EXCLUSIVE Murdered InfoWars reporter Jamie White refused to move out of unsafe Austin neighborhood, friends reveal
On Sunday, March 9, InfoWars reporter Jamie White spent his day as usual, covering the weekend news shift for Alex Joness controversial website.
On Sunday, March 9, InfoWars reporter Jamie White spent his day as usual, covering the weekend news shift for Alex Joness controversial website.
Working out of the outlets headquarters in Austin, Texas, he wrote four articles about issues he and fellow conservatives perceive as threats to American liberties, before returning to his apartment in South Austin.
Later that night, at home alone, White either heard or spotted someone trying to break into his car in the parking lot below.
Shirtless, he ran downstairs to stop the would-be thief, marking the second time a carjacker attempts to steal his modest Kia Soul since December.
That decision would prove to be fatal.
Within seconds, White was unconscious, his head in a pool of blood from a bullet wound.
A neighbor – alarmed by the single gunshot fired shortly after hearing someone sprinting down the staircase of their apartment building – went outside, saw the journalist lifeless on the pavement, noticed a car screeching away into the darkness, and called 911.
It was intense, an intense scene for sure, that caller, who feared being named for security reasons, said in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.
InfoWars reporter Jamie White was shot dead outside his Austin residence around on Sunday March 9
Whites employer, InfoWars founder Alex Jones, claimed the killing could have been a political hitjob
White lived a few miles from InfoWars studios in the Chandelier Apartments in south Austin, where one-bedroom units like his rent for $900 to $1,100 a month
White, 36, was pronounced dead upon arrival at a nearby hospital shortly after midnight Monday.
The neighbor described finding White shirtless in the parking lot with a puddle of fresh blood around his head. He said paramedics later arrived at the scene and removed Whites pants, leaving them behind as they rushed off with his body.
Whites employer, InfoWars founder Jones, announced the news of his killing on-air hours later and spent much of the week spinning the cold case into the latest of his many conspiracy stories, claiming it was a targeted attack.
But locals have since blasted those theories, suggesting White was simply another casualty of the violent crime plaguing the area, which has recently become a common site for carjackings and break-ins.
Even Whites sister Kelly Kneale said she believed it was a random attack. omeonne was attempting to break into his car, she said.
And despite the safety concerns and warnings from friends, White had refused to relocate to a safer neighborhood despite warnings and safety concerns, a pal told DailyMail.com.
The far-right journalist lived a few miles from InfoWars studios, in the Chandelier Apartments, where one-bedroom units like his rent for $900 to $1,100 a month.
Despite its swank name, some residents told DailyMail.com the apartment complex is a hub for methamphetamine deals.
Police data show 57 crimes were reported there last year, including aggravated assaults, but no homicides.
Despite its swank name, some residents say the complex is a hub for methamphetamine deals and has been the site of recent carjackings
Speaking to DailyMail.com, the neighbor who called 911 admitted that the area is ;not the best neighborhood, but its affordable. Pictured above is a piece of crime scene tape left behind at the site of the fatal shooting
Dana Geddie, 54, a local sex worker based near the apartment complex, told DailyMail.com her line of work is more common in the area than homicide and violent crimes
Im more considered the problem around here, not murderers, Dana Geddie, 54, a prostitute who works the alley behind a strip center just north of the apartments, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday.
Its not the best neighborhood, but its affordable, added the 911 caller who has lived in the same eight-unit building overlooking a pool and barbecue area for about two to three years without ever speaking with White.
Neighbor Wilmer Amador Zamora said he has occupied a unit diagonal from the writers apartment for nine months, also without meeting him.
People are like that around here, he said in Spanish.
The neighbor who called the police the night of the shooting admitted he didnt know of Whites politics, let alone his name, but said he is frustrated that his own boss is spreading lies about his killing.
People are going to say what theyre going to say, even if its not the truth, he said.
Their building is close to the entrance of the complex where a parked car this week has a fresh hole in its back window, believed to be from a recent break-in attempt.
Two of Whites neighbors said their own cars have been broken into recently, and one noticed White vacuuming glass from his Kia earlier this winter after a thief smashed one of its windows.
Friends described him as a passionate and unique person who immersed himself in far-right politics; pictured at his birthday party in July 2021
White took a trip to Thailand in 2023. Outside of work, he enjoyed reading history, watching movies, working out, and playing music, friends say
Whites sister Kelly Kneale said that although the investigation is in its early stages, it is not believed to be a targeted attack
Whites friend and coworker, fellow InfoWars writer Adan Salazar, told DailyMail.com that he and his wife Racheal urged him to move out of a complex they considered too dangerous.
He said White refused because he was saving money in preparation for the incoming financial collapse thatll probably happen.
Instead of paying higher rent in a safer neighborhood or upgrading from his shabby, moss-colored Kia to a more edgy Dodge Challenger, which he fancied, Salazar said White was investing in silver and gold as a way of getting ready for looming economic end times.
