Latest / PNW Haunts & Homicides / Magdalena Zuk: Marsa Alam, Egypt

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Magdalena Zuk: Marsa Alam, Egypt · PNW Haunts & Homicides

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Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the fastened
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Speaker 1: seatbelt sign. If you haven't already done so, please make
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Speaker 1: sure the volume of this podcast is set perfectly to
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Speaker 1: your listening enjoyment. Please take your seat, whether that's on
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Speaker 1: the treadmill, car, sofa, or bed, and buckle in for
0:27
Speaker 1: the Last Trip. My name is Jamie Biebe and I'll
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Speaker 1: be your tour guide recreating someone's last days in paradise
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Speaker 1: on behalf of myself and everyone behind the scenes. Please
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Speaker 1: enjoy the Last Trip podcast. And because nobody likes a
0:41
Speaker 1: long flight gets where they want to be, let's prepare
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Speaker 1: for takeoff. On April thirtieth, twenty seventeen, twenty seven year
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Speaker 1: old Magdalena Zook fell to her death from a hospital
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Speaker 1: window in Egypt, just days into a week long holiday.
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Speaker 1: This case is rampant with conspiracy theories including sex, trafficking, murder, drugs,
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Speaker 1: and suicide. What really happened to Magdalena Zuk? Why are
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Speaker 1: there so many rumors about this case? And is Egypt
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Speaker 1: safe to visit? Egypt is absolutely on my travel bucket list.
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Speaker 1: Who doesn't want to see the Pyramids, the Sphinx, the
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Speaker 1: Luxor Temple, the Nile River, the Red Sea, or the
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Speaker 1: White Desert. I looked at photos of Egypt and geography
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Speaker 1: books as a kid and dreamed of going there. The
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Speaker 1: most famous Egypt tourist attractions are the iconic Pyramids and
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Speaker 1: the Sphinx at Giza. Both are located just outside Cairo,
1:42
Speaker 1: with the Pyramids being the last surviving wonder of the
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Speaker 1: ancient world. They were constructed as monumental tombs to house
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Speaker 1: the bodies of deceased pharaohs and their treasures, as well
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Speaker 1: as to facilitate their journey to the afterlife, according to
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Speaker 1: ancient Egyptian beliefs. The large limestone statue with the body
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Speaker 1: of a lion and the head of a human a
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Speaker 1: hybrid creature combining elements of a lion symbolizing strength and
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Speaker 1: power and a human head symbolizing intelligence and divine authority.
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Speaker 1: Its position facing the sun symbolizes rebirth and renewal. Those
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Speaker 1: are two things I cannot wait to see in person.
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Speaker 1: But what has tourism been like in Egypt? In the
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Speaker 1: late nineteenth century, tourism was mostly European travelers that wanted
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Speaker 1: to explore the mysteries of ancient Egypt, especially after they
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Speaker 1: opened the Sioux's Canal in eighteen sixty nine, connecting the
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Speaker 1: Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. The early twentieth century
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Speaker 1: saw an increase in organized tourism like travel agencies and
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Speaker 1: tour operators. Around this time, the Egyptian government recognized the
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Speaker 1: economic potential of tourism and began investing into it with resorts, hotels,
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Speaker 1: and other accommodations. In the mid to late twentieth century,
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Speaker 1: there was a tourism boom and millions of visitors started
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Speaker 1: exploring the ancient wonders and cruising down the Nile River.
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Speaker 1: But in the nineteen sixties and seventies, political instability and
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Speaker 1: regional conflicts like the Arab Israeli Wars and the Yong
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Speaker 1: Kippur Wars dropped the tourist numbers, and again in the
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Speaker 1: early two thousands, tourism faced more setbacks from terrorist attacks,
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Speaker 1: especially from the bombing of tourist sites in Luxor and
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Speaker 1: Sham Alshaikh. In more recent years, there have been increased
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Speaker 1: efforts to once again promote tourism and improve security in Egypt.
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Speaker 1: So tourism is slowly growing, and it should because there
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Speaker 1: are some amazing things to see and do in Egypt.
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Speaker 1: I recently got my diving certificate, and I'd love to
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Speaker 1: try the Red Sea blue Hole. I mentioned to the
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Speaker 1: blue hole in Belize in an earlier episode. The Red
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Speaker 1: Sea also has a blue hole, but much more deadly
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Speaker 1: four hundred and sixty two foot deep blue hole known
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Speaker 1: as the Divers Cemetery because at least forty divers have
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Speaker 1: died there. The White Desert is a weird wonder of nature.
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Speaker 1: There's huge, odd shaped chalk boulders that loom over the desert,
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Speaker 1: making it look like icebergs have stranded themselves in a
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Speaker 1: sand dune. It's something out of a science fiction movie
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Speaker 1: and what's in a lifetime experience. A lot of people
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Speaker 1: even camp overnight so they can see it during sunset
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Speaker 1: and sunrise. Saint Catherine's Monastery, located at the foot of
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Speaker 1: Mount Sinai, is one of the oldest in the world
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Speaker 1: and where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments.
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Speaker 1: While you're there, you can hike up Mount Sinai to
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Speaker 1: see the sunrise or sunset, either by taking a camel
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Speaker 1: for the easy route or climbing the famous Steps of Repentance.
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Speaker 1: If you want a better view, a visit to the
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Speaker 1: resort town of Hergatta, along the gorgeous beaches of the
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Speaker 1: Red Sea, is a great timeout from temple viewing bock
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Speaker 1: out the smaller tourist town of marsa Alam, where Magdalena
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Speaker 1: stayed on her fateful trip. It's located on the western
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Speaker 1: shore of the Red Sea and one of the most
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Speaker 1: attractive tourist areas because of its resorts, crystal clear waters
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Speaker 1: and white sandy beaches. Also known as the Egyptian Maldives,
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Speaker 1: Egypt looks like a magical land with natural beauty, history,
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Speaker 1: and mystery around every corner, and I can't wait for
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Speaker 1: the opportunity to visit. But although it looks amazing, it
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Speaker 1: can be dangerous. Let's get to know Magdalena Zook and
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Speaker 1: find out what happened on her Egyptian vacation, because there's
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Speaker 1: a lot to unpack in this tragedy. There are a
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Speaker 1: lot of rumors and a lot of people involved in
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Speaker 1: this tragedy. The media and the internet ran with this
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Speaker 1: story and all the theories about what happened. But what
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Speaker 1: I noticed was that very few sources talked about who
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Speaker 1: Magdalena was or what type of person she was. Magdalena
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Speaker 1: Zuk was born September nineteenth, nineteen ninety in Bogatina, Poland,
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Speaker 1: to her parents Tadus and elsbta Zuk. She had several sisters,
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Speaker 1: but the one we'll mention most in this episode is
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Speaker 1: her sister Anna, who searched relentlessly for the truth surrounding
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Speaker 1: her death. Magdalena left home when she was just seventeen,
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Speaker 1: and several new sources said her father was an alcoholic
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Speaker 1: and that she sought out therapy to deal with that
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Speaker 1: in her late teens, but that didn't slower down. She
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Speaker 1: was full of life, dreams and laughter. She was ambitious
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Speaker 1: and smart, pursuing and achieving all the goals she set
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Speaker 1: for herself. At the age of twenty two, she opened
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Speaker 1: her own beauty salon while also studying for bachelor's degree
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Speaker 1: in diocetics. She was a model and an athlete. She
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Speaker 1: loved a jog, swim, and hike. She was also into
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Speaker 1: fitness training and pole dancing. She didn't like sitting still
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Speaker 1: for a minute. She was always working, studying, or trained.
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Speaker 1: When she was twenty seven, she moved to a small
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Speaker 1: town called Roklaw in Poland and met her boyfriend Marcus
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Speaker 1: Wodarski during a concert in a popular nightclub called Gray.
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Speaker 1: He was a well known hairdresser in town that often
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Speaker 1: worked with models, and the two hit it off right away.
