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The Soham Murders · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Right, So today we're looking into well, it's a tough one.
• 0:04
  It's a case that I think still really gets to people,
• 0:08
  even after all this time. The sohem murders. Two ten
• 0:14
  year old girls just vanish from a quiet town in
• 0:17
  England back in two thousand and two. And I mean
• 0:21
  everyone's probably seen the picture Holly and Jessica best friends. Yeah,
• 0:24
  big smiles, They've got their Manchester United shirts on. And
• 0:27
  I think it's that picture, that image of them, you know,
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  just kids on a sunny Sunday afternoon. It's what makes
• 0:33
  it all the more unsettling.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, when you brought this case to me, and specifically
• 0:39
  these Wikipedia excerpts, I thought it was such a fascinating choice.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Because, I mean, this case it really did become this.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Landmark event. I mean, you know, just meticulously documented and
• 0:51
  dissected because you know, you really see so much about
• 0:56
  human nature, you know, media dynamics, even the even the
• 1:00
  systems we rely on to to keep children safe.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Right exactly, So like picture this right, It's Sunday afternoon, Okay,
• 1:07
  barbecue at Holly's house. Everyone's kind of relaxed, you know,
• 1:10
  it's a nice day out. Yeah yeah, yeah, And Holly
• 1:14
  and Jessica. They even head out for a little bit,
• 1:16
  you know, just to get some suites from a vending machine,
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  just you know, typical kids being kids. And then that's it.
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  They're just gone. The last scene around six thirty pm
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  walking past the house of Ian Huntley and he was
• 1:30
  the school caretaker at their school. Oh wow, so right away.
• 1:34
  I mean that's where things start to get really strange.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I And you know, one thing that really struck me,
• 1:40
  especially reading through some of the older news articles right
• 1:43
  in the back, there is just how quickly this case
• 1:48
  like gripped the entire nation. I mean, hundreds of officers,
• 1:52
  volunteers just pouring in wanting to help. I think even
• 1:56
  the even the US Air Force got involved at some point.
• 1:59
  Oh yeah, you can you can almost feel that urgency
• 2:02
  right that collective hope that everyone had that these girls
• 2:06
  would be found safe.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, it was I mean it was inescapable. You know,
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  everywhere you looked missing posters, the news, it was constant updates.
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  Everyone was glued to their TVs. Just you know, as
• 2:16
  as the days went by and the search went on
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  and on, and you know, amidst all of that, you
• 2:21
  know that chaos and not worry there were these little
• 2:24
  glimmers of hope, right, you know, the these potential leads
• 2:27
  that oh yeah.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: That ultimately just didn't pan out.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Like those are always those are always really difficult
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  because I mean you have to you have to look
• 2:35
  into them.
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  Speaker 3: Oh absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: But I mean are you thinking of maybe like the
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  two little Beckhams sighting, Oh yeah, yeah, where people were
• 2:44
  convinced that they'd seen the girls with this couple that
• 2:47
  kind of matched their discretion, right, or I think there
• 2:51
  was something about a white van that was reported, yes,
• 2:54
  being in the area. It's so common though, you know,
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  with with these kinds of high profile cases, you get
• 3:00
  just this this flood of information and a lot of
• 3:03
  it's it's well intentioned, right, but it's ultimately misleading. And
• 3:07
  for the investigators, I mean that's it's just adding to
• 3:11
  this already incredibly intense pressure. They're racing against time they.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Have to sift through all this noise to try to
• 3:18
  find anything credible.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: And and what makes it even more well, I mean
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  it's audacious what Huntley did, right, because he didn't just
• 3:25
  kind of lay low. He injected himself right into the
• 3:29
  middle of the story. He's giving interviews. Oh wow, he's
• 3:32
  you know, acting so distraught and expressing hope that they'll
• 3:36
  be found safe, and it's like, you know, looking back,
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  it's just it's unbelievable.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh, it's actually, I mean it's it's textbook
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  in a way. It's a classic manipulation tactic. You see
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  it a lot in these cases, especially especially with people
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  who have something to hide, right, They want to they
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  want to appear cooperative. They might even seem grief stricken
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  as a way to deflect suspicion and unfortunately, I mean
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  we see time and time again it can be very effective. Well,
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  it's not just about blending in, you know, it's about
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  actively shaping the narrative.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, while while the whole country is caught
• 4:13
  up in this, you know, in the search in those
• 4:15
  false leads, their killer is right there, you know, creating
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  this this web of lies, and he's in this position
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  of trust too, right at school.