Salazar figures that Whites frustration about having to pay $1,500 to repair his Kia from the December break-in may have led him to run into the parking lot, unarmed, Sunday night to confront yet another car thief.
He was probably like, "Ill be damned if that happens again," he said.
I think it was like a fight or flight response, like a split second decision, whereas if he had called me Id have said, "Grab your gun or call the cops".
Austin Police Detective Jason Jones (no relation to Alex) – who is leading the homicide investigation – declined to comment on conspiracy theories at a news conference Wednesday.
Rather, he said that police identified the vehicle used to flee the scene after it was abandoned nearby.
Jones, a prominent conspiracy theorist, 51, called on the Justice Department to investigate the death of his reporter, claiming the murder could have been a hit, during his appearance on political commentator Benny Johnsons podcast
He confirmed the car was stolen and, like Whites, was also made by Kia, whose models from 2011 to 2022 lacked engine immobilizers, making them easy targets for thieves.
The detective said his team also found drops of blood among the shattered glass in Whites car from the window broken by the would-be thief.
The city is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for anyone who comes forward with information leading to the conviction of Whites killer.
Whether theres one perpetrator or two, the detective warned that whoever was involved is known to be armed and have no regard for human life.
Days after the fatal shooting, Jones – citing articles by White that allegedly landed him on a Ukrainian enemies list – planted suspicion among conservative followers that one of his star reporters was the target of a political assassination ordered by that countrys government or its liberal allies here in the U.S.
Theres a chance, good chance, it could be [a hit job], Jones told far-right pundit Benny Johnson in a YouTube video posted Tuesday.
The more Im talking about it, the more Im thinking about it. A lot of smart people are calling me saying, "Alex, This is…eight people have been killed in the last two months here since the first of the year."
Okay? What are the chances in a town of over two million people that an Infowars lead reporter gets butchered?
Jones also pointed the finger at progressive philanthropist George Soros for funding the campaign of José Garza, the Democratic prosecutor in Travis County who conservatives have criticized as being too soft on local crime.
I lay all of this squarely at the feet of Soros and of the sort of crime syndicate of the Democratic Party, Jones said in an emotional video Monday afternoon.
They are the ones that administratively cut the police, prosecuted the police, and even cases that are 100% clear to be lawful, legal activities.
District Attorney Garza has since slammed the media personality for spreading rumors about the unsolved homicide of his coworker.
Garzas office, in a statement, called InfoWars baseless theories shameful, adding that its not surprising that Alex Jones is trying to exploit the victims death for political gain.
White is survived by his father, Douglas White and younger sister, Kelly Kneale, both of whom he spent Christmas with in Ohio, friends say.
His mother, Jeanne White, died nine years ago at age 56.
The apartment complex was cordoned off with crime scene tape following Sunday nights killing
Conservatives in Austin have criticized Democratic Travis County prosecutor José Garza as being too soft on crime
Austin Police Detective Jason Jones declined to comment on conspiracy theories at a news conference Wednesday, but confirmed police have identified the vehicle used to flee the scene after it was abandoned nearby
White earned a psychology degree from Ohio University and moved to North Carolina before taking a job with Jones in Austin.
Friends say the self-proclaimed patriot and freedom fighter loved his work in far-right politics beyond all else.
He read history, went to movies, worked out, and played everything from Liszt to dark metal on a keyboard in his rare spare time, and recently had been online dating in hopes of finding a woman with whom he could start a family.
Jamie was a unique character – mostly reserved and kept to himself, but became goofy and silly when he trusted and opened up with you, said Yecca Aaron, a silver and gold dealer in Bastrop who befriended the writer after years of admiring his daily InfoWars articles.
White had filed his last InfoWars story eleven hours before his death.
It was about Romania banning far-right politician Călin Georgescu from running in the second round of that countrys presidential election.
With the handle @WhiteIsTheFury, White was active on several mainstream and right-wing social media platforms, often reposting messages by white nationalists and neo-Nazis.
His employers recent remarks wouldnt be the first time Alex Jones had shared controversial comments and theories in the wake of a tragedy.
Jamie White, 36, was found fatally wounded outside his Austin residence around midnight on Sunday
Jones is notorious for claiming that the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School — which killed 20 children and six adults — was, along with the September 11 terror attacks, and the Oklahoma City bombing, a hoax.
In 2022, he was ordered to pay $1.4billion after juries found him guilty of defaming victims families, whom he referred to as paid crisis actors.
Late last year, the satirical news source the Onion, along with the Sandy Hook families who Jones defamed, successfully bid on InfoWars to cover the damages.
A federal judge rejected the sale and ownership reverted back to Jones, who has declared personal bankruptcy.
Whites body is being held by Travis County medical examiners office while the police investigation is pending.
Although the Salazars are well aware of the history of car break-ins and violence at Whites apartment complex, they embrace other suspicions about his killing.
Jamie would expect this kind of scrutiny, Adan said.
Were not dismissing any theory completely, Racheal added. He would want us all fighting for the truth, fighting to find out what really happened to him.