Serialously with Annie Elise
239: Casey Anthony 2.0, Parents Force Teen To Be Little Forever, Ellen Greenberg FINALLY Overturned, Cult Moms Lawsuit, & BF Murdered Over Dissing GF
Thu, 06 Feb 2025
Today’s episode dives into everything happening this week in true crime with @_annieelise. From new cases to updates on existing ones and more. Ellen Greenberg: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164?i=1000666611267 Megan Boswell: Exposing The Evil Truth of The Megan Boswell Case: The Disturbing New Details https://youtu.be/KJGllLu1q_w Join our True Crime Club for access to BTS, Bonus Content, Our Private Group Chat, Giveaways and More! Shop Our True Crime Merch Follow the podcast on: IG, Facebook and TikTok For Business Inquiries: [email protected] About Annie Today’s Sponsors: RoBody: Visit https://ro.co/ae to see if you qualify today! Smalls: Head to https://smalls.com and use promo code AE at checkout for 50% off your first order PLUS free shipping! Episode Sources: People.com Times of India ABC News CBS News USA Today NBC News
Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serial Asleep. Hey everybody, welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise. And today it is headline highlights. You know what time it is. It is headline highlights, which means we have a lot to talk about.
And if you're watching the video version of this, you probably can see that my desk right now is complete chaos. I have my laptop, my iPad, I have written notes, paper notes, printouts, because that is how much stuff we are going over today.
There's a lot of new cases, but there are also a lot of amazing updates in some existing cases that we've talked about and some really good news in one of them that I'm just so beyond excited to share with you. Now, if you're like, okay, who is this chick? What the heck is she talking about?
If you're a new listener here, you've never listened to the podcast, or you're just getting familiar with it, let me break it down for you. On my podcast, Serialistly, we do a deep dive every single Monday where I dive into one specific case, you know, I go to the depths of hell researching it, find out all the nitty gritty information you need to know, and then we talk about it.
But then on Thursdays, we do headline highlights, which is, hello, what we are here doing today. And in this episode, this is where we talk about everything that's happening right now this week in true crime. new cases, existing cases with updates, old cases that we need to revisit. Anything that's going on in the week, we're talking about it on Thursdays.
And if you're watching this on YouTube, then you know you're watching it on Fridays because there's unfortunately a delay because YouTube loves to just be like a thorn in my side and not approve things right away. So it gets released on Fridays over there. But you can always listen to it a day early on the podcast for free wherever you get your podcasts.
So now that I've kind of gotten all, you know, the admin out of the way, I want to jump right in. And I also want to give a quick note, little disclaimer. I have been getting a lot of feedback, not a lot, but a fair amount of feedback that despite me trying to slow down, I'm a fast talker by nature, that I'm still going a little bit too fast.
I've had some people even say, I feel like I'm on double speed. I need to slow it down. So I'm really trying to make a concerted effort to like slow it down, pull it back, talk at a more reasonable pace. So I'm going to try my best, but I'm a work in progress. Okay, guys, I am a work in progress. I'm doing my best. So let me talk to you about the headlines we're going over today.
First, we're going to be talking about a case that I thought was not real. I thought it was AI. I thought that there's no possible way this could be reality. because it's about these two parents who literally starved and isolated their daughter for years, all to keep her looking like a little girl forever, like the perfect little ballerina.
It's honestly disgusting and vile, so we're going to talk about all of that. We also are going to talk about a woman who apparently killed her boyfriend over in Colorado, all because he didn't have faith in her that she would be able to get a job. So because of that, she retaliated and was like, I'll show you. I'm, you know, I can get a job and I can kill you.
I mean, I'm not trying to make light of it, but it's a wild story. There also have been updates in the Ruby Frankie and Jodi Hildebrandt case, which we talked about this a few weeks ago. We also have done many, many deep dives on the podcast and on my YouTube channel about this case. But there's a new lawsuit that has been pulled into the play here, so we're going to talk about that.
And I think that I might actually do a new, updated, fresh deep dive on them. The last deep dive I did was about a year ago, and it ended up being three hours long, which I don't think it needs to be that long. I think I can probably...
trim it back a bit but I think we're going to do another deep dive because there have been updates in the last year and so you know me I like to just like rather than have all these piecemeal episodes that you have to listen to to be fully caught up I like every now and then just doing a fresh full episode where it's like you have all the information from start to finish if you're not familiar with the case so
I think I'm going to do that. Stay tuned. Another case that we're talking about today that I have talked with you about ad nauseum on this channel because it is literally ripped from the headlines, Casey Anthony 2.0 is Megan Boswell. Now, I think we first started talking about Megan back in 2020, maybe 2021, but I really think it was 2020. She is the...
fucking sorry, excuse my French, worst human being on the planet, in my opinion. Actually, sorry, I'm going to rant a lot today. I take that back. I just watched the new OJ Netflix series, and I wasn't going to because I feel like I know everything there is to know about the OJ case, but I watched it. I highly, highly recommend it to anybody who even thinks they know the OJ case.
