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The Love Bombing of Gloria Choi - True Crime Documentary · The Evolution of Evil - True Crime Stories

• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I was with the prosecutor's office for thirty years and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: this was my last trial in my career. Being a
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: prosecutor has a lifelong effect on you. There has to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: be some way to come back to humanity put the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: violence aside. This was an aggravated murder case. The victim's
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: name is Gloria Troy.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: She was a hard working mom, a good role model,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: and Gloria's parents talk about how she was kind of
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: their angel. She spent most of her life working in
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: the family business of running hotels.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: She came off very shy and quiet, but she was
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: nothing of those. She was passionate about her family and
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: her son, had hopes and dreams for herself.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: What we know is there were four calls placed to
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: law enforcement in the final fourty eight hours before she
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: was killed. This person continues to stalk her, has slashed
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: her tires, pistolen thousands of dollars worth of property. She
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: called for help, and she was deprived of help that
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: she's entitled to under the law, time and time again.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: The evening that she was murdered, she was going home,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: actually just taking a break to eat dinner. He was
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: right behind her when she left.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: He knew everywhere she went.
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: No, well, I'm much the location NC.
• 1:44
  Speaker 6: I don't know where I am, but I'm scaring.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: To get out of my car. He forced her vehicle
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: off the road. She doesn't know at that point who
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: this is, and she's not able to drive anymore.
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: I wanted to get police online because okay, history signed
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: your caller.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: And he approaches her vehicle and she notices he has
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: a gun.
• 2:10
  Speaker 7: Hello, can you hear me?
• 2:12
  Speaker 8: All of a sudden, we heard a rapid fire, about
• 2:15
  Speaker 8: seven or eight shots, and you just unloaded. And I
• 2:18
  Speaker 8: was just a shot and saw him disappear, And I
• 2:22
  Speaker 8: then ran over and called.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: The police to pick up.
• 2:25
  Speaker 8: There against the telephone pole with a life on motor running,
• 2:29
  Speaker 8: I don't see anybody in it.
• 2:30
  Speaker 6: So you heard three pops?
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: No, we heard a lot more than that.
• 2:35
  Speaker 9: So in all, fourteen shots just riddles her car with bullets.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Right, he's close range. He's shooting right through her driver's
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: side window.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: She should have been protected and she wasn't.
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: Do you blame the police for not taking better care
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: of your friend.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: I do blame the police for not taking it serious.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: You're a perpetrator who's escalating any law enforcement officer who's
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: following the training wouldn't know this woman was in incredible danger.
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: On January two, twenty twenty two, Gloria Choi placed that
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: anguished call to nine one one.
• 4:05
  Speaker 6: I am, I'm scared to get out of my car. Yeah,
• 4:09
  Speaker 6: he's got collar.
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: Seconds later, can you hear me? Multiple shots are fired.
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: The audio is too graphic to play in full. It
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: lasts about two minutes and dispatchers are trying to make
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: sense of what they just heard.
• 4:27
  Speaker 6: Hello, can anybody hear me? Hello?
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: Officers from the Lakewood Police Department in Washington arrive within minutes.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: One of the officers that approached you can see him
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: trying to get to her quickly, and the doors are locked.
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: Former Pierce County Prosecutor Greg Greer describes what first responders
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: did that.
• 4:51
  Speaker 10: One I played with.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: They bust out a rear window smartly, wisely so they
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: can preserve the evident, and they're able to extricate her
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: pretty quickly.
• 5:06
  Speaker 9: And did you see them pull out the victim at all?
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: I did?
• 5:10
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: Terry Estevold gave police a detailed description of what he witnessed.
• 5:16
  Speaker 8: And I was probably thirty feet away, and they put
• 5:20
  Speaker 8: her on the ground and worked on her hard for
• 5:22
  Speaker 8: several minutes.
• 5:24
  Speaker 9: Had to be hard for you to witness that.
• 5:26
  Speaker 8: It's terrible, and it still bothers me a lot to
• 5:29
  Speaker 8: this day just thinking about it.
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: Gloria was pronounced dead a short time later at a
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: nearby hospital. Brianna Everlely soon heard the news that her
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: best friend had been killed, but she couldn't quite accept it.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: And I repeatedly, repeatedly called Gloria's phone over and over again.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: No answer, no answer, no answer. And then I called
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: her dad and then he finally answered, and I remember
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: asking him.
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: Is it true? Is she gone? Is it true? He said, yes,
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: she's gone.