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  Speaker 3: It's chilling.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, it's really chilling when you think about it, it
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  really is.
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  Speaker 2: And that position of trust, you know, I mean, especially
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  in the school environment like that, it just adds this
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  this whole other layer of complexity to it because it
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  plays on our you know, I think some of our
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  deepest fears and assumptions about who we think is a
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  threat to children, right, So to have that trust betrayed,
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  it's just it's really profound. It's it's hard to even grasp.
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  Speaker 1: So we've got the disappearances, we've got this huge media frenzy,
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  and Huntley's right there in the middle of it all.
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  But before we before we get to that discovery that
• 5:02
  really turned the case upside down, I want to I
• 5:04
  want to talk for a minute about Maxine Car Okay, yeah,
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  Huntley's girlfriend. And she was and this might surprise some people,
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  she was a teaching assistant at the girls school. Oh wow,
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  at the same school.
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  Speaker 3: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. So so her role in this whole thing, I mean,
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  it's it's fascinating and really unsettling at the same time.
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  Speaker 3: It really is.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, you have to remember, at this point,
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  the investigation is in full swing, right, Oh, your pressure
• 5:34
  is on, yeah, and you have Maxine Car. She comes
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  in and she provides Huntley with what seems like, you know,
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  a pretty solid alibi. She's corroborating his story, and it
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  throws the investigators off.
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  Speaker 1: It really makes you wonder what did she know? Right,
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  And when did she know it? But I think we
• 5:53
  are getting a bit ahead of ourselves here.
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  Speaker 3: Let's step back for a second.
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  Speaker 1: Let's let's rewind a bit back to those I mean,
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  those just agg and thirteen days before the truth just
• 6:05
  awful as it was finally came out.
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  Speaker 2: It's strange, isn't it, How you can kind of get
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  caught up in those those early days of investigation, all
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  the speculation, the hope you almost forget right that there's
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  this grim reality just kind of.
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  Speaker 3: Waiting.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like that moment of clarity after you've been
• 6:27
  in denial for a while. And in this case, that
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  moment came thirteen days after Holly and Jessica disappeared. Their
• 6:36
  bodies were found in an irrigation ditch miles from so on.
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  Oh wow, it's miles and even the location itself, right,
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  I Mean, this wasn't just some random spot. It was
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  a place that someone like Huntley, someone who knew the area,
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  would choose if they were trying to, you know, hide something,
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  something to put distance between himself and what he had
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  done exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's what's so striking about this part of
• 7:00
  the case. I Mean, he didn't just abandon their bodies.
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  They were partially burned. He tried to conceal them with branches,
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  like he was desperately trying to erase any trace that
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  he was involved at all.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: These weren't the actions of someone who had, you know,
• 7:17
  just panicked after some tragic act, like he would later claim.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Exactly all those details, the location, that the condition of
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  the bodies just pointed to something much more deliberate. This
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  wasn't an accident. This is a man trying to cover
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  his tracks.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: And it's at this point, with this horrific discovery that
• 7:36
  all those you know what seemed like little details, those
• 7:39
  inconsistencies in Huntley's story from the beginning, they just took
• 7:43
  on this whole other meaning.
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  Speaker 3: Oh absolutely suddenly.
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  Speaker 2: I mean things like, oh, remember he was washing clothes
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  despite the fact that it was raining outside, or that
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  strange flood in his dining room. You know, it starts
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  to look a lot like a frantic attempt to get
• 8:00
  rid of evidence. And then you have those yellow cleaning gloves.
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  Oh yeah, remember those the ones used by the janitorial
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  staff at the school, found hidden in his car.
