Kendall Rae
Appearances
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And of course, I can understand that a lot of people probably just wanted to play it safe and not speculate on things too much until more was known about the case. But Chandler, her daughter, actually went on this one podcast. It's called the Connect with Jonathan Mark podcast, and he's a celebrity psychic medium. And she mentioned that
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
part of the reason she moved so far away from home before all of this even happened was due to their community and in the aftermath of her mom's death i can only imagine how hard this has been on her and her siblings to be surrounded by people that they feel haven't done everything in their power to vocalize their support for their mom
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
There was a candlelight vigil that was held for Suzanne on October 13th, and it was actually there where Suzanne's mom spoke out for the first time publicly. Barbara shared that she'd spoken to her daughter only an hour before she went missing, and get this, she'd even come up with a plan to get her away from her abusive husband, a plan that she says she never got to share with her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And it was also made clear during this vigil that their family no longer believed she was alive. Even without proof of her passing, they just all knew in their hearts that she was gone. And for Barbara, although she first thought Suzanne might have been staying with a friend, she said she knew by then that her daughter would have reached out if she could.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And her sister Teresa was actually in Hong Kong when she got the news. And here's a clip of her talking about it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And oftentimes when there is a new and breaking case, I tend to wait until there is enough information to cover.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
So like you heard her say, there were just signs that her sister wasn't alive. And one of the biggest ones being that she hadn't reached out to her kids. I mean, she was a very involved mother who loved her children more than anything and just would never not reach out to them and let them know that she was okay if she was alive.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And then obviously another big one was that she didn't pick up her daughter from school. She just never would have done that. And then they also say that she missed a hair appointment. And they explained that she never would have missed that. So since then, search efforts have kicked off to try and locate her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
But like I've said, at this point, law enforcement knew that they were looking for a body. And in addition to searching their home, they also searched an area along Interstate 10 in Bernie, Texas, along with a shopping center in that area. Now, Suzanne's phone last pinged a day after she went missing at 7.15 a.m., but it doesn't appear as searches related to that have yielded any results.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And then, obviously, that wooded area surrounding the Simpsons' home was very thoroughly searched. And all that's been reported is that two items of interest were found. And at this point, we have no idea what those items were. Their biggest search, though, and the one that has definitely received the most media attention, was the search of the landfill.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
It was announced on October 15th that an extensive search effort was being conducted at a landfill in San Antonio. Texas Rangers, the Department of Public Safety, and the Olmos Park Police Department scoured through heaps and heaps of trash in hopes of finding evidence connected to Suzanne's disappearance. And honestly, you guys, they thought they were going to find Suzanne herself.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
cover it to the best of my ability with what is out there and an affidavit did drop in December and we got a ton new information plus the trial starts in two weeks so I feel like now is a good time to cover it and get you guys caught up on everything in case you want to follow along with the trial I do want to warn you and I don't know if you can tell in my voice already but I am getting over a pretty gnarly cold I have a
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
They quite literally said, that they were confident they would recover her there. So for four days, they sifted through truckloads of trash, but they did come up empty-handed in terms of a body. And if they did find anything else, well, at this point, we just don't know.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
I do know that they were very hopeful to find her phone, which would be a major piece to this case that they definitely want to find, but to my knowledge, that remains missing as well. Now, at the time, investigators weren't saying anything as to why they were searching this landfill specifically.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
All they said was that they were there based on evidence, statements and solid police investigation, meaning just trust us. We're here for a reason. And really, trust is all anyone has been able to do. You know, trust that the investigation is thorough.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Trust that they're doing their best to figure out what happened to Suzanne, to find her, and trust that whoever did this will be brought to justice, which I hope is the case pretty soon. So over those next few days, the searches of the landfill continued, and investigators also expanded their efforts to include some other Simpson family properties, including the property in Bandera.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
No information was released to the public about what was found at the time,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
things were definitely found and what's interesting is despite the intensity of the search efforts at no point did they ask for the public's help or involvement in the searches at all in fact they asked them not to help so when I said they were keeping this close to the vest they were keeping it very close to the vest and they had the support of the Simpson family here's a statement that Bart released it says
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
We are so appreciative of the endless, grueling hours they've committed to uncovering solid information. We are comforted by the fact that they might be close to determining what happened to Suzanne. We are grateful to Chief Villegas, the Olmos Park Police Department, Ranger Jesse Perez, and the Texas Rangers and all assisting law enforcement agencies for their nonstop professionalism.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And this would be one of just many statements that Bart has given. And I've just, again, got to say how awesome, how refreshing it has been to see a family member of an accused person acting this way publicly, to be in full support of the victim's family and the victim herself publicly.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
I mean, I understand that it's only natural when a family member is accused of something as terrible as this to want to protect them and to stay silent. Or there are plenty of people that vocalize their support for their family member, even when the evidence is very stacked against them. But Bart hasn't done that at all. And I just think it's so awesome and, again, refreshing to see.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And it was really from the beginning. I mean, from day one, he was on the right side of this whole thing. And yeah, I'm a big fan of Bart. And someone in his family actually shared information, vital information, with law enforcement that led to additional charges against Brad.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
While the landfill search was taking place, it was announced that Brad was being charged with the unlawful possession of a short barreled rifle. Basically, a family member told police that Brad owned multiple firearms that they wanted to surrender. And among those firearms was a modified short barreled rifle.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Now, of course, this is America, owning a weapon isn't illegal, but owning it without registering it absolutely is. And because it wasn't, these additional charges were added and a federal hold was placed on Brad. Which basically means that if he were to post his $2 million bail, he would immediately go into the custody of the U.S. Marshals.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Terrible cough, but I really still wanted to record today. While this is fresh in my head, I'm very fired up. I'm very angry and eager to share the details of this case with you guys so that you have this information before the trial begins. Unless it gets delayed, hopefully it won't. So yeah, I've got my tea in my Stay Safe Out There mug, which you can get at kendallray.shop.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And because of that, a bond reduction hearing he was scheduled to attend in mid-October was canceled. Basically, there was no point to argue to reduce his bail because if he posted it, he would immediately just go back into custody anyway. And if he is convicted on that charge alone, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. And keep in mind, this is separate from the murder case.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
It seems that investigators are stacking things against him in order to at least get some conviction because without a body, this murder is going to be a lot harder to prove. So this at least means that Brad will remain behind bars for something. And I'm sure you could have guessed this, but Brad's lack of cooperation has held strong throughout all of this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
So much so that on October 16th, his brother, Bart, released another statement, and it reads, "...until Brad chooses to cooperate, we will continue to cooperate for him, as we have from the very beginning of this heartbreaking ordeal. The devastation this has caused to our family is overwhelming. Brad's refusal to cooperate is unacceptable."
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And that promise to not rest until Suzanne is found is shared by law enforcement. They were, and they are, to this day, determined to do everything in their power to locate her remains and bring her home. Now, a clear alert had been issued shortly after her disappearance, which is like an amber alert, but for adults.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And as the landfill searches came to an end, people were waiting for what was next. And what was next was enlisting the help of the Texas Search and Rescue Organization and focusing their efforts once again to the wooded areas in and around Olmos Park.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Meanwhile, Suzanne's sister spoke publicly about all of this and shared what she was able to about how things were going and the need for answers for the sake of Suzanne's children.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
The pain that all of this has caused their children is just unimaginable. It is so horrific. My heart is absolutely broken for them. I mean, this is both parents that we're talking about here. Their mom is gone, likely at the hands of their father. And on top of that, they don't even know where she is. They don't have any answers.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And a percentage does go to the Higher Hope Foundation. If you're interested in supporting us and supporting that, it would mean a lot. So I'll have that linked below. But let's get into it. And as always, as this is an active case, everyone that I am going to be speaking about today is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And coming to terms with all of that is going to be something that takes a long time. I'm not sure how much the five-year-old knows at this point, but unraveling that and understanding that as she gets older is going to be just horrific. Truly, I'm just beyond heartbroken for them. There just are no words. It's horrible.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
I wish so badly that there is something that I could say that if any of them saw this, that would be comforting or change anything. But obviously, that's just not possible. But there actually are a few things that...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
we can all do to support their family during this time in the description box or the show notes if you are listening to the podcast version of the show i'm going to put a link to a meal train page where money is being raised to support all four of the simpson children and this is amazing they have incredibly been able to already raise 90 000 for the four children but obviously in the grand scheme of life for them to have lost their parents and there's four of them
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
you know, much more support is going to be needed. So I encourage any of you who are in a position to make a donation to do so. I will again have that linked below for you guys are in the show notes. But also I will be setting aside funds for them through my foundation, Higher Hope.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And we are in the process of reaching out to them to get them a hope grant if they are interested in receiving those funds. And then this little detail I need to share with you pisses me off beyond. Okay, there are people out there who have tried to profit off this situation by making fake GoFundMes. That's right. People have made fake GoFundMe accounts to try to exploit this tragedy.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Chandler even had to post her Instagram account and tell people that it was a scam. And it's just awful they have to deal with something like that on top of everything else. God, our society is so sick. I just... Who are these people? And how...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
How do you ever get to a point in life where you see a situation like this and a family suffering this way and think, oh, this is a good opportunity for me to try and make some cash out of it? Fucking sickos. But anyway, back to the case. And there are more charges to go over. And that makes me happy.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
On October 22nd, Brad was hit with an additional two charges, and buckle up because this is crazy. That day, he was charged with two felony counts of tampering with evidence and possession of a prohibited weapon. It turns out that he had asked his business partner to hide his unregistered AK-47 after Suzanne went missing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
On October 8th, Brad texted James Cotter, who is his business partner, saying the following. At 4.35 p.m., he said, If you're in Bandera, can you haul ass and meet me at your house? Followed by, I don't have much time and sorry for the urgency, but you're all I got, especially now. Social media is destroying me. Then a text from James reads, I will be there in 40 minutes.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
I've got to make that clear, although I am sure when you hear the details of this one, you are going to have some strong opinions. But with all that being said, let's go ahead and jump in. And I want to start out how I always do by telling you about our victim and who she was while she was alive.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Then another text from Brad saying, Okay, make sure and leave all that shit into the pump house, especially the gun. And James responds later at 841 by saying, Get over here. I won't tell anyone. And you're my brother. No, don't you worry. This James Cotter piece of shit was also arrested and charged too.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
He was arrested on the 22nd as well, and his bail was set at $1 million on charges of tampering with evidence and possession of a prohibited weapon. And even though it hasn't been stated whether or not the weapon is connected to Suzanne's disappearance, maybe they don't even know if that's the case. You can't tell me that this isn't extremely shady, especially when you hear this next bit.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
They found the weapon in the wall behind James' TV. And they're very confident that this weapon belongs to Brad because when they searched his house on the 9th, it was nowhere to be found. Plus, think about those text messages between him and James. Okay? It really, they say it all. The two of them truly deserve the titles of Dumb and Dumber.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Alright, now in addition to these new charges, Dummy 1, Brad, also had his bail increased. Like Dummy 2, James, his bail was set at $1 million, bringing his total bail to a whopping $3 million. All in all, he was facing four charges, including unlawful restraint, family violence, tampering slash fabricating with physical evidence, and possessing a prohibited weapon.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And during all of this, Brad and his attorneys were fighting for him to be able to see his children. A judge had initially put in a no contact order for all four of them, so they were filing motions to get this revised. They basically said that none of these charges had to do with his kids, so he should be able to speak with them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Now, a decision on this wasn't made until December, so I will get back to that closer to the end of this episode. And if things in this case weren't already insane and disturbing enough, get ready for this next part. Because in early November, there was a major update in the case. On November 7th, it was announced that Brad Simpson was being charged with murder.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And that day, he was temporarily taken out of the county jail for further questioning by the Texas Rangers.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
So Suzanne Clark was born on June 16th, 1973 in Bexar County, Texas to her parents, Philip and Barbara. And she also had one older sister, Teresa. Her mom has said that Suzanne was both easy to raise and a joy as a child, and her loved ones often boast about her kind-hearted nature.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And I just had to include this. Here is Barton reacting to those charges.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Thank you very much. Now, I'm sure you're all wondering, how did these charges come about? And we were able to get that information because court documents were unsealed on November 12th that for the first time explained what evidence investigators had uncovered. Now, I'm going to go over all that evidence with you, but it is going to require us backtracking to really the very beginning.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
As a reminder, on the night that Suzanne went missing, she, her daughter, and Brad all attended this party at the Argyle. Thank you.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
People say that she was the type of person who would smile at every stranger and introduced herself to everyone she met. She was very social like that. And they also say that she always put the needs of others above her own. And that's just a fraction of the wonderful things that people have had to say about her. She very clearly impacted a lot of people.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And people are just absolutely devastated by what has happened. Growing up, Suzanne attended the Texas Military Institute, where she graduated from in 1991. And after that, she received her bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Texas in Austin. And it was there, while she was in college, that she ended up meeting the man that she would eventually marry.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And that brings us to Brad. Brad Simpson. a fellow UT student, and in May of 2002, after the two of them dated for several years, they did end up getting married. Now, Suzanne and Brad both had careers in real estate, and eventually they purchased a beautiful home in Olmos Park, Texas, which is just north of San Antonio, and they lived there with their four children.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Thank you. Now, an examining trial is a hearing to determine whether or not there's sufficient evidence to justify bringing the case to a grand jury for an indictment. They basically called for prosecutors to turn all their cards over and show them what they had so a judge could decide if this was even going to move forward.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
They had three daughters and one son, and at the time of her disappearance, her children were ages 20, 18, 15, and 5. Now, in 2024, Suzanne was an employee of Nick's Realty, a luxury real estate company co-owned by Brad's sister-in-law, and she was a very passionate agent. She had this natural ability to buy and sell homes, and it was really just a part of her life that brought her a lot of joy.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
They asked to see any evidence including written and recorded statements from Brad Simpson or any witness, physical evidence, pictures and videos, and a potential witness.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
on top of that his defense attorney has tried to get his bail reduced he said that his client is being illegally confined because there wasn't enough evidence to lock him up according to him but luckily his efforts have not been successful at least as of now interestingly though the domestic violence charges against him the ones that he was originally arrested for ended up being dropped which i believe is so the da's office can focus on the bigger picture at hand so maybe that's for the best
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And the bigger picture at hand here is murder. And God, for the sake of Suzanne, for this family, for their kids, I just hope more than anything that justice is actually served. And I wanted to share a very emotional social media post from Chandler, their oldest daughter. And it reads, My mom was a victim of abuse from my father. My father took my mother's life in a state of rage and control.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
in our community this should not be happening and i will not stop speaking as the voice of my mother until she is found i will forever represent all victims of domestic abuse and assault As my mother's daughter, I will tell our story over and over again. With every breath, I will make sure you remember her name. Suzanne Simpson was a victim of abuse and a victim of this community.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
However, what truly brought Suzanne the most joy was being a mother, and she was a damn good mother. One of her daughters has said that if her mom had any faults, it was that she always put others above herself. And that selflessness is what I imagine made her so special. Everything that she had done in life was for her family. And to have allegedly lost her life at the hands of a family member...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Beyond being a victim, she was a phenomenal mother, hardworking, driven, loving, and kind. Shame on my community for not speaking about domestic violence. Within Alamo Heights, women are marginalized by society and misogyny every day and told to keep their mouth shut. Our community needs to come forward with strength and bring awareness and change to uplift women who brought us life.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Those who choose to remain silent are choosing to blind themselves from domestic violence in our homes. My mother tried to leave my father and lost her life. If you stand with my mother and our family, please be present at my dad's hearing on November 13th in San Antonio. Stand with us all in silence for my mother. Justice will be served and my mom will be brought home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Shame on Alamo Heights for not educating youth and community on domestic violence and sexual assault as women across this world suffer in silence as victims. Any woman of the AHHS community that has experienced any kind of verbal, physical or sexual abuse, this is your time to speak. Be strong like my mother and speak up.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
I've read through that a handful of times and every time I do, I am just left almost speechless. It is so powerful, so brave.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
so true in so many ways she had so much courage to say this and say it in such a bold way and to be honest her posts were the last push that I needed to cover this case I wanted to tell Suzanne's story I wanted her words to be amplified and I'm glad that this episode is going out when it is right before this trial so that we can show this family as much support as possible she is right
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
There is danger in not speaking out about domestic violence, and there is especially danger in not educating people on what it looks like because it's not always physical. And based on what she's written, it sounds like Suzanne was a victim who died while trying to get away, which, as we know, is the most dangerous time in an abusive relationship.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Now, I also wanted to read another social media post that was written by her daughter Chelsea, and it reads, It has been a month without the most joyful, devoted, beautiful, kind-hearted, courageous, and nurturing mother in our lives. Without the presence of her radiant smile and positive spirit, there is a void here on earth and in my heart which will never be filled or forgotten.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
The world was a better place with my mom. She lit up every room she walked in with her unfiltered, hilariously energetic and welcoming personality. Those who knew her understood how easy and lighthearted it felt to be around her. Not only was she a joy to be around, she was also the most hardworking, resilient and patient woman to walk this earth.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And her words there just really bring Suzanne to life. And with everything that's happened, it's really important that we take the time to learn about who she was. And man, did she sound like such an incredible person that anyone would have been lucky to know. And I know all four of her children were so lucky to have her as a mother while they had her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
But getting back into the case here, I wanted to briefly circle back to dummy number two, James, Brad's business partner. I mentioned earlier that his bail was set at $1 million, but after just over two weeks behind bars, his attorney got it reduced to $100,000, which he posted the very next day.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
As a condition of his release, though, he had to surrender his passport and be under house arrest with a GPS monitoring device. Plus, he's not allowed to have any contact with Brad. Then on December 16th, he was indicted on charges of tampering with evidence with the intent to impair an investigation and possession of prohibited weapons.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And as of now, this is the most recent update we have on his case. Brad, on the other hand, we have a few more big updates. On December 3rd, 2024, he was officially indicted by a grand jury on several charges, including murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing bodily injury, tampering with a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and possession of a prohibited weapon.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
her husband, who she once loved, it's hard to even wrap your mind around. And it's not just what he allegedly did to her in October of 2024. This had been going on for years. Through stories told by other family members, it's believed that Suzanne was a victim of domestic violence, and I'll be sharing examples of that throughout this episode, but...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
His bail was also increased again to $5 million. Then, just two days later, and I'll warn you ahead of time, this is really disturbing. Oh, I hate even saying this, but it was revealed in an indictment that Suzanne's DNA was found on a motorized saw that belonged to Brad. They call it a reciprocating saw, which is a handheld power tool that can cut through some very tough material.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
don't think i need to paint that picture for you guys and at this point we don't know how the saw was used or we don't really know much information about this i'll explain what we do know but it's just god when i learned that detail i was just i felt sick to my stomach i don't understand how someone could get to that point where they would want to use a saw on
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Someone that I'm assuming they loved at some point in their life, someone that birthed their four children. There's just no words. I can't even I can't even speak any further on it. But now when it comes to this saw, all we learned is that Suzanne's DNA was found on it and Brad tried to hide it. We don't know where they found it. We don't know how they found it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
We also don't know what kind of DNA was found. Was it a fingerprint? Was it blood? Was it hair? We have no idea. But following this, on December 9th, Brad had a hearing. And it was mostly just procedural stuff, really nothing that's important to go into detail on. But after that hearing, his brother did make another statement saying that he hoped Brad would do the right thing and come forward.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
He also did give a small update on the kids. The two youngest have been in his care, so let's take a listen to that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And what he's saying is all we can really hope for, that and justice, which hopefully will be coming soon. Now, on December 10th, a gag order was put in place because of how much attention this case has gotten publicly. The judge understandably wants to ensure that Brad receives a fair trial. But unfortunately, there have been some violations of that order.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
In the December 19th hearing, Barton and Teresa were both cautioned about violating it. Barton wasn't actually there at the hearing, but Teresa was, and she had to go up on stand in front of the judge where she was incredibly apologetic. which had to be very nerve-wracking for her considering she's just a few feet away from the man who stands accused of killing her little sister.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Now for Barton, it was said that he violated the order by going on the San Antonio Express News podcast where he discussed domestic violence.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
In order to do so, I really need to go over the events that led up to her disappearance and kind of how it all unraveled. And that brings us to October 6th, 2024, which was not that long ago. And so this is the information we have at this point about how all of this went down.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Now, that's only 40 seconds of a nearly hour long episode. But in my opinion, I'm very proud that he, you know, went and took time to talk about something as important as domestic violence and is making so much effort to really stand up for Suzanne and for her kids and for women all over their community. but a lot of people feel that it violated the gag order just by mentioning the case at all.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
However, nearly the entire episode was focused on domestic violence. I thought it was very well done, very thoughtful, and again, brave and awesome of him to do this. So I wanted to link it below if you would like to take a listen to it for yourself. Now, as for Teresa, Brad's attorney argued that she'd still been in contact with the media even after the gag order was put in place.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Luckily, neither of them were punished. It was more of a, hey, be careful. I don't know if you realized you violated the gag order type of thing, but I really feel bad for both of them, especially Teresa. She definitely was a bit shaken up by the whole thing, understandably. But these violations weren't even the point of the bond hearing. The point was to go over Brad's bond conditions.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Remember earlier when I said that Brad was fighting to see his kids? Well, that is what the hearing was about. And surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, it was determined that he would be allowed contact with some of his children. The judge ruled that Brad is allowed to write letters to his 15-year-old son, but he's not allowed to have any contact with his 5-year-old daughter.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
His two older children weren't ready at the time to speak with him, but if they choose to, it would be allowed. Obviously, though, with the stipulation that all communication is thoroughly monitored. And at the end of the day, I do believe that his children should be able to make that call on their own, whether they want to speak to him or not. You know, that should be entirely up to them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Their family held a private celebration of life on December 17th. However, details of that event have been kept out of the media, which I think is for the best. I imagine, though, that there was great sadness in the unknown. Not knowing where she is or what exactly happened to her or what the outcome of this trial is going to be has got to be weighing so heavy on everyone.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
But hopefully some of these questions are answered soon and justice is right around the corner. So assuming that nothing gets pushed back, Brad's trial is scheduled to begin on February 12th, 2025, which is very, very soon. He is facing up to 99 years in prison, which doesn't feel like enough if you ask me. This is just my opinion.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
You know, he allegedly committed this murder, but I truly think that Brad is an evil, evil person.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
my opinion god i just hope more than anything that there's some sort of resolution when all is said and done and that this family can get some peace and justice and i'm sure there will be people that comment this but this case reminded me a lot of the brian and anna walsh case which i covered in february of 2023 and brian hasn't even gone to trial yet that trial is scheduled for october
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
That day, Suzanne and Brad were invited to attend a party at the Argyle, which is this like exclusive member and guest only dinner club. Originally, Suzanne had called her mom to ask if she could watch their youngest daughter, the five-year-old, but ended up changing her mind and they brought her with them instead. There's actually this blurry surveillance photo that shows her there that evening.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
of this year and i likely will be covering that trial there's so many disturbing similarities between these cases and you know in both of these cases they're going into trial without a body and it makes me very very nervous and it's just so horrendous for these families not knowing where the victim is
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And what's really sad too is that Barbara, Suzanne's mom, has actually shared that she had always held Brad in high regard and thought of him as a good father. And it just goes to show you that people never really know what's happening behind closed doors and it's really scary to think about. It's so heartbreaking that Suzanne was in this situation.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
horrible relationship with this horrible person and she lost her life before she could get away and now her kids have to live with the reality of what happened to her for the rest of their lives especially the fact that it happened at the hands of their father
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
allegedly like i said before our team at higher hope is reaching out to them to try and get them a hope grant if they are interested in that and i really hope that we can help them in some way and you know again thank you to all of you who have supported higher hope and all the work that we've done so far and even just by supporting this show or any of the mile higher media shows you are helping us to help others and it means a lot
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Oh, and again, I just wanted to mention that if you're interested in showing your support for their family, you can do so by visiting the Meal Train page that is linked in the description and show notes of this episode. I really wish I had something more positive to end on, more of a conclusion, but I hope that that is coming soon.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Let me know if you guys would be interested in some post-trial coverage. And, you know, hopefully justice is right around the corner. We're going to have to see how this shakes out. But I feel like, again, the circumstantial evidence is really damning. So hopefully it will be enough. That is going to be it for me today, guys.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And so the three of them were at the Argyle from 6 to about 8.30 p.m. And during that time, witnesses say that Suzanne and Brad had some type of verbal altercation. Now, we don't know exactly what was said, but whatever it was, it was... you know, loud enough and upsetting enough that other people took notice.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And then following this altercation, Suzanne and her daughter ended up leaving and going to the H-E-B supermarket where they stayed from 8.40 to 8.51 p.m. And after this very quick trip to the grocery store, it's believed that Suzanne and her daughter went back home. But shortly after returning home, Suzanne ended up leaving again.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
At 9.15 p.m., she calls a friend of hers and let her know that she was on her way over. And while driving there, she placed another call to her mom. And this phone call to her mom was extremely upsetting. In the call, Suzanne explained to her mom, confided in her mom, that Brad had assaulted her. and caused pain to her neck, her back, and her arm.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And then I'm not sure if she ended up telling her friend about this. I'm sure that information will come out in court. I think there's a good possibility she told her friend this as well. What we do know, though, is that Suzanne got to her friend's house at 9.25 p.m., but an hour later, she was already back home, which was confirmed by the Find My Friends app.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And it was shortly after this that something terrible must have happened, allegedly. Now, what I'm about to share with you actually comes from a neighbor who has been a key witness in this case, because not only did he see some incredibly alarming things, but he was also the last person, as far as we know, to see Suzanne alive besides Brad, of course.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
So what were these very alarming things that he saw? Well, according to this neighbor, sometime between 10 and 11 p.m., he hears this loud altercation from outside his window. And when he goes and looks outside the window, he sees Brad and Suzanne in the street right in front of his house having a physical altercation.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And the court documents read, quote, The neighbor stated he observed that Miss Simpson was attempting to get away from Mr. Simpson's grasp. as he tried to pull her downwards. The neighbor told me that he observed that after an approximately one-minute struggle, both Mr. Simpson and Miss Simpson were last seen headed westbound from his residence.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
The neighbor advised that it appeared Mr. Simpson was clearly attempting to keep Miss Simpson from running away. But Suzanne did manage to get away, and then after this, she ran off into this wooded area near their home, and Brad followed her out into the woods, and that's where this neighbor lost sight of them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
But then he decides to go ahead and get a flashlight and see if he could figure out what's going on, see if he could see anything. And that's when he hears, and this just gives me chills, two to three loud screams coming from the woods and then just silence. Then an hour or so later, he hears Brad start up his GMC Sierra truck and leave the area. And about an hour after that, he heard Brad return.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Now, I already know I'm going to get comments asking about this, and I totally understand why you would want to know, and I want to know as well. Did the neighbor call the police? The answer is no. And I don't know why. I have a million thoughts on this. It's very frustrating. Maybe there's more information as to why that we will understand more later.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
It's one of those situations where calling could have made a massive difference in this case. So it's frustrating. But again, I don't know all the details. I always try to encourage people that if you see something, you hear something different.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
you say something you try to get help because you never know it could save someone's life or help solve a case in a big way so yeah it's it's just frustrating and ultimately this is all we know about the ordeal as far as what the neighbors saw or what has been released at this time And let's just recap what we do know about her last moments, okay?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
So she is seen having this physical altercation with Brad. She breaks away from him. She runs off into the woods. He is seen following after her. Then there's a couple loud screams and then silence. So it tells you a whole lot just from that. So then the following day, October 7th, Suzanne was reported missing, but her husband wasn't even the first person to do it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Despite the fact that his five-year-old school had called at 3 p.m. to say that Suzanne had failed to pick her up, Brad didn't bother to report her missing until after 10 p.m. that night. And it was actually a friend of Suzanne's who made the report first. A couple of friends actually had grown concerned that day when nobody had heard from her, and they even tried to talk to Brad about it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Ray. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you're new to the show, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you here. So, guys, today we're going to get into a case that is, oh, my God, it's just so frustrating, so upsetting. And a lot of you probably have heard of it, especially if you follow true crime news or current cases.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
One friend called him up and basically said, hey, we're all worried, and I'm going to go file a missing persons report. And she did at 9.57 p.m., and only after that did Brad go ahead and make a call himself to report her missing. So he reports her missing at 10, 11 p.m. And in this report, he specifically said that he had not heard from his wife since the night before at 11 p.m.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And from this point forward, 51-year-old mother of four, Suzanne Simpson, has been missing. And to this day, like I said in the beginning of this episode, her remains have yet to be found. Now, I wish I could say that law enforcement took this seriously from the moment they found out, but that is certainly not how everyone feels.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Chandler, her oldest daughter, the oldest of their kids, was living in New York at the time, and when she found out that her mom hadn't been responding to anyone, she flew home immediately. And when she got there, she felt like police weren't doing anything about it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
According to Chandler, it took her and her siblings actually going to the police station and making a statement for them to really get the ball rolling, which is crazy that they didn't take this seriously from the second they found out because Brad was not acting like a concerned husband of his missing wife. I mean, there were just red flags all over this case from the beginning.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
A day after reporting her missing, on October 8th, he failed to show up for an interview at the police station, and instead, he went to his ranch property, which was located about an hour away in Bandera County, but But even if he wouldn't talk to investigators, several other people did. And one of those people was actually Brad's own brother, Barton.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And I've got to say right off the bat, big fan of Bart. He has been so outspoken in condemning his brother's actions and showing massive support for Suzanne and her family. And I just want to get ahead of the comments here because I know people are going to have to say something. Yes, I know his name is Bart Simpson and he was named before the show even came out. And I'm sure he's aware of it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
So there's really no need to make comments about it. It's just so unnecessary and quite frankly, rude. So let's just let's refrain. Let's just not. We're moving past that. OK, so anyway, when he spoke to the police on the 8th, he shared that Brad called him and apologized for, quote, all the problems he's caused.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And I guess he had been kind of separating himself from the family and not acting how he usually did, which is not super damning information or super relevant to the case, I guess, but it's noteworthy nonetheless. The really damning information, though, came from that neighbor who had witnessed all of this happening. And he did an interview with police on the night of the 8th.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
He told police everything that he had seen, everything that he had heard, everything that I just went over with you guys a couple minutes ago. Then there was also an interview with a school counselor that definitely shed some light on Brad and Suzanne's relationship.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
During that interview, investigators learned that just one day prior, their child told the counselor that on the day her mom went missing, Her dad, quote, pushed her mother against the wall, hit physically her mother on the face, and hurt her mother's elbow inside their residence. And then she also stated that her dad turned off her mom's phone because they were fighting.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And that last part, the part about the phone, would end up contradicting one of Brad's own statements. He claimed that Suzanne had lost her phone earlier that day, not that he had turned it off. And that wasn't the only contradictory statement that he had made.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
He later told police that the last time he saw his wife was on the morning of the 7th, around 6.30am when he was leaving to drop his daughter off at school. He said he peeked his head into the room that she was sleeping in and saw her in bed. Yet when he reported her missing, he said that the last time he saw her was on the night of the 6th, but now he's saying it was on the morning of the 7th.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And this one has been requested a ton from all of you. So I definitely wanted to get into it today. It's the case of Suzanne Simpson, a Texas mom of four who disappeared. And it is believed that she is most likely no longer with us. And to this day, her remains have not been found, which has definitely made things very challenging. And like I said, I got a ton of requests to cover the case.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
So which is it? So it became pretty clear pretty quickly that this guy was full of shit. And thankfully, after getting all this information, police did finally do something about it. In the early morning hours of October 9th, Brad Simpson was arrested for assault causing bodily injury, family violence, and unlawful restraint. And I'm really happy that at least his arrest came pretty quick.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
He was booked into the Kendall County Jail. And the following day, he was transferred to the Bexar County Jail, where he was held on a $2 million bail. And apparently he showed no emotion when he was being arrested and didn't even ask why. And he continued to show no emotion as he was questioned about his wife's disappearance.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Plus, and this is a big one, he had a number of lacerations and bruises on his hands and arms that law enforcement noticed right away. And along with his arrest, a search warrant for their home was obtained.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
And during that search on the 9th, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Olmos Park Police Department found what appeared to be an indentation in the wall at the bottom of the stairway, an indentation that Chandler said was not previously there. And keep in mind, you guys, This was not some like little ding on the wall.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
This was a big indentation, like someone had been thrown against it, pushed against it, slammed up against it, something like that. And this was information that we know now, but at the time the public did not know any of this. This investigation was kept incredibly close to the vest and all people really knew was that Suzanne was missing and Brad was in jail on unrelated charges.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Neighbor Heard Screaming From the Woods & Then She Vanished: Where Is Suzanne Simpson?
Well, the charges had to do with her, but not about her disappearance. You know what I mean. And another thing that's interesting to note is the community was also very quiet in the beginning of this investigation. People didn't seem to be willing to talk about Brad and Suzanne's relationship on the record with the media. And I found that to be pretty interesting.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And this family really did do so much to try and keep Savannah safe. So I'm hoping that we can show them support as they head into the next phases of this case. And speaking of support, I also wanted to make sure that if their family is watching this or if anyone knows the Copeland family and can get them a message, we're going to be doing our best to reach out as well.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And like I mentioned earlier, at this point in time, there's very little information available about him and about the circumstances that led to Savannah's murder, but I'll share what we know as of this point in time. According to Michael, Malachi was not only someone that they were familiar with, but also someone that they had welcomed into their home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
He was someone that they had sympathy for, someone that they even cared for. Now, the extent of that care is not something that has been too reported on at this point in time.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
I did learn that he was living with his grandfather and his siblings at the time of the murder, so part of me wonders if their family, Savannah's family, had tried to step up and show him support because maybe he wasn't getting that at home or was going through... you know, emotional struggles, family structural problems, things like that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And I don't know, that's just kind of the vibe I'm sensing. Either way, though, it doesn't really matter. I mean, he was someone that they knew, someone that they cared about, and he was now someone who was responsible for the murder of their child. And that has understandably come with a lot of conflicting emotions for their family.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Now, following Malachi's arrest, he was brought to the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center. And because he's only 15 years old, which is legally a minor, this case has started in juvenile court. But it might not stay there because there was a hearing on November 13th where prosecutors stated their intention of trying Malachi as an adult.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And this is something that the Copeland family does support. However, it's Not as simple as just trying him as an adult. There has been and will continue to be a pretty lengthy legal process to elevate this to adult court. But prosecutors are willing to fight for it. A judge will first need to hear the evidence against him. And then, of course, they'll need to evaluate his mental health.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And lastly, the judge will have to determine what is in society's best interest. And these are all things that can't just happen overnight or quickly.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
But I would love to get them a Hope Grant. If you're not aware, my foundation, Higher Hope, offers two different grants. the hope grant is one of them and we're basically seeking to provide one-time financial assistance to victims of a violent crime as well as to their families so we would love to help you guys in whatever way you need we can start that conversation and figure out how to do that
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And like I said, the decision to attempt to try him as an adult is something that the Copeland family fully supports and I do too. If this 15-year-old boy is really guilty of what he is accused of, which, may I remind you, is stabbing a 13-year-old girl with a pocket knife and then leaving her there to die, then I believe he should have adult-like consequences.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Now, this is a very complex and controversial topic that people feel different ways about. And, you know, I think it really depends on the situation. And ultimately, the purpose of the juvenile system is that there's hope for rehabilitation, of course.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And there are cases where kids get into trouble, do some pretty bad things, but are able to turn it around and turn into wonderful, productive members of society. But there are also cases... where kids get into trouble and they continue to go on to be serious offenders and dangers to society.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
I don't think it's something that you can make a generalization on when it comes to the juvenile system as a whole and how each case can be conducted. It's really... a case-by-case basis, but I really agree with the family that the consequences just need to match the severity of the crime that he committed.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And the problem with him going through just the juvenile court is he would likely be released in just a couple of years. On the other hand, if this goes to adult court, he will be facing 15 to 25 years for the charge of second-degree murder, and that would be served primarily in an adult detention center. And
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And I'm sure most of you know this, but if an adolescent is tried in adult court, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to go right into adult prison if they are found guilty. I mean, in some cases that does happen. And I'm not explaining this fully. It's a very complicated topic.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
But most of the time they will start their sentence in juvie and then they are transferred when they turn 18. However, most cases that start in juvenile court tend to stay there. And given the severity and true violent nature of this case, it is reasonable to believe that he could be tried as an adult. Although there is no doubt that his defense attorney is going to fight it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
In November, his attorney filed a request for discovery, meaning that the prosecution has to hand over what evidence they have against him. And they were given until January 14th to do that. And January 14th was also the date for the next hearing in this case, which was supposed to be when they discussed trying Malachi as an adult.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
But I'm really confused because I was not able to figure out if this hearing even happened. I mean, most of the time I can find... some article that states whether it happened or if it was postponed for some reason, but I scoured the internet and I could not find anything with any information about this hearing and whether or not it even occurred.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
At least as of the day I'm recording this episode, which is February 13th. And it had been previously mentioned by prosecutors that they weren't sure if the forensic testing would be finished by January, so... Maybe they just haven't gotten the results back of that and the hearing was pushed back. That's definitely a possibility. I just, I don't know for certain.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
I do know that the defense said that this is going to take six to eight months to determine. So I'm not sure if they're just trying to stall or if something like this really does take that amount of time. And as of right now, police have not revealed the communication between Savannah and Malachi that led to her meeting up with him. And they also haven't shared a possible motive.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And I think I mentioned this last week as well, but for any of you out there who are curious about what we are doing through the Higher Hope Foundation, you can actually check out our impact report for 2024, which we just had launched in September. So this is just what we have been able to do in a short amount of time, thanks to all of your support.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And obviously, these are two things that people really want to know. But of course, because we're talking about two minors here, a lot of that information has to be kept private. And when this case first broke, the media wasn't even naming either of them publicly. Eventually, they did release their names, obviously. But at this point in time, they're not even releasing photos of Malachi.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
So if you're watching this episode, that's why I have not included a photo of him. I have no idea what he looks like. Now, there is one short video of him and he's walking in handcuffs and you can't see his face. And I'm not sure when we'll get to see it. But what I am sure is how emotionally devastated, confused and angry this family is.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And if it were any of us, I'm sure we would feel the exact same way. I know I would. And I don't think I could hold the same composure and grace that this family has because anger and rage is definitely not the only feelings that they are feeling and not the only feelings that Michael has displayed.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Through their faith and with the support of their community, Michael and their family have been able to find light in this darkness. And the way that he talks about it is really just so beautiful.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And in a different interview, Michael did open up about how he feels some anger at Savannah in a way, which I totally understand that emotion. I mean, you've got to just be all over the place emotionally, but he feels angry that she left that night, and he just doesn't understand why. Plus, he has access to all of Savannah's Life360 data, and so he knows...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
that sneaking out is not something that she had ever done before, so I'm sure he's just so confused as to why she did it that time and how she was potentially lured out of her home. And just to be clear, I think by no means is he blaming her. I mean, no one's blaming her. She's 13 years old.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
But I understand his feelings of anger and confusion just not understanding why that night of all nights she left. I think at the end of the day, it's just so shocking that this was so unlike her. But there could be information that's not known at this point that shows her being manipulated and, like I said, lured out of her home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And again, just watching the shows helps us fund the foundation and everything that we're doing. But if you are interested in making a donation to Higher Hope, we would
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
greatly appreciate it it will allow us to help even more families and like-minded nonprofits and organizations so if you want to learn more about my foundation it will be linked below in the description box and if you are listening to this episode on a podcast platform you can find it linked in the show notes and then before
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And I love that faith is something that this family has always been able to come back to, to really lean on. And I've said this before in other episodes and, you know, I'm not religious myself, but I think it is so beautiful that in times like this, people have something like faith to help guide them and help make sense of things.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
I absolutely recognize the power of faith and the comfort of faith and, you know, what it really means to people in times like this. And also being part of an organized religion and being part of a church can offer so much community to families.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And it's really amazing the amount of support that the Copelands have been able to find, not only through their church, but through their entire community. And I loved learning about what's been done to honor Savannah and help this family. So I wanted to share that with you guys today, starting with her cheer team.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Because they've done multiple things that are just beautiful and show how caring and mature they all are at their young ages as well to honor Savannah in the way that they have. And the biggest thing that I just loved hearing about was two weeks after Savannah's life was taken, there was a cheer competition that they had all been practicing for, Savannah included.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And like I said earlier, she loved being the one to hold that megaphone, so... That was originally going to be part of their routine. And after what happened, though, none of her teammates wanted to take her place, and I totally understand that. That had always been Savannah's role in their routine, and it just didn't feel right for anyone else to do it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
So someone had the brilliant idea of playing a recording of Savannah's voice at the start of the routine so it felt like she was still part of it even though she's gone. And for a group of teens who are already going through so much, losing a friend and a teammate... You know, it's just amazing to see that they thought to include her in that way.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
we even get started I really want to make sure that we can show this family as much support as possible so if you would like to make a donation directly to them you can do so by checking out their GoFundMe which I'll definitely be telling you more about today and that will be linked in the show notes and description box of this episode as well.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Through her love of cheer and the love for her teammates, Savannah's voice will always live on. And another beautiful thing that these young girls have done to honor Savannah is host a donation drive to raise money for their local animal shelter because Savannah just absolutely loved animals. She's described as loving all living creatures, even something as small as a spider.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
So this was just another way for them to give back in her memory. And not only that, they've also created an award in her name that will be given out to someone on the cheer team every year. It'll go to the person who most embodies Savannah's character, which they described as spunky and eager. And it wasn't just her team that has showed this family support, because...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Not long after Savannah was murdered, her family went to a basketball game to support the cheerleaders because like her dad said, once a cheer dad, always a cheer dad. He's such a real one. I just, oh my gosh, Michael is so awesome. But when they were there, the opposing team's cheer squad actually brought their family flowers.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
It's just, it's, I love hearing young people being so in touch with their emotions and caring for others in this way. It's just so beautiful. Then there's the church, which has also been outspoken in their support for the family. In fact, the pastor's husband actually built this beautiful cross for Savannah, which now sits along the trail where her life was taken from her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And it's blue because blue is Savannah's colors. And that's actually why I have set my background to blue today to honor her in a small way. And I love what they have done with this spot because it's really become a memorial where people will, you know, drop flowers and candy and other things that remind them of Savannah.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And the sentiment around this memorial is another huge reason that I felt compelled to tell you about this case. Because oftentimes memorial sites just feel really dark and sad, understandably so. But... their family has spoken about, especially Michael, how he wanted this to be seen as a beautiful place.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
The support that this family has received from their community and people all across the country has been really beautiful to see and to see how this family has done everything they can to make sure that Savannah is remembered for who she was and as a light for other people going forward as her light will continue on even though she is no longer with us.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Obviously, it is a spot where a 13-year-old innocent child was murdered, but at least for himself, Michael has said he's decided not to look at it as a place of tragedy, but rather he wants it to be seen for the beauty of the space. And That's actually why he decided to turn it into a place where people can come and spend their time. And for a few weeks, it was just the cross.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
But later in December, he and a handful of others transformed that part of the trail into this place that anyone can enjoy, whether they knew Savannah or not.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Getting justice for Savannah is obviously everyone's biggest focus right now. But another major goal of theirs is to make sure that Savannah is never forgotten. And their community is making sure that at least one of those two things happens, which I'm pretty sure both are going to happen eventually. I really hope, but they're definitely making sure that Savannah is not forgotten.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
In mid-November, the Copeland's neighbors wanted to do something to show that they're thinking of them, so they decided to all start putting blue lights on their porch as both a symbol of Savannah and a symbol of support.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
It's just, it's been very beautiful, emotional, and inspiring, quite frankly. And before I get into telling you about Savannah, who she was and her story, at least what has been reported at this point in time, I have to, as always in cases like this, just say right off the bat that everyone that I'm speaking about in today's episode is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And it started with just a few, but it quickly grew to over 50 homes and businesses, and even volunteers with a local business started going door-to-door passing out these blue lights for people to use, something that Michael says that they're very grateful for.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Thank you. Thank you.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
So with that being said, let's get into her case. Are you tired of figuring out what's for dinner night after night, especially on those busy weekdays? Well, get dinner done the easy way, thanks to HelloFresh. It's easy to find time to eat well with 50 wholesome, hassle-free meals to choose from each week delivered right to your door.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And what happened to her, there are just no words. It is beyond horrific. And... I debated on whether or not to cover it because it's so new. It's still very much developing. There's still a lot that we don't know, but I was really inspired by hearing her family speak, especially her father, Michael, and just his strength and his love for his daughter is...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
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Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
I want to start out by telling you about the amazing little girl that Savannah was. Savannah Grace Copeland, or Van as her family called her, was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on September 3rd, 2011 alongside her twin brother Casey. And that's another reason why this case is just that much more heartbreaking. The fact that she has a twin brother, I mean...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
I'm sure many of you know out there that the twin bond is just so special. It's hard to even put into words the connection that twins often, in most cases, develop. And I am just heartbroken for her twin brother. And of course, for their entire family as well. She also has an older brother named Britton and her incredibly active and involved, loving parents, Michael and Amanda.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And one thing that I found to be so beautiful when learning about Savannah was her relationship with her father. Her and her father, out of anyone in their family, were just so similar. I mean, they were, like, she was a carbon copy of him in a lot of ways as far as her personality went. Her dad has explained that he's a bit on the introverted side, and so was she.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Savannah was always pretty shy and didn't mind spending time alone. She was very independent, and I guess the two of them would be able to spend time together without saying anything. and I think that just shows how special of a connection the two of them had, how well they understood each other.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And I mean, obviously, the two of them talked to each other as well, but the fact that they could just be in each other's company and that was enough without saying much, it's very special. Now, as for the things that Savannah really enjoyed in life, there are quite a few, including music, art, and scary movies.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
But if there's one thing that she loved more than anything else, beside her friends and family, of course, it was tumbling. Like a lot of young girls, Savannah started gymnastics pretty young, and it became clear pretty quickly that her favorite part of it was tumbling.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And so, by the time that she got to middle school and she went to Powell Middle School, she had the opportunity to start cheerleading, and that became the obvious choice for her. Her parents even got her private tumbling lessons, and it was always something that she worked very hard at. And cheerleading ended up being the thing that really got Savannah out of her shell.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And I think we can all agree that there's really nothing like seeing someone finally find something that they thrive in and getting to watch them in that environment, especially when that thing is what really brings out their true spirit, what breaks them out of their comfort zone and just getting to see them thrive in that atmosphere. It's so fun. It's so cool, especially when they're young.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And that was cheerleading for Savannah. Her shyness seemed to just kind of melt away. And it's funny. I love this. Her coaches say that she could run circles around all the other girls, or rather, she would skip circles around all the other girls.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
They say that she was always skipping around during practice and seemed to be just having so much fun, having this energy about her that wasn't always there. And one of the things that I especially loved learning about her is that she wanted to be the person carrying around the big megaphone during games.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
It's just so cool that most of the time she was such a shy person, a little more reserved and introverted. But then in that environment, she just, you know, all of that went away and she was having so much fun and the crowd was having fun with her. Her family was super involved.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
They would go to all of her cheer events where she was cheering on the players of whatever, you know, sport she was cheering for. But her family would be there cheering for her. And her dad even said they had these like big cutouts of her head that they would hold up. And, you know, they were just full on supportive of her in every way.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
It just makes me emotional thinking about it. And not to mention the community surrounding this family, the people who have fought to make sure that Savannah's story is told and that people are more aware that they are trying to do everything they can to support this family through one of the worst things that could ever happen to you, which is losing a child in the way that this family did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And it wasn't just cheerleading and tumbling. Savannah also excelled in other sports like karate, and she was known for being a great student in school. Her dream was actually to one day go to the University of Tennessee for college and study forensic anthropology, which I think shows you just how cool Savannah was.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you're new, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you here. So, guys, today I won't sugarcoat it. We are talking about a devastating case. I mean, as they all are. But today we are talking about the murder of a 13-year-old girl, a 7th grader, Savannah Copeland.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
I mean, at age 13 to already have the career aspiration of being a forensic anthropologist, it's just so... you know, out of the norm of what a seventh grader would say they want to do when they grow up. And God, it's just especially hard talking about victims who had the goal of going into a field like that and helping others.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
For those who don't know what a forensic anthropologist is, it's someone who studies human remains to help solve criminal cases. Savannah clearly wanted to help other people and make an impact, and she had such an interest in that field. And to have lost her life before she got the chance, it's just so wrong, so unfair, and God, what a loss to society.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And that brings me to what happened on October 22nd, 2024. So very, very recent deaths. That morning seemed like any other day for Michael, her father, when he woke up. He always got up earlier than everyone else in the house and left for work before everyone was even up. And when he got to work, he gets a call from Savannah's mom.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And she is shocked to find that Savannah is not in her bed as she's waking up all the children in the house. Savannah is not there. So she immediately calls Michael, and as soon as he hears this, he just turns around and goes home right away because this is incredibly unlike her, and any parent would just be terrified in this situation immediately.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And when I say that this was shocking to Michael and Amanda, I say that mainly because... Obviously, your child just not being where they're supposed to be is shocking and very scary, but also because Savannah was an incredibly well-behaved teenager. And I will explain more of what I mean when we get into things later on. But this just was so, so out of character for her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
Now, I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with the Life360 app. It's an incredible app. I've never used it myself because my child doesn't have a phone yet. She's two years old. But it is a tool that I will definitely be using when that time comes. And it's an incredible resource for parents. So if you don't know about it, definitely look into it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
But basically, it's an app that allows users to share their real-time location with a designated group of people. A lot of parents use it to help keep track of their kids and their movements. And what's nice about it is it doesn't just show you where that person is at that exact moment. It also shows you where they've been.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
It's almost like a digital trail, and it goes as far as to let you know if they're riding in a car, even if the car isn't moving. So it has a bunch of cool features, and it is something that every family should be utilizing or something like that. I'm not sure what else is... on the app market. But I have heard wonderful things about Life360, and I know that it has helped in numerous cases.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And even though these cases are so difficult to speak about, especially now as a parent myself, I just... It's hard to even imagine being in the Copeland's family's shoes at this time. But I think it's really important that Savannah's story is told, that their story is told, that other parents are made aware of what can happen and how to best keep your child as safe as you possibly can.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And just another safety tip for parents out there, it's also a great idea to use something like an Apple AirTag or something similar when it comes to keeping track of your kids. So just something to throw out there. And luckily, Savannah's parents had the Life360 app installed on Savannah's phone. So of course, that was their first move. check the app and see if they could locate her that way.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And when they first opened the app, what was strange is it showed that Savannah was close by. So they did what, you know, any parent would do in that situation. And they physically went outside to look for her in the areas that the app said that she was. Now, it's been reported that her phone had died, so they weren't able to reach her by calling or texting.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And because of that, they basically had to follow the path that Life360 said that she went and try to figure out where she currently was. But even after following her path according to the Life360 app and also knocking on neighbors' doors and asking them to check their ring doorbell footage or whatever cameras that they had set up at their homes, they were not able to locate her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And the app was showing that she went missing sometime between midnight and 2.30 a.m., but because her phone had died, they weren't able to find her exact location. And then later that afternoon, they ended up hearing the sound of sirens, and they just knew that she had been found.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
The remains of 13-year-old Savannah Copeland were discovered not too far away on a dirt trail behind a community pool near Powell High School. She was discovered by someone who was just walking that path, and it was clear by her injuries that she had been stabbed, and unfortunately, there was nothing they could do to save her at that point.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
And a pocket knife is ultimately what authorities say was used to take her life, and it's unknown how quickly she succumbed to her injuries, but it's just... God, it's horrific to think about what that must have been like for her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Life360 App Helps Police Find Missing 13 Yr. Old: Justice for Savannah Copeland
But this was a nightmare that they didn't wake up from. Their beautiful 13-year-old daughter, who they were just cheering for in the stands of a basketball game literally the night before, was gone. And it turns out that the person responsible was someone that they knew. 15-year-old Malachiya Lamar Harris was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Like, I've heard an example where... You know, she would sometimes be late to things because she would stop and take in a rainbow. How many of us, when we see something beautiful outside like a rainbow, for example, and we're running late, would take the time to stop and just enjoy it? Not many.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Tips are voluntary and do not affect the service. See the cashout user agreement for details. Service is not available in all states. Now, I don't want to deviate too far from the investigation, but just listen to this. After Betty passed away, Connor wrote her obituary.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And despite HLH not being her cause of death, he still listed that she died from a, quote, sudden onset autoimmune disease and infectious illness. And I think, understandably, a lot of her friends and family were sort of torn about what they thought had happened. I mean, on one hand, they considered Betty a healthy person. I mean, certainly not an unhealthy person.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And at no point had she ever mentioned having this rare autoimmune disorder, which... felt suspicious. And on the other hand, it's not like any of them were outwardly talking about their health problems, so they figured maybe this was something that she just kept to herself. Which, of course, people do keep health conditions to themselves, and it's absolutely their right to do so.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
So overall, it seems like most people in her life were just feeling confused. And one thing's for sure, everyone in her life was just shocked. And especially, well... almost everybody, was really besides themselves with grief, understandably. Connor, though, as you could have guessed, not so much.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And his behavior got even weirder because one of Betty's closest friends, her name is Sarah, later told investigators that only three days after Betty died, that girl that he had been seeing came over to the house. And by that point, Connor had already taken down all of Betty's photos. Why would anyone do this? Why would any grieving husband do this? I mean, you just wouldn't, right?
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
I mean, maybe in certain situations, I don't want to have like a blanket, everyone wouldn't do this. I think it's very rare to take down all their photos. Of course, I'm sure there are people who just can't, you know, look at the person in those moments or whatever the case may be. But this really stood out to people as very strange behavior, understandably so.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Not to mention, her friend Sarah felt like Connor was sort of just indifferent, almost even happy, even though his wife had just suddenly died. And I guess he even invited some of Betty's friends over to take some of her belongings, and this is when Sarah witnessed Connor smiling, hugging, and kissing this other girl that he had been seeing.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Now, obviously we do know that they were in an open relationship, but it just felt like he wasn't showing any signs of grief at all. And let's be honest, I mean, we know that Betty was not okay with Connor's relationship with this other woman because it had turned into more of an emotional attachment versus just a casual hookup or, you know, situation like that. And so overall...
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
She's described as someone who people feel they were lucky to know, lucky to have in their lives, and... Obviously, I am telling you about her today and her story because her life was taken. And while the person who is accused of killing her has not yet been found guilty, many believe that the evidence is hard to ignore, myself included, and I feel like most of you will agree.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
pretty disrespectful if you ask me i mean if you ask really anyone to be bringing this person around after your wife has just died into your home and if you think all of that is bizarre just wait until you hear everything else that they uncovered during their investigation so once the rochester police department got involved things moved very fast
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
After speaking with some of Betty's friends and family, as well as executing a few search warrants, they realized that their suspicions may have been spot on. Detective Kendrick took the lead on the case, and he spoke to a guy that Betty was dating. And remember, there's nothing wrong with her dating. It was a casual situation as far as we know. And they just refer to this guy as SS.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
I'm not sure what his name is, and it doesn't really matter. That's just how he is referred to in the criminal complaint. And he shed some light on what the days were like leading up to her death. According to this guy, SS, he and Betty were messaging on August 14th, which is when she told him that she had the next few days off of work.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Betty had mentioned to him that she was looking forward to spending some time with him during these couple of days off. And on the 15th, the two of them did see each other and they also continued to message on and off throughout the day. And then that night, though, Betty mentioned something important to the case.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
She told this guy that she was at home with Connor and the two of them were drinking. And I don't believe they were heavily drinking or anything. She had just mentioned that she had a drink. And then the next morning, she said something even more interesting. She told this guy, SS, that she couldn't see him that day because she had been getting sick since 2 a.m.,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
which she herself attributed to the drink that Connor had made for her, which he had actually mixed into a smoothie. Now, she said it was so bad that she hadn't slept. She couldn't even walk, actually, and that she needed to go to the emergency room. So it was bad and she knew it was bad.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Betty also mentioned that she thinks the reason that she was sick was because of the smoothie that Connor had made for her. Now, SS said that he immediately felt like something was really weird here because he knew that Connor wasn't really the type of guy to make her a smoothie. And it wasn't until days later, after Betty had passed, that he realized how weird it actually was.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And then there was Sarah's conversation with detectives. Now, she is referred to as S.E.L. in the criminal complaint, but we now do know that it was her. And she explained that she also had texted Betty on the 16th. And that's when she learned that her friend was super sick and going to the hospital. And Betty even mentioned that things were going downhill.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And of course, Sarah thought the whole thing was strange because as far as she knew, Betty was a really healthy person. Oh, and listen to this. Apparently, right after she died, Connor told Sarah that he was going to get $500,000 from her life insurance policy. Ding, ding, ding. I'm sure a lot of you can see where this is going because this happens so very often.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And I'm sorry, but who is thinking about money now? I mean, life insurance policies right after your wife dies, the love of your life or who is supposed to be dies. Hmm, maybe someone who was also coincidentally $500,000 in debt? Pretty interesting if you ask me. And then Sarah was also the person who told detectives about Betty and Connor's separate bank accounts. you know, because of his debt.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And I'm sure things are really starting to click here for you, and it was clicking for investigators as well. And guess what? It gets even worse because imagine what Connor had been doing the last six years. He had worked for the Poison Control Center at the University of Kansas Health System. And I'm sure most of you are familiar with what a poison control center does.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
People call if they have ingested something or if someone they know, maybe even a child, has accidentally ingested something that could potentially be poison. And the operators then advise them on if they need medical attention or not. Which, as I'm sure you would probably guess... gave him certain knowledge and access to information regarding different types of poison.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And that being said, of course... Everyone I speak about in this episode is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. So Betty Jo Sponsal was born on December 13th, 1990, in Wichita, Kansas, to her parents Nancy and David, and she had one sister named Brianna.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And so, they searched the laptop that the university had provided him, and it revealed something that you were all going to find very interesting. And real quickly, for
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
some context here it was actually an employee of ku who contacted detectives and told them that they had information that they should probably know about and here's what they said apparently connor told them that he was a suspect in his wife's death and that prompted them to pull his data
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And this dumbass must have thought that his searches were private because the computer had a VPN authentication installed, which just means that the computer had to verify that it was Connor before he could access the secure network. But little did Dummy Dumbs know, his employers could actually see everything that he was looking up.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And what's even crazier is this is something that his employers had told him when he got the computer. And I guess he just forgot because listen to this. Connor was over here searching, researching colchicine. Now, we have talked about colchicine before, and I'm sure many of your heads are already going in this direction because of the symptoms that she was experiencing. I don't know
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
if you guys remember this or not but back in 2023 i covered the case of merry yoder if you haven't seen it i'll link it below but that was i think the first case where i personally heard about colchicine but if you don't know what it is it's actually a medication that they use to treat gout but it's highly toxic if you take too much of it or if you take it when you don't need it
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And here's why they knew right away that this was suspicious, because investigators learned that Connor never received a call about Colchicine or even about gout, and neither did any of his co-workers. So there was absolutely no reason that Connor needed to be looking up Colchicine, and he made that search on August 5th, in addition to also searching for these things.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And get ready, because it is so dumb, I just, I really can't believe... That where we are in society and, you know, this day and age with technology, that people still don't understand that if you search for these things, investigators are going to find out. But let's go over some of those things that he was looking up, starting with internet browsing history. Can it be used in court?
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Police track package deliverer. And delete Amazon data police. He also looked up VPN, sodium nitrate, and Google Shop pages for vendors selling sodium nitrate. Now, sodium nitrate, I'm sure many of you know, is actually very common. It's used in food preservation. So think of cured meats like hot dogs, maybe sausage. It keeps food from going bad.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And she has been described as many great things, and I've already gone over some of those, but two things that really stood out to me most was her kindness and her intelligence. Her mom said that even when she was young, Betty never was the type to yell or scream or get mad at anybody. She just had a very chill vibe about her, and she especially never talked negatively about other people.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
But if it is consumed in high doses, it can be lethal. And it's also important to note that it is water-soluble, so it dissolves in water quickly and would be pretty easy to hide in something like, I don't know, a smoothie. And then, on August 10th, Connor searched food versus industrial-grade sodium nitrate, and he accessed a medical journal that discussed the lethality of different substances.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And then he used his computer to convert Betty's weight to kilograms, and then he multiplied it by 0.8, and 0.8 is considered the lethal dose for colchicine. So that shows us that he was allegedly looking into how much colchicine he would need to give Betty in order for her to die. And the following day, he went onto the GoodRx website and looked up liquid colchicine.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And around that time, he visited the website Stripe.com, which is an online payment platform. It's also been reported that he bought a gift card for an online pharmacy, which sells, you guessed it, colchicine. And later on, investigators learned that he made a $52 purchase for colchicine from the website truepill.com, and he did so using his Mayo Clinic employee email. That's right.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
He used his employee email to make the purchase. I mean, there are really no words to describe what a dumbass this man truly is. And this is also a fun fact, he also made a fun little purchase for an erectile dysfunction drug. Trouble getting hard, you know, after knowing what you're going to be doing to your wife, potentially?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And if all of that weren't enough, Connor then allegedly reached out to the online pharmacy provider and asked them to delete his account and delete his purchase history because he said that his wife fraudulently made these purchases pretending to be him. But wait, there's more. Connor was apparently accessing Betty's patient portal and health records without the hospital's consent.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Well, initially, she did give him access to look at it and review it, but when she died, that access went away. However, Connor doesn't seem to care about much and doesn't really think through anything he does, it seems, so he went in and accessed it anyway. And on the 22nd, he apparently created a documentation encounter, but he didn't do anything to it. So he basically
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
created a blank note, and in doing so, he was identified as part of her care team, which allowed him to look at her records without entering his credentials. And according to the criminal complaint, from August 23rd through the 31st, he was viewing images, medications, notes, and other encounters.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And clearly, this is a big no-no, and anyone that works in the medical field, or really any professional field, knows that you can't be doing shit like this. But... Connor is stupid. I mean, I don't know how else to say it. And it never really ceases to amaze me how stupid people can actually be. But as I always say, we love stupid because stupid gets caught.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And the other thing I always say, and that I will never understand, is why you don't just get a damn divorce. Why is killing someone a better thing?
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
option in someone's mind it is so twisted i will seriously never get it and it's going to be so much easier than going to jail for the rest of your life potentially and thankfully that is what connor is facing on october 20th 2023 after her blood and urine samples contained elevated levels of colchicine in her system connor bowman was arrested and charged with second degree murder
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
He had the option of either a $2 million conditional bail, where he would have to wear a GPS monitor, or a $5 million unconditional bail. And ultimately, they have found no evidence to suggest that Betty had gout. And they also knew that the hospital never administered colchicine to her. meaning that there was only one explanation for how it got into her system, and that's that she was poisoned.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And that's something I find to be very rare in humans. I mean, I think we are all guilty of doing that. But that's something that her mom and others have noted is that she just didn't really have that in her. She was just wanted the best for everyone else and was kind in the way she spoke about other people.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And obviously, at this point, Connor's involvement is, of course, alleged, but Betty's cause of death certainly isn't. It is a fact that colchicine is what killed Betty and that her manner of death is homicide. And with all the evidence that I just presented to you, investigators were able to go ahead and make the arrest.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
They also executed a search warrant on his house where they ended up finding a receipt for a $450,000 bank deposit. It's not explained in much detail, but I think the implication here, obviously, is that this money came from her life insurance. And clearly, that amount is almost equal to what Connor owed. So this suggests a potential motive.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Now, after he was arrested, I think things started to really click for people in her life. You know, things were making sense about the weird comments that he was making and the behaviors that he was exhibiting right after Betty died. And here are a few examples.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
After her funeral, Connor was talking to a mutual friend, a friend that went to medical school, and he was asking in her professional opinion what she thought of Betty's lab reports. And in the moment, they thought that he was just trying to make sense of her sudden death, of course.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
But now they think it's possible that he was trying to gauge whether anyone could see something that would point to his guilt.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And then we need to talk about Betty's funeral because that's also an interesting topic here because it happened before Connor was arrested and he was actually the one who planned the funeral, which was not surprising. It actually was alarmingly clear, as many people who attended have said, because the whole thing felt like it was kind of about him.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
There weren't any pictures of Betty with her family. And Sarah said like it almost felt like Connor was trying to prove how close the two of them were. But what's strange about that, though, is Connor ended up not showing up to the celebration of life that her family had hosted for Betty, which is just so, so disrespectful and totally bizarre.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
But I guess in hindsight, I'm really glad that his sorry ass didn't go because at least then they can have that memory untainted by his, you But I wanted to talk a little bit more about the Celebration of Life event that her family hosted. And I love this. But the celebration was rainbow, pride, and corgi theme because those were the things that were most important to Betty.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
She was also someone who always made the time for the people she loved and approached everything in life with a caring heart. I've also heard her described as someone who could really restore your faith in humanity. And if that's not one of the best qualities... you know, one of the best ways that someone can describe a person, one of the best compliments, then I don't know what is.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
I don't believe I mentioned this earlier. But she was bisexual and was a proud member of the LGBTQ plus community. Her family even had people donate to the Trevor Project in her memory, which is the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention nonprofit organization for LGBTQ plus young people.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Now, Connor also asked people to make donations there, and he raised $4,000 for the organization, which is the only, and I mean only, props I will give him, and I don't even feel like he really deserves that because I think that was more performative than anything.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And another strange thing Connor did is he went up to some of her friends and asked them what they told investigators, which in my opinion... Shouldn't really matter if he didn't do anything, right? And unfortunately, this case and Connor's behavior got even worse because it turns out that this alleged incident wasn't the first time that he may have tried to poison her.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Of course, this is not confirmed, at least in any legal capacity, but a friend of Betty's reported that on August 10th, Connor made Betty a smoothie. And this friend was actually at the house when Betty started to drink it, and I guess it tasted strange to her, so she had this friend take a sip.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And apparently when she did, it tasted bitter and salty, which of course is not something that most people are expecting when you take a sip of a smoothie. And the friend actually, this is Eerie, joked with Betty that maybe Connor was trying to poison her. And I believe that this was completely, you know, meant as a joke at the time. In hindsight, this 2020, of course.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
But I guess Betty sort of joked along with her. They kind of... kind of laughed about it and then just chucked the smoothie and forgot about the whole thing. But this friend even mentioned that she thought the fact that he made her a smoothie to begin with was strange because as she put it, he never made anything for anybody.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
It seems so weird to me that Betty and Connor were even together in the first place because Betty is described as this person who is so caring, willing to do anything for anybody, and Connor... It would surprise people if he would do something as little as make a smoothie for his wife. Like, I don't know. It's bizarre.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
But once investigators learned about this, I mean, looking back, they wonder if this had been the first attempt. And of course, we don't know for sure, but it seems that way. So kind of in the background of all of this, there were a number of search warrants that were being executed, and mostly on electronic data like computers, bank accounts, phones, those kinds of things.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And that's actually how they ended up getting a lot of information about how and when Connor purchased the colchicine. And earlier, I told you that he bought it through TruPill, but the specific retailer was actually Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company. And also, through these search warrants, they were able to find more about Connor's search history.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And it keeps getting dumber, you guys, because we learned that two days before Betty died, he Googled, is widow gender neutral? Like, he was trying to figure out if... Widow was a gender-neutral term, like, I'm guessing, because he was wondering if it would apply to him.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And he was also looking up a substance called oil of wintergreen, which, like sodium nitrate, can be poisonous if too much is ingested. Things were really not looking good for Mr. Connor, and investigators also learned about some of his online activity after she died. And get prepared to be pissed off, you guys. Rocks for Brains over here was back on Bumble only nine days after she died.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Betty was described as a true, genuine friend, an incredible daughter, and someone that people really just felt lucky to know. And oh, I cannot forget about her dog, Such a cute dog. I love Corgis. And she had the best name for her Corgi, Sir Crumpet II. I mean, that is seriously one of the best names I've ever heard for a dog. And Sir Crumpet II was her world.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And on September 5th, he actually changed his profile on Bumble to indicate that he was a widow. You know, bring in the sympathy. I mean, truly, what a sick, heartless person to just be back on these dating apps as if nothing had happened only nine days later. I mean, I don't know if this man even has a heart in his body.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And one of the women that he was talking with on Bumble actually asked if he was okay to be flirting so soon after his wife had passed, and Connor legitimately told her. that this is what his wife would have wanted. I mean, truly, what a sick person.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
I mean, of course, I don't know Betty personally, but I can imagine what she would have wanted was the opportunity to divorce you and to still be alive. But what do I know? And it gets even worse because Connor was telling a few different women a few different stories about Betty's death. Like What killed her?
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
There was a different explanation for everyone as far as when she died, how she died, etc. I mean, he was just really seeking the sympathy to bring women in. I mean, how sick can you be? He even told one of them that she died of listeria poisoning over a year ago. And then he told someone else that she died from a morphine overdose earlier that summer.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And he even told one woman about the half a million dollar life insurance policy. And he was already telling some of his friends about that as well. So essentially, this man was bragging about the... large amount of insurance money he was about to make off of his dead wife. I mean, what a sicko. There really aren't any words for Connor.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And obviously, all of this makes him look like a heartless, sick asshole, but it also doesn't make him look good in the eyes of the law. Because with his knowledge of poison and his background in medicine, anything other than grieving is naturally going to make him seem suspicious.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
So the fact that he was just outwardly blabbing to a lot of just random people that he didn't even know about the money, I mean, yikes, dude. And again, it's all still alleged at this point, but a lot of his actions here are clearly suggesting premeditation. And while he wasn't initially charged with premeditated murder, they didn't. did eventually tack that on.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
On January 5th, 2024, Connor was indicted on a single charge of first degree murder, which is in addition to the second degree charge that he was already facing. And if he is convicted, and I really, really hope he is... He faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And I wish I had a trial date that I could give you guys at this point in time, but it seems that that is still up in the air and there's been a few delays and whatnot. And sometimes it does just take a while for trials to be scheduled. It's just... the nature of it, especially because there are a few hearings that need to take place beforehand.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
The defense, no surprise here, has tried to get a ton of evidence thrown out, especially when it relates to the electronic data. But for the most part, those efforts have luckily been unsuccessful. And back in June of 2024, his attorneys filed 12 motions. And later in August, the response was that their motions weren't specific enough.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
So they had the chance to go back and explain why they wanted certain evidence to be tossed and Basically, the two big questions at stake are whether Connor had a reasonable expectation of privacy while using his work computer and whether the warrants had enough probable cause to seize that information.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Now, there was a hearing in September to go over these questions, which, again, the defense really tried to question the validity of the search warrants and the scope of what information was seized. The thing is, though, they still weren't being specific enough about what evidence they believe was obtained without probable cause.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
So the judge basically had to be like, OK, you have until the end of the month to spell this out more clearly. And then in October, the judge ruled that five of their 12 motions were straight up dismissed. So I'm sure you're wondering about the other motions. Well, five of the motions she still hadn't decided on and she said they would be discussed at a later date.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And then two of their motions she did actually end up ruling in their favor. She said that he did have the reasonable expectation of privacy related to Motions 4 and 9, and Motion 4 discussed the 14 electronic devices that were seized from the Bowman house, and then Motion 9 had to do with Connor searching and using the website TruePill, as well as Mark Cuban's Cost Plus drug company.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
So as you can imagine, she took him to as many places that she could. I mean, he was with her as often as she could have him around. Betty was someone who really loved to travel. And when he could go with her, Crumpet was a great companion. She also was outrageously smart. And in 2017, she graduated from the University of Kansas' School of Pharmacy with a doctorate in pharmaceuticals.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And if you remember, that's where he allegedly purchased the colchicine. But fear not, because this did not mean that the evidence was thrown out. All it means is that the defense is able to challenge the admissibility and possibly have it excluded from being brought up in the trial. Possibly. And on February 10th of 2025, they were back in court challenging it all over again.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Both sides called a witness to the stand, and it sounds like it was a lot of... The same thing, really. The defense's witness spoke to how much data was collected and how the amount of data they got was beyond the scope of the search warrants. And the prosecution's witness spoke about how the data was extracted and explained that they basically can't pick and choose what information they receive.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
But he assured the judge that any non-evidentiary information would not be considered in their investigation.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And because, of course, it's the legal system and things just tend to take forever, it feels like no decision was actually made. In fact, the defense then had the chance to file several more arguments, which came to light on March 10th.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And a year after that, she completed her residency at a hospital in Topeka. KU is also where she got her undergraduate degree, and it just so happened to be where she met her future husband. husband, Connor Bowman. Now, Connor was two years younger than her, but he was on somewhat of a similar trajectory with his career as she was.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And as of the day that I'm recording this, which is April 11th, the judge still hasn't made a decision. I was hoping that a decision would come in early April, but I haven't seen anything pop up yet. I even checked right before recording and nothing yet.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Although if something does come up between the date that I record this and the date that it goes up, I will, of course, pin a comment or put something in the description box or show notes, something like that to let you guys know.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
the process of getting justice can be so lengthy, so frustrating, and just so emotionally draining for those involved, and so I really, you know, just feel bad for Betty's loved ones at this point that they have to go through this whole process and wait for everything on top of all the grief they're dealing with. I do really believe that there's tons of very solid evidence here, so I think it's
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
very possible that justice is right on the horizon for Betty and I personally feel confident in that of course you never really know but at this point I think it's just important that we try to show Betty's family you know her friends and loved ones as much support as we possibly can and you guys always do an amazing job of that in the comments or you know reaching out to them in other ways and I know that that really goes a long way to feel like you're not alone in the fight because the
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
fight for justice can really feel lonely. Also, if you're interested in showing them some extra support, they do have a GoFundMe, and it was set up by her friend Sarah, who I've mentioned in this episode, and 100% of the donations will be given directly to Betty's mom, Nancy. They're raising money for all the expenses they're having to take on as a result of her death.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And guys, they're really, really close to reaching their goal. It's possible they're already there by the time that you open it. But if they haven't yet reached that number, I would love if we could give them that final push. When I'm recording this, I believe there's only $1,300 left until they hit $15,000. So if you even have a dollar, I mean, it makes a huge difference.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
My team and I will also be reaching out to them to see if they're interested in getting a hope grant from my foundation, Higher Hope, because there's just really no reason they should have to take on these costs alone. I mean, they should never had to have been in this situation in the first place, and any support that we can offer, we are happy to do so.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
This case is just heartbreaking on so many levels. I mean, Betty was so young, and... had so much life ahead of her, so many opportunities to affect people's lives in a positive way, and now she doesn't have the chance to do that because Connor is such a selfish, miserable, evil person in my opinion.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Like Betty, he got his doctorate degree in pharmacy as well from KU, but afterwards he started medical school at KU's Medical Center. And both of them, as of 2023, were employed by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Betty as a pharmacist and Connor as an internal medicine resident. which is obviously very impressive.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
She truly deserves so much better than what happened to her, and hopefully I'll be able to update you guys soon that she finally got justice. And I'm sure some of you are curious out there, and so I did want to give you an update on Sir Crumpet II. He is just such a cute boy, and the update is he's doing just fine. I was very happy to hear that.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
He is in the care of Betty's family, and he's being spoiled by all of her loved ones. But yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing justice for Betty. You know, like I said, you never really know, but I feel really confident that that really is... you know, going to be coming soon. And I hope that provides some type of relief in some way to her family and her friends.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
I mean, she was loved by so many, so many people and I look forward to hopefully connecting with them and hopefully we can help in some way. I mean, I know that nothing can bring her back, no justice, no amount of financial support, but, you know, hopefully that will make a difference at least and kind of ease some of the stress. That is going to be it for me today, guys.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
If you aren't aware, the Mayo Clinic is one of the best hospitals in the country and is just highly regarded. It's so competitive, so hard to get into. So it's very impressive that both of them were there. So today I want to tell you about a product that I absolutely love, something that I've been using for the past two and a half years and, you know, spent my own money on.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
After my daughter was born, I experienced a lot of hair thinning and shedding, and I honestly was freaking out. There were times in the shower where giant clumps were coming out and I didn't know what to do. So I started looking into products online and also treatments that were very expensive and looked painful. And that's when I found Nutrafol and I decided to give it a shot.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Why, hello, everyone, and welcome back to yet another episode of True Crime with Kendall Ray. Thank you so much for joining me today. As always, I truly appreciate you spending your time with me. And to those of you who are new to the show, welcome. So happy to have you here. So, guys, today we're getting into a case that...
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And boy, am I happy I did because it has really, really transformed my hair. Nutrafol is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand trusted by over one and a half million people. And that's why this Mother's Day Nutrafol makes the perfect gift. There's something for every mom on your list. The postpartum formula is great for women in their first year after giving birth.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
The women's balance formula is perfect for women 45 and up experiencing perimenopause or menopause. And of course, the women's formula are great for those who are in between life stages. And that's what I'm currently on. Of course, anything truly worthwhile does take time and effort.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And with Nutrafol, you can see thicker, stronger, faster growing hair and less shedding in just three to six months. And that's about how long it took for me. I'd say probably closer to six months. But once I started seeing the results, I was so, so happy. I can't even tell you to finally have found something that really does work.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
So this Mother's Day, consider Nutrafol, the best selling hair growth supplement. Whether you're gifting to yourself or a loved one, Nutraful is offering our listeners $10 off any order. Enjoy free shipping when you subscribe. Go to Nutraful.com and enter promo code KendallRayGift. That's Nutraful.com spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L dot com promo code KendallRayGift.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Once again, Nutraful.com promo code KendallRayGift. And Connor and Betty had gotten married in May of 2021 in Independence, Missouri. But with their work, Rochester is where they would end up living. And I wish I could say that things were going well there as far as their relationship goes, but that wasn't necessarily the case. I mean, really wasn't the case at all.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And I need to give some context here. So Betty and Connor were in an open relationship, which is totally fine, really works for some people, but... As you probably know from people in your life who are in open relationships or things you've just heard, it can be really, really challenging. But it was something that they both wanted to do.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
It was something, you know, they agreed upon and were happy with, at least for a little while. But it did come with one pretty big condition, which was that neither of them could get emotionally attached to anyone else, which seems to be a common rule that people set in open relationships. And it totally makes sense.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
To my understanding, they were basically allowed to be physical with other people, but as soon as any kind of emotional attachment formed or, you know, wanting it to be something more than that, it was important that they broke it off. Now, I'm definitely not an expert in open relationships. I actually don't know anyone who has been in an open relationship.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
So I don't even have any personal context or comparison. But I know in monogamous relationships, communication is everything. And I'm sure this applies to any type of relationship in general. And in their situation, this was all that they were really asking of the other person, to communicate. And I'm sure you see where this is going, but Connor was not honest with Betty.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Oh, it's just it's like one of those where I just want to bash my head on the wall. It is so frustrating, so unnecessary. And the killer in this case is such an idiot. I can't believe people still try to do that. The things that he has done and the way that he has done it, it is so ridiculous. And the victim in this case, Betty Bowman, was such a beautiful soul. She was so kind, incredibly smart.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
You see, there was a woman that Connor started seeing, and... According to friends, he became infatuated with this other woman. I mean, almost obsessed with, you could say. And Betty just over time started to realize it. And so at one point, he and this other woman broke up.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And I guess he was super, super depressed over it, more than he should be for a woman that, according to their agreement, he never should have been so attached to in the first place, right? And eventually, it got to the point where Betty told him that if he couldn't choose her over this other person, then it was... you know, it was time for them to probably get divorce proceedings started.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And honestly, I do believe that she was inching towards divorce anyway, because Connor had also been lying to her about money. And as we all know, that is actually one of the top reasons, if not the
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
top reason if I'm I could be mistaken but it's definitely up there in like the top three reasons that people end up getting a divorce and Betty knew that he had a ton of debt from medical school and because of that they actually kept separate bank accounts which was very smart on her part but apparently one day she was just going through the mail and that's how she ended up finding out that he was lying to her about how much debt he was actually in and
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
He was in quite a bit of debt, half a million dollars to be exact. Now, at this point in time, there aren't that many details about this, but it was definitely clear to her that he had been keeping secrets. And not to mention the two of them also did not have the same opinion when it came to having kids. Connor wanted them and Betty just wasn't quite ready.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Her friends and family say that they all wanted her to leave Connor. And while they tried to get her to go, she was a second chance type of person. And personally, I think being able to give someone a second chance can be a great quality in a person. I always go back to
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
this lyric from one of my favorite songs from Gregory Allen Isaacov, and it's, if there weren't second chances, then we'd all be alone. So I think in most situations, a second chance can be a great thing, right? And it's a great quality of Betty that she was willing to give him that second chance. So even when he was actively lying to her, Betty had hoped that maybe he would change.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And I don't know if Connor was capable of changing or if he wanted to change, because that's really...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
the main ingredient that someone needs if they're going to actually make their life better or make their relationship better or whatever it is they've got to want to do it themselves you can bring a horse to water you can't make a drink which brings me to august 16th of 2023 this was the day that betty was admitted to the mayo clinic for what she believed was food poisoning
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
She'd been having diarrhea since like 2 a.m., and she was incredibly dehydrated. And so food poisoning kind of made sense, and that's what doctors also figured it was too, and that's what they treated her for. The problem, though, is that she wasn't responding to any of the typical treatment that they would do for food poisoning. In fact, Betty was getting progressively worse.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Over the course of four days, she experienced cardiac issues, fluid in her lungs, organ failure, and even had to undergo emergency surgery to remove a portion of her colon after they discovered that some of the tissue had died. And during this time, her mom, her sister, and also over a dozen friends came to visit her, but none of them could make sense of how Betty got so sick so suddenly.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Eventually, in the hospital, she became unconscious, and... You got to remember, we're talking about an otherwise perfectly healthy 32-year-old woman who worked in health care. So to go from perfectly fine to having all of these major issues and going completely unconscious in the hospital, people couldn't wrap their mind around what was going on here. What's wrong with Betty?