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: Greer took us to the scene and walked us through
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: what he learned from investigators.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: This would have been gravel shoulder, and somewhere in here
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: he pinches her vehicle off and she's no longer able
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: to move forward. He's blocking her.
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: I think my boyfriend's following and he just hit my car.
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: Gloria says the man is her boyfriend, but does not
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: give a name.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: He gets out of the vehicle, and if you've heard
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the nine on one call, she describes exactly what he's doing.
• 6:48
  Speaker 8: He's collar.
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: Greer says, the shooter was standing next to Gloria's driver's
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: side window. The door was locked.
• 6:59
  Speaker 9: He's not true to talk to her. He immediately he's.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: There to kill her. He is there to kill her.
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: After firing nine forty caliber bullets through the door and
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: window of Gloria's truck, Grear says, the shooter begins to
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: drive away. As he does, Gloria's truck moves forward until
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: it hits a utility pull as shown in this police animation.
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: Greer believes the truck moved because Gloria's foot was no
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: longer applying pressure to the brake.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: He doesn't know whether she's alive or not, is what
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: we believe is going through his mind. Because the vehicle's
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: no longer it was. That's sixty yards west of where
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: it was when he first shot her.
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: The shooter makes a U turn and comes back around
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: to Gloria's truck. He pulls his truck alongside so that
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: his driver's side window is now next to hers, and
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: this time he does not bother to get out of
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: his car, Greer.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Says, and he rolls this window down. Five more shots,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: just to make sure nine wasn't enough. Five more. Then
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: after he's finished that, he immediately.
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: Takes off, after firing fourteen shots and hitting Gloria at
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: least ten times. Prosecutors say, the shooter disappears into the night.
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: The first big break in the case came from one
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: of the first officers at the crime scene.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: One of the officers she notices this lanyard that's on Gloria,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: and then she sees her name and that hits her hard.
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: Gloria's lanyard was from a nearby holiday inn where she
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: was the manager just days earlier. That officer took a
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: report from Gloria after she called nine to one one.
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: Gloria said her ex boyfriend had been following and harassing
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: her and now they had a name, Billy Rickman, and.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: That becomes a lead to understanding what happened.
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: Greer says. A detective subpoenat Rickman's phone records. Even without
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: having his phone, police were able to read his text messages.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: At one point, he says where he is and it's
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: the Home motel.
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: The detective rushed to the motel, which is a six
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: minute drive from the murder scene. Greer says the desk
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: clerk told the detective that days earlier, Rickman attempted to
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: sign in with a fake name, but the clerk insisted
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: on proof of identity.
• 9:26
  Speaker 11: We have him on surveillance video getting back to the motel.
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: That was after the shooting, says prosecutor Karine Schneff. He
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: appears in a hurry.
• 9:37
  Speaker 11: He gets out of his vehicle and he immediately starts
• 9:40
  Speaker 11: wiping down the side of the vehicle that might have
• 9:43
  Speaker 11: any kind of evidence of gunpowder residue. You can see
• 9:47
  Speaker 11: him on the phone. He's contacting people, she says.
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: Investigators began checking surveillance from several businesses in the area
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: and got another break at a nearby car rental business.
• 10:04
  Speaker 9: This picture is very clear.
• 10:06
  Speaker 11: Enterprise have had great video here.
• 10:09
  Speaker 9: There's no denying who that is looking at that.
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: You know Rickman rented a Chevy Colorado using his real name.
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: It is the same vehicle in the motel video and
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: the same vehicle police believe Rickman used to run Gloria
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: off the road. The Lake With police put out an
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: alert for Billy Rickman, but in the days that followed
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: he was nowhere to be found.
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: She was a part of my family, and my whole
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: family knew her and they loved her.
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: With Billy Rickman on the run, police questioned Gloria's friend
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: Brianna Everly, about Rickman's relationship with Gloria. Brianna had known
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: Gloria since twenty eighteen, when she hired her to help
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: out at the Oyo Hotel, which was owned by Gloria's parents.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: She wanted to please her parents to the best of
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: her ability. She was their lifeline. She did it all,
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: and she did it all with grace, absolute grace.
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: Gloria was the single mother of a seven year old.
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: It's all about her kid. She was very fierce when
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: it came to her son.
