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Marcus Freeman, Brittany Palumbo, & Wesley McKinley · Justice For

• JusticeFor: ⁓ Hypnosis used in many ways. ⁓ It be used therapeutically to help you break a habit like smoking or biting your nails. Help ease your anxiety or boost your confidence. ⁓ It be used for comedy in group settings such as school events or work parties. ⁓ are fun. Making people act like a chicken ⁓ or think they're performing in a beauty pageant. Hypnosis seems harmless and fun when done properly. Unfortunately, one town in Florida discovered the dark side of hypnosis when three high school students died within just weeks of each other. The fuck? Leaving them with just one question. Was it all related to sessions or just a weird coincidence? Welcome back to another episode of Justice For We're your hosts. I'm Jackie. And I'm Sam. Bitch, what? That makes sense why the high school was so fancy was cause Florida. Yeah, it's of those really cool outdoor like high schools that you see in movies. Also Jackie, Florida, another reason. Don't go. This is an episode that could only happen in Florida, just so y'all know. Yeah, I went to a comedy show that had a hypnosis once and it was fantastic. Was I on the stage? Yes. Wonderful. It was amazing. That experience is going to be very useful throughout this episode. It was fantastic. So I know I already mentioned this case takes place in Florida. even if I hadn't, like I said, this is only something that would happen in Florida. specifically North Port, Florida. Just recently, a documentary that was released in 2023 was brought to my attention. Oh. And when I heard the overview, I was like, yeah, I'm definitely doing an episode on this. Oh. So the documentary is called Look Into My Eyes, and it's on Amazon Prime. It's a four episode mini series and is really good. I'm not going to lie. But I will have all the facts and details of this case in here, but I highly recommend going and watching it because There is video footage and clips and stuff that I will not have in here. There's just smaller details and stuff that you just have to go watch it. It's so worth it. I promise you. You're gonna leave right now? Just go watch it real quick while I do the episode. Sounds good. So before we get into this though, I do want to add a little bit of an extra trigger warning that this episode does have a theme of teen suicide. So please listen with discretion. Today we're going back to 2011. Oh. Northport, Florida is a small town that covers a large area. Yeah, so like it's just a very spread out. It's small. But large. But large. Yes. And it's just outside of Sarasota. Okay. I know where that's at. Good. Everybody knows everybody and there isn't a lot to do. It's kind of in the country, so not really on the water. And so lots of four-wheeling, lots of that kind of activity. I'm not gonna lie. I've never seen a town in a documentary not described as wonderful or something like that. Everyone in this documentary is like, yeah, it sucks here. Hell yeah. One person says there is nothing to do around here. And there's a saying, ⁓ you graduated from North Port High, you must be the dumbest of the dumb or a criminal. No shit. Yeah. Okay, Jen, I know you're fucking watching. You go to Sarasota all the time, now that you went to high school there. Do you know about this? Please text me. I'm not gonna text you before this. About I'd be curious if she does know. I know, that's like a month from now. Good luck. So yeah, so kind of crazy. I've never heard so many people be like, yeah, it's nothing special. It's just here. Period. I feel like the one and only time in a documentary that I've heard that was the mom texting her daughter, like catfishing her daughter forever. That was the only time I ever heard that about a town. It's just wild to me. Normally they couldn't find anything good. I mean, the high school looked kind of cool. Oh yeah, super cool. It looks cool. So Northport High is the only high school in the area and it has about 2000 kids in it. So that explains the size and all of that. Oh, that's probably why they're dumb. They spent too much money building the high school. They couldn't get good teachers. There we go. In 2011, Dr. George Kinney had been the principal at Northport High School for 12 years. Okay. He was very well liked by staff, students, parents, and the community. And Northport High wanted so badly to be known for sports, specifically their football team. But their football team is absolutely terrible. That is, bad teams are fun to watch sometimes. That is until 2011. Oh, oh, yay. It's like the Indiana football team. They sucked until this year. Sorry. When Marcus Freeman became the quarterback and suddenly the football team was amazing. Oh, they were winning and they definitely were not the underdog anymore. And it was all thanks to Principal Kenny having private hypnosis sessions with Marcus to help him focus on the field and not feel pain. And it seemed to be working. Marcus would take these massive hits again and again and get back up and walk away like nothing happened. He would be so locked in and focused during the game that he would sometimes just stand there on the sidelines staring at the field. I mean, the rest of the team would be down at the other end of the field and he would just stand there locked in. Huh. And ⁓ I just want to add one thing. Principal Kenny sought Marcus out for these hypnosis sessions. Marcus didn't seek him out. ⁓ Interesting. About 1 p.m. on March 15th, 2011, 16-year-old Marcus Freeman and his girlfriend Carly O'Boyle were driving home from Marcus' dentist appointment. They were blasting Katy Perry's firework. Amazing. When Marcus lost control of his 1995 Ford pickup, ⁓ the truck traveled off the road onto the right shoulder, hitting trees and shrubbery before returning back to the shoulder. 16 year old Marcus was pronounced dead at the scene. Jesus. 