May 4, 2026

The Last Dance - Part 2 - Debbie Flores Narvaez Flashback

The Last Dance - Part 2 - Debbie Flores Narvaez Flashback
The Last Dance - Part 2 - Debbie Flores Narvaez Flashback
Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast
The Last Dance - Part 2 - Debbie Flores Narvaez Flashback
Spotify podcast player iconApple Podcasts podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon
Spotify podcast player iconApple Podcasts podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon
Season 3

This week, we continue the horrifying case of dancer Debbie Flores Narvaez, including some brand new information about the people involved, specifically the one who gave police the information they needed to find out what happened to Debbie and who was responsible.

Join us and share the episode, and please email us with questions or comments.

https://sinspod.co/124
https://sinspod.co/123sources
https://sinspod.co/124blog
https://sinspod.co/124sub
https://sinspod.co/124transcript


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.

Domestic Violence Resources
http://sinspod.co/resources

Click here to become a member of our Patreon!
https://sinspod.co/patreon
Visit and join our Patreon now and access our ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content & schwag! Get ad-free access for only $1 a month or ad-free and bonus episodes for $3 a month

Apple Podcast Subscriptions
https://sinspod.co/apple
We're now offering premium membership benefits on Apple Podcast Subscriptions! On your mobile device

Let us know what you think about the episode
https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2248640/open_sms

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.879
To listen ad free, visit sinspod dot com slash subscribe

2
00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:06.000
starting at two ninety nine a month. You'll also get

3
00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:08.919
access to our exclusive bonus content episodes when you joined

4
00:00:08.919 --> 00:00:12.439
through Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show.

5
00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:17.239
Hi, and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas

6
00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:19.920
true crime podcast where we cover cases that deal with

7
00:00:19.960 --> 00:00:23.160
domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases.

8
00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:24.640
I'm your host Sean.

9
00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:25.800
And I'm your co host John.

10
00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:29.800
In part one of our flashback episode about Debbie Flores Narvaez,

11
00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:32.840
we left off with Debbie still missing and her Panic

12
00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:35.799
sister Celeste staying here in Las Vegas over the holidays

13
00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:39.000
to search for her. In Part two, the search for

14
00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:41.399
Debbie heats up and the reality of what happened to

15
00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:44.759
her is discovered by Metro Police. One of the key

16
00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:47.280
breaks in the case came from someone who we called

17
00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:50.719
Jessica in this episode to protect her identity. At the

18
00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:53.439
time we recorded, we and a lot of other people

19
00:00:53.799 --> 00:00:55.560
were under the impression that she was just an ex

20
00:00:55.640 --> 00:00:56.479
girlfriend of blues.

21
00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.840
Since then, though, the news media have shared her identity why,

22
00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:03.359
and We've decided to share it here too. In the flashback,

23
00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:07.120
her real name is Calai Casorso, and at the end

24
00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:10.760
of the episode we'll explain more about how deeply entangled

25
00:01:10.760 --> 00:01:14.079
with Blue she really was. The case was shocking, but

26
00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:18.439
so was what we eventually learned about Calay. But for now,

27
00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:21.920
here's our remastered original coverage of Part two of The

28
00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:22.719
Last Dance.

29
00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:26.400
In part one of Debbie's story, her star was on

30
00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:29.079
the rise. The dance number she had poured her heart

31
00:01:29.079 --> 00:01:32.040
into was about to debut on the Vegas Strip. Debbie

32
00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:34.719
had worked tirelessly for months and built the performance from

33
00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:37.719
the ground up. Her friends and family were concerned when

34
00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:40.519
Debbie missed the final rehearsals, and they knew something was

35
00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:43.200
horribly wrong when she never showed up for opening night.

36
00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:46.840
Las Vegas Metro had questioned her on again, off again

37
00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:49.840
boyfriend Jason Griffith, who was likely the last person to

38
00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:53.319
have seen Debbie before her disappearance. He cooperated with the police,

39
00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:56.040
but his history of domestic violence incidents had the Las

40
00:01:56.120 --> 00:01:57.359
Vegas community on edge.

41
00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:11.039
Where was Debbie? Hi?

42
00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:13.560
And Welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true

43
00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:16.080
crime podcast where we focus on cases that deal with

44
00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:17.000
domestic violence.

45
00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:20.000
I'm your host, Sean, and I'm your co host John.

46
00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:22.759
Thanks for joining us for part two of Debbie's story.

47
00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:25.000
If you haven't had a chance yet to listen to

48
00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.039
part one, we recommend you go give that a listen

49
00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:30.400
now before diving in here. When we left off on

50
00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:33.319
part one, the Las Vegas Metro Police Department didn't have

51
00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:36.439
any new leads on Debbie's disappearance and they needed someone

52
00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:39.439
to come forward with information. Debbie was last seen on

53
00:02:39.479 --> 00:02:43.080
December twelfth, twenty ten. Debbie's car was found two days later,

54
00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:46.599
abandoned with no plates. Debbie's phone and computer were inside

55
00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:50.280
and untouched since December twelfth, but nothing on in or

56
00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:52.879
around the car offered any answers as to where Debbie

57
00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:56.240
had gone or what had happened to Her roommate said

58
00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.479
that she left their condo on December twelfth planning to

59
00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:01.879
go watch the Dexter finale with her boyfriend, Jason. Jason

60
00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:04.439
said he did see her briefly that night, but stated

61
00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:06.080
she had gone to hang out with friends, and he

62
00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:08.879
told police that she may have been considering ending her

63
00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:12.879
life because she was distraught over their breakup. Celese, Debbie's sister,

64
00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:16.680
had forgne spending the holidays with her two young children instead.