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: And in May twenty twenty one, Billy Rickman checked into
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: the hotel from California, a mystery man with a larger
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: than life personality. Brianna says it didn't take long for
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: Rickman to notice Gloria.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: Gloria was coming into the office. He walked up and
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: introduced himself. He's like, you're very pretty, and she goes, well,
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: thank you. She walked away and he's like, who's that
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, her name's Gloria.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: Stay away.
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: But Rickman did not stay away, and before long the
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: two were texting a lot.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: She liked the way he talked to her and the
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: things that he said to her. All she wanted to
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: do is be loved by somebody.
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: And Rickman made it seem like he could be that guy,
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: says Megan Driscoll, the Choy family's lawyer.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: He really came across as this nice guy love bomb ter,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: meaning he's giving her gifts and kind of showering her
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: with kindness.
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: Weeks after meeting her, Rickmand sent Gloria this text. You're
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: the light to my day every day. You make me
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: feel so sexy and special, and I thank you for that.
• 12:46
  Speaker 9: I want you.
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: I want to be with you, Gloria CHOI. I can't
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: wait to see what life has in store for us.
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: My heart is yours. How was he with her son,
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: Gloria's friend, Jacob Blue.
• 13:00
  Speaker 10: What she liked about Rickman is that he had a
• 13:02
  Speaker 10: lot of masculine energy that he was showing.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: On Billy and her son had a very instinct connection
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: because he was like a kid himself, you know.
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: Within weeks, Gloria and Rickman became a couple and he
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: began staying in her apartment at the Oyo Hotel. Brianna says,
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: Gloria's father did not approve of the relationship.
• 13:24
  Speaker 10: And her parents basically drew a red line and said
• 13:27
  Speaker 10: he can't be staying here at the hotel anymore.
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: Gloria's father wanted him to move.
• 13:33
  Speaker 10: Out, and Rickman went and approached her parents and told
• 13:38
  Speaker 10: them he's not going anywhere and that Gloria is now
• 13:42
  Speaker 10: his and if they don't like it, they can leave.
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: Her dad basically gave her an ultimatum. She could stay
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: on as a manager or she could leave, and she
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: chose to leave.
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: Gloria her son, Ann Rickman moved to an apartment in
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: the town of Tumwater in September twenty twenty one, and
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: her heartbroken parents chose to sell their hotel. That's when
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: Gloria took a new job as manager of the Holiday
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: and Express in Lakewood, right next to Tacoma.
• 14:22
  Speaker 10: She was still very happy with what she had, but
• 14:26
  Speaker 10: it didn't last.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Long that happiness.
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: Gloria told Brianna that Rickman had big dreams but no
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: way of making them come true.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: And Gloria's like, well, who's going to fund all of this?
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: You're not you don't have a job. Get a job,
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: you know, and he refused.
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: So was he asking her for money?
• 14:46
  Speaker 12: Oh?
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he drained her. She bought everything.
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: Within weeks, Gloria saw a different side of Rickman. She
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: told Brianna he was often mean, angry, and insecure. Gloria
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: also told Brianna that Rickman was drinking to excess and
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: using cocaine and marijuana and what did you tell her?
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: Leif run away?
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: Gloria chose to stay with Rickman, but two months later,
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: in November, Jacob says he got a troubling call.
• 15:22
  Speaker 10: She did express that he would become physical with her,
• 15:25
  Speaker 10: push around, throw her around, and that she didn't feel
• 15:30
  Speaker 10: safe just breaking things off with them.
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: Jacob told Gloria she needed to leave him immediately, but
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: Gloria said she was afraid that might trigger something inside Rickman.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: She didn't know how she was going to leave Billy.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: She was scared to leave him. What scared her possessiveness.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: He knew everywhere she went.
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: She felt that he was tracking her every move.
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: She found a tag.
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: In her car, an AirTag.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: She's the one that told me about it later on, and.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: Gloria suspected there were other hidden Apple air tags in
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: her truck. Are you concerned for your friend at this point.
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: In November twenty twenty one, just six months after they met,
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: Brianna says, Gloria made up her mind to leave Rickman.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: She looked at me down in the face and said,
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: I'm leaving. And I asked her, you know what's your plan?
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: She goes, I'm going to go to my parents.
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: Her parents welcomed Gloria and her son into their home,
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: but it was not so easy to get rid of Rickman.
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: He had borrowed Gloria's truck and refused to give it back.
