April millsap was a young teen who was just beginning to take on the world when her life was tragically taken away in twenty fourteen. April was walking her dog in a local park when a man snuck up behind her and attacked. However, what this man didn't know was that April had a fitness app running on her phone, and it would show police every detail of every step she was taking, and even every step of the murderer when he stole her phone and fled the scene. My name's Ben, I'm.
Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and Gram, a true crime podcast.
Warning. The following podcast and material intended for a mature audience listener discretion. It's up.
We're back.
We're back. Two week hiatus, two week vacation. Uh it went. It seemed like it just dragged on. It felt like a month.
Oh my goodness, it did well. I think that was because we were sick for a part of it.
So well, yeah, our hiatus was only going to be a week, and uh yeah, then we got super sick and we had to extend that, so our apologies. We didn't even have a voice for like nearly a week. Yeah, We're having a lot of people message us, where are you?
You know, are you guys alive?
Yeah, we were alive, barely and we are alive. Now. I'm much better than Nicole is a cold. You said you were sitting at what like, So.
That's like, that's very much still on the end, right.
I'm sitting at like ninety five ninety eight percent recovered.
Well I got I got it a little a few days later.
Than you, so makes sense, So I'm a bit ahead on the recovery schedule. Yes, sure, but yeah, we were down in Florida, went to Disney World, went to Universal Studios. We recorded our last episode and we were down there. We went to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal. Well we did it, And yeah, we did a little bit of work while we were down there. So it was a bit of a work trip slash vacation. And I mean in a place where there's so many people walking around
in parks like Universal and Disney. It's only I mean understandable that we got as sick as we did. It's the germs everywhere, right.
I still think I might have been okay, I think I might have been okay. It was you that you gave it to me, I might have been.
Okay, yeah, but you still got it, I know, which sucks. Someone gave it to me and then I gave it to you. Yeah.
I was like almost feeling like clausterphobe because you were like sick as fuck and we were in a hotel room that didn't have a window or anything that you could freaking open.
Yeah, the windows, so I'm like blocked from the outside.
I'm just like, Okay, I guess I'm just doomed. Like I'm doomed pretty much pretty much. But that's okay. I mean I've pat that's marriage. You passed it back and forth.
Yeah, so so uh, next time you get sick, just feel free to cough on my face. I guess I don't know, is that what you're after?
No? No, okay, thank god, but I do have a free pass fair enough.
We do have some patrons to thank who signed up even while the the hiatus was happening, even while there was no show occurring, you guys still signed up for Patreon to get that behind the scenes and exclusive access to all the content. So thank you very much to Tonya Carr, Christine and Marcus Smith, Chloe melsni Andre Casperne Smith, Martha Hatfield, Carrie Coleburn, Hannah Petty Dibsma ket Amy, and Jen Intel Nice. Yeah, thank you.
Maybe they were missing those episodes so they wanted the Patreon episodes. Hey, potentially there is a whole slew of them on there, there is.
We did not get a Patreon episode out for September with us being as sick as we were, unfortunately, but we argue making up by putting a total of three out this October, so there will be an extra one coming out plus the one we miss and then plus the October one.
So yeah, and it's Halloween Week two coming up. It is so excited.
Halloween wow upon us.
That's crazy. I actually feel like I don't know, I don't feel like it's that time of year. I'm a little behind here.
I am full Halloween mode.
You are? You are?
We don't have any decorations up because I mean, tiny home, we don't really decorate much for anything here. But I've been watching movies. I've been getting spooky, listening to tunes like the Monster Mash NonStop, even on Patreon, like we're doing a thirty one days of Halloween movie countdown, and like it's all movies that I'm watching and.
Yeah, which is cool. And I did get us a pumpkin pie the other day, which was lovely.
And we got our chickens of pumpkin the other day.
Yeah, they carved us a little pumpkin.
Yeah, it's just half a pumpkin now. But still, it's been good times enjoying the full Halloween. And of course with Halloween and Halloween Week coming, that means JACKO is going to be returning very soon.
Yeah, right, good old Jack.
So you're ready for Halloween Week because that is that's exciting.
That got me real excited.
Actually, okay, do we have anything else we want to touch on? I mean, I do understand we've been two week hiatus, so we might have a little bit to cover, but well, I think we.
Should just talk about that little event we have coming up though, and then we can dive into the podcast.
Go ahead, talk about that little event.
So we're doing a murder mystery, which is very cool. I can't remember the date though, it's October twenty fourth, I believe, okay, twenty fourth, so it's local Prince George. It's going to be a dead fall. Tickets are on sale and yeah.
Yeah, there's only thirty tickets total. We've sold I think eleven so far. We haven't really marketed like at all, so I do know that they are going to sell out relatively quickly. But yeah, if you want to join, head over to our Facebook page, our wicketting Grim Facebook page. The event is there and there's a link where you can get the tickets and you can join up. But like Nicole said, it is an in person, local event.
Yeah, and like you're going to dress up. We're going to have like a candy bar. It's on Thursday night, which I feel like most people you know probably are available.
Yeah, so it's warming up into the Halloween stuff, right, Yeah, so most people are busy on the Friday Saturday sunmeal Halloween. So hit it on a Thursday where you can still make room for all your other Halloween events. Get dressed up. We will be there. We will be playing certain characters. We come up get information. But most importantly, this is not just a it's not a murder mystery that we just went and bought. We didn't go to someone say hey we need a murder mystery for a party, give
us something. We have written the entire story. We have created all the characters that you will be talking to. Everything is written by us.
