Latest / Crime and Horror / The-authorities-knew-there-was-a-MONSTER-out-there-and
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: On June twenty first, twenty eighteen, and experienced outdoorsman packed
- 0:04Speaker 1: up as two young kids and they headed out to
- 0:06Speaker 1: this beautiful park in southern California for a fun filled
- 0:10Speaker 1: summer weekend of hiking, camping, and adventure. Little did they
- 0:13Speaker 1: know there was an evil presence lurking in that park.
- 0:17Speaker 1: But before we get into that story, if you're a
- 0:19Speaker 1: fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious delivered in story format,
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- 0:38Speaker 1: Okay, let's get into today's story. On the morning of Sunday,
- 0:55Speaker 1: June seventeenth, twenty eighteen, thirty five year old Tristan Boudette
- 0:59Speaker 1: pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the
- 1:01Speaker 1: weather forecast for Orange County, California. Orange County is this
- 1:05Speaker 1: beautiful suburb located right between Los Angeles and San Diego.
- 1:09Speaker 1: And this beautiful suburb is where Tristan and his wife,
- 1:13Speaker 1: thirty six year old Erika Wu, and their two young daughters,
- 1:16Speaker 1: aged two and four, called home, and on this day,
- 1:20Speaker 1: which was Father's Day, Tristan had gotten up early to
- 1:23Speaker 1: check the weather to make sure it was going to
- 1:25Speaker 1: be clear that day because he really wanted to take
- 1:28Speaker 1: his family out for a fun beach day to celebrate
- 1:31Speaker 1: his holiday.
- 1:32Speaker 2: And he was in luck because.
- 1:33Speaker 1: When his apploaded, it showed that Orange County was going
- 1:36Speaker 1: to be beautiful and clear all day.
- 1:38Speaker 2: Although even if the weather had come back as rainy
- 1:41Speaker 2: and horrible and cold.
- 1:43Speaker 1: Tristan was the kind of person who still would have
- 1:46Speaker 1: wanted to go to the beach because for Tristan, anything
- 1:49Speaker 1: outdoors was really awesome.
- 1:51Speaker 2: That was his happy place, being out in nature.
- 1:53Speaker 1: Whether it was going to the beach, or going hiking
- 1:56Speaker 1: or camping, or just throwing a frisbee around outside.
- 1:58Speaker 2: He didn't care if he would outside, he was good
- 2:01Speaker 2: with it.
- 2:01Speaker 1: And even though his daughters were still very young, they
- 2:04Speaker 1: both already had totally fallen in love with nature, just
- 2:08Speaker 1: like their dad had, which made Tristan just so happy
- 2:11Speaker 1: because now he had these two little sidekicks that would
- 2:14Speaker 1: go with him on all of his outdoor adventures. As
- 2:17Speaker 1: for Tristan's wife, Erica, she did love the outdoors, but
- 2:20Speaker 1: maybe not as much as Tristan did. But that was
- 2:23Speaker 1: okay with Tristan because all he would do is make
- 2:25Speaker 1: little adjustments to his adventures to make it more bearable
- 2:29Speaker 1: for Erica. Like whenever they went camping, Tristan would totally
- 2:32Speaker 1: rough it in a tent right on the ground, but
- 2:35Speaker 1: he would bring along a big, full size blow up
- 2:38Speaker 1: mattress for his wife. And this was something that Erica
- 2:41Speaker 1: just adored about Tristan, not that he literally waited on
- 2:44Speaker 1: her hand and foot, but rather that Tristan just kind
- 2:47Speaker 1: of went.
- 2:47Speaker 2: With the flow.
- 2:48Speaker 1: If his wife wanted to blow up mattress, that was fine,
- 2:50Speaker 1: you know, it didn't matter to him.
- 2:52Speaker 2: That was just who he was. He just he didn't
- 2:53Speaker 2: judge people. He was at peace with the world.
