December 27, 2024 • 40 mins
Jody LeCornu and her boyfriend argue, leading to a suggested separation. Her boyfriend asks Jody not to come home that night.
After work, the 23-year-old decides to go out with friends to a favorite hangout, the Mt. Washington Tavern. At closing, LeCornu drives a tavern employee home, then stops at an ATM to withdraw money.
In the early morning hours on York Road in Baltimore, a white BMW pulls up close to Jody's car, and a man gets out. Jody rolls down her window, and a brief exchange takes place. At 3:40 a.m., the man fires a .38-caliber handgun through the back left passenger window of Jody's car. The bullet strikes her back, severing her spine.
As Jody LeCornu flees for her life, the gunman follows closely in the white BMW. Eyewitnesses at the Giant Supermarket and a person making a delivery to Boston Market hear the gunshot and see Jody driving across York Road into the Giant parking lot. She circles the parking lot and coasts to a stop after hitting a curb between the Boston Market and Firestone Tire and Service Center.
The shooter waits for Jody's car to come to a complete stop, then pulls his vehicle directly behind hers. Witnesses describe the shooter as a Black male, 5'10" to 6'1", around 220 pounds, wearing a green fatigue-style coat. He gets out, reaches into Jody's car, puts it in park, and takes her purse and cell phone before leaving the scene in his white BMW. The time is 3:41 a.m., and witnesses call 911.
Investigators have eyewitness accounts of the man approaching Jody's Honda in the Giant Food Store parking lot and taking items from her car before driving away. Surveillance video and fingerprints also exist. However, no arrest has been made.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Jennifer “Jenny” Carrieri -Twin sister of Jody LeCornu
- Dr. Joni Johnston – Forensic Psychologist and Private Investigator (performs risk and threat assessments on violent offenders); Author: “Serial Killers: 101 Questions True Crime Fans Ask”
- Sheryl McCollum – Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder & Host of “Zone 7;” X: @149Zone7
- Dr. Michelle DuPre – Forensic Pathologist and former Medical Examiner, Author: “Homicide Investigation Field Guide” & “Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide”, Ret. Police Detective Lexington County Sheriff’s Department
- Jeff Abell - Reporter/Anchor for WBFF - Fox 45 Baltimore, Maryland
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, twin sisters, a bond like
no other. Tonight, one twin sister dead, one sister searching
for a killer.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I Nancy Grace, this is crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
A gorgeous twenty three year old makes a final stop
on her drive home.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
That stop changes everything.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Okay, yeah, this is a giant food on your quote.
Speaker 5 (00:34):
You're a black man, when I want to sell you,
when he could drive away, Sapa has shot fard six
four three on your own playing calls with booth or
she had several shots, Lawrence, give a female fus you
get a call land will watch family can't give you
our family camping, I has good shot. Okay, so Bey
has good shot?
Speaker 6 (00:55):
All over one minute?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
What happened to this beautiful girl?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Now did separating two twin sisters forever joining us Tonight
Jennifer Jinny Carrey, still searching for justice for her sister, Jody, Jenny,
thank you for being with us. Tell me, tell us
all about when you learned something horrible had happened.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (01:25):
And I just got really emotional for a second. So
I was living out west in California and we had
been separated for a little while, and we talked to
regularly sell each other regularly, and I got I was engaged,
and my fiancee walked into the door and said I
(01:47):
tried to call her that morning. It was my parents'
wedding anniversary, and I tried to call her and she
didn't answer the phone. And I just had this weird
feeling like something was wrong, but nothing that nothing this terrible.
And he walked in and said Jodie's dead, and just
(02:07):
I pretty much just like dropped to the floor and
was just in shock, and just he said she was shot,
and it was it was just all so hard to
even just comprehend it. I mean I'd only seen something
like that in a movie, but to hear that was
(02:29):
just you know, I just couldn't I couldn't cope. I
just kind of shut down for you know, You're right
at that point, you just kind of go into the motions,
just trying to do what you gotta do. I'm trying
to just get home to my family.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Jennifer Jenny Careery joining us the twin sister. Twin sister
of Jenny. Question, Jenny, I'm very curious that you had
a feeling a get feeling that something was wrong. Tell
me about that.
Speaker 7 (03:08):
I had been worried about her because she was having
some struggles we both did as we grew up together,
and that was one of the reasons why we had
been separated. She always answered the phone. You know, even
though we weren't in the same state, we were still
just inseparable, and I just had this pit in my
(03:28):
stomach that something was wrong.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Genny, you stated that you guys both had trouble growing
up and were separated.
Speaker 7 (03:36):
What happened My sister and I started down that path
of struggling with eating disorders, and I was trying to
get my life together, and so that's why I didn't
come back right away.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
What type of eating disorder did you guys develop?
Speaker 7 (03:51):
We both had anorexia blimia when started when we were thirteen.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Jenny, you have earlier stated that you and your sister
Jodi were sex abused as well, by whom.
Speaker 7 (04:09):
Our next door neighbor. We were living on the Naval Academy.
My father was an officer there, and we were in
third grade, fourth grade, we were in elementary school.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
To doctor Joni Johnson, joining US forensic psychologist performing risk assessments.
Author of multiple books, including Appearance Obsession, Learning to Love
the Way You Look and Fight Your Fright, a holistic
approach to understanding and overcoming anxiety. Doctor Jon Johnston, thank
(04:43):
you so much for being with us. Number one, How
does being raised by an alcoholic father throughout your formative
years and you your family, including you having to put
him in a facility a from the family, combined with
childhood sex abuse turn a beautiful young pair of sisters
(05:09):
like Jenny and Jody into patients in a facility to
fight eating disorders, life threatening eating disorders.
Speaker 8 (05:19):
Well, we know that trauma just carries from generation to generation,
and that's something that I think you know, not just
in terms of the diagnosis. So when we talk about
somebody who's raised by an alcoholic parent, it's not necessarily
that their sibling or their child is going to become alcoholic.
But what that does tell us is that the way
(05:41):
that people cope, the way these children learn to cope
with things can be similar. And so we look at
eating disorders, we look at addictions and those kinds of things.
There are a lot of similarities between them, and one
of them is a difficulty learning how to deal with
those feelings. And no one what to do with that trauma.
And if we don't develop those kinds of those coping mechanisms,
(06:01):
than that we develop ones that are not healthy, including
addiction and those kinds of things.
Speaker 6 (06:06):
And certainly, when we talk.
Speaker 8 (06:07):
About twins, I mean twins, I can't think of any
relationship that's closer than twins. So that would make sense
that not only do you have two twins who are
trying to navigate this together, but the relationship between the
two of them becomes very complicated.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
To try and fathom what Jody lived through as a child,
the demons that haunted her, Yet she was coming through,
she was becoming a huge success in her life.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Beloved, beautiful and young.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
How did this gorgeous young girl who had overcome the
battle of a life threatening eating disorder, the battle of
having her father put away due to extreme alcoholism, overcoming
having been less did as a little girl in the
third grade, Yet she was on a roll. How does
(07:06):
this beautiful woman end up alone in her car and
shot dead in a parking lot. Let's take a listen
again to that nine to one one call.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Okay, yeah, this is the giant food on your quote.
The black man want a work, sell you and hit
your drive away, has shot hard on your own playing
calls the.
Speaker 7 (07:30):
Dot booth floor one.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
She had several shots. Laurence give a female such a
get a car you land on Wilma family can't give you.
My family camping had said, shot okay, so because been shy,
I said shy at over one minute.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Joining me an all star panel to make sense of
what happened to Jody. We want answers tonight, as does
Jody's twin sister joining me Cheryl McCollum, founder and director
of the Cold Case Research Institute and her host of
a hit podcast, Zone seven. Cheryl. That night, Jody alone
(08:09):
in her car, approached by an unknown mail and shot
basically point blank.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Tell me what.
