Crime Junkie Podcast

00:01 Hi, crime junkies. It's Britt. If this show has taught us anything, it's that the truth is not always the version people tell you first. That's what makes Chameleon so good. Each week, host Josh Dean digs into real stories of people pretending to be someone they're not, from elaborate scams to cons that somehow keep going long after they should have fallen apart. It's true crime, but with a different kind of danger. Manipulation, deception, and lies that actually worked. Listen to Chameleon every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. 00:30 Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And today's story starts with a question. If someone dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, how many inconsistencies would it take before you start questioning what really happened? 00:46 One, two, more? One. 00:49 What if responding officers called out those inconsistencies while on the scene? Well, that's what happened here. And yet three years later, a family is still desperately asking questions that law enforcement don't seem to want to answer. 01:03 This is the story of Lakeisha Thompson. 01:41 Andrea Fluker is woken up from a dead sleep by her phone on May 24th, 2023. Now, when she looks at the screen, she sees it's 4 a.m. Spam calls don't usually come in at this hour. Plus, it's an Atlanta area code where she knows that her mom is visiting her new fiancee. So she picks up. And sure enough, on the other end is her mom's brand new fiance, Nathan Fitton. 02:08 Andrea doesn't like Nathan, doesn't like that her mom, Lakeisha Thompson, is engaged to him because the little that she's gotten to know about him through their hot and cold relationship over the last couple of years, she doesn't like. Like the few times that Nathan would text or call Andrea, it felt like he was trying to stir up drama. He would accuse her mom, Lakeisha, of seeing other men and then make Andrea this like middleman between him and her mom. And sometimes they would even call her in the middle of their arguments. And somehow Nathan would seem to twist things to make it seem like Andrea was the problem, too. 02:42 I mean, he recently told Andrea that she was blowing up his life and he had a ring. He was going to propose to her mom. But because of her, now that's not going to happen, like clearly to make her feel bad. 02:54 Well, and clearly a lie since they're obviously engaged now. 02:57 Yeah, something that none of Lakeisha's four children were excited about when they announced it. Like they just got engaged like three days before all of this. They saw through Nathan. Bro was toxic. Like just a couple of days before Lakeisha flew to Atlanta, Andrea got a call from her sister saying that her mom was on the phone with Nathan and he said that he was going to kill himself. And then he went totally silent on the phone. Lakeisha thought that he had taken his own life right then and there. Obviously, he didn't. 03:29 Obviously, we like see this behavior is toxic. But like what could her kids do? Their mom is a grown woman. So middle of the night call from Nathan, Andrea is probably like rolling her eyes as he launches right into the drama as expected. He tells her that Lakeisha stormed out of his house. I guess they'd been drinking. They started arguing. They even called off their engagement. And now he doesn't know where she went. And Andrea is like, OK, like, hold on. You let my mom just like walk off alone in the middle of the night in a city that she's not familiar with. 04:05 Because Lakeisha was living in Michigan at this time where Andrea is. She doesn't know Atlanta. So she's like, go out and get her. But then all of a sudden Nathan changes his tune. He's like, listen, I'm trying to find her phone. She lost it. Can you call her phone for me? And Andrea, who has a young baby at home and her last day of phlebotomy class in a couple of hours, is like, what do you mean? Why are you calling me to call her? Use your phone. Yeah, the one you have in your hands. Exactly. Like, why do you need me to do that? 04:37 Why are you calling me at all? And also, go get my mom. Yes. Then all of a sudden, Nathan goes, wait, she's back. She's trying to come inside. And he tells Andrea that her mom is ringing the doorbell. She's banging on the door, neither of which she's like hearing in the background. And then Nathan just hangs up. Now, before going back to bed, Andrea checks her mom's location. She's still at Nathan's house, or at least her phone is. So despite what she told Nathan, she does try calling her, but her mom doesn't pick up. 05:11 So assuming that this will resolve itself like all of the fights before, Andrea goes back to sleep, not realizing that today would be different. 05:23 And that call was the beginning of a new reality for her. Five hours later, after Andrea has gotten up, she's taken care of her baby, she's begun to fight traffic in the suburbs of Detroit on her way to school, her phone rings again. 05:37 Another Atlanta number. Not Nathan's, though. So she picks up cautiously, not really knowing who or what to expect. 05:47 But none of the scenarios that quickly ran through her mind were this, because it was the Clayton County Medical Examiner's Office calling to notify her that her mom had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. 06:02 Now, mind you, Andrea is driving on the highway when she gets this news. And she told us she just started screaming. She said that her options were to scream or to pass out. 06:16 So she hangs up and, you know, screaming and crying. She somehow makes it to school. And basically, as soon as she gets there, she says she actually did pass out. When she comes to, Andrea calls the number back because she's finally got her wits about her. And now that she does, she's got questions like none of this is making sense to her. But according to Andrea, they just tell her again. It was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. We're not going to do an autopsy because the cause and manner is clear to them. 06:49 And they're not the investigator, so they can't really tell her anything else. 06:54 So, you know, she keeps trying to ask, but they're like, listen, you got to talk to somebody else. She's not getting anywhere with this medical examiner's office. So she