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The Shoe Thief Murderer - Andre Crawford Chicago Serial Killer · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back everyone. This deep dive is taking us back
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  to the nineteen nineties to Chicago. But we're not here
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  for the music scene. No, we're actually diving into a
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  much darker story, the case of serial killer Andre Crawford,
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  who targeted women on the South Side for almost a decade.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And what we've got here, Oh.
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  Speaker 1: We've got a ton of stuff. It's a lot of material,
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  police records, court documents, psychological evaluation.
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  Speaker 2: In his testimony.
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  Speaker 1: We're really going deep to try to understand not just
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  how he was caught, but.
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  Speaker 2: The why exactly. And that's the thing about this case.
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  It's not like a bomb went off. It was this
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  slow creep of dread that just kind of settled over
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  the South Side with each new victim, like.
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  Speaker 1: A shadow just getting darker.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, imagine living with that fear, that uncertainty, And.
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  Speaker 1: It all really starts to come into focus. In September
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  of ninety three, ninety three, an abandoned property a routine inspection,
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  they find Patricia Dunn's body on the Londen Dock. But
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  it wasn't just the fact that she was dead, right.
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  Speaker 2: This is where it gets it gets really unsettling because
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  the way she was found, the details naked from the
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  waist down, face hidden, her shoes were gone. This wasn't
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  just about killing.
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  Speaker 1: So you're saying these details they meant.
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  Speaker 2: Something exactly, a signature, a calling car like he.
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  Speaker 1: Wanted to be known. Yeah, but why hide her face.
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  Speaker 2: Then, not necessarily known, but to control the narrative, to
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  imprint his own script on these crimes. You know, the
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  face is the identity. He takes that away.
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  Speaker 1: But the shoes, Okay, the shoes.
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  Speaker 2: A personal, a connection to the victim's journey. We'll get
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  into that more with the psychology later.
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  Speaker 1: But I got chills already.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And it gets worse because two years later, almost.
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  Speaker 1: The same scene, Angela's chattine, right.
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  Speaker 2: Angela's chattine, same neighborhood, abandoned house, same mo.
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  Speaker 1: It's like he was repeating himself, a terrifying echo.
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  Speaker 2: And that's when the pressure on the police really ramped up.
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  Speaker 1: I bet. But you said they hit a wall.
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  Speaker 2: They had a pattern, but no face to put.
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  Speaker 1: To it, and the community wasn't exactly lining up to help.
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  Speaker 2: No. Fear can be paralyzing, especially in a community already struggling.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I can only imagine.
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  Speaker 2: And even though they had DNA from Angela Chautine. There's
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  no match nothing. It's like having the key but no lock.
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  Speaker 1: So what changed? How do they go from this phantom
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  to an actual suspect and survived? Someone who lived through it?
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  Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety seven, Claudia Robinson survived in attack. Wow,
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  and she remembered everything, appearance, his methods, even how he talked.
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  Speaker 1: And that was enough for a sketch.
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  Speaker 2: That and a lot of police work.
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  Speaker 1: So finally a face to the name.
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  Speaker 2: Returning point for sure. We'll get into that more next time.
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  Speaker 1: So last time we left off with a face, a.
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  Speaker 2: Sketch, right, finally something tangible.
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  Speaker 1: But who was this guy?
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  Speaker 2: That's where it gets even more unsettling because Crawford's story,
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  it's like looking into a broken mirror. Go on, imagine
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  growing up in the same neighborhood where these horrific crimes
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  take place. But add to that a childhood riddled with abuse, neglect,
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  for disaster, and that's what makes this case so disturbing.
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  He wasn't some outsider. He was a product of this environment,
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  blending in exactly People knew him, saw him around, but
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  never suspected he delivered newspapers, right, He did imagine.
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  Speaker 1: That delivering the news while simultaneously.
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  Speaker 2: Creating headlines he hoped would stay buried. Yeah, it's chilling.
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  Speaker 1: So the police finally have their guy. Do they get
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  a confession right away?
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  Speaker 2: Not at first, Crawford he clams up, refuses to cooperate,
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  won't give a DNA sample, play in a cool trying
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  to But the police they've got the court order for
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  his DNA and that's when it all comes crashing down.
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  Crawford cracks confesses, not just to the six murders they
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  knew about.
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  Speaker 1: Wait, six wasn't the total?
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  Speaker 2: He admits to five? More.
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  Speaker 1: My god, What could possess someone to do something like that?
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  What did he say?
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  Speaker 2: Claimed he often traded drugs for sex and if he
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  felt betrayed during these exchanges, betrayed, that was his trigger,
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  he said. But a lot of experts believe that's too simple.
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  Speaker 1: Too simple for eleven murders.
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  Speaker 2: It's like he was trying to rationalize it, you know,
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  create a narrative where he's not the monster, right, right,
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  But the psychology goes deeper, and that's where doctor John Fabian.
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  Speaker 1: Comes in, the forensic neuropsychologist.
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  Speaker 2: Right, and his evaluation of Crawford. It's a glimpse into hell.
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  Speaker 1: Frankly, what did he find.
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  Speaker 2: Crawford's own mother, she forced him into prostitution. Prostitution at
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  fourteen years old.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's a child.
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  Speaker 2: Talk about a betrayal of trust. Fabian believes those early
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  experiences they left scars deepe one makes.
