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 it will just be me coming to
you this week. My wonderful co -host and husband,
Eli, is tied up with some work projects this
evening, so he's a little busy, and it'll just
be me coming to you this week. I wanted to take
just a few minutes at the top to say thank you
so much. We had like a lot of really positive
five -star reviews come in this week. And then
we also had folks reaching out on social media
and also sending us case suggestions. We had
a few folks reach out and do that. So thank you
so much for doing that. And for the kind words,
for the advocacy work, I appreciate it so much.
We both do, both Eli and I do. So thank you so
much. And please continue to reach out to us.
All our information is on our website, www .coldepay
.com. missing .com or in our show notes too.
So I know I normally do this rambling pitch at
the end, but I just wanted to say thank you at
the top for everyone who reached out. It was
so meaningful. So thank you. However, I did want
to get on here, get on the mic and bring you
another episode of cold and missing. We are on
a missing person case this week. So I think we
should just go ahead and get into it. So just
as a bit of a content warning at the top, this
case does involve a young person. Today, we are
talking about the missing person case of Jarkeius
Adside. And this takes place in October of 2001
in Leisure City, Florida. But first, a little
bit about Jarkeius. Jarkeius Adside was only one
years old in 2001. He was born on September 30,
2000, and by fall of 2001, he was still very
much a baby, learning, growing, and completely
dependent on the adults around him. Family members
sometimes called him by his nickname, Kiri. Everyone
who loved him knew what a big smile he had as
a baby. In October of 2001, Jairquiz was experiencing
instability in his life. Both of his parents
were incarcerated at this time. His mother, Tamara
Jones, was being held in the Palm Beach County
Jail after being charged with attempted theft
at a department store, an arrest that happens
just the day before our timeline starts. Jarkeius'
father was in the Broward County Jail, awaiting
trial on charges related to arms trafficking.
Because of this, Jarkeius was staying with Gwendolyn
Brown. Tamara called her her cousin, but they
were not actually related, according to reports.
Gwendolyn lived in Leisure City, in southeast
Miami -Dade County. She lived on Southwest 158th
Place. She shared her home with her common -law
husband, Jeffrey Cochran. They had just begun
caring for Jarkeius the night before our timeline
really starts. So with that, a timeline of events.
Thursday. October 18th, 2001. So that morning
seemed to start like many other mornings. Gwendolyn
got up and got her teenage daughter ready for
school. At approximately 6 .30 a .m., Gwendolyn
walked her daughter to the bus stop, and then
she started returning home. Everything felt normal
until she got to her house. As Gwendolyn walked
back towards the house, she was suddenly ambushed
by three gunmen. They jumped out from between
a bush and a shed near the side of the home.
The men grabbed her, duct taped her, and forced
her back inside her home. They dragged her up
the 17 steps to a second -floor bedroom. The
men were described as three black males, but
they had their faces covered. Upstairs, Jeffrey
Cochran and one -year -old Jarkeius were asleep
in the same room. The men quickly separated Jeffrey
from the baby. Both Jeffrey and Gwendolyn were
tied up with duct tape and both were gagged.
The only thing that the intruders asked for was
money. Repeatedly, they kept demanding, where's
the money? Where's the money? Then they started
ransacking the house. Clothes were thrown everywhere.
Furniture was knocked around. The men even ripped
open ceiling vents, clearly searching for something
they believed was hidden. According to Gwendolyn,
she normally kept her house immaculate, but the
men quickly destroyed the home. During the chaos,
Gwendolyn and Jeffrey heard a gunshot go off
in the home. When the men finally left, Gwendolyn
and Jeffrey were still tied up. It took them
nearly two hours to free themselves from the
binds. As soon as they're able to free themselves
from the binds, they start to look for Jarkeius.
They're unable to find him in the home. What
they do find, however, is very concerning. They
find blood, a lot of blood, smeared on a bed.
They quickly call the police to report Jarkeius
missing and to report everything that had happened
to them that morning. Due to the chaotic state
the home was left in by the men, it does take
them some time, but eventually Gwendolyn and
Jeffrey do determine that some items were stolen
from their home. Jarchius, of course, was missing.
