The Trooper | Chapter 15
Oct 8, 2026 · 39 min · 12 segments
After years of silence from law enforcement, someone finally reaches out. Become a supporter of this podcast…
- Speakers
- Wes FergusonHost
Oct 8, 2026 · 39 min · 12 segments
After years of silence from law enforcement, someone finally reaches out. Become a supporter of this podcast…
Operation Lone Star was this flood the zone initiative from Texas Governor Greg Abbott where he called up the Texas National Guard and he sent a bunch of guardsmen down to the border plus thousands of state troopers from DPS, all to help out with border security.
I know the border is always a hot button issue and now kind of more than ever, but this is not a political podcast.
In fact, Joe was working on the border right after Christmas in 2023 when he sent me that first email.
Joe explained that he grew up in Quitman, just one town over from Gilmer, about 30 miles to the west.
Back when I was in high school, we played Quitman in football and I think they stomped us.
He told me he listened to Devil Town all the way through and then he played it again.
Joe didn't come to this case because he was from Gilmer or because he knew Kelly or he'd worked the case back in the day.
I mean, he told me that he had never even heard of Kelly Wilson before and he would not have known about our podcast if not for Operation Lone Star.
I didn't know anything about this story.
It was mentioned to me by a trooper that's out of Henderson, but he used to work in Gilmer.
And so he said that I should listen to it.
And since I have, not only have I listened to it a lot, but I'm getting other people to listen to it.
Joe was on the border 600 miles away from home, working the graveyard shift from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM when he found out about a podcast from pretty much his own backyard.
Some other state trooper on the first night of a deployment just going, "Hey man, you ought to listen to this one." And that's the whole reason we're here right now.
I listen to a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of these podcasts and all kinds of stuff because I drive so much.
Operation Lone Star was this flood the zone initiative from Texas Governor Greg Abbott where he called up the Texas National Guard and he sent a bunch of guardsmen down to the border plus thousands of state troopers from DPS, all to help out with border security.
I know the border is always a hot button issue and now kind of more than ever, but this is not a political podcast.
In fact, Joe was working on the border right after Christmas in 2023 when he sent me that first email.
Joe explained that he grew up in Quitman, just one town over from Gilmer, about 30 miles to the west.
Back when I was in high school, we played Quitman in football and I think they stomped us.
He told me he listened to Devil Town all the way through and then he played it again.
Joe didn't come to this case because he was from Gilmer or because he knew Kelly or he'd worked the case back in the day.
I mean, he told me that he had never even heard of Kelly Wilson before and he would not have known about our podcast if not for Operation Lone Star.
I didn't know anything about this story.
It was mentioned to me by a trooper that's out of Henderson, but he used to work in Gilmer.
And so he said that I should listen to it.
And since I have, not only have I listened to it a lot, but I'm getting other people to listen to it.
Joe was on the border 600 miles away from home, working the graveyard shift from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM when he found out about a podcast from pretty much his own backyard.
Some other state trooper on the first night of a deployment just going, "Hey man, you ought to listen to this one." And that's the whole reason we're here right now.
I listen to a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of these podcasts and all kinds of stuff because I drive so much.
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