Episode 44 - Jennifer and Abby Blagg

On 13 November 2001 Jennifer Blagg and her 6-year-old daughter Abby were missing from their home in Colorado – leaving behind a pool of blood in the master bedroom. Her husband Michael Blagg reported them missing but soon became the only suspect in the murders of his wife and daughter. In June 2002 Jennifer’s body was found in a landfill, Abby, sadly, has never been found. 

This is the story of Jennifer and Abby Blagg. 

Information and support 

·       Samaritans UK Contact Us | Samaritans 

·       National Domestic Violence Helpline UK 0808 2000 247 

·       Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA) Home - AAFDA 

·       Women’s Aid www.womensaid.org.uk  

·       Mental health support USA I'm looking for mental health help for myself | Mental Health America (mhanational.org) 

·       Domestic abuse helpline USA 1.800.799.SAFE Domestic Violence Support | National Domestic Violence Hotline (thehotline.org) 

References 

Clare Laxton is fundraising for Women's Aid Federation Of England (justgiving.com)

Jennifer & Abby Blagg // 264 - Going West: True Crime - Apple Podcasts

Michael Blagg sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife in Grand Junction in 2001 – The Denver Post

Where Is Michael Blagg Now 20 Years After His Wife's Death? (EXCLUSIVE CLIP) (distractify.com)

Why Did Michael Blagg Murder His Wife Jennifer In Colorado | Crime News (oxygen.com)

Abby Jennifer Recovery Foundation. INC | Facebook

Simpsonville, South Carolina - Wikipedia

Jennifer Jo Loman Blagg (1967-2001) - Find a Grave Memorial

Abby Jo Blagg (1995-2001) - Find a Grave Memorial

Credits 

Hosted and created by Clare Laxton @ladylaxton 

Produced by: Clare Laxton  

Killer in the family podcast (buzzsprout.com)

Music by Tom Box and from Pixabay. 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi there and welcome to Killer in the Family podcast. Two weeks is when I'll be running the royal parks half marathon for women's aid, so this is my last push for support. The fundraising link is in the episode notes and thank you so much for all your support so far. Now we are going to get straight into this episode. On the 13th of November 2001, jennifer Blagg and her six-year-old daughter, abby, were missing from their home in Colorado, leaving behind a pool of blood in the master bedroom. Her husband, michael Blagg, reported the missing, but soon became the only suspect in the murders of his wife and daughter. In June 2002, jennifer's body was found in a landfill. Abby, sadly, has never been found but is presumed dead. This is the story of Jennifer and Abby Black.

Speaker 1: 2:07

Now this one is going to be a tough listen everyone. Not only are we talking about the murder of a woman and her daughter, but also a perpetrator who, despite being in prison for over 20 years, has never had the decency to disclose where his daughter is. As usual, there are links to information and support in the episode notes, if you need it, as well as all the sources I've used for this episode. I've mostly used news articles, but also listened to an episode of the Going West podcast similar to last week and some YouTube clips as well. So let's start by talking about Jennifer. She was born on the 8th of January 1967, jennifer Lohman and she was born in a place called Ardmore, which is in Oklahoma in America. She was 34 years old when she was killed. Jennifer was born to parents Maryland and Harold that's quite a cool name, maryland and had a brother as well, called David. Now, she grew up in quite a conservative and very religious family and that's something that she continued throughout her life. Her religion and her faith was really, really important to her. She was very religious and a lot of her life focused around her faith. You know she built up friends and a community around the church that she attended. Her mum described Jennifer as a lovely daughter and so precious to her as any mother would describe their daughter.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Now, once Jennifer graduated from high school, she moved to San Diego in California so pretty far away and she went there to university to study business. She went to a university called National University. When she was there, she sort of continued her dedication and focus to her religion and again created a community for herself around the church and her faith. She also, when she was there and started making friends, talked to her friends about her dreams for life. She really wanted to have a family. She really wanted to be a wife and mother. She had sort of like quite traditional values in that sense and was just really excited to sort of create that family for herself.

