He Sexted Other Women With Her Body in His Trunk?! The Murder of Jessie Bardwell

Skincare experts and dermatologists have often touted the benefits of indoor humidity,

as essential for healthy glowing skin. But did you know dry air can start to harm your skin

in as little as 30 minutes? For years, many people have relied on humidifiers for better skin,

sleep, and overall wellness. But traditional models, bulky, mold prone, and difficult to maintain.

That's where canopy humidifier comes in. Recommended by leading dermatologists,

canopy is a completely reimagined humidifier designed to elevate any space,

offering the ultimate in skin care and wellness benefits.

Canopies clean moisture, come that's dryness,

dullness, and fine lines, while strengthening the skin's barrier,

and boosting the effectiveness of topical skincare products.

With its sleek design, canopy is the cleanest and easiest humidifier on the market.

With its unique technology, cleaning is as easy as popping it in the dishwasher.

Go to getcanopy.co to save $25 on your canopy humidifier purchase today,

with canopies filter subscription.

Even better, use code podcast to check out to save an additional 10% off your canopy purchase.

Your skin will thank you.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Ray.

Thank you so much for joining me today, and if you're new to the show, then welcome.

I have covered plenty of cases where prosecutors don't necessarily have a straightforward motive,

I've also covered cases where because of certain factors, they also don't know where

the murder took place, you know, where the physical crime scene was,

and I've also covered plenty of cases where the medical examiners just could not

determine a cause of death, but normally with the majority of the cases that I cover,

and just cases in general, they have at least two out of the three of those things,

the where, the how, or the why, but in today's case, we actually don't know any of these,

which makes it really frustrating, but it's a case that definitely should be talked about.

In this episode, I'm going to be telling you about the murder of the beautiful Jesse Bardwell,

and now let's go ahead and jump in.

So Jesse Merle Garner Bardwell was born on September 10, 1988 in Pascagula, Mississippi,

to her father, Gary, and her mother, Carla, and she also had one older brother named Brandon.

Now, according to Gary, the minute that Jesse entered this world, he just burst into tears

because of the love he already felt for her, and that love only got stronger every day.

And that is something that I absolutely believe, you can just feel the love that Gary has for

his daughter through his interviews and pictures of them together, they were just such a beautiful

duo, and it's really just inspiring to see that type of father, daughter, and love.

Because Jesse, of course, loved both of her parents dearly, but she was definitely just a daddy's

girl at heart, and Gary said that he still has a backache from how often she wanted him to hold her.

Now, her parents did end up getting divorced when she was 14, and Jesse spent her high school years

living with her dad. Gary ended up remarrying this woman named Gina, and the same way that Jesse

loved her mom, she also grew to love her stepmom. And just as much as Jesse loved her family,

she also loved her friends. She has described as someone who could meet friends anywhere she went,

and it's also just universally agreed upon from the people in her life that Jesse was a beautiful,

silly, and incredibly independent person. And it sounds like Jesse was that type of person who

just marched to the beat of her own drum, and that she also surrounded herself with good salts

of the earth people who loved her. And through life's natural twists and turns, Jesse ended up

eventually leaving Mississippi, and she moved to Orange Beach, Alabama, which I've heard is really

beautiful. And Jesse loved the beach, she loved the water, she loved that whole beach lifestyle,

so I don't think this move was much of a surprise to anyone in her life. And while she was living

there, she got a job at a beach side restaurant called Cobalt. And I loved this. Jesse's dad Gary

is a musician, so the restaurant that she worked at hired him to come and play music there,

occasionally. And Pascagula is only an hour and a halfish away from Orange Beach, so he would just

drive up for the evening, play, and even on the nights that Jesse wasn't working, she would come

in and listen to her dad's music. Jesse's friend Kimberly, who happened to be the manager at Cobalt,

said that it seemed like she and Gary were not just father and daughter, they were also friends.

And that is definitely the vibe that I have gotten from them as well. They seem so so close.

