True Sunlight: TSP #15 - Sunshine On “A Mountain Mystery” - What Happened to April Jones? Part One

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I don't know how many more times we're all going to have to suffer through Dick and

Jim's theatrics and lies as they continue to trample over everything and everyone in

their way.

All in the name of overturning Ellic Murdoch's well-deserved murder conviction.

And I do know that we are not going to let their nonsense get in the way of us doing

something new this week by featuring one of our amazing contributors, Eric Allen Downey.

But we'll get to that in a second.

Hello, everyone.

As you can tell, this is Liz.

If you listened to this week's Cup of Justice episode, you know that Mandy and David are

in Italy.

So Eric Allen's episode allows them to enjoy some much-deserved time away and it gives

me a little much appreciated downtime as well.

But first, we have to talk about the latest in the Murdoch case.

In a new motion filed Tuesday with the South Carolina Court of Appeals, Ellic Murdoch's

attorneys Jim Griffin and Dick Harputian are now claiming they have proof of jury tampering.

Griffin and Harputian are asking the appellate court to suspend their appeal so they can

file a motion in circuit court for a new trial based on quote unquote after discovered evidence,

which includes affidavits from two jurors, one of whom was dismissed for allegedly speaking

out about the case during the trial.

In a stunning move, Ellic Murdoch and his legal team are now pointing the finger at

celebrated Colleton County Clerk of Court, Becky Hill, and asking for the U.S. Attorney's

Office to open an investigation into her actions during the trial.

They are accusing Becky of trying to sway the outcome of the verdict in the pursuit

of fame and money.

They cite her new book, Behind the Doors of Justice, as evidence that she was looking

to cash in on the trial, and they cite passages from the book as evidence that she was advocating

for Ellic to be found guilty.

The South Carolina Attorney General's Office said Tuesday that they are looking into these

very serious allegations.

They have 10 days to respond to Dick and Jim's motion.

In our next episode of Cup of Justice, we'll talk more about this motion and about how

all hell has basically broken loose as a result of it.

For now, though, we want to do something a little different as Luna Shark Media expands

its horizons.

One of our goals all along has been to partner with independent journalists who believe in

our mission of giving voice to victims, and Eric Allen Daumey has done just that.

Eric Allen has been working with the Luna Shark team as our videographer for quite some

time.

You've seen him in the trial chats and on camera.

He covered the Murdoch trial and has covered other cases as well on his YouTube channel,

which you can find the link to in our episode description.

You might recognize some of his footage, which we use to make our own video versions of

these episodes.

Eric is an incredibly talented documentarian, and we are proud to partner with him by sharing

his talents with all of you, our amazing audience.

This is the first in a series of video episodes that Eric Allen is publishing on his channel

and has adapted for audio.

There are so many similarities between this mountain mystery, which we're about to share

with you, the Murdoch saga, and the Solomon case.

They are all cases that need a whole lot more sunlight on them.

Eric Allen has done some really great work here, so we want to thank him for allowing

us to share it with you, and we want to thank you, our listeners, for helping us expand

our mission.

Mandy and I will be back next week.

Until then, stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight.

There's a small town on the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina

called Wahala.

In this town, there's a community of people with a problem.

In the past few years, there has been multiple deaths and disappearances in this group.

I decided to try to get to the bottom of them.

I was initially looking into two mysterious deaths and three disappearances.

It was overwhelming.

I spoke with family of the victims, the investigators on the case, and suspects.

As I dove deeper, even more deaths and another disappearance in this circle of people caught

my attention.

I had to pause and step back.

I'm likely going to be doing two seasons to cover these, but for this first season,

I'm going to cover two deaths and one disappearance.

In January of 2019, 37-year-old April Jones was found dead in a workshop on her property,

with bruises and scrapes covering her body.

Her death was initially ruled a result of an accidental overdose and hypothermia, though

evidence has since come to light that shows that might not be the case.

A hotshot is a shot of drugs concocted to intentionally cause someone to overdose, and

if you're looking to kill someone known to do drugs, this is the perfect way to do it.

One week after April was found, 26-year-old Faith Roach disappears.

She was last seen about a mile from where April was found, and a home April was at two

days before her death.

Faith Roach is missing to this day.

Three months after Faith's disappearance, 32-year-old Kevin Craig is found on a hot summer day

dead.

He was barricaded from the inside of a room in his trailer.

There were syringes found next to him, but no drugs found in his system.

His death was ruled as a result of heat exposure and seizures.

Similar to April's death, information has been brought to light that could change this,

and the sheriff's office even wrote up warrants to charge someone with Kevin Craig's murder.

Investigators believe his death is related to Faith Roach's disappearance.

So to recap, we'll be covering three cases, the death of April Jones, the disappearance

of Faith Roach, and the death of Kevin Craig.

Before we dive into the details, let's lay some groundwork.

Akoni County, South Carolina, where Wajala is located, is in the northwestern part of

the state, bordering Georgia and North Carolina.

The county from the south end to the north end is a gradient of foothills up to the Blue

Ridge Mountains.

