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April Millsap ////// 901
00:58:21
The murder of a child is an unbearable tragedy, a nightmare for any parent. In the quiet, rural village of Armada, Michigan—a community so small it felt like a haven from big-city dangers—Jennifer Millsap believed her fourteen-year-old daughter, April, was safe. That belief was shattered on a July evening in 2014.
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A
This is a test of the Reese's Broadcast System. If you're currently eating Reese's, this is just a test. Continue living the dream. If you aren't, oh boy. Drop what you're doing. Go get Reese's now. Do not stay calm. Push people out of the way. Picture this. It's the end of a long week. You're unwinding in the tub, listening to your favorite true crime podcast and then chronic hives come back again in the middle of the episode. What a wet blanket. Looks like another spell of itchy, swollen, red or skin colored hives. If you have chronic spontaneous urticaria or csu, there may be a different treatment option. Worried about your chronic hives interrupting our next episode? Learn more@treatmyhives.com Garage Sam.
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B
Foreign.
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A
Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick and with me, as always, is a man with a reminder that little Jerry Seinfeld was undefeated until 9:24pm Eastern Time, January 9, 1997. Here is the Captain.
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B
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A
This week we are very excited to be featuring Turtle Season by the good folks at Anchor Lab Brewing Company. Turtle Season is a hazy New England IPA and it's Anchor Labs flagship beer. Turtle Season features four varieties of hops and it hits two of my favorite profiles. Hoppy and citrusy, it's hazy yet clean and very balanced. Garage grade 4 out of 5 bottle caps. And let's give some thanks and praise to our good friends that helped us fill up the old garage fridge for today's show. First up, here's a double fisted cheers to Randy and Nikki from Ogden, Utah.
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And a big we like you Jibby Jib. Jib goes out to Robin Jennings from Morseville, Pennsylvania.
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And here's the cheers to Patrick from Lake Mary, Florida.
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Yeah, bwr, are you a true True Crime fan? Well then make sure you subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening to our nasally drones and Colonel. That's enough of the Bee is News.
- [03:33]
A
All right everybody, gather round Grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's lets talk some true crime. The murder of a child is an unbearable tragedy, a nightmare for any parent. In the quiet rural village of Armada, Michigan, a community so small it felt like a haven from big city dangers. Jennifer millsap believed her 14 year old daughter April was safe. That belief was shattered on a July evening in 2014. This is the case of April Don Milsap. And this is True Crime Garage. April Dawn Millsap was a vibrant and creative teen who had just finished the eighth grade. She loved animals, especially her border collie named Penny. And she often walked her dog on lengthy walks along the nearby Maycomb Orchard Trail. Our true crime story kicks off in 2014. But before we get to 2014, let's go back in time and give a little bit of information. Here we have April Millsap, who was born on January 2, 2000 to Jennifer and Bobby Millsap. The family at that time resided in Wise County, Virginia. But sadly, this marriage will not last. Jennifer and Bobby divorce when April was still just a small child. Afterward, Jennifer would relocate. Now Jennifer, she struggles with a neurological disorder that impacts her speech and she decides to relocate with April, her only child, to the tiny rural village of Armada, Michigan. Jennifer is deeply devoted to her daughter and she chooses to raise April here. Surrounded by family and friends, April attends school. One is described as a bright young girl, outgoing and extremely close to her mother. The dynamic of the family of two is going to change dramatically again. This is when April is just seven years old. Her mother meets David Lichtenfeld, who would go on to get married to Jennifer and then become a stepfather. And, and actually David really becomes a true father figure to April and describes April as his daughter. We need to point out here, Captain, that this location, the village of Armada, Michigan is a very small community. It's a quiet rural town nestled about 40 miles north of Detroit. Feels like it's a world away from the big city of Detroit, right where in the big city you have crime, you have violence of the big city. This small little village, it weighs in at just about one square mile with a population of a little over 1700 residents. So it's a long ways away, far away from the big city problems that you may have. In fact, at the time of our case in 2014, you only have two full time police officers. You do have an additional 10 part timers working for the police. But there was little need for more law enforcement representation at the time as crime was quite rare and generally it was considered a extremely safe place to raise A family. In fact, the village of Armada, Michigan, hadn't seen a murder there since 1973. In 2014, April, her beloved pet Penny. We have her mother, Jennifer. She would recall that like most teens, April like to go out with friends. She liked to go shopping, but she also was really into quiet pursuits as well, like drawing and writing. She would craftily spin out these great short stories and beautiful poetry with ease. Her true passion was her love of animals, particularly her border collie, Penny. While she didn't consider herself an athlete, she did enjoy frequently walking Penny on one of the several walking paths. Among them was the nearby Macomb Orchard Trail. This was one of her favorite nature spots, and April treated this activity as much of a chance to connect with friends. She had a boyfriend at the time. His name is Austin. But also as a form of exercise, this was something that her mother, Jennifer, was aware of and didn't mind at all. April. April had just finished 8th grade at Armada Middle School and was looking forward to attending high school in the fall. But that would all change in the summer of 2014. Around dinner time in the early evening on July 24, 2014, David Lichtenfeld bid goodbye to his stepdaughter April before leaving for his shift at work. Around 5:30 to 6:00pm that evening, April left her home to take her dog Penny on a walk along the Macomb Orchard Trail in the area. This is a well populated bicycle and walking trail. At 6:28pm, April sent a text to her boyfriend, Austin that read, quote, I almost got kidnapped. Omfg, end quote. But Austin didn't actually receive it until about an hour after it was sent. There was a delay in the technology that many may remember was all too common back in 2014.
