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3 Murder Cases With Shocking Twists You Won’t See Coming · The conspiracy

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Speaker 1: It always starts small. a missed call, a text that
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Speaker 1: doesn't sound quite right, a noise in the hallway when
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Speaker 1: no one's home, and you ignore it until you can't.
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Speaker 1: In the stories you're about to hear, reality unravels slowly,
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Speaker 1: and then all at once. A woman vanishes, but her
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Speaker 1: messages keep on coming. A quiet college student is led
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Speaker 1: into the woods in broad daylight, but never comes back.
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Speaker 1: And a family home seems haunted, and the truth is
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Speaker 1: eerier than you can imagine. And each story begins simply enough.
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Speaker 1: But Things aren't what they seem. This is Murders with
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Speaker 1: a Twist. And by the end of these stories, you'll
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Speaker 1: question just how well you really know the people around you.
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Speaker 2: Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder.
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Speaker 1: All things that I love to consume, and I know
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Speaker 1: you do too, you sick, twisted, intellectual, beautiful-minded... And today
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Speaker 1: we are talking about just that, murders with a twist,
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Speaker 1: three different stories with absolutely crazy endings that you are
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Speaker 1: not gonna expect. So without further ado, let's unbuckle our
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Speaker 1: seat belts, go Mach 5 down the highway, slam on
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Speaker 1: the brakes, and bust through this windshield into these murder with.
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Speaker 2: A twist cases together.
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Speaker 1: David Kropa was a 36-year-old auto repair shop manager starting
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Speaker 1: a new chapter in Omaha, Nebraska. And he had recently
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Speaker 1: separated from his long-term partner, Amy, the mother of his
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Speaker 1: two children. And he was kind of nervous about getting
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Speaker 1: back into the dating scene again, as you are. especially
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Speaker 1: when you're a little bit further along in life.
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Speaker 2: It can be daunting.
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Speaker 1: And not long after, he would actually meet someone, and
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Speaker 1: that someone was Shanna Liz Golyar, who was also a
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Speaker 1: single parent of two children. So Dave and Shanna just
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Speaker 1: kind of casually dated for a few months in 2012,
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Speaker 1: because Dave made it very clear that he was not
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Speaker 1: looking for anything serious at the time, since he was
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Speaker 1: just getting back into the dating scene, And Shanna was
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Speaker 1: totally cool with that.
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Speaker 2: She was kind of on the same page.
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Speaker 1: So it was around the same time after a few
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Speaker 1: months of dating Shanna that Dave would actually meet a woman.
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Speaker 2: Named Carrie Farver.
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Speaker 1: And Carrie was a 37 year old single mom and
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Speaker 1: she was a brilliant computer programmer. And they would actually
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Speaker 1: have a little bit of a meet cute because Carrie
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Speaker 1: would actually bring her Ford Explorer in to see Dave
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Speaker 1: at his shop just for maintenance. But it wasn't just
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Speaker 1: maintenance that happened and sparks ended up flying. That was terrible,
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Speaker 1: I'm sorry. But Carrie was very independent, she was very intelligent,
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Speaker 1: and she was very lively. Exactly the kind of person
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Speaker 1: Dave enjoyed spending time with. So that November, Dave would
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Speaker 1: actually ask Carrie out. And their first date went exceptionally well.
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Speaker 1: After dinner, they headed back to Dave's apartment, but as
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Speaker 1: they walked in, they unexpectedly crossed paths with Shanna Goyler,
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Speaker 1: who had stopped by without notice. Shanna being the other
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Speaker 1: woman that Dave was seeing. And the two women exchanged
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Speaker 1: only a brief passing glance in the hallway.
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Speaker 2: And Dave didn't think much of it. Because both these.
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Speaker 1: Women knew that he was just casually seeing people at
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Speaker 1: this point. He wasn't committing to anything. So Carrie would
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Speaker 1: spend the night that night. And Dave figured life would
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Speaker 1: carry on normally. But he had no idea what was
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Speaker 1: coming next. So on the morning of November 13th, 2012,
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Speaker 1: Dave left his apartment to go back to work before
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Speaker 1: Carrie did. And before he left for work, he would
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Speaker 1: give her a kiss goodbye. And the same morning, Dave
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Speaker 1: actually received a strange text from Carrie. And in it,
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Speaker 1: she abruptly proposed moving in with him. Even though, at
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Speaker 1: this point, they had only been casually dating for about
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Speaker 1: two weeks. And Dave was stunned, because this was completely
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Speaker 1: out of character for Carrie. You think you know someone
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Speaker 1: after two weeks, you know? But both of them had
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Speaker 1: mutually agreed that they weren't seeking a serious relationship with
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Speaker 1: one another once again. So he was like, what? Why
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Speaker 1: is she just being all weird all of a sudden?
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Speaker 1: Maybe he didn't really know who Carrie was. But he replied,
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Speaker 1: and politely but firmly, declined. And he said that moving
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Speaker 1: in together was completely off the table at this point.
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Speaker 1: And almost instantly, her tone flipped. And Carrie would fire
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Speaker 1: back with texts laced with profanities. She would go on
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Speaker 1: to say, fine, I hate you, I'm dating someone else,
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Speaker 1: I don't wanna see you anymore, go away. And Dave's
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Speaker 1: jaw just dropped, because what had just happened? How did
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Speaker 1: the funny, kind woman he'd been with hours before turn
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Speaker 1: so vicious so quickly? And that evening, Dave returned home
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Speaker 1: to find Carrie gone from his apartment, which was understandable
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Speaker 1: after the vicious exchange they just had. So for two days,
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Speaker 1: Dave kind of was hoping to hear from Carrie, mostly
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Speaker 1: out of concern, but he heard nothing. But then the
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Speaker 1: messages resumed. And Carrie began bombarding him with texts, saying,
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Speaker 1: I hate you, you ruined my life, you're a terrible person.
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Speaker 1: And Dave was just taken aback by the straight venom
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Speaker 1: coming out of Carrie. So feeling very unnerved, he decided
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Speaker 1: it was best to just cut off all contact.
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Speaker 2: Probably for the best.
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Speaker 1: And he would think to himself that he dodged a bullet,
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Speaker 1: trying to just shug off the unease of all those
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Speaker 1: vicious messages. But he would have no way of knowing
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Speaker 1: how literal that thought would become. So while Dave tried
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Speaker 1: to move on, Carrie's family was growing alarmed. Because Carrie
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Speaker 1: had always been a very devoted mother to her 14-year-old son, Max.
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Speaker 1: And she was very closely connected to her own mother,
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Speaker 1: Nancy Rainey. And after November 13th, Carrie never returned home.
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Speaker 1: And she would end up missing very important family events
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Speaker 1: in the following weeks, including a relative's wedding, her own birthday,
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Speaker 1: and even her son's birthday. So there was never any appearance,
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Speaker 1: but only bizarre text excuses. Nancy would actually receive a
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Speaker 1: text from her daughter Carrie saying that she had actually
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Speaker 1: taken a new job in Kansas.
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Speaker 2: Which made no sense.
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Speaker 1: So naturally, her mother, being worried about her, would try
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Speaker 1: to call her, but Carrie would never answer, which was
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Speaker 1: highly unusual for her, according to her family. And Nancy
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Speaker 1: had knew that her daughter had struggled with depression and
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Speaker 1: bipolar disorder in the past, and she warned Carrie might
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Speaker 1: be in a crisis and off of her medication. So naturally,
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Speaker 1: being super desperate as a mother worrying about her child,
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Speaker 1: Nancy went to the police in mid-November and reported her daughter,
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Speaker 1: Carrie Farver, missing. And initially authorities were not urgent in
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Speaker 1: the search because the messages from Carrie's phone indicated she
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Speaker 1: might have left on her own accord. And upon hearing
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Speaker 1: of Carrie's mental health history, one officer suggested it wasn't
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Speaker 1: uncommon for people with bipolar disorder to exhibit erratic behavior
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Speaker 1: and take off on unannounced trips. And this just made
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Speaker 1: Nancy really frustrated because she knew her daughter wouldn't just
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Speaker 1: abandon her life without a word. But for the moment,
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Speaker 1: Carrie's disappearance was treated as a voluntary absence rather than
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Speaker 1: foul play.