- 2:56Speaker 1: And in fact, it was that character trait that had
- 2:58Speaker 1: originally attracted Erica to Tristan. Erica had met Tristan back
- 3:02Speaker 1: in high school when some mutual friends had set them up.
- 3:06Speaker 2: Tristan didn't have a date to a dance at a school.
- 3:09Speaker 1: And so the friends were kind of like, Erica go
- 3:11Speaker 1: with him, and so Erica would agree to go, and
- 3:14Speaker 1: on the night she actually met Tristan for the first time,
- 3:17Speaker 1: she's laying eyes on him for the first time.
- 3:19Speaker 2: He was a sight to behold.
- 3:21Speaker 1: The summer prior, he had sprouted up like four inches
- 3:25Speaker 1: or so, so he's super tall, but his body hadn't
- 3:27Speaker 1: quite filled out yet, so he's super lanky looking. And
- 3:30Speaker 1: he was totally overdressed for this dance. He had on
- 3:33Speaker 1: this full tuxedo and he was not remotely self conscious.
- 3:37Speaker 2: He was only psyched to have a date to this dance.
- 3:41Speaker 1: And during this dance, Tristan would just totally rock that
- 3:44Speaker 1: tuxedo in all of his gangly glory, as if this
- 3:48Speaker 1: tuxedo was made for him, and he would really try
- 3:51Speaker 1: hard to make sure that Erica had a good time
- 3:53Speaker 1: with him, and she totally did. And so after this
- 3:55Speaker 1: dance was over, the pair was inseparable. Erica would go
- 3:59Speaker 1: on to study at Stanford and would become an obgyn doctor.
- 4:03Speaker 1: As for Tristan, he would become this wildly successful, widely
- 4:07Speaker 1: published scientist with a patent related to vaccine delivery. However,
- 4:12Speaker 1: in typical Tristan fashion, he didn't care at all about
- 4:16Speaker 1: his resume. It didn't matter that it was completely stacked.
- 4:20Speaker 1: I mean, on paper, this guy was just unbelievable. But
- 4:23Speaker 1: Tristan never changed his personality. He never changed anything about himself.
- 4:28Speaker 1: In fact, his scientist colleagues who adored him, they used
- 4:32Speaker 1: to think it was hysterical that this brilliant chemist who
- 4:35Speaker 1: was on the cutting edge of various cancer treatments and
- 4:38Speaker 1: all this crazy research, that guy was actually this big,
- 4:42Speaker 1: mellow type person who wandered around the lab and started
- 4:45Speaker 1: most of his sentences with dude. By early afternoon on
- 4:49Speaker 1: that Father's Day in twenty eighteen, Erica and Tristan and
- 4:53Speaker 1: their two little girls had made their way to a
- 4:55Speaker 1: local beach, and Erica had found herself sitting in a
- 4:58Speaker 1: beach chair reading a book, and Tristan and the girls
- 5:01Speaker 1: had set up a sunshade right down where the water broke,
- 5:04Speaker 1: and they were digging in the sand. And so over
- 5:06Speaker 1: the course of that afternoon, Erica she's reading her book,
- 5:09Speaker 1: and periodically she would look up and she would see
- 5:11Speaker 1: Tristan and the girls digging in the sand or making
- 5:14Speaker 1: sand castles. And then at some point Tristan and the
- 5:17Speaker 1: girls they would get up and abandon their dig site
- 5:20Speaker 1: and they would run into the water, and then they
- 5:22Speaker 1: would run back to shore right as the waves were breaking,
- 5:25Speaker 1: trying to kind of escape the waves.
- 5:27Speaker 2: And the two little.
- 5:27Speaker 1: Girls thought this was so much fun, and they were
- 5:30Speaker 1: laughing hysterically and screeching with excitement as the waves crashed
- 5:33Speaker 1: at their ankles.
- 5:34Speaker 2: These are tiny little waves.
