Ep.2 - John 16:21

In Episode 2 we sit down with Jennifer Powers’ parents—the two people who knew her first.

Before she became a missing persons case, Jennifer was a daughter. In this emotional conversation, her parents share memories of who she was growing up, the life she built, and the struggles they witnessed along the way.

They revisit the days leading up to her disappearance on July 12th, 2008, and the painful years that followed—years filled with unanswered questions, fading leads, and a search that never truly ends.

Through their voices, a fuller picture of Jennifer begins to take shape.

A daughter.
 A mother.
 Still missing.

If you have any information that could help bring answers to the Jennifer Powers case, please contact us at timetellsallpodcast@gmail.com
.

Support the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2608731/support

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 1:06

We make it through it. And we're still making it through it with the hardest list. I had to learn that we're all God's tasks, not ours. God's no, we've got to find that.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

In our first episode, Caitlin did a great job walking us through the timeline. We sat down with Mr. and Miss Locke, Jennifer's parents, to get an adult perspective. And something important to note here, there's only two logical explanations for what happened to Jennifer Powers. She either ran away with nothing, something she's never done before, or someone did something to her. Let's hear what they had to say.

SPEAKER_04 1:55

Hi, I'm Shirley, and I'm her mother.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

I'm Sam, Samuel Daddy. She was a perfect child coming up. And then we just got dropped out of everything. And uh of course she she got on some dope. Uh and it was downhill from there.

SPEAKER_04 2:13

Well, when she was in elementary and middle school, she was real popular. She uh, you know, had a lot of close friends, but everything changed. She had a whole different set of friends, which was not the good kind. Uh she had uh a thing removed on her arm and a little knot, and I think that's the the beginning of her getting on dope because she was on pain pills, and the next thing I know it was too far gone. She would tell you, you know, Mom and Daddy didn't raise me like that. That it's not their fault, but still I worried, you know, was there something I could have done to change it, you know. And uh she got pregnant with Brittany when she was 15 years old, and uh she continued on the Ayana road even through all the dope and having a baby, she stayed on the Ayana road. And uh, and I thought, you know, if she can keep her grades up, you know, maybe maybe she'll, you know, change and get off that mess, but she never did. And uh then when her and Jason got married, she you know, she'd already had Katie and uh then they had Dylan, you know, after they got married. But uh and she loved her kids anywhere she was at, she had those kids with her, even sometimes when she shouldn't have had them with her. She she had her kids with her, and uh they all was in sports, and there was there was times that all three of them was playing at three different places, and Jason take one, and Jennifer take one, would take one, you know. But uh but they you know was real close and uh but uh Brittany was you know just grew up with her own mother, really is what it amounted to. And I think back, you know, and just you can't help but wonder, was there something else I could have done? But I don't I don't know what it would have been. I honestly don't.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Some of the names have been censored for protection of those possibly involved. Some of these theories have never been heard before. But it's important to take every possibility seriously.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

I have I have went to her home and they bought a bought a brand new house over on Grimwood Road. Went over there one day, and the prints of her body was in the wall where she'd been shoved into the wall. Uh anything. Well, the kids was with us, and uh he said they were gonna go out and eat and and talk things over, you know, they was having problems, and uh so the kids stayed with us, and when we took his home, he said, you know, she's not here, she's gone. She's and when he woke up that she was gone. But you don't I mean she was on the methadone clinic, she had gone and got a whole week's methadone. Uh the methadone, her purse, her cigarettes, everything was there on the table. And if you're on dope and you smoke, you're not gonna walk off and leave that stuff. I'm sorry. I mean, that to me was red flags all the way around. But the the police officer that came out to the house, uh He he made us wait. They they yeah, they wanted us to wait 48 hours. Yeah. Well, they said that she was an adult and she was grown and she could, you know, just and would come back or something, you know.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

Can you think of anything that she was you know particularly stressed out about or anything that had changed or well she had she had got mad at me.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

Because I wouldn't give her some of Jason's money that he got from his mother's death. And she got in my face and that was the last thing I had with her, you know, was an argument over that money. She thought I ought to have the money with her, and I told her I couldn't give her we had it in our safe, and I told her I couldn't give her any of it until Jason told me it was okay because that was Jason's money from his mother's death. And uh and she she was mad and his girlfriend brought her over here.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Jason was Jason was talking to the guy next door. But uh But there was one but he was he was there the day the police filled out the report because he he pulled up in the yard, he didn't pull in the yard, he pulled up to the yard and stopped and the kids went out and talked to him.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

So walk me through that very that last day.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Jason Jason the evening before. He called wanting us to keep the kids, sure.

