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Crime House 24/7
First Watch: Parents Cover Up Son’s Murder & the Survivor Who Refused to Die
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Hi, it's Katie. I'm excited to let you know that you can watch video episodes of Crime House Daily Night Watch on Spotify. It's the same gripping true crime stories you've been getting here now with added videos and photos that give you even more depth and detail into each case. Search Night Watch on Spotify and hit follow so you never miss an episode. This is Crime House. Our two cases today sent shock waves through their communities when the victim's own loved ones put them in harm's way. Our first story is about a 10 year old boy named Jaden Spicer who vanished from his Kentucky home back in August. The search for Jaden lasted nearly a week before two YouTubers found crucial evidence and caught it all on camera. After that, we'll delve into the case of Jezerae Beck, a woman from Nebraska who nearly lost her life to domestic violence. But she made it out alive and she's now telling her story to help inspire others. Let's get into it. Breaking news tonight, Mommy begs for help, begging the public to help find her missing little boy, Jayden. Now he's found in a shallow grave and Mommy is suspect number one. Police later say Felicia confessed to giving her son sleeping medication and took him to the woods. A week later, Jayden's body was discovered buried in a plastic tote. Hi, I'm Katie Ring, a true crime analyst, self defense instructor and fierce advocate for victims. And this is Crime House Daily, your essential true crime companion. Every weekday morning and night here at Crime House Daily, we dig into the true crime stories making headlines right now, where justice is unfolding, arrests are happening, and new evidence is emerging. Every morning, First Watch gets you up to speed on today's biggest cases. Every night, Night Watch takes you deeper. If you want to follow a case from the first 911 call to the final verdict, this is the place for you. Follow Crime House Daily wherever you get your podcasts, leave a review and for ad free listening, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. For video, check out our YouTube channel, Rimehouse Daily. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Just got a new puppy or kitten. Congrats. But also yikes. Between crates, beds, toys, treats and those first few vet visits, you've probably already dropped a small which is where Lemonade Pet Insurance comes in. It helps cover vet costs so you can focus on what's best for your new pet. The coverage is customizable, sign up is quick and easy, and your claims are handled in as little as three seconds. Lemonade offers a package specifically for puppies and kittens. Get a'llemonade.com pet your future self will thank you. Your pet won't. They don't know what insurance is. Our first case today is about 10 year old Jaden Spicer from Jackson in Kentucky. When he went missing on the evening of August 5, his family claimed he had vanished in the night. Police searched for him for nearly a week before his mother, Felicia Gross, confessed to accidentally killing him and burying his body in a shallow grave. Felicia's husband and Jaden's stepfather, Joshua Gross is being charged in the murder as well, and both of them have entered not guilty pleas as of September 5th. So who was Jaden before his life was cruelly taken away by those who were supposed to protect him? Let's get into it for most of his life, Jaden lived with his grandmother Shirley Johnson in Jackson, Kentucky, a small Appalachian city of just a few thousand people. It was the perfect town for a 10 year old boy like Jaden who loved spending time outside. Jaden was energetic and like many boys his age, he loved Spider man, playing video games like Fortnite and Roblox, riding his four wheeler, jumping on the trampoline and playing sports with his friends. But Jaden's bright, happy life was suddenly interrupted that month when Shirley passed away. Shirley was basically Jaden's mom, so he was devastated by her death, but he barely has time to process the news when he is sent to live with his mother, 34 year old Felicia Gross, and her husband, 41 year old Joshua Gross. Although his whole world fell apart when he lost his grandma, his parents hoped the transition wouldn't be as hard because they lived in Jackson, which meant he didn't have to switch schools. He also now had five siblings he would get to spend time with, but after just a few months at his mom's house, something went seriously wrong. On August 6th at 9:23am, Felicia called 911 to report that Jaden had gone missing. She said that he went to bed around 9pm the night before and that when the family got up the next day, he was nowhere to be found. This would be frightening for any family, but the Grosses lived on the outskirts of the city and their backyard was basically a forest. So if he wandered into the woods for any reason, he could have easily gotten lost. There was no time to waste in the search for him. Police quickly launched a massive search of the nearby wilderness and pulled in resources from the search and rescue teams. They used helicopters, ATVs and tracking dogs. But after a day of searching, they didn't