When an Iowa teen goes missing, a determined group of investigators make it their mission to find her

Cheryl Nablo, a mother of three, is a detective with the Des Moines, Iowa police department. She specializes in finding missing kids.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: I myself have thought of Jade several times when not at work.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: 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.

Jade Colvin is missing

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.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: 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.

Natalie Morales: What are the challenges … in finding missing children?

Det. Cheryl Nablo: … 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.

Natalie Morales: Where do you begin?

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: 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.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: Jade … had a rough go of it growing up.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: … things weren’t the easiest for her.

Detective Nablo learned Jade’s mother LaDawn, had died three years after Jade went missing.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: Jade Colvin grew up with a … I think a pretty dysfunctional family situation. It was difficult.

Dainlynn Greer: 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.

Dainlynn Greer: 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.

Jamee Koopman: There was reasons she could have been angry, and she wasn’t. Like, she was very light —

Dainlynn Greer: Yeah.

Jamee Koopman: — light and bubbly.

Jamee Koopman: 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.

Jamee Koopman: But she just couldn’t make the choice for stability. .. she couldn’t … overcome her own demons.

Det. Chris Wuebker: Her mom definitely cared about her.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: 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.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: 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.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: … run away, been found, run away, been found several times.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: 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.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: She wanted Jade to live with her.

But without legal custody, Jamee Koopman says LaDawn resorted to trying to hide her daughter from authorities.

Jamee Koopman: I think she was just trying to hide out to stay with her mom or to stay where her mom could visit.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: 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.

Tandra Brus: She would change her hair, she would change … her appearance …

Natalie Morales: So she really knew how to run away and hide.

Tandra Brus: 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.

Tandra Brus: I felt so bad. … I felt horrible.

Natalie Morales: Did you tell her, you can come here anytime?

Tandra Brus: I did.

Natalie Morales: Call me. Whatever you need.

Tandra Brus: I did. … call me and I’ll be here for you.

Jamee Koopman: 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.

Tandra Brus: I had hope that she was out there somewhere and she would get a hold of somebody eventually.

Jamee Koopman: And then … there was nothing.

Investigators learned Jade’s family and friends spent years searching for her online.

Det. Chris Wuebker: We saw in … social media accounts that … friends and family … were trying to reach out to her and continued to look for her.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: Everybody’s reaching out to her at her birthday saying, we love you. We miss you. … We just want you back home.

Jamee Koopman: Every year, I’d go on Facebook, “Happy birthday, Jade, please call me.”

Jamee Koopman: 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.

Jamee Koopman: We just wanted her to know like we were there for her.

According to Wallace, Jade’s mother LaDawn also posted.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: 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.”

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: There was no response to any of those.

And when Jade’s mother died a year later, there was still no response.

Det. Chris Wuebker: 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.

Jamee Koopman: 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.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: 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.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: We’re not too far away from Iowa. There’s this girl …. we think maybe that’s Jade.

Following Jade Colvin’s digital trail

Det. Cheryl Nablo: 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.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: 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.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: You know, ranging from Massachusetts to Oklahoma, to Texas … people were definitely paying attention.

Natalie Morales: Look at that. … are those all the leads that you explored and the different ways you went about the investigation?

Det. Cheryl Nablo (holding binder): Yeah, it’s a lot of leads …

Det. Cheryl Nablo: 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.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: 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.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: 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.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: 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.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: It was just a temporary … I’m gonna get right with the court and then Jade can come live with me.

Natalie Morales: How big a lead is that? … are you thinking we’ve got a break in this case?

Det. Cheryl Nablo: 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.

Natalie Morales (ridealong with Det. Wuebker): First of all, Decorah. I mean, where — where are we? What is —

Det. Chris Wuebker: So —

Natalie Morales: — what is this town known for?

Det. Chris Wuebker: God’s Country. (laughs) …

Natalie Morales: It is God’s Country.

Det. Chris Wuebker:  … it’s in northeast Iowa, kind of way up in the top corner. …

Natalie Morales: So, tell me about getting the call to first, you know start the investigation into this young missing girl, Jade Colvin. Who called you?

Det. Chris Wuebker: 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.

Det. Chris Wuebker: 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.

Natalie Morales (at Pizza Ranch): So right here this booth. …

Det. Chris Wuebker: Yep.

Det. Chris Wuebker: I mean, you look at this photo —

Natalie Morales: Yeah.

Det. Chris Wuebker:– and … you see, you know, she has a genuine smile.

Natalie Morales: And it seems like they’re, you know, sort of goofy face, like —

Det. Chris Wuebker: Yeah.

Natalie Morales: — having fun with each other. They got along.

Det. Chris Wuebker: 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.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: There were several of us thought that we probably weren’t getting all the information out of him.

That included Detective Wuebker.

Det. Chris 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.

Det. Chris Wuebker: That was the last time that she ever … had any from Facebook, from Instagram, from Snapchat … She never had another digital footprint again.

Natalie Morales: And for a teenage girl, how unusual is that?

Det. Chris Wuebker: 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.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Old cellphone reveals important clues

Natalie Morales (at farm entrance):  So this here is the farm.

Det. Chris Wuebker: 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.

Natalie Morales: This farm really is at the end of the road here.

Det. Chris Wuebker: It is. … the house at the end of the road.

Natalie Morales: House at the end of the road.

Det. Chris Wuebker: You can see how secluded it is.

Natalie Morales: 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 …

Det. Chris Wuebker: Our evidence showed that she didn’t. …

Natalie Morales: And if you were to run away from here, I mean, there is just farmland and empty space.

