Trouble & Trifling

Welcome to Secrets True Crime, The Disappearance of Jessica Hamby. I am your host, Amber Sitton. What is done in darkness will eventually come to light. That is the purpose of this podcast...to shine light on the disappearance of Jessica Hamby. Listener discretion is advised. The subject matter may involve violence, sexual content, murder and adult themes. This episode does contain foul language. It’s not suitable for younger listeners. This is episode 13 of season 3 of a serialized podcast and the episodes are designed to be listened to in order.

Jessica Lee Ann Hamby has been missing since January 3rd, 2018. At the time of her disappearance, the 24-year-old mother of 3 was a beautiful brunette with big hazel eyes. She had a headful of long, thick hair, was 5’2” tall and weighed about 125 lbs. In the almost 5 years since Jessica was last reported to be seen, the stories regarding her disappearance and fate have been plentiful and the facts scarce. We are starting from the beginning and by the beginning, we are beginning with Jessica’s life 6 months prior to her disappearance as we bring to you the findings of our investigation in real time.

Before we get started, we want to make something clear. This is an episode we hoped we wouldn’t have to do. The information we are going to present is what we have in hand right now, and it is likely going to lead to speculation and probably won’t cast everyone in the most flattering light. Just understand that many of the questions you’ll probably have after listening are the very ones we have. The communications you are going to hear are something we’ve felt were of importance since we 1st read them. We’ve spent a great deal of time trying to get additional information, explanation, and responses from people to fill in gaps and make better sense of it all, but for whatever reason, they aren’t talking to us and haven’t been forthcoming with the information to anyone else in the last 4.5 years either.

On January 13, 2018, Jessica’s mom Lynn reported Jessica as missing to the Haleyville Police Department. On January 15th, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office made a missing persons post for Jessica on Facebook. That wasn’t the first social media post about Jessica–Lynn had posted that she was missing as early as January 12th, but the Sheriff’s Office post got a lot more exposure. Early on the morning of the 16th, that post was shared by a man named Stewart Cleveland. Shortly after 1 pm that day, Stewart began to message some of his Facebook friends. Stewart was also friends with Jessica’s cousin, Kristen and the 2 exchanged a number of text messages about Jessica. You are going to hear all these messages ordered by the date they were sent and received. As you listen, remember that all of these messages are from Facebook messenger except for Stewart and Kristen’s messages which are text messages.

On January 16th, Stewart 1st messaged a man named Jake and next, he sent a message to a man named Jay who was also called Jamie. He asked them to go look at the missing persons post he shared on his page because the missing woman was the daughter of his wife’s good friend. 4 minutes after he sent the first message, Jay responded. He asked Stewart if he meant Jessica. Stewart said yes and Jay said “Lol man she is caught up in some shit with one of my partners family dying and I have nothing for her. That’s real talk! Friend or no friend.. she’s trouble and trifling bro...she either assisted in the murder or she lured the guy in to be killed bro and I’m not ok with that shit! I just messaged my partner too and let him know.” Actually Jay said a little more than that but the names he called her are quite offensive and I won’t repeat it.

I want to pause here briefly and reiterate this point, because there have been questions and comments during this season by some, indicating that we have been chasing rabbits or otherwise wasting time working on the death of Jeremy Abbott alongside Jessica Hamby’s case. I think we’ve laid out many of the reasons we believe what happened to Jessica is likely linked to Jeremy’s death. So much of the content of Jessica’s and even others Facebook messages suggest it , and we’ve shared that Jessica’s dad believed that from the beginning.

Keith Hamby:
...in the back of my mind, I was always thinking...how's it not related to Jeremy Abbott’s death. And what happened in Haleyville. I just couldn't wrap my head around it, because that's the biggest motive in the world. I mean, she gave away information that people didn't want her to give away as to the location of Jeremy, and where he was at.