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And doctors couldn't even really understand what was going on. But Connor, he had an explanation. Now, HLH stands for a condition that is very, very hard to say. I'm going to do my best, but bear with me. HLH stands for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. And HLH is rare. It's a life-threatening disorder where the immune system attacks its own blood cells and organs.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
She was a pharmacist at the Mayo Clinic, nonetheless. And from what I've heard about her, from what I've read about her, she seemed to just be such a genuine person, one of the warmest and kindest people that so many had ever come across. From what I understand about her, Betty seemed to be someone who took time to enjoy the little things in life, appreciated every little bit of life's beauty.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And Connor was telling people that this is what Betty had. And because your average person doesn't know what HLH is, it wasn't really something that they questioned. Plus, if you were to Google it, you would see that the symptoms of HLH really mirrored what Betty was experiencing. I mean, the diarrhea, the organ failure, everything.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
It's also super hard to diagnose, which is why many people believe that he suggested it in the first place. But here's the thing, though. Betty did not have HLH. HLH. And we know that because Connor asked doctors to run a test for it, and it came back inconclusive.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Don't forget, Connor was a med student and a resident at that hospital, so he wasn't some average Joe telling these doctors what to do. He had some
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
some credibility here i mean not a lot but some but despite the results coming back as inconclusive he still confidently told people that that's what betty had and ultimately it's what he told people that she died from because on august 20th four days after being admitted betty passed away from organ failure but her exact cause of death had yet to be determined
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
Now, because the circumstances of her death were so sudden, the hospital sent her body to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy. Here's where things get super, super weird, though, okay? Connor not only attempted to cancel the autopsy, but he practically begged them to cremate her immediately. Big red flag, right?
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And he said that this was because his wife didn't want to be a cadaver, so they needed to do this right away. He insisted that her death was natural and that they should just trust him and skip everything that they were planning to do to figure out why she died.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And obviously, most of the time when a loved one dies suddenly and you don't have answers as to what happened, most people want to go forward with an autopsy and try to figure it out. Most people, of course. In some cases, you may not want to for whatever reason, but the reasons that Connor had were certainly not good reasons.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And after all that, he then emailed someone from the medical examiner's office asking if the toxicology analysis that they were planning to do was more thorough than the one that the hospital performed. And he even asked for a list of what exactly they planned to test for. So red flags with Connor are popping up left and right here.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
And luckily, and not surprisingly, the medical examiner's office thought that this was a strange request too. Oh, and apparently, Apparently, a day after Betty died, while Connor was being weird, a friend called the medical examiner's office and reported that he and Betty were having problems in their marriage. Problems that we've already talked about, things like infidelity and plans for divorce.
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Poison Expert Allegedly Spikes Wife’s Smoothie?! The Case of Betty Bowman
So that call, plus Connor's just strange behavior and weird requests, made them think, huh, something is not right here. And they not only ignored him and did the autopsy anyway, but they also alerted the Rochester Police Department that something was up. Life doesn't happen biweekly, so why should payday? The money that you earn can be in your hands today with Earnin.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But anyway, Juliana calls him, he picks up and she wants to ask him obviously about this supposed strange car slash man situation. And unlike Christine, Brendan picks up. The call came in at 7.37 AM and he drove straight home where he met Juliana and his daughter outside of the house. And then after that, the three of them entered through the back door and into the basement.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now, I'm pretty sure that most of you are having the exact same thought process as me right now and wanting to scream because this makes no sense, especially if you are a parent. Why on earth, if you thought an intruder was potentially in your home, would you bring your child inside to check it out with you? OK, no one would do that.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
No one in their right mind would do that unless they're stupid, quite frankly. And maybe that's the case here. Or it's just that he knew there wasn't an actual intruder. Second thing. Also, why would you bring in your au pair? There's no reason for them to go in with you. Why wouldn't you just leave the au pair with your child in the car where it's safe and go check out the scene yourself?
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Better yet, why wouldn't you just call the police and have them go check it out for you? And obviously there's some urgency if your wife is inside the home and you think there's a potential intruder. So like, I get that to some degree. But with his time having to drive from the McDonald's back home, he could have easily called law enforcement. So... not making a whole lot of sense here in any way.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But anyway, according to their story, the three of them are in the basement, but then Brendan leaves Juliana and his daughter to go upstairs and quote, investigate. Pretty quickly though, Juliana says she went upstairs to see what was going on. And that's when she heard Brendan screaming, police, drop the knife.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Apparently he had gone up to his bedroom to find this man, Joseph, holding a knife to his wife's neck. And Joseph supposedly told Brendan that he was going to kill Christine. And that's when he began to repeatedly stab her right in front of him. And again, I can't emphasize this enough. This is the story according to Brendan and Juliana. Now let's give them the benefit of the doubt here.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Since we don't have all the facts and... And we can say that maybe this portion of their story was believable, potentially. Of course, someone could have broken into the house and held a knife to his wife's neck. Is it possible? Sure. Is it probable? Probably not.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And there's also quite a bit of, or I should say a lack of information regarding the victims and who they really were. And I know.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
However, the next part of their story, I simply cannot give the benefit of the doubt to at all because it is so outlandish, so ridiculous that it makes any part of their story that could be true just totally lose credibility. I guess I have to say that's just my opinion though.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But according to Juliana, when this man began stabbing Christine, Brendan pulled out his service weapon, remember, he is a federal agent, and he proceeded to shoot him in the head. Here's the part that makes no sense though. Apparently, after shooting him once, Brendan told Juliana to run into the bathroom and grab a second gun from a locked safe, which he gave her the code to.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And when she came back into the room, she says that she shot Joseph, this time in the chest. But the question here is, why did she have to shoot him at all? She would go on to say that she did it in self-defense of the family, but... Does that make any sense? If Brendan still had a gun in his hands, why didn't he shoot Joseph a second time if he was still posing a threat to Christine?
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
you guys know that that's really important to me to tell you as much about who they were while they were alive as possible because i think it's just as important as talking about what happened to them in the end of their lives when they were stolen from them as i just said we have two victims in today's case and their names are christine banfield and joseph ryan and like i also said a big part of the plot
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I mean, keep in mind, he had shot him the first time in the head, and I feel that would be enough to stop him from stabbing Christine. So why would Juliana then have to go into the bathroom, unlock a safe, grab another gun, and then shoot him again in the chest? It just... doesn't add up at all.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now, a report from the New York Times says that her lawyers later claimed she was just acting on orders from her employer, but acting on orders only shifts the blame. It doesn't explain why there needed to be a second gun at all.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
also i don't want to just breeze past the fact that the first shot was fired using brendan's service weapon okay so because he's a member of law enforcement he will have an administrative officer involved shooting investigation that will take place as well and he's going to have to explain why his service weapon was used in that murder in the first place
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now, I learned that he won't have to be Mirandized for this, which wasn't really elaborated on, but I found that piece to be incredibly interesting. And I also found it interesting and quite strange that Brendan said that he shot Joseph on the 911 call. He never said we or even mentioned that Juliana was part of it at all.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And I guess you could argue that in the heat of the moment, he just said what first came to mind. So maybe it's not something to read into, but in the scheme of things and how this is all shaking out, I think we can all agree that that is pretty strange. Now, I thought it would be helpful for you guys to hear some of Juliana's story right from her mouth.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
So we do have some body cam footage that I want to play for you now.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I'm very curious to hear what you guys think about that footage, about her demeanor, about what she said. Let me know your thoughts. Now, upstairs at the scene, officers ended up finding a set of cleanly cut pajamas, a bag containing fetish accessories, which will make more sense in a little, two guns, as well as the knife. And downstairs they found the Banfield's four-year-old daughter.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
in their murders were to make them look like bad people who made bad choices and that those choices led to their murders, which could not be further from the truth. But that is what the intention was. So I guess in some way I wanted to try my best to set the record straight with the information that we do have. I do, before we go any further, I forgot to mention earlier that, um,
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And all the reports out there say, thankfully, she was found unharmed. And of course, yes, physically unharmed. However, emotionally, mentally unharmed, obviously not the case. She lost her mom that day. And at this point, I don't think it'll be a surprise to you guys that her father was involved. So she lost him too. Not right away, but eventually.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And of course, we don't know how the trial is going to play out, but chances are. She will lose her father through all of this as well. She was brought into the station that morning alongside Juliana, where both of them made statements. And while the police aren't sharing much information about their daughter, they have said that she is safe and in good care now.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But the fact that this is her reality as a four-year-old, it's so heartbreaking. It makes me so angry that if Brendan really did this to her mother... That is the most heartless thing. I don't understand how as a parent you could do that. And I know I bring this up in cases all the time where one spouse kills the other spouse and there's a child involved or multiple children involved.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
How evil can you be to take the parent of your child or children away from them? And this is totally just my opinion, but I don't even think that's possible if you actually love your child. If you really do have love for your child, but are willing to hurt them in that way by taking away their parent, their other parent, I don't think you ever loved them to begin with. I really don't.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
My heart just absolutely breaks for her, and I hope that what we're hearing is true, that she's getting the best care and support possible during this time. I cannot even imagine at that age having to wrap your mind around all of this, and hopefully she's being shielded from it to some degree. But of course, as she gets older, she will understand more of it with time, so... It's just so fucked up.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
There's no words. But even though nothing at the end of the day is going to bring her mom back, hopefully getting justice and the truth will be a positive step forward in her healing. And luckily, I really do think justice is on the horizon. I mean, we never know how these are going to go, but like I said earlier, I think the evidence here really speaks for itself.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now, from the jump, like I said, law enforcement was very wary of that story. But in all honesty, they didn't have any proof that Brendan and Juliana were lying, at least not at first. So from that point forward, they needed to kick off an investigation to either prove or disprove what they'd been told.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And that meant figuring out who this man in the home was and why he was at the Banfield's house so early that morning. And I'll just cut right to the chase here. As part of their investigation, digital evidence was collected from the Banfield's home. And on Christine's computer, they found that someone, keyword someone, had created a profile on the website FetLife.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I had never heard of this website, but I learned it's a social networking website for the BDSM kink and fetish community. And the profile's username was Anastasia9, and it featured a photo of Christine wearing a bathing suit. Now, this photo of her in a bathing suit just so happened to be a photo that she had sent Brendan.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And then what gets very strange here is that Brendan had then sent the photo to Juliana, who then emailed it to herself. Okay. In what world, for what reason would you ever need to send a photo of your wife in a bathing suit to your au pair? You just don't.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Anyway, though, when investigators started going through all the data from her computer, they learned that this Anastasia 9 person had been communicating with a profile tied to Joseph Ryan. Then they found messages on an encrypted messaging app where the two of them had been discussing meeting up to, you know, live out these fantasies that they were talking about.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
specifically fantasies involving knife and blood play. Now, these are sexual acts that involve the consensual use of a knife for physical and mental stimulation, as well as the consensual drawing of blood. So based on these messages, it looked like Joseph and Christine had set up a date to have this kind of consensual sexual interaction. And that date was scheduled for... February 24th, 2023.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Everyone in this case at this point is still innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. So we have to keep that in mind. And you will hear me, you know, say things like alleged and allegedly throughout this case. However, I will say the evidence really does speak for itself. But of course, there is the presumption of innocence. So I just had to mention that.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
So you can see the setup here. This would have been the same morning that Juliana was supposed to take their daughter to the zoo and Brendan would be at work and maybe Christine had planned this little secret rendezvous at home. But if you're thinking critically here and you know all the information that we have gone through just thus far in this episode, you know that this is a clear setup.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Allegedly, I have to say. And to law enforcement, they did not think that Christine was behind this account at all. They believe that someone posed as her and then lured Joseph to her house under false pretenses in order to frame him for her murder. How insane is that?
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Not to mention that through their investigation, they found not one single shred of evidence that Christine was at all into BDSM, knife play, or anything that had been found on that FetLife profile. All of their friends and family would say the same, that it just didn't sound like her. In fact, one message said that her marriage wasn't entirely monogamous and that she
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
quote, cheats on her husband whenever she wants to. But anyone that knew her would tell you that that is absolutely not the case. And they would be shocked if that were at all true in any way. So if none of this is true and someone really is posing as Christine on this vet life website, then who was Joseph talking to?
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Well, according to an article from people magazine, deputy Commonwealth attorney, Eric Klingon says that Brendan allegedly created the profile and he began the communication with Joseph. I know. Big shocker, right? Then, days before the murders, Brendan told Juliana to call Joseph, posing as Christine, to confirm the details of what they were planning to do.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And the plan was to use restraints and then cut off her clothing during violent roleplay. So allegedly it was both of them. And if all of that is true, poor Joseph went over to the Banfield's house thinking that he was going to be engaging in consensual activity. And then he would have run into Christine in the house at some point, assumably.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And she had no idea who he was or why he was there or what he was doing. The whole thing was a total setup for both of them. And to understand why Brendan and Juliana would want to do something like this, we've got to go over what investigators believe is the motive, which I am sure you can guess. I'll let you take a wild guess right now. Yeah, it was an affair.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
These two sickos, Brendan and Juliana, are said to have started an affair in August of 2022. And for the next several months, they allegedly concocted this sick plot to get rid of Christine so that they could be together. And another element to this beyond the fact that they murdered the two of them is the fact that they were willing to completely tarnish their reputations in the process.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But anyway, let's get back into talking about our victims, starting with Christine and Banfield. Now, she was born as Christine Ann Benson, and she was born in September of 1985 and grew up on Long Island. She attended Quinnipiac University from 2003 to 2007 and graduated with a degree in nursing. And then along the way, she ended up meeting a guy named Brendan Banfield.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
These two were willing to let the world believe very damaging things about these two innocent victims. For Christine, they were going to let the world think that she got herself killed as a result of her infidelity and sexual fantasies, which she didn't even have. And I want to be clear, there's no shame in these sexual fantasies. I'm definitely not trying to king shame or anything like that.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But when it's not true and it's made up, I mean, it's tarnishing your reputation. It's not the truth. And for Joseph, they were going to let the world think that he was some crazy sexual sadist who took things too far and actually killed someone when he thought he was just engaging in this consensual thing. Activity.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
In reality, we don't know exactly what happened over there, but there is a good chance that Joseph went into the home and started to act out the role play that he thought they consensually agreed to. I just can't imagine how... Oh, picturing how this played out is so upsetting. And even if what he was into is not your cup of tea, it doesn't matter.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I mean, there's nothing wrong with what he liked, especially because he liked something that was consensual and believed that that's exactly what he was doing. And sources also say that Joseph really did not hide his sexual preferences from those who knew him. And the fact that these two tried to paint him as some sexually motivated killer... It just wasn't who he was at all. It's so sick.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And for what? Because these two selfish fucking losers just wanted to be together and thought this was the best way to do so? God, it pisses me off. So between February, when Joseph and Christine were killed and October, when the first arrest was made, they worked diligently during that time to build a case. Now, obviously I'm pretty sure we're going to get a much clearer picture.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
In fact, I'm very sure we'll get a much clearer picture during trial. And let me know if you guys are interested in additional coverage on this case when the trial happens in October, unless it gets delayed again. Not totally sure there.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But anyway, during that time, they believe that Juliana and Brendan plotted these murders to be together and strategically coordinated communication with Joseph to lure him to their home and make it look like he killed Christine. And then they killed him in an effort to protect her. And thankfully, as I just mentioned, in October, there was evidence.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
an arrest, one arrest, but this was October 13th, 2023. And interestingly, it was actually 23 year old Juliana who they got first. She was arrested for the second degree murder of Joseph Ryan, as well as the use of a firearm during the commission of a felony, because it was her gunshot, the one to his chest that resulted in his death.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And even though at this point, investigators already had evidence of an affair, when they went back to the home to arrest her, they found even more. And God, these two, they're so stupid. They weren't even trying to hide it. Because back in February, when the murders occurred, Obviously, they took pictures of the entire home, including the guest room that Juliana was staying in.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And when they took those photos, which I will have on screen if you are watching this episode, you can see that her bedroom had clothes in the closet, like someone had been living in that room. But in October, when they went back to arrest her, her stuff had been moved out of that closet and... I'm sure you can guess where they were now. That's right. The primary bedroom, the master bedroom.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
She was already bunked up with Brendan. And not only that, her lingerie was laid out across Brendan's bed. And if you think these two cannot get any dumber, turns out they can because there was a framed photo of the two of them on their bedside table. It happens. hadn't even been a year since Christine was killed. And the two of them were already shacked up together and not even trying to hide it.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I mean, you think they would be smart enough to kind of try to keep that under wraps, but no. They're leaving lingerie out, the photo's next to the bed. I mean... You cannot make these things up. It's unbelievable that people would be this stupid and this evil, quite frankly, especially Brendan. This is your wife. This is the mother of your child.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And in 2010, the two of them got married. And I wasn't able to pinpoint how the two of them met. And truthfully, I really don't have a lot of insight into their early relationship. And there are definitely some things that I'll share with you later on that would point to there being problems with one of them.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
She hasn't even been gone for a year and it was your fault. Allegedly, allegedly, allegedly. It's hard to say that. He had just really moved on with his life as if nothing happened, and so did Juliana. Not only that, investigators also found suggestive texts between the two, as well as a photo of them on a romantic trip to New York, which had taken place before the murders occurred.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And mind you, Juliana did try to say initially that they were not romantically involved. Bullshit. Did these two really expect anyone to believe that in the eight months since your wife was brutally murdered in your own home, when you're supposed to be grieving that the two of you just start hooking up? Absolutely not. No one buys it.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And it doesn't matter if anyone buys it because at the end of the day, the evidence proves that they were together before any of this was even planned or executed.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
one thing juliana i'm sure didn't plan for was going to prison but what was interesting and frustrating to the public at this point was only juliana was arrested and her arrest only mentioned the murder of joseph and that's because at this point investigators weren't saying who they thought killed christine and to my understanding this is because they were still running tests to figure out who stabbed her and obviously like anyone with a brain they had a pretty good feeling that
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
it wasn't joseph who did it but they wanted to be absolutely certain of course so from that october through most of 2024 brendan was technically speaking a free man and he was living at home his mom was staying there and he was raising his daughter but he certainly was not off the hook Because behind the scenes, investigators were monitoring his communications with Juliana while she was in jail.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And one phone call in particular sparked their attention. In that call, Juliana said, and I quote, "'I hope you are not just staying with me "'because you are afraid of me turning against you.'" To which Brendan allegedly responded to her saying, keep your mouth shut. So that certainly doesn't scream innocent. But of course, innocent is what she said she was.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
For over a year, Juliana said that she did not do what they were accusing her of. And during this time, her family stood by her side. They said that she never would have done something like this and had hopes that she would be released from custody. Her bond, however, thankfully was repeatedly denied. And in April of 2024... More information came out that would solidify her place behind bars.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But I don't want to come on here and say that the relationship was this or that or try to paint a picture too much because... At the end of the day, I just don't know, especially when it comes to how their relationship was in the early days. What I can tell you though, is they had one daughter who Christine loved very, very much. She was actually a pediatric ICU nurse.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
During a preliminary hearing in the beginning of that month, prosecutors dropped a massive bombshell. And that was, it turns out, that two months before the murders occurred. The two of them, Brendan and Juliana, had gone to the shooting range together. And it gets worse.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Because on January 28th, Brendan went back to that shooting range and purchased the same Glock that he and Juliana had practiced shooting with. And prosecutors brought receipts, quite literally. They used the serial number on the receipt from his purchase and matched it to a gun recovered at the scene. They also revealed that days before the murders, Juliana and Brendan both got new cell phones.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But when Brendan was asked about any of this, he pleaded the fifth. I mean, he pretty much did this on every question they asked him. He had been subpoenaed to testify during this hearing, but he said a whole lot of nothing. He wouldn't even say whether or not he was married to Christine on the day that she was murdered.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I mean, I get not wanting to incriminate yourself, but to not answer that, I mean, dude, come on. Thankfully though, with or without Brandon's testimony, the judge ruled that there was enough evidence to move forward with the case against Juliana. So later that month, she was officially indicted. And only hours after that, Joseph's mom said, and I quote,
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Another big sentiment that his mom shared with the public was that her son wasn't a violent person. She made it a point that you don't just wake up after 39 years and suddenly decide to become a killer. In her mind, In the mind of most of the public and the mind of the prosecutors, he was lured and framed.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But like I said, when it comes to the public and their perception of everything, especially in the earlier days, like early to mid 2024, there was a lot of confusion about what the truth really was. I mean, obviously with Juliana's arrest, people were expecting Brandon to be arrested too. But months and months were going by and there was no word about what was going on with that.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And it was especially confusing because no one at this point had been charged with Christine's murder. And like I said, the reason it took so long is because, of course, they wanted to be 100% certain that their theory matched the evidence. I mean, they have one shot at this. And that theory was that Brendan stabbed his wife and then staged the scene to make it look like Joseph did it.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And then forensic tests came back in August of 2024 that proved exactly that. Expert blood spatter analysis helped investigators finally prove that both bodies had been moved and repositioned after being wounded and that Joseph's arms were moved and smeared with Christine's blood. And of course, this report was critical in making their arrest, which finally did come on September 16th.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
So caring for kids was quite literally her life's work. She was also a frontline worker during the height of the COVID pandemic. So truly a hero in my book.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
That day, Brendan Banfield was officially finally arrested. and charged with four counts of aggravated murder and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now, when it comes to specific evidence against these two, I've only been able to share some of it with you. We obviously know about the affair and the blood spatter analysis, but things like their text messages and computer searches have not been shared publicly. I cannot imagine what we will learn when all of that comes out, which I'm pretty sure it will.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
We should be getting the full scoop on all of that during the trial, but for right now, a lot of information is being kept quiet and it's likely for the best. So if you feel like there's gaps and things that don't fully make sense, you're not alone. I feel the same way. I'm still totally confused.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And I loved learning about this, but a patient of hers actually described her as an angel saying that after waking up from a week's long coma, Christine was at his side and she even helped shave him and set up a zoom call so that he could speak to his family. And even with that little bit of info that we do have, I do think it paints a picture of someone who was incredibly selfless.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Um, but that's just how it goes when looking into cases before they actually go to trial, especially with limited information like this, but there's a reason they have to keep it that way. And honestly, piecing this case together and trying to understand and prepare for this episode was pretty difficult and confusing. Um, but overall, I think the big picture here is pretty fucking clear.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And that big picture is Brendan was cheating on his wife and together he and Juliana conspired to murder her and frame an innocent man. But what's wild, however, not surprising really at all, is that Juliana was not the first woman that Brendan apparently had cheated on his wife with.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
One woman that he was seeing has actually come forward and said that Brendan used to talk about how life would be easier if his wife wasn't around. And I just have to say, for being a federal agent, Brendan is a massive idiot. I mean, I understand that working for the IRS is a little different than being, say, an FBI agent, but it's pretty wild how sloppy and stupid he was throughout all of this.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Allegedly, of course. But let's get to the bond, the plea, and the trial. So good news when it comes to his bond, it was denied. Just like Juliana's, it was ruled that he had to stay behind bars until his trial. And right now that is scheduled to begin in October of 2025.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Prosecutors argued that Brendan was a flight risk, pointing out that he lived near three major airports and that he had been learning Portuguese, suggesting that he might have been preparing for a life in Brazil. In fact, a Washington Post article reported that the two of them had plans to go to Brazil in October of 2023, months after the murders.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Meaning these two dummies really thought they were going to get away with this and then jet off to Brazil. Or they thought, hey, if they start catching on to us, we can just go to Brazil and hide. Either way, just dumb.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And it turns out Brendan even got Juliana a second passport because her original passport had been seized on the day of the murders, which of course looks very suspicious, very shady, and absolutely warrants him not being granted bail. However, the defense said that he absolutely should be granted it so that he can take care of his daughter.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
The same daughter that he allowed to be in the basement while he allegedly murdered her mother. Okay, make that make sense. So I'm very glad that his bail was denied and same with Juliana, who, get this, ended up taking a plea deal right before her trial. Her trial was initially scheduled for November of 2024, but on October 29th, she ended up accepting a deal.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
The attorney has said that the information leading to this agreement can't be made public because Brendan is still going to trial. But we don't. do know that in return for pleading guilty, cooperating with authorities and testifying against Brendan, prosecutors agreed to reduce her charge from second-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter and drop the firearm-related charge.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
There's also talk about her being released with credit for time served after she testifies against Brendan. And since his trial has been postponed, I'm guessing that her sentencing hearing will be postponed as well. Right now, as of the day I am recording this episode, her...
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
hearing is scheduled for march 21st and it was supposed to be after brendan's trial but now that his trial is in october of 2025 i'll have to keep my eyes out and see if her hearing is adjusted as well but based on her charges she is facing up to 10 years so i'm interested to see how that all ends up playing out
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now, when it comes to our second victim in this case, Joseph Ryan, I'm going to hold off on talking about him for a little bit because it will make more sense to speak about him later on when he comes into the case. But I do need to get into telling you more about Brendan Banfield and what was going on in his and Christine's life at the time of her murder. So who is Brendan?
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now in her confession, Juliana has said that even though she was part of the plan, she didn't think that Brendan would actually follow through with it. ABC 7 reports that according to the plea agreement, there were many points where she didn't want to move forward with the plan. But the problem with that is, I think we can agree here, right? Is that she did move forward with it.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I think making that whole argument of, I didn't think he was actually going to do it, I really didn't want to, is just such a massive slap in the face to these victims and their families. I mean, she had countless opportunities to go to the police at any time and report what Brendan was involving her in, report what they were planning to do, and she just didn't.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
So I don't really understand how that can be an excuse at all. And I don't care where she's from, murder is universally wrong. And this is why plea agreements are so tricky and I get so frustrated because obviously they're very necessary. It's going to be important to help put Brendan away, especially if he was truly the main mastermind behind it all.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And that testimony is going to be crucial, but it's just so frustrating. What? At the end of the day, she just gets to walk away with less, even though she was part of it all from the beginning.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
She literally shot and killed an innocent man who they were trying to frame and was going to just move on and marry this man, Brendan, or I guess I don't know if they were going to get married, but she was, they were together and trying to move on with their lives after these two were murdered and Just, it's so evil.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
the floor. Today, we're gonna be diving into what we know about an ongoing case, has yet to go to trial, I will explain, but we're gonna be talking about Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan. And you may have heard this referred to in the media or social media as the Au Pair murders, or also the Au Pair love triangle murders.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And to think that she will get a lesser sentence after all of that, it's just mind boggling. Again, I get why. I'm sure you can all agree with me. It's just frustrating, right? But I really do hope that her testimony will be crucial in getting Brendan put away for a very, very long time.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
She is going to be able to speak on certain things that will definitely be crucial in understanding what actually happened. happened, including the McDonald's stop and the two 911 calls and just the overall planning for it, how it actually happened since she was there.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And let's talk about that McDonald's stop for a second, because earlier I said that Brandon's phone placed him at McDonald's when Juliana called him to come to the home that morning. That call was at 737 AM, but it's been reported that he needed to be at work at 730. And because of that, it's believed that he may have been purposely waiting there to get a call from her to come home.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
So she should be able to speak more about why he was in the McDonald's parking lot for so long. And then there's those 911 calls. I mentioned earlier that the reporting here is a bit funky, that there's conflicting reports when it comes to the 911 call or 911 calls.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Not really sure how many there were, but we do know that at least that initial 911 call, the dispatcher hears moaning and then the call ended. And then 13 minutes later, the main 911 call was made. Now, personally, I can't say exactly what that initial 911 call was about, the moaning one. I don't know if it was on purpose or not. And maybe Juliana will be able to explain that in more detail.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Well, in addition to being Christine's husband, he was a federal agent working as a criminal investigative agent for the IRS. And I want to heavily emphasize that bit. This man was a federal agent. Now, this was a job he got in 2019. And that same year, he and Christine ended up moving from Long Island to Herndon, Virginia. They moved into this beautiful home on Stablebrook Way.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
However, I will say it has been suggested that the delay in these calls could have been when Brendan was staging the scene. As we know, part of the reason he was arrested was because they found evidence that the bodies had been moved. So I'm definitely curious to see what Juliana will say about this. Who was the one moaning?
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I mean, I'm guessing it was probably Christine, considering she was still alive at that point, which is just, God, it's so horrible to think about what she must have been going through. I mean, how painful and how confused she must have been. God, it's just so evil. And then I'm also really curious to see what she will have to say about the fetish website.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And I mean, based on what I told you guys, it's, I'm guessing that she's probably going to try and turn it all on Brendan. And I mean, after all, he did tell another woman that he was having an affair with, that things would be easier if his wife wasn't around, allegedly.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now, obviously, if you ask me, and I'm sure most of you, if not all of you, agree with me that all signs here are pointing to guilty. Allegedly, that's just my opinion. Of course, he is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. But here's another little interesting detail that has come out about Brendan.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Okay, so this came from a recorded jail call where he reportedly said the nanny can't keep her goddamn mouth shut. And obviously you don't just say those types of things unless you've got something to hide. So I think karma is gonna come for him big time. And I do really feel confident that prosecutors are doing everything that they can to build their case up as strongly as possible.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And in December of this past year, very recently, they ended up adding some additional charges to the ones that he is already facing, including felony child abuse and neglect, as well as felony child cruelty. Now, specific details on those charges haven't been shared, but we do know that's related to what happened on the day of the murders.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And if he did do what he's accused of doing, I think that those child-related charges are more than fair. And I'm very happy to see those brought forward. I just have such a hard time wrapping my head around how any parent could bring their child knowingly into a situation like that. I mean, that's just... pure evil.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But I guess maybe I shouldn't be shocked because if he's willing to kill two innocent people, one being his wife, the mother of his child, and one being someone he doesn't even know, then I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he doesn't give a damn about his daughter's well-being. So I am very curious and also very anxious to see how this trial ends up playing out.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I hope that it's not delayed any sooner and that justice is Around the corner, kind of, I mean, I guess we've got some time to wait, but hopefully it's not much longer than we have to wait at this point. And I, oh my gosh, I hope that he is found guilty. Like I said earlier, I'm pretty confident that that will be the case, but you never, you just never know how these things are going to play out.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
So it definitely makes me nervous. I did mention earlier that at this point, they aren't saying much about how their daughter is doing other than she's okay and in the care of loved ones. So I'm happy to hear that. And I have seen it reported that Christine's parents are in the process of getting custody of her. And if anyone deserves to have custody of this poor child, it's them.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And I hope, and I'm confident again, that that will be the case. I mean, it should be. I don't see why it wouldn't. I really wish I had more answers in this case, more of a resolution for you all. You know, I wish justice was already here. But like I said, it should be coming soon. Let's all hope at least. But I definitely want to hear your thoughts on this one. So let me know below.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Um, and I'm definitely curious if you would be interested in some trial coverage as well, because I certainly would like to do that. And let's just all hope as hard as we can cross our fingers and toes that there will be justice for Christine and Joseph because they definitely deserve it. And I'm just so sorry for their loved ones, their friends and family.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Just such an unnecessary tragedy that must have been so hard for all of them to wrap their minds around, especially the two of them as they were going through it. I mean, imagine how confused, like I said, how confused they must have been in those moments and scared. It's so horrific. Did one of them have to watch the other? Just... God, it's so horrible.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And that was ultimately where they were planning to raise their daughter and build their lives together. However, because of how busy they both were with their careers, they decided that it would be beneficial to hire an au pair, which also just want to point out, I was definitely saying au pair in the start of this episode. So I'm sorry, my bad. It is au pair. Okay.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I'll never understand how fucking evil people can be. It just, I don't know. No matter how long I've been doing this, it just continually blows me away. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
However, I'm sure by this point in the episode, hundreds of people have pointed out my mistake, but that's okay. I do make mistakes. Now I'm sure a lot of you are already familiar with what an au pair is. Um, I actually didn't really know what they were until I had my daughter and was looking into childcare solutions. And.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
It's a pretty interesting concept and can be very beneficial in most cases. It works out great for a lot of families, but they're essentially a live-in nanny. And normally au pairs seem to kind of become part of the family if it's a good match. And typically it's someone who is part of a cultural exchange program.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
So they get the benefit of coming to a new country, traveling in that sense, and then also getting free housing and a stipend in exchange for child care and sometimes some household work. Most of the time, stuff like that. Oftentimes they'll travel with families and everyone kind of builds their au pair experience a little differently. And I'm sure there's some more nuances.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And like I said, every situation is different. I've not had an au pair myself, so I'm not too familiar with that world. But from what I've read, it seems like most people have great experiences with their au pairs. And it, I mean, both ways that au pairs have great experiences with the families that they're with.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Very often, I'm sure, like I said, sometimes it does not go well, like it did in this case. But anyway, that is what the Banfield family had signed up for. And they ended up getting paired with Juliana Perez Magalhães, who is a 21-year-old Brazilian au pair who they eagerly welcomed into their home.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And a friend of Juliana's says that she was especially excited to be paired with the Banfields because she had actually been pursuing nursing herself. So to be paired with Christine, a nurse, was a pretty cool match. You know, she thought they'd have a lot in common, that she could maybe learn something from her. So it seemed to be a great fit for everyone involved, keyword seemed to be.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now I've also seen it reported that the Banfields already had a Brazilian au pair before, and it was hard to really get information on that. So this may not have been their first time, and it's possible that they were familiar with how this all works. That being said though, I don't think anyone, especially Christine, could have predicted how...
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Things would end up playing out, which takes me to February 24th, 2023. That morning at 7 49 AM a 911 call was placed by Julianna's cell phone to the local police department. However, no report was made. The dispatch officer heard what sounded like moaning, and then the call was disconnected.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I've seen a couple different names for it, but it is truly, I can't even put into words, it's just nuts. And it's incredibly sad. I mean, these victims and the way that they have been smeared or were attempted to be smeared to damage their image, their character has just been so awful.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now, as for what happens next, different sources have been reporting different things, which is just the nature of this case. And a lot of cases that are still developing, but basically some sources say that there were a few more of these hangup calls. And then other sources say that it was just that one.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And of course, I'm sure that that will all be clarified during trial or potentially before, we don't know. But the main point, which is generally agreed upon, is that 13 minutes after the first call, the main 911 call was made at 8.02 AM. And this call was also made by Juliana's cell phone. And she was the first person that dispatch spoke to on that call.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And it's been reported that she was pretty hysterical and hard to understand, but she ended up saying something along the lines of a friend was hurt. However, right after that, Brendan apparently took the phone and said something much more alarming. He told dispatch that he had shot a man because he found him in his house, stabbing his wife.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And when first responders got to the scene, appalling is the word that has been mostly used to describe what they saw. Inside the Banfield's house, 37-year-old Christine was found in an upstairs bedroom, naked with just her socks on, and numerous stab wounds to her upper body near an unnamed man. She was alive at this point, but she was in critical condition, and then later that evening...
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today and if you're new to the show then welcome. I'm so happy to have you all here today. So you guys today's case oh my god. Okay I started seeing this popping up on my feed over the last couple of months and when I really looked into the details of this one let me tell you my jaw was on the
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I'm sad to say that she was pronounced dead after life-saving measures were unable to save her. Now, as for this unnamed man who was unnamed at the time, he was found deceased with two gunshot wounds, one to his chest and another to his head. And sadly there was no opportunity to try and save him because he was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And this victim was identified as 39 year old Springfield resident, Joseph Ryan. Now, unfortunately, information about his life was even more difficult to find, but I did find something that I wanted to share that came from his mom. His mom, Deirdre Fisher, who says that she loved him so much, told a local news station, quote, we spent countless hours as an adult on the phone.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
He would call me all the time. I can't really tell you the level of our friendship. Not everybody gets to have that, and I was blessed with that as a parent. And personally, I think that says a lot about a man when they have a great relationship with their mother. And then there was also a friend of Joseph's who spoke to the media that...
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
said something that I think also speaks a lot about who Joseph was. He described him as quote, the kind of person who took in dogs that had no chance of being adopted and just loved the hell out of them. And as a dog lover myself, as I'm sure many of you are as well, I just loved hearing that little detail about him.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And personally, I think people who really love animals and especially take in rescues and foster animals, um, are just very special humans. That aside though, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering who he is in relation to this crime. How did he end up involved? How did he end up dead at the Banfield home?
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Because according to Brendan, this was the guy that he walked in on in his home, stabbing his wife to death. But is that really the truth? While law enforcement, they would tell you, no, it's not. Now, from the get-go, they had a very weird feeling about this whole scene. I mean, it was just one of those doesn't look right, doesn't smell right, doesn't sound right situations all around.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I swear, as long as I have been covering cases, to this day, it never ceases to just blow me away what some people are willing to do to try and get what they want and how they think they're actually going to get away with it. But... Oftentimes, these people who commit these crimes are stupid, and we sort of love that, right? Because stupid people get caught, and that's what happened here.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Just right off the bat, there were several things about Brendan and Juliana's stories that were not adding up. And for starters, and this is a big one, there were no signs of forced entry.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
entry and if joseph was an intruder which was one of their initial theories you would expect some sign of a break-in now of course investigators do have to consider that it's possible that they had just left the doors unlocked so there wouldn't have been a sign of forced entry but the house in general just seemed to be in totally fine condition
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
So that was one of their first sort of red flags is that this did not look like a typical home invasion. And then second of all, Brendan seemed to have no concern about Christine's condition, but he kept asking about Joseph's. That's right.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
He didn't really seem to have much interest in how his wife was doing, but instead literally while paramedics are there in front of him performing life-saving measures on his wife, Brendan was asking if Joseph still had a pulse.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now to, you know, give the benefit of the doubt a little, I guess you could say, and this is before we get into everything else where the benefit of the doubt just kind of goes out the window. But I guess you could say that, you know, he did admit to shooting this guy right away. So I could see why he would have an interest in if he was alive or not.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Doesn't explain why he wasn't curious about his wife's condition. But also it makes me think, And I'm sure that this is the case. I'm sure a lot of you are thinking this as well, that he was very concerned about if Joseph was going to survive or not, because Joseph would be able to be a witness in the case and would have known what actually happened at the scene that day.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But I think the biggest red flag here, the most bizarre thing that law enforcement noted, was the very strange story that they were being told that just didn't really make a whole lot of sense. First off, when officers were initially entering the house, Juliana was asked who shot who, and she said, Brendan.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Now, maybe this wasn't the right moment for her to go into her whole spiel about what happened, but based on what she would end up saying later that morning, it was really interesting that in that moment, she only mentioned that Brendan was the shooter. Because the truth is... They both shot Joseph.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But according to her own story, which she told later that evening at the police station, she explained that around 7.30 a.m., she and the Banfield's daughter left the house with the intention of going to the zoo. And sources say that Christine was the one to purchase their tickets that morning. So simple enough, right?
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
Going to the zoo, nanny au pair takes children, child to the zoo, very, very common. When I was a nanny, I would take the kids I nannied to the zoo, I feel like at least once a week. And I take my daughter to the zoo all the time. So very normal situation.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
And then when leaving the house, she had forgotten the lunches that she had packed her and the Banfield's daughter in the fridge, which is also very common. I feel like every parent or caregiver forgets the lunch at home or something at home at least once.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
But when her recollection of the morning starts becoming strange is what she said next, which was that when she pulled back up to the house, she saw a car that she didn't recognize in the driveway. And some sources have reported this, and I'm not entirely sure.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
The reason I wanted to cover it now is because trial was supposed to begin very soon. Unfortunately, it did get pushed back, which I will explain. But I thought it was a good time to go over what we do know so far, which has been sort of limited. Um, I'll explain here and there, the things, you know, that we're still missing at this point.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
I mean, at this point in this case, but some sources are reporting that she also witnessed a man that she didn't recognize entering the house and carrying a bag. And this was concerning to her, of course, so she decided to call Christine and supposedly be like, who is this guy? Because maybe it was a maintenance worker or something like that.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
She wanted to make sure it was someone who was supposed to be at the house, right? Again, somewhat normal. Now, she knew that Christine was still at home at the time, but... Apparently, Christine didn't answer the phone, so she called Brendan, who she knew had already left for work.
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Au Pair & Husband’s Affair Leads To Double Homicide? The Christine Banfield & Joseph Ryan Case
He had left the house around 7.11 a.m., and he had told detectives that he decided to make a quick stop at his local Mickey D's for an egg McMuffin. And McDonald's is where his cell phone location data placed him, so we know that he did go there. And I will be getting back to that, but for now, just know that that's where he was.
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He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And he was paying close attention to what was going on around him. And his attention was piqued when he noticed a white van. Chad was right behind the white van. And I feel like maybe just like white vans in general, police, I mean, should kind of keep a closer eye on.
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He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
That being said, though, this story is still very heavy, even though it does have a happy ending to some degree. The victim in this week's case, Shonda Handley, went through, I mean, unimaginable suffering, both mentally and physically.
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He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
But yeah, he just noticed that the driver kept looking into his mirror, looking back at him, almost like he was nervous about something. And of course, he had every reason to be nervous. He should be nervous. And he was doing a really bad job of hiding it for Chad to be able to notice that. And unfortunately, at this point, Chad didn't have any reason to pull him over.
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He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
I mean, you can't just pull someone over because they look nervous. But this moron ended up making it easy for him and gave him a reason to pull him over because he decided to peel off onto the shoulder and started speeding off. And at that point, you know, Chad lit him up, turned on his lights and started pursuing him. And Shonda actually remembers this moment, of course.
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He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
I mean, how could you forget? Because she heard the sirens and thought to herself, all right, thanks. Thank you, God. And thankfully, these two kidnappers are really some of the world's dumbest criminals. They made a very fatal mistake, actually.
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He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Once they got off the interstate, they had the chance to turn left towards a bunch of roads and opportunities to escape, but instead, they chose to turn right, right into a dead end. And not only that, these idiots continued to make mistake after mistake because at that point, they decided to drive through some fucking
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He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
thick-ass mud because it had just rained and they ended up getting the car completely stuck. So for a long time, I decided that I was done with underwire bras. They just weren't comfortable and I'd rather have comfort than style. But that all changed once I found the Skims Ultimate Bra. It was all over my feet and I had to try it out for myself. Now, other products
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He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
push-up bras out there can be very bulky, very heavy, very uncomfortable in my opinion, but the one from Skims lifts and supports me like no other bra I've ever tried before and it really just adds so much to my look. And after having a baby, I need all the lift that I can get, friends. And it never feels like I'm wearing an underwire bra. I always feel comfortable and confident, which is
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
absolutely crucial for me, and I can say with 100% honesty that the Skims Ultimate Push-Up Bra is the only push-up bra I have ever felt confident and comfortable in. I have four of them now, and I really wear them any day that I am out in public, you know, where I need the girls to look good and for me to feel comfortable along the way.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And for a push-up bra, they really don't add any bulkiness, which I think is the most impressive part about it. It doesn't feel like I'm wearing like pillows on my chest. Instead, I just look natural and I'm able to achieve some amazing cleavage. So I can just really feel confident, especially if I'm in a shirt that gives a little more cleavage. Really highly recommend it. They are excellent bras.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Before we jump into her story, though, and speaking of inspiring, a few months ago now, my team and I worked with Kay and Chloe, Nikki's Saley McCain sisters, to tell Nikki's story. And I'm sure a lot of you have seen that episode, and there was a lot of great feedback on there, but a lot of... you know, questions about what was going to happen next.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
So shop the Skims Ultimate Bra Collection and more at Skims.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know that I sent you. Select podcast in the survey and be sure to select my show in the drop down menu that follows. So what did these morons do? Well, they jumped out of the van and began running towards the intracoastal waterway to avoid being caught.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And that meant that they had to swim from one side to the other. The deputy wasn't able to pursue them after they took off running, so he was left to figure out what these dummies had in their van that had them so spooked. And as we all know, it was Shonda. Chad said that he had his gun drawn, of course, since he wasn't sure what they were hiding in the van.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And he ended up getting a little spooked himself when he opened the trunk and saw Shonda. And actually for a split second, he actually thought she was a mannequin. But then when she moved a little bit, he jumped back and got pretty spooked and slammed the door shut. But then obviously he quickly realized there's a woman back there who desperately needs help.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
So he opened up the door again and he said that he'll never forget what she said to him. The first thing Shonda said to him, asked him really, was, are you the real police or are you the one that's going to kill me? And he at that point just told her, you're safe. And Shonda says that she actually was worried she imagined the sirens because at one point he had turned them off.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
So she didn't know if this was someone coming to save her. or the person who was going to kill her. But he was very much her savior. I mean, he really saved her life because without him, she thinks that they would have killed her. And I absolutely believe they would have too. And yeah, it's just terrifying thinking about what could have happened if Chad wasn't there that day.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And it was all really by chance. It's really miraculous when you think about it. But obviously now, finding these guys is the number one priority. Now, back at her house, the authorities had already been called and they were processing every inch of her home for evidence, looking for anything that could help them identify her kidnappers.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Because at this point, nobody knew who or where these guys were. Now, as for Isabella, who, again, was only 14 years old at the time. She says that she was really confused because nobody would tell her what was going on. I mean, she was old enough to understand that her mom had just been kidnapped, but now there were all these people at her house and none of them were really explaining anything.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
She even said that she sort of felt like a piece of evidence, which had to have been so terrifying for her at that age. Not to mention, she had no idea if she would ever see her mom again, which is just a thought that no child should ever have to have. Now, Shonda, at this point, was taken to the hospital after she was discovered.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And as soon as they were able to, law enforcement began asking her questions. And of course, one of their questions was, who do you think could have been behind this? And she didn't hesitate for a second before saying that she knew that it had to be Michael Handley behind all of this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And of course, she knew that he wasn't one of the kidnappers, but she had no doubt that he had to have been the person who orchestrated it. And after investigators learned more about their history and his behavior recently, they were just as sure as she was. So now, not only are they looking for the two men who kidnapped her, but they also absolutely needed to find Michael.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And I'll have that linked below if you haven't already seen the episode. I highly recommend that you watch it and continue to support them as they're going to still need it. But I wanted to mention them because my foundation, Higher Hope, has been working with them since that episode came out to come up with the best possible use of the grant money that they were awarded.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Now, to find the kidnappers, investigators began their search by going back to where they were last seen, the Intracoastal Waterway. And you guys... You won't believe what happened next. So a day after this all went down, law enforcement started talking to people, asking around, seeing if anyone had seen these two men, and a local fisherman said that he did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
He remembered seeing two people wading through the water, and one of them told him to be cool as he pointed a gun at him. And I don't think he saw what happened next, but we do know that sometime after he had that interaction with them, they began swimming from one side to the other.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
But little did these two dummies know, this canal had a very strong current, and karma acted quickly on these two because they both ended up drowning. Yep, that's right. So their bodies were found in the water later on that evening on the 7th, and their identities were confirmed as Sylvester Bracey and Arsenio Haynes, both of whom had extensive criminal records. And of course, their
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
There are people who feel like they kind of got off easy, not having to face any repercussions for what they did. I mean, drowning is pretty brutal. But to Shonda, this was a relief because at this point she knew that they could not hurt her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
But at the same time, even though that came with a bit of relief, she knew that they were not the only ones that she had to worry about because Michael was behind this and it didn't take long for investigators to confirm that. And guess what? It turns out that he was the one who rented the van that they kidnapped her in.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And literally all investigators had to do was run the VIN number and it came back to his name on an Enterprise car rental. Genius. And dude, Michael, he really is so dumb. He straight up used his own ID and credit card to rent it. He didn't even try to hide it at all. And it wasn't just the van.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
A few days before the kidnapping, he was captured on surveillance at a place called Barney's Police Depot, which is a store that sells police-issued merchandise. And they could see Michael clear as day purchasing handcuffs, which they later confirmed were the handcuffs that were used in the kidnapping.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
The problem was, though, is even though finding this evidence was pretty easy, finding Michael was not. And their biggest concern at this point is that he was going to flee because they knew that he had the money to do it and absolutely probably would. So they really wanted to make sure they caught him before he had the chance to do it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And to make sure that Shonda was safe in the meantime, they ended up putting her in a safe house that had teams watching her 24-7. Now, I did want to mention something that she said that really stood out to me. It was very interesting because it really reminded me of something that Baron said, Baron Lee and his case. Now, if you haven't seen my episode with Baron Lee, please check it out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And I wanted to kind of update you guys as I'd love to keep you more informed about what we're actually doing with Higher Hope on, you know, a at least monthly basis. Because really, it's because of all of you that my foundation even exists and that we're able to issue these grants.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
It is so inspirational. His story is incredible. Baron is one of the coolest, strongest people I've ever met in my life. And I haven't met him in person. I hope to soon. But yeah, I highly recommend that episode. I'll have it linked below. But As I was researching Shonda's case, I realized that there was some overlap, especially as it relates to a victim not being believed by law enforcement.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And in both of these cases, Barron and Shonda expressed feeling relief about what happened to them because now nobody could deny what they had been experiencing. It was mind-blowing and kind of hard for me to even understand at first when Barron told me that being shot was not the worst thing he went through. And that's almost exactly what Shonda said. I mean, she called her kidnapping a blessing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And imagine how bad things would have had to be for her to call that a blessing. And again, this is an ongoing thing that we see in so many cases where... Victims are just not believed, and it's men and women. And there are so many things that need to happen in our society and in law enforcement to actually see changes there. And I don't know what the overall solution is.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
I think it's a combination of many different solutions. But I know for a fact one thing. There needs to be more officers like Chad Martin because he listened to his gut. And because he did that, he saved a life. But jumping back to the case, obviously the goal was to find Michael as soon as possible while still keeping Shonda safe. And believe it or not, Michael did end up getting a hold of her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
While she was at that safe house, she ended up getting a text from an unknown number claiming that Michael had been kidnapped. That's right. This story continues to get even more whack because this loser tried to then make himself a victim. And the text said that she needed to pay a $500 ransom or he would be sent home in pieces.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And it's honestly hilarious when you really think about it because in what world did he really think that she would, one, believe him, and two, pay his ransom? And what ransom would be set at $500? To me, all of this just really speaks to his delusion. A day later, a photo got sent to some friends of theirs. It was a picture of Michael naked, handcuffed, and seemingly injured.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And clearly, it was him trying to make it seem like the kidnapping was real. But the problem with his little plan to make himself seem like the victim here was that everyone, apparently except for him, knew that the kidnappers were already dead. They drowned. Life doesn't happen bi-weekly, so why should payday? The money that you earn could be in your hands today with Earnin'.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
So as of yesterday, the 19th, we've officially launched a large bus stop advertisement in Reading that seeks to bring awareness to Nikki's disappearance. This will run from now through early November, and this was a particularly important time in this case since it was just recently reclassified as a homicide.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
See the cash out user agreement for details. Service is not available in all states. It was so painfully obvious at this point that he was behind it all, and they knew that he knew that they were onto him. And he did exactly what they knew he was going to do because he has the resources. He tried to hightail it the fuck out of there, and he tried to charter a private plane, actually.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
But the pilot knew that he was wanted, so it didn't work out because the pilot was like, yeah, buddy, I'm not flying you anywhere. And then the pilot ended up reporting him to the police. But that wasn't going to stop Michael from trying to continue to hide from what he had done. And he was long gone by then, but they did thankfully end up finding him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
On August 11th, after a four-day manhunt, he was captured at a motel in Slidell, Louisiana, where he was immediately taken into custody. And back at the motel that he was staying in, investigators found $10,000 in cash, several pizza boxes, and not surprisingly, illicit drugs.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And this is wild, wildly stupid, but they also found a little to-do list that Michael made for himself, and once they found that, it was really not looking good for him. And it's like a little checklist situation. Burner phone, hair dye, new location, internet, cash, and most importantly, finished job. And investigators, of course, they know that finished job means kill Shonda.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Thankfully, though, he didn't get the chance. And now that he was apprehended, she finally felt safe enough to come home and be with her daughter. And honestly, though, both her and Isabella weren't sure that the worst was behind them. Michael was someone who they had seen continuously get his way in life, in whatever situation it was.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
The Shasta County Sheriff's Office has now said that based on information and evidence gathered, they believe that Nikki was murdered. And obviously, we all knew that was the case. I mean, it seemed very, very obvious, but I'm really happy that now law enforcement is recognizing it as such. And maybe if you live in Reading, you'll be able to see it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And let's not forget, he's a multimillionaire, so it's a lot easier to get your way when you have lots of money. So that was a very real and very understandable fear that they had, that he might somehow wiggle his way out of this situation. And Michael definitely tried, but the case against him was strong.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
After he was booked into jail, he was later indicted on several charges, including conspiracy to commit second degree murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, attempting second degree kidnapping, second degree kidnapping, and violation of a protective order. And mind you, all of these charges meant Michael was facing a sentence of life in prison.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And despite all the evidence against him, and again, this is another non-surprising thing, but he pleaded not guilty. And I guess his attorney was confident that there wasn't enough evidence for a conviction, which is... Interesting. It's extremely stupid, considering his text messages to Shonda leading up to the event were pretty bad.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
She was getting texts from a random number saying things like, you are facing Armageddon and no court order will save you. We will take her first and let you suffer for a while before putting you out of your misery. And if you ignore us like usual, someone you love will suffer.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And even if these messages were drug and alcohol fueled, which I'm sure they probably were, it doesn't excuse what he said and did. But his defense attorney, though, of course, as they do, he said that all of this had an explanation. According to him, Michael did rent a van for those two guys, but it wasn't to kidnap Shonda. It was to move some of his furniture, of course.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
But then, when these two dudes he hired saw how much money Michael had and how badly he wanted Shonda back, they went rogue and they kidnapped her to try and get him to pay her ransom. So that's why his attorney said that Michael didn't try to hide the fact that he rented the van because he had nothing to hide. Oh, it's stupid. It's like just laughable.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Now, as for those handcuffs, they were purchased by Michael to stage the fake kidnapping photo. And it turns out that for the last few months, he had been sending her these videos of him, clearly in a bad headspace, begging her to take him back. And in one of those instances, he had sent her this photo of him with his face all bloody.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And I guess maybe he thought that if she saw him hurting, suffering, that she would come back to him. And, you know, the handcuffs were part of his attempt to get her back. His attorney said he has a, quote, proclivity to stage things to get her sympathy. And maybe in some delusional world, these explanations would make sense.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
But what Shonda found next is, I'd say, almost impossible to explain away. Just when you think Michael can't get any dumber, he certainly does. Because as the legal proceedings were underway... Shonda had gone to their property, one of their properties in Mississippi. And it's in a pretty remote location, and she was just there to get her belongings back.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
But while she was there, she ends up finding this Arlo security camera. And boy, did that thing have some damning evidence on it. I don't know if he realized this, but this Arlo camera is one of those security cameras that starts recording as soon as you start moving it or detects motion. And... Oh, it ended up capturing hours, hours of Michael speaking.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
I know that we will be posting imagery of it on our Higher Hope social media, which I would love if you would give us a follow there on Instagram. And you can, you know, follow along with all the grants that we're doing. Higher Hope has really done so much since we launched. I really can't believe it. More than I ever could have imagined. And the impact has just been incredible.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And a lot of what he was saying pointed to his guilt. For starters, in one video taken two months before the abduction, he can be heard saying, I'm going to kill her. I'm going to kill her. And keep in mind, this is Michael just talking to himself, which is terrifying. He's just walking around in his house in his delusional state of mind, being like, I'm going to kill her. I'm going to kill her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
I mean, Michael is just such a disgusting human, scary, just very scary. And it's very obvious who he is talking about here. He is talking about Shonda. And then in another video that was taken before the abduction, Michael is seen on video, actually this time with a friend of his at their property in Mississippi. And they're sort of just chatting about his issues with her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And at one point he says, very casually just stands up and goes, and that's why she'll have to die. And I'm sure you're like, okay, so why didn't this friend do anything about it if he said that to him? Well, this friend claims that he didn't hear Michael say that, and it's possible. I mean, there's nothing that can prove or disprove whether or not he heard it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Plus, Michael was standing up at this moment and walking away, so... I think it's possible to believe that this other guy didn't just ignore this very concerning threat. And that's not even the worst of it. Two weeks before the kidnapping went down, Michael was seen on that camera with none other than Sylvester Bracey.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
As a reminder, this is one of the guys who attempted to kidnap Shonda, and they could be heard discussing how this place was the perfect location to take her and torture her. He can specifically be heard saying it's almost impossible for anyone to get in here, to which Sylvester responded, and it'll be impossible for her to get out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
So yeah, at this point, investigators are pretty confident they had this dude. I mean, he's cooked at this point, right? And here's something that is so wild to me. Even though Michael was behind bars at this point in time, he still managed to contact Shonda. He continuously harassed her through phone calls and letters, which, understandably, made her feel nervous.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
I mean, really nervous is an understatement because if he had access to contacting her in prison, where and when would she ever feel safe? Not to mention that the defense, and this is, again, not surprising, we see this kind of thing a lot, but they were actively trying to get him out of jail and put him in a mental health facility instead.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
In October of 2017, he changed his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity, and his attorney was trying to get him transferred to a place where they say he could receive treatment for his mental health. But those facilities aren't nearly as secure as a prison, so it makes total sense why Shonda absolutely did not want that to happen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
The risk of him coming after her was just way too high, and it felt, you know, way greater if he was anywhere but in a prison. So they had two psychiatrists evaluate him, and it was found that he suffered from bipolar disorder as well as substance abuse, but the judge ultimately ruled, thankfully, that he was competent to stand trial.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And I'm so, so grateful to all of you who have made this happen. And with that, let's go ahead and jump into Shonda's story. And to really tell her story, we need to go back to 2005, which was the year that she met Michael Handley. And the two of them met through friends in Lafayette, Louisiana, and it's said that they really hit it off right away.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Which of course means that this not guilty by insanity plea was thrown out. And now things are really trending favorably for the prosecution. And in March of 2018, the divorce was officially finalized and Shonda was awarded all of their assets, which in theory would be great, of course. But she quickly learned that all of the money that Michael seemed to have. Yeah, it was gone.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Apparently, Michael was anti-cash. He had converted all their money into gold bars, which seems very on brand for him, in my opinion. And I'm pretty sure that that's what he had offered the kidnappers in their agreement, one of the gold bars or several of the gold bars. I don't know. But here's the thing. The gold was also missing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Michael must have hid it somewhere, and to be honest, I'm not sure if they ever found it, despite even using a metal detector throughout the property. And on top of that, and this is just so heartbreaking, but Shonda found out that Michael was $750,000 in debt, and she was responsible for paying it since they'd been married when he incurred that debt. And it just feels so bad for her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
I mean, it was really like one thing after the next. And this was supposed to be a time where things were really starting to look up, that justice was right around the corner. And then get this. During the divorce settlement proceedings, her attorney, Christine, got Michael to agree to a deposition, which his attorney, of course, was very nervous about.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Now, it took place for 10 hours across a three-day span, and she was able to ask him a lot of questions about the kidnapping. And despite the overwhelming amount of evidence against him, he stuck to his original story that he hired these men to move some furniture and they went rogue in order to get him to pay ransom for Shonda.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
He even said that they called him after the kidnapping and they told him that they had his, quote, motherfucking wife, which he said felt like a punch to the gut. And watching the video of him say that in court, oh my God, it's just ridiculous. But when it came to a lot of the specific questions, like how he met Sylvester, all Michael could say was, I don't know. I don't know this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
I don't know that. I don't recall. All because he was high on meth. But one thing he said he did remember, though, is that he certainly never would have orchestrated it. He cried, because of course he did, and said how much he loved her and would never do anything like this. And it was just a lot of emotional manipulation and just outright bullshit, in my opinion. And no one was falling for it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
I mean, truly. And my personal favorite moment was when Christine played him that Arlo security footage of him clearly plotting with Sylvester. I mean, I truly have to say that is one of the most bonehead moves ever to accidentally record yourself plotting a kidnapping. on your own camera, in your own property. Like, good job, dude. Genius, genius work.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And so in court, they're asking him, okay, what kind of movers say things like that? He goes, well, people tell me all sorts of things. Like, dude, what does that even mean? He's so stupid. So at this point, Michael is just barreling towards a guilty conviction. I mean, there's not a lot of hope for him left.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
They were both single parents coming out of prior marriage and were both in recovery. Now, Shonda says that she was 18 years sober when they met. So very, very impressive. And Michael was more recently sober. and had been in recovery for about a year around the time they met. And this was obviously something that brought them closer together.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And I think his defense attorney knew that that was the case and could sense that Michael started to realize that was the case, too, because hours before the trial was set to start, Michael ended up agreeing to a plea deal, of course.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
So in exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree kidnapping and one count of attempted second-degree kidnapping, they would take the life in prison sentence off the table. And instead, he would face between 15 and 35 years. Now, ultimately, the decision was up to Shonda. Whether or not she... wanted to agree to this, and she ended up deciding that she did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And I think it's sometimes hard for people to understand why a victim would make a decision like this, but it is just so traumatic to go through the trial process. I mean, it would be a lot of pain and trauma that she would have to relive by going through trial. She knew that the evidence was strong, but ultimately, the toll that it was going to potentially take on her and on her daughter, too,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
just didn't seem worth it. Also, not to mention, there was a chance, a very small chance, that he would have been found not guilty. So accepting this plea felt like the safest option all around, what would be best for everyone involved. So in March of 2022, Michael was back in court for his sentencing hearing. And by this point, it had been four and a half years since the kidnapping.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And I can only imagine how ready Shonda was to just put this behind her. Shonda and Isabella were in the courtroom that day, and I wasn't able to find any courtroom footage. But from what I've heard, they both gave very powerful victim impact statements, and they talked about how difficult this has made their lives. Shonda also talked about how Michael wrecked what was once a really good thing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And not surprisingly, they both wanted him to receive the maximum sentence of 35 years. Michael, on the other hand, now had a brand new story. He explained that he actually did hire those guys, but his intention was never for her to get hurt. He wanted to instead swoop in, be the hero, and maybe she would take him back.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Basically, he explained he was planning to save her from a kidnapping setup that he...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
arranged himself i mean it really makes no sense it's ridiculous obviously basically at this point it was just laughable i mean everything he tried to do except for just take accountability and luckily the judge saw straight through his bullshit so in the end michael was sentenced to 35 years in prison however he did receive credit for time served which is so annoying
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
The judge said he considered several factors in his decision, and he mentioned that Michael's continued harassment, even behind bars, was something that influenced why he got the max sentence. But still, Michael will be out of prison when he is 79 years old, and understandably, that is a day that Shonda is celebrating.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
very fearful of she believes that he will find a way to get to her again whether that's when he's free or even when he is still behind bars but what's amazing to me about shonda is even after everything that she's gone through she hasn't let this stop her from living her life i mean there's no doubt that the fear is still there very much there still exists
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
and that impacts her often, but just listen to what she has done. In the aftermath of her kidnapping, she has opened two sober living homes that are dedicated to helping women get back on their feet. It's called the Destiny Sober Living in Lafayette, and on the website she writes, Destiny's
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
She also says that he was really sweet and compassionate, and also that he and her daughter, Isabel, got along really well. Isabel was around two years old when Michael came into their lives, and he had actually became her stepdad not too long after meeting her mom. Michael and Shonda got married in Hawaii in 2006, and by everyone's account, they were really an incredible couple.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
sober living was born out of my desire to create a place where we are all able to walk together in encouragement, support, and accountability. And the mission statement reads, in part, our mission at Destiny Sober Living is to provide an affordable, safe, sober living environment designed to encourage and support long-term recovery from alcohol and drugs.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
We set high standards for our residents and provide a structured environment where they can best learn And I just think it speaks so highly of Shonda's character and really her strength and resilience that she is channeling her time and resources into something that's going to help others, something that our country desperately needs. And really, this isn't new for Shonda.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
She has always been a charitable person. At one point, she and Michael ran the Handley Family Foundation, which hosted fundraising events to support a variety of causes. So I think it's safe to say that giving back is just in her nature and really always has been. And the world is very, very lucky to still have her in it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
As time has gone by, Shonda has had the opportunity to thank Chad, the officer who saved her life, and there was a clip of this in an episode of 48 Hours, I believe, and it was just so beautiful. I mean, truly, what a surreal moment. And obviously, I wish this just never happened in the first place, but I think it is a miracle, really. I'm so thankful that Chad was saved.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
in the right place at the right time and was being so vigilant, especially when he was off duty. It's so impressive. It's really because of him that Shonda is still here and that Isabella has her mom. Now, Michael has tried, of course, to appeal his conviction by saying that he wasn't informed of his rights when he pled guilty and that his sentence was too harsh.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
But it sounds like a last-ditch effort, if you ask me. I really don't think he's going to go very far with that. Michael 100% deserves to be in jail, and I hope it remains that way for as long as possible. I wish that he got a much harsher sentence than he did. I really enjoyed learning about Shonda's story, as horrific as it is.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Just her ability to bounce back from it all and to stay strong and still have moments where she's laughing and smiling, even in her interviews. It's so impressive to me, and... I don't know, stories about survivors always leave me feeling so, so inspired.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And I'd love to know if you guys are interested in hearing more stories about survivors, because there are a few I'm really interested in covering, and I'd love to hear your feedback on that. And Shonda, if you happen to see this, I just wanted to say that I am so, so inspired by you. I am so grateful that you are here today to continue the amazing work that you're doing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Like I said, it is so, so needed in our country, and... Yeah. You're just such an inspiration to me. I really can't put it into words. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
In 2007, they decided to take their passion for helping others, and with the help of a doctor friend of theirs, they opened up a chain of addiction treatment centers called Townsend. And at the peak of Townsend, there were 14 centers, and they were making a huge impact in the South. But ultimately, they did end up deciding to sell the company after eight successful years.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
So then jumping forward to 2015, between Michael and his business partner, they made $21.5 million. And yes, this is a ton of money, but Michael actually wasn't a stranger to being a millionaire. He had already made millions back in his 20s from launching companies that sold vitamins.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And in his own words, being an addict and having all of that money and, you know, endless resources was really a dangerous combination for him. And that being said, there were many years where he was sober and everything was...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
But that all changed in 2017 when Shonda found a bottle of Adderall with Michael's name on it, and she knew that Adderall could be a slippery slope that could lead to Michael doing much harder substances. And on top of that, she also found out that he was having an affair.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Regardless, though, she decided that she wanted to give him the opportunity to turn things around, so she gave him an ultimatum. Either he went into treatment and got, you know, sober again, or it was over.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And this can obviously be really hard to do, but she stuck to her word, and when he refused to get help, she went ahead and changed the locks on the house and refused to let him in, and this made Michael... lose his mind. And after a few weeks, Michael started telling Shonda that she was going to regret what she did and that things were going to get bad.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Well, hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so happy to have you here as always. And if you're new to the show, welcome. I'm so happy to have you as well. So, guys, today I'm going to be telling you a story of one.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
He started stalking her, threatening her, threatening her daughter, installing spyware on her computer, accessing her email, just truly unhinged, outright terrifying, abusive behavior. And it ended up getting so bad that Shonda really feared for her safety and her daughter's safety, and she ended up making dozens of police reports.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And this probably won't surprise you, but just guess how many times Michael was arrested for the things he was doing. I'll give you a second. The answer is none. Not a single time was he held accountable for anything he did, and they told her basically that they just didn't have enough evidence to get an arrest warrant.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Which is really ironic, considering that when Michael made allegations against her, she did get arrested. Luckily, the judge dropped the whole thing pretty quickly, but... Really, this is a prime example of why women don't always report their abuse. Because when they do, they just aren't believed. And we see this countless times over.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
She straight up told law enforcement that she truly believed he was going to kill her if they didn't intervene. And... They never did. So Michael was just free to continue the abuse and the harassment. And what's so wild is he was actually the one who first initiated getting divorced.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
He filed in the spring of 2017, but then, no surprise here, he changed his mind and demanded that Shonda get back together with him. And of course, when she refused, he took it up a level. All the horrible shit he was doing continued and it got worse because he straight up threatened to leak private videos two people in their community.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
Private videos, you know, that in the moment were supposed to be just for the two of them, never to be seen by anyone else. So he was participating in sextortion. And the reason I say participated in, because he actually did it. He leaked those videos. Spring has officially sprung, folks, and we're talking fresh air, sunshine, and good food. That's what spring is all about.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And HelloFresh makes it easier to fit quick, home-cooked meals into your schedule every week by curating delicious recipes like pasta primavera, chicken Dijon, and pecan crusted trout, as well as over 100 seasonal snacks, sides, and treats.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
remarkable, inspirational, incredibly strong and resilient woman, and three remarkably unintelligent, unimpressive, idiot men. Personally, I love to sprinkle in some stories about survivors because I find so much inspiration covering their stories and learning about their stories, and I think you will... leave here feeling inspired by Shonda as well, as I tell you her story.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And in 2025, HelloFresh is evolving to fit every lifestyle by bringing customers even more convenience without compromising on taste, health, or homemade quality. Their new ready-made meals offer chef-crafted, flavorful dishes that are ready in just three minutes, so you can dig in, get outside, get work done, or just get some me time.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
We've used it many, many, many times and have never had a bad HelloFresh meal, truly. They are just delicious, and I love how many options they have to offer every week. It also allows me to really stick to my health goals because I'm planning in advance. So I can't, you know, just want to do a delivery instead or go get takeout because I already have a meal ready for me in the fridge.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
So there's no excuses. So feel great with meals that fit your spring schedule and make the season even more delicious. Go to HelloFresh.com slash KendallRay10FM now to get 10 free meals with a free item for life. One per box with an active subscription. Free meals applied as discount on first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
He shared those videos with her family members, her neighbors, and her daughter's school administration, even friends who worked in politics. And as you can imagine, when Shonda found out about this, she was just beside herself. I mean, terrified, angry. It's hard to even describe what someone would be feeling in a situation like that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
I mean, when she first heard she was bawling, she said she felt sick to her stomach, almost to the point where she couldn't even stand up. I mean, to be violated in that way by someone you used to trust and love is just something that no one should ever have to experience.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And because of all this bad shit craziness, she ended up taking matters into her own hands and hired an attorney so that she could finally file for divorce. Now, her attorney's name is Christine, and she was one of the first people who actually believed Shonda. She even helped her get a restraining order, which in theory should have protected her. But the reality is, Michael didn't give a fuck.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
He just continued to find ways to threaten her, whether it was using an app to disguise his voice or using one of those random number generators. And because of all the sneaky little ways that he went about harassing her... There was never any proof that he violated the order. But he certainly did, many times, and it wasn't just over the phone.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
On June 8th of 2017, Michael snuck into Shonda's house, absolutely reeking of alcohol, and he was very clearly angry. And when she tried to get him to leave, he pinned her up against the wall. And after she screamed out for Isabella, her daughter, he pulled out a gun and said that if she screamed again or anyone came to interfere, both of them. would be dead.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And of course, this is a threat that she took seriously, as any mother would, or any person in that situation who is not only having their life threatened, but their child's as well. But in a moment like that, you've got to remain calm and do everything in your power to calm the other person down until you can actually get to safety and get help.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And so she did her best to do exactly that, keep him calm and get him to walk away. And thankfully, he did. And as soon as he left, she locked the door and was finally able to just scream and cry and process what she had just been through. And now she wholeheartedly believed even more than she did before that he was going to kill her. And if it wasn't that day, it was going to happen eventually.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And one of the reasons she really felt that way is because after this very serious attack, the police didn't do a damn thing. And Shonda's instinct was not wrong. Michael did absolutely want her dead. But thankfully, his plan failed. It all happened on August 6th of 2017, so about two months later.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And that day, Shonda was home with Isabella and a friend who lived nearby and just stopped over to catch up. And it was a totally, you know, normal afternoon. But then at around 2.30 p.m., the doorbell rang. And when Shonda went to see who was there, it wasn't anyone that she recognized. It was these two dudes that looked like they may have been like delivery men or maybe salespeople.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And because she was busy, you know, she had her friend over. She let them know that it wasn't a good time. And She started to close the door behind her, but that's when they forced themselves inside, pointed a gun at her and screamed at her that she needed to get on the floor. So obviously she is immediately terrified. She's shocked and is doing everything she can to protect herself.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
It really helps me personally to cover stories of survivors, and it just kind of breaks up some of the more heavy content we talk about here. And I've seen a lot of comments from you guys that you really appreciate that as well, and I think you will find this story to just be... Again, fascinating, but also really, really inspirational.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
But they ended up handcuffing her along with her friend as well. And Isabella is there just watching this all unfold in horror. And she starts offering them everything she has. You know, she's like, I've got money, jewelry, anything you guys want. But they didn't seem interested at all because they only wanted her and Isabella. That's who they got. And just put yourself in her shoes for a moment.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
How terrifying a moment like this would be. Having no idea where they're taking you or what they're going to do with you. And they brought Shonda through the garage, put a hood over her head, and then forced her into the backseat of a white van. And then, after that, they went back to try and take Isabella. And she ended up refusing to go with them. Which is so badass.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
I mean, she is incredibly brave. But it's also terrifying thinking about... The fact that they could have really done anything to her in that moment for not cooperating. But thankfully, neither she or the friend that Shonda had over were harmed, physically speaking. But obviously, it was very traumatic to watch all of this go down.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And Isabella is terrified, wondering what's going to happen to her mother. And as for Shonda, she was thrown into that van, which had no back seats and no windows. And one of the kidnappers was driving the van. And then the other was sitting on top of her. Now, while she's in the van, she's doing her best to try and get a sense of where they are taking her, where they're going.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
But that's obviously very hard to do when you can't look out the window and someone is sitting on top of you. Plus, you're just, you know, so fearful in that moment. It'd be really hard to think. And it made it a lot harder when she realized that they were getting on the interstate.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And that's when she says her heart really sank because, you know, at that moment, she knew that they could be taking her away. anywhere. And to make matters even worse, and this is very disturbing, one of her kidnappers removed all her clothes while he threatened to both sexually assault her and kill her. And it got even more terrifying from there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
He then forced her to swallow two pills, and when she asked what they were, all he said was, don't worry about it. And from that point forward, Shonda remembers starting to kind of drift in and out of consciousness, and she just started praying. She said she really just had to, in that moment, trust that whatever was supposed to happen would happen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And her prayers, thankfully, were answered by an amazing police officer who happened to be paying close attention when he was technically off the job. Now, this amazing officer is Chad Martin, and he was an off-duty sheriff's deputy who, while he was driving home from work that day, got stopped in some traffic.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Orchestrated Her Murder, but Failed?!