- [10:40]
B
Yeah, if you text something and it wasn't hitting a cell tower that it might not send until your phone actually connected to a different cell tower. So, omfg, for all the old heads in the garage today, that's. Oh my God.
- [11:01]
A
And I recall, Captain, around the same time period, 10, 12 years ago. Yeah, if I got near water, especially if I got near water, my phone would act up and there would be significant delays or it would lose. It would lose service completely.
- [11:18]
B
Well, I remember 10 years ago when I got near a waterfall and make.
- [11:23]
A
Me want to take a leak that evening. So we have Jennifer Millsap, the mother. She's going to start calling and texting her daughter, April. When April didn't return from walking Penny, this would be in just the general expected time frame of that evening. Now, mind you this is a walk she that she's gone out on many, many times. But something seems off here as she's not returned in the conceived amount of time that she was expecting. So she's now receiving no response to the text and the phone calls. And she does call her husband David at work who immediately he rushes home to see what's going on. Eventually the concerned mother is going to call the local police department to report her daughter missing. Jennifer's next call was to April's boyfriend Austin, who then tells her about the weird text that he had received from April.
- [12:27]
B
Right.
- [12:27]
A
He says that at first he kind of brushed it off as an exaggeration, almost like a joking kind of text a 14 year old girl might send saying she spotted a creepy looking guy along the trail. And maybe that's what she meant by oh my God, I almost got kidnapped.
- [12:47]
B
Yeah, but that joke turns into seriousness real quick because the mom hasn't been able to reach her. I'm sure as the mother is making this phone call, her stomach's dropping and the boyfriend's stomach is now dropping with, with fear of what might have happened to April.
- [13:03]
A
Yeah, because you have two parties separately, both concern, have some level of concern. But now you're going to double down on that. Once information is shared between the two, she's not come home. Mom's nervous and worried and now the boyfriend goes, oh, that text was something, could be something serious. It wasn't so serious before. Everybody, the alarm is sounded, everybody is concerned. We're going to have Austin and he's going to bring his friend Alex with him to meet Jennifer. And the three of them are going to go out looking for April along that orchard trail. They're searching for any kinds of clues as to April's whereabouts. Now around 8:39pm that night, Jennifer Millsap spotted police who are now out on the trail as well.
- [14:01]
B
Good for police for taking this serious.
- [14:03]
A
They speak with the mother and confirm getting a good description of what April was wearing that evening. Upon obtaining this description of the clothing, Jennifer was then asked and sent to the police station. She would remain there overnight. She's there for I believe it was 10 hours. And of course she's terrified and heart sick at this time. She's wondering why are they keeping me here for so long?
- [14:35]
B
Now doesn't somebody come across April's dog?
- [14:39]
A
That's the thing of it here, captain is mom's the police station unaware that they have a crime scene that they're working. Let's go through this. April's last seen around 6:25pm July 24, 2014. What we're going to have in this case is several eyewitnesses. Because while this area is small in population, as we pointed out, a lot of people walk this trail. A lot of people would bike this trail. So the trail itself was a well populated area. A woman comes forward. Her name is Mary Stein. She says that, hey, while I was out on the trail, I spotted a girl, she's walking her dog on the trail. But this girl seemingly was rushing away from someone. She said that based off of the description, this was probably April. And she said that April had flashed her what she referred to as a tense smile as she said hello, but she's passing by quickly. And then she says, Mary says that she noticed an angry looking man on a motorcycle behind the girl. I find that description a little strange, but that was her description. An angry looking man on a motorcycle behind the girl.