Speaker 9 (08:15):
Happened, Nancy. She pulls into this parking lot. She's by herself.
It's empty. It's about three o'clock in the morning. A
car pulls in, approaches her. A man gets out. She
rolls down the driver's window. They have some type of exchange.
He pulls a weapon. She starts to try to drive off.
He fires one shot. She then drives into the parking
(08:40):
area across the street, where she rolls to a stop
and by the time witnesses can get to her, she
has died.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It seems so random. In addition to Cheryl McCollum, forensics expert,
doctor Joni Johnson, and twin sister Jenny Careery, joining me
now Jeff Able, Baltimore reporter and anchor wb FF Fox
forty five. Jeff thank you so much for being with us.
(09:09):
Tell me about the area where this occurred.
Speaker 6 (09:12):
Well, the area was just right at the city county
line and this was right into Baltimore County. It's a
very middle class, very nice area. At Towson University, a
very well respected school, is nearby, and it is not
a place where you would go to find any number
of homicides.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Crime stories. With Nancy Grace.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
To Jinny Careery, this is Jody's twin sister. What did
police tell you happened the night your sister was killed?
Speaker 7 (09:51):
And at that time they were speaking with my father,
who was a state's attorney and another county who actually
prosecuted drug and violent I wasn't speaking with them because
I couldn't really function for a long time. But basically
that you know, they're doing all they can to figure
out what happened, and that they had the description they had,
(10:17):
They had a lot of evidence that it was an
African American male, stocky build. I think it was five
ten to twenty pounds, that there was video footage, there
was six witnesses, there was fingerprints. I mean, I don't
know if they knew all that. I mean, that was
just kind of all the stuff that they got from
(10:38):
early on. And you know, my father trusted them being
in the law enforcement, but I later on did not,
So that's a whole other story. But like I said,
my father was the one that was talking with the
detectives at the time and would give them updates, and
(11:02):
I think early on there was just different report There
was different theories they were looking into that it was
that it was a robbery drug deal gone bad. There
was no drugs in her system that it could have
they looked, and it was if it was somebody he prosecuted.
There was just different scenarios they were playing out. It
(11:26):
was just a very lot of strange things that happened
that night with her just being such a scared person.
Everything she did was really out of character.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
So just kind of right, what do you mean by
she was a scared person?
Speaker 7 (11:40):
She was really scared of everything, just had a lot
of we both did, had a lot of anxiety. I
mean she was scared of her closet. I mean she
she would not, she would not. I mean she was
scared of driving the snow. She was scared to be
out late at night. But she and her boyfriend had
gotten into a fight that morning and told her not
to come home, and why she didn't make arrangements to
(12:03):
go somewhere or do something. And she was asked to
drive the janitor home who had some sort of I
don't some sort of like disability. Yeah, yeah, and she
was asked to drive him home. And not that she
wouldn't do anything for anybody, but that was just another
thing that I thought.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Out on the road late at night was very uncharacteristic.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
Yes, yes, And to go sit in a dark parking
lot a minute from her house and have her window
rolled down, I mean.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
No, none of it makes any sense.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
A woman sitting in her own car, minding her own
business is shot dead by what we believe to be
an unknown assailant. We have a photo of the car.
Why can't we find the purp?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
What more do we know about that night?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Listen, Jody Lacorneo was able to get her car across
the street from the assailing in front of the Giant Supermarket,
to her surprise, the gunman follows Jody and parks directly
behind her car, waiting for her to come to a
complete stop.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
As Jody lcorn, who flees for her life, the gunman
follows close behind in a white BMW. Eyewitnesses at the
Giant Supermarket and another person making a delivery to Boston Market.
Here the gunshot and hear Jody driving across York Road
and into the Giant parking lot. She circles the parking
lot and coasts to a stop after hitting a curb
between the Boston Market and Firestone Tire and Service Center.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
To Cheryl McCollum joining me, director of Coldcase Research Institute
and star of his oone seven podcasts, Cheryl, I don't
find it that unusual at all. Yes, I know she
didn't like to drive at night, she didn't like driving
in the snow, she was afraid of her own closet.
All of this is because of childhood trauma. I'm not
a shrink, but I know that much an alcoholic dad
(13:49):
that you the child may feel responsible for putting in
a treatment in a rehab and then going through your
life being haunted by that and sex abuse in the
third grade.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
This woman on the outside had it all going.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
For her, absolutely beautiful, accomplished, educated.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
I know she.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Didn't like being alone out at night and would go
to great links not to do it. But this is
where she finds herself. After she goes with coworkers to
a tavern. Then a guy that had a developmental handicap
asked for a ride home. Okay, out of her kind nature,
she says sure, even though it's getting really late. Okay,
(14:36):
she's had an argument with her boyfriend. She doesn't want
to go back home, Cheryl, So she pulls off, and
she's sitting in a car, minding her own business, probably
wondering like, what am I going to do now? Should
I go home? Will we continue to argue? Will it
all have blown over? What should I do? When she
shot dead? So everyone not on this panel, of course,
(15:00):
seems to be attacking her for sitting.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
In her car by herself. I don't get it, Cheryl,
What does she do wrong?
Speaker 9 (15:06):
To your point, Nancy, in that parking lot are lights
and her.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Car was under one of them.
Speaker 9 (15:12):
So she was illuminated right across the street. There were
people unloading at the grocery store, so there were people around,
so maybe she didn't feel completely alone. It's not like
she was way far away in the dark somewhere. There
were people milling about. At least six that we know of.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
This lady, young girl or young woman, minding your own
business and she gets gunned down. If anybody is out
there that remembers anything, the number four one zero eight
eight seven three nine four three repeat four one zero
eight eight seven three nine four three. There is a
(15:51):
reward for information leading to the cracking of this case.
You know, Jeff abel joining US reporter, investigative reporter in
anchor for WBFF.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
You've poured through this case with a fine tooth comb, and.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I really resent a spursions being cast on Jody, who
was doing nothing wrong. She goes out with friends after work.
How many times after a really horrible day at the
District Attorney's office did a lot of my coworkers end
up at a place called Manual's Tavern. Everybody went there
and you would talk about your day or not, and
(16:29):
many of them would stay into the night.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
And yeah, a lot of them would.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Drink to deal with what they had been doing all
day long time moless stations or rapes, tortures, murders, you
name it.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
This girl minding her own business.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
You've got to tell me something, Jeff, What can you
tell me about this parking lot? And what I don't get?
Don't we have pictures of the vehicle? Shouldn't we be
able to track the person down through the tag.
Speaker 6 (16:54):
There were a lot of breakdowns that night when it
came to collecting information and evident and so it was
almost a perfect storm of failures that night when we
came to collecting evidence. There were indeed those six witnesses
that were there and heard or saw something, but none
of them could definitively give any information about the suspect.
(17:16):
His looks. You know, he's about six ' one and
about two two hundred and twenty pounds, but that's about it.
There were security cameras in the area, and not all
of them were working, especially the one that was in
the immediate area of this incident. It was broken that night.
The ones farther away were working, but as you know,
(17:36):
the quality of those cameras were not as defined as
they are today, so they provided some grainy pictures of
the crime scene. You couldn't even make out the license
plate number. It was also the weather conditions, as you
can see in some of the photos. It was a
very snowy, a very cold night, and that also inhibited
the visibility. So police had a lot going against them
(17:59):
and the evidence was just not there yet.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
You know the photos that we've got, Jeff, Abel have
the vehicle on now.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Her car is the white Honda.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
His car, the purpse car, is this white BMW, And
every photo I've got has the tag blurred out.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I can't see the tag. It's really hard for me
to believe that.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I can see the BMW insignia, but nobody can make
out the tag.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
That's total bs, Jeff.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
It's hard for everyone to believe when this happened. I
think most people thought, well, she was a student also
at Towson University, a very respected school in this area.
