The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.
All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.
Listener discretion is advised.
I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.
Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing.
I'm your host, Ali.
And I'm your co-host, Eli.
Welcome to episode 65.
Is it 65?
It is.
Wow.
I've heard a little bit about, well I've heard you react to what you've been learning about
this cold case.
So I'm looking forward to everyone getting to hear about it, including me.
So should we just go ahead and dive into it?
Let's do it.
So today I have for y'all a cold case.
And just as a bit of a content warning, there are some brief mentions of sexual assault
in this case.
Today we are talking about the cold case of Jimmy Blakeley.
And this takes place in Hartford County, Maryland in April of 1990.
But first, a little bit about Jimmy.
Jimmy is 17 years old in 1990.
He was born May 18, 1972, and he would be 51 years old today.
He's described as a quiet and shy young man, but once you took the time to get to know
him, he opened up and was really funny.
He collected model cars and had ambitions to become a chef and possibly own his own
restaurant.
His father, James Blakeley, says quote, from a tycoon up, he loved to cook, end quote.
Jimmy had dropped out of high school about a year and a half before.
He didn't start school until he was eight years old.
So he was much older and bigger than the kids in his grade.
He planned to get his GED and then attend a cooking college.
Jimmy had only attended Christian schools and he was a very devout churchgoer.
He lived with his grandparents in Level, Maryland, a rural community located in Hartford
County.
Jimmy also appeared to be part of the LGBT community.
He had recently started to hang out and make friends with other gay men in the area.
Since he came from a very religious family, it does not appear that he was out to anyone
in his life.
And now a timeline of events.
On Sunday, April 1st, 1990, Jimmy's working at a Shell gas station and Deli in Conowingo,
Maryland.
He drives there in his brand new 1985 blue Chevrolet Cavalier, which he had just bought
three days before.
It's unclear what time Jimmy gets to work, but we know that he's working the closing
shift that evening.
And around 10 p.m., he calls his parents to say that he's on his way to their house.
The Shell station closes at 10 p.m. so Jimmy hops in his blue Cavalier and drives off.
Instead of going straight to his parents' house, he makes a stop at U.S. Books, an adult
bookstore frequented by the gay community.
He's seen there around 11 p.m.
Jimmy eventually leaves the bookstore with a man.
The next day, Monday, April 2nd, the body of Jimmy is found by a fisherman at around
10 20 a.m.
He's found on a secluded dirt road about 150 yards from Emerton Road near Otter Point
Creek.
Jimmy was still wearing his Shell uniform, but his shirt had been unbuttoned and his
pants were partially pulled down.
Jimmy had been stabbed once in the heart.
There were no other marks on his body besides the stab wound.
Police begin to investigate the scene.
They are unable to find a weapon, but police do believe that Jimmy was killed where he
was found.
Later that day, police find Jimmy's 1985 blue Chevy Cavalier about two miles away at
the adult bookstore where Jimmy was last seen.
Once the car is recovered, police believe that Jimmy was killed while standing in front
of his car since blood splatter is found on the hood of the car, but no other blood evidence
is found anywhere else in or on the car.
Police find no clues inside the car that would give them a lead on who the suspect is.
Police get to work trying to find a motive for the murder.
The next day, Tuesday, April 3rd, police have no suspects in the case, but officially call
the time frame from the murder from between 10 p.m. on April 1st when Jimmy left the Shell
station and 10 30 a.m. Monday morning when his body was found.
Police at this point do not know if Jimmy was abducted or went willingly with his murderer.
The news of the murder comes as a shock to his family and friends.
Jimmy's classmates from the school he attended, Bethel Christian Academy, are deeply saddened
by the news.
One of his teachers, Millie Flosser, says, quote, unless he made some drastic changes
since he left, he is a very easygoing, well-mannered boy who comes from a close-knit, very religious
family.
He was a little shy and you had to approach him first, but he was very friendly, end quote.
On Wednesday, April 4th, this is just two days since Jimmy's body was found, police
asked the public for help in the investigation and if they know anything about Jimmy's
whereabouts between Sunday night and Monday morning to call the police as investigators
are trying to retrace Jimmy's steps.
Police have ruled out robbery as a motive.
Jimmy was found still wearing his gold necklace and a ring and other jewelry were found undisturbed.
There were no drugs or alcohol found at the scene.
The family is at a loss as to why he was in that area, which was the opposite direction
from his home.
I personally chalk this up to the fact that he was probably not telling his very religious
family that he was going to an adult bookstore, let alone a queer bookstore.
On Friday, April 6th, 1990, just four days after his body was found, Jimmy is laid to
rest at Hartford Memorial Gardens.
Bethel Academy cancels classes for the day so students can't attend the funeral service.
Police continue to investigate and talk to family and friends of Jimmy to see if they
can find any additional leads.
Media reports initially said that sexual assault was suspected, but police now walk that statement
back.
On Tuesday, April 10th, it's been eight days since Jimmy's body was found and police
say that they received lab results back that show that Jimmy was not sexually assaulted.
