Missing: Kevin "KJax" Jackson | Part 2 of 2

Join us on the chilling trail as we unravel the mysterious disappearance of Kevin "KJax" Jackson. Imagine, one moment spent in the warmth of your home, the next, you're gone, leaving your family in a maelstrom of questions. Sharon, Kevin's mother, walks us through her painful journey to find answers while dealing with the shocking revelation of her grandson's adoption. Hear her discuss a distressing video evidence that sheds a dubious light on Kevin's abrupt exit from a friend's home.

As we delve deeper into this heart-rending mystery, we pivot to a call-to-action. Sharon pleads for your assistance in her ongoing quest to find her son. You can lend a hand by contacting Crime Stoppers or the Frankfort Police Department with anonymous tips or by dropping them in designated boxes at Riverview Park or Hillcrest Avenue in Frankfort Kentucky. We finalize the episode by emphasizing the importance of breaking the silence and speaking up. Furthermore, learn why it's crucial to subscribe, review, and spread the word about the Murder Police Podcast. Together, we can make a difference.

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Transcript

Sharon Lathrem: 0:00

You know, this friend of his invited me over so that I could look in the basement to see that my son wasn't buried there, and I declined.

Wendy Lyons: 0:19

Warning. The podcast you're about to listen to may contain graphic descriptions of violent assaults, murder and adult language. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome to the Murder Police Podcast. Missing Kevin K Jax Jackson, part 2.

Sharon Lathrem: 0:57

Today, on November 11th, the friend that they'd been staying with was done. They'd been staying Answers have found and said that she had not seen either one of them since Halloween.

Wendy Lyons: 1:13

The child or Kevin.

Sharon Lathrem: 1:15

Yeah, yeah. And I said what do you mean? You haven't seen them since Halloween. That they were there Halloween and that they had left and that she had never seen them again. So it was that time that I decided it was time to file this person's reports on both of them. So that's what I did. The next day at the Frankfort Police Department the next day, lieutenant Aubrey found his son in Shelbyville with people we didn't know, and Kevin had signed temporary guardianship of his son over to these people for medical and school purposes. I was told I couldn't go pick him up or getting from these people, that I could have it ended up. The child was adopted by these people and I no longer have any way to contact him.

Wendy Lyons: 2:26

How long time had passed from the temporary guardianship, if you will, until adoption? Are we talking?

Sharon Lathrem: 2:33

The temporary guardianship was signed in October of 2018, the adoption was final in 2019, months.

David Lyons: 2:47

Going back to him signing that over. Am I correct? I think I saw. Is there a video of him signing that?

Sharon Lathrem: 2:52

Absolutely yeah. We were sent that video by his friend and we don't really know why we were sent it After we filed the missing persons report. It just came to several of my family members and myself in a message. It was just sent to us as a proof of him signing that paper, I guess, and it being valid.

David Lyons: 3:23

Did you ever ask if he signed the paper, or did that just show up?

Sharon Lathrem: 3:26

It just showed up.

David Lyons: 3:27

That's interesting.

Wendy Lyons: 3:28

Who found that this paper even took place? Did the detective working it or how?

David Lyons: 3:34

We had talked about the video coming.

Wendy Lyons: 3:36

No, I'm saying she said prior that someone said this temporary guardianship had been given. Who found that out before this even came?

Sharon Lathrem: 3:45

That was Lieutenant Aubrey. So he found out. She found out, yeah, that there was a paper. They showed it to her, I'm assuming, when she found him at Shelby County School somewhere and she talked to the school and she talked to the people that had him that's karaoke and the staff gave them the safe. So you know where to find them.

Wendy Lyons: 4:12

So so you get sent this video, and what do you do at that point?

Sharon Lathrem: 4:17

Well, the video is just odd. It's just really odd. He never looks up His foot's jerking it's just. It's really gave me a creepy feeling. But still, the police, they're staying. You know he's a drag addict. Sure, he's just off getting high, we're not worried about it. So nothing could be done. You know, this friend of his invited me over so that I could look in the basement to see that my son wasn't buried there, and I declined.

David Lyons: 5:06

How did that even start? How did that conversation even begin to say come on over and take a look in the basement?

Sharon Lathrem: 5:15

Well, kevin was last seen in her house on October 31st, and after that there was a large amount of concrete purchased and the basement was resurfaced with that, and pretty much all of Frankfurt knows that. So the police came over and searched and evidently they didn't find anything at that time. So she wanted me to come over and see too. I really feel like that was you know that I was going to be next if I'd gone there. Thank goodness, I'm at least just you know, smarter than that.

