Contents
Text Message Exchange Between Jordyn Petit and Violet Crow
Monday, April 16, 2018
Case #92-10945
Beth Crow Monday, April 16, 2018
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Case #92-10945
Beth Crow Monday, April 16, 2018
Thomas Petit Monday, April 16, 2018
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Case #92-10945
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Case #92-10945
Thomas Petit Monday, April 16, 2018
Case #92-10945
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Case #92-10945
Interview of Jordyn Petit, Pitch Police Department Officer Bree Wilson, Thomas Petit—Grandfather of Jordyn Petit
Case #92-10945
Beth Crow Monday, April 16, 2018
Case #92-10945
Beth Crow Monday, April 16, 2018
Case #92-10945
Text Message Exchange Between Clint Phelps, Abby Ridgewood and Ryan Maren
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Case #92-10945
Thomas Petit Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Case #92-10945
Beth Crow Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Case #92-10945
Case #92-10945
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Text Message Exchange Between Jordyn Petit and Violet Crow
Case #92-10945
Beth Crow Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Case #92-10945
Interview of John Dover, Pitch Police Department Officer Bree Wilson
Case #92-10945
Case #92-10945
Case #92-10945
Thomas Petit Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Beth Crow Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Case #92-10945
Text Message Exchange Between Jordyn Petit and Violet Crow
Text Message Exchange Between Jordyn Petit and Violet Crow
Thomas Petit Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Case #92-10945
Beth Crow Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Case #92-10945
Case #92-10945
Thomas Petit Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Case #92-10945
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Case #92-10945
Case #92-10945
Case #92-10945
Case #92-10945
Case #92-10945
Beth Crow Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Case #92-10945
Case #92-10945
Thomas Petit Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Case #92-10945
Beth Crow Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Text Message Exchange Between Jordyn Petit and Gabe Shannon
Case #92-10945
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Case #92-10945
Case #92-10945
Case #92-10945
Text Message Exchange Between Jordyn Petit and Violet Crow
Interview of Jordyn Petit, Pitch Police Department Officer Bree Wilson, Robert Peale—Attorney for Jordyn Petit
Beth Crow Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Case #92-10945
Interview of John Dover, Pitch Police Department Officer Keith Grady
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Thomas Petit Thursday, April 19, 2018
Case #92-10945
Beth Crow Thursday, April 19, 2018
Text Message Exchange Between Nikki Dobric, Max Crow, Clint Phelps and Ryan Moren
Case #92-10945
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Five months later
Thomas Petit September 14, 2018
Beth Crow September 14, 2018
Dr. Madeline Gideon September 14, 2018
Sept 14, 2018
Acknowledgments
Before She Was Found Reader’s Guide
Questions for Discussion
A Conversation with the Author
Excerpt from Not a Sound by Heather Gudenkauf
Text Message Exchange
Between Jordyn Petit and Violet Crow
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Jordyn: Going 2 Coras at 6
Violet: Me, too. Are you going to bring it?
Jordyn: Yeah
Violet: R we really doing this????
Jordyn: Yes! Unless UR 2 scared
Violet: What if we get caught?
Jordyn: Just keep your mouth shut and we won’t
Monday, April 16, 2018
12:45 a.m.
The air is cold, but she barely notices. It’s the dark that fills her chest with terror, makes her limbs heavy with dread. But she feels something else, too. Something that she can’t quite name. It reminds her of how she feels the night before her birthday or on Christmas Eve but not exactly the same. Thinking about her birthday and Christmas makes her feel good, warm. This feels more like slowly climbing the ladder to the high dive at the swimming pool or like when the roller coaster at Adventureland reaches its highest peak just before it plunges straight down and she just knows she is going to die.
The train yard, filled with the carcasses of gutted-out buildings, is illuminated by only a wispy, wayward eyelash of a pale moon. She stretches out her neck, tilting her ear toward the tracks, hoping to get a sense as to where the others have gone but all she can hear is the wind whispering through the tall grass.
Too much time has passed. They may already be looking for them. It’s now or never, she thinks nervously. She can do this; if she doesn’t he’ll never show up. That was the deal. Together in the bedroom, door locked, they planned everything so carefully right down to the day and hour.
In her right hand dangles the hawk-billed knife they secretly took from a kitchen drawer. Her other arm hangs loosely at her side. At first they considered bringing a crowbar but decided that it was too big, too heavy to lift. This fits her fingers better, feels comfortable, reassuring in her palm. She will use it if she has to.
Over the past month or so he’s written messages, love letters, really. Sweet, sentimental words that if she could, she would tuck inside her secret shoebox filled with lucky coins and heart-shaped rocks found over the years. But he warned her, said they could get in trouble, so instead she memorizes each sentence and murmurs them