Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Steve Austin have a lot in common, as it turns out. They both dig beer, RVs and...they were both pro wrestlers! Join Steve and Chavo as they talk about custom brews, growing up in the Guerrero family, Florida wrestling, Chavo's role with Lucha Underground and wrestling rings!
Hello, I'm Rabia Chaudry, I invite you to join me every Tuesday for new episodes of Nighty Night Bedtime Stories to keep you awake now on PodcastOne. This new incarnation of Nighty Night is an anthology of stories that bring to life classic horror stories some you're definitely familiar with and others that you'll be hearing for the first time. Join me as I took you into bed with stories that will leave you sleepless all night long. Get new episodes of Nighty Night every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 337 of The True Crime All the Time Unsolved podcast, I'm Mike Ferguson. And with me, as always, is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. Give me How are you? Hey, I'm doing good about you. I am doing excellent. Excellent. I'm doing very well. That's good. Let's go ahead and give our patron shout outs. We had Becky, Kenny, Becky. Nicole. What's up, Nicole? Kyra. Hey, Kyra. Wayward Arrow Company Thanks. Arrow contracts jumped up to our highest level. Well, thank you, Kat. John Satel are subtly Natalie Hendricks C Natalie. Jason LaRue What's going on, Jason? Alexis areas. Well, I appreciate that, Chris. Don a good old Olivia. There's Olivia Kiley, Malum. What's up? Melhem, Tony Boon, even Romi Gerard. Gerard Lizzie jumped out of the highest level. Thanks, Lizzie. Matthew Carrasquillo ask you to like mosquito. Not like that at all. No. Scott Rudin. Hey, Scott. Susan Sandline, what's going on? Say? And last but not least, Jacob Smith. Mr. Smith. And then if we go back into the vault. This week we selected Michelle. Harriet, thank you so much, Michelle. Yeah, thanks for all the patrons support. And we had a great PayPal donation from Tanner Atkinson. Thank you, Akesson. Thank you to everyone. Gibbs right now on true crime all the time, we have an episode out on Patrick Anthony Russo. This guy was an ex-convict. We're down in the Austin, Texas, area and basically he was casing houses. Yeah, yeah. Posing as a potential buyer looking for a victim. Yeah. And he found one in a woman named Diane. Holly is definitely a creep. So definitely check that out. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of True Crime all the time unsolved? I am ready. We are talking about the disappearance of Zab Quinn, and we have these every now and then where it's really more unresolved than it is unsolved. They pretty much know who's responsible. And, you know, I don't want to give it away, but we'll we'll talk about it as we get into Zeb. Quinn went missing soon after clocking out of work on January 2nd, 2000. The details surrounding his disappearance are highly suspicious and there has never been found. The police have focused on one suspect for two decades, and he has told the police what happened to Zeb. TSB's case remains unresolved and the alleged killer is dead. So, you know, the person pretty much admitted to what happened and we'll go through all the details, but they can't really do anything to him. Zeb Wayne Quinn was born on May 12, 1981. He was only 18 when he disappeared. TSB's parents Denise Malachy's and Gerry Quinn divorced when he was two years old. Zeb graduated high school in 1999. He lived with his mother in Arden, North Carolina, and continued his part time job in the electronics department at a Walmart in Asheville. He was enrolled in classes at Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College and had talked about joining a management training program at Walmart. Hello. It's a great city. Yeah, it really is. I like North Carolina in general. Yeah, my wife and I had talked about possibly, you know, maybe moving there sometime in our senior years. Oh, OK, maybe then you go through the management program at Wal-Mart. I actually did. Yeah, yeah. I started working at Wal-Mart while I was in college. I was pushing carts and very quickly, you know, I worked in a department and then I was the department head and then I was an assistant manager. There's a reason why I got out of it. There's actually a couple of reasons. Number one, the hours are unbelievable. Yeah, as like an assistant manager. The pay wasn't bad for I was like twenty two years old, Megan. You know, pretty good amount of money, but also working 70 plus hours a week, probably. And they can move you anywhere, basically in the country at any time. The way it works is like one of those Walmart trucks pulls up to your house. Yeah, and they load your stuff up and you're off to another state. You're gone. I wasn't about that. My wife wasn't into that because all of our family's here. So and you really were just the assistant to the assistant. Yes, the manager. Yes. Dwight Schrute, right? Numerous people who talked about Zab spoke about what a good kid he was. Zeb was kind and a very responsible person. And this is the type of kid who didn't come home late without calling his mother, and he often paged her to tell her what he was up to. I love the old pager days. You were probably one of those guys that had three or four pagers on you. No, but I did have a pager for work, and I thought at the time, Man, this is pretty cool technology. Yeah, it really was. Darrell, tech yourself the the number sequence so would make words like boob or something. No, I wasn't that juvenile, OK? I forget I asked that then, Patti Anderegg, exam supervisor in the electronics department, told the Asheville Citizen Times. He'd call me every morning just to talk or to see if he'd gotten everything done he was supposed to. He's the kind of guy I'd want my daughter to marry, and that is high praise, man. It really is because most people, most dads, I should say it's very tough to find someone who you think is worthy of marrying your daughter. It's a tough card to fill. It is Zab, sister Brandi Stanely told the paper. My brother's only down. Was that he was naive and gave everyone the benefit of the doubt? And there are a lot of people like that. You know, whether you want to use the word naive, trusting, yeah. Or that they just want to see the good in people and maybe they're not looking for the bad and therefore they don't see it. Patti Andrew told the Asheville Citizen Times that before his disappearance, Zeb expressed concerns about his safety and made comments that his life had been threatened because of his association with a young woman. And I think as a parent, that would be scary if your child came to them and said, I think my life's in danger. Yeah, you have to be concerned, alarmed. I don't know what you do. I mean, every