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E212: Alex VanDalsen
4.2k Plays1 year ago
Twenty-one year old Alex VanDalsen left his home in Lafayette, Indiana on the evening of February 3rd, 2021 to start the first shift at a new job. However, when he forgot the necessary paperwork at home, he wasn’t able to do so. Only about an hour after returning home, around 11:44pm, Alex left home again— this time on foot. Six days later, law enforcement showed up at Jen VanDalsen’s door to let her know that they had located the body of her son. But, after being given misinformation, after potential leads not being followed, after specific testing not being done, Alex’s mother Jen wants answers. And, after you hear about the case, you will as well.
Link to Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/share/nWBRcCHQbrge6VS6/?mibextid=K35XfP
Link to Change.Org Petition: https://www.change.org/p/federal-bureau-of-investigation-we-want-to-see-alex-s-case-reopened-and-investigated-correctly-this-time
Link to GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-find-justice-for-alex-blake-vandalsen?utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp%2Bshare-sheet
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Transcript
Introduction to Alex's Life
00:00:00
Speaker
If you heard someone singing, it was probably Alex. If a friend or family member found themselves laughing at a funny TikTok video, Alex was probably the one who created it. If you overheard someone making small talk with a stranger or calling the delivery person by name, it was likely Alex. And if you needed someone to help out when all else failed, you could count on Alex.
00:00:27
Speaker
He was the constant in most people's lives who was always there with a smile and an even quicker laugh. It's what makes the world seem all the more empty without him.
Coffee and Cases Podcast Investigation
00:00:38
Speaker
The world lost that light in February 2021.
00:00:44
Speaker
While his death has officially been ruled a suicide, many details concerning the evidence, as you'll hear in our coverage, will have you questioning that ruling and instead shouting for justice. This is the case of Alex Van Dahlsen.
00:01:16
Speaker
Oh.
Engaging Listeners for Justice
00:01:36
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.
00:01:52
Speaker
so justice and closure can be brought to these families.
Interview with Jen, Alex's Mother
00:01:55
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.
00:02:13
Speaker
Before I begin our coverage of Alex's case, I want to sincerely thank Alex's mother, Jen, for allowing me to interview her for our coverage of this case. I could tell that every conversation about Alex rubs her grief raw again, which is why I'm so incredibly grateful that she was willing to put herself through that pain so that you, Sleuth Hounds, can understand the intricacies of this case,
00:02:43
Speaker
pain Alex's family feels and that anger they feel at being dismissed and at having no answers.
Alex's Personality and Interests
00:02:52
Speaker
So thank you Jen not only for your time but also for being the advocate you are for Alex.
00:02:59
Speaker
You probably know this by now if you've listened to our show, but I always begin an interview with family by asking about a favorite memory. I want our listeners to see and feel connected with the person at the center of our case because these cases are in all honesty, a fight for justice for the person and not simply about the details of a crime. It's about empathy.
00:03:26
Speaker
It's about advocacy and it's about action.
00:03:31
Speaker
All of the families deserve those three things from us at the bare minimum. So let me tell you a little bit about Alex. Alex VanDolsen was a lovable goofball from what I understand. He was always laughing, singing, making TikTok videos for people to laugh, or it could be found, as I mentioned in the introduction, chatting with anybody and everybody who would listen. He just loved people.
Alex's Childhood Adventures
00:03:58
Speaker
And that didn't mean that he didn't also keep his mom on her toes, though. Here's Jen sharing some of her favorite memories. And he was just always happy and no matter what was going on, he was singing and dancing and trying to make everybody laugh.
00:04:28
Speaker
and watch the squirrels play. I'd get videos every now and then, like, look at what they're doing. I don't know if I can pick one. I got a four wheeler at one point for them to ride. And it was a manual.
00:04:55
Speaker
And James and I tried. Alex was, he was intent on riding it. And we rode with him. We ran next to him and it was, he
Alex's Trusting Nature
00:05:11
Speaker
had a hard time remembering the clutch. So it was pretty funny.
00:05:22
Speaker
like chasing the four-wheeler down the road. I also asked Jen if she could describe Alex for anyone who didn't have the pleasure to know him. Happy loving never had anything bad to say about somebody
00:05:50
Speaker
way too trusting though. He walked up to a perfect stranger and started a conversation. How all of our delivery people knew him. So he's talking to them and neighbors. Anywhere we would go, he would make a new friend.
Struggles with Life Direction
00:06:15
Speaker
And he just
00:06:22
Speaker
But that fun-loving side of Alex also had a counterpart, and Alex was often very hard on himself. Like a lot of young people, he struggled to figure out what he wanted from life. After high school, Alex was unsure of what he wanted to do, so he worked quite a few different jobs to try to figure that out. Some of the jobs he would quit because he soon realized this was not the path for him. Still others he would lose for
00:06:51
Speaker
a different reason, though his reason for losing the job says a lot about his love for people. You see, Alex lost several jobs because he would be scheduled to work, but not show up because a friend had called to say they needed help and couldn't find anyone else. So Alex would prioritize helping people over his job. Sadly, those same quote unquote friends would rarely return the favor.
00:07:19
Speaker
In the summer of 2020, Alex's mom, Jen, took Alex's car away after he was involved in a minor car accident. Carless, Alex now needed a ride to wherever he needed to go. However, calls to those same quote unquote friends often ended with a hard no on helping out Alex.
