Young Mother & Daughter Still Missing 20 Years Later: Where Are Jennifer & Adrianna Wix?
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you are new, then welcome. So, guys, today we're going to be talking about a case that is unbelievably sad and very, very frustrating. We're going to be talking about not one victim, but two victims, Jennifer and Adriana Wicks, who have been missing now for 20 years. And when I first started looking into the case, I was like,

Just naturally, I started thinking that the reporting and most of the reporting was accurate. I mean, I think it's just human nature to assume that a reputable source is reporting the right information. But after I spoke to their family, which they are going to be joining us today via interview clips and kind of tell the story as obviously they can tell it best themselves, I realized how much misinformation is out there.

and how much the reporting on the case has led people to just believe the wrong things. Jennifer Wicks was only 21 years old when she went missing, and her daughter Adriana was only two. And not only does the narrative need to be corrected, but...

Their story needs to be shared far and wide because 20 years is too long for a family to have no answers. And I'm so grateful that their family reached out. They're amazing people. I'm so, so impressed by them. And I'm happy that they're going to be here to discuss the case along with me. Their family has truly never given up. Even after 20 years, they're still fighting as hard as they can, and they're not going to stop. They're truly such warriors, and I'm just...

to be able to collaborate with them today. And as always, when I invite a family onto the show, I really hope you guys can be extra kind in the comments because I know they're going to be reading it. And it's a lot of pressure to come onto a channel like this, onto a show like this. And, you know, it's a big platform. It can be really overwhelming and a little scary, especially talking about the worst thing that has ever happened to you. So I'm very grateful to have them. And I hope you guys can really

really show them some support today. And I'm also really excited to tell you guys that my new foundation, the Higher Hope Foundation, has awarded one of our first grants to the Wicks family. On top of the obvious emotional toll that this has taken on them, they have also endured so many financial burdens through this whole process and

Obviously, they never could have prepared for that or knew that was coming. And so I'm really happy that we are able to award them our Hope Grant. Now, the Hope Grant serves to relieve some of the financial pressure associated with the murder or disappearance of a loved one. And so we're currently in the process of working with them to decide where exactly the funds will be allocated.

But to stay up to date on all of this, you can follow our Instagram page where we will be posting updates on the grants as they start to roll out to many different families. We actually have a few in process right now. And again, thank you. This foundation would not be possible without all of you. And if you would like to support Higher Hope,

You can check out our website, which is higherhope.org, and there is a button to easily donate, or you can purchase any of our merch, and a percentage from any of the shows will go directly to the foundation as well. Before we jump in here, I do have to, of course, say that everyone I mention in this episode is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and I just hope their day in court comes soon.

But with that, let's go ahead and jump in. And I want to start out by telling you about Jennifer Wicks. So Jennifer K. Wicks was born on August 16th, 1982 in the rural city of Springfield, Tennessee to her parents, Kathy and Michael. And although her parents ultimately didn't stay together, Jennifer always really had a

a strong sense of family. From a young age, she was always very close with her father and even inherited much of her complexion from him. But in the divorce, she ended up living with her mom, who went on to have two more daughters, Heather and Casey. So in total, Jennifer would end up being the oldest of six girls, which is a huge responsibility, and she took on that responsibility with a lot of pride. She was a

She was a naturally kind, nurturing person, and that was reflected in all of the relationships that she had. In high school, her mom Kathy says that Jennifer really gravitated towards the students who had learning differences and was overall a very inclusive type of person, which is always really impressive at a young age. Jennifer was also a very driven person, a very determined person, especially when it came to things that she was passionate about. And

And one of the things that she was most passionate about when she was growing up were horses. And because her family couldn't afford a horse, Jennifer had to get creative. One time back when she was in middle school, she asked her mom to drive her to a local barn that she found. And Kathy didn't know what her plan was, but agreed to take her anyway. And when they got there, Jennifer told her to wait in the car. She went into the barn and she...

she was able to offer them a deal where she would work there in exchange for lessons. And this is only in middle school. So the more I learned about Jennifer, the more I realized that she was just, yeah, super, super driven,

and gonna get what she wants and was just uniquely herself kathy describes her as being a spitfire and headstrong but that definitely didn't make her the loudest person in the room necessarily in fact jennifer is more described as being the strong silent type

However, being more, you know, soft-spoken didn't prevent Jennifer from speaking her mind. It just meant that she found alternative ways to express herself. And one of the ways that Jennifer liked to express herself was through writing. And she was very much known for writing letters to her friends, to her family. And she would sometimes do this to...

resolve conflict or to work through her feelings or just express her love and those letters from her are something that her loved ones will always cherish but it's also something that they really miss and one of the things that they will really remember her by the most

Now, like I said earlier, Jennifer is not the only victim in this case. In the spring of 2001, about a year after she graduated from high school, Jennifer got pregnant. And in January of 2002, her beautiful little girl, Adriana, was born. And honestly, Jennifer's pregnancy was a shock to their family. I mean, she was young. But after getting over the initial wave of surprise, they all chose to love and support her through it. Especially considering that she was going to be parenting as a single mother and...

Obviously, that is very, very difficult. But that being said, their family never let Jennifer feel like she was alone in this. In fact, Kathy and her husband had this bonus room above their garage, and they ended up turning it into almost like a studio apartment for the girls, which...

was really convenient for everyone because Jennifer didn't have her own car. So when it came to her mom and sisters helping look after Adriana, they were all living under one roof. And they really became that village. They definitely all did their fair share of watching the baby. And because Jennifer was also working, often late evening or even night shifts, Kathy and the girls would step in and watch Adriana for her. Casey said that she would actually sleep in Jennifer's room with Adriana at night and...

Those are some of the memories that she holds closest to her heart. And gosh, learning more about Adriana when I talk to them on the phone just...

broke my heart she sounded like such an incredible little girl at age two and i just loved hearing all of the little details that made adriana adriana kathy told me that she used to walk around with this wagon and put snacks in it it'd be like her snack wagon almost her own little food truck and would go around to everyone trying to get them to eat from it she also had a little stuffed elmo and this is so cute she called her melmo and little melmo was everything to her

She couldn't sleep or practically do anything without it. And here's Casey and Kathy to tell you a little bit more about them. Jennifer was my big sister, and I am the baby of the family. Mom would say that because there's a six-year age gap between us, she would say that Jennifer would help take care of me when I was little. Like I was her baby doll. She would change my clothes and my outfits and everything. I would describe my sister as like...

an Indian princess like Pocahontas is how I always think of her like strong regal silent type with like flowing dark hair and like an olive tone a really pretty olive tone complexion and instead of blue eyes like mine she had like the deepest darkest brown eyes that you've ever seen I wouldn't describe her as like a bold but

bubbly type, but more of like an artistic, intrinsic, really in tune with her emotions. I would also describe her as like an outdoorsy type. She was a tomboy, so she didn't have like a girly fashion sense. She wasn't that kind of girl. She was more like a tomboy. And, you know, she liked to be with animals and she liked to be outside. One of my most fond memories is getting off the school bus

With Jennifer, we lived, you know, pretty far back off the road. We had a long driveway. So on our walk back to the house, we just kind of stopped and laid like on this bank on the side of the driveway, just looking up at the clouds, saying what the clouds were shaped like and making clover flower crowns. And yeah, that's one of my favorite memories of my sister. When Adriana was born, that was a really special but emotional day.

