14 | The Alibi

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Speaker 2 Up and Vanished in the Midnight Sun is intended for mature audiences and may include topics that can be upsetting, such as emotional, physical, and sexual violence, rape, and murder.

Speaker 2 The names of survivors have been changed for anonymity purposes. Testimony shared by guests of the show is their own and does not reflect the views of Tenderfoot TV or Odyssey.

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Speaker 1 Fighting Joseph.

Speaker 1 Hello?

Speaker 1 Hello?

Speaker 6 This is Fighting Joseph Hotline. Is anybody there?

Speaker 6 Hello.

Speaker 7 Hi.

Speaker 7 Hello, um

Speaker 7 Um

Speaker 7 Who are you trying to call?

Speaker 6 Um, nobody.

Speaker 9 We were just seeing if the um if the phone number will work

Speaker 6 for the 5D Joseph, yeah,

Speaker 6 yeah, this is the phone number.

Speaker 11 What were you guys calling for?

Speaker 6 We were just trying to call a missing guy,

Speaker 9 a missing guy,

Speaker 11 we were just trying to call.

Speaker 7 Okay.

Speaker 6 Did you know something about a missing person?

Speaker 9 So, my friend says he's seen him out at council.

Speaker 6 What did you know?

Speaker 9 I've seen him the last time before he started hiking.

Speaker 7 Okay, when?

Speaker 11 Like five, six years ago.

Speaker 11 I saw him before he was leaving his truck.

Speaker 8 But then I went to camp.

Speaker 8 And then a week later, I didn't see him anymore.

Speaker 6 And then what?

Speaker 7 I saw him.

Speaker 8 But then I got to camp. And then the day I came back, I didn't see him.

Speaker 6 Okay, where did you see him getting out of his truck?

Speaker 7 I don't remember.

Speaker 7 I'm sorry for calling.

Speaker 7 Bye.

Speaker 4 The voice you heard on the other end of the call was computer generated for their own protection, but it was an actual child who made that phone call.

Speaker 4 We also chose to take out a few small details for now. Details that we believe may be crucial to the investigation, which as I speak is very much active.

Speaker 4 If you're tired of hearing the play-by-play events of the weekend Joseph went missing, trust me, I am too.

Speaker 4 But it's something I found myself coming back to over and over again, because it just doesn't make any fucking sense. And it's so very important.

Speaker 4 In every case, there's always inconsistencies. But at what point do you say there are too many inconsistencies?

Speaker 4 Trying to connect the dots of every single thing that happened that weekend is like putting together IKEA furniture, meaning next to impossible.

Speaker 4 So impossible that in the nights that I've lost sleep about this, I've sat there pondering, why?

Speaker 4 It's almost as if it was meant to be confusing. I truly try to stay as consciously objective as possible.

Speaker 4 But no matter how many angles I've looked at this, there are some major flaws and red flags in what people are claiming to have happened the weekend Joseph went missing.

Speaker 4 But it wasn't until recently that things started to click.

Speaker 4 I found some tape from an interview the first PI conducted. He's speaking to a man named Jim West.

Speaker 4 He's one of the guys who helped spearhead the search and rescue efforts for Joseph right after he went missing.

Speaker 4 He's also the guy who ultimately towed Joseph's truck for police to examine, which, we know, they didn't.

Speaker 4 The PI starts the conversation with with Jim, laying out the days and dates, just like you've heard a million times before. Because even eight years ago, he sensed that something didn't make sense.

Speaker 4 And I'm ready to break this down for you.

Speaker 12 Friday night, the 24th, the 25th would have been Saturday, the 26th would have been Sunday, and the 27th would have been Monday, which he didn't show up to work.

Speaker 14 Right, well, there is a a wedding Sunday.

Speaker 14 Sunday, guys coming back for the wedding early in the morning. They spot the truck coming back in.

Speaker 12 Our family friend was getting married that day so we were coming back in early.

Speaker 14 Sunday the 26th.

Speaker 12 The reason it stood out, I mean he was right on the edge of the road. When you're gonna go park off the road and go do something, you pull off.
Hasty parking job.

Speaker 12 Dan, you believe it's between 1040 and 1045 or 1040 and 1050? 1040, 10.45.