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Speaker 1: By the time her trip to Egypt rolled around, they
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Speaker 1: had been dating for three to four months, and her
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Speaker 1: friends said they planned to get married the next year
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Speaker 1: in the United States, with his second wedding in Poland.
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Speaker 1: Before her trip, she was happy and talked about her
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Speaker 1: upcoming marriage and the wedding, as well as her desire
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Speaker 1: to have children. Magdalena's friends and family said she had
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Speaker 1: no history of mental illness or depression, never did drugs,
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Speaker 1: and was adamantly against them, but she was known to
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Speaker 1: be spontaneous. She secretly organized this all inclusive week long
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Speaker 1: holiday to a resort in marsa Alam, Egypt, for her
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Speaker 1: and Marcus to celebrate Marcus's birthday, but she didn't reveal
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Speaker 1: the surprise until around one pm on the afternoon of
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Speaker 1: the day of departure. This is when they realized his
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Speaker 1: passport was valid for less than the six month cut
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Speaker 1: off required, so there's no way he'd be allowed in Egypt.
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Speaker 1: Some rumors said she knew or should have known, because
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Speaker 1: she'd been in touch with their mutual friend mache Sulchek,
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Speaker 1: who would have told her about the passport issue. While
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Speaker 1: that can't be confirmed, marche does end up playing a
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Speaker 1: crucial character later on in the story, so we'll come
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Speaker 1: back to him. The money was already spent and Marcus
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Speaker 1: couldn't go. They checked if there could be an exception
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Speaker 1: with his passport or if they could change the dates,
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Speaker 1: but they couldn't. Four hours before the flight left, Marcus
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Speaker 1: tried to sell the trip on Facebook, writing a post
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Speaker 1: that said I am selling a holiday to Egypt. Departure
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Speaker 1: is today from Kadaviza at eight twenty pm. The Egypt
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Speaker 1: hotel has four stars and is all in the value
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Speaker 1: of the trip is four thousand PLN, which is a
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Speaker 1: little over nine hundred euros. I will sell it for
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Speaker 1: half price for two people. A Polish YouTuber named tera
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Speaker 1: Caaz claimed that three different people offered to buy the trip,
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Speaker 1: but Marcus told them the trip was already sold. He
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Speaker 1: even claimed they showed screenshots to the police, although none
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Speaker 1: of this is confirmed. This YouTuber theorized that Marcus created
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Speaker 1: the entire Facebook post as an attempt to buy himself
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Speaker 1: an alibi, and that Magdalena going alone was the plan
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Speaker 1: the whole time, but Magdalena also asked her circle of
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Speaker 1: friends if anyone wanted to go with her, and unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: no one was able to. According to her sister Anna,
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Speaker 1: she asked her and their parents and none of them
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Speaker 1: had valid passports. But in a later interview with her parents,
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Speaker 1: they said they had no knowledge that she had flown
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Speaker 1: to Egypt for the trip. Her father even said had
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Speaker 1: he known, he would not have let her go to
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Speaker 1: that country, not alone and not with someone else either.
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Speaker 1: Like I mentioned, there are a lot of conflicting stories
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Speaker 1: in this case, lot of unconfirmed statements, making it hard
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Speaker 1: to know what or who to believe. Another issue is
10:06
Speaker 1: that it's difficult and expensive, if not impossible, to change
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Speaker 1: the names on a flight at the last minute. Megdalena
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Speaker 1: booked the trip with a travel company called Rainbow Tours,
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Speaker 1: so it's possible she spoke with them and they told
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Speaker 1: her they could change the names. And they also play
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Speaker 1: a big role in this case. We'll get to that soon.
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Speaker 1: When I looked up Rainbow Tours, it was hard to
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Speaker 1: get much information. What I did learn is that they
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Speaker 1: are a Poland based travel company that books travel throughout
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Speaker 1: most of the world. They offer all types of travel, accommodations,
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Speaker 1: last minute bookings, family vacations, tours, all inclusive. If you
10:43
Speaker 1: can dream it up, they can make it happen. What
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Speaker 1: I couldn't find were any company reviews. Even searching through
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Speaker 1: their Facebook page. There were very few posts around the
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Speaker 1: time of Magdalena's death, and the ones I saw didn't
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Speaker 1: mention her or allow comments. Either way, Magdalena ended up
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Speaker 1: taking the trip by herself, and while a lot of
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Speaker 1: women go on solo trips, I'm not sure if this
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Speaker 1: is something she'd normally do. The trips she bought included
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Speaker 1: a full time guide from Rainbow Tours, so she'd have
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Speaker 1: someone to help her out once she got there. That
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Speaker 1: spoke Polish, which probably made her feel safer about going alone,
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Speaker 1: and that guide was named Mamod Carrie. So to break
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Speaker 1: it down, Magdalena took a solo vacation in Egypt and
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Speaker 1: never came back. Marcus was her boyfriend back in Poland
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Speaker 1: Marche is their mutual friend. Ma Mood is the travel
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Speaker 1: company guide and Anna is Magdaliena's sister. Let's get into
11:39
Speaker 1: it after these messages from our sponsors, Well, this case
11:45
Speaker 1: is full of rumors and gossip. I do have a
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Speaker 1: pretty good day by day's schedule of what took place
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Speaker 1: from when she landed in Egypt and tell her death.
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Speaker 1: On Tuesday, April twenty fifth, twenty seventeen, Magdalena's boyfriend Marcus
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Speaker 1: takes her to the Katapiza airport for her eight twenty
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Speaker 1: pm flight to Egypt. Witnesses said she was crying and sad,
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Speaker 1: but otherwise wasn't acting strangely. She lands in her Gada, Egypt,
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Speaker 1: just after midnight on April twenty sixth, and calls Marcus
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Speaker 1: when she lands to check in. According to Marcus, she
12:18
Speaker 1: doesn't sound nervous or anxious, and no witnesses came forward
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Speaker 1: saying they noticed anything unusual about her, but rather that
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Speaker 1: she acted completely normal during the flight and landing at
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Speaker 1: the airport. After landing, she goes to Marsa Alam, approximately
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Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty six kilometers or one hundred and
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Speaker 1: seventy eight miles away to the Three Corners Atquinox Resort
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Speaker 1: Beach Hotel and checks in. The Three Corners is an
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Speaker 1: all inclusive four star resort. They're a family friendly resort
12:46
Speaker 1: with a club atmosphere, a full weekly program with various
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Speaker 1: sports and entertainment, and a water park. The rooms all
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Speaker 1: have a balcony overlooking the sea or garden. There's a buffet,
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Speaker 1: restaurant and plenty of entertainment shows. It's facing the open
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Speaker 1: sea with a large beach front and located with an
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Speaker 1: a leisurely stroll of the Blue Lagoon beach. Sounds like
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Speaker 1: paradise for only about eighty two one hundred dollars a night.
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Speaker 1: So I looked for the bad reviews like I always do.
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Speaker 1: The negative reviews complained about unprofessional staff, no privacy for guests,
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Speaker 1: rooms were outdated, and bad food at the buffet. Almost
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Speaker 1: every complaint was centered around the entertainment and shows, as
13:27
Speaker 1: well as the beach vendors harassing the vacationers, and quite
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Speaker 1: a few complained about racism, saying the staff would only
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Speaker 1: serve certain nationalities like Italian, French and English. The complaints
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Speaker 1: I found interesting were about privacy and unprofessional staff. I'm
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Speaker 1: not sure what they meant by no privacy for guests
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Speaker 1: because no one elaborated, but it's definitely suspect. On Wednesday,
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Speaker 1: April twenty sixth, at three am, just a couple hours
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Speaker 1: after checking in, Magdalena calls Marcus again and tells him
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Speaker 1: she's frightened. She says she heard voices in her room
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Speaker 1: and asks him to talk to the hotel staff to
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Speaker 1: find out what's going on. So Marcus talks to the
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Speaker 1: staff and they tell him everything is fine, and eventually
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Speaker 1: Megdalena agrees everything is fine shortly after that. From there
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Speaker 1: on out, Marcus said they were in near constant contact,
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Speaker 1: but in a contrasting twist, her friends said they could
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Speaker 1: barely reach her on the phone while she was there.
