Matthew “Jed” Hall

In January of 2018, a teenager ran away from his family’s home in Idaho Falls. Leaving behind a suicide note, 16-year-old Jed seems to have been planning out his disappearing act for some time. But 2+ years later, doubts linger…

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Idaho Falls, which is home to more than 100,000 people, is surrounding by mostly-rural farmland and numerous small towns that pepper the southeast corner of Idaho state. Located about 160 miles NE of Twin Falls, and just an short drive away from both the Wyoming and Utah borders, Idaho Falls is the state's largest city outside of the Boise metropolitan area and serves as the seat for Bonneville County.

On January 22nd, 2018 - a date that was little more than a random Monday for many of us - a few strange events happened in this sleepy corner of Idaho. These were small stories that barely broke the news in Idaho Falls - let alone the nation or world - but later point to a more intricate narrative surrounding the disappearance of a young man.

While the city slept, a shooting would take place in Idaho Falls, which was thankfully non-lethal. This shooting took place in a residential driveway and seemed to target a person's vehicle in particular. The culprit managed to get away without being seen, and for that reason, the shooting remains unsolved.

That same night, a break-in would be reported at a charter school in the area. Surveillance footage would later reveal an individual driving by several times before parking alongside the building, and then entering in through a shattered window. This person did not vandalize or steal anything, but rather left behind money in another person's locker, entering and leaving the building in less than a minute before driving away.

It is believed that one young man was behind both of these incidents, and just hours after committing these bizarre acts, this teenager would be reported missing by his parents. In the two years that have passed, that young man has remained missing... but he may want it that way. You see, in the time since he left home early that January morning, a strange series-of-events unearthed by investigators has continued to befuddle this young man's family, who remain convinced that he is still alive out there, somewhere.

This is the story of Matthew "Jed" Hall.

You just heard from Allen and Amy Hall, the parents of Matthew Jedediah Hall, who - early on in life - decided to go by a shortened version of his middle name ("Jed").

Born on October 29th, 2001, Jed quickly became known as an incredibly smart and ambitious young man, who excelled not only academically, but athletically and socially. He was a bright and charming kid, who continued to earn good grades beyond elementary school. He eventually earned a place at a charter school just down the road from his home, and there, he became a member of the Civil Air Patrol: a volunteer organization that works in coordination with the US Air Force (serving as its civilian counterpart).

With his involvement in the CAP, Jed began preparing for a life in the military. His family and he seemed to be working in coordination for him to attend the Air Force Academy following his high school graduation; and according to Jed's parents, that was an ambition of his own making.

Because of his goal to eventually become a member of the Air Force Pararescue, Jed ended up spending a lot of time outdoors, participating in athletic activities and events. This eventually began to turn into a love of the outdoors, and in addition to hiking, Jed seemed to adore camping. This would lead to Jed spending a lot of time outside, both alone and alongside his family.

It has also been reported that during Jed's free time, he loved to watch survival-type shows, which highlighted how people could survive in the wild for days, if not weeks or months at a time. One of his favorite shows, according to his parents, was a show called "Hunted," which centers around people trying to live off of the grid for 28 days, to win a prize. It's almost like a really intricate game of hide-and-seek, but with high stakes... and it is believed that Jed might have gotten several ideas from this show for his future actions.

January 22nd, 2018 was a cold Monday in Idaho Falls, with the temperature hovering below freezing throughout the entire day.

It was on this morning that Jed's parents woke up, and were surprised to see that both him and the vehicle he had been driving in the preceding months - a 2009 Nissan Versa - were missing. Inside, Jed had left behind a note indicating that he was going to take his own life, but the validity of that came into dispute when another discovery was made outside, in the snow next to where the Nissan had been parked.

There, Jed's parents found a journal that Jed had supposedly been writing in, which seemed to detail items and provisions that he had been stockpiling in recent weeks. This journal also included a list of disguises that he was going to put together, to avoid detection.

It is believed that this journal had been left behind accidentally - perhaps dropped during Jed's departure from his family's home - but both of them seemed to go against Jed's very nature... especially to his parents, who were shocked by the 16-year-old's decision to run away from home.

Jed's disappearance was reported by his parents to the Idaho Falls Police Department that morning, and they would be the investigative body covering this case moving forward.

Because Jed didn't have a driver's license or even a bank account, it was impossible to track him through either of those methods. So the police began following the only path forward that they had at the time, attempting to ping the teenager's cell phone in the hours and days after he disappeared. Unfortunately, it seems like Jed had planned for that, and turned off his cell phone early on Monday morning, keeping it turned off in the weeks that would follow.

Follow-up attempts by police to ping Jed's cell phone would prove unsuccessful, as it would remain inactive for the foreseeable future. There have been no signs of activity from his cell phone in the two years since, leading to the popular theory that he destroyed or disposed of it early on.

