Latest / True Crime with Gavin Fish / Expert: Strangulation Is the Most Dangerous Warning Sign | Spencer & Monique Tepe Murders

Transcript

Expert: Strangulation Is the Most Dangerous Warning Sign | Spencer & Monique Tepe Murders · True Crime with Gavin Fish

0:01
Yesterday we went over the latest, I guess released
0:08
probable cause affidavit. It's from January 11th in the
0:13
murder of Spencer and Monique Tepe.
0:16
And something really stood out to me and stood out to a lot of
0:20
you and that is allegations or I guess reports from friends that
0:27
Monique made allegations that her ex-husband Michael McKee,
0:32
who is now charged in her murder, strangled her.
0:40
Reading between the lines, it seemed like more than one time,
0:43
but at least once. And that made me think of Brian
0:48
Bennett, who is our guest tonight.
0:52
So stick with me. This video contains mature
1:07
themes and discussions intended only for adult audiences.
1:11
Viewer discretion is advised. Hello there, my friend, and
1:16
welcome back to another true crime conversation with me,
1:19
Gavin Fish, where we like to cut through fluff and sensationalism
1:24
in true crime. We like to be Steady Eddie.
1:27
We like to be cool, we'd like to learn as we look at these cases
1:32
and if that is what you like, then you found the right place
1:35
and I'm glad you did. Thank you for joining me
1:38
wherever you're joining me from. I'm sure some of you have
1:41
already told me where you're joining me from.
1:44
For example, Miss Chivo's Dragon is saying that she is in Austin,
1:48
TX. There we are wherever you are.
1:52
Tell me where you are. I really this is this is one of
1:54
my favorite parts. We got St.
1:56
Augustine, FL house North Carolina in the house sunny San
2:00
Jose, North Carolina, Virginia Lexington take 2A hobby.
2:09
Let's do a take two on that Lexington, KY Jacksonville, FL
2:14
Oregon Erie, PA. We've got Suffolk, UK in the
2:16
house and I'm sure there will be more that tell me where you're
2:21
from. Oh, we got Jersey.
2:23
We got Nighter, Idaho. Is that how you say that?
2:26
Nighter Idaho? So, yeah, continue to tell me
2:31
where you are tuning in from. And I don't know.
2:34
I just, I love that part. It's the Romper Room segment of
2:37
the show. Ellenville Nay.
2:42
Where's Ellenville? Nay, I have no idea, but sounds
2:46
like a great place guys. Today we are back talking about
2:51
the case of the murder of Spencer and Monique Tepi,
2:56
Columbus, OH. Married couple, parents of two,
3:01
ages 4 and 1. He a doctor, she an educator,
3:07
had a master's degree in education and they were found
3:14
gunned down in their house after coworkers and friends called 911
3:22
for a Wellness check because he didn't show up for work and they
3:24
couldn't reach him. They couldn't reach her.
3:26
They said that was so out of character that they needed
3:30
somebody to check on them right now.
3:33
And as they were talking to 911, they were on their way to the
3:37
Tepes house where they found sadly this beautiful couple
3:45
gunned down. Now once again parents of two.
3:49
They also had a little goldendoodle and police said
3:54
that the children were unharmed. I disagree they were harmed.
3:58
They were physically unharmed for sure.
4:01
Monique's ex-husband, a man that she spent just months with
4:06
before they divorced, man named Doctor Michael McKee, a vascular
4:13
surgeon, is charged with their murder.
4:17
And if we are to believe everything that we have read in
4:20
the warrants in the PCAS, it looks like he did it.
4:25
And not only does it look like he did it, it looks like he
4:29
planned it. He had consciousness of guilt.
4:33
It was premeditated. He traveled hundreds of miles to
4:37
do it. And not only that, it seems like
4:41
he would travel hundreds of miles just to terrorize her.
4:45
This is a real at least it appears to me, based on the
4:51
facts that I've read and the allegations that I've read, this
4:54
appears to me to be a sleeping with the enemy kind of thing.
4:58
She tried and tried and tried to get away from this guy kind of
5:06
kind of looks like a Mr. Incredible.
5:08
Doesn't he like a young Mr. Incredible, but he's not
5:12
incredible. He's incredibly violent,
5:15
according to allegations that we've read.
5:20
Anyway, Now what I did today and let me just while we, while we
5:27
look at the Tepes, let's just see.
5:29
I, I, I don't want to leave anybody out.
5:31
We got Nova Scotia here, we've got Southeast Georgia near
5:36
Jacksonville, we've got Chile, Virginia, we got Tigard, OR.
5:42
Thank you for the pronunciation guide there.
5:45
Louisiana, Cuesta, New Mexico or Casta, depending on what you
5:50
say. I don't know how they pronounce
5:52
it there. In Virginia, they have a town
5:54
called Buena Vista. It's not Buena Vista.
5:56
It's Buena Vista. It doesn't matter.
6:00
Let's see, you've got Louisiana in the house.
6:02
Looks like southwest Louisiana. We got Ireland, Virginia,
6:07
Colorado and North Carolina. Yes, as Doctor Grande would say,
6:13
exceedingly creepy. Indeed.
6:15
Indeed. Indeed.
6:17
OK, so I have a friend. I have a friend.
6:22
I have more than one friend. I have many friends.
6:26
But several of my friends are in the law enforcement and crime
6:32
reporting community. And when he reached out to me,
6:38
I, I would like to take credit to say I reached out to him, but
6:41
he reached out to me days ago saying I bet there's a
6:44
strangulation component to this. And boy, was he right.
6:49
And he is going to Brian Bennett.
6:53
See if I can I can bring this up.
6:56
Yeah. You're seeing double of me.
6:57
Hold on. Yeah, you're seeing double of me
7:02
right now because I had a conversation with Brian earlier
7:08
today, a few hours ago. Now, tell you a little bit about
7:11
Brian. He's a retired South Carolina
7:14
state law enforcement officer and trainer.
7:18
He has particular, he has a particular set of skills.
7:23
That set of skills has to do with the investigation of fatal
7:28
and non fatal strangulation cases and DV domestic violence.
7:33
This this is one of the foremost experts in DV and strangulation
7:39
in the nation and he was kind enough to to spend a little time
7:46
with me earlier this afternoon to talk about the case.
7:53
So my plan here is to play the recording and along the way I'm
8:00
going to, I'm going to be checking in on what your
8:02
comments are. So definitely put your comments.
8:06
For example, here's a comment. Greetings from Ohio, the Buckeye
8:11
State in the house, Lakeland, FL, North Idaho, Harrisburg, the
8:16
capital of the Commonwealth, frozen tundra of Brunswick, NY,
8:20
Baton Rouge, LA. Oh, that's where Emmy used to
8:24
live. And yes, Neider, just a speck
8:30
along the road at southeast corner of Idaho.
8:34
So anywho, when you have comments or questions, please
8:39
put them in the live chat. Please put GF in that so that I
8:43
can more easily find it. And we will just go on ahead and
8:50
I might pause along the way with your comments.
8:54
So let's let's bring this up right here.
8:57
Let's lower this and here we go. Brian Bennett is joining me.
9:02
Brian is a strangulation expert. He is the, what do we say Brian,
9:06
the owner or the the chief of everything at Clearview Justice
9:10
Training and Consulting down in South Carolina.
9:13
You're retired South Carolina state law enforcement officer
9:16
trainer, and you specifically have expertise in strangulation,
9:21
right? That's correct.