65
00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:18.560
She felt she had no choice but to spend the

66
00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:22.639
holidays in Vegas searching for Debbie. Celeus was quoted by

67
00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:25.960
Channel eight News Now saying, I don't get to see

68
00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:28.400
my kids, I don't get to see her, I don't

69
00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:30.960
get to be with my family. It's just another day

70
00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:34.599
for me. It's not Christmas, even my book. My family's incomplete,

71
00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:36.919
and I'm just trying to put them back together again.

72
00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:40.800
On January fifth, the police received the tip they were

73
00:03:40.840 --> 00:03:44.039
looking for a witness had information relevant to the case

74
00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:47.039
and wanted to speak to detectives. The witness chose to

75
00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:49.039
approach a friend of hers who had a connection to

76
00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:51.960
a Metro Police officer, who then brought the information to

77
00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:54.639
the lead detective on the case. It's a little bit

78
00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:56.599
of a game of telephone for reasons that will become

79
00:03:56.680 --> 00:03:59.400
clear in a minute. The witness who were going to

80
00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:02.879
call Jessica was an ex girlfriend of Jason's. The two

81
00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:06.360
of them remained friendly although they had broken up. I

82
00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:08.759
want to add that this person is yet another girl

83
00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:10.680
friend of Jason's that he was dating while he was

84
00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:13.199
dating Debbie, and while he was also married. Do we

85
00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:16.600
mention that yes, we discovered Jason was actually married this

86
00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:19.079
whole time. He was married in Reno in two thousand

87
00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:22.399
and six. According to Jessica, on December fourteenth, Jason called

88
00:04:22.439 --> 00:04:24.199
her and asked if it was okay for him to

89
00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:26.360
store something at her house for a little while while

90
00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:28.279
he was getting ready to move to a new place.

91
00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:30.079
She told him that it would be fine if she

92
00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:32.839
had the room. She was shocked when he pulled up

93
00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.279
to her house with a huge U haul because she

94
00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:37.959
wasn't expecting to store a lot of items for him.

95
00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:42.319
Jessica said, Jason wasn't alone. His roommate Lewis Colombo was

96
00:04:42.360 --> 00:04:45.079
with him. When they opened the U haul, there was

97
00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:49.639
just one item inside a large blue plastic storage tub.

98
00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:52.600
The tub didn't have a lid on it, and it

99
00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:54.560
was filled with a gray substance that she was sure

100
00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:57.519
was concrete. The concrete was bumpy on the top and

101
00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:00.879
the tub was bulging out a little on one side. Jessica,

102
00:05:00.920 --> 00:05:03.920
of course, was confused and was thinking, like, what's going

103
00:05:03.959 --> 00:05:08.199
on here. She decided to ask Jason what's in that tub.

104
00:05:08.839 --> 00:05:12.680
According to Jessica, Jason hesitated before he told her. His

105
00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:15.720
demeanor was are you sure you want to know? And

106
00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:20.519
finally he told her Debbie is in there. Jessica was

107
00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:23.160
horrified and terrified and told him to get the tub

108
00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:26.040
the fuck out of here. Jason and Lewis left with

109
00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:29.199
the truck, and Jessica did not contact the police right

110
00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:31.519
away because she was scared that whatever had happened to

111
00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:34.399
Debbie could happen to her. Jessica had decided to speak

112
00:05:34.439 --> 00:05:36.160
to a friend who had a connection to the police

113
00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:39.240
department so she could feel safe in making this anonymous tip.

114
00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:42.720
The police followed up on the tip by going to

115
00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.240
U haul rental locations close to Jason's house. They checked

116
00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:49.240
the rental agreements and surveillance footage and discovered that Jason

117
00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:51.319
and Lewis had rented a U haul truck with two

118
00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:55.839
utility dollies around eleven am on December fourteenth. The truck

119
00:05:55.959 --> 00:05:58.560
was returned outside of normal business hours very early in

120
00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:01.920
the morning of December sixteen. Jason and Lewis were seen

121
00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:04.519
on surveillance video leaving the keys to the truck in

122
00:06:04.519 --> 00:06:07.959
the dropbox. The rental truck had a GPS inside it

123
00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.000
that allowed the police to track the movements of the

124
00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.800
U Haul during the rental period. It had been parked

125
00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:15.800
overnight on December fourteenth at a Flying J truck stop

126
00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:20.040
location in Vegas. This was particularly important because it connected

127
00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:22.519
to another piece of evidence that the police had collected

128
00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:25.160
back in December but had not revealed to the press,

129
00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:28.680
her family or to the news media. On December twenty second,

130
00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:31.439
the police had executed a search warrant of Jason's home

131
00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:34.199
and recovered a receipt from a Flying J truck stop

132
00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:37.279
that showed the purchase of sponges and bleach made on

133
00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:38.279
December fifteenth.

134
00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:42.800
On January seventh, twenty eleven, Jason's roommate Lewis, was interviewed

135
00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:46.120
by homicide detectives. Lewis agreed to talk so long as

136
00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:49.439
he would be immune from arrest in prosecution. The police

137
00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:52.879
agreed to Lewis's conditions, probably because the police aren't the

138
00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:55.439
ones that make the deals the district attorneys due, but

139
00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:58.439
in any event, Lewis was reassured and he gave his statement.

