't alert anyone that he wasn't talking to her until 10 weeks later.

• 21:08Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, I get that. No, I, I understand it's possible, but 10 weeks is just pretty wild.

• 21:13Payton Moreland?

  So when police get this report and they're like 10 weeks, the first person they're going to suspect is the last person to see her, which everyone knows is her boyfriend, Brian Stewart. And they want to bring him in for questioning. So they called Brian to see if he'll come down to the station, but after trying him a few times, there's no answer, which to them is a red flag. If you know your girlfriend is missing, you called her parents to alert them. You want to find her, why are you now dodging the police's phone calls? So they look into Brian's background and find he actually has an outstanding warrant for driving on a suspended license. This is something they can use to their advantage.

• 21:56Payton Moreland?

  So they get the plates for Brian's car, the one Jamie bought him. And on June 3rd, they track him down to that apartment that he got in Scottsdale.

• 22:04Garrett Moreland?

  This one just seems obvious. Gone for 10 weeks. Last person to see was the ex or boyfriend, whatever you want to call him.

• 22:12Payton Moreland?

  Who told someone the next day that she moved.

• 22:14Garrett Moreland?

  Like, come on.

• 22:16Payton Moreland?

  So.

• 22:16Garrett Moreland?

  Open and shut, solved. Everyone have a good night.

• 22:19Payton Moreland?

  Uh, they find him at the apartment and they use that warrant to take him into custody and ask him some questions about his missing ex-girlfriend. And in that interrogation room, Brian tells police that he and Jamie were dating for about three years when she disappeared. He'd never cheated on her. Things were really good between them, but Jamie hated living in Arizona. And after losing her job, she wanted nothing more than just to move out, find a new job, get a, you know, fresh start. But Brian didn't. He said the last time he saw her was the morning of March 18th, when he kissed her goodbye as she was still sleeping, remember at like 3 a.m. And then headed off to work. And when he went back to her house later, he was gone.

• 23:04Payton Moreland?

  He says he wasn't worried about her because she took a hundred thousand dollars of her parents' money and left Arizona to start a new life for herself.

• 23:13Garrett Moreland?

  What?

• 23:14Payton Moreland?

  Which maybe makes sense, except for one big problem. The police had already looked into Jamie's finances. And there was nothing that showed she was spending money, living a new life somewhere, let alone in Colorado, where Brian claims she went. So meanwhile, as detectives are questioning Brian, there's another team executing a search warrant at Jamie's home. And they find all of her stuff is still there, including suitcases. Which they're like, if she really moved to Colorado, moved out of state, started a new life, maybe took this money from her parents. I'm sure there's like more to the story there that hasn't been reported. Maybe her parents had money or Brian was just trying to

• 23:57Payton Moreland?

  point it on someone else. But they're thinking, okay, even if she did do this, wouldn't she at least pack a bag and her passport is still at her home? 10 weeks later. What is missing is her wallet and her driver's license. Though there's no sign of any foul play having happened in the home, no blood stains, no signs of a struggle. Keep in mind, nearly 10 weeks have passed though, since Jamie was last seen. That is a lot of time for someone to go back and clean up evidence. Which is why police are still keeping a close eye on Brian, even if he is sticking with his no, she just ran away story. And they quickly learn he was not the prince charming. He'd kind of made himself out to be.

• 24:36Garrett Moreland?

  Surprise, surprise.

• 24:38Payton Moreland?

  I'm just an innocent boyfriend that didn't want to pick up and leave. In 2007, three years before Jamie disappeared, Brian was arrested for burglary. Jamie, and I don't know why any of this didn't come up on the background check. I'm sure there's a reason why. Or maybe there's levels of it, but just to clear that up, I'm not sure why, but. Police find out three years earlier, he had been arrested for burglary. Jamie was the one who came to his rescue, paying for a good attorney who got his charges reduced to trespassing. But after that, Jamie became a little bit more suspicious of Brian, this boyfriend she'd just helped get out of burglary. Was he really who he said he was? This just felt so out of character. What was he doing?

• 25:22Payton Moreland?

  So she had hired a private investigator. Not the last one. Who did a background check on Brian and apparently found nothing that stood out because afterwards Jamie still stayed with him. There were also a few friends who believed Brian was emotionally and maybe even physically abusive towards Jamie. And apparently the day before she disappeared on March 17th. She told a friend that she was afraid of Brian. She didn't want to go to the police because she didn't think they would do anything. Because he, I mean, like she doesn't go into detail that he hasn't done anything. But something else the police find that feels a little sketchy is Jamie's credit cards had been used a few times since she vanished.