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Speaker 1: Over the course of that day, Megdalena pleads with Marcus
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Speaker 1: to come and get her as soon as possible and
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Speaker 1: take her home. This is when Megdalena starts acting really strange.
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Speaker 1: Hotel staff said she was running around accusing gifts of
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Speaker 1: things they weren't doing, that, she was acting aggressive and
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Speaker 1: wouldn't accept anyone's help. She was also crying that her
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Speaker 1: boyfriend needed to be there with her and she wanted
14:48
Speaker 1: to go back to Poland. They said she was wearing
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Speaker 1: long pants despite the intense heat, and frequently taking off
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Speaker 1: her blouse to reveal her bare breasts. Hotel staff and
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Speaker 1: guests said she she was acting sullen and withdrawn One
15:02
Speaker 1: moment refusing to answer questions, and the next moment she
15:05
Speaker 1: was acting lively and extroverted, even trying to set up
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Speaker 1: a party in the hotel with other Polish speaking guests.
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Speaker 1: One female guest at the hotel who tried to help her,
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Speaker 1: claimed she would only say do you believe in life
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Speaker 1: after death? And then go back to running through the
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Speaker 1: hotel and asking me go back to Poland. At some
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Speaker 1: points on Wednesday, hotel staff calls the travel agency, Rainbow Tours,
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Speaker 1: and they send Mamood, the guy who speaks Polish, to
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Speaker 1: keep an eye on her. Also at this time, Magdalena
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Speaker 1: starts reaching out some of her friends, sending them strange texts,
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Speaker 1: but she's sending most of the texts from Mahmoud's phone,
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Speaker 1: even though her phone works just fine. When her friends
15:46
Speaker 1: try to reach her on her own phone, they can't.
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Speaker 1: She was sending them texts as if they were on
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Speaker 1: vacation with her, asking where they are and demanding they
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Speaker 1: come to her room, and that she was waiting in
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Speaker 1: her room for them. They set her message were mysterious
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Speaker 1: and hard to understand. When she finally calls one of
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Speaker 1: her friends, they said she spoke very strangely, she was
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Speaker 1: mumbling and told them that someone had probably spiked her drink.
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Speaker 1: Her friends all agree she sounds erratic and confused, and
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Speaker 1: she tells them she is still hearing voices in her room.
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Speaker 1: As this information starts reaching her parents on Wednesday, they
16:22
Speaker 1: were understandably worried, and, after speaking with Marcus, thought someone
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Speaker 1: should go there and bring her home. The problem was
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Speaker 1: that none of them had working passports, so Marcus reaches
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Speaker 1: out to his and Magdalena's mutual friend, Marche, who agrees
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Speaker 1: to fly there and help. Her parents also speak to
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Speaker 1: the travel agency. They ask a Polish woman staying in
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Speaker 1: a nearby room to help, and reach out to the
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Speaker 1: Polish embassy in Egypt, also asking for help. The embassy
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Speaker 1: tells them everything is okay with Magdalena and they aren't
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Speaker 1: going to intervene at this point. I'm not sure how
16:56
Speaker 1: they made that determination, because she didn't go to the
16:58
Speaker 1: embassy and they didn't go to her, so I assumed
17:01
Speaker 1: they spoke with the travel agency, who told them she
17:04
Speaker 1: was fine. But guys, things only get worse. On Thursday,
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Speaker 1: April twenty seventh, she is seen shouting on the phone
17:14
Speaker 1: in the lobby and making wild arm movements and again
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Speaker 1: running around the hotel showing her breast to other guests.
17:21
Speaker 1: Marcus decides she should come home right away and buys
17:24
Speaker 1: her a plane ticket. The problem was that there were
17:27
Speaker 1: no flights Thursday or Friday, so he isn't able to
17:30
Speaker 1: get her a flight until Saturday. But her condition is
17:34
Speaker 1: deteriorating fast. Back at the hotel, Mamood is not letting
17:39
Speaker 1: Magdalena out of his sight. He tells people he's taking
17:42
Speaker 1: care of her and trying to keep her calm. He
17:44
Speaker 1: even asks other Polish guests in the hotel for advice
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Speaker 1: on what to do for her. He said he offered
17:50
Speaker 1: to call a doctor, but that Magdalena adamantly refused and
17:53
Speaker 1: said she didn't need any help. But this can't be confirmed.
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Speaker 1: Hotel staff says she's crying a lot and seems very
18:00
Speaker 1: confused about what's going on. By now, her parents are
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Speaker 1: out of their minds with worry because they've never known
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Speaker 1: her to be mentally unstable or act like this, and
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Speaker 1: there's no history of depression or mental illness. She's always
18:13
Speaker 1: been upbeat and positive. Her friends and family have her
18:16
Speaker 1: phone location, and that night, as they're watching they see
18:20
Speaker 1: that she goes to the beach and is transported to
18:22
Speaker 1: what they believe is a ship and spends the entire
18:25
Speaker 1: night on that ship. They took screenshots of her location
18:29
Speaker 1: in the Red Sea, about twenty kilometers off shore, but
18:32
Speaker 1: they can't get any answers to what she was doing
18:35
Speaker 1: on this boat, who she was with, or even how
18:37
Speaker 1: she got on the boat. In fact, they can't even
18:40
Speaker 1: confirm she was on a boat, only that her phone
18:42
Speaker 1: location said she was out in the sea. There were
18:45
Speaker 1: later rumors that the clothing she was wearing on the
18:48
Speaker 1: boat was examined and found to have forensic evidence of
18:51
Speaker 1: at least a few unidentified men's DNA. From this, her
18:55
Speaker 1: family assumed she was drugged and gang raped on the boat.
18:59
Speaker 1: This this isn't confirmed, and any evidence of it was
19:02
Speaker 1: omitted from court proceedings. The Egyptian medical examiner said there
19:06
Speaker 1: was no indication of rape or even consensual sex before
19:10
Speaker 1: her death, but her phone location was definitely out to
19:13
Speaker 1: sea according to screenshots, which I'll post on my Patreon.
19:17
Speaker 1: Egyptian officials have refused to reveal anything about that night
19:21
Speaker 1: and wouldn't confirm whether she was on a ship, saying
19:25
Speaker 1: we have not confirmed she was on the ship. Her
19:27
Speaker 1: phone was locked into the BTS station that covered the
19:30
Speaker 1: range of the hotel she was registered in. Now I
19:33
Speaker 1: think it's likely she was in the sea. I've looked
19:35
Speaker 1: at the location on my phone before and you can
19:38
Speaker 1: see when I moved from one part of my house
19:40
Speaker 1: to the next. It's that accurate. She could still be
19:43
Speaker 1: on the hotel's WiFi but also be on a ship
19:46
Speaker 1: in the sea. On Friday, April twenty eighth, her family
19:50
Speaker 1: and friends can't reach her at all. In the morning,
19:53
Speaker 1: the hotel staff and Mamood start sending them videos of
19:56
Speaker 1: her lying motionless in the doorway to her room, dressed
20:00
Speaker 1: just in a bathrobe, saying they found her there unconscious.
20:03
Speaker 1: The video shows her curled up and lying on the
20:06
Speaker 1: floor in almost a fetal position with her head down.
