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Teens Accidentally Run Into Secret Cult_s Body Dump · The Empire of Wealth

0:00
Speaker 1: I'm not going to part is eating.
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Speaker 2: Though this group of teenagers are in the middle of
0:08
exploring an abandoned building in Michigan, just a few feet
0:12
away from them is something they were never meant to see.
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Speaker 3: You want me to get closed every.
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Speaker 4: Come.
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Speaker 2: When police arrived to investigate, they discover this killing might
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be part of something far darker, with ritualistic clues pointing
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to a murder orchestrated by a cult, and as detectives
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begin closing in on its members and turning them on
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each other, they discover that this may not have been
0:53
the cult's first victim.
0:56
Speaker 4: Rich so date, you wanted so still right after getting married.
1:03
Speaker 5: It's like a gang or something.
1:04
Speaker 1: No, it wasn't a game.
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Speaker 4: Steve called it a family.
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Speaker 2: I know you don't have said it over.
1:09
Speaker 1: I heard right.
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Speaker 6: Sixteen sixteen.
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Speaker 1: He's killed sixteen people, is what I said.
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Speaker 2: It's a late Thursday evening in Monroe County, Michigan, when
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seven high school students decide to explore an abandoned juvenile
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detention center. But the moment they step inside, they stumble
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upon something they were never meant to see and immediately
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start recording.
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Speaker 7: I don't even know if I want to really get
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it all right, So we see it.
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Speaker 2: We seen it.
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Speaker 6: Tell me that.
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Speaker 5: I don't want it.
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Speaker 3: I'm not.
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Speaker 1: I'm not looking either.
2:03
Speaker 3: You want me to get close over? Movie?
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Speaker 1: Am I moving? Y? Take that.
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Speaker 3: Come.
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Speaker 2: Upon seeing what appears to be the dead body of
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a young woman, the boys run back to their car
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and drive off, despite knowingly trespassing. One of them calls
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in nine one one and begins describing in detail the
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gruesome discovery they had just made.
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Speaker 6: Inside Let's sec.
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Speaker 1: Hi.
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Speaker 7: So we were a scoring abandoned building and I if
3:00
we found a dead body?
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Speaker 5: Okay, what zetra Right now?
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Speaker 6: We're at the one those travel centers where the storing
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it's the.
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Speaker 4: Old jup center or like old school or something.
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Speaker 5: You're pretty far away from from netto.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, because we drove away and we didn't know.
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Speaker 3: What to do.
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Speaker 6: Tell me exactly what happened.
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Speaker 9: But he moved a door that was on the ground.
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Speaker 8: Underneath it it was his heart and under his horse
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he tall sleep.
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Speaker 6: So we left and called can you give me a
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call when you get back to the trust the pilot centers.
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Speaker 3: Yes.
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Speaker 2: After directing the teens to a safe location, Michigan State
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Police are dispatched to boys Velle, an abandoned juvenile campus
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with dozens of rooms and corridors. Once officers arrive, with
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no electricity and a potential homicide scene waiting inside, they
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draw their weapons and prepare to move in.
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Speaker 10: Just keep track of how many rooms, Like, look at
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how many sections there are of the building. Keep track
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of how many sections you think you're going through, so
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you don't get lost. Yeah, so you three want to
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go first?
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Speaker 3: I mean while will stay back.
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Speaker 4: Right on the.
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Speaker 2: Floor underneath the tarp lies the deceased body the teens
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found earlier, But before officers can properly examine it, they
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have to clear the rest of the building and make
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sure they're the only ones inside.
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Speaker 3: Mm hmm, okay, there's a series of rooms.
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Speaker 7: H let me think right.
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Speaker 4: Uh through bag way.
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Speaker 2: After an hour of clearing the building room by room,
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officers find no one else inside. With the building now cleared,
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officers returned to a victim and begin trying to identify her.
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Given the location, they initially assumed she may have been
6:05
homeless and simply overdosed, but that assumption would quickly be
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turned upside down upon further inspection.
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Speaker 10: But there was a time where people were coming in
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here like on a regular basis, like the haunted house
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type stuff, you know, like looking for ghost and want
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to it's blood.
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Speaker 1: In her head, like she got hit or around her.
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Speaker 10: Yeah, well unless you less suspect is on top of your.
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Speaker 6: Hat on the ground.
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Speaker 10: It's not blood.
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Speaker 3: No, it's like a bronze.
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Speaker 1: It's over. It's on her face, her arms on.
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Speaker 10: Her neck, put out, her legs are positioned, skirts pulled up.
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How can my fingerprints get out here a little bit?
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Speaker 11: Yeah?
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Speaker 10: Yeah, probably in the twenties, thirties, maybe you know, if she
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might I knew local, it might be somebody a truck
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draft picked up.
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Speaker 2: As officers can continue examining the body, they notice several
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unusual details. The victim is covered in an unfamiliar substance,
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surrounded by candles, and across her legs are what appear
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to be scribbles and strange markings. While one officer moves
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to retrieve a portable fingerprint scanner a few miles away,
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another group of officers makes contact with the teens who
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discover the body. They're all shaken up, yet cooperative, handing
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over the video they recorded inside, and it quickly becomes
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clear to detectives that they are far more worried about
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a trespassing charge than being tied to what happened to
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the victim, so they're eventually let go. Back at the
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abandoned property, the officer scans the victim's fingerprints and learns
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that she is in fact a local, twenty two year
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old Kayla Sadoski. Moments later, paramedics arrive and examine the body,
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confirming two things. She's been here for some time and
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the head injuries are consistent with three gunshot wounds. Sometime
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after midnight, officers lock down the rest of the building
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and return to the station, intent on resuming the investigation
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at first light, and as the investigation would begin coming together,
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detectives would become convinced this is not only a homicide,
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but part of something far more disturbing, possibly even ritualistic.
