Episode 273

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Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

This would have had to be in a pretty bloody scene.

The body had like

close to 40-some stab wounds, and so somebody to see all that would be probably a lot to take in.

Oh boy, we got a doozy for you today.

I think you're gonna like it.

It's gonna feel like the old days.

This is episode 273 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real.

I hate to be that guy, but we do have mouths to feed around here.

We're not state-sponsored like that communist NPR.

So check out our store: store at swordandscale.com.

This fall, let your home smell as good as it looks.

Pura's app-controlled diffusers bring you premium scents from brands like Nest New York, Capri Blue, and Anthropology.

From Spice Pumpkin to Whitewoods, your fall favorites are just a tap away.

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Visit Pura.com and bring home the best scents of the season.

About 30 miles south of downtown Chicago is the birthplace of Michael Jackson, Gary, Indiana.

Nicknamed the Magic City for its technological advancements in the 1960s, Gary is mostly known for being the most significant contributor of steel manufacturing in the United States.

The city's main steel mill, named Gary Works, is the largest steel manufacturing plant in the country.

At its peak, the city had more than 200,000 people living there.

Since the 1960s, though, Gary has seen a steep population decline.

What was once a bustling city brimming with innovation has largely become a place of abandonment and rural decay, much like a lot of cities throughout the U.S.

especially in the last four years.

It has since been dubbed the most miserable city in America.

But plenty of people still live in Gary, Indiana.

Many people call it home.

The population currently sits at about 70,000.

Back in the late spring of 2014, the year that Swordenscale started, I might add, there was a young woman living in Gary who was excited to share some big news.

with her family.

This young lady told her mother, father, and two older sisters that she was pregnant with twins.

Well, our sisters, I'm the oldest.

Next thing you know, you know, she tells me that she's had twins.

In 2014, 36-year-old Geraldine Jones worked as a census surveyor in Gary, Indiana.

She had grown up up in a tight-knit Christian family and seemed thrilled to tell her two older sisters, April and Tamiko, that she was pregnant with twins.

Sadly, that exciting announcement was followed up with some tragic news.

A few months later, Geraldine told her sisters that one of her babies had died.

After Geraldine broke the news about the loss of one of her babies, she seemed to fall into a deep depression.

Then came the day that Geraldine was supposed to give birth to her surviving baby.

That morning I heard from her, and then I didn't, that Monday, I didn't hear from her no more.

So

I called my sister because I'm thinking, like, okay, well, you know, you know, I called April.

April was like, well,

she was leaving work trying to get to the hospital.

But the thing is, she didn't tell us what hospital she was ever at.

So by this time, I had left work, you know, my dad is here, his wife is here, my sister is there.

So we're all trying to ride around trying to figure out what hospital we might find her at.

We called up to North Lake, we went out to South Lake because we were already in that area.

And we went over to Holberg the Hospital, and they had no whereabouts of her.

Geraldine's family and friends frantically tried to find out what hospital Geraldine had gone to,

but they never could.

Geraldine was missing.

Did she ever tell you who the baby daddy was?

Yeah, we knew who we thought it was.

Randy Garrett.

Randy Garrett.

For much of her life, Geraldine was unlucky in love.

But in March of 2014, her luck seemed to change when she met a young man named Randy Garrett.

My first time meeting Randy was last year, or my sister April was getting married, and that was my first time meeting him when

he came to the wedding with my sister.

But that was my first time.

As far as Tamiko and April could tell, Randy seemed like a good, respectable guy.

And Geraldine was clearly all in on her relationship with him.

Unfortunately, after only a few months of dating, Randy broke things off with Geraldine.

Started out, you told me you met her back around

March of end of March last year.

2014.

2014.

Okay.

We were dating, but I started finding out more things about um she was kind of being dishonest about some things which kind of turned turned me off.

So things like that just kept adding up and not not jiving so kind of cut it off.

Okay.

Randy ended the relationship but he couldn't completely walk away from Geraldine.

A few weeks after the breakup with her, Randy was told that Geraldine was pregnant with twins and that he

was the father.

How soon after that did she say she was pregnant?

She called me like at the end of June of that year and told me she was

pregnant.

So that's about three months after you met her.

After learning that he was going to be a dad, Randy naturally committed himself to the role.

Even though he had no plans of continuing a romantic relationship with Geraldine,

he decided that he was going to be a responsible dad.

And good for him.

We need a lot more of that.

A few months after she told everyone about the pregnancy, her sister and friends threw a baby shower for Geraldine, and Randy attended.

So I actually went.

It was actually a nice shower.

It was a nice shower.

I think her friends put it on for her.

They had it all decorated and she had signs, Garrett's girls.

I saw that, I'm like, wow.

This extravagant baby shower was fun.

It was a happy time for everyone involved.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last.

A few months later, Geraldine told her sisters and Randy that one of her babies had died.

Geraldine slipped into a deep depression, and when the day came for Geraldine to give birth to the surviving baby, nobody could find her.

All you have to do is, I even went to the hotel.

Someone's like, I don't know what's going on.

Is she okay?

You know, she goes, I don't know.

I don't know.

I left work early, so it was a big mess the day that we thought that she was going into half or had lost the baby.

We never did find her.

36-year-old Geraldine Jones was missing, and her two sisters, Tamiko and April, were very concerned.

Meanwhile, about 200 miles south of Geraldine's home, there was another woman who was having problems of her own.

911, where's your emergency?

10 West Clare Street, Anderson, Indiana.

What's going on there?

I got some random text message from my girlfriend.

It kind of came off as suicidal.

I was just wondering if he'd send someone out there to check on it.

Are you not in town?

