Latest / Crime Night / The Wealthy PhD, The TikTok Dad, and The Sadistic Killer: Unmasking Kareem S., The Gathering Serial Killer

Transcript

The Wealthy PhD, The TikTok Dad, and The Sadistic Killer: Unmasking Kareem S., The Gathering Serial Killer · Crime Night

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  Speaker 1: So today we're diving deep into a case that, honestly,
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  Speaker 1: it forces you to question everything you think you know
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  Speaker 1: about status, success and the secrets people keep. We're talking
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  Speaker 1: about Kareems, the man the media often calls the Gathering
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  Speaker 1: serial killer, and it's a.
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  Speaker 2: Case defined by duality. Really, our task here is to
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  Speaker 2: try and unpack how one man lived as three distinct personalities.
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  Speaker 2: Two of them well, they were known, even respected by society,
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  Speaker 2: the wealthy academic, the perfect father figure. But the third,
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  Speaker 2: the third, was a methodical, truly sadistic predator. His existence
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  Speaker 2: was only ever confirmed by the sheer horror of his crimes.
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  Speaker 1: And that horror it starts somewhere utterly desolate. Just try
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  Speaker 1: to picture this. A cold morning, desert highway heading towards
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  Speaker 1: port site. Security forces stumble upon something just nightmarish. A
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  Speaker 1: female body severely mutilated.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and right away, red flags, no idea, obvious signs
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  Speaker 2: of terrible abuse, and her features deliberately distorted, made unrecognizable.
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  Speaker 1: The initial reports they highlight how clinical the disposal seemed.
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  Speaker 1: Wasn't some chaotic frenzy, It felt well, sequential, planned.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly precise. The mutilation wasn't random, It was about erasing identity,
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  Speaker 2: making sure she was anonymous. When that first body turned up,
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  Speaker 2: law enforcement knew, they knew they were dealing with a
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  Speaker 2: serial killer.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, let's try and get inside that first facade personality
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  Speaker 1: one the untouchable gentleman. Kareem s born in Alexandria in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven. Comes from money, a wealthy family, and
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  Speaker 1: apparently from a young age he had this real need,
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  Speaker 1: this drive to be distinct.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he needed to stand out, to be unique, separate,
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  Speaker 2: maybe better than his peers, and his background supported this image.
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  Speaker 2: His family eventually moved to the US, but he stayed
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  Speaker 2: in Egypt, went to the American University in Cairo.
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  Speaker 1: AUC and people who knew him then they.
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  Speaker 2: All say the same thing. Incredibly sophisticated, well bred, cordeous.
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  Speaker 2: The word sheet comes up, you know, just impeccably presented.
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  Speaker 2: And this wasn't accidental. It seems like an image he
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  Speaker 2: carefully built over years.
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  Speaker 1: This is where it gets well, frankly, incredibly disturbed. He
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  Speaker 1: worked in the family business commerce, but he wanted something
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  Speaker 1: more intellectual independence. Maybe he actually got a PhD in
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  Speaker 1: psychology from AUC and his thesis topic, get.
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  Speaker 2: This, the modification of abnormal humor behavior.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, the irony is just staggering.
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  Speaker 2: It really is. He literally studied the tools to understand
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  Speaker 2: the kind of mind he would later well embody and
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  Speaker 2: pursuing that doctorate. Psychologically, it feels like part of that
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  Speaker 2: same need for distinction, right. Yeah, he gave him this
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  Speaker 2: intellectual shield hiding whatever was really going on underneath, and.
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  Speaker 1: That shield helped him build personality number two, the cultured man.
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  Speaker 1: He married a woman from Alexandria. They moved to the
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  Speaker 1: US for about five years. He even got US citizenship.
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  Speaker 1: They had a son, z So on the surface, perfect picture, educated,
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  Speaker 1: successful family man.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, behind closed doors, things were already cracking.
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  Speaker 2: The source material points to intense problems in the marriage.
