Bonus | Inside Status: Untraced

Hi, everyone, and welcome to Inside Status Untraced. I'm Laura from the Tenderfoot team, and today, I'm sitting down with Alex Vespistead and Liam Luxon, the producer and host of Status Untraced, for an intimate look inside the show. Alex and Liam will share their experiences discovering Justin's story, what they went through, digging deep into his strange disappearance, and how working on this show shifted both of their perspectives on life. Plus, you'll get a spoiler-free sneak peek into what to expect from the rest of the season. Let's get into it.

Yeah, totally. We are sitting on a balcony in a jungle in Mexico, over here in Tulum. It's very warm. It's gorgeous out here right now.

Nice. Are you there researching another show?

Not intentionally, but maybe we'll find something. Who knows?

Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

No, we're down here just as a little relaxation and adventure.

Nice. Nice. I actually had a question a little later on, but I'm just gonna go ahead and ask you now. Because the show is about a traveler and you're currently traveling around, is that something that your spirit really connected to within Justin's story?

More as an aspiration rather than something that I've done a lot of. I've always been fascinated by it, by traveling. My grandparents have always traveled a lot throughout my life, and it was always something that I loved the idea of doing, but I didn't do a lot of it. I grew up in Kentucky and I grew up in Colorado before that, so I spent a lot of time in woods and mountains and stuff. But yeah, I didn't do a lot of travel.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. We'll back up and we'll get started.

Yeah. So I have no experience doing any of this at all.

I was.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. My name's Liam.

And the other one is Alex, which is me.

It sounds different without the background music and the sound effects too. Yeah.

To be fair. Yeah. And I don't talk the same way. That's a lot of coaching from Alex.

No.

I was a bartender. I never had looked into a story. I've always been fascinated by detective work and things like that, but I had never done anything like this, and not where I expected my life to exactly go, I guess, four years ago. But yeah, I grew up in the Midwest. I was a pretty weird homeschooled kid who was...

Yeah. What Liam didn't include is he has a charismatic nature and a knack for people.

It's funny because I think it was a timing thing for us, at least for me, because we met at a random house party in the beginning of 2020, right before COVID shut down everything. Yeah. And while he's amazing at pitching me, he never really pitches himself much, especially not at this party. We were talking about what all we do. And we got to him and he's like, yeah, I did this show.

And I listened to that show, by the way.

Yeah. Excellent. It's so good. So if you haven't listened to it, go listen to To Live and Die in L.A. But then, just kind of by happenstance, I ran into him again at another party.

I think your exact words, though, were, hey, this is really cool. If you ever have anything you need help with, I would love to help out.

I think I said that the first time we met, kind of as a joke.

I did. It wasn't a joke.

It wasn't entirely a joke. I didn't like. I certainly didn't think it was going to be anything. Right. So then he came.

So, wow, that's so interesting. And what a fascinating time to start that process, too. Can you talk a little bit about getting the project going? So, like, Alex, you'd been doing the research and Liam, you're brought in and then it's COVID, so you can't travel. So what was that process like for you as you're investigating a nomadic traveler?

It's funny, because a lot of those challenges never made the show. So much of the world is so tired of hearing about COVID.

We're ready to talk about it.

So it was a tricky thing, because it was a real challenge. We started this in May of 2020, right? That is when we initially began having conversations with a lot of the players involved. So a lot of those phone calls that you're hearing those first couple of episodes are because we couldn't go visit those individuals in person. The first interview you hear in Episode one is with one of Justin's friends, Jason Schultz.

And I think, ironically, in the two years that we spent, you know, before we went to India, it gave us so much time to talk to so many different people that were involved or knew him. And they were all over the all over the globe. But I mean, I'm so blessed that we were able to talk to so many people that were willing to, you know, tell us their experiences with Justin. And, you know, by the time we got over there, I think we both really had a good understanding of who Justin is, which definitely came into play with understanding his full, complex story and disappearance completely.

I'm Dan Taberski. In 2011,, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York.

I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad.

I'm like, stop around. She's like, I can't.

A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms and spreading fast.

Like doubling and tripling. And it's all these girls.

With a diagnosis, the state tried to keep on the down low.

Everybody thought I was holding something back.

Well, you were holding something back intentionally. Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah.

No, it's hysteria.

It's all in your head. It's not physical. Oh, my gosh, you're exaggerating. Is this the largest mass hysteria since the Witches of Salem? Or is it something else entirely?

Leroy was the new Dateline and everyone was trying to solve the murder.

A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. Hysterical. Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus.

