The Vanishing of Janis Rose | 3. Pregnant

Summary

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The Vanishing of Janis Rose | Episode 3: Pregnant

Podcast: The Binge Crimes: The Vanishing of Janis Rose
Host: Larison Campbell
Date: September 16, 2025

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Brief Overview

In this gripping third episode, host Larison Campbell delves into Janis Rose’s enigmatic life after her disappearance, focusing on her movements and fabrications in the years after she leaves Mississippi. The episode zeroes in on Janis’s mysterious pregnancy, her contradictory stories about the origins of her new baby, and the complex web of relationships she builds (and abandons) across state lines. With first-person recollections and new revelations from investigator Mark Ogden and Janis's friends, listeners are drawn into a world of shifting identities, daring reinventions, and haunting questions about what Janis was running from—or toward.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Janis’s Escape and Reinvention in Louisiana

• Campbell recounts how Janis managed to leave Poplarville, Mississippi alive, contradicting rumors of her demise ([00:45]).
• Janis, tipped off by a waitress who sensed her fear, escapes to Raceland, Louisiana, where she secures a bartending job in a bar called Dupes or Roy's ([02:20]).
• The bar is seen as a sanctuary for women fleeing hard pasts, though Gail Bonvilland, a local, found it “kind of trashy” ([03:33]).

Quote:

• Gail Bonvilland: “It was just an old bar and all of the women that needed to come out of town or from whatever they come from, would end up there.” ([03:33])

2. New Relationships and the Mysterious Baby

• Janis quickly connects with a local widower, David Streety (“Streety”), almost twice her age ([04:14]).
• Despite skepticism from Gail and others, Janis and Streety marry, and soon Janis appears with a new baby—whose origins baffle everyone ([05:11]).
• The sudden appearance of the baby raises suspicions, especially since Janis had left behind four children in Mississippi.

Quote:

• Gail Bonvilland: “What they doing with a baby? It's Streety at his age and her, she's come from somewheres. And here the next time they have this baby.” ([05:14])

3. Return to Mississippi — The Pregnancy Ruse

• Larison shares how Janis returns to visit friends in Poplarville, Mississippi, displaying a notable baby bump ([09:22]).
• Peggy Perkins, a close friend from Janis's diner days, is perplexed yet impressed by Janis’s new life—especially her expensive car and the invitation to become part of her new family ([10:12]).

Quote:

• Peggy Perkins: “That car was just like. It was my dream car.” ([10:12])

4. Summer on the Bayou, Teen Rebellion, and the Close Friendships

• Peggy describes how weekends visiting Janis in Louisiana brought freedom, parties, and bonding, with Janis serving as a fun, permissive role model ([12:21]).
• The birth of baby Trey solidifies Janis’s new family life, and Peggy sees Janis as an attentive, loving mother ([13:31]).

Quote:

• Peggy Perkins: “Very doting, very loving. There wasn't nothing no better than her being a mom to him.” ([13:31])

5. Identity Confusion and the Birth Certificate Incident

• When Peggy points out Trey’s darker complexion, Janis becomes distraught and shows Peggy a birth certificate with “Wilhelmina Butler” as the mother and “Black” as the indicated race ([15:05], [15:41]).
• Janis claims Wilhelmina is her real name, prompting confusion and eventually leading to a rupture in their friendship—the infamous “cutoff” ([16:20]).

Quote:

• Peggy Perkins: “Wilhelmina Butler was a real name and Jan was her alter ego. She said, well, it'll probably change the way you feel about me.” ([15:53])

6. Multiple Stories for Multiple Groups

• In Louisiana, Janis introduces herself to some as “Willie Jones,” and tells locals (like Gail) that Trey is adopted ([17:23]).
• Gail is skeptical: “I just kind of wondered how she got him so fast. … you just can't go one day and come back with a baby and say, I adopted him. You can't just do it overnight.” ([18:20])

7. A New Life—Again: Back to Poplarville

• Janis, now styled as “Willie Jo,” returns to Mississippi and moves in with “Uncle Cliff,” presenting herself and Trey as a new family ([23:37], [24:10]).
• Karen Sullivan, Cliff’s niece, remembers being amazed by "Aunt Willie Jo" and the fun, energetic presence she brought to their lives, as well as the inventive ways she bonded with the children ([26:17]).

Quote:

• Karen Sullivan: “She was that fun aunt that really, like, involved herself in our lives.” ([26:36])

8. Web of Fabrications Unravels

• Janis tells each group something different: Peggy that Trey is her biological child with Streety; Gail that Trey is adopted; Cliff’s family that Trey is his biological son. This creates confusion and eventual suspicion ([27:06]).
• County investigator Mark Ogden finds that even decades later, Janis’s web of stories stalls his efforts—especially as Cliff refuses to talk ([33:26]).