says that she tries getting a hold of the lead detective on this case. And that would have been Detective Andrea Rosas. But when she gets her on the phone, Detective Rosas is telling her the same story. It was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Nathan told first responders about how much they'd been drinking, her mom's battles with mental health. Like, sorry, there's really nothing to investigate here. 07:24 Now, Andrea feels like they're not listening to her and all of the stuff that she feels like they're leaving out. 07:31 Yes, her mom had her troubles, but she was in treatment. She'd recently completed a mental health retreat out in Arizona, and she was telling her friends and family how much better she was feeling. She was also making plans for the future. She was going to be a bridesmaid in her best friend Tanya's wedding. She had planned this big trip. She bought a dress, everything. She was excited to celebrate her friend. And she was excited about her own life, too. 07:58 She would not do this, and certainly not this way. She's not even sure Lakeisha could pull a trigger either, by the way, because of her carpal tunnel. But honestly, that's not even the thing that's driving the majority of her concern. 08:12 The Nathan of it all is. 08:15 She tells Detective Rosas that if her mom is dead, they need to be looking at Lakeisha's new fiancé, Nathan. And they need to do an autopsy. But according to Andrea, Detective Rosas said that they know what happened to Lakeisha. She shot herself. And the family's going to need to pay about $7,000 for their own autopsy if that's what they really want. 08:39 And that is where the call ends. 08:42 But Andrea can't just drop it. 08:45 Even while she's busy planning her mom's funeral and trying to raise money to pay for it, she keeps following up with detectives, offering information about Nathan and pushing for answers. And whether it's her pushing or something else, she finally gets one piece of good news a few days after her mom's death. Investigators have decided they are going to do an autopsy after all. 09:08 So it seems like they might be getting on the same page. But Andrea is still pretty unhappy with the speed of progress and with the communication that she's been getting from the department and Detective Rosa specifically. 09:20 It seems like Andrea is doing a lot of this legwork. Where is Nathan during all of this? 09:26 This is the wild part. He is, like, fully ghosting Andrea. Like, she found out all this from the medical examiner, remember? And she calls the detective. He doesn't call her. He doesn't text her. Like, nobody in her family has heard from him. Like, no. which is just so odd to me. It's like radio silence. 09:41 Yeah, that's so strange. 09:43 Yeah. Andrea just feels like she is in this information void, like just suspended in this purgatory, waiting for autopsy results to come back from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. They're the ones who stepped in to do it. And it's like this for four months until Detective Rosas finally calls. It's now September 27, 2023. 10:07 And she says the GBI has ruled Lakeisha's death a suicide. 10:11 They say that Lakeisha's blood alcohol level was 0.3. And she had other drugs in her system that could have added to the effects of alcohol, like gabapentin. They also point to blood spatter on Lakeisha's right hand, the one that the gun was found in. And they say that is evidence enough that she was holding the gun in that hand when she pulled the trigger. And because of that ruling by the GBI, Clayton County is officially closing the case. So Andrea is just shocked. 10:43 She doesn't believe that her mom took her own life or that investigators have enough information, at least, to call this case closed. But she's going to have to turn to other means to get answers. So when Lakeisha's life insurance policy finally comes through, the first thing that the family does is hire a private investigator, Walter Reddick. Walter knows how to navigate the system, and he knows that they got to start by getting their hands on everything that the police have. What are they working off of to call this case closed? 11:14 He wants to see everything they have from the night Lakeisha died and every report that came after. 11:22 That should be easy enough, right? I'm in a closed case. Yeah. Wrong. Her closed case file takes six months and some legal pressure to get released. 11:34 But it is all worth it. Because Walter and Andrea feel like every bit of evidence in the file tells a different story. Starting with Nathan's 911 call, which came into dispatch about two and a half hours after his middle of the night call to Andrea. 11:54 My girlfriend just... She shot herself. 11:57 She shot herself. 11:58 She did that on purpose. 12:04 She did that on purpose. 12:06 I mean, she put the gun in my hand, and I told her to kill me. I said, kill me. 12:11 So she put the gun in your hand first, and you told her to kill you? Okay, wait a minute. Calm down. Calm down. 12:19 The dispatcher asks again if she did this on purpose. And Nathan just keeps saying she's crazy. She pointed the gun at her head. Dispatch also keeps him talking, trying to get more information on whether the gun was loaded or not. And he keeps saying that the gun wasn't loaded. He said that he didn't even have bullets in the house. 12:38 What's your name? What's your name? Is she breathing? 12:54 Nathan keeps offering up information on the call. He says they've been drinking, and he told her he wasn't going to be with her anymore. He was going to call off the engagement the day before she was supposed to get back on a plane to Detroit. And you can hear him get more and more worked up as he seems to be talking to Lakeisha as she lay dead or dying in front of him. 13:17 Oh, God. Oh, God. 13:32 The dispatcher tries calming him down and letting him know that the paramedics are on their way. And Nathan keeps saying that he didn't know she was going to do that and saying, I'm so sorry, over and over. 13:44 And Nathan tells her the one thing he kept repeating to responding officers when they arrived. I didn't mean it. 13:58 Body cam footage picks up right where the 911 call leaves off. 14:03 And the scene and Nathan's behavior, the fact that he is naked when they show up, it all raises even more questions for Walter and Andrea. 