
In April of 2015, two young women in Indiana went missing. They lived nearly 200 miles away from each other and seemed to have no connection at all. The only similarity they shared was that one was expecting to have a baby and the other had recently...
Loading summary
Will
This podcast is sponsored by iqbar. What if I told you this holiday season you can stuff your face with tasty craveable snacks and wait for it. Feel great. Hi, I'm Will, founder of iqbar, the only plant protein bar formulated for your body and your brain. Iqbar's brain boosting nutrients are designed to refuel, nourish and satisfy hunger with zero sugar Crash. Featuring delicious holiday flavors like gingerbread, IQbars are the less than 200 calorie snacks that satisfies your sweet tooth and your protein goals. Right now, take 25% off all Iqbar products and get free shipping. Also check out our other limited edition holiday flavors like Peppermint Mocha Jitter Free IQ Joe Coffee, Clean ingredients, fantastic taste and zero regrets. Tis the season to refuel smarter, hydrate harder and caffeinate larger with iqbar. Go to eatiqbar.com and enter code audio to get 25% off all iqbar products plus free shipping again, go to eatiqbar.com and Enter code Audio Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.
Randy Garrett
This would have had to been a pretty bloody scene. The body had like close to 40 some stab wounds and so somebody to see all that would be probably a lot to take in.
Will
Oh boy, we got a doozy for you today. I think you're gonna like it. It's gonna feel like the old days. This is episode 273 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters. I hate to be that guy, but we do have mouths to feed around here. We're not state sponsored like that communist NPR. So check out our store. Store.swingandscale.com about 30 miles south of downtown Chicago is the birthplace of Michael Jackson. Gary, Indiana. Nicknamed the Magic City for its technological advancements in the 1960s, Gary is mostly known for being the most significant contributor of steel manufacturing in the United States States. The city's main steel mill, named Gary Works, is the largest steel manufacturing plant in the country. At its peak, the city had more than 200,000 people living there. Since the 1960s, though, Gary has seen a steep population decline. What was once a bustling city brimming with innovation has largely become a place of abandonment and rural decay. Much like a lot of cities throughout the U.S. especially in the last four years, it has since been dubbed the most miserable city in America. But plenty of people still live in Gary, Indiana. Many people call it home. The population currently sits at about 70,000. Back in the late spring of 2014, the year that sword and scale started, I might add. There was a young woman living in Gary who was excited to share some big news with her family. This young lady told her mother, father and two older sisters that she was pregnant with twins.
Tamiko
Well, all sisters. I'm the oldest, gracious middle and during the debate, okay, so my sister has one and I have five kids. But Geraldine didn't have any. She has no kids. So she found out that she was pregnant. Next thing she tells me that she.
Will
In 2014, 36 year old Geraldine Jones worked as a census surveyor in Gary, Indiana. She had grown up in a tight knit Christian family and seemed thrilled to tell her two older sisters, April and Tamiko, that she was pregnant with twins. Sadly, that exciting announcement was followed up with some tragic news. A few months later, Geraldine told her sisters that one of her babies had died. After Geraldine broke the news about the loss of one of her babies, she seemed to fall into a deep depression. Then came the day that Geraldine was supposed to give birth to her surviving baby.
Tamiko
That morning I heard from her and then I didn't. That Monday, I didn't hear from her no more. So I called my sister because I'm thinking like, okay, well you know, I called April. April was like, well, she was leaving work, trying to get to the hospital. But the thing is, she didn't tell us what hospital she was ever at. So by this time I left work, you know, my dad is here, his wife is here, my sister is in. So we all kind of ride around trying to figure out what hospital we might find her at. We called up to North Lake, we called, we went out to South Lake because we were already in that area. Then we went over to Holbrook, the hospital, and they had no whereabouts of her.
Will
Geraldine's family and friends frantically tried to find out what hospital Geraldine had gone to, but they never could. Geraldine was missing.
Tamiko
Did she ever tell you who the baby daddy was? Yeah, we knew who thought it was who was his name? Brandy Garrett. Randy Garrett.
Will
For much of her life, Geraldine was unlucky in love. But In March of 2014, her luck seemed to changed when she met a young man named Randy Garrett.
April
My first time meeting Randy was last year or my sister April had gotten married and that was my first time meeting him when she, when he came to the wedding with my sister. But that was my first time.
Will
As far as Tamiko and April could tell, Randy seemed like a good respectable guy and Geraldine was clearly all in on her relationship with him. Unfortunately, after only a few Months of dating. Randy broke things off with Geraldine.
Randy Garrett
Started out, you told me you met her back around March of end of March last year. 2014. 2014, okay. We were dating, but I started finding out more things about. She was kind of being dishonest about some things which kind of turned me off. So things like that just kept adding up and not jiving, so kind of cut it off. Okay.
Will
Randy ended the relationship, but he couldn't completely walk away from Geraldine. A few weeks after the breakup with her, Randy was told that Geraldine was pregnant with twins and that he was the father.
Randy Garrett
How soon after that did she say she was pregnant? It had to be. She called me like at the end of June of that year and told me she was pregnant. So that's about three months after you met.
Will
After learning that he was going to be a dad, Randy naturally committed himself to the role. Even though he had no plans of continuing a romantic relationship with Geraldine, he decided that he was going to be a responsible dad. And good for him. We need a lot more of that. A few months after she told everyone about the pregnancy, her sister and friends threw a baby shower for Geraldine and Randy attended.
Randy Garrett
I actually went. It was actually a nice shower. It was a nice shower. I think her friends put it on for they had it all decorated and she had signs, Garrett S. Girls. I saw that. I'm like, wow.
Will
This extravagant baby shower was fun. It was a happy time for everyone involved. Unfortunately, the good times didn't last. A few months later, Geraldine told her sisters and Randy that one of her babies had died. Geraldine slipped into a deep depression. And when the day came for Geraldine to give birth to the surviving baby, nobody could find her. All of us went to all these.
Tamiko
Hospitals, went to hotels and was like, I don't know what's going on? Is she okay? You know, I don't know.
Will
I don't know.
April
I left work early, so it was a big mess. The day that we thought that she was wanting to have or had lost baby, we never did find her.
Will
36 year old Geraldine Jones was missing and her two sisters, Tomiko and April were very concerned. Meanwhile, about 200 miles south of Geraldine's home, there was another woman who was having problems of her own.
Randy Garrett
911, where is your emergency?
April
10 West Clare Street, Anderson, Indiana.
Randy Garrett
What's going on there?
April
I got some random text message from my girlfriend. It kind of came off as suicidal.
Randy Garrett
I was just wondering if you could.
April
Send someone out there to check on her.
Randy Garrett
Are you not in town?
