Jenny Lin
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This is Jessica Knoll, host of the new series Back in Crime. If you're a follower of true crime, you're probably familiar with some of the most shocking stories from our history. Horrific tragedies like the Columbine Massacre. He turned the gun straight at us and shot. Oh my God, the window went out. And the kid standing there with me, I think he got hit. Okay. Oh God. And notorious criminals like cult leader Charles Manson.

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My name is Sarah Turney, and this is Voices for Justice.

Today, I'm discussing the case of Jenny Lin. Tuesday, May 27th, 1994 is just two days after Jenny Lin's 14th birthday. She comes home from school to an empty house in Castro Valley, California. Like a lot of kids, both her parents work, and Jenny is expected to get her chores and homework done before they get home. But also like a lot of kids, especially teenagers, Jenny decides that before she gets to work on those tasks, she'll talk to some friends on the phone.

Jenny's last call ends just after 5pm. Around 30 minutes later, her father John calls home to check on her, but there's no answer. He doesn't immediately panic. Jenny is a very responsible kid and she's used to this routine. She's probably just doing something and didn't hear the phone. Around 7pm, John walks into a quiet house. He doesn't see Jenny anywhere, but it's clear that Jenny had been there.

The back door is unlocked, the TV is on, and Jenny's microwave dinner is sitting on the kitchen counter. After John doesn't see Jenny on the first floor of the house, he then walks upstairs and notices that the bathroom door in his room is closed. When he opens the door, the scene John walks into is inconceivable. Jenny is lying face down, covered in blood.

Nearly 30 years later, the case is still unsolved, and the Lynn family and investigators struggle to make sense of why Jenny was targeted. This is the case of Jenny Lynn.

In the 1970s, Jenny's parents, Mei-Lin and John, leave Taiwan to pursue grad school in the United States. Their goal, like so many other immigrants, is the American dream. John plans to attend a computer science program at the University of Rhode Island, and Mei-Lin is equally ambitious. She's set to study biochemistry at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania. The distance, though, is heart-wrenching for the couple.

It's a five-hour drive between the schools, and with all their studying, they just don't have a lot of time to visit each other. It's all just really hard. But they make it through and get married in 1974. The next year, they have their first daughter. Eventually, they move to Rhode Island, where the family of three is able to create roots.

Their neighbors are friendly, but the winters are cold and brutal. So in 1979, the Lins move over 3,000 miles away to sunny California. The Lins move to Castro Valley. It's a small town outside of San Francisco.

It's close enough for May Lynn and John to commute to work, and it's also a friendly place for families. Which is good, because on May 25th, 1980, they have their second daughter, Jennifer, or Jenny as friends and family called her.

When Jenny is 11, the Lins move to an upscale new development in town called Palomares Hills. It was built the year they moved in, and it's really nice. But there's not much else around it. It's like the developers just kind of plop this suburban neighborhood down in the middle of nowhere. I mean, there's literally nothing around it at this point besides these steep, mountainous hills. It's the kind of neighborhood you wouldn't just stumble across unless you knew exactly how to get there.

And I want you to keep that in mind moving forward.

It's also important to talk about the layout of their house. The Lynn family home is a large two-story house. It has a bay window that juts out over the garage and welcoming French doors at the front. In the back, there's a lot of grass, perfect for playing with the family dog. There's also a wooden patio, with stairs leading up to the primary bedroom balcony. Inside, it feels like a classic suburban home. It also has the same layout as several other houses on the block.

For the Lins, the neighborhood has everything they could ever need. It's orderly, full of young families, and feels safe.

But the Lin's do have one thing they want to fix about the neighborhood, the school bus stop. The bus currently picks up the kids about half a mile from the block that Jennifer and her sister live on. John and May Lynn don't love how long of a walk that is. But never once to be deterred by an obstacle, they get together with other parents and advocate for a new stop. And sure enough, it works. Now Jenny and the other kids in the neighborhood will get picked up and dropped off right on their block.

It's a small victory, but it gives us a good sense of who her parents are and how engaged they are in their kids' lives. Now, Jenny fits right into the new neighborhood. She's incredibly social. One neighbor says that she would say hi to everyone when she'd go on walks. Even though she's just in middle school, she has a lot going on. She plays the piano, she's studying viola and dance. And she's a star student. But music is her real passion, and she's really good at it.

