The Vanishing of Janis Rose | 5. Then Who is David?

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "The Vanishing of Janis Rose" – Ep. 5: Then Who is David?

Host: Larison Campbell
Podcast: The Binge Crimes: The Vanishing of Janis Rose (Sony Music Entertainment)
Air Date: September 30, 2025

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Main Theme / Purpose

In Episode 5, “Then Who is David?”, host Larison Campbell turns her focus to the tangled origins and identity of David, Janis Rose’s son—whose very existence may be tied to her web of lies, fake identities, and possibly illegal adoption. The episode explores David's quest for the truth about his beginnings, his relationship with Janis, and the ripple effects her actions had on multiple families and lives. The episode weaves together interviews, revelations, and conflicting accounts, shining light on the depth of Janis’s deceptions and the complicated search for identity in her wake.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. David’s Perspective on Discovery and Betrayal

• David’s life upended: In 2025, David learned that his mother, known as Willie Jo Streety, was actually Janis Rose Bullock, and that his entire life may be based on lies.
  [01:40]
• Emotional turmoil: David grapples with questions of love, betrayal, and truth.
  • “My emotions been all over the place since they happened. Sad, anger. Being lied to and doing that to our daughters and then lying the whole time around me. Or was our bond a lie? Or was it true? Was my childhood lie? I still love her because she raised me my whole life.” – David [02:04]
• Confrontation with reality: David is forced to interrogate his childhood and the nature of his mother’s love.

2. The Question of David’s Origins

• Suspicion of forgery: David wonders if his very identity is fraudulent.
  • “I might have a forged birth certificate after all.” – David [03:51]
• Rumors of a black-market adoption: Investigators tell David he may have been bought for $1,000 at birth.
  • “Detectives said, I was probably bought for $1,000.” – David [04:28]
  • “Her and dad went there and dad gave nurse or doctor a thousand dollars, and that's how they got me.” – David [04:38]
• The story David grew up with: Janice told David he was adopted from Charity Hospital in New Orleans when he was a day old, but claimed it was a closed adoption with no records.
  [07:11–08:06]

3. Janis’s Identity Manipulations

• Social Security fraud incident: David recounts a time when his mother was accused by Social Security of identity theft but was never caught or confronted directly:
  • “They came back, said, we can't give this back to you because it's stolen.” – David [09:26]
  • “They argued and kicked us out of the Social Security office.” – David [10:02]
• Real vs. assumed identity: Janis’s assumed identity (Willie Jo) matches a real woman—a Black woman from Louisiana, not Janis’s race, age, or background. This highlights the complexity and boldness of Janis’s cons.
  [10:45–12:45]

4. Janis’s Serial Marriages and Disguises

• Multiple marriages: Marriage records reveal that while using the Willie Jo alias, Janis married three men in the ’80s and ’90s (including David’s dad, Cliff, and Wesley [Wes])—sometimes committing bigamy.
• Wes's account: When contacted, Wes (one of Janis’s ex-husbands) is stunned by revelations of her past:
  • “When you told me you were doing a story on her, I was like, it's gotta be something good because she was a good person.” – Wes [17:02]
• Relationships and deception: Wes lived with Janis and David’s father without knowing their relationship. Janis actively concealed the truth from the various men and children in her life.

5. Fabricated Motherhood and Possible Child Stealing

• Pattern of “taking in” kids: Wes says Janis took in other children and passed herself as a foster parent, despite never seeing paperwork or social worker involvement.
  • “I never seen a child case worker. I never seen anything. I mean, I never signed papers to be a foster parent. But then all of a sudden, they were gone. She might have kidnapped those kids.” – Wes [20:35]
• Faked pregnancies: Janis claimed to be pregnant (even with triplets with Wes), showing physical symptoms and fake ultrasounds, only to claim a miscarriage at seven months. Host and Wes now believe this was fabricated:
  • “She had ultrasounds. Pictures of the babies, you know...I seen her naked. What the hell was it then? A basketball she sewed into her stomach. This is freaking my life out.” – Wes [23:14]
• Motivation: Larison speculates Janis orchestrated pregnancies to secure men and identities, perhaps to fill the void from her absent biological daughters.

