0:08

The views and opinions expressed in Cold and

0:10

Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All

0:13

parties mentioned are considered innocent until

0:16

proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing

0:18

also contains adult themes and languages. Listener

0:22

discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin

0:26

-Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski.

0:29

And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover

0:31

cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone

0:34

and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your

0:37

host, Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Welcome

0:40

back, everyone. Nothing too exciting at the top

0:44

to chit -chat about, so I think we should just

0:47

go ahead and get into it this week. Yeah, I think

0:50

so too. We are on episode 128 and we are on a

0:55

missing persons case. Let's get into it. So just

0:59

as a bit of a content warning at the top. There

1:02

are some mentions of death by suicide throughout

1:05

the podcast. Today, we are talking about the

1:09

missing person case of Reny Jose and this

1:12

takes place in March of 2014 in Panama City Beach,

1:17

Florida. But first, a little bit about Reny.

1:20

Reny is 21 years old in 2014. He is a mechanical

1:25

engineering major at Rice University in Houston,

1:28

Texas. He is a terrific student. He has a 4 .0

1:33

grade point average and was on track to graduate

1:36

the next year. When Reny wasn't working on

1:39

school, he liked to play pickup games of volleyball

1:41

with friends and loved spending time with his

1:44

family. Right as our timeline picks up, Reny 00:01:47.620 --> 00:01:50.079 was about to head out for spring break. He had

1:50

called his mother before he and 22 other students

1:53

headed from Rice University to Panama City Beach.

1:57

Reny and the 22 other students had rented a

2:00

beach house for a week. His mom tells Reny

2:04

to have a good time and to be safe. And now a

2:08

timeline of events. Saturday, March 1, 2014.

2:14

Reny and the other students make it to the

2:16

rental house and get spring break started. The

2:20

house is on Front Beach Road on the west side

2:23

of Panama City Beach. The house sits right on

2:26

the water. It looks beautiful. Over those first

2:30

few days of spring break, it's unclear exactly

2:33

what the friends were getting up to. I imagine

2:37

it was a lot of typical spring break activities,

2:39

hanging out in the sun and partying with friends.

2:43

On Monday, March 3rd, the group has been at the

2:47

beach house since Saturday. Reny was last seen

2:51

around 7 p .m. It's unclear exactly where he

2:56

was seen or what the circumstances exactly were.

3:00

At least one person said that Reny had taken

3:03

LSD that night and had started talking about

3:06

suicide. The last confirmed sighting of Reny

3:10

was 7 p .m. The next day, Tuesday, March 4th,

3:14

that day started like many other days over the

3:17

spring break. A cleaning crew picked up the beach

3:21

at 6 a .m. before spring breakers covered the

3:23

place. At the nearby beach house, Reny’s friends

3:27

started to get worried when there were still no signs of him that morning. It appears that

3:32

at some point in those morning to early afternoon

3:36

hours, people from the house found clothing of

3:40

Reny’s, specifically his sleeping pants and

3:43

socks, hanging on a railing near the beach outside.

3:47

The clothes had not been there earlier when the

3:50

cleaning crews had come through, otherwise they

3:52

would have been thrown out. At around 11 a .m.,

3:55

friends call the police to report Reny missing.

3:59

At around 4 p .m., one of Reny’s friends also

4:02

calls his parents to tell them that he is missing.

4:06

Immediately, his parents start making plans to

4:08

head to Florida to look for their son. When police

4:11

arrive to the Beach House, they look around the

4:13

property. They find in a trash can out back more

4:17

of Reny’s clothing and his cell phone. Inside

4:21

Reny’s room in the rental house, his laptop,

4:24

wallet, and suitcase were all found there inside.

4:28

Nothing of note is mentioned to be missing except

4:31

for Reny himself. The sheriff's office launches

4:34

the air unit to help search the water. Since

4:38

clothing of his was found on the beach and there

4:40

was talk of him on LSD, Police think he could

4:43

have gone into the water on drugs and drowned.