No, I'm not.

I'm in Nobleville.

All right, what's your name?

Sylva.

Her name's Samantha Fleming.

Samantha Fleming.

Yes.

And what's she say in the text?

Something about she was tired of all this shit.

She just didn't want to deal with it anymore.

She was talking about her mother.

Her mother just came over.

It was just kind of totally random.

Never been suicidal before, but I prefer to be safe.

In 2015, 23-year-old Samantha Fleming was living in an apartment with her boyfriend in Anderson, Indiana.

In March of that year, Samantha gave birth to a baby girl that she named Serenity.

About a month later, April 6th, 2015, Samantha's boyfriend went to the Anderson Police Department and reported that Samantha and Serenity were missing.

It's my understanding that you reported to the police that your girlfriend was missing.

Your current girlfriend was missing.

Yes.

Okay.

And her name is Samantha?

Samantha Farm, yes.

Describe her to me.

How old is she?

She's 23.

23?

July 18th,

1993, I believe.

Samantha and her boyfriend, Rainey Stanley, had only dated for less than a year, and Rainey wasn't the father of Samantha's newborn baby girl.

The couple met online just a few weeks after Samantha learned that she was pregnant.

They quickly became close, though, and moved into an apartment together.

After the birth of Serenity, Rainey planned to formally adopt the child.

How old have you and Samantha been living together?

Probably about eight months now.

Okay, how long have you known her?

I knew her probably for about

well, we talked for about a month prior.

So, what do you mean you talked?

We talked on an online chat app.

Okay, so is that how you met her?

Yeah, that's how I met her.

Okay, and then did you and her have a child?

No, we do not.

Okay, did she just have a child?

She did.

Okay.

And

when does she have a child?

The 24th of March.

And

what's this child's name?

Serenity.

Serenity Flani.

Samantha and her baby girl were reported missing.

Unfortunately, since Samantha was an adult and presumably with her child, an Amber alert could not be sent out.

Just didn't fit.

Samantha's mom began handing out flyers asking everyone and anyone to help her find Samantha.

On those flyers, she wrote the following.

According to her boyfriend, Samantha and Serenity disappeared from their home in Anderson, Indiana on Monday 6th, around 12.50 p.m.

Samantha left with only a few diapers, one sleeper, and some formula.

Nobody has had any contact with Samantha.

Her wallet was found near Fifth Street in Gary, Indiana.

We suspect foul play.

Eventually, the local media picked up on this story and began reporting about the disappearance of Samantha and her baby.

Tonight on the night meet, Anderson's police are searching for a missing mother and her infant.

Samantha and Serenity Fleming were last seen Monday morning.

23-year-old Samantha Fleming and her newborn Serenity were reported missing by her boyfriend earlier this month.

Two Indiana women, Geraldine Jones and Samantha Fleming, went missing.

They live nearly 200 miles apart and seemed to have no connection to each other at all.

The only similarity they shared was that Geraldine was expecting a baby and Samantha just had a baby.

Weird.

For Indiana investigators, this was a baffling case that only became more bizarre and troubling as the events unfolded.

As the police worked to make sense of things, so too did Geraldine's sisters.

Ultimately, their paths converged.

On the same day, and at about the same time, Geraldine's sisters and police investigators came upon a horrific scene.

Together,

they came upon the aftermath of a brutal and senseless

murder.

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Pura's app-controlled diffusers bring you premium scents from brands like Nest New York, Capri Blue, and Anthropology.

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In April of 2015, 23-year-old Samantha Fleming and her three-week-old daughter Serenity were reported missing.

by Samantha's boyfriend, Rainey Stanley.

Samantha and Rainey lived together in an apartment in Anderson, Indiana.

According to Rainey, on the last day that Samantha went missing, a mysterious woman came to his apartment, claiming to be a case manager for Child Protective Services, which is also known as CPS.

If you've paid attention to any episode in the last 10 years.

So when did she disappear Monday?

About 12.50.

So this past Monday?

Yep.

What did she do?

I mean, how did she leave?

Whatever A caseworker came to my house.

I opened the door.

She identified herself as a case manager.

She was here to do a surprise visit.

She looks, she's dressed business-like.

And

she

let herself in.

I didn't give her consent to walk into my house.

She takes it upon herself to sit down at my table.

What's her name?

Didn't get her name.

She just said she was a case manager with DCS.

I told her Samantha was sleeping.

She told me I needed to wake her up.

Well, I ended up going to wake up Samantha.

Samantha gets up, and then she went on to mention that the same man at the court gave me.

Samantha didn't hear the baby.

Rainey explained to investigators that Serenity wasn't Samantha's only child.

Samantha also had a son named Stephen.

Before meeting and ultimately living with Rainey, Samantha had dated a different man.

Allegedly, that relationship was abusive.

Supposedly, he held her, her friend, and the baby Seaman hostage in his house and wouldn't let him go.

Supposedly, he beat her.

I guess

he'd done it a couple of times, and the cops had been called out.

That time, he was what it called criminal confinement, was charged with criminal confinement for holding her hostage, wouldn't let her leave.

After several domestic incidents, a court ruled that Samantha and her ex were unfit parents.

So, Samantha's son was placed into foster care.

That ruling left Samantha completely devastated.

She knew that she was and could continue to be a good mother, in her mind.

So, she broke up with her boyfriend, moved out of their apartment, and began doing everything she could to regain custody of her son.

And she has one child in foster care.

Yes, because she has to meet certain

Given Samantha's child custody situation, it wasn't unusual for case managers from Child Protective Services to just randomly show up at Samantha's home.

So, Rainey claimed that he didn't find it strange or suspicious that this woman showed up at his door asking to see Samantha.

