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E231: Jaidyn Leskie (Part 1)
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In 1998, the entire country of Australia seemed gripped by the unfolding court case concerning a child who had gone missing the year prior. In 1997, nearly 14-month-old Jaidyn Leskie had gone missing while in the supervision of his mother’s boyfriend. In a case with criss-crossing plot lines, twists and turns, and a cast of complex characters, many wondered whether justice for Jaidyn were even a remote possibility.
If you are interested in bonus content for our show or in getting some Coffee and Cases swag, please consider joining Patreon. There are various levels to fit your needs, all of which can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases
The Jaidyn Leskie Murder by Michael Gleeson: https://www.amazon.com/Jaidyn-Leskie-Murder-Michael-Gleeson-ebook/dp/B003TQLOX4
Inquest Transcript:
https://www.bioforensics.com/app/download/5286326/Leskie_decision.pdf
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Transcript
The Illusion of Magic and Advertising
00:00:00
Speaker
I am a sucker for a magician. The sleight of hand, the misdirection, it gets me every time. And I'm always left wondering whether magic is maybe not scientific and logical, even though I know it is. But if it could truly be inexplicable, magic works because number one, we want to believe. And number two, because we as a people, we're easily fooled and easily distracted.
00:00:30
Speaker
After all, it's the same reason psychologically why advertising and marketing work so well on us. They tell us to focus, and we do. They tell us where to look, and we look. All the while, they can manipulate us into seeing only what they want us to see.
Misdirection in Magic and Police Investigations
00:00:51
Speaker
All of that is fine when it comes to entertainment, but it quickly becomes a horrific consequence
00:00:58
Speaker
when it comes to police investigations and the law. The question is, which version of the truth, which interpretation of the evidence is trying to fool us? Or are they all? In terms of the case this week and next, those are the exact questions everyone was asking. The focus was here, there, everywhere.
00:01:25
Speaker
everywhere that is except where it should have been on the victim. This is the case of Jayden Leskey.
Keeping Missing Persons Cases Alive
00:02:09
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families.
00:02:29
Speaker
With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because, as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week. Maggie, this week we are Across the Globe in Australia.
00:02:53
Speaker
I was literally obsessed with Australia in fourth or fifth grade. We had to do like a project on another country and I picked Australia and I was obsessed. I still kind of am to be honest. I just love the Australian accent. I'd love to see the beaches. I think it would be a great place to visit. Yeah. So that is where our case is this week and as I mentioned next because this will be a two parter because when I say
00:03:23
Speaker
Well, each part you'll find it's going to be over an hour. I can promise you that.
Introduction to Jayden Leskey's Case
00:03:29
Speaker
Oh, here we go. Get ready. And while this case received a lot of coverage there, it is lesser known here in the States.
00:03:39
Speaker
While I read many news articles, Maggie knows I go overboard in terms of reading research in preparation for sharing this case. Just a little bit. Two sources, court documents from an inquest that you'll hear about and a book about the case by Michael Gleason were so important that I want to give props here.
00:04:01
Speaker
And in fact, if you're interested in reading even more about this case after we finish, the court documents and Michael Gleason's book will be linked in our show notes. So you can check them out there and you will likely want to read more because this is one of the most complex and bizarre cases I've ever covered on the show.
00:04:27
Speaker
Oh, I'm excited. You know, I like the bizarre ones. Yeah. Well, there are some weird elements here. Before I get into it, I must give a listener warning. This episode will spend quite some time discussing child abuse and crimes against young children. So listener discretion is strongly advised. Maybe I take that excitement back
00:04:57
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
The Mystery of Jayden Leskey's Disappearance
00:04:59
Speaker
They were at the police station from 5 a.m. until 10 p.m. And Belinda Murphy left the station nearly as confused as she had arrived. Her boyfriend, Greg Domashevich, had woken her up from drunken sleep.
00:05:18
Speaker
He woke her screaming something about how he had lied to her before dragging her to the Moi police station at 5 AM. Once there, Greg explained to the police that Belinda's nearly 14 month old son Jayden had been abducted and was not at the hospital as he had previously told Belinda. So I'm just jumping right in here Maggie.
00:05:49
Speaker
We're starting at the police station. So the they then is Belinda and Greg. And Greg, yes. And she, he woke her up from her sleep, a drunken sleep to say, I lied to you before. Your son, Jaden is missing. He's not in the hospital. Like I told you, we need to go to the police.
00:06:13
Speaker
Once there, he told police that he'd only been gone for a few minutes to pick his girlfriend Belinda up, leaving Jaden alone at his house. But that when he returned, all of the windows of his home had been smashed. Jaden was gone and a severed pig's head had been left behind outside the window.
00:06:42
Speaker
Belinda, Dill hung over, thought this was another one of Greg's pranks that he was known for, and almost played off his statements at the police station as a joke, insisting to everyone who would listen, all of the officers, know he is wrong, my son is in the hospital. When her boyfriend Greg began sobbing,
00:07:09
Speaker
and continually saying Jaden had been kidnapped. The police knew this was a claim they needed to investigate and they immediately separated Belinda and Greg. Okay, so do we, I'm sure you will give us the background on why she thinks Jaden is in the hospital? I definitely will. Yes, I will. I'll give you the background on the pig's head, on the vandalism, I'll give it all to you.
00:07:36
Speaker
Now that they were in separate rooms and still not fully sober, Belinda recalled the officer interviewing her, telling her that her son was gone and that her boyfriend had killed him and staged the scene to make it appear as though someone else were responsible.
00:07:57
Speaker
Belinda didn't know at this point if this was reality or is this something that she's dreaming? None of this made any sense because remember, she's still not fully sober.
00:08:11
Speaker
And you know, I feel like when you're sleeping really good, this happened to me yesterday. When you're sleeping really good and you wake up from a nap or something, there's sometimes that you're thinking to yourself, am I actually awake? Is this really happening? Because I was sleeping so good yesterday, I napped with the baby and then when I woke up, I was like,
00:08:33
Speaker
is this real life so maybe it's one of those things she doesn't know you know could she still be dreaming right because in her mind she's thinking okay greg had been watching jayden he'd done it plenty of times before jayden was okay he was just in the hospital because he had suffered a minor burn
00:08:53
Speaker
Again, I'll give you more background on that in a minute.
Belinda Murphy's Background and Family Dynamics
00:08:56
Speaker
But she kept saying, he's fine. He had a slight burn. He was taken to the hospital. Greg was looking after him. He's still at the hospital. I don't know why you're saying all of this stuff. This has to be just some elaborate prank. Then she saw Jayden's picture that evening on the news as a missing child. By that point, she was sober.