9:23
And and other like interpersonal violence type issues like
9:27
domestic violence, vulnerable adult abuse and exploitation and
9:30
things such as that. Yeah, and we, we met each other.
9:34
I think you reached out to me originally watching my coverage
9:38
of I think it was probably Micah Miller, but it could have been,
9:41
it could have been Madeline Soto, you, this is the third
9:44
time you've been on the show. I, I really love it when you
9:47
come back because it's very, very specific, your expertise
9:52
and in this, in this case, the case of Monique and Spencer
9:56
Tepe. Let me see if I can bring them
9:58
up on the on the screen here. This couple was murdered.
10:02
I think she was murdered with one gunshot wound to the chest.
10:06
He was shot multiple times in their home and law enforcement
10:10
says it's by her ex-husband. But recently a affidavit of
10:16
probable cause came out and or was released and you can see
10:22
right there. Let me let me get it right on my
10:24
side here that Monique alleged that Doctor McKee Wood Forest,
10:31
basically he was essaying her and and she accused him of
10:36
strangulation. Now this is a.
10:39
This is a red flag, is it not? Absolutely.
10:43
This is This is a pattern that has remained consistent across
10:49
the United States when it comes to particularly, particularly
10:52
domestic homicides of women. The the entry level or the
10:58
initial awareness of strangulations being involved in
11:03
domestic homicides, particularly of women found its legwork about
11:09
20 years ago in California. And since that time, the
11:11
research and the documentation has gotten more and more from
11:16
efficient and efficient. And the what the National
11:19
Research tells us is that non federal strangulation is the
11:25
number one indicator of a future homicide when it comes to a
11:29
domestic situation. It's most particularly a
11:33
homicide of the domestic violence target, primarily
11:40
women. And when I, when this case came
11:43
up, it's interesting because we've had discussions off the
11:47
air and I've had discussions with many other people.
11:49
The moment that this case came up and I heard the initial facts
11:56
of the case and there didn't, there didn't appear to be any
11:59
type of forced entry and the kids were left alone.
12:02
I immediately started telling people something doesn't seem
12:06
right about this. I mean, other than the fact it
12:07
was a, a weird homicide. But I said I can almost
12:10
guarantee with 100% certainty strangulation is going to be
12:15
part of the history of this in some way, shape or fashion.
12:17
Now, I didn't know at the moment if it was a homicide side as we
12:21
sometimes see with domestic partners, but I knew.
12:25
I knew it probably rested somewhere, this issue of
12:28
strangulation. And here now we have people and
12:31
affidavits that, you know, certainly point to a very
12:36
dangerous pattern which is now led to the death of two people.
12:40
So so you actually, you felt like there was a certainty the
12:45
strangulation had occurred in this one before you even knew
12:49
anything about the fact that it was her ex-husband.
12:53
It just was strange enough for you to go.
12:55
There's a precursor here. Yeah, I've, I've seen this so
12:59
much, most particularly because of the state that I live in.
13:03
I'm, I'm very keen and, and more up to date with frequency and
13:07
everything within our state. But when, when national stories
13:11
present themselves because I'm kind of a bit of a news junkie,
13:14
not just, you know, crime, true crime type stuff, but just news
13:17
in general. When I see the dynamics of a
13:21
familial situation where there's this sudden violent death,
13:29
particularly of a female, and there is some type of intimate
13:34
or romantic relationship involved, that strangulation,
13:39
more times than not, strangulation in my experience,
13:42
is found to be some pattern that existed prior to the homicide.
13:50
We actually had a few here in South Carolina in the last few
13:53
months where I reside, where there were some domestic
13:57
homicides. And I told people, I said I
14:00
couldn't most guarantee strangulation or patents of
14:02
strangulation. We're going to be part of it.
14:05
And sure enough, I called and reached out to families of the
14:11
deceased who hadn't even talked to law enforcement yet.
14:14
And they confirmed to me that the family had known of patents
14:19
of strangulation because the deceased had mentioned instances
14:24
of strangulation. And sad thing is, is that law
14:27
enforcement didn't know about those.
14:30
And unfortunately that is rings true with a lot of these cases.
14:35
I will point out in this particular case, in Ohio in
14:38
2014, there was a, there was a. Hey guys.
14:44
I'm just going to jump in here for a second just to interrupt
14:48
me and Brian, but a question came in from Dandelion and
14:54
Dandelion is asking, and we're going to get into this a little
14:57
bit in the recording, but did he essay her a court?
15:02
So what we know is there are allegations, right?
15:07
There are allegations of it. I'm just going to come over here
15:11
briefly to the to the PCA, the probable cause affidavit that we
15:17
read yesterday. This line right here is
15:23
extremely disturbing. Monique Tepi had shared an
15:27
allegation against Michael McKee of forced unwanted sex and of
15:32
strangulation. Forced unwanted, What is that?
15:38
He essayed her. That's that's what a friend
15:41
shared that Monique had shared with the friend, right.
15:47
So it's it's third person, but we can't do first person here.
15:51
The victim is dead, right? So, yeah, to answer your
15:57
question just succinctly, yes, that is the allegation.
16:02
And it's, I mean, this goes without saying, but you know,
16:10
for a long, long time, maybe even hundreds of years, it was
16:13
not possible for a husband to SAA wife legally, right?
16:18
There were no laws against that. But that is what it is.
16:25
So, according to the friend, Monique told her that he had
16:29
done that indeed. Homicide of another girl by the
16:32
name of Monique. And that homicide was a domestic
16:36
homicide involving strangulation and actually was the what
16:40
prompted Ohio to pass felony strangulation legislation in
16:44
2014. And with other states that have
16:48
done that, the full the full point of passing that
16:51
legislation was to raise awareness of strangulation, to
16:55
raise awareness of the dangers because of the association of
17:01
future homicides with those type and patterns of assault.
17:05
And if law enforcement knew or, or if law enforcement is knows
17:13
about strangulation, at least with the statute, you have a
17:17
mechanism to charge someone on a felony level with the idea to
17:21
hold them accountable for that action, but also to perhaps
17:25
provide that necessary separation between that
17:30
strangler and the person that's the target of their abuse, which
17:33
would ultimately be the target of a homicide.
17:37
And. To to give her the opportunity
17:40
to be able to get away. Absolutely, absolutely.
17:44
And obviously she did get away from that relationship.
17:48
You know, there's the documents and news stories about her
17:52
ending the first relationship after a couple years.
17:57
But the one thing about this strangulation form of assault is
18:03
it it sends a very clear message that not only does this person
18:06
have a homicidal mindset, but it also demonstrates that they like
18:12
to exert control and keep control.
18:17
And from the reports that I've heard, you know, he, he made
18:22
himself present in relationship and made threats to to even
18:28
after the relationship was over. Well, that's, that's actually
18:31
kind of what I wanted to get into before it.
18:33
We do, though. Ohio is my neighbor state,
18:36
right? I live in western Pennsylvania.
18:38
Ohio is our neighbor, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
18:41
We have strangulation laws on the books.
18:43
As a as a crime beat reporter, I see those charges all the time.
18:48
One of the things that I guess what is the word that I want to
18:52
use disappoints me when I'm covering a hearing.
