Latest / Crime and Horror / What they found inside this tourist makes no sense - MrBallen (64k)

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What they found inside this tourist makes no sense - MrBallen (64k) · Crime and Horror

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today, I'm going to tell you two stories that are
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: both true crime cases. And in each of these cases,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the evidence, at least initially just it didn't make sense.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: But as more evidence came in and the police uncovered
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: more and more information, the more bizarre the whole case.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Scott.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: But before we get into today's stories, if you're a
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: fan of the strange, dark and mysterious delivered in story format,
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  Speaker 2: Okay, let's get into today's stories.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: On the morning of July eighteenth, twenty sixteen, a seventeen
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: year old boy named Mike Mansholt walked into a bike
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: rental shop on a harbor in Malta, which is an
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: island just south of Italy.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: And as soon as he walked in.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: There, Mike saw all these rows of mountain bikes lining
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: the walls, and right away he got very excited for
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: the day ahead because he was planning with one of
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: these bikes to literally bike across the entire island and
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: explore the Roman ruins that were all over the countryside.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: And so Mike walked up to the front counter and
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: he asked the.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Clerk for a one day rental, and while the clerk
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: went off to get him his bike, Mike grabbed one
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: of the folded up maps that was sitting on the
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: counter and he opened it up. So Mike was from
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: a small town in Germany and he had flown out
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: here to Malta ten days earlier to visit his girlfriend
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: who was here studying abroad.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: And so far the trip really had been awesome.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: He had spent some excellent time with his girlfriend and
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: really it had just been great. But Mike only had
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: a few more days left in Malta before he had
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: to fly back home, and he just wanted to do
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: something exciting, thing else beyond just seeing his girlfriend. So
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the previous night, Mike had checked himself into a hotel
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: near the harbor, specifically so we could spend the rest
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: of his trip exploring the island on his own. And
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: this was actually going to be like a really big
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: deal for him because he had actually traveled all over
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: the world with his father, so he had done lots
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: of traveling, but this was going to be his first
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: real solo experience. And so now in the bike shop,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: as the clerk was still busy getting Mike's bike, Mike
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: grabbed a pen and he began circling spots on the
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: map that he had laid out in front of him
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to sort of designate where he might want to go
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: on his solo trip here.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: And so he looked around.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: And he eventually decided that the catacombs in the center
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: of the map, the very center of the island, would
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: be a good start point, so we circled that, and
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: then over on the west side of the island was
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: these cliffs, these very scenic cliffs that he had been
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: told were very beautiful, and so we figured he'd go
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Catacombs and go over to the west side and he
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: would he would ride those cliffs and then you know,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: sort of spider off from there back over and told
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Mike he was all set, and then he charged Mike
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: for the bike and also for the map, and then
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: afterwards Mike headed over to the actual bike that was
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: parked in the store, and after saying bye to the clerk,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Mike wheeled the bike outside onto the sidewalk, and then
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: once he was outside, Mike stopped.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: He pulled off his backpack.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: He looked inside to make sure he had all the
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: things he needed, and then once he was certain, he
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: zipped it back up, threw it on his back, and
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: got ready to go. But before he actually began pedaling off,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: he pulled out his phone and he sent his father
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: a voice message saying that he was about to go
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: on this big solo adventure and he would send pictures
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: throughout the day. After that, Mike put his phone away,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: he began pedaling, and off he went. Later that same night,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Mike's father, whose name was Barnd Mansholt, was sitting in
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: a hotel room in Croatia, over six hundred miles away
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: from Malta. Birnd was actually on his own solo vacation,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: which was not all that unusual for him, but for
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: right now, he was actually just really looking forward to
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: seeing how his son's his big bike ride, his first
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: you know so trip, how it have gone that day,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: because he had been told he would get pictures and updates,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: but so far, his son had not sent any of
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the pictures that he said he would, and he wasn't
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: answering his phone like over the last few days when
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Baron had called his son, he just wasn't getting a response,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: which was like.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Really out of character.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: So that night Baron called Mike's mother in Germany to
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: see if maybe she had heard from their son, but
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: she said no, and it would turn out that Mike's girlfriend,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: who was actually in Malta, she hadn't heard from him either.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Now Baron told himself that, you know, his son was
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: just busy adventuring. You know, he's off on this solo trip.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: He's having a great time, like he's just gotten caught
