The Vanishing of Janis Rose | 6. The Real Janis

Summary

The Vanishing of Janis Rose | Episode 6: The Real Janis

Overview

In this gripping penultimate episode, host Larrison Campbell dives into the unresolved mysteries surrounding Janis Rose, a woman who vanished from Mississippi in the 1970s, and the decades-long quest of her son David to unravel the secrets behind his own identity and Janis’ tumultuous legacy. This chapter explores revelations about David’s adoption, his search for biological family, a heartrending reunion with the now-demented Janis, and a shocking twist uncovered in David’s DNA, painting a complicated portrait of a woman forever running from herself and her past.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. David’s Search for His Origins

• David Requests His Birth Certificate

  • David, always told he was adopted by Janis from a New Orleans hospital, questions the veracity of this story after learning of Janis’ many lies.
  • Louisiana authorities inform him that no pre-adoption birth record exists under the provided information, suggesting his adoption was off-record (05:05).
  • "After performing an extensive search...we were unable to locate a sealed file for you." – Letter from Louisiana state (05:09)
  • This fuels David's sense of isolation and abandonment.

• David’s Emotional Struggle

  • "Do I have brothers or sisters out there that I would like to know and possible meet? Feels like I just got abandoned." – David (04:24)
  • He expresses yearning for a connection and a sense of family.

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2. DNA and the Search for Family

• Unable to find documentation, David turns to DNA testing and works with DNA Angels, a nonprofit specializing in helping adoptees (07:50).
  • "We do not believe you are here to keep your mother or father’s secrets." – Kate Howard, DNA Angels (08:46)
• Through DNA matching, they identify a possible half-sister and a birth father from the Louisiana Cajun community (09:30).
• Hope swells as David begins contact, but the potential half-siblings halt communication after agreeing to test, likely due to family pressure to keep past secrets.
  • "They went radio silent." – Kate Howard (10:48)
• David expresses increasing emotional exhaustion:
  • "To me, I feel like it's sucky. It's like my mind's always off somewhere...I'm not like I used to be." – David (11:50)

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3. A Visit to Janis

• Janis in Memory Care
  • Janis is now in a Dallas nursing home with advanced dementia.
  • Campbell, David, and David's wife Carolyn visit, hoping for answers (14:25).
• Janis’ Reality and Fragments of Clarity
  • Janis is frail, at times confused but lucid in rare flashes, especially when recalling David as a child.
  • “He was my light. Nobody ever messed with me. He was always there.” – Janis (22:35)
  • On her four girls:
    • "I don't get to see 'em, but every day, yeah. Do you have your heart? Talk to Mother." – Janis (24:14)
• Delicate Attempts for Truth
  • Questions about David's adoption and why she left are met with confusion or incomplete thoughts:
    • “I just loved him back then. You just didn't…it wasn't like that, like it is now, because I just didn't know how.” – Janis (26:30)
    • "Well, I had to get out of that place...I got the children and we left...I thought my sister Doris was going to help." – Janis (24:51)
  • Campbell notes the fleeting clarity, likening Janis’ memories to “grabbing a fistful of sand.”

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4. The Limits of Memory and the Ethics of Seeking Truth

• Campbell consults neurologist Dr. Madeline Sharp, who says Janis’ answers are unreliable—her memories likely shaped by decades of falsehoods:
  • “It’s like she encoded these false memories that became her real memories…she holds all of the keys to all of the truth, yet it is not to open it.” – Dr. Sharp (29:26)
• David laments:
  • "I don't think she's there anymore…her mind's gone. It's hard to get my emotions out right now." – David (30:01)

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5. Breakthrough: DNA Provides Answers at Last

• A family friend helps persuade David’s suspected half-brother to take a DNA test, confirming their relationship (31:12).
  • "I just found out I have a half brother. And possible we found out who my dad is." – David (31:12)
• The search uncovers a difficult truth:
  • David’s parents are closely related—likely first cousins (33:48).
  • “It had come back: yes, his parents are related at a relationship level similar to first cousins.” – Kate (34:03)
• David reacts with pragmatic acceptance:
  • “If it happens, how’s he gonna change it?” – David (35:40)
• He feels excited to connect with new family:
  • "He wants to know me, wants to talk to me, wants to meet me." – David (36:02)

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6. Janis’ Forgotten Manifesto

• Campbell uncovers an undated, introspective letter Janis wrote to her sister as she prepared to disappear.
• Janis expresses deep pain, a need to escape, and a desire never to be vulnerable again, while also shifting blame and manipulating how she's perceived:
  • “I have to find myself...I’ve had too much hurt. I can’t take anymore...When you get close to somebody, you get hurt. I never will again.” – Janis’s letter (36:58)
  • “My own children didn’t want me anymore. I’ve always done the best I could…” – Janis’s letter
• Campbell reflects on the possible duality of Janis/Willie Jo; that Janis may have "killed" off her former self to survive, making herself unknowable even to her own family.