They texted every single day, and that's actually why he was one of the first people to notice when

Jesse began to change. It all started around Christmas time of 2015. Jesse had previously been living

with her long-term boyfriend. For what I believe was a decent amount of time, but then kind of out

of the blue, it seemed like she broke up with him, and she started dating someone else. The guy

that she started dating is named Jason Lowe. And I guess the two of them had been friends previously,

so it wasn't like someone completely random, but you know, he seemed like a nice enough guy to

people around them, and he was outgoing. He had a good job in the tech industry, so there was that.

But the fact that the two of them started dating sort of suddenly wasn't the biggest shock of it all.

And it also wasn't the fact that Jesse told her friends she was moving to Texas with him, although

that was pretty shocking. But the biggest surprise in all of this was that Jesse didn't tell her

family that she was going. She spent Christmas with them that year fully knowing that she was

leaving for Texas with Jason shortly after, and she never mentioned it. She told her friend Kimberly

that she was going for a few weeks just to clear her head and that she was going to take this time

to pursue her dream of getting into cosmetology, but she didn't tell her family who she was,

as I've mentioned, incredibly close with. And this was obviously so unlike her. And it seemed like

there had been this major shift, this change, and this absolutely broke my heart, but Gary said that

he would have done anything he could to try and talk her out of going. And that's got to be

something that's really hard to grapple with in the aftermath of what happened. And as soon as

her relationship with Jason began, it just seemed like something in Jesse just changed. She really

went from being this full of life, happy personality, always talking to her friends and family,

just very social kind of person to someone who was a lot more withdrawn. In fact, once she moved to

Texas, her phone was disconnected and the only way people could reach her was through Jason on

their home phone. And when people did get in contact with her, Jason was monitoring all her

conversations. It's very sad to look at now, but I think we can all see that this was not just a bad

relationship, but a very, very toxic one. Jason was clearly trying to separate her from her friends

and family, create that distance that we've seen in other cases that I'm sure a lot of you have

seen in your own lives with people you know or maybe have experienced yourself. And that's why I

think cases like this are so important to talk about. History shows us that women keep showing up

for everyone every day, but who's showing up for you? Grow therapy helps put your mental health

first with therapy that's covered by insurance and built to support you. Whether it's your first time

in therapy or maybe it's your 15th, grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits what you need

not the other way around. They're going to connect you with thousands of independent licensed

therapists across the United States, offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends,

which is so so nice. You can search by what matters like insurance, specialty, identity or

availability and get started in less than two days. And if something comes up, you can cancel up

to 24 hours in advance at no cost. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments, you just

pay per session. Grow helps you find therapy on your time, which has been huge for me as a working

mom. Sometimes it's nice to go and do the in-person sessions, but I really love the virtual therapy

because I can even do it in my bed. I'm comfortable and it's going to save me time.

Whatever challenges you're facing, grow therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 100 insurance

plans, sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as zero, depending on their

plan. Visit growtherapy.com slash kendalray to get started. That's growtherapy.com slash kendalray

once again growtherapy.com slash kendalray, availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.

As the year gets busier and busier, a lot of us are trying to keep a handle on our business

operations. And honestly, having payroll, benefits, and HR handled by gusto feels like having a

clean desk and an organized inbox, so you can focus on actually growing your business.

Gusto is an online payroll and benefits software that's built for small businesses. It's all in one

remote-friendly and incredibly easy to use. You can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from

anywhere. Automatic payroll tax filing, simple direct deposits, health benefits,

commuter benefits, workers comp, 401k, you name it. Gusto makes it simple and has options for nearly

every budget. Unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price. No hidden fees, no surprises.

My company, Myel Higher Media, has been using gusto since 2018. We use it for everything from

managing our employees to running payroll, managing our employees' benefits, and so much more.

Try gusto today at gusto.com slash T-C-K-R and get three months free when you run your first

payroll. That's three months free of payroll at gusto.com slash T-C-K-R. One more time,

gusto.com slash T-C-K-R.