David Lyons: 6:08

So looking at the curiosities in this is, some people get sent a video just out of the blue of him signing it, and then you get an offer to come look into a basement.

Wendy Lyons: 6:18

So I'm guessing there have been mentioned, at least in these people's mind, that people were talking that Kevin may be there. So this person just calls you and says, hey, there's talk around the town that Kevin may be here. Come and take a look for your own self. So I guess I forgot to ask you when Kevin left these people's house and went to the efficiency, why did he leave the people's house?

Sharon Lathrem: 6:46

No, I don't know. There has been a lot of speculation and a lot of rumors, and several of them that I've heard is that possibly Kevin and the lady were having a relationship and her husband didn't care for that. You know that maybe there was something going on there. The other thing is that you know we believe Kevin was martyred because he owed money, and we believe that he owed them money, the people that he was staying with, and that it was maybe a substantial amount of money. So I feel like maybe that is probably the reason that he didn't stay there anymore.

David Lyons: 7:44

You've identified several risk factors that make it and again I think that's when something moves from a missing to getting more curious as to what has to be dug up on that Is that there's some risk factors that you're talking about that might change the complexion of that.

Sharon Lathrem: 8:01

And when I really realized the police, when I really realized that I thought he was dead, was the first Christmas. You know, the first year I sat and I absolutely just lost my mind thinking about him being outside and being cold.

Sharon Lathrem: 8:21

I was the worst part of it was thinking about him being outside and being cold you know, but that first Christmas, because I kept telling myself if he's not home by Christmas he's dead. He would never not be home for Christmas for his son, never. He would never do that. So that Christmas I really went insane. It was bad, it was really bad. It was, it was bad.

Wendy Lyons: 8:51

Well, when, when this person asked you or invited you over to look at the basement, did, did you just say no, thank you, or what did you say to that person?

Sharon Lathrem: 9:02

I told her that I had declined to go at midnight, but that I would go the next day. The next day when I called her to go, I couldn't reach her. There was no way to reach her.

Wendy Lyons: 9:16

Did you go over there? I'm here.

Sharon Lathrem: 9:19

I've been over there several times and not been able to get in ownership of. The ownership of the property has stayed the same, but occupants have changed two or three times since, so that person doesn't live there anymore. No, she doesn't, but she still owns the property. Oh, but she's had several tenants.

Wendy Lyons: 9:43

So during this time that this first, that you declined and didn't go the following day, or you went the following day and no one answered. Did you have contact with this person ever again after that, or was there just never another contact?

Sharon Lathrem: 9:59

She got to know she wasn't. She wouldn't talk to me after that she wouldn't have anything to do with me. Her sister, my aunt, had had gotten a hold of her sister and we were able to communicate with my grandson through her. Oh, and she communicated with me very well until about two months before its adoption was final and at that time she cut all ties and quit answering phone calls. And so that's been four years.

David Lyons: 10:37

Maybe to get along, to get along, so there wouldn't be any right waves in that process. Exactly.

Sharon Lathrem: 10:43

That's what I was thinking and you know, if you don't make ways, people don't go looking, don't go looking for lodgers and stuff. Yeah, okay, really, it makes me feel like the most horrible grandmother in the world.

Wendy Lyons: 11:03

So did you? During that time, before she cut all ties with you, were you able to see the child, your grandson? They let me see him one time. Did he say anything to you Like I'm happy here, I hate it here, I want to come?

Sharon Lathrem: 11:20

home. He seemed happy. They were around all the time. I never had any time alone to talk to him and they were sure they were around. Every time he's been able to do things he would have never been able to do, if that makes any sense, and it's horrible. But my big fear is what happens when he gets older. What if he asks questions? What if he wants you know? What if he asks them where's my dad? What did you do to my dad? What will they do to him? Will they do the same thing to him? Did they do the same thing?

David Lyons: 11:58

to Kevin At a minimum, they're going to lie right or they're not going to be one. They won't have any access to you. That's one reason. Probably is that Joe asked those questions on his behalf. But at a minimum they'll fabricate and lie.

Sharon Lathrem: 12:11

Oh I'm sure, well sure they'll have to do it.

David Lyons: 12:13

There's no way they're going to turn Exactly.

Sharon Lathrem: 12:15

And it just depends. Here's the thing about my grandson. He's pretty street smart for a young kid. He's been through a lot for a young kid.

David Lyons: 12:24

So when you were talking now, he's around 12. Yeah, he's 12. Am I thinking right? Got you? He's 12. Young man, young man.

