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THE INTERNET BLACK WIDOW · Inside The Criminal Mind

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome, Welcome to Inside the Criminal Mind podcast, where we
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: analyze some of the most notorious criminal cases with psychology
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  Speaker 1: and criminology combined. Here's your host, doctor Carlos.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome everybody.
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  Speaker 3: Today we're going to be talking about the Internet's Black widow,
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  Speaker 3: seventy seven.
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  Speaker 2: Year old Melissa Shepherd.
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  Speaker 4: So we'll get into this story in a minute.
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  Speaker 2: If you want to support our podcast, please head that
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  Speaker 2: I like and share button, leave us a review.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: So let's go Inside the Criminal Mind.
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  Speaker 3: Here's what we know about Militia's Shepherd's background, which has
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: been extracted from various media sources and publications, including the
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  Speaker 3: Fifth Estate episode Timeline The Life of Melissa Friedrich, the
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  Speaker 3: Internet Black Widow in Leu Miller's Cold North Killers.
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  Speaker 2: Melissa Shepherd was born Melissa.
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  Speaker 3: Anne Russell and Burnt Church, New Brunswick in nineteen thirty five.
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  Speaker 2: Burnt Church is a small community.
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  Speaker 3: Population less than two thousand, located on Miramichi Bay in
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  Speaker 3: the northeastern corner of New Brunswick. Its name derives from
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  Speaker 3: my seventeen fifty eight burning by the British of the
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  Speaker 3: first Strong Church in New Brunswick. Reports indicate that Shepherd
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  Speaker 3: moved to Ontario in nineteen fifty three, when she was eighteen,
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  Speaker 3: when she lived with an Anne completed high school. Via
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  Speaker 3: evening correspondents, she met Mary Russell Shepherd, a factory worker,
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  Speaker 3: and the two relocated to his hometown of Montague. They
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  Speaker 3: had two children together, a daughter who still resides in
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  Speaker 3: Montague and a son who lives in Nova Scotia. Melissa
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  Speaker 3: Shepherd's documented criminal history, though it dates back to nineteen
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  Speaker 3: seventy when she was thirty five years old, she incurred
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  Speaker 3: four charges of false pretenses false statements in Toronto, although
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  Speaker 3: the specific detail of these charges are not known. She
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  Speaker 3: received a suspended sentence plus six months probation and was
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  Speaker 3: ordered to make restitution. Seven years later, she was convicted
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  Speaker 3: of eleven charges of forgery and sentenced to eleven months
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  Speaker 3: in jail. I got to remember at this point she's
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  Speaker 3: forty two years of age.
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  Speaker 2: She was convicted and sentenced.
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  Speaker 3: In Toronto the six months plus two years probation in
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  Speaker 3: nineteen seventy nine for uttering, false pretensses and fraud.
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  Speaker 2: She received the twenty four month sentence plus.
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  Speaker 4: Probation for three years. She was paroled the same month.
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  Speaker 3: In nineteen eighty four, Shepherd and Curty had another conviction
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  Speaker 3: for fraud over two hundred dollars in Toronto, for which
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  Speaker 3: she received a sentence for of two years less a day.
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  Speaker 3: She was paroled in about eight months, reinfended two months
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  Speaker 3: later again for fraud, served another six months, and was
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  Speaker 3: paroled again in six in September nineteen eighty five. So
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  Speaker 3: now she's three off defending every six months. Every time
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  Speaker 3: she gets out, she reoffends. Reports indicate that Miss Shepherd
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  Speaker 3: returned to Pei in December nineteen eighty five and nineteen
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  Speaker 3: eighty eight.
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  Speaker 2: She met Gordon Stewart, at widower who was selling some property.
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  Speaker 3: According to the letter written by mister Seorg shortly before
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  Speaker 3: his death in nineteen ninety one, Shepherd approaching about buying
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  Speaker 3: the property, and the two began a romantic relationship the
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  Speaker 3: same day. According to the letter, which has no specific address, see,
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  Speaker 3: Shepherd told Stuart that she was separated from her husband Russell.
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  Speaker 3: Shortly thereafter, Shepherd and Stuart began cohabiting in Charleston. Mister
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  Speaker 3: Stewart was employed as a commissionaire and was the receipt
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  Speaker 3: of a military pension and received funds from his late
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  Speaker 3: wife's pension as well. According to his letter, he and
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  Speaker 3: Shepherd were doing well and they should a joint bank account.