situation is a little different. But on January 2nd, 2000, Zeb went to work at Wal-Mart. He ran into his former co-worker in a Queens 24 year old Robert Jason Owens, who went by the name Jason Zeb, sometimes went fishing or played pool with him. You know, one thing we haven't said yet is how amazed are we? This is January 2nd, 2000. I mean, the world was supposed to end absolutely just a few days before, and it didn't. And yeah, I remember that time very distinctly. I never bought into it, but I know a lot of people did. Yeah, and there was a grave concern by many that, you know, we were headed for a disaster. Zeb told Jason he was looking to buy a car. Jason said he knew a car for sale in Lyster that Zeb might be interested in. He offered to lead Zeb there after work. Zeb clocked out at nine 10 p.m. The store is located on Hendersonville Road. Zeb followed Jason towards Long Shoals Road. He was driving his 1990 Mazda protege. The two stopped at a Citgo store on the corner of Hendersonville and Long Shoals Road to buy sodas. Zeb got back into his car and continued following Jason. According to Jason, Zab received a message on his pager. Moments later, he flashed his lights and the two guys pulled off the road. Zab got out of his car and asked Jason if he had a phone he could use, but he did. Zab drove off to find a payphone and returned about 10 minutes later, around 9:30 p.m.. Now cell phones were out, you know, at this time, but we've talked about it before. Not everyone had one. Yeah, they were. They were still pretty limited and expensive, and they were expensive. I want to say I had my first cell phone sometime in the late 90s. I don't remember exactly what year was. Yeah, but I thought it was X amount of dollars for about 30 minutes a month. I think you're right. The thing was pretty limited. Yeah, I mean, and if you wanted more, it got expensive in a hurry and there was no data because the phones then worked that way. So you were either calling somebody or that was it, and they weren't playing Tetris or no or whatever. And they were huge. Yeah, and there were they were pretty large. You sure as heck weren't watching Tic-Tacs? No, you were not because there was no Tic TAC. But this is something that, you know, maybe a lot of people listening have never had to do. Think about that trying to find a payphone. Yeah. So that you could make a phone call. I mean, we're so spoiled now that I can hit a button on my steering wheel and tell the car who I want to call. I don't even have to pick up the phone. No, you don't. Pretty soon, you just have to think it to where we're headed. It's going to come. You watch. Well, we're not that far off. I told you that story about the YouTube videos. Commercials that pop up are four things that I think I talked with my wife about. Yeah, somebody is listening to me. They are, and it's scaring me. Zeb hit Jason's truck when he pulled up behind him. Zeb promised to pay for the damage and said he received another page and couldn't go to see the car he drove away. And this was the last time Jason saw it. So, I mean, what's the first thing that comes to your mind about this interaction means a little strange, right? What's the sense of urgency? What happened? Yes. And was Zeb rattled by the page in the phone call to the point where I mean, he has Jason's truck when he gets back? Yeah. Is it because he was shaken up? Denise reported Zeb missing on January 3rd after he didn't come home. Then he sent the first of five pages to Zeb, starting at nine thirty four p.m.. He didn't answer any of them at first. She thought he was playing pool with his friends and forgot to call her, but she became worried as time passed. And this was a time when it was much harder to get a hold of people than it is today. There were no apps to track someone to see exactly where they were. You either left a phone message or you left a page and you had to wait for them to call you back. I'm so glad I didn't have a pager at that time when I was that age. My mom would have text me, paged me every minute or phone. Yeah, because there's no cell phones when you were that age. Exactly. Yeah. So she would have she would have paged me every minute until she finally either showed up or I called. I know she would did it every minute. Well, and I do. I think what that has led to is and we've talked about it in terms of true crime. Is it harder to get away with things today because of of certain technology? Yeah, maybe. And I would say probably so. Also harder for kids to get away with certain things like we used to back in the day. Oh, I think it's it's much harder for kids to get away with things today. I mean, they're pretty, pretty smart. Oh, they'll figure out a way to circumvent it. Yeah, but it's still harder. On January 4th, Zeb Supervisor Patricia and Eric answered a call at Wal-Mart from a man who claimed to be zet, saying he couldn't come in. She noticed that his voice didn't sound like Zeb, and she asked him questions to try to trip him up to prove that he wasn't Zeb. She dialed star, 69, and discovered that the call came from Volvo construction equipment. The police learned that Jason Owens worked there. When he was questioned, Jason said Zeb had asked him to call Wal-Mart on his behalf, and he didn't know that Zab never came home. It recalled a friend, and before I I think I've called maybe for a girlfriend, almost like a Ferris Bueller's Day Off type situation. OK? I remember doing that. I don't know if I've ever called pretending to be a friend because the friend could just call themselves a thing. But yeah, but this, like very early here is not looking good for Jason. Oh no, it's no. Denise told the Asheville Citizen Times that Jason passed a polygraph. The police initially told the niece that Zabar's disappearance didn't seem suspicious. What concerned her the most was that he didn't take any extra clothes with him, and he left his contact solution at home. As the days passed, he didn't withdraw any money from his bank account, and he never enrolled in classes at the technical college. We hear some of these things in other cases we've done. I'm not really sure why the contact solution stuff pops up because I'm assuming you can get it at any store, you know, drugstore convenience store. Maybe the contact solution isn't that big a deal, but if that's all you have contact and your plan, you have to wear him every day. Why wouldn't you take solution if you're planning on being gone? Probably. To me, the bigger deal is why no clothes and even bigger than that, not withdrawing any money. Yeah, the money's the bigger thing. She and Zeb sister Brandi didn't believe he would want to run away. Zab loved his job and he was a happy person, and this is something that we hear a lot as well. And it's not that family always