Yeah, which is wild actually.
So complete original story you can't find anywhere else and cool. Yeah.
So yeah, be there be Square. I guess there be Square's kidding. I know, it's like, I mean, most of our listeners are from PG so but the few that are or the son that are, like, grab your ticket.
Yeah, we'll see you guys there. But other than that, are we good? We can get onto the show.
Yeah, we should get on the show.
Okay, there's been a little bit of a longer intro in today's episode. Sorry, we're just kind of catching up. But for now, let's get into the actual case. And this is the case. As I mentioned at the very beginning of April millsap Okay, so April Dawn millsap was born on January twod in the year two thousand, to
Bobby and Jennifer millsap in Weiese County, Virginia. Now Jennifer April's mother had a condition called sarah Bella taxia, which is a neurological disorder that affects coordination, balance, and speech and eye movement a bit. Though Jennifer's ability to walk and speak. Was affected, her mind remains sharp. She's completely normal. It's I'm not gonna try and like compare different conditions, but just for a more an example that we can
all really understand a bit more. Cerebral palsy for example, okay, where it affects people's motor functions, but they're completely fine, Like their mind is one hundred percent sound sort of thing. It's similar. So, yeah, she was affected a little bit, but she was completely normal other than that. And when April came into her life, she became Jennifer's focus and joy. Though Bobby and Jennifer eventually did divorce, by the time April was six, Jennifer had entered into a new relationship
with a man by the name of David Litchenfeldt. Now together, the couple decided to relocate with April to a city called Armada. And this is more of a small village, I guess than a city. It's about thirty min north of Detroit in Michigan, with a population of just around two thousand people.
Okay, yeah, that's small.
Armada was a definition of a peaceful, close knit community. It's known for its friendly atmosphere, a strong sense of belonging, and it's surrounded by natural beauty and had a safe, affordable environment for raising a family. The village boasted a low crime rate, a solid school system, and charming park, shops, restaurants, you name it.
It was.
It was the kind of place where you know, neighbors they knew each other, you know. It wasn't unusual for families to leave their doors unlocked, even at night, and it was just like a picture perfect place to raise a young girl.
Yeah, I mean, I love that when people say that they don't have to lock their doors and stuff, but still lock your doors.
Yeah, just love the door in turn that. Sorry, I'm not going to start saying as long I can't sing for shit, so but yeah. David and Jennifer made their home in a cozy house that was built in nineteen oh five, just located a few blocks from the town's small, charming downtown center. Together, they raised April, and David took on the role of her father with dedication, forming a deep bond with her as if he was you know, as if she was his own.
Oh okay, I love that. That's awesome.
The family enjoyed spending times in the time and the outdoors and Armada's tight knit community felts, so he offered a sense of security within all this. The local kids, including April, often played freely in the neighborhood, running up and down the streets, riding their bikes, and parents looked out for one another's children. You know, it was fine to just let your kid outside and not really pay attention because there was another parent around who would be watching, you know.
Yeah, I mean I feel like all communities I wish were like that. Hey, but I know it's much easier to do when it's a smaller one.
So it is. And even then, all it takes is one ad, one bad apple to ruin the whole thing.
Yeah, isn't that the truth?
Yeah?
Now.
April was a bright and joyful child, often described as shy at first, but once she warmed up, her lively and fun loving personality quickly kicked in and emerged. She enjoyed dressing up, you know, having her hair done, always taking pride in her apparents sort of thing. And April also had a deep love for animals, growing up surrounded by pets who were more like siblings to her than
anything else. The family had two cats, Fluffy, and Satan love the names, and two dogs, Bella, who was a pitbull lab mix and Penny, who was a black border Collie lab mix. Of all the animals, Penny held a special place in April's heart, following her everywhere from the moment she woke up every day. April's love for animals led her to dream of becoming a veterinarian from a
very young age. She's looking at, you know, going to college, going to university, being a veterinarian, and helping the animals in her In her adult life now, her stepdad, David, who embraced the role of you know, dad father pretty much without the step part involved. You know, he's the father.
Yeah.
He began setting aside money regularly to help her achieve this goal and support her through her college and university life.
Later on, Oh my gosh, love that so much.
And as she entered her teenage, April's interests began to shift a bit. Like many girls her age, she became more focused on you know, fashion, though she still held those dreams for a veterinarian right she was focusing a lot more on makeup, spending time with her friends, social media, her phone, and conversations about boys became a regular part
of the world. She also experienced typical growing pains of you know, everyone's adolescence that we all navigate, feelings of insecurity and the complexities of attractions and as I already mentioned her case boys right. So, by twenty fourteen, April had turned fourteen and was in the eighth grade, approaching the end of the middle school year. At this point in her life, she had been dating a boy by the name of Austin for over a year, and things
seemed to be going fairly well for her. One of April's favorite hobbies was, you know, staying active and keeping fit. Like many teens experiencing changes in puberty, this adolescent life right, fitness became a way for her to really kind of try and control her growing body and maintain us a self of a sense of self as we say. So, she used this fitness tracker app on her iPhone that her Mum and David had gifted her for Christmas, complete with a little Teddy Bear phone case. As well.
Oh my gosh, okay, I love there's just like a little bit of innocence still because I'm like, gosh, she's already had a boyfriend for a year. Holy heck, but her little Teddy Bear phone case. Yeah, I love that.
So she would regularly take long walks with her dogs. She would alternate which dog she brought along with her. Typically she would bring Penny because you know, they had a little bit.
Penny was her girl, exactly.
