In Pursuit of Justice: The Cases of Jennifer Odom & an Unnamed Girl

Step right into the eerie heart of Pasco County, Florida as we unravel the chilling secrets of two heinous crimes from the early 90s. Brace yourself for a journey through darkness, as we share the harrowing stories of a brutalized 17-year-old girl and the murder of innocent 12-year-old Jennifer Odom. As we thread through the clues, you'll learn about the massive manhunt that ensued and the unexpected aid of someone whose uncanny accuracy plays a pivotal role in this investigation, from pinpointing Jennifer's final resting place to shedding light on her lost belongings.

Source Material: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13DyEg_sYAAToR2_08S--xsf4rkhOVIR61PsnX8MBW_I/edit?usp=sharing

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Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Case
• 16:11 Crumb's Indictment and Jennifer Odom's Murder Investigation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:03

Hey all my fellow crime connoisseurs, I'm your host, grace D, and today's case is one that took decades for the truth to be uncovered. We're going back to the early 90s in Pasco County, florida. Two different cases with eerily striking similarities and not much information to go off of left investigators willing to try anything to get whatever answers they could. This is the case of Jennifer Odom and an unnamed 17 year old victim. On January 16th 1992, a 17 year old girl in Pasco County, florida got off of her school bus to head home but never arrived. It wasn't like the girl to not be home on time. She had a routine. Hours went by and her family went out looking for her. During their search, the girl was found brutally beaten and sexually assaulted in a wooden area. Because of the girl's age at the time of her attack she was a minor, so her name has been withheld to protect her identity. For this case I'll refer to her as Jessica. To say Jessica was brutally beaten is an understatement. Jessica suffered significant head and skull injuries during the attack. The attack left her with skull fractures and severe lacerations of the face and head. She was left for dead but miraculously survived. Police collected biological DNA from Jessica and placed it into evidence in hopes of finding her attacker. Jessica was a good kid, a Dean's List student, and her family had moved from out of state to this area with less crime before this happened. Though Jessica survived, this tragedy changed her life forever.

Speaker 1: 3:25

13 months later, on February 19, 1993, 12-year-old Jennifer Odom went missing after getting off the school bus. Jennifer was last seen getting off her school bus and heading home around 3pm. Her house was about 200 yards away, but sadly Jennifer never made it home. Her disappearance sparked a massive search involving law enforcement agencies, volunteers and concerned citizens. Kids on the bus reported seeing a faded blue pickup truck slowly following Jennifer as she walked home. Tragically, a couple searching an abandoned orange grove in southwest Ternando County discovered her lifeless body along a horse-riding trail off Powell Road. Six days later, jennifer's red pullover sweater, white zip-up hooters, jacket, white turtleneck, white denim pants and black lace-up style boots all that she was last seen wearing were not recovered with her body. Also missing were Jennifer's clarinet case and backpack.

Speaker 1: 4:36

Jennifer's disappearance and subsequent murder profoundly impacted the community. The incident shattered the sense of security that residents had previously enjoyed. Parents became more cautious, schools implemented stricter safety measures and the community rallied together to support Jennifer's grieving family. The tragedy served as a wake-up call, reminding everyone of the importance of vigilance and the need to protect the children. The search for Jennifer's killer became a top priority for law enforcement agencies. A massive manhunt was launched and every law enforcement agency in the Bay Area was looking for a blue pickup truck that was seen in the area by Jennifer's classmates. Despite this, lead investigators were coming up short and the case quickly went cold.

Speaker 1: 5:29

Desperate for answers and to help give closure to the grieving family, nearly a year and a half later, investigators decided to throw a Hail. Mary Psychic Nancy Meyer was brought in to work with the local detectives on Jennifer's case. Now, when I learned of this, I rolled my eyes and thought to myself here we go again, another Sylvia Brown. But the more research I did, the less I felt that way. Nancy Meyer has been working with police around the country for decades. According to Nancy, she consulted on more than 300 criminal investigations and has turned up critical clues more than 80% of the time. The crime scene photos in this case were classified, so Nancy was not allowed to see them. Nancy visualized for detectives two killers in detail.

Speaker 1: 6:24

The next day, nancy and the detectives went to Jennifer's bus stop, the presumed abduction site. Nancy pointed out where the killers had stopped and told the detectives how they asked Jennifer for directions. The detectives listened but did not comment. The spot where Jennifer's body was found is marked by flowers and a cross. Nancy asked if they found any metal jewelry belonging to Jennifer in an area nearby. According to homicide detective Carlos Douglas of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, they had. He said quote. She was extremely accurate on some things that led us to look in other areas that we hadn't thought of. So we obtained a lot of information from what she had to offer. End quote. Detective Rodney J Bishop was also on the scene with Nancy and said quote. I was impressed with Nancy. Some things she said were so darn accurate it's scary. End quote.