SPEAKER_04 8:03

Well, we just you know, we kept the kids and when they we took them back home and he said she wasn't there. When he woke up she wasn't there, but everything was there, and as I said, if you're on dope or if you're smoked cigarettes, you're not gonna walk off and leave that stuff sitting there on the table. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Her clothes were still there. Oh, everything was there. Well, the clothes that she had on because you know that hundred dollar bill was in her jeans pocket.

SPEAKER_07 8:32

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

And she certainly wouldn't have that would have bought a lot of dope.

SPEAKER_04 8:36

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

She wouldn't have run off and left that.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

So about what time that day did you realize something was wrong?

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Uh yeah, it was the next morning we took the kids home.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

And and and he was sitting there, but she was not there and he didn't know where she was at.

SPEAKER_04 8:57

Mm-hmm. He said when he woke up.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

And he hadn't called the police, he hadn't done anything. I mean we told him to call the police. And they waited for they made us wait how long before they took 48 hours, I think. Before they took a police report on it, really. I think it was.

SPEAKER_04 9:20

You know.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

I I can understand why they did that. Because I mean they could see the house was turned upside down and the kids was all rugged and and I mean everything was wrong, and I I can see why they would do it.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

Is there anything else unusual about that day at all? Did anything stand out differently than any other argument that had happened before?

SPEAKER_04 9:45

I think everyone was they was all time fussing about something.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

But everyone, I think it had got down to to you know, something happening. They had I mean they had just fought so much and I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

Was there anybody new in her life? I know uh she had the normal people that we've already talked about. Can you looking back, can you think of anybody that you know any any new person that maybe was overlooked or anything that no one talked to?

SPEAKER_01 10:17

We we didn't really know who was in her life then. There's a set of twins somewhere that's twins. Uh I gave her a party probably the year before that on her birthday, and one of those guys was here, or maybe both of them, I don't know. But you know, I had to run them off.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

I I don't know anything about them or and we were we have been told several different stories. We were told that uh those twins took her body and and throwed it out in some land that his granddaddy owned in Woodville. Now the supposedly the Scottsboro Police Department and the Madison County Police Department looked over this land and they didn't find anything. Then we were told that and took her body and throwed it over a bridge in Hamilton, Alabama.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Throwed it over a bluff. It was a someplace they called the bluff, and they threw her body in the water over that bluff. And and at the time had a girlfriend in Hamilton. And he was he was living part-time in Hamilton with her. That was something that bothered me. There was a Hamilton connection.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

Was there anybody that particular in her, you know, in her circle of friends or anything? Anybody that she was particularly fearful of or any uh any did she share any concerns with you guys about anybody that you know anybody that made y'all feel uncomfortable for her safety or anything?

SPEAKER_01 12:01

She didn't share a lot at that time with us.

SPEAKER_04 12:04

After she got so bad. After she got so bad on the dope, she didn't didn't check.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Jennifer, I don't know if if uh Katie told you or not, but they they they they did some terrible stuff. Go in and take the needle out of her and you know, she's laying there asleep with a needle hanging in her.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

The kids would probably know more about that than us.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

The only conflict we knew about was her and Jason.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

They was in problems all the time.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

To y'all's knowledge, who was the last person to see her?

SPEAKER_04 12:34

Him. Yeah, as far as we know. As far as we know it was him.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

Did he give you any answers about what happened the last thing he saw her doing, last thing he remembers her doing before?

SPEAKER_01 12:47

He don't even talk about it. Was there any did we hear anything from that night?

SPEAKER_04 12:56

She had been up to Mrs. House.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:01

And her telephone was missing.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 13:06

Um and I don't think they ever found her phone.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

I understood that she threw that phone away. Or somebody threw the phone away. That would be in some record somewhere because we talked about that before.

SPEAKER_04 13:20

Yeah. Uh and Jason went up there and got her or something.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 13:30

Then we heard heard that uh went down to the house and was listening through the window or something.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

And heard a gunshot.

SPEAKER_04 13:39

And heard a gunshot, and he went down there and said she's he shot. So I don't know, you know, whether that was so or not. But I mean that's what was told. No. Only time we've seen her when she wanted something. When she wanted m money, usually I'd I'd take her to the methadone clinic and sometimes I'd help her pay for it.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

No. You'd take her by down south and Jason would get him a dose of it.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

Yeah, I've done that.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

On the job.