00:09:24
Speaker
and she knew that this was real. Okay, now that I've kind of set the stage, Maggie, I'm gonna take a step back. You'll need all of this background. You'll see why I had to hook you from the beginning, otherwise you'd get lost in the weeds. And by the way, you might need a sheet of paper to keep everybody straight because there's lots of
00:09:45
Speaker
crisscrossing lines, you'll see what I mean in a minute. Okay. Yes, but all of the information I'm about to tell you is as relevant as it is complicated.
00:09:58
Speaker
So I'm gonna go way back. Love that. And I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Jaden's mom, Belinda Robin Murphy, born September 22nd, 1975. She was the middle of three children and had a chaotic and violent upbringing with an alcoholic abusive father. Eventually, her mom, Pam, took all three children and had left their father.
00:10:29
Speaker
Soon, older sister Katie began running away from home often and partying more often. At one party when she was 16, sister Katie spent a couple of days in bed with a man named Brett Lesky. Okay, and that's Jayden's last name. It is, but notice we're not talking about Belinda. We're talking about her sister Katie.
00:10:56
Speaker
Right. When Katie decided to bring Brent home, she introduced him to her younger sister Belinda, but Brent and Katie continued their relationship for the next several months before they broke up and Katie came back home to live. The family moved and shortly after Katie and Belinda's mom Pam had a stroke
00:11:21
Speaker
that left her paralyzed on one side, yeah. Belinda was only 16 at the time and she became her mother's caretaker when older sister Katie left again. So Belinda, she had to grow up fast. I mean, she had that violent, abusive home life when she was younger and she's the oldest child at home.
00:11:47
Speaker
in essence, for quite some time during those times when Katie would run away. And then when her mom suffered from the stroke and the paralysis, it was 16-year-old Belinda who was taking care of her. When Katie left again, she again ran into her ex Brett and again spent a couple of days in bed with him. Not long after, Katie returned home pregnant.
00:12:17
Speaker
but not by Brett. The family moved again, and when a very pregnant Katie ran into Brett, yet again, doing the mental math, he assumed that the baby was his because of those days that they had spent in bed together. According to my research, Katie didn't tell him any different
00:12:44
Speaker
even when he proposed marriage to, in his mind, do the right thing. Oh, Ma. OK. Yes.
00:12:55
Speaker
Now, before you go feeling really bad for Brett, even though Katie had led him to believe a lie, which is very bad, that lie also benefited Brett, who was facing jail time for stealing checks and used being a new father in court to get leniency from the judge. So our cast of characters is not most innocent, right?
00:13:23
Speaker
But right now we have Katie who has run into her ex Brett on multiple occasions, spent time in bed with him on multiple occasions, was impregnated by someone else, led Brett to believe that the child was his, they get married. This sounds kind of like an episode of Jerry Springer. Yeah.
00:13:45
Speaker
The two stayed married less than eight months between 1992 and 1993, just after Katie had her first child and got pregnant with child number two. This one was Brett's. It was at this point that Brett had a nervous breakdown. It didn't help any that now 17 year old Belinda was living with the couple.
00:14:14
Speaker
and Sister Katie suspected something was going on between her husband and her sister, which caused, as you can imagine, a lot of turmoil in the home. When Katie and Brett divorced, Brett and Belinda did move in together with a cousin of kids. This is a Jerry Springer episode. Yes, but nothing happened between them for months, at least according to them.
00:14:44
Speaker
But it did eventually, Maggie, and one year later, in 1995, Belinda also had a baby with Brett, a girl named Brijana.
00:14:59
Speaker
And in true Shakespeare's Hamlet fashion, since the divorce between sister Katie and Brett wasn't yet finalized, when Belinda's daughter was born, Belinda was both her mother and her aunt at the same time since the father, Brett was still her brother-in-law, and Brett was both dad to the daughter and uncle because the mother of his child was his sister-in-law.
00:15:31
Speaker
And wooden Brits, kids, so Brihanna. Half siblings. The other ones. Cousins, first cousins, and half siblings. Correct. Oh, okay. Now you understand why I said it's very complicated, but relevant.
00:15:54
Speaker
Then the pair, Belinda and Brett, had a second child, son Jaden Raymond Leske, born on April 30th, 1996, when Belinda was 20. And Maggie, here are his pictures. I love the little rosy cheeks. Is he not so precious? He's precious. I know. He's got like this reddish hair.
00:16:24
Speaker
It looks so cute. But these dark eyes, he's cute. I know. Jayden loved his mama, crying uncontrollably when she wasn't around. But Belinda felt like he cried too much and that something must be wrong. She was convinced he was sick. He never stopped crying.
00:16:54
Speaker
She took him to Moe Medical Center on April 2nd, 1997, but the doctors there found nothing wrong with Jayden. When the crying didn't stop, Belinda took him back on April 21st. A different doctor examined Jayden and still found nothing wrong. There wasn't a medical reason
00:17:19
Speaker
to explain his crying. And I never read what may have caused it. I don't know if he was a colicky baby. I don't know if, maybe her impression of crying so often was linked to say postpartum depression or something like that. I never read an explanation just that he was always crying.
00:17:45
Speaker
And he's like about a year old then, right? Yes, correct. Yep. Yes.
Greg's Disturbing Behavior and Pranks
00:17:52
Speaker
But Jaden also loved to eat. Even things he wasn't supposed to. If it was in reach, it was going into his mouth.
00:18:02
Speaker
During this time, you can imagine, he's crying all the time, he's sticking everything in his mouth, and watching over him became the sole responsibility of his mom Belinda very soon. Just before Jaden turned one, Belinda and Brett were having relationship trouble, mostly because he didn't seem interested in marriage,
00:18:27
Speaker
And Belinda was convinced it was because he still loved her older sister, Katie. Maggie is so weird. It is. It is. And sibling rivalry hit hard when Katie also convinced Belinda that she was probably right. After all, he had married her and wasn't willing to marry Belinda.
00:18:52
Speaker
Yes, not the most loving response from a sister, but in addition to the sibling rivalry, there were also rumors that Belinda was having an affair with someone else, so the two split. Belinda did begin seeing someone new, Greg Domashevitch, and you'll remember his name from early on in the episode because I had to research how to say it before we started.
