The courtroom holds its breath as prosecutors unveil the raw, unfiltered truth of what happened inside Jason Chen’s apartment. Blood spatter. A massive five-foot stain. Suitcase wheel marks in the trunk of his car. Each piece of evidence stacks up, painting a harrowing picture of Jasmine Pace’s final moments. CSI experts take the stand, breaking down the chilling details—from BlueStar test reactions to DNA swabs and fingerprinting. The defense fights back, grasping for doubt. But as the prosecution reveals Jasmine’s final resting place—inside of a suitcase, handcuffed and shackled in layers of trash bags. The weight of this case becomes undeniable. Through it all, Jason Chen never once looks up. Step inside the crime scene with us. The truth is in the evidence. Special thanks to Local 3 News’ Shay Patterson, Latrisha Thomas at NewsChannel 9, and all the journalists who’ve worked overtime to cover this case. We couldn’t tell this story without you. Please rate, subscribe, and follow! If you want to see photos and read the blog for this episode, click here! You can email us at sequesteredpod(at)gmail.com On our website, you can see more photos, videos, and blogs about each day of the trial, organized by episode. Go to SequesteredPod.com Website: sequesteredpod.com Instagram: @sequesteredpod TikTok: @sequesteredpod Thank you for listening. SEQUESTERED is a BP Production.
Chapter 1: What happens inside the jury room during the trial?
Before we begin, please be advised that this episode contains graphic descriptions of violence as presented during the trial. Please take care while listening. It's Wednesday, January 15th, 2025. By now, we, the jurors, are moving into the routine of our new job. The lobby call at our hotel has become a steady expectation.
And once we're in our jury room at the courthouse, everyone just kind of moves into their spot. I think by this point, we had all gotten a taste for the task at hand. There was no exiting this scenario. It was just time to move in and do the job. It was only day three of the trial, after all. A knock at the door signaled it was time.
We gathered our things, lined up, and took the solemn walk across the hallway into the courtroom. The door of the courtroom held open by one of our deputies as we stepped inside. Everyone is standing as we make our way into the jury box. I make it to my seat in the front row, third chair in.
I mentioned in a previous episode that 14 of the blue office-style jury chairs were bolted to the ground, seven in the front row and seven in the back. But there were 16 jurors sitting through this trial. The four alternates wouldn't be selected until just before the deliberation phase. So that meant two extra chairs had to be added to accommodate all 16 of us.
A matching, freestanding blue office chair on wheels sat at the end of each row. The back row's extra chair stayed put throughout the trial. But the front row? Now that was a different story. The way the jury box was designed meant that the extra chair had to be added after we all took our seats. So, every single time we entered the room, 15 of us would file in,
with the entire courtroom standing, mind you, and quietly take our seats in the utter silence that filled the air. And then, clunk, a bailiff would maneuver the final 30-pound rolling blue office chair into the last block of space in the front row of the jury box. Then, the last juror was finally able to take her seat. This too had become a part of the routine, but today felt different.
When we stepped into the courtroom this time, my eyes immediately went to the floor in front of the jury box where a large blue tarp had been laid out, covering the space just feet from where I would take my seat. I didn't know exactly what was coming, but I knew one thing. Today, we were stepping into the crime scene.
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Chapter 2: What evidence did Michelle Johnson present from the crime scene?
This is Sequestered, a juror's perspective on the murder trial for Jasmine Pace. I'm Sarah, juror number 11. Each episode, I'll take you inside the courtroom, behind the scenes, and into the weighty moments of this trial as we honor Jasmine's life and navigate the complexities of seeking justice. Let's begin. This is episode four, Inside the Crime Scene.
The prosecution called their next witness to the stand, Michelle Johnson, a seasoned crime scene investigator with years of experience. Michelle was a middle-aged woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing glasses and a light blue pantsuit with a black blouse. Serious and guarded, she carried herself with the confidence of someone who had seen it all.
She was stern, yet soft-spoken, and gave the distinct impression that she wouldn't be easily swayed. Plainly put, Michelle Johnson was no rookie. This wasn't the first crime scene she had stepped into. Everyone who entered that apartment saw it through their own lens. The Pace family searching for answers and investigators piecing together evidence.
But Johnson, she had one focus honed by experience. She was looking for blood and she found it. There was blood everywhere, smeared behind the couch, on the doorframe, spattered on the wall, and soaked into the tile grout and carpet. Johnson described the Blue Star reaction as one of the strongest she'd ever seen.
