Latest / NO FILTER / The Twist You Didn_t See Coming_ The Murder of LaNell Barsock [True Crime Documentary]

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The Twist You Didn_t See Coming_ The Murder of LaNell Barsock [True Crime Documentary] · NO FILTER

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: In the spring of twenty ten, investigators in Palmdale, California,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: found twenty nine year old Linell Barsok murdered inside her home.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Piecing together the scattered clues left by her killer, they
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: were able to recreate the crime. Detectives found that the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: attack that led to the end of the young nurse's
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: life came by surprise, but when it came to piecing
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: together her personal life in the search for the murderer,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the evidence was not quite so straightforward. Hi there, Welcome
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: to Just Thought Lounge. I'm Kevin. Today I'd like to
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: tell you about a murder from twenty ten that has
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: one of the strangest twists of any case JTL has covered.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: It's the story of a beautiful and accomplished woman who
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: may have sought love in the wrong places and from
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the wrong people. Let's take a look. Palmdale, California, in
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles County, sits in a valley in the Mojave Desert.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: The drive to Los Angeles from Palmdale is roughly an
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: hour and a half with good traffic. The city, home
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: to large and wealthy employers like Lockheed, Martin and Boeing,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: is amongst the most expensive cities to live in the country.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: At roughly seven pm on June sixteenth, twenty ten, officers
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: on duty at the Palmdale Police Station had a surprise visitor.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Twenty eight year old Lorrain Austin rushed into the building panicked.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Only minutes before, she said she had discovered her good
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: friend Linell dead in a bloody scene. Lorrain found her
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: friend lying on the floor of her garage. She was
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: on her back, a plastic bag covering her head, a towels,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: plastic sheeting and bedding surrounded her. It was a horrific scene.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: And that's row.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: It was like classic them and I like slid on
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: the bed.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: I'm looking at her blood and then when I look
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: I saw her lips and then got walked on the car.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: She had about her head and I'm seeing her like,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: oh my god.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Loraine ran to her friend. She tried to pick her up,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: she said, though there was nothing that she could have done.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Linnelle had passed on. Her friend's first instinct was to
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: call nine one one, but before she had an opportunity
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: to do so, she heard noises from within the house,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: walking in through the laundry room to the kitchen and
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: finally the hallway, Lorraine glanced up the stairs, where she
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: saw a male figure. He came towards her as she
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: ran from the house. She drove directly to the police station.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Homicide detectives responded to the large home on Rocky Lane
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: and found the scene much as Lorraine Austen had described.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Twenty nine year old Linnell Crystal Barsak was on the
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: floor next to the passenger side of her BMW in
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: the garage. It was not immediately clear how Linnell had
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: been killed. Taking everything in. Officers at the scene suspected
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: blunt forced trauma to the head. It did not appear
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: as though the murder had taken place in the garage.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Linnell had likely been moved from elsewhere in the house
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: to the position where she was found. The trunk of
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: the BMW had been left wide open. Within it sat
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: a collection of bedding stained with what was presumed to
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: be blood. Underneath the bedding was a pillow with a
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: visible bullet hole straight through it. Forensic testing was performed
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: in multiple areas across the house. A lack of fingerprints
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: at the scene was to be expected. After investigators identified
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: a pair of latex gloves discarded in the garage. They
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: did discover a single print. However, a fingerprint thought to
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: be from a thumb, was lifted from a dark colored
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: pitcher located on the upper rim. The print suggested that
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: someone had lifted the picture gingerly in order to move
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: it out of the way. There were additional towels and
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: other sheets on the garage floor, as well as a
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: pile in the laundry area. Other linens and towels, which
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: sat on top of the washing machine appeared to have
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: once been folded but were now disturbed. Someone had attempted
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: to clean up inside the house, but seemed to have
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: abandoned the task part way through, leaving obvious remnants of
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: their attempts in the garage. Inside the house, cleaning products
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: sat out on the kitchen countertop. Adjoining the kitchen was
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the living room. In that area, the evidence of what
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: had occurred was comparatively little. Investigators found only small spatter
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: stains near to the base of the living room wall.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: On the opposite side of the living room from the spatter,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: a single spent shellcasing sat on the couch. The bullet
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: came from a nine millimeter Smith and Wesson pistol. Notably,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: the carpet in this area was remarkably clean. The spotless
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: carpeting was out of place. Once the mess in the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: garage was sorted, detectives discovered that an area rug about
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: seven feet by nine feet had been pushed into the
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: back seat of the car. Pulling it out, they found
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: more stains and on it a footprint. They also found that,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: based on the rectangular ring of discoloration on the living
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: room carpet, this area rug fit perfectly in place. Luminol
