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Vanessa Ladouceur - With A Million Other Choices · Least of These

0:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to least of these, where I cover the cases that need it most, because every life matters and everyone deserves justice.
0:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm your host, Leia D. Well, I was supposed to have an episode out this week, but the surgery I had planned while on Christmas break had to happen sooner than expected.
0:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm all good though, and everything went well, and I'll be back at it in the new year.
0:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't want to leave y'all out here hanging with nothing to listen to, so while I'm out, I'll be featuring a few of my favorite podcasts.
0:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of the hosts have been featured before, so you might be familiar, and some you might not have heard of before.
0:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So stick around, you might find a new show to binge over the holiday season.
0:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Today, our friend Kim at a million other choices is here to fill in.
0:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Many of you may know Kim Toler, we got to know each other after I covered her niece Taylor Toler's case on this podcast, and to know Kim is to love her.
0:59
[SPEAKER_01]: She knows all too well the reality of violent crime, and shares the stories of others with a deep respect for the victim and their families.
1:09
[SPEAKER_01]: If you've listened to a million other choices before, then you know that our friend can this Canadian, and she covers cases from her home country.
1:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And she just so happened to launch a side series this week called Let's Talk About Murder, where she discusses the differences between Canada and the U.S. when it comes to justice and murder.
1:30
[SPEAKER_01]: It's interesting and formative and Kim breaks it all down in a way that's easy to understand.
1:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's a bonus.
1:37
[SPEAKER_01]: This series is in addition to her regular episodes and can be found right there on her feed alongside the rest of her episodes.
1:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all should check it out.
1:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be sure to drop links as always in the show notes.
1:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Today, Kim is bringing us a story of 30-year-old Vanessa Lataker.
1:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Vanessa was a fitness instructor who was only steps away from her workplace in downtown Calgary when she was brutally attacked in broad daylight by a stranger and March of 2022.
2:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's join Kim as she tells Vanessa's story.
2:26
[SPEAKER_04]: I know you told your friend you're not okay And tell me what's wrong and why I've never said you felt the way Because you try to stay strong And fake a smile and tear away But I'm only too long It hurts to watch your blue eyes fade to grey As you fade away
2:57
[SPEAKER_00]: feel like I haven't done a hometown case in a while.
3:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been waiting for some more recent cases in Calgary to move through the court system and Justice moves very slowly around these parts and also information gets hard to track down until well after the fact and I was
3:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Hoping to have some sentencing documents or appeals or something on today's case, but it's a little bit too recent for that But I'm gonna tell Vanessa Laticor's case because she deserves a voice and I'm sure most of you have never heard of Vanessa
3:34
[SPEAKER_00]: until today.
3:35
[SPEAKER_00]: But first of all, I probably don't have to tell you this, but I am not an expert on much of anything.
3:42
[SPEAKER_00]: If my bad pronunciations didn't give that away, I'm not a psychiatrist or a lawyer or forensic expert, I'm not even in law enforcement, nothing like that.
3:53
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do really like to learn things like I'm interested in a lot of stuff and when I try to learn something I try to do it from credible sources like I do Google stuff, but I do try to inject some common sense into it I don't spend a lot of time on blogs or webMD
4:13
[SPEAKER_00]: But in the end, I am just an accountant with a podcast, so take what I say with whatever you think it's worth here.
4:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And a disclaimer that I'm starting today's episode with a topic that actually has nothing to do with today's case, but you'll see why I bring it up a little bit later.
4:32
[SPEAKER_00]: If to trust me, it will all come together here or just settle down.
4:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And that topic is schizophrenia, yes, that dreaded word that probably 75% of criminals who commit violent crimes try to use as an excuse for their behavior.
4:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And schizophrenia is an actual legitimate diagnosis, but let's sort of talk about it and how it relates to NCR or not criminally responsible, otherwise known as insanity defenses.
5:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Now the DSM-5 goes into great detail about diagnosing schizophrenia that the person has to have two or more of the following things, the majority of the time for a period of at least 30 days.
5:18
[SPEAKER_00]: But they go into a lot of detail about some other things that have to be ruled out first and a lot of blah, blah, blah, blah.
5:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not trying to learn how to be a psychiatrist.
5:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually have a
5:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I am taking the majority of the criteria for diagnosis from the Mayo Clinic who kind of summarizes a little bit better for us.
5:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Number one is delusions, which are different from hallucinations.
5:50
[SPEAKER_00]: It is simply a belief that something is true or real that isn't.
5:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So like a paranoid feeling that your coworker is plotting to get you fired when in reality they're just eating a turkey sandwich.
6:03
[SPEAKER_00]: that could be an example of a delusion, but a better example is like someone who believes that the government is tapping their phone, like that is a delusion, or that drinking wine is considered a serving of fruit.
6:18
[SPEAKER_00]: We can all be delusional at times, but if you are consistently delusional about
6:28
[SPEAKER_00]: hallucinations are actually hearing or seeing things that are not there.
6:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And these appear really very real to the person.
6:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not easy to talk them into like they're just seeing hearing things.
6:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Like their brain is actually playing tricks on them.
6:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And I imagine that is a very scary symptom for someone.
6:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think we need a little bit of compassion there.
6:52
[SPEAKER_00]: That would be no fun at all regardless of what the voices are telling you to do or not do.
6:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Disorganized speech and thought.
7:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So people with schizophrenia tend to kind of ramble or maybe answer questions that weren't what was asked.
7:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Now very rarely do they just put together a bunch of random words like word salad.
7:18
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just what they're talking about, isn't maybe unlogical order, or doesn't make a lot of sense to someone.
7:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Now people with ADHD and anxiety issues can kind of ramble too, but this would sound a little bit more concerning, like instead of just kind of wishing that they'd get back on subject, you would be thinking like, what are you talking about?
7:41
[SPEAKER_00]: They can be extremely disorganized and I do not mean like a messy room or like the school binder with paper sticking out of it all over, but like behavior that doesn't seem to have a goal.
7:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, how will you pull your laundry out of the dryer?
7:59
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
8:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So whether you fold your laundry or not is not my business, I'm not judging.
8:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just saying that the goal is likely to be to fold it, like one piece at a time, with the ultimate goal of placing it in a laundry bin, to take that bin into the next room or whatever you do with it.
8:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes you can get distracted in that goal, right?
8:24
[SPEAKER_00]: The cat vomits, or you over here, your five-year-old starting the car in the garage, or something like that.
8:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, with someone with schizophrenia, they may not fold the laundry at all.
8:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, maybe they'll take one article out and then put it somewhere that doesn't make sense.
8:42
[SPEAKER_00]: and then move on to something else entirely.
8:45
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not about being distracted or messy.
8:50
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about not moving or behaving in a way that makes logical sense.
8:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And then lastly, there are behavioral changes, such as no longer making eye contact or they stop their daily hygiene, or they just kind of sound very flat when they talk,
9:09
[SPEAKER_00]: can of course mimic some other symptoms of some other mental health issues.
9:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So all of this brings me to schizophrenia when it comes to violent behavior.
9:20
[SPEAKER_00]: It's probably not a surprise to you that schizophrenia is highly stigmatized as a mental health diagnosis, which
9:30
[SPEAKER_00]: probably generally has to do with people claiming that the voices made them do it when they get caught, depending on crime, then it does with any actual facts about it.
9:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, only about 1% of the entire global population actually has schizophrenia, which is still 3.2 million Americans, and most of those people are diagnosed between 16 and 25 years old.
9:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, sadly, schizophrenia reduces a person's lifespan by about 28.5 years.
10:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, that's globally, and generally, because the risk of suicide is a lot higher for them
10:11
[SPEAKER_00]: But also, because in many countries, there is not a lot of treatment options and the stigma, of course, like if you think the stigma is bad around these parts, well.
10:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And speaking of stigma, despite a lot of common fears when hearing the word schizophrenia,
10:31
[SPEAKER_00]: People with the diagnosis are actually far more likely to either be a danger to themselves or become victims of other people than to victimize another person.
10:42
[SPEAKER_00]: But of course the fear persists.
10:44
[SPEAKER_00]: When people think of schizophrenia, they of course think of the word psychotic or psychosis.
10:50
[SPEAKER_00]: which are not actual diagnosis, but rather symptoms, and it just means losing touch with reality and can be caused by, yes, schizophrenia, but also by substance abuse, sleep disturbances, or even things like Parkinson's or epilepsy.
11:10
[SPEAKER_00]: It can also be temporary, whereas schizophrenia is a chronic illness, but not necessarily due schizophrenia.
11:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Remain in a constant state of psychosis, if that makes sense, and all of this is different than the word psychopath or psychopathy.
11:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Being a psychopath is not a mental health condition.
11:32
[SPEAKER_00]: It's generally like being an asshole as a personality.
11:36
[SPEAKER_00]: You will not find it in the DSM5.
11:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it used to be, but it used to be called anti-social personality.
11:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it simply refers to a neurodevelopment disorder that makes it difficult for someone to feel empathy.
11:49
[SPEAKER_00]: It is characterized by reduced empathy and remorse during or reckless behaviors, a lack of inhibition and aggressive or violent behaviors, although that last one isn't always a given.
12:04
[SPEAKER_00]: There are layers to it, and some feel psychopathy is more like a spectrum.
12:10
[SPEAKER_00]: But despite some negative myths about schizophrenia, there are some alarming statistics about it.
12:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is that a person with schizophrenia is about four to six times more likely to commit a violent offense than say the average person.
12:27
[SPEAKER_00]: 6% of homicides are committed with people with schizophrenia, but to put that into perspective, that means that 94% of homicides are committed by just plain assholes.
12:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Probably by psychopaths, but don't take that as fact.
12:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just making that up.
12:44
[SPEAKER_00]: However, unlike the average asshole, there are some warning signs and people with schizophrenia that can indicate that a person is leaning towards maybe becoming violent.
12:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Very rarely do they just kind of spin out of control on a whim.
13:01
[SPEAKER_00]: They may start by talking a little bit more about violence or anger against a certain person or like a group of people.
13:10
[SPEAKER_00]: They start writing or drawing about violence and death and start to behave and just kind of slightly more aggressive ways than they normally would.
13:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And also start trying to maybe get their hands on some weapons.
13:23
[SPEAKER_00]: not necessarily guns, but they could be like hiding knives or something like that.
13:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's just a general increase in their paranoia.
13:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, here is something that should probably get your attention just as in the neurotypical population, self-medicating schizophrenia with drugs and alcohol can and often does lead to violence.
13:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, the biggest culprits of that being cocaine and methanphetamines.
13:51
[SPEAKER_00]: But also in people that are prone to psychosis, weed is a big one.
13:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So although we like to think of marijuana as pretty harmless, it can be problematic, let's say, in certain populations.
14:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, under the law, if a person with schizophrenia commits a violent defense, say murder, it's not a jet get out of jail free card automatically.
14:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you have to prove that at the moment the crime was committed, you were in a state of psychosis.
14:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So out of touch with reality,
14:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And that being out of touch with reality was not induced by illicit drugs or alcohol.
14:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you can't claim that you're a schizophrenic and you didn't know what you were doing if you were also taking methamphetamines.
14:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Juries do not like those chicken and the egg things and will likely not rule in your favor.
14:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So you have to have been sick enough and again, this is at the actual time of the crime.
14:52
[SPEAKER_00]: to have either not understood the consequences of your actions or the actions themselves like the wrongfulness of them.
15:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Like it's like the Vince Lee case believing fully that he was slaying a dragon and not be heading an actual person.
15:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So, generally speaking, when someone is in a state of psychosis, like a true state of psychosis, and not like a made up one, they don't make moves to cover up or clean up crime scenes.
15:25
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't hide their weapons, lie about their whereabouts, or say, take out life insurance policies on people.
15:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And they may not remember committing the actual crime, but they don't try to hide it, if that makes sense.
15:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, remember, they're thinking in their behaviors or not, like, they're disordered.
15:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So, they're not a goal-oriented regardless of their, whether they're having hallucinations or not.
15:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so now that I have taken up 15 minutes of your time with stuff that has nothing to do with today's case,
15:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get started on what we all came here for, and these were just my highly summarized bullet points on this stuff.
16:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, just an accountant with podcast and kind of a big mouth about the assets of the world.
16:13
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the murder of an esallot occur.
16:17
[SPEAKER_07]: Believe me, if I started murdering people, it'd be none of your life.