- [16:02]
B
Yeah. And you don't want to blame this eyewitness, but if I'm seeing that situation, I'm not leaving. Right. I'm, I'm going to go up to them, even if it's just a walk past them to kind of see what's going on, because it could be nothing, it could be her father, it could be whoever, but I'm not leaving that girl's side.
- [16:27]
A
The writer wasn't wearing a helmet. And Mary says that she tried to say hello to him as he's going by. He does not respond to her greeting. Instead, he doesn't even really look at her at all.
- [16:42]
B
Right.
- [16:42]
A
This, this encounter would have happened just minutes before April sent what we now know to be that frantic text to her boyfriend, Austin. I think I almost got kidnapped. Omfg.
- [17:00]
B
Right. So if I'm following this story correctly, April's walking her dog. She's in this park, essentially bike path, walking path she comes across, or this guy comes across her path. This guy on a motorcycle with helmet. This eyewitness sees both of them and this might have been a deterrent enough for him to leave. So April feels like, okay, well, I was run into by a creepo, so now I can text my boyfriend. I think I was almost. I think I almost got kidnapped. Omfg.
- [17:39]
A
Yeah, she must have felt there must have been a window of time there that she felt that the guy was gone.
- [17:46]
B
Yeah. Like a sense of relief. Yeah.
- [17:48]
A
And then think about it from the witness's perspective. Mary Stein, she's going to see both of these people just rushing along past her. And then she doesn't see them again.
- [18:01]
B
Yeah, I should probably apologize to the eyewitness because she might have saw the guy on the motorcycle leave and then thought, hey, the girl's and no harm now, so I can walk away. I'm very judgmental these days.
- [18:16]
A
Well, and the thing, too, is the girl, who we believe is April, says hello to Mary Stein. So that's almost like, you know, she might have gave her that tense smile as she describes it, but also, she didn't ask for help at this time now. So let's fast forward to just an hour and a half, two hours later. So this is between 8 and 8:30pm okay, we have a couple out there who are enjoying the late July twilight on the Macomb Orchard Trail bike path.
- [18:51]
B
Well, they say the couple that jogs together stays together.
- [18:54]
A
Well, they were riding bikes, so they probably no longer are no longer together.
- [18:59]
B
But. But in so many reports, they call them two joggers.
- [19:02]
A
They come across this dog. The dog will lead them, unfortunately, to a body. Okay, so this dog leaves them to the lifeless body of a teenager, teenage girl, in a ditch near Fulton and Depot streets. The victim is lying there, not moving, lying there about 15 to 20ft off of the nature trail. Of course, the police and 911 are called right away.
- [19:36]
B
Right.
- [19:37]
A
Armada Police Department Officer Phil New Meyer was the first to arrive on the scene, and he noted that the dead girl was naked from the waist down. Her blouse and bra appear to have been torn off of her.
- [19:54]
B
Yeah, it seems like the blouse was wrapped around her wrist.
- [19:58]
A
Yeah, they torn off and then pushed to. To her waist area. And her shorts and underwear were pulled down around her ankles. Her feet were bare. Both shoes lying nearby. In the victim's left hand, she had clutched some sort of leafy debris, and there were pattern markings. So there's shoe print markings on this poor victim on her chest, neck and face areas. The teenager's face and hair were bloody, and there was a red stain that also appeared to be blood on a nearby tree.
- [20:40]
B
Yeah, so they're saying she dies of blunt force trauma to the head and asphyxiation caused by neck compressions. But like you said, there's. There's some kind of shoe or boot mark on her body. So think about how violent of attack that has to be to leave a shoe print marking on the victim.
- [21:05]
A
Multiples as well. So right now, let's go back to April's mother, Jennifer. She sent home. And then that the following day in the morning, an FBI agent knocked on her door with a picture of April in his hand. Then there's that sad confirmation of yes, in fact, and indeed this is her daughter Jennifer learned the shattering news that April had been murdered. As the captain had said, an autopsy was performed the next day that would reveal that April had sustained 48 separate injuries, mostly on the head, neck and upper chest area, before ultimately expiring from blunt force head trauma and asphyxia due to neck compression. Whoever killed her, the monster that attacked this 14 year old girl had bashed in her skull and then stood on her neck, constricting the life out of the teenager.
