Cheryl Nablo, a mother of three, is a detective with the Des Moines, Iowa police department. She specializes in finding missing kids.
: I myself have thought of Jade several times when not at work.
: I think of my own children. … if you went a day not knowing where one of your kids … was at … you’d go crazy. … nobody wants to be living in a world where they don’t know where their kid is … or if their kids’ safe.
In 2022, Nablo joined forces with Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace, Detective Chris Wuebker and Special Agent Jon Turbett in the search for Jade Colvin. Jade was 14 when she was reported missing in June 2016 after she ran away from a local shelter for troubled youth
: We are here to locate kids who run away.
The U.S. Marshals Service had adopted Jade’s case as part of a statewide effort to find missing children called Operation Homecoming.
: What are the challenges … in finding missing children?
: … when somebody goes missing, they want to be missing. They don’t want you to know where they are … it’s hard to track ’em down.
At that point Jade had been missing for more than five years.
: Where do you begin?
: You gotta start at the beginning. … you gotta know who the person is, their friends, their family, their whole background.
And they soon discovered Jade had a troubled childhood.
: Jade … had a rough go of it growing up.
: … things weren’t the easiest for her.
Detective Nablo learned Jade’s mother LaDawn, had died three years after Jade went missing.
: So I couldn’t just reach out to her and talk to her … about everything that she knew about Jade.
Jade’s father, Kevin, had lost contact with his daughter. Both parents had struggled with substance abuse, something Special Agent Jon Turbett explains had an impact on Jade.
: Jade Colvin grew up with a … I think a pretty dysfunctional family situation. It was difficult.
: She didn’t hold any of it. … She just accepted it for like what it was and dealt with it and didn’t let it get to her negatively.
: Loved her to death, spent every day together.
Despite everything, friend Dainlynn Greer and her mother Jamee Koopman describe Jade as easy going and upbeat.
: There was reasons she could have been angry, and she wasn’t. Like, she was very light —
: Yeah.
: — light and bubbly.
: I met her mom … her mom was very unreliable. … she kept telling me, oh, how much she loves Jade and … all that, you know, and I believe she did, don’t get me wrong.
: But she just couldn’t make the choice for stability. .. she couldn’t … overcome her own demons.
: Her mom definitely cared about her.
: I think her mother loved her. … the state determined at some point that she was … not able to care for her.
In September 2015, when Jade was 13, the Iowa Department of Human Services stepped in and Deputy Justin Wallace says LaDawn lost custody.
: That’s when they took Jade into foster care.
For the next nine months, Jade was in and out of different facilities and foster care. And she often ran away.
: … run away, been found, run away, been found several times.
: Jade is … doing what some other kids do. She’s running away from the system. She’s not wanting to be placed in a stranger’s home.
When Jade was placed in foster care, LaDawn would have limited access to her. And she wanted more.
: She wanted Jade to live with her.
But without legal custody, Jamee Koopman says LaDawn resorted to trying to hide her daughter from authorities.
: I think she was just trying to hide out to stay with her mom or to stay where her mom could visit.
: Her mom tried to … keep her out of the police spotlight, just trying to hide her out different places.
And according to her aunt, Tandra Brus, Jade became good at hiding.
: She would change her hair, she would change … her appearance …
: So she really knew how to run away and hide.
: She did. She really did.
At that point Jade was caught in the middle of a mother trying to do her best, who arranged stays with friends and family, and being placed in foster care, but often living as a runaway.
: I felt so bad. … I felt horrible.
: Did you tell her, you can come here anytime?
: I did.
: Call me. Whatever you need.
: I did. … call me and I’ll be here for you.
: She was jumping all over for a while … so it was hard to track her.
The Iowa Department of Human Services lost track of Jade after she ran away from that shelter in June 2016.
: I had hope that she was out there somewhere and she would get a hold of somebody eventually.
: And then … there was nothing.
Investigators learned Jade’s family and friends spent years searching for her online.
: We saw in … social media accounts that … friends and family … were trying to reach out to her and continued to look for her.