Supportive Friends
00:07:40
Speaker
leaving Jen to transport Alex to town, to work, etc. There were really only two friends who entered Alex's life who could be depended on to help, who valued Alex. Those were Cassie and then Alex's girlfriend, Genesis. Even though Genesis lived some distance away, she worked near where Alex lived and would often swing by to pick him up.
00:08:04
Speaker
But Alex was over the moon when he got his vehicle back because one of his favorite things in the world was driving. Jen told me that he drove everywhere. In fact, she said every vehicle Alex ever had, he quote, put the miles on, end quote. It was relaxing, even therapeutic for Alex, just like riding was to him as well.
00:08:30
Speaker
Driving and writing were forms of release for the depression and anxiety Alex would sometimes feel.
Mental Health Challenges
00:08:38
Speaker
He had tried therapy and things had improved drastically, including his grades at school while he attended. But when a therapist left to move out of state, Alex wasn't able to find another therapist with whom he could open up as he could with the last one. That's why he tried to find his own healthy outlets for those feelings.
00:08:59
Speaker
The year Alex had begun therapy was a hard one for him. You see, when Alex was younger, his parents hadn't had the best relationship. It was a pretty volatile marriage that Jen had originally believed she had hidden from the kids. When she realized that they knew more than she thought, she had filed for divorce. Jen told me, quote, unfortunately by then
00:09:25
Speaker
they knew way more than they ever should have." Alex was 13 at that time, a tough age for kids anyway, let alone when dealing with family separation. It's a time when most every child tries to buck the system, question rules, and experiment to see what you can get away with.
Custody Battle and Emotional Abuse Claims
00:09:45
Speaker
I'm sure most of you listening remember times as a teenager when you thought you knew better than your parents and did things they expressly told you not to do. Alex was just like all of us in that respect. For a short period of time when Alex reached his late teens, he expressed that he didn't like rules and instead wanted to hang out with people in their mid 20s and smoke weed. Things his mom Jen forbade him to do.
00:10:16
Speaker
Jen told me in our interview that during this time in Alex's life, Alex was prompted by his other parent to write a letter to a judge that Jen was emotionally abusive because she didn't allow Alex to make his own choices. It was around this time that Alex's biological father filed for custody, Jen stated.
00:10:38
Speaker
Interestingly, Jen and her ex had other children together who were living with Jen who were not part of these claims, nor of the custody fight. Soon afterward, and being outside the purview of Jen's rules, Alex continued to hang with this crowd. That is, until a guidance counselor pulled Alex into an office to ask about his behavior and contacted CPS because the counselor too didn't think Alex should be doing the things he was doing.
Advocacy for Mental Health
00:11:09
Speaker
Luckily, with help again from his mom's rules and with the therapy he soon attended, things improved both at school as well as at home. Alex did continue to struggle with his mental health, but he became an advocate for himself in that battle.
00:11:25
Speaker
to illustrate in October 2020, Alex checked himself into a mental health treatment center called Sycamore Springs. However, they wouldn't keep him because they didn't feel his struggles were significant enough. Alex attempted to check himself into the facility, according to Jen, three or four times before they finally kept him for just under a week.
00:11:48
Speaker
Now, when Alex knew something was wrong, he was strong enough to acknowledge the need for help and would tell his mom Jen, talk to his friend Cassie about it, or go somewhere for help. But Alex would have to deal with a few more significant events in the year or two leading up to February 3rd, 2021, when our case takes place that either give insight into some detail that will be important later,
00:12:16
Speaker
or that may have some bearing on the case. So I'll share those with you now. One incident was that Alex had previously been robbed at gunpoint. The incident happened about a year or two before February, 2021.
Robbery and Betrayal
00:12:32
Speaker
Alex had been asked by a so-called friend to loan some money. Alex knew the money was going to be used for drugs either to buy them or to pay off a debt. So Alex had refused.
00:12:44
Speaker
It turned out that the person had indeed owed money to the dealer. The friend, and I'm using air quotes here, asked for another favor from Alex. This time instead of money, the friend asked for a ride. A ride that ended with Alex being robbed at gunpoint. It is Jen's belief that the friend had arranged the robbery. In order to get the money, Alex didn't freely give. So that friend could pay back the weed dealer.
00:13:15
Speaker
Since that incident was significantly removed in terms of time from February 2021, I asked Jen if there were any other incidents closer to the time of the case that had her or Alex worried. She recalled to me that at the time there was something, something she wasn't particularly worried about, but that Alex was.
Threats and Harassment
00:13:39
Speaker
She told me that maybe six to eight weeks prior, there was, again, a group of, air quote, friends causing issues with the common theme of, if you don't do things our way, then we'll harass you. At one point, Jen detailed, Alex told her that he was worried one or more of the group would show up at the house because they told him that they were going to, in Jen's words, quote,
00:14:06
Speaker
come out and shoot up everyone in the house." Jen wasn't worried because she would protect her family at all costs, but Alex was concerned that this time the threats were real. A final event with significance to small details in the case was a bad breakup that Alex had around summer to fall of 2020.
Breakup and Disappearance
00:14:29
Speaker
After the breakup, Jen told me that Alex eventually took to leaving his cell phone at home
00:14:35
Speaker
because his ex had frequently tracked his location from it. In fact, Alex had left his phone behind for about six to eight months prior to February 2021. Often, Alex was only away from home for a short time anyway, so he wouldn't need a phone. When he knew he would be away for a longer period, he would instead take a spare phone
00:14:57
Speaker
that Jen had previously put on her plan for one of her nephews. Since the nephew wasn't using it any longer but the line was still on her plan, Jen suggested that Alex just take that spare phone when he would be away for several hours. It was because of that bad relationship that Alex was unsure when he first met girlfriend Genesis whether or not to jump right into another relationship.