So good that the Castro Valley Chamber Orchestra invites her to play with them. It's an opportunity that opens up a lot of doors for her. In 1993, she travels to LA with the group, and the following year, she joins them on a cruise to Mexico.

And Jenny loves this part of the orchestra. She was born to be around people. And these trips are a great opportunity to socialize and see new places. In the lead up to both of these trips, her family says she talked about them so much that even her friends get tired of hearing about it. And this says something because Jenny has a lot of friends, who she's almost always on the phone with.

Now, I think a lot of us can relate to this. Middle school can be tough, but it's also a time when your friends are basically your entire world. You tell them everything. Between school and activities and just hanging out, you're with each other almost non-stop.

I think it's worth noting that Jenny's older sister is away at college living out of the family home at this point, so Jenny's basically an only child in the home, which means her parents have a lot of time to focus on her. When Jenny's parents question why she's on the phone so much, she tells them she's just helping friends with their homework, but her parents really just laugh this off as kind of an excuse. They know that as much as Jenny excels in school and in the orchestra, she's also just a teenager. Her

Her parents say she loves boys, clothes, and stealing her sister's clothes. She blasts Phantom of the Opera from the stereo as much as she does U2. And she loves watching Star Trek with her family. But while Jenny definitely has a fun and artistic side, she's also extremely organized and thoughtful about school and her future.

Her family says she drives her friends nuts because she's constantly trying to clean their rooms and organize their stuff. And at only 14, she knows that she wants to attend UC Berkeley for college. There's a natural order to Jenny's life. School, homework, music, friends, sleep, repeat.

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On May 27th, 1994, John brings Jenny to school at 7.45am. As far as we know, it's just a typical school day. After getting off the bus at 2.45, Jenny walks home. That afternoon, she talks to two friends on the phone. She's on a call with one of them until 5.15pm. Then, about 15 minutes after that, her dad John calls the home phone to check on her. But Jenny doesn't pick up. At

About half an hour later, John leaves his office in San Francisco to catch the train back home. He arrives at the house at 6.45pm. When he goes inside, he sees that the sliding door to the backyard is unlocked. He goes outside to look for Jenny, but he doesn't find her there, just their family dog. As he walks around downstairs, there are signs that Jenny was home. A microwave dinner is still sitting on the kitchen counter. The TV is still on in the living room.

But when he calls out for Jenny, there's no answer. So John makes his way to the second floor. He enters the primary bedroom and notices that something's off.

The bathroom door is closed. The lens always keep this door open unless it's being used. Plus, Jenny didn't usually use this bathroom. So this is really odd to him. And when he opens the door, it's the worst scene he could possibly imagine. Jenny is lying on the floor face down in a pool of blood. Jenny was found nude, and her arms and legs were bound with duct tape.

When John rolls her over, it's clear to him that she'd been stabbed. He calls 911, and the operator tells him to do CPR. But it's no use. Jenny is already gone. When police arrive at the Lynn household, John rushes to let them in.

Meanwhile, he gets a hold of his wife and tells her the devastating news. In an interview for the Deck podcast, May Lynn describes this moment, saying her mind just goes blank when she hears what happened. She runs down the stairs of her fourth floor office and gets into the car. The thought of never seeing her daughter again is nagging in her head. She keeps thinking about how irreversible this is.

When Malin finally gets home, John runs outside to embrace her. He doesn't realize it then, but he won't be allowed back into the house for at least a day. Police soon tape off the entire home and declare it a crime scene.

Now, the police are swift and meticulous in their search of the Lynn house. Outside, they see footsteps that look like men's work boots, though they were never able to get a complete print. And in addition to the unlocked back door, the primary bedroom balcony door has clearly been manhandled. They think someone tried to break in through that door but was unsuccessful.

Downstairs, they find one of the windows shattered, and the curtain is just slightly out of place, as if the suspect moved it back into place in an attempt to cover up the broken window. Even some of the shards of glass had been hidden away. Now, I think it's worth noting that the hole in the window was really small.

I don't have the exact measurements, but I don't see how someone could get in or out of this window without cutting themselves, and there was no blood found by the window. But according to investigative reporting done by the Deck podcast, law enforcement did recreate this scene, and they say it's possible the killer may have entered through this window. So at this point, that is their working theory. What they can't figure out is motive.

