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E239: Kris Jake-Moon
2.6k Plays2 months ago
This week’s case focuses on the case of an MMIW-- Kris Jake-Moon. Her disappearance from a casino and the subsequent discovery of her body days later has, despite surveillance footage and the identification of all individuals with which she was last seen, led to a 26-year-old cold case in desperate need of attention and continued hope for her family to finally see justice done.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Tragedy
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Imagine waking up one morning to find a piece of your world is missing. No explanation, no goodbye. Just an empty space where someone you love once was. For the family of today's victim, this nightmare became a chilling reality.
00:00:16
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In a world saturated with high profile cases, it's easy to overlook the countless stories of ordinary people touched by extraordinary tragedy. These are the cases that haunt our communities, leaving behind questions that linger long after the headlines fade.
00:00:32
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Today we turn our attention to one such case, one that because there's little evidence other than a few glaring pieces and because I think the victim is Native American doesn't get the attention it needs nor did it receive the coverage it needed from the start. Her story is a stark reminder that behind every statistic, every news brief, there's a life, a family, a community that's forever changed.
00:00:59
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As we delve into the details of this heartbreaking case, remember, you're not just a listener. You are a crucial part of this story. Your shares, your insights, and your determination to seek justice can make a difference. So let's embark on this journey together in the hopes of bringing closure to a family yearning for
Podcast Goals and Achievements
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answers. so This is the story of Chris Jake Moon.
00:02:00
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Welcome to coffee and cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Alison 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.
00:02:19
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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.
00:02:37
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Okay, so I have a couple of things to cover with you guys before I jump into the story. And I think the most important one would be that coffee and cases just hit a major milestone. So if you do not follow us on social media,
00:02:52
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then you probably don't know that we have reached 1 million total downloads and it is a huge accomplishment and a huge feat for us. And you heard that correctly, that's one with a bunch of zeros after it. We are absolutely blown away by your support.
00:03:12
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We started this podcast with a dream of sharing true crime stories and maybe connecting to other true crime enthusiasts. We never believed that we would have the growth that we have. As you all know, we came up with this crazy idea in a classroom and here we are one million downloads later. It really means the world to us. Your feedback, your theories, your passion for the cases. It's what keeps us going. So from the bottom of our hearts,
00:03:36
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We want to thank you all for all of your support for every comment, for every suggestion, for every Patreon supporter, for every listen. We really do appreciate each one of you and we promise to keep bringing you the best true crime content we can.
00:03:52
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And with that, you may have noticed that you haven't heard Allison yet, and that is because school started back. So things have been a little bit crazy in our world. So even though Allison and I are back at the same district,
00:04:08
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We have not got our schedules to align. Last week, Alison did a solo show because I was a little overwhelmed. I'm still a little overwhelmed because I'm in a brand new position. And so this week we still couldn't get schedules to line up. So I'm doing a solo case this week, but hopefully next week we will be back too.
00:04:31
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Allison and Maggie because, you know, we're better together.
Case Background and Media Bias
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Especially I'm better with Allison. So without any more delays, I do want to go ahead and start talking about today's case. So we often here on Coffee and Cases talk about the fact that a lot of the cases we cover don't have a lot of coverage behind them or it's very limited and such is the case this week. Though Chris Jake Moon's case has in the beginning had very little coverage that has grown um with help from her son and of some other people she is receiving a little more coverage than she did early on. But I still feel like
00:05:20
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The more outlets we have that share her story, the better it's going to be. So because information is somewhat limited, most of my information will come from interviews with her son and from the Chris Jake Moon MMIW of Southern Utah Facebook page, which actually hasn't been updated since 2021, but I'll get to that. So it is my hope that our coverage of this case will help spread awareness for her.
00:05:50
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I know in the past we have talked in depth about the types of cases that seem to attract the most media coverage early on, which is typically white women, and it is a big problem.
00:06:03
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and Well, I don't really know how to word this without, I guess, sounding insensitive. I don't want to say it's a problem that their cases get coverage because every case deserves coverage. I guess what the problem is, is that coverage for other ethnicities or demographics is very lacking because it seems like missing white women tend to get more attention from the media than people of other, like I said, demographics. And this is actually called missing white woman syndrome, which I believe. And of course, Alison would remember if she were here with that to us this week, but I believe.
00:06:37
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that we have talked about that before on the show. And it basically happens because the media often focuses on stories about white women because they fit the image of this quote unquote perfect victim that the media believes the public may connect with. But honestly, this type of thinking really isolates so many deserving cases, not that one, like I said, is more deserving than the other.
00:07:02
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I just feel like, I don't know, I wish we could do more, I guess is what I'm saying. you know Everyone deserves the same attention and help when they're missing no matter what they look like or what they believe in or what their background is. And while I know we don't have the resources to do that, I just wish we could, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
00:07:26
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you know, there's a lot at play, including how the media works, how different people are treated, and even how the police handle the case. And this is one reason why here at Coffee and Cases, we focus on those lesser known cases because we do feel like we can be a little bit of a light to those who typically may not receive it. And so,
00:07:47
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This is why we're here pretty
Who Was Chris Jake Moon?
