Gone for a Jog (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

One day, in January of 2018, a police officer walked through the woods near the small town

of Gray France, and as he walked, he was looking at the ground, because he was following

a literal trail of blood, and this trail eventually led the officer to the body of a person

who clearly had been shot in the head.

Now this appeared to be a suicide, but the police officer had some questions, because this

was not the first body that had been found in these woods near the small town in France.

Their body had been found a couple of months earlier, and it was starting to seem like

there was a pattern here.

But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the strange dark and mysterious,

delivered in story format, then you've come to the right place, because that's all

we do, so if that's of interest to you, the next time you make coffee for the follow

button, don't use a coffee filter, so there's just a ton of grinds in their drink.

Okay, let's get into today's story.

The Mr. Ballin Podcast, Strange Dark and Mysterious Stories, is brought to you by Progressive

Insurance.

Do you refine yourself playing the budgeting game?

Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your

budget and potentially lower your bills.

Try it at Progressive.com.

Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates, price and coverage match limited

by state law, not available in all states.

The sun is out, the birds are chirping, and the open road is calling.

Bring on the spring at the Honda Spring Event, and take that road trip you've been dreaming

of.

Now is the time to check out the Honda Civic and HRV from Honda, the 2025 Kelly Bluebooks

at KVB.com Best Value Brand.

At around 5 p.m. on the evening of October 27, 2017, a 29 year old woman named Alexia

Devall drove her car down a cul-de-sac in the small quiet town of Gray France.

She was on her way to her parents' house to celebrate her nephew's second birthday,

and it was going to be this big family get-together.

Her sister, her brother-in-law and her little nephew had come in all the way from Paris,

which was about a four hour drive away.

But Alexia realistically had mixed feelings about seeing them all tonight.

So Alexia had been going through a pretty hard time recently.

She and her husband of 13 years, Jonathan, had been trying to get pregnant, and so she

done several rounds of fertility treatments, which had thrown her hormones completely out

of whack, and seemed to affect her a lot more than was typical for most women.

And then finally, when all that had led to her actually getting pregnant, she unfortunately

had miscarried just a couple of months ago.

And so even though Alexia loved her sister's family and got along with them really well,

her miscarriage was still really fresh in her mind, and she just knew it was going to

be very difficult for her to be around her young nephew.

It was just a reminder of what she had lost.

Now Alexia came to a stop outside of a gated driveway at the end of the cul-de-sac, and

she rang the intercom.

And then when the gate opened up, she drove up the driveway toward a nice house with a

very well-kept garden.

She parked her car in the driveway behind her father's white fan, and then got out of

her car.

She grabbed a wrap present out of the back seat, along with a couple of desserts that

she'd made, carried them up to the house, and rang the doorbell.

And a few seconds later, her mother, Isabelle Fuyot, answered the door with a big smile

and let her into the dining room where Alexia's father, John Pierre, sat at the table,

talking with Alexia's brother-in-law, Gregory, and also her sister Stephanie.

They all stood up and they greeted her, and then as Alexia began to explain that her husband

Jonathan was running late, and he'd be here later in a separate car because the job he'd

been working that day as an electrician had run long.

As she was saying all that, Alexia heard the sound of little feet making their way

towards her.

One went later, her two-year-old nephew James ran around the corner and threw his arms

around Alexia's legs.

And surprisingly, to Alexia's relief, she didn't feel sadness, all she felt was happiness.

And so she bent down and scooped him up and gave the boy a big hug, and then she also

handed him his birthday present.

Eventually, the group settled in for dinner, and for a while, all of Alexia's worries

just kind of faded away.

She was really close with everybody at the table, especially her mother and her sister Stephanie,

being around them always put her in a good mood.

Alexia's husband Jonathan finally arrived sometime around 830, and he, along with the

rest of the group, had a wonderful night, heating and drinking and chatting.

After dinner was cleaned up, Alexia's father did good to bed, but everybody else stayed

up, and they all just continued having this nice time until around 11pm.

When Alexia said it was really time for her and Jonathan to head home.

They both had early mornings ahead of them, Jonathan had some errands to run in the morning,

and Alexia was hoping to get a workout in.

A few minutes later, on the drive home, Alexia sat in the passenger seat of Jonathan's

car.

She'd left her own car at her parents' house because she'd been drinking, and she was

planning to pick it up when they came back the next day.