But yeah, it eventually just got to the point where Gary could hardly reach Jesse at all,

which is such a stark difference from how they used to communicate, talking pretty much

every day. He would call Jason and demand to speak with her, but Jason would give him some

bullshit excuse that she didn't want to speak with him, or that she would call him later.

There was one time where Jesse and Jason went to go visit Gary, and he was able to see her in

person, and he could tell at that point that something was definitely off. Jesse was hugging him

more than usual. She just seemed different, and there was something about the way that she was

acting that sort of set off his father's intuition that there was a problem here.

And he even tried to convince her not to go back to Texas, but she said that she wanted to go.

She also told him that she wanted him to be proud of her, and I know that he was,

but I also know that he was deeply worried for her, even though she wouldn't admit that there

was something going on. He just knew that there was. Right after she left, Gary sat down and

wrote this song about her called Taken Away, which if you weren't planning on crying today,

I am certain you will after listening to it. I cannot even

talk about it for too long because it is so emotional, and I am such an emotional wreck these days.

It is just a beautiful song, but very heavy. I'm going to play a small portion of it for you

here, but I encourage you to listen to the full version if you want to. I'll link it in the

description or show notes of this episode. See, even thinking about this song makes me tear up

because it is just a tarp breaking.

She said that it don't worry, it's going to be all around.

As they were leaving, just the thing we used to do,

she said to me with her driving, I love you, take her away, take her away, take her away.

There is nothing you can say on me to make me stay, take her away, take her away, take her away.

Genuinely, if there's one thing that I want you guys to remember from Jesse's story and from

this case of this episode, is that I hope it makes an impression on you how much Gary love Jesse.

It is just so beautiful to see a father love his daughter the way that he did. He says that he

still calls her his beautiful daughter and just hearing the way that he speaks about her breaks my heart

knowing that she's gone. Just cannot imagine being in his shoes. Believe it or not, he actually had

a nightmare that she was killed just before it happened. God, if that's not father's intuition,

I don't know what is. A few months after Jesse left his house for the last time,

Gary woke up from that nightmare feeling like his daughter was no longer on earth and sadly,

that gut feeling did turn into a reality. So in May of 2016, Gary was still dealing with the fact that

Jason Lowe was clearly manipulating his daughter and that same phone call charade went on and on and

where Jason wouldn't let him speak to Jesse. Well, eventually, Gary reached his breaking point

and he decided that if nobody had heard from Jesse on Mother's Day or by Mother's Day,

then he was going to take action and that is exactly what happened Mother's Day rolls around

and she didn't reach out to her mom or her stepmom. Gary called Jason trying to get some

type of explanation. He knew that this was absolutely not like his daughter and Jason gave him some

bullshit lie about not knowing where she was because the two of them were not co-dependent.

Okay, bro. And that was enough for him to be like, okay, whatever I am going to just go there myself

so he gets in this truck and he drives 11 hours to Dallas to find his daughter himself. And he

actually told Jason that he was on his way and said that if Jesse wasn't there, when he arrived,

he would be in huge trouble and he wasn't joking. And when he got there, he went right to the

Richardson Police Department and reported Jesse missing, which kicked off an investigation right away.

Now, as soon as authorities were aware that there was concern over Jesse's whereabouts,

a welfare check was performed at the apartment that she and Jason shared. And that's when Jason

told them that he last saw her that day on May 8th around 8 in the morning. He said that she

had left in her gray accurate, but that he couldn't reach her because she didn't have a cell phone.

And since there didn't appear to be any signs of a struggle or anything, the officers left.

While then on May 9th, an officer returned to the apartment and he did notice something strange

this time. He watched as Jason pulled into his garage and he saw that the front grill on his

outy was missing, plus his car was super muddy. When he was asked about it though, Jason said that

he had taken his car mudding two weeks prior now. I don't know who the hell would take their luxury

SUV mudding. Maybe some people out there, but I don't know. That's not adding up a lot to me.

