S7, Chapter 4: Big Brother

0:01 I had to open the bruise up and let some of the blues blood come out to show them. I gets so mad when I get accused of using Jacob's death to make money or to get famous or whatever, like I don't want any of that. I don't even care about that. In fact, the only reason I'm doing this, the only reason I'm telling the story, is because I think it's important for people to understand that New Mexico has always, always failed at taking care of children. Come out to come out to show them. This stuff has been happening forever. New Mexico has failed its kids forever. In a lot of ways. We're last in education, we're first in child abuse. You know, we have so many horrible statistics, and you know the fact that people are getting away with it is not surprising to me, not getting fit, it's not. And so the only reason I'm doing this, well, maybe there's two. The first reason is I want people to pay attention. I want people to be fucking outraged that this is continuing to happen. I want people to stop not caring about what's going on around them because they don't like politics or whatever. Because it's like, if we continue to just ignore this shit. It's going to just keep getting

1:32 worse. So that's the first part. The second part is I fucking want justice. Yep, I want justice for Jacob. I agree. I want him to pay for what he did to my brother. Open Open up, Rules Up. Tapes from the Dark Side contains descriptions of violence and sexuality. Listener discretion is advised. When Brenda discovered that John was making lewed phone calls to her thirteen year old niece, she decided it was time to leave the relationship for good. That was November of nineteen ninety and then less than two months later, in January of nineteen ninety one, Brenda again went to the police to report that she now firmly believed John had killed Jacob, and this time she had evidence. Brenda submitted to the police a letter that John had given her, signed by him. The letter said quote, I will never hit you again. Brenda told the police how John had been physically abusive to her during the course of her marriage, and that she feared he could also hurt their son Eric. At this time, Brenda was unaware that John had

3:06 already been physically and sexually abusing Eric. She told the cops everything she knew how John tried to convince her to meet him in the cemetery, where he promised to tell her what happened to her son. She told them how he had been making lewd phone calls to her thirteen year old niece, and most importantly, she told them that a story about what happened to Jacob didn't make sense. She told them she believed John had beaten Jacob to death. The police officially reopened their investigation into John. Remember, at this point they already had the failed polygraph test, a verbal recorded confession. The ball was firmly in their court. Yet the Secoro Police Department again failed to act, that is until August twelfth, nineteen ninety two, a year and a half later.

3:55 In the steps they would take at that point gave Brenda an cope. An arrest warrant was issued for John, signed by the district court judge, the charge abandonment or abuse of a child thirty Dash sixth Dash one. In the arrest warrant, for the first time, we get a description of the incident in which John originally confessed to Assistant Chief Johnny Trhio back in nineteen eighty seven. This is the incident in which Assistant Chief Tchohio originally reported as being strong enough evidence to call off the first polygraph, which was later rescheduled for undisclosed reasons. This incident is the one that Assistant Chief Tchohio describes in his own report as a quote confession, and is the interview for which all audio recording, description, transcript, and even police notes were supposedly lost by the SIKOROPD From the arrest warrant quote Assistant Chief Trohio advised that on April fourteenth, nineteen eighty seven, had approximately tenth thirty am, he conducted an interview with the defendant. Tuhio advised that the defendant stated that Jacob had tonsillitis in an ear infection and that they were giving him different types of medication. Jacob was active when Merlinda brought him over, and the only time he noticed anything different was when Jacob was sitting behind him, at which time John thought he was getting sleepy. John picked Jacob up and started to take him to bed when the tape player snapped, so he put Jacob on the couch in the corner

5:28 and gave him a biscuit. He then went back to the stereo and turned the tape over and started to record again, and this is when he heard a coughing, choke gagging type thing. He picked up Jacob and placed him over his arm and patted him on the back, trying to get him to stop choking. Then he held Jacob upside down and hit him on the back. John says he doesn't remember hitting him on the head, but he was hitting him right around the back of the neck, in between the shoulder blades. John then ran to the neighbors and asked them to call nine one one. He put Jacob on the floor on his back, but some more vomits started coming out, so he put Jacob on his side and then pushed in on his stomach and chest and also started hitting him some more. He then started mouth to mouth and noticed a heartbeat. Trufio asked John about why he had hit Jacob, and the defendants stated that when he panicked, he probably was hitting him harder, and then the last thing he could remember was holding him upside down and hitting him on the back, yelling Jake Trufio asked if it was possible that when he panicked he could have hit Jacob in the head and if that could have caused the injury. The defendants stated that anything was possible because he had lost it until he got to the neighbors and the rest warrant is also a description of the polygraph examination that was conducted on July fourteenth, nineteen eighty seven, which is when John told the beard story for the first time, when he was playing a game where his beard tickled in between Jacob's legs, which is the same incident where he said he accidentally knocked him