Quote:

• Investigator Mark Ogden: “They left messages, tons and tons of messages. Never would return my call. … He don’t know anybody by that name. He wants you to quit calling him. He’s not gonna talk to you.” ([33:26])

9. The Investigation Heats Up (2022)

• A Crime Stoppers tip reignites the case: Peggy sees Janis’s old photo posted and confirms, “That is Jan.” Ogden then interviews Peggy and is stunned by the twists ([37:14]).
• Peggy’s revelations about Janis’s shifting identities, the curious birth certificate incident, and her knowledge gaps (Janis never mentioned her four daughters in Mississippi) are significant for Ogden’s timeline ([38:49]).
• Key revelation: Janis had undergone a hysterectomy after her fourth daughter, making a later pregnancy biologically impossible ([40:13]).

Quotes:

• Peggy Perkins: “Yeah, she looked pregnant. … I don't know what she had in them britches, but she looked pregnant.” ([40:30])
• Investigator Mark Ogden: “She had a hysterectomy right after.” ([40:13])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote/Description | |-----------|---------|-------------------| | 03:33 | Gail Bonvilland | “It was just an old bar and all of the women that needed to come out of town or from whatever they come from, would end up there.” | | 05:14 | Gail Bonvilland | “What they doing with a baby? It's Streety at his age and her, she's come from somewheres. And here the next time they have this baby.” | | 10:12 | Peggy Perkins | “That car was just like. It was my dream car.” | | 13:31 | Peggy Perkins | “There wasn't nothing no better than her being a mom to him. You could tell she loved him.” | | 15:53 | Peggy Perkins | “Wilhelmina Butler was a real name and Jan was her alter ego. She said, well, it'll probably change the way you feel about me.” | | 18:20 | Gail Bonvilland | “...you just can't go one day and come back with a baby and say, I adopted him. You can't just do it overnight.” | | 26:36 | Karen Sullivan | “She was that fun aunt that really, like, involved herself in our lives.” | | 33:26 | Investigator Mark Ogden | “They left messages, tons and tons of messages. Never would return my call... He don’t know anybody by that name. He wants you to quit calling him. He’s not gonna talk to you.” | | 40:13 | Investigator Mark Ogden | “She had a hysterectomy right after.” | | 40:30 | Peggy Perkins | “Yeah, she looked pregnant. ... I don't know what she had in them britches, but she looked pregnant.” |

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:45: Recap of the Janis investigation; Janis’s move from Mississippi to Louisiana
• 02:20–04:14: Janis’s new life at “Roy’s” bar and meeting Streety
• 09:22: Janis’s return to Mississippi—revealing her pregnancy to old friends
• 12:21: Peggy’s teen years and her close bond with Janis
• 15:05–15:53: Janis’s tearful birth certificate reveal to Peggy
• 18:05: Contradictory adoption story given to Louisiana acquaintances
• 23:06–26:36: Childhood memories of “Aunt Willie Jo” from Karen Sullivan
• 33:26–34:00: Investigator Ogden’s fruitless attempts to contact Cliff
• 37:14–38:49: Peggy’s Crime Stoppers tip reopens the investigation
• 40:13: Revelation about Janis’s inability to have more children

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The Tone & Language

Larison Campbell’s narration is both empathetic and direct, carefully honoring the voices of Janis’s friends while unraveling the increasingly disturbing layers of Janis’s life. Interviewees speak in warm, colloquial, and sometimes blunt Southern tones, revealing complex feelings of admiration, suspicion, and betrayal as they recall Janis/Wilhelminia/Willie Jo.

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Key Takeaways

• Janis Rose's disappearance is less about sudden danger and more about a calculated, ongoing reinvention involving multiple identities and fabricated stories about her own motherhood.
• Janis’s charisma and ability to foster deep connections are as instrumental to her survival as her willingness to lie and vanish when the truth threatens to emerge.
• The investigation pivots: Janis may not have been a victim, but an architect of her own vanishing act, and her ever-changing narrative leaves investigators and loved ones with more questions about who Janis really was and what became of her.

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End of summary.

Transcript

[Larison Campbell]

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[Commercial Announcer 1]

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[Larison Campbell]

Listen to all episodes of the Vanishing of Janice Rose ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge. Visit the Binge channel on Apple Podcast and hit subscribe at the top of the page or visit getthebinge.com to get access. Wherever you listen the Binge feed your true crime obsession.

[Peggy Perkins]

The Binge.

[Larison Campbell]

Investigator Mark Ogden is now in his third year of chasing after Janice, but it's been a while since he'd actually done much chasing. The case was ice cold. All he knew was that Janice had been involved with many men. He'd tracked her down to a diner in Poplarville, Mississippi, only to have her vanish again. And that's probably where she met her demise. What he doesn't know is that Janice left Poplarville very much alive because Janice wasn't leaving her fate up to the men in her life. And given that the diner owner she dated killed a woman, it seems like she made the right call. Instead, she'd left Mississippi for the Louisiana bayous. A new state, a new start, and a new job. Remember, Janice had confided in a fellow diner waitress about being scared of her boyfriend, and that waitress told Janice to ask for a job at a bar two hours south in Louisiana. Turns out Janice did. Gail Bonvilland meets Janice in the late 1970s down in Raceland, Louisiana.