: Everybody’s reaching out to her at her birthday saying, we love you. We miss you. … We just want you back home.
: Every year, I’d go on Facebook, “Happy birthday, Jade, please call me.”
: We still love her. You know, anytime she wants to come home … it doesn’t matter what kind of trouble you got yourself into … I thought she’d pop back up.
: We just wanted her to know like we were there for her.
According to Wallace, Jade’s mother LaDawn also posted.
: She misses her and wants her to come back.
Posts like this one from September 2018:
“It’s hurting all of us so much…” “Please call someone Jade … I’m seriously physically dying of a broken heart.”
There was no response to any of those.
And when Jade’s mother died a year later, there was still no response.
: LaDawn passed away. She never came to the funeral. … She never showed up at the funeral. She would’ve been there.
Jade’s family and friends still held hope Jade would surface when she turned 18 — and would be free of foster care.
: I had hoped that she had run away and was laying low and we thought when she turned 18, when it was safe, she would get ahold of us again. And when her 18th birthday came around and she didn’t get ahold of us, we knew … we knew something was very wrong.
As Nablo and Wallace worked to find Jade, they got help from state and national organizations that shared missing posters on social media.
: That was huge. … that’s when a lot of tips started coming in.
And there would be a potential break in the investigation — a tip from a hospital worker in Minnesota.
: We’re not too far away from Iowa. There’s this girl …. we think maybe that’s Jade.
: We wanted to chase every single lead, every single tip as far as we could.
And when Des Moines PD Detective Cheryl Nablo got a tip Jade Colvin might have been in a hospital in Red Wing, Minnesota, she was hopeful.
: A staff member had observed a female come into the hospital and … the person that she was with was kind of controlling the conversation … it drew suspicion … and they thought it maybe looked like Jade. So there was follow-up done to … get the video footage, to try to figure out who that person was. … when you have a lead, you work your lead until you either prove it’s Jade or prove it’s false. … And ultimately, I was able to identify who that person was and … it was not Jade.
Additional tips poured in from all over the country.
: You know, ranging from Massachusetts to Oklahoma, to Texas … people were definitely paying attention.
: Look at that. … are those all the leads that you explored and the different ways you went about the investigation?
(holding binder): Yeah, it’s a lot of leads …
: It felt like each tip was hope, right? ‘Cause, like. she could have been out there.
The first big break in the case came when Nablo was able to figure out where Jade had gone after she ran away from that shelter in June 2016. Detective Nablo had obtained search warrants and got access to Jade’s social media. Instagram messages from March 2017 caught her attention.
: You can see where … her mom is … coming to get her in Arizona.
“I just talked to mom …” Jade wrote to her friend Dainlynn “… she’s coming next week.”
“I’m in AZ right now” Jade wrote to another friend. “I should be back in Iowa today or tomorrow.”
Nablo learned Jade had been staying in Arizona for several months, and it seemed LaDawn was going to bring her back to Iowa. Nablo also got access to LaDawn’s accounts, and on her Facebook there was a message mentioning the town of Decorah
: Decorah is just a small, rural Midwest Iowa town.
As Nablo combed through LaDawn’s Facebook, she saw messages LaDawn had sent to Jade and uncovered a clue: a mention of someone named James.
Investigators learned “James” was James Bachmurski Sr. — a man LaDawn had been dating for several months.
: LaDawn and him met online. … they began a romantic relationship. … LaDawn would go and stay with him occasionally. … I think one point was living with him.
Deputy Justin Wallace found out James Bachmurski owned a farm in Decorah, Iowa and had two sons, Bryan, 19, and James Jr., 21. Investigators gained access to voice messages LaDawn had sent Jade detailing a plan for her daughter to stay at the farm while she lived three hours away, dealing with some legal issues.
LADAWN COLVIN | Voice message to Jade: You’re going to live here until you are probably 18 and able to get out of the system, if I don’t already have you out of the system …
… and you’ll have a good life baby. It’s what I want. I love you.
: It was just a temporary … I’m gonna get right with the court and then Jade can come live with me.