7:00 off balance and Jacob hit his head on the chair. Let's do a quick recap. At this point. We have three stories from John. They don't all directly contradict each other, but they are variations on what happened, perhaps each one containing a bit of truth. But what is clear is that even if John didn't purposely beat Jacob to death, which still remains a possibility, his confession of his own negligence seems like it should have been more than enough to get a conviction. John left Jacob unattended multiple times, said he accidentally pushed him off a chair so he hit his head, said he held him upside down and beat him in the back, said that he might have hit him in the head and caused his injury. Again, I don't know much about childcare. I don't have kids, but I know that if a kid's choking, you don't hold them upside down and hit them. I think it's worth repeating that the doctor who examined Jacob's injuries stated that the wound on his head could not have been caused by falling down a couple of feet. From that report quote, the baby could not have suffered his injuries by falling off a couch and striking a coffee table. He would have had to fallen from a great height, approximately four stories to sustain that type of injury. It appears that the injury was caused by a severe blow from a blunt object, such as an open hand. There are a variety of ways that injustice can

8:33 be perpetrated by our legal system, but at the top of the list of the most frustrating ways is perhaps in action or apathy. It can be soul crushing to see the potential for justice slip through your hands only for nothing to happen. And that is why it's my sincere regret to inform you that, after John was arrested in nineteen ninety two. Again, nothing happened, No charges were brought against him, There was no trial, no conviction, nothing. As far as we know, John spent one night in jail August twelfth, nineteen ninety two. He was then released into this day. It's a freeman. Something good. All those injuries he sustained. Yeah, you know, I'll understand terms, but it's blood. He basically was bleeding inside of his he was killed. He hit him, He hit him well. And there's points in there where the medical investigator or the investigating officer, um, there's a couple of other people that certificate very clear. Yes it's homicide.

9:48 It's right there. Why didn't they do something? What else do you need? I don't understand how he never like he never even had a grand jury trial. He said he did one night in jail, one night, and then he was gone the next day as Daddy took him out. So I know you were like pressuring the DA after you left him to do something at least pressuring. Everybody was raising hell. Remember, I just didn't understand why didn't do not doing I'm still and I wrote letters and once I could talk about it, and I didn't know he was a liar. Everything he said was a lie. Brenda and Eric have not given up their fight for justice.

10:37 In two thousand and five, they tried again and again. The case was reopened thirteen years after that arrest warrant from ninety two. In April of two thousand and five, Brenda Crawford sent this email to Pique Cassettas at the Department of Public Safety in New Mexico, subject cold case child abuse resulting in death. Mister cassettis my nine month old son was beaten to death on April seventh, nineteen eighty seven. I've done everything in my power to seek justice in this case, from speaking directly to the last two das to contacting victim's rights, but so far nothing has been done. The name of the victim was Jacob Landine. I am the mother of this victim, Brenda Crawford.

11:24 The reason that was given for not prosecuting is because they could not give John a speedy trial and they said they were afraid he might sue the county. I think this is a cop out. John failed the lie detector test. He confessed to two different officers. This is not a lack of evidence. Secoro County police are negligent. They do not care that this person has never been punished and probably is still hurting innocent children. I did not have all the information until nineteen ninety, but the DA's office did, yet they did not do their job. In two thousand and five, the case was yet again reopened. This time the man that Brenda had emailed assigned Sergeant Thomas E.

12:07 Christian Senior to look into the case. Sergeant Christian reviewed all the documents that we have also reviewed so far, and not surprisingly, he came to the same exact conclusion as we did from Sergeant Christian's report quote investigative conclusion. After an extensive review of the completed investigative reports, it is my opinion that the criminal charge of abandonment or abuse of a child, which resulted in the death of Jacob Landeene, a first degree felony in nineteen eighty seven, was justified and should have been pursued. The defendant was arrested in nineteen ninety two and charged without offense, but after his arrest it appears that nothing else occurred.

12:56 There was sufficient evidence, in this investigator's opinion, to prove that the defendant knew of Jacob's recent head injury and the defendant should have been more attentive to Jacob's needs. The defendant did negligently and without justifiable cause, placed Jacob in a situation that endangered his life. He changes story or version of events several times. That fact alone draws a lot of suspicion to any story he tells. This incident which resulted in Jacob's death occurred one way, not two or three ways as told by the defendant. The defendant needed to be much more attentive to Jacob's needs, as he was only nine months old and still in need of almost constant supervision. The defendant failed to do this. The investigation will be referred for a secondary review to the seventh Judicial District Attorney's Office in Saquaro County, New Mexico. Case status open. Any hope that this news might have brought was extremely short lived. Socorro sat on this case for thirteen years, and now there were numerous problems with trying to bring the case to trial. First was the issue of a speedy trial. If the state had pursued the case in nineteen ninety two, they might have been able to charge this crime, But now thirteen years later, there was the issue of statute of limitations. A first degree murder conviction is exceedingly hard to obtain, and a second degree felony charge must be brought within sixty years in the state

14:28 of New Mexico, but again it had now been thirteen years. Abuse that results in great bodily harm or death of a child can be charged with a first degree felony, which has a more generous fifteen years, but that is stated as from the date of the offense. Jacob was killed in nineteen eighty seven, so technically two thousand and two would have been the last year to bring murder charges. In my personal opinion, that seems wrong, but my league opinion simply doesn't matter. I do understand you have to have some kind of statute of limitations, but for first degree murder, fifteen years seems too short. Does that mean you can just kill someone and then fifteen years and a day later in New Mexico you can confess in the state can't do anything.