Alexia and Jonathan's house was on a quiet residential street, only about a mile away

from Alexia's parents' house.

And as they made their way down the road, Alexia glanced out the window at a particular

house that was just up the street from where they lived, and as she looked at it, she

frowned.

The neighbor who lived in that house had an adult grandson who had been harassing Alexia

all summer.

He'd been obsessed with her and would call and text her constantly to the point where

Alexia didn't feel safe even going out for a jog around the block when she was by herself.

Now fortunately, the harassment had stopped a couple of months ago, but only because the

man had been committed to a mental hospital.

But Alexia didn't really know how long it would be until he got out again, or if he'd

already been released, she didn't know, so it just sort of felt like a reprieve, not

a long-term solution.

But on this night, at least, there was nobody peering out at her from the neighbor's

window.

A minute later, their car pulled into their garage, and Alexia and Jonathan got out.

And as Alexia went from the garage into the main house, she passed by a treadmill in

the corner of the garage, which had broken down a few weeks ago.

She asked Jonathan if he'd gotten around fixing it yet, and he said no.

Alexia just sighed.

It was supposed to be a very cold and gloomy morning the next day, and so it looked like

she was going to have to run outside.

The following morning, around 11 a.m., Jonathan walked up to the door of Alexia's parents'

house and rang the doorbell.

And as he did, he sort of gave a worried look over his shoulder at Alexia's car, which

was still parked where they'd left it the night before.

Jonathan took a deep breath and tried not to show how anxious he felt, as Alexia's mother

Isabelle answered the door.

And then, in a very shaky voice, Jonathan said hello, and asked her if she'd seen or heard

from her daughter recently.

And when Isabelle said she had not, Jonathan completely lost his composure.

He said that morning, Alexia had gone out for a jog, but not come back, and now he was

starting to get really worried.

He explained that he'd tried texting Alexia, but she still hadn't answered.

And by this point, she should have been home a long time ago, so something was wrong.

A moment later, Jonathan saw Stephanie and Gregory coming out of the guest room with very

concern looks on their faces.

They joined Jonathan and Isabelle at the front door and asked what the commotion was about.

And so Jonathan sort of frantically re-explained the situation and asked if either of them

had heard from Alexia in the last hour or so.

But they shook their heads and said they hadn't.

But Stephanie showed Jonathan that she had received a text from Alexia at 9.30 that morning,

just to say that she was going out for this jog.

But after that, none of them had received any texts or calls from Alexia.

Jonathan was crying at this point, and so Alexia's family tried to assure him that, you

know, Alexia would probably just show up at the house any minute here, like nothing's

going on.

I'm sure she's just running late.

And Jonathan, he wanted to believe this, but this was completely unusual, like this

was not normal for Alexia to be gone for this long without being in touch.

It just didn't make sense.

It was at this point that Jonathan's brother-in-law Gregory reached out and put his hand on Jonathan

in a sort of comforting way and just said, look, if it makes you feel any better, I'll

go back with you and we can literally go look for Alexia together or at least be together

until she comes back.

Jonathan didn't really know what to do, but he was very thankful and said, yep, that

would be great.

And so a couple of minutes later, the two men got in Gregory's SUV and they began driving

back towards their house.

But Jonathan actually navigated him through the streets, along the running route that Alexia

usually took to see if maybe they could find her.

They drove down all the side streets looking for her and then when they reached the edge

of town, Jonathan and Gregory got out of the car and began checking the paths leading

into the countryside and also the ditches and the banks of the river.

But they didn't find Alexia anywhere.

And then eventually, they just drove back to Jonathan and Alexia's house to see if maybe

she'd finally come home with an explanation for all this, but she had not come home.

At this point, Jonathan was completely beside himself and so Gregory, doing his best to

stay calm, said, you know what, let's go to the hospital and see if Alexia had turned

up there.

A few minutes later, when they stopped in the parking lot of the local hospital, Jonathan

jumped out of the car and ran towards the main entrance, where two nurses were taking

a cigarette break.

Jonathan told these nurses that he was here looking for his wife and that she'd gone

on a run three hours ago and no one knew where she was now and maybe she's here.

So the nurses who could clearly tell this was an emergency, they put out their cigarettes

and went inside to check the register, but a minute later, they came back and told

the men that no, Alexia DeVol had not been admitted that morning, she was not here.