Speaker 14 Sunday morning now, Trooper Cross went to news camp accounts.

Speaker 4 On Sunday, Trooper Sergeant Cross saw the truck at one o'clock. A trooper sees his truck the same place at 1 p.m.

Speaker 4 But then the PI Andy Clamser talked to one of Joseph's co-workers and learned this.

Speaker 19 I texted, hi, Jake. Search and rescue needs to double check what day and time did you last see him? Jake responded, it was about 1 o'clock p.m.
on Sunday when I saw him leave.

Speaker 7 Sunday.

Speaker 19 Sunday. I texted back immediately.
Positive Sunday? He says positive. Sunday at 1 p.m.

Speaker 16 Jake said he saw Joseph alive and well in the hallway of the home around 1.30 p.m. on Sunday.
Sunday. Sunday morning after Joseph had stopped responding to anyone.

Speaker 14 Which would be a little out of his character.

Speaker 16 And then he was never heard from again.

Speaker 4 But then Jake's story completely contradicts this. So Andy talked to Jake's mother, Bonnie.

Speaker 20 Do you recall seeing him at any point during the weekend that he disappeared?

Speaker 21 Sunday,

Speaker 21 we were at camp.

Speaker 21 I'd seen his vehicle drive by.

Speaker 21 We were outside working on the addition at camp and I remember saying, how do you mean you didn't stop?

Speaker 14 About what time was that?

Speaker 21 Three or four in the afternoon probably.

Speaker 4 One more sighting. But this time Joseph's truck is moving, driving.

Speaker 7 Where was he heading?

Speaker 20 So did Jake mention to you seeing Joseph at the house Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon?

Speaker 21 So when I had called Jake and asked him, he

Speaker 21 said it had to be around one

Speaker 21 and it was just in passing.

Speaker 20 Do you remember anything else he said?

Speaker 21 I said, well, do you remember what he was wearing? He said, no, I mean, we didn't really even talk that much. I mean,

Speaker 21 the age gap was, is Jake's still the young kid.

Speaker 4 Was, is,

Speaker 4 was.

Speaker 4 Call me an overanalyzer, but recalling what your roommate was wearing the day that they went missing has nothing to do with how well you knew each other.

Speaker 4 If these accounts are true, then Joseph's just moving around all strange, completely ignoring the love of his life.

Speaker 4 But as I dug deeper, I found another interview that honestly gave Miku his bumps.

Speaker 14 We had one of the last debriefings and trying to go over different areas or what he covered. You know, when the question is, when was he last seen?

Speaker 14 In one of the briefings that we had, Bonnie stated very adamant that he was with Christine 1:30 to 3 on the beach

Speaker 14 Sunday.

Speaker 12 Sunday or Saturday?

Speaker 7 I asked her,

Speaker 11 point blank, was it Sunday? And she says yes.

Speaker 12 So Bonnie states that she saw him on Sunday.

Speaker 14 She's very abrasive about that. She swears that positive was Sunday.

Speaker 14 So we're getting conflicting information right from the get-go.

Speaker 11 So I'm sitting there scratching my head again.

Speaker 14 I said, okay. And then about that time, the family came in.
and then she quieted up.

Speaker 14 Jake said that he's seen him Sunday morning.

Speaker 11 So it doesn't make sense for the truck to be out there and him in town.

Speaker 14 And I can't figure it out. Why would the truck be out there and him in town?

Speaker 14 She was very adamant. Very adamant that it was Sunday.

Speaker 7 Bonnie? Bonnie.

Speaker 14 That he was with Christine on the beach Sunday.

Speaker 12 And then she started to back off that when family came around.

Speaker 12 Did that strike you as odd?

Speaker 7 I filed it in the back of my hand.

Speaker 16 I don't know, it seems awful suspicious.

Speaker 12 If you were me, what would you want to do, knowing everything that's been done, where would you want to pick up?

Speaker 17 I'd go back and I'd re-interview the roommate.

Speaker 7 Jake.

Speaker 14 I'd lean heavy on him.

Speaker 14 Selena had noticed a bunch of scratches and stuff, rosy mark on his cheek.

Speaker 14 Find out who in the hell he was with.

