School of Humans.

School of Humans.

Six bodies were found in Wonder Valley, California, between December of twenty nineteen and January of twenty twenty one. Some of the bodies in the desert, including the disappearance of thirty seven year old single mother Erica Lloyd, started to make local and then national news, but there were no national news reports about James Escalante. I've been talking together Escalante about this case, and she's been disheartened by how little James's case has been covered compared to the others in Wonder Valley.

Six bodies were found in Wonder Valley, California, between December of twenty nineteen and January of twenty twenty one. Some of the bodies in the desert, including the disappearance of thirty seven year old single mother Erica Lloyd, started to make local and then national news, but there were no national news reports about James Escalante. I've been talking together Escalante about this case, and she's been disheartened by how little James's case has been covered compared to the others in Wonder Valley.

They ended up doing a news broadcast out there in twenty twenty one. I do believe it was, and they actually interviewed Detective Halloway, who was the detective that was assigned to James's missing person's key, and they were talking about the amount of people going missing out in the desert. They mentioned Erica Lloyd, they mentioned Lauren to they mentioned some couple that had gone missing out there. They never made the first mention of James. It's not like he didn't know about James. He was the detective on his caase. Like they've made it abundantly clear to me, they're not look in the case now. And they're not going to Nothing has really worked for us in this We could barely get anybody that wanted to cover his story. That's been I mean like nobody. If you look up Eric Alloyd, there's i mean countless coverage on her story all the way up you know, pretty high in news coverage world. You can't get anybody to want to touch James's face.

They ended up doing a news broadcast out there in twenty twenty one. I do believe it was, and they actually interviewed Detective Halloway, who was the detective that was assigned to James's missing person's key, and they were talking about the amount of people going missing out in the desert. They mentioned Erica Lloyd, they mentioned Lauren to they mentioned some couple that had gone missing out there. They never made the first mention of James. It's not like he didn't know about James. He was the detective on his caase. Like they've made it abundantly clear to me, they're not look in the case now. And they're not going to Nothing has really worked for us in this We could barely get anybody that wanted to cover his story. That's been I mean like nobody. If you look up Eric Alloyd, there's i mean countless coverage on her story all the way up you know, pretty high in news coverage world. You can't get anybody to want to touch James's face.

We're going to dive into the missing Persons report and compare accounts from the last people who saw James to see if we can shed more light into what really happened out there in the desert on June twenty fifth, twenty twenty. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making my true crime podcast, Helling Gone, I've learned that there is no such thing as a small town where murder never happens. I have received hundreds of messages from people all around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, and their communities. If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six ' one four five, or you can send us a message on Instagram at Helen Gonepod. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. As we said last week, people go missing in the desert under a lot of different circumstances. One of the things that really stood out to me about James Escalante's case is that in Wonder Valley, a lot of the body discoveries haven't been made by the police at all, but by one man, a cave and mining expert named Doug Billings. Doug Billings was helping the family of thirty seven year old Eric Lloyd, who went missing nine days before James, and while he was looking for Erica's car, he found James's bike. But Heather said that not only did police know not find the bike, but that when Doug Billings told him about the bike, at first, they didn't seem to be interested.

We're going to dive into the missing Persons report and compare accounts from the last people who saw James to see if we can shed more light into what really happened out there in the desert on June twenty fifth, twenty twenty. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making my true crime podcast, Helling Gone, I've learned that there is no such thing as a small town where murder never happens. I have received hundreds of messages from people all around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, and their communities. If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six ' one four five, or you can send us a message on Instagram at Helen Gonepod. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. As we said last week, people go missing in the desert under a lot of different circumstances. One of the things that really stood out to me about James Escalante's case is that in Wonder Valley, a lot of the body discoveries haven't been made by the police at all, but by one man, a cave and mining expert named Doug Billings. Doug Billings was helping the family of thirty seven year old Eric Lloyd, who went missing nine days before James, and while he was looking for Erica's car, he found James's bike. But Heather said that not only did police know not find the bike, but that when Doug Billings told him about the bike, at first, they didn't seem to be interested.

He had been helping search for Eric Alloyd and he had seen a bike out there and it has turned out to be recording the Sherry, the bike that James left on. It seemed out there twice. The first time he tried to report it to the police, they said they didn't think it was related. To Eric Alloyd's case, and of course James had not been reported missing yet at that point in time. Tops weren't interested at that point because at that point they were looking for Erica and a black car. You know, it didn't seem important to them at the time, so he did not take a picture at that time or anything like that. He again found it on it's still sitting out there on August ninth, so the day after the remains that turned out to be James's were found, because him and his team and went back out to that area. You know, it's at that time they clearly weren't sure if those were Eric Alloyd's remained and that's when he took a picture of the bike. He locked the coordinate. He notified the police again, but again, given the distance between where the bike was located and where James's remains were located, the police didn't think they were linked and left the bike there.

He had been helping search for Eric Alloyd and he had seen a bike out there and it has turned out to be recording the Sherry, the bike that James left on. It seemed out there twice. The first time he tried to report it to the police, they said they didn't think it was related. To Eric Alloyd's case, and of course James had not been reported missing yet at that point in time. Tops weren't interested at that point because at that point they were looking for Erica and a black car. You know, it didn't seem important to them at the time, so he did not take a picture at that time or anything like that. He again found it on it's still sitting out there on August ninth, so the day after the remains that turned out to be James's were found, because him and his team and went back out to that area. You know, it's at that time they clearly weren't sure if those were Eric Alloyd's remained and that's when he took a picture of the bike. He locked the coordinate. He notified the police again, but again, given the distance between where the bike was located and where James's remains were located, the police didn't think they were linked and left the bike there.