When police look at the scene that day, they note that the house seems completely in order. It doesn't look like anything is missing. And it doesn't even look like the intruder tried to take anything. So it seems burglary wasn't the motive. Also, although it appeared that Jenny's clothes had been cut off her, she had not been sexually assaulted. This again leaves investigators scratching their heads about motive here.

Now, while investigators are searching the house, reports from neighbors trickle in. One person says they saw a man walking across the area behind Jenny's house that evening toward an athletic field. The witness tells police that the man was carrying a blue sports bag with red straps. It seems like a good lead, especially because there wasn't a game at the field that night. And given how sort of out in the middle of nowhere this neighborhood is, there aren't a lot of other reasons someone might be walking around there.

Police canines also track ascent in the direction of the field. But apart from that lead, there aren't many other eyewitness accounts from neighbors. This might be because most of the neighborhood is made up of families like Jenny's. Most of the parents both have jobs, and most of their kids have after-school activities.

The theory investigators have is pretty grim. Detective Patrick Smith from the Alameda Sheriff's Department told the Deck podcast, "...when you look at the totality of Jenny's case and the facts of it, I believe that the suspect did enter through that window. They attempted to get in upstairs to the balcony, dig into the window, tried to conceal that entry, and was actually in the house before Jenny got home from school."

When you think about it, if Jenny had been home and you're breaking windows, we know that when Jenny was home, she was playing the piano, which was right next to windows. She was talking on the phone. She was watching TV downstairs. The TV was on. She was right there. Play this scenario out. If she was home and that happened...

End quote.

So basically, the police believe that Jenny's murder was meticulously planned. They think that the person entered the home while Jenny was at school or on her way home. Then, while she was going about her regular routine that afternoon, watching TV, playing piano, calling her friends, her killer was waiting for her somewhere in the house.

While investigators aren't sure whether the suspect knew Jenny, they do believe that the person was very familiar with her neighborhood and her family schedule. And while this helps them better understand the day, it doesn't really get them any closer to solving the case. The Lin's have a very regular and almost regimented schedule, so it wouldn't have been that hard for the suspect to watch them and figure out when Jenny would be home alone.

I mean, realistically, it could have been anyone. A stranger, a neighbor, or someone who knows the family. There is one lead that emerges in the first couple days that is really troubling. See, about two weeks before Jenny was killed, a man approached John in the parking garage of the train station while he was on his way home. This man tells John that he had his daughter, but didn't explain any further.

John was obviously terrified and got out of the garage as quickly as he could. As he was driving away, the man kept motioning for John to roll down his window. But John didn't. He was ready to get out of there and get somewhere safe. He also had to get back to check on his family. John knew that Jenny was at Viola practice, so he made his way to her teacher's house. Thankfully, when John drove by, he saw the family car outside, which meant to him that Jenny was safe.

Like I mentioned earlier, his other daughter was already in college by now. So when John got home, he called her and confirmed that she was safe too.

The whole thing was just really scary and strange. And of course, this story gets people's minds racing. A week after Jenny was killed, police have John sit down with a sketch artist to describe the man. John recalls as much as he can, but when he gets the drawing back, he's disappointed. This man in the picture just doesn't look like the person he saw at all. In the end, the police don't even distribute this drawing, so the Lins and some other volunteers pay to have a second sketch drawn up.

In this one, the man appears to be about 30 to 45 years old, between 5'8 and 6 feet tall, and he's thin with really striking, rigid features. The family distributes the drawing as widely as they can. The Lynn seem to believe that this man could have had something to do with Jenny's death, but the police don't seem as sure. Today, investigators think this interaction was just a coincidence.

And honestly, I don't know what to think of that. I mean, it is a very random and odd coincidence considering that John's daughter was killed just two weeks later.

Which is why the Lenn family still encourages people to share the drawing regardless of what the police think. I mean, it couldn't hurt, right? I mean, worst case scenario, they track down this guy, talk to him, and eliminate him. So, of course, I will have this sketch on my social media accounts and on our website, VoicesForJusticePodcast.com.

In addition to helping get the sketch created and distributed, volunteers and local businesses do a lot in the early days of the investigation. The Linds are especially grateful to the family of Polly Klass, who offer advice and support.

