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Episode: Case Review: Amy Jo Nelson

Author: Tenderfoot TV, Resonate Recordings & Audacy
Duration: 00:52:00

Episode Shownotes

For most of her life Amy Jo Nelson fought through health complications, which resulted in numerous treatments and medications. When the 39-year-old was found dead in a stranger's apartment, many believed she may have died of a drug overdose. But her family immediately suspected foul play, having witnessed some strange

events leading up to her demise. They'd receive some affirmation when the autopsy report listed her death as a homicide. The question remains, who's responsible for her death? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Full Transcript

00:00:00 Speaker_01
Introducing a new podcast from Tenderfoot TV. It all begins with the grim murder of Cindy Coe's dad in Triangle Park. The 29-year-old was shot twice, killed, and left for dead in a park shelter.

00:00:14 Speaker_06
It was a pair of shorts, women's shorts, and they were covered in blood and brain matter.

00:00:21 Speaker_03
In that moment, you thought he was... A serial killer.

00:00:25 Speaker_01
This girl had to hold her down by the torture. They were torturing her. And Tim was laughing as he was torturing this lady.

00:00:33 Speaker_00
Tim should be looked at for any murders that happened in any area that he lived in at that time. How do we know he's not a serial killer? How do we know he's not murdered other people? So Tim had a tattoo on his arm that was just letters.

00:00:46 Speaker_06
It said LOD. I was told it stood for Lords of Death. And in order to get the tattoo, you had to take someone's soul.

00:00:55 Speaker_03
I'm Thrasher Banks, the host of the new Tenderfoot TV podcast, Lords of Death, available now.

00:01:02 Speaker_00
I'm convinced that we were living with a serial killer.

00:01:07 Speaker_03
Culpable Case Reviews is released every Friday and brought to you absolutely free. But if you want early access to next week's episode and ad-free listening, subscribe to Tenderfoot Plus. For more information, check out tenderfootplus.com.

00:01:23 Speaker_03
Enjoy the episode. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individuals interviewed and participating in the show, and do not represent those of Tenderfoot TV or Resonate Originals.

00:01:37 Speaker_03
All individuals described or mentioned in the podcast should be considered innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

00:01:43 Speaker_03
This podcast contains subject matter such as domestic violence, drug use, and other graphic descriptions which may not be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

00:02:00 Speaker_07
I made Amy a promise the day we closed her casket, and I said, I will fight until I make sure that whoever did this pays for what they've done to you. And I don't plan on stopping until somebody pays for what they've done to her.

00:02:18 Speaker_03
This is Abby Vann, sister to Amy Jo Nelson, the victim in this story. Amy Jo was 39 years old when she was found dead in an apartment in New Straitsville, Ohio, the city where she resided. Amy Jo was a very loving and nurturing individual.

00:02:36 Speaker_03
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty was a daughter, a sister, and a mother to her 11-year-old girl.

00:02:43 Speaker_03
Despite living a difficult life wrought with years of health complications and extended hospital care, she persevered to maintain joy and laughter, both for herself and those she loved.

00:02:54 Speaker_03
But in the months leading up to her death, she'd become more and more distant from her loved ones, slowly turning into a shell of her former self.

00:03:04 Speaker_03
So when it all came to a head on September 18, 2017, and Amy Jo's family learned the news of her death, they were left scrambling for answers.

00:03:12 Speaker_07
— And not knowing, and having all these different scenarios in your head, it's painful. It's painful.

00:03:22 Speaker_07
And then you hear things and it's all hearsay, but then it makes you angry because you're like, if that really happened, what was she thinking when this stuff was going on? Why did she not call one of us for help?

00:03:40 Speaker_03
Unable to reconcile the sudden loss, Amy Jo's family honed in on the months leading up to her death and the individuals she'd gotten involved with.

00:03:49 Speaker_03
As they put together the pieces, it's become pretty clear to them what happened to Amy Jo, making it all the more frustrating that her case remains unsolved.

00:03:57 Speaker_03
Knowing how hard she fought through the years of health complications and all the way to the very end, they want nothing more than to find her the justice she so deserves.

00:04:08 Speaker_07
The fact that it's still almost six years later and we don't have justice for her or somebody answering for what they've done makes it 10 times worse. She didn't fight so hard, so long to have it all taken away so stupidly.

00:04:29 Speaker_03
This is a culpable case review of Amy Jo Nelson.

00:04:55 Speaker_07
She did not like to be the center of attention at all. So on one hand, I think she

00:05:02 Speaker_03
I first heard about Amy Jo's story when it was recommended to us by a friend of the Nelson family. They helped get us in touch with Amy Jo's sister, Abby, who was more than happy to spread the word about her unsolved case.

00:05:14 Speaker_03
The village of New Straitsville, Ohio, where Amy Jo lived, is very small, with a population of roughly 700. So it's not surprising that her story has received very little coverage over the years.

00:05:27 Speaker_03
After learning of the circumstances around Amy Jo's death, I wanted nothing more than to help raise awareness, as it seems like the answers are right there. They just need to be brought to light in some way.

00:05:39 Speaker_03
I could quickly tell that Amy Jo came from a tight-knit family. After scheduling a time to speak with her sister, Abby, I learned that their mom, Pam, and their dad, Pete, also wished to be a part of this.

