The Horrific Murder of Jasmine Pace: How a Fake Facebook Post Led to Her Boyfriend's Conviction | True Crime
In late November 2022, the disappearance of 22-year-old Jasmine Pace sent shockwaves through her family in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The community college student was last seen leaving her mother's home on November 22, the night before Thanksgiving. Initial concerns grew when Jasmine sent an unexpected text canceling holiday plans and a suspicious Facebook post appeared showing her in an older photo where her distinctive tattoos were noticeably absent.
The family's worry intensified as they discovered Jasmine's vehicle abandoned at an unfamiliar condominium complex. Cell phone records revealed a lengthy call with her boyfriend Jason Chen, a computer science student whom she had met on Bumble but never introduced to her parents. Despite initial police reluctance to investigate, the family's persistence led them to Chen's apartment where they found Jasmine's belongings, including her driver's license and credit cards, ultimately prompting a formal police investigation.
Key Takeaways
Jasmine Pace disappeared just before Thanksgiving 2022, with suspicious text messages and social media posts raising alarm.
Her vehicle was found abandoned at an unfamiliar location through a GPS tracking app, leading her family to conduct their own investigation.
Personal items discovered at her boyfriend Jason Chen's apartment ultimately prompted formal police involvement.
Jasmine Pace's Disappearance
Final Family Moments
Jasmine Pace, a 22-year-old community college student, was last seen leaving her mother's Chattanooga residence on November 22, 2022, just before 11:30 PM. She departed in her white Chevrolet Equinox the night before Thanksgiving. This would be the final confirmed sighting of Jasmine by her family members.
Unexpected Holiday Absence
The following day, Katrina Pace received a text message from her daughter's phone stating Jasmine would spend the remainder of the week at her friend Emma's home. Initially, this didn't raise significant concerns as Jasmine had recently lost her grandmother to cancer and occasionally took brief periods away to process her grief. The situation changed dramatically when a suspicious Facebook post appeared on Jasmine's account stating she was "enjoying Thanksgiving with my baby."
Suspicious Online Activity
The Facebook post immediately raised red flags for Jasmine's parents. The photo showed Jasmine in uncharacteristically revealing clothing, but more alarmingly, her distinctive arm tattoos were missing. These tattoos formed a chronological collection acquired over months, meaning the photo must have been taken much earlier. When Katrina contacted Jasmine's friend Emma, she confirmed Jasmine wasn't staying with her as claimed in the text message. Multiple friends and family members reported receiving messages supposedly from Jasmine stating she wanted to be alone, though none had spoken with her directly since November 22nd.
Several troubling discoveries followed:
Jasmine's SUV was located at Signal View Condominiums on November 26th using the vehicle's GPS tracking system
The driver's seat was adjusted for someone much taller than Jasmine's 5'2" stature
Phone records showed a 71-minute call with Jason Chen, Jasmine's boyfriend from Bumble
A final location pin was sent to Katrina at 2:18 AM on November 23rd
When investigators eventually searched Jason Chen's apartment, they discovered Jasmine's driver's license, credit cards, and concerning evidence including what appeared to be bloodstains on the hardwood floor.
Family's Investigation
The Pace family mobilized quickly after realizing Jasmine's disappearance was suspicious. They pursued multiple avenues to locate their daughter when official channels initially provided limited assistance. Their methodical approach to gathering evidence proved critical as the investigation unfolded.
Tracking Jasmine's Vehicle
Jasmine's family began searching for her white Chevrolet Equinox immediately after discovering the discrepancies in her communication. The SUV represented their first tangible lead in establishing her whereabouts. Family members systematically contacted Jasmine's friends, confirming she wasn't staying with them as the mysterious text messages had claimed. Each conversation reinforced their growing fear that someone else was sending messages from Jasmine's devices, pretending to be her while concealing her true location.
Condominium Discovery
Using the MyChevrolet app's GPS tracking feature, Katrina Pace located Jasmine's SUV parked at Signal View Condominiums on Mountain Creek Road in Chattanooga. The family found the vehicle on November 26th, four days after Jasmine was last seen. Two concerning details immediately stood out: Jasmine had no known connections to these condominiums, and the driver's seat was positioned much farther back than would accommodate Jasmine's 5'2" frame. This discovery prompted Katrina to examine phone records, leading to a crucial conversation with Jason Chen, Jasmine's boyfriend whom she had met on Bumble.
Community Assistance Efforts
The family's public appeals for help generated significant community response. Childhood friend Bailey Putman joined efforts to locate Jasmine, emphasizing to local media how uncharacteristic it was for Jasmine to miss family gatherings or remain uncommunicative. When police initially classified the case as a standard missing person report, the Pace family intensified their independent investigation. They:
Knocked on every door at the condominium complex
Obtained security footage showing Jasmine's vehicle entering the parking lot
Discovered a location pin sent from Jasmine's phone at 2:18 a.m. on November 23rd
This pin led them to apartment 210 at 110 Traymont Street—registered to Jason Chen—where neighbors reported hearing a disturbance around the same time the location was shared. Inside, the family found Jasmine's driver's license, credit cards, and personal items before contacting authorities with their findings.
