Latest / Crime and Horror / Someone in this story is a PSYCHOPATH... - MrBallen (64k)

Transcript

Someone in this story is a PSYCHOPATH... - MrBallen (64k) · Crime and Horror

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: One person in this story is revealed to be a
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: complete and total psychopath at the end. But before we
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: get into today's story, if you're a fan of these strange,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: dark and mysterious delivered in story format, then you come
• 0:11
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• 0:18
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• 0:21
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  Speaker 2: Our weekly uploads. All right, let's get into today's stories.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: In two thousand and eight, twenty eight year old Chris
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Smith was an up and coming star in the lead
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: generation business. Lead generation is not a flashy business. Basically,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you create these ads that are designed to generically help
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: people with things like lowering their mortgage.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Payments or reducing their credit card debt.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: And in these ads, you leave behind a one eight
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: hundred number for anybody interested to call, and the people
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: that do call, their information is taken down and then
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  Speaker 1: the lead generator, the person who made that ad, they
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  Speaker 1: sell that information to mortgage brokers and debt consolidators and.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Anybody else that wants access to that lead.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Chris's ability to create these really compelling ads and get
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  Speaker 1: people to call said number was so good that it
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  Speaker 1: caught the attention of another up and comer in the
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  Speaker 1: lead generation.
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  Speaker 2: Space, a man by the name of Ed Shint.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Ed worked for a lead generation company called LG Tech
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  Speaker 1: in southern California, and Ed wound up hiring Chris to
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: come onto their team as a consultant right away. Chris
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  Speaker 1: and Ed totally hit it off despite being very different people.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Chris was a surfer bro who wore flip flops and
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: T shirts every day and never went to college. Ed
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: was a very sharply dressed, college educated father of three
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: who went to church every Sunday. But where they overlapped
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: was their shared.
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  Speaker 2: Desire to become fabulously wealthy.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: After working together for a little while at Lgtech and
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: doing quite well for them, they realized they could actually
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: make a lot more money if they left Algae Tech
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  Speaker 1: and formed their own lead generation business, and so in
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: early two thousand and nine, they did just that. They
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: left Algae Tech and they formed a new company called
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: eight hundred Exchange, and right away it took off, generating
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: millions and millions of dollars in revenue, eighty percent of
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: which was profit. During this incredible time, Chris used some
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: of his money to buy a brand new Range Rover
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: in a beautiful condo in Laguna Beach, and he fell
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: in love with this beautiful ballet dancer named Erica. By
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: and large, Chris seemed to be putting his roots down
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: and really building a life for himself. As for Ed,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: despite his squeaky clean outward appearance as being this all
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: star family man and father, he was using his cash
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: to party and gamble in Las Vegas. When Ed was
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: at LG Tech, he would regularly go to Las Vegas
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: to generate business, and while he was there he developed
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: a gambling addiction. When he and Chris formed eight hundred Exchange,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Ed continued to go to Las Vegas to drum up business.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: It was something he was good at, but when he
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: and Chris started making money hand over fist, his gambling
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: addiction grew tenfold and.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: He went completely off the rails.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Ed was spending so much money in Las Vegas, sometimes
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: up to six figures an hour, that one of the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: main casinos there would fly him in their private jet
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: out to Las Vegas and they would put him in
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: their very best suite, fully comped. It's unclear how aware
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Chris was of Ed's crazy spending habits, because Chris rarely
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: went to Las Vegas with it. The men were living
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: their respective dreams until October of that year, when Ed
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: was charged with embezzlement. Their former employer, LG Tech had
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: alleged that Ed had siphoned off about two and a
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: half million dollars from their business to fund his wild
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Las Vegas lifestyle. Ed told Chris these allegations were totally false,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: but Chris was shaken. He was worried that if he
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: didn't do something about this, Ed could potentially embezzle money
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  Speaker 1: from eight hundred Exchange, and so Chris went out and
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  Speaker 1: got a lawyer to begin protecting himself from his business partner.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Over the following few months, Ed and Chris attempted to
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: run eight hundred Exchange before Ed's trial date, but it
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: was just too difficult because the trust had been totally
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: destroyed by these allegations, and in May of twenty ten,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Ed was convicted of felony investment in order to avoid
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  Speaker 1: jail time, Ed had taken a deal that meant he
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: would need to pay roughly eight hundred thousand dollars of
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: restitution to LG Tech.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: But Ed did not have eight hundred thousand dollars.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: The only way he could make this payment would be
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: if eight hundred Exchange the business fronted the money, but
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: in order to do that, he would need Chris to
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  Speaker 1: sign off that he was okay with that because he
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: owned half of the business. When Ed approached Chris, Chris said, no,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not signing that. I'm worried you're going to take
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: advantage of me too. But after a couple of weeks
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: of talking to his lawyer, Chris finally told Ed that
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: he was ready to meet up with him and come
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: to some sort of agreement, and so on June fourth,
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  Speaker 1: the two men met up at the eight hundred Exchange
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  Speaker 1: office and Chris decided to just sell his portion of
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  Speaker 1: the business to Ed for about a million dollars and
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  Speaker 1: then Ed can do whatever he needs to do with
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: the business account to pay down his debts. Despite how
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: crazy this situation was, Chris actually felt like this was.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Kind of a win for him.