knows, right? Exactly what everyone is dealing with, but I think by and large they do. They know when they're around their child day in and day out, right? Is this the type of person who is happy they're enjoying life? Why would they want to run away? Yeah, I mean, maybe the parents can be a little cloudy on it, but normally your sibling is going to be more in tune. Yeah. Might have a better handle on the situation. On January 16th, Deb's car was found in the parking lot of Little Pigs barbecue on McDowall Street in Asheville. Why do you look hungry all sudden? Well, you know they have some good barbecue in the Carolinas. They do, according to Captain Ted Lambert from the Asheville PD. The car had not been there since January 2nd. Restaurant employees also said the car wasn't there at five p.m. the day before. So that's pretty interesting, right? Disappears on January 2nd. The car, it seems, arrives in the parking lot either on the night of the 15th or the morning of the 16th. So the question is where was it for the previous two weeks and who parked it there and who ultimately parked it there? The. It is found in ZEVs vehicle, has confounded his family investigators and the public for over 20 years. Inside the car, investigators found drink bottles. Now we don't know exactly what that means. The Citizen Times specifically said drink bottles. But there there was no reference to alcohol. But it's a strange wording. There was a jacket that did not belong to Zab, a motel room keycard and a live black lab puppy, and it was a sad state. The puppy was left without food or water and had feces on it. Thankfully, it was found alive. Yeah, and an officer later adopted the puppy. But you and I have covered a lot of cases between T cat and T cat unsolved. And in those cases there have been a lot of cars found and we discuss the things that have been found in those cars. What I don't remember ever talking about was a live puppy. No. And so you can see why this kind of collection of things that were found have confused people for so many years. Certainly a strange scenario in maybe the strangest detail was that someone used an orange pink shade of lipstick to draw a large set of lips on the back window in between two exclamation mark. No idea what that means. No. And maybe it doesn't mean anything. Or maybe it means something we just don't know. We don't know. The driver's seat was pretty close to the steering wheel, which suggested the last person to drive the car was shorter. Now this comes up a lot in cases, and I've had a lot of people email me and say, OK, the seat was pushed way back. That means the person was bigger, taller, and that's usually the theory. Sure. Just like the opposite here, where the person is thought to be shorter now, it is possible that somebody could move the seat after they get out to throw investigators off the track. Some people have emailed that they always move the seat back before they get out, just to give them more room to get out. I find that strange. I I've never done that because I want my seat in the same spot every time. I don't even like when someone drives my truck for whatever reason, changes the settings because I can never get it back. You know, I don't have one of those buttons that you hit. It takes it right back to that perfect spot. I wish I did, but so I got to mess with it, you know, move it back up down, you know, and finally, fire me. I don't know. This is going to have to do. This is going to have to. ZBZ car was also seen parked and driving through the area around the Livingston Street Apartments in Asheville. An anonymous witness told the police they saw the car there with someone inside in the days after TSB's disappearance. True crime all the time unsolved is brought to you by progressive insurance. Most of you listening right now, we're probably multitasking. Yep. While you're listening to give me an I talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you can be doing right now getting an auto quote from progressive insurance. It's easy, and you could save money by doing it right from your phone. Drivers you saved by switching to Progressive saved nearly seven hundred and fifty dollars on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles in your policy. 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According to the Asheville Citizen Times, Capt. Ted Lambert said there was no indication so far of foul play. No indication that he's run away. We're still receiving information and leads daily, and we're still following up on that information and we'll continue to do so. The family is puzzled by the phone call Zab received. Well, I think everybody has to be puzzled by that, right? I mean, you hear about him getting this page. He goes to the phone, comes back frantic, hits Jason's truck, allegedly and cuts short their plans. Yeah. So I got to go, man. To me, that's concerning. According to an August 2000 Asheville Citizen Times article, Dennis eventually learned that Zab did receive the messages she sent to his pager. The only other number listed on his pager belonged to his aunt, Iona usage his father's sister. She denied paging him or that she was at home when the message was sent to Z-Boys. Pager case. A little bizarre, right? Yeah, very bizarre. I didn't see in that page wasn't me. She told the Sun-Times that the police told her one call was made to her apartment three minutes after Zab received the page. This call came from his father, Gerry Quinn's apartment, and apparently Jerry said, I didn't make no call. I wasn't even home. I was working. I don't know who could've done that. Ina said the police told her phone records show several other calls being made from her apartment after Zab disappeared, so some suspicion has to be setting in, right? Well, absolutely. You've got strange calls being made from his aunt's house, his father's house, but they're both denying that they ever, you know, made these calls. Now, I know told the Asheville Citizen Times I was never at home when I got home. Those days, my phone was moved to different parts of the house. One day, a picture from my wall was down. It was broken. I was really scared. No one has a key to my apartment. I even called that detective on the case to tell him about it. Yes. Got freaky, right? If you know you didn't move that phone and nobody else has a key besides maybe the landlord, right? Yeah. And where might have a key? But now you're into some like poltergeist type. Yeah, stuff here. Phones are moving, pictures are falling off the wall and be moving. She said that the police followed her and questioned her repeatedly. But she maintained that she knew nothing about TSB's disappearance and had passed a polygraph. This is times also noted that one of the people Denise called after Zab went missing was a girl that