Speaker 1: 4:15

Now, when she was 21 years old, jennifer met someone who would change her life forever 25 year old, michael Blagg. Now, jennifer fell for him straight away. Not only did she think he was so handsome, he was also a pilot for the American army and he was dedicated to his faith, like Jennifer was, and she thought he would be the family man that she was looking for. Teresa Widenman, a friend of Jennifer's, told a documentary called Killer Relationship quote Jennifer was always looking for a great family man, a great Christian man, and for him to be the provider and have kids. So in that sense, michael Blagg seemed like the perfect candidate for this. Jennifer and Blagg started dating and he completed two more tours with the army before retiring and becoming an engineer. Now, in 1991, after three years of dating, they got married in Texas and moved to a town called Simpsonville in South Carolina. Now Simpsonville is a town in the Greenville County in South Carolina and has a population of around 23,000 people. It's quite a religious part of America and so suited Jennifer and her new husband Blagg down to the ground.

Speaker 1: 5:38

In March 1995 they welcomed a little girl into their lives, abby Jo Blagg was just six years old when she was presumed to be killed. She was described as an energetic, happy little girl and when she disappeared she had just started school at a school called Bookcliffe Christian School, and I can just imagine how much Jennifer loved having a daughter. You know she was really building that family life that she so desperately wanted and she absolutely loved her life in Simpsonville. Her and Blagg built a community around the church. She taught women's Bible study and Blagg was a co-teacher in Bible school as well. And one of Jennifer's friends, edie, told the Killer Relationship documentary quote I think Jennifer loved the fact that Michael was strong, he was take charge kind of guy.

Speaker 1: 6:33

He looked after her, he was protective of her. However, what Blagg might have described as protectiveness, others could describe as control. Blagg would always wanted to know where Jennifer was, particularly when he was at work and she was at home Apparently, if she was leaving the house in the day and he was at work. She had to call him to let him know when she'd left the house, then call him when she arrived at wherever she was going and then call him again when she was back home. There was also an occasion that her friends talk about when they were round at her house and it came near to sort of 4 pm and jennifer realized that blag would be home from work soon. She apparently became pretty panicked and had to get the house ready for him coming home and quickly asked her friends to leave so she could be ready for Michael, and they weren't there when he got home.

Speaker 1: 7:33

There is also another really concerning incident that I think shows sort of Blagg's personality here. Daphne and Heath of Going West describe it in their podcast episode and they talk about Jennifer's mum, um, recalling that Jennifer told her about a night when her and Blagg were in Texas and he got pretty drunk and actually ended up threatening her and trying to choke her. Now Jennifer had called her mum and told her what happened and apparently Blagg sort of like cornered her in the bedroom and tried to choke her. I mean, this is just horrific behavior and probably a real inside indication of what Blagg's real intentions were in controlling his wife. Now you probably know what I'm going to say here.

Speaker 1: 8:26

Blagg was clearly displaying signs and patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour, and being very controlling over where she was going, who she was seeing and what he expected when he got home are all clear signs of this. Jennifer's friends in Simpsonville actually became a bit concerned about Blagg's behaviour and were always there to talk and support Jennifer in her relationship and her marriage as well. Then Blagg did something that is classic of a controlling perpetrator. He got a new job in a place called Grand Junction, colorado, which is nearly 1800 miles away from Simpsonville, and moved his family across the country, taking Jennifer away from her friends, established community and support network, and often controlling perpetrators do this to isolate their partners not only from any support they might have but also from dissenting voices about their relationship. So, like her friends, sort of expressing concern about their relationship. And it worked. Jennifer had to start from scratch again, meeting people through the local church and building up a community. She apparently didn't want to move at all, but saw her role as a dutiful wife supporting her husband's work, so moved her and her family and probably tried to make the best of the situation. Sadly, blagg's controlling behaviour didn't change much when they were in Grand Junction. In fact, it was about to get much, much worse.

