Four kids without a mom. Husband without a wife. Grow up. It's time to grow up right now. Meet 17-year-old Jordan Buckley, a teenage killer who thought he could get away with taking the life of an innocent woman. But his plan is about to go up in flames. All because of one phone call. Jordan Buckley apparently was one of the two boys at the park who parttook in the branch falling down and hitting the stra. Now, as he tries to lie his way out, I don't know what happened, Chris, and I've got to live with this for almost months. Jordan will realize that neither he nor his partner in crime can escape the law. Away from me. If you can't take him to jail, there's bad people there. A woman lost her life, and you knew it. On September 2nd, 2019, dispatch in Hawking County, Ohio, received a distressing 911 call from one of the most peaceful places in the county, Hawking Hill State Park. Where are we? 911. Where is your emergency? Okay, we're at Hawking Hills and a huge tree all this lady. Okay, take a breath. You're at Old Man's Cave. Yes. Okay. And what happened? I took my phone. No words could truly describe the scene. In beautiful Hawking Hill State Park, 46-year-old photographer and mother of four Victoria Schaefer was eagerly taking senior pictures for some local students. When she sat down on the steps of Old Man's Cave, she was suddenly crushed by a 74-lb 6' long tree limb that came crashing from above. She was killed instantly and immediately law enforcement knew it was no accident. It was clear to them that someone had thrown the log from one of the upper trails. But they didn't find out who until they got an unexpected call from a student pointing them in the right direction. A girl that the bus with, Bailey, her now ex-boyfriend, um Jordan Buckley, apparently was one of the two boys at the park who partook in the branch falling down and hitting Miss Shafer. I didn't know about this until this morning on the bus when Bailey told me, but she has a message on her phone. I don't know if she deleted it now that she's told me or not, but of him saying that there's something serious happened. It was right after apparently it's the incident at the park that something serious happened at the park and that he needs to talk to her, but he can't send it over text. And then apparently on the third at school, uh he told her what happened, which he says he's not the one who hit it. His friend who he's with was, but I don't know his friend's name. Thanks to this girl's call, police finally had a suspect to narrow in on, which quickly grew into two. 16-year-old Jaden and 17-year-old Jordan, two Logan High School students who were known to have been at the park the day of the incident. The following footage has been provided to us via foyer request from the Hawking Hills County Sheriff's Department. Because both of the boys are minors, they are legally allowed to have their parents present for their interrogation. Jaden is joined by his mother. Unfortunately, her jokes fall about as flat as her son's lies are about to be sat in it for two hours. I'm ready for you. I'm investigator. Hi. Come see me. I'm Jaden. What is it? Jaden. I was in a good mood when I got there. I sat here for two hours. Yeah, we're sorry. I didn't know you were in there. Are you kidding me? I've been sitting there for two hours waiting on you guys. Oh, we were busy doing something that we Good for what? To talk. Oh, yeah. That's why I was sure. So, what was your name, Tammy? Yeah, my name's Timmy. T A M M Y M Y Ker. I do. Yeah. Was that That's my Oh, yeah. The dog very well. Yeah. Yes. Been together for years. Yeah. He would have been here if I knew it was going to take two hours to talk to you. Little does she know, the only reason it took 2 hours was because police were questioning her son's friend, Jordan Buckley. And the things he had to say would probably make her do worse than ask for a manager. What happened to the officer? The the guy that I was supposed to talk to. Officer Cable, the other officer shot. Captain Johnson. Yeah. Where'd he go? Uh he's in another room. He's in another room. Oh, he's like, "Well, I need to speak with you and Jaden." And then I'm like, "Where's he at?" Oh, no. He's at We were talking to you guys. He said we were talking to him. We're his guys. You are his guys. You're a sheriff department, guys. He's like a forest ranger guy. Yeah. So, what we do when there is a investigation involving different jurisdictions, we form a partnership and actually work together. Okay. So, we work together all the time. Got you. You got me now. Yeah. All right. Who can't hear us? Are we getting recorded or something? Well, everything we do is audio. Oh, then I can record it too then, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Oh, good. Getting the kids lunch. I'll be right back. Jaden, they are out of chicken sandwiches. Would you like something else? No, just take it. Every time he eats lunch here, they're out of everything. You come with me. I'll feed you something good. Thank you. out of cheese sauce, out of hamburgers. I'm not so sure they'll be able to get something better in juvie. But at this point, that seems completely lost on Jaden and his mother. Detectives read Jaden his rights, then begin the interrogation in earnest. What do you like doing? Riding a bike. Riding town. I usually go to Langster Skate Park. Go where? Langster skate park. Okay. The next place right beside the pool say don't work for natural resources like going out to hiking do anything. I mean I like to hunt. I like to duck hunt and that stuff but hiking. I don't really like walking a lot. So I just ride my bike a lot in the same town with my friends. Who's your friends? Johnny. Um Cole um Garrett just a lot of football players. You play football? I've played every sport. Ran track. Yep. I Well, I tried to run track one year and then I got all my stuff