I've discussed Polly and the Klass family before, but for anyone who needs a refresher, Polly Klass was a bright and sassy 12-year-old girl whose family lived about an hour away from the Lins. A few months earlier, on October 1st, 1993, Polly was having a sleepover with two friends. At 10pm that night, a man entered Polly's bedroom and kidnapped her. The case captivated the country and spurred national conversations about crime and the safety of kids.

In part thanks to all the public attention, police identified and arrested a suspect about two months after Polly went missing. The suspect, who was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Polly, was a random stranger.

Polly's family established a foundation to support families going through similar situations. And because of the similarities between Polly and Jenny's stories, the Klass family offers support to the Lins after Jenny's murder. In addition, a community member donates a storefront that soon becomes covered in photos of Jenny. And May Lin's employer sponsors a tip line for people to call into. Local police call in the FBI for assistance, and together they pursue hundreds of leads.

But there are almost no developments. Investigators really only have theories. One key detail is that to investigators, the wounds on Jenny's body appear deliberate. Lieutenant Ted Nelson calls the stabbings controlled. While authorities remain pretty tight-lipped during this period, it does seem like they're alluding to the idea that the assailant may have killed other people before Jenny. If that's true, it narrows down the suspect list.

The FBI also releases a profile of the suspect with a couple important details. First, they say that the person may not have stuck out as strange or out of place if someone saw them in the neighborhood. The FBI adds that the person is likely to be a loner who might live with others, but probably sticks to themselves most of the time. They even state that the killer likely would have expressed concern and worry after Jenny's murder.

This seems to allude to the fact that they think the person might have been a community member. I think it's also important to note that they say that while neighbors may not have seen the person on the day of Jenny's death, there may be other clues pointing to them. They say it's possible the killer left for a day, maybe longer. They would also appear to have legitimate reasons. But if they still have ties to the area, they would have returned. Which

which again suggests that they might be a member of the community. In fact, a few months after Jenny's murder, they actually start looking into one of her neighbors as a potential suspect. This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Quince. I can't believe that we are rolling into fall, but we are, which means it's time to refresh your wardrobe. And luckily, Quince offers timeless and high-quality pieces that will not blow your budget.

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In August 1994, a 22-year-old male, who I'm going to call Joe for privacy reasons, piqued investigators' interest. Joe is the son of a couple who lives in the neighborhood. When detectives reach out to Joe's parents, they say they can't be much help. His parents were out of town when Jenny was murdered. Detectives then question Joe, and he says he was hanging out all day at home until he went to pick up his girlfriend at work.

Now, none of this is really incriminating, so they cool their investigation on Joe for a little bit. But in September, they interview him again. And this time, his whole story is changed.

He now says that he was actually at work until about 6, not at home. But this is easily disproven because his employer told police that he was not at work that day. Investigators ask Joe to sit down for a polygraph test, which he agrees to. But before he goes for the polygraph, police have him do another exam. They ask Joe to rip some duct tape in front of them. Now, remember, when Jenny was found, her lens had been bound with duct tape.

So they're trying to figure out if the way he rips duct tape matches the killer's approach. But after this, Joe changes his mind about the polygraph test and declines to take it. There's really nothing police can do to force someone to sit down for a polygraph, especially someone who has not been charged with a crime. So they just have to let him go. But the duct tape test was completed, and when the results come back, it shows that the rips don't match those of the killer.

Now, it's not like this definitively proves anything one way or the other, but it does suggest that Joe may not have been involved in the crime. Now, eventually, Joe does agree to do this polygraph test, and at least one of his answers indicates deception.

but I can't find any more details on which questions he failed. Also, we know that polygraphs are basically junk science, but I thought it was worth mentioning that Joe did eventually agree to and take the test. Joe also allows police to search his car. They look for fibers matching those found on the duct tape, but they come up short. Without any evidence pointing to Joe, they stop pursuing the lead.

Over the next couple years, investigators look at a slew of other potential suspects, but what they don't tell the public is that they keep coming back to one man in particular, Sebastian Shaw.

In 2006, on what would have been Jenny's 26th birthday, the Alameda Sheriff's Department finally announces publicly that they've identified Shaw as a suspect. By then, Shaw is serving three life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murders of three Oregon residents. These were strangers to Shaw at the time of their deaths, and were killed in a similar way as Jenny. Shaw was arrested in August 1994, just three months after Jenny was murdered.