He was last seen wearing a red, white, and blue
shirt and a diaper. His hair was in braids at
the time. When police arrived, they are immediately
confused by one detail. If this was a robbery
and the men were demanding money, Why take a
one -year -old child? A spokesperson for the
police, Juan Del Castillo, told the media, quote,
Inside the home, investigators found blood. Concerningly,
they found very bloody sheets. DNA samples were
taken from Jarkeius' personal items to determine
whether the blood belonged to him or possibly
to one of the abductors. Ultimately, the test
determined that it is Jarkeius' blood, and due
to the amount that's found at the scene, they
are concerned if he could survive that much blood
loss at his little age. Detective William Ryan
will later say, quote, all indications are he
was seriously injured, possibly critically. Gwendolyn
Brown and Jeffrey Cochran did have criminal pasts,
but police stated that they did not believe their
backgrounds were motive behind this abduction,
but it is something that they were going to look
into more in -depthly. They also said they were
unsure whether the criminal histories of Jarkeius'
parents played any role. Very quickly that same
day, a $25 ,000 reward was immediately offered
by Crimestoppers for any information leading
to Jarkeius. Police spent the entire day searching
the area around the home, including the nearby
canals that were mentioned earlier. Everyone
was desperate for any sign of the missing one
-year -old. They brought in scent dogs to try
to pick up any trail, but the dogs were unsuccessful.
Police even launch a helicopter with heat -seeking
technology, but don't find any sign of the little
boy. The next day, Friday, October 19th. Police
interview both of D 'Archias' parents while they
are in custody. They're hoping to find some leads
as to who might have taken their son, but these
interviews don't seem to result in any suspects
or leads for police. The next day, Saturday,
October 20th, so this is just two days after
Jarkeius was taken, police still have no leads.
Despite the shocking nature of the abduction
and the reward money, nobody had come forward
that could explain where Jarkeius was or why he
had been taken. Police do release three suspect
sketches of the men believed to be responsible
for the home invasion and abduction. Around this
time, Jarkeius' mother, Tamara Jones, posted bond
and was released from jail. She immediately began
searching for her son, publicly pleading for
answers and holding on to hope that he could
be found alive. On Tuesday, October 23rd, so
it's been five days since Jarkeius disappeared,
and the case takes a significant turn at this
point. The Homicide Division officially takes
over the investigation. Police were careful to
say that this change did not mean that they had
evidence that Jarkeius was dead, but due to the
amount of blood found at the crime scene and
the passing of time with no sign of him, homicide
was the right department to take over, and the
shift underscored the seriousness of the case.
Investigators had combed through hospitals for
critically injured baby boys, and nobody matched
Jarkeius. On Thursday, October 25th, so this is
one week after Jarkeius was taken, there still
had been no ransom demand made by any of the
kidnappers. Police stated they had collected
a significant amount of evidence. Fingerprints
and paper evidence were reportedly left behind
by the intruders. Gwendolyn Brown reiterated
that the men were only asking for money. She
says, quote, they were looking for money. That's
all they asked for. Police continued to focus
heavily on the canals near the home, searching
again and again for any sign of Jarkeius. Tamara
Jones publicly stated that she did not doubt
the robbery story at all. She said, quote, Back
in the day, Jeffrey had a name for being a big
-time dope dealer. But you know, when people
go to jail for 10 years, they come home and there's
no money there. That's Jeffrey. But I know they've
never done anything to hurt my baby. I don't
know if he's hurt or if he's alive. I'm just
praying that wasn't his blood in the house. When
media asked the police whether they had any reason
not to believe Gwendolyn or Jeffrey, authorities
said, quote, Gwendolyn was deeply shaken by the
attack. She hired someone to cut down all of
the bushes and greenery around her home, knowing
that the men had hidden there before jumping
out at her. When Jeffrey Cochran was asked if
he knew what happened to Jarkeius, he said, quote,
On November 10, 2001, so it's just been over
three weeks now that Jarkeius has been missing,
Police have returned again and again to the neighborhood
to search for clues and have turned up nothing.
They say that they have brought in cadaver dogs
at different points, but they never picked up
on anything, according to police. Police had
sent evidence that had been collected from the
scene to a lab that had advanced fingerprint
technology that they didn't have available to
them at that time. Both Gwendolyn and Jeffrey
were arrested after Jarkeius' vanishing. but they
were arrested on drug charges. Police say that
they found several grams of cocaine in the home.
Due to both of their criminal past, police are
trying to figure out if anything from their past
would have prompted the invasion and kidnapping.
Again, police never call Gwendolyn or Jeffrey
suspects. They just have to search every possibility
in Jarkeius' disappearance. One of the detectives
says, quote, It's strange that this baby hasn't
turned up. It's strange that a baby was taken
during a home invasion in the first place. But
it's possible. Police and media wonder if the
strangeness is why the community has not come
out for this baby. There had never been any community
searches or flyers put up independently. Bernard
Perlmutter, who was the director of Children
and Youth Law Clinic at the University of Miami,
said, quote, This seems a little bit out of the
ordinary. It's distressing that folks aren't
maybe more willing to come forward and help police
do whatever it is they need to find the child.
In May of 2002, so it's been seven months at
this point, and there's still no sign of Dirkias.