00:05:50 Speaker_03
So I sat down with the three of them to learn more about this horrible tragedy and the strong, vibrant woman who was taken from them six long years ago.

00:05:59 Speaker_03
Starting with their backstory, I learned that Pam and Pete recently celebrated 46 years of marriage. The couple tells me they met in high school and quickly fell in love, starting a family at a young age.

00:06:11 Speaker_03
Of their three biological daughters, Amy Jo was the first.

00:06:16 Speaker_06
Amy was the oldest. She was very athletic, friendly. She was such a sweet girl. Yeah, we had a very good relationship.

00:06:27 Speaker_07
So Amy was the oldest, and then me, and then my youngest sister is Jessie.

00:06:32 Speaker_06
But we also have another girl that we consider our daughter. We raised her. She was a foster kid? We used to take foster kids in. She was like Amy's child, too. Her name's Allie. We had her from birth. We raised her until she was 18.

00:06:50 Speaker_03
Pam and Pete did their best to provide a good life for their girls and meet the needs of their growing family. Pete spent most of his career making oil field equipment before eventually starting a career at Goodyear.

00:07:01 Speaker_03
Pam was a nurse and spent time working both in a private practice and running on emergency squads. Although work was demanding, family came first.

00:07:10 Speaker_03
They always prioritized quality time and cherished the many vacations they were able to take together, creating many fond memories that they're able to look back on now. But life certainly wasn't easy for the Nelson family.

00:07:23 Speaker_03
Raising four kids is a heck of a challenge that I can personally attest to. And sadly, their oldest, Amy Jo, faced many health issues throughout her life, dating back to when she was a teenager.

00:07:36 Speaker_06
It started at 14 and it just, I mean, she never did get better. She was at a softball tournament and she jumped up to retrieve the ball and she went down to her knees. She couldn't breathe. And then when she went to retrieve the ball, she fell.

00:07:53 Speaker_06
We took her to the doctor and they done a bunch of testing and then they called with the results. It's called Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome, APLS. It's a blood clotting disorder and it mimics things like MS. It has multiple things.

00:08:12 Speaker_03
APLS is an autoimmune disorder that can often result in blood clotting, causing strokes and even miscarriages.

00:08:20 Speaker_03
It's commonly found in patients with lupus, another autoimmune disorder that Amy Jo was diagnosed with after complaining about pain in her legs.

00:08:29 Speaker_04
She had a specialist in Zanesville and we took her to him and he said it was growing pains. So lupus is a very hard disease to diagnose. So it took several trips to children's before they finally diagnosed her with lupus.

00:08:47 Speaker_03
This was all a big adjustment for the family, and especially for Amy Jo, who was a teenager at the time. The many trips to Children's Hospital to get her diagnoses straight and begin treatment was just the start of things to come.

00:09:01 Speaker_03
None of them knew what the future held or how much this would change their lives.

00:09:06 Speaker_07
She always liked to play sports in high school, but then when she got diagnosed with lupus and APLS, she didn't play.

00:09:15 Speaker_06
But she was tough. She had chemo. She had to have blood transfusions all the time. She had multiple surgeries. Actually, she was life flight a couple of times with blood clots in her liver and she had a blood clot in her leg and she had a stroke.

00:09:35 Speaker_06
She had bleeding into her eyes and behind her eyes. She went deaf on her left ear and blind in her right eye from it.

00:09:48 Speaker_04
She had trouble with circulation in her foot.

00:09:50 Speaker_06
Now they were going to amputate her foot.

00:09:52 Speaker_04
They sent her home from OSU and said to pray for her. We took her there for 17 treatments. It was supposed to be 20, and she had a stroke, and they couldn't put her back in after that. But she ended up never losing her foot.

00:10:07 Speaker_07
She did lose the end of her toe, and she would always paint the very end of her toe. I said, Amy, what do you paint that for? She said, because I don't have a toe now, but I want to make sure I have that extra toe painted.

00:10:20 Speaker_06
She took it well. She tried to joke things off, you know. It was her coping mechanism, I think.

00:10:29 Speaker_03
Adjusting to a new reality of living with a life-altering illness is a hardship no matter what age. But for Amy Jo, it changed her life during some of her most pivotal years.

00:10:39 Speaker_03
While her friends were spending days at sports games and sleepovers, she more frequently found herself in and out of hospitals, seeing specialists, and receiving treatment. But her family tells me she never was one to complain.

00:10:52 Speaker_03
Instead, she preferred to make light of the situation. Amidst all of life's ups and downs, Amy Jo never lost her joy or her focus.

00:11:01 Speaker_03
She finished high school and then continued her education, eventually graduating with a degree as a dietician and subsequently landing a job in the field. But she was always rooted in what mattered to her most, her family.

00:11:16 Speaker_07
Amy was kind of like my second mom because my dad worked a lot because he had to pay for the medical bills. And then when mom wasn't at the hospital with Amy, she worked. So Amy kind of took care of me and my younger sister when they were gone.

00:11:32 Speaker_07
But she spent a lot of time in the hospital because she never wanted anybody to feel bad for her. Amy was notorious for playing jokes on people. She took a marker one time and colored my sister's face in the car while she was asleep.