Before Jonathan or Gregory could protest or ask more questions, the nurses just said,

look, you gotta go to the police.

It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot.

Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient, sitting in a waiting room

with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth wondering if they really get your situation.

But this year, you're getting a major upgrade.

Into it, TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide.

You can meet face-to-face with a real tax expert and your documents get uploaded straight

to your TurboTax app on the spot.

And just like that, you're done.

Your TurboTax expert works to get you every dollar you deserve, while you get real-time

notifications as you go about your day.

It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing your

taxes are being handled right.

Head to TurboTax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment.

With spring activities, sports, and busy schedules, it can be tough to keep academics

front and center.

IXL makes it simple to stay consistent and build momentum without adding stress.

IXL is an award-winning online learning platform for pre-K through 12th grade, with personalized

interactive lessons in math, reading, writing, and science that adapt to each child's level

in pace.

Proven in all 50 states to improve grades, students who use IXL score higher on tests.

One subscription covers every subject for all the kids in your home, often costing less

than a single hour of tutoring.

Trusted nationwide, one in four students in the U.S. are learning with IXL, and IXL is

used in 96 of the top 100 school districts in the whole United States.

Make an impact on your child's learning.

Get IXL now.

And Mr. Ballin podcast, Strange Dark and Mysterious Stories listeners can get an exclusive 20%

off IXL membership when they sign up today at IXL.com slash Mr. Ballin.

Visit IXL.com slash Mr. Ballin to get the most effective learning program out there at

the best price.

Generally speaking, spring is when plans start becoming real.

Your big overseas travel gets booked, your calendars fill up, and so imagine if you

start learning a new language now, that means by the summer when you go on your overseas

travel, you'll feel even more confident speaking and understanding the new language while

you're there.

With 25 languages to choose from, including Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and more,

Rosetta Stone's immersive, intuitive method helps you naturally absorb your new language.

No memorizing random vocabulary lists and no relying on translations.

Instead, you learn by connecting words, visuals, and meaning in context.

The way language is meant to be learned.

Rosetta Stone uses an intuitive learning process designed for long-term retention.

Start with words, build to phrases, and progress to full sentences.

And with true accent, you get real-time feedback on pronunciation to help you sound more natural.

It really is like having your own personal language coach.

Ready to start learning a new language this spring?

Well, visit rosettastone.com slash Mr. Ballin today to explore Rosetta Stone and choose

the language that's right for you.

Again, go to rosettastone.com slash Mr. Ballin right now and begin your language learning

journey.

Later that afternoon, a police officer named Adeline Pio sat across from Jonathan in a

room at the Grey Police Station as he explained what had happened with his wife that she

was missing.

Jonathan also gave a description of what Alexia had been wearing when she went out running.

Bright pink shoes, black leggings, and a red jacket, so pretty easy to spot.

And then after describing her and sort of realizing the weight of what he was here for, he

just put his head in his hands and continued to weep as he had been doing much of the morning.

Now Pio could obviously tell that Jonathan was very upset here, but she had to ask the

question that was already forming in her mind.

So as delicately as possible, she asked Jonathan if his wife had any suicidal tendencies,

or any reason she might have run off without telling anybody.

Jonathan looked up really quickly and just shook his head and said no, and said that overall

his wife was very happy and definitely not suicidal.

However, as he sat there thinking about it, he said she had been taking hormones for fertility,

and realistically, those hormones appeared to have affected her really badly.

For example, sometimes she would lose control of her emotions entirely and even become violent.

Or in other instances, he said that she would even have memory lapses, where she wouldn't

even know what she was doing when she was doing it.

It was like she'd become this different person.

Pio nodded and just listened to Jonathan and wrote down everything he was saying.

And then when he was done, she followed up and said, you know, can you think of anybody

who might have had a problem with Alexia?

And for a moment, Jonathan just sat there in silence, kind of mulling over the question,

and then suddenly his eyes went wide like he had just realized something.

He told Pio that they had a neighbor who had been completely obsessed with Alexia earlier

that year.

He said his name was Arno, and he'd been obsessively calling and texting her so many times that

Alexia had actually had to block his number and had actually talked about how she was

fearful of going out alone because of this neighbor.

