A House of Glass | Chapter 4

This podcast is intended for mature audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

He is the name we've heard the most regarding Justin's disappearance.

Dillon Glass, that dreadful name that Erica has heard for so many years, the name that belongs to the man that might have taken her son's life, is now speaking publicly for the first time about Justin Gaines, and what he says happened.

So listen, so I got your letter, right?

Man, for a long time I've sat here and watched the world talk bad about me.

When I sent Dylan Glass a letter last June asking him to speak with me on the record, I'd really just begun investigating Justin's case. He's incarcerated at Coastal State Prison in Savannah, Georgia, for charges unrelated to this case. I wanted to know who this guy really is and hear directly from him. Was he involved in Justin's disappearance and even his death? I figured it'll take a while to hear back from this guy, if he does even respond at all.

Could you imagine sitting in a Level 5 prison, man, facing a life sentence for somebody? you never really met, man, and listening to the whole world talk bad about you and want you dead? That shit hurts. That shit hurts, man. I told them people that I never knew that boy.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from speaking with Dylan Glass, this guy who, even early on in my investigation and research, I had seen and heard a lot about. And none of it was good. Drug dealer, gangbanger, thief, and thug. The first thing I noticed when speaking to Dylan is that he seems really worked up. He talks quickly and you can almost hear his heart racing.

That's another lie, they told. So guess what, Mr. Kipp? It gets deeper than that, Mr. Kipp.

Yeah, he calls me Mr. Kipp for a while.

When you hear everything that really happened, like, it's going to blow your mind. Them people are so corrupt. They don't care about the truth because it's too simple. They didn't want justice.

They want a conviction.

You know. truthfully, sir, I don't care what people say about me. I want to know what happened, just as bad as you do, because I want an apology from the world. Now, am I wrong for playing with them people? After all the years, I told them the truth, I told them I didn't know, I didn't have nothing to do with it.

That lie that Dylan is referring to? is him sending police on a wild goose chase with his made up story. Or so he says.

Yes, I did that. And I'm sorry, man. I was dead ass wrong.

I'm sorry.

And I know that's horrible. And I accept any consequence for that. I was wrong for that, man.

So you heard that right. Dylan Glass is actually walking back on the confession he made in 2015.. The same confession in which he described in detail what happened to Justin. That he was fighting with Martin Wilkie and choked out by Leon. That they robbed him afterwards.

Do you know how all this shit started with me? Man, a fucking trashy ass trailer park junkie, seen this shit on news, he called Crimestoppers thinking she was gonna get a fucking reward, but she didn't pay attention to where it said for a conviction. So when you take and you put a reward on TV, you gonna have a million fucking dopeheads. Every time they get in trouble, they gonna holler my name.

He's right in feeling that every dopehead in the area that gets in trouble says they have information on his role in Justin's murder, or where Justin's body was left. I heard that much from Mike Rising and Sheriff Chapman. They said people have always tried to cut a deal to get time off their sentences, but the information they would provide was something they heard on the news, a well-known rumor, or it was just not credible at all. For example, two teenagers actually confessed to murdering Justin at one point, but when police investigated, they found the two boys were locked up in a juvenile detention center at the time of his disappearance. It was impossible.

Yes, her name's Bridget.

Bridget first sent a MySpace message to her brother, Josh, on January 11th, 2008,, telling him that Dylan had killed Justin. In the message, she stated, Josh, if I tell you something you have to swear, you will not tell anyone, because this could put Dylan in prison for life. Josh, I swear. no matter how bad you want to tell someone, do not say anything. I really don't want him to go to prison.

If you want the truth, tell her, Bridget, is it true? You know, folks really rely on that man for a reward. Watch what she tells you. It'll blow your fucking mind. Another thing, Sean, another thing, if you killed this boy, why would she come back around you and leave with you and go to Florida with you?

on me?

They don't add up, man.

It's a fair point, I guess, but Bridget wouldn't have mentioned to Dylan that she was telling people he killed someone. Dylan even goes a step further to say that investigators played a role in coaching witnesses like Bridget to implicate him, promising them favors in return for testimony.

When you tell somebody $25,000, you'll be surprised. if a person's facing prison time. what you know about Dylan Glass. Oh, I'll let you go right now. This is what I know, but tell me what you know.

But already, I've got a problem with Dylan's story.

Carl Sims locks people up for charges and then he forces coerced statements and tries to tell them. he knows I killed somebody and he coaches them along and tries to give them fake promises. and he has a history of doing this from Los Angeles. I got that too. I'll give you that too.