16:26
[SPEAKER_07]: We are all evil, in some form or in other form.
16:31
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I'm not guilty.
16:32
[SPEAKER_05]: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
16:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Vanessa Lataker was born June 4th, 1991 to her mum, Erica, and her dad, who I believe was named Leon, but I could be wrong about that.
16:56
[SPEAKER_00]: She had a sister named Renee with whom she was very close, and Erica raised both Renee and Vanessa as a single mum.
17:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, unfortunately, I don't have a lot of details about her childhood or
17:08
[SPEAKER_00]: where she grew up.
17:10
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do know that she grew into a lovely woman that was working really hard at fulfilling her dreams and that her mom, Erica, had often worked two jobs to give them the life that she felt that they really deserved never kind of going without anything.
17:27
[SPEAKER_00]: The three of them were kind of like the three musketeers.
17:30
[SPEAKER_00]: They went camping, hiking, they went to galleries together,
17:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And Vanessa was a bit of a fitness junkie, which of course led to her having a very tone and healthy figure, and she took very good care of herself physically, which of course resulted in this effortless beauty that she had, but she wasn't just beautiful on the outside.
17:55
[SPEAKER_00]: She was on the inside as well, like her family described her as ridiculously funny and just
18:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And this kindness was something that just made her more lovely than even her locks of blonde hair that was always very well styled, like she genuinely cared about people.
18:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And particularly people that were experiencing hardships.
18:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Erica had told Brittany Jervais of the Calgary Harald in 2022 that Vanessa had a soft spot in her heart for people that were living homeless in our cities downtown court and heard her mum had volunteered at different homeless shelters in the city.
18:42
[SPEAKER_00]: She would like give someone a sandwich and she bought mittens when it was cold and she would hang the mittens along the trees along
18:55
[SPEAKER_00]: as she had gotten to know a few people that were living rough and she would refer to them by names, she would buy them coffee and just be really, really kind and compassionate to them.
19:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Her mum says that on one Thanksgiving, she actually used her own money, which she didn't have a lot of, to buy one particular person a meal and some socks and some gloves for them because it was getting
19:20
[SPEAKER_00]: She read a lot.
19:21
[SPEAKER_00]: She was interested in a wide variety of topics from different religions to politics.
19:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And she was a particular fan of the writings of the humanitarian Maya Angelou and Martin Luther King Jr.
19:35
[SPEAKER_00]: She was also very into fitness, as I said, and she was training with a boxer to do an Iron Man competition.
19:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So she had put actually her love of fitness into her career, and was working as a personal trainer at Heaven Fitness in the Palace of Self High Rise, which was just a few blocks from her apartment, don't tell.
19:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And before that, she had actually worked at a spin cycle studio, and if you've ever taken a spin class, you know that, well, for one thing it's very good cardio.
20:05
[SPEAKER_00]: But the instructors are, they're always really outgoing, and I think they make it a lot of fun.
20:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was the kind of person to was, just fun and just a very kind soul.
20:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Early in the morning of March 18th, 2022, Phoenesses World would collide with a man named Michael Adedi.
20:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael was about the same age as Phoeness and I don't know much about him or his childhood and family either.
20:32
[SPEAKER_00]: But that March he was 26 years old and Vanessa was 30 just about to turn 31.
20:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael was also outgoing and into fitness.
20:42
[SPEAKER_00]: He played basketball and he did some boxing.
20:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure what he did for a living, but he had a YouTube channel that he was working on growing under the name of
20:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael Adedi, 412, now his description read on the rise, support your man, future boxing champion, road to 1 million followers, reactions, skits, sports and all things anime.
21:08
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I don't know about getting to a million followers, but he has just over 1100 after 7 years on YouTube.
21:16
[SPEAKER_00]: His first post was on February 26, 2018.
21:20
[SPEAKER_00]: He was just kind of showing off some dance moves.
21:24
[SPEAKER_00]: It got only 94 views, but specific potato 9024 commented that he or she was a big fan.
21:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Most of the videos are anime and other reviews and reactions to things.
21:36
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the early days of YouTube, so the quality isn't great, but he comes off as quite knowledgeable about his topics of choice.
21:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, his videos on TikTok, I guess, have been more successful, he's got about 40,000 subscribers there.
21:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if that's good or not, I have kind of avoided TikTok, but it sounds moderately successful.
21:58
[SPEAKER_00]: In October of 2018, he posted a video about tips on being successful in life called inspiration five keys to for a success in life.
22:07
[SPEAKER_06]: There you are.
22:08
[SPEAKER_06]: I wanted to talk to you about five key things that have helped me change my life into Excel and these are five important keys that people don't tell you in high school that you really need to know.
22:21
[SPEAKER_06]: CCP MF.
22:23
[SPEAKER_06]: Change, choice, passion, mistakes, forgiveness.
22:28
[SPEAKER_06]: Now, change is constant.
22:32
[SPEAKER_06]: It's the one thing that you can always count on to be there.
22:37
[SPEAKER_06]: Change.
22:38
[SPEAKER_06]: It's going to happen regardless.
22:40
[SPEAKER_06]: Whether you want it to or not.
22:42
[SPEAKER_06]: So you really have to decide who you want to be.
22:44
[SPEAKER_06]: six, five, three months from now.
22:47
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, except to you, you can be, you can stay in the same horrible circle of friends that you have.
22:52
[SPEAKER_06]: You can stay that, not work out.
22:55
[SPEAKER_06]: You can not go to class, ditch, but that's gonna affect you, because you're not always gonna have that opportunity, you know, because really changes a lack in gain of opportunities.
23:07
[SPEAKER_06]: But your opportunities pretend they depend on you.
23:13
[SPEAKER_06]: that's one thing.
23:14
[SPEAKER_06]: Choice is the next.
23:16
[SPEAKER_06]: You have a choice that goes with change.
23:19
[SPEAKER_06]: Like I said, opportunities are created by you and your choices.
23:22
[SPEAKER_06]: Everything is dependent on the choice.
23:24
[SPEAKER_06]: You can decide who you want to be in life through choosing.
23:27
[SPEAKER_06]: Just make a choice.
23:28
[SPEAKER_06]: Choose.
23:29
[SPEAKER_06]: I want to be fit.
23:30
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay.
23:31
[SPEAKER_06]: Then take steps to be fit.
