Mountain State Mysteries contains adult content that may not be suitable for all audiences.
Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host Mark and I'm Courtney and this is Mountain State Mysteries.
The case we have for you today has been one of our biggest deep dives yet. Just like everyone
else it has left us asking the question of what really happened at mile marker 181. This is the
case of Jalia Davis. Jalia Rose Davis was born on November 2, 1991 in Colorado Springs, Colorado
to Kimberly Nolan Davis. Jalia lived in the tight-knit community of Marietta, Ohio, which is just
across Ohio River from West Virginia. Jalia was a graduate of Marietta High School and she worked at
the retail store Hofster. Her and her sister Tobi was really close, only being born 18 months away
from each other, so it was kind of like a built-in best friend. Tobi said that Jalia really wanted
to go to school to become a cosmetologist. On Friday, November 19, 2011, Jalia planned on going out
with one of her newer friends, Kristen Burchold. She arrived to Kristen's house in Vienna,
West Virginia around 7 p.m. They baked some cookies, showered, and got ready for a party.
The party was at a guy's house named Brian Saps. Kristen knew him, but Jalia had never met him
before. Right before they got there, Jalia was texting her mother and her mother said, quote,
be good and don't make me worry. Love you. End quote. They got to Brian's house around 9 to 930.
When they got there, some of Kristen's friends were already there. Freddy Scott and another
kid named Jordan. The estimated time for Jalia and Kristen being at Brian's house was about two
hours. Around 11 p.m., Kristen, Jalia, Brian, Freddy, and Jordan left to go pick up Kristen's
friend Katie Nielsen at Hardee's. But in Kristen's interview, she said it could have been around 10 to
10.15 p.m. In Kristen's interview, she said she couldn't remember if this happened before or after
they picked up Katie. But Freddy stopped at North End Market to get another bottle of Srirac Faca.
After this, the group returned to Brian's house. When they got back to the house, Kristen said that
Jalia continued taking shots of alcohol. She said that after Katie got to the house, Jalia probably
took 16 shots of alcohol. Now, I'm not a big drinker, so I wasn't sure how much 16 shots would
measure out to. So I filled a shot glass up with some water and measured it out myself.
It came to about three and a half cups of alcohol. Kristen said she probably had 14 to 15 shots and
that she quote wasn't really that drunk. End quote. She was asked, could you tell anything about Jalia,
how she was feeling? Quote, well, honestly, I didn't think she was that drunk. I thought that when
she took the shot glass away from me and took a shot anyways, I kind of had a feeling that she
might have been a little bit drunk because normally she wouldn't do that. If I were to take away a shot
from her, she just would. Question. Accept it? Yes. So I was kind of like, okay, maybe she is just
doing this to show me that like she can like to take this shot. So I didn't really argue with her
about it. End quote. After they got back to Brian's house, Katie had to do her makeup and change her
clothes. Then Jalia, Freddie, Jordan, Katie and Kristen went to nipping queue. It's said that
they arrived about 10 minutes till midnight or probably midnight or somewhere close to midnight.
When they got there, the girls ended up just hanging out outside. Katie's ex boyfriend,
Chris, was there. And from what we gathered, they were the kind of exes who still kept in contact.
Kristen said that she figured Jalia was drunk because she ended up dancing on Chris and they
would talk really close to one another. She said that Katie was getting aggravated but wasn't the
type to do or say anything. After a while, Kristen would try to end up taking Jalia's wristlet
because she was afraid that she would lose it, but she wouldn't give it to her. She said that
Jalia didn't seem overly intoxicated. Did you catch that? In her interview, Kristen said that she
thought Jalia was drunk, but then said she didn't seem overly intoxicated. Just one of the many
things like this in her interview. The group would end up leaving nipping queue around 3am and Freddie
was driving everyone back to Brian's house. Kristen was in the passenger seat and Jalia and
Katie were in the back. When they got back to Brian's house, they ended up staying inside of
Freddie's car. Quote, we were just sitting there in the car trying to figure out what we were going
to do. If we were going to go home or if we were going to go inside. Jalia was talking to Dominic
Hall on the phone and I think she was trying to go hang out with him or whoever he was with
and she couldn't find her wristlet. Her wristlet was somewhere in the car and she was getting mad.