and I didn't have the right GPA for it so I wasn't allowed. You play football this year? Did you play last year? No, I quit sports a couple years back, but how about Johnny and Cole? Who else? Garrett. About Jordan. Jordan? He's my friend. What's Jordan though? I know a lot of I mean he's a great under sometimes I know her. Yes I know. What's your last name? I don't know like that. I don't know. No, like I don't know their last name. I just know Jaden may be trying to distance himself from Jordan, but Jordan certainly didn't hesitate when police ask him for Jaden's last name. Well, so that day me and my friends I don't know if you guys want me to give you their names or not. Oh, yeah. It doesn't really matter. Jaden Churches was with me. We've been beaten around the bush and I'm just going to go get straight to it. There's been some there was an incident at Hawking Hill State Park. I know that you was there on September 2nd. All right. Yes, I was there. Okay. Tell me about that day. We pulled up and we were about to go hike and go down and look around and then some dude comes running past and he's like somebody just got hit with something and we think she's dead. So we're like what? And we turn around and we leave because we don't even want to go down there and see it or anything. And then once we're walking out, there's like ambulances pulling up and all this. And we the Miranda and AJ Miranda Miranda for red car. Yes. What' you do that day? How long was you there? We were there not that long cuz we was just about to walk down the stairs when the guy came up out of the stairs and ran past us. Some darker dude. Darker dude. I don't know. I don't know how to really explain how someone looks. He was just Why was he there? What do you mean? I don't know. I'm asking. Why was he running? Yeah. Cuz I just told you he was running up the stairs and when we was about to walk down there, he was like some girl just got hit by a branch and we think she's dead. So, we turned around and we left. So, you pulled in, got out of the car, just walked over there and this guy come running up. You guys just turned around and walked off. Well, we went down in there a little bit and looked to see if we could see anything, but it was like deep down in there. So, we didn't go all the way down in there. And then we just come back and the EMS. Did you hear what happened by the dude that ran past us coming up the stairs? Anything else? I mean, later on? No, nothing at all. Somebody supposed to know about it. Tell you something. Been here 22 years. Okay. I've been investigated for 10. Okay. He's a lieutenant for the sheriff's office. Okay. Before we come in here, we already have all the answers. Might be one or two that we don't know. We've already talked to people. Okay. I know about your Instagram. We got intel, a lot of things, a lot of serious accusations been brought against you. And this is the time to tell the truth, to help yourself because right now it's really serious. Really, really serious. And you need to be honest and upfront cuz we know a lot more than what you think. All right? Then you need to talk to me, sir, in private because he's underage. He's underage and it sounds like you're you know exactly what happened. So maybe you should go tell me exactly what happened and then I will talk to him because I don't like you saying that you knew what happened and we didn't know what happened. Okay, then you know who did it and what happened. So good. Then we'll go in the other room and you can tell me if he participated in this. That's not how this is going to work. It's not. No, not at all. Your son did something that resulted in a death of a lady. No. Yes, ma'am. No. I can prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt. Then somebody ought to be proving it to me before they're saying something like that to him cuz that is very upsetting. Well, we want to know. Was this an accident? There's always two sides of I'm not liking this. I don't like this one day one. I don't like it either. Neither does the family or the lady that Excuse me. I know that. I have felt very bad about that. That is sickening to me. And I have even said this is a horrible thing that for you to sit here and say that he had something to do with this. And we already do know that. That's beyond a shadow of doubt. The only thing we want to know was this an accident. Was this something you weren't meaning to happen? Things happened for who knows why things happen. I can't answer this. But I want to know was this an accident or is this something that you meant to do? Cuz that's a big difference. that this is an accident or you weren't trying to do this is one thing. I didn't do it. I was there. Police are well aware that Jaden was there and they know exactly what his plan to avoid the consequences is because just a few hours earlier, Jordan tried to use the exact same fake story. That is until he realized that his freedom might be worth throwing his friend under the bus. So obviously you're you're ready to start rambling. let us know, you know, talk and you want to hear. Well, we're want to listen. So, spill it. Well, so that day me and my friends, I don't know if you guys want me to give you their names or not. Oh, yeah. It doesn't really matter. Jaden Churches was with me. Um, Miranda and AJ. I don't know AJ's last name. So, it was Jaden. Yeah. Churches. Mhm. So, you two was there. Anybody else? Um, no. Any family? No, it was just us. We were just walking around bored. So, we were like, "Let's go on a hike." And we just went on a hike. Where's your hike at? Um, well, first we started going down. We went like down and I don't know. It's like, you know, when you go down, you cross the bridge and you go up. So, you So, you was at Old Man Skate? Yeah, we were skate. That's where we went. And then when we went there, nothing was happening, but we went up