[Gail Bonvilland]

She just didn't appeal to me.

[Larison Campbell]

Gayle was a local and she is very clear that getting to know the new girl Janice was not high on her to do list.

[Gail Bonvilland]

I wasn't interested in getting friendly with her.

[Larison Campbell]

So while Gail is over there giving Janice the side eye, she has no idea that Janice had fled Mississippi and that this is why Janice is here now, pouring beers at a bar that's become her newest safe haven.

[Gail Bonvilland]

I hated that place.

[Larison Campbell]

The bar was called Dupes or Roy's, depending on who you ask. It's where Gayle's ex husband liked to hang out and let's just say it didn't bring back fond memories for her.

[Gail Bonvilland]

I used to go get him and bring him home. One time I went to get him and this woman was sitting right there by him with a bunch of beer and I'll never forget it. I had an orange purse. I sat it down and I hit her and knocked her out and on the floor where she went come to Find out she had just gotten off of the bus from somewheres and was innocent as could be. She shouldn't have been there.

[Larison Campbell]

This bar hired a lot of outsiders, women like Janice. People who needed a soft landing from whatever rough situation they'd found themselves in. But Gayle found the whole operation kind of trashy.

[Gail Bonvilland]

It was just an old bar and all of the women that needed to come out of town or from whatever they come from, would end up there. And he'd hire them. And they had little houses in the back nets where they'd live.

[Larison Campbell]

The owners let the employees live on the property. Janice moves in while she figures out what comes next. It doesn't take long. The bartender hustle leads Janice straight into the arms of a new guy. Gail and her ex husband owned a mechanic shop down the street. And a friend he worked with took a liking to Janice. They started dating. Not that Gail approved.

[Gail Bonvilland]

I just couldn't see him with her. It didn't make a match to me.

[Larison Campbell]

Janice was still in her late 20s and the man she was dating was nearly 50. Everyone called him Streety. His last name. Gail considered him family. He was recently widowed and his first wife had been Gail's close friend.

[Gail Bonvilland]

They just had a real good marriage. And I was surprised when he come up with this new lady because she would have killed her.

[Larison Campbell]

Probably a rebound casual. Eventually she'll blow out of town the way she came in, but Janice doesn't. Instead they get married. And then they become even more bonded. Which Gail discovers one day when she goes to her ex's to pick up the kids.

[Gail Bonvilland]

Streety was sitting here and she was sitting here and she was holding this little bald headed baby.

[Larison Campbell]

Janice now has a baby.

[Gail Bonvilland]

What they doing with a baby? It's Streety at his age and her, she's come from somewheres. And here the next time they have this baby.

[Larison Campbell]

Much as Gail doesn't like thinking about Janice, she had to admit this was odd.

[Gail Bonvilland]

But I didn't. Like I said, I wasn't interested, so I didn't question it.

[Larison Campbell]

Look, I get it. Girl code is real. But the stork is not. Babies usually come from pregnancy or an arduous adoption process. So the sudden arrival of this new baby is really strange. Especially when you think this is a woman who already has four children back home. Some of whom will one day let an investigator swab their cheeks for DNA on the off chance that maybe it would match some Jane Doe body. But Janice is alive, apparently creating a new family. Janice's story started as a search for what happened to her. But now it's starting to turn into a story about what she did. It's what's had me thinking. Janice is the one in charge. Because what if she was never running from something but searching for it? In order to answer that, to understand the why behind all of this, we have to first follow the dominoes of Janice's escapades to learn everything about what she did and where she went. And that first domino falls in a familiar place. A place Janice had recently fled. A place that seemed like she had no interest in returning to Poplarville, Mississippi. From Sony Music Entertainment and Wild Night Media, you're listening to the Vanishing of Janice Rose. This is episode three Pregnant. I'm Larison Campbell. Janice had started a new life once again, this time down in Louisiana with a new baby and a husband. But she seemed to still feel pulled back to a life she had in Mississippi. The story I'm about to tell you takes place before her little bald headed baby was born. As the story goes, on this day, Janice is by herself. She's in her car on a road trip to visit her old life. Not her original old life in Columbia, Mississippi, where her family lived, but her most recent old life in Poplarville, where she'd worked in that diner and become close with Peggy Perkins. Mom. The drive is about two hours. As she exits off the highway toward Poplarville. I wonder if she's excited, imagining their reaction. Nervous, Janice pulls into a familiar driveway. It's Peggy Perkins's house. Peggy's watching through the window. And this is how she remembers the story. She sees Janice get out of a nice car. But that's not the only thing Janice is showing off. She's been putting on some weight since she's last seen Peggy. But it's not so much about the extra pounds as the big, exciting thing they convey. As Peggy watches her waddle up the driveway, Janice is cradling a rather pronounced baby bump. Peggy shouts to her mom, wow, Jan's here.

