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Try. This

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episode contains graphic content that

2:04

may not be suitable for

2:06

all ages. Listener discretion is

2:08

advised. If you or someone

2:10

you know is struggling or

2:12

in crisis, help is available.

2:14

Call or text 988 or

2:16

chat with someone at 988

2:18

lifeline.org. Those outside of the

2:20

US, reach out to someone

2:22

at your local crisis center

2:25

or hotline. Please do not

2:27

suffer in silence. Salu

2:36

House is an unincorporated community

2:38

in Sacramento County, California, located

2:40

roughly 20 miles southeast of

2:42

Sacramento itself. The community is

2:44

known for its lush white

2:46

cornfields, as well as its

2:48

warm summer climate. But honestly,

2:50

not much else. For many,

2:52

Salu House is the type

2:55

of place you generally only

2:57

drive through. But in October

2:59

2006, just days before Halloween,

3:01

it became the site of

3:03

an expansive police investigation that

3:05

began to spread through the

3:07

entire area. A show of

3:09

force typically only ever seen

3:11

when one specific thing happens.

3:13

The death of a police

3:15

officer. This is the story

3:17

of Deputy Jeffrey Mitchell. Jeffrey

3:34

von Mitchell was born on May

3:36

28th 1968 in Campbell, California, a

3:39

suburb of San Jose. Before graduating

3:41

from Westmont High School in 1986,

3:43

Jeff became known as someone who

3:45

was always smiling. In fact, that's

3:47

something that many people would recall

3:50

over the years, with longtime friend

3:52

Doug Thurman, who met Jeff in

3:54

eighth grade, later recalling. Mitch was

3:56

basically a friend to every... Most

3:59

of us have to think of

4:01

a reason to smile. For him,

4:03

everything was a reason to smile.

4:05

After graduating from high school, Jeff

4:08

enlisted in the U.S. Air Force,

4:10

becoming a security officer for the

4:12

next five years. Terrell Jones, a

4:14

fellow airman that would become another

4:16

good friend of Jeff's, serving as

4:18

the best man in his wedding,

4:20

later told the Sacramento B in

4:22

2006 about Jeff's time in the

4:24

Air Force. He always gave everyone

4:26

the benefit of the doubt and

4:28

always had that smile. After his

4:30

discharge from the military, Jeff returned

4:32

to education, attending California State University

4:34

in Sacramento, where he ultimately obtained

4:36

a teaching degree. While there, he

4:38

also met his future wife, Crystal.

4:40

The two wed in 1995, and

4:42

at around the same time, Jeff

4:44

began working as a substitute teacher.

4:46

Roughly two years later, Jeff began

4:48

to make an abrupt career change.

4:50

He began working for the Sacramento

4:52

County Sheriff's Department, but as a

4:54

recreation technician who oversaw the physical

4:56

education program for inmates at Rio

4:58

Casumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove.

5:00

He would hold down that position

5:02

for a few years before making

5:04

the biggest transition yet, becoming a

5:06

full-time officer for the sheriff's office

5:08

in 2000. This decision shocked many

5:10

of his friends and family members,

5:12

with his sister, Kim Garvasoni, later

5:14

telling the Sacramento B. We were

5:16

all a little shocked when he

5:18

went into the military and a

5:20

little shocked when he became a

5:22

police officer. We always pictured him

5:24

as a teacher or a coach

5:26

because he always had such a

5:28

good heart. Despite transitioning over into

5:30

police work, Jeff seemed to remain

5:32

mostly unchanged. In fact, he seemed

5:34

to be a good influence on

5:36

those he worked with. With Detective

5:38

Chris Joaquin later telling the same

5:40

publication. He was the kind of

5:42

rare person you meet in your

5:44

life that when you're around him

5:46

he makes you want to be

5:48

a better person. with other people

5:50

that might sound like a cliche,

5:53

with Jeff it's the truth. The

5:55

same year that he became a

5:57

police officer, 2000, Crystal... gave birth

5:59

to the couple's first and only

6:01

child together, Jake. In 2002, Jeff

6:03

moved to patrol duty, focusing exclusively

6:05

on rural areas in Sacramento County,

6:07

work that he preferred because it

6:09

allowed him to engage in more

6:11

community policing than a normal deputy

6:13

role would. This was the type

6:15

of personable police work that Jeff

6:17

seemed tailor-made for. The type that

6:19

he believed was more effective at

6:21

deterring crime. And those he encountered

6:23

seemed to agree, with very few

6:25

having an issue with Jeff or

6:27

the way he handled things on

6:29

his night shifts. Jeff preferred to

6:31

work overnights because it allowed him

6:33

to spend his days with his

6:35

family. By 2006, Crystal and he

6:37

were still married, and while she

6:39

found work as a state attorney,

6:41

Jeff working nights allowed him to

6:43

pick up Jake from school and

6:45

spend time with him. Crystal later

6:47

told the Sacramento B. He was

6:49

everything as a person you would

6:51

hope a dad would be. He

6:53

taught Jake how to be a

6:55

good person and a kind person,

6:57

and he made sure that there

6:59

wasn't a day that went by

7:01

that he didn't spend time with

7:03

us. With his schedule, Jeff enjoyed

7:05

being able to have dinner with

7:07

his family and helped tuck Jake

7:09

into bed before heading out on

7:11

his patrols, which were normally uneventful.