like on the back side of the hill. And then we came back because some guy told us that some woman got smashed by a branch. So we turned around and we went down towards the bottom part. And then we came back up and there was a bunch of like I EMS people running past us and sirens and everything. Really? Yeah. So we just left. All right. So Jordan Mhm. I want you to be honest with me. Okay. Yeah. U Robertson, you've been doing this long time. I've been doing this for a long time. I've worked for the state for 22 years. Okay. Before we come in here, we've already got our answers. We ask a series of questions that we we have answers to. Mhm. All right. So, this is the time to come clean because there's some allegations been brought against you. What were they? Well, you was there. You confirmed that you was there. We know that you was there. So, there's more to this story. Tell us about the branch being up on top. Well, I didn't do anything. Like, I wasn't I just don't like snitching on people. Mr. This is the time. This is not about snitching. This is about telling the truth. And telling the truth gets you farther than not telling the truth. Um, so we were me and Jaden walked all the way farther down like cleared to the end, not where the metal bridge is. This guy did say that to us, but we did end up going back down, but I skipped a part of what we did. We walked all the way down to the end end of this and Jaden kicked off a branch. Not a branch, it was a log. It was a big log like, "All right, this wide this long." and he kicked it and it rolled off the cliffs and it made a loud bang. So, we ran and we ran into Miranda and AJ. They had no idea. We didn't tell any happened. That log? Yeah, it's that log. That log? Mhm. He just kicked it. He didn't pick it up, push it or anything. He just kicked it. How big was it? Like this big. Probably this wide. Where did he kick it from? was like on over a clear part in like the far back part and it was on this part. It was and then here's the cliff. It was like right here. Was it? I got from like right there to right here and like rolled down the hill. I don't know if he I wasn't like paying attention what he was doing so I don't know if he intentionally kicked it or if he like stumbled on it. Did he pick it up first then carry it? No, he didn't pick it up at all. Not that I saw. How to get on the other side of the tree? I have no idea. Jordan will eventually have no choice but to explain how the log got on the other side of the tree. You can only weave a tale with so many lies before you trip yourself up in them. Moving forward, you'll hear detectives repeatedly refer to a pact the boys made. That pact was to stick to the first story they told that they simply showed up after the log had already fallen. It takes each boy less than 20 minutes to decide that pact isn't worth the screens it was typed on. So tell me what happened step by step. Like basically what I was saying when we walked up by the stairs the I'm not saying because you have to say Jordan walks like we were walking and then there was this log and he kicks it and it starts to slide. So you saying Jordan kicked it and then it slid and then we left. Okay. Did you touch this? Because here's the thing. What was that again? Said you touch the law because we've talked to Jordan Miranda and AJ. Dale said you're the one. I grabbed the log. Okay. So you touched the log. I touched it, but I did not kick it off or throw it off. Then what happened to it? How did that smash away? He got kicked off the edge. Who kicked it? Jordan. Jordan kicked it. Yes. Are you sure? Yes, sir. We talked to Miranda. I know this. AJ, I know this. I know about your pack, but Jordan, you guys already had this rehearsed. It took him about 30 seconds to break down. Same thing with Miranda and AJ. They're pissed. They don't want anything to do with this. I get this. Would they withstand it? We got to be completely honest with ourselves and others here. You touched it. When did you touch it? When? Yes. Before it fell off. Before it fell off. Yeah. How did it start sliding? Jordan kicked. Which one's Jordan? That's Jordan. So Jordan's the one that kicked it. And it slid down like this at that same angle. Cut the corner. Yes. That's how it make sure I understand. This is the log. This is the log. You flipped it over and after you flipped it over, you didn't touch it is what you're saying. Yes, that's what I remember. And this is Jordan. This is you. This is Miranda and AJ. And Jordan, I was standing like right behind a tree. Do you know what's down here? Yeah. Do you know where you were at? You're at Hawking Hill State Park, but do you know a specific part of the park you were at? Landscape. That's where the 3.5 million visitors every year come out to see hockey. Right. So, directly underneath here. Do you know what that is? That's the actual Old Man's Cave. You're on top of the actual part of Old Man's Cape because what do you think's down there? People if something would fall off, what do you think would happen to the person? I'm sorry. They would pass. You mean die? They would die. Now, you obviously can't see the doodles the detectives have whipped up, but that's okay because everything the boys have had them draw is a complete lie. The pile of wood that the log was taken from was 40 ft away from the edge of the cliff on a flat path. The way the trees were staggered along the cliff side would have made it impossible for the log to be kicked laterally down the slope. It would have had to have been picked up. But by which teenager? The log was right here and he kicked it and it went down and it rolled this way. Yeah, it rolled that way. That's impossible. That's going back uphill. I thought you were saying this is where the cliff is. This is the cliff's edge right here. Stairs are down here. This is your cliff's edge. There's trees. Yeah. So, okay. So, there's