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7. Legacy and Moral Reckoning

• David, asked if he thinks Janis is a “bad person,” responds with empathy but mixed emotions:
  • "To me, no. Because the way she raised me and everything…But I just think she's just a bad person for abandoning her daughters and pretty much making a new life for herself." – David (42:20)
• Contrasting perspectives: Janis’ daughters recall a cold, neglectful mother, not the loving figure David remembers.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Either I'm a big secret affair or I'm just a mistake. That's how I feel…But also, this feels like that part of the family just don't want nothing to do with me. I don't want anything but just to know what's the truth. That's all I want." – David (12:45)
• "With the dementia came out. The truth." – Carolyn, David’s wife, on Janis’s dissolving personas (13:56)
• "I knew one day this was going to come." – Janis, on her reckoning (27:49)
• "It’s nearly like she encoded these false memories that became her sense of real memories." – Dr. Madeline Sharp (29:26)
• "When I stop hurting, maybe I can quit running." – Janis’s letter (36:58)
• "Maybe the reason she was so hard to find was because no one ever actually knew who they were looking for." – Larrison Campbell (42:40)

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Important Timestamps

• Request and Disappointment: Louisiana birth certificate – 05:05
• David’s DNA search and meeting DNA Angels – 07:50–10:48
• Family Reconnection, Hope, and Letdown – 10:48–12:28
• Visit to Janis in Dallas, emotional reunion – 17:08–23:19
• Janis’s confusion, glimpses of past, questioning about adoption – 23:43–26:52
• Janis’s fleeting clarity, expressions of regret – 27:49
• Consultation with neurologist about memory reliability – 28:57
• DNA confirms new family, shock over incest – 31:12–35:44
• Janis’ letter and analysis – 36:58–42:20
• David's moral ambivalence and closing reflections – 42:20–end

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Conclusion

Episode 6 is a poignant and unsettling journey through the wreckage left by Janis Rose’s choices: families sundered, children lost, and truths forever muddied by lies and the ravages of memory. While some mysteries are finally laid to rest—including David’s paternity and his new half-siblings—others, like Janis’ real motivations, remain forever sealed in the past. The episode closes on the note that sometimes the people we search for have left us only their absence, their contradictions, and a trail of pain, but also, for the lucky, the hope that a new family can be built in the ruins.

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For listeners seeking a deeper exploration of identity, memory, and the high cost of secrets, "The Real Janis" is a must-listen—a chronicle of both heartbreak and hard-won truth.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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. The binge we left off with Janice's son David sending a request to the state of Louisiana for his original birth certificate. This document should list his birth parents names, and hopefully that puts to rest all the gossip and rumors that have been following him since birth that he was kidnapped or purchased as a baby. The story David's known to be true for most of his life is that Janice adopted him as a newborn from Charity Hospital in New Orleans. But after learning she was lying about her name, her past, even her husband's, David knows her story about his adoption could very well be a lie, too. What are some of the things that you find yourself thinking about the most?

[C]

Did my family really give me up?

[B]

After everything David's heard, he can't help but wonder if it were his birth family's choice to give him up. And until recently, he's had no way of knowing. See, most adoptees get two birth certificates. The first one is issued at birth under parents. It lists their biological parents. But as soon as they're adopted, that first birth certificate is filed away and the state Gives adoptees a brand new birth certificate with only their adoptive parents on it. That's why David's birth certificate lists his mom as Janice, or more accurately, Willie Jo, the fake name she was using. David never had access to the first one with his birth parents names until now. A few years ago, Louisiana passed a law allowing adoptees like David to request their original birth certificate. He'd soon know who his birth parents were, and that could give him something. Life with Janice guaranteed he never had a permanent, stable connection with family throughout David's life. Janice brought him into so many different families, different people who'd cared for David when he was a kid, who were a huge part of his life. The folks in Poplarville. Wes, his cool young stepdad. Until his mom's lies got in the way and she dropped them. And so David had to drop them too. But he wonders if it has to stay that way.