6. The Rumors and the Black-Market Adoption Plot

• Community rumors: People in Poplarville believed David was not Janis’s biological child. His possible origins as a black-market baby or a stolen child were whispered for decades.
  • “Did you ever hear anything your parents talk about where they think David came from? They thought she kidnapped him.” – Karen Sullivan [34:10]
• Source of the rumor: A local relayed that David’s father admitted buying David for $1,000 from Charity Hospital due to Janis’s “grief” after a miscarriage.
  • “Jan told him that she miscarried the baby and she was having such a hard time mentally about it, he went and bought the baby.” – Peggy Perkins [36:40]
• Complicity and silence: Despite deep suspicions, no one reported Janis to authorities, reflecting the closed, secretive culture of small-town Mississippi.

7. The Search for Truth and Identity

• David’s legal search: Louisiana’s 2022 law change allows closed adoption records to be opened. David receives his original birth certificate, unlocking new questions.
  [39:02–39:55]
• Bracing for confrontation: David prepares to visit Janis in person, seeking answers only she may be able to give.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• David on betrayal:
  • “Was our bond a lie? Or was it true? Was my childhood lie? I still love her because she raised me my whole life.” [02:04]
• On fake identities:
  • “Her Social Security number is stolen...They argued and kicked us out of the Social Security office.” [09:26–10:02]
• David’s existential doubt:
  • “Who am I?” [05:03]
• Wes’s realization:
  • “She might have kidnapped those kids. Now, I don't know what to think.” [20:48]
  • “I seen her naked. What the hell was it then? A basketball she sewed into her stomach. This is freaking my life out.” [23:24]
  • “I think if I was older I would have figured this out on my own back then. I would have put pieces together....Kind of a weird vibe.” [29:50]
• Host, on psychological motives:
  • “It's like an extreme version of trad wife believing a woman needs a man to be safe and secure and that a child is the only way to make him commit.” [27:06]
• On small-town secrecy:
  • “Karen told me something that stuck with me about Poplarville, that little town Janice kept returning to. She says you can hide stuff there. It's part of the culture of not inserting yourself in public. They keep their mouth shut. Behind closed doors, they tell it all.” [37:20]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [01:09] – David describes Janis in one word: “Loving... crazy… but loving.”
• [02:04–02:29] – David’s emotional response to uncovering Janis’s real identity.
• [04:28–04:45] – Detective reveals David might have been “bought for $1,000.”
• [07:11–08:06] – David’s account of his “adoption” story and lack of records.
• [09:26–10:02] – The Social Security fraud incident.
• [14:41] – David’s reaction to learning more about Janis’s fraudulent marriages.
• [17:02–18:13] – Wes’s first impressions and surprise at Janis’s secrets.
• [20:35–20:48] – Wes discovers the possibility of Janis kidnapping foster kids.
• [23:14–23:33] – Wes’s confusion after realizing Janis might have faked her pregnancy.
• [29:50] – Wes reflects on his missed suspicions: “I was the 23 year old naive kid…”
• [33:30–34:10] – David weighs the likelihood of a legal vs. black-market adoption.
• [36:40] – Peggy Perkins’s account of David’s alleged purchase.
• [39:02–39:55] – David receives his original birth certificate and prepares to meet Janis for answers.

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Conclusion

In Episode 5, the search for Janis Rose’s truth becomes a search for David’s own truth. As David tries to untangle his origins from Janis’s lies, the episode reveals unsettling possibilities about illegal adoption, secrecy, and the devastation wrought by a mother’s web of identities. The investigation isn’t over, but after four decades of secrets, an answer may finally be within reach—not just for David, but for everyone left behind in Janis’s wake.