The west border of the county runs along the Chautuga River, with North Georgia on the

other side.

The east border runs along a series of connected lakes.

The word Akoni actually stems from a Cherokee word, meaning land beside the water.

It's a truly beautiful area.

My first trip to the area to film was as the weather was cooling down and the leaves were

changing colors.

Driving through the winding mountain roads, lined with trees of vibrant greens, yellows,

and reds, felt like an oddly calm contrast to the reason for me being there in the first

place, to get to the bottom of these tragic mysteries.

By the way, my name is Eric Allen.

I've been in this area before.

I live about four hours away on the coast in Buford, South Carolina.

If you follow True Crime, you'll know that's the area the Murdoch saga has been unfolding

in, and that's actually how I got my start in True Crime.

I was working in real estate photography and videography when the Murdoch story began to

unfold in my town.

As a side project, I decided to make a short documentary on the first part of the story.

Well, that video is currently sitting at over a million and a half views on YouTube, and

as I continue to make these documentaries, people continue to watch them.

But that's another story, back to Akoni, South Carolina.

Like I said, I've been in the area before.

It's a great place to get away and camp.

I've taken my dogs up there, or gone up with friends and explored hiking trails, scenic

mountain overlooks, and the abundant rivers, streams, and waterfalls.

I've even whitewater-rafted the Chautuga River, which is the western border of Akoni

County.

Wahala, South Carolina is a small town on the foothills.

It calls itself the gateway to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Many of the people I spoke with in the area had lived there their whole lives, and many

of them, their families did as well, for generations before them.

And that was the case for 58-year-old Andy Jones, the husband of April Jones.

He grew up in Wahala and later built his home on the same road he grew up on.

I remember pulling into his gravel driveway, going past the workshop that April was found

in, and making my way through the wooded area up the hill to a dark wooden home with

a full-length front porch.

There was a front porch swing on the left side next to a few rocking chairs, where I

would later sit down and speak with April's daughter, Hannah.

This house was different from many of the trailers that lined that same road.

It wasn't fancy or anything, but it was a cozy, well-built wooden home that, like I

said, I would later find out Andy built himself.

The road that this home is on has some sketchier areas to it.

One of the disappearances I'll be covering next season, a man named Josh, was last seen

less than a quarter mile down the road.

There's also a death I'm covering next season where a man was beaten with a bat before

he was left inside his trailer that was subsequently lit on fire, burning to the ground

with him inside.

Again, this occurred within about half a mile of April's home.

As I hopped out of the car, I was a little nervous.

Not that I felt in danger at Andy's or anything like that, just nervous about doing something

new.

It wasn't long ago I was just taking pictures and making videos of homes for sale on Hilton

Head Island.

I'm not a seasoned investigative journalist, and as I opened my car door to get out, I

found myself thinking, how in the world did I get here, pulling up to a home to investigate

a potential murder.

I ended up speaking with Andy a bit, as well as April's daughter Hannah, and on multiple

occasions, April's mother Debbie.

April Jones was found lying in the back corner of the workshop on her and her husband's property.

The workshop is located about 100 yards from the house, down a hill and through some trees.

You pass it as you go up the driveway from the road to the house.

April had been on a multi-day drug bender, and the official ruling of April's death

was overdose and hypothermia.

The report says she had bruises consistent with a fall.

But I've seen the crime scene photos.

She was covered in bruises, and wounds and markings on her wrist and neck make it look

as if she may have even been tied up.

I'm not trying to be too graphic, but I want you to understand the extent of bruises and

marks on April.

It does look like she took a fall, but potentially tumbled down the side of a mountain.

A larger percentage of her skin is discolored from wounds than not.

Here's me looking at a few photos with April's family.

I walked in, and I looked at them, and I said, that's not my kid.

When you look at them, you'll know why.

You tell me, look at these.

This was around her neck, this was her neck, that was her feet.

Okay, look at this.

This is supposed to be consistent.

This is her hands.

She fell?

She fell.

I mean, would she fall out of a cliff?

I mean, really, seriously, like.

It was dark, but I don't know if you can still see it.

This was like, it's more discolored bruising than...

Look at her face.

That's not my child.

Her family does not believe she died from an overdose and hypothermia.

We'll get into the details of her death later, but first let's get to know April Jones.

April Jones had grown up in Walhalla.

She was 37 years old when she died and left behind her husband, three kids, and numerous

friends and loved ones.

Here's her mother.

April was my oldest daughter.

She was Rambo, just to say the least.

I mean, you know, she came into this world screaming and probably went out screaming

if I know her.

She was a good kid.

She had her problems.

She got involved with the drugs.

I don't deny that.

The drugs took a hold of her.

She would do great for a while, and then it was just like, you know, back into it.

You know, you can't blame the people around her.

People try to do that, but you're not going to do what you don't want to do.

She was the type of person that child, she thought she could save everybody, okay?

It didn't matter if somebody come to her and they needed a place to stay.

They was there.

She tried to save everybody but herself.

That's just the person she was.

She had a heart for others.

She wanted to save everybody.

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April struggled on and off for years with drugs.