00:15:22
Speaker
if he were in a good enough spot to do so, and whether Genesis would be ready either. Alex spoke to his mom about those concerns, and Jen advised him that if he were worried about Genesis being ready to be in a relationship with him, then Alex should allow that to be a decision made by Genesis. Alex shouldn't make that decision for her. But if Alex himself didn't feel ready, then that was something he would have to figure out himself, and that Genesis deserved to know that.
Alex's Disappearance and Initial Concerns
00:15:52
Speaker
Alex and Genesis talked and they both decided that their relationship was worth a chance. It didn't take long before Genesis proved to be a good partner for Alex.
00:16:02
Speaker
like friend Cassie, Genesis was always there for Alex when he needed something. And she grew to be a part of Alex's family as well, calling Jen or Alex's grandmother if Alex had left his phone at home and needed to let them know where he was. She had stayed at Alex's house, had brought her dogs over, had been introduced to friends like Cassie, and loved spending all her spare time with Alex. Things were finally calm and going well.
00:16:33
Speaker
Then, on February 3rd, 2021, everyone who loved and cared for Alex had their world completely ripped pieces. And with each new piece of information that has come to light in the time since, their pain has only continued to grow, their questions to become more extensive, and their fight for justice become more urgent.
00:16:57
Speaker
February 3rd, 2021 in Lafayette, Indiana, home to Purdue University in West Lafayette, and situated about an hour northwest of Indianapolis and about two hours southeast of Chicago, Illinois, was a typical cold one.
00:17:14
Speaker
The weather had been in the high 20s, low 30s, and snow had just blanketed the area with more on the way. 21-year-old Alex was set to start a new job at 930 that evening at 350 Liquors in Lafayette. Jen was a little bit worried because of the job itself, but Alex had all of his paperwork ready to go and was excited to start. Jen had gone into work at the local Subaru plant, and Alex had shortly followed suit.
00:17:44
Speaker
However, even though he had all his paperwork completed to start the new job, in the rush to get there on time, he had forgotten the folder in his bedroom. Jen knows he must have been mad at himself for doing that, since he wasn't able to start his job without that paperwork. He returned home.
00:18:03
Speaker
Because Alex was only gone from home for about an hour, Jen believes that he drove to the liquor store, spent 10 to 20 minutes there, and then drove home. According to the Purdue Exponent in an article by Joe DeHownick, when Alex got home, he told his sister what had happened with the paperwork, and then he told her goodnight. Around 11.44 p.m., according to camera footage later viewed,
00:18:31
Speaker
Alex left his home again, this time without his sister's knowledge. He left on foot, leaving his car behind. When Mom Jen got out of work the next morning, she turned her cell phone off and back on again to see if Alex had texted to let her know how his first night went. She told me that inside the plant, the cell service is so bad that she can rarely use her cell phone in the building at all and had learned that
00:18:59
Speaker
She would need to restart her phone in order for text messages sent to her during her shift to come through. But she didn't have any new messages from Alex. When she got home, she saw that his bedroom door was closed, so she assumed he was asleep after working the late shift. When Alex hadn't come out after several hours, Jen checked his room, only to find his bed empty.
00:19:24
Speaker
When she saw that, her first thought was that, well, Genesis likely swung by to pick Alex up for them to spend some time together. He had left his wallet, minus his ID, and his phone behind in his room, an indication to Jen that Alex hadn't planned to be gone for long. And remember, leaving his phone at home was something he frequently did.
00:19:47
Speaker
As for leaving his wallet but taking his ID, that was something Jen told me Alex also did frequently. Later that evening, still fighting that feeling in her gut that it wasn't like Alex to not contact her to at least let her know how his first shift went.
Police Negligence and Jen's Worry
00:20:05
Speaker
Jen had to return to work. After receiving a call from Genesis that she also hadn't seen Alex since February 3rd and was wondering where he was, Jen knew something had happened. She came home, checked again to find an empty room and everything in the same place it had been the last time she checked, and placed a call to the police. Alex VanDolsen was missing.
00:20:32
Speaker
Now, before I tell you the next detail, I want you to put yourself in Jen's shoes and the panic that she was feeling in that moment. It had already been nearly 24 hours since anyone has seen Alex. Time was of the essence. It took law enforcement almost two hours to respond to the call at a time when every second likely felt like an eternity.
00:20:58
Speaker
When they did arrive, Jen didn't feel comforted. According to that same article by Joe de Hownick in the Purdue Exponent and his discussion with Jen, quote, because county police had come to their house for well-being checks on Alex in the past, she said, they assumed his disappearance wasn't a big deal and would soon resolve, end quote.
00:21:24
Speaker
In other words, Jen didn't feel that law enforcement understood the urgency that she herself felt. They searched Alex's room and found a note stuck somewhere on his desk.
Search Efforts and Discovery
00:21:37
Speaker
It read as follows, quote, please give back to Genesis, her journal, boxers, house key, bracelet, anything else she has here, end quote.
00:21:50
Speaker
Along with the list, Jenice's phone number was written three times on the document. When police found the note, they didn't think anything of it, telling Jen specifically that they didn't think it was a suicide note or anything of the sort, just a spur of the moment list instead. They also found the video footage that showed Alex leaving his car behind to walk off screen, away from town. Because he left his car behind, didn't take his phone,
00:22:19
Speaker
and wasn't dressed for the weather. The temperature was below freezing. There were several inches of snow on the ground, and Alex was wearing just a black sweatshirt with a Chevrolet emblem on the front, brown leather boots, and gray sweatpants layered over blue jeans, but no coat. Jen believed that he likely took a ride with someone. After all, Alex had severe asthma.
