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The Sterile Man's Pregnant Wife · Crime Night

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I want you to picture a room. It's small, it's
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: dimly lit, and it's just stiflingly hot where the Botim
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: area of Shubra el Khaima in Egypt. It's about nine
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: o'clock at night.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: And the sounds outside are just constant, you know, the
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: noise of the city tooks people shouting. But inside this
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: one apartment, it's completely silent.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Dead, silent. In the middle of this room is a
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: man named Mohammed. He's holding a couple of pieces of
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: paper and his hands are shaking.
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  Speaker 2: They're trembling so hard you can actually hear the paper crinkling.
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  Speaker 2: It's the only sound in the whole apartment.
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  Speaker 1: Right, And what makes that image so chilling isn't the
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: heat or the silence. It's what's written on those papers.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: It's a biological impossibility. He is staring at two absolute
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: scientific facts that cannot exist in the same universe at
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: the same.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Time, exactly. Fact one in his left hand is a
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: medical report. It says he is sterile, he cannot have children.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: In Fact two in his right hand is another report.
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  Speaker 2: It says his wife is four months pregnant.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: And that collision, that is the moment a mind just snaps.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: It's not just about an affair. It's about a man's
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: entire reality, a reality he built on the lifetime of deception,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: just collapsing in on itself.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Today we are unpacking the story of the Fourth Month,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: and it's a tragedy that really spans three different cities, Zagazig, Manufia,
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  Speaker 2: and finally Shubra.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: But this isn't just a crime story, is it. It's
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: a deep dive into the psychology of suspicion. It's about
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the danger of ignoring your gut feelings because you're scared
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  Speaker 1: of making the same mistake twice.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: It's what happens when you let someone gaslight you to
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  Speaker 2: the very edge of madness.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: So to really understand why Mohammed is standing in that
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: room shaking, we have to go back. We need to
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: rewind to twenty twelve, to the city of Zagazig. This
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: is where we first meet him before everything goes wrong.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: What was he like then in twenty twelve. Mohammed is
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: a laborer. He's good with his hands, a hard worker,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: but socially he's a mess. He's described as being incredibly volatile,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: deeply suspicious of everyone around him, so a paranoid guy,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: a very paranoid guy. He has a tense relationship with
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: his own family because of his temper. He's the kind
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: of person who's always sure people are whispering about him
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: when he walks by.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: But that paranoia, it's not just random, right, right, there's
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: a source for.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: It, correct, It's rooted in this massive secret he's been
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: guarding his whole life. Mohammed is medically sterile, and we
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: have to understand in his community in that context, that's
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: not just a medical issue.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: It's a fundamental challenge to his masculinity.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: It's a devastating stigma. He's terrified that if anyone finds out,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: he'll be seen as less of a man, so he
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: hides it from everyone. But a secret like that, it
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: eats you up.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: It makes you defensive, and that defensiveness that's what ruins
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: his first marriage. He meets a woman, Amani. She's beautiful,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: kind and they get married, but it only lasts a year.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: You can't build a marriage on a secret like that.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: He projects all of his own insecurities onto her. He's
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: constantly accusing her of looking down on him, of mocking
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  Speaker 2: him behind.
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  Speaker 1: His back, and the brutal irony is She is unhappy,
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  Speaker 1: but it's because she feels suffocated by his suspicion and
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: she wants to have Children's.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Part that just stings. When she asks for a divorce,
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  Speaker 2: it confirms all his worst fears in his head. She's
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: leaving him to find a real man who can give
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: her a family.
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  Speaker 1: So the lesson he learns is my paranoia costs me everything.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: That's the takeaway that sets up the entire tragedy. He
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: blames his suspicion, so he spends the next three years alone,
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  Speaker 2: just obsessing over Amani, convinced that if he'd just been
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: more trusting, he would have been happy.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Until twenty fifteen. He's just standing on a street in
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Zigazig one day and he sees her, or he thinks
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: he does. He sees a woman walking towards him who
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: is the spitting image of his ex wife a.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Money It's uncanny, but it's not a Moni. This is Sephah.
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  Speaker 2: And while they look identical, their personalities couldn't be more different.
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  Speaker 1: Right. Amani was quiet traditional Safah. Saphah's bold. She works
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: at a salon, She's from another city, Minufia, and she's
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  Speaker 1: fiercely independent. When she sees him staring. She smiles right
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  Speaker 1: at him.
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  Speaker 2: She starts it. She pursues him. She sees this lonely,
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  Speaker 2: vulnerable guy and tells him exactly what he needs to hear.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I'll make you forget her, I'll take care of you.
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  Speaker 1: It's classic love bombing. But then she proposes marriage with
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  Speaker 1: this really strange condition. She says, we don't need a
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: big engagement. You don't have to meet my family yet.