- [22:18]
B
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- [28:16]
A
Cheers. All of you out there listening. Cheers to you, Captain as well.
- [28:19]
B
Oh, thank you.
- [28:21]
A
Back at the crime scene, we have no DNA that would be found at the scene. The shoe print or prints on her body would later be used, of course, in hopes of identifying her attacker and killer. But as we've seen in so many recent cases, the cell phone. A cell phone and the information on that cell phone can be some of the best evidence or create some kind of trail to the offender. And that certainly is going to be the case here as well. As we had talked about, this is a small community, a unified community. And of course, they were shocked and horrified by the brutal murder of one of their most innocent residents, a 14 year old girl, April Millsap.
- [29:20]
B
Well, there's a couple things though. As far as investigation goes. You start by looking into the mom because she's home alone. So does she have any reason to have any conflict with her daughter? And then we have this physical evidence, not DNA evidence, but we have this physical evidence. So I'm assuming that her foot doesn't match this size of boot print. We have eyewitness that sees a male, so we can start excluding the possibility of the mom. And then you got to look into the stepdad, but he has an alibi, he's at work. And also does he have a motorcycle? Does he match this description of this individual that the eyewitness saw? But we also have then the boyfriend. Because just because we have eyewitness that sees this guy on a motorcycle doesn't mean that he's essentially the. The killer. So when we look into the the boyfriend, we got to figure out where he was at the time of the murder.
- [30:25]
A
Yes. And with this, with the community here, they're going to rally around Jennifer Millsap and David Lichtenfeld. What we end up having here, Captain, is we're going to get a bunch of eyewitnesses, a bunch of witnesses come forward from the the community offering a description of a man on a motorcycle that had been seen chasing the teen, going after the teen, talking with the teen. This will lead to a composite sketch based on eyewitness accounts of the man. And this is released to the public and we also get the community that is putting pink ribbons on every surface in the small community. Because pink was the little girl's favorite color. And this was to show support for the slain teen and her family. So they began displaying her favorite color everywhere that they could. Several vigils and memorials would be held by the community. And April's beloved border collie, Penny, was present at these vigils. In fact, they dyed the fur, her fur pink in tribute to April's memory as well. And then a fundraiser, an online FundRaiser, collected over $16,000 for April's family as the close knit community exhibited their love and support for the family. Attempting to process this, this loss here, this great, great loss. The description that might be the most powerful here, Captain, seems to not be of the man that police believe is our suspect, but the man's motorcycle. About a month after April is killed, police would name James Donald Van Callis as a person of interest in the murder. So he's 32 years old from Goodell's, Michigan. He is living with his father and his long term, on and off again girlfriend. So his father is a registered sex offender. His name is James Bernard Van Callis. The two of them are arrested in July of 2014 on unrelated drug charges. So this is tied to a mutual participation that they have in a marijuana grow operation that they have. They're running it out of their home. So the younger of the two, James Donald Van Callis, he has no violent convictions, only like petty criminal history stuff, theft related crimes, some drug offenses, failure to pay child support, that kind of thing. The registered sex offender father, he has a much lengthier criminal history and a more scary one as well. So the elder Van Callis had been convicted in 1995 of second degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13 and a fourth degree criminal sexual conduct with a person between 13 and 16. But nevertheless, investigators would ultimately zero in on the son as the person of interest in their murder investigation. Because when investigators canvass the area and they continue to gather evidence, including witness accounts, part of those witness accounts, Captain, are of a small black, white and blue motorcycle that the suspect was riding and spotted near the crime scene. And early in the investigation, an officer notices a motorcycle in a driveway that appears to match these multiple descriptions.
- [34:36]
B
Right.
- [34:36]
A
And the vehicle, the bike, also matches a bike seen on security camera footage from a neighbor's home. Okay, so when they're out collecting this evidence, they, they're looking for digital evidence. Part of that will be surveillance footage, doorbell camera footage, things of that nature. They're also, they did have to do some work to locate April's cell phone. So her Phone wasn't found with her, but it's eventually located using that cell phone. They look into a fitness app that she has on her cell phone, and that fitness app was tracking her movements at the time that she is walking her dog along the nature trail. Yeah.
- [35:24]
B
It's also tracking her heart rate as well. So based on her heart rate, we can almost pinpoint the exact time that she was attacked.