• 26:06Payton Moreland?

  But it was only for internet purchases and dating websites. And who was the person using her cards after she vanished? Of course, her ex-boyfriend, Brian. Which he was using to meet other women online. Like he's using her credit cards after she moved to Colorado to meet other women online. So the day after they get Brian into custody, they get another search warrant. And this time it's for the apartment that he got 25 minutes away in Scottsdale. And as they start going through his things there, police discover a name that just kind of keeps appearing, like on these background checks when they're looking into him. This, this guy, Rick Wayne Valentini.

• 26:50Payton Moreland?

  This is the same name that came up when Jamie's friends hired the P I. to do a search into Brian. Though that P I. was pretty sure this guy was just a roommate, someone Brian had lived with. But after executing that warrant, the police realized Brian Stewart was Rick Wayne Valentini.

• 27:10Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 27:10Payton Moreland?

  And he had been living a double life.

• 27:13Garrett Moreland?

  That's insane.

• 27:15Payton Moreland?

  So Rick had been going by this Brian persona for the last eight years or so.

• 27:23Garrett Moreland?

  Years. Oh, my gosh.

• 27:26Payton Moreland?

  He was actually eight years older than he had told everyone in this new life he was.

• 27:31Garrett Moreland?

  Wait, even his.

• 27:33Payton Moreland?

  Yes, everyone at the alumni, everyone.

• 27:36Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, that's freaky.

• 27:38Payton Moreland?

  But Rick or Brian said he wasn't doing this to run from the law. He was just escaping what he claimed was a traumatic past. Rick's Aunt Donna vouched for him, saying his mother had had him when she was 18. His father wasn't present in his life. Over the years, Rick was physically and emotionally abused. Remember, Rick is Brian, which was when his Aunt Donna actually took him in. Donna also told the press, he likely created this other persona because he just didn't want to be Rick anymore. He wanted to move somewhere and have a fresh start. And in October of 2001, Rick finally left his hometown in Michigan and set off for Phoenix as Brian Stewart.

• 28:22Payton Moreland?

  But rather than legally change his name, Rick just forged himself a new birth certificate. So now he's creating another person. And he also forged another big document, his diploma from the University of Michigan. He never actually attended the school. He'd only taken a few classes at a community college in California before transferring to the University of Utah. So his whole past like has nothing to do with this new life he lived in Arizona, where he's like, no, I joined this alumni club of this school I'd never even attended. Shockingly though, this was just the tip of the iceberg. Rick had lied to everyone about pretty much his entire past. He told Jamie his parents had been killed by a drunk driver.

• 29:05Payton Moreland?

  This was not true, that he had served in the military and was in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Again, not true. The reality was he had been enlisted, but was dishonorably discharged after going AWOL.

• 29:19Garrett Moreland?

  Gosh, that's a ginormous difference.

• 29:22Payton Moreland?

  Well, get this.

• 29:23Garrett Moreland?

  It's crazy.

• 29:24Payton Moreland?

  He stabbed two military officers in the hands and legs.

• 29:28Garrett Moreland?

  What, what is happening right now?

• 29:30Payton Moreland?

  He served two years in military prison, but then got out and said, oh yeah, I'm a vet. I served here and here.

• 29:38Garrett Moreland?

  They need to have an app where every time you meet somebody or date someone, everyone has to scan it. And it brings up their entire record right on your phone. You can see who that person is, if they're lying, if it's true. And it's like tied to you somehow.

• 29:52Payton Moreland?

  So this is obviously something he didn't share with Jamie, but even more surprising when police are figuring out who Rick is. This, who's Brian? They find that Rick had not one, but three ex-wives.

• 30:09Garrett Moreland?

  Oh my gosh, this is getting just outlandish at this point.

• 30:14Payton Moreland?

  Two daughters from those marriages.

• 30:18Garrett Moreland?

  Oh.

• 30:18Payton Moreland?

  His oldest daughter, Amy, was an infant when Rick left her family. She said he never once reached out, tried to make contact with her.

• 30:27Garrett Moreland?

  What a.

• 30:29Payton Moreland?

  Then he just goes here, shaves eight years off his age, changes his name to Brian and says, hey, can you buy me a car?

• 30:36Garrett Moreland?

  Oh yeah, he's just, he was just dating her for the money.

• 30:40Payton Moreland?

  So obviously this is a massive reveal that police find after searching Rick slash Brian's apartment.

• 30:48Payton Moreland?