14:18 Most people focus purely on where their money is today. But Acorns is the financial wellness app that cares about where that money is going tomorrow. Acorns offers a smart, effortless way to grow your money. I love that it's an all-in-one platform for investing, saving, and goal setting. No extra finance apps needed. With the Acorns Potential screen, seeing your financial future is clear and motivating. Sign up now and join over 14 million people already investing with Acorns. New customers get a $20 bonus investment just for signing up. It takes about two minutes and could be the quickest $20 you'll ever earn. 14:49 Head to acorns.com slash crimejunkie. That's A-C-O-R-N-S dot com slash crimejunkie to claim your $20 bonus today. acorns.com slash crimejunkie. Limited time offer. Terms and conditions apply. See acorns.com slash terms for details. Paid non-client endorsement. Compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns. Tier 2 compensation provided. Potential subject to various factors such as customers' accounts, age, and investment settings. Does not include Acorns fees. Results do not predict or represent the performance of any Acorns portfolio. Investment results will vary. 15:20 Investing involves risk. Acorns Advisors LLC and SEC Registered Investment Advisor. View important disclosures at acorns.com slash crimejunkie. 15:29 In 2024, a man was killed by the FBI. And to this day, the authorities have refused to say why. He was a father, an ex-husband, and a Russian-born American citizen. 15:42 He just seemed like a lonely guy, and he needed a friend. And he kind of talked about death, didn't he? He talked about, you just never know when it's your time. 15:52 I'm CNN investigative reporter Isabel Chapman, host of the new limited series Civilian or Spy. 15:59 They noticed that he was communicating with people that were of concern to the FBI. 16:05 Oh my God, Jesus. 16:07 Head over to the CNN Presents feed and listen to our three-part series, Civilian or Spy, available wherever you get your podcasts. 16:19 Andrea couldn't watch the body cam footage when they got it from police back in 2024. It's her PI, Walter Reddick, who goes through it frame by frame, analyzing it alongside dozens of police reports and hundreds of crime scene photos that we also got access to in our FOIA. And I'm glad that Andrea didn't have to look at any of this herself because they are graphic images. 16:44 But it seems like, despite not answering Andrea's questions, Clayton County PD ran a pretty solid investigation. The records paint a comprehensive picture of that warning. 16:57 Now on the footage, officers, a lot of them to be honest, respond to Nathan's house on a seemingly quiet residential street. Lakeisha is in the middle of the living room, splayed out with a gun in her right hand and a gunshot wound to the same side of her head. There is no doubt that she's deceased. And there's Nathan, sitting on a couch, naked and crying. 17:21 And is Lakeisha naked? No. 17:23 No, that's the thing. I have no idea why Nathan is naked. Now, he managed to get like a shirt or something like draped over his lap, but like nothing else. And he's crying out, I didn't mean it. 17:35 Which, what does he mean by that? I'm so confused. 17:39 So it's hard to understand him because he is like inconsolable and still seemingly under the influence. But I want to play you just this quick clip of one of the officers, like first interaction with him. So, you know what I mean? Like, and this might be a little bit hard to understand, but I'm going to come back in and we can talk about it after. But I want you to hear exactly like what he says in his words. 18:02 I just didn't mean it. 18:06 Hey, who is she to you? Who is she to you? What did you mean? You didn't mean what? What's her name, man? Lakeisha? 18:26 Lakeisha or Nakeisha? Lakeisha. What's your name, sir? Nathan. Nathan. Calm down for me, okay? I know you're very upset, okay? I don't know. 18:35 I said she put the ground in my ear and I told her, I said kill me, baby. I said kill me. Come here. 18:41 Come here. Where your room at? Where your room at? Where your room at, Nathan? Come here. Let's put some pants on. 18:48 So you heard the officer ask him specifically, what didn't you mean? And the first thing out of his mouth was we got in an argument. I said I didn't want to be with her. And then he starts crying. So I think that's what he's saying. I mean, I think everyone's assumption when they hear like I didn't mean it is like I didn't mean to kill her. I mean, I know that police probably thought that statement was sus because that's the whole reason they brought in the criminal investigation division. But he says stuff to that effect multiple times, talking about him breaking up with her and it wasn't worth her doing that to herself. 19:22 But he's also super intoxicated. 19:25 Right. But they never get to ask him about this when he's sober and calm because when officers get him down to the station, they have to terminate the interview because he is so intoxicated. Right. And spoiler alert, Nathan lawyers up almost immediately. He is not working with detectives and he is not talking. 19:48 So all they have to go off of to paint a picture of what happened is the jumbled words that they captured on body cam footage from an intoxicated man in between sobs. And even there, it is really hard to paint a picture of what he's saying happened play by play because he doesn't give a story from start to finish. 20:10 But he seems to indicate that they got in an argument about him not going to her mother's funeral. Like her ex-husband was there and she thought that he should have been too. And then things escalated from there. I can't tell the order in which this happened, but he talks about her going to get a gun from the bedroom, her pointing a gun at him, her leaving and coming back, her firing what she told him was a warning shot and he heard it come from the hallway, and And then again, pointing the gun at him. And that's when he told her to just shoot him. 20:42 And she turned the gun on herself. Now, over and over, he repeats that there shouldn't have been any bullets in the gun. He does not keep it loaded. There shouldn't have been any bullets in the gun. I don't know if he gave other statements at the scene that aren't captured on body cam footage or if officers translating his words into a report distorts things slightly. But his story does read a little different on paper. In a disposition summary report authored by Detective Rosas, it reads that Nathan said they were arguing. 