4:46

However, when police were searching the house,

4:49

they didn't find any other drugs. The next day,

4:53

Wednesday, March 5th, Reny has been missing

4:56

since Monday night. Reny’s parents arrive at

4:59

the beach house to help search. To their surprise,

5:03

most of the students had left. Of the 22 other

5:07

spring breakers, 16 had packed up and left from

5:10

their spring break trip. His mother said of the

5:13

students left, quote, there were two girls and

5:16

four boys left. Two of them didn't even want

5:19

to talk to us, end quote. It appears that the

5:22

Panama City Beach police never got the chance

5:25

to talk to all of the students who were at the

5:27

house near the time that Reny went missing.

5:30

Of the six left, it appears that different stories

5:34

emerged. Again, his mother says, quote, one was

5:38

saying, I don't know where Reny went. The other

5:41

one was saying, I went to Walmart. The other

5:44

one was saying, I was sleeping. And then the

5:46

other one said, he went for a walk, end quote.

5:50

It also sounds like of the six students that

5:53

were left, one of them is the person who told

5:57

police that Reny had taken LSD and was talking

6:00

about suicide. This also caught the family off

6:03

guard. Reny had been excited about graduating

6:07

and had big plans for his life and was looking

6:09

forward to the future. Reny had never talked

6:12

to anyone in his family about thoughts of suicide.

6:16

For the next few days, police focused their searches

6:20

on the water. Police believe that it is most

6:23

likely that Reny went into the water and drowned.

6:26

They have their marine unit searching the Gulf

6:28

of Mexico for any sign of him, but nothing is

6:31

found. On Friday, March 7th, Reny has been

6:35

missing since Monday night. Investigators continue

6:39

to focus on the water, but police also notify

6:42

other counties to be on the lookout as well as

6:45

the U .S. Coast Guard. Police do start to expand

6:49

their search a little bit here from the water.

6:51

They search abandoned properties near the beach

6:54

house and still no sign of Reny is found. At

6:58

the one -week mark, police say that they are

7:01

still searching for Reny. but do not believe

7:03

that any foul play was involved. They believe

7:07

that he took LSD, decided to go swimming, and

7:10

drowned. Very quickly after this, the case appears

7:14

to go cold. In September of 2014, Reny has

7:18

been missing for over six months, and his family

7:21

hold a demonstration outside of the FBI headquarters

7:24

to try to get the FBI's attention to take over

7:27

the case. The FBI do send out an agent to talk

7:31

with the family, but it doesn't appear that they

7:33

ever officially pick up the case or even get

7:36

involved in it. At the one -year mark of Reny’s

7:39

disappearance, his family heads back to Panama

7:42

City Beach to raise awareness for his case and

7:45

to ask the community for information. If anyone

7:48

remembers anything, please let them know. Maybe

7:52

returning spring breakers would remember something

7:54

from the year before. This trip back to the beach

7:58

will become a yearly trip for the family, something

8:01

that they continue to do to this day. Over the

8:04

years, the case will go cold, but the family

8:07

will fight to keep the case in the media and

8:09

raise awareness. The family hires a private investigator

8:12

to try to get more information. They especially

8:16

want to talk to all of the students who are at

8:18

the beach house with Reny, but no one talks

8:21

much to the family, and a few of them even lawyer

8:23

up. In March of 2024, it's been 10 years since

8:28

Reny vanished and there have been no new leads

8:31

or updates on his case. Police say that they

8:35

still work the case if a tip is called in, but

8:38

no physical sign of Reny has ever been found

8:40

since that first day, when his clothes were found

8:43

at the beach and in the trash can along with

8:45

his cell phone. Police say that they have talked

8:49

to all 22 students. Captain Daffy says, quote,

9:05

End quote. But that is all we know about the

9:24

disappearance of Reny Jose. So if you know anything

9:27

about the disappearance of Reny Jose or his

9:31

whereabouts today, please call the Bay County

9:33

Sheriff's Office at 850 -747 -4700. So that is

9:42

the case of Reny Jose. I have to say, just at

9:45

the top of Reny’s case, it always gives me...

9:51

knowing that they went missing more recently.