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  Speaker 2: He was apparently deeply suspicious, very quick to argue, obsessed
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  Speaker 2: with keeping up that high status, rejected any kind of advice,
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  Speaker 2: could be overly aggressive, and despite looking successful, he was
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  Speaker 2: still heavily reliant on his father's money, a lot of money.
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  Speaker 1: Apparently, and that dependence You think that played into it.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, it seems like it just fueled this sort
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  Speaker 2: of aggressive insecurity he already had, so that instability.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe that's why they came back to Egypt. Twenty seventeen,
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  Speaker 1: they move into the Gathering Area, this very exclusive neighborhood
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  Speaker 1: which chillingly later becomes the perfect insulated spot for his crimes.
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  Speaker 2: Right, and they opened a tattoo studio together, though it
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  Speaker 2: sounds like his wife did most of the actual work there.
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  Speaker 1: He was living a proper double life by this point,
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  Speaker 1: running the studio sort of, but also teaching at a
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  Speaker 1: pretty prominent international school, the same school his son Ze attended.
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  Speaker 2: By twenty nineteen, that whole carefully built structure. Yeah, it
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  Speaker 2: really started to crumble fast.
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  Speaker 1: And drugs were a big part of that spiral, weren't
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  Speaker 1: they a huge part?
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  Speaker 2: His use of narcotics, especially icemanth n feti mean and
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  Speaker 2: other drugs. It apparently escalated dramatically. It started while he
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  Speaker 2: was in the US, but got much worse back in Egypt.
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  Speaker 1: So it wasn't just recreational use, no, No, It seems
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  Speaker 1: like the drugs were feeding something darker, delusions, paranoia and
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  Speaker 1: these really disturbing fantasies. Then came the breaking point, the
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  Speaker 1: divorce in twenty nineteen.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was ugly. Kream accused his wife of
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  Speaker 2: having an affair with his best friend. He even filed
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  Speaker 2: a fornication lawsuit against them. He got custody of their
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  Speaker 2: sons Z.
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  Speaker 1: And then did something truly cruel, unbelievably cruel.
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  Speaker 2: He convinced the little boy that his mother had actually died.
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  Speaker 2: This sense of betrayal, this perceived infidelity, it seemed to
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  Speaker 2: twist into this deep need for revenge, specifically against women
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  Speaker 2: he saw as disloyal, like women involved in prostitution, or
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  Speaker 2: maybe those meeting strangers for status or money.
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  Speaker 1: This feels like the moment the critical shift where personality
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  Speaker 1: three the Predator, is deliberately brought into being. After the divorce,
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  Speaker 1: he gets an apartment in a famous compound in the
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  Speaker 1: Gathering Arts renovations, and he has one very specific, absolute
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  Speaker 1: demand for the workers.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the key. He insisted that one particular
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  Speaker 2: room had to be completely totally sound.
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  Speaker 1: Proved his excuse.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, you know, recording music. Didn't want to bother the neighbors,
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  Speaker 2: standard stuff. Yeah, But psychologically this wasn't about the neighbors
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  Speaker 2: at all. This was about shutting out the world, building
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  Speaker 2: a private space, a physical manifestation of his darkest desires.
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  Speaker 2: He was literally building a chamber for his secrets.
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  Speaker 1: While constructing this, this chamber of horrors, He's doing something
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  Speaker 1: else entirely in public.
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  Speaker 2: It's almost unbelievable. He launches a TikTok account and goes viral.
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  Speaker 2: He's offering free English lessons, tips on father son bonding.
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  Speaker 1: Positioning himself is the perfect single dad, responsible, cultured involves right.
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  Speaker 2: Just think about that for a moment, The sheer level
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  Speaker 2: of compartmentalization. He's picking out tools for torture for this
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  Speaker 2: soundproof room, and at the same time he's thinking about
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  Speaker 2: lighting for his next TikTok video on positive parenting.