[Peggy Perkins]

Mom's like, what? Yeah, Jan's here. That's when she came to tell my mama she was pregnant.

[Larison Campbell]

Peggy and her mom are both so thrilled to see their old friend. They'd been worried about her. And now she's not just here, but pregnant, starting a new family with a new guy who clearly knows how to take care of her. She's really got it all. And then she tells them that she wants her old friends in this new life.

[Peggy Perkins]

Yep, I want y' all to be a part of, you know, part of all of this come down, stay like, you know, weekend or something.

[Larison Campbell]

Peggy's still in high school. She thought Jan was cool back in the diner days when she would hang out there with her friends. But now Jan might be the coolest person Peggy knows. Her car for one thing.

[Peggy Perkins]

This car was souped up super. That thing had white leather tires on it, sporty looking tires and rims. It was a dark blue with a black vinyl top on it. Oh man, that thing was fine. That car was just like. It was my dream car.

[Larison Campbell]

And getting out of town, you don't have to ask her twice, literally what.

[Peggy Perkins]

We did in Poplarville when we did on Friday nights, we ride from one end of town to the other, Just make a circle, go down. And if we met up with anybody, we'd stop and talk or whatever. So I mean, you saw after things to do.

[Larison Campbell]

One weekend, Peggy and her sister and their mom head down to Louisiana to check out Jan's new life for themselves.

[Peggy Perkins]

They had an older house, trailer down there, but it was nice, it had addition to it. It was right there on the bayou, you know, they had a boat ramp.

[Larison Campbell]

And this new guy, David Streety, he.

[Peggy Perkins]

Was a very nice, nice, well dressed man to her. She had the life she wanted, you know, David had money. David bought a car.

[Larison Campbell]

Streety's a mechanic at the time. He works long hours during the day and when he gets home at night, he pours himself, himself a whiskey or four. And then he just kind of likes to hang out.

[Peggy Perkins]

Guys that he worked with, he'd bring them over, they would have cookouts, swimming and stuff like that, you know, cookouts.

[Larison Campbell]

Small town life, a husband who works a lot. To me this looks a whole lot like the life Janice left. There's even a child on the way. Was this life on the bayou really Janice's plan? Or had she left her old life to discover that for a woman in 1970s Mississippi with a 10th grade education, there were very few plans available? There were at least less tangible differences here. Janice and Streety seemed to get along really well. And their house was buzzing with friends and neighbors dropping by. Teenage Peggy starts coming down to Louisiana just by herself. For her, Jan's life was freedom.

[Peggy Perkins]

I was having fun with my friend Jan. It was like a whole weekend. And then I was staying summers. School started, tomorrow I'll be home. And you know, as a teenager, you thinking, wow, you know, I got the world by the seat of the pants right now. I mean, I was, I was a bad kid, you know, I wanted to smoke, I wanted to Drink. I wanted to do do do, do, do, you know.

[Larison Campbell]

And Jan's not strict like Peggy's mom. She might have been nearing 30, but she lets Peggy smoke cigarettes.

[Peggy Perkins]

Where's the light one? Hundreds in a golden red pack.

[Larison Campbell]

To Peggy, it was all carefree late nights on the bayou. Cicadas humming, smoking a cig and gossiping about Peggy's crushes.

[Peggy Perkins]

She was just the type of person that I wanted to be around. I felt real close to her, like we was more like sisters, you know, a good hangout. Next thing I know, she's in the hospital and labor and this, that and the other. Next thing I know, you know. Cause they had a baby boy.

[Larison Campbell]

Janice has a baby boy. David W. Streety, after his dad. And since he was the third, everyone called him Trey. Seeing her with baby Trey, this was a different side of Jan.

[Peggy Perkins]

Very doting, very loving. There wasn't nothing no better than her being a mom to him. You could tell she loved him.

[Larison Campbell]

Peggy continues to visit. It's a little different now over at Jan's with an infant in the house. But that's not what changes their friendship. Janice might have been a good hang, but I'm learning that she could also turn on a dime. And, well, Peggy says she learned this the hard way. One afternoon, Peggy is hanging out with Janice when she notices something that seems a bit off. It's about little Trey. She and Janice are in the nursery with him.

[Peggy Perkins]

I was in the bath with her one day. We was changing him.

[Larison Campbell]

As Peggy looks down at him, she thinks he doesn't look much like his parents. His complexion specifically.

[Peggy Perkins]

You know, he's kind of like that little tan.

[Larison Campbell]

So she makes this offhand comment to Janice.

[Peggy Perkins]

That's Janice. This baby's a little dark, complected.