She was fussing at me about it because she thought that I did something with it and I told her that
I tried to take it away from her a few times tonight so that she wouldn't lose it and she
basically was like I don't know where it is. She was kind of like blaming me for it and I was like
I don't have it. So I found it for her and we found her keys because she needed to get something
out of her car and we decided that we were going to go home and we thought Jalia was going to come
with us but she ended up calling her sister and asked her to come pick her up and said she needed
a ride. So I don't know if she was trying to hang out with that guy or she was just trying to get
back to her house. End quote. During her interview, Kristen was asked did you hear where she was going
to have Tobi get her at? Quote, I don't think so. She went to get out of the car and she said Toby I
need you to come pick me up and I will explain what's going on when you get here and she didn't
tell her where to pick her up but she, we, she got out of Freddie's car and went to get in her car
and we were asking her. We were saying is your sister for sure going to come and pick you up?
You're not going to drive anywhere. Are you sure you're not going to drive? If she had any
intentions of driving then I wasn't going to let her go and she told me she wasn't going to drive so
we're like okay if you're going to stay here and wait for your sister then we are going to go ahead
and go home and we, we left there and her sister, me and her sister got in touch around 3.50 a.m.
and her sister is like where's Jaleah and I told her that she was in front of Brian's saps house
and she said that she couldn't get a hold of her and I told her that Jaleah was waiting for her there
and then she was supposed to go pick her up there. I kind of like explained briefly how to get there
and she said that she couldn't get a hold of her and call me back if you don't get a hold of her.
When the, I tried to call Jaleah and she wasn't answering and we went through McDonald's. We
went through McDonald's, got some food and Freddie was taking Katie back to my house so then I get
a call from Tobi on my way home that was like I don't know where Jaleah is, do you know where she is,
have you talked to her? I said I hadn't talked to her, she didn't answer and then right before she
got off the phone she said oh my god and hung up end quote. If you guys remember we mentioned Chris
who was Katie's ex-boyfriend I wanted to get through most of the night through Kristen's eyes
before I told you what he said in his interview. So we know Chris was Katie's boyfriend but what we
didn't know is that him and Jaleah actually knew each other. In fact they've been friends since the
ninth grade and since he no longer lived in the area they just kept in touch. He said that he hung
out with the girls for most of his time at Nip and Q. He couldn't recall any fighting or arguing
happening between the girls but he did recall that Jaleah was pretty drunk and that she had
high heels on and seemed to be having a hard time standing. He said that he kind of just stood near
her because she didn't seem like she was feeling very good. He said that she was falling all over
the place. Such a different statement from Kristen's and I honestly have to wonder why. Chris said that
he ended up picking Katie up from Kristen's between 3 30 to 4 a.m. He asked Katie why Jaleah
wasn't with him and she said that Kristen and Jaleah got into an argument. When Chris and Katie woke
up that morning that's when they found out Jaleah was dead. In Tobi's interview she said the last
time Jaleah texted her was around 9 50 p.m. She said that Jaleah called her at 3 28 a.m. to see if she
would pick her up 3 33 a.m. to double check and to make sure that Tobi and her friend were on their
way. During one of the calls it said that Tobi could hear Jaleah asking Kristen for her keys
so she just thought that they were at Kristen's house. She said that Jaleah was going on about
how Kristen was such a bitch and a bad friend. Jaleah said that she was on the interstate but
didn't say if she had anyone else in the car or not. In Tobi's interview she said quote yeah and it
was because of me and my friend couldn't get a hold of Jaleah once we had gotten to Williamstown
and I was like well maybe she's still with Kristen. I will try to call Kristen so then I called her
again at 3 53 a.m. and she answered and then was like as we're on the interstate she was talking
about the last time she saw Jaleah and I remember her saying well Jaleah was mad because of the
wristlet then it kind of just went blank after that and that was like when we pulled up and
saw everything and I just like immediately hung up on her all panicky and stuff in quote.
On I-77 a mile marker 181 Tobi and her friend came around the curve to see a bunch of cops.
They pulled over and a police officer told them a woman's body had been found on the highway.