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: up in it, and who knows about cell service, you know,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: so he's just telling himself that it's fine and he
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: shouldn't worry about it, like he's done lots of solo
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: adventuring and he knows how it can be sometimes very
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: you know, intoxicating to go out there on your own.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: But the next day, on July twenty second, Baron found
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: out from Mike's mother that Mike had missed his flight
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: back home to Germany, and now his mom was on
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: our way to the police to report their son missing,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: and so Birned when he heard this, he immediately had
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: the sickening feeling that something was really wrong here, and
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: so he told Mike's mom that he would get on
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the next flight to Malta and he would go look
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: for their son.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Three days later.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: So, now eight days after Mike's family had last heard
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: from him, his father Bairnd, was standing on the steps
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: of the hotel where he was staying in Malta, surrounded
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: by a.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Group of reporters.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Barn was actually holding a press conference about his son's disappearance.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: And by this point, I mean he was completely desperate.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: So when Baird had landed in Malta just a couple
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: of days earlier, he quickly learned that the local police
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: had actually already set up search parties for Mike, because
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: staff at Mike's hotel had apparently reported a missing days
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: before Mike's family had. But for whatever reason, the Maltese
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: police never contacted Bairnd or Mike's mother. And even though
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Bairnd had thought that was really weird, like the idea
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: they would do that without contacting him, that seemed totally improper.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: You know, he didn't really know what else to do
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: other than sort of jump into action and just try
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: to help the Maltese police search the island, because you know,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: his objective here is not to complain, it's to find
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: his son. But so far, even with Baron's help, there
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: had been no sign of Mike. But you know, Baron
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: and the police were.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Not about to give up yet.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: In fact, that's why barn was now doing this press conference,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: and so Barnd he issued his prepared statement to the media,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: basically begging anybody with information about Mike to please come forward.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: And when he was done, he thanked the reporters for
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: coming out and then he headed back into his hotel.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: But as he was walking towards the elevator, his cell
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: phone rang.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Baron pulled his phone out of his pocket and he
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: recognized the number as the local Maltese police station, and
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: so he knew this call had to be about Mike,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: which immediately made his heart race, and so Barn he
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: answered the phone and the officer on the other line
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: told him.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: That they did have some news.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: A few hours later, Baron was standing over a metal
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: table in the at the local medical examiner's office. He
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: choked back tears as the medical examiner pulled back a
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: sheet and revealed Mike's body. The medical examiner asked Bairned
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: if he could formally identify his son, and Bairned, as
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: he's crying, just nodded. While Baird was standing there just
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: staring at his son's lifeless body, still very much in shock,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: the medical examiner began to explain what he thought might
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: have happened to his son. He explained that Mike had
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: been found in this rocky crevice at the bottom of
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: a cliff on the west side of the island, and
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: so it seemed very likely considering he was clearly biking,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: that he sort of biked off the cliff and fell
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: to his death. The examiner said that he'd been dead
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: for about eight days, which meant, just for reference, that
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: he must have died, you know, hours after he had
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: sent that last message to his father, that voice message
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: saying how he was going on this trip and he
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: would send pictures.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: He basically died right after that.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: And so the medical examiner he went on to say that,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: you know, the search party had been looking in that area,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: but they hadn't found Mike, at least not at first,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: because his body had not been visible from the top
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: of the cliff. He was sort of way down inside
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: of that crevice. And so Bairn, he's standing there doing
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: his best to take in this new information from the
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: medical examiner, and he's trying to process kind of everything
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: that's happened here.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: But it was really hard to do that.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: And also for some reason, as he was just like
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: processing things, it was like he couldn't quite explain it.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: But he just suddenly thought about the fact that his
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: son always traveled with a backpack, and so because of that,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: he likely would have had his phone, his wallet and
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: any other stuff that he was carrying in the bag
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: with him when he fell and died. And for Baird,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: you know, a newly grieving father here, it suddenly felt
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: like the most important thing in the world to just
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: have his son's belongings.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: He had to have them.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: And so at some point Barn looked up at the
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: medical examiner and just said, where is my son's backpack?