140
00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:01.560
According to lu Leuis, Debbie did come to his in

141
00:07:01.639 --> 00:07:04.319
Jason's house on the evening of December twelfth to watch Dexter,

142
00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:06.920
as Debbie had told her roommate she was going to do.

143
00:07:07.639 --> 00:07:10.439
Later that evening, Debbie and Jason got into an argument,

144
00:07:10.519 --> 00:07:13.279
and Jason grabbed Debbie by the throat and began strangling her.

145
00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:17.439
According to the police report, Lewis quote had to pull

146
00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:20.199
Griffith off of Flora's narvaez because he was choking her

147
00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:23.480
with his hands around her neck. Lewis broke up the

148
00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:25.279
fight and was able to get the two of them

149
00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:28.040
to calm down. He had to leave the apartment around

150
00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:31.199
eight twenty pm to meet up with his girlfriend. He

151
00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:33.399
said that at ten thirty pm he received a text

152
00:07:33.399 --> 00:07:35.959
from Jason that said not to bring his girlfriend back

153
00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:39.399
to the house. When Lewis got back home, Jason met

154
00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:41.560
him at the front door and told him this was

155
00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:43.680
a changer diaper moment.

156
00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:47.079
Lewis entered the house and saw Debbie lying on the

157
00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:50.120
floor with a plastic bag on her face. Lewis went

158
00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:52.600
to the bathroom and threw up, and when he returned

159
00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:55.720
he could tell that Debbie was dead. She wasn't breathing,

160
00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:59.000
and she was cold to the touch. According to Louis,

161
00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:01.680
Jason then to told him that Debbie head said that

162
00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:03.480
her throat was hurting and she wanted to call for

163
00:08:03.480 --> 00:08:06.120
an ambulance. That was when Jason grabbed her from behind

164
00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:09.680
and choked her until she died. Lewis explained how he

165
00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:12.639
and Jason discussed what to do with Debbie's body. They

166
00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:15.160
purchased a tub and concrete, mixed up the concrete in

167
00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:18.240
their garage, bit Debbie's body into the tub, and encased

168
00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:21.480
her in the concrete. The combined weight of the filled

169
00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:25.199
tub was seven hundred pounds. Lewis confirmed the details that

170
00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:28.519
Jessica had shared. Louis and Jason rented the U haul

171
00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:30.959
and the dollies and brought the tub to Jessica's house,

172
00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:33.440
but she refused to let them store the tub there.

173
00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:36.080
They had also attempted to store the tub at an

174
00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:38.480
undisclosed building, but were unable to move it to the

175
00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:42.919
second floor, probably because it weighed seven hundred pounds. They

176
00:08:42.919 --> 00:08:44.720
then parked the U haul truck at the Flying J

177
00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:48.519
truck stop overnight. The next day, Jason got the keys

178
00:08:48.600 --> 00:08:50.519
to a house that belonged to some friends who were

179
00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:52.960
out of the country. Lewis brought the tub to that

180
00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:55.639
house by himself and noticed that it had started leaking

181
00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:57.840
when he moved it into the house. He ended up

182
00:08:57.960 --> 00:08:59.639
leaving it there for a few days.

183
00:09:00.919 --> 00:09:03.240
This next part of what Lewis told the police is

184
00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:07.360
particularly gruesome and horrifying. Jason and Lewis went to Walmart

185
00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:10.960
to purchase additional tubs, tools, and concrete. They returned to

186
00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:14.399
the house where Lewis had left the tub and chiseled

187
00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:17.559
Debbi out of the concrete, dismembered her, and placed her

188
00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:20.559
in two separate tubs, and once again covered her with concrete.

189
00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:23.080
They placed the tubs in a closet of the house

190
00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:26.240
and sealed the door shut with spray foam insulation. They

191
00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:28.559
gathered up their tools and sealed those inside of a

192
00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:31.399
different closet in the house. They left the broken pieces

193
00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:33.639
of concrete and the blue bin on the floor of

194
00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:37.559
the living room. Lewis told the police where to find

195
00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:40.279
the house. The police obtained a search warrant, and when

196
00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:43.360
they entered the home, they found the broken concrete pieces,

197
00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:45.960
the blue bin, and the sealed up closets, just as

198
00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:49.039
Lewis had described, and in one of the closets were

199
00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:53.639
the two bins containing Debbie's remains. The police also conducted

200
00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:57.000
further investigation into Jason. They discovered that in November of

201
00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:59.159
twenty ten, a friend of Jason's had reported to the

202
00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.120
North Las Vegas Police Department that Jason had sent him

203
00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:04.639
a text that indicated that Jason was contemplating ending his

204
00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:07.480
own life. The police did a welfare check on Jason,

205
00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:09.840
and they placed him on a legal two thousand hold,

206
00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:12.799
which gives the police a medical professionals the ability to

207
00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:14.840
hold a person who's in a mental health crisis in

208
00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:17.480
a mental health treatment facility for up to seventy two hours.

209
00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:20.080
Jason was brought to a hospital and released a short

210
00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:23.519
time later. Another ex girlfriend of Jason's came forward to

211
00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:25.919
the police and said that on December seventh or eighth

212
00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:28.480
of twenty ten, Jason had texted her and asked her

213
00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:31.279
if she knew where he could get a gun. She

214
00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:33.399
did not know what he wanted the gun for.