So you mentioned, and I have a question about that experience you had of getting to know Justin, I think it's episode three or four. You talk about going and meeting his mom in Oregon and she brings his stuff out of the trunk and you physically hold it. Yeah. And you talk about how you've never met him, but you're digging deep into his life and you're getting to know all the people around him. And I'm just really curious to know a little bit more about what that experience was like.

I think we should talk about that moment first, especially you, because you, Susie, his mother, offered for Liam to try on his jacket. I didn't really hold his things, but I watched Liam do it. And for me, it was even weird. So I'm curious what it was like for you.

So we flew to. we flew up to Portland and rented a car, drove about two hours south, just outside of Salem, Oregon, where Susie, Justin's mother lives. That night we met Susie for dinner at this nice little Italian place and got to get to know her a little bit. We had talked before, but this was like the first real one. on one time we had had with her.

That's why we were there.

It's impossible to not, you know, and to not talk about that. So the next day we went and we got breakfast. And, you know, again, we talked for a couple hours over breakfast, a lot about kind of the struggle of getting an investigation started in another country. I mean, her difficulty with the getting a visa. There's this, it was like, this is kind of like the setting of the beginning of all the struggles that they've ended up having in India as well.

find some healing and grief.

Yeah. Um, which she tries to do about once a year before she left, you know, she asked me if I wanted to come downstairs and see some of the stuff that they had recovered from India. And so we, uh, we went down to the car and she, you know, pulled out some stuff. Like the first thing I think she handed me was a, this woven basket. So, you know, one of the things about survival, it's really important, as you have to be able to create baskets and things to carry.

Gathering nuts, berries, even to hold water. Yeah.

And so, so she showed me, you know, some of his early craftsmanship from when he was in the wilderness survival school. And, uh, and then I believe she pulled out a, it was like a, it was a box, um, given to, uh, Justin from the U? S Marines, thanking him for his assistance in teaching them survival techniques, both training them and then done with them. Um, and a couple of nice little handwritten notes. There's a plaque from, I don't remember who the plaque was from, but it's from some government, again, similar sort of thing.

And she's just pulling them out one after the other, the other. just, it really was a moment of, wow, here are these things we've seen in pictures or visualized in our mind. And then there they are the last remnants of, of, of Justin.

And they're like, you can tell that they're very, very important to her. Like these are, these are treasures that she holds onto, a lot of, a lot of sentimental value. The first, the first one that we saw, well, I saw the flute in the car, but she didn't pull it out immediately. Um, the first things she pulled out from the stuff that were there was that headwrap, um, that, that scene in the last photo, which, yeah, it's just, it's, it's crazy to think that, you know, he was wearing that last time he was seen. And, um, and then she, she pulled out his jacket and she was like, do you want to try it on?

I'm very open of her to share that.

Yeah, definitely. I don't particularly believe that like items have like some spiritual power or energy or whatever, but it, but it did feel like that in that moment, they actually had to, in order to get that flute over, um, they had to make a fake one.

And that is an interesting tidbit is that the police wanted to confiscate all the items that were there and not return them to the family. And Jonathan, skills being one step ahead, realized that they would confiscate the flute, and Susie may never get it. So he went and bought another flute and fashioned it the same way. Justin fashioned it and handed it to the police and said, this one's, Justin's. And then kept the real one for Susie.

It's definitely something that, that hits me still. I'm never going to meet this guy. That's just, it's just, it's weird. It's really weird. And the grief for somebody that, you know, I probably wouldn't have known about him if he didn't disappear, but it's, I wish, I wish I could have met him, you know?

He may pop out at the end of this. Um, I haven't finished the show. I'm listening along with everybody else. So this comes out mid season, which means that I, like everyone else. I'm going to be surprised.

For me, I, one, I aspired to be that when I started and I don't now. Yeah. Um, there's, there's a lot more to the, to the life, especially when you start to dig into Justin and some of the stuff that he was struggling with. Christopher Ryan said it really well, like, really, really well at the beginning, when he's like, you know, how do you experience the moment when you're always experiencing the moment? If you're always chasing, experiencing something or showing the experience to somebody else, it definitely became taxing on, on him.

Yeah. And without any spoilers, the next episode of the season, episode five, definitely dives deeper into that. I did jump ahead because I couldn't handle the cliffhanger.

I think there's pros and cons to that, right? People can get aspired from certain types of content on social media. And, but then you do question, yeah, how much of that is reality? I think it's important to remember. everyone struggles, you know?

Yeah.

