Latest / The Mind of a Man / Cops Discover Teen_s Gruesome Secret_ The Murder of Grace Jennings _True Crime Documentary
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: On a Saturday afternoon in October 2022, officers from the
- 0:06Speaker 1: Santa Fe Police Department found 21-year-old Grace Jennings stabbed to
- 0:11Speaker 1: death by a large sword in the garage of a
- 0:13Speaker 1: house on Jaguar Drive. Grace did not live in the
- 0:21Speaker 1: home where she was found. She had only arrived the
- 0:24Speaker 1: night before, offered an ostensibly safe place to stay the
- 0:27Speaker 1: night by someone claiming to be her friend. Following the
- 0:31Speaker 1: horrific discovery, two suspects were detained and questioned, each offering
- 0:36Speaker 1: a different story.
- 0:38Speaker 2: Well, I'm partially hopeful for her to be dead, but
- 0:41Speaker 2: I'm also, like, confused.
- 0:43Speaker 3: I'm scared right now.
- 0:46Speaker 4: What are you scared of?
- 0:50Speaker 3: Of what just happened.
- 0:53Speaker 1: Eventually, the truth came out, though no one was prepared
- 0:58Speaker 1: for just how strange that truth would be. Hi there,
- 1:07Speaker 1: I'm Kevin, and welcome to Just Thought Lounge. Today's case
- 1:11Speaker 1: is really odd. The investigation unraveled on scene and through
- 1:15Speaker 1: interviews rapidly, despite a collection of confusing and bizarre details.
- 1:20Speaker 1: Was this a murder motivated by a love triangle, anger
- 1:23Speaker 1: over a breakup, outright insanity? Or was there something more
- 1:28Speaker 1: intricate and unpredictable at work under the surface? Let's Take
- 1:34Speaker 1: a look. At just before 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 29, 2022,
- 1:55Speaker 1: officers from the Santa Fe PD were dispatched to a
- 1:58Speaker 1: home on Jaguar Drive. An emergency call had been placed
- 2:02Speaker 1: by a woman who claimed that her son had just
- 2:05Speaker 1: witnessed a murder at the property. Gathering at the front
- 2:09Speaker 1: of the house, they then made their way along the
- 2:11Speaker 1: left side of the house through a wooden gate. Officer
- 2:14Speaker 1: Alvarado approached the backyard first and spotted a young blonde
- 2:18Speaker 1: woman in a black t-shirt and pajama bottoms walk from
- 2:21Speaker 1: the detached garage and into the back door of the
- 2:23Speaker 1: main house. A red substance, appearing to be blood, was
- 2:37Speaker 1: visible on the door handle.
- 2:39Speaker 4: Alvarado began to kick in the door.
- 2:41Speaker 5: Back up!
- 2:41Speaker 2: What's going on? Who called?
- 2:52Speaker 1: Someone was getting killed in here.
- 2:58Speaker 4: Where's the garage?
- 3:07Speaker 1: Emerging from the house was the homeowner, Lani McCulley, followed
- 3:10Speaker 1: shortly after by her 19-year-old daughter, Kiara. It was Kiara
- 3:15Speaker 1: who had entered through the back door just as police arrived.
- 3:19Speaker 4: Someone just called us. Someone just called. Step over here.
- 3:22Speaker 4: Step over here. Someone just got stabbed inside that garage.
- 3:29Speaker 1: Lanny provided a key to the locked garage. Inside, amongst
- 3:34Speaker 1: a floor covered in trash, officers discovered the lifeless body of.
- 3:39Speaker 4: A young woman.
- 3:41Speaker 1: A three-foot-long sword, blood covering the blade, rested just inside
- 3:45Speaker 1: the door. Also inside the garage was a dagger and
- 3:50Speaker 1: a butterfly knife. The officers were unable to gain access
- 3:54Speaker 1: to the garage from the large, apparently broken door on
- 3:57Speaker 1: the other side of the building.
- 4:00Speaker 4: It looks clear. Where is it? It's right here by
- 4:02Speaker 4: the door. There's way too much trash. Unless we can
- 4:06Speaker 4: open that back door, that garage. Can we open the
- 4:09Speaker 4: garage from that side?
- 4:14Speaker 1: Medics arriving moments later had to push their way through
- 4:17Speaker 1: the smaller entrance to reach the victims. though she showed
- 4:20Speaker 1: no signs of life.
- 4:23Speaker 2: I have cats. I have to... Unfortunately, ma'am, but this
- 4:27Speaker 2: is an active investigation, okay? Can I walk the door somehow?
- 4:30Speaker 4: No, this is a crime scene at this point.
- 4:33Speaker 2: How's my house a fucking crime scene? There's a deceased
- 4:35Speaker 2: person in your garage. That's why it's a crime scene.
- 4:37Speaker 2: There's a body in there?
- 4:39Speaker 6: Yes. Stand up for me.
- 4:41Speaker 4: Walk this way.
- 4:43Speaker 5: What the fuck?
- 4:44Speaker 3: You didn't come here with me, ma'am?
- 4:46Speaker 2: Who is she? Do you know who she is? I
- 4:49Speaker 2: don't know who was in there.
- 4:53Speaker 3: Is she.
- 4:54Speaker 6: Kiara said that her friend Grace was the.
- 4:57Speaker 5: Her ex-friend. There was a gal by the name of
- 5:00Speaker 5: Grace there last night.
- 5:01Speaker 4: There's a purse that was right in the.
- 5:05Speaker 6: Grace.
- 5:06Speaker 2: What is her last name? Jennings? She's a tall, skinny,
- 5:12Speaker 2: black girl. If that helps you guys.
- 5:21Speaker 1: The woman discovered on the garage floor was in fact
- 5:24Speaker 1: identified as 21-year-old Grace Jennings. She appeared to have been
- 5:28Speaker 1: stabbed multiple times. One of her ears had been removed.