I remember crying my eyes out and just felt really close to Jennifer, just being close to her as a sister. But throughout her pregnancy and after Adriana was born, I helped take care of Adriana a lot. I was there for a lot of Adriana's first, you know, some of the first foods that she tried or patting her little back and rocking her to sleep, giving her a bath, changing her diaper, things like that.

And then a lot of the photos that we have are me and Adriana just having fun and doing little photo shoots and things like that. We were very close and she was the most beautiful baby girl. They're both very loved, very missed. Jennifer, she was my firstborn.

taught me all about what unconditional love really meant. She was my first of three daughters. I had Jennifer and Heather and Casey. Jennifer was a headstrong child, and she was very independent, and she was fiercely protective of

Everyone that she loved. She was very smart and especially creative. She had a very creative side to her. She was loving and she was kind to everyone and made friends in all circles of life.

She especially loved animals and especially horses. She never owned her own, but she spent a lot of time with friends who had them. She dreamed one day of becoming either a park ranger or working in equestrian therapy for children with disabilities. That was something that was very close to her heart. She just had a passion about. And I believe that had she had the opportunity, she would indeed have made those dreams come true.

She loved to draw. She liked to journal, write poetry and letters. She wrote a lot of letters. I'm blessed to still have some of those letters because I can look back on them and I can just hear her talking through her letters. I remember we went to a Vince Gill concert when she was young. And when he played Pretty Little Adriana, she looked at me and she said, Mom, if I ever have a daughter, I'm going to name her Adriana.

Well, when Jennifer turned 19, she was just barely 19. She found out she was pregnant. It was unexpected and she was scared. But, you know, we assured her, myself and all of her family assured her that everything would be okay. She'd be fine. That with the love and help and assurance from her family that everything would work out and everything would be fine. And it was. Adriana Nicole was born on January the 14th of 2002.

And Jennifer had her pretty little Adriana. And Adriana was quite a blessing to us. But Jennifer, she, you know, she took to motherhood really well. And she was a wonderful mom. And again, fiercely protective of her baby. Adriana, she was very funny. She was a joy to be around. She was a good baby. She was just adorable and had the brightest sparkling blue eyes. Just

gorgeous, gorgeous little girl. Now, around the time that Adriana turned one, Kathy ended up getting an exciting job promotion that would require her to move to Las Vegas. And her husband and her daughter, Casey, all decided to move with her. Now, to be clear, all three of her daughters were invited to move to Nevada with her, but Jennifer and Heather decided to stay back. And Jennifer

Jennifer's main reasoning for that was she wanted Adriana to grow up and be raised in Robertson County. That's, of course, where she had grown up and she still had a lot of other family members in the area that she wanted her daughter to be able to spend time with and be close with. People like her aunt and her grandparents who just meant a lot to her. And the family that still lived there were happy to take them in.

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So when Kathy first moved, Jennifer and Adriana were sort of bouncing between different family members' houses until July of 2003 when they finally settled in at her Aunt Lisa's house. And when she and Adriana were living there, her cousin Jeffrey, Aunt Lisa's son, was

was living there as well, and he ended up introducing Jennifer to a guy named William Joseph Benton, or Joey, as everyone called him. And he is, unfortunately, the reason that we are talking about their disappearances today. So...

Let me go back to the summer of 2003 and explain. So after Jennifer was introduced to Joey, she and Joey began dating. And right out the gate, their relationship was unstable. It was very toxic, very, you know, on and off again. And...

Red flags were just popping up left and right. I will say that maybe from a very distant glance, it appeared as if Joey really cared for Jennifer and Adriana, maybe loved them. And maybe for a period of time, he did. He had built Adriana this little rocking horse that she loved, and he had shown some willingness to be a...

sort of fatherly figure to her despite not actually being her father biologically. And I do know for a fact that Jennifer loved him very much. I mean, so much so that she was planning to one day marry him and maybe even have children with him. But I don't want anyone listening to this for a second to believe that Joey was a safe person for them to be around. Jennifer had once confided in her mom that she and the baby were always within arm's reach of

of weapons and drugs that Joey kept around. And as you'll hear me explain, his temper, dude,

was out of control. So by late summer of 2003, Jennifer was living between her Aunt Lisa's house and then also her paternal grandparents' house. However, it did not stay that way for long. Jennifer and Joey were actually broken up at this time, so her mom Kathy invited them to come out to Vegas for a little bit, just for a couple of weeks, and stay with them, and they did. The thing is, though, when they came back, Jennifer ended up getting back together with Joey. And not only that...

She and Adriana moved in with him. And just to paint you guys a real clear picture, because context is super important to this case, Joey lived on the same property as his parents on their land in Springfield, Tennessee, which is about 10 minutes west of Cross Plains. Now, his parents, Cindy and Joe, were living in a brick three-bedroom ranch-style home

And then Joey lived in this makeshift barn, which he and his friends actually called the party barn because they would party there, obviously, and also do drugs. So when I say that Jennifer and Adriana were living with Joey, I mean that they were living on his parents' property where his parents were also living. But when Jennifer and Adriana moved in, things went downhill from there pretty quickly.

One day in the fall, Kathy received an incredibly alarming phone call from Jennifer who said that she'd just been driven from the Benton house to her Granny Wicks' house by Joey's mom, Cindy. And just to clarify, Granny is what Jennifer called her paternal grandma. I am just going to refer to her as Granny Wicks so that it's easier to keep track of who I'm speaking about. And she lived about 15 minutes down the road. And so on this call to her mom, she's crying and she explains that

She and Joey had gotten into an argument and that he actually pulled a gun on her, on Adriana, and himself and threatened to actually go through with using it. At this point, they had only been dating for a few months, so...

Big red flag. I mean, big red flag at any point, but especially so early on in the relationship. And of course, her mom, Kathy, is not cool with this. She's freaked out. So much so that in October, she decides to move back to Cross Plains just to be closer to Jennifer and Adriana. Her sister, Casey, also moved back and Kathy ended up setting up another...

place in the house where Jennifer and Adriana could live, just like she had done before. But there was one rule when it came to living with her, and that was that Joey was not allowed over there under any circumstances. And up until December 21st, that wasn't really an issue. But on that day, everything changed because it turned out that Jennifer and Joey had actually gotten back together, and she planned on moving back in with him

on December 21st. And as you can imagine, Kathy, Casey, and Heather were all extremely concerned about this, very much against it. It was just very evident that the Benton home was not safe for Jennifer and especially not safe for Adriana. And that evening there ended up being a pretty big incident. When I came home, one of the girls told me, Casey, I believe, told me, Joey's here. And so I went to find out what was going on.

Jennifer and Joey were in her room packing hers and Adriana's things. I asked what was going on, and Jennifer told me that they were going to get married, which was a total shock to me because I didn't even know they were reconciling. So...