standing tree. Let me do it for page. I messed it up. So, if this is the cliff's edge, there would be a tree right here. There'd be a tree right here. And the wall was in between the trees when he kicked it and it just rolled down. Okay. So, these two these are two big trees right here. Mhm. No, those two big trees are laying down. They're laying on the ground. These logs was over here on the ground. So if he kicked it, it's going to hit this tree. I didn't even know there was trees on the ground. Did you guys pick it up and carry it across? You guys around? I didn't pick it up and I didn't see him pick it up. As far as like He told me he kicked it. Where was you at when he What were you doing when he was I was messing around. I was behind him cuz before that we were like standing on branches and like hanging on them, but they were farther back. I wasn't a cliff when I was doing that and I was just like bouncing on them. Mhm. And because before that there was this branch that came off and I hung on it over this like bridge thing and it bounced me up but it wasn't it didn't fall off so it was fine. And then I walked back over and I was just kept doing that cuz I was forward and then I heard a loud bang and he started running so I ran with him and he told me he kicked the log off. Okay. Hear any screaming? I didn't hear him screaming and then but then when we ran back we turned around and that guy came up to us and said that to us. The the black dude. Okay. The black guy come up and said Yeah. He said he said not to go that way. Okay. So before uh before you guys kicked the log off, was you guys throwing rocks and sticks and everything? No. Never threw anything. Wasn't kicking anything off. Nobody yelling. Are you sure? Yeah, 100% sure. Was she doing stuff prior before you threw that? Huh? Did you hear people hearbody? Sure. because I didn't throw your back over the rock. Yes, sir. I just told you I did not throw anything. According to reports and witness statements, both boys were intoxicated as they embarked on their hike. It's been stated that rocks and sticks were being thrown and that in general, the group was acting rowdy and drawing attention to themselves. That of course makes it much harder to get away with killing an innocent lady. So, it's time to tell the truth. This is very serious. Okay. I know, right? I know you're scared. Best thing for you to do is tell the truth. Yes. Ask for the truth. I know, but I don't want him to sit and say, "I'm literally telling you the truth right now." Like, I've done told you the truth. Everyone else is telling us you're the one that kicked the tree over. You're the one that did it. Okay. I did not kick it off. Did you throw it off? No, sir. So, you flipped it over and Jordan kicked off. Yes. Why did Jordan flip it over? Huh? Why did I'm sorry. Why did Jordan kick it off? Why did you flip it over? I flipped it over. Why? Because we was going to take it off because we just wanted to be like, "Oh, this would be fun, right?" You show up to girls see how you make. So, I flipped it. Then I was like, second thoughts. There any messages that you and Jordan were talking back and forth? He text me or he Yeah, he text me and he talked to me like about what happened situation. What do you say? And then I hung up because I was at the crash yesterday. I was outside of the school. right here in check. So when they give you this information, it's got the links of everything that counts. We can click on that still there. It's got the conversation that you had last night. Then you already know what he talked about, right? Yes, ma'am. So, does somebody want to share that with me? That's how we know if someone's being truthful or truth truthful with us or not. We're not quite there. Close. Not quite there. Do you mind? I'm being truthful. Why would they say you're the one that made that wall over the cliff? That's sitting there watching. Maybe because I was close to it, I guess. I don't know. Well, you're I watched you're over here, Jordan, with my eyes after you flipped it. Do you know what you guys? I'm I'm being very patient with this, but it sounds like you're trying to talk him into saying something that he's being honest with you. I'm trying to talk him into telling me the truth. But he he just told you what happened. That's not the truth. I did. So, you're trying to get him to say something that I'm trying to get to tell us the truth is what I'm trying to do. Not a trick. I don't understand. You have his phone. You have We're just trying to get him to tell us what happened because at the end of the day, that's not the truth. At the end of the day, that lady lost her life. I know that. I'm very sad for that. I was sick to my stomach when I heard about this and and and then to find out that he was there. I'm I'm Did you know that he was there? No, I did not. He does not leave this town. Well, he did on that day. Exactly. From what I hear, I did not know he was there. So, he was not being truthful. No, he was. It's not that he wasn't being truthful. He just didn't tell me that he went there. I didn't ask him if he went there. So, therefore, it was not being it wasn't being untruthful. I know what happened on that. You take a lie detector test and I told you where you take a lie detector test. It tells the truth. I don't have to, but I'm telling you the truth. Take one. Verify that him and the others are telling the truth. Okay. Will you take one to verify you're telling the truth? Yeah, sure. Or get that schedule right away. The station's polygraph examiner is going to have a field day because Jordan didn't just agree to take a test, he begged to. I was going through it. Like you could hook me up to a live tech test. I can kick it. I didn't throw it. All I All Jaden told me was I kick log off. Like I will I swear on everything. You can put the lie detector test on me and