[Larison Campbell]

Peggy's a teenager. To her, this isn't a loaded statement, more an observation. But as soon as the words leave her mouth, Janice just crumples. The statement was, in fact, a big deal, but not for the reasons you might assume.

[Peggy Perkins]

And she just almost broke down in tears.

[Larison Campbell]

Janice hurries out of the room. Peggy knows she's stepped in it, but she'll be damned if she knows what the hell it is. A moment later, Janice returns with a document in her hand.

[Peggy Perkins]

So she came and showed me a piece of paper.

[Larison Campbell]

It's folded up. Janice clutches the paper, tears now streaming down her cheeks.

[Peggy Perkins]

I said, why are you crying? And she says, well, I'm scared you're not going to want to have anything to do with me anymore. I opened a piece of paper and.

[Larison Campbell]

It was a birth certificate for Trey, but under mother. Jan's name isn't there.

[Peggy Perkins]

It had Wilhelmina Butler on it.

[Larison Campbell]

Wilhelminia Butler.

[Peggy Perkins]

So she pointed to the race on the birth certificate.

[Larison Campbell]

Black. Though Peggy had always assumed Janice was white. Who is this? Peggy asks. It's me, says Jan. This is my real identity.

[Peggy Perkins]

Wilhelmina Butler was a real name and Jan was her alter ego. She said, well, it'll probably change the way you feel about me. I said, no, I mean, why would that change the way I feel about you? And I can still hear her saying that. All these years, I can hear her saying that. I don't remember how many days it was that I was still there. But I left and went home. When was the last time I went down there?

[Larison Campbell]

Peggy's never invited back. She calls it the cutoff.

[Peggy Perkins]

That's when she got real. Okay, I'm gonna tell you this and I'm cutting you loose.

[Larison Campbell]

To set the record straight. Wilhelminia Butler is not her true identity. This is a lie. Janice was born Janice Rose Swayze and grew up in Columbia, Mississippi. She's the baby in a family of six and a mom to four little girls. And she's also not black. Neither is her baby. He just has a darker complexion than Janice. So what is Janice's plan here? A new story perhaps? Matter of fact, she tries one out on someone you've already heard from. This brings us back to that woman in Louisiana who never had any interest in getting to know Janice or her little bald headed baby.

[Gail Bonvilland]

I just wasn't interested in getting involved.

[Larison Campbell]

Yeah, her. See, she was only ever introduced to Janice as Willie Jones. Never heard of a Jan. That's what her husband Streety, called her. How he introduced her to all of his friends. And if baby Trey's arrival had been expected, even eagerly anticipated by teenage Peggy, this sleight of hand wasn't one she tried on the Louisiana crowd. They never thought that she'd been pregnant.

[Gail Bonvilland]

She just said he was adopted.

[Larison Campbell]

Adopted? The woman Peggy remembers waddling up her driveway with a bump.

[Gail Bonvilland]

She said they adopted him. And I didn't question her because I wasn't that interested.

[Larison Campbell]

As uninterested as Gayle maintains she is about this new baby, there is something about it that sticks with her.

[Gail Bonvilland]

I just kind of wondered how she got him so fast. You know, you have to go through legal stuff and be investigated and things like that. And you just can't go one day and come back with a baby and say, I adopted him. You can't just do it overnight.

[Larison Campbell]

That's right, you can't just do it overnight. But Janice doesn't stick around town for these questions. Pretty soon she hits the road again.

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[Larison Campbell]

Now we know Janice has lied about her name and maybe her race too. She's told one group of people she gave birth to her baby and another that she adopted him. And those four daughters she actually gave birth to. As far as we can tell, she's not talking about them to anyone. And it's about to get even more complicated because Janice is once again driving back into Poplarville, Mississippi. That town with the truck stop diner where Peggy lives. Karen Sullivan was just a kid back in Poplarville. On Saturdays you could probably find her next door at her grandmother's.

[Karen Sullivan]

We were always at her house on the weekends and having get togethers with all my uncles. My dad had five brothers and her.

[Larison Campbell]

Uncle Cliff stood out.

[Karen Sullivan]

He was a handsome devil. He wore these blue button up shirts and he was just Rico Suave. Like I thought he was part Italian or something, you know, squeeze your hand real hard when he shakes it and just a ladies man, you know. That was always with different women.

[Larison Campbell]

When Karen's around seven, her uncle Cliff starts dating someone new. No surprise. Not long after, he brings her around to Karen's grandma's house. One of those weekend parties with Karen and her cousins.

[Karen Sullivan]

Running around in the yard, I see this beautiful lady. She looked like she was at a magazine, you know, she was all tan and wearing her short shorts and her blonde hair and she knew she looked good.

[Larison Campbell]

It's Janice. Like Peggy before her, Karen is fascinated.

[Karen Sullivan]

Like I loved her attitude.