  But this false identity is not the only thing they discover at Brian's apartment. They also find a bunch of different guns, Jamie's missing wallet, her personal cellphone she had been using before she disappeared, and a small white envelope that detectives think might be hiding another clue. But they will need a different warrant to open it because it's not in plain view. So they collect it as evidence along with the rest of the suspicious items found in Rick's place. And they go back to question Rick now that they're like, uh, Brian, you're Rick, Rick, you're Brian, what's going on? Now, police confront him about his alternate identities. But Brian uses it to double down.

• 31:32Payton Moreland?

  He insists, okay, yes, I am Rick, but I did nothing to Jamie. But he did teach her how to create a new identity and run away because he had done it.

• 31:41Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, gosh, dude, this guy, man.

• 31:44Payton Moreland?

  Still aren't buying it. And in June of 2010, just a week or so after arresting Rick for driving on that suspended license, they get some news. They've received the warrant, I'm just gonna call him Rick from now on, okay, guys? They've received the warrant to open that envelope that they found in Rick's apartment. And inside, they discover a bunch of cut up cards that belonged to Jamie. Her driver's license, her Michigan University alumni card, her credit card.

• 32:13Garrett Moreland?

  Insane.

• 32:14Payton Moreland?

  Now, Rick insists, no, Jamie was the one who did that, remember? I helped her, I helped her run away, I helped her find a new identity. She cut up all her IDs, gave them to me for safety so she could go start a new life. But police see an opportunity to prove whether he's telling the truth or not. They're like, well, let's test the envelope to see who's DNA on it. Like if she cut these up and sealed this envelope, it's her DNA.

• 32:37Garrett Moreland?

  All right, guys, we're jumping into an ad and it is the one and only Skims.

• 32:42Payton Moreland?

  We love Skims and I'm so excited I get to talk to you about their loungewear and pajamas. If you follow me on Instagram, I just posted, but I did get one of their sleep sets that's like a... Deep burgundy color, so cute, so rich, so soft. And then I also got a fleece set that's like this chocolate brown. So freaking cute. I love a good matching set and I love Skims. Again, the sleeps that I got is the soft lounge sleep set. I always get asked like what exactly

• 33:21Payton Moreland?

  it is. Um, so yes, the soft lounge sleep set, it has the perfect weight, the perfect stretch, the fabric will not irritate your skin. Honestly, I recommend Skims to everyone due to just the quality and the comfort that it brings. So go check out their cotton fleece sets or their sleep sets right now.

• 33:43Garrett Moreland?

  Shop Peyton's favorite lounge wear and pajamas at skims.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you. Select podcast in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.

• 33:56Payton Moreland?

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• 34:38Payton Moreland?

  a break in, Simply Safe is built to stop it before it starts. And they have so many different options. If you haven't got on and checked it out, just do it, guys. If you've been waiting for a sign to get some security, this is it. Join the more than 6 million people who entrust Simply Safe with their home security. Right now, save 60% off with professional monitoring when you visit simplysafe.com/husband. That is an amazing code, guys. 60% off.

• 35:08Payton Moreland?

  Simplysafe.com/husband and when you order again, just please let them know murder with my husband sent you. Write it in at the checkout survey. Um, it just lets them know we sent you and it helps support the show. Simply safe ahead of crime and in real time. Sure enough, the DNA on the envelope is a match for Rick. He has sealed the envelope, not Jamie. However, police are like, this still isn't enough.

• 35:32Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, cause he's like, oh, actually I cut it up.

• 35:35Payton Moreland?

  She cut it, gave it to me. I sealed it.

• 35:37Garrett Moreland?

  Correct. Yeah.

• 35:39Payton Moreland?

  What they can't charge him with at this point is fraud and forgery, which they do in June of 2010. And in the meantime, they keep searching for more evidence that Jamie lady didn't just disappear, but that she was murdered. Remember, they don't have a body. So her friends and her family, obviously at this point are also suspecting this as well. That August 2010, five months after Jamie was last seen, they hold a vigil for Jamie. There they pass out flyers and encourage anyone with information to come forward. They also launched the help find Jamie lady Facebook page. And at the same time, police are trying desperately to build a case.

• 36:22Payton Moreland?

  But with no body, they know it's going to be hard to press charges. And with absolutely zero concrete evidence to show foul play had been involved. It's looks like Rick just might get away with being like, I helped her run away.

• 36:35Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 36:36Payton Moreland?

  There's just, I mean, yeah, you, it's like feels obvious, but is it enough to really put him in prison for murder? So he could get away with this forever. If he can keep his mouth shut. Because while he's being held on those fraud charges, Rick says something to an inmate that, okay. He says, ah, yeah, I'm in here because I killed Jamie with a sawed off shotgun, fed her to pigs and chopped up her body before putting her into plastic bags.