215
00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:38.200
On January eighth, twenty eleven, the police stopped Jason as

216
00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:40.279
he was leaving work at the Love Show around eleven

217
00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.799
fifty pm. They told him he wasn't under arrest, but

218
00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:46.639
they wanted to ask some more questions about Debbie's disappearance.

219
00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:49.120
He agreed to talk to them, but he commented that

220
00:10:49.159 --> 00:10:52.039
they hadn't read him his miranda rights. The officers read

221
00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:54.919
him his rights, and Jason signed a card acknowledging that

222
00:10:54.919 --> 00:10:57.200
that had happened and that he understood he was waiving

223
00:10:57.200 --> 00:10:59.360
his right to an attorney and his right to remain silent.

224
00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:01.799
Jason said that he didn't have anything to do with

225
00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:04.720
Debbie's death. He denied that he killed her on purpose

226
00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:07.399
or accidentally. He was questioned about the U haul, and

227
00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:09.879
he admitted to renting it, but he told the police

228
00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:11.360
that he needed the U haul to pick up a

229
00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:13.960
punching bag, stand and other workout equipment from a friend,

230
00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:16.159
although he wouldn't say who the friend was or where

231
00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:20.080
they lived. The officers then tried asking Jason about Debbie's

232
00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:21.919
body and some of the details Lewis had given them,

233
00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:24.799
but Jason refused to answer those questions without his attorney present.

234
00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:28.440
Police placed Jason under arrest and transported him to the

235
00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:31.960
Clark County Detention Center. While he was being transported, Jason

236
00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:35.519
allegedly said to the police officer that Debbie's death quote

237
00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:38.320
was not a premeditated thing, and quote it was a

238
00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:41.120
heat of the moment thing. He explained that he thought

239
00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:43.360
Debbie had a gun and that she had attacked him.

240
00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:46.399
According to the police report, the officer responded to Jason

241
00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:50.080
that no one was going to believe that. Jason said

242
00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:52.639
that Debbie had quote forced him to do what he did.

243
00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:55.600
The police report also stated that Jason had said that

244
00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:01.000
he did all the amateur stuff. Afterwards, January eleventh, the

245
00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:03.519
coroner ruled Debbie's death was a homicide and that she

246
00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:07.639
had died from asphyxiation. Jason was arraigned on January twelfth

247
00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:10.480
on charges of murder. He pleaded not guilty and was

248
00:12:10.519 --> 00:12:14.000
hauled without bail. During the arraignment, Celeste, who was of

249
00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:17.679
course present, made headlines when she justifiably screamed with Jason

250
00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:20.000
when she saw him, she shouted from the back of

251
00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:23.080
the courtroom, I hope you rotten hell, you fucking asshole,

252
00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:25.480
for what you did to her, You fucking asshole. I

253
00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:28.480
hope you rotten hell. I hope you rotten hell. According

254
00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:32.279
to reporting from ABC Channel thirteen, Celeste later told the press,

255
00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:34.559
I guess I just kind of blacked out and said it.

256
00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:37.480
Very few people know what Celeste was feeling that day,

257
00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:40.360
but I can't imagine anyone blaming her for reacting like that.

258
00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:43.600
In the midst of all this pain, Celess and her

259
00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.720
family started a fund for survivors of domestic violence. As

260
00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:50.120
Celeste said, quote, it's really extremely important for women to

261
00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:52.240
understand that they don't have to deal with this, that

262
00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:54.919
they can talk to somebody, they don't have to be afraid.

263
00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:57.879
The funds raised were given to the Shade Tree, a

264
00:12:57.919 --> 00:12:59.919
shelter for women and children in Las Vegas.

265
00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:04.759
Originally, Jason's trial was filed on February ninth, twenty eleven,

266
00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:07.200
for Debbie's murder and was set to start on November

267
00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:11.080
twenty eighth, twenty eleven. Due to various legal arguments in wrangling,

268
00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:15.519
the trial didn't start until May fifth, twenty fourteen, presided

269
00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:18.399
over by Judge Kathleen Delaney. That might seem like a

270
00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:21.039
long time, and that's because it's a very long time.

271
00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:24.240
But there were a litany of motions, according to court documents,

272
00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:26.159
on both sides, that delayed the start of the trial,

273
00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:29.840
such as a motion from the defense attorney Abel Janez

274
00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:32.519
to delay and give them more time to prepare because

275
00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:35.480
there was allegedly some evidence on a hard drive that

276
00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:39.240
the defense was trying to locate. A motion from the

277
00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:43.159
defense to run an NCIIC National Crime Information Center check,

278
00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.240
which is basically a criminal background check on Debbie to

279
00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:50.519
prove their assertion that she was violent. This one failed,

280
00:13:51.559 --> 00:13:53.960
and a motion to suppress the statements that Jason gave

281
00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:55.879
to the police in the police car on the way

282
00:13:55.879 --> 00:13:58.600
to jail. This one also did not succeed. The court

283
00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:02.279
ruled that this was relevant and missible. Specifically, Jason said

284
00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:04.679
that the murder was not a premeditated thing and it

285
00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:08.399
was in the heat of the moment. The trial lasted

286
00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:13.440
about two weeks. The way prosecutor Mark DiGiacomo presented the

287
00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:17.399
case was that Jason had choked Debbie and asphyxiated her

288
00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:19.799
with a plastic bag because she was standing in the

289
00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:22.879
way of his relationship with Anye Rue. He said that

290
00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:26.519
Jason had stoked and amplified Debbie's frustration by lying often

291
00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:30.600
about his monogamy and pulled away from her after accompanying

292
00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:32.759
her to the abortion clinic in May of twenty ten,

293
00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:35.639
only to reel her back in by offering her a

294
00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:38.039
gift as an olive branch on her thirty first birthday

295
00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:41.399
in July. One of the constants in the relationship was

296
00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:43.799
that they were off and on, broken up and together

297
00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:46.120
over and over, and the times were aware of it.