16 year old Carly was airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg in serious condition. In a statement released right after the crash, state troopers said that alcohol was not a factor and both teens were wearing their seatbelts. That night, hundreds of people gathered at the high school for a makeshift memorial. Everyone just needed to be near each other. Principal Kenny spoke with reporters about Marcus and how he knew him well and that he was a great student and a great athlete. Okay. There was a tree planted at the school for him, as well as a stone with his name dedicated to him. They also retired his football number and made a memorial locker in the locker room, complete with plexiglass on top of it and all. Uh-huh. As they should. There was a hole in the football team now and everyone felt his loss. Even if they didn't know him very well, it was just empty. Carly was released from the hospital the following day. Shit, she survived? Yeah, she spent an entire day in the hospital and was released. That's all? Mm-hmm. Oh. Oh. She went straight to Marcus' house. Okay. And there was, because there some friends gathered there. Yep, yep, yep, yep. She told them exactly what happened. Everything was fine when they left the dentist. He just got a cavity filled. They got in the truck and they were singing Firework by Katy Perry when Carly looked over at Marcus and saw his eyes were rolled in the back of his head. His hands were locked at 10 and two and she started yelling his name. But he wouldn't respond. She could not get his attention. She started beating on his shoulder and his arm trying to get him and then he slowly started drifting off the side of the road. They hit the tree and the next thing she remembers is waking up in the hospital screaming, where is Marcus? After Marcus's death, it started to come out that Principal Kenny wasn't just doing private hypnosis sessions with students and staff. He was also teaching students to self-hypnotize so they could use it as a tool to relax and focus when needed. Carly said it was like he was hypnotized. He wasn't there. He was somewhere else and he couldn't hear her. What? Once the dentist was cleared from playing any role in Marcus's crash, Marcus's parents publicly blamed Principal Kinney for their son's death. Oh, period. I like that they checked the dentist first. That's crazy. the they went. I mean, it makes sense, give him any gas. did it. They numbed That's it. They numbed him for his cavity. There was nothing else he got put on. OK. After Marcus's parents were publicly blaming Principal Kenny, the community got pretty divided. Some believed he was innocent and this was an accident. There was no way he had anything to do with it. He just came from the dentist where he could have been put on something. Others were outraged that a principal was allowed to hold these sessions and felt like he was playing a dangerous game. They felt like he was doing something wrong, but a lot of people think it would have never gotten this far. Or, it never would have gotten as far as it did if it hadn't been for the two deaths that came next. What the fuck? Okay. But before we get into that, let's talk about how all of this hypnosis even started. Please? In the early 2000s, Northport started doing these senior lock-ins to celebrate graduation. It gave the kids a safe place to celebrate and let loose without getting hurt or in trouble. So, let me ask, did you guys have after prom at your high school? No. Okay, so at my high school we had something called after prom. basically... after prom was in a hotel room, Jackie. So this was to prevent that. So after prom at our high school was at the high school and they had the big gym and the little gym. And I remember my junior year, it was like a casino night. So you had like roulette tables and poker tables and all this in one area. And there were surprises. I'm talking TVs, phones. Like there was... It was insane. Like our prizes were... I also went to school in Douglas County. Yeah, I went to a ghetto-esque school downtown. No, I went to Douglas County. So, and I mean, it was insane. I'm talking like we had Velcro walls. We had inflatables for like, inflatable like relay like course things like ninja courses in there. We had food. You won tickets. And so like at the end, like you could trade this in and win a TV, win that. It was insane. And it was for like four hours. It was the best thing ever. So they had things like that for graduation. So instead of the kids going to a hotel room or going out and drinking and driving around town or whatever, it gave them a safe place, that alcohol to do this. And it was fun. Yeah. My prom was held at a hotel. Neither of our proms, neither of the proms I went to were held at hotels. All four of the proms that I went to were held at But no, so I, this sounds a lot like our after prom that we had and it was really cool. Okay. But one of the things that they did was bring in a hypnotist. And the kids and parents absolutely loved it. Everyone had a blast. And this was like a really big... parents were there? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they volunteer. So like with mine, we had parents who like, so PTA or like also the band, what is it called? The band board or whatever booster clubs for the different sports, right? So I know that one year marching band, we were cleanup crew. But generally the juniors and seniors didn't have to be a part of that because we attended it. like legitimately also staying to clean up afterwards was hell. So it was rented like different booster clubs to different things and the underclassmen were there helping and run it. yeah, parents were there, admin was there. Usually the principals are there and all that. You know, it's just a really big fun thing. I mean, it sounds pretty cool. I went to a ghetto school so we didn't do that shit. Yeah, no, our after problem was amazing. So if anybody listens who was a teacher or a part of that from my high school. Thank you guys. Those memories were phenomenal and it was so much fun. I had a great time at prom without them. We all did leave after that and go do the things they didn't want us to though. They just gave you an extra party. Yeah, but before a pre party for the party, but like it was over at like 2 a.m. Okay, two or three so like I mean anyway, So Principal George Kinney was really into it though. He was fascinated by how trusting the kids were and to what degree the hypnotist could influence their minds. Oh, that's gross. You're a grown man. Why would you want that? I'm really glad you picked up on how gross that was. That feels gross. It is gross. Okay. So he even started assisting the hypnotist. Oh. For