Zeb had been spending time with. Ina Usage told The Citizen Times. This girl was with her and a group of others late on the night. Zeb disappeared on February 14th, 2001. A warrant was served for blood and hair samples from Jason. Oh, Captain Tom, Artemus said about the warrant. DNA evidence was found in both vehicles will compare the trace evidence to trace evidence received from Owens's vehicle and Zeb Quinn's vehicle. So definitely Owens was a suspect at this point, but there wasn't enough evidence to charge him, so it's taken about a year to get to this point. Yeah, and it seems like in in that years time, a lot of strange things came out. We don't know what it all means, but some of it is very strange. On October 28th, 2002, Jason Owens was involved in a car accident after fleeing from an officer. The officer who initiated the chase was concerned that he was driving under the influence. Jason fled down the interstate before turning on to a different route. He fired three to five shots at the officer. The chase ended when Jason hit a mailbox and flipped his vehicle. He was in critical condition immediately after the wreck. You know the two things you don't do. Drive drunk and run from an officer and fire shots at an officer. So let's three. Let's say three three things you don't do. On November 6th, Jason Owens was arrested on nine charges after spending nine days in the hospital. The charges included eluding, arrest and assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm. OK, I would have to say that second one is a pretty serious charge. First one's not great, but that second one seems like it would be very serious if you're taking a shot at a police officer. On December 31st, 2003, Nashville police released a video of Zeb entering the convenience store on the night of January 2nd, 2000, Zaban Jason entered the store in 9:14 p.m., bought some sodas and left two minutes later. Owns his truck was captured driving by the gas pumps, followed by Zabar's vehicle. So nothing out of the ordinary there, right? That's what Jason said happened when he was first interviewed. Yeah, yeah, it seems to to corroborate what he said. The police also announced that they were treating the case as a homicide and noted that Jason Owens had refused to cooperate since giving his first statement. But is that all that strange? I mean, if you're looking at me as a major suspect to the point where you want blood and hair samples, how cooperative am I going to be? Probably not, too, especially if you talk to your attorney. Further developments in the case occurred a few years later. A new search utilizing ground penetrating radar started in April 2007 on Jason Owens property off Owens Cove Road. In October 2007, the police retrieved hair, fingerprints and saliva samples from a female friend of Zabar's, who was last seen at a convenience store in South Asheville. However, the police didn't consider her a suspect or person of interest in his disappearance. Spokeswoman Melissa Williams told the Asheville Citizen Times as the cold case unit reviewed this case file, they noted that we had not gotten a DNA profile from her. There is no new evidence and no new leads. This was routine review of the case file and detectives looking for any unfinished work. So I think from that, it sounds like they were just checking a box. Yeah, just making sure everything lined up the way it should. Investigative documents stated that Zab and this woman were friends. He was interested in her. But she said they had a casual relationship. Zeb said he was worried about her because her boyfriend was abusive, and he said he was in trouble with her boyfriend because of his interest. Records showed that the woman first called Zab on December 20th, 1999, and they contacted each other several times until he disappeared. OK, this makes me think that this is the woman that he was worried. Yeah, that he was in trouble over. If she's got a boyfriend who's abusive, maybe dangerous, then that's most likely why he was fearful and had those concerns. The 16 Times reported that Jason Owens spent 23 months in state prison between 2002 and 2009 for convictions for habitual impaired driving, speeding to elude arrest, assault on an officer, resisting officers, reckless driving and drunk and disorderly conduct. Owens was also convicted of distributing prescription drugs and possessing stolen items. He was last released from prison in July 2009. He later started a business as a handyman. Well, you know what, when you do all those things that he did, you're going to spend some time in jail. Yeah, yeah. I mean, twenty three months actually sounds a little late, but this is a lot of different charges. Then on March 17, 2015, Jason Owens was charged with the murders a 45 year old Joseph Kahn and 38 year old Christy Card, a husband and wife from North Carolina. He was also charged with the murder of their unborn child. Breaking and entering and larceny. So the charges before were not great. But these obviously are at a different level. So we're finding out that Jace is just not that great of a guy. No, not not a good guy at all. Joseph, who went by JT and Christy, got married in September 2014. They had lived in Lancaster for about two years. JT worked in the film industry, and it worked on shows like Without a Trace. Christy was a celebrity chef and caterer and was a finalist on the show Food Network star. Couple of popular shows there. Yeah, and it sounds like they had their you know what together? Yeah, they had good careers, and JT had hired Jason as a handyman to work on their house. He lived about a mile away from the cards. Julie helped in a co-worker of JT, said that Owens was at the wedding and served turkey there. JT and Christy stop sending text or calls on March 11th, but Chris? His phone sent a text to her mother on March 14th. Investigators believe they died on March 12th. They were reported missing on March 15. Cecilia Owens, a family friend in an aunt by marriage of Jason Owens, had a key to the house because she had done some housesitting for the couple. Christie's father called her and asked her to check on them. She entered the home and knew something was wrong because Christie would never have left her dogs unattended for long periods of time. The dogs had defecated and urinated inside the house. The couple's vehicles were still at the house, but they were nowhere to be found. Cecilia called Christie's father and he reported them missing. Isn't it interesting that our case on T Cat involved a dog dog left inside for extended period of time? Yeah, kind of. Eerily similar, yeah. Right? In both cases, when officers entered the home, they saw that a break in occurred. Jason Owens was charged with breaking into the home that day and stealing a laptop, jewelry and a Glock handgun. On