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Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Dave, the.
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Speaker 1: Man Carrie was seeing, continued receiving an onslaught of harassing
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Speaker 1: messages from Carrie. And in the texts and emails, Carrie
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Speaker 1: bounced back and forth between lonely pleas and frightening threats.
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Speaker 1: One moment she'd write, we belong together, Dave. And the
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Speaker 1: next would be, I will do what I can to
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Speaker 1: make you suffer.
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Speaker 2: So Dave being.
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Speaker 1: you know, terrified, changed his phone number multiple times, but
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Speaker 1: somehow the messages always found him. He did know she
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Speaker 1: was a computer programmer after all, so she was pretty smart,
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Speaker 1: but she seemed to just have unlimited resources in reaching
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Speaker 1: him and had an obvious, very unhealthy obsession with him.
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Speaker 1: So as weeks passed with no physical sighting of Carrie,
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Speaker 1: she effectively became a ghost that lived in Dave's devices.
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Speaker 1: And at this point, Dave and Shauna, the first woman
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Speaker 1: he was seeing, started to grow closer because they empathized
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Speaker 1: with each other over this actual terrifying situation. And Shauna
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Speaker 1: claimed she too was receiving hateful messages from Carrie as well,
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Speaker 1: accusing her of stealing Dave. And even on one occasion,
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Speaker 1: Shauna phoned Dave in tears, saying her garage door had
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Speaker 1: been vandalized. And Dave would rush over immediately to see
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Speaker 1: what the graffiti was. And the words on her garage
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Speaker 1: would say, from Dave. So this is obviously extremely unsettling
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Speaker 1: to Shauna, so she would file a police report pointing
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Speaker 1: the finger at Carrie as the culprit. Because, I mean,
8:17
Speaker 1: only an idiot would sign under something that they wrote terribly.
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Speaker 1: And the harassment would just escalate further and further. Both
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Speaker 1: Dave and Shauna would live simultaneously and get emails full
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Speaker 1: of threats whenever they spent time together. And one chilling night,
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Speaker 1: as Dave would try to relax on his recliner, a
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Speaker 1: text would pop up saying, I see you. You're sitting
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Speaker 1: in your chair with your feet propped up, wearing a
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Speaker 1: blue shirt. And this was exactly what Dave was wearing
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Speaker 1: and doing in that moment.
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Speaker 2: So creepy. But a prickling sensation crawled over Dave's skin.
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Speaker 1: So the stalker at this point wasn't just behind the screen,
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Speaker 1: but they were physically watching him. And by early 2013,
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Speaker 1: the terror went beyond words. Because Dave would spot a
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Speaker 1: familiar SUV parked near his apartment one night. And it was,
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Speaker 1: you guessed it, Carrie's Ford Expedition. The same one that
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Speaker 1: she met Dave, when they went for the little meet
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Speaker 1: cute at his shop, he now found it stalking him.
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Speaker 1: So he would naturally alert police who would examine the vehicle.
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Speaker 1: And inside they would find one single fingerprint on a
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Speaker 1: mint container. But oddly enough, it didn't match Carrie or
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Speaker 1: anyone in the law enforcement databases. So it was now
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Speaker 1: as if Carrie had just evaporated, leaving behind only traces
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Speaker 1: of angry digital echoes. So even as the messages continued,
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Speaker 1: no one ever saw her in person. And while all
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Speaker 1: this is happening, her son Max decided to message mom
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Speaker 1: on Facebook after having received messages that sounded off. And
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Speaker 1: his mother would respond. But when he asked his mom
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Speaker 1: also to verify his middle name and their dog's name, the.
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Speaker 2: Account went silent. I love how a child.
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Speaker 1: is cracking the case more so than the police at
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Speaker 1: this point. So to those who loved Carrie, it was
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Speaker 1: becoming very clear that the real Carrie was not behind
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Speaker 1: these messages and something was very wrong. So over the years,
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Speaker 1: 2013 and 2014, the stalker campaign against Dave supposedly by Carrie,
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Speaker 1: intensified to a horrifying degree. And Dave's ex-girlfriend, Amy, the
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Speaker 1: mother of his children, even received threatening messages herself, despite
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Speaker 1: having no involvement in their love triangle. And one evening,
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Speaker 1: while Dave had a romantic partner over, someone attempted to
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Speaker 1: break into his apartment by jiggling the door handle. I
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Speaker 1: can't just like, up my spine.
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Speaker 2: Yuck.
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Speaker 1: And later that night, a brick was thrown through his window.
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Speaker 1: And another time, Dave's auto shop was vandalized as well.
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Speaker 1: So it seemed no one in Dave's life was off
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Speaker 1: limits at this point. And the stalker's obsession with Shauna
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Speaker 1: was particularly fierce. Dave got an email from Carrie with
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Speaker 1: a picture of a woman tied up in the trunk
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Speaker 1: of her car and threatened to kill Shauna. And Dave,
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Speaker 1: seeing this picture, freaking out, thinking it's Shauna, would call
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Speaker 1: her to make sure that she was unharmed. But luckily
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Speaker 1: she wasn't, and Carrie was just bluffing. But in another
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Speaker 1: cruel trick, Dave received a link to a fake obituary
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Speaker 1: for Shauna, as if Carrie was fantasizing about eliminating her rival.
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Speaker 1: And then came the most drastic incident, because in August
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Speaker 1: of 2013, Shauna Goyler's house burned to the ground. tragically
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Speaker 1: killing her pets, which she had two dogs, a cat,
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Speaker 1: and a snake. And investigators would obviously investigate and determine
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Speaker 1: it was arson. So Liz immediately voiced her suspicion that
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Speaker 1: Carrie was responsible because she had been getting tons of
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Speaker 1: threats and so had Dave. And Dave was horrified that
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Speaker 1: the stalker's threats had escalated to real violence. So fearing
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Speaker 1: for his safety and his sanity, Dave armed himself with
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Speaker 1: a 9mm pistol. And by now, nearly everyone believed Carrie
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Speaker 1: Farver was an unhinged woman committing these acts because she
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Speaker 1: couldn't let go of this relationship and rejection in the relationship.
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Speaker 1: And for over two years, Carrie existed only as a
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Speaker 1: vengeful phantom tormenting Dave and Shanna from afar. So Carrie,
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Speaker 1: the loving mother and talented programmer, as she was known,
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Speaker 1: was nowhere to be found. But the truth, when it
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Speaker 1: finally emerged, would prove more twisted than anyone could have
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Speaker 1: ever imagined. So in 2015, with the harassment still ongoing
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Speaker 1: with no sign of Carrie in the flesh, law enforcement
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Speaker 1: decided a fresh look was needed. So Potawatomi County Sheriff's
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Speaker 1: Detective Ryan Avis and Jim Dottie volunteered to tackle the
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Speaker 1: cold case. And they would approach it from two different angles. One,
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Speaker 1: assumed Carrie was alive. And the other assumed she was
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Speaker 1: dead to cover all possibilities. And quickly, red flags would
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Speaker 1: start to appear. Detective Dottie was struck by one name
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Speaker 1: that kept popping up in these case files, and that
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Speaker 1: was Shanna Liz Goliar. And Shanna had never met Carrie
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Speaker 1: beyond the passing moment in that hallway, when Dave was
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Speaker 1: on his first date with Carrie. Yet she was the
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Speaker 1: supposed target for most of Carrie's wrath. So why would
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Speaker 1: a brief acquaintance like Carrie's fixate so much to Shanna?