Penny was her girl. But she'd ensured that she didn't, you know, play favorites, and she walked the other dog as well too. Her usual route was the McComb County Nature Trail, a well known spot in the community where many people went for walks and riding bikes. You know, families going up and down the trail sort of thing, right, runners going through getting their run on, And these walks became a part of her routine, happening nearly every day,
or at least every other day. April Wood head to the trail, usually starting from the trailhead just down the street from her house, and her typical walk lasted about an hour and a half, including the time it took her to get there and back. With thirty minutes of walking each way along the scenic trail.
That's really good for her, hey, yeah, definitely.
So it was Thursday, July twenty fourth, twenty fourteen, and it started off as a typical summer day for April and her family. She woke up around noon, as many teens do during summer vacation from school, and she spent her morning chatting with friends on her phone, making plans to go shopping and hang out before you know, school finally resumed in the fall. For lunch, she woke up and made herself a salad, and David always lightheartedly teased
her by calling it rabbit food. Before he eventually headed off to work, he said, as usual, goodbye to April, not knowing it would be a day like no other.
Oh boy, I'm actually quite impressed with her though, because I feel like at that age people aren't necessarily that like health conscious.
Yeah, she's very health conscious. Yeah, she's got a fitness app th here, very impressive. She's going for a an hour and a half walk at least every other day. She's ensuring that she's eating vegetables like salad. Well, yeah, so she's doing good, and she's she's looking forward to her future education as a veterinarian. Like she's got a good head on her shoulder.
Yeah, she really does. So.
By late afternoon at Around five pm, April was getting ready for one of her routine walks. She packed up her black leather backpack with the essentials some dog treats, a water bottle, and a collapsible dog bowl. Aw yeah. She then grabbed Penny's leash, and by five thirty she and Penny were headed out the door, ready for the familiar walk along the nature trail. April and her mom, Jennifer,
exchange a quick goodbye that afternoon. There were no lingering words of affection, no final hug, just the routine expectation that April will be back soon. As always. Had Jennifer known it would be the last time she'd ever see her daughter alive, I'm sure she would have held her clothes. But it was just another day as far as they knew, and April was simply stepping out for what they thought regular walk.
She probably wouldn't have let her.
Go right, Probably not now. As time passed, Jennifer started to notice the clock. By seven pm, she realized that April hadn't returned yet. Usually, April was never out for more than two hours at most, But still, Jennifer wasn't too concerned. At first. She knew that sometimes April would take these walks as an excuse to meet up with her boyfriend Austin at the park.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah. Even though Jennifer was aware of this, she let April think that she was being sneaky now, figuring it was just harmless, the two young teens and love sort of thing, right, nothing to worry about. So, however, something began to not Jennifer's instincts. April hadn't packed a whole lot of food or water for Penny, which was out of the ordinary for such a long walk. It was a small detail, but it raised slight concern. Hoping for reassurance,
Jennifer texted April. April was usually glued to her phone and she always replied within minutes, but this time, as minutes ticked by, there was no response. Once Jennifer texted again, still nothing. Her concern began to grow and she tried calling, but I went straight to voicemail. It wasn't like April not to answer her phone, and Jennifer felt a subtle unease turning into real worry. By eight pm, the concern was undeniable. Jennifer texted Austin, April's boyfriend, asking if he
knew where April was or if they were together. Austin replied that he hadn't seen or heard from April that day, and Jennifer decided to call him, explaining that April was missing and asked if he and his friend Alex could help look for her. As Jennifer waited for Austin and Alex to arrive, a sinking feeling was settling in her stomach.
Something clearly wasn't right, and she couldn't shake it. Unable to sit and wait any longer, she grabbed her keys and decided to drive to the trailhead herself, the place where April always began her walks. She needed to find her daughter, and time was ticking and Jennifer's motherly instincts
were screaming that something was wrong. There at the trailhead, there was no sign of April or Penny when Jennifer reached it, and with her motor condition, navigating the trail would be a little bit difficult for her, so, realizing she needs to actually go out and search, she made the right choice to turn back and return home and wait for help from Austin and Alex. By eight thirty pm, Austin and Alex showed up and the three of them quickly formed a plan to search for April, but before
they left, Austin mentioned something unsettling. He had actually received a text from April earlier that day, so it was at about six twenty eight pm that Austin received a text message that read quote I think I almost got kidnapped. Omfg, oh my gosh.
Okay, this is like really just heartbreaking. You're really setting this up to like just destroy us? I think. I mean, it's the story, it's the story.
It's the story. It's definitely the story. But yeah, it it's undeniable that your heart's going to break here for sure. So at text like this, it wasn't something that April would just send and make up. It's not like her to do that. So there's dramatic, not dramatic like that. No, So something is clearly wrong and they were alarmed. They decided to split up cover more ground quickly. So there were three possible paths April could have taken, so each
took one. Alex drove north, Austin took April's bike and headed on the trail to the trail, and Jennifer still in her car, drove further south, hoping to spot her daughter somewhere along the way. As she searched, Jennifer also called David, informing him that April was missing, and without hesitation, he informed his boss he was leaving work and rushed to help with a search. While they were scouring the area, it wasn't long before Jennifer got a call from Austin.
He told her to meet him at the intersection of Fulton and deep Boat near the trailhead. Austin mentioned that animal control was there and that people were gathered around, possibly because Penny had somehow gotten loose. Thinking Penny had simply just escaped, oh, Jennifer's.
Grasp, Yeah, no, looking for the dog kind of thing.