Transcript

[A]

Your teen adjective used to describe an individual whose spirit is unyielding, unconstrained, one who navigates life on their own terms, effortlessly. They do not always show up on time, but when they arrive, you notice an individual confident in their contradictions. They know the rules, but behave as if they do not exist. New Team the new fragrance by Miu Miu, defined by you 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 feed you'd True Crime Obsession the Bench David, if you could sum up your mom with one word, what would it be?

[B]

Well, I can't use that one word. Loving.

[A]

That seems like a departure from the word that you first. That first came to you.

[B]

Yeah, well, crazy? I don't know be an accurate word, but yeah. But loving. She was a loving home.

[A]

I mean, it sounds complicated.

[B]

You know, very recently has been very complicated.

[A]

I asked David this question in 2025, three years after an investigator had shown up at his house and told him that his mom, who he knew as Willie Jo Streety, was actually a woman named Janice Rose Bullock, and that essentially his life was built on a foundation of lies.

[B]

My emotions been all over the place since they happened. Sad, anger. Being lied to and doing that to our daughters and then lying the whole time around me. Or was our bond a lie? Or was it true? Was my childhood lie? I still love her because she raised me my whole life.

[A]

For most of David's life, he's had his mom on this pedestal, but now he's finding himself having to interrogate his mom in a way he'd never had before. Not long after this all came out, Janice's daughters reached out to him. They had questions.

[B]

We just started talking about how my life was with her growing up. Was I happy? Did she treat me right?

[A]

He was happy. She was a good mom, he thought. But now he's having to interrogate that, too. Was she? How could she be a loving mother to him and an absent mother to another set of kids?

[B]

But it just seemed like they just can't figure out why she left them.

[A]

It's a question David wants to answer, too, because he's on a mission to figure out just who he actually is. How he became Janice's son, how she pulled off this con, and how tangled up in it he is. Especially because he's realizing that her lies about him go all the way back to the day he was born.

[B]

I might have a forged birth certificate after all.

[A]

How does a woman on the run from her past with a fake identity who supposedly had a hysterectomy suddenly manifest a newborn baby? But it's more than that. Long before anyone found out about Janice's lies, people had whispered that something seemed off about her new baby. Those whispers had made their way to the investigator looking for Janice.

[B]

Detectives said, I was probably bought for $1,000.

[A]

David may have been bought for $1,000.

[B]

Her and dad went there and dad gave nurse or doctor a thousand dollars, and that's how they got me.

[A]

Like, purchased on the. This is not the story Janice had told David growing up. But of course, so many things she told him turned out to be lies.

[B]

Who am I?

[A]

Is maybe the most fundamental thing who David is. Another lie. What's the truth about how Janice got David? And how did she get away with all she did? Turns out some of those answers were sitting right there in front of David the whole time. From Sony Music Entertainment and Wild Night Media, you're listening to the Vanishing of Janice Rose. This is episode five. Then who is David? I'm Larison Campbell. David doesn't know where he came from. Any plans Janice made, documents she signed, real or fake. That all happened long before David could hold up his own head, much less remember. But figuring this out would help us understand the mystery that is Janice. It's a big piece of her puzzle. So David starts with what he does know. That his mom claimed he was adopted. He learned this when he was about 13. David was getting picked on by some kids at school.

[B]

One of my friends was teasing, teasing about that I didn't look like nothing.

[A]

Like my parents, saying he doesn't look related to his mom and dad. This isn't the first time David's heard it. Normally, these comments roll right off his back, but this time, it sticks. So when David gets a chance to talk to Janice about it, he just asks, mom, am I adopted? And to his surprise, she tells him, yeah, actually, you are. And she doesn't get too into the weeds.

[B]

She just said she came to the hospital and they handed me over. She told me I was 24 hours old when she brought me home.

[A]

He's got the baby pictures to prove it. Ones where he's tiny and wrinkled in his mom's arms, like he could have just left the hospital hours ago. She tells him she adopted him from Charity Hospital in New Orleans as a newborn. Over the years, through high school, David would be curious, if I turn 18.

[B]

Will it be okay if I find my biological family? And she goes, well, back then they had thing called closed adoption. So they have no records of me.