23:33
[SPEAKER_06]: Eat better.
23:34
[SPEAKER_06]: Work out.
23:36
[SPEAKER_06]: drink more water.
23:37
[SPEAKER_06]: Speak positive.
23:38
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, watch workout videos.
23:41
[SPEAKER_06]: I don't know.
23:42
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay.
23:43
[SPEAKER_06]: I don't know.
23:43
[SPEAKER_06]: But that's what you need to do.
23:45
[SPEAKER_06]: In that field, in those range of things, you make a choice and you stick to it.
23:50
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay.
23:50
[SPEAKER_06]: You want to be a good computer scientist.
23:52
[SPEAKER_06]: You want to be a good math, get a study.
23:55
[SPEAKER_06]: You got to practice, you got to code, you know, you got to make a choice.
23:58
[SPEAKER_06]: Third is passion.
24:00
[SPEAKER_06]: One of the things that people don't understand is that passion is not something you find.
24:04
[SPEAKER_06]: It's something you create.
24:06
[SPEAKER_06]: You have to create passion.
24:08
[SPEAKER_06]: When people tell you, oh, just, you know, go to school and you'll figure out your passion.
24:13
[SPEAKER_06]: Don't worry about being confused right now.
24:15
[SPEAKER_06]: You'll get it.
24:17
[SPEAKER_06]: It's not really like that.
24:19
[SPEAKER_06]: You need to really take the time to,
24:24
[SPEAKER_06]: get to know yourself and then get to the grind, you know, because the hard reality in life is there are winners and there are losers and winners no matter what.
24:36
[SPEAKER_06]: Something they don't tell you in high school.
24:39
[SPEAKER_06]: You'll find that in college, even in some colleges, a lot of colleges don't tell you, there are losers and winners in life.
24:46
[SPEAKER_06]: Unfortunately, there are people who are going to be working shitty jobs, working for other people, working at nine to seven, even though they don't want it, but it's a part of life.
24:58
[SPEAKER_06]: You have to really get to know yourself, work hard, decide you want it.
25:03
[SPEAKER_06]: and then work towards it.
25:05
[SPEAKER_06]: You create your passion, you know.
25:07
[SPEAKER_06]: Steve George doesn't just wake up and, hey, I got the iPhone, you know, he had to go in a, he went on a spiritual journey to find himself and then he, he worked at trying to create this thing that was in his head in reality.
25:20
[SPEAKER_06]: I mean, it was difficult and he probably wasn't fun all the time, you know, but the fun comes once it becomes a passion, but it becomes a passion when you make it one.
25:28
[SPEAKER_06]: See if the work towards it?
25:31
[SPEAKER_06]: No, LeBron James didn't just wake up a great basketball player, he worked towards it.
25:35
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, something you have to work towards.
25:38
[SPEAKER_06]: Floyd Mayweather, greatest boxer of all time, my opinion, my favorite boxer.
25:43
[SPEAKER_06]: He puts him more work than anybody.
25:46
[SPEAKER_06]: And you see the result, you see the result.
25:49
[SPEAKER_06]: Uh, if you're out of it, I don't know if you've ever been boxing, but it's difficult.
25:53
[SPEAKER_06]: It's a difficult thing.
25:54
[SPEAKER_06]: I'm a boxer myself.
25:55
[SPEAKER_06]: So I know.
25:56
[SPEAKER_06]: I'm not a professional amateur, but I box, a very difficult thing.
26:01
[SPEAKER_06]: And at times it cannot be fun, you know, but I can tell you for sure in the beginning of a lot harder than it is now.
26:07
[SPEAKER_06]: It's becoming, it is a passion of mine now because I made it so okay the next is mistakes You know, it's okay to make mistakes in life.
26:15
[SPEAKER_06]: You're gonna make mistakes Don't stay in the past don't stick to the past move forward because mistakes just keep you on a cycle
26:24
[SPEAKER_06]: Just in a cycle.
26:26
[SPEAKER_06]: Don't live in the past.
26:26
[SPEAKER_06]: You're making mistakes.
26:27
[SPEAKER_06]: Learn from them.
26:28
[SPEAKER_06]: Mistakes are there to seek failure.
26:31
[SPEAKER_06]: Because failure actually shows you what's right and what's wrong.
26:36
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, it gives you a clear idea of things you need to work on and things that aren't working.
26:43
[SPEAKER_06]: So it's actually pretty good, you know, it's not, you know, it doesn't kill you to make mistakes, you know, aid pluses and bees and classes don't really matter in the real world.
26:53
[SPEAKER_06]: They don't decide who you are where you're going to go.
26:56
[SPEAKER_06]: And a lot of people who got multiple A's, but ended up flanking high school, flanking college, you know.
27:05
[SPEAKER_06]: Straight as students, when straight the college and didn't want to do it anymore, quit it, to go become artists or musicians or stuff like that.
27:12
[SPEAKER_06]: You know?
27:14
[SPEAKER_06]: It's the reality.
27:17
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, you're going to make a mistake.
27:18
[SPEAKER_06]: It's going to happen except it.
27:21
[SPEAKER_06]: But I understand that it's not in the world.
27:24
[SPEAKER_06]: Last one, the most important one I believe is forgiveness.
27:30
[SPEAKER_06]: I'm going to go through a lot
27:35
[SPEAKER_06]: Talk about about you, maybe you break your heart, leave you divorce you, steal from you, make fun of you, talk about you, but just realize that you have to forgive all that.
27:50
[SPEAKER_06]: Ten a lot of people to keep you down, you know, because the only person who can keep you down is you Forgiveness is a way to let go and then move forward, you know, that goes with choice as well.
28:01
[SPEAKER_06]: You're making a choice to forgive somebody so you leave that cycle of constant hatred and confusion, you know, forgiveness, forgive When you don't forgive somebody you you keep yourself in the past and you keep yourself in that situation in that mindset of pain So I got this different gift, you know
28:19
[SPEAKER_06]: He says things in simple ways, got says things in simple ways, but such a big master piece behind what he's trying to give you.
28:25
[SPEAKER_06]: He's telling you to forgive because it's a way to let go.
28:28
[SPEAKER_06]: Take a deep breath from the footer, take a deep breath.
28:34
[SPEAKER_06]: It's okay.