All they would tell her is that it was an African-American female wearing a white P coat. At that
moment Tobi knew it was her sister. She called her mother and everyone in their family who arrived
on the scene not too long after the calls. The police confirmed with the family after they arrived
that the body was Jaleah's. In her interview Tobi said after she hung up quick with Kristen
she got two calls at 407 and 409 from Kristen. Tobi was asked and what did you say to her at
the time you called her. Tobi said quote um just what we had drove up on and oh my god like what I
saw and like I was just crying and I ended up hanging up on her end quote. She also said that
Kristen texted her at 4 49 a.m. and was like please let me know what is going on and then she texted
me at 10 o'clock 6 a.m. and was like are you awake is everything okay you haven't told me anything
and then she called me at 11 46 a.m. Tobi was asked if she talked to Kristen and she said quote
no I have missed calls from her she called me at 4 16 a.m. and I didn't answer it for 28 a.m. and I
didn't answer it for 48 a.m. and I didn't answer it and then 9 52 a.m. and I didn't answer it and then
at 11 46 a.m. and I didn't answer it end quote. Before Tobi got to the accident on November 19th
2011 at 3 41 a.m. the 911 emergency call center received a phone call.
911 what is your emergency yeah I'm calling about a car that's broke down on 77 north okay
where at on 77 on the 181 or so the lights are on and it's up against the guard rail something's
going on there but I couldn't see anybody it's pretty cold out so I don't know what's going on
over there can you give me a vehicle description like a red car blue truck all I know is that it's
a car he had his headlights on he's right by the car he's up against the guard rail so there's
something around you know that the people I couldn't see but the lights in the car or something's
going on over there can I have your name sir can I have your name
at 3 48 a.m. the 911 emergency call center received another call
I'm going to keep the door locked just stay here I'm on one what's your emergency sir I'm at the
181.6 mile marker northbound on I-77 I cannot make confirmation of this right now I'm walking
back I think I just ended human lying dead on the highway sir okay and you walked away from your
vehicle I'm getting out of my vehicle and I'm walking back to where I see the person and you think you're at 181
my name is Brian Burden we drove by and you know how it started and you can't see but I'm just pretty
sure it might have been a person gosh I really don't want to walk back here you know what I'm saying
I understand what you're saying if you don't feel comfortable doing that sir you don't have to stay
where you're at and I'll have someone come up there I'm getting closer to it I'm hoping it's a deer sir
I really am but I'm pretty sure I saw what I saw all men in fact here's some other people I don't
know if you're getting more phone calls two other guys just stop here at the bottom of the hill all
man okay sir do you know your cell phone number is it 607 I'm getting closer to it oh man I'm hoping
it's a deer I'm hoping I can't I got my beliefs in any way when did you pull along the side of the
guardrail sir yes sir I'm put along the guardrail there's a chemical tanker track that just pulled
over I'm getting closer to it there is a semi tanker track that's coming at me right now no
stay over here truck driver stay over here stay over here oh my gosh I can't get over here in traffic
yes sir confirmation human body oh my gosh do you want to check to see if the person is still alive
or breathing sir there's parts of him I can't oh my god oh my god sir turn around and don't look at him
okay turn around and don't look at him oh my god sir sir you need to hurry up and get people here
please okay we got people on the way out to you sir can I start stopping traffic this might be a
crime scene right do you have a flashlight I don't want you getting hit yes I did no no another person
is just about hit him oh my god if you can get the county sheriff department here as soon as possible sir
sheriff department is on the way so is the fire department and an ambulance okay there is a tanker
driver who just pulled him in front of me there's a vehicle I can't can anybody turn their hazard
lights on put as much light on that situation as you can okay well most of us already passed it sir
I'm getting kind of lights sir this is a crime scene I'm just positive I see that this is a crime scene
sir oh my god oh my god oh my god this is unreal this is unreal this is unreal sir you said that you
have your son with you yes my son is with me kind of like a crime scene he's not out there walking around with
him in his shirt there's his head and skull right there see it oh oh oh is the head not attached to the body
no sir part of the head is right over here I need you to get over here to the right over to the right
make sure that you tell him the sheriff's department is here he's get ready to block by flying sir okay sir
you go ahead and talk to that deputy yes sir thank you sir yes sir and at 352 am there was a third
911 called placed 911 what's your emergency has anyone called in on a at sam wood county on the
interstate 182 right before 182 looks like somebody busted it's here they got a I'm sorry what it's 182
northbound interstate 77 looks like somebody hit a deer there's a couple of trucks on the side keeping
people away from the deer there's a car by the guardrail I don't know if anybody okay it's around the
182 yes just right before the 182 northbound okay we got deputy's on the scene up there sir okay I just
went by and there wasn't anyone there so I just thought I'd call okay thank you so many things did not
add up in the death of Jalia to the Davis family and the community as most of you can guess there
were rumors that Kristen and Freddie were involved in the death of Jalia so many things did not add