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: So on November twenty eighth, Gloria went to the Tumwater
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: police to file a report about the truck, and while
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: she was there, she told the officer taking the report
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: about Rickman. When Billy is sober, he is calm, but
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: when he drinks, he has a short fuse and is
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: very angry. I wish him well, but choosing to not
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: be a part of his life anymore for the safety
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: and stability for my son and I. Attorney Megan Driscoll,
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: who represents the Troy family, said it was clear the
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: Tumwater officer believed Gloria was at risk. The officer reported
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: that Rickman was potentially tracking Gloria with Apple air tags,
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: owned numerous firearms, and appeared to be extremely manipulative.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: He actually becomes really concerned for her and her safety,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: so the officer actually tells Gloria and tells the court
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: to issue a domestic violence no contact order.
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: Almost immediately, Rickman was arrested for taking Gloria's truck, and
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: he agreed to this recorded interview.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: It's both of our cars, like we lived together. That
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: it's not like I'm a neighbor or something.
• 17:59
  Speaker 7: What do you think her opinion, his own dreams don't
• 18:01
  Speaker 7: like do you think like maybe should I feel like
• 18:04
  Speaker 7: uncomfortable or scared?
• 18:06
  Speaker 12: I'll tell you this much, if I had a shot
• 18:09
  Speaker 12: with my girl again, man, I would never drink another
• 18:11
  Speaker 12: trick of alcohol.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: And that's the August that got you.
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: Rickman was jailed for three days for taking Gloria's trunk,
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: and on December one, twenty twenty one, he was brought
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: before a judge who slapped him with a strict no
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: contact order, but Brianna says the order did not phase Rickman.
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: The day he got out of jail, he told Brianna
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: he was unconcerned with the legalities.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: He didn't care. He was like, so I'm still going
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: to talk to her.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: In early December twenty twenty one, Gloria Choi was back
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: living with her parents, hoping she had rid herself of
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: Billy Rickman once and for all. But Brianna said Rickman
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: had other ideas, as he told her the day he
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: got out of jail for taking Gloria's truck, which had
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: been returned.
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: To her, Billy showed up at my place and he's like,
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: I need your help, and he begged me to talk
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: to her about getting back together. He said that he
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: would change, he would stop drinking, he'd be a better
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: person to her.
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: And in the back of my mind, I'm.
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: Like, no, you didn't believe him, then I didn't. And
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: what's your understanding of a no contact order?
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: No contact order means you can't come and contact that
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: person text, phone, calls, physical location, anything of that sort, and.
• 19:50
  Speaker 9: If you do what happened, you go to jail.
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: Brianna told Rickman that he'd be arrested if he broke
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: any of those conditions, but two weeks later, she got
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: a call from a friend telling her Gloria was hiding
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: from Rickman in the bathroom of this coffee shop. Brianna
• 20:07
  Speaker 5: wasted no time getting there.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: As I was pulling in, I saw Billy Rickman's car
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: was parked over there.
• 20:17
  Speaker 12: We made eye contact.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: I went to the bathroom and knocked on the door
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: and she opened it. She knew that Billy was here.
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: It was another reminder to Gloria that Rickman seemed to
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: be tracking her every move, and you said she was
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: very emotional in lossues of the bathroom.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: She was petrified, she was crying, she was shaking. She
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: refused to come out until she knew he was gone.
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: It's not clear if police were ever called. Three days later,
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: Brianna said that Gloria told her that Rickman confronted her
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: in the Capitol Mall while she was shopping with her son.
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: Brianna said Gloria told her that Rickman pleaded with her
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: to drop the no contact order, but she refused.
• 21:05
  Speaker 11: He was putting himself in her path so that he
• 21:07
  Speaker 11: could rekindle the lost relationship that lost relationships.
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: As prosecutor, Kareine Schneff was on Rickman's mind when he
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: made these cell phone videos directed at Gloria.
• 21:19
  Speaker 11: You can see the videos that he created to try
• 21:21
  Speaker 11: and make her feel bad about leaving him.
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: This is what Christmas alone looks like, the pardoning lot
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: of the hotel, because you ain't got nowhere to go,
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: because you know your.
• 21:31
  Speaker 9: Girl puts you out in the street.
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: Prosecutors say everything came to a head on the last
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: two days of twenty twenty one. It started on December thirtieth,
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: when Rickman sent Gloria an email after he spotted her
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: with Jacob Blue at a coffee shop. And I guess
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: Rickman did write an email to Gloria that read you
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: left me for another guy. Wow.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Correct.