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: And the medical examiner looked back at Bairn and sort
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: of looked confused for a minute and then just said
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: there was no backpack.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: They looked it was just his body. Nothing else was found.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: About an hour later, Barn parked his rental car at
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the bottom of those cliffs on the west side of
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: the island, and right away he could see a patch
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: of grass that was surrounded by yellow police tape right
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: up ahead, and he knew that had to be where
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: his son was found. And that was good because Barn
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: was here quite literally to see where his son had died,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: to hopefully maybe get some sense of closure, and also
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: to maybe find the backpack that police apparently hadn't found.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: And so Barn he climbed out of the car and
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: he began walking over to this taped off area, and
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: as he did, he scanned the cliffs that sort of
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: overlooked this area.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: They're like over one hundred feet tall.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're pretty imposing cliffs, and all he could
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: think of was his son careening off the cliff and
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: falling down to his death. It was like a horrible image.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: But Barn continued walking, and he took his eyes off
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the cliffs and just began scanning around down below to
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: see if he could just see a backpack, thinking maybe
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: the police weren't looking for it and that's why no
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: one had found it yet. But you know, he's looking
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: around and he doesn't see any backpacks. However, he does
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: see something that was weird. A bicycle that he assumed
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: must have been his son's rental was stuck in a
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: nearby bush, like it had gotten caught there when Mike
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: had fallen off the cliff. But the bike when he
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: walked up to it didn't have a scratch on it,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: like it was pristine. So Baron didn't understand how it
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: could have fallen off of this one hundred foot plus
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: cliff and been perfectly okay, Like, how did the bike
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: not sustain any damage? And then as he's sort of
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: looking at this bike, he looks over at the patch
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: of grass, the taped off section of grass where presumably
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: his son had been laying, and he notices the grass
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: had been freshly cut, like it definitely had been mowed
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: by a lawnmower in the last few days. But then
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Baron's thinking, my son was only found six hours ago,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: and supposedly he had been laying in this spot where
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: he fell off the cliff for an entire week, and
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: so how could the grass have been cut in the
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: last few days without someone finding my son's body. Barn
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: wasn't sure what to make all this, but he got
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: this feeling that between Mike's missing backpack, the pristine rental bike,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: and the recently mode grass, something about his son's death
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: was just not adding up. So he started to feel
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: like the police in Malta might be missing something. A
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: week later, inside the morgue at the University of Hanover,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: back in Germany, a doctor stood at an autopsy table
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: looking down at Mike's body, which had arrived from Malta
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: earlier that morning. So Mike's body had actually already been
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: autopsied once back in Malta. But a few days ago,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: barn had arranged for his son to be flown back
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: home to Germany from Malta to be taken to this
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: university for a second autopsy, because Barne did not believe
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: that the police in Malta had really done a good
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: enough job, like he felt like there was more to
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the story.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Than what he was being told.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Now, this German doctor who was tasked with the second
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: autopsy had already read over the original autopsy report, so.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: He knew what to expect.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Mike clearly had died from blunt for's trauma consistent with
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: falling off a cliff, like there was no question, that's
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: how he died. And so this doctor assumed, you know,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: this second autopsy would just be pretty quick and simple.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: He'd basically confirm what already was known, which is this
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: was an unfortunate tragedy and that's how Mike died. However,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: when this German doctor grabbed a scalpel and began to
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: cut into Mike's abdominal cavity, he pulled back in shock
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: because what he saw inside of Mike's body didn't make
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: any sense. The doctor quickly set down his scalpel and
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: ran down the hallway to his office, and he called
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: the Maltese medical examiner who'd done the original autopsy and
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: asked him for an explanation because he just couldn't reconcile
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: what he just saw. But the response the medical examiner
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: from Malta gave was so illogical it seemed like it
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: had to be a lie. So after speaking to that
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: medical examiner, the German doctor hung up and then called
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Mike's dad, Bairned, to explain what was going on here.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: After receiving that call, Bairned was so furious that he
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: actually flew down to Malta again the very next day
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: to demand answers from authorities, but he didn't get any
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: answers because the police just repeated the same bizarre explanation
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: that the medical examiner had, and that's how it's been