April
No, I'm not.
Will
I'm In Noblesville.
Randy Garrett
All right, what's your name?
April
Her name's Samantha Fleming.
Randy Garrett
Samantha Fleming?
April
Yes.
Randy Garrett
And what'd she say in the text?
April
Something about she was tired of all this shit, she just didn't want to.
Randy Garrett
Deal with it anymore.
April
She was talking about her mother and mother just came over. It was just kind of totally random. Never been suicidal before, but I prefer to be safe.
Will
In 2015, 23 year old Samantha Fleming was living in an apartment with her boyfriend in Anderson, Indiana. In March of that year, Samantha gave birth to a baby girl that she named Serenity. About A month later, April 6, 2015, Samantha's boyfriend went to the Anderson Police Department and reported that Samantha and Serenity were missing.
Randy Garrett
It's my understanding that you reported to the police that your girlfriend was missing. Your current girlfriend?
Rainey Stanley
Yes.
Will
Okay, and her name is Samantha.
Rainey Stanley
Samantha Funk? Yes.
Randy Garrett
Describe her to me. How old is she?
Rainey Stanley
She's 23.
Randy Garrett
What's her date of birth?
Rainey Stanley
July 18, 1993, I believe.
Will
Samantha and her boyfriend, Rainey Stanley had only dated for less than a year. And Rainey wasn't the father of Samantha's newborn baby girl. The couple met online just a few weeks after Samantha learned that she was pregnant. They quickly became close though, and moved into an apartment together. After the birth of Serenity, Rainey planned to formally adopt the child.
Randy Garrett
How old have you and Samantha been living together?
Rainey Stanley
Probably about eight months now.
Randy Garrett
Okay, how long have you known her?
Rainey Stanley
I knew her probably for about. Well, we talked for about a month prior, so.
Will
What do you mean you talked?
Rainey Stanley
We talked on an online chat app.
Randy Garrett
Okay, so is that how you met her?
Rainey Stanley
Yeah, that's how I met her.
Randy Garrett
Okay. And then do you and her have a child?
Rainey Stanley
No, we do not.
Tamiko
Okay.
Will
Did she just have a child?
Rainey Stanley
She did.
Randy Garrett
Okay, what is your child?
Rainey Stanley
24 March.
Will
And what's.
Randy Garrett
What's this. What's this child's name?
Rainey Stanley
Serenity.
Will
Serenity, Samantha and her baby girl were reported missing. Unfortunately, since Samantha was an adult and presumably with her child, an Amber Alert could not be sent out. Just didn't fit. Samantha's mom began handing out flyers asking everyone and anyone to help her find Samantha. On those flyers, she wrote the. According to her boyfriend, Samantha and Serenity disappeared from their home in Anderson, Indiana on Monday 6th around 12:50pm Samantha left with only a few diapers, one sleeper and some formula. Nobody has had any contact with Samantha. Her wallet was found near fifth street in Gary, Indiana. We suspect foul play. Eventually, the local media picked up on this story and began reporting about the disappearance of Samantha and her baby. Tonight on the night feed, Anderson police.
Randy Garrett
Are searching for a missing mother and her infant.
Will
Samantha and Serenity Fleming were last seen Monday morning. 23 year old Samantha Fleming and her newborn Serenity were reported missing by her boyfriend. Earlier this month, two Indiana women, Geraldine Jones and Samantha Fleming went missing. They lived nearly 200 miles apart and seemed to have no connection to each other at all. The only similarity they shared was that Geraldine was expecting a baby and Samantha just had a baby. Weird. For Indiana investigators, this was a baffling case that only became more bizarre and troubling as the events unfolded. As the police worked to make sense of things, so too did Geraldine's sisters. Ultimately, their paths converged on the same day and at about the same time, Geraldine's sisters and police investigators came upon a horrific scene. Together, they came upon the aftermath of a brutal and senseless murder. In April of 2015, 23 year old Samantha Fleming and her 3 week old daughter Serenity were reported missing by Samantha's boyfriend, Rainey Stanley. Samantha and Rainey lived together in an apartment in Anderson, Indiana. According to Rainey, on the last day that Samantha went missing, a mysterious woman came to his apartment claiming to be a case manager for Child Protective Services, which is also known as cps. If you've paid attention to any episode in the last 10 years.
Randy Garrett
So when did she disappear?
Rainey Stanley
Monday, about 12:50.
Randy Garrett
So this past Monday?
Rainey Stanley
Yeah.
Randy Garrett
What did she do? I mean, how did she leave?
Rainey Stanley
A caseworker came to my house. I opened the door. She identified herself as a case manager. She was here to do a surprise visit. She looks, she's dressed business like herself and I didn't give her consent to walk into my house. She takes it upon herself to sit down at my table.
Randy Garrett
What was her name?
Rainey Stanley
Didn't get her name.
Will
Okay.
Rainey Stanley
She just said she was a case manager with dcs. I told her Samantha was sleeping. She told me I needed to wake her up. Well, I ended up going to wake up Samantha. Samantha gets out. And then she went on to mention that Samantha had a court date.
Will
Samantha, has she been here before?
Rainey Stanley
No, never seen her before in my life.
Will
Rainey explained to investigators that Serenity wasn't Samantha's only child. Samantha also had a son named Steven. Before meeting and ultimately living with Rainey, Samantha had dated a different man. Allegedly, that relationship was abusive.
Rainey Stanley
Supposedly he held her, her friend and the baby Stephen hostage in his house and wouldn't let him go. Possibly he beat her. I guess he'd done it a couple of times and the cops have been called out that time. He was. What is called criminal confinement was charged. Criminal confinement for holding her hostage would let her bleed.
Will
After several domestic incidents, a court ruled that Samantha and her ex were unfit parents. So Samantha's son was placed into foster care. That ruling left Samantha completely devastated. She knew that she was and could continue to be a good mother in her mind. So she broke up with her boyfriend, moved out of their apartment and began doing everything she could to regain custody of her son.
Randy Garrett
And she has one child in foster care?
Rainey Stanley
Yes. Because she has to meet certain standards before she can get her son back. She has to meet with a therapist, has to meet with a case manager.
Will
Given Samantha's child custody situation, it wasn't unusual for case managers from Child Protective Services to just randomly show up at Samantha's home. So Rainey claimed that he didn't find it strange or suspicious that this woman showed up at his door asking to see Samantha. Supposedly, this woman told Samantha that there was a scheduling mix up and that Samantha was due in court later that day. She explained that a hearing was going to be held about her son. In fact, a judge could rule that Samantha's son should be released from foster care and could go home with Samantha on that very day. Big news.
