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MURDERED: Jessica Starr

Jessica Starr was 26 years old when she was murdered outside the trailer she was staying at in 2011. Despite friends and family having theories as to what happened, they feel that police in Elkhart, Indiana, have all but abandoned them in their search for justice.
Duration
30m
Broadcast on
13 Oct 2025
Audio Format
other

Jessica Starr was 26 years old when she was murdered outside the trailer she was staying at in 2011. Despite friends and family having theories as to what happened, they feel that police in Elkhart, Indiana, have all but abandoned them in their search for justice. 

  • If you have any information about the murder of Jessica Starr, you can contact the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department by calling 574-891-2300 or you can submit tips to us by emailing [email protected].
  • To learn more about the Elkhart County Safe Haven and the work of YWCA North Central Indiana, visit their website by following this link.

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Crime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. 


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Hi crime junkies, I'm your host Ashley Flowers, and today Britain and I are going to divide and conquer because two Indiana cases recently came across my desk that are both pretty recent and both in need of some eyes and ears. So you get two episodes in your feed today, one from me and then one from Britt. And if you follow me on social, you'll know I was recently back near my hometown, scoping out an area in Elkhart, Indiana that was once a crime scene because I just needed to see it for myself. How did someone lay in wait, blitz attack a young woman, then drag her to the side of her trailer and cut her from ear to ear without a single witness seeing? It didn't seem possible. And how have police not tracked down her killer after 14 years? Well, being at the scene and doing some digging of our own has made it pretty clear that the police bungled the investigation, and it might be up to all of us now to help the family get justice. And we might be close because our digging led to someone who said that they know what happened, and based on who they're connected to, they could be telling the truth. This is the story of Jessica Star. (Music) (Music) That was part of a call that an 11-year-old named Jeff made to dispatchers, just after 1130 p.m. on August 8, 2011 from inside his trailer. He'd been home with his mom and little brother expecting his mom's roommate and co-worker, Jessica Star, to be coming home any minute, like any other normal night. But he's pretty sure that he just heard her getting attacked in front of their home. And now, having called the police, he is staring out the open front door into the pitch black night, watching his mom call for Jessica from the front porch with her gun in hand, afraid that someone might still be out there. But it is now completely silent. They can see Jessica's two-door pania parked close to their front porch in front of the house, but the driver's side door is wide open. Just then, Jeff and his mom, Terry, heard this rustling sound at the side of the house, just like someone was running off. But her children's safety was her first priority. Terry stays on the porch, gun in hand, waiting for police to arrive. And thank God, it's not long. Police cars pull down the dark road, and as soon as their cars are in part, cops are scouring the property. And it's when they walk to the side of the house, the side where Jeff and Terry heard that rustling, that's when they find Jessica, and it's bad. She's got bruises on her arms, her throat has been cut, and she'd been stabbed. So by the time they get to her, it's too late. She's already gone. Police are baffled by the brazen attack. And the fact that there were witnesses, I mean, in the house that she was headed towards, makes it all the more confounding, but also promising for the now homicide investigation. So police go to Jeff, like, tell us everything you saw and heard. He told us recently what he shared with them 14 years ago. He said that he was laying in the living room with his brother, waiting for Jessica to get home. He's on his Game Boy when he hears this noise by the front door.

Transcription truncated.

Jessica Starr was 26 years old when she was murdered outside the trailer she was staying at in 2011. Despite friends and family having theories as to what happened, they feel that police in Elkhart, Indiana, have all but abandoned them in their search for justice.