- 5:32Speaker 1: The medical examiner would later conclude that her injuries displayed
- 5:36Speaker 1: signs of an attempted decapitation.
- 5:40Speaker 4: Who lives in this house?
- 5:42Speaker 2: I do. You do?
- 5:43Speaker 6: Who else?
- 5:43Speaker 2: My daughter and Isaac are the documents.
- 5:46Speaker 4: Isaac lives in here?
- 5:47Speaker 6: Isaac and Kiara mostly stay in here.
- 5:50Speaker 2: I mean, they both live in the middle.
- 5:52Speaker 4: Isaac and Kiara are.
- 5:55Speaker 2: Together-ish.
- 5:57Speaker 6: I don't understand their relationship entirely.
- 5:59Speaker 3: They were engaged to get married at one point, so
- 6:01Speaker 3: I count them kind of as my son-in-law.
- 6:07Speaker 1: As Kiara was handcuffed and escorted to the police cruiser,
- 6:10Speaker 1: officers noted cuts and bandages across her hands. Kiara would
- 6:15Speaker 1: later state that these were from earlier that morning when
- 6:18Speaker 1: she attempted to make herself something to eat and picked
- 6:21Speaker 1: up the knife wrong. After Kiara was secured, officers made
- 6:25Speaker 1: their way over to a local cell phone shop where
- 6:28Speaker 1: they expected to find the third resident of the house
- 6:31Speaker 1: on Jaguar Drive, 25-year-old Isaac Apodaca. His mother, Linda Montoya,
- 6:37Speaker 1: had placed the 911 call leading police to Grace's body.
- 6:42Speaker 1: She reported that her son was waiting at the shops
- 6:44Speaker 1: for police to arrive.
- 6:47Speaker 7: Come over here.
- 6:47Speaker 4: You're good.
- 6:48Speaker 6: Come here.
- 6:48Speaker 3: You don't have any knives, any weapons on you?
- 6:51Speaker 6: No.
- 6:51Speaker 4: No? Just put it down for now.
- 6:53Speaker 7: Just put it down. You're not in trouble, bro.
- 6:55Speaker 3: Got to make sure you don't have any weapons, okay?
- 6:57Speaker 4: Put your hands up right here.
- 6:58Speaker 6: Right here.
- 7:05Speaker 7: I get it.
- 7:05Speaker 2: It's good, bro.
- 7:11Speaker 7: For now, bro, just because it looks like your girlfriend
- 7:14Speaker 7: or whoever's in there is really injured. So for now,
- 7:19Speaker 7: we're going to put you under detention of Kenton. We
- 7:21Speaker 7: can figure this out. You're not under arrest.
- 7:25Speaker 1: Isaac was escorted to a police cruiser. The owner of
- 7:29Speaker 1: the cell phone shop overheard the phone conversation between Isaac
- 7:33Speaker 1: and his mother, which had prompted the call to 911.
- 7:37Speaker 4: What happened when he got here?
- 7:39Speaker 3: Like to just kind of tell me, tell me what's
- 7:40Speaker 3: going on.
- 7:41Speaker 4: Um, he just came in, came in, kind of shook up,
- 7:44Speaker 4: kind of like giving gravity to the things.
- 7:47Speaker 8: Okay.
- 7:47Speaker 3: Like kind of stumbling?
- 7:48Speaker 4: Not really stumbling, but he just shook up. He couldn't
- 7:50Speaker 4: even talk. He couldn't talk to me. I'm like, bro,
- 7:53Speaker 4: you're okay. He's like, yeah, you're just, well, you're something awful.
- 7:56Speaker 2: I was like, you're okay?
- 7:58Speaker 4: Like, he's like, I can't even tell you, but it
- 8:00Speaker 4: was awful.
- 8:01Speaker 2: And he just couldn't talk and started tearing.
- 8:04Speaker 4: Um, I told him, just have a seat, bro. Just relax.
- 8:08Speaker 2: You don't have to tell me nothing.
- 8:10Speaker 4: Just chill. And then I think he was on the
- 8:13Speaker 4: phone talking to somebody.
- 8:14Speaker 3: He came in crying, kind of tearing, shooken up when
- 8:18Speaker 3: he said that he did something bad?
- 8:19Speaker 4: No, he said he didn't. He said he witnessed.
- 8:22Speaker 3: He witnessed something?
- 8:23Speaker 4: He said he witnessed something awful and I can't, I can't.
- 8:26Speaker 4: And then he just kept stuttering. He couldn't even tell me.
- 8:29Speaker 4: I kind of overheard when he was on the phone.
- 8:32Speaker 8: Um.
- 8:35Speaker 2: He said they used, from what I heard, that he
- 8:39Speaker 2: bought a.
- 8:40Speaker 4: Sword for display and they used it against another person.
- 8:44Speaker 8: Okay.
- 8:45Speaker 4: And he believed that they were dead.
- 8:46Speaker 8: Okay.
- 8:48Speaker 1: After speaking with his mother over the phone, Isaac was
- 8:51Speaker 1: contacted directly by law enforcement dispatch to confirm the details.
- 8:55Speaker 1: To the dispatcher, he restated what he claimed to have
- 8:58Speaker 1: witnessed that morning. His sometimes girlfriend, Kiara McCulley, standing over
- 9:04Speaker 1: Grace's dead body. I did it, she allegedly said to him.
- 9:09Speaker 3: So, you said there was a female, because you live
- 9:14Speaker 3: in the garage, right?
- 9:15Speaker 2: Yes.
- 9:15Speaker 4: You live in the garage? Yes. And who lives within
- 9:19Speaker 4: the garage, your girlfriend?
- 9:21Speaker 3: Chiara McCully.
- 9:22Speaker 8: Okay.
- 9:23Speaker 3: So, can you tell me, how did this call transpire?
- 9:26Speaker 4: How did you call? I was, I walked into the.
- 9:35Speaker 3: The garage. I walked into the garage. And when I
- 9:39Speaker 3: walk into the garage, she goes, oh, I just did it.