Supposedly, this woman told Samantha that there was a scheduling mix-up and that Samantha was due in court later that day.

She explained that a hearing was going to be held about her son.

In fact, a judge could rule that Samantha's son should be released from foster care and could go home with Samantha on that very day.

Big news.

She starts getting everything ready.

I help her clean out a bottle.

So she has a couple of bottles to take with her.

She gets the word back.

She was getting ready to go with her because this lady told her she has a court at 3 o'clock in Gary, Indiana.

She get brought.

Didn't ask what her name was?

She was taking your girlfriend?

I didn't think to ask her.

DCS comes around all the time.

It's kind of normal.

They're allowed to take her places.

I don't think much of it until I got outside.

And what's funny is this lady came in, too, holding a folder of paperwork.

So she was acting like,

you know, she had these papers for a reason.

It's something to do with some methods.

So she was trying to look professional and she did a decent job of it.

She She knew more than most people think someone else would know.

But she's talking.

Do you think she's been legitimate?

She sounds like it.

She knows a lot about the case.

I mean, my understanding is that they won't release that information to just anybody.

She knew about Steven.

According to Rainey, this CPS worker knew a lot about Samantha and her case.

She seemed completely legitimate and suggested that Samantha should bring her baby daughter to the court hearing.

And then she said something about, did you have to take the child with you?

Yeah, she told her she had to take the child.

It looked good for the judge.

Rainy explained that Samantha was excited about the prospect of getting her son back, so he helped to pack a baby bag.

A few moments later, Samantha, Serenity, and this mysterious CPS worker, whoever she was, walked out the door.

Rainy followed them outside, and it was only after he saw the caseworker's car that he started to think something about this situation just didn't feel right.

The car was a white Ford sedan, which wasn't unusual for a caseworker to drive, but Rainey noticed that the tag on her license plate was expired.

Now that's odd.

Rainey claimed that he didn't say anything about the tag, but he took a mental note of it and later wrote down the license plate number.

but we got the information but we've already been to the person's house and everything this plate the plate number you gave us for Indiana

in 2000 because you said it was expired right

was expired and that car has been there it's white people

they said they didn't even renew the plate the plates that's still on the car well they still have the plate They just didn't renew it.

They liked it because it's white centers, so they kept the plate.

And the lady talked to both parties and said, I i wonder if i didn't get the plate number wrong you could have when the police followed up on that license plate number the one that rainy gave them it led them to a middle-aged couple who clearly had no involvement with samantha fleming at all essentially rainy sent the cops on a wild goose chase which called his story into question

still

The police knew that Rainey was telling the truth about the CPS worker because Samantha and Rainey's neighbor also saw the woman.

In fact, this neighbor led her into the apartment building.

She said she was from CPS and I showed her upstairs.

She had a paperwork, like, you know, a folder, a briefcase, stuff like that.

She was dressed professionally.

She looked, you know, like somebody who worked for CPS or something.

The police also determined that whoever this woman was, She did not work for Child Protective Services.

The CPS office in Anderson confirmed that there were no court hearings or home visitations scheduled for Samantha Fleming.

One theory that investigators entertained was that this whole thing might have been orchestrated by Samantha.

Maybe she arranged to have this fake government worker show up at the apartment so she and her baby could leave and escape another abusive relationship.

But Rainey didn't come off as the abusive type, and he seemed to genuinely care about Samantha.

The only thing that's off was the suicidal thing.

And like she said, she just needed to vent.

I called 901 about it,

and then I canceled the call.

Samantha Fleming went missing on April 6th, 2015.

And by April 16th, there was still no sign of her and no news about who the fake CPS worker was.

Meanwhile, back in Gary, Indiana, the family of Geraldine Jones was finally able to find and make contact with Geraldine.

Both of her sisters had frantically tried to find Geraldine on the day she was supposed to give birth, but they could never find out which hospital she went to.

After that point,

two weeks later,

at this point, she wasn't talking to us anymore.

She had gotten, I guess, pissed off, which I didn't understand.

You know, you know, I think it was weird that we were concerned about somebody having a baby.

When Geraldine first announced that she was pregnant, she told her family that she was going to be having twins.

Later, she told her family that one of her babies had died somehow in her womb.

The other one's fine, but this one's dead.

How does that work?

And that nobody seemed to care that she lost one of her children.

Woe is me.

Oh my God, you'll never believe how hard it is to be a mother, especially if they're currently.

She wasn't talking to us.

So all of a sudden, then, you know, she sent out a bad text message to me.

It was a group text that involves my sister, my dad, mom, me.

And she said she didn't mean it.

But I called her and told her, I said, well, you know, I said, you sent out that message.

I said, but, you know, everybody was acting out of being concerned.

You know, I told her, I said, you know, that's not a message you send to people that's concerned about you.

I said, you know, people only act out of being concerned, especially if it's a family member and you're having a baby.

Right.

Geraldine made amends with her two older sisters, both of whom were eager to meet their new niece.

They wanted to see Geraldine's new baby girl.

A couple days later, I decided, I said, you know what?

You know, I called and told her, I said, well, before I go for work, I said, I want to come see the baby.

So, you know, I went by there, me and my daughters, we go by there.

And

so, do you know about when the first time you saw the baby was?

That Monday.

Tamiko visited Geraldine's home and met with the baby.

A few days later, Geraldine's older sister, April, did the same.

She finally decided you want to talk, so she came to my job with Bella.

I'm with baby, and I wasn't there, not at all.

So I told Toya to tell her, I was just at her house.

I told Toya to tell her, I'll be home in about an hour.

So come out of the house.