But just a couple of months earlier, he had been sent to a psychiatric hospital and because

he was literally removed from the neighborhood, the harassment had stopped.

But Jonathan said they were kind of worried that at some point he would come back and then

he would be a problem again.

And realistically, Jonathan said, he could be home now.

I just don't know.

I don't know where he is.

Pio was obviously very intrigued by this.

And so after this interview was over with Jonathan, she and her investigative team began digging

into this Arno guy to see where he was and what was going on with him.

And pretty quickly, they discovered that while Arno had gone to that psychiatric hospital,

that was true.

He was not there anymore.

He had been released.

And so that night, another officer with the Grey Police knocked on the door of Arno's

mother's house, where Arno was staying, which was about an hour away from Alexia and

Jonathan's house.

After the officer knocked, a middle-aged woman answered the door.

And when the officer asked if she was Arno's mother, she said she was.

The officer looked past her and he could see there was this disheveled looking young man

sitting right inside and he asked the mother if that was Arno.

And again, the woman said, yes.

At this point, the officer asked the mother if he could come inside because he said he needed

to speak privately with her son.

With the mother and Arno in the background, both seemed very confused by this, but after

a minute, they both agreed and the officer came inside.

And so the officer went inside the house and sat down in the living room with Arno while

Arno's mother went to the kitchen to give them some privacy.

And then once the mother was gone, the officer looked at Arno and just said he had some questions

about Alexia DeVol.

Arno immediately looked down at this question, like he was embarrassed and couldn't even

look at the officer.

But then he looked back up again and told the officer that he had bipolar disorder and

sometimes when he was in a manic state, he acted inappropriately towards women, including

Alexia.

The officer followed up about all those messages that apparently Arno had sent to Alexia

that summer, like what was going on with that.

And Arno admitted that he had done that, but he insisted it really was no big deal.

He said that he and Alexia knew each other because they had been neighbors at one point

and they'd also hung out in a group setting once.

So him being in touch with her was not totally weird, like they had a real connection.

But Arno clarified that when Alexia told him to stop contacting her, he did.

And that was the end of it.

But this caught the officer's attention.

Because according to Alexia's husband, Jonathan, the only reason that all the calls and

texts had stopped was because Alexia literally had to block Arno's phone number.

So the officer just cut to the chase here and told Arno that Alexia was missing.

And then before Arno could say anything, the officer asked him where he'd been that

morning at 9 a.m.

And Arno said, you know, I was right here, I was at home with my mom.

For a moment, the officer just stared at Arno trying to read his body language to see

if maybe he was being deceptive or not.

So eventually the officer just stood up and went into the kitchen where the mother was.

And he asked the mother, where was your son this morning?

And she told the officer with sort of a bewildered look on her face that he was here

with me all morning.

And so at this point, it was clear to the officer that, you know, if the mother was telling

the truth here, it would officially rule out Arno as a suspect because, you know, he was

here.

But the officer also knew that, generally speaking, mothers do not make the best alibis because

mothers are known to lie, cheat, steal, and do anything to protect their kids.

The following afternoon on Sunday, October 29th, chief officer, Frank Paredes, glanced

out his office window as yet another news van sped past outside down the usually quiet streets

of gray.

By now, Alexia's disappearance had blown up into this huge national news story.

And this was making it really difficult for Paredes who was in charge of the investigation.

Now it was still early in the investigation, but already he and his investigators were

being hounded by reporters and camera crews at every step.

Paredes closed his eyes and tried to focus on what his next step should be.

The search effort was well underway, they had called in reinforcements from nearby towns

and even organized search teams with volunteers from the public.

At that very moment, law enforcement was also using drones and dogs to scour the town

and the surrounding woods.

Paredes' investigation team had also searched Jonathan and Alexia's home by now, secretly

hoping they might find something to pin the disappearance on Jonathan.

But there was no blood, no sign of a struggle, and no clues that gave them any direction

there.

Also, all of Alexia's other family members, her parents, her sister Stephanie and her

brother-in-law Gregory, they could all vouch for each other's whereabouts on the morning

of Alexia's disappearance.

They claimed they had all been at the house together.

And so without any real leads, Paredes had gotten so desperate for any information that

he literally told his team to set up checkpoints out in the streets and just stop random people

and ask them if they had seen or heard anything that could help them find Alexia.