15:18 It sounds like a question for my friend and legal expert Bob Mada, and I'm going to reach out to him try to find out. But for now, all we know is that in two thousand and five, New Mexico was again unwilling to prosecute the case. This is a letter from Bruce Burwell, chief Deputy District Attorney, who I might add was also the district attorney in nineteen eighty seven when New Mexico originally declined to prosecute this case. R. E. Jacob landeine matter, Dear Sergeant Christian. I have reviewed the material you sent me concerning the above entitled investigations several times and have given the matter a great deal of consideration. On several occasions, I have determined that there's insufficient evidence at this time to proceed with a felony prosecution. I'm also of the opinion that the extreme age of this matter, coupled with the Statute of limitations, which was in effect at the time the death, would by itself make it impossible to proceed with a prosecution in this case. If you have any questions concerning this matter that you feel I may be able to answer, police, feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience. Very truly, yours, rusper Well. There's no reason not to like. I don't get it. Did they pay him off or what? Well? The DA was well before that, so the DA I remember you. I actually read in here in your documentation, which I'm like super grateful that you did all

16:51 of that because it really tells the whole story. But how he said that you changed your story and that's why he didn't prosecute. That's why he impressed charges. And when I look back at what your story was, it wasn't a story. They asked you if you felt like he was capable of hurting Jacob, and you said, I don't think so exactly. So that's not your story. No, that's you answering a question, right right. I didn't think he was. Why I would I leave my kid with him? Nobody thought he was, and we thought he was this great person, like, there's no way I would send my son to somebody that was like that if I knew, and I didn't change my story. Ever, I guess the problem for me, and the thing that bothers me the most, is that just the blatant corruption and the blatant like lack of any kind of human understanding, empathy, willingness to just fucking listen, you know, like we get maybe two feet forward, start talking to a whole case investigative, the state Police and then it just falls off the face of the earth, nothing happens. Just who does it would murder? Basically, I made a freedom of information I request for everything related to this case from the state police.

18:04 Good and I'm gonna do another one with the county and another one with the Sea because I feel like there's probably a lot more to this than we even know. I wouldn't be surprised. I'm surprised they never did anything, and I don't understand why still to this day. So I think we're at a good, like stopping place almost, but I do want to just get your last thoughts about what do you want to happen. I just think if the story touches even one life, if it helps even one person not to have to go we did, it would be worth telling. I want to cook to help justice because it's not right. He couldn't talk, and you know I couldn't talk, and it took thirty three years for me to let the story out. And you know, I'm so proud of you what you've done and what you're doing, and I believe in you and thank you for giving Jacob voice and all the other kids. It's too late for mine, but it's not too late for somebody else's if you see the science. If your baby's scared, if they're holding on to you, they don't want to let

19:36 Oh something's wrong, pay attention to those science. Don't leave your babies with your boyfriends. They might be good, kind artists. And oh, I'll watch him, I'll watch him. Don't do it, gold, You're good. You know. I felt it and I couldn't do nothing about it because I was stuck at work. But I knew something was wrong, and look what happened. And I didn't pay attention to the science because I didn't believe it because I've known him. I went to church with him, I went to school with him. I thought I knew this person, and I didn't at all. And I just want if it saves one child without school, mother without one son not to go through this, that's what I want.

20:30 Thank you, well, thank you, thank you. I was not easy, man. There's there's so much stuff in here, but you've addressed so much of it in your first interview with your mom that I'm gonna be using so much of that. Okay, UM, trying to just review this. Did you have anything you wanted to add to this. Can I talk to your listeners for a second, please please? All right, So, I just want to say thank you so much for listening to Jacob's story. It means the world that you care enough to listen. And I hope that you can just take one small action for me today, if you can just share Jacob's story, whether it's on Tz's podcast tapes from the Dark Side, or any other episode of Jacob's that has been produced out there. The more we can get this out, the more likely we are to get our day in court. And Jacob deserves that, my mom deserves that. We've been waiting for thirty six years. It's time. It's time. So if you could help with that, it would mean the world to me. I know it seems like a little thing, but it is so much bigger than you can imagine. It really helps and I appreciate it. And you deserve that too, man. I know you said, Jacob Mom, but you deserve that.

22:02 Thank you. Love you, dude, love you too. Thanks man. I think, yeah, that's powerful. It's good stuff. Man. Every year I think it's not gonna get to me, but it does. It's getting to me, and I'm you know, I'm so far removed from it, so it's uh, I can only imagine. Man, it's it's so awful. Thank you for thank you for doing this, man, it means a lot. I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner. I just get caught up in my own world and no worries. Honestly, I feel very honored to be able to cover it and to be able to talk to you.

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27:45 a message on Facebook or Instagram. I'll put my biolinks down in the show notes. On Instagram I'm at the dark Sidepod and Facebook dot com slash the dark Sidepod m. Thanks for listening in until next time, try to enjoy the daylight. I had to like open the bruise up and let some of the blues blood come out to show them, to show them, to show the show, to shoot shoo shoo