00:11:54 Speaker_07
And mind you, we're adults at this point. We're not little kids. We're adults. She would always smile, even if she was in pain, she would always be smiling and joking and laughing. She always had a way to make you laugh.

00:12:14 Speaker_07
how she joked all the time kind of wore off on all of us, because I feel like now, in order to get through a lot of different things, we do joke a lot, her daughters the same way, because if not, then the only other thing to do is cry about it, so we try.

00:12:35 Speaker_03
While Amy Jo was always known for her positive outlook and sense of humor, Abby also recalls how nurturing Amy Jo was with her younger sisters. She loved to care for others, even amidst her poor health, and Abby will always appreciate her for that.

00:12:50 Speaker_03
As far as she can remember, Amy Jo always dreamed of having a family of her own someday. And given her health complications, she was fortunate to have that opportunity.

00:13:00 Speaker_03
Around the age of 21, she met a man named Chris, who was a few years her elder, and the two formed a relationship that would last nearly 20 years, all the way up until her passing.

00:13:11 Speaker_03
The family tells me that Amy Jo appreciated Chris most for his sense of humor and how compatible the two were. After just a few months of dating, they moved into a house together, living just down the street from Amy Jo's parents.

00:13:23 Speaker_03
Eventually, the couple got engaged, though they never married. I'm told it was for insurance purposes, and ensuring that Amy Jo could continue to have her medical care covered.

00:13:33 Speaker_03
Amy Jo always desired children, but had concerns about whether or not it would ever happen.

00:13:38 Speaker_03
She had actually been pregnant twice before in her life with another man, but sadly, both pregnancies ended in stillbirths as a result of her blood clotting disorder.

00:13:48 Speaker_03
And she suffered through similar heartache when she and Chris got pregnant together for the first time, eventually resulting in a miscarriage. But her fortune would finally change when her daughter Suri was born.

00:14:00 Speaker_03
It was like a dream come true for Amy Jo. Her family was complete. But even though her life was now full of renewed joy, unfortunately, the hardships of her health were still a reality.

00:14:13 Speaker_06
Amy spent every waking moment with her, and when she was in the hospital, we would take Suri to the hospital. They'd play on the bed, she would paint her nails, do her hair, color, all the time doing stuff. Devoted all of her attention to her.

00:14:31 Speaker_07
Suri was 11 when she passed. She had a hard time when Amy passed away.

00:14:39 Speaker_06
This bout destroyed Suri. She was devastated.

00:14:45 Speaker_07
She was doing really good up until March of this year when she was diagnosed with leukemia.

00:14:52 Speaker_03
The family tells me that Suri meant everything to Amy Jo, who tried her best to make life seem normal despite the very abnormal circumstances. When tragedy struck and Suri lost her mother, it took quite a toll on her. She was just 11 at the time.

00:15:08 Speaker_03
And it's not just the grief of losing a mother that Suri's had to deal with in her life. She's also had to persevere through some serious health complications the past few months, similar to Amy Jo.

00:15:18 Speaker_03
Her diagnosis of leukemia was another blow to this beautiful yet battle-scarred family. But from everything I've heard, Suri is exactly like her mom. She's tough. She's a fighter.

00:15:32 Speaker_06
She wanted to come here and say something, but she's been pretty sick. She's been in there 36 days. She was on a ventilator and kidney dialysis. She got diagnosed March 10th, because Amy's birthday was March 11th.

00:15:49 Speaker_06
They only gave her a 10% chance of survival, and she made it.

00:15:53 Speaker_07
We're very thankful that Suri is on the road to recovery. We're very thankful. Very thankful. As far as the situation with Amy goes, we're still very angry. We're very angry that it's taken this long.

00:16:08 Speaker_07
We're very angry how it was handled from the beginning. And we're angry that it's taken almost six years, and we still don't have the closure that we need.

00:16:26 Speaker_03
Of all the heartache that this family has dealt with in their lives, it's clear that the cause of most of their grief is the fact that Amy Jo's death has yet to be resolved.

00:16:36 Speaker_03
Yet aside from the challenges they've had to endure throughout Amy Jo's investigation, they have been able to piece together a lot of things, both from before and after her death, which again happened in September of 2017.

00:16:50 Speaker_03
Looking back, the months leading up to that tragic event would prove to be a pivotal turning point in Amy Jo's life. But they didn't realize just how serious it was at the time, or where it would eventually lead.

00:17:03 Speaker_07
In December of 2016, Amy started saying things that didn't happen. Like she was talking out of her head, just things just weren't making sense. And I kept saying, Amy, that didn't happen. That didn't happen. Yes, it did. Yes, it did.

00:17:18 Speaker_07
So we kind of thought something was going on mentally.

00:17:23 Speaker_06
This was just like a complete change, all of a sudden thing.

00:17:27 Speaker_07
Yeah, it was not anything any of us expected.

00:17:29 Speaker_03
The family didn't really know what to make of Amy Jo's strange behavior. It was all new to them and seemingly started out of the blue. So they just tried to be patient with her and monitor as best they could.

00:17:41 Speaker_03
But things became worrisome when Amy Jo started disappearing from her home for long stretches of time. It wasn't like her to do this. Her family became very concerned, especially her fiance, Chris.

