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Seven years have passed since the eerie surveillance footage of Montana mother Jermain Charlo emerged on the night she went missing.
Charlo, whose disappearance became a pivotal case within Montana’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons movement, was last recorded on June 15, 2018. The video shows her conversing with friends in an alleyway behind a bustling Missoula bar before she mysteriously vanished.
Although no arrests have been made in this widely-publicized investigation, promising developments featured in the season eight finale of Oxygen’s Cold Justice on November 15 could finally bring closure to her family.
“Tragically, indigenous women face violent crimes at an alarmingly high rate, with over 80 percent encountering violence at some point in their lives, and more than 6,000 indigenous women are currently missing across the nation,” prosecutor Kelly Siegler highlighted in the latest episode. “Jermain’s case has served as a rallying point to spotlight this critical issue. It has remained unsolved for far too long.”
When she disappeared, Charlo was 23 and residing on the Flathead Reservation. A mother of two, she was enthusiastic about her budding relationship and the potential of securing a new job fighting forest fires for her tribe.
At the time of her disappearance, Charlo, 23, was living on the Flathead Reservation. The mom of two was dating someone new and excited about the possibility of a new job fighting forest fires for her tribe.
“Jermain was beautiful, vibrant and creative. She liked to dress up and go out with her friends, but she also liked to go outdoors and go hiking and fishing and get dirty,” Siegler shared. “She loved being a mom.”
But all that promise ended on June 15, 2018. Charlo and her ex Michael DeFrance went out to the bars in downtown Missoula, Montana, stopping at three or four bars as the night progressed.
“They were documented on video surveillance in the alley behind the Badlander Bar,” Missoula Police Det. Guy Baker explained. “She was talking to a couple guys that she knew. After a short conversation in the alley, Michael and Jermain are seen walking eastbound in the alley around midnight. They walk out of view and that’s actually the last video we have.”
DeFrance—who is the father of Charlo’s two sons, 2 and 4 at the time—later told investigators that after leaving the bar, he dropped Charlo off at an intersection and she walked off in the direction of a friend’s house.
Charlo was never heard from again and all of her social media activity stopped. Her body has never been found, despite numerous searches.
Family Paints Picture of Michael DeFrance as “Very Controlling”
Over the years, Missoula Police have run down countless leads, including tips that suggested the young mom had been a victim of sex trafficking, yet, according to Cold Justice homicide investigator Steve Spingola, DeFrance continues to be the “prime suspect” in the disappearance.
Those who knew DeFrance and Charlo said the pair had a rocky relationship. According to Baker, DeFrance was arrested twice for domestic violence.
“We knew the abuse was happening,” her aunt Danielle Matt recalled. “She allowed a lot of negative behavior and justified it with that need for this picture perfect family that she’d always dreamt of. Her and Michael end up you know separating cause Michael’s seeing another female.”
DeFrance was granted full custody of their sons and, according to Matt, he used that to try to manipulate her in the aftermath of their break up.
Matt also told the Cold Justice team that DeFrance was “so jealous” anytime Charlo would speak to other men, adding “she just couldn’t do anything independently even after the separation.”
Zach Underwood, Jermain’s uncle-in-law, also described DeFrance as “very controlling.”
He explained, “It was that classic of if I can’t have you, nobody else can mentality.”
Michael DeFrance’s Shifting Stories
Investigators also noted discrepancies in DeFrance’s story. After she disappeared, her aunt Valenda Morigeau told Cold Justice that he claimed in text messages to her that he dropped Charlo off that night at the Orange Street Food Farm.
Yet, he told police that he’d dropped her off at another location eight blocks away.
“So is Michael confused?” Siegler asked. “Or was he trying to mislead Jermain’s family or the investigators or both?”
Eyewitness Accounts From Jermain Charlo’s Friends
The investigators also spoke with the the men Charlo was captured on surveillance camera footage speaking to the night she disappeared.
Nick Rheault, Charlo’s ex-boyfriend and friend, said DeFrance “wasn’t the happiest” they’d run into each other—a sentiment backed up by his friend Eddie Woodcock.
“He wasn’t very like, stoked that she was like talking to people other than him,” Woodcock recalled. “When she started talking to us, I just remember him like—you know, had his arms crossed or whatever…and then, he didn’t really say anything that entire time.”
In statements to police, DeFrance claimed he and Charlo were planning to get back together, but a bartender working that night told the team that Charlo had seemed disinterested in DeFrance.
“It’s pretty clear that the night did not go according to Michael’s plans,” Siegler noted. “Michael was really hoping to get Jermain back. She did not seem to be very interested.”
The team set out to speak with DeFrance, who has always denied having any involvement in Charlo’s disappearance, but he declined to speak with authorities without his attorney.
Cell Phone Records Provide Additional Evidence
As they pulled the case together, they also heard from experts in cell phone technology.
DeFrance initially claimed that Charlo had taken her phone the night she vanished, but after cell phone records seemingly disputed that account—putting their phones together by his home later that night—DeFrance told police she’d left it behind in his vehicle. He claimed that he later threw it away at a rest stop along his trucking route.
“Why did Michael initially lie about having Jermain’s phone?” Spingola asked. “And why ditch it at a rest stop? Here’s a guy who wants her back in his life, and he throws away her cell phone. It doesn’t make any sense.”
They also questioned why DeFrance sent direct Facebook messages to Charlo later that night, claiming she’d just walked off into the night, if he knew he had her phone and she wouldn’t be able to read them.
After investigators concluded that all the evidence seemed to point toward DeFrance, police met with the county prosecutor, who promised to take a hard look at the case.
At the episode’s end, Baker told Charlo’s family that he was “very confident” they’d get the resolution they hoped for in the “very near future.”
To catch up on all the cold cases this season, watch Cold Justice available now on the Oxygen app.