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Speaker 9: If you live with him and you leave, and who
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finds out you leave, needless to say, you're going to
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be the next.
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Speaker 11: See said that, she screamed, see see?
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Speaker 4: How do you want to go see your dad?
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Speaker 1: Do you want to be with your mom?
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Speaker 4: Where you want to live?
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Speaker 2: The next morning, officers begin reviewing every available CCTV camera
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in the area, and after hours of coming through footage
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dating back two weeks, they finally spot her. On February fifteenth,
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at around ten pm, Kayla is seen leaving the Rosler
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Street apartments and walking across the Rosler Street bridge. An
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hour later, at around eleven pm, she appears on camera
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again walking across the same bridge, but this time she stops,
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turns around, and gets into a black Mercury Milan, wearing
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the same skirt she would later be found dead in.
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When officers run the vehicle's license plate, they learn its
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registered to forty four year old Stephen Bales, a man
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Kayla has an active protective order against, and just like that,
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investigators have their first suspect. That same afternoon, officers rush
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to Stephen's house, but what they find is troubling, to
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say the least, a note taped to the front door
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stating that he and his wife Narena have left for
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their honeymoon. To investigators, the timing seems far too convenient,
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so they try calling him, but he never picks up.
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Speaker 3: This is Stephen Bales leave a message.
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Speaker 1: After the beat, a.
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Speaker 2: Search warrant is requested, but in the meantime there's little
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police can do but wait while Stephen and whoever else
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may be responsible remains free to roam the streets. Two
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weeks pass after the body is discovered, yet there's still
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no sign of Stephen. But then, more than one hundred
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miles away it Shelby, Ohio police receive a nine to
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one one call they certainly aren't expecting, As nineteen year
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old Brin Smith tells dispatchers, someone is trying to kill him,
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and when Ohio officers go to meet him, they would
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annoyingly step into another state's investigation and give them an
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unexpected lead.
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Speaker 12: Hello, what's going on?
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Speaker 9: So I finally got a wait at podcast so you'll know.
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Speaker 1: So I got you on the phone because you're a
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witness for me.
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Speaker 9: So my cousin and Monroe, Michian. Here's my aunt, by
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the way, she knows like everything going on.
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Speaker 1: She's on FaceTime.
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Speaker 12: Can't really see I couldn't see it, okay, God.
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Speaker 9: So he's wanted for murder right now in Monroe, Michigan,
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for the Kalas Sadowski death. And I was apparently wanted
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for it as well at some point. But I had
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left his house today, just ran away from him because
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like he never gives me.
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Speaker 1: He's like weird. He'll keep you at his house, He'll
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use your for your money. Do you have any idea
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on you? I have nothing on me except my tablet,
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my phone.
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Speaker 12: To what I'm gonna do just because I don't know you.
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I'm just gonna patch you down. Do you have any
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nives or anything on you?
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Speaker 3: Know?
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Speaker 1: So?
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Speaker 2: Do you live here?
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Speaker 1: No? This is some guys.
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Speaker 9: So what's his cat name?
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Speaker 5: Seve Bails?
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Speaker 9: Like I ran away from him, Like I ran. I
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don't know how long I've been running. I just ran
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away from him. We stopped at the gas station and
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I just went. Does that make sense? Like I stopped
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because like I lived with him, and he won't let
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you leave his house when you're there.
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Speaker 1: He's weird. He will hurt you.
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Speaker 9: I have videos of the person that did it admitting
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to it. I lived with all of them in the
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house together, like an out in bedroom, and she was
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acting real funny one day, so I had like walked
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away and I called her on my own phone.
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Speaker 1: And why don't videos of her?
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Speaker 12: Why don't why don't we go at a seat in
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the back of this officer's car on the other side,
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on the side.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, as if the investigation wasn't complicated enough. Brynn is
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accusing someone other than Stephen of being the killer, and
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even refers to a group of people he and Stephen
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had been living with. The problem is these officers are
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from another state and know nothing about Kayla's murder, so
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they decide to take him to the station to get
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some clarity on the situation. Upon arriving, officers contact Michigan
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State Police and that's when they are finally briefed on
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Kyla's murder investigation. More than anything, Michigan investigators are fixated
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on this alleged confession video, urging Ohio detectives to obtain
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it as quickly as possible, and once Brin sit down
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for his interview, what he would go on to describe
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would sound to detectives almost as if he had just
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escaped a cant.
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Speaker 1: Now, you don't got to worry about me being killed.
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Speaker 12: So what was in this gentleman but apparently killed a skirl?
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Speaker 2: What's his name?
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Speaker 3: Steve?
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Speaker 10: Well?
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Speaker 1: I know who killed her. I have a video over
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admitting to it. Because we all lived in the same
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apartment together. There was a one bedroom apartment that he
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owned and me and his wife. He had like eight
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people living there. I was one of them, and in
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order to live there, he took your food stamp card.
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Speaker 9: He would take whatever card you had, and basically your
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money and everything was his.