[A]

No records of David, like anywhere. Nope. She says, no records.

[B]

Maybe I want to know who, where it came from.

[A]

But he doesn't push.

[B]

It's okay. There's no records of my family that just. I guess they just want to give me up that bad and it'll just drop. Ever since.

[A]

David puts these questions out of his mind, never even asks his dad about the adoption. He cements himself and the one family he knows, he's happy here anyway. One thing I've come to know about Janice is that she was a force field. Witty and charming, she convinced dozens of people who knew better to trust her. And David was one. Because now, as David looks back, he can clearly see that this Willie Joe identity she was using was an illusion. Long before any detective contacted him. As David recalls, this is what happened. One day, David's mom tells him she needs his help with something.

[B]

She got a letter in saying something about her food stamp, that she needed to go to the Social Security office.

[A]

He decides to take his mom down to the Social Security office himself. At the office, she hands her Social Security card to an agent. They take it from her and disappear.

[B]

They came back, said, we can't give this back to you because it's stolen.

[A]

Her Social Security number is stolen. They say Janice having problems with her social would soon become a regular thing. Remember, she'd even asked his wife Carolyn to borrow hers once. But his mom was the victim.

[B]

David thought, always thought, that somebody stole her identity.

[A]

At the office that day, David sticks up for his mom.

[B]

I told him, no, it's not. It's hers. This has been a Social Security card for years.

[A]

But they're not listening to him.

[B]

And they argued and kicked us out of the Social Security office.

[A]

Logically, the one holding the stolen Social Security card is likely the one who stole it. The staff have to wonder this, right? And even David. But according to David's recollection, they just let her walk right out. No outright accusations. No one ever shows up to arrest her or even question her, which might have solved the whole mystery years earlier.

[B]

I tried to figure out what was going on, but nobody would give me a straight answer.

[A]

David's wife Carolyn, says she contacted a lawyer who took their case, only to turn around and say, actually, there's nothing I can do. I asked her to talk to this person. I could not even Tell you the name of this lawyer that was. Yeah, 12 years ago. So how would she get, like, credit? Like, how would she open a credit card? How did she. Did she have a bank? Yeah. We never understood that. One bizarre scenario after another with her. I don't think it's likely that Janice created this Willie Joe identity out of thin air. If she totally made up the identity, wouldn't she have made it more like herself? For instance, Janice is white, while the Willie Joe identity is a black woman who was also a decade older than Janice. And this Willie Jo identity seems to correspond with an actual person. When you search the Social Security number Janice was using for her alter ego, it links to a different woman, also named Willie. This woman seems to have been born in Louisiana. She's black, and her birthday is listed as the same fake birthday Janice had been using. Records show this person even voted within the last few years in Louisiana. I reached out to her because I suspected she was yet another person whose life Janice had upended. Were there loans she couldn't get or government services? But the woman I reached said she didn't know what I was talking about. So I kept sifting through databases and documents, and that's when I landed on something that kind of shocked me, even in the context of Janice's shocking life. What I found opened a door I didn't even know was there one that could help solve this even bigger mystery about David's origin. I immediately called David. Okay, so the reason I am calling you at 8:30 on a Monday night with COVID is that I found a marriage record. Actually, it was a few of them. While Janice had been using this fake Willie Joe identity, she'd also married three different men in the 1980s and 1990s. First up was, of course, David's dad. Turns out she divorced him when David was four. Then she actually married that guy Cliff from Poplarville. He's the real handsome one she'd tried to pass off as David's biological dad, who she lived with in that big ol house behind the Sonic drive in. And if this information surprised me, well, it really surprises David. He tells me he doesn't even know who this supposed stepdad Cliff is. By the way, even after all this, Cliff still wouldn't return my calls. But then I found Janice married another man while she was legally married to Cliff. Yeah, Bigamy. This next husband's name was Wesley. David did remember his mom dating Wes, but didn't know they'd actually been married. So, yeah, I feel kind of weird breaking all this to you over the phone. How do you feel about this?

[B]

I just. Weird because my whole life's been alive. I don't know what's going on.