And now, as Paredes sat in his office wondering what he was going to do today, he heard

it knock at his door.

And a moment later, one of his investigators entered with fairly surprising news.

The checkpoints actually had turned up something.

Paredes listened intently as the investigator explained that a number of people he'd spoken

to had mentioned a van.

Now no one had actually seen the van themselves, but they all appeared to have heard the same

rumor.

Apparently there was a man driving around the area in this white van, and he was known

to harass girls and women right out on the street.

Now at first glance, you know, Paredes was worried that perhaps this was just like an unfounded

rumor, but then he remembered that were actually two men in Alexia's family who literally

drove white vans.

Her father Jean-Pierre, he owned one, and her husband Jonathan, he drove one for work.

On the afternoon of Monday, October 30th, so a little more than two days after Alexia

went missing.

Paredes brought his car to a stop next to a news van parked in the middle of the woods

about four miles outside of town.

Minutes ago, he had received a call from an officer in the field, telling him that Alexia's

body had been found.

And so Paredes had driven out to the scene as fast as he could.

But now that Paredes was here at the crime scene, he could tell obviously he was late to

the game.

And now a news crew was already here setting up their cameras near a row of police barriers.

And Paredes was disappointed to see this, because he'd hoped that if and when her body

was discovered if she was found dead, at that time he would have had at least one suspect

or hopefully multiple suspects identified and under surveillance before the word got

out to the general public that Alexia was found dead.

But now he obviously would not get that chance.

Paredes sighed, climbed out of his car, and flashed his badge to an officer who led him

around the barriers and into the crime scene.

Paredes approached one of the forensic experts who was taking photos and placing yellow-numbered

markers around on the ground, and Paredes introduced himself as the lead investigator.

The expert then led him over to Alexia's body, which was lying on the ground between

two tree trunks covered by a white bed sheet.

Her pink running shoes were poking out from under the sheet, and Paredes noticed that her

feet and the sheet were both partially burned, as if someone had tried to set them on fire

at some point.

Once the scene had been fully photographed, Paredes bent down and lifted the sheet to

get a better look at Alexia's body.

She was lying on her back, and there were bruises all over her face, and there were also

marks on her neck that looked like they were from strangulation.

And right away, Paredes noticed a couple of things that were unusual.

First, Alexia's hands were placed neatly in the pockets of her coat, as though her body

had been placed there on the ground with a lot of care.

Second, despite the beating that Alexia's face had apparently taken, her glasses were

placed perfectly on her face.

And so, to Paredes, it seemed like whoever killed Alexia had felt some sort of remorse

afterwards.

It was as though the killer had committed this incredibly violent murder, but then had

tried to kind of put everything back in order afterward.

And this made Paredes think that Alexia's killer was very likely someone who knew Alexia,

not a stranger, who simply, you know, accosted her during a jog.

Just then, Paredes heard somebody call his name, and he stood up to take a look.

Nearby, there was a forensics tech that was waving him over, and so Paredes walked over,

and the tech showed Paredes what he had just found.

It was a grey plastic cap that looked like it belonged on some kind of spray can.

Paredes thought, you know, maybe this could help explain the strange burn marks on the

bed sheet and also Alexia's shoes.

The killer had probably sprayed something on the body to try and help it catch fire,

but it didn't work as well as they thought it would.

Just then, another forensics tech called Paredes over to them to show him something else

they had found, tire tracks in the dirt.

Paredes immediately thought about that tip that he had been given about this van with

this person driving around town harassing women and girls, and he wondered if maybe that

was true that this van was involved in that these had been left by the killer when they

were transporting Alexia's body.

And so as this forensics expert began taking photographs of the tire tracks, Paredes made

a mental note to examine the tires of every suspect, family member, and other persons

of interest that came across, just in case one of them was a match.

And so Paredes was about to turn his attention back to the body when he noticed one more unusual

thing out in the woods.

There was this young man who did not appear to be a reporter, just kind of wandering around

out there in the trees, almost lurking near the crime scene.

And so immediately, Paredes went over to the sky and demanded to know what he was doing

here.

And at this, the man went completely wide eyed and just started stuttering like he was

totally caught off guard.

Eventually, the guy managed to mumble that he was just out here picking mushrooms, but

Paredes could tell he was obviously lying that was not why he was out here.

And so, operating on sort of a gut instinct, Paredes pulled out his handcuffs and placed

the man under arrest.