Speaker 1: 10:34

On Tuesday, the 13th of November 2001,. Blagg left his family home in Grand Junction, colorado, for work around 6am, as he usually did. He called Jennifer multiple times throughout the day. We have already established that he is a very controlling husband and likes to keep an eye and a check on his wife. What was unusual to this day, however, was that Jennifer wasn't answering the phone and he was leaving voicemails. According to the Going West podcast, his first voicemail was left around 7am and said quote, good morning, it's me just calling to see how you and Abby are doing. Jennifer never called back.

Speaker 1: 11:19

Blagg called again at 11.46am and left another voicemail saying quote, hey, where are you? I'm just calling to see how you're doing. Again, jennifer never called back. Blagg called again at noon just 14 minutes, and again left a voicemail saying quote hello, my beautiful bride, hope you're having fun and you're out and about doing all kinds of cool and nifty things. What was that? But what the actual? That's such a random voicemail. Blag called again at 2.08pm and left a voicemail saying quote, man, where are you guys? I hope everything's going okay. I love you. Now these voicemails are suspicious to me. I'll talk a bit more about it later in the episode. But with someone as controlling and possessive as Blagg, I really doubt that he would be so cheery on voicemails to his wife when he expects her to answer all his calls. I think he would be angry, fuming in fact, and is leaving these faux cheery voicemails talking about cool and nifty things, because he knows someone like the police will be listening to them very soon.

Speaker 1: 12:35

Now, eventually, blagg returned home, but Jennifer and Abby were nowhere to be found. Going around the house, blagg noticed a huge amount of blood in the master bedroom, but no Jennifer or Abby. There was so much blood that it was pooling and dripping on the floor. So clearly something very serious had happened to Jennifer and Abby. Very serious had happened to Jennifer and Abby. There was also Jennifer's purse and other belongings sort of strewn about the room as though there was a break-in or a burglary. Abby's room was also empty, with her bedsheets ruffled as though she'd been pulled from them. According to the Going West podcast, her clothes that she was supposed to wear for school that day were also still laid out in her bedroom. So Blagg called 911 to report his wife and child missing.

Speaker 1: 13:28

The police attended immediately and were really concerned about the amount of blood in the master bedroom. Apparently they deduced that it was enough blood to come from a fatal wound, but strangely there wasn't any blood throughout the house. So it wasn't that Jennifer or Abby had injured themselves and then walked or moved around the house trying to get help. So if Jennifer and Abby were injured and bleeding, they must have been carried out of the house like wrapped in something, maybe because there were no blood drops anywhere in the house in something. Maybe because there were no blood drops anywhere in the house. Interestingly, though, in the garage the police did find some more blood. In the minivan that Jennifer drove they found traces of blood on the steering wheel, brake pedal and back seat. So it might have been that somebody had injured or killed Jennifer and Abby and then transported them somewhere in the minivan. But then why would the minivan be back in the garage if someone who kidnapped them didn't live in that house Like? Why would a random burglar bring it back? That does not add up.

Speaker 1: 14:35

No one seemed to know what had happened to Jennifer and her six-year-old daughter, abby. Thank you so pretty obviously the police started questioning Blagg Apparently during his first police interview he actually talked about Abby in the past tense and also said that he had a wonderful marriage and relationship with Jennifer. Malicious they, you know, at the same point they were searching. They were out there searching for jennifer and abby. They put a trace on her credit cards and bank statements to see if they were touched or used. They never were and, you know, if it was a burglary you'd expect maybe someone was trying to use them. And while the police were out there searching, blagg was holding a press conference with jennifer's mother pleading for her to come home. He apparently held prayer vigils and was praying for them to come home as well.

Speaker 1: 16:01

Now again, it really seemed that no one had just knew what had happened to Jennifer and Abby. But luckily for police, jennifer was a journaler and journaled almost daily. They actually found her journal and in it was something very interesting about her quite wonderful marriage with Blagg. It turns out the weekend before she disappeared Jennifer and Blagg had had a huge fight. She didn't actually write what it was about in her journal, just that they'd had a huge fight. And when asked about it by police. Blagg denied it, which seems just weird, as Jennifer had written about it, and the police also found a huge apology letter from him in the house. According to the Going West podcast, the apology letter read, quote According to the Going West podcast, the apology letter read, quote Jennifer, I love you.