Speaker 11 Seems awful strange.

Speaker 23 Jake continues to say that he observed Joseph coming out of his bedroom about 1:30 p.m. on Sunday and leaving the house.

Speaker 23 So I called Jake a bunch of times, like 11 times, and he always had his phone set to not accept calls.

Speaker 23 You know, I feel pretty strongly that the most likely explanation for Joseph's disappearance is that someone has done something to him.

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Speaker 4 Long before this season came out, I was actively trying to contact pretty much every single person in this case. Jake being one of them.
My first attempt to contact him was was on December 6, 2023.

Speaker 4 I got his phone number and I texted him. I said, hey Jake, this is Payne Lindsay.

Speaker 4 Jake responds, who is this? Why are you trying to contact me?

Speaker 4 So I said, again, my name is Payne Lindsay. I hope all is well.
I'm an investigative journalist. I tried to add you on Facebook recently.
Jake replied, yeah, why? I don't know who you are.

Speaker 4 Dude, I've told you who I was twice already. I responded saying, yeah, we've never met.
I'm investigating the disappearance of Joseph. I'd love to grab a few minutes of your time.

Speaker 4 I think it's crucial to closing this case out.

Speaker 3 Jake's response was, no thanks.

Speaker 4 Alrighty. Then I said, why is that? I'm trying to help.
At this point, my eye messages were turning green. So we obviously know what happened there.
He blocked me.

Speaker 4 It's at this point that it all starts to unravel. Alaska state troopers went to Jake's residence.
It was partially recorded. And I say partially because it seems like some of it's missing.

Speaker 4 Maybe there was an error. They discovered on his phone after a forensic analysis that Jake had texted his friends Emery and Tyler trying to create an alibi.

Speaker 4 I don't have all these texts, but I do have some of them. He texted his friend saying, I had to use you in a story for the state trooper.
Friend Friend responded, what did you say?

Speaker 4 Jake responded, quote, that us three took a drive to Solomon at 8 p.m. and got back at 1 a.m.
This is supposed to be the Saturday night, the day before he went missing.

Speaker 4 He asked what I did Saturday and if I saw him and whatnot. Obviously, to the troopers, it looked like Jake was trying to set up an alibi.
So they talked to his friends Emery and Tyler.

Speaker 4 And they have no recollection of this trip, at least in the location that Jake's referring to.

Speaker 4 In Noam, Alaska, as a young adult, a popular thing to do is bridge jumping, jumping off bridges with your friends into the rivers outside the city.

Speaker 4 This is what Jake alleged he was doing, but he felt the need to tell his friends that it happened in a place that it didn't, and during a period of time that is incorrect.

Speaker 4 When the troopers talked to Emery and Jake, they found out he lied about where he was going.

Speaker 4 Where Jake initially claimed he was, out by Solomon, is hours away from where his friends say they were. So for whatever reason, Jake felt the need to lie about that.

Speaker 4 This is where we all got to start paying attention. And some of this tape you've heard, but I'm about to play you the rest of it.

Speaker 10 Jake, originally you told me that you went out for a drive. And then I talked to your buddies and they said that didn't happen.
They told me that you specifically went for a drive that way.

Speaker 10 And then they told me that they weren't with you or that didn't happen. And then I talked to you and I learned that you were out bridge jumping, which is,

Speaker 10 which is what Tyler had told me. But my issue is, when confronted with, hey, what did you do last weekend, you know, I wouldn't say I went for a drive someplace I wasn't.

Speaker 10 To me, it seems like either you're lying now because you're covering it,

Speaker 10 covering up for something that you don't want to tell us about for a period, or you were lying then.

Speaker 10 You know, when you told me that you weren't, I went in a completely different direction with two guys that you weren't with. And either way, it doesn't

Speaker 10 sound like you're being 100% truthful with me.

Speaker 4 In Jake's alibi text to his friends, he told them to say they got back from bridge jumping at 1 a.m.

Speaker 4 But when the troopers talked to his friend Tyler, they learned a different time frame.

Speaker 12 So now he's lied twice.

Speaker 10 So what time was it that Tyler said that they got back?

Speaker 10 Tyler said they got back here around

Speaker 10 200, So 8 o'clock.