- [35:34]
A
Yeah, and on that fitness app, what they're going to see is her movements. She's zigzagging. Right. Her. It shows her phone moving back and forth, back and forth, almost zigzagging for several minutes. And one thing that it's going to show, too, is that at some point her. Her phone is traveling at 3.8 miles per hour, but then it increases dramatically to 22 miles per hour that the phone is traveling. So based off of that information, what would you think of that? That's telling us she's walking the dog at a normal pace. And, oh, we didn't find her cell phone with her because whoever did this probably took the phone and then tossed it at some point. They left the area in a motor vehicle or. Or she got into a motor vehicle. But we don't have anything at the scene suggesting that she was in a motorized vehicle at any time. Right.
- [36:46]
B
Because we, we have found her body. It's in a drainage ditch. So you have this eyewitness with this motorcycle. You have this eyewitness that sees a man on a motorcycle. Then you go, okay, is it possible that the individual that attacked her, the individual that killed her, did he take her cell phone? And then obviously he takes the cell phone and. And he dumps it somewhere.
- [37:13]
A
This motorcycle is going to be a huge lead because the description of it, it's a unique, almost one of a kind motorcycle. Right. We have the. It's small, black, white and blue motorcycle with two different size tires. And that is what will lead police to this James Van Callis. He's already in custody because we have the drug charges.
- [37:42]
B
Right.
- [37:43]
A
When he's questioned, Van Callis does admit that he was passing through Armada on the day of the murder. He says he was on his way to visit his brother between 5 and 6pm and he said that he returned home about two hours later. So he's saying, yeah, you might have seen me. Somebody might have seen me in that area because I was passing through on my way to see my brother and then would have passed through again at some point to return. He says he was wearing a black motorcycle helmet, a Carhartt Hoodie, camouflage pants, and K Swiss tennis shoes. Part of the problem with his story is when they reveal surveillance footage from a gas station in the area. This shows James at the gas station and on his motorcycle before April's murder. And his phone records, once they get onto him, they show him near the trail around the time that April was killed.
- [38:56]
B
Well, it's one thing because he confirms it through law enforcement to say, well, yeah, it's in that area, but we really don't need his confirmation because we do have surveillance and then we also have the eyewitnesses. But him confirming that that is just building the case against him.
- [39:12]
A
Well, the case will continue to build against him because after eyewitness accounts seemingly link Van Callis's motorcycle to the crime scene, and then we have some digital forensics supporting these reports, Van Callis is very quickly going to graduate from a person of interest to a suspect in the eyes of law enforcement. And it was on October 8th that the county prosecutor announces that the suspect, James Donald Van Callis, is charged with first degree murder, felony murder and kidnapping and assault with intent to commit sexual penetration in the slaying death of 14 year old April Millsap. Van Callis is arraigned the following day, denied bail, and remanded to the St. Clair County Jail. That same month, both of the Van Callis men will plead guilty to their manufacturing marijuana operation. The attorney, so they have a shared attorney for those charges. Captain, he is then saying, like, I, I'll continue to represent the two of you for this marijuana situation, but I'm not representing you. You know, once Van Callis is officially charged with murder, that defense attorney says, I'm not representing you in, in the murder case.
- [40:44]
B
But even though that law enforcement is building the case against him, it doesn't seem like they have this mountain of evidence. And we also live in this CSI world where we feel like we need DNA evidence to slam dunk every, every case that goes to trial.
- [41:04]
A
Yeah, we're not going to have DNA evidence here. And that in part will be a large portion of the defense for Van Callis here. What we end up having is a considerable amount of delays in getting the trial started. Some of that does come from the prosecution side of the equation. But after several delays, Van Callis's trial gets underway. This is in January. January 20th of 2016. During opening statements, the prosecutor tells the court that April had died of blunt force head trauma and asphyxia due to neck compression. The state intended to call 34 witnesses to the stand, including the then live In Girlfriend of the Defendant, her testimony will be maybe even more damning than, than most so far because she says that on the night in question, she woke up and when she wakes up, she finds her boyfriend cleaning his shoes and his motorcycle helmet with hand sanitizer.
- [42:21]
B
Yeah. And we have to remember that when they're doing the autopsy, the weapons that essentially murdered this girl, that murdered April, they believe is a motorcycle helmet and obviously the stomping of the victim. So the shoes then become very important.