[Larison Campbell]

Lucky for Karen, this one sticks around for a while. A feat for her Rico Suave bachelor uncle Cliff had been a regular at the diner. Peggy told me that's where they met. He's one of the guys Janice casually dated before moving on to the owner and then hightailing it for Louisiana. But this time around, they're serious.

[Karen Sullivan]

I'd seen him bring other women and they were just nothing to him. There'd be another one, you know, a different time. But she moved in with him.

[Larison Campbell]

They move into this big house together. It's behind the Sonic Drive in restaurant.

[Karen Sullivan]

It just seemed like a big. A big baby doll house that had an upstairs. And I'd never seen an upstairs. We'd go over there and that's when I knew she lived there. And I'm like, oh my God, she's my aunt. And we started calling her Aunt Willie Jo.

[Larison Campbell]

Willie Jo, her new fake name. I want to pause here because it's one thing to strike out for a new town. Adopt a brand new ident with brand new people. But Janice is doing something curious. She's Gone back to this town of 2,500 people who all knew her as Jan. She's even dating a guy who once called her Jan, all while saying her real name is actually Willie Jo. She doesn't seem to operate by the typical liar playbook. You're not supposed to get sentimental and go back to the same friends you've got to hoodwink new people. How did she explain her new name? Had she produced the same birth certificate she'd shown teenage Peggy? Given her boyfriend Cliff the same story? Or maybe that identity switch with Peggy wasn't as much a misstep as a trial run for this next Boulder move. If Peggy believed her, and she seemed to, maybe Jan could pass herself off as Willie Jo to more people in her old life. Was it worth risking it all for this old fling? Cliff? Of course, little Karen doesn't know any of this history. What she knows is she's got a new aunt and a new toddler cousin.

[Karen Sullivan]

When she came into the picture, she had Trey's, too. And they acted like they had been together a while. But we had just found out about.

[Larison Campbell]

Her as a seven year old. These dynamics aren't really explained to her, but from Karen's point of view, toddler Trey was her first cousin by blood.

[Karen Sullivan]

He was cute as a button. And we loved playing in the swimming pool.

[Larison Campbell]

One of those little plastic blue swimming pools from the hardware store. And then Aunt Willie Jo turned that fun up to 100 by moving it to the base of their backyard slide.

[Karen Sullivan]

That was the coolest idea ever Aunt Willie Jo had putting the slide in the pool. She took a lot of time with us. She played with us. She'd play games with us. She'd do things with our hair. She was that fun aunt that really, like, involved herself in our lives.

[Larison Campbell]

Janice, AKA Willie Jo, weaves herself in with the rest of Karen's family. She fits right in.

[Karen Sullivan]

She took my dad all over the coast to put in job applications. And I'd sit in the back seat, you know, and she'd give me a drink.

[Larison Campbell]

Aunt Willie Jo and Uncle Cliff were hanging out with her parents a lot more.

[Karen Sullivan]

They would play cards. They'd cut up. My mom loved her to pieces. My dad did, too. He just felt she was lying about Trey.

[Larison Campbell]

Lying about Trey. Karen remembers her dad and Cliff getting into it back then. I imagine her one night in her pajamas. Maybe she's getting ready to get into bed when she hears Ray's voices in the living room. Not angry, but insistent.

[Karen Sullivan]

He said, cliff, I'm telling you, that ain't your kid. I'm telling you, that ain't your kid. You need to do some digging. He's like, shut up, Archie. Just stay out of it. And I remember him and my mom talking about it and saying, I don't know how she's got Cliff believing that that is his son.

[Larison Campbell]

If you're keeping count, this is now the third origin story for toddler Trey. There's the story she told about Trey being adopted. Then there's the story that she's his biological mom and Streety, her husband in Louisiana is his dad. And now she's back in Poplarville telling everyone here that she and Cliff are his biological parents. Trey was born about two years after she'd married Streety, so she must have had visits with Cliff in between. Otherwise how could he believe he's Trey's biological dad? And even if Cliff does want to believe her, it's still a risky move. This one horse town is the same town teenage Peggy lives in. And Janice never tells Peggy she's back. Does she ever worry she'll see her or her mom at the grocery store, the gas station? That one of them might recognize her car? Because that is exactly what happens. Peggy's still in high school, and on this particular day, she's gone out for lunch.

[Peggy Perkins]

We'd all meet up at the Sonic. And right behind there used to be a redwood stained house.

[Larison Campbell]

The big house behind the Sonic drive in, AKA Karen's dollhouse. The one Uncle Cliff and Willie Jo Janis moved into. And outside, a familiar souped up Ford Navy with a black ragtop. Peggy's dream car.

[Peggy Perkins]

I'm just like, well, I know that car.

[Larison Campbell]

Peggy doesn't know what Janice would be doing back in Poplarville. So she walks over and knocks on her door. But when Janice answers, well, she looks just like someone who's been confronted with a part of their past they hoped to forget. She's tense.