Speaker 10 So that's the time frame that, you know, when you guys got dropped off. And you originally told me that you got back here sometime around 1.30, and

Speaker 10 I can even say, you know, 12.30 is pretty damn close to 1.30, but it's still not, that's not cold state o'clock. So again, we're still back in that.
We got four or five hours in the evening.

Speaker 10 I'd love to know what you did.

Speaker 10 Because I can remember what I did two weeks ago. You know, for you to go, I just don't remember when you remember right up to that point what happened from bridge jumping to 1230.

Speaker 10 we're talking about we got a four or five or four or five hour gap in the evening

Speaker 4 four hour time gap where no one knows where jake was

Speaker 4 the concern about the time gap from 8 p.m to 12 30 a.m they couldn't make sense of it either but they knew at this point jake had lied twice

Speaker 4 but their third concern was where jake was

Speaker 4 after midnight

Speaker 10 you came back here at 12 30 but what happened happened after you guys went and Tyler dropped you off?

Speaker 10 That's the question.

Speaker 10 Who? Do you remember who you were with?

Speaker 10 I honestly don't.

Speaker 7 I really cannot remember.

Speaker 10 So when you guys came back, where did you go? Did Tyler drop you off somewhere? He dropped me off here. He dropped you off here.
He dropped you and Emory off together, or did you just stay? Yes, sir.

Speaker 10 Did you drop Emery off at his house?

Speaker 10 Jake, what I'm trying to understand is if he dropped you off at midnight 30, he dropped you off, and then you say you made it home at midnight 30. So what was the rest of it, brother?

Speaker 10 What did you do the rest of the night? I honestly can't remember. It's been so long.

Speaker 10 Were you drinking that night? Were you drunk when you came back? Or is there any other reason? Is there any reason why you don't remember? I don't.

Speaker 4 So whatever timeline you want to believe here, or whoever's memories messed up, there's still the huge question of where was Jake and what was he doing after midnight.

Speaker 4 The troopers then go back to Jake's claim that he saw Joseph at his house on Sunday.

Speaker 25 Just hanging out here, and do you think might have gone to nuts up to the sleep?

Speaker 10 I think so. Okay.

Speaker 4 13 hours of sleep. Really? On a Saturday night in the summer?

Speaker 4 Mm.

Speaker 17 Maybe.

Speaker 4 But unlikely.

Speaker 10 You got dropped off.

Speaker 10 And then.

Speaker 4 Finally, Jake speaks. Regardless of what happened during the day, which is still an absolute mess and full of lies and contradictory statements.

Speaker 4 Jake does say that when his friend Tyler dropped him off, he stayed at his house by himself and played video games for the rest of the night.

Speaker 4 The second private investigator, Andy Clamser, was on a mission. He found Jake's friend Tyler, the one he had texted about making an alibi for Saturday.

Speaker 4 And the last story that Jake settled on was that he was dropped off by Tyler at his house that night. And from about midnight onward, he stayed at his house by himself and played video games.

Speaker 7 Hey, Tyler.

Speaker 18 Yes, yo, I'm Andy Clamser. Nice to meet you.
Let's go upstairs to the conference room. I'm a private investigator.
I'm a retired cop, and I've been doing this for about 20 years.

Speaker 26 Probably 95% of what I do is just interview people.

Speaker 13 Seems very odd that they didn't find anything out there. That was a major search.

Speaker 26 It's the first of October 2015, 1258 p.m. and we're at the Aurora Inn Conference Room in Noam,

Speaker 26 recording of an interview with Tyler Ide.

Speaker 26 Since Jake had difficulty remembering events from Saturday or Saturday night, Was he messed up that day? Was he like drinking or?

Speaker 15 I don't think he was drinking. Like I said, we went out bridge jumping every weekend, so in the summertime, it was nice.
When we saw him jump from the water off the bridge.

Speaker 17 Right.

Speaker 13 So there's this whole issue with the text messages that Jake had sent.

Speaker 20 Do you still have any of those on your phone?

Speaker 13 I don't think so. Do you have your phone with you? Could you check real quick?

Speaker 15 All the way back there?

Speaker 15 No, I can't do that.