the evening of the 15th, someone reported the man behaving suspiciously while putting large trash bags in a dumpster. Investigators found the bags and determined the items inside belonged to Christie cut. Owens was found on Monday, the 16th and interviewed. He admitted to breaking into the house that night. Human remains were found in a wood stove on his property. Wow, that's going to be tough to get out of, yeah. According to later released search warrants, Jason eventually admitted that he accidentally killed the couple and then stored and destroyed the body, accidentally killed the couple. How do you accidentally kill somebody? Two people, two people. Detectives learned how J.T. died from Owens, his wife. She said he told her he was driving J.T. struck and hit him with it. The search warrant gave no indication of how Christie died. So I understand you could accidentally hit someone. Sure. While driving a truck, you could kill them. But then how did Christie die? Yeah. How did she accidentally die? And if it was an accident, why not just stop and call the police and say, Man, this was an accident? Well, because you're an ex-con in robbing their house and robbing their house. The remains of two individuals believed to be J.T. and Christie Cod were sent to the Buncombe County Medical Examiner, but they remained officially unidentified for months. A fire early on March 20 destroyed an unoccupied mobile home on the Owens property. Seven calls were made reporting the fire shortly after 2:00 a.m.. One caller reported that someone was setting fires to everything up here on the mountain and asked the first responders to hurry. Arson investigators determined that the fire was suspicious after Jason Owens was arrested. News outlets that reported on his arrest for murder also reported that he was a suspect in the disappearance of Zab Quinn, which brought new attention to the case. And how could it not? Here's a guy who was thought to maybe be involved in the disappearance of Zab. They never had enough to charge him, right? But now we find out that in the years that followed, he spent time in prison. And now it's being reported that, you know, he might have murdered this couple. How could you not put two and two together? Yeah. Well, you've got to think, well, he's capable of doing something like that, and he is capable of getting rid of evidence because he knows how to use that outdoor oven on his property. Could he have done something similar to that? On March 30th, investigators served new warrants on the Owens property. They brought cadaver dogs and started digging. But investigators wouldn't say if they were searching for evidence in the Codd case or the Zeb Quinn case on April six for new charges were filed against Jason after a grand jury hearing, two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon and two counts of dismembering human remains. A breaking and entering and larceny charge was dropped. Well, they didn't really need those charges anymore. They had the more severe charges. Yeah, yeah. I mean, they're going after him for the the big ones. Search warrants were released in June 2015 that revealed that on March 27, a relative told the police about an abandoned fish pond project that Owens started soon after Zab disappeared in January 2000. The warrant, stated both prior to and after January 2000, owns an area within the above listed. Property that he had dug out and used to burn items. This individual further stated that sometime after January 2000. Exact date unknown. Owens had poured concrete over this area and claim that he was planning to construct a fish pond at a distance from the residence that would not be convenient to enjoy it from. Yeah, so it's sounds like maybe something was strange about it, right? Why would you want that fish pond? There doesn't make any sense. Yeah. If you were going to make one, why not make it closer to, you know, the houses? The pond was never completed, and eventually Jason covered it with dirt. This prompted the search at the end of the month. The warrant stated that fabric, leather and unknown hard fragments were buried under a layer of concrete on the property. Investigators also found white powder and pieces of metal and concrete when they dug up the old fish pond area. They found numerous bags containing pulverized lime or powdered mortar mix. The warrant was obtained while investigators were searching the property for evidence in the COD murders and stated. Detectives have determined that the probability exists that more human remains may be located on the property. I'm guessing this probably got the community chatting about all this stuff. Yeah, I would think so. Right. Number one, you have two people and an unborn baby dead. Yeah. Now you got to be curious about this so-called fish pond. It was never completed. They're finding things under the concrete, which have to make you think that that was only poured to cover something up. The warrant contains some details from the original Zeb Quinn investigation, noting that Jason Owens failed to show up to work on January 3rd, 2000, the day after Zeb went missing. Jason said he was in an accident and received treatment at an urgent care center. The center records showed he was treated for a head wound and fractured rib. The detective wrote Owens his injuries were not consistent with the minor accident he claims occurred with Quinn the night before. So that's interesting from the standpoint that it was said Zeb hit him with his truck and his truck with his truck. To me, that sounded like a very minor fender bender, and I think this detective is saying that as well, not something that would have caused a head wound and a fractured rib. Yeah. So then the question becomes, Well, how did he received it? What caused that? The warrant also noted that Owens admitted to making the call pretending to be Zab on January 4th. In May 2015, investigators searched the Bent Creek experimental forest after receiving information in the Zab Quinn case. A U.S. Forest Service official called the area an active crime scene. Two years after he was arrested on April 27, 2017, Jason Owens pleaded guilty to the murders of J.T. Cod, Christie, Cod and their unborn child, as well as dismembering their remain. So, you know, he went from being in a pretty bad guy to a really bad guy. Yeah, real quick. As part of his plea deal, he was sentenced to a minimum of fifty nine and a half years and a maximum of 74 and a half years in prison without the possibility of parole. The robbery charges were dismissed. Well, that's pretty much saying you're going to prison for life. And that was a plea deal. Yeah. So you can only imagine that, you know, he could have been facing the death penalty or, you know, life without parole because he didn't get life without parole. He