00:19:21
Speaker
And he was an acquaintance of Belinda's ex, Brett. While Brett would- I mean, we just keep on in the same circle. We do, yes. While Brett would later say differently, Belinda said that Brett, baby daddy, treated their daughter like she was a princess, like she was special, but that he didn't really pay attention to his son, Jayden.
00:19:51
Speaker
but Greg did. Is this like he pays attention like a dad should pay attention to a kid? Or is this like he pays attention to him like in a weird way? Both? Oh God, okay. We are not, I will go ahead and tell you we are not going to talk about sexual abuse. I will say that.
00:20:19
Speaker
That might ease many of your minds going into this episode. Though what we will talk about is equally as difficult to hear.
00:20:33
Speaker
But Greg almost paid too much attention to Jaden. Those surrounding couple found it odd, but Greg kind of did the opposite of what Belinda said of Brett. He would always offer to watch Jaden, never his sister, just Jaden.
00:20:54
Speaker
Greg said, yes, Greg said it was because he wanted to be the male influence in Jayden's life that he wasn't getting from Brett. He wanted to be the one to raise Jayden and show him what a real man looked like. And to be honest, giving his continual crying,
00:21:18
Speaker
Belinda gladly handed him over so she could get a break. And listen, every mom needs a break. I am not putting down on Belinda for admitting that she needs a break. But after the first few times Greg babysat Jayden, Belinda later said Jayden would come back different. He would come back and not cry. He'd sleep all the time and his appetite
00:21:47
Speaker
would disappear. Jaden wasn't acting like Jaden. Of course, at the time, all of that likely seemed a relief in some way because it meant that Belinda too could rest. And for that, she was thankful to Greg. Other times though, Greg ended up causing Belinda a lot of stress and grief.
00:22:16
Speaker
Greg was a jokester. I told you kind of hinted at it, at least in the introduction. But he was also somebody you didn't want to cross. He would play pranks like turning the volume up on your car radio. So when you got in and started the car, you'd be scared out of your wits.
00:22:37
Speaker
And that's more hilarious though. Yeah, that's more harmless. But he also kept a sealed barrel of rotting fish guts. And if you cross him, if you crossed him, he would get a syringe of the disgusting sludge and put it in your air conditioning unit. So his sense of humor was a little bit warped. Okay, I'm ready.
00:23:03
Speaker
Okay. So in college where I went, there were two sororities because you know, it's a small college. So obviously we were rival sororities. Yes. Well, during Greek week,
00:23:18
Speaker
The other sorority stole, I'm not joking, still to this day, have no idea where any of this stuff is, stole all of our belongings out of our common room, like all of our blankets, all of our pillows, all of our decorations, everything stole it. No clue where it is. So to get back at this said sorority, we may or may not have
00:23:47
Speaker
taken cans of tuna to their common room and dumped the oily water into their air conditioner slash heating units and turned the heat up to Nandi. Oh my goodness. We may or may not have done that. You are no different than Greg Dalmashevich in terms of his pranks. Well,
00:24:14
Speaker
Again, I'm just saying I can't verify for sure that we did that. It could have been a possibility. We just may have done that. So yes, he's doing it thinking he's funny though. You were doing it for revenge.
00:24:31
Speaker
There was another time that Belinda was having a party and Greg set off fireworks right by the door to scare the attendees to death, thinking it was gunshots or an explosion. Not funny. Not funny. Once Belinda thinks that he swapped her kids in their beds to mess with her, though it was a prank he denied, but obviously it sounded like something he would do.
00:24:59
Speaker
Another time, he and a friend hid in the bushes and threw stones at Belinda's house before using a spare key to get in. And they found Belinda hiding and terrified in her own home. And once inside, they forced fed Jayden peanut butter sandwiches until he got sick.
00:25:27
Speaker
So my research called force-feeding my child anything. Yeah. My research called all of these incidents pranks, but I think some of them sound more like torture. Yeah. That's child abuse. Yeah. Greg also believed in aliens or at least
00:25:49
Speaker
played it off as if he did and with a deadpan face and actions to match would do things like leave milk on his roof for them and would eat sausage rolls every day because he said quote aliens don't like sausage rolls end quote so now he would be safe from abduction.
00:26:12
Speaker
And people didn't know if he was serious or if this was just another one of his quote unquote jokes. Belinda needs a new man. Yeah. Michael Gleason's book that I mentioned I read as research for this episode also detailed that Greg wouldn't ride in certain colored cars because he thought it was bad luck.
00:26:34
Speaker
On a more serious note, Greg, they say, was obsessed with becoming a father, which is in direct contrast to all of this jokes and pranks. He even, according to one source, offered to pay $20,000 to an ex-girlfriend, Yvonne. She will be playing a big role in the story. We will come back to her to have his baby.
00:27:05
Speaker
once out of the relationship with Greg, which had been physically abusive and controlling, I'm sure she wasn't too keen on having a lifelong tie to Greg by having a child with him. Greg had even, just to kind of show you the abusive behavior, had strangled Yvonne, had, there were lots of examples of physical abuse,
00:27:31
Speaker
He even reportedly threatened his ex-Yavon's friends, whom she would turn to for help in times of need. One friend claimed that Greg threatened to tie her up, weigh her down, and throw her into nearby Blue Rock Dam. I mean, these were specific detailed threats. This was before Greg turned his full attention to Jayden.
00:28:00
Speaker
Greg even tried to convince Belinda to send her daughter Brianna to live with dad Brett so it could just be the three of them and he could raise Jayden as his own son. I know. Say it. You can say it Maggie. It's disgusting. Yeah.
00:28:22
Speaker
Greg started watching Jayden by himself in April, 1997. And it, like I said, it started with babysitting for a few hours, but it grew to the point where Belinda would show up to pick Jayden back up and Greg would send her home. And he would be like, no, I'm going to keep watching him. And some small part of Belinda was happy because again, she's getting a little bit of a break.
00:28:50
Speaker
But sources say Greg went from being a great boyfriend and babysitter to one who would tease Jaden and use him for entertainment. When Jaden would cry, some say they witnessed Greg push Jaden onto his back on the floor or would blare speakers to drown out Jaden's crying. And he's like two. Not even. He's a year.
00:29:20
Speaker
is one year old. Other times, Greg would put Jayden in the backyard alone with his three bull terriers. He would call Jayden names and then laugh about it and would just frequently yell at Jayden to shut up. Sometimes the interactions witnessed between Greg and Jayden grew even more serious.