This year, I set a pretty simple goal for myself.

I just wanted to stay consistent in the gym.

Nothing extreme, just showing up, lifting a few days a week, and also just making sure

that I'm properly fueling my body the right way so I can get through those workouts,

and also not crash partway through the day.

Speaking of fuel, Kachava provides clean nutrition to help you stick to your wellness goals.

No fillers, no nonsense, just high quality ingredients to fuel wherever your day takes

you.

Just two scoops provides 25 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber, greens, adaptogens, and

so much more.

Plus its non-GMO contains no soy, no animal products, no gluten, and no preservatives.

Try Kachava, risk free, with their love it, guarantee.

I've been using the chocolate flavored Kachava after workouts or on busy mornings,

and it's just really easy.

It tastes great, it keeps me full, and I don't get that sort of heavy sluggish feeling.

Most days I blend the chocolate flavor with milk and a banana because it's quick, it's

simple, and it helps me stay on track without overthinking my nutrition.

Stick with your wellness goals.

Go to kachava.com and use code MrBallon for 15% off.

That's kachava.kacva.com, code MrBallon, busy days, big health goals, and no time to

cook.

Factor makes healthy eating easy, with fully prepared meals designed by dieticians and

crafted by chefs.

So you can eat well without planning or cooking.

Factor has a variety of meals that fit your goals and schedule, whether that's healthier

eating, calorie management, or just more protein.

And every meal is made with quality, functional ingredients, including lean proteins, colorful

veggies, whole-food ingredients, and healthy fat.

I was impressed by just the portion sizes, and also the quality, and how easy it was

to prepare.

It looked and smelled really great, and it tasted even better.

So I'm a big carnivore, a big meat-eating guy, and my favorite meal, honestly it was

a tie, I have two favorites, were the peppercorn-spiced filet mignon, and the grilled steak house filet

mignon.

Those steaks were cooked to perfection, and the process was genuinely so easy to incorporate

into my busy schedule.

Head to factormeals.com slash ballin50off and use code ballin50off to get 50% off and

free breakfast for a year.

Eat like a pro this month with Factor, new subscribers only varies by plan.

One free breakfast item per box for one year while subscription is active.

Later that same afternoon, just hours after Alexi's body had been discovered in the woods

outside of town, Peretta sat down at a table at the Grey Police Station, across from this

suspicious young man he just arrested for lurking near the crime scene for no clear reason.

And Peretta's was pleased, I mean he'd only been in charge of what was now a murder investigation

for a couple of hours, and here he was about to speak to a legitimate suspect, really

like the first suspect, who was in custody.

But as soon as Peretta's actually began speaking to this suspect, he realized that the young

man's stutter was not really a sign of him being nervous.

He actually had speech issues and he struggled to speak at all, even when he wasn't nervous.

The man was eventually able to explain that his name was Anthony and he was 29 years old.

He said he lived with his parents in Apremole, another small town about 5 miles away, and

he admitted that he had lied about being there to pick mushrooms.

And so Peretta's pressed Anthony to explain then why he was there, and Anthony seemed

a little embarrassed as he began to explain, but what he said was he didn't know Alexia

personally, he had just heard about her disappearance in the news, and he wanted to help with

the search effort.

But Anthony said he couldn't read or write, so he had not been able to fill out the

paperwork to join the official search party.

So instead he just driven out the woods in his own car to look for Alexia himself.

But while he was out there, you know the police showed up and clearly there was something

going on, and when Peretta's walked over to him, Anthony said he got scared and just

lied and said, oh I'm out here picking mushrooms, like he said it was just embarrassment.

And as Peretta sat there listening to this story, he wasn't quite sure what to make

of it, or really what to make of Anthony, I mean Anthony's demeanor seemed almost childlike,

but his behavior was not childlike, it was very adult like and pretty suspicious.

So Peretta's followed up by asking him what he was doing on the morning of October 28th,

which was the morning Alexia went missing.

Anthony said he'd woken up at his parents house and had breakfast with them before he went

out with his girlfriend and also another friend, and he gave Peretta's their names and also

their phone numbers so they could confirm it.

So Peretta stepped out of the room and he did exactly that.

He called the various phone numbers and spoke to the people in Anthony's life, and they

all corroborated his alibi.

