Altered Population is an investigation into filicide in South Carolina hosted by Jennifer Wells. In today’s episode, Jennifer explains in more detail what the first few days of the Timothy Jones Jr. trial were like. Jennifer and her daughter Mallory attended the trial together as members of the press, became familiar with the key figures of the case, and watched as the jury began to take shape. Jennifer connected with the other members of the press and learned how South Carolina was proposing a bill to allow for the death penalty to be executed by firing squad as an alternative to the lethal injection (a drug that is no longer produced). Jennifer also reflected upon Amber Jones and Tim Jones, Sr., how they might think of being parents, and what they remember of their children.

Jennifer begins by filling in some holes left by the last episode with Mallory, who was her partner and moral support through the beginning of the trial. After being informed by Mr. Bender of a conversation with a colleague who was in proceedings to seal the trial, Jennifer found a small news article that stated 200 citizens would be called as potential jurors to the old Lexington County Courthouse. The article also stated that there would be public seating, but the courthouse would be packed, so Jennifer made sure her and Mallory were the first to arrive in the morning. Even though Jennifer wanted to blend into the crowd, she was greeted by Red, the Bailiff, and recognized Lisa Comer and her partner right away.

As the players in the courthouse and the jurors began to trickle in and get set up, Jennifer became excited. Everyone knew what happened to those five children and who did it; she couldn’t believe that anyone would buy the insanity defense. Solicitor Rick Hubbard was the lead prosecutor for the state, with a striking resemblance to Hugh Laurie, and his deputy prosecutors were Suzanne Mays and Sean Graham. The defense was made up of four attorneys: Robert Madsen is the 11th circuit public defender, Boyd Young and Bill MacGuire are with the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, and Casey Secor is with the Sue Serone Capital Defense. Jennifer spoke to reporters seated with her, discussing interests and sharing about podcasting, but she was happy that she still maintained a sense of anonymity. Judge Eugene Griffith, who reminded Jennifer very much of President Clinton, and his transcriptionist, Joy, then entered. He was smooth, protective of Joy, and had a real presence about him.

The questioning began to qualify jurors and place them into panels of eight, to be scheduled throughout the coming days in the new courthouse. They planned for three panels a day to get through more intense questioning, but that timing didn’t happen. There were a total of 22 panels, and jurors would call in each day to see when their panel was scheduled to appear. After that jurors were dismissed. Jennifer and Mallory moved to the first pew to get closer to the key figures and listen in. Jennifer wondered what the defense, prosecution and judge thought of her and Mallory remaining at the courthouse, and so she buried her head in her notebook and furiously took notes. They talked about the three types of jurors, the most recent death penalty case, and the defense asked for a change of venue. After returning to the hotel room, Jennifer stayed up late to review her notes, do some research, and look further into the proposed bill that a firing squad be used in light of a lethal injection drug shortage. In South Carolina, prisoners can choose between lethal injection and the electric chair, but there has been a shortage of the lethal injection drug since 2013 when manufacturers stopped producing it.

The next morning, Jennifer and Mallory drove to the new courthouse and were ushered into the middle row of the gallery, which was reserved for members of the press. At 9:42 AM, a very pale Tim Jones entered the courtroom right in front of where Jennifer was seate

Altered Population is an investigation into filicide in South Carolina hosted by Jennifer Wells. In today’s first episode of Season 2, Jennifer heads to Columbia to meet with attorney, Jay Bender, in the hopes of securing a press pass and learning when the trial date is. After meeting with Mr. Bender, Jennifer headed back to the Clerk’s office to request the case file, but was denied by Lisa Comer, who stated the gag order as the reason. Jennifer then retained an attorney, recommended by Mr. Bender, who helped set her plan in motion, with the help of her family, therapist and trainer.

Season 2 Trailer

The Altered Population podcast, hosted by Jennifer Wells, chronicles her investigation into filicide cases in South Carolina, such as those perpetrated by Susan Smith in 1994 and Timothy Ray Jones, Jr. in 2014. Given her background on the police force, Jennifer is particularly apt in navigating criminal investigations and proceedings. But she also knows the pitfalls of immersing in such work, and she experienced some significant setbacks in her work in recent months. Now, after a season of soul-searching and reevaluating, Jennifer has reached a point of decision. She will continue her work, make changes to her approach, and ultimately try to use her platform to raise awareness about adverse childhood experiences.