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  Speaker 1: He got a one million dollar pay day, and now
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: he wanted to go out and celebrate, and so a
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: couple of days after this meeting with Ed, Chris emails
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: his family and says he's going to go on a
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: three week vacation to South America and just go surfing
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  Speaker 1: the whole time. He's chartered this forty five foot yacht.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: He's hired a captain, he's hired a cook. It's going
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: to be this dream vacation. He also regretted to inform
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: them that he had broken it off with his girlfriend, Erica,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: but he had a new girlfriend who'd be coming with
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  Speaker 1: him on this vacation, and she was a former playboy
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  Speaker 1: playmate named Tiffany. His family was really surprised to hear
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: the news about Erica because they really believed they were
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: going to get married.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: But the trip itself was not really out of character.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Chris had always said for the longest time that once
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  Speaker 1: he made it big and had millions of dollars in cash,
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  Speaker 1: he would just sail off into the Pacific and go
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  Speaker 1: surfing and just be off.
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  Speaker 2: The grid and live his life in peace.
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  Speaker 1: And now he finally had a chance to do that,
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  Speaker 1: and so his family said, have fund, stay safe, and
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: we'll see you when you get back. But three weeks
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: went by and Chris did not return to his condo. Instead,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: he emailed his family again and just told them he
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: was having this great time, that this was the best
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: trip he could have asked for, and that instead of
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: coming home he was just going to keep sailing around
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the world and enjoying this time that he is disconnected
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: from society. And again his family said, Okay, have a
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: good time, stay safe, and we'll see you when we
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: see it. But over the following weeks and months that
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Chris extended this vacation, his emails took a dark turn.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Chris started to act depressed, and he alluded to taking drugs,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: and then at one point he talked about doing the unthinkable,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: referencing harming himself. His parents were very concerned and told
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: him he should come back home, or at the very
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: least they should arrange to meet up somewhere. But every
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: time they said this, Chris would just suddenly change the
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  Speaker 1: tone of his email and seem really upbeat and cheerful
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  Speaker 1: and said, oh no, I'm actually just fine and I
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: just need some time to myself. Finally, in December of
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: twenty ten, so six months after Chris has gone on
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  Speaker 1: this vacation, he reaches out to his brother Paul and
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: asks him if he'll come to Costa Rica the following
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: February to go surfing with him. Paul was excited and
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: said he would go, and he and the rest of
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  Speaker 1: his family breathed in collective sigh of relief that now
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: one of their family members would.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: Get to see Chris and actually check in on him.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Shortly after this email exchange, Chris told his family that
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: he was headed off into the Congo to sell some
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: gold coins to a trader who was prepared to buy
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: them at a thirty percent markup, and Chris was really
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: excited about it. After this, there were no more emails.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: The family was concerned that this gold buyer potentially had
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: kidnapped or hurt Chris, but Chris was going long periods
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: of time between his emails to family, and so they figured,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: you know what, Paul's trip to Costa Rica where he's
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: going to meet up with Chris, is coming right up,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: so let's hold off doing anything drastic until then. But
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: when February of twenty eleven rolled around and it was
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: time for Paul to fly out to Costa Rica to
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: meet up with Chris. Before Paul left, he called the
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  Speaker 1: hotel in Costa Rica to confirm the reservations Chris had
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: supposedly made, and the hotel said, we've never heard of
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Chris Smith. There are no reservations under his name. And
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: so Paul tried to contact Chris, but to no avail,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: And so Paul told.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: His family about it, and they decided it.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Was best for Paul not to go to Costa Rica
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: because probably Chris wasn't there, and the family instead got
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: in touch with the State Department and asked them if
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: they could help them find their son, their brother, and
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: right away the State Department discovered Chris's passport had never
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: left the United States, and his family said that was
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: impossible because for the past year Chris has been sailing
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: around the world, but the State Department said, this is
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: what we got. So Chris's dad, who used to be
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: a cop, drove out to California to speak to Ed,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: who was the last person to see Chris before he
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: left on this vacation, and Ed would say he has
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: no idea.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Where Chris is.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: However, he did say Chris had a fake passport and