I immediately turned to Joey and I said, Joey, you know, I said, how are you going to do this? You know, where are y'all going to live and how are you going to take care of Jennifer and Adriana? And you're going to, you're going to stop doing drugs and you're going to get rid of the weapons around your house that Jennifer's told me are in arm's reach everywhere. How are you going to take care of my daughter and my granddaughter? I need to know. And he looked at me and he said,

You don't have a daughter anymore, bitch. I'll never forget that. Never, ever forget it. He picked up their bags and he took them on out to the truck. Jennifer was following and I was close behind her. I locked the door and locked him out and asked Jennifer to please listen to me.

and to please reconsider what she was doing, to think about what she was doing. It just wasn't a good move. She was trying to open the door to let him back in, and I grabbed her wrist and said, no, listen to me. When I did that, she pulled away from me and kind of pushed me, and I stumbled back and fell over a coffee table. Casey had ran with Adriana to the back of the house, to my bedroom, so she couldn't hear all this. Heather, when she heard

me fall she came into the room and her and jennifer began to scuffle about that time the door flew off the hinges completely off the hinges out and to the floor joey had kicked the door in they left unbeknownst to me casey was had dialed nine one one of course

when he kicked the door in and the police came and, you know, Adriana had to go back with her mom. So Joey's mom and Jennifer showed up to get Adriana and they took her with them and which we knew they had to, but it was just a very sad day. And it was,

One that is just seared into my memory that I'll never forget. I personally believe, and I think most of you will agree, that Kathy's reaction to Jennifer wanting to move back into the Bentons was very justified. I mean, given everything that Jennifer had told her about what it's like living there and how scary he was, I mean, abusive, pulling a gun, the, you know, drugs and guns being in arm's reach of the two of them.

I mean, any parent would be terrified. But of course, she's an adult and can make her own decisions. All she wanted was for them to be safe, and she knew that they would not be safe living with Joey out in the party barn. And not just because the weapons and drugs, it was also because the party barn had no running water and no heat. And just keep in mind that this is Tennessee in December, so pretty damn cold.

And it's really not safe for anyone to live in conditions like that, especially not an almost two-year-old. Luckily, though, Jennifer did realize very quickly that it was not safe for them to live out in the barn. So she, Joey, and Adriana all ended up moving back into the main house on the Benton property. She and Joey were given their own bedroom, and Adriana had a room to herself as well, which...

I will be talking more about. But back to the night of the incident, as you heard her say, Kathy ultimately couldn't do anything to stop Jennifer from leaving. All she could do was press charges for vandalism. And on top of everything else that had already happened, this whole situation only made the rift between her and Jennifer even deeper. In fact, Jennifer ended up completely shutting her sisters out of her life for a couple of weeks. And what

wouldn't talk to any of them. Christmas, New Year's, and Adriana's second birthday were all celebrated without Kathy, Casey, and Heather. And what makes it even more heartbreaking and painful is the fact that this would end up being their last holiday season before the two of them disappeared. Thankfully though, and I was really happy to hear this, Jennifer was able to mend things with them before everything else happened, which I'm going to start getting into now.

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So in February of 2004, they really started to repair things. And by March, Jennifer and Kathy were back to speaking every day, if not every other day. And something that you should know about Jennifer is that she was always in contact with someone, whether that was her mom or one of her sisters or her growing wicks or her Aunt Lisa. Someone was always in touch with Jennifer. Truly, a day didn't go by without her calling someone in the family. But one thing that's important to note is

that Jennifer actually didn't have her own phone. Obviously, this was a different time. It's the early 2000s, and a lot of people didn't have their own cell phone. But when she would call any of her family members, it would have to be from the Benton's home phone or from Joey's cell phone, which he did have a cell phone. And so on Monday, March 22nd, Kathy ended up getting a call from Jennifer, which was normal, but this time it was different because...

she was calling her out of concern. And before I get into this next section, I do want to give a bit of a trigger warning that we are going to be talking about potential child essay, which I know is very disturbing to some. So I sort of wanted to give that warning. But later that evening, Kathy learned that Adriana was hysterically crying

any time that she tried to go pee. And Jennifer explained how worried she was and that she wanted to take her to the ER, but none of the Bentons would drive them there. They said that it was probably just diaper rash and that she would, quote, get over it. So Kathy, of course, offered to take them, but because of how much the Bentons hated her...

Due to the vandalism charges against Joey, Jennifer didn't think it would be a good idea for her to come and pick them up. Luckily, though, her Aunt Lisa was able to come and pick them up and take them to the ER to get Adriana checked out. And by this point, it was close to midnight, but a doctor was able to see them and figure out what was going on. And it turns out that Adriana tested positive for vaginitis. So vaginitis in itself is not a sexually transmitted infection. However...

it can be caused by a sexually transmitted infection.

And it can also be caused by a variety of other things, even something like a wet diaper being left on for too long, which they learned later that day. On Tuesday, March 23rd, just a few hours after they were discharged from the ER, Granny Wicks took Jennifer and Adriana to see her pediatrician. And the pediatrician basically confirmed what I just told you, that vaginitis could have been caused by something like wearing a wet diaper for too long. But as you can imagine, as it would for most parents,

Not knowing what caused it gave Jennifer a whole lot of anxiety. Of course, she thought maybe it was just caused by...

wearing a wet diaper too long, which does happen. But was it possible that someone in the Benton house could have been abusing her? Now, of course, I'm not making any accusations here and their family isn't either. It's not something that we have definitive answers to. But at the time, Jennifer was deeply concerned that maybe Adriana was being abused. And on top of that, she was also really upset because Joey was partying really excessively

and that was very frustrating to deal with. Plus, just the whole element of not having her own phone was really difficult because whenever she would call her mom to talk about these things, Joey would get mad at her for using his minutes, which is exactly what ended up happening later that day. Jennifer had used Joey's phone to call her mother Kathy because Kathy had made some type of cream for Adriana's rash, and she wanted to meet up with her to get that, and because she had used his phone...

This sparked an argument with Joey. But he did end up agreeing to drive her and Adriana to the Dollar General to meet up with Kathy and to get that cream. And when Kathy saw her, she could just tell that something was wrong. Adriana looked sick and tired and Jennifer was clearly having a hard time, looked very upset.

But like she always did, she reassured her mom and pretty much everyone else in her life that she was going to figure it out, that she was going to be okay. No matter how many times that Kathy and other family members tried to tell her to get out of that relationship and to move in with one of them,

Jennifer always just said she would figure it out. And sadly, this would end up being the last time that Kathy or anyone in the Wicks family ever physically saw the girls again. So something important to note here that will come up and be important later on is that when Jennifer met up with Kathy, she told her that

Joey's mom Cindy had not been at work that week so just remember that so jumping forward a day to Wednesday March 24th that ended up being an even more difficult day for Jennifer and we know that because she ended up calling her mother and told her everything and what she had to say is just horrible it turns out that Joey wasn't the only person causing issues for Jennifer and

His parents were too. Over the course of this phone call, Jennifer had opened up about it all, especially about the things that Cindy was doing and saying to her. That night alone, Cindy was verbally attacking Jennifer's parenting style, and get this, she actually threw Jennifer and Adriana's food out the kitchen door onto the ground outside and told them they can go out there and eat like the dogs do. Which is just, it's so hard to wrap your mind around how...

I don't even, there's no words for it. Just a complete lack of humanity. And from the things that Jennifer was telling Kathy, it was very obvious that Cindy was very pissed off. And it seemed to be due to her disagreements when it came to Jennifer's parenting style. And she was even mad at Joey, her own son, because he was...

Sort of, I guess, acting like a father to Adriana. And what's weird, though, is Jennifer even told her mom that even Joey's dad, whose name is Joe, was being very verbally aggressive to her. And he was normally the one that was, I mean, not nice to her, but nicer to her than Cindy ever was. She basically felt that him having this anger towards her so suddenly was just...

really out of the blue. And of course, hearing all of this, Kathy was really worried and said that she would absolutely come and pick the two of them up, no questions asked, and get them out of that situation as soon as possible. The Bentons had made it clear to Jennifer that they didn't want her in the house anymore. So Kathy was more than happy to have her come back home.

But Jennifer, like I said in the beginning, she was so independent and she just told her that she could handle it. She even promised Kathy she would give her a call the next day and update her on things, but...