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Speaker 1: I did not agree to that, so he knew not
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to take me. I just stayed there.
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Speaker 9: I slept on the couch, I wooped my head and
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I laid my head. So we're going down and he
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gets married. Through all this, Now our ex becomes missing.
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So I was wondering because you say our ex, Yeah,
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we both.
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Speaker 1: That dated the same woman.
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Speaker 9: Okay, so she become missing and everybody in the house
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starts acting weird.
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Speaker 1: So I'm gonna try to pull this video of.
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Speaker 9: Caitlin, the one who's supposedly kill Gail, admitting that she
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did it.
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Speaker 12: Did you ever think about going to the Michigan authorities
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with us?
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Speaker 1: I couldn't.
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Speaker 9: What if you if you're if you're if you live
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with him and you leave and he finds out you
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leave and he finds you, basically needless to say, you're
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going to be the next So if you live with him,
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you're not allowed to leave.
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Speaker 1: He's basically a person who's going to get you in
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his oves and is going to trap you in him,
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keep you just for your money.
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Speaker 2: To detective surprise, Brinn seems unusually open and talkative for
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someone who believes he's being hunted. After all, there's no
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telling whether Steven will come after him the moment this
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interview is over. At this point, investigators need to see
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this video Brinn can't stop talking about. But what they're
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about to see would be far more than Brynn promised.
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Speaker 12: So who do you think killed this girl?
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Speaker 1: I know who killed her? I got the video Rady
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to show you.
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Speaker 10: Okay, well let's see it on ma'am.
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Speaker 1: Okay you can obviously I was shocked as hell.
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Speaker 3: Many I know you don't I heard right?
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Speaker 1: Sixteen sixteen She's killed sixteen people, is what I said.
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Speaker 4: Community.
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Speaker 1: I haven't a niece.
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Speaker 3: I have never been to Yale for it.
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Speaker 9: And now I have one more video of her admitting
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that I was the killer.
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Speaker 1: Of Caleb, basically.
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Speaker 9: My son.
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Speaker 3: She threatened my son.
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Speaker 12: So that conversation that I that I watched, she said
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that she did it because she threatened her son. Do
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you now, do you know some more information about that?
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Speaker 3: Oh?
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Speaker 1: That's all I know?
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Speaker 3: Like is her.
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Speaker 9: Apparently she threatened her son at church that's the most I.
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Speaker 3: Know of that.
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Speaker 1: And she how'd she kill her?
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Speaker 9: She said it she shattered twice on the video.
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Speaker 1: Wow. She even said that she threw the gun in
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the river?
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Speaker 10: What river?
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Speaker 2: I find out the woman in the video is thirty
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three year old Kaylan Ramsey, seemingly implying that she was
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responsible not only for Kayla's death, but for fifteen other
16:18
murders as well. It's a chilling claim that investigators would
16:22
have no choice but to look into, especially coming from
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someone they would later connect to a deadly cult. After
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several more hours of questioning, Brinn is eventually released and
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told to notify investigators of any contact from Stephen or Kaylan,
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unaware that the man they've just let go may not
16:42
be as innocent as he claims. Later that evening, investigators
16:48
call Kaylin and are surprised to learn that she's also
16:50
in Ohio, so they ask her to come to the
16:53
station the following day to assist with the investigation, with
16:56
holding the real reason they want to speak with her,
16:59
and interestingly, she agrees, almost as if she already has
17:03
a plan to outsmart the detectives. The next morning, Kyln
17:07
arrives at the HURON County Sheriff's Office in Ohio, and
17:10
alongside her is her lawyer. But as she's escorted to
17:14
the interrogation room, there's a surprise waiting for her. Detectives
17:18
from the Michigan State Police, including lead investigator Detective Peterson,
17:23
have traveled to Ohio for this very interview, and as
17:26
Kaylan's interview begins, her story would quickly start to unravel
17:31
until she eventually slips up and says something she was
17:35
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dot Com slash doctor Insanity. With that said, let's get
19:14
back to Caitlin's interview, where she's about to reveal something
19:17
only someone connected to the murder should have known.
19:21
Speaker 8: We're going to be asking you a lot of questions.
19:23
A lot of these questions we already know the answer to.
19:26
So you know I don't play games. You know you
19:28
know that we would and got him to make sure
19:30
you've had him here, right, that's important that I want
19:33
to make sure you feel comfortable. Rake your life on
19:36
scale for ones and one is the worst life ever?
19:38
Tenants of best life ever?
19:40
Speaker 6: Right now?
19:41
Speaker 8: Yeah it's the one' the one, but after hopefully today
19:45
it will.
19:45
Speaker 13: Be a time.
19:45
Speaker 8: Okay, So what's going wrong right now?
19:48
Speaker 11: Me?
19:49
Speaker 8: Living my life in fear? And why are you living
19:52
in fear because of those guys you and middle Kick?
19:55
Why why are you so preach to this?
19:57
Speaker 6: He's correcting my life?
19:59
Speaker 11: Heart?
19:59
Speaker 6: Of these are he's threatened to kill me? Okay?
20:03
Speaker 8: Do you know Kayla Sadovski I knew of her.
20:06
Speaker 6: She was one of my friends at one point until
20:09
I moved out here three years ago. In the Lost
20:11
contact Toby bar to bar Kayla. She was such a sweetheart.