find any signs of Jaden, which made them wonder if he didn't wander off, maybe someone had kidnapped him or. So they switched up their tactics and asked Felicia to deliver a statement to the press. In her statement, Felicia begs for help to find Jayden and says their family loves him and wants him home safe and asks people to pray for his safe return. And before signing off, she seems to address Jaden's potential kidnapper by saying, please do the right thing. It's a moving plea, but authorities didn't want to wait around for someone to come forward, so they scaled up their search. They used drones, thermal imaging and enlisted the help of more searchers to try and tackle the vast wilderness. But nothing seemed to make a difference. Days go by and they still can't find Jaden. All authorities can do is continue to expand the search area and cover a radius of about 20 square miles. Authorities weren't the only ones working to bring Jaden home though. On August 10th and 11th, the community in and around Jackson rallied to raise a reward for anyone with more information that could aid in the investigation. People from all over started sharing his story and donating money. They raised over $5,000 and started to get enough attention on the case to make headlines. People also showed up at the scene to help search, and those who couldn't helped spread awareness on social media. The news eventually reached a couple named fred and Sheila McCoy, who run a YouTube channel called Hatfield McCoy Museum Adventures. Fred and Sheila create content about the infamous decades long feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families in the Appalachian region and are heavily involved in the community. And it turns out that the McCoys have helped find a body before. A year earlier, Fred and Sheila joined the search for a shooting suspect who had opened fire on cars along Kentucky's Interstate 75 from a hiding spot in the Appalachian Mountains. A $35,000 reward was posted to help find the suspect, Joseph Couch, who they believed was still alive. Fred and Sheila ventured into the mountains and live streamed their hunt for Joseph until finally they noticed a swarm of vultures in the distance. That's when the couple began to suspect that Joseph was actually dead and the vultures were hovering around his body. And when they contacted authorities, they turned out to be right. The McCoys thought that maybe they could help with Jaden's case as well. So they decided to join the search and captured everything on video. But before heading into the woods, Fred and Sheila stopped at Felicia and Joshua's home to get more information. However, when they got there and knocked on the door, no one answered. So they parked at the entrance to the forest and started to prepare for their hike. While Fred was waiting for Sheila to lace up her hiking boots, he scanned the surrounding area with his camera. The forest was dense and lush all around, and they knew they had a challenge ahead of them. But as Fred continued to scan, he spotted what looked like a thin plastic sheet on the ground. But when he moved it aside, he discovered children's clothing underneath it. He rifled through the items, which included a boy's blue coat, hiking boots, Crocs, and underwear that was sealed inside a Ziploc bag. It looked all like items a 10 year old boy like Jaden would have. Fred and Sheila were shocked that no one had found these items yet. The bag of clothes was just sitting in the grass in place, plain sight. Fred questioned whether Jaden had run away, had planned to run away, or if someone had tried to make it look like he ran away. It was a shocking discovery. And it wasn't the only surprise in store for Fred and Sheila. As they processed what was going on. They briefly ventured into the woods, but they didn't make it far before they realized Felicia and Joshua had come home. The couple spotted them in the trees and Fred called out to introduce himself. He and Joshua shouted back and forth to each other for a few moments as Fred explained why they were there. Finally, Fred said he and Sheila would walk over to the house so they could talk face to face. When they walked over, Joshua refused to be filmed, but Fred recorded the audio of their conversation. He started by asking Joshua about the clothes they found. Joshua explained that law enforcement had already seen the clothes and that they left them there in case the search dogs could use them to pick up Jaden's scent. He also claimed his family was doing everything they could to help find Jaden and that they were fully cooperating with law enforcement. But Fred didn't believe a word Joshua was saying because after their conversation, he did two things. One, he uploaded the video to YouTube and two, he notified the police when authorities heard about the bag of clothing. They rushed to the home and demanded to speak with Felicia and Joshua. And that's when Felicia broke down and confessed everything. I've never felt like this before. It's like you just get me? I feel like my true self with you. Does that sound crazy? And it doesn't hurt that you're gorgeous. Okay, that's it. I'm taking you home with me. I mean you can't find shoes this good just anywhere. Find a shoe for every you from brands you love like