[Peggy Perkins]

You could feel that, you know, Peggy.

[Larison Campbell]

Blows right past this. She's like, tell me everything. Why are you back in town?

[Peggy Perkins]

What are you doing? You know, did you and Streety, you know, divorce or whatnot? You know what happened? She just didn't want to really answer those questions.

[Larison Campbell]

Janice is not down for a hang session and quickly wraps up the encounter, leaving Peggy to return to class very confused. That evening, Peggy fills her mom in. Turns out Janice's husband Streety, back in Louisiana was. Was looking for Janice.

[Peggy Perkins]

Mama said that Streety called and wanted to know if we had seen Jan. And he said because she left with.

[Larison Campbell]

That Baby took Trey and skipped town.

[Peggy Perkins]

I think that's about the time Cliff found out that wasn't his baby and whatever. So she left and went to Texas.

[Larison Campbell]

Texas Once again. A new chapter, a new state.

[Karen Sullivan]

They just broke up, I guess. We never heard anything else about her.

[Larison Campbell]

Janice had a gift for connecting with people in a way that was deep and genuine. That made kids like Peggy and Karen feel seen, even loved. Or that's how it seemed. Because as we know, Janice also had a gift for walking away. So were these close relationships just a lie? Or were they just casualties of a much bigger lie? A lie Janice was finally learning how to protect. One slip could unravel the whole thing. So when these slips happened, when someone started to catch on, maybe it was best to do what Janice had always done well. Move on. Start fresh. But that won't work forever.

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[Larison Campbell]

All of this brings me back to Mark Ogden, the investigator at the Pearl River County Sheriff's Department. Ogden's tracked Janice all the way to the Poplarville diner. Learned she wanted to get away from her boyfriend, boss there Dick. But he hasn't been able to find anything about her whereabouts since then. Or the web of lies she started to spin. As far as Ogden knows, she could have been killed by the diner owner or that serial killer. Or met some other awful fate. He has heard gossip that Janice came back through Poplarville, later claimed claiming she'd had Cliff's baby. But that's it. Whatever became of this baby is just as murky to him as Janice's current status. But Ogden hopes this guy Cliff will have some information. So he gives him a call.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

They left messages, tons and tons of messages. Never would return my call. And I found out his daughter still lived in Pearl River County. And I gave her a call and she said, let me talk to dad. And a week went By? Yeah, he don't know anybody by that name. He wants you to quit calling him. He's not gonna talk to you.

[Larison Campbell]

Doesn't know a Janice.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

Well, then it's suspicious as hell.

[Larison Campbell]

For the record, Cliff wouldn't return my calls either.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

Brickwell again.

[Larison Campbell]

Ogden hangs up the phone. He's running out of avenues to explore, but he continues to cast a wide net.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

Every few months, I would run her picture through Crime Stoppers.

[Larison Campbell]

The online posts are succinct. Smiling photos of Janice and the last place she was confirmed, Pearl river county, when she was working at the diner. All the while, Janice's daughters are never far from his mind.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

They would call and ask for an update, and I love them. I'm working on it. I'm talking to the people. I'm not getting anywhere. She could hear the frustration in my voice. So she knew I give a damn, you know, she knew I was working it. But something was gonna have to happen to be able to get information to go in a different direction and put it off to the side and hope something one day shows up to pick it back up.

[Larison Campbell]

Every so often, when Ogden finds himself with a little time, he reposts his Crime Stoppers bulletin. The comments are typically unhelpful. Beautiful woman. Have you looked at any serial killers in the area? He also continues calling around so and so tells him to call so and so who probably knew her because she was close with so and so.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

I talked to a couple old waitresses that worked there. I was lucky to find them.

[Larison Campbell]

One tells him about Dupes, the borrower Janice ran off to in Raceland, Louisiana. Ogden talks to people in that area. He's able to confirm that she did in fact work there, which is huge if she made it out of Mississippi. Maybe he's not chasing a dead body after all. Though this tip doesn't take him any further at this point. He's been working this case for three years. He continues to widen his net to other regions and states where he posts his Crime Stoppers bulletin.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

Who knows which way she went and how far?

[Larison Campbell]

Then one day, one comment changes everything for his investigation. It's February 2022. He'd put up the Crimestoppers post again. And this time he gets a call from someone at Crime Stoppers.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

He said, mark, have you read the comments? Like, no, not today. She said, get on there. Read it. We told you how far to go down.

[Larison Campbell]

Ogden's on the phone, scrolling, scrolling.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

There's a lady that's saying she knows her. I was like, really?

[Larison Campbell]

He lands on the commenter, a Peggy Perkins. Soon after, Ogden's knocking on her door. Peggy's not home, so the investigator leaves his card. When Peggy gets in later, my husband.