21:17 He told her he wanted to end the relationship. She grabbed the gun, quote, pulled the many times. 21:23 I think the word trigger might be missing because it literally says pulled the many times. I mean, that's like a really important word to be missing. I know. And it's not like it's redacted, just to be clear. It's just like missing word. Right. So she pulled the trigger many times. Then she put the firearm to his head. He said, just pull the trigger because he knew there weren't bullets. And that's when she put it to her head and fired. And the gun, I guess, went off. 21:48 Now, the thing that's not included in the written report is the whole like warning shot in the hallway that he talks about on the body cam footage. Like there should be two shots. And if there was a warning shot, why would he think there was no bullets in the gun? Like I cannot wrap my head around the order of events. Right. And I'm not saying that they might not make sense. I just can't make sense of them because he's so inebriated. The only time that I see him on tape talking to officers and then some of the stuff that confuses me just like isn't in the actual report. 22:20 Yeah. But I think one thing that could kind of answer this is... 22:24 Did they find a bullet hole in the hallway from a warning shot? 22:27 So not in the hallway, but there was another shot fired. So there appeared to be one shot in the bedroom because there was a casing on the pillow and a hole in the ceiling above the bed. But interestingly, they were never able to recover a bullet. And I guess they even searched the attic for this thing. 22:45 But no like blood or anything in there? 22:48 No, no, no. And the bed was like unmade. The sheets are white. It would have been easy to see if something happened in the bedroom. She was definitely shot in the living room right where she was found. And to go back to the living room crime scene, I can see in the footage the moment the officers walk into Nathan's house. I see a red and black gun in Lakeisha's right hand. One of the officers specifically points out how her finger is like positioned on the gun. It seems like it's almost wrapped around the trigger. And there's one police report that says, quote, her index finger was observed to be in the trigger guard. 23:21 Now, at one point in the footage, one of the officers actually makes a comment about that. 23:29 She might not be left-handed. 23:32 Oh, we'd have some explaining to do. 23:34 And guess what? 23:36 You're kidding me. 23:37 She's left-handed? She is left-handed. And so there is a lot of explaining to do since the gun is found in her right hand. And listen, even the way that she's positioned and the trajectory of the bullet... it's a little bit off from what Nathan seems to tell officers, right? Nathan's saying that she's standing over him when she took her own life. And if you picture it, imagine like if you were Lakeisha, so you are facing Nathan, he's sitting on the couch, you're facing him, but you have to fall like straight back because she's on her back, like completely straight arms, straight legs, and the blood is pooled on the ground right underneath her head where she dropped. 24:20 Behind her, is the bullet in the doorframe. So she's standing over him. She shoots the side of her head, but the bullet goes to a doorframe directly across from the couch that is, like, what would be behind her if she's facing him straight on. 24:36 It would have to make, like, a right-angle turn. 24:38 Now... it's possible that she could have been standing like sideways, not directly facing him. And that's how she like fell that way. But it seems like a weird way to land, right? Like just straight like that. 24:52 But how she fell or landed, like put that aside. When investigators track the trajectory of the bullet, it is a straight shot through the edge of the door, like in the middle of the frame, which would have been right around waist height. even though she supposedly shot herself in the head. And how tall is she? She's 5'6". So the only way for the bullet to make a straight line from her head to where it is in the door frame, she would have had to have been like sitting on the coffee table or kneeling on the floor, not standing over Nathan. 25:28 And this is all in the police report? Yes. Investigators on the scene made note of it. 25:33 Now, again, he's very intoxicated. He's sitting. She is, you know, looming over him in some way. You might say standing, right? If you're like crouched, whatever. The hard part about his statements are that we only have the ones where he's like so messed up. He, again, could have probably cleared all of this up if he would have like come in and spoke. But he refuses to talk to police. 25:58 And then at some point he leaves the country. 26:02 So is this definitely a homicide with just what we have? No. But I think this should at least introduce a critical question here. 26:14 Did Lakeisha actually pull the trigger? I mean, did they do any gunshot residue testing? I was just about to get there. 26:22 Okay, because that's like a pretty like... That would help, right? 26:25 Yeah. Yes, they did. 26:27 Or at least they did some. 26:29 This is actually part of the file that really caught the PI's attention. 26:34 Records show that officers did test Nathan for gunshot residue and the results were positive. But there is nothing in the police records showing that Lakeisha was even tested for gunshot residue. Now, Walter tells us that he asked CCPD about this and they told him that Lakeisha was tested and she didn't have any GSR on her hands. And interestingly, they also say or we got from him that they're like, oh, you know, anyone in a room, if you're in a room where a gun is shot, you could have GSR. 27:08 So they're saying like that doesn't prove necessarily that Nathan was holding it. Right. But if she doesn't have it, like— That proves that she isn't. She's in the same room, too. Yeah. Right? Like, am I— So, like, it just—this, to me, the gunshot residue, who had it on their hands, who didn't? Who was tested and who wasn't? 27:24 It feels really important here. It's critical to this whole thing. 