[A]

There was an upside to this discovery, though. A husband would have seen a very different side to Janice than her son would. And maybe know more about who Janice really was. Hey, is this Wes? Hello?

[C]

Yes, it's him.

[A]

Oh, it is? Great. Hey, this is Larison Campbell, the journalist. And this husband was more than happy to talk. When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans. Send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th and never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end to end and encryption. It's time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone. Learn more at WhatsApp.com the new Popeyes and Hot Ones menu is the definition of fire flavor. We've got the sizzling Sriracha dippers. 10 out of 10. Time to take it up a notch with the smoking Rojo chicken sandwich. Mm. That's so hot. But it's so good. Now onto the daring dab ghost wings. Yep, there it is. I love the spice level. Attempt the Popeyes and Hot Ones menu in stores. Our hottest collaboration yet. Love that chicken from Popeyes. Limited time in participating US Restaurants. I finally tracked down one of Janice's husbands. As I dial his number, I look down at a list of several dozen questions in front of me. There are so many things I'm hoping he can tell me about Janice. What she told him about her past, and what he knew about David. It's Saturday afternoon when we jump on the phone, and right out of the gate, I realize the version of Janice that Wes knew was very different from the one that her son and I are unraveling. He tells me he can't imagine why someone would want to report on Janice, a woman he'd only ever known as Willie Jo.

[C]

When you told me you were doing a story on her, I was like, it's gotta be something good because she was a good person.

[A]

Turns out Wes knew nothing of the betrayal and lies she left behind in Mississippi and Louisiana. He'd lost track of her after they split up. Wes tells me he was about 22 years old when he met Janice, and she was about 50 or so. She said they met at a bar. Wes was about to get into a fight, and Janice hustled him out before things got bad. They Spent a night together, and a few days later, she invited him out to her family ranch. She told him she worked as a child psychologist. They were married for over two years, even bought a house together. And he thought that was their story until 30 years later when some reporter shows up in his inbox.

[C]

And then it hit me with that. I'm like, whoa, what the hell?

[A]

Where do I even start? There's the fact that she was already married when they wed. Wow.

[C]

So she didn't get divorced from that dude until after we divorced, right? Yeah. I mean, we got marriage certificate, marriage license, everything.

[A]

Yeah. And there's the fact that for a time, Wes lived with Janice at the ranch where David's dad was also living. And Janice didn't tell Wes who he was.

[C]

I didn't even know what relationship she was to him. I don't know if he was an uncle, dad. You know, I never. He was just an old man that stayed at the ranch.

[A]

Had no idea that he'd been married to Janice. And then there's how she again erased her past.

[C]

Let me ask you this before you start. She never had twins.

[A]

She did.

[C]

She did. So that was true.

[A]

Okay. Wait. Did she tell you about this?

[C]

Yes, she told me that she had had twins before. It was either they died in a fire. Yeah, the twins and the father died in a fire.

[A]

I told him about her four daughters, her first husband, all very much alive. And then I asked him about the one kid he did know. David.

[C]

When I met him, David was 14, and my dad gave him a car for his birthday.

[A]

What was Willie Jo's relationship like with David?

[C]

Oh, man, she loved him. Oh, my God. Yeah. He was the greatest thing since last bread.

[A]

What did she tell you about David's adoption?

[C]

That they adopted him. That was.

[B]

This is it.

[C]

I mean, she took in kids.

[A]

Took in kids, yeah. Wes tells me, aside from Janice supposedly adopting David, she took in others while they were married. How old were they?

[C]

The youngest was probably six. The oldest was probably nine, maybe 10. I mean, it was just for a few weeks, supposedly. We were watching them for the state, I guess as part of her child psychologist thing.

[A]

Though, now that he thinks about it, he never actually saw her work as a child psychologist.

[C]

I never seen a child case worker. I never seen anything. I mean, I never signed papers to be a foster parent. But then all of a sudden, they were gone. She might have kidnapped those kids. Now, I don't know what to think.

