What ensued after the escape of Janelle Stone amounted to total chaos. The entire state of New Mexico was on edge and on alert for the vicious and violent escapee.
APO Boris Brownly admitted in later interviews to feeling frustrated, angry, and embarrassed that Janelle had escaped him and two other men.
The thing that amazed people wasn't just that she had escaped from three people in a secure courthouse and jail but also that she eluded capture afterward. Janelle had the face of an older woman who wasn't very attractive but was still ordinary-looking at the same time. However, her body, with its exaggerated hips, was anything but unique. Between that and the fact that her face had been plastered all over the country, making her infamous on a national level, authorities were completely baffled as to why no one had even reported spotting her anywhere.
It was as if Janelle Stone had simply disappeared. Vanished! Disappeared from planet Earth completely.
But there was evidence that she was indeed still present and alive. That would be due to those who were killed that had had some connection to the notorious criminal.
The officer who had shot Janelle in the shoulder was found brutally murdered in his front yard. He appeared to have been ambushed when caught off guard and was unarmed at the time. Autopsy reports showed that he had been severely beaten and then strangled to death. Fingerprints were lifted from the body that matched Janelle's. Also, the size of the bruises around the neck matched the length of Janelle's hands and fingers.
So not only had Janelle escaped from a locked facility, but she had also brazenly snuck up behind a police officer and beaten and strangled him to death with her own bare hands. This would have been extraordinary for a large, buff man but even more so for a rapidly aging woman in poor shape with health issues and partial blindness. Janelle was a prime example of rage and adrenaline fueling one's strength. There simply was no other way to explain it. People began to wonder just who in the world could take down the lunatic. If she was able to take on the kinds of people she had been able to take on, then who could take her?
One of the nurses involved in failing to treat Janelle's diabetes when she was in jail was also found dead just outside her front door, and again, no one reported hearing a thing. The woman died of blunt force trauma to the head, presumably when Janelle rammed her into the side of her house or slammed her head on the stone steps.
The media left a note on Byron's door pleading for an interview, promising to air it as is with no editing or twisting of anything, and they would pay him handsomely as well.
Byron really could use the money, so he consented after being promised that the media would stay away from his home and set up the interview elsewhere.
Steven Stone ignored a similar request because he simply didn't care to discuss Janelle with anyone, preferring to move on from the psychopath he’d known and get on with his life instead. Also, he wasn't in need of money nearly as much because he had recently won $50,000 at a casino. His friends and family considered it compensation of sorts for the years he had to endure Janelle’s problems and abuse.
Janelle may have been out of his life, but she was still very much alive in his nightmares. Years passed, yet every so often she haunted him with casual but horrifying acts of violence that he could totally envision her involved in, in reality.
In one dream, they were staying in a motel. A mother and two children were staying next to them and were very noisy, both inside their room and just outside of it by their door. Fed up with the noise after asking the mother to quiet her kids down to no avail, Janelle threw down the magazine she'd been reading and stepped out their door and onto the cement landing. Without a word, she snatched the wailing infant out of its mother's arms and casually tossed it over the railing down to the parking lot three stories below. Then, with the mother's futile screams and attempts to save her older child, who was about 8 or 9, Janelle lifted the child under its arms, swung it away from the railing to gain momentum, and then pitched it over the rail to join its sibling.
The nightmare ended with Janelle chasing the screaming mother into her room after blocking her from getting past her and going after her undoubtedly deceased children.
Those who had been connected to Janelle in a way that led to her being incarcerated or put out in any way that would seem significant to her were provided with round-the-clock protection.
"Do you think she really ever wanted to be a mom or do you think she just got tired of the burdens and responsibilities that went with caring for a child?" the female interviewer asked Byron.
Byron looked hesitant and then said, "Well, I hate to say it..."
"But?"
"But yeah, I don’t think she fully realized just what she was getting into. I think that she just didn't want him anymore and she got tired of the kid screaming all the time, the expense, the work, and never having any free time. I think when she finally realized that her husband was never going to come around and help, she decided what the hell. Everything was on her. All the expenses and everything."