I'll say the same exact thing because that's exactly what happened. We can do that. That's not a problem. We have a person in the house that does that. If you want to, I will gladly do that. Is there any reason to do that though? No. Is there anything that you have not told us the truth about? Is there anything Is there anything you have not mentioned to us that you know about this? Be very very specific. Like is there anything else you have not said today? Cuz I don't want to have a conversation in a few minutes. Oh, hey, what about this? Not really. Not anything that I know about. We didn't really do anything. I usually after that um she Miranda and AJ left cuz they wanted us to get out of the car after we told they told us they didn't want like to be around us and they told us to get so they were crying and they were mad at us. They were crying. So they knew that this happened. This happened. Yeah, I told him about it. Arrest for homicide. You better do the um lie detector test first on Jordan, don't you think? Before you arrest him for homicide it doesn't matter what he says. You guys have to do it. Don't just That's just talk. Like detective talk. You can't. You think I would let you arrest him? Like Jordan's scarce are going to let you arrest Jordan without a lie detector test? You don't have a choice. In the United States, there's a thing called probable cause. You know what? I do have a choice. So, um, you're going to have to just you're just going to have to talk to attorney with the minimum wage, two jobs that I work because you know what? We do have choices. Yes, we have choices. We have a choice. Okay. Well, when you get when you get the when you get the I know this lady died. When you get the lie detector test set up for him, then you'll just have to contact me. As for now, Jane and I will be leaving. He can leave. Jaden's going to be placed under arrest. No, he's he can't be. He said he's 16 years old. So, it doesn't matter. He's He did something that resulted in the death of Miss Schaefer. Where are you think you're going to take him? Juvenile detention. No. That's how serious this is. It is serious. If this was an accident, that's what we got to find out now. Right now. If this was an accident, this is what we need to know. The same thing over and over. He keeps telling you. And there's evidence. There's DNA evidence. There's evidence of what happened. So, in the meantime, you guys both touched it. It both resulted into the death of another. You're both going to go for a homicide. Unless there's anything you want to tell me. I told you everything that happened and everything that I You got to be completely honest. This is your life. I know Miss Schaefer's life is already over. I know this. We got to make her life right for the person who's responsible for her death. Take the danger. And I told you what happened. I told you who kicked it off. I told you who flipped it. [Music] Is that the story you go with? Troy, you got anything else? No. Um, I was there that night. What a 74 lb does to a league's head? Oh, what do you know what a 74 lb does to a le's head? A human body. I'm sure I know what happened to what would happen. Yeah, your headache. Are you going to show him a picture of that, too? I don't have a picture of it. Good. It's pretty. Do you want to see it? Mom, I can show you. I can show you. Show you what your son did. Excuse me. I'm asking what my son did. Yes, ma'am. There's witnesses to this. There's not witnesses. They're all saying each other did it. And so you have And so you have some some pretty good stuff then. And no, I don't I don't want to believe any of that. I don't I'm not I don't want to see some lady's head want anybody to be injured. I'm a lover, not a fighter or a herder. I would agree with that saying I don't ever no matter who you are. Right. Exactly. But no, I don't and I don't really want Jaden to ever see anything like that. But at the end of the day, your son, however got moved, however got kicked side, resulted in the lady's death, right? Which is tragic enough. Mhm. I agree. I agree. So, what do you think should happen? I think the lie detector test should be done on every one of the kids that was there. That's good. Yeah. And that's going to tell you a lot. I mean, you already have the test, so that's that's information that you have that you already know. Yes, ma'am. So, um Yeah. So, who do you think should be accountable for this? Whoever did it. Whoever was responsible for making the ball go over the the cliff. Exactly. I would agree with that%. Yeah. Whether whether it was, you know, whether the kids were playing, whether it was I'm sure they didn't do it on purpose because they were playing if they were playing this was an accident. I'm sure they are just going to say, "I want to kill some lady. Let's throw a ball on her head." I mean, who does that? Nobody. And there is people that does it. I'm sorry. I'm not in your line, so I don't see that. In my life, everything's happy. Every, you know, we're happy people. It's hard when something negative comes along. Aside from negative being a bit of an understatement here, it doesn't seem that things are quite as happy as Jaden's mother is trying to paint them. As you'll see later, Jaden has a very close relationship with the school resource officer, who makes a reference to knowing when he's lying. In court, Victoria's husband actually made a statement regarding rumors about both of the suspects. When they were caught, the information we received about these teenagers was very disturbing, such as they showed no remorse at all. They were selling drugs at the high school bathroom and thought they might have been arrested for that. they were members of the gang and even that they were bragging about what they did and they had no intention of ever coming forward. While we can't validate anything else that Victoria