I can't speak to whether Sims ever coerced statements from anyone related to Justin's case, but Dylan is right that Sims got into a bit of trouble in Los Angeles for tactics his department used while serving as a narcotics officer there in the late 80s. In 1988, a highly scrutinized drug raid took place at 39th Street and Dalton Avenue in one of Los Angeles' most crime-riddled neighborhoods. The raid was part of Operation Hammer, a large-scale attempt to crack down on gang violence in the city, which was launched a year prior. The city did have a real issue with drugs, crime, and gangs, but overly aggressive tactics would come to a head. on August 1st of that year.

I only was mad at them because they didn't believe the truth, and they kept trying to destroy me for nothing. But you? I owe you more respect than that.

Then why implicate at least five other people at the same time? People like Leon, who's been accused of choking Justin to death.

That man sent me on a dummy mission to rob somebody, and I got shot. My homeboy got shot. And I hated him because I felt like he was trying to get me killed.

I felt like he turned on me.

But truthfully, he ain't have nothing to do with that man.

If you're keeping count, that's now three people that Dylan says are innocent, despite having been named in his confession. I then ask about Martin Wilkie, the man who was arrested in 2015 for concealing a death. in this case. The man we know was at the marina just hours after Justin was last seen. Why was he implicated?

Because he turned on me. When all that shit started hitting the fan, he was talking bad about me. He knew I didn't do that, and he wouldn't stand up for me. Because I used to go to his houseboat. I used to go out there and sell him dope and get high with him.

Them folks ran through that house.

None of them. boys. Ain't nothing about that boy ever been there. And I felt like them. people turned their back on me.

So, according to Dylan Glass, this story all began with him, and he lied about everything. Everyone he implicated, he did so purely because he was mad at them. But does that really make sense? If you're innocent of murder, why would you ever tell authorities that you were involved in any way, under any circumstances? And why would all of these other people suddenly turn on him and him alone?

We were like best friends. I just don't tell them that. And they kept mentioning an earring that was never his earring. That's a lie.

This differs from the multiple stories Dylan has given investigators over the years about where he got the earring. He said that he took it out of Justin's ear after assaulting him in Andy Pickens' garage, a story his own mother corroborated. Bob Pulno shares yet another explanation from Dylan regarding that same night when Justin was allegedly being attacked.

Dylan had told another rendition of that same story, in that he saw all this going on one street over where I know there was a drug house that they dealt with, walking distance through the woods, where he saw New York holding a gun to Justin's head in the street, and that Dylan found the earring in the street and put it on his ear. That's how he can justify the photograph of him with the earring at the pawn shop.

There are several witnesses who've given similar statements that they saw Dylan wearing the earring for the first time, just one or two days after Justin disappeared, like Christy, a resident of the Conestoga trailer park. According to Bob, she told police that she spoke with Dylan not long after, on November 5th.

He came over to our house. I knew the date because it was the birth date of her close girlfriend, and that date was corroborated by that girlfriend. That's when she talked with Dylan, and Christy, for the first time, had seen Dylan with an earring, a diamond earring, in his ear.

And that stood out to her?

Yes. She had never seen that before in all the years she had known him.

Dylan's girlfriend, or one of them at the time, Rebecca, told police the first time she saw the earring was when he returned from the pawn shop on the afternoon of Friday, November 2nd. But given these statements and numerous explanations from Dylan, while it does seem to tie him to Justin, there's no way for me to tell what's true and what's not. At least not yet.

Are you aware of that? they ran DNA on it? And none of his DNA on it, right? Why they ain't tell the world that that DNA was not on that fucking earring?

Police obtained a warrant for the earring, which Dylan was wearing when he was arrested in late November of 2007 on a drug charge. It was later tested but did not contain Justin's DNA. It did contain Dylan's, of course, as well as that of an unidentified person. So that lends credibility to Dylan's claim. But is it possible that the earring was just cleaned, removing Justin's DNA?

It was tested for touch DNA. So that kind of washes that potential out. And the DNA they took off of the earring has been used up. There's nothing else to go for.

Even with further DNA testing off the table, I still have a feeling that earring could play a big role in this story.

I wasn't aware at the time, but he was using meth, and that's pretty involved with what they were all involved in, you know? So that's how I met Dylan.

Brandy tells me her ex cheated on her with a girl who Dylan was dating at the time, which caused her to flirt more with Dylan out of spite. And no, I'm not just dredging up their personal drama for nothing. There is actually a reason for telling you this. She says that when her husband was away at work, Dylan would come around. One particular visit from.