like a year or two before eventually attending an Omni Hypnosis course to become a hypnotist. Okay. Then he became the one hypnotizing the kids at the lock-in events. Everyone loved and talked about it for years after. They thought it was so cool their principal could hypnotize them. He eventually began going into the psychology classes at the high school and did a little hypnotizing demonstrations. He would do it on ROTC trips and before eventually starting those private sessions we've talked about at the school with students and staff to help with test anxiety and performance, he even helped a person with ⁓ ticks. He self diagnosed Tourette's in them and he had like a head tick and he helped him. ⁓ he actually recorded these sessions on video and audio. Ew. Ew. April 8th, three weeks after Marcus died, 16 year old Wesley McKinley came home from school like any other day and told his mom he was having friends over. And when she asked what time, he just put his backpack down and walked out the back door. And he didn't answer, which was really out of character for Wesley to not respond to her. They had a really great relationship. Wesley. Wesley. I love that name. About an hour after this, she heard sirens in the neighborhood. And for the first time ever hearing sirens, she's got a really bad feeling. Yeah? And the next thing she knew, officers were at her door telling her that Wesley was found dead in an abandoned house a street over. The fuck, brother? The only reason he was found so quickly was because a woman was driving around looking at houses. And she stopped at that house. Her kid wanted to see if it had a pool, so he jumped out to go look. And that's when he found Wesley hanging in the house. And they immediately called 911. How fucking wild. That... oof. The, what am I trying to say? The fucking, like, what's the word I'm looking for here? Divine intervention? The likelihood of that happening at that moment. Yeah. And that poor kid and mom... Did I have a pool? I don't know. That was never answered. He probably doesn't know he was traumatized. They don't... We don't know. Everyone, including Wesley's parents, were confused about what happened. Same. He wasn't a depressed kid. Sure, he was new to Northport. And Northport High School was his first public school. See, up until this point, he attended Catholic school in Jacksonville. His parents lost their jobs and they moved to Northport. ⁓ and they thought that it was good area. He was so excited to go to public school for the first time because he could finally grow his hair out. He has good head of hair. He had great hair. He had that classic, the Justin cut. One of the girls in the documentary goes, one day in the hallway, I called him Justin Bieber and he goes, don't ever call me that again. And so then when I'd see him, I'd be like, what's up, Bieber? He definitely had the skater look to him, like the Hollister shirt and the hair. I just know he went like... All the time. You know, he had to do the... The hair hair flip? Yeah. So he was a happy kid. No one ever saw him down. He had a lot of friends and everyone thought he was cute. ⁓ He was. He was cute. a girlfriend ⁓ and absolutely no one saw this coming and couldn't make sense of it. ⁓ Of course... People tried to say that he was bullied and Dr. Kenny, Principal Kenny comes out later and we'll get into that more, but I just want to put this in here now. And he really helped drive that narrative that he was bullied the day that this happened. And there's no proof of it. The singular day? Yeah, that he was, that there was a bullying issue going on within the days of it happening. but principal's the only one who says this. That Friday. the Friday, like, I believe this was like a Wednesday. ⁓ Or Thursday that this happened. Friday, Wesley's parents contacted the school to let them know that they were coming to collect his things from his locker. And Principal Kinney walked Wesley's dad out to his car where Wesley's mom was waiting. And he told them that he did not know Wesley personally, but heard that he was a great kid. A few days later on Sunday, Principal Kinney called Wesley's dad not to ask them how they were or to check on them. He called them to try and save his career. He told them that a news article was going to come out about him hypnotizing students, and if they could just not talk to them about Wesley being hypnotized. And this is when Wesley's parents found out that he had been hypnotized by Principal Kinney. What the fuck? And he said it was only once or twice, you know, really wasn't anything. But he didn't know him, He didn't know him personally, Jackie. The following day on Monday, he then brought Wesley's parents into his office to talk to them about his hypnotizing and how it was for research. He showed them a book he wrote and some CDs that he was selling. And this was his way of trying to make it seem fine and like he didn't do anything. They, he tried to sell them a fucking CD of hypnosis. Just keep that. It's locked. It's locked in here. So that article comes out and that's when everybody also realizes Wesley was hypnotized by Principal Kenny the day before he committed suicide. The day before? The day before. Not only that, but ⁓ Wesley's close friends were not happy with how little the school did for Wesley after his death compared to Marcus'. There was no memorial stone or tree. There was no big rally. When they brought this to Principal Kinney's attention, he told them it was because it was a suicide and they didn't want to give other students any ideas. And I get it's a double-edged sword. Teens are at a higher risk for suicide when it happens to a peer than teens who don't experience a peer committing suicide. Schools do have to carefully navigate suicide so that a domino effect does not occur. But. At the same time, can be confusing and hurtful to the students who are close to the victim. Because why isn't their friend being memorialized in the same way? Ultimately, Principal Kenney and the school not doing anything for Wesley really rubbed people the wrong way. I agree. Like, and I'm going to be this person, but Marcus technically could have also been a suicide. because there was nothing medically wrong with the dentist that they figured out pretty quickly. And he just crashed his car like we've