How would you describe the Blue Star reaction that you yourself observed inside Mr. Chen's apartment?
Yes.
Yes.
Is there a strong blue star reaction...
Next, the prosecution displayed a diagram of Chen's apartment, depicting the layout of the unit along with a couple of dozen circled numbers written in. Each number represented with a marker that pointed to a piece of evidence. Leading the questioning was Chief Homicide Prosecutor Paul Moyle, working in tandem with Michelle Johnson to methodically present the crime scene evidence.
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Chapter 3: How significant was the blood stain found in Jason Chen's apartment?
Tall and slender with short reddish blonde hair and a neatly trimmed beard, Moyle had the air of a prosecutor who had spent years dissecting cases just like this one. Dressed in a sharp three-piece gray suit, a crisp white button-down, and a navy blue tie, he exuded quiet authority, polished, prepared, and precise.
If Johnson was the steady, unshakable witness, Moyle was her perfect counterpart, relentless, measured, and razor-sharp in his approach. He didn't grandstand or overplay his hand. Instead, he guided Johnson through the evidence with the confidence of a prosecutor who knew exactly how to build his case, brick by brick.
With a nod, he now directed her attention to a large evidence box sitting on the floor just outside of the witness stand. Inside, a seven-foot section of blood-stained carpet, cut straight from the floor of Jason Chen's apartment. Prosecutor Moyle asked CSI Johnson to open the large evidence box. She stepped out of the witness stand, picked up a pair of scissors, and began unsealing the box.
With Moyle's help, the large piece of carpet, along with its blue under padding, would be unfolded and laid out on the tarp just steps in front of the jury box. The stain was massive, roughly the size of a body curled in the fetal position. It saturated the carpet like a dark, haunting shadow of what had happened there.
The blood, deep reddish brown, oxidized with time, had not just soaked in, but seeped through, penetrating both the carpet and the padding beneath it. This wasn't just a surface stain. It had saturated and pooled all the way to the subfloor. In the last episode, during Investigator Crawford's testimony, crime scene photos made it impossible to ignore this grim reality.
We saw each of these layers peeled back, the carpet lifted and the under padding, until the final imprint was revealed. Blood pooled on the wooden floorboard beneath, a silent witness to the violence that had unfolded in that very spot. With this section of carpet now laying on the floor of the courtroom, Judge Patterson invited the jury to stand for a better perspective.
I pushed myself up, leaning over the edge of the jury box. From this angle, I could see the underside of the carpet facing up, where the stain was most clearly visible. The section of carpet was at least seven feet wide, and Jasmine's blood filled more than half of the space. The sheer scale of it was staggering.
Later in the trial, the medical examiner would confirm that nearly every ounce of Jasmine's blood had drained from her body. Even without that knowledge in this moment, I stood there, staring at the evidence, unable to shake a single overwhelming thought. How much blood would it take to create a stain this big?
Here's a clip of News Channel 9's Latricia Thomas and Meg Doyle talking about this part of the trial.
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Chapter 4: What did the prosecution reveal about the suitcase?
Finally, the prosecution introduced a blood spot card, a crucial genetic reference used in forensic testing.
This small card contained a preserved sample of Jasmine Pace's blood, collected for DNA comparison against evidence found at the crime scene. Investigators used it to confirm whether bloodstains in Chen's apartment or on any of the other key items collected matched Jasmine's DNA. but the defense wasn't satisfied.
Defense attorney Weiss pushed back, questioning the collection process and raising concerns about possible contamination, planting seeds of doubt before the jury.
But twice.
If there's video of people going into the crime scene, don't you think that's important to do your job? That's not necessarily part of my job. Isn't it part of your job to determine whether or not a crime scene is contaminated? I mean, we would speak with officers, and we'd ask the officers if there's anything that we wouldn't do.
And he wasn't satisfied with how the Blue Star test was applied, reminding the jury that it's only a presumptive test, not a definitive proof of blood.
Did you do any other scientific test as a criminal investigator firm that was blood?
Just the presumptive test.
Did you at least do a control test that showed the accuracy of the liability of the disorder that you used?
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Chapter 5: What crucial evidence was found in Jason Chen's car?
you know footage may have been obtained much later dumpsters may have been dumped by then I don't know but there could have been footage potentially so we're going to see what kind of dumpsters could be around we did talk to one person who thought the dumpsters would be locked up so let's just go see what it looks like okay there's a set of dumpsters over here too Okay, yep.