Her father was the state's attorney and an adjoining county
and very respected family, and everyone thought he's in law enforcement.
This thing will get solved in record time, but we
still have no resolution.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
This is Jodie's sister, her twin sister, Jenny Carey. Jenny
I don't understand why that tag number is blunt out,
and every photo we have, if I can make out
the BMW insignia, certainly we could at least make out
a partial.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Plate, right Nancy.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
As Jeff has been saying, I mean, it's just a
perfect storm of nothing done right. It was mishandled. We
weren't treated properly by the police. I mean I had
to get a lawsuit to get our records. I mean,
it was, it was. It was a whole another not
only grieving her death, but battling the police, which you
(19:28):
know ended up. I spent years becoming my own detective,
going out on the streets, finding people going into Baltimore,
like talking to a prisoner who I'm still talking to
now that one of the suspects, and you know, putting
up my own billboards. The main detective, thank god he's
not on the case anymore, was just such a scumbag.
Was you know, disrespectful and competent, lied to me, you know,
(19:52):
And when my parents they kept her car for a
short period of time, they found the fingerprinting kid in
the car. Like, I mean, everything was just sloppy from
day one. I would reach out to the detective to
ask him a question and he would like to text
me and like a hit on me. I was supposed
to do an interview on Baltimore and he was supposed
to show up. He wouldn't show up. And I'm putting
(20:13):
my heart in soul, you know, for years, you know,
taking myself away from my family, which my question for
her trying to find her killer broke up my family.
My husband and I got divorced, and I mean it
just destroyed my family. Thankfully, we have gotten back together
and trying to like work through everything. But the loved
(20:35):
one shouldn't have to try to solve the murder, you know.
I feel like that's the police job. You know, they're
the detective's job. And if they were doing their job
and then you know, us out on the streets here
wouldn't have to be doing all that we're doing, you know,
dying inside. I mean, it's literally like destroyed me. I
(20:55):
mean I remember in the midst of all of this
with this lawsuit, and I remember driving down a two
lane road and and being like, I just wish somebody
would hit me. It's too much. You know. Part of
the battle would be, you know, having the police on
your side, which just which never was the case, and
that was just it was just it was. It's been very,
very difficult. Thankfully we have a new detective on the
(21:17):
case since COVID that's been really a great person and
trying to help. And for so many years, I've felt
like they're incompetent, They're hiding things. They wouldn't want to
show us anything. They wouldn't let us have the autopsy,
I mean nothing, They didn't want to give us any information.
I never even saw crime scene photos till they put
them in People magazine, Like it's just the way they've
(21:39):
handled everything has just been so bizarre. I maybe, I
mean you've seen more than me the cases. I don't know,
is this a normal way? And the fact that nothing
ever works out that you know, the cameras were down,
they can't see the video, you know, the Baltimore because
she died on the line. Baltimore City, who has a
lot more, has a lot more manpower to help with
(22:00):
the case, and they're like, no, butt out joining me.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Doctor Michelle Dupree, renowned forensic pathologist, medical examiner, former detective,
and author of multiple books, including Money, Mischief and Murdered
The Murdoch Dynasty the rest of the story, and for
my purposes, my favorite book of hers is The Homicide
Investigation Field Guide, Doctor dupre thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Doctor.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Could you explain what Jody Lacorne went through in her
last moments. Her spine was shattered, yet she was still
alive when EMT's got there. It was not a quick death.
Speaker 10 (22:44):
No, Nancy, this would have been horrifying. I'm sure she
was terrified. She'd be very scared. She would feel basically
her body disengaging. She would be again very very scared,
and it would be it would be a terrible death.
I want to say the two things that one is,
I don't know that this is necessarily random. I think
(23:04):
that's a little bit of tunnel vision to think that
it is. And secondly, so many advances have been made
with evidence in the last twenty five twenty eight years.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
I hope all.
Speaker 10 (23:13):
Of this evidence is being rerun through the system again.
Maybe there will be some clues coming out of that.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Now, this beautiful young twin Jody locorneo and joining me
now is her twin sister, Jenny Carreri. One twin sister
was murdered the other twin. The remaining twin is leading
a battle for justice to catch a killer. So, Jenny,
(23:43):
no one has ever explained to you why I keep
looking at that car and the tag is blocked out.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
That is vital information. I mean, think about it, Jenny.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
And just the recent months, we've seen the Brian Coburger
case where a white Lantra was spotted zooming away from
the area by chance by a worker at a convenience
store who comed through hours and hours and hours of
video until she found the Elantra, and then lo and
(24:16):
behold that a Launchra was spotted near the crime scene
where four beautiful University Idaho students were murdered in their
own beds.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Not just that we all know the name.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Gabby Petito, it was a pair of citizen sleuths that
had heard about Gabby's white for transit that she herself
remodeled to become a rolling RV, And if it had
not been for that vehicle being identified, we would never
(24:47):
have known that her fiance, Brian Laundry, murdered her, leaving
her body to decompose out in dispersed camping where very
few people ventured. It goes on and on and on,
there's Michelle Parker, the so called People's Court Mom, her
(25:08):
unique vehicle where she had written this on the side
on the glass she had an ad for her business.
If that had not been released, we would never have
known anything about her case.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yet we don't have the tag number. Really, I find
that very hard to believe.
Speaker 7 (25:32):
I mean, really, everything that they've done I've found hard
to believe. I mean I've I've found out a lot
of stuff in my own detective work that I've had
to share with them that they didn't even know. So
it baffles me, Nancy. I don't know. I don't know why,
(25:52):
you know, with all the pressure that they've had on
them from the beginning, you know, like Jeff saying, with
my dad being in with the state's attorney, I mean,
I didn't expect, you know, the best, I mean, you know,
better treatment, but at least, you know, the normal treatment
with her case. But ut cases solved when they find
like a dirt you know, or rock, you know, something crazy,
(26:16):
and that just was all the evidence. You know, I
had to like beg them and beg them and beg
them to do and show or remember this the MVAC
to do like the DNA testing. It's like they never
wanted to do anything. Like if I just had ignored
them that.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
I mean, they would tell me.
Speaker 7 (26:30):
They told me her case was, Yeah, her case was
sitting in a closet collecting dust. That's what they would
tell me.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
You know, interesting about what you're saying, Cheryl McCollum has
a theory. Cheryl and I are both coming from law
enforcement perspectives. Cheryl McCollum, you've got your own unique theory
and it ain't half bad, Cheryl, About why that tag's
blocked out.
Speaker 9 (26:53):
Tag is blocked out. You've got six witnesses, they won't reinterview.
You've got the family not using you know, having to
sue them. The law enforcement won't use the media. The
phone calls. They're going to tell the family two of
the phone calls, but not all the phone calls. To me, Nancy,
when you've got the same detective for twenty five years
(27:14):
that won't move on anything. It feels like to me
that this perpetrator is a confidential informant. They're protecting Sean McCollum.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
When you say, see I confidential informant, explain to those
that are not in law enforcement what that means.
Speaker 9 (27:30):
Oftentimes, if you arrest someone and let's say they're a
low level drug dealer, they may and give you the
bigger fish, so to speak. So who are you getting
this product from? Who's running this organized crime? So what
you try to do is arrest up, you go to
the next biggest person. So you make a deal. Hey,
I'm going to cut you loose. I'm going to leave
you on the street so you can keep feeding me
(27:52):
information of who's doing bigger and better crimes out there.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Straight out to Jeff Abel, investigative reporter and anchor. You
be f F Fox forty five there in Maryland. Jeff,
thank you for being with us. What does the PD
have to say about this?