up to make it just a simple car accident Jalia's car was found a quarter of a mile past where her
body was found her keys were still in the ignition and the car was running and still in gear and the
door was locked it said that Jalia's car did not lock automatically so you had to lock it from the
inside now you would probably think oh her car might have just coasted in a straightaway that makes
the most sense right however her car had to go through two curves no blood was found in her car
the damage that was done was done on the right front side of the passenger side there was some
damage with the scrape going down the right side of the car the damage does not seem to be consistent
with a vehicle accident or even hitting a deer at 70 miles per hour that would eject the driver
from the vehicle there's also spidering on the passenger side of the window Jalia's clothing
is another thing that in this case has left everyone asking questions her clothing arrangement
was odd so court if you take your clothes off or they might be pulled off of you in an accident
your top layer would come off first right yes if we're talking about a jacket yes then your shirt
bra and whatnot yes Jalia's clothing was found folded neatly on the guardrail her bra was on
the bottom then her shirt then her white pico which you can see images of this and all other things
we talk about in this episode on our instagram and more images on her website mount state mysteries
podcast.com the hood of the pico was found to be over the guardrail and in some brush with blood on
it there is blood just everywhere in the crime scene in the road on the guardrails on her clothing
not just in the vehicle in 2012 a woman from marietta ohio whose name is ember steffard
came forward to the police with an eyewitness account of what she saw the night of jalia's death
she said that she met jalia at a bar earlier that night and witnessed a confrontation between her
and two black males and a white female in the parking lot at the bar she said she witnessed
jalia pulling out of the parking lot with the others following her she said the two cars were
engaged in horseplay on i 77 before had the vehicle with the three inside forced jalia's
vehicle off the road she says she saw jalia get out of her vehicle in june of 2012 ember agreed to
a polygraph which she felt after the polygraph during some questions she said she did make up the
entire story she received six months in jail and a five hundred dollar fine in march of 2013 jalia's
autopsy was released it described her death as multiple catastrophic injuries sustained as a
result of an unrestrained driver of a car that lost control and struck a guardrail on i 77 they
also said alcohol intoxication was another factor what we are about to tell you is what
authorities believed happened to jalia while driving unrestrained and heavenly intoxicated
jalia traveling at highway speed struck the guardrail on the right passenger side making an
initial impact on the front right headlight she was thrown across her vehicle and ejected from
the right front passenger window at the same time her airbag deployed she then hit two posts
then flipped backwards over her car jalia's mother kim said that the police want them to think that
her daughter was a human boomerang and that what they said happened could actually happen she also
said that jalia's clothes she said the shirt wasn't badly damaged and that the bra wasn't torn at the
straps that it was tore under one armpit now with jalia quote slipping in quote over her car
she managed to put zero dents on it the only thing she got on it was blood on the lesson plate
and on the passenger's front side there was no blood skin fabric fibers on it whatsoever
authorities believe that jalia got distracted and that caused her to strike the guardrail kim said
quote we were told that they believe the reason she wrecked is because she was looking for something
because her dome light was on which isn't true they forgot that when it was dark i drove up on
the scene and they forgot that it was dark when tabi drove up on the scene tabi remembers many
things from that night in great detail and tabi says that the dome light was not on end quote many
items of jalia's were left on the scene of the crime such as the head of her jacket in the earring
she was wearing kim said a detective told her father that they took a picture of the earring at
the crime scene but left it there jalia's favorite keychain was also missing it was a jewel in crusted
jay that tabi got her as a gift in an episode of still a mystery tabi said that jalia never took
that keychain off later it was found out that christin actually had the keychain she gave several
reasons as to why she had the keychain she told some people that jalia ended up giving it to her
as a gift that night from what we can see from all of the case records that we have the group
that was with jalia that night was not questioned more than once they said that christin katie and
freddy all had alibis during the calls between jalia and tabi there is security footage from
mcdonald's of freddy in the footage you can see freddy and what appears to be two others in the
car with him now who was in the car with him to us is unknown since you really can't see anything
other than hands moving the video is time stamped between 3 26 a.m to 3 30 a.m in june of 2018
emily nestor released a podcast titled mile marker 181 she worked close with jalia's family to
shed light on her case she told kim that people had approached her about a documentary about
jalia's death and it was soon found out that the documentary would be centered around nestor
and her rise in the world of true crime emily posted an offensive video on her facebook page
about jalia's death kim posted that she was no longer associated with emily or the podcast