00:17:53 Speaker_06
He was about as confused as the rest of us. He just didn't know what was going on.

00:17:58 Speaker_06
He had noticed that she was leaving at night and not coming home in the morning, so him and I and Abby and Pete all went out there and tried to talk to her that night, but she wasn't talking any sense. at all that night.

00:18:11 Speaker_06
We tried to do like an intervention. And that's when Chris said, I don't know. He said, there's something broken. It seems like something's broken inside.

00:18:21 Speaker_03
As time went on, Amy Jo's odd behavior persisted to the point that she was practically living another life.

00:18:28 Speaker_03
She started hanging around some questionable people and continued to distance herself from her family, both her parents and siblings, as well as Chris and Suri.

00:18:38 Speaker_03
What started as staying out late at night and not returning until the next morning evolved into spending days away at a time. This once close-knit family was gradually being ripped apart.

00:18:49 Speaker_03
So eventually, they did what they felt they had to and sought help from authorities.

00:18:54 Speaker_07
So we had went to the sheriff's department and said, hey, we don't know what's going on. What can we do? And they said, well, we can't help you. You need to have a doctor write her in.

00:19:08 Speaker_07
So she had wrote a note to a friend and it was more or less sounded like a suicide note. So I took it to the doctor, and he filled out a paper, and I took it to the sheriff's department, where they said, okay, when she comes home, let us know.

00:19:28 Speaker_07
Well, it was in January. Amy had went home, and I told mom, I said, call the sheriff and tell him that she's there. And mom called, and a sheriff came, and a squad, and they ended up taking her to the hospital in Zanesville.

00:19:47 Speaker_03
After Amy Jo was admitted, Abby called the hospital to check on her sister. The person she spoke with on the phone was adamant that they couldn't tell her anything about Amy Jo. But Abby wasn't looking for any updates.

00:19:59 Speaker_03
She just wanted confirmation that her sister would be properly evaluated. She didn't trust that the hospital would take Amy Jo's condition seriously, and her hunch would prove to be right.

00:20:10 Speaker_07
About two hours later, we find out that they released her at the hospital. She was not seen by a doctor. She was seen by the emergency room nurse and said she was fine. And so they released her.

00:20:27 Speaker_06
But see, the doctor read her in for three days so they could evaluate her. And I actually called and said, please don't let her go. And they did anyway.

00:20:39 Speaker_03
This medical intervention was understandably a difficult thing for the family to do. But as Amy Jo's behavior became more erratic, her family felt compelled to care for her the best way they could.

00:20:49 Speaker_03
All they wanted was for Amy Jo to receive a thorough evaluation and some professional help so they could try and get to the bottom of what was going on with her. But they say that just never happened.

00:21:00 Speaker_03
From the family's view, not only did she not receive the care they felt she needed, but this undoubtedly began the rapid downturn of events that would eventually lead to Amy Jo's death.

00:21:12 Speaker_07
She was angry at that point. She was angry at us. She would always call Surrey. But at one point, Surrey had called her, couldn't get a hold of her. We were texting her, she wasn't responding. And I want to say this is March of 2017.

00:21:30 Speaker_07
So I went up to the sheriff's department and filed a missing persons report. Suri remembered that she had had the Find My iPhone app on her phone, and her mom's phone was connected to it.

00:21:43 Speaker_07
I went to the last place that it showed where she was, and it ended up being on a back road by an oil well. and it was just a big bank. Mom and I both got out and we started looking because we didn't know what we were going to find.

00:22:02 Speaker_03
As Pam and Abby searched the area, they found no sign of Amy Jo or her phone, and eventually they returned home.

00:22:10 Speaker_03
A couple more days would pass until finally they were able to breathe a sigh of relief when Amy Jo texted Suri and explained that her phone had died.

00:22:19 Speaker_03
While the family was grateful to know that Amy Jo was alive, her actions certainly didn't give them any sense of reassurance. And as they tried their best to keep in contact with Amy Jo, her responses became less frequent and more worrisome.

00:22:34 Speaker_07
I know mom and myself would text Amy, what are you doing? Why are you doing this? Come home, we love you, come home.

00:22:44 Speaker_07
We would get responses most of the time, but then there were some times we would get responses that were not from Amy, threatening responses, threatening to come harm myself and my family, just different things.

00:23:00 Speaker_07
So I called up to the sheriff's department this time and I said, hey, I said, I know it's not Amy. I can tell you it's the person that she's running with. I said, is there, what can I do?

00:23:11 Speaker_07
And they said, well, since it came from her phone, there's no way to prove that it's not Amy sending those messages. And I said, okay. I said, well, I would like to have this documented. That was probably April.

00:23:28 Speaker_03
From the time that Amy Jo's behavior started to change, around December of 2016, up until about May of 2017, Communication with her dwindled almost to the point that it stopped altogether.

00:23:40 Speaker_03
And while she lived just a few houses away from her parents, she was rarely seen over that six-month period. I asked her family if they remembered the last time they saw her before she died.

00:23:50 Speaker_03
From their recollection, it was an impromptu family gathering at a local campground. As Abby recalls, the whole encounter felt off. For one, Amy Jo didn't look like herself. She'd lost a ton of weight and overall just looked unwell.