Speaker 6 (28:08):
Well, for their part, you know, this case has become
the largest cold case in Baltimore County history. You go
to the police department and there are boxes stacked to
the ceiling of evidence that are sitting there, and they
insist they have interviewed and they insist they've reinterviewed all
of the witnesses and more recently, they did perform some
(28:29):
DNA tests on some DNA on the victim's clothes, but
none of it has proven to be conclusive, and so
you talk to them and they say they are they
are doing all they can. There have been differing levels
of dedication, it seems to this case over the years,
because every three, four or five years we get a
(28:49):
new police chief and a new round of dedication or
lack of dedication towards the case. But the current administration
seems to be a lot more dedicated to trying to
get this cleared. But we'll see.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Is there a new detective on the case? Shift?
Speaker 6 (29:05):
There is a new detective.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yes, it's Josh Battalia. Correct, that's correct, straight out to
Cheryl McCollum, joining US forensics expert and law enforcement. At
least they've cared enough to put a new detective on
the case. But Cheryl, with six witnesses a shot of
the getaway car, you've got ballistics. You've got to have
(29:29):
the bullet. I assumed the bullet was recovered, Jeff, Is
that correct? Oh?
Speaker 6 (29:33):
Yes, it was.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I mean, good gravy, Cheryl McCollum, We've got to put
that through the.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Database and see if that bullet matches up. I mean,
what is going on? What is happening within the Baltimore PD.
They need a fire under their backside.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
They have got to let the family know those phone
calls who they were too.
Speaker 11 (29:56):
Means if something were to happen to me. And the
detective said, well, the last person she called with a
defense attorney. Why would she call her defense attorney? Was
she in some trouble? You would be able to tell them.
Thanks for name Rafell, They're friends. It wasn't her calling
the defense attorney. They got to talk to Jenny. They
got to come clean with everything they've got and let
her walk them through the victimology.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, it just takes one tip.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Now we know this guy reached into her car and
took something out as she sat there dying. Doctor Michelle Duprey,
you cannot convince me that she did not see him
reach in her car and take something.
Speaker 10 (30:48):
Nancy. I believe she did, and she probably would have
been able to identify who he was. Again, I don't
think this was random at all.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
The more I think about it, the more I agree
with you. Jennifer Jenny Career joining us Jody's twin sister, Jenny,
what have you? First of all, how did your search
for the killer break up your marriage?
Speaker 7 (31:10):
Because it became the only thing that I was focused
on was day and night. I spent I don't know
how many years just doing interviews to go, you know,
going out finding people. You know, I'd find out, you know,
(31:31):
some of the people that they had, persons of interest.
I'd go find their family members. I'd drive places. I
did tons of interviews and shows, and I just didn't
care about I just didn't care about anything else. I
just wanted to find her killer. And I mean, I
remember one time I was preparing for a show and
I was I was pulling out all the pictures of
(31:52):
Jody and I and my my daughter, she was a
little girl at the time, and she came up to
me and she brought her baby book and sat next
to me and said, Mommy, look at my pictures. And
it just it tore my heart out, like you know,
here I am like, I'm so I've been so focused
on Jody's killer, and she just wanted me to, you know,
(32:15):
because I was just consumed by it, you know, and
she wanted me to, you know, look at her pictures instead.
I just was always focused on Jody and who's the
next person I do the do the interview with, and
you know, and you know, my husband and I had
other problems, like in every marriage, but this just was,
you know, and he he was supportive, but it got
(32:36):
to the point it took over everything, and I already
I really like I lost my mind, honestly, and I
you know he would not.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Don't lose your mind. I hear what you're saying, Cheryl.
When you and I first met, when I.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Was prosecuting same thing, it was still so fresh with
me my fiance's murder. All I could think about was
putting the next bad guy in in jail. I didn't
care who you were, what you were saying to me,
nothing mattered. I didn't want a car, I didn't want jewelry.
I didn't want a boyfriend. I wanted nothing, friends, nothing.
(33:13):
All I wanted was to solve the next case. And
you can't talk to anybody like that. They have to
come out of it themselves. Cheryl, do you remember those days?
Speaker 9 (33:22):
I remember those days so clear, Nancy. I can remember
you would have success after success after success. You never
wanted to celebrate. You would come to Manuels, you would
have dinner, and you would go home to start prepping
the next case. While everybody else will celebrate in your
victory in court.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I can't really explain it. I understand what Jinny is saying.
One marriage nearly destroyed, She's gotten another chance at that marriage,
But now can we give her a chance to find
her twin sisters killer. There was a thirty two thousand
dollars reward to help solve the case of the murder
(34:01):
of Jody Lacorno to her twin sister, Jenny Careery, Jenny,
have you been speaking with a person of interest?
Speaker 7 (34:10):
Yes, he's been there.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
What's happening?
Speaker 7 (34:14):
So he's been their number one suspect And I actually
started communicating with him years ago. I said to the
detective that I want the previous detective who's no longer there.
I said I would like to meet with him, and
he said, well, why would he want to talk to you?
And so I started to write letters to him, and
I opened up a Peo box and just started communicating
(34:36):
with him. And it was nothing, you know, it was
just all this him writing about just nothing, you know.
It was basically just me like trying to get to him.
He's writing about his days in prison. He did know
who I was, and religion and this and that. And
so my husband found out about it, so I had
to cut that out. He was very upset about that.
(34:57):
I had sent a picture of myself to him, and
he's always he's been in prison for trying to kill
another girl. So he's been in he's getting out. Actually,
November twenty second, I just got a call. I'm on
this vine. I don't know if you're familiar with this
sort of thing where they let you know. So they
called me today and I knew he was getting out,
but I actually met with him about a month ago
(35:20):
and was with him for like three hours, and he
I one hundred percent believe I believe that it's him.
And you know he's failed the light detector to night.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Why do you believe it's him? And how did he
kill the other girl?
Speaker 7 (35:37):
He he tried to stabber to death. They were high
on drugs, she was a stripper. He's had, he has
his DNA on another murder that they haven't dealt with.
He's he's had, he has a record. Jeff and I
were looking at it yesterday. He'll probably remember better than me,
but he has a long history of who you know
is married and he said he was with her the
night Jodie was killed, but she came back and said
(35:58):
she wasn't with him. He failed a light detor test, so.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
He lied about an alibi. Does he know your Jodie's sister?
Speaker 7 (36:05):
Yes, yes, because I met with him.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
What about him makes you think he's the killer?
Speaker 7 (36:12):
I mean, I think because there's so many things that
point to him that it is him. And I mean
he told a prostitute that he killed her. A prostitute
was brought in off the streets, and they never followed through,
they never did anything. They said a prostitutes word is
(36:33):
worthless in court as what they told me.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
So let me understand this.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
You know, if I had to have put every witness
on the stand that was a nun, a priest, or virgin,
I wouldn't have I would never have won a case.
Who do you think somebody like him hangs out with
mother Teresa? No, a prostitute, So right, it's a criminal element.
So who told you you can't take the word of
(36:58):
a prostitute because I have found them to be very
reliable witnesses.
Speaker 7 (37:01):
The detective, the original detective, And when.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
I have you shared this information with the new detective Battalia.
Speaker 7 (37:12):
We've talked about the prostitute. I don't know if I've
told him all this stuff. I mean, he's he's aware
about the prostitute. Yeah, I don't know that he that
I told him all the conversations I had with the
previous detective. But when I met with the suspect in prison,
you know, we met. It was arranged for me to
meet him, and it was all recorded, and I said
(37:34):
to him, I said, did you kill Jody? And he said,
if I admit to that, I will never get out
of here.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Well, you've got this on a recording. Yes? Have you
given the recorded to Baltimore PD?
Speaker 7 (37:46):
They have it? They have it?
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Okay, jeff Abel, what do I have to do? Put?
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Okay, dynamite under the Baltimore PDS rear.
Speaker 6 (37:55):
And how much dynamite do you have?
Speaker 7 (38:00):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (38:00):
I can get quite a bit if I have to.
I asked my husband for a flamethrower for Christmas. I
don't know if that's going to happen. But how can
they stand by with evidence that the twin hasn't asked?
