Jessica Easterly Durning and her sister, Audrey Gutierrez, spent hours on the phone with each other – chatting, watching reality TV. When their schedule got hectic, they swapped long Facebook messages back and forth that mostly included lyrics or hashtags with powerful words or phrases to bring each other up.
The sisters, who grew up mostly in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, now live in several states, Jessica in New Orleans, Louisiana and Audrey in Biloxi, Mississippi – so they relied on their frequent phone calls.
“We could talk for hours about everything,” Audrey told Dateline. ‘She was so happy. If you felt down, you could talk to her and she would pick you up. ‘
Audrey, along with Jessica’s best friend, Maria Creel, both told Dateline that long conversations with Jessica are what they miss most.
It was Maria who called Jessica frantically just two days before she disappeared in August of 2019.
Maria told Dateline she was home in Alabama on August 12 when she missed a call from Jessica. And then a second call. And a third call.
When the two finally connected a few minutes later, Jessica asked Maria to pick her up at the house she shared with her husband and stepdaughter, in New Orleans.
“She did not go into details, only that she had to leave,” Maria said. ‘But it was a 2-hour drive and I didn’t have one to pick up my kids from school. So we started making a plan for me to pick her up the next morning. ”
Maria added that she spoke to Jessica on the phone again later that day and that she seemed better. Calm down.
“It was like she was backtracking,” Maria said. That her plan for Mary to pick her up was put on hold.
Two days later, Mary had heard nothing from Jessica, which she said was unusual.
It was at 2pm on August 14, Maria said, when she received a message from Jessica’s Facebook account. It was Jessica’s husband, Justin Durning.
He asked, “Is Jess with you, Grace and I are worried ????” Grace is the daughter of Justin and the stepdaughter of Jessica.
“When I read that message, my whole body became cold,” Maria told Dateline. “I knew when something terrible had happened.”
In a flurry of horrific messages, Jessica’s husband told Maria that he spoke to her last afternoon and that she had left everything behind, including her cellphone, car keys, money and her ID.
Maria told Dateline that she called the New Orleans Police Department to conduct a welfare check at Jessica’s home on General Haig Street. That evening, Jessica’s husband submitted a report on missing persons.
But Jessica’s 43rd birthday came on August 17th and there was still no sign of her.
“I always talked to her on her birthday, I always called her,” Jessica’s sister Audrey said in tears. ‘And that year I called her. And I got no answer. Thought maybe she was just out. But I should know that something was wrong. And I did not … I just thought this could never happen. ‘
On August 22, a week after Jessica was last seen, Audrey, her other sister, Amanda, and their cousin traveled to New Orleans to speak with detectives at the New Orleans Police Department. But first they decided to conduct their own search near Jessica.
Audrey said they were driving when a foul odor prompted them to get out of the car and search on foot. It was Audrey who made the terrible discovery.
Along the tree line of a wooded area of City Park at the intersection of Orleans Avenue and Kenilworth Street, about two blocks from Jessica’s house, sat a body clad in a black tank top, black shorts and black shoes.
‘I was devastated,’ Audrey told Dateline. ‘I knew right away it was her. I could not believe this was happening. ”
Audrey called the police and an investigation was launched.
But it would take three months before the body was identified. On November 8, 2019, the body was positively identified as Jessica Easterly Durning, according to the Office of Orleans Parish Coroner.
Jessica’s family told Dateline that they believe foul play was involved in her death and that her body was placed where she was found.
Gary S. Scheets, a spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department, told Dateline this week that the case remains open and active and is being investigated by 3rd District detectives.
“This thing would not have lasted that long because it has been that she did not lie in the sun of New Orleans for a week and a half before her body was found,” said Jessica’s stiffness Rick Schmitt, of Summerdale, Alabama. , to WDSU after receiving the results. ‘That made the autopsy too difficult … The fact that she was there, all indications are that she was dumped there; she did not die there. ”
Rick Schmitt added that his stepdaughter was a “good wife” who made close friends who kept her for life.
“She should not be dead now,” he said, with tears on his cheeks.
Two more months have passed before Jessica’s family received their autopsy report on January 15, 2020.
According to spokesman Jason Melancon, spokesman for the Orleans Parish Coroner, the autopsy found evidence that Jessica sustained a nose injury, as well as a “small linear fracture” to her jaw around the time she died. However, in the report signed on January 8, the pathologist did not address how these injuries may have continued.
The Coroner’s Office classified both the cause and manner of Jessica’s death as undetermined.
In an email to Dateline, NOPD spokesman Gary S. Scheets said Jessica’s case “remains an unclassified death” and “is not currently classified as a murder.” He added that the investigation remains open and active.
This month marks a year since Jessica’s body was found, and her family and friends are still left with many unanswered questions.
Maria, who has been friends with Jessica for at least 20 years, told Dateline that her phone calls filled a place in her heart that is now empty.
“I still can’t believe she’s gone,” Maria said. ‘It’s been a year, but that does not mean we’re giving up. We’ll never bake back – and we’ll get justice for Jessica. It’s what she deserves. ”
Jessica’s friends and family continue to rally for justice for Jessica, whom she described as an outgoing, fun and wonderful person who could always put a smile on your face.
Her sister, Audrey, maintains a website dedicated to the cause and has continued her love of hashtags with the most important of all – # Justice4Jessica.
“She was such a wonderful person,” Audrey said. ‘I never met anyone who had anything bad to say about Jessica. She was a good friend. She was a great sister. I can not believe she’s gone. ‘
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Third District at 504-658-6030 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 504-822-1111 and toll free at 1-877-903-7867.