Jed's information would be forwarded to authorities throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as other agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and Idaho Fish & Game. Since it was believed that Jed might have run away and was attempting to live off of the grid, police believed that he might have fled to parks or camping grounds in the area, attempting to live in the wilderness that he had become accustomed to.

Jed's information was also sent to the public, with pictures of him being presented by media outlets throughout Idaho to locate and bring him back home. Police also disclosed information about the vehicle that Jed had been driving, as well as items he might have taken with him; which included, but was not limited to, camping and survival equipment.

The vehicle in question was a blueish-gray 2009 Nissan Versa, which was registered in his father's name, which bore the Idaho state license plate "8B EF732".

It had become clear to authorities and Jed's parents that the teenager had run away from home, and had likely been planning this for days (if not weeks) ahead of time.

Jed's father, Allen (a retired police officer), does not believe that Jed planned to go through with his suicide note, believing that if Jed had sought to take his own life, he wouldn't have disappeared under such suspicious circumstances, and his body would have been found rather-quickly. Rather, he thinks that Jed had decided to use the suicide note as a cover, to allow him to live off of the grid, for whatever reason.

However, in the years since, the reasoning for Jed to have done so has not become clear. Even though some more recent developments have begun to fill in some of the gaps in the missing teenager's story, they have also brought some salacious details to the forefront of this unexplained case.

Over the next several months, the Idaho Falls Police Department would continue to oversee this investigation, hoping to bring 16-year-old Jed Hall back home, safe and sound. They would continue to ping his cell phone regularly - hoping to find some kind of recent activity - and would forward Jed's information to authorities and law enforcement agencies throughout the Pacific-Northwest. They would follow up on leads as far away as California, and would even arrange for dive teams to search areas of the Snake River that they believed Jed or his vehicle might have been submerged.

Unfortunately, all of these efforts were in vain. Wherever Jed had gone in January of 2018, he had successfully covered his tracks; to the point where law enforcement quickly exhausted all of their leads, and the case grew cold.

Jed's parents, Amy and Allen Hall, would continue to speak to the press to raise awareness for this story, and through these efforts, eventually got in contact with a private investigator named Jim Terry, who began to move the case forward.

Even though the trail to find Jed Hall had gone cold just days after he left home, the private investigator that was working with Jed's parents would begin to revisit some of the leads that police had picked up on early in the investigation. Through this, he would end up peeling back the layers of this case, learning about the circumstances that might have led to Jed running away from home in the first place.

Jim Terry, the P.I. that began to work with Jed's parents, was able to access Jed's social media accounts. Through them, he was able to discover conversations that the teenager had been having with some of his friends in the weeks before his disappearance.

Many of these friends were girls that attended Jed's school, whom he had described to his parents as just friends (not girlfriends or romantic interests in any way). They were all a part of a larger friend group, and Jed's online conversations had been spaced out between a handful of them; among them, it seems like Jed had been paying a lot of attention to one girl in particular, who also attended American Heritage Charter School.

According to Jed's parents, he had asked out this girl a short time before he decided to disappear.

According to private investigator Jim Terry, who was working with Jed's parents and spoke to EastIdahoNews.com, this girl that Jed had asked out had not seemed to reciprocate his interest. Rather, she had shown an interest in another boy that, likewise, was not interested in her, creating a classic high school love triangle that resulted in all parties being left out. However, this lack of interest on the girl's part had not stopped Jed from admiring her, and he ended up spending a lot of time with this girl both in and out of school, with him often stopping by her place-of-work to keep her company.

However, it seems like Jed's interest in this girl - and his involvement in their larger friend group - might have provided the inspiration for Jed to take drastic action and ultimately disappear.

On the morning of January 22nd, 2018 - the same morning that Jed decided to mysteriously leave his family's home - a break-in had been reported at American Heritage Charter School: the school that both Jed and his friends attended, which was just down the road from his family's home.

Early that morning, a window had been broken along a side-door of the school, but nothing appeared to have been stolen or vandalized. It wasn't until just recently that the school released surveillance footage to the press, showing exactly what happened that morning... which revealed, definitively, that Jed had perpetrated this break-in all by himself.

Just after 2:30 AM that Monday, a vehicle is seen circling along the road in front of the school, W. 17th Street. As the vehicle gets closer, it definitely appears to be the 2009 Nissan Versa that Jed went missing with; which circles around a couple of times in the school's driveway, before backing into a small parking lot along the side of the school (right next to a side-door). Moments later, a figure that appears to be Jed steps out of the car and is wearing a bizarre combination of tactical equipment, including gloves, combat boots, knee pads, earmuffs, and goggles. He also appears to be wearing a bulletproof vest underneath his clothing, which had been reported missing by his parents.

Jed steps up to a moderate-sized window next to the school's side-door and quickly shatters it before stepping inside. He jogs down a short hallway and then around a corner, before arriving at a row of lockers. He approaches one locker, in particular, opens it, and places an item inside before briskly exiting the same way he entered: through the shattered window. He then gets into his car and leaves, having been inside of the school for less than a minute and disappearing before any kind of alarm could be raised.