20:16
Oh my god. She even loved my youngest son. She
20:20
was a sweetheart. She was just like me, outgoing, laid back, calm,
20:26
get for sure. If he back people I were needed.
20:28
It was in her. Her and I were a lot alike.
20:31
Speaker 8: Was she doing along with them?
20:33
Speaker 11: Oh?
20:33
Speaker 6: Yeah, she would careous to get along with such a sweetheart.
20:37
Speaker 8: Okay, did you have any conflict with her ever?
20:39
Speaker 6: No, I've never had a conflict with her at all? Whatsoever?
20:44
Speaker 8: Was there a time where recently where she accused you
20:48
of hitting with her belt?
20:49
Speaker 6: No, not that I'm aware of it. There's something I
20:53
would never do. I don't have a means bell in
20:55
my body. Kick understand any when you talk to about him,
20:58
I will tell you I'm such a sweetheart. I believe it.
21:01
Last contact I had with her was just shortly before
21:07
whatever happened to her. I mean, it kills me.
21:11
Speaker 8: I had just talked to her about maybe the day
21:14
before or maybe a few.
21:16
Speaker 6: Days before she had passed at the grocery store.
21:18
Speaker 8: Okay, when was that.
21:22
Speaker 6: Around Valentine? Today?
21:24
Speaker 2: Here, Caylen seemingly places the murder around Valentine's Day, nearly
21:30
two weeks before Kayla's body was discovered to investigators. This
21:35
appears to be a major slip up, as the precise
21:39
date of the murder has never been publicly released. The detective, however,
21:44
refrains from confronting her. Careful nots of cause her to
21:47
shut down, but now he would reveal the real reason
21:51
she's here and see if she can somehow explain it away.
21:55
Speaker 6: I'm not making this up.
21:56
Speaker 8: I'm not here to church you. We have a video
21:59
of you saying you you were the one that killed her.
22:02
Speaker 6: No, I would never kill anybody, because I'm a sweetheart.
22:07
I wouldn't.
22:08
Speaker 8: That's why I take the time to.
22:11
Speaker 6: Talk to you. So it's five videos.
22:13
Speaker 8: Let's most them.
22:15
Speaker 4: All if you want to.
22:17
Speaker 6: Let they're trying to fend this on me that I
22:19
had nothing.
22:19
Speaker 4: To do with.
22:20
Speaker 8: Well, let's watch these and I want to talk to
22:22
you because I don't want let's just many.
22:25
Speaker 9: I know you.
22:27
Speaker 4: Sixteen.
22:28
Speaker 6: It was a little forced its me to stay on her.
22:31
Speaker 8: Let's watch them all, and then I want to hear
22:34
how'd your kids there?
22:36
Speaker 6: There seems clearly until they're trying to set me out
22:38
white there isn't my first time.
22:43
Speaker 8: That's obviously. I want your scientist, that's why we're here.
22:50
So what is your side to that?
22:51
Speaker 6: My science to it is I had nothing to do
22:53
with Caylen.
22:54
Speaker 8: Said, because you can really help us, okay, And in turn,
22:58
I don't make guarantees, but there's attention you might help herself.
23:01
And I want to make something clear. We know when
23:04
Kaylen died, okay, and we also know that we have
23:08
a video of you with Steve Okay and Marina very
23:14
short time after her death together at a purse. I
23:17
do not think you're the masterind I think that there's
23:20
a lot of influence by Steve. There's no doubt there's
23:23
a lot of improvement by Steve. You want to start inca.
23:28
Speaker 6: And begun done for today?
23:30
Speaker 8: Okay.
23:31
Speaker 6: I'm okayn too. It's slowly making me said.
23:35
Speaker 2: After being shown the video, Kaylan does exactly what investigators
23:40
feared most. She ends the interview before giving them enough
23:44
probable cause to detain her, and so she's released. The
23:50
following day, detectives finally get their first lucky break. The
23:55
search warrant for Steven's apartment is approved. Wasting no time,
23:59
Miss Bigan officers rush back to his residence, hoping to
24:02
find answers to Kayla's murder and perhaps a clue as
24:06
to where Stephen may have fled. Upon entering the cramped
24:09
one bedroom apartment, deputies are stunned to find evidence that
24:13
at least seven people had been living here, and things
24:16
would only get stranger from here. Throughout the apartment, officers
24:21
notice a recurring theme, the Grim Reaper. Stephen had adopted
24:25
the name Grim, labeling many of his belongings with it.
24:29
Inside a journal, deputies discover that he referred to his
24:32
wife Narena as Lady Death. The group even had its
24:36
own name, the Reapers. At this point, investigators begin to
24:40
suspect they're not dealing with a group of friends or
24:43
even a gang, but a full blown cult. As the
24:48
search unfolds, investigators back at the station begin monitoring Stephen's
24:52
online activity, and before long, a Facebook photo stops them
24:56
in their tracks. The image was taken during Steven's wedding
25:00
on February fourteenth, Valentine's Day. Police immediately recognized Stephen, his wife, Narena, Brynn,
25:08
and Klin, but the remaining four people are complete unknowns
25:12
to the investigators, and detectives suspect they may also have
25:16
been involved in the homicide. Stephen's mother is quickly rolled out,
25:20
along with a family friend who appears to have little
25:23
connection to the group, but the same can't be said
25:25
for the remaining two Alex Fico and Sierra Bemis, two
25:30
people Stephen has taken under his wing. That same afternoon,
25:34
Detective Peterson calls them both and asks them to come
25:37
to the station. And as Detective Peterson prepares to interview them,
25:41
he needs to answer two critical questions. What is their
25:44
connection to Stephen and where does their loyalty to him?