got, you know, 59 to 75, which is still a very, very long time and could be life. Owens said in court, as quoted by the Asheville Citizen Times. To the families of J.T. and Christy and their friends, I want you to know that I am sincerely sorry for the loss of your loved ones and the pain and suffering it's caused you. I'm grateful for you for the mercy you have left with this court to show me. I am truly sorry. After the hearing, it was revealed that Jason admitted he accidentally ran over the couple with the truck and dismembered their bodies. He said that he accidentally ran over them when they were trying to get the truck out of the ditch and he hit the accelerator. JT and Christy were standing in front of the vehicle when he ran over them, he said in his interview. Then I backed back over them because I knew what I had done. Wow, OK. I was like, Well, I ran over him and it wasn't good, so I backed back over them to make sure it was done completely. And then I dismembered and burned their bodies to try to get away with it. Now that's if you believe that it was an accident, right? He said he put Christy's body in a bedroom, then took Jodi's body to his property. He dismembered the remains and put them in a plastic bag. He dismembered Christie's remains in her shower and put the body parts in a bag. He burned both bodies in a wood stove on his property. He destroyed the bodies because he believed he would face manslaughter charges due to his record of drunk driving. During his interview, he said, I'm not a bad guy. I didn't mean to hurt them. They were my friends. No, you were a bad guy. I mean, it's a tough one to swallow, right? Could you accidentally run over to people? Yes, you could. Yeah. But when you say that you intentionally backed up over them again, essentially to make sure that they were dead? Yeah, because how do you know they were not dead? Not there. To the point that you needed a backup over again, you, you know, if you didn't get out of the truck to check on them, maybe they could have been saved. Absolutely. In court today, Ronnie Hastie said investigators didn't find any damage to the truck, but learned that Jason and another man cleaned the back of the truck. Now what that means? I don't know because he said they were standing in front of the truck. Would you expect to see some damage? Maybe, maybe not. If you hit them hard enough to kill, you would think there would be some damage to that truck. But my other thought is, if you're trying to get out of the ditch and you hit the accelerator and they're standing in front of you, what would happen? Yeah, I guess it depends on the size of the truck. You're not going 60 miles an hour, you're starting from zero and you're hitting the accelerator. It's not going to be good. What happens? But is it going to kill them instantly? And my thought would be probably not unless it's a certain type of truck, you know? Maybe. Yeah. It just seems like there's some holes in the story. I think backing up over them was probably what killed them. So just remember, you know, he felt so bad about this that he had to go in and rob their house, too. Yes. His defense told the court that Jason was mentally impaired because he was on painkillers and he was diagnosed with PTSD after Zeb disappeared and he became a suspect when his defense attorneys, Victoria Jane and Sean Dever, were asked about the Zab Quinn case. They said Jason cooperated with authorities. Jane said, per the Asheville Citizen Times, he's given a very detailed statement regarding that matter. In our opinion, he is not at all responsible. For the death of Zeb Quinn, when asked if Jason was present when Zeb died, Devereaux said that matter is not over yet. OK, that is a strange answer. That's not a no. No, it's not. It's not a denial. That's something else is going on that hasn't been disclosed. And what is that? On July 10, 2017, a Buncombe County grand jury indicted Jason Owens for first degree murder in the Zab Quinn case. Sean Devereaux, Jason's defense attorney, noted that Jason did an interview regarding Deb's case over a year before his plea and sentencing on March 15, 2018. A judge rejected the prosecutor's attempt to separate Jason from his lawyers due to a conflict of interest after he pleaded guilty in the cod case. Owens wrote to his wife that he was forced to take the plea and that he intended to challenge it. However, in court, he said he was happy with his counsel. Court documents filed during this hearing revealed new details in the Zeb Quinn case. Defense attorneys Jayne and Devereaux wrote that Jason told them what happened to Zab shortly after they were appointed as his attorneys. Jason said that a family member killed Zeb, then dismembered and burned his remains. This family member is now deceased. Four years later, in early July 2022. Victoria Jane said that she expected the Zeb Quinn case to be settled later that month, so a family member who is deceased knew killed Zeb took his body apart and burned it just similar to what Jason had just done. Yeah, OK. That month, the Asheville Citizen Times reviewed a court memorandum written by the defense in January 2018 that stated on July 8th, 2017, two years after Owens implicated him in the murder of Zeb Quinn, Walter Jean Owens died. He was 66 years old. Victoria Jane told The Citizen Times at Walter Eugene Owens had lived in the same home as Jason for a number of years in the court filing. The defense wrote that Walter Owens was the one who submitted the tip about the fish pond in March 2015 because he was trying to misdirect the police. Walter Owens, who went by the name Jean, denied any involvement in the murder before he died. One source close to the case told local outlet News 13, that Zeb was saving up money to buy a car and that robbery was the moat. Jason accused his uncle of murder during an interview in late May 2015. He alleged that his uncle killed Zeb in the Bent Creek experimental forest in that Sam's body was dismembered and burned there. The interview was interrupted because officers left early to go to the site. The defense later said they were not told the results of the search, but they were told detectives found inconsistencies in Jason's story. The defense arranged for North Carolina State forensic anthropology professors to search the site. Jason also took and passed a polygraph, but law enforcement declined to oversee a second polygraph. So sounds like this family definitely has some bad apples. Well, either they have a couple of bad apples, or they have one really bad apple who is trying to implicate and pin Jeb's murder on one of their family members who is now deceased. Yeah, he said he wasn't involved when he was alive, but obviously he has since passed and now can't defend himself at all. On July 25th, 2020, to Jason