: How big a lead is that? … are you thinking we’ve got a break in this case?
: Yeah, it was huge. … I remember … going over to the U.S. Marshals’ Office and … they were excited.
The Marshals reached out to local law enforcement near the Bachmurski farm for help talking to the family. And that’s when Detective Chris Wuebker from the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office officially joined the team.
(ridealong with Det. Wuebker): First of all, Decorah. I mean, where — where are we? What is —
: So —
: — what is this town known for?
: God’s Country. (laughs) …
: It is God’s Country.
: … it’s in northeast Iowa, kind of way up in the top corner. …
: So, tell me about getting the call to first, you know start the investigation into this young missing girl, Jade Colvin. Who called you?
: So, we, uh, we received a call from the U.S. Marshals and … they reached out to us and said, hey … Do you guys know the Bachmurskis? Can you guys help us, uh, go and talk to them? And so, that’s ultimately what we — where we started.
: The goal was to talk to them and say, hey look, we’re looking for this missing girl. … her name is Jade Colvin. And … your names were brought up in social media. What can you tell us about her?
They found Bryan Bachmurski first. According to Detective Wuebker, Bryan confirmed Jade had been at the farm. Her mother dropped her off and left. A few days after she arrived, Bryan and Jade had lunch at a Pizza Ranch and took several photos together.
(at Pizza Ranch): So right here this booth. …
: Yep.
: I mean, you look at this photo —
: Yeah.
:– and … you see, you know, she has a genuine smile.
: And it seems like they’re, you know, sort of goofy face, like —
: Yeah.
: — having fun with each other. They got along.
: Teenage — teenage kids and — and everything and yeah, absolutely.
Bryan told investigators he didn’t know what happened to Jade. He said the last time he saw her was two days after their lunch at Pizza Ranch, around 10 p.m., before, he said, he worked the nightshift at Walmart. Bryan claimed he texted with Jade until just after midnight when she suddenly stopped responding. Deputy Wallace wasn’t convinced by Bryan’s story.
: There were several of us thought that we probably weren’t getting all the information out of him.
That included Detective Wuebker.
: There’s something that doesn’t feel right about this as to what’s going on.
And there was something else that troubled Wuebker.
: That was the last time that she ever … had any from Facebook, from Instagram, from Snapchat … She never had another digital footprint again.
: And for a teenage girl, how unusual is that?
: Extremely unusual.
How could Jade seemingly disappear without a trace? According to Deputy Wallace, LaDawn thought it was unusual, too … and she went to the farm to confront James.
: We were able to interview one of the friends … who said … she drove LaDawn out to the farm in Decorah. … the friend stayed in the car while LaDawn went inside the house to talk to James Bachmurski.
LaDawn’s friend told the Marshals Bachmurski claimed Jade ran away. Suspecting there was more to the story, Chris Wuebker called Special Agent Jon Turbett from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and asked him for help.
: Chris laid out what we knew … what the Marshals had been able to unearth. And … as I’m sitting there listening … I said, it’s very likely that Jade is no longer alive, and we actually need to … start treating this as a homicide investigation.
(at farm entrance): So this here is the farm.
: Yup. … So this is the — where Bachmurskis lived.
Having established Jade was at this farm in Decorah Iowa in March 2017, Det. Chris Wuebker hoped new leads could be developed to solve the mystery of what happened to her.
: This farm really is at the end of the road here.
: It is. … the house at the end of the road.
: House at the end of the road.
: You can see how secluded it is.
: This is a young girl who has a history of running away … When you get out here is it possible she — do you think she could have run away …
: Our evidence showed that she didn’t. …
: And if you were to run away from here, I mean, there is just farmland and empty space.
: … I mean direction, uh … you’re not from here. I bet you — the — which way were we facing right now. I mean … She’s not gonna know where she’s at.
When investigators first visited the farm in 2022, James Bachmurski Sr. no longer lived here, and the house had been gutted and renovated, but the new owners let them look around.
: We tried …to find anything we could in the area. And ultimately we didn’t.