Birkenstock, Nike, Adidas and more at your DSW store or dsw.com Think advertising on TikTok isn't for your business? Think again. We've generated over 100,000 leads which has converted into over 40,000 sales for our pet insurance policies. My name is Trey Farrow. I am the CEO of Spot Pet Insurance. TikTok's smart AI powered automation takes the guesswork out of targeting, bidding and optimizing creative. If I can advertise on TikTok, you can too. Drive more leads and scale your business today only on TikTok. Head over to get started.TikTok.com TikTok ADS On August 12, 2025, a pair of YouTubers alerted the police about a bag of children's clothing they found outside of Felicia and Joshua Gross's home. It was the first lead authorities had received since their search for Felicia's son and Joshua's stepson, 10 year old Jaden Spicer, went missing seven days earlier. Now officers wanted to speak with the parents again, and when they arrived at the house, Felicia finally admitted that she was lying. She crumbled under the pressure after the McCoys found potential evidence and within minutes she spilled everything. She told police that Jaden was dead and that she had killed him. Felicia said that on or around the day she reported Jaden missing, she had accidentally given him too much sleep medication and later she realized it had killed him. Rather than seek medical help, Felicia put her son's body in a plastic bag and drove about 20 miles away from their house. Then she dug a shallow grave and buried him there. Things weren't looking good for Felicia, but she admitted to even more wrongdoing as well. She told police that she coached her other children on what to say if police spoke to them. And once officers got Felicia's full confession, she was taken into custody. At the same time, other officers rushed to the area where Felicia said she buried jaden, and around 3pm on August 12, they found his body right where she said it would be. The authorities held a press conference right away to share the tragic news. The Commonwealth Attorney Miranda King said, quote, while this is not the outcome that we had hoped for, we certainly are grateful that we were able to bring him out of the woods today. She added that the legal system will do all they can to get justice for Jaden. And she stuck to her word. Phylicia was already in custody when authorities apprehended Joshua. Based on Felicia's full confession, they determined that her husband helped her cover up everything. On August 18, they were both indicted on charges of murder, falsely reporting an incident, evidence tampering, and abuse of a corpse. Three local mothers, touched by the story, attended this court appearance and told the press that they hope the couple gets life in prison with no chance at parole. And they weren't the only ones watching. The story of Jaden's death went international. People from all over the world were mourning him, and some were moved enough to help. A celebrity priest, Father Jim Sitchko, who had contributed heavily to the reward money, announced he was going to pay for the boy's funeral. First responders from all over the area offered to help with his service as well. And on August 21st, the whole town came out to honor Jaden at his funeral. And school was canceled that day to make sure everyone could attend. The funeral was Spider man themed because Jaden had loved the superhero dearly. After Jaden was put to rest, Internet sleuths continued to dig up as many details as they could. The media attention helped to uncover some troubling information about Phylicia. Apparently, she had a record of previous child neglect. From 2013 to 2020, Shirley Johnson, Jaden's grandmother, filed for child support against Phylicia multiple times regarding a child or children of Felicia's that she was raising. And Phylicia also has a previous misdemeanor charge on file of endangering the welfare of a minor. In 2015, for this event, she was put on a case plan with Child Protective Services. It's likely these issues will come up in court. Both Joshua and Felicia pleaded not guilty on September 5, even though Phylicia told police she'd killed Jaden. They're both being held on a $1 million bond each. On September 18, Joshua's attorney, Darrell Harold, filed a request for Joshua's bond to be lowered. Harold argued that it was Joshua's first felony offense, and he'd cooperated fully during the initial investigation, so he was not a flight risk. But whether this will be considered is still up in the air, especially since even more legal drama has occurred since then. Four days later, on October 22, Felicia's attorney filed a motion to dismiss Joshua's counsel. As Harold had initially met with her and she disclosed sensitive information, Harold agreed to withdraw from the case and Joshua now has 30 days to find a new attorney. They're both scheduled to be back in court in November for a pre trial hearing. However, this may get delayed while Joshua finds a new lawyer and as always, we'll be sure to keep you up to date on any new developments. Our second case today is about Jezerae Beck, a 42 year old woman from Lincoln, Nebraska who had a frightening brush with death. At the end of September, jezerae's ex boyfriend, 36 year old Christopher Collins, beat her, kidnapped her and brought her