There were so many details that I either...
forgot about that I didn't know about that were like new things that just have surfaced and I think he's the worst person on the planet I always talk about how the reason I got into true crime and my most hated person ever is Casey Anthony I think it is OJ Simpson now I truly do think and I never would have thought that I would have have switched gears like that I always knew he was like you know a murderer most likely but like when you see a
the evidence that was not presented in the trial, when you see how he acted in some of his depositions, it's just, it's giving disgusting.
So, sorry, that's not at all what I meant to talk about right now, but Megan Boswell is a close second because she's a woman who was charged, not even a woman, not a girl, but like a young woman, who was charged with killing her 15-month-old daughter, Evelyn, and her trial is now starting, and the details of this case,
massive trigger warning guys it is grotesque and then we're gonna wrap up with some very very happy news that literally just it makes me so happy that I could I honestly am like moved to tears because we've also talked a lot about the Ellen Greenberg case and if you guys have not been familiar with that case you need to get caught up I will link the full episode in this but there has been a major breakthrough and
As a reminder, or for those of you who don't know, Ellen was stabbed over 20 times to like the front of her body and the back of her head. Yet, despite all of that, it was ruled as a suicide. And it made absolutely no sense. Nobody thought that it made sense. It was initially ruled a homicide, but then it was changed to a suicide.
There were also, don't get me started, tons of red flags about the entire situation. She had the lunch that she had fully prepared right there on the counter in the kitchen. We actually spoke with her parents on the most recent episode that we did, which, again, I will link.
And there were so many things that just did not add up to where not only just the evidence and somebody stabbing themselves 20 times and in the back of the head, but also... the door being broken down, her fiance, who, in my opinion, acted a little strangely and had some very interesting connections with people in powerful positions.
So we're going to talk about that because there has been a major new update in that case, literally after 14 years of her parents fighting. It's just unbelievable. But let's start with some parents who are dirtbag humans, okay? And this is the story about the parents who literally starved their ballerina daughter so that they could keep her a little girl forever.
So this story is truly just an insane one and really upsetting to hear, but a mother and a father from Australia were recently found guilty of starving their daughter to keep her looking like a child. The names of the 47-year-old parents along with their daughter have not been released because this girl was a minor when all of this happened.
But when you hear about how all of this played out, it truly is devastating. The daughter is now 20 years old, but people really began to worry about her all the way back in 2016. Authorities began to look into the family after they had been tipped off about just how sickly this little girl looked. I mean, just to level set, when she was 16 years old, she weighed 60 pounds. 6'0".
She weighed 60 pounds at 16 years old. My 5-year-old son weighs 47 pounds, okay? It is appalling. Now, this poor girl, she was so frail and so tiny that when she was taken away from her parents by the authorities, she had to go and be checked into a hospital and be put on a feeding tube just so that she could begin recovering.
She was put on that feeding tube for five days, and then she finally was put on a new meal plan, just really trying to bring this emaciated girl back to life almost. Now, the parents also spoke to her, dressed her, and treated her as though she was a preschooler, well into her teenage years as well.
Her dad also admitted to forging her birth certificate over the years, all to make people think that she was younger than she really was. Which it truly is just insane. They were literally doing everything that they could do to keep her a toddler forever. And I will say, I understand that in certain professions or... As an athlete or a dancer or an actress, you age out at a certain point.
So some people will lie about their age or they may try to look younger or dress younger or now with AI do creepy, crazy things to look younger. But this takes this to a diabolical level in my opinion.
You are basically doing the opposite of that movie Orphan where it's like this little psychotic girl trying to play kid forever and you're trying to make your 16-year-old daughter look like a toddler. It is unbelievable. In addition to all the ways they dressed her, treated her, starved her, all of those things, they also homeschooled her and kept her as isolated as they possibly could.
Other than her ballet classes, she was basically just held hostage by her parents. Now, she, of course, thought that this was all completely normal, which is probably one of the most heartbreaking and devastating details of it all. She had no idea that this was not how parents were supposed to treat their children. She thought that this was normal behavior. She thought that her parents loved her.
And when you really break it down, it was just this very twisted obsession. So over the years, her condition, it just got worse and worse. And when people did see her, they were shocked because they would see how frail she was, how yellow her skin was. that she basically just looked like a skeleton.
Doctors warned the parents that their daughter was very unhealthy and that so much so she was even at risk of death. However, the parents, they just brushed off the comments and they ignored any and all medical advice. The parents also continuously lied to doctors, to other parents, to dance teachers. Anytime somebody would come with a concern about their daughter, they would just lie to them.
Say, no, no, no, everything's fine. You know, everything's okay. We're treating her well. Nothing to worry about. The ballet teachers eventually ended up reaching out to the police because they saw how truly bad the daughter's condition was getting.
And I mean, thank God somebody finally spoke up about this little girl, but I can't even imagine being starved and kept on this strict diet for 16 years. This girl was never allowed to have a normal childhood, and she definitely never was allowed to just simply grow up. And what's so sad is, again, that this girl thought this was just completely normal.