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Speaker 1: So the detectives began to suspect that perhaps Carrie had
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Speaker 1: never been the stalker at all, and perhaps something terrible
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Speaker 1: had happened to Carrie back in 2012. And the person
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Speaker 1: truly behind the stalking was working hard to make everyone
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Speaker 1: believe Carrie was still alive. And not just alive, but
13:43
Speaker 1: full blown crazy. So investigators would revisit all of the
13:47
Speaker 1: digital evidence and there was a lot. So crucially, back
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Speaker 1: in 2013, both Dave and Shanna had willingly allowed police
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Speaker 1: to dump the contents of their phones when the harassment
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Speaker 1: was first reported. And the data had just been filed
14:01
Speaker 1: away and untouched for years. But a digital forensic expert,
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Speaker 1: Anthony Cava, now combed through the evidence with fresh eyes.
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Speaker 1: And what he would find was stupidity. because on Shanna's
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Speaker 1: phone backup, there were photos of Carrie Farver's SUV, the
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Speaker 1: Ford Expedition, taken about a month before police found the
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Speaker 1: vehicle in January of 2013. So that meant that Shanna
14:23
Speaker 1: somehow knew where Carrie's missing vehicle was long before the
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Speaker 1: authorities did.
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Speaker 2: Red flag.
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Speaker 1: And even more damning, the mysterious fingerprint in Carrie's SUV
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Speaker 1: was finally matched. And if you haven't guessed it by now,
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Speaker 1: I feel like it's kind of obvious, but it was
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Speaker 1: Shanna's fingerprint. So in that instant, the narrative completely flipped.
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Speaker 1: Shanna was not another victim of Carrie's abuse. Shanna was
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Speaker 1: impersonating Carrie. And piece by piece, the team gathered evidence
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Speaker 1: of Shanna's elaborate web of deception. I mean, this is
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Speaker 1: years and years of crazy. And they discovered that the
15:02
Speaker 1: frightening photo of a bound woman in the trunk, emailed
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Speaker 1: from Carrie, had been taken with Shanna's phone. And a
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Speaker 1: surveillance video uploaded under Carrie's name was traced back to
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Speaker 1: Shanna's home IP address. And Shanna had gone so far
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Speaker 1: as to even use software to mask her IP and
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Speaker 1: schedule messages, allowing Carrie to send harassing texts even when
15:23
Speaker 1: Shanna was sitting right next to Dave.
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Speaker 2: Thereby deflecting suspicion.
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Speaker 1: So for three years, Shanna had effectively played the role
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Speaker 1: of Carrie Farver, sending approximately 15,000 emails and 50,000 text
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Speaker 1: messages in Carrie's name. Just a full-time job of obsessive,
15:44
Speaker 1: crazy torment. And the most chilling revelation, Carrie Farver had
15:48
Speaker 1: been dead the entire time. So investigators now believe that
15:53
Speaker 1: Carrie was murdered on the very day that she disappeared
15:56
Speaker 1: in 2012. likely within hours of her last sighting at
15:59
Speaker 1: Dave's apartment. But proving a murder with no body would
16:02
Speaker 1: be a challenge. So detectives kind of needed a breakthrough
16:06
Speaker 1: at this point and Shanna herself provided one. Because in
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Speaker 1: December of 2015, when suspicions closed in on her, Shanna
16:13
Speaker 1: pulled a desperate stunt. She would shoot herself in her
16:17
Speaker 1: leg and call 911, claiming that, stay with me, Dave's ex,
16:23
Speaker 1: Amy Flora, had ambushed her at a park at night.
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Speaker 1: Girls really reaching, just reaching for the stars with that one.
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Speaker 1: And it was basically just a terrible attempt to frame
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Speaker 1: Amy as the real stalker. And police immediately saw through
16:38
Speaker 1: it because, you know, they're not five years old. Because
16:40
Speaker 1: the injury and the story was very... inconsistent, and Amy
16:44
Speaker 1: had an ironclad alibi. So this backfired spectacularly on Shanna. Shanna.
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Speaker 1: Whatever the f * * * her name is. Confirming
16:53
Speaker 1: her very manipulative behavior. Basically, it was her nail in
16:56
Speaker 1: the coffin. So good on ya, Shanna. So with this incident,
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Speaker 1: investigators convinced Shanna to let them download her phone again,
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Speaker 1: under the pretense of investigating Amy's supposed harassment.
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Speaker 2: The manipulative gets manipulated, you know? I like that.
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Speaker 1: Police W moment. And naively, Shanna would agree. And the
17:15
Speaker 1: new data yielded more golden evidence because logs of 20
17:19
Speaker 1: to 30 fake email addresses Shanna had created using variations
17:23
Speaker 1: of Carrie's name popped up. And that app that let
17:26
Speaker 1: her schedule future text messages popped up as well. So
17:29
Speaker 1: as part of their plan, Dottie and Avis convinced Shanna
17:32
Speaker 1: that they believed her and actually requested her help to
17:36
Speaker 1: get Amy.
17:37
Speaker 2: To incriminate herself. I love this. This is good.
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Speaker 1: So suddenly, Shanna began forwarding emails from Amy, confessing to
17:45
Speaker 1: shooting Shanna at the park. How convenient. And they continued
17:49
Speaker 1: to push Shanna to get more. And one email mentioned
17:52
Speaker 1: that Amy had stabbed Carrie three to four times and
17:55
Speaker 1: put her in a trash bag. And Shanna grew frustrated
17:58
Speaker 1: when no arrest happened after that email came out because
18:01
Speaker 1: the police know that she's full of Shit. But they
18:04
Speaker 1: couldn't put Amy away just yet. They needed details that
18:07
Speaker 1: only the killer would really know. Just full-on entrapment, but
18:11
Speaker 1: I'm here for it. And almost immediately, they received more
18:14
Speaker 1: confession emails from Amy, mentioning that Carrie had been.
18:17
Speaker 2: Stabbed in her car.
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Speaker 1: And acting on that tip, they re-inspected Carrie's vehicle for
18:22
Speaker 1: a third time, peeling back the fabric from the front
18:25
Speaker 1: passenger seat. And this time, they found bloodstains soaked in
18:28
Speaker 1: the foam padding.
18:29
Speaker 2: How did you not look for that before? But that's,
18:32
Speaker 2: you know what, whatever.
18:33
Speaker 1: Whatever. This all years could have been avoided, but whatever.
18:36
Speaker 1: Peel back the f * * * ing foam next time.
18:38
Speaker 2: It's not my job. I'm just judging from the outside.
18:41
Speaker 1: But anyway, DNA testing confirmed it was Carrie Farver's blood.
18:45
Speaker 1: And it was preserved under the upholstery. It just sucks
18:48
Speaker 1: that they didn't look closer the last time because like...
18:51
Speaker 1: This could have been solved so much earlier and caused
18:54
Speaker 1: the family so much less stress. But again, not my job.
18:58
Speaker 1: But now the mountain of evidence was undeniable. And investigators
19:02
Speaker 1: executed a search warrant on Shanna's property. And in her home,
19:06
Speaker 1: they found items belonging to Carrie, including a digital camera
19:09
Speaker 1: and a camcorder that had been taken from Carrie's residence.
19:12
Speaker 1: And Dave would also recall that he actually had a
19:14
Speaker 1: tablet in storage. And the tablet had a memory card
19:17
Speaker 1: that had been in Shanna's phone around the time of
19:20
Speaker 1: the murder. And the memory card would have a gruesome photograph.
19:24
Speaker 1: And it was of a decomposing human foot with a tattoo.
19:28
Speaker 1: A tattoo matching one of Carrie Farver's. And this would
19:31
Speaker 1: be the closest thing to finding Carrie's remains. So armed
19:35
Speaker 1: with overwhelming evidence, police arrested Shanna on December 22nd, 2016
19:40
Speaker 1: and charged her with first degree murder. And the trial
19:44
Speaker 1: in 2017 was staggering for those that heard the full story.
19:47
Speaker 1: And prosecutors painted Shanna as a diabolical, mastermind, consumed by
19:52
Speaker 1: jealousy after Dave chose to date Carrie instead of her.