00:29:49
Speaker
In one incident, Greg and a friend went fishing, taking Jaden with them. On the way back to the car, with Jaden carried under one arm and fishing gear in the other, Jaden fell to the ground, busting his lip and causing several cuts and scrapes on his little body. The friend who didn't see the fall
00:30:12
Speaker
didn't know if it were truly an accident that Jaden fell. Like, did he wriggle himself loose or whether he were dropped on purpose? And I feel like the fact that... Well, if you gotta question it... Exactly. It says a lot about who he is. To me, it says everything.
00:30:36
Speaker
In another instance, about a month before Jaden disappeared, Greg watched him overnight and brought him home the next day, admitting to Belinda that he had quote unquote, lost it with Jaden crying the night before. When she saw Jaden, his face was bruised.
00:30:59
Speaker
Greg said that Jaden had hit his face on the car door while being put inside. And so he had cried. I mean, of course, if that happened, he hit his face on the car door. And that is when Greg said he lost it because Jaden was crying and quote unquote, couldn't remember what happened.
00:31:25
Speaker
You see, Maggie, I said Jaden's face was bruised. Jaden had a black eye, a cut chin, and the inside of his left leg was bruised. At the time, Greg told Belinda, he said, listen, if you want to call authorities on me, call them. I will explain what I did. I will tell them that I lost it. I'll be honest if you want me to, but
00:31:56
Speaker
He told her, if she called law enforcement, then she would likely lose custody of Jayden. And did she really want that? You can see the manipulation. I believe that would really be true though. I mean, yeah, I was manipulating her, but.
00:32:13
Speaker
How could she be responsible for that if she thought he was a trustworthy babysitter, which I feel like previous actions would have told when he's not trustworthy. But that's not, that's not for me to decide. Right. And it could be her guilt because she did let Greg babysit so often. I don't know, but either way she kept Jayden hidden until his injuries healed.
00:32:38
Speaker
and when asked about the incident even later, Belinda watered down the injuries to small scrapes. Three weeks later, she let Greg watch Jaden for the day again so she and her sister could go shopping. When she came to pick Jaden up, Greg had cut his hair. He shaved Jaden's head in the front only, leaving only stubble
00:33:07
Speaker
in a half moon shape and in the back where Jayden still had hair, Greg had shaved two triangle shapes.
Events Leading to Jayden's Disappearance
00:33:17
Speaker
He said he was trying to help Belinda because she said she couldn't afford a haircut, but that his hand had slipped explaining the odd shapes in the back. And then he said he shaved Jayden's front of the head to match his own receding hairline.
00:33:35
Speaker
I don't really know how you could slip your hand and cut out triangles. Yeah, I don't know either. That, yeah, that doesn't seem to make much sense. This haircut was only a couple of days before Jaden went missing. The next time Greg would watch Jaden, he disappeared. Now, in order to fully understand this tangled web of relationships, I have to pause to tell you that
00:34:06
Speaker
despite the seeming urge to be a father figure to Jeyton.
00:34:10
Speaker
and wanting to create a family of just the three of them, as he seemed to indicate to Belinda. During much of his relationship with Belinda, Greg was still seeing his ex-girlfriend Yvonne spending the night with her occasionally. So when the threats and abuse continued though, about two weeks before Jaden disappeared, Yvonne said she and Greg broke up
00:34:39
Speaker
for good, but she will still be a key player. That is why I'm bringing her up. On June 14th, which is the winter in Australia, Greg began his day working on a car he owned, and Belinda was growing excited for a party that she was going to with her sister that evening.
00:35:03
Speaker
the party was supposed to start in the afternoon and continue all night long. So knowing that they would be gone for quite some time and needing someone to watch all of their kids, the sisters arranged for a local babysitter to watch the four children, Belinda's two and Katie's two. Plans changed. It's just still so weird. Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:30
Speaker
Greg, wanting to have company while working on the car, showed up at Belinda's and asked to watch Jaden for the afternoon. Though at this point, Greg himself had already made plans with a friend for 7.30 that evening.
00:35:46
Speaker
Well, Belinda told Greg about the party and that she would still be gone that night. Greg acted like that was no problem and asked Belinda to go ahead and get a bag ready with a change of clothes and some diapers for Jayden.
00:36:02
Speaker
She had actually run out of diapers that were boy diapers for Jayden and had put him in a larger one of his sisters that had pink inside. But she packed a few more diapers for, according to her memory, in a bag along with some warm clothes and drinks and snacks for Jayden. She dressed him in multiple layers of clothes, because again, we're in winter, and then got ready herself.
00:36:32
Speaker
She then asked Greg to drive her and her daughter to Katie's where the babysitter would be and where she and Katie, along with Katie's boyfriend, would head out for this party. On the drive to Katie's, Belinda also asked Greg for money, $50, to pay a phone bill that she had that was late. And he actually gave her 70. He said, I'm going to go ahead and give you money for the bill.
00:37:00
Speaker
and a little extra so you can have fun drinking tonight. As they parted ways, Belinda believed, even though she and Greg didn't really discuss any exact timing, that Greg's plan
00:37:16
Speaker
would be to drop Jayden off at Katie's with the sitter before that evening, because remember, he too already had plans. So that's what she's thinking is going to happen. Greg left Belinda and her daughter at Katie's at 1.30 PM and took Jayden with him. From there, actually getting to the party as planned proved to be a problem. Katie's car wasn't running.
00:37:46
Speaker
Y'all, these people, I feel like they just do not have very much good luck. They really don't. So the two sisters, along with Katie's boyfriend, spent the afternoon trying to fix it. Despite the setback, they were all in decent spirits until Belinda answered the phone.
00:38:13
Speaker
It was an infuriated Greg accusing sister Katie of starting a rumor that Greg said he wanted to kill a mutual friend of theirs named Darren. And Darren had called Greg angry about the rumor confronting Greg about it. And while Greg had convinced him that he said no such thing, Greg believed it was Katie who had started the rumor
00:38:42
Speaker
and he was calling to confront her about it. On a much more X-rated version, I guess, this reminds me of middle school drama. You know, obviously we're not talking about we wanted to kill people, but like you started a rumor about me, I'm gonna confront you about it. It's just like very dramatic. Yes, it is. So Belinda was able to calm Greg down, but when she herself confronted her sister Katie,
00:39:07
Speaker
And Katie admitted that she did start the rumor about Greg. Belinda was so angry that she packed up her daughter and said they were going home rather than to the party. And to show that she meant it, they set out walking in the direction of Belinda's home. Okay. She means business. Yes. Meanwhile, Greg was still watching Jayden. They had already played Nintendo. Well, Greg did.