The daughter even attended her parents' trial, and she showed her love and support for them. She even wrote a statement that said that she didn't believe that she had been wronged in any type of way. She started sobbing when her parents were eventually found guilty by the jury, too. Which, how horrible is that?
It's almost as though this girl, whether you call it brainwashing, Stockholm Syndrome, both, she truly thought her parents loved her. They were treating her well. They had her best interest at heart. So much so that even after a judge and jury find them guilty and say, no, no, no, they did not treat you right. They were in the wrong. She still is hysterically crying, saying, no, they loved me.
I don't think that I have been wronged in any way. It just goes to show the mental toll that all of this took on her as well, when you even just step aside from the physical toll and emotional toll and all of those things. So on January 31st of 2024, her father was sentenced to six and a half years in jail. The mom was sentenced to five years in jail.
The whole trial, the parents denied everything, saying that they absolutely did love their daughter, that their daughter was, quote, to them, perfect in every way. But I just can't even wrap my head around the whole thing. Defense attorneys of the parents also said that this happened because the whole family has OCD.
But how can that cause parents to literally starve their child and keep her completely isolated from the real world for the majority of her entire life? And now this 20-year-old woman must learn to just completely change her life and cope with the outcome and what she's now having to realize.
She has to learn to be healthy, to be by herself, to understand what she truly went through and endured during her childhood. I just cannot even imagine what she's going to go through and what that is.
realization must be and how devastating that must be and of course you add in the layer that now she's a 20 year old woman without her support system that she's known her whole life or been isolated to I should say her whole life She's alone, trying to figure out the world, trying to figure out how to live, and her parents are the ones who put her in that position. It's inexcusable.
Now, moving into this next case about a woman who kills her boyfriend all because he doubted that she could get a job, okay? This next case is pretty intense, and let's just say it's also a very bizarre lover's quarrel, and it unfortunately ended in murder. So Ashley White, a 29-year-old Colorado woman, has just been found guilty of murdering her 28-year-old boyfriend, Cody.
She murdered him back in 2020, and apparently she also had a complete stranger help her do it. She enlisted this stranger to help her. So why did she kill her boyfriend? Well, Ashley and Cody were apparently known to have a pretty toxic relationship. However, the root of a lot of their fights was because Ashley just could not seem to hold down a steady job.
So in the months before Cody's death, he apparently made his opinions about Ashley known. He would criticize her a lot. He would say how he thought that she would never get a steady job, that she was kind of a deadbeat. And their fights would just escalate more and more.
And at one point, Ashley got so mad at Cody that she tried to drown and burn his cat, which we all say that if there is somebody hurting animals, that is like a telltale sign of like what's to come, right? What's going to, what that behavior will eventually escalate into most likely.
The fact that she got so pissed off at her boyfriend when they were having an argument that she grabbed his cat, tried to drown it, and then burn it, What's the movie? Is it single white female? No. What's the one with the bunny in the pot? I don't even know. But psychotic. Truly psychotic. Now Ashley also kept a diary.
And we know that diaries sometimes will be the key to unfolding and unraveling everything there is to know about somebody's inner thoughts. And in this diary, she documented how angry Cody made her. The journal entries went on and on about her resentment towards Cody, and she even wrote she wished she had never met him.
So fast forward, after all these fightings, all this toxic stuff going back and forth, and in August of 2020, Ashley had a job interview. And she was sure this was going to be the job. This was going to be the one that she was going to get. So after the interview, she took the bus home and she texted Cody. She said, here's how the interview went. I'm really excited about it.
I think this is going to be the one. But Cody responded by telling her he doubted that she would get the job. And as you can imagine, this definitely pissed Ashley off. So while on this bus ride home, Ashley ended up meeting a man who introduced himself to her as Scott.
The two of them struck up a conversation, but it wasn't just any ordinary, you know, casual bus conversation of, oh, where are you going? Oh, you had a job interview? How'd it go? It was way more sinister than that. because Ashley started confiding in her newfound friend Scott all about Cody's abusive behavior.
Scott then took it a step further, and he actually asked Ashley, which is so bizarre to me because she was a stranger, but maybe he was, you know, trying to be a good guy. I don't know. But he asked her if her boyfriend had ever raped her. and Ashley alleged that Cody had, in fact, sexually assaulted her.
So after hearing this, Scott felt like he needed to be, you know, the knight in shining armor or whatever, and he and Ashley hatched a plan to murder Cody.
Which is so crazy to me because never in my life have I jumped on a bus or a subway car or any, or in an Uber for that matter, and thought, you know, out of all these conversations that I'm going to strike up because I'm a personal person, it's going to end up in hatching a murder plot. Like, How crazy is that, right? How does it even come up?