19:55
Speaker 1: And within days of the brief encounter in the apartment hallway,
19:59
Speaker 1: Shanna had allegedly ambushed Carrie, likely.
20:01
Speaker 2: Stabbed to death in Carrie's own SUV.
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Speaker 1: And then she dedicated years to impersonating her victim and
20:07
Speaker 1: terrorizing anyone connected to Dave.
20:10
Speaker 2: And Dave... was floored by this revelation. I can't even imagine.
20:15
Speaker 1: He would go on to say, then to learn that
20:18
Speaker 1: Carrie's not only not at fault, but she's been murdered,
20:21
Speaker 1: and Shanna, the person who I leaned on, was responsible,
20:24
Speaker 1: it's still hard to process. No shit, oh my, like
20:27
Speaker 1: that is, I don't even know how you trust anyone
20:31
Speaker 1: after that. But indeed, Shanna had deceived Dave and everyone
20:35
Speaker 1: by pretending to be his comfort and ally all while
20:38
Speaker 1: secretly tormenting him. But because Carrie's body was never fully recovered,
20:42
Speaker 1: the case was entirely built on circumstantial evidence and Shanna's
20:46
Speaker 1: digital footprints. And in a bench trial, Shanna waived her
20:50
Speaker 1: right to a jury. The judge would find the evidence compelling,
20:53
Speaker 1: and he would find Shanna Liz Goliar guilty of murder
20:56
Speaker 1: in 2017 and sentence her to life in prison.
20:59
Speaker 2: Good!
21:00
Speaker 1: And the judge would note how utterly bizarre and chilling
21:03
Speaker 1: the entire case was. Something completely out of a nightmare,
21:07
Speaker 1: yet extremely real. But even years after the verdict, Shanna
21:10
Speaker 1: still maintains her innocence, astonishingly claiming that the real killer
21:15
Speaker 1: is still out there. And she herself was somehow framed.
21:19
Speaker 1: But no one believes her. I sure as shit don't
21:21
Speaker 1: believe her. But in contrast, Carrie's family had finally got
21:25
Speaker 1: clarity to what happened to Carrie. Though it was obviously
21:29
Speaker 1: a very devastating truth. And Nancy, her mother, and Carrie's son, Max,
21:34
Speaker 1: were heartbroken to learn how her life had been stolen
21:37
Speaker 1: away from her. But they were grateful that her name
21:39
Speaker 1: was finally cleared. And in Carrie's honor, those detectives and
21:42
Speaker 1: the forensic team helped establish a scholarship in her name.
21:46
Speaker 1: And it would be at a local community college where
21:48
Speaker 1: she actually once studied. hoping to preserve the memory of
21:51
Speaker 1: who she really was. And her mom would go on
21:53
Speaker 1: to say, Carrie was only 37 when she died. I
21:56
Speaker 1: want her to be remembered as the fun-loving, talented, smart
21:59
Speaker 1: woman that she was. It was a misty spring dawn
22:07
Speaker 1: in rural Darden, Tennessee. And pink light would creep over
22:11
Speaker 1: the treetops as 20 year old Holly Bobo sipped coffee
22:15
Speaker 1: and study at the kitchen table. And she would be
22:17
Speaker 1: dressed in her favorite pink blouse and jeans. And Holly
22:20
Speaker 1: was a nursing student and she often woke up early
22:23
Speaker 1: to prepare for classes at UT Martin. And at this
22:26
Speaker 1: point in the day, her parents had already left for work.
22:29
Speaker 1: So it was quiet in the house and it was
22:31
Speaker 1: only Holly and her older brother, Clint, that were home.
22:35
Speaker 1: And shortly after 7.30 a.m. on April 13th, 2011, Clint
22:40
Speaker 1: would hear the family dog start barking furiously outside. So
22:44
Speaker 1: curious as to why the dog was barking, he would
22:47
Speaker 1: peer through the window and he would see a man
22:49
Speaker 1: in head-to-toe camouflage talking with Holly in the garage. Now,
22:53
Speaker 1: Holly had a boyfriend, Drew Scott, and he often went
22:56
Speaker 1: hunting and very often dressed in camouflage. So Clint naturally
23:01
Speaker 1: assumed that it was Drew. But he would see they
23:04
Speaker 1: were kind of getting in an argument of sorts. Holly
23:07
Speaker 1: appeared to be in some sort of distress, kind of
23:09
Speaker 1: whispering and arguing. And Clint believed it looked like they
23:12
Speaker 1: may actually be breaking up, so he kind of wanted
23:15
Speaker 1: to give them space. So after a while, Clint's mother...
23:18
Speaker 1: Karen would call the house after a neighbor reached out,
23:21
Speaker 1: claiming that they heard a scream. And seemingly out of nowhere,
23:24
Speaker 1: Karen would tell Clint to get the gun and shoot
23:28
Speaker 1: the man. And she would say, that's not Drew. And
23:31
Speaker 1: Clint at this point was very confused as to what
23:33
Speaker 1: he was witnessing. And he would double check to see
23:36
Speaker 1: if the man outside was Drew or not.
23:38
Speaker 2: And he would ask his mom on the phone, you
23:40
Speaker 2: want me to shoot Drew?
23:42
Speaker 1: Because he was looking outside and who he was looking
23:44
Speaker 1: at was his sister's boyfriend. But as he was on
23:47
Speaker 1: the phone and looking outside, he would see that Holly
23:50
Speaker 1: and Drew were walking into the woods behind the house.
23:53
Speaker 1: And he would have one hand gripping Holly's arm. And
23:56
Speaker 1: Clint's heart was just pounding in this moment, not knowing
23:59
Speaker 1: what to do.
24:00
Speaker 2: But.
24:00
Speaker 1: He would quickly grab the gun and he would run outside.
24:03
Speaker 1: And when he did go outside, he would find blood
24:06
Speaker 1: near Holly's car in the garage. And in that instant,
24:08
Speaker 1: Clint realized something was terribly wrong. And by this time,
24:12
Speaker 1: Holly and seemingly Drew vanished into the dense trees. And
24:16
Speaker 1: this quiet, normal morning just ended. exploded into a nightmare.
24:20
Speaker 1: So Holly Bobo had been abducted at dawn, mere steps
24:24
Speaker 1: away from her home. So at this point, Clint would
24:26
Speaker 1: frantically call 911, choking out what he'd seen. And law
24:30
Speaker 1: enforcement would arrive pretty quickly after, about 10 minutes later.
24:34
Speaker 1: But they did not begin the search in the woods
24:36
Speaker 1: for at least two hours. And then the community and
24:39
Speaker 1: law enforcement mobilized in a massive search. And the blood
24:42
Speaker 1: by Holly's car suggested some sort of struggle. And investigators
24:46
Speaker 1: believe that Holly was taken as she was heading to
24:48
Speaker 1: her car with her school lunch and her books. And
24:51
Speaker 1: in those first desperate days, hundreds of volunteers combed through
24:55
Speaker 1: the woods of Decatur County for any trace of the blonde,
24:59
Speaker 1: blue-eyed nursing student. And searchers did find Holly's lunchbox discarded
25:04
Speaker 1: on a rural road a few miles away, hinting the
25:06
Speaker 1: kidnapper had driven off in that direction. And some other
25:09
Speaker 1: items were located as well, including a school paper of
25:12
Speaker 1: Holly's and her cell phone and SIM card. And these
25:15
Speaker 1: were all located separately. But nothing much would come from
25:18
Speaker 1: these discoveries at this point. And despite exhausted efforts and
25:21
Speaker 1: foot searches, ATV sweeps, and prayer visuals, nothing of value surfaced.
25:26
Speaker 1: And Holly's disappearance would make national headlines. And the image
25:29
Speaker 1: of her smiling face, a pretty young woman with everything
25:33
Speaker 1: ahead of her, was plastered on missing posters offering.
25:37
Speaker 2: A $ 250, 000 reward.
25:38
Speaker 1: Because who would do such a thing in such a
25:40
Speaker 1: close-knit community? And fear would just start gripping the entire area.