Speaker 13 Even if you just check Jake's, there's that many?

Speaker 22 It'd take hours probably.

Speaker 15 I mean, me and him were best friends. You talk every day.

Speaker 15 You text every day.

Speaker 20 So, I mean, did you think it was unusual that Jake was trying to get people to say they were with him Saturday night?

Speaker 26 No, he wasn't doing that.

Speaker 17 He wasn't doing that.

Speaker 17 What was going on there?

Speaker 13 Going on where?

Speaker 26 Where he was trying to...

Speaker 23 Oh, the way that his story went.

Speaker 15 I'm going to tell you the same thing I told the trooper. Jake didn't know what he was doing.

Speaker 15 Being stupid, and he had to come up with a story or something because, I don't know. I guess he just wanted the trooper out of his way or something.

Speaker 15 And like I said, I told Tim Smith the truth, what I didn't.

Speaker 15 I just told you, I told you the truth.

Speaker 15 I'm not going to lie to you guys.

Speaker 15 This is somebody's life.

Speaker 14 And I'm not going to lie about that.

Speaker 17 Right.

Speaker 20 And what did Jake say to you later about that whole thing?

Speaker 23 Because it was a little weird. Yeah, and about the trooper involvement there.

Speaker 15 After Tim told me what Jake said,

Speaker 15 the next day when I went and saw Jake, he said, what the fuck are you thinking?

Speaker 15 Don't just make something up. Fucking tell them the truth.
Even if

Speaker 15 you don't remember what happened that day, just tell him, hey, I don't remember what I did because, like I said, it's somebody's life we're dealing with.

Speaker 20 Right.

Speaker 20 What did Jake say?

Speaker 15 He said, he's like, all right, yeah, you're right. Next time, I don't know what else thinking.

Speaker 15 So I was like, yeah, well, next time they come and talk to you, you better tell the freaking truth.

Speaker 22 Did you pick up Jake and Emery on Saturday?

Speaker 15 To go bridge jumping? Yeah.

Speaker 15 I think so.

Speaker 13 So about what time did you guys get out to the bridge on Saturday and about how long did you stay?

Speaker 15 Oh, we stayed about all day. Like I said, it was an all-day trip.

Speaker 15 And we met other people out there.

Speaker 17 We probably left about

Speaker 15 three o'clock, three or four, and then got back,

Speaker 17 let's say, 10.30.

Speaker 22 So what did you do after getting back to Nome on Saturday night at like about 10.30?

Speaker 22 Hung out at Jake's.

Speaker 17 Hung out at Jake's.

Speaker 15 Yeah, played some games.

Speaker 20 Did you think you went back to Jake's that night?

Speaker 15 Yeah, that's why I said we went there and played video games.

Speaker 13 How long do you think you were at Drake's Saturday night?

Speaker 15 I don't know, I didn't have my timer on.

Speaker 15 Good.

Speaker 15 A lot of these questions are...

Speaker 15 I don't know why you're asking them.

Speaker 20 Saturday night is like a critical thing here with Joseph.

Speaker 23 And so I'm kind of leading up to asking some other questions about him.

Speaker 22 One of which is, on Saturday night, do you remember seeing him at all?

Speaker 15 No, like I said, I only seen him once. Okay.
Once or twice.

Speaker 26 And that was

Speaker 15 about a month, month and a half before he went missing.

Speaker 13 Like I said, he was always in his room, door closed.

Speaker 15 Even if we were in Jake's room, door was closed. Never saw the guy.

Speaker 26 Any idea what time you left Jake's on Saturday night?

Speaker 26 No.

Speaker 23 Probably late at night.

Speaker 15 When we start playing video games, we stay and we

Speaker 15 We play for a couple hours or so.

Speaker 15 Probably even more than that. So.

Speaker 23 Have you ever seen or used Jake's 308 rifle that his dad gave him the summer of 2015?

Speaker 15 I think his uncle gave it to him.

Speaker 20 You ever shot it or used it?

Speaker 15 No, Moose Hunting.

Speaker 7 What was that?

Speaker 7 We ended Moose Hunting open.

Speaker 13 It opened last month.

Speaker 13 So after this guy went missing.