And in all honesty, he was in a rush to get home because he had a reputation, I guess, for being late for dinner, and his wife kind of loved giving him a hard time about it, so he really wanted to get back in time for dinner. However, though, even though he's off the job and focused on getting home, he remained vigilant and continued to try and protect his community.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And a lot of it was trials that I had started, you know, five-day trials, 30-day trials even, and then just forgot about and just kept paying for for literally no reason. But thanks to Rocket Money, I can see all my subscriptions in one place and cancel the ones that I'm not using anymore. And now I'm saving money. If you haven't heard of Rocket Money, I'm telling you, you are missing out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps you to lower your bills so that you can grow your savings. You can see all of your subscriptions in one place, know exactly where your money is going, and for ones you don't want anymore, Rocket Money can help you cancel them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Rocket Money's dashboard gives you a clear view of your expenses across all of your accounts. You can easily create a personalized budget with custom categories to help keep your spending on track. You can get alerts if bills increase in price, there's unusual spending activity, or you're close to going over budget. The Bye. Bye. Bye.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Now, there has been very little said publicly from their family, and I completely understand why and respect that fully. But we know that they did mourn his loss when they thought that he drowned in the lake. And just imagine what it must have been like for them when they found out that he was alive and had been planning this as far back as January when he took out that life insurance policy.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
That alone is seven months of planning that we know of. And I obviously can't speak to how they felt about all this, especially because they haven't spoken themselves publicly. But I think we can reasonably assume that they were, you know, at the very least hurt, angry and confused.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And again, just as a reminder, all of his children are middle school, high school age, so they fully know what's going on. And just imagine having to process that type of abandonment at that age. And not that leaving your wife and kids for another woman is ever the right thing to do, but...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
It definitely would have been a lot easier for them if you had just told them what you were going to do and didn't try to convince them that you died. I guess I just don't understand the point. Like, if this is all about just going and being with someone else... then whatever, go be with someone else, but there's no reason to fake your death and put your family through this type of trauma.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And I've covered other cases like this in the past where the motive was very clearly insurance fraud, but that's not really what was going on in this case. I mean, you could definitely make the argument that he attempted to commit insurance fraud, but he didn't actually benefit from the policy. The money from that policy would have been going to Emily, so it's almost like he got the policy to...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
I don't know, maybe it made him feel better about leaving them. Maybe in his mind it was sort of like, oh, I'll be dead and they'll be suffering and in so much pain from that, but at least they'll have $375,000. That's all they were worth to you? You couldn't have made it a higher policy? Like, your family wasn't worth at least a million dollars to you?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
I mean, no matter how you slice it, this whole thing is 50 shades of fucked up and investigators felt the same. And they wanted to get answers from the man himself, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of this poor family. So in a press conference on November 8th, the one I played a clip from earlier, the sheriff thanked their family and then made a very emotional plea directly to Ryan.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Alright, like I said, today we're going to be discussing Ryan Borgwart. And honestly, there isn't that much known about him before all of this unfolded. However, we do know that he was living with his wife and three kids in Watertown, Wisconsin, and we also know that he had his own woodworking business.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And I just have to say that this sheriff, Mark Podol, is such a genuinely good human being. He led a few press conferences and you can just tell how dedicated he is to serving his community. And that's what makes me so angry is there were so many good people involved in trying to locate Ryan and trying to get this family answers and they were just screwed over by a liar.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
There were countless liars. resources that were just wasted on ryan between all the time energy not to mention money that was put into trying to look for him and green lake county is actually going to be seeking somewhere between 35 000 and 40 000 in restitution because that's what they estimate they used up in their efforts and that doesn't include the 10 000 that he cost keith
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And this is no surprise considering what a great guy Keith is, but he had a very level-headed and reasonable reaction to all of this. He said that when he first found out that Ryan was alive, he actually just felt relieved. Which, if I were in his shoes, I'd be just angry. But a lot of it wasn't because Ryan was alive, but it was because he had been second-guessing his capabilities for weeks.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
He could not figure out why he couldn't find his body, so to find out that he was never in the water...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
mean i get that i probably would have been relieved too and then his second reaction was just pure sympathy for ryan's wife and his children and i think we all feel that way especially people who were directly affected by this case or in the community and had been following it closely worried about ryan the whole thing is just maddening it's baffling and it has just been quite a roller coaster for everybody and then at one point people were very confused because
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And of course, as you guys know, I typically like to share as much background on victims as possible, but Ryan is not a victim. In fact, he is far from it. His wife Emily and his three children, they were the true victims in this case.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
This video resurfaced a TikTok actually from this girl in San Diego who was doing an ask me for free advice video. She was standing out on the boardwalk with a sign and basically people could go up to her and ask her for advice. I mean, I'm sure you've seen something like this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
But since this is something that they're still going through personally and has been very traumatic, I don't want to get into a bunch of details about them personally. And just for the sake of their privacy, I think it's just not necessary. And they've expressed not really wanting to be part of the media coverage.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
So as I'm sure you can tell, when this resurfaced, people thought that this guy was Ryan. I mean, I thought it was Ryan when I first saw it, but police did end up confirming that it wasn't him. But yeah, between how he looks and the whole woman in Uzbekistan thing, I can definitely see why people thought it was Ryan.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
But at this time, there was a bigger question looming over everyone's mind, and that was whether or not he broke any laws, because technically, it's actually not illegal to fake your own death. However, when people have tried to fake their own deaths, I mean, at least the ones who have been caught, most of them end up breaking the law in the process.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And in this case, a lot of people believe that Ryan did in fact break the law. And there were two charges initially that people thought he might end up facing, and one of them was obstructing an officer and the other was attempted insurance fraud, obviously.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
In the state of Wisconsin, it's illegal to, quote, "...knowingly give false information to an officer or knowingly place physical evidence with the intent to mislead officers in the performance of their duties." Which clearly is word for word what Ryboy did. And then there's the attempted insurance fraud, which a lot of people think that he did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
After all, he did get that life insurance policy knowing that it would be needed under false pretenses. He also got a second passport after he said his first one was lost or stolen when it wasn't. But I'm not sure if that's a crime. Either way though, he clearly did not execute this legally.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
So the next big question on everyone's minds is will Ryan be brought back to the United States so that he could potentially face these charges? And basically, even though nobody knew where he was, it was speculated that he was in Uzbekistan, of course, with this other woman. But it turns out that the U.S. doesn't have an extradition treaty with Uzbekistan.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
So people were curious if he was just going to get away with it. And it seems like investigators were wondering that too. Since they didn't know where he was, it was kind of up to Ryan if he wanted to return. And you also have to keep in mind how expensive and time-consuming it would be to execute an international manhunt. So I'm
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Sure, they had to sort of weigh out if his crimes were worth that effort and those resources. But of course, they definitely wanted to see him get his ass back to the United States. But instead of taking a more forceful tactic, they decided to try to appeal to his emotions.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
In a press conference on November 21st, we found out that law enforcement had been in contact with Ryan and that they were, quote, pulling at his heartstrings to try to get him to come back home. And finding out through this press conference that they were, in fact, in contact with him was huge.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
In this press conference, Sheriff Podol explained that on November 11th, they were able to get in contact with Ryan through this, quote, Russian-speaking woman. They ended up asking him a number of personal questions to confirm his identity, and they also asked him to provide a video of himself to prove that he was safe. And surprisingly, he did it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
What I will say, though, is his children are around middle school to high school age, meaning they are old enough to understand what's going on. Which if you ask me, that makes what Ryan did so much worse. I mean, it's horrible no matter what age a child is when they experience something like this, but you guys know what I mean. So what exactly did Ryan do?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And the audio is a little muffled, so it's kind of hard to listen to, but take a look.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And I think we can all agree that RyRy isn't looking too happy in this video. He actually looks pretty miserable, which is ironic considering he abandoned his whole life to allegedly start some fairy tale with a chick that he met on the internet, but I'm sure the miserable part of it came from knowing that he was caught.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And a lot of people questioned if she was real, like maybe he got catfished or something. But investigators did confirm that they were able to find him through her. So, I mean, I personally believe that she is real. And it's pretty crazy, but when they were reviewing the contents of his laptop, they actually found a picture of her and that's how they were able to find him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And apparently, they had been in communication with him every day since November 11th. Which sort of, and I don't know if this is just me, but it kind of makes me think that maybe he wanted to come home because he could have just easily ignored them. Like if he was happy with his choice and he was with his new lady out in Uzbekistan. Would he have really kept up that contact with investigators?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
I don't know. Or maybe it just came out of fear. Maybe he knew the jig was up and they were going to find him anyway. And he just kind of gave up. I don't know. There's a lot we still don't know. But there is actually a lot we do know. And this is insane. But he ended up telling investigators exactly how he tried to pull this off.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Well, it all started on August 11th, 2024, and it was a Sunday. And like they normally did, Ryan went to church with his whole family. And then later that afternoon or into the evening, really, he was planning on going fishing. Specifically, he was going to drive an hour north to go fish at Green Lake, which is in Green Lake, Wisconsin.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Now, I'm going to touch more on all of that here in a bit, but isn't that just wild? Clearly, this dude thought of everything down to the lake that he was going to do it in. And Ryan also told them that he did this because he had, quote, personal matters and thought this was, quote, best. But a lot of people, including myself, believe that this other woman motivated the whole thing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
I mean, in my opinion, it's pretty obvious that that's why he did it. But what was wild to me is he even said, and I don't know how genuine this is, that he felt bad about the amount of time and hours and resources that people spent looking for him. Which I'm kind of like, dude, what did you expect? You really thought you were just going to drown and people were like, oh, too bad.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Like, no, of course your family is going to want to recover your body and the community as a whole. What did you think this was going to be like? And it's so weird to think about with how much planning he actually did that he clearly didn't think a lot of the aftermath through.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
He just thought of how he was going to do it, but didn't think a lot about the consequences for others, which shows you he's a real selfish piece of shit, in my opinion." But I do have to give him the smallest little bit of credit for at least coming back, which he did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
He came back completely on his own accord on December 10th and was immediately booked into the Green Lake County Jail on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing an officer. He then appeared in court the following day where he told the judge that he would be representing himself. He said that he only had $20 in his wallet and couldn't afford an attorney. And when a judge was like,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
you know, you can get one for free, Ryan still said that he was just fine doing it himself. The judge did ask during this hearing that the media not portray this family just out of respect for their privacy, which is definitely the right call. And you would think that they wouldn't give him bail considering...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
He's a pretty big flight risk in my opinion, but no, he was actually given a $500 signature bond, which is a type of bail bond that allows a defendant to be released from jail without paying it. It's basically an agreement that the defendant will show up in court, and if they don't, they end up owing the money. And this was also weird to me, but the judge didn't even confiscate his passport.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
But at the same time, I don't think Ryan would be going anywhere considering he was the one who turned himself in, but you never know considering his past. and in a press conference earlier that day, Sheriff Podol gave a little more insight into Ryan's return, including the fact that he came home voluntarily, and he even gave them a heads up before he arrived.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
So he has been cooperative to some degree, and I wonder if that was the guilt talking, you know? I mean, who really knows what was going through his mind, but if I had to guess, the guilt really got to him. I feel like you don't plan this elaborate scheme for that long and then just end up turning yourself in unless you feel incredibly guilty.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
What is interesting though is he is pleading not guilty to that misdemeanor charge. So I guess at the end of the day we don't really know why he came back and told investigators everything and he really did tell them everything. The criminal complaint was released to the public in mid-December and it shed a ton of insight into Ryan's plan and it's
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
I wanted to wait until there was enough information to do a full deep dive, and this is actually a case that I had been covering just here and there, little updates on my other podcast, The Sesh, which is very different from this show. It's, um... A little bit unhinged, but in the best way. It's really fun. We talk about a variety of topics. We play games.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And because Ryan is a very outdoorsy guy, Emily likely didn't think twice about this trip. He was just going to go kayaking up north, fish for a couple hours, and then come home late that night. However, despite a text that came in from him at 1045 saying that His plan was to paddle into shore and then drive straight home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
insane you guys so i want to walk you through it starting with the morning of august 11th so once again we know that ryan started his day by going to church with his family i just thought wow wow i mean i'm pretty sure in the bible i'm not a religious person but i i know it actually says that lying is a sin right
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
But anyway, Ryan explained that after church, he went home and he briefly packed up the things that he would need for this fishing trip. But when he left, though, he didn't go right to the lake. He first went to his woodworking shop where he had actually been storing an electric bike that he purchased a few weeks prior.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And I'm guessing he purchased an electric bike because it would have allowed him to haul ass out of there as quick as possible. He told investigators that he was worried that the cameras would see him loading the bike into his trailer. So he backed it all the way up to the building so that no one could see him loading it in.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And then from there, he made a quick stop at Wally World where he said he intended to get a life jacket. However, that Walmart didn't have any. Now, to clarify, he did already have one life jacket, but he told investigators that he had left it out by the kayak to make his drowning seem more believable.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
So the reason he stopped at Walmart was so that he could get a second one that he could use when he paddled back after ditching the kayak out on the lake. But anyway, after going to Walmart, Ryan stated that he then went to a friend's house. He said that he knew this friend wasn't going to be home, and he went over there to load up on stove pellets.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And before you ask, I have no idea why this man needed the stove pellets. No clue on that one. But then he left his friend's house and that's when he finally made his way to Green Lake, arriving sometime around 10 p.m.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Ryan told them that he was kind of freaked out when he got there because there was a squad car in the area, but they eventually moved and he continued on with his stupid little plan.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And as you heard the sheriff explain earlier, he then paddled out to what he thought was the deepest part of the lake and tossed his phone in the water, which made sense considering that his phone last pinged around midnight and it looked like it was in the lake.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
He then began inflating a child-size raft, which he got into, flipped his kayak, dumped the fishing rod and tackle box, and then paddled that little raft back to shore. And after he got to shore, Ryan explained that he ended up getting about hip-deep in the muck which made it difficult to get out of the water.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
What he didn't think about, though, is now he's going to have a muddy trail of footprints right behind him coming out of the lake. He actually told investigators that he was worried that they would be able to follow his footprints, so he did his best to wash them off the road. And this is where it gets even crazier.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Ryan then proceeded to ride his e-bike 70 miles through the night to Madison, Wisconsin. Thank you. Thank you. to the I don't know what to do. , ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .... BG.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Ryan never showed up, which, of course, if your partner doesn't come back home after something like a fishing trip, you're going to get concerned pretty quickly. And she did what any other wife would do. Emily reported him missing. And as soon as she did, there was no hesitation from law enforcement to try and find him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And by 5.32 on the 12th, so the next day, the Green Lake County Sheriff's Office was notified of the missing kayaker, and right away, they sent out deputies to go over to the lake and try and locate him. And while they didn't find Ryan, they did find his car and his trailer.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
leading them to believe that something happened to him out on the lake and less than an hour later they made a shocking discovery out on the water they ended up finding a capsized kayak in the western part of the lake which obviously doesn't look good now for some context green lake is actually the second biggest lake in wisconsin by volume and the deepest natural lake inland in the state.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
At its deepest point, it reaches a depth of 237 feet. It covers a total of 7,340 acres, and it has over 27 miles of shoreline. So clearly, they knew right away what a big undertaking this was going to be. I mean, it can't be stressed enough how difficult it would be to find a body in that lake, but that's exactly what they tried to do. Life doesn't happen biweekly, so why should payday?
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
As soon as they found that overturned kayak, there was an all-hands-on-deck effort when it came to looking for Ryan, which included bringing in outside resources like Bruce's Legacy.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned Bruce's Legacy on this show before or one of my other shows, but if you haven't heard of them, Bruce's Legacy is a non-profit that aids in search and recovery operations for drowning victims. They often work closely with law enforcement, and I really can't praise them enough for the incredible work that they do.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
It's a lot of laughing and more of the lighthearted side of things. I host it with my cousin. So if you're interested in checking it out and, you know, getting to know me on a more personal level, then I will have that linked below. But yeah, we talked about this case quite a bit and it blew me away. This guy we're going to be talking about, Ryan Borgwart. Damn, do I have a lot to say about him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
It was started by Keith Cormackin after losing his own brother Bruce to a drowning incident back in 1995. So he has now dedicated his life to helping other people recover their loved ones. And on the morning of Tuesday, August 13th, he and his team were called in to help look for Ryan.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And one of the things that they're able to do is bring in this specialized sonar equipment that scans the bottom of the lake in order to see if there's a body down there. And obviously, like I just explained, this is a huge lake, so they knew that this was going to take a lot of time.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
But based on where they found the kayak, they figured that his body couldn't have gotten much further than the western part of the lake, which, again, is still a huge area to search. So, of course, they got that sonar up and running. And meanwhile, drones were flown above the water and deputies were looking along the shoreline. and they ended up making a pretty big discovery just that morning.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Around 9.30 a.m., two fishermen were casting nets along the bottom of the lake, and they ended up pulling up a fishing rod, and it ended up being a fishing rod that belonged to Ryan. According to his wife, she was able to confirm it was his.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And then, later that afternoon, around 3.30, someone called in reporting that they had found a tackle box, and when they opened it, they found several items, which included... a wallet, a driver's license, and keys as well, all of which belonged to Ryan.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And all of these findings, the tackle box, the fishing rod, the kayak, and the car, ultimately helped confirm the belief that he must have fallen into the water. So for the next 54 days, the efforts to locate the missing 45-year-old father of three continued. And I really can't emphasize enough just how intensive this search actually was.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
On August 24th, they ended up bringing in cadaver dogs and dive teams, and the conditions on the water were far from safe. I mean, Green Lake is known for being super mucky, so these divers had essentially zero visibility in the water. which of course is just dangerous on its own, not to mention how deep they had to dive in order to search for him.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
But all these people that were spending their time and putting themselves at risk were happy to do it because it was important to everyone that Ryan's family had that closure. And Keith, with Bruce's legacy, was especially invested in finding his body. And he said he spent somewhere around $10,000 in expenses between repairs and replacing equipment.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And he even said that this whole thing was keeping him up at night because he could not figure out why he was not finding Ryan's body. And Keith is truly a professional at what he does and he's passionate about what he does. So not finding a body was making him start to question himself and his abilities.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
He spent 23 days of his life out on that water with sonar equipment and just as many days reviewing that data. Yet nothing pointed to Ryan being in the water. And the divers were pretty much saying the same thing. Even with their expertise, they came up empty-handed time after time. And they were... I mean, everyone was becoming very frustrated.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And once they got to that eight-week mark, they were all sort of looking at each other like... Is he actually in the water? Maybe he's not even out there. But of course, it was confusing to them because all of the early evidence was suggesting that he was in that water. But by this point, they just felt like they would have found him if he was.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Hello everyone, and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. I hope you guys are all having a great day. Thank you for joining me today, and if you're new to the show, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you. So guys, today we are getting into a case that I have been wanting to talk about for months.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And so on October 7th, after deciding to take their investigation in sort of a different direction, they made a huge discovery.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And he really pisses me off. Ryan is someone who tried to fake his own death, stage his own disappearance, and just abandon his wife and children and leave them to think that he just died.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And when he says Ryan's name was run on August 13th, he means that one day after he was reported missing, Ryan's passport was used. Yep, you heard that right. A literal day after he was reported missing, his passport was used at the Canadian border. And of course, this turned everything they thought they knew up until this point upside down because now they weren't looking for a body.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
I know this is different than the typical case I cover on this show, but honestly, we've been covering a lot of heavy ones lately, and I just needed something a little bit more on the lighter side, and I think you guys probably do as well. I always see that feedback from you that something like this is a little...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
They were looking for a living, breathing human being who likely, and I think pretty obviously at this point, faked his disappearance. So to try and figure out what the hell is going on here, investigators turned to his digital footprint and they ended up finding some crazy shit, all of which pointed to the fact that Ryan had meticulously planned his disappearance for months.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Here's what a forensic analyst was able to find on Ryan's laptop.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
They saw that Ryan obtained a second passport, replaced the hard drive on his laptop, cleared his browser history on the day he disappeared, synced his laptop to iCloud on the day that he disappeared, took photos of his original passport, inquired about moving funds to a foreign bank, changed his email address associated with his bank on the day he disappeared, communicated with a woman in Uzbekistan.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
And I bet you guys can guess this one. He acquired a $375,000 life insurance policy and purchased an airline gift card. And that second passport was purchased after he reported the original one as lost or stolen. Mind you, investigators ended up finding that other original passport very easily with the help of his wife, Emily. So yeah, the picture is starting to get a lot clearer.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Ryan never drowned in that lake. He's completely staged his disappearance. From what they were finding, it looked like he had faked his disappearance, or really his death, in order to be with this woman that he had been communicating with online. The problem, though, is they didn't know where he was. They figured that he was probably somewhere in Europe, but they didn't know exactly where.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
The FBI and Homeland Security even got involved, so that just tells you how seriously they were taking this. And I'm glad they did, because what Ryan did is... just so fucked up on so many levels.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
Homie was over here doing the absolute most, quite literally, for a woman that he had just met over the internet, and we don't know what was said between them, actually, but whatever it was had to have been enough for him to think it was worth giving up quite literally everything. And not only just giving up his wife and kids, but he was willing to let his wife and children think that he died.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
I mean, to me, that is just... There's no other word for it other than evil. He and his wife had literally just celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary in July. And, you know, he has gone through the births of all three of his children and raising them. And I don't know the details as far as how involved he was in their life.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
you know refreshing in the true crime space in the weirdest way because i mean it's still like i said infuriating and the lengths that this guy went to it's just unbelievable but um definitely really interesting to see how people tried to stage their own disappearances and you know we've talked about similar cases to this in the past and you guys have always really enjoyed learning about them and i've also had a lot of feedback and opinions and so i'm really looking forward to reading the comment section on this one
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
But it's just how could you do that to your family, to your wife and to your children to let them think and suffer with the images of you drowning? and the mourning and grieving that they would have to do for years, and you're just completely fine with them experiencing all of that. I mean, just think about it. Just picture this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
That morning, as I mentioned, Ryan was at church with his children and his wife. He's sitting there, you know, doing whatever you do in church. And meanwhile, he's thinking about what he is planning to do to his own family later that evening. I mean, how do you function like that? Oh my God, liars just blow my mind, especially at this level.
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
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The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress
I didn't want to face reality about how much money I was wasting and didn't want to take the time to actually do it myself. But once I downloaded Rocket Money, I realized just how much money I was actually wasting on subscriptions.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
They were skeptical. And I totally understand why they felt that way. I mean, ex-boyfriend finds a little piece of missing girl's credit card, the first big piece of evidence. It seems like a crazy coincidence. But... That's how he said it happened.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And when he spoke to law enforcement, he explained that he and AJ were still friends, but it had actually been months since the two of them had seen each other in person. I guess he had reached out to her when she was home from break and they had talked about, you know, seeing one another, but... They just never ended up hanging out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And even though investigators didn't have much to go off at this time in the investigation, they really started to turn their attention to him. And not just because he found a piece of the credit card, but also because of things that her stepfather, Wes, was telling them. Life doesn't happen biweekly, so why should payday? The money that you earn can be in your hands today with Earning.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
I've been kind of in a mood lately, so maybe that's why I'm even more angry than normal. But this one just really sent me over the edge. I was completely blown away. So I want to get into it. Before I do, though, I did want to mention that our Higher Hope Impact Report is now available on our website, higherhope.org. And that's for 2024, which we did launch the foundation in September.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And when you download the Earnin' app, type in True Crime with Kendall Ray under podcast when you sign up. It really helps the show. That's True Crime with Kendall Ray under podcast. Earnin' is a financial technology company, not a bank. Cashouts are based on your available earnings. Standard cashouts take one to two business days with no mandatory fees. Option to expedite your transfer for a fee.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Tips are voluntary and don't affect the service. See the cashout user agreement for details. Service is not available in all states. According to Wes, Corey was obsessed with AJ and had been ever since they broke up. And he straight up told investigators that they needed to look into him. And by the next day, investigators started to believe him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
I mean, he is her stepfather and what he's telling them sounds concerning. And that wasn't the only reason that they were becoming more and more sus of Wes because the next day on March 6th, another one of AJ's guy friends, a guy named Andre Barr, contacted police after he discovered AJ's jacket hidden behind a couch cushion at Corey's house. And it wasn't just any jacket of hers.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
It was the jacket I just talked about, the jacket that she was last seen wearing. And this jacket literally has her name embroidered into it. And when Andre was there, he didn't tell Corey that he saw it. He just came up with an excuse to leave and then called the police. And so at this point, alarm bells are going off like crazy for investigators.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
I mean, here this guy has just found her credit card the day before, and now her jacket that is embroidered with her name, the one that she is last seen wearing, is found behind his couch. Although he had told them that the two of them hadn't seen each other for quite some time, for months. Why did he have her jacket? And more importantly, why was it stashed behind his couch?
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
OK, so this is not looking good. Investigators are starting to think maybe this is some type of trophy, like he had hung on to a piece of the day in a way, which is something that criminals will do to kind of memorialize in their minds or like have a what's the word like a trophy is really the best way to describe it to criminals. Remember what happened when they committed their crime.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
So, of course, they end up bringing him into the station. And during that time, a team of officers executed a search of his home. And the jacket was exactly where Andre said it was. And so that led to a very heated and intense interrogation. I mean, at one point, they even outright accused him of killing her. They even brought the jacket into the interrogation room.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And he had a very physical reaction to it. He was obviously just shocked. He jumped back and became incredibly upset very quickly seeing that and seemed confused. He fully denied any involvement and he just kept saying that he didn't have anything to do with it and he had no idea how the jacket got there. And because it wasn't technically proof of anything, they ended up having to let him go.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And Wes was very unhappy about that, turned into a big ordeal. And that's the whole part of this that I need to explain. Right after AJ went missing, her friends, family, and community did everything that they could to try and find her. Flyers were made, volunteer search efforts were conducted, news outlets were being reached out to, they even held a balloon release.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
So it was only four months worth, but I'm really proud of everything that we did. And we're being super transparent about where everything is.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And the one person that was really seemingly leading it all, was really the public face of it all, was her stepfather, Wes. He was doing a lot of the search organizing, raised $3,000 for the reward money, and just overall was very, very active in looking for her. And to be very clear, her mom was also active in the search and also spoke with the media.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But Wes was definitely a lot more vocal when it came to speaking publicly. And he was also the most vocal when it came to law enforcement. Wes was quick to tell them that he didn't think they were doing enough to find AJ. And he even told them early on that he was conducting his own investigation. And by that, he meant organizing search parties and acting on tips that he said he was receiving.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
There was actually a number of times where he would organize a group of volunteers to help him search based off of these tips that he was getting, but none of them ever panned out. There was a time early on when a neighbor reported seeing AJ driving with purpose. was their quote, towards her house on the 2nd. And then they saw a white four-door car following a minute behind her.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And according to Wes, another neighbor saw that same car in their family's driveway. And Wes proposed that this was someone that AJ was having problems with and that she had been texting her friends and her cousin saying that there was this guy who wouldn't leave her alone. And Wes even went as far as saying that she was scared of this person.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Now, we don't know who this person was and really nothing about whoever this was came up when I was doing research. So that's really all I have on that. But it definitely seemed to pique Wes's interest, though, as part of his investigation. Oh, and part of his investigation also happened to include intimidating possible suspects, which brings me back to Corey French.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
After investigators released him from questioning, Wes was pissed, and so he decided to take matters into his own hands. And he wanted people to know that he thought Corey was guilty of AJ's disappearance, and of course he wanted Corey to know that as well. So, after they let him go, Wes drove over there, he parked outside of his house, and he just blared an air horn throughout the entire night.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And not only that, he ends up ordering a pizza in AJ's name and he writes on the box, I know you did it. And then he had it delivered to Corey's house, which at the time, a lot of people felt like it crossed a line. But some didn't feel that way to a lot of these people. I think they saw a man who was so desperate, so distraught, so grief stricken that he was willing to do whatever he had to do.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
to get answers and to get AJ back. And even if that meant harassing somebody, he was going to do it. He would tell anyone that would listen that Corey was responsible for AJ going missing. And he even accused law enforcement of not being as dedicated to finding her as he was, which wasn't actually the case.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
State and federal authorities were called in to assist in the search, and everyone was doing their best to try and locate her. Even the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was brought in to help. But here's the thing. For as suspicious as Corey was to investigators, they didn't zero in on him entirely. It didn't matter how vocal Wes was being.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
They were going to conduct a thorough investigation before making any kind of arrest. And of course, that meant looking into other suspects. including AJ's first stepdad, Zach, who we've already talked about. And they learned that the relationship between Zach and Jennifer was strained after all the custody stuff, so they ended up bringing him in for questioning.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And they knew it was a bit of a stretch, but they wanted to make sure that he didn't do something to AJ as some kind of retaliation. But just like Josh, he was nowhere near the house when it's believed that AJ went missing. They also said that he seemed truly devastated over AJ's disappearance, like just beyond distraught. And he even offered up his own DNA.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And at one point, they even noted that he seemed a little too upset. So they sort of kept their eye on him. But ultimately, they didn't think that he was their guy. And so that brings me to suspect number four, Andre Barr, which, if you remember, he is the friend that had first found AJ's jacket at Corey's house stashed behind the couch.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Well, he ended up becoming a suspect in the third week of their investigation after he made another big discovery, a discovery that was made by him and Wes, to clarify. On March 20th, they come across items of AJ's clothing on the side of the road, about 25 miles from where she lived. Wes was actually the one who called the police, but he told them that Andre was with him.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
That's totally fine. Just by supporting my content, you are enabling me to put more and more into the foundation and essentially help more people. But if you are able and interested in supporting our foundation, there is a way to donate. And we will be very, very grateful as we have some big plans for 2025, already some great grants in the works and projects.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And this was obviously a huge discovery, but investigators immediately felt like something about it was off. Because how did this one friend end up coming across two major pieces of evidence? And just to clarify, he was not the one who found the credit card. But he was the one who found the jacket, of course, and then now these clothing items. It seems pretty weird.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
So, of course, they ended up bringing him in for questioning that night. And they also brought in Wes as well, but I'll get to that in a second. And boy, did they end up getting some very useful information from Andre. I mean, just like Corey, investigators applied a lot of pressure on him and he ended up cracking.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And he explained that neither of the pieces of evidence that he had found were a coincidence. He found them because of Wesley. And this is where it gets crazy, so just buckle up. This is where this case started to just blow my mind and piss me off. But according to Andre, Wes was the one who told him to go to Corey's house specifically to look for AJ's jacket.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
He even told him exactly where he could find it. And I'm sure you're wondering, how the hell did he know it was there? Well, according to Andre, Wes had broke into Corey's house. He told him that he went in there looking for AJ, but the jacket was all he found.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But since he has a felony record, which I have not yet mentioned, he didn't want to report it out of fear of being arrested for breaking and entering. So basically, he asked Andre to make up an excuse to go over to the house and uncover it himself. And when it came to the clothing on the side of the road, that was also Wes's doing.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
He told Andre that he got an anonymous call about the clothing, and since he had helped Wes during the other searches, he went this time too. Andre also shared with investigators that Wes was driving super erratically. and then suddenly claimed to see the clothes on the side of the road.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
So now investigators are seeing that it wasn't like Andre had just stumbled across either of these things, that both instances had a connection to Wes. And so after hearing this, the dots really started to connect.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
From the beginning, Wes had been inserting himself into the investigation, and he was doing whatever he could to steer them in the direction of Corey. But was he only doing that to take the heat off of himself? Investigators wanted to find out, so they started looking deeper into him, and that's when they discovered his criminal record.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
To just name a few, he has several burglary and forgery charges, as well as charges for strangulation, rape, and kidnapping his estranged wife. Now, obviously, that is terrifying, highly disturbing, but it, of course, didn't prove that he did anything to AJ. It proves that he's a giant piece of shit, but not that he's a killer.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And I'm excited to see what we do this year. So once again, thank you, guys. This would not be possible without you. But anyway, let's go ahead and dive into this case, guys, because... I've got a lot to say.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But when they looked more into his story, though, the proof that they needed just started to come to light. Now, if you remember, he said that he last saw AJ around lunchtime at that gas station to give her cash on March 2nd. But when investigators pulled security footage from that gas station, neither Wes or AJ could be seen on the tapes. And so when they
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
brought him in for more questioning on the 20th, they were hoping to find out more about that. But despite a 15-hour interrogation, he continuously denied having anything to do with her disappearance, which didn't seem all that believable considering at one point when investigators left the room, the camera recording Wesley captured him saying, I'm screwed. And screwed he was.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
It became clear quickly that his story made absolutely no sense, and he didn't have any evidence to back it up, even the part about finding her clothes. He told investigators that he'd received an anonymous tip about AJ's clothes the night before from a blocked caller. But when they asked if they could see his call history, West told them that he deleted it to, quote, free up the phone memory.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And it was later revealed that this call didn't even exist. The only thing that he somewhat gave into was the part about AJ's jacket. Investigators had told him that Andre had spilled the beans about what he had him do, and so he eventually did admit to breaking and entering, but he said that he only did it because he was so sure that... Corey was the one who was responsible.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
So, Angelica Marie, or AJ as everyone called her, was born on August 9th, 1996 in Chesapeake, Virginia to her mother, Jennifer, and she would go on to have three younger half-sisters and one younger half-brother. Her biological father was never in the picture, and the first part of her young life, it was just her and her mom.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
He adamantly denied being involved, and he also denied being the one to plant the evidence there. Yet the evidence so far proved that he lied about when he last saw her. And so of course they're thinking, like we all are, if he's lying about that, what else is he lying about?
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Now, like I said, this interrogation went on for a whopping 15 hours and we would be here all day if we went over all of it. But basically, the big picture is they weren't able to arrest him in connection with AJ's disappearance, but they could arrest him for breaking and entering. And in doing so, they had probable cause to execute a search warrant in the hotel room where he had been staying.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And it was there that law enforcement found more than 100 rounds of ammunition hidden in the air vent. Something that, as a felon, he's not legally allowed to have. They also found a scale and white powder, which was later identified as heroin. Again, things that he's not legally allowed to have. And investigators now also had a search warrant for his work van.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And that is what ended up being the final nail in his coffin. And it wasn't just the gloves, duct tape, shovel, hairband, and photo of AJ that caught their attention all within his work van. It was the Garmin GPS tracker sitting on his dash. However, that kind of data does take a while to process. In the meantime, though, Wesley did have more charges coming his way.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Sort of a, you know, get him on what we can until we can get him for what we think he did type of situation. And those charges included breaking and entering, of course, also obstruction of justice and possession of ammunition as a convicted felon. And just wait until you hear this next part, okay? This is going to really piss you off, or at least it should.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And in my opinion, people who do things like this are the worst among us walking this fucking planet. He was also charged with maiming an animal because he admitted that when he broke into Corey's house, he punched their dog. I think that really tells you much of what you need to know about a person is if they are willing to punch an innocent animal. I mean, who the fuck does stuff like that?
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
I'll never understand. But anyway, Wesley ended up being denied bond on March 27th, and in interviews at the jailhouse, he would only refer to AJ in the past tense, which was something they had noticed he had been doing since she first went missing, which is very odd for... a step-parent, technically, to do, right? Like, we almost never see that.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
People get to a point where they sometimes have come to terms with the fact that their loved one probably is no longer with them, you know, the longer it's gone on. But so early on, you very rarely see a parent... or a step-parent, of course, start saying their name in the past tense or speaking about them in the past tense.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And of course, that struck people as odd, considering nobody knew if she was alive or not, and it was pretty early on. And because of that, the search efforts continued day after day in many areas across Virginia with the hope that she was still somehow alive. However, on April 9th, it was ultimately confirmed that she wasn't.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
However, when AJ was two years old, her mom ended up meeting the man who would eventually become her stepfather, Zach Hoffer. And the story of how her mother met Zach is actually really interesting. Her and AJ were driving through Wyoming when suddenly their car blew a tire, skidded to the side of the road, and then did a flip.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
After they reviewed data from his GPS device, they found one location that didn't seem to match the rest, and it was from March 4th. The device had been turned off on the 2nd, and there was very little data from the 3rd, but the next day, it showed that West drove to an abandoned house more than 45 miles southwest of where AJ lived.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Investigators described that day as super misty and gray with just kind of an eerie feeling. And when they arrived at the house, the lead detective on the case ended up being the one to find her. He had spotted this drainage ditch just behind the house and someone had placed a piece of plywood on top of it. And so he just barely stuck his foot underneath and sort of lifted up with his toe.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And right there, he found AJ's body lying face down in the mud. She was wearing the same outfit Wes had described. And this is very upsetting to say, but her pants had been pulled down, which does suggest a sexual assault took place. And it took a day, but on April 10th, her remains were officially identified.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Now, despite the decomposition, they could see that she had severe bruising to her chest and her face. But given how long it had been, they were unfortunately unable to determine if a sexual assault took place. And in the end, it was determined that her cause of death was acute heroin poisoning.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
They say it was three times the lethal limit, which that alone, right off the bat, was an indication that AJ did not do this to herself. which I think already is pretty obvious. I mean, AJ had no history of drug use whatsoever, and there was no evidence pointing to her being responsible. On the other hand, there was plenty of evidence pointing to Wesley, but they still couldn't arrest him yet.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
They needed more evidence, which eventually they did get. And based on a hunch, they just decided to go ahead and pull surveillance footage from a 7-Eleven that was close to AJ's house. And the thought there was that maybe they could see Wes's work truck coming through the area on the day that AJ went missing. And surprise, surprise, they sure did.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Around 12.16 p.m., his white Chevy Astrovan could be seen driving in the direction towards the family's home, which, as a reminder, he no longer lived at. which doesn't match up with his story about him meeting her at a gas station, which of course we already knew was bullshit because they pulled the security footage from the gas station and neither of them were ever there.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Then at 1.27 p.m., his van is seen again driving in the opposite direction away from the house and investigators believe that AJ was inside. Their theory at that point was that Wes had some type of sick sexual interest in his stepdaughter and that when he went over to the house to act on it, she denied him.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Not only that, they think she tried to fight him off, which is when he abducted her and drove off in his van. And they don't know when or where he killed her, but they believe that he was the one to poison her with the drug.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Luckily, the car landed right side up, but Zach happened to be just driving by and witnessed the whole thing. So he pulled over and rushed over to help them. Luckily, nobody was hurt besides a small cut on AJ's wrist. And yeah, that is how they met. That is their origin story. I thought that was kind of cool, like pretty serendipitous.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
After all, he was a known user, and his dealer actually ended up telling police that he had bought $800 worth of heroin and cocaine from him in the early morning hours of March 3rd, which was only hours after she went missing.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And not only that, and I'm sure you all have put the pieces together here as well, but investigators also think that he was the one texting from her phone because data from that phone placed itself in his hotel room on the afternoon of March 2nd into the morning of March 3rd. And then to add to it all, his co-workers said that he was acting super strange that day.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
He told them that he was going to lunch and then he was gone for two hours. And after he came back, he seemed super agitated and asked to just go home for the rest of the day. Now, considering the GPS device placed Wes at that abandoned house on the 4th, it's likely that he was actually storing her somewhere else. Because we know that she went missing on the 2nd.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And in a separate search of that hotel room, a cadaver dog hit inside the room. Now, I can't say for certain if he kept her there, but... I'm sure a lot of you agree with me that it's certainly in the realm of possibility.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And while I'm sharing evidence against him, let me add a couple of other things. And I hope this doesn't get too confusing for you guys. Try your best to follow along because I know there's a lot of names here, but we obviously know that Wes broke into Corey's house, right?
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Well, apparently he had AJ's ex-boyfriend Josh kind of give him the inside scoop as to the setup, the layout of Corey's house. It's also confusing because the details of why Josh went to Corey's house are unclear, but apparently he did. And afterwards, Wes called him and asked him to, you know, explain the house, how it's laid out and stuff. But he also wanted to know if there was an alarm system.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And remember, March 6th is when Andre went to Corey's house and found the jacket. So if I were to guess, Wes probably convinced Josh that he needed to look for evidence in the house and told him to sneak in. But used that as a cover to figure out how to plant that evidence himself. And I truly don't think Josh knew what was happening. I don't think he was trying to frame Corey either.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But anyway, he and Jennifer hit it off and eventually they got married and had two daughters of their own. And despite the fact that he wasn't, you know, AJ's biological father, he was the only father figure she ever had. He called his three girls his cubs, and for a while, AJ didn't even know that he wasn't her biological father.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
I think he just trusted the wrong person. And from interviews I've seen, a lot of people really trusted Wes. I mean, he was totally leading the charge. To everyone that was concerned about AJ and wanted to get answers, he seemed like the best person to listen to, that he was the most passionate and... seemed to be doing his own investigation.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
You know, he's saying that the police aren't doing enough. And so people wanted to help him. So that was one crazy detail I wanted to share. But another is that Wes alluded to Andre that he was going to kill Corey. On March 8th, Andre and one of AJ's cousins went to Wes's hotel room. And I'm not entirely clear on why. But when they were there, Wes pulled out a bag with two guns inside.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
and he explained that he had a plan to, quote, get rid of Corey French. He even specifically mentioned that he would dump him in a body of water because water would get rid of all of the evidence. interesting. And thankfully, that didn't end up happening, but very scary thinking about what could have happened.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And going back to Wes sort of leading the charge when it came to searching for AJ, apparently when he would organize these search parties, he would himself always call the media to make sure that they were there, which You know, doesn't seem strange in the moment.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Of course, they want as much exposure on her disappearance and the search efforts as possible, hoping to get more people involved and just raise awareness for AJ. But one thing that's very interesting to note is there was a specific instance where Wes was seen crying while the cameras were rolling. But as soon as they stopped, he was seen laughing.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Basically, it seemed like the entire thing was a show to him. And there were other examples of weird behavior like this. This was just the one that stuck out to me most. And it certainly stuck out to investigators who were now trying to do everything that they possibly could to keep him behind bars.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And that leads us to September of 2015, when he was indicted on the possession of ammunition charge. And then in October, he was officially charged with possession of heroin. And his bond was repeatedly denied because a letter that he wrote to his mom revealed that he was planning to go away for sure if he was granted it.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And in that same letter, he talked about how he was being set up for AJ's murder, which is something that to this day he continues to say. And that's why I hate him so much. He cannot just admit the truth.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And ultimately, it didn't really matter because he loved her all the same. He says that she had this little tiger stuffed animal and that she always carried that around with her. If she wasn't carrying him, she was carrying her bear, Smokey. And he also says that AJ was just wise beyond her years. And on top of that, AJ was gentle. She was kind. She loved animals.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
He did end up pleading guilty to the ammunition charge, which landed him 10 years in prison. But even still, at that point, he denied killing AJ. And not just at that point, He still does as of today. And back in June of 2015, he actually spoke out despite his lawyer telling him not to. And he just spewed a bunch of the expected, the I'm innocent, I'm being framed bullshit.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But there was one part of it that really pissed me off. He said that in his last conversation with AJ that she admitted to him that she had been using heroin. He did say that he believed someone else was texting him that from her phone. I don't understand what he was trying to do with all of this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And it's just a load of shit either way you slice it because at the end of the day, we know that her phone was in his possession. He was clearly trying so desperately to shift blame here and it did take some time, but eventually he was charged. Thankfully, in connection with her death.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
In November of 2018, 40-year-old piece of shit Wesley Hadsell was indicted on one count of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree felony murder, and one count of felony concealment of a dead body. And at one point, a fellow prisoner informed on him, telling authorities that Wesley confessed to him that he was involved in AJ's death.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And I honestly don't think this is what led to his charges. I mean, informants are often looking for something in exchange for their testimony, and it sounds like this guy wanted immunity for some very serious charges. Either way, though, the charges for Wesley finally came, and it was a big step forward in the case. However... Justice didn't come as quickly as anyone would have hoped.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
In February of 2020, Wesley's murder trial began. However, on day two, the judge declared a mistrial, and it was actually at the request of the prosecution. And what happened was, basically, the prosecution and the defense had come to an agreement before trial about certain information that you know, could and could not be used in the trial.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And two days in, Wesley changed his mind about this agreement, which would have changed part of the prosecution's approach to the trial. So they asked the judge to declare a mistrial in order to have some time to prepare. So a new trial was set for May, but this is 2020 we're talking about, and by May, things got pretty bad and COVID pushed the trial even further.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Finally, though, in January of 2022, the trial began, and for as strong of a case as the prosecution had, there were still some concerns. And the main concern was really that they didn't have any physical evidence of him poisoning her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Obviously, they were able to show that he had purchased an insane amount of drugs right after she went missing, but they couldn't directly connect it to the drugs in her system. They also didn't have proof of their theory that Wesley was sexually attracted to her. Like I said, they believe he killed her after she denied his advances.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And when it came to being a big sister, she really adjusted quickly to that role and thrived as a big sister. I mean, even as a little kid, she knew how to be delicate with her younger siblings and also had no problem playing independently when one of them was needing attention from their parents.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Or maybe it was a situation where she had threatened to go to the police or report him. You know, something had to have happened like that. And yes, of course, I can't say with certainty that... you know, that's how things unfolded or that he was sexually attracted to her, that he sexually assaulted her. But in my opinion, I truly think he did. And I've seen interviews with him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
I don't know, just the way he speaks about her, like when he talks about her, about legally adopting her, the way he says it, it just creeped me out. It was almost like he was talking about like the day he married someone. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. But that's just my opinion. I have to obviously say that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But that being said, they did have a lot of circumstantial evidence tying him to this. The biggest thing, of course, being that Garmin GPS device that placed his work van at the location that her body was found. The defense tried to argue that AJ was depressed from her breakup and took her own life. But thankfully, the jury did not buy that shit at all.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And after almost three weeks of testimony, the jury came back with their verdict very quickly. It only took them 45 minutes. And their verdict was that Wesley Hadsell was guilty of murdering his 18-year-old stepdaughter.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Oh, and I loved this, and I feel like so many of us did this as kids, but when they got a little bit older, AJ would coordinate these little concerts with the two of them, and they would put on shows for their parents. And like I said, I'm sure that's a core memory that so many of us have, you know, doing these little shows or plays with our siblings or cousins.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Then on April 4th, he appeared for his sentencing hearing, where he received life in prison plus 15 years. AJ's family was too heartbroken to go, which I completely understand, but Zach, her first stepfather, who I spoke about earlier in this episode, did go.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
However, he ended up being escorted out of the courtroom after he lunged at Wesley when the defense objected to him reading a victim impact statement. And even though I obviously know there's a reason for those rules and that you cannot act that way in a courtroom, I completely understand him doing this. I mean, it would be so hard to hold back.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Zach has always felt that the court system failed AJ. He believes that if Wesley had been convicted in 2005 of the multiple rapes, assaults, and kidnappings that he was accused of, this would have never happened to AJ, the girl that he had always considered his daughter and loved so much. And I could not agree with him more. The court system did fail AJ. I mean, there's just no ifs, ands, or buts.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
That is what happened. If Wesley was already behind bars before any of this happened, she would still be alive today. Now, like I said, despite it all, Wesley continues to maintain his innocence and has attempted to appeal his conviction.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And AJ was just very creative like that. She was also incredibly fearless.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
zach started taking her climbing when she was only four years old and he'd help her as she climbed up the rocks but the older she got the less help she needed eventually she would just be zooming up these rocks and jumping off and didn't seem to think that really anything was scary another thing that she would do and i love this because i had a friend who always did this but she would climb up the side of the door frames and have one foot on either side to hold her there and
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Now, I'm pretty confident I know how all of you are going to feel. I don't think there will be much, if any, of you out there who believe that Wes is innocent. I mean... I'd like to hear why if you do, but I definitely want to hear your opinions on the verdict and if the jury got it right. I mean, personally, I clearly think they did, and I'm very thankful that they did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And I also think that even though AJ was by far the biggest victim in this case, she wasn't the only one. Corey French, I mean, above all else, was nearly framed for her murder and totally traumatized by his experience. And Andre Barr was very, I mean, extremely manipulated by Wes.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Andre actually lost his job throughout this because he was so focused on helping AJ, only for Wesley to try and use him to try and frame someone else. And I was watching an interview with Corey where the interviewer asked him, if you could say anything to Wesley, what would you say to him? And he just said, dude, fuck you. And I... Could not agree with that more. Fuck you, Wesley.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
You are one of the biggest pieces of garbage to ever grace this planet. How dare you take advantage of this young woman with such a bright future ahead of her and then murder her? I mean, what kind of stupidity
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
sick individual does that to someone who they loved enough to adopt as their own and then to roam around playing this act of this grieving father who's desperate for answers leading the searches playing it up on the camera and then even worse to go and frame another young man and almost let him take the fall for murder ruining his life i mean i cannot say enough bad things about this guy just i
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
This is why I was so enraged looking into this case. I mean, he is just one of one of the worst I think I've ever covered. And that's saying a lot. And I think what pisses me off about him and so many of the other garbage trucks that I have covered on this show is when people cannot just admit to what they have done, what they have so clearly done.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
I don't even know how to put that rage into words. It's just, I mean, the worst thing that you can possibly do. There is no hope for you. You are charged. It is over. You are going to spend the rest of your life in prison. Why not at that point just give the family the answers that they're looking for? Explain exactly what happened and just own up to what the fuck you did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Then, of course, I'm heartbroken for the other victims in this case. Her mother. and her sisters, and also Zach as well, and everyone else who loved AJ, who, you know, her friends. So many young people have been traumatized by this entire situation, and it is just horrific. I know that AJ's memory will continue to live on through her friends and her family. But I wish it didn't have to.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
I wish she was still here and she's not because of this sick, wasted person who still can't even own up to what he did. I'm just so thankful that he is behind bars and will remain there for the rest of his miserable life. And I hope he spends every day of his pathetic life picturing AJ in the way that she was when he left her there. Just sick. And I think that's all I have to say about that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But I definitely want to hear from you guys. So let me know. AJ just seemed like such a great, great young person and it's just, it's beyond tragic. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
would just casually be up at the top of the frame chilling like it was no big deal aj just seemed to have this very adventurous brave spirit about her and there was very little that she couldn't do i mean she was really willing to try anything that she wanted to put her mind to and this was really true for most areas in her life i mean aj really excelled in most things she did and school was definitely one of them in fourth and fifth grade she broke reading records at her school
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And she was also a very active kid. She played a bunch of different sports, including softball, basketball, golf, field hockey, and tennis. And for many years, things in her young life were going really well. At one point, Zach even got in contact with AJ's biological father and asked him if he could formally adopt her. And he said yes.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And people had always known AJ as AJ Hoffer, but it wasn't official. So when she turned eight, he wanted to make it official. But right around the time that this process started, unfortunately, Zach and Jennifer's relationship was coming to an end. And so the process of Zach formally adopting AJ just never ended up happening.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
In the separation, Zach and Jennifer ended up splitting the custody 50-50 when it came to the girls. But eventually, Jennifer gained full custody and the relationship between him and AJ was just never really the same, which was something that understandably to this day is incredibly difficult and upsetting to Zach. And they did see each other a few more times after he lost custody.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But after 2014, that was it. And then less than a year later, AJ went missing and Zach never saw AJ again. If you've been listening to my show for a while, you know how much I truly love our next sponsor, and that is Nutrafol. And I love it so much because Nutrafol has completely transformed my hair. I've been using Nutrafol for over two years now and cannot say enough good things about it.
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
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A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Hello, everyone, and welcome to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much, as always, for joining me this week. And if you are new, then welcome. Well, guys, I just got to say right off the bat that today's case has left me with a heart full of rage. Like, the more I... resources case the more I learned the more pissed off I became.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Obviously, I'm jumping ahead a little bit, so to give you more context, Jennifer ended up meeting somebody else, a guy named Wesley Hadsell, and they got married and also went on to have kids of their own. And if you're familiar with this case, you've probably heard AJ referred to as AJ Hadsell, and that's because Wesley, or as a lot of people called him, Wes, ended up formally adopting her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And according to him, AJ was over the moon. He said that the two of them were incredibly close and that she was so excited to take his last name. And like Zach, he was a big part of her life. He watched her excel in athletics in school. She was definitely on the more reserved side as a teenager. But as soon as she was in her element, they say that she was, quote, hell on wheels.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Then, in the fall of 2014, AJ started college at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, and she was double majoring in information technology and computer programming. So clearly, AJ is very smart, and she was actually determined to graduate in just three years. And many people close to her say that if she was given that chance, she would have.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
She also played softball and field hockey and was every bit as active as she had been her whole life. But any dream that AJ may have wanted for herself was stolen on March 2nd, 2015. Now, a few days before that, her mom and her sisters had driven up to her campus to pick her up and take her home for spring break. And by this point, their family was living in Norfolk, Virginia.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Now, I just have to say, because I know people are going to point it out, that it seems from my research that people who live in Norfolk say it pretty differently. There are people who say Norfolk or some people say Norfolk, which that's how I, you know, immediately wanted to say it just by how it's spelled.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But I think for the most part, most of the coverage that I've seen, people are saying Norfolk. So I'm going to go with Norfolk. And I'm sorry if that is wrong in your mind. So anyway, they were living in Norfolk. But Wes, actually, on the other hand, was no longer living with them. Jennifer learned that he had started using drugs and she didn't want that around the children.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
So she kicked him out of the house and he ended up staying in a hotel nearby, which means that AJ was actually home alone for most of March 2nd. She saw her mother and her siblings earlier that morning and they left around 7 a.m. for work and school. Wes did stop by briefly that morning right around 7 a.m.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
to switch out his personal truck with his work van, but after that, she was all alone, and at first, everything seemed to be okay that day. That is until mid-afternoon, when Jennifer ends up reaching out to Wes over text and asked if he had heard from AJ, because apparently AJ had been sending her mother texts that didn't sound like her, They were coming across as very cryptic.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
She was saying that she was out with friends and, quote, just needed space, but wasn't willing to tell her mom where she actually was. And so Wes started texting AJ, too, and he started getting similar responses. Just none of them sounded like AJ.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But the alarm bells really started going off for her mom when she returns home from work and she looks at the kitchen counter and she finds a note that was in AJ's handwriting. And it reads, Dear Madre, with everything that's going on, it's a lot to deal with. And that's it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
I actually found this case through one of you guys through my members only request form and I was surprised I had never heard of it but I was just completely shocked as I was going through the details of this one.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Now, we do know that there were some family things with Wes going on, and her freshman year of college was also a bit challenging, as it is for most freshmen. She and her boyfriend recently had broken up, and that was definitely really hard on her. But even with all of these things going on in her life, AJ was just not a leave a note type of person.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
She would have called or texted, and she wouldn't have been so cryptic about it. And what's also strange is when her parents started reaching out to her friends to see if maybe any of them had heard from her or seen her, most of them had not heard from her either. They only got those strange messages here and there, and then eventually they just stopped coming in.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And so on March 3rd, Jennifer went ahead and reported AJ missing. So the following day, officers with the NPD went to their home to interview her family and just get a general understanding of when the last time AJ was seen, which for her mom was around 7 a.m. on the 2nd when she left with the girls. And for Wes, it was the same day, of course, but he had seen her at around 1230.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
He said that he and AJ had met up at a gas station near his work where he gave her $100, but he said that he didn't know what she needed the money for. And I also just want to note for people who are familiar with this case that there is a lot of reporting, a lot of sources that say that it was $200 he gave her. But the official court documents say $100. So I'm just going to be going with that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But really, in the grand scheme of things, it's not really that important of a detail. So anyway, he described the last thing that she was wearing, which included her blue softball jacket that had her name embroidered on the front. Now, this jacket is going to become important in this case.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
But anyway, after Wes gives her this money, which he said he didn't know what she needed it for, she didn't explain what she needed it for, that he saw her head in the direction of their home and that's where he assumed that she went.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Then one of AJ's little sisters ended up speaking to the police and she shared that when she came home from school on the 2nd, the front door was unlocked and there was half-folded laundry in the living room. And upon further inspection... they realized that her wallet with money still inside of it had been left on the couch, which obviously gave them immediate cause for concern.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
Today we're going to be going over the case of AJ Hadsell and this episode is going to go up quite close to the date that she disappeared actually so I thought it would be a good time to tell you about her story. And if you haven't already heard this case, I promise you, as you start hearing these details, you're going to feel just as angry as I am. I mean, every case makes me angry.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
It looked as if AJ was at home doing laundry and then something or someone interrupted her. And the reality is AJ was just not the type of person to run away. I mean, at least not according to her friends and family. Really, she was just a very well-behaved teenager. She didn't drink. She didn't do drugs or anything like that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And if she was ever struggling with something, she was the type to open up to someone and try and seek help or support from someone in her life. And so ultimately, between these strange texts and the note and the condition of the living room, these officers off the bat just sensed that there was something seriously wrong. So of course, they began building a list of suspects and...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
No surprise here, but one of the first suspects on their list was Josh, her ex-boyfriend. However, despite police noting that he was acting a little bit strange about the whole thing, they said that he just didn't seem like he had much of a motive. And plus, he, I mean, from his point of view, explained to police that their breakup was mutual.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And even if that isn't true, he did have a very strong alibi. Now, they didn't completely write him off at this point. They just sort of moved him to the side, especially because someone else had caught their attention, which requires a bit of a backstory. So AJ was the kind of person who had more guy friends than girlfriends.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
And one of her really close friends growing up was this guy named Corey French. The two of them actually dated pretty briefly, and then it just ended up being one of those situations where they both realized were better off as friends. So, you know, no term oil there. And when she first went missing, he was one of many people who jumped right into action to help try and locate her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Person Close to Her Did the Unthinkable… the Tragic Case of AJ Hadsell
He helped make flyers, searched through fields, and overall seemed genuinely concerned about finding her. And then on March 5th, while he was walking home from work, he just so happened to stumble across the first big piece of evidence in this case, and that was a piece... of AJ's credit card. But when he called police to tell them about this, they were, of course, a little suspicious.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I just wanted to explain that a little further because I think especially in the true crime space, it's so important that we stick to the facts. And saying things like that just perpetuates misinformation. But still, that doesn't change how I feel about this group home and about other group homes I've learned about.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I mean, I definitely question this specific group home's ability to protect children who stay there. And even though 18 of those runaways were found, two of them were not. One of them, of course, being Emily. But there is also another young girl named Veronica Cruz. Now, she disappeared from this group home in March of 2024, and she has yet to be found.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Just a child, just a baby, really. And she was brutally and senselessly killed after she snuck out of a group home. And, I mean, the story and everything surrounding it and the aftermath of it all... is just so, so upsetting, but more people need to hear her story.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And that alone should have been an indication that there needed to be change. But instead, Emily was able to slip out of her window where she was quickly met with what can only be described as horror. So in the state of Arizona, it is the law that when a child in state custody goes missing, they need to notify the authorities within one day.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
But since Emily was under the care of tribal social services, that law actually didn't apply. Now, we know that the group home made the report that night and that the Mesa police did report her as missing to the National Crime Information Center that night as well. But nobody, not even the police, thought to notify Emily's family.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
This is absolutely maddening, but it took a full week before her mom got a call from her daughter's case manager that her daughter was missing. I'm sorry, but you can't tell me the police were trying that hard to find her if they didn't go to her mother first. It just makes no sense. And listen to this. Mesa police said that it wasn't their responsibility to notify her family.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Yes, they actually said that. Instead, they said that the group home should have told her case manager, who then should have told her family. And honestly, I don't care what the protocol is. It's all just ridiculous and makes no sense. But at the end of the day, you tell the family if their child is missing. But they didn't. They waited a week. And so tons of precious time was wasted.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Her family could have spent time getting the word out or going around, putting out flyers, talking to people they knew, just looking for her. But instead, they had no idea that she was gone. The police did start to circulate flyers as well as canvas the immediate area.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
But apparently, since they categorized her as a runaway, she didn't meet the requirements of an Amber Alert, which I have also covered cases on all of our shows where this happens. I will never understand. It makes no sense to me. It is so, so frustrating.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And the vibe I really get here, and again, this is just my opinion, is it seems that everyone thought that since she ran away that she would just be coming back. And so they didn't think or care to look any harder, even though there is a 14-year-old child out there on her own who knows where and who knows in whose hands.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Which is just wrong on so many levels, but especially when you consider the fact that indigenous women and girls are murdered and go missing at a disproportionately higher rate than other people. And the state of Arizona is actually ranked third for the largest number of MMIWG cases behind New Mexico and Washington.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
The data literally proves that Emily was a high-risk individual, and yet she was not treated that way before.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
even remotely and i don't care what her history was and i don't care if she chose to run away it honestly doesn't matter at all she did not deserve to be killed and the fact that this wasn't a high priority from the start is why so many people are calling for change and have been for so long Are you tired of figuring out what's for dinner night after night, especially on those busy weekdays?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
She is one of the many Indigenous people whose life has been stolen, and her case really highlights the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls that plagues this country. It's beyond inhumane what this little girl went through.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Which unfortunately brings me to the hardest part to talk about in this case, which is finding Emily's body. Very recently, on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2025, officers with the Gila County Sheriff's Office were notified by civilians about suspicious trash bags in a remote area just off of the highway.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And when officers arrived, they discovered multiple contractor trash bags, which contained dismembered human remains. The remains were located in a very remote area off of Highway 60 near mile marker 277 and Forest Service Road 355, just outside of Globe, Arizona.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And based on where she was left, it seems as though someone had pulled into this service road to toss her body before making their escape in an unknown direction. Now, Highway 60 can take you all the way from Arizona to Virginia. And in context of where Emily was last seen, her dump site was 100 miles to the east.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And there not only needs to be justice, but truly there needs to be a major change in how the system handles cases of all missing and murdered Indigenous people, which is something that we have talked about on this show countless times.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And it was also in the direction of her reservation, which has led many people to believe that maybe that's where she was trying to go. Like maybe she was hitchhiking or something. That could be a possibility here. And oh, my God. This just makes me sick to think about. But do you want to know how her family and everyone else found out about this? Through a leaked memo on Facebook.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Yep, you heard that right. Someone in law enforcement accidentally posted an internal memo to the sheriff's office Facebook page. And I can't even begin to understand how someone would make a mistake of this magnitude. It is...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
beyond strange to me it's so negligent it almost feels and this is just my opinion it almost feels like purposeful but at the same time I'm like why why would anyone do that but how could you be dumb enough to make a mistake like that it's just so I cannot understand it and it was horrible it was horrible because it contained graphic descriptions of what had been found
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Also, I just wanted to quickly note that this memo is very graphic. What I'm about to say is very graphic, very upsetting. So that's your warning to skip forward or to just close out now. But I hope that you'll stay even though it's difficult to hear because Emily's story is really needs to be heard.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
This memo shared that an unidentified female was found dismembered in contractor trash bags and that a head and a torso were found in one bag and that legs were found in another. It was mentioned that her head and face showed visible signs of trauma and to this day her arms and hands have never been found. And I know that that information is brutal to hear, extremely terrifying, and...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I mean, there aren't even words for it. It is so horrific. But I think it's important that we share what exactly happened to her, what this child went through, probably at the end of her life. Now, they didn't name Emily directly in this leaked Facebook memo. absurd. I don't even have words for it. It's so wild. But it was pretty clear that she was who they were talking about.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I have been happy to see that Emily has gotten some coverage in really just the True Crime podcast and creator community, which is awesome, and also in some local news station. It's all fantastic, but... She really needs national media attention. The monster who killed this beautiful child should not be able to escape her face and name.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And get this, guys, they even included photos of the crime scene in this post, including the trash bags that she was found in. Can you even imagine what that would be like for anyone to see, let alone her own family and loved ones, her friends? It is horrific beyond words. It is such a massively disgusting mistake that I just, oh my God, it makes me so angry that this could ever have happened.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Not to mention that anyone could have seen that post and then gone to the crime scene, gone to the spot where it happened and possibly destroyed evidence, especially since it was so early on. I mean, it is just such a massive fuck up. And I'm sorry for my language there. Another word just doesn't... seem to cover how messed up this situation is.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And to say that this was careless feels like an understatement, but all of this just truly speaks to how cases with Indigenous people, Indigenous victims, are handled. So to say that this absolutely outraged their community would be
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
an understatement i mean they are so so angry beyond words as they should be and what makes it even worse is there hasn't even been an apology just a follow-up memo that came out on february 26th which didn't do a whole lot of explaining at all it reads in part on february 14th 2025 the remains of an unidentified female were found the gila county sheriff's office in conjunction with the san carlos apache tribal police began an investigation
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Due to the circumstances, it was decided that further information was needed before any public notification. There was no indication that there was an active threat to the community. Unfortunately, the information on Facebook was intended only for law enforcement agencies and was leaked.
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
GCSO detectives are currently working long hours to make positive identification and find any information and evidence. I do get that this was an official statement, but it is shocking how little sympathy or responsibility there was. I mean, there was really no...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
No accountability at all, no real recognition of what a massive mistake this was, and really no apology whatsoever or any attempt at anything close to that. And also, I don't know if you caught this, but they said that there's no active threat. And that just pissed off everyone, the whole community, because to suggest that there's no active threat, it makes no sense. That is...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
been so upsetting to so many people to hear. I think we can all agree that someone who is willing to kidnap and then dismember a 14-year-old girl has either done this before or is sick enough in the head to do it again. Even if they are trying to say that this is an isolated incident, and even if it is, I understand why people are scared and angry. And the next day, everything that...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
people in the community and her loved ones were fearing came true because the sheriff's office confirmed that these remains did in fact belong to Emily Pike. This confirmation came through both dental records and a DNA sample submitted by her mom.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
They should just be absolutely bombarded with what they did every single day and have to suffer with knowing what and who they stole from this world. Before I get into Emily's case, I do have an exciting announcement. I believe I mentioned this last week, but in case you missed last episode, I did want to bring it up again.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And not long after this information started coming out, Emily's mom did end up saying a few things publicly. And understandably, it's been hard for her to say a lot given the anguish that she is probably dealing with right now. But she did share how difficult all of this has been for her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Steph also said that she just doesn't understand why this happened, why her daughter, an innocent child, had to be killed. She said that it's going to be especially hard when Emily's 15th birthday comes around. However, she wants to make sure to celebrate her this year and every year that follows. My heart truly breaks for her mother. I mean, Emily was her baby, and now she's gone.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And she doesn't have... any understanding as to what happened or why. And I would really like to believe that something is being done about it. I'm hopeful that it is. I mean, trying to be. But a lot of it seems to be being kept very close to the vest at this point.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Steph has said that she has been told that they have three suspects that they're looking into, which you would think sounds promising. But the sheriff's office has actually stated that they have no suspects or even persons of interest at this point. And all they've said that they have is a few leads that they are following up on. And I don't know what that means.
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Missing out on a show that everyone is talking about is just not an option for me. I absolutely love following the latest TV shows and I'm constantly signing up for this streaming service or that one. And then a few months later, I realized I've still been paying for the service long after I finished that show.
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
But that all changed for me when I started using Rocket Money because they found my unwanted subscriptions and helped me cancel them. So I never had to worry about them slipping through the cracks again.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I wanted to let you know that all Mile Higher Media shows, our merch is now all in one place, which is something that we have been trying to work on for quite some time. I know there have been so many people complaining about, you know, I want to get merch from multiple Mile Higher Media shows, but the shipping...
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
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Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Oh, and just for clarification, it's the Gila County Sheriff's Office who is taking the lead since that's where Emily was found. But what's difficult is we don't actually know where Emily was killed. We know where she was last seen and we know where she was found, but we're missing a crucial piece of this puzzle.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And so obviously finding this third location is crucial because it could help explain what happened to her. And the contractor bags that she was found in are also going to be Very critical. I can imagine and I hope that they're being tested for DNA and fingerprints, but the type of bags that these were could also speak to the person who did it, potentially. I don't know.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Maybe it could give us insight on... their occupation potentially or could help figure out where they were purchased. I mean, any insight at this point would be good insight, right? And hell, right now, we don't even know what her cause of death was. And a lot of people have questioned why her hands haven't been found and
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
If you, you know, are really into true crime in general, follow a lot of cases or potentially work in law enforcement or something similar, you may understand there are several reasons why someone wouldn't want the hands of their victim to be found. But it's a very interesting point that people have brought up because.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
One of the potential reasons for this is, could Emily have fought her attacker? Is it possible that she may have gotten some of their DNA under her fingernails? So it's possible that they were hidden in a more concealed location. Because when you think about it, whoever did this dumped Emily in a remote location, but they didn't conceal her that well. I truly hate talking about cases where...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
people were dismembered i think it is so so disturbing but one thing i have learned over the years is that sometimes killers will um conceal certain body parts specifically the hands being one of them in a different location and try to make them harder to find to avoid the victim from being identified
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
you know, you'd have to pay for shipping for all those different shows, which is totally understandably annoying. We finally fixed this issue. So everything is available at milehighermerch.com. But what's really great and what I'm really excited to announce is that 100% of the proceeds from merch for all shows.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
It's possible that they were hoping that if her remains were found, they wouldn't be able to figure out who she was, or maybe they just didn't want her to be found at all. I'm sure that was a goal as well, but there's something to be said about how and where she was found. I hope that all of those details are being considered. I'm sure they are.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
The FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the San Carlos Apache Tribal Police have stepped in to help support this investigation. I'm really, really glad to hear that. I hope they can really work together to get this beautiful little girl justice. And I will say, it does give me some hope that this many organizations have started coming together for Emily.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Emily's case has sparked a major flame when it comes to discussing the disappearances and murders of Indigenous people. And on one hand, it's good to see that happening more and more over the years, but it's horrible that things like this have to happen for people to talk about it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
A 14-year-old shouldn't have to be found in trash bags for people to care about the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people. And quite frankly, the conversations that are being had, as great as they are, aren't enough. I mean, even me covering this case isn't enough. And I've seen a lot of support from the true crime community on Emily's case specifically, which is incredible to see.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I feel like there has been so much growth in the true crime space over the years, and I'm so... thrilled to see that. And like I said, the local news media has picked this up to some degree as well, and that's great. But like I also said earlier, there has been zero national coverage, and her case absolutely deserves that, absolutely needs that, and it hasn't happened yet.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And why it hasn't been picked up by the national media really just speaks to the problem, right? I mean, Indigenous people are... largely viewed as invisible to our society. And that's not just my opinion. That's a fact. And understanding Native American history, particularly the oppression and marginalization, is something that we all need to take the time to educate ourselves about.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And if you already have taken the time to educate yourself about it, educate yourself about it more and try to educate others. Because choosing not to learn and recognize this history is... Frankly, just choosing to ignore and isolate a group of people who deserve the same respect and attention as anyone else.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And maybe if there's more conversation and better education, more awareness, maybe some of these horrifying statistics can... be improved. A 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice found that 84% of American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime, including 56% who have experienced sexual violence.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
So every single piece of merch on our website is now directly going to my foundation, Higher Hope, and will support victims of violent crime and their families, as well as like-minded organizations that are
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
According to the Indian Health Service, an average of 40% of women involved in sex trafficking are identified as American Indian and Alaska Native. And get this, Homicide is the third leading cause of death for Native girls aged 15 to 19 and women aged 20 to 24. Really let that one sink in. It's the third leading cause of death. And not to mention, and again, let this one really sink in.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
The murder rates for Native women are more than 10 times the national average. OK, this is a crisis, to say the least, and it disproportionately affects Indigenous communities, especially women and girls. And with the lack of coverage on these cases, there is little to no accountability. This epidemic has been swept under the rug countless times for so long. And it just can't keep happening.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
It makes no sense. And thankfully, Emily's case is getting some traction, but it can't be for nothing. Now, there have been endless marches and vigils since the news of Emily's murder broke, which really aimed to highlight these very issues. Just a day after they announced that the remains were Emily's, the San Carlos Apache tribe rallied together to raise awareness.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And it's really because of their effort that we know about what happened. And the photos from these rallies, guys, they have been so incredibly powerful. And if you're just listening to this episode, I really want to encourage you to look some of these photos up. They're just so impactful. And, you know, the saying, a picture says a thousand words, I think heavily applies here.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
It's just so important that you see them for yourself to understand the impact and the pain that these communities are experiencing constantly. Just recently, on March 4th, there was a vigil held near Mesa Drive and McKellips Road, where Emily was last seen, and there was well over 100 people there to show their support.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
you know doing the same thing that we are so if you're interested in supporting higher hope we could use all the support we could get so that we can help as many people as we can and that is all available at milehiremerch.com so check it out see if there's anything you're interested in maybe you want to get something for a friend even or mother's day father's day is coming up i don't know but we would love your support and it's an easy way to do that while also treating yourself to something nice
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And it wasn't only her tribe, but tribes from all over the valley came to Mesa as well.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Emily's aunt said that her niece sparked the world which is now on fire because of her, and that was just so powerful to me. Her case is igniting, continuing to ignite, long overdue change, and it's about damn time.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And very quickly, a memorial was created on the corner of the intersection where Emily disappeared from, making it so that people not only have a place to memorialize her, but so that people can't ignore what happened. And the next day, there was another vigil in Mesa where hundreds, Hundreds more took to the streets shouting, say her name, demanding that justice be served.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Dozens of posters could be seen with Emily's name on them, both advocating for justice and for the reform that needs to take place in order to prevent this from happening again. And a spokesperson for Emily's family said that seeing these large crowds really, truly touched their hearts because it gave them comfort and strength in a time where they needed it most.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And these large crowds have really come out full force, and they have kept it up for a while. On March 10th, there was a, quote, day of action held at the Arizona State Capitol to call for justice, where more than 100 people marched with the goal of urging lawmakers to make changes when it comes to the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people. And listen to this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
A 2016 Urban Indian Health report showed that out of 5,712 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, only 116 were logged into the Department of Justice database. And I want to say those numbers again so that it really sinks in because I don't think... a lot of people truly understand how bad this epidemic has actually gotten.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Okay, so 5,712 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and only 116 of those, 116 out of 5,712 have actually been logged into the Department of Justice's database. Does that make you just want to bash your head on the wall, it blows my mind. And it's not like people are just calling for action without a solution.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
They have a solution or at least a plan of something that can start to solve this problem. For example, House Bill 2281 aims to establish an Amber Alert style system specifically for missing indigenous people. And it would operate just like amber and silver alerts and would ensure that indigenous individuals receive the same priority when it comes to notifying the public.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
The bill was actually introduced in January of 2025 before Emily even went missing. But in the aftermath of her murder, the push to get it approved has really been expedited.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
her friends and tribe are desperately seeking attention on this. And if you guys want to help, you can do so just by sharing her story, whether that's word of mouth or on social media. We cannot stop talking about Emily. So with that, let me tell you about what we know so far, which I will warn you, you know, this is pretty early on. In this case, there is still a lot that we don't know.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And I'm happy to say there actually has been a positive movement with this bill. In February, it actually passed unanimously in the House. And then in March, it passed unanimously by the Senate Public Safety Committee. So now it's going to be heard by the Senate. And if it passes there, it's going to go to Governor Katie Hobbs, where she can either sign it into law or veto it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And hopefully with how things are trending, I really, really hope and I expect that she will sign it into law. Because if she doesn't... In my mind, she is just a terrible person, and I wouldn't be able to understand why anyone wouldn't sign it into law. It just makes sense, right? But I feel confident that she will. I really, really hope she will.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And then another really big issue that needs to be addressed is the lack of communication between different law enforcement agencies. Because when tribal police don't communicate with local and federal authorities and vice versa, that's where serious problems occur.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
The Not Invisible Act of 2019 was signed into law, and it aimed at improving the coordination among these agencies to combat violence against the Indigenous. It also established a commission to help make recommendations for improving teamwork and finding the best ways to support survivors and families of victims as it relates to the MMIP epidemic.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And then there are other bills as well, like the Arizona House Bill 2479, that have been passed to help when it comes to the mandated reporting of missing or runaway children. And of course, all of this is great, but the problems aren't solved yet. And like anything, it does take time for these systems and laws to truly work.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And really, it's going to be up to all of us to make sure that the pressure doesn't go away. OK, we've got to keep the momentum going. And just because these laws are being signed doesn't mean that we can ignore what's happening or pretend like it's getting better. But getting back to Emily's case, I wanted to talk about Emily's grandmother, Agatha.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And she has also spoken out about the pain that this has caused for their family and that she and her granddaughter were incredibly close.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
But I just wanted to tell you what we do know. For those of you who haven't already been following her case. So let's start out by just talking about Emily and who she was. Emily Carla Pike was born on May 16th, 2010 into the San Carlos Apache tribe. And she was born on the San Carlos Apache reservation located in Southeast Arizona.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And the fact that no arrests have been made yet is really frustrating because I get that she was found in a remote location, but where she was abducted was a busy street. And law enforcement has said that they have found surveillance footage of Emily walking in the area. So, of course, I understand that they can't release everything.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And I guess we just have to hope that they were able to capture someone picking her up. or at least someone near her, or someone in the area that they are considering a person of interest, or that they have a lead on something.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
It seems that they are really focusing on tips from the public to help get Emily justice, and they have even created an online tip portal where people can submit any information they have. And of course, I'm going to link that below in the description of this episode and the show notes if you are listening on a podcast platform. Now another big update did come out more recently in mid-March.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
That's when DCS announced that they were opening a licensing inquiry into the group home where Emily had been staying. However, a spokesperson from the department did say that they don't believe any action the group home took caused what happened to Emily. And coincidentally, or maybe not, just a day after this was announced, someone from the group home finally decided to speak out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And I'll link the article for you guys with all the questions that they were asked and answered. But to summarize it, there was a lot of skirting around the issue, in my opinion. One thing that was very strange, in my opinion, was when this person was asked why the staff doesn't go out and look for kids when they run away. And the answer was basically that they're a hands-off facility.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Like, they don't physically touch the kids if they run away. And... Okay, but that's not what's being asked here. They want to know why they didn't go out and look. We all want to know why they didn't go out and look, not why they don't touch the kids. It was just a super weird answer, in my opinion.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Oh, and speaking of the group home, Emily's roommate actually spoke out and had some very interesting things to say as well. Now, it is a little unclear if she was her current roommate or if she lived there previously and got this information from another girl. But she said that Emily used the church group as a distraction to slip out and see a boy that she met while taking guitar lessons.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And I'm sure you guys want to know more about this. And believe me, so do I. I would love to know who this is or if this has been looked into more. We don't really have anything more than that. I would assume. I really do think that it's got to be something that the police are actively looking into.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And the roommate was also the one to share that Emily was in the home because of her struggles with mental health because they supposedly had better resources for her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Her mom's staff has been as vocal as possible in the midst of all of this. But considering how recently her daughter's life was taken, there's a lot, like I said, that we don't know yet. But what I can tell you about Emily, though, is that she was such a sweet and special little girl. People remember her as having a joyful spirit as well as a loving and kind of quirky personality.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And something that I keep just coming back to is, of course, it may not have been the group home's responsibility to keep an eye on Emily 24-7 necessarily, but it is definitely their job to keep her safe. Again, in my opinion, I don't believe they did that. I know that they reported her missing as soon as they realized that she was gone. But the whole thing just feels very negligent to me.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And just as with law enforcement, they should have contacted her family right away. And they didn't, which just wasted precious time. Emily's uncle, Allred Pike Jr., has been a voice for justice in her case, and he has really emphasized the pain that this has caused, especially because Emily's dad is in jail. He says that's been one of the hardest parts.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
He believes if her case had been paid more attention to in the beginning, or maybe if she wasn't treated only as a runaway, we might already have answers by now. And that is really just a sad fact of this case is that Emily had a history of running away. And because of that, they decided to assume that that's what happened and that she was going to come back.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Now, there is a task force that was put together for her case, but that wasn't even put together until three weeks after her remains were identified. So... Why did it take them so long to do that? Also, I wanted to note that the San Carlos Tribal Council is offering a $75,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible, and I hope that's enough to get someone talking.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
The tribe is also doing an independent study to review their internal processes to determine where improvements can be made, and I'm very happy to see that. They also want to find ways to improve the group home standards off the reservation so something like this doesn't happen again."