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  Speaker 3: One night, he arrived home from work to discover that
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  Speaker 3: she had vacated the premises with all her clothes and
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  Speaker 3: all his money. She subsequently called him from Toronto, claiming
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  Speaker 3: that she was unable to get back, so he flew
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  Speaker 3: up to get her. Shortly thereafter, it seems her daughter
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  Speaker 3: got married and Shepherd took off again with more of
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  Speaker 3: his money. She subsequently contacted him, told him she had
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  Speaker 3: a drug problem, and he took her back. In his letter,
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  Speaker 3: Missus Stewart explained that he still loved her and kept
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  Speaker 3: hoping she would change. He claimed that she would go
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  Speaker 3: to work and repay the money owed, but that never happened.
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  Speaker 3: The couple relocated to Moncton, New Brunswick, and then took
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  Speaker 3: a trip to Las Vegas, where they got married. The
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  Speaker 3: marriage was not legal, however, because Sheppard wasn't divorced. You see, reportedly,
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  Speaker 3: Sheppard defrauded Stewart of about four thousand dollars during the
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  Speaker 3: trip to Las Vegas. Once again, however, he took her back,
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  Speaker 3: now thinking he had nothing to lose. Eventually, mister Stewart
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  Speaker 3: ended up selling his land of Wood Islands, and the
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  Speaker 3: couple moved to Vancouver, where his optimism persisted. Another wedding
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  Speaker 3: ceremony followed in January, although it's still not clear if
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  Speaker 3: she was legally divorced from Wessell Russell Sheppard, as Stewart's
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  Speaker 3: reporting the Kate, their divorce was not finalized unto May
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  Speaker 3: of ninety one.
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  Speaker 2: Early the couple.
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  Speaker 4: Reconnected back in Montague, where it.
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  Speaker 3: Seems Shepherd have resumed her old ways, including defrauding her
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  Speaker 3: father in law of money. After she exhausted his White
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  Speaker 3: Late wives credit cards, Gordon Stewart was forced to declare bankruptcy.
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  Speaker 3: In his letter, he wrote, I don't know how she
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  Speaker 3: gets away with so much.
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  Speaker 2: Around the same time.
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  Speaker 4: It seems as Shepherd started making claims.
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  Speaker 2: That Stewart was going to knife or shoot her.
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  Speaker 3: In his letter, Stuart seems confused by these allegations that
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  Speaker 3: contends as Shepherd was angry because he established his own
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  Speaker 3: bank account.
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  Speaker 2: He also seems.
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  Speaker 3: Frustrated by the fact that she doesn't seem to want
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  Speaker 3: him around the apartment, but yet won't ask for a divorce.
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  Speaker 3: Reports suggested mister Teuart became delusional at the cupboard couple's
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  Speaker 3: apartment in December of nineteen ninety Apparently two years later,
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  Speaker 3: he was discovered frothing at the mouth on the floor,
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  Speaker 3: taken to a hospital when benzo diazepine was found.
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  Speaker 2: In his system.
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  Speaker 3: In nineteen ninety one, Stewart was convicted and sentenced to
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  Speaker 3: jail time for assaulting Shepherd. Apparently she visited him in
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  Speaker 3: He was released in March of ninety one in court
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  Speaker 3: ordered to have no contact with his wife. Nonetheless, it
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  Speaker 3: seems she initiated contact. In nineteen and April of nineteen
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  Speaker 3: ninety one, the couple relocated to Nova Scotia, and within
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  Speaker 3: a month, Shepherd killed Stuart by running over him with
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  Speaker 3: a car on a deserted road near the Halifax Airport.
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  Speaker 3: Reports indicated that she didn't report his death until three
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  Speaker 3: hours later, after she changed her clothes. Toxicology reports revealed
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  Speaker 3: the presence of alcohol and benzodiazepines and his system. The
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  Speaker 3: mixture was judged to be sufficient to kill him. Although
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  Speaker 3: Sheppard claimed that Stuart sexually assaulted her, medical tests failed
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  Speaker 3: to support her claim. Undeterred, Shepherd applied for his pension
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  Speaker 3: benefits at her trial. A nineteen ninety two two eyewitnesses
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  Speaker 3: testified that they saw Shepherd hit her husband with the car,
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  Speaker 3: then put the car in reverse. Sheppard claimed that the Stewart,
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  Speaker 3: but Stewart was an abusive alcoholic. Shepherd was eventually convicted
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  Speaker 3: of manslaughter and sentenced to sixty years prison. While incocerated,
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  Speaker 3: she formed a support group for women. In nineteen ninety four,
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  Speaker 3: the National Film Board aired a documentary on batter women
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  Speaker 3: syndrome When Women Kill, which included Shepherd and the documentary,
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  Speaker 3: Shepherd maintains her claim as stupid Raper raped her and
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  Speaker 3: then in her effort to escape, she accidentally put the
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  Speaker 3: car reverse and ran her rover. In nineteen ninety seven,
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  Speaker 3: actually before that. The following year, in nineteen ninety five,
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  Speaker 3: there was a startup funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
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  Speaker 3: Based on the documentary, Shepard established his telephone support service
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  Speaker 3: in Kingston called Project Another Chance. The service was designed
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  Speaker 3: for federally sentenced women in prison and parole. In nineteen
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  Speaker 3: ninety seven, Melissa Stewart now had an opera article publishing
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  Speaker 3: the Journal of Prisoners on Prison Prison for Women's Invisible Minority.