He was found sleeping in a stolen car. In his car, they find books about topics ranging from body chemistry and first aid to porn. They also find handcuffs, a knife, surgical gloves, a claw hammer, combat boots, a blue bag, and duct tape that matched the brand used to bind Jenny during the attack.

He apparently stole the car by breaking a window and taking it from a garage about 11 miles from the Lins house. Then, while in prison, he told his cellmate that he killed about 10-12 other people besides the murders he was arrested for. The cellmate says that Shaw explained how he typically murdered these people, and the details line up very closely with what we know about Jenny's case. Now, police didn't specify exactly what details matched with Jenny's case, so it's hard to say.

The Alameda County Sheriff's Department had been looking at Shaw from the early days of Jenny's case, but they kept it quiet for years while they investigated. Now, there are a lot of different reasons why police might hold off on officially naming or arresting a suspect, but in this case, it seems like they didn't want to interfere with the ongoing trial against Shaw. While they'd been looking at Shaw for a long time, it wasn't actually until 2005 or 2006 that they began considering him as the primary suspect.

I'm not sure exactly what changed, but whatever came to light during that period was enough for authorities to name him as a suspect in Jenny's case. The May 2006 announcement leaves May Lynn hopeful. She says, "...finally, after 12 years, there is some justice for Jenny." The sheriff's commander even tells the media, "...we put together a timeline, and we're confident that Shaw was in the Bay Area around the time of the homicide."

After this announcement, Shaw agrees to speak with detectives for a formal sit-down interview. But when they arrive at the prison in Oregon, he changes his mind and refuses to talk.

Understandably, this enrages John Lynn. Even though Shaw had only been named as a suspect, John feels confident that he was the murderer. So, John decides that if police can't talk to Shaw, he will. In a letter, John writes, quote,

Then he demands answers to his questions. Why did you target my daughter? And why did you have to kill her? Shaw responds. His tone is somewhat snarky, and in the letter, he continues to claim his innocence. He actually invites John to Oregon and says that he'll sit down and have a conversation with him while he's hooked up to a polygraph test. Shaw even says that he'll add John Lynn to his call list if John will just give him his number.

John's not comfortable with this proposal, though. He has no interest in meeting Shaw face-to-face or having a phone conversation with him. But John does write to Shaw again and asks him more questions about Jenny's murder. After a lot of back-and-forth, the conversation ends with no resolution. John is understandably outraged by Shaw's callous attitude in the letters. Investigators don't get much further on the lead, either.

And eventually, it seems like the sheriff's department stops pursuing Shaw as a suspect, though it's unclear why. Like a lot of families in true crime, Jenny's family turned their grief into advocacy. Over the years, Jenny's family has found ways to honor her legacy.

They establish the Jenny Lin Foundation, which supports families like theirs, while also sharing Jenny's passion for orchestra with others. Every year, they host a completely free, six-week Jenny Lin Summer Music Camp.

It's a beautiful tribute to Jenny's love of music and keeps her name in the community. In 2022, May Lynn told CBS News, Jenny would feel like these young students, these young musicians accomplished her dream. Her and John's work through the Jenny Lynn Foundation is truly incredible.

In 2014, a former Alameda County supervisor unveils a memorial for Jenny. It's this huge statue in front of City Hall in the nearby town of Hayward. Jenny is shown alongside two other children whose lives were cut tragically short by violence. The base of the statue is white granite, and it has the names of 49 other local kids who have been killed since the 1990s.

Jenny, cast in bronze, stands at the top of the base, with a wide-eyed grin and long, straight hair. It serves as a symbol that the community will always remember Jenny.

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Despite the family's hopes that the announcement about Sebastian Shaw might bring clarity and justice, years pass with no news. In 2020, the Alameda County Sheriff's Department announces that they've been working with private forensics groups to re-examine key pieces of evidence. In 2021, Sebastian Shaw died in jail.

He never confessed to Jenny's murder. A couple days after his death, the Jenny Lynn Foundation puts out a press release. In it, they mention that Shaw was a, quote, one-time suspect in Jenny's case. To clarify this, the Alameda Sheriff's Department tweets out a statement. They say that even though they'd looked closely into Shaw several years ago, they, quote, do not believe he was responsible for the murder, end quote.