Police are open to any and all possibilities
as to what might have happened to him that morning
in the house. Tamara, his mother, still believes
Gwendolyn's story. She says, quote, To keep from
going crazy, I think someone has him, and they're
taking care of him, because I can't believe anyone
would hurt an innocent baby. However, after this,
Jarkeius' case really seems to go cold. I couldn't
find any recent updates or any other developments
in his story. Over the years, he will appear
in newspaper reports just as a missing child,
like in the advertisement sections, but there's
no real updates in his case or new information
that comes out. He would be 25 years old today.
So with that said, if you know anything about
the disappearance of Jarkeius Adside or his whereabouts
today, please call the Miami -Dade Police Department
at 305 -471 -8477. So that is the missing person
case of Jarkeius Adside. This case, when I first
came across it, I had never heard of it before,
and I'm really sad that I had never... heard
of Dorkeas' case before. You know, when I'm searching
for these cases, you know, I spend a lot of time
looking for cases to cover here. And it is always
devastating to see a little baby's face on any
of the missing posters or if the cold cases.
So it always tugs at my heartstrings when I see.
you know, a baby's picture there. And I had the
same experience when I saw Jarkeius' picture,
which of course we'll have on our Instagram,
at coldandmissing. So we'll have pictures of
him up there, including some age progression
photos. But then, you know, after I found the
case and started researching, I was glad that
I could find information on his case, but it
was really frustrating to see how little information
was out there about Jarkeius. I was really upset
that I hadn't seen any updates or developments
in his case over the years. You know, no real
energy behind the case. But then also it was
very frustrating that in a lot of the publications
that I could find that, you know, were covering
it, covering his story, like in the newspapers,
there were several times his name was just completely
misspelled. It is a unique name, Jarkeius. But
it was completely misspelled several times for
months at some point. I'm sure there are maybe
some reports out there that I couldn't find just
because of the misspelling of the name. So that
was something that was really frustrating in
this case, that care wasn't taken with this baby's
name and getting his name right. Because I feel
like if he wasn't like... a missing Black boy
from a poor neighborhood or, you know, poor circumstances,
that more care would have been taken in his case,
in his name. And it was really devastating to
hear that the community didn't come out, that
other people weren't coming out in support of
this baby and finding out what happened to him.
You know, we really do see almost in every case
of a missing child where the community almost
always comes out and searches independently,
covers the town in flyers. And that was not the
case here, which was very strange, you know,
according to, you know, other people in that
community. It was noticeably strange that there
was no outrage for this baby when he went missing.
So it felt very important to bring his case to
cold and missing and just get the information
out there and try to get. you know, the information
all in one place with the correct spelling of
his name. So that's what I set out to do in covering
this case. As far as questions in this case,
there's a lot of them. This is a very strange
case. So it really starts with this home invasion.
Gwendolyn, the woman who was watching Jarkeius
during this time, you know, left to walk her
daughter to school. And when she walks back,
she's ambushed by these three men at gunpoint
and forced into her home. Her and her common
law husband are tied up. They're gagged and the
house is ransacked. So, you know, in researching
this case, you know, in just doing some Googling,
it does appear that like some, you know, just
like social media You know, blog sites might
question Gwendolyn and Jeffrey and this home
invasion. But from my understanding, police never
really do. They don't question this home invasion.
They look at them as victims. And from everything
that I read, you know, from the police spokespeople,
it does seem like they believe this home invasion
happened, that they released these sketches of
these three men. Gwendolyn and Jeffrey are arrested
on those drug -related charges, so there's other
things that police look at with them, and they
look into their backgrounds to see if there's
anybody that might be motivated to do this from
their past. Police definitely go down that rabbit
hole, but it's unclear if that leads to any suspects,
if there's anything there that would suggest
this kind of activity. Unfortunately, the adults
in Jarkeius' life did have criminal activity,
you know, in their history and in their background.
So that can often lead to shady people and things
like that. But from my understanding, at least
as far as police have said, nobody, that didn't
lead to anything. So I don't know if there's
anything more to mine there as far as like. backgrounds
of the adults in Jarkeius' life go. There's also
just the question of like, was this a crime of
opportunity? You know, it was really early in
the morning, 6 .30 in the morning. And Gwendolyn
was walking her daughter to the bus stop. So,
you know, it wouldn't be out of the question
that These three men see her leave her house
with her daughter, presumably to go to the bus
stop. It's pretty easy to tell in my neighborhood
when I'm watching parents walk their kids to
school or walk them to the bus stop. So if somebody
saw this as a crime of opportunity, maybe they
were looking to rob someone and this was a crime
of opportunity. She was coming back home. They
could force their way in really quick. Maybe,
but that's a big gamble. Jeffrey was there. He
was asleep at the time. So they were able to
also tie him up. But it leads to so many questions.
