Dark Crossroads
A podcast about all things true crime & paranormal
Welcome to Dark Crossroads Podcast! We bring you gripping stories and intriguing discussions in the fascinating world of the paranormal, true crime and the unknown. We offer a captivating range of episodes that will leave you questioning the boundaries of reality.
At Dark Crossroads Podcast, we pride ourselves on delivering thought-provoking content that keeps our listeners on the edge of their seats. Our episodes explore supernatural phenomena, unsolved mysteries, and unexplained events, providing a unique platform for those interested in the uncharted and enigmatic.
Whether you're a devoted follower of the paranormal or just searching for something off the beaten path, Dark Crossroads Podcast invites you to join our growing community of curious minds. Immerse yourself in our immersive storytelling and engaging discussions, and let your imagination run wild. Check us out at the link below and embark on a journey that will challenge your perception of the world around you. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast for all bonus content!
Don’t. Trust. Anyone.
Dark Crossroads
Into Thin Air: The Unsolved Disappearance of Jason Landry
What really happened to Jason Landry, the Texas State University student who vanished without a trace on his way home for winter break? Join us as we unravel the events surrounding his mysterious disappearance, starting from the haunting discovery of his abandoned car, to the baffling clues left behind. Was it a voluntary disappearance, or is something more sinister at play? Despite the use of advanced technology and exhaustive search efforts, Jason remains missing, and his family continues to seek closure, holding out hope that someone, somewhere, has the crucial information needed to solve this heartbreaking case.
Packed With Purpose
Woman Owned business that embeds social & environmental impact into the everyday act of gift giving
Curiosity Box
Use promo code dark30 when Subscribing to Quarterly or Annual Plan and get a FREE Lightyear Bottle!
Please don't forget to like, rate, review & subscribe. ♡
Be Weird. Stay Different. Don't Trust Anyone!
Our website, places to listen, where to find us on social media and how to subscribe to have access to bonus content, become our bestie and receive a shout-out in upcoming episodes!!!
Welcome to Dark Crossroads Podcast, hosted by Roxanne Fletcher. This is your stop for all things true crime and paranormal. From the infamous story of the New Bedford Highway Killer to the chilling tale of the Black Eyed Children, dark Crossroads Podcast is a truly deep dive into the stories that frighten and fascinate you. All links to the show will be provided in this episode's description, and don't forget to let us know what you think of today's episode.
Speaker 1:Jason Landry left his apartment in San Marcos, texas, around 11 pm on Sunday, december 13th of 2020. The 21-year-old, who was a student at Texas State University, had finished all of his finals and was heading to his parents' home in Missouri City, texas, for the winter break. He was in a good mood when he set out to make the 165-mile drive to Missouri City, but he never arrived at his parents' house. His Nissan Altima was found wrecked and abandoned later that night. It was just 30 miles away from his apartment. Jason was not anywhere near his car and he was never seen again.
Speaker 1:A volunteer firefighter returning home after a call found the Altima on Salt Flat Road near Luling, texas, shortly after 1230 am. He called the police and told them that the car had crashed into a tree. An officer with the Texas Highway Patrol responded to the scene of the crash but found no sign of Jason. Initially, the officer believed that they were likely dealing with a drunk driver who had possibly crashed his car and then fled the scene to avoid getting arrested. He called for a tow truck to pick up the Altima and took it to an inbound lot. When the car was found, its headlights were still on and the keys were still in the ignition. All of the doors, except the front driver's side door, were locked and Jason's cell phone and some other personal belongings were found inside. Around 900 feet away from the car, the officer found Jason's backpack, a ball cap, a small bag of toiletries and a small plastic tumbler containing his betta fish, which were dead. Inside of his backpack, the officer found a small amount of marijuana, jason's laptop and some gaming equipment. While the officer was waiting for the tow truck to arrive, he went through the glove compartment and found the car's registration. It was registered to Jason's parents, kent and Lisa Landry. The officer called and told them that the Altima had been in an accident and when they learned that Jason was not at the scene, kent, his father, immediately drove to Luling to see what was going on.