It's just, it's clearly so impulsive, so in the moment, and why did he feel like he needed to be enlisted in this? And why did he offer up to, like, help her? Did he feel like he truly was saving her or rescuing her? It's bizarre. So anyways, Ashley and Scott hop off the bus with this murder plan of theirs that they have hatched, and they walk back to Ashley's house where she and Cody lived.
And while they were walking, they got to know each other even more. They even stopped at one point to practice shooting Scott's gun. When they finally arrived at Ashley and Cody's home, Scott introduced himself to Cody as Ashley's brother from Texas, saying, hey, it's so nice to meet you, you know, I've heard so much about you.
But then shortly after that, they shot Cody twice in the head, killing him. Now, the police haven't explicitly said which one of them shot Cody, but the next day, the police discovered Cody's body while they were performing a welfare check. Ashley and Scott, on the other hand, they stole Cody's wallet and they spent the next few days together in the area. But then Scott ditched.
He dipped out and left. And Ashley never saw him again. Which, that's so crazy to me too. It's like, you feel like you care about this girl so much. This stranger that you just met. So much so that you're going to commit murder for her or help her commit a murder. You go to all these lengths. You steal the wallet.
You guys are like out, you know, Bonnie and Clyde for the next few days doing whatever you're doing. I don't know if they were hooking up or what was going on. But then he just ditches her and ghosts her.
which I will say probably was for the best, but obviously there was some sort of connection or reasoning for wanting to help her with something so drastic and so final like murder, and then you're just gonna like peace out? I don't know. It's bizarre. So all in all, it definitely didn't take long for the police to look at Ashley as a suspect.
Investigators interrogated Ashley, and immediately after questioning her, she ended up being arrested and charged with Cody's murder. It was then announced just this past week that she was found guilty of second-degree murder. This was after three weeks of trial. Her sentencing is set to take place on April 4th, and she's facing a maximum sentence of 48 years.
Now, as for Scott, this mysterious Scott guy, he seemed to just disappear from the murder entirely, right? Well, actually, in 2023, an anonymous woman came forward to the police saying that she had a boyfriend named Michael Stratton. She said that Michael confessed to her that he was this alleged Scott character that was involved in Cody's murder.
So police said that the description that this anonymous woman gave to them was, in fact, almost identical to Ashley's story of what happened on the day of Cody's murder, too. So because of that, it must have been him. However, what's interesting is Scott had actually been arrested for another murder after Cody's death. So when this woman called the police, he was already in custody.
Scott has not officially been charged with anything in relation to Cody's murder so far. It's kind of unclear what's going to happen with him there, if anything, but we do know that he is still in custody for this other murder that he allegedly is involved with. So again, all very twisted, very mysterious. I will follow it closely and update you when I know more. Now let's move into the next case.
And we are talking about two of the most diabolical, selfish, narcissistic cult leaders, in my opinion, that we have encountered in the last decade. Even more so, I think. Hmm. Actually, do I want to say more than Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell? Maybe a close tie. Maybe a close tie. Because we're going to be talking about Jodi Hildebrandt and Ruby Frankie.
And if you know me, you know that I loathe these women so, so much. Okay, so the Jodi Hildebrandt and Ruby Frankie rabbit hole, it just keeps going and going and going. And if you've been following along with this entire saga, it has been almost a year since Jodi and Ruby were sent to prison. But now, a brand new lawsuit has been filed.
So just to recap, and again, a new fresh deep dive, it is a coming, but you can always go back to the previous one. But to give you a recap, Ruby Frankie was a YouTube family vlogger, and her YouTube channel was called 8 Passengers. She had millions of subscribers, made tons of money, and...
advertised you know the traditional family vlogging all of her kids she would expose their most personal and private moments she would exploit them in my opinion it was disgusting and she ended up being convicted of hurting her children and she pled guilty to four counts of the abuse against her children which she ended up receiving four one to 15 year consecutive prison sentences for that and so did Jodi Hildebrandt Ruby's quote business partner mentor lover and
She was also involved in hurting the children, so much so that one of the children who escaped had escaped from Jodi's house. So she also had pleaded guilty to the same charges and got that same sentence as Ruby. So they're both right now in jail writing out their time.
Now some of the things that Ruby and Jodi would do to Ruby's kids were forcing them to do manual labor, work outside without shoes on,
stand outside in the sun for days at a time I think one child was even forced to jump into a cactus bush she would they would deny them food and water and then as we saw and as it escalated they even eventually started restraining them tying them up I mean the list it just goes on and on
So this new lawsuit has to do with Jodi and her business, and I'm saying business very, very loosely, air quotes and all, but her business called Connections Classroom. So this was like an online coaching platform, and Jodi was the head counselor. All of Jodi's podcasts and teachings pretty much are centered around what they describe empowering parents and children to live in truth.
Which, when you break it down, I'm not even sure what that means, but like I always compare it to, Scientology. If somebody says you need to live in truth or you are a distorted being or, you know, you need to get to your most elevated self, cult, cult, cult, cult, cult, cult, cult, run, run, run, and definitely do not give them a single dollar of yours. Again, just my opinion.