[C]

Do I have brothers or sisters out there that I would like to know and possible meet? Feels like I'm just the only child out there and just felt like I just got abandoned.

[B]

Did you ever want siblings growing up?

[C]

Kind of. Mostly a brother where I can pick on.

[B]

What if there are siblings out there who look like him and talk like him? He thinks about what that would be like.

[C]

If one of them wanted to reach out and meet and hang out, I'd be all for it. Well, if they had questions about me in my life, yeah, I would tell them, yeah, I would love to meet.

[B]

And then an envelope arrives in the mail addressed to David from the state of Louisiana, but when he opens, does not contain a birth certificate. Instead, there's a letter. It reads, in part, after performing an extensive search using the information provided on your request, we were unable to locate a sealed file for you. This correspondence serves as a formal report of the thorough search conducted to locate the sealed pre adoption certificate you requested. It was a pleasure serving you. Yeah. After performing a, quote, extensive thorough search, the state of Louisiana's answer is that there is no answer. This is not a letter. The state of Louisiana sends out that often. Of the 1800 requests they've received, less than 3% have warranted this kind of letter. I wondered how this kind of news hit David.

[C]

Overwhelmed with emotions and questions. No answers.

[B]

Because when it comes to Janice, every answer seems to be another twist. What we do know is the state of Louisiana has no record of David's adoption. Which means that the only thing this whole inquiry appears to confirm is that his adoption, if that's what it really was, was probably not by the book. And it's going to be up to David to figure out what the hell happened.

[C]

Makes me want to go find my real family.

[B]

Maybe the truth about David and Janice lies with yet another family, the one he was born into. After all. They would know how he came into their lives and how he left them. Unless, of course, Janice isn't David's only parent who's been keeping secrets from Sony Music Entertainment and Wild Night meeting. You're listening to the vanishing of Janice Rose. This is episode six, the Real Janice. I'm Larison Campbell. When it comes to secrets, we know Janice is a master. But there is something Janice can't. Genetics. So David submits his DNA to every database willing to take distant relatives. Ping a fourth cousin here, third cousin there. No close matches initially. But then a group that specializes in connecting families through DNA reaches out to David after hearing about his story. Kate Howard is a former member of this nonprofit group, DNA Angels. They do a lot of work with adoptees like David.

[D]

We believe that it is your right to tell your story and to name your biological heritage. We do not believe that you are here to keep your mother or your father's secrets.

[B]

And David is very tired of secrets. Kate takes David's case and almost immediately starts connecting dots. She figures out the community his family.

[D]

Is from, which is Louisiana Cajun.

[B]

Specifically, the bayous in the southeastern part of the state. It's an area Janice knows well. It's where she lived and worked when she met David's dad. So odds are good that Janice got David in Louisiana, even if his adoption was never on the state's books. As Kate keeps working, she makes what feels like a major break.

[D]

We were able to identify a potential.

[B]

Birth father, David's birth father.

[D]

When we reached out to a child of the potential birth father who would be a half sibling to David, if we are correct, this person was very excited and enthusiastic about testing.

[B]

This is huge for David. It's a potential half sister. After the connection is made, David even starts messaging with her and sharing photos. And she tells him he looks like her dad.

[C]

And they said, you guys favor a lot.

[B]

This family David's always wanted, he can actually see it starting to take shape with him in it. There's even someone for David to pick on. She has a brother who is really close in age with David.

[E]

She tells him, you and my brother.

[B]

Were born the same year, just a few months apart. It's all overwhelming, but in that good, hopeful way. The DNA match was for his half sister's son. It's a solid connection. But before David can know for sure, his half sister will need to send in a sample.

[D]

And then they went radio silent.

[B]

After agreeing to test, they stop responding. Kate, the DNA expert, is no stranger to this type of response.

[D]

If I go to my dad and I say, hey, dad, this thing happened in genealogy, and they asked me to take a DNA test, and if dad knows that he has a child out there that everybody else doesn't know about, he's going to say, don't take the test and stop talking to them.

[B]

David and his half brother being just months apart screams affair. Or some kind of relationship that was supposed to stay a secret.

[D]

So that's where we are right now, and it hasn't been helpful.

[B]

How do you feel about this search right now? Like, how are you feeling, David, about where you are in the process?

