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Teresita Basa Pt One · The Path Went Chilly

0:00
Speaker 1: Thank you.
0:31
Speaker 2: Welcome back to The Path Went Chilly. I'm Robin, and
0:33
Speaker 2: per usual, I'm going to be sharing the details about
0:36
Speaker 2: a case with Jules, and she will be giving off
0:38
Speaker 2: her live reaction. And last week, or the last two weeks,
0:41
Speaker 2: we did a Halloween-themed episode about the potential involvement in
0:45
Speaker 2: aliens in an unexplained death, and for our next two episodes,
0:48
Speaker 2: we're going to be doing another Halloween-themed story about the
0:51
Speaker 2: potential involvement of a ghost in a true crime case. So, Jules,
0:55
Speaker 2: are you familiar with the murder of Teresita Basa?
0:58
Speaker 1: This case is sounding really familiar to me. I don't
1:01
Speaker 1: know all the details, but I know when you start
1:03
Speaker 1: sharing it, it's going to ring all the bells.
1:06
Speaker 2: Well, this is a murder case that is technically solved,
1:08
Speaker 2: but the big unanswered question is how exactly was it solved,
1:12
Speaker 2: because it involved a nurse being stabbed to death who
1:15
Speaker 2: allegedly came back from the grave and used the body
1:18
Speaker 2: of a co-worker in order to share information about her killer,
1:21
Speaker 2: and the information actually did pay off and led to
1:24
Speaker 2: a suspect being arrested. This is one of the only
1:26
Speaker 2: documented cases from modern times where this has ever happened, So,
1:30
Speaker 2: of course, the big debate is, did she really come
1:32
Speaker 2: back from the grave, or could this have been some
1:35
Speaker 2: weird elaborate hoax that somehow managed to get a killer
1:39
Speaker 2: put in prison? I presume that you've seen the Patrick
1:41
Speaker 2: Swayze movie Ghost, right?
1:44
Speaker 1: I mean, who hasn't seen the Patrick Swayze movie Ghost,
1:47
Speaker 1: with Demi Moore as well?
1:49
Speaker 2: Yep, and I can't say for certain if this case
1:51
Speaker 2: actually inspired Ghost. I have never seen this confirmed or documented,
1:55
Speaker 2: but I can see a number of similarities, because if
1:57
Speaker 2: you remember the movie, it involves Patrick Swayze's character getting killed,
2:01
Speaker 2: and of course he finds out that his best friend
2:03
Speaker 2: was responsible for orchestrating it, and his girlfriend Demi Moore
2:07
Speaker 2: is in danger, so he wants to come back from
2:09
Speaker 2: the grave and warn her and try to catch the killer.
2:13
Speaker 2: And he does this by, uh, communicating with a psychic,
2:16
Speaker 2: played by Whoopi Goldberg, in order to use her as
2:19
Speaker 2: a conduit to convey information and help take some action
2:22
Speaker 2: in order to solve the crime. And this is essentially
2:25
Speaker 2: what happens in this case, where we have Teresita Basa
2:28
Speaker 2: using a real-life person as a conduit to solve her
2:31
Speaker 2: own murder. And I was introduced to it on Unsolved
2:34
Speaker 2: Mysteries in April of 1990, and I don't think it's
2:37
Speaker 2: a coincidence that the movie Ghost opened in theaters only
2:40
Speaker 2: three months later in July of that year. I think
2:42
Speaker 2: they were trying to capitalize what was going to be
2:45
Speaker 2: a huge Hollywood blockbuster by presenting kind of a real-life
2:48
Speaker 2: version of that story.
2:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, that checks out for me, for sure, because you've
2:53
Speaker 1: got a public who is primed for a story like this,
2:57
Speaker 1: and then you have Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore at
3:01
Speaker 1: the helm of this movie, and with Whoopi Goldberg as well,
3:04
Speaker 1: so it was bound to be a success. And also
3:07
Speaker 1: I will say that like that Whoopi Goldberg gif is
3:09
Speaker 1: one of my favorites. You in danger, girl. And maybe
3:13
Speaker 1: you haven't seen the movie, but you've probably seen the
3:16
Speaker 1: gif or gif, whatever you want to call it.
3:19
Speaker 2: Whatever you want to call it. Yeah, she actually won
3:21
Speaker 2: an Academy Award for this performance. And what's hilarious is
3:23
Speaker 2: her character is pretty much a charlatan pretending to be
3:25
Speaker 2: a psychic. Yet for Patrick Swayze, somehow he is able
3:29
Speaker 2: to communicate with her and her psychic gifts turn out
3:31
Speaker 2: to be legitimate. And of course, it terrifies her that
3:34
Speaker 2: a ghost is talking to her. Now she actually has
3:36
Speaker 2: to take some real action. So we never really talked
3:39
Speaker 2: about this, but I know when we did our series
3:41
Speaker 2: on Zygmunt Adamski, you said that you did have a
3:44
Speaker 2: belief that aliens existed. Do you kind of feel the
3:46
Speaker 2: same way about ghosts?
3:48
Speaker 1: One thousand percent. I've literally had my own experiences. I
3:52
Speaker 1: won't get into in details, but after people have passed
3:55
Speaker 1: where I feel as though I've been visited or been
3:57
Speaker 1: given information. So I believe that there is something beyond
4:01
Speaker 1: our realm of comprehension that science can not yet explain,
4:05
Speaker 1: but every advancement in science that happens, it seems so
4:09
Speaker 1: mysterious prior. Like everybody believed the world was flat until
4:13
Speaker 1: they figured out that it was round and can only
4:16
Speaker 1: hypothesize that certain things would happen, that there would be the,
4:19
Speaker 1: Like the Higgs boson was hypothesized as being an actual
4:23
Speaker 1: thing by Higgs. And then it turned out to be
4:27
Speaker 1: a real thing, but it wasn't provable at the time
4:29
Speaker 1: that he hypothesized it. So we're in this realm of
4:32
Speaker 1: hypothesizing that ghosts can be real, but it doesn't seem
4:36
Speaker 1: to be able to be proven by what we have
4:39
Speaker 1: available to us with science. I mean, you could watch
4:42
Speaker 1: Ghost Hunters and like Zach Bagans and like, maybe they'll
4:46
Speaker 1: tell you that it's real based on their spirit boxes. But,
4:49
Speaker 1: I mean, there's some shows where I believe that there
4:52
Speaker 1: is evidence of somebody who can speak to the other side.
4:56
Speaker 1: I can't remember what show it is. I used to
4:59
Speaker 1: watch it years ago, but Amy Allen was the psychic,
5:02
Speaker 1: and she would go to these homes that were haunted
5:04
Speaker 1: with this other investigator guy. He used to be a cop, and...
5:09
Speaker 1: They would go through the house and talk about all
5:11
Speaker 1: the different experiences and the entities that were there. And
5:14
Speaker 1: everything that she said felt so valid. And it didn't
5:18
Speaker 1: feel like she was a charlatan or the dead files
5:22
Speaker 1: is what it was called.
5:23
Speaker 2: Oh, that's a great title for it.
5:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really good. So yeah, I obviously believe in
5:28
Speaker 1: the existence of ghosts to have a long rambling response
5:31
Speaker 1: to you. What are your thoughts on ghosts?
5:34
Speaker 2: Well, of course, growing up, I was really into ghosts
5:36
Speaker 2: because of movies like Ghostbusters and stuff. And when I
5:39
Speaker 2: watched Unsolved Mysteries on TV, I was originally more attracted
5:42
Speaker 2: to the ghost stories and the UFO stories. And as
5:45
Speaker 2: I got older, I got more into the true crime stuff.
5:48
Speaker 2: And when I look back at a lot of these
5:49
Speaker 2: ghost stories, I try to find rational explanations for what happened.
5:53
Speaker 2: And many of these are just ones where people think
5:55
Speaker 2: that they've seen a specter or something like that. And
5:57
Speaker 2: a lot of the time, they seem like pretty rational,
5:59
Speaker 2: level-headed people who would not make up a story, so
6:02
Speaker 2: you can sense that they legitimately believe it. But this
6:05
Speaker 2: one is a rare example where a ghost sighting actually had, like,
6:08
Speaker 2: real-world consequences because it actually, like, changed, like, a situation
6:13
Speaker 2: in life. Like, this murder probably wouldn't have been solved,
6:15
Speaker 2: so when I try to think of a logical explanation
6:18
Speaker 2: which doesn't involve ghosts about how this particular story played out,
6:21
Speaker 2: I have a hard time doing it.
6:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense because if I do recall this
6:26
Speaker 1: story correctly, and I can't remember all the details, but
6:30
Speaker 1: I remember how I felt at the end based on
6:33
Speaker 1: the information that was given. And of course, I'm the
6:36
Speaker 1: type of person, given my pre-existing beliefs, that I'm much
6:40
Speaker 1: more inclined to view the evidence through a certain lens
6:44
Speaker 1: versus somebody who is a complete skeptic and doesn't believe.
6:48
Speaker 1: I'm skeptical when I hear of cases involving ghosts or
6:50
Speaker 1: the supernatural. I don't just automatically believe. I like to
6:53
Speaker 1: go where the evidence takes me. But this case was
6:57
Speaker 1: pretty compelling from what I recall.
7:00
Speaker 2: Yes, and I know that you've said that you've had
7:02
Speaker 2: your own paranormal experiences, but I haven't, unfortunately. I say
7:06
Speaker 2: that because as a kid, I always thought it would
7:07
Speaker 2: be fascinating to see a ghost, but I don't believe
7:09
Speaker 2: that I have. But I was one of those people
7:11
Speaker 2: who would like watch a scary ghost story and unsolved mysteries.
7:14
Speaker 2: And even though I'd never seen a ghost in my life,
7:16
Speaker 2: I would go to bed that night thinking, this is
7:19
Speaker 2: going to be the night where I'm finally going to
7:20
Speaker 2: see a ghost and be scared completely out of my skin.
7:23
Speaker 2: That's how you think when you're a kid.
7:25
Speaker 1: It's not too late, Robin. Maybe you'll still have one
7:27
Speaker 1: of those experiences.
7:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe tonight after we're done recording this. So this
7:33
Speaker 2: case takes place in Chicago in 1977, and the victim
7:36
Speaker 2: is Teresita Basa, who is 48 years old and emigrated
7:40
Speaker 2: to the United States from the Philippines during the 1960s,
7:44
Speaker 2: and now works as a respiratory therapist at Edgewater Hospital
7:47
Speaker 2: in Evanston, Illinois. On the evening of February the 21st,
7:51
Speaker 2: the fire department was summoned to Teresita's apartment building after
7:55
Speaker 2: smoke was seen coming from her apartment, And when the
7:58
Speaker 2: firefighters went inside, they saw a burning pile of clothing
8:01
Speaker 2: on top of a mattress in the middle of the
8:02
Speaker 2: living room, so the fire was quickly put out. But
8:05
Speaker 2: the firefighters were soon horrified to discover that Teresita's body
8:09
Speaker 2: was underneath the mattress and she had been stabbed in
8:11
Speaker 2: the chest with a butcher knife. and her clothing had
8:14
Speaker 2: been stripped from her body, and someone put the mattress
8:16
Speaker 2: on there and started the fire in order to destroy
8:18
Speaker 2: potential evidence. And of course, this completely baffled everyone who
8:22
Speaker 2: knew her, because Teresita was known for always being nice
8:25
Speaker 2: to people and not having the enemy in the world,
8:27
Speaker 2: so what kind of person would do this to her?
8:29
Speaker 1: Sounds like somebody who is full of anger. Like, if
8:33
Speaker 1: this was somebody who was a stranger, this is a
8:35
Speaker 1: very angry person, and we look at statistics all the
8:39
Speaker 1: time where it's typically going to be somebody who you
8:42
Speaker 1: know who is closer to you and maybe that would
8:44
Speaker 1: explain the rage and just the violence of it all
8:48
Speaker 1: and the finality to burn somebody is just it's such
8:52
Speaker 1: an egregious violation of the human body that it just
8:57
Speaker 1: it hits in a way that just it makes you
8:59
Speaker 1: feel so unsettled to think that poor Teresita had to
9:02
Speaker 1: endure this.
9:04
Speaker 2: And the idea that she had it happen to her
9:06
Speaker 2: in her own apartment, where you would think you would
9:08
Speaker 2: be safe when there are other people around, and someone
9:10
Speaker 2: was able to stab her to death and then set
9:13
Speaker 2: fire to her body and escape before the police arrived.
9:16
Speaker 2: Since there were no signs of forced entry, it was
9:18
Speaker 2: theorized that Terese had opened the door and let her
9:21
Speaker 2: killer inside, and a forensic examination would also reveal that
9:25
Speaker 2: she had been choked from behind before she was stabbed.
9:28
Speaker 2: so she was likely snuck up on and was completely
9:30
Speaker 2: not expecting it. Since her legs were spread apart, it
9:33
Speaker 2: was initially assumed that she had been sexually assaulted and
9:36
Speaker 2: that the perpetrator set fire to her body in order
9:38
Speaker 2: to destroy potential evidence, but surprisingly, during the autopsy, they
9:42
Speaker 2: discovered that Teresita was actually still a virgin, so they
9:46
Speaker 2: knew she had been sexually assaulted. So that answered another
9:49
Speaker 2: question is like, why did they set fire to her body?
9:52
Speaker 2: Could have this just been like a ploy to make
9:55
Speaker 2: it look like she was the victim of a rape
9:57
Speaker 2: in order to stir away from the real motive? But
10:00
Speaker 2: they couldn't figure out, like, what the motive was, because
10:02
Speaker 2: the apartment was ransacked, and even though a little bit
10:05
Speaker 2: of money was missing from Teresita's handbag, nothing appeared to
10:08
Speaker 2: have been stolen. So why did someone enter her apartment
10:11
Speaker 2: and kill her in such a brutal fashion, and what
10:14
Speaker 2: was the motive?
10:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, typically if there's a motive and it's such a
10:18
Speaker 1: rage-filled killing, we're going to look at love or money.
10:22
Speaker 1: And obviously if Teresita was still a virgin and she
10:25
Speaker 1: wasn't raped, it doesn't mean that that person wasn't obsessed
10:29
Speaker 1: with her or didn't have something to do with a
10:30
Speaker 1: romantic relationship just because there was nothing sexual going on.
10:35
Speaker 1: But like robbing the place of the few dollars that
10:37
Speaker 1: were there, that couldn't have been the primary motive. Because
10:40
Speaker 1: if it was, you're not going to go so far
10:42
Speaker 1: as to set her body on fire. If your objective
10:46
Speaker 1: is to rob, you're going to get what you can
10:48
Speaker 1: and get out. And even if you killed her, why
10:51
Speaker 1: would you set her on fire after the fact? It
10:53
Speaker 1: feels so cold and calculated.
10:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm sure there was like speculation. Could there
10:59
Speaker 2: be like a serial killer in the Chicago area? Was
11:02
Speaker 2: Teresita just targeted at random? But then again, it seemed
11:06
Speaker 2: like she let this person inside her apartment and you're
11:09
Speaker 2: thinking that it was someone that she knew. but they
11:11
Speaker 2: looked into Teresita's background, and it did not appear that
11:14
Speaker 2: there was anyone in her personal life that she was
11:16
Speaker 2: enemies with. The only potential clue at the scene was
11:20
Speaker 2: a memo Teresita had written, which read, quote, But they
11:25
Speaker 2: assigned a new investigator to the case, a detective named
11:28
Speaker 2: Joe Stahula, but he was unable to figure out who A.S.
11:31
Speaker 1: Was.
11:32
Speaker 2: He spoke to a doctor friend of Teresita's who said
11:35
Speaker 2: that she had been planning to sell off those tickets
11:38
Speaker 2: and had called her apartment at 7.10 p.m. that night,
11:42
Speaker 2: and in the middle of the call, Teresita suddenly answered
11:44
Speaker 2: the door and then told her friend it was someone
11:46
Speaker 2: who might buy the tickets. A couple minutes later, at 7.30,
11:50
Speaker 2: another friend of Teresita's phoned her and heard Teresita mention
11:53
Speaker 2: that a man was in her apartment at the time,
11:55
Speaker 2: but she did not say who it was. But it
11:57
Speaker 2: seemed obvious that whoever this person was was probably the killer,
12:01
Speaker 2: and that the crime probably occurred almost immediately after Teresita
12:05
Speaker 2: hung up. But even though it seemed logical that it
12:09
Speaker 2: was this A.S. and that he might have been there
12:11
Speaker 2: to collect theater tickets, no one could figure out who A.S. was. Wow.
12:16
Speaker 1: Okay, so someone's there to collect theater tickets, and this
12:19
Speaker 1: is what happens? It's blowing my mind that something so
12:24
Speaker 1: egregious was done to her. just the level of depravity
12:27
Speaker 1: it would take to commit a murder like this on
12:31
Speaker 1: somebody who is so well-liked and seemingly adored by all
12:34
Speaker 1: of those around her. It wasn't as though she was
12:37
Speaker 1: entangled in a love triangle or something like that. I mean,
12:42
Speaker 1: of course it's possible without any sexual activity, but it
12:46
Speaker 1: just seems unlikely. So trying to get to the crux
12:50
Speaker 1: of the why, like what was the motive here? It
12:54
Speaker 1: feels so opaque.
12:56
Speaker 2: And just the fact that this person was probably in
12:58
Speaker 2: the apartment when Teresita answered the phone and did seem
13:01
Speaker 2: alarmed by the fact that she was talking to someone
13:04
Speaker 2: else and said, there's a person in my apartment, a
13:06
Speaker 2: man in my apartment. So it makes you wonder, did
13:09
Speaker 2: something just go horribly wrong after the phone call ended? Like,
13:12
Speaker 2: did he show up there always planning to kill her?
13:14
Speaker 2: Or did he just suddenly go into a rage and
13:17
Speaker 2: decide to attack her and set her on fire? So
13:19
Speaker 2: Detective Stahula would say that for a while, this was
13:22
Speaker 2: the most baffling murder case he had ever worked, and
13:25
Speaker 2: that for the next five and a half months, the
13:26
Speaker 2: investigation went nowhere. But then he was contacted by the
13:30
Speaker 2: Evanston Police Department, who referred them to a couple who
13:33
Speaker 2: said that they had important information about the case and
13:36
Speaker 2: wanted to speak to the lead detective. So Stahula went
13:39
Speaker 2: to their place, and it turned out this was a
13:41
Speaker 2: couple who are also from the Philippines, like Teresita, and
13:45
Speaker 2: their names were Jose and Remibius Chua. At the time
13:48
Speaker 2: Teresita's murder originally took place, their names were all over
13:51
Speaker 2: the news accounts. Remibius, who went by Remy, was a
13:55
Speaker 2: co-worker of Teresita's and worked as an inhalation technician in
13:58
Speaker 2: the respiratory department at Edgewater Hospital, and Jose also worked
14:03
Speaker 2: as a surgical assistant at another hospital, so they're both
14:05
Speaker 2: very smart people who don't look like the type of
14:08
Speaker 2: individuals who would orchestrate some crazy hoax or make up
14:11
Speaker 2: a story. And even though Remy and Teresita had met before,
14:16
Speaker 2: and she had visited Teresita's apartment on at least one
14:18
Speaker 2: occasion for a party, they both worked on different shifts,
14:21
Speaker 2: so they were not close friends and really didn't know
14:24
Speaker 2: each other all that well. So when Detective Stahula showed
14:27
Speaker 2: up at the Chua residence, they said they had important
14:29
Speaker 2: information about Teresita's murder, but had been reluctant to say anything,
14:34
Speaker 2: fearing that their story was so bizarre that no one
14:36
Speaker 2: would ever believe it. But because Stuhula was stumped, he
14:39
Speaker 2: told them to share everything they knew, and that's when
14:42
Speaker 2: they finally revealed that Teresita had supposedly returned from the
14:46
Speaker 2: grave and took over Remy's body in order to reveal
14:49
Speaker 2: the identity of her killer.
14:52
Speaker 1: I find it so interesting, and I did remember this detail,
14:55
Speaker 1: of them both having the connection to the Philippines. When
14:58
Speaker 1: I lived in Malaysia, I met quite a few people
15:00
Speaker 1: who were from the Philippines, and a lot of them
15:02
Speaker 1: were very spiritual people. So I'm wondering if the connection
15:06
Speaker 1: has anything to do with them being very spiritual or
15:09
Speaker 1: having the shared culture. And I don't know if they
15:12
Speaker 1: shared a religion, but I think it's very interesting that
15:14
Speaker 1: she chose somebody from her home country to be that
15:18
Speaker 1: vessel for her. If you are to believe that this
15:21
Speaker 1: was indeed the ghost of Teresita, as I personally do, then...
15:25
Speaker 1: I think that it is significant. It's something that we
15:28
Speaker 1: can't discard or slough off that she was from the Philippines.
15:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, like, if you believe it was Teresita's ghost, you
15:35
Speaker 2: might wonder, why didn't she choose, like, a friend of hers,
15:38
Speaker 2: someone she was close to? Because even though they worked
15:40
Speaker 2: at the same hospital, they worked on different shifts, like
15:43
Speaker 2: I mentioned, so, like, they barely knew each other, but
15:45
Speaker 2: that could be, like, a cultural thing, or... Maybe that's why, like,
15:48
Speaker 2: the Chuhas decided to, if they made up this story,
15:51
Speaker 2: do it in such an elaborate fashion. Maybe they just
15:54
Speaker 2: felt that we can't just come forward and say that
15:57
Speaker 2: we know information about who the killer is without providing proof,
16:01
Speaker 2: so we're just going to come up with the most
16:02
Speaker 2: elaborate way in order to share this with police.
16:05
Speaker 1: I think you have to, if you were, like, think
16:08
Speaker 1: of yourself in Teresita's position. If you are in some
16:12
Speaker 1: kind of purgatory and you want your murder solved, you
16:15
Speaker 1: are going to choose somebody who you think is going
16:18
Speaker 1: to validate the message that you're basically running through them
16:23
Speaker 1: and making clear. And I think she could have chosen
16:26
Speaker 1: other people. Maybe people were closer to her. But this
16:29
Speaker 1: was the person that she believed would be able to
16:32
Speaker 1: receive the message that she was giving. And I don't
16:35
Speaker 1: think that every person in the same situation would respond
16:39
Speaker 1: in the same way and go to law enforcement. Some
16:41
Speaker 1: people would be embarrassed because there's a stigma.
16:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that's what happened with the Chua's,
16:46
Speaker 2: is as we're going to talk about, Remy would allegedly
16:49
Speaker 2: be possessed by Teresita multiple times before she went to
16:53
Speaker 2: the police, and they pretty much had the mindset, well,
16:55
Speaker 2: if you want us to do this, we have to provide, like,
16:57
Speaker 2: real evidence and not just, like, hearsay if we want
17:00
Speaker 2: to get the police to take this seriously. So, according
17:03
Speaker 2: to Remy, two weeks after Teresita's murder, she was working
17:06
Speaker 2: an overnight shift at the hospital and had a conversation
17:09
Speaker 2: with a co-worker who stated, quote, Well, later that same shift,
17:23
Speaker 2: Remy went to the locker room to take a nap
17:25
Speaker 2: when she claimed that she suddenly woke up to see
17:27
Speaker 2: Teresita's ghost standing over her, and of course, Remy fled
17:31
Speaker 2: the room completely terrified.
17:33
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, if you're not used to seeing ghosts, I
17:36
Speaker 1: can imagine that that would be a very terrifying encounter.
17:40
Speaker 1: And did Remy say that she recognized Teresita or was
17:43
Speaker 1: it just this apparition and she was scared and ran?
17:46
Speaker 2: No, she said it was Teresita, that like she did
17:49
Speaker 2: recognize her. And I'm thinking that if she's telling the
17:51
Speaker 2: truth and literally said that line, she can come to
17:53
Speaker 2: me in a dream, I'm not afraid, and then have
17:55
Speaker 2: this happen to you like on the very, like a
17:57
Speaker 2: couple hours later, that would definitely be terrifying. And she
18:01
Speaker 2: was certain that, no, this was not just a vivid
18:03
Speaker 2: dream I had. I legitimately woke up and saw Teresita's
18:06
Speaker 2: ghost in the same room as me. So over the
18:09
Speaker 2: course of the next few weeks, Remy's husband and her
18:12
Speaker 2: co-workers said that they noticed a change in her personality.
18:15
Speaker 2: At least two employees from the hospital told Remy that
18:18
Speaker 2: she was starting to act more like Teresita because it
18:21
Speaker 2: sounded like she was mimicking her voice, her mannerisms, and
18:24
Speaker 2: her everyday routine. For example, Remy would... now sit at
18:27
Speaker 2: Teresita's favorite spot in the cafeteria and sing as she
18:30
Speaker 2: was eating like Teresita used to do. And Remy would
18:34
Speaker 2: claim that I had no idea what Teresita's favorite spot was.
18:37
Speaker 2: I didn't know that she sang. So obviously I'm not
18:39
Speaker 2: doing this like subconsciously. I'm not aware of what I'm doing.
18:43
Speaker 2: So it's like if I'm actually copying Teresita's routine, I'm
18:47
Speaker 2: definitely not doing it on purpose. So things began to
18:50
Speaker 2: escalate months later when Remy and Jose were in bed
18:53
Speaker 2: together and he thought that she heard Remy muttering the
18:55
Speaker 2: name Al in her sleep. And when Remy woke up,
18:58
Speaker 2: she said that she had experienced a very vivid dream
19:01
Speaker 2: about being in a smoke-filled room and thought that Teresita
19:05
Speaker 2: was trying to send her some sort of message, but
19:07
Speaker 2: she had no memory of saying the word Al in
19:09
Speaker 2: her sleep.
19:11
Speaker 1: This is becoming creepy and unsettling in the sense that
19:14
Speaker 1: their personalities are almost merging while she's awake, too. It
19:18
Speaker 1: reminds me of, I'm sure you've heard stories of organ
19:22
Speaker 1: transplant people who receive either a heart or lungs or
19:27
Speaker 1: some kind of tissue. And then they start taking on
19:29
Speaker 1: the characteristics of the individual who died, who donated the
19:35
Speaker 1: organ to them. Have you heard any of these stories?
19:38
Speaker 2: I think so, yeah. I think Unsolved Mysteries have even
19:40
Speaker 2: done segments about this, where they think they've had the
19:43
Speaker 2: spirit of someone who saved their life or gave them
19:46
Speaker 2: a medical procedure, and it feels like they've taken on
19:48
Speaker 2: their personalities. and this seems like the same thing only
19:52
Speaker 2: remi is doing uh like uh the routine of someone
19:55
Speaker 2: that she barely knew and could not have possibly known
19:58
Speaker 2: like her mannerisms or what she usually did on a
20:00
Speaker 2: shift because like i said they worked on totally different
20:02
Speaker 2: shifts while teresita was alive So the night after Remy
20:07
Speaker 2: had this dream, she took a strong sedative and was
20:09
Speaker 2: napping in her bedroom when Jose noticed that she started
20:12
Speaker 2: speaking in Tagalog, which was one of the languages of
20:15
Speaker 2: the Philippines. And while the Chuhas did know the Tagalog language,
20:19
Speaker 2: Jose was surprised to hear Remy speaking in what sounded
20:22
Speaker 2: like a Spanish accent that he had never heard before,
20:25
Speaker 2: and he did not think it sounded like Remy's voice.
20:28
Speaker 2: And then Jose said that he heard Remy state that
20:30
Speaker 2: her name was Teresita Bassa, and she said, quote, I
20:33
Speaker 2: want help. Nothing has been done about the man who
20:36
Speaker 2: killed me, end quote. When Remy woke up, she claimed
20:39
Speaker 2: to have no memory of having spoken any of this
20:41
Speaker 2: to her husband, who said that she appeared to be
20:44
Speaker 2: in a trance-like state while all this was going on.