[A]

By the way, Janice was never charged with kidnapping. But I can see why Wes would be suspicious, because Janice had apparently obtained other children under mysterious circumstances. I mean, actual foster parents undergo interviews, a background check. To Wes's knowledge, that didn't happen. It feels like both a clue and another layer of mystery. No one seems to know for sure where David came from. But if Janice were bringing in other kids and passing them off as foster children, could David have been one of those kids? And if so, why did she keep doing this? Wes never gets those answers. He trusted this force of nature he's married to and didn't stop to question her decisions. Remember when he and Janice started dating? He was in his early 20s.

[C]

It was me, a young kid, and her, an older woman, and we just had a little fling, you know, until.

[A]

He says their little fling turned into a lot more.

[C]

A couple weeks later, she knocks on the door and tells her she's pregnant. And I'm like, oh, shit, here we go.

[A]

Which is how he ended up married to a woman decades older than him. And Janice doesn't just tell him she's pregnant. She tells him she's pregnant with triplets.

[C]

It's a family heritage thing, I guess. They're known for twins and triplets.

[A]

Wes and Janice buy a house together in another town under her alias Willie Jo, which, again, is the only name Wes knows for her. And they move along with teenage David as they prepare to welcome triplets, which she'll later claim to miscarry. I tell Wes she wasn't actually pregnant, that that was a lie, too.

[C]

Why do you say you didn't think she was pregnant?

[A]

Oh, she had a hysterectomy.

[C]

Well, that she wasn't pregnant. Yeah, but she had a huge belly. I mean, just weight in the stomach. Just the pregnant belly. She had ultrasounds. I never went to the doctor with her because I worked, but she had ultrasounds.

[A]

She had ultrasounds.

[C]

Pictures of the babies, you know, pictures of the fetuses. You know, all this.

[A]

He reiterates he saw her bare stomach. It looked pregnant.

[C]

We were married. I seen her naked. What the hell was it then? A basketball she sewed into her stomach. This is freaking my life out.

[A]

The investigator searching for Janice told me that she had had a hysterectomy, that he'd seen paperwork and proof. And in the police file, one of Janice's sisters says that she had endometriosis and their mother had signed for. For a full hysterectomy. That's pretty detailed. But as I talk to Wes and hear those details about her stomach and the ultrasounds, I actually start wondering if I were wrong. Was Janice actually pregnant. I mean, I gotta be honest with you. Your details are so clear that it's making me want to go back and just confirm that she really did in fact, have this hysterectomy. Because that is.

[C]

I'm telling you, I would check that out.

[A]

Like, that is. Or was Janice finally doing to me what she had done to so many others?

[C]

I'm not saying. She was three months pregnant when. When we supposedly lost babies. It was, like, right to term, so I don't know how she did it.

[A]

He remembers the day she lost their babies.

[C]

I was at work one day, and I got a phone call.

[A]

It's Wes's dad on the phone saying.

[C]

Hey, we gotta go to the hospital. And we took off for the hospital. And I said, what's going on? He said, I'm not gonna tell you nothing. I'll. We'll tell you when you get there. We'll tell you when you get there. And we got there, and she's standing outside, and I'm like, what the hell is she doing here? You know? And then I looked and I noticed, hey, she's not pregnant. Well, supposedly she had lost the babies, so we're going home. And my brain was just screwed up because I just lost a set of triplets. You know, I. Like I say there was no. I don't know how she pulled it off.

[A]

Wes is devastated, too devastated to notice something that now, well, seems like a glaring inconsistency. He says she was seven months pregnant when she lost the babies. That's third trimester. At that stage, losing a pregnancy is considered a stillbirth three times over.

[C]

She's an hour later waiting on me outside the hospital. It's so crazy, because I had that thought, and then I guess I just let that thought go, that nobody's that hurtful to say, oh, I'm pregnant with your kids. And then, you know, trick you into this catfishing, and then. And then you have a miscarriage and you lose them at seven months. Yeah. This is freaking me out now.