- 9:46Speaker 3: And who was this? Kiara McCully. She told you that?
- 9:52Speaker 3: Very calmly and everything. Blood on your hands.
- 9:56Speaker 6: Okay.
- 10:03Speaker 1: Four years earlier, Lani McCully had allowed her daughter's boyfriend
- 10:07Speaker 1: turned fiance, Isaac Apodaca, to move in. At first, the
- 10:12Speaker 1: young couple lived in the spare room of the main house,
- 10:14Speaker 1: and the family shared the space amicably. Home videos posted
- 10:19Speaker 1: online captured happier times. holidays, birthdays, and silliness with their
- 10:24Speaker 1: five beloved cats. A deeper look, however, revealed something darker
- 10:43Speaker 1: under the surface of the young couple's social media accounts.
- 10:46Speaker 1: Kiara used a handful of different names across platforms. Froggy, Sage,
- 10:52Speaker 1: and Maze, to name a few. Many of her posts
- 10:56Speaker 1: were typical teenage content. Vacations, cats, memes that she thought
- 11:02Speaker 1: were clever. But some took a stranger turn. On TikTok,
- 11:09Speaker 1: in the days before Grace's murder, Kiara posted distorted videos
- 11:13Speaker 1: of herself and Isaac with a deep red filter. Their
- 11:16Speaker 1: contorted faces overlaid with visual effects and loud, maniacal laughter.
- 11:30Speaker 1: In another video, she lip synced to audio stating.
- 11:34Speaker 5: Can we all take a moment of fucking silence to
- 11:37Speaker 5: acknowledge the fact that despite the bullshit, I have yet
- 11:40Speaker 5: to turn into a serial killer?
- 11:44Speaker 1: There were other signs that something was off with Kiara.
- 11:48Speaker 1: An ex-boyfriend reported that she began to refer to herself
- 11:52Speaker 1: as an all-powerful witch, that she intended to hex people,
- 11:57Speaker 1: that she could levitate, and that she was able to
- 12:00Speaker 1: predict the exact date of everyone's death. These delusions, he said,
- 12:06Speaker 1: were escalating. The last time this ex-boyfriend encountered her, she
- 12:10Speaker 1: threatened him. He said that Kiara was hostile towards him
- 12:14Speaker 1: and said that her boyfriend could F him up in
- 12:17Speaker 1: a matter of seconds. Kiara must have been referring to Isaac. Online,
- 12:23Speaker 1: she referred to Isaac as her ride or die. However,
- 12:27Speaker 1: despite outward appearances, there were definitely cracks forming in their relationship.
- 12:36Speaker 1: Their three-year engagement had ended in early April, following an
- 12:39Speaker 1: argument that resulted in a trip to the ER, with
- 12:42Speaker 1: Kiara sustaining minor injuries. Lanny had thrown Isaac from the
- 12:47Speaker 1: house after that, only to have her daughter routinely sneak
- 12:50Speaker 1: him back in over the following months. Lanny eventually conceded,
- 12:55Speaker 1: and allowed Isaac to live there once more. Because they
- 12:58Speaker 1: had spent years intending to be married, Lanny had come
- 13:01Speaker 1: to view Isaac as a son. and she often referred
- 13:05Speaker 1: to him as such. The couple, who maintained an on-again,
- 13:09Speaker 1: off-again intimate arrangement, relocated from the house to the detached garage,
- 13:14Speaker 1: where they had a bit more space and privacy. There
- 13:19Speaker 1: was also drama in other areas of Kiara and Isaac's
- 13:22Speaker 1: social life. For example, they each had a history with
- 13:26Speaker 1: Grace Jennings. Grace was the reason Kiara and Isaac had
- 13:35Speaker 1: met years earlier. At the tender age of 16, Grace
- 13:39Speaker 1: had entered into a romantic relationship with a then 20-year-old
- 13:43Speaker 1: Isaac Abodaca. It had been short-lived and the two had
- 13:46Speaker 1: apparently remained on good terms. Grace's relationship with Kiara, however,
- 13:52Speaker 1: had not ended well. They too had been romantically involved.
- 13:56Speaker 1: Beginning in 2016 or 2017, after she had dated Isaac,
- 14:01Speaker 1: Kiara and Grace were involved for roughly 11 months. Accounts
- 14:06Speaker 1: vary as to what led to the animosity between the
- 14:08Speaker 1: two after they split, but what is not disputed is
- 14:12Speaker 1: that when the dust settled, Kiara maintained a deep-seated anger
- 14:17Speaker 1: towards her ex-girlfriend. Grace had tried everything possible to avoid
- 14:21Speaker 1: Kiara as a result.
- 14:24Speaker 5: This girl was my girlfriend at one point, but we
- 14:27Speaker 5: became friends afterwards, but This is psychotic. I'd just gotten
- 14:32Speaker 5: out of treatment. I was in there for eight months,
- 14:34Speaker 5: and I went to the mall to go hang out
- 14:36Speaker 5: with my sister and, I don't know, just chill. I
- 14:39Speaker 5: was enjoying being out and about, and I see one
- 14:42Speaker 5: of my homies, and then I see her. Walking around, talking, chatting, whatever.
- 14:46Speaker 5: And this chick literally goes, I shit you fucking not.
- 14:50Speaker 5: Did you just get out of jail because you stabbed
- 14:52Speaker 5: me and cut me two months ago?
- 14:53Speaker 8: Huh? What?
- 14:59Speaker 5: And I told this bitch straight up, no, the fuck
- 15:00Speaker 5: I didn't. I was in treatment. Like, yes, you did.
- 15:03Speaker 5: I have evidence on my arm. Looked at it and
- 15:06Speaker 5: it looks like she stabbed herself on her forearm, her
- 15:09Speaker 5: left forearm.