298
00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.679
Was Jason initiating the reconciliation.

299
00:14:49.559 --> 00:14:52.000
We also want to note that Lewis was never charged

300
00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:56.120
with any crime connected to Debbie's death or the subsequent

301
00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:59.159
events that he took after her death to conceal her body.

302
00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:02.279
He did testify at trial to most of the facts

303
00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:05.759
we've already told you here. Jajacomo also claimed that Jason

304
00:15:05.799 --> 00:15:08.519
had become depressed and suicidal between his arrests for domestic

305
00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.639
violence on October twenty second, as we mentioned last week,

306
00:15:11.799 --> 00:15:14.360
and his thirty first birthday December tenth, which would have

307
00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:17.879
been two days before Debbie disappeared. This isn't much of

308
00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:19.600
a stretch when you think about the fact that in

309
00:15:19.639 --> 00:15:22.399
November of twenty ten, the police transported and held him

310
00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:26.279
on that legal two thousand hold we mentioned. During the trial,

311
00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:29.919
prosecution called one medical expert who testified that it might

312
00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:32.879
have only taken seconds for Debbi to become unconscious, but

313
00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:35.519
the death would have taken much longer. They also called

314
00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:38.399
the medical examiner, and as you might expect, he testified

315
00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:41.679
that her autopsy was the worst he had ever completed.

316
00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:44.919
I can't imagine how horrific that autopsy must have been,

317
00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:48.960
given what Jason did to Debbie post mortem. It's incredibly horrific.

318
00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:52.960
The prosecution also included surveillance video of Jason and Lewis

319
00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:56.000
buying the plastic tubs and concrete at home depot, and

320
00:15:56.039 --> 00:15:58.000
of course, the footage of them renting the U haul

321
00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:01.120
and Dolly's on December fourteenth, along with the receipts for

322
00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:05.000
sponges and bleach. He told the jury, you're not allowed

323
00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:07.200
to hold onto a woman's neck for ten minutes and

324
00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:10.159
have it not be first degree murder. Essentially, he's saying

325
00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:13.080
that at some point Jason crossed the threshold into premeditation.

326
00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:16.879
As we talked about a few weeks ago, being strangled

327
00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:19.639
takes seconds, but being strangled to death takes much longer.

328
00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:22.039
And if it wasn't in the heat of the moment,

329
00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:25.320
why wouldn't he just let go? They pointed out that

330
00:16:25.399 --> 00:16:27.919
while he was claiming this was done in self defense,

331
00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:30.840
which contradicts the heat of the moment claim. By the way,

332
00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:33.480
he also claimed that he had called the police many

333
00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.320
times on Debbie. Why wouldn't he call the police this time?

334
00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:40.399
There was a lot of evidence here, both circumstantial and direct.

335
00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:44.519
On December twenty second, twenty ten, when Detective Dan Long

336
00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:47.399
interviewed Jason again. He made up a story about two

337
00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:50.279
previous partners who might have wanted to harm her. Jason

338
00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:52.840
spun the police a tale about how Debbie was contemplating

339
00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:55.200
ending her own life because she was distraught about the

340
00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:58.519
breakup of their relationship, and he told detectives to go

341
00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:01.399
look for her near the over pass at Windmill and

342
00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:04.400
the two fifteen Beltway. We lived just a few miles

343
00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:07.039
from there, and two of the corners of that intersection

344
00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:09.799
are strip malls. One of them is a medical building too,

345
00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:12.880
and the other two are on a very busy running

346
00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:14.960
trail that I have spent a lot of time on.

347
00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:18.680
That's the two fifteen trail. I've run that thing many times,

348
00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:20.759
and I can't think of a location where a body

349
00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:23.440
wouldn't be found right away. It was a lot less

350
00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:27.240
populated and busy in twenty eleven, but still he claimed

351
00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:30.880
that again on December twelfth, he had only a brief

352
00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:33.000
interaction with Debbie and that she didn't get out of

353
00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:35.440
her car. He said they talked and she drove away

354
00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:38.160
and vanished without a trace. Note that on the date

355
00:17:38.200 --> 00:17:40.839
of this interview, December twenty second, that's the day that

356
00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:44.359
Metro executed a search warrant on Jason's house and recovered

357
00:17:44.359 --> 00:17:46.400
receipts for Sponges and bleach.

358
00:17:47.559 --> 00:17:50.839
The defense attorneys were Abel Yannas and Jeff Banks. The

359
00:17:50.920 --> 00:17:54.160
case they presented involved four days of testimony from Jason

360
00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:57.519
testifying that Debbie's death was self defense. He said that

361
00:17:57.519 --> 00:17:59.480
he grabbed her from behind with his arms around her

362
00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:01.680
neck when he thought she was reaching for a purse

363
00:18:02.119 --> 00:18:05.880
that may have contained a gun. As it turned out,

364
00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:08.799
there was no gun, and there was no testimony from

365
00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:11.799
anyone that Debbie knew that she had ever owned a gun,

366
00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:14.839
nor had she ever attempted to buy a gun or

367
00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:15.599
borrow a gun.