00:22:43
Speaker
And Jen said that he could barely walk several yards, especially in the cold air, without needing his inhaler. If he had planned on going any significant distance for that reason, he would have taken his car. Still, Jen didn't get the feeling that the Tippecanoe County Police Department was taking her missing person report as seriously as she knew it deserved.
00:23:10
Speaker
While waiting for law enforcement to begin investigating and hopefully find Alex, Jen began doing what she could on her own.
00:23:18
Speaker
As a parent, there is no part of you that's good at waiting when your child hasn't come home. As part of our own search, Jen accepted help from friends and family as well as community members to look in any place they knew Alex frequented. One member of the community even showed up with a search dog to try to help pick up Alex's scent.
00:23:41
Speaker
However, additional inches of ice and snow between February 3rd and February 5th when the dog was brought proved detrimental to the attempt. When the dog did trail Alex's scent down the road to an intersection before the scent was lost again, it made Jen sure that it was likely someone had picked Alex up. But who? And where had they gone?
00:24:07
Speaker
As the days passed, those questions loomed larger. When law enforcement pulled into Jen's home on February 9th, around 4pm, she knew right away why they were there.
Discovery of Alex's Death
00:24:21
Speaker
And when they showed Jen a picture of the rose tattoo that Alex had on his hand, which she confirmed to be his, that was positive confirmation that the body they had found just three hours earlier
00:24:36
Speaker
was Alex van Dalsen. According to Jen, that was when law enforcement officers gave her the following details. Alex had been found near the softball fields at Crosser Sports Complex, that there was no obvious signs of trauma, and that they would have to wait until they got the autopsy results to be able to tell her the cause of death. In the meantime, she would need to contact the funeral home to begin making arrangements to lay Alex to rest.
00:25:06
Speaker
It was when Jen got a phone call from the funeral home that everything she thought she knew was turned on its head. Here's Jen. We met with the funeral director and he actually was a neighbor of my mom and stepdad for lots and lots of years. He did my dad's funerals. He knew the whole family. He watched my kids grow up.
00:25:38
Speaker
And he asked us what happened in trying to play on the funeral. We don't know. This is all they have told us so far. And he was like, OK. So we play on the funeral based on that. And then he calls me Saturday morning, which he had told us that day. If there were any delays or anything like that, we might
00:26:07
Speaker
I know if he wasn't released in time or anything. OK. So he calls me Saturday morning and. Hey kiddo, we need to talk. I can you know my thought is like he's not going to be released in time. We gotta. You know reschedule things and like OK like we can do this. He says what were you told again?
00:26:38
Speaker
So I repeated, you know, just what the detective told us, no obvious signs of trauma. So we're waiting on the autopsy results. I've called the coroner's office numerous times. They tell me that they'll call me when the autopsy is ready, that it could be weeks because they got to wait on toxicology. Okay. He says, well, I don't understand.
00:27:04
Speaker
what's going on. But I will be calling the coroner and the sheriff's department when we're done. Because I shouldn't be the one to be telling you this. But you can't get any more obvious than a gunshot wound to the head. What? What? What? What are you talking about? And he's like, I don't know why. You haven't been told. I don't know.
00:27:34
Speaker
what's going on, he said, but I can't wait to figure that out. I need to let you know that the plans that we've made may not work because of this. Right. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What? I'm like, okay. All right. What? What do we need to do? He says, well,
00:28:04
Speaker
You may need like different casket, different liner. Can't be the one that you picked. Jen's voice broke as she said to me, quote, I didn't want to have to go through this once, let alone twice. End quote. She even asked the caller, are you sure you've got the right kid? But the director knew Jen.
00:28:32
Speaker
knew Alex, knew the whole family. This was, indeed, Alex that he was talking about. Jen was dumbfounded. Why had the police explicitly told her there was no sign of trauma when clearly there was? Jen called a detective on the case first thing the following Monday.
Discrepancies in Reports and Autopsy
00:28:52
Speaker
She said that he repeatedly responded with comments like, I didn't mean to mislead you.
00:28:58
Speaker
Jen scoffed at that comment in our conversation, responding, quote, no, you blatantly lied. End quote. As a result of that misinformation, Jen and her husband had to show up to the funeral home 30 minutes early to look for themselves and decide whether they would have an open casket at the funeral or not.
00:29:21
Speaker
From that moment on, Jen has discovered a lot more misinformation and experienced a lot more heartbreak. When you lose a child, there is a desperate need to do anything and everything just to have a small piece of them back. For Jen, that meant wanting Alex's clothes. She recalled to me that the sweatshirt he'd been wearing was one of his favorites and one which she had bought multiple times over from getting worn out.
00:29:52
Speaker
However, the funeral home only had a couple of vape pens, his boots, eight $1 bills, and his piercings. They told Jen that was all that they had received from the coroner. Jen then expanded her questioning about the clothes to both city and county police since she was told that both had attended the autopsy. Both agencies denied having Alex's clothes. She then called the coroner who told her that
00:30:22
Speaker
if the police didn't collect them, that they were probably burned. But not a single person could give her a solid answer. She wanted that sweatshirt and now it was likely gone forever without her ever having gotten a say in the matter. Then about a week after the funeral, Jen heard the archived scanner calls from the afternoon Alex was discovered.