[C]

To me, I feel like it's sucky. It's like my mind's always off somewhere. I'm not like I used to be.

[B]

David says he's changed. He feels like he doesn't belong anywhere. And he thinks about the family he almost had. A brother, a sister, a dad, and how they just walked away from him. David tells me if he does have family out there, he's got a lot of love to give.

[C]

It seems like I don't get a lot of love back sometimes.

[B]

Even the relationship he has with his mom. Sometimes he finds himself wondering if what he'd really loved were just her lies. And now that his biological family has shut him out, is that. That all he's left with?

[C]

Either I'm a big secret affair or I'm just a mistake. That's how I feel. I wish we can find answers, maybe just shed some type of light. Maybe I can feel better, maybe get the weight off my shoulders, just find out what's going on. But also, this feels like that part of the family just don't want nothing to do with me. I don't want anything but just to know what's the truth. That's all I want.

[B]

There's only one other person who knows the truth. Her name is Janice Rose Bullock, and she lives in a Texas nursing home in a memory care unit for patients with dementia. But I keep thinking back to something David's wife Carolyn had told me about Janice. About how, as Janice's dementia had gotten worse, that wall that separated Janice's identity and Willie Joe's identity had begun to dissolve.

[F]

With the dementia came out. The truth.

[B]

Could Janice finally be ready to tell David the truth about where he came from? Everything else. Or had her dementia advanced so much that she wouldn't remember the secrets she'd worked so hard to keep? There was only one way to find out. Tell us where we are, David, and what we're doing today.

[C]

We're in Dallas and I'm going to go visit my mom.

[E]

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[B]

On an April weekend, I meet up with David and Carolyn early in the morning at my hotel room in Dallas, Texas. In just an hour, we'll be heading up the road to talk to Janice. David's nervous. I find out this is the first time he'll be seeing her in person, since before he found out she'd been lying about who she was and where David came from three years ago, though he still calls his mom.

[C]

I tried to talk to her a couple times a week or a month.

[B]

He doesn't tend to bring up her deceit. I was really surprised he hadn't seen her in person. The woman, he admits, is the most important person in his life outside of his wife. He tells me he hasn't visited her because of his busy schedule. I just think it's got to be a little more. He says he's worried she won't know who he is.

[C]

She hasn't moved and remembers us and oh, happy. I just don't want to ask questions and change. I just want to remember her as a good person.

[B]

Are there questions that you do want to ask her?

[C]

I do, but I'm afraid to.

[B]

But Carolyn isn't David's rock and occasional spokesperson has a list ready.

[F]

What made her want to abandon her children? We want to know, did she know the biological family? Did she personally know them? Is that how she got David? Does she know exactly where he came from?

[B]

I ask about Janice's dementia. It's a potential complication, not just when it comes to getting the truth from her, but also ethically. We want to make sure she feels comfortable with our recording her. It will be myself and a producer, Lindsey, two people she's never met. We make a plan up front. How do you feel about our asking questions?

[F]

You can ask all the questions you.

[B]

Want, though answers might be hard to come by.

[F]

If you can get them, that would be great. I don't know how she's going to be. I don't have any expectations.

[B]

Hello.

[G]

How are you?

[B]

Janice's nursing home sits back from the road behind a parking lot. Inside, the hallways are wide, the floors linoleum, the lighting fluorescent. It feels like a cross between a dorm and a hospital. The walls are decorated with aphorisms that make may not have been thought all the way through. At the entrance to the memory care unit where Janice and Other patients with dementia live. A poster reads, not all who wander are lost. David and Carolyn enter Janice's room. Lindsey and I wait outside. They want to talk to her first and then decide if it's a good idea for us to come in.

[F]

We got somebody who would like to meet you. They though okay.

[B]

They give us the go ahead and we walk inside her room. As we get situated, I study the woman in front of me. She's tiny, probably no more than five' two and thin. Her jeans and gray sweater are loose and it's not what I'd expected. In the photos I'd seen and stories I'd heard, she'd been friends, full figured and vibrant. Is it nice seeing David? Yeah.

[G]

Just you're not my David.

[B]

Janice looks to David and asks if he's her David.

[C]

Jess, I'm your David. I'm Trey.

[B]

I'm here.

[G]

And then cuts off.

[C]

He's still getting bonds.

[B]

I'm Trey.

[C]

I'm here, David.