Jennifer starts this brief episode of her podcast by opening up to listeners about her recent journey. After hitting a low point and reaching a place of uncertainty about where to go with her work, she now feels better and feels ready to work. With her newfound confidence she now has made the decision to press on in her efforts so that she can raise awareness about the kinds of childhood trauma she sees in her investigations.      

Jennifer is ready to get back to her research in Greenville of Julie Valentine’s case. She’s ready to send a letter to Susan and to seek Susan’s side of the story in her case. Moreover, Jennifer is eager to be present for the Jones trial. After last year’s brick wall, she is motivated to better know her rights – particularly her first amendment rights. “Stay tuned,” she instructs listeners, because she is just getting started.  

Jennifer circles back to the question she introduced at the beginning of the episode, the question of what to do with her work. “What now?” she had asked herself. She concluded that she needed to release her podcast episodes and keep on in her work. And giving her listeners more detail about the way in which she arrived at her decision, Jennifer addresses the topic of faith. Faith, she says, is the solution to her question of “What next?” After advising her daughter Mallory to be brave and press on by faith through challenging circumstances, she saw that the same advice actually applied to her, as well. Jennifer’s faith is her solution, and she will not change her mind or chicken out when it comes to her work.

What will it look like for Jennifer to step out on faith and press onward? She will not simply wait for the Jones trial to begin, but will proactively work on altering her approach to her work. She will apply the principle of “garbage in, garbage out,” by trying to clear her mind of unhelpful things and replace them with good things by starting small in her efforts, doing what she already knows how to do. She will seek to spread kindness and to cultivate and share the “warm fuzzies” that kindness produces. Kindness, she finds, correlates with her resilience. She must lean into both of these now.

As a final thought, Jennifer talks about her experience in the police academy and trying out for the SWAT team. She learned many lessons in that season, including lessons about encouragement, paying things forward, and giving without expecting return. Most significantly to her current discussion, Jennifer learned to “keep pressing.” She knows that there will always be something bigger than her to face, and how she responds to it is up to her. So how will she now respond? As she awaits a date to be set for the Jones trial, she and her family will be begin spreading warm fuzzies.

 

LINKS/RESOURCES  

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Follow us on Twitter: @altpopulation

Visit us on our website at www.alteredpopulation.com

Read the Bible verse Jennifer quoted here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A8&version=NIV

Listen to “Oceans” (Hillsong UNITED) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfpEefKiG2I

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS WITH TIMESTAMPS

0:11 A decision to make

0:33 Confidence defined

1:06 Feeling

Altered Population is an investigation into filicide in South Carolina hosted by Jennifer Wells. In the beginning of today’s episode, Jennifer shares about her experience and learning about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Jennifer visits Greenville with Fred and Helen to find Baby Valentine at the Woodlawn Cemetery. She discusses her daughter’s traumatic experience around fear of being found out, and how it helped her to uncover her own fears. Jennifer begins therapy and discovers that writing about her past experiences was a powerful way to shift her mission with this podcast. 

Jennifer’s goals for her trip to Greenville were to do some sightseeing with Helen and get some interviews recorded. Jennifer was mesmerized by the sight of a beautiful big beech tree with exposed roots during their sightseeing at Liberty Bridge, which helped her see that she too had deep roots and was wonderfully made. Fred, Helen and Jennifer also visited Woodlawn Cemetery to try to find baby Julie. After two hours of searching, Fred asked Jennifer: “What would Tim Miller do?” Tim Miller dedicated his life to his search and rescue organization, Texas EquuSearch, founded in August of 2000 after the murder and abduction of his daughter Laura in 1984.

After returning to the hotel to get warm, Helen began to have a temper tantrum of sorts, and explained it as having a popcorn kernel in the pit of her stomach, sizzling, but not knowing when it was going to pop. It all started at the book club party she had on September 8th. Helen wanted to look pretty for the party, so she grabbed a pair of scissors and tried to give herself a haircut, but two cuts in stopped. She hid all the hair she cut off in a plastic bag under the washroom sink and kept her hair in a ponytail so that no one would find out. Jennifer thought she was being Miss Independent by wanting to do her own hair and not wanting snuggle time, but she was just scared of someone finding out. 

Jennifer reflects on Helen’s wisdom about being found out before being ready. She wondered if Julie Valentine’s mom felt the same way–that it was only a matter of time. Jennifer felt terrible about letting her stress trickle down to Helen and considered her own intentions and fears. Jennifer worried that Helen would find out on her own that she was born before she got married to Fred. That was her kernel for nine years.