- 5:36Speaker 1: And at some point Erica she's looking up watching this
- 5:38Speaker 1: and she sees her two little girls having a blast,
- 5:41Speaker 1: and she sees her husband flash her this big grin
- 5:43Speaker 1: because he knows this is totally funny. And at that moment,
- 5:46Speaker 1: Erica suddenly felt herself feel something that she didn't always
- 5:50Speaker 1: feel these days, and that was just contentedness, happiness. Tristan
- 5:55Speaker 1: because he was this totally laid back guy, he was
- 5:58Speaker 1: able to just kind of enjoy as it came to him.
- 6:01Speaker 2: But Erica, she couldn't do that.
- 6:03Speaker 1: She was a constant worrier, and that was largely because
- 6:06Speaker 1: when she was just eight years old, she lost her
- 6:09Speaker 1: father and it was this totally traumatic experience that really
- 6:12Speaker 1: upset her childhood was just devastating for the family, and
- 6:16Speaker 1: so ever since then she had developed this very real
- 6:19Speaker 1: paranoia that no matter how good her life was, that
- 6:22Speaker 1: at any second, it was going to be ruined by
- 6:24Speaker 1: something horrible happening to her. But as she sat in
- 6:27Speaker 1: this chair, watching her husband smiling at her and seeing
- 6:31Speaker 1: her kids playing with him, it was just this perfect moment,
- 6:34Speaker 1: and so Erica would put the book down and she
- 6:36Speaker 1: would get up and run into the surf to be
- 6:38Speaker 1: with her family. Little did she know something horrible was
- 6:42Speaker 1: about to happen. Four days later, on June twenty first,
- 6:45Speaker 1: Erica was home studying for this big medical exam she
- 6:48Speaker 1: was scheduled to take the next day. But at the
- 6:51Speaker 1: house with her was her husband and her two little girls,
- 6:54Speaker 1: and so the house was totally chaotic and loud, and
- 6:57Speaker 1: it was obvious to Tristan as he looked over at
- 6:59Speaker 1: his wife that she.
- 7:00Speaker 2: Was really struggling to focus.
- 7:02Speaker 1: And Tristan also knew that they were a week away
- 7:05Speaker 1: from moving. They were moving to San Francisco. They had
- 7:08Speaker 1: just put a deposit down on a house. They had
- 7:10Speaker 1: some family up there, so it was a smart move
- 7:12Speaker 1: to make. But they still had a lot to do
- 7:14Speaker 1: for this move. And so Tristan's looking at his wife
- 7:16Speaker 1: knowing that, you know, the stress levels have got to
- 7:18Speaker 1: be through the roof for her, and so Tristan decided
- 7:21Speaker 1: he would just take the girls and head out for
- 7:23Speaker 1: the weekend to make sure Erica had the time and
- 7:25Speaker 1: space she needed to prepare for this test and also
- 7:28Speaker 1: just maybe to be alone and have some peace and quiet.
- 7:30Speaker 1: And so Tristan made a couple of phone calls and
- 7:32Speaker 1: then after he was done, he talked to Erica and
- 7:34Speaker 1: he told her that he had just made reservations at
- 7:37Speaker 1: this campsite up in Malibu, California. Malibu is another beautiful
- 7:41Speaker 1: southern California town located about.
- 7:43Speaker 2: An hour and a half north of Orange.