Sorry for anybody who's a Scientologist listening, but that's just my vibe. It feels like cult. So this lawsuit was filed by a former client of Jodi's named Michael Tillman, and it says that Jodi used her platform to, one, cheat people out of money, and two, totally sabotage their families and relationships.
Michael said that Connections is a total scam, which, hello, no surprise, but he said it's all made to look like family counseling under the guise of that when really it's like about extortion, about pitting family members against each other, and really, in essence, just about having total control.
So Michael said that he believes that Jodi and Ruby lured people in under the guise of receiving therapy, then seemingly took their money and made them become a part of their crazy cult. And it's not entirely that surprising given what Ruby and Jodi are in prison for, right? So the lawsuit is 150 pages long and Michael is seeking almost $5 million in damages.
The lawsuit alleges that Jodi brought people like Ruby into her connection circle and that she would then rely on these people to carry out all of her different therapy techniques, while also, of course, like a pyramid scheme, recruiting new members in. Then once people were roped in, Jodi and her workers would offer them therapy classes or different sessions for like astronomical prices.
And it would always work because Jodi and Ruby would just prey on people in the most vulnerable positions or people who were desperately seeking for help with different mental health issues, different emotional health issues, leaning on religion a lot because they were LDS.
And she would then use this to try to convince her clients to take it a step further, separate from their spouse, really empower what she calls empower, not me, their children by hurting them.
torturing them manipulating them holding things away from them and she would kind of similar again to Scientology you know how what's the word if Scientologists say you um you have a family member or a friend who doesn't agree with you or that is living you know in a in distortion what do they call that oh a suppressed person so similar to that Jodi would say anybody who falls outside of these walls or these lines they are not living in truth
So because of that you have to break ties with them you cannot be associated with them which once more let me just say if it is a real religion if it is a real group that is focused on bettering somebody and improving quality of life they will never try to isolate you from family they will never try to isolate you from friends.
Groups like that, like 7M, Scientology, Twin Flames, Connections, people who try to isolate you, it's because they want ultimate control over you. They want to brainwash you. They want to manipulate you. So I could go on and on about cults forever, but the reason I bring that up is I just want to stress to anybody who's listening, if somebody is ever trying to isolate you from your loved ones,
for a reason other than these loved ones actually physically hurting you for whatever reason, do not listen. I mean, take it with a grain of salt, err on the side of caution because this is their tactic because then you isolate yourself and paint yourself into a corner so much that it feels as though you have nobody else you can rely on but these other members of this organization.
And that's when you just start getting deeper and deeper and deeper, just like NXIVM2. I mean, again, I could go on and on. So this is what is alleged in the lawsuit. I know I went off on a tangent. I apologize. But he says they would, you know, isolate people, then they would prey on them, they would make them pay insane amount of money for treatment, all of these things.
And it also clearly worked on Ruby, right? I mean, she's a prime example of
So at Ruby's sentencing, she fully said that she was manipulated to follow Jodi's guidance, and she said that she was wrong to hurt her children, which, if you haven't already heard her statement, I'm gonna play it right here because, while she acts remorseful, a lot of people, myself included, have brought into question the authenticity, and if she's truly being genuine in this, it just sounds a little bit performative.
But you take a listen and let me know what you think.
For the past four years, I've chosen to follow counsel and guidance that has led me into a dark delusion. My distorted version of reality went largely unchecked as I would isolate from anyone who challenged me. I was led to believe that this world was an evil place filled with cops who control, hospitals that injure, government agencies that brainwash, church leaders who lie and lust, husbands who
refuse to protect, and children who need abused. My choice to believe and behave this paranoia culminated into criminal activity for which I stand before you today ready to take accountability.
So the lawsuit goes on to say that Jodi's antics literally tore apart and broke down families, all while Jodi and Ruby were making, you know, a boatload of money off of everybody. Michael said that he was personally impacted by Jodi's counseling too because his ex-wife sought out Jodi for help.
Michael said that because of Jodi's teachings, his ex-wife physically abused and endangered their daughter. And according to Michael, his ex-wife is still a devoted follower of Jodi and connections. She doesn't think that she did anything wrong. She also doesn't think that Jodi and Ruby literally being sent to jail and convicted is proof of any wrongdoing.
This just goes to show how strong the manipulation and the brainwashing can be. And this is even with Ruby herself saying that Jodi's teachings are wrong right there in court. The ex-wife still believes that Jodi is an amazing counselor.
And then listen to this, and I'm not sure if you remember, but Ruby ended up kicking her husband out of the house, Kevin, because she wanted to keep following Jodi's teachings. Michael said that his ex-wife also kicked him out because he wanted her to stop the abuse, stop the teachings, all of that, but she just would not listen to him or anybody else.
it just runs so deep and the brainwashing it went so far that in addition to the abuse of the kids jody would also encourage women to beat up their husbands in michael's lawsuit he talks about one instance where his ex-wife's sister was also dragged into jody's cult this woman was convinced that she had to inflict pain on her husband
So this woman allegedly ripped off her husband's shirt, tried to attack him with a knife. She bruised him. She bit him. I mean, she attacked him. It's insane. So the woman ended up being charged with domestic battery. And that was kind of the end of that. It like was a chapter closed.