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  Speaker 3: She describes her relationship with Gordon Stewart, which she maintained
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  Speaker 3: start when she was selling real estate and was looking
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  Speaker 3: to buy a piece of land. She goes on to
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  Speaker 3: describe her life became centered around making Stewart happy.
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  Speaker 4: Until while he devolved into a violent alcoholic.
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  Speaker 3: Shepherd was soon released by from jail, but in April
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  Speaker 3: two thousand, now at sixty six years of age, she
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  Speaker 3: made an eighty three year old Robert Friederick at a
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  Speaker 3: Christian retreat in Ontario. He was a retired engineer who
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  Speaker 3: recently lost White lost his wife Shepherd and sent Friedrich
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  Speaker 3: a letter, including her picture in the statement God wants
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  Speaker 3: us to be married. And in May two thousand, Freedwick
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  Speaker 3: responded to a letter and within days.
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  Speaker 2: He traveled to Florida to meet him.
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  Speaker 4: Within three days of her arrival, the two were engaged.
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  Speaker 3: It seems Friederic's son Dennis, was not so easily enamored
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  Speaker 3: and cautioned his father to proceed slowly in his relationship
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  Speaker 3: with Sheppard. Nevertheless, the following month, in June.
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  Speaker 2: Shepherd and Friederick were married in Nova Scotia.
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  Speaker 3: Shepherd relocated to Florida and assumed her new husband's last name.
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  Speaker 3: By March two thousand and one, Robert Freedwick his family
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  Speaker 3: was growing increasingly concerned about his hell due to repeated
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  Speaker 3: incidences of slurred speech and hospitalization. Reports indicate that in
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  Speaker 3: May of two thousand and one, Shepherd obtained two prescriptions
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  Speaker 3: for larisapam. Police for reculds show that on different occasions,
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  Speaker 3: six different occasions, Shepard apparently procured prescriptions from one physician
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  Speaker 3: and within thirty days with a prescription, received another from
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  Speaker 3: a different doctor. In two thousand and two, one of
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  Speaker 3: Friedrich's children called the Elder Abuse Line and lodged a
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  Speaker 3: complain against her. At some point in two thousand and two,
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  Speaker 3: Robert Freedwick rewrote his will, making Sheppard his whole soul
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  Speaker 3: beneficiary by death. By December two thousand and two, just
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  Speaker 3: a few months later, Robert Friederick was dead of a
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  Speaker 3: parent cardiac arrest, having given one hundred thousand over anand
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  Speaker 3: thousand dollars over to his new wife. His death certificate
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  Speaker 3: was confirmed by a medical practitioner over the telephone without
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  Speaker 3: any examination of the body. The cremation certificate was issued
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  Speaker 3: no op tops her toxicology reports were done. Friederich's sons
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  Speaker 3: alleged that Shepherd poisoned their father with the prescription medications
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  Speaker 3: and the absence of an autopsy. However, they had no
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  Speaker 3: way of confirming their allegations and no charges were laid.
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  Speaker 3: Although not charged with his murder, Shepherd apparently lost all
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  Speaker 3: but fifteen thousand dollars of the inheritance and an ensuing
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  Speaker 3: court battle with his sons. In two thousand and three,
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  Speaker 3: though Melissa Sheppard returned to Prince Edward Island. Over the
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  Speaker 3: next year, she traveled back and forth between Canada and
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  Speaker 3: the US. Later in two thousand and four, she ended
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  Speaker 3: up meeting another gentleman.
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  Speaker 4: She drove to Florida in a new white Cadillac to
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  Speaker 4: meet Alexander Stradagos.