368
00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:19.440
It also occurs to me that this argument makes no sense.

369
00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:22.079
I'm imagining a situation where someone has their back to

370
00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:24.039
me and I think they're reaching for a purse that

371
00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:26.960
might have a gun in it. He said that he

372
00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:29.000
grabbed her by the neck, but that doesn't sound logical

373
00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:30.720
to me. If you think about someone going for a gun,

374
00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:33.319
why wouldn't you knock them down or tackle them. Holding

375
00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:35.759
their neck might not prevent them from reaching that gun

376
00:18:35.880 --> 00:18:38.160
if it exists, and threatening you with it. None of

377
00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:39.359
it passes the smell test.

378
00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:42.960
To me, I agree. He also said that after she died,

379
00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:45.160
he panicked and asked his roommate Lewis to help dispose

380
00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:48.519
the body. This is also strange because for someone who

381
00:18:48.599 --> 00:18:51.079
is panicking, he certainly came over with a plan, given

382
00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:53.720
the links he went to in order to hie Debbie's body.

383
00:18:54.200 --> 00:18:56.240
There's also the fact that she had the plastic bag

384
00:18:56.279 --> 00:18:59.079
on her head. Jason claimed he had put that plastic

385
00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:01.000
pag on her head to see if she was still breathing.

386
00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:05.400
To Jacomo also pointed out that the self defense claim

387
00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:09.000
was an obvious fabrication, because if it were true, Jason

388
00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:11.319
would have stopped choking her when she was unconscious and

389
00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:13.799
or rendered some kind of aid or called an ambulance.

390
00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:17.240
Jason made quite a few claims during his four days

391
00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:20.039
on the witness stands, such as he claimed that Debbie

392
00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.799
told him she was pregnant. He said that the fight

393
00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:26.359
escalated after she told him this and demanded that he'd

394
00:19:26.359 --> 00:19:29.160
break up with Anye and devote his full attention to her.

395
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.119
The autopsy showed she was not pregnant. This argument appears

396
00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:37.359
to have been a big misfire, though on cross examination

397
00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:40.839
by de Jacomo, the DA insinuated that if this was true,

398
00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:44.039
perhaps Jason killed her because she and her pregnancy would

399
00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:46.720
have hurt his relationship with Anye, or that he killed

400
00:19:46.759 --> 00:19:49.039
her to head off another domestic violence charge that would

401
00:19:49.079 --> 00:19:52.480
ruin his career. Jason claimed that on the night of

402
00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:54.960
the murder, Debbie told him that she had slashed his

403
00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:57.559
tires before coming into the house and that she had

404
00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:02.160
brought it with her it presumed being the gun because

405
00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:04.319
she was going to kill him and then kill herself.

406
00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:08.359
These arguments make no sense. For one, Lewis was home

407
00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:12.680
the whole time, and Jason never called the police for

408
00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:16.039
help that night when he had in the past when

409
00:20:16.039 --> 00:20:20.119
she was allegedly being aggressive with him. But most of all,

410
00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:23.200
why would Debbie do that the night before the biggest

411
00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.319
break in her career that she'd been working towards for months.

412
00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:31.440
It got even worse for Jason. The DA pointed out

413
00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:34.200
that after the murder, Jason had claimed that he was

414
00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:36.720
not in possession of Debbie's phone because it had been

415
00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:40.640
dumped in the neighborhood near his house. However, the GPS

416
00:20:40.680 --> 00:20:43.359
data pulled from the phone indicated that it had been

417
00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:46.200
near the New York New York Hotel where Anye's show

418
00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:50.359
Zumanity was. Jason also claimed that a threatening letter had

419
00:20:50.359 --> 00:20:52.319
been left on his car in which Debbie threatened to

420
00:20:52.359 --> 00:20:55.519
kill him. The problem here was that there were also

421
00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:58.400
text messages between him and Lewis, proving that Lewis had

422
00:20:58.440 --> 00:21:03.440
written the note, not Debbie. Regardless, though Jason's overarching defense

423
00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:05.960
is that he killed her in self defense. The defense

424
00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:09.119
spent a lot of energy portraying Debbie as volatile and violent,

425
00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:11.680
and submitted a document to the court in which they

426
00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:14.599
claimed to have access to four prior partners who had

427
00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:18.799
testified to her violence. Anye was also called as a witness.

428
00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:21.200
She testified that she had broken up with Jason in

429
00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:23.960
the fall of twenty ten after finding out about his

430
00:21:24.039 --> 00:21:26.640
various incidents of cheating on her, like sleeping with two

431
00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:29.319
other members of the Love Show. She was apparently under

432
00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:31.799
the impression she was in a monogamous relationship with him

433
00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:34.480
and thought Debbie was just out of control harassing and

434
00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:37.440
stalking Jason. She thought they had broken up in May

435
00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:40.319
and didn't know they got back together around Debbie's birthday.