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much. But Chris Jake Moon was born on December 13th, 1966 in Cedar City, Utah. She was described as someone who was very strong. So she was a strong, independent woman and a very loving mother. She was a proud member of the indigenous community and she was deeply connected to her family.
00:08:10
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And I read that her family would actually call her resilient, which I think is such a great word to be called. Like that's a word we try to teach our children in school is to be resilient. So I just feel like she embodied everything that an independent, strong woman should be. She was a boss babe, as they would say on TikTok.
Investigation and Key Evidence
00:08:35
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I am assuming that Chris' day, which was Friday the 13th of 1998, started out much like any other day before she went missing. But something happened that changed the course of her life and her family's life forever. On February the 16th, 1998, detectives were called to the scene of a crime where a woman was found in the brush near Highway 91.
00:09:02
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at mile marker about 4.4. The victim was found covered in a blue blanket near the Arizona Nevada border by a man and his daughter who were out looking for firewood, which I cannot fathom. Just being a little girl, you know, because my mom and I, I probably have talked about this, but We had a coal burning stove, and that's how we stayed warm in the wintertime. And so my mom and I would go up into the hills behind our house and collect firewood, which you know of course I was little at the time. So I was collecting what my mom calls kindling, which is just like little twigs to help spark the flames. But I can't imagine going on one of those trips with my mom and stumbling upon a dead body, which is exactly what happened.
00:09:52
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to this little girl and her dad. So they were just out collecting firewood and they stumble upon this body that's covered by a blue blanket. It appeared to responders that the victim had been struck multiple times in the head. Her death was quoted as being very brutal based on the evidence that was found at the scene of the crime and the state in which her body was found. Despite the trauma, the victim was identified as none other than 31-year-old Chris Jake Moon from Cedar City, Utah.
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They did send her body off for an autopsy. When that report came back, it was determined that she did indeed die from blunt force trauma to the head. So despite early rumors that did circulate about some sexual assault, the autopsy ruled out any type of sexual assault. So we know she died from blunt force trauma to the head and she did not have an easy death from all that I read. It was very brutal.
00:10:52
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So let's talk about, Sleuthounds, what happened that night. Well, I'm going to say let's discuss the details that we do know because I feel like there's a lot of missing puzzle pieces here. So let's talk about the things that we do know. So according to KSL TV, quote, evidence collected from the scene was sent off for an examination and interviews were conducted with family members of the victim. Detectives learned that the victim was last seen at the Oasis Casino in Mesquite, Nevada on Friday, February the 13th, end quote.
00:11:27
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And what's interesting, I mean, I guess to me at least, is that she was actually seen on surveillance footage leaving the casino with a group of people, so six different people, her, two identified women, one identified man, and two unidentified men. the and but people we soon learned, like basically right away, that that was some cousins and some friends of Chris. so At some point or other, she and her group met up with two men that remained unidentified for a little bit. In an article published by KSL, we learned that surveillance video from the casino was reviewed and we saw Chris. And in that video footage, you can see one of the unidentified male suspects.
00:12:15
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And then both men can be seen in an image that we have leaving the business with Chris. So one man, and we'll be sure to post the pictures for you guys, is seen wearing a cowboy hat and the other is seen him wearing a very distinguishable jacket, said the sheriff's office. And what they mean by distinguishable is distinguishable. Okay, this jacket in question, you would know it.
00:12:44
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if you had seen it before. In fact, the jacket is, oh, I would say unique. Maybe it wasn't for the time, but I just feel like it's unique. But anyway, so the jacket had pictures of baseballs on the back of the sleeves and pictures of what they believed to be that jacket were released, or not obviously the same jacket, but the same jacket by a different owner, were released to the public in hopes that someone would recognize it and at least one of the mysteries of these identities would be solved. The second unidentified man was wearing a cowboy hat and we have pictures of him with Chris so we know that the two were together. So this ah is someone that she either knew or was someone, or I guess I should say someones,
00:13:39
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that she met that night. It's believed that both the baseball man and the cowboy hat man were frequent patrons of the casino. So the investigation pushed and pushed for answers as to the identity of these two men, because obviously they're going to be a key part of this investigation. As we know, people that are seen last with the victim are often interviewed first because, hello, they were seen last with the victim.
00:14:05
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And finally, we do unearth the identity of these two mysterious men. All right, so as you guys know, I am very a awful little at name pronunciation or just pronunciation in general.
00:14:19
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Even when I look up how to pronounce things, my tongue just gets tied, which is i guess i ironic because I teach children how to read. But, you know, we persevere over here. But I did try desperately to make sure that I was pronouncing these next names correctly.