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: for the.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Last ten years.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Officially, Mike's death was ruled accidental caused by his fall
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: off the cliff, and the case is closed. Officials have
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: never explained Mike's missing backpack, the undamaged bike, or the
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: freshly mode grass. But the biggest thing that officials have
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: never clearly explained is what that German doctor who performed
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: the second autopsy discovered when he cut into Mike's abdominal cavity.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: When that doctor opened Mike up, he discovered that all
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: of Mike's internal organs were missing. And the bizarre explanation
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: that everybody in Malta kept giving like, starting with the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: medical examiner, was well, what must have happened is Mike's
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: organs must have been eaten by rodents while he was
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: lying outside dead. But the German doctor didn't find any
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: bitemarks anywhere on Mike's body. In fact, if anything, there
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: were clear signs that rodents didn't do this because there
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: were clean, almost surgically precise incisions inside of Mike's body
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: where his organs had been like they had been intentionally
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: cut out. In twenty twenty one, Barn filed a criminal
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: complaint against the medical examiner who did Mike's initial autopsy,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: but the public prosecutors in Malta rejected his complaint, so
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: it never went anywhere. Barn believes that someone out there
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: knows something, and he just hopes that one day they
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: come forward. Around noon on April twenty first, nineteen ninety six,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: a young woman named Carolina Suarez parked or car in
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: front of a house out in the middle of the
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: woods that her family owned. This property was located about
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: an hour outside of Paris, France, and the house in
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: many ways was sort of unremarkable, but this property had
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: really become a central meeting spot for the Suarez family
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: because of their backyard.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: There was like a clearing in the back of the
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: house that was great for picnics and barbecues.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: And just now, as Carolina walked behind the house out
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: to that clearing, she saw there were dozens of people
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: already out there that were eating and dancing and chatting
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: and having a great time. So ours family was very
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: close knit and the whole family, like everybody got together
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: here every year for a picnic. And so Carolina she
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: looked around and she saw a bunch of picnic tables
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: and blankets set up out on the grass, and she
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: saw her aunts and her uncles and all her cousins.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Then she frowned because she did not see her fiance,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Armando Nogera.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Who was supposed to be there already.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: So that morning, Armando had left his and Carolina's apartment early,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: so head of Carolina, and he had told her that
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: he was just driving down to the woods with her
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: cousin Joao to gather firewood before this big picnic. But
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: now Carolina saw Joe Au at one of the picnic tables,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: and Armando was not with him, or anywhere else for
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: that matter. And so Carolina she walked over to Joe
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Ao and sat down next to him and just said, hey,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: you know, where's Armando. Where'd he go after you guys
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: went and got firewood. Joe Aw turned and looked at
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: her like he didn't understand what she was saying, and
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: then he just said, I don't know what you're talking about.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: I haven't seen Armando all day. Carolina was really.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Confused by this, and she began to wonder if maybe
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: she had misheard Armando that morning, like he said he
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: was actually going somewhere else with somebody else.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Did she mishear him that she thought he.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Said going to the woods with Joe al but it
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: had been something else. But she's thinking, like, I know,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: I didn't. It was really clear what he said he
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: was going to go do. And so all day that
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: day Carolina just sort of, you know, mindlessly chatted with
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: family members and sort of, you know, pretended like she
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: was a part of the picnic, but really she's just
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: waiting for Armando to show up. But he never did,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: and by the time the picnic was over and she
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: was driving home that night, she went from being concerned
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: to actually being kind of mad, Like Armando had actually
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: been acting kind of distant and jumpy lately, and Carolina
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: had begun to worry that maybe what she was seeing
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: here is he was getting cold feet about their upcoming wedding.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: That's why he didn't come here.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Maybe he didn't want to be around her family and
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: commit to doing things like this. Maybe he just wanted
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: to nothing to do with her. And the more she
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: thought about this, the more. It made her feel hurt
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: and very frustrated. But she also figured that even if
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: that was the case, that he had sort of blown
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: off this picnic and lied to her about what he
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: was doing that day, that ultimately very likely he would
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: be back at their apartment when she got back, and
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: so when she saw him she could ask him and
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: figure out what happened. But when Carolina got home to
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: their cramped Rundown apartment, Armando was not there, and so
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: once again Carolina was worried, like not mad anymore, just worried.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: And so Carolina went straight into the kitchen and she