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  Speaker 3: Stratagos was a divorced seventy three year old former tax
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  Speaker 3: collector in Pittsburgh who she met online.
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  Speaker 4: Shepherd had initiated Internet contact with as many as.
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  Speaker 2: Twenty men from across Canada in the United States.
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  Speaker 3: Apparently, mister strad was crippled with diabetes and was looking
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  Speaker 3: for a carrying woman to procure groceries and prepare meals.
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  Speaker 2: Given his history of strokes.
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  Speaker 3: Family members were not immediately alarmed to find out that
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  Speaker 3: Stratagos had miss Melissa Shepherd or whatever her name was
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  Speaker 3: of the pie move in. Within three months of being
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  Speaker 3: cared for Shephard, though including bedtime feedings of ice cream,
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  Speaker 3: Stratagos was placed in a nursing home, remember he was diabetic.
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  Speaker 3: On December twenty eight, two thousand and four, he signed over.
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  Speaker 2: A power of attorney to Shephard.
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  Speaker 3: She probably took over his card had emptied his bank accounts.
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  Speaker 3: In two thousand and five, Stratago's son Dean, became aware
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  Speaker 3: of unprescribed drugs identified his father's medical report in blood tests.
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  Speaker 3: He also discovered that eighteen thousand dollars was missing from
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  Speaker 3: his father's bank account. Just a month later, in two
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  Speaker 3: thousand and five, Panela Parker police arrested Shepherd in Charger
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  Speaker 3: with exploitation of the l literly in forgery and theft.
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  Speaker 3: Police are dead alleged that she corused Stratages to give
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  Speaker 3: her power of attorney and then sliphoned off his money
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  Speaker 3: into her bank. She was granted bailists seventy five hundred,
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  Speaker 3: but subsequently placed on hould by the Department of Homeland
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  Speaker 3: Security when it was revealed that she had lied about
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  Speaker 3: her criminal record upon entering the country. In two thousand
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  Speaker 3: and four, a search of Alex Stradag's condominium revealed the
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  Speaker 3: suitcase full of pills mo over. His Internet page had
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  Speaker 3: been converted to a Christian single site. Never one to
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  Speaker 3: be deterred by a looming criminal charges, Shepherd was already
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  Speaker 3: trawling for.
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  Speaker 2: Her next victim.
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  Speaker 3: In March, two months later, Sheppard pleaded guilty to seven
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  Speaker 3: charges related to the Alex Stratago's case. These charges included
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  Speaker 3: three counts of grand theft, two counts of forgery. She
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  Speaker 3: was never charged with attempted murder, and as part of
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: a plea agreement, Shepherd was sentenced to five.
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  Speaker 2: Years in a four lea at jail.
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  Speaker 3: She was released after four and deported to Canada. Upon
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  Speaker 3: her return to Canada.
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  Speaker 2: Shepherd faced more charges.
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  Speaker 3: On February two thousand and five, the Nova Scotia issued
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: awarded for her arrest, charging that she defired the government
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  Speaker 3: of thirty thousand dollars over a four year period of time.
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  Speaker 3: She had employed two different social insurance numbers under the
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  Speaker 3: names and two hundred two various names. In twenty twelve,
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  Speaker 3: sometime thereafter, she met seventy five year olds.
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  Speaker 2: Fred Weeks, a father of six.
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  Speaker 3: The two struck up a friendship and within a matter
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  Speaker 3: of Weeks got married. After being together for a few weeks,
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  Speaker 3: Shepard informed the innkeeper that her husband had fallen ill
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  Speaker 3: and needed to be taken to a hospital. Once she
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  Speaker 3: ate breakfast, she called nine to one. One weeks was
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  Speaker 3: admitted to the Northern Sydney General Hospital, at which time
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  Speaker 3: benzodiazepines not prescribed were found in a system. Reportedly, Corps
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  Speaker 3: documents indicate the police seized two persons containing several bags
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  Speaker 3: and bottles of prescription drugs, as well as a handwritten
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  Speaker 3: note about the immediate need to get power of attorney.
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  Speaker 3: She was arrested again in October first, twenty twelve. One
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  Speaker 3: person who was not surprised by Shepherd's recent arrest was
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  Speaker 3: Kate Reeves Gordon Stewart's sister. Remember him the one who
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: she said she went looking to buy homes and they
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  Speaker 3: met and got married and had.
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  Speaker 2: A very volatile relationship. Well.
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  Speaker 3: It seems that Fred Weeks knew about the history of
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: Melissa Shepherd, but said he liked to have lived dangerously.
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  Speaker 2: Well.
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  Speaker 3: She was eventually really arrested again and waved her right
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  Speaker 3: to a preliminary hearing, elected to be tried by a
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: Supreme Court judge. The defense attorney Nicolson suspects that the
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Crown is leading towards similar fact evidence permits a similar
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: fact evidence permits the introduction of evidence demonstrating uncharged misconduct
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  Speaker 3: on the part of the accused, and there you have it.
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  Speaker 3: Melissa Shepherd again on the hunt.
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  Speaker 2: In twenty twelve, she was attempted.
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  Speaker 3: She was charged with attempted murder her fourth husband, Fred Weeks,
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  Speaker 3: and after pleading guilty to lesser charges, she was sending
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  Speaker 3: to three and a half year Police found substantial substantial
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: drug stock pile as we mentioned earlier, together with prescriptions
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  Speaker 3: from five different doctors and several sets of identity documents
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  Speaker 3: in different names.
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  Speaker 2: The judge said people who have contact with this lady.
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: Should be careful and on March twenty sixteen, Melissa was
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: released again from jail in Doriva, Scotia and a number
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: of strict conditions. Halifax police released so she would be
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: residing in the Halifax area and that she had been
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: assessed and found to be a higher risk to re offend.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: Shepherd in twenty sixteen was seen at the Halifax Central
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  Speaker 3: Library accessing the Internet by a Community Response officer and
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: was also found with the device capable of accessing the Internet,
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: which were breaches of the release conditions. She was charged
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: with breaching the terms. In August fourth, her lawyer entered
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: not guilty police with recounts of breaching. Her trial was
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: set to begin in February twenty seventeen. And there you go,
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: the story of the Internet black widow. But if we
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: were to diagnose her, what will we say on the
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: basis of the available information. The shepherd appears to meet
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: the criteria for several diagnoses, and it's hard because we
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: don't really get to me and talk to her. But
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: here's some of the criteria again, Anti social personality disorder,
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: which you'll see a lot in these serial killers. The
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: DSM five defines a personality disorder as an enduring pattern
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: expectations of the individual culture, as pervasive and inflexible. As
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: we noticed over and over again that we don't know
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: her patterns in her life when she was growing up,
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: in her youth, so we don't know the typical The
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: typical pattern of an anti socialist usually having conduct disorder,
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: committing some kind of petty crimes when they're young. Maybe
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: oppositional definan maybe having some issues in school behavioral problem impulsivity,
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: but we don't know that from Melissa Shepherd. Individuals with
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: anti social personally think and act in ways of violate
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: social norms and fringe on the rights of others and
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: bring them into conflict with the law. I got to remember,
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  Speaker 3: they also have very low empathy. They have a very
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: intenuated front frontal prefrontal cortex where you make your moral decisions, where.
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  Speaker 2: You plan, where you anticipate consequences.
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  Speaker 3: You can see here Shepherd either a thought she was
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: smarter than the law, which I don't know how because
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: she constantly got arrested, or b she just did not
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  Speaker 3: anticipate consequences, which is a common feature for people of
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: anti social personality disorder, or a reduced activity in the
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: prefontal cortex. Other symptoms of antisocial or chronic deceitfulness, impulsivity, recklessness, aggressiveness, irresponsibility.
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  Speaker 3: These are all things that we saw in her behavior. Now,
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: mind you, As we've mentioned before, it has estimated that
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: approximately seventy five to eight eight percent of the incarcerated
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: male population would meet the criteria for anti social personality
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: disorder by comparison, though a substantially smaller proportion fifteen to
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: thirty would meet the criteria for psychopathy. An estimated rate
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: for anti social female inmates tend to be lower than
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: for men fifty six percent for anti social and fifteen
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: percent for psychopathy, but it doesn't mean they're not. There
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: still are some individual women who have those diagnoses, and
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: the general population prevalence rates for anti social estimated to
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: be three to five percent for men and one to
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: two for women. Rates of psychopathy among women in the
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: general pop are not known, So again here we see
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: clearly that she definitely has a lot of these symptomologies
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: of anti social personality disorder.
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  Speaker 2: We don't know exactly.
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  Speaker 3: For sure because we don't have a chance to diagnose
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: her to look at anything, but from the symptoms that
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: she portrayed, at least from the things we do know,
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: it's very likely as she did, and that ends our
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: story of the Internet Black widow Melissa Shepherd