the post read quote jalia davis is not a martyr jalia davis is not an example of police misconduct
cover-up or brutality or literally anything except what happens when you drive intoxicated
that's the lesson not cops protecting their own the lesson is what will happen if you make that
choice to drink and drive a motor vehicle at a high rate of speed while driving intoxicated
and you crash it's not a police cover-up it's physics it's not there's something more sinister
going on behind the scenes it's that people sympathize with a grieving crying mom to a fault
i sure did and it won't even be the last time stop letting kim davis play you for an idiot
i did that groundwork for you end quote now after this was posted emily has taken down the podcast
she created multiple true crime blogs has spoken very negatively about her she has now became
very discredited in the world of true crime i'm sure just like us everyone else listening to this
right now is wondering what could have changed her mind about this case the general thought in
marietta is that jalia met with foul play that night yes we know she was intoxicated but there
are things that show that a proper investigation was not performed until the death of jalia davis
there are many theories about this case kim davis runs the facebook page justice for jalia davis
and she believes that her daughter was murdered and the ones who are responsible for her death
are being protected by the authorities if you have any information on the death of jalia davis
please contact her mother kim through the facebook page justice for jalia davis
portney do you have any final thoughts on this case where do i even begin on this
first and foremost um mark found um all the crime all the investigation files everything online
okay first and foremost can we please talk about how the police don't even have her birthday correct
on the police report oh yeah that they actually have her birthday as the date of her death on there
number two there is so much in this that makes no sense for the fact of how did this girl
possibly get ejected out of the passenger window yeah that's never made any sense to me it doesn't
make no sense because i can tell you right now i actually have to go up into the parkersburg marietta
area a lot for work i have driven that road many many times and i do know for a fact that when
you're going around that curve there you have to break going around it because it it is sharp
it is a sharp curve but even at that at where it is there's only a short area up through there
that there is a guardrail up there really near where her accident supposedly happened
and then after that it's pretty much just there's not a lot of guardrail up through there
i could be wrong maybe not paying that much attention but that's what i remember because
when this case was introduced to me um i immediately started looking at this because
nothing made sense about it when i first heard it and even now it doesn't make much sense with it
um but the thing that boggles me is how did her clothes get there you're telling me that this girl
got out of her car and took her clothes off and folded them neatly and then
i don't know i mean got hit by a vehicle by a tractor trailer does not make sense
does not make sense on this do i feel that there is foul play in this
case right here that a thousand percent 100 percent there is foul play in this case
do i feel that she had injustice done upon her 100 percent do i feel that the police have failed her
100 percent i do feel that for the fact that they can't even fill out an accident report correctly
what does that say yeah and another thing is too the call logs that are on her phone from that night
that don't make a lot of sense and things of this nature like there is so much that you know
who knows what goes on through their minds this could very much be a sinister thing that happened
i mean that's just the way i feel about it i'm i get very angry over this case i do i get very
angry over this because a mother's child was got killed in a horrific manner i can even begin to
think what this poor mother has thought what her sister thought could you imagine coming upon that
scene yeah and finding your sister or your child in that manner and somebody telling you
you day it was just a freaking nature accident nothing in this makes any type of sense whatsoever
and this poor girl deserves the justice that she deserves i mean that's just all there is to it
mark do you have any final thoughts i fully remember getting the text from you being like hey
i just got told about this case i searched it for maybe five seconds and i texted you well this is
a season three premiere of mountain state mysteries and it's been in the back of my mind since what
was it around the time of sherry squinn's episode yeah it was we just did release sherry squinn's
episode and you texted me this case and i'm like well this is it i wanted to add it into season
two i'm like i'm not going to do it not going to do it it's going to be season three premiere
and it's safe to say i'm still confused as hell about this case nothing makes any type of sense to
me like like you said how can someone be ejected from a passenger side window how can there be no
blood in the vehicle you know how can her body end up being decapitated on it and not have like any
blood or clothing fibers on the car or that it just seems insane to me and
you know i'm not sure if i put this in the episode or not but
it took them so long to interview christin i want to say it might have been 12 days
because she ended up getting a lawyer not even 12 hours after everything happened
if you done nothing why would you law your up with this case it might only be solved if people
start talking about everything that happened that night stay tuned for our next episode
where we will be telling you about a strange murder that has left everyone asking a lot of questions
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