So she came out of my house.

My apartment, where I live at.

She came out of my apartment and brought Bella.

We talked and she apologized for acted crazy.

She came by, you saw the baby, you played with the baby, whatever.

So after that,

we talked every day after that.

Geraldine reconnected with her family.

Her sisters, April and Tamiko, were thrilled to meet their new niece.

In a perfect world, this would have been a happy occasion, but this certainly wasn't a perfect world.

April and Tamiko noticed that Geraldine wasn't acting like herself.

She was distant and strange.

Something was clearly bothering her.

There was also another and much bigger problem.

The baby that Geraldine introduced to her family didn't belong to her.

In case you haven't figured it out, that baby belonged to Samantha Fleming.

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In the late spring of 2015, 36-year-old Geraldine Jones told her family that she had given birth to a new baby girl.

Geraldine named the baby Bella and introduced Bella to her older sisters, April and Tamiko.

After they met the baby, Geraldine did something strange.

She left Bella with her sister April and flew to Texas

okay how long ago did she leave in Texas she left in Texas that's right what kind of was she leave back in Texas she was just telling me that she's like maybe depressed

and

I'm trying to find consultants and well you know what I said people go through stuff like this all the time I said so and I said first

I think like you know when you lose a baby maybe you go through some postpartum or something or you know Geraldine told her family that she was severely depressed and she wanted to be with her mom who was living in Texas.

So she left her home of Gary, Indiana, without her baby and flew to her mom's house.

Once there,

Geraldine tried to kill herself by taking an overdose of sleeping pills.

Thankfully, her mom was home at the time.

She found Geraldine and was able to call for help before the worst happened.

Anything else y'all need to add?

She ever said anything about wanting to hurt herself or kill herself or anything like that?

The thing I had been sick and I just wasn't able to get there.

So I really don't know everything.

And when she lost the baby, she didn't, she wouldn't contact anybody.

Yeah.

Not even no family member there.

So I can understand that too.

After this failed suicide attempt, Geraldine was committed to a mental hospital in Texas.

Her mom assumed that the loss of one of her babies and perhaps the postpartum depression that came with the living baby had caused Geraldine to do what she did.

Meanwhile, back in Indiana, Geraldine's two sisters were starting to realize that this whole situation was a little weird, right?

When she left, did you guys feel like something was

I mean, not that, but did you guys, was you guys still like thinking, man, something's just wrong here?

Like, this ain't all.

I didn't think nothing was wrong, but I just, I was kind of upset because I was thinking that, you know, my thing was she had just had a baby and then she didn't tip off to Texas.

And I said, well, who leaves a new baby?

That's my, that wasn't meant.

My main thing was, I was upset that she had left the baby.

Right.

I just thought maybe, you know, like people, some women go to postpartum, I thought maybe that was it.

Geraldine's oldest sister, Tamiko, was mostly able to chalk things up to postpartum depression.

But Geraldine's other sister, April, wasn't satisfied with that.

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

In an effort to hopefully make sense of things, April decided to go to Geraldine's house in Indiana.

And so then you went to Geraldine's house?

Yeah.

Okay.

What were you going there for exactly?

Just get some asses, talk to them what's going on.

Okay.

And then Tamiko showed up.

She kind of said this, and she wasn't saying nothing about it, but she said, April's the one that'll dig for information.

I'm the one that just kind of stands by and leave it alone.

This was after you guys had received a call that Geraldine tried to commit suicide.

That's what I was saying.

That's what prompted all that.

That's what prompted it because I felt like something must have happened.

And something had to happen where she felt like no point of return.

So I need to figure out what I'm getting myself into when I go to text.

I don't know what's going on.

That was my thing.

April arrived at Geraldine's house and she brought along the new baby.

A short while later, Tamiko showed up there as well.

As soon as they walked in the house, they knew something was wrong.

They found empty bleach bottles scattered on the floor and there was an unexplainable eeriness about the place.

Everything just felt off.

But she was just saying it was just things that were there that just didn't really

on the table, you know, on the couch, I was looking.

So she, you know, she shows me the bucket.

And yeah, it was bleach and money and stuff in there.

And as far as the kitchen, anything, I don't, you know, I just went in and washed a bottle and I set that bottle on the counter.

But

and I

know it didn't smell right.

Had I known that it might have been something in there, I got my ass out of it.

For April and Tomiko, perhaps the most unsettling thing about Geraldine's house was the smell.

A rank scent of rotting flesh mixed with pungent chemicals and bleach filled the house.

And then like when I came in there and I was sitting there, I mean, you know, like, you know, when the garbage used to be taken out, and it didn't, it didn't really smell like garbage.

It smelled like something else.

I said, it's like I had to smell like something dead there.

And she said, she said, that's what it smells like.

She just smelled like something.

And it did.

Yeah.

Okay, other than the weird smell, was there anything out in the house that you observed?

Well, my sister's, no, and once you pointed out, when I looked down at the table, it was about a bleach

bottle and the big cup and all the other stuff in there.

It's kind of like the first reaction when you walk in.

Why did you think that?

What made you think that?

It's just about just little things.

Like what?

I mean, you tell it.

Whatever you notice.

Like, your sister noticed stuff.

It's just the smell.

First of all, it didn't smell right, Janine.

Like, oh, I don't know what bodies smell like, but it smells human.

April and Tomiko spent some time looking around the house, but they never could locate the source of the awful smell.

A short while later, April left while Tomiko remained at Geraldine's house with the baby.

Where did she say she was going?

April went to go wire my nephew some money because he was coming this way.

He lives in Chicago, so he was just coming home.

