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Marine Charged In Escambia County Escort Murder Also Faces 35 Counts · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Ever think about, like the secrets people hide right under
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  the surface.
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  Speaker 2: It's chilling, totally ordinary life, but underneath a whole.
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  Speaker 1: Other story exactly, And that's what we're looking at today.
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  This case starts with a missing.
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  Speaker 2: Person, spirals, murder, digital trails, disturbing stuff, really disturbed.
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  Speaker 1: So December twenty twenty, Escambia County, Florida, Creb.
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  Speaker 2: Bennett, twenty six years old, working as an escort, reported.
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  Speaker 1: Missing from her hotel room. Just gone.
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  Speaker 2: It seems simple at first, but it wasn't. No. Technology
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  plays a huge role here too, like good and evil.
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  Speaker 1: All wrapped up together, see that a lot right.
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  Speaker 2: And investigators used like digital breadcrumbs.
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  Speaker 1: Pieced it all together, and it got dark fast.
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  Speaker 2: It did, so Trea. She traveled a lot for work
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  from Houston, originally a little boy too, birthday coming up.
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  Her family was worried, like really worried. She'd always call.
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  Speaker 1: They knew something was wrong, definitely.
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  Speaker 2: So back to the hotel room is weird, almost like
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  she vanished.
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  Speaker 1: There are these little things, odd details like what cell
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  phones in the bathtub, a missing alarm clock, and a
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  broken earring down in the parking.
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  Speaker 2: Lot, so little clues. It's like a bread crumb trail.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. And those little clues they're important.
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  Speaker 2: They point to something, a struggle, maybe someone trying to
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  hide something. Probably that's where the digital stuff comes in
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  surveillance footage.
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  Speaker 1: We saw something a red.
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  Speaker 2: Mazda around the time Trishy disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: So they tracked the car.
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  Speaker 2: Rental car led them right to Willie Ellington Marine stationed
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  and NASS Pensacola a.
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  Speaker 1: Marine Yep, and he just gave himself up, I'm guessing not.
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  Speaker 2: Not at all. Tried to downplay everything, even tried to
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  delete his rental car profile.
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  Speaker 1: Delete it. That's not a good look, huge red flag.
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  Speaker 2: So they got a warrant for his phone.
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  Speaker 1: Uh oh, what was on it?
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  Speaker 2: Bad news, incriminating Google searches, how to get rid of
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  a body, chances of a murder conviction? No way, this
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  is the worst. Do people scream when being strangled?
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  Speaker 1: Oh god, that's chilli.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's more. A receipt for a big rolling
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  duffel bag. Pat went just before he met Cheshi.
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  Speaker 1: Oh man, this is not looking good for him at all.
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  Speaker 2: Nope. So they used his phone data, tracked his movements.
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  Speaker 1: Where'd he go?
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  Speaker 2: Mobile, Alabama, a remote area near the water.
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  Speaker 1: They found her there. They did, Oh that's awful, So
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  case closed, right, Not quite.
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  Speaker 2: They went to arrest him back at the base. He
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  was gone, he ran, took off. They eventually caught him Opaique, Alabama,
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  big name.
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  Speaker 1: They had his phone, all that data.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that phone. That's where this whole thing takes a
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  really dark turn.
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  Speaker 1: A child pornography, Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Over fifty files, kids as young as nine. Horrific stuff.
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  Speaker 1: That's unbelievable. He was just looking at this.
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  Speaker 2: Stuff, sharing it too online these networks. It's a whole
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  other level of disturbance.
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  Speaker 1: It's just so disturbing. The Internet it can be so dark.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, a tool for a good, a tool for unimaginable
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  evil like this.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to even process the child exploitation. It feels
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  so huge, global, right.
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  Speaker 2: This, millions of images, videos, circulating online constantly.
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  Speaker 1: So how do they even begin to fight this.
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  Speaker 2: It's tough, really tough undercover operations, partnerships with tech companies,
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  international collaborations.
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  Speaker 1: It's like a constant game of cat.
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  Speaker 2: And mouse, exactly. They adapt, law enforcement adapts. It's never ending.
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  Speaker 1: Is there is there anything we can do to prevent this?