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: testing told the rest of the story a trail from
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: where the area rug had once sat in the living room,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: through the kitchen and ultimately to the garage. Why then,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: with the car partially packed and the house only partially cleaned,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: had the killer abandoned their attempts to cover up the crime.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Was it possible that Lorraine had entered, erupted the killer's cleanup,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: and caused them to flee. Indeed, Lorraine had claimed to
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: have encountered the killer in the house, and she said
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: she knew exactly who it was.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Haines, I probably down the stairs and out the door.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: Do you know what the guy's name, y'ah a.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: You're known as.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Linelle's autopsy concluded her cause of death was a single
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: gunshot wound to the back of the head. The trajectory
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: suggested that she had been in a seated position when
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: she was approached from behind by her attacker. It was
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: assumed that she had been taken by surprise. News of
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: her death was understandably devastating to family members, particularly her
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: mother Bobby, with whom she had been very close. The
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: third of five children, Linelle had grown into a loving
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: and accomplished woman. She was known to be a peacemaker,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the type of person who brought others together. Born and
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: raised in the Los Angeles area, Linnell had been studious
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and academically minded in high school, eventually moving on to
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Long Beach for university and a career in nursing. By
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the spring of twenty ten, the twenty nine year old
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: was a licensed vocational nurse with ambitious plans. Her six bedroom,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: three bathroom home in Palmdale was ideal for conversion into
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: a small care facility where she could jumpstart a business
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: for in home care for the elderly. Linnell had purchased
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: the house with her long term boyfriend, a man named
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Louis Bonnair, years earlier in two thousand and five, Lewis,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: who had emigrated from Haiti, was attending English language classes
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: held at the same facility where Linnell was studying part
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: time for her nursing accreditation. After classes one evening, Linnell
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: offered Lewis a ride home. According to friends, the two
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: had an instant connection. Their romance would grow seatus over
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: the following four years. Most recently, however, the two had
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: been experiencing a rough patch in their relationship. Lorraine explained
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: to detectives that she and Linnell had been friends since
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: their time in high school, over ten years. As lifelong friends,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Linell often confided in her Indeed, she had a secret
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: to share her relationship on the Rocks. She had sought
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: out companionship elsewhere. The young nurse had connected with a
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: man named Ike online through a website called fling dot Com.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: The two had dated for four months, during which time
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: she had kept a second pay for minutes cell phone
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: to communicate with him. Only days before her death, Lewis
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: had discovered the cell phone and her fling with Ike.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: The couple argued, but they did not part ways. Instead,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Linnell told Lorrain that her romance with Ike was over.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: She and Lewis agreed to work through their issues. The
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: only problem was that Louis was still checking the second
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: cell phone. He also kept track of her movements. He
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: followed her at work to see who she may be
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: having lunch with. Louis was the jealous type, Lorraine said.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: On the morning of the day that Linelle died, Louis
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: had discovered that new minutes had been recently added to
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: her second, no longer secret cell phone. Perhaps she was
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: not finished with Ike after all. According to Lorraine, she
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: and Linnell had met up earlier that day. They went
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: to a nearby beauty supply store, then back to Linnelle's
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: where Lorraine was weaving her hair. Lorraine told police that
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: she was doing Linelle's hair in the living room when
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Louis interrupted them in a rage, confronting Linnell over the
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: phone minutes and demanding to know if she was still
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: seeing Ike.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: So fuck, I told her, I said, y'all have some
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: ass at yanni Is talk. I don't want to be here.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Recognizing that the couple needed to work through their issues,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Lorraine left the house, spending the next few hours at
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: a nearby park to allow time for things to settle down.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: She returned around seven pm and found Linnell in the garage.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Investigators were obviously keen to track down Louis Bonnair, and
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: they didn't need to wait too long. When officers arrived
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: at Bobby's home in nearby Hawththorn to deliver the sad
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: news of Linnell's death, they found that her daughter's boyfriend
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: was staying at her house. Lewis worked at maintenance job
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: for the city of Hawthorn. On the nights before his shifts,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: he would often stay over at Bobby's to save himself
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the commute from Palmdale in the morning. From there, he
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: was promptly brought in for questioning. Lewis claimed to have
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: no idea why he was being questioned. He told detectives
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: that he had last seen Lynnell much earlier in the morning,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: before he left to run errands in Los Angeles. His
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: car required a few new parts. Us under her, You
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: don't know, Eddie. Tell me about your relationship, right, yeahship
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: is good?