Police believe that him being partially undressed could have been done to throw the police off.
Police continue to interview family and friends, but are also chasing down leads that have
been called in by the public.
However, nothing leads to a suspect and all the tips end up being dead ends.
The next update comes Tuesday, September 25th, 1990, so it's been over five months since
Jimmy was found stabbed, and police release a statement.
Police confirm that on April 1st, Jimmy was at the adult bookstore, US Books.
One of the statement reads, and just as a side note, they refer to Jimmy as James throughout
the statement, but he went by Jimmy so that's why I'm calling him Jimmy throughout the
podcast.
Quote, the adult bookstore had a large number of patrons, one of which included James's
killer.
Someone had to see this individual and probably approached by him.
It is hoped that anyone who came into contact in any manner with someone late Sunday night,
April 1st, or early Monday morning, April 2nd, 1990, would please come forward.
The killer has most likely been in the bookstore on previous occasions.
James and his eventual killer left the adult bookstore in James's vehicle.
James was then murdered at the Otter Creek location and his vehicle driven back to the
side of the bookstore building parking lot by the killer.
Police believe that the killer is a local resident and is familiar with the area of
the crime.
Maryland State Police are requesting the help of the public on this case.
This cold-blooded murder must be solved.
This was an act of a coward, without question.
Information developed through the investigation indicates that James Blakeley had become acquainted
with members of the gay community that frequented the adult bookstore.
Investigators believe that until identified and apprehended, this killer poses a danger
to the patrons of the adult bookstores in the area.
End quote.
Police hang a flyer with this statement at all of the adult bookstores in the area hoping
that it will drum up new leads.
But by mid-October, police say they have not received any new tips on Jimmy's murder.
On March 23rd, 1991, approaching one year of Jimmy's murder, police are desperate
for a lead.
They conduct a raid at U.S. Books.
Police say they had been going undercover for three months.
There are still laws on the books in Maryland that essentially made being gay illegal, and
horrifyingly, police arrest nine people during their raid.
The nine people arrested are named and shamed in the newspaper.
One person is simply arrested for removing the label from his AZT medication, a medication
used in the 90s to combat HIV and AIDS.
No leads in Jimmy's murder resulted from this raid.
And just as a side note, police raids on gay bookstores is actually still a practice in
Maryland, specifically Hartford County where this case takes place.
The last raid happened May 20th, 2021 in Hartford County.
The next update in the case comes May 1st, 1992.
So it's been over two years since Jimmy's murder, and a week before what should have
been his 20th birthday.
Jimmy's parents sit down for an interview with the local paper.
They're heartbroken over the murder of their son and think about him often.
Jimmy's father, James, says, quote, we are not out for revenge.
We want to look at it in the reverse.
I think that justice will take care of itself.
We're really not out for revenge.
We're not up in arms.
We just want to know what happened to our son so we can put it to rest, end quote.
The police say the case is still active, but at this point, most of the leads come from
Jimmy's father.
James and Trooper Raymond D'Amico, who is the investigator on the case, talk weekly.
James tells him things he overhears, things he comes across in Jimmy's belongings, or
just thoughts he has on the case.
James says, quote, I'm trying to tell him everything I can so he can find the person,
end quote.
Trooper D'Amico does acknowledge that the passing of time has made the case more difficult.
He says, quote, as time passes, it does get worse to solve.
We're just hoping for a lucky lead to come through so we can solve this one, end quote.
And that is the last update that I could find on Jimmy Blakeley's murder.
So if you know anything about the murder of Jimmy Blakeley in April of 1990, please call
the Maryland State Police Criminal Enforcement Division at 410-694-4700.
And the sources for the timeline today come from Carroll County Times, The News Journal,
The Evening Sun, The Baltimore Sun, and The Aegis.
So that is the case of Jimmy Blakeley.
Thank you for bringing his name to our podcast.
My initial reaction was just like, what a shame, because he was a kid.
He was 17, right?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, every part of me is like, that's not right, you know?
No one's supposed to go that way.
So at that age and the circumstance, it's just all devastating.
Yeah, and I think that's actually something that was not talked about, but in 2023, I'm
like, this is a 17-year-old that was probably killed by an adult.
Yeah, even listening to the case, I had to remind myself, this is a child.
This is a child.
He was a child.
I mostly just have reactions at this point.
I'm feeling some feelings of anger and frustration.
To me, it seems like this was a queer person, gay person whose life was just ignored.
It does seem that once police kind of get this news that maybe Jimmy was gay or queer
or just questioning his own sexuality and exploring that, it does seem like the case
veered off and became more about raiding these queer bookstores.
I read a lot of stories about raids happening, not only at the bookstore that Jimmy was
last seen at, but also other bookstores in the area and legislation trying to get passed
to shut these down permanently to the point where I was finding raids in 2021 still happening.
I don't know what's happening in Maryland, but I was like, that's fucked up, quite frankly.
Yeah.