Yeah, exactly, Jennifer rushed to meet Austin there. When she arrived, two uniform police officers were already speaking with Austin. Jennifer introduced herself and explained that they were looking for April. But what she and Austin didn't yet realize was that authorities weren't there just because Penny had gotten loose. See earlier that evening, at around eight twenty pm, a couple twenty six year old Matthew and his wife had been
walking alone on the trail when they spotted Penny. Penny was running along the trail, darting in and out of the trees, but staying kind of in the same general area. They were concerned, and they decided to approach Penny, and Penny seemed to kind of dart off into the bush a bit, and they decided to follow, you know, hoping to help.
Yeah, whatever's wrong, Oh yeah, lost dog kind of thing.
Penny led them off the path, off the path and over into a small ravine and towards a drainage ditch. It was there at the bottom of this ravine where Penny led them that they made the horrifying discovery. Matthew first saw what he thought was a mannequin in the bush, but he quickly realized with horror that he was looking at the partially nude body of a deceased young girl.
No, no, no.
The shock at it, the shock of it, left him and his wife shaken. They ran back to the trail, found someone nearby, and immediately called nine to one one. Michigan State Police were dispatched to the scene. They were the ones speaking with Jennifer and Austin at the trailhead. It was here that officers had the devastating task of informing Jennifer that her daughter had been found, but she was no longer alive.
Oh that just it makes my stomach just sick. Wow.
Yeah, I can't imagine being in this position like that.
No, I mean just for like for the mom, but for all parties involved too, Like this is just like devastating.
Yeah, now, I do want to clarify. In this exact instance, police weren't certain it was April, right, Yeah, so they had to go through identifying her and everything first before you know, confirming.
But what and the damn dog too, like just oh my gosh, frantically probably wanting someone to help, Like.
Yeah, Penny didn't leave her.
Oh my gosh, I am not well right now, Like I could saw very easily this hole, this whole scene is just yeah, it's not okay.
Well, let's get into the scene where April's body was discovered. It told a brutal story of what happened. Investigators noted that the area where April was found was well off the main trail, completely out of you in this ravine and drainage ditch. It was clear she had been forced down into the secluded spot. The condition of her body revealed the violent nature of the attack. April was dressed in gene shorts with a black stripe along sides, but they had been pulled down to her ankles long with
her underwear. Her white tank top was torn and pulled up, exposing her chest, and her bra had been ripped apart between the cups. Her white tennis shoes were scattered near her remains, showing signs of the struggle. Perhaps the most horrifying detail was the shoe marks found on her skin, on her forehead, cheeks, and neck.
What the shit? What the shit? This person's a complete piece of shit.
Yeah, you're not wrong. We'll get into it though, don't you worry.
Oh, I know, it's just gonna get worse and worse. I'm not sure I'm ready for this.
So the discovery of April's murder shook this entire town of Armada. You know, the town of two hundred, sorry, two thousand people. That's this little peaceful town, little peaceful community that doesn't lock their doors at night. Yeah, they were shook. They hadn't seen a murder in over forty years.
Wow.
And the violent nature of this crime left everyone absolutely speechless. Investigators painstakingly went over the crimes, gathering as much evidence as possible, documenting every detail before April's body was eventually transported to the Medical Examiner's office. Sorry, I said office, really weird Medical Examiner's office.
It's okay.
In the early hours of July twenty fifth. The next day, Austin and his father were brought in for questioning. As we all know, you know, the significant other is always suspect number one.
Yeah, but also well, I mean, they have to do their due diligence, but I feel like if he was involved, he wouldn't have got a text like he did from her.
You know, well potentially who knows. Well, I'm going to touch on that here, like right now. So Austin told detectives that last time he's seen April was on Sunday, July twentieth. The two hadn't really been speaking much because they'd gotten into a little bit of an argument that day, but he recounted the last text message he received from her, the one that was sent at six twenty eight pm
that said I think I almost got kidnapped. Omfg. Yeah, And when detectives pressed him and why he hadn't responded to such an alarming text. Austin explained that he hadn't actually seen it until much later due to poor cell service at the time where he was.
Oh okay.
Initially, Austin's story raised a lot of suspicions to investigators. They wondered if he could have actually sent the text to himself from April's phone, if he was potentially responsible, oh shit, possibly trying to cover his track, showing that she's texting him for help when really, you know, he's the actual perpetrator, right, I.
Guess yeah, in my head, didn't really go there, but I guess. Yeah.
However, after thorough investigation and further questioning, Austin's alibi checked out, and he was eventually cleared of any involvement in April's death. Okay, yeah, there's a lot of information going on in the questioning and stuff, but the sum of it, yeah, he's he's not guilty. So it's not even necessary to go into some of the questioning and stuff that they did.
He's in the clear clear.
So, realizing that the local police force in Armada would be insufficient for this investigation because it's a very small town, right, fifty additional officers were called in to assist with the investigation. Fifty fifty.
They were taking this shit real series.
Yeah, there was like FBI and stuff coming in, which this is good. Yeah, it's a massive presence for this small Yeah. Now, the crime scene was corded off with tape, and authority set up a makeshift command center at the Armada Middle School to coordinate the efforts and hold the additional fifty officers because their police station ain't holding that most people, not at all. The medical examiner report soon came in and it confirmed the brutality of the attack.
April's cause of death was blunt forced trauma to the head and exphyxiation from neck compression.
Oh gosh.