00:24:06 Speaker_03
But what raised even more concern was when they noticed that someone else was with her, waiting on her.

00:24:13 Speaker_07
She kept looking at the white van that was how she got down to the campground where we were at. She came over and I said, Amy, what is going on? I will help you. I said, if you need to go to rehab, I will take you.

00:24:27 Speaker_07
I will sit with you and help you get help. And she kept looking at that van. I said, is there somebody over there that you're waiting on? I said, because if he has a problem, tell him to get out and he can come over here and talk to me.

00:24:40 Speaker_07
And she said, you don't know everything. And I said, Amy, I know I don't know everything. That's why I'm trying to talk to you. I said, just tell me and I will help you. She was scared.

00:24:52 Speaker_03
Abby didn't know what to do in that moment. Her focus remained on trying to convince Amy Jo to come home, but it was clear that she wasn't going to be swayed. Abby gave one final plea as they parted ways.

00:25:04 Speaker_03
She told her, when you're ready for help, call me and I'll be there. After this meetup, Amy Jo would go dark again for several weeks until June, when Abby received a birthday text from her.

00:25:19 Speaker_07
I got the text message from her. And I'm so thankful that I have this. But she said, happy birthday, Ab. I love you. And I said, I love you too, Aime. And she said, no matter how bad things get, I will always love you and you'll always be my sister.

00:25:35 Speaker_07
That was the last message I got from her.

00:25:40 Speaker_03
As for Amy Jo's parents, the last communication either of them had with her came a couple months later, in August, when Pam received a text.

00:25:51 Speaker_06
It said, Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you. That was in August. That's why I knew she was still confused.

00:25:58 Speaker_07
It was a Mother's Day meme in August, even though Mother's Day is in May. Mom hadn't heard from her since May either. So I feel that she was trying to protect us, which makes me more angry.

00:26:21 Speaker_06
I'm sorry. I think she gave up. She told Pete, she said, I'm going to die anyway.

00:26:30 Speaker_04
That's what she told me the last time I talked to her. Because I told her, I said, Amy, I can't protect you if I don't know where you're at. And she said, I'm not going to live very long. This is how I want to live my life.

00:26:55 Speaker_03
To give some context here, Amy Jo had been placed in palliative care about a year and a half before all of this. It was for pain management from her coexisting ailments. Amy Jo was prescribed several medications to help manage her pain.

00:27:09 Speaker_03
As far as her family knew, she'd been following doctor's orders and taking the recommended dosages, but they also believed that these medications, amongst other unprescribed drugs, were the cause of a lot of her strange behavior.

00:27:22 Speaker_06
It was ungodly, the amount of medication she was getting.

00:27:26 Speaker_07
We knew that she was taking pain medication, but we didn't realize how much. From August 2nd of 2017 to August 31st, 2017, she was prescribed 450 Percocet 30s. She was also prescribed 10 milligrams of methadone. She was also prescribed Lyrica.

00:27:50 Speaker_07
It was unreal the amount of medication that she was prescribed, and it's no wonder that she was talking out of her head. She was also self-medicating with street drugs. I want to say methamphetamine. Cocaine was another one.

00:28:06 Speaker_07
Because that was kind of, well, I mean, obviously when you're on that much pain medication, that would be a reason.

00:28:14 Speaker_06
And I know that those friends, that so-called friends that she was, had started running around with, they were after her medication.

00:28:24 Speaker_03
While there's certainly an argument to be made about whether or not Amy Jo was being overprescribed, unfortunately, professionals wouldn't see it that way.

00:28:33 Speaker_03
The family tells me that after filing a complaint with the state medical board, which led to an investigation, the board said they saw no problem with the medication Amy Jo was prescribed. So next, the family tried to request a pill count.

00:28:46 Speaker_03
They suspected that the people she'd been hanging around also had their hands in her pill bottles. But unfortunately, when Abby called the doctor's office about this, they didn't seem to take her seriously.

00:28:57 Speaker_03
With seemingly no help from professionals and no contact with Amy Jo, things were looking very bleak. And it would all come to a head on September 18th, 2017, when Pam received a strange and alarming call.

00:29:14 Speaker_06
Why is it actually at work? I was in a room with a patient. And my phone rang, and it was Amy's phone number. And I said, excuse me, I have to grab this call. And it was the mother of the man that Amy was supposedly with.

00:29:32 Speaker_06
And she said, Amy passed in her sleep last night. And I said, what? She said, she passed in her sleep. And I said, where is she at? And she said, Main Street in New Straitsville. And I said, don't you touch her. I will be right there.

00:29:52 Speaker_06
First, I got nervous and I fell down on the ground. I couldn't get my bearings straight. So the office manager drove me down to the scene.

00:30:03 Speaker_03
Pam immediately called Abby to break the news to her and asked that she come meet her.

00:30:09 Speaker_07
So mom called me at work and said, Amy's gone. And I said, what do you mean she's gone? And she said she passed away last night. She said, I don't know what happened. Just meet me in New Straitsville. So I left and met her.

00:30:25 Speaker_07
When I pulled in, Mom was pulling in right in front of me and I pulled in right behind her.