Speaker 15 Oh yeah, definitely. This September when I went to Moose Huntington.

Speaker 13 Do you have any suggestions for people I should talk to about his disappearance?

Speaker 7 I don't know.

Speaker 15 You're definitely not talking to the right people though.

Speaker 13 Okay. People associated with Jake?

Speaker 15 Well, Jake, myself, whoever.

Speaker 15 We're wasting your time, you're wasting our time. And we got no beneficial

Speaker 1 stuff for you.

Speaker 15 If I had beneficial stuff for you, I'd definitely let you know.

Speaker 15 Like I said, this is somebody's life.

Speaker 7 Nothing more I could tell you about it.

Speaker 15 You watched the movie The Fourth Kind? Yeah.

Speaker 17 Oh, maybe that's true.

Speaker 4 The movie The Fourth Kind. We've heard this before.
Deila mentioned it jokingly in regards to Florence Octialik's case.

Speaker 4 Recapping Tyler's interview with Andy, there's now even more discrepancies. Tyler says on Saturday, the bridge jumping was an all-day event.
And there were other people out there.

Speaker 7 Witnesses, apparently.

Speaker 4 Ones that he couldn't name, though.

Speaker 4 He also said they got back around 10.30 p.m.

Speaker 4 Which contradicts the time that it was once 8 p.m. and the time that it was 12.30 a.m.
Enough for me to say what the hell is going on here.

Speaker 4 It seems like Tyler thinks the boogeyman got him. Now, I'm sure most of us are sitting here shaking our heads and rolling our eyes, which I am too, but that statement alone isn't incriminating per se.

Speaker 4 But as I've found more information, odd things like this just keep connecting. And my secret friend from Nome, Alaska, had a new message for me.
Unprompted by me knowing this knowledge at all.

Speaker 1 One night, we were all sitting around, talking about Joseph's disappearance, and the atmosphere was heavy, almost suffocating.

Speaker 1 Kim, who has been deeply affected, often couldn't hold back her emotions. She just burst out to her sister Christine, demanding to know, why the fuck did you kill him?

Speaker 1 Right to her face, over and over again.

Speaker 1 It was a regular occurrence at family gatherings, and you could tell it was tearing that person apart.

Speaker 1 His disappearance was baffling to many, and it sparked so many rumors.

Speaker 1 There was one rumor that Joseph might have been involved with the CIA,

Speaker 1 or maybe he had entered witness protection. It sounded crazy.
But at the same time, it wasn't just idle gossip. People were connecting dots that led to some dark places.

Speaker 1 The judge Joseph worked under had abruptly left town the same weekend Joseph disappeared. Fueling suspicions that something within the court system might have played a role.

Speaker 1 It was like peeling back layers of a rotten onion. The more you uncovered, the worse it smelled.
But despite the rumor mill, Jake always remained at the center of the storm.

Speaker 1 He was the last person to see Joseph, and that fact alone put a target on his back.

Speaker 1 People kept pointing fingers at him, whispering about his strange behavior.

Speaker 1 He had started asking people for alibis, which only made him look more suspicious.

Speaker 1 He wasn't sleeping, and the guilt seemed to be eating him alive.

Speaker 1 But was it guilt because he had something to do with Joseph's disappearance? Or was it the crushing weight of being accused by everyone around him?

Speaker 1 That's what kept everyone on edge. Nobody knew for sure, but the doubt was like a poison, seeping into everything.

Speaker 1 It was like a shadow that followed him everywhere, even when he tried to sleep. Jake was suffering from nightmares, that Joseph was coming back.
Why would he be afraid of his roommate coming back?

Speaker 1 One night, night, Jake was really drunk and I brought up the reward money for Joseph.

Speaker 1 Jake said, I think the Ishagoks got him.

Speaker 1 Do you know the Ishagoks pain?

Speaker 1 The Ishagoks is a mythical creature rooted in Alaska native folklore. A malevolent creature that roams the wilderness of Alaska.

Speaker 1 A shadowy figure with a form that shifts and changes in the darkness.

Speaker 1 It is said to have a humanoid appearance, glowing eyes that pierce through the night, long thin limbs that enable it to move quickly and silently through the tundra.