Schaefer's husband claimed, it was widely circulated in the media. However, we do know one thing. Jaden was bragging after killing Victoria. And what he said certainly is disturbing. Taking a picture right there. My phone was dead. Take any pictures that I don't know. I don't know. Somebody don't know. You sure don't want to know. Okay. Sorry. Is that a picture of you? This is serious, man. I know this. Yeah. [ __ ] Somebody drove me off the cliff when I was 15, too. It took me years to walk again. I thought I was going to be paralyzed my whole life. I wasn't dead, but it was a shame, too. [Music] We were just talking about what Jake is going to be when he wakes up 10 minutes ago. You know, this is like boring. What's your phone? Okay. Where's your phone? This is a trick question. What What messages are on there from last night from Georgia? None that I remember. Like I said, let's take a look. Send some pictures and they go away. As we explained, they don't always go away on your phone. What's on your phone? What's on my phone? That's my question. Show us what you and Jordan talked about last night. Do me a favor, see the display so I can see. I just want make sure. Well, thank you. I understand. I have to download the apps cuz I used my other phone. Like I have my phone that don't work like I use Wi-Fi that just got shut off cuz I just got this phone so I have like nothing on it. So, how did you talk to your last time? On the app on my other phone, but I'm getting it on this phone right now for you. Okay, I'll put it back. Thank you. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the texts have magically disappeared from Jaden's phone. Jordan, however, is happy to tell them what was said. Well, a version of what was said that makes him look good, at least. So, I kind of knew what it was about. So, I kind of texted Jay and was like, "Dude, something's going to happen. This we're going to get caught." I said, "I don't know what you want me to say, but I'm not getting in trouble for you." I said, "I won't tell them, but if they ask me, I'm not going to completely lie and get myself in trouble." And then he said, "Okay, I'm not really worried about it." And that was the end of it. I called him yesterday in the parking lot. That's what I said. So, you called him yesterday? That was it. Yep. That's the last time I talked to Jaden. Jaden say he did it? Yeah. Jaden says he Jaden's told me that he did it before. No. And what the girl said? Yeah, he said that in front of him. Okay. So the girl didn't say he said I already caught a body by the age of 16. So he thought it was funny. He said what? I already caught a body at the age of 16. You think this is funny? I don't think it's funny. I think that's the only reason why I'm telling you all this because I think it's serious. It's very serious. someone lost their life for someone being stupid and messing around. Um, I have to say something because this is just me being I was just being I told Bailey that I did do this with him, but I did not. I was just trying to act cool in front of her cuz I thought it was cool, but it's not after I realized the severity of it. And you know, you charge charge with murder. I know, but like that's what I'm saying. And if it comes down to it, I would literally take a lie tech test for this. Like, if you guys do not believe me, I will 100% take a lie tech test. And I 100% will prove to you that I did. I had nothing to do with it. And I did not kick or touch that log. Why didn't you say something? Because I don't know. I was freaked out about it cuz I thought it was just all going to go away and everybody would have forgot about it. You won't forget about a death. No, I just I don't know. You ever see what a woman looks like with her head? No. Do you want to see it? No. Yeah. That's the thing. You're a responsible act. I know. Four kids without a mom, husband without a wife. Grow up. It's time to grow up right now. I know. And that's why what you do and what you say from this point on is going to affect the rest of your life. If there is anything you have not told us, anything you held back, anything you don't want to tell us, maybe you guys were kicking the log together. You got to tell us. I I did not kick that log with him. I swear on everything. Did you touch that log? Give me a second. When he when I was standing in front of him, he said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Before you answer, you know what DNA is?" Yeah. You do? Yeah, I know DNA is. So, I push I touched the log to move it out of the area, but I to move it out of the area to move it. It was right in between these trees and you pushed it out and then I helped him push it out, but he kicked it down. I didn't kick it. So, I did touch the wall. So, you helped him? No, I didn't know he was going to kick it off. Did you? You I helped him pull it out. Yeah. It didn't come from this pile of logs right here. No, we did not carry We did not carry. I swear to God, I didn't carry that log. He'll tell you soon. I did not carry that log. Okay. Did he? I know for a fact that log had to be picked up. How would he pick up a log? Jaden's smaller than I am. So, I don't know how he would pick up a log and carry it over a tree. I carried that thing up by myself. I know, but I'm a little guy. You're bigger than me. You're a lot bigger than me, like armwise. And I'm a lot older than you, too. Look at that. I didn't carry a log. It's all I'm saying is I didn't carry it. Remember I told you before we come in here, we already had the answers. Mhm. We already got the answers. I know, but I did not carry the lock. Where did you Where did you pick that up? Well, I didn't pick it up. I just pulled it. I dragged it. When you dragged it, where were you staying? Where was I? I was right here, like right beside Jaden. Both of the boys have been trying to throw each other under the