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Dead Mother Leaves Clues to Help Convict Daughter Of Her Murder · Murder Files Unsealed

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep Dive. Today we are taking a
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fascinating and frankly chilling journey to Pasco, Washington. It's usually
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known as a quiet, pretty standard suburb in the Tri
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Cities area.
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Speaker 2: Right, predictable, stable, middle class exactly, and.
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Speaker 1: That's the setting for our story about fifty eight year
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old Judy Hebert. She was retired administrative assistant, love gardening,
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a doting grandmother. Her house on sam And Drive, picture
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perfect suburbia. But underneath all that quiet, there was this
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really profound and horrifying truth brewing. Judy knew. She knew
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that the two people she'd welcome back into her home,
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her adopted daughter Tashia Stewart and her son in law Todd,
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were actually planning to kill her.
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Speaker 2: It's almost hard to wrap your head around, isn't it,
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that level of certainty about something so awful.
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Speaker 1: Okay, let's unpack this, because this is where it gets
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really unique. We're diving into a mattricide case. But what
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makes it stand out isn't just the act itself. It's
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the victim's incredible, terrifying foresight.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Judy wasn't just passive waiting for something to happen.
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Speaker 1: Not at all. She was so convinced, so clear about
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what Tashi and Todd intended, that she spent her last
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weeks alive meticulously preparing the evidence, basically building the case
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against them from beyond the grave.
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Speaker 2: And central to that, this deliberate forensic trail she laid
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was this one specific kind of innocuous word she used
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as a distress signal, pineapple.
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Speaker 1: Pineapple just sounds so random, but it was deadly serious.
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Speaker 2: It was, And this deep dive it really forces us
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to look at, you know, victim agency, how someone facing
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their own death can still act. Usually prosecutors struggle right
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proving premeditation, fighting self defense claim.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, those are huge hurdles.
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Speaker 2: But here Judy essentially did the groundwork herself. She went
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from being a potential victim to becoming what court documents
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later a kind of hainted at a spectral witness.
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Speaker 1: A spectral witness. Wow, that's powerful. Like she was testifying
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through the clues she.
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Speaker 2: Left exactly her documentation, her warnings, the specific clues she
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play planted. They created what the court's called an atypically
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robust case. It made sure her voice, her truth, came
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through louder than her killer's lies.
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Speaker 1: So she wasn't just leaving evidence, she was actively guiding
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the investigation. That's our mission today, right to understand how
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she did that, the mechanics of her foresight.
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Speaker 2: Okay, So to really get the betrayal, you have to
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understand Judy first, her character. She grew up in the
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Pacific Northwest, valued stability, loyalty, all that solid roots. Very
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Her marriage to Rolf Hebert lasted three decades and even
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though they separated amicably in the mid two thousands, they
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were still absolutely committed to their family, and.
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Speaker 1: That commitment, especially towards Tashia, seems like the core of this.
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The sources really paint a picture of almost relentless support
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from Judy and Rolf.
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Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely relentless. They adopted Tasha in nineteen seventy six
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when she was five. She came with a tough background, instability,
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the foster care system, trauma.
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Speaker 1: It's a non easy start for her, not at all.
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Speaker 2: And Judy and Rolf just poured everything into her upbring,
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emotional support, financial support, trying to give her that stability
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she never had. Ralph even called her hour miracle later on.
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It shows how deep their affection was even when Tashia
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was struggling with you know, behavioral issues and then later
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as an adult, chronic money problem.
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Speaker 1: So despite that love and support, Tashia's adulthood was messy,
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multiple marriages, couldn't hold the job, lots.
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Speaker 2: Of debt exactly, just a pattern of instability. And this
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all kind of comes to a head around twenty ten.
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That's when Tashia, her husband Todd, and their little seven
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year old daughter move into Judy's new house on sam
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And Drive.
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Speaker 1: Which sounds generous on Judy's part, Yeah, helping them get
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back on their feet.
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Speaker 2: That was the intention, absolutely, but it didn't take long
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for it to turn into well, exploitation. The police interviews
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show this pattern clearly. Tashia and Todd started relying on
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Judy for everything, everything like rent, utilities, child care, even
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just daily spending money. Judy was basically bankrolling their life
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unless she wasn't even really part of and the demands
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just got bigger and bolder as their own finances got worse.
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It created this huge unseen pressure cooker inside the house.