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Speaker 1: They also send another one of her lying on the bed,
20:12
Speaker 1: covering her face with her bathrobe. Eventually, her family manages
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Speaker 1: to tell her they've arranged a plane ticket for her
20:19
Speaker 1: to fly home. The following day. Things continue to go
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Speaker 1: downhill for Magdalena, and shortly before three pm, she's taken
20:26
Speaker 1: to a local hospital in Port Ghalib by Mahmoud and
20:30
Speaker 1: several other men, but it doesn't go well there at all,
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Speaker 1: and it's hard to figure out what exactly happened because
20:36
Speaker 1: the stories conflict with a footage from the hospital. The
20:39
Speaker 1: head of the hospital, doctor Ahmed Shaki, said that Magdalena
20:44
Speaker 1: wouldn't get out of the ambulance, but there's video footage
20:47
Speaker 1: of Magdalena walking into the hospital willingly, not forced or
20:51
Speaker 1: being held up. She looks slightly disoriented in the video,
20:55
Speaker 1: but she's walking by herself and not acting out in
20:58
Speaker 1: any significant way. Once inside, she isn't examined by a doctor,
21:03
Speaker 1: but again there's conflicting stories why that is. One of
21:07
Speaker 1: the doctors claimed she refused to be examined, while another
21:10
Speaker 1: said doctors refused to examine her because that hospital does
21:14
Speaker 1: not deal with mental health patients. Although if she wasn't seen,
21:18
Speaker 1: how would they know if it was a mental health issue,
21:21
Speaker 1: especially if they told the doctors that earlier in the
21:23
Speaker 1: day she was unconscious on the floor, That doesn't sound
21:26
Speaker 1: like a mental health issue to meet. Either way. She
21:29
Speaker 1: was not seen by a doctor and no tests were done,
21:32
Speaker 1: including any kind of toxicology tests, and they wouldn't keep
21:36
Speaker 1: her there under surveillance, even though she was obviously suffering
21:40
Speaker 1: from some type of crisis, so she returns to the
21:43
Speaker 1: hotel without being helped from There is a big unknown
21:48
Speaker 1: time gap from when she left the hospital Friday until
21:51
Speaker 1: the early morning hours of Saturday. On Saturday, April twenty ninth,
21:55
Speaker 1: Magdalena is scheduled on her new flight home to Poland,
21:59
Speaker 1: but the day began with a very rocky start. At
22:02
Speaker 1: six a m, hotel staff allegedly prevents Megdalena from jumping
22:07
Speaker 1: off the roof of the hotel. A report from Mahmoud
22:10
Speaker 1: said hotel security observed that Magdalena left her room and
22:14
Speaker 1: went to the roof of the building. The accounts of
22:17
Speaker 1: the facility's staff told us she was trying to get
22:19
Speaker 1: closer to the edge of the roof, and employees brought
22:22
Speaker 1: her back to her room. After that, they said she
22:25
Speaker 1: stayed in her room alone until two PM, when she
22:28
Speaker 1: checked out of the hotel. By this time, Mahmoud had
22:32
Speaker 1: been with her for three days, barely leaving her side.
22:35
Speaker 1: This seems like suspicious behavior for a travel agent who
22:38
Speaker 1: is supposed to be working. Regardless, Mahmoud and his friends
22:43
Speaker 1: take her to the airport after checking her out, of
22:45
Speaker 1: the hotel. She looks better, her hair is done, and
22:49
Speaker 1: she is presentable. This isn't the airport she flew into,
22:53
Speaker 1: but rather the smaller airport near the resort. At the airport,
22:57
Speaker 1: things go sideways again, more conflicting stories that don't add up.
23:02
Speaker 1: Some sources said she was trying to take her clothes
23:05
Speaker 1: off at the airport and was in a bad mental
23:07
Speaker 1: state and being aggressive. Some reports said an airport doctor
23:12
Speaker 1: would not give her permission to travel. The Travel agency
23:15
Speaker 1: claimed it was the pilot and aircrew who decided she
23:19
Speaker 1: wasn't allowed to board. They claimed the pilot saw her
23:22
Speaker 1: behaving strangely and called the airport doctor to assess her
23:25
Speaker 1: medical state, and he advised them not to let her on.
23:29
Speaker 1: Another witness said the whole situation with the doctor never
23:33
Speaker 1: happened because there was no doctor there at all, but
23:36
Speaker 1: rather she was led around the building and circles by
23:38
Speaker 1: Mahmoud and his friends who kept her from boarding the flight.
23:42
Speaker 1: Regardless of the story, the outcome is the same. Magdalena
23:46
Speaker 1: does not get on her flight home to safety. Missing
23:52
Speaker 1: her flight, Mahmoud and his friends drive her back to
23:55
Speaker 1: the Three Corners resort, but they refused to check her
23:58
Speaker 1: back in because of her previous behavior, so the group
24:02
Speaker 1: goes to a second hotel, but they also won't let
24:05
Speaker 1: her check in because she doesn't want to be alone
24:07
Speaker 1: and the hotel staff thinks she could bring other guests
24:10
Speaker 1: safety into danger. The third hotel they go to lets
24:13
Speaker 1: her check in. Around five PM, Magdalena, Mamod, and Mamud's
24:18
Speaker 1: male friends are in a parking lot and they use
24:21
Speaker 1: Mahmoud's phone to FaceTime Marcus in Poland. Marcus is with
24:25
Speaker 1: one of his friends who videotapes the call from Marcus's
24:28
Speaker 1: end on another phone. The video eventually gets leaked and
24:32
Speaker 1: it only adds more mystery. I'll post the link to
24:35
Speaker 1: the video with English subtitles on my Patreon. The video
24:39
Speaker 1: less around fourteen minutes, and honestly, it's uncomfortable to watch.
24:44
Speaker 1: Magdalena looked terrified. Someone presumably Mamood, is holding the phone
24:50
Speaker 1: for her while she's clearly nervous, tearful, and anxious. She's babbling, distressed,
24:55
Speaker 1: and incoherent. She seems to be either heavily drugged or
24:59
Speaker 1: severely traumatized. She's rocking back and forth and pacing, and
25:03
Speaker 1: is mostly unable to talk. She's crying and says very little,
25:08
Speaker 1: and what she does say doesn't make sense. The call
25:11
Speaker 1: is started by Mamood, and when Megdalena comes on, Marcus
25:15
Speaker 1: continuously asks her what's going on and to tell him
25:18
Speaker 1: what happened. She says things like they have different tricks here.
25:23
Speaker 1: Take me away from here, please, they will do something
25:26
Speaker 1: to me. She said, they're holding and then I can't
25:30
Speaker 1: tell you. Marcus asks her to speak frankly to him
25:34
Speaker 1: and tells her he loves her no matter what, but
25:36
Speaker 1: Magdalena is obviously too scared to speak. She finally says,
25:41
Speaker 1: I won't come back from here. It's useless. I cannot talk.
25:45
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Marcus asks her if she trusts him, and
25:49
Speaker 1: she pauses before telling him yes. Around the thirteen minute
25:53
Speaker 1: mark near the end of the video, Marcus asks again
25:57
Speaker 1: what happened, and Megdalena only answers, cryptically saying the letter
26:02
Speaker 1: M and M could really mean anything. Her name, Mahmud's name,
26:07
Speaker 1: Marcus's name, their friend that is flying to Egypt Marche
26:11
Speaker 1: all begin with the letter M. After she says this,
26:15
Speaker 1: Mamod is heard saying I thought you were only going
26:17
Speaker 1: to talk about the hospital, and then Mamod comes back
26:21
Speaker 1: on the phone and says in Polish, Marcus, by it
26:24
Speaker 1: seems like a waste of time. I will now call
26:27
Speaker 1: the embassy here in Egypt to this. Marcus asks him,
26:31
Speaker 1: can you ask Megda to turn the phone on? Requesting
26:34
Speaker 1: her phone be turned on so he can call her.
26:37
Speaker 1: Mamod turns to Megdalena and says, Magda, do you want
26:40
Speaker 1: to turn on the phone because Marcus wants to call you.
26:43
Speaker 1: Please switch on your telephone now. In the background of
26:46
Speaker 1: that conversation between Marcus and Megdalena, the manner speaking in Arabic,
26:51
Speaker 1: which also has been translated in the video, and they're
26:55
Speaker 1: basically talking about Marcus. They're saying his dick is the
26:59
Speaker 1: size of a pinky, fing and calling him a pussy,
27:01
Speaker 1: saying he can't do anything for Magdalena. This is an
27:05
Speaker 1: extremely strange conversation for the men to be having while
27:08
Speaker 1: all this is going on, and while it's hopefully out
27:11
Speaker 1: of context. I can't come up with a context that
27:14
Speaker 1: would make sense. One strange thing I noticed about the
27:18
Speaker 1: call was that Marcus was shielding his side of the
27:21
Speaker 1: video with his finger while it was being recorded, and
27:24
Speaker 1: I also can't come up with a plausible reason for that.