seen. We have not personally done the episode, but we've seen things happen where they are suiciding themselves into trees and buildings in a vehicle with other people in the fucking vehicle just because. Yeah. So is it because he was a star quarterback that he's like? It's cause it was a star quarterback and because it was a car accident. Three weeks after Wesley's suicide, just days before graduation on May 4th, 17 year old Brittany Palumbo came home from school and around 4pm she told her mom Patricia that she was going to go take a nap. She went and took a nap, everything's fine, nothing happened. She napped, she woke up, she graduated. No more, everything's fine. I'm sick of this shit, Jackie." At 6.30, her parents went to wake her up for dinner, and her door was locked and she wasn't answering. So they went around the back and opened her window and got in her room that way. But Brittany wasn't in her bed. Instead, her parents found her hanging in her walk-in closet. Just like Wesley's death, everyone was very confused. Brittany was an honor roll student. She was in advanced classes. She just attended senior night at Disney World and had a blast. Patricia said her daughter was dealing with a breakup but was still friends with her ex-boyfriend. She was sad but not depressed about not getting the score she needed for the college she wanted to go to. But she really only wanted to attend that college to be with her boyfriend. And they'd broken up, but she was okay. She had her whole life ahead of her. Unlike Wesley's parents, Brittany's parents knew Principal Kittnie personally because... He had some hypnosis sessions with Brittany five months before her death. In the fall, Brittany's school counselor went to Principal Kenny and was like, I think this student could really use your help. She has horrible test anxiety and she needs to a certain score on her SAT to get into the college she wants to attend. She had a great relationship with her parents and they were very involved in her life. Patricia didn't initially like the idea of Brittany getting hypnotized. But when Brittany came to her in tears over everything and just begging and begging and begging her mom to let her do this, Patricia said, let me, let me speak with principal Kenny and make my decision. And after speaking with him, she said, I will only let her do this under one condition. I'm allowed in the room while it happens. And he said, that's perfectly fine. Okay. So Patricia drove Brittany to her session and she stayed in the room during the session. even recorded the session as well. ⁓ the know that it was recorded? He let her know. During the session, Principal Kinney told Brittany at any time in her life, if she felt anxious or stressed, she could rapidly blink her eyes and go into a calm state. ⁓ huh. After the session was over, Patricia asked Brittany if her back hurt. And she said, no, why? And her mom said, Well, you were bent over completely for almost 15 minutes. And Brittany said, no, I wasn't. I was sitting up straight the whole time. Brittany's mom then stopped at the bench near them and said, no, let me show you. And she sat down and bent all the way forward, like with her head resting on her lap and her hands all the way down on the ground. And Brittany goes, that's not what I was doing. I was sitting up the whole time. In the documentary, they actually showed some of these students videos of their hypnosis sessions and most of them couldn't even watch it and none of them knew that they were ever bent over in that position with their heads in Principal Kenny's lap. Yuck! It's sick. Principal Kenny even attended Brittany's private funeral. But he had to leave early because he had a hypnosis session to attend. He told her parents this. And this is the last conversation they had with him because of what happened next. ⁓ God. OK. A few of the kids at school started putting together that all three of these kids have been hypnotized by Principal Kenny. Uh huh. Which of course started spreading around school. Especially small town gossip. Which brings us to Elaine Allen Emrick. Oh. A mother of a senior at Northport who happened to be a writer at The Daily Sun, a newspaper that covered Northport and the surrounding area. She had already been writing articles about the deaths of the students and she wrote an article about the hypnosis when it came out. But when it all got linked together, ⁓ she ran with it. Period. And ran with it. Period. She did not let up. Fucking period. But before this article ran about all three of them being hypnotized by him. Yeah. Yeah. Principal Kenny called Brittany's brother and left him a voicemail telling him an article was coming out about the deaths and that the press would be contacting them and please do not talk to them. brother? Yeah. Not the parents he knows personally? Well, brother went to high school too. Brother was a student there. Okay, why would you talk to the brother and not the parents that you know personally? You're about to find out. Jackie? You're about to find out. What shocked them more than that call? was when they read the article and found out that Principal Kenny denied ever hypnotizing Brittany. even though her mother was in the fucking room with her. Interesting. That's so funny. That's when Brittany's parents started to look at Principal Kenny a lot differently. And maybe there is a connection here, and they weren't the only ones who thought that. Period. There's something I haven't told you about Wesley and Brittany's deaths. motherfucking knew it. Yes, they both hung themselves. But something was missing that is normally present when this happens. Neither of them had any marks on their neck that indicated that they tried to loosen the ligature before succumbing to it. Even if you want to kill yourself, at some point, self-preservation will take over you and your body will try to save you. Neither one of them had any marks on their neck where they tried to stop themselves. the marks she's talking about, in case you are curious, people try to claw at it, whatever you're using. So generally there's going to be scratch marks, ⁓ the rope. or whatever you use is gonna shift, so it's gonna create another, like multiple marks. Ugh, that means they literally... Ugh! The other part to this is that they were not found completely