That was his excuse though. Now, as for why he himself, his person was muddy. He had an explanation

for that of course. He said that he decided to try and look for Jesse himself by walking some of

the trails that he knew she liked going on and that he got dirty from chasing after his dog after

she got loose. Now mind you, the dog was clean, so this immediately isn't adding up. And then the

officer observed that he had some cuts on his hand. And once again, Jason tried to blame the dog

for this. That poor dog was just catching strays left and right. And the saga of concerning

discoveries didn't end there. On May 10th, another detective was assigned to the case who reached out

to Jason via phone and his story changed. Wow. Before he said that he had lasting Jesse on May 8th

around 8am, but now he was saying it was actually closer to 10am. And then when the detective went to

his apartment, the vibes were still off. Jason just didn't seem worried about her being missing

at all. And he gave that same ridiculous explanation about them not being codependent. And it was

one of those situations where they could obviously tell he was lying, but the proof wasn't there.

It wasn't obvious. That is until they learned that the accurate that Jason claim Jesse left in

had been sold three weeks earlier. Yeah. Jason sold that car. Can you believe that? I mean,

this idiot really thought that they weren't going to look into the car that he would be able to

just sell it off. And it was gone. Poof, hands are clean of the car. Okay, dude. So yeah, at that

point, they know that he is 1000% full of shit. So on May 12th, they returned to the apartment.

And that's when they busted his ass. When they got there, they saw that there was a plate on

the counter with a line of cocaine on it. So yeah, that was enough to bring him in. Before doing

that though, they asked Jason's permission to search the apartment. And interestingly enough,

he actually agreed. He said that was fine. Probably just trying to look less guilty, right? But

the one thing he said is that they couldn't go into the garage because it was a quote shared

space. Whatever that means. Well, long story short, he ends up letting them go in there anyway.

And that's when they realized that Jesse wasn't just missing. She had definitely been murdered.

As soon as they walked into the garage, investigators were hit with what they called the smell of death.

The smell of decaying flesh was just undeniable. And no amount of Fibrize was going to cover it up.

And I say that because yes, he did have a bottle of Fibrize in there that he was using to try

and cover the smell. So there was that. So I just decorated my son's nursery. And we went with

the classic space theme. But we put a little bit of our own spin and style on it. And we got a bunch

of items from Wayfair. And not only did we get decor, but we also got essentials like a diaper

changing pad and even a baby swing. I had no idea the variety that Wayfair offers. His room turned

out so cute. I'm so happy with it. And now all I need to do is have him so I can put him in there.

And I also got a bunch of organization systems for our whole house to make sure that we are

organized as possible going into having this baby. Because that was one of the hardest things

last time in my postpartum era is just feeling like things were cluttered and disorganized. I couldn't

find things. Organization is such a game changer. You can find everything from closet systems to

storage solutions, garage organizations on Wayfair. And Wayfair makes it simple to narrow down exactly

what works for your styling budget. It's great to be able to see reviews on products and get an idea

because there's something different brands on Wayfair. And what's really nice is on a lot of

their products. They offer installation or assembly. And what's also really great about Wayfair,

at least in my experience, is everything ships really, really fast.

Find furniture, decor, and essentials that fit your unique style and budget. Head to Wayfair.com

right now and shop all things home. That's w-a-y-f-a-i-r.com. Wayfair, every style, every home.

I've got to say from experience that one of the worst feelings is when you realize that you

have been paying for a subscription or a free trial that you started and then forgot to cancel.

And you've been paying for it for months. That is something I used to experience quite a bit

before I started using Rocket Money a couple years ago. And for a while, I won't lie. I knew that I

was wasting money on some subscriptions, but I didn't want to deal with canceling them because a

lot of them are set up to be extremely difficult and annoying to cancel or they make you get on the

phone with customer service. And I hate that. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you

to find and cancel those unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps you to lower your

bills so that you can grow your savings. You can get alerts if your bills increase in price, which is

fantastic, or if there's unusual activity in your accounts, or maybe you're close to going over

budget, you're going to get alerts for all of that. And what's so nice is their dashboard lays out

your entire financial picture, including build due dates and pay days in a way that's actually

easy to digest. You can even automatically create custom budgets based on your past spending.

