Cold Case MHS: Monsters and Demons · Randy Hubbard

Season 4:Episode 7: Dangerous Living - Murder of Joan Palacio

December 13, 2024·25 min·1 clip

Isolated

The episode opens with Randy Hubbard and Lydia Lisko saying they want to focus on the victim. They also acknowledge that Joan Palacio's lifestyle has to be part of the conversation. Meghan, Hannah, and Ashlyn take over the case discussion. They describe Joan as someone in a high risk situation who was prone to bad situations. Her body was found in a vacant parking lot by a dumpster. The discovery happened around 12 p.m. At first, two teenage girls were considered possible suspects. The detectives ruled them out as past buyers. The students treat that detail as part of the sparse timeline around where she was found. They keep coming back to how addiction can push people into choices they cannot easily control anymore. Joan's case is framed through that pressure. The discussion then turns to Jesse and the relationship around him. The students say there were allegations of abuse between them. They describe the relationship as toxic and situational. One student says Jesse seems like a dominating person who may have tried to run her life. They also raise the possibility that he used her for drugs and money. At the same time, they note that he was incarcerated when Joan was killed, so he was not considered a major suspect. They add that Joan was very young when she met him and was around 24 when she died. They connect that age, the lack of a close bond with her mother, and the idea of three children with Jesse to a larger picture of vulnerability. The episode closes with the group still asking what happened in the day or week before her death and what tensions might have been building.

As heard by us

A classroom case study that keeps Joan Palacio at the center.

Cold Case MHS: Monsters and Demons keeps Joan Palacio at the center, tracing her high-risk lifestyle, the vacant parking lot by the dumpster where she was found, and the early suspicion that fell on two teenage girls before detectives identified them as past buyers.

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Why you'd press play

You get a student-led look at Joan Palacio's case, with no easy answers and plenty left unresolved.

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