The doctor's examination revealed that she had suffered a devastating assault, with bruises over her right eyelid and small hemorhaging in both eyes inside her mouth. There were further injuries to her upper lip and lower lip, and her left eye was swollen shot. The list of injuries basically just goes on. Her face was covered in cuts bruises, all indicating she endured a prolonged and violent beating. Investigators believed her head injuries were caused by a smooth blunt object, ruling out
something like sticks or rocks or anything. Right, So this blunt object would have been a very smooth surface.
Huh. Okay, yeah.
So the extreme force using the attack, according to the medical examiner, was something typical seen in severe car accidents or falls from great heights. The staggering twenty three individuals injuries found on April's head alone spoke volumes. The damage to her neck was equally disturbing. Bruises on her throat showed a distinct hammerd or sorry herringbone pattern? Which were the shoe prints uh pressed into her skin?
Gosh?
Yeah? It indicated that the attacker likely stomped on her face and neck and used their foot to crush her windpipe and eventually suffocate her.
What a complete piece of shit? Was? She also like sexually abused.
We'll get there. I'm like two sentences away from that, okay. Across across the rest of her body, she had additional fourteen areas of injury, including internal bleeding near her a order valve of her heart. Investigators believed the killer intended to sexually assault April due to her being found with
her clothes mostly removed. However, the attacker seemed to have stopped short for some unknown reason, possibly perhaps someone passing by on the trail interrupting the attack causing him to flee.
The scene, or like she was fighting pretty hard and like ended up him killing her first or something.
Hey, I don't know, potentially, and then he didn't want to cross that that line. Yeah, but who knows. For whatever reason, the assailant stopped short of sexual assault.
Okay, yeah, Now.
The attack itself is estimated to have lasted approximately ten minutes from the initial blow to her head until her net was compressed and finally stopping her breathing.
Just like ten minutes of complete hell yeah.
And they estimate that the foot on her neck could have been there for up to three minutes, pushing.
Down on her throat totally frigg.
The estimated time of death death is placed between six thirty pm and eight pm.
Okay, that's like raugh a, that's very right. It's very hard to digest this.
Yeah, there's a lot going on in this case and process everything that actually occurred, especially considering this being a small town in a popular walking area during the summertime. It's not to say that there was a lack of people walking on this trail. There were still people walking on this trail. Yeah, and this still occurred.
You have to wonder too, like what he did with the dog when this was going on. You know.
Yeah, Well, Penny is clearly of very good girl because I mean, she didn't attack the man. Maybe I don't know, she's not going to attack a person, but she still was not leaving April fide oh man.
Okay.
So, as the investigation ramped up, law enforcement knew that they had to act swiftly on this, but unfortunately, the investigation was turning up very few clues, with the only real piece of physical evidence recovering from the scene being the distinct shoeprint found on April's body. No DNA was president the site, and detectives couldn't locate several key items, including April's phone, backpack, and Penny's leash. Most crucially, they needed to track down her phone because they hoped that
it might provide valuable information. Detectives decided to attempt to track her phone by pinging local cell towers. Unfortunately, they only received one weak ping signal before it disappeared, likely due to the phone being either dead or damaged. So with the hope of finding the phone and other missing items, authorities or organize a team of forty people comprising of detectives,
officers and search specialists to comb through the area. Police dogs were brought in to assist, and one particular bloodhound named Buster played a pivotal role in the search because Buster managed to retrace april steps along the trail and eventually led the officers to her phone, discarded in some bushes about half a mile east of where her body was found. This was a big breakthrough. Forensic experts immediately
began analyzing it for any sort of leads. But just as investigators were preparing to delve and dive into the phone's data, they received a tip. A local man by the name of Eric Rushki came forward with information that could prove crucial to the case. Eric had been riding bikes on the trail with his two daughters that very same evening. He recognized April from their encounter on the day she was killed. His daughters, aged nine and thirteen, had exchanged a smile and a way even a quick
hello with April as they walked. As she walked Penny because they actually kind of knew each other. They went to the same school.
Yeah from school, Yeah yeah.
So April she was headed down the trail, focused on her phone, and it was at around six twenty five pm that he had passed her. However, what really caught Eric's attention wasn't exactly April herself. It was a man walking alongside a motorcycle on the trail behind her. See, motorized vehicles were prohibited on the path, which made the presence of this bike a little bit unusual. Now, the man wasn't riding it per se, so he's not exactly
doing anything wrong, but it's still unusual, right. The man, still wearing the full faced helmet, had been sorry, hadn't been riding, but it was walking alongside and Eric didn't get a clear look at the man's face because of his helmet, but he recalled several key details. The man was about six feet tall, possibly two hundred pounds, wearing long plant long pants, a black shirt, and a backpack. As a motorcycle enthusiast himself, Eric was able to give
police a detailed description of the bike. Okay, he identified it as a modern style street legal off road dirt bike, blue and white in color, likely from the two thousands. He also noted that it was an enduro bike, a model known for its square headlight.
Okay, that's so interesting because most people would probably not I recall much details, right, unless you had an interest in that. So that is Yeah, that's.
Good, exactly, and that makes us a very key piece of eyewitness because this is a very specific statement he's giving. He's not like, oh, he had a blue and white motorbike. Well, is it Harley? Is it a street bike? Is it a dirt bike? Is it a street legal bike? Is it not? No, he's saying it's a street legal, off road dirt bike, very specific, very specific style, likely from the two thousands, with that square headlight.
Well, yeah, because I would pass someone like that and probably be like, my description would be like, yes, some weird dude wearing a helmet pushing a bike down the trail. It wouldn't be much, you know.