Heather's family ran into Doug's team and got the picture of the bike from him and then sent that picture to James's girlfriend, Sherry. She said that, yes, that was the bike that James was riding the day he disappeared. Heather contacted law enforcement, and they finally went out to that intersection near Highway sixty two and Shelton Road and retrieved the red bike. But it was odd because when Heather talked to Sherry, Sherry said that they weren't able to go look for James because they didn't have a vehicle. But then she would tell Heather that they went out to talk to people, people who Heather said lived a lot further out than the intersection where James disappeared. So Heather was thinking, how could she get out there when she just told Heather she didn't have transportation. Heather has said multiple times that she's suspicious because over time, Sherry's story appeared to keep changing.

Heather's family ran into Doug's team and got the picture of the bike from him and then sent that picture to James's girlfriend, Sherry. She said that, yes, that was the bike that James was riding the day he disappeared. Heather contacted law enforcement, and they finally went out to that intersection near Highway sixty two and Shelton Road and retrieved the red bike. But it was odd because when Heather talked to Sherry, Sherry said that they weren't able to go look for James because they didn't have a vehicle. But then she would tell Heather that they went out to talk to people, people who Heather said lived a lot further out than the intersection where James disappeared. So Heather was thinking, how could she get out there when she just told Heather she didn't have transportation. Heather has said multiple times that she's suspicious because over time, Sherry's story appeared to keep changing.

Nothing she said had made sense. The stories have changed, Like the main story, you know, d he got stuck in the sand. James went out to get her this he called, you know from this intersection. That stuff has never changed. The times have changed. The description of the shoes he was wearing has changed. How long it took them to get to that intersection once he left, that's all changed. What he was wearing, you know, like accessories that he was wearing has changed. Things that he's owned this, you know, all those things keep changing right, which has been nothing but red flags for me.

Nothing she said had made sense. The stories have changed, Like the main story, you know, d he got stuck in the sand. James went out to get her this he called, you know from this intersection. That stuff has never changed. The times have changed. The description of the shoes he was wearing has changed. How long it took them to get to that intersection once he left, that's all changed. What he was wearing, you know, like accessories that he was wearing has changed. Things that he's owned this, you know, all those things keep changing right, which has been nothing but red flags for me.

Heather said that Sherry had told her two versions of the story. They both started out the same, with James leaving to go help their friend D, but Heather said Sherry gave her different times. According to Heather, Sherry first said that James went out early in the morning, around eight thirty am, and later she said that it was around ten or ten thirty am. In both versions, James never reached their friend D. But in one version, according to the Missing Persons report, Sherry told someone else that James never reached D and took a ride to San Bernardino and went to rehab. Finding Sherry unreliable, Heather started talking to more people. A lot of these people are difficult to find. We've been trying to reach out to them in Wonder Valley and it's been challenging. A lot of them live off the grid, and a lot of them have changed numbers since then, and Heather found out that James's love life was a little bit more complicated than it seemed to be on the surface. Heather talked to D, the woman who got stuck in the desert and who called Sherry for help, and D told Heather something she hadn't heard before. The story that Sherry told was that d had gone out in the desert in the early morning hours of June twenty fifth to go rock Honting. That's when her car got stuck in sand. But D filled in some more details. She told Heather the reason she had gone out so early was because she had been hanging out at James and Sherry's house and they had started fighting, and she said they were fighting about Tank. Now, remember Tank is the friend of James and Sherry's who also lived on that same property with them. Tank and Sherry had a history. At some point they were romantically involved.

Heather said that Sherry had told her two versions of the story. They both started out the same, with James leaving to go help their friend D, but Heather said Sherry gave her different times. According to Heather, Sherry first said that James went out early in the morning, around eight thirty am, and later she said that it was around ten or ten thirty am. In both versions, James never reached their friend D. But in one version, according to the Missing Persons report, Sherry told someone else that James never reached D and took a ride to San Bernardino and went to rehab. Finding Sherry unreliable, Heather started talking to more people. A lot of these people are difficult to find. We've been trying to reach out to them in Wonder Valley and it's been challenging. A lot of them live off the grid, and a lot of them have changed numbers since then, and Heather found out that James's love life was a little bit more complicated than it seemed to be on the surface. Heather talked to D, the woman who got stuck in the desert and who called Sherry for help, and D told Heather something she hadn't heard before. The story that Sherry told was that d had gone out in the desert in the early morning hours of June twenty fifth to go rock Honting. That's when her car got stuck in sand. But D filled in some more details. She told Heather the reason she had gone out so early was because she had been hanging out at James and Sherry's house and they had started fighting, and she said they were fighting about Tank. Now, remember Tank is the friend of James and Sherry's who also lived on that same property with them. Tank and Sherry had a history. At some point they were romantically involved.

She told me that basically Sherry was kind of bouncings back and forth between Tank and James, and that she had been hanging out with them and she was really tired of hearing James and Sherry fighting about that, and so she left in the middle of the night, got out there, got part, took a nap, and woke up with the intentions of looking for rocks and fossils and things like that. So she colected them. So that made a little bit more sense because I was like, he's going to go out where there's like no street lights changing at four four foot thirty in the morning to hunt Rock when you can't even really see them other than your headlights in the black light. Yeah, so that made it make a little more sense as to why she was out there at that hour. But apparently they were fighting and that's why it according her, that's why that she left. She got tired of hearing it.