7:13

Until one tragic night in October

7:15

2006, which was anything but. On

7:20

the morning of Friday, October 27th,

7:22

2006, things were calm throughout Sacramento

7:24

County. First, several hours of Deputy

7:26

Jeff Mitchell's shift passed by without

7:28

any excitement of any kind. But

7:31

at 3.27am, he typed a message

7:33

to dispatchers through his computer system,

7:35

informing them that he had come

7:37

upon a white Chevy van off

7:39

of Highway 16 with no rear

7:42

license plate. He gave this brief

7:44

description of the van along with

7:46

an approximate location, near the intersection

7:48

of mice and dillard roads, just

7:51

south of Jackson Highway, and he

7:53

told the dispatcher that there seemed

7:55

to be a single occupant inside.

7:57

Moments later, he would indicate that

7:59

he was okay. Seven minutes passed,

8:02

during which no response was given

8:04

by Deputy Mitchell. That is, until

8:06

his radio keyed a couple of

8:08

times. A clicking noise sent to

8:10

dispatchers to indicate that something was

8:13

wrong. That happened at around 3.34am.

8:15

The dispatcher would attempt to rouse

8:17

Deputy Mitchell through his radio to

8:19

no avail. They then tried calling

8:22

his cell phone. Again, no response.

8:24

After failing to communicate, the dispatcher

8:26

would put out a call three

8:28

on the radio, sending other officers

8:30

to Deputy Mitchell's last known location

8:33

with lights and sirens. Roughly 10

8:35

minutes later, police began arriving at

8:37

the location Deputy Mitchell had described

8:39

in his original report, which was

8:41

essentially in the middle of nowhere.

8:44

There, they discovered their fallen comrade

8:46

laying on the ground near his

8:48

vehicle, his gun unholstered. He had

8:50

been shot once in the head,

8:53

as they would soon learn. he

8:55

had been shot with his own

8:57

service weapon. At 359, paramedics arrived

8:59

at the scene, where they attempted

9:01

to stabilize Jeff before transporting him

9:04

to the nearby U.C. Davis Medical

9:06

Center, where at 4.45 a.m. he

9:08

was pronounced dead. That

9:21

morning Jeff's wife Crystal was woken up

9:23

by a loud knocking at her door.

9:26

Opening it, she was greeted by the

9:28

sight that every spouse of a police

9:30

officer or a first responder fears to

9:32

see. A group of officers. As she

9:35

later recalled to ABC 10. There was

9:37

a bunch of uniformed people out there

9:39

and my eyes caught the name Chaplin.

9:41

And right away I knew. She was

9:44

rushed to the hospital to join her

9:46

husband, who at that point was believed

9:48

to be dead or dying. Along the

9:50

way, she saw multiple highway signs along

9:53

the side of the road carrying the

9:55

same message. Officer Shock, White Chevy Van,

9:57

no plate. After getting to see Jeff's

9:59

body that morning, she was handed his

10:02

badge, which on the back of was

10:04

a laminated picture of herself and the

10:06

couple's six-year-old son. Afterward, she would have

10:08

to return home and figure out how

10:11

to tell Jake that his dad wasn't

10:13

going to be coming home. As she

10:15

later told CBS 13. He didn't understand

10:17

why the doctors couldn't just put a

10:20

band-aid on him and fix him like

10:22

his daddy had fixed his wounds, his

10:24

scrapes. In

10:44

the hours to come, the area

10:46

off of mice and dillard roads

10:48

became a hotbed of police, with

10:50

law enforcement from all around the

10:53

region converging upon this rural area

10:55

of Sacramento County. This included not

10:57

just members of the local sheriff's

10:59

office, but also members of the

11:01

California Highway Patrol and the FBI,

11:03

who helped disseminate the information gathered

11:05

in the search for Deputy Jeff

11:07

Mitchell's killer. They all spread out

11:09

over approximately 500 square miles, displaying

11:11

info about the white fan described

11:13

by Mitchell on freeway signs, and

11:15

they all began pulling over vehicles

11:17

that matched that description. Sacramento County

11:20

Sheriff John McGinnis told reporters, the

11:22

single priority is to bring this

11:24

person to justice. Officials throughout the

11:26

region joined in on the effort

11:28

to raise publicity for the case,

11:30

with then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announcing a

11:32

$100,000 reward for information resulting in

11:34

the arrest and conviction of any

11:36

suspect or suspects. Meanwhile, at the

11:38

scene, investigators had identified signs of

11:40

a significant struggle between Deputy Mitchell

11:42

and his killer or killers, with

11:44

Sheriff McGinnis, stating. There was significant

11:46

evidence of trauma on the officer's

11:49

person. It was believed that a

11:51

hand-to-hand struggle had taken place between

11:53

Jeff and his killer. during that

11:55

struggle, his service weapon had been

11:57

taken and then used against him.

11:59

It was unknown if his radio

12:01

had keyed on purpose, either to

12:03

indicate the dispatchers that he was

12:05

in danger, or if it happened

12:07

accidentally, as a result of the

12:09

struggle itself. His body had been

12:11

found near the rear bumper of

12:13

his vehicle, and his handcuffs had

12:15

been taken out, indicating that he

12:18

might have been attempting to apprehend

12:20

a suspect at the time, per

12:22

Sheriff McGinnis. This may be a

12:24

hunch, and we may never have

12:26

the answer, but it is my

12:28

belief there was something that heightened

12:30

Mitchell's response because it does look

12:32

like he had begun to handcuff

12:34

a suspect. Detectives would also note

12:36

damage to a nearby fence gate,

12:38

where they believed the white van

12:40

described by Deputy Mitchell might have

12:42

run or bumped into it. If

12:45

so, there might have been some

12:47

damage to the front end of

12:49

the van, which would be incorporated

12:51

into possible matches. Later, they would

12:53

rule out this fence damage having

12:55

any relation to the crime itself,

12:57

but in those early hours it

12:59

informed a lot of their decisions

13:01

regarding which fans they chose to

13:03

narrow in on. Authorities would continue

13:05

to highlight information about the White

13:07

Chevy van in local news and

13:09

radio broadcast in the hopes of

13:11

identifying a suspect vehicle. Later that

13:14

afternoon, just hours after the shooting

13:16

death of Deputy Jeffrey Mitchell. officers

13:18

began converging at a secondary location.