- 15:13Speaker 1: By the autumn of 2022, the two had had very
- 15:16Speaker 1: little to do with each other for years. Grace had
- 15:19Speaker 1: moved on with her life. On August 22nd, her 21st birthday...
- 15:24Speaker 1: Grace became engaged to her boyfriend, a man named Jackson,
- 15:28Speaker 1: amongst friends and family. They were living in Albuquerque. Only
- 15:32Speaker 1: three days before her death, however, the two had a
- 15:35Speaker 1: heated argument and parted ways. The first location where Grace
- 15:39Speaker 1: went to stay after the breakup was not working out. So,
- 15:43Speaker 1: she reached out to friends, seeking anyone who could help
- 15:46Speaker 1: her find a place to crash. Isaac Apodaca answered the call.
- 15:51Speaker 1: Grace could stay with him, he said. Only after she arrived,
- 15:56Speaker 1: Grace learned whose home she had been invited to. Isaac
- 16:05Speaker 1: Apodaca and Kiara McCulley were placed in separate interview rooms
- 16:09Speaker 1: for questioning. Neither was, at that stage, under arrest for
- 16:13Speaker 1: the murder of Grace Jennings. Investigators already knew that Grace
- 16:17Speaker 1: had arrived at the house only the day before. She
- 16:20Speaker 1: had stayed the night in the garage with both Isaac
- 16:23Speaker 1: and Kiara. Twelve hours after her arrival, she was dead.
- 16:28Speaker 1: Isaac told the detective that the three of them slept
- 16:31Speaker 1: in the same bed that night. In the morning, he
- 16:33Speaker 1: claimed that Kiara had told him he had to move out.
- 16:37Speaker 1: She was furious that he had invited Grace to stay.
- 16:41Speaker 1: After packing some of his things, he went to the
- 16:43Speaker 1: main house to use the restroom. After what he estimated
- 16:46Speaker 1: could only have been two to three minutes, he returned
- 16:50Speaker 1: and found Grace dead.
- 16:51Speaker 9: And then I walked him back into the garage.
- 16:56Speaker 3: She walks up to me and goes, I did it.
- 17:00Speaker 9: With a smile on her face and I look at
- 17:02Speaker 9: the ground and I was like, uh, what do I
- 17:10Speaker 9: do now?
- 17:13Speaker 3: I'm scared right now.
- 17:14Speaker 4: What are you scared of?
- 17:19Speaker 3: Of what just happened.
- 17:23Speaker 4: A lot to take in, I can imagine.
- 17:26Speaker 1: The timeline offered by Isaac was exact. Grace had arrived
- 17:30Speaker 1: at 11.32 p.m. the night before, he said.
- 17:35Speaker 4: What time did you guys wake up at? What time
- 17:36Speaker 4: did you wake up at?
- 17:38Speaker 3: I woke up at about 7.50.
- 17:39Speaker 4: 7.50 a.m.? Yes. So did this.
- 17:45Speaker 8: At what time did Kiara tell you you guys had
- 17:47Speaker 8: to leave?
- 17:47Speaker 3: She told us we had to leave at about 8.30.
- 17:49Speaker 6: Okay.
- 17:50Speaker 3: Okay.
- 17:57Speaker 4: I'm being honest.
- 18:01Speaker 1: It was just before 12 p.m. when he witnessed Kiara's confession.
- 18:06Speaker 4: How long did you use the restroom for?
- 18:07Speaker 3: About 30 seconds. It was quick, number one. Okay.
- 18:14Speaker 4: What do you mean by number one? Pee.
- 18:16Speaker 2: Pee.
- 18:16Speaker 4: Okay. And then, after you peed, you went immediately back
- 18:21Speaker 4: to the garage?
- 18:22Speaker 6: Yes.
- 18:22Speaker 4: So around what time would you say that was at? 1147.
- 18:27Speaker 4: Are you, how certain are you about the time?
- 18:31Speaker 3: I'm really certain.
- 18:33Speaker 4: Really certain about the time?
- 18:34Speaker 8: Okay.
- 18:35Speaker 1: Detectives believed that the injuries observed on Grace Jennings' body
- 18:39Speaker 1: were far too numerous and severe to have been inflicted
- 18:42Speaker 1: within the span of only two to three minutes while
- 18:45Speaker 1: Isaac was in the main house as he claimed. It
- 18:48Speaker 1: was far more likely that he had stayed away for
- 18:50Speaker 1: a lengthier period of time. or that he had been
- 18:54Speaker 1: present in the garage at the time of the murder.
- 18:57Speaker 1: Isaac reported that he phoned his mother at noon.
- 19:01Speaker 8: Between when this happened, 12, and I think.
- 19:07Speaker 4: We got the call a little after 1.30.
- 19:09Speaker 2: Yep.
- 19:10Speaker 4: Kind of an hour and a half gap there.
- 19:13Speaker 8: I know you said you called your mom and she
- 19:15Speaker 8: quickly called 911, but it doesn't really seem to line up.
- 19:18Speaker 4: With our timeline, at least for me.
- 19:20Speaker 8: Can you help make me understand that? Was there a
- 19:23Speaker 8: long period of time that you and Kiara were trying
- 19:26Speaker 8: to figure out what was going to happen?
- 19:29Speaker 9: There was a long period of time.
- 19:32Speaker 3: It was when I was standing on the side of
- 19:33Speaker 3: the garage.
- 19:35Speaker 4: Tell me about that.
- 19:37Speaker 3: I was hyperventilating on the side of the garage. I
- 19:44Speaker 3: was like.
- 19:48Speaker 8: You've been super truthful this whole time from what I
- 19:50Speaker 8: can tell and we really much appreciate that um I
- 19:57Speaker 8: got one more question I want to be real truthful
- 19:59Speaker 8: with it because you have been this whole time okay
- 20:01Speaker 8: yes at any point did you think of or did
- 20:04Speaker 8: you Did it cross your mind, or did you start
- 20:09Speaker 8: helping Kiara with.