bus. But Jordan actually isn't the only one to say that he said he already caught my first body at 17. In a separate interrogation, Miranda, who was in the car after the incident took place, said the same thing. Jaden, at one point, I don't remember the conversation before this, but it was in the car like after it happened. Like Jaden's words were, "I caught my first body at 17 and they laughed." Like I remember that. Who said that? Jaden. They may have felt like they could get away with anything, but the entire time detectives really have known everything, and they have the forensic evidence to prove it. There was a clear indentation in the soil where the log was taken from. That indentation was near the pile of logs 40 ft away from the cliff's edge. The log was undeniably moved there and put into place on the edge of the cliff with a clear plan in mind. But it wasn't simply rolled off the edge. The location of the trees was the first giveaway that that was impossible. But the second giveaway was just how far the log flew off the side of the cliff. The boys have no idea that there is a ledge beneath the one they were standing on. In order to clear that ledge, the log would have had to have been forcefully thrown, not rolled. In addition, the log weighed 74 lbs at the time of this interrogation after having been dried out for over a week. Throwing it would have taken actual effort and strength. I'm not trying to lie here. I can't talk to you much about it. Yeah, I can't either. Okay. The only thing I will say is you need to be completely honest. If you had something to do with this, I know. I told them what I did. I didn't believe it was an accident. It was an accident. But you need to tell them exactly what happened. You're not telling them the truth. You and I have worked together a lot. That's what I remember. You and I have worked together a lot. I can tell when you're not telling the truth. I was telling the truth. I flipped it. Don't Don't Don't go into it. I'm just This is all I'm saying. Okay. You need to be and tell them [Music] exactly. I would not tell you this if I wasn't looking out for you. They have and they know exactly what happened. I've seen it. I've seen everything. I know. They know exactly what happened. You need to be honest with them. Cuz that can be the difference between accidental and non-ACL. You can take that where you want. Again, I don't want you to talk to me about it. I'm just telling you, like I tell you guys all the time, it's always best to be completely honest. I'm being honest. Like I told him what I remember. Like so much stuff ran into my head. You're leaving details out. They know exactly what happened. Did you get anything to eat? No, they didn't have anything. Yeah, we offered it to the beginning. I'm sorry, buddy. You want something to drink? Can I get you a water or a ball or something? I got a dog. Don't worry about it while you do. All right, I'll go get you a Mountain Dew. All right. Down the hall, Jordan finally has a chance to talk to his parents who were both at work several miles away. Unfortunately for him, he's in for a bit more tough love than his co-conspirator got. Why didn't you tell us that you were household cake to begin with? Because I didn't want anybody to even know about this at all cuz I didn't I just wasn't thinking about it. I tried not to. Well, when something like this happens and somebody loses their life, it doesn't matter if it's your best friend. You know, if Preston was to do something like this and I witnessed this, I would turn him in for it just like I would you. So the right doing the right thing is the right thing. Somebody lost a mom that day. Somebody lost their daughter. I know. So with the details that you have, you better give it to him. All right. Is this dad? Stepdad. Stepdad. Hey stepdad. My name's Dustin. I'm a detective with the sheriff's office. I am going to ask for a DNA sample, which is a swab. It's a simple swab of the mouth. That way, it says who he is with the uh crime lab. So, that way if he didn't touch the log, then it would show it that way. Are you okay with that, Dan? This is probably really something you guys should be talking about. I tried to get a hold of her. Um, can can I call her now and she would answer? Yes. Um, I'm going to text her right now and let her know that you're going to be calling. Okay. Hey, Dad. This is something I can we can get a search warrant for him. And I don't want to do that. I want to do it with his cooperation and yours cuz I don't want to I don't want to muddy the water. Make Andrew. Chris will be totally cooperative, but he's he's step right now. He wants tomorrow decision. Yeah. I would just if it was my choice, I would just let you guys do it right now. Yeah. I It just appears better on the surface cooperation and us compelling him to do something like that. Make I'm 100% aware that he should do it and admitting that he will do it, but um I've already had my wife. So I I understand. I get it. I get it. We won't we will make contact with her. I have uh Jordan in the office with me along with uh investigators from ODNR and uh uh one of the detectives from Hton County Sheriff's Office. Um was he there? I mean I I I'm leaving work now. Yes, he was there. No, it will take me 50 minutes and everybody I mean I know it's already taken place and I couldn't answer my phone and I know Chris it but I I had gallbladder surgery and so I don't remember much from that week. So I didn't even know he was there. Okay. Yeah, that's my understanding. You guys didn't know he was there. Uh, and right now he's just being interviewed as a witness. Okay. How many kids were out there? Me and three others. I I'll let him answer that. I was with Jaden Churches, Miranda, AJ. I don't know. AJ, did you hear him? Yeah. Who? I don't know any of those people's names. Okay. And Okay. So, he's just a witness. Are