Speaker 1:Kent, who was the senior pastor of a Missouri City church, was desperate to find his son and did not feel that the highway patrol were doing enough to locate Jason. He decided to conduct his own search of the area. Kent found several articles of Jason's clothing, including a pair of shorts, a shirt, a pair of socks, a pair of underwear, a pair of shoes and a wristwatch. Interviews with Jason's friends at the school later confirmed that the items of clothing found in the street were the same items that he had been wearing when he left to make the drive home. This seemed to indicate that Jason had stripped out of his clothing after getting out of his wrecked car, despite the fact that the temperatures were only a few degrees above freezing.
Speaker 1:Investigators said that there was no evidence that Jason's car had been forced off the road. All of the damage to his car had been made when he impacted two trees after skidding off the road. It was possible that he had swerved to avoid hitting a deer and then overcorrected, resulting in his spinning around and slamming into the trees, hitting them trunk first. There was no paint or other evidence to suggest a second vehicle had been involved by Monday night, state and local police departments, as well as dozens of volunteers, were involved in the search for Jason. Investigators believed that the crash had likely occurred shortly before it was discovered, meaning that Jason had only a limited amount of time to get out of the area before police would arrive. They weren't sure if he had walked off on his own or had been picked up by somebody, but no one came forward claiming to see him after this crash.
Speaker 1:Texas Department of Public Safety Sergeant Dion Cockrell said that a handful of different agencies were assisting in the search, but by Tuesday night they still did not know what happened to Jason. He goes on to state that "we have searched the entire area with DPS helicopters, drones, other agencies have come out, state and local, even the Texas search and rescue team with their canines", and all results came up empty. Lisa Landry was worried that Jason had been injured in the crash and was unable to make his way home. She goes on to state he's alone, he doesn't have his phone or his wallet, and it's cold outside and he's probably hurt. A few drops of blood had been found on some of his clothing that had been left in the road, but it was not enough to suggest that he was seriously injured. Despite the fact that they had not found any indications that Jason was still in the area, sgt Cockrell said the search would continue. He went on to state that they were going to keep on searching until they think that there was no hope left, which could be two days, three days, four days and so on. He states they are going to keep on searching until we either find him or we find an answer.
Speaker 1:The search intensified on Tuesday and Texas Ecusearch joined the hunt for Jason. Search teams combed through the remote area northeast of Lolling where the car had been found. A local man who owned property in the area told reporters it's a place where someone could easily get lost. There is a lot of old wells old wells that were never capped or cemented, just holes in the ground and a lot of creeks and a lot of steep banks. Tracking dogs were able to pick up his scent leading away from his car, indicating that he had walked away from this accident. The dogs followed his scent towards Lolling for about a quarter of a mile before it eventually disappeared. It was possible that he had walked away from this accident. The dogs followed his scent towards Luling for about a quarter of a mile before it eventually disappeared. It was possible that he had gotten into a car with someone at that point.
Speaker 1:The search continued on to Wednesday and officials decided to search a pond that was near the accident site. After search dogs seemed to pick up Jason's scent near the edge of the water, the search team got a sonar hit that did resemble the shape of a body, prompting the decision to drain the pond. Jason's family tried to prepare themselves for the worst and waited anxiously while the pond was drained, but there was no sign of Jason. The Texas Department of Safety and members of Texas AccuSearch spent Thursday going back over several areas near where Jason's car had been found, looking for anything that might have been missed in the initial search. They did not come up with anything, and they did admit that they were starting to fear the worst.
Speaker 1:A reporter asked Kent if he thought Jason might be hiding somewhere, maybe afraid to come home because he had wrecked his parents' car, but Kent didn't think that that was the case. He did, however, have a message for Jason. This message was don't worry about getting in trouble, the car is just a stupid car. We love you. Call someone, call the police, call home. We just want you home. A week after Jason went missing, there had been little progress made in locating him. A prayer vigil was held for the missing man on December 20th of 2020, and his parents thanked the community for all of their support during the search efforts. Kent noted we are living in the worst dreams of every parent. It feels like a bad dream, a bad dream that we've been hoping to wake up from, and I pray my son is alive and pray that someone is hopefully taking care of him.