9:56

I think I have spoken on this before in prior

9:59

cases that you've brought to cold and missing,

10:02

but the immediacy always feels palpable when

10:05

you're listing out the timeline. And I know there

10:10

wasn't a ton within his timeline, but I do think

10:15

for this case, the timeline is tight. I'm very,

10:21

you know, I'm very grateful that you brought his case here, but I'm eager to speak with you

10:27

about it. Yeah. Reny case, when I came across

10:31

it, was one that on the surface, you know, I

10:36

initially wasn't asking very many questions or

10:38

not a lot of things sprung into my head. But

10:41

the more I thought about it with the information

10:44

we do have, what little we do have, I started

10:48

to really. develop more and more questions surrounding

10:51

his disappearance. Yeah, with you saying that,

10:58

I kind of just want to jump right in here. After,

11:04

you know, he was last seen at 7 p .m. and the

11:07

following morning around 11, or within that time

11:11

frame in the morning when they were finding his

11:14

clothes, that's the first thing I wanted to discuss.

11:18

And just ask, what do you make of that? Yeah,

11:23

the finding the clothes on the beach. So that's

11:26

the first set of clothing that's found. It's

11:29

his pajama pants and his socks, according to

11:32

his mother. That's what was found on the beach.

11:34

And from what we know, cleaning crews do come

11:38

through at 6 a .m. and, you know, remove everything

11:42

from the beach before the day really gets started.

11:45

So it is. the understanding that those would

11:49

likely have been thrown out had they been there

11:51

at 6 a .m. So they needed to show up after 6

11:56

a .m. but before 11 a .m. because 11 a .m. is

11:59

when his friends call police. So they would have

12:02

found the clothes just a little bit before that, I imagine. I'm so glad I asked the question because

12:08

I knew you would have a different perspective

12:12

from mine. And that was something that I... didn't

12:16

include or even think of was that the cleaning

12:18

crew you know could have picked them up and tossed

12:22

them but what I thought and I think because you

12:26

know this is a missing person's case and we have

12:30

a lens over it to me it read as oh that's someone

12:34

trying to cover something up because normally

12:36

you wouldn't throw your own clothes away that

12:39

is kind of a nonsensical action to me But yeah,

12:46

that's kind of what I thought. While the first

12:49

set of clothes were found hanging on a railing

12:52

near the beach, the second set of clothes were

12:54

found in a trash can at the house, and that was

12:58

found by police. Thank you for reminding me and

13:02

our listeners that there were two different spots

13:08

where clothing was found. You know, the first

13:13

one, With the clothing hanging there, to me that

13:17

read as someone passed by the clothing. And I've

13:20

done this in our neighborhood before. If I see

13:23

a glove or something that it looks like someone

13:27

has lost it or left it, I'll usually hang it

13:30

on a neighboring fence or somewhere where it

13:34

can be safe and noticeable if the person wants

13:37

to come back to find it. But the second one,

13:41

which I just spoke of, Now knowing that there,

13:46

you know, there was a cleaning crew there, that

13:48

does make sense to me. But without that, it seems

13:52

like an action that someone would do to cover

13:55

something up. Sorry, the cleaning crew cleans

13:59

the beach. So they go through and clean the beach.

14:02

So the thought is that his clothes weren't hanging

14:04

on the rail at 6 a .m. Otherwise, they would

14:07

have been thrown out. So those would have had to appear after 6 a .m. But before 11 a .m. OK,

14:14

thank you for clarifying. I'm I'm laughing because

14:20

I'm laughing at myself. You know, as Ali is telling

14:23

the timeline of these cases, I'm trying to keep

14:27

up with her and remember everything. So sometimes

14:29

the details get a little lost in the shuffle

14:32

for me. But that's probably true for our listeners.