She told me that basically Sherry was kind of bouncings back and forth between Tank and James, and that she had been hanging out with them and she was really tired of hearing James and Sherry fighting about that, and so she left in the middle of the night, got out there, got part, took a nap, and woke up with the intentions of looking for rocks and fossils and things like that. So she colected them. So that made a little bit more sense because I was like, he's going to go out where there's like no street lights changing at four four foot thirty in the morning to hunt Rock when you can't even really see them other than your headlights in the black light. Yeah, so that made it make a little more sense as to why she was out there at that hour. But apparently they were fighting and that's why it according her, that's why that she left. She got tired of hearing it.

Heather tried to get the police to talk to more people about James's case, but she discovered that the police hadn't even canvassed people in the immediate area about James's disappearance.

Heather tried to get the police to talk to more people about James's case, but she discovered that the police hadn't even canvassed people in the immediate area about James's disappearance.

There's only like a handful of houses right there on that little stretch of Shelton, And I asked them specifically multiple times between September and January, like, Hey, have you guys gone out and questioned those people in those houses, like if they saw James around that time, they didn't have the bike ended up there anything. Oh, they've been questioned, They've been questioned. Finally I asked, I was like, Okay, who keeps saying they've been questioned? What questions did y'all ask them in relation to James. That's when it came out that oh, no, they had been questioned in relation to Erica Lloyd, And I said, okay, so you're telling me that y'all went out there knocking on these doors and asked them if they have seen a thirty something year old white girl in a black car. And you'd think that was sent to somehow spawn them to say no. But I saw this fifty something year old Indian man on a red bike. Like that's not even in the realm of the same thing. But I can tell you, like I have the missing person's file from James's case. It's nine pages, one sided, not too exited. Just the amount of information I provided to law enforcement should have been more than nine pages.

There's only like a handful of houses right there on that little stretch of Shelton, And I asked them specifically multiple times between September and January, like, Hey, have you guys gone out and questioned those people in those houses, like if they saw James around that time, they didn't have the bike ended up there anything. Oh, they've been questioned, They've been questioned. Finally I asked, I was like, Okay, who keeps saying they've been questioned? What questions did y'all ask them in relation to James. That's when it came out that oh, no, they had been questioned in relation to Erica Lloyd, And I said, okay, so you're telling me that y'all went out there knocking on these doors and asked them if they have seen a thirty something year old white girl in a black car. And you'd think that was sent to somehow spawn them to say no. But I saw this fifty something year old Indian man on a red bike. Like that's not even in the realm of the same thing. But I can tell you, like I have the missing person's file from James's case. It's nine pages, one sided, not too exited. Just the amount of information I provided to law enforcement should have been more than nine pages.