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  Speaker 1: Oh wow, It's amazing how a story can unravel so quickly.
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  Speaker 3: Right, now, Oh, it's it really is.
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  Speaker 2: It's like a like a puzzle where you start pulling
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  on one loose thread, Yeah, and suddenly the whole thing
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  just falls apart. Yes, and with every piece of evidence
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  they found, I mean the cleaning products. His car was
• 8:29
  meticulously cleaned, but there were still traces of dirt that
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  matched the ditch where the girls were found. Oh wow,
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  fibers that linked back to the girl's clothes. I mean,
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  it all just built this, this really damning case against him.
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  Speaker 1: And then there's that discovery at the school too. Oh right,
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  Colly and Jessica's they're charred Manchester United shirts. They were
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  cut up, hidden in a bin in Huntley's workplace, and
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  his fingerprints were on that bin, directly linking him to
• 8:58
  know this attempt to get rid of really crucial evidence.
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  Speaker 2: It's I mean, talk about a contrast to that image
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  he was trying to project, you know in those first interviews,
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  that the grieving acquaintance.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, the evidence just painted such a different picture.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, but even still he still went to trial and
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  he's clinging to this narrative of accidental death, right. I Mean,
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  I guess when something so horrific happens. It's almost like
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  you want to believe some other explanation, even if it
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  seems impossible.
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  Speaker 2: And that's exactly what Huntley was counting on. I mean,
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  think about it. He claimed that Holly had fallen into
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  a bath and drowned, and that in a panic, he
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  had accidentally suffocated Jessica while he was trying to keep
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  her quiet. Right, So on the surface, it sounds like
• 9:47
  it sounds like an accident, right, tragic accident. But when
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  you start to look at the details, the timeline didn't
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  add up, the forensic evidence didn't support his story, and
• 9:56
  it became pretty clear that this is all just a
• 9:59
  calculate attempt to avoid taking responsibility.
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  Speaker 1: What about Maxim Carr and all of this. I mean,
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  she's the one who originally gave Huntley of that alibi,
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  but at the trial her story changed.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
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  Speaker 2: She actually ended up claiming that that she had lied
• 10:13
  to the police to protect Huntley, Wow, because she she
• 10:18
  didn't know the extent of what he had done. So
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  she admitted to giving a false alibi, which you know,
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  essentially meant that she had derailed those crucial early stages
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  of the investigation. But you know, the prosecution. They argued
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  that she was actually complicit in this whole cover up,
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  that she knew what Huntley.
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  Speaker 1: Had done, so her testimony is actually what led to
• 10:38
  her conviction, yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: For perverting the course of justice.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And while her sentence, you know, was nothing compared to Huntley's,
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  it does show just how serious her actions were. I mean,
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  the lies, the deceit, it all had a very real
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  impact on the investigation and it could have prevented justice
• 11:01
  from being served, right, And.
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  Speaker 1: It really makes you think, you know, to what extent
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  was she a victim of Huntley's manipulation or was she
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  was she a more active participant in all of this.
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  Speaker 2: It's a huge question, Yeah, and I mean it's one
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  that people are still debating today. But I think before
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  we you know, before we go too far down that road, yeah,
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  we should probably talk about what happened after the trial,
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  specifically the butchered.
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  Speaker 1: Inquiry right right.
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  Speaker 2: Which uncovered some some really disturbing things about the systems
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  that were supposed to protect kids like Holly and Jessica.
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  It's a tough reminder that sometimes even in the face
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  of something this awful, we have this this responsibility to
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  to learn from it and to do everything we can
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  to prevent it from ever happening again.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's heavy stuff. Knowing that that something like
• 11:52
  this could happen. It makes you really look at those
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  systems that are supposed to protect kids and think are
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  they really working?
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  Speaker 2: You know, absolutely? And that that's why the digit inquiry is.
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  It's such a critical part of this whole story because
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  it wasn't just about you know, the trial and finding
• 12:07
  Huntly guilty. It was about looking at those institutions, the
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  ones that really failed Holly and Jessica.
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  Speaker 1: And they found some pretty shocking things, didn't they They did.