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Speaker 1: That pressure, that's the emotional backdrop, ye, But the real trigger,
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like in so many of these cases, it seems, was financial,
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specifically the house.
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Speaker 3: The house was key.
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Speaker 2: Judy owned it free and clear, and she started to realize,
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probably with dawning horror, that if something happened to her suddenly, everything,
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the house, her savings, a modest inheritance she had, it
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would all go straight to Tashia.
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Speaker 1: And given Tashi's track record.
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Speaker 2: Exactly Judy knew it would likely vanish. That realization led
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to the critical move. Late in twenty ten, Judy quietly
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secretly changed her will. Okay, this is huge, massive, and
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it wasn't about punishing Tashia. It was about protecting the granddaughter.
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She re routed the bulk of her assets, the house,
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the savings directly into a trust for the little girl.
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Speaker 1: She was trying to shield the one innocent person in
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all this, protect her future.
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Speaker 2: Precisely, she told Wolf about it. Her reasoning was heartbreakingly clear.
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I want her to have a chance, Tasha, She's not ready.
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She was terrified Tasha and Todd would just burn through
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it all, leaving the child with nothing.
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Speaker 1: An act of love, really, but done in secret, you said,
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Tashi found out somehow.
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Speaker 2: Yes, And that discovery, according to the prosecution's narrative, later,
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is what lit the fuse. The motive wasn't just about
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getting Judy's money anymore. It became about getting it before
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that new will became ironclad or widely known. It turned
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into a race against time for.
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Speaker 3: Tashi and Todd.
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Speaker 1: So what does this all mean? It means the will
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change didn't just provide motive, It provided the timeline for
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premeditation exactly.
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Speaker 2: The sources strongly suggest that once Tashia knew that inheritance
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was blocked, the plan to well remove the obstacle kicked
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into high gear. The tension that was already there over
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money and entitlement it boiled over into active, calculated plotting.
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Speaker 1: And that plotting didn't start subtly. It started with a
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violent attempt disguised as an accident. And this happened fast
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after the will change, right February twentieth, twenty.
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Speaker 3: Eleven, very fast.
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Speaker 2: It was what you might call a soft kill attempt,
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something designed to look like a believable, tragic accident in
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the home.
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Speaker 1: And Todd seems to be the key player here.
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Speaker 3: Todd took the lead.
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Speaker 2: He was physically capable, knew a bit about construction. He
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offered to help Judy organize the garage, suggesting he build
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a partition wall seems innocent enough.
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Speaker 1: Okay, So he creates a plausible reason to be working
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in the garage with Judy. How did he set up
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the accident itself?
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Speaker 2: It was chillingly precise, according to Judy's later account and
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the evidence. Todd told her to back up to a
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very specific spot right under some overhead storage rafters. And
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the excuse he needed her to hold the end of
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a measuring tape steady against the wall while he was
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supposedly measuring for the partition. So she's standing there, focused
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on the task, looking at the.
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Speaker 1: Tape, completely vulnerable.
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Speaker 3: And then and then.
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Speaker 2: An eighteen gallon plastic storage tub, which was stuffed with
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heavy books. We're talking forty maybe fifty pounds, came crashing
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down from.
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Speaker 4: About eight feet up, directly onto her head, directly onto
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her head, brutal impact.
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Speaker 2: She got a severe concussion, bad cuts. She was rushed
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to Cadillac Regional Medical Center. Tashi made the nine one
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one call, but the dispatcher later noted her voice sounded
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like feigned panic, like she was acting.
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Speaker 1: Judy survives, spends two days in the hospital, but the
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moment she gets out, something shifts. The victim turns investigator.
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That concussion, the pain, it didn't cloud her judgment, It
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sharpened it. What made her so sure it wasn't an accident.
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Speaker 3: It just didn't add up physically.
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Speaker 2: Once the initial shock wore off, Judy realized.
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Speaker 3: A couple of things.
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Speaker 2: First, that tub wasn't precariously balanced on the edge. It
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was wedged securely way back in the rafters, nowhere near
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where Todd was supposedly working.
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Speaker 1: So it wouldn't just fall on its own highly unlikely.
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Speaker 2: And Second, she remembered Todd had been up in that
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store was locked just minutes before it fell. She put
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it together, it had to have been deliberately pushed.
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Speaker 1: Okay, and this is the moment she becomes that special
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witness you mentioned. She doesn't just suspect, she acts. What
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did she do when she got home from the hospital.