13:20

This was at the Kasumnes River

13:22

at Gold Rush Park, roughly 20

13:24

miles from where Jeff had been

13:26

slain. There, a couple had called

13:28

in a suspicious vehicle in the

13:30

most unlikely of places. As officers

13:32

began arriving at the location, they

13:34

discovered what the witnesses had described

13:36

to them, a white fan matching

13:38

the one described by Deputy Mitchell

13:40

before his death. The front license

13:43

plate was bent in a way

13:45

that made it almost unreadable. and

13:47

most incredulously the van had been

13:49

found in the river itself just

13:51

outside of Plymouth California. Two officers

13:53

at the scene it appeared that

13:55

the van had been deliberately driven

13:57

into the shallow water from nearby

13:59

Highway 49. In the eeriest note

14:01

of this discovery, however, police would

14:03

describe finding two bodies inside of

14:05

the van. One was believed to

14:07

be a white man in his

14:10

mid-forties, who was found sitting in

14:12

the driver's seat. The other was

14:14

described as a white woman in

14:16

her early 30s, who was found

14:18

curled up in the back. Authorities

14:20

would later identify the two deceased

14:22

as 43-year-old Alan E. Schubert and

14:24

28-year-old Nicole Ann Welch, who police

14:26

insisted from the beginning did not

14:28

play a part in Deputy Mitchell's

14:30

death. Both were known to have

14:32

some level of involvement in the

14:34

drug world, but Schubert in particular

14:36

was no stranger to law enforcement.

14:39

The 43-year-old had been charged with

14:41

various crimes over the prior decade,

14:43

including drug possession, vandalism, and DUI.

14:45

In fact, he was actually due

14:47

in court that Friday for a

14:49

charge of driving without a driver's

14:51

license. However, none of his offenses

14:53

were violent in nature, and those

14:55

that knew him did not believe

14:57

him capable of harming a police

14:59

officer, let alone overpowering and killing

15:01

one. While many have speculated about

15:03

the two being involved in the

15:05

death of Deputy Mitchell, police have

15:08

claimed from the discovery of the

15:10

van that they did not believe

15:12

either Schubert or Welch had been

15:14

involved in the death of Jeff

15:16

Mitchell. for a statement by Sheriff

15:18

John McGinnis. Candidly, in my opinion,

15:20

we can't make that link. The

15:22

biggest thing is the body. My

15:24

hope and belief was that we

15:26

would find some trauma indicating that

15:28

he, Schubert, fought with our deputy,

15:30

but there was none. Instead of

15:32

finding any sign of trauma to

15:35

the bodies of Alan Schubert or

15:37

Nicole Welch, an autopsy found that

15:39

both had died of carbon monoxide

15:41

monoxide poisoning. Early on, investigators speculated

15:43

that it happened after their vehicle's

15:45

tailpipe had flooded while they attempted

15:47

to ford the shallow Kasumnes River.

15:49

But other than how they died,

15:51

there was no single mark on

15:53

either of their hands or faces

15:55

that would indicate they had a

15:57

struggle with detection. Mitchell. As police

15:59

would later learn, Alan Schubert lived

16:01

out of the white van he

16:04

was found in, which was full

16:06

of tools that he used for

16:08

mechanic work. He did not have

16:10

a single set place for employment,

16:12

but rather seemed to take odd

16:14

jobs here and there. He had

16:16

reportedly left for Indian country, his

16:18

words, on Thursday October 26th, and

16:20

he had taken Nicole Welch with

16:22

him, who was seeking a ride

16:24

to visit some friends in the

16:26

region. However, after leaving that Thursday,

16:28

their bodies were found in the

16:30

van on Friday afternoon, having died

16:33

mysteriously of carbon monoxide poisoning. Sadly,

16:35

the identification and autopsy of these

16:37

two individuals left police no closer

16:39

to finding answers. In fact, now

16:41

they seemed to be even further

16:43

away, with them believing that the

16:45

two cases might be linked, but

16:47

having no idea how they fit

16:49

together. Authorities theorized that Alan Schubert

16:51

and Nicole Welch had died before

16:53

Deputy Mitchell had been shot and

16:55

killed, but if that was the

16:57

case, they did not know how

17:00

the series of events worked, and

17:02

they did not know what connected

17:04

the three individuals, if the two

17:06

cases were even connected, per Sheriff

17:08

McGinnis. These people were not model

17:10

citizens, but I don't want to

17:12

have their legacy associated with the

17:14

death of a Deputy Sheriff. Our

18:29

is sponsored by by You know You really

18:31

stressed or not feeling so great about

18:33

your life or about yourself, talking to

18:35

someone who understands can really help. But

18:37

who is that person? How do you

18:39

find them? Where do you even start?

18:41

How Talkspace. Talkspace makes it easy to

18:43

get the support you need. With Talkspace,

18:45

you can go online, answer a few

18:47

questions about your preferences and be matched

18:50

with a therapist. And because you'll meet

18:52

your therapist online, you don't have to

18:54

take time off work or arrange work or arrange child

18:56

care, you'll meet on your schedule,

18:58

wherever you feel most at ease.