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: The email was sent in real time, Andloria began getting
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: calls from a block number. When she answered, Rickman was
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: on the line yelling at her.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: According to Jacob, he believed that this Jacob Blue was
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: a potential boyfriend.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: They moved on to a sushi restaurant, but Gloria was
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: becoming increasingly bothered by the headlights of a car which
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: were pointed at the restaurant, and Jacob says Gloria believed
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: Rickman was behind the wheel.
• 22:25
  Speaker 10: She says, I know that car, and I know that
• 22:28
  Speaker 10: it's watching us right now, and she got really uncomfortable.
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: Jacob says they left the restaurant and discovered someone had
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: stolen their computers from Gloria's truck. They also discovered one
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: of her truck's tires was slashed. Gloria called the police
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: and asked for their help. It was the first of
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: four calls about Rickman over a forty eight hour period.
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: And what do he damage on my front driver's side tires?
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: And he went through all the stuff been the truck.
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: Extole my backpack with my laptop and my friend's laptop
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: bag as well.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'll have an after call you.
• 23:08
  Speaker 9: And did Gloria express that she thought it was Rickman?
• 23:11
  Speaker 10: She was confident it was Rickman.
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: Gloria told police that only Rickman knew the truck's keypad
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: code to gain entry. She gave them a description of
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: his black BMW and told the officer about the no
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: contact order. The officer said he left Rickman a voicemail
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: message letting him know the police wanted to speak with him.
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: Gloria and Jacob then drove to the Holiday Inn to
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: retrieve Jacob's jeep, and that's when Jacob discovered that two
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: of his tires had been slashed.
• 23:43
  Speaker 10: This is a snowy night, there's snow on the ground.
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: Gloria took this cell phoned video following the footsteps she
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: thought were Rickman's.
• 23:52
  Speaker 9: Here is his footsteps.
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: Because Gloria managed that and she was able to get
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: the surveillance footage, these videos have never been seen by
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: the public before.
• 24:06
  Speaker 10: Now we see a man come in and sneaking through
• 24:11
  Speaker 10: the shadows. He comes up to my jeep and he
• 24:13
  Speaker 10: punctures both my tires in and walks off.
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: They called police a second time and gave them the video.
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: Both Jacob and Gloria identified the man as Billy Rickman
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: by his distinctive walk, but officers said the video was
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: not clear enough to make an arrest.
• 24:31
  Speaker 10: And the police were like, I'm sorry without us being
• 24:34
  Speaker 10: able to see his face, there's really not a whole
• 24:36
  Speaker 10: lot to go off of.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Not much we can do.
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: The next day was December thirty, first New Year's Eve.
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: Jacob returned to his jeep with two new tires. That's
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: when he and Gloria discovered the other two tires were
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: now slashed. That prompted a third call to nine one one, what.
• 24:56
  Speaker 10: Are you reporting bambalism on my being called by a stalker.
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: Once again. The surveillance footage showed the man Jacob and
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: Gloria believed was Rickman slashing the tires, but police again
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: said the video was not clear enough for them to
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: make an identification. Then, on New Year's Eve, there was
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: a fourth called to nine one one, this time by
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: the desk clerk at the holiday inn. He spotted the
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: tire slasher again puncturing the tires on Jacob's jeep. The
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: desk clerk chased after him, recording this video at the
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: same time he was calling nine one one, call.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: His license my talk. He strived to Chevy Colforado.
• 25:43
  Speaker 9: And sent one.
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: Pelisse A. Rickman was driving that same Chevy Colorado when
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: he ran Gloria off the road, murdered her, then escaped
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: into the night. Billy Rickman was able to elude police
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: for four days until January sixth, twenty twenty two. That's
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: when Prosecutor Greg Greer says law enforcement tracked his phone
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: to Humboldt County in northern California, where Rickman turned up
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: drunk at a relative's house.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: This relative did not want mister Rickman staying with him.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: This relative offered to take mister Rickman to a nearby
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: casino and put him up at the Casito in a hotel.
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: Rickman's relative, driving his black BMW was stopped by tribal
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: police and they contacted the California Highway patrol who rushed
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: to the scene. Policese A. Rickman, as seen in this
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: dash cam video, shoved his relative out of the driver's
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: seat and onto the pavement, gunned the engine and took off.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: He's got enough of a head start and they actually
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: don't find him. They lose him.
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: Rickman wandered around in the darkness for about five hours
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: on the wet, cold night before being found and taken
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: into custody.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Mister Rickman is soaking wet, freezing cold hypothermic.