[B]

She smiles. Big tears begin streaming down her cheeks as she latches onto David with both arms. He'd been worried she wouldn't remember him. She says she didn't want to ask if this was her David, but she seems happy. She tells him they have to start getting together, maybe at the ranch where David grew up.

[G]

We could be still at the ranch.

[C]

Well, we don't have the ranch anymore, Mom. That's been gone for a while.

[G]

It has?

[C]

Yes.

[G]

That's life, huh?

[F]

Yeah.

[B]

She takes a deep breath. That's life, she says as she settles into a puffy taupe recliner. David perches on the edge of her bed. We explain we're recording because we're working on a project about her life, and she says that's fine. So now it's time. We're ready to ask these questions that have been gnawing at David and at me for so long. But now that we're here, I don't think any of us know where to start. I'm holding back, giving David the opportunity to ask his questions. But he doesn't. So I try to break the ice. What was David like as a kid?

[G]

Can I really tell? He was my light. Nobody ever messed with me. He was always there. Yes, he did.

[C]

Yeah. I was telling him about the trip to Disney World.

[G]

Yeah. And we got to on that. It's like, you know where we go in there and we go, let's go get on this one. And it's going around, around, around, around. And then I couldn't let go because he had to hold me I was. Oh, I was scared.

[C]

Teacups are the other ride that spins you around and puts you like zero gravity.

[B]

This is one of those happy memories, the kind David has clung to over the last few years. Proof that even if she wasn't Willie Jo, she was every bit a great mom to him. I'm encouraged that it seems to have stayed with her to some degree. We were talking to David about some of his memories from when he was a little boy, and he was telling us about Christmas at the ranch and.

[G]

Yeah, and I did that. I did it here last night. I was just out and everybody.

[B]

As we talk, I begin to realize that some of the answers she's giving me aren't responses to our questions. But every so often, it feels like the clouds part and we get a window of clarity. Do you think about your four girls every day?

[G]

I don't get to see him, but every day, yeah. Do you have your heart? Talk to Mother.

[B]

I have not talked to your mother. She asks us about her mom a lot and her sisters. These early years seemed easier for her to reach. So I thought I might be able to get a sense of the biggest question of all, why she had left and started this whole mess to begin with. After you left the house, do you remember where you went after that? Did you stay in Mississippi? Did you go to Louisiana?

[G]

Well, I had to get out of that place. And then I got up and I got the children up and we left. I thought my sister Doris was going to come help me. I couldn't do it. I had just gotten to the point and that one thing. I couldn't put them in a. I can't. I couldn't. I couldn't do it. I carried all four of the children and I took them to.

[B]

I had to get out of that place. I got the children and we left. And then she mentions her sister, that she thought her sister was going to come help her. It makes me wonder, is Janice trying to explain that she felt desperate, that she was overwhelmed, needed help and wasn't getting it, and then just left without thinking it through? She doesn't complete the thought, and I'm not able to get any more from her. These memories are like grabbing a fistful of sand, and she has just a moment before the grains all slip through her fingers. Even so, it seemed like I needed to go ahead and ask about David. So one of the questions we were. We were hoping to ask you and find out about is and David. I don't know if you want to ask this question, but sort of about his adoption. What. What do you remember about his adoption?

[G]

I just loved him back then. You just didn't. It wasn't like that, like it is now, because I just didn't know how. I didn't know how to do that. I would always. We'd be here and usually around here, and it's wonderful.

[B]

What do you remember about where you adopted David from? Was it a family? Was it a hospital? Was it.

[G]

That's in Mississippi. And they don't give you another praise if you want to go there it is.

[B]

Maybe there was a time when we could have asked these questions, but I think that time has passed. And as we sit there, something occurs to me in a way, Janice got away with it. She ran away, started a new life and never had to answer for what she did. Even now with her son and his wife sitting beside her, two reporters, she doesn't have to own up to a single thing. As we sit there in silence and I'm turning this over in my head, Janice once again surprises me.

[G]

I knew one day this was going to come.

[B]

What?

[G]

What? How can I. How could I have been a better person and I'd be back with my daddy or my mom or.

[B]

Was Janice, just for a brief moment, finally coming clean? Or am I reading into something that's not really there? After we leave that day, I spend a lot of time thinking about what felt like Janice's fleeting moments of clarity when she seemed to say she felt alone and overwhelmed and when I thought I heard her expressed regret. So I reached out to a neurologist, Madeline Sharp, who specializes in neurodegenerative diseases like dementia. I shared excerpts of our Janus visit with the hope that she could tell me what, if anything, I should gather from it.