Unfortunately, that call never came, and that call on the 24th was the last time that the two of them spoke. So the following day, March 25th, 2004, is the day that Jennifer and Adriana Wicks went missing. And today, after more than 20 years, we still don't know where they are or what happened to them. And before I get into everything, just know that some of the things I'm about to share with you

cannot be corroborated. And the reason for that is a lot of it is coming from Joey Benton, and he is someone who very recently has admitted to lying. So let me start with what we do know. On the morning of March 25th at

At 11 a.m., Jennifer used the Benton's home phone to call her dad, Michael. The call lasted about 30 minutes, and in that time, Jennifer talked to him about everything that had been going on and everything that went down the night before. And she specifically mentioned being scared, and when Michael asked her what she was scared of,

She actually said Joey's mom, Cindy, that she's acting strange. Now, according to the Benton family, nobody besides Jennifer was home that day. It's unclear what exactly Joe was doing. It's possible that he had an oncology appointment, but Cindy...

and Joey were apparently at work. Now, the reason I bring that up is because when Michael was on the phone with Jennifer, he distinctly remembers hearing the sound of a woman's voice in the background. And not only that, he actually remembers Jennifer saying, I'm on the phone with my dad. So who was she talking to if no one else was home? And obviously, she wasn't talking to Adriana. I mean, she's two years old. She's not going to say,

I'm talking to my dad. She's going to say, I'm, you know, talking to grandpa or, you know, just he can tell when she's speaking to her two-year-old daughter versus when she's speaking to someone else and he hears a female voice. So who is that?

If Cindy isn't home. And if you remember, Jennifer had mentioned to her mom that Cindy hadn't been at work that week, even though she claimed to have been at work that day. Michael asked if she would want her mom or Granny Wicks to come and pick her up, given everything that was going on. But Jennifer said no. She said she could handle it.

Plus, she said that she and Joey had plans that afternoon to have a picnic when he got home from work. And of course, just like Kathy, Michael was also concerned about his daughter and his granddaughter. But, I mean, really nothing could be done without Jennifer agreeing to accept their help. And sadly, this would end up being Michael's last communication with his daughter. So then around 1 p.m. that afternoon, Jennifer made one final call and again shared what she had been going through.

But the difference in this next call, which I will explain who she was talking to and everything, is that this time, Jennifer seemed to be more open to accepting help, or at least agreed that she would plan on accepting help

in an event where she needed it. So this call was to her Aunt Lisa, and she basically told her that when Joey got home from work, she planned on having a conversation with him. She planned on telling him that she no longer felt comfortable living in the home with his parents and that she wanted to move back out into the party barn, which obviously wasn't very ideal either. And she told Lisa that if Joey didn't agree to that, if he didn't want to,

Then her plan was for her and Adriana to just move out altogether. And after hearing this, Lisa told Jennifer that she was more than welcome to come to her house if she needed somewhere to stay. And she even told her that she would leave a spare key out just in case. And

From my understanding, Jennifer said that she would use that spare key if her conversation with Joey didn't go well. But this is where things just completely drop off. She never went to her Aunt Lisa's and she never called her or anyone else to tell them that she and Joey had worked any of their issues out and anything.

Since that call, nobody has seen or heard from either of them since. The only person who claims to have seen her since is Joey. However, at no point in the last two decades has anyone, not even law enforcement, been able to corroborate his story, or should I say stories, because Joey Benton has told a variety of stories when it comes to when he last saw the girls. And in order to explain his multiple versions of events...

I need to go back to the morning of Thursday, March 25th. So according to Joey, he got up that morning and like normal, he went to work. However, on this day, his car was in the shop. So he ended up hitching a ride with Jennifer's cousin, Jeffrey, who also worked at the same construction site, which was less than an hour north in Franklin, Kentucky. But here's where things start to get weird.

At some point during his workday, Joey ends up getting a call from his family's home phone. And while we don't know who this caller was, we do know that once Joey got off the call, he started to act strange. And in fact, he seemed to be in quite the hurry to get home. All he did say was there was a family matter back at home and he needed to get back home.

So one of his co-workers and his girlfriend as well ended up driving him home and they said on the way home he was acting really strange. They can't like pinpoint specifically what about his behavior was off. They just even 20 years later remember that it felt bizarre, that the vibes were different. I will say that law enforcement has since confirmed that that phone call Joey received was made between 2pm

when Jennifer called her dad and when she called her aunt. So her family does think it's possible that Jennifer could have been the caller. But even if this wasn't some sort of nefarious call, I believe his behavior overall

is just concerning, especially when you think about how many stories he told when it came to the girls going missing. And unfortunately, like I mentioned earlier, news stations over the years have really just done a poor job in reporting the full facts on the case.

Like, for example, many of the things that Joey has said have been reported as fact when they do not represent the truth. So my goal today is for you guys to walk away from this episode knowing really what the full picture is.

And where the case stands today. And to do that, I need to jump forward now to Friday, March 26th. Two people had spoken with Jennifer on the 25th and nobody that day had concerns about her whereabouts. But on the 26th, loved ones really started to worry, starting with Granny Wicks.

I mentioned earlier that Granny Wicks was the one who drove Jennifer and Adriana to the pediatrician on the 23rd. And because of that, she was well aware of Adriana's diagnosis of vaginitis. So when Jennifer didn't call her that day, she really started to worry. She tried calling Kathy to see if maybe she knew what was going on. And when she said that she also hadn't heard from Jennifer, this is when it all started to click.

between Granny Wicks, Kathy, and Lisa, who were now all in communication with one another, it was clear that nobody had heard from Jennifer since the day before. And something about this just didn't sit right with them, especially when they thought about Adriana's recent medical condition and the fact that Jennifer had just shared about being afraid and unwell

and uncomfortable around the Benton family. So that very night, Kathy and Heather began driving around cross planes just looking for the girls. Now, because it's been more than 20 years since all of this happened and because going through something traumatic like this can also have an effect on memory,

Some of the details regarding this time got a little bit mixed up. The timelines are a bit confusing and the information has sort of shifted over the years based on new things that their family has learned. So I'm going to do my best to break it down in the clearest way possible. So to the best of our knowledge, when Kathy and Heather were driving around looking for the girls, a few things happened. And one of those things happened.

was a bonfire on the evening of March 26th Joey hosted this bonfire on his parents property and originally it was planned by him and Jennifer to be sort of a couple's thing but clearly Jennifer wasn't there and because there were only two other couples at this bonfire it was

Pretty obvious that she wasn't there. And it just so happens that one of the people who was there was Jeffrey, Jennifer's cousin. And he just straight up asked Joey, where's Jennifer? And he said that he had driven her and Adriana to a friend's house, Helga and Jerry Jackson. Helga and Jerry Jackson are a couple. And I also wanted to clarify, it's been reported that Joey told them that she's at Helga's

a friend's house and didn't mention driving them so you know multiple stories different reporting gets a little confusing but either way at the end of the day his story for why they weren't there is that they were at this friend's house and this wasn't his only story that night because lisa and heather got two different stories themselves so let's start with what heather had been told

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Now, it's unclear if this happened before or after the bonfire, but we do know that at some point while they were driving around looking for the girls, Joey picked up one of Heather's calls. And in this version of events, he explains that the day before, March 25th, he and Jennifer got into a fight and broke up and that the last he saw her was when he dropped her off at the Exxon gas station. So clearly, this is a completely different story than what he had told Jeffrey and

And then next, he and his father, Joe, end up telling another completely different story to her Aunt Lisa. In the time that Kathy and Heather were driving around looking for the girls, Joe Benton, Joey's dad, had called Lisa, Aunt Lisa, and left a message for her. And in the message, he said that he was looking to get in contact with Jennifer to get her

her $500 tax refund, which is something I also need to explain. One of the many reasons that the Wicks family does not believe that Jennifer ran away was because she was expecting a $500 tax refund, which was a very significant amount of money to her, and she had been anxiously waiting for that money to hit. The thing is, though, Jennifer didn't have her own bank account. So the refund was actually scheduled to be deposited into Joe Benton's account. And so now Joe is calling Lisa,

asking where Jennifer is so that he can give her this money. And the Wicks family feels, and this is their opinion, but I do agree, that Joe was potentially just trying to make it seem like he didn't know that Jennifer was missing. Like, why is he suddenly so concerned about getting Jennifer this money, especially after the way that they have treated her

It feels very odd. Also, when you think about the fact that Joey had said Jennifer was going to come back and get the check. And what's even stranger is that night, Joey...