As Tamika waited in Geraldine's house, she looked out a window and noticed that a black car was slowly and repeatedly driving by the home.

It seemed like the driver was lost in trying to find Geraldine's address.

She was sitting there with the baby?

Yeah, she sat on the cash with the baby.

And first time when I was sitting there, I saw the black car drive past, and I just thought, maybe it's looking for somebody else, you know.

But then when I saw him come back again, and he had the police officers, then I saw him walking, I said, I said, yeah, it looks like maybe they come here.

It turned out that the black car belonged to the lead investigator who was trying to find Samantha Fleming.

Through sheer coincidence, his path had converged with Tamiko.

And they both arrived at Geraldine's house on the same day.

At the time, this lady is basically a missing person until we can, you know, prove otherwise.

And, you know, we don't automatically assume something bad, so we're starting on the bottom.

And

we had this blocked number.

Well, that blocked number come back to Geraldine, and I just unblocked it the night before.

So I called her phone and just said, hey, it's, I told her who I was and what police department I was with.

She never answered.

I left it on the voice round.

I was just going to ask her, you know, I know you're the one that came that called and you're the one that came to Anderson to get her.

You know, where is she at?

Were you just trying to help her get away from this guy?

Did you know her from Gary and this was kind of like a setup?

I was thinking maybe she just tried to lure him away from this guy and that Samantha knew about it.

Samantha's still on the run somewhere.

A few days before Samantha went missing, Samantha's mom received a phone call from a block number.

When she answered, Samantha's mom spoke to a woman claiming to be a child protective services case manager.

And this woman was fishing for information about Samantha when the police unblocked the phone number that led them to Geraldine Jones.

She

was the fake CPS worker.

What's so strange?

Like I said, I was sitting on the couch with the baby, and I'm talking to her like she's going to talk back.

I said, hmm, I said they must be looking for somebody.

Right.

But like, as I had no clue that you were looking for her address.

Yeah.

So had you been by there before?

No, just that day.

I actually came to Gary that day

to try to find Geraldine.

When the investigator arrived at Geraldine's house, he met with Tamiko in the driveway, who then led him into the home.

I could smell the smell.

You know, you know, I stopped it was, and this is my aunt, because I'd never smelled a body before.

So I'm thinking, like, okay, maybe it's a dead mouse or something here.

Right.

Yeah, I mean, I smell dead, you know, mice, but that smell itself would have been, uh, yeah, it was a lot.

And it it it was kind of like

it was kinda like a like I couldn't really tell a hundred percent.

It was because there were some chemicals.

And that's one, and it threw me off.

And see, my April, April was like, well, me, she said, do you smell that?

I said, and that's what I told her, I said, well, it can't, maybe it's a dead mouse or smell here.

Maybe that's it.

Right.

Once inside the house, the investigator performed a search, and he was able to find what Tamiko and April couldn't.

In the back bedroom closet, there was a dead body, wrapped in plastic and duct tape.

The body had been folded in half, stuffed into a plastic tote, and was soaking in a shallow pool of bleach.

Unsurprisingly, the body was later identified as 23-year-old mother of two, Samantha Fleming.

And her death was determined to have been caused by multiple stab wounds.

This would have had to have been a pretty bloody scene.

The body had like

close to 40-some stab wounds.

Right.

And so somebody to see all that would be probably a lot to take in, you know,

just never dealing with that before.

So, you know, that's a lot of stab wounds.

At this point, the truth of the situation started to become apparent to

everyone.

The baby that Tamiko and April had been caring for didn't belong to Geraldine.

The baby was Samantha Fleming's missing daughter, Serenity.

While disguised as a CPS worker, Geraldine lured Samantha and her baby away from her apartment.

Then, Geraldine stabbed Samantha to death and claimed the baby as her own.

The investigators who were working on this case had a basic understanding of what had happened, but there are still so many questions.

Questions that only Geraldine can answer.

Like, why or how did Geraldine choose Samantha as her victim?

How did that happen?

What was the connection between these two women?

And obviously, why did Geraldine do all this?

After Samantha's body was discovered, Geraldine was promptly found in Texas and arrested.

A few days later, she was transported back to Indiana where investigators attempted to question her.

All this says right here is this that you understand what your rights are.

What is that part saying that I'm waiving my rights, though?

It's not saying you're waving your rights.

It just says you've read the statement and you understand what they are.

And it says that we haven't made any threats, coercion, or anything.

All this says is that you just understand what they are.

Okay?

Okay, I don't think I'm saying anything.

Okay, that's fine.

Here's what we come down here for.

Okay.

We come down here to talk to you, to try to get your side.

There's two sides to every story.

Okay.

There's a lot of unanswered questions.

I don't want to answer any questions, but I'm going to attorney.

Okay, you don't want answering anything right now at all?

Okay.

Unfortunately, Geraldine refused to talk to investigators and give her side of the story.

Smart for her, bad for society.

So, in order to make sense of this homicide, the investigators spoke extensively with Geraldine's neighbors, friends, and her two older sisters.

I mean, I know you guys, for the most part, believed that she was pregnant.

I did for all the part.

Okay.

Torico said she knew she had gained weight, but she wasn't like 100%, you know, never really thought about it, just took her word for it.

I'm the most, out of everybody in the family, I would say that I would be the most with the rosy color glasses on.

Something really happens, and then I find out everything.

Like, I've been finding out since she's, you know, been in jail.

I've never had a doubt that she was not pregnant, ever.

Eventually, investigators learned that Geraldine was never pregnant.

It was all a lie.

She was a liar.

And you should never trust liars.

The lengths she went to keep that lie going were baffling.

