The Trail Went Cold - Episode 338 - Jay Given

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2023

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

May 15, 1981. East Chicago, Indiana. Jay Given, a 51-year old attorney and political operative, attends a political fundraiser at the local Elks Club, but is fatally shot through the back of the head while exiting through the building’s front doors. While a shell casing and a slug are collected from the crime scene and placed in an evidence drawer at the police station, it is later discovered that the items have been tampered with. The investigation turns towards the town’s deputy police chief, John Cardona, who attended the fundraiser, owned a similar firearm to the murder weapon, and had a motive to kill Jay. While a grand jury investigation takes place, the authorities ultimately believe that the evidence against Cardona is not strong enough to file charges. Was John Cardona actually responsible for the murder of Jay Given? Was a cover-up orchestrated to ensure the perpetrator would never be prosecuted? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore an unsolved case from a town where corruption and political maneuvering were rampant. If you have any information about this case, please contact the East Chicago Police Department at (219) 391-8400. Additional Reading: https://unsolved.com/gallery/jay-given/ https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Jay_Given https://www.newspapers.com/image/308658111/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/106140600/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/309766663/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/388778975/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/311086169/. https://www.newspapers.com/image/309837677/ https://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/son-dreams-of-avenging-murder/article_8928eaea-91b2-5ade-bd43-a8a85b152080.html https://www.newspapers.com/image/305742484/ https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/article_3b61f9a5-12d7-5160-a7f5-b9f32d78f6b6.html https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/shot-in-the-back-of-the-head-years-later-given/article_69d3e520-1bec-5c0c-a153-be79ea15817c.html https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/nwitimes.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/2/11/211d7431-998d-5eb0-9a93-3530e69fd973/5d10f295695ee.pdf.pdf This episode of “The Trail Went Cold” is brought to you by HelloFresh. Go to HelloFresh.com/wentcold16 and use code “wentcold16” for 16 free meals plus free shipping. “The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. “The Trail Went Cold” is doing a weekly livestream show on Vokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website. “The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon” at the World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida on September 22-24, 2023. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to the event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD23”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.com. “The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Austin, Texas on August 25-27, 2023. To get a 15 % discount on the purchase of tickets, please our specialized promo code, “TRAIL”, by visiting https://truecrimepodcastfestival.com. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We would like to send out a special thanks to Hello Fresh, America's number one meal kit for sponsoring this episode.
0:06.0	Go to hello fresh.com slash went cold 50 and use code went cold 50 for 50% off plus free shipping.
0:15.0	Enjoy the episode.
0:17.0	May 15, 1981, East Chicago, Indiana.
0:23.0	Jay Given, a 51-year-old attorney and political operative attends a political fundraiser at the local
0:29.1	elks club but is fatally shot through the back of the head while exiting through the front doors.
0:34.7	While a shell casing and a slug are collected from the crime scene and placed in an evidence drawer at the police station,
0:40.5	it is later discovered to have been tampered with.
0:43.0	The investigation turns towards the town's deputy police chief, John Cardona,
0:48.0	who attended the fundraiser and had motive to kill Jay,
0:51.0	but the authorities should not believe the evidence is strong enough to foul charges,
0:54.9	so Jay's murder is never solved.
0:57.5	After that, the trail went cold. Oh, uh, uh,
1:04.0	uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
1:14.0	uh,
1:15.0	uh, uh,
1:16.0	uh, uh,
1:18.0	uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, So you're. Hello everyone and welcome to our latest episode of the Trail went cold.
1:40.0	I'm your host Robin Warder and today we're going to be exploring a cold case involving corruption and political intrigue
1:46.8	the 1981 murder of J Given
1:50.1	This story was once featured on Unsolved Mysteries and I consider it to be one of the more underrated cases from the show, since it has never got a lot of discussion online. But it's certainly an unusual crime, because it involves a man being shot to death in the lobby of a building where a political fundraiser was taken place,
2:07.5	but even though there were over 400 people there, none of them would admit to having witnessed the murder or seen the shooter.
	...

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