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20:01

one week after the death of

20:04

Deputy Jeff Mitchell, a memorial service

20:06

took place at Rayleigh Field, now

20:08

Sutter Health Park, the same stadium

20:10

that has been home to the

20:12

Sacramento Rivercats and is now going

20:14

to house the athletics. There, a

20:17

ceremony took place including several tributes

20:19

to Jeff, including a 21-gun salute,

20:21

bagpipes, and a horse with no

20:23

rider. It was attended by several

20:25

VIPs in the region, including then

20:27

Governor Schwarzenegger. who paid his respects

20:30

to the fallen officer and his

20:32

family. During the ceremony, many police

20:34

officers spoke, as did loved ones

20:36

of Jeff. His father-in-law read a

20:38

letter from Jeff's wife, Crystal, which

20:40

she had written shortly after his

20:43

death. It read, in part, I

20:45

loved every minute of our lives,

20:47

I'll never stop loving you, and

20:49

I'll continue to raise our son

20:51

so he can be the kind

20:53

of man his father was. I

20:55

miss you, Jeff, and my heart

20:58

aches without you, but I feel

21:00

your strength. Jake and I feel

21:02

your love and that will get

21:04

us through. Authorities provided pictures of

21:06

a potential witness to the press.

21:08

This was a middle-aged or slightly

21:11

older white man seen at a

21:13

Circle K gas station market roughly

21:15

an hour after Jeff had been

21:17

shot and killed. The Circle K

21:19

was located on Grant Line Road,

21:21

roughly 10 miles southwest of where

21:24

Jeff had been shot and killed.

21:26

Sacramento County spokesman Sergeant Tim Curran

21:28

told reporters. He appears to be

21:30

a middle-age or older white male

21:32

and possibly drives a red and

21:34

white full-size-size-size pickup pickup truck. He

21:37

may be a resident of the

21:39

region and possibly frequent businesses in

21:41

the area. It's believed that the

21:43

man had been in the company

21:45

of a woman that morning, who

21:47

was also in the Circle K

21:50

and reportedly acted very suspiciously, raising

21:52

the eyebrows of both staff and

21:54

customers. Again, per Sergeant Curran, they

21:56

asked her if she needed help,

21:58

if she wanted them to call

22:00

the police, and she said no,

22:02

no. Both the man and woman

22:05

were apparently located and questioned by

22:07

police, corroborating what each other said.

22:09

But it has never been clarified

22:11

what exactly they might have witnessed,

22:13

or what exactly the woman was

22:15

saying or doing to garner that

22:18

kind of response. However, at the

22:20

same time authorities announced they were

22:22

seeking this man, they announced that

22:24

a man had been seen washing

22:26

blood from his face just across

22:28

the street at the Chevron gas

22:31

station. Strangely enough, that same witness

22:33

claims to have seen a man

22:35

with a bloody face at the

22:37

freight entrance of the Dillard General

22:39

Store. But it's unknown if these

22:41

two men were one and the

22:44

same. In the weeks to come

22:46

authorities struggled to determine where to

22:48

take their investigation, receiving more than

22:50

3,000 tips from the public. This

22:52

information led them as far away

22:54

as Reno, but was ultimately unsuccessful

22:57

in tracking down any suspects. Nor

22:59

were police able to identify which

23:01

fan Deputy Mitchell had described two

23:03

dispatchers. A white Chevy van without

23:05

a rear license plate. They believed

23:07

that Alan Schubert's fan might have

23:10

been it, but they weren't able

23:12

to confirm it, at least not

23:14

publicly. During this period, it was

23:16

reported that authorities had recovered DNA

23:18

from a very intimate location near

23:20

Jeff's body, but that location was

23:22

never specified. Later authorities would admit

23:25

that this DNA sample was too

23:27

small to build a full genetic

23:29

profile from, which meant that it

23:31

could likely only be used to

23:33

compare to a specific suspect, not

23:35

enough to submit to a national

23:38

forensic database. By the end of

23:40

2006, authorities were sadly no closer

23:42

to finding Jeff's killer than they

23:44

had been in October, but they

23:46

insisted that they were far from

23:48

giving up. Sergeant Tim Curran, the

23:51

sheriff's spokesperson, told these... Sacramento B.

23:53

They still believe they will ultimately

23:55

find the person or persons who

23:57

are responsible for this crime. It

23:59

just may take a while. A

24:01

couple of months later, in February

24:04

2007, police revealed that they had

24:06

found partial fingerprints at the scene,

24:08

which they claimed had been found

24:10

on a key item at the

24:12

scene. But after submitting it to

24:14

national databases, it had come back

24:17

with no matches. To that, Sheriff

24:19

McGinnis would state. This suggests a

24:21

high probability that the donor of

24:23

the prince is not somebody in

24:25

the criminal justice system, and that

24:27

in itself is significant. We have

24:29

consistently gotten tips that the killer

24:32

is from another country. That is

24:34

consistent with the lack of a

24:36

fingerprint match. We have to take

24:38

seriously the possibility that he's hiding

24:40

across the border. We remain optimistic

24:42

to the point of confidence, frankly,

24:45

that we will solve the case

24:47

eventually. We also remain vigilant. I

24:49

can finally see maybe some light

24:51

at the end of the tunnel

24:53

that perhaps we can all have

24:55

some peace in our family. The

24:58

widow of a Sacramento County Sheriff's

25:00

Deputy, killed in the line of

25:02

duty, sees some new hope of

25:04

finding her husband's killer or killers.