Stewart’s messages are the messages of a man, just 2 days after the missing report was filed, who knew both Jessica and Lynn and wanted to help find her. Everything we see in his messages would lead us to believe that his intentions at that time were honest and pure. He and Jay were friends on Facebook but did not appear to be friends in real life. Jay told him Jessica was connected in some way to the murder of one of his friend’s family members, and indicated that he wasn’t going to help. Jay refers to the murder victim being family of his “partner.” Who is this “partner?” And could he be talking about the death of Jeremy Abbott?

Within 12 minutes after his exchange with Jay, Stewart sent another message to Jake. The message said “never mind.” Stewart then messaged 2 more men that he considered to be good friends of his. He said “call me ASAP 911.” By 1:40 pm, the activity on Stewart’s messenger account went quiet and stayed that way for the next 2 hours. We do not have Stewart’s phone records so we cannot say what he was or wasn’t doing on his phone. A few minutes before 4 pm, he sent his phone number to one of the other men he’d urgently asked to call him earlier and we will refer to this man as BL. Stewart’s messenger activity stopped until 8:11 pm when he sent BL a message that said “It was neither but kind of both. Goin after her at daylight. Something happens, help dawn n shit but I’m pretty sure this will work out. Turns out its my bros nephew and its just all fuckin insane.”

At 8:17 pm, Stewart began to send a photo of Jay to 7 different men. He asked them all if they knew Jay. All but 1 of the men said they didn’t know him. Jay was living in the Haleyville area but he’d moved there from another area of the state about a year prior. One man we’ll refer to as JC, told Stewart he knew him, knew where he lived and asked how many people Stewart had ready to ride. They talked about going to get Jessica the next morning. Stewart noted he wanted to take as few as possible in case “the shit gets bad.” He told JC that Cody was on deck and that Cody knew both Jessica and her mom. From other conversation, it appears Stewart was talking about a man named Cody Barnes. Cody’s name has come up numerous times over the years and we mentioned him to you in Episode 10, appropriately titled Crooked Ass Shit as Rocky West referred to the general happenings around the Edwards’ residence. If you recall, Rocky described how he felt Eric Edwards was trying to set them up after they’d made the drug run to Tennessee. One of the points he listed to support that suspicion was Eric wanting to stop at Cody Barnes’ home on the way back even though Eric had just spoken to Cody on the phone and he knew Cody wasn’t at home. Cody Barnes is one person we have not been able to speak with so far as he’s been in the Marion County Jail since July 5th.

So, on the night of January 16th, it appears that Stewart had put together a lot of information on his own, and believed that Jessica was alive, and knew who she was with and where but from Stewart’s messages, it also seems as if his rescue plan changed .

The next day, January 17th at 1:42 pm, Stewart told BL “We had to step back if we push she won’t be there so we r regrouping at the moment. It’s a long fucked up ordeal.”

Also on January 17th, Stewart told Kristen “He’s looking for Jesse. He’s not anywhere he should be. I think I’m gona have to go try to turn Jay and find out through him.” Kristen replied, “Ok....but hell he hates her so why would he help u? And what happened to ur other help? While we can’t say for certain who was looking for Jesse, from the context of the conversations it appears that JC was the one.

Stewart told Kristen “This is a twisted ass situation. I'm doing what I can but the guy that hates her sure does love his family. I don't wana talk on here. I'll explain all of it when I c ya. I just know if we rush we won’t never bring her home. And I know for certain she was alive yesterday.”

Kristen asked him if someone had laid eyes on Jessica and what kind of condition she was in. Stewart said “No we’ve not seen her, just know she is between what I’ve heard and what Jesse's uncles heard. We just know.” Stewart gave Kristen a better detailed explanation of who Jesse’s uncle was. He said he was Jesse’s mother’s brother and he had to go pick him up the next day so they could go check out some places his family had that not many people knew about where they might be hiding Jessica. I’m sure most of you already suspect this and I can confirm that Stewart was referring to Jesse Abbott and his friend who was Jesse’s uncle is a relative of Jesse’s mom, Tina Medina.