28:36
[SPEAKER_06]: Forgive.
28:36
[SPEAKER_06]: Maybe good.
28:40
[SPEAKER_06]: That issue, the person they cannot keep you down, they cannot stop you from reaching your potential.
28:48
[SPEAKER_06]: Only you can.
28:50
[SPEAKER_06]: Forgive them.
28:50
[SPEAKER_06]: Move on, Billy.
28:51
[SPEAKER_06]: It's okay, baby.
28:51
[SPEAKER_06]: You do you?
28:52
[SPEAKER_06]: I'm going to go ahead and do me and be I.
28:56
[SPEAKER_06]: All right.
28:57
[SPEAKER_06]: So remember, change, choice, passion, mistakes, forgiveness.
29:01
[SPEAKER_06]: Five keys from my Glidene.
29:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And just two weeks before his world collided with Vanessa, he posted this video teaching the historical inspirations behind some popular anime characters called Demi Gods in one piece question mark.
29:17
[SPEAKER_05]: One piece theory is part thirty sinks.
29:19
[SPEAKER_05]: What if I told you that every single straw hat represents a mythological character?
29:23
[SPEAKER_05]: Starting with the power and hunter of Zoro, I want you to take notice of his multiple hands, multiple swords, and multiple heads.
29:29
[SPEAKER_05]: Pay attention to that.
29:30
[SPEAKER_05]: That's because Zoro's character is inspired by people like this, Ademicog named Asura, from the Hinduism religion.
29:37
[SPEAKER_05]: Next we have everyone's favorite part, Monkey D. Woofee, but the secret in hint are in his name.
29:43
[SPEAKER_05]: Woofee is inspired by Wookong, or Sung Wookong, Kano reminds you of Sunggod Niko, right?
29:49
[SPEAKER_05]: Next we have Franky.
29:51
[SPEAKER_05]: If you didn't know Franky's inspired my Frankenstein guest at Tony Tony Chopper is inspired by the abominable snowman.
29:58
[SPEAKER_05]: As for not least, we have Mr. King of Snipers, Uso, I'll give you a hit.
30:03
[SPEAKER_05]: His inspiration, this kind of a trickster, kind of like him.
30:06
[SPEAKER_05]: And his inspiration is Loki.
30:08
[SPEAKER_05]: They're both tricksters, kind of deceivers, but they both have a lot of raw power.
30:12
[SPEAKER_00]: which he posted on March 2nd.
30:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Shadow pulse feed, which is another YouTube channel, notes that in his videos, he appears to have lower cognitive function and is kind of immature for his age, but I don't really feel that, but you can decide that for yourself.
30:31
[SPEAKER_00]: That morning, Michael left his apartment building, taking his bike with him and his backpack.
30:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Now he leaves the building, he's kind of having some issues maneuvering his bike through the double set of glass doors of his high-rise building.
30:44
[SPEAKER_00]: This was at 630 in the morning.
30:46
[SPEAKER_00]: He's wearing a gray hoodie and jeans with white sneakers and just kind of appears to be on his way to either work or school.
30:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Vanessa leaves her building at around the same time, and she's just about a block or so away from Michael's building.
31:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Moments later, she's seen walking past a bar called Bottle Screw Bills at 1-40-10th Avenue Southwest.
31:12
[SPEAKER_00]: She is wearing all black.
31:14
[SPEAKER_00]: She's also carrying a backpack.
31:16
[SPEAKER_00]: She passes Michael on his bike now.
31:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure if he was riding in the opposite direction or if he was like taking a break and just like leaning on his bike and standing next to it.
31:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't really see that on the surveillance footage that was released but all the reports that I've read say that he was on his bike, which would make sense seeing that he took his bike with him
31:41
[SPEAKER_00]: But at some point, he gets off of the bike or leaves the bike behind, like leaves it park somewhere.
31:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Footage from a few seconds after this sort of chance passing on the sidewalk, Vanessa is continuing to walk towards the palaces south building down 10th Avenue.
32:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael's about a block behind her, but he's walking rather quickly so he's gaining some ground on her.
32:09
[SPEAKER_00]: At 6.39 she starts to walk past the opening of like a parking garage, so it's kind of like an alleyway, but it leads into this like parking lot underground.
32:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael is now
32:27
[SPEAKER_00]: appears that he's going to pass her on the right, but he also has this kind of dark object in his hand.
32:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And just as like a truck passes them on the road beside the sidewalk where they are, they both are, he body checks her and sends her it to the ground in this
32:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Once on the ground, he stabbed Vanessa eight times within knife, which they believe was the object that he had been carrying, and it was initially packed in his bag.
33:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Six of those stab wounds were to Vanessa's face, fracturing her jaw and cheekbone, and then one of the wounds was to her chest, which created a large amount of blood loss.
33:16
[SPEAKER_00]: A witness that was in a building nearby heard Vanessa screams and he had ran to his window and saw what was happening and he yelled at Michael to stop what he was doing.
33:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So then Michael then ran away just as a security officer from the parking garage where this elclove was, ran towards her to help.
33:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Vanessa had actually managed to get herself up off the ground and had stumbled to like kind of a lobby of a building.
33:45
[SPEAKER_00]: The witness in the security guard reached her at kind of the same time.
33:48
[SPEAKER_00]: They were both calling 911 and they started putting pressure on her chest wound.
33:54
[SPEAKER_00]: The security guard held her hand to the told her that it was going to be okay.
33:59
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, help us on the way just hanging there.
34:01
[SPEAKER_00]: But she did slip out of consciousness.
34:04
[SPEAKER_00]: The paramedics arrived, and of course rushed her to the foothills hospital where she was pronounced dead on a rival.
34:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Now a police officer had traveled in the ambulance with Vanessa, and when they arrived, he was told by one of the nurses that this man had just come in.
34:21
[SPEAKER_00]: He had some cuts on his hands, and he had said they had been from falling off of his skateboard and onto some glass.
34:30
[SPEAKER_00]: and that didn't make sense to her of that man, of course, was Michael Adetti, who was arrested and then taken in for questioning right then and there.
34:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Now Michael denied having killed Vanessa and said that when the knife had actually been found in the parcade where Vanessa had been attacked was tested for DNA, he said his DNA would not be on it.
34:54
[SPEAKER_07]: Are we gonna find Vanessa's DNA on on your shoes?