"Well, don't you think that's the way it should have been?"
"Yeah, but a part of me was hoping that he would come around and they could be a happy little family together, but I guess some things just aren't meant to be. It was like the more she tried for something, the further out of reach it was."
"How do you feel about your friend now?"
Byron took a moment to think and then said, "Well, I think it’s sad that things turned out the way they did."
"Did you know your friend was capable of such heinous crimes?"
"Well, obviously I didn't, but I also think that in many ways Janelle has been seriously misunderstood. I think her husband was more controlling than people realize and that even though she's responsible for her own actions, some people really did provoke her in some ways."
"Oh, so they asked for it?" the interviewer asked sarcastically.
"Yes and no. I mean, when you pull the lion's tail, you gotta expect that it just might turn around and bite you."
"She did a lot of biting, didn't she?"
"Oh, yeah. She was a tough one for sure. I've personally seen her beat up on guys twice her size and this was when she was much smaller."
"Was she ever thin or ever good-looking?"
"She was never skinny, but she wasn't nearly as fat as she got over time. As for good-looking, I don't know how I would describe how she was when she was younger. She wasn't plain, but she wasn't cute. She wasn't pretty, but she wasn't ugly. She wasn't sexy, she wasn't beautiful. I don't know exactly what she was. I guess she was just there. Average looking until five or six years ago."
"She sure is a big one these days and not a very pretty one at all."
"Yeah, but that's just the thing. As Janelle herself tried to get people to see, a size and a number on the scale isn't what defines us. She's still just as human as the rest of us despite aging so dramatically in the end and gaining so much weight."
"But a horrible human being, wouldn't you say?"
"I agree that she's done some pretty horrible things, but at the same time, I think she's been way too much of a people pleaser. She's too nice at times."
"How do you mean?" the interviewer asked with confusion.
"She's just too kind and polite at times and puts other people's feelings first, even if it harms her in the end."
"I don't understand. I've never heard of this version of Janelle Stone."
"Well, there was this interview she did once with some lady while in custody. I don't know who it was, but she told the woman from the get-go that she didn't feel well. Pretty sure they were messing with her medication again. You could see the poor thing was pale as a ghost and dripping with sweat. Eventually, she said she wanted to wrap up the interview, but it was always just one more question. Just one more. She agreed out of kindness and tried to hang on, but then she ended up passing out on TV because the interviewer's thirst for a so-called story and ratings mattered more."
"Do you believe her not getting her diabetes medication when she should have was intentional?"
"Absolutely. Maybe they didn't intend to bring any harm to her, but I think they just didn't give a damn."
"Do you think she believes that?"
"I don't think she believed it was intentional or at least due to neglect initially because I think it was just too hard for her to admit such a terrifying thing to herself, but eventually, yes, she did come to see the truth."
"Do you think she's really proud of her size and flattered to have her so-called work published, like with her personal journals and stories?"
Byron snorted. "Not at all. No one could say for sure how she feels but Janelle herself, but if I had to guess, I would say she's embarrassed by her appearance and that she was absolutely mortified by the publications. I don't think she sued just for the money, even if it wasn't much in the end. I think those reactions were maybe a combination of just her way of dealing with it and what she wanted the public to believe. I think—and I'm pretty sure I remember a psychologist who was interviewed said this as well—that in her mind, the image she portrayed was what she believed others would believe, and I think she just didn't want to give them the satisfaction of just how hurt and humiliated she was."
"Do you think Janelle is alive and will ever be caught?"
"Well, she's got to be out there somewhere. I don't see how she can survive out there without her medication. She's got no money, no place to go, and I don't see how she could hide very easily out there since the whole world practically knows what she looks like, and she can't exactly blend into a crowd easily."
The interviewer listened intently.
"But if she's alive out there somewhere, why hasn't anyone seen her? If she was picked up by the police elsewhere, why weren't the ones here notified?"
"Those are great questions everybody's been wondering," said the interviewer. "Any other questions you can think of?"
"Yeah. If she's dead, where's her body?"
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