And if you've got a goal that you would like to save for, Rocket Money can analyze your accounts

and find the best time each month to put that extra money aside. It's such a game changer.

So let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at RocketMoney.com slash

Kendall Ray. That's RocketMoney.com slash Kendall Ray. One more time, RocketMoney.com slash Kendall Ray.

They also once again saw how muddy his car is, but now it wasn't just the outside they were seeing

it was in the inside as well. His Audi was caked in mud, and that missing rail was sitting in the

back seat. Jason tried to say that it fell off his car and got stuck in the mud while he was

looking for her. But of course, by this point, no one is buying his shit anymore, especially after

Blue Star testing lit up his trunk, indicating the presence of blood. Not to mention the fact that

there was a leak coming from under the car, and that tested presumptive positive for blood as well.

The car was also a mess, to say the least. And what's interesting is a neighbor reported

seeing Jason trying to clean it on the night of May 7th. But of course, his messiness, all of his

mistakes were investigators gain. Because of the drugs, the plate of cocaine that he was having

for his meal, they were initially able to bring him into the station and charge him with possession.

And one day later, despite not having Jesse's body, they used evidence from his garage to

charge him with her murder. And when they questioned him on the day of his arrest, Jason could not have

seen any less interested in helping them. But surprisingly, one week later, he pointed

investigators to where they could find her body. Before that, there was a genuine fear that they

would never find her given the limitless number of places where her body could have been dumped.

But he did give that information up. But what seconds me about what he told them was that when

he described where her body was, he referred to her as an it. He said it can be found 250 yards

up the fence line. Isn't that just fucking horrible? The whole thing is just so sickening. I mean,

this guy does not have a heart whatsoever. And what's even more disturbing is the condition that

she was found in. Going off of Jason's word, they found Jesse's body on May 19th on a remote

ranch in Farmersville, Texas. Her body had been wrapped in a blue-fitted sheet with a flat red

strap tied around her torso. She was partially bubble wrapped and a black truck liner and a flat

piece of tin were laid over her body in an effort to conceal her. Investigators also found two towels,

plastic gloves, and a packet of ratchet straps. Parts of Jason's car could also be found still stuck

in the mud. And her condition was so severe that it took a week for a medical examiner to

officially even identify the remains as hers. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this episode,

they were also unable to determine an exact cause of death for Jesse. And that was due to the level

of decomposition she had suffered. They were only able to list it as homicidal violence. And I

don't think anything could have prepared her loved ones for this level of devastation. And

this is another heartbreaking part, but Gary felt like it was his duty to read the autopsy report.

And I totally see where he's coming from, and I respect him for that. But that must have just

been unbelievably hard. And listening to him talk about that report and how impacted he was

by what he read was just so horrific. The whole thing makes me sick. Gary is a retired firefighter.

And I guess some of his old buddies were able to be there to help retrieve her remains. And

I'm not sure if that made it any better. But I bet that support did mean the world to him.

And the support from their community was also not lacking at all. Prior to her remains being found,

there was a candlelight vigil held in an effort for people to pray for her safe return.

But after that discovery was made, prayers of healing were given instead. And I learned that

she and her brother Brandon had this promise to one another that whichever sibling died first,

the other sibling would throw them a festival. And they both loved live music and sort of joked

that they wouldn't want their funerals to be sad. So in June of that year, he threw a love

light festival for her, which included art and music and it ended with over 900 people attending

a service that celebrated her 27 years of life. And all anyone wanted, as the weeks and months

went on, was for Jesse's killer to be brought to justice. Gary especially. I don't think rage

is even a big enough word to describe how he feels towards Jason. He says that while this was all

going on, he would print out photos of Jason and put them on a stump and then just beat the

shit out of his face with a sludge hammer. And I think that is so fucking awesome. I think that is so

therapeutic. And I don't blame him one bit. I would do the same thing.