Sharon Lathrem: 12:33

I mean the last picture, hmm, and I have seen pictures that I got he looked just like his mom. I couldn't believe it freckles, but he still had that sweet kindness about him you could see just radiated. Of all my grandkids he, I believe, is the sweetest of heart. He, just he, really. Oh, he loved me and I loved him. So I mean, even though I know he's gone now, I know he's smart enough to get by those people because, he's Kevin's son.

David Lyons: 13:15

I was just going to think, when you're talking about genetics, another set of genetics is laying out. There is that high IQ that I really think Kevin had a high IQ.

Sharon Lathrem: 13:24

I'm not sure where he got that from.

David Lyons: 13:25

Yeah, Well obviously from his mother right. No way around that. I would not go in this conversation without saying that, either by the way, but for sure that's something in there too.

David Lyons: 13:40

So it's suspicious and that you know. I think with the missing you know we always look at what the Doremi possibilities are and on one end of the spectrum is when we talk about this all the time on one end of the spectrum is people just leave, right, and you feel pretty strongly. That's probably not the case here Sometimes if we kept walking across those possibilities, as you've got people that leave and you have people who have mental health challenges that make them leave and disappear. They end up in another city somewhere and people pass them holding signs or yelling at the sky, those kind of things. And then of course, the risk factors that we had with KJACs is the drug use, and so you look at the possibilities there.

David Lyons: 14:21

We're an overdose and what happens when people have somebody in their presence overdose, and I worked several cases like that where it's an unfortunate crummy thing I call it the pulp fiction thing, where people are just abandoned and their left or stories are made up and then again we're not an indictment or saying anybody's done anything. But I think I'm with you that the suspicious parts about this is a video that's offered. That's really out of context, right, and I'll try to get a copy of that and for our YouTube watchers they'll get to see that on YouTube too. We'll include that, then offer to come and inspect the basement. So those things. I guess what I'm getting at is that I think probably, when we look at that spectrum of possibilities, it's super suspicious.

Wendy Lyons: 15:08

Well, what seems suspicious to me is that they are trying too hard to cover their tracks with a video with. Well, why don't you come look at my basement? You'll see nothing's here. Like most innocent people aren't just going to offer that up.

Sharon Lathrem: 15:22

I do believe they protest too much.

David Lyons: 15:26

That's a good way to put it too. Sometimes we've talked about it on other episodes too, where we get over communicators and people who make qualifiers and everything that moves through. We've got one airing right now like that. So if we look at what we would want to do to move forward and if people in Frankfurt could help, what I'm looking at and thinking right now is anybody close to those core groups of people that are walking that lifestyle. And Frankfurt is a small city for the watchers and the listeners. Frankfurt is just a few miles outside of Lexington and about 50 minutes from Jesmond County, where we have the farm. What we need is probably to talk to those people that are close to that environment and ask them to get inside their heart and to come forward and speak and to talk.

David Lyons: 16:22

If they know something not to wear that on their heart, then to solve this. I've always said that I know people walk around with that on their heart and on their shoulders.

David Lyons: 16:31

It's a real world. Not to wish on anybody, but I think if they were in your shoes, they would look at it differently and that if you carry that on your heart and you're so I think that you're as dark as the people that are involved. If there's something wrong here and again, it could be anything from he had a medical emergency and it could be there, and it could be all the way to the other side that there's other suspicious things getting away, but it's going to need people to come forward.

David Lyons: 17:02

And we can bet that somebody knows something. I know, people hear that all the time, but somebody knows something.

Sharon Lathrem: 17:08

We say if you know something, say something. If you know something, say something. We have the anonymous tip boxes at the Riverview Park and I'm going to have to get you the other address, hillcrest address, where the house, where the last place we saw him. We have those two anonymous tip boxes. We also have the anonymous tip on it to Frankfurt Police. You don't have to leave your name or anything like that. We just really need this. I just need to know where he is. I know. I just need to know where he is and I know that people know. I mean, it's just that simple. I know that people know and I know that there's someone out there who has enough heart to end this for me and my girls. It's not just me. He has sisters and niece and nephews and a son and a daughter and we love him and we just want to put him at peace, because he deserves that, because he was a good man. He had problems, but he was a good guy with a heart of gold. He didn't deserve to be a land somewhere.

David Lyons: 18:40

No, and he was probably robbed of the opportunity to change and to come through those problems. That's the sad part about it too.

Wendy Lyons: 18:48

Well, and especially because he had already told you that he was trying to make a change. He was wanting to get out there and get cleaned up.

David Lyons: 18:58

Well, what could people do? What would you ask people to do, as Sharon, as far as how could they help in this, who could they contact? How could they contact? Because you talked about tips and everything. Let's run through that one time. Real good for people.