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Specifically, they're requesting that state leaders investigate and tighten regulation for state licensed residential groups. And here's a quote on this. This investigation should carefully review the safety, security, monitoring, licensing and operational standards for group homes and determine how these could be strengthened to prevent children from leaving their care without permission.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
We ask that your recommendations be presented to the legislature to be considered in appropriate legislation that is named in honor of Emily Pike. There really has been such a beautiful sense of community in all of this, which, of course, by no means makes any of this appropriate.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And I'm always drawn to the quirky among us. She also had a major love of K-pop and also playing the game Roblox. Emily loved all things sparkly. She loved pink, which is why I set the background colors to pink today for her. And she also loved cats. So I hope that she would like my cat. And she told everyone that she actually wanted to be a vet when she grew up.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
okay but you know there's i think some comfort and hope in that and i wanted to highlight a couple examples a handful of artists actually came together to paint the most beautiful mural of emily and it's not only an incredible depiction of her beauty and her warmth but it's filled with painted red handprints of people who wanted to honor her and show their support including her mom's
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And I'm sure a lot of you know this, but the red handprint is a symbol that's used in the MMIWG movement, which represents the voices of indigenous women and girls who have been silenced and haven't had their voices heard. Emily may no longer be here, but her story is always going to live on. And that is something that I'm sure of.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And seeing how vigils and rallies have been held not only in Arizona, but all around the country shows that she is a uniting force, not just for her own case, but for all missing and murdered indigenous people. Also, the case of Leo Harry White has gained some attention during all of this, and get this, he is also Native American, and he was found off of Highway 60 and Mile Marker 277.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Just like Emily. I mean, it wasn't the exact same spot, but it was pretty close. And he was found shot to death in a car in 2021, and his case has gone cold. And I'm guessing a lot of you haven't heard of him because it has gotten zero attention. And I mean, I know I hadn't heard of him. And then there's Alexander Esky, another name who has been brought up a lot recently.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
He went missing in June of 2020, and his family is still desperately seeking answers. Now, more recently in Emily's case, towards the end of March, a 12-page police report was released from the Mesa Police Department. And this gave us more insight into Emily's past and the timeline of her case.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And I've already shared what we know about her past, but there are a few things from that that I wanted to highlight. Specifically, that on February 11th, the police were notified by an employee of the group home that they received a voicemail from an anonymous caller who claimed that Emily was back home on the reservation with her mom.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And what's strange, though, is that this call came in on February 2nd, and they say it wasn't listened to until the 7th, leaving four days that they didn't report this. And what reason did they have to hold on to this information? I have no idea. I mean, obviously, it didn't turn out to be true, as confirmed by Emily's mom, but still.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
We also did learn that Emily was taking some type of medication for what they described as behavioral issues, but I wasn't able to find out any more about this. Obviously, as you can tell, this is one of those cases where there is just so much we still just don't know. There are so many unanswered questions. I really hope I have to believe that these questions are going to be answered.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And the reason I say I believe that...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
is because from what i've seen in her community nobody is giving up on this little girl and they will continue to fight until justice is served emily was laid to rest at the end of march where hundreds of people gathered in her memory at the san carlos high school gym and a lot of those people were wearing pink it was a beautiful but deeply emotional celebration of life where they honored emily through photos and stories vowing to never give up in the fight for justice
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And it was actually a two-day memorial and wake, and her body had been escorted by a motorcycle group so that they could lay her to rest safely. And I did read that her dad was allowed to attend the wake. However, he was not able to attend the memorial and burial. And again, these pictures just, they're so powerful.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Emily was also super artistic, and I read that she was interested in maybe pursuing art as well, all of which she should have had the opportunity to do. But at just 14 years old, any hope for her future in accomplishing her aspirations, goals, and dreams was just taken from her, and it makes me sick to know what this poor child went through at the end of her life.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
They really capture the emotion of it all and the pain that this community and her loved ones are experiencing and... All I can really say is how badly I'm hoping that justice comes soon, that answers come soon. There have been volunteer-led search efforts to find the rest of Emily's remains, and I know that bringing all of her home is something that everyone wants.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Searches have also been conducted by law enforcement, but it sounds like right now they're holding off on doing any more until new information comes in.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I've been checking daily for updates. I just literally checked right now as I'm recording this, and there's no information as of right now. But if anything comes out, I will pin a comment and put in the description or show notes any new information that comes out. I mentioned earlier that she likely didn't have a cell phone, but I'm wondering if there's any kind of digital trail somewhere.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And I've also heard people talking about how She played the game Roblox, which I know a lot of young people play, and I've also, as much as I don't know really anything about Roblox, I've heard that... I've seen a lot actually about how it can be a breeding ground for predators. I know it's an online game and I'm not sure if she had access to a computer or phone to play it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
So yeah, I'm not entirely sure if she even was on Roblox. That's just kind of something people have been talking about. Obviously your mind can go a million different places when trying to figure out what happened or how she could have ended up in the hands of the wrong person. But at the end of the day, all that really matters is justice. So we need to continue to say her name.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
We need to continue to spread awareness. And that means sharing any information that you can about Emily's case, whether that's just by word of mouth to people that you know, whether that's posting on your social media or sharing any type of coverage, whether it's my episode, someone else's coverage, a news special, an article, anything like that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Anything that you can do to spread awareness on Emily's case would be deeply appreciated by her loved ones in her community. And as I mentioned earlier, we're in the process of reaching out to Emily's family to see what we can do about getting them a Hope Grant, which I hope can support them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
You're going to hear me explain the circumstances of how her life ended here in a minute. But I just want to right off the bat remind you guys, which I almost feel I don't need to because my audience is so awesome. But just for, you know, the people that will say things. You know, I just wanted to remind everyone that she did not and could not have known better.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
They did have a GoFundMe at one point, but they actually did close it after receiving $27,000 in donations. So if they aren't looking for more financial help, I'm sure we can find a way to raise the reward for information, something like that. I mean, we have various ways that we can help them through the foundation, so I hope that we're able to do so.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
But again, if you guys want to help out yourself, don't underestimate the power of just spreading awareness. But most importantly, above all else, if you have any information regarding her murder, please contact the Gila County Sheriff's Detective at 928-200-7000. The Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Agent at 505-917-7830 or the San Carlos Apache Tribal Police Detective at 928-475-1755.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I so desperately wish I had more to share with you about Emily's case. I know the information is very, very limited and that makes these cases so frustrating, but they are still very important to talk about.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
So I really appreciate all of you who stuck through this entire episode, listened to everything that I had to say on this and really listened to what the community is trying to get people to understand because we have to see these changes. You know, the deaths of
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
indigenous people cannot be in vain there are so many just like emily that we have to remember and we have to make these changes or this is just going to continue to happen i really want to hear your thoughts on the case about the epidemic as a whole you know especially from those of you who have experienced this yourself as always i definitely want to hear from you all as far as your thoughts on the case i would love to see some positive comments as you guys always do
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
for her loved ones in case they come across this coverage because those comments really go a long way i know that firsthand from speaking to victims families who have come on the show you guys are just so awesome and i'm so so grateful for this audience i truly am i can't say it enough i know it's probably annoying how much i say that but i really really appreciate you guys and i'm so proud of this audience that truly truly cares about justice for all victims
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
So I just ask that you keep any of that commentary to yourself because it's not helpful to anyone. But with all that being said, let's talk about what happened. So leading up to Emily's murder, she actually wasn't living on the reservation. Instead, she was living in a group home in Mesa, Arizona, which is about 120 miles west.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
A lot of people I've seen covering this case have chosen not to name the home to protect the kids who are still living there, which I think is a great decision. I definitely want to follow suit, but just know that she had been living in a group home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
As for why she was there, that's one thing, one of the many things that we don't have a lot of insight on, but we do know that she was placed there by tribal social services. And we also know that she was likely placed there because she was struggling with her mental health and they had better resources for her than if she were on the reservation. Now, there is a group home on the reservation.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
However, due to the high demand for child placement and limited staffing and space, it doesn't sound like there was even room for Emily there. And one thing that I want to clarify right away here is that the home that she was in does work with the Department of Child Services or DCS to place kids. in the care of DCS.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
She was in the care of, like I said, tribal social services, and that distinction does matter. And also if, which I'm sure a lot of people are wondering about her family and her home life, and that's another area where we just... don't have a lot of clarification or answers.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I can tell you, though, that Emily was surrounded by a community who loved her, including her parents, her grandmother, her aunts and uncles, as well as her cousins. Her father was in prison at the time of her death for criminal damage, and again, there's not a lot of information here on that, but his incarceration didn't impact the love that he had for Emily as far as what's been reported.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I will say I especially loved learning about her relationship with her cousins. She was very, very close with her cousin, some of them. And I think the cousin bond can be very, very special. I am personally best friends with my cousin and two of her cousins were around the same age as her and they called themselves the trio and they were basically inseparable.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And even while Emily was away, they would talk to her on the phone and they would make plans for when they could finally see each other again. They were just a huge part of each other's lives, which just breaks my heart thinking that they no longer have her and it shouldn't be that way.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
They even spoke just a few weeks before what happened, and they remember her saying that she was going to be home within a month, which I guess they were excited about because they were making plans to go shopping when she came home, but...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
This was a little confusing because it hasn't been reported if this was a legitimate plan that they had or if this was something that Emily was independently hoping would happen. Some people think it was the latter, though, especially given what happened on January 27th, 2025, very, very recently.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much as always for joining me today. I truly, truly appreciate it. I know there is a lot of content out there on the internet these days and I really appreciate you taking the time to spend some time with me. And for any of you who are new to my show, welcome. Also so happy to have you. So
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
That day, at 8.19 p.m., the group's home manager made a call to the Mesa Police Department to report that Emily was AWOL. Which, if you haven't heard that term, the Oxford Dictionary defines it as absent without official leave, but without intent to desert, or absent from where one should be, missing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
I guess there was a local church group that had come to the group home, which sort of created a distraction and she was able to slip out of her bedroom window. And according to reports, she was last seen walking near the intersection of Mesa Drive and McKellips Road at around 7.45 p.m. But after that, Emily was never seen or heard from again.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And this wasn't very far from the home, so it's believed that whoever took her did so not long after she left. And what we also don't know yet is if she knew this person or not. The group home doesn't allow cell phones, so I'm not sure if there's any type of digital trail or not. And let me just say, the way...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
The saga, I should say, of how her disappearance was handled is going to piss you off, or at least it should. And that started with what we see in so many cases of missing children and teenagers who are failed by the system. And that's because the missing persons report, when it was taken, she was considered a runaway teen, which isn't entirely untrue.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
The problem, though, and again, something we see a lot, is they used Emily's history of running away as an excuse to not take this seriously. I am so, so excited to finally be partnering with one of my favorite brands out there. Something that was a complete game changer for me when I was a new parent and still something I use every single day. And that is the Nanit Baby Monitor.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
This baby monitor allows you to see your baby from anywhere at any time. So literally when I'm at work in the middle of recording a show, I can stay connected from the Nanit app. The high def camera means that you can actually see your baby. So no more grainy images where you really can't see what's happening.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Every time my mom visits, she's always just complaining about how she didn't have anything like this when I was a kid. Baby monitors truly have come so far. Even back when I was babysitting, it was just audio back then. But the Nanit monitor captures every moment. So not only do we know that our daughter is safe and sound, but we also have never missed milestones.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And we've even gotten some of her first words on video. I actually have an album saved in my camera roll of Nanit video and pictures so I can see moments where I've put her to bed and I know I'm going to want to see that one day or moments with my husband taking her out of the bed in the morning.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
But especially though, it gave us so much peace of mind in the early days because it allowed us to track my daughter's breathing and sleep patterns and her developmental milestones, which provided me with personal insight into understanding my baby like never before. And parents, this adds up to more sleep for your baby and more rest for you.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
In fact, Nanit parents get an extra 36 nights of sleep per year. On average, parents use Nanit for four plus years. And I'm telling you, I'm still using mine. My daughter is almost three now, which is crazy, but it is so worth it. The Nanit Baby Monitor is truly changing parenthood for the better. It's the one baby item that we can't live without.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And of course, I have a special offer for my listeners. You can get 20% off your first order with code BABY20. That's code B-A-B-Y 20 at Nanit.com now. Once again, N-A-N-I-T.com, Nanit. Parenthood looks different here. Now, Emily's full history of how long she was in the group home actually hasn't been released, but we know that she had lived there two separate times.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Today, guys, the case that I am going to be talking about is one that is very, very, very difficult to talk about. It's also been highly requested by so many of you. And as soon as I started learning the details as hard as I knew it was going to be to talk about, I knew we absolutely needed to. We are going to be talking about Emily Pike. who was murdered at just 14 years old.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And in 2023, she ran away from the home on three different occasions. And on one of those occasions, Emily actually ran away with another child from the home. And this is really sad, but every time that Emily ran away and was found by the police, she made it clear that she really did not want to go back there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
In September, she and that other child who she ran away with told the Mesa police, quote, Now, one of them, and we're not exactly sure who, actually said that she would rather go to jail or live with her grandma than return back to the group home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And then in another September runaway incident Emily told the officers that she didn't want to go back quote because it makes her uncomfortable when the staff gets into arguments with other juveniles in the home. And this is of course I think in my opinion one of those things that you could never truly understand what it's like unless you have lived in a situation like this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And of course, I can't say that I understand how Emily felt because I've never lived in a group home. And when I was researching this case and, you know, reading comments on other videos and just things on Reddit and forums, I read a lot of stories of people who have lived in these homes. And according to so many of them, these types of things seem to be very common.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Some, if not a lot or the majority of these kids are probably scared and confused and potentially not treated well. And all they really want is to be able to go back home. Obviously, there are probably some group homes that are excellent in that area. kids do have a good experience in.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
But I'm telling you from just what I have read from other people's experiences, this seems to be what the majority of them are saying. And I'd love to hear from any of you out there who have experienced living in a group home and what it was like for you personally.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
But it really seems that a lot of them want to get out of these group homes because they either don't feel safe or don't feel comfortable. And again, I want to be really clear here that not all group homes are bad or create that kind of environment, but some of them definitely are. And from what we just heard, it sounds like Emily wasn't happy and really, really did not want to be there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And a lot of people have questioned whether the home that she was staying in was doing a good job of protecting kids. It's been reported that in the last three years, the Mesa police have responded to over 80 calls from that home specifically, 42 of which were for missing persons. And of those 42 calls, 30 resulted in missing persons reports being filed.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
Now, I don't want to downplay this at all, but I do feel it's important that I explain it a little bit further because I've seen a lot of coverage on this, especially in early reporting where people say things like, wow, this group home has had 30 kids run away in... just three years, which, of course, it does kind of sound like that. But that was 30 reports for 18 kids.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Who Killed Emily Pike? No More Stolen Sisters
And that is a horrible number still. I mean, 18 kids is too many. One kid is too many. But I think it's really important when it comes to these cases that we stick to the facts as much as possible. But yeah, to clear some of the confusion in this case up, It was 30 runaway instances for 18 kids. So basically, if a child ran away twice, that is counted as two of the reports.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
It was standing up on its kickstand and based on the fact that it was left a few rows deep, he immediately believed that someone was trying to conceal it. And upon further inspection, he realized why. The bike had what appeared to be blood on both the seats and the handlebars. So right away, backup was called and minutes later, the entire area was just swarming with law enforcement.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
If you missed last week's episode, I just again wanted to say thank you to everyone who has donated so far or participated in our holiday matching program. We raised quite a bit and that is all going to be put to great use in 2025. But in our first four months in 2024, we were able to award 14 different grants at a total of $99,821. And I am very, very proud of that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And they ended up finding several other key pieces of evidence, including a fuse box, a pair of women's sunglasses, a pair of men's sunglasses, an orange-handled screwdriver with blood on it, and also a green sock. And they also said that there was a strong smell of gasoline, motorcycle tire tracks, and most notably, bloodstains on several corn stalks.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And of course, with all that, it was immediately undeniable that this was the scene of an abduction. Maybe not a murder, at least they hoped not, but definitely the scene of a violent struggle at the very least. And so that night, Sierra's family ends up getting a call from someone that they knew that there was a ton of law enforcement by the cornfields not far from their home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And so, of course, they all rushed to go see what was going on. But when they got there, no one would tell them anything. So it wasn't until hours later that an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent came by their house to tell them about what they had found. And that news was, I mean, you can't even put it into words.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
This was just confirmation for them that something horrible had to have happened to Sierra. Something far worse than a biking accident. And so from that moment forward, they're dealing with a whole new set of fears. Not only was Sierra missing, but she's missing because someone took her. So they needed to figure out who that person is, why they took her, and where they were keeping her.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And I'm sure this won't come as a surprise to you, but the first person of interest, of course, was Josh. Not only because he was the last person with her, but also because he was riding a motorcycle that night. And considering that a fuse box and motorcycle tire tracks were found at the scene, he just seemed like the most likely person.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Plus, you know, statistically speaking, it would make sense, right? So the next day on July 20th, he was questioned. And by that morning, local investigators and BCI agents had set up a mobile command center at Evergreen High School, and that's where Josh was spoken to. And he was, right off the bat, extremely cooperative.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
He told them absolutely everything that he knew and even offered to draw a map of his and Sierra's movements from the evening before. He also agreed to let them search his house and his truck because he had nothing to hide. At one point, they did find a pair of bloody coveralls in his truck, but they ended up confirming that it was animal blood from a hunting trip.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And even though he was innocent, Josh, of course, as anyone would be, was terrified. not only terrified for Sierra and what she's going through or what could have happened, but the idea that they think that he might have been involved. I mean, that's really scary, especially for a young person like him.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
We could not have done this without all of your support on all of our shows, all of your donations. This was a combination of hope and Empower Grants, and I could not have done this. My team could not have done this without all of your support by just watching our shows or making direct donations. It means so much to us. And also, I wanted to thank our sponsors who also make this possible.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Thankfully, though, pretty quickly, investigators did come to the conclusion that he was telling the truth. And that was partially because of a new piece of evidence that they found that they could not connect to him. But it was evidence that definitely belonged to whoever was responsible. That same day, July 20th, the community was going as hard as possible in their search for Sierra.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Law enforcement didn't even need much help rallying people to look for her because everyone was just already doing it. And it hadn't even been 24 hours, yet you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who didn't know what happened or wasn't already out there searching. which is exactly how this piece of evidence was brought to their attention.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
It turns out that the night before, a farmer and his son were driving home on County Road 6 when they noticed a black motorcycle helmet on the side of the road. And without even giving it a second thought, they pulled over, picked it up, and continued driving home.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And then it wasn't until the next day that the farmer heard about what had happened and was like, oh, wait, that helmet we found was pretty close to where they're saying the crime scene was. So he immediately got in contact with police and turned it over to them. And thank God he did, because when they took a closer look at it,
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
they could see that it was covered in blood-like stains and that one of those stains was a partial palm print, which of course suggested that this helmet might have been used to strike Sierra during her abduction. And because Josh was able to prove that the helmet didn't belong to him, it was helpful in clearing him. But obviously now they're stuck with the question of whose helmet is this?
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
They did submit it and all those other items for DNA testing right away. But of course, those tests take time. And time was something they just didn't have because nobody knew if Sierra was alive or not. And they just couldn't wait on test results to make their next move.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So they begin a bunch of other methods to try and find her, starting with pinging her phone, which is an obvious first step in a missing persons investigation. And unfortunately, they did not have any luck with that because the ping took them right back to the abduction site.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
They also weren't able to get anything off her Fitbit, which they knew that she was wearing because of those Snapchat videos. So at that point, their best bet was to continue with the ground searches.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So those searches carried on all day Wednesday with the help of several law enforcement agencies, canine units, helicopter crews, family, friends, community members, but even with hundreds of volunteers, nobody found anything. There was a report of a van that had been apparently speeding through the area on the day that Sierra went missing.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
If you want to follow along with us, you can follow us on Instagram or head to our website at any time. And if you're interested in making an impact yourself, You can make a donation at our website, which is higherhope.org. I'm very excited to see what we're able to do in 2025. And hopefully we just keep, you know, taking it a mile higher.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And that created a lot of concern because Toledo is actually a sex trafficking hub. And as I mentioned earlier, they were only 25 minutes from the city. So, you know, they started thinking the worst there, but then they ended up finding the driver of that van and cleared him. And then there was also a woman who reported that at 7.20 p.m.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
on the 19th, she was driving down County Road 6 when she saw something strange. she saw a man bent over at the waist about two or three rows deep in the corn along with a bike lying on the side of the road. And she actually didn't think much of it at the time, but once she heard about Sierra, she thought it might be an important detail to the case.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And she describes this man as a white male wearing red shorts and possibly a white t-shirt. So law enforcement didn't have too much to work with there. So that left them once again scratching their heads with...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
no idea where to turn to next feeling frustrated but luckily that didn't last too long because of how many volunteers were helping comb through these cornfields officers were able to utilize their time conducting door-to-door searches and one of these doors belonged to a man named james dean worley and what's crazy is they went to this guy's house on only a hunch but within moments of talking to him they realized that this was their guy
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
On July 21st, three law enforcement agents went to James Worley's home, which, mind you, was located only five miles from where Sierra was abducted. And this sicko wasted no time getting chatty. And right off the bat, I just need to tell you guys, this guy is a fucking freak. Like, it did not take long at all for them to figure out that... Something is seriously off with this guy.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And as soon as they knocked on the door and explained why they were there, James let them in and insisted that they all sit down. And they were like, no, it's cool. We're not going to be here long. We don't need to sit. But he was like, no, you're going to sit down and you're going to listen to me. Overall, right away, the whole situation was just a giant red flag.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
I mean, for starters, James was looking rough. He had visible scratches and bruises all over his body that were clearly defense wounds. So, you know, they're getting red flags from that alone. But then he opens his dumb mouth and starts word vomiting some of the most outrageous things I have ever heard. And as soon as he starts blabbing, one of the officers is like, OK, we need to record this.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So he gets out his phone and starts trying to subtly record him. James, you know, gets a feeling that he's being recorded. So he gets all sketchy about him having his phone. The officer lies to him and tells him that he's just texting his boss, but he is secretly recording him. And thankfully, he did.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But let's go ahead and get into Sierra's case because we do have quite a bit to go over. And I want to start out, as I always do, by telling you more about who Sierra was. Sierra Catherine Joggin, or Cece, as she was lovingly called when she was a kid, was born on February 11th, 1996 in Sylvania, Ohio, to her parents, Sheila and Tom.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
I mean, they really had to because this idiot was immediately placing himself at the crime scene on the night it happened. So here's his full story, okay? According to James, around 5.45 or 6 o'clock on the evening of July 19th, he left his house to go ride his motorcycle. And while he was driving through County Road 6, his motorcycle stalled out.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So he pulls off to the side of the road where he apparently ends up coming across not one, but two bikes. A gray one and a blue one. And try to stick with me as I attempt to explain this the way that James did because... Quite frankly, this dude is a real fucking idiot. And so none of what he said really makes sense.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But he basically said that his plan was to ditch his motorcycle and then walk home. But since he had back problems, he instead decides that he's going to ride one of these bikes that he found all the way home. However, after standing there and thinking about it, he decides that he is not going to take one of the bikes.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Instead, he's going to try and push his motorcycle home, like walk besides it, which, of course, doesn't make any sense because he just said that he has back problems and can't really walk that far. So makes a whole lot of sense, right? That if you can't walk, might as well try pushing a motorcycle and walking at the same time. But like I said, dude's an idiot.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Now, two things to note about his story. Okay, so first of all, the whole thing about there being two bikes there is not true. He was just trying to convince officers that someone else had been there with Sierra. And two, and I'm sure this is obvious, but his whole story was a way to explain why his DNA would be on her bike.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And he could not have been more obvious because he even asks in the interview if they found his DNA on it.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
She was actually the only child that came from their relationship, but in total, she would end up having four siblings after her parents split up, two on her dad's side and two on her mom's. And it's kind of funny. Her mom actually wasn't sure if she wanted to have any more kids because Sierra was... a perfect baby. Like even when she was bad, she was still good.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Is there any information like that coming back on me? So the bullshit detector is clearly going off for these officers. He not only placed himself at the scene and came up with a nonsense story about the bike, but then he dropped some more info, which was really the icing on the stupid cake. James told them that when he left the area, he lost a few of his belongings.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And do you want to guess what those items were? It was a pair of sunglasses, an orange-handled screwdriver, a fuse box, and drumroll please, his helmet. And he just offered this up to officers on a silver platter.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Because keep in mind, none of that information had been made public, okay? It was so obvious right away that he was the one who was responsible, but he definitely wasn't going to admit that. In fact, he makes multiple weird comments that he's not out there killing chicks and raping chicks and stealing people.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And at one point, he mentions how he recently had a girl come to his house, but she left alive. And the way he delivered that information is so strange. Like, he's trying to be like, well, someone was recently at my house, a girl, in fact, and she's not dead. As if one person leaving his house alive proves that he didn't kill someone else.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So yeah, it was pretty obvious to officers right away that he was their guy. I mean, he had to have been the one responsible by the way that he was acting. Everything he was saying was so bizarre and coming from a place of like aggression, but then trying to cover tracks that didn't even need to be covered yet.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
I mean, he was the one who put the target on his back, which is crazy because really they only went to his place on a hunch.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And even though they're now definitely feeling like he has got to be a suspect, he's likely the one responsible, they don't want to let him know that they're thinking that because in their minds, maybe Sierra is still alive and they don't want him making any sudden moves if that's the case.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So they decided to leave and let him think that everything was fine, even if just for a few hours while they obtained a search warrant, which of course they went to go get right away. And then they start looking more into this man's background and what they found left them speechless and is certainly going to leave you speechless as well.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
For example, there was this one time while they were on a family trip in the Bahamas, and I guess she had kind of like gotten into trouble for something and they couldn't find her for a minute. And then all of a sudden, they ended up finding her in the closet and she told them that she had put herself in timeout.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
It turns out that back in 1990, James was convicted of a crime that was eerily similar to Sierra's disappearance. On July 4th, 1990, Robin Gardner was a 26-year-old girl living in White House, Ohio with her mom. And just for your reference, White House is only about 20 minutes away from where Sierra lived. And so on that day, July 4th, 1990, Robin decides she had nothing else to do.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
It was a holiday and she wants to go for a bike ride. And she remembers that she had ridden about a mile away from her house before she decided that was far enough and that she should probably turn around and go back home. But just as she makes that decision, she heard a car approaching and thought, I'm just going to wait for them to pass and then I'll turn around.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So the truck passes and she circles the other way. And then almost out of nowhere, she goes flying off her bike and lands in a ditch. And it was because the driver of the truck had turned around and hit her. And at first she thought it was an accident because the driver got out of the car and was seeing if she was okay.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But just a split second later, he'd taken a hammer out and smashed her on the back of the head. Luckily, she didn't end up passing out, but because she was still conscious, the guy got out a screwdriver and pressed it to her neck. She's screaming at this point and he tells her that he would kill her if she didn't stop screaming and get into his truck with him.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So Robin ends up fighting against him as hard as she could the entire time that he dragged her into his car, and she continued fighting when she was in the car as well. However, he still manages to get a handcuff onto her right wrist.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Luckily, he wasn't able to do so on her left wrist, so she grabs the steering wheel and just starts screaming and screaming and screaming, hoping that someone will hear her. But of course, they were on a very rural road, a lot like the one that Sierra was abducted on. And the odds of someone driving by or hearing her were extremely slim.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But by some sort of miracle, really, a motorcyclist just happens to drive by. And because Robin had made such a commotion, he stopped and he helped her escape. The two of them rode right to her house where they called the police. And what's insane is that when the motorcyclist took the place back to where he found Robin, her attacker was still there. And who do you think it was? Yep, that's right.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And from a young age, Sierra just always seemed to be self-aware, well-intentioned, and very sure of exactly who she was. Oh, and definitely confident. Sierra was a very confident person, and that just comes across in any videos of her, any pictures of her, any stories that you hear about her.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
It was James Worley. And of course, he had a ridiculous story for the police. He basically tells them that he was just driving and then Robin swerved into his car. And when he got out to check on her, she began acting hysterically. So he thinks it's a good idea to put handcuffs on her while he goes and gets help. In what world does that make any sense? Of course, it just doesn't.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And the police agreed. So he was arrested for attempted abduction. But He only ended up serving three years out of a six to 10 year sentence for good behavior. And what's so maddening is he literally told his court ordered therapist that he'd bury the next one. And yet they still let him out. Unbelievable.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And as you can imagine, this was so, so traumatic for Robin, so much so that she moved to California, where she felt a lot safer. But even still, she says that she can't be alone because she's scared that if something ever happened to her again, nobody would ever hear her scream.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And believe it or not, probably you're on the side of believe it with this guy, but there were probably others that he did this to as well. And that brings me to Claudia Tinsley. In September of 1996... A 24-year-old mother named Claudia Tinsley was reported missing by her mom after she failed to come home one evening.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Claudia was a sex worker, and on the night that she disappeared, James Worley came to her house and picked her up. And according to James, the two of them drove around for 45 minutes, had oral sex, and then he dropped her off at an unknown location. Her mom got worried, of course, when she didn't come home, so she told police that James Worley was the guy that she had been with last.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And of course, as you're probably picking up on, James is just someone who is a walking red flag. And her mother had a weird feeling about him as soon as she met him. And so she had actually written down his license plate, thankfully. And of course, James swears up and down that he didn't kill her, which of course, none of us believe.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But they brought him in for questioning a week after she disappeared. But ultimately, they couldn't prove that he did something to her. So he was never arrested. They did end up getting a search warrant for his place a couple years later, but ultimately they didn't find anything that connected him to Claudia.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Well, they did actually find some weed, so they were able to send his ass back to prison for two years for that, but that was pretty inconsequential considering what they suspected him of doing. And it's heartbreaking, but to this day, Claudia has never been found.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So technically, James's involvement in Claudia's disappearance is alleged, but the fact that him of all people was the last guy to see her, I mean, to me, just tells you everything you need to know. I can't sit here legally and say that he did it because there's no proof that he did. And it's all alleged. But yeah, I'm sure we can all agree how we feel on that one.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But getting back to Sierra's disappearance, obviously, as investigators are learning all of this, they needed to get back to his property ASAP. So later that same day, they returned to his house to ask him more questions. And when they got there, this jackass has the audacity to ask for his helmet back, which of course officers are like, no, my dude, that is not going to happen.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Her mom, Sheila, says that Sierra's confidence really just started at a young age, and even as she grew older, when most girls, unfortunately, tend to lose some of their confidence over time, that really was never the case for her. And when I say confident, I don't mean that in a... cocky type of way. She was just very sure of who she was. She knew who she was and she was happy to be who she was.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
This time, though, they outright told him that they found blood on the helmet, which James was like, oh, no, that's not possible. But this time around, he seemed very agitated and very nervous. Now, he did allow them to walk around his property, but he made sure to stay close by. Now, as for his house, it more or less looked okay.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
I mean, it was messy, but besides that, it didn't look like Sierra had been there. But it was the barn where the real horrors were waiting, and they didn't even need to go inside to know that something was in there. Because as soon as they started to approach it, James's whole demeanor changed. He seemed like he really didn't want them to go inside, but of course they did anyway.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And what they found was truly, truly horrifying. I mean, for starters, the barn reeked of bleach, like someone had clearly been trying to clean up something, which they could also tell because there were fresh rake marks on the ground. They also noticed that the glass on the door to the barn had been spray painted black. as if someone was trying to prevent other people from seeing inside.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Then it got even worse, because as they're poking around, they end up finding a green crate that's tucked behind some hay bales, and inside of the crate they found adult diapers, a bag containing bondage clothing and restraints, a roll of white clothesline, latex gloves, gloves,
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
clear plastic bags containing women's lingerie and clothing, a piece of duct tape with straw, hair, and other debris stuck to it, brown rope, white socks, and a bag for storing an air mattress, along with a pink sex toy. So obviously, this is shocking to law enforcement, shocking to anybody. It is so creepy. I mean, why the fuck does he have these items?
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
I mean, this freak literally kept Ziploc baggies stuffed with women's underwear and lingerie, and he had it all labeled and organized. It's just... It's so beyond creepy, and when they found this, James, of course, goes into full defense mode.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
He tries explaining to them that he had all of these items because he had a bunch of different girlfriends, and he liked giving out underwear and lingerie and different items to all of them, which obviously wasn't true. I mean, look at the guy, but... Also, come on, no one has labeled little bags like this. It's a clear attempt at a cover up of what he was actually doing.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And by this point, the search warrant had been secured. So it was game over for James Worley. Now, in addition to the women's clothing found in that green crate, investigators also found a freshly made sandwich tucked in there as well. And Of course, they're thinking that this meant Sierra could still be alive and possibly somewhere nearby.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So they tore that barn and the rest of his property up trying to find her. And at one point, they thought they did. Inside the barn, investigators uncovered a piece of plywood on the ground, and it had what looked to be breathing holes cut out of it. And when they lifted it up, they didn't find Sierra, unfortunately, but they did find something very disturbing.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Under the plywood, a chest freezer had been lowered into a hole in the ground, and that freezer had been secured shut with a ratchet strap. And when they opened it, they found that it had been lined with blood-soaked carpet and smelled very strongly of bleach.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And she was also that type of person that could bring anyone out of their shell and always made sure that everyone around her felt included. Now, one of the most
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Now, by this point, James had been brought into the station for questioning, and when they asked him about this freezer, of course, he said he had an explanation. And that explanation is that this is where he kept his weed, right? Because everyone who partakes in the ganja knows that you've got to keep it in an underground freezer covered with plywood, right? Okay, ridiculous.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But anyway, their discoveries didn't end there. Back in the barn, they also found an air mattress, duct tape, zip ties, handcuffs, handcuff keys, more rope, and more adult diapers. So basically everything a person would need to commit an incredibly heinous crime.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Then inside of his machine shop, they found his motorcycle, which later tested positive for blood, more adult diapers, two sets of handcuffs with keys, a zip tie and a bottle of bleach. And then this is also really disturbing, but they ended up finding a nanny cam.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And I'm not sure if any footage was recovered from that that hasn't been revealed, but just the idea of him having one of those is very, very, I mean, beyond scary. And then there was a search of his two trucks as well.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
important women in her life aside from her mom was her aunt Tara she was Sierra's aunt on her mom's side and since she was only 16 years old when Sierra was born it really fostered a very close relationship between the two of them she was kind of like her sister aunt and sort of second mom all in one and when she and her husband Howard had four kids of their own Sierra was practically her fifth
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
In his red truck, they found a can of pepper spray in the driver's side door pocket, a black ski mask, work gloves, an ear warmer, a roll of duct tape, and seven 24-inch zip ties which had already been connected. meaning that he pre-started those zip ties, making it easy for him to quickly tighten them.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Then in his green truck, they found a white rope that was bundled with black electrical tape and again, zip ties under the driver's side seat and under the floor mat of the driver's seat. And then inside his house, there were, yet again, more adult diapers and then also a pair of black boots that were caked with mud.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But despite all of this, all of this sick and disgusting, very obvious evidence, James, of course, says he can explain it. He says that all of it is for his new adult film company. Yeah, he actually tried to sell that story. He said it's definitely not for kidnapping and killing, which is honestly so offensive, right?
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Like, really, you're caught having all of this and you're still going to try and lie? I mean, give it up, dude. The jig is up, okay? You're done.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And plus, investigators had uncovered video surveillance from outside of Evergreen High School that showed a truck driving towards the scene of the abduction on the night of the 19th. And as you can probably guess, it looked a whole lot like James's truck. So the thinking was maybe this was him returning to the scene to go back and pick up Sierra. Because if you think about it, he probably...
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
likely could not have abducted her on his motorcycle. So they thought maybe he incapacitated her, then hit her in a cornfield, went back home, got his truck, and then went back to pick her up. And you guys, when James was shown the video of the truck passing by the school, he fully admitted, oh yeah, that was me.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But of course, he had some bullshit story about how he was going back to get his helmet. But yeah, This idiot once again just placed himself at the crime scene. And luckily at this point, they had enough to go ahead and place him under arrest. And you will not believe, or maybe you will, what this monster had to say when they arrested him for abduction.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
He said that he wanted his own room so that he could get a good night's sleep that night. Like anyone gives a fuck about your sleep. I mean, after what he did, he deserves to go to sleep and never wake up and stick around because that might just be happening. After his arrest, investigators were hoping that James would just man up and tell them where she was.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But because we're talking about an evil person here, he admitted to nothing, and so the searches for Sierra had to continue. They spent hours and hours combing through every inch of James' property and came up empty-handed, and also there were still tons of volunteers searching in other areas, and they couldn't find anything either. And of course, this is all just agonizing for the Joggin family.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
She would go on their family vacations and they would include her in everything they did as if she was their own daughter. And one thing about Sierra that everyone seemed to just love about her is that she just didn't have an off switch. She was all gas, no brakes, all the time, full of energy and full of life.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
I mean, they didn't even know who James Worley was. They had never heard of him. But now they are hearing his history and, you know, hearing that he has a history of abducting women in the past. And this sicko is likely the one who took Sierra from them. I mean, it was excruciating.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
An anonymous $100,000 reward was posted for information leading to Sierra's whereabouts, but in just a few hours, they realized that she would not be coming home safely because that very same day that James was arrested for her abduction, her remains were found.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
That day, a volunteer was driving south on County Road 7 in an effort to help look for Sierra when he noticed a disturbance in the cornfield. So he got out of his car to check it out, and after walking 20 to 25 yards into that field, he spotted a patch of dirt that looked like it had been disturbed, almost like someone had dug that hole and then filled it back in with dirt.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But after law enforcement came and dug it up themselves, it was empty, which was discouraging, but they felt like they were close to finding something. That same guy had found a yellow latex glove sort of between the road and the cornfield. And while they didn't find her body near there, they figured it had to be connected. So they fanned out and that's when they found it.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
It was another mound of disturbed dirt that looked like a hole had been dug and filled back in. And this time the hole wasn't empty. It took five hours in the 95 degree heat and law enforcement literally had to use little hand shovels to get to it. But throughout the night, they had been able to uncover Sierra's body.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
The idea of her laying in that grave any longer was unbearable to them, so they were willing to work as long as it took to get her out, even if it was the middle of the night. And this is just a beyond disgusting detail, but they also found human feces nearby. Human feces, meaning this sicko...
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
as if everything else he did to her wasn't bad enough he had the audacity to take a shit near her grave and just wait until you hear the condition that he left her in and full warning this is very disturbing i debated not even sharing it but i know you guys will want to know and It's important to know the facts here and know the reality of what James did to her, so here it is.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
In that shallow grave, Sierra was found hogtied and handcuffed, wearing only an adult diaper and a lacy bra. Again, this is very disturbing, but a rubber dog toy had been placed in her mouth and tied around her head using a shoelace. And after her autopsy was conducted, a medical examiner determined that her cause of death was asphyxiation.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
She was just someone that people loved to be around and she loved to be around people as well and also loved to make people laugh. I think the best way to put it is that Sierra was someone who not only found joy in everyday life, but she was someone who brought joy to everyone else's everyday life. She also loved to travel. She loved to exercise. She loved to spend time with her friends.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
When that dog toy was put in her mouth, it restricted her ability to breathe. And they say it would have taken her 10 minutes, 10 excruciating minutes to lose her life. And what's even worse, they said that that toy had been shoved in her mouth so violently that it actually had broken one of her teeth.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
The autopsy also revealed that Sierra had suffered a wound to the right side of her forehead, a hairline fracture at the left occipital bone, and several contusions on her left leg. And so based on these horrific injuries and all the evidence that they had found so far, they were able to paint a better picture of what they believe happened to her.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Which was that while riding her bike, Sierra was struck by James on his motorcycle. And after that, he proceeded to strike her in the head with his helmet enough times to make her lose consciousness. He then moved her deep into the cornfields where he left her while he rode his motorcycle back home to retrieve his truck, which he then drove back to the scene to collect her body.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
The autopsy did not find any signs that she had been essayed. But that's not to say that this crime wasn't sexual in nature, and I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here, but investigators determined that there was semen on a blanket found inside his barn, as well as data from his computer showing that he had been watching porn for hours leading up to her abduction.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So while he may not have violated her physically in that way, they do believe that it was a sexually motivated attack. Now, going back to the night that she was found, Sierra's loved ones actually were all together when that call came in. And her stepdad, Matt, answered the phone and... He didn't even have to say anything for everyone in the room to know what he had learned.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
There were a collection of screams and sobs that nobody in that room will ever forget. Her mom says it sounded like wolves howling at the moon and everyone collectively wept out of sadness and anger. There was a very small, very, very small sense of relief in the fact that at least now they knew where she was.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But of course, along with that came the knowledge of the horrors that she had endured at the end of her life. A candlelight vigil was held in her honor on the 30th at the University of Toledo, which was organized by a friend of Sierra's from college. It was attended by her friends, family, members of her business sorority, and even complete strangers who just wanted to show their support.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
I think one thing that really rings true when it comes to this case is how the community really came out and supported Sierra and her family during this time. And I wanted to show my support too. And so on behalf of this channel today, I will be making a donation to the Justice for Sierra nonprofit.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
This nonprofit was started by her aunt Tara in an effort to help protect other Ohioans, and they've already done some really incredible work. For starters, they were able to pass a bill known as Sierra's Law, which, quote, "...established a database accessible to both law enforcement and everyday citizens, enabling them to identify the presence of violent offenders in their neighborhoods."
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And then they also host an annual Spirit of Sierra run, which I love. It's a 5K run and fundraiser that takes place at the University of Toledo campus. And it's a color run, which is so fun. And it's supposed to be a lighter day, you know, one of happiness that truly honors Sierra's life and her legacy. And they honor her in a way that she would have loved.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
It also helps raise money for the nonprofit, which they use to fund programs such as Sierra Strong, which is yet another cool thing that this family is doing. The Sierra Strong program is a self-defense program for students that they have turned into a curriculum to be taught in schools.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And as I'm sure you can already tell, she had no problems in the friend department. She went to Evergreen High School where she played for the volleyball team and was definitely the life of every party. And I think something that people really loved about her and something that I loved learning about her is that she just didn't take life that seriously. Even when she was in high school.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
The program is taught annually to students in middle school and high school, and it seeks to empower them to be self-aware and learn how to better protect themselves in the event that they are attacked. And then they also host these community events where they teach self-defense and they provide parents with something that they call a kid print ID. And this is so genius.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
A kid print ID is a laminated card for parents that includes vital information about their children, such as their height, their weight, their hair color, eye color, as well as a copy of their fingerprint. And the point of it is, if your child goes missing, then parents can give this card to police very easily so they can quickly disseminate the information to the public.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
There's even info on the back of these cards so parents know exactly what steps to take in the event that their child goes missing. I'm just so impressed and proud of everything that they're doing in the wake of all of the tragedy that they have been through themselves.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Trying to, you know, do something to help other parents who could end up in a situation like this and teach kids how to defend themselves. I mean, it's so much great, vital work. And I think it's just amazing.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So if any of you are interested in learning more about it or maybe making a donation yourself, I'll be sure to link their website in the description box or the show notes if you are listening to the podcast version of the show. But now let's jump back into the case and the road to justice, which took about two years.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
After Sierra's remains were found, James Worley was officially charged with her murder, and in total, he would end up being indicted on 19 felony counts, including two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of abduction, four counts of kidnapping, two counts of felonious assault, two counts of murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, one count of possessing criminal tools, one count of gross abuse of a corpse, one count of tampering with evidence, and two counts of having a weapon while under disability.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And this sicko, no shock here, but he pleaded not guilty to everything despite the literal mountain of evidence they had against him. So let's get into the trial and go over again what that evidence was. James' trial began in March of 2018, and when this good-for-nothing, evil, ugly loser walked into the courtroom...
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
He had the nerve to have this poor me sort of look on his face, which was just so offensive to the Joggin family. As if being in the same room as this sicko wasn't traumatizing enough, for him to be walking around acting like the victim here... Oh, I would just be so infuriated. It would take everything in me not to want to get up and punch that stupid look off his face.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But of course, they can't do anything. They have to just sit there.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Anyway, though, the trial begins and the prosecution's case against James is a strong one because after processing the evidence from the crime scene and also James's house, the two DNA profiles came back belonging to him and to Sierra.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And that's a time where most of us take life too seriously, if that makes sense. But, for example... She was not even on the cheerleading squad, but she would still wear a cheerleading uniform or outfit or whatever around at school just because she liked it. She also had a boyfriend, a really great guy named Josh Kolasinski.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And just to name a few things that they found it on, James' DNA was found on the male sunglasses and the screwdriver that was found at the abduction site, also the latex glove found near her grave, some duct tape, as well as traces of his own blood on his helmet.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
As for Sierra's DNA at the scenes, it also came back to the yellow latex glove, as well as the women's sunglasses, the sock, the blood on the corn stalks, and of course, the helmet. As for inside the barn, they found traces of her DNA on some rope, duct tape, the air mattress, paper towels, and blood on a pair of pink underwear.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
They also collected swabs from James' motorcycle, and her blood was found on that as well. And despite... All of that, the defense still tried to say this man was innocent. They ended up questioning a lot of the DNA because out of all the DNA that did come back as a match to James, the DNA sample that was collected from underneath her fingernails did not.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Also, remember how I mentioned earlier that that woman had thought she had seen a man in the cornfields that was wearing a red pair of shorts? Well, they never found a red pair of shorts at James's house, so they ridiculously suggested that someone else had murdered her.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And to explain how her DNA got all over James's barn, they said that this strange man abducted her, snuck her into James's barn without his knowledge, and then killed her and disposed of her. Because that makes a whole lot of sense, right?
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Yeah, some strange man abducts Sierra on his motorcycle with his helmet, hides her in his barn, and then uses his handcuffs and ropes to tie her up and kill her? Absolutely not. I mean, the fact that they even tried to make this argument is...
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
just laughable and the defense even tried to suggest that James couldn't have buried her on his own so they suggested that if he did do it maybe he had an accomplice there had to be someone else involved which is a pretty strange suggestion considering that their main argument was that James wasn't involved at all so Not the brightest defense team here.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And of course, they wanted to make the jury believe that all that creepy stuff in his barn, all the lingerie, the underwear, the little shorts, everything like that was innocently for his so-called adult film studio that he was about to create. They also tried to really push lack of motive. They suggested that Sierra and James didn't know each other, so he would have no motive to kill her.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But obviously, that's just another stupid argument because as we know, People kill people they don't know all the time. It's called a crime of opportunity, right? It happens quite frequently. Plus, not to mention, James went to jail for trying to abduct someone he didn't know, Robin. And speaking of Robin, she ended up very bravely taking the stand during the trial.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Ray. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you're new, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you. Okay, guys, so today we are going to be talking about a case that was requested in my members only form. And I can't believe I hadn't heard of this case. I have to just right off the bat tell you that this is a very heavy one.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And she had to sit there and recount and explain the worst thing that ever happened to her. But she said she did it for Sierra because she wanted to be a voice for her. She is the only living victim of James Worley, as far as we know. And she knew that the value of her testimony would be huge in this case.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And when everything that I'm about to tell you happened in 2016, they had already been dating for seven years. Their parents were actually friends when they were growing up, and sources say that they'd known one another since they were as young as six. And what started as a friendship turned into a relationship kind of around middle school, and they never looked back.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And to be clear, while there haven't been any other confirmed victims, one therapist said that after analyzing James, he believes he fits the profile of a serial offender. I guess he kept these journals and videos, possibly. And while we don't know the contents of these, the therapist was basically like, yeah.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
this guy has done this before or at the very least is capable of doing it again and thankfully for every bs argument that the defense presented the prosecution came back with an undeniable rebuttal plus they'd also looked into his phone data which literally placed him at the abduction site for nearly two hours on the 19th where they were also able to trace sierra's phone there was no way
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
He was trying to fix his motorcycle for that long at the same time in the same place that a brutal attack was taking place. And his phone also pinged where he buried her. I mean, come on. It's so obvious. Oh, and when they searched his computer data... That was also really disturbing.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
In both 2015 and 2016, he had been looking up porn categories such as hogtied teen, bound, beaten down teens, forced teens, stranded and forced, and rough pickups. And maybe that's what floats his boat. I mean, whatever. I'm not here to kink shame or whatever. But when you look at that and then you look at the conditions Sierra was found in, it looked bad.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Plus, James had been buying women's lingerie wholesale. And I'm sorry, but there is no way that ugly perv had that many girlfriends that he was giving out underwear and lingerie to. I mean, come on. He had some sick sexual fantasies and he disgustingly used these items to make that fantasy come true. And he did so at the expense of an innocent girl's life. And thankfully, the jury agreed.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And it only took them six hours of deliberation. 57-year-old James Dean Worley, one of the most worthless humans I've ever had the displeasure of learning about, was found guilty on all 19 counts. And he didn't even flinch. He sat there completely emotionless. I mean, he didn't show a... ounce of remorse at all. And a month later, he was sentenced to death.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And I know people have different opinions on the death penalty. I have my own opinions that I'm not going to break all down here today. But in my opinion, James Worley does not deserve to live his life. He He deserves it. I'm just so angry after learning about this case. It is so despicable. It's so disgusting. Sierra deserved so much more.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And I don't even want to say person when it comes to James, because to me, he is not even a human. He is nothing but a monster, not just for what he did to Sierra, but to the other women that he has done things to. And there's probably more we don't even know about. But not just all of that. When you hear what he had the nerve to do
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Everyone in their lives just knew that the two of them were a package deal from very early on. Wherever Sierra was, there was Josh. Wherever there was Josh, there was Sierra. And even when they were young, they were already starting to have conversations about wanting to get married one day.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
to her family during sentencing, you're going to want to throw up. The judge ended up letting him speak. And this asshole went on a 45 minute rant about his innocence. And he cries and he talks about how Sierra lives on. And it's just, it's such bullshit. It's such an act. And it's outright offensive for him to claim that he is still the victim in all of this. Just take a listen for yourselves.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So his execution date is set for May 20th of 2025, so it's coming up soon. Hopefully this year he will finally pay for what he did. Like a lot of families say, Sierra's family was grateful that her killer was brought to justice, but... It doesn't change what happened. She will always be gone. And a guilty verdict and a death sentence will never bring her back.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Her Aunt Tara said it wasn't anything to celebrate. And she's right. It's not. Sheila also expressed that over the years, one of the things that has been especially difficult is seeing her daughter's friends grow up. They're all getting married. They're having kids and doing things that her daughter should be doing right now. But instead of celebrating her life with her...
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
they're continuing to mourn her loss every day. They ended up filing a wrongful death lawsuit against James, which was settled in 2018 for $3.6 million. But the one thing they wanted out of that lawsuit was ownership of his property, specifically that barn. They wanted to tear that godforsaken thing down. And in 2019, they were able to do just that.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Of course, it doesn't bring her home, but it does allow her family the freedom of knowing that the place that she lost her life will no longer exist, at least not in the capacity it once did. And it's so heartbreaking to think about, but if Sierra was still here today, it's likely that she and Josh would have gotten married. Who knows? They might have even had kids.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But instead, Josh was left without the person that he pictured the rest of his life with. He spoke during the trial, which was... as you can imagine, incredibly emotional for everyone and the impact that this has had on him is just undeniable. Being the last person to see her alive is a horrible weight to carry and I just hope that he knows that he's not responsible for what happened.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
sierra did want to wait just a little bit longer you know sort of get her career jump started but at the end of the day it was always going to be the two of them their relationship was really so beautiful and it didn't matter what they were doing josh said that they were always having a good time they did fun things like parties and school dances and even skydiving but josh has said that some of their best moments together was when they didn't have anything to do and they were just bored and found ways to entertain themselves together
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
In somewhat positive news when it comes to Josh, he did go on to get married and have kids and I'm so glad that he has been able to find some happiness again and even though I'm sure he will always love Ciara, I have no doubt about that, but I am just very glad that he was able to move forward in that way.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Again, I'm just really so impressed with this whole family and everything they've done to honor Sierra. Her favorite quote was actually, live, laugh, love, and it seems that they've really adopted that into... You know, their mentality and everything that they have done moving forward. The Justice for Sierra nonprofit seems like they are making a massive difference in their community.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And I can't wait to see everything that they end up doing in years to come. At the end of the day, it's just so heartbreaking to think about, you know, someone as young as Sierra was 20 years old losing their life because of a monster. I mean, there was no reason for it.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And like I said, I know the death penalty is very controversial and I certainly have a lot of different opinions when it comes to it and who should get it, who shouldn't, and just kind of how I feel about it overall. And my opinion on it is constantly evolving, but I just can't think of a single reason why James should be able to continue living after what he did to Sierra.
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Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But of course, I'm curious about what you guys think. And I know opinions will vary. And so I'd love to hear from you. Do you think that he should have been given life without parole? Or do you think the death penalty was fair? That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And because of where they were living, they definitely had to make their own fun quite a bit of the time. I mentioned earlier that Sierra was born in Sylvania, Ohio, but she actually grew up 10 miles down the road in Metamora, which is where this case takes place. Now, Metamora is about 24 miles west of Toledo.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And the most accurate way I can describe it from my research is rural, very rural and corn, lots of corn. Based on the 2016 census, Metamora had a population of only 617 people, so we're talking very, very small.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But from what I can tell, Sierra really loved living there, so much so that after her sophomore year of college where she was attending the University of Toledo, she decided to spend that summer living back at home at her grandparents' house, which was about a mile or so down the road from her mom's house.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
In school, Sierra was a member of the National Honor Society and took learning very seriously. In her first two years, she was studying business, specializing in human resource management. In the summer that she was home, she had both an internship and a personal assistant job. Her internship was for Ice Industries, which is actually her Uncle Howard's company.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And long story short, she was on a path towards getting a job there after graduation. She was also planning on moving in with her Aunt Tara and Uncle Howard in the upcoming school year. It would be a very easy location for her to live because they lived super close to campus. So as you can tell, Sierra had a very bright future ahead of her and was really going to continue to impact people's lives.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
for years to come but that was all ripped away from her on july 19 2016. it was a tuesday and her mom sheila remembers it being a completely normal day she got up she went to work and at one point in the day she connected with sierra over the phone to coordinate a family movie night because secret life of pets was coming out sierra wanted everyone to go and see it she also remembers that she and sierra were planning on talking later that evening about sierra studying abroad in the fall
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
That summer, she had been working to get her passport up to date so that she could leave the country and study abroad, which I'm sure she was very excited about. And the updated passport was actually supposed to come in the mail that evening.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
But they didn't really get the chance to talk about it because Sierra decided that she wanted to ride her bike, which actually was a new bike, over to Josh's house. She'd recently gotten this purple mountain bike from a garage sale, and since their family had just come home from a vacation, she was really eager to go and see Josh.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So sometime around 5 p.m., she gets on her new bike and heads off to Josh's house. And he actually lived seven miles away from her. But like I've already mentioned, she was a very active person and this was no big deal to her. Although it was a very hot day in July and Josh said that she seemed pretty tired when she did get to his house. But She got there. She made it there. Everything was fine.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And it was very hard to research and prepare for. I was able to learn a lot about Sierra Joggin. And I was just so impressed with the young woman that she was. She was such an interesting, special, unique, kind, creative person. And for her life to have ended at 20 years old is just... It's hard to even wrap your mind around.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
They spent just a little bit of quality time together because she did have to head back home because Josh actually had plans with another friend that night. So she was always just going to stop by for a little bit and then head back.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So a little after 6.30 p.m., she leaves his house. However, this time she wasn't riding alone because Josh actually decided to ride his motorcycle alongside of her. And I really thought this was very sweet, but he just didn't like the idea of her riding home by herself. Even though the way home should have been very safe. I mean, it's very rural.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
I'm talking like a few houses and just cornfields all the way back. He still wanted to make sure she made it home safely. And he had no reason to believe she wouldn't, but he just wanted to be sure. Now, during the few miles that they rode together, Josh ended up recording two different Snapchat videos. And in these videos, they look like they're having such a great time.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
It's honestly so heartbreaking to look at these, especially when you know what is about to happen. And I just hope that those last few moments that she had with Josh were special to her and...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
filled with laughter and joy because in just a matter of moments it was all gone and here's how that happened while they were riding home together on county road 6 sierra ends up telling josh that she's got it from here he can take off and it was okay for him to turn around and just go back home she was a very headstrong person someone very independent someone you'd almost never win an argument with so she insisted that she didn't need him to escort her the entire way home
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And he actually did push back at first. He really wanted to take her all the way home, but she really insisted that she was OK. She assured him she was going to make it home just fine. And so eventually he did agree. And that was about another mile into the journey. So they went about two miles together before he died.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
turned around they got to evergreen high school when they finally stopped josh gave her a kiss he told her that he loved her and said text me when you get home but that text never came and at first josh didn't really freak out he did say that normally she was very good about sending him a quick text letting him know that she had made it somewhere safely but
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
You know, he didn't want to panic, and it hadn't been that long, so he just sort of kept his eye on his phone and figured that she would eventually text him. Meanwhile, her mom was also experiencing sort of a strange feeling, but just like him, she didn't freak out right away.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
That evening, she had taken her two younger kids to taekwondo class, and on her way home, she had to stop at her mom's house. I mentioned earlier that Sierra had been living with her grandparents, but what I didn't mention yet is that Sheila's younger daughter was also staying there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And she remembers that as she was pulling in to drop her other daughter off, she noticed that Sierra's bedroom light was off. And she thought it was kind of strange because it was only 9 p.m. It was pretty early for Sierra to go to sleep. But she figured that, you know, maybe she was just tired. She'd been busy lately and didn't think too, too much of it. She just took note of that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Her family has done so much to honor her memory, and I think it's really important that people know more about her and know her story. So that's what we're going to be getting into today. Before I get into the case, I did want to tell you guys some great news. I'm very excited to share with you the impact that Higher Hope was able to make in our first only four months. of running our foundation.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
However, the weird feeling that she was experiencing turned into a full-blown panic a little over an hour later when Josh called her at 10.15 p.m. and asked if she had heard from Sierra. He still hadn't gotten a text from her. And every time that he tried calling her, her phone was going straight to voicemail.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
So he was getting really concerned and he thought, you know, maybe she had reached out to her mom and just wasn't calling him back or answering for some reason. But... He quickly panicked as well when he heard that Sheila also hadn't heard from Sierra. So at that point, Sheila reaches out to her mom and it was the same thing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Not only was Sierra not in her room, but her bike wasn't in the barn either. And right away, everyone had this horrible gut-sinking feeling. This was completely out of character for Sierra. So they all end up getting in their cars and driving around trying to find her. And at first they were thinking that maybe she had some type of horrible bike accident.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Maybe she'd been hit by a car, wasn't able to get in touch with them, that she was injured on the side of the road somewhere. Maybe she was unconscious, something like that. So Josh heads out and starts looking along the route that they had taken together.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And then Sheila went in a different direction towards a neighboring town, which she didn't think that Sierra had likely gone that way, but she wanted to cover their bases. And also that was the direction of the fire station where she ended up going and finding a sheriff's deputy sitting in their car right out front.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And that's when she frantically explained what was going on and that she desperately needed help. But unfortunately, like we hear so often, Her pleas for help were met with some resistance. At first, she got the whole, you know, she's 20 years old. She has every right to leave speech. But, you know, Sheila is like, that is not what is going on here. I know my daughter. This doesn't make sense.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
And she was not going to take that as an answer. So at that point, she makes a 911 call of her own and several more calls after that to make sure that something was being done. And meanwhile, her Aunt Tara was calling local hospitals to see if anyone matching Sierra's description had been brought in. And there actually was a brief moment where they thought they had found her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
a hospital in detroit had an unidentified woman come in who had a belly button piercing just like sierra and also had a scar on her calf that was just like sierra's but it didn't end up being her which of course only added to the fear that her loved ones were feeling so they continued to do what they could which was posting online and organizing search groups in hopes that she would be found quickly and thankfully by around 11 30 pm it was all hands on deck with the local sheriff's department
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
One deputy, Matt Smith-Meither, was woken up that night by a family member who explained what was going on and he jumped right out of bed to help. He started making some calls and really just helped kick things into gear. And a discovery was made that very night.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Abducted While Biking Home: The Murder of 20-Year-Old Sierah Joughin
Right around midnight, a different deputy and his canine were patrolling County Road 6 looking for any sign of Sierra when he came across some matted down corn stalks, which of course, given the circumstances, was something worth looking into. Three to four rows deep in the corn, his flashlight reflected off of Sierra's purple mountain bike.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And I hate that these words are even coming out of my mouth, but she had been shoved in the space between the toilet and the wall. And the butler also saw blood all over the bathroom. I mean, she was like lying in a pool of her own blood. And there was also pieces of broken glass from a window. And he also noticed that the top of the toilet cistern had been cracked.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
There was a moment after I had my daughter where I was in the shower, washing my hair like normal, brushing it out after conditioning, and I could not believe the amount of hair shedding I was experiencing. I got so emotional, I remember sitting in a towel on the chair in my bathroom and just crying.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Especially in a time where I was losing so much of myself, feeling like my hair was shedding like that was really emotional for me. And I started looking into different options as far as serums and different products and even some procedures that looked very painful and time consuming. And that's when I found Nutrafol on my own by just doing research.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And wow, Nutrafol has completely transformed my hair. I have been on it ever since. I'm going on almost three years now of using Nutrafol and I love it. I've recommended it to so many friends and family, and I have just seen such incredible results. Now, you may have heard of Nutrafol's hair growth supplements and wondered, do they actually work?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And of course, it's a fair question because many hair supplements over-promise and under-deliver. I have been through a lot of them. But Nutrafol really is different. As the number one dermatologist-recommended hair growth supplement brand, it's trusted by over 1.5 million people, and it's clinically tested to deliver real results in just three to six months.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And while many of those supplements out there rely solely on ingredient studies, Nutrafol clinically tests its final formulations using advanced hair measurement tools like hair counts and pullback tests to track real improvements in growth, quality, shedding, and texture. And it's not just backed by studies.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Honestly, she's very, um, I guess she's getting older now, but she's always had a lot of energy and I never knew if she could sit in on a recording and behave herself. So... The jury's still out on that. We'll have to see how she does. But I don't like recording alone. I always need my pet buddies. And, you know, normally my dog Bernie's here, too.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Their research is published in peer-reviewed journals and vetted by doctors, ensuring scientific rigor and reliable results. And adding Nutraful to your routine is easy. There's no prescription needed. You just order online with free shipping and automated deliveries. I take four capsules every night.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And they also offer subscribe and save up to 20% and enjoy perks like one-on-one naturopathic consultants and a free Headspace membership to support your hair growth journey. So this summer, stop worrying about your hair and start making memories.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering my listeners $10 off your first month subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code KendallRay. Find out why Nutrafol is the best-selling hair growth supplement brand at Nutrafol.com, spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L.com, promo code KendallRay. That's Nutrafol.com, promo code KendallRay.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And no shock here, but Mr. Brad was nowhere to be found. So the butler immediately called the manager of the resort, and the manager then called the authorities from a neighboring island, and the manhunt for Brad began. And one of the first things that police noticed right off the bat is that wherever Brad went off to, he took his wallet and his passport with him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
But conveniently, of course, he left behind his phone and his smartwatch, obviously, because both of those have GPS tracking capabilities. And after a 36-hour search effort, they not only found Brad on a neighboring island, but they learned that he fled via kayak. And the thing about where he fled to is that it also wasn't a very big island. So the people that lived there were the locals.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
It wasn't a tourist destination in any way. where he, you know, could have blended in as a tourist. So he really, you know, stood out pretty quickly. And listen to this. According to a local man named Manoa, he found Brad drunkenly stumbling towards the village around 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 10th.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And he appeared to have blood and bruises on his palms and feet, which Manoa assumed was probably from him falling onto coral. And he and Brad had an interesting conversation, to say the least, if you can even call it a conversation, because Brad was still incredibly drunk, not making any sense. And Manoa even said that he could smell the alcohol on him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And he just kept repeating, please, I need to call the police. He also kept repeating, we had a fight, and he didn't provide any context to what he was saying, just that they fought and he needed to call the police. Now, really, in any circumstance, this would be concerning, obviously, but Manoa was particularly disturbed because his island doesn't get tourists from Turtle Island.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
I mean, they'll get the occasional, like, surfer or snorkeler, even. Maybe they'll find their way over, but it never had been someone from the resort. So to see Brad just ending up over there out of nowhere in the condition that he was was pretty jarring. Manoa said that he tried to get him to calm down by offering him food and water, but he just kept refusing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
But he is at the vet with Lily, also getting a few teeth pulled. So, yeah, Lucy's going to be joining us today. Every other show that I record, I always record with other people, our producers, other co-hosts. And this show, I always feel kind of lonely because I'm down here by myself in my basement studio. And so I love having an animal with me, so I feel a little less alone.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And only after he really insisted, he was able to get him to drink a little bit. And once Brad calmed down, he ended up explaining what was going on a little bit more. He basically said that he kayaked over there around 2 or 3 a.m. after getting into a fight with his wife, which wasn't much, but it was helpful in terms of understanding the timeline of what happened here and how he ended up there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And thankfully, the authorities did come and find him, and they brought him back to Turtle Island and then to the main island where... They charged him with his wife's murder. So I'm sure you're wondering what actually happened. How did things go this bad just 48 hours into their honeymoon? Well, we do have a little bit of insight thanks to the staff and also other guests and what they witnessed.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And it all started on the night of July 8th. That night, the resort hosted what they like to call a family fun night, which is when all of the guests party on the beach with the staff and the staff's families as well. And I guess at first, everything was going well. I mean, everyone seemed to be having a good time. But despite having a good start to their night, things went south very quickly.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Apparently, Brad and Christy had a couple of shots and got a bit drunk, which is pretty normal on a honeymoon, right? But that is when he started acting and dancing inappropriately with another woman on their wedding. Honeymoon. He starts dancing inappropriately with another woman 48 hours into his honeymoon. How disrespectful can you possibly be?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
I mean, this just really tells you so much about Brad and his character. And I'm not sure if it was a guest or a staff member who noticed this, but they noticed that Christy was upset about it, which... anyone would be, right? I mean, if that were me, I'd be so angry and devastated. So at some point, they leave the party, and they continue fighting elsewhere on the beach.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And then they went back to their private bungalow, and that was sometime around midnight, and the fighting just continued. And we know this because whoever was in the bungalow next to theirs remembers hearing the arguing, followed by a loud scream, and then silence.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
So this person that is hearing all of this ends up actually calling the resort staff to make a complaint, but nothing was done about it, which is very disappointing, especially for a resort like this. But then a little bit after that complaint was made, someone on the resort's security team saw Brad just pacing back and forth the length of the island.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And then shortly after that is when he grabbed a kayak and high-tailed it out of there to this other island, which was a little over a mile away. And what's crazy is that apparently Brad ended up making a confession, really, when he was questioned in their custody. He explained that at that beach party, he and Christy were taking shots and having a good time, but then they started to argue.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
However, of course, he said he was too drunk to remember what it was about. Very convenient for you, Brad. But He did remember that they went back to their bungalow where they began to undress and get ready for bed. And he claims that when he went to give her a hug, she got angry again and started questioning if she even wanted to be with him, which is apparently when it became physical.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
But he said that she was the one who hit him first. And even if that were true, and personally, I don't believe that was true, But it really doesn't matter because there is no excuse for what he did. And I don't give a fuck if she hit you first. But according to Brad's version of events, after she hit him, he sort of lost it. And then they continued this scuffle. in the bathroom.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
So I'm glad Lucy was willing to fill that slot. But anyway, guys, today, man, we are talking about a case that has really, really pissed me off hearing the details behind this. And I think you are going to walk away feeling... the same way. I mean, I'm sure you do it with pretty much every case I cover and I always do as well.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And that's where the fight ensued that resulted in Christy's death. He basically said that he was like super drunk. And then the next thing he knew, she was bleeding from her head next to the toilet. Instead of helping his wife or alerting someone to get her help, he paddled away like a little bitch in panic. So yeah, he confesses all of this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And this next part will not be surprising to you at all. It wasn't to me. But of course, he ends up walking back this confession and actually completely stopped cooperating as soon as he got an attorney. which I'm sure his attorney just told him to do that, but either way.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
No shock here, but he wouldn't comply with giving them a DNA sample, and he was now saying that when he left her that she was still alive, which is absolutely outrageous and makes me even more mad. I don't know how he thought that would work in his favor at all.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
I mean, you just look like the worst human in the world leaving her in that condition, and she was still alive and could have been potentially saved. Make it make sense, Brad. Nothing you're saying adds up at all. Now, meanwhile, back at home, poor Christy's parents are getting the news that they never in a million years would have expected.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
In fact, they were so shocked that when they got the call, they thought it was a prank call when the State Department called them in the middle of the night. I mean, how shocking would that be to get that call in the middle of the night? But this was very, very real.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Their only child, who meant the world to them, was now gone at the hands of a person who had just taken a vow to love and protect her for the rest of their lives. And that is what is just so mind-blowing in cases like this where, you know, there are a lot of murders that occur on honeymoons. And how... How can you stand up in front of the friends and family of a woman who you love?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And I don't know exactly what their vows were, but I'm sure it was along the lines of, I vow to love you forever, to protect you, to keep you safe, to love you unconditionally through sickness and in health, all of those things. And then go right around and do this like pretty much immediately, a couple of days into the marriage.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
When it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, my personal findings is that setting yourself up for success in advance is going to be your best bet.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And that's why I love to pre-plan my meals throughout the week, even my lunches, especially my lunches, because I know when I'm going to bring something into the office, I'm not going to be tempted to order out or get something unhealthy because I already have something waiting for me. And that's why I love Factor. And Factor offers two-minute meals, so eating well has never been this easy.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
You just heat up and enjoy. It'll give you more time to do what you want, what you need to get done. You can get outside more instead of prepping and cooking indoors. Factor meals arrive fresh and ready to eat, perfect for any active lifestyle. And with 45 weekly menu options, you can pick gourmet meals that fit your goals. You can choose from calorie smart, protein plus, keto, and more.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
But this one is just infuriating and also just incredibly sad and has left me in a lot of ways just feeling super confused. Today, we're going to be talking about the case of Christy Chen. And I say that I feel confused because she was someone who was murdered while on her honeymoon. And I'm sure you can guess who did it. Her husband.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
That's code tckr50off at factormeals.com slash tckr50off for 50% off plus free shipping. There are no words to describe how horrible this must have felt for her parents. After witnessing this person say all these things, saying that they're going to love and protect their daughter, and then to get a call like this while they're on a trip, a honeymoon, that...
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
were, according to sources, they paid for. I mean, how painful would that be as a parent watching your child in this time that is supposed to be so happy where they have all this excitement for their future and, you know, are wanting to start a family one day and maybe you're going to have grandchildren to this so quickly. I can't even... wrap my head around what that would feel like.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And to make this horrific tragedy 10 times worse, they found out that her injuries were so bad that her body couldn't even be embalmed. Her parents had flown to Fiji as soon as they could to get her remains, but they learned that the wounds to her head were so severe that the embalming fluid would have leaked out. So they had to make the decision to cremate her in order to bring her home.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And not surprisingly, the autopsy revealed that Christy's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, and it's believed that her injuries were sustained as a result of being struck with the lid from the toilet. Now, this part is not confirmed. I want to make that really clear.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Take this with a huge grain of salt, but I've seen a lot of other people speculating about the fight that they got into that night. and have wondered if it's possible that Christy didn't know that he had already been to this resort with his ex-wife. And that's, of course, assuming that that fact is true as well.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
So, yeah, this is like pure speculation territory, and I want to make that really clear. But a lot of people have wondered and brought up the idea of Christy. Maybe she found out that he had been to Turtle Island with his first wife, and this is what they were really fighting with. But of course, you know, on top of the fact that he was flirting with someone else on the beach.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And not just flirting. I mean, people say they saw him dancing suggestively, inappropriately with another woman while his wife was there. And many people believe that this was a crime of passion. I mean, I certainly do, just based on the severity of her wounds. But let's get back to what we actually do know.
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OK, now, as far as the legal proceedings in this case, everything actually took place in Fiji, which makes sense since this is where the crime occurred, of course. And like I already explained, Brad got a lawyer and at that point just completely stopped cooperating, which is not really shocking.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Well, Christie's family also hired an attorney and they were clear from the beginning that they'd be pursuing a civil lawsuit against him if for any reason he was found not guilty in the criminal one. And let me just tell you, his attorney was convinced that Brad was going to be found innocent, which oftentimes they are, right?
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
They've got to have this confidence in their client and portray that to everyone else as well. I mean, I wonder how much he actually thought that, but it seemed like he... Really did. His whole message seemed to be that this was just a terrible accident. So unfortunate. And I mean, honestly, guys, I found this attorney to be incredibly disrespectful.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And I know, you know, the world of defense attorneys is so hard because there are so many great ones out there who really help people in need, of course. But I always find it... So hard to understand how you can defend someone who is so obviously guilty. I mean, I just don't know if I could sleep at night if I had to be in that position.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And that's what's so confusing to me, is how can you go from marrying someone to going on a honeymoon together in a beautiful, very expensive location, which I will explain, to... ending their life. It just, it makes no sense. I will never understand cases like this.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
I know that at the end of the day, his job is to get his client off. But the words that he used to explain what happened just felt incredible. Incredibly slimy. Just gross. His attorney said, "...there's no way he can be convicted of murder." On the evidence that they have presented so far, there's no proof of the charge of murder with intention to kill or premeditation.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Nothing of that sort whatsoever. On the face of it, it looks like an accident. An accident? ! Are you fucking kidding me? Are you seeing what we all see here? How can someone say that with a straight face? Blows my mind. And he also had the nerve to talk about how Brad was so distraught about what happened, more, what he did, but yeah, what happened, that he couldn't talk for days. Poor Brad.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And let's all just remember that bratty boy over here had no trouble talking to Manoa and the police when he was first taken into custody right after it all happened. You'd think that'd be the point where you're in so much shock where you can barely talk. But no, he's at this point, he can't even speak. Yet his attorney said, quote, something surprising happened. Surprising happened.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
He really fucking said that. He was really distressed when it happened. Last week, he was in desperate condition, but he's picking up now. It's a horrendous thing to happen on your honeymoon. What? What universe do you have to be living in to think a statement like that is at all appropriate or makes any sense in any way? Clearly, he is trying to paint Brad as the victim in all of this.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
It's just, it's so disgusting, I don't even have words. And as for why Brad, you know, hopped on his little kayak in the middle of the night and sailed across the sea a mile over to this other island, he explained that it was just because he was panicked and in shock. Yeah, I'm sure he was panicked. But of course, being panicked doesn't make you any less guilty. If anything, it makes you look...
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
More guilty, Brad. Especially when you stop and think about the fact that even though he was so panicked and shocked, he still made the decision to leave behind his devices so that no one could track him and he only brought his wallet and his passport. Which, by the way, they found that he was carrying $1,000 in cash as well as her license and credit card.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And of course that, in the eyes of her family's attorney, was a clear indication that he was trying to flee. He knew exactly what he did and he was trying to get the fuck out of there. Their family attorney believes that he was trying to get to the main island and just dip out from there. Yeah.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
doesn't make any sense at all what an idiot that he even thought he was going to be able to do that but he obviously only made it as far as the island that he was found on so in court they argued that he shouldn't receive bail because clearly this dude is a flight risk but of course his attorney adamantly denied that his client should remain in jail pending trial and this
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This is actually insane, but Brad and his attorney were trying to convince a judge to release him on bail by saying that he'd stay on the island with a friend who lived there and that he'd surrender his passport. But when the judge looked into this friend, he learned that this dude was currently facing charges for... Drumroll, please. Sex crimes.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
This was a time in Christy's life where, you know, it was supposed to be filled with so much excitement and love, so much bliss, hope for the future, and all of that was just ripped away from her. This is a case I've been keeping my eye on for a while, but now that there's finally a conclusion to it, I felt like it was a good time to share it with all of you.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And Brad's attorney also tried to argue that his client was not in good health. Poor Brad. And he had been prescribed certain medications that he needs to be able to consult his medical practitioner about.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
He also tried to argue that he has no criminal record or no pending cases and that his mom was, quote, fully dependent on him and that if he is further remained in custody, she will suffer mentally. If he is granted bail, he will be able to keep in touch with his mother via phone so that her health does not deteriorate. Boo fucking hoo. Nobody cares.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
I can't even believe they tried to use that as an excuse. And I'm not saying I don't care about Brad's mom's health. And, you know, it's not Brad's mom's fault as far as we understand. My heart goes out to her as well that she is losing her son too. But what about Christy's mom, right? She doesn't have a daughter anymore because of Brad.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
I just think his attorney making an attempt to use his mother and her health as a reason to keep him out of jail is just so fucking pathetic and ridiculous.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And bratty boy must have been feeling pretty confident because he actually brought his suitcase to court thinking that he was going to be released. Luckily, it didn't work, though, and they decided not to grant him bail in a September 14th hearing.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
So another thing that Brad's attorney failed at doing was trying to get his confession thrown out because in several court appearances, he tried to say that it was inadmissible since his client didn't sign the confession. He also said that there was no eyewitnesses and the quality of evidence against Brad was not good enough to get a guilty verdict. And in all honesty, it didn't come fast or easy.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
There were many delays in the process and it took over two years for the trial to even begin. And again, no surprise here, but during all of that time, Brad was trying to say that the whole thing was an accident. And he actually gave an exclusive interview to ABC News from a jail visiting room where he said that the only reason he fled the island was to give her some space. Are you?
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Be so fucking for real. This guy is unbelievable. He tried to say that it was normal for him to take a walk when they got into fights. And of course, that's very normal for a lot of couples to do. But that's not what happened here, Brad. It doesn't explain or justify what you did in any way, even if the two of them had never gotten into a physical argument in the past like he was saying.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And with that, let's go ahead and get into today's case, starting with some information about Christy Chen and who she was while she was still alive. And I'll say right off the bat that information on Christy's early life hasn't been made super available, but here's what we do know. Christy was an only child, and she was really seen as someone with a
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
I mean, I don't know if you understand this, Brad, but your past doesn't make you innocent if you do something illegal in the future. That's not how it works. And In part, he said, What? We were supposed to have an amazing holidays and I lost my wife. Just thinking she's not here anymore is so painful. I am thinking of her all the time. We were supposed to have an amazing life together.
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Yeah, and you threw all of that away. This is only on you. He even said that he's praying every day, and he called her my everything. It truly just pisses me off beyond words. I mean, for you to have the balls to even try to say anything along these lines is... absolutely insane.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
I don't know what is going on in your head or what reality you've tried to create for yourself, or I guess you're just really trying to create this reality for everyone else, but it is not reality at all. And I think what pisses me off the most here is that he is trying to make it sound like it's something that happened to him. He is reaching for sympathy. The truth is you made this happen.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
You did this. You ruined the chance for your future. You took her away from everyone in her life that she loved, and they will have to live the rest of their lives without her. She won't get to go on and potentially have children or fulfill any of her other dreams. Everything ended that night for her because of you. There is no sympathy to be had for Brad at all.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And any suggestion that she got those injuries from slipping and falling, which is actually something that they tried to argue. They really did. It's just complete and utter bullshit. I can't even believe they tried. And thankfully, and not surprisingly in my mind, the jury was not taking any of that bullshit. They saw right through Brad and his attorney.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
The idea that Christy could have sustained any of these injuries in any other way by any other person is just nonsense. It's ridiculous. Not to mention that an innocent person, accident or not, doesn't get his ass on a kayak and try to leave to get some space. I mean, what reality are you trying to feed us, Brad? This was a clear attempt at
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
to flee, to run away from what you did and try and get away with it. And thankfully, he didn't make it very far. Now, as for the trial, it took place in Fiji in December of 2024, very recently. And after eight days of testimony, his sorry ass was thankfully found guilty.
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In a statement given by the judge, he said in part, "'For the aforesaid reasons, I am of the opinion that the defense's version cannot be believed.'" And the same version is rejected. Having analyzed all the evidence in its totality, I am of the opinion that the prosecution witnesses were all truthful, credible, and reliable in their testimony.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Now, as for his sentencing, Brad was facing life in prison, but there was a possibility that he would be given parole. And just a couple months ago, in February of 2025, he was sentenced to life with parole eligibility in 18 years.
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Now, of course, that doesn't guarantee that he'll get out, but it does mean that he will have the opportunity to present a case for why he should be released at that time. Now, obviously, I personally don't believe that he should ever get the chance to be released, and I'm sure most, if not all of you, agree with me there. Sadly, we can't control that outcome. I...
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incredible work ethic, a very big heart, and a sweet, fun, and kind of quirky personality. Sources say that she didn't have a mean bone in her body and she always made sure that in any situation, everyone felt included. And I also thought this was really cool. Christy was a pastry chef here in Denver, where I live, and she had her own bakery called Sweet as Pie.
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I really hope I have to have faith in humanity that when he gets that opportunity, that it won't actually pan out in his favor and that he will hopefully remain behind bars the rest of his miserable life. But I definitely want to hear your thoughts on that one. And also just before sentencing, Christy's parents got to speak and I wanted to read you part of what they said.
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First, her mom said, I hope the memories of what you did to her in her last moments haunt you because you are a monster. No mother should have to know that this is how her daughter's life ended and by the hands of the very person who took a vow to love, honor, and cherish her. I can only hope that the rest of your life is filled with misery, loneliness, and despair.
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And then her dad said, she was my only child, my little girl, and my reason for living. Every day since her death has been a struggle to find meaning in a life that now feels empty.
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And God, my heart just breaks for her parents knowing the pain that they are going to have to carry for the rest of their lives, knowing how Christy's life ended in such a horrific way by someone who was supposed to love her. That has just got to be so painful as a parent to accept. And I mean, we can't forget the fact that she was their only child. It's just sick beyond words. It's so unfair.
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It makes me so angry. And I can't imagine how her family and her friends feel. And a lot of them have expressed, you know, the anger and the sadness, but also a little bit of confusion because friends of Christy say that they don't ever remember her mentioning the two of them having arguments. And some of her friends say that they can't even believe that he would do something like this to her.
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It was shocking to so many people. And it's just a reminder that I think for us all, that even if someone doesn't have a history of violence, that doesn't mean that they're not capable of committing a crime like this, of doing something so brutal and evil to someone who they supposedly love.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And of course, just because she didn't tell them about any fighting going on, that doesn't mean it wasn't going on. Oftentimes, people will hide things like that, and I certainly don't know if that was the case at all. There's no... you know, evidence to back that up when it comes to her relationship with him. But it turns out he actually does not have a great history with women.
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An ex-girlfriend of his from college spoke out and she said that Brad was very jealous and controlling. I guess he even pushed her one time, which obviously is a much smaller scale, but someone who is capable of pushing their partner is definitely capable of escalating that behavior.
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People have said that apparently he would black out and do horrible things that he didn't even remember doing, which is really scary, especially when you think about the fact that he and Christy were drinking that night. Of course, that is in no way an excuse for his behavior and what he did because Brad and Brad alone is responsible for her death, whether he was blacked out drunk or not.
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It doesn't matter. It's just horribly sad to see someone's life end this way. Someone who had so much to look forward to, so much potential, was just so kind and, you know, loved by so many. For it to have all ended like this is just devastating. It's hard to really wrap your mind around, you know? My heart truly goes out to Christy's friends and family. What a
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Yeah, I just, my heart breaks for you all. I definitely want to hear all of your thoughts on this one, especially what you make of his sentence. Should he be eligible for parole in 18 years? I'm guessing you're going to say no, but if not, tell me why you think he should. I think most of you are going to agree with me that he should spend the rest of his miserable life in jail where he belongs.
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And I actually was able to find an older article that was written about her bakery, and I thought it would be cool to read that to you guys and, you know, share a little bit more about that part of her life with you. So this is from 303 Magazine, and it was written by Callie Sumlin.
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That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
But until then, stay safe out there.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
While Chen is originally from China, she spent most of her youth in Memphis, hence the full menu of Southern classics like biscuits and gravy and hummingbird cake. Although Chen is a recent graduate of Johnson & Wales Pastry Program, she didn't want a bakery full of overly fancified, complicated desserts. She wanted to feature the standards of her upbringing, done well.
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The article also goes on to talk about how Christy was really focused on quality over quantity, and it sounds overall like she was really, really a talented pastry chef. But after building this great, beloved business in Denver, she actually ended up going back to school to become a pharmacist.
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She ended up moving and went to the University of Tennessee and ended up becoming an award-winning pharmacist.
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In April of 2021, she won the Walters Kluwer Clinical Drug Information of Excellence Award in Clinical Communication, and she even received a grant to further her research, which was actually focused on the social detriments of health in low-income areas, which in my opinion is an area that, always needs more research and more people like Christy.
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So after graduating, she ended up getting a job working as a pharmacist at a Kroger in Memphis. And from everything I read, she was doing really well in life, which is not surprising considering her drive and determination and just overall ability to succeed. So that brings us to November of 2021, which is the month that she ended up meeting a guy named Bradley Dawson.
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So I'm sure a lot of you are having the same problem that I am. You are getting tons of spam calls and spam text messages, just a bunch of junk, and they are looking more real than ever. It's also extremely distracting during the day and can fill up my inbox, making it confusing and hard to find the messages they actually need to see.
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And that's why I want to tell you about a service that has totally changed the game for me. It's called Get Contact. If you haven't heard of it, Get Contact is an app that helps users identify unknown calls, block spam, and filter unwanted calls. It provides caller ID services by leveraging a global database of phone numbers, and the app includes features like fraud detection and messaging.
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And Get Contact is available to download on the App Store or Google Play Store for free. And it's amazing. You can instantly see who's calling, even if they're not in your contacts. Maybe you're waiting for a call from a job interview or a doctor and then an unknown number pops up on your screen.
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Well, instead of ignoring it, you can check get contact and see if it's from the recruiter or from that doctor or anyone else you are waiting for a call from and no more second guessing on whether or not to pick up. They also offer spam and fraud prevention by automatically blocking known spam and robocalls. It even sometimes can give you a call reason and display it before you even pick up.
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Callers can actually share their reason for calling. Like, for example, if you have a package that you're waiting for, it'll say package delivery need confirmation. They also offer an encrypted messaging feature within the app. And that can come in handy when you're trying to share personal details with a business contact maybe, but regular texting feels too risky.
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But with GetContact's encrypted messaging, you can send the info securely knowing it won't be intercepted. And spam messages are automatically filtered by GetContact, so you're never even bothered by them. We live in a time where security and blocking things like spam really matters more than ever. It can be very dangerous and scary. You never know who has your number and what they're trying to do.
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So overall, it's just enhancing your phone security. GetContact gets its power from its users and detects spam numbers based on their feedback and their AI-supported algorithm. So take control of your calls. Block spam, identify unknown numbers, and stay connected securely. GetContact is available now on the App Store and Google Play. And reminder, guys, it's free, so download it today.
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When it comes to Bradley, I mean, like Christy, we don't have that much information available about his upbringing and whatnot, but honestly, I don't really care at all. But we do know that he worked for a nonprofit called Youth Villages, which provides help for children who face a wide range of emotional, mental, and behavioral problems so that they can live comfortably. more successful lives.
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And it's really disappointing, quite frankly, for someone who worked in a nonprofit like that doing excellent work, ended up doing what he did. And it's hard to even wrap your mind around how you go from A to B. Now, how the two of them met seems to vary by source. It's a little bit murky. It was hard to really get an idea of how they met and how their relationship evolved.
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They're all pretty vague, most of the sources, but there's no denying that this seemed to be a whirlwind romance. It's said that they bonded over their love of long-distance running, and after only knowing each other for three months, they ended up getting married. And get this, Brad was going through a divorce during all of this.
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And that divorce finalized in January of 2022, and February is when he and Christy got married. And knowing what we know now, I've got to say I'm very curious about how his marriage was with his ex-wife and what led to that ending and everything. You know, I can't speak on what I don't know, but I don't know. I feel like there's probably more to that story as well.
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But Brad and Christy ended up having a super small wedding ceremony. And then the following day, they hosted a reception at a historic inn called the James Lee House. And their wedding was actually the first time that a lot of her friends were meeting him.
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And I don't know if in that short of a time frame, her friends and family were, you know, really able to get a read on him or get a true sense of who he was. But they all said that Christy just seemed really happy. And of course, all they wanted was for her to be happy. And as far as we know, Christy was happy.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And she was also super excited about her honeymoon that they were planning to go on in July. and it was going to be a very, very nice honeymoon. So several of her friends have now spoken out in the aftermath of all of this, saying that Christy really couldn't wait to start this next chapter of her life. And it wasn't just their honeymoon, of course.