Yeah, So he was able to give quite an in depth description, which was very helpful.
Yeah.
Now this tip connected a few dots for authorities. As I mentioned earlier, the weapon likely used in the attack was blunt, something smooth, something like a motorcycle helmet.
Oh.
Now, soon after receiving Eric's tip, one of the detectives working the case had a stroke of luck.
Not a stroke oh okay, I was just like, holy shit, someone's had a stroke.
No, I just realized my pausing and cadence on that was off, that they had a stroke of luck.
Sorry.
Ok So, while driving back to the command center, something unusual caught this detective's eye. There was a long driveway headed up to a garage, and parked outside that garage was a blue and white motorcycle matching the description Eric had provided. The detective snapped a photo of the bike, jotted down the address, and quickly went back to the command center to bring this information the investigation team. Investigators returned later that evening to the home and knocked in
the door to ask some questions. By now, the motorcycle was gone, but a man by the name of James Muse answered the door. He told police he didn't know anything about the bike. He didn't own one, and that was.
That, but one, curiously, but it was in his fucking driveway.
Yeah. But once it was revealed to him that this was regarding a murder investigation, James suddenly changed his tune and opened up a little bit more. He told authorities that he didn't own that motorbike, but someone he knows does, someone that was recently at his place dropping something off. His dealer was dropping off some weed.
Oh okay, why is he hiding this?
Hesitant to tell police that his dealer was just dropping off some weed at his house.
Okay, I guess that kind of makes sense.
Then totally makes sense. And why he's hiding that from authorities?
Okay, because I'm like, this is this is sketchy.
Yeah. No. He continued to tell police that his dealer was someone by the name of James Van Callis. He didn't know much about the guy, but he did know the approximate area that he lived in in the township of Wales. It was about twenty five minutes away a couple towns over. Now this information allowed police to do a name search and they got a hit on James Van Callis, who lived at eight seven four to four Marquette Road in Goodell's, Michigan, right in the area he
was reported to be by James Muse. Police headed to the home and knocked on the door. An older man answered the door and identified and identified himself as James van Caallis. Now, police were expecting someone a bit younger from the description that was given by Eric and honestly a couple other eyewitnesses that I haven't really talked about. Yeah, they were looking for someone like in their thirties, right, and this man was in his sixties. His dad, Well,
that's exactly what they're saying. Is there another James van Callis Like, oh yeah, my son is James van Callis junior. So at James van Kallis senior and James Mancallis junior. Now, James was friendly and answered all the questions. James Bencallis Junior, I should say he answered all the questions that police
had for him. He even confirmed he was in the area as reported, and gave a brief timeline of what he was doing, starting at about five pm when he left the house and he went back for his sunglasses and went over to his brother's place and stopped at the gas station. Like he gave the timeline everything. Police were happy with his cooperation, but they knew they needed
to dig deeper into this James Van Callis Junior. In doing so, they found that the home of James van Callis Junior and Senior was in fact a grow up for marijuana. Oh shit, a legal one mind you. Oh okay, but still it was a grow up. Now, legally, they were allowed to house a crop of thirty six plants maximum. Investigators used this to their advantage. This gave them an excuse to serve the property as an inspection of the
grow up. What they found was an excess of thirty six plants, which meant that they were illegally growing more plants than their license allowed them to, so technically this was now an illegal grow up. In turn, police were able to obtain a search weren't for the property and dig much more deeper into the house. Now via the information that James Van Callis Junior gave authorities with the initial questioning when he was cooperating, which did change, of course,
his cooperation. I meant with this information they were able to find most of the clothing that James was reported to have worn that day, in puting his camel pants. Now even they found his motorcycle helmet as well. Okay, but the helmet contained fibers from a cloth which indicated that it had recently been cleaned meticulously okay.
Which I don't feel like it's super abnormal though, it's not.
Imagine on your helmet getting like a little bit streakd some bugs on it whatever, cleaning it right, Well, I feel.
Like you always, like you think of people that have like motorcycles or whatever, bikes, like they spend time, like, I don't know, polishing.
Taking care of it usually shit. Yeah, but it's it's still a little bit of a red flag. It's not unusual to clean your motorcycle helmet, but given that this could be the suspected.
Weapon, yeah, it's still the timing is there.
It's a little bit odd. Yeah, although like you say, it makes sense at the same time. Now, police were not able to find his hoodie though, or his shoes that he was wearing on the day of the attack. It seems like they had been mysteriously disappeared. Now what I should say, though, is James had actually reportedly worn a different He told police he wore a different pair of shoes, but his girlfriend thankfully was able to give
some valuable insulight insight to the authorities. She told them that James had a very favorite pair of shoes that he was that were no longer in the house. Oh, and she also told police that James had been acting strange since that night. She even found him awake at about three am, cleaning his helmet and rubbing these favorite pair of shoes and cleaning them with rubbing alcohol, both of them.
Oh shit, Okay, that's like really weird.
So he's cleaning is.
I would be very alarmed if I woke up to you at three in the morning's cleaning shit.
Now, Reportedly, James was a little bit very controlling over over his girlfriend, so poor part of the house. Only only part of the house had electricity, I'm sure because it was like most of it being fed grow up. Oh yeah, and the other part, which they lived in, was run by generator. That generator was only allowed to run when he wasn't home or when he was home and he turned it on. So when like he's controlling the electricity, he's controlling when she's on Facebook all these
sort of things. So she doesn't have much control in this relationship sort of thing, like almost to the point of being abusive. Well it is being abuse.
Yeah, that's alarming, fir.