00:30:31 Speaker_07
And when she started to walk up, the two New Straitsville cops, one was the chief and the other one was the auxiliary officer, came walking across the street to stop her.

00:30:42 Speaker_03
The responding officers with the New Straitsville Police Department were Chief Andy Love and Auxiliary Officer Zane Love, who happens to be Andy's nephew.

00:30:53 Speaker_07
And mom said, I want to see her. I want to see her. And when she got up there, the woman that called her, the mother, said this happened because they took her pills away.

00:31:08 Speaker_06
There was all kind of people in that apartment.

00:31:11 Speaker_03
Outside of the authorities, how many people would you estimate were in that apartment?

00:31:16 Speaker_07
the boyfriend, and then the mom, and then the girl's apartment that it was, and then a relative of theirs.

00:31:25 Speaker_06
The woman that was in the apartment the whole time, when Amy died and everything, was in there cleaning the apartment. She was just tidying the whole place up, even had the beds made. When the police went in, they didn't secure the scene.

00:31:38 Speaker_06
They didn't make anybody leave. They didn't gather any evidence. They didn't rope the scene off. I mean, that's the first thing you do.

00:31:48 Speaker_03
Oftentimes, families lose trust in authorities the longer their loved one's case goes unsolved. But the Nelson family were fed up almost instantly with New Straitsville Police's inadequacy and how poorly they handled the scene.

00:32:01 Speaker_03
Pam was adamant that a more equipped department take over the investigation.

00:32:05 Speaker_07
My mom kept asking the chief, Andy Love, are you going to call BCI? And he said, ma'am, there's no crime scene. Mom said, what do you mean there's no crime scene? She's 39 years old, and she's dead in an apartment. There's got to be something wrong.

00:32:22 Speaker_07
And this was before we ever saw her. While we were standing there, they, of course, had to call the coroner. And the coroner got there, and he went upstairs, and he came back down, and he said, I'm going to send her for an autopsy.

00:32:38 Speaker_07
And mom said, what do you think happened? He said, I don't know. Things are adding up. So at that point, the funeral directors were there and they had went upstairs to get her.

00:32:51 Speaker_08
And when they went in to get her and brought her down. Sorry.

00:33:02 Speaker_03
When they were finally able to see Amy Jo, they were immediately convinced that she hadn't passed in her sleep, as was reported to Pam by the woman on the phone. The family felt it was pretty obvious what had actually happened to her.

00:33:17 Speaker_08
When they brought her down on the street, my mom threw her body over the top of her and said, oh my God, what did they do to you? And you when you looked at her, she had bruises all over the side of her face and on her nose.

00:33:35 Speaker_08
She had blood coming out of her mouth and her nose. And we pulled the blanket down so we could hold her hand. And there were bruises all over both of her hands.

00:33:48 Speaker_06
You had to be blind not to see that. I mean, that's what I told him at the scene. And, you know, there was two local police officers there, and they couldn't see that.

00:34:00 Speaker_06
And they told the two police officers that she tripped over a rope or a cord and hit her head. I could see that, but that wouldn't cause that many bruises.

00:34:17 Speaker_03
As the funeral director hauled Amy Jo's body away, her family hoped that an autopsy would soon reveal the truth of what happened to her. In the meantime, they pressed authorities for more information, but couldn't get much out of them.

00:34:31 Speaker_03
Pam wanted to know that they at least took pictures of the scene, and the chief insisted that they did. Next, he handed Pam a grocery bag of Amy Jo's clothes, as well as her purse and cell phone.

00:34:42 Speaker_03
But Pam insisted they keep the cell phone, in case it could be used as evidence. Eventually, the family left the scene and returned home, while authorities and the tenants remained at the apartment.

00:34:53 Speaker_03
Later that afternoon, the family would get a visit from the New Straitsville police.

00:34:59 Speaker_07
He came out and he said that they were treating her case as a homicide. And mom said, well, what do you mean you're treating it as a homicide? Are you going to call BCI now? And he said, ma'am, there was no crime scene.

00:35:13 Speaker_07
Just tell people she died of a drug overdose is what he said. He said, because we don't want them to get their story straight. Mom said, well, what do you mean? They had plenty of time to get their story straight. They were there all morning together.

00:35:25 Speaker_07
And they've been there for several days together. They should have been questioned right immediately.

00:35:32 Speaker_04
This is what I believe. Had they have called the BCI that morning, they would have arrested them three that was in that apartment.

00:35:41 Speaker_03
While it's impossible to know whether or not this is true, Pete may have a point here, because the family would soon receive the autopsy results they'd been anxiously waiting for, and those results would paint a pretty clear picture of what happened to Amy Jo, and also call into question the story that the people inside the apartment gave to authorities, that Amy had tripped and fell, dying in her sleep.

00:36:03 Speaker_03
While the family wishes to keep the autopsy report under wraps to protect the integrity of the investigation, they were willing to share some of the findings. The first being that they did in fact rule her death as a homicide.

00:36:15 Speaker_03
But there were some other shocking details they shared too.

00:36:19 Speaker_07
Her cause of death was multiple blunt force trauma to the head. She had abrasions and bruises throughout her body. She had prescription medication in her body, as well as methamphetamine.