27:28 Like, why wouldn't those results be in the files? So, we went back to CCPD, and we were like, hey— Is this real? Like, can you confirm, A, that you tested her? 27:39 And if you did, can you confirm that she didn't have it? Well, not only did they decline our interview request, they said that they can't release any GSR analysis because it is part of the investigative file and not publicly disclosable. But you got the investigative file from the FOIA, right? Right, right. I don't know why they're holding that information back. Especially because this case is closed. And Nathan's results are in there. Right, so it's not like there's, like, no records of GSR testing. 28:12 It's just his. So why not just share if she was tested or not? Especially if this case is as, like, clear-cut as they're saying. Yes, exactly. 28:22 Why? Why? 28:23 But also you said you can for sure see her hand touching the gun in the body cam footage, right? 28:29 Yes, but I can't like properly analyze the position or zoomed in. Yeah, because I'm like pretty quickly officers take it out of her hand and put it on her side to like secure this scene. Like that's what they're saying in the footage. 28:44 And here's the thing, like before they do that, I can hear people saying, like, make sure you take pictures. They're talking about taking photos of her hand holding the gun. But those pictures don't exist anywhere in the file we were given. And mind you... We were given, I said, hundreds of photos, all the body cam footage, and these photos are graphic. I swear there are moments I could almost see them taking the photo on phones. I don't know why they're not included. 29:10 But, yeah, anything to do with her holding the gun. Not in the file. Weirdly, just not there. Pictures of her holding the gun, not in the file. 29:17 Which, again, and I can see it on body cam footage. I just can't see it up close. I'm not saying she was not holding the gun. But, like, those pictures gone, the GSR gone. It's just weird. Yeah. 29:27 But there's something else that catches the PI's attention in the case file, though. 29:32 Pretty early on in them responding to the scene, one of Nathan's sons pulls up. Now, how he knew to show up is a little unclear because he says that his dad didn't call him. He just heard from a neighbor that police were there and he lives close by. But then a little bit later, he said he was just talking to his dad. So like, I would love to see the phone records for who Nathan was calling that morning and when. 29:57 So his phone data is not part of the record. 30:00 No, they, I know, asked him for his passcode to his phone. Like they collected it, asked him for his passcode. He wouldn't give it to them. And then I don't see anything else. I don't see a search warrant for his phone or any records related to his phone. But like they called this closed from like day one. This huge miss in my book. But I'm telling you the son story to tell you what one of the officers said when the son like first pulled up. So police see this car pulling in. They stop it, tell them you can't park in the driveway or something. So the car like backs out and the officer is coming back and he's like, oh, I thought that was going to be the same woman who we had gotten called out here about before. 30:37 And when the P.I. hears this, he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. 30:42 What? What is he talking about? Getting called out to Nathan's house to deal with a woman like what? 30:49 So he does some more records requests because that's definitely nothing about this is included in Lakeisha's file anywhere. And it's probably not included in the file anywhere because the woman in this incident wasn't Lakeisha. 31:03 But holy crap, when I tell you what this was all about, I don't know how you could say it's not related. 31:14 In 2024, a man was killed by the FBI. And to this day, the authorities have refused to say why. He was a father, an ex-husband, and a Russian-born American citizen. 31:27 He just seemed like a lonely guy, and he needed a friend. And he kind of talked about death, didn't he? He talked about, you just never know when it's your time. 31:37 I'm CNN investigative reporter Isabel Chapman, host of the new limited series Civilian or Spy. 31:44 They noticed that he was communicating with people that were of concern to the FBI. 31:51 Oh my God, Jesus. 31:52 Head over to the CNN Presents feed and listen to our three-part series, Civilian or Spy, available wherever you get your podcasts. 32:05 The records request that Walter Reddick conducted for incidents that required a police response at Nathan's address returns a 911 call and report. They're dated February 24th, 2023. 32:21 We obtained the report and three 911 calls from that incident ourselves. 32:26 I just called for a police escort. My escort's going to get my stuff out of his house. He just walked outside the house. I'm on the street parked on the street. He walked outside of the driveway and pointed a gun at me. 32:41 Okay. 32:42 I told him he has a weapon, but it was on the nightstand, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And I told him to put up and put it up. I didn't think he would pull it out and use it. But, you know, he has told me before that when he first bought the gun, I thought he was just playing, but he said he was going to shoot me, rape me, and watch me bleed to death. Shoot me in the head and watch me bleed to death. We had an argument. 33:04 He just came outside and aimed that gun at me. 33:07 Dispatch asks if he'd gone back inside. And she says, yes, she was trying to get a video of him aiming the gun at her, but he went back inside. And she says that she's not leaving because she wants her stuff. So she waits outside for officers to arrive. 33:24 Am I doing the math wrong? How long were Nathan and Lakeisha together? 