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Speaker 3: This is remarkable.
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Speaker 2: She didn't immediately call the police and start accusing people.
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She knew she needed proof, so she started collecting forensic
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evidence herself with a disposable camera and a notepad.
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Speaker 1: Low tech but effective very she.
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Speaker 2: Took pictures of the garage multiple angles, documenting where everything was,
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the height of the rafters. Crucially, scuff marks on the
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rafters that indicated the tub had been pushed or forced out,
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not just slipped.
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Speaker 1: She's literally building the physical case against them.
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Speaker 2: Yes, she measured the fall distance eight feet, and she
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wrote it all down in her neat handwriting on her
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kitchen calendar. The entry read attempted harm books bin incident, suspicious.
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Speaker 1: That calendar entry becomes crucial evidence later.
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Speaker 2: R incredibly crucial. It wasn't just proof she was suspicious.
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It was a dated, contemporaneous record of her state of mind,
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her immediate assessment of the event, and the start of
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her own investigation. It showed this wasn't some later fabrication.
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Speaker 1: So connecting this back, this wasn't just intuition anymore. She
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knew she was in danger, and she knew the legal
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system would need cold, hard facts.
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Speaker 2: That's the pivotal moment. She understood, instinctively or consciously, the
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burden of proof. A story about a falling tub easy
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to dismiss, photos, measurements, dated notes. That's evidence she chose
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data over drama, even while recovering from a serious head injury.
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Speaker 3: Just incredible clarity.
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Speaker 1: So Judy's now investigated her own attempted murder. Basically, she
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knows it was deliberate. This forces her into hiding her
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fear right, leading to the Pineapple code exactly.
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Speaker 2: The code was her lifeline, a subtle but absolute sos.
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She realized she couldn't speak freely on the phone if
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Tashi was nearby listening.
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Speaker 1: In, which must have happened often living in the same.
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Speaker 2: House constantly, you'd assume. So when talking to trusted friends
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or to Rolf, she'd weave the word pineapple into just
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normal small talk, like how's the weather over there? Any
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pineapples today? And if the friend heard pineapple, or if
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Judy said yes, there were pineapples, the person on the
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other end knew instantly Judy felt she was an immediate
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danger or Tashi was monitoring the call, don't see anything sensitive.
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Speaker 1: Wow, it's quiet, it's desperate, but it's genius. It turned
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her friends into a silent alarm system. But she did
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more than just the code, didn't She She gave direct
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warnings too.
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, she wasn't just relying on subtlety. She was
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actively building a network of witnesses. She took her neighbor,
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Ryan Rhodes, he was a retired mechanic, aside, and she
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told him point blank something that became absolutely critical testimonial later.
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Speaker 1: What did she say?
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Speaker 2: She said, if something happens to me, look at Tashi
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and Todd.
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Speaker 3: They did it. No ambiguity there, none at all.
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Speaker 1: And she told others about the motive.
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Speaker 2: Yes, she confided in another close friend, laying out the
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financial pressure there after, the house, the money, everything, and
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crucially I've changed the will and they know it. Somehow
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she connected the danger directly to the whilchair, and.
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Speaker 1: She also mentioned other weird things happening, double medications, car breaks,
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feeling funny right.
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Speaker 2: These weren't just paranoid thoughts in her situation. They painted
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a picture of a sustained, possibly escalating campaign to harm her,
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maybe make it look like an accident or natural causes,
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subtle sabotage attempts.
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Speaker 1: While Judy is doing all this documenting warning friends using codes,
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Tashi and Todd aren't sitting idle. They know the will
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has changed, the clock is ticking.
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Speaker 2: They're doubling down, especially Tashia. The failure of the garage
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accident seems to have just made her more determined and
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maybe more reckless.
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Speaker 1: Which brings us to the phone call with Charles Adney.
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This provides that smoking gun for premeditation, doesn't it. It
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happens just eight days after the garage incident February twenty eighth.
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Speaker 2: This call is basically the prosecution's blueprint for intent. Charles Adney, remember,
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is Tasha's ex boyfriend, the father of her daughter, Tashi,
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calls him up with a straight up criminal proposition.
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Speaker 1: What was the offer?
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Speaker 2: She needed him to witness a forged will, a new
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will she'd created to completely undo Judy's changes and make
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her the beneficiary again. She offered him one thousand dollars
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cash for his signature.