Sharon Lathrem: 19:11

Yes, you can call Crime Stoppers in Frankfurt, kentucky. You could also call the Frankfurt police department and leave a tip with him Anonymous tip, you don't have to leave your name or your number. And then there's two anonymous tip boxes for Kevin. One is at the Riverview Park down on Wilkerson Boulevard. The other one is at Hillcrest Avenue, 553 Hillcrest Avenue. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. If you know somebody that knows something, encourage them to talk to the police. Not me, not my daughters. We appreciate the information, but we can't do anything about the information. If you don't talk to a detective, nothing can be done about what you're saying. But if you want to do something for Kevin, for me, please just talk to the Frankfurt police department. I would so appreciate that.

David Lyons: 20:26

Good, we'd appreciate that too, if people did that for you. And again, to call with anything If you've heard and heard right now, that's the kind of stuff that the investigators need to help come to a resolution on this for you.

Wendy Lyons: 20:39

Yes, and coming up on five years of his disappearance, I can't imagine what you've gone through these five years. I'm sure you've hoped for the best and now you kind of come to terms that that's probably not going to happen. But I agree with you. Somebody out there knows something. There's not just one person involved in this, and I know people often say well, I'm not a snitch and they've never been in your shoes, They've never sat there and wondered where their child is, or can I at least get them home to give them a decent, proper burial? Or just give me an answer, Just tell me what happened.

Wendy Lyons: 21:24

But you know, Sharon, I think people are cowards and they don't want to have to pay the price for what they do. And they can do all these big ugly things, but when it comes right down to it, they just have no spine and they don't want to pay the price for it. Nobody often ever wants to pay the price for the crimes they commit. But I think what people need to realize is you've had two losses here You've lost your son and you lost your grandson. And while your grandson might be living a good life, still your grandson, and that's the only part of your son you'll ever have and whether that boy turns 18 and realizes he wants to come back home to his grandma and I hope to God he does. But most importantly, I hope that somebody out there somewhere, even if it's a small fraction of a tip of what they heard and I know there's I grew up in a small town too.

Wendy Lyons: 22:15

People always talk about well, I heard rumor has it this. Take those rumors, take the tales that you've heard. Go tell a detective. You know if I agree, they're telling you because they probably think that feels safe and they don't have the spine to go to a detective and say, look, here's what I heard, because they know a detective will get to the bottom of it. They know with you it's kind of just hitting a rock wall. There's nothing else that can be done. So and it's heartbreaking.

Sharon Lathrem: 22:42

It's really hard on me and the girls. Oh, I can't imagine.

David Lyons: 22:47

I don't let my imagination go there. Sharon, I start and I stop. So God bless you and just know that we're praying for you and we're praying for your family, and I know that the people who listen to this podcast are keeping in their thoughts and prayers as well to have a resolution for this and there's just one more thing I want to say.

Sharon Lathrem: 23:05

I want to give a shout out to my hero, sandra Hastings. I remember when my son first went missing and I saw her. Sandra Hastings and her son, michael Corley, had been missing for three years then and I said, oh my God, what will I do if I have to go that long? I'll die, it'll kill me. Here I am at going on five years. Michael's been gone eight years now and she handles it with grace and love and she helps others in our predicament and I just want to say thank you to her that I love her.

David Lyons: 23:58

I agree, and you know I got to meet her a few years ago by going to one of the visuals that she holds and she has a strength that I hope I never have to tap, and how she's paying that energy forward to help other people. She's wonderful.

Wendy Lyons: 24:11

And we recorded a podcast with her as well on the missing case of Michael Gourley, and so we encourage our listeners to listen to that as well, as well as your story, because we have two moms here who neither one have their son and neither one have answers. So thank you so much for coming with us today to share your story about your son. My hope is that somebody will just give some little tips so that you can somehow bring your boy back home and give him a proper burial or whatever. I can't even fathom what you would do, but I just hope somebody comes forward for you.

Sharon Lathrem: 24:52

Thank you so much for having me and giving Kevin a voice. I so appreciate it.

David Lyons: 24:58

Well, we appreciate you letting people know who he is and what he means to you and the family, and a link to the official Murder Police Podcast merch store where you can purchase a huge variety of Murder Police Podcast swag. We are also on Facebook, instagram and YouTube, which is closed caption for those that are hearing impaired. Just search for the Murder Police Podcast and you will find us. If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe for more and give us five stars in a written review on Apple Podcast or wherever you download your podcast. Make sure you set your player to automatically download new episodes so you get the new ones as soon as they drop, and please tell your friends.

Wendy Lyons: 26:05

Lock it down.

David Lyons: 26:06

Judy.