[H]

If I were just as a clinician trying to counsel this son who is trying to understand what any of this means. I feel like I would have to tell him. I don't. I don't think you can make anything of this.

[B]

She notes how unclear Janice's answers were and her incomplete thoughts and sentences. And what memories is she actually retrieving, if any true ones or memories of the lies she's repeated her whole life and cemented.

[H]

How does recollection happen? On a very, very like, well conceived web of lies. It's nearly like she encoded these false memories that became her sense of real memories. You know what I mean? It's like, just like the wonder of this black box that contains information that is now like rendered completely inaccessible. So it's kind of amazing when you think about it like she holds all of the keys to all of the truth, yet it is not.

[B]

To open it, I asked David what he thought.

[C]

It don't seem like her. It's not her. It's just. I don't think she's there anymore.

[B]

Sad.

[C]

See her that way. She. Her mind's gone. It's hard to get my emotions out right now. I don't know how I feel.

[B]

David has been let down at so many turns by Janice, by the state of Louisiana, even by his own DNA. So I called up one of David's distant biological cousins. They'd connected through the DNA nonprofit and stayed in touch. I was catching her up on David's search when we realized something. David's suspected half brother. She's actually friends with his wife. So David's cousin calls her friend up and makes the ask. And it turns out it is all in who you know, because he agrees to take a DNA test. A few weeks later, David calls me. What do you have? What's the news?

[C]

News? I just found out I have a half brother. And possible we found out who my dad is.

[B]

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[I]

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 encryption. It's time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone. Learn [e-mail] David and I are on.

[B]

The phone, and I can't believe what I'm hearing. He's finally getting answers. Proof that he has family. A half brother and a half sister. Oh, my God. This is incredible. David's telling me everything he knows. So far. These half siblings and father are the same people the DNA nonprofit suspected. I ask him if his half brother knows who David's mom is.

[C]

I have no idea.

[B]

That part's complicated. And turns out a big reason why this search has been so difficult. David says when his half brother confronted their dad, his dad denied the whole thing, didn't want to talk about it. As David feared, Janice may not be his only parent with secrets. And it Seems possible that the one David's birth father is trying to keep is big. It's not just about how close David and his half brother are in age or that his dad was young, just a teenager, when David was conceived. It's about who David's mom may be. There's a twist, quite literally, in David's DNA. His parents are related to each other. That DNA nonprofit group ran a test.

[D]

Called the are your parents related test.

[B]

This is Kate again, one of the DNA researchers.

[D]

And it literally gives you a picture of all of your chromosomes. And when you have identical runs, it lights up.

[B]

They take David's DNA and they run.

[D]

This test, and it had come back. Yes, his parents are related at a relationship level that is similar to first cousins. I would say that consumer DNA testing has helped understand how prevalent incest is. I think David has been searching for so long, so I don't think he was particularly stunned or appalled or anything like that.

[B]

I called David up to talk to him about all this. No, he wasn't appalled, but this wasn't exactly what he was expecting either.

[C]

Was I surprised about it. This kind of threw me off.

[B]

It threw him off, he says, because there are few things DNA can tell you that are more taboo than incest. It bridges cultures and stretches back centuries. Marriage between first cousins is illegal in around half the states, including Louisiana. It's not a comfortable thing to talk about about that David's parents could be cousins. In fact, in a lot of cases, it's not just the parents who want to keep incest secret. So I ask David if he's okay not just with knowing this, but talking openly about it. And he tells me he is. That at this point, he doesn't really care. And it's not like he's the first person who's found this out about his family.

[C]

If it happens, how's he gonna change it?

[B]

And maybe it helps that not everyone in his birth family thinks that his story should be secret. David tells me he's been chatting with his half brother, and it sounds like they already have a lot in common. They fish. They both love Cajun food.

[C]

He wants to know me, wants to talk to me, wants to meet me.

[B]

He wants to meet you? Yeah. David sounds light, excited. It's so different from how he sounded over the last year. He tells me some of his cousins and his half brother and sister have invited him to meet up later this fall. Does it still feel lonely, or is it changing?