Speaker 1:The Caldwell County Sheriff's Office was not immediately called to investigate Jason's disappearance. The highway patrol officer hadn't thought that there was anything unusual about the accident. This meant that the investigators from the Sheriff's Office never had a chance to look at the car before it was towed to an impound lot. Jason had been missing for nearly a week before the case was transferred to them. Caldwell County Sergeant William Miller admitted there were certain things that weren't done in the first hours after the discovery. We were not conducting a true missing persons investigation at that time. Once the case was handed over to the sheriff's office, they had to play a lot of catch up. They were working to determine where Jason had been in the hours before the car crash and they were interviewing his friends and his classmates.
Speaker 1:On December 22nd of 2020, volunteers with Texas Ecusearch said that they would be suspending their search for Jason. At the time, they were feeling that the entire area had been thoroughly searched without finding any evidence of him. They assumed that his family would launch another search if the sheriff's office developed any credible leads about where Jason might be. Investigators combed through an additional 300 acres of land near Luling, but did not find any sign of Jason. They also used a drone to take video footage of the entire area, which was then painstakingly combed through for any potential evidence. As with all the other searches, however, all results came up empty again. As the physical search for Jason drew to a sad close, caldwell County Sheriff at the time, daniel Law, felt confident that the missing man was not anywhere within the 31 square miles that had been searched. He states we will not speculate on what may have happened to Jason, but we feel the vast area surrounding the accident scene has been thoroughly searched and Jason still has not been found.
Speaker 1:Detectives from the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office traveled to Missouri City and interviewed his parents and his siblings. They also collected several things that had been found inside of Jason's car so that they could be processed for potential forensic evidence. Kent made a public appeal for anyone with any information about his son's whereabouts to please come forward. He stated If someone knows something or might know something might have seen him, please tell someone. He was desperate to have his son home in time for Christmas. Sergeant Miller told reporters that he didn't have enough information to form an opinion about what had happened to Jason, but he was still hoping to find him alive. He went on to state. We are trying to run down all our leads. It would have been easier if we had started a week ago. Jason's family agreed they were very critical of the way the Texas Department of Public Safety had handled the case and wondered if Jason would have been found immediately had the case been assigned to the sheriff's office from the very beginning.
Speaker 1:On January 29th of 2021, the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office stated that they had been able to gain access to most of Jason's cell phone and computer data. They learned that he had briefly stopped using his GPS to open Snapchat on his phone at 11.24pm on the night that he disappeared. He missed a turn and ended up on Salt Flat Road where his car was found at 12.31am. Although his cell phone was still on and had a signal, he never used it again after 11.24 pm and officials were trying to determine what happened after this point. In a Facebook post, the sheriff's office wrote there is no evidence that Jason was traveling to meet with or had communicated intent to meet with anybody in or around Lolling. They believed he had ended up on the isolated dirt road simply by accident after missing a turn he should have taken. The Caldwell County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Rangers were working together to process evidence in this case. This included submitting several of the items for DNA testing to confirm that they belonged to Jason.
Speaker 1:On February 26th of 2021, texas Search and Rescue conducted a three-day search for Jason. The group used dog teams, searchers on horseback, drones and helicopters to scour Caldwell County. They covered around 50 square miles but unfortunately found no sign of Jason. In May of 2021, jason's family announced that they were offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to his safe return home. Tolita Copeland, a retired FBI agent who volunteered to search for missing people, noted If you know anything or if you've seen anything, we can protect you. We can keep you confidential. Just call us and talk to us.
Speaker 1:A year after Jason set out to drive home for the holidays, he was still missing and although his case remained open, investigators had not been able to develop any substantial leads and still had no idea what had happened to him. Both the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office and Texas Search and Rescue had conducted several additional searches for the missing student, but had not found any clues to where his whereabouts were. Months went by and the case started to stall, and by December of 2022, jason had been missing for two years and investigators couldn't agree about what happened to him. While detectives with the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office believe that Jason walked away from the accident and vanished on his own, his parents and the retired FBI investigator think that he was the victim of a crime. Kent thinks that the initial officer on the scene wrote Jason off the moment that he found marijuana in his backpack. He stated it just feels like your child is discarded because they treated everything with this investigation with such indifference. Kent went on to point out that he was the one who found Jason's clothing in the road after Jason's car had already been towed.