On January 18th at 4:36 pm, Stewart messaged one of his other contacts again. The message said, “Holy shit it was all a bullshit setup I got everyone out before the shit hit the fan tho.” He also told the man that it looked like a “swing at organized crime.” The guy asked if the Popo were involved in that organized crime and Stewart replied, “Idk for sure I’d just have to tell u and I don’t trust messenger.”

If you recall, at the end of the last episode, we began to tell you about the ransom demands that Jessica’s mom, Lynn, received through Facebook messenger from the fake account of a man named Dwayne. Lynn received her first message from this account on January 17th. On the same day, Kristen asked Stewart if he knew a man named Dwayne John and she sent him a screenshot of the first message sent to Lynn. Those messages said, “Hello Lynn You don’t have to worry we got your girl safe here ok” and “She’s not gonna be home for awhile.” Stewart never replied.

8 hours after receiving those two messages, Lynn replied “hey if u have my daughter explain some of her tattoos.”. She then attempted to call him via messenger, but he did not answer. At just before midnight, a location pin was sent of a wooded rural area about 5 miles south of Haleyville. Nothing was said in reference to the location pin and the next message from “Dwayne” came almost 40 minutes later, just after midnight on Jan 18. “Your bitch daughter got a tattoo on her shoulder. Maybe we’ll have to strip her for more tattoo check. You don’t seem to be serious.” Lynn said that she was serious and asked why she couldn’t talk to her daughter. “Dwayne” said “we even tired of keeping her she’s almost finished our drugs. Your daughter needed to be wild as fuck. If you want to talk or see her You got to do as I say.” Lynn asked again for someone to explain Jessica’s tattoos, adding “so I know it isn’t someone who saw it on Facebook and wanna b mean.” Dwayne said “I don’t waste time on my job OK Your daughter is down the basement at the moment I wish I could be given the opportunity to explore her body.” He went on to explain that he works for “the boss” and Jessica is “the bosses girlfriend,” adding “so you want me killed...for checking on the bosses girlfriend tattoo...Never.” Lynn then asks to hear her daughter and Dwayne gets angry, telling her no more questions or he will stop the conversation and that Lynn will have to give him $5000 to get “the next location they’ll be on” and not to get the cops involved or she will never see Jessica again. He tells Lynn that Jessica is alive and if she pays at least part of the $5000 he will give her more details and maybe a video of Jessica with his boss. He wanted half of the money to send Lynn pictures and gave her until Friday the 19th to sell her car to come up with the cash, then dropped it to 40%, $2000, and said he needs it fast so he can leave town once he sends her the pictures.

Later in the day on January 18th at 12:28 pm, Kristen messaged Stewart again. She said “Dude what’s going on? Cause I’m about to make a move myself after the shit that was messaged last night.”

Stewart replied “Idk I’ve been out with my bro looking all morning. Jesse is nowhere. Nobody’s seen him. Looks to me like they're just holding her, giving her hell . We headed to Hamilton to talk to someone n I’ll hala at ya.”

Kristen responded “K cause the message said she was down in the basement. I’m not talking out my ass stew. I’m forreal. I know ur trying but I’m tired of games.”

At 3:15 pm, Kristen sent Stewart another message. It said “Did Lynn tell u bout the $” 

Stewart replied, “Nope found out from some other people she was sent to the exact place she’s at.”

Kristen answered and said that Lynn sent her location to them.

Stewart replied “I know I met and talked to them earlier, seen text she sent em. If she knew that much she should have just told the police not try to get a bunch of us in a bunch of shit. She gona wind up getting herself hurt. I know some more fucked up shit about it too. I’ll tell u later though.”

Kristen’s message about the location pin is very interesting. She says that Lynn sent Jessica’s location to this other group of people that Stewart was talking to, and Stewart says that he saw the messages Lynn sent to them. This caused us to go back and look hard at that location pin and we found something. Michael spoke with Jessica’s mom, Lynn, about this discovery.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
So, let's talk about the location pin.

Lynn Cintron Okay.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
You know what I'm talking about?