As we dive deeper into these cases, you'll see that drugs play a huge part in this story.

I also spoke with April's daughter, Hannah.

She's 20 years old but has lived more life than most.

I had been in the area for a few days and had spoken with people I haven't yet introduced

in this podcast by the time I spoke with Hannah.

I had seen and heard time and time again about drugs destroying lives.

As I spoke with Hannah, I wrestled with the idea of how unfair life is.

I'm a big supporter of taking personal responsibility.

Oftentimes, it's not your fault you're in a certain situation, but I believe it's

always your responsibility to deal with it and handle it well.

That said, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd grown up in the same shoes as some of

these people if I'd be in the same place that they are now, addicted to drugs and always

looking for the next high.

It seems so hopeless for many of them who had been in the trenches of drug addiction

for decades.

But Hannah was different.

She was only 20 years old.

She didn't look at all the part of a seasoned drug addict like many of the people I had

been in contact with.

But knowing the area that she was in and the type of people she was likely spending time

with, I knew the game was rigged against her in a way it wasn't for myself at her age.

I feel it would have been inappropriate and maybe judgmental, but I wanted to tell her

to just get out of Wahala, leave this circle of druggies and start a life somewhere else

before it was too late.

But I digress.

Here's Hannah.

My mama, that woman I'm telling you right now, she was the, she was the lot of this

entire town.

Like she, anybody that needed help didn't have food, anything.

She'd take canned foods to them.

Like, you know, she was, she was on both sides of the town, you know, like she, she had that

reputation of, you know, doing drugs or whatever, but then she also had, she had the other side

where it was like, she was a damn good person.

Everybody loved her.

Every person she came around, like that smile, ear to ear, she just had that, like he walked

in her room and it's like, you know, she brought, she brought sunshine with her.

Everything was getting normal really.

That's what it felt like.

Then everything just kind of got stripped away again.

As soon as I started actually getting a relationship with my mom for the first time in 14 years,

she would take her away from me.

April spent years in and out of jail before going to prison for two and a half years.

When she got out, she started getting her life back together.

When I spoke with April's mother, April's best friend had tagged along as well.

Matter of fact, I was going to the potter's house and she called me and she was crying.

She's like, JJ, I'm getting baptized someday when you go to church with me.

I said, I will be there with bells on.

Seeing her take that step in life, I was so, so happy for her because I watched her overcome

so much.

But the drugs would end up getting hold of her again and drugs did change April in a massive

way.

They did change her.

They changed her into a...

When she would come around me, I would know right then.

She would be high strong into everything, just wide open, wide open.

She was a good person, no doubt, but drugs are the devil.

Sometimes you lose yourself and there's a lot of times of drugs that is who you are.

It's a different, like I said, drugs, it creates this alter ego of, it's kind of like a figment

of the messed up...

It takes the ugliest out of you, every piece and every insecurity and it puts it all in

one and it shows itself.

And it amplifies.

And it amplifies everywhere.

Interesting.

And serious drugs, I would say to the least, it's a lifestyle.

It is a lifestyle.

It becomes, it becomes something that is your understanding.

You wake up the devil and you really, that's all it is.

Yeah.

A few days before her death, April got a huge argument with her family.

Her kids were staying at April's mother's house, but April was over there watching them

while her mother was out.

During this time, she had taken her daughter Hannah's car and returned it completely trashed.

Right before mom's death, you know, she was found dead.

Last time I seen her, you know, it was an argument because I woke up that morning and

my car's gone.

My nanny had been off, you know, doing whatever that night with her friends.

And so my mom was watching at my nanny's house.

My car's gone.

Those kids are there by ourselves.

Where's my car?

I was livid, trying to figure out where my car was, cussed to my mom and everything she

was worth.

I didn't control my reactions.

I mean, I was really just a kid, to be honest, and ask me, I do anything for you, just ask

me.

She brings it back and she's got, like, baskets and baskets of clothes and there's chocolate

syrup all in my fucking seat.

So I got in the car and I was taking her home.

She was in my face screaming, like, on the way home, slamming on the brakes.

She went to the dash.

Crazy shit.

The last memory I have of my mom, I imagine sitting with that one for four years.

I'm still gonna sit with it for the rest of my life.

Before April left the house, she stole her mother's phone.

When she left my house, she hijacked my cell phone.

We got into it and Hannah went to take, Hannah was just the oldest daughter, went to take

her home by the Andes and she told me, she said, you'll need me before I need you.

Last words, I never saw her again until under the truck.

She then went on a drug bender and spent her last few days at a few homes near her house.

And I feel like I failed her because, like, you know, before my mom and dad, I was home

dead, you know, the neighbors.

They came all the way up to my nana's and that was, like, you know, April, she's in

the house, like, she's a little everywhere, you know, you need to come get her.

We'd been dealing with her for almost two weeks before him, like, went and got her,

went and got her.

Andy was here, or thought he was, you know, we're like, just tell Andy to get her.

He's right there as his wife.

And I know now that if we would have just gotten up and went and got her, she wouldn't

be dead.

She wouldn't.