00:39:37
Speaker
They had played outside with the ball and with the dogs and Greg had done work on the car with Jayden sitting in the garage with him. Then the two had snapped on junk food while watching television before Greg decided to go outside and work on the car again. This time he decided to give Jayden greasy bolts to play with so he could get dirty like a quote unquote real man.
00:40:04
Speaker
Okay. Yes. Again, seems quite dangerous. That afternoon, a neighbor heard Greg screaming like they'd never heard him yell before, but they didn't know what he was screaming about, nor whom he was screaming at. Later on, the friend who he was supposed to go out with tried calling Greg multiple times with no answer.
00:40:32
Speaker
and when the friend came by around 7.30 p.m. as they had planned to pick Greg up,
00:40:38
Speaker
Greg's car was gone, but this friend was like, okay, well, Greg is, he's flaky. So there wasn't really anything unusual about Greg saying he would be there and then not being there. So the friend just went on. In hindsight, Greg believed he may have actually been at home, but had his car in the backyard working on it. Hence why it wasn't visible from the road to his friend.
00:41:08
Speaker
Okay, so I'm going to make a guess. Did Greg scream because something happened with Jaden resulting in a burn? Maybe? Because that's why he's at the hospital, supposedly, right? It's possible.
00:41:32
Speaker
You'll see why I'm not confident in anything. Yes. OK. Later in the day, Greg said he called the babysitter who said that Belinda, Katie, and Katie's boyfriend had gone to the party, which we know was not a true statement because at this point Belinda, her daughter, yes, left. Meanwhile, between 5.30 PM and 7.45 PM,
00:42:01
Speaker
Belinda said that she continued to try to call Greg to let him know that she was home and to bring Jayden there, not to the babysitters. She said she tried to call 15 to 20 times, but none of her calls were answered.
00:42:20
Speaker
Growing a little concerned, Belinda called a friend of Greg's who, although he had not seen Greg and Jaden that day, assured Belinda that they were likely fine and that she was worrying too much. Again, maybe they're outside playing. Maybe he didn't hear his phone. So, when Katie's boyfriend made peace between the sisters,
00:42:45
Speaker
and suggested that Belinda still go to the party now that they finally had a way to get there and the car was fine. Belinda agreed.
00:42:55
Speaker
Okay. So we're en route to the party now. En route to the party. Greg's still with Jaden. A neighbor of Greg's was able to get through to Greg at 8, 11 PM. And the neighbor, she remembers the time because there was a program on TV and she called Greg to ask if he wanted to come over and smoke marijuana with them, with her and her husband while they watched this program together.
00:43:22
Speaker
He said he couldn't because he was watching Jaden. Instead, Greg watched the show from his own home and, I quote, couldn't remember if he smoked marijuana while watching the show. How does one not remember? Yeah, there's a lot that Greg doesn't remember.
00:43:46
Speaker
Then Greg called the neighbor back to see if she had any diapers telling her that he had run out. Now this is a point where in what Greg is saying, some people question his story.
00:44:04
Speaker
He said he only remembered changing Jayden twice, but he was also known for not changing Jayden at all and bringing him home in waterlogged diapers. So if Belinda's memory is correct and she packed four, then there should have been two left.
00:44:27
Speaker
Plus, people are like, really? He changed his diaper four times when he usually never changes it. But why would you call the neighbor and ask for diapers? Right, it's weird. Again, the neighbor didn't have any, but told Greg that the BP at the end of the road did.
00:44:45
Speaker
And she did report that during that phone conversation, she thought she heard in the background a baby and heard one of Greg's dogs. About 20 some odd minutes away, Belinda was making the most of her night away from the kids and she drank heavily. When the party shifted its location or
00:45:14
Speaker
at least some of the party goers did to a nearby bar, she tried again to call Greg. This call was at 11, 10 p.m. Greg said a quick, I'm putting this in nice terms here, crap has happened. Before- Crap hit the fan. That's right.
00:45:38
Speaker
before explaining that he had to take Jaden to the hospital because Jaden had fallen next to the heater and burned his bottom. He said he drove- He burned his bottom through his clothes and his doppy? Well, we'll get more about the story here later, how it could have happened. But he said he drove Jaden to one hospital and that all they did was rub some cream on him and that unsatisfied with that,
00:46:07
Speaker
Greg had driven him to a different hospital. Well, Belinda wanted to immediately come home to be with Jayden, but Greg convinced her. Greg convinced her that there was nothing she could do now, that he was fine. And stay there at the bar. There's nothing you can do if you came home. Have fun. I'll come pick you up later. So he convinces her that she should stay.
00:46:36
Speaker
and continue to make the most of her kid-free night. Oh, okay.
00:46:41
Speaker
Sister Katie called Greg also to verify what Belinda told her of Jaden's burn. And while she said that Greg later told her the same thing that he told Belinda, Belinda remembers her sister explaining that it had all been one of Greg's quote unquote jokes. And we all know what those mean. I'm sorry, what had been one of Greg's jokes? That Jaden had burnt his bottom.
00:47:07
Speaker
Yeah. And we know what Greg jokes. Right. That's Belinda said she remembered her sister saying that she called Greg and that this was all some practical joke. Oh, that's a horrible practical joke, which we know, I guess what his jokes look like. So we shouldn't be surprised. Well, and now you know why, when she's at the police station, like I told you,
00:47:30
Speaker
She's all confused and she's like, no, he's not missing. This is all a prank. This is all a joke. He's in the hospital. So the party growing, going, so the partying group that included Belinda and Katie continued drinking before eventually getting kicked out of the pub for getting too loud and for starting fights.
00:47:56
Speaker
While this was happening at the pub, Greg said Jaden had fallen asleep and he had decided to play Nintendo to keep himself entertained. Now, there's some conflicting memories here, Maggie. So I'll just present you with- Sure there are. Yeah, all of the information. The neighbor who called Greg earlier in the evening
00:48:20
Speaker
and asked him to come over, remember the phone call about the diapers and all of that, remembers hearing Greg's car start, which she said was a distinctive sound around 1am
00:48:35
Speaker
and heard it back out of the driveway.
Conflicting Accounts and Suspicions
00:48:37
Speaker
Now, that's a little confusing because I don't know how you could tell by a sound that something backed out of the driveway, but that's what the neighbor said. A different neighbor, one of Belinda's, remembers hearing Greg's car pull up outside of Belinda's around 1230 a.m.