Who do you think really needs to listen to this podcast?

I think there's, I think there's a little bit of something for, for just about everyone, right? Cause again, Justin was a surreal human being that had massive triumphs and massive failures, all of that is real. Um, and it's all very, very relatable. I think all of us, again, with social media, like see a window into other people's lives and kind of sometimes almost want a little bit of an escape from ourselves. and I think the podcast, I mean, everybody should listen to it.

My answer is we will take all the Swifties. It seems to be working for the Kelsey brothers, so gladly send them our way.

I think Swifties would love this show. I think Swifties, and here's why, because Taylor Swift writes about emotional things, like the thing about status and trace that I really took away from listening to the show is you don't have to be a quote, unquote, true crime fan to really get a lot out of this show. I actually felt like the story of Justin, that kind of, um, the way that we walk and navigate in the world, like really compelling, the mental health elements, really compelling. Uh, and I think Swifties would be the perfect audience for this show because of that emotional, sensitive element that a lot of people have.

She's a vagabond traveler, just on a different sort of stage.

Well, absolutely a really big one.

And I think, I think Justin's message to his motto of be kind and do epic shit to me stands out. as, you know, love the people around you, find constant moments to be helpful and generous and, and which he did throughout his entire life, sometimes at his own expense, and then follow what makes you feel alive. It doesn't have to be traveling around the world. It could be writing a book. It could be, you know, cooking.

I think it's for anyone who's ever had a moment of questioning where they are, what they're doing in life. Yeah. And how can that not be anyone at some point? Yeah, we've, we all hit little pockets. where you wonder, is this for me?

Yeah, absolutely. I agree. I think the show is very universal. Um, I would love to know, you mentioned a big challenge, being travel restrictions, but what were some of the other big challenges that you faced while reporting on this case?

Um, everything. There was not one easy thing about this show. Everything was seven steps. One, me learning how to interview. Um, that was, that was a new one.

And it was a lot of practice of listening and understanding and clarifying. That was a practice you got better at.

Yeah, no, it's definitely, definitely rolled into other aspects of my life now too. And then getting information over there became very like, it's just different.

There's a reason you do not hear any international interviews in the first four episodes. And that is because it is extremely difficult to get a hold of anybody overseas in parts of Asia, India specifically. There's no white pages. There's no contact list. Figuring out and navigating that was tricky.

What do you mean? no one schedules interviews? Does that mean they only, you have to run into one another to have a conversation?

Yep. Pretty much. You walk in. Wow.

You knock on a door.

Yeah.

Oh, okay. You just go to people's houses and see if they're home. Yep.

Which, which in a way.

Which is part of the culture.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you, and once you do meet them and you get their WhatsApp or phone number, they're a bit more receptive. But saying, Hey, I would love to meet you next week, Tuesday, at two o'clock. And it's not happening.

No, no.

That's so interesting. That's very different from American culture.

The other challenge, which is the cliffhanger that you hear in episode four, which, you know, plays out in a matter of 12 minutes in the episode. Also, you know, it was a process of three months working with Justin's parents and the advice from private investigator, Jaden Brandt, to access some of Justin's digital footprints. It was a process that took Liam many phone calls, many hiccups, almost an absolute screw up of losing the number entirely. And lots of hours at T-Mobile and Sprint.

Yeah, that was, that was fun.

It really wasn't an idea of, hey, has this been done? No, it hasn't. Everyone's saying it can't be done.

Let's try.

Let's try.

And what were some of the most rewarding things about working on this story?

Wow.

For me, great butter chicken.

Oh, fantastic butter chicken, that's a fact.

I believe it.

Yeah.

Alex?

I'm going to stick with the butter chicken.

That's very sweet. I love it. Without too many spoilers, but maybe with one or two little sneak peeks, what can listeners expect in the rest of the season?

Okay, it's a good question. So there's a lot of adventure, a lot of adventure. You get to experience a whole new culture that we've really tried to bury into the episodes, you know, just so you can kind of feel what we felt while we were there. But then, on top of that, we have a little symbol that we have buried in every single episode of the show. So I'm not going to tell you more than that.

I'll add to that. It is in every episode. It's not in the same place in every episode. And it's a symbol for Justin, a moment for Justin to have a say.

Yeah. Short, short answer. There's lots of stuff on the back half.

I love it. Yeah, it definitely feels like the story is just starting to really warm up. I'm excited to follow y'all's journey to India and hear what happens.

Awesome. Thank you.

Yeah. Anything else to add?

Be kind and do epic shit.

Perfect.