And furthermore, police did say that they got
some fingerprint evidence. You know, I would
be curious when the last time those were entered
into systems or searched to see if there were
any matches. And I'd be curious where the fingerprints
were lifted from within the house. You know,
like I know duct tape, like just tape in general,
it can leave fingerprints. So I wonder if it's
coming from there or if it came from other places
in the house. And then. Police also specifically
mentioned paper evidence. I'm not sure exactly
what paper evidence is, but I would be curious
what exactly that was in this case. And is there
any hope of testing it further for fingerprints
DNA in 2026 with our advanced technology? Is
there any hope there? And then, of course, the
blood that was found at the scene. I read. A
couple of times where police referred to it as
smeared on a bed, I also heard it referred to
as like blood -soaked sheets. So I take it all
as like a blood in a bedroom area, in a sleeping
area. But a lot of it, like it does seem like
there was a lot of blood at the scene from police
reports. And, you know, according to the family,
it does seem that. Jarkeius would have needed
to seek medical attention pretty quickly with
the amount of blood loss. He would have needed
to be in the care of somebody with some medical
training. And we know police checked local hospitals
in the area, and nobody came in matching his
description with any injuries similar to what
they think could have happened at the scene.
According to Gwendolyn and Jeffrey, they did
hear a gunshot go off. So that leads the question,
could Jarchius have been shot? With all of that
blood there, like, there's a part of me that
hopes that maybe somewhere in that blood evidence
would be DNA from... The abductors, the killers,
you know, if they hurt themselves at the crime
scene. But I also understand that's like a needle
in a haystack. If you have a bloody sheet, you'd
have to find, you know, the exact spot to test
and separate from Jarkeius' DNA. So, you know,
that's my hope and my wish, you know, that we
could find something like that. But maybe there's
other evidence that we just don't know about.
It does seem like police were able to collect
quite a bit from the home. My hope in the year
of 2026 is, you know, one, we get a lot of energy
behind Jarkeius' case to understand what happened
to this baby. I, you know, I say this all the
time for kids, but it just feels so unacceptable
to not know where a child is. And for a baby,
a baby one years old, for a baby to go missing
and there just not be energy and everybody looking
for this baby. Doesn't sit right for me. And
I know he's not a baby anymore. I know he would
be 25 years old today, turning 26 this year.
But I just think it's unacceptable to not know
what happened to him. And if he is alive today,
like, I hope that is the case. But, you know,
whoever took him should have to answer for what
they did. But ultimately, police are operating.
under the assumption that Jarkeius would not have
been able to survive the blood loss. So if that
is the case, then people need to answer for what
happened to him. Because it's just not fair.
Like, for a little baby not to get a shot at
this life, at this world. This is just a really
heartbreaking case. And I just want more people
talking about Jarkeius and getting his name out
there and energy behind his case. So again, if
you know anything about the disappearance of
Jarkeius Adside or his whereabouts today, please
call the Miami -Dade Police Department at 305
-471 -8477. Like I said throughout the podcast,
we will have pictures of Jarkeius on our Instagram,
at coldandmissing. We'll also have an age progress
photo on there. The age progress photo is only
to age 14, and like I've mentioned, he would
be 25 years old today, but it's the most updated.
age progress photo that I could find. It's coming
from the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children. So they're the ones that tend to do
those updates. And so that's the one that they
have on their website as well. So we'll have
that. Please share Jarkeius' picture, the age
progress photo, his story, his case. Let's just
get that energy out there. So please share. And
if you're not following us at Cold and Missing,
we're also posting active missing person cases
happening right now in 2026, updates on cold
cases as they're happening. So it's just a good
resource. And of course, if we ever need to take
a week off because life gets in the way, we'll
always update our Instagram at coldandmissing.
We should pop right up. And our website is also
there too, www .coldandmissing .com. You can
also get in touch with us there. You can leave
reviews there. You can find all our old episodes
or if you need transcripts, official transcripts
where, you know, the spelling is all corrected.
You can find that at www .coldandmissing .com.
And then, you know, thank you again so much to
everyone who's rated and reviewed us this week.
It means so much and it really gets people listening
to this podcast. So if you haven't, if you've
been thinking about doing it, you know, this
is the week. This is the year, 2026. Leave that
five -star review. Drop the five stars. Leave
the written review. And really five stars is
what we need to get this podcast into other people's
ears to get them listening to it. So thank you
so much. It really goes a long way for other
people taking a chance on this podcast and listening.
And ultimately, you know, it gets these stories
out there. So I look at it. I look at it as advocacy
work, so I think you should too. Five stars goes
a long way in somebody taking a chance and listening.
So thank you so much. But that is all I have
for you this week. Thank you so much for listening
to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Ali. Have
a good week and stay safe, y 'all.