And for the nerve to everybody that told me, even the officials that said if I would

have gotten up and went and got her that day, she wouldn't be dead.

You gonna tell me that?

After speaking with Hannah, Andy walked me down to the workshop on the property where

he found April.

This was a surreal moment for me.

When you spend so much time researching, preparing and thinking about a case, then find

yourself standing in the place where it actually occurred.

There's a weight to it that I don't really know how else to explain.

Did you build this too?

Kids don't come down here anymore.

I do very little.

I found a flat right there when I came in, coming home from work.

It was 1 a.m.

One 20, something like that.

I saw the lights on in here and you see under that door.

You turn into the driveway, the lights, you can see the light was on.

Yeah.

And at the time of my son, I got a son that's 23 now.

He and some of his friends would come here and hang out in the evening, drink beer,

play ping pong and just listen to the radio.

That was their hangout spot.

By the stuff that had been here and left, I got turned the lights off.

So I stopped and gone cut the lights off.

That door, when I pushed it back, I saw her laying in here.

He explained that his truck was backed into the workshop and April was found lying in

the small space between the truck and the workshop wall.

I don't come over and spelt over.

I tried to spill a pulse and when it was the instant I touched her, I knew she was dead.

Her skin felt different.

Let me just, let me get a quick shot of this and we don't need to spend too much time in here.

Andy had found April after getting off work late Monday night, technically early Tuesday

morning at around 1 a.m.

Here's a few excerpts from the police report.

I pulled bits and pieces from different officers that responded and investigated to create

a simpler and clearer idea of what they found.

They mentioned an address, which is the next door neighbor's address.

I redact the actual address and just say next door instead.

If April was trying to get home from his place, she would have walked through the woods, passed

the workshop, then onto her home.

Here's the report.

Andy stated today after getting off work, he noticed the lights in the building on and

figured April was there.

After going to check the building, Andy noticed the door was locked and after checking the

sliding door, he found that it was locked as well.

Andy stated he grabbed a stick that was beside the door in the yard and tried to unlock the

door from the outside, but the stick kept breaking.

So he went to the house and got the fireplace poker and unlocked the door.

Andy stated after the door was unlocked and he partially opened the door, he saw April

lying on the ground beside the truck and she appeared to be asleep.

Andy stated at that time he walked over and shook April to try to wake her up when he

felt that her skin was cold to the touch and she appeared to be deceased.

I observed the victim lying under the driver's door of a white GMC pickup truck which was

parked inside the building backed in.

The victim's head was close to the front driver's side tire and her feet were next to the wall

adjacent to where the truck was parked.

I walked over to the victim and immediately noticed some unusual red markings on her right

wrist and hand area that looked like scratches as well as several other markings which did

not appear to be scratches.

I also observed what appeared to be bruises on her right forehead.

I also noticed that the victim did not have any shoes on and only one sock which was on

her left foot, but her big toe was exposed through what appeared to be some type of hole

in the sock.

The victim was lying on her back on the concrete floor of the building and was laying straight

with only her head tilted to the left side of center.

Her right arm was bent upward towards her chest and her left arm was lying on the floor

on her left side.

The coroner then advised that he was ruling this as a suspicious death at this time.

To the address next door, we met a Thomas Smith at the front door who had the odor of

alcoholic beverage on his person.

Thomas stated the victim was brought to his house by two males in a truck.

He did not know them.

He did state that the victim had been at his house on the past Saturday and had stayed

through Sunday morning, leaving around 9am.

He indicated she crossed his side yard to return to her home.

He stated that she was a known drug user and believed that she was high on her drug of choice,

Smith.

Smith went on to say that the victim had done damage to his bathroom and had left several

pieces of her clothing in his bedroom.

He went on to report that she had left Sunday morning without additional issues and seemed

to be in good health.

Andy stated on Sunday morning he received a phone call from his neighbor Bruce Smith,

stating April was at his residence and he needed to come pick her up.

Andy stated after arriving at Bruce's home around 11am, he and April fussed again and

she went to the neighbor's home across the road and that's the last time he talked to

her.

End quote.

There were two men mentioned at the house next door.

This is Bruce Smith and his son Tom Smith.

April was hanging out with Tom the days leading up to her death.

Bruce and Tom both declined to speak with me.

For now, I'll just refer to both of them as the next door neighbor.

More on them later.

So let's recap the last few days of April's life.

She had stolen her mother's phone and went on a multi-day drug binge.

What actually happened on Sunday morning is a little unclear.

One report states the next door neighbor claims she left his house around 9am in seemingly

good health walking towards her home.

Another report says Andy got a call from the neighbor wanting him to come over and get

April.

Andy went over around 11am and after arguing with April a bit, she walks to a different

home across the street.

I didn't see anything in the report addressing these inconsistencies, but to be honest, it

wouldn't be surprising that there is some level of deviation between stories simply due

to drug and alcohol use affecting memory.

These are the last reports of anyone seeing April.

I spoke with the owner of the house across the street where she was allegedly heading

at one point and he claims she never showed up.

Andy was in the workshop on Sunday night with his daughter and April was not there.

