A Monstrous Motive: The Murder Of Jessica Padgett

[Music] 33-year-old Jessica padet lived in Northampton County Pennsylvania with her husband Micah and three children she and Micah had been together for almost a decade and married for 2 months Jessica's mother denell said that her daughter and Micah were always a strong and United Team even through the tough times being a mom to three young kids definitely kept her on her toes as did her job friends said Jessica was born to be a mother and just be around children in general she trained in early childhood development and started working at duck duck goose child care as a daycare assistant [Music] on November 21st 2014 Micah was out the door early as usual to get to his construction job and Jessica was soon up herself getting ready for a shift at the nursery after dropping her two oldest children at school she and her 2-year-old son arrived at duck duck goose at 8:30 a. m. it was soon time for Jessica's lunch break she needed to get some things faed but the office machine was broken so she was using her lunch break to go to her mom and stepdad's house which was just a few minutes driveway Jessica had a close relationship with her mom denell and stepdad Gregory even working a second job at Gregory's business distinctive fencing which operated just next door to his and Dell's house it would be a quick trip there and bag only about 4 miles and she wouldn't have a reason to stay in chat her stepdad would likely be working and her mom was away in Florida but to her colleagues concern the always prompt Jessica was late back a couple of hours then passed and Micah got a call from the daycare he was none the wiser he made a coffee that morning kissed her and the kids goodbye and left before anyone was awake Jessica had called him briefly as she was on her way to her mother's house but he said everything seemed as normal as ever she was a little rushed but her usual chatty self n thess her phone was ringing but going to voicemail and her 2-year-old son was now at the daycare center by himself something was clearly very wrong denell said she had called her daughter's phone over 100 times back to back every time she got the voicemail she hung up and called again she then booked the first flight back home although Jessica had been on her way to use her stepfather's fax machine he said he hadn't seen her or heard from her either he had been out fixing his truck the police arrived at the nursery and started to push her details out to the media she had a distinctive footprint tattoo on her shoulder and was last seen wearing a black sweatshirt and gray trousers with her hair and a ponytail the search for 33-year-old Jessica padet was now on in the Lehigh Valley concern is growing over the mysterious disappearance of a mother of three Jessica padet was last seen leaving her job at the Duck Duck Goose Daycare in Northampton Le High County she was on the way to send a fax at the distinctive Fence Company when she vanished NBC 10 Lehigh Valley Bureau reporter Randy jillen Hall tells us what's being done to find her across the Lehigh Valley these missing persons Flyers were popping up on street signs in storefronts a newlywed young mother of three vanished suddenly now her family is searching for answers her best friend shaa said she was so content and genuinely happy lately the fact she had disappeared immed immediately seemed ominous it did not match the Jessica they knew soon over 8,000 people were following her missing person's Facebook page and the search parties were huge once her mom denell was back home detectives went over to chat to her and Gregory but this time they wanted to know more about her relationship with Micah a partner or ex partner is typically where a lot of the investigations begin but denell said there was no way he was involved D it hadn't even crossed her mind she had been talking to him constantly and he was as upset and worried as she was but Gregory wasn't so sure in fact he had little nice to say about her husband at all and for someone that had been in Jessica's life for 20 years someone she called the second best dad she could have asked for police had to take his opinion seriously Gregory said he loved his stepdaughter but felt sorry for her calling her a loser magnet he said she had always attracted the wrong guys and he had never been keen on Micah they asked Gregory if he knew what she was coming over to fact but he didn't and their machine had been playing up for a few days so there would be no record of anything she did unfortunately while some of the team were looking into Micah's whereabouts that day others were looking at her phone they managed to track it down as it was pinging just a few miles from her workplace and had been for hours it was definitely stationary officers drove around and went past a shopping center everything was now closed up and the parking lot was dark and empty but one car stood out outside a Dollar General store was Jessica's white car it was unlocked and her phone purse keys and cards were all inside her phone was still ringing as they opened the door Jessica was 5'4 and the driver's seats seemed to be in the right place to match someone of her height not the police are elaborating on at this point they won't tell us how they think that Jessica's car ended up in a parking lot halfway between that daycare and the place she was going uh her father or stepfather's place of business the district attorney says that right now investigators are on high alert that this is not a standard missing person case her car had been picked up at an Exon Gas Station camera at 1256 p.

m. [Music] then at 1:10 p. m.

her car came back into view going the opposite [Music] way it swung into the gas station really fast and made a quick left turn out of the exit [Music] her car then pulled into the same parking lot area they found it in at 1:15 [Music] p. m. they couldn't tell who got out of the driver's seat but they knew it was not Jessica whoever it was was very tall and wearing light colored clothes they stood next to the car for a moment squatting down for a few seconds and detectives felt sure they were moving the seat forward to make it look like Jessica was the driver after everything Gregory had said they had to wonder if it was Micah his height was definitely a match but Micah had an alibi and he was at work all day and everyone one there could confirm that the driver then walked off down an alley just next to the parking area they were alone and no one else was nearby either a minute or so later a small white truck came speeding Back Down the Road next to the alley and back down the same street next to the gas [Music] station investigators sent the footage off to be analyzed further and sharpened up hoping for a number [Music] plate you couldn't walk past a Street Lamp or shop window without seeing Jessica's missing persons poster but apart from her car nothing else was turning up denell was not coping well at all but her husband Gregory was there to support everyone assuring her that they would find her soon [Music] the footage of the white truck leaving the parking area was soon back in the police's hands and experts had found an interesting detail several of the officers stared at the footage for a moment before suddenly realizing what they were looking at the truck had some distinctive markings on the side these matched Gregory graph's truck Jessica's stepfather they reinterviewed Gregory but he said it was totally coincidental Dental he had parked there a few hours before to get some repairs done on it and then he had stopped for food at the Exxon gas station but it was clear from the footage he drove right past the gas station Gregory said when he got home his employees were floating around the house grabbing their pay slips but there was no sign that Jessica had been there at all his employees said that this was true and he had been chatting and asking them about their weeken plans police just didn't know what to think anymore his story did make sense but some something about him was making them question everything investigators went back to his and Dell's house to take another look around this time they were focused way more on his business in the building next door the fax machine he claimed was not working was actually working perfectly and they managed to recover the facts that Jessica had sent it was a health insurance policy timestamped at 1:04 p.

m. and this confirmed she had definitely been in the house downstairs in the basement they found a bloody tissue in the in the bin they also found some blood on one of the mattresses and the carpet Gregory said he was an avid Hunter so it had probably been something to do with that he then went upstairs saying he needed a cigarette muttering that he was sad that he wouldn't be able to see his dogs anymore officers said they knew he was about to admit to whatever it was he had done but they had no idea it would be such a twisted story as he was led out of the house denell screamed at him to tell her where her daughter was that was the last time she spoke to him major development the search for a missing woman in our area the da is now calling The Disappearance a criminal case Gregory admitted to the police that he had lured Jessica into his house claiming he needed help with his computer as she needed to use the fax machine anyway she was happy to go over at 104 p. m.