25:48
Speaker 8: And tell me about your relationship with Steve Males.
25:53
Speaker 4: He was a good faller, Karla gimmerlea get along? What
26:00
kind of what? What didn't you get along with him for?
26:02
Because he always wanted to take my money and use
26:04
my food stems? Did you let him? I gave him
26:09
my card and he never gave it back.
26:11
Speaker 13: I want you to tell me everything you can, everything
26:13
you know about the death of k.
26:17
Speaker 7: Everything I know, all right, So Steve Baiales, I met
26:21
him at Brusheny's Pizzeria uh Monroe Street. I was real
26:29
strung out one day and drunk at the same time,
26:34
and got took me in my hands, looked at me
26:37
down in my eye and told me that I could
26:39
get over it.
26:40
Speaker 4: You know he got it?
26:41
Speaker 8: God?
26:43
Speaker 11: Yeah, So very firm handshake and it felt brotherly. It
26:48
felt like he.
26:49
Speaker 4: Was especially glove towards me.
26:52
Speaker 14: They made him feel good for like.
26:56
Speaker 8: Being sober and not drinking was not.
27:00
Speaker 13: To I'm actually okay, was there anything good about Steve?
27:04
Speaker 4: No?
27:05
Speaker 8: No, because you described as a good father, so there
27:09
was nothing good about that.
27:11
Speaker 4: Okay.
27:12
Speaker 8: Do you think he used you?
27:13
Speaker 4: Yes?
27:14
Speaker 6: Okay.
27:16
Speaker 2: Interestingly, Sierra struggles to find a single good thing to
27:20
say about Steven, yet both she and Alex still consider
27:24
him family. Like many manipulative leaders, Steven targeted vulnerable people
27:29
at their lowest, offering them support, housing, hand a sense
27:33
of belonging. Over time, that trust turned into control, with
27:37
members handing over their income and providing for him financially.
27:41
But Steven's influence extended far beyond money and into violence,
27:46
as Detective Peterson is about to learn.
27:50
Speaker 1: So when was the night that Kayla got hurted?
27:53
Speaker 4: I believe Who's the night of their wedd Like they
27:56
just crazily.
27:57
Speaker 11: Went out and you know that was their rich so
28:02
Steve that they wanted to kill right after getting married.
28:09
Speaker 4: Kay the the one who.
28:13
Speaker 6: She did to killing. She's at least she said.
28:16
Speaker 4: She did to kill you.
28:17
Speaker 8: So Kaitlyn and Kayla didn't get along?
28:19
Speaker 6: Why not?
28:20
Speaker 4: Because they were Spider Overs team.
28:23
Speaker 13: So we're Kaylin and Steve where they romantically involved, Okay
28:30
and Kayla and Kah Steve romantically involved? Yes, And so Kaylin,
28:36
you're saying, you know, I don't know what words about.
28:37
Speaker 4: Was jealous of Kayla?
28:39
Speaker 3: Yes?
28:40
Speaker 8: Was Steve planning this at the wedding.
28:43
Speaker 14: Not like sit down saying we're doing this, this is,
28:48
this is, this is, and I'm doing this.
28:51
Speaker 1: No.
28:52
Speaker 13: So basically what you can tell you do you think
28:54
Steve helped to plan us?
28:58
Speaker 6: Yeah?
28:58
Speaker 4: I think Steve planned it at all, he said.
29:01
Speaker 6: He says, she's got a golf.
29:04
Speaker 2: As the interviews continue, Detective Peterson learns that Stephen was
29:08
involved with three women at once, his wife, Narena, Caylan,
29:13
and Kayla, With tensions between Caylin and Kayla escalating for months.
29:17
Detectives suspects Stephen was deliberately fueling his rivalry for his
29:22
own benefit, but Detective Peterson would soon learn that Stephen
29:26
wasn't the only man in the house exploiting the women.
29:32
As Alex's and Sierra's interviews are unfolding, detectives decide to
29:36
give Brin a call and ask him to come to
29:38
the station after being the first to expose Caylan and
29:42
appearing in Stephen's wedding photos. Peterson is convinced he must
29:46
know more about the murder than he initially admitted, and
29:49
as he sits down for his interview, investigators are about
29:52
to discover that Brinn played a role as well, one
29:56
he conveniently failed to mention the first time around.
30:00
Speaker 1: Because I know you guys have camel footash and me driving.
30:02
Speaker 9: I know you guys got the footage from where I
30:05
picked her up.
30:05
Speaker 1: I'm not stupid.
30:06
Speaker 5: Exactly where did you pick her up at?
30:08
Speaker 2: At the corner store?
30:09
Speaker 3: You just pick up her?
30:10
Speaker 6: You a lorder even to anybody else.
30:11
Speaker 1: There was someone else in the car. Who's with you, Steve?
30:14
Speaker 5: So what was the conversation that led to you picking
30:17
her up?
30:18
Speaker 11: Hey?
30:18
Speaker 1: Where are you?
30:18
Speaker 3: What are you doing?
30:20
Speaker 4: Nothing?
30:20
Speaker 3: Off of what are you doing nothing?
30:22
Speaker 9: You want to hang out for a few Well, there
30:25
was Steve's chance because you knew I was talking to her.
30:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, you better do that.
30:29
Speaker 5: Okay, So does she does she think and I'm not sure,
30:33
does she think that you guys are dating again? At
30:35
this point of February sixty one?
30:36
Speaker 4: Yeh se because she called me babe, at one point.
30:38
Speaker 5: Okay, So what makes you think that she's no like that?
30:42
What makes you think she's now she believes that you
30:47
two are together as a.
30:48
Speaker 9: Couple because she called me babe for like three times.
30:50
Speaker 4: I didn't say anything, but the fourth time I set something.
30:52
Speaker 5: So before you picked her up on February fifteenth or
30:55
sixteenth in the black car, was Steve hiding in the
30:57
back seat. If I got anything wrong, I'd just like
31:01
to kick it back out. So we're on the same page.
31:04
When was the last communication you had before that? Was
31:07
there any communication that made her think that you guys
31:09
were together as a couple? Many any like tellow talk
31:12
type of stuff.
31:13
Speaker 9: That most I can think that she'd think we were
31:15
together is when I said I love you.
31:18
Speaker 4: You're a really good friend of mine.
31:20
Speaker 1: And I said that on VALENTIAI because she called me
31:22
and said I got chocolate for you.
31:25
Speaker 2: Although Brynn insists he was simply following Steven's orders, what
31:29
he doesn't realize is that detectives have already recovered his
31:32
text messages with Kayla, telling a very different story. For weeks,
31:37
Brynn had been romantically speaking with Kayla online. In fact,
31:42
just days before her death, she had saved his number
31:45
in her phone as boyfriend, and now detectives would begin
31:50
looking at Brynn, Sierra and Alex side by side, comparing
31:54
their stories and exposing contradictions. With pressure mounting and the
31:58
possibility of print and looming over them, the reapers are
32:02
moments away from turning on one another, shattering the loyalty.
32:06
Steven spent years building.
32:09
Speaker 5: Okay, you were there, shot shot, but I did pull
32:11
the trigger.
32:12
Speaker 2: No, where did I go in the building?
32:13
Speaker 4: Thank you?
32:14
Speaker 13: Exactly?
32:14
Speaker 9: So I was a driver threatened by my life. Do
32:18
you want to go see your dad? Do you want
32:20
to be with your mom?
32:22
Speaker 4: Where do you want to live?
32:23
Speaker 3: Save that?
32:25
Speaker 5: The life is more important?
32:27
Speaker 6: She said the third shot, she put it to her head.
32:32
Speaker 11: Steve said that she screamed, Steve, Steve out, and then
32:39
Brine simply said, drop.
32:42
Speaker 14: That I had possession of it at one point in time.
32:48
Time DNA will be on it. They said somebody threatening them.
32:54
That's how they manipulated me. It said somebody was threatening
32:58
them that you know they need to protection. Can we
33:02
get that gone back?
33:04
Speaker 4: They came on and we all led to him.
33:06
Speaker 8: Okay, what was said in the car when they all
33:09
came out.
33:10
Speaker 4: That she's finally did Who said that, Steve, step they
33:16
told they killed her?
33:18
Speaker 15: Okay, what did they tell you?
33:19
Speaker 4: They said they were talking Maria and Kaylyn's just shout
33:22
her in the back of her head.
33:23
Speaker 13: Calen shouted in the back of the head, yes, okay,
33:27
And who was talking to her?
33:30
Speaker 3: Steve?
33:31
Speaker 5: Okay, as you see green parking line, yeah, as you've
33:35
seen that green pocketlight.
33:38
Speaker 4: We also had green band and us.
33:40
Speaker 5: What it's like a gang or something.
33:42
Speaker 1: No, it wasn't a gang.
33:43
Speaker 4: Steve called it a family.
33:45
Speaker 2: Although multiple members of the Reapers identify Kaitlin as the shooter,
33:50
they consistently point detectives back to the same person as
33:53
the mastermind, Steven. The picture detectives begin to beast together.
33:58
Is this brit tricked Kayla and lured her to Boysville.
34:03
Alex supplied the gun, Caylan pulled the trigger, and Stephen
34:07
watched it all unfold without ever getting his hands dirty
34:11
with this. Alex, Brinn, and Sierra's interviews come to an
34:15
end as all three are placed under arrest, while a
34:18
nationwide BOLO is issued for Stephen and Arena, and while
34:22
the couple believes they've managed to disappear for good. Even
34:25
the most brilliant masterminds eventually make a mistake, and they
34:30
are no exception. Over the next several weeks, authorities chase
34:38
lead after lead until they finally pick up Stephen's trail.
34:42
Bank surveillance cameras capture Stephen an arena on CCTV, and
34:46
before long, investigators track the couple more than seven hundred
34:50
miles from Michigan to a relative's home in New Hanover County,
34:53
North Carolina. A swat team is called in and the
34:56
house is quickly surrounded, but despite repeated commands to come outside,
35:01
Stephen refuses to surrender, barricading himself inside and preparing for
35:06
his final stand. Hours pass with little progress, forcing officers
35:11
to deploy teargas that finally drives the couple out of
35:14
the house. More than six weeks after the murder, Stephen
35:19
and Noreena are taken into custody and transported into the
35:22
New Hanover County Sheriff's office. At this point, detectives know
35:26
a lot, but not everything. They still need to determine
35:31
whether Stephen orchestrated Kayla's murder or if the reapers acted
35:35
on their own and with investigators believing they're dealing with
35:38
a dangerous cult. They can't roll out the possibility that
35:41
there are other victims still waiting to be found, perhaps
35:44
even the fifteen other murders Calin claimed to have committed.