- [42:41]
A
Yes. Some of the other witnesses called would be April's mother, Jennifer Millsap. Jennifer tells the jury about texting April, repeatedly calling her, repeatedly going out to search for her daughter. When April didn't return home from walking her dog. She was composed, yet of course, very emotional and paints the picture perfectly of, of how frantic the situation was, how desperate she was when searching for her daughter. We get an FBI investigator who's going to recreate April's final steps. This using data from April cell phone fitness tracker app. The phone had been recovered the day after the murder and contained a wealth of digital evidence linking the suspect to the crime. Digital analysis expert agent Matthew Zent testified to extracting information from April sports tracker app and combining it with location information obtained from Google Earth. So he displays an animation that he created showing the path that the teen took while walking her dog Penny alongside the Make Home Orchard Trail on the day that she was killed. Zentz then shows the jury how he had dropped pins on this route to indicate when calls and text messages were sent, including the one where April sent at 6:28pm to to her boyfriend that read, I think I almost got kidnapped. OMFG. He describes a 15 minute period of the phone moving in a zigzag pattern. Presumably this was April attempting to avoid Van Callis's advances or get away from him before the phone starts traveling at that much higher rate of speed and away from the crime scene. Now here's this part is odd, just very strange. The cell phone data showed three attempted calls to a. I have the number here, but I'm not going to give out the number because it's probably somebody's number. Today it's at 8:10 area code. Okay, so three attempted calls to the same 8:10 area code phone number. First at 6:31, then again at 6:32, and then at 6:33 before the phone leaves the general area at 6:44pm that number, that telephone number was linked to the Van Callis family. And as said, we have the phone traveling at 3.8 miles per hour suddenly increasing up to 22 miles per hour.
- [45:38]
B
Yeah. So you have this killer's girlfriend also saying he's not at home the time of the murders. He has a motorcycle similar to that. And also, weirdly, he was doing something I've never seen him do in the middle of the night, and that was to clean his helmet and his shoes and these shoes. Because he tells the police, hey, I was wearing K Swiss shoes. Well, no, you probably weren't, because this pair of shoes, I believe it was like a size 12 Jordan fight the Power shoes.
- [46:16]
A
Yep.
- [46:17]
B
And these were the shoes again, the girlfriend said, these are the shoes I saw him cleaning. And when they go to find these shoes, they're nowhere to be found.
- [46:27]
A
Well, part of her testimony, too. Okay, so she describes waking up on the night of January 24, 2014. Boyfriend's cleaning the shoes, just like the captain said. These are black and white Jordan shoes. She says he's acting strangely. He says to her, according to her testimony, that he had messed up and that she needed to stick by him and stay with him, and she needed to, if questioned, tell police that he was wearing different shoes that day. He says, tell them, I was wearing my case with tennis shoes. Which, remember, that's what he tells police he was wearing on the night that he supposedly went to go see his brother. Now, we said that that telephone number was connected to the Van Callis family. I wonder if that's him calling his brother, saying, hey, I was with you tonight. If anybody asked, I went out to your place tonight.
- [47:21]
B
Well, at some point, James asked his brother to delete text messages between them, which I believe the brother claims he responded, absolutely not. So at this trial, not only do we have this ex girlfriend testifying for the prosecution, but they also have his brother testifying for the. The prosecution as well.
- [47:46]
A
And again, the girlfriend says part of her statement is after. While he's cleaning his shoes and helmet, he asked her to wash his clothing. And she says when she. When she goes to wash the clothing, she searched the pockets of this Carhartt hoodie that he was wearing. And she tells the jury that she found what she thought was human hair and grass clippings in that pocket. And she also says that she noticed an injury to her boyfriend, which she described as a deep, long scratch on his right leg. Of course, his defense team is going to attempt damage control here by attacking this woman's credibility, claiming that her statements to police were inconsistent and sometimes conflicting. Well, she doesn't back down from this. She counters that by saying, look, I Was scared to death of losing my children. So any contradictory statements that I made were due to nervousness.
- [48:57]
B
The.
- [48:58]
A
We get three weeks of testimony by prosecution witnesses. As we said, they. They called a lot of witnesses and experts and members of law enforcement. Of course, standard procedure. The defense is going to request that the judge dismiss the case, citing a lack of evidence. The county circuit judge denies this motion. The defendant, he doesn't take the stand to testify on his own behalf. And in fact, the defense calls no witnesses. At closing arguments on February 5, the defense attorney maintains that prosecutors presented no evidence tying his client to the crime. And what we mean by that is he's citing no physical evidence. The defense fears the possibility of a sympathetic vote due to the emotional impact of the murder of this teenage girl. Right. Like, we know, we've seen these types of cases where a community is so affected, they may lose sight of what is of the way that the justice system is supposed to work. They want their pound of flesh. And that's what the defense team was worried about. And they're saying, look, we hate it too. It breaks our hearts that this girl was killed. But here sits my client. And there's no DNA evidence. There's no fingerprints, there's no hair, there's no semen, there's no fibers that are implicating my client.
