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 and is intended for a mature
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Welcome back everyone.
Welcome back.
This is Cold and Missing.
I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
And it's Cold and Missing where we cover cold cases and unresolved missing person cases.
All right Al, what do you have for us this week?
So today we are talking about the cold case of Jeremy Toles.
And this takes place in April of 2011 in Midwest City, Oklahoma.
But first a little bit about Jeremy.
Jeremy is 24 years old.
He was born September 8th, 1986 and he would be 36 years old today.
His family and friends describe him as gregarious.
He lit up the room.
A friend and co-worker, Charlotte Adams says, quote, you could be in a bad mood and then
he'd crack a joke and that would change it.
He'd give you 75 cents of his last dollar if you needed it, end quote.
Jeremy played football throughout high school and received a scholarship to play at Langston
University, an HBCU or historically black college or university.
And it's the only HBCU in Oklahoma I learned.
However in 2007 his football career was abruptly ended when a shooter opened fire in a pizzeria
parking lot that Jeremy was leaving at the time with his friends.
Jeremy was hit by a stray bullet, shattering the bone in his leg.
Another woman was also hit but no one was killed in this incident.
This experience, however, changed him.
He became very skittish and started carrying a gun with him at all times.
And unfortunately this did lead to him getting into some trouble with police.
In 2009 he was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon.
He received a five year deferred sentence.
This basically meant that if he stayed out of trouble for five years the charge would
be dropped from his record.
Jeremy didn't squander the second chance he was given.
He found a passion for cooking and would spend most of his nights trying out new recipes
for his family.
He also found out that he was going to be a father to a baby girl who was born two days
before Christmas.
The mother of his daughter, Kandice Derrick said quote, his life had completely changed
and revolved around providing for his daughter and getting back into school, end quote.
Jeremy had a job at a local telecommunications company where he quickly earned a reputation
as a hard worker and a customer favorite.
His work supervisor, Keia Marshall says quote, he was determined, he was ambitious.
Customers would call back and ask for Jeremy by name.
We were just blessed that he was a part of our lives, end quote.
So now a little timeline of events here.
On Friday, April 9th, 2011, at this time Jeremy is about two years into his deferred sentence
just to give you an idea of where we are in his life.
Jeremy calls his mother Gladys Toles and says he's coming over that evening to do
some laundry.
He also calls Kandice to check in on his daughter but at some point that evening his plans change.
Instead of going to his mother's house to do laundry, Jeremy decides to go out with
friends in Langston, about 45 minutes from his home in Midwest City, but where he went
to college so he was familiar with the area.
On Saturday, April 10th, 2011, Gladys called Jeremy's phone several times throughout
the day but he never picked up.
Jeremy also was supposed to pick up his daughter but failed to show up and there were no details
if he communicated with Candace about this or not.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the OSBI, say that Jeremy was last seen alive
in the evening hours of Saturday, April 10th, 2011 but there are no details as to where
he was seen, who he was seen with, if he was seen with anybody, or who he was seen by.
So we really don't know where he is on Saturday, April 10th.
On Sunday, April 11th, 2011, Gladys keeps trying Jeremy's phone but still no answer.
She begins to really worry for her child now because she hasn't talked to him since April
9th.
That was the last time she heard from Jeremy.
On Monday, April 12th, 2011, Gladys, still worried about Jeremy, calls work who inform
her that he did not show up that day.
This sends the family into a panic.
That afternoon, a farmer in Logan County, Oklahoma, this is north of Oklahoma City,
about 35 minutes from where Jeremy lived in Midwest City, the farmer finds a body in his
field.
Officers at the scene believed the body was dumped there, meaning there was another crime
scene where the actual murder took place.
Investigators also believe that he had been there for a couple of days at this point.
The OSBI get involved immediately with this case and the state medical examiner is able
to review the body that same day.
As the news breaks that a body was found in a farmer's field, Jeremy's family is sent
over the edge.
Gladys said, quote, I knew it was Jeremy.
I screamed and I cried and I said, that's my baby.
That's my baby.
And how could they dump him there like a dog like that?
End quote.
Jeremy is ultimately ID'd through his fingerprints and the family is informed that evening.
On Tuesday, April 13th, 2011, police announced that foul play is suspected in Jeremy's
death and ultimately the state medical examiner will rule his death a homicide.
His autopsy revealed that his cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
On Saturday, April 16th, 2011, Jeremy's funeral is held and over 900 people show up
to pay their respect.
There wasn't enough room in the chapel, so people were standing in the aisles and waited
outside on the street.
Jeremy's mother said, quote, I think the Lord saw that Jeremy corrected his wrongs
and called him home.
But to see how many lives he touched, how many people showed up for his funeral, that
doesn't happen if you're not loved.
End quote.
And then this case really goes cold.
On May 17th, 2019, this is eight years since Jeremy's body was found.
His parents sit down with local news asking for the public's help and to keep his name
in the media.
But there doesn't seem to be any leads that come from this.
