Episode 05: The Body in the Suitcase

SEQUESTERED Podcast

Road Trip Studios

True Crime, Society & Culture

4.6 • 640 Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this emotionally harrowing episode, Sara - Juror #11 - walks us through Day 4 of the trial against Jason Chen — the day the jury came face to face with the most difficult evidence yet.

Forensic expert Dr. Steven Cogswell takes the stand, leading the courtroom through the grim details of Jasmine Pace’s autopsy. Through X-rays, photographs, and expert testimony, the jury sees exactly how Jasmine was found — restrained, contorted inside a suitcase, and bearing the marks of 60 separate stab wounds.

The evidence paints a chilling picture, not just of violence, but of deliberate cruelty. A broken knife blade lodged inside Jasmine’s lung. Blood evidence that suggests a desperate struggle. And hauntingly, the moment when Jasmine sent her mother a location pin — her final message — just minutes after a scream was heard from Jason Chen’s apartment.

Sara also reflects on the weight of what it means to see these images firsthand, and how jurors’ own questions helped piece together a clearer but more devastating timeline.

This is the day the reality of the case truly set in — and it’s a day no one in that courtroom will ever forget.

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On our website, you can see more photos, videos, and blogs about each day of the trial, organized by episode. Go to SequesteredPod.com

Website: sequesteredpod.com
Instagram: @sequesteredpod
TikTok: @sequesteredpod

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SEQUESTERED is a BP Production.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we get into this episode, I want to give you a heads up.
0:04.8	It contains graphic descriptions of violence, including details from an autopsy.
0:09.9	Out of respect for Jasmine and her family, we've chosen to hold back on some of the more graphic details.
0:15.7	But what you will hear may still be unsettling.
0:18.8	So please listen with care.
0:27.0	It's Thursday, January 16th, 2025, day four of the trial. Before we even stepped into the jury room this morning, we could feel
0:35.3	the weight of what was coming. I went to bed last night,
0:38.9	bracing myself for today, trying to prepare my mind and my heart for what we were about to see.
0:46.3	But how do you prepare for something like this? As jurors, part of our job was to face the evidence,
0:53.7	to see what no one should ever have to see.
0:57.1	Today, we would see images of Jasmine Pace's lifeless body, and with them, the undeniable reality of what was done to her.
1:06.8	We already knew the facts.
1:08.8	She was stabbed 60 times, restrained, and stuffed into a suitcase.
1:14.2	But knowing and seeing, those are two entirely different things.
1:19.7	No one should ever have to witness another human being in that state.
1:24.3	And yet, here we were.
1:38.2	This is sequestered, a juror's perspective on the murder trial for Jasmine Pace.
1:41.2	I'm Sarah, juror number 11.
1:47.0	Each episode, I'll take you inside the courtroom, behind the scenes, and into the weighty moments of this trial as we honor Jasmine's life and navigate the complexities of seeking justice.
1:54.2	Let's begin.
2:04.7	This is episode five, the body in the suitcase.
2:16.7	I learned this only after the fact, but while we were waiting in the jury room that morning,
	...

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