they all minors? One's an adult, but the other two didn't even witness it. They weren't even like around us when it happened. It was me and Jaden that were over there. Were you a part of it, Jordan? I I didn't like push it off, but I moved the log with him. I pulled it out. I didn't know he was going to kick it off, though. But But a woman died. Why did you not tell Chris and I? I freaked out. It doesn't matter. I've taught you to do right, Jordan. A woman lost her life and you knew it. Always coming first is what you do. Part of the investigation, there's um evidence that we collect. So, I want to ask him for his DNA sample. It's just a swab of the mouth. Same thing if you get at a doctor's office. Yes. Yes. I mean, if he's in the room, he knows that I've taught my kids that they take the punishment. Okay. So, we have your permission to take that swamp. You have my permission to take his Yes. Okay. All right. Thank you. We'll see you when you get here. Okay. Well, yeah, we'll see you when you get here again. Don't rush. We're just talking to him right now. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. Bye. This is the look of a teenager who has just realized that he is completely and totally screwed. And he's not the only one. I'm detective. So, this is one of our detectives. So, Troy, if you want to explain or [Music] shut you down here, talk to you. We have enough on your statements and Jordan's statements. All right, be arrested for right now. Be detained. Take you down to JBC. The prosecutor and the judge already signed off. We have You got to think about this. We have You know what that's doing to me? That's hitting the head with a law. You cannot do that. Why would you say that? Because you can't take him to jail. There's bad people there. Well, there's not good people in jail. There's bad people there. Why did you say anything in the head? Because you're trying you're trying to take him away for something that that you can't take. Again, this is not me. This is the prosecutor's office. This is the actual prosecutor and the juvenile court judge. This is out of my hands. These are the elected officials doing this. You're just going to take him out of here with him right now through this school? Yeah. Does that make How's that make you feel? It hasn't made me feel very good at all since the beginning of this September 2nd at 6:20 when I got that phone call and I seen that lady. It has not made me feel good at all. This doesn't make me feel good. Do you know what? I have raised this boy for 17 years by myself and this does not make me feel good. Why would you take him out of the school like this in front of these people? There's a car right there waiting. He's never been away from me. This is not my decision. far away from me. You can't just take him down here. Yes, ma'am. We can. So, stand up for me, please. No, you guys. You're going to have a court date tomorrow. Today's Thursday. So, Friday, he will be in front of the juvenile court judge for for his arraignment. And I told Don that he needs to what he needs to do, the options he has. students away from [Music] everybody. Jaden, I asked them to go out. Make sure there's no Okay. You know, you got the handcuffs or something on him. Oh my gosh. What a great way to start off your life when you're 17. Can't you just like walk him out there? He's not a criminal. Miss Schaefer was 46 years old. Pardon me? And the shaer is 46 years old. I know how old she is. I read. What? What are you telling me that for? Well, you're saying he's 17. I'm telling you the shaker 46 years old. Just like you're ping long to the head for I have not treated you with disrespect whatsoever. Please don't treat. You're ripping me apart. You just can't see. I'm not doing anything. This is the prosecutor and the judge. I am following their orders. I cannot judge. All right. Are we clear? Dave. All right. Turn over. Oh my god. Tomorrow I'll tell you to what time. Tammy, listen to me. This is important. Tammy, listen to me. Tomorrow the arraignment will be at the juvenile court. Do you know where that's at? No, I don't. You know where the courthouse is? It's the second floor. the order and I'll find out what time it is and I'll let you know what time you'll be there. You may as well take me too because I'm not going to have a job. I'm not going to have a broker to put over his head. I'm not going to have a paycheck. Tammy, can I call you at that 215 number and let you know what time the ring is going to be? That way you can be there even though. All right. Are we clear? You know, I feel really bad for this lady that's gone in her family. This is not good to do to our family. This is going to rip my family apart. I'm going to lose my job. I love that little I love that way more than anything. Timmy, I know. I want to talk to you. Everybody's This has nothing to you do with you with me and Donald. I don't care what you guys are. I don't care. I just wanted him near me. So, cuz he's my backbone. I want him there just so I feel safe because I can't do this by myself. I work minimum wage two jobs. It's going to roof over James head. I can't leave work. I don't have time for this. Timmy, I have never said anything to you where you didn't erase him proper or show him the right way because I can tell you sitting here talking to him, he was very respectful. He was a nice kid to talk to. I don't see that a lot. Without any without anything. Both Jaden and Jordan were taken to a juvenile detention center. Though just a few weeks later, it was decided that they would be tried as adults. They were each charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter, and reckless homicide. When faced with court, both of the teenagers took plea deals, pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter each. As a result, they were both set to serve 3 years in the juvenile detention facility.