25:45
Speaker 1: So as days turned to weeks without any sort of answers,
25:48
Speaker 1: speculation started to swirl. And law enforcement didn't name suspects initially,
25:53
Speaker 1: but they didn't really have to, because rumor mills filled
25:56
Speaker 1: in the blanks. Because in emotionally charged cases, the closest
25:59
Speaker 1: person to the victim often falls under suspicion, and is
26:03
Speaker 1: often the case in most cases. And Clint, almost positively
26:07
Speaker 1: knowing that this man that walked her into the forest
26:09
Speaker 1: was Drew, obviously made him a suspect. And this, of course,
26:13
Speaker 1: fueled speculation and rumors. Was it a breakup like Clint
26:17
Speaker 1: had guessed? Was it a jealous argument? Or did Drew
26:20
Speaker 1: just snap? And Holly's family would stand by Clint, yet
26:24
Speaker 1: whispers always spread.
26:25
Speaker 2: About her brother as well.
26:27
Speaker 1: And they were asking questions like, why hadn't he immediately
26:29
Speaker 1: recognized the danger? Was it possible that he knew the abductor?
26:33
Speaker 1: Why did he decide to go check the garage instead
26:35
Speaker 1: of rushing after Holly into the woods? But Clint would
26:38
Speaker 1: insist that he really thought that the man with Holly
26:41
Speaker 1: was her boyfriend Drew, and that he was just frozen
26:44
Speaker 1: by confusion in the moment.
26:46
Speaker 2: And by the time reality set in, it was just
26:48
Speaker 2: too late.
26:49
Speaker 1: And the suspect, according to him, was a man that
26:51
Speaker 1: was 5'10 to 6' tall, who was 180 to 200
26:55
Speaker 1: pounds and had long dark hair. So investigators publicly stated
26:59
Speaker 1: they did not consider Clint a suspect, the brother. And
27:03
Speaker 1: Clint later said that he was shocked that some people
27:06
Speaker 1: eyed him with suspicion. The community just desperately needed someone
27:10
Speaker 1: to blame. So if it wasn't the boyfriend or the
27:12
Speaker 1: brother at this point, perhaps it was maybe the local
27:16
Speaker 1: sexual offender. So police zeroed in on a man named
27:19
Speaker 1: Terry Britt. And Terry was a convicted... offender who lived
27:23
Speaker 1: not far from the Bobo's home. And Britt was known
27:26
Speaker 1: to prowl for victims. How are you known for that?
27:29
Speaker 1: You're not in jail. That doesn't make any sense for me,
27:32
Speaker 1: but anyway. So detectives would search his property, vehicles, and
27:36
Speaker 1: even put him under surveillance for months. But Britt had
27:39
Speaker 1: an alibi and no initial evidence tied him to Holly
27:42
Speaker 1: at all. So it was a very frustrating dead end.
27:45
Speaker 1: But behind the scenes, other names bubbled up. And those
27:48
Speaker 1: names were Zach Adams, Dylan Adams, and Shane Austin and
27:52
Speaker 1: Jason Autry. And these were men from the area known
27:55
Speaker 1: for criminal behavior and heavy drug use. In fact, Holly's
27:59
Speaker 1: own mother, Karen, grimly remembered that she had taught both
28:04
Speaker 1: Zach Adams and Jason Autry in elementary school years and
28:08
Speaker 1: years earlier. And as boys, she remembered that they were troublemakers.
28:11
Speaker 1: And as adults, they were deeply involved in meth and morphine.
28:15
Speaker 1: And they were widely regarded as bad news around town.
28:19
Speaker 1: So tips had actually come in early in the investigation
28:22
Speaker 1: about these men. But initially, their alibis appeared to check out.
28:25
Speaker 1: with no physical evidence or witnesses directly linking them to
28:29
Speaker 1: the case. So months would pass, and then a year,
28:32
Speaker 1: and there was still no sign of Holly. And the
28:34
Speaker 1: Bobo family's torment was only amplified by intense media attention.
28:38
Speaker 1: And Holly's parents made tearful public appeals. begging for their
28:41
Speaker 1: daughter's safe return. And Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents followed
28:45
Speaker 1: hundreds of leads. And Holly's disappearance became one of the
28:48
Speaker 1: most infamous unsolved cases in Tennessee history, just casting a
28:53
Speaker 1: long and fearful shadow over the entire community. So it
28:56
Speaker 1: seemed that Holly Bobo had just vanished without a trace.
28:59
Speaker 1: But in truth, critical clues and witnesses were slowly coming together,
29:03
Speaker 1: and a shocking, grisly picture of what happened was about
29:07
Speaker 1: to emerge. So for more than three years, the town
29:10
Speaker 1: of Darden lived in limbo. Holly's friends and neighbors were
29:13
Speaker 1: just haunted by the unknowns, and many locals kept the
29:16
Speaker 1: story alive with prayer visuals each year, refusing to let
29:19
Speaker 1: Hope die. But as time wore on, Hope was kind
29:22
Speaker 1: of hard to sustain, and some evidence would trickle in
29:25
Speaker 1: in 2013. Because in 2013, a purse thought to be
29:29
Speaker 1: Holly's was found in the woods, only for Karen Bobo
29:32
Speaker 1: to confirm it wasn't hers. So it was just another
29:34
Speaker 1: discouraging false lead. And TBI agents and the Decatur County
29:38
Speaker 1: Sheriff quietly continued working the case in the background. But
29:42
Speaker 1: the turning point came in 2014, nearly three years after
29:46
Speaker 1: Holly vanished, and investigators descended on the property of Zachary, Zach, Adams.
29:51
Speaker 1: And as mentioned before, this was like the local criminal.
29:54
Speaker 1: And during this encounter, Zach was described as so nervous
29:58
Speaker 1: he was shaking. And he allegedly would not give his
30:01
Speaker 1: cell phone number or allow law enforcement inside his home.
30:05
Speaker 2: Red flag! So after law.
30:06
Speaker 1: Enforcement left, he also allegedly did a number of suspicious things,
30:10
Speaker 1: like vacuuming his car for an hour and hosing down
30:14
Speaker 1: a mattress outside.
30:16
Speaker 2: Double red flag.
30:17
Speaker 1: And Zach's younger brother, John Dylan Adams, was arrested on
30:21
Speaker 1: an unrelated weapons charge. And eventually he took a plea
30:24
Speaker 1: deal for no jail time in exchange for information. And
30:27
Speaker 1: he claimed that on April 13th, 2011, he had gone
30:31
Speaker 1: to Zach's house to get his vehicle. And while he
30:33
Speaker 1: was there, he saw his brother Zach dressed in camouflaged clothing.
30:38
Speaker 1: And he also saw Jason Autry and holly bobo and
30:42
Speaker 1: zach had allegedly told him that he had recorded a
30:45
Speaker 1: video of him essaying holly so finally an arrest was
30:49
Speaker 1: made and shorter thereafter more arrests followed zach adams and
30:53
Speaker 1: jason autry and another associate shane austin who was allegedly
30:58
Speaker 1: present during the crime but he cut a secret immunity
31:01
Speaker 1: deal in exchange for cooperation however when he was later
31:04
Speaker 1: accused of not being truthful the deal was revoked thank
31:07
Speaker 1: god and in 2015 shane austin would commit slewer slide.
31:12
Speaker 2: Easy way out, bitch.
31:13
Speaker 1: Though no clear motive was confirmed, some speculate it was
31:17
Speaker 1: due to guilt or fear. But as the gruesome allegations
31:20
Speaker 1: came out, the community's worst fears were confirmed. Holly had
31:24
Speaker 1: likely been attacked and killed shortly after being abducted. But
31:27
Speaker 1: where was she? Because the suspects weren't talking at this point.