She is found late Monday night early Tuesday morning locked in that workshop on her property

with bruises, scrapes, and cuts all over her body.

What April was doing between mid-morning on Sunday when she was last seen and when she

is found late Monday night early Tuesday morning is unknown.

She wasn't in the workshop on Sunday night, so she died sometime between Sunday night

and late Monday night.

The police end up ruling April's death a result of accidental overdose and hypothermia.

It was January after all and the weather gets pretty cold in this area.

The low the night before and the night April was found was around 30 degrees fahrenheit.

This is plenty cold for hypothermia, especially if you're laying on something like cold concrete

in a workshop that will quickly take the heat from your body.

But why would April not just walk to her home next to the workshop?

The workshop was not heated and why would she lock herself in?

And what about the condition of her body?

None of this made any sense to April's family.

I know as well as I'm sitting here that my daughter didn't kill herself.

You know she didn't lay down under that truck and just died.

I think she was already dead before she was put under the truck.

My opinion, because when I got to her, I mean it was like a perfectly placed.

I mean she was just laying under the truck, her head, her upper body was up toward the wheel base

and on the front of the truck, arms down by her side.

Just lay there.

I mean touching her, I mean, did I want to move her?

Yeah, I wanted to grab her.

That's my child.

But I knew, you know, not to.

April's family knew there had to be more to the story and there was.

You had something to do with that shit that happened to April because he left here at 1130.

Like the time frame, the way they was acting.

Boston had three guns on him, okay?

One in his bag, one in his up front here and one in his back pocket.

Barry had two guns on him.

Why was they scared?

April's family did not buy the idea that April simply died of an overdose in hypothermia.

Her family says she was an experienced drug user.

She knew how to come off of them safely.

They also say she never went in the workshop.

When she wanted to go home, she went home.

They recalled multiple times that she broke into her own house when she had lost her keys.

I mean, she always went home.

It didn't matter if she had to break in one of his windows, break the back door and she would.

He was going in and going to bed.

The door where you could put the firewood in.

It caused her to go through it.

If that's what she had to do when it was time for her to go to bed, she was going to bed.

She was going home and getting in her bed.

It didn't matter what it took.

And what about how badly beaten up her body appeared?

What I'm telling you right now, my mama did not proliferate that truck and die.

To be honest, I think she struggled with somebody.

With the marks, it was like a hole.

She didn't talk to me. She had the knee, the black thing.

It was like road burn.

We thought it was a hole or somebody just burned her.

But we looked at it and we looked at it.

And it was like concrete burn.

My mama had one sock on, one sock not on.

Her ankle was broke.

It got ran over.

My mama was known.

That bitch was crazy.

She was known that if she didn't want to be in a vehicle, she took her role.

She did. She jumped out of that car.

April seemed like a wild woman.

In a good way and in a bad way.

She got junior hit.

Still alive.

So you started laughing.

I think laughing sometimes is good medicine.

Even in bad situations.

So you think she might have jumped out of a car trying to escape something?

Listen, I think she tried to jump out of a car.

She didn't clear it enough, ran over her ankle.

Right down there.

I did my own investigation.

Right before the mailbox it was like someone went up the road.

You know, like the muddy part like it was right in it.

Well, I went and there was a sock in there.

There's the other sock.

You know, it looked like she tried to get out.

It looked like she had been drugged.

With the marks on her and everything.

It looked like she had been drugged.

The autopsy said it looked like she had rope burns on her wrists, her ankles, her neck.

And they said it looked like she had been tied in the downward doggy position for two hours.

That a rape kid came back clean.

Whatever.

She had no panties, no brawn.

Whatever.

None of it made sense.

So I think, you know, she struggled to try and get away from whoever it was.

Quick side note here.

You can hear a few sounds at the end of that clip.

They almost sound like sound effects that I added in, but they were actually gunshots in the distance while I was speaking with Hannah.

You'll understand this more as you dive deeper into this podcast, but this place started feeling like the Wild West, like a lawless land.

Remember, I initially was investigating five cases that occurred in this small mountain town and even more deaths, murders and disappearances in this town came to my attention while investigating.

Maybe it was just in my head, but when you become hyper aware of the level of crime and evil deeds in such a small area, you begin to see everything there differently.

Anyways, I think if we want to figure out what happened to April, we need to dive deeper into the days leading up to her death.

After April got an argument with her family and stole her mother's phone, she was at a home April's mother calls the White House.

Faith, who went missing a week after April died, was also at the White House around this time.

The White House is a mile and a half from April's home and it's a well-known place in the area to get drugs.

A man named Kevin Maylor could often be found there.

You know, people would tell me that she was at the end of my dirt road at the White House meeting Kevin Maylor out there getting drugs.

I have been told that Faith was out there.

Really, that same time with...

Can you say who told you that?

No, I would rather not.

That's a good somewhere.

Kevin Maylor, who many in this area refer to as Boston, is 56 years old.

Kevin Maylor is a known drug dealer in the area, or at least he was.