hanging from something. They were in a kneeled forward position. They could have stopped this easily. ⁓ Both of their parents believed that they self hypnotized themselves and in a relaxed trance state that allowed them to do this. In the documentary, Brittany's mom said after her death, She went into the pool and tried to drown herself. She said no matter how hard she tried, when it got to a certain point, her body would take over and save her. No matter how much she wanted to stay under that water. And that is something that really made her set on the fact that Principal Kinney was in some part responsible for this. Because if she wanted to die that badly after losing Brittany, what made Brittany so comfortable and relaxed to do that at 17 years old. And that really stuck with me because... I'm... And she's not saying that he programmed her to kill herself. Correct. But he gave her the tools to enter that totally relaxed state without really knowing the repercussions of giving adolescents that tool. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Is more aware her thought is. I feel like I've pieced something together in my cabeza regarding this. So I wonder if, like, because he said the blinking. Cool. Why they both have something wrapped around their necks? Unless he said cut off your circulation, your air not saying that like they told him, they're not saying that he ever gave subliminal messages for this. I know. But what she's saying is that she, what she says in the documentary, she says that she believes that Brittany went in her room that day, blinked her eyes rapidly to put herself in a calm, relaxed state. And that is what allowed her to do that. I just, I've been in calmed, relaxed states, ⁓ hypnotized like I've told y'all before, and I've never been like, you know what? I'm gonna kill myself. Let me get into this a little bit more. Okay. Principal Kenny was placed on administrative leave within days of that article coming out. Period. Pending an investigation into his use of hypnosis. of course, Florida has a law about hypnosis. Of course they do! Like been in place since the the 70s or something 60s or 70s, kidding. Of course it has! Under Florida law chapter 485 the practice of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes is restricted to licensed healing arts practitioners. For example, doctors, psychologists, dentists, nurses, or those acting under their direct supervision. Practicing therapeutic hypnosis without authorization is a second degree misdemeanor. ⁓ Even though he's technically a doctor? He's not the correct kind of doctor. What kind of doctor is he? Education. Yeah, know you're saying like you have to medical or therapy. He's neither one of those. He is a doctor of education. would have this shit. ⁓ Of course Florida would have this law. ⁓ While investigation got underway, the news of what was going on at Northport High School spread not just statewide, but nationwide overnight. The New York Times was running articles on this. ⁓ No shit? even, emailed the The Daily said, was like, this is doing great up here for us. ⁓ Yeah. What the fuck? It actually eventually ended up getting international attention. Mm-hmm. Media from all over the country flocked to Northport. Like, can you imagine having People Magazine on your front lawn? Yeah, neither could these people in the documentary. The community was... divided about whether Principal Kinney was responsible while there was a lot of uproar about what the school board allowed to happen in the school, but there were also lot of families that supported Principal Kinney because his hypnosis helped them or someone they knew, leading to a massive uproar of parents asking the school board to bring him back as principal. What the fuck? They wanted him back in the school. There were also a lot of kids that wanted him back and wanted him at graduation. So they got a petition together and presented it to the school board. And the school board allowed him to come back for graduation. He did graduation, he handed out diplomas, and then he resigned in June and the school board hired a private investigator to investigate what was going on with the hypnosis. Not so much an investigation into him being responsible for the deaths. This would become known as the Steele investigation, ⁓ a 100 plus page report that was released to the public. ⁓ Jesus fuck! And this investigation revealed that despite repeated warnings from the school board officials, Principal Kinney hypnotized roughly 70 students and staff members from 2006 to 2011. One basketball player reported he was hypnotized up to 40 times to improve his concentration. Principal Kinney did this all without a state license to practice hypnosis. He crossed lines into hypnosis therapy, which he wasn't licensed for. And that line crossed over when he started doing his private sessions. And he wasn't working under a doctor. He didn't look into people's medical backgrounds or psychological backgrounds. He admitted to not being aware that depressed people or people with psychological problems are at a higher risk during hypnosis. He also was not asking students if they were depressed or if they had other mental health issues. Not only that, he erased the tapes and videos from his sessions after it hit the media. But not all of them. Remember how I said there was some shown documentary? But there were no tapes for Brittany, Wesley, or Marcus. Of course there were. But he did say, I have permission slips. There was permission slips that were assigned. Everybody signed one. I have them right here. By a child editor. Like it's not a permission slip from their parents? It is. Wesley's mom thought she was signing a field trip slip. ⁓ He did one of those 6 a.m. slide it in front of her and go, need you to do this before I go to school. And then of course there's kids, like who hasn't forged their parents' signature? Yeah. So I apologize for nothing. I had a great time. The big thing here is the fact he He was doing things he wasn't supposed to do. There is the fun and games hypnosis of group events and parties that you attended and you were hypnotized. You don't need a license for that, you need to be trained. There is him helping with test anxiety. You don't need a license for that. But when he started getting into helping... doing