[A]

Impossible as it might seem that Janice could just fake a pregnancy, she didn't just do it this one time. She's done it before. The elastic pants Janice sported her changing stories about if David were adopted or if she birthed him. I wonder if she had a medical condition that might make someone look pregnant, that might help her sell this story. That's total speculation. But it's just so hard to understand how she could have pulled this off. What is clear is that at least some of the time, these Imaginary babies seem to help secure her to a man. Wes, of course. And it seems Cliff. It even makes me wonder about her high school pregnancy scare. Her best friend remembers Janice rushing to get married because she thought she was pregnant. But her first child wasn't actually born until more than a year after she had married her high school sweetheart. It's like an extreme version of trad wife believing a woman needs a man to be safe and secure and that a child is the only way to make him commit. I'd called Wes hoping for a window into who Janice really was. But it seems like Janice kept much of her real self locked away in this relationship too. So I was the one cluing Wesson, not the other way around. Were there any clues he could conjure to help me better understand her? Like, was the woman he was married to the kind of person who would create a new identity and leave 4 kids? Did she ever seem like the type to do that? Like yeah. Or like haunted? No.

[C]

If she had been 24 or I'd have been 53, we'd probably still be together.

[A]

Janice's and Wes's marriage ended the way most of her relationships did. A firm cut off.

[C]

She told me that they were going back to the ranch and I said, okay, if y' all go up there, I'll come up there this weekend. And she goes, no, don't bother. I'm not coming back.

[A]

The breakup is abrupt and confusing for him in the moment. What the hell are you talking about? He says to her. Though now he looks back and remembers shortly before Janice broke it off, David's dad, who again Wes didn't know was David's dad, had moved into the house and Janice had started sleeping on the couch. The night of their split, she and Wes got into a bad fight. So Wes says he left and stayed at his parents house.

[C]

I went back over there one time after that to get my stuff and that was it.

[A]

Over the years he's remembered mostly the good things about his ex wife. He'd shoot a hog and she'd have it cleaned immediately. The way she cooked her beauty. He says she reminded him of an older Sophia Lorenzo. But that period of his life now has a less glossy finish. He's admitting to himself he did wonder if something weren't right.

[C]

I mean there was times that I thought, man, this girl ain't who she says she is. I think if I was older I would have figured this out on my own back then. I would have put pieces together. I was the 23 year old naive kid, dude it's crazy. You've straightened three or four years of my life out. Now that were kind of a weird. Kind of a weird vibe.

[A]

Straightened out some of Wes's questions, but added to mine. When I found Wes, I'd hoped he'd be able to answer where David came from and who Janice, his ex wife was deep down. But the version of Janice that Wes got wasn't the same one that she showed to David or probably David's dad, even when all four of them were living in the same house. One thing that seems clear though, is that Janice had this way of making children who weren't hers into hers. The alleged foster children, yes, but also her friends. Kids like teenage Peggy from Poplarville or Cliff's niece, little Karen, who called Janice her aunt, Willie Jo. They idolized Janice and she seemed to love them back. David recently found this picture of little Karen from the early 80s. It was tucked into the bins of family photos. Janice had kept it all these years. There's a bitter irony to this that it seems like the only children she she didn't mother during those years were the four she gave birth to who had to grow up with a Janice shaped hole in their lives. So these other children was Janice trying to fill a hole herself in the shape of her daughters. Which brings me back to David and all the rumors that seemed to attach themselves to his adoption. Was this need to be a mom again so bad powerful that Janice was willing to do something illegal? Or was she just helping kids who needed her? Or could it be both? This podcast is supported by FX's English teacher. Last year's critically acclaimed series returns to.

[C]

Follow Evan, Gwen and Markie as they.

[A]

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[B]

I thought I was actually adopted the right way, not the legal way.