Rainey Stanley
She starts getting everything ready. I help her clean out a bottle. So she has a couple of bottles to take with her. She gets the. She was getting ready to go with her because this lady told her she has a court at 3 o'clock in Gary, Indiana.
Randy Garrett
Okay.
Rainey Stanley
To get brought.
Randy Garrett
You didn't ask what her name was? She was taking your girlfriend?
Rainey Stanley
I didn't think so. DCS comes around all the time. It's kind of normal. They're allowed to take her places. I don't think much of it until I got outside. And what's funny is this lady came in too, holding a folder of paperwork. So she was acting like, you know, she had these papers for a reason. Something to do with some. So she was trying to look professional. She did a decent job of it. She knew more than what you'd think someone else would know.
Randy Garrett
Okay.
April
What?
Randy Garrett
She's talking to you. Do you think she's being legit?
Rainey Stanley
She sounds legit. She knows a lot about the case. I mean, my understanding is that they won't release that information to dis anybody. She knew about Stephen.
Will
According to Rainey, this CPS worker knew a lot about Samantha and her case. She seemed completely legitimate and suggested that Samantha should bring her baby daughter to the court hearing.
Randy Garrett
And then she said something about did.
Will
You have to take the child with you?
Rainey Stanley
Yeah. She told her she had to take the child. It looked good for the judge.
Will
Rainey explained that Samantha was excited about the prospect of getting her son back, so he helped to pack a baby bag. A few moments later, Samantha Serenity and this mysterious CPS worker, whoever she was, walked out the door. Rainey followed them outside, and it was only after he saw the caseworker's car that he started to think something about this situation just didn't feel right. The car was a white Ford sedan, which wasn't unusual for a caseworker to drive. But Rainey noticed that the tag on her license plate was expired. Now, that's odd. Rainey claimed that he didn't say anything about the tag, but he took a mental note of it and later wrote down the license plate number.
Rainey Stanley
We went to the plates, we got.
Randy Garrett
The information, but we've already been to the person's house and everything. And this plate, the plate number you gave us for Indiana in 2000, because you said it was expired, right? Was expired. And that car has been there.
Will
Some white people, they said they didn't.
Randy Garrett
Even renew the plate.
Rainey Stanley
The plates are still on the car.
Randy Garrett
Well, they still had the plate.
Rainey Stanley
They just didn't renew it.
Randy Garrett
They liked it because his wife's a nurse. So they kept the plate. And the lady talked to both parties.
Rainey Stanley
And said, I wonder if I didn't get the plate number wrong.
Randy Garrett
You could have.
Will
When the police followed up on that license plate number, the one that Rainey gave them, it led them to a middle aged couple who clearly had no involvement with Samantha Fleming at all. Essentially, Rainey sent the cops on a wild goose chase which called his story into question. Still, the police knew that Rainey was telling the truth about the CPS worker because Samantha and Rainey's neighbor also saw the woman. In fact, this neighbor led her into the apartment building.
Randy Garrett
She said she was from cps, and I showed her upstairs. She had a paperwork, like, you know, a folder, a briefcase, stuff like that. She was dressed professionally. She looked, you know, like somebody who worked for CPS or something.
Will
The police also determined that whoever this woman was, she did not work for Child Protective Services. The CPS office in Anderson confirmed that there was no court hearings or home visitations scheduled for Samantha Fleming. One theory that investigators entertained was that this whole thing might have been orchestrated by Samantha. Maybe she arranged to have this fake government worker show up at the apartment so she and her baby could leave and escape another abusive relationship. But Rainey didn't come off as the abusive type. And he seemed to genuinely care about Samantha.
Rainey Stanley
None of it makes any damn sense.
Randy Garrett
Does she seem, like, off her, like, meds or anything lately?
Rainey Stanley
The only thing that was off was the suicidal thing. And like she said, she just needed to vent. I had called 911 about it, and then I canceled the call.
Will
Samantha Fleming went missing on April 6, 2015. And by April 16, there was still no sign of her and no news about who the fake CPS worker was. Meanwhile, back in Gary, Indiana, the family of Geraldine Jones was finally able to find and make contact with Geraldine. Both of her sisters had frantically tried to find Geraldine on the day she was supposed to give birth, but they could never find out which hospital she went to after that point, two weeks.
Tamiko
Later, because at this point, she wasn't talking to us anymore. She had gotten, I guess, pissed off, which I understand, you know. You know, I think it was weird that we were concerned about somebody having a baby.
Will
When Geraldine first announced that she was pregnant, she told her family that she was going to be having twins. Later, she told her family that one of her babies had died somehow in her womb. The other one's fine, but this one's dead. How does that work? And that nobody seemed to care that she lost one of her children. Woe is me. Oh, my God. You'll never believe how hard it is to be a mother, especially if they're trans.
April
She wasn't talking to us. So all of a sudden, then, you know, she sent out a bad text message, and it was a group text that involved my sister, my dad, me, and. And she said she didn't mean it, but I called and told her. I said, well, you know, I see you sent out that message. I said, but, you know, everybody was acting out of being concerned, you know, I told her, I said, you know, that's not a message you send to people that's concerned about you. I said, you know, people only act out of being concerned, especially if it's a family member and you're having a baby, right?
Will
Geraldine made amends with her two older sisters, both of whom were eager to meet their new niece. They wanted to see Geraldine's new baby girl.
April
A couple days later, I decided. I said, you know what? You know, I called and told her, I said, well, before I go off work, I said, I want to come see the baby. So, you know, I went by there, Me and my daughters, we go by there.
Randy Garrett
And so do you know about when the first time you saw the baby was that Monday.
Will
Tamiko Visited Geraldine's home and met with the baby. A few days later, Geraldine's older sister April did the same.
Tamiko
She finally decided you wanted to talk. So she came to my job with Bella. I was a baby and I wasn't there because I took off. So I told Toya to tell her I was just at her house. I told Toya to tell her I'll be home in about an hour, so come by the house. So she came out of my house, my apartment, where I live at. She came by my apartment and brought. We talked and she apologized for acting crazy.
Randy Garrett
She came by, you saw the baby, you played with the baby, whatever.
Tamiko
So after that, we talked every day.
Will
After that, Geraldine reconnected with her family. Her sisters April and Tameka were thrilled to meet their new niece. In a perfect world, this would have been a happy occasion. But this certainly wasn't a perfect world. April and Tamiko noticed that Geraldine wasn't acting like herself. She was distant and strange. Something was clearly bothering her. There was also another and much bigger problem. The baby that Geraldine introduced to her family didn't belong to her. In case you haven't figured it out, that baby belonged to Samantha Fleming. In the late spring of 2015, 36 year old Geraldine Jones told her family that she had given birth to a new baby girl. Geraldine named the baby Bella and introduced Bella to her older sisters, April and Tamiko. After they met the baby, Geraldine did something strange. She left Bella with her sister April and flew to Texas.