home where he threatened to kill her and everyone who lived nearby by blowing up the house. Thankfully, SWAT found Jezere in time and this tragedy was averted. Christopher is now facing charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, violating a protection order, domestic assault, use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony and terroristic threats. Before this tragedy happened, Jezer and Christopher had known each other for over a year. They met in July of 2024 and began an on again off again relationship. Jezerae and Christopher lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital and one of the largest cities in the state. In August 2025 they got back together after some time apart and although their relationship was not that serious, they liked spending time together. On August 20th they were golfing but the day wasn't as fun as Jezerae had hoped for because Christopher drank the entire time. They kept hanging out anyway and their date continued into the late hours of the night and they stayed up talking until the early morning hours of the 21st. But out of nowhere Christopher's temper took hold and their conversation turned into an argument. Christopher got extremely violent. First he slapped Jezerae, then he strangled her until she passed out. When she woke up, he slammed her head into the floor and and jumped on top of her to try and break her ribs. Then he kept hitting her as he told her he was going to kill her. Despite this horrific torture, Desiree hung on for her life and around 3:30am she mustered the strength to escape. She found help and was taken to the hospital. While there, she could barely process what happened. When she spoke to police, Desiree said she was shocked. Shocked. Christopher had never hit her before, but now she had to come to terms with this dark side of him. Fortunately, Christopher was promptly arrested and charged with assault by strangulation, which is a felony. On top of that, Jezerae was granted a protection order against him. But as we all know, and many victims of stalking know, a protection order is just a piece of paper and she was not as Safe as she seemed at the start of September, Christopher was granted bail of $80,000 and he paid the necessary 10% for release after just a few days. A few weeks later, Jezeray's injuries were mostly healed. But now she has another medical update. Jezerae thought she might be pregnant with Christopher's child. She needed to talk to him, but due to the protection order, she couldn't. However, she believed the attack was a one off incident and she didn't think he was a danger to her. As an aside, these incidents are never one off. It always gets worse from there and if someone ever strangles you, the chances of you being killed by that person increase by 750%. But on the morning of September 24, Jezerae formally petitioned to have the order lifted. Authorities want to make sure it's a safe decision, so Jezerae scheduled an appointment to speak with the police the next morning at 9:30. However, that same night she decided to go to Christopher's house so they could talk. She left her home around 10pm and told her daughter she'd only be gone a little while. She brought Christopher a home cooked meal she made as a show of good faith. But pretty soon it was clear that things aren't going well. Jazare didn't come home that night and her family couldn't get in touch with her. In the morning they notified the Lincoln police who partnered up with SWAT and by 10:30am they were at Christopher's door. But they quickly realized that no one was inside and when officers entered the home, the only thing they found was blood. 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When you step into Maurices, our stylists are dedicated to helping you find the perfect outfit. Shop store or maurices.com for new items arriving daily and holiday flash deals Maurices that styled feeling on the morning of September 25, 2025, Nebraska State Police and SWAT team agents searched for Jezere Beck at Christopher Collins home. However, they didn't find anyone inside. Instead, they only found blood spatter as well as a poorly cleaned up puddle of blood on the floor and chunks of human hair. Officers immediately believe Christopher kidnapped Jezeray and instigated a full on manhunt. At 2pm they sent out an endangered missing advisory for Jezera and Christopher. They also advised that Christopher was likely armed and extremely dangerous, likely due to what they found at his house. And while they're putting out the word for people across the state to look for Jezere, she woke up in an unfamiliar place. She didn't remember anything from the previous night except being in Christopher's kitchen. Now she was in a house she didn't recognize, lying in a bed next to Christopher, and when she woke up, Christopher was shocked because he thought he had killed her. Christopher believed he had been lying next to her dead body for hours. Once he processed the reality that Jezeray was alive, he confessed to her that he hit her and didn't want to look at her face. In fact, he beat her so badly she had two black eyes and several broken ribs. As Jezerae gained consciousness, she realized she can barely move so there was nothing she could do to defend herself when Christopher