So let's look at that missing person's report. When police talked to Sherry on October first, twenty twenty, according to the missing Person's report, the story she told them was again different from the one she told Heather. She said that d called between eight and eight thirty on the morning of June twenty fifth, and that d told her she was stuck in her truck, not that James actually went out at that time. Sherry told detectives that after that she called Gary, another friend of theirs, and Gary went out to get but Gary was unable to move D's vehicle, and then Gary and D both showed up at Sherry's house. She said James was there also. At some point D went back out to where her truck was. Then D called again at around one fifteen to one thirty in the afternoon. That's when James put air into the bike tires and went out to look for D. Now again, this is still according to Sherry. Several hours later, Tank showed up at their house. This was at around three thirty. Then, when they realized they hadn't heard from James, Tank went out to d to rescue her. This is a big difference. First of all, this would mean that instead of James going out at eight or eight thirty in the morning, this would mean he was out in the hottest part of the afternoon, and there appears to be a discrepancy of several hours. There's something else in the police report that Heather says is inconsistent. Sherry told detectives she had contacted several people about James being missing, including Heather Connie, who was James's legal wife, though they hadn't been in a relationship or lived together in a long time, and several other people. Meanwhile, none of these people said that Sherry had contacted them. Sherry told police that James was a heavy heroin user, that he would use thirty to thirty five CC's per day. She said that he used drugs to deal with various physical problems that he had, and it's certainly possible that something happened to James that did not involve foul play. Maybe he was doing drugs that day, maybe he accidentally overdosed. But if that's the case, Heather wants to know so that she and her husband, John, and the rest of their family can have some kind of closure. She does not believe that that should be the automatic assumption by police just because James had a drug habit. Police also talked to Tank. He said he was at work when he got a call about d being stuck that day. He said that he came to where he and James and Sherry lived. He said that he helped James fill up those by Sickles tires with air, and then several hours later D and Gary showed up in Gary's truck. Then he said they all three went out to the desert to pull D's truck out, that they were finally able to get it unstuck from the sand. D had a slightly different story. She told police she left home at around four thirty am to go rock hunting near Shelton Road in Highway sixty two. Then she said that around five thirty am, her truck got stuck on a barrier somewhere south of Highway sixty two. She described it as being two streets away from Shelton Road. Since it was still dark, she said she decided to wait it out. She took a nap in her truck, and then she woke up at six am. That's when she called Gary and Sherry for help. She said that Gary came out first and tried for around four hours to pull the truck out. He was there by himself, but he didn't have any luck. By this point, D said she was overheated, so she rode with Gary in his vehicle back to Tank's trailer to lie down, which was on the same property where James and Sherry lived. D said that Gary and Tank left there and went to pull her truck out without her. Now again, if you notice, it's the same general story, but if you look closer, some very important details have been changed because the story that D told the police was that she was calling Sherry at around one thirty that afternoon. Sherry did put her on with James. James said he would go out there to help her get the truck unstuck. But then the story seems to make even less sense because D said that on that three way call, she was honking her horn. She heard him say I hear the horn, but he never showed up, she said. She later assumed that James was angry, that he didn't want to deal with it anymore, or maybe he just got too hot and bailed out. But if that's true, then her others story about being taken back to Sherry's property to lie down can't be true. So which one is it? Where was D? Was she back at Sherry's trailer or was she back at her truck? And if so, who drove her there? These stories don't match, yet law enforcement did not seem to ask too many questions about these inconsistencies. Police reached out to Gary. His story is that he was at home that day. He said he lived near Sherry in Wonder Valley. He said he got the call between around eleven and noon. He said Sherry called him, not d. D drove a Champagne colored Ford Expedition. He went out to the desert and was unable to get the vehicle out, So by that point his story seems to match D's. He said she was super dehydrated. He took her to Sherry's house so that she could lie down. While he was at Sherry's house, he picked up Tank, who again lived there, in a trailer. They went back out to the vehicle and got it unstuck. So in Gary's version of the story, only he and Tank are out there with the truck. After they got it unstuck, He said, Tank drove D's car and he drove his own truck. He said when they got back to Sherry's it was around three to four pm. Gary said he never saw James that day. He said he never met James. He had no idea who he was, and he had no idea that James had gone out to assist D on a bike. Police executed a search warrant to get Sherry's phone records, but they hit a wall there because Sherry at that point no longer had the same phone or a phone plan. She told police the phone she had at the time James disappeared, was stolen from the Tortoise Rock Casino. That she had a new phone and no access to the old account, so it seems like police didn't pursue it any further. So the phone appeared to be another dead inn. But then Heather talked to Detective Halloway, the investigator in charge of the case. Detective Halloway was able to do a data dump of the calls and text messages for the month of June from James's phone logs, and we have seen a copy of those phone logs now. One thing to note is that almost all of the calls and texts on James's phone are incoming. When he has an outgoing text, it's usually one or two words, so Heather's comments about James being a man a few words appears to be true. Almost all of the calls are very short in duration, just a few seconds, maybe up to a minute. But we did notice something else, James was talking to other women. Heather said that Detective Holloway told her that he'd taken a look at the phone records and that Sherry's phone records basically matched James's. Another question I have is when did the detective actually see and compare those phone records, because I thought he told Heather that Sherry didn't have the account anymore. Heather said that she was told since everyone basically admitted to being out there in the desert, there was no need to subpoena any more phone records because it appeared on the surface that the story about the three way call was true. James's incoming text do show that shortly after nine am, James was receiving texts from Sherry, first a location at seventy six fifteen Shelton Road in twenty nine Palms. Then Sherry texted him I gave her your number for her to call you, so answer your phone. Then another one saying my location. The final incoming text came from D and Heather says that the address that she texted was not right at that intersection. It was the address of a private home. So what could D and potentially James have been doing at someone else's home and was that homeowner? Ever questioned? I took a look at James's phone logs from the days before he disappeared to try and understand what was going on in his life. The night before, on June twenty fourth, there was a text from Sherry just after ten PM, asking you planning on staying out all night. James replied no. Sherry also texted him earlier that day saying that Nancy James's X was trying to get a hold of him. She had been looking for him regarding James moving some of his stuff off of her property. So James did have some conflict in his love life. But on the surface, it does look like James was out in the desert looking for d James's phone records showed that he did get an incoming call from Sherry. The duration was twenty two seconds at nine to twenty three in the morning. Then there were three more calls from Sherry at nine twenty five, nine thirty five, and nine forty nine. None of them went through after that nothing. This would seem to be very out of character for James, just based on looking at this spreadsheet of his calls and texts and looking for patterns, because yes, most of James's calls were very shortened duration, but there were multiple incoming and outgoing calls every single day, the line's share of them were to Sherry, and then there was absolutely nothing at all. Also, the time when Sherry was calling James. That was much earlier than Sherry told detectives he went out. And also it's odd that there are absolutely no messages or calls after that, not one text asking where James is, Is he okay? When is he coming back? I feel weird about going through James's phone records because if someone has a complicated or messy love life, I really hate to invade their privacy. Unfortunately, it's really a crucial step in figuring out what's going on. We do know he was talking to women other than Sherry. One of them was an ex girlfriend named Nancy. Nancy told police she last talked to James in June when they argued about him moving a trailer off her property, and that matches what we've seen in the text and phone records. But there were other rumors going around after James disappeared. One was that someone had put a hit out on James, and that rumor intensified when something else was found on James's phone. Apparently there was an image on the phone. There was a woman who, according to Heather, is the girlfriend of a guy who knew James. This guy has a long criminal record. Police talked to this woman and She told investigators that she had seen James years ago, but that she had not seen him in a long time. She confirmed that the photos on the phone were hers. She said she had no idea why they were there, how they got there, or why you would have them. She said she did not know James like that a guess, meaning she didn't know him intimately. Police talked to another man who, according to rumors, had been asked by this woman's boyfriend to remove someone from a property, presumably meaning to take James out. But when this guy was questioned by police and asked if he had had anyone ask him to removed someone, he completely denied ever having any part in anything like that. There's something else that's interesting in this missing person's report because one of the people who police questioned was a guy named Christian. Remember Erica Lloyd wrote in her journal and told people she was camping in Joshua Tree with two men, James and Christian. Heather still wonders if these mystery men could have been James Esclante and his friend Christian, who was questioned by police. Detectives did talk to Christian, but it's just a couple of lines in the report. Police asked Christian if he had ever gone camping with James or Erica Lloyd. He said that he hadn't. There were a few more things found at that intersection other than the bike that could be potential clues. It turned out Doug Billings found more than a red bike out there at the intersection of Danby and a Boy Road, near where the bike was found, in less than a mile from where James lived. Doug found drug paraphernalia in straps that you use to tie off your arms to inject drugs, and a water bottle and a half full bottle of phana, And there was something else out there. There was a box for a digital scale, which a lot of drug dealers use. So I'm wondering what if James went out there to make a deal or saw a deal in progress and something went wrong. There were only thirteen photos taken of James's body. The pocket knife that the deputy found was entered into evidence in the Sheriff's department and booked into the property room, but according to Heather, it was never tested for fingerprints, and the mysterious stains that the deputy noted weren't tested either. James Escalante's case seems to be stalled. Heather wants to make sure that James is not forgotten. Meanwhile, Erica Lloyd's family is trying to do the same thing. David Krow and Tila Campbell were both arrested in charge with stealing Erica's car, which may have indirectly led to her death since they moved it from the spot where she probably wrecked, which meant that rescuers were looking in the wrong place. David made a plea deal, but Tela's case continues. Erica's mother, Ruth Lloyd, continues to post updates about the case. She wrote quote. Her initial bail was a million dollars back in June of twenty twenty one. Since then, she has had over twenty four scheduled court dates. The first several years, we had deputy district attorneys that were very familiar with Eric's case, but as the years slide by, our fears and concerns are that Eric's case will be lost in the mire of just another case out there, a candle in the wind end. Quote. Erica's family are asking people who want to help to write letters to the San Bernardino District Attorney's office. Heather Escalante and her husband John continue in their fight to understand what happened to James during what should have been a fifteen minute bike ride and whine no one reported him missing. Heather is no longer in contact with Sherry or d And and has been unable to speak to Tank or Gary, the other two people involved in the story. There's something else that haunts Heather. What Sherry said about James's ring.