20:47
Speaker 2: And even though Remy personally knew Teresita Bassa, this was
20:50
Speaker 2: the first time Jose had ever heard her name, so...
20:53
Speaker 2: He was left completely confused. Why is my wife saying
20:56
Speaker 2: the name of this person that I don't even know?
20:59
Speaker 2: And it did turn out that Teresita did grow up
21:01
Speaker 2: speaking Tagalog in the Filipino city of Dumaguete. Just to
21:06
Speaker 2: provide some context, Tagalog is an ethnic and regional language
21:09
Speaker 2: spoken about a quarter of the population of the Philippines,
21:13
Speaker 2: whereas Filipino is their designated national and official language, so
21:17
Speaker 2: it would be very out of the ordinary to hear
21:19
Speaker 2: someone speaking Tagalog in America, which is why Jose was
21:23
Speaker 2: so confused. He said that Remy did know Tagalog, but
21:25
Speaker 2: it's not something she would ever use in like a
21:27
Speaker 2: normal conversation.
21:29
Speaker 1: That's really interesting. It's sort of like Mandarin and Cantonese, right?
21:34
Speaker 1: Where it's going to give you a pretty good idea
21:37
Speaker 1: of where somebody is from if they're going to speak Cantonese.
21:41
Speaker 1: So I think that Jose must have been really scared
21:47
Speaker 1: because I can't imagine what it would be like having
21:49
Speaker 1: your partner wake up in a trance-like state and say
21:53
Speaker 1: they're a completely different person, and then nothing's been done
21:56
Speaker 1: about their murder. And how would you grapple with that?
22:00
Speaker 1: How would you accept that? Do you think that your
22:02
Speaker 1: wife is just having some strange dream where she's taking
22:05
Speaker 1: on the characteristics of Teresita, who she worked with, and
22:09
Speaker 1: maybe she's just going through a really stressful period? Or
22:12
Speaker 1: are you open to the idea that this could be
22:15
Speaker 1: the ghost of Teresita?
22:18
Speaker 2: Well, it sounds like Jose was very skeptical at first, but, like,
22:21
Speaker 2: then again, because Remy didn't know Teresita all that well,
22:24
Speaker 2: I'm sure he's wondering, how did he know what language
22:26
Speaker 2: she spoke? Like, how was he able to, like, imitate
22:29
Speaker 2: her mannerisms and speak in an accent that sounded like her?
22:32
Speaker 2: But two days later, the incident repeated itself, as Jose
22:36
Speaker 2: once again said that she noticed Remy speak in a
22:38
Speaker 2: different voice and claiming that she was Teresita Bassa, but
22:43
Speaker 2: this time she finally shared the name of the person
22:45
Speaker 2: who had murdered her, which was Alan Showery, which, of course,
22:48
Speaker 2: as you figured out, was A.S., the initials that were
22:51
Speaker 2: written on that note found in Teresita's apartment. She told
22:55
Speaker 2: Jose that he needed to go to the police with
22:57
Speaker 2: this information, and once again, when Remy woke up, she
22:59
Speaker 2: claimed to have no memory of any of this, but
23:02
Speaker 2: she actually did know the name Alan Showery because he
23:05
Speaker 2: worked as a respiratory technician at Edgewater Hospital alongside Teresita.
23:10
Speaker 2: And interestingly enough, on the very same day that Remy
23:12
Speaker 2: had her vivid dream where she muttered the name Al
23:15
Speaker 2: in her sleep, She had actually crossed paths with Alan
23:18
Speaker 2: Showery at work and claimed that she just suddenly started
23:21
Speaker 2: experiencing an inexplicable panic attack while he was standing behind her.
23:26
Speaker 1: That's interesting. And so you've got to wonder, is it
23:29
Speaker 1: because Teresita is hovering somewhere nearby and giving her the
23:34
Speaker 1: idea that this person should have you unsettled? Or is
23:37
Speaker 1: it just a sense that there's something creepy and malicious
23:42
Speaker 1: about this man? Or is it because of the new
23:46
Speaker 1: information that she has. So now she's got this weird
23:49
Speaker 1: vibe from him and she can't shake it.
23:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's going to be one of the big unanswered
23:54
Speaker 2: questions about this case, because if you don't believe that
23:56
Speaker 2: Teresita's ghost comes back, you have to wonder what Remy's
24:00
Speaker 2: motive was. Was she half her secret suspicions about Alan Showery,
24:04
Speaker 2: like figured that he was probably capable of murder and
24:06
Speaker 2: wanted to tell the police, but didn't want to do
24:09
Speaker 2: so without any hard evidence? So She decided to concoct
24:12
Speaker 2: this story about being possessed by Teresita and suffering these
24:15
Speaker 2: panic attacks in his presence. And that's when she felt
24:18
Speaker 2: it was okay to, like, inform law enforcement. I always
24:21
Speaker 2: wondered if it was kind of a cultural thing where
24:23
Speaker 2: someone from the Philippines thinks you do not accuse someone of, like,
24:27
Speaker 2: a crime unless you have absolute proof. So she's thinking, well,
24:31
Speaker 2: I'm going to come up with this other way to, like,
24:33
Speaker 2: share his name with the police without actually saying that
24:36
Speaker 2: I was the one who shared it.
24:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's altogether possible that She might have thought that
24:43
Speaker 1: this is a good avenue to pursue if, you know,
24:46
Speaker 1: she had these feelings about Alan. But I'm just much
24:50
Speaker 1: more inclined to believe that, like, law enforcement's going to
24:54
Speaker 1: receive this weirdly. Like, you come to them with this
24:57
Speaker 1: psychic vision where the body's been overtaken. Remy's body's been
25:02
Speaker 1: overtaken by the ghost of Teresita. And, like, her and
25:05
Speaker 1: Jose have to talk about this to law enforcement. Like,
25:07
Speaker 1: that just feels so awkward. rather than just going with
25:12
Speaker 1: your suspicions and saying, look, I don't know if there's
25:15
Speaker 1: anything to this. And like you said, maybe there's a
25:17
Speaker 1: cultural component. Maybe there's something that I'm missing, but it
25:21
Speaker 1: feels like it would be more comfortable to just speak
25:24
Speaker 1: the truth if the truth was you just got a
25:27
Speaker 1: weird vibe from him. You thought he might be responsible.
25:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I can understand why. And one of the
25:32
Speaker 2: reasons that Detective Stahula would take a story seriously is
25:36
Speaker 2: that I do not believe the detail about the notepad
25:38
Speaker 2: that said get theater tickets for A.S. was released publicly.
25:42
Speaker 2: So once he hears this story and they print out
25:44
Speaker 2: by the initials of a co-worker of Teresita's with the
25:48
Speaker 2: initials A.S., he thinks, hmm, I should look into this.