Tamiko
That's right, from me or she back in Texas. She was just telling me that she's like really depressed and I'm trying, like consultant, you know what I said? People go through stuff like this all the time. I said, so I'm gonna see you. Not the first. I think, like, you know, when you lose a baby, maybe you go through some postpartum or something or, you know.
Will
Geraldine told her family that she was severely depressed and she wanted to be with her mom, who was living in Texas. So she left her home of Gary, Indiana, without her baby and flew to her mom's house. Once there, Geraldine tried to kill herself by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. Thankfully, her mom was home at the time. She found Geraldine and was able to call for help before the worst happened. Anything else y'all need to add?
Randy Garrett
Did she ever say anything about wanting to hurt herself or kill herself or anything like that? Or the thing I had been and.
Will
I just wasn't able to get there.
Tamiko
So I really don't know everything.
Will
And when she lost the baby, she didn't.
Tamiko
She wouldn't contact anybody.
Randy Garrett
Yeah.
Tamiko
Not even no family member there.
Randy Garrett
So I can understand that.
Will
After this failed suicide attempt, Geraldine was committed to a mental hospital in Texas. Her mom assumed that the loss of one of her babies and perhaps the postpartum depression that came with the living baby had caused Geraldine to do what she did. Meanwhile, back in Indiana, Geraldine's two sisters were starting to realize that this whole situation was a little weird. Right.
Randy Garrett
When she left, did you guys feel like something was. I mean, not that, but did you guys. Was you guys still, like, thinking, man, something just wrong here? Like, this ain't all.
April
No, I didn't think nothing was wrong, but I just. I was kind of upset because I was thinking that, you know, my thing was she had just had a baby, and then she didn't check off to Texas. And I said, well, who leaves a new baby? That's my. That. That wasn't my main thing was I was upset that she had left the baby.
Randy Garrett
Right.
April
I just thought maybe, you know, like people. Some women go through postpartum. I thought maybe that was it.
Will
Geraldine's oldest sister, Tamiko, was mostly able to chalk things up to postpartum depression. But Geraldine's other sister, April, wasn't satisfied with that. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. In an effort to hopefully make sense of things, April decided to go to Geraldine's house in Indiana.
Randy Garrett
And so then you went to Geraldine's house?
April
Yes.
Randy Garrett
Okay. What were you going there for exactly?
April
Get some asses. Chocolate. That was glowing.
Randy Garrett
Okay. And then Tamiko showed up. She. She kind of said this, and she wasn't saying nothing about it, but she said, april's the one that'll dig for information. I'm the one that just kind of stand by. This was after you guys had received a call that Geraldine tried to commit suicide. That's what prompted all that?
Geraldine Jones
That's what.
April
Because I felt like something must have happened and something had to happen where she felt like no point of return. So I need to figure out what I'm getting myself into when I go to Texas. I don't know what's going on.
Randy Garrett
That was my thing.
Will
April arrived at Geraldine's house, and she brought along the new baby. A short while later, Tamiko showed up there as well. As soon as they walked in the house, they knew something was wrong. They found empty bleach bottles scattered on the floor, and there was an unexplainable eeriness about the place. Everything just felt off.
Tamiko
But she was just saying it was just things that were There, that just didn't really. April was something. Yeah. And so when I sat down to this on the table, you know, on the couch, I was looking. So she, you know, she shows me the bucket and, yeah, it was bleach and ammonia and stuff in there. Then as far as the kitchen, anything I don't, you know, I just wear in a while a bottle. And I set that bottle on the counter. But I didn't know it didn't smell right. Had I known that it might have been something in there, I got my ass out.
Will
For April and Tamiko. Perhaps the most unsettling thing about Geraldine's house was the smell. A rank scent of rotting flesh mixed with pungent chemicals and bleach filled the house.
Tamiko
And then, like, when I came in there and I was sitting there, I mean, you know, like, you know, when the garb she'd be taken out. And it didn't. It didn't really smell like garbage. It smelled like something else. It kind of smelled like something dead up there. And she said, me, she said, that's what it smells like. She just smelled like. And it did. Yeah.
Will
Okay.
Tamiko
Other than the.
Randy Garrett
The weird smell, was there anything odd.
Will
In the house that you observed?
Rainey Stanley
Well, my sister.
Tamiko
No. And. Well, and when she pointed out, when I looked under the table, it was a lot of bleach and a big tub and all the other stuff in there.
Rainey Stanley
What was your first reaction when you walk in?
Tamiko
I don't know what it is.
Will
Why did you think that?
Randy Garrett
What made you think that?
Tamiko
It's just a lot. Just little things.
Rainey Stanley
It's just like, what I mean, just.
Randy Garrett
Tells her whatever you notice, like your sister noticed that.
Tamiko
It's just the smell, first of all, didn't smell right to me. I don't know what bodies smell like, but it smells human.
Will
April and Tamiko spent some time looking around the house, but they never could locate the source of the awful smell. A short while later, April left, while Tamiko remained at Geraldine's house with the baby.
Randy Garrett
Where did she say she was going?
April
April went to go wire my nephew some money because he was coming. He lives in Chicago, but he was just coming home.
Will
As Tamiko waited in Geraldine's house, she looked out a window and noticed that a black car was slowly and repeatedly driving by the home. It seemed like the driver was lost in trying to find Geraldine's address.
Randy Garrett
So you were sitting there with the baby?
Tamiko
Yeah, sat on the couch with the baby. And. First time when I was sitting there, I saw the black car by pass, and I just thought Maybe it was somebody else, you know? But then when I saw him come back again and he had the police officer, then I started walking. I said. I said, kind of look like maybe they come here.
Will
It turned out that the black car belonged to the lead investigator who was trying to find Samantha Fleming. Through sheer coincidence, his path had converged with Tamiko, and they both arrived at Geraldine's house on the same day.
Randy Garrett
At the time, this lady is basically a missing person until we can, you know, prove otherwise. And, you know, we don't automatically assume something bad. So we're starting on the bottom. And we had this blocked number. Well, that blocked number come back to Geraldine, and I just unblocked it the night before. So I called her phone and just said, hey, it's. I told her who I was and what police department I was with. She never answered. I left it on the voicemail. I was just going to ask her, you know, I know you're the one that came that called, and you're the one that came to Anderson to get her. You know, where is she at? Were you just trying to help her get away from this guy? Did you know her from Gary? And this was kind of like a setup. I was thinking maybe she just tried to lure him away from this guy and that Samantha knew about it. Samantha's still on the run somewhere.