Joe and Joey just show up at Lisa's house and try to explain yet another version of events. According to this news story, Joey told Lisa that on March 25th, he drove Jennifer and Adriana to the local food value grocery store where she went inside to make a phone call. And after this, Jennifer supposedly told him to take her and Adriana to the Exxon gas station by Interstate 10.

I-65 North, exit 112. And this is also important to note, there is actually only one Exxon gas station in all of Cross Plains. So Joey says he takes them there, where he proceeded to let them out of his car, and then he drove across the street to the church where he waited about 10 minutes,

until he saw them get picked up in what he described as an older model four-door white vehicle. Now, he tells Lisa that he doesn't know which way they went, but he does give a description of who else was in the car. And the description matches that couple I mentioned earlier,

Helga and Jerry. Joey also told Lisa that Jennifer was drunk when he dropped her off, but her family says that Jennifer wasn't the type to get intoxicated, so this detail just really sticks out as strange to them. And the last thing to note from that night is that after all of this,

Kathy and Heather were notified that Jennifer could potentially be with Helga and Jerry, so they try to get in touch with them. They are unsuccessful in doing so, at least that night. And by the morning of March 27th, their family is in a state of complete panic. There was still no word from Jennifer, and Joey's stories were starting to circulate between all of them, and none of what he had said made any sense.

And then Helga and Jerry showed up at Kathy's house and they confirmed that their suspicions were true because they said that they hadn't seen Jennifer since November. And they told Kathy that if Joey was saying Jennifer was with them, then something was seriously wrong.

And Kathy fully agreed. So that day, she went to the Robertson County Sheriff's Office and filed a missing persons report for Jennifer and Adriana. She requested that the sheriff's office go over to the Benton house and perform a welfare check. And they agreed.

So they go over there and this did not go well because Joey was the only one home. And when he answered the door, he told them to leave and not to come back unless they had a search warrant. And according to the police report, which was filed by Deputy Mike Campbell that day, Joey, and no surprise here, gave evidence.

sort of three different stories within his initial statement, which he did agree to provide a statement. So I'm just going to go ahead and read this report directly so you can hear it for yourselves. And just a reminder, Joey's real name is William. So when he is referred to as William, they are

talking about Joey. It says,

Deputy Campbell asked William what Exxon and William's statement was that he didn't remember. Deputy Campbell asked William a few more questions concerning the whereabouts of Jennifer and her daughter.

And before leaving, Deputy Campbell asked William again when was the last time he saw Jennifer. William's response was that Jennifer left his house in a white four-door Mustang and then stated no, it was a white four-door Camaro. Now, obviously, there are quite a few concerning things about this initial statement, starting with the fact that he claims he doesn't remember which Exxon he had taken them to,

But remember, he had told Lisa that he had brought them to one specific exon, which it only could have been one specific exon since there is only one exon in all of Cross Planes.

And then the next concerning thing is that he mentions they got into a four-door white Camaro or a four-door white Mustang. And maybe some car lovers out there will know this, but neither of those exist. There is no such thing as a four-door white Mustang and a four-door white Camaro. So why would he say that? The Wicks family, and I definitely see their point here, they believe that he...

told these lies within his statement so that he could possibly get his entire statement thrown out. So after Joey gave this statement and Deputy Campbell wrote the police report, some local news stations came out and wrote articles that referenced what Joey had said, specifically about the type of car that picked the girls up. And then when these articles came out, Joey and his dad went into the police station and argued that the deputy had lied on his report

Joey's statement. Because Joey was a car guy, they claimed he never would have said anything about a four-door Mustang or Camaro because he knows that they don't exist. Therefore, they argue that the deputy was trying to entrap him. But get this, rather than just telling this potential suspect that he trusts the report of his own deputy, he ends up changing the report and then fires Mike Campbell to

To clarify, this didn't happen like right away, but still, of course, many people want to know why. Why was this potential suspect given more credit over a rookie deputy who had no reason to lie? And honestly, I feel confident when I say that the Robertson County Sheriff's Department did not do a thorough job, especially in the first days of this investigation, which we all know are the most important investigation.

Sure, a bolo beyond the lookout was put out on the 27th, but at no point was Jennifer or Adriana's picture circulated on any news station that night. And then on the 28th, the sheriff's department claimed to do their first search of the Benton property, but it's not exactly what you would think. The Bentons did agree to let officers walk their property and look for signs of foul play, but they had full control over where they were allowed to look and

and where they were not allowed to look. And honestly, I could just go on and on about the failures, in my opinion, of this sheriff's department, but we still have a lot to go over, so let's move on to the 29th, which is when another story from Joey emerges. That day, Deputy Campbell and his partner went to Kathy's house to ask some follow-up questions, and while they were there, they spoke to Lisa, and it became clear to them that Joey wasn't being honest.

Through Lisa's statement that day, the deputies realized that he had been telling different people different things. So they returned to his house to talk to him again, and ultimately he continues to tell more stories until about a month after the girls had first gone missing, which is

When his final story emerges, and here it is in full. On Thursday, March 25th, Joey says that after returning home from work, Jennifer had locked herself and Adriana in their bedroom. Then after getting her to come out, he says that the two of them went on a drive to talk. But while they were on that drive, the two of them get into a big fight and decided to break up.

And then, according to him, when they get home, Jennifer refuses to get out of the car. Instead, she apparently tells Joey that she wants him to drive her and Adriana to the local food value. And when they get there, she gets out of the car and goes inside to make a call. And later on, law enforcement actually went in and spoke to the manager at the food value and said,

No one has any recollection of Jennifer or anyone else coming inside that night to make a phone call. Now, according to him, after she allegedly makes this phone call, she asks Joey to take her and Adriana to the Exxon gas station. By this point, it was about 9.30 p.m., and the two of them exit the car, but rather than drive away, Joey says he drives across the street into the church parking lot where he waited until someone came and picked them up.

And this is when he says he saw the two of them get into what he is now saying is just a white four-door car and drive away. And just to make this really clear, because I know this is confusing, this time he does not mention a specific type of car, which is weird considering the first report he says a four-door white Mustang or a four-door white Camaro, which are non-existent cars. And this time he also says that he didn't see who was driving, which...

contradicts what he had told Lisa earlier. And I just wanted to remind you that Jennifer said she was going to her Aunt Lisa's house if her conversation with Joey didn't go well. And in order to get to the grocery store and the gas station, they would have had to pass by Lisa's house. So the idea that she went off with someone else just makes no sense.