So despite how suspicious Anthony had been acting, Peretta's had no choice but to let Anthony

go.

A week later on November 5th, a march was organized in Alexia's honor.

10,000 people turned out to show their support for Alexia's family and also to protest violence

against women.

And hidden among this huge crowd was a pair of police officers who'd been assigned to

follow Alexia's husband, Jonathan DeVal.

At this point, Jonathan really was looking like the most obvious suspect since he was

the husband and also the last person to see Alexia alive.

So the police had tapped his phone and put him under surveillance.

But all they had learned so far from the phone taps was that Jonathan made frequent calls

to Alexia's family, to his own siblings and his friends, to talk about how much he missed

his wife.

And the officers who were literally following Jonathan around found that he really rarely

left his house except to visit Alexia's parents, which he did almost every day.

But so far, it was like none of Jonathan's behavior actually seemed really suspicious

at all.

And now, at this big march, the investigators stood in the crowd and watched as Jonathan

hobbled his way up the steps to the podium, followed by Alexia's mother and father.

And in fact, Jonathan was trembling so much by the time he got up there that Alexia's

parents had to physically prop him up before he could begin reading his speech to the crowd.

And so at this point, the investigators just kind of exchanged a glance.

Either they were wasting their time following an obviously grieving husband with nothing to

hide, or Jonathan was like a world-class actor giving the performance of a lifetime.

But the investigators knew that until new evidence presented itself, there was really nothing

they could do but, you know, watch and wait, which included watching Jonathan and just

seeing what he did.

They were also still waiting on the tire analysis from the crime scene, but they didn't expect

much to come from it.

At this point, the creepy white van story seemed to be more like an urban legend in this

town.

So, you know, as the weeks turned to months and still there was no progress on this case,

the investigators, including Paredes, began to wonder if this case would ever be solved.

But then, all of a sudden, new evidence did appear.

And when it did, the investigators realized they might have been following the wrong lead

this whole time.

Because while they'd been focused on surveilling Jonathan, a second body had just turned

up in the woods outside of gray.

On the evening of Saturday, January 6, 2018, Chief Officer Paredes was at his desk, pouring

over the evidence that had been flooding in all day.

The new victim, whose body had been found earlier that same day in the woods, very close

to where Alexia's body had been found, was a 38-year-old father of three.

He looked to have died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Although, according to the autopsy report, the man had a blood alcohol level of almost

8.4%, which is huge.

That can be fatal on its own, or at the very least, knock somebody unconscious.

Investigators had found gunpowder on the man's hand, so for now, they were treating his

death as a suicide.

But the more Paredes looked into the evidence, the less convinced he became that he was looking

at a suicide.

Because, you know, a gun had been found at the scene, but it had not been located

very close to the dead man's body.

In fact, the gun was found 130 feet away from the body in a trash can.

The only explanation would be, he shot himself and then put the gun in the trash can and then

somehow wandered 130 feet away before collapsing and dying.

That was possible, albeit highly unlikely, being shot in the head, typically is immediately

incapacitating or lethal, but it is possible he could have shot himself and lived long enough

to travel 130 feet.

It just seemed very unlikely.

So now, Paredes sat back in his chair and just tried to think.

It was strange enough to have two violent deaths in this same quiet town.

Let alone, to have the bodies be found, basically in the exact same spot in the surrounding woods.

It just seemed too coincidental not to be looked into, so he had to wonder, you know, maybe

there was a connection between this man's death and Alexias.

But later that same month, as Paredes scanned over a document that had just arrived from

the crime lab, he wasn't thinking about that second body in the woods anymore.

Because this new document in his hands was an expert analysis of those tire tracks that

have been found in the woods near Alexias' body.

And the analysis showed that there was a tiny defect in the tread of one of the tires.

And this defect was so specific that the experts had been able to determine exactly which

vehicle left those tracks in the woods.

And this vehicle just so happened to be a white van.

Paredes felt as pulse-quicken as he kept on reading, and a moment later, he reached for

his phone and he called a supervisor to tell him the good news.

He knew the identity of Alexias' killer.

Based on that tire track analysis and also other evidence, including an eventual confession

from the killer, this is how police believe Alexia Devall was killed.

The killer was almost blind with rage.

They slammed Alexia's head against a nearby wall and then hit her over and over again.