It's tax season. And by now, I know we're all a bit tired of numbers. But here's an important one

you need to hear. $16 billion. That's how much money and refunds the IRS flagged for possible

identity fraud. Here's another one. One in four honest, hardworking tax paying Americans has been

a victim of identity theft. But it's not all grim news. Lifelock monitors millions of data points

per second for your personal information and alerts you to threats you could easily miss on your

own. If your identity is stolen, Lifelock's US-based restoration specialist will fix it backed by

another good number. The million dollar protection package. In fact, restoration is guaranteed

or your money back. Don't face identity theft and financial losses alone. There's strength in

numbers with Lifelock identity theft protection for tax season and beyond. Visit lifelock.com slash

iHeart and save up to 40% your first year. That's 40% off at lifelock.com slash iHeart. Terms apply.

And I think everyone was feeling very on edge and anxious about the trial. And if justice was

going to come because, you know, as I explained earlier, the case was very circumstantial. There was

no definitive crime scene. There was no cause of death. And there was no clear motive. Just her body.

That's all they had. So that was obviously going to make it harder for the prosecution. But

the defense had an issue as well because Jason had ended up making a confession of sorts. It turns

out that when he was first charged with murder, a friend of his named Tommy visited him in jail because

quite frankly, he didn't want to believe it was true and get this. So from May 1st to May 4th,

Jason and Jesse were house sitting for Tommy and his wife. And when they returned from their trip,

they noticed a few things felt off. For example, several things were missing, including towels and

a blue fitted sheet plus Tommy's tools were freshly cleaned and laid out neatly in his garage.

And I'm sure you can already see where this is going. But when news of the arrest came out,

Tommy wanted to ask Jason himself, if anything had happened at his house, like, you know, did he

kill Jesse there? Because it certainly looked like that was a possibility. And you want to know what

Jason said to him in a recorded jailhouse call. He said, I can't make that promise. Now he also

said that nothing of substance happened there. So you don't have to worry about that. It's very

minimal. That was his quote. And then he told him that the only thing he is guilty of is quote

criminal negligence. So he straight up admitted that he was with Jesse when she died. And I'm sure

this call is what led to Jason's confession about where he left her body. I mean, if he's on tape

saying that he was with her, obviously he damn well knew where she was buried. And I'll get into

the story of what he says happened here in a minute. But first, with the discovery of this call,

the defense had a big decision to make. And that decision was whether or not Jason should testify

at his own trial. And you know, at the end of the day, that call was pretty damning. And they had

to weigh if it would help their case to have him speak or if it would hurt his case. They even

conducted a full on mock trial to see what the mock jury would say. And when they had Jason

testify in that, the jury found him not guilty. So they end up deciding to go ahead and put him

on the stand in his own trial. Now his trial officially began in September of 2017. And Jesse's

family were there to hopefully witness her killer being brought to justice. The trial spanned

several days when many witnesses taking the stand and among those testifying was Gary. And him

even going to the trial was a big deal. It was his first time going on a plane in 30 years. But

of course, he was going to do anything he needed to do to be there for his daughter. And he was so

nervous for the trial in general. He said that his hands were shaking so much on the stand that

he was worried that people were going to be able to see it. But it was so crucial that he was there.

His testimony was so important. And it helped to paint a picture of what was going on in Jesse's

life at the time of her murder. And the picture that the prosecution was painting was that Jason

was a pathological liar with a drug problem who had a history of abusing women. And they didn't

end up taking the stand, but the state did track down two of his ex-girlfriends who have publicly

stated that Jason was an abusive partner. And he not only did the same thing he did to Jesse and

pulled them away from their families, but one of them says that Jason also tried to kill her.