Speaker 6 (38:13):
This is rather new evidence. I don't know if they've
actually I know they haven't moved on it yet, but
I know they do have it, and it is probably
in their hands as if the past three or four weeks.
I understand there might be some kind of deal they
possibly are getting together to offer the suspect or the
(38:34):
person of interest if he will just come forward with
the information, But so far there's been nothing that I'm
aware of.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Jenny, let me throw an idea at you. Would you
agree to a deal where he would serve time hard
time running concurrent or at the same time as his
other offenses if he admitted to Jody's death, or do
(39:06):
you hold out for more jail time?
Speaker 7 (39:10):
Would I just want to have answers I would do.
I would be okay with the time served, absolutely, And
I know some people wouldn't agree with that, but that's
just for me, just because.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Can I give you a very important legal phrase, screw
them and the horse they rode in on. This is
your business, not theirs. If you want answers, then God willing,
you will get them.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
If you know or.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Think you know anything about the murder of this beautiful
young twin, Jody L. Corney, please dial the new detective
at four to one zero eight.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Eight seven, three nine four three. There is a light.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
At the end of this dark tunnel. Nancy Grace signing
off goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, twin sisters, a bond like
no other. Tonight, one twin sister dead, one sister searching
for a killer.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I Nancy Grace, this is crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
A gorgeous twenty three year old makes a final stop
on her drive home.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
That stop changes everything.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Okay, yeah, this is a giant food on your quote.
Speaker 5 (00:34):
You're a black man, when I want to sell you,
when he could drive away, Sapa has shot fard six
four three on your own playing calls with booth or
she had several shots, Lawrence, give a female fus you
get a call land will watch family can't give you
our family camping, I has good shot. Okay, so Bey
has good shot?
Speaker 6 (00:55):
All over one minute?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
What happened to this beautiful girl?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Now did separating two twin sisters forever joining us Tonight
Jennifer Jinny Carrey, still searching for justice for her sister, Jody, Jenny,
thank you for being with us. Tell me, tell us
all about when you learned something horrible had happened.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (01:25):
And I just got really emotional for a second. So
I was living out west in California and we had
been separated for a little while, and we talked to
regularly sell each other regularly, and I got I was engaged,
and my fiancee walked into the door and said I
(01:47):
tried to call her that morning. It was my parents'
wedding anniversary, and I tried to call her and she
didn't answer the phone. And I just had this weird
feeling like something was wrong, but nothing that nothing this terrible.
And he walked in and said Jodie's dead, and just
(02:07):
I pretty much just like dropped to the floor and
was just in shock, and just he said she was shot,
and it was it was just all so hard to
even just comprehend it. I mean I'd only seen something
like that in a movie, but to hear that was
(02:29):
just you know, I just couldn't I couldn't cope. I
just kind of shut down for you know, You're right
at that point, you just kind of go into the motions,
just trying to do what you gotta do. I'm trying
to just get home to my family.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Jennifer Jenny Careery joining us the twin sister. Twin sister
of Jenny. Question, Jenny, I'm very curious that you had
a feeling a get feeling that something was wrong. Tell
me about that.
Speaker 7 (03:08):
I had been worried about her because she was having
some struggles we both did as we grew up together,
and that was one of the reasons why we had
been separated. She always answered the phone. You know, even
though we weren't in the same state, we were still
just inseparable, and I just had this pit in my
(03:28):
stomach that something was wrong.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Genny, you stated that you guys both had trouble growing
up and were separated.
Speaker 7 (03:36):
What happened My sister and I started down that path
of struggling with eating disorders, and I was trying to
get my life together, and so that's why I didn't
come back right away.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
What type of eating disorder did you guys develop?
Speaker 7 (03:51):
We both had anorexia blimia when started when we were thirteen.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Jenny, you have earlier stated that you and your sister
Jodi were sex abused as well, by whom.
Speaker 7 (04:09):
Our next door neighbor. We were living on the Naval Academy.
My father was an officer there, and we were in
third grade, fourth grade, we were in elementary school.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
To doctor Joni Johnson, joining US forensic psychologist performing risk assessments.
Author of multiple books, including Appearance Obsession, Learning to Love
the Way You Look and Fight Your Fright, a holistic
approach to understanding and overcoming anxiety. Doctor Jon Johnston, thank
(04:43):
you so much for being with us. Number one, How
does being raised by an alcoholic father throughout your formative
years and you your family, including you having to put
him in a facility a from the family, combined with
childhood sex abuse turn a beautiful young pair of sisters
(05:09):
like Jenny and Jody into patients in a facility to
fight eating disorders, life threatening eating disorders.
Speaker 8 (05:19):
Well, we know that trauma just carries from generation to generation,
and that's something that I think you know, not just
in terms of the diagnosis. So when we talk about
somebody who's raised by an alcoholic parent, it's not necessarily
that their sibling or their child is going to become alcoholic.
But what that does tell us is that the way
(05:41):
that people cope, the way these children learn to cope
with things can be similar. And so we look at
eating disorders, we look at addictions and those kinds of things.
There are a lot of similarities between them, and one
of them is a difficulty learning how to deal with
those feelings. And no one what to do with that trauma.
And if we don't develop those kinds of those coping mechanisms,
(06:01):
than that we develop ones that are not healthy, including
addiction and those kinds of things.
Speaker 6 (06:06):
And certainly, when we talk.
Speaker 8 (06:07):
About twins, I mean twins, I can't think of any
relationship that's closer than twins. So that would make sense
that not only do you have two twins who are
trying to navigate this together, but the relationship between the
two of them becomes very complicated.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
To try and fathom what Jody lived through as a child,
the demons that haunted her, Yet she was coming through,
she was becoming a huge success in her life.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Beloved, beautiful and young.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
How did this gorgeous young girl who had overcome the
battle of a life threatening eating disorder, the battle of
having her father put away due to extreme alcoholism, overcoming
having been less did as a little girl in the
third grade, Yet she was on a roll. How does
(07:06):
this beautiful woman end up alone in her car and
shot dead in a parking lot. Let's take a listen
again to that nine to one one call.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Okay, yeah, this is the giant food on your quote.
The black man want a work, sell you and hit
your drive away, has shot hard on your own playing
calls the.
Speaker 7 (07:30):
Dot booth floor one.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
She had several shots. Laurence give a female such a
get a car you land on Wilma family can't give you.
My family camping had said, shot okay, so because been shy,
I said shy at over one minute.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Joining me an all star panel to make sense of
what happened to Jody. We want answers tonight, as does
Jody's twin sister joining me Cheryl McCollum, founder and director
of the Cold Case Research Institute and her host of
a hit podcast, Zone seven. Cheryl. That night, Jody alone
(08:09):
in her car, approached by an unknown mail and shot
basically point blank.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Tell me what.
Speaker 9 (08:15):
Happened, Nancy. She pulls into this parking lot. She's by herself.
It's empty. It's about three o'clock in the morning. A
car pulls in, approaches her. A man gets out. She
rolls down the driver's window. They have some type of exchange.
He pulls a weapon. She starts to try to drive off.
He fires one shot. She then drives into the parking
(08:40):
area across the street, where she rolls to a stop
and by the time witnesses can get to her, she
has died.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It seems so random. In addition to Cheryl McCollum, forensics expert,
doctor Joni Johnson, and twin sister Jenny Careery, joining me
now Jeff Able, Baltimore reporter and anchor wb FF Fox
forty five. Jeff thank you so much for being with us.
(09:09):
Tell me about the area where this occurred.
Speaker 6 (09:12):
Well, the area was just right at the city county
line and this was right into Baltimore County. It's a
very middle class, very nice area. At Towson University, a
very well respected school, is nearby, and it is not
a place where you would go to find any number
of homicides.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Crime stories. With Nancy Grace.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
To Jinny Careery, this is Jody's twin sister. What did
police tell you happened the night your sister was killed?