Lynn Cintron
I do. That happened the very night that that person got in touch with me.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
So, in going...you've, you've got the messages that we're going back and forth between Stewart and Kristen, right?

Lynn Cintron I do.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
So, in going through those at one point, Stewart tells her that he had already seen some of the messages about the the money demands

Lynn Cintron
that see that right there. How how did he see them? That's what I want to know.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
He said he saw them from someone that you sent them to.

Lynn Cintron
I never sent those messages out to anybody. He's a liar. If he saw those messages, Mike it's because he was with whoever was making those demands. Because the only people that had those messages were me, Keith, I think Shaina, I showed them to Shaina, and I think maybe at some point Jeff Means got them, I'm I'm not real sure. But that I mean, you know, that was something because I was terrified, you know, FBI, they're telling me, you know, don't show them to nobody don't don't talk to nobody, you know, and so I didn't show them to anybody. So, if Stewart said that. I think I remember reading that. It's because he saw it on that other person's end is the only way he could have seen it because I didn't send them to anybody.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
Right. Okay. Well, part part of that, that conversation between Stewart and and Kristen. He said something to the effect of I already saw them from the person that Lynn sent them to. And Kristen's response was, yes, she she sent them the location.

Lynn Cintron
See that's where, that's where they got messed up, because Kristen, and I did tell Kristen about the ransom demand. But I told her that the reason I told her is because her brother in law, or well, let's say Yeah, her brother in law at the time, Zane Crutcher was a close friend of Cody's you know, and he said he knew Jessica very well. And, you know, he told us, hey, if anything ever comes up, give us a call. Blah blah blah you know, and so we called Zane that night. And I guess when I told her something about the location, she misunderstood me because they I didn't send them a location, they sent me a location.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
Well see that that...So when when I read those messages again, between Stewart and Kristen, I went back and looked at at the ransom messages. And that location was actually your location. You sent that

Lynn Cintron I sent that?

Echo 7 Foxtrot Yep.

Lynn Cintron
Okay, then it was all a complete accident, because at the time I was new to all this stuff. And you know, but the weird thing is, is the location that was pinned. Okay, I can tell you exactly where we were, when that when the phone calls come through. We were at Susan Delay’s house on County Road 28.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
Yeah.

Lynn Cintron
The night that we got those messages, and when that location pinged up, we got in the vehicle, me and Cody got into my little S10 pickup, and we went to that location on County Road 17 I think which was Yankee trace road, I think, which was a couple of county roads over from us. And that's that wigged me out too, because the location that we were at, if you can look up Susan delay, from Haleyville, Alabama, we were on County Road 28 at her house. Because I was jumping off of her Wi Fi if I don't if I'm not mistaken, I was on her Wi Fi. And that's how by chance that message come through because I didn't have any minutes. But I know that we were on at Susan delays and we were at her house when those messages come in. And when that location pinned up, we went to that location, we left County Road 28 Hit 13 We turned left went down to I think it was either 17 or 20 Turn left on that road and went down to where that ping is. And it's a little County Road and it's got like a gate and it's supposed to be a county road but there's a gate blocking it. And there was a car sitting like just a few feet from the gate like on the side of the road. And it was really cold that night and that truck didn't have a heater and you know, the windows were fogged up and I was scared you know, because Cody was telling me to wipe the window to see if there was anybody in it. I was scared but I couldn't even when I wiped the window because it seems like maybe it might have been drizzly or something that night and it was on the outside and I couldn't see anything and I got scared because it was just me and him. And you know, and we left and that's when we left and we went back and you know Cody tried to call some people come and help us and we couldn't get nobody

Echo 7 Foxtrot
What's your relationship like with Cody now?

Lynn Cintron
We do not have a relationship.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
Ok. The reason I ask is, you know, we've talked to him. And he gives a little bit of a different story about that. He said that you and Sue had left to go to the liquor store. Because Sue couldn't drive at night.

Lynn Cintron
And we had prior to, yeah, we had prior to that,

Echo 7 Foxtrot
and that you left your phone with him.