33:28 I don't think you are. Andrea told us that her mom and Nathan's relationship obviously wasn't always the best, but it was pretty consistent since they started dating in 2021. In the police report, this woman said that her relationship with Nathan was off and on, but it feels like there is overlap to me. 33:49 Our reporter, Taylor Day, tried getting in touch with that woman, but she hasn't responded to our request, so I can't confirm that for sure. 33:57 And did Nathan get charged with anything in that case? 33:59 No, because they never even talked to him or went inside the house that time. 34:05 The responding officers wrote that they tried making contact with him. They knocked on the door, everything, whatever, but no one answered. And he couldn't hear anyone inside. 34:14 But he's clearly in there, right? Right. Did the woman see him leave? 34:19 Well, it's not that I see anywhere. The officer wrote that he tried calling the suspect, but there was no answer. And there weren't any shell casings by the front doors. 34:29 Because he aimed at her, but he didn't shoot at her. Right. 34:33 And there was a ring doorbell, but they couldn't view the footage. 34:37 Basically, they had no probable cause to get a warrant on him, so they just let this go. Now, we asked CCPD about this incident, and they only told us that there were no charges ever pressed against Nathan. But, by the way, Britt, that gun that she's referring to is black and red. 34:56 The same gun that officers find in Lakeisha's hand three months after this incident. 35:03 Now, we also tried getting in touch with Nathan for this, obviously, to ask him about both incidents. But he hasn't returned our calls or our text messages. 35:13 And I know we have the right number, or at least we should have the right number, because it's the same one that he used to call Andrea just two years ago. And this would have been a year after her mom died. 35:26 Now, mind you. Nathan fully ghosted Andrea after her mom died. Didn't even tell her that her mom died. She learned that through detectives. And by the time that the P.I. got involved, Nathan was already like lawyered up and refusing to cooperate. So the P.I. didn't even reach out to him. So it's not like Nathan like went off the grid and like people couldn't find him or anything. But still, he's just been like radio silent. 35:51 Until, out of the blue, a year after her mom died, Andrea gets this call that she recorded and shared with us. Now, it's not super long, but I have cut it down to just what I think are the most important parts. 36:07 I'm getting back in the country. They told me that the investigation was over and I could pick up my stuff. I got my stuff, my phone. And my daughter told me that she's saying something online saying that that you guys said that I killed your mom. And I'm like, what? 36:24 You did. 36:25 What? How would I kill you? I didn't kill your mom. Your mom, me and your mom had a good night and everything. Her friend called her. Her friend called her and told her because she didn't want to go to the wedding. I remember this too. Friend called her and told her if she didn't come to her wedding, she was never going to see her again. Then your mom started drinking, drinking, drinking something. He got up to us. 36:50 Stop drinking. And then I called. She went out. She went outside. Went out and left. And I called you. I said, I don't know. What's wrong with your mom? You don't remember that? 37:00 Yeah, what all did you say? 37:02 I said we was both drinking and drinking. You know, I don't kind of remember everything that I told you would happen at night. 37:11 But because she was out of control. 37:14 Then she came back. My gun was on the dresser. We grabbed the gun and she put it to my head. 37:23 So I'm thinking that there's nothing in the gun anyway. So I thanked her. I said, go ahead and kill me. I said, I'm ready to go see my mom and dad anyway. So then she took the gun off of me. Went back in the bedroom. So the gun didn't have no bullets in it anyway. It only had two bullets. It was in my jewelry box. 37:45 So In between that time she was in the room, I'm still in the living room. I hear the gun go off shooting in the ceiling. 37:54 So I'm like, there's no bullets in that gun. 37:58 And then she said, I put warning shots. I put soap. 38:02 So I was like, well, that must have been the one that was in the chamber. But when she came out with the gun I was in the living room, she came out with it and put it to her head. 38:10 Pointing to her head. Said she was going to shock her. No, you ain't going to shock her. Stop doing it. 38:25 So there is a lot to unpack there. For the most part, his story isn't that different from what he told police the day of Lakeisha's death. But there are some glaring inconsistencies. Like the fact that she tripped? Where did that come from? Yeah. I scoured the records and I couldn't find anywhere that Nathan told police Lakeisha tripped and the gun went off. 38:52 I mean, her tripping would kind of make more sense, at least to me, then. 38:58 With, like, the bullet trajectory? The bullet trajectory, yeah. 39:00 But that's not what he said happened before. He said that she turned the gun on herself because of their argument because he was going to break up with her. 39:07 An argument which is... 39:09 now about something else that too right like at the scene he's saying that she did it because he was going to break up with her they had fought about him not going to her mom's funeral right the fight escalated he threatened to break up with her now there's this whole other thing before this like where she starts drinking because her friend threatened to cut her or cut ties with her if she didn't come to her wedding i mean i 39:35 Maybe both are true. Like if that's what started her drinking that night and then she got upset over other stuff, he could have just found out about the fight in like the fight with a friend in a year or so like since or something. Except no. 39:49 But I mean, first of all, like I don't think he's talking to anyone again. He's ghosting everybody. Everybody. 39:55 And he didn't find out about anything because none of that is true, at least according to the friend. There's nothing to find out. The friend that he's referring to is Lakeisha's best friend of over 30 years, Tanya Malone, who was willing to talk to us and answer my biggest questions. 