00:48:55
Speaker
Well, already, those two things, how does he pull up outside of Belinda's at 1230 and yet he's backing out at one? It doesn't come to one. Right. But also around this time, Belinda did call Greg around 2am to come pick her up. So maybe the times were off by the neighbors.
00:49:19
Speaker
He took some trash out in a small bag to the trash can out front before leaving at 2.15 AM to get Belinda. And we have ear witnesses for those, again, those first two times, but we can verify the second two because we have an actual phone call and we have Belinda being picked up. So did Greg leave before he got the call to pick up Belinda?
00:49:49
Speaker
Or were they mistaken on their times? If he did leave before, did he go to Belinda's house and why? Right, so we're just left with a bunch of questions at this point. When the drunken Belinda climbed into Greg's car and noticed Jaden wasn't in the back seat, she asked Greg where he was. He said, remember, he's in the hospital.
00:50:15
Speaker
and pointed to a hospital that they were driving past. Now, in hindsight, that had to have been another one of Greg's quote unquote jokes because that particular hospital that he pointed to was being built and was not yet open. Done with the pranks and wanting to go see Jayden, Belinda demanded to see her son. Greg,
00:50:45
Speaker
convinced her that wasn't a very good idea though, because she was too drunk and he said it would look bad on her, a mother who had decided to stay out drinking rather than check on her son, who would be coming into a hospital, yeah, highly intoxicated. What would people think? He was the one who told her, oh, don't worry about coming home. Say, get drunk, have a good time.
00:51:16
Speaker
Instead, he said that she needed to sleep it off, and then he would take her there the next day to visit Jaden. Well, here's where things get bizarre, Maggie, as if they aren't already bizarre. Oh, if we can believe it. Yes. When Greg pulled into his home with Belinda, he said he noticed that all of his front windows had been smashed.
00:51:39
Speaker
Belinda said she remembered Greg running through the house, looking in every room, looking in every closet, opening every cupboard. As he did, Greg theorized out loud his thinking that this must have been his ex Yvonne behind the vandalism.
00:52:01
Speaker
Because remember, she and Greg had just only recently broken up for good, and she and Belinda had also exchanged threats. Lord. Yes, including, according to Belinda, getting phone calls in the middle of the night from Yvonne for Belinda to, quote unquote, check her kids.
00:52:23
Speaker
Absolutely not. Who does that? Yeah, so this explains Belinda's belief as well that it was Greg's ex who had destroyed the home.
00:52:34
Speaker
Greg's ex Yvonne, for her part, said Greg tried to call her several times that day. Once was at lunch when she was out with a friend. He demanded to know who she was with, but she didn't tell him. They were broken up. It was none of his business. And that he had called again at 8 30 that night and left her a message asking her to call.
00:52:58
Speaker
unperturbed, I'm assuming, because she was so intoxicated in the first place and because, you know, the two determined the likely culprit of the vandalism in the second. Belinda went to the bathroom and then lay on the living room floor in front of the heater and started playing Nintendo. Because again, she's thinking Jaden's in the hospital.
00:53:21
Speaker
He's gonna let me sleep it off. He's gonna take me to see him when we get up. She believes at that moment that the time read 3.04 a.m. Greg again called his ex Yvonne at 3.09 a.m. yelling, is this one of your sick games?
00:53:42
Speaker
Greg said at that point that he was going to take Belinda home.
Vandalism and Unraveling Motives
00:53:47
Speaker
She actually asked him if she could stay, but he wouldn't let her. And then Belinda wanted to call the police about the vandalism, but Greg wouldn't allow her to do that either. Fishy. This whole thing is just fishy.
00:54:08
Speaker
So when the two went to leave, that is when Greg said he noticed something in the front garden bed. It was a severed pig head. Despite the terrifying and ominous item clearly left to send a message, Greg and Belinda actually went on to Belinda's house, getting there at about 3.20 AM.
00:54:36
Speaker
Greg actually told Belinda that he was going to head back to his place to try to figure out who smashed the windows if they had taken anything. I thought he already did that. Well, I think, yeah, he theorized that it was Yvonne. So I guess he's wanting to go explore more. This is what he tells Belinda. And he left Belinda curled up on her living room floor.
00:54:59
Speaker
Just minutes later on the way home, Greg was pulled over by officers, but he didn't in this traffic stop say a single word about the vandalism, nor about Jayden. Before passing out back at her house, Belinda managed to call the sitter to check on her daughter and still wondering if all of this was a practical joke to see if Jayden was there.
00:55:30
Speaker
But the babysitter explained that while her daughter was fine, Jayden, she assumed, was still with Greg. Then Belinda passed out, only to be awoken a little over an hour later by Greg explaining that Jayden was missing and that they needed to go to the police.
00:55:52
Speaker
OK, and so now we've come full circle back to the beginning. So you see why she was so confused and disoriented and almost laughing as they're making their report, still thinking that all of this is some joke, but not clearly knowing whether Jaden is in the hospital or what is going on.
00:56:18
Speaker
And I feel like I've offered very little commentary thus far, but it's like, I'm just trying to take all of it in. It is a lot to take in. And before I go back to our main story and to what happened after, I have another story to share, and it is one of revenge.
00:56:36
Speaker
You see, even though it seemed suspicious that Greg did not mention the vandalism to the police, especially if it were not some sort of ruse or made up thing that he did to set a stage to make it appear as though Jayden had disappeared, like the officer suggested to Belinda when they were at the police station,
00:56:59
Speaker
It was really an act of revenge because Greg's ex-girlfriend Yvonne had a brother who was done with Greg abusing his sister in every way imaginable. And he, along with Greg's ex and a couple of others, hatched a plan to break out Greg's car windows and throw a severed pig's head through his front window. Oh.
00:57:25
Speaker
Not only was the pig head symbolic, but Greg had actually once owned a pig as a pet and had been very upset when it had grown too big and Yvonne had had it butchered. So it was doubly symbolic. Yes, yes. So the group of four had driven to Greg's house and while Yvonne and one other stayed in the car,
00:57:49
Speaker
The other two snuck up close, but when the dogs, which Greg had in the backyard, started barking and Greg came outside to find the cause of the dog's commotion, the two who had gone to vandalize his home had hidden. Just after they saw Greg come out of the house again and throw something away, then he came out of the house a third time and drove off just after 2 a.m. So this is when he's going to pick Belinda up.