35:49
Once at the station, Stephen and Arena are separated and
35:53
placed into different interview rooms, and Detective Peterson decides to
35:56
begin with Narena. If he can get Stephen's own wife
36:00
to start talking, it will become much harder for Steven
36:03
to maintain whatever story he's prepared.
36:06
Speaker 4: Youka, okay, tell me why.
36:12
Speaker 6: She's a good friend.
36:13
Speaker 8: Did you have any conferences with her?
36:16
Speaker 3: Were you jealous?
36:16
Speaker 4: Girl?
36:18
Speaker 8: You know she romantically well to see before you, so
36:22
you didn't have a Chelsey or anything like that about her,
36:25
so it must pick her up. You stayed the apartments,
36:29
but you knew at that point that they were going
36:31
to think of to kill her.
36:32
Speaker 6: Yeah, I knew that.
36:34
Speaker 8: At that point, And she's like, your reason you didn't
36:37
call police?
36:38
Speaker 6: I did not place, He really didn't.
36:42
Speaker 4: No, Okay, they came back. They told me that they
36:47
were going to go back to the next day to
36:51
the Okay, put some eloption on her mind, emption on
36:55
her for fun, whatever you fifty five. You had know
37:00
how the spell of her, the fact snow you.
37:04
Speaker 6: Know everything over her snow.
37:06
Speaker 4: Okay, Oh, she said I killed her because he put
37:14
she put me in prison for two years.
37:16
Speaker 16: What did he say about what they had just done?
37:20
Speaker 6: He didn't, so he didn't say much. But was he
37:25
organizing the whole thing?
37:27
Speaker 12: Was he the one to kind of control it and
37:29
telling people to do this?
37:32
Speaker 2: Against Detective's expectations. Even Stephen's own wife is telling them
37:37
that he's the one behind it. With that, Narena's interview
37:40
is wrapped up, and there's only one more person Detective
37:43
Peterson needs to speak with. As steven sits in the
37:47
interrogation room, he has no idea that the people he
37:50
spent years controlling, including his own wife, have already turned
37:55
against him. But going into this interview, Detective Peterson faces
37:59
a challenge upon hearing of Stephen's arrest. His mother has
38:03
already requested an attorney, who is now on the way
38:06
to the station, and so the clock is ticking. Detectives
38:10
need to extract the truth from Stephen before the lawyer
38:13
arrives and shuts the interview down.
38:15
Speaker 4: I'll answer some questions.
38:17
Speaker 16: What have you guys got the best as I know
38:19
what my mom says. She's gonna try to do everything
38:22
she can't get me away and everything.
38:24
Speaker 17: So that you want to answer her questions, but you
38:31
don't call what that's my ex girlfriend? Me and her
38:34
had asked for years and.
38:38
Speaker 6: I missed that girl because she's just she's a handful.
38:42
Speaker 16: She's like and her we always argued all the time
38:46
about what just just anything like she'd be jealous if
38:50
I'm talking to somebody, like if I'm talking to a
38:53
cousin that's a.
38:53
Speaker 3: Female, she think I'm cheating on her.
38:56
Speaker 16: And then she had threatened me like she would kill me.
38:58
Speaker 4: She pulled a gun out on me and Bryan, were.
39:01
Speaker 13: You upset with her specifically about to say, did you
39:04
blame her for going to prison or anything like that?
39:07
Speaker 16: No, because that you want to know the funny thing
39:08
about that put me into prison for a year, said.
39:13
Speaker 8: That I choked her, the slammed her against the wall.
39:18
Speaker 4: She lied because I was messing with her sister.
39:23
Speaker 8: So you were not involved in the finding an execution
39:25
of Kles No, I was not.
39:28
Speaker 6: It was really involved.
39:30
Speaker 3: He was with me at the time and one.
39:32
Speaker 16: Time he wasn't with me I'm paying down.
39:36
Speaker 6: Mean, when you see us with me at the.
39:38
Speaker 16: Time when we were going on our honeymoons and when
39:42
we went to South Carolina.
39:44
Speaker 13: Okay, so what is that with was when she was killed?
39:49
Speaker 3: I'm not sure.
39:50
Speaker 2: I don't know you brought it up.
39:51
Speaker 13: So I'm just curious you said that he was with me.
39:53
Speaker 1: At the time when, oh, like, when I was going
39:55
down to.
39:56
Speaker 16: South Carolina and Florida was always came with death.
40:00
Speaker 4: Oh, I don't know any longer.
40:03
Speaker 2: In an attempt to deflect blame from Brynn, Stephen just
40:06
revealed he was with him at the time of Kayla's murder.
40:10
But there's a problem. Kayla's time of death was never
40:14
made pablack, and just like Caylin, Stephen has unknowingly implicated himself.
40:20
In Stephen's mind, Caylan is the one who pulled the trigger,
40:24
which makes him innocent. But detectives see it very differently.
40:29
They view Stephen the way prosecutors often view notorious cult
40:33
leaders like Charles Manson. The person who pulls the trigger
40:36
isn't always the most responsible under the law. The person
40:40
who plans a killing can be just as if not more, culpable,
40:44
than the one who carries it out. Seeing that Stephen
40:47
refuses to tell the truth, Detective Peterson decides to push
40:50
harder and reveal damning evidence. Stephen can't talk his way
40:54
out of. But this strategy is about to backfire. All right,
40:58
So have you ever been to the old boys Bolt facilities?