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Okay with her, She with you, She's okay with me.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: She's been dying me.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: She loving me.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Louis's depiction of his relationship as blissful, indeed nearly perfect.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Immediately raised the eyebrows of law enforcement. They knew from
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Lorraine that the couple had problems, and they learned more
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: details from Lonell's mother, Bobby, who painted a similar picture.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Louis and Linnell had argued frequently. Bobby told police that
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: after one such incident, Linnell called her in a panic.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: She and Louis had been arguing and she fled from
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: the house in her car, phoning her mother from the road. Terrified,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: she said, up the road, mom, is she's screaming. Lewis
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: admitted to some recent issues in his relationship with Linell.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: He admitted to detectives that she had given him the
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: visible scratch on his cheek, but no relationship is one
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: hundred percent perfect, he said.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, scratch on your face.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: Where did you get that?
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: The question she who' squshed you? Or does Lidia ask me?
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Detectives had more than just their suspicion to back up
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Lorraine's allegations towards Lewis. At the crime scene, they had
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: found what they believed was evidence that clearly outlined Lewis's
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: motive to kill his girlfriend, A handwritten letter addressed to him,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: signed by Linnell. The note had fallen to the kitchen floor.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: It had been left behind and forgotten, perhaps in the
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: chaos of the murder, or maybe during Louis's haphazard and
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: abandoned clean up job. In the letter, Linnell informed her
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: long term boyfriend that she was leaving him to move
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: out of state with Ike. She left him the second phone,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: the letter says, because it no longer mattered. She would
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: marry her new man and leave the house and everything
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: in it to Lewis as long as he would leave
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: her alone. Louis denied all of this. He knew nothing
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: about a letter and claimed to be unaware of the
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: nature of Linnel and Ike's relationship. For I'm talking about
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: the little letter was telling you she's going my life.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Who is this guy named Ike?
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Who is he?
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Okay? I Eventually, while detectives scrutinized his reaction, Lewis was
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: told what had happened to Linel.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: So much?
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: Shut Oh my god, it's doing what she is I
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: know she's at the corner's officer.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: She did not survive, Carlins that understand. Police obtained a
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: search warrant for Lewis's black Nissan pickup truck and searched
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: through it. Seeking a link to the crime scene that
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: he had presumably fled. What they found was more surprising.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: In the truck's cab, they discovered a handful of receipts
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: for car parts purchased at locations in Los Angeles, a
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: roughly one and a half to two hour drive from
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: the house in Palmdale. These receipts were timestamped and dated
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: within twenty minutes of the time of the murder. Based
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: on Lorraine's timeline, the video footage from the beauty shop,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: and the autopsy, Linnell was killed sometime shortly after returning
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: home from the shop at roughly two thirty pm. At
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: that time, Lewis was shopping in La The receipts would
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: need to be verified, and they were Security cameras from
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: shops in Los Angeles captured Lewis making purchases just as
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: he had told detectives. Lewis's cell phone data further corroborated
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: his alibi. His location data tracked to his purchases and
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: appearances on camera. It showed him along the highway driving
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: to and from the city. Additionally, detectives found no indication
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: that he had been in contact with anyone else, a
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: potential accomplice who could have been committing the murder on
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: his behalf. Attention then turned to the second love interest,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: the man named Ike, with whom Linnell had been briefly
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: involved with and according to the letter, she planned to marry.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Ike was found to have been in a job interview
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: at a state university when Linnell was killed. The interviewer
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: verified his presence. Neither Lewis nor Ike could be the killer.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: At this time, the investigators took stock of what they
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: had uncovered so far and what may have been overlooked.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Chief amongst these oversights were oddities in the initial questioning
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: of Lorraine Austin. First of all, when officers sat down
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: with Lorraine, they checked her handbag for weapons as a
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: matter of procedure. In her purse they found a bullet.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: The sergeant interviewed you earlier as part of officer safety,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: you know, because you have blood on you and you
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: just came from a mercy. Yeah, to make sure you