- [50:31]
B
Yeah, but he has no alibi. And we can also have eyewitnesses that place him at the scene. And we have video surveillance putting him in that location and 20 some miles away from his house. And then his father is a pedo, so is it possible that he's a pedo as well? And then we have these statements from the brother. Why would you need text to be deleted by somebody if you did nothing wrong? And then you're cleaning possibly murder weapons in the middle of the night. And then when somebody goes, hey, what the heck's going on? You go, hey, by the way, you. I need you to have my back here. I need you to, to. To go along with this story if anybody ask. And then the police start coming around, and guess what? They start asking. So this is a lot of circumstantial evidence. And it's also like, well, we got, we got some physical evidence because we have these shoe prints. Did he have shoes that would possibly match this? Yes. But also, I mean, the simple question is, does he have a size 12 shoe like the prince on our victim? Yes. This puts him into the realm of possibility that he's a possible suspect for. For the crime.
- [51:44]
A
I think if you're the prosecution here, you've got to be worried about reasonable doubt. And the reasonable doubt to me, would be the senior Van Callis, right? The one. The known registered sex offender. They live together. But what you. You. So you have to really hone in on the son, being that you have the right guy. And part of that is his own admissions of, yeah, I would. I would have been seen in the area because I was riding my motorcycle and I was traveling to and from my. My brother's house. When you just have the bike, that's what led you to the suspect? Well, they live together. The senior Van Callis has access to that bike, to that motorcycle helmet, to even his son's cell phone. But then you have his own words of saying, yeah, you would have seen. I would have been seen in this area. Well, they're going to double down on all this at trial and really point the finger at the son with some hardcore evidence. And it might not be the physical kind, but it's the good kind. So there they review his Internet history, his searches on his Internet history related to attracting young girls that contain phrases like how to make a girl fall in love with you, what girls really want.
- [53:12]
B
And we're not talking about women. We're not talking about women his own age. We're talking about.
- [53:17]
A
No, he's 32.
- [53:18]
B
Yeah, yeah, he. He wants to know what girls, what teens he can get to fall for him.
- [53:25]
A
The defense, one of their arguments, too, is like, hey, these shoes that keep being mentioned, you didn't recover those from my client's house, from among his belongings. So a lot of back and forth here. But you have the two phones, April's phone, the victim's phone, confirmed to be on the Orchard trail. You also have your suspect's phone on the Orchard trail. This. This is the thing that's going to be the. The best evidence, right?
- [54:00]
B
That puts them in contact with each other.
- [54:03]
A
So the best evidence that you have here is from security footage of a house that is very nearby the murder scene, the crime scene. And remember, the killer was dumb enough to take April's phone with him for a period of time. That security footage from that house shows a white male on a motorcycle. The motorcycle, by the way, matching the exact description of Van Callis's motorcycle passing that surveillance camera at that home. Okay, so they have video of Van Callis on his bike passing that home. And, oh, what does that video line up with on the timestamp the same time that he's passing that camera? It was determined that April Millsaps Cell phone was passing that camera at the exact same time. Right.
- [55:03]
B
And if he's innocent of this crime, there would be no reason that he would have her cell phone. But also a damning piece of evidence is when you have your girlfriend saying, you know, I wake up and he's clean. He's cleaning his prized Nike tennis shoes with hand sanitizer. And then this weird stuff, hey, I'm going to need you to go along with my story. But she says, look, we weren't able to find the shoes, but we also weren't able to find a hoodie in which she found a clump of human hair and grass in the pocket. So you have, like you said, solid evidence that there was a connection, which he never said, that he was talking to her and hanging out with her. And then we have, we know the phone was taken from the crime scene and we have evidence that puts him in contact with, with that phone after the crime took place. And again, you have your girlfriend, ex girlfriend now, but you have your ex girlfriend and your brother testifying against you. I mean, this is pretty no brainer.