31:31
Speaker 1: at least not about the most important detail. So on
31:35
Speaker 1: a warm September day in 2014, two hunters were searching
31:39
Speaker 1: for ginseng in a remote wooded area in a neighboring
31:42
Speaker 1: Decatur County. And deep in the brush, they stumbled upon
31:45
Speaker 1: a large human skull lying on the ground. And the
31:48
Speaker 1: skull had a bullet hole through the back. And nearby,
31:51
Speaker 1: investigators later discovered ribs and teeth. And dental records and
31:55
Speaker 1: DNA testing soon confirmed the devastating truth. these remains were
31:59
Speaker 1: holly bobos so after three excruciating years holly's family finally
32:04
Speaker 1: had proof that holly was never coming home alive and
32:07
Speaker 1: the death was ruled a homicide by gunshot so though
32:10
Speaker 1: the discovery was heart-wrenching it also steeled the resolve of
32:13
Speaker 1: prosecutors to get justice because now with holly's body found
32:17
Speaker 1: the trial could move forward So over 2015 and 2016,
32:21
Speaker 1: investigators gathered everything they could. Forensic evidence from the remains,
32:26
Speaker 1: witness statements, and confessions from those involved. And the horrifying
32:30
Speaker 1: actual events of Holly's last hours gradually came to light.
32:33
Speaker 1: And this was primarily through testimony of one man who
32:36
Speaker 1: was willing to speak, and that man was Jason Autry.
32:39
Speaker 1: And the full truth was almost too awful to believe.
32:42
Speaker 1: Because according to testimony and evidence presented later in court,
32:46
Speaker 1: the early morning of April 13th, 2011, unfolded as follows.
32:50
Speaker 1: Zack Adams, high on drugs, allegedly decided to kidnap Holly Bobo.
32:55
Speaker 1: And according to Autry, the motive may have involved a
32:58
Speaker 1: meth-related dispute. But this version is uncooperated and conflicts with
33:02
Speaker 1: Clint Bobo's statements. And Zack wasn't alone in this abduction.
33:06
Speaker 1: His brother, Dylan Adams, and their friend, Shane Austin, and
33:10
Speaker 1: Jason Autry were all implicated in a plot of a
33:14
Speaker 1: essay of Holly Bobo. And Jason Autry would eventually testify
33:18
Speaker 1: in graphic detail about that entire day. And he would
33:21
Speaker 1: say that after Holly was dragged into the woods, she
33:24
Speaker 1: was taken to a property. And this was possibly Zach's home.
33:27
Speaker 1: And there, Holly was allegedly essayed by the entire group.
33:30
Speaker 1: And this was based on statements from Dylan and implications
33:33
Speaker 1: in Autry's testimony, though physical evidence was lacking and accounts conflicted.
33:38
Speaker 1: But Holly was terrorized and restrained, and at some point
33:42
Speaker 1: she suffered a head injury from blunt force. And this
33:44
Speaker 1: was as evidence because she had trauma on her skull
33:47
Speaker 1: that showed it. So believing that Holly might already be dead,
33:50
Speaker 1: or nearly so from that assault, Zach and Jason loaded
33:53
Speaker 1: her body, wrapped it in a blanket, and put her
33:56
Speaker 1: in Zach's pickup truck. And Jason Autry recounted that he
33:58
Speaker 1: initially thought that the rolled up bundle was a drug
34:01
Speaker 1: dealer that they'd killed for money. Until Zach looked at
34:04
Speaker 1: him and chillingly said, that's Holly Bobo. And Jason, who
34:07
Speaker 1: barely knew Holly, was horrified, but nevertheless agreed to help
34:11
Speaker 1: Zach dispose of the body in exchange for drugs. So
34:14
Speaker 1: they drove to a spot by the Tennessee River under
34:16
Speaker 1: an overpass, and they planned to gut her body and
34:20
Speaker 1: dump it just so that animals wouldn't consume the remains.
34:23
Speaker 2: Just a gruesome idea.
34:25
Speaker 1: Horrific plan fueled by meth-fueled madness. But as they unrolled
34:30
Speaker 1: the blanket on the ground by the water, Holly moved.
34:33
Speaker 1: And at this point, she was still alive. And Jason
34:36
Speaker 1: would see her foot twitch and heard a muffled cry.
34:39
Speaker 1: And he shouted in shock, the bitch is still alive.
34:42
Speaker 1: And in a panic, knowing that Holly could identify them
34:44
Speaker 1: if she survived, Zach Adams grabbed his gun. And as
34:47
Speaker 1: Jason stepped away as a lookout, Zach shot Holly in
34:50
Speaker 1: the back of the head, killing her instantly. And in
34:53
Speaker 1: that very moment, a boat was heard approaching on the river,
34:56
Speaker 1: startling the men, and they just abandoned their plan. And
34:58
Speaker 1: Autry later said Adams told him they threw her out somewhere,
35:02
Speaker 1: though he didn't actually witness where the body was left.
35:05
Speaker 1: over the next few days guilt and paranoia set among
35:08
Speaker 1: the co-conspirators and fearing loose ends zach also tried to
35:12
Speaker 1: enlist autry to murder his own brother which was dylan
35:15
Speaker 1: because dylan would not stop talking about the crime and
35:18
Speaker 1: might get them caught and autry pretended to go along
35:22
Speaker 1: with this plan with no intention of adding another murder
35:24
Speaker 1: to his tally so these conversations along with the statements
35:28
Speaker 1: dylan adams himself made to investigators became key parts in
35:31
Speaker 1: the prosecutor's case. So Holly's abduction wasn't the work of
35:34
Speaker 1: a lone predator, as many assumed, but rather a group
35:37
Speaker 1: of local young men who decided to commit an unthinkable
35:41
Speaker 1: act that morning. The early suspects that had been completely
35:44
Speaker 1: dismissed very early on in the case. And luckily, by
35:48
Speaker 1: the end of the trial, Zach Adams was found guilty
35:50
Speaker 1: on all counts, which was kidnapping, grape, and murder. And
35:55
Speaker 1: the judge would sentence him to life in prison plus
35:57
Speaker 1: two consecutive terms of 25 years.
36:00
Speaker 2: So he's gonna... rock, good riddance.
36:02
Speaker 1: And as Zach was led away, he reportedly showed no
36:05
Speaker 1: remorse while Holly's family wept in relief that justice was
36:08
Speaker 1: finally served. And John Dylan Adams entered an Alford plea
36:12
Speaker 1: in 2018. And he would be sentenced to 15 to
36:15
Speaker 1: 35 years in prison, running consecutively for 35 years without parole.
36:19
Speaker 1: And Jason Autry got a lighter sentence due to his
36:22
Speaker 1: cooperation with authorities. However, in a bizarre turn after conviction,
36:26
Speaker 1: Autry actually began recanting parts of his testimony, claiming that
36:30
Speaker 1: he just lied under pressure. And this was a claim
36:32
Speaker 1: that emerged years later and was viewed very skeptically. But
36:35
Speaker 1: as of now, the perpetrators still remain behind bars. And
36:38
Speaker 1: the Bobo family, though deeply scarred by all of these
36:41
Speaker 1: events and by losing a dear, dear family member, worked
36:45
Speaker 1: to keep Holly's memory alive. A portion of Highway 641
36:49
Speaker 1: was renamed Holly Bobo Memorial Highway. In the fall of 1986,
36:57
Speaker 1: in the town of Townsend, Massachusetts, a family began noticing
37:02
Speaker 1: odd occurrences in their home. And this family was the
37:05
Speaker 1: Bowen family. And this family consisted of a father and
37:08
Speaker 1: his two teenage daughters who lived in a cozy house
37:11
Speaker 1: that by all appearances was perfectly ordinary. But as Halloween
37:15
Speaker 1: passed and winter set in, 16-year-old Tina and nine-year-old Karen
37:20
Speaker 1: Bowen insisted to their father, Frank.
37:22
Speaker 2: That something else was in the house with them.