25:06

Today, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department

25:08

announced new developments in that investigation

25:11

into the death of Deputy Jeff

25:13

Mitchell. And Mitchell's widow, Crystal, talked

25:15

exclusively with Case Area 3's Lindsay

25:17

Apollo, who has the latest course

25:19

now. Well, Goulston Edie, Crystal Mitchell,

25:21

says she never lost hope that

25:24

this case would be solved, but

25:26

now she and the department have

25:28

renewed confidence. The department has ruled

25:30

out to prior... persons of interest

25:32

and a new detective is taking

25:34

a hard look at an old

25:36

lead. I'm more hopeful now than

25:39

I have been in quite a

25:41

long time. Crystal Mitchell wears her

25:43

husband's badge number close to her

25:45

heart. Deputy Jeffrey Mitchell was shot

25:47

dead with his own gun while

25:49

on patrol on a dark rural

25:52

Sacramento County Road October 27th 2006.

25:54

His last typed message to dispatch

25:56

was he was checking on a

25:58

white Chevy van with no plates.

26:00

one inside. Later that same day

26:02

deputies found a white Chevy van

26:05

in nearby Eldorado County partially submerged

26:07

in the Kasumnes River with two

26:09

bodies inside. I've always felt that

26:11

the white van was connected. I

26:13

never thought it was a coincidence.

26:15

Detective Tony Turnbull took over the

26:18

investigation 18 months ago. He believes

26:20

the two people in the van.

26:22

Alan Schubert and Nicole Welch were

26:24

already dead when Mitchell found it.

26:26

This is the first time publicly, I

26:28

believe, that we have ruled them out

26:31

as possible suspects. Turnbull says the

26:33

prevailing theory is that someone was

26:35

trying to dump their bodies when

26:37

Mitchell approached the van. It's always

26:40

been my feeling that Jeff stumbled

26:42

upon something that he wasn't, you

26:44

know, something that was bad that

26:46

was happening and he got... taken

26:49

by surprise based on what he

26:51

found. Detectives have reviewed 250 binders

26:53

containing 4,000 leads. In terms of

26:55

how close we are to making an arrest,

26:58

all I can say is we are making some

27:00

good progress. Turnbull believes there are people

27:02

out there with information. Crystal Mitchell hopes

27:04

they'll find the strength to come forward.

27:07

It's the right thing to do and

27:09

if it were them, they'd want the

27:11

same thing. So that she and her

27:14

son Jake can have answers and justice.

27:16

He needs to know that what his

27:18

dad always told him is true.

27:20

Bad guys get punished for their

27:23

bad acts and especially when they

27:25

hurt someone you love. Now,

27:27

Crystal Mitchell says the department has done a

27:29

very good job so far, but she is

27:31

very happy that Detective Turnbull is on the

27:33

case full time. He brings a personal connection

27:35

to this case because he and Deputy Mitchell

27:37

were friends. When we were first covering this

27:39

case, of course, we were talking about reward

27:41

money out there. Some of the reward money

27:43

is still out there. In fact, Judy, it

27:45

is $100,000. It's still being offered by the

27:48

governor's office. You can call the Sacramento County

27:50

Sheriff's Department if you have any information in the

27:52

case. In

27:54

the months after the sudden and violent

27:56

death of Deputy Jeffrey Mitchell, the

27:58

investigation into the case stagnated. Despite

28:00

the case attracting a lot of attention

28:03

early on, due almost entirely to its

28:05

nature as one of the few unsolved

28:07

cop slangs in America, that attention began

28:10

to fade within just a few short

28:12

months. In fact, a thorough search of

28:14

newspaper archives found a lot of articles

28:16

in the first year or so of

28:19

the incident, particularly in the first few

28:21

months, but only a handful that followed.

28:23

When you look up the case online,

28:26

you'll find a few legitimate news articles

28:28

and a handful of podcast, but... That's

28:30

about it. In fact, most of the

28:33

newspaper results after 2008 or so were

28:35

just annual remembrances arranged by the Bruce

28:37

Fairhoven Foundation. In 2013, seven years after

28:39

the incident, authorities raised hope that the

28:42

DNA sample of a potential suspect recovered

28:44

from the crime scene could be reanalyzed.

28:46

With advancements in DNA technology since 2006,

28:49

investigators hoped that this partial DNA sample

28:51

could be retested. and then possibly submitted

28:53

to a national forensic database. However, with

28:55

there being no follow-up on that in

28:58

the years since, we can only presume

29:00

it was unsuccessful. At around that time,

29:02

authorities continued to publicly speculate about the

29:05

white van found in the Kasumnes River,

29:07

containing the bodies of Alan Schubert and

29:09

Nicole Welch, who had both died of

29:12

carbon monoxide poisoning. Investigators theorized that they

29:14

may have been inside the van when

29:16

it was pulled over by Deputy Mitchell,

29:18

but not necessarily driving it. The prevailing

29:21

theory seemed to center around them already

29:23

being deceased at the time, which, if

29:25

we followed this logic, may have been

29:28

noticed by Deputy Mitchell, who then attempted

29:30

to apprehend the driver. Sergeant Jim Barnes,

29:32

who oversaw the homicide division for the

29:35

Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, stated, There's no

29:37

coincidence that the van ended up in

29:39

the river right after the incident with

29:41

Jeff. To this day authorities continue to

29:44

believe that the van belonging to Alan

29:46

Schubert was somehow involved in Deputy Jeff

29:48

Mitchell's last stop. However, they do not

29:51

believe that either Schubert or the other

29:53

known occupant of the van, Nicole Welch,

29:55

had any involvement in Mitchell's death as

29:57

their bodies showed zero signs of trauma

30:00

or involvement. Rather, it is believed that

30:02

they had been killed beforehand, and the

30:04

van, later abandoned in the Kasumnes River.