436
00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:43.920
She did tell the court, however, that she told Jason

437
00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:45.519
that she would get back together with him if he

438
00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:48.519
broke up with Debbie, which seems to bolster the prosecution's

439
00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:50.079
claim that Debbie was getting in the way of his

440
00:21:50.200 --> 00:21:52.920
relationship with her. I mentioned a minute ago that there

441
00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:56.279
were text messages proving that the death threat notes that

442
00:21:56.279 --> 00:21:59.039
Debbie had allegedly written were actually written by Lewis. This

443
00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:02.200
came out during Anye's cross examination, and it was reported

444
00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:04.799
that when she learned this from the DA as she

445
00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:09.039
was being cross examined, Anye gave Jason quite a meaningful stare.

446
00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:12.240
There was another thing that Aanye said that was very telling.

447
00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:15.000
When she was asked if she thought Jason was suicidal,

448
00:22:15.720 --> 00:22:18.559
she replied that she did not think he was suicidal,

449
00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:20.559
just that he was a great actor.

450
00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:25.640
On May twenty second, twenty fourteen, after the two week trial,

451
00:22:26.119 --> 00:22:29.519
Jason was found guilty of second degree murder. The prosecution

452
00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:31.440
had been hoping for a verdict of first degree murder,

453
00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:34.680
while the defense wanted it to be voluntary manslaughter. The

454
00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:38.039
sentencing hearing was two months later, on January twenty third,

455
00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:41.920
and it lasted about an hour. During his censing hearing,

456
00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:44.559
Jason pled for mercy from the court, saying that he

457
00:22:44.599 --> 00:22:47.839
had reached out for help to the police fourteen times,

458
00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:50.559
and he hoped that she, the judge, would find it

459
00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:54.480
in her to give him some help. Finally, the judge,

460
00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:58.759
who was unswayed, did not mince words, saying, the responsibility

461
00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:02.319
for this toxic and aultimately tragic relationship continuing as long

462
00:23:02.359 --> 00:23:06.039
as it did is entirely yours. During their year long

463
00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:10.319
on and again off again relationship, Jason had many opportunities

464
00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:13.640
to walk away, but he always went back, the judge said,

465
00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:16.240
and for no other reason that I can discern from

466
00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:19.599
whatever was discussed at trial. The only reason I can

467
00:23:19.640 --> 00:23:26.559
see was to satisfy your own narcissistic predisposition. Jason was

468
00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:29.240
given the maximum sentence for second degree murder, a life

469
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:32.240
sentence with the possibility of parole, with a minimum sentence

470
00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:35.400
of ten years. His first parole hearing was in twenty twenty.

471
00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:38.240
Because he had credit for almost four years served, his

472
00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:40.960
parole was denied and his next parle opportunity is in

473
00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:45.039
twenty twenty six. Jason appealed to his conviction to the

474
00:23:45.079 --> 00:23:47.759
Nevada Supreme Court, which ruled on it in twenty sixteen.

475
00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:51.319
There were several aspects to his appeal, including claims that

476
00:23:51.400 --> 00:23:54.160
his right to avoid self incrimination was violated because he

477
00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:56.880
was forced to present evidence at trial on the topic

478
00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:59.519
of his claims of self defense, claims that his right

479
00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:03.519
to counsel were violated, claims that several pieces of evidence

480
00:24:03.559 --> 00:24:08.119
that were not allowed should have been, claims of prosecutorial misconduct,

481
00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:10.799
and claims that the court failed to address jury questions

482
00:24:10.839 --> 00:24:14.119
presented to them. The Nevada Supreme Court did not find

483
00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:18.039
any of the allegations warranted them, overturning his conviction.

484
00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:22.319
In twenty twenty three, Jason appealed again on the grounds

485
00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:25.920
of ineffective assistance of council. He pointed to fifteen different

486
00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:28.839
examples where he claimed that his council was ineffective and

487
00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:31.720
all the points were denied. For example, he claimed that

488
00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:34.359
his council failed to bring in a choke expert as

489
00:24:34.359 --> 00:24:36.559
a part of his self defense claim to discuss how

490
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:39.680
he had choked Debbie in an evidentiary hearing. His council

491
00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:42.200
said that they were concerned that testimony about the length

492
00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:44.400
of time he would have had to have strangled Debbi

493
00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:47.920
would have made a first degree murder conviction much more likely,

494
00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:50.880
and that's why they didn't pursue it. Debbie was laid

495
00:24:50.920 --> 00:24:53.839
to rest in Puerto Rico, but several memorials were held

496
00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:57.200
in her honor in twenty eleven. On January thirteenth, there

497
00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:00.319
was a private memorial held with her family, Her work

498
00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:05.160
family held a memorial performance at the Luxor on January fourteenth,

499
00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:07.160
and her high school also held a vigil in her

500
00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:11.319
memory on January seventeenth. At her memorial service held at

501
00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:14.079
the lux Or, Anita Mann said there was nothing she

502
00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:17.200
would not do. She wasn't that fantastically trained, but she

503
00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:20.039
attacked dancing with a vengeance. That's the way she attacked life.

504
00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:22.200
Pull out with vengeance and passion.

505
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:25.359
There was also a benefit celebration for Debbie held at

506
00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:29.680
the Rio on January twenty sixth, twenty eleven, with proceeds

507
00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:31.960
raised going to help the family cover the expenses to

508
00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:35.160
lay Debbie to rest in Puerto Rico and also for

509
00:25:35.240 --> 00:25:38.200
the benefit of the Shade Tree. According to the website

510
00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:41.200
created for the event, both Vegas and La performers donated

511
00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:43.240
their time and talent for a show of dance, music,

512
00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:46.000
and art Debbie had said the arts of My Life.