37:25
Speaker 1: Because on numerous occasions, objects would disappear and reappear in
37:29
Speaker 1: different places. And the TV would seemingly switch channels on
37:34
Speaker 1: its own or turn off and on. And at night,
37:36
Speaker 1: they would hear really strange noises. And at times, Frank
37:39
Speaker 1: would blame the girls for these weird occurrences, but they
37:43
Speaker 1: would deny it. But Frank would overall just dismiss it
37:45
Speaker 1: as overactive imaginations. And he would say, you girls need
37:49
Speaker 1: to stop watching scary movies before bed. But the disturbances
37:52
Speaker 1: only escalated. And one evening, the family would even come
37:55
Speaker 1: home to find that someone had used their bathroom, it seemed.
37:59
Speaker 1: And a chill would creep through their spines, and Frank
38:02
Speaker 1: would begin to search the house for any sort of answer,
38:06
Speaker 1: wondering if there actually might be more to his daughter's claims.
38:09
Speaker 1: And that's when he would find it. And it was
38:12
Speaker 1: even more shocking and horrifying than he could ever imagine.
38:16
Speaker 1: But first, let's fast forward several months because less than
38:20
Speaker 1: a mile away from the Bowens lived the Gustafsons. Priscilla
38:24
Speaker 1: and Andrew and their two young children, seven-year-old Abigail and
38:28
Speaker 1: five-year-old William. And Priscilla was 33 and she was a
38:32
Speaker 1: church nursery school teacher and was actually pregnant with their
38:35
Speaker 1: third child. And her husband, Andrew, was a lawyer. And
38:38
Speaker 1: they were a very beloved, very wholesome family who had
38:41
Speaker 1: moved to Townsend five years earlier to build a life
38:44
Speaker 1: in this peaceful community. And their colonial home sat on
38:47
Speaker 1: a wooded lot at the end of a quiet street.
38:50
Speaker 1: And by late 1987, with Christmas just on the horizon,
38:53
Speaker 1: the Gustafsons were excitedly preparing for.
38:56
Speaker 2: The new baby's arrival.
38:58
Speaker 1: It was just the kind of family and kind of
39:00
Speaker 1: home that just exuded warmth. But the Townsend's tranquility was
39:04
Speaker 1: about to be shattered because they began to notice certain
39:07
Speaker 1: items disappearing and reappearing in different places, including things like
39:13
Speaker 1: cordless phones and cable boxes. And some of these items
39:17
Speaker 1: were just never seen again. So the Gustafsons would report
39:20
Speaker 1: the items stolen, but their lives would just go on.
39:22
Speaker 1: And they would also notice weird happenings in the house
39:26
Speaker 1: here and there, noises, and just an overall odd feeling.
39:30
Speaker 1: feeling in the home. But they were none the wiser
39:32
Speaker 1: as to the horrifying event that would soon unravel. Because
39:35
Speaker 1: on December 1st, 1987, a cold Tuesday afternoon, Townsend police
39:40
Speaker 1: would receive a frantic call. Andrew Gustafson, the father, had
39:44
Speaker 1: arrived at home from work at around 5.30 p.m., to
39:47
Speaker 1: a scene of utter devastation. All day, he had tried
39:50
Speaker 1: reaching his wife Priscilla by phone, but she hadn't answered,
39:53
Speaker 1: which was highly, highly unusual. So he'd quickly drive home,
39:57
Speaker 1: not knowing what was going on with Priscilla, step inside
39:59
Speaker 1: his house, and his whole world would collapse. because in
40:03
Speaker 1: the master bedroom, he found Priscilla's lifeless body on the bed,
40:06
Speaker 1: bound with a rope and gagged with a pillow over
40:09
Speaker 1: her head, soaked with blood. She had been shot twice
40:12
Speaker 1: in the head at close range. And there were also
40:14
Speaker 1: signs of vicious SA as well. And Andy was so
40:18
Speaker 1: petrified by what he saw that he couldn't bear to
40:21
Speaker 1: search for the children. He would go on to say,
40:23
Speaker 1: I was too afraid of going to look for my
40:25
Speaker 1: children because I was afraid I'd find them dead. It
40:28
Speaker 1: was so shocking and unbelievable, I screamed, I wailed. So
40:32
Speaker 1: he would just stumble out of the house and call
40:34
Speaker 1: the police. At this point, he was just numb with dread.
40:37
Speaker 1: So when officers arrived and swept the house, his fears
40:41
Speaker 1: were confirmed. And in separate bedrooms, they discovered the small
40:44
Speaker 1: bodies of Abigail and William. And each child had been
40:47
Speaker 1: drowned in a bathtub. But the water had been drained,
40:50
Speaker 1: leaving only the tragic evidence of what had occurred. And
40:53
Speaker 1: Abigail had also suffered blunt force trauma to her head,
40:56
Speaker 1: indicating that she had tried to fight back against her attackers.
40:59
Speaker 1: And a veteran Townsend police sergeant who found the children
41:02
Speaker 1: later said quietly that it looked as though Abby had
41:05
Speaker 1: fought to stay alive until the end, which is just like....
41:13
Speaker 2: So heartbreaking.
41:14
Speaker 1: So a family of four plus the unborn baby had
41:17
Speaker 1: been destroyed in one afternoon. And the town of Townsend
41:21
Speaker 1: was in shock because nothing like this had ever happened there.
41:24
Speaker 1: A loving young mother and her kids slain in their
41:27
Speaker 1: own home is just insane.
41:29
Speaker 2: So who could have done this?
41:31
Speaker 1: Before we get there, Let's go back to the Bowen
41:34
Speaker 1: house because who they saw would be the same person
41:37
Speaker 1: that destroyed the Gustafsson family. So back at the Bowen house,
41:40
Speaker 1: the situation reached a terrifying climax in December of 1986
41:44
Speaker 1: as we were discussing because that night someone emerged from
41:47
Speaker 1: a hiding spot in the walls while Frank and the
41:50
Speaker 1: girls searched their home because with his face painted wearing
41:53
Speaker 1: a wig, and a hairy coat to appear monstrous, the
41:58
Speaker 1: young man confronted the family with a hatchet and a
42:01
Speaker 1: wrench in hand. And this man was Daniel LaPlante. And
42:05
Speaker 1: he was the reason they were hearing things in the
42:07
Speaker 1: walls and in the attic and things were going missing
42:10
Speaker 1: and things were being moved left and right and the
42:12
Speaker 1: TV was turning off and on. It was Daniel the
42:15
Speaker 1: entire time, which is so f * * * ing scary.
42:19
Speaker 1: I'd rather my house be haunted. But he had been
42:21
Speaker 1: sneaking in and out of the Bowens house for weeks,
42:24
Speaker 1: just getting bolder each time. So he corralled Frank, Tina,
42:27
Speaker 1: and Karen and a visiting friend into a bedroom at gunpoint.
42:31
Speaker 1: Just a real life horror movie unfolding in their house.
42:34
Speaker 1: And Tina, the older daughter, who chillingly had gone on
42:37
Speaker 1: a date with Daniel LaPlante not long before, managed to
42:42
Speaker 1: keep her wits about her. And when Danny was momentarily distracted,
42:45
Speaker 1: Tina bravely leapt out of the second story window and
42:48
Speaker 1: ran for help. And police would arrive minutes later, but
42:51
Speaker 1: Daniel LaPlante had vanished. So they would search the house
42:54
Speaker 1: and they would discover an astonishing sight. Because behind the
42:57
Speaker 1: cupboard and inside the walls were cramped crawl spaces where
43:00
Speaker 1: Daniel had been hiding the entire time. So the Bowens
43:04
Speaker 1: would naturally flee their house, luckily unhurt, but traumatized by
43:08
Speaker 1: these events. But two days later, Frank would return home
43:11
Speaker 1: and he would see someone in the window and call
43:14
Speaker 1: police again. And they would quickly arrive. And on the wall,
43:16
Speaker 1: written hastily, officers found threatening messages left by Daniel saying,
43:21
Speaker 1: I'm still here, come find me. And one was written
43:24
Speaker 1: in magic marker and one was with a knife stabbing
43:28
Speaker 1: through the family photo. And another message warned, I'm going
43:33
Speaker 1: to kill you all. And another knife was through the
43:36
Speaker 1: family photo. And it turns out his message was true
43:39
Speaker 1: because Daniel was still in the house at this point
43:42
Speaker 1: and police caught him inside the house. They would find
43:45
Speaker 1: him curled up in a narrow space behind a panel
43:47
Speaker 1: hiding like a human spider. So the officers would haul
43:50
Speaker 1: the bizarre, deranged teenager out and would arrest him. And
43:53
Speaker 1: the towns and people breathed a sigh of relief because
43:56
Speaker 1: the ghost was captured. But the relief was short-lived because
43:59
Speaker 1: Daniel LaPlante was charged for the Bowen break-in and threats.