• 37:03Garrett Moreland?

  What's up?

• 37:04Payton Moreland?

  Later, he asks the inmate,

• 37:06Garrett Moreland?

  What's up?

• 37:06Payton Moreland?

  Do you think that they will charge me if they can't find her body? Uh, and so this guy becomes a jailhouse informant, which we all know how I feel.

• 37:15Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, I'm not a big fan of jailhouse informant.

• 37:17Payton Moreland?

  We all know how I feel, but this is going to be used in this case. They're going to use this informant to be like, this is why we don't have a body. He fed her to pigs. The answer is yes. This confession is all police need to indict him on charges of second degree murder in March of 2011.

• 37:34Garrett Moreland?

  Second degree.

• 37:35Payton Moreland?

  It's just like, they're trying so hard without any evidence, basically. So in October of that year, Rick Valentini, AKA Brian Stewart, goes on trial. And one of the first witnesses to take the stand for the prosecution is, interestingly, one of Rick's clients. Remember, he's a personal trainer. A woman named Andrea Ardsma. Now Andrea said back in 2010, before Jamie disappeared, she and her husband, who was a pitcher for the Seattle Mariners, were living in Scottsdale for the offseason. And during that time, they were training with Rick, AKA Brian, at their local Gold's Gym.

• 38:15Payton Moreland?

  But Andrea said all she could hear about from Brian while they were training with him was how terrible his girlfriend is. She was, quote, "a whiny, naggy bitch and a sugar mama." Andrea said there was one thing Brian did, though, that really stuck out with her. He would always grab his stomach and call her Jamie the gut,

• 38:37Payton Moreland?

  referring to her physical appearance.

• 38:39Garrett Moreland?

  This is, this is insane because, whatever, anyways, keep going.

• 38:44Payton Moreland?

  So Andrea says on stand that she asked Brian a few times why he didn't just break up with her, if he hated her this bad. But it seems she never really got a straight answer. The jury also heard that Jamie actually had gotten a new job recently, but it wasn't in Colorado. Like Brian had told everyone. It was in Phoenix, Arizona. There was no leaving states. There was no moving. She was supposed to start the day she disappeared. March 18th. Her new employer took the stand to say Jamie seemed really excited about the position, expressed she was looking forward to working with him and then she just never showed up.

• 39:20Payton Moreland?

  And even stranger was what her lawyer slash good friend David told the court. He said he was helping Jamie negotiate her contract for that job. And actually saw her two days before she disappeared to go over the details before signing the contract. He claimed during that meeting, Jamie had bruises on her and he said she seemed like an emotionally and physically battered woman. Also taking the stand for the prosecution was the jailhouse informant who did receive a deal. His two-year sentence for fraud had been reduced to one for his cooperation, which is not the worst deal we've seen for a jailhouse informant. Like usually it's like life in prison lowered. This is just a two-year sentence lowered to one-year sentence.

• 40:05Garrett Moreland?

  And if he was there for two years anyways, yeah.

• 40:08Payton Moreland?

  Despite the defense's better judgment, Rick insisted on taking the stand in his own defense. And after telling the jury, he was given permission by Jamie to use her credit cards. Almost since their very first date, he drops a major bomb and he tells the jury he knows Jamie is still alive. Because she had visited their home, his apartment on a few occasions since her disappearance in March 2010.

• 40:32Garrett Moreland?

  Sometimes wonder if people convince themselves of what they're saying or the, the, the delusion to me is, is wild. Like the amount of delusion people have is just, it's kind of funny.

• 40:46Payton Moreland?

  So his whole thing on the stand was like, I'm here because you say I murdered Jamie, but I'm telling you right now, like, this was our plan. She wanted to run away. I'm the only one who knows who she is now, who her new identity is. I have seen her. I have talked to her. She's come back and visited me. Neither of us thought it was going to get this far, but I am not going to turn her over to police just to stop me from getting this, this murder sentence.

• 41:10Garrett Moreland?

  What a knight in shining armor that guy is.

• 41:12Payton Moreland?

  She, she could just appear. She could just show up to the police station and say, I'm good. Bye.

• 41:17Garrett Moreland?

  Okay, okay.

• 41:18Payton Moreland?

  And none of this would happen, but no.

• 41:21Garrett Moreland?

  No.

• 41:22Payton Moreland?

  He's protecting.

• 41:23Garrett Moreland?

  What a guy, man.

• 41:23Payton Moreland?

  This girlfriend he hated.

• 41:25Garrett Moreland?