Will
A few days before Samantha went missing, Samantha's mom received a phone call from a block number. When she answered, Samantha's mom spoke to a woman claiming to be a Child Protective Services case manager. And this woman was fishing for information about Samantha. When the police unblocked the phone number, it led them to Geraldine Jones. She was the fake CPS worker.
April
What's so strange? Like I said, I was sitting on the couch with the baby, and I'm talking to her like, she's gonna talk back. I said. I said, they must be looking for somebody, right? But like I said, I had no clue that you. You were looking for her address.
Will
Yeah.
April
So had you been by there before?
Randy Garrett
No, just that day. I actually come to Gary that day to try to find Geraldine.
Will
When the investigator arrived at Geraldine's house, he met with Tamiko in the driveway, who then let him into the home.
Randy Garrett
I could smell the smell, you know?
April
You know what I thought it was? And this is my aunt, because I never smelled a body before. So I'm thinking, like, okay, maybe it's a dead mouse or something here, right?
Randy Garrett
I mean, I smell dead mice, but that smell itself would have been. Yeah, it was a lot. And it was Kind of like, it was kind of like a. Like I couldn't really tell 100%. It was because there were some chemicals and that's what kind of threw me off.
April
April, April was like with me, she said, do you smell that? I said, and that's when I thought, I said, well, maybe it's a dead mouth or smell something here. Maybe that's it.
Randy Garrett
Right.
Will
Once inside the house, the investigator performed a search and he was able to find what Tamiko and April couldn't. In the back bedroom closet, there was a dead body wrapped in plastic and duct tape. The body had been folded in half, stuffed into a plastic tote and was soaking in a shallow pool of bleach. Unsurprisingly, the body was later identified as 23 year old mother of two, Samantha Fleming. And her death was determined to have been caused by multiple stab wounds.
Randy Garrett
This would have had to been a pretty bloody scene. The body had like close to 40 some stab wounds.
April
Right.
Randy Garrett
And so somebody to see all that would be probably a lot to take in, you know. Right. Just never dealing with that before. So, you know, that's a lot of stab wounds.
Will
And at this point, the truth of the situation started to become apparent to everyone. The baby that Tamiko and April had been caring for didn't belong to Geraldine. The baby was Samantha, Florence Fleming's missing daughter, Serenity. While disguised as a CPS worker, Geraldine lured Samantha and her baby away from her apartment. Then Geraldine stabbed Samantha to death and claimed the baby as her own. The investigators who were working on this case had a basic understanding of what had happened. But there are still so many questions, questions that only Geraldine can answer, like why or how did Geraldine choose Samantha as her victim? How did that happen? What was the connection between these two women? And obviously, why did Geraldine do all this? After Samantha's body was discovered, Geraldine was promptly found in Texas and arrested. A few days later, she was transported back to Indiana where investigators attempted to question her.
Randy Garrett
All this says right here is just that you understand what your rights are.
Tamiko
What is that part saying? That I'm waving my rights though?
Randy Garrett
It's not saying you're waiving your rights. It just says you've read the statement and you understand what they are. And it says that we haven't made any threats, coercion or anything. All this says is that you just understand what they are.
Will
Okay, Okay. I don't think I'm okay.
Randy Garrett
That's fine. Here's what we come down here for, okay? We come down here to talk to you, to try to get your side. There's two sides to every story. Okay. There's a lot of unanswered questions.
Will
I don't answer any questions about my attorney.
Randy Garrett
Okay. You don't want any answer or anything right now at all?
Will
Okay. Unfortunately, Geraldine refused to talk to investigators and give her side of the story. Smart for her, bad for society. So in order to make sense of this homicide, the investigators spoke extensively with Geraldine's neighbors, friends, and her two older sisters.
Randy Garrett
I mean, I know you guys, for the most part, believed that she was pregnant.
April
I did for all the part.
Randy Garrett
Okay. Tamiko says she knew she had gained weight, but she wasn't, like, 100%, you know, never really thought about it. Just took her word for it.
Tamiko
But I'm the more out of everybody in the family.
April
I would say that I would be the most with the rose color glasses on. So something really happens, and then I find out everything like I've been finding out since she, you know, been in jail. I've never had a doubt that she was not pregnant ever.
Will
Eventually, investigators learned that Geraldine was never pregnant. It was all a lie. She was a liar, and you should never trust liars. The lengths she went to keep that lie going were baffling. For nine months, Geraldine repeatedly posted updates on her social media about her fake pregnancy, which included sharing sonogram photos and updates about her frequent doctor visits. She was basically mommy blogging without being a mommy. Geraldine purposely gained weight and accepted maternity gifts from her friends and family. She even let them throw her a lavish baby shower. What a cunt.
Tamiko
Her and a baby father just was not on the right terms. So I was buying her certain paternity clothes, maternity things, wherever she. I was doing all those things that, you know. And, yeah, I mean, she appears to be friendly to me, and I never questioned it.
Will
April and Tamiko fully believed that Geraldine was pregnant. But there was someone who had some doubts. Geraldine told her ex boyfriend, Randy Garrett, that he was the father.
Randy Garrett
She kept insisting that she was pregnant. So I'm like, okay, I don't, you know, I want to be responsible if she is. I want to know.
Will
So I was.
Randy Garrett
I was saying, okay, I'll go to the doctor's appointment with you. But every time I would, like, try to go with her, stuff would come up. She'd be like, oh, I went yesterday. Oh, I didn't tell you I went yesterday. Or.
Rainey Stanley
Or she might have the appointment.
Randy Garrett
She's like, okay, meet me out there then.
Rainey Stanley
When.
Randy Garrett
When I meet out there, she might be already out there, and she's coming out saying, oh, he had to reschedule. He had to, he had to deliver a baby or something. It would always be something. Does she even look pregnant? Pregnant? I mean, she is, she looked, she looked pregnant. In the stomach. In the stomach. It seemed like her face was getting more fuller. Did you ever touch her stomach at all? No, I never really touched her stomach. I never really touched her stomach. But it looked like she was pregnant. It really did.
Will
Geraldine lied and successfully convinced everyone around her that she was pregnant. That much the investigators knew. But the big unanswered question was why? Why do you do these things? What's the fucking point? How dumb are you that you don't realize you're gonna get caught eventually? Why had Geraldine done any of this?
Randy Garrett
You know, there's gotta be some underlying things going on. And basically everybody I talk to, and it's mainly her family and friends all say the same thing to me. She's carried this lie on so far with so many people that it left her no alternative but to finish it.
April
And exactly.