25:51
Speaker 2: But of course, because I don't think Remy and Jose
25:53
Speaker 2: knew about this note that it was evidence of the case,
25:56
Speaker 2: that's probably why they just didn't come forward earlier and
25:59
Speaker 2: give Alan Chowry's name to the police.
26:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense.
26:03
Speaker 2: So in spite of this, the Chuhas did not contact
26:06
Speaker 2: the police, but after that, Jose witnessed Remy experience another
26:10
Speaker 2: so-called possession where she started speaking in a different voice
26:13
Speaker 2: while she was sleeping. And when this voice asked Jose
26:16
Speaker 2: why he had not gone to the police, he replied
26:18
Speaker 2: that I'm not going to do this without proof. So
26:21
Speaker 2: he then witnessed Remy and Teresita's voice say that Showery
26:24
Speaker 2: had stolen Teresita's jewelry and given it to his girlfriend.
26:28
Speaker 2: And this is the crazy part, she also provided the
26:31
Speaker 2: names of four people, two of whom were Teresita's family members,
26:34
Speaker 2: who could supposedly identify this jewelry as belonging to her,
26:38
Speaker 2: and she even gave out the phone number for one
26:40
Speaker 2: of these people. And after this, the Chua's finally said, okay,
26:43
Speaker 2: I think we have enough evidence here, let's contact the police. Uh, yeah.
26:48
Speaker 1: When we're seeing jewelry, it's like he's collecting trophies. So
26:52
Speaker 1: I think that would be enough to raise the alarm bells.
26:56
Speaker 1: And Alan Showery isn't looking so great.
27:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. And that kind of blows my mind, though,
27:02
Speaker 2: the detail about, like, Remy, like, providing the phone numbers
27:07
Speaker 2: for some of Teresita's family members and acquaintances who the
27:10
Speaker 2: police can contact. Because this is 1977. You just can't
27:13
Speaker 2: go on the internet. in order to, like, look up
27:16
Speaker 2: people's phone numbers, and considering that Remy did not know
27:19
Speaker 2: all that much about Teresita and her personal life, if
27:21
Speaker 2: this was a hoax, she would have had to have
27:23
Speaker 2: done a hell of a lot of research in order
27:25
Speaker 2: to concoct it.
27:26
Speaker 1: Oh my god, if this was a hoax, like, how
27:28
Speaker 1: would she have obtained this information? Like you said, it's
27:31
Speaker 1: in the 1970s. She wouldn't have had access to, what,
27:34
Speaker 1: anything but a phone book, but how would she have
27:36
Speaker 1: even known the names of the people to look up?
27:38
Speaker 1: Because her and Teresita weren't close, so... The level of
27:42
Speaker 1: detail required to be able to hoax something like this
27:45
Speaker 1: is astronomical. And we know that Remy works at a hospital.
27:50
Speaker 1: She isn't like a private investigator or work for a
27:53
Speaker 1: three-letter agency or some kind of spy. So I just
27:56
Speaker 1: don't think that her ability to be able to obtain
27:58
Speaker 1: information on this level would have been adequate to pull
28:02
Speaker 1: something like that off.
28:05
Speaker 2: So as you can imagine, when Detective Stahula heard this story,
28:07
Speaker 2: he was taken by complete surprise, but he was willing
28:10
Speaker 2: to hear them out, particularly, of course, since he heard
28:13
Speaker 2: the name Alan Showery, which matched the initials A.S. So
28:16
Speaker 2: he tried to trip up the Chua's to see if
28:18
Speaker 2: he could catch them in a lie, because he asked
28:20
Speaker 2: Jose if he had witnessed Remy say that Teresita had
28:24
Speaker 2: been raped, but Jose claimed that he hadn't, and of
28:27
Speaker 2: course that turned out to be true because it turned
28:29
Speaker 2: out Teresita was still a virgin. And he was also
28:31
Speaker 2: intrigued by the claim that Teresita's jewelry had been stolen
28:35
Speaker 2: because that was a piece of information the police had
28:37
Speaker 2: not figured out yet. I mean, they noticed that some
28:40
Speaker 2: of Teresita's money was missing from her purse, but because
28:43
Speaker 2: they didn't have a full inventory of her jewelry, they
28:46
Speaker 2: never really noticed that anything was missing. So Stahula decided,
28:50
Speaker 2: I'm going to look into this. And when he was
28:52
Speaker 2: interviewed about this on Unsolved Mysteries years later, he said, well,
28:55
Speaker 2: I didn't have any other strong leads, so he was
28:57
Speaker 2: still going to hear the chuhas out. And he shared
29:00
Speaker 2: this quote, As a police investigator, particularly a homicide investigator,
29:05
Speaker 2: I've come across many strange things, but I have learned
29:07
Speaker 2: from years of experience to keep an open mind, end quote.
29:11
Speaker 1: Well, I guess the fact that he's got an open
29:13
Speaker 1: mind is a positive when you're not going to definitively
29:17
Speaker 1: shut down the supernatural element and you're going to stay
29:20
Speaker 1: open to the possibility that there are things that are
29:23
Speaker 1: outside our realm of comprehension or our ability to understand.
29:28
Speaker 1: And that doesn't mean that they're invalid or that they
29:30
Speaker 1: didn't happen. It just means that we don't have the
29:33
Speaker 1: current framework or our current framework isn't adequate to explain.
29:38
Speaker 1: So I think that's a good attitude for an investor.
29:40
Speaker 1: to have in general.
29:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, because he was at the end of his rope.
29:44
Speaker 2: He didn't have any other leads. And I think there
29:46
Speaker 2: are probably some detectives who probably just would have laughed
29:48
Speaker 2: the chewers off and not bothered to look into this.
29:51
Speaker 2: But he said that, no, I'm going to check into
29:53
Speaker 2: Alan Showery's background. And Turned out that Showery did have
29:57
Speaker 2: an arrest record in the past for such crimes as
29:59
Speaker 2: burglary and rape, though it doesn't sound like any of
30:02
Speaker 2: the cases held because he was never actually convicted for anything,
30:05
Speaker 2: but of course, those were some red flags. It turned
30:08
Speaker 2: out that Showery only lived four blocks away from Teresita's
30:11
Speaker 2: apartment building, and after questioning the staff at Edgewater Hospital,
30:15
Speaker 2: Stahula learned that Showery had been planning to visit Teresita's
30:19
Speaker 2: apartment on the night she was murdered in order to
30:22
Speaker 2: repair her television set. So Stahula brought Showery in for questioning,
30:26
Speaker 2: and he stated and he confirmed that while Teresita had
30:30
Speaker 2: asked him to stop by and repair her TV... On
30:32
Speaker 2: the evening she was killed, he had forgotten and gone
30:35
Speaker 2: to a bar instead. So Stahula tried to call his
30:38
Speaker 2: bluff by saying that, asking Showery if he wouldn't mind
30:41
Speaker 2: providing fingerprint samples because he wanted to compare them with
30:44
Speaker 2: fingerprints found at the apartment, and this prompted Showery to
30:47
Speaker 2: change his story. He now said that, oh, I actually
30:51
Speaker 2: did go to the apartment that night, but claimed that
30:53
Speaker 2: he did not have the proper circuit plan for that television,
30:56
Speaker 2: so he left without repairing it and then returned home.