For nine months, Geraldine repeatedly posted updates on her social media about her fake pregnancy, which included sharing sonogram photos and updates about her frequent doctor visits.

She was basically mommy blogging without being a mommy.

Geraldine purposely gained weight and accepted maternity gifts from her friends and family.

She even let them throw her a fucking lavish baby shower.

What a cunt.

Her and the baby father just was not on the right terms.

I was buying her certain maternity clothes, maternity things,

wherever she, I was doing all those things.

And, you know, and yeah, I mean, she appears to be friendly to me, and I never questioned it.

April and Tamiko fully believed that Geraldine was pregnant.

But there was someone who had some doubts.

Geraldine told her ex-boyfriend Randy Garrett that he was the father.

She kept insisting that she was pregnant.

So I'm like, okay, I don't, you know, I want to be responsible.

If she is, I want to know.

So

I would say, okay, I'll go to the doctor's appointment with you.

But every time I would like try to go with her, something would come up.

She'd be like, oh, I went yesterday.

Oh, I didn't tell you I went yesterday.

Or.

She might have the appointment.

She's like, okay, meet me out there.

Then when I meet her out there, she might be already out there, and she's coming out.

Say, oh, he had to reschedule,

he had to deliver a baby or something.

It would always be something.

Did she even look pregnant pregnant?

I mean,

she looked

pregnant in the stomach.

In the stomach, it seemed like her face was getting more fuller.

Did you ever touch her stomach at all?

No, I never really touched her stomach.

I never really touched her stomach.

It looked like she was pregnant.

It really did.

Geraldine lied and successfully convinced everyone around her that she was pregnant.

That much the investigators knew.

But the big unanswered question was, why?

Why do you do these things?

What's the fucking point?

How dumb are you that you don't realize you're gonna get caught eventually?

Why had Geraldine done any of this?

You know, there's gotta be some underlying things going on.

And basically everybody I talk to, and it's mainly her family and friends, all say the same thing.

It's to me she's carried this lie on so far with so many people that it left her no alternative but to finish it and do something.

In June of 2014, Geraldine told her family and ex-boyfriend that she was pregnant.

Nine months later, in April of 2015, Geraldine needed to produce a baby if she was going to keep this lie going.

Because that's the thing about lies.

You got to keep lying to protect the lie.

But liars are usually pretty short-sighted type people and don't really plan ahead much.

They just plan for you to believe they're bullshit.

That's it.

That's the extent of their plans.

So Geraldine began hunting when she found a woman on Facebook who had just given birth to a biracial baby.

This one checked the box.

There weren't a whole whole lot of requirements, put it that way.

That woman was motive and opportunity, motive and opportunity.

That woman, by the way, was 23-year-old Samantha Fleming, but you already knew that.

You know, trying to figure out the connection.

I don't think she knew the victim, and I don't think her and the victim have met.

I think Joe being smart enough, she was able to find out about this person either, you know, online, Facebook,

whatever, and had a lot of time to to kind of and I'm just thinking myself the whole time.

I keep thinking, somehow I think Geraldine

ran across her herself because she spent, she put a lot of time and effort into

this pregnancy thing.

I think she's pretty smart.

I think she's very I.T.

smart.

She's able to get in there.

and Facebook and all this stuff and somehow found this girl, but she had to know a little bit about her DCS history.

And that's where I don't know.

Samantha Fleming was very active on Facebook, and investigators would eventually come to find that pretty much everything Samantha was dealing with in regards to regaining custody of her son was spelled out on social media.

Again, more mommy blogging.

Mommy blogging can kill folks.

Her Facebook posts and subsequent conversations in the comment sections went into great detail about her situation and the struggles she was having.

Woe is me.

Got to tell everyone about it.

So, listen up, ladies.

If there was ever a cautionary tale to warn people not to share their personal problems online, this is it.

Pay attention.

Geraldine

used this information that Samantha posted that Samantha had shared online to pose as a CPS worker who was overseeing Samantha's case and take advantage of her.

You see how the internet works?

Are you starting to figure it out?

She called the victim's mother two days before this incident happened, anonymously.

And then the mother gave her, because she was claiming to be a DCS worker and knew enough information to make it sound good, the mother actually gave her the girl's number.

So she was seeking her out.

And then she called the victim and only said, I'm your new caseworker.

I'm actually the supervisor.

The other girl's not, wasn't, you know, going to be on vacation, so I'm taking over.

When Geraldine showed up at Samantha's apartment, the details that she knew about Samantha's case made Geraldine's disguise that much more convincing.

Her act was so persuasive, in fact, that she was able to lure Samantha and her baby from her home into her car.

Think about that.

Geraldine told Samantha that she needed to appear at a courthouse in Gary, Indiana later that day because a judge was going to rule if Samantha could get her son back.

Once Samantha was in the car, Geraldine drove three hours from Anderson to Gary, Indiana.

Investigators believe that after they arrived in Gary,

Geraldine was able to lure Samantha into her home.

She may have claimed that she needed to make a quick stop before going to the courthouse.

Who knows what kind of lies she sold.

Apparently, she was very good at it.

Many criminals are.

When Samantha stepped inside Geraldine's home, she had no clue as to the horror that awaited her.

Geraldine attacked Samantha, stabbing her over 40 times and killing her.

Then she wrapped the body in plastic, folded Samantha into a plastic tub, and filled that tub

with bleach.

After the murder, Geraldine claimed Samantha's baby as her own.

This story is

insane.

If you saw these events play out in a movie, you'd probably laugh your ass off for it being too unrealistic.

It's like something you'd see on the Lifetime Network.

In between reruns of Christmas in July.

Maybe not Lifetime these days, maybe more like Oxygen, you know?