00:36:36 Speaker_07
According to her autopsy, she died long before my mom was called. We've asked several times, what time did the call come in to 911? And we've never been given an answer. So I don't know what time 911 was called. My mom got the phone call at 1108 a.m.

00:36:57 Speaker_07
that morning. We've been told that the timeline that the individuals in the apartment gave to both law enforcement and the coroner did not add up with the autopsy.

00:37:12 Speaker_03
From the moment Amy Jo's family set foot in that apartment, they were convinced that her death was no accident. Rather, she'd been murdered.

00:37:20 Speaker_03
With the results of her autopsy, they finally had some proof, and they expected that those results would also light a fire under her investigation.

00:37:28 Speaker_03
A week later, they'd receive a surprise visit from Chief Andy Love, but unfortunately, he hadn't come with good news, as they were hoping.

00:37:37 Speaker_07
The chief came out to our house and said, I don't feel like I am equipped to handle this case. One week after Amy passed, he resigned as chief. I think because he knew he screwed up, especially with not calling BCI with a dead body there.

00:37:56 Speaker_07
The coroner, he's telling you things are not adding up. I mean, we live in a small town. Our local police department is not on duty full time. It's all part time. I know it happened within the city limits or the village limits.

00:38:16 Speaker_07
They should have never kept it there.

00:38:22 Speaker_03
Aside from being ill-equipped and inexperienced, the family had growing concerns about the thoroughness of the investigation by the New Straitsville Police. One example of this was their hesitancy to seek support from outside agencies.

00:38:35 Speaker_03
But the family only made that suggestion because they sensed from the jump that the New Straitsville Police weren't taking Amy Jo's case seriously. And as the months passed, this would seemingly be affirmed.

00:38:47 Speaker_03
Amy Jo died in September of 2017, yet by December, very little had been done with her case, according to family.

00:38:54 Speaker_03
So they requested a meeting between Chief Zane Love with the New Straitsville Police and Sheriff William Barker and Detective Adam Newlin with the neighboring Perry County Sheriff's Office.

00:39:04 Speaker_03
It was then decided that the Perry County Sheriff's Office would support New Straitsville in their investigation by re-interviewing witnesses and experts that New Straitsville had originally interviewed.

00:39:15 Speaker_03
But the family says that when the sheriff's office requested the documents from those original interviews, Chief Love didn't want to send original files for fear of losing them, and he never made the effort to send them copies.

00:39:27 Speaker_03
Come January, the family made a formal complaint to Mayor Michael Jewett regarding Chief Love and his handling of Amy Jo's case.

00:39:35 Speaker_03
At this point, her death was still being spun as an overdose to the public, despite her autopsy clearly stating it was homicide. and that obviously didn't sit right with the family.

00:39:45 Speaker_03
Hoping to set the record straight, they met with prosecutor Joseph Flout in March of 2018 and asked that he make a formal statement clarifying that Amy Jo's death is being investigated as a homicide, not a drug overdose.

00:39:59 Speaker_03
But he told them he would not comment publicly on a case that he may end up trying. It would be years before the media picked up on the fact that her death had been ruled a homicide. The family's patience was wearing thinner by the day.

00:40:12 Speaker_03
They felt that authorities were not making Amy Jo's case a priority. An example of this was the New Straitsville Police's delay in processing her phone as evidence to see what information it might contain.

00:40:23 Speaker_03
Initially, police tried to give the phone back to the family, along with Amy Jo's other belongings, but they insisted it be kept as evidence.

00:40:31 Speaker_03
Despite constant follow-up dating back to September of 2017 when Amy Jo was discovered, it wasn't until June of 2018 that the family received confirmation that the phone had been taken to the Perry County Sheriff's Office for processing.

00:40:44 Speaker_03
In October of 2018, a little over a year removed from Amy Jo's death, the family received some welcome news when they learned that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation had finally been asked for assistance.

00:40:56 Speaker_03
While they are optimistic that the BCI can help make a difference in this case, unfortunately, they have no insight into their work, so very little is known about what role they're playing in the investigation or what they've been able to accomplish since getting involved.

00:41:09 Speaker_03
But at the end of the day, it has been made clear to the public that while the Perry County Sheriff's Office and the BCI can assist in this investigation, this case is ultimately in the hands of the New Straitsville Police.

00:41:21 Speaker_03
And it's their responsibility to resolve it. But the family hasn't been given any assurance over the years that their local police will solve this. After Chief Love's resignation in August of 2019, Kyle Callendine was appointed as chief.

00:41:34 Speaker_03
When the family reached out to him to ask about the investigation, they were told that the only documentation he could find on Amy Jo's case were five pieces of paper and some autopsy photos.

00:41:45 Speaker_03
Since then, there's been multiple new chiefs appointed, and it seems that the further things get away from Amy Jo's death, the less the newer chiefs know about the case. So in terms of how the New Straitsville Police is handling this case now,

00:41:57 Speaker_03
there's really no telling. The family has always tried their best to keep a pulse on things, but it's been a very frustrating process.

00:42:05 Speaker_03
They say that the past six years have been filled with empty promises and continual turnover within the New Straitsville Police Department, and at this point, they're fed up.

