Affairs. Antifreeze. A letter from the grave. What really happened to Julie Jensen? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What tragic event is the focus of this episode?
Julie took care of everything from the clothes, the laundry, the house, the meals. And it was even a joke to them sometimes in the house that Mark didn't know how to cook a box of macaroni and cheese. I always knew that. She made that family work. And I sensed that she wasn't really kind of connected to Mark spiritually.
Julie also makes time for volunteering here at Southport Elementary School. Every Wednesday morning she spends time in her son David's third grade classroom helping his teacher, Therese DeFazio.
Chapter 2: Who is accused of Julie Jensen's murder?
Yes, she wanted to help me out, so I asked her, can you come work in the computer lab with me? Because at that time, that was a brand new thing to have computers in school. And she says, oh, no, I can't do that. So is that something that you generally do with room mothers, figure out the ways they can help you?
Right. Oh, she said, I can't even turn on a computer. She said, my son David helps me. We got a new IBM at home, she said, and I have to ask David to come and teach me. Back in 1998, there were no smartphones, no tablets. Most families didn't even have a home computer, but the Jensen's did.
There were computers that were in offices, but it was rare to have a computer in a home.
Only about 40% of American homes had computers in them at that time. Only about a quarter of them had internet access. The Jensen home may have cutting edge technology, but it also has problems.
Chapter 3: What secrets were revealed about Julie's life?
I think a lot of people who saw Julie saw this seemingly perfect marriage, attractive couple, beautiful children. She seemed to be living sort of the American dream, but there were a handful of people that Julie told her secrets. She wasn't sure what was going on. He's driving me crazy. That's what she said. Start finding pornographic photos left around their yard and the deck.
Somebody was really tormenting her and not letting her forget what she had done. Mark and Julie Jensen looked like an all-American family, very middle class and doing well. But things were not so well inside the household. Looking back at their early marriage, Julie really struggles after the birth of their first son, David.
She was alone much of the time, taking care of a baby while her husband was away at work. Shortly after Julie had David, she filed for divorce. Julie shared with us that she had filed for divorce in 1991. She was tired of Mark's behavior because he was more interested in drinking and partying and doing guy stuff.
She'd gone to the doctor and was treated for postpartum depression and was really struggling with the fact that she felt Mark resented her affection and attention to their newborn. After David is born, Julie works part-time at a brokerage firm. And one weekend, Mark was out of town for work. And apparently he traveled a lot, which meant she was home alone with the baby.
Julie invites a male coworker named Perry Tarica over for dinner on a weekend when Mark is out of town. He came over for dinner and ended up spending the weekend So she cheated on Mark.
Julie ended up telling me about the affair. It was really difficult for Julie to share that. She was so embarrassed. But I thought, maybe Julie's found somebody else. And honestly, the way Mark treated her, I wouldn't have seen a problem with that. Mark finds out about the brief affair.
I think she would have gotten out of that marriage. But what she said to me was that, Mark wouldn't agree to a divorce. And his exact words that she told me were, you'll never see David again. And Julie stayed, obviously, because she didn't want to lose David. And with that threat being held over her, there was nothing that she could do but try to compromise somehow, I guess.
And that's when Julie and Mark started doing marriage counseling. Ultimately, Julie withdraws her petition for divorce. After Julie told Mark about her weekend fling with Perry Tarika, weird things started happening. There was this parade of vile pornographic images popping up everywhere. These are photos that are sexually explicit, and they're close-ups of genitalia.
They were on printer paper, and they were posted either on their door, their shed, on Mark's windshield, in their house. There were not only photos, but there were prank phone calls. Somebody was really tormenting her and not letting her forget what she had done.
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