Det. Chris Wuebker: … 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.

Det. Chris Wuebker: We tried …to find anything we could in the area. And ultimately we didn’t.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Det. Chris Wuebker: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: We located the house and it was … Out in the middle of nowhere.

Natalie Morales: What’s the mindset going into an interview and first interaction with somebody like him?

Special Agent Jon Turbett: … 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.

Natalie Morales: Mm-hmm.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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 talk. These are excerpts of the audio interview.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Natalie Morales: 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 …

Natalie Morales: It’s interesting. He said, I don’t wanna implicate my kids.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: Yes.

Natalie Morales: But in so doing, is he implicating his kids?

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Natalie Morales: Did he say, when … in that interview he last saw Jade?

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Det. Chris Wuebker: 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.

Natalie Morales: This is a real find. I mean … if you’re looking for a smoking gun, you’re getting a cellphone instead …

Det. Chris Wuebker: … 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.

Det. Chris Wuebker: 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.

Det. Chris Wuebker: Those last text conversations … were … monumental in my opinion.

Natalie Morales: So, let’s go through these a little bit. …

Natalie Morales: Here it is Jade reaching out to him around after a little after midnight.

Det. Chris Wuebker: And it says, “Hey Bryan, it’s Jadeee”. And I always love this because, uh, you know the typical teenager saying Jadeee, you know. …

Natalie Morales: She’s just checking in with him. “Is it going okay?” “Tired yet?” [12:03 a.m.]

Det. Chris Wuebker: Yeah. Just you know, just the typical conversation …

Natalie Morales: 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 —

Det. Chris Wuebker: Yep. … ultimately planning to talk again that night on March 30th.

Natalie Morales: 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.

Det. Chris Wuebker: Yep. …and fully expecting that Jade’s gonna be texting —

Natalie Morales: Mm-hmm.

Det. Chris Wuebker: — and doesn’t get anything.

Those text messages, along with Bryan’s timesheets from Walmart, helped confirm his story and cleared him.

Det. Chris Wuebker: … we’re able to corroborate things he’s telling us.

Det. Chris Wuebker: 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.

Det. Chris Wuebker:  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.”

Special Agent Jon Turbett: He’s selectively removing what we would consider evidence or — or helpful information.

Natalie Morales: Suspicious behavior then.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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. 

Natalie Morales: Describe for me what you see here. … This is from the timeframe of April 1st, 2017.

Det. Chris Wuebker (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?

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Det. Chris Wuebker: The … mattress is smaller … there’s no headboard anymore … And you can see the condition of the room is back to messy …

Special Agent Jon Turbett: You’re thinking, you know, evidence has been cleaned up … we are now looking at all of these pieces and it seems undeniable.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: it is time to tell him that … case facts show us that you were involved in the death of Jade Colvin.

More questions for James Bachmurski Sr.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: The more time we spend in this investigation, the case facts just continued to all point in one direction and at one person. …

Natalie Morales: And that one person was James Bachmurski.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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 …

Natalie Morales: He tells you that he’s drunk … He can’t seem to remember things. Did you believe him?

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Natalie Morales: Guarantee you there isn’t. What are you thinking when you hear that?

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Natalie Morales: 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 …

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Natalie Morales: I’d go to the grave before I’d — I talk about this.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: Yes.

Natalie Morales: Did you take that as a confession?

Special Agent Jon Turbett: Uh, that’s about as close as you could probably get.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: At the end of that interview, any doubt I had, if there was any, had been removed. …

Natalie Morales: You’ve got the right guy?

Special Agent Jon Turbett: We’ve got the right guy.

In August 2024, James Bachmurski was charged with murder in the second degree.

Tandra Brus: 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.

Tandra Brus: You just don’t wanna believe it … it hurt me so bad.

Natalie Morales: That she’s gone.

Tandra Brus: Yeah. That she’s gone.

Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown felt the evidence against James Bachmurski Sr. was strong.

Scott Brown: 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.

Scott Brown: … 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.

Scott Brown: 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.

Scott Brown: Jade Colvin has never been recovered. … her body was never found.

Scott Brown: 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?

Scott Brown: 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.

Seeking justice for Jade Colvin

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.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: 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.

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.

Scott Brown: 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.

Scott Brown: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: He seemed … emotionally detached. …

Det. Chris Wuebker: … 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.

 

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: 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.

Natalie Morales: Oh my gosh. I mean, when you hear that, are you already thinking the worst of what he could have done to Jade?

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: It definitely does creep to the forefront of your mind.

Deputy Wallace believes LaDawn didn’t know about his history of violence.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Wallace: She probably did not have any idea of who he truly was.

That’s something Jamee Koopman believes as well.

Jamee Koopman: 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?

Scott Brown: … 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.

Scott Brown: 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.

Natalie Morales: And when you heard the verdict … what did you think?

Tandra Brus: I thought finally justice has been done.

Det. Cheryl Nablo:  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.

Det. Chris Wuebker: Looking back on it – it kinda seems … pretty amazing how it came together.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: Everybody just kept their head down and kept going. …

Natalie Morales: 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.

Special Agent Jon Turbett: 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.

Det. Chris Wuebker: 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.

Det. Cheryl Nablo: Just because … James was charged and convicted doesn’t mean that she still doesn’t deserve to be found.

Tandra Brus:  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.

Tandra Brus: I have pictures and, you know … I just wanna think of her as when she was happy.

Jamee Koopman: 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.

Dainlynn Greer: 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.

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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.

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