- 20:12Speaker 4: Covering this up at all?
- 20:13Speaker 6: No.
- 20:14Speaker 2: No.
- 20:16Speaker 4: At any point, did you help Kiara injure Grace or
- 20:20Speaker 4: do anything to Grace?
- 20:22Speaker 2: No. No.
- 20:27Speaker 1: Kiara McCauley's interview immediately took an unexpected turn when she
- 20:31Speaker 1: began to speak with a non-existent person in the room.
- 20:34Speaker 1: She then helpfully explained to the detective her self-diagnosis was
- 20:39Speaker 1: disassociative identity disorder, a condition previously known as multiple personality disorder.
- 20:46Speaker 1: The detective was speaking with Froggy, a persona she described
- 20:51Speaker 1: as her stage name. Amongst her personas was someone called Jinx,
- 20:56Speaker 1: who she described as the troublemaker. Then there was Abby,
- 21:00Speaker 1: who was the protective one. Jess or Jessica, who she
- 21:04Speaker 1: had not seen lately, and finally, little Kiara.
- 21:08Speaker 4: I was trying to sleep.
- 21:15Speaker 2: If you want walking memories from me again, do it.
- 21:24Speaker 4: Sorry. Who are you talking to?
- 21:27Speaker 8: Um.
- 21:30Speaker 2: My best guess is that I have DID, but I'm
- 21:32Speaker 2: not 100% certain.
- 21:34Speaker 4: What's DID?
- 21:35Speaker 2: Dissociative Identity Disorder. One personality that.
- 21:42Speaker 6: I haven't seen in a long time, like I haven't
- 21:45Speaker 6: communicated with her. I wonder.
- 21:47Speaker 4: Her name was Jess.
- 21:53Speaker 10: Jess.
- 21:54Speaker 2: Jessica, but you always called her Jess.
- 21:57Speaker 4: Any other personalities?
- 22:01Speaker 6: There's the little version of me, which actually responds to
- 22:05Speaker 6: my biological name, my government name, which is very dangerous
- 22:11Speaker 6: for her, and I don't want her to get hurt.
- 22:15Speaker 4: None of us do. She responds to Kiara?
- 22:19Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 22:21Speaker 1: Kiara, or Froggy, told the detective about her past with Grace.
- 22:26Speaker 1: She claimed that a video was produced in 2016. when
- 22:30Speaker 1: she was 14 years old, that showed her being assaulted
- 22:33Speaker 1: by multiple men while Grace stood off to the side
- 22:36Speaker 1: of the screen collecting money. Santa Fe police later confirmed
- 22:41Speaker 1: that around the time that Kiara claimed this took place,
- 22:44Speaker 1: she had in fact reported an incident to police, though
- 22:48Speaker 1: the details provided at that time did not match those
- 22:52Speaker 1: she claimed to the detective following Grace's murder.
- 22:55Speaker 4: Is she alive or dead?
- 23:00Speaker 2: Grace?
- 23:01Speaker 8: Yeah.
- 23:02Speaker 4: You don't know?
- 23:03Speaker 2: I'm not sure.
- 23:05Speaker 4: What do you think?
- 23:07Speaker 6: Well, I'm partially hopeful for her to be dead, but
- 23:10Speaker 6: I'm also confused.
- 23:12Speaker 4: Why would you hope that she's dead?
- 23:16Speaker 6: I'm still angry at her, but I also have hope
- 23:19Speaker 6: that she'd be better. It's like this frustrating emotion that
- 23:22Speaker 6: I can't seem to pinpoint.
- 23:26Speaker 2: She was the first person I ever loved.
- 23:28Speaker 4: Grace was?
- 23:30Speaker 2: And the first person to completely destroy it. So part
- 23:37Speaker 2: of me hates her guts and wants to see her dead.
- 23:42Speaker 2: The other part wants to see her get better and.
- 23:45Speaker 6: See if she'd admit it and just fix it.
- 23:50Speaker 2: It's like I'm split.
- 23:53Speaker 10: I don't know what's the better emotion.
- 23:56Speaker 2: Fighting between them is really challenging for her. That's why
- 24:00Speaker 2: I didn't want her in my home. It's just like,
- 24:02Speaker 2: this is too much.
- 24:03Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot of emotion. You said that part of
- 24:08Speaker 4: you would be okay if she was dead, right?
- 24:11Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 24:13Speaker 4: Honest. I like honest people.
- 24:16Speaker 6: I don't want to lie.
- 24:18Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 24:19Speaker 4: Have you ever thought about hurting her or killing her?
- 24:23Speaker 2: I've had a couple dreams like that.
- 24:25Speaker 4: You've had a couple dreams like that?
- 24:26Speaker 2: Yeah. Dependent on the dream.
- 24:30Speaker 4: In an effort to explain.
- 24:32Speaker 2: Her condition, Kiara used a video game analogy.
- 24:36Speaker 4: It was as though all of her.
- 24:38Speaker 6: Personalities were connected to the same gaming system, like an Xbox.
- 24:59Speaker 1: But at any given point in time, only one of
- 25:02Speaker 1: them held the controller. The question was, when Grace Jennings
- 25:06Speaker 1: was brutally murdered, who was playing the game?
- 25:10Speaker 4: So who was playing the game last night?
- 25:15Speaker 2: I felt like.
- 25:17Speaker 6: I was in control for a little while and then
- 25:19Speaker 6: it just kept getting really foggy like I was being
- 25:21Speaker 6: thrown in a wall.
- 25:22Speaker 2: God damn, it hurts.
- 25:26Speaker 4: You're in control, meaning Proggy, right? That's who I'm talking
- 25:29Speaker 4: to now, Proggy. Do you think he killed Grace? I'm
- 25:39Speaker 4: not sure. She is dead. That's the dead person who
- 25:45Speaker 4: found the garage. Do you have any memory of that?
- 25:54Speaker 4: Kiara claimed that an invisible force, which she believed to
- 26:00Speaker 4: be the spirit of little.