Speaker 1: 16:55

I'm sorry we've ruined this day and the opportunity to spend our lunchtime together. I don't know what went wrong. My intention was to spend a wonderful time with you and, coincidentally, get some Christmas shopping done. That obviously went horribly astray. The Lord tells me not to let the sun go down in my anger, so I won't. You are the light of my life. I ask for your forgiveness for any wrongs I have done to you, and I also forgive the wrongs I have perceived against me. I do not want to waste a weekend being angry with one another. I would love to take some time today to talk through the problems we're having. I'll send this as an email and we'll also bring it home to you. After Paul says not to let the sun go down on our anger, he says, quote do not give the devil a foothold, ephesians 4.27. I'm sorry if I've given the devil a foothold. I will always love you, michael.

Speaker 1: 17:54

So it clearly wasn't a trouble free, happy, wonderful marriage. And after police found evidence of this fight, with Blagg denying it and with no sign at all of Jennifer and Abby, they were very suspicious of him. Now, as well as Jennifer's journal and Blagg's apology note, the police also found something very interesting when they were searching Blagg's house. It was on his computer. They found some pretty hardcore pornography that depicted degradation and probably the rape of women. When confronted about the pornography, blagg's excuse was just unbelievable. Genuinely, you are not going to believe this one team or I don't even want to say it but Blagg actually said that Jennifer was using the pornography to educate herself on how to better please him in bed. Oh my gosh, I literally just cannot with this guy what an absolute piece of crap who is also apparently seeing escorts as well. Jennifer's friends and family said that she would never have wanted to go near such hardcore pornography and his reason for having it was obviously just total crap. Apparently, after the house had been cleared by police and it was no longer a crime scene, blagg was also asking people if they wanted to come and see like where it happened, like where his wife or and child were injured or killed. I mean, what like? What's what the actual f here? What is going on with this guy? He's inviting people around to his house to see, like the crime scene where his wife and daughter, who he claims to love, might have been killed. That is not the behaviour of an innocent man here.

Speaker 1: 20:02

And the police investigation continued and the search for Jennifer and Abby continued as well. And, interestingly, blagg was actually arrested in February 2002. Not for anything to do with Jennifer and Abby, but he was arrested for stealing from his employers. Now, apparently he stole plastic bins, a table and a shredder from his employers, which just seemed a bit random. And for Blagg's employers it was the final straw. They had been suspicious of him anyway because of Jennifer and Abby, so reported him to the police when they found out he was stealing from them. Unsurprisingly he was also fired.

Speaker 1: 20:43

Now, apparently again when police were questioning about the thefts, they also questioned Blagg again about Jennifer and Abby. He actually admitted in that interview that Jennifer had found the pornography on his computer and they fought about it. Police asked him directly where Jennifer and Abby were and he said he couldn't tell them. He then refused to say anything else without a lawyer present. So, having been bailed for the charges against him, blagg was back at home when police came round to gather some more evidence for the theft charges.

Speaker 1: 21:21

Now a bit of a warning for discussion of suicide here. They actually found Blagg upstairs in the bath, apparently having tried to take his own life. He'd left a photo of Jennifer and Abby and a note saying he didn't do anything to them. When he got to the hospital, the doctors actually found that the injuries he had were very superficial and they deduced that he wasn't actually trying to take his own life but trying to manipulate and garner sympathy around the investigation into Jennifer and Abby's disappearance. And this didn't really wash with the police. Now, while this was happening, someone at Blagg's old work reported something very interesting to the police. Having found out that he had been fired, she thought back to his behaviour when Jennifer and Abby disappeared and apparently he remembered that he'd been using the industrial bins at work very early that morning on the 13th of November. So with this tip, police found out where those bins were emptied and went about searching this humongous landfill which was pretty close to Blagg's office and where those bins were emptied into.