00:30:51
Speaker
Jen and her husband wanted to visit the area because they were told that Alex's ID, which we know was not in his wallet, was also not found on his person. They wanted to go look for it. On those scanner calls, she heard several cops who had gotten lost trying to find the location where Alex was. As such, one officer gave explicit instructions on how to get there. Jen followed those instructions.
00:31:18
Speaker
And that's when she learned that Alex was not found near the softball fields as she had also previously been told. Rather, he was in a much further and much more secluded spot. In fact, he had been found by a snowplow driver who had been in the area. He was covered with the newly fallen snow and had almost not been seen. But how did he get there?
00:31:44
Speaker
There was no way in Jen's mind with the way Alex was dressed and with his severe asthma that he could have walked nearly 10 miles to this location. Someone had driven him here. And if that were the case, she wondered, are they the ones who did this to Alex?
00:32:08
Speaker
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00:34:18
Speaker
Detective Tislow assured Jen that he was looking at various things and investigating Alex's death. And Jen received copies of various documents and reports that she hoped would provide more details. One would think that the call she received from the funeral home that the death certificate was ready, if she wanted to come and get a copy, would have given her more answers. The death certificate being completed meant that the autopsy was complete after all.
Incomplete Autopsy and Investigation Doubts
00:34:49
Speaker
Jen went to get a copy, but as she began reading it, she was in disbelief. And a couple of days later, she called the sheriff's office to ask about what she felt was the most implausible part of the report. The cause of death was the fracture at the base of Alex's skull and a gunshot wound to the head. But the manner of death read suicide.
00:35:19
Speaker
When she spoke with a detective, according to Jen, they told her to calm down and that the autopsy wasn't completed yet, even though Jen says as she spoke with them, she was holding a copy of it in her hands. She kept repeatedly asking if he would like for her to bring him a copy because she was holding one. How could the autopsy say suicide when she knew he didn't get there alone?
00:35:46
Speaker
After feeling like she was getting nowhere talking to law enforcement, Jen told me that she said something like, go ahead and file the autopsy and close the case so I can hire someone who will investigate. And that's exactly what happened a few weeks later. The case was officially closed.
00:36:04
Speaker
citing the letter with the list of items to Genesis as evidence of suicidal ideation, despite having earlier said otherwise. It was that earlier comment that Jen believes, because Genesis's number was written all over the document, and had it been recent, no friend or family member would have needed Genesis's number.
00:36:27
Speaker
Genesis called them all regularly. It made a lot more sense if the list had been written after Alex and Genesis began seeing each other around the time when Alex began questioning if they were ready to be in a relationship. After the case was closed, Jen immediately submitted a request for all the reports related to Alex's case. When she received them, Jen says she was shocked yet again.
00:36:59
Speaker
When Jen had received the autopsy, she knew it was short. Now she knew why. Citing the fact that Alex's body was frozen as justification, the autopsy had only been completed on Alex's head. Jen understandably was infuriated. The purpose of an autopsy is to provide as much information as possible, but a full autopsy wasn't completed.
00:37:27
Speaker
Had there been other injuries to his body? We don't know. Was there gunpowder residue on his hand? We don't know. Jen specifically asked law enforcement about gunpowder residue, though, since Alex's death was ruled a suicide. The response she got was that they no longer test for gunpowder residue because it's no longer admissible in court and because the powder can carry such a distance.
Inconsistencies and Suspicions of Foul Play
00:37:53
Speaker
Jen said to me, quote, I still think 30 seconds of their time could have answered some questions, end quote. The autopsy also listed the time of death as the date and time when Alex was found. There wasn't any indication that an attempt had been made to determine a more accurate time of death between February 3 and February 9, as again, any detail could provide more information that could prove
00:38:23
Speaker
invaluable. The likelihood that Alex did not go to this location by himself because of his asthma and because of the weather, and the fact that his hands were not tested for gunpowder residue to see if he did indeed fire a gun, were some of the issues that Jen had questions about, among others. Why was a complete autopsy not completed?
00:38:48
Speaker
She read in the reports that a gun was found under Alex's body, partially under his back hip and his elbow. Whose gun was it? Was it tested to know if it had recently been fired? No such test nor answers were in the reports. If the intent had been for Alex to commit suicide, why hadn't a gun been taken from his home? Jen had plenty there and Alex would have had easy access to them.
00:39:19
Speaker
Also in the reports were that police searched for two hours with metal detectors all around the area and weren't able to find a single shell casing. If this were a suicide, as they claimed, wouldn't the casing be right there near Alex? While parts of the images taken from the scene were blackened out, Jen also saw a description of the way Alex's body was found lying on the ground, ankles crossed,
00:39:49
Speaker
with what appeared to be his hands and his pockets. How was that position possible if this had been a suicide? How had the gun, after having been shot, somehow made it under his elbow? The photos also showed no signs of blood spatter that even with newly fallen snow, one would assume would continue to show discoloration in the snow. What was an explanation for this detail, Jen wondered?
00:40:20
Speaker
Additionally, she saw in the paperwork that a deputy coroner who first arrived at the scene had given varying details from the official report from the coroner that wasn't completed until just shy of 45 hours after Alex was found. One very important discrepancy was with the entrance and exit wounds on Alex.
00:40:43
Speaker
The deputy coroner, Evan Litman, had said the entrance wound, 1.5 by one centimeter, had been on the left temple, since entrance wounds are typically smaller, and that the exit wound, six and a half by six centimeters, was on the right temple. This account would be consistent with what we typically know of the difference in size between entrance and exit wounds.