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: Rickman was charged with aggravated first degree murder and pleaded
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: not guilty. Some two hundred and fifty miles south, a
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: woman who says she knew firsthand just how dangerous Rickman was,
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: received a phone call.
• 27:36
  Speaker 7: The officer from the Oakland Police Department called me and
• 27:39
  Speaker 7: when I answered the phone, she told me Billy has
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: been arrested.
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: This is Ajahul, who had filed a police report about Rickman.
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: She says Rickman forced her into prostitution and sexually assaulted
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: her when she was a fourteen year old runaway living
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: in Oakland in two thousand and five.
• 27:57
  Speaker 7: I must survivor of human Tafiqin and Phillya was made
• 28:00
  Speaker 7: off for her.
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: Aja says she endured years of abuse before she nearly
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: was killed after Rickman choked her with the strand of
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: Christmas tree lights like I could.
• 28:12
  Speaker 7: Not breathe, like it was very scary. I was terrified.
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: She escaped to San Francisco.
• 28:19
  Speaker 7: And it was one of the best moments in my life,
• 28:23
  Speaker 7: but also one of the most terrifying because I felt free,
• 28:26
  Speaker 7: but I also felt so much fear because I had
• 28:30
  Speaker 7: crossed him and I knew what he was capable of.
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: Shortly after leaving, Aja called a girlfriend who was living
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: with Rickman.
• 28:38
  Speaker 7: He took the phone out of her hand when I
• 28:40
  Speaker 7: called her to check on her once and said, bitch,
• 28:42
  Speaker 7: if I ever find you, I will kill you. And
• 28:45
  Speaker 7: I knew that he meant it. I never ever saw
• 28:47
  Speaker 7: that as a threat like I saw that as a promise,
• 28:49
  Speaker 7: because he would he would kill me. He was livid.
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: Aja says she always wanted justice, but it was only
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: while completing her education and pursuing a master's degree in
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: public Affairs from the University of California at Berkeley that
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: she found the courage to file that report with the
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: Oakland Police. It detailed multiple alleged incidents of Rickman's abuse,
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: including hitting her with closed fists on the face and body,
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: and causing her to sustain a black eye, bruises and
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: cuts to the face.
• 29:22
  Speaker 7: I wanted him held accountable for what he did.
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: Oakland Police put out an arrest warrant for Rickman in
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: twenty twenty one in Alameda County, but by that time
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: he had left California. Washington State prosecutors say they never
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: saw the warrant.
• 29:37
  Speaker 7: I was angry and upset because he could have been
• 29:40
  Speaker 7: stopped beforehand. I blame myself in some kind of way.
• 29:45
  Speaker 5: But Aja still wanted to help. She emailed the prosecutors
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: working on the Gloria Troy murder and offered to give
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: them information about Rickman. The prosecutors demurred, saying they wanted
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: to keep their case focused on Gloryaria's murder.
• 30:01
  Speaker 11: That wasn't really part of our case, so we didn't
• 30:05
  Speaker 11: follow up on that particular element.
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: Rickman's trial for the murder of Gloria Choi began in
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: November twenty twenty three before a jury of nine men
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: and three women. Gloria's family were too devastated to attend
• 30:21
  Speaker 5: the trial.
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: They moved out of town without a word, and we
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: didn't get to say goodbye.
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: But I understood why.
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: Prosecutor Greer wanted the jury to understand why as well,
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: so he played Gloria's nine to one one call in
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: its entirety right after the opening statements, No, I'm.
• 30:44
  Speaker 7: Much location MENCA.
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: Time, I don't know where I am, but I think
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: my boyfriend.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: You could tell the whole courtroom was, you know, different.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: While that was being.
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: Played, the prosecution methodically laid out its case to the
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: jury with all the audio and video evidence they collected.
• 31:08
  Speaker 11: What you're about to see is a compilation of information
• 31:13
  Speaker 11: from the defendant's cell phone as well as surveillance videos
• 31:18
  Speaker 11: that we have at the various locations. What you're going
• 31:20
  Speaker 11: to see first is some GPS coordinates.
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: Schnepp says Rickman could no longer follow Gloria after he
• 31:27
  Speaker 5: slashed Gloria's tires and put her truck with those air
• 31:30
  Speaker 5: tags out of commission.
• 31:32
  Speaker 11: As soon as he slashed the tires on Gloria's vehicle,
• 31:35
  Speaker 11: he could no longer track her.