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Speaker 1: And she specifically cut Todd out of this forged will
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because they were getting divorced.
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Speaker 2: Exactly, which is fascinating right. It shows her singular focus
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was getting the assets for herself, total betrayal even of
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her co conspirator, and during the call, she tells Adne
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to use her old alias the Missus, a personality like.
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Speaker 1: A con artist getting back in the game precisely.
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Speaker 2: But the most damning part, the truly horrifying part, was
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how she talked about the garage incident.
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Speaker 1: She bragged about it.
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Speaker 2: She bragged about it casually, chillingly. She told Adney, I
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dropped something on her head. She's bleeding out of her
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eyes and nose. That blood should be dead.
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Speaker 1: My god, Yeah, that's explicit.
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Speaker 2: It's irrefutable. Phone records prove the call happen, and Adney's
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testimony later laid it all out. It proved the garage
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incident wasn't an accident. Tashia knew about it or orchestrated it,
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and she absolutely intended for Judy to die.
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Speaker 1: So pulling it together, Judy's documentation showed the act in
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the garage was suspicious. Kasha's own words to Adney showed
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the intent behind it.
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Speaker 2: Was lethal exactly, and Tashia's scheming didn't stop there. Around
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the same time, she actually called Rolf, Judy's.
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Speaker 1: Ex husband, what does she want from him?
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Speaker 2: She was fishing for the combination to Judy's safe. She
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literally said something like Mom's gone. Now whatever's in there
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is mine.
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Speaker 1: She was already acting like Judy was dead.
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Speaker 2: Yes, treating the murder as a foregone conclusion, already claiming
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the inheritance. These calls, Adney's testimony, the warnings Judy gave,
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they became the absolute pillars of the prosecution's case, showing
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a clear, consistent, cold blooded plan.
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Speaker 1: So the plot is in motion. Judy knows she's in danger,
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but she still tries one last time. March third, twenty eleven,
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the day she died. She starts it with an act
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of well mothering.
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Speaker 2: It's incredibly poignant. She went grocery shopping that morning. Her
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granddaughter had asked for space, so she bought the ingredients
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and she baked chocolate chip cookies, Tashia's favorite, an olive branch,
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a final, maybe desperate olive branch. She left the cookies
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on the counter with a note. It said something like,
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we can work this out, honey. Family first, just a
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heartbreaking attempt to appeal to whatever connection.
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Speaker 1: Was left, but it wasn't received that way. Around noon,
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things escalated an argument.
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Speaker 2: A huge argument, apparently over money, again, shouting loud, thuds, crashes.
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The granddaughter, who was only seven, was nearby playing and
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heard it all, witnessed the.
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Speaker 1: Terror, and then the confrontation turned deadly.
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Speaker 2: Swiftly and brutally. Tashia went to a bedroom drawer, took
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out Rolf's point three to eight caliber revolver, which shouldn't
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have even been accessible like that, and shot Judy once
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in the chest.
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Speaker 1: Tashio later claimed self defense right that Judy came at her.
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Speaker 2: Yes, that was the core of her defense. She claimed
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Judy was in a drunken rage charging at her with
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a machete and an axe from the garage, an absolutely
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terrifying image if it were.
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Speaker 1: True, But the forensic evidence told a completely different story.
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Let's start with something. Judy was holding a file folder.
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Speaker 2: Yes, this is another one of those small crucial details.
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Beauty was holding a simple file folder, just had some
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utility bills inside. The fatal bullet actually passed through the
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folder before hitting.
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Speaker 1: Her, and she collapsed right there in the hallway.
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Speaker 2: Fell in the hallway. The cordless phone was found right
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beside her hands, suggesting maybe she was trying to call
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for help, not charging an attack mode.
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Speaker 1: Tashi's immediate reaction wasn't to help, but to cover up.
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Speaker 3: Instant cover up.
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Speaker 2: The granddaughter, terrified, actually managed to dial nine one one,
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but hung up immediately. That hang up call triggered a
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police dispatch.
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Speaker 1: Anyway, smart kid, even in panic.
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Speaker 3: Incredibly brave.
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Speaker 2: But before the police got there, Tashi told a neighbor
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who heard the shot that, uh, something blew up on
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the stove. A ridiculous lie.
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Speaker 1: And when the police arrived.