Speaker 1: 7:28

Nancy also talked about seeing a carrying case with letters on it. The Sheriff's Department revealed that Jennifer had her cousin's clarinet case with her when she disappeared. It had the letters L-O on it, her cousin's initials. When asked about her visions, nancy said quote it's like being in a movie in my head and I stand beside the victim and try to describe everything that I'm seeing as it unfolds, and a lot of times that's really helpful to the police officers because sometimes they have odd pieces of evidence at the scene that they don't understand the significance of. And when I describe this sequence of events it sometimes makes sense out of odd little pieces that they couldn't make sense out of. End quote Nancy believes there were two killers, both mechanics and both muscular. She says they work as a team and one man may be a smoker with a bad cough.

Speaker 1: 8:30

On January 5th 1995, a couple looking for scrap metal in a rural area of Hernando County found a backpack and a clarinet case. It was determined that the backpack and the clarinet case belonged to Jennifer. The FBI lifted fingerprints from the clarinet case and entered them into the database. At this time they were unable to match the fingerprints to a suspect. Jennifer's clothes were still missing and have not been recovered to this day. Even with this big break in the case finding the backpack in the clarinet case and obtaining fingerprints police were still left with questions rather than answers and unfortunately Jennifer's case quickly went cold again.

Speaker 1: 9:20

Serial killer Frank T Potts was a possible suspect in the case. He sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl in Lakeland in 1993. At the time of Jennifer's murder he was working on a construction site in Pasco County and owned a blue pickup truck, which he allegedly later dismantled. Authorities were unable to link him to her case, however. Another possible suspect was Walter Ducharm, who lived in the area at the time of the murder. His ex-wife claimed that he was responsible for it. However, her testimony was inconsistent. When the case against him was presented to a grand jury, he was not indicted. He was no longer believed to be involved in the case.

Speaker 1: 10:06

The investigation spanned several years, with countless leads and suspects being pursued. Despite the challenges faced by investigators, the case remained open and the community remained hopeful that justice would eventually be served. The tireless efforts of law enforcement and the unwavering determination of Jennifer's family and friends kept the case alive. Over the years, the Sheriff's Office received anonymous tips about Jennifer's murder that led them to believe 100% that there are people out there with more information on her murder. After nearly two decades, a breakthrough finally occurred in Jennifer Odom's case In 2015,.

Speaker 1: 10:51

A complete DNA profile was created from the evidence in Jessica's case in 1992, but they couldn't find a match. Then the Florida Department of Law Enforcement did more testing on the DNA and found a familial match. The DNA evidence helped the Pasco County Sheriff's Office crack the 1992 cold case where Jessica survived an attack described as horrific and evil by Sheriff Chris Noco. The DNA collected from the incarcerated son of Jeffrey Norman Crum led to the arrest. Crum was staying at the Darlington Residential Treatment Facility in Holiday when detectives found him. Crum was charged with attempted felony murder and sexual battery in the January 16, 1992 attack on Jessica. Sheriff's spokeswoman, melanie Snow, said quote this is the first case that's yielded an arrest in Florida based on familial DNA evidence. End quote. Sheriff's officials credited the Florida Department of Law Enforcement with aiding the investigation. According to Sheriff's Detective David Boyer, crum claimed he did not know about the crime when he was arrested. Sheriff's said quote he was surprised. He denied everything. End quote. It was not clear why Crum was at the treatment facility.

Speaker 1: 12:24

Jessica's attack occurred around 3 pm on January 16, 1992, when her family said she would have usually been home from school and watching General Hospital. Noco said Jessica was attacked in a wooded area not far from her bus stop near US 41 and Twin Oaks Drive in Spring Hill. Authorities believe Crum struck her with a blunt object before sexually assaulting her and leaving her for dead. Jessica might have died had her family not initiated its own search, finding her about two hours after the attack. At first, clues were hard to come by. Jessica described her attacker as a 30 to 60 year old man with a full beard, no teeth, foul body odor and breath-reaking of alcohol. Three years after the attack, she was able to help an artist produce a rendering of her attacker. The rendering closely resembled photos of Crum from that time period. Chief Noco and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials credited advances in DNA technology for helping capture Crum.