30:59
Speaker 2: But he maintained that, This took place before Teresita was
31:02
Speaker 2: killed and denied any involvement in the murder. But obviously
31:06
Speaker 2: that's a bad sign that he would change his story
31:08
Speaker 2: once he hears that, oh, we're checking fingerprints found at
31:10
Speaker 2: the apartment. So he was obviously paranoid that they would
31:13
Speaker 2: be found there and wanted to come up with a
31:15
Speaker 2: new story to account for it.
31:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, one thing that we do know about the truth
31:21
Speaker 1: is that the truth doesn't change. The truth doesn't evolve
31:24
Speaker 1: over time. The truth is a truth is a truth
31:27
Speaker 1: when you're looking at statement analysis. So, The fact that
31:30
Speaker 1: he is changing his story tells you that there's some
31:32
Speaker 1: deception and that Alan Showery is hiding something. So, yeah,
31:37
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised that he changed what he told investigators
31:40
Speaker 1: because he was looking very suspicious and he's trying to
31:43
Speaker 1: distance himself as much as he can while giving enough
31:47
Speaker 1: information to explain why somebody may have seen him there
31:51
Speaker 1: or that Teresita had written that A.S. was coming over
31:54
Speaker 1: for the theater ticket.
31:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it just seems kind of weird that he
31:58
Speaker 2: never told this, like, during the original investigation. I mean,
32:02
Speaker 2: I know that they never directly approached him to interview him,
32:05
Speaker 2: but you'd think that if he heard that one of
32:07
Speaker 2: your co-workers was murdered and that it took place on
32:09
Speaker 2: the apartment, like, on the same night you had been there,
32:12
Speaker 2: you'd want to come forward to the police and share
32:14
Speaker 2: what you know, just to, at least to rule yourself
32:16
Speaker 2: out as a suspect. But he's not saying anything until
32:19
Speaker 2: Detective Stahula approaches him.
32:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels very suspicious to me. It feels like
32:26
Speaker 1: you're holding back. You have this information. You were there.
32:30
Speaker 1: She's written about you being there. The fact that you
32:33
Speaker 1: are trying to distance yourself, it potentially says that you
32:37
Speaker 1: might have some involvement. Or, I mean, there's a myriad
32:41
Speaker 1: of reasons why somebody may not want to speak to
32:43
Speaker 1: law enforcement that aren't they are the murderer. But in
32:47
Speaker 1: this case, it's not looking good for Al.
32:49
Speaker 2: Definitely not.
32:50
Speaker 1: No.
32:51
Speaker 2: So Stahula then decided to contact Shaori's girlfriend named Yanka Kamluk,
32:57
Speaker 2: and she was eight months pregnant at the time and
32:59
Speaker 2: living with him, and he wanted to verify the Chua's
33:02
Speaker 2: claim that Shaori had given her some of Teresita's jewelry.
33:06
Speaker 2: And believe it or not, Kamluk did confirm that Shaori
33:09
Speaker 2: had given her a pendant and an antique cocktail ring
33:12
Speaker 2: a short time after the murder. So Stahula actually brought
33:16
Speaker 2: in the relatives and friends of Teresita that Remy had
33:19
Speaker 2: named during her alleged possession and asked them to look
33:22
Speaker 2: at the jewelry, and sure enough, they identified it as
33:25
Speaker 2: belonging to Teresita. One of them was a jade pendant
33:28
Speaker 2: from the Philippines, and also the cocktail ring had been
33:32
Speaker 2: purchased in Teresita by Teresita's father as a gift. So, yeah,
33:37
Speaker 2: this is the part that kind of blows my mind,
33:39
Speaker 2: that Remy would call this so accurately and be able
33:42
Speaker 2: to find four people who would know the jewelry that
33:44
Speaker 2: was stolen and be able to say that they would
33:46
Speaker 2: recognize it and identify it. And I just don't know how,
33:50
Speaker 2: if this was a hoax, Remy would have been able
33:51
Speaker 2: to pull this off unless she just got very, very lucky.
33:55
Speaker 1: I don't think that has anything to do with luck.
33:57
Speaker 1: I think if you look at the probability that she
34:00
Speaker 1: would be able to find this information... that she would
34:03
Speaker 1: even know the names of these relatives who would be
34:06
Speaker 1: able to identify this jewelry in the 1970s. How would
34:10
Speaker 1: she know? She wasn't close with Teresita. She wouldn't have
34:14
Speaker 1: had access to any of this information. I think it
34:18
Speaker 1: is so improbable that she could have known this information
34:22
Speaker 1: except from Teresita. And so for that reason, I'm much
34:26
Speaker 1: more inclined to believe that The information did indeed come
34:30
Speaker 1: from Teresita. And I welcome any of you to come
34:33
Speaker 1: up with an alternate explanation that would make more sense.
34:37
Speaker 1: It was like the Zygmunt Adamski case, right? Like if
34:40
Speaker 1: it wasn't aliens, like please, we welcome another explanation that
34:43
Speaker 1: makes sense here, but there just really isn't any.
34:47
Speaker 2: I mean, one explanation I've seen skeptics bring up is
34:50
Speaker 2: the fact that maybe, like, she crossed paths with Alan
34:52
Speaker 2: Chowdhury's girlfriend and recognized some of the jewelry she was
34:55
Speaker 2: wearing as belonging to Teresita. But, like I said, they
34:59
Speaker 2: weren't close friends, and I don't know if Teresita ever
35:01
Speaker 2: wore this to work. I know that she had visited
35:03
Speaker 2: Teresita's apartment on a previous occasion. But I don't think
35:06
Speaker 2: she's going to memorize all these specific pieces of jewelry
35:09
Speaker 2: she's seen. I mean, just think about your friends. Are
35:12
Speaker 2: you going to be able to remember all the jewelry
35:14
Speaker 2: they've worn months after the fact when talking to police?
35:18
Speaker 1: Maybe if it's a good friend and it's a piece
35:20
Speaker 1: of jewelry they wear all the time. But most people
35:23
Speaker 1: who work in a hospital aren't wearing a lot of jewelry.
35:26
Speaker 1: So the idea that Remy would be recognizing Teresita's jewelry
35:31
Speaker 1: and that she would have these amazing astute powers of
35:35
Speaker 1: observation that surpass the average human, I think is unlikely.
35:39
Speaker 1: And then when we couple it with how she got
35:43
Speaker 1: the information to contact the family members, how do skeptics
35:46
Speaker 1: explain that?
35:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, like that just seems very improbable to me that
35:50
Speaker 2: she would accurately predict that these family members were going
35:52
Speaker 2: to be able to identify it. And that's the main
35:55
Speaker 2: reason like the police were able to like make a
35:57
Speaker 2: case out of this is because I don't think they
35:59
Speaker 2: would have been able to prove that this was Teresita's jewelry.