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: picked up her landline phone, and then she opened up
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: her nearby address book and began calling everybody Armando knew.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: But everyone she talked to said they hadn't heard from
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: him all day and had no idea where he was.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: That is until Carolina called Armando's friend, Manuel Fratis, and
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Manuel said that actually he met Armando for coffee that
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: very morning. Manuel said that that morning Armando had seemed
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: really on edge. He was sweating, he was tapping his
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: feet constantly, and he kept looking around nervously. But he
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: wouldn't explain what was going on, except to say that
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: he had accidentally uncovered a secret. And so Carolina, as
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: she's listening to this, she's thinking, like, this doesn't really
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: make any sense. I mean, she knew Armando had been
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: acting a little bit nervous lately, but she had sort
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: of chalked that up to him being, you know, nervous
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: about their upcoming wedding. Whatever Manuel was describing, this sounded
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: way more serious, and so Carolina asked, like, where did
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Armando go after they met for coffee? And Manuel he's like, oh, well,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: I'm surprised you don't know. He told me he was
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: going to that picnic of yours. He said he was
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: going to see you at your family picnic. The next week,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: on May first, Captain Jean Paul Capetti of the Paris
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Police parked his car in front of the Suarez family's
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: property out in the woods and behind the Suarez house.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: He saw there was already a team of officers searching
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: the back of the and so he walked over to
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: join them. So a few days ago, Armando's fiance Carolina,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: as well as Armando's friend Manuel, had come to the
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Paris police station to report Armando missing, and Capetti had
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: immediately interviewed Manuel, Carolina, and also a few members of
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Carolina's family, but none of them had seen or heard
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: from Armando in over a week now. Manuel had said
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: something about Armando knowing a secret that could have potentially
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: put him in danger, but at least so far, nobody
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: else in Armando's life had any clue what that secret
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: could have been, or in any way what that could
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: have been about. And then also, as far as Capetti
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: could gather, Armando was really just a normal guy who
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: seemed to stay out of trouble, and so they just
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: didn't really have a whole lot to go on at all,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: not just the secret, but in general, there was like nothing.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: The last anybody had heard was that Armando was supposed
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: to be on his way to a picnic at this
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: property where Capetti was this big family picnic. So, since
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: this was the only clear lead they had at this
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: point that they could actually move on, the police had
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: come out here to the woods to this house to
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: search the area in case maybe Armando was out here,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: who knows. I mean, someone had said he'd come out
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: to the area to gather firewood for the picnic.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Someone said he had just gone to the picnic.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: But maybe he's here in the property, or he's out
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: in the outskirts, but there could be some sign of him.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Let's go look.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: But when Capetti caught up with one of the officers
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: in the search team, she told him that they'd been
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: scouring this property in the surrounding woods all day and
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: there had been zero sign of Armando.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: And so Capetti he walked back.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Over to the main picnic area right behind the house,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: which was you know, buzzing with officers at this point,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: and he began looking around, you know, figuring at this
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: point why not take a look for himself.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: But the property was just totally unremarkable.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: It was just like this, this blank back area, just grass,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: basically where the picnic had taken place, and now any
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: you know, furniture that had been out during the picnic
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: had long been taken in. It was just this blank
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: backyard and then you know trees.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: That was it.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Like there was nothing out here, and Capetti's like, man,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: where else could this guy be? A week later, Capetti
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: was sitting at his desk at the police station just
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: wondering what to even do with this case. By this point,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Armando still had not been found. There was still no
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: sign of him, and there basically was no real evidence,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: so they did continue to search that property out in
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: the woods, but after a very long search, nothing was
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: turned up. And the entire Suarez family had been interviewed
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: by this point, and they'd all been extremely friendly and
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: cooperative and tried to offer up anything they could, but
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: nothing had led to Armando. And there was still like
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: no sign that even any foul play had been involved
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: in Armando's disappearance, so it wasn't even clear if a
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: crime had been committed at this point, and so Capetti
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: couldn't help but think, you know, maybe Armando wasn't actually
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: missing at all. Maybe he, you know, an adult man,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: had just chosen to run away.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Like what if he was doing on purpose? That would