SPEAKER_04 14:14

She would meet him somewhere on his route and he'd get him a dose of it.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

I I know one week she called me what, three or four times out of gas. And she was out running around hunting dope. I know what she was doing. She had every one of them kids with her, and she'd be sitting on the side of 53 Highway up there out of gas. And she called me three or four times.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

I think it's about three days in a row.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

The last time I saw her, we were standing right there at the front steps. And she came down here wanting Jason's money. And Shirley wouldn't give it to her. And I agreed with it. And she was right in her mama's face. I mean, touching, chewing her out and telling her this and that.

SPEAKER_04 15:00

Well, just and I just be Jason's mama.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

I walked down, I walked down and took my hand and pushed her back. And I said, get out of your mama's face. And uh she left there mad and that's the last time I saw her.

SPEAKER_03 15:16

Were there any leads that stood out to y'all?

SPEAKER_04 15:19

I know you mentioned it a while ago, but well, you know, that we'd get phone calls and tell us about her being thrown out on that property of the twins' granddaddies, and then her being thrown over that bluff into the water, and you know, you hear any and everything. And uh And I look till I've run out of places and we've had uh psychics telling us that you know she was uh in the water somewhere or close to the water, and we've looked and looked and looked and had searches and you know they had that candlelight thing, you know, at the church. And Jason didn't even bother to come to that. He lied to us. He said he was out of town and he wasn't done at his just right down the street. We found that out.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

So And he doesn't ever want to talk to the police.

SPEAKER_04 16:15

I mean, well I mean he's talking to them mature, but that was That was their doing, it was the police's doing, not his. I wondered sometimes if it was just like, well, it's an old dopey, you know, why bother?

SPEAKER_01 16:35

I mean all of the investigators that we got was nice enough, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 16:39

And if anybody ever cared, I think it was Ken. And I appreciate everything he tried to do and he and I believe he tried his very best to find it. Cried my eyes out when he quit.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

We hadn't heard from investigators in how long?

SPEAKER_04 16:54

Oh, a long time. Two years or more?

SPEAKER_03 16:58

What has been what's been the hardest part of this for you guys?

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Not knowing where she's at. Not knowing. Wondering, you know, if we could have done something.

SPEAKER_04 17:12

I don't at least at least they could have let us know where where she's at. They wouldn't even have to do that.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

They wouldn't find a body, they're gonna get somebody.

SPEAKER_04 17:24

Well, you know, I'm to the point now, I'm like Katie, you know, that that don't get me as much as I want to know where she's at. They're gonna be punished, whether it's here on earth or in heaven, you know. The Lord take care of that. And as I said before, you know, one of the hardest things I had to learn is that we're on God's timetable. And I thought for a long time, well, maybe the Lord is waiting till the kids get old enough to handle it, you know. Maybe that's when she'll be found. But they're old enough now, you know, she's got two grandbabies. And uh, I don't I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 18:14

What would you have to say to someone who might know something?

SPEAKER_04 18:19

If you know something, think about her children. Think about her grandchildren. Think about us as her parents. You know, please tell us. You don't have to tell us who you are. You you can write it in the letter, type it, or you know, do anything that where you can't be traced if you just let us know where she's at.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

On a positive note it is, what would you guys want people to remember about Jennifer?

SPEAKER_04 18:56

That she loved her children. She she was a good mama. She was a good mother.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Until the end, you know, until she could hear you right now.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

What would you say to her?

SPEAKER_04 19:07

I love you. No matter what, I love you.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

That's a shame, I guess. But she knew that.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

Y'all pretty much think someone she knew was involved.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

Oh yeah. Yes. We were told one time that uh she was uh shooting up in the her neck or something, shot you know what do they call it? High highball or something.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

Oh, a highball is when you take it.

SPEAKER_04 19:43

Anyway, she said she'd shot herself in the neck and it it killed her. And they didn't they done away with the body. I mean, we have been told all kinds of tales.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

There wouldn't be any point in doing away with the body if that well, that's what I thought.

SPEAKER_04 19:57

You know, they could just throw it out in the yard.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

I don't understand that anyway. They could have just took her somewhere and set her down against the telephone pole and somebody would have found her. There must have been some reason they didn't want her found.

SPEAKER_04 20:13

May have been some evidence. I think it's sad that that you know she was not here for her her daughter passing away, she was not here for her brother passing away, she was not here for the birth of her two grandbabies, she wasn't here to go to Katie's wedding or graduation. You know, there's so many things that that she missed out on because of somebody. Blows my mind to think that they could keep their mouth shut for 18 years and that nobody comes forward. I don't you know, I feel like when somebody like that gets all doped up, they'd have to open their mouth and tell somebody.

SPEAKER_03 20:57

Have y'all ever hired a private investigator?

