Daughter's Death Ruled Suicide-Mom Becomes Detective, Gets Confession from Killer

Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan

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True Crime

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Jamie Dickerson never believed her daughter, April Holt, committed suicide. Not because she is in denial, but because she knows her daughter was trying to leave her marriage and had told her husband two weeks before her death that she wants a divorce. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack discuss the case, how 29-year-old April Holt is found unresponsive in the bathroom of the home she shares with her husband and son, with a plastic bag taped tightly around her neck. Why is her death ruled a suicide, and what does her mother do to catch the killer and see him go to trial for murder. This episode discusses domestic abuse and suicide. If you are someone you know is living in a domestic violence situation, there is a toll free number to call: 1-800-799-3233. There is also a number if you are having thoughts of self-harm or even taking your own life, the suicide hotline and Crisis Lifeline - 988.

Transcribe Highlights

00:00.97 Introduction
NOTE - In this episode both domestic violence and suicide will be discussed

05:09.61 Victim's mother solves the crime

09:50.94 Discussion of the "finder" and the "reporter"

14:11.21 Talk about framing of a story for the police on the scene

18:58.24 How cases are classified as "final exit" case

25:00.55 Discussion of broken blood vessels in the cheek

30:20.65 Claim of "sex play" gone too far and staging the scene

35:02.96 Killer sentenced to two-years in prison

39:29.59 Sentence is a "slap in the face to victims of domestic violence"

41:03.67 Conclusion Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-3233
Suicide Hotline and crisis lifeline - 988

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bodybacks with Joseph Scott Moore.
0:05.0	You know, there's something about the love of a mother.
0:10.0	I'm not saying that fathers don't love their kids, but it's almost like this intuitive thing that mamas have.
0:20.0	You know, it's amazing. A mother can live. intuitive thing that mamas have.
0:28.2	You know, it's amazing. A mother can look at her child and just know something is wrong.
0:41.6	Today we're going to talk about a case here on body bags that involves a mother and not just any mother. We're talking about a mother who actually did the job of a detective and solved the murder of her very own daughter.
0:55.4	I'm Joseph Scott Morgan, and this is Bodybacks.
1:02.2	Well, good to be with you again, Brother Dave.
1:06.1	I spent some time, you know, kind of meditating on this case a bit.
1:12.0	And I, you know, I reached back in time and was thinking about the things that my mother understands about me.
1:24.0	And even at this stage in life, I can give her a phone call and if there's something going on in
1:33.7	my life she will say before I ever say it or make reference to it what's wrong and there's
1:42.3	just something I do that with Noah too with my son, but the relationship
1:48.2	that Kimmy has with with Noah is completely different. It's almost like a six sense that
1:57.1	mamas have about things. And that's why it's important, I think, to talk about this case today because there are a lot
2:06.2	of people out there that have no support system in their life.
2:11.0	They're kind of cast adrift on this ocean of pain and misery in this journey.
2:19.9	But even in this case goes, this case goes to how far a mother's love extends, even beyond the grave, Dave.
2:30.5	Well, a lot of times when we have the story about a suicide, a reported suicide, oftentimes, family members have a difficult time understanding what happened. They didn't see it coming or what have you. And in this particular case, Joe, when April Holt, 29-year-old woman dies and it's ruled a suicide. And her mother was privy to information
2:54.4	that others weren't because they had one-on-one conversations that were not open discussions in
2:59.8	front of other people. And so mama knew that there was a lot of unhappiness in the relationship.
3:05.7	Mama knew that April had tried to leave the marriage previously, and two weeks before
	...

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