  I know, he's a good guy.

• 41:26Payton Moreland?

  So Rick is found guilty of second degree murder. He was sentenced to 22 years for the murder and 32 years for other crimes related to the murder like fraud and weapons charges. A grand total of 54 years behind bars, which will put him in his 90s when released. But since Rick continued denying any wrongdoing, that meant that justice is not really served.

• 41:52Garrett Moreland?

  No.

• 41:53Payton Moreland?

  For Jamie or her family.

• 41:54Garrett Moreland?

  And I hate when that happens.

• 41:56Payton Moreland?

  No one has no idea what actually happened to Jamie.

• 41:59Garrett Moreland?

  I mean, it could very well be what the.

• 42:02Payton Moreland?

  Informant said.

• 42:02Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, because there'd be nothing left.

• 42:05Payton Moreland?

  But this all changed.

• 42:08Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, oh my gosh, why'd you do that?

• 42:10Payton Moreland?

  I just had to.

• 42:11Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, just, okay.

• 42:12Payton Moreland?

  Because it did take a while, seven years later.

• 42:14Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 42:15Payton Moreland?

  Seven years is a long time to be like, he's in jail, but we have no idea what happened. On June 21st, 2018, they found something. That day, a construction crew was working at a vacant lot in the Chandler area of Phoenix, right near Jamie's old home. And they discovered a set of decomposed human remains under a pile of dirt.

• 42:34Garrett Moreland?

  Wow.

• 42:35Payton Moreland?

  A week later, the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office identified the body as none other than missing and murdered 32 year old Jamie Laity. The autopsy details remain undisclosed, but chances are the remains were probably too decomposed to even tell. How he killed her is how he said he killed her. But either way, we now know she was murdered right near her home.

• 43:00Garrett Moreland?

  Well, also, does the, does the inmate, because like, did he lie? Did he tell the truth? Does he still get that sentence knocked down?

• 43:08Payton Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 43:08Garrett Moreland?

  Not that that's the point of the story, but just curious.

• 43:10Payton Moreland?

  He's not backing what he's saying, he's just informing the jury what he was told.

• 43:15Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 43:15Payton Moreland?

  So he doesn't have to be right or wrong. He, all he has to do is say, this is what I heard.

• 43:20Garrett Moreland?

  Like, what if he made it up and then he happened to just get lucky that he actually did kill someone? You know what I'm saying?

• 43:25Payton Moreland?

  Yeah, totally possible. I mean, there was a lot of circumstantial.

• 43:29Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 43:29Payton Moreland?

  Like finger pointing of like, okay, it's obvious. So, so we don't know if how he said he killed her was true or not. He obviously didn't feed her to the pigs part because they found her body.

• 43:41Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 43:42Payton Moreland?

  Um, but she, she could have been cut up. She could have been shot.

• 43:45Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, gosh.

• 43:45Payton Moreland?

  So afterwards, Jamie's family posted on her Facebook page that the search for Jamie was officially over. The post read, quote, "Our hearts are still broken, but at least now we can honor Jamie's glorious memory properly." Which is just such a like.

• 44:05Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 44:06Payton Moreland?

  Yes, there's a win in the case.

• 44:09Garrett Moreland?

  That's silver lining, I guess, but not really. It's horrible.

• 44:13Payton Moreland?

  Since Jamie's passing, a Chinese peony tree has been planted in her honor at the University of Michigan, which is so amazing because it feels like this was a really big, major part of the short life that she got to live. And I'm happy that, you know, this place where Jamie felt free, happy, able to express herself fully, had a ton of friends. A place where she had hope and promise for the future, where her spirit grew. There is now a tree there that represents her that grows as well. And I, I do think that that is a really great way to honor that part of her life. So I wanted to include it, but that was the devastating, just absolutely

• 44:59Payton Moreland?

  what, why murder of Jamie Lady? Also, like, she just was so nice and kind, took care of him.

• 45:08Garrett Moreland?

  I don't understand. Don't understand.

• 45:10Payton Moreland?

  Did not deserve this. What are, like, you meet this psycho crazy who's a huge liar, who you don't even know has had three wives, two daughters, is eight years older than he says, not even using his real name, and then he just kills you? Like, it's just gross. It's frustrating.

• 45:27Garrett Moreland?

  Crazy that he was able to go that long under that identity. That's nuts. That's.

• 45:32Payton Moreland?

  It's disturbing. All right, you guys, that was our episode for today, and we will see you next week with another one. I love it.

• 45:39Garrett Moreland?

  And I hate it.

• 45:40Payton Moreland?

  Goodbye.