But the reason for this attack, the woman was convinced that by attacking him, it would bring him to, quote, truth. Again, going back to all those buzzwords these cult leaders like to use, if I attack him, if I shake him, it'll bring him back into, out of distortion, into the light, into truth. Or what did Laurie and Vallow, what did Laurie Crazy Vallow say in Chad Dumbbell?
Like, it would bring them out from being a zombie. Like, get a grip. Get a grip. Now, in response to all of this, Jodi still hasn't really taken any accountability for anything that she's done. I mean, in court, Jodi even said that the things that she was doing, she was doing all out of love. And it sounds like she fully believes that she has not done anything wrong. Take a listen.
One of the reasons I did not go to trial is that I did not want them to emotionally relive the experience which would have been detrimental to them. My hope and prayer is that they will heal and move forward to have beautiful lives. I am willing to submit to what the state feels would be an appropriate amount of time served to make restribution. That's an outcome.
And it just sounds like she fully believes that she hasn't done anything wrong. So I mean, this lawsuit has some pretty shocking details in it, but unfortunately, it's not really coming as that much of a shock to people who've been following this case.
And it's now going to be in the decisions of the parole board to see just how long Jodi and Ruby will be in prison, which I hope that it is on the longer side of things. I don't think that four years is nearly enough, but that's just my opinion. All right, we are going to take a quick break, hear from today's sponsors of today's episode, and thanks for understanding.
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Probably if I'm being honest, because I'm the one sneaking them all the best treats, which don't tell. But recently I convinced my best friend to upgrade their cat's entire diet to smalls. And let me just tell you, this cat is living their best life now. Smalls is real food, like actual fresh protein-packed recipes with ingredients that you would find in your fridge.
No weird fillers, no mystery meat, just high-quality meals delivered right to your door. And her cat knows the difference. We did even like a little fun project, a little taste test where we put their old food next to the Smalls, and they went straight for the Smalls. There was zero hesitation.
Since switching, they've also had fewer hairballs, a shinier coat, more energy, and honestly just feels like they're living their best kitty cat life. And they're not alone. 88% of cat owners say that they have seen major health improvements after switching to Smalls.
Plus, if your cat somehow isn't obsessed, which trust me, they definitely will be, Smalls offers a risk-free trial and will even refund you. So if you love your cat like I love my besties cat, get them the food that they deserve. Head to Smalls.com and use promo code AE at checkout for 50% off your first order plus free shipping.
It's the best deal out there, but you have to use my code AE to get it. So one last time, that's Smalls.com promo code AE. Your cat will thank you. All right, so let's talk about Megan Boswell. Megan Boswell, the bane of my existence. Okay, maybe that's a little bit dramatic, but I really don't like her.
So Megan Boswell is a Tennessee woman who has been charged with murdering her 15-month-old daughter, Evelyn, back in 2020. And now, finally, after almost five years, her trial is finally starting. Now first, let me just give you a little recap about what happened with Megan and with her daughter Evelyn. It was February 2020, and Megan's baby went missing.
And when her daughter went missing, a nationwide Amber Alert went out. And as it turns out, no one in Megan's family had seen Evelyn since December of 2019. Yet nobody reported her missing until February of 2020. And it kind of goes a lot deeper than this, which I get into in some of my deep dives. But like she tried to blame it on her boyfriend who was at a military base at the time.
She also tried to then blame it on her mom. And then her mom ended up being arrested for something unrelated. It's like a very tangled web. So let me think. I either will link the deep dive that we did, even though it's kind of outdated, I guess, at this point. It's a couple years ago. Or if you want me to do a fresh deep dive, let me know. And I certainly can.
Because it is a very tangled web of, like, who cast blame, what she said, what really happened, who reported her missing, where Evelyn ended up being found on the property. I mean, it's wild. So one month after Evelyn finally was reported missing, police ended up finding her remains missing. And as I just mentioned, they were on a family member's property.
Authorities believed that baby Evelyn had been suffocated. There are also some very gruesome details in the way that her body was contorted when she was found, as though she literally was just stuffed in a garbage can as she was trash. It's disgusting. Now, since Megan's arrest in 2020, she has been held in the Sullivan County Jail.
Megan's trial started just this last Monday, and right now it's expected to last two to four weeks. They're currently doing jury selection, and Megan is facing a total of 19 charges. Oh, yeah, don't even get me started, actually. I know I just mentioned the web of everything. Her interviews while Evelyn was missing.
She went on air like a Chris Watts, which I know we always reference him, but whatever. But she went on air doing these interviews pleading for Evelyn to come home. It is unnerving when you watch it back. So yeah, maybe we do need a fresh deep dive. So anyway, she's facing a total of 19 charges.