And then truly, that is all we know about what happened to Jeremy Toles.
There has never been a suspect announced in this case and there's never been any person
or people of interest named.
If you know anything about what happened to Jeremy Toles in April of 2011, you are encouraged
to call the OSBI at 1-800-522-8017 or you can email them at tips at OSBI dot OK dot
gov.
Again, you can call them at 1-800-522-8017 or email them at tips that's T I P S at OSBI
dot OK dot G O V.
And the sources for today's podcast come from the Daily Oklahoman and they really are the
only newspaper that I could find that covered this case.
So shout out to the Daily Oklahoman, Uncovered dot com, News 9, Temple and Sons dot com and
KOC05.
OK, so do you have any questions?
So the first question that I have for you is how did his body end up in a field?
Honestly we don't really know.
So the most that investigators have really been able to determine is that he was dumped
there, that this is a second site and so the actual crime of the thing, what actually happened
to Jeremy happened somewhere else outside of this field and then his body was left in
the field.
And according to reports, he had been there for a couple of days at that point, according
to investigators.
Which brings into question the last time that he was seen.
It brings into question the last time he was seen because the OSBI, they say Saturday,
April 10th is the last time that Jeremy is seen, but they don't say where he is or who
he's with, if he's with anybody.
However, all day Saturday, his mother calls him again and again and he doesn't pick up
and he also fails to pick up his daughter, which his life was revolving around at this
time.
And if his body is found on a Monday and police are saying that it's there for several days,
to me it makes more sense that on Friday he went missing when he went out to Langston
to go out with friends.
It would make more sense that that was the last time as that was the last time his family
heard from him, but police are pretty firm in this.
He was seen April 10th, but we don't know where.
Yeah, so if a crime happens in one jurisdiction and then the body is dumped and like crosses,
you know, county lines, town or city, I don't really understand how that stuff works.
Does it change who pays attention to what?
Or are they just operating on the assumption that the murder happened at a second location?
Well, I think they have evidence or the lack of evidence at the field lets them know that
the murder happened somewhere else.
Gotcha.
Okay.
But as far as jurisdiction goes, so Logan County Sheriff is the first on the scene and
they are involved in the recovery, but very quickly that same day the OSBI get involved.
And I think it's because they're able to ID Jeremy very quickly through his fingerprints.
So they know that, you know, the city that he lives in is different than the county that
he was found in, which is different than the last place that he was seen potentially.
Again, we don't know where OSBI is putting him on that Saturday.
So I think that OSBI gets involved quickly just because he's kind of has ties in a lot
of different places so they can kind of oversee the entire state.
Do you think that that is beneficial to this case that they immediately step in?
I think it is beneficial, but I don't really see a payout here for it.
I mean, do you think that that's why perhaps there is like a lack of information known
to us because of the OSBI?
Yeah, I guess I didn't know if they had to be more protective of what they share with
the public.
I don't think they need to be any protective, any more protective than any other police
agency.
Okay.
The OSBI, you know, they want this case solved.
A number of years ago, they put out a deck of cards that had cold cases on them that
they put into the prison system to try to get jailhouse informants essentially and to
remind them of cases.
Jeremy was on one of them.
One of the cards had his picture and just a quick summary of his case, but that's it.
I mean, Jeremy really is the farthest away from a missing white woman as you can get.
So his case just didn't get a lot of coverage at all.
Yeah, yeah.
And that's unfortunate.
And we've spoken about it before on the podcast that, you know, that's a trend in systemic
racism that runs through systems like these that black folks are neglected.
Yeah.
And I think the fact that Jeremy had a bit of a police record on him, even though he
was in a deferred sentence.
So if he was able to complete that, he would not have a criminal record.
Just want to make that clear.
I think it stopped the media from covering it a lot or continuing to cover it, which
is really unfortunate because this because he's a person.
Yeah, because he's a person and somebody that was really loved.
This is the first time in my research that I've seen anyone called gregarious, which
came up again and again, like a couple of people called him that, which I thought was
such a great word and like such a unique word for a person.
But again, if you have any information about what happened to Jeremy in April of 2011,
you are encouraged to call the OSBI at 1-800-522-8017 or you can send an email at tips.
That's t i p s at osbi.ok.gov and you can remain anonymous.
And if you are enjoying our podcasts, please follow us on Instagram.
We'll have pictures of Jeremy up this week, giving synopsis of the case and just putting
his picture out there again for people to see and hopefully jog some memories.
This wasn't that long ago.
It was 2011.
So hopefully some information is able to be drummed up over the years.
Yeah, I would love to just like learn more about this man, you know, and the family and
everything.
Mm hmm.
While you're in your podcast app, if you want to go ahead and give us a five star review,
if you're in Apple podcasts, if you want to write us a review, we got a really nice review
last week.
So you said you would be listening.
So I hope you are.
This is my little shout out to you.
Thank you so much.
And yeah, that's all I have.
Have a good week and stay safe, y'all.
Stay safe, y'all.