The formerly gay network that now just plays true crime all day.

Huh.

My nanny is a serial killer.

Or

lethal soccer mom.

Those kind of titles.

Yeah, that sounds kind of like this story.

The major difference is that Geraldine's story is actually true.

These are facts.

I'm not making them up.

And it's more outlandish than anything that could come out of a Hollywood producer's unoriginal brain.

Given how horrifically absurd this whole situation was, it begged the question,

what in the world could possibly drive someone to act this way?

I don't know if it's because of the boyfriend.

Maybe she couldn't let it go and she was trying to hold on to him, so she kept this baby thing going.

So then she has to find a baby.

because the the boy the the randy guy he said

we started dating he goes i really liked her but then it just seemed like every time i turned around she was lying about something and it was like one lie after well you know what it that's her though so she has a habit kind of lying then

yeah it's a habit so i don't know if that's a part of

you know what other issues she may have you know whatever but yeah

the prominent theory about geraldine's motives is that she was desperate to hold on to her ex-boyfriend.

So, she lied about being pregnant to keep him in her life.

Geraldine wouldn't be the first woman to do that, but when you add the fact that she was also a pathological liar, it made for a very bad situation.

Geraldine's lies painted her into a corner, and For her, kidnapping and murder seemed like a better option than just coming clean and admitting the truth.

She had to keep the lies going to protect the other lies.

Also, according to her sisters, Geraldine was uncompromisingly desperate for attention.

A lot of that going around.

And something else that may have motivated her actions was jealousy.

So when April got married and all of a sudden I just remember coming down and Geraldine saying she was pregnant.

And my first mind was, okay, she got pregnant on purpose because April was getting all the attention with her

getting married so at first when she told me she was pregnant I did believe her that she was pregnant I don't know about April's part of it about being that you know her getting married and the attention that's probably some of it but I think she sees this Randy guy and this Randy says the same thing to Miko April and you say she couldn't tell the truth for nothing I think she started feeling like she was starting to lose Randy and so she had to come up with it because he says, next thing you know, now she's pregnant.

She was pregnant.

And that's oxygen.

And she had to keep it going.

I wonder if she

maybe,

you know, was so used to not telling the truth, but getting away with a lot of it, that Randy wasn't putting up with it.

And so it tested her and pushed her to the point where she's like, I'm going to show him.

I'm going to really come up with a baby.

It's like everything she did was a lie.

Despite Geraldine's refusal to speak with investigators, they were able to obtain a pretty full grasp of this homicide by this sick, sick, sick woman.

They had the how

and the why.

The only thing left to do was to deal with Geraldine.

This truly is a tragic story.

Police believe that Serenity, the newborn girl involved in this case, was less than a month old when this all happened.

Now that little girl left to grow up without her birth mother, 23-year-old Samantha Fleming, after officers found her body full of stab wounds and stuffed inside of a closet in Jones's Gary home.

That being said, just yesterday morning, Jones was extradited back here to Indiana from Fort Worth, Texas.

I'm told she's currently being held at Madison County Jail.

Investigators believe the motive behind the murder and kidnapping was all part of an elaborate plot for Jones to raise Serenity as her own daughter.

And when I say elaborate, I mean it.

According to police, Jones posed as a child services worker, faked her own pregnancy, and even threw herself a baby shower.

Now she sits in a cell awaiting her day in court.

In 2015, Geraldine Jones was charged with kidnapping and murder.

As she awaited her court proceedings, Geraldine made many jailhouse phone calls to her sister, April.

I'm sorry, April.

I really am.

You're not sorry.

Yes, I am.

You're sorry you didn't get hold of yourself.

You're sorry you got caught.

No, I'm not.

I'm sorry.

Well, okay, then I guess you just deal with it then.

I guess you deal with you being sorry.

I don't have anything to say.

I don't have anything to say.

I don't have no compassion.

My mind is all S' up.

My mind is so messed up from this stuff.

I don't have any, and I'm a compassionate person.

But since here,

I don't have any words.

Everybody talking about you.

Everybody talking about you.

Face on fucking everywhere.

And you just would not stop.

You just wouldn't stop.

But you know what?

That's something you have to deal with.

That's something you have to deal with God with.

I can't do anything.

I can't do anything.

I can't fix it.

I can't cover it up.

I can't do anything.

But what I'm going to do is, I ain't gonna go into no debt, I ain't gonna owe nobody no money, and I'm not gonna stretch myself out with your ass, all this and that.

Because I do it all the damn time, I'm always stressing and frustrating myself about some stuff.

I know I'm doing it, but somebody that don't even appreciate nothing and just lie and then get somebody and treat me just like you treat me and everybody, everybody, Jordan, everybody.

And you expect us to go to the same people that you fucking lied to, and that's it for you.

Fake ass, trying to kill yourself, get up there to see you.

You know,

Jordan, you are so fucked up.

I knew you were lying about a lot of shit, but I would never think this.

In a million years, I wouldn't think you would do no shit like this, Geraldine.

I wouldn't think you'd be a part of no shit like this.

Not in a million years.

Even

with any scam or anything you have ever done in life, I would never think this about you.

I don't even know who you are.

I don't know nothing about you.

As you just heard, much of Geraldine's conversations with her sister involved April expressing her very justified.

frustrations with Geraldine.

This went on for some time.

Please don't starve this fake fucking corner because I don't fucking feel like hearing that shit.

And I don't fucking feel like hearing a whole bunch of shit.

I don't fucking feel like hearing a whole bunch of lies.

I don't fucking hear none of that.

Because that's all you have done the whole entire time.

It's fucking lie.