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  Speaker 2: Education? Big one, parents, educators, kids, everyone needs to know
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  the dangers.
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  Speaker 1: How to protect themselves, how to report things right, and.
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  Speaker 2: There are resources support for victims families.
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  Speaker 1: It's just heartbreaking to think about the kids.
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  Speaker 2: It is behind every image a real child, a real
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  life damaged.
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  Speaker 1: You said Ellington was sharing these files online? These networks,
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  how do they work?
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  Speaker 2: Dark web mostly hidden part of the internet, anonymous it's
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  a hard to attract, very encryption, anonymization techniques. They're sophisticated,
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  organized like a secret club in a way with its
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  own rules, hierarchies.
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  Speaker 1: How do how do they even find these networks?
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  Speaker 2: It's difficult. Cyber crime units, hacking, undercover work, posing as members,
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  dangerous work, extremely physically psychologically seeing those images.
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  Speaker 1: It must take a.
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  Speaker 2: Toll, it does, but they do it to protect kids,
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  to bring these people to justice.
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  Speaker 1: So what can we learn from all this from this case?
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  Speaker 2: Talk about it online safety, especially with kids openly, honestly,
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  they don't automatically know.
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  Speaker 1: We can't just assume they're safe.
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  Speaker 2: No, we have to teach them the dangers, the red flags,
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  who to ask for help.
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  Speaker 1: A technology's role in all this, it's complicated.
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  Speaker 2: It is it's a tool, like any tool can be
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  used for good or for evil.
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  Speaker 1: It's up to us how we use it exactly, and
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  it's powerful and in the wrong hands, like we.
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  Speaker 2: Saw, devastating consequences. But the data Ellington's phone data.
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  Speaker 1: Right, that's that's a tricky part. It helps solve the case, right,
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  But how much access should.
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  Speaker 2: They have to our data, our private lives. It's a
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  tough question.
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  Speaker 1: Where's the line. That's what we need to figure.
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  Speaker 2: Out, tough balance security versus privacy. We'll talk more about
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  that after the breaking. Ethical dilemmas. It's a lot to unpack.
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  So we're back.
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  Speaker 1: It's an ethical dilemma.
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  Speaker 2: It's a big one, huge using data to solve crimes,
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  but protecting privacy is a tyrope.
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  Speaker 1: It is how do we find that balance?
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  Speaker 2: That's the million dollar question. Ellington's phone it cracked the
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  case wide open.
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  Speaker 1: But but yeah.
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  Speaker 2: If they can get that data, what's to stop them
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  from getting other data for less justifiable reasons?
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  Speaker 1: Exactly? It's a slippery slope. We want to be safe
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  but not spied on constantly.
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  Speaker 2: Right, So strict regulations, warrants, probable cause, higher are for access.
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  Speaker 1: That makes sense, more oversight.
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  Speaker 2: On the other hand, stronger encryption make the data harder
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  to get to period, even for law enforcement. Yeah, tougher
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  to catch the bad guys maybe, but more privacy. It's
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  a trade off, a tough one. No easy answers, Nope.
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  Every situation is different, the crime, public safety, the kind
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  of data, lots of factors. It's complex, very constant reassessment too.
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  Technology keeps changing, evolving.
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  Speaker 1: What can we do as individuals to navigate this?
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  Speaker 2: Stay informed, know the issues the technology, be part of
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  the conversation, Support organizations fighting for privacy.
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  Speaker 1: Make good choices about our own data, how we protect
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  it exactly.
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  Speaker 2: It can feel overwhelming, but we can all do something.
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  Small steps, Yeah, think about it. As technology gets even
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  more powerful, what role do we want it to play
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  in law enforcement, in our lives?
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  Speaker 1: What are we willing to give up for security for privacy?
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  Speaker 2: Those aren't just theoretical questions, they're real, real world consequences.
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  Speaker 1: Like this whole thing unsettling and fascinating the dark side
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  of technology.
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  Speaker 2: It is finding that balance security and privacy. It's crucial.
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  Speaker 1: It is so that wraps up our deep dive into
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  this case Trishy Bennett and this disturbing world of online
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  child exploitation.
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  Speaker 2: Complex, multi layered, important to understand.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, keep learning, keep asking questions, exploring online and offline
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  until next time.