Speaker 7 (09:51):
And at that time they were speaking with my father,
who was a state's attorney and another county who actually
prosecuted drug and violent I wasn't speaking with them because
I couldn't really function for a long time. But basically
that you know, they're doing all they can to figure
out what happened, and that they had the description they had,
(10:17):
They had a lot of evidence that it was an
African American male, stocky build. I think it was five
ten to twenty pounds, that there was video footage, there
was six witnesses, there was fingerprints. I mean, I don't
know if they knew all that. I mean, that was
just kind of all the stuff that they got from
(10:38):
early on. And you know, my father trusted them being
in the law enforcement, but I later on did not,
So that's a whole other story. But like I said,
my father was the one that was talking with the
detectives at the time and would give them updates, and
(11:02):
I think early on there was just different report There
was different theories they were looking into that it was
that it was a robbery drug deal gone bad. There
was no drugs in her system that it could have
they looked, and it was if it was somebody he prosecuted.
There was just different scenarios they were playing out. It
(11:26):
was just a very lot of strange things that happened
that night with her just being such a scared person.
Everything she did was really out of character.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
So just kind of right, what do you mean by
she was a scared person?
Speaker 7 (11:40):
She was really scared of everything, just had a lot
of we both did, had a lot of anxiety. I
mean she was scared of her closet. I mean she
she would not, she would not. I mean she was
scared of driving the snow. She was scared to be
out late at night. But she and her boyfriend had
gotten into a fight that morning and told her not
to come home, and why she didn't make arrangements to
(12:03):
go somewhere or do something. And she was asked to
drive the janitor home who had some sort of I
don't some sort of like disability. Yeah, yeah, and she
was asked to drive him home. And not that she
wouldn't do anything for anybody, but that was just another
thing that I thought.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Out on the road late at night was very uncharacteristic.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
Yes, yes, And to go sit in a dark parking
lot a minute from her house and have her window
rolled down, I mean.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
No, none of it makes any sense.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
A woman sitting in her own car, minding her own
business is shot dead by what we believe to be
an unknown assailant. We have a photo of the car.
Why can't we find the purp?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
What more do we know about that night?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Listen, Jody Lacorneo was able to get her car across
the street from the assailing in front of the Giant Supermarket,
to her surprise, the gunman follows Jody and parks directly
behind her car, waiting for her to come to a
complete stop.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
As Jody lcorn, who flees for her life, the gunman
follows close behind in a white BMW. Eyewitnesses at the
Giant Supermarket and another person making a delivery to Boston Market.
Here the gunshot and hear Jody driving across York Road
and into the Giant parking lot. She circles the parking
lot and coasts to a stop after hitting a curb
between the Boston Market and Firestone Tire and Service Center.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
To Cheryl McCollum joining me, director of Coldcase Research Institute
and star of his oone seven podcasts, Cheryl, I don't
find it that unusual at all. Yes, I know she
didn't like to drive at night, she didn't like driving
in the snow, she was afraid of her own closet.
All of this is because of childhood trauma. I'm not
a shrink, but I know that much an alcoholic dad
(13:49):
that you the child may feel responsible for putting in
a treatment in a rehab and then going through your
life being haunted by that and sex abuse in the
third grade.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
This woman on the outside had it all going.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
For her, absolutely beautiful, accomplished, educated.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
I know she.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Didn't like being alone out at night and would go
to great links not to do it. But this is
where she finds herself. After she goes with coworkers to
a tavern. Then a guy that had a developmental handicap
asked for a ride home. Okay, out of her kind nature,
she says sure, even though it's getting really late. Okay,
(14:36):
she's had an argument with her boyfriend. She doesn't want
to go back home, Cheryl, So she pulls off, and
she's sitting in a car, minding her own business, probably
wondering like, what am I going to do now? Should
I go home? Will we continue to argue? Will it
all have blown over? What should I do? When she
shot dead? So everyone not on this panel, of course,
(15:00):
seems to be attacking her for sitting.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
In her car by herself. I don't get it, Cheryl,
What does she do wrong?
Speaker 9 (15:06):
To your point, Nancy, in that parking lot are lights
and her.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Car was under one of them.
Speaker 9 (15:12):
So she was illuminated right across the street. There were
people unloading at the grocery store, so there were people around,
so maybe she didn't feel completely alone. It's not like
she was way far away in the dark somewhere. There
were people milling about. At least six that we know of.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
This lady, young girl or young woman, minding your own
business and she gets gunned down. If anybody is out
there that remembers anything, the number four one zero eight
eight seven three nine four three repeat four one zero
eight eight seven three nine four three. There is a
(15:51):
reward for information leading to the cracking of this case.
You know, Jeff abel joining US reporter, investigative reporter in
anchor for WBFF.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
You've poured through this case with a fine tooth comb, and.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I really resent a spursions being cast on Jody, who
was doing nothing wrong. She goes out with friends after work.
How many times after a really horrible day at the
District Attorney's office did a lot of my coworkers end
up at a place called Manual's Tavern. Everybody went there
and you would talk about your day or not, and
(16:29):
many of them would stay into the night.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
And yeah, a lot of them would.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Drink to deal with what they had been doing all
day long time moless stations or rapes, tortures, murders, you
name it.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
This girl minding her own business.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
You've got to tell me something, Jeff, What can you
tell me about this parking lot? And what I don't get?
Don't we have pictures of the vehicle? Shouldn't we be
able to track the person down through the tag.
Speaker 6 (16:54):
There were a lot of breakdowns that night when it
came to collecting information and evident and so it was
almost a perfect storm of failures that night when we
came to collecting evidence. There were indeed those six witnesses
that were there and heard or saw something, but none
of them could definitively give any information about the suspect.
(17:16):
His looks. You know, he's about six ' one and
about two two hundred and twenty pounds, but that's about it.
There were security cameras in the area, and not all
of them were working, especially the one that was in
the immediate area of this incident. It was broken that night.
The ones farther away were working, but as you know,
(17:36):
the quality of those cameras were not as defined as
they are today, so they provided some grainy pictures of
the crime scene. You couldn't even make out the license
plate number. It was also the weather conditions, as you
can see in some of the photos. It was a
very snowy, a very cold night, and that also inhibited
the visibility. So police had a lot going against them
(17:59):
and the evidence was just not there yet.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
You know the photos that we've got, Jeff, Abel have
the vehicle on now.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Her car is the white Honda.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
His car, the purpse car, is this white BMW, And
every photo I've got has the tag blurred out.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I can't see the tag. It's really hard for me
to believe that.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I can see the BMW insignia, but nobody can make
out the tag.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
That's total bs, Jeff.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
It's hard for everyone to believe when this happened. I
think most people thought, well, she was a student also
at Towson University, a very respected school in this area.
Her father was the state's attorney and an adjoining county
and very respected family, and everyone thought he's in law enforcement.
This thing will get solved in record time, but we
still have no resolution.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
This is Jodie's sister, her twin sister, Jenny Carey. Jenny
I don't understand why that tag number is blunt out,
and every photo we have, if I can make out
the BMW insignia, certainly we could at least make out
a partial.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Plate, right Nancy.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
As Jeff has been saying, I mean, it's just a
perfect storm of nothing done right. It was mishandled. We
weren't treated properly by the police. I mean I had
to get a lawsuit to get our records. I mean,
it was, it was. It was a whole another not
only grieving her death, but battling the police, which you
(19:28):
know ended up. I spent years becoming my own detective,
going out on the streets, finding people going into Baltimore,
like talking to a prisoner who I'm still talking to
now that one of the suspects, and you know, putting
up my own billboards. The main detective, thank god he's
not on the case anymore, was just such a scumbag.