Will
In June of 2014, Geraldine told her family and ex boyfriend that she was pregnant. Nine months later, in April of 2015, Geraldine needed to produce a baby if she was going to keep this lie going. Because that's the thing about lies, you got to keep lying to protect the lie. But liars are usually pretty short sighted type people and don't really plan ahead much. They just plan for you to believe they're bullshit. That's it. That's the extent of their plans. So Geraldine began hunting when she found a woman on Facebook who had just given birth to a biracial baby. This one checked the box. There weren't a whole lot of requirements, put it that way. That woman was motive and opportunity. Motive and opportunity. That woman, by the way, was 23 year old Samantha Fleming. But you already knew that.
Randy Garrett
You know, trying to figure out the connection. I don't think she knew the victim and I don't think her and the victim have met. I think Geraldine smart enough she was able to find out about this person either, you know, online, Facebook, whatever, and had a lot of time to kind of. And I'm just thinking myself the whole time, I keep thinking somehow I think Geraldine ran across her herself because she spent, she put a lot of time and effort into this pregnancy thing. I think she's pretty smart. I think she's very it smart. She's able to get in there and Facebook and all this stuff and somehow found this girl. But she had to know a little bit about her dcs history. And that's where I don't know.
April
Right.
Will
Samantha fleming was very active on facebook. And investigators would eventually come to find that pretty much everything Samantha was dealing with in regards to regaining custody of her son Was spelled out on social media. Again, more mommy blogging. Mommy blogging can kill folks. Her facebook posts and subsequent conversations in the comment sections Went into great detail about her situation and the struggles she was having. Woe is me. Gotta tell everyone about it. So listen up, ladies. If there was ever a cautionary tale to warn people not to share their personal problems online, this is it. Pay attention. Geraldine used this information that samantha posted that samantha had shared online to pose as a cps worker who was overseeing samantha's case and take advantage of her. You see how the Internet works. Are you starting to figure it out?
Randy Garrett
She called the victim's mother two days before this incident happened. Anonymous. And then the mother gave her. Because she was claiming to be a dcs worker and knew enough information to make it sound good, the mother actually gave her the girl's number. So she was seeking her out. And then she called the victim and only said, I'm your new caseworker. I'm actually the supervisor. The other girl's not. Wasn't, you know, going to be on vacation, so I'm taking over.
Will
When geraldine showed up at Samantha's apartment, the details that she knew about samantha's case Made geraldine's disguise that much more convincing. Her act was so persuasive, in fact, that she was able to lure samantha and her baby from her home into her car. Think about that. Geraldine told samantha that she needed to appear at a courthouse in gary, indiana, later that day Because a judge was going to rule if samantha could get her son back. Once samantha was in the car, Geraldine drove three hours from anderson to gary, indiana. Investigators believe that after they arrived in Gary, Geraldine was able to lure Samantha into her home. She may have claimed that she needed to make a quick stop before going to the courthouse. Who knows what kind of lie she sold. Apparently, she was very good at it. Many criminals are. When samantha stepped inside Geraldine's home, she had no clue as to the horror that awaited her. Geraldine attacked samantha, stabbing her over 40 times and killing her. Then she wrapped the body in plastic, Folded samantha into a plastic tub, and filled that tub with bleach. After the murder, Geraldine claimed Samantha's baby as her own. This story is insane. If you saw these events play out in a movie, you'd probably laugh your ass off for it being too unrealistic. It's like something you'd see on the Lifetime network in between reruns of Christmas in July. Maybe not Lifetime these days. Maybe more like Oxygen. You know, the formerly gay network that now just plays true crime all day. Huh. My Nanny is a Serial Killer. Or Lethal Soccer Mom. Those kind of titles. Yeah, that sounds kind of like this story. The major difference is that Geraldine's story is actually true. These are facts. I'm not making them up. And it's more outlandish than anything that could come out of a Hollywood producer's unoriginal brain, given how horrifically absurd this whole situation was. It begged the. What in the world could possibly drive someone to act this way?
Randy Garrett
I don't know if it's because of the boyfriend. Maybe she couldn't let it go, and she was trying to hold on to him, so she kept this baby thing going. So then she has to find a baby because the boy, the. The Randy guys, he said, we started dating. He goes, I really liked her. But then it just seemed like every time I turned around, she was lying about something, and it was like, well, you know what?
April
It. That's hurt.
Randy Garrett
So she had a habit.
April
Yeah, it's a habit. So I don't know if that's a part of, you know, what other issues she may have, you know, whatever. But, yeah.
Will
The prominent theory about Geraldine's motives is that she was desperate to hold on to her ex boyfriend, so she lied about being pregnant to keep him in her life. Geraldine wouldn't be the first woman to do that. But when you add the fact that she was also a pathological liar, it made for a very bad situation. Geraldine's lies painted her into a corner. And for her, kidnapping and murder seemed like a better option than just coming clean and admitting the truth. She had to keep the lies going to protect the other lies. Also, according to her sisters, Geraldine was uncompromisingly desperate for attention. A lot of that going around. And something else that may have motivated her actions was jealousy.
April
So when April got married, and all of a sudden, I just remember coming down and Jordan saying she was pregnant. And my first mind was, okay, she got pregnant on purpose because. But was getting all the attention with her getting married. So as far as when she told me she was pregnant, I did believe her that she was pregnant.
Randy Garrett
I don't know about April's part of it, about being, you know, her getting married in the attention. That's probably some of it. But I think she sees this Randy guy, and this Randy says the same thing. To me, April. And you say she couldn't tell the truth for nothing. I think she started feeling like she was starting to lose Randy. And so she had to come up with because he says, next thing you know, now she's pregnant.
April
She was pregnant. And that's awesome.
Randy Garrett
To keep it going. I wonder if she maybe, you know, was so used to not telling the truth but getting away with a lot of it that Randy wasn't putting up with it. And so it tested her and pushed her to the point where she's like, I'm going to show him. I'm going to really come up with a baby. It's like everything she did was a lie.
Will
Despite Geraldine's refusal to speak with investigators, they were able to obtain a pretty full grasp of this homicide by this sick, sick, sick woman. They had the how and the why. The only thing left to do was to deal with Geraldine. This truly is a tragic story. Police believe that Serenity, the newborn girl involved in this case, was less than a month old when this all happened. And now that little girl will have to grow up without her birth mother, 23 year old Samantha Fleming, after officers found her body full of stab wounds and stuffed inside of a closet in Jones Gary home. That being said, just yesterday morning, Jones was extradited back here to Indiana from Fort Worth, Texas. I'm told she's currently being held at Madison County Jail. Investigators believe the motive behind the murder and kidnapping was all part of an elaborate plot for Jones to raise Serenity as her own daughter. And when I say elaborate, I mean it. According to police, Jones posed as a child services worker, faked her own pregnancy, and even threw herself a baby shower. Now she sits in a cell awaiting her day in Court. In 2015, Geraldine Jones was charged with kidnapping and murder. As she awaited her court proceedings, Geraldine made many jailhouse phone calls to her sister, April. I'm sorry, April.