So on the next day, the 26th, Joey says that he and his work crew had finished up their project early, so he ended up going home early, and it was either the late morning or the early afternoon. And it's unclear exactly who drove him home, but it was either Jeffrey or that other guy, Nolan. And this is when...

Joey claims that Jennifer showed back up at their house and he said that she was driving that same white car that she had supposedly gotten into the night before, but that Adriana wasn't with her. And he said that she was there to collect her $500 tax refund. But since his dad wasn't home, Joey told her that he couldn't give her the money. So then, according to Joey, Jennifer says that she'll be back to get that $500 refund the following day.

And while she's there, she picks up a few of her and Adriana's belongings, including Adriana's car seat. Now, even though Joey is straight up claiming that Jennifer picked up the car seat on the 26th, we can confirm that this part of the story is in fact a lie. And we know this because when Deputy Campbell had first gone to the house to speak with Joey and he's talking to him at the front door, he can see over his shoulder into the corner of the room,

And what does he see in the corner? The car seat. And maybe you're thinking, they could have had two car seats. Nope, we know that isn't the case. They only had one. So this means that we know Joey lied about at least one part of his story, and...

Obviously, there are many reasons to believe that he could be lying. But that especially, I mean, if he is willing to tell one lie, then what else is he lying about? And I should also note that law enforcement did go to the Benton house at a later date. And this time the car seat was missing. The story that Joey told, which ended up being

kind of like the final story that stuck for the last 20 years. I didn't believe it. I didn't believe it from the get-go. Of course, there's always like that tiny shred of hope that maybe they're out there somewhere, but it just didn't feel right. It didn't sit right. I never felt like that my sister would leave.

Not just my family, but like really and selfishly me. I didn't think that she would leave me and take Adriana. I just really didn't. It didn't make sense to me that she would leave without her $500 tax refund. There wasn't anyone that she had asked to borrow money from. There was no exit plan. There was nothing found on the Benton computers that would suggest that she was making an exit plan and was planning to leave.

None of it made sense. It also really didn't make sense outside of the inconsistent stories that he told at the gas station. It didn't make sense that he would drive them past my aunt's house and past our house. We both lived on the same road and it was on the route on the way to the Exxon gas station.

And if there really were a problem being that she had talked to my mom the night before and my aunt literally that day, it didn't make sense that he would drive past our houses. And one of the big things that stuck out to me was whenever his dad, Joe, called my aunt on Friday, March 26th,

in the evening after Joey said that she had come earlier that day for her income tax refund. So that was always really suspicious to me that he called

to give her her tax refund money whenever she had already said, I'll come back to get it, according to Joey. So my opinion of his final story is that I never believed it was true. It didn't feel right. There were way too many inconsistencies. And there were just a few small things like that, that stuck out to me that that made me feel it in my gut. Like I know this isn't the truth.

Now, in April of 2004, Joey did agree to take a polygraph test and he did pass it. Of course, if you are familiar with lie detector tests, they are not admissible in court. They are not 100% accurate, so it doesn't tell us a whole lot. But that being said, his parents, Joe and Cindy, did not agree to take one, which, of course, that's their right. And it doesn't necessarily mean anything.

But I don't know. In my opinion, that's pretty strange. ♪

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Hey, it's Jodi Sweetin and Andrea Barber from How Rude Tannery Does. Thanks to Hyundai, we recently took an epic road trip to this year's iHeartRadio Music Festival in Vegas. We got to explore a couple of weird and interesting spots along the way and even recorded a special episode in the car for you guys. So take a listen. I think I kissed you.

Oh yeah, we kissed! We kissed! Season one! Yep. That was a great moment. Yeah, it was. I gotta say. There you go. It's so weird because I've known you so long, it was comfortable. Question five is from Elena. Okay.

Did you guys ever have a crush on any guest stars who appeared on the show? Come on, give us some juice. Tommy Page. Really? Randomly? He was really your crush? Well, I randomly, no, you know what? It wasn't my crush. It was like, I think, I was, whatever, it was like the last season, right? Yeah, well, yeah, I think so. So I think I was like 13. I was like, oh, he's cute. I don't know. I just thought he was like cute. You know, it was the waiter at Sizzler had my attention. You know, I just.

It didn't take much. Oh, I have to answer the question too. Okay, guest stars that I had, I was so obsessed with New Kids on the Block. This episode is presented by Hyundai.

But also, the Robertson County Sheriff Department hasn't seemed to really push them that hard at all. And Kathy really feels that they have just treated her daughter as this scorned lover who chose to run away, even though there is absolutely no evidence for that whatsoever. And I want to talk a little bit more about Kathy because she is just so strong in my opinion, such a role model to me as a mother. And in her fight for justice, she ended up taking a leave of absence.

from her job and made it her full-time mission to find jennifer and adriana and believe me she did a lot at some points casey has felt like they also lost their mom on top of losing jennifer and adriana but she understands why i mean how could you just give up this loss has impacted their family in ways that are just impossible to recover from and i know for a fact that

that they will not stop looking until justice is served. I could tell from my call with them that that's just not an option for them. And I completely get it. How could you ever just...

Let it go. You know, try to move on with life. Since the day Jennifer and Adriana disappeared, I've been living in pure hell. My life changed forever that day. Everything about me changed. How I viewed the world, how I saw other people, how I thought about things, how I bonded with people. It changed me as mom. I became...

a lot more worried all the time about my kids. Everywhere they went, it was difficult because they just wanted to live their life. And I just wanted to keep them near me all the time. I didn't want to let go of them to let them grow up. And it also kind of took me away from them. And, you know, in my searches for Jennifer and Adriana, I just, I wasn't there for them. And

in times that they needed me the most as teenage girls. And I was so distracted with looking for their sister that I wasn't there for them a lot. So there's a lot of regrets that I have there, but it did change me. It changed me. It changed my family. It changed our whole family dynamics.

My mom, it changed her. It changed my grandparents. They were still alive at the time. Everybody was so consumed with this that they couldn't think of anything else. And then on top of that, it was like we were having to fight. We were having to fight for the justice for our girls. We were having to fight the justice system. We were having to fight the small town law enforcement just to, you know, be loud and stomp our feet and just felt like that we were being treated like our car stereo was stolen or

something or a dog was lost, not that my kids were missing. It drove wedges between family members, friends, everything totally, completely changed. I tell people I'm stuck with one foot in 2004 and one foot in the present, and I just can't get both feet together at the same time to be able to move forward. And until I have

some sort of closure. Do I find my kids until I get justice for what was done to them? I don't think that I can move on in any sense of the word, but this is who I am now. You know, this is my cross to bear and I'm willing to bear it. I'm willing to be their voice for as long as I have voice in me. I will never, ever, ever give up. And over the years on the Benton's side,

They have been completely uninvolved. In fact, they have not once offered to help search for the girls. They don't want to be part of that at all. They have shown literally no interest in helping law enforcement solve the case. And in this very short clip I'm about to play for you, it shows the extent of Joey's concern for the missing girls and...