Speaker 1 And Jake had suggested that this mythical creature may have taken Joseph.

Speaker 1 Jake said, maybe he chose the wrong door, and he's never. Coming back again.

Speaker 1 That maybe Joseph had crossed into some other world.

Speaker 1 These sounded like his nightmares.

Speaker 1 There was a story about a creek that had been raging with water one night,

Speaker 1 only to be completely dry by morning, despite it raining the entire time.

Speaker 1 It was as if the land itself had swallowed the water, leaving nothing behind.

Speaker 1 Others talked about hearing strange noises in the wilderness.

Speaker 1 Things moving in the dark, unseen, but undeniably there.

Speaker 1 One person recounted seeing figures walking through the tundra.

Speaker 1 Figures that shouldn't have been there.

Speaker 1 They slammed on their brakes, stared, and were sure they saw something.

Speaker 1 But by the time they tried to make sense of it, the figures were gone. as if they had never been there at all.

Speaker 1 The stories lingered in the air, each one adding to the growing sense of unease.

Speaker 1 No one could shake the feeling that something deeply wrong had happened to Joseph.

Speaker 1 Something that went beyond the ordinary.

Speaker 1 But then,

Speaker 1 just as the conversation seemed to be spiraling into pure fear, It all began to circle back to Jake.

Speaker 1 He was at the center of it all.

Speaker 1 Everyone's suspicions, everyone's doubts. Was he guilty?

Speaker 1 Had he done something terrible,

Speaker 1 or was he just another victim, caught in the web of everyone else's paranoia and fear?

Speaker 1 What did Jake know?

Speaker 1 What do you think he's hiding, Pain?

Speaker 21 Ijigak.

Speaker 27 So the base word of Ijiguk is Iji,

Speaker 19 which means eyes.

Speaker 27 Many of these weirdo creatures or creepy things, they're always like alone.

Speaker 27 That kind of influences me in a way to think that being alone is wrong.

Speaker 27 You can't survive by yourself.

Speaker 4 Here's Alice Kinnick Glenn, an Alaska native who could tell me more about these mythical creatures and the stories told by their ancestors for generations.

Speaker 27 Inupak people have lived in our area for thousands of years. We have a long history of oral traditional storytelling.

Speaker 27 In the past, we didn't have written language. The way that we passed down information and lessons was through storytelling.
A lot of us younger folks grew up with our elders sharing stories.

Speaker 27 Some of them are wild, some of them are like unbelievable, but much of it has these intrinsic lessons weaved through each story.

Speaker 27 You know, most of our Inuit legends were present more in the past prior to Western contact because with contact brought religion.

Speaker 27 Suppressed a lot of our stories, our dances, our spirituality in that way.

Speaker 27 We don't hear them as much because of religious influence. They're not gone.
They're still there, but you have to dig a little bit harder to find them.

Speaker 27 All of these stories still have specific influence and really shapes who we are and the way that we live and interact with one another in the Arctic.

Speaker 27 And I never discount any story as being 100% untrue because there are always lessons to be found.

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Speaker 4 We've got locals talking about portals, UFOs, referencing the mythical creatures in Alaska Native folklore. as to what may have happened to them.
Small towns always have stories.

Speaker 4 But when someone goes missing and the explanations get this wild, we have to ask, why are so many people in this town more focused on otherworldly rumors than on finding Joseph?

Speaker 4 Or is it that only certain people are? Because Joseph's family and myself are not. I don't try to add to rumors.
My job 99% of the time is to listen. I sit across from people.

Speaker 4 microphone in hand, headphones on, and I just try to simply listen to what they have to say.

Speaker 4 And having done this podcast since 2016, well, that's a while ago, I'd like to say I've learned a few things.

Speaker 4 Because I can't arrest anybody, because I can get all the evidence one would ever need and present it in a silver platter to whichever authority it is, I can't make them do anything.

Speaker 4 But what I can do is share the truth from the people who care and expose the lies for everyone to hear.

Speaker 4 Jake's whereabouts on Saturday are still a mystery.

Speaker 4 Well,

Speaker 4 sorta. My new special friend delivered me a message that, in my opinion, blows this case wide open.
It's the truth we're after, right?