these other things and teaching self hypnosis and using it as a therapy technique. That's where the line was crossed. That's where he's dabbling with adolescent undeveloped minds and you can't be doing this. This is where it gets dangerous. Criminal charges against George Kenney were filed in January of 2012. Specifically misdemeanor charges were filed on January 12th for practicing therapeutic hypnosis without a license. Prosecutors chose not to pursue felony charges. He could have gotten five years for each person he hypnotized. instead they just charged him with two misdemeanors. ⁓ He ended up pleading no contest. As part of the deal his sentence included probation for a year and Restrictions on practicing hypnosis. ⁓ so he didn't go to jail. Yeah He then retired in June of 2012 with a full pension and just disappeared and moved away But it wasn't over for principal Kenny not by a long shot Marcus Wesley and Brittany's families were mad. They wanted more done. They wanted criminal charges pressed against him. They wanted a trial. And they didn't get that. Of course not. The families could not sue Kenny himself because school district employees are considered an extension of the school board under the law. Ugh. The only entity families could sue was the school district. So they sued the school district. Period. They basically sued them for not stopping Kenny from doing these private sessions the way they should have. They should have put a stop to it. There is a law against it. They wanted someone responsible for what was allowed to happen to these adolescent minds. They ended up winning the lawsuit. ⁓ no shit. Against the school district and each family was awarded $200,000. Because that's the maximum any Florida government agency can pay without getting special approval from the legislature and governor. So another fuck you to the families. That's essentially what that is. You know what I mean? Everybody was like, it's just about the money. Like, why won't they drop this? Why don't they leave it alone? They just want the money. And she's got 200,000. You can't put a price on your kid's life. Yeah. That's the price they put on it? She goes, I didn't want the money. I wanted someone responsible. Yeah. I want someone to admit that they're fucking wrong, and I want them to be prosecuted properly. Yes, for their role in this. Even if it's not for the deaths, it's the role that led up to it. The money is not going to bring my child back. Why the fuck do I want money? No, they want change. You know? Yeah. So before we get into my favorite part, let's talk some justice. The families of Marcus, Wesley, and Brittany didn't feel like they got justice. They all want George Kinney to be held more responsible than he was. They still believe he is to blame for their children's death. Along with close friends of the teens, the community to this day is still split northward about Principal Kinney and whether he was helping these kids or manipulating them for his own research. Sam, I want your thoughts, but first I want to share this. Also in the documentary is a lot of footage of George Kenney being interviewed on the stand during all this investigation and before the trial that never happened. They have, it almost reminds me of like a grand jury type of thing where like they ask bunch of questions and review and stuff like if you had the defendant at the grand jury, you know what I mean? It feels like one of those, but I feel like they just did the investigation like in a... I have a feeling it's one of those, it was a hearing to see if it can proceed to trial. Yeah. If they have enough evidence to proceed to trial. Yeah. When you watch it, you understand. He comes off like a narcissist in my opinion and he's just weird and it's like he has a lot to hide. His demeanor with these lawyers is wild. He's literally objecting to their question. And when they're like, you can't object, he's like, well, I want it on record that I do object to this questioning. And they're like, okay. He's just very condescending and weird. ⁓ And there's this thing at the end of the documentary and this is something that just in my head, personally to me, makes him seem so fucking guilty. It's just crazy. ⁓ They do this mashup of him repeating the exact same thing in the exact same cadence with pauses, getting choked up in the same spot, repeating the same part when he talks about Marcus and who he was and all of this. And honestly, my jaw was just on the ground when they did it, because it's like for four episodes, they specifically played these clips just to do this at the end and show you something. ⁓ And then- I love producers and the shit that they do. And then at the very end of this document, so in this documentary he goes, I did this because if there was going to be a documentary, I knew the only way to get my side into it was to actually tell it. The last thing they do in this documentary is him doing a hypnosis session on one of his former students. There's also another thing where they show that when he's the answering questions in the courtroom and him in the documentary, that's him sitting in the chair. and they ask a question and in the trial thing he goes, I'm gonna need to take a and takes a sip. They ask the same question to him in the documentary. He goes, we need to take a minute on that. Picks up his drink and drinks it in the exact same way. It's like he rehearsed and trained it so much down to the emotion, when to have it, what to start over. He cannot say that stuff about Marcus without saying it in the exact same way. If he gets thrown off, he has to start over. He was hypnotized and told to say this. The same way each time. So it's like he Pavlog dogged it. So the second time Marcus's name is brought up, he's like, he played football. He was a great All-American. Yeah, but isn't that crazy? Yeah. Like that. The fact that like he also is like, I'm going to restart that and like starts it over. What? Each time when he does it in different things. And these are years and years apart. Yikes. Isn't that wild? Self-hypnosis. Yeah. Do you have any more thoughts for me? I have a lot of thoughts. I have a lot of thoughts. Do you want it now or do you want it later? I want it now. We want it now. Okay. Hear me out here. ⁓ We don't have justice no I ⁓ Hate to