He has a long record of crime including charges of possession of meth, possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving under suspension, disorderly conduct, domestic violence,

unlawful carrying of a pistol, sale of a stolen pistol, possession of a firearm by person convicted of a violent felony, possession of contraband in prison, and more.

Some of these charges I listed had multiple counts of that charge for separate occasions over the years.

Before he moved to O'Halla, South Carolina in around 1996, he lived in Massachusetts where he was a suspect in a disappearance of a young woman named Jennifer Fay, who went missing in 1989.

I won't be covering Jennifer Fay in this podcast, but there is a podcast by Barstil Sports called The Case, who covered her as well as some of the people in this podcast.

They did a ton of work and I'd encourage you to listen to it after this one for a different perspective.

You'll hear me and others in this podcast refer to Kevin Maylor sometimes as Boston and sometimes as Kevin, so just keep in mind that's the same person.

Kevin has spent about eight of the past ten years in prison.

We are going to talk a lot about Kevin Maylor in this podcast as his name has been brought up as a suspect in all three cases.

And at one point had murder charges written up for the third case, Kevin Craig.

Through my investigations, I came up with multiple scenarios as to what could have happened with each case, and there's one scenario that links Kevin Maylor with them all.

I apologize in advance for all the Kevin's in this next sentence. I'm trying to make it clear what's going on.

When the murder charges were written up for Kevin Maylor in regards to the third case, Kevin Craig,

the sheriff's office said that they believe Kevin Maylor killed Kevin Craig because Kevin Craig had information that could implicate Kevin Maylor in the disappearance of Faith Roach.

The second case that we're going to be looking at.

Kevin Wayne Maylor is being charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of Kevin Craig.

I believe that Kevin Maylor is also known as Boston is a murderer and he needs to be held accountable for the death of Kevin Craig.

Our investigators determined Kevin Craig was murdered because of what he knew about the disappearance of one of our missing persons being Faith Roach.

Through my investigation, I found reason to believe that Faith may have disappeared because she had knowledge that could implicate Kevin Maylor in the death of April Jones.

So the theory is that Kevin Maylor killed April Jones and in order to cover his tracks, he had to get rid of Faith.

Then in order to cover his tracks from getting rid of Faith, he had to get rid of Kevin Craig.

But this was just my initial theory early on. Is there any truth to it?

What evidence do we have for or against it? And what other theories are there for each case?

There is a lot to cover in this podcast and I want to encourage you to hold your opinions lightly and be open to changing them as new information is provided.

I'll also try to look for biases I might have in my research and creation of this podcast as well as biases you as a listener might have and describe them as we go.

The FS blog describes the complexity bias as, quote, a logical fallacy that leads us to give undue credence to complex concepts.

Faced with two competing hypotheses, we are likely to choose the most complex one. That's usually the option with the most assumptions and regressions, end quote.

This doesn't mean the complex hypothesis is the wrong one, just that statistically it is the less likely one, even though we as humans have a tendency to see it as the more likely one.

I think there is even more to it when it comes to a podcast like this. I'm going to spend time covering the complex theories, so your mind will just be on them more often.

And the more complex theories are simply more interesting and for a lack of better word, entertaining. Just remember this doesn't make them more likely to be true. Back to the story.

At the time of writing this, Kevin Maylor, aka Boston, is currently in prison for possession of meth with intent to distribute, but when I first went to Wahala, I was able to speak with someone who was very close to Kevin Maylor in the past.

We'll call this person Person A. Person A, like so many people in this story, has battled with drug addiction much of their life. I spoke with them on multiple occasions.

In the first time I did, they said they had been clean for about six months. They remember the night April died well. I've changed Person A's voice for this podcast.

January 28th is when April got killed, and I say got killed because her mom showed me them pictures, man, and that girl didn't. That's not, no, uh-huh.

Here's Person A referring to Kevin Maylor.

You had something to do with that shoot that happened to April because he left here at 11.30. And I'll never forget this. It was not raining when he left, but when he came back it was and it was 2.30 a.m.

And he was running and he ran in the house. Him and Barry both ran in the house. And I was like, why are y'all running? And he said, they was gonna jump on us and rob us. And I said, who? He said, fucking Bobby. And I'm like, where was you at?

And he said, Cobb's junkyard. Cobb's junkyard at 2 a.m. And the pictures look like she had been drugged behind a damn car.

Person A mentions the name Barry. This is referring to Barry Neal, who was a good friend of Kevin Maylor's, as well as a driver when Boston was selling drugs.

I did get to speak with Barry Neal and we'll talk about him more in future episodes.

So let's take a look at this timeline.

The neighbor says at some point April was brought to his home by two men he didn't know. I think it's possible these two men were Kevin Maylor and Barry Neal.

According to Person A, Monday night, Kevin and Barry Neal leave the house at around 11.30 p.m. About an hour and a half later, around 1 a.m., April is discovered by Andy in the workshop.

Kevin and Barry return home at 2 a.m. Clearly in a panic about something.

Person A asks what's going on and Kevin and Barry said that someone was after them, but Person A didn't buy it.

Like the time frame, the way they was acting, Boston had three guns on him, okay? One in his bag, one in his up front here, and one in his back pocket.