40:15 Did you tell Lakeisha that you wouldn't see her again if she didn't come to your wedding? And she says, no. No. 40:22 More than that, she's like, Lakeisha didn't tell me anything about not even being able to make it. She's like, the last I heard from her was that she was, like, printing out her travel plans. And earlier, Lakeisha had told her that the only thing that could keep her from Tanya's wedding was nothing but death. So let me play a little more of Nathan's call to Andrea for you. 40:45 So what are you calling me for right now? 40:47 I mean, I just got my phone back. 40:49 So I said, well, let me call her and let her know, because I couldn't call you and talk. I couldn't call nobody before. 40:58 So I just wanted to straighten it out, that you know what happened. Because they told me to not call y'all. They would tell y'all what happened. 41:06 But apparently, they didn't tell y'all what happened. 41:09 You didn't tell them what happened either. 41:12 I told them everything what happened. I told them investigators. What happened the first time? I told her, she kept wanting me to come down there and tell her what happened again and again and again. I was like, no, I don't want to relive this over and over. 41:28 It wouldn't have happened, period, because she didn't do that. She don't even know how to use a gun. 41:35 Are you kidding me? Your mom used to be in a gang. 41:40 So you just went out the country and been gone ever since? 41:45 I mean, I was devastated. I mean, I'm moving out of this country, you know what I'm saying? 41:51 So now life just gets to go on for you after this. 41:55 And it's been a whole year later and you're just now reaching out? 41:59 I was told I couldn't contact you. 42:02 That's just crazy to me. That's not what I was told. 42:05 I don't know what you was told, but I know what I was told. 42:08 I mean, I'm just devastated. And you are, I'm not, I have no reason to lie about it. I love your mom. 42:17 Same question I want to know. 42:28 And you hung up on me because you said that she was at the doorbell and I never heard the doorbell. 42:36 That's not what you said. You said that she was ringing the doorbell. 42:41 I never locked the door. Well, no, I never even locked the door. 42:45 I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. It's me that's traumatized, not you. 42:50 I'm traumatized myself. I was traumatized myself. I mean, I know this is your mom, and I'm trying to keep acting and everything, but some things, when you see something, you can't unsee it. 43:03 That's pretty much the end of their conversation. Nathan trying to explain why he is more traumatized than Andrea and that her mom would have been comfortable with guns because she was in a gang, which Andrea said is a total lie. So while we had Tanya on the phone, I also wanted to ask her about this. Was Lakeisha ever in a gang? And Tanya literally just laughed. 43:29 She told our reporter that the only gang Lakeisha was in was a mama gang. She was busy raising her kids, getting her degree. She said that Lakeisha did not have time to be in a gang. She also said that Lakeisha didn't go looking for violence, but if it came to her, she was going to put up a fight. And Andrea helped clarify what that meant. She said that if Lakeisha was wronged, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility for things to get physical. But she never used weapons, guns, knives, none of that. 44:03 Also, why is Nathan trying to gaslight her into thinking that he never mentioned the doorbell or LaKeisha banging on the door that night? 44:11 And so that 4 a.m. call to Andrea wasn't recorded. So no one but her and Nathan know what was said on that call. 44:21 But you know what could tell us the absolute truth of whether or not Lakeisha was outside banging on the door, ringing the bell, or if she came out of Nathan's bedroom with the gun in her hand? 44:33 How about the cameras that were at Nathan's place? 44:38 Except there's just one problem. 44:45 In 2024, a man was killed by the FBI. And to this day, the authorities have refused to say why. He was a father, an ex-husband, and a Russian-born American citizen. 44:58 He just seemed like a lonely guy, and he needed a friend. And he kind of talked about death, didn't he? He talked about, you just never know when it's your time. 45:08 I'm CNN investigative reporter Isabel Chapman, host of the new limited series Civilian or Spy. 45:15 They noticed that he was communicating with people that were of concern to the FBI. 45:21 Oh my God, Jesus. 45:23 Head over to the CNN Presents feed and listen to our three-part series, Civilian or Spy, available wherever you get your podcasts. 45:35 In the police records, detectives got a search warrant to collect both the ring doorbell camera that Nathan had at his front door and the camera that he had inside that covered the hallway of his house, the one that went from the bedroom to the living room. 45:56 But if footage was pulled, stored, reviewed, can't tell you. Because there isn't anything else about the cameras in the file. And none of the footage was released to us. 46:12 Was the PI able to get it? 46:14 No. Now, he's saying that they never reviewed any footage from any camera, like they being the police, though I don't know where he got that information. And, you know, we're just getting that from him. So I was like, listen, if this is legit, we need to verify that with the department, right? So we reached out to them. Our reporter, Taylor, had actually emailed Major Francisco Romero, who is the commander of the Criminal Investigations Division at CCPD. 46:43 But it was so weird. So we're like asking about these cameras in this email. And his response back was like, I can't talk to you about the cameras because this is an open and active case. 46:53 What? Which the first that I'm hearing of this. Yeah. So I was like, go back to him and be like, actually, is it? So we went back and was like, hey, we've been told we had this email of you telling the family that everyone believes that this case is closed. 47:12 Is that, is there new information? Is that not true? Yeah. Is someone working this case? Is it reopened? And so he replies and he was like, you know, he didn't say this. He was like, oopsie daisy. He was basically like, I misspoke. It is closed. 47:26 Which leads me back to my first question. Then answer the question. Now that we're on the same page about this being a closed case, talk to me about the cameras. Yeah. Well, he is saying that he is still not going to disclose anything about that, at least as of this recording. 