[Peggy Perkins]

Says, the police come out here looking for you. I said, what? He said, no, he says, about a comment you made on Facebook.

[Larison Campbell]

Did I mention Peggy loves Facebook?

[Peggy Perkins]

It's a fun hobby. Facebook is my friend. Whoever, whatever, Google, we do it all.

[Larison Campbell]

She uses it for a little light stalking, what she considers staying informed. But this post, which her sister had sent her, was a little different.

[Peggy Perkins]

She said, is that Jan? I said, yes, it is. I haven't heard anything from her for years and years and years and years and years. I mean, I'm thinking, well, maybe something happened to her.

[Larison Campbell]

Under the post, Peggy writes just three words. That is Jan. Later on, when Peggy calls the number on Ogden's business card, he asks if she can head to the station.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

Can you come down and give me a statement? She said, sure.

[Larison Campbell]

Peggy's there the next day.

[Peggy Perkins]

I don't even know what to call her, to be honest. We're just going to call her Janice Bullock. Yeah, because that's her legal name. The name she was born with. I don't know, because it's twisted. Trust me. At first, we sit in his office and I started talking. He said, no, come on. Put me in an investigating room and shut him. Don't tell you something, don't you shut this door. Cause I. I'm. I'm not staying here. Okay? This is not going to be my permanent residence. No, no, no. I'm scared of jail. He said, well, I'm going to put you in here so we can record you because you talk a little fast.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

She was a fountain of information. We sat down and talked for a long time.

[Larison Campbell]

Peggy's got so much information, Ogden's not even sure where to have her start. Peggy confirms the rumors that Janice dated Cliff and she dated the owner of the diner. Peggy tells Ogden that Janice lived in Raceland with a guy she married named Streety. That at one point they had a little boy. But there's also plenty that Peggy didn't know about Jan.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

So she's got four daughters.

[Larison Campbell]

Shows her pictures of them.

[Peggy Perkins]

Oh, my God. I was in shock. I couldn't believe it.

[Larison Campbell]

She'd never heard a word about Janice's girls. Peggy gives him the full arc of her friendship with Janice. How after Janice revealed this birth certificate with the name Wilhelminia, Peggy was once again out of her life.

[Peggy Perkins]

I'm thinking that was the time she was trying to transform into Willie. Jo from Janice. That was her changing to her Willie Joe Streety, you know, ID or whatever they want to call it.

[Larison Campbell]

Ogden takes it all in stride. So many of these pieces are falling into place, except for one. Janice's pregnancy. And that baby boy. Ogden is intrigued and maybe a little confused. Fortunately, Peggy's arrived ready. She's got a photo of Trey.

[Peggy Perkins]

Showed him a picture. You know, he was a baby, but he was a sitting up baby.

[Larison Campbell]

And there's a big reason why this would sound off to Ogden. According to his investigation, it was physically impossible for Janice to give birth again. Those four biological daughters, they were her last biological children.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

She had a hysterectomy right after.

[Larison Campbell]

After that is she gave birth to her fourth daughter. Janice's family told Ogden she had a hysterectomy, but Peggy had seen Janice's round stomach with her own eyes.

[Peggy Perkins]

Yeah, she looked pregnant. She had. Yeah, I don't know what she had in them britches, but she looked pregnant. And she had maternity pants on. You know, sometimes she'd pull them up or something like that. They'd have the big elastic right there, the maternity pants.

[Larison Campbell]

But apparently it was all a lie.

[Peggy Perkins]

You read about things like this, you see things like this on tv, in the movies, stuff like this, People changing identities. God, who you really know somebody that did that?

[Larison Campbell]

Peggy walks out that day with a whole new list of daughters to check out on Facebook and a lot of new disturbing information to process. But the investigator, Ogden, has even more. A new name, Wilhelminia, and connections to two real people.

[Investigator Mark Ogden]

She had her son and she was married to the boy's father. So what can you say to that? That's huge. Huge break. We're on the trail of David Streety now.

[Larison Campbell]

Where is this son and where did he come from? Does he have the answers? And better yet, where is Jan now? Don't want to wait for that next episode? You don't have to unlock all episodes of the Vanishing of Janice Rose ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Search for the binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page, not on apple. Head to getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. As a subscriber, you'll get binge access to new stories on the 1st of every month. Check out the Binge channel page on apple podcasts or getthebinge.com to learn more. The Vanishing of Janice Rose is produced by Wild Night Media for Sony Music Entertainment's the Binge. The show was written, hosted and executive produced by ME Larison Campbell. The executive producers for the Binge are Jonathan Hirsch and Catherine St. Louis. The show's senior producer and story editor is Lindsey Kilbride. Sheba Joseph provided production support and Aaliyah Papes is the story. Stories, fact checker, mixing and sound design for this series by Scott Somerville with music from Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions. The show's theme song is Shake Me by Lydia Ramsey Legal review by Davis Wright Tremaine.

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