I think it tells you quite a lot. Just let us know you're okay. Just a few weeks after the girls went missing, Joey dropped off trash bags filled with Jennifer and Adriana's belongings to Kathy's house, as if he knew they weren't coming back home. And in one of those bags was Adriana's purple winter coat, which was her only winter coat. And if Jennifer had truly decided to run away, she never would have left without it, especially while temperatures were still so low. Plus,

Plus, her Elmo or her Melmo was in there too. And Jennifer never, ever would have left without her daughter's Melmo. When I talk to them, that's one of the main reasons why they think there's just no way they would have run away. It makes no sense that she would have left Melmo behind. She knows that her daughter's not going to sleep, that she's going to be miserable without him. It just... Any other parent out there, you know if your child has...

that special item that they need to like function and sleep that you're not going anywhere without it that's like the number one priority to have and another really concerning element to all of this is right around the time the girls went missing the Benton's were in the process of building a new house on their property and this is going to be concerning to hear but they had been specifically pouring concrete and in the process of putting in a new septic tank

Now, law enforcement has said that they have searched the concrete columns. However, the Wicks family has no record of this. They have no way to know if they had actually searched the entire foundation. They have no proof of that. And as much as I want to, of course, trust that law enforcement cared enough to be thorough about

previous actions in this case make me question if they actually did. So over the years, it has been reported that law enforcement has conducted four searches on the Benton property that the Wicks family is aware of at least, but none of these have

yielded any results and we don't know how thorough they were. We do know that they did drain a pond after a tip came in, but again, nothing was found. But you've got to keep in mind that most of these searches were not done under the order of a search warrant. The Wicks family has recently learned that at some point

A search warrant was performed. However, they don't know which search it was and what was searched. But to their family's knowledge, these were all permissible searches that were done under the watchful eye of the Benton family. And this is jumping forward quite a bit. But in 2021, Joey's grandfather, who also owns 51 acres of that land, invited their family to search.

And this backs right up to the land that the Benton family lives on. He let them come in with cadaver dogs and ground penetrating radar and several dogs indicated on the same spot. Now their private investigator arranged for this spot to be excavated and they didn't find anything. However, it is believed that this location was where there was a lot of runoff from other parts of the property, basically suggesting that whatever the dogs detected could be something that they were able to find.

somewhere nearby. And I bring this example up because even though something was detected, the police didn't do any kind of follow-up search. They basically just told them, let us know if you find anything. Which is strange because law enforcement did show up that day, but not to help with the search. They actually showed up because either Joe or Joey had called them to say that people were trespassing on the property.

even though their grandfather had given them written permission to search there. And unfortunately, Mr. Benton, the grandfather, has passed away since. And now Joe, the dad, owns all of his land as well, which has made further searching of that property even more difficult. As time has gone on, though, the Wicks family hasn't lost hope. Doesn't mean it's been easy, but like I said, they've never given up, and I really don't think they ever will.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children got involved and has aided them in creating age progressions of the girls and shows like America's Most Wanted has released episodes to try to keep their names out there. But still, in all of this time, no leads have panned out. In a press conference in 2013, it was announced that the case was finally being reclassified as a homicide. However, whatever information led to this reclassification has disappeared.

never been shared. In the same statement, though, the sheriff did say that nobody, including Joey Benton, has ever been ruled out as a suspect. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has also been assisting on the case, and it was also stated that they would now be taken over.

Unfortunately, and this is just the horrible reality of this case, Kathy, Casey, and the rest of their family believes that Jennifer and Adriana never lived a day past March 25th, 2004. And I know I say this often, but it should never be the responsibility of a family to solve their loved one's case. But they feel like they have no choice, that if they don't stay involved and keep on law enforcement and push as hard as they can, then...

Who else will? Like I've been saying, they are just so inspirational and they have been relentless in their pursuit of justice and...

I truly believe that one day those efforts are going to pay off and there will be justice for Jennifer and Adriana. Their family has held countless vigils, balloon releases, and events to encourage the public to remember Jennifer and Adriana, and they always have continued to keep the pressure on law enforcement. There's a beautiful mural that was painted in June of this year in Springfield, and it's an image of a horse and her foal to represent Jennifer and Adriana. And in my opinion, it's so beautiful. It's

Very, very powerful. And I think it's such a good representation of the two of them. And over the years, there have actually been many attempts by the Benton family to intimidate them. This makes me so mad and I think tells you a whole lot about these people. But there was one time where they actually fired guns into the ground in the middle of one of their vigils.

But not even that, nothing, and I mean nothing, is going to stop them in their pursuit of justice. They also put on another event, which is called the Chain of Hope, where dozens of motorcyclists come together to ride in honor of the girls.

And it's a day to remember them for the lives they lived and an effort to keep their memory alive. And I just think it's so cool how the community has really come together to support this family and make sure that Adriana and Jennifer are not forgotten. Casey is also running a Facebook page, which is called Justice for Jennifer and Adriana Wicks, which I highly encourage you guys to follow. Not only will you get updates on the case, but like I've always tried to drill in my episodes, you know,

you know, showing that extra step to these families just does wonders. Having more and more support is what's going to keep them going. And I really encourage you to either, you know, leave a comment here for them to read with words of encouragement or actually go to their Facebook page and, you know, leave them something like that as well, because I just know it makes a huge, huge difference. And another really cool thing that they have done is they've actually helped co-produce this podcast, which

was just released recently on Jennifer's birthday this past August. It's called Missing in Hush Town, and it goes through every last detail pertaining to this case. So if you want to get even more deep into the case and go over some of the things that we didn't have time to include in this episode,

I definitely recommend supporting them by downloading that, checking it out, giving them a listen, maybe a review, just so that we can help get more eyes on it. And I know it sounds like I am wrapping up the case here, but there's actually more information to share. Some very shocking information has come up very recently in 2024, and all of it has just further confirmed what this family believes. On March 27th, 2024, on the 20-year anniversary of the girls being reported missing,

A raid and search warrant was executed on the Benton residence. However, this was not in connection with the girls' disappearances. But it wasn't until April 29th that the Wicks family learned what it was about. And that's because that day, Casey and Kathy both received a Facebook message from none other than

Joey Benton's sister. Her name is Amy, and while some of her message cannot be shared, there are a few parts that I can share. Amy was basically reaching out because she said she had some urgent information that she needed to share with them, and...

The raid back in March was one of the things that she wanted to explain. According to her, their family had found some things belonging to Joe Benton, her father, that they felt needed to be turned over to police. Specifically, a sexually explicit photo of a minor that had been taken 20 years prior.

prior. And to be clear, because I know exactly what you're probably thinking, this actually was not a photo of Adriana. I'm not able to share who the victim is for their own protection, obviously, but yes, it was not Adriana, but it was another minor. So terrifying. But essentially, the raid was the result of law enforcement looking for whatever else they could find pertaining to child sexual exploitation. The thing is, though, turns out Joe Benton was already a convicted felon

which means he is not allowed to own any weapons. And I bet you can guess, when they raided his home, they found weapons. And not only that, they also found bomb-making materials.

Yeah. So as a result, he is now facing 40 charges and his next hearing is actually scheduled for the day after this episode airs, which is October 9th. Now, Amy also gave them a bunch of other information that was incredibly eye opening. Like I said, I can't share any of that, but just.

Keep that in mind. And so all of this happening made Casey want to push Joey even harder. And she had been trying to reach him for a while and was unsuccessful up until recently, April 30th. And she asked if they could please talk. And surprisingly, he agreed. Earlier this year, in April of 2024, I was able to talk with Joey for the first time.