SPEAKER_01 21:00

No, we hadn't hired a private investigator.

SPEAKER_04 21:03

We we we talked about it, but we hadn't we didn't, you know, if the police investigators can't find her has a you know private investigator one that you're paying might might dig a little deeper, might go about it a different way.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

I don't know. I I I don't know. I don't know what you would say to them. I don't know what would even ring a bell with them. I don't know. Well I tell you I'm just uh you know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 21:37

If it had not been for our church family, it would have been hard to make it. But our church family hung in there with us and done a lot of praying.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

I'm sure it helped us get through it.

SPEAKER_04 21:53

It it did. You know, uh it would have been so easy to say, turn your back on the Lord, something like this.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Why did you let this happen?

SPEAKER_04 22:03

Why did you let this happen?

SPEAKER_01 22:04

But then why not?

SPEAKER_04 22:06

But we're not the only persons that have had something like this happen to them. The Lord had a reason. And I personally, I think you can just go so far and the Lord He's gonna stop it.

SPEAKER_05 22:29

He he he knows what those kids was going through.

SPEAKER_04 22:36

I don't I I don't know. I you know, but to me the Lord and and our church family helped us get through it.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

I mean it was just off as mess I ever saw. I think Katie's turned into a pretty good housekeeper and she's gonna how much older than than Katie?

SPEAKER_04 22:59

Three years. Okay, so she's yeah, there's three years difference in all of them. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

That Britney was a booger.

SPEAKER_04 23:08

Yeah, Britney's got a birthday coming up.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

I I honestly was a little full cat. She was something.

SPEAKER_04 23:24

She was on the who's who's and Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Uh I got a book in Yonder, I believe, where the who's who center.

SPEAKER_04 23:30

Her name's in the who's who. Brittany worked for hers or she she passed, but you know. In fact, uh they brought her diploma out here to the house tour when she was so sick.

SPEAKER_05 23:46

Yeah, she was a senior in high school when she died. Well they went to the next door neighbor's house and they took uh and dug inside a shed.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

They moved the shed and and Doug, you know where the shed was at. And the investigator thought that she had been there. And then they did bring the dogs out to the house and and they they checked the barn at Jason's first.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

And then they moved it up to there and checked.

SPEAKER_04 24:30

And them dogs hit on something.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Yeah, but they hit I think there at the neighbor's house.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

I I'm not sure. But because he thought she had been there, but they they have probably moved her.

SPEAKER_04 24:42

See the the Miss passed away, and it's my understanding that the house sold.

SPEAKER_07 24:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:52

And they think maybe that she was moved when that house sold.

SPEAKER_03 24:56

Did y'all do y'all know what become of all that?

SPEAKER_04 25:00

We have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

We we just got bits and pieces. You know, they don't even come out anymore and talk to us. But then when they did, they would just, you know, they wouldn't really tell us anything. Of course, I didn't want to know anything that might hinder what they was doing. Yeah. But I I don't want to do anything. I don't know what they was doing.

SPEAKER_04 25:19

That would jeopardize the case, you know. They did let us, they wouldn't we couldn't get out of the car, but they did let us sit on the side of the road and watch while they were digging. We did that. But no, we couldn't, you know, they had the road blocked off, but they did let us come down there to the site and park out on the road, but that we couldn't get out of the car.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

What are y'all's thoughts on that? Do y'all could shoot?

SPEAKER_01 25:46

I thought it was unnecessary. I mean, I wasn't gonna get down there and get in their way, you know. Uh but if that was their rule, it was fine. That was all right.

SPEAKER_03 25:58

I mean, like what do you feel like do you feel confident that they were alerting that Jennifer had been there?

SPEAKER_01 26:08

I don't know. Because I don't know how they react when they hit on stuff, and and and of course we wasn't there anyway. They was digging inside of a building. So I I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 26:21

Didn't they find some duct tape or something?

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Huh?

SPEAKER_04 26:24

Didn't they find some duct tape?

SPEAKER_01 26:25

I think they found some duct tape of something type. I don't know. I don't uh you can hear everything. Yeah, and they've done things too that we don't know about.

SPEAKER_03 26:46

Y'all pretty much think someone she knew was involved.

SPEAKER_05 26:50

Oh yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

I think we all know.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

If you have any information that might lead to the resolution of the Jennifer Powers case, contact the Madison County Sheriff's Office or contact us at Timetellsall Podcast at gmail.com. There is also a link in the description to send us a message directly from your phone. If you enjoy this podcast, please leave us a review on whatever platform you listen on. Someone out there knows something. Do you know what happened to Jennifer?