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  Speaker 1: You wonder did he ever have a chance.
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  Speaker 2: And here's where it gets really complicated, because Fabian theorizes
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  that Crawford was trying to regain.
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  Speaker 1: Control, you see, or gain control.
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  Speaker 2: By re enacting his own trauma, but this time he
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  was the one in control. Twisted beyond twisted. And then
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  there's the detail about the victims' faces.
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  Speaker 1: The shoes that's always stuck with me.
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  Speaker 2: Fabian suggests covering their faces might have been shame, even
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  a sliver of regret, regret or maybe even fear, like
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  he didn't want to see their eyes, you know. And
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  the shoes never fully explain that one. Some think a trophy,
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  a way to hold onto the power God.
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  Speaker 1: It's just awful.
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  Speaker 2: And get this, Crawford's normalcy. It was even more insidious
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  than we thought.
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  Speaker 1: What do you mean he.
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  Speaker 2: Didn't just live in the community. He participated actively.
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  Speaker 1: He was going to community events.
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  Speaker 2: He went to meetings about the serial killings. Oh way,
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  sat there among the people terrified of him.
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  Speaker 1: He was enjoying it, wasn't he the fear.
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  Speaker 2: Chilling thought, right, right, and hold onto your hats, because
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  he also volunteered for operations safe Passage.
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  Speaker 1: You mean the program where men escort kids to school
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  for safety, the one and only. I don't even know
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  what to say to that.
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  Speaker 2: It shakes you to your core, right, the betrayal, the
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  realization that evil can hide in plain sight.
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  Speaker 1: So after all this, the trial finally arrives. What was
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  the atmosphere like electric?
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  Speaker 2: November two thousand and nine, sixteen years after Patricia Dunn's
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  body was.
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  Speaker 1: Found, sixteen years court.
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  Speaker 2: Room packed, families of the victims, everyone waiting for justice.
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  Speaker 1: Did he admit to it? In court?
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  Speaker 2: Crawford, even with the DNA, the confessions, he pleads not guilty.
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  Speaker 1: Not guilty.
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  Speaker 2: Seriously, his lawyers, they tried to use his past, the abuse,
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  as a mitigating.
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  Speaker 1: Factor, blaming his upbringing.
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  Speaker 2: Trying to but the evidence. It was overwhelming, and the.
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  Speaker 1: Verdict, and the verdict guilty. Eleven counts of murder, one
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  count of attempted murder, eleven lives.
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  Speaker 2: It's hard to even fathom.
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  Speaker 1: It's a heavyweight, for sure. And while nothing can truly
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  bring back those victims, right, there's a sense that justice,
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  even if it's delayed, it was served.
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  Speaker 2: So what was the sentence? Did he get the death penalty?
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  Speaker 1: The jury ultimately decided against the death penalty, but they
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  didn't let him off easy either. Life in prison, no.
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  Speaker 2: Parole, and he died in prison right.
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  Speaker 1: Twenty seventeen liver cancer. Uh, but at least he spent
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  his remaining.
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  Speaker 2: Year haunted by what he did.
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  Speaker 1: One can only hope. But it doesn't bring back the victims,
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  does it.
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  Speaker 2: No, it doesn't. But at least they're families.
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  Speaker 1: The community too. He got some closure, some sense of peace,
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  knowing he can't hurt anyone else.
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  Speaker 2: This case, it's just where do we even begin to
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  unpack it all?
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  Speaker 1: That's a thing about these deep dives, isn't it. We
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  confront these horrific acts, but.
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  Speaker 2: We also have to face the why, the how.
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  Speaker 1: And sometimes there aren't easy answers.
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  Speaker 2: No, there aren't. But even in the darkness, there are
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  glimmers of hope.
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  Speaker 1: You know, what do you mean?
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  Speaker 2: Think about it? Crawford terrorized that community for almost ten years.
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  Speaker 1: Ten years, but he was caught because of the investigators
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  who didn't give.
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  Speaker 2: Up exactly, they never stopped, never lost sight of the victims.
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  Speaker 1: And Claudia Robinson surviving that attack.
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  Speaker 2: Her strength is incredible to go through that and then
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  help bring him down.
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  Speaker 1: She's remarkable, she really is.
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  Speaker 2: And let's not forget Katrina Martin.
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  Speaker 1: Another woman who knew Crawford, knew him from.
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  Speaker 2: The streets, had every reason to stay silent, but she
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  came forward, she did, and her information it was crucial
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  in putting Crawford away.
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  Speaker 1: It's like you said, even in the darkest corners, there's
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  still light.
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  Speaker 2: There's always light. It might be faint, but it's there.
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  We just have to look for it.
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  Speaker 1: This deep dive has been a journey, disturbing, eye opening.
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  Speaker 2: It makes you question things, it.
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  Speaker 1: Does, but it also reminds us that we have a
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  responsibility to pay attention.
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  Speaker 2: To speak up, to trust our gut.
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  Speaker 1: Because you never know you might hold the key to
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  stopping the next Andre Crawford.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly. Don't be afraid to be a voice for those
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  who can't speak for themselves.
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  Speaker 1: That's a powerful message. And on that note. We'll leave
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  you to ponder this case, its complexities, and the enduring
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  power of hope, even in the face of unimaginable darkness.
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  Until next time, Stay curious, stay vigilant, and keep asking
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  those tough questions.