As I said, these actions were captured on security cameras, which showed Jed methodically driving by the location a handful of times before breaking into the school in an odd assortment of gear, leaving behind a single item in another person's locker.

The "other thing" that Jed's father Allen mentions was a shooting that took place on the same night that Jed disappeared, at the home of someone that Jed indirectly knew.

According to private investigator Jim Terry, this was someone that knew a friend of Jed's: one of the girls had been talking to online in the weeks before his disappearance. Allegedly, this person had molested Jed's friend in the past and the P.I. believes that Jed might have been behind the shooting, which took place in this small, chaotic period of time. Not only does this personal connection raise red flags for some, but it has also been reported that Jed disappeared with a 9mm handgun, which has been unaccounted for in the years since. And his appearance at the school while wearing an odd variety of tactical equipment, for seemingly no reason, seems to confirm that he might have been up to something else before disappearing.

While nobody was hurt in this shooting, thankfully, it remains unsolved more than two years later. The culprit had seemingly only targeted this individual's vehicle, which was parked in a driveway at the time, and managed to escape before being seen.

Private investigator Jim Terry continues to believe that these incidents are related and that the only one who can answer whether they are or not is Jed himself.

Another lead that came to intrigue Jed's family was the notion that Jed might have fled to California, after leaving home with his belongings and attempting to close out some unfinished business in the area.

Just days after his disappearance - on January 27th, 2018 - a detective in Stockton, California would enter the license plate number of the vehicle Jed had taken into the system: a rather-routine thing that happens to countless plate numbers throughout the country. But the location and timing of the incident - five days after his disappearance, on January 27th; and in Stockton, a port city nearly 800 miles away from Idaho Falls, which is home to hundreds of thousands of people in central California - raises alarms that Jed might have driven out to the southwest.

This was reported to the Idaho Falls Police Department at the time but failed to really catch on. Investigators were unable to make heads or tails of this tip, as the detective who entered the license plate number into the system was a member of Stockton's many gang units. When private investigator Jim Terry began looking into this case, he spoke to this detective, and learned that she was unfortunately unable to recall why she had entered the license plate; surmising that the answer was likely mundane since it hadn't raised any red flags for her at the time.

It remains unknown just how or why Jed's license plate information had surfaced in Stockton, California, of all places. Some believe that the vehicle Jed had been driving had been stolen by someone and driven to Stockton, which is a notorious hotbed for crime in central California. It's also possible that someone had stolen the license plate, in particular, putting it on their own vehicle so that they could evade detection from law enforcement.

However, after puttering out with law enforcement rather-quickly, this wasn't resurrected as a lead until just recently. That was when the P.I. working with the family on the case came upon this tip, and began to follow it up; turning over stones in Jed's social circles, where he came upon some interesting information.

This past October, Jed would have celebrated his 18th birthday. Over the past two years, he has missed out on milestones that he otherwise would have celebrated: such as his prom, graduation, and multiple advancements in his potential military career. If all had gone according to plan, Jed likely would be preparing to go to the Air Force Academy as I speak.

Despite him missing the last two-plus years, Jed's parents believe that it's not too late for Jed to come back home and catch up on the life that he left behind.

Jed's loved ones continue to believe that he's still out there, somewhere, attempting to live off of the grid. It's possible that after leaving home, he did indeed flee to California; maybe to dispose of his vehicle and take his journey elsewhere. It's also possible that he abandoned his vehicle elsewhere, and it was then taken by someone else to California. Regardless, neither Jed nor the 2009 Nissan Versa that he disappeared with have been seen since January of 2018.

Jim Terry, the private investigator that has been working this case, has recently offered up a $10,000 reward for information leading to Jed's whereabouts, and I would encourage anyone with information about Jed or the vehicle he was driving to contact the Idaho Falls Police Department at (208) 529-1200.

Until such a time that Jed Hall is found, his story will remain unresolved.

UPDATE

Episode Information

Writing, research, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan

Special thanks to Amy & Allen Hall for sharing their son’s story with us

Published on on April 23rd, 2020

Producers: Maggyjames, Roberta Janson, Ben Krokum, Quil Carter, Peggy Belarde, Laura Hannan, Damion Moore, Amy Hampton, Scott Meesey, Steven Wilson, Scott Patzold, Marie Vanglund, Astrid Kneier, Lori Rodriguez, Victoria Reid, Gabriella Bromley, Jessica Yount, Aimee McGregor, Danny Williams, Sue Kirk, Sara Moscaritolo, Thomas Ahearn, Sydney Scotton, Marion Welsh, Seth Morgan, Alyssa Lawton, Kelly Jo Hapgood, Patrick Laakso, Meadow Landry, Rebecca Miller, Tatum Bautista, Michelle Guess, and Jo Wong.