But she did find him at three I'm cleaning this helmet and his favorite pair of shoes, with rubbing alcohol, and since then she hadn't seen the shoes or the hoodie that he had worn that day, either the black car heart hoodie which Eric had reported and other people wearing a black shirt. So she noted that he wore these shoes all the time. They were his absolute favorites. She even pointed to a photo of him on Facebook that showed him wearing these pair of shoes, these pair
of Jordan shoes. You know, Michael Jordan' sho's right, This pair of shoes would have shared the same or similar herring bone pattern that was found imprinted on April's skin.
Oh shit, okay, huh.
But James of course said he was wearing a different pair of shoes that day.
Yeah.
Now, while the search was being conducted, the information from April's phone had come back, and it was a gold mine of information that measured April's every step. See the fitness app that she often used while she was off on her walks was still running an April's phone during the attack. Through April's fitness tracker, investigators were able to uncover the exact path she had walked via the cashed GPS information on her phone. It painted a horrific picture.
Oh no, oh no.
Her walk started normally, you know, headed to the trail, zigzagging a bit, you know, to allow Penny to sniff and do dog things. But it's going down the trail normally, when all of a sudden, her path becomes erratic and even darts off into the bush. This occurs exactly moments before she texted her boyfriend that she almost got kidnapped.
Oh shit.
Her path then begins to return to normal for a while, as she clearly made for an escape, but before long it once began once again becomes a ratic back and forth into the bushes, stopping, starting, slow, speeds up. It's clearly her running through the bush in an attack. Yeah, being being pushed down, being beaten, her maybe hide all these things, going back and forth all over the place for as I mentioned, an estimated ten minutes.
That's terrifying.
Then the GPS takes off down the path once again, in a straight line, going thirteen.
Miles an hour, so like on a bike or something exactly.
Yeah, it was clear that at this point April had been killed and whoever had done it stole her phone and took off, most likely on a well clearly on a motorized vehicle, because a human cannot go that straight, true and fast, not even close, So they were off on a motorized vehicle, most likely the motorbike that was spotted right rail. The path continued through neighborhoods and ended up right where the phone was eventually found though this path.
Through this path, investigators were able to pull security footage from a local gas station that showed a man on a motorbike exactly as described driving along the route exactly at the time the GPA yes showed them passing. However, the individual on the bike was too far away to confirm any sort of identity or license plate, but it did show him passing through. So we have confirmed the bike on camera yep, eyewitnessed bike on the path yep.
And now we have someone James van Kallis Junior, who is confirmed to own a similar bike.
Well and doing suspicious shit and doing very much suspicious shit.
So before the phone was smashed and discarded in the bushes, the path was headed in the direction of James Van Kallis's house, though it was still in the township of Armada, and he had another like twenty plus minutes to go Before he got to his house, it was headed in that general direction. Police knew that they had their man, and an arrest on him occurred immediately. It was on
unrelated drug charges. I mean, he was dealing illegally and the house had more plans than it was allowed, so his arrest was pretty easy, and through some more background searches, police actually found that James Vankallis Senior was a registered sex offender convicted of having sex with the persons of under the age of thirteen. Oh my gosh, Okay, it seems that James Vancallis Junior may very well be a
lot like his father. In fact, James even made a comment to police during his arrest that he learned everything he knew from his father.
Oh my gosh, this is really disturbing.
James van Kalis Junior also had a criminal record in two thousand and five. In two thousand and six, he was charged with breaking and entering and failing to pay
child support. Yeah he's a father. In the courtroom after a preliminary hearing, James van Kallis Junior, thirty four years old, was charged with a long list of unrelated crimes, but most importantly, the first degree murder of April millsap James insisted he was innocent, and during his trial, as his defense attorney pointed out, there's no DNA evidence at the crime scene or in April's body linking him to the vicious murder.
I'm surprised there wouldn't be any, Hay, Yeah, I think that seems surprising to me.
There's no DNA, there's no hair, no fibers, nothing, which is very much so true. In fact, investigators never found the shoes that made the imprint on April's neck either.
All they had was circumstantial evidence and some witnesses. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, there were other witnesses that came forward, and there is one witness that I have yet to tell you about who also saw the man on the motorcycle on the path near April that day, and she claims that she was one hundred percent sure that James was the man that she saw. Okay, but also James's girlfriend, her witness and testimony to the police played a very
big part in this case. She told authorities about the cleaning of the helmet and the shoes that he owned. Yes, she pointed to Facebook photos of proof that he previously owned those shoes, because there is photos of him like showing off these shoes, wearing them, you name it. Ok, but these shoes could just simply no longer be found.
They just disappeared.
They just disappeared. She even remembered him getting her to do his laundry and she found a clump of hair and leaves in the pocket of the hoodie.
Oh gosh.
When she found it, she was shocked and didn't know what to think of it. Yeah, and she placed the hair on the edge of the sink, not knowing what to do. It too had vanished by morning.
Well, yeah, gosh, Oh my goodness.
After a two and a half week trial, the jury reached a verdict and found James Van Callis Junior guilty on all counts, including the murder first dree murder of April Milsap. James Van Callis Junior received a sentence of life without parole and is sitting behind bars today. Huh okay, And that's the story of April.
Wow, wow, wow, wow. That story is just like heartbreaking to me, isn't it? Holy shit? Because like I was, I loved April, Like she just seemed like she was just the sweetest and had so much potential and stuff, and like this just doesn't make any sense.