: You have this farm where we know Jade is last seen. … So we draw a box around the farm and we say, who’s living in the farm, who are the guests at the farm … certainly the owner of the property … the one who’s having contact with LaDawn and Jade … is James Bachmurski Sr. … And then you have these two sons, James Jr. and … Bryan.
Having already talked to Bryan, detectives were eager to reach James Jr. Turns out he had an alibi — he wasn’t living in the area at the time and was never at the farm with Jade. So that left James Bachmurski Sr. to be interviewed.
: We had known, from that initial contact with the kids … that … Bachmurski had moved away and he was in Georgia.
Special Agent Jon Turbett made the trip.
: We located the house and it was … Out in the middle of nowhere.
: What’s the mindset going into an interview and first interaction with somebody like him?
: … I think, despite what a lot of people think… I am really trying to …take off the — the — the police hat and a lot of the — the things that come with that.
: Mm-hmm.
: And I need to sit down with James and I need to be Jon and he needs to be James. And can we have a good conversation about this young lady that he clearly had out on his property and has never been seen.
When Turbett knocked on the door, James Bachmurski Sr. agreed to talkThese are excerpts of the audio interview.
: I think one of the first things out of his mouth, if not the first was —
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR. (audio interview): Number of years ago, something happened in Iowa, and it’s affected my life forever.
: I’ve knocked on doors a lot in my career, and that would be on the, you know, that would be an outlier for — for opening remarks.
: You’re like, OK, is he thinking of something that, you know, I’m not? … I’m making it clear, I’m talking about Jade, and he continues.
: OK. I have that clip. I’m gonna play for you …
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR. (interview audio): Do you know what I think?
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: What?
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: We gotta find answers.
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: Yeah. I agree with that …
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: Alls I wanna do is to go to my grave to know that my kids had nothing to do with what was going on.
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: Yeah. Yeah. I —
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: I don’t know if they do …
: It’s interesting. He said, I don’t wanna implicate my kids.
: Yes.
: But in so doing, is he implicating his kids?
: Well, it — it seemed like it. …So he immediately is talking about someone being implicated, which says, in my mind, he thinks a crime was committed. Now it’s a question of, was it me, was it my boys?
James Bachmurski Sr. confirmed he was in a relationship with LaDawn and that she brought Jade to his farm to hide her and keep her from being put in foster care.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR. (audio interview): You know what I thought was gonna happen?
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: What?
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: To be honest? I thought we were gonna be a fam — family.
: He admits that there’s a plan to bring Jade back, you know, to Iowa. … he’s saying this woman was trying to reunite with her daughter and — and get to a — a new life.
: Did he say, when … in that interview he last saw Jade?
: Yeah.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR. (audio interview): To my knowledge, she was getting ready to do a bunch of laundry and I had to go to Norby’s for something.
: Norby’s, which is like a Farm and Fleet store. And the next thing I know … she’d vanished out of thin air.
James Bachmurski Sr. talked for several hours that day, but after the interview Turbett and Wuebker were still no closer to finding out what happened to Jade. They wondered if there were any additional clues to be discovered back at the farm.
: When he got back, we came up with the plan of … what else can we find? And … that’s when we came across a neighbor … that said … “hey, by the way, I have this barn, uh, that James Bachmurski property is left in. In 2018, he was- – left in a real hurry and left all of his stuff behind.” And so we’re like, “oh, really?” … And so we … went there and — and found this dusty, old phone in a box.
It was James Bachmurski Sr.’s cellphone.
: This is a real find. I mean … if you’re looking for a smoking gun, you’re getting a cellphone instead …
: … this was something that … was … unbelievable to come across.
On the phone they found photos of Jade at the farm. There’s one with her mother LaDawn when she dropped Jade off and left, and one from the day after Bryan and Jade had lunch at Pizza Ranch – of them at a bonfire.
: There was a number of photos … with them at that bonfire, roasting hot dogs and stuff like that.
They’re the last known photos of Jade. On Bachmurski Sr.’s phone there were also text messages Jade had sent including the ones Bryan had mentioned when he said he worked the nightshift at Walmart … the same night Jade was last heard from.