44:02
Speaker 1: And because he was a minor, he was only held
44:04
Speaker 1: in a juvenile facility. So in October 1987, Less than
44:08
Speaker 1: a year later, Daniel's mother took out a mortgage on
44:11
Speaker 1: her house to bail him out, paying $ 10, 000 to spring this.
44:15
Speaker 2: F * * * ing monster from custody. What kind
44:17
Speaker 2: of mom are you? What the f * * *?
44:19
Speaker 1: So the 17-year-old at this point was released back into
44:22
Speaker 1: the community, completely unsupervised, with his criminal trial still pending.
44:26
Speaker 1: And the Bowens had understandably left their home to stay
44:29
Speaker 1: somewhere else, away from where Daniel might find them. But
44:32
Speaker 1: the towns in Quiet Neighborhood were once again unaware of
44:35
Speaker 1: the danger that lurked. And Daniel LaPlante was free, and
44:38
Speaker 1: his dark desires had only grown. And this time, his
44:42
Speaker 1: decisions were irreversible. And that is when he went to
44:45
Speaker 1: the Gustafsson house. horrible, atrocious crimes that Daniel LaPlante had
44:52
Speaker 1: committed in the Gustafsson's house, the police were now looking
44:56
Speaker 1: for him again. The police would begin to search for
44:59
Speaker 1: the killer and residents were terrified that a killer could
45:01
Speaker 1: be on the loose in the woods near their homes.
45:03
Speaker 1: And two days after this horrific event, a break would come.
45:06
Speaker 1: So on December 3rd, a local woman, Lynn McGovern, reported
45:10
Speaker 1: seeing something unsettling because she returned to her house on
45:13
Speaker 1: Jewett Street, which was in the same neighborhood as the
45:15
Speaker 1: Gustafsson house, and felt that someone was inside. So she
45:18
Speaker 1: flagged down an officer nearby, and together they entered, only
45:22
Speaker 1: for a wide-eyed young man to leap out and sprint
45:25
Speaker 1: into the forest. This young man being Daniel LaPlante. So
45:29
Speaker 1: at this point, he had been moving house to house,
45:31
Speaker 1: likely to shelter from this manhunt. And then he attempted
45:34
Speaker 1: a carjacking, forcing a woman at gunpoint to drive, but
45:38
Speaker 1: she bravely jumped out of a moving car to escape.
45:41
Speaker 2: Metal.
45:42
Speaker 1: And then he would flee again on foot. And luckily
45:44
Speaker 1: the chase ended later that evening when officers found him
45:47
Speaker 1: huddled in a dumpster behind a lumber yard in the
45:50
Speaker 1: next town over in Eyre, Massachusetts. So the plant was
45:53
Speaker 1: finally caught.
45:55
Speaker 2: For good.
45:56
Speaker 1: So at LaPlante's trial in 1988, the full narrative emerged,
46:00
Speaker 1: and piece by piece, like a macabre puzzle. And it
46:03
Speaker 1: turned out that LaPlante had stalked the Gustafsons' home in
46:06
Speaker 1: much the same way he did the Bowens. Lurking, breaking in,
46:10
Speaker 1: and stealing small items. Possibly even watching the family without
46:13
Speaker 1: their knowledge. And court records and LaPlante's own statements revealed
46:16
Speaker 1: his confession of sorts. So on December 1st, he broke
46:20
Speaker 1: in while Priscilla was out. and he was upstairs rubbaging
46:23
Speaker 1: when Priscilla returned home with little Billy around 1 p.m. Normally,
46:27
Speaker 1: he claimed he would have escaped upon hearing someone come in,
46:31
Speaker 1: But this time, he decided not to run. And instead,
46:33
Speaker 1: he would confront Priscilla with a gun. Then he would
46:36
Speaker 1: tie Priscilla to the bed and cruelly lock her toddler
46:39
Speaker 1: son in the closet so the boy wouldn't interfere. And
46:42
Speaker 1: then he proceeded to SA Priscilla. And after the assault,
46:45
Speaker 1: he would end her life by shooting her twice in
46:47
Speaker 1: the head. And hearing the commotion, little William likely cried
46:51
Speaker 1: out from the closet. And the plant, now done with Priscilla,
46:54
Speaker 1: turned his attention to the children. So he would lead
46:56
Speaker 1: William to the upstairs bathroom and drowned the helpless five-year-old
47:00
Speaker 1: in the tub. And as the plant was getting ready
47:02
Speaker 1: to leave, seven-year-old Abigail came home from school. And she
47:06
Speaker 1: walked in the door expecting to see her mom, but
47:08
Speaker 1: instead she found... And this brave second grader scratched and
47:14
Speaker 1: kicked and punched, but the 17-year-old would overpower her. And
47:18
Speaker 1: he would inflict a head injury to subdue her and
47:20
Speaker 1: then drown her in the bathtub downstairs. And in the
47:23
Speaker 1: span of about 20 minutes, he had annihilated the Gustafsson
47:27
Speaker 1: family completely. So the trial was swift. And Daniel LaPlante
47:32
Speaker 1: was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder. And the
47:34
Speaker 1: judge imposed three consecutive life sentences, which is a symbolic
47:38
Speaker 1: stacking to ensure he never tastes freedom again.
47:42
Speaker 2: Thank God.
47:43
Speaker 1: And Massachusetts didn't have the death penalty at the time,
47:46
Speaker 1: or surely he would have been a candidate. And LaPlante
47:50
Speaker 1: showed zero remorse during the entire trial. And the haunting
47:53
Speaker 1: truth seems to be that Daniel LaPlante just derived pleasure
47:57
Speaker 1: from terrorizing others. And after all of this, Andrew Gustafson
48:01
Speaker 1: was completely horrified and was devastated beyond words as to
48:06
Speaker 1: what happened. And at the funeral for Priscilla, Abigail, and William,
48:09
Speaker 1: Andy sobbed through a eulogy, then largely just withdrew from
48:13
Speaker 1: the public view. And in a rare interview years later,
48:16
Speaker 1: he revealed he kept two wedding rings on his finger.
48:19
Speaker 1: His original from Priscilla and one from a new marriage
48:22
Speaker 1: he eventually entered as a way to honor both past
48:25
Speaker 1: and then hope for the future. So Andy did remarry
48:28
Speaker 1: in 1989 to a kind woman named Carol who helped
48:31
Speaker 1: him rebuild his life. But Carol attested that Andy was
48:34
Speaker 1: still plagued by nightmares of the murder until the day
48:37
Speaker 1: he died of cancer in 2014. And to this day,
48:41
Speaker 1: Daniel LaPlante still rots behind bars and I hope it
48:45
Speaker 1: stays that way. And with that, I'm ending the video.
48:48
Speaker 1: My heart just breaks for these families and it's terrifying
48:52
Speaker 1: to think that this could happen to anyone. But I
48:55
Speaker 1: just want to tell you to be safe out there
48:58
Speaker 1: and be respectful and know that I care about you
49:00
Speaker 1: and I love you and I do appreciate you. And
49:03
Speaker 1: if you would like me to cover any other cases,
49:05
Speaker 1: let me know below. I always read the comments. And
49:08
Speaker 1: until then, I will see your beautiful face.
49:10
Speaker 2: Stay safe, okay?
49:12
Speaker 1: Bye!