I know. And it's like their family just seems so fucking perfect too, like her stepfather who took on the role of father. So I'm going to cut out stepfather. Her father saving for her, you know, her college education, and she she's quite young still, she's got several years ago, but he's making sure he's saving.
He knows that she's, you know, going to do things exactly like he's starting to prepare.
And her mother just knowing that she's off in the park with her boyfriend, but letting her go off beh and knowing that she's been gone too long for the amount of water and treats she took to give Penny along the way.
Yeah, you have to wonder if like she was just kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time, or if this because like she did this regularly so, or if he was like knew of this and her and you know, had planned this to some extent.
Their authorities were unable to draw any direct link between the two. I think I believe the only link that they were able to draw was now, I don't have this written down, so I could have this information a little bit incorrect, but I'll clarify what I do and do not know that James Vankalis Junior his kid or or cousin or that's the part. I don't know the relation of this child. But he was related to a
child that went to the same school as April. That's the only link they were able to find, Okay, but it was a link that proved insufficient for them to know each other or know of each other.
And yeah, so it could even just spend like they crossed pass and he's like a terrible person.
That is most likely what it is. It's just a uh spur of the moment to spur the moment decision that James van Callis did no.
See, that's that's kind of stuff I find just like terrifying. Like you're just like living your life and something this bad just happens.
You know, you just happened to be in the wrong place, wrong time, and someone decides to take advantage or do something horrible.
Yeah, yeah, and that just makes me like, gosh, how can stuff like how can that happen? Like how can that that just happened to someone with like so much light, you.
Know, yeah. Now, there were some interviews and stuff I watched, like news interviews with like the family and and people that went to school with April in the town and everything, and uh, during the search for James Van Callis Junior and trying to find who did this and everything, the town was like putting pink ribbons all over the town
and everything in in memorial of April, of course. But one of the girls that went to school with April and and the mother as well, they're talking about how these pink ribbons were not only like in memory of April, but it was also of we hope that whoever did this sees these ribbons and knows that we're looking for them. And it's just like this fucking town's just their heart's breaking.
And they're not only their heart's breaking for April, but they're like, you fucking better watch out because we're fucking coming for you.
Yeah, we're gonna get you.
It's like that's a place to live, honestly.
Yeah, no shit. So yeah, but you struggled with this case a little, didn't you.
I did, Because don't get me wrong, I do believe James Van Callis Junior is the individual who perpetrated this crime one hundred percent, But during research I felt like I was missing a key part of the story because the arrest and conviction came on circumstantial evidence, and I feel like I don't know how the court was able to get him on that evidence. It doesn't seem sufficient enough to make that arrest and conviction. They don't have
anything technically linking him to the crime. Because what if there is someone out there, another couple towns over with a similar bike, yeah, who wore a black shirt and happened to be a shoe enthusiast like James was. Because James owned like a lot of shoes, hence why his favorite pairs were these Jordans and stuff. So what if this person had a similar bike, owned similar shoes, and wore a black shirt that day. That's all it would take for it to be a different person. Right now,
I don't think that's the case. I'm like, ninety nine point nine percent sure it's James Vancalis Junior, But there is that one percent, and I'm surprised that the jury and the courtroom were able to convict them with their being room for doubt.
Well, I mean, like the witnesses though too right, like the girlfriend and stuff, like he was doing some pretty sketchy things.
Really he was. But again the girlfriend says, there's a clump of hair, wears his clump of hair. Yeah, the girlfriend says, he was cleaning his helmet and shoes with rubbing alcohol. As we already talked about. It's not abnormal to clean your most fatal health.
In the morning, and shit, yeah, like I don't know.
Now, Yeah, of course, the shoes would be the biggest thing that could link this whole crime together. Can't find them, so there.
Probably would have been like something on those.
Shoes most likely, and even if there wasn't, those shoes would match the herring bone pattern. That would be enough, I believe, to actually connect this crime. But you can't find the shoes to connect it. All you can find is a photo, and that photo of him wearing them says maybe hm hmm.
But I mean he knew this stuff, right, he knew this, and like he got rid of this stuff he did intentionally he did. But yeah, I know, I see, I see what you're saying.
So I do believe he did it. I one hundred ninety nine point nine percent sure he did it. But there's room for doubt, and that room for doubt made this very difficult for me to research and put the story together because I felt like there's something missing. Yeah, story, but that's all the information we have.
I mean, yeah, it's there, like there's a tiny bit of room, I guess, because like you said, someone else would be very much so described this way as well, right, and like people have similar shoes and yeah.
All it takes is for someone to have a similar motorcycle, a similar pair of shoes, and to be in the area. That's all it makes.
Also, though James does seem like he's a terrible person.
Oh he is, aless, he is a terrible person regardless.
Yeah, and yeah, uh jeez, that is just that is heartbreaking. That's a heartbreaking story.
It is so hopefully you guys, hopefully you're able to get through this one. It is tough. And I want to know what your guys' thoughts are on the circumstantial evidence and the arrest and conviction. Clearly, it was strong enough for the courts to do it, because they did, But I want to know your guys' thoughts on the court making that decision with the circumstantial evidence versus you know, concrete evidence, so shoot us a message or an email
or something let us know your thoughts. If you want to check out all our links, they're in the description of this podcast. We got Patreon, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, where you can actually go and check out the event where we are doing our murder mystery here coming up this month, and of course Halloween Week is on its way.
Yay, so excited.
We are excited, so thank you for being here and until Friday, because we are back in our full schedule. We are done our vacation slash recovering from being super sick, so we'll see you on Friday, and until then, stay wicked.