: Those last text conversations … were … monumental in my opinion.
: So, let’s go through these a little bit. …
: Here it is Jade reaching out to him around after a little after midnight.
: And it says, “Hey Bryan, it’s Jadeee”. And I always love this because, uh, you know the typical teenager saying Jadeee, you know. …
: She’s just checking in with him. “Is it going okay?” “Tired yet?” [12:03 a.m.]
: Yeah. Just you know, just the typical conversation …
: And she’s like, “If you want to call on your hour break we still can if you want” [12:13 a.m.]… So they’re planning for his break like with him —
: Yep. … ultimately planning to talk again that night on March 30th.
: OK. … And then he’s like, “Well, ig just text me when you can”. This is two o’clock, already 2:03. He’s on his break.
: Yep. …and fully expecting that Jade’s gonna be texting —
: Mm-hmm.
: — and doesn’t get anything.
Those text messages, along with Bryan’s timesheets from Walmart, helped confirm his story and cleared him.
: … we’re able to corroborate things he’s telling us.
: We … kind of took him off of the table.
As Wuebker and Turbett continued to search through information from Bachmurski Sr.’s phone, they say they made an important discovery: several deleted messages.
: Those were … mostly … family … that was reaching out to find Jade, to talk to Jade.
Including messages from LaDawn who sounds desperate to reach her daughter: “Please let my babygirl know I love her and need to talk to her.”
: He’s selectively removing what we would consider evidence or — or helpful information.
: Suspicious behavior then.
: I would think so.
But it would be two seemingly random photos found on Bachmurski Sr.’s cellphone that changed the course of the investigation — one of his kitchen and one of his bedroom – taken just two days after Jade had that last text exchange with Bryan.
: Describe for me what you see here. … This is from the timeframe of April 1st, 2017.
(referencing photo shown above): So this is a — a picture of the Bachmurski kitchen. … this is a very unique picture where everything is cleaned up. Everything is organized. … there’s no garbage laying around … It’s clean …
Was it a crime scene?
: And as we talk to people, Bryan included, he talks about the condition of this house, uh, when he had lived there and been there. He does not say that they were good housekeepers. … it was — it was not good. So to see pictures like this, this is way out of what law enforcement knew. This is way out of description.
And in another photo on the phone — taken two months later on June 5, 2017 — of Bryan and James Jr. in that same bedroom, investigators say it appeared the bed was new; that the bed in the earlier photo had been removed and replaced.
: The … mattress is smaller … there’s no headboard anymore … And you can see the condition of the room is back to messy …
: You’re thinking, you know, evidence has been cleaned up … we are now looking at all of these pieces and it seems undeniable.
: it is time to tell him that … case facts show us that you were involved in the death of Jade Colvin.
: The more time we spend in this investigation, the case facts just continued to all point in one direction and at one person. …
: And that one person was James Bachmurski.
: Was James Bachmurski Sr.
More than two years into the investigation to find Jade Colvin, Special Agent Jon Turbett believes he knows what happened to her.
: I thought James Bachmurski had killed and disposed of Jade’s body.
Now he needed to prove his theory. Armed with the photos from the cellphone, he went back to Georgia.
: The second interview is going to be different than the first. … I actually opened with, “Hi James … I’m Jon from Iowa. … Do you remember me?”
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT (interview 2 audio): How are you, buddy? Remember me?
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: No.
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: I’m Jon. I’m the officer from Iowa that talked to you about five months ago. We sat right in at your kitchen table.
: And he’s like, no. … And I’m like, ok. So that would, obviously, something would be really wrong if a human being could not remember that.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR. (interview 2 audio): … I’m not even gonna lie, I’m not even close to being sober …
: He tells you that he’s drunk … He can’t seem to remember things. Did you believe him?
: I didn’t. … if you recall in that first interview, his level of detail was fantastic … And then we get back and it’s like, he doesn’t know me for starters, he can’t place LaDawn or Jade … And that all seems remarkably unbelievable.
