You Might Also Like: Moms and Mysteries: A True Crime Podcast

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
Introducing Meta Glasses. You have questions, they've got answers.

**Mandy** (0:07)
Hey Meta, what's the capital of Peru?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:09)
Lima.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:10)
How do you say, where's the restroom in Spanish? Dónde está el baño?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:15)
Hey Meta, is a hot dog a sandwich?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:18)
Technically no. Spiritually, yes.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:21)
Hey Meta, what should I do with my life?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:24)
That's one of life's biggest questions. What do you think?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:28)
Ask anything with the new Meta glasses.

**Mandy** (0:31)
When 24-year-old expecting mother, Jade Benning, suddenly collapsed during what was supposed to be a quiet date night with her boyfriend, it was initially reported as a medical emergency. But as investigators began uncovering what happened inside her apartment that night, they came to believe they were looking at something far more sinister.
Hey, guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries Podcast, a true crime podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend, Melissa. Hi, Melissa.

**Melissa** (1:04)
Hi, Mandy. How are you?

**Mandy** (1:05)
I am doing well, enjoying a quiet and at least sunny morning. Finally, we've had some rainy days, which has been okay. I feel like when it's really rainy for several days or several afternoons in a row, it just zaps all the motivation I have inside my body, and I don't want to do anything.

**Melissa** (1:24)
Well, also, if I see that it's raining later in the day, I'm like, well, today's a wash. I just give up whatever I'm doing. There's no reason. I did cook something or bake something yesterday, and it took me like three hours, like a blueberry muffin, Danish something. But halfway through, I didn't have butter. Like I very much just forgot to look at my ingredient list. And so then I had to change it. So it was one of those things where like you're so far in the process, you're like, bring it on home. I don't care what happens anymore if you eat it or not. And my son liked it, which is, you know, that's the big one.
But anyway, it was just funny. I was like, I don't know why I try to bake.

**SPEAKER_6** (2:06)
I'm always off, like, always, always, always it's, I don't know.

**Mandy** (2:10)
I'm not a baker.

**Melissa** (2:11)
I've never been able to bake.

**Mandy** (2:12)
I feel like it is definitely a skill. There's a science to baking and I'm not good at science, as it turns out.

**Melissa** (2:18)
And you're not a scientist.

**Mandy** (2:19)
I'm not a scientist.

**Melissa** (2:21)
Neither am I. So you can imagine how happy I was that there was just anything at the end of it. Yeah.

**Mandy** (2:27)
All right. So let's get into the story this week. Jade Tristan Benning was born on March 6, 1998, in Little Rock, Arkansas, to Bridget Benning Brooks and Dennis Browning. Although Jade was her mom's only daughter, she grew up surrounded by a large blended family that included several step-siblings, as well as her stepmom, Andrea Browning, who Jade affectionately considered her bonus mom. From the time she was young, Jade had a way of drawing people in. Her family and friends remembered her for her infectious smile, her contagious laugh and the warmth she brought to every room. She made people feel welcome and built lasting friendships wherever she went. She maintained a wide circle of people who loved her deeply.
One of the most important relationships in Jade's life was her friendship with Nyjaya Jackson. The two girls met in Little Rock when they were only six years old, and what started as a childhood friendship grew into the kind of bond that lasted through every stage of their lives. They attended middle school and high school together, and went through part of college side by side. They also spent years together in competitive cheerleading.
Their friendship ran much deeper than shared activities. Nyjaya later described the friendship as a sisterhood, and it was the kind of friendship that she prayed everyone would one day get the chance to experience. Jade and Nyjaya trusted one another completely. They shared secrets they wouldn't have told anyone else and remained close even when life eventually took them to different cities.

**Melissa** (3:53)
As we mentioned before, cheerleading was also a major part of Jade's childhood and teenage years. She began cheering when she was just seven years old with Cheer City United, where she developed both her athletic ability and her love for the sport. As she got older, Jade became the cheer captain at Horace Mann Middle School and then went on to captain both the Junior Varsity and Varsity cheerleading squads at Little Rock Central High School. After graduating from Central High in 2016, Jade turned her attention towards another passion, cooking. So she enrolled at Brightwater Culinary Arts and graduated in 2020