30:07

Her Sergeant Tony Turnbull, who told ABC10

30:09

in 2020, that's one of the theories,

30:11

that Alan and Nicole were already deceased,

30:14

and whoever was here with them, was

30:16

trying to get rid of the bodies.

30:18

At that point in time, they, the

30:20

killer or killers, didn't want to be

30:23

found when they died. More after the

30:25

break. Because of the rural location of

30:27

this crime, which took place far outside

30:30

of Sacramento itself, authorities have long speculated

30:32

that the killer of Jeff Mitchell was

30:34

a local, someone who spent a lot

30:36

of time in this region. After all,

30:39

it seems unlikely that anyone would have

30:41

been out there at 3.30 AM unless

30:43

they had a reason to be. And

30:46

as we just touched on a few

30:48

moments ago, authorities continue to believe that

30:50

the van belonging to Alan Schubert was

30:53

involved in some way. Perhaps with someone

30:55

else behind the wheel, with Schubert and

30:57

Welch laying deceased inside. Those that had

30:59

known both Alan Schubert and Nicole Welch

31:02

recall the latter getting a ride from

31:04

Schubert to go and visit some friends

31:06

in Jackson, California that Thursday. This was

31:09

a small town not too far away

31:11

from where the crime took place, and

31:13

even closer to where the van was

31:16

found in the Kasumnes Riverness River. I

31:18

can only assume that detectives looked into

31:20

exactly who these friends were during the

31:22

course of their investigation. While I hate

31:25

to cast any aspersions on anyone, let

31:27

alone the deceased, both Alan Schubert and

31:29

Nicole Welch had prior connections to the

31:32

world of methamphetamine. With this region, a

31:34

rural area outside of Sacramento, being a

31:36

bit of a hotbed for meth manufacturing.

31:38

It remains a possibility that this is

31:41

what the two of them went out

31:43

there for. Police have remained pretty mom

31:45

about what evidence was recovered in the

31:48

van itself. But it would not be

31:50

the craziest thing in the world to

31:52

assume that there was some... of drug

31:55

use or manufacturing inside of it. Perhaps

31:57

it was stuff that had not even

31:59

been put in there by Schubert or

32:01

Welch, but by a third person that

32:04

wanted to use the van to create

32:06

or distribute meth. Maybe during this process,

32:08

Schubert and Welch ended up inadvertently dying

32:11

of carbon monoxide poisoning, leading to the

32:13

other person or persons involved wanting to

32:15

get rid of the evidence. In doing

32:17

so, might they have encountered Deputy Mitchell,

32:20

who, upon seeing the two bodies in

32:22

the back, wanted to take them into

32:24

custody. Based on what authorities have told

32:27

the public, it seems like Deputy Mitchell

32:29

had been in the process of detaining

32:31

the driver of a white van when

32:34

a literal fight for life or death

32:36

followed. If we assume that the person

32:38

on the other end had been driving

32:40

a drug van containing two bodies, Alan

32:43

Schubert and Nicole Welch, they would likely

32:45

be looking at spending the rest of

32:47

their lives in prison, giving them more

32:50

than enough reason to resist Deputy Mitchell

32:52

and reach for his firearm. Afterward, perhaps

32:54

this person drove the van to the

32:57

area where it was later abandoned and

32:59

attempted to scrub it clean of evidence.

33:01

Perhaps removing any drug paraphernalia in the

33:03

process. Perhaps they even reached out to

33:06

others to help them clear it out,

33:08

which police have seemingly hinted at over

33:10

the years. With the lead detective on

33:13

the case, Tony Turnbull, telling CBS 13

33:15

back in 2011, I strongly believe there

33:17

is more than one person involved. We

33:19

have caught people in a web of

33:22

lies. The van belonging to

33:24

Alan Schubert was found in the shallow

33:26

waters of the Kasumnes River. Even if

33:28

we follow the separate theory that the

33:31

two inside of it were killed while

33:33

attempting to for the river and died

33:35

of carbon monoxide poisoning then and there,

33:37

we can presume that they were headed

33:39

to a rural area on the other

33:42

side of the water, which was just

33:44

downstream of the Gold Beach Mobile Home

33:46

Park. This was an area that was

33:48

not the best place to live, as

33:50

noted by some of its residents, with

33:53

many of their neighbors at the time

33:55

struggling with issues pertaining to drugs. For

33:57

all of these reasons, it still believed

33:59

that whoever committed this crime was someone

34:02

familiar with the area, who may or

34:04

may not have... had a direct connection

34:06

to the region's meth trade. However, because

34:08

of so much uncertainty in this case,

34:10

that remains just a prominent theory. Before

34:13

we begin to wrap up this episode,

34:15

I would like to touch upon another

34:17

theory that I found in certain corners

34:19

of the internet, which I'm not personally

34:21

certain that I put any credence in,

34:24

but I would feel remiss not mentioning.