These charges include murder, child harm, child neglect, tampering with evidence, abusing a corpse, and false reporting to authorities. Because she, like Casey Anthony, it's like she ripped a page out of her playbook, which is lying to anybody who would listen.
So on Monday, they began screening for the potential jury members, but it's not going to be as easy as they thought because of how much media attention this case has gotten over the years. Also, I mean, just the severity of the case, it's going to be really difficult finding somebody who doesn't feel a little biased when they hear that a mother is being charged for murdering her baby daughter.
At the beginning of jury selection, the judge said that this jury will be sequestered, which basically means that the jury will be completely isolated from society to make sure that they don't get any sort of influence over them so that they don't hear anything, any, you know, outside sources, none of that.
During the trial, the jury will be kept in a hotel and they will have little phone and television access. Now get this, apparently a judge ordering to keep a jury isolated hasn't happened in Sullivan County in 15 to 20 years. I mean, it's not entirely surprising given how extreme this case is, but still, it is a pretty bit bold move.
So potential jurors were questioned on Monday, and 22 out of the 40 said that they already did have a lot of knowledge about the case. Some said that they not only knew about the case, but also had already made up their minds about whether Megan was guilty or not. So again, finding a set of unbiased people in terms of this alleged murderer is definitely not going to be an easy task.
News Channel 11 said that they are going to provide daily coverage of the trial, so I will definitely be keeping an eye out for updates, and if you want that deep dive, for sure let me know. Now let me go into some happy news and I again just cannot even convey how happy this makes me because finally we are going to talk about a major and I mean major update in the case of Ellen Greenberg.
Just to give you a little recap if you're not familiar with this case it was 14 years ago. Ellen Greenberg was a school teacher in Philadelphia. She was only 27 years old. It was January 26, 2011, and at around 6.30 p.m., police got a phone call from Ellen's fiancé, Sam Goldberg. He called 911, and he said, quote, And here is a short snippet of that 911 call.
What is the address? 4601 Flat Rock Road. Please come. Help. Now. 4601 Flat Rock Road. Is this a house or apartment? Oh, no. Oh, no. It's an apartment. What apartment number? F***.
Please, Harry, please. Where is she bleeding from? I don't know. I can't tell. You have to calm yourself down in order to get you some help. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know.
I'm looking at her right now. I can't see anything. There's nothing broken. She's bleeding. Allie.
You don't know where she's bleeding from? Can't tell where the blood's coming from? It's, I think, her head. I think she hit her head, I think. But it's all about everywhere. It's everywhere. You think she might have fallen? Do you know what happened? She may have slipped. There's blood on the table. Her face is a little purple. OK, hold on for rescue for her. Stay on the phone.
Now, as the 911 call goes on, he tells the police that a knife was actually sticking out of Ellen's chest and that she must have fallen on it or stabbed herself. Now, Dr. Marlon Osborne conducted the autopsy, and he immediately wrote down that she had so many stab wounds all over her body. To be exact, she had 20 stab wounds.
She also had bruises all over her body from earlier healing, past healing. Just, I'll leave it at that because it's all, again, alleged at this point if somebody did this to her. But he also wrote down, quote, stabbed by another person, and he deemed it a homicide. However, the Philadelphia police treated this entire investigation as a suicide, which make that make sense, right?
20 stab wounds also to the back of your head. And again, when I go through in the deep dive, all of the like red flags about how her lunch was still prepared on the counter, how the swing bar on the lock was closed. how the cousin came over, the fiance's cousin, I should say, came over before, while like all this was happening. It just makes no sense.
And again, this woman had 20 stab wounds and bruises, and her death was classified as a homicide by a medical examiner. So for some extremely odd reason, though, the police were just so set on the fact that Ellen did this to herself. so much so that they didn't even call the apartment a crime scene. It wasn't even closed off.
By the time the investigators came back the second day to continue the investigation, the apartment had been professionally cleaned, which seems odd, right? What on earth is going on here? Tons and tons of potential evidence was literally scrubbed away.
And then after going back and forth with law enforcement after quite some time, Dr. Osborne ended up switching the cause of death, changing it from homicide to suicide. It was beyond fishy and shady. Now, Ellen's parents absolutely did not accept this suicide claim.
They wanted to find out the truth about their daughter, and not only find out for themselves, but also let the world know that Ellen did not do this to herself. So over the years, they have found many people who agree with them. This is homicide. This is not her taking her own life. There was also so much evidence of Ellen being killed by somebody else.
Experts said that the crime scene was super suspicious. It looked like Ellen's body had been moved. There was hemorrhaging in her neck, indicating that she had been strangled. Not to mention the 20 stab wounds and bruises.
And I remember one expert even said one of the stab wounds was, I can't, I'm going to paraphrase here, but it was either to a part of the spine or the stem of the brain that would have made her unable to continue the attack on herself. So make that make sense. I also actually, now that I think about it, think there was a couple, was it three? I'd have to go back and look.