- 26:01Speaker 1: Kiara, had held back her arm when she first attempted
- 26:23Speaker 1: to stab Grace in her sleep with the dagger.
- 26:27Speaker 6: I had my dagger in my hand, and I kept going,
- 26:31Speaker 6: and then just stopped. I felt a little kid's hand
- 26:35Speaker 6: hold me back. Like it was Kiara telling me, don't, don't, don't, don't.
- 26:40Speaker 6: Because that was also her best friend's sister growing up.
- 26:45Speaker 1: Kiara may have had no recollection of committing the murder,
- 26:49Speaker 1: but she did admit to strange visions that she could
- 26:52Speaker 1: not explain.
- 26:55Speaker 2: It looked like an ear on my wall. What? An
- 26:59Speaker 2: ear on my wall. It was really confusing.
- 27:01Speaker 4: It was an ear on your wall?
- 27:02Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 27:03Speaker 2: I think that was part of the dream, though.
- 27:07Speaker 4: Like a human ear?
- 27:08Speaker 9: Yeah.
- 27:08Speaker 2: I was like, what the fuck?
- 27:10Speaker 4: What did it look like?
- 27:12Speaker 6: It looked like one of Grace's, but it had, like,
- 27:14Speaker 6: dagger in it, and the dagger's not that sharp.
- 27:17Speaker 2: Yep. Like, what the fuck?
- 27:22Speaker 1: The possibility remained that Kiara, or one of her personalities,
- 27:26Speaker 1: was not the only one responsible. Kiara was asked to
- 27:30Speaker 1: explain her relationship with Isaac. What role did he play
- 27:34Speaker 1: in this? The detective could not have been prepared to
- 27:38Speaker 1: make sense of the response he received.
- 27:42Speaker 6: So, there's an organization that Isaac is in charge of.
- 27:46Speaker 2: I probably shouldn't be saying this to a guy.
- 27:49Speaker 4: That's not what the message is about. I'm just trying
- 27:51Speaker 4: to understand it more, you know?
- 27:53Speaker 2: Well, it's called Ghost. They're like an underground version of
- 27:58Speaker 2: cops in a way, but a little more intense. And they.
- 28:07Speaker 3: Get rid of.
- 28:07Speaker 10: People who are in charge of sex trafficking, in charge
- 28:14Speaker 10: of anything that has to deal with hurting kids.
- 28:18Speaker 2: I see.
- 28:20Speaker 1: Kiara had joined Isaac's secret organization. She had an initiation
- 28:25Speaker 1: tattoo on her arm and another that represented membership in
- 28:29Speaker 1: her platoon. If she wanted to advance in the organization, however,
- 28:33Speaker 1: she needed to take action. She needed to become a
- 28:37Speaker 1: killer vigilante and exact justice upon those they believed deserved it.
- 28:43Speaker 1: Isaac had told her if she wanted to level up,
- 28:47Speaker 1: she needed to kill Grace Jennings.
- 28:53Speaker 6: He kept trying to tell me, just do it, and
- 28:55Speaker 6: you're going to just kill her.
- 28:59Speaker 2: Then you'll get ranked up.
- 29:01Speaker 4: Yes.
- 29:02Speaker 2: He had me join. And I'm like, I don't know
- 29:05Speaker 2: what the fuck's going on.
- 29:08Speaker 6: Talking about the black market and ghost and Bitcoin, the
- 29:13Speaker 6: end of the world in 24 days.
- 29:18Speaker 4: There was a number, he said, like a number of
- 29:20Speaker 4: people he killed.
- 29:20Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 29:21Speaker 4: How many? 40. 40 people. Supposedly. It's a big claim.
- 29:26Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 29:27Speaker 4: Inside of it? Just all over?
- 29:30Speaker 2: Probably partially in Roswell. He was in a gang.
- 29:33Speaker 4: Or is. But he no longer lives in Roswell. It's confusing.
- 29:36Speaker 4: What gang was he in?
- 29:37Speaker 3: I don't know.
- 29:40Speaker 4: Know the name of the place.
- 29:47Speaker 1: During Isaac's interview, he signed a waiver that gave Santa
- 29:51Speaker 1: Fe investigators access to his phone data. When they began
- 29:54Speaker 1: to read through his messages, those inviting Grace to stay,
- 29:57Speaker 1: and then exchanges with Kiara after her arrival, a twisted
- 30:01Speaker 1: plot emerged. Despite Isaac's description of the three of them
- 30:06Speaker 1: hanging out that night and sharing the bed to sleep,
- 30:09Speaker 1: Grace's messages that morning suggested that she was concerned over
- 30:12Speaker 1: whether Kiara even knew she was in the garage. On
- 30:16Speaker 1: the morning she was killed, she messaged Isaac, why is
- 30:19Speaker 1: she kicking you out? And does she know I'm here?
- 30:23Speaker 1: More disturbing were the messages exchanged between Kiara and Isaac
- 30:27Speaker 1: throughout that night as Grace slept. These messages, exchanged on Facebook,
- 30:33Speaker 1: appeared to show the two planning the murder and discussing
- 30:36Speaker 1: the subsequent cleanup. Detectives read through Isaac's correspondence with him
- 30:42Speaker 1: in the interview room. In this way, he was able
- 30:45Speaker 1: to provide context to the conversations in real time. He
- 30:49Speaker 1: claimed that only some of the messages sent from his
- 30:52Speaker 1: device had been written by him. The most incriminating ones,
- 30:56Speaker 1: he said, were sent from his other phone. Kiara must
- 31:01Speaker 1: have been holding a conversation with herself using this other device,
- 31:05Speaker 1: he claimed.
- 31:07Speaker 8: Yeah, why don't you pop off my little firecracker? What
- 31:11Speaker 8: would you like me to do? Stab her?
- 31:15Speaker 4: I don't know. I don't have the energy to do shit.