There was an incident where he pushed her down. He sat on her and then he covered her nose and

mouth and literally told her, I'm killing you. And I think that would have been very impactful

for the jury to hear. But the state decided that their testimony likely wouldn't have been

admissible. But the prosecution was still feeling confident about their case, especially considering

the fact that Jason admitted he was there when Jesse died. And when you look at the evidence,

it just tells a horrifying story. I mean, even though they couldn't say where she was killed,

or how she was killed, the evidence pointed to the fact that Jason not only murdered her,

but that he left her body to rot in the back of his outie for days before finally dumping her

in that field. The smell of decay that was coming from his car could have only happened if her

body had been in there for an extended amount of time. And to add insult to it all, prosecution

said that while her body was just laying inside his car in the garage, Jason was texting from her

phone to make it seem like she was still alive. And not only that, you guys, but this sick

fucking freak was also sexting at least five other women during this time. That's right,

after he murdered Jesse, a woman who he claims he loved. He was getting his rocks off to

these other random girls. And yeah, I'd say that the prosecution did a really good job of

painting a pretty clear picture of Jason. And the defense on the other hand, of course, was quick

to try and spin the story. And their story was that it was all a horrible accident. When Jason

took the stand, he described his version of events, which was that while house sitting for their

friends, he and Jesse decided to take GHB, also known as roofies, as an aphrodisiac. And while

attempting to have sex in the shower, Jesse slipped and hit her head. And he said that she started

feeling hot and dizzy afterwards. But rather than go see a doctor, they decided to go to sleep.

But when he woke up the following morning, she was laying on his chest on responsive. And instead

of immediately calling 911, like any normal human being, he says that he panicked and tried to

cover it up. He even testified that his drug dealer knocked on the door as this was all happening

and that he helped him roll her up in a bedsheet and put her in the trunk. And he did admit to

leaving her in his truck for four days. And he also admitted to the sexting. His attorneys tried to

say that he had an addiction to sexting the same way that they say he had been addicted to drugs

from the time that he was a teenager. Obviously, they're trying to humanize Jason and

get some sympathy from the jury as best as they could. And he really tried to sell the idea that

he and Jesse were madly in love. He even tried to say that they were planning to buy house together

and get married, which is just a bunch of bullshit if you ask me. I honestly could have guessed it

before I, you know, researched this case and found that out for myself. It's, you know, a tale

is old as time. We've definitely seen something like this many times before. Yeah, that's a story

that he panicked and didn't intentionally kill her. And they were hopeful that since there wasn't

any direct evidence that point into homicide that maybe the jury just wouldn't find him guilty

in the end. They also threw him a Hail Mary by telling the jury that Jason was the one that led

them to her remains. They said that he did it for the sake of her family, which is wildly offensive

that they would even say that for the sake of their family. Fuck out of here. And that's not even

the truth either. Obviously, he didn't lead them to her remains, but he only did so to cut himself

a deal. And that deal was that if he was convicted, he would only have to serve 50 years in prison

instead of the 99 he was facing, which is absolutely infuriating. And this was actually the first time

that Jessie's family was hearing of this too. Originally, they weren't told who exactly led them

to her remains, only that it was a reliable source. Now, me personally, and I know the majority of

you are going to agree with me, I think that 50 years is a slap in the face to this family,

especially after what he did and how he disrespected her after he did what he did. It's extremely

frustrating. I understand that they have to cut these deals to get what they need. I mean, they

didn't have much to work with and they needed at least her body. So I get that it deals a deal,

but it doesn't change how infuriating that is. And I cannot imagine how her loved ones feel about

that. But yeah, after several hours of deliberation, a jury found Jason Lowe guilty of murder,

and he was ultimately sentenced to 50 years in prison. It makes me sick to say only 50 years,

it's so wrong, but Gary was able to give a victim impact statement and he had both of Jason's

exes standing next to him in solidarity. And ultimately, he said that there is no forgiving

evil. And that's exactly what Jason is. Jesse was one of the most special people on the planet,

to me. I mean, I was a dad. Gary Vardwell was one of the key witnesses in the trial of Jason Lowe,

the man now convicted of murdering his daughter. We the jury find the defendant guilty of murder when

they finally announced the verdict. My heart was just beating out of my chest. It was a year and four

months ago, Vardwell reported his daughter, Jesse missing. Police questioned Lowe, her boyfriend,

and found evidence of decaying flesh in his car. He later led them to find her body in a field

in Farmersville. There's a deafening silence in my life. I don't know if you can understand

what I mean by that. Since Jesse's been gone, it seems like the world has turned off. She kept

my heart beating. She kept me smiling. At the end of trial, today, Vardwell gave a statement,

deliberately staring into Lowe's eyes as he read it. When you look in his eyes, there is nothing there.