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Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
She was also excited to come back to Memphis afterwards, where they had just bought a new home, and they were hoping to start a family. But Christy really never got the chance to do any of that, including enjoy her honeymoon, because she never made it back from that trip. On July 7th of 2022, Christy and Brad flew out to Turtle Island, which is in Fiji.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much as always for joining me. I'm so happy to have you here. My co-host is not with us today. My cat Lily, I love her so dearly and I'm very sad about this, but she is, it's really not that big of a deal, but I know pet owners understand.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And let me tell you, from the pictures and videos I have seen of Turtle Island or Fiji in general, this place is unbelievably beautiful. I mean, the resort alone looks straight out of a screensaver. It reminds me of like a white lotus type resort. Super, super fancy, very high end, lots of coin to go there. I mean, everything that you would picture Fiji to be, that's what this place is.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Gorgeous turquoise water, warm sandy beaches, private bungalows, the whole nine yards. And if any of you guys know the older movie Blue Lagoon, Turtle Island is actually where it was filmed. And I know that this is actually a very controversial film now with the main character being 14 years old and practically naked the whole film.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
But yeah, just wanted to give you a little bit more reference about where the honeymoon was. And when I tell you guys this place was exclusive, it was exclusive. Turtle Island is really small. It's actually only 500 acres. And the only people on the island are actually guests of the resort and staff who live there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And guests are limited to 14 couples at a time because they actually only offer 14 private bungalows. And like I said, this place is... As you can imagine, extremely expensive. The minimum per night cost is $2,500, but that's if you only go with the most basic package, which is pretty mind-blowing to think about $2,500 per night, let alone that being the... bottom-of-the-barrel package.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
On the higher end of things, you could be spending twice that much per night, and there's a five-night minimum. Plus, there's only one week out of the year where families are allowed to go, so it's almost always just groups of 14 couples. And this place is so bougie that when you stay there, you actually get your own personal butler, or maybe concierge isn't the right word.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
I think it's really just referred to as a butler that's dedicated to you and making your trip amazing. They plan out all of your meals and activities, they clean your bungalow while you're away for the day doing whatever, and they're there if you need anything at any time of the day. So to be going there for their honeymoon was exciting for them, to say the least.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And it's also been reported that Christy's parents actually paid for their trip to Turtle Island, and also that Turtle Island was somewhere that her parents have gone before. So My guess, if all of that is true, is that it might have been sort of a wedding present to them or something like that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Christy is said to have done a lot of luxury traveling in her life with her mom growing up, but as for Brad, I'm not sure what his travel history was. What's strange, though, is that it's been reported, keyword reported, of course. I've just got to say there's a lot of details in this case that are not fully confirmed, but going off of what has been reported...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
Brad's first wedding was in Fiji as well. And I've even seen a few sources saying that he had been to the same resort with his ex-wife. Which, if that's true, it's wild to think that he would want to go back a second time with his now second wife. And if I were Christy in that situation, that would make me feel really weird. I mean, maybe some people wouldn't care about something like that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
She had to go under today and have a couple of teeth pulled and I'm sure she is not very happy right now because she is currently in recovery at the vet and we're about to pick her up. And yeah, she just obviously couldn't be here today. But my new co-host, well, temporary co-host for the day, Lucy, my dog, my beautiful dog, Lucy, decided to join us. And she's being such a good girl.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
And I don't even know if she knew that. But I just thought that was such a strange detail. And it is a detail that I will be bringing up later on as well. But anyways, this is where they were staying. But that excitement was very short-lived because less than 48 hours after they arrived... She was murdered.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
It was July 9th, which was a Saturday, and that was supposed to be the start of their third day on the island. This was their second full day, but technically third day overall, if that makes sense. So on this third day of their honeymoon, their butler noticed that it was kind of strange that they failed to show up to breakfast that day. Now, of course, it wasn't a huge deal.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
I'm sure this happens all the time. They're on their honeymoon after all, so maybe they're sleeping in or, you know, enjoying their honeymoon. And I don't think they thought too much of it at the time. But then they missed their scheduled lunch, which was terrible. Definitely a little bit bizarre.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
However, again, people do whatever they want to do on their trips, especially when you're paying this much money. And so I don't think their butler was thinking this was anything to be alarmed about at this point in time. So he went on with his day as normal, which included going to clean their bungalow. Now, he had been there earlier that morning, but he saw the do not disturb sign on the door.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Wife Killed on Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees on Kayak?!
So he didn't disturb. He didn't go in. But this time he did. And when he did, right off the bat, he didn't see anything immediately concerning. The room was a little bit messy, so he started cleaning it up. But then by the time he got to the bathroom, that's when he saw her. Christy's body was in the bathroom.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Das ist einer der besten Disney-Movies jemals und ist so beeindruckend. Aber wie Sie deutlich sehen können, liebt Baron seinen Sohn so sehr. Und der Fakt, dass er Geld in eine Vertrauen, um ihn zu schützen, zeigt wirklich nur, dass sein Sohn's Wellbeing immer ein Priorität für Baron war, von Anfang an. Aber die Wahrheit ist, dass das Geld nicht genug ist, um Eric für immer zu kümmern.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und es ändert nicht den Fakt, was passiert ist und wie es komplett vorhanden war. Wegen ihrer grossen Verzweiflung braucht Eric um die Uhr Aufmerksamkeit, die er dankbar ist. Baron hat sich immer darauf eingelassen, ihn zu geben. Now Sharon, on the other hand, not so much.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
In the year or so after he was born, she was going through a period of depression, which definitely can happen after giving birth. And of course, while I have sympathy for anyone experiencing postpartum depression, at the end of the day, she was neglecting the very specific type of care that her child desperately needed. And on top of that, she also wasn't being faithful to Baron.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
So in 2015, he decided that it would be... Ein guter Zeitpunkt, um ihre Beziehung zu beenden. Und nicht nur für sich selbst, sondern für den besten Interesse seines Sohnes. Und er wusste auch, dass es in Erics besten Interesse wäre, wenn er sein primärer Anwesender wäre. Jedoch, als er all das Sharon erzählt hat, resultierte es in einem großen Kampf, wo die Nachbarn die Polizei anrufen mussten.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und vergesst das, ihr Leute. Oh mein Gott, das ist mir schrecklich. Aber als die Offiziere kamen, begann Sharon falsche Angelegenheiten von Sharon zu verurteilen. Nicht nur sie, sondern auch ihr Sohn. Und ich kann es nicht genug stressen. Diese Begrüßungen waren völlig unabhängig. Und das hat sie nicht stoppen lassen, sie zu machen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und so hat es schlussendlich zu einer Saga von Ereignissen geführt, die nicht nur die Begrüßung seines Sohnes verloren hat, sondern auch die Begrüßung seines Sohnes. Now, something that Baron and I spoke a lot about when we were on the phone the other day is that he feels that this never would have happened if the roles were reversed.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Take out your phone or if you're on the computer and go to his Instagram. If you are on Instagram, go to his social media. I will put his handles up on the screen. It will also be in the description box. His Instagram handle is Baron, B-A-R-O-N-B-L-I dot C-K-M-D.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
I mean, being a man in this situation, the officer didn't look for proof of Sharon's claims and she basically was able to say whatever she wanted and the officer just... took her at her word. And I want to be very clear here that it is super important that we believe victims of domestic violence, but women are not the only victims.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And I don't think that is something we talk enough about in society. Men can be victims too. And in this case, Baron was a victim who was painted to be the perpetrator. And At the root of it all, what is so heartbreaking is that the person who really suffered the most was Eric. In the first three months that he was in her care full time, he was hospitalized five times.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And keep in mind that while his condition is serious, it's not like he was always in and out of hospitals. And obviously, this concerned Baron a lot. I mean, that's putting it lightly. He was very upset, very angry, and...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
really felt helpless in this situation and to make matters worse when he would go and see eric at the hospital sharon would lie to the security and tell them that he wasn't allowed to even be around his son and they did end up kicking him out which prevented him from seeing eric at all which is heartbreaking to me because this man like i've already said probably several times at this point loves his child more than anything in the world and would do anything for him
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
So for him to be denied access to him in the hospital when he needs that love from his parent and support is just devastating. And you'll hear Baron explain this in a minute, but on top of it all, it got to a point where the support payments and the court fees became too much to keep up with and he was somewhere between $12,000 and $14,000 behind.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And he was told if he didn't pay it by December, he was going to be sent to jail. So he had to make the incredibly hard choice of leaving Washington because he knew that he wasn't going to be able to fight for his son from behind bars.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und ich hoffe wirklich, dass ihr euch in großen Nummern für ihn auswählen könnt und ihm das Follower geben, um seine Botschaft zu erhöhen und mehr Menschen zu erreichen. Und am Ende dieses Episodes werde ich euch erklären, warum es so wichtig ist, dass wir Baron unterstützen, weil was er tut, ist... Ich hoffe, es hat euch gefallen. Bis zum nächsten Mal.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And in doing that, he knew that people were going to think that he was abandoning his son. But let me tell you, that could not be further from the truth. Who doesn't love the good things in life? I certainly do. I mean, I enjoy a little luxury, but I don't like paying the high prices for it. But that all changed when I discovered Quince.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Now, I am 100% serious when I say that Quince has really become my go-to for luxury essentials at an affordable price. It's become one of my favorite brands. I've turned so many friends and family on to Quince. If you haven't heard of it,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Quince offers a range of high quality items at prices within reach, like 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters from $50, washable silk tops and dresses, organic cotton sweaters and 14 karat gold jewelry. And the best part, all Quince items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
By partnering directly with top factories, Quince cuts out the cost of the middleman and then passes those savings on to us. And another great part about Quince is they only work with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. And I just love that. I have so many favorites from Quince. I've got to say their yoga pants are awesome.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
I love their thermals. I love their jewelry. I love their bags and wallets. We've recently got a new duvet cover from Quince. And oh my gosh, this thing is beautiful, but also so comfy, so soft, washes really well, holds up. And I think that's the Quince quality too. I have never had a Quince piece that becomes destroyed in the wash, which I think is the true test of quality.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und despite all of that, he has remained so resilient and so kind and just a good human. And people like that just inspire me beyond words. So Baron was born in July of 1972 in Thailand. But when he was young, his family moved to Hawaii. And it was there that he was put into foster care after being abused by both of his parents.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
So give yourself the luxury that you deserve with Quince. Go to quince.com slash tckr for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. That's q-u-i-n-c-e dot com slash tckr to get free shipping and 365-day returns. Once again, quince.com slash tckr. Leaving Washington was a strategic move to be able to regroup and prepare to get his son back for good. And Vegas was where Baron decided to go.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And a big reason that he was able to gain the strength to keep fighting was because of one special person who I've already mentioned, Didi.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
So like you just heard, Baron was still very determined to get back custody of his son, even though he himself was still trying to get back on his feet. And in May of 2017, an opportunity presented itself. He got a call from CPS saying that Eric had been placed into a foster home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And I just want to start off by really emphasizing that the woman whose care Eric was placed in was an absolute saint. I got the opportunity to learn about her more from Baron when we spoke. And her name is Denise and he could have not said nicer things about her. I mean, just raved about her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
In fact, he said that she will always be a mom to Eric in a way because of how well she cared for him and how close the two of them got. Ja, und wir haben auch viel Zeit darüber verbracht, wie unfreundlich rar das ist. Ich meine, ich denke, dass die meisten Menschen verstehen, dass es große Probleme in der Pflegeversorgung gibt. Und schade ist, dass viele Leute es für die falschen Gründe tun.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Sie tun es für den Geld. Und die Kinder, die in diese Häuser gesetzt werden, die falschen Häuser... Untertitelung. BR 2018 und du machst es, um die richtigen Gründe zu tun. Glück auf dich, denn oftmals kann es nicht einfach sein, aber du machst so einen massiven Einfluss auf diese Kinder.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Aber wie ich gesagt habe, ist es leider sehr selten, dass Kinder in ein Förderhaus gesetzt werden, mit Förderern, die sich wirklich darum kümmern und es für die richtigen Gründe tun. Und das ist eine der vielen Dinge, die Baron wirklich versucht, Aufmerksamkeit zu vermitteln, weil... Yeah, a lot of foster parents are not like Denise at all.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
In Baron's own personal experience, he was placed into 17 different foster homes and only a small percentage, a small handful of those homes he actually felt supported in. Und er ist definitiv nicht allein. Es gibt so viele Leute, die ähnliche Erfahrungen mit dem, was er durchgeführt hat, teilen. Und die Realität ist, dass das ein Thema sein könnte.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und ich bin sicher, dass es einige von Ihnen da sind, die durch das Pflege-System durchgekommen sind und es nicht zuerst kennen. Und ich würde gerne von Ihnen in den Kommentaren hören und mehr von dieser Konversation starten. Und ich werde später mehr darüber sprechen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Aber unter den vielen Problemen mit dem Pflege-System gibt es eine große Unwahrheit von Schutz, die Kinder wie Baron und Eric in unglaublich vulnerable Positionen verursacht. Glücklicherweise hatte Eric eine tolle Vizepräsidentin und danke Gott für das, weil sie nur gehört hat, wie er in ihrer Beziehung begonnen hat, was ich sicherlich überwältigen solltet.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Während Baron immer noch keine Verwaltung hatte, hatte Sharon einen In-Haus-Vizepräsidenten und dieser Vizepräsident fand Eric kaum noch lebendig, kaum noch atmen. Und trotzdem hat Sharon entschieden, an der Zeit noch in die Schule zu gehen. Und weil er so schwer war, hoffentlich hat dieser Vizepräsident sofort 9-1-1 angerufen und ihn dann in den Krankenhaus gerufen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Well, while he was there, CPS started an investigation and found out that Sharon had tried to order a do not resuscitate and a tracheotomy for Eric during one of his many hospital visits in her care. And the hospital staff, of course, I'm sure they were very confused by this, and they basically told her that she could not do that. Und klar, Sharon ist jemand, der das Nichts nicht mag.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Also ging sie und brachte ihn zu zwei anderen Krankenhäusern, die ihr das selbe erzählte. Und als diese beiden Krankenhäuser zu einem anderen gesprochen haben, fühlten sie sich, als wäre das ganze Ding wirklich seltsam.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und ich bin sehr gespannt, wie all eure Gedanken darüber sind, weil, meiner Meinung nach, es ist bizarr und wirklich, wirklich schrecklich, weil Eric nicht in irgendeinem medizinischen Zustand war, wo ein DNR oder Tracheotomie notwendig wäre. Und so, nach der Sicht auf die Situation als Ganzes, CPS bestätigte, dass Eric nicht sicher war in der Behandlung von Sharon.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und so endete er in Denise's Behandlung, seiner Vaterin. So endete CPS mit dem Anruf von Baron und dem Anruf, ob er Eric anrufen kann. Und um es klar zu machen, hatte es nichts mit Denise's Behandlung als Vaterin zu tun, aber... Obviously, at the end of the day, it's best for him to be with a biological parent.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
They specifically told him that if he was able to establish medical care in Vegas, then they would have someone bring him down. And I just loved what Barron's response to this was, because he knew that his son already had an established team of doctors at Seattle Children's Hospital.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
So instead of having Eric come to them, he, Didi, Sophia and Ethan all moved up to Bellevue, Washington to go to him. So that right there just shows you what a dedicated and selfless parent Baron is. And also I want to shout out Didi, Ethan and Sophia for making that move as well, uprooting their lives because they knew it was going to be best for Eric.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
What sucks though is he wasn't given custody of Eric right off the bat. A judge had him and Sharon go through a dependency case where both of them would be given partial custody and a decision would be ultimately made about which parent was a better fit. Und das ging für etwa zwei Jahre.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und sie mussten eigentlich Verhandlungen an der lokalen Polizistation machen, weil sich so hostile Dinge zwischen ihnen geworden sind. Und schau dir das an. Sharon wollte nicht, dass Eric physisch zu Baron übergebracht wird, also würde sie ihn an den Boden legen. Und das würde in der Parkplatte der Polizistation passieren.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Also ist es wild für mich, dass es zwei Jahre dauerte, um zu entscheiden, dass er der bessere Fitt war, weil es so klar ist. Aber das ist, wie lange es dauerte. Vielen Dank. Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung. BR 2018 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Hallo, alle, und willkommen zurück zu True Crime with Kendall Rae. Vielen Dank, wie immer, für's Zusehen heute. Und wenn ihr neu auf dem Show seid, dann willkommen. Ich bin froh, euch hier zu haben. Und Leute, heute bin ich so gespannt, so ehrgeizig, dass ich in die Geschichte springe, die ich euch erzählen werde, weil das ist die Geschichte eines Überlebens.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Now, when Baron was 22 years old, he was still living in Hawaii. But in the aftermath of the Gulf War, as tourism dipped in the state, he decided he wanted to try living somewhere new. So he took a leap and ended up buying a one-way ticket to Las Vegas, along with a one-week stay at the California Hotel.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And his friends sort of thought he was a little crazy at the time because he didn't really think through anything beyond that. But it all ended up working out. He first got there in 1994 and eventually he got a job working as a dealer at a casino. And as you can imagine, or maybe you know from personal experience, this is a very social job, which led to Baron meeting all types of people.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Für ihn war die Idee, ihm ein Foto zu schicken, einfach nicht der Botschaft, die er ihnen hören wollte. Und diese Botschaft ist wirklich sein Motto geworden, nämlich, das Leben kann mich schlagen, aber es kann mich nicht schlagen. Das ist etwas, was wir alle jeden Tag in unseren Denken behalten sollten. Und wenn es eine Sache ist, in der ich mir sicher bin,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
It's that nothing will ever keep Baron Lee down. He has exhibited so much strength throughout all of this and not just in terms of the shooting. Because before getting shot, the accusations made by his ex-wife stripped him of everything he had. Not to mention the fact that he was abused by his parents and went through 17 different foster homes.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
But none of that has stopped him from fighting for what he knows is right. And in all honesty, Baron has said that being shot nine times is actually not the worst thing that's ever happened to him. In fact, he actually called it a relief because it meant that people would finally believe the truth that he had been the victim all along.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
When he was shot, he may not have known the identity of his attacker, but he was confident that only one person could have been behind it. And that was his ex-wife, Sharon Kelly. She was the only person who had the motive. And luckily, the investigation led police right to her. So let's talk about it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
As soon as first responders and police arrived on scene, one of the major priorities, besides obviously saving Baron's life, was finding the shooter. Because of course, for all they knew, this was an armed gunman, on the loose, and that is a major public safety concern. Their special operations group was even called and they spread out all over, trying to track down this shooter.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Now for context, Baron and his family were living at the overlook at Lakemont Apartments. And there's this staircase that leads down to a tunnel, and then that tunnel opens up to a shopping complex and a park. And a witness actually told police that they saw someone running in that direction shortly after the shooting, so this was an area that they primarily focused their search.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Leider fanden sie niemanden und bemerkten schnell, dass es nicht ein randomer Angriff war. Einige Units kanvassen das Gebiet, andere verarbeiteten die Szene, und die Leute auf der Szene bemerkten, dass es nicht wirklich ein randomer Angriff war. If this had been something like a robbery gone wrong, you would expect things to have been stolen, right?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
But Baron had two phones on him, his wallet, his car keys and valuable jewelry. And on top of that, both a witness and Baron later told police that they saw the shooter picking up some of the spent shell casings. And your typical shooter doesn't do that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Then they had a police canine come in and the dog tracked the scent from the parking lot where Baron was shot to the lower parking lot by the park. And the dog stopped very abruptly in that lower lot. And that indicated to them that the shooter got into a car at that point and fled, almost like they had an escape plan. So now they had to consider that someone wanted him dead. But who?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And personally, when I talked to him... I could just tell that this was a great position for him because he is a very social and talkative person who is filled with interesting things to say. And he's just, like I said earlier, very kind. So I think he thrived in that environment. And in 2001, he ended up meeting a woman named Didi. Now, Didi was originally from Thailand, just like him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Well, according to Didi, who spoke with investigators while Baron was in surgery, Sharon was the only person who didn't get along with him. And she explained that his ex-wife might have been trying to get back at him for gaining custody of Eric. Plus, if we're talking about motive here, there was that hefty malpractice trust fund that was set up in his name.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
So, I mean, logically speaking, it was the only thing that really made sense. However, once Baron was out of surgery, he explained that it couldn't have been Sharon who pulled the trigger. Now, he wasn't sure if the person who shot him was male or female, but he was certain that this person was thin. And that just doesn't match her description.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
But, just like Didi had said, he told investigators that she is the only person he thinks would have the motive to do it. And they also did have to consider Didi's ex-husband, who I guess there was bad blood with, but he was very quickly... Aber am Ende des Tages zeigten die Zeichen wirklich nur auf eine Person, aber offensichtlich sind Zeichen und Beweise nicht genau das gleiche.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Also mussten die Bewerber nur noch den Fall arbeiten, um zu sehen, wo es sie führte. Und letztendlich kamen es zu Sicherheitskameras, die sie in die richtige Richtung führten. Als sie das Gebäude anbauten, fanden die Bewerber eine Kamera, die zu einem Gebäude montiert wurde. Und das Gebäude hat einfach einen der Hauptstraßen in und aus dem niederen Parkbereich gefasst.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und als sie durch die Fotos ging, sahen sie, dass es ein bisschen weniger als zwei Stunden vor dem Foto war, dass ein maronenfarbener Ford F-150 in den Parkbereich gefahren ist. Und dann könnte man einen schmalen Figuren sehen, der auf der Straße nach der Richtung von Barons Wohnung geht. Das allein war nicht allzu seltsam.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Aber dann, eine Stunde und 50 Minuten später, könnte man die gleiche Person sehen, die auf der Straße läuft. von der Apartment, und dann könnte das selbe Fahrzeug gesehen werden, das in die andere Richtung aussteigt, von der es kam, was natürlich nicht wie eine Überraschung fühlte.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und was auch keine Überraschung war, war der Fakt, dass das, wo dieser Fahrzeug wahrscheinlich parkiert wurde, das selbe Gebiet war, wo dieser Kaninchen den Schützern geschenkt hat. So, assuming that this was connected, investigators had to try and figure out who this truck belonged to. And using traffic cameras in the area, they were able to do just that.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
They basically were able to track that same truck across multiple cameras and a few things stood out. I mean, starting with the fact that there were not one, but two people in the truck.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And truthfully, they couldn't really see the driver all that well, but they could see that the guy in the passenger seat was wearing the same white shirt as the guy who ran away from the apartment complex minutes after the shooting. And they also saw that he was wearing what looked like a gold chain necklace and that he wasn't wearing his seatbelt correctly. And this is very interesting.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
He did have his seatbelt clipped in, but the part that goes across your chest was tucked under his arm. And this will be very important later on, so we'll come back to that. But the other key thing that they saw was the truck's license plate, which showed that it belonged to a guy named Arthur Mendez in Mount Vernon, Washington.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
However, they learned that it wasn't Arthur who typically drove that car. It was his 17-year-old son, Quincy. But the strange thing was, neither Arthur nor Quincy had an obvious connection to Baron. And assuming that the driver of this truck was connected to the shooting, you would expect that there would at least be something.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
So, the special ops team began following the truck over the next few days to see where it went, hoping that it would lead them to some more answers. And they also decided it was time to go ahead and pay a visit to Sharon. And that whole interaction really rubbed investigators the wrong way.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And she had just moved to Vegas after graduating college in Canada. And Baron was one of the first friends that she made when she came to the States. Und ja, ich habe Freunde gesagt, und es wird alles ein bisschen vollständig werden, aber ich wollte sie direkt aus dem Grunde erwähnen, weil sie eine sehr kritische Rolle spielt, um die Leben von Baron zu retten. In mehr Wegen als nur einer.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
What happened was, they went to her house and they knocked on the door and explained that they were from Bellevue investigating a crime. And mind you, they didn't provide any specifics at first. Yet her response to them was something like, the only person I know in Bellevue is my ex-husband and I have no idea what's going on with him.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
But they never said that this had anything to do with Baron in the first place. Now, they did eventually tell her that it was about him, but for her to independently bring that up on her own felt weird. And she also didn't mention Eric, her son, who also lives in Bellevue. And not only that, she was very quick to bring up the idea that Baron also had people in Nevada who Er hatte Probleme mit ihm.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und, you know, obviously she's trying to shift their attention in another direction. Then, as expected, she just decided to stop answering questions altogether. So they had to walk away. But luckily, though, they didn't need her cooperation to find Baron's shooter. Am 15. Juli trug das Special Ops Team Quincy, der Teenager, in seinem Truck und sie führten ihn zu einem Gasstationen.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und in dem Auto mit ihm war ein weiterer Teenager, der soeben mit einem Gold-Chain-Necklace und seinem Seeltuch unter seinem Arm war. Und das war wirklich interessant für mich und hat mir ehrlich gesagt ein bisschen Aufmerksamkeit gegeben. Aber ich glaube, es ist wirklich selten, dass Leute das Seeltuch unter ihrem Arm tragen.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Die Investigatorin, die ich darüber gesprochen habe, sagte, dass es weniger als 1% der Bevölkerung ist, die das tut. Also ist es eine sehr spezifische Sache, um eine Person zu tun. Sicherlich sieht man die Person aus, die von Baron's Apartment weggerannt wurde, nachdem er geschossen wurde. Und es war nicht schwer, herauszufinden, wer dieser Junge war.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Also, nachdem sie nach Quincy's High School ging und der Fakultät ein Foto des anderen Mannes zeigte, lernten sie, dass es tatsächlich 17-jähriger Josef Goode war. Was interessant war, war, dass neither of these boys known to be troublemakers were.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Quincy was even planning to join the military after he turned 18, but that dream of his would never come true, because police suspected that he was the getaway driver in a murder attempt. And that of course would mean that Joseph was the shooter. And of course, this was just a theory at first, but it was confirmed after investigators got a search warrant for their electronic data.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Nun, natürlich dauert es lange, Monate von jemandem elektronische Daten durchzuführen, und wir sprechen von Teenagern, die immer auf ihren Telefonen sind und alle ihre Geräte, also dauerte es drei Monate, sie durchzuführen, aber sie haben einige ziemlich unvergessliche Beweise gefunden.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Es scheint, dass Joseph eine E-Mail in seinem E-Mail von einem Website namens BrickHouse Security hatte, das eine Firma ist, die Tracking Geräte verkauft. And this didn't make a whole lot of sense to investigators at the time. I mean, why would a 17-year-old need a tracking device?
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
I mean, unless your parents set you up with one for whatever reasons, but it turns out that it wasn't necessarily his. Listen to this. The investigators ended up going back to Barron's car, which was still in their possession, and right there on the ground was this tracking device. It had been taped to the bottom of his car, and while it was sitting in evidence, the device had fallen off.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And after getting a search warrant for the data on that specific tracker, they learned that it was registered to none other than Sharon Kelly. Shocker. Finally, it gave them the connection that they had suspected was there all along. And get this. The device was actually purchased back in 2015. And it didn't end up being activated until two weeks before the shooting.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Aber um es klar zu machen, am 1. They were just friends. Didi ended up getting married and had two kids in Vegas, Sophia and Ethan. And in October of 2010, Baron got married himself. He ended up marrying a woman named Sharon Kelly, who he first started talking to online in late 2008.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And then only four days after the shooting, the device was deactivated. They also found texts between Sharon and Joseph about payment for the job. She was going to pay him $13,000 to kill Baron, but because he wasn't successful, she wasn't going to give it to him at all. Now, Joseph was apparently determined and said that he would try again. Thankfully, though, that didn't happen.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And luckily, all of this was enough for investigators to finally make the arrests. Am 8. Oktober wurden alle drei Anwälte verhaftet und die Anwälte haben es gleichzeitig gemacht, um niemanden zu verhindern, den anderen auszutippen. Und es ging langweilig. Alle drei von ihnen wurden ohne Probleme verhaftet und Suchen wurden sogar an jeder ihrer Häuser durchgeführt.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Aber letztendlich haben sie eigentlich nie die Waffe, die für Barron verwendet wurde, zurückgebracht. Bis heute. Sie haben ein paar Geld gefunden und sogar ein Burner-Phone bei Sharon's Place, aber nicht die Waffe selbst. Es war nicht ihr Platz, es war nicht der Platz der Jungs, also wer weiß, was sie damit gemacht haben.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Now, as you can imagine, as a parent of a teenager, to find out that your child was involved in something like this had to have been incredibly shocking. And Quincy's parents were very, very shocked at the news. And they thought that police had to have been mistaken, but they weren't.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Their son and his friend were involved in an attempted murder plot, which is why they both were booked on the charge of attempted murder in the first degree. And I'm sure you're wondering, how did Sharon know these boys to begin with? It turns out, her teenage brother went to the same high school as them. And Joseph was the one she connected with.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
She offered him $13,000 to kill Baron, and he eventually roped Quincy into it, and he agreed to be the getaway car for a cut of the money. Which is just so mind-blowing. I know teenagers don't have...
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
You know, there lack some critical thinking skills when you're that young, but to throw your life away or to risk throwing your life away and to take someone else's life away for $13,000, actually less because they were going to be splitting it however they had agreed, it's just so mind-blowing to me. And we know all of this because Quincy just flat out confessed.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
The other two stayed completely silent, but he told investigators everything and even took responsibility for his role right off the bat. And given the threat of what they all were facing in terms of jail time, all three of them ended up just pleading guilty in exchange for lesser sentences.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
They didn't officially meet until January of 2009, which is when she drove down from Washington to Vegas to meet him. But things went well enough that she ended up moving to Vegas, where the two of them ended up getting married on October 10th of 2010. But by January of 2011, they ended up leaving Vegas and going back to Washington, where Sharon was originally from.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And another detail about this case that just really warmed my heart and made me admire Baron even more is he actually advocated for the boys to get lesser sentences. He didn't want their lives to be ruined over a horrific mistake, but a mistake. And he knew that they were very young and yeah, he just didn't want to see that happen. So that level of forgiveness just...
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Baron ist ein echter Salz auf der Erde, ein rarer Typ von Mensch. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich diesen Typ von Stärke und Vergnügung hätte, wenn ich in seinen Schuhen wäre. Also endete Quincy mit dem Verurteilung, dass er in der ersten Klasse verurteilt wurde. Und er wurde 8 Jahre und 10 Monate verurteilt.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und Joseph verurteilt, dass er verurteilt wurde, dass er verurteilt wurde, dass er verurteilt wurde, dass er verurteilt wurde, dass er verurteilt wurde, Now, as for Sharon, who we have zero empathy for, she pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit murder in the second degree, resulting in a very underwhelming sentence of only 165 months or just under 14 years behind bars.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Which, when I heard that, my jaw was on the floor. I felt instantly just filled with rage. How could someone only get such a low amount of time for something that horrific, especially given her history? Und auch bei Barron, das Wort ist nicht fast genug. Aber am Ende des Tages, das Gute hier, ist, dass das sie hinter den Bars hinterlässt, bis zu Erics 18.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Geburtstag, was im Endeffekt bedeutet, dass sie nicht Zugang zu seinem Vertrauen erzielen kann.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And it was there that they had their son, Eric Dragon Lee. Now, he was born in April of 2014, and he's actually going to be a focal point of this episode today. Und seit wir Baron hier heute haben, dachte ich, es wäre besser für ihn, zu erklären, was zu Eric passiert ist. Aber zuerst gebe ich dir ein bisschen Backstory.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Which even though she deserved so much more time, that alone, the fact that she can't get access to the trust, is such a massive relief. I mean, this woman is a monster and really the shooting is just the tip of the iceberg. I mean, it goes so much deeper than that. Obviously the shooting was the tipping point and very scary and undeniably big part of this.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
But one of our biggest goals with this episode was to share with you all that there is so much beneath the surface that led to that point. And part of that is the reality that Eric was always her target. Es ist nicht zu enttäuschen, dass Baron eine klare Verletzung in all dem ist. Ich meine, er wurde neunmal geschossen, um alles zu tun, was er konnte, um seinen Sohn zu schützen.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Aber es war Eric's Trust Fund, das sie wollte. Und Baron war nur jemand, der in der Weise war, dass sie das bekommen. Ehrlich gesagt, diese ganze Geschichte ist fast unglaublich. Und es ist ein großer Grund, warum ich Baron wollte, um auf die Show zu kommen und euch darüber zu erzählen. Ich meine, wer könnte diese Geschichte besser erklären als er?
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
So we also wanted to take the time to share what he has been doing as a result of all of this and highlight the major systemic issues that allowed this to happen in the first place. Specifically as it relates to the custody dispute with Eric, the baseless claims made against Barron and how the system is not set up to support fathers.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Weil Sharon keine Beweise hatte, dass sie Barron von seinen Elternrechten strecken konnte und ihn zur Unabhängigkeit zwingte. Das führte zu einer kontroversen Straftat, die schlussendlich in den Schuss gelangte. Sharon manipulierte das System in ihrer Fähigkeit und es kostete fast Barron und Eric ihre Leben. Dieser ganze Fall ist sehr gelagert.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und bei jedem Lager waren Barron und Eric die Gefühle. Obviously, women and mothers are failed by our systems all the time. But Barron's case serves as a very important reminder that fathers experience the failures of the system as well. And the protections in place for fathers are not always the same as they are for mothers. Again, keyword not always.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And there are just so many issues across the board for everyone. But it's really a huge issue that he has been calling attention to and trying to advocate for. Specifically, he wants people in Washington to help support the Washington Initiative for Boys and Men in getting House Bill 1266 heard and passed to create a commission for boys and men.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
If this bill passes, boys and men will be better advocated for when laws are passed. and it will also look at current legislation and seek to make changes as well.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
This bill, along with Senate Bill 5446, will focus on policy recommendations in five areas, including education and skills, mental and physical health, fatherhood, family and relationships, jobs, careers and financial health, and experiences of males in the court system. So if you live in Washington and want to show your support for this bill, you can call or write your legislator.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Also, im Grunde, bevor ihr Sohn geboren wurde, endete Sharon in einem Argument mit ihrem OBGYN über das Gewicht, das sie während der Geburt hatte. Und weil dieses war, hat sie entschieden, Eric nicht an einem großen Krankenhaus zu geben. Und stattdessen ging sie zu einem Midwife-Birthing-Center. Und als es zu seinem eigentlichen Geburtstag kam, ging es eigentlich sehr smooth.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
As always, I'll have an example typed up in the description box of this episode or the show notes if you're listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And so that will make it really easy for you to just copy and paste unless you want to change it up or write your own. That's great, too.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And currently, no other state has a commission for boys and men, but you can still reach out to your legislators and ask for one. Barron told me that he has connected with thousands of other fathers who are in very similar situations to what he went through. Und er hat das durch Unterstützungsgruppen gemacht. Und das ist etwas, was Männer weltweit erleben.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und er will auch Menschen ermutigen, ihre Repräsentanten zu petitionieren, um einen 50-50-Parentenplan zu kämpfen, sodass Kinder gleich Zeit mit beiden Eltern haben und weder Eltern verabredet werden. Und offensichtlich geht das wirklich ohne zu sagen, aber das ist, wenn es keine Beweise gibt, dass Verletzungen oder ungeheuerliche Bedingungen auf jeder Seite sind.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
In Barons Case, the false allegations made against him were believed. And then when they realized he was a capable father, he still wasn't able to get back complete custody. He was deemed guilty until proven innocent. And not having fair due process is something that is not unique to him. And he's hoping to change that for other fathers going forward.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Now I'll put more information about this initiative in the show notes or description box. But if you guys have any questions, Baron is very willing to connect with anyone out there who wants more information or wants to learn more. You can always reach out to him online. You know, just through his social media, he says DMs are the best way to do so.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
So once again, pull out your device, find Baron on social media, please give him a follow. This man deserves it and his content is excellent. He's planning to do much more with that. So help him spread the word and give him that support. It would mean a lot to me and I know it would mean a lot to him. And another way that you can help him is by supporting the nonprofit that he co-founded.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Sie war nur 30 Minuten im Arbeit und er wurde perfekt gesund geboren. Jedoch, nur ein paar Tage später, als sie ihn vom Krankenhaus nach Hause genommen haben, haben sie bemerkt, dass er anfing, grün zu werden und Gehör zu entwickeln. Now this is something that is actually very common.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
und es heißt Route 21. Ich liebe es wirklich, was dieses Non-Profit tut, und es stammt von seinen eigenen Erfahrungen im Pflegesystem. Zusammen haben sie eine Bedürfnis für Kinder, die im System sind, zu mentorieren. Und wer würde das besser tun, als jemand, der schon durch das System gegangen ist?
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Also was Route 21 tut, ist, dass sie junge Ärzte bezahlen, die aus dem Pflegesystem graduiert sind, um Jugendlichen zu mentorieren, die noch aktiv in dem System sind. Und was sie wirklich tun, ist zweifelsohne. Zum einen helfen sie Kindern im System, die Fähigkeiten zu lernen, die sie brauchen, um nach der Erwachsenheit zu überleben.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und zum anderen bieten sie eine einzigartige, bezahlbare Möglichkeit für junge Ältere, die aus dem Pflegesystem ausgewachsen sind, Geld zu machen und zurückzugeben.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
doing is really really cool and unique it's a seven year program where every year they select eight kids starting their freshman year of high school and they are paired up with eight mentors and it's very new the first group of kids are actually entering their second year now but year one is all just about establishing a relationship between the child and their mentor trust is something that can be really difficult for foster kids to develop with someone new
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
for obvious reasons and so that's really the first thing that they're working on building so once a week they'll go out to breakfast with their mentor and then twice a month the whole cohort does a group outing like seeing a movie or going paintballing going go-karting and then every quarter the mentors and students will meet to learn about life skills related to their acronym which is wheels w h e e l s it stands for wealth health education emotion life skills and spiritual
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Und es ist das Curriculum, das ihre Mentoren entwickelt haben, um die Studenten für das Leben zu vorbereiten, nachdem sie aus dem Pflegeheim auswachsen. Und es war so cool, das von Barry zu lernen. Du kannst nur sagen, wie wirklich passioniert er ist, um helfen zu können. Und das ist nicht alles, was er gemacht hat. Er und sein Geschäftspartner haben auch eine generelle Kontraktionsfirma.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Which he will tell you more about in a minute. But just to give you a little background on it, basically Baron wanted to find a way to take things a step further for kids who have aged out of the system. He really does care very deeply about giving these young adults real opportunities to succeed in life. Es geht nicht nur darum, jemandem einen Hinweis oder einen Job zu geben.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
My daughter also had jaundice and was put under the lights at the hospital for a couple of days because she had a pretty severe case of it. So I know there are probably so many of you out there who understand jaundice and babies and sort of the process of dealing with it. But if you aren't familiar with it, it happens when there's an excessive buildup of bilirubin in the blood.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Er hat viel darüber gesprochen, wie wichtig es für ihn ist, dass diese jungen Männer Zielsetzungen setzen und Leidenschaft in der Leben finden und lernen, wie sie in der Arbeit navigieren und Unternehmen organisieren, damit sie einen eigenen starten können.
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Und ich habe nie die Möglichkeit gehabt, tatsächlich zu einem Überlebenden auf dem Show zu sprechen. Heute werde ich von Baron Lee, der... I can't even put into words how much respect I have for this man, how much I like him. He is an incredible human in so many different ways.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Now, I'm sure you guys feel the same way about Baron as I do. He is truly an amazing person. And once again, I just wanted to say thank you, Baron, for taking the time to come on my show. Like I said on the phone, I really hope you and I get the chance to meet in person one day. And I just... Ich glaube, du hast so viel zu bieten in diesem Weltraum und du inspirierst mich wirklich.
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Und ich meine das mit meinem ganzen Herzen. Und ich bin auch so inspiriert von allem, was Route 21 tut. Ich finde es wirklich cool. Ich würde gerne mehr Programme wie dieses auf der ganzen Welt sehen. Ich weiß, dass wahrscheinlich einige existieren, aber wir brauchen definitiv mehr. Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Und ja, du hast das richtig gehört.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And there are many different ways of reducing the levels of bilirubin. And depending on how high they are, it can require different levels of treatment. And obviously, the higher the levels, the more dangerous it can be. Well, when they noticed that Eric was developing that yellow skin that you see in babies with jaundice, they called the birthing center to ask what to do.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Barron hat noch nicht legalen Behandlung seines Sohnes. Er hat physische Behandlung, aber nicht legalen Behandlung verhindert, dass er nicht möglich ist, wichtige Entscheidungen über Erics Leben zu machen, wie seine Gesundheit, die er tun muss.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
So I'll be sure to have that link tree in the show notes or description box of this episode. And I really want to encourage you guys to follow along. Baron is constantly posting updates about his case and about Eric and all the things that he's advocating for. And I know that having support from you guys would just mean the world to him.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und sie wurden gesagt, dass sie alles, was sie tun mussten, war, Baby Eric in etwas Sonnenlicht zu legen, was ist etwas, was man oft gesagt wird, wenn wir das Krankenhaus verlassen, nachdem meine Tochter behandelt wurde und ihre Billy Rubin-Levels begonnen haben, haben sie uns gesagt, um sie etwas indirekte Sonnenlicht zu legen, weil es passiert.
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Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And also, like you heard, if you are a lawyer or know a lawyer that can potentially help him with his custody case, that would be... Ja. Und wiederum ist es ein großer Grund, warum er für die gleiche Behandlung von Männern und Mädchen antwortet. Und ich möchte euch noch einmal das Motto von Baron erinnern, das ist etwas, das ich denke, wir können alle in einer Art und Weise leben können.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Leben kann mich schlagen, aber es kann mich nicht schlagen. Und es gibt einfach etwas so Powervolles über diese Worte. Vielen Dank. Untertitelung. BR 2018
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und natürlich waren sie erstmals Eltern, also haben sie nur vertraut, dass das der beste Hinweis war. Und in vielen Fällen ist es guter Hinweis. Aber am 8. Tag war er nicht besser. In Wahrheit war es tatsächlich schlimmer und er sah sich sehr ungeheuer aus. Also haben sie ihn zu ihrem Familienarzt genommen, der Eric angeschaut hat.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Vielen Dank. Vielen Dank. Untertitelung. BR 2018
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und das erste, was er ihnen gesagt hat, war, dass sie ihn in den Unfallzimmer in Seattle Children's Hospital bringen mussten, sofort. And I want to have Baron himself explain what they learned and how that resulted in the disabilities that Eric still lives with to this day. When my daughter was younger and on the baby food train still, she was eating all kinds of veggies and loving it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
And I thought I had a miracle child. Turns out, as soon as they're a toddler, that is all over, at least for my daughter. And I know a lot of people have similar experiences. So that's why I opt for adding a children's vitamin into her diet.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
But most typical children's vitamins are basically candy in disguise, filled with two teaspoons of sugar, unhealthy chemicals and other gummy additives that growing kids should never eat.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
Und das ist der Grund, warum Haya eine super powerierte, schmutzige Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin-Vitamin Vielen Dank. Bis zum nächsten Mal.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
The story of what he went through alone when it comes to the crime that he survived, which is, you're going to just be blown away by that alone. But his entire life and the things that he is still doing to this day, he is a remarkable human and I am truly honored to get to have him here.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
H-I-Y-A-H-E-A-L-T-H dot com slash TCKR and get your kids the full body nourishment that they need to grow into healthy adults.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
truly baron thank you for taking the time to come on the show and tell your story and also spread a very multiple very important messages that i hope you guys will really take to heart and try to understand because the things that he is fighting for just are not being talked about enough i've had the opportunity to talk to him over the phone and just listening to the passion in his voice and how badly he wants to see change in the world was so inspiring and so right off the bat i'm going to ask you to
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Baron Li Survives 9 Gunshots & Is Here To Tell His Story
I'm really glad you guys got to see Eric there and I think it's very obvious how much Baron truly cares for his son, loves him more than anything in the world and would do anything to make sure that he gets the best care and is able to live the best life possible. And fun fact about Eric, I loved this, but he has seen Moana over 2,000 times, which to me...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
But the reality is, there are a lot of people who do. Now, personally, I think there's nothing wrong with using psychedelics. I'm actually very pro psychedelics. I personally... Ich denke nicht, dass ich sie an einem Musikfestival behandeln könnte, aber für viele Leute ist es eine tolle Erfahrung, aber es kann auch eine schlechte Erfahrung sein.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Ich meine, ich bin sicher, dass viele von euch da draußen schlechte Reisen hatten oder schlechte Reisen gehört haben und wissen, was passieren kann. Nun, wir wissen für einen Fakt, dass Kevin Weed getrunken hat, was sehr normal ist. Viele Leute tun das und das war kein Geheimnis für jemanden.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und ich weiß gar nicht, was Kevin, ich meine, niemand weiß, was Kevin das Wochenende gemacht hat, ob es nur Psychedelik war oder ob es etwas gefährlicher war. Ich würde dir wirklich sagen, wenn ich mehr wusste, ich versuche nicht, nichts über sein Leben zu verstecken. Wir wissen nur, ja, wir wissen es wirklich nicht. Ich habe das jetzt fünfmal gesagt, aber...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
I will warn you though, this case is frustrating and when it comes to law enforcement, don't even get me started. I mean, there were times looking into this case that I genuinely could not believe the words I was hearing coming out of the lead investigator's mouth. Es gibt viel zu sagen hier, also fangen wir an.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Für seine Familie wussten sie, was bei diesen Festivals passiert. Sein Vater sagte ihm, bevor er nach Hause ging, dass er nicht auf etwas festgehalten werden würde, was er schmerzen würde. Kevin sagte ihm sogar, dass er das nicht tun würde. Er sagte, dass er einfach hochgehen und einen guten Tag haben würde.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Ich weiß, dass, weil es die Internetseite ist, die Leute verschiedene Opinionen über Drogen im Allgemeinen haben werden und Gedanken darüber haben, ob er Drogen benutzt hat oder nicht. Und, du weißt, ich werde dich nicht stoppen, von diesen Opinionen zu haben, aber ich möchte dir erinnern, dass es sich nicht um...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Was jemand in ihrer Leben gemacht hat oder wer eine Person ist, bedeutet nicht, dass sie keine weniger wertvolle Gerechtigkeit haben. Und ich weiß, dass die meisten von euch das wissen, dass ihr mir das täglich zeigen könnt. Und das ist, weshalb ich so stolz auf meinen Publikum bin. Ich weiß, dass ihr nicht hier seid, um Verbrecher zu beurteilen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und es gibt keinen Grund, dass Kevin verurteilt werden sollte. Besonders, weil wir keine Ahnung haben, ob er Drogen gemacht hat oder nicht. Oder welche Drogen er hätte machen können, wenn er das Wochenende gemacht hätte. Wir haben einfach keine Ahnung. But as always, I just want to put out that little reminder, you know, that if you're going to leave a comment, think before you do so.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Because you never know who's going to read these comments and it's quite possible that Kevin's friends and family could read them. And another reason I bring this all up is because there was a ton of judgment from investigators, which I truly believe that investigators should not be there to judge a person on something like that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
All of that will definitely be a larger conversation later on, so I'm sort of jumping ahead, but let's get back to the timeline. So, on Monday the 2nd, the festival was over, and that's the day that people, you know, pack up and leave.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And I don't think Kevin's family was necessarily expecting to hear from him first thing in the morning, but like I mentioned earlier, he had made plans with his family right before he left. As a reminder, he told his dad he would help out with things around the house, and he told his sister Kelly that he wanted to talk about that video that she sent him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
So at the very least, both of them expected to eventually hear from him. But they didn't end up hearing from Kevin at all. But they did hear from his girlfriend, Kate. Now I'm not exactly sure what time the call came in, but that day Gary and Kathy were driving home from Kentucky when they got a call from Kate saying that Kevin was missing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Sie hat erklärt, zumindest in dieser Version ihrer Geschichte, dass gestern, der 1., sie und Kevin an einem der Festivalszene waren, als sie in einen Kampf geraten haben. Sie hat gesagt, dass er super überrascht war, und so hat er entschieden, zurück in den Tent zu gehen, um sich zu kühlen. Aber als sie später zurück in den Tent kamen, war er nicht da.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And she said at first it didn't really worry her that much because she thought he probably just went to another stage and was watching another performance or something like that. But then he didn't return that night and then he didn't return the next morning either. She told his parents that she and two other friends had tried to look for him. But eventually, they had to leave.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
I mean, as I mentioned earlier, she had two kids and she said to Gary on the phone that they looked and looked and looked, but I had to go home. And in that moment, Gary understood. From what I understand, he wasn't immediately on high alert about the situation and he figured he'd give his son a call and it would all be figured out that evening.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und wie immer werde ich anfangen, dir mehr über Kevin Graves zu erzählen und wer er war. Kevin Gary Graves wurde in Michigan geboren und geboren zu seinen Eltern Gary und Kathy. Und er hatte eine Schwester Kelly, die sechs und eine halbe Jahre älter als ihn war. Er hatte auch zwei Halbsiblinge, einen Bruder und eine Schwester aus seinem Vaters erstes Verheirat.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
But as he and Kathy were driving home from Kentucky, they weren't able to reach him. And his phone was just going straight to voicemail. But of course, his parents... Wir beginnen, uns zu interessieren. Und so, als sie es wieder nach Hause gemacht haben, endete Gary wieder an Kate zu rufen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und während dieses Rufs hat sie speziell Gary gesagt, dass sie zurück nach den Festivalgründen mit ihm gehen wollte und versuchen würde, Kevin zu suchen. Ich meine, nach allem, sie war mit ihm an dem Tag und sie wusste die Festivalgründe besser als seine Eltern. Aber einen Tag später, am 3., hat Kate Gary angerufen, dass sie bereits mit ihrem Vater da war.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Which Gary thought was kind of strange, because literally the day before she had told him that she wanted to go back up there with him. But anyway, he and his other son ended up getting in the car and they drove up to the festival grounds to meet them there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Now, when Gary and his son got there, Kate and her dad were already in Muskegon, which is about 25 minutes south of where the festival grounds were, in Rothbury. But according to a YouTube documentary that was released recently on the case, Kate, her dad, Gary and his son then proceeded to go to the festival grounds where they all began to look for him. Remember though, this was over 2,000 acres.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
So Gary and his son ended up staying through the weekend to cover as much ground as they could. And this is a bit of a tangent, but I just wanted to mention again that YouTube documentary. It's made by a small YouTube channel. And there's some great interviews with their family in it. And I definitely want to support them. So I'm going to have that link below.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
But I had to mention that there is a song in the documentary that was clearly specifically written for Kevin. And it is beautiful. I mean, it brought me to tears. And so I... Can't play the whole thing for you, but I wanted to play a little snippet of it and I suggest you go take a look at the documentary and they play it towards the end. I'm getting choked up just thinking about it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
It's such a beautiful song, so I just wanted to share.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
I couldn't find any information about who created that song, but whoever did, thank you. I'm sure it means so much to their family. Like I said, it's just beautiful. But going back to Gary and his efforts, another thing that he did, which was very smart, was try and go to the bank to see if there had been any activity on Kevin's account.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
One thing that I really respect this family for is they have always kept it real when it comes to describing Kevin. I mean, they've expressed that he wasn't perfect, of course, because who is? And he had his fair share of poor choices, especially when he was younger, as a teenager. And I mean, what teenager did not make poor choices, right? I mean, I feel like every teenager did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
The problem, though, was that Kevin and Kate shared a bank account, and since Gary wasn't listed as someone online, Die Bankmanagerin war super nett und hat ihm gesagt, dass es keine Aktivität gab. Sie hat ihn auch ein paar Tage später angerufen, als es Aktivität gab. Es scheint, dass Kate einige Karten geschrieben hat. Und als Erinnerung, Kevin und Kate haben diese Bankkarte geteilt.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und bevor Sie zu irgendwelchen Schlussfolgerungen kommen, haben alle Berichte, die ich in diesem Fall gesehen habe, gesagt, dass Kate diese Karten auf behalf von Kevin geschrieben hat. Kevin hatte ein paar Lohns raus, und so war sie beruflich mit dem Geld verwendet, um sicherzustellen, dass er nichts verursacht, wenn er zurückkehrt.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Aber es gibt definitiv noch andere Dinge, die es schwieriger zu ignorieren sind. Aber das gesagt, die Dinge mit Kate haben eigentlich angefangen, ziemlich hilfreich zu sein. Sie und sein Schwester Kelley haben sich in der Anfangszeit verabschiedet. Sie haben sich ausgesprochen, die Krankenhäuser und Gefängnisse und überall, wo sie denken, dass Kevin möglich sein könnte.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Sie hat sich auch in Facebook-Gruppen geholfen, um Leute zu suchen, die Kevin im Hintergrund ihres Festivals-Fotos sehen. Sie hat sich oft mit seiner Familie kommuniziert und hat Angst gezeigt. Alle Dinge, die lediglich dazu führten, dass sie an ihrer Seite war. Aber in den drei Wochen, nachdem Kevin verschwunden war, begannen Dinge zu wechseln.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Das war dann, als sie sich von einigen von Kevins Sachen entfernt hat und seine Familie gefragt hat, was sie wollen. Und wie Sie sich vorstellen können, war es nur drei Wochen. Und das hat seine Familie in den Mund gebracht. Sie fühlten auch, dass ihr Verhalten während einiger der Suche-Effekte etwas falsch war.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Seine Schwester sagte spezifisch, dass sie fühlte, als wäre sie ein Auferstandener, der helfen wollte, nicht jemand, der Kevin seit Jahren verheiratet hatte. Aber der große Wendepunkt, als es Kate kam, war, als sie ihre gesamte Familie plötzlich blockierte. Und ich meine, sie blockierte sie auf allem, ihre sozialen Medien, ihre Telefonnummern, alles.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Innerhalb von nur ein paar Wochen ging sie von jemandem, der an ihrer Seite war, zu jemandem, der sich gegen sie arbeitete. Zumindest ist das die Meinung von Kevins Familie. And I'm sure you're wondering why, because that's pretty strange. Why would she block his entire family? And to better explain why she blocked them, I need to go back and explain the situation with the police.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
So basically, when I started digging into this case, I realized pretty quickly that the details about him being reported missing are...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
quite confusing some sources only say that kate reported him missing on the third but in that youtube documentary i was telling you about gary and kathy talk about how they reported him missing on the second they did also mention that kate reported him missing too so i'm pretty sure it was both of them either way though that doesn't really change how this report was handled which was
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Ganz ehrlich, schrecklich. Im Grunde, lange Geschichte, als Kevins Eltern zuerst den Bericht verabschiedeten, nannten sie die Michigan State Police. Aber sie wurden gesagt, dass sie den Bericht in der Stadt, in der Kevin lebt, in Highland Township verabschieden mussten. Was keinen Sinn macht, wenn er drei Stunden von dort weg war.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
But anyway, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, who represents Highland Township, ended up being the ones investigating his disappearance. And he gave his parents the whole, he's an adult, he can leave if he wants, you know, that whole runaround. And so their family desperately fought for his case to be turned over to the state police. But that would have required the police to care.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And as you'll continue to hear throughout this episode, they just didn't. Und bevor ich mehr dazu erzähle, muss ich zuerst erklären, wie das mit Kate zu blockieren gehört. Und ich weiß, dass ich hier viel rübergekommen bin. Ich verspreche, dass das der beste Weg ist, es zu erklären, damit es Sinn macht. Ich meine, zumindest wie mein Gehirn funktioniert.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und wenn ich das sage, möchte ich es klar machen, es gab nichts Schreckliches. Aber ja, sie waren immer sehr ehrlich, dass er nicht immer die besten Entscheidungen gemacht hat. Aber das eine, was ich am meisten über Kevin gehört habe, ist, dass er nur jemand war, der ein Goldes Herz hatte. Wenn Kevin etwas gemacht hat, hat er es bis zum vollsten Ausdruck gemacht.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Also bevor sie sie blockiert hat, als sie immer noch hilfreich war, hat sie seiner Schwester Kelly die Namen und Telefonnummern der beiden Menschen gegeben, mit denen sie zum Festival ging. Justin and Anna. Well, she had communicated with them and generally speaking, felt like they were answering her basic questions.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And around that time, Kelly also spoke to the lead investigator on the case, Sergeant David Bach. And when she was speaking to him, she mentions these two other friends, Justin and Anna. You know, the people that he went to the festival with. And you guys... The investigator didn't even know that he had gone to the festival with anyone else. He thought it was just him and Kate.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Which means not only did his girlfriend Kate not even tell him, but he also didn't even bother to ask. And so around this time, Kelly is realizing that investigators really... Didn't seem to be doing their job. And so she started kind of pressing on his girlfriend Kate a little bit more. And part of that was asking her if she would help them get access to Kevin's phone records.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Now, Kevin was actually on a phone plan with Kate and her mom. And at first she said she would ask her mom. But then they all just get blocked. And to this day, at least to my understanding, and this blows my mind, Kevin's phone records have never been looked into. Not by Kate, not by her mom, and not by police.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And of course, after she just randomly blocks their entire family, that's when the tides really started to turn. And, I mean, I won't speak for their family, but the vibe that I grasped is that at this point they really started to question her a lot. However, and I want to be super clear here, Kate has never been named a suspect in Kevin's case.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And law enforcement seems to have always had her back. And in my opinion, and again, this is my opinion, the people investigating this case, I don't think ever really took Kevin's disappearance that seriously at all. And I think they failed to consider some pretty important factors, such as Kate's changing story of what happened.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
I mean, at first she told law enforcement the same thing that she told Kevin's family, which is that they had gotten to an argument and he had walked off and she never saw him again. But then she ends up adding more details. When speaking with law enforcement, she was now adding that Kevin had been acting paranoid all week long.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
und sie verurteilt hat, dass er wirklich seltsame Dinge gemacht hat, z.B. dass er ihn aus der FBI rausgezogen hat. Sie hat auch gesagt, dass Kevin sie verurteilt hat, dass er mit Justin verabschiedet wurde, was in diesem Fall wichtig ist, also behalten Sie das in Erinnerung.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Eine andere Sache, die sie den Untersuchern erzählt hat, ist, dass sie, als sie seine Beziehungen packte, Zirinchen gefunden hat, was, wenn das wahr ist, offensichtlich zeigt, dass Kevin vielleicht auf mehr ernsthafte Drogen war und vielleicht ist das ein Grund für seinen Verlust.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Nun, ich möchte hier super klar sein, dass Kevin mit seiner mentalen Gesundheit kämpfte, und manchmal könnte er paranoid sein. Aber der Punkt, den ich wirklich nach Hause bringen möchte, ist, dass, auch wenn das wahr ist, es keinen Grund gibt, dass Investoren ihn davon geschrieben haben, weil davon. In meiner Meinung nach, haben sie das gemacht.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Sie haben direkt eine andere Version von der Geschichte von Justin gehört, und trotzdem sagen sie, dass nichts Nefarisches passiert ist. Und lasst uns über diese andere Geschichte sprechen, denn, laut Justin, war er der letzte, der Kevin gesehen hat.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Sometime around or after this supposed fight with Kate, Justin says that he and Kevin wanted to go see some music, just the two of them, while Kate was taking a nap in the tent. And this is apparently when Kevin started acting super erratically and was trying to rip off his wristband. He said it was all just super weird and then Kevin just sort of walked away.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und es war immer mit den besten Intentionen. Und er war nur jemand, der Entscheidungen aufgrund seines Herzens gemacht hat, nicht unbedingt aufgrund seines Herzens, was ihn sicherlich in ein paar Träumen getroffen hat. Und persönlich sind Leute wie das die Typen der Leute sind, mit denen ich am meisten gravitate. Die Leute, die so in Kontakt mit ihren Emotionen sind.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And this is when he said he last saw him. Which obviously is just not the same story that Kate initially told, which I learned eventually she did start telling the story the exact same way that Justin did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
But if it wasn't the same story that she was telling from the beginning, which you would think at that point it would have been the clearest in her mind, I can definitely see how as Kevin's loved ones... You would start feeling suspicious about Kate and honestly just disappointed. At times the Graves have expressed not wanting to get anyone in trouble, they just want answers.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
This was their child and there's nothing they wanted and still want more than to just know what happened to him. And then there was even a point where Anna, the other friend, got on Facebook and said that she was the last person to see him. And it's possible, maybe even likely, that none of these versions of events are true.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And I say that because there were a few witnesses from that night who described something much different. In both Kate and Justin's stories, Kevin disappeared during the day. However, witnesses who were near their tents said that something happened with Kevin that night. One witness said he actually met Kevin at the festival and that he was a super down-to-earth dude.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Which is why he was so bothered by the fact that Kevin was being viciously bullied by the people he was with on the night of July 1st. This witness said he overheard arguing and that overall it just sounded really nasty and at the time he didn't want to get into the middle of it, but in hindsight he wishes that he did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And then there was another witness that night who said she also heard fighting coming from their tent. Now, this witness was a woman and she said that she had gotten into an argument with her husband. And so she went back to their tent to, you know, just kind of cool off and get some space.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And while she was just walking around trying to actually get cell reception, she heard some commotion coming from Kevin's tent. And this all happened in the span of like 10 minutes. But she says that she overheard them gang up on Kevin and say horrible things to him like, you piece of shit, as he stood there sobbing and begging them to stop.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
This witness also heard Kevin say things like, you promised you wouldn't do this again and you told me you would stop this. And remember earlier how I explained that Kate said that Kevin had accused her of cheating on him. Well, that part Kevin's family thinks is true.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
There was some speculation, keyword speculation, that maybe Kate was doing whatever with Justin and that this was really upsetting to Kevin. As, you know, most of us could understand it would be very upsetting if your girlfriend was... doing something with your friend.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und ich fühle mich so, wie ich in vielen Fällen bin. Ich denke wirklich oft mit meinem Herzen, nicht mit meinem Kopf. Und es hat mich nicht immer in die besten Situationen getroffen, aber es ist etwas, was ich mich nie über mich selbst verändern würde. Und ich denke, es ist ein großartiger Persönlichkeitsstil, den Kevin hatte.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And I'm not saying any of this is true, of course this is all speculation, but his family believes that it may be the case that Kevin had walked in on Kate and Justin doing something that he wasn't supposed to see and that's what sparked his disappearance. And I haven't explained this yet, but Kevin was bipolar.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And about two months before this, he had actually got off his medication because he didn't like the side effects. And so he was someone who had really big emotions on both sides of the spectrum. So to hear that he was noticeably upset, so much so that a stranger could overhear it, that felt like he was pretty on point. But to be clear, this witness said he didn't sound violent, he just sounded...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Obviously, at the end of the day, we don't know what happened. But I just wanted to share that Kevin's family has definitely expressed concern about these stories not matching up. But from this witness's recounting of events, there was this big fight and eventually it stopped.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Sie glaubt, dass sie nach und nach in die Gegend gegangen ist, ich glaube, nur noch versuchen, eine Telefonanruf zu bekommen. Und sie hat die meisten von dem, was passiert ist, gehört, aber erinnert sich an einen Punkt, wo das Argument vorbei war. Aber sie hat Kevin nie weggegangen. Sie erinnert sich auch nicht an einen einzigen Menschen, der ihn am nächsten Morgen gefragt hat.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Nun, ihr Campspazier war nur drei oder vier von ihnen runter, und sie glaubten, sie hätten umgekehrt, um ihn zu suchen. Aber sie sagt, dass niemand je bei ihrer Tent stoppte. Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung. BR 2018 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Sein Herz, seine Kindheit, seine Möglichkeit, Liebe zu teilen und andere gut zu machen, ist das, was Kevin, wer er war, gemacht hat. Kevin war auch ein sehr emotionaler Kerl mit vielen großen Gefühlen. Und er liebte sehr tief und sehr passioniert. Zum Beispiel, seine Schwester ging nach der Schule und...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung. BR 2018 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung. BR 2018 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Die beiden sind sehr, sehr nahe, aber sie kam am nächsten Wochenende nachdem sie weg war, um ein paar Dinge zu holen, die sie vergessen hatte. Und ihre Schule war nicht so weit weg. Also als sie nach Hause kam und Kevin bemerkte, dass sie nach Hause war, brachte er in Tränen, obwohl sie nur eine Woche weg war.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Ich habe einfach genossen, dass ich das kleine Detail über ihn hörte und dass er so in Kontakt mit seinen Emotionen war und seine Familie und seine Freunde so sehr liebte. Aber ich meine, wie ich gesagt habe, er und seine Schwester waren sehr, sehr, sehr nahe.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Hallo, alle und willkommen zurück zu True Crime with Kendall Rae. Vielen Dank, wie immer, für die Einladung heute. Und wenn ihr neu seid, dann willkommen. Ich bin so glücklich, euch zu haben. Also, Leute, heute werden wir einen Blick auf einen Fall nehmen, den ich seit einiger Zeit auf meinem Radar hatte. Und gerade über die Weihnachten gab es eine große...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung. BR 2018 Und hier ist eine Liste von einigen Dingen, die sie gefragt haben, für die ich denke, dass sie alle sehr sinnvoll sind.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Now, when it came to his own school experience, Kevin didn't necessarily thrive in the traditional school model, which, again, is another reason why I think I would be good friends with Kevin, because I am the exact same way. And I find that people who don't thrive in the traditional school model are some of the most interesting and creative people and loving people out there. Not that you can't
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Eine Entschuldigung, dass er letztes Jahr auf dem Gebäude verabschiedet wurde, was er im Grunde genommen schlug und nicht machte, um Kevin's Flyer auf dem großen Bildschirm zu stellen während des Events, zu dem er gesagt hat, dass er es nicht macht.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und letztlich, dass seine Mitarbeiter Flyer an die Leute geben, als sie an den Festival-Grunden entstanden sind, zu dem er gesagt hat, dass die Leute sie einfach auf den Grund legen würden. So they ended up getting screwed again, because genuinely, none of those things would be that difficult to do. I mean, at least he could have done a couple of those things. But yet he did none of that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Vielen Dank für's Zuschauen. And when he started teaching Kevin, you know, the ropes of all of that, it was clear that's where he really shined. His dad said that he was the kind of guy that you could teach something one time and he would just never forget it. In his early adulthood, he had mechanic jobs, carpentry jobs, construction jobs, you name it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
The only thing he offered to do was put flyers at the information booth, which wouldn't really have done much at all. And that was it. Overall, it was just a giant slap in the face and I'm just glad that they ended up getting that billboard put up because that is just so awesome and very smart.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And if you think about it, it was actually put up before that meeting, which makes me think the CEO just wanted to talk to them to see if they would take it down before the festival started. But they definitely didn't take it down. In fact, the manager of Lamar Advertising in the area said that she would leave it up longer for free, so long as nobody else rented the space.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
So yeah, needless to say, this has been a huge emotional rollercoaster for this family throughout the years. And they're just very hurt overall by how everything has been handled.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
A $10,000 Reward for information was posted almost as soon as Kevin was reported missing. And in 2023, Gary said he doesn't care if he goes broke trying to find him. Their whole family desperately didn't want people to forget about Kevin. But as the five-year mark came and went, they were worried that that's what was happening.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
With the lack of investigative work, they had to be his voice and even find and turn over their own evidence. Now, this next part was really interesting to me. Okay, so Kevin's girlfriend, Kate, at the time, or I guess I should say ex-girlfriend now, because she did end up going on and getting married to someone else. And there were rumors that she was dating Justin for a period of time.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
They're just rumors. I don't know if it was true. And the guy that she ended up marrying is not Justin. But anyway, this guy, her new husband, ends up getting in contact with Gary and told him that his wife, Kate... knew more about Kevin's disappearance than she was saying. And I guess he was so nervous when he was telling him this that he was actually shaking.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
But yeah, he told him that she knows more than she is telling you. Now, Gary actually got permission from him to record him saying this. And he did. And then he turned it over to investigators. And to this day, he has not heard anything from them about it. In fact, Sergeant Bach has openly stated that he does not suspect Kate because she doesn't have any motive.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And he's essentially just written Kevin off as a druggie and therefore his disappearance isn't worth looking into. I mean, I don't think he said those words exactly. Maybe he has, I don't know, but that's definitely the vibe his family feels. And honestly, this case should have never gone to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office to begin with. And the sheriff has literally said that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Gary gab eine Interview in 2023, wo er sagte, dass er mit dem Oakland County Sheriff gesprochen hat, der ihn gefragt hat, warum seine Männer diesen Fall im ersten Moment haben. Also waren sie so verwirrt, als ob sie es investieren, wie seine Familie es war. Gary hat auch gesagt, dass sie unter der Vorstellung waren, dass der Fall über die Staatspolizei geändert werden würde.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Aber das ist nicht passiert. Na, eventuell hat es das getan, aber nicht, wenn sie es wollten. Nicht, wenn es wirklich geklärt hätte. Eventually it was handed over to Michigan State Police, but only because of what happened on December 30th of 2024. So very recently. And this is where I'm finally getting to the big update that recently happened.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And I'm sure a lot of you in the true crime community have already heard this update or figured out what happened. It was, just by the way I've been speaking. But that day, after nearly six and a half years without answers, human remains were discovered by two hunters clearing a path in a wooded area only a hundred yards from where Kevin's campsite was. Can you believe that? Only a hundred yards.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
That blew my mind. It hadn't been confirmed that the remains belonged to Kevin. However, they believed with 99% certainty that it was him, given that his phone and wallet were also found nearby.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
The following day, on New Year's Eve, Gary and Kathy got a call and were soon met at their front door with the news. And I guess Kathy just collapsed into Gary's arms and they moved to the couch where the two of them were told the news. Although, of course, they already knew what was about to be said. But just hearing it was something that they could never have been prepared for.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Even after all that time and, you know, their gut feeling that he probably wasn't alive... They always had that sliver of hope, and now that sliver was gone. And since his remains were found only one day prior, they still, like I said, didn't know with 100% certainty that it was Kevin, but they were told that they would have those answers soon. And that confirmation came on January 2nd, 2025.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Michigan State Police, with the help of forensic anthropologists from Western Michigan University's medical school, were able to confirm through dental records that it was in fact the body of Kevin Gary Graves. Und wegen der Zeit, in der sein Körper draußen war, waren seine Blechschmerzen leider skeletonisiert. Und natürlich bedeutet das, dass es noch schwieriger wird, seinen Tod zu beurteilen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und gerade jetzt wird es berichtet, dass sie keine fehlenden Spuren haben, aber bis ein Autopsie komplett ist, besonders mit dem, wie lange es gedauert hat, I'm not going to take any early reporting on that as fact. Over the last six and a half years, this family has been continually disrespected by law enforcement.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
They were made to believe that their son chose to abandon him and that his life choices were to blame, when that couldn't have been further from the truth. And while we don't know the cause of death yet, it's because of their apathetic investigation that his family might never even get those answers. I mean, he was right there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
They very easily could have found him if they took this seriously from the jump, which they just chose not to. They chose, you know, to write him off as a druggie, in my opinion. And it's infuriating because unless he sustained blunt force trauma, it will be very difficult to determine a cause of death with what little remains of him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
In fact, after Kevin went missing, and I loved this detail, his most recent employer said that if he ever returned, they would welcome him back with open arms, that he would always have a job there, which, you know, Which says a lot about how much they cared for him and how good he was at his job. And that comment, that support meant a lot to his family.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And what's really maddening is if just one person had made the effort to just ping his phone, this family might have been saved from years of misery. It's even possible that an autopsy might lead to more questions than answers. And really, that's the last thing they need. And at this point, they don't want anyone to be punished. They just want to know the truth so that they can... Ja, genau.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Ich weiß nicht. Ich denke, die Chancen sind, dass die Leute mehr wissen, als was sie sagen. Und natürlich weiß ich das nicht, um Fakt zu sein. Aber sie definitiv, ihre Familie definitiv glaubt, dass die Leute mehr wissen, als was sie sagen. Und all they are asking for is those answers.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
I don't know. It's hard to describe the way that she must be feeling. I mean, only really she could probably describe it. But yeah, it just pisses me off. Like she said, he was only 100 yards away. And those search efforts were meticulous too. And I'm sure that just brings a whole new level of sadness, knowing that he was there potentially all along.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
For Kathy, she says that she hates the word closure. Yeah. And she understands that people mean well when they say it, but to her it puts some sort of finality to something that will truly never be final, because at the end of the day, they haven't gotten those answers. They don't know what happened to him. I have a big hole in my heart that will never be filled.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Now at the time Kevin went missing, he was only 28 years old. And in his 20s, he had gotten really into EDM music. Kevin had a girlfriend and she was also very into EDM music. So I think that was probably something they bonded over quite a bit. Now, his girlfriend is someone that you're going to hear me talk about quite a bit throughout this episode.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
So many things just still don't sit right with them. And it's been really difficult to fathom that he was right there all along.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Ja, wir können nicht genug sagen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And despite feeling like law enforcement really dropped the ball, and I definitely personally agree with them on that, they have been very outspoken about their appreciation for the public. And I also wanted to note, they've said that they especially admire the small community of Rothbury, who they say never hesitated to help. Overall, this is just a really frustrating and baffling case.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And I know there are going to be people, and I understand this, that think that Kevin may have just wandered off. Maybe he had taken some drugs and something horrible but accidental happened. And of course, that could be a possibility. But I really don't think other factors in this case can be ignored. I mean, when you think about it, why were there multiple stories?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Why did his girlfriend ultimately refuse to help this family? Why did she block Their families phone numbers and social media. I mean, these are just a few of the things that their family wants answers to. And as I sit here, all I can do is hope that they one day get those answers. I am hopeful that maybe they can pull some information off of his phone now that they have it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And I'm sure that that's probably in process or going to happen soon, hopefully. But even if that's the case, that's... Und hier ein paar Dinge über Kate, die ich... haven't mentioned yet. She actually does have an extensive criminal background, including several felony weapons charges, but of course that doesn't make her a killer.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
In case any of you were wondering, the car that she drove up there was never searched, and she ended up selling it not long after Kevin disappeared. This is something that the Graves family has always wondered about, and unfortunately they may also never get those answers.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
At the end of the day, this family believes that something happened to him on those festival grounds, and they just aren't going to stop fighting for those answers. But even if someone didn't do something to him, they do believe that at least someone has more information than they are sharing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
However, I'm just going to upfront say that when it comes to his girlfriend, there is a lot of drama and she doesn't seem to be someone who wants to be publicly named when it comes to coverage. And she hasn't been named a person of interest. So I have decided that I won't be sharing her real name. There are a couple of people in this case that I won't be mentioning by name, but I've made...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
I know opinions are going to be all over the board on this one, so I definitely want to hear your thoughts. But I just, you know, want to remind you again to be thoughtful about your comments and remember that every victim deserves the same opportunity for justice. Okay? Let me know what you think. My heart truly goes out to this family.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
What a devastating loss and a horrific experience they have had since the day that he disappeared. I just hope so badly that they can get some answers and some peace one day. Das war's für heute, Leute. Danke, dass ihr mitgekommen seid. Und folgt dem Show auf Spotify und Apple Podcasts. Das hilft mir wirklich.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Wenn ihr die Video-Version von diesem Show sehen wollt, könnt ihr es auf meinem YouTube-Kanal finden, der verlinkt wird. Oder ihr könnt einfach Kendall Rae suchen. Ich werde bald wieder mit einem anderen Episode kommen. Aber bis dann, bleibt sauber.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 So you're going to hear me refer to his girlfriend as Kate throughout this episode. So Kevin and Kate had been together for about two to three years. And they also lived together along with her two kids that she had from a previous relationship in a home in Highland Township, Michigan. And as I just mentioned, Kevin and his girlfriend were very into EDM music.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And in 2018, that is what brought them to the Electric Forest Music Festival. And it was actually his first time going and he was really excited about it. Kevin's dad had been helping get Kate's car up and running because it was having some issues. And since this festival was about two and a half hours away, they obviously needed a way to get there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Now, as for the music festival itself, I'm sure a lot of you out there are probably somewhat familiar with Electric Forest or, you know, other music festivals. I had to... Ich mache ein bisschen Forschung an Musikfestivals. Ich bin noch nie zu einem gewesen. Ich habe einfach zu viel Angst. Ich kann also kaum ein Konzert beherrschen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Also kann ich mir nicht vorstellen, dass ich an einem Festival mit tausenden von Leuten bin. Aber es sieht wirklich, wirklich lustig aus. Besonders von dem, was ich von Electric Forest gesehen habe. Es sieht aus wie ein Blast.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
major break in the case and so i thought now would be a good time to take a look at it bring a little bit more awareness to it as a lot of the talk around the case has sort of simmered down although with the most recent update i feel like it's gotten a little bit Das war's für heute. Bis zum nächsten Mal. Because of the major discovery.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und so für diejenigen von euch, die wie ich sind und nicht viel über Musikfestivalen oder spezifisch nicht viel über Electric Forest wissen, denke ich, dass es wirklich wichtig ist, dass wir es ein bisschen mehr erklären und euch ein bisschen eine Idee davon geben, wie es ist. Also, Electric Forest stattfindet in Rothbury, Michigan jeden Sommer und es bezieht sich auf ein
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Es gibt eine Menge Künstler, die ihre Musik über einen langen Wochenende präsentieren. Diese Dinge sind einfach massiv. Ich meine, als Beispiel, gab es im Jahr 2023 eine bestimmte 40.000 bis 50.000 Personen, die anwesend waren. Das ist natürlich der Grund, warum es auf einem großen Platz auf Land gehalten werden muss.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Und so jedes Jahr ist dieses Festival am Double JJ Resort gehalten, das über 2.000 Äcker breitet. Und um dir eine bessere Idee zu geben, was das bedeutet, reden wir über 1.500 Fußballgebiete. Und bei diesen Festivals, glaube ich, campen die Mehrheit der Leute in Bezug auf das Gebäude. Ich schätze, weil es es viel einfacher macht. Und es ist auch nur eine lustige Erfahrung, dort zu campen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Im Grunde gibt es diese designierten Spots, wo man sein Auto holen kann, wo man in seinem Auto schlafen kann, wenn man will. Oder man könnte einen Tent aufbauen, um dort für die Dauer des Festivals zu schlafen. And that's what Kevin, Kate and their two other friends ended up doing. And just like his girlfriend, I won't be sharing the real names of his two other friends.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
So I'm going to be referring to them as Justin and Anna. But let's go ahead and jump into the timeline here. And I actually want to start on the Tuesday before the festival, which was June 26, 2018. And... There isn't that much to report from that day, but there are two things that I felt were important to mention.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
So on that day, Kevin and his dad had spoke about making plans for when he returned. Basically, Gary needed some help with things around the house and asked Kevin if he'd be willing to help. And he said, sure, no problem. Let's do it when I get back. And then the other thing I wanted to mention has to do with his sister. Now, Kevin and Kelly were both raised in a religious home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
However, Kevin identified as an atheist. And on the 26th, Kelly had sent him an hour-long video about explaining God to an atheist. She told him that she didn't need him to go to church or anything like that, but she wanted him to reconsider believing in God so that one day they could see each other in heaven. And I totally get that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
I mean, I'm not a religious person myself, as I've said many times, but for the religious people I know in my life, it is something that is very difficult to wrap your mind around if you truly believe in heaven, to, you know, have the thought of your loved one not being there with you and potentially being... somewhere bad is really scary. You know, the two of them were so close.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
She didn't approach this in a way that was like attacking him or anything like that. She just wanted to share that with him. And he was very open to it. When she actually sent him the link, she didn't even expect him to watch it. But the following day, when he got to the festival, actually, Kevin gave her a call and said that he did watch it and he would love to talk about it more when he got back.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And I know those two interactions with his family members may seem a little bit random, but I promise we will circle back to it later on.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And that brings us to Wednesday, June 27th. And that day, Kevin, Kate, Justin and Anna got to the festival and they all arrived in two separate cars. Now, this isn't super crucial, but just an FYI that this was the second weekend of Electric Forest. In past years, the festival was so massive that they thought it would be, you know, helpful to break it into two weekends.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Now, we don't have too much information about the rest of this day, other than they arrived and unpacked all their stuff. The main festivities and performances didn't start until Friday, but oftentimes people will go early to get a good camping spot so that they could be close to the music and all of that. And between Wednesday and Sunday, things seem to be going okay.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
at least as far as his family knew. Kevin was someone who really stayed in touch with his family. He would text his mom and sister pretty much on a daily basis, and that stayed true throughout the festival. And if any of you guys have been to one of these festivals, from what I understand, the service is not that great. It can be very spotty, and in some areas you can have no service at all.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Sometimes the entire area has no service at all, which is very dangerous when you think about it. But Kevin still managed to send off at least a daily text, just letting them know that he was having fun and all was well. However, on Sunday, July 1st, his text started getting pretty strange.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
At 7.55 that morning, Kevin texted his dad saying something along the lines of, Dad, I love you for your service, I love you and someday I will pay you back everything I owe you. Gary and his father, so Kevin's grandfather, both served in the Marines. And it was something that Kevin always had a ton of respect for. Gary had fought in the Vietnam War.
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He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And I just want to read you something that Kevin wrote to his dad. And it was actually framed with a picture. And I thought it was really beautiful. And it just shows you how much he admired him. Dad, you are such a good friend and father to me. You are my hero. You were so brave to go and fight in Vietnam. You fought for my freedom and yours. You are the bravest man I know.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And this family, I mean, they have been through so much since 2018 when Kevin disappeared. And even with this new discovery, there are still so many unanswered questions. And this family has done everything they can to keep Kevin's name out there. And I just hope that this family can finally get some answers after all of this time. And hopefully those answers come soon.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
And I am happy that you are my friend and father. Dad, you are my hero. Now, Kevin admired and respected his dad for his time in the Marines so much so that he even got a Marine Corps tattoo in honor of his father and his grandfather, which... Actually, I learned, is kind of a no-no. And that's because Kevin himself didn't serve in the Marines.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
So his dad, when he saw it, was rightfully just a little like... It's not a big deal, but we need to get this fixed. He didn't want him to remove it, but he felt that he should clarify it a little bit by adding the dates of his father's service or something like that. So anyway, going back to the text, it seemed a little weird to them at the time because, you know, he's out at this festival.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
It's just a strange time to send such a message. Vielen Dank für's Zuschauen. Und Kathy dachte, dass das seltsam war, weil sie ihn gefragt hat, wie sie es gemacht haben, nicht, was sie gemacht haben. Und so hat sie ihn tatsächlich wieder getreut, um zu fragen, ob alles okay war. Und er hat die gleiche Antwort zurückgegeben. Alles, was er gesagt hat, war nichts.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Wir lernten dann, dass er zwischen 1 und 2 Uhr verabschiedet hat, 200 Dollar von einem ATM. Und letztlich, um 1.55 Uhr, hat Kevin seine Schwester getreut, und hat etwas gesagt wie, Es ist alles gut, Kel. Ich liebe dich am meisten.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Now, this also has a little bit of a backstory, although I'm sure a lot of you do things like this with your loved ones, but Kevin and Kelly had this whole sort of game that they would play, where one would say, I love you, the other would say, I love you more, and then it would go into this, like, I love you more war, you know, who loved each other more, and Kevin would normally end it by saying, I love you the most.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
So in the moment, that text didn't necessarily feel too out of the ordinary, But I think looking back at these messages now, we can recognize that they do seem a little strange. On that Sunday though, it wasn't enough for them to really think twice about it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
Now my first thought when reading these texts, and I think a lot of you are probably having these thoughts as well, especially because he's at... Vielen Dank. You sort of want to express and profess your love for them or you get really, really in your feels. Of course, I don't know if that was the case. I don't know if he was on drugs or anything.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
He Vanished at Electric Forest & His Remains Were Just Found: The Suspicious Death of Kevin Graves
He could have been completely sober for all we know. But it's something that's just going to come up in this case. Obviously, it can't be ignored that festivals like Electric Forest are no stranger to drugs. And of course, by no means am I saying that everyone who goes to these festivals is doing drugs. In fact, we know that a lot of people don't.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
We can also pay off existing invoices for anything related to the crime. And by doing this, it helps put money back into the hands of the family so that they can use it for other things they may need. So guys, we've finally made it. Spring has sprung and summer is right around the corner. I'm sure a lot of you guys have some upcoming vacations planned or fun events for the warmer weather.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
In younger relationships, they have already done an amazing job at trying to keep her legacy alive. And I just want to further that effort. And like I said, Angelina's case really brings up a lot of conversation around domestic violence. in today's youth, which is something I know is a big topic right now.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And around this time of year, I don't know if this is just me, but I always like to get a couple new pieces of clothes for my wardrobe, some things that I feel good and look good in, but also are going to keep me nice and cool. And also, maybe you're considering getting yourself some new luggage. Well, you can treat yourself to first-class quality suitcases at an economy price tag from Quince.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Now, if you haven't already heard me talk about Quince, Quince is truly one of my favorite brands. I have so many favorites from Quince. I can't say enough good things about their leggings. They're such high quality, so comfortable. I also love their essentials, like their t-shirts, their sweatpants, their loungewear.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
But they also have great options for the office if you're trying to dress it up a bit. They even have things for your home. And I've got to say, if you're looking for a new duvet cover...