00:42:15 Speaker_03
They just hope that as this case moves forward, the outside agencies who have been involved remain a part of this, because it's very hard for them to trust their local police department at this point.

00:42:27 Speaker_07
And I do want to make this very clear, I have the utmost respect for law enforcement, but I'm very angry with the way the New Straitsville Police Department handled this.

00:42:36 Speaker_06
Very angry. I called the state representative's office, and I will say they were a lot of help to us. And he's actually been calling the sheriff, checking up on this case.

00:42:49 Speaker_07
I know that BCI was just back again and doing things around that apartment. We just keep starting back over. And I finally said, this is ridiculous. We're on a hamster wheel and nothing is getting done.

00:43:01 Speaker_07
Because by the time this person gets caught up on it, they're already gone. They leave for a new position.

00:43:10 Speaker_03
To this day, no person of interest has ever been publicly named in this case. We reached out to both the New Straitsville Police and the Perry County Sheriff's Office for comment, but they have not responded.

00:43:22 Speaker_03
As the family waits for answers and word of an arrest, they continue to do everything they can to keep Amy Jo's memory alive, reflecting on her spirit of love and laughter and cherishing every day they spend together.

00:43:36 Speaker_03
Pam, Pete, Abby, and Chris are committed to supporting and caring for Suri in her ongoing health battles. Amidst all the hardships she's faced in her lifetime, Suri has never lost her spirit or the love she has for her mother.

00:43:51 Speaker_03
She even asked to share a few words with us.

00:43:56 Speaker_05
My mom's death has impacted me by becoming a strong, independent woman at such a young age.

00:44:05 Speaker_05
I think it's important for my mom's story to stay in the news because it could probably inspire people to speak out more when they see something, and like it could save girls' lives. That's the main focus, is just to keep her story alive.

00:44:27 Speaker_05
As time goes on, it gets a little better. but you still have those moments like you wish they were here with you.

00:44:39 Speaker_05
It's been a struggle, but I just keep telling myself, just keep pushing through it because your mom's watching over you and you can't give up. My mom was a fighter, so I'm going to be a fighter for everyone in my family.

00:44:58 Speaker_03
Though her battle with leukemia is not over yet, it's comforting to know that in her corner, she has a strong and loving family. Over the last six years, these people have had to process the pain of losing a mother, a partner, a sister, and daughter.

00:45:13 Speaker_03
And as they've come to grips with Amy Jo's tragic death, they've made a conscious effort to educate others on the dangers of domestic violence, even creating a way for people to support and hopefully save the lives of other victims out there.

00:45:29 Speaker_07
After Amy passed, I filled out all the paperwork to be a 501c3 nonprofit, and it's called Amy's Gift to Hope. And every year we've held a auction and a ATV ride and raised funds and donated to our two local domestic violence shelters.

00:45:53 Speaker_07
I mean, she had went through hell and back fighting to have it be taken by somebody else. That's a lot. That makes us very angry.

00:46:06 Speaker_07
The fact that it's still almost six years later and we don't have justice for her or somebody answering for what they've done makes it 10 times worse. I would say, consider your daughter being in Amy's shoes.

00:46:25 Speaker_07
and this happening to your daughter, if somebody knew it, what would you want them to do? Would you want them to continue to hold on to that information or come forward so that the family can get some kind of closure?

00:46:41 Speaker_07
Nothing that we do is ever gonna bring Amy back, but at least we will have some kind of closure and can possibly move on from this. She deserves it. And I told her that I will make sure that I get it and I have not stopped for six years.

00:47:02 Speaker_06
There will be justice one way or another.

00:47:05 Speaker_04
There will be justice.

00:47:10 Speaker_03
If you have any information about the death of Amy Jo Nelson, please contact the Perry County Sheriff's Office tip line at 740-721-0898. The family is offering a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

00:47:29 Speaker_03
And if you're interested in supporting their nonprofit, Amy's Gift of Hope, please visit the Amy's Gift of Hope Facebook page to learn more about the work they're doing and the various ways that you can help. Thanks for listening.

00:48:00 Speaker_03
Culpable Case Review is a production of Resonate Originals and Tenderfoot TV, in partnership with Odyssey, written and hosted by me, Dennis Cooper. Executive producers are myself, Mark Minnery, Jacob Bozarth, Donald Albright, and Payne Lindsey.

00:48:18 Speaker_03
Our senior producer is John Street. Additional production from Jamie Albright and Taylor Floyd. editing, mixing, mastering, and sound design by Dayton Cole, Pat Kicklighter, and Adam Townsell of the Resonate Recordings team.

00:48:33 Speaker_03
If you have a podcast or are looking to start one, check us out at resonaterecordings.com. Our theme song and original score is by Dirt Poor Robbins, with additional scoring by Dayton Cole. Our cover art is by Drew Bardana.

00:48:49 Speaker_03
You can follow us on social media, at Culpable Podcast. Additional content can be found on our website, culpablepodcast.com. If you enjoyed this episode, please take time to subscribe, rate, and review. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

00:49:05 Speaker_03
Thanks again for listening. Be sure to tune in next week when we return with an all new case. Till next time.

00:49:37 Speaker_02
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00:49:44 Speaker_02
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00:50:33 Speaker_02
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