In this special bonus episode of SEQUESTERED, Sara and Andrea sit down to answer the most pressing and heartfelt questions from listeners around the world. From the shackles and handcuffs to the possible motive, juror insights, and police missteps — no topic is off the table. They revisit pivotal courtroom testimony, unpack public reactions, and share what they’ve learned since the trial, including new information about Jason Chen’s troubling past. Sara also reflects on the emotional weight of sentencing, the unanswered question of “why,” and the delicate line between justice and humanity. Plus: Was Jason Chen offered a plea deal? What the forensic evidence suggests about Jasmine’s final moments Could this have been the beginning of a serial killer? How Sara reached out to Jasmine’s family before releasing the podcast Behind-the-scenes of jury sequestration: late-night phone calls, missing routines, and navigating the unknown For deeper dives into each episode, visit SequesteredPod.com.
Chapter 1: Who are the hosts answering listener questions in this bonus episode?
Hey everyone, it's Sarah and Andrea here, and welcome to this special bonus episode of Sequestered. So here we are. Here we are.
Chapter 2: What is the significance of the handcuffs and shackles in the case?
Let's dive on into this. All right. So we've had a lot of listeners sending questions. We have read your reviews. We have a lot to talk about. Yes, that we do. So probably the most asked question has been about the handcuffs and the shackles.
Right. Yeah. I mean, I think we've probably replied to over 30 emails about this.
So the two questions are when and why did he have these shackles? And then the next question is generally, wasn't that tied to premeditation?
Right. Well, first off, I will say this was covered in the trial. What we know for sure is that there's no evidence of when or where
he purchased the handcuffs or shackles so they don't have a receipt or a timeline or anything like that only what dr cogswell's description was which is that they were cheap like kind of aluminum cuffs and shackles something he said something that you would find at like a spencer's or some sort of like novelty store so he could have bought these at any point you could probably get them on amazon
Well, I was shocked because I said to you, I remember Spencer's kind of being a little edgy when I was growing up, but I've not been to a Spencer's in years. And I was nervous to do it, but I went on and looked. And you actually can buy handcuffs. But I understand after watching the video of Dr. Cogswell, when he pulls them out of the evidence bags...
You could tell they're lighter weight and they actually have a little button that you can undo, but they're serious enough that if someone was handcuffed and didn't know what was happening, they would still be handcuffed and maybe couldn't get out.
Right, and side note, the keys were actually attached to them when she was found, which is crazy. So anyway, I think we have a clip here that we could play where Cogswell explains that more.
Thank you.
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Chapter 3: What does forensic evidence reveal about Jasmine's final moments?
And so, I mean, that's just another sign of them being just such cheap, you know, material.
And we've tried to clean up this courtroom audio. We've had a lot of comments that it's sometimes hard to hear. And that is us doing our best to make it sound good. But I also wanted to touch while we're on Dr. Cogswell on the fetal position piece, because we also had questions about that earlier. Many people wanted to know, was she already handcuffed and shackled before she was attacked?
And we have some audio here. It sounds like the prosecution is trying to suggest that through Dr. Cogswell's testimony.
This is actually showing, as you can see, this is the left side of Jasmine Pace's body. The stab wounds are virtually all on the other side of her body. And when we look at the other side of her body in this position, basically we just rolled her over. All of those stab wounds and size wounds are clustered in the area of her head, neck, shoulder, and upper torso.
They're just all on the other side of the body. So this side of the body, as you can see, basically has no injuries. In a fetal position, by tucking our legs up and getting ourselves into a small ball as possible. Some areas of our body are protected, relatively speaking. Others are exposed.
And if you have your knees drawn up, obviously she's not quite as tightly compacted as she was inside that suitcase. If you have your knees drawn up, you're basically protecting your abdomen and the lower part of your chest. exposing your shoulders and your back. So the stab wounds clustered on the other side of her body are all in that area that is exposed if she's in that position.
And they're all pretty much about from the area of where your rib cage comes together and your solar plexus. In fact, there's very little that's even below the level of, say, the armpit. So this is all from head, neck, shoulder, upper chest, well, upper back really, and virtually nothing below that except for that free left arm.
Because that free left arm, if we roll her over, that free left arm is up here. The right arm is way down here, as you can see, tucked in between the legs. and there's no injury down there on the legs. So that's protected, it's out of the way. The left arm, however, is not. It's free and it's folded up across the chest.
One more note back on this, her being in the fetal position as it relates to where her wounds were all related on one portion of her body, it proves that she was already in the fetal position during her attack, which then shows that she was very likely already shackled and cuffed.
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Chapter 4: Was Jason Chen offered a plea deal before trial?
I mean, from the start, all I can say is, you know, only he knows the motive and the reason and the details of that night. And we may never know that unless he decides to speak about it one day.
You know, I will say this from a character standpoint. Um, we do have a clip here that, um, it's from local three news in Chattanooga who interviewed his former roommate. Um, and Sarah, you could talk a little bit about this. You didn't know about it until after the trial.
Yeah. And we heard about this from DA's Wump and Moyle, but just kind of learning more about his character because they didn't really share it. There weren't character witnesses. There wasn't much information. At all about his character throughout the trial. So much of this I've learned after the fact, whether by people writing in or people we've come come in contact with just after the fact.