00:41:09
Speaker
However, the official autopsy report by forensic pathologist Dr. Darren Wolf listed the opposite, that the larger wound on the right temple had been the entrance wound and the smaller wound on the left temple had been the exit wound. Jen wondered why the discrepancy until she clarified for me in our conversation that since the gun had been found on Alex's right side,
00:41:36
Speaker
They must argue that the entrance wound, even though it was larger, had to be on the right side in order to support the suicide theory.
Questioning Police Integrity
00:41:48
Speaker
Jen sent email upon email asking questions like these of law enforcement.
00:41:55
Speaker
The following are portions of the email response from Lieutenant Payne from the Lafayette Police Department that Jen has shared. I will read direct portions from that email now. Quote, on the day of the call, LPD responded to the area north of Crosser sports field for a subject that appeared to be deceased. The person plowing the trails is the person that called us. End quote.
00:42:22
Speaker
He went on to say, quote, we treat every death scene as a homicide until it is determined to be something else. I was able to make contact with a detective that sent me pictures of the scene in a FaceTime video where we were able to get a better idea of what was going on, along with speaking to officers on scene. The coroner's office was contacted and they sent a deputy coroner to the location to conduct
00:42:47
Speaker
his investigation as well. Over the course of the next few hours, the CSIs and detectives spoke to the person that located the body along with two individuals that got their vehicle stuck at a different portion of the trail." As for questions about the gun, Payne wrote, quote, I do not know where the gun came from at this point. End quote.
00:43:10
Speaker
He writes that he was given a description of the gun, but was under the impression that someone told him family had verified that it had come from Alex's home. He then says, quote, I have since clarified with Detective Tislow and have asked for ownership tracing to be conducted on the gun. I should find that information out today or tomorrow, end quote.
00:43:33
Speaker
In the email, Lieutenant Payne also addresses Jen's questions about asthma and what she felt was the easy way out for them to just say that Alex went there alone. He says, quote, As far as asthma goes, I guess it would be up to the extent of how bad it is.
00:43:51
Speaker
I coach local kids in sports and several have asthma and do fine with long runs and sprints. Sometimes they use their inhaler, sometimes they don't. My sergeant has asthma and is able to complete our physical assessment test which includes a wide variety of exercises including running. We also have to do long walks for a health benefit on our insurance
00:44:13
Speaker
and he's able to complete them. I don't have asthma, so I cannot give an opinion. If someone gave Alex the gun, drove him to that location, and allowed him to commit suicide, there would be nothing criminal for us to investigate that person for. If the person assisted by other means, then certainly we could investigate that. As of this time, we do not have any reason to believe this is the case."
00:44:42
Speaker
Lieutenant Payne ends by responding to what he, based on the tone of his email, must have felt was an attack on the integrity of his department, that because of Alex's experience with mental health issues,
00:44:55
Speaker
because there had been health checks in the past and because Alex was a transgender male, that they had not taken the case as seriously as they should have and merely rushed to get it done. Payne writes, quote, our division and department take death cases very seriously. And if there's a homicide, we have the entire division working on it for as long as needed. We are still a relatively small community and we have the time to work those cases to the bitter end.
00:45:25
Speaker
We do experience quite a bit of larger city crime these days, so we are very busy, but those aren't the types of cases we would just, quote, get done, end quote. That was the last correspondence Jen says she received from the Lafayette Police Department, despite many follow up contacts.
00:45:45
Speaker
Meanwhile, in June of 2022 was when Jen first saw the body cam footage from the responding officers in Alex's case, who were heard on camera indicating their belief that the details of the scene pointed to homicide.
00:46:03
Speaker
The following is a transcription of the audio, as published on July 20th, 2022, in the Purdue Exponent.
Contradictory Evidence
00:46:11
Speaker
Quote, several Lafayette police officers huddle around a snow-covered body. They've placed him here. Officer Jacob Dobbenmeyer says to the other officers, he was killed somewhere else. That's my guess.
00:46:26
Speaker
It looks like his hands are in his pockets, Officer Brian Landis says, moving his own hands to simulate shoving them into a pullover hoodie pocket. Mm-hmm, a third officer concurs. That's weird, Landis continues. Dobbin Meyer trudges back to his squad car through the heavily packed snow. It looks like they've dumped him here, he says. His legs are crossed and his arms are in his pockets, end quote.
00:46:55
Speaker
With this newfound information that responding officers believed it to be homicide leads us to question, why were law enforcement now claiming it was suicide? And what reason did they give about the change in entrance and exit wounds? While those answers were not provided to Jen, they were given to the media. Here's what they've said.
00:47:23
Speaker
While Lieutenant Payne would not respond specifically about Alex's case, he did answer questions for the Purdue exponent that were more generalized. He said, quote, if the weapon used is still present, it's a lot more likely the death was suicide, end quote. It seems as though he's taken that comment to heart in Alex's case. A present weapon equals suicide.
00:47:53
Speaker
The Purdue exponent reported on a conversation they had with Tippecanoe County coroner, Kari Costello, quote, Costello said the responding officers and deputy coroner aren't experts to my knowledge and any conclusions they came to were simply preliminary observations, end quote. Of the entrance and exit wounds, she went on to say the following, quote, there are so many factors that go into that, she said, including the type
00:48:23
Speaker
and caliber of the bullet and the direction it travels through the body. A recent study published in the National Library of Medicine, however, says entry wounds are typically smaller and more regular than exit wounds. Exit wounds are typically larger and show outward beveling of tissue.