While it's disappointing that the police don't have a clear suspect after all this time, they have kept the case open and seem hopeful that they're getting closer to answers. So who killed Jenny Lin and why? Well, the neighborhood man was ruled out, as was Sebastian Shaw. The family was thoroughly investigated and interrogated and also ruled out. While I'm sure there are other persons of interest being looked into, none have been named.

Like investigators, I too believe it was someone who was either already in the neighborhood, I mean, we know Jenny was a very friendly kid who took the time to say hello to everyone she passed, or it could have been someone who saw her, took the time to watch her from afar and learn her schedule. As far as motive, well, Jenny was 14. She didn't have enemies. And we know that nothing was taken from the home. We also know that Jenny was not sexually assaulted.

However, investigators believe her killer may have intended to sexually assault her. She was found nude, and it appeared that her clothing had been cut off her. But investigators think it's possible that something may have stopped them before it got that far. Maybe the family dog started barking. Maybe they heard a noise outside. Obviously, we just don't know.

But that is pretty much where Jenny's case is today. In the summer of 2022, investigators analyzed evidence that was found at the crime scene over 25 years ago. We don't know what these tests revealed, but it does tell me that police are still very actively pursuing answers in this case.

Which brings me right to our call to action. We can help get answers by sharing Jenny's story and hoping that it reaches the right people. Jenny's family also encourages people to share the sketch of the man that John saw in the parking garage that day. Again, it will be posted on my social media accounts and also on VoicesForJusticePodcast.com. Please share it. There is still hope for justice for Jenny Lin.

As a reminder, Jenny Lynn was killed on May 27th, 1994 in Castro Valley, California. If you have any information about her case, please contact the Alameda County Sheriff's Office at 510-667-3636. But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.

Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original. This episode contains writing and research by Amber Von Chasson and was edited by Kate Gallagher.

For this episode, we found the original investigative reporting from the Deck podcast on Jenny's case extremely helpful to our research. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show in your podcast player. It is an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice. And for even more content, check out my other podcast, Disappearances, only on Spotify. Welcome to the Secret After Show.

I think the one thing I wanted to really talk about in this after segment here is the community of it all. This episode, this case, has so many community elements to it. It's kind of heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. I mean, you have the Poly Class family, or Poly Class's family, I should say, and the Poly Class Foundation helping out this family.

Two families affected by true crime that want to go into advocacy, that did go into advocacy, that are continuing to help other people experiencing similar situations. Again, there's something really heartwarming about that and something really heartbreaking. I know, I'm like trying not to cry you guys, in true crime it's really hard to trust people as a family, I should say. I'm just speaking not as a content creator, as a family.

It's really hard to trust people. It's hard to know who's good, who's bad, who really wants to help you, who's just in it for entertainment and money if the police are telling you the truth. There's so much value in families connecting like that. You can bounce things off of each other and do what I like to call sanity checks. The police told me this. What do you think? What's your experience with that? The police say we can't do this type of testing. Do you have any information on that?

How did flyers work for you? How do social media ads work for you? The community of it all is so, so important. So again, that was heartbreaking and heartwarming to see. And while I'm talking about community, I also really have to give another shout out to the Deck podcast. When I reached out to them and asked about their original reporting on Jenny's case, they said that they'd give me anything I need.

There were no barriers, nothing like that, they just wanted to help. And on the family member side and content creator side, if I'm putting both these hats on at the same time, that's really, really freaking cool to see. I will tell you that not all creators are so generous with their research, with original reporting, with sharing things like police documents.

Unfortunately, a lot of people just kind of covet those things in the community. They may not want to share them for different reasons. Of course, sometimes there's extremely valid reasons. You know, I've had to not share documents because families have asked me not to. They trust me with those documents. They don't trust the world with them, and that's completely understandable. But again, when the community can come together, the families, the creators, it's just, it helps so much.