[A]

It's time to look into this rumor the investigator just dropped in David's lap that he might have been purchased for $1,000. I decided to try to go back and find the source. I start with someone who'd known David when he was really young. Karen Sullivan from Poplarville. The little girl Janice had kept the photo of, who thought David was her new cousin. Remember, at the time, everyone called David Trey. Something was up with Trey. I knew something was up with Trey. Karen was seven or so when Janice had started dating her uncle Cliff. David was just a toddler when he and Janice entered Karen's life. And Cliff had treated David like his biological son. But Karen can remember her parents trying to convince Cliff that David wasn't his. Did you ever hear anything your parents talk about where they think David came from? They thought she kidnapped him. Kidnapped? Yeah. She says when Janice left town, they became suspicious. Was Trey even hers? Like, did she steal him? Did she. Did she buy him? Like, what is the story there? It's a wild rumor and eerily similar to one that had circulated in Louisiana. Came out from somewheres that they thought he was stolen. Yeah, even Marlene, my sister in law, said she remembers that. Where did that come from? This is not a thing people usually say when a new baby appears on the scene. But groups of people who didn't even know know each other seemed to believe it. And there were other stories even within the same town. Like Peggy Perkins, the teenager who knew Janice from the diner and also lived in Poplarville. Remember, Peggy's mom was close with Janice for a while. One of the times Janice left David's dad, he called Peggy's house, he told my mama that he bought that baby from Charity Hospital in New Orleans from a lady for $1,000. This is the source of the black market adoption rumor that the investigator had told David. And there's something else David's dad had said about his reasons for doing it. Jan told him that she miscarried the baby and she was having such a hard time mentally about it, he went and bought the baby. Did she fake a pregnancy and then grief as a way to get a baby? If so, that's hard to relate to. Hearing this made Me wonder if some element of the grief were real, even if the pregnancy weren't. I've had both a miscarriage and later a hysterectomy. There was, at least for me, something similar in the grief that came with each. What you're letting go of is a huge part of your life and who you might want to be. Was Janice so desperate to keep being a mother that she'd do anything to make it happen? And did any of the people who suspected she had broken the law call the police? Child protective services? It seems not. Karen told me something that stuck with me about Poplarville, that little town Janice kept returning to. She says you can hide stuff there. It's part of the culture of not inserting yourself in public. They keep their mouth shut. Behind closed doors, they tell it all. So behind closed doors, Karen may have been hearing these theories, but that's where they stayed. As you can imagine, learning all of this has David thinking the worst about his birth family. What if they don't even know what happened to him back then?

[B]

You pay a nurse off, you get a kid and nobody knew about it. Doctor and nurse probably tell the parents, sorry, your son or daughter passed away, or something like that. See, I get too much.

[A]

In the tv, a seemingly outlandish theory that now doesn't sound so much like fiction. As we've reported this, several people have asked me about David's birth mother. Could she be the real Willie Jo? Had Janice possibly stolen not just Willie Jo's identity, but her child? But this does not appear to be the case. According to Janice's marriage records, she took on Willie Jo's identity two full years before David was born. And according to records, Willie Jo is a different race, not just from Janice, but also from David.

[B]

I just want to know if it was actually a legit adoption or not. Did my parents really give me up? Did my mom kidnap her? Or did my mom really? Or is this all true?

[A]

The timing is lucky. David learns about his mom's lies in February of 2022. That same year, the state of Louisiana passes a law that allows all adoptees to request their original birth certificates, but their birth parents names. Even if the adoption is closed, David logs on, fills out the form and mails it. An envelope arrives from the state.

[B]

That's what I'm looking at, cuz they sent me a.

[A]

There it is. Oh, whoa. And what he finds in that envelope sends him to Janice herself. Tell us where we are, David, and what we're doing today.

[B]

We're in Dallas and I'M gonna go visit my mom.

[A]

How are you feeling leading up to this nervous company? Hello? Unlock all episodes of the Vanishing of Janice Rose ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Not only will you immediately unlock all episodes of this show, but you'll get binge access to an entire network of other great true crime and investigative podcasts. All ad free. Plus, on the first of every month, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series that's all episodes all at once. 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. 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 Lindsay Kilbride. Sheba Joseph provided production support and Aaliyah Papes is the story's 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 Tremain.