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  Speaker 1: Let's just get married right now.
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  Speaker 2: And that is a massive flashing red flag to bypass
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  Speaker 2: the family introductions. It means she's hiding something, either from
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  Speaker 2: her family or she's hiding Mohammed from her family.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: And this is where his best friend, Mustapha comes in.
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  Speaker 1: Mustapha seems to be the only sane person in this
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  Speaker 1: entire story.
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  Speaker 2: He's the voice of reason. He pulls Mohammed aside and
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  Speaker 2: he's like, are you out of your mind? You don't
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  Speaker 2: know her, you haven't met her father. This is way
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  Speaker 2: too fast.
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  Speaker 1: And here's the crazy part. Mohammed, the paranoid guy, completely
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  Speaker 1: ignores him. Why would a man who suspects everyone suddenly
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: trust a complete stranger.
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  Speaker 2: It's that over correction. He's so terrified of repeating the
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  Speaker 2: mistake he thinks he made with Amani being too suspicious
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  Speaker 2: that he goes completely the other way. He decides, this
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  Speaker 2: time I will be trusting no matter what. He is
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: willfully blinding himself.
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  Speaker 1: So he marries her and for a little while it
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: seems fine, but then things start to get weird. Sapha
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  Speaker 1: says she wants to quit her job at the salon
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  Speaker 1: and start doing home visits for female clients to make
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  Speaker 1: more money.
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  Speaker 2: He agrees, you know, trying to be the supportive new husband,
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  Speaker 2: but then the whole vibe in their neighborhood starts to change.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, he's walking down the street and people just stop talking.
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  Speaker 1: Or are they give them these these strange mocking smiles.
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  Speaker 1: He feels it, his gut is telling him something is
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  Speaker 1: deeply wrong.
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  Speaker 2: But he fights it. He tells himself, no, this is
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  Speaker 2: the old paranoia.
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  Speaker 1: Stop it, and Mustafa tries to warn him again. He
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: calls him and says, watch your house, watch your wife.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Mustafa is pretty sure these home visits are a cover
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: for her seeing other men.
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  Speaker 2: But Mohammed is just paralyzed. He's so committed to being
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  Speaker 2: presting that he refuses to believe it without solid proof.
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  Speaker 1: Then five months into the marriage, Safa just pulls the plug.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: She panics. She demands they move to Manufia immediately. Other
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: can get you a job.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: She says, she's running the rumor mill and Zagazig got
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: too loud. People knew what was going on, so her
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: solution is to isolate him. They go to Manufia and
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  Speaker 2: this is the first time he ever meets her.
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  Speaker 1: Family, and it's a total disaster. It sounds less like
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: a family meeting and more like a shakedown. As soon
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  Speaker 1: as he gets there, they sit him down and demand
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  Speaker 1: he signed promisory notes for three hundred thousand Egyptian.
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  Speaker 2: Pounds, which for a laborer like Mohammed is a fortune.
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  Speaker 2: It's a lifetime of debt. They say it's to guarantee
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  Speaker 2: her rights, but it's basically extortion. It's a huge signal
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  Speaker 2: that even her own family knows she's a liability.
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  Speaker 1: Mohammed finally says no, refuses to sign. He tells a
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: far we're leaving, but she won't go back to Zaykazig.
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  Speaker 2: She says she can't, which proves she burned all her
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: bridges there. So they compromise. They moved to a place
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  Speaker 2: where no one knows either of them. Shubret el Kaima
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  Speaker 2: a team anonymity, a total anonymity, but for him it's
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  Speaker 2: a prison. He's completely cut off from Mustafa, his only friend.
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  Speaker 2: He is now totally dependent on, and she.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Gets more and more secretive. She's always on her phone, whispering,
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  Speaker 1: hanging up the second he walks into the room. His
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  Speaker 1: paranoia must have been screaming at him, and.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: He's still pushing it down until the call.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Seven months into the marriage. They've been in Schuba for
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: three months. Sephah calls him at work and she sounds overjoyed.
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  Speaker 1: Come home, She says, I have a surprise for you.
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  Speaker 2: So he rushes home, probably thinking a million things. He
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: walks in and she's just standing there, beaming, and she
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  Speaker 2: says it, I'm pregnant.
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  Speaker 1: But then she adds the four words that seal her fate.
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  Speaker 1: I'm in the fourth month.
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  Speaker 2: Just stop and think about that sentence, the weight of it.
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  Speaker 2: I am in the fourth month.
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  Speaker 1: He's just standing there processing. He knows he's sterile, he's
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  Speaker 1: known for years. But look what she does next. She
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  Speaker 1: sees his shock and she uses it. She says it's
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  Speaker 1: a miracle from God. Your first wife was the problem,
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  Speaker 1: not you. You're a real man now.