So let's look at that missing person's report. When police talked to Sherry on October first, twenty twenty, according to the missing Person's report, the story she told them was again different from the one she told Heather. She said that d called between eight and eight thirty on the morning of June twenty fifth, and that d told her she was stuck in her truck, not that James actually went out at that time. Sherry told detectives that after that she called Gary, another friend of theirs, and Gary went out to get but Gary was unable to move D's vehicle, and then Gary and D both showed up at Sherry's house. She said James was there also. At some point D went back out to where her truck was. Then D called again at around one fifteen to one thirty in the afternoon. That's when James put air into the bike tires and went out to look for D. Now again, this is still according to Sherry. Several hours later, Tank showed up at their house. This was at around three thirty. Then, when they realized they hadn't heard from James, Tank went out to d to rescue her. This is a big difference. First of all, this would mean that instead of James going out at eight or eight thirty in the morning, this would mean he was out in the hottest part of the afternoon, and there appears to be a discrepancy of several hours. There's something else in the police report that Heather says is inconsistent. Sherry told detectives she had contacted several people about James being missing, including Heather Connie, who was James's legal wife, though they hadn't been in a relationship or lived together in a long time, and several other people. Meanwhile, none of these people said that Sherry had contacted them. Sherry told police that James was a heavy heroin user, that he would use thirty to thirty five CC's per day. She said that he used drugs to deal with various physical problems that he had, and it's certainly possible that something happened to James that did not involve foul play. Maybe he was doing drugs that day, maybe he accidentally overdosed. But if that's the case, Heather wants to know so that she and her husband, John, and the rest of their family can have some kind of closure. She does not believe that that should be the automatic assumption by police just because James had a drug habit. Police also talked to Tank. He said he was at work when he got a call about d being stuck that day. He said that he came to where he and James and Sherry lived. He said that he helped James fill up those by Sickles tires with air, and then several hours later D and Gary showed up in Gary's truck. Then he said they all three went out to the desert to pull D's truck out, that they were finally able to get it unstuck from the sand. D had a slightly different story. She told police she left home at around four thirty am to go rock hunting near Shelton Road in Highway sixty two. Then she said that around five thirty am, her truck got stuck on a barrier somewhere south of Highway sixty two. She described it as being two streets away from Shelton Road. Since it was still dark, she said she decided to wait it out. She took a nap in her truck, and then she woke up at six am. That's when she called Gary and Sherry for help. She said that Gary came out first and tried for around four hours to pull the truck out. He was there by himself, but he didn't have any luck. By this point, D said she was overheated, so she rode with Gary in his vehicle back to Tank's trailer to lie down, which was on the same property where James and Sherry lived. D said that Gary and Tank left there and went to pull her truck out without her. Now again, if you notice, it's the same general story, but if you look closer, some very important details have been changed because the story that D told the police was that she was calling Sherry at around one thirty that afternoon. Sherry did put her on with James. James said he would go out there to help her get the truck unstuck. But then the story seems to make even less sense because D said that on that three way call, she was honking her horn. She heard him say I hear the horn, but he never showed up, she said. She later assumed that James was angry, that he didn't want to deal with it anymore, or maybe he just got too hot and bailed out. But if that's true, then her others story about being taken back to Sherry's property to lie down can't be true. So which one is it? Where was D? Was she back at Sherry's trailer or was she back at her truck? And if so, who drove her there? These stories don't match, yet law enforcement did not seem to ask too many questions about these inconsistencies. Police reached out to Gary. His story is that he was at home that day. He said he lived near Sherry in Wonder Valley. He said he got the call between around eleven and noon. He said Sherry called him, not d. D drove a Champagne colored Ford Expedition. He went out to the desert and was unable to get the vehicle out, So by that point his story seems to match D's. He said she was super dehydrated. He took her to Sherry's house so that she could lie down. While he was at Sherry's house, he picked up Tank, who again lived there, in a trailer. They went back out to the vehicle and got it unstuck. So in Gary's version of the story, only he and Tank are out there with the truck. After they got it unstuck, He said, Tank drove D's car and he drove his own truck. He said when they got back to Sherry's it was around three to four pm. Gary said he never saw James that day. He said he never met James. He had no idea who he was, and he had no idea that James had gone out to assist D on a bike. Police executed a search warrant to get Sherry's phone records, but they hit a wall there because Sherry at that point no longer had the same phone or a phone plan. She told police the phone she had at the time James disappeared, was stolen from the Tortoise Rock Casino. That she had a new phone and no access to the old account, so it seems like police didn't pursue it any further. So the phone appeared to be another dead inn. But then Heather talked to Detective Halloway, the investigator in charge of the case. Detective Halloway was able to do a data dump of the calls and text messages for the month of June from James's phone logs, and we have seen a copy of those phone logs now. One thing to note is that almost all of the calls and texts on James's phone are incoming. When he has an outgoing text, it's usually one or two words, so Heather's comments about James being a man a few words appears to be true. Almost all of the calls are very short in duration, just a few seconds, maybe up to a minute. But we did notice something else, James was talking to other women. Heather said that Detective Holloway told her that he'd taken a look at the phone records and that Sherry's phone records basically matched James's. Another question I have is when did the detective actually see and compare those phone records, because I thought he told Heather that Sherry didn't have the account anymore. Heather said that she was told since everyone basically admitted to being out there in the desert, there was no need to subpoena any more phone records because it appeared on the surface that the story about the three way call was true. James's incoming text do show that shortly after nine am, James was receiving texts from Sherry, first a location at seventy six fifteen Shelton Road in twenty nine Palms. Then Sherry texted him I gave her your number for her to call you, so answer your phone. Then another one saying my location. The final incoming text came from D and Heather says that the address that she texted was not right at that intersection. It was the address of a private home. So what could D and potentially James have been doing at someone else's home and was that homeowner? Ever questioned? I took a look at James's phone logs from the days before he disappeared to try and understand what was going on in his life. The night before, on June twenty fourth, there was a text from Sherry just after ten PM, asking you planning on staying out all night. James replied no. Sherry also texted him earlier that day saying that Nancy James's X was trying to get a hold of him. She had been looking for him regarding James moving some of his stuff off of her property. So James did have some conflict in his love life. But on the surface, it does look like James was out in the desert looking for d James's phone records showed that he did get an incoming call from Sherry. The duration was twenty two seconds at nine to twenty three in the morning. Then there were three more calls from Sherry at nine twenty five, nine thirty five, and nine forty nine. None of them went through after that nothing. This would seem to be very out of character for James, just based on looking at this spreadsheet of his calls and texts and looking for patterns, because yes, most of James's calls were very shortened duration, but there were multiple incoming and outgoing calls every single day, the line's share of them were to Sherry, and then there was absolutely nothing at all. Also, the time when Sherry was calling James. That was much earlier than Sherry told detectives he went out. And also it's odd that there are absolutely no messages or calls after that, not one text asking where James is, Is he okay? When is he coming back? I feel weird about going through James's phone records because if someone has a complicated or messy love life, I really hate to invade their privacy. Unfortunately, it's really a crucial step in figuring out what's going on. We do know he was talking to women other than Sherry. One of them was an ex girlfriend named Nancy. Nancy told police she last talked to James in June when they argued about him moving a trailer off her property, and that matches what we've seen in the text and phone records. But there were other rumors going around after James disappeared. One was that someone had put a hit out on James, and that rumor intensified when something else was found on James's phone. Apparently there was an image on the phone. There was a woman who, according to Heather, is the girlfriend of a guy who knew James. This guy has a long criminal record. Police talked to this woman and She told investigators that she had seen James years ago, but that she had not seen him in a long time. She confirmed that the photos on the phone were hers. She said she had no idea why they were there, how they got there, or why you would have them. She said she did not know James like that a guess, meaning she didn't know him intimately. Police talked to another man who, according to rumors, had been asked by this woman's boyfriend to remove someone from a property, presumably meaning to take James out. But when this guy was questioned by police and asked if he had had anyone ask him to removed someone, he completely denied ever having any part in anything like that. There's something else that's interesting in this missing person's report because one of the people who police questioned was a guy named Christian. Remember Erica Lloyd wrote in her journal and told people she was camping in Joshua Tree with two men, James and Christian. Heather still wonders if these mystery men could have been James Esclante and his friend Christian, who was questioned by police. Detectives did talk to Christian, but it's just a couple of lines in the report. Police asked Christian if he had ever gone camping with James or Erica Lloyd. He said that he hadn't. There were a few more things found at that intersection other than the bike that could be potential clues. It turned out Doug Billings found more than a red bike out there at the intersection of Danby and a Boy Road, near where the bike was found, in less than a mile from where James lived. Doug found drug paraphernalia in straps that you use to tie off your arms to inject drugs, and a water bottle and a half full bottle of phana, And there was something else out there. There was a box for a digital scale, which a lot of drug dealers use. So I'm wondering what if James went out there to make a deal or saw a deal in progress and something went wrong. There were only thirteen photos taken of James's body. The pocket knife that the deputy found was entered into evidence in the Sheriff's department and booked into the property room, but according to Heather, it was never tested for fingerprints, and the mysterious stains that the deputy noted weren't tested either. James Escalante's case seems to be stalled. Heather wants to make sure that James is not forgotten. Meanwhile, Erica Lloyd's family is trying to do the same thing. David Krow and Tila Campbell were both arrested in charge with stealing Erica's car, which may have indirectly led to her death since they moved it from the spot where she probably wrecked, which meant that rescuers were looking in the wrong place. David made a plea deal, but Tela's case continues. Erica's mother, Ruth Lloyd, continues to post updates about the case. She wrote quote. Her initial bail was a million dollars back in June of twenty twenty one. Since then, she has had over twenty four scheduled court dates. The first several years, we had deputy district attorneys that were very familiar with Eric's case, but as the years slide by, our fears and concerns are that Eric's case will be lost in the mire of just another case out there, a candle in the wind end. Quote. Erica's family are asking people who want to help to write letters to the San Bernardino District Attorney's office. Heather Escalante and her husband John continue in their fight to understand what happened to James during what should have been a fifteen minute bike ride and whine no one reported him missing. Heather is no longer in contact with Sherry or d And and has been unable to speak to Tank or Gary, the other two people involved in the story. There's something else that haunts Heather. What Sherry said about James's ring.