41:03
Speaker 15: One time?
41:04
Speaker 1: When was that?
41:05
Speaker 4: That was many many many years ago when it was open.
41:08
Speaker 8: Remember when we started talking?
41:10
Speaker 11: Right?
41:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, I told you I know everything about you, Steve.
41:14
Speaker 13: I know everything about I know more about your wife
41:19
and your Brin and yourself probably than you do. So
41:25
and I'm gonna ask you straight up, is there any
41:27
reason or I should say what it surprised you to
41:30
know that we have a Facebook conversation between you and
41:35
Brinn at Boysville that night, you know, and guarantee we do.
41:42
Speaker 4: Well, that is where I need my lawyer.
41:43
Speaker 15: Then, okay, sounds good because because I know that's oh
41:48
to guarantee you'll you'll see that it's not a lie.
41:51
The only thing that's a lie is what you've been
41:52
telling me since you said Now, I understand we've talked
41:56
to you.
42:00
Speaker 16: That's fine, And I just told you everything by play
42:03
by play what happened.
42:04
Speaker 2: Okay, just known this.
42:09
Speaker 13: The fellowship you have is broken up. Everyone's talking, including
42:12
your wife. We've spoken in arena. We know everything, and
42:16
I mean everything.
42:18
Speaker 3: So it's up to you.
42:20
Speaker 4: If you want to talk, you should.
42:21
Speaker 13: You want to trust your lawyer, I'll let you have
42:23
your lawyer.
42:24
Speaker 6: But this will not help you.
42:26
Speaker 13: Okay any rush three?
42:29
Speaker 3: Okay.
42:31
Speaker 2: The moment, detectives confront Stephen with evidence placing him at
42:35
the crime scene, He's caught off guard and completely shuts down.
42:39
And now, even without Stephen's confession, investigators are able to
42:43
piece together what happened to Kayla that night. Stephen orchestrated
42:48
the attack, recruited the others to carry it out, and
42:51
later returned to conceal her body before fleeing the state.
42:55
Caylin was the attacker. She participated in the assault and
42:58
ultimately fired the show that killed Kayla. Brynn was the lure.
43:03
Posing as her boyfriend for weeks. He gained Kayla's trust
43:06
and convinced her to meet him, ultimately driving her directly
43:11
to her death.
43:12
Speaker 1: Bring her with you too, but don't let her know
43:17
that you are.
43:18
Speaker 6: I'm sleeping in a tent underneath the bridge by myself.
43:22
Speaker 1: Send me location. I got Kayla, she's in my hands now.
43:26
She fell right in my trap.
43:29
Speaker 4: Lol.
43:30
Speaker 1: Here, I can't find the gym. I hear you. You
43:33
aetting closer clear.
43:35
Speaker 2: Sierra acted as part of the ambush team, waiting for Kayla,
43:38
serving his lookout as the murder Unfoldednarena never went to
43:42
Boysville that night. Instead, she stayed at the apartment, monitoring
43:46
a police scanner, ready to warn the group if law
43:49
enforcement was approaching, and Alex supplied the firearm, later retrieving
43:54
it and helping conceal the evidence afterwards. In the end,
43:58
none of the Reapers would escape ac count nobility. Alex
44:01
pleads guilty to tampering with evidence and accessory charges, receiving
44:05
a sentence of five to ten years in prison. Norina
44:08
receives thirteen and a half to thirty years, while Sierra
44:11
is sentenced to eighteen and a half to thirty years
44:14
after both pled no contests to second degree murder. Brynn
44:18
and Calin each plead no contest to second degree murder
44:21
and are sentenced to forty to sixty years in prison,
44:25
and Stephen Bales is convicted of first degree murder and
44:28
conspiracy to commit murder, receiving life without parole, along with
44:33
a second life sentence with the possibility of parole. As
44:36
for Caylin's claims that she had murdered sixteen people, detectives
44:41
were unable to connect her to any other killings, leading
44:44
them to believe the confession was fabricated under pressure by
44:47
Stephen and Brynn. Even so, investigators are still looking because
44:52
there's no way of knowing whether Kylo was their first
44:55
victim or simply the first one to be found. And
44:58
while this case left me, she gets shaken by a
45:01
deadly cult no one knew existed. Our next case takes
45:04
us to a place where violence and gang activity lurk
45:07
around every corner. These are the members of one of
45:10
the most infamous gangs in Washington, and in just a
45:13
few moments, these two seemingly innocent teenagers are about to
45:17
become their targets. By the time police arrive at the scene,
45:28
it's already too late. Determined to stop the bloodshed once
45:32
and for all, investigators embark on a dangerous mission to
45:35
infiltrate the gang, turn its members against each other, and
45:38
ultimately destroy it from within.
45:41
Speaker 3: Me.
45:43
Speaker 1: If you hear anything, yeah, you can be anonymous.
45:47
Speaker 16: I need to be careful.
45:48
Speaker 3: Probably a bunch of SSOs around here.
45:51
Speaker 2: It's I'm gonna go to a lot of money to
45:55
watch this exclusive Doctor and Standardy episode, along with three
45:58
more episodes from our new too B series. Click the
46:01
link below and check it out now for free on
46:04
to B