- 7:45Speaker 1: County, so where a lot of celebrities live. Up is
- 7:47Speaker 1: a very rich part of California. And he tells Erica
- 7:50Speaker 1: that he had made reservations in this campground that's out there,
- 7:53Speaker 1: and that he had called his brother in law named Scott,
- 7:56Speaker 1: who had two young kids himself, ages three and five,
- 8:00Speaker 1: and they were all going to go there together and
- 8:02Speaker 1: spend the weekend at this campsite. Now, Erica was very
- 8:05Speaker 1: thankful for her husband for being willing to do this,
- 8:07Speaker 1: because she did need the time and space to study,
- 8:10Speaker 1: but she immediately was just concerned about it because, you know, Tristan,
- 8:15Speaker 1: he would take the girls and go out on all
- 8:17Speaker 1: sorts of adventures all the time, but he had never
- 8:20Speaker 1: gone camping overnight without her there, and so her reaction
- 8:24Speaker 1: was to worry about it. But Tristan, who knew his
- 8:26Speaker 1: wife very well, told her, don't worry. I will take
- 8:29Speaker 1: great care of the kids. It's a place that's totally public.
- 8:32Speaker 1: It's an amazing campground, there's loads of people around, it's
- 8:35Speaker 1: totally safe. And so eventually Erica was convinced, and so
- 8:39Speaker 1: Tristan began packing the car with all the camping supplies
- 8:42Speaker 1: and the kid's toys and the kids spikes, and as
- 8:45Speaker 1: he's doing that and the girls are really excited about
- 8:47Speaker 1: this camping trip, Erica still found herself thinking, you know,
- 8:50Speaker 1: I hope they canceled this trip, because she just couldn't
- 8:52Speaker 1: help feeling like something bad was about to happen to them.
- 8:55Speaker 1: But Tristan did not cancel the trip, and after the
- 8:58Speaker 1: car was all packed and the girl had been tucked
- 9:00Speaker 1: into their car seats in the back seat, Tristan kissed
- 9:03Speaker 1: Erica could buy and said he would see her in
- 9:05Speaker 1: a couple of days and good luck on your test tomorrow,
- 9:08Speaker 1: And with that, Tristan hopped into the car. He backed
- 9:10Speaker 1: out of the driveway, and Erica watched as he pulled
- 9:13Speaker 1: up the road and headed north towards Malibu. After studying
- 9:16Speaker 1: well into the night, Erica finally went to sleep, and
- 9:19Speaker 1: then the next morning she got up early because she
- 9:21Speaker 1: was nervous about the test.
- 9:23Speaker 2: She was anxious about her husband and her kids. And
- 9:25Speaker 2: so she's up early.
- 9:26Speaker 1: And she's getting ready, and as she's getting ready, she
- 9:29Speaker 1: hears a loud knock.
- 9:30Speaker 2: On the front door.
- 9:31Speaker 1: She looks at her clock and she sees it six
- 9:33Speaker 1: forty five in the morning. And there was no reason
- 9:35Speaker 1: for anybody to be knocking on her door that early
- 9:38Speaker 1: in the morning, maybe unless it was Tristan, but he
- 9:41Speaker 1: wouldn't be knocking in the door, he'd just be coming inside.
- 9:43Speaker 1: And so apprehensively she walked out of her room and
- 9:46Speaker 1: went to the front of the house, and then she
- 9:48Speaker 1: opened the front door, and as soon as she saw
- 9:51Speaker 1: who was standing there, she knew something was wrong. I
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- 11:42Speaker 1: Erica would later reflect on this moment when she opened
- 11:45Speaker 1: the door, and even though it didn't make sense and
- 11:47Speaker 1: it was irrational, she would sometimes think to herself, what
- 11:50Speaker 1: if I had just never opened the door, would this
- 11:53Speaker 1: nightmare have really happened? But Erica did open the door,
- 11:56Speaker 1: and standing out there was her sister in law, Priscilla,
- 11:59Speaker 1: who was there on it announced she lived an hour
- 12:01Speaker 1: and a half away, and she looked very frazzled and upset,
- 12:04Speaker 1: and she would give Erica absolutely heartbreaking news, news that
- 12:08Speaker 1: was so earth shattering that Erica literally couldn't comprehend it,
- 12:12Speaker 1: like this cannot be true.
- 12:14Speaker 2: There literally has to.