So one of the first things she said to my husband after apologizing profusely, was that she told my husband James gave me a ring and told me he wanted me to give it to you. She was like, I'm currently wearing it. I'm gonna wear it until I can give it you in person, and said she had some other personal belongings of James's to give this John and then said, you know, I'm so sorry. I'm the one who sent him out there to help her, which she's changed that as well later in multiple stories she said she didn't send him out there. The thing that struck me with the ring multiple things. One, if she didn't know us and we didn't know her prior to this, why would James give her anything to get to my husband? He had my husband's phone number, he could have easily just been like, Hey, John, I want to send you something fun. What's you know? Give me your address I can mail it to you. Not only that, but he was still in contact with my husband's ex and they had a son together who at that time was living with us, So we obviously had contact with her because of our son, and she was sending things out here pretty regularly for him, and James was aware of that. So if he was going to give it to anybody out there to give to John, I feel like it would have been her. Yeah. Like so nothing about that made sense, right, No, No, So that one automatically struck me as odd, and then the ring thing does get odder later shortly after there, we actually ended up leaving the next day. No one knew we were coming. My husband and I flew out to California and stay for a few days, trying to get some things through the coroner's office so that we could find out if a body that was found out there near that area on August eighth was James's, which it actually turned out it was his. But when we got there, we called her that same day and we're like, hey, we're in town. Can we meet with you so that we can get some things of James's out of histy things like that to meet her? And Tank met us out in the middle of the desert, said that they were having some car trouble and so Tank was going to need to get their vehicle back to their place. Could Marry just ride with us for lovely adventure? And I was like, oh yes, sure, lovely pop on it. And so, because you know, my husband and I are in our little rental car, he ends up at that time giving my husband this ring, and now he's got it in his possession. We still have it to this day now, mind you. In the beginning, I'd asked her like, well, was he wearing any jewelry? Oh no, which was to me weird because Dame's always word gerty. She said he wasn't, and I was like, okay, yes, maybe less than a rush. Sure, okay, Like I said, a few weeks after us to give the ring to my husband, I'm messaging with her because I found that if you asked her the same thing multiple times, multiple different ways, and it kind of space it apart. Her answer changes. So I was like, well, right again. So after her again, like, well, besides his clothes, And Sue was like, what was he wearing jeelry? Did he have anything his pockets? Like I need everything? You can give me this. Once she told me he was wearing jewelry, and we started going through pictures trying to figure out, like what story he was wearing. She tells me, oh, these are the rings he was wearing. I look, and one of the rings he claims he was wearing when he went missing is the one she gave my husband.