Was you know, disrespectful and competent, lied to me, you know,
(19:52):
And when my parents they kept her car for a
short period of time, they found the fingerprinting kid in
the car. Like, I mean, everything was just sloppy from
day one. I would reach out to the detective to
ask him a question and he would like to text
me and like a hit on me. I was supposed
to do an interview on Baltimore and he was supposed
to show up. He wouldn't show up. And I'm putting
(20:13):
my heart in soul, you know, for years, you know,
taking myself away from my family, which my question for
her trying to find her killer broke up my family.
My husband and I got divorced, and I mean it
just destroyed my family. Thankfully, we have gotten back together
and trying to like work through everything. But the loved
(20:35):
one shouldn't have to try to solve the murder, you know.
I feel like that's the police job. You know, they're
the detective's job. And if they were doing their job
and then you know, us out on the streets here
wouldn't have to be doing all that we're doing, you know,
dying inside. I mean, it's literally like destroyed me. I
(20:55):
mean I remember in the midst of all of this
with this lawsuit, and I remember driving down a two
lane road and and being like, I just wish somebody
would hit me. It's too much. You know. Part of
the battle would be, you know, having the police on
your side, which just which never was the case, and
that was just it was just it was. It's been very,
very difficult. Thankfully we have a new detective on the
(21:17):
case since COVID that's been really a great person and
trying to help. And for so many years, I've felt
like they're incompetent, They're hiding things. They wouldn't want to
show us anything. They wouldn't let us have the autopsy,
I mean nothing, They didn't want to give us any information.
I never even saw crime scene photos till they put
them in People magazine, Like it's just the way they've
(21:39):
handled everything has just been so bizarre. I maybe, I
mean you've seen more than me the cases. I don't know,
is this a normal way? And the fact that nothing
ever works out that you know, the cameras were down,
they can't see the video, you know, the Baltimore because
she died on the line. Baltimore City, who has a
lot more, has a lot more manpower to help with
(22:00):
the case, and they're like, no, butt out joining me.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Doctor Michelle Dupree, renowned forensic pathologist, medical examiner, former detective,
and author of multiple books, including Money, Mischief and Murdered
The Murdoch Dynasty the rest of the story, and for
my purposes, my favorite book of hers is The Homicide
Investigation Field Guide, Doctor dupre thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Doctor.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Could you explain what Jody Lacorne went through in her
last moments. Her spine was shattered, yet she was still
alive when EMT's got there. It was not a quick death.
Speaker 10 (22:44):
No, Nancy, this would have been horrifying. I'm sure she
was terrified. She'd be very scared. She would feel basically
her body disengaging. She would be again very very scared,
and it would be it would be a terrible death.
I want to say the two things that one is,
I don't know that this is necessarily random. I think
(23:04):
that's a little bit of tunnel vision to think that
it is. And secondly, so many advances have been made
with evidence in the last twenty five twenty eight years.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
I hope all.
Speaker 10 (23:13):
Of this evidence is being rerun through the system again.
Maybe there will be some clues coming out of that.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Now, this beautiful young twin Jody locorneo and joining me
now is her twin sister, Jenny Carreri. One twin sister
was murdered the other twin. The remaining twin is leading
a battle for justice to catch a killer. So, Jenny,
(23:43):
no one has ever explained to you why I keep
looking at that car and the tag is blocked out.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
That is vital information. I mean, think about it, Jenny.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
And just the recent months, we've seen the Brian Coburger
case where a white Lantra was spotted zooming away from
the area by chance by a worker at a convenience
store who comed through hours and hours and hours of
video until she found the Elantra, and then lo and
(24:16):
behold that a Launchra was spotted near the crime scene
where four beautiful University Idaho students were murdered in their
own beds.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Not just that we all know the name.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Gabby Petito, it was a pair of citizen sleuths that
had heard about Gabby's white for transit that she herself
remodeled to become a rolling RV, And if it had
not been for that vehicle being identified, we would never
(24:47):
have known that her fiance, Brian Laundry, murdered her, leaving
her body to decompose out in dispersed camping where very
few people ventured. It goes on and on and on,
there's Michelle Parker, the so called People's Court Mom, her
(25:08):
unique vehicle where she had written this on the side
on the glass she had an ad for her business.
If that had not been released, we would never have
known anything about her case.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yet we don't have the tag number. Really, I find
that very hard to believe.
Speaker 7 (25:32):
I mean, really, everything that they've done I've found hard
to believe. I mean I've I've found out a lot
of stuff in my own detective work that I've had
to share with them that they didn't even know. So
it baffles me, Nancy. I don't know. I don't know why,
(25:52):
you know, with all the pressure that they've had on
them from the beginning, you know, like Jeff saying, with
my dad being in with the state's attorney, I mean,
I didn't expect, you know, the best, I mean, you know,
better treatment, but at least, you know, the normal treatment
with her case. But ut cases solved when they find
like a dirt you know, or rock, you know, something crazy,
(26:16):
and that just was all the evidence. You know, I
had to like beg them and beg them and beg
them to do and show or remember this the MVAC
to do like the DNA testing. It's like they never
wanted to do anything. Like if I just had ignored
them that.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
I mean, they would tell me.
Speaker 7 (26:30):
They told me her case was, Yeah, her case was
sitting in a closet collecting dust. That's what they would
tell me.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
You know, interesting about what you're saying, Cheryl McCollum has
a theory. Cheryl and I are both coming from law
enforcement perspectives. Cheryl McCollum, you've got your own unique theory
and it ain't half bad, Cheryl, About why that tag's
blocked out.
Speaker 9 (26:53):
Tag is blocked out. You've got six witnesses, they won't reinterview.
You've got the family not using you know, having to
sue them. The law enforcement won't use the media. The
phone calls. They're going to tell the family two of
the phone calls, but not all the phone calls. To me, Nancy,
when you've got the same detective for twenty five years
(27:14):
that won't move on anything. It feels like to me
that this perpetrator is a confidential informant. They're protecting Sean McCollum.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
When you say, see I confidential informant, explain to those
that are not in law enforcement what that means.
Speaker 9 (27:30):
Oftentimes, if you arrest someone and let's say they're a
low level drug dealer, they may and give you the
bigger fish, so to speak. So who are you getting
this product from? Who's running this organized crime? So what
you try to do is arrest up, you go to
the next biggest person. So you make a deal. Hey,
I'm going to cut you loose. I'm going to leave
you on the street so you can keep feeding me
(27:52):
information of who's doing bigger and better crimes out there.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Straight out to Jeff Abel, investigative reporter and anchor. You
be f F Fox forty five there in Maryland. Jeff,
thank you for being with us. What does the PD
have to say about this?
Speaker 6 (28:08):
Well, for their part, you know, this case has become
the largest cold case in Baltimore County history. You go
to the police department and there are boxes stacked to
the ceiling of evidence that are sitting there, and they
insist they have interviewed and they insist they've reinterviewed all
of the witnesses and more recently, they did perform some
(28:29):
DNA tests on some DNA on the victim's clothes, but
none of it has proven to be conclusive, and so
you talk to them and they say they are they
are doing all they can. There have been differing levels
of dedication, it seems to this case over the years,
because every three, four or five years we get a
(28:49):
new police chief and a new round of dedication or
lack of dedication towards the case. But the current administration
seems to be a lot more dedicated to trying to
get this cleared. But we'll see.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Is there a new detective on the case? Shift?
Speaker 6 (29:05):
There is a new detective.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yes, it's Josh Battalia. Correct, that's correct, straight out to
Cheryl McCollum, joining US forensics expert and law enforcement. At
least they've cared enough to put a new detective on
the case. But Cheryl, with six witnesses a shot of
the getaway car, you've got ballistics. You've got to have
(29:29):
the bullet. I assumed the bullet was recovered, Jeff, Is
that correct? Oh?
Speaker 6 (29:33):
Yes, it was.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I mean, good gravy, Cheryl McCollum, We've got to put
that through the.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Database and see if that bullet matches up. I mean,
what is going on? What is happening within the Baltimore PD.