say it. We're not gonna get justice. ⁓ no, not at all. even if for some reason they decide to press criminal charges against him, towards the deaths themselves. Like second degree or ⁓ accessory... An intentional man, like something along... Yeah. That's thing. We don't know what it would be considered under. would that And technically, two of them, all three of them, he was not present for. I guarantee on every single one of their death certificates, suicide, suicide, accident. Well, yes. But here, oh, here's another thing that I'll have you up to. the hypnosis law is so vague. That's why it was harder to put more criminal charges and they only did what they did. Which is why they pulled down to the two misdemeanors instead of all the felonies because they had a better chance at at least getting the misdemeanors and at least getting something. yeah. And like also, I understand how Marcus and Brittany probably put themselves into this emotion or calm state, all this stuff, right? why they decided to kill themselves is beyond me. I cannot piece that together in my head. No. Like the only thing that keeps coming back into my head is that maybe he somehow said to them, the best way to do this is to maybe cut off your air circulation, because it'll be quicker to get into that don't necessarily think that that would, I don't think he'd be that specific in their subliminal, but there's other subliminal things he could have been doing, especially because he did. References being as research. Yeah, there is a My line of thought my thought process is is that because he wasn't checking him into all backgrounds. He wasn't doing all that Maybe he thought he was doing things that were okay But was sending subliminal messages and I'm and I'm wondering if he said some things in those sessions ⁓ recorded if a Another hip note hypnotherapist or hypnosis. Yeah saw them would know what he was doing, but to a normal person they don't seem weird. And so the ones that weren't deleted didn't have any of that in it. But this is just alleged. This is our opinion. The three that died, if nothing suspicious happened, why did you delete all of them? Exactly. That could have cleared you even further. You know what I'm saying? But also remember this was a big time. Maybe when we were a little bit younger rather than 2011 but like cutting off your air circulation was supposed to get you high like and a lot of people did that I unfortunately know people who lost children because of that I do remember that and the thing is though. take into account their positioning being the same and not being a normal way to Do that so like whether he knew he did that or not whether he was intentionally trying to like Because it comes back to that very fascinated with the control over these minds. Yes, I hate that. I hate that. The fact that you said he liked how the... He was fascinated with He fascinated that they could control the students. And I need you to know... That's fucking disgusting. That's a direct quote from him in the documentary. I have no doubt in my mind it is, because he makes me sick. But back to my... Sorry, I'm circling back here that the two of them committed suicide because they got into this calm, relaxed state. Marcus was driving with his girlfriend and I guarantee they were having a fucking blast singing that Katy Perry baby, you're a firework Did something like part of some of the hypnosis thing? ⁓ Something happened in that car for there to be a trigger for him to go into this wonder if there's something in the Katy Perry song or if he had used this form of self-hypnosis before the dentist I Mean maybe then why all of a sudden is it being a problem? because they are adolescents minds who were taught how to self hypnotize themselves without properly being told all the other things. So there could be like he could be teaching them in wrong ways, which make weird things happen. So I am going to use my own personal experience of the hypnosis at the comedy show that I went to, which was a absolute blast, by the way. I loved every second of it. ⁓ In this example. So essentially, this specific hypnosis, each person had a trigger. like that thing happens. I can tell, I was awake the entire motherfucking time. And there was even times I was like, kept my eyes closed, I'm like, no, I'm not hypnotized. And then something happened. And I literally, so I very much remember just being told. you are in love with me when this happens. And I was infatuated with this man. That's crazy. And my cheeks hurt from how big I was smiling. I'm not fucking kidding you. I wish I remembered who I went with to prove I'm right. this shit happened. But then you snap out of it and you're fine. Like, it's quick triggers. It's not a gradual thing. It's quick. Yeah, and you'll see that in these videos that they do show. But it's just... I personally feel like this was somebody who was playing hypnotist and took a couple week course and... He wanted control of his students in a different way. Like, yes, he had control of them. but not in a way that made him feel like God. This was a fucking God complex. And when you watch him, you will, I think that you would agree. the smallest thing you showed me? Yuck. Yeah, I really want you guys to go watch, I'll watch the documentary because I hate when podcasts do episodes off of documentaries and it's basically fucking verbatim. What was this called again? What was it called again? ⁓ Look into My Eyes. I'm so excited. So I didn't want to verbatim the documentary I wanted to put in all the facts and do all of this stuff and Could I've gone into depth about the lawsuits and all this stuff? Yeah, but honestly, there's not a lot there that I didn't already like yeah Everything I tell you in here is what came out in those fully. But watch it I really want you to watch I want you to come back and talk about it on the YouTube comments on Facebook on Spotify comments because if you I want to know about that. Yeah, actually that makes sense. After my car accident in 2019, I went to a therapist that did hypnotism because I was so scared to be a passenger in a vehicle because of my car accident. I'm still a very bad passenger, but at least I can be one now. Yeah. If any of you guys know a hypnotherapist or a hypnotist, would you please let us know? We would love to