- 12:15Speaker 1: Be a mistake. But there was no mistake. Erica would
- 12:18Speaker 1: not take her medical exam that day. Instead, she would
- 12:21Speaker 1: hop into the car with Priscilla and they would drive
- 12:24Speaker 1: to Malibu.
- 12:24Speaker 2: The day before. Tristan and his two little.
- 12:27Speaker 1: Girls, after driving for about an hour and a half,
- 12:29Speaker 1: arrived in Malibu at the entrance to the Malibu Creek
- 12:32Speaker 1: State Park. Now, when most people think of Malibu, they
- 12:36Speaker 1: just think of the beautiful properties lining the beach. They
- 12:39Speaker 1: think of celebrities and rich people and exclusivity, and that's
- 12:42Speaker 1: all true. But what a lot of people don't know
- 12:45Speaker 1: about Malibu is that just outside of the kind of
- 12:48Speaker 1: main Malibu area is this totally wild area, this very
- 12:52Speaker 1: rugged terrain, all these canyons, all these heavily forested areas,
- 12:56Speaker 1: it all kind of butts up against the outside of Malibu.
- 13:00Speaker 1: And in this totally rugged area is where the Malibu
- 13:04Speaker 1: Creek State Park is. So Tristan and Scott they arrive
- 13:07Speaker 1: at the gates of this park that leads into this
- 13:10Speaker 1: wilderness and they check in with the park rangers up front,
- 13:13Speaker 1: and they are directed to their respective campsites that they
- 13:16Speaker 1: had reserved. They had reserved two sites right next to
- 13:18Speaker 1: each other. And all a campsite is usually is just
- 13:21Speaker 1: a square little plot of land with nothing in it,
- 13:24Speaker 1: and it's a place where you put your tent on
- 13:25Speaker 1: and sometimes there's a fire pit inside of it. It's
- 13:27Speaker 1: really sparse, and so Tristan and Scott they thank the
- 13:30Speaker 1: park ranger. They drive all the way across the campgrounds,
- 13:32Speaker 1: they get to their designated spots, and right away Tristan's like,
- 13:36Speaker 1: these are just not very good campsites. They were located
- 13:39Speaker 1: right near the porta potties, so it kind of smelled bad,
- 13:42Speaker 1: and there was lots of foot traffic right in front
- 13:44Speaker 1: of their sites, and their site was kind of at a.
- 13:47Speaker 2: Tilt too, so just overall it was not ideal.
- 13:50Speaker 1: And so Tristan said this to Scott, and Scott decided
- 13:52Speaker 1: he would just go talk to the park rangers again
- 13:55Speaker 1: and see if they could change their campsites. And so
- 13:57Speaker 1: he went to the front talks to the park ranger
- 13:59Speaker 1: and they say, no problem, there's actually two open campsites
- 14:03Speaker 1: on the other side of the park.
- 14:05Speaker 2: We'll just swap your reservation.
- 14:06Speaker 1: And so Tristan and Scott and the kids they make
- 14:08Speaker 1: their way to these other two campsites and these are perfect.
- 14:11Speaker 2: They're kind of.
- 14:12Speaker 1: Tucked up at the base of this huge canyon. There
- 14:14Speaker 1: are no porta potties nearby, so no foot traffic. It's
- 14:17Speaker 1: very private. And the land was totally flat, and so
- 14:20Speaker 1: the men are totally happy with this, and they start
- 14:22Speaker 1: getting their stuff out of their vehicles and setting up
- 14:25Speaker 1: their tents, and the kids are running around playing and
- 14:27Speaker 1: riding their.
- 14:27Speaker 2: Little bites around.