• 31:37
  Speaker 5: Rickman was forced to more or less guess where Gloria was,
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: and in the days that followed, Schnepp says, he spent
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: a lot of time sitting outside her parents' house where
• 31:47
  Speaker 5: she was living. So all of this is breaking this
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: no contact order.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, he probably every letter of the no contact
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: order he violated.
• 31:57
  Speaker 11: He's just constantly going back to our house.
• 32:01
  Speaker 9: Is she there?
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: Is she at our house?
• 32:04
  Speaker 9: It's crazy to see this like this.
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: Sometime around six pm on January Tewod, the night of
• 32:10
  Speaker 5: Gloria's murder, Schneff says Rickman turned off his cell phone
• 32:15
  Speaker 5: and didn't turn it back on until he was at
• 32:17
  Speaker 5: the home motel immediately after the murder.
• 32:21
  Speaker 11: The fact that he doesn't turn his phone off except
• 32:24
  Speaker 11: for at the time point of the murder helps us
• 32:27
  Speaker 11: to show that it was him.
• 32:30
  Speaker 5: To buttress their case, prosecutors put Brianna Eberley on the stand.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: I remember looking over at him, seeing him look at
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: her picture. He started to cry, and I remember it
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: made me so angry. I had never felt so furious
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: in my life. Billy didn't just take Gloria's physical life.
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: Billy took everything, took a daughter, a mother, a friend,
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: a sister, a cousin. He took it all in a
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: blank of an eye, with no.
• 33:11
  Speaker 5: Regard the loss of Gloria. Troy weighed heavily on Greg
• 33:18
  Speaker 5: Greer as the prosecution ended. He knew this was going
• 33:22
  Speaker 5: to be the last case of his career. He was surveilling,
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: he was stalking, he was hunting that night, absolutely, and
• 33:31
  Speaker 5: Greg Greer was confident he'd proven that to the jury.
• 33:44
  Speaker 5: When it was time to present Billy Rickman's defense, his
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: lawyer did not call any witnesses and did not put
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: Rickman on the stand. He argued in his closing that
• 33:54
  Speaker 5: investigators failed to look at any other possible suspects, said
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: prosecutor Greg Greer.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: The defense tried to make a case that somebody else
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: did it.
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: Rickman's defense attorney told jurors that the police investigation was
• 34:12
  Speaker 5: incomplete because Gloria never named Rickman on her nine to
• 34:16
  Speaker 5: one one call and instead described the person who hit
• 34:19
  Speaker 5: her car only as her boyfriend.
• 34:22
  Speaker 6: I think my boyfriend calling made me just hit my car.
• 34:27
  Speaker 5: The trial lasted two weeks. It only took the jury
• 34:30
  Speaker 5: about two hours to reach their verdict guilty of aggravated murder.
• 34:36
  Speaker 5: Rickman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility
• 34:40
  Speaker 5: of brawl.
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: Law enforcement didn't take any steps to locate or arrest
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: Rickman in the days before Gloria's death.
• 34:48
  Speaker 5: Gloria's parents believe Gloria should still be alive, says Megan Driscoll.
• 34:53
  Speaker 5: She has filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of
• 34:56
  Speaker 5: Gloria's son against the City of Lakewood and its police department.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: They wanted accountability for what happened to their daughter, and
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: their sister and their loved one, and they believed that
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: it was mismanaged and mishandled by law enforcement. This woman
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: was deprived of justice and should not have been killed.
• 35:19
  Speaker 5: Driscoll says, one of the ironies of the case is
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: that the prosecution used Rickman's egregious stalking as evidence to
• 35:26
  Speaker 5: help them secure the homicide conviction. So that very same
• 35:31
  Speaker 5: evidence that was presented the homicide trial, you're now using
• 35:34
  Speaker 5: your wrongful death lawsuit to show what you believe is
• 35:39
  Speaker 5: the Lakewood police not doing their jobs right.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: I mean, this death was incredibly foreseeable, and we know
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: that from the prosecution. We know that the jury convicted him.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: This wasn't a mystery of who did this or why
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: it was as foreseeable as it was preventable.
• 35:58
  Speaker 5: You're focused on lake Wid police and what they did
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: and did not do. So outline for us what should
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: they have done, plain and.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: Simple, Plain and simple, lake WIDPEDI should have found Rickman
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: and arrested him to protect Gloria.
• 36:22
  Speaker 12: My name is Russ Hicks. I'm a retired law enforcement officer.