27:28
Speaker 1: After the FaceTime video was leaked, more rumors started. One
27:32
Speaker 1: of the main ones was that Marcus and Mahmud actually
27:35
Speaker 1: knew each other and were Facebook friends before this trip.
27:39
Speaker 1: But as soon as that rumors started, both men wiped
27:42
Speaker 1: their social media clean, with ma Mood even deleting his
27:45
Speaker 1: entire Internet presence. This video also made Marcus the target
27:49
Speaker 1: for suspicion, with people thinking he made the video as
27:53
Speaker 1: an alibi because he seemed oncaring as he talked over
27:56
Speaker 1: her and repeatedly asked her to tell him what happened,
28:00
Speaker 1: but not really waiting for a response. Something doesn't sit
28:03
Speaker 1: right with me regarding the FaceTime and the leaked video,
28:06
Speaker 1: but I can't exactly put my finger on it. After
28:09
Speaker 1: this conversation, Mahmood and his friends bring Magdalena back to
28:13
Speaker 1: the hospital in Port ga Lib because he said she
28:16
Speaker 1: passed out in the car, and they admit her as
28:19
Speaker 1: a patient. This time, she's seen on surveillance video arriving
28:22
Speaker 1: at the hospital in a wheelchair around seven pm, which
28:26
Speaker 1: supports Mamod's account that she was passed out. The next time,
28:30
Speaker 1: she's on surveillance video is shortly before midnight. First she's
28:35
Speaker 1: stumbling through the corridor, then in a hallway where she's
28:38
Speaker 1: running from the hospital room, with a group of four
28:41
Speaker 1: men and one woman chasing her. While some of them
28:44
Speaker 1: looked like hospital staff, others are dressed in plain clothes
28:48
Speaker 1: and could have been Mamod and his friends. They chase
28:51
Speaker 1: her into how she falls and then circle her. She
28:54
Speaker 1: gets up from the ground, clearly focused on one man
28:57
Speaker 1: in a checkered shirt, and throws herself at him him,
29:00
Speaker 1: but he shields her from the camera as she goes
29:03
Speaker 1: back down to the ground. From there, the group circles
29:06
Speaker 1: her again, and still shielded from the camera, it looks
29:09
Speaker 1: like she's punched in the head. Then they pick her
29:12
Speaker 1: up as a group, grabbing her arms and legs to
29:15
Speaker 1: carry her while she's kicking and trying to get away.
29:18
Speaker 1: The hospital staff reportedly gives her some type of medication
29:22
Speaker 1: to help her calm down and sleep, and her phone
29:24
Speaker 1: and handbag are taken away from her. She is dragged
29:27
Speaker 1: into a hospital room and tied to the bed with towels.
29:31
Speaker 1: They said they don't normally deal with psychiatric patients, so
29:34
Speaker 1: they had nothing else to tie her down with and
29:37
Speaker 1: towels won't make marks. Hospital staff said she was screaming,
29:41
Speaker 1: acting violently and aggressive, and they were unable to make
29:45
Speaker 1: normal contact with her. They also said either she or
29:48
Speaker 1: Mahmood told them she had not eaten in three days,
29:51
Speaker 1: but she was abnormally strong when they were trying to
29:54
Speaker 1: subdue her. While all this is happening, their friend Marche
29:58
Speaker 1: is on a plane headed to eat to get Magdalena
30:01
Speaker 1: and bring her home. On Sunday, April thirtieth, around two am,
30:06
Speaker 1: Magdalena asks her nurse to untie her from the bed
30:09
Speaker 1: so she can use the bathroom. After she was ontied,
30:13
Speaker 1: she attacked and broke free from the nurse, armed herself
30:16
Speaker 1: with a drip stand, ran to the window and threw
30:19
Speaker 1: herself out. The nurse said, I was in the room
30:23
Speaker 1: with Magdo when she jumped out of the window. I
30:26
Speaker 1: tried to stop her, but unfortunately I failed. Magda kicked
30:30
Speaker 1: and hit me. I am very sorry. It's reported that
30:33
Speaker 1: it was a second floor window in some sources and
30:36
Speaker 1: a first floor window in others, but that could be
30:39
Speaker 1: because floors are counted differently in different countries. Some start
30:43
Speaker 1: with the ground floor, then first, then second, while others
30:46
Speaker 1: start with the first floor. Then second doctor Shocky told
30:49
Speaker 1: the media he heard a sound at two fifty am
30:53
Speaker 1: and looked out the window as office to see Magdalena
30:56
Speaker 1: lying on the concrete steps, but she didn't die right away.
31:00
Speaker 1: Hospital staff ran outside and within six minutes of her
31:04
Speaker 1: fall they had her in intensive care trying to stabilize
31:07
Speaker 1: her injuries. At five am, she was rushed by ambulance
31:11
Speaker 1: to the larger red Sea Hospital, about one hundred and
31:14
Speaker 1: eighty miles north of the city of Hergatta, arriving at
31:17
Speaker 1: eight am. There's video of her arriving with several men.
31:21
Speaker 1: She's on a stretcher, going in and out of consciousness.
31:24
Speaker 1: Mache arrives at the hospital soon after all this happens,
31:28
Speaker 1: and he's initially told that she's in stable condition and
31:31
Speaker 1: can be transported to Poland very soon, but when he's
31:34
Speaker 1: able to see her, she's in an induced coma due
31:37
Speaker 1: to her injuries. He later told the media that the
31:40
Speaker 1: doctor said she had a problem with her right lung
31:43
Speaker 1: which was very dangerous and caused her to lose a
31:46
Speaker 1: lot of blood and she would need an operation within
31:49
Speaker 1: two days, but that he could take her back to
31:51
Speaker 1: Poland for that. The other interesting thing Marche said was
31:55
Speaker 1: that Mahmoud had been badly scratched on his face, although
31:59
Speaker 1: that's never been confirmed or seen on any of the
32:02
Speaker 1: videos or photos. Magdalena died at the hospital on April
32:06
Speaker 1: thirtieth at five thirty pm, fifteen hours after she fell
32:11
Speaker 1: from the window. Her death was recorded as a suicide,
32:15
Speaker 1: and while that could be the case, when her injuries
32:18
Speaker 1: were recorded, they were not consistent with a suicide. The
32:22
Speaker 1: medical report detailed a shattered left leg, a pierced left lung,
32:26
Speaker 1: and severe left side head damage. She had extensive injuries
32:30
Speaker 1: to her face, head, chest, arms, and legs, but all
32:34
Speaker 1: on the left side of her body. Why is this
32:36
Speaker 1: unusual because when someone jumps to end their lives, they
32:40
Speaker 1: fall in a frontal way and will usually hit their
32:42
Speaker 1: legs first as a last resort to save themselves, even
32:46
Speaker 1: if they want to die. The fact that her whole
32:48
Speaker 1: left side was shattered indicates she was thrown out of
32:52
Speaker 1: the window, possibly well unconscious. The director of the hospital,
32:57
Speaker 1: doctor Mohammed Sammy Goma, said, all so tragic, it was
33:01
Speaker 1: just a normal accident, but there were absolutely no tests
33:05
Speaker 1: done at the hospital, not a rape kit, not a
33:07
Speaker 1: blood test, not a drug or alcohol test, nothing, and
33:11
Speaker 1: no one from the hospital asked her if anything was wrong,
33:14
Speaker 1: so how would they know if she was suicidal? Immediately
33:20
Speaker 1: following Magdalena's death, then news media went crazy. It was
33:24
Speaker 1: a major story. Rumors and fake news were fast to follow,
33:28
Speaker 1: hurting the case and hurting the relationship between Poland and Egypt,
33:33
Speaker 1: causing everyone involved to go on the defense. Mahmood was
33:37
Speaker 1: interviewed by police, but no charges were filed. He was
33:40
Speaker 1: then ordered by the Egyptian police and the travel agency
33:44
Speaker 1: not to speak to the press or anyone else about
33:47
Speaker 1: what happened. He then removed all his social media accounts,
33:50
Speaker 1: quit his job, moved away, and pretty much simply disappeared.