34:59
[SPEAKER_07]: No, the pants?
35:00
[SPEAKER_07]: No, no, you're sure about that, yeah.
35:02
[SPEAKER_00]: However, of course, test came back that both Vanessa and Michael's blood was on that night.
35:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, on surveillance footage at 641, Michael runs to the back of the Ramada hotel in this alleyway where there's a big blue dumpster bin.
35:18
[SPEAKER_00]: He's wearing his black gloves.
35:21
[SPEAKER_00]: He lifts the dumpster lid well, kind of looking around nervously and discards this folding knife and his backpack.
35:30
[SPEAKER_00]: He then heads westbound down the end of the alley.
35:33
[SPEAKER_00]: When she owned the surveillance footage by, then, of course, changed his tune, said that, well, actually, I see demons, and I was afraid for my life, because she was actually this creature, and it was kind of a killer be killed in that situation.
35:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And it wasn't until he saw the cuts on his hand, that he realized that he had been hallucinating.
35:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And in the process, of course, ended Vanessa's young and very promising life, and, of course, destroyed the lives of Erica Rene and anyone whose lives have been touched by her and her kindness.
36:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So, of course, hinting that this NCR or insanity defense was coming, which is why I spent 15 minutes of your life talking about schizophrenia at the top of this episode.
36:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So that we had some context as to what that means in regards to the law.
36:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, just a few days later after his arrest while sitting in the reman center, which is like our holding jail where you go if you're charged with a crime until you wait for your trial to come up.
36:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael was returning a board game to the cafeteria in his unit, which was unit 10.
36:43
[SPEAKER_00]: When another inmate named Michael Elendue, who is a convicted murderer, who was just waiting to be sentenced and moved to his prison home, punched him.
36:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Now Elendue was accompanied by his buddies Keith Beaver-Bones, who was awaiting trial on four attempted murder charges, and Amundip Sadguu, who was awaiting trial on two counts of first degree murder.
37:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael and Daddy punched Elendue back, but was tackled to the ground before the guards had intervened.
37:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael walked away with a cut on the mouth and a bump on the noggin.
37:22
[SPEAKER_00]: However, I bring up this small incident because during the trial for Elendue, who was charged with
37:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael was cross-examined by the lawyer for Elndo, and it was first suggested that Michael had actually been the one that had started the fight because he had been charged with killing a woman and he needed a little bit of prison credibility or something.
37:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Michael, of course, denied that, but when the lawyer said that, well, you, you have schizophrenia, so that means that you have some problems telling real things from imaginary things, so like, how do we know that you didn't just like hallucinate being attacked?
38:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was asked specifically, you're not able to tell when things are real or imaginary,
38:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, right away, when you're arrested for murder or manslaughter, one of the first orders of business is a psychological assessment to make sure that you are what they call fit to stand trial, that you understand the sort of the legal process and that there's some charges against you.
38:33
[SPEAKER_00]: It is not done automatically.
38:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Your defense lawyer usually applied for a
38:43
[SPEAKER_00]: forensic psychiatric unit to be housed for 30 days, so they can get a sense of, you know, where you're at mental health wise, but it is so commonplace that they might as well make it automatic.
38:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So that was applied for on March 31st of 2022, so within the first month after he was charged.
39:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Now by that time he was actually on his second lawyer, but I'm not sure why his first lawyer Tony Rulston requested to be off the case.
39:14
[SPEAKER_00]: It sounds like it was some kind of leave like maybe a maternity leave or something, not because he was being difficult or anything like that.
39:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was Curtis Meaney who requested the initial assessment on his behalf and he then
39:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was assessed by Dr. David Tano, who found him at the time fit to stand trial.
39:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And now he said that he was fit because he did understand the legal process and that he had the ability to work with and give instructions to his defense attorneys.
39:52
[SPEAKER_00]: But he did point out in this particular assessment that there could be maybe room for an NCR defense because he had auditory hallucinations.
40:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the hearing of voice is not the seeing things.
40:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Or at least Dr. Teno believed that he had auditory hallucinations.
40:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I would think that it would be hard to confirm or deny that since you can't really get into somebody else's head.
40:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Now being fit to stand trial actually doesn't have that much to do with NCR defenses because it's not really any kind of diagnosis.
40:31
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just determining if the person has the ability to understand that they have been charged with a crime.
40:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can be completely well adjusted and sane and still not be considered fit to stand trial, or you can be frothing at the mouth and be considered fit under the law.
40:51
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of a fact.
40:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't fully understand it all, but you get the just of it.
40:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of a mental snapshot in time.
41:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So the assessment is about what's going on with you right now, and an NCR defense is focused on what was going on with you at the exact moment of the crime.
41:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So by July of 2022, Curtis said that he was concerned that Michael's mental state had deteriorated while he was sitting in jail.
41:24
[SPEAKER_00]: and so he wanted another assessment done to determine if he was still fit to stand trial, which to me sounds like kind of another shot at delaying a trial is all that that was, but I was not there.
41:37
[SPEAKER_00]: It just seems odd that he was fit in mid April, but by early July, he's in a bad way already.
41:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And that turned out to be just kind of the beginning of some trial delays.
41:50
[SPEAKER_00]: The trial was originally supposed to start in October of 2023, but this being Canada, I'm not actually surprised that it got pushed back, because
42:02
[SPEAKER_00]: defense, there was because a defense witness wasn't going to be available for them or something.
42:07
[SPEAKER_00]: The standard here for murder trials is usually about two years between arrest and then the opening statements of a trial, so they really didn't surprise me that I got pushed back.
42:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Then it was supposed to start on September 9th of 2024.
42:22
[SPEAKER_00]: But one of the defense attorneys Kim Ross, because by this time he had two attorneys, there was Kim Ross and then Curtis Meaney.
42:30
[SPEAKER_00]: He was recovering from a surgery that he had back in February of 2024, and he wouldn't be able to handle such a complex trial.
42:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So it didn't actually get started until March 31st of 2025.
42:45
[SPEAKER_00]: the justice at this September delay hearing was not really happy about adjourning at then because by that time Michael had been in custody for two years and was getting close to the legal limit under Jordan's law.
43:01
[SPEAKER_00]: which states that trials have to happen within two years of the charges or those charges could basically be stayed, just kind of a get-off-scot-free kind of thing.
43:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that the defense attorneys really love trial delays.
43:17
[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of what they're always hoping for, but she granted the delay anyways because Kim Ross weaved his clients right to the Jordan's Law, which seems
43:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It's also a dick move to delay trials for the victim's family because we tend to rearrange our schedules, plan time off, work to face down our person's killer.
43:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And also because we just want information and you cannot get information until the matter goes to trial.
43:48
[SPEAKER_00]: but the trial did eventually start.
43:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Carla McPhill was the crown prosecutor and then both Kim Ross and Curtis Meaney were the defense attorneys.
43:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard of Kim Ross before, I think he's done a number of high profile cases here in Calgary, but I have not heard Curtis's name before.
44:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And this was all presided over by Justice Jane Sidnell.
44:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Carla McFale told the jury in her opening statement that the defense was going to claim that Michael was not criminally responsible that he had been suffering from this psychotic break and wasn't able to understand that what he was doing was
44:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just legally wrong, but morally wrong, but they were, but they as the prosecutor were going to prove that not only was he responsible, he had planned it and it was a deliberate act of first degree murder, saying, quote,
44:51
[SPEAKER_00]: that he had basically waited for a truck to pass and then pushed her out of sight.
44:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, to mention that he had packed a knife in his backpack for the purposes of killing someone and that he had stabbed her multiple times intentionally killing her.
45:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Now the crown of course relied on the surveillance footage that showed Michael following Vanessa for about two blocks and making ground on her before deliberately attacking her and then of course the footage of him discarding his backpack and this knife and then fleeing the scene, which they felt was proof that he did know what he did was wrong.
45:31
[SPEAKER_00]: as well as he also lied to the nurses at the hospital about how he had gotten the cuts on his hand.
45:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And outright denying that he had killed her, where he was initially questioned.
45:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So all of it they felt proved that Michael was in his so-called right mind and had taken steps to not just stalk his victim, but also try to cover up his tracks.
45:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And that he had purposely packed a knife in his bag that morning because he had
46:00
[SPEAKER_00]: plan to kill someone.
46:02
[SPEAKER_00]: The jury also heard from some quotes from his notebook that he kept that were found in his backpack, which had some notes in it about killing three people and what appeared to be kind of like a hit list of some celebrity names, but there was a lot of context given about his notebooks and so it could have been like just kind of notes
46:29
[SPEAKER_00]: But when it was time, Michael testified on his own behalf, which is a bit of a bold move for the defense.
46:37
[SPEAKER_00]: He testified that at the time he was having these hallucinations due to having schizophrenia, and that he believed that Vanessa was this creature that he had to attack, or he was risked being killed himself.
46:51
[SPEAKER_00]: He said again that he only realized what he had done, that he had done that to a human being when he saw the cuts on his hand.
47:00
[SPEAKER_00]: He claimed that he had actually packed the kitchen knife from his own house because he was afraid of these creatures that he had been seeing recently.
47:09
[SPEAKER_00]: His mother Farida also testified at his behalf saying that he was starting to, he started having these hallucinations around September of 2021 where he would be seeing these frightening looking creatures and animals and that he had started taking these hour-long showers because he wanted to drown out the voices in his head.
47:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Though she claimed it was very real to him that she couldn't see anything but that he would actually at times open the window and then tell them
47:39
[SPEAKER_00]: he would say it was some kind of benevolent animal that he has never seen before, and that was trying to hurt him, and they must sort of get out of his room.
47:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And they were not just regular animals.
47:53
[SPEAKER_00]: They were like bears with bald heads and big eyes.
47:57
[SPEAKER_00]: She went on to say that he was starting to wear his clothes backwards, and would talk to his shoelaces.
48:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Today, Ferret Loyak told the jury her son was scared of animal-like creatures he was seeing since 2021, would talk to his shoelaces and wore his clothes backwards.
48:15
[SPEAKER_02]: The crown suggested Denny's parents never revealed these details to police, because the woman isn't telling the truth to help her son.
48:23
[SPEAKER_02]: His defense argues a Denny should not be criminally responsible by a reason of mental disorder.
48:30
[SPEAKER_00]: They had taken him to a psychiatrist in November, who had given him a prescription for Prozac.
48:37
[SPEAKER_00]: But he had been diagnosed at that time with depressive disorder, which is still a serious mental health diagnosis, but it's not schizophrenia.
48:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So Carla Cross examined her and asked her why she or Michael had never said anything about these animals and creatures when he had been talking to the police or to the psychiatrist that did the assessment and then she had answered that that's not what they were asking us about.
49:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So I guess that answers that question.
49:10
[SPEAKER_03]: And the defense says that there is no doubt that Michael Adennie killed Vanessa Ladessore, but says he should be found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
49:20
[SPEAKER_03]: But the crown maintains that this killing was both planned and deliberate.
49:24
[SPEAKER_03]: Adennie says he was hallucinating of animal-like shadows and beliefs he was attacking demonic creatures.
49:29
[SPEAKER_03]: The defense saying it's clear he was in the midst of a psychotic episode, citing a psychiatrist who testified during the trial that they were concerned Adennie
49:40
[SPEAKER_03]: He was not lying to you.
49:42
[SPEAKER_03]: He was telling the truth, Kim Ross told the jury.
49:44
[SPEAKER_03]: But the crown says that determination was based on outright untruths from both Adenny and his family.
49:50
[SPEAKER_03]: Harlamic Fale told the jury the killing was intentional.
49:54
[SPEAKER_03]: She pointed out the accused waited until Carson passed before tackling the victim out of sight into an alcove.
50:00
[SPEAKER_03]: At a he also ditched his blood cover jacket because he knew what he was doing was wrong.
50:04
[SPEAKER_03]: prosecutors also say no books found in a backpack he dumped in an alley garbage shortly after the attack where he had wrote things like three people to kill and they also pointed out his internet search history for how much blood loss can a person handle.
50:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Now after the defense rested just as Sidna would gave her instructions to the jury and told them that they would have to decide between first and second degree murder, men's slaughter or not criminally responsible.
50:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Saying, Mr. Edetti relies on having suffered from a mental disorder at the time of the offense.
50:39
[SPEAKER_00]: that rendered him incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the attack, or of knowing that the attack on Vanessa was wrong.
50:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Mr. and Daddy has the burden to prove his NCR defense.
50:55
[SPEAKER_00]: If you find that Mr. and Daddy has no approval in his NCR defense, then you will consider the charge that Mr. and Daddy faces.
51:04
[SPEAKER_00]: There will be no more evidence, it is your duty to decide if Mr. and Daddy has proven that it is more likely than not that he is not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder at the time of a crime.
51:16
[SPEAKER_00]: You must make your decision on a rational and fair consideration and not on passion, sympathy or prejudice against Mr. and Daddy.
51:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, in the end, the jury didn't buy his not-cremely responsible claims and rather that it had been planned and deliberate of a murder and found him guilty of the most serious of the charges, which is first-degree murder, which comes with an automatic life-sense with no parole for at least 25 years.
51:46
[SPEAKER_00]: At his sentencing hearing, which is more of a formality for first-degree murder convictions,
51:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Erica, who's Vanessa's mum, she gave a very emotional and very well-versed victim impact statement.
51:58
[SPEAKER_00]: There was directed mostly at Michael himself, and she told the court that she now suffers from complex PTSD.
52:07
[SPEAKER_00]: She has lost her job as a result of that.
52:10
[SPEAKER_00]: The PTSD was caused by being brought into the trauma bay at foothills to identify her daughter's body.
52:17
[SPEAKER_00]: She said, quote, I remember standing there not understanding why her beautiful blonde hair was red.
52:24
[SPEAKER_00]: My brain could just not accept what I was seeing.
52:27
[SPEAKER_00]: To make it worse, I was not allowed to touch her because forensics was not finished with processing her body.
52:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The pain that I feel every day since then is immeasurable, losing her was so profound, it's impossible to put into words.
52:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Her sister has already moved away and I will be doing the same shortly.
52:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I cannot stay in Calgary without being reminded of her wherever I go in the city.
52:54
[SPEAKER_00]: The memories are too painful.
52:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you remember her beautiful face every time you see the scars on your hands, or look in the mirror that you never get a chance to hurt someone else.
53:06
[SPEAKER_00]: The guilt that I have to overcome that I wasn't there to protect her as her mother was profound.
53:12
[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that you, Michael, just butchered her and left her there to die on the street like an animal, is incomprehensible.
53:20
[SPEAKER_00]: All the dreams that I had as a mother for my child destroyed in 12 seconds.
53:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe that the sentence you receive for this senseless and cowardly killing is just.
53:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And hope you will never receive parole, but serve the full sentence under the law.
53:38
[SPEAKER_00]: and upon giving the sentence, just as Sidna will refer to what Michael did as a heinous crime, that she was just on her way to work and he took her life and left her family and friends destroyed, and that she was nothing but an innocent victim.
53:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael and Dedity will be eligible for Pearl in March of 2047.
54:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the actual real motive of it in this Vanessa being a creature in his mind like why he actually did it remains a mystery.
54:10
[SPEAKER_00]: There is some speculation that Michael held some kind of in-sell views on women, but there really isn't any evidence of that in his videos that he's posted.
54:21
[SPEAKER_00]: It didn't come up as being like in any of the ratings or drawings in his notebook.
54:27
[SPEAKER_00]: But personally, I think he just wanted to be famous.
54:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And these YouTube videos were taking too long to take off for him.
54:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that he got it in his head that he wanted to do it just by sort of looking over what he did post online.
54:45
[SPEAKER_00]: It seemed like being known as like the best at something was really important to him.
54:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Like on his way to this million subscribers, he's got posts of him like playing basketball and doing some amateur boxing Now he did manage to win at provincials, I guess and Just a lot of comments that it's just the beginning of his championship journey the videos then switch to more like anime and reviews
55:14
[SPEAKER_00]: like it's like he's trying something expecting it to be his new thing and he's going to be the best at it and then he switches to something else after sort of not attaining immediate success at it which is what leads me to think that murder was just another attempted getting famous and trying to be the best at something well you didn't like all you suck
55:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And you are, I think, just another example of an ass hat that continues to give schizophrenia a bad name.
55:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, the stigma for those that legitimately suffer from it and haven't killed anyone.
55:55
[SPEAKER_00]: But, of course, it makes people hear the diagnosis and are fearful of it.
56:01
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a little bit of hope that came from Vanessa's tragic murder.
56:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Erica really pushed for this task force to be set up to make living and working downtown safer for the residents and its visitors there.
56:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And this task force consulted with 40 businesses and social agencies and did come up with 28 recommendations to address the root causes of the violence that
56:28
[SPEAKER_00]: the downtown core, including closing off some of the parts of the plus 15 walkways, which are, if you're not from here though, the overhead kind of bridges that connect some of the buildings in the core, because some of those places have become overcome with some criminal activity.
56:46
[SPEAKER_00]: In March of 2024, the City of Calgary announced that the recommendations that were put forth by the downtown safety leadership table are a blueprint and a commitment for improvement.
57:10
[SPEAKER_00]: in a downtown that is safe and inclusive for all.
57:14
[SPEAKER_00]: The safety leadership tables collaborative effort underscores the power of convening diverse perspectives, highlighting the importance of coming together to address complex challenges.
57:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, steps have already been taken to some of the actions like they've increased the uniform officer presence and some coordination, safety and some maintenance, cleanliness and proven some public spaces, and some other resource supports for those that are experiencing vulnerabilities.
57:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Quote with Council's ongoing focus and investments in community safety and well-being.
57:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Administration is well positioned to work with our partners to act on the recommendations.
58:00
[SPEAKER_00]: We are committed to a Calgary where everyone feels safe, connected, supported, and that they belong.
58:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And quote, except Michael, he does not belong.
58:10
[SPEAKER_00]: the city didn't stay that I'm just adding that part and that was the tragic and unnecessary murder of an esallotica.
58:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the very randomness of Vanessa's murder is what's really frightening to me like normally murderers choose someone that they know and for a reason other than just like looking for something to do.
58:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Erica had told the Calgary herald in 2024 that now just hearing footsteps behind her can kind of set off some major anxiety for her thinking about what happened to Vanessa and I think that that is completely frightening that someone can just like come up behind you and and your life for no reason.
58:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I did not like this story.
58:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And I will be back again with another story that I will probably not like, as always, thank you so much for listening.