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Speaker 2: Her story changed to the officers. It became it was
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an accident. She came at me. The self defense narrative
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was forming, But.
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Speaker 1: The crime scene itself contured that narrative, didn't it. What
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did the detectives notice about the house?
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Speaker 3: This was key.
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Speaker 2: They walked into the Salmon Drive house and noted it
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was eerily tidy, especially the hallway where Judy lay tidy?
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Speaker 1: How is that evidence?
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Speaker 3: Think about it.
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Speaker 2: If someone is charging you in a rage, wielding a
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machete in an axe, there's going to be a violent struggle, right,
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Furniture knocked over, things smashed, total chaos.
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Speaker 1: Right, it would be a mess exactly.
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Speaker 2: But the scene was orderly, calm, almost staged. And those weapons,
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Tashi claimed Judy attacked her with the machete the ax.
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They were found later neatly stored untouched in the garage.
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The absence of chaos became powerful evidence against the self
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defense claim. It suggested calculation, not panic.
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Speaker 1: Okay, let's break down the other forensic evidence that just
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demolished the self defense story. Rolf, Judy's ex remembered her
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warnings and found Adne, who spilled the beans about the
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forgery plot. That gave motive. What did the autopsy show?
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Speaker 2: The autopsy done by doctor Daniel see Love was absolutely crucial.
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First toxicology, Judy's blood alcohol content zero zilch, So much
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for the drunken rage completely debunked. All they found were
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trace amounts of over the counter painkillers, probably for the
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concussion she got from Todd dropping the tub on her head.
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Speaker 1: Okay, what about the gunshot itself? The angle, the.
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Speaker 2: Distance Doctor c Left testified the shot was fired at
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close range, less than two feet, but critically, the bullet entry,
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wound and path showed Judy was shot in the back
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of her torso, and the angle suggested she was turning
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away from Tashia, not charging towards her mid stride, turning.
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Speaker 1: Away directly contradicting the claim.
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Speaker 2: She was attacking, completely incompatible of Tasha's story. And let's
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go back to that file folder Judy was holding.
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Speaker 1: Right, the one the bullet went through. What did that show?
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Speaker 2: Forensics looked closely at it. It had Judy's fingerprints and
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Tashia's too, which made sense given the close range. But
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there were no tears, no crumpling, no scuff marks beyond
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the bullethole itself if Judy had been wildly swinging weapons
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or charging forward, that folder would likely have been crushed
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or damaged in the struggle. Its relatively pristine condition, apart
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from the bullet hole, suggested she was holding it defensively,
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perhaps or just standing there turning away, not attacking. It
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was another silent witness against the self defense claim.
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Speaker 1: It really brings up that point again, doesn't it. Judy,
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even in her final moments, inadvertently provided evidence. We see
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circumstantial evidence alive, but this feels different. How often do
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victims leave behind such specific, almost purpose built evidence refuting
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the killer's story.
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Speaker 3: It's incredibly rare.
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Speaker 2: Usually the victim's actions are driven by pure survival instinct,
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fight or flight. Judy seemed to operate on a different level,
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a level of critical thinking, even under extreme duress. Her
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earlier documentation, the warnings, the code, and even the way
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she was found holding that folder, it all moved the
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case beyond just suspicion and circumstance. It gave the prosecution
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concrete facts that directly countered the lies. It truly made
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her that spectral witness guiding them to the truth.
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Speaker 1: Okay, so the evidence is overwhelming, PASCO PD which is
18:58
a smaller department, realized they had a major complex case
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and called in the Franklin County Sheriff's office for backup.
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Speaker 2: Standard procedure for a case is a serious pooling resources,
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and Tashia was quickly charged first degree murder for the
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shooting and also attempted first degree murder for the garage
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incident with the tub.
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Speaker 4: And they added aggravating factors too, Yes, several important ones.
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The firearm enhancement obviously, the fact it was a crime
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against a family member, and child endangerment because the granddaughter
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witnessed the violence. These factors for our listeners are crucial
19:30
because they legally increase the crime's severity and mandate longer
19:34
sentences if there's a conviction.
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Speaker 1: But before Tashi's trial, there was Tom Stewart's trial September
19:40
twenty twelve. He faced charges for the garage incident, conspiracy,
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and attempted murder. The prosecution had those wiretaff calls right
19:49
where he's talking about one down inheritance.
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Speaker 3: Next they did pretty damning stuff, you'd think.