Owens pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact in the murder of Zab Quinn. He was sentenced to one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty nine months to be served consecutively to his life sentence. Well, it's easier now to plead guilty to that versus potentially being charged with murder down the road, right? Well, and I think that is a question that you have to raise. Why would he plead guilty to this now? Number one, he's got a very long sentence and may never get out anyway. But I think you could take a different look at it more along the lines of where you were going and say, Hey, I'm better off doing this than getting charged with the murder myself, and maybe I get something worse than what I already had. Yeah, this is nothing compared to what I already have during and after court the defense. That Jason's abusive and controlling uncle tricked him into luring Zeb into the forest to meet the woman he was attracted to, the woman, Misty Taylor, wasn't there. Gene Owens was hired by her boyfriend. Gene, killed Zab, then dismembered and burned the body. Well, Gene was hired by her boyfriend when her boyfriend be guilty to be as guilty. Victoria Jane said in court to the Citizen Times, This is not a compromise plea. This is not that old. There's just insufficient evidence and we want to get this case closed and plead to accessory. It is, in our opinion, that accessory is exactly what Mr. Owens is guilty of, and that's why we're here today. But prosecutors remain skeptical of Jason's story that he was not the killer, and I think you and I have kind of expressed some skepticism ourselves, added Jeremy Engel said, per the Asheville Citizen Times. Based on the evidence available, the lack of evidence of motive. Cause of death. Speculation of evidence based on the decades long pause in critical leads in the case. A conviction of first degree murder at trial, though never a certainty, would present a steep challenge. Considering all these factors and that I completely understand. A lot of time has gone by 20 plus year. Yeah, it's a pretty good gap. Now you have the introduction that the uncle was involved. That's going to cloud things. I think it would be a very tough challenge for a prosecutor to get a first degree murder conviction on what they have. It was noted that Owens description of Jeb's murder was similar to the disposal of the cards bodies. Both cases involve dismemberment and burning of remains. Defense Attorney Victoria James said at the hearing that this was because of what Owen saw his uncle do in the past. And, you know, either that is true or he's just saying that his uncle did this because he knows that's what he did. Yeah, to the cons. I mean, you could go either way, I guess, right? He learned from his uncle or it's just what he did, and he's blaming it and blaming him on his uncle. After Jason pleaded guilty, the Buncombe County D.A. posted pictures of his written statement on Twitter. The following information comes from that statement. This is what Jason Owens claimed happened on the night of January 2nd, 2000 Sunday afternoon. Jean came up to the house while I was cleaning my truck. He asked me if I knew Zab from Wal-Mart. I told him, Yes, we had gone fishing a few times together. He then told me that Zeb was talking to this girl, Misty, who had a jealous boyfriend in that misty wanted Zeb to come up by the lake where she was camping that night. He then asked me if I would go to Wal-Mart and tell him and then take him up there. I said, Sure, I went to Walmart and told that he said OK and then told me about Misty having a baby with this boyfriend that mistreated her. He then told me the boyfriend had threatened him the week before. Next, he told me him and Misty were supposed to go to Gatlinburg the next day. I told him I would meet him after work and we would go find where she was camping. After we got off, we left heading up there, stopping for drinks at the gas station. Once we got to the dirt road, we had to drive. It seemed forever before we seen anyone. Finally, we seen my uncle jeans truck. Jason wrote that he parked next to his uncle and they both got out of their vehicles. Zab left his vehicle in the road and walked over to them. Jason asked Jean where Misty was, and he said she would be there in a few minutes. He wrote Zab turned looking down the trail when Jean pulled out a 22 rifle and shot him in the back of the head. Zeb spun and dropped. I took off around my truck, jumped in and threw it and drive as I punched the gas, pulling out. I hit Deb's car. My head hit the steering wheel before I could back up to clear TSB's car. Jean ran around to my driver's side, yelling, Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not going to shoot you. I seen his hands were empty. I asked him, Why did you shoot him? Jean said he was poking his nose somewhere he shouldn't be. Someone had to teach him a lesson. You know, when you teach someone a lesson, that means that they can learn from it. Right? Yes. Yeah, that's not teaching someone a lesson. I always find that a very strange saying when someone is talking about killing someone, because once you're dead, there is no lesson to be learned. No. Now, maybe others could learn a lesson from. What you did if you're if you're trying to show others don't mess with me, but you can't teach someone a lesson once you shot them in the head. But you know, there's more to this letter, but I just want to analyze a few things here, you know? Number one, the things that that he is saying do fall in line with some of the things that are now. We stopped at the gas station, right? We bought some soda. Right now, he's saying Z didn't hit my vehicle. I hit hit right. And that's how I banged up my head and my fractured my rib. Probably. So he's it's almost as if either of this whole thing is true or it's completely false, but he's building in the facts that are known to fit. Does that make sense? Yeah. Turning it into a very believable story. Yes, Jean told Jason not to call the police because he was an accomplice. He also said that the 22 was stolen. His aunt traded it to his mother, and she gave it to Jean to get rid of Jean New. His prints were on the gun. Jason returned to the dirt road in the morning and saw Deb's car, but not zip. He drove to the pull off area to turn around and saw Jean near a large campfire. He saw Zabar's legs hanging out of the campfire. Jean told him, I see you have come to roast marshmallows with me. It's all sick. It's pretty macabre. Jean told him that since he came back, he had to stay until he was done. He didn't care that Jason had to go to work. OK, so now he's explained why he didn't show up to work, right? Because Jean told me I had to stay after the fire burned down. Jean used a shovel to throw the wet ashes