[C]

It's changing now because when I first started off with DNA and angels, they Always kept hitting dead ends. It just felt like I didn't have any brothers or sisters.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, gosh. I really. I'm really, really happy for you, David. I'm really happy. It's a lot to absorb, but having some sense of truth. I can tell he feels relief. He's still chipping away to get those answers. He hasn't yet reached out to the woman who might be his birth mother, but he tells me he plans to. Of course, this doesn't clear up the rumors that David's adoption likely wasn't legitimate. But that also doesn't mean it has to be some sinister thing. Maybe Janice wanted a baby and he needed a home. As I've worked on this, I've wished I could talk to the Janice who made the decision to leave, to see inside her head and give me something that would make this story make sense. And then, as I was finishing this show, I came across something that has both helped me understand Janice in a way I didn't expect and made her choices even more mysterious. A letter she wrote. It's addressed to one of her sisters, inked in red ballpoint pen and wedged deep in the hundreds of pages in that police file. There's no date, but it sounds like it was written around the time she was leaving her daughters. I'm going to read it. I've edited it down some for time and clarity. She writes, I started to come see you a couple of weeks ago. My ride turned off on I10 coming back north. It's already beginning to get cold at night up here, but it's still hot as hell during the day. I don't have a permanent address. As soon as I do, I'll get in touch with you. I still have all the hangups I've ever had, but I try not to think of them. If I did, I'd be crazier than I already am. I love you and miss you, but I have to find myself. I've had too much hurt. I can't take anymore. When I stop hurting, maybe I can quit running. You couldn't understand why I wouldn't get in touch with anybody. You couldn't understand why I was running. I can't take any more hurt. And when you get close to somebody, you get hurt. I never will again. I try to block everything out of my mind. I can't always. But I never cry. I'll never cry again. Then you say, well, it's all my fault. I did it all myself. If you think so, investigate yourself and see. I got fucked There ain't no two ways about it. But I'm tired of fighting. I've been fighting for 12 years. I don't have the strength to fight anymore. My own children didn't want me anymore. I've always done the best I could. My best must not be good enough. I don't mean to make you worry. You're the only one who offered to help. Everybody else said to never step foot in their house again. Well, I better close. Please don't worry about me. I haven't missed a meal yet. Never stay in one place long. Love ya and miss ya, Jan. This letter is the closest thing we have to the moment before she'd start running for the rest of her life. It reads of someone who is in a great deal of pain and someone who can be incredibly manipulative. In it, she says she's been fighting for 12 years. That's about how long she and her husband had been together before she left for good. She also says people wouldn't allow her in their homes. I get the sense something happened to her reputation, something was broken, something that made her decide to start over. But I think she's also doing something else with this letter. She's laying out her plan. The accuracy here is almost breathtaking. She says she's been hurt and she's never going to let that happen again. So she's making a clean break with the people she loves. In fact, she's never going to get close to anyone again, and she's going to keep running. If this is the beginning of her con, it's almost like this is her manifesto. But of course, the point of a manifesto isn't just to lay out a plan. It's to get others on your side. Is that why she says her daughters, who, again, weren't older than 10, wanted her to leave? Because that cannot be the truth. Those girls wondered where their mom was for 40 years. Or was this her biggest lie, one she was actually telling herself? After all this, I wanted to know from her son what his takeaway is. Do you think she's a bad person?

[C]

To me, no. Because the way she raised me and everything, I think she's a very good person. But I never knew about her past like that. I can't say she's a very horrible person, but I just think she's just a bad person for abandoning her daughters and pretty much making a new life for herself.

[B]

It's interesting. In the same police file where I found Janice's letter, her daughters described a mom that bore little resemblance to the one Janice's friends saw, even the one David said he had. They don't describe her as a laid back mother playing with them on the floor. One daughter says Janice would take them to bars, leave them with whomever she said. She has no good memories of her mom. Throughout my reporting I've debated whether to refer to her as Janice or Willie Jo. I settled on Janice, but as I read this letter, I wonder if I've gotten it wrong. To her, Willie Jo may not have just been a fake identity she hid behind, a way to keep her past from tracking her down. I think it's more like she had to kill Janice. She became that different person and that's what she wanted. So when I think about the more than four decades long search for Janice, how she spent years just a few towns away, unseen by a family who wondered where she was, maybe the reason she was so hard to find was because no one ever actually knew who they were looking for 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 Lindsey 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 Limu and Doug Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us. Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry Unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance company and affiliates excludes Massachusetts.