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Speaker 1: So how on earth was he acquitted after just three days?
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The jury called it insufficient direct to evidence. If you
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have someone on tape basically discussing the plot and the motive.
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How is that not direct enough?
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Speaker 2: That's a really fair question, and it highlights how tricky
20:09
conspiracy charges can be. Todd's defense basically argued successfully. It
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seems that while the tapes showed Todd knew about the plot,
20:16
maybe hoped to benefit, they didn't directly prove he physically
20:19
participated in the act of pushing the tub, so.
20:21
Speaker 1: They couldn't place his hands on the tub.
20:23
Speaker 2: Essentially, essentially, there is no witness saying I saw Todd
20:26
push it. The tapes proved his guilty mind his intent
20:30
to conspire, maybe, but the standard for attempted murder requires
20:35
proving he took a substantial step towards committing the crime itself.
20:38
The jury, perhaps also influenced by his military background, felt
20:42
the connection was strong circumstantially, but didn't cross the threshold
20:46
of beyond a reasonable doubt for the action.
20:48
Speaker 1: Itself, so he walked free.
20:50
Speaker 2: He walked His marriage to Tashi was over by then anyway,
20:53
and he basically vanished, a frustrating outcome legally speaking for
20:57
many involved.
20:58
Speaker 1: Frustrating indeed, but it didn't stop the case against Tasha.
21:02
Her trial in twenty thirteen sounds like it was built
21:04
on an avalanche of evidence.
21:05
Speaker 3: It really was.
21:06
Speaker 2: The prosecutor Andrew Coolier, presented something like four hundred and
21:09
forty three separate pieces of evidence. Judy's own work, the calendar,
21:13
the photos from the garage were central, combined with the autopsy,
21:16
the ballistics, that file.
21:17
Speaker 1: Folder, and the testimony.
21:19
Speaker 2: Crucially, the testimony Ryan Rose recounting Judy's explicit warning look
21:24
at Tashia and Todd, Charles Adney detailing the forgery plot,
21:28
and Tasha's chilling boast about the tub incident. It was
21:32
like Judy herself was orchestrating the prosecution's case through the
21:36
evidence and witnesses she'd primed.
21:38
Speaker 1: Tashia's defense tried the self defense angle, citing her trauma history.
21:42
Speaker 2: Yes, her attorney J. S. Knight argued self defense, pointing
21:46
to her difficult upbringing and foster care, alleging a lifetime
21:49
of abuse, trying to frame her as a victim who
21:52
finally snapped. But Tashi herself never took the stand to testify, and.
21:57
Speaker 1: The evidence just didn't support it.
21:58
Speaker 2: Not even close. The sheer weight of the premeditation evidence,
22:02
the planned garage attack, the immediate attempt to forge the
22:05
will after that failed, plus all the forensic facts from
22:08
the shooting scene itself, like the bullet angle, no signs
22:10
of struggle, judy having zero alcohol in her system, it
22:14
just made the self defense claim completely fall apart.
22:16
Speaker 1: How long did the jury take.
22:17
Speaker 3: About eight and a half hours.
22:19
Speaker 2: They came back on July third, twenty thirteen, with guilty
22:22
verdicts on all counts, first degree murder, attempted, first agree murder.
22:26
Speaker 3: All of it.
22:27
Speaker 1: Sentencing followed in September. Judge Cameron Mitchell had to balance
22:31
tashi as troubled past with the brutality and calculation of
22:34
the crime.
22:35
Speaker 2: It's always a difficult balance for judges, but Judge Mitchell
22:38
came down hard, emphasizing the depth of the betrayal against
22:42
the mother who, by all accounts, had tried to give
22:45
her so much. Those aggravating factors we mentioned earlier really
22:49
kicked in.
22:49
Speaker 1: What was the final sense.
22:51
Speaker 2: Forty five years to be served consecutively. That broke down
22:55
to twenty years for the murder itself, fifteen years for
22:57
the attempted murder with the tub, and then an another
23:00
ten years stacked on for the firearm and family crime.
23:03
Speaker 3: Enhancements.
23:04
Speaker 2: She won't even be eligible for parole until she's eighty
23:06
two years old, a.
23:07
Speaker 1: Life sentence, effectively, And this brings us back to Judy,
23:10
the spectral witness. Tashia appealed, specifically trying to get Judy's
23:15
own warnings thrown out.
23:16
Speaker 2: Yes.