- 14:28Speaker 1: And then after their campsites were mostly set up, Scott
- 14:32Speaker 1: and Tristan made a fire in the fire pit that
- 14:34Speaker 1: was located roughly between where the two tents had been
- 14:37Speaker 1: set up. And so Scott was sleeping with his two
- 14:39Speaker 1: sons and his tent, and Tristan would be sleeping with
- 14:42Speaker 1: his two girls in his tent, and so they get
- 14:44Speaker 1: this big fire going, and then all the kids and
- 14:45Speaker 1: the adults they sit around the fire and they start
- 14:48Speaker 1: roasting hot dogs and making s'mores, which is marshmallow chocolate
- 14:51Speaker 1: and Graham cracker, and the dads are telling funny jokes
- 14:54Speaker 1: and spooky stories too, and before long the kids are
- 14:57Speaker 1: just totally exhausted, and so Scott and trist both take
- 15:00Speaker 1: their kids and put them to bed inside of their tents.
- 15:03Speaker 1: And then after the kids are tucked in, the two
- 15:05Speaker 1: men come back to the fire and Tristan, who had
- 15:08Speaker 1: packed pre made cocktails, he pulls those out and he
- 15:11Speaker 1: shares one with Scott, and then the two men just
- 15:13Speaker 1: enjoyed each other's company, you know, sat around the campfire
- 15:16Speaker 1: chatted for a while. It was mostly Tristan talking about
- 15:19Speaker 1: his upcoming move to San Francisco, but Scott was happy
- 15:22Speaker 1: to just listen. And then at some point the two
- 15:24Speaker 1: men were just totally exhausted and they decided it was
- 15:27Speaker 1: time for them to go to bed, and so they
- 15:29Speaker 1: put out the fire. Scott would hug Tristan and tell
- 15:32Speaker 1: him that he loved him, and then the two men
- 15:33Speaker 1: would leave the campfire and go to their respective tents.
- 15:36Speaker 1: As Scott climbed into his tent with his two sons,
- 15:39Speaker 1: he turned and looked out the open flap of his
- 15:42Speaker 1: tent across the fire pit towards Tristan's tent, and he
- 15:46Speaker 1: saw Tristan climb into the tent with his girls. And
- 15:50Speaker 1: so after he sees Tristan get into his tent, Scott
- 15:52Speaker 1: zips up his own tent and he lies down, and
- 15:55Speaker 1: within ten or fifteen minutes, Scott is fast asleep. Just
- 15:58Speaker 1: before sunrise the next day, so around four forty five am,
- 16:02Speaker 1: Scott suddenly woke up. He thought he heard a loud sound,
- 16:05Speaker 1: but he couldn't place the sound, and so he's just
- 16:08Speaker 1: laying there. It's still dark outside, and as he kind
- 16:10Speaker 1: of getting his bearings, he realizes one of Tristan's daughters
- 16:14Speaker 1: is crying in her tent. Now this was not cause
- 16:17Speaker 1: for alarm necessarily, because Scott just thought, you know, whatever
- 16:21Speaker 1: she was upset about, Tristan would certainly calm her down
- 16:23Speaker 1: any minute and she'd be okay. But as Scott was
- 16:26Speaker 1: laying there with his two sons sleeping right next to him,
- 16:29Speaker 1: Tristan's daughter just continued to cry. Now, Tristan was a
- 16:33Speaker 1: famously heavy sleeper, and so Scott was thinking, okay, you know,
- 16:36Speaker 1: he just must not be awake, and so that's why
- 16:38Speaker 1: he's not able to comfort his daughter. And so Scott
- 16:41Speaker 1: would carefully get up, he'd unzip his tent, you know,
- 16:43Speaker 1: he'd be careful not to step on his son's He
- 16:45Speaker 1: went outside, and outside it's cold, it's dark.
- 16:48Speaker 2: He cannot see inside of Tristan's tent, there's no.