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: don't have a gun in there and can shoot him.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: So he looked at your pursy silence. Let me fact, yeah,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: think about it.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: That changed from.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: The Lorraine explained that she had spotted it on the
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: ground near to the house and had scooped it up,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: placing it in her bag. In the chaos, she had
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: neglected to mention it. Moments later, they discovered a second bullet,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: the same as the first, also in her handbag. Told
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: you that there were two bullets in your purse. Two two.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know how soon Lorraine failed to produce an
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: explanation for the two bullets. Investigators checked the state database
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: for gun registrations and did not find that Lorraine had
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: illegally owned firearm at the time of her initial questioning.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Allowances were made for Lorraine's confused narrative she had, after all,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: rushed to the station in a state of shock after
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: discovering her good friend of over a decade brutally murdered. Now, however,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: these inconsistencies were rising to the surface. Louis was on
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: camera at an auto repair shop hours away from the
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: house at the same time that Lorraine claimed he was
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: confronting Linnell over her infidelity, and shortly before she was shot.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: He drove to Bobby's home in Hawthorne later that day,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: and so could not have been at the top of
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: the stairs in the house when Lorraine claimed to have
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: seen him. I contrude, Louis wasn't in the house when
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: you said it was there?
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: I got pitch yourself.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: He was anywhere near you? You went anywhere near Palmdale
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: that well land I saw with a saw. Now looking back,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: is there anything that you want to tell us? It's different?
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: Oh day, then that makes eighty six and anybody, that's
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: what I'm look to your friend.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: I did not tell my friend. I had no reason
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: to my son. I love my friend.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: When Lorrain left the interview room following her questioning officers
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: looked on as she paused to acknowledge Linnelle's mother. The
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: two exchanged a few brief words, then Lorrain leaned in
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: for a hug. Bobby, visibly uncomfortable, received the embrace without
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: reciprocating the detective.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: An opus person walked out of the hallway, and the
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: first thing I asked to said, how do you know Lynnell?
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: As she said we want to Krisha together, I said, Krishas,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: I don't know you. As she held me, did she
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: say my condulceus? I told the I will know her.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: It seemed that Lorraine Austin was not who she claimed
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: to be. She had not been close friends with Linnell
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: since high school. Her story was a complete fabrication. Louis
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Bonair was eventually released from county jail. It took a
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: full month for law enforcement to verify his alibi and
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: shift the focus of their investigation towards Lorraine Austin. But
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: if Lorraine was not the old friend of Linelle's that
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: she claimed to be, who was she. Investigators found that
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: the twenty nine year old was buried in thousands of
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: dollars of debt and lived rent free at her mother's house.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Her only income appeared to derive from occasional hairdressing work
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: that she picked up via advertisements on Craigslist. This was
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: also how she encountered Linnell just weeks before her death,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: on an area of the webs site designated for women
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: seeking women. The two met up romantically on a few
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: occasions during this time. Detectives speculated that Lorraine had gotten
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: a taste of Linnell's more comfortable, relatively luxurious lifestyle. The
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: hard working nurse had a blossoming career, a nice car,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: and a large home in a good neighborhood. Although she
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: and Lewis had not yet fully furnished the house, they
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: had big screen televisions and other pricey electronics scattered across
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: the spacious interior. It was not unreasonable to deduce that
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Lorraine wanted to be a part of that life. Investigators
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: speaking to others in Lorraine's life found that since meeting Linnell,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: the hairdresser had been going on dates, calling herself by
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Linnell's middle name, Crystal and claiming to drive a BMW.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Linnell was not as taken with her new girlfriend. Police
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: found a break up text message on her cell phone.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: It had been sent to Lorraine just five days before
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: she was killed. Linnell wrote that she really wanted to
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: make it work with her boyfriend Lewis, but suggested that
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: they remain friends. She hoped that Lorraine would still be
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: happy to weave her hair. It was this breakup note,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: not the letter found at the scene, that was the