23:17
Speaker 3: The appeal in twenty fifteen focused on that.
23:19
Speaker 2: The defense argued that letting the jury hear what Judy
23:22
told Rolf Rhodes and other statements like they're trying to
23:24
kill me, it was improper hearsay. They claimed it violated
23:28
Tashi's sixth Amendment right to confront her accuser, citing legal
23:31
precedent like the Crawford ruling.
23:32
Speaker 1: How did the appeals court handle that? Because Judy obviously
23:36
couldn't be cross examined.
23:38
Speaker 2: The Washington Court of Appeals acknowledged the statements were hearsay,
23:41
but ruled they were admissible under established exceptions. They were
23:44
admitted to prove the ultimate fact that Tashia killed her,
23:47
but rather to show Judy's state of mind, her fear,
23:50
which was relevant and critically to establish motive and premeditation
23:55
on Tashi's part.
23:56
Speaker 1: So Judy's words backed up the physical evidence in the.
23:59
Speaker 2: Timeline exactly, The court essentially said, Judy's meticulous documentation, her photos,
24:04
her notes gave her spoken warning. It's extraordinary credibility. Judge
24:08
Laurel Sitaway's opinion specifically mentioned the evidence's atypical robustness, meaning
24:13
it was unusually strong, and called Judy's statements the voice
24:16
of victimhood itself. Her records proved her words weren't paranoia.
24:20
They were accurate observations of a deadly plot unfolding. The
24:24
conviction was upheld in June twenty seventeen.
24:26
Speaker 1: It's just incredible, the power of her foresight validated by
24:30
the highest courts. Rolf Hebert's statement at sentencing really sums
24:35
it all up, doesn't it. He looked at Tashi and said,
24:39
Judy's clues convicted you. She's still protecting us from the grave.
24:42
Speaker 2: It's the perfect encapsulation. And that protection went beyond just
24:46
getting justice. Judy's ultimate legacy was ensuring her granddaughter was
24:49
safe and cared for. Ralph and his new wife, Nicola,
24:52
raised the girl, who's now grown into a poised teenager.
24:56
Speaker 3: They fulfilled Judy's.
24:57
Speaker 1: Last wish and the pineapples.
24:58
Speaker 2: They kept the connection, the salm and drive. House was
25:01
eventually sold, but Ralph and Nicola honored Judy's memory by
25:04
planting pineapples in their own garden, a quiet, constant reminder
25:08
of the code, the foresight, and the love that ultimately
25:11
saved a child's future.
25:13
Speaker 3: Hashtag tag outro.
25:14
Speaker 1: What an incredible story. Judy Hebert fundamentally changed how we
25:17
think about a victim's role in their own justice. Let's
25:20
just quickly recap those core takeaways for you. First, that
25:23
amazing shift Judy made from potential victim to active detective
25:26
using just a simple camera in her kitchen calendar.
25:29
Speaker 2: Then there's the power of that code word pineapple. How
25:32
something so seemingly random became undeniable proof of her fear
25:36
and her warnings to others.
25:38
Speaker 1: And finally, the scene itself, How the lack of chaos
25:41
that early tidy house became evidence It pointed directly to
25:45
a calculated murder, completely undermining the frantic self defense story.
25:49
Speaker 2: This whole case, it's just a stunning example of clarity
25:53
under unimaginable pressure. Judy Hebert's story really underscores victim agency.
25:59
It's a powerful reminder that even when facing the absolute
26:02
worst kind of betrayal and danger. Things like critical thinking,
26:05
clear documentation, meticulous planning. They can cut through the noise
26:09
and ensure that truth comes out. She essentially armed the
26:12
justice system with whispers, with facts that spoke louder than
26:15
any denial.
26:16
Speaker 1: It makes you think, doesn't it.
26:17
Speaker 4: Yeah.
26:17
Speaker 1: We live in an aid saturated with tech, Cameras everywhere,
26:19
phones always recording. We often rely on that technology to
26:23
capture truth or danger. Judy used a ninety nine cent
26:26
disposable camera, calendar, and maybe most importantly, profound trust in
26:31
the people. She warned, So here's something to ponder as
26:34
you process this deep dive beyond all the technology. What
26:38
inherent human trait maybe that capacity for clear thought under pressure,
26:42
Maybe trust, maybe meticulousness. What trait do you trust most
26:46
to protect you when everything else might fail