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  Speaker 1: Was it guilt over compensation? Why just tactical?
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  Speaker 2: The sources really suggested it was tactical, calculated. That intellectual background,
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  Speaker 2: the cultured vibe, even the TikTok fame, it all became
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  Speaker 2: part of his lure weapon exactly. He used his status,
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  Speaker 2: his appearance to approach women, attractive women offering cafes or
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  Speaker 2: through social connections, offered them money, maybe services, and because
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  Speaker 2: he seemed so polished, so respectable, they felt safe. They
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  Speaker 2: went back to his apartment with him, and once they
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  Speaker 2: were inside, the mask dropped. The encounters turned sadistic fast,
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  Speaker 2: often fueled by large amounts of ice and other drugs
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  Speaker 2: he'd give them or take himself. The drugs seemed to
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  Speaker 2: just accelerate everything, push it further into depravity.
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  Speaker 1: The sadism was methodical, wasn't it that sound proof room?
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  Speaker 1: When the police finally got inside, what did they find?
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  Speaker 2: The instruments of his violence? A whip, an iron chain,
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  Speaker 2: a rope. The torture was clearly prolonged, almost ritualistic, pulling
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  Speaker 2: hair out, even ripping.
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  Speaker 1: Off fingernails, horrific details.
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  Speaker 2: And the end was always strangulation. Roper, chain always resulted
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  Speaker 2: in a broken neck.
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  Speaker 1: And the darkness.
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  Speaker 2: And it went even further. At least one case, the
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  Speaker 2: evidence showed sexual assault after the victim was already dead.
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  Speaker 2: And then, after all that chilling routine, he'd mutilate the bodies,
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  Speaker 2: make absolutely sure they couldn't be identified. Then he'd calmly
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  Speaker 2: drive out to these remote desert roads, dump the remains.
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  Speaker 1: And just return home, back to his life.
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  Speaker 2: Back to being the devoted dad, back to filming TikTok videos,
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  Speaker 2: maybe even right after disposing of a body. The double
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  Speaker 2: life was absolute.
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  Speaker 1: It begs the question, how did no one notice he's
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  Speaker 1: in this high end compound? His young son is.
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  Speaker 2: There well, neighbors did notice things. They saw attractive women
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  Speaker 2: coming and going frequently, then abruptly stopping. Some even reported
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  Speaker 2: hearing short, muffled screams sometimes but they were quickly silenced
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  Speaker 2: by the soundproofing.
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  Speaker 1: And victims sometimes stayed for days.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, up to eighteen days in some cases apparently. But
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  Speaker 2: his public persona this image of the eccentric, wealth, health,
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  Speaker 2: the academic It was strong enough that people likely dismissed
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  Speaker 2: the oddities upper class weirdness.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps he was smart about choosing victims too.
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  Speaker 2: It seems very calculated. He picked women from different parts
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  Speaker 2: of the city never city Zoya Alhamara Abu Numras, geographically
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  Speaker 2: scattered and different ages too, from nineteen up to thirty seven.
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  Speaker 2: Why the diversity to make connections harder, less likely they'd
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  Speaker 2: be linked to each other or traced back to his
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  Speaker 2: specific compound. It was all about delaying discovery, ensuring investigators
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't immediately see the pattern of a serial killer.
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  Speaker 1: His planning was meticulous, but eventually law enforcement did connect
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  Speaker 1: the dots. How did they cut through all that careful planning.
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  Speaker 2: It really came down to persistence and some sharp forensic work.
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  Speaker 2: It started by linking those bodies found in different locations,
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  Speaker 2: one victim than two, than three, all with that same
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  Speaker 2: terrifying signature, mutilated, no idea, clear signs of torture.
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  Speaker 1: The forensics were the key, then absolutely critical.