Turbett pressed on. And he asked Bachmurski about those photos from his phone.
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT (interview 2 audio): … a couple days after this little girl’s never seen or heard from again, ever. This is your bedroom … So, you cleaned your bedroom. Great job. See how clean that is?
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: No.
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: … The floors are shiny. You see that? …
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: So, I guess you’re thinking that there was evidence there that I tried to get rid of —
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: Well I —
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: — is what you’re saying?
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: No.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: And I am telling you right now, I’ll guarantee you there isn’t.
: Guarantee you there isn’t. What are you thinking when you hear that?
: Well, I mean, as you listen to that clip … he says … well, you must think I’ve, you know, hidden evidence or destroyed evidence. … and I’m like, well, it’s getting hard for me to reach any other conclusion at that point.
According to Turbett, Bachmurski Sr. had an explanation for why he took those photos.
: He floats the idea of, hey, I was gonna sell or lease the property. … But I don’t think that was ever proven to be the case.
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT (interview 2 audio): The truth is good, we’d agree, right?
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: The truth is. But I don’t know what you want.
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: Just the truth.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: And what is the truth? ‘Cause I don’t know what it is. What is it?
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: The truth is where Jade ended up.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: All right. Where?
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: Come on, I’m — I’m gonna ask you that question.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: And I’m asking you, because I don’t know.
: I’m pleading with him to just talk about the truth, and he’s admitting the truth is good. But … we’re not quite having a truthful conversation.
: At that point, it is time to tell him that based on everything … the case facts show us that you were involved in the death of Jade Colvin. And it’s a very important moment.
: Alright. Let’s listen to … you’re saying that to him …
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: … at this point, is that the case facts show us you were involved in Jade’s, you know, Jade’s death. You do know where Jade’s at.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: Dead?
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: Yeah. I told you last time she —
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: Yeah. You keep saying death.
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: She’s dead. She’s dead.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: Why do you say that?
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: She’s dead …
: I think James Bachmurski just wanted to know, had we somehow pieced this all together.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR. (interview 2 audio): You know what?
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: I already —
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: We should talk about that.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: … a long time ago, figured, I’d go to grave before I tell the truth.
SPECIAL AGENT TURBETT: About this?
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR.: Yes.
: I’d go to the grave before I’d — I talk about this.
: Yes.
: Did you take that as a confession?
: Uh, that’s about as close as you could probably get.
: At the end of that interview, any doubt I had, if there was any, had been removed. …
: You’ve got the right guy?
: We’ve got the right guy.
In August 2024, James Bachmurski was charged with murder in the second degree.
: My heart just dropped.
Eight years after Jade was reported missing, her friends and family, including her aunt, Tandra Brus, finally learned the teenager they cared so much about, was never coming back.
: You just don’t wanna believe it … it hurt me so bad.
: That she’s gone.
: Yeah. That she’s gone.
Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown felt the evidence against James Bachmurski Sr. was strong.
: Jade was at … James Bachmurski’s residence … he was the last person to have seen Jade … alive.
He had those cellphone photos of James Bachmurski Sr.’s clean kitchen and bedroom, and the deleted messages from Jade’s family.
: … communications like where LaDawn is looking for Jade.
And, he had James Bachmurski Sr.’s own words.
JAMES BACHMURSKI SR. (interview 2 audio): … a long time ago, figured, I’d go to grave before I tell the truth.
: Why would you make that statement if you had nothing to do with Jade Colvin’s death?
But what Scott Brown didn’t have was Jade’s body.
: Jade Colvin has never been recovered. … her body was never found.
: Usually … there is a body. … So … a jury would look at that and say, OK, obviously a crime has been committed. … But here we have to prove that a crime was committed, that Jade is missing, and that … she didn’t leave … on her own.
And with the case about to go on trial, would it be enough to convince a jury of Bachmurski’s guilt?
: How do we make that … Not only make sense but make sense beyond a reasonable doubt. … is it enough? … certainly that was a concern here.
For more than three years, Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace says a dedicated and passionate group worked tirelessly to try and find out what happened to Jade.