- 31:21Speaker 3: I don't know. That's not me.
- 31:23Speaker 4: That's not you?
- 31:24Speaker 3: That's not me.
- 31:25Speaker 4: Who is it?
- 31:26Speaker 3: That's the other phone that's been.
- 31:29Speaker 4: They.
- 31:29Speaker 3: Were being used to message back and forth.
- 31:32Speaker 4: Isaac, this is getting really weird, man.
- 31:34Speaker 3: I have a second phone.
- 31:35Speaker 4: You have a second phone? Yes. Where is that phone?
- 31:38Speaker 3: That's at the house.
- 31:39Speaker 6: Okay.
- 31:39Speaker 3: It is logged into the same Facebook account.
- 31:42Speaker 4: Okay. I don't know, man.
- 31:46Speaker 8: These messages look a lot like there's some conspiring going on,
- 31:51Speaker 8: some planning going on.
- 31:53Speaker 1: The detective then read through an exchange that took place
- 31:56Speaker 1: as they prepared for bed, and then, after they believed
- 31:59Speaker 1: Grace had fallen asleep, Kiara had likely joined them in
- 32:03Speaker 1: the garage at that time.
- 32:06Speaker 4: Dagger because it's blunt? What does.
- 32:11Speaker 3: That mean?
- 32:12Speaker 4: Why are you telling her dagger because it's blunt?
- 32:16Speaker 9: She asked me a question in the room, like, what
- 32:19Speaker 9: What is the difference between the dagger and the sword?
- 32:22Speaker 4: Okay. And I messaged dagger because.
- 32:25Speaker 8: It's... Why is blunt better? She says, you say it
- 32:27Speaker 8: cuts like butter. She says, just going to stab the throat?
- 32:32Speaker 8: Is that what she's trying to say?
- 32:34Speaker 3: The thought.
- 32:35Speaker 4: Just going to stab the thought.
- 32:36Speaker 6: Yes.
- 32:37Speaker 4: Instant or will it take long? What does she mean?
- 32:41Speaker 3: Instant.
- 32:41Speaker 4: What do we do about the mess? What do we
- 32:44Speaker 4: do about the mess? What mess? We burn it and
- 32:54Speaker 4: I'll buy new blankets and bed.
- 32:55Speaker 8: What's going on here, Isaac? She.
- 33:02Speaker 3: I was talking to her and.
- 33:05Speaker 4: What mess?
- 33:06Speaker 3: She was talking about.
- 33:08Speaker 6: I.
- 33:09Speaker 3: She said stab... I was going to.
- 33:11Speaker 4: Stab the thought. And I thought the thought like.
- 33:15Speaker 3: Oh.
- 33:15Speaker 2: Like.
- 33:16Speaker 3: She was poking the thought that was in her head
- 33:18Speaker 3: about her dagger.
- 33:21Speaker 4: Okay. What about the mess? What mess?
- 33:26Speaker 3: She had made a mess in the bed.
- 33:31Speaker 4: What kind of mess?
- 33:35Speaker 3: A poop kind of mess.
- 33:37Speaker 4: A poop kind of mess?
- 33:38Speaker 6: Yes.
- 33:38Speaker 4: We burn it and I'll buy new blankets in bed.
- 33:42Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 33:43Speaker 8: But until we can, I love these sheets and my
- 33:45Speaker 8: favorite fuzzy blanket is here.
- 33:46Speaker 6: I know.
- 33:48Speaker 8: Just intense wash tomorrow. Hydrogen peroxide and ice washer will
- 33:53Speaker 8: get it out.
- 33:53Speaker 2: Yes.
- 33:54Speaker 4: Can you help this time?
- 33:55Speaker 3: Yes.
- 33:56Speaker 8: I am just waiting for you to make the first move.
- 34:00Speaker 8: What does she mean, I'm waiting for you to make
- 34:01Speaker 8: the first move? She will wait till sleep. Shall we
- 34:07Speaker 8: wait till sleep? So she pooped herself last night?
- 34:11Speaker 9: Yes.
- 34:13Speaker 4: And did you guys wash the sheets?
- 34:15Speaker 6: No.
- 34:16Speaker 4: So you guys slept in a bed full of poop?
- 34:18Speaker 6: Yes.
- 34:19Speaker 4: So when we... Go to the garage later for a
- 34:22Speaker 4: search warrant. There's poop on the sheets.
- 34:24Speaker 2: Yes.
- 34:24Speaker 4: Okay. Gotcha. What are you guys waiting for till sleep?
- 34:30Speaker 4: Shall we wait till sleep? Remember when you told me
- 34:33Speaker 4: don't be a pussy when I kissed you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, brat.
- 34:36Speaker 4: We will have to take care of the mess ASAP
- 34:38Speaker 4: after we finish. We will have to take care of
- 34:41Speaker 4: the mess. I thought she already pooped herself. What mess
- 34:44Speaker 4: are you guys taking care of?
- 34:46Speaker 3: I don't know.
- 34:49Speaker 4: You're in charge of cleanup.
- 34:50Speaker 6: Okay.
- 34:51Speaker 8: I can't tell if she's fallen asleep. It feels like it.
- 34:55Speaker 8: Her feet are on my side. I wish she'd make
- 34:58Speaker 8: the first move for once. Remember, you'll move up the ranks,
- 35:02Speaker 8: plus you get perks in the black market since this
- 35:04Speaker 8: is your first. Your first what? Isaac, what the hell happened?
- 35:14Speaker 8: Tell me what happened, for real. Can we stop making
- 35:17Speaker 8: up lies about these messages? What the hell happened last night?
- 35:21Speaker 1: Isaac did not admit to luring Grace to the McCulley
- 35:24Speaker 1: house with the intent to kill her. He denied planning
- 35:28Speaker 1: the murder, and he refused to acknowledge that the messages
- 35:32Speaker 1: on his phone to Kiara encouraging her to commit the
- 35:35Speaker 1: murder were sent by him. That is, until the detective
- 35:40Speaker 1: read one message that did away with any ambiguity. It began,
- 35:44Speaker 1: I want you to kill her. End your suffering by
- 35:49Speaker 1: ending her joy.