18:56
So, for example, on on a hearing day, I might go to a courtroom
19:00
and I might sit in that courtroom from 9:00 in the
19:02
morning to 4:00 in the afternoon, and I might see 40
19:06
hearings that day, right? They're just like 1 after the
19:08
other, after the other, after the other.
19:10
And they could be status conferences, they could be
19:12
arraignments, they could be preliminary hearings.
19:15
There's all, all, all sorts of things, but strangulation comes
19:19
up all the time, all the time. It's charged so frequently.
19:24
And of course, this is just anecdotal.
19:26
This is off the top of my head. But often times when we get to
19:30
the sentencing portion of this, and I have sat through all the
19:34
hearings for the defendant and the defendant has come to some
19:38
sort of plea bargain. They drop those charges and they
19:42
do some sort of like, you know, simple assault charge.
19:46
He he pleads guilty to a simple assault charge.
19:49
And I've actually even heard the defense lawyers, which and I
19:52
don't blame them. That mean that's part of our
19:54
system. We got to have good defense
19:55
lawyers. But I'll I'll hear them say,
19:57
your Honor, this is his first offense or or sometimes it's
20:01
like their 93rd offense, but this is his first violent
20:04
offense. And they somehow get the judge
20:06
to go go along with yeah, we'll go ahead and just drop this.
20:10
He grabbed her by the throat and threatened her life.
20:14
He had aggravated assault with strangulation charge and it gets
20:18
pleaded down to a simple assault.
20:21
And then I don't know, 3-4 months later I see him in court
20:24
again. Like there, there's so much of
20:27
this. What do we do for the to the
20:30
court system to make them understand how serious this is?
20:33
Don't, don't drop those strangulation felony charges.
20:38
Yeah, ideally, I mean the, the, the mechanism of of most states
20:43
strangulation laws is not just to empower law enforcement to
20:48
take action in those situations, but it also should have some
20:52
component of education that is either required or necessary
20:56
because of the existence of that statute.
21:01
You know, we, we want, I mean, ideally we want all the parties
21:06
involved with the criminal justice system to understand the
21:09
seriousness of this, the law enforcement officers, the
21:13
prosecutors and our judiciary. But unfortunately, as you, as
21:17
you've, you know, described, and it's anecdotal, but it's
21:19
something I've seen as well, is perhaps some of our prosecution
21:25
offices trying to clear dockets relatively quickly.
21:29
They, we, we see a plea, we can guarantee a guilty verdict, we
21:32
can guarantee certain things. If we go to a full trial with
21:37
the aggravated strangulation, we have the potential to lose it.
21:41
I've, I've heard those arguments among prosecutors before.
21:45
It's better to have something than nothing.
21:47
But at the same time, I'm like, well, look at the case that you
21:49
have. And ideally, again, the way the
21:53
statutes are laid out in the way the law enforcement
21:56
investigations are supposed to function, is that not only do we
22:00
have perhaps statements, but we also know that victims can
22:05
recant due to, you know, fear of reprisal and threat and
22:08
harassment. But you always build up your
22:10
case as if the victim will never testify.
22:13
And so we should have in place is good photographic
22:18
documentation. We should have good medical
22:20
exams. We should have medical
22:22
professionals that are on board ready to interpret for the court
22:26
what the medical findings are. And those in fact should speak
22:32
on behalf of the victim. And, but even with even with
22:37
that, I've heard prosecutors say, well, it's it still may
22:41
come down to a he said, she said, or our jury's not fully
22:45
understanding. Well, I'm sorry, but as a
22:46
prosecutor, that's your job is to educate the jury and to some
22:51
degree educate the judge as well.
22:52
I mean, certain statutes in certain states outside of
22:56
strangulation does require some judicial training.
23:00
Well, I think a strangulation law should also require some
23:03
level of judicial training, not in what not just with what the
23:09
elements of the law are, but what this pattern of a sum
23:14
generally leads to. And so then behind those
23:19
individuals is just a public awareness of the dangers of
23:23
strangulation as well. I mean, does the public know
23:27
what strangulation points to? Also outside the general public
23:34
is you also have your other professionals, your medical
23:37
professionals, your paramedics, your EMTs, your triage nurses,
23:40
your emergency room doctors, your victim advocates.
23:43
Ideally, this knowledge that we're talking about now and and
23:48
what these studies show us should be common knowledge and
23:53
should be known to everybody. So that when a time does come up
23:57
where there's a plea to a misdemeanor, which could be
24:02
granted A pretrial intervention type program and the record
24:06
exploit. I mean, I've seen that happen.
24:07
I've seen someone charged with felony fled down to a
24:10
misdemeanor, and then if they stay out of trouble, two or
24:13
three years later they have their record expunge and it's
24:14
like nothing ever happened. But strangulation is such a key
24:19
indicator of what could happen now.
24:21
It feels like that's something, I mean, hey, I, I'm all for
24:24
second chances is I'm, I'm all for second chances, especially
24:28
when something isn't violent or if something is tied to
24:32
addiction or I'm, I'm all for, for second chances on that
24:35
stuff. But you know, the, the moment a
24:38
domestic partner just like loses it for a moment and grabs a
24:43
neck, that to me that is like sirens, lights, red flags going
24:50
everywhere that I, I, I tell my channel all the time, you know,
24:54
if somebody tells you that they want to do harm to you, you must
24:58
believe them. They want to do harm to you.
25:01
And if you're, if, if somebody's grabbing your neck, then to me
25:06
that that should, I mean, that should be a different
25:09
classification, right? In the realm of criminal
25:12
justice, especially as a law enforcement officer, we have to
25:16
think about actions and words separately, but also combined
25:20
together. I mean, if I, if I say I'm going
25:23
to punch you, OK, those are words.
25:26
Those are a threat. And if I have the ability to
25:31
carry out the threat at the time I give it, there are a lot of
25:35
laws that say I can be charged with some form of assault.
25:39
Then there's other times where my actions demonstrate my intent
25:45
without my words. So I tell, you know, if you're
25:48
walking down an alley and some guy comes up with a knife and
25:51
has this phrase look in his eyes, you know, walking at you
25:54
with this knife in your direction and getting closer and
25:57
closer about the second. I mean, you kind of like, all
25:59
right, I think this person intends to do me some harm.
26:03
And you know, and so when you when you look at those things
26:08
separately, actions and words and the the times that those are
26:13
combined, it puts in an even more ominous picture in in this
26:17
particular case, there are claims that he told her and she
26:22
explained to people that he said he could kill her at any time.
26:27
Well, on someone utters those type of words, it must be taken
26:33
with seriousness. But unfortunately a lot of
26:36
people sometimes in the situation, but I'm in the
26:39
situation, well, they're just, they're just blowing smoke or
26:41
they're just. Drink Yeah.
26:43
Yeah, or something like that. I'm but as a law enforcement
26:47
officer and as people that investigate these type of
26:49
things, we tell people if they're if they're uttering
26:52
those words, they have thought about it.
26:55
It doesn't come out of your mouth unless, unless you form
26:57
the thought to make the words. Just like when someone says
27:01
they're suicidal. Well, suicidal is potential
27:03
homicide. If you wanted to hurt yourself,
27:05
you wouldn't hurt anybody. And you know, well, I'm going to
27:07
do myself in. Well, you need to take these
27:10
things seriously. But yeah, words and actions tell
27:13
us a lot about people's propensity.
27:16
Let's get into what it was that he said.
27:19
Let me just read this here real quick.
27:20
It says, and this is from the affidavit from January 11th,
27:25
says Columbus police Homicide Unit Team 2 was advised,
27:28
responded, initiated an investigation.
27:30
This is after people called, you know, Doctor Tepe is missing
27:34
kind of thing. He didn't show up for work.
27:36
Early on in the investigation, detectives were advised by
27:39
identifiable friends and family of Monique Tepe that Monique had
27:43
told them her ex-husband, Doctor Michael D McKee, had been
27:47
abusive and had made numerous threats on her life during and
27:52
after the marriage. Numerous.
27:54
So more than one, I would I would imagine, I would imagine
27:58
there were a lot. An identifiable witness told
28:02
detectives that Monique Tepe had shared an allegation against
28:05
Michael McKee of forced unwanted sex.
28:08
That is SA. That's what that is.
28:10
We we don't use the word on YouTube, right?
28:13
That is the that is the R word. Just so we all understand it
28:16
forced unwanted sex. That means that her husband
28:20
essayed her and of strangulation, which is
28:25
obviously what we're talking about here.
28:26
Another identifiable in this told detectives that Michael D
28:29
McKee had told Monique that he could like you just said Brian
28:34
could kill her at any time and would find her and buy the house
28:39
right next to her that she will always be his wife to me this
28:42
screamed movie plot. This is full out of sleeping
28:45
with the enemy right. This is somebody that can't let
28:47
go. He's he's loved and lost.
28:51
That sounds horrible, but like and and his he's just unable to
28:57
take defeat, right to take the loss.
29:00
I mean, I would. This comparative here, the
29:06
controller of life. I mean, when you're strangling
29:09
somebody, you literally have their life in your hands.
29:15
But then you compare that to this idea of, well, I, I will
29:18
buy the house right next to you. You will never like never be out
29:22
of my life. That is him still trying to
29:24
control life, maybe at a different capacity, threats and
29:28
intimidation, but this guy's got a control problem and life.
29:33
I have always had a control problem.
29:36
And these were these indications that have now come out.
29:39
I mean, first, I do know what if any of this information was
29:44
shared previously with law enforcement or if there's a
29:48
history of incident reports or anything like that.
29:50
I've wondered about it. Myself.
29:52
Yeah, what I'm saying, you don't have to be a law enforcement
29:57
officer, a judge, a victim advocate to have a need to know
30:03
about the dangers of strangulation because I do a lot
30:05
of presentations outside all these different perfections.
30:08
I'm entering doctors, nurses, lawyers, law enforcement, victim
30:12
advocates, but I also talk to see groups and I tell them that
30:17
more often times than not, they will be the first people that
30:21
will hear about it before some professional.
30:24
It's the friends and the family with the Gabby Petito case that
30:29
was present in the Gabby Petito case too.
30:32
The Gabby Petito case, Gabby her, her social media presence
30:35
painted one picture. But what people knew about that
30:39
situation with her her boyfriend Brian was quite different than
30:45
the the online persona and. So if we, if we take this from
30:49
the perspective, which I always try to do it on my, on my
30:53
channel of trying to learn something here, right?
30:55
Like it unfortunately is too late for Monique and Spencer
31:00
Tepe. And we certainly don't want to
31:02
blame them for the behavior of their assaulter and their
31:05
attacker and their murderer, right.
31:08
But moving forward, because it's completely understandable.
31:12
I think it's totally human nature to say, oh, you know, I
31:15
just got away from him. I can just stay away from him.
31:18
Or, you know, he or maybe on the other side of the spectrum, he
31:21
didn't really mean it. I just love him so much, you
31:24
know, that there's there's a broad spectrum here.
31:26
And it's, and I think it's perfectly natural human
31:30
behavior. You know, it's like human nature
31:32
doesn't change. That's just how we're made.
31:35
But for those of us who really want to learn and make a change
31:39
in our own lives, what are some of the things that you train
31:43
people to do when either they are in a position where somebody
31:49
has put their hands on them, somebody's put their hands
31:51
around their neck, somebody has threatened them multiple times.
31:55
Somebody has said, you know, has engaged in this coercively
31:58
controlled behavior like we saw with that is alleged with JP
32:03
Miller down there in your neck of the woods or, or here where
32:08
he's saying full on sleeping with the enemy style.
32:11
You're never getting away with me.
32:13
You're never getting away from me.
32:15
I will buy the house next to you.
32:16
In fact, one person I I have heard thought that maybe that
32:21
day on December 6th where Mr. or Doctor McKee allegedly entered
32:29
the curtilage of the Tepes home while the Tepes were at the Big
32:32
10 Conference championship. And that same day when Monique
32:36
left the championship to go back to the hotel, she was so upset
32:39
over something about her ex-husband.
32:41
Could it possibly be that he was at the neighbor's house taking
32:44
photos of himself at the neighbor's house doing
32:48
something? So just evil is that, I mean is
32:53
that what he was doing? What do you train people to do
32:56
when either they are the direct victim or Brian, maybe, maybe
33:01
something like this is happening to my daughter and I'm learning
33:04
about it and what is it that I should be doing, you know, as I
33:08
as I learn about these things. Yeah, well, again, going back to
33:13
what we said at the beginning, that non fatal strangulation is
33:16
a red flag #1 indicator for future homicide.
33:20
When I tell people or when they've expressed to me the
33:23
idea, you know what, like the same question, what do I do?
33:26
First thing is we got to get distance.
33:28
We have got to get physical distance between this strangler,
33:34
this abuser, this, this, this individual, and the target of
33:40
their abuse or their control. Now, that can vary when it comes
33:43
down to resources. Some people offer their own
33:45
house. Some people put people up at a
33:46
hotel. Some people buy a bus ticket.
33:49
Some people tap into grant programs and civic program
33:54
resources in their area. But the first thing is trying to
33:57
find a place of safety that's separate and apart.
33:59
So physically, this abuser, this controller can't get to you #2
34:05
particularly if it's more cute if the person has recently been
34:09
strangled. And I say recently, I'm talking
34:11
about within the last couple weeks, even 30 days.
34:14
You need to get medical attention immediately.
34:17
Not every medical facility is going to be as versed or or know
34:25
as much about non fetal strangulation as perhaps
34:28
another. Going to the emergency room is
34:32
what I need to recommend. Even going to the emergency
34:38
room. These emergency room doctors
34:39
haven't had specific training non fetal strangulation, but
34:41
when an individual does go to the emergency room and they're
34:45
first interviewed by triage and check in the words that need to
34:50
be uttered are I need to speak to a forensic nurse or an essay
34:56
nurse examiner. The reason being is because
34:59
those nurses have specific, very, very specific training in
35:04
exams, safety protocols, triage exam that are specific to
35:11
strangulation. They they see things with a
35:13
better eye. They know what exams to do, they
35:16
know what to look for and then can advise the emergency room
35:20
doctors on the next steps to take for higher levels of of
35:25
intervention. Now I'm sorry to interrupt, but
35:28
real quick, do most hospitals have a nurse trained like that?
35:33
A forensic nurse. But most of your larger cities
35:37
and larger hospitals will have on staff, which we call forensic
35:41
nurse examiners or essay examiners.
35:44
Those are called same SANE nurses.
35:47
Potentially they're the same thing, they just have different
35:49
titles. But most larger municipality
35:54
municipal hospitals when you get into your outline smaller rural
35:58
areas, they probably don't. However, there were some
36:04
mechanisms built into these areas where if that medical
36:09
facility doesn't have one of those specific nurses, there's
36:12
an on call team of a professional in that area that
36:16
can travel to that location to meet with that particular
36:20
patient. But that's a, that's a, that's a
36:23
keywording to, to mention is, is I need to speak to a forensic
36:28
nurse. And I mean, use the word
36:30
strangulation. I mean, most people are going to
36:31
use the word poking, which is mechanically and technically not
36:34
the correct term, but the medical staff will understand
36:38
what what the person's referring to and and let's just reinteract
36:42
something that you and I have discussed on prior interviews.
36:48
When something strangled, they may have no external signs of
36:51
injury. That is very, very common, and
36:55
so medical staff and even law enforcement may tend to minimize
36:59
or discredit, but that person's experience or the experiences
37:06
viewed by a third party, witnesses or family need to be
37:10
taken seriously with that strangulation exam protocol.
37:15
Now I interrupted you, but you started with physical distance
37:19
and then get an examination by a forensic nurse examiner.
37:24
What? What's the next step?
37:26
And the next step is documentation document.
37:28
I cannot move for emphasize documentation or reporting, but
37:33
it is not unusual for individuals of many different
37:36
types of abuse and assault to just simply talk to their
37:40
friends and family. And sometimes these friends and
37:43
family don't know what to say. They don't know what to do or
37:47
and let's just be fair, a lot of those that would be used or fear
37:52
of retaliation prize and I get it that that's that's.
37:57
Let me interrupt here for just a second because there is a
38:02
comment that I want to that I want to I want to grab from
38:04
Redondo Beach 747514 Gavin, can I get you 2 to help influence
38:11
the LA County District Attorney's office to take my
38:13
strangulation case. I did more investigation than
38:15
the police, so I don't know that I don't know that I have any
38:24
power over anybody to do any kind of, you know, taking of a
38:31
case. However, I do want to point out
38:34
that Brian has a he has a Facebook.
38:41
I'm going to bring it up here. It's in the description below.
38:45
He has a Facebook profile called the Clearview Justice Training
38:51
and Consulting. If you just search Clearview
38:57
Justice Training and Consulting, I think you'll find it.
39:01
Now, the other thing that that I would tell anybody in this kind
39:06
of situation, OK, is that it takes so much patience.
39:12
I remember talking with Tom Brennan, who is the retired
39:15
Pennsylvania State Police homicide investigator and the
39:18
guy who's doing all the pro bono work for Josh and Sandy
39:21
Greenberg. He told them, he told me that he
39:25
told them this is going to take 12 years.
39:29
It's going to take 12 years, and it's going to cost you a lot.
39:33
Are you willing to do it right? And of course, in Josh and
39:36
Sandy's case, not only were they willing to do it, but they were
39:39
able to do it. So just know that, and it took a
39:46
lot for Josh and Sandy to get the media aboard.
39:52
The only person who was aboard in the beginning was Stephanie
39:56
Farr from the Philly Enquirer. I came on well after she did and
40:03
started talking about that case and others did too.
40:06
Nancy Grace, Joseph Scott Morgan, so many, so many others,
40:11
right? But.
40:15
It, it's, it takes a lot of grit, a lot of determination
40:20
and, and continual work to try to get any movement in any of
40:28
this. Think about this, Josh and Sandy
40:29
been at it for 15 years and they've gotten maybe a win or
40:37
two over the course of those 15 years.
40:39
They've racked up a lot of LS. So I, I, I don't want to, I
40:45
don't want to bring you down. I'm just saying you got to,
40:49
you've got to get your well, I was going to use a term that my
40:53
grandfather would use for his muck boots.
40:56
You got to put on the muck boots and, and be willing to, to kick
41:05
the muck. This is what I'm saying, OK?
41:09
I don't think I have any. I don't think I have any sway,
41:14
but if you can get many of us to do it, in fact, why don't you
41:18
reach out to Brian through Clearview Justice and Training,
41:22
Training and Consulting, and then reach out to me on my
41:25
website, gavinfish.com. Click on the little, the little
41:32
icon up here in the corner that looks like an envelope.
41:34
That will get you to a form where you can reach out to me,
41:38
but I can't guarantee anything. I get I get a lot of requests
41:43
and I am not AI don't have tons of power on this.
41:48
Maybe someday I will, but for now I just really don't.
41:51
Thank you very much for your comment and thanks for being,
41:56
you know, I guess good job being a a survivor.
42:02
Very impressive. OK, let's keep.
42:04
I'm going to keep this going here.
42:06
One of the biggest barriers to reporting we, we know that it
42:10
that all forms of abuse are under reported.
42:12
We know, however, in spite of that, we have to say we have to
42:17
stay consistent and reliable to, to the message report, report,
42:24
report. We need documentation.
42:26
And what, why is that? Why is that important?
42:28
Well, it can be important with the initial or what's happening
42:35
right now, but it also has a lot of weight into things that can
42:39
happen in the future. So if individuals need to get a
42:43
a protective order of some kind here in our state, we call them
42:47
orders of protection. Other states may call them some
42:49
type of IPV, intimate partner violence order, different
42:52
terminology, but essentially the same thing.
42:54
Those groups need documentation and if you go up there and you.
42:59
Hey, Redondo Beach, listen to this particular spot.
43:03
OK, Document, document, document, document.
43:06
I'll keep it going. You swear and firm OK, that's
43:09
that is good and those courts are not a on the court.
43:13
It says proof beyond, excuse me, a son of a preponderance of the
43:16
evidence in those type of courts.
43:18
But testimony is not seen as being the strongest, but
43:23
documentation is much stronger. So people need to understand,
43:29
just because you, you filed a police report, which is what I'd
43:32
recommend, it doesn't mean that criminal charge is going to take
43:36
place. It doesn't mean that there's
43:38
necessarily necessarily going to be a criminal investigation.
43:41
It depends on the seriousness of the crime.
43:44
But I would say when it comes to strangulation, there's the an
43:49
investigation in spite of what a victim may want, but
43:55
documentation is critically important for the order
43:58
protection or restraining order type of hearings.
44:00
But thinking about what has transpired with this case,
44:05
ultimately they're being a homicide.
44:07
We want to prevent that homicide.
44:09
So if other charges can be made in the future and the pattern in
44:18
history of the abuser can be referred to, that can help
44:23
strengthen arguments for, you know, higher sentences, you
44:28
know, being dismissed or not approved for pretrial programs
44:33
and holding the offenders more accountable.
44:37
So I can't, I can't emphasize documentation.
44:40
It's it's. One of.
44:42
The quite frankly. One of the things that surprised
44:44
me in this case, and maybe it's my own naivety, in fact, I think
44:48
some of my viewers called me out on it and I appreciate them for
44:51
doing that. Was it just, I mean, we're
44:55
talking about highly educated, high earning people on both the
45:02
victim side and on the alleged perpetrator side here.
45:07
It shocked me that I'm like, wait a minute, he's a vascular
45:11
surgeon. Wait a minute, You know, she
45:12
holds a master's degree in education.
45:14
She's married to a doctor, you know, of dental surgery herself.
45:19
This is this is crazy that this is happening.
45:20
But I would imagine, Brian, that it really doesn't matter what
45:25
your socioeconomic background is, what your education level is
45:28
probably doesn't matter. A lot of those things that we
45:31
use to divide ourselves in society probably don't matter.
45:33
This probably something that happens across the spectrum of
45:37
society. Am I right on that?
45:39
Absolutely. I mean, all the cases I've seen
45:41
in my 26 plus years of law enforcement, domestic violence
45:46
and strangulation is no respecter of socioeconomic
45:49
status. I mean money, prestige where you
45:53
live has got nothing to do with the, the frequency, the amount
45:59
of force, the terror, the control that is present in these
46:04
in these type of situations. And I, I find it, I find it very
46:08
ironic that the suspect in this case is a vascular surgeon.
46:12
I mean, of of anybody that knows about the restriction of air
46:17
from blood flow to the brain, it's that guy we haven't.
46:20
Like this? Specifically trained in
46:25
strangulation, his basic understanding of group's anatomy
46:28
and vascular function is enough for him to know that what he was
46:32
doing, what was alleged he had he did, was absolutely
46:36
dangerous. Yeah, the the the last thing I
46:40
wanted to ask you about because you talked about physical
46:42
distance, but in this case, Monique Tepi was physically
46:48
distant from Doctor McKee. I think it just so happened with
46:54
this guy. He had the means because because
46:56
let's face it, the ability to travel, whether we're talking
47:00
about, you know, your, your travel throughout the city on
47:04
your daily commute or traveling the world.
47:05
But the ability to travel is, is a privilege of the rich, right?
47:11
And the more money you have, the, the more, the more freedom
47:14
you have to travel. It seems like in this world.
47:16
I think I'm, I don't think a lot of people would disagree with me
47:19
on that one. Economists have have studied
47:22
that for years and years, but Monique was thousands of miles
47:28
away from Doctor McKee for for years and at least hundreds of
47:34
miles away for for years as well.
47:37
But it wasn't. It does well.
47:39
And this is not me blaming her. This is for us to learn.
47:43
Right? But what about things like being
47:46
distant on social media? Like if I had if I had an
47:49
abuser, I would probably think twice.
47:53
And I think you're the perfect person to answer this.
47:56
I have AI have a first cousin who in the beginning of the
48:00
Internet where I wanted to publish to all of my cousins
48:03
everybody's contact information. My cousin was like, do not put
48:07
me on that list, right? I, I do not want any presence on
48:10
the Internet and I think in today's society it's very, very
48:15
difficult outside of law enforcement who are trained
48:17
specifically and understand the reasons why social media can be
48:21
so dangerous. But how does one, first of all,
48:25
am I right in my, in my hypothesis here that there has
48:29
to be a digital distance from your abuser as well?
48:33
And #2 how does 1 accomplish that in the modern age?
48:38
Yeah, I know. So thank you for refocusing
48:40
this. As far as the distance, let me
48:42
just say real quick, when it comes to physical distance as as
48:46
you correctly stated, I mean us traveling or people traveling
48:50
many miles to do something, it doesn't completely eliminate the
48:53
risk. It just makes the attempt of
48:56
that individual harder. Now what?
48:59
What have been, but certain still was sequencing of
49:03
location. So when I say distance, if you
49:06
can have physical distance and keep your location secret if you
49:10
can, that's that's another level of difficulty the person has to
49:14
work through. If there had been some type of
49:19
protective order in place that related to this gentleman
49:24
keeping a physical distance not just from her and her husband,
49:28
but also places that they frequent like the home.
49:31
It it isn't possible that while they were out that football
49:35
game, if there was evidence that he was at their property,
49:38
friendly charges might have come out of that because of the
49:41
existence of a court protection and violating that at the time.
49:44
So people say, well, that's just a piece of paper.
49:46
A piece of paper doesn't stop a bullet.
49:48
A piece of paper doesn't stop a person.
49:50
Well, that's true. But it does give law enforcement
49:53
the authority, when they have the right evidence, to then act
49:56
on that victim's behalf to enforce some type of action
50:01
rather than not not being able to enforce anything at all.
50:05
What we're seeing digital footprints.
50:08
This is probably difficult these days.
50:11
This is the discussions. I've had this discussion many,
50:13
many times. And the first reality is, is
50:17
that I always promote a complete break in every way, shape or
50:22
form. Now, if people have children in
50:24
common, the courts force a communication between divorced
50:29
or separated parties with common children, it's because of
50:32
visitation rights and chunk custody and that sort of thing.
50:36
So there's not a complete break there.
50:38
But if you can manage a complete break, that's what I suggest.
50:42
And the digital footprint, the, the blocking, it helps.
50:46
But the problem with that is, is that an abuser or a controlling
50:51
person's ability to create new accounts, fabricate the their
50:55
identity, the ability for technology to track people not
51:00
just through their phones and tablets and but also their cars.
51:07
And so it's, it's getting in, frankly, more difficult for
51:12
people to embrace their digital footprint.
51:15
And even if there's this complete break between like the
51:20
two accounts, the fact that there's mechanisms out there and
51:25
apps that will will, that will data mine hundreds of millions
51:31
of points of data and then come up with and spin out some
51:35
information and that is usable and still available to the
51:40
abuser makes it incredibly hard. But I tell people do everything
51:44
you can within your panel to limit the, the interaction
51:52
between themselves in the abusive party, whether it's, you
51:55
know, your, your cell phone contacts, your e-mail, your
51:58
social media reports there too, if someone's, you know,
52:02
harassing you. But again, I can't tell you how
52:05
many cases I've dealt with with stalking and harassment where
52:09
people have done that. And then the individual just
52:15
keeps creating new accounts and you know, 152030 accounts out
52:19
there to still still get it, the individual.
52:23
But let me give you another side of this coin real quick though.
52:28
For some, they want to keep tabs and they want to keep
52:31
communication on that abuser because they want to be in the
52:34
know of what they're doing and perhaps what they're planning
52:38
rather than being taught completely flat footed.
52:43
You know, no one probably knows the abuser better than the
52:46
person that was targeted. And so some choose now we would
52:52
say against their own interests, but in their mind, they can
52:55
rationalize. It is in my interest to see
52:58
where my abuser is frequenting with restaurants and pictures
53:02
that I see or little comments that come up because something
53:07
that may seem very innocent to friends and family, like, oh, I
53:13
think I should just send you a dozen roses.
53:16
People think that's, you know, well, how great does that sound?
53:19
But to the target of some abuse, that may be that one line that
53:23
was repeated, like if you ever get a dozen roses, that's the
53:26
day that you're not going to exist anymore.
53:29
And so some individuals choose to, for lack of a better
53:33
description, be informed, but in a very unique and odd way to
53:37
people on the outside looking in.
53:40
Well, it's AI mean it does feel a little catch 22 here.
53:44
Obviously, it ended in absolute horror and tragedy for Monique
53:50
Spencer and their children. I, I keep reading these, these
53:54
affidavits that say that the two children were unharmed and I
53:57
keep adding they were physically unharmed, sure, but they are
54:00
harmed for the rest of their life.
54:02
And so is everybody else who who love these people.
54:04
But I hope that this, this part of the conversation will help
54:08
somebody who may be in a situation that's similar to, to
54:13
have some ideas on what it is that's supposed to do.
54:16
Brian Bennett is the chief of everything at Clearview Justice
54:19
Training and Consulting. He's a retired state law
54:21
enforcement officer and trainer. Brian, thank you so much for
54:25
joining me today. I appreciate it.
54:26
A. Pleasure to be with you again.
54:28
Yeah. And I'd like to just reiterate
54:30
my thanks to Brian Bennett for coming on and talking about
54:33
this. He is to my knowledge and to my
54:36
satisfaction, one of the preeminent law enforcement, law
54:43
enforcement side experts of strangulation and DV.
54:47
Thank you all for your for your comments while we were while we
54:52
were playing that you guys always keep a classy.
54:55
I really, really love how how everybody just behaves and how
54:59
our mods moderate. Thank you, mods, for for doing
55:02
that. Let's see.
55:06
I think there's, yeah, Mooney saying thank you, Mr. Bennett,
55:10
Heather, whatever is saying. Great information.
55:13
Yeah, Brian is Brian is absolutely the best.
55:17
I know that we're running a little bit long, but you know
55:20
what time it is for now, You know what time it is.
55:24
Got to get the right button. I mean, Javi, I'm sorry, Javi
55:26
needs to get the right buttons up.
55:28
It's three questions. Here we go.
55:29
It's three questions with Gavin Finn.
55:37
Cow All right guys, you know the rules and if you don't here, let
55:41
me just explain them. I will answer the questions that
55:44
you sent to me to my e-mail address. 3 questions at
55:47
gavinfish.com. Three questions at
55:49
gavinfish.com. Spell it out THR E questions at
55:51
gavinfish.com. I will endeavor to do my best to
55:56
answer all the questions. What I ask of you is to also
56:00
endeavor to do your best to answer the questions in the live
56:03
chat because sometimes I just love your responses to this.
56:06
And I'll give you a little bit of time to get your little
56:09
thumbs working so that you can give me the answers that you
56:14
would have. Question number one is what's
56:18
one thing that's legal that you would make illegal?
56:23
This is very simple. And I mean, and important, I
56:30
think it should be illegal to not use a coaster for your drink
56:34
on a wooden surface. I think there should be a law.
56:37
That's, that's what I think. I'd love to hear your comments
56:40
on that question #2 have you met any celebrities?
56:46
Yeah, more than my fair share, I guess I spent a good portion of
56:55
my career working in high end audio for some of that.
56:59
For about four or five years of that, I was the Chief Innovation
57:04
Officer and before that the Vice President of a company that
57:09
manufactured high end digital analog converters.
57:12
And by high end, I mean like super high end, I think our, our
57:17
entry level was at about $30,000 for a single stereo component
57:22
for consumers. And so when I was promoted to
57:26
Sino Chief Innovation Officer, I would be sent, actually I did it
57:31
as VP too. I'd be sent all over the world.
57:34
If you bought our DAC, I would come and install it.
57:38
So, yeah, I've, I've met a lot of celebrities, most of whom are
57:46
performers in the music space almost all.
57:51
And then I've met some fascinating people that maybe
57:55
don't have celebrity but have made an impact on the world that
57:59
is so big that you can't hardly even believe it.
58:05
But you don't know who that person is or what that person's
58:08
name is, for example. And I think this is when I found
58:13
this out. I won't say his name, but one of
58:21
like 2 people who brought the world the compact disk is a is
58:30
an acquaintance of mine through work and like nobody knows his
58:34
name. Most people think Sony Phillips
58:39
Magnavox and yeah, they're right.
58:41
But it was 2 two guys who did it and it changed the world.
58:46
It brought us out of the analogue era and into the
58:49
digital era. So yeah, I've met a lot of them.
58:51
I don't think I'll drop any names because that was kind of
58:54
some of the, one of the benefits of, of having me out to wherever
59:01
you were was that I, I just made sure that you kept a low profile
59:06
on this things. But the answer is yes.
59:09
Question #3 If you could go back and give your 18 year old self
59:14
one piece of advice, what would it be?
59:17
My 18 year old self was so deeply afraid of failure.
59:27
I, I, I still suffer from this, by the way.
59:29
But when I was 18, it was so bad.
59:32
I was so deeply afraid of failure and how it would make me
59:36
look. And that's the key thing that I
59:40
just would avoid anything that challenged me enough to make me
59:46
feel like I was going to fail at it.
59:49
And I would tell my 18 year old self that it's a OK to lose.
59:56
Losing doesn't make you a loser. It makes you a person who has
1:00:00
experienced loss. The winners bounce back from
1:00:05
loss. And it took me. 1520 years to
1:00:11
come to terms with that after I was 18 and I still struggle with
1:00:16
it. Right.
1:00:18
But in fact, one of the one of the main pushbacks I had to my
1:00:22
buddy Rick Tracewell when he said we ought to go on YouTube
1:00:25
is I thought, well, what if we what if we don't do well?
1:00:30
And he was like, who cares if we don't do well?
1:00:33
What does it matter? OK, yeah, we'll do it.
1:00:37
So those are your three questions.
1:00:40
Now, while you are thinking about how you would answer those
1:00:43
questions, let's take a look at some headlines.
1:00:53
True crime headlines. Pow.
1:00:55
OK, join me over here, if you will.
1:00:59
This one seems apropos of tonight.
1:01:02
An article that came out yesterday on 10 TV out there in
1:01:06
Ohio. Newly sealed newly unsealed
1:01:10
court affidavits of shedding life on the evidence Columbus
1:01:13
police say they have against Michael McKee in the shooting
1:01:16
deaths of Monique and Spencer Tepe.
1:01:18
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
1:01:20
But I like this. Friends described Monique as a
1:01:23
kind and positive presence who is deeply devoted to her family.
1:01:27
Quote, her aura was like, was just like so bright, so loving,
1:01:31
so inclusive. And you can see it, can't you?
1:01:35
You can see it in pictures like this.
1:01:39
Just think of those descriptions.
1:01:41
So bright, so loving, so inclusive, said Ariana Turner, a
1:01:48
friend of Monique. Turner said her children
1:01:50
attended the same preschool as Spencer and Monique Tepi's two
1:01:53
children, and the families became close while navigating
1:01:56
pregnancies together. She was just a such a positive
1:01:59
person, Turner said. Anytime I've seen her, she
1:02:02
always had something positive to say.
1:02:05
Turner said she was heartbroken and shocked to learn of her
1:02:07
friend's death. DV advocates say cases like this
1:02:11
highlight the complexity of abuse and why it can go
1:02:14
unreported. You've got doctors, you have
1:02:18
nurses, you have all these different types of people out
1:02:21
here that can be an abuser, said Kelly Smith of Columbus Public
1:02:25
Health. There's no look to being an
1:02:27
abuser. You can be sitting next to an
1:02:29
abuser and not even know it. And of course, I think that that
1:02:33
reinforces what Brian taught us tonight.
1:02:36
Next headline, thank you to Kate Byrd who writes for Crime Cod,
1:02:41
my true crime news website. Let me let me bring up Crime
1:02:46
Cod. If you go to my website,
1:02:47
gavinfish.com. Crime Cod articles are always
1:02:51
published right to the homepage of my website, but you can also
1:02:54
go to crimecod.com. Here's an article from Kate
1:02:57
Byrd, which we're not going to get to.
1:02:58
Kate brought up this article to me.
1:03:02
This has to do with Lily and Jack Sullivan stepfather Daniel
1:03:09
Martel of missing Nova Scotia children facing charges
1:03:13
involving an adult. So not involving the kiddos.
1:03:17
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have confirmed that
1:03:20
Daniel Martel, 34, has been charged with SA assault and
1:03:26
forcible confinement involving an adult.
1:03:29
He is the stepfather of Lily and Jack Sullivan, who went missing
1:03:32
in Lansdowne, Nova Scotia nearly nine months ago.
1:03:37
The CB CS Allie Thompson has the story.
1:03:39
Daniel Martel. I think there's a transcript of
1:03:42
the video. The stepfather of 2 Nova Scotia
1:03:44
children who disappeared nearly nine months ago has been charged
1:03:47
with SA assault and forcible confinement, CBC News has
1:03:51
learned. Nova Scotia RCMP confirmed that
1:03:54
Martel was arrested on Monday and is facing three charges
1:03:58
involving an adult complaint. Martel is due in Pictou
1:04:02
Provincial Court on March 2nd. And then it goes into the
1:04:06
details of the investigation. Let's see.
1:04:15
And yeah, we continue to gather information.
1:04:17
Whatever evidence we're able to find, we'll make our decisions
1:04:19
based on that. So of course there's speculation
1:04:23
that like who is the adult victim in this alleged assault,
1:04:30
Forcible confine, forcible confinement and SA, we do not
1:04:36
know the answer to that question.
1:04:40
The the person that comes to mind.
1:04:42
And I'm sorry that this is totally speculation, but you
1:04:45
know, could it be Malia Brooks, Murray, his common law spouse?
1:04:51
We do not know yet. And Canada, Canada doesn't like
1:04:57
to give out that information easily.
1:04:59
So we will find out. Last one that I would bring to
1:05:02
you is a quick report from today in the double murder trial of
1:05:07
Brendan Banfield, who testifies he confronted a stranger,
1:05:11
fatally stabbing his wife. So he's sticking to his story.
1:05:15
The Virginia man on trial for killing for the killing of his
1:05:17
wife and another man testified Thursday that he yelled police
1:05:21
when he burst into a bedroom at his home and found his naked
1:05:24
spouse on the floor with a stranger.
1:05:26
He yelled police OK Brennan Banfield, who's accused of
1:05:30
conspiring with Brazilian au pair Giuliana Perez Magalies to
1:05:34
kill his wife, Christine Banfield and the stranger Joe
1:05:37
Ryan is a former IRS agent. Let's just bring up Here's a
1:05:43
picture of Christine and here is a picture of Joe Ryan, The
1:05:48
victims of at least Juliana Perez Magalies and the alleged
1:05:55
victims of Mr. Banfield. Banfield said he went up to the
1:06:03
upstairs bedroom because he heard somebody having sex and
1:06:05
found his wife with Ryan. Brendan.
1:06:08
He has a knife. His wife cried out.
1:06:10
Brendan testified her. Banfield, under questioning by
1:06:13
his lawyer, John Carroll, said he told Ryan to drop the knife.
1:06:17
Ryan refused, He said. He said that she was his and
1:06:21
that she gave herself to me, Ryan declared, according to
1:06:23
Banfield. And Christine kind of yelled,
1:06:25
moaned I did not want to shoot him, blah blah blah.
1:06:29
And I don't want to read any more of this because I think it
1:06:32
is all bunk. Bunk of my opinion, of course,
1:06:37
but that is what he testified to.
1:06:40
He is sticking to the story that he just happened to come in and
1:06:46
Ryan was assaulting his wife. Yeah, that checks.
1:06:54
No, it doesn't check. Come on, man.
1:06:56
Those guys are your headlines. True crime.
1:07:05
Headlines. Pow.
1:07:07
OK, couple last comments before we go.
1:07:10
Tina Lucille says let's see. Oh, just refreshed question one.
1:07:17
What should be illegal? Willful ignorance.
1:07:21
Question two, I've met several celebrities, some were real
1:07:24
disappointments. And question three, don't drink
1:07:27
alcohol is what you would tell your 18 year old self.
1:07:31
Nice. Emmy says she's met Shaquille
1:07:34
and oh, these aren't coming up. Sorry guys.
1:07:37
So let's let's do this one from Tina.
1:07:40
And then Emmy says she has met Shaquille.
1:07:43
O'Neal. Very cool, very cool.
1:07:50
Let's see dogs discussions about the 18 year old.
1:07:52
I could write a book about that one.
1:07:54
Where do I begin? That's funny.
1:07:56
And Phillip Carter, I think thinks that taxes should be
1:08:00
illegal. Many people believe they are.
1:08:02
I am not one of those. Welcome Mary to being a YouTube
1:08:07
member. Glad that you are a fanatic.
1:08:09
Thank you so much. Let's see if there's anything
1:08:16
else that I'm missing. I just want to make sure that I
1:08:19
don't miss anything, I think. And yeah, Mooney adds, hopefully
1:08:23
Banfield will be held accountable to his crimes.
1:08:26
Tina also has met Shaquille O'Neal.
1:08:29
Very, very cool. I once this is another Paris
1:08:33
story. And this is not a tangent
1:08:35
because we were talking about this, but this is another Paris
1:08:38
story. I'm not going to say who they
1:08:39
were, but there are some celebrities that are.
1:08:48
They have reached an incredible level of fame, but most people
1:08:54
don't know what their faces look like.
1:08:57
And I one time was in Paris having dinner with a friend and
1:09:02
his friends and when we left he told me who his friends were and
1:09:08
it blew me away. I had no idea.
1:09:11
I had no idea. It was pretty cool.
1:09:14
Pretty cool stuff. All right, guys, we'll be back
1:09:17
tomorrow, 6:00 PM Eastern Time right here on this channel.
1:09:22
Please remember to go check out, first of all, check out
1:09:25
crimecod.com, my trick crime website.
1:09:28
Check out Kate's writings, Jake's writings, Sometimes I
1:09:32
write and by the way, if you would like to write for crime
1:09:36
caught, if you if you want to be trained on how to write in the
1:09:39
AP format and and report responsibly so forth.
1:09:44
You can reach out to me on my website, gavinfish.com.
1:09:46
Click on this little envelope icon up in the upper right hand
1:09:50
corner and fill out the this contact me form and I will
1:09:57
happily send your information on to my team who will vet you and
1:10:02
probably reach out to you. Also while you're on my website,
1:10:05
see this little fishy icon also in the upper right hand corner
1:10:08
that will take you to the fish tank on Facebook.
1:10:11
You're always welcome to hang out with us on Facebook if it's
1:10:16
your thing. No pressure, no pressure, just
1:10:19
an open invitation. Last thing because Nightbot was
1:10:24
acting up. You see on my website, the
1:10:26
support me tab that is going to load a page that will show you
1:10:31
all the different ways that you can support me beyond liking,
1:10:35
subscribing and commenting, which I deeply appreciate.
1:10:37
But down at the bottom, you can buy Autumn a coffee.
1:10:42
She's our lead mod and Nightbot just wasn't working with her
1:10:46
tonight, so I just want to point that out.
1:10:48
Autumn works hard. And if you feel up to it, again,
1:10:52
no guilt, just an just an invitation to, to support my
1:10:58
team, specifically Autumn, who is my lead moderator.
1:11:01
With that, I shall bid you I do for the evening.
1:11:04
Thank you very much for being here and I will check you on the
1:11:08
next one. Take care.
1:11:10
Thank you very much for watching this video.
1:11:12
If you liked what you saw, please consider subscribing.
1:11:15
And if you have any questions or comments, please leave them
1:11:18
below.