34:26

This theory centers around the belief that

34:28

Deputy Jeff Mitchell may have taken his

34:30

own life back in October 2006, and

34:33

focuses on the fact that he was

34:35

killed by his own service weapon. This

34:37

theory also claims that the evidence of

34:39

him fighting for his life at the

34:41

crime scene has been exaggerated by fellow

34:44

law enforcement, for reasons that aren't really

34:46

well explained. Again, just to clarify before

34:48

we continue, this is not a theory

34:50

I subscribe to, but I do want

34:52

to at least address it. And to

34:55

do so, we need to go back

34:57

and time to the weeks before Jeff's

34:59

death. On October 16th, 2006, nearly two

35:01

weeks before he died, Jeff Mitchell had

35:04

actually been arrested. A police report filed

35:06

by the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office

35:08

detailed the incident, in which that afternoon,

35:10

Jeff walked into a Rayleigh store, a

35:12

Sacramento-based grocery store chain, and shoplifted a

35:15

$40 pair of electric hair clippers. On

35:17

the way out, he was confronted by

35:19

a member of the store's lost prevention

35:21

team, but he continued walking out to

35:23

his truck and drove away. That employee

35:26

wrote down his license plate number and

35:28

contacted the Eldorado County Sheriff's Office, who

35:30

showed up and took the report. They

35:32

were also provided surveillance footage of the

35:34

shoplifting incident, which showed a bald white

35:37

man grabbing and walking out of the

35:39

store without paying. When deputies looked up

35:41

the license plate, they saw that the

35:43

truck belonged to local resident Jeff Mitchell.

35:46

who happened to be a deputy with

35:48

the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office. Later that

35:50

evening, a pair of deputies went to

35:52

Jeff's home and spoke with him, with

35:54

Jeff admitting that he had stolen the

35:57

clippers, but giving no explanation as to

35:59

why. In their written summary, the Eldorado

36:01

officials wrote, Mitchell went to Rayleigh's... get

36:03

some razor blades for shaving. While he

36:05

was in the store, he saw the

36:08

hair cutting kit and decided to take

36:10

it without paying. Mitchell kept saying he

36:12

did not know what he was thinking

36:14

and did not know why he stole

36:17

the item. Mitchell stated he had the

36:19

money to pay for the item, but

36:21

again he did not know why he

36:23

decided he had the money to pay

36:25

for the item. He stated he didn't

36:28

know what he was doing or why

36:30

he was doing it. Mitchell indicated to

36:32

me he had made a mistake and

36:34

it would not happen again. Afterward Jeff

36:36

had been issued a citation to appear

36:39

in court on a charge of petty

36:41

theft, which as we now know, never

36:43

happened, because on October 27th he was

36:45

shot and killed in the line of

36:47

duty. I only added all of this

36:50

context because it's necessary when we explored

36:52

the theory that Jeff may have taken

36:54

his own life that fateful morning. Those

36:56

that subscribe to this theory point to

36:59

this arrest for petty theft and believe

37:01

that it was going to derail his

37:03

career as a police officer, possibly ending

37:05

it for good. They believed that if

37:07

he had been charged with a crime,

37:10

his time as a Sacramento County Sheriff's

37:12

Deputy would have come to an end.