talk to one. We would love to have one in an episode and try to talk about these things. If you are one, I want to hang out with you. Think that'd be a really fun episode to kind of like expand a little bit on more on this and to hear your opinions on like what he was doing correctly and not correctly and what's the rules because they do have a hypnotist in here who is very like Factual. Yes. He's factual. He's in it and you can tell that he is very Morally balanced in what he does and what in him. He's a credible. Yes He's very credible and he points out what dr. Kinney was doing correctly when he was doing wrong Yeah, sorry. I was having a hard time so Tell me about him. Jury. ⁓ What do you think? Do you think Principal Kenny and his hypnosis sessions are to blame for ⁓ Marcus, Wesley, and Brittany's deaths? ⁓ Or do you think this is just normal school deaths that just happen to be out of school with a hypnotizing principal? ⁓ Within weeks of each other. ⁓ Or do have any other takes on that we didn't get into? This is some final destination ass type shit It kind of really is. ⁓ So let's talk about our victims. Please. Wesley McKinley was a happy and outgoing kid. He taught himself piano and guitar and he was actually getting ready for an audition at the Juilliard School. No shit. Yeah. He had a really big love for life. He was very close to his parents and he had his entire life ahead of him. He was loved by everybody and he was just such a great kid. And I just... It sucks. Marcus Freeman was your typical high school jock who dreamed of becoming a quarterback for the Florida Gators and then treating other athletes injuries as a sports physician. He was loved by his friends and family. He was the life of the party. He was a rising star at Northport High School. I just know he loved Tim Tebow. ⁓ my God, I bet you he did. I bet he loved Tebow. I need somebody who knows. Brittany Palumbo was just two months away from her 18th birthday. She was an insanely good student. She had a grade point average above 4.0. She was set to graduate with full honors and was still sending out college applications despite her SAT scores. She always wanted to be a teacher and she would play teacher as a kid. Her mom said that when they're like, I... I related to this with her mom because my daughter also played teacher a lot when she was a kid and when her mom goes, we all said we didn't want to be in her class. She was so mean. And I'm not kidding you. That was my kid. ⁓ Brittany, all she wanted one year in elementary school was a pointer so that she could play teacher better. And she got her pointer. Yes. And so I just, I love that. I love that so much. ⁓ Her and her mom were like best f****. friends and not in the like, not in the bad way. Yeah. the good way of like the way that me and Nicole are. Where like I'm still her parent, but like we talk about everything. Like how my mom and I are. Yes. She also had a best friend that had been with her since elementary school and they did everything together and had so many memories and so much fun and my heart breaks for her because she's in the documentary and just, you can tell still, know, 12 years later she is tore up. I mean, I remember her saying that, I think it was either her or Wesley's girlfriend that was like, Freshman year was all about cheer and fun and sports and I loved it and then after freshman year I was just like I have to make it through this place and I just like... it sucks, you know? That does suck. Three lives were lost way too young and way too soon. They didn't have the chance to graduate high school, off to college, get married I want to end with a quote from Brittany's mom. No. Why are we all emotional and shit today? Okay. If you lose your husband, you're a widow. When you lose a parent, you're an orphan. But there isn't a word to lose your child. All you are is sad. And there is nothing that can take away the pain because you lose the best part of yourself. Because that's what your children are. The best of you. If you or someone you know is struggling, you're not alone. Help is available 24-7. In the United States, you can call or text 988-The-Suicide-and-Crisis-Lifeline to connect with a trained counselor who are there to listen and support you. This is a hard one. Yeah. I'm sorry, guys. One day, I might be able to get through quotes from moms. That's fair. But... This one... Obviously it's hard, it's very hard. This doesn't hit me like it hits her because I'm not a parent. I don't know that love of a child situation. ⁓ Like obviously I would throw the fuck down for Nikki, but it's different because I didn't... are not supposed to bury their children. Children are supposed to bury their parents. ⁓ ⁓ imagine a life without something I created. ⁓ And that's, literally, until had a kid I didn't understand that as a piece of you walking outside of your body. ⁓ And to your kid that way, ⁓ to have know ⁓ any of details or anything. ⁓ would be unbearable, for these parents to have to deal with this weight and the weight of losing their kid, it's, these ones are harder for me. I get it. quote really made me think like, orphan. ⁓ We really don't have a word for that and it happens so frequently that I'm surprised we don't. Like... It's because there's... there isn't a word. There is not a word that exists that can explain that. Yeah. That's completely fair. Yeah. So. Jesus. Now that I've ruined your day and I'm really sorry about that, make sure you're like following subscribed everywhere. It really helps us out. Share this with everybody. Leave a comment, leave a review, go on the discussion post. Let us know if you watch the documentary. We want to hear everything. Watch it. Yes, please. it. What is it called? And where is it at again? It is called Look Into My Eyes, and it's on Amazon Prime. Perfect. Watch it. ⁓ I have a lot more I can say, but I'm not going to. We're about to about it after we hit end. Period. Please, please, please be safe out there. stop killing each other. ⁓ Stop leaving friends at the bar. Don't get hypnotized your principal. Yeah, don't fucking do that. That's weird. Don't the principal hypnotize kids. sure someone a license. Thank you. That's weird. Okay? Lock your goddamn doors. Alright, we will catch you guys next week, okay? Have a good one. Okay, ⁓ love you, ⁓ bye. ⁓