And then they wrapped their hands around her neck and they squeezed for so long they

like lost track of time.

They were just crushing her neck.

And then finally, they couldn't feel her pulse under their fingers anymore.

Then looking down at Alexia's motionless body on the ground, they realized the severity

of what they had just done.

And so the killer in a panic crouched down next to her and actually tried to wake her

up, but it was too late, she was dead.

And so now they're really panicking.

They thought about maybe killing themselves out of guilt, but they were too scared to

go through with it.

So instead, they hatched a plan to get rid of Alexia's body.

The killer very carefully put Alexia's glasses back on her face and then they lifted her

up and they carried her body out to their vehicle.

Then they drove out to the woods and dragged her body by the feet to a secluded spot

deep in the trees where they hoped nobody would ever find her.

They covered Alexia's body in a sheet and then they sprayed the sheet with this foam

that they thought was flammable, hoping that once they lit it on fire, it would help dispose

of the body.

But when they got their lighter out and held the flame to the sheet, it didn't really

work.

And so finally, when it was clear they were not going to be able to burn the body here,

the killer just left her there and then drove away in their white van, getting home

in time to dispose of all the evidence, take a shower and start the next phase of the

cover-up, which was to knock on Alexia's mother's door in a fake panic asking if anybody

had seen her daughter.

Because Alexia's killer was her own husband, Jonathan.

It turns out Alexia never even went for a run on the morning of October 28th.

She was murdered the night before, after she and Jonathan had gotten back from her parents

house.

They had gotten into a big fight, which obviously resulted in her death.

On the outside, Jonathan and Alexia appeared to be a very happy couple, but in reality,

they had been arguing more and more often, primarily because they were not able to have

a baby.

It was causing a lot of friction in their marriage.

And so on the night of October 27th, in the middle of this horrible fight they're having,

Jonathan grabbed his keys and tried to leave, but Alexia told him to stop running away

from their problems and tried to literally take the keys from him.

According to Jonathan, that's when he just snapped and he killed her, and then he used

his work van to dispose of the body.

As for that second body that was found in the woods months later, that was determined

to be a suicide and completely unrelated to Alexia's death.

Jonathan was arrested on January 28th, 2018, and two days after his arrest, he confessed

to the murder.

At the end of his trial in 2020, he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

A quick note about our stories, they are all based on true events, but we sometimes use

pseudonyms to protect the people involved, and some details are fictionalized for dramatic

purposes.

The Mr. Ballin podcast, Strange Dark and Mysterious Stories, is hosted and executive

produced by me, Mr. Ballin.

Our head of writing is Evan Allen, produced by Jeremy Bone.

This episode was written by Kate Gallagher.

Research and fact-checking by Shelley Shoe, Samantha Van Hoos, Evan Beamer, Abigail Shumway,

and Camille Callahan.

Research and fact-checking supervision by Stephen Ear.

Audio-editing and post-produced by Whit LaCaccio and Cole LaCaccio.

Additional audio-editing by Jordan Stidem.

Production Coordination by Samantha Collins.

Production support by Antonio Manada and Delana Corley.

Network by Jessica Clogsden-Kiner.

Theme song called Something Wicked by Ross Bugden.

Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast.

And just a reminder, every new and exclusive episode we put out on the Mr. Ballin podcast,

you can also now watch on the Mr. Ballin YouTube channel that very same day.

And trust me, some of these stories you truly have to see to believe.

Again my YouTube channel is just called Mr. Ballin.

If you want to listen to episodes one week early and add free, you can subscribe to

SiriusXM podcast plus on Apple podcasts or visit SiriusXM.com slash podcast plus to

listen with Spotify or another app of your choice.

So that's going to do it.

I really appreciate your support.

Until next time, see ya.

Why have I asked my electrician I found on Angie.com to bury my pet hamster?

I was so moved by how carefully he buried my electrical wires.

I knew I could trust him to bury my sweet nibbles after his untimely end.

This is very strange.

Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust.

Find grills where all your home projects at Angie.com.

With spring deals at Ashley, you can find inspiration when you least expect it.

All it takes is looking at things a little differently.

This spring, see your home in a whole new light.

At price points that let you dream big.

So you can craft a space grounded in comfort where every detail is thoughtfully considered

and your style comes alive.

Discover a fresh perspective at Ashley.

Find the season in store and online.