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
look no further than quince we love our quince duvet cover and i could not believe how affordable it was for how good quality it is you can find things like lightweight european linen styles from 30 washable silk tops and comfy lounge sets and premium luggage options and stylish tote bags to carry it all and the best part quince items are priced 50 to 80 percent less than similar brands and how do they do this i'm sure you're wondering well they partner directly with top factories and quince cuts out the cost of the middleman and passes those savings on to us
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. And I love that. So for your next trip or your upcoming spring and summer plans, treat yourself to luxe upgrades that you deserve from Quince. Just go to quince.com slash tckr for 365-day returns. That's how confident they are. Plus free shipping on your order.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
That's q-u-i-n-c-e dot com slash tckr to get free shipping and 365-day returns. Once again, quince.com slash tckr. I also wanted to highlight something else support-wise that took place because I think it's a really great example of how this community came together. So when they were still raising money for the funeral, they ended up hosting a car wash slash bake sale event.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And when I say the community of Azusa showed up, I mean they showed up. There was a long line of cars down the street and around the block waiting to be washed. And hundreds of people came to buy food and show this family that they were there for them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
I mean, all the time, but I've seen a lot of talk about it recently because of the show Adolescence on Netflix, which is excellent, very scary, but very eye-opening, especially as a parent or to other young people out there as well. So towards the end of the episode, I want to have more of a conversation around that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
I'm always really grateful when I'm able to cover cases when there is so much community support because not every family gets that. It obviously doesn't take away from what happened at all, but it really does feel like a glimmer of hope. I know from families I've worked with directly how important it is and how much it really pulls them through.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
So the fact that this family has so many people rallying alongside them and not just in their community, but across the country as well. And I hope that number grows by sharing her case with all of you. There really is no such thing as too much support. And in fact, the next court date is actually set for April 18th. And I know that they would love as much support from all of you as possible.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
possible. So there is a Justice for Angel Instagram account that has been posting updates. So I'm going to go ahead and link that in the show notes in case you are in the area and maybe want to learn more about how you can show up for them. You can also follow the account to get updates on the case and let this family know that you're supporting their efforts to get justice and
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
I love when you guys do that. I love when I'm able to share a social media page or account and tons of you go and go that extra mile to just show that support because that's another thing I've heard from families I've worked with directly that that is just so huge to feel like they have all these people that they don't even know that are standing behind them. And even just recently when we
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
covered Barron's case, Barron Lee, he was so, so grateful and thankful to all of you who took the moment to follow him on Instagram and support everything that he is trying to do. And I also thought this was super cool. So Among Angel's many supporters is Senator Susan Rubio of the 22nd State District of California.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
The California State Senate adjourned in memory of Angel and Senator Rubio gave a really beautiful and empowering speech. So I want to go ahead and play that for you here.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And I'm going to be sharing, you know, some information and resources with you all, which I think you can never do enough. And as I always have to say when we're talking about a case that is still active, everyone that I'm speaking about today is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
I thought that was really powerful and something that we don't often see from our representatives. So I think for me personally, it helped to hear, you know, more about Angel from Susan and get an even more clear understanding of who she was. Angel clearly made such an impact in her 17 years of life. And the fact that she is not here today It's hard to even find the words. It's so wrong.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
My audience, all of you, are always so amazing when it comes to showing families in these situations support in so many different ways. And I just off the bat wanted to share their GoFundMe with you. So if you're interested in showing them your support as well, they do have this GoFundMe. It will be linked in the show notes and in the description of this episode.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
It's so unfair. It's gut-wrenching. And at the very least, it shouldn't ever happen to anyone else, let alone a child. But we know that, unfortunately, it will. But that's why it's so important to talk about the ways that we can try and prevent cases like this from happening as much as possible.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
I played a clip earlier where Robert said that he's speaking out because he wants Angel to be recognized and to help others who might be going through the same thing. And that's why today I wanted to spend the last portion of this episode talking about domestic violence and also provide some resources because it's something that you can really never get enough information about.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Even if you are lucky enough to be in a stable, healthy relationship where you don't feel like you're in danger, it's... So important that we understand that anyone around us, anyone in our lives could be in a situation like this at any time. And I think it's also something that is so important for parents to learn as much as they can about.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Because, you know, my daughter, she's only two and a half, and I am so scared for her future. Just...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
in the world that we live in especially after watching adolescence i really do recommend it it's a great show and it sparks so many great conversations so if you're a parent it's i think an excellent watch very hard to watch but very important and i also want to encourage any survivors out there who may be watching if if you're willing to share um to even maybe drop a comment below and
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
offer any advice or encouragement you have for anyone out there who could be going through a situation like this right now and I know so many of you are I mean I see comments from so many of you who are in situations in relationships where you don't know how to get out or you have recently got out and you're dealing with the aftermath of that and my heart truly goes out to you because it is so common is so horrific and I feel very very thankful that I have never experienced it myself but I
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Yeah, it's something that I'm happy I'm seeing more conversation and discussion about it than I used to. But it's something I think needs to be talked about even more because I don't think many people realize just how prevalent it is in our society. I hate that anyone has to experience domestic violence. I hate that any of you in my audience have been exposed.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
in an abusive relationship at any point or are right now and to those of you who were in a violent relationship and you were able to get out of it I just want you to know how proud I am of you and also to those who are actively trying to get out of a situation that you know is not good for you not safe for you I'm proud of you for trying to take the steps or even thinking about how to get out.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
But I understand that it's not that easy. You know, that's something that I think is a major misconception in society is why don't you just leave? Because it can be very, very difficult to leave for so many different reasons. You know, she was so young. Her parents died. really did everything that they could, as far as I know, to prevent this from happening, and sometimes it is out of our control.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And she did leave him. I mean, we don't know the details of their relationship or what led up to that night, but, you know, I think it's just something that parents need to be even more aware of, and that's why I'm so proud of Angel's parents for trying to spread awareness about the case to potentially... you know, educate other parents and educate other younger people about what could happen.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And I'm also going to be reaching out to them from my foundation to try and offer them a Hope Grant if they are interested. And of course, as always, I completely understand if you can't make a donation right now.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Now, my audience, for the most part, the most part, are women, which I love that. And so I wanted to share that data shows that one in four women will experience domestic violence, as will one in nine men. And that is also something I don't think we speak about enough in society, is that men do experience domestic violence as well. And one out of nine men is... A pretty shocking number.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
The statistics in general around domestic violence are very shocking. Around just violence in general are very shocking and upsetting and scary. But the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey reported that 35% of women and 28.5% of men have experienced rape, physical violence, and or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. And if we take a look at just teens...
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience dating abuse from their partner. One in three girls also report being the victim of physical, emotional, and or verbal abuse from someone that they've dated. Then there's the statistic that one in 10 high school students say they have been purposefully hit, slapped, or physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And that's just those who have reported it, which I think is so important to remember and is something that is often forgot about when we're talking about statistics because the data is incredibly alarming as it is, but it only represents the reported cases. So those numbers have to be so much higher.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And there are countless reasons why someone wouldn't report their abuse, including the very real fear that they may be killed as a result. And then I think there's also a lot of people who don't report their abuse because they don't recognize that what is happening to them is actually abuse. And in my opinion, I think that's especially true in teenage relationships.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
I think just doing something as little as leaving a positive comment for their family, you know, words of encouragement and support just go a long way in case they do end up seeing this episode and see the feedback. Angelina's death has been completely devastating for her family as you can imagine and also for her community and I'm so hopeful that our community can come together and lift them up.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And I know most people recognize that physical abuse is abuse, but that's just one form. There's emotional and psychological abuse, which can include but isn't limited to name-calling, bullying, shaming, intentionally embarrassing, and constant monitoring. There's financial abuse.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Of course, there's sexual abuse, which is when one partner forces their partner to engage in a sexual act against or without their consent. Of course, there's also stalking, which can include one partner following or harassing the other partner in a way that causes them reasonable fear for their safety or well-being. And I'm sure it's no surprise, but social media can also perpetuate that abuse.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And I think that's especially true when it comes to younger people. And that's another thing. really important topic that adolescence really highlights. And this is also definitely an area where I think it might be more difficult for someone who's younger to identify that these behaviors aren't healthy. And I know I also have a lot of younger viewers out there.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
So I wanted to share what these behaviors look like. And to clarify, these don't just apply to young people. So it can look like telling you who you can and can't be
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
friends with on social media, monitoring your social media, also your email and your text messages, stealing or forcing you to give them your passwords or let them see your device, hold your device, look through your device, sending you mean messages either directly or anonymously.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And this is a big one, convincing you to sext or to send pictures of yourself when you don't want to by using threats, coercion, force, or guilt. And I don't want to brush past the guilt because I think that is one of the biggest factors when it comes to this. And we've all experienced... what guilt feels like, right? Like it's one of the most difficult things to overcome and to process.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
It's one of the things I've spent probably the most time in therapy learning how to deal with the feelings of guilt that someone else can put upon you. And in teen relationships, and of course, even in adult relationships, guilt can really be used by the abuser to get the victim to comply with whatever it is they want them to do.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And that could be something like having sex with them or sending explicit photos or convincing you to isolate from your friends and family, to not spend time with certain people. I mean, there's so many different examples of how this can be applied by an abuser. And another big form of abuse that I don't think is talked about enough, I know we talk about it a lot.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
on this show because it happens in so many cases, but that's isolation. By separating their victim from others, the abuser can create this sense of dependency, like they are the only person that you have. And that's how they want it because they want to have the ultimate power over you and don't want you to be influenced by others or convinced by others that you are in a bad situation.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
So isolating you from those you love is isolation. a huge tactic we see all the time in these cases and in just domestic violence cases across the board.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
So you want to watch out for signs of it, and that can include not letting you see your friends and family or getting annoyed and upset when you want to spend time with others or even something as small as texting others, wanting to live together very early on in the relationship, wanting to move away from your support system, making you feel guilty, there's that word again, for spending time with others, telling you that your friends and family don't understand
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
your relationship and being overly concerned with what your friends and family say to you. And all of this really only scratches the surface because abuse can look and sound like... tons of different things depending on the relationship. It's different from relationship to relationship.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
But with all that being said I wanted to go ahead and start telling you about Angelina who should still be here today. Angelina Camelia Gonzalez, or Angel, as she was called by her loved ones, was born on January 7th, 2007, and she was living in Azusa, California with her mom, Leticia, and her stepdad, Robert.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
But I genuinely believe that knowing what it can look like and sound like is a very important step in recognizing when you or someone you love is experiencing it. And so another thing I want to talk about today, and I really appreciate you guys who have stuck around and are taking the time to listen to this because I know it's not easy and it's very different from typical true crime content.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
I know a lot of people just want to hear the details of the mystery and the crime. And there's not a lot of that in this case. But I think this case sparks such an interesting and important conversation that doesn't get had enough that I just wanted to take the time to do that today. So to all of you who are still out there listening, truly, I thank you.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
So let's talk a little bit more about prevention and educating people about the signs of abuse is a huge part of that. You know, this is what it looks like. So these are behaviors to not engage in. And I also think it's important that we educate young people about what a healthy relationship looks like.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And I see this theme in a lot of the cases that I cover, but I think conflict resolution is massively ignored and also rejection. Can you imagine what it would look like if we spent more time as a society helping younger people understand how to handle rejection? And obviously that can be taught at later stages of life as well.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And I wanted to go ahead and link an article I found from the Child Mind Institute titled How to Help Kids Deal with Rejection because I think it's a very useful resource. And then I'm also going to link a PDF that goes over tools for healthy communication and conflict resolution.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And one thing that I especially can't say enough is that if someone comes to you and tells you what is going on, believe them. Try your best to be someone that they can feel comfortable confiding in and... help them try to come up with a safe way to get away from their abuser, which is in most cases harder than it sounds.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
The most dangerous time for a victim of domestic violence is when they are trying to leave. And so I really want to emphasize that coming up with a plan that ensures their safety is very, very important. But it's something that a lot of us don't know how to do. And I wish I could lay out a roadmap, but because every relationship is so different and complex,
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Every situation is going to be a case by case situation. So I really don't feel like I can comfortably or responsibly provide a generalized exit route. But I know that there are countless amazing resources online. I'm going to link the National Domestic Violence Hotline in the show notes of this episode, as well as the number for the Teen Dating Abuse Hotline.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And I really recommend that you actually take the extra step to save these numbers into your device because you never know when they could come in. And I also just wanted to give a little shout out to an organization that I love. It's called the Crisis Text Line. That is definitely a resource to keep in the notes of your phone or just to know how to access easily because they offer a huge...
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
She also had an older brother, Ruben, and he says that Angel was bubbly, funny, always cracking jokes, and that she went into everything she did in life with determination. She was a senior at Azusa High School, and that is where many people got to witness as she proudly cheered on her fellow classmates.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
variety of services and can really help in so many different situations and they are easily accessible. I don't think enough people know about them. The work that they do is incredible. I've spoken to some of the people that work in the organization and I just really can't say enough good things about them. And also the Teen Dating Violence website has great resources as well.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
So you'll find that linked below. And then I'm also going to link the Joyful Heart Foundation, which for Any of my Law & Order SVU fans, this is the foundation that was started by Mariska Hargitay, and she is actually the actress who plays Olivia Benson.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
It's a national organization based in New York, and it has a mission of transforming society's response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse as well. They also seek to support survivors who are healing and they want to end this kind of violence forever. And when I was looking into all these resources, I really did find so many great ones.
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High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
So this is definitely not all of them that are available. So, you know, it's always a great idea to do your own research and find resources that
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
um are better suited for you as well and on that note also i would love if any of you could share any resources that you have found to be helpful or know someone else has found to be helpful in the comments i'm sure that would be greatly appreciated by so many out there angel's case is a heartbreaking reminder of how an abusive relationship can end and if i can help spread even an ounce of awareness and help one person then i wanted to take the time to do that today
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And also, if you guys didn't know, whenever I'm covering an active case like this, I will go back and have in the pinned comment any updates that have come out since recording in case you ever want to go back and see any updates there. Of course, you can just do a Google search on the case yourself, but I will have something pinned there as well.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And also, whenever I say in my episodes that I'm going to be reaching out to families to try and get them a grant from my foundation, I always... you know, put an update there as well in the pinned comment or in the description box. Or you can just go to our Instagram page, which is higherhope.org, as well as our website, which is higherhope.org.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And just while we're on that note, if you didn't know, we have recently released our 2024 impact report, which goes over how every single dollar was spent in 2024. Granted, we just launched the foundation in September. So it's less than we are planning to do this year or hoping to do this year.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
But if you're interested in actually seeing what we're doing, we're very transparent about where every single dollar is spent. So go ahead and check us out if you're interested. And I would really, really appreciate a follow on Instagram because we are trying to reach as many people as possible and make the biggest impact we can.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Cheerleading was definitely a big part of her identity, and it was just one of the many things that she loved participating in, but it wasn't just cheer. This is super cool, but she had actually recently joined the wrestling team and even won in her first match, which just goes to show you that she really was so determined and would really just work as hard as she could at anything that she tried.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Again, I know that my approach to this case and covering this case is very different from my typical coverage on cases, but I really appreciate those of you who took the time to listen to Angel's story. And, you know, talking about all of this is really important also because it has become a huge mission for Angel's family, and I think it's a great way that we can... honor her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And that's mainly because I'm going to be telling you about a victim who was only 17 years old and just had so much going for her. I mean, she was kind, smart, athletic, artistic. I mean, you name it. She was a stellar human being. Her name is Angelina Gonzalez, and her life was stolen from her in such a brutal, unnecessary,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And if anyone in Angel's family or her friends sees this episode, I want you to know my heart is so broken for you. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be in your shoes right now. And I think that you've already shown so much strength and perseverance at this point in time. I mean, we're only in like quarter one of 2025. This just happened at the very end of 2024.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And there is so much that their family has her loved ones and the community is doing already at this point. It's just, it's really amazing and sort of renews my faith in humanity. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And also, as I mentioned, she was artistic, and she was incredibly talented when it came to her art. In 2024, she actually won first place at the 31st District Congressional Art Competition, as well as the Judges' Choice Award in 2022, which meant that her art would be displayed at the U.S. Capitol. And just take a look at her art. I mean, wow, she was definitely deserving of all of that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Angel was someone who had a lot of options for her future, and everyone in her life was really excited to see what path she was going to take. And one thing that she was really looking forward to was her 18th birthday, and I'm sure... If you are older than 18, you probably remember your 18th birthday and how excited you were to be officially an adult.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
I mean, it's such an exciting time in our lives. But there was really nothing to celebrate on January 7th of 2025 because two and a half weeks prior, on December 20th, her life was senselessly taken from her. That evening, Angel had gone to a cheerleading banquet with her friends and other members of her squad, and from what's been reported, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
However, later that night, her stepdad Robert realized that she never came home, and that was very unusual because Angel always came home. She was very responsible, and so Robert did what a lot of parents would do, and he checked her location on his phone. And I believe it was just the regular iPhone location sharing feature that he used. And he saw that she was actually somewhere familiar.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
She was at her ex-boyfriend Daniel Rodriguez's house. Thank you so much. And with 45 different menu options every week, you can pick gourmet meals that will fit your goals. You can choose from things like calorie smart, protein plus, keto and more. Factor powers your day with satisfying breakfast and on the go lunches, premium dinners, guilt free snacks and desserts.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
For me, it's been a huge game changer when it comes to lunchtime, especially at my office. I can just bring one to work and I know it's going to be there and I won't be tempted by whatever people are bringing or ordering or going out to eat. But the best part about Factor is, yes, they're really healthy. Yes, they're nutritious, but they are also delicious.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Now, if any of you watched my episode from just a couple weeks back on Savannah Copeland, you're probably already seeing some similarities here. They were both teenage girls, both cheerleaders, and both had their location traced by a family member.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And not only that, but both of them lost their lives due to fatal stab wounds, which, in my opinion, is one of the most brutal and personal, just evil ways that you can end someone's life.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Devastating beyond words, because when Robert drove over to Daniel's house, he actually just pulled up to the crime scene and officers had already swarmed the area and he was told he wasn't allowed to go any closer. Instead, he and Angel's mom were asked to come into the station where they were both told the earth shattering news.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
and unimaginable way cases like this when the victim is so young are especially heart-wrenching i mean all murders are of course but especially when someone is at the age where they are just getting started in life and have an amazing future ahead of them and that is all just ripped away in an instant and for literally zero reason Now, Angelina's case is still very much developing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Police had been called to the scene at 10 p.m. that night after a witness heard screaming, only to run outside and find Angel on the ground bleeding from multiple stab wounds that she had sustained. And her attacker, who was very quickly believed to be Daniel Rodriguez, fled in his car. However, thankfully, they were able to find him and arrest him just the following day.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Now, at first, it was only reported that her killer was an acquaintance, but Angel's family quickly clarified and identified him as her ex-boyfriend, someone who they say they had warned her to stay away from. Now, we don't actually have a lot of explicit details about their relationship, but considering how it ended, I think we can all agree.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Reasonably conclude that it was not a healthy one by any means. And one thing that I've heard her loved ones say is that Angel was such a kind person. She was that type of person who always tried to see the good in people, even people like Daniel.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much as always for joining me. I'm so happy to have you here. And if you are new to the show, then welcome. So happy to have you too. And guys, I just got to say right out the gate here that this... episode is going to be really tough to get through.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And just in general, there is a very limited amount of information available on this case at this point in time. And that is why I. Normally don't cover cases this early on, but I decided to go ahead and move forward with it after hearing how her family really wants to keep her legacy alive and raise awareness so that other teens don't have this happen to them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
So I know that it's very different from other cases I cover typically because we don't have a whole lot of information here. But I felt like Angel was such a wonderful human that... It would be a great opportunity to not only share her story, but to also just tell you more about her because everyone should have the opportunity to know who Angel was.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And it's important to be reminded that life is incredibly precious. You never know when your last day with someone could be. And it sounds cliche, but you just can't take life for granted.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
She was murdered just a couple of days before Christmas of 2024. But, you know, normally I will wait a little bit longer to cover a case until there is more information available and we're further along in the process towards justice. But her family has expressed that they're really trying to get her name and her story out there and raise awareness about domestic violence, especially violence.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Now, you heard her brother Ruben start to mention this, but the motive in Angel's death is most likely related to the fact that she had dumped him. That being said, an official motive has not been released, but I think when we look at the circumstances here, that's what makes the most sense. Not that... Any of this ever makes sense, but you know what I mean.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And I'm sure you can tell if you are watching this episode instead of listening to the podcast version of it that I don't even have a photo of Daniel at this point, which is something, you know, I normally like to include. And I'm not sure why one hasn't been released because...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
Normally they don't release photos when the perpetrator is a minor still, but Daniel was 18 when this happened, so I have no idea why there's no photos. I couldn't even find a booking photo from his arrest. And of course that doesn't change the circumstances here at all.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
I just know people are going to wonder why I've not included a photo of him, and that's just because at this point in time there isn't one available. It is possible that a photo will be released between the day that I'm recording this and the day that it is uploaded, so... If that is the case, I will go ahead and include one.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And I'm assuming that at some point in time, there will be a photo of him out there. And I hope that there is because everyone should be able to see this guy, look at his face, and know what he did. But anyway, Daniel was officially charged with murder on Christmas Eve, December 24th.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And unless he posts his whopping $2.02 million bail, he will continue to sit his sorry ass at the Men's Central Jail in L.A. County. And he faces up to 26 years in prison if convicted. And he's currently pleading not guilty to his charges. And in my opinion, 26 years is not enough. And that's only if he actually gets the 26 years. So we're going to have to see how this plays out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
A court date was scheduled for February 26, 2025, to determine if there was enough information to move forward with a trial against Daniel. And to my knowledge, things are proceeding forward. And I really don't see any reason why they wouldn't. So that same day, her loved ones and supporters gathered outside the Pomona Superior Courthouse to demand accountability for Angel's murder.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And if there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that these efforts are not going to stop until justice is served. And I really do say that with confidence because the rally for justice from this family and their community is something that's been so beautiful to see. And it really started from the very beginning, right after Angel was killed.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
That GoFundMe I told you about earlier was started to help raise money to cover the cost of her funeral. and they've since raised over $33,000. Angel has since been laid to rest, with her funeral taking place on January 20th, 2025, where hundreds of people came together to mourn this gut-wrenching loss.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And even though the service already happened, I do want to encourage you guys, if you're able, to still consider supporting their GoFundMe, because the financial toll that violent crime takes on a family is impossible to prepare for. And just focusing on paying for basic needs on top of fighting for justice is something that they shouldn't even have to worry about.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
High School Cheerleader’s Life Was Stolen: Justice for Angelina Gonzales
And like I said earlier, my team and I are going to be reaching out to try and get them a hope grant. And I really hope that we're able to get in contact. I'm sure we will. And hopefully that will be helpful to them as well. One of the things that we're able to do with the Hope Grant is we can actually reimburse for past expenses, including something like a funeral.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
don't even have words for that before i jump into her case though i wanted to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart who participated in our holiday matching program raising funds for my foundation higher hope we were able to raise quite a bit and then of course we matched it and this is all going to go towards projects and grants for the upcoming year so really appreciate that if you are interested in making a donation you can do so at higherhope.org
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And then after that, he starts trying to explain why he waited so long to report her missing, which was basically that he thought she was upset and pulling a stunt and that she would be home in the morning. But then when she didn't come home and when none of her loved ones had heard from her, that's when he got worried and made that call.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Now by this point, the body being found was no longer a secret. Doug had found out, her friends and family had found out, and they found out because it was reported on the news. So it wasn't something investigators could continue to hide. But what loved ones didn't know yet was if it was her body. Obviously, they're concerned that that could be a possibility, but they didn't know for sure.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And we are super, super grateful. But let's go ahead and get into Nicole's case. And I want to start out, as I always do, by telling you more about who she was. So most of the time, Nicole went by Nikki. And she was born on March 29th, 1995, to her parents, Steve and Vicky. And she was raised just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin, alongside her three siblings.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Investigators, though, felt pretty certain, which is what they told Doug.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Now, at certain points through the interview, Doug began crying and saying that he wanted her back and that she needs to come back. And he did seem to show some genuine emotion. It's pretty heartbreaking to watch back.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
But obviously you never know if someone is just putting on an act and there are different ways to grieve. And so often we judge interrogation footage and assume that someone is just putting on that act when that may or may not be the case. And so even with that emotion... investigators thought that he may be the one who was responsible for Nikki's murder.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
So during that interview, they told him that a search warrant had been written and that officers were on their way to his house to execute that search right now. And when it came to this, Doug didn't seem at all worried. He even assured them that they wouldn't find anything. However, when that search was executed, they did end up finding several things that appeared to be suspicious.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
For starters, one thing that investigators were looking for was a pair of shoes that had some type of zigzag pattern on the bottom. And that's because Nikki's body, when it was examined, they had found zigzag marks on her back that looked like it was torn.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
from somebody's shoe and so based on these injuries it was believed that whoever this victim was had been violently and repeatedly stomped on so of course they wanted to see if maybe doug owned a pair of shoes that matched those markings and guess what he did the shoe not only looked like it had a similar zigzag pattern but they also ended up finding what looked like a drop of blood
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
on the bottom of one of them. So that was one seemingly big finding. And then they also found what appeared to be blood in Nikki's car, along with what they described as drag marks in the garage. Now, inside of their house, there didn't appear to be any signs of a struggle, but they did locate bloody tissues as well as blood on the sleeve of a jacket.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
She had one sister, Heather, and then two brothers as well, Brent and Brandon. And she's been described as... a very loving and incredibly intelligent person. Like I said, she's a mother. She's also a daughter, sister, and friend. And she was so, so very loved.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And all things considered, of course, this can't be ignored. So of course, they end up collecting swabs of all of the blood and the blood-like stains that they had found and sent them off to the crime lab for testing. And obviously, they had to wait for those to be processed. But in the meantime, there was a major break in the case.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Just that next morning, bloodstained clothing was found on a freeway on-ramp, not far from where Nikki's body was left. And so they could pretty much now confirm that it was in fact her body because along with the clothing, they also found Nikki's school district lanyard and ID. And like I said, they already pretty much believed it was Nikki, but this was further proof.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And that wasn't the end of their findings. That morning, two joggers were just out for a run, and they happened to come across what can only be described as the crime scene. And it was only 118 feet from Nikki and Doug's house. There was an area on the concrete road where several pools of dried up blood were found.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And the guy who lived in the house right in front of it reported that while he was mowing his lawn, he ended up running over a black charging cord, which was significant because Nikki's body showed obvious signs of ligature strangulation. And when her autopsy was finished, they confirmed that strangulation and blunt force trauma were the causes of her death.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
That's really, really hard to wrap your mind around. That's just beyond inhumane. And not only that, there were also signs that Nikki had been sexually assaulted. And... I don't even know what to say. I'm just so sad for Nikki's friends and family. It's just terrible thinking about what she went through in the final hours of her life.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And of course, when they found out, it was just unbelievably painful. They were confused and angry and... You know, none of them wanted to believe that the body was Nikki's, but now it was confirmed. It was her. Now, luckily, Nikki and her loved ones do end up getting justice in this case. I'm very happy to be able to say that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And while getting justice will never bring her back and it will never take away their pain, I do hope that it at least brought them comfort. When it came to getting justice, though, I don't think it played out how anyone expected it to be. So let's get into that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
After graduating from Denmark High School back in 2003, Nikki went on to attend the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, where she earned her bachelor's degree in both science and education. And with her degree, she was able to pursue her passion in life, which was helping others and making an impact on them. So what better career field for her to be in than education? Nikki was a teacher.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
So after all of the DNA at the crime scene came back as a match to Nikki, investigators began painting a picture, which was a picture where Doug was guilty of her murder. They hadn't gotten anything back from the crime lab at this point, but they believed that they had enough probable cause to support an arrest.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And so just two days after her body was found, Doug Dietry was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder. And in those two days, they looked deeper into text messages between Doug and Nikki, as well as Doug and his mom, And it painted a pretty nasty picture. Bottom line is their relationship was not in a good place in multiple ways.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And Doug had even texted his mom and told her that he was even thinking about asking Nikki and the kids to move out. And so to investigators... looking like a motive. They thought that he exaggerated his concern for her disappearance and even suggested that he wasn't honest about how hard he looked for her that night.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
On top of that, they looked into his record and found out that an ex accused him of abuse. And at one point, he was even arrested because of it. Those charges did end up being dropped, but of course, they're not going to ignore what she had told them. Plus, both Nikki's mom and sister spoke to detectives and said that Nikki confided in them about being abused by Doug.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And to clarify, they were talking about physical abuse. And so all of this is just adding to the narrative, to the picture that they were already starting to paint about who Doug was. and how he could have been involved in her murder. I mean, it would make a lot of sense, and I can't necessarily blame him. It certainly looked that way.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
It was just speculation, but investigators thought that at some point that night, Nikki was offered a ride by someone, and then when she returned, maybe Doug was still awake and freaked out on her. They had some type of altercation where things ended badly.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
They believe it started outside where all that blood was found, and then eventually maybe he dragged her into the garage and put her into her own car. And then from there, he drove her to the dump site and then just went back home. But there was an issue with that theory, though, because it meant that one other person would have seen Nikki in those final hours, whoever had given her a ride home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And whoever that person was hadn't come forward. But even though they didn't know who that person was, that didn't stop them from going ahead and arresting the man who they thought was responsible. But you guys, as you probably can tell from the way I'm speaking about this, Doug was innocent.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Less than two weeks after Doug was arrested, the results came back from the crime lab and they disproved the investigator's theory completely. So let me break this down for you, starting with the male DNA that was found in 16 places on Nikki's body as well as on that cord. Even though it was just partial DNA, it was not a match to Doug.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Then, of course, we have the shoe, the one with the zigzag print on the bottom that Doug did own a pair just like that. Well, for starters, the results came back as inconclusive when it came to that zigzag pattern, meaning they couldn't prove or disprove whether that shoe was a match to the shoe that was used to stomp on Nikki's body.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And then, of course, there was the drop of blood found on Doug's shoe. Well, turns out it wasn't even human blood. It was turkey blood from when Doug had previously gone hunting. And then as for the drops of blood in Nikki's car... turns out it was her daughter's.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
She ended up becoming a substitute science teacher for the Green Bay Area public school system, where she made a huge impact on so many students. And I'm sure that we can all agree from experience that the best teachers out there are the ones who truly care about the subject matter, are passionate about what they're teaching, and also passionate about their students. And that was Nikki 100%.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And then the blood on those tissues and jacket were actually from her sister, who was recently at their house and had had a bloody nose while she was there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Then it turns out that Nikki's car had never left the garage that night, and they were able to figure that out because Nikki had progressive snapshot, which I'm sure some of you are familiar with, especially if you have progressive or if you've seen the ads for it. It's basically like a device that you hook up in your car and it tells the progressive insurance company how well you're driving.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And through that data, they could see that her car did not move all night. And if all that wasn't enough, get this. Remember when I talked about how when they went to Doug's house, they were recording his conversation so that they could review his body language later on? Well, it turns out when they reviewed that footage, they saw that Doug was wearing a Fitbit.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And this is not the first case where I have either covered or heard of this happening, but the Fitbit ended up playing a huge part in the case, and it actually helped prove that he didn't commit her murder. Isn't that crazy? When they ended up looking at his Fitbit data, it showed that there were only about 12 steps in a three-hour span where they believed that Nikki was murdered.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And of course, you might be thinking, well, maybe he took it off. Maybe he thought ahead on that one. Well, they don't believe he did because if he did, it wouldn't have even registered those 12 steps. Those 12 steps he took, which they believe were probably from where he maybe went to go to the bathroom or to check on their kid, proved that he was wearing the device correctly.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
throughout the time that they believe that she was murdered. And so ultimately, they did not have enough evidence to keep him behind bars any longer. So after 18 days, Doug was released. But with the exception of his friends, most people still thought he was guilty and they couldn't understand why they were letting him out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And what was even harder to understand was the fact that weeks started going by and it didn't seem like anything was happening with the case. But there was. Earlier in this episode, I told you guys how Nikki was found only wearing her socks and a pink bracelet, like the event bracelet. And it turns out that there was some DNA found on her socks.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And when they ran this DNA through CODIS, it came back as being a match to 38-year-old piece of shit George Stephen Birch. And it turns out his DNA would end up being a match to all other DNA found on Nikki and the murder weapon. But who was this guy?
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Well, when investigators first looked into him, they could see that he was from Virginia and didn't appear to have any connection to Nikki whatsoever. So how did this random dude's DNA end up on her sock? Well, if you haven't already figured it out, it's because this good-for-nothing shitbag murdered her. It turns out that George was new to the Green Bay area.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
He had just moved there a few months earlier after going through a divorce. He ended up moving in with his buddy Ed Jackson and Ed's wife, Linda, who he had been friends with for over 20 years. And the thing that interested investigators the most about him was the fact that on his record, It showed that he had already been arrested for murder.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Back in 1998, he was arrested for the murder of a man named Joey White, who was supposedly a rival gang member. A jury did end up acquitting George, but investigators felt like this wasn't a coincidence, so they kept looking into him, and this is what they found out.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
George, whose nickname is actually Big Country because he's six foot eight, was a regular at this bar called Richard Cranium's, which happens to be a half mile away from the sardine can. Investigators also learned that he had recently been associated with a hit and run incident. I'm talking like right after the murder. And what happened was the Jacksons had let George borrow their Chevy Blazer.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
She was the type of person that didn't just show up and do the job. She genuinely loved it. And she helped her students get excited about what they were learning about. She especially loved biology. And this was such a fun little detail to learn about her. But a friend of hers said that whenever they would go on runs together, Nikki would actually just recite the periodic table.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And one night that vehicle was involved in a hit and run. And on top of being super banged up, whoever was driving the car also decided to torch it. And naturally, the police suspected George was involved since he was the person known to drive the vehicle. But of course, he said it wasn't him and that someone else had stolen it.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Now, they didn't end up charging him with anything since they couldn't prove that he did it. But the whole ordeal ended up really being a golden ticket in Nikki's murder investigation. It turns out when police brought him in for questioning over that whole ordeal, he ended up giving them written permission to download the data from his phone.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And he did this because he thought it would prove that he wasn't near the area where the hit and run took place. But what big dummy dumbs didn't even factor in was the fact that now police had access to everything. And so to make a long story short, investigators got a hold of the data and it proved that George was at every single location associated with Nikki's murder on the night it happened.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
So if the DNA wasn't already a slam dunk, this certainly was. The data ultimately showed that he drove from Richard Cranium's to his house where he stopped briefly, then from his house to Nikki's house, and lastly from Nikki's house to the field where her body was dumped. It also placed him on the highway on ramp where her clothes had been discarded.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And if all that weren't bad enough, this Bigfoot looking ass had been dumb enough to be Googling the case. Not once, not twice, 64 times. Okay, so things are not looking good for Mr. George. So of course, they arrest him and they ultimately believe that on the night that she was killed, Nikki had met George at Richard Cranium.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And while the specific details are uncertain, they think that he had offered her a ride home. And during this ride home, they believe that he tried to make a move on her sexually, which they believe that she denied. And because she denied him, he sexually assaulted and killed her. That day, he was brought in for questioning and George could not have been more casual about the whole thing.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
He straight up sat in that room smoking a cigarette and smiling, like he hadn't just been arrested on suspicion of murder. And unfortunately, not much more information was learned. George answered a handful of personal questions, but when the detective started talking about the murder and reading him his Miranda rights, he asked for a lawyer.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And honestly, even though he didn't end up saying much at the time, I'd say it was kind of a good thing because it gave this dummy time before the trial began to concoct a ridiculous story that no one was going to believe.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
The trial started in February of 2018, and I'll explain this more in a minute, but basically the fact that he didn't tell his whole concocted story from the jump just proved that everything he was saying was complete bullshit. So let's start going over the trial, shall we?
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
I mean, that's how into it she was. One student said that she was the kind of teacher who actually cared about her students succeeding. And not just in the classroom, but in life. And I love that that's how she's remembered by so many. But aside from teaching, Nikki's biggest passion and greatest joy in life was definitely being a mother.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
The trial against George, specifically it began on February 19th, 2018, and no time was wasted getting into the nitty gritty details. The prosecution argued that George undeniably murdered Nikki Vander Heiden and that the evidence proves that it was him and him alone.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And just as a reminder, I thought it would be good for us to go over once again all of the evidence against him, and there's quite a bit. First, there was the phone data, which placed him at every single location associated with Nikki's murder. And then they had his DNA on both her body and the cord that they say he strangled her with. And then they also had the testimony of Ed Jackson.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And he explained during that testimony that the day after Nikki was murdered, he and George went out fishing. Like, can you imagine doing something that heinous and then waking up the next morning and going fishing? And there's even a photo of George smiling as he's holding up a fish that he caught. And he looks totally unfazed, totally happy, just showing off his stupid fish.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And that photo, plus the testimony of Ed, ended up helping the prosecution because it showed that George didn't have any injuries to his head. Which I'm sure you're a little confused on that, and I will explain more after I go over the defense's argument. So the entire, and I mean entire, strategy of the defense was to convince the jury that Doug had been the one to kill Nikki.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And I'm sure you're already thinking, that's a terrible argument, and it is, because obviously they have all this physical evidence against George, plus they have plenty of evidence to prove that Doug is innocent, but they said they could explain it somehow. According to George, who did take the stand, by the way, he was with Nikki that night.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
He said that they met at Richard Cranium's and the two of them began flirting and eventually he asked if she wanted to go home with him. He claims that she said yes and that the two of them got in his car and drove to his place. But then he said when they pulled up, other people were home. So they decided to go to Nikki's instead. And when they go to Nikki's, same situation, people are home. Duh.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
So he claims then that they decided to have sex in the back of his car. But here's the kicker. Out of nowhere, George claims that he was knocked out and completely lost consciousness. Then when he suddenly came to, he said he saw a man who he heard say, don't you fucking think about it, as well as look what the fuck you made me do. And when he did come to, he said that Nikki was already dead.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
So yeah, that was his story that he felt good about, that he just happened to be unconscious for all of this. Okay, but even if the jury was foolish enough to believe all of that bullshit, he still had to explain why his phone placed him at the location where her body was dumped. So what did this big idiot say?
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
He said that Doug forced him at gunpoint to move Nikki's body to the back of his car and then proceeded to hold that gun against him as the two of them drove her body to the field where he was forced to dump her. Now, apparently, this entire time, George was trying to come up with a way to escape the situation, and he said he got that opportunity in the field when Doug wasn't paying attention.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
She actually became a mom in a previous marriage to two children, a son and a daughter, and she loved her kids with every bone in her body. Family was definitely the most important thing to her, and that really reflected in every decision that she made. And since she was such an active person and loved being outdoors, loved nature, she loved doing those types of things with her kids.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
He said that he pushed Doug down as hard as he could, and then he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him, I guess big legs, and drove off. And while driving away, he noticed that Nikki's clothes were still in his car, so he threw them out his window in a panic. And I mean, no offense to Doug when I say this, but George looks like he could eat Doug.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
I mean, he was called big country for a reason. He is a six foot, eight inch, 260 pound behemoth. And Doug is kind of a regular looking dude. He's not tiny or anything, but George is certainly a lot bigger than him. Obviously, you have to take into account that if his story was true, the person holding the gun does have more power. But I don't know why I'm just so hung up on that.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
It just seems like one other element to his story that just fundamentally doesn't make any sense. And that's why it's so ridiculous he even tried to sell this to the jury. He didn't even mention any of this to investigators when he was arrested. But all in all, that was the gist of his testimony. And the fact that he even testified in his own defense was pretty shocking.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
I mean, that does not happen often. Now, Doug also took the stand and the defense went in on him. They brought up the text messages where Nikki alleges he abused her and the fact that he was planning on leaving her and their son, you know, things that would point to a motive.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
But he denied all of those allegations and even said that he didn't know why Nikki would say those things in the first place. They also did question why it took him so long to report her missing, and I certainly have thoughts on that and on Doug in general and the way he treated her. I don't feel great about him, and I'm sure any of you can agree, but while it's frustrating he did wait so long,
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
it definitely wouldn't have changed the outcome. Plus, let's not forget about the Fitbit that did play a big role in clearing him. How could he have committed a violent murder and dumped a body and only have taken 12 steps? I mean, the logic just isn't there. The reality is Nikki's life was taken from her.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And while Doug definitely has his own can of worms, he wasn't guilty of murder, which is the same conclusion that the jury did end up coming to. And both the prosecution and the defense thought that they would take quite a bit of time, but they didn't really need much time at all. After a two-week trial, they only took four hours to deliberate, and they came back with a guilty verdict.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And two of the jurors ended up telling reporters that their decision really just came down to one thing. And that was the wire cord. That cord, which was used to strangle Nikki, only had one man's DNA on it. And that was George. And at sentencing a few weeks later, 19 letters were submitted to the judge asking that he punish him for as long as the law would allow.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And that's exactly what the judge did. And I really, really like this judge. I mean, I don't know his whole career, but from the way that he handled this case, I thought he did a great job.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
sent his george to life in prison without the possibility of parole and even told him that if he could he would sentence him to the death penalty the death penalty isn't legal in wisconsin so he couldn't but he did say that he believed that this crime warrants that sentence what complicates things though is not only did you just brutally murder her but you took away her life and then you kind of tried to take away her reputation by this story
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And so she especially loved taking them to the zoo, to the park, anything where they were going to get outside and build lifelong memories together. And... Those were the types of memories that she was hoping to make with her third child. In January of 2015, Nikki was ready to start dating again. And like so many people out there, she wanted to find someone to share her life with.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And essentially, he said something along the lines of, I'm giving you the death penalty in a way because you're going to die in prison where you belong. He was also ordered to pay about $37,000 in restitution to the family and Doug for wage loss, headstone engraving, burial costs, counseling and more.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And despite everything, what really pisses me off, like the cherry on top of this evil man, is that he continues to maintain his innocence. And he says that he'll never confess in a million years. I don't even know how to put into words how evil you have to be to not give her friends and family that closure. I mean, this is a mother of children that are going to grow up without her.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
One of them who was too young to even have any memories of her. And you couldn't just own up, be a man at the end of the day, and admit to what you did, confess, give them that type of closure. I guess you can't really expect... a monster like George to have the heart to do that. But still, it just makes me so, so angry.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
So this is normally the part of the episode where I would start to wrap things up. But I do have one more piece of information that I want to share. And it actually has to do with charges that were filed against Doug. I've obviously said that Doug is innocent and he is innocent of murder. However,
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
After Nikki was murdered, he was charged with reckless endangering of safety, disorderly conduct, as well as false imprisonment, which had to do with an incident that took place after Nikki was killed, but before George's trial. And this is very shocking and disturbing, but what happened was Heather, Nikki's sister, had been living at their house, helping with the baby after Nikki was murdered.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And a year before the trial, in February of 2017, the two of them were driving to a birthday party. And, well, Doug ended up touching Heather's knee in a sexually suggestive way, and when she denied this advance, he locked the car doors and took off speeding. And it was a very bad, very scary situation.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
He ran a red light and completely put her in danger, and he only stopped when she started kicking at the windshield to try and break free. as if she hadn't been through enough recently.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
So another trial for that incident was scheduled for August of 2018, but he ended up pleading no contest to misdemeanor negligent operation of a vehicle, and if he stayed out of trouble by the agreed upon date, the charges would be dismissed. Which, to my knowledge, they did ultimately end up being dismissed. So yeah, Doug might be innocent of murder, but...
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
According to everything we know about him, he does not seem like an upstanding citizen by any means. I mean, to do this to the sister of someone you loved, someone who was murdered, the mother of your child, so soon after what happened to her... Pretty, pretty evil, in my opinion. Nikki, her sister, their whole family deserves so much better.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And really just at the end of the day, my heart breaks for those kids. I mean, the fact that if they don't already know what happened, they probably will learn what happened in their life.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Her friends say that she was super spontaneous and that type of person who was just down for whatever. She was literally someone who would go skydiving, which is so cool. I'm so afraid of heights. I don't think I could ever do it. But it really does sound like the most incredible experience. But that's the type of person Nikki was. She was willing to take these chances.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
just beyond traumatic I was curious how they're doing now and I struggled finding any recent updates on how they're doing but I did see that a fundraiser was started to help the family financially support their kids through life in college it's a GoFundMe and like always I'm going to have that link down below in case you're in a position to be able to support them
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And I'm going to attempt to get in touch with them and see if they're interested in applying for a grant through My Foundation Higher Hope because we definitely would love to help them. But even though years have passed now, this will never be over for her family, especially for those three children who will forever have to grow up without their mother.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
How someone could just be in the wrong place at the wrong time and just happen to ask the wrong person for a ride. It's just it's so unfair. Nikki deserved so much better. And George Birch got exactly what he deserved, which is rotting in prison until the day he dies. That is going to be it for me today, guys.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
willing to experience anything in life. So when she started looking for someone to date, finding someone who's also like that was very important to her. And pretty quickly, she ended up meeting 33 year old Doug Dietry, who she thought might be a great partner for her. But
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
their relationship didn't really follow the you know typical timeline because just a few weeks into dating nikki found out that she was pregnant and whether or not he was ready to settle down they had a child on the way and so it was time for him to get serious which he seemed to do nikki moved in with him and when she had custody of her two older kids they would stay there too
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
But he didn't really seem to be as ready for family life as he said he was. And during this episode, I'll be sharing text messages with you that will really paint that picture, make what I just said make a little bit more sense. But basically... Their relationship was not a very healthy one because of the way that Doug treated her.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And I will continue to break that down and what that means as we go on here. But that brings us to May 20th of 2016. It was a Friday night and a group of Doug's friends convinced him and Nikki that they should go out with them. They had already had their son. It had actually been about six or seven months since their son was born. And they were, you know, ready for a fun night out for a change.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime Kendall Rae. It is 2025. Here we are. Cannot believe it. That number just sounds insane. Is anyone else still just living in like 2020? I mean, mentally, I feel like I'm in like 2018. But anyway, welcome back. I hope you guys all had an ace holiday. And if you're new to the show, welcome. I'm happy to have you here. So guys, today we are jumping into
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Their other two kids were with their dad for the night. So in the beginning of the night, her mom watched the baby. And then eventually her friend Dallas came over and watched the baby the rest of the time that they were out. So this group of Doug's friends ended up going to this place called the Watering Hole. And it's like a bar music hall type situation all in one.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Bands will book gigs there on the weekend. And that night in particular, Steel Panther was playing. And based off what we know from the reporting on this case, that night started out completely normal. Nikki sent a selfie of her and Doug to Dallas, the friend of hers that was babysitting that night, and by everyone's recollection, everyone was doing okay. But around 11 p.m.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
when the band finished their set, things took a turn. As everyone is ushering out of the concert area, Nikki and Doug end up getting separated. And to some extent, I understand this. It can be very chaotic at the end of a show like this, especially in a bar scene.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
But instead of making any type of effort to find Nikki and go with the rest of the group to the next bar that they were going to, Doug ended up staying behind with one other friend. And he basically said that he went to the bathroom and then when he got out of the bathroom, everyone except for this one friend was gone.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And so they went to leave, but then they ended up running into some old friends and decided to stay behind and have a drink with them. And Nikki was unhappy about this because, reminder, she's out with all of his friends and she was hurt that he just abandoned her, essentially.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Now, I will say that one of the other girls in the group took Nikki under her wing, which was really kind of her, but still, it seems to be the start of where things went wrong. Because while they were at this second bar, which was called the Sardine Can, Nikki started to send Doug text messages that made it clear that she was more than just a little upset.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
was actually pretty damn pissed at him and even accused him of being with another woman because not only did he not show up like he said that he would but he wasn't even responding to her text messages so let me just read you some of the texts that she was sending him and it really paints a picture of where her mind was at wow what slut are you with because none of your friends know fuck you abusive asshole and another one that said you hurt me all the time
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Now, that's only three texts, but there's quite a lot to unpack there. And obviously, abuse is no joke. And Nikki certainly wasn't joking. In fact, I'll talk about this a little bit more as we go along here. But her friends and family did say that there was abuse in their relationship. And so that night when Doug had ditched her, she brought it up to show him how angry she was.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And it all eventually seemed to come to a boiling point when one of the girls that Nikki was with decided to call Doug herself. And she thought that maybe if she tried Doug, that he would answer and it would help the situation. But it actually didn't because Nikki was like, why the fuck are you ignoring my calls? But you are answering from my friend.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And I would certainly be pissed about that, too. So at that point, Nikki decided that she had enough. and she ended up leaving the bar.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
There's actually surveillance footage that shows her leaving out the back gate and you can actually see that one of the guys that she was with went after her and he was trying to convince her to come back inside but she wanted to leave and he felt that he couldn't stop her.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
After this point there's one call between Nikki and Doug that we know of and he basically just tells her that he's finally on his way to the sardine can and will meet her there but According to him, she was drunk and not making a whole lot of sense. And she was obviously very angry.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And I guess at one point, the friend that he was with, whose name is Greg, took the phone from him and started trying to talk to Nikki himself, but said that she either hung up or that maybe her phone had died. And then after that... That was it. Nikki was never seen or heard from again.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
in for the year with a case that was requested on my members only request form. And I started looking into it and it's one of those cases where I thought it was going one way and I was pretty confident about that. And then as I learned more and more details, It completely shifted. I don't want to give anything away, so I'm going to jump right in here.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Doug says that he and Greg did drive around looking for her, but they ultimately ended up going to the sardine can for some drinks before finally going back home around 3 a.m. And when he got home, Dallas, the babysitter, said that she had a really weird feeling. She said that she thought it was strange that Doug came home without Nikki and...
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
I think most of us can agree that that is pretty strange. And if I were in Dallas's shoes, I would definitely think that was extremely odd too. I guess she even jokingly asked if Nikki was in the trunk of his car. And apparently he just brushed that comment off. So she sort of just had to leave and hope that her friend made it home safely that night, but she didn't.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Nikki didn't come home that night and she didn't come home later the next morning either. And so the next day, around 4.30 p.m., Doug finally decides to go ahead and call 911 and report Nikki missing. And here is the audio from that call.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Now, a few hours before Doug made that call, another older gentleman who lived just down the road from them had placed a call to 911 himself. And he called 911 because it turns out his grandson and his grandson's friends were helping him remove some stones from his field when they stumbled upon what no person, especially children, should ever have to see.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
What you just heard was just a portion of the 911 call, but you heard him say that he thought the body had started to decay. But the truth is, the body hadn't even been there for a full day, and what he thought was decay was actually just severe brutality. It was so bad, in fact, that they needed dental records to make a positive identification for a body that has been there less than 24 hours.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
That is pretty rare, and obviously it took some time for that identification to be made, but it didn't take long for them to connect the body to Nikki. As soon as Doug had made the missing persons report, the Brown County Sheriff's Department realized that the two calls were probably connected. However, they decided not to tell Doug what they had found. At least, not yet.
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A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And instead, officers went over to his house, where they took an official missing persons report, and they also asked more questions to see if his description of Nikki matched their description of the body. Because besides a pair of socks and a pink, like, little event bracelet that was on her wrist, there was nothing on the victim's body or at the scene to make an identification.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And ultimately, his description of her was a match. But they still didn't tell him because they thought the timing of his 911 call, which, again, was three hours after the first 911 call, was super suspicious. And if I were in their shoes, I would feel the same way. I mean, it's pretty suspicious when someone calls to report a body and then...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
But this is definitely a case that needs more awareness. More people should know about Nicole's story and what she went through at the end of her life. It is just so tragic. Nicole seemed like an awesome person. She was a mother and she was a great mother. And the fact that her children have to live the rest of their lives without her is...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
hours later someone is calling to report that person missing and of course that doesn't always mean something suspicious happened but in their minds the alarm bells are going off not to mention the fact that he waited all day to report her missing so they loosely questioned him at his house about the events that took place the night before without letting him know what they knew officer shield arrived at berkeley road on may 21st
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
Now, the point of recording that conversation, which obviously they're recording pretty much everything these days anyway, but it was helpful for them to go back and try and review his body language. And honestly, they felt like he was acting pretty nonchalant for a guy whose girlfriend and mother of his child is missing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
A Fitbit Helped Solve This Murder?! The Case of Nicole VanderHeyden
And so later that night, they end up asking him to come in for questioning, where he explains in more detail the sequence of events that happened the night before.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And it sounds like on this trip, she was doing pretty great, so much so that she actually wanted to drive back to Perth on her own. She told Sean that her plan when coming to Australia was to spend alone time with just her and Sophie. And now that she was pregnant, this might be one of her last chances. And he definitely pushed back because it was a long trip.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And of course, she was sick or so he thought. But she assured him that she would take it easy and she would sort of drive close to hospital. She'd kind of mapped it out. So everything was going to be fine. And honestly, he just admired that she was so adventurous and seemingly independent that she wanted to spend this alone time with her daughter.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So she and Sophie left and started making their way back to Perth, or they were supposed to, and he stayed back in Adelaide just for a couple of days to be with his family. But the thing is, though, she didn't drive straight back to Perth, because of course she didn't. She actually made a pit stop at the airport to pick up the guy, the gay guy, her gay best friend, who sent her the hi baby text.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And I'm going to tell you right now, he is not gay, and I'm going to be calling him Steve. Steve. Well, friends, I hope where you live, it is getting warm like it is where I live. And around the seasonal changes, I always like to refresh my wardrobe, right? We all love to do a little seasonal upgrade.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And one of my favorite go-to places when I'm looking to get some new pieces for my wardrobe is Quince. Now, I'm serious. Quince is one of the best stores out there, in my opinion. Not only do they have a huge range of styles and really something for everyone, but it's affordable. And they're also a very ethical company, which I really appreciate.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Now, as for her victims, there are several. Her child, I think, is definitely a victim in this. But there are two men that I'm mainly going to be focusing on today, although she hurt others in the past, and I'm sure there are many more. I'm sure she will continue to do this to others, like I said. But from what I can tell, these guys who were manipulated and lied to and tricked
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Their pieces are easy, they're elevated, lots of basics, things that can be paired with multiple different outfits. And they have the quality so you know that they're going to hold up. I've never had a quince piece fall apart on me, even when sending it through the wash multiple times and bleaching them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
We're talking 100% European linen shorts and dresses from $30, luxe swimwear, Italian platform sandals, and so much more. And the best part? Everything with quince is priced 50-80% less than what you would find at similar brands. And how do they do this? I'm sure you're wondering. Well, they work directly with top artisans cutting out the middleman so they can give you luxury without the markup.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. One of my go-tos in the summer is
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
always a nice pair of biker shorts and a t-shirt and quince has great biker shorts and great leggings i also get a bunch of my workout gear from quince and i really really like it and i honestly cannot believe how low they are priced for how high of quality that these pieces are So treat your closet to a little summer glow up with Quince.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Go to quince.com slash tckr for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quince, q-u-i-n-c-e dot com slash tckr to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Once again, quince.com slash tckr. Steve is the other victim that I'm going to be telling you about today. And just a heads up, his name isn't really Steve. He's chosen to remain anonymous and all this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Even when he's done interviews, he's got kind of like the shadowed thing going on. So you can't see his face. So Steve is not his real name, but we're going to call him Steve. And he was the guy that Sean caught texting Rebecca a few days before she told him that she was pregnant. But like I said, he definitely wasn't her gay friend.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
It turns out that they had also met on Tinder two weeks before she and Sean met. And he tells a really similar story about getting to know Rebecca and falling for her and finding out about her having cancer. And he explained that 2016 was a really hard year for him because... He had actually left his fiancée, so big life change.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And his friends had really encouraged him to get back into the dating scene and to get into online dating on Tinder, and that's where he met Arrow. And they actually also met in Fremantle for their first date, and he said that it went really well.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And one thing that he remembers about her that really stood out to him was her stare, that it felt like she was looking or sort of like reading into his soul when she would look at him. And he heard the same story about why she was going by the name Arrow and, you know, the whole abusive ex story as well. But the difference was she actually told him the origins of the name Arrow.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So apparently she was a writer and Arrow is what they used to call her when she worked for a university magazine when she was still in school. They said that her writing was sharp and to the point like an arrow and it just kind of stuck. Now, I don't know if that story is true. My guess is it's not, but whatever. It doesn't really matter much. But like Sean, their relationship started to progress.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And a few months into dating, she broke the news to him that she had terminal cancer. And just like Sean, he also felt like he didn't necessarily owe her anything. But at the same time, this was someone that he was falling for, someone he really liked. And they would sort of spend several days together and then they'd be apart for a few days and then...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
You know, in between, they were in contact pretty much all the time. So he really felt connected to her, even though it hadn't been that long. And so ultimately, he decided he wanted to be by her side through all of this. And he would end up doing things like take her to and from her appointments. But of course, he never actually got to go inside.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
by Rebecca for a long time really did nothing to deserve this they seemed like great men who were well intended and just happened to trust the wrong person it's quite a journey you guys this is a case out of Australia and I had never heard of it before and once I started looking into it I was pretty freaking blown away.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And he would also help by watching Sophie while she was at these appointments, as well as helping cover as much of her medical bills as he reasonably could. He'd also, just like Sean, pay for things for the baby and other bills that came her way. And also like Sean, he had no reason to believe that she was lying. In fact, one time, right after he got out of the shower...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
She showed him a clump of her hair that she said was on her pillow, which to him at the time was confirmation of what he already believed, that Rebecca had cancer. And in hindsight, I'm sure it was all very strategic, and I wonder how she went about doing that or how much hair it was. I'm not really sure. But yeah, of course, that's kind of a classic play we see with people who fake cancer.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And she was planting seeds for weeks, seeing how much she could make them both care about her. And right when she had them hooked, boom, she had cancer suddenly. And for what? Sympathy? Money? Well, in this case, it's pretty obvious it was for both. But anyways, going back to the whole road trip situation, Rebecca went and picked up Steve from the airport.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And he accompanied her and Sophie back to Perth. And they ended up making a ton of pit stops along the way and really made a full trip out of the several days that they were spending together. And what's interesting is Rebecca was sending photos to Sean and his mom. And Diane says that in hindsight, she probably should have questioned who was taking these photos.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But, you know, to give her some credit, I think... Most of us would just assume. I mean, when you don't have a reason to believe someone's lying, your mind doesn't go there. So I'm sure she's just thinking someone else is taking these pictures. She's asking random people at these tourist stops to take pictures of her. I mean, I would probably think the same.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And she was messaging the two of them a lot, especially Sean. And he says that she was constantly talking about the pregnancy and how excited she was and he's excited. And she even sent him a picture of this shirt that she found that said small fry on it, which they laughed about and thought was really cool because Sean's last name is Fry. So she's like carrying a small fry.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
She even was joking with him about how he wasn't going to love her anymore when she was heavily pregnant, which of course wouldn't have been true, by the way. But, you know, any way that she can get a little sympathy. But apparently at one point during her drive, Rebecca even told them that her van broke down and they were working to find her a solution.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But like always, she convinced them that she was fine. It was like every time she made a problem, she also magically had the solution. Rebecca truly put Sean through so many emotional roller coasters. And the biggest one happened about four weeks later on Australia Day. So for that upcoming weekend, they were texting and Sean asked her if she had any plans. And she did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
She was going to go camping with a couple of friends. And Sean, of course, couldn't go because he had to work to support her, obviously. And honestly, he was worried about Rebecca going. I mean, between having terminal cancer and being pregnant, he was always super cautious about what she did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But she reassured him, of course, that everything was going to be totally fine, especially because she wasn't going to be alone. And she was right. She wasn't going to be alone, but she certainly wasn't going to be with friends. She was actually going to be with Steve. I just have to take a little pause here. Oh my god, Rebecca pisses me off so much. How evil, truly, can you get?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Not only lying about having cancer, but also cheating on this man while he is busting his ass making sure that you can pay your bills, which he thinks are medical bills, and pay for your child and all these things, and you're just camping and having a good old time. Just, ugh. Ugh.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So I'm going to start out here by talking about one of Rebecca's victims, and his name is Sean Fry. And in 2016, he was living in Perth, Australia. Now, a little bit about Sean. He was in his early 30s and worked a variety of jobs over the years from teaching football, leading team building events, and even doing disability support work.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So I'm sure you guys have heard me talk about Rocket Money before, but if you yourself are not using Rocket Money yet, I'm telling you, you are really, really missing out. It has completely changed the way that my family manages our finances.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Before using Rocket Money, I had no idea how many subscriptions I had active and how much money I was wasting on ones that I wasn't even using anymore, like free trials I had started, like a 30-day period, and then Just forgot to cancel it. Or streaming services that I haven't opened up in like a year.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
If you haven't heard of Rocket Money, it's a personal finance app that helps you find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending and helps you to lower your bills so that you can grow your savings. See all your subscriptions in one place, know exactly where your money is going and for ones you don't want anymore, Rocket Money can help you cancel them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Okay, guys, today we are getting into another case having to do with someone who lied extensively, like just kept it going and lied about, I think, one of the worst things that you can lie about, which is health-related things. And the way that she manipulated, I mean, if lying and gaslighting was an Olympic sport, Rebecca Gray or Arrow should get the gold.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
They automatically scan your bills to find opportunities to save and then you can ask them to negotiate for you. And they'll deal with the customer service so you don't have to, which in my opinion, that is the best part.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Once again, rocketmoney.com slash kendallray. But anyway, back to the camping trip. During the trip, Rebecca's communication was not so great. She wasn't being as responsive to Sean as she normally was, and something just felt off to him. Well, come to find out, Rebecca was actually in the hospital. Or so she said, of course.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Rebecca had been texting him saying that she didn't feel good and she wound up in the hospital. And of course, hearing this about this woman he loves and is having a baby with, she's carrying his baby, he's very concerned and he naturally wants to go and be with her. But just like in every other situation, she insisted that she didn't need him there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Because the last thing Rebecca wants is for one of these guys to actually go into a hospital with her because... The jig would be up quick, right? But then after several hours of not responding to poor Sean, he is very worried, trying to figure out what's going on. Why are you in the hospital? What's happening? She finally hits him with the news that she had a miscarriage.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
According to his mom, Diane, he was a kind, moral, and nice person. And of course, I don't know Sean But from the interviews I've seen of him, he seems like a really solid dude, and I feel terrible that this happened to him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And here's where it gets even more fucked up. She didn't have a miscarriage because Rebecca was never pregnant to begin with. She lied to him about that too. So she hadn't quite deserved the title of evil yet. Now I believe she certainly has. But at the time, Sean didn't know that she was never pregnant.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So he went from the happiest he had been in a long time to the saddest he had been in a long time. And she's texting him saying, I'm so sorry. I'm so upset. And he's very, very upset. But of course he... being the guy that he has been this whole time, is going to just continue to support her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And if all that wasn't horrible enough, things were actually about to get a lot harder because Rebecca, a short time after she told him she lost the baby, told him that Sophie's biological father was or had already started a custody battle, which actually that part is true. And since he had access to great lawyers, Rebecca needed more money if she was going to keep up with all the legal costs.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Now, of course, this was something that she shared with both Sean and Steve. And because they both believed that the baby's biological father was abusive, both of them wanted to make sure they supported Rebecca through this time as they always did. And that meant both emotionally and financially.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And poor Sean, man, he ended up borrowing several thousand dollars from his parents and also increased his workload even more. And since money was so tight at this time, Rebecca said she had another brilliant idea to help them make some extra cash. She tells Sean that her gay best friend, the one who had texted her, hi, baby, was actually away on vacation and agreed to let them decorate his house.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And this was partially true. I mean, we know that Steve is not actually her gay best friend, but he actually did agree to let Rebecca decorate his house, but he knew nothing about Sean. So basically what happened was he had just bought this new house, but he was about to leave town for this work trip. And so Rebecca had approached him and said, look, I really want to do something nice for you.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And in the interview I watched, he talked about how he didn't always have the greatest dating history, didn't always have the best of luck with dating other people, but that didn't stop him from trying. He says that one of the most beautiful parts of life is the relationships that you build, and that's true for both romantic and non-romantic relationships. And I couldn't agree more.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Can I decorate it while you're gone? And he hesitated at first to let her do this, but since she insisted, he did finally agree. So in the week, Steve is gone. Rebecca and Sean go over to Steve's house and they brought in furniture and they painted and made his house feel like a home, you know, put in a ton of work.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And Sean this whole time has no idea he is painting and decorating the house of a man that Rebecca is in another relationship with. Oh my God. And to make it even worse, and this is not surprising, it sounds like Sean was doing most of the work because of Rebecca's health problems and whatnot. of course.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But she sure as hell took credit for it, though, even though Steve had no idea that Sean was also there helping along the way. And when he came back, she greeted him outside. She was so pumped for him to come home and ready to show him all the hard work that she had put into his now beautiful home that she had decorated and painted and, you know, made a house into a home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And truthfully, he did think that she did a decent job, and so he ended up paying her $4,000 because he felt bad that she supposedly paid for everything. After all this, though, finally, things started to go to shit for Rebecca.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
I'm not exactly sure how much later this was, but at some point, there was a period of time where Sean just stopped hearing from Rebecca, and he was very concerned because the two of them were pretty much in constant contact. He didn't want to think the worst, but given her health, he worried that maybe something had happened to her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So he thought the best thing that he could try and do was to find someone else who knows her. I mean, he knows none of her family, none of her friends. He knows nobody that knows Rebecca. The only person he knows of is the gay best friend, who is Steve, of course. He didn't have Steve's number, but he did know where Steve lived because he had just spent all this time decorating the man's house.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So he decides to go over there. But little did he know that going over to Steve's house was going to be the beginning of the end. And this is crazy. So Sean drives over to Steve's house and he knocks on the door and Steve answers and he asks, hey, is Rebecca here? And Steve said, yeah.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And before Steve could even say another word, Sean ended up pushing past him and barged into the bedroom where he finds Rebecca, who is still scrambling to put her clothes on. So, you know what the hell was going down in the bedroom. And it was as bad as it sounded. But somehow she managed to convince Sean that it wasn't what it looked like. They sat and talked in his car about it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And she got him to believe that the only reason she was at Steve's house was because she needed a friend to talk to about their relationship problems, as in hers and Sean's. She said she only went over there to talk, but it got late. So he told her that she could sleep in the bed and he would sleep on the couch. And I guess Rebecca and Sean were having like some problems in their relationship.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And like a lot of single people do these days when they're looking to meet someone, Sean was using Tinder. And I really get the vibe that he's a look on the bright side kind of guy. So even though he didn't have the best dating history, he wasn't ready to throw in the towel. And that's how he was first introduced to a girl that he met on the app. And her name was Arrow.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So that part felt true to him. It's just so crazy to me that she wouldn't have just given up at that point. I mean, you're literally caught in another man's bed and you're still going to lie. It's like it's wired into her DNA that she just has to lie constantly. But yeah, despite feeling off about the whole thing, he chose to believe her because he didn't want to believe that she was cheating.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
However, it quickly became too obvious to ignore. Not long after Sean left her at Steve's house, he ended up texting her. And when the text notification sound popped up on her phone, Steve picked it up because he said he thought it was his phone. And maybe that's the truth. Or maybe he was just looking at her phone. And he's still confused about the situation at this point.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But yeah, this guy just barged in looking for his girlfriend. So yeah, I wouldn't blame him if he was looking through her phone. But anyway, okay. Of course, as he looks at the phone, he sees that Sean had texted her. And in that moment, he decided to give Rebecca a little test. And he put her phone down and he let her go ahead and find the text herself.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And when she did, he asked her who the message was from. And of course, Rebecca lied. And she said that it was from her mom checking in on Sophie. Now, of course, Steve knows that the message is actually from Sean. And so it was in this moment that it all happened. Hit him. She was cheating on him. She was lying. And listen to this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
When he accused her of lying, he says that she got sick and passed out for two hours, which was long enough for him to go through her phone. And I'm really curious if she actually did pass out or... if she was faking that, too. I mean, you really can never know with Rebecca.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
I'd imagine if she was... I mean, maybe the stress all hit her, all the lies, everything catching up to her, and she actually did pass out. That's a possibility, because I'd think that if you were passed out and someone was going through your phone and you knew that they were about to find out a bunch of shit, you'd probably wake back up, but I don't know. This whole situation is so confusing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But as Steve is going through her phone, he puts the pieces together and realizes that any time that she's not with him... She's with Sean. So what does Steve do? He sends a message to Sean from Rebecca's phone telling him the truth. And these two men ended up going full detective mode and they uncovered a lot. And I think it was way more than either of them were expecting.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And one of the things they put together pretty quickly was the fact that when she drove to Adelaide, she was with Sean. And then when she drove back, she was with Steve. Which is, it's so wild to me. You have two boyfriends and you're going to, like, split a vacation between the two of them? Like, how did she pull this off? I mean, clearly not very well.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
They even realized that they both had almost identical photos of her sleeping in the van. They also, of course, quickly realized that they were the ones, both of them, funding her life and that any time they thought Rebecca had bought something for herself, it was something that the other guy had actually gotten for her or paid for a bill, you know, covered the expense.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
That's what she was going by on Tinder. Now, at first, Arrow seemed like a totally normal, kind, and in Sean's opinion, really pretty woman. And their initial kind of back and forth on the app made it sound like they were compatible for the most part. And one of the things that they talked about was the fact that Arrow was a mother.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Oh, and then the miscarriage, of course. Sean learned that when she told him she was in the hospital having a miscarriage, she was camping with Steve. So not only were their relationships with her a lie, but... Sean is now learning that the pregnancy was too, and that is really painful to learn. I just feel so, so horrible for him in that moment.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And all the emotional trauma that he went through with that alone, to find out that that was all a lie, just would be like a dagger to the heart. And so boy, was Rebecca in for a surprise when she woke up. Steve says that as soon as she woke up, he told her that he had been talking with Sean and immediately kicked her out of his house.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And thankfully for Steve, that was the last time that he ever saw her. Now, as for Sean, Rebecca tried calling him to convince him that Steve was lying. But of course, he's over her bullshit at this point. He doesn't believe a word that she's saying. And this is also really sad. But he said at some point he started thinking that he was having like a schizophrenic episode.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And listening to him try to explain what his thought process was like during this time is truly heartbreaking. Like, he thought that maybe he was actually Steve and he had dreamt up this whole thing. Like, he could not make sense of the fact that he had been lied to for so long. And that, you know, he had dedicated so much. He gave her everything in those moments. months they were together.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
I mean, it wasn't that long, but still, it was just like hard to wrap your mind around this period of your life where so much happened was all fake. So they start thinking, hmm, maybe we should reach out to Sophie's dad, the abusive ex, and see what the story is there and see if she was lying about him too. And... You guessed it. She absolutely was.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Not only had he never been abusive to her, but he explained that he had been with her for four and a half years, during which, of course, she claimed to have terminal cancer. And obviously he's with her for a longer period of time. So eventually he starts demanding to go to her oncology appointments. He says, I need to be a part of this. I need to hear it for myself, see it for myself.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
That's when she bails and she took the baby and left. So at this point, they started realizing they couldn't believe anything that this woman had told them, including the fact that she had cancer. And so to further confirm this, Sean tracked down another one of her ex-boyfriends, someone who she had dated before she had Sophie. And that's when he learned that she told that guy the same damn thing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So that is four guys that we know of that she has lied to about having cancer. And I wouldn't be shocked if there are more. And it was the same scenario with that guy too. They confirmed that this guy never had once actually spoken to one of her doctors and all the information was always coming from Rebecca. And that's when Sean was certain that everything that she had ever told him was a lie.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And just FYI, for the sake of protecting this child's identity, I'm changing some major details about them, but it's not going to change any of the facts of the case. It doesn't really matter. So anyway, when Rebecca, Arrow, and Sean were first chatting on Tinder, she mentioned that she had a daughter who I'm going to call Sophie.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So then I guess he got in contact with her family and they... tell him that she had been lying about having cancer since 2007 so clearly Rebecca is a master manipulator she has had a lot of practice like I said it's really just in her it's part of who she is to lie like this and I hate to say it but again as I said earlier she could still be out there doing this to this day
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So once Sean and Steve officially broke up with her, they kind of decided that they were going to just leave it at that. Sean had messaged a few people online initially just to warn them about her, but they weren't at first planning to file any charges. Which they absolutely had every right to do considering that she stole upwards of $11,000 between the two of them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But this was something that they wanted to put in the past and just be done with. And in a lot of ways, I get that. They had to have been just so emotionally drained and disturbed by the whole thing that I'd probably want to just be done with it too. But then Rebecca went to the police and told them that Sean had been stalking her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And for the record, as I'm sure you probably are already thinking, this is also a lie. Because of course it is. This is Rebecca we're talking about. But he still had to go in and talk to the cops. And that's when he ultimately decided that he was going to share the full story with them. He told them everything that she lied about, including the fact that she solicited money under false pretenses.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And so after looking into it, the police dropped the stalking charge, and they started to investigate Rebecca for fraud. Steve even agreed to make a statement, which further solidified the lengths that she went to and the fact that she did it to more than one person.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And so authorities wanted to have a little chat-ski with Rebecca, and so they ended up bringing her in to ask her some questions, but they had to do so by telling her that she was there to talk about the stalking. Little did she know, though, they were going to turn things around on her. I mean, they were basically trapping her and she'd either have to tell the truth or continue her lies.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And after nearly a year of investigating her, Rebecca finally went to court after being charged with three counts of fraud, all of which she ended up pleading guilty to. And this was interesting, and maybe it was her last-ditch effort to get some more sympathy, because we know that Rebecca does love her sympathy.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But over the two days that she was in court, one of the days she showed up with crutches, and then the next day she was in a wheelchair. And I can't say with 100% certainty that she didn't need the crutches or the wheelchair. I mean, I don't know for sure, but...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Her lawyer basically said that she was in the wheelchair and using the crutches because she was suffering from health issues related to an abusive relationship. And I think that really seals the deal on how not sorry Rebecca was. And you guys, the end of this is disappointing. I won't lie to you.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And he didn't really seem to have any reservations about the fact that she had a kid. A friend of his actually described him as a very paternal guy, and he's someone who knew that he wanted to have kids eventually. Which I think is rare to find someone who is open to also bringing a child into their lives. And I think a lot of people would be hesitant about that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Rebecca ended up receiving an eight-month suspended sentence, meaning that she didn't actually have to face any jail time. Apparently, she was told that if she had a prior record, she would have served those eight months, but since she didn't, all she had to do was some community service. Now, as for an apology, apparently she gave one, but I'm not sure what she said or if she meant it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And my guess is she probably didn't. Plus, according to Sean, she never actually admitted to faking cancer. Even when she was pleading guilty to fraud, she never said, I lied about being sick. She really could never admit anything. But yeah, guys, Rebecca is a free woman. She's still out there somewhere. It's currently unknown where she is.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And she, like I said earlier, is probably going by a different name. It is believed that she left Australia, which would be smart on her part. But yeah. She's out there and I wish there was a better way to keep an eye out for her. But at least you know what she looks like now in case you happen to run into her, which chances of that are very low, hopefully.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But I didn't want to leave this case on an entirely disappointing and sad note because overall it just is that type of story. But there is a little bit of good news. I think you'll be really happy to hear that Sophie's dad was able to regain custody. So she's now in a loving home and being cared for by someone who isn't going to exploit her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And here's something that is really the cherry on top of this story, like in a good way. I loved this. Sean, Steve and Sophie's dad are all friends now and they still go and see her. They've all been able to kind of help each other, not only with support, but her dad has said that he's super grateful that they helped him get his daughter back.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And they'd been with Rebecca for 18 months, give or take. And in that time, they had both grown to care about Sophie. And for them to want to stay in Sophie's life to some degree, even though she's back with her dad, thank goodness, I think says a lot about the two of them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And this fully sent me, I love this so much, but they actually have a three men and a baby group text, which is just so awesome. Rebecca, on the other hand, she... hopefully only has herself. I don't know. She, who knows who could be in her life now being manipulated by her latest lies. Or maybe, I don't know, maybe she learned from it and has turned a new leaf. I guess we can only hope.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But yeah, I just really hope that she never does this to anyone else ever because this is just, like I said, so, so evil. I can't explain it. I mean, everything I cover every week is shocking, but there's something about these people that lie that just, like... My jaw drops as I'm learning about it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
I constantly find myself taking these huge breaths like, oh my God, this is just, it's so insane to me. Especially when you have multiple people in it and multiple lives going at once, you have to keep all your facts straight and stuff. Like I said earlier, the anxiety alone would just like eat me alive.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And I'm so sorry to anyone out there who is battling cancer, has battled cancer, has lost someone to cancer or any other illness. This has just got to be such a slap in the face to you. And I am... Truly, there's no words. It is super, super fucked up. That's really all I have to say to Rebecca in the end of this is fuck you. You're a terrible person and you're evil.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But Sean, you know, wanted to have a child in his life at some point and didn't mind if this was the way that that happened. Now, Sophie was only about six months old at the time, and according to Arrow, they had just arrived in Australia from the UK. And she told Sean that they were planning to just explore in her van, and she seemed like a really easygoing, fun, kind of spontaneous person.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And I'm so sorry also for her daughter who had to suffer in all of this as well and will grow up and probably hear what happened one day. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
So they get to scheduling their first date, and Sean was very eager to meet both of them. They ended up meeting up in Fremantle for some food and some beer, and he said that it went really well. He described her as confident and charismatic and... He said he really had never met anyone like her before. So as far as first dates are concerned, this seemed like a pretty damn good one.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And Sean was excited. And I'm not sure if it was a conversation they had on their first date, but at some point, Rebecca explained to him why she called herself Arrow. Her real name, of course, is Rebecca Gray, but she said that she had to change it because she was trying to get away from Sophie's father, who she said was incredibly abusive.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And because Sean, of course, had no reason not to believe her, he completely understood why she had changed her name to Arrow or was going by Arrow. And he agreed to call her Arrow moving forward. And I am not going to be calling her Arrow in this episode.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
I mean, maybe here and there, but I'm going to be referring to her mostly as Rebecca, Rebecca Gray, because I think it's really important that this woman's name gets out there. Although chances are she's probably not going by this name anymore. So since becoming a mother, I have become more of a type A person. I'd say I'm like a B plus or like a A minus type mom.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
I'm really into being organized because it just helps me to live a less anxious life now that I am a mom and I am quite busy. And if you're like me and your brain is already at full capacity with the to do's and errands, birthdays, dinner plans for the week, let Skylight Calendar handle the rest.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
It syncs your entire family schedule onto a sleek digital display so you can actually see it in your home and you can focus on the more important things like remembering where you left your coffee. It's perfect for me because I'm a big Google Calendar user. I have so many different calendars, whether that's for work, for our pets, for our doctor's appointments, for stuff going on with our nanny.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
These types of stories where people lie about having an illness or a disease, especially a terminal illness, and it's normally cancer, piss me off so much. I know you guys feel the same way because I always see your comments and I see so many of you who actually have... been sick in your life are sick now or have a family member who has been sick or lost their battle to an illness or to cancer.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And I'm able to sync it with my Skylight calendar. It's all displayed for us out in the open, you know, off of our devices. We can actually see what's going on. And if you're not using Google Calendar, it also syncs with Apple Calendar, Outlook, and more, giving you customizable views for daily, weekly, and monthly planning.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
You'll be able to manage events, chores, grocery lists, while assigning colors for each of your family members and eliminating excuses for not knowing what they need to do. With the free Skylight Companion app, you can add and update events, lists, and more right on the go. The Skylight calendar was designed to connect the digital and non-digital worlds while bringing families together.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
It looks beautiful displayed on our wall, and the best part is it just helps us to keep track of everything going on in our busy life. And your happiness is Skylight's happiness. So if in 120 days you are not 100% thrilled with your purchase, you can actually return it for a full refund, no questions asked.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And I always really appreciate companies who are that confident in their product that they offer something like this. I mean, it tells you a lot. And right now, Skylight is offering my listeners $30 off their 15-inch calendars by going to skylightcal.com slash tckr. That's skylightcal.com slash tckr for $30 off your 15-inch calendar. That's S-K-Y-L-I-G-H-T-C-A-L dot com slash tckr.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But anyway, he and Rebecca, you know, they're hitting it off. Things are going well. They had been seeing each other relatively frequently. They'd often go to the beach and have romantic evenings by the water. And it felt like the only place this relationship was going was up. However, a little bit into seeing one another, Rebecca breaks the news to Sean that she has terminal liver cancer.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And she explained that the estimates varied, but doctors gave her about six months left to live. Now, that being said, she told him that she had actually outlived it before. So there was the smallest chance of hope. And Sean said that she was very emotional about having to tell him, was clearly upset, clearly even had a hard time getting the words out, which in his mind made sense. I mean,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
It's a lot to tell someone that you just started dating and you don't know how they're going to react. And obviously it's a lot for him to comprehend. And it's just very heavy. On one hand, he didn't necessarily owe her anything. He didn't need to stay in the relationship and support her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
through her cancer journey but on the other hand this was someone that he was really developing strong feelings for plus he had already gotten kind of close with sophie and he wasn't ready to walk away from them so he ends up texting a buddy of his to talk about it but in the end he decided that he wanted to support her however that looked and his words were something like if she was going to die i can try and help her have the best end to her life and give the baby the best start to theirs
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And Sean actually said that being in this situation and learning about her cancer diagnosis actually only made them closer. And he started seeing her in a totally new light. Like, she was so impressive to him and her will to fight and be so strong during it. And he was really fascinating. falling in love with someone who he thought was fighting cancer.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And of course, when you really love someone, those feelings come with wanting to support them as much as you can. And that included helping her pay for whatever she needed, whether that be medical bills, payments towards her van, or even things for the baby.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And I actually have just a couple of their text exchanges, which I think really helps paint the picture of how Rebecca was going about tricking Sean. In one message, she says, Then she replies, Rebecca responded with, I can't have visitors till they give me a goddamn bed and visiting hours end soon by the time you get here. What are you doing tomorrow, baby?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And it is just infuriating that people can do this. And it's also just mind boggling to me that someone can confidently lie and really have to have everyone in their life believe it, especially when there's multiple people that are being lied to in a big way. And there are multiple people in this story. And how do you sleep at night? How do you function on a daily basis?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And then jumping forward a little bit, she ends up saying, will you come down? Hopefully I'll be discharged in the morning and then we'll be ready to go to Goy Court Place. I really want to be at home with you. It's been the hardest day. And then in another text exchange, she explains that things were not looking good for her. She says, my liver has semi-packed up. I've got blood poisoning.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
The combination of doing a load of exercise when I didn't have the car yesterday and then drinking was enough to overload it. And then Sean asked what happens next. And she said, If my organ functioning doesn't improve, then it's much scarier. Dialysis, maybe. If what they're doing tonight works temporarily, then it might only be 24 hours in the hospital.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
If it doesn't work, then I won't be leaving anytime soon. And during all of this, Sean really couldn't have been any more supportive. And no matter how much he wanted to go and see her and be by her side, Rebecca always had some excuse as to why he couldn't. And he said her messages were becoming perfectly timed, too.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much, as always, for joining me today. If you're new to the show, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you here.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
If he was ever getting pushy about wanting to be there, she would say things like, I'm sorry, I've been pushing you away. I don't want to drag you into this. And, you know, other things like that. And it was always just enough to put his mind at ease. But even when she was physically not allowing him to be there for her, she was always somehow getting him to support her financially, of course.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And to my understanding, Rebecca didn't have a job. She would tell Sean that she was always, you know, looking for work, but it never amounted to anything. And considering she had terminal cancer, it's not like he was going to question why she wasn't working.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Because Sean was a solid guy, his main concern was just making sure that he was there for her and supporting her as much as he could, even if that meant putting a strain on his own life, which his friends say he definitely was. Sean was working a lot of extra overtime and he also started working for Uber at night. And then he basically began pulling away from all of his friends.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And of course, his friends were happy for him that he had found someone that he really cared about. But it was definitely an adjustment. They weren't seeing him as often. You know, he wasn't having them over, not going out as much. And they were a little concerned.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
His mom, Diane, said that she was really worried about her son dating someone who was terminally ill because it was hard to imagine that her son was falling for someone who may not make it. And I think part of the reason that she felt that way is because the relationship was so fresh. But that being said, she was just really happy that he was really happy.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And she was very eager to meet the woman who her son was falling in love with. So about six months into their relationship, Rebecca told Sean that she wants to go on this road trip. She wants to drive across the Nullarbor from Perth to Adelaide. Now, Nullarbor translates to no trees, and it's Australia's longest straight road.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And it's exactly what you're picturing, a long, straight, treeless drive. Now, this was something that Rebecca said was on her bucket list, and Sean thought it was a really good opportunity to spend a lot of time with her. Plus, his family actually lived in Adelaide, so the plan was to stop and see them once they got there. In total, it took them a couple weeks.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
of days to get there and from what i understand the drive went smoothly when they got there the first thing that sean did was put sophie in his mom's arms because she had been so excited to meet her and over the several days that they spent together everyone got along super well diane says that rebecca felt like someone that she'd known for a long time and everyone just really seemed to click
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
I think the anxiety alone would just destroy me. And this woman just has no remorse for what she did at all. And sadly, she is out there still, probably still doing this to other people. And that's part of the reason I wanted to cover it today, because there weren't many consequences for Rebecca, unfortunately, as is the case with some of these stories of people who lie like this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
But this definitely wasn't a problem-free vacation. And here's where things start to get even more interesting because a few days into their stay, Rebecca had just gone to the bathroom and a text popped up on her phone from someone. And it said something along the lines of, I mean, it pretty much just said, Hey, baby. Hi, baby. And Sean happened to see it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And naturally, he gets worried and upset, thinking that maybe Rebecca is seeing someone else on the side. And it turned into a bit of a fight, as you can imagine, but Rebecca assured him that this was nothing to be worried about. And of course, she used one of the oldest excuses in the book. This was just her gay friend texting her. It's nothing to worry about, Sean.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And she even told him that sometimes this gay friend of hers would text her things that were meant for Sophie. And that explains why it said, hi, baby. You know, hi, baby, as in for Sophie. Hi, Sophie. And honestly, Sean couldn't entirely shake how strange it felt. But one thing about Rebecca is she always found a way to put his worries at ease.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
Like I said, she's just really a master of gaslighting and she just had always just enough of an explanation. And let's be real. Who wants to accuse this girl who is battling cancer? of lying. Plus, even if her excuses didn't make a ton of sense, Sean said that he would just rather not know. So despite this argument that they had, he decided to just kind of move on from it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
And surprise, surprise, two days later, which just so happened to be his birthday, she suddenly has fantastic news for him. Rebecca tells Sean that she is pregnant with his baby. And to say that Sean was excited about this would be an understatement.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
I mean, as I explained earlier, he knew he always wanted to be a father and Artie was getting so close to Sophie, sort of becoming a father figure to her and loved that experience. And this news to him was really, really positive. He was pumped. Of course, though, it came with a lot of emotions given the circumstances.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
She Faked Cancer and a Pregnancy?! The Fraudulent Story of Rebecca “Arrow” Gray
He had fear that Rebecca, obviously she was sick and seemingly didn't have a long time to live. But it sounds like he was just trying to focus on the positive and what he could control in that time. Her health was definitely something that seemed to fluctuate a lot. Like sometimes she'd be really sick and couldn't do much. And then other times she'd be doing decently well.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But I got to say, I'm glad this dude just word vomited like that because he says a lot of things that he would later contradict. But unfortunately, in that moment, the officers seem to believe him. And at one point, Naresh even goes inside and you can even hear them talking pretty casually about the situation.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And this whole video is honestly pretty disappointing in terms of these two officers. I mean, you guys literally watched. Naresh offered to let them inside the house and they didn't take him up on it. And as you're going to hear later, going into the house and taking a look around could have significantly changed the direction of this case or at least sped things up.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And in the end, they basically came to the conclusion that they would swap information with Naresh and he could reach out if she didn't come home.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Growing up in Nepal, Mamta has been described as an incredibly bright student, and she was someone who did everything to the best of her ability, truly dedicated to everything that she did. So when it came to her education, she went to Bangalore, India in search of better opportunities. And it was there that Mamta became a nurse.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And after this, it took Naresh an additional two days to report her missing. And even then, the only reason he did it at all was because Mamda's family, specifically her brother, begged him to. They knew in their gut that something was wrong because she'd stopped answering all of her mom's calls. And remember, they talked twice a day most of the time.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
So on the night of Sunday, August 4th, after her family pleaded with Naresh, he texted the officer letting him know that she hadn't come back. And it took another day, but on August 5th, the missing person report for the 28-year-old mother was officially filed. And only three days after that, they ended up upgrading her missing person status.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Before, it was just missing person, but now it was involuntary slash critical missing person. And they did this because after reaching out to her family and friends, they learned that nobody had heard from her and that her social media just went dark, which just at the end of the day didn't match her typical behavior, which led them to believe that someone may have done something to her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And once word started to spread about her disappearance, the Manassas Park community came together quickly. And their efforts, like I said, they're really beautiful to see given the horrible circumstances. In those early days, weeks, and now months, dozens of supporters have come together to drive attention to her disappearance, including, but not limited to, the Nepali-American community.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
People showed up to rallies left and right, and they made damn sure that Mamta had a voice. Especially because her family couldn't be there quite yet to do it themselves. They were still in Nepal, desperately trying to get answers from Naresh, who refused to tell them anything. And another huge red flag, he wasn't showing up for any of these rallies or search efforts.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And let me tell you, this was the perfect occupation for her because on top of being incredibly smart, she was also very nurturing, empathetic and kind, you know, which all were qualities that made her perfect for that career. And she didn't just study to become a nurse once. She did it twice, first in India and then again in the United States when she moved here. Mamta came to the U.S.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And he was super, super weird when it came to speaking with the media. For instance, on August 12th, a reporter tried to talk to him about his wife's disappearance, and Naresh said that he had to ask for authorization to speak to them. I'm about to play the clip so you can see it for yourself, but just for some context, Naresh worked in IT for the government and supposedly had some sort of
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
After watching that, I'm sure we can all agree. Naresh seems incredibly sketchy, incredibly dodgy. I mean, why can't you just say, like, I love you, please come back, I miss you, I'm worried about you. Anything that a normal, you know, husband of a wife who is currently missing would say. But he can't say anything like that. He has to be...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
just as weird as possible and his interviews with the media never improved after this the most notable interaction that he had with the reporter was on august 14th and listen closely to what he says about her leaving about your life what has been going on the last couple days weeks
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
in July of 2021 after getting married to Naresh Bhatt in December of 2020. Now, some sources say that this was an arranged marriage. Others say it wasn't. So I'm not totally sure how this came to be. But the bottom line is the two of them got married and Mamta moved out to the States for him. Now, let me tell you a little bit about Naresh. He's also from Nepal, but he was living as a U.S.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
I don't know if you caught that, but that's clearly not the same story that he told the officers in the body cam footage. In that body cam footage, Naresh said that he knew that Mamta was leaving. He did the whole, you know, Texas, New York story.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But now he's saying that they ate dinner together on the night of the 31st and that everything was fine and she just failed to show up for work the next day. Nothing about her smashing, destroying her own phone and then going to visit her sister. Like what happened to all of that, bro? Plus, I'm sure you also noticed this, but in that interview, he said that their relationship was good.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And before he was saying that they were in the process of getting separated. And I think what pissed me off the most about that interview is the fact that he had the audacity to say that he is suffering the most.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
I just find that so wildly offensive to her family and to her as well and the community who is all spending their time trying to raise awareness, trying to search for her. And he's doing jack shit, right? He has not joined in the efforts at all. So you're suffering the most? I don't think so.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
citizen in Virginia where he served in the army as an automated logistics specialist. And at one point, he also tried to become a police recruit. But that lasted a whopping 22 days because they said he didn't meet the qualifications.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
There was a community event that day where he did make a brief appearance, but that was the extent of his cooperation. But with or without him, the community and investigative efforts to locate Momta continued. And this just broke my heart, but her friends even hosted a first birthday party for her daughter, which is something that they say that she would have wanted.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
It just makes me so sad to think that she didn't get to be there for her daughter's first birthday. That is such a massive milestone for not only your child, but for you as a parent. And her missing her child's birthday is just, it was proof to her loved ones that, you know, she did not choose to go missing. That is all they needed to know when she wasn't there.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
At the end of the day, it's just something that she never would have done. And by this point, a lot of people were getting pretty skeptical about Naresh. Just the way that he was acting and the way that he was treating her friends who just wanted to help was not giving grieving husband. It was giving leave me alone so that I can get away with this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But little did any of them know, things were about to take a sharp turn in this case. On Wednesday, August 21st, investigators showed up at the Bott residence to execute a search warrant.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And upon entry, detectives could immediately tell that Naresh had been packing up to leave based on the fact that they found packed suitcases, clothing missing from hangers, as well as his passport and his daughter's passport out in plain view. They also found a ton of other things, which we will be talking about and will be the main focus in the second half of this episode.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But later that night, a press conference was held to update the public on the events of that day, and the Manassas Park police chief, Mario Lugo, basically said a whole bunch of nothing. And obviously, he can't say that much. It is an active investigation, but...