- 16:50Speaker 1: Windows on it, and so he just walks over and
- 16:52Speaker 1: by the time he gets to the tent, he can
- 16:54Speaker 1: hear clear as day Tristan's daughter is still crying, and
- 16:57Speaker 1: so Scott kind of loudly but still whisper. He says, hey, Tristan, Tristan,
- 17:01Speaker 1: wake up, but Tristan doesn't wake up. And so, with
- 17:05Speaker 1: Tristan's daughter still crying right on the other side of
- 17:08Speaker 1: the nylon of this tent, Scott decides to just open
- 17:11Speaker 1: the tent up and look inside, and so he walks
- 17:13Speaker 1: around to the front of the tent.
- 17:14Speaker 2: He unzipped the tent and he looks inside.
- 17:17Speaker 1: Now it's too dark, he can't really tell what he's
- 17:19Speaker 1: looking at, but even with the minimal light, he could
- 17:22Speaker 1: tell that Tristan was clearly still sleeping right in the
- 17:25Speaker 1: middle of the tent, and positioned on either side of
- 17:28Speaker 1: him was his two year old daughter and his four
- 17:30Speaker 1: year old daughter, And from the looks of it, the
- 17:32Speaker 1: two year old was crying and the four year old,
- 17:35Speaker 1: who was also whimpering, was doing her best to comfort
- 17:38Speaker 1: the two year old. And so Scott's looking in wondering
- 17:41Speaker 1: what's going on. When the two little girls they turn
- 17:44Speaker 1: and look up at Scott, and when they see him,
- 17:46Speaker 1: they just start saying wet, wet, wet. Now Scott doesn't
- 17:50Speaker 1: know what they're talking about. He's starting to get a
- 17:51Speaker 1: little bit flustered. Because he thinks something's wrong, and so
- 17:54Speaker 1: he reaches in and just starts shaking Tristan, saying hey.
- 17:57Speaker 2: Wake up.
- 17:57Speaker 1: But as soon as he did that, he could tell
- 17:59Speaker 1: Tristan not sleeping. Tristan is dead and his two little
- 18:03Speaker 1: girls are sitting in a pool of his blood. Right
- 18:06Speaker 1: before Scott had woken up, someone who was standing near
- 18:10Speaker 1: the campsite had fired a gun several times, and one
- 18:14Speaker 1: of their bullets went into Tristan's tent and struck him
- 18:17Speaker 1: right in the head as he slept next to his daughters.
- 18:20Speaker 1: Roughly two hours after Tristan was killed, Priscilla showed up
- 18:23Speaker 1: on Tristan's doorstep to tell his wife Erica, what happened.
- 18:27Speaker 1: That her little girls were about to grow up without
- 18:30Speaker 1: a father just like she did. This news absolutely destroyed Erica.
- 18:35Speaker 1: A forty two year old man named Anthony Rouda would
- 18:38Speaker 1: be arrested and charged with Tristan's murder. Rauda had a
- 18:42Speaker 1: long criminal history, and at the time of Tristan's murder,
- 18:46Speaker 1: he was living illegally in this park up in the
- 18:49Speaker 1: canyon nearby, and when he was arrested, he was in
- 18:52Speaker 1: possession of a gun that was ballistically linked to the
- 18:56Speaker 1: bullet that killed Tristan. His trial is still ongoing because
- 18:59Speaker 1: Raudah keeps firing his defense attorneys, which delays the trial.
- 19:03Speaker 1: While Rauda has said he's innocent he didn't do this,
- 19:06Speaker 1: his behavior in court so far has not made him
- 19:09Speaker 1: look any more innocent. He has been so violent and
- 19:12Speaker 1: erratic during the initial court proceedings that when he goes
- 19:16Speaker 1: into court they have to strap his wrists and his
- 19:18Speaker 1: legs into a chair and put what's called a spit
- 19:21Speaker 1: hood over his head, which prevents him from spitting on
- 19:24Speaker 1: people and biting people. Assuming he was the shooter, that
- 19:28Speaker 1: he was responsible for shooting Tristan, which most people believe
- 19:32Speaker 1: he was, and there really is an enormous amount of
- 19:35Speaker 1: evidence that supports this, but again his trial is still ongoing.