- 35:52Speaker 8: What do you mean here when you say that? Poggle,
- 35:55Speaker 8: I am wanting you to kill her. You have to
- 35:58Speaker 8: end your suffering by ending her joy.
- 36:10Speaker 3: I want her to.
- 36:11Speaker 4: End her suffering.
- 36:17Speaker 3: I do mean what it means in that text.
- 36:20Speaker 4: You meant what it says in that text? Yes.
- 36:22Speaker 6: Why?
- 36:26Speaker 4: Come on, man. How do we make sense of all this?
- 36:31Speaker 3: He was bringing great suffering to Kiara.
- 36:36Speaker 4: Who was?
- 36:37Speaker 6: Grace.
- 36:38Speaker 4: Grace was bringing great suffering to Kiara?
- 36:42Speaker 2: Yes.
- 36:43Speaker 4: And that's why you wanted Kiara to kill Grace?
- 36:47Speaker 1: It seems that both Isaac and Kiara believe or claimed
- 36:51Speaker 1: to believe the story they told themselves about Grace Jennings,
- 36:55Speaker 1: that she had somehow sold 14-year-old Kiara to a group
- 36:59Speaker 1: of men. The video of the incident allegedly circulated online.
- 37:04Speaker 1: It was this unsupported assertion that Isaac also made to
- 37:07Speaker 1: the detective to justify the murder, though he fell short
- 37:11Speaker 1: of revealing the secret operations of Ghost, the gang of
- 37:15Speaker 1: vigilantes who he claimed to lead.
- 37:19Speaker 4: Hey, Isaac.
- 37:20Speaker 8: You know it's illegal to plan killing someone, right?
- 37:24Speaker 2: Yes.
- 37:25Speaker 8: There's got to be a little bit of accountability for that.
- 37:30Speaker 4: You understand that, right? So we are going to file
- 37:32Speaker 4: a paperwork. You are going to go to jail tonight.
- 37:34Speaker 6: Okay.
- 37:36Speaker 1: Isaac Apodaca and Kiara McCulley were charged with first-degree murder.
- 37:42Speaker 1: One month after the murder, in November 2022, a judge
- 37:46Speaker 1: found Kiara McCulley was not competent to stand trial. she
- 37:50Speaker 1: was sent to the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in
- 37:53Speaker 1: Las Vegas, New Mexico to receive treatment. Only a month
- 37:57Speaker 1: after that, however, a state evaluation found that she was competent,
- 38:02Speaker 1: and so was rebooked into the Santa Fe County Jail
- 38:05Speaker 1: in January 2023. After a pretrial hearing found sufficient evidence
- 38:12Speaker 1: to continue with the murder charges against him, Isaac Apodaca
- 38:16Speaker 1: initially accepted a plea deal. the details of which were
- 38:19Speaker 1: not placed on the public record. That is because in
- 38:23Speaker 1: November 2024, Isaac fired his attorneys and had the judge
- 38:29Speaker 1: tear up the deal. He re-entered a plea of not guilty.
- 38:35Speaker 1: A backlog at the state's crime lab initially set back
- 38:37Speaker 1: the trial date by years. Now, with a new legal
- 38:41Speaker 1: team that needs to get up to speed, the start
- 38:43Speaker 1: date for Isaac's trial has been pushed back once more.
- 38:48Speaker 1: In February 2025, however, Kiara McCulley made a deal. She
- 38:53Speaker 1: pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for her future
- 38:57Speaker 1: testimony against her former fiancé, Isaac Apodaca, should his case
- 39:02Speaker 1: ever reach trial. She faces up to 30 years in
- 39:06Speaker 1: prison under the deal, despite the downgraded charges to second-degree murder.
- 39:11Speaker 1: The deputy district attorney said the extra time is due
- 39:15Speaker 1: to the brutality of the murder.
- 39:22Speaker 4: My role tonight is.
- 39:23Speaker 2: In the form of my sister.
- 39:26Speaker 3: Grace Jennings.
- 39:32Speaker 1: Grace Jennings is desperately missed by her loved ones. Her aunt,
- 39:37Speaker 1: Catherine Jennings, told the Santa Fe New Mexican, she was
- 39:40Speaker 1: the laughter, she was the joy, the singing, the dancing.
- 39:45Speaker 1: She was the friend, she was the sister, she was
- 39:48Speaker 1: the daughter, the beloved niece, the cousin. She was just
- 40:00Speaker 1: a beautiful soul with a lot of hope. And that
- 40:13Speaker 1: was the tragic case of Grace Jennings. Thank you for
- 40:16Speaker 1: joining me, and a special thanks this week to Phenom,
- 40:20Speaker 1: Paul Spicer, and Lauren H., Jake Kelly, and Bossifus for
- 40:25Speaker 1: becoming Sherlock Holmes members and joining our lounge. I'm Kevin,
- 40:30Speaker 1: this is Just Thought Lounge, and I'll see you in
- 40:33Speaker 1: the next one.
- 40:36Speaker 2: Go ahead and settle in.
- 40:37Speaker 4: Gotta be selective. Doing all the research. Keeping it objective.
- 40:40Speaker 4: Always been effective. Can say he got a neck.
- 40:43Speaker 3: Pick it a litter.
- 40:43Speaker 4: You see how Newton got his back.
- 40:45Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 40:45Speaker 3: The content that you need.
- 40:47Speaker 4: This could be a new sign. We talk in the comments.
- 40:49Speaker 4: They jot in a few lines. Tune in and hit like.
- 40:51Speaker 4: Love that. It's too kind. Feels like the whole world
- 40:53Speaker 4: is online for true crime. Watch them on the run,
- 40:55Speaker 4: but it's not a race. Really hard to decide.