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: explain a lot of what was going on.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: And there actually was two pretty compelling reasons for why
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Armando might want to do that. His own fiance, Carolina,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: had mentioned in her interviews that Armando had been acting
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: kind of nervous in the last couple of weeks, and
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: she had attributed that to him being worried about the
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: upcoming wedding, that he was getting cold feet and maybe
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: didn't want to get married after all, So maybe he
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: ran away to avoid getting married. And then the other
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: you know, compelling reason he could have chosen to run
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: away by choice was maybe to do with that that
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: secret that he apparently had uncovered. According to his friend Manuel,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, the area where Carolina and Armando lived, where
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: their apartment was, was not particularly safe. I mean, there
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: was quite a bit of crime that happened in the area.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Maybe Armando, even though he himself didn't show any signs of,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: you know, getting directly involved in criminal activity, maybe he
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: uncovered criminal activity or get wrapped up in something, maybe unintentionally,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: and that was the secret, and maybe he fled to
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: protect himself from you know, repercussions from knowing this secret,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: this criminal secret. Also, Capeti had found out that Armando
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: had family in Portugal, and so if he had, you know,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: run away by.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: Choice, he likely would have gone there.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: And if he had, Capetti knew he really couldn't do
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: much to track him down because French police didn't have
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: any jurisdiction in Portugal, so this would be like a
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: really uniquely difficult problem. So, without really knowing what else
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: to do, Capetti ultimately sent out an alert to the
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Portuguese authorities to basically look for this guy, Armando. He
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: could have fled our country. He could be, you know,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: staying in Portugal. We don't know, like keep an eye
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: out for him. And then he waited, hoping that one
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: day he would get a call from Portugal telling him
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: that Armando had been found. But the call never came,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: and after a few months 's Capetti moved on. A
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: year later, in April of nineteen ninety seven, Capetti was
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: at his desk, buried in paperwork on dozens of cases
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: when another detective suddenly barged into his office, saying he
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: might have information on that Armando Negera case. It took
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Capetti a few seconds to even remember who Armando Noghera was,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: but then as the details of the case began coming
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: back to him, he expected to hear that the authorities
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: in Portugal had finally found something.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: But this other detective walked in and dropped a file on.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Capetti's desk, and when he opened it up, the documents
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: inside were not from Portugal. They were from the Netherlands.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: The detective explained that the case that he was currently
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: investigating was nothing to do with Armando. It was about
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: a different young man whose body had been found in
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago, and he had been
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: identified as a resident of Paris, France, and his name
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: was Jose Martin's, and so Capetti he began flipping through
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: the documents on his desk, not really understanding what any
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: of this Jose Martins guy had to do with Armando,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: until he got to a list of Jose's friends and
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: associates who had been questioned in the Jose case, and
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: right away he saw a name that he recognized, Manuel Fradus,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: the friend who had reported Armando missing, the friend who
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: claimed that Armando.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: Had uncovered some secret.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: A week later, Capetti walked into an interrogation room at
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: the Paris police station where Manuel was waiting, and the
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: moment the door opened, Manuel practically jumped out of his chair.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: He was sweating, he was twitchy, and he kept glancing
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: out the window like he was afraid that somebody was
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: watching him. It had taken Capetti's team several days to
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: track Manuel down because he hadn't been at any of
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: his known addresses, and then every time they'd gotten a
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: tip about where he was staying, he'd be gone by
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: the time police got there. Dodging the police was obviously
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: already quite suspicious, and now Manuel was acting so nervous
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: that he was finally in custody that Capetti felt certain
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: that he had to be hiding something. Either he was
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: involved directly or indirectly in Armando's disappearance or Jose's murder,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: or he at least knew what happened to one or
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: both of them.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: So Capetti he just.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Sat down and asked Manuel, why have you been ducking
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: the police? And Manuel, who's looking so nervous, he just
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: blurts out that he was just really scared.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: He said he didn't want to become the fourth victim.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: And Capetti, when he heard this, he was a little
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: bit confused because at this point he thought there.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Were really only two victims.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, there was obviously Armando who was still missing,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: and there was this Jose guy who was dead. So
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: we asked Manuel, like, what are you talking about? Who
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: was the third victim? Or who are these victims?