Speaker 1: 13:37

In 2001, crum was sentenced to 30 days in the Hillsborough County Jail for violating probation related to a domestic violence battery case, and he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in Hillsborough in 1995. In Pasco in 2007, crum was found guilty of driving with a suspended or revoked license. Jeffrey Crum II, the son whose DNA helped link his father to the 1992 attack, is currently serving state prison time at Golf Correctional Institution in Weewahitchka. In 2012, krum II was found guilty of two counts of robbery with a gun or deadly weapon and another robbery charge. He is expected to be incarcerated until 2041.

Speaker 1: 14:30

According to the FBI's website, familial DNA searching is now being used in several jurisdictions in the United States, but it has been used extensively in the United Kingdom since 2003. The FBI said since then, these types of searches have helped solve about 40 serious crimes. Familial DNA testing is typically conducted after a routine search has been completed and no profile matches are identified. According to the FBI, the purpose is to identify close relatives of people whose DNA is found at crime scenes. Melissa Suddeth, a crime lab analyst supervisor with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said quote in 1992, dna testing was in its infancy. As science has advanced, we can now get minute quantities of DNA and the material can be in poor condition. End quote. Chief Noco said that means that more perpetrators of unsolved crimes can expect law enforcement quote to kick in your doors. We don't ever let a case go. End quote.

Speaker 1: 15:44

Chief Noco said Jessica's mother was grateful that an arrest in the case was made. Quote she told me about her daughter. She was an honor roll student and deeply enjoyed attending her church in Landau Lakes. She told me that her daughter read the Bible every morning and she knew she read the Bible on the day she was attacked. She said she's the kind of daughter any mother would want. End quote.

Speaker 1: 16:11

After matching the DNA to Crumb, he was arrested in February 2015 for the 1992 attack on Jessica. In April 2019, crumb was convicted of sexual battery and attempted murder of Jessica and is serving two life sentences. After his arrest in this case, he became a person of interest in Jennifer's murder. On Monday, july 24, 2023, the evidence in Jennifer's case was presented to a grand jury. The grand jury indicted Crumb on first degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery charges. Crumb is charged in Hernando County and is back in the Hernando County jail being held without bond and has been assigned a public defender. Sheriff Nienheis said the MOs in both cases were almost identical. Crumb has a violent criminal history, including a 1981 robbery and a 1985 sexual battery case in Hillsborough County, according to court records. In the press conference Sheriff Nienheis held, he had difficulty describing Crumb. Stating what he would like to say would not be appropriate for TV.

Speaker 2: 18:54

I'm going to play a clip of him asking the media for help over the last 30 years, countless literally countless detectives and sworn law enforcement personnel and civilians and tipsters have had a hand in this investigation. Every piece of the mosaic. You know. The minute Chrome was identified as a suspect in the Jennifer Odom case, detective Odom went to work putting a mosaic together for a puzzle and I can tell you that there was other than the conviction in that previous case there was no big piece of the puzzle. Every other piece of the puzzle that got us to this point were tiny little fragments of things putting together to paint a picture that gave the state attorney and the grand jury enough confidence to indict Chrome. We're going to ask our media partners for some help.

Speaker 2: 20:04

Here's a picture of Chrome and let me go over a little bit about his history. As I said, he was not a suspect in this case until relatively recently. In 81, he had an armed robbery in Hillsborough County. In 85, he had sex assault, kidnapping, false imprisonment in Hillsborough County. He had a carrying a concealed weapon by Tampa PD. In 87 and 88. He had an aggravated assault with weapon and carrying concealed weapon. In 98, he had a domestic battery here in Hernando County. Actually three of them, three separate incidences in Hernando County for domestic battery. He had a violation of probation on domestic battery out of Hillsborough County in 2001. In 2005, he had an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon here in Hernando County and then 2015, he had sexual battery with weapon or force victim under 12 years of age Pasco County Sheriff's Office. So he is a bad individual and getting ready for today, I wish I could.

Speaker 2: 21:10

I was really working hard to come up with some words that would adequately describe these two particular cases and the individual responsible for that, and the closest words I can come up with are not fit for TV. So I'm not even going to try to illustrate how we feel about an individual who did this to young girls true victims but what we need from our media partners is to get this old picture out, because there's two things that we're hoping to find. We would not surprise that there are additional victims out there. There's also a picture up there to my left and your right. We think there could possibly be additional victims, which, of course, would help this particular case and also maybe bring justice to those individuals.

Speaker 2: 21:58

But just as importantly, over the years and I think we put out some information about this a few years ago we have added a couple anonymous tips come in and, based on the content of those tips, we are 100% positive that there are individuals out there that have more information about the Jennifer Odom abduction and murder and we would like those people to come forward now.