Vardwell says he's seen no sign of remorse. Just one reason he has no intention to forgive.

People say, forgive this person. You're not going to get better until you forgive this person.

I don't look at him like a person. He's the devil. And I don't want to know how in the hell

you forgive the devil. Now from all of the interviews that I've seen of Gary, it sounds like Gary

feels that he's not necessarily responsible for what happened because obviously he is not. But

it seems like he feels he wished he had done more to get Jesse out of that situation. And I know that he,

you know, as we discussed earlier, had a really hard time with the fact that he didn't know that

she was even going to Texas. And he wishes he could have talked her out of it before she even went.

I just feel so bad for him that he carries that because I don't think anyone can ever really

anticipate how horrible something is going to turn out. You have no idea what's going to happen.

And he was so isolated from her that he, I mean, he had no idea what was even going on.

I know that there is nothing I can say to Gary to help that pain that he feels. Those are his

feelings. And I think as a parent, I'd probably feel the same way. I just wanted to say that, you know,

from an outsider's point of view that Gary, you are not responsible for what happened at all.

The only person who is responsible for any of this is that monster Jason. And I completely agree with

you that you cannot forgive evil. And that really is what he is. I genuinely believe that Gary did

everything he could. And he is a wonderful, wonderful father. I mean, he even bought her a plane ticket

to come back to Alabama only a month after she moved to Texas to be with Jason. And I guess Jesse

and Jason had this big fight about her having an affair and getting pregnant by someone else before

moving. I don't know if any of that's true, but according to him, she had an abortion and Jason

blew up at her and kicked her out of the house. And she had to go spend a night with a friend. And

while Gary said that Jesse called him and told him that he was right about Jason and that she

should never have moved to Texas. And so he booked her a flight so that she could get away.

But I guess she never showed up for the flight. And she ended up telling her dad that Jason

apologized him that she was going to go stay with him. So all of that is just really difficult to

work through in hindsight. This whole case is so horrific. I mean, it never ceases to

disturb me how inhumane some people can be. And I know we don't know the motive here, but it's just

for what? Why take another life? Jason seemed to have nothing to gain from this. He's just

a very sick, sick person, a monster. Jesse deserved so much more. And I'd say if there's

anything to take away from her story above all else, and there is many things, it's important to

remember what abuse looks like. I think more and more people are starting to recognize the

signs to recognize isolation as a form of abuse. But it definitely needs to be talked about more

because it just doesn't happen the same. And it doesn't happen all at once. It can be very slow.

It can be very fast. It can be methodical. It can happen in an instant. I'm going to put some

links to resources in the description of this episode for anyone out there who is in a position

where they feel that they may need help, that they may be in an abusive relationship,

or for those who fear someone in their life is, and you don't know where to go, what to do,

there are people out there who can help you work through that and form a plan and just recognize

the signs. And if any of you guys have words of wisdom or resources that you have found helpful,

please feel free to link those as well or share them. I don't know if you can link them, but

on episodes like this there are so many amazing people in the comments that come forward to tell

their stories or to encourage others. And it's really cool the community that we have here on this show.

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 Kendal Ray. I will be back with another episode soon,

but until then, stay safe out there.

It's tax season. And by now, we're all a bit tired of numbers, but here's an important one you

need to hear. $16 billion. That's how much money and refunds the IRS flanked for possible identity fraud,

but it's not all grim news. Lifelock monitors millions of data points per second and alerts you

to threats you could easily miss on your own. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed.

Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com slash iHeart. Terms apply.