So one of the first things she said to my husband after apologizing profusely, was that she told my husband James gave me a ring and told me he wanted me to give it to you. She was like, I'm currently wearing it. I'm gonna wear it until I can give it you in person, and said she had some other personal belongings of James's to give this John and then said, you know, I'm so sorry. I'm the one who sent him out there to help her, which she's changed that as well later in multiple stories she said she didn't send him out there. The thing that struck me with the ring multiple things. One, if she didn't know us and we didn't know her prior to this, why would James give her anything to get to my husband? He had my husband's phone number, he could have easily just been like, Hey, John, I want to send you something fun. What's you know? Give me your address I can mail it to you. Not only that, but he was still in contact with my husband's ex and they had a son together who at that time was living with us, So we obviously had contact with her because of our son, and she was sending things out here pretty regularly for him, and James was aware of that. So if he was going to give it to anybody out there to give to John, I feel like it would have been her. Yeah. Like so nothing about that made sense, right, No, No, So that one automatically struck me as odd, and then the ring thing does get odder later shortly after there, we actually ended up leaving the next day. No one knew we were coming. My husband and I flew out to California and stay for a few days, trying to get some things through the coroner's office so that we could find out if a body that was found out there near that area on August eighth was James's, which it actually turned out it was his. But when we got there, we called her that same day and we're like, hey, we're in town. Can we meet with you so that we can get some things of James's out of histy things like that to meet her? And Tank met us out in the middle of the desert, said that they were having some car trouble and so Tank was going to need to get their vehicle back to their place. Could Marry just ride with us for lovely adventure? And I was like, oh yes, sure, lovely pop on it. And so, because you know, my husband and I are in our little rental car, he ends up at that time giving my husband this ring, and now he's got it in his possession. We still have it to this day now, mind you. In the beginning, I'd asked her like, well, was he wearing any jewelry? Oh no, which was to me weird because Dame's always word gerty. She said he wasn't, and I was like, okay, yes, maybe less than a rush. Sure, okay, Like I said, a few weeks after us to give the ring to my husband, I'm messaging with her because I found that if you asked her the same thing multiple times, multiple different ways, and it kind of space it apart. Her answer changes. So I was like, well, right again. So after her again, like, well, besides his clothes, And Sue was like, what was he wearing jeelry? Did he have anything his pockets? Like I need everything? You can give me this. Once she told me he was wearing jewelry, and we started going through pictures trying to figure out, like what story he was wearing. She tells me, oh, these are the rings he was wearing. I look, and one of the rings he claims he was wearing when he went missing is the one she gave my husband.