Dylan actually showed up at my door one morning. I want to say it was maybe 6 in the morning. It was early. He was very frantic. He was just, like, in a really weird type of mood, you know?

When Brandi described Dylan Glass knocking on her front door in the early morning hours of November 2, saying he had shot someone, Justin Gaines' disappearance hadn't yet made the news because he wasn't even reported missing until two days later. Dylan was born in Louisiana, so Brandi made the assumption that this was the area he referred to when he mentioned dumping the body in the bayou. I've heard stories of Justin being taken and dumped in a swamp in Louisiana before, but it doesn't feel like those leads were ever considered credible. And one question I have about this story is, if a body was dumped in a bayou or anywhere, how could Dylan not be sure if he had killed the victim? Shortly after this encounter, Brandi told her story to the police.

The one I'm thinking of, he might have gone by the name New York or something, this black guy.

New York. According to Dylan, he lied about New York being involved, but Brandi told me that Dylan once offered to put a hit out on her ex-husband so the two could run away together, and New York would be his trigger man. Of course, it's entirely possible. Dylan was just talking out his ass or trying to impress her, but either way, she says it scared her. Since Brandi knew Dylan well during this time, I wanted to know, what was he really like?

But he's always been kind of like, he talks a lot. And he always is like, talking about beating someone up or something crazy. The only time I ever remember him being like, different, when he came and told me that day, he seemed very, like, anxious.

You could say that Brandi's story, as intriguing as it might be, is just that. A story. Another dead end. And you might be right, if it weren't for another witness's story. Before I even met with Brandi, I discussed with Bob Pulno and Mike Rising some of the facts about this case regarding Dylan Glass, the day after Justin disappeared in particular.

He went to two women's houses that morning, wanting to hide out because he'd just shot. somebody. Told people he had shot somebody. Yeah. You know, women don't know each other.

I'm told that after leaving Brandi's house, Dylan and his friend Shane, the same man seen with him at the pawn shop later that same day, went to another woman's house seeking a place to hide out, claiming he had just shot someone. Her identity as well needs to be kept private, as she's also considered a confidential informant in this case. I'll call her Natalie. Natalie was interviewed on January 30, 2008, by detectives from both Walton County and Gwinnett County PD. In the interview, she stated that Dylan and Shane were dropped off at her house, by an unidentified girl in a blue Dodge Dakota pickup truck.

I am positive. I don't have any proof, but I am positive that Shane is involved in that, Justin Gaines missing as well.

What makes you say that?

Because Shane was Dylan's best friend. And it was in 2000,, I want to say like the beginning of 2008,. I came to Lake Lanier. I stayed on the boathouse with his mom. And all of his communications were like a lot of things about Shane.

The strange behavior Brandi noticed between Dylan and Shane set off alarm bells, and maybe for good reason, because he would end up being a suspect too. Shane was, according to witnesses, seen with Dylan the night. Justin disappeared, and he was at the pawn shop where Dylan wore an earring thought to be Justin's. I'm told he was a regular at Andy Pickens' house and at parties on his houseboat. Bob Pulno caught up with Shane in a parking lot years ago.

I do, because I'm really, I'm getting tired of all this. Yeah. To be honest with you, straight up, Dylan Glass didn't have nothing to do with that boy's disappearance. I was with him at the time. I was at his mother's wedding.

I know for a fact he did.

Supposedly, the boy, last time he was seen was 2 a.

Okay.

That night, the next day, we went to the pawn shop at 2.

They keep hounding him, and they own him like he did, but he didn't.

The boy didn't have nothing to do with this.

Okay.

And that's, you know, on God. You know what I mean? Okay. Right.

But his friends might always have your back. It seems not everyone is so devoted.

So Shane was recently arrested for a completely different crime, unrelated to anything that has to do with this case. He was in our jail. While they were going through his phone looking for evidence from this other case, I found text messages that were sent in 2021 when Dylan's brother, Justin, was arrested here in Walton. He was contacting his girlfriend at the time, basically was mad at Dylan, and he was like, when I get out of here, I'm going to contact Justin Gaines' mama.

I'm tired of these guys. I'm going to spill the beans on everybody.

And she freaked out and was contacting Shane, telling him Justin's saying he's going to go talk to Justin Gaines' mom. That was the only message about that. But the thing was, to me, why are they so concerned about Justin Glass talking to Justin Gaines' mom if they didn't do something?

Drowning Creek is an original production of Waveland. I wrote and created the series and the original score. Executive producer is Jason Hoke. Associate producer is Leo Culp. Sound engineering by Shane Freeman.

© 2016 Waveland Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved.