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Roommate From Hell: The Maribel Ramos Case · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

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I'm just calling to let you guys know that if something happens, that I
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did it because I was trying to defend myself. That was how a nine
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to one to one call from Orange County went in twenty thirteen, and as
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far as friends, family, and local law enforcement were concerned, Mary Bell
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Ramos was certainly more than capable of handling business herself if she needed to.
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Mary Bell Ramos was born on November twenty second, nineteen seventy six, and
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from the get go she was a strong, hard working person. She had
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a passion for law enforcement, and even as a child, she saw herself
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one day working for the police. Mary Bell actually got a taste of what
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it might feel like when she graduated from high school and got a job as
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a security guard for a local kmart, But it was shortly after that that
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she got the real deal. Actually, maybe more accurate to say that she
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got even more than that, because instead of joining the law enforcement, Marybell
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joined the US Army. It was shortly after nine to eleven, and like
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so many others, Mary Bell found herself deployed to Iraq later that year.
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She did two combat tours before being honorably discharged and coming home back on American
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soil, Mary Bell returned to her roots and went to cow State Fullerton to
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study criminal justice. That was Marybelle's future settled. She was well liked,
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physically strong and fit from all of her military training, and she was well
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in her path to achieving her childhood dream of working in law enforcement. It
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looked like things could only continued to keep growing bigger and better for Mary Bell,
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But then she got some devastating news. Her mother was sick, and
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Mary Bell being Mary Bell, she moved into her mother's apartment to take care
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of her, to look after her, and she continued to go to school
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to get her degree during the day and during the night she'd be there for
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her mother, and she was still in the apartment in Orange County when her
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mother died about a year later. Mary Bell was now alone in her mother's
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house, and when the dust had settled, she quickly realized that she could
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not afford the rent by herself. Mary Bell's first stop was her sister,
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Lucy Gonzales, but Lucy had her daughter and she didn't want to uproot her
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child. If she could avoid doing so, Lucy made Mary Bell a promise
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that she would move into the apartment if Mary Bell couldn't find another solution.
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But Mary Bell knew that she couldn't put her sister and niece through that.
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She put an ad out on Craigslist and began screening potential roommates instead. It
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was amidst all the messages that came in response to her ad that one name
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stood out, Qwang Choi Joy. There was something about his profile and about
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him that just seemed right. He described himself as an easygoing guy who just
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needed a place to stay while he was looking for a job. Mary Bell
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and Lucy met up with Casey in person, and they liked him even more.
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Lucy found Casey quiet and sweet. He had no wife and no children,
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and didn't look like he was going to be any trouble at all.
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Mary Bell agreed, and the temptation of a future with a quiet, well
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mannered roommate who pretty much kept to himself was too enticing to pass up.
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Casey moved in, and for all Mary Bell could see, living with him
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was exactly as advertised. He was low maintenance, didn't make any noise,
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and never had people over. In fact, Casey usually spent most of his
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time just hanging out in the apartment on his own. At first, Mary
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Bell could not believe her luck, but then once she'd gotten over her initial
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joy, empathy, and concern, Arne quickly took over. Quote it's sad
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because we felt his loneliness, Lucy later said and gave an explanation for why
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Mary Bell and their family took Casey in as one of their own. They
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began inviting Casey to family events, and everyone grew incredibly close to him.
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That closeness continued to grow back at the apartment as well. Mary Bell and
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Casey started spending more and more time together and would often be seen running errands
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and walking their dogs together in the neighborhood. For Mary Bell, she found
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the perfect roommate who turned into an even better friend. For k C,
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he'd found the love of his life. That summer, Lucy got a call
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from Kse. He told her that he was in love with Mary Bell and
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he wanted to marry her and wanted to have children together with her. Lucy
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was shocked. She tried to soften the blow by telling Casey that he deserved
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to have all of that, but that she did not believe that it would
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be with her sister and then she tried to call Mary Bell to warn her.
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She advised Mary Bell to do what she could to manage Casey's expectations and
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to make it clear that she was not interested in him romantically. Mary Bell
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did just that, and Casey seemed to take the rejection on the chin.
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But then again, Casey also seemed to take it as a challenge and his
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mind, all he had to do was win Mary Bell over and then he'd
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have the woman and the life of his dreams. Casey completely changed the way
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he looked. He bought new clothes, he got a tattoo, and even
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spent about ten thousand dollars on plastic surgery to make himself look younger, and
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then he started trying to woo Mary Bell. He kept buying her expensive gifts
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and even took her on a cruise, probably thinking that she would be enticed
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by his new good looks and lavish gestures. But Mary Bell wasn't quite the
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opposite. Actually, Mary Bell found it annoying and concerning that Casey was now
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spending so much money on everything else that he couldn't afford to pay his rent
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and shared expenses on time. Instead of nurturing a budding romance. It looked
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like all of Casey's efforts were pushing Mary Bell away instead of pulling her in.
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And then, about nine months after Casey called Lucy to confess his feelings
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for Mary Bell, Mary Bell suddenly disappeared. She missed a scheduled event without
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letting anyone know beforehand, and friends and family couldn't reach her when they tried
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to call. Knowing that this was completely out of character for Mary Bell,
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her family rushed to the apartment to see if she was all right. She
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wasn't home. In fact, they couldn't find any signs that she had been
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home even recently. Her family reported her as missing, and an investigation quickly
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ensued. It took no time at all to uncover surveillance footage from the evening
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before that showed Mary Bell dropping off her rent check, and then she simply
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disappeared. Casey was obviously front and center of the investigation. Not only was
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he her roommates, but he was also the last person to have seen Mary
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Bell the night that she disappeared. He told the investigators that he and Mary
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Bell had gotten into an argument over expenses, and then he'd left to go
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out on a long drive to clear his head. According to Casey, when
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he'd come back home, Mary Bell was gone and he had not seen her
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since. His story was somewhat believable, but mary Bell's family kept pointing the
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finger at Casey and his unrequited feelings, and then investigators found the recording of
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mary Bell's call to the police. She'd made it only twelve days before she
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suddenly disappeared, and it completely changed the investigation. Irish Pa Okay, Well,
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I just want to let you know that I have a roommate that should
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be moving at the end of the month. We had a conversation today as
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he kind of freaking me out. I'm not saying from the ball around him
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anymore. I'm feeling threatened. What's your name is? My name is Barah
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Ball, my name is Thanks. You're laughing, Maraba Robe Sor I is
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okay. At the end of the month, I wanted to leave, and
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from now until then, I just feel like I have to lock my door,
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which I will, because he sounded like he would hurt me, like
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it was weird. Why cry the good love phrase? What you know,
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Amy, I'm not comfortable with him anymore. I'm just like colleagues will let
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you guys know that if something happens that I did it, because all the
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time is just send myself. Given her military training and physical strength, mary
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Bell was more than capable of protecting herself from k C if she needed to,
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and with his constant advancements and growing in patience, she was starting to
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think that a physical altercation between the two of them was on the horizon.
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In fact, it turned out that mary Bell actually asked case to move out
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the month before, but k C had kept coming up with excuses as to
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why he couldn't. The argument over expenses the night before Mary Bell had disappeared
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had actually escalated so far that Mary Bell apparently ended up telling k C that
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he had to move out the very next day. The timeline and growing tensions
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between the two roommates had the investigators looking into Casey's past. It turned out
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that he had moved to Orange County to escape his previous life that had been
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on a sharp downward trajectory. Before moving, he had lost his job in
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both of his parents and disputes over inheritance, and driven a wedge between k
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C and his sister. The whole bunch of family chaos. Differences of opinion
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had led to a full on war. Case ended up flying off the handle
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and took things too far that his sister was able to get a restraining order
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against him. It was then, with no job, no money, and
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no living family that would speak to him, that Case walked into Mary Bell's
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life. What he found in California was a kind and loving family that took
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him in, and gratitude slowly morphed into obsession. While the investigators continued to
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look for Mary Bell, her biggest fan was nowhere to be seen. He
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stalked online platforms, commenting on social media posts about her and telling the world
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how much he missed her, but in reality, he'd stopped all contact with
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her family and showing up to vigils held in her honor. However, the
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investigators kept k C firmly in their crosshairs. They still had no idea what
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had happened to Mary Bell, or even if she was still alive, but
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they were sure that Casey had something to do with it whatever happened to her.
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Maybe thinking that he was covering his tracks, Casey began going to public
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libraries to follow updates on the investigation, not knowing that he was being very
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closely watched by the authorities. How long does it take a body to decay?
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Read one of his searches, and then he looked up the strangest thing.
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Casey searched for a lone tree in a remote canyon on a map where
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he zoomed in, almost like he was looking for something. The investigators made
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a note and rushed to the location, only to discover the badly decomposing remains
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of a woman. Dental records revealed that it was unfortunately, Mary Bell.
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She'd spent about two weeks under the California sun, and no cause of death
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could be determined, But seeing as he'd known the exact location of her remains,
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it was pretty safe to say that Casey was at the very least somewhat
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responsible for her death. Chances were that because of her military training, case
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had attacked Mary Bell in her sleep and then killed her, and so the
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investigators wanted to talk to him again, But case then made himself look even
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more guilty by jumping out of a window when the police came to arrest him.
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He luckily didn't make it very far and was quickly charged with her murder.
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He was found guilty and sentenced to only fifteen years in prison. That's
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ten minute murder for today brief and bingeable true crime. I'm Joe, I'm
12:24
the host, and thank you so much for taking the time to listen to
12:26
ten minute murder. And this story today is a good example of why.
12:31
Usually I'm fully supportive of the justice system. I think that they do an
12:35
incredibly difficult job. And then there are times and I'm like, when the
12:41
hell is happening, what are we even doing? This man was found guilty
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of murder. He left someone's body in cold blood, killed them, and
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left their body in the desert to just decompose, and he got sentenced to
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fifteen years. There are people serving more than twice that for seemingly minor crimes.
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In comparison, I don't get it. Sometimes I'm fully on board and
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like, yeah, you're doing the right thing, but then their case is
13:05
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