Barry had two guns on him. Why was they scared?

Then Person A saw the news of April's death.

They said, um, a woman's body has been found on Rock Crusher. He didn't say her name at first, you know?

And Boston and Barry are still breathing heavy, okay?

And Barry said there, I can see him out of the corner of my eye. I can see him going like, looking at Boston in the corner of his eye and just, I guess, looking to see if he's looking at him. I don't know.

I sat there watching them, you know, and I was like, y'all need to change y'all's clothes or something. Y'all ain't getting my damn bed wet.

And Boston said, damn, all you ever do is fucking bitch, da, da, da, da, da.

I said, look, if you're gonna be like that, I said, you can fucking leave. I'm not gonna do this with you, you know?

I said, oh, by the way, I said, if you're gonna leave, don't go that way because there's a dead girl down there. This motherfucker.

I swear to God, looks up like this and goes, she's got my phone and runs out of the house, runs out.

Him and Barry did not come back until 7 a.m.

So according to Person A, they mentioned there was a dead woman found down the road.

They tell Kevin Maylor that if he's going to leave to not go that way through all the commotion.

At this point, Person A doesn't know it's April, so Person A doesn't mention any name,

but Kevin immediately looks up like he just remembered something and says, that girl's got my phone.

Like he already knew that the dead woman Person A was speaking of was April.

Kevin and Barry leave again and return around 7 a.m. with a phone.

As I was speaking with people for this case, the name Boston or Kevin Maylor kept coming up.

That's when a source sent me some information about Kevin Maylor and April that the police didn't even have yet.

And we'll be right back.

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So what was this evidence a source sent me in regards to Kevin Maylor and April Jones?

It was a handwritten letter that an inmate in prison named John Evans

had wrote to one of his family members.

I have to stay pretty vague with this info as this evidence isn't public

and I don't want to do anything that could impede the investigation

but John Evans claims he was with Boston about a week before April died

and Boston told him he was going to kill April Jones

by giving her a certain substance.

John says he didn't take Boston seriously in the moment

but when he found out about April's alleged overdose

he immediately thought back to his conversation with Boston.

John says as he's been sobering up in prison

his knowledge of this has started to weigh on him more heavily

and he felt compelled to come forward with this information.

That's one thing I've been learning about when it comes to drugs.

People are not themselves when they're using drugs

and typically when they sober up

they look back on their drug influenced actions with genuine shame.

John also mentions that sometime after April's death

he got a hold of a phone from Boston

and this phone was April Jones's phone.

If Kevin Maylor ended up with April's phone after she died

that would be big news.

I wanted to try to confirm all of this information as best I could.

John Evans was still in prison

but I spoke with two other individuals mentioned in the letter.

They confirmed the particular time that they were all hanging out

but stated they were not with John and Kevin the entire time

and did not hear Kevin say anything about plans to kill April.

One of them did confirm that they saw a phone

that was full of pictures of April and her family.

They said that John was pretty secretive

and they believe he knows more.

I'm going to introduce him in the next episode

but I got to know a former Akoni County Sheriff's Office investigator.

Here's us talking about John Evans and the letter.

Yeah, that letter was fascinating.

You know, I wonder what prompted him to finally write it.

If it was his conscience, if there was something else,

if it was the fact that some of these stories are getting more attention

and it's just kind of being talked about more.

Well, in the letter it says that he's clear-eyed

and not being away from drugs.

So maybe so.

And I know him, John Evans, I know his whole family.

I've arrest him for burglary, breaking in houses.

Maybe he's...

I always try to give people a benefit of the doubt.

Maybe he's going to have a turnaround in his life.

I hope he does.

He's got some really good people in his family.

He wouldn't raise that way.

You've heard that saying before, he wouldn't raise that way.

He really wouldn't raise that way.

Yeah, got into the wrong circles.

Before we talk more about John Evans and April Jones,

I want us to get to know Kevin Maylor, a.k.a. Boston a bit.

I figured it might be a long shot,

but I wanted to try and speak with Kevin in prison.

It's really important to me that I'm as fair as possible with these episodes

and genuinely wanted to hear his side of the story.

I was able to send him a message and tell him who I was.

He was hesitant to speak with me

and said he wanted to speak with his daughter about it first.

Luckily for me, I've been really careful about treating suspects fairly in my work

and giving all possible perspectives in order to be as fair as possible.

It also helped that his daughter actually knew who I was

and had watched my YouTube videos on the Murdochs.

After messaging back and forth with Kevin Maylor a bit...

This is a gluten challenge pre-treat call from...

Eric, this is Kevin Maylor.

Hey, Kevin, how you doing, man?

Have a high time when I'm doing it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

How are you?

I'm okay.

You know, man, I really appreciate you being willing to speak with me.

I spoke with Kevin many times,

but you're about to hear some clips from our very first phone call.

Remember, I'm out and about in Wahala investigating.

Kevin isn't able to schedule his calls from prison,

so I would randomly get calls from him and have to stop what I'm doing

or pull over on the side of the road to speak with him.