Tracking Jasmine's Final Connections
Examining Call Records
The investigation took a crucial turn when Katrina accessed Jasmine's phone records through their family cell phone plan. These records revealed a concerning pattern - Jasmine's phone had been inactive for days, with no outgoing calls. One particular number stood out in the logs. On November 22nd, the night Jasmine was last seen leaving her mother's home, she had spoken with someone for approximately 71 minutes. This extended conversation represented one of her final known communications.
Katrina methodically called each number in Jasmine's call history while police officers were present. The lengthy call from November 22nd became a primary focus point for the investigation. Another significant digital clue emerged during this review - at 2:18 a.m. on November 23rd, Jasmine's phone had sent Katrina a pinned location with no accompanying text. This unusual message, sent in the middle of the night, was completely out of character for Jasmine.
Meeting the Bumble Match: Jason Chen
When Katrina called the number from the 71-minute conversation, she reached Jason Chen, a computer science student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Jason and Jasmine had met through the dating app Bumble and had been seeing each other for several months, though the relationship hadn't progressed to meeting Jasmine's parents. When questioned about his recent contact with Jasmine, Jason's response raised immediate red flags.
Jason claimed he hadn't heard from Jasmine in days and stated their last interaction was brief - directly contradicting the phone records showing their extended 71-minute call. His apparent lack of concern about Jasmine's disappearance further alarmed Katrina. This discrepancy led the family to investigate the location sent in Jasmine's final message, which brought them to 110 Traymont Street, apartment 210.
The apartment belonged to Jason Chen. Inside, family members discovered:
Jasmine's travel bag on the kitchen counter
Cleaning supplies laid out in plain view
Jasmine's driver's license and credit cards in a desk drawer
Neighbors reported hearing a disturbance from the apartment around 2:15 a.m. on November 23rd - precisely when the location pin was sent to Katrina's phone. These discoveries transformed what began as a missing person case into something potentially much more sinister.
Initial Police Response
Chattanooga police first became involved in Jasmine Pace's case when her family contacted authorities after discovering her vehicle. The white Chevy Equinox was found parked at Signal View Condominiums on Mountain Creek Road, a location unfamiliar to Jasmine's family. Officers arrived, took statements, and filed a missing person report.
Initially, police involvement was minimal. Despite the family's concerns about suspicious circumstances, including the misleading Facebook post and text messages, officers were hesitant to escalate the investigation. The 22-year-old was legally an adult, and without clear evidence of foul play, police procedures limited immediate action.
The family's independent investigation led to several significant discoveries. They tracked Jasmine's phone records, revealing a 71-minute call with her boyfriend Jason Chen on November 22nd—information that contradicted his statement to Jasmine's mother about their brief communication. A location pin sent from Jasmine's phone at 2:18 a.m. on November 23rd directed the family to an apartment complex at 110 Traymont Street.
After neighbors reported hearing a disturbance around 2:15 a.m. from apartment 210, Jasmine's parents gained access to the unit, identifying it as Jason Chen's residence. Inside, they found several concerning items:
Jasmine's travel bag on the kitchen counter
Cleaning supplies left out in plain view
Her driver's license and credit cards in a desk drawer
Police were called back to the scene but again took limited action. Frustrated with the lack of response, Jasmine's mother collected potential evidence from the apartment, including notebooks, electronics, and multiple phones.
Law enforcement finally returned near midnight with a search warrant. During their walkthrough, investigators noted what appeared to be blood stains on the hardwood floor, marking a significant turning point in the investigation.
AI-powered tools review: When searching for Jasmine, her family utilized the "My Chevy" app to locate her vehicle, demonstrating how consumer technology can aid in missing persons cases.
Delving into Family Investigation
Residential Inquiries at Signal View Condominiums
After discovering Jasmine's vehicle at the Signal View Condominiums, her parents initiated their own investigation. The family was puzzled since Jasmine had no known connections to anyone residing in this complex. The abandoned Chevy Equinox provided their first significant clue - the driver's seat had been adjusted for someone much taller than Jasmine's 5'2" frame. This detail suggested someone else had driven her vehicle to this location.
Determined to find answers, Katrina and Travis methodically visited each unit in the condominium complex. They introduced themselves to residents, showed photos of Jasmine, and asked if anyone had seen her. Their systematic approach demonstrated remarkable persistence despite receiving minimal police assistance at this stage of the search.
Obtaining Critical Surveillance Evidence
The family's persistence paid off when a security guard at the condominium complex agreed to share security camera footage. Using timestamp data from the "My Chevy" app, they were able to pinpoint exactly when the vehicle had entered the parking area.