suddenly snapped and started waving a pocket knife at her. But he wasn't about to attack her again. He told Jezere she should kill him. He tried to give her the knife and told her to slit his throat, but she refused. Christopher lost his patience even more. He said that if she didn't do it, he was going to kill both of them. Jezerae told him to do whatever he's going to do, but she wouldn't be a murderer. That seemed to get him to stop trying, and soon Christopher calmed down. He went into another room for a few minutes and Jezere thinks that maybe he's just gathering himself. But then she smelled a strong scent and immediately realized it was a gas leak. Christopher told her the smell was from someone working on a line in the area, but Jezeray didn't believe him. She was terrified. He was going to blow up the house. And she knew there was nothing she could do to change his mind. Desiree prayed for someone to find her before it was too late. Meanwhile, the search for her was underway. Christopher owned multiple rental properties, including the house where he was holding Jezerae hostage. Authorities obtained the address of each property. Then they used surveillance footage to track the location of Christopher's car throughout the day day and determined that he's likely at one of his properties with Jezer. Fortunately, they were right. Based on Christopher's erratic and violent nature, they knew they couldn't spook him and they certainly couldn't negotiate with him. So they obtained a no knock, sealed search warrant and shortly before 11pm they swarmed the house. As they moved in, they smelled the gas leak coming from inside inside and they knew they needed to move fast. Otherwise everyone in the blast radius could be gravely injured. By 11pm, SWAT moved in. They ripped open the garage door and broke the windows. When Jezere heard glass breaking and felt the house shaking, she feared the worst. She thought Christopher had gone through with it and that the house was about to explode. With both of them inside, however, Christopher realized what was really going on and he decided to try and kill Jezere. Before she could be rescued, he hit her over the head with a vodka bottle and strangled her. Then, right in the nick of time, the SWAT team barged into the room and tased Christopher and pulled him off of Jezere. Once Jezeray was safe, authorities quickly evacuated everyone in the blast radius. Then the fire department arrived and luckily they were able to eliminate any risk of explosion. Jezeray spent the next two weeks recovering from the worst of her injuries. In the hospital, she was treated for a brain bleed, fractured ribs, a broken nose and a blood filled lung. But not all of her wounds will heal. She had to have metal rods permanently inserted into her ribs and she now uses a walker for balance. Doctors are also worried she might have permanent memory issues. But Jezeray is just thankful to be alive. She said she's trying to stay positive and to be an example for other women going through similar things to anyone else struggling. She said. You're not alone. There's help out there. As the case made the news, law enforcement echoed the statement. They urged anyone else struggling with domestic violence situations to seek help. And they reiterated that domestic violence is never the victim's fault. Christopher, thankfully, is still behind bars as he awaits trial and his bail is set at $10 million. If he somehow posts bail, he cannot contact Jezerae. Or her family, cannot leave the state and cannot possess any weapons, but I hope he is not granted bail. He's currently facing charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, violating a protection order, domestic assault, use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony, and terroristic threats. Christopher is due back in court in November and he may very well be facing life in prison. You can find all of the updates here and on our social media rimehouse24. 7 what did you think of today's cases? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments. See you next time. If you haven't already, subscribe to our YouTube channel @Crime House Daily and follow us on social media rimehouse24.7 for real time updates. Because the pursuit of justice never stops. What I bought a new Blink Mini 2K plus smart security camera. What? I got 2K clarity sharp enough to see every detail of home when I'm away. Plus audio like I'm in the room, not with my bestie traveling to another city. Plus easy plugins set up to install faster than skipping through podcast ads. But you'd never Skip ads, right? Plus I got all of this for just 49.999 Blink Mini 2K mini camera max performance shop now@Amazon.com Blink looking for your next Crime House? Listen, don't miss Crimes of with Sabrina Deanna Roga and Corinne Vien. Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season from crimes of the Paranormal, unsolved murders, mysterious disappearances, and more. Their first season is Crimes and of Infamy, the true stories behind Hollywood's most iconic horror villains. And coming up next is Crimes of the Paranormal, real life cases where the line between the living and the dead gets seriously blurry. Listen to Crimes of every Tuesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.