So again, huge shout out to the Deck podcast. I really do recommend. They have two episodes on Jenny's case. They actually have interviews with her family. It's really, really well done. I don't

typically feature other podcasts on this podcast because I do think the beauty in creating a true crime podcast is all these different people kind of gathering the same information and telling it in different ways, highlighting different things that they think are important. That's the beauty is that not all these podcasts hopefully are the same, right? That's why we listen to

the same case across 10 different podcasts. We want to hear everybody's take on it. We want to hear what they think is important. That being said, when a podcast does do original reporting like the deck did in this case, or perhaps they gather original interviews from families, again, like the deck did, that's usually when I'll go to that content creator or, you know, just reference their content, give them a shout out. Of course, put them in my sources. Like this...

Again, you guys, as the community of it all, and yeah, I don't think I have a huge statement to make behind that. They're just kind of observations about this episode. Community just seemed like a really big theme throughout, and I wanted to kind of talk it out with you guys because this is my time to be extremely long-winded and, in my opinion, kind of annoying with you.

The only other thing I really had to add here was I learned something new in this case, and that was the ripping duct tape.

I was like, excuse me? So if you don't remember, which I don't know why you wouldn't. I have a memory like a goldfish. So if you don't remember, in this episode, we talk about how the police had, you know, their potential person of interest, suspect, whatever, had them rip duct tape to see if it was similar to the way that the killer ripped duct tape. And I was like, whoa. Now, I know I don't cover a lot of murders on here. I do Unsolved. It's a lot of missing people, but...

As I continue to do more murder cases and see this kind of stuff, it's pretty cool to learn about these different methods that I'd never think of. I mean, something like ripping the duct tape is just...

I don't know. I learned something new and I hope that you did too. Like I, I know that you can, you know, check out the brands of the duct tape and you can check out the fibers, of course, like all that seems pretty standard, but the ripping, I was like, okay, new avenue opened up. Um, so now when I look at other cases going forward, I'm definitely going to wonder why these police departments, cause we know they won't, you guys, we know they won't, but I'm going to, I'm going to wonder why these police departments aren't doing the same test. Um,

And while we're here, I guess I have a third point that just came into my mind right now. I do want to give a shout out to this police department. I mean, or the sheriff's office, I should say. Excuse me. It really does seem like they did a lot for Jenny and they're continuing to do a lot. At least that's what it appears. I mean, they cooperated with a deck podcast. They're doing things like ripping this duct tape. I don't know. You know, the family seems to...

be pretty happy with what the police have done so far. Of course, I don't think you're ever going to find an investigation where the family is 100% happy with what the police have done, especially in an unsolved case. I think you're only going to find that in a case where, let's say, there's a murder or somebody goes missing, and then the police solve it right away. I think that's going to be best case scenario for a family to just speak and sing these praises about the police.

But again, as far as I can tell, it seems like a pretty solid investigation compared to a lot of the other ones I feature here. So again, shout out. There is so much community in this episode. It seems like police really just cared. The family is extremely engaged. And again, I just, I hope there's justice for Jenny Lin. I mean, you just, it doesn't get much more horrible than this one, you guys. And...

I say this a lot, but even though it's been a long time, there's hope. There's so much hope, you guys. Yeah, I guess that's where I'll leave you. I did want to give a heads up that there's another court date coming up for Alyssa, and that's all I want to say. But it could affect things a lot. I'm trying not to cry. I may need some time, you guys, and I'm trying my best to

to prevent that from happening, which is why you see all these names pop up, why I have an editor and a writer and multiple writers at this point. I'm really trying to get the help that I feel I need to continue this show while the trial happens, um, which is going to be really, really hard. I'm not going to lie to myself. I'm not going to lie to you. When this trial starts, I'm going to be in the courtroom most likely four days a week, um,

But what's hard for me, the reason why I'm not just like, okay, I'll take the time I need and just like step away from the podcast for a few weeks or whatever, is because I know that there will be more eyes on this podcast than ever when the trial starts. And I want these cases to get that attention. I don't want to just step away while potentially these unsolved cases I'm featuring will get more attention than maybe ever before in this podcast. Um,

So all of that to say, I don't know what that's going to look like. The date keeps changing. And as much as I try to prepare, it never seems like enough. But I'm trying. I will try to keep you as informed as I can without pissing off the court. But yeah, bear with me. I'm trying my best. I want to make sure that I get as many cases out there as possible for these families. Yeah, that's what it's all about.

But as always, thank you for tolerating me. I love you and I'll talk to you next time.