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And I guess because of his service, Mamta didn't move in with him right away when she first came to the U.S., and instead she was living with a roommate, a girl named Nadia. And the reason I bring up Nadia is because she was actually one of the first people to witness Naresh's treatment of Mamta.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Normally, they'll give a little bit more in a press conference or at least spend a little bit more time speaking because the media was definitely like, OK, that's it. Because he only talked for one minute and he didn't provide really any useful information. But he did drop one major bomb about her husband.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And if people didn't know at that point that he was a person of interest, they certainly did by the next day. On August 22nd, 37-year-old Naresh Bhatt was arrested and charged with concealment of a dead body in the disappearance of his wife. And later that afternoon, Momta's supporters were updated during a press-free meeting that was held by Chief Lugo and the mayor.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
They weren't able to share exactly what evidence was found, but they did share that they no longer believed Momta was alive, which was obviously devastating news, heartbreaking beyond words, and something that none of them wanted to hear.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Now, as for her immediate family, they were still in Nepal, but efforts were being made to grant them emergency visas so that they could come to the United States as soon as possible. Mamta's daughter had been taken into the custody of social services and the hope was to get her family to the U.S. as soon as possible so that they could be the ones to look after her.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Her friends also offered to take custody of her in the meantime because they already knew and loved her. And honestly, the whole community was willing to show their support, and that was very apparent. And on the same night that the charges were announced, a vigil was held outside of Monta's house, and a collective vow was made to continue to bring awareness to her case.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Getting justice has been their mission from day one. And like I said, I do believe, despite some bumps in the road, that justice is coming. So next, on Friday, August 23rd, Naresh appeared in court where he was arraigned on the single felony charge of concealment of a dead body. However, prosecutors also accused him of murdering his wife.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
They didn't actually charge him with murder, but they did say that they believed she was dead and that he was responsible. And to explain why they think that, I need to walk you through the big picture things that came to light during this hearing. And for starters, the prosecution revealed that the timeline was not what they originally thought it was.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Like we've already been over, Naresh had been saying that the last time he saw Mamta was on the night of July 31st. Apparently, though, in one of his many interviews with police, he said that he last saw her on the morning of August 1st after she left for work, which is similar to what he told that reporter. But they don't believe that she was alive on either of those dates.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Apparently, even though he wasn't living with them, he wouldn't let Mamta have her own cell phone or leave the house for longer than five minutes. Naresh is just... very, very controlling. That will become more and more clear as this episode goes on.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
It's actually believed that the real time frame when Mamta lost her life was sometime between July 29th and July 30th. And they didn't reveal everything about how they knew that, but they did talk about some of it. So let's go through the timeline that was known up until this point in time. We do know that on Saturday, July 27th, 2024, Momta went to work.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
We also know that on July 28th, she posted for the last time on her TikTok and that she attempted to call one of her friends. On July 29th, though, things start to get shaky. Investigators confirmed that Momda spoke to her mom that day, but after a certain point, all incoming calls went straight to voicemail.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
However, they said that her phone was still pinging until August 1st, which, keep in mind, was after Naresh originally said she had destroyed it. And I know this is getting confusing and complicated. Hopefully... I can make sense of this to some degree for you guys.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
It's a very confusing case because of, you know, so many conflicting statements, so many different dates and changes throughout the case. But I'm doing my best to explain this as best as I can. And that last ping from her phone was near a body of water in Loudoun County. And guess who admitted to being at a cafe in Loudoun County around the same time when her phone last pinged there?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Naresh, of course, and if that doesn't make your skin crawl, this will. Prosecutors revealed that on July 30th, he was seen on CCTV at a Walmart buying a three-pack of knives, two of which, may I add, they have not been able to find, and believe it or not, That is not the only Walmart that he went to.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Additional CCTV footage from the 31st shows that he went to a different Walmart in Chantilly where he could be seen buying cleaning supplies. And they believe that those supplies were used to clean up a significant amount of blood.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
According to prosecutors, Blue Star technology, which is just a more advanced luminol test, was used in their home, and the master bedroom and bathroom revealed what they described as pools of blood and blood spatter. And they also shared that their bed had been moved to block their walk-in closet, and when they moved the bed, they saw pink stains on the carpet.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And with that technology, it showed that there were drag marks from that carpet into the bathroom where there was also a lot of blood. I mean, for starters, the shower and the bathtub just completely lit up when they did the testing. And then after removing the tub from the ground when they were, you know, seizing it for evidence, they could see blood caked into the caulking.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But, for example, there was one time where Nadia and Mamta were driving to this spice store, and Naresh called Nadia, actually, freaking out, saying his wife wasn't allowed to go, and so the two of them had to quickly turn around and go back. And for reasons that we're not totally sure, you know, and it's a difficult thing, and many people do this, and it's
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And all of that was just the blood related evidence that they talked about. But there were also a few non blood related findings as well, including the fact that Naresh had sold his Tesla. He sold it to CarMax on August 19th, which, may I remind you, was two days before the search warrant was executed.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And I'm sure we are all well aware that Teslas are basically just giant computers with loads and loads of data, which they didn't quite have yet, but they were definitely working on it. And in that same vein, we also learned that Naresh was attempting to sell his home. And I know that was mentioned in the body cam footage I played earlier, but at this point, the public didn't have access to that.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
So this was technically new information. Now, I think there are three ways that you could look at this. One, that he was selling these things to get rid of evidence. Two, that he was selling these things to make quick cash that he could flee. Or three, a combination of one and two. And I would argue for number three, I think it was a combination of both.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But of course, that is alleged and I don't know that for sure. But as for the defense, they argued just about the opposite of everything that I just explained. Naresh had a public defender because he said he couldn't afford his own attorney, and the core of his argument was that the prosecutors didn't have enough evidence to qualify the charges.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
He said the amount of blood in the home was equivalent to that of a nosebleed, and without a body, they couldn't prove that he concealed anything. And after the hearing, Momta's supporters gathered outside the courtroom in just disbelief over what they had heard.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Holly Wirth, who is a former colleague of Momta and someone who has been an incredible spokesperson and advocate for her in this case, shared that although it was horrible to hear those details, they felt it was likely that higher charges would be brought, which of course was ultimately their goal.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
So then the following day, her supporters gathered once again for an evening of prayer and reflection, something that happened often and really showed the strength of their community. Their fight for justice has been unwavering, and law enforcement has actually thanked them for keeping the pressure on. Now, this event actually took place at Signal Hill Park, which was very close to Mamta's heart.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
It was just down the road from her house, and it's where she often went with her daughter. So having this here was not only a way to honor Mamta, but also a way for them to feel close to her. Now, jumping forward a few days, Naresh's bond hearing ended up happening pretty soon after his arraignment.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
On Monday the 26th, he was back in court and we learned a lot from this hearing as well, so buckle up because there's quite a bit to go over here. For starters, because this was a bond hearing, the prosecution and defense took turns arguing why Naresh should or shouldn't be granted bail.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
The prosecution was quick to say that Naresh was a flight risk and danger to society, pointing out all the strange things he did after she went missing. And as for the defense, once again, they argued the opposite, of course. Naresh's attorney defended his actions after Mamta went missing, such as the fact that he sold his Tesla and tried to sell his house.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
It's more complicated than people understand in violent relationships like this, abusive relationships like this. Mamta kind of always made excuses for why he treated her this way. And I know to a lot of people that doesn't make sense and people are like, why would you stay, you know?
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
The prosecution made it sound like he was, you know, doing what we talked about earlier, trying to either hide evidence or to get money to flee. The defense, of course, said, no, no, no, you've got it all wrong. He did it because he's poor and he needed this money to take care of his daughter.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And then another thing that the defense pointed out is that it wouldn't make sense for Naresh to flee to Nepal because of extradition treaties. He would have just been sent right back to the U.S. But ultimately, and thankfully, the judge did side with the prosecution and didn't grant him bail.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
However, there are quite a few other things that did come out during this hearing as well, and I don't want to skip over them. So stick with me. Let's go through that.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
One of the biggest things that the defense took issue with was the fact that prosecutors hadn't turned over all their evidence, specifically the body cam footage from the welfare check, the clips that I have played earlier in the episode. Now, I'll explain more later on about why they wanted this so bad. But yeah, basically, the defense was upset they didn't have that yet.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And then they were also upset about the blood evidence that the prosecution was claiming investigators found inside the house. If you remember, the prosecutors were saying that a very large amount of blood was found in the room, yet the defense was arguing that it was... only about the amount of a nosebleed, which is obviously a major discrepancy.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And so basically, the defense was arguing that the prosecutors only shared three images with them from inside the room. And in those images, you could only see small droplets of blood, hence their argument that it was equivalent to that of a nosebleed. However, the prosecution explained that those images didn't reflect all the blood they found.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
That was just the blood you could see with the naked eye. The pooling of blood and the drag marks were only visible through that Blue Star technology, which I also need to mention, it can't tell you who the blood belongs to, obviously, just that the blood is there. And during this hearing, we learned for the first time that it did, in fact, test presumptive positive for blood.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But it's definitely one that needs coverage. And it might be one that you're familiar with if you follow true crime news and kind of You know, the latest in high-profile cases. Today, we're going to be discussing the case of Mamta Kafle-Bott, a young mother and nurse who disappeared just last summer. And again, just to warn you, the details in this case are highly disturbing.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
which obviously was a big win for the prosecution because now the defense's argument of there wasn't that much blood just went out the window. And it wasn't just that pink stain on the carpet that they tested. They also tested the bathtub, shower, and even a window blind that was stuffed in the closet, which also came back presumptive positive. But even if this was all blood...
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
The defense kept saying that without a body, they don't have enough probable cause to justify the charge of concealing a dead body. He even said that the only reason an arrest was made in the first place was because the chief felt pressure from the, quote, media frenzy. And all of that was just a summary of the defense's arguments. So now we got to go over what the prosecution had to say.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And here's what we learned. It turns out that on August 6th, Naresh had one of his many interviews with the police, and apparently, he told them that Mamta's documents were missing, including her green card. But according to prosecutors, her green card had been missing since June. So if this had been some kind of attempt on his part to prove that she left on her own... It didn't really hold up.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And there's so many different reasons why someone feels like they can't get out of an abusive relationship or why they need to make excuses for their partner. And I mean, it can go on and on and on, but... I just don't feel like there's any place for judgment for Mamta kind of making these excuses for him.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And Naresh also told police during one of his interviews that he was working on sending his daughter back to Nepal, which is odd considering that he said he needed to sell his car and home to be able to afford to take care of her. And then another big revelation from this hearing was that Naresh told a big fat lie in his original story.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Remember how he said that Mamta went to either Texas or New York to be with her sister? Well, turns out she doesn't have any family in the United States, so there is no sister. And we also learned more about Mamta's phone record, which just continues to disprove what Naresh had said. It turns out... that her phone placed a call to Naresh's phone on August 3rd.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And if you're confused, you're not alone. In the Friday hearing, we learned that it last pinged on August 1st. And now we're hearing a call was placed on August 3rd. Super, super confusing. And I don't know too much about this, but I will say that both data points go against what Naresh said about Momta destroying her phone on the 31st. Either way.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
So as for his phone records, we learned that his phone was turned off for two hours on August 1st during the time he said that he was at that cafe. And what's interesting is he was able to provide a receipt to prove that he was there, like some sort of alibi, I guess, and it didn't end up helping his case, but I'll explain that more later on.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And guys, I know this case is so confusing and I'm throwing a whole lot of information with you, but we do have two big things to go over, so stick with me. Remember those cleaning supplies that I told you he got from Walmart?
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Well, we learned in this hearing that when investigators searched the home, the bottles were nearly empty, which made sense considering the carpet looked like someone had tried to scrub it clean. We also learned that Naresh bought some of those, you know, little tree-shaped car air freshener things.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And I'd be curious to know what smell he was trying to get rid of, although I'm pretty sure I know what it was. And lastly, there was one final big piece of information shared, and I don't think anyone saw this coming. It turns out that the U.S. Secret Service had been monitoring Naresh's government-issued work laptop, and just listen to what he was Googling back in April.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
How long does it take to get married after spouse dies? And what happened to debt-died spouse? And those searches were done three months before Momta went missing, and I'm sorry, you just cannot tell me that that's not premeditation. And like we know, luckily, the judge sided with the prosecution and denied his bond.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Now, by this point, Momta's family still wasn't in the U.S., but the emergency visas had been granted, so they were working on getting to Virginia as quickly as possible, and... they were and are suspicious of foul play. It's really the only reasonable explanation in their minds, and I'm sure in all of our minds, right? So getting justice is a must.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And because she didn't talk about his treatment with others, people actually didn't really know anything was wrong, including her own family. Her mom, who she actually talked to via Facebook calls twice a day every day, has said that their family was under the impression that things were more or less fine. I mean, they knew that she and Naresh had...
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Now, police returned to the Bott residence for another search just one day after the Bond hearing. And while they did report finding evidence, it hasn't yet been shared what it was. And they were working against the clock because once someone is charged with a crime, you only have a certain amount of time before it has to go to trial. And in Virginia, it's only five months.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And it quickly became clear that the defense's strategy was to move this along as fast as they could in hopes that new evidence wouldn't be found. Because as soon as they found her body, their whole argument that Momta ran away just goes right out the window. So they really just pushed to get things moving.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
including waiving Naresh's right to a preliminary hearing, which moved up the timeline pretty significantly. And if they were going to be speedy, investigators needed to match that pace. So the next day, there was another massive search effort in Signal Hill Park. It was reported that potential evidence was located, but we don't know what was found or if it ended up being important.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And then they were right back in court a few days later, where Naresh's attorney filed another motion. And this one waived his right to a grand jury. And ultimately, the judge granted that. So that meant the trial was going to be happening even sooner than before. Now, by this point, Mamta's mom and brother had made it to the U.S.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And through a spokesperson, they expressed their gratitude for the efforts that had been done so far. And those efforts were in full swing. On September 13th, Naresh was back in court for a hearing to discuss a Brady motion filed by the defense, which is basically a rule that says the prosecution has to turn over any evidence that's favorable to the accused.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And the defense believed that the prosecution had several things that were favorable to Naresh's innocence. including footage from a surveillance video that was taken of Mamta a few days before she disappeared. So remember how I told you guys the last time that she was seen was on July 27th at work?
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Well, video footage from outside the hospital that night shows Mamta sitting with a friend, and then at around 8.17 p.m. she can be seen getting into a black four-door sedan. And as I've also already mentioned, Uber was her main form of transportation, but they don't believe that this car was an Uber.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
You know, there are arguments, as most couples do, you know, disagreements here and there, but nothing more than that. And honestly, their life looked pretty good from the outside. They were living in this beautiful home on a cul-de-sac in Manassas Park, Virginia, and unless you were inside those walls, you probably would have just thought everything was okay between them.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Mamta's Uber records show that around the time that she got into that car, she canceled the ride that she had previously requested. And the defense said that handing over this video was vital because they believed this driver was somehow connected to her disappearance. Now, I know what you're probably thinking.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
This footage is from the 27th, but we know that Mamta had contact with people until the 29th, right? And you're absolutely right. She did. So there's no denying that this car brought her home that night. But what's strange, though, is nobody has come forward to say that they were the one who picked her up.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And so the defense argued that this person either helped mom to escape or they were responsible for her disappearance, which is why they wanted access to that footage. They also wanted access to the cell phone and GPS data, unredacted versions of the police report and the body cam footage from their welfare check. And I said earlier that I'd explain why they wanted that footage so badly.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
So let me explain. One of the biggest things the defense was trying to push back on was the idea that Naresh refused to report his wife missing because both prosecutors and the media were making it seem that way. And while there's definitely some truth to that, I would say refusing isn't the most accurate word. The reality is those officers didn't push him to file a report in the first place.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And if you remember, they told Naresh just to call them if she didn't come home by Sunday.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And two days later, he did end up reaching out to the officer to let him know that she never came back, which, of course, we know her family pressured him to do that. But still, he did file a report. So, of course, the defense wanted the footage released to them because it disproved the idea that he refused to file it.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
His attorney also asked for the text exchange between Naresh and the officer from August 4th to be handed over because it also proved that he did try to report her missing that evening. And that was something that the judge agreed needed to be handed over. All of this was due on September 16th, which was also when the next hearing was scheduled.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And this hearing was going to determine when the trial would begin. Which, to a lot of people's surprise, the judge ended up siding with the defense. Despite the prosecution pushing for a start date in late January, the judge ruled that it would begin on December 9th. Before that, though, there was a second bond hearing. And from that, we ended up learning a lot.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And I know we have been over so much information, so I'll try to keep it as brief as I can without leaving out any major details. Basically, the defense wanted this hearing because they didn't think the prosecution had enough evidence to keep Naresh behind bars, and they now had a very specific argument as to why.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Remember when I explained that there was evidence of a body being dragged from the bedroom to the bathroom? Well, when the officer was writing up the report, she said that there was evidence that a body was dragged out of the house. So... Very different, right? Here's what it says. There was evidence in the residence indicating the body was inside the residence and dragged out of the residence.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But that's not technically true. The drag marks were only inside of the house. And this particular sentence was a big reason why the judge even granted an arrest warrant in the first place. So, of course, the defense said that Naresh should be released, considering the warrant was based on, quote, false statements. But the prosecution was quick to defend this officer.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Mamta was working her way through getting her nursing license again, and eventually she became a pediatric nurse at the UVA Health Prince William Medical Center. And Mamda was someone who worked incredibly hard, was very dedicated to her career and was well-liked by all of her peers. She was known for her bedside manner and ability to really connect with patients, make them feel heard and safe.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
They explained that she had just worked 30 hours straight, so she was exhausted, which led to her poor choice of words. Obviously, it was a big mistake, but they were adamant that there was no... malicious intent behind it. But to counter that, the defense brought up a statement that was made by one of the prosecutors back on August 22nd.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
That day, Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth told the news that she didn't know if Mamta was dead or alive. Now, considering they had just charged Naresh with concealing a dead body that day, this statement was contradictory. And so the defense used it to say, hey, look, you can't keep my client in jail on these charges if you don't even know that Mamta is dead.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And he also tried to say that you can't accuse someone of concealing a body if you don't have a body or body parts to prove it. To which the judge was like, no, actually, you can do that. So that was quickly shut down.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Then his attorney tried to poke holes in the Blue Star technology and downplaying the fact that Naresh bought these knives at Walmart, and honestly, we'd be here forever if I went through it all line by line, but I think you guys get the picture. Plus, the prosecution revealed so much valuable evidence, and I think you would be much more interested in hearing about that instead.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
So for starters, they began playing the entire body cam footage from the welfare check to point out the parts of Naresh's story that didn't line up. And at one point, the prosecutor even said that Mamta didn't run away. She was killed by her husband and then disposed of. And they believe that based on the evidence that I'm about to share with you.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And I just want to warn you, it's very, very disturbing and it's just kind of a lot. All right. So this information all came from a ton of search warrants. And the way prosecutors explained it was by going through an updated timeline of the case. And I think that would be the most effective way for me to explain it, too. So let's go through the timeline once again. Updated timeline.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Starting with July 24th, Mamta spoke about her troubled marriage with a childhood friend. Then on the 27th, we know that she was last seen at work. Next, on the 28th, we learn that Naresh spent most of that day in Baltimore. Meanwhile, Mamta was home. At 6.05 p.m., she had sent a Facebook message to someone who she had purchased jewelry from.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And then at 8.25 and 8.58 p.m., she attempted to call Naresh. And it doesn't sound like she was able to reach him, but he came back from Baltimore a couple hours later at around 12.29 a.m., which would make it the 29th. Then on that day, Naresh and Mamta were mostly home. And at 8.30 p.m., she spoke with her mom for 14 minutes via a Facebook video call.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Gita says that her daughter had a gloomy face, which she had never seen before. And after this, Mamta is never heard from again. And this is where things get really bad, okay? In the early morning hours of July 30th, Naresh made two Google searches, one at 4.13 a.m. and then one again at 4.30 a.m. And those searches read diagram of a brain and chicken farm near me.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Then at 530 a.m., he sends a text to their babysitter asking to drop their daughter off sometime after 830. However, he ends up taking her there at 630 a.m. instead. Then at 644, Naresh is captured on surveillance video disposing of trash bags in a dumpster near the babysitter's apartment complex. Then he returns home.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But by 8.12 a.m., he's at a Home Depot where he can be seen buying two pairs of rubber gloves. And at 8.41, he's captured at Walmart buying those knives that I told you about. Then there's a bit of a lull, but it picks back up again at 3.45 p.m. That's when he goes back to get his daughter. But what's interesting is he parks by that same dumpster again.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And to be clear, this dumpster isn't anywhere near the babysitter's actual unit. So parking there just made no sense. Then he picks up his daughter, and lastly, at 5.22 p.m., he goes to another store, where he purchases a 40-pack of Extra Strength black trash bags. And that's just the information we learned about the 30th, but we also learned a lot about the 31st.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And she was the type of person to bring food for her other coworkers, even when she was busy herself. Even at eight months pregnant, she was still running up and down the halls of the hospital, despite everyone telling her that she needed to take it easy. And mom gave birth to her first baby girl in August of 2023, which was by far one of the happiest days of her life.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Starting at 1.30 a.m., a surveillance video captured Naresh in the town of Falls Church, wearing white gloves and pulling trash bags out of the back of his Tesla. And then he's seen throwing those trash bags into a trash compactor, and it's mentioned that one of those bags looked heavy.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Now, he does have an apartment that he rents out in this area, but those tenants later told police that they didn't see him that night. Which, of course, makes you wonder, what the fuck was he doing there, and why did he leave his phone back at home? That's right, prosecutors said that his phone wasn't with him, which they believe he did to try and conceal his location.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Then, later that morning, at 8 a.m., Naresh dropped his daughter back off at the babysitter's apartment, and she later told officers that he seemed nervous each time he came by. Then, after this, he seemed slowly driving past the same dumpster from the day before, but this time he doesn't stop. That is a shit ton of water.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
That's actually 50 times more water than they typically used on an hourly basis. And then between 1 and 2 p.m., three license plate readers picked up Naresh driving around Fairfax, Virginia, where it's believed he was disposing of more bags into dumpsters. And then we have him at Walmart at 2 p.m. buying those cleaning supplies that I've already mentioned.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
After that, at 5.30, he goes back to the same dumpster at the babysitter's apartment where he throws another two bags away. But he doesn't actually go in and pick up his daughter. He leaves and then comes back to pick her up around 7. And then we have August 1st. Now, Naresh's phone was shut off that day.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But if you remember from earlier, he admitted to going to a local cafe, which, as we know, was in the same area where Mamta's phone last pinged. Well, investigators went to that cafe and they found surveillance footage from a nearby gas station that showed Naresh walking into the cafe with a noticeable limp. After he eats and comes outside, he can be seen picking up yet another bag from his car.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And they say that he picked it up with either a napkin or like a piece of paper, something like that, probably because he didn't want to get his fingerprints on it. And then get this. This dummy then goes to one of those donation bins. You know, those little I think they're normally blue bins. I see them all around town and they're just for, you know, clothing donation, shoes, things like that.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
He puts the bag into one of those. Now, luckily, law enforcement was able to retrieve it. And inside the bag was a bath mat with pinkish brown stains on it, which tested presumptive positive for blood. Insane. And the prosecutor wasn't even done there. This was clearly a very big hearing with lots of big bombs being dropped.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And I haven't explained this yet, but Naresh and Mamta actually had two tenants, a Colombian couple, living in the basement part of their house. And we learned that after the welfare check was performed, Naresh went down there and asked them to help him move his bed, the same bed that was covering that scrubbed up bloodstain on the carpet. Now, unfortunately...
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
prosecutors still didn't have the DNA results back from the blood that they had found in the house. They of course knew that it was blood from that Blue Star testing, but they needed the lab results to confirm that it belonged to Mamta. And they also revealed some new information about Naresh's Tesla, which, as we know, he sold it on August 19th.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Having a daughter and becoming a mom was one of the greatest achievements of her life. And the joy that this baby brought her was just immeasurable. And she was the type of mom who documented everything on social media and not just for her own enjoyment, but also because her family was still in Nepal.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But what we didn't know was that this was one day after police asked for consent to search it. It was also revealed that he had disabled its tracking data. which was something that a lot of people were very worried about. And if there was anything else in the car, like blood or DNA, that has not been shared at this point.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Then there was a lot of talk about domestic violence, and it painted a very disturbing picture of what was going on in their relationship leading up to her disappearance.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And the last thing I'll share, because I know this is a lot of information to process and it's probably getting really confusing, but there were even more Google searches found, and these were from February, including uncontested divorce time, uncontested divorce joint bank account, and what happens if spouse disappears in Virginia.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Now, you may have forgotten since I have been going over a ton of evidence here, but this was actually a bond hearing. So all the stuff that we just went over was just the prosecution's way of saying this man should not be out on bond. And once again, the judge agreed. However, the defense still tried to get the arrest warrant thrown out.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
So they were back in court again on October 10th, or at least they tried to go to court that day. For all these hearings that I've been telling you about, Naresh had a Nepalese interpreter, and so I guess one wasn't available for October 10th, so it got pushed back to November 7th. But I'll spare you the details and just tell you now that the defense ended up withdrawing their motion.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Now, in the midst of all of this, another community gathering took place, and it was a very emotional evening. They held a vigil at Signal Hill Park Pavilion and spent a lot of time raising awareness about domestic violence.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
survivors stood up and spoke, DV awareness organizations showed up, and even members from the Manassas Park Police Department were there to show their support, which I thought was really, really cool, and you don't see that often. And honestly, at this point, people were upset that Naresh hadn't been charged with murder.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And fundamentally, I think people understood that these things take time, but not having that charge was just tough, especially given all the evidence that people knew about thus far. However, on December 2nd, 2024, it finally bent. Naresh Bhat was charged with first-degree murder, as well as physically defiling a body.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
It was a long time coming, but the holdup essentially came down to the blood evidence. Before charging him with murder, they needed to make sure that the blood in the house was Mamta's, and that took time. In a press conference, Chief Lugo said that they believed Mamta was deceased from the very beginning, and that Naresh dismembered her in order to get rid of the evidence.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
So things like Facebook and TikTok were an easy and fun way to keep people in the loop with how things were going. Now, her mom had actually planned to fly to the U.S. after she had given birth to her daughter just to help with the newborn life as, you know, many people's parents come into town and help them if they don't already live there. But for some reason, Naresh's mom came out instead.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
He also shared that this was the worst crime scene their police department and forensic unit had ever seen.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And as for Momta's supporters, Holly shared that this wasn't a celebration by any means, but there definitely was a sense of relief, followed by a bit of frustration when they found out that his trial was being postponed because basically instead of having one trial for the concealment charge and then another for the murder charge, the judge said, let's just do it all at once at a later date.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And right now, the start date is set for September 8th of 2025, so we've got quite a bit of time to go. The defense has asked for there to be three interpreters in the courtroom for Naresh, which will likely be granted.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But experts have questioned if the defense will later try and say that Naresh doesn't speak English well enough to understand what he's being asked, and therefore try to get everything thrown out. Hopefully not, but I wouldn't be surprised. Oh, and also, sometime in March... it will be determined whether or not the trial will be televised. So that decision may have already been made.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
I don't know when that's going to happen. And if a decision has been made on that, I will, of course, leave a pinned comment or put something in the description box and also the show notes if you are listening to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And there is one final, very disturbing piece of evidence that was announced after all of this came out.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And again, I just have to warn you, it's... I don't even... It's so disturbing. So it turns out that DNA testing linked Momta to blood found on a reciprocating saw, which if you watched my recent episode on the disappearance of Suzanne Simpson, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. It's like a mechanical saw that can be used to cut through some very tough material.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And again, just like I said in Suzanne's episode, I don't think I need to paint that picture for you. I'm sorry. I even have to... Put that thought in your mind. It is... Beyond words horrific and disgusting and... Ugh, it's just so upsetting. Following this, there was one hearing at the end of December, and it was pretty standard.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
The prosecution wants to admit the DNA evidence into the trial, and they also want to admit some of the interviews that Naresh gave to reporters. Basically, they believe that showing the jury these videos will allow them to see how Naresh was changing his story. And finally, on January 14th, the officers who worked countless hours on this case were honored by the Nepali community.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
The Nepali topi is a traditional hat often worn by men during celebrations, and it is a symbol of honor and respect. And that day, to thank them for their efforts, community members placed topi on the heads of officers to symbolize their gratitude. I just thought that was so beautiful. The way that law enforcement and this community came together and supported each other is... So, so rare.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
We almost never see that. I wish we saw it more often, but it was just so uplifting to see how this all played out and just the overwhelming amount of. love and appreciation and support through it all. And the fact that law enforcement took this case so seriously was just incredible to see. And it should always be that way.
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But again, oftentimes we don't see that, at least in the cases that I report that need coverage. You
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Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
pretty disappointing efforts from law enforcement not all the time sometimes we see excellent excellent investigative work being done um but just this true support we don't see that very often you know it's just it was really awesome and very uplifting to see this in a case that is so dark so upsetting so brutal and yeah i just i loved hearing about this part of this case
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And I don't know what the reasoning was behind that, but I bring it up because... Naresh's mom did not treat mom to well at all. It's been said that his family follows much more traditional religious beliefs, and because of that, they were a lot stricter than her family, which is fine. You know, I understand cultural differences between families, but being strict is much different.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Now, they've executed more than 40 search warrants and hundreds of hours of interviews have been conducted. And it blows my mind and just breaks my heart that they still haven't found her. But I have to believe that one day soon they will. At least, I hope so. And if you're wondering about Naresh's family, it doesn't sound like they've shown up to help at all.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And given what has been alleged about his mom... I guess I'm not entirely shocked. And of course, innocent until proven guilty, but I don't need him to be convicted to say with confidence that Naresh is a piece of shit. He's an abusive, manipulative, low vibrational, garbage, worthless human being that is the only one that belongs in the trash.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
What he did to Mamta before she even disappeared says everything we need to know about the type of man that he is. And I'm curious to see what the jury has to say about him, too. I'm also curious and concerned, wondering if he's going to strike up some kind of deal, but... Right now, I haven't heard anything about that, so let's just cross our fingers nothing like that happens.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
If there doesn't end up being a plea deal, and I really, really hope there is not one, I will definitely be following this trial closely, so let me know if you would like additional coverage on that in September when it happens, hopefully unless it's delayed. But overall, I'm just so...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
horrified and angry by all of the details that we now know and just devastated for Mamta's family and for her daughter. Oh, my God. The fact that she didn't even get to be in her daughter's life for the first year is... It's so upsetting. Her daughter will never get the chance to grow up with her mom, never get the chance to know her beyond what her family is able to tell her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And again, she is in the extremely good care of Mamta's family. But still, the dreams that Mamta had of raising her baby girl were stolen from her. And I know I always say this in cases where... Someone kills their spouse when they have children. But how evil do you have to be to do that, not only to your wife who birthed your child, but also to that child? Like, oh my God, there are no words.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
I think we can all agree that there's just no world where Mamta ran away. OK, that did not happen. And I just hope that justice is served and the law comes down as hard as possible. And that happens very soon. I also just wanted to send a message here to Mamta's friends and family, and I hope this makes it to them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
But I would be more than happy to make sure that you guys get a hope grant through my foundation, Higher Hope. And if you are interested, please reach out to us. We will try to contact you as well. But we will make sure that if you are in any type of financial need after all this, which I'm sure is likely the case, we would be happy to help. I know this one was really long, guys.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
I'm sure it was very confusing, hard to follow, and just beyond upsetting. But if you stuck with me for the entire thing, thank you. I really believe that Momta's story needs to be heard. And she deserves for people to know what she went through and to know what a beautiful woman she was and person, what a smart person that she was.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And just so loved by so many people, just seeing how many people in the community came out for her, people that didn't even know her. The fact that she had such an impact on her coworkers after not working there for very long tells you everything that you need to know about her. What a massive loss to society. Just horrible. That is going to be it for me today, guys.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
than being straight up cruel. For example, there's this ancient tradition in Nepal called Chaupati, which is a form of menstrual taboo where women and girls are deemed impure during menstruation and therefore they can't participate in typical family activities.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
This is a simplified explanation and I'm certainly not an expert on this topic, but basically people who practice this tradition will banish a woman during her period to avoid bad luck and bad health. And when Naresh's mom was visiting, she would force Mamta to sleep in a different part of the house when she was on her period and was straight up mean to her under the guise of tradition.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
It's also been said that she wouldn't feed or help take care of Mamta after she had just given birth to her grandchild. And this is just horrible, but it's also been reported that she allegedly took part in beating Manta, like physically beating her, which also is now something that we know Naresh had also been doing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And the true depths of what she had been through has only recently come to light, including this piece of information. In February of 2024, officers with the Manassas Police Department showed up at the Bott residence after responding to a disorderly conduct call. When they got there, Mamta explained that Naresh was refusing to hand over her personal documents and that he had destroyed her phone.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And what Mamta likely went through in her final moments of life... It's hard to even comprehend. I have a ton of information to go over today. This is definitely going to be a longer episode. And before I get into it, I did just want to quickly mention how beautiful it has been to see the community behind Mamta and her friends and family who have been rallying for justice.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And I guess he must have let her have a phone at some point again because we do know that she did get one eventually. But the part about him withholding her personal documents is especially concerning because... She was in the process of trying to become a U.S. citizen. And to me, and I'm sure to most of you, him keeping those documents from her is a very manipulative form of abuse.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And she didn't end up pressing charges against him. But she did do something. Instead, she packed up her things, she grabbed her daughter, and she went to a close friend's house where she stayed for about a week. The issue, though, is that she had no car, no money, no phone. Nothing that would allow her any kind of independence from Naresh.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
So this friend, who was an angel, took Mamta and even put her on her family's phone plan. And Mamta's main form of transportation had always been Uber, so this friend also made sure that she was set up on the app so that she didn't lose her job and could get to work. And she really needed this job because Naresh controlled her finances, making it incredibly difficult to be out on her own.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And this is something that we see in abusive relationships all the time. And she really was trying her best to stay away. After spending one week with that friend, she ended up spending another eight to nine days in an apartment with another Nepali family. And this is when she first started to open up about the abuse.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
She even ended up joining this Facebook group that month that was dedicated to separated, divorced and also single moms in the area. And she tried to seek out help. And one post she made reads, Hi, I have six month old baby and I'm in process of separation. I work two days a week and my husband is not helping to take care of baby.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me as always. And if you're new to the show, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you here. So guys, today we're going to be getting into a case that I won't lie. I just want to say right off the bat is extremely disturbing and infuriating as so many of these cases are.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
He is saying that if I leave baby with him, he will send child to custody. Is it possible? I need a help for a child care. I need help from social worker and need some advice. And once when responding to a comment, she said, How to file that? We were living together and I don't have money now too. He withdrew all money from joint account.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
However, despite saying that her and Naresh were in the process of separating, they did end up staying together. She ultimately told friends that the two of them were going to go to counseling and just try to work through it. But it is strongly believed that the abuse did not stop. Which sadly brings me to August of 2024 and the reason that I am talking about Momta today.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
On Wednesday, August 2nd, 2024, two officers with the Manassas Park Police Department were called to the Bott residence after Momta failed to show up for work that day and the day before. And it's interesting, she'd only been at this job for a few weeks, but in that time, she really made a big impression on people.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
So much so that in this quick time of getting to know her, they knew that it was so unlike her for her just to not show up to work. And that's why they immediately wanted to get the police involved. Take a listen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
Now, she hasn't quite gotten justice, but I am very confident that that is right around the corner. However, I do have to say, as in cases like this that are ongoing, everyone that I speak about today is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. And with that... Since, as I said, we do have a bunch to go over, let's just go ahead and jump in.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
All right. So that was a pretty long clip. I actually only played you three minutes of the entire body cam footage, which is actually 14 minutes long. And I'll play a few more bits and pieces here and there throughout this episode. But the chunk that I just played summarizes it well. It was a whole lot of word vomiting and bullshit. And I mean, you heard it for yourself.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
The second the officer says Mamta's name, he jumps into this whole story. And just to reiterate, the story is that the previous Wednesday, July 31st, Mamta destroyed her phone. And then she either went to Texas or New York to be with her sister, specifically because they were in the process of separating and he was selling the house.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And another thing that he repeats, actually, is the idea that Mamta had done this before, that she had disappeared. Then you also hear him say that she always comes back. Later on, he goes into detail about how she would leave, and then he would essentially track her location via email.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
So I want to tell you about Mamta and who she was before her life was stolen from her. The incredibly kind, smart, and beautiful Mamta Kaafli was born and raised in Nepal to her parents, Gita. and Kamal, and she had one brother named Mahesh.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Husband Charged With Her Murder, yet His Wife Is Still Missing… Where Is Mamta Kafle Bhatt?
And I'm sure you guys feel the same, but this is clearly a tactic to try and diminish the severity of the situation. Kind of playing the whole, she's left and come back. This is what she always does. So who's to say she's not going to come back this time? You know, that whole thing, like diffuse the sense of emergency.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Aber trotz alledem hat sie ihn nie zu den Polizisten berichtet. Aber das heißt nicht, dass die Polizisten nicht angerufen wurden. Sie wurden eigentlich oft zu ihrem Haus angerufen. Und wenn sie dort kommen würden, würde Nicki nichts anrufen. Und das ging durch die meiste der frühen Pandemie. Now, when it comes to the police, I'm sure we all have our frustrations that they didn't step in.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
I mean, especially with how many times they had gone over there, you would hope that they would have done something about this pattern. But if Nikki wasn't ready to report him and she didn't have any visible signs of trauma, there honestly wasn't much that they could do. But they did eventually intervene when it came to the kids.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
In late 2021, their four kids were removed from the home and guardianship was given to Tyler's family through the tribal court. And I feel like I should just mention this now because it does apply now, but also applies later as we get further into the case. But Tyler's family... ist eine sehr hochrangige Familie in der Reservation. In Wahrheit ist sein Sohn tatsächlich auf dem Tribal Council.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und wie Sie sich vorstellen können, der Tribal Council macht natürlich viele Entscheidungen, was passiert und was nicht passiert. Und so haben sie beschlossen, dass seine Familie...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
got the kids however kay and chloe fought for the kids to be in their custody and through that fight they were actually granted shared guardianship and even though official reports hadn't been made there definitely was recognition that this was not a safe environment for the children and you would think that something like this would be a giant wake-up call for tyler
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und es würde den Verbrechen stoppen, aber das war definitiv nicht der Fall. Es ging für die nächsten zwei Jahre weiter. Und während dieser Zeit würde Nicki oft Tage an ihrer Moms oder einer ihrer Schwestern Hause verbringen. Und wenn sie dort gehen würde, würden sie versuchen, sie zu überzeugen, dass sie ihn verlassen musste.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Aber egal, wie viele Schritte sie in die richtige Richtung nehmen würde, ging sie immer zurück zu ihm. Und wie das normalerweise geht, ist, dass Nicki zu einem ihrer Häuser ein paar Tage gehen würde und Tyler die Schwestern schreibt, dass sie Dinge wie Tell Nikki I love her and I'll change.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And he would even go as far as calling them and trying to explain the situation very calmly and explain why he was in the right. And his sisters even said that during those moments he sounded very...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
believable and level-headed but of course now in hindsight it's very clear to them that he was manipulating them and gaslighting nikki to make it seem like he was in the right that she was overreacting and he really was a good guy but tyler was not the good guy and over and over again despite saying that he would change he continued with his behavior every single time she went back
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
fighting for answers and justice for Nikki and doing their best to spread the word about her case. My audience is incredible. You guys always really come out and huge support, especially when we have family members actually coming on the show. I want to see... Awesome support for them in the comments and I hope you guys will also go the extra mile.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And there were even points in time where his mother, Jeanette, would get involved. And there was actually one incident where she got physical with Nikki when Nikki tried to go and see the kids and it turned into this whole big thing. And in the end, Jeanette ended up pressing charges against Nikki for what happened.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Yet Nikki didn't do the same in return, which was very frustrating to her family because now... Sie hatte ein Rekord, aber Jeanette und Tyler nicht. Und letztendlich, egal wie viele Male ihre Schwestern sie gebeten haben, Hilfe zu bekommen, würde Nicki Verzeihungen machen, Dinge zu sagen, wie er es nicht bedeutet.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Was sehr üblich ist in verletzten, gewaltigen Verhältnissen, weil der Niveau der Manipulation, Gaslighting und Kontrolle, die Verbrecher über die Verletzte haben können. However, in November of 2023, Tyler attacked her so brutally that all of her years of silence finally came to an end. It was November 29th and Nikki had got home between 8.15 and 8.30pm and realized that she was home alone.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
So she goes into her room and just starts to brush her hair. Und Tyler kommt 15 Minuten später zurück. Und nach dem Polizeireport hat Nicky gesagt, dass, als er nach Hause kam, Tyler agitierte und er machte keinen Sinn. Zuerst schlug er die Rückseite ab, kam dann in den Raum mit einem glasigen Blick in seine Augen und schlug sofort auf sie.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Von dort an hielt er sie auf dem Boden und drang sie, während er an sie schrie. What's going on? What are you doing? And as he is doing all of this, Nikki is trying her best to get him to stop, trying to calm him down, but nothing she could do could get him to stop. And so he continued to verbally and physically attack her for hours.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Among the many things that he did to her that night, Tyler repeatedly hit her in the face with an open hand, pulled her by her hair and even poured large amounts of cold water on her from the jug that had been beside her. This brutal assault went on for three days. Hier ist ein Quote vom Bericht. pulled on her hair and forcefully pulled her head back, saying that he was going to kill her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
It was also reported that at some point, Nicky felt something around her neck, as if he was going to strangle her, but for whatever reason, he didn't. Now this... Absolutely vicious attack only ended at 11.30. Think about that. I mean, she gets home between 8.15 and 8.30. He comes home 15 minutes later. That's how long this went on.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And at this time, for whatever reason, Tyler went into the kitchen and Nikki mustered up the strength to escape. She put on her bathrobe, which actually had her car keys in the pocket. She got in her car and left. But it didn't even end there because Tyler ends up running after her and then jumped on the hood of her car as she drove away.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And despite him screaming at her to stop, thankfully she didn't. Nikki drove straight to her mom's house where she was finally safe and she stayed there for a few days and after that she went over to Chloe's house. And it was after seeing her sister with two black swollen eyes and injuries to her head that Chloe said enough's enough.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
We have some steps that you can take to help them even further that we will get into in a little bit. But yes, they're just such awesome people. I really look up to them and everything they have done is... Just so commendable. I mean, after everything they have been through, all of the trauma that they have experienced, they have remained so strong, so focused on the end goal here.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
She put her foot down and told her, you're going to the hospital. And so on Friday, December 1st, Nikki was checked into Mercy Hospital, where she was treated for her injuries and where she was finally able to report Tyler. And when the officer responded to the hospital, he said that he immediately noticed that she had injuries to both her eyes, her forehead and the rest of her face.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And when he asked her who was responsible for the injuries, Nikki said it was her husband, Tyler McCain. And we also learned some other things from this report, such as Nikki telling the officer that Tyler had done this to her before, but never to this degree. Not only that, but she explicitly said that she believed it was Tyler's intent to kill her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Now as for why he did this other than just being an abusive piece of shit, it's hard to say. Nikki told the officer that she believed he used meth periodically, but as we all know, this was not his first time physically attacking her. She did say though that she wasn't planning on going back there after this and that she was going to stay with her sister. Which ended up being true.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And the officer also recommended that she go to One Safe Place, which is a justice center for all types of victims where she could get assistance with obtaining a restraining order. Now, One Safe Place is an incredible resource center and there are a handful of locations all across the country and they offer a variety of free services to victims.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
This includes trauma treatment, acquiring restraining orders, evidentiary exams, safe housing assistance, child advocacy services, legal assistance and more. Und ich werde sie definitiv in die Beschreibungen und Beschreibungen dieser Episode verlinken, abhängig davon, wo du diese Episode benutzt hast, weil die Arbeit, die sie tun, unglaublich wichtig ist.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And I don't know, it's just beyond words impressive. Really, their whole family has just spent years supporting Nikki, even before she went missing. And I know that they're going to continue to do so until they get justice. And as always, this is an ongoing investigation and everyone that I speak about in this case is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And this ended up being a really big help for her. And her sister said that this gave her sort of a sense of empowerment and strength to finally leave Tyler, at least at first. Sie war sogar aufgeregt, wieder einen Job zu suchen, weil Tyler in der Vergangenheit sie vom Arbeiten verhindert hatte. Also war die Attacke letztendlich ein riesiger, riesiger Wachstum.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und dankbar, weil sie ihn dieses Mal berichtet hat, wurde die Aktion endlich genommen. After the officer left Mercy Hospital, he and other deputies went to Tyler and Nikki's house where he was arrested and he was taken into custody, which is when he of course started telling conflicting stories about what happened. At first, Tyler said that he was aware of her injuries, but he never saw them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
He said that he last saw her on the 29th around 8pm and said that her injuries were from a physical altercation that she had with the woman that she was having an affair with. However, he didn't actually see the fight take place, which makes no sense. I mean, how do you know that she got in a fight with this so-called woman that she was having an affair with if you didn't actually see it?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
It also didn't make sense because Nikki straight up told the officer that Tyler was the one who was responsible. Und Tyler, natürlich, hat all das negiert. Und dann hat er angefangen, darüber zu sprechen, wie er und Nikki dieses große Verhältnis hatten. Und es gab nie einen Art von Gewalt zwischen ihnen. Was natürlich nur Scheiße ist. Also am 2.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Dezember wurde er letztendlich mit körperlicher Verletzung zu einer Schwester verurteilt. Falsche Entschlossenheit, kriminelle Threaten und Gewalt, die wahrscheinlich große körperliche Verletzungen verursachen. Nun, nach all dem, continued Nikki zu leben zwischen ihrer Sisters Haus und auch ihrer Moms Haus. And it seemed like she was finally really ready to leave him for good.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Tyler, on the other hand, he wasn't done with her. And at one point, he convinced Nikki to drive him to a court hearing because he had a suspended license and she agreed. But as they start driving, he directed her to his lawyer's office instead. And when they got there, he and his lawyer tried to convince her to drop the charges.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
So with all that being said, let's go ahead and jump into the case. I did find out after recording last week that I actually had bronchitis, so I'm I think pretty much at the tail end of that. But I don't know, I may sound a little nasally and coffee and whatever, just sick today. So just bear with me. But let's get into this.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And when she said no, he drove off in her car, just abandoning her at his lawyer's office, even though he had a suspended license. And this wasn't the last time that he would try to pressure her to drop the charges. And it was the same old, same old as all of the times before he kept telling her he would change and that they could possibly get their kids back if she moved back home.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And as hard as it is to say this, it worked. And in March, April-ish of 2023, Nikki moved back in with him. Und natürlich war das einfach schmerzhaft für ihre Familie, aber sie konnten sie letztendlich nicht stoppen. Sie versuchte, ihnen zu versichern, dass Tyler sie nicht mehr schmerzen würde, aber, naja, sie ist verpasst.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Ich meine, das ist der Grund, warum wir hier über ihre Geschichte sprechen. Und sie war verpasst, direkt vor seinem Trial für die Domestikwahl, was mich zu ihrer Verlustbringung bringt. After Nikki moved back in with Tyler, she still held her ground when it came to the charges. She refused to drop them.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
So on May 7th, 2024, he had to appear in court for a preliminary hearing where he pleaded, of course, not guilty. And it was actually on this day that Nikki ended up texting her sister Chloe and told her that she was officially done, that she was tired of his bullshit and she wanted a divorce.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
In fact, she was already looking for furniture for a new apartment and she said that she was determined to get custody of her kids back. And at this time, it really felt like a turning point for her and everyone was so eager about it. But just 10 days later, on May 17th, Nikki vanished. Und so werde ich mein Bestes tun, um die Zeitung der Events zu erklären.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Aber ich wollte das mit dem Hinweis machen, dass das von Chloe und Kay zusammengefasst wurde, basierend auf den Geschichten, die sie gehört haben und Textmessagen. Also behält das in Ordnung. Es gibt hier viele grüne Bereiche und Dinge, die wir nur für bestimmte nicht wissen. Besonders an diesem Punkt in dem Fall, weil das ziemlich neulich passiert ist.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und es gibt viele Informationen, die nicht von der Behörde veröffentlicht worden sind. Und so, hier ist, was sie gesammelt haben und was sie glauben, wahrscheinlich passiert ist. Am Abend des 17. Mai, war Nikki auf Telefon mit Chloe und sie hat ihr gesagt, dass sie am Mercy Hospital war, weil Brian, der Tyler's Bruder ist, tatsächlich da war, in einer ziemlich kritischen Situation.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Von dem, was ich verstehe, hatte er eine Blutverschmutzung in seinen Lungen und es war ziemlich schwer, also war er in der ICU. Und Nikki, Tyler und Jeanette, Jeanette ist Tylers Mutter als Erinnerung, fuhren alle zum Krankenhaus zusammen in einem sehr chaotischen Rutsch und sie fuhren alle zusammen in Jeanettes Auto.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Now, Nicky and Jeanette ended up staying at the hospital until about midnight, during which time Nicky was texting Chloe, just letting her know what was going on with Brian and sort of the status of it all. And around midnight, it's believed that Jeanette and Nicky left the hospital. And because of how distraught Jeanette was,
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
I am eager to tell you more about Nikki and the awesome person that she was. Und das beginnt mit dem Erlernen der Geschichte hinter ihrem Namen. Nikki Chang Saley wurde am 9. November 1984 in Thailand geboren, wo ihre Eltern in einem Flüchtlingscamp nach dem Vietnamkrieg lebten.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Nicky war derjenige, der ihr Auto, Janettes Auto, direkt zurück nach Janettes Haus führte. Aber Nicky musste auch abends nach Hause, also glauben ihre Schwestern, dass nach der Entfernung von Janette in ihr Haus, Nicky Janettes Auto zurück nahm. zu ihrer eigenen Stelle, Nikkis Stelle. Nun, für den Kontext.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Jeannette lebte direkt neben dem Wind River Casino, das ist ungefähr 10, 15 Minuten entfernt von dem, wo Tyler und Nikki lebten. Und hier ist es, wo die Dinge anstrengend beginnen. Um 12.35 Uhr, was jetzt am 18. Mai sein würde, hat Nikki oder Nikkis Telefon, behalten Sie das in Erinnerung, Chloe getextet, dass sie von ihrem Haus nach Jeannettes Haus fuhr, um Jeannettes Auto auszudrücken.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
which was weird because she was supposedly just at Jeanette's house dropping her off. So, based on this message, it sounded like Nikki went back to Jeanette's house a second time. That's if you believe she was the one texting. And sure, it was Jeanette's car that she probably wanted at her house, but it didn't and doesn't make sense why Nikki would have gone back again so late that night.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Better yet, if she was just at Jeanette's house dropping her off, Why didn't she leave the car there in the first place and get picked up by someone else? And all of this will come full circle here in a little. Just trust me. Anyways, that's what this text said. And at first it didn't raise any alarm bells. And Chloe didn't even respond to it right away.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
She responded the next morning when she woke up. Because it, of course, came in after midnight. And when she texts her the next morning, she just sends her something pretty general. Just asking how Brian was doing. And this time Nikki didn't respond. Although at the time that wasn't super weird and Chloe ended up getting distracted with other things and didn't really think much of it at first.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And then that morning, Nikki's daughter, who was in Chloe's care, had a soccer game and they were running around because they realized they couldn't find her jersey. And so they're looking for the jersey and at some point Chloe realized that maybe it was at Jeanette's house because the kids went over there from time to time and she figured it was possible that it was there. Vielen Dank.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Ihre Angehörigen waren ursprünglich Landwirte aus China und über die Zeit migrierten sie zu Plätzen wie Laos, Vietnam und Thailand. und Nicky's family line was among those who ended up in Thailand to escape the war.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung. BR 2018 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung. BR 2018 Untertitelung. BR 2018 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung. BR 2018
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And I bring this up because Chang is Nicky's Mian name, and that's what her family called her when they were together, but others started calling her Nicky when they immigrated to the United States. Nicky He was the second of four siblings born in Thailand, including her older sister May and her younger sister Kay. And eventually her parents left Thailand and found their way to Seattle.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
However, they ended up moving again, and this time they moved to Northern California in Reading, where they had three more kids, including her other younger sister Chloe. And I've got to say, I just loved learning about Nikki. She seemed like such an awesome person to be around. She was fun, she was free-spirited and very funny.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Untertitelung. BR 2018 Untertitelung. BR 2018 Untertitelung. BR 2018 Das war's für heute. ,,,
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Hallo, alle. Und willkommen zurück zu True Crime with Kendall Rae. Vielen Dank, dass ihr heute mit mir dabei seid. Und wenn ihr neu seid, dann willkommen. Ich bin so froh, dass ihr hier seid. Also, Leute, heute werden wir uns in einem Fall befinden, der so, so wichtig ist, um zu sprechen, weil es uns geschlossen ist. and the victim is actively missing.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And of course, I never got the pleasure of meeting her myself, but just by talking to Chloe and Kay, they really did such a great job of... Ja, genau. You know, she always wanted to do the fun things for her kids. Like she got into holidays big time, you know, even things like Valentine's Day.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Which, by the way, Nickys truck was actually a gift from Tyler two weeks prior, which was weird because she already had a perfectly fine working car. So her sisters aren't really sure why he got her this car in the first place, but he did. And now it was missing along with Nicky.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und ehrlich gesagt, Leute, ein großer Teil dieses Fortschritts, den ich euch nur weiterhin erinnern muss, weil ich weiß, dass dieses Fortschritt verwirklich ist. Und das ist nur, weil es so viel, was wir nicht wissen. Und das ist etwas, das ihr nur behalten müsst, als wir weiter durch dieses Fortschritt gehen.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Nikki's sisters have had to go out of their way to try and figure things out, but a lot of it is just still up in the air. Especially when it comes to the timeline of the day that she disappeared. I mean, for all we know, she didn't even send that text message at 12.35 a.m. We have no idea if that was actually sent by her.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And if you've watched any other videos or podcasts, any coverage on this case before, especially... Things that included Kay and Chloe, you may have heard them say that they believed that the text message was sent by Nikki. But as time has gone on, they've started to question that.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Overall, they've had to question a lot of what they've heard and try their best to put together an educated guess as to what it all means. And the reality is that the answers to a lot of these questions... Ja. Und ich weiß, dass viele von euch und einfach viele von den Leuten, die diesen Fall im Allgemeinen gefolgt haben, wirklich frustriert fühlen mit dieser Unentschiedenheit.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Aber, du weißt, du musst hoffen, dass es für einen guten Grund ist, dass Dinge hinter den Szenen gemacht werden und sie müssen einige Dinge nahe an die Wäsche halten. Und generell gesagt, hat Chloe und Kay gesagt, dass sie eine ziemlich gute Erfahrung mit denen hatten, die in Nicki's Verlust schauen.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
She would just go all out with the colors or any type of, you know, school event or, you know, how they'll have like themed days at school. She would just go all out for that and always was looking for ways to make other people around her and her children have a good time. And I think that's such an amazing quality in a human.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
However, there is definitely some concern that law enforcement isn't being as aggressive in their approach in this case compared to other cases in the area. And specifically, one case is probably going to ring a bell and stand out to you.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
I mentioned that they originally reported her missing to the Reading Police Department, but pretty quickly it was transferred to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office. And I'm sure that sounds familiar to a lot of you, because that brings up a case that I have covered a couple of times. That is where Sherry Papini faked her disappearance. And as you can probably tell, there are very big differences.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
in the efforts between these two cases. I mean, I'm sure most of you are familiar with that case and I'm sure you remember how much coverage and attention and resources were put into looking for Sherry, especially in the early days and throughout the whole time that it was believed she was missing. God, that case pisses me off so much. But yeah, pretty big difference here.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
But regardless, I don't want to get distracted here. That is who is handling Nikki's case. And on May 30th, they announced a big update. That Thursday, they shared that Nikki's 2002 Chevy Avalanche was found in Tahoma County, about 45 minutes east of where she lived. And it was found on the side of the road off Highway 36, nowhere near where Tyler said it had been abandoned.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Nun, es wurde berichtet, dass das Auto Schadstoffe hatte, aber ich möchte klarstellen, dass es Schadstoffe hatte, bevor es gekauft wurde. Und ich möchte auch klarstellen, dass der 30. nicht tatsächlich war, als ihr Auto gefunden wurde. Es wurde eigentlich am 25. gefunden, aber für irgendeinen Grund warten sie fünf Tage, um diese Information öffentlich zu machen.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Which, as you can imagine, was very frustrating for people who were spending their time trying to search for the car. Because that was five days where it would have been nice to know that it had already been located. Here's an interesting thing about where the car was located, though. It was found on a road that leads to property that Tyler's family owns.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And also, this is not a heavily trafficked area at all. In fact, it's... Ja, genau. Unfortunately though, nothing turned up. And in a not so shocking twist, Tyler refused to help with the searches at all, which as the husband of a missing person is beyond disappointing and speaks volumes.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
I think we can all confidently say that if one of our loved ones or a friend or maybe even just a member of the community was missing, you'd probably be out there, but especially Tyler. If it was someone in your family, your spouse, your immediate family, you would be out in those searches.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Especially if other strangers and all these other people who have spent their spare time trying to find your loved one and you're not there. I mean, it just says everything, right?
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Now, growing up, Nikki and her siblings had the fortune of living close to a bunch of their other relatives, which meant tons of time with their cousins and building a really strong sense of family. And there were actually quite a bit of boy cousins, so the girls kind of stuck together and formed their own little girls group in a way. And that only made them that much closer.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
But anyway, around this time, Nicki's sisters also had requested the video footage from the Wind River Casino, because a casino is obviously going to have a ton of cameras, both inside and out, but so far, they haven't been granted access. Not that they believe she went there, but Jeanette did live close by, so getting any kind of footage from that area is better than nothing.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Now, it's very possible, in fact, we're pretty sure that investigators have been given it, but if anything was found in this footage, that we just don't know. We also have no idea to what extent Tyler and his mom Jeanette have been questioned. And we do know they have been spoken to, but what they said is a mystery at this point.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
On June 25th, law enforcement was seen searching Jeanette's property and neighbors told the sisters that boxes were carried out, which is interesting. But if anything was found in relation to Nikki's disappearance, that is information that also has not been released. And of course, you know, I understand that that could be for very good reason.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
We did find out that Tyler's cousin was arrested because I guess they searched his house too and they found weapons that he legally wasn't allowed to have. But to my knowledge, that was unrelated to Nikki's case. Nun, es gibt noch einen großen Thema, den wir hier hinzufügen müssen.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und das ist, dass Teil der Schwierigkeit in der Suche nach Nicki hat mit dem Fakt, dass sie entlang oder nahe von Tribal Land verpasst wurde. Es ist glaubt, dass sie an Jeanettes Haus war, das ist genau neben dem Wind River Casino, das auf Tribal Land ist. Die Redding Rancheria ist eine föderal erkennbare Native American Tribe und damit kommen verschiedene Regeln in Bezug auf, wer wo suchen kann.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Zum Beispiel hat das Tribalgericht zwei Community-Search-Efforts im ersten Juni ermöglicht, die sowohl auf dem Fuß als auch auf dem Flugzeug stattfanden. Jedoch ist es immer noch ein großer Bereich, den Menschen nicht erlaubt zu suchen, weil es privates tribales Land ist. And remember, Tyler's family are members of the reservation and his aunt is a member of the tribal council.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And due to what they call a lack of tribal law enforcement, they are not conducting a criminal investigation into this case whatsoever. That being said, they say that they have been very supportive of the Shasta County Sheriff's Office. And on June 5th, a billboard went up along I-5 near the Anderson outlets and the Reading Rancheria actually paid for it.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
They also put forward a $10,000 reward for information and have shared that they've provided law enforcement with information and video footage as it's been requested. And I'm just going to be really honest with you guys here, especially after my conversation with Chloe and Kay. Obviously, these two things that they have done are very helpful for Nikki's case and her sister's Ja. Ja. Ja.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
making contact with Chloe and Kay directly. I mean, they didn't even know that they were going to be posting that reward. They ended up finding out through the NorCal Alliance for the missing. So have they helped? Sure. But does it feel very sincere to their family? No, it doesn't. And I know that this is a very complicated and controversial issue.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And having that experience from such a young age and having such a big, close-knit family is... was sie so zu ihrer Familie verliebt hat und sie dazu geführt hat, eine große, nahe Familie ihrer eigenen zu haben. Und eines meiner persönlichen Lieblingsmöglichkeiten, die ich über Nicki lernte, ist, dass sie jemand war, der immer darauf wollte, dass jeder inklusive war.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And I'm just trying to, you know, explain some of the feelings that Chloe and Kate and their whole family are feeling. And I know that it is deeper than what I can understand. But I do agree that when someone has gone missing and could have been murdered, that... It would be great to have as much help and cooperation as possible, right?
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
I do get that the reservation is very protective of their own and Tyler's family is very high up in the reservation. And ultimately, despite being married to a member and having kids who are members, Nikki is not one of them. Maybe if she was, they would be bringing out all the stops, but she isn't and they haven't.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Sie wollte nie jemanden, der sie um sie herum hatte, zu fühlen, als wären sie draußen. Sie war die Art von Person, die aus ihrem Weg gehen würde, in jeder Situation, um die Leute zu fühlen, als ob sie Teil des Gruppes wären. Und es machte keinen Sinn, ob das jemand war, den sie kannte oder ein kompletter Auferstandener.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
tribal member who was desperate to find his wife but let's take a step back here and think about why why would nikki go missing and who would stand to benefit well considering that nikki was pressing charges against tyler many believe that that could be the motive i mean just speaking earnestly he stood the most to gain from nikki disappearing not to mention that his trial was quickly approaching
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Am 3. Juni stand er für eine präliminäre Aussprache, die Nicki geplant hatte. Natürlich war sie nicht da. Und die nächste Aussprache war am 28. Juni geplant. Und diese Aussprache war auch die Szene eines großen Justice-für-Nicki-Rallyes. Über 100 Leute kamen mit Posten und Bannern.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und als Tyler in die Geräte kam, konnten sie hören, dass es keine Gerechtigkeit, keine Frieden gab, während Tyler auf den Straßen war. Und als er in die Geräte ging, riefen einige Leute nach Tyler, schreiend, wo ist sie?
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And with this hearing came some devastating news, some extremely frustrating news. Due to lack of evidence, a motion was filed to drop all charges against him. And think about it, Nikki's testimony was crucial, because she was the one accusing Tyler of violently attacking her, and per his 6th Amendment right, He has the right to face his accuser.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
So the judge basically said, you guys have until July 5th to find Nikki or more evidence from this attack. Otherwise, this will be dropped. And that's exactly what happened. But before that even happened, two insane things happened first. And when I say things, I mean fires. On July 2nd, Tyler's cousins property caught fire and burned a total of 19 acres.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und ich denke, sie hat viel davon durch Humor gemacht, auch wenn es sich um ihre eigenen Zweifel handelte. Und einige der Geschichten, die ihre Schwestern mir am letzten Tag erzählt haben, haben mich laut gelacht. Und ich hatte Bronchitis, also war ich fast schockiert. Aber sie klingt einfach absolut furchtbar. Sie hatte das Gefühl von Humor, dass sie so, so furchtbar war.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und was hier interessant ist, ist, dass das Gebäude, das gebrannt wurde, so so passiert, dass es ein Gebäude war, das sehr bald gesucht werden sollte. Ein paar Tage vor dem Feuer, posteten einige Leute auf der Facebook-Page, dass sie da schauen wollten. Und dann ging es in Flammen, schädigend die Suche zu beenden.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Which at first was a bit like, okay, that's extremely frustrating and weird, but it is California in July, so maybe it was just bad luck. But then, the very next day, another fire started. And this time it was on Tyler and Nikki's property. And this was a big fire. In total, 98 acres and several cars were burned as a result of the July 3rd fire. And guess who laughed?