The footage revealed the white Chevy Equinox entering the lot at approximately 8:30 pm on November 23rd - the day after Jasmine was last seen leaving her mother's home. Unfortunately, the driver's identity couldn't be determined from the video, but this timeline information proved vital to establishing when the vehicle arrived at the location where it was ultimately discovered.
The security footage provided confirmation that:
The vehicle arrived on November 23rd
It was driven directly to where it was later found parked
The timeframe aligned with the period when Jasmine was unaccounted for
Analyzing the Final Location-Share Message
While reviewing her phone, Katrina discovered a previously unnoticed text from Jasmine's phone sent at 2:18 a.m. on November 23rd. Unlike their normal communications, this message contained no text - only a dropped pin showing a location. Jasmine had never sent such a message before, especially not in the middle of the night.
The location pin directed them to apartments at 110 Traymont Street. Following this lead, the family immediately visited this address and began knocking on doors. Residents in neighboring apartments reported hearing a disturbance around 2:15 a.m. - suspiciously close to when the pin was shared.
Their inquiries led them to Apartment 210, the only unit without a response. Inside, they discovered:
A notebook with Jason Chen's name
Jasmine's travel bag on the kitchen counter
Her driver's license and credit cards in a desk drawer
Cleaning supplies left out in the open
This location message, sent in the early morning hours when the disturbance was reported, became a crucial piece of evidence leading the family directly to the apartment of Jason Chen - the last person known to have spoken with Jasmine.
Key Findings at 110 Traymont Street
Jason Chen's Residence Discovery
Investigators identified apartment 210 at 110 Traymont Street as Jason Chen's residence. The small, open-concept unit featured a kitchen near the couch, one bedroom, a bathroom, and a stacked laundry unit in a closet. Most of the apartment was visible from the entrance.
A notebook inside the door confirmed Chen as the occupant. On the kitchen counter, officers found a small travel bag belonging to Jasmine Pace. Cleaning supplies had been left out in plain view.
Family-Collected Evidence
Jasmine's parents took extraordinary measures to gather evidence when official investigations seemed insufficient. In a desk drawer, Travis Pace discovered his daughter's driver's license and credit cards, which he deliberately left visible for investigators.
Katrina Pace returned to the apartment multiple times, collecting notebooks, electronics, multiple cell phones, a camera, and an iPad—anything that might reveal her daughter's whereabouts. The family even searched through dumpsters outside the building before police returned with a proper search warrant near midnight.
Neighbor Testimony of Disturbance
Residents of the apartment complex provided crucial testimony about events on November 23rd. Multiple neighbors reported hearing a loud disturbance from apartment 210 around 2:15 a.m.—notably coinciding with the final pin-drop location Jasmine's phone sent to her mother at 2:18 a.m.
This timing matched exactly with what would be her last communication—an unprecedented middle-of-the-night location share that her mother initially overlooked. The witness accounts of the disturbance provided critical timeline confirmation for investigators examining the circumstances of Jasmine's disappearance.
Law Enforcement's Investigation Process
Search Warrant Execution Process
On November 26, 2022, Chattanooga Police finally returned to Jason Chen's apartment at 110 Traymont Street with a search warrant shortly before midnight. This came after multiple attempts by Jasmine Pace's parents to get authorities to take more decisive action in their daughter's disappearance case.
Prior to this official search, Jasmine's parents had already entered the apartment and discovered troubling items, including their daughter's driver's license and credit cards. The family had taken matters into their own hands after feeling that law enforcement wasn't responding with appropriate urgency.
During the initial days of Jasmine's disappearance, police had treated the case as a standard missing person report for an adult, despite the suspicious Facebook post with an old photo lacking Jasmine's distinctive tattoos and text messages that appeared inconsistent with her typical behavior.
Evidence of Criminal Activity
Upon entering apartment 210 with the search warrant, investigators immediately noticed what appeared to be blood stains on the hardwood floor. This physical evidence transformed the investigation from a missing person case to a potential crime scene.
The apartment layout—a small, open-concept unit with the kitchen close to the living area—allowed investigators to quickly assess most of the space. The residence contained:
A small travel bag belonging to Jasmine on the kitchen counter
Cleaning supplies left out in the open
Jasmine's personal identification items
Multiple electronic devices
Neighbors had previously reported hearing a loud disturbance from the apartment around 2:15 a.m. on November 23rd—notably around the same time Jasmine's phone had sent an unusual location pin to her mother. This timing correlation provided investigators with a critical timeline for their investigation.
The evidence discovered during this formal search significantly elevated concerns about foul play and Jason Chen's potential involvement, particularly given his contradictory statement about only speaking briefly with Jasmine when phone records showed a 71-minute conversation on November 22nd.