And, you know, one of them was this this former roommate of his, a recent former roommate of his that they lived with each other during college. And, you know, they were seemingly friends, but then it just became this very manipulative relationship.
relationship somehow at where Jason started hacking into this roommate's Facebook account and posting just really incriminating stuff, you know, kind of on his behalf and, you know, got him fired. And it was basically identity theft. Yeah.
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Chapter 5: What insights do we have about Jason Chen's character and past behavior?
Barrett says initially their freshman year, everything was cool, which is why they moved to this apartment you see behind me here on MLK Boulevard. He says everything initially was fine. And then that's when things start to turn sour when they moved into this apartment. And he felt like he had to sleep with one eye open.
It just kind of became a situation that anytime I wasn't there, he was going to my room, going through my things. So a lot of arguments started delving from that.
Ryan Baird, a graduate of UTC, says Jason Chen was someone he considered a friend. He says since freshman year, they would hang out just like brothers.
He was just kind of a quiet, you know, pretty funny guy. Never really thought anything out of the too ordinary.
He says they even got jobs together at Buff City Soap in Hickson. And for the first couple of months, everything was okay. But after Barrett was promoted to manager, he says Chin's behavior changed.
Just kind of hiding in his room more, avoiding all of our friends.
But the tipping point of their friendship came when Barrett says Chin stole his phone and began posting from his social media accounts.
Going through all my accounts, kind of slandering my name on social media, through different work ventures, et cetera, along those lines, messaging people from my hometown, just hateful messages.
This is one of those posts. Barrett says instead of the Black Lives Matter motto in his bio, it was changed to a racial slur, which ultimately got him fired from his job.
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Chapter 6: How did the jury perceive the defense's case and witnesses?
But essentially, he was called too late and wasn't allowed in, as we discussed. So it's just interesting. But now knowing that, I don't know what would have helped. Yeah.
I do think it would have been interesting, like you said, to hear from someone who would say, you know, Jason was an incredible student. He took care of his family and you didn't, I don't know if that wasn't allowed or, or what the case was, but I also found myself wanting to know how does a normal person do this on Tuesday before Thanksgiving? Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Alright, in the same vein, could Jason's family have said anything different to change your sentencing recommendation?
No, that was, I mean, I obviously went into detail about this on the podcast, but that was one of the harder moments for me is, you know, having both of his parents, but especially his mom up there. I had seen her throughout the entire trial, like from even day one of jury selection in the back of the room, in the seat behind me. And I didn't know who she was.
I kind of had an idea, but as the trial went on, She was a very familiar person in the room. I would see her crying often and just receiving this information. And it wasn't until she took the stand that I realized she not only was this the first time she was able to convey to everyone through a translator.
Her thoughts and emotions, but like it also helped help me see like, oh, my gosh, like she's not been able to understand the majority of what's going on here. She's just here watching, you know, seeing images and watching body language, you know, and then being told. By whomever, maybe her other son or whoever can, you know, she's getting bits and pieces.
And anyway, it was just, it was heartbreaking seeing her up there. She's not responsible for her son's, you know, actions. And of course she wants him home. It's her kid. But also there is not one thing she could have said that could have changed what her son did. And that was why we were there.
I agree. I found it very difficult to not feel for her when she was on the stand pleading for, you know, a different sentence. Very difficult to see. There's been a lot of speculation and question of people saying, would Jason Chen have been a serial killer? I know there's no way for us to know. And was this his first time?
And, you know, things like the shackles and the handcuffs point towards like, what's going on here? Do you have any opinions on that? Or do you think he just snapped?
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Chapter 7: Could Jason's family have influenced the sentencing recommendation?
Chapter 8: Where can listeners find deeper dives and extra content about the trial?
I mean, it still takes me a lot to even trust people these days because now I'm like, what are you doing behind my back?
Barrett says even given his experience, he says it's still shocking to see Chan in the courtroom where he's accused of murder.
At the end of the day, he did all those hurtful things to me, but I would never expect him to take the life of somebody's daughter.
So, again, doesn't mean you're a murderer, but there were a few signs of maybe some character issues going on there.
Right. Just and honestly, like we've heard so many stories about Jason's past, including stories of manipulation like this one, identity theft and toxic behavior from former co-workers, friends. Yeah, it's just. Yeah. If you've been following the podcast, we've got something new for you. Now you can dive even deeper into each episode on our website, sequesteredpod.com.
We've added exclusive blogs for every episode, packed with extra details, behind the scenes insights, and key moments from the trial. Plus, we've organized all the trial and news coverage by each day of the trial. so you can follow along just like we did in the jury room. Head over to sequesteredpod.com now to explore the case in a whole new way.
All right, so back to the courtroom. Do you feel like there's anything Jason's defense attorneys could have done that would have changed your verdict in the case?
I guess what's so interesting about that is, zooming out real quick, I'd never been... on a jury before, I've never been a part of a courtroom proceeding. So not only was all of that new, just the process and the verbiage, and we were getting the hang of it over the course of the week, but by the time the state closed their case, we were still waiting for, okay, now it's the defense's turn.
You've got to remain open the entire time going, okay, I'm collecting all of the facts that the state has the burden of proof. So we're going to collect all of their facts. And then now it's the defense's turn. And so I feel like I was waiting the whole week for, okay, now what do you guys have to say? And, you know, they had the three witnesses.
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