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: What do you mean?
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: And Manuel he launched into this bizarre story about a
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: man that Capetti had never even heard of, who apparently
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: had been killed three years ago in a small town
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: in Portugal. As Manuel raced through all these random seeming details,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Capetti really didn't understand where the story was even going.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: But slowly, as Manuel kept talking, the pieces clicked into place,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: and Capetti realized exactly what must have happened to Armando.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: The whole time that Armando had been missing, he'd actually
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: been right under Capetti's nose. It would turn out Armando
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: really did uncover a really big secret right before he
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: went missing, and that secret was that two years before
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Armando disappeared, in the summer of nineteen ninety four, three
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: young hitmen had been hired to kill a man in Portugal,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: and after the murder, they'd all sworn each other to secrecy.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: But one of those hitmen had eventually broken that promise,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: and that was Jose Martins, the man who had been
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: found dead in the Netherlands. Jose had not been able
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: to handle the guilt of what he and the others
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: had done, so he confessed the whole story to his
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: friend Armando Nagera, and Armando freaked out because one of
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: the other hitmen involved in this murder was his fiance,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Carolina Suarez's cousin, Joe al Suarez, and when Joe Al
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: found out that Armando knew their big secret. He knew
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: he had to get rid of both Jose and Armando
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: to keep them from talking. And so on the morning
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: of the big Suarez family picnic out in the woods,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: after Armando met his friend Manuel for coffee, jo Al
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: had picked Armando up in his car and they had
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: driven out into the woods together, supposedly to gather up
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: firewood before everybody else arrived for this picnic.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: But what actually.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Happened when they arrived in the woods is two of
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Joao's other friends, including one who was also involved in
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: the murder in Portugal, they were out in the woods
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: waiting for them, and Armando got out of the car.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: They all ganged up on him and they killed him.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: And then after he.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Was dead, they brought his body into the backyard of
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: the Suarez property, so behind that house out in the woods,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: and they buried him right in the backyard. And then
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: after he was all buried up, they just put a
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: blanket over his grave site. And then hours later the
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: entire Suarez family, including Carolina, Armando's fiance, had their picnic.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Right on that spot.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: They were literally eating food on top of where Armando
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: was buried just feet below them. Finally, in two thousand
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and nine, Joe al Suarez, along with his two friends,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: were all found guilty of Armando's murder, but because of
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: the amount of time that had passed since the crime,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: they each only got eight to ten.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Years in prison.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: They were also investigated for the murder of Jose Martin's,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: but no one was ever charged and the case remains
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: officially unsolved.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for watching. Let me know what
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: you thought of today's episode in.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: The comments, and remember, we have hundreds of videos for
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: you to binge right now. But if you're looking for
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: a recommendation for me of that one video that's worth
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: your time, well it's this one right here, So give
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: it a watch, all right.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Until next time, see you