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: real motive for the murder. Handwriting experts determined that the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: letter addressed to Lewis was penned by Lorraine, not Linnell.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: When the final lap results were returned from the crime scene,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the evidence of Lorraine's guilt became overwhelming. DNA testing of
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: the latex gloves were a match to the twenty nine
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: year old hairdresser. It was her shoe print found on
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: the area rug removed from the living room and later
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: stuffed into the back seat of the BMW. The thumb
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: print on the pitcher also matched Lorraine Austin. Although the
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: murder weapon was never found, the registration for a nine
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: millimeter Smith and Wesson pistol purchased by Lorraine processed through
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: the database shortly after the rest of the physical evidence
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: came to light. The gun had been a recent purchase.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: It took weeks before the database updated, leaving police in
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the dark over the gun. When Lorraine was first questioned,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: it was the last piece of the puzzle. Investigators theorized
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: that Lorraine was spiteful over her rejection, as well as
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: jealous and resentful of Linnell's life in general. Based on
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: the physical evidence at the scene, they believed that Lorraine
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: pulled her gun from her handbag while working on Lennelle's
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: hair in the living room. Using a pillowcase as a
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: kind of silencer, She pulled the trigger, shooting from behind,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: while Linnelle sat facing the opposite wall utterly unaware. It
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: seemed likely that the elaborate cleanup was the initial plan
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: to cover up the crime. The area, surrounded by desert landscape,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: offered ample space to hide her victim, but after pulling
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Linnell and other items to the garage, it was possible
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: that Lorraine simply did not have the upper body strength
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: to lift Linell into the vehicle. At that point, she
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: must have abandoned this plan and decided instead to frame Louis,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: and it nearly worked. By the time the lap results
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: came through and an arrest affidavit was drawn up, Lorraine
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: had caught wind that Lewis had been released and was
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: no longer a suspect in the murder. She knew that
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: authorities would soon be knocking on her door, so Lorrain
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Austin fled the country. She was eventually located after an
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: episode of America's Most Wanted aired in December twenty eleven,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: featuring Linnell's story and images of Lorrain. A tip from
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: a viewer led the FBI to Central America, where they
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: apprehended Lorraine in Belize in January twenty twelve. She was
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: promptly extradited to the United States. Gone was the sad
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and helpful friend who would give law enforcement any information
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: they needed to find Linelle's killer. This time When Lauren
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: sat back down with the homicide team, she was evasive.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: She complained to detectives about how she had been portrayed
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: in the press as a leech who sought to befriend
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Linnelle only for what she could take from her and
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: became jealous and angry when rejected.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: How was my trip and how did I end up?
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: You're just curious when anything else.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: I went on vag Asian You know, I know what
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: people do storm, Oh what is it?
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Oh? Friend?
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: But financial support or something like that. Are basically trying
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: to move and that I might be who house.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: On August thirteenth, twenty fifteen, a Los Angeles jury found
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Lauren Austen guilty of first degree as well as one
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: count of using a handgun during the commission of a crime.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Each of these convictions earned her a sentence of twenty
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: five years. An appeal argued to California's Second District Court
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen failed. The appeal was based solely on
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: alleged procedural misconduct with jury selection, not the validity of
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: the evidence that was stacked against her. Laurien is currently
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: serving fifty years to life in state prison. Louis Bonnair
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: later married and became a father. Linnel Barsak is deeply
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: missed by her mother, siblings, and extended family. They remember
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Linel as a hard working, fun and loving young woman
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: whose life was cut far too short. That was the
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: tragic case of Linel Barsak. Thanks for joining me, and
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: thank you so much to Alec, Kenny and Biddy for
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: joining the member's lounge. I'm Kevin, this is just thought lounge,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: and I'll see in the next one when the scene plays.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: Tell me who the screen saves.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: I can hear the crimes repeat.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Gotta take my time because these crimes get deep, but
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: these stories can't hide.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: Let me find my seat, Kevin, go.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Ahead and settle in. Gotta be selective, doing all the research,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: keeping it objective, always been effective.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: Can say he got a neck, pick it a litter.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: You see how Newton got his back