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: that might be why his passport was not showing up
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: as leading the country. Chris's father didn't really know what
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: to make of this information, and.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: So he decided it would be best to just.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: File a missing person report and put the investigation in
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: the hands of the police. Shortly after the report was filed,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: the police brought Ed in for questioning, and Ed reiterated
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: that he didn't know where Chris was and that he
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: did have this fake passport, and he also said that
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: they had not.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Ended on good terms.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: They were kind of fighting and bickering the end, and
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: that's why he hadn't heard from Chris since he left.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Ed was cooperative and didn't really have much to give police.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: And so the police let him go.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: While the police hit dead end after dead end in
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: this missing person case, the property manager of the office
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: building where the eight hundred Exchange business had been located
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: was growing increasingly frustrated. Shortly after Chris had sold his
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: portion of the business to Ed and then gone on
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: this vacation, Ed had moved eight hundred Exchange from that
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: office building to another, and Ed had not paid his
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: final rent, which was forty thousand dollars, and this property
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: manager had repeatedly tried to get in touch with Ed,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: but Ed was totally blowing him off. One day, the
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: property manager was griping about Ed and his delinquent payment
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: to another tenant in the office building, a guy by
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the name of Joe delou who just happened to be
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: a private investigator. And during this discussion, the manager was
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: saying that not only had Ed not made this payment,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: but he had also been recently questioned by police about
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: his missing business partner, who was still missing. And so
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Joe is an immediately intrigued by this, and he says
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: to the manager, you know, it sounds like Ed is
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: a pretty shady guy. Would it be possible for me
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: to just poke my head around their old space now
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: that it's vacant, because you.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Never know there could be something in there.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: And so the manager said that was fine, he opened
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: the door to the old eight hundred exchange space.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Joe walked inside.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: And immediately found blood spatter on the doorframe of where
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Chris's office used to be.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: He also found blood spatter on the ceiling and on
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: the walls, and so Joe.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Called the police, who showed up and sprayed luminol all
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: over Chris's office and there was blood everywhere. It would
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: turn out Chris didn't sell his portion of the business
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: to ED. On that day, June fourth, twenty ten, Chris
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: did go into the office to try.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: To reach some agreement with Ed, but when he walked in,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Ed promptly killed him with a knife or some other
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: blunt object.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Then he or someone he hired dumped Chris's body somewhere.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: After that, Ed stole all of Chris's.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Money to pay off the debt to Lgtech, as well
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: as some other large debts.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: In Las Vegas.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: And then after that Ed hijacked Chris's email accounts and
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: pretended to be Chris for almost an entire Chris never
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: took a boating trip around the world, he never broke
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: up with Erica and had this new girlfriend from Playboy.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: He just got killed inside of his office, and Ed
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: created this ridiculous, elaborate lie that was designed to make
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: his family believe that Chris had become unstable and that
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: maybe he did end his own life, or maybe he did.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Get kidnapped or killed in the congo.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Ed was just trying to create that seed of doubt
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: that he had anything to do with it. But in
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, it all came crashing down for Ed when
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: a jury convicted him of killing Chris and sentenced him
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: to life in prison without the possibility of parole. To
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: this day, Ed maintains his innocence and to this day
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Ed still will not give up where Chris's body is.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: So that's going to do it. Guys.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: If you found the secret in today's episode, let us
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: know in the comments what it is and where you
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: found it, and if you're the first to do that,
• 11:49
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• 11:52
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• 11:54
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• 11:59
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• 12:12
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• 12:14
  Speaker 1: It's John ballin four one six. I also have a
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  Speaker 1: ton of content over on TikTok or. My username is
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  Speaker 1: mister Ballin. I also have a second YouTube channel called
• 12:23
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• 12:29
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  Speaker 2: just know that I really appreciate your support and until
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: next time, that's going to do it, see it