The whole entire time, that's all you've done.

Manipulate, lie, and do everybody all fucked up.

You just left everybody out here to deal with this fucking bullshit.

Everything that you fucking said out of your mouth is a lie.

Everything.

The shit you've done is so fucked up, drilling.

It is fucked up, and it is so fucked up because you expect me to be out here trying to get you money to get a fucking lawyer to help you get out.

Because you fucked up.

I'm sick of your shit, Jerolene.

I'm so sick of your shit.

I'm sick of the way you fucking treat me.

I'm so tired of the way you fucking treat me, the shit that you do to people.

You have no fucking regards, know nothing about nobody but your fucking self.

The shit is so fucked up.

Even when you say you fucking sorry, you fucking lied.

You sorry, you fucking got caught.

You're not sorry, you fucking sorry, you fucking got caught.

You have fucked the whole family, the family, your friends, your church, your loved ones, and the people that care about us, that care about your motherfucking ass because they care about us.

You fuck them too.

And you want somebody to get you sent to you want somebody to run around begging to get fucking some fucking debt for a fucking damn $25,000 fucking dollar lawyer to get your ass out.

And you just keep fucking people.

And you're still fucking lying.

You're still fucking lying.

I hope you tell one soul the fucking truth.

Because you ain't told nobody.

Because the shit is fucked up.

Every fucking day.

Keep nobody eat.

He nobody fucking sleeps.

And then the story just keeps fucking unraveling.

Who does this kind of shit to people?

Who the fuck does this kind of shit to people, Geraldine?

For fucking a damn year.

A fucking year, Geraldine, you fucking lied.

A whole damn year, you fucking lied about this shit.

And I feel sorry for your ass from the very fucking beginning.

The very fucking beginning, I feel sorry for your ass.

If this isn't obvious, April was fed up with her sister.

And she eventually told Geraldine that she was on her own.

April, I have, I know I messed up.

I did a lot of shit.

But you know from the bottom of my heart that I love you.

You know what, Geraldine?

I can't tell you that I know that.

I think you know that.

I honestly cannot tell you that I know that.

It is so messed up.

My head has been spinning and going in all kinds of ways.

But you know what?

You got a fucking way of showing it.

The love that you have, I don't need it, Jordan.

The love that you have, you are evil and conniving, and you do anything.

And it's like you're happy, or shit is all fucked up for other people, and they lies and all kinds of shit is crazy.

That's the love that you have.

I don't want that kind of.

I'll do better than life without it.

How can you think that?

I would have done life without that.

That's not true.

I don't think about that.

That's not true.

I don't think about it.

That's not true at all.

I've never acted like that about you.

I've never acted like that.

Jordan, yes, you have.

You have acted like that.

I messed up.

When I sit back and reflect on stuff, when you love somebody, you don't treat them the way that you treat people.

That I know is true.

You don't glitch people.

In the end, though, April somehow found a way to forgive her sister and agreed to help her through her upcoming murder trial.

I guess blood is thicker than water.

And I love you, Jeraldine.

And you know, no matter what, you steal my sister.

I don't care what those are.

I still love you.

And I'm going to, like I said, I'm going to do whatever it is I have to do, no matter what.

You just have to be strong and know that God is doing something.

Unfortunately for Geraldine, there wasn't much that April or God Himself could do for her.

Geraldine killed a 23-year-old mother of two kids, and

the police found the body in her house in a closet.

The police also unraveled all of her lies and could easily prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Geraldine committed this murder.

A potential death sentence loomed over Geraldine, and the best she could hope for was a deal from prosecutors, which she eventually got.

In May of 2018, Geraldine pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and criminal confinement.

She was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Throughout the court proceedings, Geraldine made no statements.

And after the plea, her attorney gave a brief statement to the press saying,

The state made the offer, and Geraldine was satisfied with it.

She's ready to put this behind her.

She's at peace, end quote.

Geraldine was at peace.

Well, isn't that nice?

Isn't that nice for her?

Do you know how long it took for me to get here?

How long?

Four days.

I traveled on a bus for two days, went through Louisiana, I mean, it went through so many different states.

And then they took us to a holding place in Kentucky, and they were so mean to you.

Like, they would make you sleep on the floor.

They

didn't give you one small bottle of soap.

I mean, it's ridiculous.

Even now, I'm in lockdown.

So it's why?

And

she said, because of my classification, because I guess what I did.

But my donkey was telling me that because of what I did, I mean because of the charges, that you want to be by yourself.

But I'm thinking like that from here, I don't see no TV.

I only get out for an hour.

And I was instantly in isolation.

Like I'm in one cell by myself.

During her calls from jail, Geraldine spent a lot of time complaining about the lousy conditions of the facilities she was transferred to and the poor treatment she received.

It wasn't, you know, yelpable.

She probably wanted to speak with the manager or something.

Never once in any of those calls does Geraldine mention Samantha Fleming.

Never once does she talk about Samantha's two kids who are now forced to grow up without a mother.

Because of her.

She doesn't talk about Samantha's mom or her boyfriend, both of whom were emotionally crushed by the murder that Geraldine committed.

After everything she did, after destroying countless lives for no reason at all, Geraldine's world still

only revolved around one person:

Geraldine.

You can call this woman a lot of things.

She's a narcissist, she's a pathological liar, she's a killer.

But if you want to encompass everything,

you only need one word: Geraldine Jones is

a monster.

All right, that's going to do it for another one.

Thanks again for joining us.

If you enjoy the show and want to support us, there's an easy way to do it at swordandscale.com.

And while you're there, check out the latest episode of Sword and Scale Television if you like True Crime.

It's a pretty good docuseries.

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