So there's two dumpsters over here to the right. There's one dumpster up against the side wall of Walmart. The ones on the right don't even look like they belong to Walmart, so he could have easily put them there. And as we're turning the corner to go on the backside of Walmart, there are one, two, three, four dumpsters lined up that he could have had access to.
And then on the other side, opposite of the rear of Walmart, is a wooded area, which could have easily had anything discarded over there. So the knife has never been found. The phone has never been found. Bloody towels, any of this kind of stuff has never been discovered. So who knows if that has ended up in a landfill somewhere by now. If it was cast over into the woods somewhere, who knows?
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. Next to the stand, prosecutors would call crime scene investigator Kristen Schubert. Schubert was one of the CSI experts assigned to the search of 110 Tremont Street on November 28, 2022.
Her role in this search was to apply the Bluestar forensic agent, a chemical designed to react with traces of blood. These results were clearly seen in numerous evidence photos presented thus far in the trial, but the defense was ready to poke holes in Schubert's findings. Could the reaction have been caused by bleach? No bleach was found in the apartment. But here's a key detail.
No second test was performed to confirm that the substance was blood.
Tell the jury about Blue Star. Blue Star is a chemiluminescent blood-free agent. And investigators use it to help identify areas of interest where the blood may not be visible to the naked eye. When it is applied, it reacts with the iron in your blood. And if there is a positive reaction, you will see that blue or light blue glow. And that has been documented with photographs.
And swabs of those areas are taken for further testing.
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Chapter 6: What role did the BlueStar test play in the investigation?
I did. It was pulled up onto level ground by the time I had arrived on scene. But I did observe it and document and photograph it and collect evidence from that area.
Now I'm now going to retrieve from what's been briefed me about.
Yes, I do. What is this item? This is the suitcase that was recovered at South Creek Rim.
Where I moved at this time, I-173 into evidence.
So did I. Where did this suitcase go after South Creek Rim?
Because we believed it had human remains inside of it, the medical examiner wanted it transported as is. So Hamilton County EMS came out through the scene. They loaded the suitcase onto the EMS truck and transported it to the medical examiner's office.
Did you go to the medical examiner's office as well?
Yes, I did.
And what happened when you all arrived at the medical examiner's office?
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Chapter 7: How does the defense challenge the prosecution's evidence?
A quick reminder before we continue, this next part is heavy. We're about to discuss some graphic details from the crime scene, including evidence that was shown in court. If you need to skip ahead or take a break, please do. Once the suitcase was transported to the medical examiner's office, its contents would be revealed, and investigators would finally locate Jasmine Pace.
Her tiny body lay inside the suitcase, handcuffed and shackled in the fetal position, and wrapped inside three layers of trash bags. Here's something chilling that we would learn. The keys were still attached to the handcuffs.
CSI Kristen Schubert had carefully documented each detail as the medical examiner peeled back every layer, revealing the brutality of what had been concealed inside of that suitcase. The weight of the moment was undeniable. General Moyle and Judge Patterson warned the courtroom the next images would be difficult to see.
A hush fell over the room because once these photos were shown, there would be no looking away.
This is a series of photos that shows The process, once we removed the victim from the suitcase while inside the bags, we placed them on the table. And this is a series of photos to show the process of taking each layer of the garbage bags off. And so it depicts that process.
Your Honor, I would also give an admonition that at least one of these photos, some people may find disturbing. Listen to him on one photo. I braced myself. Yes, I do. He's the Hamilton County Medical Center. He's
the way the victim's remains in it, outside of the suitcase.
And how many layers of bags were on there?
There were three.
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Chapter 8: What questions remain unanswered about the case?
And you walked through this scene?
I, with booties, applied, yes.
If there was blood on the floor, would your booties suck up the blood?
If there was pools of blood or fresh blood, yes, it's potentially, yes, you would pick it up. What about dry blood? Usually, it doesn't just pick up and move around with dry blood.
It's possible for even crimes in the best of your community to see, right?
I'm not saying it's impossible.
Investigators need a DNA proof, something concrete to tie the evidence together. Enter Greg Martis, a retired crime scene investigator with years of forensic experience. His job was to collect the genetic reference samples that would confirm Jasmine Pace's identity. He gathered a couple of toothbrushes and a hair clip from Jasmine's house, ensuring they would provide a reliable DNA profile.
Then he collected swabs from each of her parents. Their genetic markers would serve as the key comparison in the forensic process. It was a necessary step, a clinical process, but one that carried an undeniable weight. A family's DNA, not just confirming identity, but solidifying loss.
For what purpose?
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