Lynn Cintron No.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
And so, he had your phone and saw that message, that location pin come in.

Lynn Cintron
No, because when I got that message, I was in Sue's upstairs, because downstairs is where, you know, we go downstairs to smoke. But she didn't smoke upstairs. And we go down in the basement. And when that message comes through, I vividly remember standing in the dining room upstairs at Sue's, and Cody was downstairs and my heart just dropped. And I hit those stairs, going downstairs to the basement and showed him that we had went to the liquor store. But we were already back.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
So, knowing that that pin was sent from your account, is there any, anybody that comes to mind that you might have been logged in on on someone else's device? And they sent that?

Lynn Cintron
I mean, not that I know of, but I mean, the only the only people that ever had my login stuff would have been me, Cody and Jessica

Echo 7 Foxtrot Okay.

Lynn Cintron
that I can think of or that I know. Because, you know, there was times when Jessica, she would lose her phone or whatever. And, you know, I would give her a phone and, you know, my stuff would be logged in or, you know, which I didn't care. But I mean, you know, Jessica had access, because I mean, at the time, I always kept the same password, which I don't remember what it is now. But you know, and so I mean, but that was...and Cody, you know, I didn't have no kind of locks or anything on my phone. Which I had logged into my stuff on his phone before and vice versa. But not I mean, not that I know of unless somehow somebody got an old phone of mine that you know, still had login information on it. I don't know.

Echo 7 Foxtrot
Right. So that's, that's something that's, like I said, it's kind of confusing. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense

Lynn Cintron
It is to me too! Very much so.

It has always been said that Dwayne, the person demanding the ransom, sent that pin during the conversation. Based on the screenshots provided by Lynn, it was sent before he even made a demand for money. Lynn’s husband at the time, Cody Ballard, told us that he saw the pin come in, that he had Lynn’s phone while Lynn was driving a friend to the liquor store. Lynn says that they had already returned from the liquor store, and she had her phone on her when the pin came in, and she remembers that it made her cry and shake. The bottom line is the location pin was sent from Lynn’s account and it is denoted as being “my location” meaning it wasn’t a random address that was entered and shared. Another point we want to make is that while the map application within Facebook shows a physical address for where the pin is, the actual position of the pin is not at a residential address. The map picked the closest physical address it could find, but the pin itself is in a wooded area nearly 1⁄4 mile away from that address.

Lynn’s conversation with Dwayne continued off and on and at some point on January 18th he believed Lynn had at least some of the money, despite there being no messages in the screenshots we have saying that she had obtained the money. He told her “Now you’ve the bucks in hand you decide to be greedy. Maybe that’s why she left home because her mama is self-centered, you don’t know this Lol.” He then gave her 10 minutes to get the money to him or he threatened to “poison her slowly...then have a feel of her body before sending you shots of your dead daughter then you know you killed her because you were greedy.” He says he will be back in “10 mins...For the last time.” The screenshots we have never indicate he told her how she was to get the money to him.

Dwayne didn’t come back in 10 minutes though. At 4:30 pm the next day, January 19th, he sent “OK I see. I don’t have her but I’ll anyway” followed by a thumbs up. Lynn replied with her own thumbs up, followed by one word: “Proof.” Dwayne sent “Enjoy the money While you wait for her dead body...You’ll regret ever making me waste my time...Its a promise. Good day.”

At 5:08 pm on January 19th, Kristen sent Stewart another text asking if he’d heard anything. Stewart told her he hadn’t, and she replied “Well we do need to talk but in person because Lynn’s told me a lot of shit and I can’t make any sense of it. And that persons still been messaging. But u knew about them messaging before I told u so that makes me think that they may be legit. Because she’s saying they're not.”

Stewart replied “Yea there is a lot more. she tell three different set of people different stories and the truth is the most fucked up part of it that nobody knows.”