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  Speaker 2: I Mean, it wasn't just you know, one mistake here,
• 12:19
  one oversight there. There was a whole series of failures
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  really on multiple levels.
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  Speaker 1: And it's hard to believe actually the things that slipped
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  through the cracks. I mean, didn't they say something like
• 12:31
  seven missed.
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  Speaker 3: Opportunities, Devin at least seven.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Seven missed opportunities to stop Huntley before he ever even
• 12:37
  like stepped foot on those school grounds. It's unbelievable.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Seven separate times where where information wasn't shared, where warnings
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  were ignored, background checks that just weren't thorough enough. I mean,
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  we're talking about a guy with a history of violence
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  against women, allegations of sexual assault. There was even an
• 12:57
  assault on a minor on his record, and somehow none
• 13:01
  of that prevented him from working in a school.
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  Speaker 3: It's chilling.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: It really makes you wonder like were they even trying.
• 13:08
  It's one thing to make a mistake, but this just
• 13:10
  seems like a systemic failure, like no one was really
• 13:13
  connecting the dots. You know, they had all the warning
• 13:15
  signs right there in front of them.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: And that's why the inquiries recommendations were so crucial, because
• 13:20
  they went beyond just you know, identifying the problems. They
• 13:23
  mandated stricter background checks for anyone who's going to be
• 13:26
  working with children, which seems obvious.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Right of course.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, But they also created a national database so police
• 13:32
  forces could share information. Oh okay, you know, if someone
• 13:36
  like Huntley came up on their radar another part of
• 13:38
  the country, they would know about his history, right, And
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  then they revamped the whole system for vetting people and
• 13:45
  tracking potential threats just much more rigorous. So these weren't
• 13:49
  just suggestions, right, these were direct responses.
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  Speaker 3: To what went wrong.
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  Speaker 2: They were trying to make sure something like this could
• 13:54
  never happen again.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: But even with all of that, it still feels like
• 13:58
  a hollow victory, doesn't It mean no amount of change
• 14:01
  is going to bring Holly and Jessica back.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: You're right, It's it's.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: The families, right, the families who are left behind to
• 14:07
  to deal with this unimaginable loss, and and those changes
• 14:13
  can't bring back their daughters.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: They can't. They can't erase that pain.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: No, And it just makes you think, you know, about
• 14:20
  those families and everyone who was impacted, because the ripple
• 14:23
  effects of something like this they just go on and on.
• 14:25
  I mean, you've got Huntley, he's in prison, right, serving
• 14:28
  a life sentence, right, But even that, it doesn't it
• 14:31
  doesn't really feel like enough. And what about Maxine car
• 14:35
  living under a new identity, trying to escape what happened?
• 14:39
  But can you ever really escape something like that?
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know, And honestly, that might be the biggest question.
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  This whole case makes us ask, Right, Yeah, it makes
• 14:50
  us confront some very uncomfortable truths about but human nature,
• 14:54
  about the fact that we can't always trust people the
• 14:56
  way we want to, and and that sometimes the systems
• 14:59
  we rely on and they just.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: They fail us.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: It's a lot, it's a lot to process, but I
• 15:03
  think you're right. It's it's important that we talk about
• 15:06
  these things. And I think cases like this they really
• 15:09
  stay with us, don't they. Yeah, Because they make us
• 15:12
  think about these big questions.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they remind us to, you know, to stay vigilant,
• 15:16
  to keep asking questions, to never get complacent when it
• 15:19
  comes to safety, and.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Maybe most importantly, to never forget Holly and Jessica, to
• 15:26
  honor their memories by by fighting for a world where
• 15:29
  kids are truly safe, not just because we hope so,
• 15:31
  because we've actually made it happen. Said so on that note,
• 15:35
  will We'll leave you to think about everything we've discussed. Remember,
• 15:40
  knowledge is only powerful if we use it. Learn from
• 15:42
  this and demand better for yourselves, for your families, for everyone,
• 15:46
  and we'll see you next time. Stay curious, stay informed,
• 15:49
  and stay safe.