47:40 So I don't know what was on those cameras. 47:43 I know they collected them, but did they actually review the footage, store the footage, collect the footage? Walter thinks cameras or no cameras— They, the police, should see what he sees, even without all of that. He thinks there's at least enough to get them to reopen the case. 48:03 He says between what he's been told about the gunshot residue test, what we know is in the file about Nathan's positive test, what we know about the bullet trajectory, how the gun was found in her right hand when she was left-handed... 48:16 And now, by the way, when he's he's got this recorded call where Nathan is saying that Lakeisha tripped and the gun went off. So Walter thinks like with all of this, there's enough for police to at least take a second look. So he goes to them with all of this and he asks, but they say no. Now, by this point, Walter and Andrea are working with an attorney named Chelsea Golding, and she requests a meeting with the medical examiner at the GBI, right? 48:48 Like if we're going back, Clayton County relied heavily on the GBI's death ruling to close the case. So they're like, maybe if we can get that changed, then they'll reconsider. So in November 2024, Walter and Chelsea get on a Zoom call with Dr. Keith Lehman. He's the GBI Emmy who performed Lakeisha's autopsy. And they walk him through what they found, even explain that the police have pretty much all of this information. It's not like this is like new or hearsay. And I have to imagine that Walter was shocked because When Dr. Lehman tells him he didn't have any of this information when he made his ruling, he wasn't given photos of the death scene. 49:31 He didn't have the investigative context. 49:34 Now, in the official autopsy report, it says that the only evidence they received was the decedent. Nothing else is listed. 49:42 CCPD gave us a blanket statement that they, quote, provide all legally required and relevant investigative summaries to the GBI to assist in their findings, end quote. And I understand wanting to get an unbiased opinion, right? But the context clearly matters. Yes. Yeah, because I know it does here because Dr. Lehman takes some time to review the additional materials that Walter gave him. And a couple of weeks after their meeting, the GBI officially changes Lakeisha's manner of death from suicide to undetermined. 50:18 And this feels like the second big win Andrea and the family get. Finally, someone is listening to their pleas and seeing the things that don't add up. Now that the GBI has changed their ruling, Chelsea and Walter go back to CCPD, have a sit down with Major Romero. And some other brass, as Walter called them. But there was one person missing, someone they specifically requested to speak with. And that was Detective Rosas, who was the primary detective on this case. 50:50 Now, Major Romero still listens as Walter walks them through his findings, and they seem receptive to wanting to find the truth. 50:58 But they like take this in. They're not going to make the decision in the room. Months go by. And then in February of 2026, Major Romero comes back with a decision. 51:10 In an email to Chelsea, who is the lawyer, he says that they looked at the original investigation and they are not reopening Lakeisha's case. He also says that the GBI only changed their ruling because of pressure from the family. 51:25 He says the information that they gave him didn't turn up any new leads. He says they're heartbroken for Ms. Thompson's family and will keep them in his thoughts and prayers. Andrea and team gets pretty much the same response when they try to take all of this to the D.A. They could call a grand jury, but the D.A. tells Andrea's attorney that they're deferring to CCPD, who is refusing to reopen the case at all, which is why Andrea came to us to help share her mom's story. 51:54 Clayton County stands by their decision. 51:58 Major Romero responded to our request for comment and said that the case is closed. Now we're on the same page. But if new credible and verifiable evidence becomes available, they'll review it. 52:12 But here is what the point of this episode is for me. 52:17 I'm not saying Nathan has to be arrested and tried. I don't know what happened in that home. 52:26 But there should be evidence that tells us. So this is the ask. This is the pressure I want to apply. If it is so black and white and the answers are all right there in the case files, then release everything. Then show us. Why are you holding back certain information like GSR results for Lakeisha or any kind of digital evidence? The technology in the house could very well show what happened in those early hours that day. What could phone data show? 52:58 The gaps in evidence being released is what leaves all of this room for doubt. And, like, forget me. Who cares if I have questions? Andrea should not have to live with these kinds of questions. Show her. Show Walter. If you can't show them proof that Lakeisha took her own life, well, then... That's when we have a bigger problem on our hands, don't we? If a full and thorough investigation was done, show us. 53:28 And for anyone out there, if you have relevant information about Lakeisha Thompson or Nathan Fitton, you can send that to Clayton County PD. 53:39 They still classify this case as closed. So also feel free to send information to us. Our email is tips at audiochuck.com. 53:49 And in light of our discussion of suicide today, I want to remind people that if you or anyone you know is thinking about suicide, please know that emotional support can be reached by calling or texting the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. 54:03 Crime Junkie is an Audio Chuck production. 54:07 I think Chuck would approve. 54:13 It starts with something small. A light in the sky moving in a way it shouldn't. A sound no one can place. A story someone swears is true even if no one else believes them. And the more you hear, the harder it gets to explain away. On So Supernatural, we dig into the mysteries that live somewhere between fact, folklore, and the unknown. We follow the stories that make you wonder what else is out there. 54:39 Listen to So Supernatural wherever you get your podcasts.