33:55
Speaker 1: Magdalena's family and friends cried out for answers, but were
33:59
Speaker 1: told over and over that she killed herself, even though
34:02
Speaker 1: the evidence doesn't entirely support that. Blame was being thrown
34:06
Speaker 1: in every direction online. Mahmood was often suspect number one,
34:11
Speaker 1: but rarely did people think he was acting alone. Many
34:15
Speaker 1: thought he was working with her boyfriend Marcus in a
34:18
Speaker 1: sex trafficking ring. Some even thought her sister had something
34:21
Speaker 1: to do with it because she supported Marcus's innocence. On
34:25
Speaker 1: May tenth, twenty seventeen, Egyptian authorities performed Magdalena's autopsy. Two
34:31
Speaker 1: Polish officials were allowed to watch, but not participate in
34:34
Speaker 1: the autopsy, and they couldn't do their own testing or
34:37
Speaker 1: findings while this was taking place. Egypt concluded her death
34:41
Speaker 1: was suffocation caused by an embolism in the lungs as
34:45
Speaker 1: a result of a fall. Her family wanted a second
34:48
Speaker 1: autopsy to get more clarity and because Egypt wasn't forthright
34:51
Speaker 1: in handing over their findings, but when they sent the
34:55
Speaker 1: body back to Poland, it was already cleaned and embalmed,
34:59
Speaker 1: so there was no way to do any testing for
35:01
Speaker 1: drugs or evidence of rape or sexual assault. Their hands
35:05
Speaker 1: were tied. On Tuesday, May twenty third, Magdalena was laid
35:09
Speaker 1: to rest in Poland. Family, friends, acquaintances, and random people
35:14
Speaker 1: attended to pay their respects. Her boyfriend Marcus did not
35:17
Speaker 1: attend the funeral, although it's not clear what that reason was.
35:21
Speaker 1: The family also turned away anyone with cameras and journalists
35:25
Speaker 1: from attending. As of now, the official investigation is still ongoing.
35:31
Speaker 1: No one has agreed on a cause of death, and
35:33
Speaker 1: no one has been arrested. In March of twenty twenty four,
35:37
Speaker 1: trials started in the lawsuit between Magdalena's parents and the
35:41
Speaker 1: travel agency. They're asking for compensation due to negligence and
35:46
Speaker 1: not providing appropriate conditions during her trip. They're also upset
35:50
Speaker 1: that the travel agency contributed to the denigration of Magdalena's
35:54
Speaker 1: memory because they told the media she killed herself due
35:57
Speaker 1: to mental illness, even though that has never been confirmed.
36:01
Speaker 1: While nothing will bring Magdalena back, I hope someone comes
36:04
Speaker 1: forward with more details surrounding her death so her family
36:08
Speaker 1: can get the closure they deserve. There are so many
36:14
Speaker 1: rumors surrounding this case that it's hard to figure out
36:17
Speaker 1: what the facts are. But a lot of times rumors
36:20
Speaker 1: are grounded in truth. So let's go through the theories
36:23
Speaker 1: that sound the most plausible. The first is suicide. This
36:27
Speaker 1: could easily be a suicide case, even with the evidence
36:31
Speaker 1: of her landing on her side, which is unusual. She
36:34
Speaker 1: could have lost consciousness after she jumped, or she could
36:37
Speaker 1: have just landed on her side in one of those
36:39
Speaker 1: rare occurrences. I think the real question with this theory
36:43
Speaker 1: is why why would a young successful girl on vacation
36:47
Speaker 1: purposefully jump to her death. Two reasons. She was either
36:51
Speaker 1: in the throes of a mental breakdown that no one
36:54
Speaker 1: saw coming, or something happened to her drugs trauma and
36:58
Speaker 1: she thought this was the only way out. Her parents
37:01
Speaker 1: said she had no history of mental illness or depression
37:04
Speaker 1: and it didn't run in the family. But mental health
37:07
Speaker 1: issues sometimes don't surface and tell your twenties. Depression has
37:11
Speaker 1: a typical onset during the mid twenties. Schizophrenia normally surfaces
37:16
Speaker 1: in the late twenties to early thirties and women, while
37:18
Speaker 1: bipolar disorder normally begins in the late teens or early twenties.
37:23
Speaker 1: Symptoms of schizophrenia include bizarre behavior, delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, and
37:29
Speaker 1: thoughts of persecution. Those are all symptoms that Magdalena was showing,
37:33
Speaker 1: but guys, those can also be symptoms of drugs or
37:36
Speaker 1: severe trauma. There were two things that nagged at me
37:40
Speaker 1: about her mental health before she went to Egypt. First
37:44
Speaker 1: was planning the trip. It was impulsive in last minute.
37:47
Speaker 1: Several sources said she had to borrow the money to
37:50
Speaker 1: pay for it, and we know she bought the tickets
37:52
Speaker 1: and only told her boyfriend. They were going within hours
37:55
Speaker 1: of the flight leaving. This could be seen as manic,
37:58
Speaker 1: but on the other hand, I've definitely woken up and
38:01
Speaker 1: decided to buy a same day flight. In fact, most
38:04
Speaker 1: of my travel is decided at the last minute, and
38:07
Speaker 1: I can be pretty impulsive about it. I think it
38:10
Speaker 1: depends on if this trip is the type of thing
38:12
Speaker 1: she's done before, or if it was out of character.
38:15
Speaker 1: The other thing that strikes me was that she started
38:18
Speaker 1: acting erratically almost immediately when she got to the hotel.
38:23
Speaker 1: This could be mental illness or drugs, but unlikely to
38:26
Speaker 1: be a sign of severe trauma because she was fine
38:29
Speaker 1: on the flight. There. Many people online think she had
38:32
Speaker 1: a mental breakdown brought on from sexual assault, but by
38:36
Speaker 1: all accounts, she started acting out before that could have happened,
38:40
Speaker 1: which brings us to the second theory that this was
38:43
Speaker 1: some kind of human trafficking or sex crime that ended
38:46
Speaker 1: in murder, and everything here is just rumors because there
38:51
Speaker 1: was no confirmed sexual assault by authorities. This is when
38:55
Speaker 1: a man named Christoph Rukowski enters the story. He's a
38:59
Speaker 1: Polish reality TV star who was on the show Detective,
39:03
Speaker 1: which follows the exploits of his detective agency Rutowski Patrol.
39:08
Speaker 1: He's a former riot policeman but not a licensed detective,
39:13
Speaker 1: and in two thousand and seven he was sentenced to
39:15
Speaker 1: fourteen months in prison for illegally arresting a man in Antwerp.
39:19
Speaker 1: He claimed that Magdalena's parents approached him to launch an
39:23
Speaker 1: investigation into her death. From his investigation, he told the
39:27
Speaker 1: media that Magdalena couldn't have died by falling from the
39:30
Speaker 1: second floor due to her athleticism and marathon training. Instead,
39:35
Speaker 1: he said she had been drugged by an organized rape gang,
39:38
Speaker 1: which Mahmoud played a key role in, and it was
39:41
Speaker 1: also Mahmoud who prevented her from boarding the plane back
39:44
Speaker 1: to Poland. But his reputation has come under intense scrutiny,
39:49
Speaker 1: and during one of his discussions about the case, he
39:51
Speaker 1: even proposed to his then girlfriend on air, which is inappropriate,
39:56
Speaker 1: to say the least. Later on in his investigation, he
40:00
Speaker 1: did a one eighty and said the Egyptian authorities were
40:03
Speaker 1: right all along and she had mental illness resulting in suicide.