A couple stab wounds that indicated they were post-mortem. Something's not right. Something's not right. I mean, how would anybody even possibly do this to themselves? Take a knife, stab yourself in the front multiple times, and then stab yourself in the back of the head and the neck multiple times? No. So as you can imagine, the media turned to Sam as the number one suspect. He was the fiancé.
Also because as people were doing some digging, it looked like things weren't as happy and great for the couple that was about to get married. Literally, they were about to get married.
So just last November, he released a statement saying, "...the pathetic and despicable attempts to desecrate my reputation and her privacy by creating a narrative that embraces lies, distortions, and falsehoods in order to avoid the truth." Mental illness is very real and it has many victims, which this just pisses me the heck off because yes, mental health does not discriminate.
But he so quickly was trying to paint this as a mental health struggle, despite all of the shadiness going around about it. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. And I'm not trying to say it's always the husband or it's always the boyfriend. It's not. But like, I don't know. I'm hard pressed to think that this was Ellen herself.
However, Sam was never once investigated as a suspect, so this guy maintains that he is totally innocent. But Ellen's parents never stopped fighting for her. After years and years of investigations, lawsuits, and even an online petition, Dr. Osborne, who performed her autopsy, has now said he changed his mind.
Last Friday, there was a major break in the case because Dr. Osborne signed a document that said after reviewing new information, he no longer believes that Ellen killed herself. Which, thanks, Doc, it's a little 14 years too late, but I'm glad it happened finally.
Now, aside from that, which is also some good news, is Ellen's parents had filed two lawsuits against the city of Philadelphia for covering up Ellen's murder and for making it look like this was self-harm. And a judge ruled that they could finally go to trial.
So this new ruling also said that the medical examiners and the homicide detectives, they need to testify in the trial, since the lawsuit is accusing them of putting this whole cover-up together. Ellen's father said, I'm hoping we're going to prove that Ellen did not commit suicide. That's what this is all about. Justice for Ellen.
So get this, on Monday, just before the jury was going to be seated, both sides decided to settle instead of going through with a full trial. The settlement states that the current medical examiner must reopen Ellen's case and review all of the evidence. And then from there, they have to come to their own conclusion about Ellen's death.
The settlement also will include a certain amount of money for the Greenbergs, however that amount wasn't released. Which, can I just say, this is massive for the Greenbergs. They have been fighting for their daughter for 14 years. I mean, 14 years of never backing down and continuing to speak out for their daughter. It is incredible. And this is what Ellen's mother had to say about everything.
I think the city didn't expect to be dealing with Ellen's parents. They didn't expect us to persevere and not give up. And we didn't put up with their stalling tactics, their withholding information and their untruths. So now people are watching, people are interested because this is the case of our daughter, Ellen Ray Greenberg. but it could be your daughter or your sister.
I will definitely be keeping an eye on this as they reopen this case and evaluate everything. I mean, the current medical examiner will come to a new decision. I hope that decision is the right one. I think the majority of the public can agree what that manner of death should be. But let's just hope that justice is finally served. And I'm so beyond excited for Ellen's parents.
And this is just such a great example that despite the roadblocks, despite the discouragement, if you believe something in your heart is not right and you are fighting for justice for a loved one, it may take 14 years, but hopefully that justice will come. It's just one of the very few happy endings to a case that we hear about.
And I know it's not a full happy ending yet because it's still unclear what the ruling will be. But I'm hopeful that it's going in the right direction. And I got to say, I think Sam Goldberg is probably shitting his pants right now. I don't know. Maybe he had no involvement. I don't know. I'm rolling my eyes. I think he did. That's just my opinion. Do your own research.
But I think he's probably shitting his pants. All right, thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of Headline Highlights with me. We've got these every week, so if you want to make sure that you're always in the know of what's going on in true crime, make sure you're following the podcast. It's totally free.
You can either subscribe here on YouTube, or if you're listening on your podcast app, just go into the corner, follow the show, and that way you will not miss any of these episodes, and you also won't miss any of the deep dives that we do every single Monday into the single cases.
And as a reminder, if you feel like you even need that extra content to binge, we do put out bonus episodes every single Friday. Right now there's about 75 of them in the library that you can gain access to. And you can get access either on Patreon, which is patreon.com slash Annie Elise, or you can do it directly through the Apple Podcast app.
And this Friday, we are actually talking all about Suzanne Simpson. It is a shady, shady case coming out of Texas. It's all been going down recently this past October. There's new information, new evidence, and it's not looking very good. It's kind of giving Barrymore a few vibes in a weird way. I'm just going to say that much.
And it also involves a five-year-old who had to witness things that no child and no human should ever have to witness. So we are breaking all of that down this Friday. If you need it and you want to binge it, you can find it all where I just said. All right, guys. Thanks again for tuning in. And until the next one, be safe. Don't kill anybody. Don't join any cults.
If you're going to get a divorce or cheat or something, just get a divorce. Don't cheat. Don't kill. And just be a good human. Just be a good human. All right, guys. That's all I've got. I will talk to you Monday. Bye.