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  Speaker 2: The reports confirmed it was one person, just strangulation, but
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  Speaker 2: the exact same method rope or chain, leading to that
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  Speaker 2: specific neck break. They all had massive amounts of the
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  Speaker 2: same drugs ice in their systems and crucially identical extensive
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  Speaker 2: whipping marks on their backs.
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  Speaker 1: His signature gave him away.
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  Speaker 2: He thought he was unique, untraceable, but by repeating his
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  Speaker 2: sadistic methods, he handed the police the very evidence they
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  Speaker 2: needed to link the crimes.
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  Speaker 1: So once they managed to identify the victims through missing
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  Speaker 1: persons reports.
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  Speaker 2: They started talking to the families and that's when they
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  Speaker 2: got the breakthrough. The father of one victim mentioned his
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  Speaker 2: daughter was taking an English course from a guy named Kareem.
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  Speaker 2: He was the last person who reportedly saw.
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  Speaker 1: And when they approached Kareem s.
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  Speaker 2: He denied everything, claimed he knew nothing about her disappearance,
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  Speaker 2: but it was too late.
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  Speaker 1: Why what else did they have surveillance?
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  Speaker 2: They'd been reviewing CCTV footage near all three separate dumping sites,
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  Speaker 2: and they spotted one vehicle, a distinctive luxury car near
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  Speaker 2: all three locations around the relevant times. I guess registered
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  Speaker 2: to KAREEMSS. The net closed very very.
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  Speaker 1: Quickly after that, so he's arrested. Did he try to resist?
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  Speaker 2: He tried to pull the US citizenship card, claim some
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  Speaker 2: kind of immunity, but the Egyptian authorities were ready for that. Legally,
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  Speaker 2: it didn't hold up. He eventually confessed, admitted to a
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  Speaker 2: fourth victim, and even hinted there might be.
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  Speaker 1: More more victims.
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  Speaker 2: He claimed he couldn't remember the exact number. The investigation
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  Speaker 2: is likely still trying to piece.
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  Speaker 1: That together, and the investigation it uncovered more darkness.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yes, during the crime re enactment, he actually tried
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  Speaker 2: to escape, made a run for it in a public
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  Speaker 2: garden before being caught again almost immediately. And the apartment
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  Speaker 2: search it confirmed everything, the soundproof room, the whip, the chain,
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  Speaker 2: the rope, drugs, But the most damning evidence digital his phone.
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  Speaker 2: His laptop fills with videos videos he took himself documenting
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  Speaker 2: the torture of the assaults.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, he filmed it all.
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  Speaker 2: I filmed it, which speaks volumes about the motivation this
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  Speaker 2: wasn't just about violence, It was about power control, maybe
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  Speaker 2: even preserving the experience. The profile here isn't clinical insanity
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  Speaker 2: in the way people might think. It's sadism, pure pleasure
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  Speaker 2: derived from inflicting pain, maybe even experiencing it vicariously. And
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  Speaker 2: there's a clear awareness and imitation almost of patterns seen
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  Speaker 2: in serial killers globally, all hidden behind that veneer of respectability.
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  Speaker 1: It's just stark, these two extremes in one person, the
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  Speaker 1: wealthy PhD, the model father figure online and this methodical
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  Speaker 1: brutal killer operating right under everyone's noses, behind literal soundproof walls.
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  Speaker 2: What does it mean for us? For you listening, it's
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  Speaker 2: a chilling lesson in well not taking things at face value.
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  Speaker 2: We have to remember how many people project that successful facade,
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  Speaker 2: the wealth, the education, the eloquence, but it can hide
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  Speaker 2: unseen dangerous depths.
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  Speaker 1: So the ultimate takeaway from the gathering serial killer that.
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  Speaker 2: You can never assume social status, academic letters after a name,
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  Speaker 2: even a perfectly curated TikTok video about being a great dad.
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  Speaker 2: None of it guarantee character. None of it means you
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  Speaker 2: truly know the person behind the mask. And that I
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  Speaker 2: think is a thought worth carrying with you.