Kristen asked him if Jessica was ok, and Stewart said that she was. Kristen asked him if Jessica was choosing to stay away, and he replied “kinda.” Kristen asked “what’s kinda mean bro? I’m so confused.” Stewart said “Yea took me for ever to find it out. it’s confusing as fuck but I’ll tell ya when I see ya.”

The messages with Dwayne continued the evening of January 19th. At 7:24 pm he sent “sorry I couldn’t provide you the proof you needed, which wasn’t part of the deal at first...you just continue your search OK I promise you’ll never see her...good luck.” Lynn did not respond to him, and about 30 minutes later he added “Guess you can sleep now...but in few days you’ll be awake all night sobbing for your daughter because she’ll be dead by then...then you get my proof.”

Lynn still didn’t engage with him, and at 8:33 pm on January 19th, Dwayne sent her 6 images. The pictures are dark and show two adults in nondescript clothing with knit hats or masks and two teenage children in a multi-level building with pipes along the walls, stairs with a metal railing, and almost no furnishings. Some of the pictures clearly show the children’s faces and one appears to be a male with shoulder length hair, and the other a female with brown hair, possibly braces on her teeth, and wearing pink denim pants. Dwayne says, “you believe me now...don’t play with me Lynn...I’m dangerous to play with because I’m the one that got the chains and gun.”

Lynn finally replied to him, saying “That’s not my daughter.” Dwayne’s response is that he “can’t just take a personal shot of her.” He then said he would take a percentage of the money so he could “leave town” and “start a good life,” then she could come get Jessica. He added that he doesn’t want to hurt her. Lynn fired back, asking why can’t he take pictures of her since he took those pictures. She told him to show her Jessica and she would show him the money. Dwayne said he wants a better life and doesn’t want to keep working for his boss, and he gave either a first name or nickname for this boss, which we are withholding at this time to protect the integrity of the investigation. Dwayne said he’s fed up and many more daughters will go missing. He then seemed to beg Lynn, saying “why don’t you give it a shot...believe me when I say you’ll never find her without my help.” Dwayne questioned why Lynn was suddenly changing her mind and said “now you got the money you got carried away..Lol” followed by laughing face emoji’s. He ended the day’s communication saying “this is my last attempt to help you...trust me...I’ll never talk about it again. When you find your daughter be sure to let me know.”

Lynn didn’t receive another message from Dwayne for 2 days, but she did get a new message on Facebook the following morning. At just after 6 am, someone using a profile named Ruby Jim messaged Lynn:

“Lynn I saw your post about your daughter. It’ll interest you to know she’s in Canada. Saw her at a basement. I’m certain she’s the one. Though my eyes ain’t that sharp because I’m old. I’m certain on this.”

A little over four hours later, Lynn responded to Ruby, “No she’s not and I have been scammed about her before.”

The next day, January 21st at 3:18 am, Ruby replied with “you mean a hoax or something. I saw her at a basement with a criminal...guess she’s his man. Believe me.” Ruby used a name for this criminal. It’s the same name that Dwayne used. At just before 5 am, Lynn got more messages from Dwayne. They started with “Found your daughter yet? Hahahahha Greedy fool.” At 8:29 am, Lynn told Dwayne to go to hell, and called him Ruby Jim. He replied with “You’ll never find her.” The conversation turned ugly then, with Lynn telling him the FBI will find him and she’s not playing games. Dwayne said “bring them on bitch...they’ll never find me” and he then threatened to “reap” Lynn’s head off. He said “You don’t know who you messing with” then “I give you 21 days...your ass is gonna get burnt.” Lynn told him “I’m not scared of you” and he sent a thumbs up to end the conversation. At nearly the same time, at 8:33 am, Lynn wrote back to Ruby Jim saying “No I don’t believe you.” An hour and half later, Ruby responded with “Ok.” A day or so later, Lynn wrote Ruby Jim again, accusing him of being on Jessica’s Facebook account. Ruby responded by asking “who’s your daughter bitch”. Lynn reminded him who her daughter is and challenged him to meet her, then tried to call but there was no answer.