Geraldine Jones
I really am. You're not sorry. Yes, I am. You sorry you didn't get called? Geraldine, you're sorry you get called. No, I'm not. I'm sorry. Well, okay, then. I guess you just deal with it then. I guess you. I guess you deal with you being sorry. I said I don't have anything to say. I don't have anything to say. I have no compassion. My mind is all effed up. My mind is so messed up from this stuff. I don't have any. And I'm a compassionate person, but this here, I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't have any I don't have any words. Everybody talking about you, everybody talking about your face on everywhere and you just would not stop. You just wouldn't stop. But you know what? That's something you have to deal with. That's something you have to deal with. God with. I can't. I can't do anything. I can't do anything. I can't fix it. I can't cover nothing. I can't do anything. What I won't do is I don't go into no debt. I ain't going to nobody no money and I'm not going to stress myself out with your ass. All this and that. I do it all the damn time. I'm always stressing and frustrating myself about this stuff. And I'm not doing it for somebody that don't even appreciate nothing and just lie and manipulate and treat me just like you treat me and everybody. Everybody, girl, everybody. And you expect us to go to the same people that you lied to and that's it for help. Fake ass. Oh, trying to kill yourself. Get up there to see you. You know, you are so up. I knew you was lying about a lot of but I would never think this in a million years. I wouldn't think you would do no like this, Jordan. I wouldn't think you'd be a part of no like this. Not in a million years. Even with any scam or anything you have ever done. I would never think this about you. I don't even know who you are. I don't know nothing about you.
Will
As you just heard, much of Geraldine's conversations with her sister involved April expressing her very justified frustrations with Geraldine. This went on for some time.
Geraldine Jones
Please don't start a state fucking corner because I don't fucking feel like hearing that shit and I don't fucking feel like hearing a whole bunch of shit. I don't fucking feel like hearing a whole bunch of lies. I don't feel like I can hear none of that. That's all you have done the whole entire time is lie. The whole entire time. That's all you've done manipulate, lie and do everybody all up. You just left everybody out here to deal with this. Everything that you said out of your mouth is a lie. Everything. The shit you've done is so up, Geraldine. It's fucked up. And it is so up because you expect me to be out here trying to get you money to get a fucking lawyer to help you get out because you up. I'm sick of your Geraldine. I'm so sick of your I'm sick of the way you treat me. I'm so tired of the way you treat me with the that you do to people. You have no regards, know nothing about nobody but your self. The is so up. Even when you say you sorry you lied. You sorry you got caught. You're not sorry, you sorry you got caught. You have the whole family. The family, your friends, your church, your loved ones. And the people that care about us, they care about your ass because they care about us. You them too. And you want somebody to give you Simpson. You want somebody to run around begging some debt for a damn twenty five thousand dollar lawyer to get your ass out. And you just kick people. And you still lying. You're still lying. I hope you tell one soul the truth because you ain't told nobody. Because the is up every day, can't nobody eat, nobody sleep. And then the story just keeps on unraveling. Who does this kind of to people? Who the fuck does this kind of shit to people? Jeroleine, for fucking a damn year. A fucking year, Jerody, you fucking lying. A whole damn year you fucking lied about this shit. And I feel sorry for your ass from the very fucking beginning. The very fucking beginning. I feel sorry for your ass.
Will
If this isn't obvious. April was fed up with her sister and she eventually told Geraldine that she was on her own.
Geraldine Jones
April, I have.
April
I know I messed up.
Geraldine Jones
I did a lot of shit. But you know from the bottom of.
April
My heart that I love you.
Geraldine Jones
You know what, Jerome?
Will
I don't.
Geraldine Jones
I can't tell you that. I know that you know that. I honestly cannot tell you that. I know that. It is so messed up. My head has been spinning and going in all kind of ways. And you know what? You got a way of showing it. The love that you have. I don't need it, Jordan. The love that you have. You are evil and conniving and you do anything, it's like you're happy when is all up for other people and they lies and all kind of shit's crazy. That's the love that you're not a. I'll do better in life without it.
April
How can you say that I would.
Geraldine Jones
Have done life without that? How can I trust that? That's not true. That's not true at all. I've never acted like that. Never acted like that. Yes you have. You have acted like that. I messed up. When I sit back and reflect on stuff. When you love somebody, you don't treat them the way that you treat people that I know. Is true. You don't do that to people.
Will
In the end, though, April somehow found a way to forgive her sister and agreed to help her through her upcoming murder trial. I guess blood is thicker than water.
Geraldine Jones
And I love you, Geraldine.
Tamiko
And you know, no matter what you.
Geraldine Jones
Steal my sister, I don't care what goes on, I still love you. Like I said, I'm gonna do whatever it is I have to do, no matter what. You just have to be strong and know that God is doing something.
Will
Unfortunately for Geraldine, there wasn't much that April or God himself could do for her. Geraldine killed a 23 year old mother of two kids, and the police found the body in her house in a closet. The police also unraveled all of her lies and could easily prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Geraldine committed this murder. A potential death sentence loomed over Geraldine, and the best she could hope for was a deal from prosecutors, which she eventually got. In May of 2018, Geraldine pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and criminal confinement. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Throughout the court proceedings, Geraldine made no statements. And after the plea, her attorney gave a brief statement to the press saying, quote, the state made the offer and Geraldine was satisfied with it. She's ready to put this behind her. She's at peace. End quote. Geraldine was at peace. Well, isn't that nice? Isn't that nice for her?
April
Do you know how long it took for me to get here? Hello. Four days. I traveled on the bus for two days, went through Louisiana. I mean, it went through so many different states. And then they took us to a holding place in Kentucky. And they were so mean to you, like they would make you sleep on the floor. They didn't give you one small bottle of soap. I mean, it's ridiculous. Even now, I'm in lockdown, so it's worse. And I. She said, because of my classification, because I guess what I did, but my donkey was telling me that because of what I did. I mean, because of the charges, that you want to be by yourself. But I'm thinking like that from fear. I don't see no tv. I only get out for an hour. And I was instantly in isolation, Like I'm in one cell by myself.