Who are you protecting and serving?
No, you're just on a punishment raid.
Protect and serve?
Who?
No, that's not what they were doing.
It was homophobia and everything you said.
I'm just really grateful that you brought this story to us.
Do you have more comments you'd like to share with us?
Well, for me, I just can't help but think that maybe whoever left with him that night
was somebody who had something to lose.
So maybe this is somebody who had a family at home, like a wife and children.
Maybe this was somebody in power.
This is all speculation, obviously, I don't know.
But the fact that Jimmy was stabbed in the heart just seems so cruel and so personal
that I can't help but think that something went horribly wrong and somebody had something
to lose and they needed to make sure that Jimmy never talked.
That's kind of what I think about this case.
But again, it's just like wild speculation.
So I'll rein it in.
But I have a lot of questions about this case too.
I can't help but wonder if we were to go back and look at what evidence, if any evidence
was really collected in this case, what we might be able to get with DNA today.
A murder weapon was never found, at least that we know of, but if police still have
his car, which had the blood spatter on it, I can't help but think, were their fingerprints
able to be lifted from the steering wheel?
Because we know the killer drove back.
Touch DNA is something that we can collect to this day.
Sometimes it's degraded, but we have seen cases where that has happened.
So I just can't help but wonder, even his clothing, the buttons on his shirt, were those
ever swabbed for DNA?
Yeah, I would want to know what evidence the police have and if there's anything that can
be retested with the advancement of science to possibly get a DNA hit or get a match or
get a fingerprint or something to point us in the direction because the suspect has never
been named in this case.
Yeah, my mind is just kind of, I think, swimming, you know, it's trying to fill in the blanks,
which is, I think, a natural inclination when looking at cases like these because this case
is so in the dark, you know.
Learning about Jimmy is newer to me, so I think I'm, you know, my mind is catching up
alongside you.
But yeah, the questions you brought up, I'm like, yes, yes, like, I can't imagine the
desire that this family had to have answers because I really, really want them.
Yeah, it's a kind of pain that I hope to just never understand, you know.
Yeah, thank you again for bringing this here.
And fucked up, fucked up what's going on in Maryland, that that's still happening, right?
Yeah.
And if you're new here, Eli and I, we're not just like talking out of our ass.
We are part of the LGBT community and are.
Yes, I am a proud queer trans man.
And I am a proud queer woman.
So this does hit home to us in a different way where this Jimmy feels like part of our
family, part of our community.
And I.
Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but we've seen interactions like these now, not with
like resulting in death, but the us, our friends, the way we have been treated by, unfortunately,
a lot of people in law enforcement.
Like the track record is not great.
Yeah, of course I'm amped up.
It's a life loss.
It's someone who should be alive right now.
Yeah, I can't help but feel like so protective over him, you know, because he was, you know,
he was a few weeks away from his 18th birthday, but he was still just a kid, like starting
his life and like possibly discovering who he was and his community.
And someone took advantage of how the queer community had to operate in the dark and in
the shadows because people couldn't be out and proud like they are today.
Like it's like if he had just been given a chance to be himself.
I mentioned this earlier, but I really hope that this case is reopened by a cold case
unit that the evidence that was collected, if it was collected, is really thoroughly
searched and that Jimmy can get justice for what happened to him.
I want it for every case we talk about.
I want every missing person to be found and I want every murdered person to have justice
and for their loved ones to have answers.
But it always hits a little extra hard when it's a kid that never got to really fulfill
their life.
And what have we missed out on because Jimmy never got to really fulfill his potential
in this life and contribute to whatever he wanted to do.
He wanted to be a chef.
Like what have we missed out on as a society?
The gift of his soul and spirit and energy and yeah.
Like what if he was the next famous chef or restaurateur and what have we missed out?
We've missed out on his delicious meals, his creative minds.
It's a loss for everybody and I really, really hope this case gets attention in the future
from investigators.
But again, if you know anything about the murder of Jimmy Blakeley in April of 1990,
please call the Maryland State Police Criminal Enforcement Division at 410-694-4700.
And we will be posting pictures of Jimmy on our Instagram.
So again, if you're not following us, check us out at Cold and Missing.
We should pop right up.
And you can also look at our website www.coldandmissing.com where there will also be transcripts and links
to our YouTube videos.
If you're a YouTube person, you can subscribe and follow us there as well.
There's lots of great conversation happening in the comments over there.
And if you are passionate about the missing and murdered cases that we cover here and
want to advocate for them, one really easy free way to do that is to leave us a review
in whatever podcast platform you are in right now.
But especially if you're an Apple podcast, leaving us a written review really helps people
find us and for people to join in and listen.
So if you could take a minute and do that, it not only helps us, but it helps elevate
these cases to people who have never heard of them.
And we can get Jimmy's name out there to even more people.
So if you've already done that, thank you so much.
If you haven't yet, I hope you find some time coming up soon to do that.
But that's all I have.
Have a good week and stay safe, y'all.
Stay safe, y'all.