So far, Stewart has avoided talking to us or answering questions about what he learned, but his messages indicate that Jessica was still alive and likely being held against her will 2 weeks after she stopped using her phone or Facebook on the morning of January 3rd. Even more importantly, he seems to have figured out where Jessica was being held: in a basement somewhere. Stewart mentions traveling to both Hamilton and Red Bay in his messages, but our sources indicate this basement was actually somewhere closer to Haleyville. That area coincides with some other information and reported sightings of Jessica after January 3rd. The bells really went off for us when we saw mention of Jesse Abbott in Stewart’s messages. Like all of the other information we presented that point towards Jeremy’s death not being a suicide and being what led to Jessica’s disappearance, these messages make it clear that, true or not, there were people that believed Jessica’s disappearance was linked to Jeremy’s death within days of Lynn filing the missing person report.

The ransom messages from Dwayne and Ruby are very curious. The timing of those messages shortly after the missing person report was filed and Facebook posts looking for Jessica started getting around is a possible indication that those messages were in-fact a scam. The context of those messages is familiar as well. In a different, more recent missing person case in a nearby north Alabama area, a series of similar messages were received by family from an individual that said he worked for a “boss” who was holding the victim and he wanted to do the right thing and help the family but needed money for his info so he could make an escape and start a better life for himself. That seems to be a common theme. Dwayne did answer Lynn’s questions about Jessica’s tattoos, but as she told him, his description was too generic to prove he was with her and what he said could easily have come from looking at Jessica’s public photos on Facebook; something similar happened with the other north Alabama case where the person making the ransom demand tried to use family names and locations that he had seen on Facebook without knowing they were outdated and the family no longer lived in that city. The 6 photos that Dwayne sent to Lynn are definitely red flags. A quick reverse image search revealed that those images are from stock video available for purchase on Shutterstock and Pond 5, and you wouldn’t even have to buy the full video to send the low resolution still frames that Dwayne sent to Lynn. When we told Lynn the source of those images, she indicated that she already knew that. Ransom scammers aren’t well known for their sophistication, and issues like these aren’t uncommon or hard to spot. What we’ve never heard of, however, is a ransom demand that doesn’t have specific instructions for paying the ransom. In fact, the demands we have seen in other cases usually include very specific instructions on how to make the payment,

and that is usually provided alongside the amount. In many cases, it seems like the person making the demand has put most of his or her time into figuring out HOW to get the money rather than how to provide the location or other information that will ensure the victim is recovered safely. So it is very odd to us that Dwayne never mentions how he wants to get the money. Not even when he gave Lynn a 10-minute window to get him the money. There was at least one phone call between Dwayne and Lynn, and we aren’t certain of the full content of the call, but Lynn did describe what she remembers of it. . We also aren’t sure we have the entirety of the conversation between Lynn and Dwayne, and in at least one spot it is clear there are some messages that we didn’t get. Lynn also mentioned to Michael that Dwayne required photos of the car that she was going to sell to come up with the money, and none of that is in the screenshots of the conversation that we received. While there are many factors that would lead us to believe that the ransom messages were a scam, there’s one single factor that indicates it was very likely not. Stewart claimed he saw those messages from the other side, on the phone of the person Lynn was communicating with. Stewart knew things about the messages that Kristen had not told him. He even told Kristen he met with them. Lynn also felt that the messages were sent by someone local.

Lynn Cintron
And you know, that's when they it seems like that's when I got the phone call was like from the Ruby Jim, maybe I'm not real sure on that. But it was just, you know, and because this person was like, they told me they said, look, and like I said they had a Spanish accent. They said we know where the kids are. We know that Keith has the kids, you know, and it's wigging me out. And right after this phone call, you know, I call Keith. But it's like, you know, that they knew, but just the way that they said it when they said Lynn, why do you always have to be so difficult, you know, and it just, it just creeped me out and just went up my spine.