They need a fire under their backside.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
They have got to let the family know those phone
calls who they were too.
Speaker 11 (29:56):
Means if something were to happen to me. And the
detective said, well, the last person she called with a
defense attorney. Why would she call her defense attorney? Was
she in some trouble? You would be able to tell them.
Thanks for name Rafell, They're friends. It wasn't her calling
the defense attorney. They got to talk to Jenny. They
got to come clean with everything they've got and let
her walk them through the victimology.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, it just takes one tip.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Now we know this guy reached into her car and
took something out as she sat there dying. Doctor Michelle Duprey,
you cannot convince me that she did not see him
reach in her car and take something.
Speaker 10 (30:48):
Nancy. I believe she did, and she probably would have
been able to identify who he was. Again, I don't
think this was random at all.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
The more I think about it, the more I agree
with you. Jennifer Jenny Career joining us Jody's twin sister, Jenny,
what have you? First of all, how did your search
for the killer break up your marriage?
Speaker 7 (31:10):
Because it became the only thing that I was focused
on was day and night. I spent I don't know
how many years just doing interviews to go, you know,
going out finding people. You know, I'd find out, you know,
(31:31):
some of the people that they had, persons of interest.
I'd go find their family members. I'd drive places. I
did tons of interviews and shows, and I just didn't
care about I just didn't care about anything else. I
just wanted to find her killer. And I mean, I
remember one time I was preparing for a show and
I was I was pulling out all the pictures of
(31:52):
Jody and I and my my daughter, she was a
little girl at the time, and she came up to
me and she brought her baby book and sat next
to me and said, Mommy, look at my pictures. And
it just it tore my heart out, like you know,
here I am like, I'm so I've been so focused
on Jody's killer, and she just wanted me to, you know,
(32:15):
because I was just consumed by it, you know, and
she wanted me to, you know, look at her pictures instead.
I just was always focused on Jody and who's the
next person I do the do the interview with, and
you know, and you know, my husband and I had
other problems, like in every marriage, but this just was,
you know, and he he was supportive, but it got
(32:36):
to the point it took over everything, and I already
I really like I lost my mind, honestly, and I
you know he would not.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Don't lose your mind. I hear what you're saying, Cheryl.
When you and I first met, when I.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Was prosecuting same thing, it was still so fresh with
me my fiance's murder. All I could think about was
putting the next bad guy in in jail. I didn't
care who you were, what you were saying to me,
nothing mattered. I didn't want a car, I didn't want jewelry.
I didn't want a boyfriend. I wanted nothing, friends, nothing.
(33:13):
All I wanted was to solve the next case. And
you can't talk to anybody like that. They have to
come out of it themselves. Cheryl, do you remember those days?
Speaker 9 (33:22):
I remember those days so clear, Nancy. I can remember
you would have success after success after success. You never
wanted to celebrate. You would come to Manuels, you would
have dinner, and you would go home to start prepping
the next case. While everybody else will celebrate in your
victory in court.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I can't really explain it. I understand what Jinny is saying.
One marriage nearly destroyed, She's gotten another chance at that marriage,
But now can we give her a chance to find
her twin sisters killer. There was a thirty two thousand
dollars reward to help solve the case of the murder
(34:01):
of Jody Lacorno to her twin sister, Jenny Careery, Jenny,
have you been speaking with a person of interest?
Speaker 7 (34:10):
Yes, he's been there.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
What's happening?
Speaker 7 (34:14):
So he's been their number one suspect And I actually
started communicating with him years ago. I said to the
detective that I want the previous detective who's no longer there.
I said I would like to meet with him, and
he said, well, why would he want to talk to you?
And so I started to write letters to him, and
I opened up a Peo box and just started communicating
(34:36):
with him. And it was nothing, you know, it was
just all this him writing about just nothing, you know.
It was basically just me like trying to get to him.
He's writing about his days in prison. He did know
who I was, and religion and this and that. And
so my husband found out about it, so I had
to cut that out. He was very upset about that.
(34:57):
I had sent a picture of myself to him, and
he's always he's been in prison for trying to kill
another girl. So he's been in he's getting out. Actually,
November twenty second, I just got a call. I'm on
this vine. I don't know if you're familiar with this
sort of thing where they let you know. So they
called me today and I knew he was getting out,
but I actually met with him about a month ago
(35:20):
and was with him for like three hours, and he
I one hundred percent believe I believe that it's him.
And you know he's failed the light detector to night.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Why do you believe it's him? And how did he
kill the other girl?
Speaker 7 (35:37):
He he tried to stabber to death. They were high
on drugs, she was a stripper. He's had, he has
his DNA on another murder that they haven't dealt with.
He's he's had, he has a record. Jeff and I
were looking at it yesterday. He'll probably remember better than me,
but he has a long history of who you know
is married and he said he was with her the
night Jodie was killed, but she came back and said
(35:58):
she wasn't with him. He failed a light detor test, so.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
He lied about an alibi. Does he know your Jodie's sister?
Speaker 7 (36:05):
Yes, yes, because I met with him.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
What about him makes you think he's the killer?
Speaker 7 (36:12):
I mean, I think because there's so many things that
point to him that it is him. And I mean
he told a prostitute that he killed her. A prostitute
was brought in off the streets, and they never followed through,
they never did anything. They said a prostitutes word is
(36:33):
worthless in court as what they told me.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
So let me understand this.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
You know, if I had to have put every witness
on the stand that was a nun, a priest, or virgin,
I wouldn't have I would never have won a case.
Who do you think somebody like him hangs out with
mother Teresa? No, a prostitute, So right, it's a criminal element.
So who told you you can't take the word of
(36:58):
a prostitute because I have found them to be very
reliable witnesses.
Speaker 7 (37:01):
The detective, the original detective, And when.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
I have you shared this information with the new detective Battalia.
Speaker 7 (37:12):
We've talked about the prostitute. I don't know if I've
told him all this stuff. I mean, he's he's aware
about the prostitute. Yeah, I don't know that he that
I told him all the conversations I had with the
previous detective. But when I met with the suspect in prison,
you know, we met. It was arranged for me to
meet him, and it was all recorded, and I said
(37:34):
to him, I said, did you kill Jody? And he said,
if I admit to that, I will never get out
of here.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Well, you've got this on a recording. Yes? Have you
given the recorded to Baltimore PD?
Speaker 7 (37:46):
They have it? They have it?
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Okay, jeff Abel, what do I have to do? Put?
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Okay, dynamite under the Baltimore PDS rear.
Speaker 6 (37:55):
And how much dynamite do you have?
Speaker 7 (38:00):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (38:00):
I can get quite a bit if I have to.
I asked my husband for a flamethrower for Christmas. I
don't know if that's going to happen. But how can
they stand by with evidence that the twin hasn't asked?
Speaker 6 (38:13):
This is rather new evidence. I don't know if they've
actually I know they haven't moved on it yet, but
I know they do have it, and it is probably
in their hands as if the past three or four weeks.
I understand there might be some kind of deal they
possibly are getting together to offer the suspect or the
(38:34):
person of interest if he will just come forward with
the information, But so far there's been nothing that I'm
aware of.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Jenny, let me throw an idea at you. Would you
agree to a deal where he would serve time hard
time running concurrent or at the same time as his
other offenses if he admitted to Jody's death, or do
(39:06):
you hold out for more jail time?
Speaker 7 (39:10):
Would I just want to have answers I would do.
I would be okay with the time served, absolutely, And
I know some people wouldn't agree with that, but that's
just for me, just because.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Can I give you a very important legal phrase, screw
them and the horse they rode in on. This is
your business, not theirs. If you want answers, then God willing,
you will get them.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
If you know or.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Think you know anything about the murder of this beautiful
young twin, Jody L. Corney, please dial the new detective
at four to one zero eight.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Eight seven, three nine four three. There is a light.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
At the end of this dark tunnel. Nancy Grace signing
off goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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