Speaker 2: 22:24

It could be a couple of reasons they have not come forward before, maybe their interactions with law enforcement in the past have not been great and they don't particularly care to do that, and and or they're scared scared of this individual. This is not somebody that would be taken lightly, particularly by a citizen who may have information about his criminal activity. But we really beg and plead for anybody who may have information on the Jennifer Odom case or any other for that matter, but particularly Jennifer Odom case to come forward so we can make what we believe is an excellent case that much stronger against this individual to make absolutely sure that he is held accountable for what we believe wholeheartedly that he did to Jennifer Odom.

Speaker 1: 23:12

Detective George Lloydgrid with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, tirelessly worked the case. He noted that during the time of Jennifer's abduction, crumb lived in the Pasco County area, worked in drywall and had a blue pickup truck that he owned at that time as well. The Hernando County Sheriff's Office had many suspects in Jennifer's case but, like Sheriff Neenhus said, crumb was not one of them until after Jessica's case was solved. Hernando County Sheriff Neenhus underlined that, despite the decades, the detectives working on the murder of Jennifer Odom never gave up. The dedication to discovering the truth and bringing the criminal to justice kept the inquiry going steadily throughout the years. He said that detectives likely looked into thousands of leads over the last 30 years, tested and retested items and revisited some leads to ensure nothing was missed In the last 10 years.

Speaker 1: 24:15

The National Center of Missing and Exploited Children reached out wanting to help the Sheriff's Office. They helped the Sheriff's Office digitally scan every piece of evidence in the case more than 75,000 pieces of paper. National Center of Missing and Exploited Children had several people come to help scan and said that this was by far the biggest case that they had ever scanned. Sheriff Neenhus stated quote we are not exactly sure how long her abductor kept her captive or when exactly the murder took place in that field, sometime, obviously prior to her being found. End quote State Attorney Bill Gladson made a statement in the press conference in regard to Crumb's grand jury indictment. I'm going to play a clip of that for you guys.

Speaker 3: 25:10

When we evaluate a case, we make a decision on a case, particularly a case of the significance. We, of course, always want to make sure we have the right person, but we always want to make sure we have sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction, not just at trial but on appeal. That's an important evaluation. It's different than that you would get from law enforcement. It's a final conclusion, because if you're going to put that much effort into something, it needs to be done, we feel and we have I have confidence that we have the right person and that we have the right aggravators in this particular case to treat it as a death penalty case. So that's something I felt that was important to get out today, because this is every parent's nightmare. This is a thing that keeps parents up at night worried about their children Having two kids myself, it's honestly, it's seeing the things that everybody's that we see. It's not good. So I just yeah, I just again want to thank everybody who worked on it and I think I'll just turn it over to you, sherry.

Speaker 1: 26:25

Because of how recent all the information is that we're now getting and with the case developing, state Attorney Gladson is pretty much being tight-lipped about other things going on within this investigation and how they're going to be trying crumb for this. So we don't really have much more information when it comes to crumb and the prosecution for this. For Jennifer's murder. Jennifer Odom's case had an impact on the community with the establishment of the Jennifer Odom Foundation. This organization aims to promote child safety and raise awareness about the dangerous children face in today's society. Through educational programs, community outreach and advocacy. The foundation strives to prevent similar tragedies from occurring. Jessica and Jennifer's story is a heartbreaking reminder of the vulnerability of children and the importance of community involvement in ensuring their safety. This case not only impacted the local community, but also served as a catalyst for change nationwide. Through the tragedy, we have learned the significance of remaining vigilant, supporting law enforcement efforts and advocating for the safety of children. Jennifer's memory will forever serve as a reminder that we must remain committed to protecting the innocence and well-being of our youth. The closure of Jessica's case and the upcoming trial for Jennifer's case serves as a reminder that no crime will be forgotten or dismissed.

Speaker 1: 28:09

The FSA Cold Case Advisory Commission remains firmly dedicated to supporting sheriffs in resolving unsolved cases. Based on the nature of the crimes and Crumb's lengthy criminal history, investigators believe Crumb may have additional undiscovered victims. Sheriff Neen Huss urges anyone with knowledge of such crimes to please come forward and call Detective Lloyd Grid with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office at 352-754-6830. That's 352-754-6830. The closure of Jennifer's case was only made possible through the collaboration between departments and the dedication to finding the person responsible, and that's the case of Jessica Doe and Jennifer Odom. This is all we know so far. I will keep you all posted as more information becomes available and the case unfolds. You can follow on Instagram at CrimeConnoisseurs for more information, where I'll also be posting the updates. In the meantime, keep it classy, connoisseurs, and I'll catch you on the next case. Thanks for watching.