The family returned to Woodlawn Memorial Park to continue to search for Baby Doe in baby land, where Jennifer finally found the headstone. They spruced up the gravesite and left flowers for Baby Valentine. Five days later, Jennifer began treatment, which was a combination of prayer, cognitive and EMDR therapy, meditation, reading, studying, working out and trusting food again. She learned to be honest about what she was struggling with and to accept praise for her successes (big or small). She also built in routines and daily structure to better support herself and to find creative outlets. One of those outlets was writing down her experiences in a journal, without editing or fear of judgement. That led to accepting the shift in her mission from ending filicide to changing the way society views childhood trauma. 

Jennifer finds an old voicemail from Janine Driver. A course at her Body Language Institute taught Jennifer an important lesson about observation. Two people can see exactly the same thing and report different observations. Children’s lives depend on people seeing the bigger picture and visionaries changing the way we look at adverse childhood experiences.

 

Key Takeaways in Today’s Episode:

0:42 PTSD didn’t seem to fit

3:06 Nightmare subjects

5:43 Goals for Greenville

8:41 What the beech tree meant to Jennifer

12:00 Trying to find baby Julie

13:12 What would Tim Miller do?

14:48 Helen’s temper tantrum

16:55 The traumatic event for Helen

18:40 Detangling

20:17 Afraid of being found out before being ready

23:42 Conversations with Marty at the cemetery

Altered Population is an investigation into filicide in South Carolina hosted by Jennifer Wells. In today’s episode, Jennifer receives the public documents she had requested at the courthouse and visits the Julie Valentine Center for a tour. She also discusses her own struggle with putting herself out into the public eye as a part of this podcast, and how her embarrassment led to her procrastinating on its release. After returning home, old troubles begin to surface and Jennifer’s friends tell her she has PTSD.

Jennifer continues her week in Lexington by first going to get the money order for the courthouse in order to pay for the copies of the public documents she requested. The most important things in the paperwork were that there would be a motion filed when it came time to set the court date and there were no restrictions placed on the media.

Jennifer also shares her personal internal struggle with recording and releasing this podcast. She was scared to tell her side of the story, and to let the listeners in on who she is, because she doesn’t have any formal degree or certification. Jennifer is proud of her work in the world and would gladly go up against any seasoned investigator, but for some reason putting herself out there on the podcast was a challenge and she was procrastinating.

With the podcast, she would be inviting people to take a closer look at her, and she harbored a little embarrassment about some of the things that shaped her as a person. First, the house that Jennifer grew up in was a source of shame for her, as her mom had to work more than one job to support her children. Second, Jennifer feels the same about when she was going through a divorce with young children. After hearing Cahill’s words about telling someone else’s story in the last episode, Jennifer decided that she wouldn’t leave herself out of this podcast. Jennifer realized that her thoughts, opinions and ideas on the subject mattered, with or without a degree.

Jennifer sets up a meeting with Shawna Galloway Williams, Executive Director of the Julie Valentine Center. After being on call at court, Shawna assures Jennifer that Casey, the Executive Operations Coordinator, would take care of her instead. After a tour of the facility, Jennifer felt truly at home. But upon returning to her real home the following week, previous issues began to bubble to the surface around leaving Child Protect so soon after joining. To come up for air and relieve a little pressure, Jennifer shelved the Jones case for the time being and shifted gears. She emailed one of the original investigators, Mr. Bush Banton, who immediately agreed to speak with her about the case.

Jennifer relives an experience on Halloween in 2018, where she thought she lost Helen, but the bus just hadn’t yet arrived from school. After the event, Jennifer speaks with her friends who confirm that she has PTSD, or survivor’s guilt.

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Key Takeaways in Today’s Episode:

1:47 Feeling unusually nervous in the court house

3:50 Jennifer feels like she was pranked

5:39 Reviewing the paperwork

6:47 Jennifer’s fear about sharing who she was on this podcast

8:21 The value of a CV

9:37 Misconceptions about Jennifer

10:13 Why Jennifer was procrastinating

11:08 The two main blocks of time that shaped Jennifer

12:20 How Jennifer found strength on her own to move forward

14:57 The words of Cahill that Jennifer connected with

16:07 News reports on the DSS that caught Jennifer’s attention

19:12 The visit to the Julie Valentine Center

21:15 Casey reminds Jennifer about her daughter’s preschool teacher

24:20 Jennifer’s troubles bubbled to the surface at home

26:00 The video on Child Protect’s website

27:30 Jennifer comes up for air

28:20 Getting ready for the trip to Greenville, Jennifer looks back

30:40 Where was Helen?

35:00 PTSD

 

Resources:

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