40:07
Speaker 1: Most people think he was paid off to change his tune,
40:10
Speaker 1: and Magdalena's parents have cut all ties with him. Another
40:14
Speaker 1: theory is that her mental breakdown was brought on after
40:17
Speaker 1: she was gang raped in a sado masochistic ritual called
40:21
Speaker 1: the taharush game. That phrase literally means group harassment in Arabic,
40:26
Speaker 1: and according to Wikipedia, it's a form of mass sexual
40:30
Speaker 1: assault that has been documented in Egypt since two thousand
40:33
Speaker 1: and five. The incidents involve groups of men surrounding and
40:38
Speaker 1: sexually assaulting women by groping, molesting, and sometimes raping them.
40:43
Speaker 1: These assaults typically occur in crowded public spaces where it's
40:47
Speaker 1: difficult for victims to escape or receive help. They used
40:51
Speaker 1: the chaos of the crowd to carry out their attacks,
40:54
Speaker 1: and it's basically a ritual organized public raping of lone women.
40:59
Speaker 1: It's horrific and would definitely cause severe trauma. Another theory
41:03
Speaker 1: accuses Marcus of grooming and then selling Megdalena to Mahmoud
41:08
Speaker 1: to work as a prostitute along the Red Sea. This
41:11
Speaker 1: she was drugged and repeatedly raped, resulting in severe mental trauma.
41:16
Speaker 1: Mahmood's role in all this definitely looks suspicious, from using
41:21
Speaker 1: his phone to contact her friends and family, to always
41:24
Speaker 1: being right next to her, to the things he said
41:26
Speaker 1: on the taped FaceTime call. It gives reasons to think
41:30
Speaker 1: he was up to no good, and there are several
41:33
Speaker 1: variations to this story, including a criminal network led by
41:36
Speaker 1: a local mob boss named Captain Khalid that this group
41:40
Speaker 1: targets European women traveling alone, drugs them in their hotel rooms,
41:45
Speaker 1: and then charges rich sheikhs to have sex with their
41:48
Speaker 1: unconscious bodies. Along those lines was another rumor that Marcus
41:53
Speaker 1: was a drug dealer using Megdalena to smuggle narcotics into
41:57
Speaker 1: Egypt and something went wrong with her, either in testing
42:00
Speaker 1: the drugs or being assaulted, leading her to have a
42:03
Speaker 1: mental breakdown. The Egyptian autopsy official ruled that she had
42:07
Speaker 1: no sexual intercourse and despite having several unknown men's DNA
42:11
Speaker 1: on her clothing, they said there was no DNA under
42:14
Speaker 1: her fingernails, on or in her body, and although the
42:18
Speaker 1: autopsy report could have been faked. The problem I have
42:21
Speaker 1: with the human trafficking and sexual assault theory is with
42:25
Speaker 1: them taking her to the hospital. Why take her to
42:28
Speaker 1: get help if you are the cause of her needing
42:30
Speaker 1: to get help. Several stories say she was thrown out
42:34
Speaker 1: of the window rather than jumping, but if they plan
42:37
Speaker 1: to kill her, then why take her to the hospital
42:39
Speaker 1: and throw her out of a window. There are much
42:42
Speaker 1: easier ways that don't involve so many witnesses. They could
42:45
Speaker 1: have taken her there as an alibi, but there are
42:48
Speaker 1: easier alibis as well. The third theory is that this
42:52
Speaker 1: was some kind of a drugging gone wrong, either resulting
42:56
Speaker 1: in her complete mental breakdown and suicide or her murder.
43:00
Speaker 1: According to most reports, her autopsy showed several drugs in
43:04
Speaker 1: her system, but it's hard to tell if those drugs
43:07
Speaker 1: were there prior to her hospital visit or if it's
43:10
Speaker 1: something they gave her at the hospital. On May second,
43:14
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, the media reported that traces of a very
43:17
Speaker 1: popular African medication called KOT was found in her body.
43:22
Speaker 1: According to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, KOT is a
43:25
Speaker 1: stimulant and the short term effects include increased talkativeness, energy alertness,
43:30
Speaker 1: faster heartbeat and breathing, higher temperature and blood pressure, and
43:33
Speaker 1: a reduced appetite. They also said that KOT is associated
43:38
Speaker 1: with mental health conditions such as psychosis, depression, mood swings,
43:42
Speaker 1: and violent behavior. But it should be noted that chewing
43:45
Speaker 1: the leaves has traditionally been used for medicinal purposes for
43:49
Speaker 1: stimulant and euphoric effects. Another drug that was reportedly found
43:53
Speaker 1: in her system was flakka, sometimes called bath salts in
43:57
Speaker 1: the United States, and this one is much more dangerous.
44:01
Speaker 1: According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. The effects
44:05
Speaker 1: are paranoia and hallucinations that may lead to violent aggression
44:10
Speaker 1: and self injury, and has been linked to suicides and
44:13
Speaker 1: heart attacks. There were also official reports of unnamed powerful
44:17
Speaker 1: psychiatric drugs found in her body, including a substance used
44:21
Speaker 1: to treat psychosis, schizophrenia, and or depression. The drugging theory
44:26
Speaker 1: fits her behavior and the fact that she told her
44:29
Speaker 1: friends and family she thought her drink had been spiked,
44:32
Speaker 1: but the question remains who drugged her and why. Her
44:36
Speaker 1: sister Anna thinks she was murdered because she was given
44:39
Speaker 1: drugs by people who wanted to abuse her in hopes
44:42
Speaker 1: that she wouldn't be able to remember anything, but that
44:45
Speaker 1: she had a different response than they expected, so in
44:48
Speaker 1: the end they chose to throw her out the window
44:50
Speaker 1: to cover their tracks. The argument against her being drugged
44:54
Speaker 1: is that they have very strict drug policies in Egypt.
44:58
Speaker 1: That's not to say there aren't drugs there, and it
45:00
Speaker 1: could give even more reason for whomever gave her the
45:03
Speaker 1: drugs to murder her in a cover up. Unless someone
45:07
Speaker 1: involved comes forward, we will not get answers in this case.
45:10
Speaker 1: And if Meddelina was having a mental health crisis, there's
45:13
Speaker 1: no way to prove that now, so we're unlikely to
45:16
Speaker 1: have any answers from that either. But a lot of
45:19
Speaker 1: questions remain. By now you're wondering is Egypt safe to visit?
45:28
Speaker 1: According to the US Travel Advisory website, Egypt has been
45:31
Speaker 1: at Level three reconsider travel since July thirteenth, twenty twenty three.
45:36
Speaker 1: It says, reconsider travel to Egypt due to terrorism. Exercise
45:41
Speaker 1: increased caution in Egypt due to the embassy limited ability
45:45
Speaker 1: to assist dual national US Egyptian citizens who are arrested
45:49
Speaker 1: or detained, do not travel to the Western desert due
45:52
Speaker 1: to terrorism. Do not travel to Egyptian border areas due
45:56
Speaker 1: to military zones. They go on to say terrorist groups
46:00
Speaker 1: continue plotting attacks in Egypt. Terrorists may attack with little
46:04
Speaker 1: to no warning and target diplomatic facilities, tourist locations, transportation hubs,
46:09
Speaker 1: markets and shopping malls, Western businesses, restaurants, resorts, and local
46:14
Speaker 1: government facilities. That's a pretty serious warning. That being said,
46:19
Speaker 1: the main tourist resorts of Egypt, like Cairo and the
46:22
Speaker 1: Nile cruise stops including Luxor and Aswan, and the Red
46:26
Speaker 1: Sea resorts of Hergatta and sham Al Shic are all
46:29
Speaker 1: considered safe to travel, but there is always a threat
46:32
Speaker 1: of terrorist attacks, so stay vigilant. I would definitely suggest
46:36
Speaker 1: working with a reputable tour company in Egypt to get
46:40
Speaker 1: the most out of your experience and keep yourself safe.
46:43
Speaker 1: That way, you'll have everything taken care of for you
46:46
Speaker 1: and be able to relax and enjoy your trip. The
46:49
Speaker 1: culture and customs in Egypt are probably a lot different
46:52
Speaker 1: than what you're used to, and it's always best to
46:55
Speaker 1: thoroughly research before going. I know, sometimes the best part
46:59
Speaker 1: about exploring a new country is getting really cool photos,
47:03
Speaker 1: but if you're in Egypt, be careful where you point
47:06
Speaker 1: your camera. It's illegal to photograph government buildings, police officers, airports,
47:12
Speaker 1: railway stations, military installations, children unless given permission from parents,
47:17
Speaker 1: archaeological sites without a permit, and people without their consent.