00:48:42
Speaker
But Captain Clyde said that when a gun is in close proximity to the victim, it's easy to mistake the entry and exit wounds, even by an ER doctor." Are these true explanations or are they justifications?
Doubts about Suicide Ruling
00:49:00
Speaker
As for why Alex's body was positioned in a way that didn't seem to support suicide, Costello noted, quote, sometimes death doesn't happen simultaneously.
00:49:11
Speaker
There are some people that survived this." Law enforcement also responded to the media concerning Jen's claims that she wasn't given the information about the gun's owner. Police told media that they don't know why Jen hadn't known the owner of the gun until about a year later because they argue that the owner of the gun was listed, they said, in all the paperwork that Jen had received from them in March. Perhaps they had indicated
00:49:41
Speaker
Jen just didn't know how to find it. Jen responded to that claim in our conversation by arguing that she didn't understand why police said the name of the gun owner was in the paperwork in March when she had gotten a response from Lieutenant Payne a month later in April that said he didn't know the owner of the gun either, but would learn that information in a day or two.
00:50:06
Speaker
With that said, law enforcement were able to determine the owner of the gun found at the scene. Well, at least narrow it down to one of two people. You see, Jen isn't exactly clear to this day on whether the gun belonged to Alex's best friend, Cassie, or Cassie's ex-wife. The two had together purchased two guns, one for each of them.
00:50:30
Speaker
The couple had been on again and off again for some time by February of 2021 with Cassie's ex moving out and moving back in several times. The only thing that is clear is that uncertainty surrounds every detail of Alex's case. Nobody is certain of how the gun ended up at the scene, nor of how Alex could have been in possession of the firearm.
00:50:56
Speaker
According to an article in the Purdue Exponent from July 20th, 2022, Cassie wasn't even aware herself that the gun found at the scene was registered to her. She told reporter Joe DeHaunik that she didn't learn that detail until 17 months after Alex's death in July, 2022, when the Lafayette Police Department captain called to give her that information.
00:51:22
Speaker
Jen isn't even convinced that the weapon found at the scene is even the murder weapon because it was never, to her knowledge, tested. Jen has become a pro at research since Alex's death. She told me that in the research she has completed, she didn't see any findings indicating that a nine millimeter as the black and pink camouflage gun found under Alex was correlates with the size of Alex's wounds.
Theories on Gun and Suicide Narrative
00:51:52
Speaker
Since Jen isn't convinced the gun at the scene was the murder weapon, the very reason law enforcement give as to why they believed Alex's death to be a suicide, I asked her how she believed it got there. Here's what she said. I think it was either planted or by by the way that he was laying when they placed him there, that maybe he
00:52:21
Speaker
knew like, okay, I don't fully trust this person. And I had it in his back waistband or something. Her feeling is that Alex had likely had the gun for protection. In Jen's mind, that would explain why the type of gun doesn't match the wound and if it fell out of his waistband, how it ended up in the position that it was in, in a way that the suicide ruling can't fully explain.
00:52:50
Speaker
She wonders, is that why Alex walked off camera to catch a ride? Because he knew Jen wouldn't like or trust who was picking him up. Why else would the person have not pulled up right in front of the home? Getting answers has proven even harder now that law enforcement have stopped responding to Jen.
00:53:13
Speaker
When asked about the case, law enforcement have told several media outlets that they stopped communicating with Jen and with the media because she had hired an attorney, filed a tort claim against them, and had started a social media group about the case.
Jen's Continued Advocacy
00:53:30
Speaker
I asked Jen about that claim to which she laughingly replied, quote, I can prove a timeline to show that the communication stopped long before those things happened, end quote.
00:53:42
Speaker
She said the last communication with law enforcement was on April 5th, 2021, in the email from which I shared portions. She told me she didn't contact an attorney until July of that year. The attorney told her that the only course of action she could really do would be to file a tort claim, which she did, in August, claiming that TCPD and the LPD failed to issue a silver alert
00:54:12
Speaker
conduct a missing person search and appropriately conduct a murder investigation because Alex was transgender. By that point, several months had already passed with no correspondence. Jen told me about her fight to get answers. And no one wants to do this with their life every day. I want to remember my child.
00:54:40
Speaker
and his friends and family be able to remember him, not have to continuously relive the time that he was missing all the failures of law enforcement during that, the failures when he was found. But what options did they leave me with when they decided that
00:55:11
Speaker
They were just going to quit speaking to me because they knew they couldn't answer those questions. While we don't have answers, we do have theories, other places to explore, to push, to find evidence, or at the very least, to close some doors. The first of the theories is suicide. Those like law enforcement who argue suicide point to the note in Alex's room with a list of items to return to Genesis.
00:55:39
Speaker
They point to the gun being found at the scene. They point to Alex's struggle with depression and anxiety. They argue that no parent wants to admit it when their child has taken their own life.
00:55:52
Speaker
In the article, Was Sun's Death Really a Suicide?, new video adds to mother's concern about 2021's shooting by Joe DeHaunik, published in the Indianapolis Star, quote, Police and the coroner told Indy Star they stand by their findings. They said the new concerns raised by Van Dalsen are not enough to reopen the investigation.
00:56:15
Speaker
What a grieving mother sees as critical discrepancies, they said, are the results of different roles and levels of expertise between patrol officers who initially respond to crime reports and the investigators who follow up to determine what happened."