36:02
Speaker 2: unless these friends and family members had been able to
36:04
Speaker 2: positively identify it. So after this, Tuhula proceeded to bring
36:09
Speaker 2: in Shaori for interrogation again, and informed him that Teresita's
36:13
Speaker 2: jewelry had been found with his girlfriend and identified, and
36:17
Speaker 2: this finally prompted him to make a full confession. So
36:20
Speaker 2: Shaori claimed that at the time of the murder he
36:22
Speaker 2: was in financial trouble and behind on his bills, and
36:25
Speaker 2: since Teresita had once generously tipped him, for helping run
36:29
Speaker 2: errands in the past, he was under the impression that
36:31
Speaker 2: she carried a lot of cash, so he dreamed up
36:34
Speaker 2: a plan to rob her. He claimed that Teresita let
36:37
Speaker 2: him inside the apartment, but he then proceeded to attack
36:40
Speaker 2: her from behind by choking her into unconsciousness before stabbing
36:44
Speaker 2: her to death with one of her kitchen knives. When
36:46
Speaker 2: he checked her handbag, he was disappointed to discover that
36:49
Speaker 2: she only had $ 30 in there, so that's why he
36:52
Speaker 2: also looked around and decided to steal her jewelry. He
36:56
Speaker 2: then proceeded to tear off Teresita's clothing, spread her legs apart,
36:59
Speaker 2: and then covered her nude body with a mattress before
37:02
Speaker 2: setting the clothing and the mattress on fire. He just
37:05
Speaker 2: hoped that the police would assume that the murder was
37:08
Speaker 2: a sex crime and that the burning mattress was an
37:10
Speaker 2: attempt to destroy physical evidence, but he did not anticipate
37:13
Speaker 2: that the autopsy would reveal that Teresita was still a virgin,
37:17
Speaker 2: which would completely destroy that idea, and that's how they
37:20
Speaker 2: were able to eventually figure out that a robbery was
37:23
Speaker 2: the real motive for this crime. But once you hear
37:25
Speaker 2: the full details of how this happened, it just seems
37:27
Speaker 2: incredibly brutal and senseless that he did this just to
37:30
Speaker 2: steal $ 30 and a few pieces of jewelry.
37:34
Speaker 1: It's incredibly senseless. I can't think of a better word
37:37
Speaker 1: to describe it. If he was going to commit a
37:41
Speaker 1: murder with the objective of being robbery, then I feel
37:44
Speaker 1: like there are far wealthier people that he could have
37:46
Speaker 1: targeted than Teresita. I just, I'm struggling to like endeavor
37:52
Speaker 1: to understand why, why he thought that she would have
37:55
Speaker 1: like this huge amount of money or that it would
37:58
Speaker 1: be worth it, or like how you put a monetary
38:01
Speaker 1: amount on somebody's life and go, okay, this is a
38:05
Speaker 1: calculated risk that I'm taking. If she's home, then I
38:08
Speaker 1: will kill her and then try to cover it up.
38:11
Speaker 1: And it's not a very good calculated risk because it
38:14
Speaker 1: looked like they didn't have enough information to even identify
38:18
Speaker 1: him prior to Teresita potentially taking over Remy's body. But
38:23
Speaker 1: he took a lot of risks in being seen. And
38:26
Speaker 1: then what he did to her body, everything, he's there longer.
38:29
Speaker 1: And the longer that you're at a scene, the greater
38:31
Speaker 1: the chance that you're going to leave something behind of yourself.
38:34
Speaker 1: And the fact that he worked with her as well,
38:37
Speaker 1: how did he know that she didn't say to somebody
38:39
Speaker 1: that she was meeting Alan? Like she wrote AS, but
38:42
Speaker 1: how did he know that she didn't say, oh yeah,
38:45
Speaker 1: like Alan's coming over and he's going to buy theater tickets.
38:47
Speaker 1: Like he couldn't know that. So it just feels like
38:51
Speaker 1: Alan isn't a very smart guy. This isn't a very
38:54
Speaker 1: well thought out plan.
38:55
Speaker 2: Definitely not. And it is kind of surprising that this
38:58
Speaker 2: is the only murder that he's been linked to. I
39:00
Speaker 2: know that he had allegations of rape and burglary in
39:03
Speaker 2: the past, but you just got to have a different
39:05
Speaker 2: mindset where this woman you work with, you're suddenly going
39:07
Speaker 2: to decide, I'm not only going to rob her, but
39:09
Speaker 2: I'm going to murder her as well and set fire
39:11
Speaker 2: to her body. just to make it look like some
39:13
Speaker 2: sort of sexual assault. I mean, like, how do you
39:16
Speaker 2: get that mentality where someone that you see at work
39:18
Speaker 2: every day, you just suddenly decide I'm going to kill her,
39:20
Speaker 2: even though she's not overly wealthy, and that the reward
39:23
Speaker 2: will definitely not equal the risk. So that about brings
39:26
Speaker 2: an end to part one of our series about the
39:28
Speaker 2: murder of Teresita Basa. Join us again next week for
39:31
Speaker 2: part two.
39:33
Speaker 1: Robin, do you want to tell us a little bit
39:34
Speaker 1: about the Trail Went Cold Patreon?
39:36
Speaker 2: Yes, the Trail Went Cold Patreon has been around for
39:38
Speaker 2: three years now and we offer the standard, uh, bonus
39:42
Speaker 2: features like early ad-free episodes. And I also send out
39:45
Speaker 2: stickers and sign thank you cards to anyone who signs
39:49
Speaker 2: up with us on Patreon. If you join our $ 5 tier,
39:51
Speaker 2: tier two, we also offer monthly bonus episodes in which
39:56
Speaker 2: I talk about cases which are not featured on the
39:59
Speaker 2: Trail Went Cold's original feed. So they're exclusive to Patreon.
40:02
Speaker 2: And if you join our highest tier, tier three, the
40:05
Speaker 2: $ 10 tier, One of the features we offer is a
40:08
Speaker 2: audio commentary track over classic episodes of Unsolved Mysteries, where
40:13
Speaker 2: you can download an audio file and then boot up
40:16
Speaker 2: the original Unsolved Mysteries episode on Amazon Prime or YouTube
40:20
Speaker 2: and play it with my audio commentary playing in the background,
40:23
Speaker 2: where I just provide trivia and factoids about the cases
40:26
Speaker 2: featured in this episode. And incidentally, the very first episode
40:29
Speaker 2: that I did a commentary track over was the episode
40:32
Speaker 2: featuring this case. So if you want to download a
40:35
Speaker 2: commentary track in which I make more smart-ass remarks about
40:38
Speaker 2: Jewel Kaler, then be sure to join Tier 3.
40:41
Speaker 1: So I want to let you know a little bit
40:43
Speaker 1: about the Jules and Ashley Patreon. So there's early ad-free
40:46
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40:49
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40:52
Speaker 1: they're not very mini, but they're just too short to
40:54
Speaker 1: turn into a series. And we're really enjoying doing those.
40:57
Speaker 1: So we hope you'll check out those Patreons. We'll link
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Speaker 1: them in the show notes.
41:01
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41:03
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41:08
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41:12
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41:15
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41:18
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41:20
Speaker 1: Music by Paul Rich from the podcast Cold Callers Comedy.