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
literally admitted to starting it. Big shocker here, it was Tyler. But he claims he didn't set it on purpose. Apparently he had parked his car over some dry grass and a faulty catalytic converter sparked the flames. Cal Fire also reported that the catalytic converter is what caused the fire, but I don't know, it just seems incredibly strange that two fires happened two days in a row.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Now, I want to be really clear here, I'm not saying that they did anything, Denn wir wissen es nicht. Ich meine, es gibt keine Beweise dafür. Ich sage nur, und ich denke, wir können alle einig sein, dass es wirklich, wirklich seltsam aussieht. Besonders, weil eine Teil der Gebäude, die gebrannt wurde, eine Gebäude war, die Chloe, ihr Verwandter und Kaye vor Tagen nachgefragt haben.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Sie sind nach Hause gegangen, um einige von Nickies traditionellem Meal und Kleidung zu bekommen, und sie endeten, sich herumzuspucken. Tyler hatte dieses Gebiet, wo er Junkfahrzeuge verpackt hat, und das ist das Gebiet, in dem sie unterwegs waren. Er war ein Mechaniker, also arbeitete er oft mit Fahrzeugen auf dem Gebiet. Und so haben sie in diesem Gebiet geschaut.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Während dieser speziellen Stelle war, wo die Feuerzeuge initial gespürt wurden, was sie sagen, ist ein Stück Informationen, das sie nicht verloren haben. In Wahrheit, und das ist ein großer Teil, ich meine, ich stimme sicherlich mit ihnen auf diese Seite, dass das... Very, very weird.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
But Kay and Chloe believe that Tyler would have had the knowledge as a mechanic to be able to set a fire like that and make it look like an accident. Not to mention the area where he parked his car is not where he'd normally park a car that he was actively working on. He would normally pull it near the garage, not off to the side with the cars that were junked.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And that was not the only strange thing they learned that day, because I guess while they were there, Chloe's fiancé ended up speaking to Tyler, and he told him that he planned to pay Nikki off to drop the charges. According to her fiancé, he said he didn't know why people thought he killed her because he was going to pay her off.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Which is a really bizarre thing to just admit, if you ask me, especially to the victim's family. But again, going back to the fire and the idea that it was purposely set. Ich habe nichts, niemand hat any proof that he did this. There is literally nothing. I think we can all agree it's pretty strange, pretty crazy timing.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
But in the end he was only given a citation for the fire because they couldn't prove that he said it on purpose. Oh, and get this, there was another fire on July 9th at Hooker Creek. Now, this was a lot smaller, but it was an area they talked about wanting to search in the Facebook group.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And I get that fires happen, and this is summer in California, but I do think it's pretty wild to have these three fires. Aber going back to the charges that Tyler was facing, I mentioned that the judge said that they were going to be dropped.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
So on July 5th, the DA's office ultimately announced that they were dismissing the domestic violence charges against Tyler because they were unable to produce additional evidence. That being said, with this decision, they do reserve the right to refile these charges within a certain amount of time.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und ich liebe es, wenn Leute so sind. Und ein weiterer großer Teil von Nikes Persönlichkeit ist, dass sie einfach das größte Herz hatte. Didn't matter who you were, she would look for the good in anyone. Her sister said that she was even into true crime. And whenever she would watch a true crime show or documentary or podcast or whatever, she would find sympathy for the killer in some way.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
When all of this happened, they had about two and a half years left on the statute of limitations, so now they're looking at about two. Now at the courthouse, some 200 people showed up in another massive rally, and despite the heaviness of it all, there were moments of empowerment.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
People who didn't even know Nikki came from all over the place to show their support, either because they were victims of domestic violence themselves, or they had also been wronged by the tribe. And there was a big turnout in the Mian community as well, which only added to the support this family needed to feel. However, this... Vielen Dank für's Zuschauen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
If they did move forward with the case, Tyler could have been found not guilty. And because of double jeopardy laws, he would never have to face the consequences of his actions, even if he straight up admitted to attacking her. So, I do understand how this was strategic, but at the end of the day, it doesn't take away from how...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und ich denke, eine große Grundlage, warum diese Verabschiedung besonders beschädigend war, ist, dass das die zweite Zeit in zwei Wochen war, dass etwas wie das passiert ist. Ich meine, hör einfach zu. There was another man in Reading who was arrested and charged with attempted murder after he nearly beat his wife to death in front of their son.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Charges were filed in May of 2023, but in March of 2024, the charges were dismissed because, get this, there wasn't a judge or a courtroom available to hear his case. And the DA's office also had the right to refile the charges, which they did, but then it happened again. No judge or courtroom was available. And now I guess they're just shit out of luck.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
They can't file them again and now this maniac just gets to walk free. And this is just another example of how truly fucked up our justice system is in so many ways. Like... I'm sure there are some of you out there who didn't even know something like that could happen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
So, of course, when this community heard that Tyler's charges were also being dismissed, understandably, there was a ton of outrage. People started calling for District Attorney Stephanie Bridget to basically be removed because they don't think that she has the interest of victims in mind. Yet she seems to pride herself on being victim-focused. But neither of these victims have justice.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And God, this next detail pissed me off when I first heard this. But Tyler literally flipped Nikki's sisters off as he left the courtroom. And if that doesn't tell you how he feels about all of this, I don't know what does.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And again, this is just another example of why I said at the beginning of this episode that I'm just so impressed with how Chloe and Kay have been able to stay so... I don't know what the words are. Calm and focused. Not get distracted by any of Tyler's bullshit. They are focused on the goal, which is getting justice for their sister, getting those answers. And...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
I just, oh, I would lose it if I were in their position. But on another note, a better note, at the end of July, Tyler did end up getting arrested during a traffic stop. He had been driving on a suspended license in a vehicle without a license plate. And when they searched his car, they found ammunition, which violated a protective order.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Which I know can sound kind of crazy, but I've even had times like that. And I'm sure some of you have too, where, you know... People have had a horrific background, which leads them to do these horrible things. And even though they deserve to be punished, she was that type of person that could try and see the good in even some of the worst people.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
But obviously these charges are nothing compared to what many believe, including myself, that he should be charged with. And he bailed out the following day and on October 7th he was present for a hearing related to that arrest. And about two dozen people gathered outside the courtroom, once again holding their Justice for Nikki posters. But besides this, you guys, things have really slowed down.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
The spokesman for the sheriff's office has continued to say that the investigation into Nikki's disappearance is active, but at the same time, They are unable to share any details regarding their case to protect the integrity of the investigation.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Which is frustrating because it feels like the case of Sherry Papini had the immediate attention and outward facing focus of investigators and this case is just not being handled the same. And obviously we'd like to hope that it's for the best and that there's good reason for all of this, but it's just undeniably frustrating.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
As most of you know, Sherry's case got national media attention and countless man hours spent searching for her tons of resources. And it's really shocking, yet not shocking at the same time, to see the difference. We all know, awareness is key in a missing persons investigation. And the fact that someone who faked being missing got more attention than Nikki, it's just not fair.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
It's absolutely infuriating. And I mean, if I feel pissed about it, and I'm sure most of you do, just imagine how her family feels. But investigators say they are working on the case. And I guess we just have to believe and hope that they really are. Let's all just hope that whatever evidence that they have and are withholding,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
will be well worth the wait the day that Nikki finally gets the justice that she deserves. But it's so frustrating and shocking that Tyler has not even been named a suspect or even a person of interest in her disappearance.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Even though he's done nothing to help look for her, which is possibly the biggest red flag of all, he's shown no interest in her disappearance and there's word, keep in mind, just word, that a new woman has been seen hanging around the house.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Es gibt so viel, was wir nicht wissen, dass ich wünsche, dass ich euch die Antworten geben kann, aber ich wünsche mir wirklich, dass ihre Familie die Antworten hat.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Aber in diesem Abstand, seit die Dinge geschliffen sind, haben Chloe und Kay die Möglichkeit, sich zurückzuholen und Dinge zu überlegen, Dinge zu wiederholen, und sie haben die Möglichkeit, ihre eigene Theorie darüber herauszufinden, was passiert ist.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Her sister said that she would look at the killer in these cases and say that she could see sadness in their eyes. She always found a way to forgive people and had this positivity about her that was incredibly endearing. And unfortunately, at times, this could be to a fault. Und Sie werden das mehr verstehen, als ich heute's Case erkläre.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Was diese gesamte Familie durchgegangen ist, ist einfach überraschend. Vor allem, wenn man sich über ihre Kinder denkt. Sie wurde als Mutter so lieb. Sie liebte es, Mutter zu sein. Und ihre Kinder liebten sie. Und ich bin sicher, dass das einfach... So hard for them to wrap their mind around and understand. And I mean, heartbreaking doesn't even feel like it cuts it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
That being said, I know that the four of them are in the best care possible with Kay and Chloe. And again, I'm just so impressed with them. Ich meine, was für tolle Leute, die aufgehört haben und ihr Bestes getan haben, um diese Kinder zu kümmern.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und ich glaube wirklich, besonders nach dem Gespräch mit ihnen, dass sie einen exzellenten Job gemacht haben, um sicherzustellen, dass sie so gut wie möglich kümmern können und den Unterstützung, den sie brauchen, durch einen unglaublich schwierigen Zeitraum. Nothing can prepare a family for something like this and...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Today I'm going to be telling you about the unsolved disappearance of 39-year-old mother Nikki Chang Saley McCain. And I was very fortunate to connect with two of her sisters who have agreed to come on the show today and tell the story a bit from their own words, which is always super valuable. And God, I was on the phone with them for about two hours the other day and I am just blown away by
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
It's cases like this that partly made me want to start our foundation, Higher Hope. And so I'm currently working with Kay and Chloe to get them a Hope Grant. The financial toll that a situation like this puts on a family is just so... Es ist überraschend und unerwartet. Und so wirklich in diesen Zeiten hilft alles.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Also haben wir viel Zeit darüber gesprochen am letzten Tag und sie haben entschieden, dass sie letztendlich die Finanzen auf ein Bildbord legen wollen. Und ich stimme komplett mit ihnen, dass das ein exzellentes Verwendung der Finanzen ist. Und bei der Zeit, dass dieses Episode aufhört, sollten wir gut auf unsere Weise sein, das gekauft zu werden, wenn nicht schon es möglicherweise gemacht haben.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Wir werden sehen. Es kann ein bisschen kompliziert werden, aber das wird passieren. And if you guys want to help them as well, they've also just set up a GoFundMe to increase the reward for information. The reward right now is sitting at $30,000. It was increased in July with the help of the Shasta County Secret Witness and the Kingsman Philanthropic Corporation.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Each pledged an additional $10,000 and they're all hoping that this money will incentivize someone to come forward because someone has to know something. I mean, we know someone knows something. Right. They also have a link tree set up where you can find updated information on her case. So that along with the GoFundMe will be linked in the description box or the show notes.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
But it's also a great place where you can connect with them and connect with others as well, because I know so many of you out there have experienced domestic violence. And that's been one thing they've said has been really nice is to connect with some of these people that have come out to rallies and stuff who have experienced DV themselves.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
and just are looking for ways to support others and to make a connection. Now, if you want to go the extra mile, another big way that you can help this family is by emailing the Reading Rancheria Tribal Court.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
The email address will be linked below or in the show notes, and we've also created a template that you can copy and paste, asking them to work collaboratively with their family and law enforcement. If you want to, you can write the email in your own words or change or add, but please... What is the phrase? You catch more bees with honey or something. You know what I'm trying to say.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und das being said, Nicky's big heart and her kindness is just what made her who she was. And to tell you more about that, here are her sisters.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Keep it nice, okay? We have found that when you come from an attacking angle... Often times it goes nowhere and gets shut down. So we've got to keep the respect there, you know, focus on what's important, stick to the goal here, which is to find answers and to get justice and not to send something angry that's just going to make someone mad. You know what I mean?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
So please, please, if you decide to write your own... keep it friendly but you can easily just copy paste what we've already written this is a really fast and easy way that you can support this family and support nikki and with enough people which you guys have really truly come out in droves in other cases so i really hope that you can
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Take some time out of your day to help with this, because it does make a big difference. And we're just hoping that this will encourage the tribal court to take the necessary steps to work with Nikki's family. It really is as simple as that, and it's a great way to help if you are not in a financial place to support their GoFundMe.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
As a reminder, Nikki is 4'11", 90 to 100 pounds, with brownish red hair. She also has a floral tattoo on her left forearm. And if you have any information regarding the disappearance of Nikki Chang, Saley McCain, please call the Shasta County Secret Witness at 530-245-6135 or the Kingsman Philanthropic Corporation at 786-509-7135.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
You can also directly message their family on their Facebook page with any information relating to Nikki's disappearance. That is all I have for you on this case at this point in time. I hope that there will be more answers soon and eventually justice because, God, this is just so beyond heartbreaking. I definitely want to hear your thoughts, so let me know. I know you will.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Das war's für heute, Leute. Danke, dass ihr mitgekommen seid. Und folgt dem Show auf Spotify und Apple Podcasts. Das hilft mir wirklich. Wenn ihr die Video-Version von diesem Show sehen wollt, könnt ihr es auf meinem YouTube-Kanal finden, der verlinkt wird. Oder ihr könnt einfach Kendall Rae suchen. Ich bin bald wieder da, aber bis dann, bleibt sauber.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
So as you can see, after hearing the way that they describe her, Nikki was just an incredibly loved person. And I hate that we even have to be here talking about her story today. And as we get into the case here, you're going to realize what a strong person she was as well. I mean, she went through the worst of the worst before she went missing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And despite all of that, she had really turned the corner. was ready to get her life back on track. But before she was ever able to do that, she vanished. And many believe it's because of her husband, Tyler McCain. So who is Tyler? What's his story? And what's their story? Well, in the late 2000s, Nikki was living in Reading and she worked at the Wind River Casino as a cocktail waitress.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Her sister Kay actually worked there too, which was super fun for the two of them. And that's where she met Tyler, who worked there in the slots department. Now, Tyler definitely had the reputation of being sort of a...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
flirty guy and it wasn't something that Kay said she saw directly but it was something that she had heard from other people so when he took an interest in her sister she kind of warned her you know make sure that he's really into you and not you and a bunch of others But it did seem that Tyler was genuinely interested in Nikki and Nikki felt the same.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Maybe not at first though, because he, according to her sisters, really wasn't her normal type. So he definitely had to put on the charm, but eventually he did manage to get her attention. And of course, like I've said, Nikki definitely had this super fun, bubbly personality, super funny. But she also had a introverted side. And she was more introverted than most people would have realized.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And I guess Tyler was sort of the same way. And so her sisters believed that that was something that they sort of... connected over but tyler certainly was not without his faults he actually had a felony burglary charge and some vandalism charges but as i've said nikki always saw the best in people and she saw something in tyler that she wanted in her life
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
by everything that they have been through everything that nikki had gone through and i mean the way that they have just stepped up to support her sister and her children as well is is so commendable they have been so so strong and i'm just very grateful that they agreed to take time to come on the show and tell you about nikki story themselves because i know they are
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
So after dating and a super long engagement, I'm talking like six years, the two of them did end up getting married. Now, in Nikki's family's culture, weddings are a big deal, big production. It's normally like a three-day event, so lots of planning involved. And...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
That's really why their engagement was so long, because the planning of it just seemed like really overwhelming, which I totally get. And eventually, after thinking about it over those six years, they ended up deciding to do something much more simple, because by that point they had already started their family.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
After struggling with fertility in the beginning, Nikki and Tyler ended up having four beautiful children. Und wahrlich gesagt, sahen diese ersten Jahre okay aus, zumindest okay genug, dass niemand wusste, wo all das enden würde. Denn obwohl es mit ihm angefangen hätte, endete es in der schlimmsten Weise möglich.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Over the years, Nicky and Tyler's relationship definitely had some problems and one of the biggest problems was Nicky had accused him of infidelity, actually multiple infidelities. And one of those, Tyler actually did admit to. And... Wie Sie sich vorstellen können, war das ein riesiges Verheirat in ihrer Beziehung und hat viele Kämpfe und gesamte Träume verursacht.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Aber letztendlich haben sie es durchgearbeitet, obwohl ihre Schwestern an einem Punkt wirklich dachten, dass das das Ende ihres Verheirats sein wird. Aber trotz dessen, wie schlimm es wurde, haben sie es letztendlich herausgearbeitet. Und der wirklich große Verlust in ihrem Verheirat geschah während der Pandemie.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und bei dem Zeitpunkt lebten sie auf einem 3,5-Akern-Bereich, genau außerhalb der Redding Rancheria-Reservation auf Olynda Road, in einem Bereich namens Happy Valley. Bevor die Pandemie schlug, war sie eine Zuhause-Mutter und er hatte einen Job als Spa-Manager. Aber nach dem Covid-Bereich schlug er seinen Job und war mit Nikki und den Kindern für längere Zeit zu Hause.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und wie ich gesagt habe, ist das, als Dinge wirklich einen großen Schritt gemacht haben, wie ich weiß, dass es für so viele Paare weltweit gemacht wurde. Und um die Reise zu beenden, hat Tyler sich in der Garage für lange Zeit isoliert und Nicky war unter der Überraschung, dass er Drogen machen könnte. His sister was actually an addict and she had been living in the garage unit that they had.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And so when Tyler was spending more and more of his time in there with her and he was also acting different, like just strange behavior, Nikki was pretty sure, I mean, it became pretty clear that he was probably using meth. And whenever she would voice her concerns to him, it would turn into a giant argument and... Es war nicht nur schreien, es war schlecht und es wurde physisch.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und so gab es Zeiten, in denen Nicki sich und ihre Kinder im Kühlschrank lockten und Tyler versuchte, die Tür zu brechen. Nun, wir sind unsicher, ob er jemals mit den Kindern gewaltig war. Das ist völlig unbekannt. Aber ihre Schwestern glauben, dass die Gewalt an Nicki gedreht wurde und dass sie das gemacht hat, was sie konnte, um sie zu schützen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Aber als sie sich schützen konnte, stand sie nicht viel von der Chance. Nicky war eine sehr kleine Person. Ich spreche von klein. Sie war 4'11 und ungefähr 90 bis 100 Kilo, was bei Tyler nichts war. Das gesagt, wie ich vorhin gesagt habe, war Nicky sehr hart. Seine Schwester sagte, dass sie schmutzig war und versucht hätte, zurückzukämpfen.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Aber natürlich, in Bezug auf ihre Größe, war es sehr schwierig für Nicky, das zu tun. Und schade ist, dass ihre Familie nicht mal bewusst war, dass es so schlecht wurde. The pandemic, as far as we know, is when things got physical, but because they were sheltered inside, her siblings weren't able to actually see any of the signs of abuse.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
They'd obviously been texting like normal, but Nikki didn't tell them the extent of what was happening. Her sisters did generally know that she and Tyler had their arguments, but they just didn't realize that it had turned that violent. And it was only when restrictions were lifted that they saw her again and they realized quickly what was going on.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
quite quite busy these days but it is always just so valuable to hear directly from family members throughout this episode you're going to be hearing from chloe and k and i just can't thank them enough for trusting me with their sister's story and if you are familiar with nikki's case at all or have watched any other coverage you likely have heard from them before they have been very active in the case they have dedicated a ton of time to
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And once they were aware of the abuse, they desperately tried to get Nikki to report him. And just like so many others in a situation like this, Nikki didn't want him to get in trouble. She didn't want to report him for that reason, but especially because she didn't want to break up their family. And that's also why she didn't tell anyone to begin with.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And her sisters also believed that she was trying to come across as strong. I mean, she was the big sister in the family. She wanted them to believe that... Sie konnte es beheben, dass sie okay war. Außerdem, mit Nickys großartigem Herz, dachte sie, dass Tyler sich verändern würde. Oder am wenigsten, der alte Tyler war noch da und vielleicht mit der Zeit würde es wieder normal sein.
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Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
Und sie hatten tatsächlich auf und ab nach der Marriage Counseling gegangen in den Jahren, aber es ging nie wieder normal. In der Tat, es gab einen Unfall, That was seen by a witness. And this witness said that Nikki was running barefoot away from her house, screaming for help with bloodied feet from running through broken glass.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Mom of 4 Vanishes Before Abusive Husband’s Trial: Where Is Nikki Cheng Saelee McCain?
And that same person saw cuts on her face and marks around her neck that made them think that she might have just been choked. And then in another instance, a witness said that they saw Tyler chase Nikki through their yard with a wrench. And a different time, they heard him yell that he was going to cut her head off. Das ist absolut furchtbar, wenn man sich über diese Erfahrung nachdenkt.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
But his job was really only to seek out the contracts. People who knew them often described Natalie as sort of the brains behind the operation. Not that Michael wasn't smart, but Natalie was really the one conducting the business for the most part. So it was Natalie who was responsible for everything that happened after.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Everything from fulfilling orders to handling the money to, you know, everything in between. And in terms of the official split on the business, she was listed as the 51% owner and he had the other 49%. Which they told people that they did this so that they could label themselves as a woman-owned business in order to hopefully get more contracts. And it seemed like they were getting a ton of them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
The Cochrans really went from living a very comfortable, happy life to a life of total luxury. They bought more properties, more cars, more jewelry, more vacations, luxury goods. They even bought an airplane hangar because Michael liked planes and was working on getting his pilot's license.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Now, Michael actually did do a ton of charitable things with all of this new money, like donating a weight room to a local school and buying a house for the youth pastor who was about to become homeless. And at one point, they told Tony that they were even going to buy a town in Africa and build homes for everyone who lived there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And truth be told, Michael definitely did do a lot of spending, which...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
you know gets pointed out later on in the case but you have to really keep two things in mind one he didn't grow up like this at all so suddenly having all this money was very exciting for him and you know he was living a completely new lifestyle and two he really trusted the woman that he was in love with his business partner that this money was legitimately theirs and speaking of legitimacy i wanted to point something out here that's really crucial
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
TSG was technically a legitimate business. Natalie filed all the paperwork and it was established as a real company. But that's all she ever did. She also did the same for their second company as well, which was called Technical Management Solutions or TMS. And TMS was supposedly an IT company that provided technology consulting services.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And I bring this up because one thing that a lot of people really question here is how did Michael not know? And I think the simplest explanation I can give you to make sense of that is Natalie was very good at manipulating people. She was a master manipulator.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Plus, it obviously would have been a lot harder to convince him about all of this and how legitimate it was if she didn't set it up as a legitimate business. And she really did that to keep him and anyone else from finding out what was truly going on. And it didn't really work too well because people did end up finding out because those returns she promised, yeah, they never came in.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
What's shocking, though, is that Natalie was really able to keep people at bay for quite a long time. And... It wasn't just adults she was stealing from. She was also stealing from kids. It turns out, and God, this is slimy beyond words, but she was actually taking money from that baseball league that she became the treasurer of.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
To give you a little more information and background on that, in February of 2018, there was a fundraiser to raise money for the Shady Spring baseball and volleyball teams. And this was just wild to me. I mean, maybe to some of you it's not so insane, but I guess...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Here we are living in these current times, but I guess TSG was claiming to donate semi-automatic weapons as bingo prizes at the fundraiser. And apparently it was a big hit because they ended up raising $32,000. And half of it went to the baseball team and the other half of it went to the volleyball team. But as you can imagine, since this is Natalie, a few weird things happened.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
She talked about how he never missed a day of school, how he was always on the principal's honor list, and how he was often involved in after-school clubs. Now, she didn't specifically say what those clubs were, so I'm not sure what he was involved with, but if I had to guess, they definitely had something to do with sports and possibly leadership as well.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Thank you.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
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True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
That's Nutrafol.com spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L.com, promo code KendallRayGift. Once again, Nutrafol.com, promo code KendallRayGift. A few people realized that a bunch of transactions were being made from the account when nobody on the board had approved purchases. And so they ended up hiring a PI to conduct an audit. And that's when they saw there was only $32 left.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And the stolen money went towards purchases including $1,142 spent at a sporting goods store, $2,099 spent on Yeti cooler items, $402 on a bow and arrow, plus $1,000 Amazon purchases, just random things, ATM withdrawals, money spent at TJ Maxx and HomeGoods and places like Olive Garden, just a bunch of random stuff.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Because Michael was a very athletic person. He loved sports from a super young age, and that passion only grew as he got older. He also just had a major passion for his health, and he got really into lifting weights when he was younger. He actually got his first set of barbells at just the age of 10.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And considering Natalie was the treasurer and these purchases were made after she got that role, it seemed like... she was probably responsible. But surprisingly, nothing official was ever done about it. However, people definitely started to question things such as their own personal investments in TSG.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Towards the end of 2018 and into the beginning of 2019, investors were coming to the Cochran's wondering where the hell their returns were. But Michael often didn't know what to say to people and he only knew as much as his wife had told him and she was telling everyone, Michael included, Excuse after excuse.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And one of her early excuses was that the company was being audited and her accounts were frozen. But the money would go through as soon as that was over, so no worries there, people. And then another big excuse, which happened to really just be coincidental and quite convenient for Natalie, had to do with the December 2018 government shutdown.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Because if the government wasn't paying people, then of course neither could she. And boy, was she lucky with that one. Then another excuse, and this is where the faking an illness element comes into play for Natalie. After the government shutdown was over, obviously she needed a new excuse. And she started telling people that she had cancer.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
As if it couldn't get any worse at this point, and it gets much worse from here, she lied about having leukemia. And she even told people that she wasn't going to seek treatment. She was going to let God take care of it, that they were going to just let her live out whatever was left of her life and hope for the best. And obviously that terrified her friends and family.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And some of them even went and got their bone marrow tested to see if they were a match and could possibly help to save her life. But remember her friend Tony and how her husband had actually tragically passed away? due to leukemia, well, she immediately knew something was up because Natalie said that she was in stage three and she knew that leukemia is not described in stages.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
It's described in types. Natalie also showed her a bald spot in the back of her head. She would flip her hair down and show this to people. And she said that it was, of course, from chemo. But Tony said it looked like she had just shaved a patch in the back of her head to try to make it look like she was losing hair.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And I'm going to be honest with you guys, I'm not sure what Michael's knowledge was of this. I would imagine he knew since friends of theirs were trying to get involved. But when it comes to this whole part of the story, I don't really have much more information than that. I will say I do think it would be incredibly difficult to fake having cancer to a partner.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
But at the same time, Natalie, like I said, she's a master manipulator. She's incredibly convincing and she was very thorough too. Get this. She would send her investors emails and letters pretending to be people from different government agencies, explaining to them why they hadn't gotten their money.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
She straight up used a Department of Defense letterhead, claiming to be someone from the department. And the sad part of it is, as I mentioned earlier, that these schemes rely heavily on trust. And the people that she got to invest...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And she said one of his favorite things to do was just go into his room, blast his music and work out. And when he got a little older, he even got first place in a powerlifting competition. And his mother was super, super proud of him for that. And it was actually at a sporting goods fitness type store that he ended up meeting Natalie Jessup.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
trusted her I mean there were people who like I said cared about her and that's what makes this oh my god so heartbreaking and what's really really sad is some of these people never got any of their money back at all I know that Michael's mom Donna for example didn't get a penny from Natalie at any point which makes sense when you think about all the cash that Natalie pocketed and was spending on herself and her family and all these new cars and upgrades of their house and you know
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
All these different things. And listen to this. Natalie was going around telling people that her business was worth $500 million. And I could really just go on and on about all the shit that she did in terms of the fraud part of things, but... Really, that could just be an episode all on its own.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
So for the purposes of this episode, though, the most important thing to know is that Natalie was running a lucrative Ponzi scheme where she defrauded 11 people and several banks also into supplying her with more than $2.5 million. And as February of 2019 approached, a lot of people were starting to get fed up. Michael included.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
His mom and his friends were now coming to him asking him tons of questions about their money, questions he didn't even know how to answer, and he was just as confused about why they weren't getting their money. Just listen to these text messages. On January 31st, 2019, Natalie texted Michael, I'm on the phone with Bank of America. To which Michael responded, are we a thousand percent?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Natalie said, yes, she is sending them with tracking. Then on February 4th, Michael texted her saying, money isn't there. Natalie replied saying, I know. They said even if it came in at 7 a.m., it wouldn't show until 9 a.m. And she followed that up with spoke to wire department, all four transmitting the 88 and 297 will possibly show up today. The 4.8 million in the a.m.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
and the 23.8 million tomorrow sometime. The amounts held them up, but they have them all and they aren't in OFAC or anything like that. Then Michael's response was, I don't understand why it's taking so long. It's Bank of America to Bank of America.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And she told him that they're just, quote, verifying funds because of large amounts and new account, which Michael lastly replied with, doesn't make sense to me. Now, to me, and I'm sure to a lot of you, too, you'll have to let me know your opinions on these texts. But to me, these texts don't sound like a guy who knew that this was a Ponzi scheme.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
I mean, I think he was completely in the dark when it came to that side of things. And he was sure as hell getting close to figuring it out, though. So on February 6th, 2019, he and Natalie were scheduled to charter a flight to Virginia to visit a specific Bank of America branch.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And while Bank of America thought that they were meeting to discuss opening a new bank account where Natalie said they would be depositing millions and millions of dollars, my Michael thought that they were going to discuss why they hadn't been paid, and they hadn't been paid because these accounts never existed.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
So obviously, to keep the lies going, it was crucial to Natalie that the meeting didn't happen. Otherwise, Michael was going to realize the truth. And shocker, the meeting did not happen. That morning, just before 7 a.m., Natalie texted the bank representative and the pilot that she and Michael had to postpone because she was sick.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Michael was just 17 at the time and he had actually gone into the store with his mom and Natalie just happened to be at the register. And Donna said that while they were at the store, she definitely noticed some flirting going on. And when they left, she even brought it up to Michael and said that girl was definitely flirting with you, which he kind of brushed off.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And I don't know if she was really sick, but she did go to the doctor's office that day where she received a steroid shot, which actually was the second steroid shot that she supposedly received. Two days earlier, she had texted her friend Stephanie Hamilton, who was a physician, to ask if she could prescribe her steroids because she said she had pneumonia.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And Stephanie had no problem with that, so she said that she would get her some steroid pills. But Natalie specifically requested steroids.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
an injectable one and said that she was completely fine administering it herself so just keep that in mind all right so after the doctor's visit on the 6th natalie went home and around that time she texted jennifer davis explaining the situation about the cancelled flight and being too sick to fly and in these texts she mentions that her doctor had given her a high dose of steroids and she basically said that the sickness that she had was made worse because she also has cancer
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And so the steroids were supposed to help. And she also said that she had to start taking insulin shots because the steroid was causing her blood sugar to increase. And being a good friend, Jennifer asked if she could help in any way, to which Natalie asked to borrow a vial of insulin from her son.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And keep in mind that because Natalie was once a pharmacist, Jennifer just trusted that this was what the insulin was for. But if she was really supposed to take it, obviously her doctor would have just prescribed it to her. But she wasn't, so he didn't. Not knowing this, though, Jennifer went ahead and put the insulin in a bag along with some other get well soon items.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Just, you know, trying to be a good friend. And then she had her husband, Chris, drop them off at the Cochran's house. So he dropped that off around 10.30 a.m., and then only two hours later, both Chris and Jennifer received a very frightening text message from Natalie, and it was actually a picture of Michael collapsed on the kitchen floor.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And when they asked what happened, Natalie made it seem like everything was fine. Can you imagine getting a text from someone that has a picture of any loved one or their partner lying on the—collapsed on the kitchen floor and just— being like, it's fine, he's gonna be okay. What?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And she would go on to tell many versions of her story, but the gist of it was that he had went into the kitchen, threw up in the sink, had a seizure, and then just fell to the ground. Some people even heard from her that he had also hit his head, but that part didn't make it into all of her stories.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Oh, and Natalie also assured the Davises that some of their contractors came over and helped move Michael to the couch where she said he was, quote, sleeping it off. And throughout that morning, a handful of people actually came to their house after getting a similar text from her, including their friend John, who happened to be a state trooper.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
But not too long after that, Donna found out that the two of them were dating and their relationship progressed very quickly. They both graduated high school and attended West Virginia University, where Michael studied information technology and Natalie studied to become a pharmacist. And to most people's surprise who knew them, they ended up getting engaged their first semester of college.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And basically, he came in and took one look at Michael and said he needs medical attention immediately. And Natalie basically refused and refused.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
I'm not going to repeat this every time, but just know that every single person who stepped foot in their home that day had the exact same reaction, which was obviously shock and concern and that Michael needed medical attention and that he needed it now.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
However, Natalie said that Michael absolutely despised hospitals, and he told her that if she ever brought him to one again, she would regret it. And for some context, Michael had experienced some health issues that had landed him in the hospital in October and November of 2018. So that was just a few months before.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
First, he had back surgery, and then there was also a concern that he was sick from black mold exposure. But now in hindsight, even that sickness has been called into question. He actually had told a friend that he thought he was being poisoned and I'll let you guys do what you want with that information.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Anyway, the state trooper tried his best to get Natalie to take Michael into the hospital, but she just wouldn't do it. So he ends up calling his wife, who is Natalie's physician friend, Stephanie, who we just talked about. But even Stephanie Hamilton couldn't convince Natalie that she needed to get him help.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
She even tried to tell her that, you know, if Michael woke up in the hospital and he was pissed off, that she would happily take the blame. But nope, Natalie said that she was going to let him sleep it off.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And I know a lot of people are going to question why Stephanie and the others who had gone to the house that day just didn't ignore Natalie and went ahead and took Michael to the hospital anyway. And I definitely found myself asking that too. But I want to point out that
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Natalie had a doctorate, which made her at least somewhat trustworthy when it came to medical decisions in a lot of these people's eyes. And again, you got to keep in mind that they're dealing with a master manipulator here. She told everyone that came over that she was monitoring his vitals and that this is what was best for him. And as his wife, she knew best.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And she was even texting Chris and Jennifer and making it sound like he was conscious, saying things like he doesn't want to go to the hospital. So that was really confusing to them and also super deceptive because he never regained consciousness.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And then at one point, Natalie's sister Penny came over and the two of them, along with Natalie's daughter, had to change his clothes because he had peed himself. And that alone should have been an indication to get him help, but that didn't happen for several more hours. And it wasn't until Chris showed up later that evening that Michael was finally transferred to the hospital.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
He got a text from Natalie asking him to come over, and when he saw the condition his best friend was in, he just didn't give her a choice. So he drove Michael to Raleigh General Hospital with Natalie in the back seat. And once they got there, it was discovered that Michael's blood sugar was a shocking 21. And for reference, a normal blood sugar level is between 80 and 120.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
So that is very, very, very concerning to say the least. And hypoglycemia, which is what this was, if left untreated, can result in a seizure, a coma, and in some cases even death. And just FYI, Miss Expert Natalie was telling people earlier that day that his blood sugar was in normal range. Clearly it wasn't, though. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
So things, like I said, happened very, very quickly. In November of 1999, Natalie called Donna and said that they were getting married. And by May of 2000, they tied the knot. Now, from her interviews, Donna seemed to not be a big fan of this idea at all. And, you know, she was concerned that things were moving so quickly and she wanted him to focus on school. And she expressed that to them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
But by this point, the ball was already rolling. And unfortunately, something happened their senior year of college that caused a slight rift in the family. Now, Donna has kept the details private, so I'm not exactly sure what happened. But in her interview, she basically said that something happened and it sparked some problems.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And whatever it was, Michael apologized for it, but Natalie never did. And I guess there had already been problems with her, too, especially leading up to the wedding.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
i guess leading up to the big day natalie blew up at donna over something and i'm not sure if it's related to the other situation that they haven't been public about or what but basically she tried to keep donna and ed from even going to their son's wedding which is very very sad you would think you would want your parents your partner's parents
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
to participate in such a big day for the sake of your partner right i mean he was very close with his parents and that's one thing that is very frustrating about natalie is she's always tried to push this narrative that michael wasn't close with his parents and that's not true at all i mean every family of course has their problems and whatnot and
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
I cover, obviously, murders and attempted murders. And then I also cover financial frauds, Ponzi schemes, things like that. And then also people who fake illnesses. And most of the time, that's cancer. And the case that I am going to be telling you about today involves all three of those. We're going to be talking about Natalie and Michael Cochran.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Many people, for whatever reason, don't want their parents at their wedding or want to X them out of their lives, and I totally get that, but that is just not the case here at all. And to say that they weren't involved in his life, which is another narrative she tried to push, is just a blatant lie.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Now that might have been the why, but the important thing that Tom had to prove, obviously, was the how. And of course, the simplest way to answer that is with insulin. According to prosecutors, Natalie manipulated her good friend Jennifer Davis into letting her have some of her son's insulin. and she used that to fatally dose her husband.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Afterwards, she came up with an elaborate plan to convince people that he had a seizure and just needed to sleep it off. And I'd say the two biggest things the prosecution needed to convince the jury of was that Michael was a healthy 38-year-old man and that he knew nothing about the Ponzi scheme.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Obviously, establishing his health was going to be crucial because it would prove that he had no reason to have suddenly collapsed with a blood sugar of 21. And then they needed to prove that he knew nothing about the Ponzi scheme to help support the motive of why she would want to kill him. The defense, on the other hand, needed to do just the opposite.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
It was their position that Michael's death was the result of pumping himself full of steroids and supplements, which they say were purchased from Mexico and weren't safe for human consumption.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And actually, recently it has come to light that she was lying to Donna and Ed, saying that Michael... didn't want to be around them. And that was all just to try and keep them out of his life. But jumping back into the timeline here, Natalie and Michael went on to have two kids, a son and a daughter.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
All right, so to kick testimony off for the state, the prosecution's first witness was Robert Heinzman, the lead investigator on the Ponzi scheme case. And his testimony was crucial because he confirmed that Michael had no idea that his wife was running a Ponzi scheme, which obviously helped to support their motive. Now, the defense pointed out that Michael benefited greatly from that money.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And honestly, the prosecution didn't deny that. But when it came down to the facts, there wasn't a shred of evidence suggesting that he knew about it, And one thing that the prosecution came back to a lot was the fact that Natalie was really the one dealing with the money, not Michael. And Michael was really only responsible, as we talked about earlier, for finding the contracts.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And because their son is still a minor, I'm not going to be sharing his name or any photos of him with you today. But their other daughter, Nicole, is I believe around at least 20-ish years old and has been, you know, featured in the media and everything. So you will hear me mention her by name.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And this was something that not only Robert testified to, but a lot of others did as well. Even their friends said that it was always Natalie who handled the money. And Jennifer Davis was one of those friends and she was next on the stand and her testimony was very pivotal for the prosecution.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
So something that Natalie told investigators was that the insulin was in her fridge because Jennifer had a diabetic son and she had the vial in case she ever needed to give him a shot. The issue with that, though, obviously, is the fact that there were text messages as proof of her violence. asking Jennifer for the insulin for herself. So that obviously didn't go very far.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Jennifer's testimony went on for quite a while, where she talked both about the timeline of that morning and also how Natalie had in-depth knowledge of how insulin works. And considering she was a pharmacist, the prosecution wanted to drive home the fact that she had intimate knowledge on how to poison him.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Jennifer also confirmed that she never asked Natalie to keep insulin at her house for her son, plus her son had an insulin pump. Oh, and listen to this. When Michael was in hospice, and this is really disturbing, like beyond words, but Jennifer testified that Natalie had asked her to help her put a pump
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
pillow over his face because she didn't like seeing him that way and honestly i don't even know what to make of that different thoughts are coming to mind i'm sure you guys are going to be on the same page with me but i obviously can't make any accusations without proof or maybe she really just didn't like seeing him that way because it was making her feel guilty since she was responsible for it
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
I don't know. It's so whack to think about why anyone would ask someone to do that. But anyway, on cross-examination, the defense tried to get Jennifer to admit that Michael's health was bad, asking about the Mexican supplements that he was allegedly taking and about his past hospitalizations, which was asked to a lot of Michael's friends who took the stand.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
But like the others, she was adamant that he was healthy. She never saw him inject himself with anything, and she definitely did not think that he was sick. Then a Bank of America employee took the stand, and he talked about that meeting that Natalie had canceled.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
But anyway, the four of them settled into Daniels, West Virginia, on a beautiful four-acre property that Michael practically renovated from top to bottom. And by all accounts, they were a normal, happy family living a very nice life. Michael was working in IT, and Natalie had a very nice job as a pharmacist, and they were also... very active in their community.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
He also reiterated that Natalie was always the point of contact for money-related discussions, further proving that Michael wasn't involved. And then another big piece of testimony that we heard came from Stephanie Hamilton. She talked a lot about giving Natalie that steroid two days prior to Michael's collapse and about her perception of his condition when she went over there that day.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And her testimony helped highlight Natalie's reluctance to get medical attention for her husband, who, in Stephanie's professional opinion, needed it. And then there was Chris Davis's testimony, which... was very emotional and impactful. I mean, he was Michael's best friend and he firmly believed that Michael was a healthy guy.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Chris said that he had never heard of these so-called Mexican medications and that anything Michael was taking supplement-wise just came from GNC. He also testified about the timeline of that day and how he was the one who finally brought him to the hospital. and how even though Michael was hospitalized a few months before this, that this instance was not like the others.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And obviously, the defense wants the jury to believe that Michael was unhealthy, and they wanted the jury to think that Michael had a history of seizures, and that would therefore explain why he collapsed suddenly in February. But this wasn't the same.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
The defense attorney also asked specifically about Michael's use of steroids and anabolics. But Chris said that to his knowledge, his best friend didn't take steroids or anabolics. And just FYI, insulin is an anabolic hormone. All right, so then we also heard from one of the contractors. And he remembered Michael telling him back in 2018 that he felt like he had been poisoned.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And from an FBI chemist... who analyzed the substances found in the Cochran's home. And it turns out they found a vial for something called enclimafine citrate, which is a medication that can boost testosterone and muscle mass. And you might be thinking, okay, well, maybe Michael was taking steroids for bodybuilding.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
But upon further inspection, they discovered that the contents inside that vial had been replaced with something else. We also heard from an endocrinologist who talked about how excessive insulin can lead to death and how Michael wasn't taking any medications that would have caused his blood sugar to drop as low as 21.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Then on day five, the jury heard from Dr. Uribe, the medical examiner from the second autopsy and exhumation. He, if you remember, was the one who couldn't find insulin in his tissue. But he did testify that being poisoned with insulin was the only thing that could explain his cause of death. Now, lastly, I want to talk about Timothy Bledsoe's testimony.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
He was another one of the lead investigators in the Ponzi scheme case, and he really sealed the deal that Michael didn't know about the fraud when he went over those texts that I read you earlier. I mean, clearly, Michael was just as confused as everyone else. And he also said that he never found any evidence to suggest that Natalie ever had cancer.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And then another thing that he talked about was three interviews that he had done with Natalie back in 2019. She had one interview in April and then two back to back in May. And it was in that third and final interview when investigators first heard about insulin. And get this, she was actually the one to introduce it into their minds before they even found it.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
In these three stories, she told some version of Michael went to the kitchen, threw up in the sink, fell and hit his head, and then collapsed on the floor. And in interview one and two, she said that she thought he had collapsed because of these sketchy supplements that he was taking. But in that third interview, she said that he collapsed after injecting himself with insulin.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Michael was super involved in coaching his son's baseball and football teams, and she was described as a sports socialite who took on managing sports-related events, ordering jerseys, and things like that. She was even the treasurer of the middle school baseball program. And through everything they were involved in, that's how the Cochrans ended up meeting a lot of their friends.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And that's when she tried to explain that Michael used insulin as part of his bodybuilding regimen. Like how stupid does she think these people are? And ultimately, I really think Timothy was a really good final witness because his testimony really connected all of the dots. And with that, the prosecution rested their case.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Now, when it came to the defense calling witnesses, they had less people, but solid arguments were still made. And I actually think that's one thing you guys should understand here is that this was not a one-sided fight. And I do think the defense attorney was very obnoxious. He objected to literally everything, which was really annoying.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
But there were moments where his arguments raised serious doubt. And here are some examples of that. For starters, Natalie may have been a former pharmacist with intimate knowledge on how to poison someone, but he argued that, you know, why would she do it with something as traceable as insulin?
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Also, why would she just keep it hanging out in her fridge for four months after the fact if it was the murder weapon? The defense also questioned why, if she killed Michael, she didn't cremate him. They also pointed out that Natalie made no effort to hide the evidence and therefore there was no way she was guilty. Now, my personal explanation for those things is I think she's just dumb.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
But yeah, I don't know. That's all I have to say on that. But they did point out, you know, why would she have invited all of these people into her home? She could have told nobody and made up some story that she just came home and found him unconscious. But again, in my opinion, I do think that can be explained by not being so smart.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
The defense also argued that the prosecution never really explained how the insulin ended up inside Michael to begin with. It's not like she attacked him as far as we know with a needle and then he fell to the floor. It just, of course, wouldn't have happened that fast. Now, this is just my opinion, but we did learn that Michael was allergic to benzodiazepines.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
We also learned that two days before he collapsed, Natalie was prescribed Xanax, traces of which were found in his system. So my thought process, and of course this is just my opinion and I cannot prove this in any way, but I think it's possible that she may have drugged him with the Xanax with a benzo, which he's allergic to, and then once he was already knocked out, then she...
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
you know, poisoned him with the insulin. Again, those are just my thoughts. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on that. So let me know. But moving on, the two star witnesses for the defense actually were the Cochran children. And I really want to be careful when I talk about their testimony.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
I mean, they have been through a lot and there have been many people who questioned their statements and have insinuated that maybe they were
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
manipulated by their mom to say certain things and of course she as we know is a master manipulator so that's possible but i definitely don't want to put any blame or accusations on them i mean they were 9 and 13 years old when their dad died and it's been pointed out that they continued living with their mom who could have done and said anything she wanted i can't say what she did or didn't do or if they were manipulated by her
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Chris and Jennifer Davis were probably their closest friends, and Chris ended up being a coach right alongside Michael. And he also became their family attorney. And soon enough, they were even going on vacations together, spending tons of time together.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
But I will tell you that Donna, Michael's mother, was incredibly hurt by the things that they said in court about their father. But to summarize, both Nicole and her brother took the stand and they were asked countless questions about their relationship with Michael, as well as about his use of supplements and steroids.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And both kids testified that their dad had become aggressive, forgetful, and lethargic in the months leading up to his death. They both said that he was not very involved in their lives and that he was always the one working on the business, not their mom.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
The son, whose face they didn't show because he's a minor, said that one time when he was laying between his parents, he saw his dad's computer and there was a contract pulled up. He mentioned how his dad talked to him a lot about the business and, you know, he's just again suggesting that his dad was the one who was running the ship.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
He actually had a few stories about times when his dad was working on the business. And, you know, nobody was questioning if Michael worked on the business. Of course he did. And we know that he was constantly trying to find new contracts. But the question really was whether or not he was involved in the financial part of things.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And so many have questioned if a child who, keep in mind, was seven or eight at the time would have even been aware of something like that and could really assess who was involved with what and how much. The kids were also asked about their dad's health regimen, and both of them said that he took a lot of supplements.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Nicole specifically said that he would lay them all out on the counter before he took them and that it would be enough to cover an entire dinner plate. So that's a lot. She said that he took up to 40 pills a day and that she would watch as he would scoop them into his mouth and take handfuls at a time.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
She also stated that her dad told her that he was taking steroids from Mexico and that she watched him take them via a dropper that he would put in his mouth. Now, the son testified something similar, except he said that his dad was specifically injecting them. However, when they asked him if he ever saw his dad physically inject himself, he said no.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Another thing that was interesting is when each of them were testifying, Natalie was very expressive. For example, when Nicole got off the stand, she smiled at her and mouthed, I love you, which... It is very interesting, of course. Parents expressing love for their children isn't anything that strange, but a lot of people question if there was manipulation going on even in those moments.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And because Natalie was a pharmacist, she ended up being a very valuable asset to the Davises when they found out that one of their sons had type 1 diabetes. Natalie actually specialized in diabetes management. So when he was diagnosed, she was the one teaching Chris and Jennifer everything they needed to know from giving insulin shots to managing the disease, giving them tips.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And then there was Natalie's sister, Penny, who testified, and she was the only person who said that she saw Michael actually inject himself. And she said that it was a long time ago while they were on a family vacation. But when she was asked what he injected himself with, she admitted that she didn't know what it was.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Penny also testified that Michael hated hospitals to help justify why Natalie didn't seek medical attention sooner. The defense also called their own medical examiner to the stand, who said he ruled Michael's death undetermined and inconclusive. A forensic pathologist testified that Michael had an enlarged heart, likely caused by those supplements, and that also could have caused him to die.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Now, through the entire trial, everyone thought that eventually Natalie would take the stand. But at the very last minute, she decided not to, which I would have loved to see her up on the stand and what she would have said. And then on that note, Donna, Michael's mother, was also supposed to take the stand for the prosecution, of course. But long story short, she ended up not being allowed to.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And so with all of that, the defense rested their case. Robert Heinzman was called once more as a rebuttal witness, but after that, testimony was over. And I just gotta say, the jury seemed to be locked in the entire trial, and it was very long and complicated at times, but they seemed very attentive and took it very seriously.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And so it was no surprise to me when they came back with their verdict in just two hours. And I'm happy to say that verdict was guilty. And there were a lot of mixed emotions. But for Donna and Ed, of course, it was a moment of relief. After six years, Michael was finally getting justice. So the following day, Natalie appeared for what's called the mercy phase.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Now, that's a lot like the sentencing phase, but the jury comes back in and hears more testimony about why the guilty party should or should not receive mercy. So if she was granted mercy, she would get life in prison but be eligible for parole in just 15 years. And if she wasn't granted mercy, then she would get life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And the defense goes first in this phase, and they called up her sister, niece, parents, and two children who did everything in their power to paint Natalie as a loving mother who had already missed out on so much. And they really tugged on the heartstrings, talking about all the things that she's not going to experience with her kids if she's in jail for life.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
She was crying when both her kids took the stand and you could feel the emotion from both Nicole and her brother. But as proven by the jury, their mom was and is guilty of killing their dad, even if they didn't believe so. And my heart truly goes out to them. I mean, they... of course, have really lost both of their parents here in a horrible, horrible way.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And it's got to be incredibly painful and so, so confusing. And when Natalie's mom took the stand, she talked about the fact that while in jail, her daughter wrote a journal workbook. It's a 90-day devotion and reflection journal specifically for people in jail that aims to help them, quote, embark on a journey of self-discovery, spiritual growth, and resilience.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And I personally get the sense that the Cochran's really were a family that a lot of people would turn to because they always seemed like they were willing to lend a hand. One of their new friends was a woman named Toni, a mother, and she had actually lost her husband to leukemia. Keep that in mind because it's important later.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
The defense also played up a heart condition that they said Natalie has and how she won't receive proper care if she's in prison for the rest of her life, which she probably should have thought about more before she decided to murder someone. Now, when it came to the prosecution's witnesses, we heard from several of Michael's friends, both Ed and Donna, and lastly, Robert Heinzman.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And when it was their turn to take the stand, Natalie's family and supporters all left the courtroom. They clearly couldn't bear to hear what Michael's loved ones had to say, which is so unfair considering they all sat and listened to them try and ruin his character.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
I definitely understand her children leaving and give them a total pass for that, but everyone else who bailed in those moments, that is really disgusting to me. I seriously wish I could play every minute of every one of their testimonies, but this mercy phase took an entire day. I do want to play a snippet from some of them, though, because I do think it's very powerful.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
But she said that when her husband passed, Michael really stepped up and tried to be a somewhat of a father figure to her children. Tony has three kids, and Michael took them fishing and to sports practices, and he really became super involved in each of their lives, which I think speaks very highly about Michael's character.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And I would really encourage you guys to go and listen to Donna's entire statement. She wasn't allowed to read it in full during the mercy phase because she had written eight pages and they told her that in the interest of time, she needed to summarize it. But in that interview with her that I told you about earlier, she reads the full thing. So I will have that linked below for you.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And in the end, after only one hour of deliberation, the jury ruled that Natalie Cochran should not receive mercy, and therefore the judge sentenced her to life in prison without parole, which actually made her the first woman in West Virginia convicted of murder since 1991 to not receive a recommendation of mercy.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
So since then, Natalie's defense team has filed motions for acquittal and a new trial, but those motions were luckily denied on February 25th. So unless they end up filing a motion that ends up being granted, then she will remain in prison for the rest of her life, which in my opinion is exactly where she belongs. Thank you so much for watching. I'm sure I know how you guys will feel about that.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Maybe there are some of you out there who think there was enough reasonable doubt, and I'd love to hear from you as well and why you think that. But I just wanted to end this by saying that my heart truly goes out to everyone who loved Michael, especially to his immediate family, to his parents, and to his children who had to go through all of this at no fault of their own.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
I'm also just so impressed by Donna and Ed for their ability to remain so strong during all of this after everything they have been through. I mean, don't forget, they lost their entire life savings, their retirement savings because of Natalie. And that is just horrible. I mean, so many people suffered because of Natalie. But obviously the one who suffered most was Michael.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Now, jumping forward a bit, in 2017, Natalie announced that she was quitting her job as a pharmacist, and she was going to be starting a new business, a government contracting business, and she did this because she was inspired by the movie War Dogs, which is a movie that I had never seen before.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
I'm surprised I've never seen it because it's very similar, in my opinion, to Wolf on Wall Street, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. And I decided to watch it last night just to get a better sense of where Natalie's head was at, because this actually the movie comes up again later on. And I really enjoyed it. It's wild.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And it was interesting to learn more about this world of government contracting businesses because it was actually something I really knew nothing about. But if you haven't seen it, War Dogs is a movie starring Jonah Hill and Miles Teller, and they take advantage of a government initiative that allows businesses to bid on military contracts.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
In the movie, which is inspired by a true story, actually, they land this $300 million contract where they have to supply ammunition to the Afghan National Army. And this is a little bit of a spoiler alert, so if you want to watch the movie, maybe just skip a couple seconds forward, but it's not too much of a spoiler.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And by all accounts, they seem to be living a very luxurious, happy life, happy couple. But it was all a lie. This case is definitely going to piss you off. It's equal parts infuriating and heartbreaking and just mind-blowing how someone can think they're going to get away with doing everything possible
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Basically, they end up way in over their heads because they put in a bid for a contract, and it is... Like, I can't remember exactly. I want to say like $50 million less than the competing offers. And so they like kind of did the math wrong and have to cut corners to try and fill the agreement. And eventually they end up in prison.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And it's crazy because the foreshadowing of her loving this movie so much and being inspired to start her business because of it. it's just honestly uncanny and what blew my mind and the reason i decided to watch it for myself is because natalie would tell her friends that she would have new employees watch the movie as an onboarding video Makes zero sense to me.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you are new to the show, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you here. And I hope you guys are all having a great day, at least maybe an okay day. But anyway, today I have a wild case for you guys. It seems like for the most part, I cover really three types of cases.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Why would you ever want to set your employees up to think this is how we're going to do things or this is what could happen to us? It's just concerning on so many levels and so whack. Not to mention, it's just so unprofessional on so many levels to have something like War Dogs be an onboarding video for any company, to have a movie be an onboarding video for new employees. Wild shit.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
So for a long time, I refused to wear any type of push-up bra. They were all uncomfortable to me. I really just preferred a nice sports bra, bralette situation, you know, something that's not going to be digging into me. But then I wanted to get a little bit of lift. So I tried out the Skims Ultimate Push-Up Bra. And let me tell you, this is the best push-up bra.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
I actually have four of them now and I wear them every single day. And then I recently tried their Ultimate Balconette Push-Up Bra, and it really lives up to all the hype. It doesn't add any bulkiness, and it doesn't feel like I'm wearing pillows on my chest. Instead, it just makes them look natural with a really nice lift, which I could use all the lift I can get these days.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
They also wash really well, which is a big thing for me because I've had so many bras ruined in the wash. And every single piece I have from Skims, even their pajamas and their sweats, all have held up really nicely in the wash. So shop the Skims Ultimate Bra Collection and more at Skims.com and Skims stores. After you place your order, be sure to let them know I sent you.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Select podcast and survey and be sure to select my show in the description menu that follows. And for those who don't know, which was me before learning about this case and watching War Dogs myself, a government contract business is a company that provides goods and services to the government in exchange for payment.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
For a long time, when it came to government contracts for the military, at least, and... Forgive me if I sound dumb here. I don't completely understand this world. But from what I do understand, for the most part, those contracts were offered to huge businesses, huge corporations.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And at some point, the government decided to kind of level the playing field a little bit by offering some of those contracts to smaller businesses as well. And really anyone, any small business, any civilian can...
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
bid for a government contract for example and forgive me because this is the best example I can come up with and I'm very you know new to this world I have no idea how it really works but let's say the government is putting out a request for 30,000 cases of ammunition. This request gets submitted online and then businesses can submit their bids to try and win the contract.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And one company might offer to get them the amount at a lesser price, but it's going to take longer to fulfill the contract. And, you know, X, Y, Z, everyone's, you know, offers a little bit different. And then the government can choose which offer they want to go with. But then you have to fall through and fill the request.
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
that she did also i wanted to cover this case because this just went to trial in january of 2025 so this is very very recent i know you guys are gonna have a lot to say on this one i have a lot to say on this one and i just already have so many thoughts coming to my head so i want to just jump into it and i want to start out by telling you more about michael cochran
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Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And obviously, if you don't fill the request, then you're not getting paid. And this is what Natalie said her new business, Tactical Solutions Group, or TSG, was doing. And just like in War Dogs, a big part of their business was supplying weapons. And they also sold health care equipment as well. other sort of big ticket items like that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And I think their website has been taken down now, which you'll understand why later. But at some point, Natalie had wrote that they were a leading supplier of the Department of Defense, the CIA, and Homeland Security. But to get to that point, obviously, they needed startup costs. And who did Natalie turn to for that money? Their own friends, family, and community members.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And that's what makes this case so frustrating. Well,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
many things make this case very frustrating and upsetting but the fact that she went after people that she actually knew and cared about their own family friends and community members is just sick on so many levels because people trusted her they gave them this money for their business to help them get it going and little did they all know this business was a total ponzi scheme and
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And to very loosely explain what that means, basically money that she was using from new investors was going to pay off money that she owed to old investors. And through her conniving ways, she convinced people who trusted her, who cared about her,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
that they should pour their savings into tsg and she was very strategic about how she did it natalie would tell people that she liked to be the last bidder so that nobody could bid higher than her and because of that she wouldn't give people a lot of time to think about whether or not they wanted to invest and not only that she would also tell people that the contracts were part of classified government programs very top secret so people
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
Couldn't ask her a lot of questions, and obviously that was a strategic move as well. So Chris Davis said that Natalie approached him and Jennifer after church one day, of all places, about fulfilling a contract for dental labs. And in total, they would end up investing $511,000. And then there's this, which really breaks my heart.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
I mean, it breaks my heart for everyone that's involved, but the fact that she would do this to herself.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
in-laws is just mind-blowing but donna invested just over 245 000 and this was all of her and ed's retirement savings and natalie essentially convinced donna to go ahead and make this investment because she told her that her own mother had already made a return of 60 000 so obviously that was appealing to them and they also wanted to support their son's business ventures so they decided to go ahead and do it
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
And whether it was Donna or the Davises or somebody else, Natalie always said that they could expect large returns in a short amount of time. And truth be told, from the way everyone describes it, they all felt like they could really trust her. And they described it as sort of a group mentality.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
You know, that they saw how well their family was doing and they had this idea of, OK, well, this other couple that I know or other family I know is investing and they're smart people. So if they're going to do it, I don't see why we wouldn't do it. And as far as Michael's role in all of this, which I'm sure you guys are wondering about, he eventually started working for TSG full time, too.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Insulin Poisoning Ponzi Scheme Cover-Up?! The Case of Michael & Natalie Cochran
So Michael Brandon Cochran was born on December 23rd of 1980 in Beckley, West Virginia, and he was actually an only child to his parents, Donna and Michael. But when he was eight, his stepdad, Ed Bolt, came into the picture, and the two of them grew incredibly close. In an interview where she talked about his childhood, Donna said that Michael Brandon was... quite an impressive kid.
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Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And it may not be necessarily that strange if those items were just in her car, but the fact that they were in her trunk... Very strange. So it almost looked like whoever did this had put all of those things in there and then was planning on driving off with her belongings in the car. But maybe they ran out of time as the sun was coming up.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you're new to the show, then welcome. I hope you stick around. So guys, today we're going to get into a case. It's really, really frustrating, this one, because I really feel that it should have been solved by now.
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Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And of course, that's just a theory, but I can definitely see how that is plausible. And luckily, law enforcement waited no time getting into this investigation. The detectives did what they almost always do in situations like this, and they decided to look at the last 24 hours of Sarah's life to see if they could find any information there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And believe it or not, Sarah herself was the one to leave behind a seemingly very important clue. Around 11 p.m. on the night of the 8th, Sarah made a Facebook post, and it reads, Going to be sleeping with the windows wide open, dot dot dot. Now if batshit crazy boy would just leave me alone, dot dot dot, we'll get some much needed rest because tomorrow is Monday and I got a ton of work to do.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
That was Sarah's last communication, and nine hours later, she was gone. So what happened, and who the hell is batshit crazy boy? Well... A lot of people who were close to Sarah knew that she had been dating, but it was definitely something that she kept as a private part of her life. And she would often refer to guys that she was dating in monikers, like different nicknames almost.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
So people knew about batshit crazy boy, but they didn't actually know who he was. That is until a co-worker of hers, Melissa, started looking through her desk that said John from Gainesville on it, as well as a phone number.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
But there was also something else written on the paper, and what was weird is it was written in a different color, almost as if it was written on another day, like she had added to it later, or it's possible she wrote it on the same day and just wanted to emphasize this part, and I'm sure you could guess what it said. It said, "'Bat shit crazy boy.'"
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And it's really eerie, actually, because Sarah was really into true crime. And it makes sense, of course, because she was a journalist and, as I explained, loved getting to the bottom of things, figuring things out. So true crime obviously would be right up her alley. But now to be the person whose mystery they were trying to solve...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
very eerie and it wasn't lost on anyone and so when melissa found this piece of paper with the name the phone number and batshit crazy boy she knew it had to be something significant so she called detectives right away and of course they were very interested in this so they looked more into the note and they found out that batshit crazy boy is actually a man named john kerns
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Now, John wasn't home when they got to his apartment, but they did speak with some of the neighbors and come to find out he was in a heated exchange the night before with a woman who they quickly learned was Sarah. So Melissa was actually given permission to take on the case, journalistically speaking, and she ended up talking to a lot of the neighbors about what happened.
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Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
There's a lot of factors that have contributed to it not being solved at this point. But a lot of people agree that it should have been solved at this point. And her family is so desperate for answers because it has been 13 years since she was killed. I wanted to cover this case today because it has really stalled over the years.
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Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And I guess they overheard John tell Sarah that she wasn't supposed to be there and it was clear he was super, super angry that she was. Apparently, Sarah even called him an asshole and the whole thing came across as very heated, which was obviously very interesting to them because not long after this heated argument, Sarah was dead.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
So it was super important that detectives spoke with him as soon as possible. So they ended up finding him at the auto body shop that he worked at and he agreed to come into the station for questioning. And his reaction to this whole thing came across as very strange and very cold. When they said that his girlfriend died, he was super matter-of-fact about it, didn't seem shocked or upset.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And he even said that he knew what this was all about and even suggested that maybe Sarah had taken her own life, which is... Really odd considering that at this point, they only had told him that she died in a fire. And when they asked him about their relationship and why she'd make a post like that, he explained in his opinion what the whole argument the night before was even about.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
It turns out that Mr. Batshit Crazy Boy had another girlfriend. Shocker. And apparently she was on her way over to his house that night as well. So he got angry with Sarah when she showed up because he didn't want the two of them to see each other. What's interesting, though, is that John mentioned that this other woman never ended up coming over, so no one could account for his alibi.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And detectives also found it interesting that he had these like cuts and scrapes on his knuckles. So they're seeing red flags right away. But he did explain that it was because he is a martial arts instructor. And not only that, he's actually a black belt. And honestly, they were pretty suspicious of this, but they did confirm that he was telling the truth, at least about being an instructor.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Of course, the cuts on his hands could have come from something else, but it wasn't something that anyone could prove. And he was an instructor. So they really couldn't prove anything at this point. But overall, investigators are thinking this looks really strange, and in their opinion, John's behavior wasn't helping the case, and I completely agree with them.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
I mean, he was acting very odd and, like I said earlier, very cold. And apparently, Sarah had emailed John when she got home after that fight, and their email exchange was also heated. And despite John saying that he had nothing else to hide, it turns out that he deleted everything. all of those emails, which is really unfortunate because we actually don't have access to those emails.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
We have no idea what they said, but we do have this. According to a search warrant affidavit, quote, she, Sarah, lamented that she listened to all of John's problems and based upon what he had told her, she could go away for 25 to life as an accessory due to her knowledge of his admissions of wrongdoing to her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
So basically, in her emails to him, she was saying that she could go to jail for whatever he has told her. And of course, I don't know what he told her and I don't know if she was threatening him or what, but I'd definitely be curious to know why he deleted them. And I'm sure there's a reason for that. But of course, he wouldn't say.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And so they tried pushing him, trying to get him to explain what these emails were all about, explain the whole situation and why he deleted them. And at that point, he went ahead and asked for an attorney, so they had to let him go. And that's definitely not to say that they took their eyes off him. Of course not. But they did expand who they were looking into.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And I know her family, especially her mother, is so desperate for answers. And she's now in her 90s. And I know it would be so important and so meaningful to her if she was able to get those answers in her life. And I want to start out this episode by saying that I am not completely confident in how to pronounce Sarah's last name. Sarah Greenhalgh is who we're going to be talking about today.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And Colin, the son of the property owner who I mentioned earlier, was someone that they actually considered. And I guess this was mainly because there were a few people in town who had mentioned that Colin or they thought that Colin had a crush on Sarah potentially. But after they interviewed him and also did a polygraph test, they ended up just ruling him out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
But what's made this case all so tricky was just the lack of evidence, lack of physical evidence and electronic evidence.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Search warrants were served on several electronic devices, but it doesn't sound like anything came out of it. At least not that we know of. So they had to pivot again and reconsider who else might want Sarah dead.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And that's when they began to wonder, and I'm sure a lot of you have already started thinking about this, but maybe it was someone related to one of the stories that she's done, one of her articles. You know, maybe she was working on something that pissed someone off or revealed something about them that they didn't want out there. And what do you know? One of her stories raised some red flags.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Sarah had been working on this piece about a man named Russell Ebersole, who was being accused of animal abuse. Now, this guy owned and operated a pet farm that she was digging into, and she had made some bold accusations against him. And given how small this town was, of course, a story like that could have completely ruined his business and his reputation. So as you can
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
imagine he was not thrilled and so i guess russell would call sarah after her articles went live and just completely berate her and at one point she even had mentioned to her co-workers not wanting him to have her personal address and that if she ever turned up dead that he should be on the list of suspects I mean, holy shit, right? This is a major discovery.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
So naturally, detectives wanted to dig in and see if they could potentially connect him to her murder. And they found out that Sarah was possibly going to testify against this man in the animal abuse case. And he had been suing in civil court for defamation. So obviously, when you know all of that information, it is screaming motive.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And detectives definitely felt the same way, but they actually ended up clearing him. It wasn't totally explained why, and I wish it was, because I'm very confused there, but yeah, the case kind of just stalled from there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Several weeks went by after this with no new leads, and everyone was sort of holding their breath, just hoping that something else would come up, a new discovery would be made, something else would happen, and... something did happen when they learned about John Kern's ex-wife. So now we're back to John.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And I'm not entirely sure if it's Greenhalgh or Greenhalgh. But I have heard her mother, I think she pronounced it as Greenhalgh. I have listened to her pronounce it over and over and over, and I'm pretty sure that she is saying Greenhalgh. So... Not entirely sure there because so many of her co-workers and friends and people who've worked on the case say Green Hall.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Her name is Debbie, and it turns out that there were court records with very serious allegations of domestic violence in their relationship. Melissa was actually the one who got a hold of the records, and once she told detectives about it, they were able to bring Debbie in. And listen to this, okay? So according to his ex-wife,
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
John was that type of guy, the type of person that we all know, right, who came across as the life of the party. And obviously, we know people that come across as the life of the party that are wonderful people all around. But John was one of those people who came across as charismatic and charming, and a lot of people really liked him, but that's not always who he was.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And over the course of their relationship, she saw more of him, and it spiraled into a very toxic and abusive situation. Now, they had separated almost exactly a year before Sarah was killed, and it was not smooth. Debbie managed to move into this townhouse to get away from him, and she thought this would make her safe.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
But at the end of that month, he ended up blowing up her phone with a series of super persistent creepy text messages. And they all came in minute after minute, I mean, just constant texts. And he was saying things like, I am not going to give up on you regardless of what you say. Just listen. I love you, Debbie, and no one else I will never love again. I will not stop pursuing you.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
I love you, Debbie, and I'm not going to give up. I love you, Debbie, and I'm going to tell everyone in this church today. So she finally decides to just respond to him and tells him to stop because it was all just too much. But then a few days later, he ends up calling her. And of course, she didn't answer because why would she?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
But 10 to 15 minutes later, she and her son, who was from her first marriage, heard a car door slam. So her son looks out the window and he sees that John is standing outside and then he starts walking towards the front door, which instantly made Debbie panic and call the police. And thankfully she did because he starts acting completely unhinged.
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Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Not only was he pounding on her front door and had punched out her doorbell, but he also stood in front of her window with a hunting knife on his belt screaming, you're dead. She says that the look in his eyes was pure terror and she instantly started screaming out that he was going to kill her and she was terrified.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Thankfully, though, by this point, police sirens could be heard approaching their house. And of course, when John heard that, he decided to leave. But before he did, he slashed her tires and knifed the side of her car before quickly getting into his own car and speeding off. And Debbie did end up filing an emergency protective order right after this incident, but of course, that did not stop John.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Before their first court hearing, he called her to let her know that he had burned all of her stuff. And truly, he did. He burned everything down to her wedding dress. And maybe that wasn't a memory that she even wanted to keep, but still, it just shows you the lengths that this guy was willing to go.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
So she knows that she needs to get as far away from John as possible, and thankfully her parents were able to get her out of the state just while the protective order was being finalized, which, by the way, of course made him even more angry. And it turns out two days after the order was served, he got into a road rage incident with a motorcyclist who cut him off.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Apparently, he got the motorcyclist to pull over and then he just started wailing on him, like beat the living shit out of him. And thankfully, he was arrested for assault. Now let's just stop for a second here and put ourselves in the shoes of the detectives on this case, okay?
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
They have a murdered woman who had some kind of relationship with this guy who has a detailed history of violence and at least one documented instance of arson. And then get this. So Debbie also told them that when she was married to John, he admitted to her that he had committed arson on buildings before and that he had tortured animals.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And so, of course, it makes sense why they thought of him as a person of interest. Now, I guess he was ordered to take anger management classes in October of 2011, so maybe you could say that he worked through those problems by July of 2012. Maybe. But in May of 2012, he stopped going to those classes.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
So I'll just put that out there that I just don't fully know. And I've really tried to figure it out. But Sarah was an awesome person. She was a very determined woman, a very independent woman and kind. She was an investigative journalist, actually, and a very outspoken one at that.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And not only was he not going and therefore not getting any help or making any improvement with his anger issues, but he also lied to his probation officer about not going. So a week after Sarah was killed, he was actually arrested and put in jail for like two weeks before he posted bail. And that wasn't his first time in jail that year.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
He had actually been sentenced to 90 days earlier that year in April for violating his protective order against Debbie and calling her 23 times in a row. Now, 86 of those days were suspended, so he was only locked up for four, but the dude was clearly on a downward spiral. And so with all of this considered, detectives felt, understandably, that it was plausible that he was somehow involved.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
I mean, you're looking at a man who is clearly prone to violence against women, but also has had violent episodes against men as well. And his life was going less than great. He has a history of arson. I don't know if things are starting to add up here. And again, of course, I have to be really clear, I'm not saying that he did it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
I don't know that he did and he's innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, of course. But I am saying that detectives have had to factor all of this information into what they think happened. And I'm not really sure where their heads are at. I'm not sure what else...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
they have on him or what other information they know that hasn't been released and clearly they don't think there is enough evidence at the end of the day to make an arrest but many people disagree with that now as for his ex-wife debbie and what she thinks all of this has truly devastated for her. And my heart truly goes out to her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
One thing that she has brought up is that she sees a lot of resemblance between herself and Sarah. And I totally see that as well. I mean, just look at the two of them. And she has expressed feeling responsible if her ex was the one who did this. And I can totally understand why she feels that way.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
But I don't know if she'll ever see this, but Debbie, you are in no way responsible for what happened to Sarah. Just not at all. But carrying that type of pain and having those feelings are valid feelings to have. I just wish that you didn't have to deal with that at all because this is in no way your fault in any way, shape, or form.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And I'm just sorry that you have to deal with those types of thoughts. That's really horrible. And I think my whole audience will agree that this is in no way your responsibility.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
So she really had no problem getting up in other people's business, getting to the truth of things, even if it meant, you know, being in some difficult situations. So when she was found murdered, detectives wondered if maybe her work had led to that, that maybe along the way on some piece she was working with, she angered someone or someone didn't want.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
So going forward in time here, over the months and years that followed, John has sat down for multiple interviews during which he has adamantly denied being involved. He did agree to give them access to his social media, but could never explain why their communications had been deleted. And yeah, of course, once he lawyered up, there was a lot less that they could ask him.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And some of these interviews did get pretty accusatory, but without more direct evidence. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like they are willing to risk prosecuting him, which, you know, makes a lot of sense. It is something that you want to be very sure of oftentimes. Well, really often. You always only get one shot at it. So you want to make sure you really have your facts straight.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And right now, unfortunately, everything they have is just too circumstantial. John has since spoken out and said that this accusation and cloud of suspicion has hurt him greatly. And he waits for the day that he gets the call that someone else was arrested so he can say, I told you so. And he continues to say that they were only friends and that he has been wrongly targeted by this investigation.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Apparently, there have been three polygraph tests, which he himself has said he was told he failed. But since he hasn't actually seen these tests for himself, he claims that law enforcement is lying about it. Either way, though, I'm sure you all know that lie detector tests, polygraph tests are not admissible in court anyway.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And yeah, if I'm being honest, I definitely have a lot of suspicions towards John. I think there's a lot that just can't be explained in a... Just so many concerning patterns of behavior. But yeah, at the end of the day, there is not enough evidence to point to him as Sarah's killer, which is really, really frustrating.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And now years and years have passed and the hope that her killer will be arrested and that their family will get justice has diminished. started to feel like it's fading. Her mom is now in her mid-90s. Oh, my heart breaks for her. She seems like such a sweet woman. And I can't imagine dealing with this type of pain and uncertainty in your 90s.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
But she says that she hopes that she'll know the truth in her lifetime. And I desperately hope so, too. I really hope that she gets... Those answers that she so desperately just needs. She was featured in an interview in 2017 where she said that she often thinks of everything she could have done differently to prevent this.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And of course, as a mother, I think that's a very common thought process to have. I mean, at the end of the day, you always just feel, I think, responsible for your child in some way in most cases. But I hope deep down that she knows that none of this is her fault, just the way that none of this is Debbie's fault.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
It really breaks my heart to still see her at this age, and it seems like she still blames herself at least partially. She says there's hardly an hour that goes by where she isn't thinking about her daughter, and she believes that Sarah would be disappointed that nobody seems to be doing anything, even though law enforcement does claim that the case is still active and open.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
The FBI did join the investigation early on, which was promising, but sadly there isn't much to show for it. Several search warrants have been executed, one of which was to obtain John's fingerprints, but if anything came of it, we just don't know.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Sarah's mom was able to salvage some of her daughter's things from the fire, including some clothing items, which she actually wears to feel close to her and... God, that just breaks my heart. And thankfully, Sarah's camera, which obviously was like a part of her in a lot of ways, did survive the fire. And I know that that's something her loved ones are incredibly grateful for.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And I'm so glad that they have that. And to give you a sense of how big of an impact her death made, there were over 300 people who gathered at Trinity Episcopal Church, which is where she was later laid to rest. A handful of people spoke, talking about Sarah's smile, her sass, her pursuit of the truth, her grit, her fearlessness, and everything that she did.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Something coming out about them that maybe was a potential story she was working on. So that was a big question. But then they also were wondering if maybe this could have been done by someone who she referred to as that shit crazy boy. Although I will say it's possible that maybe it had to do with neither of those things.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
This took place on July 20th of 2012, and at that time, her friends and family asked her fellow community of journalists to never give up on her story. and many of them still haven't to this day. Melissa still keeps up the notes that she took looking into Sarah's case in the event that this one day goes to trial.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And on her birthday in 2013, her friends, her family, and her co-workers gathered to share stories and memories about the ever-outspoken Sarah, whose death has changed all of their lives forever. I guess that she was someone that thought of her birthday as sort of a national holiday, and I love that about her.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
So it was really important to everyone that they celebrated her birthday the way that she would have wanted to. And while it's almost been 13 years since her murder, her legacy really has never been forgotten, and I don't think her...
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
loved ones her co-workers friends family will ever let her legacy be forgotten sarah really lived her life by the saying carpe diem it was actually her license plate and although her life was taken at just 48 years old i'd like to believe she seized as many days as she could and it certainly seemed that way from what i've been able to learn about her
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And also the fact that she held the truth in such high regard is very admirable. And she, you know, fought for the truth in her work. And that gives me a lot of hope that maybe karmically the truth will be revealed in her case. And that maybe one day she and all of her loved ones can finally get the justice that they all deserve.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And lastly, of course, if you happen to have any information on her murder, even if it's something that may seem small to you, please contact the Fauquier County Sheriff's Office at 540-347-3300. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And that's what's so frustrating about cases like this is we truly don't know. But I'm especially interested to hear all of your thoughts on this case and whether you think at this point in time there's enough to potentially make an arrest. And as a reminder, in cases like this, of course, I always need to say that everyone I speak about today is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
So Sarah Libby Greenhalgh was born in Potomac, Maryland, on March 21st, 1964, to her parents, Sarah and William. And she also had one sister named Kate. And when they were young, their family ended up moving to a horse farm in Poolsville, Maryland, which was about 15 miles northwest.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Now, I'm sure they had a lot of reasons for moving, but I think one of the main reasons had to do with horses, actually. And I don't know if it's still like this, but back when Sarah was younger, this was an area where a lot of people were riding horses and they would have barns right there in their backyard. And Sarah absolutely loved horses.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
I mean, she loved all animals, to be clear, but there was something about a horse that she especially connected with. And as she got older, she made sure to keep horses as a central part of her life. And if horses were her number one passion, then photography was a close second. And man, was she good at it.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
When she was pretty young, her grandma actually gave her a Brownie camera, which I had never heard of, but it's like a simple, easy to use camera for kids at the time. And aside from when she was riding, you could almost always find her with a camera in her hands, or at least doing something independently. Thank you so much for watching.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
This baby monitor allows you to see your baby from anywhere, anytime. I can see her napping while I'm at work. If I'm ever traveling and she's staying at my parents' house, I can see her. And the high-def camera means you can actually see your baby. No more grainy images where you can't actually see what's going on. And with the camera quality, the Nanit monitor captures every moment.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Not only did we know our baby was safe and sound, but we also never missed milestones. And we even got some of her first words on video forever.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
There's so many moments that I've captured of either myself after I've left her room and I know it was a sweet moment and so I go back and download it or moments where I'm watching my husband interact with our daughter and I actually have an album in my phone of just Nanit screenshots and video clips. Nanit also allows you to track your baby's breathing.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Oh my gosh, this was so huge for us and also gives you so much insight into their sleep and development. It allows you to track their sleep patterns and provides you with personalized insights to understand your baby like never before and it's all on your Nanit app. This adds up to more sleep for your baby and more rest for you. The Nanit Baby Monitor is changing parenthood for the better.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
It's really the one baby item that I couldn't live without. And of course, we have a special offer just for our listeners. You can get 20% off your first order with code BABY20. That's code B-A-B-Y 20 at Nanit.com now. N-A-N-I-T.com. Nanit. Parenthood looks different here. As I said earlier in the episode, Sarah was just a really independent person.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And even from a young age, she liked to do things alone, had no problem doing that. I mean, no fear when it came to approaching things independently. And when I say that, I really mean it. Sarah was very brave at a young age, certainly much braver than I was. When she was only 12 years old, you guys, she actually took a trip by herself across the world to Africa.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
How many 12-year-olds do you know that would be up for doing that or could handle it? But Sarah literally did that. At just 12 years old, she flew alone to Nairobi to visit a friend whose family lived there. And that was really just the beginning of all the travel that she did in her life.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
One of the things that I thought was especially cool was the fact that she attended an all-girls college preparatory school called Oldfields in Glencoe, Maryland. which is known for not only having a strong academic program, but also having a great equestrian program as well. And even though it was certainly pricey, Sarah did come from a family that was able to send her there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Her dad, who sadly passed away in 1994, was at one point an attorney as well as the associate dean of Georgetown University's law school, which I mention because it's believed that Sarah got her passion for the truth from her father. Now, after she left Oldfield, she went to Columbia University to study journalism, and from there, she moved back to the D.C.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
area, where she began working as a journalist and photographer for several local newspapers. Which I just have to say, I mean, I'm definitely not an expert in photography, but from what I've seen of her work, she was an incredibly talented photographer, and it makes sense why she, you know, did so well in that field and earned all these awards for her photography.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
She seemed to have a super, like, keen eye for detail, and that's something that really worked well for her in both aspects of her career. I wasn't able to find this elsewhere, but the Prince William's Times reported that her pictures were once featured in Time magazine, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Fortune magazine. So very, very impressive career.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And then as far as her journalism, she worked for several different publications, including but not limited to freelancing for The Washington Post, The Chronicle of the Horse, as well as working for the Winchester Star. And in 2012, the Winchester Star was the job that she was currently working. She wrote about everything from sports and horses to entertainment and government.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And if one thing is for sure, it's that Sarah was a force to be reckoned with. I mean, really out of everything that I learned about her, what I thought was so special about Sarah was her passion for the truth and her passion for getting a story out there. And that's just kind of what I kept coming back to.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Basically, if Sarah needed to get to the bottom of something for something she was working on, watch out because she was going to do it. She did not mince words and was plenty fine making a few enemies along the way, so long as it meant that she told the story that she needed to tell.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And I think it's qualities like that that really sets journalists apart from the rest, that really makes for that fantastic journalism. But of course, it is a kind of personality trait that you either loved about someone and respected or disliked.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
maybe a little bit feared and whether people liked this about her or not there was just no denying at the end of the day how people for the most part saw her as a really good and loyal person and i genuinely believe she was those things from what i know about her and that goes for both her work and her friendships sarah to me strikes me as someone that you would want in your corner that you would want as your friend because she would have your back no matter what but
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
But of course, if you were on the other end of a story, she wasn't afraid to get up in your grill and ask those hard questions, even if they were uncomfortable. And again, I think most people would agree that that is what makes someone an exceptional journalist. And to be clear, she wasn't mean or rude about the way that she did things.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
She was just very direct and a little bit, I'd say, intense, which I think made her really good at what she did. Some of her friends from work say that she was the type of person who fought to have her work on the front page, too. She really seemed to be her own best advocate.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And in July of 2012, she was on the front page, but not for a reason that anyone would have wanted or could have predicted. And let me go ahead now and provide some more context so that this all makes sense. So in 2012, Sarah was 48 years old and she lived by herself in a one bedroom cottage in Upperville, which is in Northern Virginia.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And her place was sort of like a second home on this large property. And the people that she rented from lived just up the road in the main house on the property. And as for Upperville, it isn't very big and it's also not very busy, especially in terms of crime. So on July 9th of that year, when everything happened, it was more than shocking.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
It started at about 8.08 a.m., when an off-duty firefighter called 911 after seeing smoke rising from a house which we know belonged to Sarah. By 8.22 a.m., a fire crew had arrived on scene and were successful in putting the fire out, but the damage was extensive, to say the least. The structure of the house was still standing, but the inside was pretty much just torched.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
However, that was the least of everyone's concerns. What they were really concerned about was the fact that a woman's body was found in the bedroom and she had obvious gunshot wounds, indicating that she didn't die from this fire.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And at first, of course, they had no idea who this woman was, but when they ran the plates on the car parked outside, they learned that it belonged to Sarah and that this woman was Sarah. The upper part of her torso had been covered in debris and there was a 9mm handgun placed not far from her body.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And there were also several bullet holes in the walls and door, as well as 12 bullet casings on the floor around her, suggesting that there had been some type of struggle for the weapon. And an autopsy would later reveal that Sarah died as a result of a gunshot wound to her neck, and her manner of death was, in fact, homicide.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Now, there was a lot of progress in the case on that first day, the 9th, and obviously the first thing to happen was alerting her friends and family. And to say that they were shocked would be a massive understatement. In fact, her co-workers were in the newsroom when they were told.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And they actually found out from the newest reporter who came into the room and asked if anyone knew who Sarah was. And at first, everyone sort of lit up like, yeah, of course we know who Sarah is. I mean, people loved her. But that's when he broke the news. And right off the bat, nobody could wrap their minds around how something like this could happen, especially to Sarah.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
And as for her mom finding out, she was actually on the phone when a friend of hers ran into the house and told her what happened. And She couldn't even begin to fathom that this was real. And maybe she could have wrapped her mind around it a bit more if it was just an accidental house fire and she was trapped. But murder? She didn't even think that was possible.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
I mean, she had no idea that anyone would want her daughter dead. She just couldn't even believe that this was what she was hearing. But that is what happened. And as I'm sure you are already putting together, there was nothing accidental about this fire.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
They not only found poor patterns in the house to indicate that someone had poured an accelerant, but they legitimately found a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid 15 feet inside the door. And clearly, whoever set this fire knew exactly what they were doing when they did so because there was little to no other evidence collected at the scene.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
Even the gun and the shell casings came back with no trace evidence. And that being said, the detectives luckily were able to find some clues elsewhere.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
One of the things that they looked at first was Sarah's car. And what was weird was they noticed that there were some bamboo leaves that were stuck in the trunk of the car, like someone had put the trunk down and the leaves got caught in the door. And this was all strange for a few reasons. For starters, Sarah normally did not park her car there.
True Crime with Kendall Rae
Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?
The son of the property owner, a guy named Colin, came home that morning and he told police that that wasn't somewhere that she normally parked. And then when they opened her trunk, they found all of her personal belongings. I'm talking her phone, her wallet, her laptop, all of those kinds of things.