37:14

And with it, the possibility of him

37:16

working in law enforcement, ending his career

37:18

in abject humiliation. But before that could

37:21

happen, these people theorize, he decided to

37:23

stage an encounter with an unknown person

37:25

and take his own life. so that

37:27

he could maintain not only his legacy,

37:30

that of a hardworking dedicated cop, but

37:32

also retirement benefits for his wife and

37:34

son. As I mentioned at the top

37:36

of this segment, this isn't necessarily a

37:38

theory I believe in. I think the

37:41

idea that Jeff would have been blackballed

37:43

from law enforcement for accidentally or intentionally

37:45

shoplifting a $40 pair of clippers is

37:47

an overly optimistic view of what it

37:49

takes for a law enforcement career to

37:52

get shuddered in the modern era. I

37:54

know 2006 was a different time, but

37:56

it's impossible to make that judgment for

37:58

good. Regardless, I only mention this theory

38:01

because the death of Deputy Jeff Mitchell

38:03

remains unsolved to this day, and it's

38:05

hard for me to eliminate any credible

38:07

theory no matter how much I believe

38:09

in it or not. Until detectives come

38:12

forward with real tangible information pointing to

38:14

a culprit, this theory of suicide remains

38:16

just as valid as the rest. One

38:18

thing I would like to touch on

38:20

before we go is that while this

38:23

episode has been centered on Deputy Jeffrey

38:25

Mitchell, there remains another mystery permanently tied

38:27

to it. The deaths of both Alan

38:29

Schubert and Nicole Welch, which we've touched

38:31

on throughout. Over the years, most of

38:34

the press coverage has been focused on

38:36

Deputy Mitchell. But, Schubert and Welch have

38:38

been seemingly cast as accessories to his

38:40

death. Two people whose stories seemingly run

38:43

parallel to the fallen officer, but are

38:45

somehow less worthy of attention. Seeing the

38:47

title and structure of this episode, it's

38:49

hard not to say that I'm responsible

38:51

for the exact same. Investigators have emphasized

38:54

since early on that both Alan Schubert

38:56

and Nicole Welch had no involvement in

38:58

the death of Deputy Mitchell. That is

39:00

something that has not really changed over

39:02

time, even while the belief that the

39:05

van they were in has. In the

39:07

first weeks of the investigation, officials seem

39:09

to brush off any suggestion that the

39:11

van was the same one pulled over

39:14

by Deputy Mitchell in the early morning

39:16

hours of October 27th 2006. But over

39:18

time, that has changed. Now police seem

39:20

to think that this was the suspect

39:22

fan spotted by Deputy Mitchell, but that

39:25

Schubert and Welch were already deceased. If

39:27

that was the case, then they too

39:29

are victims of the same killer or

39:31

killers as Jeff Mitchell. During my digging,

39:33

I found a read-it comment from a

39:36

user called Impressive-ad 6564. Their account was

39:38

created in October 2021 and made one

39:40

comment on a post about this very

39:42

story, in which they wrote. I understand

39:44

that it is sad that a cop

39:47

was shot and killed, but there were

39:49

two other victims involved. One being my

39:51

stepdad, and nobody really talks about how

39:53

he was murdered, and there is someone

39:56

responsible still at large. case is focused

39:58

on the cop. My stepdad may not

40:00

have been the greatest human on earth

40:02

and has made mistakes, but he had

40:04

family that loved him, and so did

40:07

the girl he was with. We want

40:09

answers as to who killed them, just

40:11

as much as the family of the

40:13

officer. In

40:26

the years since Deputy Jeffrey Mitchell's

40:28

2006 death, the location where it

40:30

took place has become immortalized. In

40:33

fact, if you look up the

40:35

Deputy Jeff Mitchell Memorial site on

40:37

Google Maps, you'll be able to

40:39

find the exact location where this

40:41

crime took place. A place that

40:43

has since become hollow ground too

40:45

many, including Jeff's loved ones and

40:48

fellow officers, who continue to pay

40:50

tribute to him regularly. One of

40:52

his co-workers, Deputy Mike Bayer, told

40:54

the Sacramento B in 2006. Where

40:56

Jeff was murdered, it will become

40:58

a very special place. It's kind

41:00

of like 9-11 to us, where

41:02

something terrible, terrible happened. When Jeff

41:05

died, a little piece of us

41:07

died. Jeff's family, understandably, has struggled

41:09

since his death, especially with it

41:11

remaining unsolved after such a long

41:13

period of time. His mother, Mary

41:15

Kay Mitchell, told reporters back in

41:17

November of 2006, just three weeks

41:20

after his death. Nobody forgets about

41:22

this. We have to keep this

41:24

in the public's mind. That's how

41:26

this person is going to be

41:28

caught. His wife, Crystal, would tell

41:30

the public on the six-month mark

41:32

of the case in May 2007.

41:34

I really can't go forward in

41:37

my grieving process because I know

41:39

there is a significant piece of

41:41

this that is unresolved. It is

41:43

like a wound that is left

41:45

open. Jeff always told Jake that

41:47

bad guys go to jail for

41:49

their bad deeds. I want him

41:51

to have faith in that. Crystal

41:54

has spoken to reporters sporadically over

41:56

the years and has told them

41:58

that she focused on living out

42:00

each day for her son and

42:02

herself, since she knew that's what

42:04

Jeff would want them to do,

42:06

just focus on making the best

42:09

of each day. But she has

42:11

continued to fight and advocate for

42:13

Jeff, telling CBS 13 in 2011,

42:15

as long as this murder is

42:17

unsolved, I will fight for him.

42:19

Crystal has since remarried, but remains

42:21

dedicated to her role as a

42:23

surviving spouse, serving as a friend,

42:26

mentor, and role model for others

42:28

that have endured similar traumas, telling

42:30

ABC 10 in 2020. Whatever I

42:32

can do to make it a

42:34

little bit easier for somebody else

42:36

who was in my situation or

42:38

felt the way I did, that

42:41

helps me. That's where I get

42:43

my strength. In that same interview

42:45

she also stated, the most important

42:47

thing in the world is having

42:49

that killer or killers pay for

42:51

what they did. If anyone out

42:53

there knows anything about this case,

42:55

please reach out to authorities. You

42:58

can call the Sacramento County Sheriff's

43:00

Office at 916-874-5057-5057. or email them

43:02

at homicide at sac sheriff.com. You

43:04

can also submit tips to the

43:06

FBI through their website tips.fbi.gov. As

43:08

of this episode's recording the stories

43:10

of Deputy Jeffrey Mitchell as well

43:12

as those of Alan Schubert and

43:15

Nicole Welch remain unresolved. Thank

44:00

you all for listening to

44:02

Unresolved. I have been here.

44:04

Research writing and production for

44:07

this podcast was handled by

44:09

myself, as Unresolved is a

44:11

fully independent production. The music

44:13

you're hearing right now, The

44:16

Unresolved Theme Song, was composed

44:18

by Ailsa Treves. To learn

44:20

more about this podcast, visit

44:22

the Unresolved website at Unresolved.me.

44:25

There you can follow along

44:27

with the transcript for each

44:29

episode, or learn how to

44:31

support the show through Patreon

44:34

or PayPal. The former allows

44:36

you to become a producer

44:38

of the show, such as

44:40

the following. Roberta Jansen, Sarah

44:43

Moscarato, Ben Crocom, Scott Mese,

44:45

Marian Welch, Crystal Jay, Jacinta

44:47

Class, Lauren Nicole, James M.

44:49

Weiss, Alex Calagropolis, Annie Broad,

44:51

Kevin Tweedy, Stephen Diaz, Heather

44:54

Fiddler, Anna T. C.C. C.C.,

44:56

Marcus Mitchell, and Tabitha Colvin.

44:58

Thank you all for your

45:00

continued support. As we near

45:03

the decade mark of Unresolved,

45:05

I'd really like to continue

45:07

making this show a top

45:09

priority. So please try and

45:12

support the show however you

45:14

can, whether it be through

45:16

Patreon or PayPal or even

45:18

by spreading the word. Share

45:21

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45:23

your life who have an

45:25

interest in true crime or

45:27

mystery. Talk about it online,

45:30

on Reddit or Blue Sky

45:32

or whatever people are on

45:34

nowadays. And if you can,

45:36

head on over to Apple

45:39

Podcast or Spotify or wherever

45:41

you're listening now, and leave

45:43

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45:45

That really helps others find

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it through the algorithm. Thank

45:50

you so much to those

45:52

that do. Anyhow, thank you

45:54

all again. Until next time,

45:56

I hope you all stay

45:59

healthy, stay active. and stay

46:01

safe. Take care.