Speaker 1:By the second anniversary of their son's disappearance, kent and Lisa had resigned themselves to the fact that Jason was likely no longer alive, but they wanted to know what actually happened to him and they wanted to bring him home for a proper burial. Abel Pena, a retired FBI agent who heads Project Absentees, a non-profit organization that helps the families of missing persons, said that he and his team of investigators believe that Jason met with foul play. He states I think that the biggest red flags for us were the clothes just being laid where they were. We all agreed it appeared like it was staged. He doesn't believe Jason was behind the wheel of the car when it crashed.
Speaker 1:Caldwell County Sheriff's Captain Jeff Ferry agrees that Jason is likely dead, but he doesn't believe that it was a result of a crime. He noted that Jason had messaged his friends about marijuana and other personal things that night. He states when we look at the totality of things, it really paints a picture of almost an internal crisis that Jason was dealing with. He thinks that Jason fled on foot after crashing his car and they have just been unable to find his remains. Jason's parents just want to find him, no matter what the reason behind his disappearance was or might be.
Speaker 1:Kent pointed out that the law enforcement seemed to make their mind up immediately that Jason was just a college kid on drugs and thus put little effort into finding him. They saw his clothes lying in the middle of the road and didn't even bother to pick them up. If you literally think there is some college student naked in a 30 degree weather night, shouldn't you at least search for him? For Jason's parents, siblings, friends and other relatives, he will always be more than just another missing college student. They have done everything possible over the past two years to raise awareness about Jason's disappearance and make sure that he is not forgotten. They have held prayer vigils, organized searches and raised reward money. They hold their breath every time an unidentified body is found and they hold on to the memories of all the good times that they shared with Jason, praying that they will one day be reunited with him.
Speaker 1:Jason David Landry was just 21 years old when he went missing from Lulling, texas, in December of 2020. Jason was driving home to Missouri City, texas, from his apartment at Texas State University in San Margo when he vanished. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance are murky and investigators have been unable to determine exactly what happened to him that night. Jason has brown hair and brown eyes, and at the time that he disappeared he was 6 feet 1 inches tall and weighed 170 pounds. Jason has a scar on his left ankle and one on the right side of his neck. If you have any information about Jason or if you know anybody who does, please contact the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office at 512-398-6777. You can also call anonymously at 726-777-1359. There is also a Facebook page that you can follow that friends and family really contribute to, and it is titled Missing Person-Jason Landry Alrighty.
Speaker 1:So it's that time, guys, to say goodbye. But before I do so, I just want to send a thank you to all of my listeners for your continued love and support and for sending in cases that you want covered and stories that you want read on the podcast. We truly accept all stories, including scary, paranormal and funny. Any cases you want covered or stories that you want read on the podcast, just please send them in to darkcrossroadspodcast at gmailcom. Thank you for hanging out again today and if you want any more information about the podcast or cases and stories that we cover, then head on over to the website at wwwdarkcrossroadspodcastcom. There you can find all of the information about the podcast, a link to our merch and also our blog covering all of the cases that we cover. You can also find us on all social media platforms. Don't forget to like share rate review.
Speaker 1:Subscribe wherever you're listening to us. You can subscribe to the podcast for bonus information. There is a link in all episodes in the notes that will send you to our subscription page and with that you will get bonus content, discount on future merch and a lot of extra goodies. Every single dollar that comes through donations or through our subscription goes straight into the podcast, helping fund research and it really helps us out and keeps this podcast going. And with all of this said, please don't forget to be weird, stay different and don't trust anyone. Dark crossroads podcast is brought to you by Problem Wildlife. Problem Wildlife serves all of western Massachusetts and has been humanely protecting your house and your family from unwanted pests for over 20 years. Take back your space with an animal control service that you can trust. They are family-owned, fully licensed and are knowledgeable and dependable. To find out more about their service, simply visit their website at wwwproblemwildliferemovalcom, and their information will be included in our show notes.