00:14:38
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But I am probably not because there was not, for one of them in particular, a pronunciation video that I found. So we finally do an Earth identity of these two men.
Suspects Identified
00:14:51
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One is Darryl Calvin Dyer Jr. and the other is Rosalia Bushhead. So we're going to call them Dyer and Bushhead because I know for sure I'm saying those two correctly.
00:15:03
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based on the footage that we saw that Chris left with Dyer and Bushhead. We also know that hours later she was beaten to death. According to the HuffPost, security cameras captured Chris Jake Moon, the lady we're talking about today, the mother of two.
00:15:21
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and this beautiful Native American woman leaving the Oasis Casino on February the 13th, 1998. Hours later, authorities find this woman beaten to death. In the video, we know she's seen leaving with several people, including the man in the cowboy hat and the man with the baseball jacket. And the man in the cowboy hat actually remains a person of interest in her killing.
00:15:44
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and But we haven't been able to find these people, which is nuts to me. A coworker and friend of Chris told investigators that he knew the man in the cowboy hat only by his first name and that he worked with him. But this guy never returned to work or collected his paycheck after Chris's disappearance, which I feel like is the biggest red flag. Like it should be going bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, like red flag.
00:16:14
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ah Apparently, the two had been together that night, first at the Oasis, where they were asked to leave, then at another casino, but they were also turned away due to a lack of funds. And then the two ultimately ended up at the Virgin River Casino, though the witness couldn't recall who else accompanied him.
00:16:33
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He last remembers that he left Chris alone in a back booth to call her family for a ride. And according to an interview on ABC 15 quote, there was a phone call made that night. My other aunt, Antonia received a phone call. It was just her saying, Hey, I'm a mesquite. If you can, can you come pick me up? And so I know that she has some deep regrets from that night, said Tammy Slayton, who is Chris's other one of her nieces.
00:17:01
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It that is important, says Tammy, for us to remember, but it's also important for other individuals to know that there are people out there that have the same types of stories that they have that have had issues for law enforcement, often on the reservation and not just an isolated event.
00:17:19
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So now that she's missing, we kind of know who's involved. We can't find them. We have investigator Lori Miller who comes on and is determined to solve the case.
Call for Public Help and Support
00:17:30
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She's actually new to the department, according to ABC 15 at the time, but she was deeply committed to finding answers for the family. And she actually said, quote,
00:17:41
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about Chris, quote, she is someone. She does have a name. Somebody knew her. Somebody saw her that night. Somebody saw where she went and who she went with. We just need that person after all of these years to come forward because I mean, her family deserves it. And honestly, they do. She's exactly correct.
00:18:03
Speaker
You know, I know at this point in the episode, we typically talk about theories, what we think could have happened to her, or who we think could be responsible. Obviously,
00:18:16
Speaker
I don't want to say for certain that we know who is responsible for her death. I do want to say that we're probably all thinking of the same people. I mean, of course there's always another possibility, right? Like her aunt didn't come to pick her up, so she gets her ride with a complete stranger.
00:18:34
Speaker
And that person is who beats her to death. There's a possibility that it was somebody else. I do feel like though it had to be someone who knew her because she's covered with the blanket. And we've talked about before that is a sign that, you know, you kind of feel guilt and you don't want to look at what you've done because you know that person. So I do think that.
00:18:57
Speaker
She had to have known her killers, so which I don't know if that's more terrifying or less terrifying than not knowing your killers. I think both I guess are equally terrifying. And again, I think these men just kind of falling off the face of the earth and we can't find them and they don't come get their paycheck and you know, they don't return to work. I just think it's sort of similar to saying you don't want to take a polygraph test. Like people are going to start looking at you like you did something, even if you may not have. And I just think them leaving just looks super sketchy. We can't say for certain because this case is unsolved, but I feel like
00:19:42
Speaker
we're all thinking the same thing. And I'm just going to leave it at that for you guys this week. We've spent quite a bit of time delving into the perplexing case of Chris Jake Moon, who was a woman, a mother whose life was abruptly cut short, leaving behind a void of echoes through her community.
00:19:59
Speaker
This case reminds us that tragedy can strike anyone at any time. Your support and encouragement are vital in our pursuits for justice for Chris. So I do encourage you guys to share this episode to spread awareness and to help keep Chris Jakeman's memory alive. Every share, every like, every comment brings us one step closer to uncovering the truth. As I mentioned earlier, her family has actually stopped posting on the Facebook page of that's dedicated to her because I just feel like they've had so many doors shut in their face that they don't know what else to do. So I hope that through these shares, through these comments, we can be a beacon of light for this family. If you have any information about this case, no matter how small, please reach out to the local authorities. Your tip could be the missing piece to this puzzle.
00:20:49
Speaker
And so you are urged to contact the County Sheriff's Office at 928-7530753, extension 448. Remember, every case deserves a voice.
00:21:04
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.
00:21:34
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.