into the woods. He picked up a piece of Zeb skull and said he was going to bury it in the creek. So dogs wouldn't pick up the sack. Jean ordered him to call ZEVs Workplace. Jason said he was going to lose his job at Volvo. So Jean told him to go to urgent care to get a doctor's note for his head injury. So, you know, again, either this is exactly what happened and his uncle was involved or Jason killed. Zeb wove his uncle into the story and then also wove some of these facts that were known to fit into the story. Yeah, to make it believable. I mean, it's a pretty good story. It is. From there it is. But is it factual? Well, and that's the question, and I don't know how we could ever know that, for sure. But I do have a few questions. One I think you've already raised, which is if this really went down the way it did and it was instigated by this girl's boyfriend. Why did nothing ever happened to the boyfriend? Right? I was in. He brought in question, charged something right. If he it's almost as if he ordered the killing, he would be just as guilty as Jean would have been right if he was still alive. And then, you know, you have to kind of answer that question. We know Jason killed. He was convicted. He admitted it. So did he kill Zeb as well, dismembering him and burning his body in the same way as he did the cards or when he killed the cards? Did he choose to take the same path that he had witnessed his uncle take in disposing of a body? Or was Jason the one that was paid by this boyfriend? You know? Or was Jason this girl's boyfriend? There is a whole litany of scenarios here. And you could you could picture the whole scenario with him taking Zeb up to that piece of land. Oh, just take Jean out of the story and insert Jason. Just leave it like that. It plays that way, too. Mm-Hmm. Yeah, absolutely. But it's been 23 years since Zeb Quinn disappeared because Jean Owens is dead. And Deb's body has never been found. The main evidence in the case is Jason's written statement. But like I said, right? Prosecutors have expressed their doubts about his story. And I understand why they had those doubts. I think you and I have some of those same doubts. People listening will have some of those doubts as well. What remains unresolved is the location of Zabar's remains. And let's not forget the strange evidence found in his vehicle. We still can't explain or we don't know why some of that was found inside his his vehicle. And we really don't know who killed. We don't know. I mean, for his family, you know, at least they know what happened to him based on Jason's story. So does that help them out a little bit? I don't really know. Yeah, the one thing I believe is that he was murdered. His body was dismembered and his remains were burned. I believe that happened. And I also believe Jason was involved. It's the extent of his involvement that I'm really unsure about. Did it go down the way that, you know, his statement reads? Or did he try to lessen his involvement by substituting himself and putting in his uncle in certain parts and really just making him Jason kind of the accomplice thereby, you know, still getting a pretty high sense, but it's nothing compared to maybe what they could have gone after if he would have admitted to first degree murder. So strange case. Very strange, but very interesting, and one that, you know, people can dissect and try to figure out where they they land with it. But that's it for our episode on the disappearance of Zeb Quinn. Got some voicemails, Gibbs here and check those out? Let's hear them. Hey, making TV. This is Danielle Kirby Pruitt from Spartanburg, South Carolina. My dad worked in a mill for 30 something years and his name on his shirt was B.S. so you guys can call me. Or they wanted to call and check in with you guys and see how things were going. Love in the podcast still out in the park as I'm going through it. Slow and easy. That way, I don't have to wait every week to get a new one because, like I said last time I called a new listener last couple of months, I discovered podcasts. You guys do an excellent job. The TV junkie. And when I tell you it is so much better to hear you tell the story than it ever has been to watch these. But I do love Nathan, Luke and. That show anyway. I hope you guys are having a great day. Just know your fans adore you severely. Tell everyone I can about your podcast to keep the word going out. I hope you guys are having a great day and thank you again for everything you do. And like many others, every day at work for 10 hours, I'll listen to you guys and you get me through the day and I appreciate it, and I know all the fans appreciate it. We love you guys and y'all have a great day. Stay safe and keep your eye on time taken. Hey, nothing wrong with slow and easy. Yeah, that's the way they do things in South Carolina and never tell you the story about trying to return a cooler to Wal-Mart in South Carolina. No, you have not. There was nobody in line at the customer service. Yeah, place. And the lady told my wife and I just to sit down and she'd be with us in a minute, and she was just talking and doing some stuff, and it didn't bother me. It was just like they just weren't in a hurry, right? And it was cool. Like, I'll get to you when I get to you. You know, our Walmart up here, everybody's running around and everything's hectic. And they were just like, you know, we're going to take care of you, but we're going to do it slow and easy like molasses. But you know, it was a great voice mail, and we appreciate it very, very much as this is Courtney from Tennessee. I stumbled across your podcast weeks ago, so I'm so first, and I went all the way back to 2017 and I started there and then I went to salt. So I'm working on both of them. I'm still in 2017, but I'm working my way up. However, I do have a family friend that is an unsolved case of getting in Indiana, and I would love for y'all to cover her case just so her case to get, you know, more coverage out there and just people. People know anything, they can get something out there and anything like that. Her name is out of the rain and the. Passed away in 2005. And that would just be fantastic if you could cover her case. Thanks for everything you do. I love lost in the aisle every morning when I drive into work and have a good day. All right. Thanks for the voicemail. She also sent me an email, so I have that information, but we'll definitely look into that case. Sure. You know, sadly, a lot of times it comes down to just how much information is out there. Yeah, yeah. On whether enough there's enough to, you know, make a complete absence. But we'll check it out for sure. All right, buddy, that is it. For another episode of true crime all the time unsolved. 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