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  Speaker 2: That is next level gaslighting. She is using his deepest
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  Speaker 2: insecurity to cover her own tracks. She's gambling that his
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: desire to be a father will overpower his knowledge of
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  Speaker 2: basic biology.
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  Speaker 1: Does he believe her even for a second.
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  Speaker 2: I think part of him wanted to so badly that
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  Speaker 2: the math, the math is relentless.
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  Speaker 1: The fourth month, that means she got pregnant beck.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: In zick Ezig, during the home visits.
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  Speaker 1: During the mocking stars from the neighbors.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: During Mustafa's warnings, it all clicks into place. The whispers
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  Speaker 2: weren't paranoia, they were the truth.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't sleep The next morning. He tells her he's
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: going to work, but instead he goes straight to a
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  Speaker 1: medical lab and gets a full fertility analysis done.
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  Speaker 2: He's hoping for a one in a billion miracle, for
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: all the previous doctors to have.
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  Speaker 1: Been wrong, But the results come back as his spermia,
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  Speaker 1: zero sperm count. It is impossible.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: That should be the end of it. But when he
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  Speaker 2: confronts her with the lab report, her denial is just staggering.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: She tells him the lab is wrong. She actually drags
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  Speaker 1: him to an obgyn to prove the baby is real,
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  Speaker 1: and the doctor says, yep, she's pregnant, fourth month, looks healthy.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Can you imagine his state of mind. He's got science
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: on one side saying impossible, and a doctor on the
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: other saying it's real, and Safa is looking at him saying,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: trust me, not the lab.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: So he needs one final piece of proof. He goes
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  Speaker 1: to a third limb, a different one, and runs a
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: test again.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: The result is the same zero impossible, and that brings
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: us right back to the beginning.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Back to that hot, silent room, nine pm, the paper
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: shaking in his hand.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: That's when the dam breaks because he finally understands he
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: wasn't paranoid enough. His decision to be a good, trusting
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: husband made him the biggest fool in Zagazig. The rage
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: isn't just about the cheating. It's about the fact that
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: he betrayed his own gut instincts.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: He ties her up. The reports say he was screaming
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: at her, just demanding to know who the father was,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Who's is it?
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: And Safa, to the very end she never confesses, Even
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: tied up facing death, she sticks to the lie it's yours.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: The labs are wrong.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: That's I don't know what that is.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Delusion or maybe she just knew admitting the truth was
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: a death sentence. Anyway, Mohammed snaps, he strength her, and
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: he kills them, both Safah and her unborn child.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: After he just sits there in the silence of the body.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: The police report notes that he gathered tools he was
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: planning to dismember her to try and hide.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: The crime, but he doesn't do it, and I think
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: that's important. The rage peaks with the murder, and then
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: it just crashes into this black hole of despair. He
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: knows it's over. There's no hiding from this.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: He picks up his phone and he calls the one
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: person who tried to save him.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: He calls Mustapha. He just says, I killed her. She
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: was pregnant. It wasn't mine. He asks Mustapha to look
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: after his parents. He's saying goodbye.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Mustafa thankfully thinks fast. He's worried Mohammed will kill himself
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: a run, so he calls the police.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: When the police get there, Mohammed is just waiting for
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: them outside the apartment. Calmly. He confesses immediately. He hands
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: them the lab reports. He's basically giving them his entire
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: motive on a silver.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Platter, and the forensics confirm the entire tragic story. She
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: was four months pregnant, he was completely sterile. The math
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: was right all along.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: It's just he's such a story of total destruction. And
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: you have a guy who recks his first marriage by
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: being suspicious for no reason. Then he destroys his own
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: life and two others by refusing to be suspicious when
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: every single sign was telling him to be.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: He tried so hard not to be the person he was,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and it walked him right into a trap.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: And you have to look at Sepha's role too. She
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: played an unbelievably dangerous game. She had no idea he
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: was sterile. If she had known, this lie would never
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: have even been an option for her.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: It was the collision of two fatal secrets, his sterility
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: and her pregnancy. They were two trains on the same track.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: It just leaves you with this really difficult question about intuition.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: We're always told, you know, give people the benefit of
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: the doubt, don't be paranoid. But in this case, his
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: paranoia was just perception.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: The whispers on the street, his best friend's warnings, they were.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: All right exactly, and the cost of ignoring them was
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: three lives Saphas, the babies and Mohammed's.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: It's a heavy one, but it makes you think. So.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Maybe the lesson is when the people who care about
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: you tell you to watch your back, you.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Should probably turn around and look. Always listen to the
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Mustafas in your life.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: That's it for this deep dive, a stack of papers,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: a four month lie, and a story that ends in tragedy.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: We'll be back sin with another one.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: Until then, press your gut goo.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Goodbye, everyone,