14:35

So hopefully when I do ask questions, it's helpful

14:38

for you all as well. Another question I kind

14:42

of had about the clothing found on the railing

14:45

specifically, that was the sleeping pants and

14:48

socks, according to his mother. That's what was found on the railing. It's never mentioned what

14:55

clothing he was last seen in the night before

14:58

at 7 p .m. So was he in his sleeping pants and

15:03

socks, like getting ready to have an early night

15:05

or just hang out? You know, his day clothes,

15:12

whatever. And then that would indicate that he

15:15

at least went into his suitcase and got his sleeping

15:19

pants if he put that there. So that's a question

15:22

I have with that specifically. The discovery

15:26

or finding of the socks and the pajamas kind

15:33

of made me think that maybe he did end up in

15:35

the water. I know this is a broad question and

15:42

we'll continue to ask more questions, but I'm

15:50

curious to know if you think that he drowned,

15:53

which is kind of the overall theory. And I wanted

15:58

to know how you felt about that. I think it's

16:02

definitely a possibility in the world of possibilities.

16:07

I think it is something that could have happened.

16:11

Something that comes up for me and I know kind

16:14

of comes up for the family as well, while it

16:17

doesn't surprise me necessarily hearing about

16:20

a college student taking LSD on spring break,

16:23

what does kind of surprise me is that, to my

16:26

knowledge, none of the other students in the

16:29

house said that they were also doing drugs that

16:32

night. That's kind of a strange part to me is

16:36

that Reny would be doing it by himself. So

16:40

I wonder if somebody else was doing it and they

16:43

didn't find any drugs in the house when police

16:45

did search. So then, like, if Reny was doing

16:51

it by himself, so he only had just that one dose

16:54

or there's just some questions about it. If other

16:57

people were doing drugs with him, which, again,

17:00

like, isn't crazy for college students on spring

17:03

break, I would hope that they would tell police,

17:06

like, at least what was happening and even, like,

17:11

have the drugs tested. Like, was Reny taking

17:15

LSD or thinking he was taking LSD but took something

17:19

else that... maybe had a adverse effect with

17:22

him. Like there's a lot of possibilities where maybe it was just LSD and it hit him weird. I

17:27

think it is something that could have happened, but there's still a lot of questions around it

17:32

and lacking evidence to support it. Thank you

17:36

for expanding on everything that you thought.

17:40

It kind of takes us into my remaining questions

17:45

as you were unfolding them. timeline for us.

17:52

Directly after I was writing questions about,

17:55

I wonder, you know, if it was drowning, I quickly

17:59

pivoted to, all I wrote was, did something happen

18:02

with the kids? Because as it started to unfold,

18:07

and just like you, it took me a second to ask

18:13

more questions, you know, within myself. About

18:18

the kids, about the people that were around him

18:20

as this happened. And I think the lack of information

18:29

is odd. And the kids' behaviors when the parents

18:34

show up, odd. Yeah, you know, I think the other

18:39

students, the other college students, like something

18:42

could have just gotten out of hand. you know,

18:45

like partying too much, drinking too much, and then something happens. And I try to leave like,

18:51

you know, some grace too, because I think if

18:54

I was 21 and had gone on a spring break trip

18:58

and somebody went missing, I might freak out

19:02

and panic and leave too, just because I was scared

19:05

that something might happen to me. You know,

19:07

I'm not somewhere where I... no, I don't know

19:12

anybody there. So I might just try to like get

19:14

out of there to feel safe. But then on the other

19:16

hand, you know, I can't imagine leaving a friend

19:20

behind that I came there with. Like that feels

19:23

really unimaginable to me and to not be, you

19:26

know, banging a drum, trying to get attention and get a search going for them and get them

19:31

home. So it's very confusing, the behavior. But

19:37

I would love to know, like, The statements of

19:41

everybody there and just is there any clue that

19:43

was missed in the timeline? Because it doesn't

19:46

seem like one police agency has ever interviewed

19:49

all of the spring breakers. So like if one person

19:52

did all the interviewing, could they find something

19:55

that multiple police departments missed? Just

20:00

some of the other questions that, you know, if

20:03

I could sit down and get any question I had answered,

20:06

I would be curious. Did his cell phone reveal

20:10

any information? We know this was found either

20:13

in the trash or next to the trash at the rental

20:15

home. You know, was he texting anybody? Was he

20:19

texting dealers to get drugs? Was there any GPS

20:23

on it? Anything to show what he had been up to?