Speaker 1: 22:46

Now, authorities searched for months and months, and in June 2002, they actually found Jennifer. They found Jennifer's body which was badly decomposed, but tests revealed that she had been shot and killed. She was still wearing her night guard, so police presumed that she was shot in her sleep as well. Sadly, continued searches in the landfill still couldn't locate Abby, and she has still never been found. Now I just can't imagine what Jennifer's family was thinking at this point Maybe some relief that she'd finally been found, but also heartbreak, as the hope that they had that she and Abby were still alive was completely broken. One of Jennifer's friends told the killer relationship documentary that Jennifer wasn't trash and she didn't deserve to be treated like trash, and I don't think I've agreed with anything like anymore. After Jennifer's body was found in the landfill that was served by the company that Blagg worked for, he was arrested for her murder not Abby's murder, though and went on to face trial In March 2004, blagg faced trial for the murder of Jennifer and the abuse of a corpse.

Speaker 1: 24:11

He pleaded not guilty and put Jennifer's family through the harrowing ordeal of a trial. His defence even tried to argue that a stalker that was hassling Blagg's neighbour was responsible for the murder of Jennifer. What in the middle of the house In the middle of the night, when she was asleep, when Blagg was apparently in the house. Give it a rest, mate. Blagg was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Remember, though, this was just for Jennifer's murder. He has never faced justice for Abby. She's presumed dead, as no one has seen her at all since that day in November 2001.

Speaker 1: 24:56

Now, unfortunately, 10 years later, blagg was able to secure a retrial, as his defence team found that one of the original jurors had lied on her form. Now, during jury selection for trials, all the jurors had been asked about any experiences they had of domestic abuse, and one juror was found to have lied and said she had none, when she actually did, so a retrial was to happen Again. I just can't imagine what this did to Jennifer's family. Now, when we talked about the Longo family in episode 18 and the family of Mary Jane Longo, they talked about how much pain it caused when Christian Longo would constantly be in the media after his conviction, and how it was just like they weren't allowing him to grieve. I can imagine that might be how Jennifer's family felt. So Blagg had his retrial in February 2018 and was found guilty again. He is still in prison now and I genuinely feel so heartbroken that, although he's been in prison for 20 years and is not getting out anytime soon, he still hasn't given Jennifer and Abby's family the peace they deserve and told them where Abby is.

Speaker 1: 26:11

So what do I think actually happened here? I think that Jennifer probably discovered the pornography and maybe that Blagg was seeing escorts, and that's what the big fight and argument was about. I think she probably threatened to leave him and he did not like that at all. Not only would he lose power and control over Jennifer, but he would also potentially be exposed for his infidelity, and he couldn't have that happen to his public image of a greatly religious family man. I think that a couple of days after the argument, maybe when he couldn't convince Jennifer not to leave him, blagg shot and killed Jennifer and Abby in their sleep on the evening of the 12th of November 2001 and took them to work to dispose of their bodies in the large bin there. He staged their master bedroom to make it look like a burglary or break-in and throughout the day left those voicemails for Jennifer to try and show that he thought that they were still at home. His controlling nature means that those voicemails would not have been as lovely as he made them. If he genuinely thought Jennifer was avoiding him, he would have been angry on those voicemails and asking her to call him back immediately. I think that Jennifer and Abby were both probably in that landfill, but it was just too late to find Abby. Why he hasn't told anyone where she is? I have no idea. Anyone where she is? I have no idea. And before we finish this episode, I want to talk about the Abbey and Jennifer Recovery Foundation, which was set up in memory of Jennifer and Abbey and supports families with searches for missing people, especially children. I've linked to the foundation Facebook page in the notes if you want to find out more. This episode is dedicated to Jennifer and Abby Blagg, to the people they were and the joy they brought to their family and friends. I want to finish by saying that I really and truly hope that Abby is found soon and can be laid to rest.

Speaker 1: 28:23

This has been Killer in the Family podcast written and produced by me, claire laxton, with music from the brilliant tom box and pixabay. I'll be back next week with a new episode, so please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to send me any comments or questions to my insta at killer in the family pod or through a text via a link in the episode notes. Do let me know any stories you'd want me to cover as well. Also, don't forget that you can buy me a coffee if you like the podcast and help support it's running. The link is in the episode notes. Until then, I've been Claire Laxton. This is Killer in the Family podcast. Until next time, take care, thank you. Thank you.