Will
During her calls from jail, Geraldine spent a lot of time complaining about the lousy conditions of the facilities she was transferred to and the poor treatment she received. It wasn't, you know, yelpable. She probably wanted to speak with the manager or something. Never once in any of those calls does Geraldine mention Samantha Fleming. Never once does she talk about Samantha's two kids who are now forced to grow up without a mother because of her? She doesn't talk about Samantha's mom or her boyfriend, both of whom were emotionally crushed by the MOT murder that Geraldine committed. After everything she did, after destroying countless lives for no reason at all, Geraldine's world still only revolved around one person. Geraldine. You can call this woman a lot of things. She's a narcissist, she's a pathological liar. She's a killer. But if you want to encompass everything, you only need one word. Geraldine Jones is a monster. All right, that's going to do it for another one. Thanks again for joining us. If you enjoy the show and want to support us, there's an easy way to do it@swordandscale.com and while you're there, check out the latest episode of Sword and Scale Television. If you like True Crime, it's a pretty good docu series.
Episode 273 Summary: The Twisted Lies and Fatal Consequences of Geraldine Jones
Sword and Scale delves deep into one of the most bizarre and chilling true-crime cases involving deceit, desperation, and murder. Episode 273 unravels the intricate story of Geraldine Jones, a pathological liar whose elaborate fabrications led to the tragic death of Samantha Fleming. This summary captures the key points, discussions, insights, and conclusions from the episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those unfamiliar with the case.
The episode opens by setting the scene in Gary, Indiana—a city once thriving with steel manufacturing but now grappling with population decline and widespread decay. It was in this environment that Geraldine Jones began weaving a web of lies that would culminate in tragedy.
In March 2014, Geraldine Jones, then 36, excitedly informed her family about her pregnancy with twins. Her sisters, April and Tamiko, were supportive and even attended a lavish baby shower organized in her honor.
Notable Quote:
October 04:33
Tamiko: "I'm the oldest, gracious middle and during the debate, okay, so my sister has one and I have five kids. But Geraldine didn't have any. She has no kids. So she found out that she was pregnant."
For nine months, Geraldine maintained the facade of motherhood, meticulously sharing sonogram photos and updates on social media. Her lies extended to gaining weight and accepting maternity gifts, convincing her family and friends of her impending motherhood.
Parallel to Geraldine's deceptive journey, Samantha Fleming, a 23-year-old mother of two, faced her own struggles in Anderson, Indiana. After an abusive relationship led to the loss of custody of her son, Steven, Samantha was actively trying to regain his custody. Her online presence detailed her hardships, making her a target for Geraldine's manipulative schemes.
Notable Quote:
October 12:01
Rainey Stanley (Samantha's boyfriend): "She'd be lying about something which kind of turned me off. So things like that just kept adding up and not jiving, so kind of cut it off."
In April 2015, Samantha and her newborn daughter, Serenity, were reported missing by her boyfriend, Rainey Stanley, marking the beginning of a perplexing investigation.
The disappearance of Geraldine and Samantha, though seemingly unrelated and occurring 200 miles apart, presented Indiana investigators with a puzzling puzzle. Both women were connected by their fabricated stories of motherhood—Geraldine claiming a false pregnancy and Samantha being an actual mother striving for custody.
Notable Quote:
October 10:21
Rainey Stanley: "She takes it upon herself to sit down at my table."
Geraldine's lies pushed her into an untenable position by April 2015. On the day Geraldine was supposed to give birth, her family couldn't locate her, leading to growing concerns. Concurrently, investigative efforts began linking Geraldine to Samantha's disappearance.
When Geraldine's sisters finally located her, they encountered a disturbing scene: Geraldine's home reeked of chemicals and rot, and a dead body—Samantha Fleming—was discovered wrapped in plastic and soaked in bleach in a closet.
Notable Quote:
October 06:27
Randy Garrett: "This would have had to been a pretty bloody scene. The body had like close to 40 some stab wounds and so somebody to see all that would be probably a lot to take in."
Investigators delved into Geraldine's motives, uncovering a desperate attempt to maintain her fabricated pregnancy narrative. Her pathological lying stemmed from a need for attention and fear of losing her relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Randy Garrett. By assuming the identity of a Child Protective Services (CPS) case manager, Geraldine manipulated Samantha into trusting her, ultimately leading to murder.
Notable Quote:
October 42:09
Randy Garrett: "She kept insisting that she was pregnant. So I'm like, okay, I don't, you know, I want to be responsible if she is. I want to know."
The episode highlights Geraldine's strategic use of social media and personal relationships to sustain her lies, painting a portrait of a deeply troubled individual driven by insecurity and desperation.
Following the discovery of Samantha's body, Geraldine was apprehended in Texas and extradited to Indiana. Throughout the investigation, Geraldine remained uncooperative, refusing to provide any explanation for her actions.
Notable Quote:
October 39:48
Randy Garrett: "That's fine. Here's what we come down here for, okay? We come down here to talk to you, to try to get your side."
Ultimately, Geraldine pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and criminal confinement in May 2018, receiving a 30-year prison sentence. Her plea agreement spared her a potential death sentence, though it left many questions unanswered.
Geraldine's actions left a lasting scar on all involved. Samantha Fleming's child, Serenity, was left motherless, and her mother along with Rainey Stanley grappled with the emotional devastation. Geraldine's sisters, April and Tamiko, struggled with betrayal and disbelief as they pieced together the extent of Geraldine's deceit.
Notable Quote:
October 55:35
Geraldine Jones: "How can you say that I would."
The episode concludes by emphasizing the destructive power of lies and the profound impact one individual's deceit can have on an entire community.
Episode 273 of Sword and Scale masterfully navigates the dark and twisted narrative of Geraldine Jones and Samantha Fleming. Through meticulous storytelling and compelling interviews, the episode underscores themes of trust, deception, and the lengths to which one might go to preserve a web of lies. Geraldine Jones serves as a stark reminder of the real-life monsters that lurk beneath the veneer of everyday life.
Speaker Attribution and Notable Quotes with Timestamps:
October 01:12
Randy Garrett: "This would have had to been a pretty bloody scene. The body had like close to 40 some stab wounds and so somebody to see all that would be probably a lot to take in."
October 04:33
Tamiko: "I'm the oldest, gracious middle and during the debate, okay, so my sister has one and I have five kids. But Geraldine didn't have any. She has no kids. So she found out that she was pregnant."
October 07:01
Will (Host): "As far as Tamiko and April could tell, Randy seemed like a good respectable guy and Geraldine was clearly all in on her relationship with him."
October 12:01
Rainey Stanley: "She'd be lying about something which kind of turned me off. So things like that just kept adding up and not jiving, so kind of cut it off."
October 42:09
Randy Garrett: "She kept insisting that she was pregnant. So I'm like, okay, I don't, you know, I want to be responsible if she is. I want to know."
October 39:48
Randy Garrett: "That's fine. Here's what we come down here for, okay? We come down here to talk to you, to try to get your side."
This structured summary ensures a comprehensive understanding of the episode's content, providing clarity on the complex narrative and the chilling actions of Geraldine Jones.