20:28

Or maybe even when he and his phone became separated?

20:32

Is there any indication of when that happened?

20:35

And then... I also got curious just if any of

20:40

his clothing was missing, if they were able to

20:42

determine that at all. But was there any outfit

20:45

missing that he could have possibly been wearing

20:48

when he vanished? We know clothing was found

20:51

in the beach and in the trash can, but was all

20:54

of his clothing accounted for otherwise? Or,

20:57

you know, is there a certain kind of shirt? Were

21:00

his swimsuit missing? Or his, you know, was anything

21:03

else missing? That's something I would want to

21:07

know. I think it's important to mention his family

21:12

here and his parents more specifically. And I'm

21:18

so grateful that you covered just a little bit

21:23

of their navigating what a, I mean, to put it

21:29

lightly, like just horrifying mess this must

21:32

be to have to. Go to somewhere where you don't

21:36

know to try to find your loved one, your child.

21:42

Worst case scenario, worst nightmare. Reny’s

21:45

case is one that, unfortunately, we have seen

21:50

before where someone goes missing during specifically

21:54

a spring break trip. And that's terrifying because

21:58

it's supposed to be a space for young people

22:02

to... have fun and cut loose and, like, be in

22:06

community. So I'm really, I'm glad that we learned

22:11

that his parents did everything they could and

22:13

continue to. And I just wanted to mention the,

22:18

and I know you know this, Allie, but just the

22:21

cost of, like, hiring a PI and having to search

22:26

for your loved one in this way, the toll it takes

22:30

on your life. Forever is, you know, gigantic.

22:37

And when you speak about them in the unfolding

22:43

of the case, you know, usually we only have time

22:47

to cover just a small amount of it. But I think

22:50

it's important to mention that these people,

22:54

not only after losing a part of their hearts

22:57

or if a part of their hearts is lost, they are...

23:00

They are drained in every other way. My heart

23:05

really goes out to them, and I have a lot of hope for this case, specifically because there

23:10

are witnesses, they're still alive, and it happened

23:12

so recently. And Reny deserves to come home.

23:17

I, too, have hopes for this case, that we can

23:20

get answers, that we can bring Reny home to

23:23

his family who, yeah, everything you said. was

23:26

perfect. They have worked tirelessly on this

23:29

case and have dedicated their lives. His family

23:33

really cares about him and wants him to come

23:37

home. I think that there is still information

23:40

that can be gleaned in this investigation and

23:44

not even nefarious information necessarily, but

23:47

just like more details where we can really fill

23:51

in, you know, minute to minute what happened.

23:55

I think that is possible in this case, and I

23:57

really hope we get it so that way Reny’s family

24:00

has the answers and we get to bring Reny home.

24:03

But again, if you know anything about the disappearance

24:06

of Reny Jose or his whereabouts today, please

24:10

call the Bay County Sheriff's Office at 850 -747

24:13

-4700. As always, I will be providing the graphics

24:20

for our case this week. Reny and what he looks

24:27

like and hopefully on your own social medias

24:30

you can share or share that you're listening

24:34

to the podcast you can find us on instagram at

24:37

cold and missing and we would love it if you

24:41

took a second today tomorrow or sometime this

24:43

week to leave us a rate and review in your podcast

24:46

app that would mean so much to us We're getting

24:49

very close to breaking 100 on Spotify and 100

24:53

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24:56

of break that. So if you have some time, we sure

24:59

would appreciate it. And if you or someone you

25:02

love needs a transcript to follow along to the

25:05

podcast because you are hard of hearing, you

25:08

can find that on our website, www .coldandmissing

25:12

.com, where we have our official transcripts

25:15

that is edited by me. So it has correct spellings

25:18

of names. and all that jazz. So that's on the

25:22

website. And you can also find all our old episodes

25:25

there as well. But that's all I have for you

25:28

this week. Thank you so much for listening to

25:30

Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Allie. And I'm

25:33

your co -host, Eli. Have a good week and stay