00:58:18
Speaker
when he says he left Jayden at home alone, right? That's what he changed his story to when he's going to the police. With no fear of Greg finding them after he drove away,
00:58:33
Speaker
The two threw the pig head at the front window. They were sure it went inside the now broken window, but clearly it didn't. No longer able to break out Greg's car windows because he had driven his car away, they took the rocks that they had in their pockets and broke the front windows of Greg's home.
00:58:51
Speaker
On their way back to Greg's ex, who was waiting in a car parked a distance away, the men also threw rocks at teenage kids who were walking along the street. And I tell you this to say that the teenage kids did not see the men with a vape.
00:59:12
Speaker
and the Vandals. Right. Which was part of the story, right? Yes. Because they took the baby. Correct. And the Vandals said in their mind, it was impossible for a baby to have been inside Greg's home when they destroyed the windows because there was no point when they heard a baby cry, which with all of the noise, they were sure one would have done.
00:59:36
Speaker
After the report of a missing Jaden, police investigated both Belinda's home and Greg's in search of the missing toddler. What they determined at Greg's was that unless someone had to keep his ex Yvonne actually did not, because he had just recently changed the locks, they said no one came into his home. They argued
01:00:02
Speaker
officers did that the holes in the windows were far too small for someone to have climbed in and there wasn't dirt nor blood inside the home.
01:00:13
Speaker
Greg's ex Yvonne was brought in and admitted what they had done and who she was with. Those individuals were brought in and separately told the same story of their actions. So police quickly dismissed them as kidnappers of Jayden. Because they said, well, they hadn't been concerned with people identifying them like the teens.
01:00:43
Speaker
Right? And they weren't seen with the baby. Now, you could argue the opposite. Maybe they were giving themselves an alibi and had already put Jayden in the car. Oh, in the car? Right. But police wondered, okay, well, if it's not them, was it Greg? Was it Greg and Belinda together? Or was it someone else entirely?
01:01:07
Speaker
Detective Legge in charge of the investigation and others were confused by Belinda's behavior, especially throughout the initial days of the search. She went from being extremely upset to just wanting to go home and sleep, which they found an odd reaction.
01:01:28
Speaker
According to the book by Michael Gleason, Detective Legge said, quote, with the variety of inquiries we conduct and people we come across, you initially, instinctively judge a reaction or statement or demeanor on yourself and the way you have been brought up. You say to yourself, this has to be untrue because she should be crying or she should be nervous or she should be angry because automatically
01:01:57
Speaker
Your initial judgment of someone is whether they behave in the way you would expect or you would behave or your friends or family or whatever would react. And then you come across someone who has had a totally different upbringing to what you have, totally different background and the reaction they might have or what they might say might be totally innocent." End quote.
01:02:26
Speaker
That's really interesting, which I mean, I know we've talked about that a little bit, you know, like people react in different ways, but hadn't really thought about how your background plays a part in how you react to things. And think about, I mean, how not only is she kind of preconditioned with Greg's pranks, but also with her own abusive upbringing and
01:02:56
Speaker
how that might harden you in a lot of ways. And I think some people just deal with difficult situations by sleeping. You just don't want to face reality, so you sleep. Yeah.
01:03:11
Speaker
And that waffling of emotions that they observed in Belinda, it didn't fit with what they considered a typical reaction. But whether for Belinda or for Greg, gut reaction alone isn't enough to hold someone. So they let the two of them go.
01:03:31
Speaker
Police actually did not do a full forensic investigation at that point on Greg's car while it was in their custody, which happened while they were questioning him and Belinda, because at that point they believed Jaden was just missing.
01:03:45
Speaker
Instead, they decided to give Greg his car back and to let him go, but to secretly follow him.
Surveillance and Building Suspicion
01:03:53
Speaker
Ooh, yeah, they had many questions and no answers, and they were hoping to find those answers. If Jayden were dead and not just missing, would Greg go to Jayden's body? If Jayden were still alive, would Greg go to visit him? They needed something more.
01:04:12
Speaker
But Greg instead drove straight to Belinda's house. Belinda initially believed what the officer interrogating her had said, that Greg was guilty of whatever had happened to Jayden. In this visit, after leaving the station though, Greg was able to convince her otherwise.
01:04:35
Speaker
In fact, she has said that all of the details that he told her in response to her many questions could all be verified. But verified how and by who? Like saying that he
01:04:54
Speaker
was watching a certain show and then the neighbor says, yeah, I called him and he said he couldn't come over because he said he was watching Jaden or, you know, he would just give answers that she felt could be verified. So because some of the details could be verified, she chose to believe him and the rest of what he said happened.
01:05:13
Speaker
And maybe it was his shift in demeanor that helped change her mind as well. Specifically, Belinda wrote in an unpublished book that she shared with the newspaper, The Herald Sun, quote, as soon as Greg was released from the police station, he headed for me.
01:05:32
Speaker
Inside, I wanted to kill him. I didn't know if he was lying or not. Had he done something to Jaden, I kept asking myself. I wanted a gun. I wanted to shoot him in the foot. And if he didn't tell me, I'd shoot him in the other foot. But when it really came down to it,
01:05:49
Speaker
I doubt I could have shot anyone. To my surprise, Greg walked in and hugged me. In front of everyone that was there, Greg had never done that before, shown me affection in front of people. Now he was telling the police I was his girlfriend as well as showing his affection in public. I never really thought about the way he treated me back then until now. He didn't want a soul to know about us. And as soon as Jayden disappeared,
01:06:19
Speaker
It seemed to be okay." End quote. Yeah, it's weird. That's weird. So again, that seems like a lot of manipulation.
01:06:31
Speaker
The next day, Greg's friend Darren offered to let Greg stay with his family since Greg's place was swarming with police. Greg couldn't go back there. Friend Darren reported that Greg was convinced his ex-Yvonne and her brother had taken Jayden, though
01:06:52
Speaker
Darin's suspicion grew slightly against Greg when they asked if Greg had any drugs or anything that he was worried about the cops finding at his place, but he was only worried about a pair of jeans that he said had Jaden's blood on them. He told his friend Darin it was from a bleeding ulcer Jaden had, or was it from Jaden's lip because that's what Greg told Darin's wife.
01:07:22
Speaker
Either way Greg maintained that it was from an innocent accident, but it may look bad given the circumstances Well, you know though I feel that if he didn't have all of which I guess the police don't know about all the previous incidents like we know because you know, I'm thinking in my house I
01:07:46
Speaker
Actually, my baby has never bled. As he got older though, if he fell and scraped a knee or whatever, I would have his blood on him. It could be normal, but given all of his other things, it is not right.