• 36:26
  Speaker 12: I was a lead instructor for domestic violence for many years.
• 36:30
  Speaker 5: Russ Hicks was hired by Driscoll as an expert witness
• 36:34
  Speaker 5: in part because he has a special connection to the case.
• 36:38
  Speaker 12: So I know they received the proper training because I
• 36:40
  Speaker 12: was their instructor at the police academy and I taught
• 36:44
  Speaker 12: these three officers that were.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: Involved in this case.
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: And Hicks says those officers failed Gloria. One example, one
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: of the Lakewood officers says he left a voicemail for Rickman,
• 36:56
  Speaker 5: which Hicks considers a mistake.
• 36:59
  Speaker 12: I think it conveays a missa such that we're not
• 37:00
  Speaker 12: taking this seriously and we're not looking for you, just
• 37:03
  Speaker 12: saying that we'd.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Like to talk to you.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: And the sad irony of it is when you call
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: a domestic violence perpetrator like Rickman, that actually just escalates
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: the danger to the victim even more.
• 37:15
  Speaker 5: That officer says he drove around looking for Rickman's BMW,
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: but Driscoll says there is no police record of that.
• 37:23
  Speaker 5: Driscoll also says Gloria told the officer she believed Rickman
• 37:26
  Speaker 5: was staying at a nearby motel, and as it turned out,
• 37:30
  Speaker 5: the home motel is only a six minute walk from
• 37:33
  Speaker 5: the Holiday Inn.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: It would have been so easy to find him because
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: he was there to be found.
• 37:41
  Speaker 5: Driscoll also says officers failed Gloria by not following up
• 37:46
  Speaker 5: on the detailed description of the truck Rickman was driving
• 37:50
  Speaker 5: given to them by the desk clerk at the Holiday Inn.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: In normal law enforcement practice, they should send out a
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: bulk be on the lookout, saying this is a base
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: Chevy Colorado, broken tail lights, look for this guy.
• 38:06
  Speaker 7: They didn't do that. He was half a block away.
• 38:10
  Speaker 5: Some forty eight hours before her murder. Driscoll says Gloria
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: gave one of the officers a comprehensive seven page document.
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: In it, Gloria details the many times she said Rickman
• 38:22
  Speaker 5: violated the no contact order. His emails, his calls, and
• 38:27
  Speaker 5: a still frame from one of the holiday and videos.
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: Even with that.
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: Report in hand, Driscoll says police took no action.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: They had everything they needed and more to arrest him.
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: In addressing the Troy family's wrongful death lawsuit, a city
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: lawyer told a judge in January twenty twenty five, the
• 38:49
  Speaker 5: police have no obligation to go and arrest someone like
• 38:53
  Speaker 5: Rickman if he is not at the scene. At that hearing,
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: the judge asked the city's lawlawyer, a police officer could
• 39:02
  Speaker 5: still sit back and do nothing in response to a
• 39:05
  Speaker 5: complaint by a domestic violence victim because there's no duty
• 39:08
  Speaker 5: to look for the abuser. The city's lawyer answered, that's correct.
• 39:14
  Speaker 5: John Justice, the attorney representing the city and the Lakewood
• 39:18
  Speaker 5: Police Department, said he could not comment on pending litigation.
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: Tell me a little bit about how she changed your life.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: She always reminded me that I was a good person
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: no matter what, and that I was a good mom
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: because I doubted myself a lot, and she reminded me
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: every day.
• 39:43
  Speaker 9: That I was good.
• 39:45
  Speaker 5: How much did that change you? And your self?
• 39:48
  Speaker 4: Worth so much more than I could probably describe it.
• 39:52
  Speaker 4: Gave me hope.
• 39:59
  Speaker 5: Prosecutor my career retired in twenty twenty four. He's still
• 40:03
  Speaker 5: trying to, in his words, find his way back to
• 40:07
  Speaker 5: humanity and forget the violence that surrounded him for so
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: many years. But he's still haunted by Gloria's last words
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: on that nine one one call.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: I did learn the Korean language while I was in
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: the Air Force, and I could hear very clearly Gloria
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: calling for her mother.
• 40:27
  Speaker 9: And what is the word that you hear.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: It's umah omah and she's just frantically desperation. Calling for
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: her mother tells you a lot about human nature, and yeah,
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: it's one of the saddest things you'll ever hear.
• 41:17
  Speaker 5: Dott