47:22
Speaker 1: It's also technically illegal for unmarried couples to share a
47:25
Speaker 1: hotel room, but this doesn't apply to foreigners. If one
47:29
Speaker 1: or both of you holds an Egyptian passport, though, you'll
47:33
Speaker 1: need to provide proof of marriage in order to stay
47:35
Speaker 1: in the same room. While homosexuality isn't technically illegal in Egypt,
47:41
Speaker 1: many in the community have been questioned and arrested under
47:45
Speaker 1: debauchery laws. Most view it as im moral and a crime,
47:49
Speaker 1: so be careful what you say and how you act.
47:52
Speaker 1: This doesn't mean people from the LGBTQ community shouldn't go
47:56
Speaker 1: to Egypt. It just means that vocally supporting it in
47:59
Speaker 1: a public setting shouldn't be done, and any PDA should
48:03
Speaker 1: be strictly avoided. Don't speak badly about Egypt while you're there,
48:08
Speaker 1: but also don't post anything negative on social media either.
48:13
Speaker 1: In June twenty eighteen, a Lebanese tourist was sentenced to
48:17
Speaker 1: eight years in prison because she posted a Facebook video
48:21
Speaker 1: calling Egypt a son of a bitch country, and was
48:23
Speaker 1: arrested in Cairo airport on her flight home. Pack the
48:27
Speaker 1: right kind of clothing. Egypt is a conservative country. Keep
48:32
Speaker 1: your shoulders and knees covered and wear loose fitting clothes
48:35
Speaker 1: for a mosque visit. You'll need clothing that covers from
48:38
Speaker 1: ankle to elbow, and you'll need to cover your hair.
48:41
Speaker 1: Other than mosque visits, women aren't expected to wear headscarves,
48:45
Speaker 1: although women who are covered more on the streets have
48:48
Speaker 1: less harassment from men. It's always good to carry a
48:52
Speaker 1: shawl or scarf with you in case you need more coverage,
48:55
Speaker 1: and ladies bring your own tampons in period items because
48:59
Speaker 1: it could be a expensive and difficult to find any
49:02
Speaker 1: supplies while you're there. There is public transportation, and if
49:06
Speaker 1: you're taking the Cairo metro system, look for the women's
49:10
Speaker 1: only carriages to stay safe and limit any harassment. Don't
49:14
Speaker 1: get in a taxi without first agreeing on the price. Also,
49:18
Speaker 1: if you're a woman, you must sit in the back
49:20
Speaker 1: seat and limit speaking to the driver. Just agree on
49:24
Speaker 1: the price and pay when you get out. No small
49:26
Speaker 1: talk because it can be taken the wrong way. They
49:29
Speaker 1: also have uber in Egypt, and most people say it's
49:31
Speaker 1: safer than a taxi. Don't drink alcohol in public places
49:36
Speaker 1: or in front of religious buildings. You can only drink
49:39
Speaker 1: alcohol in licensed restaurants and hotels. Also, illegal drugs are
49:44
Speaker 1: an extremely serious crime, and some medicines that are legal
49:48
Speaker 1: in your country may not be in Egypt, so check
49:52
Speaker 1: before you pack anything. Don't accept food or drinks, even water,
49:57
Speaker 1: from strangers. There have been reports of women being drugged
50:00
Speaker 1: and assaulted. When you're eating, only eat with your right hand.
50:05
Speaker 1: The left hand is reserved for toilet duty, and leave
50:09
Speaker 1: a small amount of food on your plate when you've
50:11
Speaker 1: finished eating. This symbolizes abundance and serves as a compliment
50:15
Speaker 1: to the host for providing so well. Lastly, don't eat, drink,
50:20
Speaker 1: even water, or smoke in public during Ramadan because that
50:23
Speaker 1: would be considered impolite and probably offensive. Public displays of affection,
50:29
Speaker 1: even hugging and kissing, is not acceptable in Egyptian culture,
50:33
Speaker 1: so just don't do it. And ladies do not shake
50:36
Speaker 1: hands when greeting men. Instead, you can show friendliness by
50:40
Speaker 1: nodding or smiling. Also, be careful when making eye contact.
50:45
Speaker 1: While it's okay to make some eye contact, don't stare
50:48
Speaker 1: because that's a sign you're available and want them to
50:51
Speaker 1: talk to you. And if you're talking to a man
50:53
Speaker 1: you don't know, keep your distance even in public places,
50:57
Speaker 1: because it can give the wrong impression if you speak
51:00
Speaker 1: too closely. Wearing a wedding rink can help avoid unwanted attention,
51:04
Speaker 1: and if asked, make up a husband and a couple
51:07
Speaker 1: kids so you don't look available. If you're traveling alone
51:11
Speaker 1: or even just walking around alone, you can be perceived
51:14
Speaker 1: as available and you might get unwanted attention. If you're
51:18
Speaker 1: being harassed, the best way to deal with it is
51:21
Speaker 1: to ignore it. Be careful when talking to strangers. Don't
51:25
Speaker 1: tell anyone if you are traveling alone where you're staying
51:28
Speaker 1: the reasons for your visit, and avoid sharing personal information
51:32
Speaker 1: or making a lot of small talk where personal information
51:35
Speaker 1: might slip out. Never walk alone at night. It's another
51:39
Speaker 1: invitation for harassment that could possibly get out of control.
51:43
Speaker 1: A good rule of thumb is that every surface worker
51:46
Speaker 1: should get some type of tip. So carry some cashion
51:49
Speaker 1: coints with you and just tip as you go. And
51:52
Speaker 1: for my shoppers out there, go ahead and haggle for
51:55
Speaker 1: those bargains. It's important that you learn and respect their laws, cures,
52:00
Speaker 1: and customs. It's a privilege to visit another country, not
52:04
Speaker 1: a right, so whether you agree with their beliefs and
52:07
Speaker 1: way of life, you must still show respect for it.
52:11
Speaker 1: Egypt may not be the easiest place to travel, especially
52:14
Speaker 1: as a woman or solo traveler, but the good far
52:18
Speaker 1: outweighs the bad. I would definitely go, but I'd be
52:21
Speaker 1: sure to hire a reputable guide, and like I always say,
52:25
Speaker 1: no matter where you're traveling, make sure you inform someone
52:29
Speaker 1: about your plans before going anywhere. Tell someone reliable where
52:33
Speaker 1: you're going and what you'll be doing and when to
52:35
Speaker 1: expect you back. And my number one tip to staying
52:39
Speaker 1: alive on vacation is to pay attention to your gut.
52:43
Speaker 1: If something doesn't feel right, it isn't. Magdalena Zuk traveled
52:51
Speaker 1: from Poland to marsa Alam, Egypt, on April twenty fifth,
52:54
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, after booking a last minute trip. By April thirtieth,
52:59
Speaker 1: she was dead. There were so many witnesses and people
53:03
Speaker 1: involved in this story. Someone knows more than they've said.
53:07
Speaker 1: If you have any information that can help, now is
53:10
Speaker 1: the time to speak up so her family can have
53:13
Speaker 1: the closure they deserve. And finally, remember to leave a
53:19
Speaker 1: review and rate this podcast five stars if you like
53:22
Speaker 1: the show, or hell even if you don't, but either way,
53:26
Speaker 1: feel free to let me know what you think. Please
53:29
Speaker 1: follow the Last Trip on Instagram at The Last Trip
53:32
Speaker 1: Crime Pod and subscribe on Patreon to support the show.
53:36
Speaker 1: You'll get extra research, videos, photos and updates, and even
53:40
Speaker 1: learn more about my personal travels. That's patreon dot com
53:44
Speaker 1: slash The Last Trip Podcast. I'm Jamie Bbe, bringing you
53:48
Speaker 1: your last trip and signing off until the next one.
53:51
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.