I was recording on my phone on speaker while sitting in a car next to traffic,

so it's not the best audio quality,

but I think it's important for you to hear from Kevin.

I'll recap the conversation after these clips.

We chat a bit and break the ice before I dive in and ask about April.

I don't bring up the John Evans letter as few people know about it,

and I don't know if he knows it was written.

I don't think my daughter realizes how serious this is

because she knows me.

I was basically a stay-at-home dad.

I basically raised her.

I went to all the school functions.

You know, I taught her every book in the Bible.

She knew by the time she was four years old,

she could say every book in the Bible or whatever.

You know what I mean?

All the trouble I've been in for the past two years

is all because I got hooked on pills.

That was it for me.

This is my fourth time in prison.

I've never been written up.

It's not one write-up.

I've never been arrested for a violent crime.

So why am I going to wait 50-some years to kill people?

That don't make no sense.

And when I agreed to talk to you,

I'm talking to you 100%.

So I'm in this.

If I'm going to talk to you about one thing,

I'm opening up for everything.

If we could start with April Jones,

tell me about your relationship with April.

Did you know her?

Yes.

I've known her for a long time.

About eight years.

We were friends.

We just grew up together.

The last time I saw her was two days before this.

They called her body.

There's a lot of things that weren't being told.

She was having an affair with her next-door neighbor

because that's the last place I've seen her.

What happened was they had picked me up,

gave me a ride to her next-door neighbor.

I left my phone in the truck,

so I went to pick up my phone that night.

I went to the neighbor's house,

and she finally came out of the woods.

She was scared to death, and it was the first time.

I mean, I told you I'd known her eight, ten years.

It was the first time I'd ever seen her carrying a gun.

She said she was hiding from her husband.

There has been a lot of history of abuse between them, too.

I don't know if he knew about her and the neighbor,

but it hasn't gone on for a long time,

and I'm not saying nothing bad about it

because I like the girl who was a good friend.

I don't want anybody to think I'm saying anything bad about it

because she really wasn't a good girl.

She just was an addict.

She was like the rest of us.

Do you know where she got the gun?

No, I don't.

I tried taking it away from her because she was high.

She didn't need to be carrying a gun,

but she would not let me get it from her.

I got you.

And did she explain why she had the gun?

No.

All she did, she came out of the woods.

I talked to her for a few minutes,

and then she went right back into the woods.

She kept thanking her husband's truck comments.

And when you say into the woods,

what area of the woods did she...

In between the two houses.

Okay, like in between the workshop and the neighbor's house?

Yeah.

So Kevin says he was a good dad who lived a normal life

before getting hooked on pills,

which led him to the world of drugs.

That yes, he's been in prison four times for drug charges,

but has never been written up while in prison.

That he's not some violent serial killer

like so many people have been making him out to be.

He went on to explain he had known April

around 10 years when she died.

That they were friends and did drugs together on occasion.

The last time he saw her was two days before they found her body.

April and her neighbor Tom had picked Kevin up,

and when they did, he left his phone in their truck.

He says later that day he got a ride over to Tom's

to look for the phone,

and April came out of the woods holding a gun.

It was the first time Kevin had ever seen her with one.

He says she was terrified about something.

He mentions that she was having an affair with the neighbor Tom.

He says the last thing he saw her do was walk into the woods

between Tom's house and her workshop.

I spoke with Kevin Maylor many, many times,

and we'll touch on those conversations in future episodes,

but at this point I was hearing a lot of things from a lot of people.

There was one person I really needed to speak with though,

John Evans.

I thought to myself,

maybe I could get a hold of John Evans in prison,

like I did Kevin, and speak with him.

Maybe John was the key to finally solving this case

and bringing April's family answers and closure.

But then I got a phone call from a source that would

leave me absolutely shocked.

Hey, I hope I'm not bothering you.

No, you're good.

I just wanted to tell you,

okay, so you remember you was asking about John Evans?

Yeah.

He's dead.

Next on Mountain Mystery,

I'd gotten to know the two lead investigators

for the Iconi County Sheriff's Office.

Hey, man, that's true.

Yes, drug overdose in prison.

Do you think there's any chance it has anything to do with the letter?

I think it's got to be looked at.

It could be a coincidence, but the question is,

everybody that's in this case is dying.

Faith went to the bathroom.

She heard two men beating the snot out of a female

in the bathroom.

The next day, they found April John's dead.

After my life, everybody still took everything else from me.

I had nothing, and you still took everything from me.

Eric here, I want to cap off every podcast reminding you

not to form strong opinions.

There is so much more in this story to be told.

If you enjoyed this episode, there will be a condensed video version

with interview footage, footage of Wahala, the workshop,

April and her family, published on my YouTube channel.

Depending on when you are listening to this,

it may be a few weeks before that is released,

but in the meantime, I've got videos on other cases

that I think you will really enjoy.

I'd be honored if you checked it out.

Simply go to youtube.com slash Eric Allen videos

or search Eric Allen on YouTube, and my channel will show up.

That's E-R-I-C-A-L-A-N.

See you on the next one.

END

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.