- [56:18]
A
The authorities theorized that James Van Callis had approached April as she was walking her dog Penny along the Make Home Orchard trail, making sexual advances towards the 14 year old. When April rebuffed his attentions, he grows angry and angrier, persistingly following her on his motorcycle as she attempted to evade him and eventually reaching a boiling point when he finally caught up to her. He attempts to rape the teen. But this was likely thwarted by the sight of multiple people out on the walking trail that evening. And he must have dragged her off of the trail, striking her multiple times in the head and face with his motorcycle helmet. And his anger, unchecked and beyond control, he tramples the teen violently stomping her face and chest. Think of the sheer brutality of this final act. He's 6 foot 1, 175 pound predator who, there's no nice way of saying this, he stood on the, on the teen's neck, leaving her to die at the scene, taking her cell phone with him before he fled the scene, eventually discarding it at a nearby location. The trial would end on a Friday and so this would start the deliberations process. And these deliberations resumed on the following Monday, which was February 8th. They the jury ultimately deliberated for about seven hours in total before reaching a verdict. And in front of a packed courtroom in which you could hear a pin drop, A jury of 12 men and women found the then 34 year old James Donald Van Callis guilty of first degree murder of April Don Millsap. So he's convicted on all counts, including the kidnapping and sexual assault charge.
- [58:39]
B
It's kidnapping and assault with the intent to commit sexual penetration.
- [58:44]
A
And this is, as said, a crowded courtroom. And it. When they're reading off the verdict and you. Upon hearing the word guilty, April supporters wearing their signature pink. They erupted in applause, tears, and cries of gratitude. Meanwhile, Van Callis displayed very little emotion, if any at all, as the verdict was ready. And he's now facing a potential life in prison without the possibility of parole sentence. And the sentencing hearing was set for March 30, 2016.
- [59:24]
B
Well, the rumor had it that he was very disappointed he had to throw away his Nike tennis shoes.
- [59:29]
A
Well, and this is going to be where we have the courtroom filled with victim's family members, and they're going to have an opportunity here to read their impact statements. Before I get into Jennifer Millsap, the mother's statement, what we have here from Van Callis is he is proclaiming his innocence. Of course, he is denying that he's guilty. He's. He's questioning the evidence, says there is no evidence. But the judge quickly steps in and says, look, this is her exact words, and I like this quote. The reality is we're here to sentence you today, not retry the case. Jennifer Millsap, part of her victim impact statement is as follows. She says, quote, you, James, are a damn thief. You stole my beautiful daughter's life, and you stole the rest of mine. My life has totally changed since April was killed. My life will never be the same. I will always miss April and will continue to hold her in my heart. I never thought this could happen to my daughter or me. I know that the Bible tells us that we are supposed to forgive those who. Who wronged you, but what you took from us is unforgivable. You have a lot of people to apologize to. Don't expect anyone to accept it because you don't have the ability to turn back time and take this back.
- [61:11]
B
An old James clean shoes. He will get the maximum sentencing.
- [61:17]
A
Yes. So he's sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Additionally, the judge granted a restitution to April's mother in the amount of $7,500. Upon hearing the sentence, Van Callis's mother, Brenda, vowed that her son would be vindicated, telling reporters that he had been framed. The community of Armata, Michigan, actively supported the investigation by providing tips and surveillance footage. A year after the murder. This is on July 13, 2015. Residents dedicated a memorial garden for April near the Make Home Orchard Trail. The garden, funded by over $7,000 in community donations, was created as a place of reflection and healing, featuring April's favorite flowers and a bench with her name on it. We told you to tune in this February as we have several special announcements and today we have our first one for you. You and this is very exciting stuff. True Crime Garage Will be Part of Crime Wave 2.0 Crime Wave at Sea 2.0 is the ultimate true crime festival in international waters. This is the Oasis of the Seas cruise ship that sets sail from Fort Lauderdale. The cruise dates are February 8th through the 12th, 2027. The 2027 lineup is featuring last podcast on the left, Case File, Scared to Death, Unexplained and now True Crime Garage. Plus many more great true crime and mystery podcast. These tickets go on sale Friday, February 13, 2026. Again tickets go on sale Friday, February 13, 20 26. To get $100 off of your state room and a private meet and greet with Nick and the Captain, go to crimewave@c.com garage to get your discount code. Again, get that discount code, $100 off your stateroom and a private meet and greet with Nick and the Captain by going to crimewave.com garage. Once again, that is crimewave@c.com garage.
- [64:07]
B
Want to thank everybody for joining us here in the Garage each and every week. Thanks for telling your mother. Thanks for telling your brother. Until next week. Be good, be kind and don't litter. Sa.
- [64:53]
A
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B
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A
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B
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