513
00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:50.079
It featured performances from the cast of Fantasy as well

514
00:25:50.119 --> 00:25:53.559
as the MGM Crazy Horse Paris show Vegas. The show

515
00:25:53.880 --> 00:25:56.920
Thunder from down Under, and the website lists that the

516
00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:00.400
event was sponsored by Penn and Teller, Cara Top and

517
00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:03.440
the Golden Steer Restaurant. All three of these are truly

518
00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:06.079
Las Vegas legends and it just really shows how Debbie's

519
00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:09.119
death affected the entire community. I was able to find

520
00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:11.200
a video of one of the performances from the benefit.

521
00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:14.440
Jennifer Romas did a contemporary dance to the song this

522
00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:17.400
Woman's Work, And to be honest, this woman's work is

523
00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:19.839
next to impossible for me to listen to and not

524
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:24.039
cry anyway. But Jennifer, who is a burlesqued performer, gave

525
00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:27.240
this dramatic, emotion filled performance in honor of Debbie and

526
00:26:27.319 --> 00:26:30.160
it was gorgeous and moving. I will share a link

527
00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:32.960
to it in the show notes. Jennifer is amazingly talented

528
00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:35.039
and continues to light up the stage here in Vegas.

529
00:26:36.599 --> 00:26:39.599
The all star casts that performed at Debbie's benefit and

530
00:26:39.640 --> 00:26:42.640
the sponsors highlight what we've talked about in past episodes

531
00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:45.960
about how people who don't live here don't really know

532
00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:48.519
the ways that our community will come together and look

533
00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:52.480
after each other in times of tragedy. Jason has come

534
00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:55.440
up for parole twice since he has been incarcerated, and

535
00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:58.400
both times Celeste has made sure she was present to

536
00:26:58.440 --> 00:27:02.519
make sure he wasn't released. In twenty twenty, after serving

537
00:27:02.519 --> 00:27:06.400
ten years in prison, his parole was denied. Five years later,

538
00:27:06.440 --> 00:27:10.039
in October of twenty twenty five, he had another parole hearing.

539
00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:14.519
The twenty twenty episode revealed that at that hearing, Jason's

540
00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:18.640
wife was present to testify on his behalf. Celeste was

541
00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:20.960
shocked to learn, as we all were, that he had

542
00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:24.119
a wife. Even more shocking to us was that his

543
00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:27.839
wife was revealed to be none other than Calais Casorso,

544
00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:31.119
the woman who gave police the information that led them

545
00:27:31.160 --> 00:27:34.039
to discover that Jason had killed Debbi and had then

546
00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:36.200
testified against him.

547
00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:40.039
Jason was thankfully once again denied parole, and he remains

548
00:27:40.039 --> 00:27:42.799
at High Desert Prison. His next hearing will be in

549
00:27:42.839 --> 00:27:45.599
twenty thirty. At that point, he will have served twenty

550
00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:49.519
years for Debbie's murder. When we originally recorded this episode,

551
00:27:49.640 --> 00:27:52.079
the info we had access to stated that the home

552
00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:56.039
where Jason and Lewis had hidden Debbie was empty because

553
00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:58.799
the owners were out of the country. We thought that

554
00:27:58.839 --> 00:28:01.400
maybe they were on vacation for an extended period of time,

555
00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:04.799
but the twenty twenty episodes stated that the people who

556
00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:09.240
own that home had been deported. As Celeste has said,

557
00:28:09.559 --> 00:28:12.279
there is no sense of closure for this tragedy. We

558
00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:14.720
will continue to bring you updates whenever we have them.

559
00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:18.000
When one of these tragedies happen. When someone is murdered

560
00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:21.359
due to domestic violence or murdered period, all of the

561
00:28:21.400 --> 00:28:24.480
family and friends surrounding that person are also victims of

562
00:28:24.519 --> 00:28:28.039
the crime. In Debbie's case, those victims included her show

563
00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:31.279
family and the community of performers here in Las Vegas

564
00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:31.680
as well.

565
00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:36.279
Thank you, as always for listening. You can find resources

566
00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:39.519
in our show notes or on Since and Survivors dot com,

567
00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:42.200
and be sure to like, subscribe, and follow us on

568
00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:45.200
social media and share this episode with a friend, because

569
00:28:45.680 --> 00:29:39.680
what happens here happens everywhere. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod

570
00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:43.240
dot com, slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to

571
00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:48.920
listen ad free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok,

572
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:53.000
and threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast,

573
00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:56.200
please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice.

574
00:29:56.319 --> 00:30:00.400
You can contact us at questions at sinsnsurvivors dot com.

575
00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:02.880
If you are someone you know as affected by domestic

576
00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:06.240
violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources

577
00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:09.240
or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources

578
00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:12.519
is available on our website, Sins and Survivors dot com.

579
00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:16.319
Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research,

580
00:30:16.359 --> 00:30:19.319
written and produced by your hosts Sean and John. The

581
00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:21.839
information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time

582
00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:25.240
of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please

583
00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:28.039
email us. Links to source material for this episode can

584
00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:31.960
be found on our website, sinsensurvivors dot com.

585
00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:35.240
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely

586
00:30:35.319 --> 00:30:39.599
those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All

587
00:30:39.640 --> 00:30:43.559
individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not

588
00:30:43.720 --> 00:30:47.759
constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal

589
00:30:47.799 --> 00:30:48.960
professionals for guidance.