And I've been doing kind of like my own investigation and I'm kind of the person that needs to hear and see things for myself. So I asked him, will you just talk to me? And he said, sure. We were on the phone for about an hour. And during that conversation, a lot of the conversation was him sharing his concerns about his dad being in Robertson County Jail. If his dad were to get out of jail, he was worried what he would do.

he, his mom and his sister were all kind of fearful of their lives. He was sharing with me and I was able to kind of get some clarification on some things as far as the timeline and the details of the case that we've always had questions about. And I felt like I was going straight to the source. So I wanted to ask him. He shared with me

that he really loved Jennifer and he really loved Adriana and that they were planning to stay together, that the house that they were living in was going to be his and Jennifer's. They had plans to get married and he had given her a ring and asked him about the picnic that

Jennifer mentioned to her dad on the phone on one of her last phone calls to him on that Thursday. She mentioned the picnic and Joey being on his way home. They were going to talk about some things and go on a picnic. And he said, well, wouldn't call it a picnic.

He said Jennifer had made some sandwiches and we just went over to the barn so we could have some privacy to talk about things. And whenever he said that, I knew immediately like that's another contradictory statement with the final story that he had told my mom back in April of 2004. He said that they just drove around, decided to break up. Well, he never mentioned the picnic up until this year to our family.

And I asked him about, you know, the details about driving her into Cross Plains. Like, did you take her to the food value? Did you go to the Exxon? And a white car picked her up. He said, yes, yes, all of that's true. With a lot of conviction, the tone in his voice just sounded very matter of fact, very certain. And I just remember getting off that phone call, calling mom and just thinking to myself,

Like, this guy could be telling the truth. And I felt kind of sorry for him and very like,

I was conflicted internally with where I was and my theories about what had happened after that phone call. I just remember he could be telling the truth. Someone could have picked them up in that white car. And it's just unfortunate that no one can prove it. Yeah, I think that day I got a lot of clarity and I felt like I had started a relationship, if you will, with him where we could

Now, the next big update came a couple days later on May 3rd. That day, the Wicks family had a meeting planned with the general D.A., Robert Nash. And in that meeting, they were joined by D.A. Jason White, as well as members of the TBI and the Robertson County Sheriff's Department. And it started out really positive. They were having a really open conversation about where the case started.

Stance today and how they could potentially get justice one day. But then they took a break for a 45 minute lunch break. And at this point, they all agreed that they were happy with the direction that things were going. But then after the lunch break, they were asked to leave. And it turns out that Joey had showed up for whatever reason, and they weren't allowed back in after that.

And then they found out later that apparently when Joey had gone in, he had told them everything that had happened to Jennifer and Adriana. But what we don't know, though, is what version he told. And that's not all. That same day, Amy reached out to Casey and Kathy again and said that she was certain she could tell them where Jennifer and Adriana's bodies were. She even provided them with a possible location for their remains and urged them to get law enforcement to look there.

And what I can say is that law enforcement has checked this out, that it was a location local to them, and that Joey went with them to look. But it doesn't appear that anything was found and...

At this point in time, that is all the Wicks family is willing to share. The reality is they have had to be extremely careful with what information they share publicly because after all these years, they do not want to jeopardize anything, which I completely understand and I'm sure you guys do as well. And they especially don't want to jeopardize the relationship, if you can even call it that, that they have sort of started to build with Joey. Now, in transparency in June and early July, some...

frustration really started to build and Casey had actually texted Joey and said, are you going to help us or not? And this must have triggered something in Joey because his response was, I'm ready to tell you everything. So on July 9th, he actually met up with Kathy and she had Casey on speakerphone the entire time and he didn't waste a second getting into everything. In July of this year, my mom was able to meet with Joey for the first time in 20 years.

probably since they met face to face in April 2004-ish, whenever he told the final story that's been kind of told as fact for the last 20 years. And they met at a local restaurant in Springfield. Our private investigator and Adriana's dad were nearby in case they were needed. And it was a two-hour conversation.

I was on speakerphone and mom was there in person across the table from him. He said that he felt like he needed to tell mom this information in person and not over the phone. And whenever he said through text message before we set up this meeting that he was ready to tell us everything, we were kind of confused because a month and a half prior, he had said everything that he had been telling for 20 years was the truth.

and very matter-of-factly. And so we were interested to hear what he had to say, and we're hopeful that he would tell us where Jennifer and Adriana were. So we sit down, and I think probably the biggest takeaway from that meeting was that he let us know that whenever he got home that day, Jennifer and Adriana were already dead. And

He said that the story that they had told, the gas station, the food value, him driving them into Cross Plains, all of that had been made up. They had come up with that story and told that story, and it had been made up.

and was alive for 20 years. And I know everyone wants to hear all of the details of that meeting, and unfortunately, we don't feel like sharing a lot of details from that meeting will be beneficial to our case. It could even hurt future chances of prosecution and jeopardize justice for Jennifer and Adriana, which we refuse to do. So I'm not going to go into a lot of details about how he's saying that they died. But I think that...

with that information, that piece of information, him saying that when he got home that day, they were already dead and his giving a potential location for their remains. I think people can use that information to deduce their own opinions and theories of what may have happened until I am able to share that information. Now, my personal opinion is, is that this is another fabricated story, similar to their fabricated story that they made up and told the last 20 years.

Now, I do believe that there's always a little bit of a truth in every lie that's told. And so I think that there's a possibility that there are pieces of what he told us that are true. Now, which pieces we're still trying to figure out. And I'm still in communication with him, trying to work through that and see if I can get the rest of the story because we just don't feel like what he's told that there's

any possible way that it's true. Because the Wicks family doesn't believe Joey is telling the whole truth and because their bodies still haven't been found, obviously the fight for justice is not over, but there is a thin line that needs to be walked now that Joey seems to be communicating with them and I just have to hope that he does the right thing in the end. Joey has made it clear that their family no longer has a relationship with his father and

and that if Joe is let out of jail, he is not welcome home. And that gives me some hope that this house of cards is crashing down in a way that will reveal where Jennifer and Adriana are. Because this case has technically never been closed, the Wicks family has never been granted access to any of the files related to the disappearance of the girls, so it's possible there is information out there that none of them know that could, you know, at least make sense of what happened. All of the information that their family has

has either been things that they have uncovered themselves or things that have come from their PI who has been working pro bono on this case since 2015. So big shout out to him. That's amazing. If there's one thing that we all can say for sure at the end of the day is that there's two families involved in this nightmare and only one of them, the Wix's, have ever been

ever done anything to try and untangle this mess. And it's because of their fight for justice, their fight to get answers, their diligence that I even heard about this case to begin with, because like I said, there's not been much coverage on it. So I'm really, really grateful that they reached out to me and that I was able to learn about the case through them. And

There are a couple of things that you can do to help the Wicks family if you're interested. First, like I said, you can follow their Facebook page, Justice for Jennifer and Adriana Wicks, which I, of course, will have linked below, as well as their Instagram and TikTok, which will be linked below. You can also donate to their GoFundMe, which is raising funds to help pay for legal representation. Our new foundation, Higher Hope, is aiming to make a big impact for them through our Hope Grant. But of course, any additional support from you guys is always appreciated. So yes, please check out their GoFundMe.

Any amount helps. And then another super easy thing that you can do is sign their change.org petition. It's just getting started, so I'm sure they would appreciate as many signatures as possible. And that petition is to have the Benton property thoroughly searched. And lastly, something super easy that you can do is just continue to spread the word about Adriana and Jennifer.

And, you know, you can do that just by word of mouth or by sharing a flyer or by sharing this episode or maybe the podcast that they've recently put out. Sharing their story as much as possible is going to keep it from going cold. And obviously things are heating up. So that's great. Let's keep that momentum going by continuing to share their story.

That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there.

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