Because I mean, you can just like I said this person either knew a lot about Jessica or knew a lot about me or knew us, you know, knew both of our because, you know, they knew just the way they talked. They knew how what kind of relationship Jessica and I had, you know that we were real close and they knew about you know, her getting pregnant. And you know, she was she wasn't really wild at 15 at all. It's just you know, she wound up with but you know, they said that I should have been a better mom, you know, and I just like, I don't know.

Possibly the most unbelievable part is that both the ransom demand and Stewart’s effort seemed to stop almost as soon as they started. While Keith had agreed to Lynn that he would pay the $5000 on the condition that Dwayne offer some proof that he knew where Jessica was, no ransom was ever paid, and no further contact was made with Lynn. Stewart’s messages on Facebook went back to their normal routine conversations for a while and then he was court ordered to the Franklin County Jail on January 30, 2018. Sometime after that, he entered a drug rehabilitation facility and he didn’t return home until March 12, 2018.The subject of Jessica came up again only one time, on March 13, 2018. On that day he contacted two of the people he originally messaged to enlist their help finding Jessica, JC and Cody Barnes. He told them that the SBI had just visited and questioned him. To Cody, he added one more detail. “Bout that kidnapping.” The conversation ended with Stewart saying “Got some shit to run by ya.” Cody gave him a thumbs up.

As we’ve already stated, others have questioned Stewart and even Cody regarding the events detailed in Stewart’s messages but based on the information we’ve received, neither have been cooperative. According to others, both men have claimed that revealing who was involved in the kidnapping and likely murder of Jessica Hamby violates their principles. One person told us that when they asked Stewart what principles of his that violated, he told them preserving the white race. Jessica’s mom’s family is of Puerto Rican descent and Jessica proudly declared herself to be Puerto Rican. Jessica also had a diverse group of friends.

Stewart and Jessica’s mom, Lynn appear to have been great friends over the years since Jessica has been missing. Stewart has been a frequent visitor to her home. Lynn told us that she recently confronted Stewart about these shocking communications regarding Jessica.

Lynn Cintron
Because I mean, you can just like I said this person either knew a lot about Jessica or knew a lot about me or knew us, you know, knew both of our because, you know, they knew just the way they talked. They knew how what kind of relationship Jessica and I had, you know that we were real close and they knew about you know, her getting pregnant. And you know, she was she wasn't really wild at 15 at all. It's just you know, she wound up with but you know, they said that I should have been a better mom, you know, and I just like, I don't know.

We have received numerous tips, stories, and rumors that whatever happened to Jessica occurred a lot closer to home than most people thought. Many of those stories appear credible and worthy of investigation, and for nearly all of those sources, this will be the first time they’ve heard these details....and there are more details coming. Join us again for the next episode of Secrets True Crime as we continue to investigate the disappearance of Jessica Hamby and death of Jeremy Abbott.

If you have any information that could help to solve the disappearance of Jessica Hamby, please email me at secretstruecrime@gmail.com or call our confidential tip line at 205-282- 0740. Michael and I will ensure that all information gets to the right place right away. If you are left still wanting even more content, please check us out on Patreon. We have it filled with great information about Susan and Evan, Eric and Gypsy and we will be adding additional content about Jessica. This podcast is an independent podcast. That means that everything that goes into making this podcast is done and funded by me. All the investigative tools and resources are provided by Echo 7 Foxtrot. The tragedies we highlight and investigate have had a tremendous impact on the victims' loved ones and friends. We don't burden them with additional expenses to cover their cases--we donate our time and talents because we want to help and hope to find the answers they need that are long overdue. For as little as $5 per month, you can receive exclusive access to members only photos, videos, early access to episodes and much, much more. By becoming a patron, you too are helping us help these families.  www.patreon.com/secretscrime. I’ll also post the link on our Facebook page. If you are enjoying this podcast, be sure to follow or subscribe in your podcast player of choice and by giving us a 5-star rating and review in Apple Podcasts. We are active on social media and will often share photos of Jessica. Follow Secrets True Crime on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. @secretscrime. This episode was cowritten by me and Michael Fleming. This audio production for this podcast is by Kane Power at precisionpodcasting.com.