01:08:05
Speaker
After an extensive search, forensic testing, and photographs taken, all police found in terms of evidence at Greg's place was that bag that he had placed in the trash can outside. It had five tissues in it that, when tested, proved to have Jayden's blood on them. They were
01:08:31
Speaker
Small tissues, they were twisted at the end, almost like they had been put up a bloody nose or inside of a bloody ear, but that was it. No other blood, no huge mess of a crime scene, just that. Though there was another odd thing, other than the severed pig's head, of course,
01:08:57
Speaker
They also found a wet jacket of Greg's, a wet wallet, and $600 in wet cash that was under his mattress spread out to dry. And you know he had made that thread about basically drowning that one girl. Yes he had.
01:09:20
Speaker
Meanwhile, with police breathing down his neck, Greg decided that he needed to meet with a lawyer and Belinda decided to go with him because she was afraid that Brett Leske, father to her two kids, would try to come back now that Jaden is missing and try to get full custody of their daughter.
01:09:43
Speaker
A bad look for the two, according to Michael Gleason's book, the couple, Greg and Belinda, were seen shopping, laughing, and acting like lovesick teenagers while they were out of town.
01:09:58
Speaker
At the same time, a distraught Brett Lesk was on his way back home, making a plea via the media on the way for anyone with information to come forward and help find his son. Okay. And remind me where had Brett been? Remember he had, when he found out that Belinda was in a relationship with
01:10:27
Speaker
common acquaintance, Greg, and not wanting, he didn't want to commit to Belinda anyway, they had broken up and he had left. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Greg and Belinda returned to town at their lawyer's advice and gave police a blood sample. Greg called a friend to borrow clothes since he hadn't been home since the police began, you know, overtaking his home.
01:10:54
Speaker
However, that same night, Greg called friend Darren to say that he had gone home to see what police had done to the place and had actually broken a window to break into his own home and had cut himself in the process and could Darren go over and clean it up, which makes me question where was his key, unless he had to turn it over to police.
01:11:18
Speaker
There were moments when suspicion were raised again. I mean, as much as his friend Darren wanted to believe that Greg wasn't involved, that trust would be tested when later Darren said that Greg was watching the news
01:11:37
Speaker
And seeing dad Brett, right, because that's Jayden's dad, sobbing on the television coverage, Darren overheard Greg say something like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, man, I didn't mean to do it. And so, but then was he sorry because of actions that he took? Was he sorry because there had been an accident? Was he sorry because he had left Jayden alone? Friend Darren wasn't sure.
01:12:08
Speaker
Police brought Greg in for another interview. They wanted to know more about Greg and Jaden's relationship. They asked if he had ever hit Jaden. He said no. They asked questions of how he cared for Jaden and about Saturday, June 14. Greg told the same story I shared earlier.
01:12:32
Speaker
still with very vague timeframes, but now this might explain a little bit more the burning of the bottom. This time he clarified the burn story. He said that he bathed Jayden before showering himself. And while he was showering, he had left Jayden in front of the heater. Yes, while he showered. And that was when Jayden got too close and burned his behind.
01:13:02
Speaker
He said the hospital story had actually been a joke. But he said he left the sleeping Jaden, who by then had calmed down from the burn, to go pick up Belinda. And when he returned, he saw the vandalism. He ran around searching rooms and cabinets for Jaden. So he's explaining that's why he was running around everywhere, opening cupboards, opening all the doors. Because he thought. Right, that's what I thought.
01:13:30
Speaker
Yeah, maybe Jaden woke up when the vandalism was happening and he got scared and maybe he had hidden or crawled somewhere. Greg said that he didn't want to alarm Belinda without knowing and that's why he took her home but then returned to his house to continue looking for Jaden.
01:13:55
Speaker
He said that's when he noticed that Jaden's diaper bag was also missing and said he really began suspecting his ex Yvonne even more. He swore that he had been home all night. Neighbors who heard his car were wrong, he said.
01:14:17
Speaker
asked why he didn't answer Belinda's calls the 15 to 20 times that she said she tried to call him earlier in the night. He speculated that maybe she called the wrong number. He's like, I don't know. I didn't get the calls. Would they be able to find that out though? Like from her phone bill? I did not read in any of my research that they checked or verified any of that.
01:14:42
Speaker
They asked if there had been an accident with Jaden. So basically giving him an out to admit that something had happened, but Greg said no.
01:14:52
Speaker
They asked about the bloody tissues in the trash. And he said it could have been Jaden's nose or lips. The dogs, he said, sometimes licked or scraped off Jaden's scabs, making them bleed fresh. Yeah. But he admitted, I mean, that with the dogs had happened some time ago, not recently. Then he told them that Jaden did fall and had blood on either his nose or his lip.
01:15:20
Speaker
pushed to clarify which one was it his nose or was it his lip, Greg changed it to maybe his nose or his chin before finally saying that Jaden fell and a tooth went through his lip. Asked about why the tissues were rolled up, right? Because that doesn't explain why they would be rolled up. He said Jaden's nose, maybe his nose could have bled.
01:15:51
Speaker
But Greg quickly added that his own cold sore had bled that day too. So Greg is giving lots of answers but no clear consistent specifics. Greg also gave various reasons to explain why the money and his wallet had been wet.
01:16:12
Speaker
He said, well, it must've been, it was raining when I was working on the car, or maybe I rolled up or over in a puddle while I was working on the car. Those were his explanations.
Greg's Arrest and Legal Proceedings
01:16:23
Speaker
But the links to water kept nagging at police. Working on a hunch, police partially drained nearby Lake Naracan.
01:16:34
Speaker
and the Edward Hunter Bush Reserve, but they found nothing. Every connection and lead that came in linked to Greg, in fact, turned up nothing. Just as she feared would happen, Belinda lost custody of her daughter to Brett in order to get her away from the media attention while police continued searching for answers and for Jayden.
01:17:05
Speaker
Armed only with the tissues and Greg's inconsistencies as evidence, police arrested Greg for the murder of Jaden Leske, something they felt they could prove even without a body. All the while Belinda continued to waffle between believing Greg's innocence and assurance of his guilt.
01:17:34
Speaker
And the roller coaster that is this case has just begun, Sluthounds. We have the trial that captivated a country that became a media circus that produced so many more questions and that left justice or any semblance of it for Jayden Lesky hanging in the balance to talk about next week.
01:18:02
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter, at casescoffee, on Instagram, at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
01:18:32
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.