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Surveillance Video Shows Last Moments TWU Student Was Alive

NBC 5 has obtained surveillance video that police believe may show the last moments of TWU student Jackie Vandagriff -- alive.

It's from two bars in Denton, along Frye Street, from last Tuesday night.

That's when police believe Vandagriff met, for the first time, Charles Bryant -- the man accused of killing her and burning her body.

Police say surveillance video from Public House shows Jackie Vandagriff with Charles Bryant, they leave the bar together with a bartender whose shift has ended, the bartender walks down the street with them but does not continue on to Shots and Crafts with the pair.

A Grapevine Police detective told NBC 5 Wednesday night that there's "no evidence" that Bryant and Vandagriff had any contact on social media before they met last Tuesday.

The surveillance clip from The Public House that shows Vandagriff walking up to the bar and sitting one-seat-down from Bryant is the first time the two ever met, the source said, ad “all evidence we have at this point is that it was a random meeting.”

“You can see, it was an empty bar, they sat near each other, they just struck up a conversation,” the police source added.

NBC5 has obtained surveillance video that police believe may show the last moments of TWU student Jackie Vandagriff—alive.

The bar staff from that night is very shaken up, and didn’t want to go on camera, but spoke about the events of that night.

Witnesses say Bryant arrived first at the bar called Public House.

Bar employees say in recent weeks, he'd become a "familiar face" at the establishment -- not quite a regular, but someone they recognized. He wasn't a problem customer.

When he arrived Tuesday night, he sat at the bar and employees say he "clearly appeared" to be there waiting for someone to arrive.

Surveillance video from Public House appears to show the moment Jackie Vandagriff meets Charles Bryant.

He sat at the bar for about an hour until Jackie Vandagriff arrived around 8 p.m.

Public House is normally a crowded college bar, popular with college kids for drinking, pool and karaoke.

But last Tuesday night it was empty.

Bar staff say Vandagriff and Bryant were there about an hour. They had "only a few" drinks, and seemed very friendly and happy, talking naturally with each other.

They left together when their bartender's shift ended, and surveillance video shows the three of them walking out together -- Bryant, Vandagriff, and the bartender who asked not to be identified.

As they walked out, Vandagriff asked the bartender if she wanted to come next door with them to hang out, drink and shoot some pool.

The bartender said 'no thanks,' that she was tired, and she went home.

Bryant and Vandagriff walked a few doors down to the bar Shots and Crafts. It was a bit before 9 p.m. The bar was also mostly empty.

NBC5 has obtained surveillance video that police believe may show the last moments of TWU student Jackie Vandagriff—alive.

Bar staff says over an hour, they had "a couple of shots and drinks," but they weren't drinking heavily. From the surveillance video clips NBC 5 obtained, it appears the two were happy and friendly. Bryant flirtatiously touches Vandagriff's arm; she plays with her hair.

Police say they left together 9:45 p.m.

According to police, Bryant "initially denied" leaving the bar with Vandagriff.

Shots and Crafts managers say the Grapevine Police first showed up to investigate on Saturday afternoon. Detectives said they're investigating the murder of a young woman who went to college in Denton, and that "she was last seen alive in this bar."

The bar gave police access to all surveillance cameras and cooperated fully with the investigation.

While police records say the two left Shots and Crafts bar around 9:45 p.m. -- cell phone data shows Vandagriff’s cell phone around midnight connecting to cell towers around heading south near U.S. Highway 377 and I-35, towards Bryant’s North Fort Worth home.

"The cell phone data shows [Vandagriff's] cell phone connecting to four other cell phone towers as it travels south from Denton," police wrote in their arrest affidavit.

Police haven't said if they know where the two went in that two-hour timeframe between leaving Frye Street and heading South.

Police say Bryant took Vandagriff to his home near Haslet.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office still doesn't list a cause of death for Vandagriff, but the manner of death is ruled a homicide.

Police say they still do not have a motive and do not know where Vandagriff was killed.

The police source confirmed that while detectives were able to locate Vandagriff’s purse in Bryant’s trash can—her cell phone is still missing.

The ME's office has ordered a full toxicology report, but that could take up to two months.

Bryant is charged with capital murder, and may be transferred from the Grapevine jail to the Tarrant County Jail as soon as Thursday morning.

Grapevine Police met with the District Attorney’s Office Wednesday afternoon and the capital murder case could be filed Thursday.

Bryant does not have a court-appointed attorney as of this writing.

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