: There were so many people that were involved in this, … all of us put in a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of effort.
That team included Detective Cheryl Nablo, Detective Chris Wuebker and Special Agent Jon Turbett.
: There was never a doubt … that we had the right person.
The murder trial against James Bachmurski Sr., now grey-haired, began in August 2025. Prosecutor Scott Brown explains out how Bachmurski’s actions after he claimed Jade had run away pointed to his guilt.
: Why isn’t he calling law enforcement? … Hey, there was this girl that was … staying at my place and now people can’t find her. … Why wouldn’t he do that?
The defense argued there was no evidence Jade Colvin was dead or that Bachmurski had killed her. There was no DNA, they said, no murder weapon, and no damning Google searches. But there was Jade’s history of running away. Brown says that’s irrelevant.
: She did have a history of running away … But … she always resurfaced. … she always stayed on her cellphone. … why would she stop using her cellphone? That was a big hurdle for them …
Special Agent Jon Turbett and Detective Chris Wuebker say throughout the weeklong trial Bachmurski – who did not testify – showed little emotion.
: He seemed … emotionally detached. …
: … he just … tried to stay stoic.
And there was information the jury wouldn’t hear. James Bachmurski Sr. had a criminal history, including a prior charge for harassment, and in 2013 Bachmurski spent nearly a year behind bars after being charged with child endangerment — against his own children — and took a plea to a lesser offense of assault. Deputy Justin Wallace described some of the violence as alleged in court documents.
: He had a metal chair with a battery hooked up to it. And when the, uh, boys misbehaved, he put ’em in the chair, which essentially shocked them.
: Oh my gosh. I mean, when you hear that, are you already thinking the worst of what he could have done to Jade?
: It definitely does creep to the forefront of your mind.
Deputy Wallace believes LaDawn didn’t know about his history of violence.
: She probably did not have any idea of who he truly was.
That’s something Jamee Koopman believes as well.
: I know LaDawn would not have taken Jade somewhere that she thought this of all things would happen.
As for a motive for why Bachmurski would kill Jade Colvin?
: … there was some evidence that we had that he was … attracted to Jade. … he took all those photos of her.
When the jury began deliberations, Scott Brown was confident in the case he presented.
Within several hours. … “we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree.”
James Bachmurski Sr. was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Considering he’s 67 years old, it is essentially a life sentence. Jade’s Aunt Tandra Brus was relieved
: And when you heard the verdict … what did you think?
: I thought finally justice has been done.
: I was super grateful that the family was able to … get that outcome in the case. … it makes it all worth it. … this was about justice for Jade.
: Looking back on it – it kinda seems … pretty amazing how it came together.
: Everybody just kept their head down and kept going. …
: I think it — it gives a lot of people hope … that there are people who are as … passionate and committed as the team that went into trying to find out what happened to Jade Colvin.
: Yeah. … This was very special for us, but — but there are a lot of — of police officers out there doing the exact same thing.
But everyone involved believes the case is not over yet.
: My hope is to get Jade someday … this isn’t one that’s gonna stop for — for me. … we all agree that we’re gonna continue to see if we can find out where she is and bring her home to them.
: Just because … James was charged and convicted doesn’t mean that she still doesn’t deserve to be found.
: I wanna bring her home. I wanna have a proper burial for her. … I want somebody out there, they know something, to please come forward.
Until then, those who loved Jade continue to struggle with their grief.
: I have pictures and, you know … I just wanna think of her as when she was happy.
: I talk about her … I don’t let people forget about her … she didn’t deserve any of this. … and I never want anybody to think that she did anything wrong … or that … it … was anyway her fault.
: I — I just wanted more people to know about her … that she existed and she was a person … she got everything she didn’t deserve in life … she deserved the entire world and she would’ve made the world a better place every day that she would’ve been here.
Produced by Betsy Shuller. Morgan Canty is the field producer. Doreen Schechter, Gregory Kaplan and Phil Tangel are the editors. Michelle Sigona is the development producer. Anthony Batson is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