In September, Heather said that she was floored when Sherry told her that the ring that she had given them was one that James had supposedly been wearing when he left the house on the day he disappeared. If that was true, then Heather wondered, how exactly did Sherry get that ring?

In September, Heather said that she was floored when Sherry told her that the ring that she had given them was one that James had supposedly been wearing when he left the house on the day he disappeared. If that was true, then Heather wondered, how exactly did Sherry get that ring?

So I was like, oh, okay, this is about to not go well. So that's kind of when her and I really started not getting along very well at that point, because I was like, wait a minute, no, so that can't be Yeah, you're going to have to make that make a lot more sense. So when I confronted her on it, he comes back and says, oh, I must have been mistaken about which ring it was that he was wearing. The ring I gave your husband is a ring that James had lost before he went missing, out on our property that we were living at. I found it after he went missing, and I sat in his favorite teir and asked him what shall I do? What shall I do with your ring? And James's spirit told her to give it to my husband. And I was like, uh, huh, okay, So that whole thing, clearly fighty senses were not right, they were opining. So that was all kind of the first stuff that I was like, Oh wait a minute, something's really off here with her story, with things being missing everything, something's really bad off.

So I was like, oh, okay, this is about to not go well. So that's kind of when her and I really started not getting along very well at that point, because I was like, wait a minute, no, so that can't be Yeah, you're going to have to make that make a lot more sense. So when I confronted her on it, he comes back and says, oh, I must have been mistaken about which ring it was that he was wearing. The ring I gave your husband is a ring that James had lost before he went missing, out on our property that we were living at. I found it after he went missing, and I sat in his favorite teir and asked him what shall I do? What shall I do with your ring? And James's spirit told her to give it to my husband. And I was like, uh, huh, okay, So that whole thing, clearly fighty senses were not right, they were opining. So that was all kind of the first stuff that I was like, Oh wait a minute, something's really off here with her story, with things being missing everything, something's really bad off.

Heather thought that this was bizarre, and look, I can accept the fact some people may believe that they have some kind of psychic premonitions. Or Sherry may have believed that James was dead simply because he did have a drug habit, and we know that even without drugs that desert can be fatal. But what if something else happened? What if James stumbled on the wrong people out there, What if he overdosed, What if the area where he was found wasn't his last location? But a dump sight. Sherry, according to Heather, was talking about James in the past tense, as if he was definitely dead, when in her mind, he was just a missing person, a missing person who, by the way, had a history of going off alone.

Heather thought that this was bizarre, and look, I can accept the fact some people may believe that they have some kind of psychic premonitions. Or Sherry may have believed that James was dead simply because he did have a drug habit, and we know that even without drugs that desert can be fatal. But what if something else happened? What if James stumbled on the wrong people out there, What if he overdosed, What if the area where he was found wasn't his last location? But a dump sight. Sherry, according to Heather, was talking about James in the past tense, as if he was definitely dead, when in her mind, he was just a missing person, a missing person who, by the way, had a history of going off alone.

The other thing that really struck me in my husband's first conversation with her over the phone was that when they went to hang up that day, she said to him right before they hung up again, this is on September tenth, at the twenty of a missing person. He say, let me know when your father or when his services will be. I'd really like to attend if possible. What services he's a missing person.

The other thing that really struck me in my husband's first conversation with her over the phone was that when they went to hang up that day, she said to him right before they hung up again, this is on September tenth, at the twenty of a missing person. He say, let me know when your father or when his services will be. I'd really like to attend if possible. What services he's a missing person.

Heather wondered why, in her opinion, did Sherry seem so sure that James was dead. Does she know more than she's letting on. Heather doesn't want James to become just another cautionary tale of someone lost to the desert, written off because no one cared. Heather, John and the rest of James Escalante's family want justice. I'm Catherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Helen Gone Murder Line is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's written and narrated by me Catherine Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts. Special thanks to Amy Tubbs for her research assistance. This episode was sound designed and mixed by Noah Cameron. Our theme song is by Ben Sleek, Executive producers of Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and L. C. Crowley. Listen to Helen Gone ad free by subscribing to the iHeart True Crime Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If you were interested in seeing documents and material from the case, you can follow the show on Instagram at Helen gonpot. If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six one four five. School of Humans

Heather wondered why, in her opinion, did Sherry seem so sure that James was dead. Does she know more than she's letting on. Heather doesn't want James to become just another cautionary tale of someone lost to the desert, written off because no one cared. Heather, John and the rest of James Escalante's family want justice. I'm Catherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Helen Gone Murder Line is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's written and narrated by me Catherine Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts. Special thanks to Amy Tubbs for her research assistance. This episode was sound designed and mixed by Noah Cameron. Our theme song is by Ben Sleek, Executive producers of Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and L. C. Crowley. Listen to Helen Gone ad free by subscribing to the iHeart True Crime Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If you were interested in seeing documents and material from the case, you can follow the show on Instagram at Helen gonpot. If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six one four five. School of Humans