Dead And Gone Dives Into The Disappearance Of A Missing Mainer

The Dead and Gone podcast is fascinating, and when I heard they were covering a case about a missing person from my neck of the woods, I just HAD to hear more. Producer Mike and co-host Payne gave me a little more insight into what is happening among many “Deadheads”.

What is the Dead and Gone podcast & what inspired you to create it?

A few years ago, I stumbled upon an article online where this researcher had put together this list of missing and murdered Grateful Dead fans. They were just all bizarre disappearances and unsolved murders and I just thought that was a very interesting way to link cases together. We reached out to him and had a few conversations and we just found it very compelling and bizarre. So we decided to make a podcast about all these different cases. And it's not that they're all directly linked by one particular killer or something, it's more that they shared something very specific in common, and within this community of the Grateful Dead, there are so many people that want to help. And you know, we're around at that time, there's a whole network of people that could potentially help bring closure to some of these cases.

In this season, there is a very Maine specific story, the 18th anniversary of a Mainer who went missing. Can you dive into that?

18 years ago, April 30th I believe, Jeremy Alex went missing. He was based out of Belfast, Maine. He was seen running along the highway or along the roadway and that was kind of the last thing. There was one person who he appeared on somebody's lawn, who is I think a former teacher. And she said he was just kind of acting erratic and paranoid, and not really sure what was going on with that. They called the cops and before they got there, he was already gone. So he'd already taken off and he's never been seen. His van was found not far from where he was, where he lived and it had his keys and cell phone in it. It was just pretty suspicious. He said “bad guys were after it.”

As you mentioned, Jeremy went missing 18 years ago, back in 2004. Have there been any other cases like this since then or was that the latest one?

That was the latest one, I believe. I'm not sure there's been a newer one since 2004. I'd have to double check, but I think, yeah, the 90s were probably the latest ones as far as the ones were covered. And there may have been one or two that happened after 2004, but I really don't believe so. I think that was the latest one, the most recent one, which is good for us. It's the freshest one, the people are all still alive, you know, anyone who's involved with it or his friends, his family, so that really actually helps with with getting further details on the case.

Do you have any theories as to why these fans have been targeted?

I think that with that lifestyle traveling around, you know, obviously, there's drugs every now and then, and people living out of vans and tents, there's bound to be some shady characters every now and then who maybe aren't really there for the peace and love and are more there to take advantage of somebody or a situation. And that really exists, I think anywhere. But the Grateful Dead community in particular, is one of those places where a person like that could maybe go unnoticed for a little bit longer, and maybe be, you know, kind of a wolf in sheep's clothing situation where they can kind of be hiding out under this peace and love idea, but maybe they have bad intentions.The community is very giving. They let people stay at their house, Jeremy Alex toured for two years following the Grateful Dead out of a van. And, you know, I'm sure he did stay at people's houses. They’re a very trusting group of people. They all feel like they're a family. They're a part of the same movement. They're part of the same community. That just causes some people who are just, I think, a low percentage of people to act on that and to prey on that a little bit.

Out of the cases that you have investigated, have there been any solid leads at all?

I think for Jeremy Alex's case, in it, we've looked at it for really a couple of years now and no matter which angle use you look at this case, I think it ultimately comes back to someone he knows, knows what happened to him. And I believe that is a finite amount of people. And I believe that they're probably still around the same area. I'm not going to get into too many names or anything, but I think that there is a small number of people in the community there that know what happened, because they're responsible for his disappearance.

Is there anything at all that the general public can do to try to figure out what happened here?

I think if you're hearing this, and you know anything, or you heard something, even if you think it's small or insignificant, maybe it's not. These things stay unsolved, because people stop talking. Someone might know one little detail, but they don't want to get involved in some messy disappearance of someone that they may not even know that well, but it takes that. It's going to be uncomfortable, but it takes that for just a moment to be able to crack any case at all. When people are talking, it's harder to keep a secret.

I know this is may be jumping the gun because your season two just kicked off, but do you have plans for a third season of the podcast?

That's a tough one. I mean, we'll see. We'll see what this one can can accomplish. I mean, hopefully, I love, you know, the Grateful Dead community. I love talking to the people who are experts on that topic of the band, and, everything the band became and how it touched so many people. I would love to do another one, but we'll see. There's so many just interesting stories within the community, but there's also just so many people that are a part of this because of the band who are now interested in finding someone like Jeremy Alex, and so it's kind of tapping into this pre-existing network of people. A fellow Deadhead goes missing, we care as much about that person as another Deadhead that's not missing. And so I think that there's something special about that and that's what we're trying to tap into. So, you know, we would love to keep it going.

To learn more, check out season 2 of the Dead and Gone podcast here!