Speaker 4 Not rumor. What does it take to look into this case again?

Speaker 4 Maybe something like physical proof?

Speaker 1 During the day, on Saturday, June 25th, I went bridge jumping. But Jake was not there.

Speaker 1 Later that Saturday night, I went to a party at a camp outside Nome.

Speaker 1 The party was late. It probably started around 10 or 11 p.m.

Speaker 1 and went until 4 or 5 in the morning.

Speaker 1 It was some sort of wedding celebration or something, and there were a lot of people there.

Speaker 1 Jake was at this party.

Speaker 1 I know that for certain because I talked to him, face to face for over 30 minutes. Just me and him.

Speaker 1 I was having a drink, standing by a keg at the party, and that's when Jake first approached me. We talked for a while, then eventually, we walked off on our own.

Speaker 1 It's a little fuzzy because I had been drinking. But I remember we had a very long conversation, off to the side.

Speaker 1 And then he kissed me.

Speaker 1 I was standing by my friend's car, still talking to Jake, and some of my friends came up to us. They wanted to go home.
It was pretty late at this point, at least 2 a.m. in the morning.

Speaker 1 I left and went home, but Jake stayed at the party.

Speaker 1 If everyone's putting pressure on Jake to have an alibi for Saturday night, why didn't he mention this to anyone?

Speaker 1 There were so many people at this party. So many witnesses saw Jake there.

Speaker 1 It's sketchy that he would lie about this.

Speaker 1 Tons of witnesses. And the funny thing is, that summer, I kept a journal.
And I wrote down everything I did, every day, that entire summer. Would you like to see that pain?

Speaker 1 But it's not just my journal or the witnesses that prove that Jake was there that night.

Speaker 1 I have video proof he was there.

Speaker 17 I have a video.

Speaker 1 I have a Snapchat video. And in it, you clearly see him.

Speaker 1 It even has the date and time stamp on it.

Speaker 1 12:38 a.m. in the morning, that Saturday night.

Speaker 1 Why would he lie about this this too, Payne?

Speaker 20 All right, this will be an interview between Andy Clamser and Jake. Is it Stedden-Benz?

Speaker 7 Yes, sir.

Speaker 18 And today's date is the 30th of September.

Speaker 26 So could you tell me how well you knew Joseph?

Speaker 4 If you want to dive in deeper into the conversation of this season, go join our Discord.

Speaker 4 The link to it is in the episode description. You can follow me on Instagram at Payne Lindsey and at Up and Vanished.

Speaker 4 And for ad-free listening of Up and Vanished and every other Tinderfoot TV show, subscribe to Tinderfoot Plus on Apple Podcasts or just go to TenderfootPlus.com.

Speaker 4 There's a $50,000 reward.

Speaker 4 Come get it.

Speaker 2 Up and Vanished in the Midnight Sun is a production of Tenderfoot TV in association with Odyssey. Your host is Payne Lindsey.

Speaker 2 The show is written by Payne Lindsey with additional assistance from Mike Rooney. Executive producers are Donald Albright and Payne Lindsey.

Speaker 2 Lead producer is Mike Rooney, along with producers Dylan Harrington and Cooper Skinner. Editing by Mike Rooney and Cooper Skinner with additional editing by Dylan Harrington.

Speaker 2 Supervising producer is Tracy Kaplan. Additional production by Victoria McKenzie, Alice Kanik Glenn, and Eric Quintana.
Artwork by Rob Sheridan. Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set.

Speaker 2 Mixed and mastered by Cooper Skinner. Thank you to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, Beck Media and Marketing, and the Nord Group.

Speaker 2 Special thanks to all of the families and community members that spoke to the team. Additional information and resources can be found in our show notes.

Speaker 2 For more podcasts like Up and Vanished, search Tenderfoot TV on your favorite podcast app or visit us at tenderfoot.tv. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 29 Every story has layers and sometimes the truth hides in plain sight. I'm Josh Dean, host of Chameleon, the podcast about people who transform, deceive, and survive.

Speaker 29 From con artists to unbelievable yet true occurrences, we dive into stories where nothing is ever quite as it seems. Because to understand the world, you sometimes have to change the way you see it.

Speaker 29 Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.