00:56:32
Speaker
But just because someone is struggling with their mental health doesn't mean this is an open and shut case. After all, as Jen pointed out, why was Genesis's number written all over that note when they all knew her number, unless it was from early in their relationship? And Jen says, Alex loved to write.
Speculations on Death Circumstances
00:56:53
Speaker
She is convinced that if Alex had been planning to commit suicide, he would have left a note.
00:57:02
Speaker
Also, if suicide were the intent, why not take a gun from the home? Why not drive there? How do we explain the placement of the gun, of crossed ankles and hands and pockets, of the lack of blood spatter? Where's the shell casing? Here's what Jen said. I think a lot of people look at it and, oh, you know,
00:57:28
Speaker
grieving mom can't accept the fact that her son did this. Like, you know, if this is what happened, I would accept it. But you can't prove to me that this is what happened because everything that you're showing me shows me something different. I tried in the beginning, like explain this to me.
00:57:54
Speaker
These are my questions. These are my concerns. Explain how you got this from this because nobody else can put two and two together and get four in the manner that you have. So help me make sense of it. And they could not.
00:58:17
Speaker
And even if we can explain away some of these questions, can we really explain away all of them? I'm not convinced that we can. The second theory is that his death was caused by a so-called friend.
00:58:34
Speaker
Jen feels in her gut that one or more of those quote unquote friends know more than they've let on. Her gut tells her that they must or why would Alex have walked off screen to get into a vehicle as she's convinced he did. Recall the asthma, the weather, and the search dog stopping at the intersection.
00:58:55
Speaker
As I stated before, that would explain the position of the gun if Alex had taken it from Cassie's for protection. It would explain why in Jen's estimation, the wounds don't match a nine millimeter, because perhaps they didn't come from a nine millimeter. It would also explain why there's no shell casing. It could explain the posing of Alex's body and
00:59:21
Speaker
In Jen's mind, she now goes back to those worries Alex had about the threats made by those friends to, quote, come out and shoot up everyone in the house, end quote, of him telling Jen that they would harass if they didn't get their way. She wonders if Alex had finally told one of them no, and this was the result.
00:59:44
Speaker
After all, one had set Alex up previously to be robbed at gunpoint over saying no to loaning money.
Unanswered Questions and Pursuit of Justice
00:59:52
Speaker
Could something like that have happened again? But this time it cost Alex his life. The third theory is that something else happened to Alex after leaving home that snowy, cold February night. Perhaps something that someone out there holds the answer to.
01:00:12
Speaker
Jen points out that there were two individuals police said they spoke to whose vehicles had been stuck in the snow not far from where Alex's body was found. According to Jen, the stories told by the vehicle owners and when they were stuck has changed several times. I wasn't able to find concrete information about those vehicles nor the owners to verify, but at the very least, she wonders if they heard or saw anything that could provide more information.
01:00:43
Speaker
Jen went on to say that also near the scene was a tent that a homeless man lived in. Although, again, I wasn't able to verify with law enforcement. It's Jen's understanding that the police made no attempt to contact nor question that man. What other information could be out there? What other questions haven't been asked? What really happened to Alex van Dalsen?
01:01:13
Speaker
Unfortunately, so many of these questions can't be answered now since a test was never completed for gunpowder residue. The gun wasn't processed to verify if it had been fired recently. No shell casing was found. A full body autopsy was never completed. And Alex's clothing has mysteriously disappeared. But all of those roadblocks haven't stopped Jen from trying to find out what happened to Alex.
Challenges in Reopening the Case
01:01:41
Speaker
Most recently, unsuccessfully, she tried to get the case reopened through the Indiana State Police. I asked Jen what reason they gave, but she didn't feel she ever got a clear answer to that question, other than having the personal impression that she had, in her words, quote, hit a blue wall, end quote, and that she, quote, didn't feel they had any intention to reopen the case, end quote.
01:02:10
Speaker
Jen has faced some criticism online for her questioning of the police in Alex's investigation that she is, quote, blaming police because she didn't get the outcome she wanted. End quote. She responded to those accusations on Facebook, and I want to read you her response because it is powerfully worded. She wrote, quote, no.
01:02:35
Speaker
A dead child is never an outcome a real parent wants, but I'm not blaming the police for that. Do I think they could have done more to help find Alex? Yes. If they had, could we have found him alive? I'll never know. I'm definitely blaming them for willfully failing to do their jobs when he was found.
01:03:00
Speaker
So to message me and say, I did not get the outcome I wanted. You're right. I didn't. I want Alex safe at home with his loving family. But since that can't happen, I want answers as to how and why this happened and who participated in it. I will continue to fight to find those answers until my very last breath." End quote.
Call to Action for Listeners
01:03:30
Speaker
But Sleuthhounds, we can fight for answers alongside her. First, join the Facebook group called Justice for Alex Blake-Vandalson to show your support. A link is in our show notes. Second, sign genschange.org petition. The link is in the show notes as well. And the 30 seconds it will take you to sign it will mean the world for Jen. Third, if you are able,
01:04:00
Speaker
Contribute to Jen's GoFundMe, also linked in the show notes, that will go toward paying for a private investigator. And finally, share. Share Alex's story. Share a link to this episode. Keeping his name out there is more significant than you think. And Jen, as you listen to this, know that you are not alone. There is power in numbers.
01:04:30
Speaker
and you now have many more people to push for answers alongside of you. Anyone with information in the case of Alex Vandalsen is asked to call the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department as 765-423-9388.
01:04:53
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.
01:05:23
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.
01:05:46
Speaker
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Speaker
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