- 19:39Speaker 1: But if we assume he was the shooter, the theory
- 19:42Speaker 1: is it was completely random. He did not know Tristan.
- 19:47Speaker 1: He basically just fired his gun either intentionally into the
- 19:51Speaker 1: tent or recklessly, and he just happened to fire.
- 19:54Speaker 2: Into the tent.
- 19:55Speaker 1: But either way, one of his bullets struck Tristan in
- 19:58Speaker 1: the head and killed him, meaning Tristan was literally just
- 20:01Speaker 1: in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if
- 20:04Speaker 1: this case wasn't heartbreaking enough, one more distressing detail is
- 20:08Speaker 1: that this shooting was not the first shooting in or
- 20:11Speaker 1: around this campground. In the year leading up to Tristan's death,
- 20:16Speaker 1: there were an astounding six other shootings, two of which
- 20:20Speaker 1: happened literally in the campground right where Tristan was killed. Now,
- 20:24Speaker 1: none of these other shootings were fatal, but in all
- 20:27Speaker 1: six cases, the shooter or shooters were never caught and
- 20:31Speaker 1: the Malibu police just kind of didn't investigate. It wasn't
- 20:35Speaker 1: until Tristan got shot and killed in this campground that
- 20:38Speaker 1: the stories of all these other shootings that never got
- 20:41Speaker 1: solved came out, and people are looking on a map saying,
- 20:44Speaker 1: wait a minute, there's all these shootings unsolved with a
- 20:48Speaker 1: rogue shooter or shooters out and about right here, right
- 20:51Speaker 1: over this campground, And we haven't shut down the campground,
- 20:55Speaker 1: and we haven't told the public that there's potentially a
- 20:58Speaker 1: uncaught shooter roaming a or this campground.
- 21:01Speaker 2: Why is that now?
- 21:02Speaker 1: The answers to those questions we don't know now, but
- 21:05Speaker 1: they will likely come out during Anthony Rout's trial, where
- 21:08Speaker 1: he's being charged not only with killing Tristan, but also
- 21:11Speaker 1: for all of those other shootings. In the meantime, Erica
- 21:15Speaker 1: has filed a ninety million dollar lawsuit against several agencies,
- 21:18Speaker 1: saying that her husband had no idea there was this
- 21:21Speaker 1: threat of an uncaught shooter at that campground, and had
- 21:24Speaker 1: authorities put any sort of warning up, Tristan never would
- 21:28Speaker 1: have taken his kids inside of that park and he
- 21:30Speaker 1: would be alive today.
- 21:32Speaker 2: Her lawsuit is still ongoing.
- 21:37Speaker 1: After watching our videos, people often approach me and ask,
- 21:41Speaker 1: you know, how can I help victims and their families. Well,
- 21:44Speaker 1: now we have a great answer for you. The Mister
- 21:46Speaker 1: Ballin Foundation. The Mister Ballin Foundation is a registered five
- 21:49Speaker 1: oh one c three nonprofit that makes it as easy
- 21:52Speaker 1: as possible for you to join me, my family, my
- 21:55Speaker 1: team in supporting those whose lives have been most impacted
- 21:59Speaker 1: by violent and heinous crime. We have already given one
- 22:02Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thousand dollars to victims and their families,
- 22:05Speaker 1: including a twenty five thousand dollars donation made in Tristan
- 22:09Speaker 1: Bodette's name to the Experience Camps, which is a program
- 22:12Speaker 1: for children who have lost a parent or both parents.
- 22:15Speaker 1: Monthly donors to the Mister Ballin Foundation Honor Them.
- 22:18Speaker 2: Society receive free gifts and exclusive invites to special.
- 22:22Speaker 1: Live events, but the real reward is helping to create
- 22:26Speaker 1: a new ending for victims of violent crime. Go to
- 22:29Speaker 1: Misterballin dot foundation and click on Get Involved to join
- 22:34Speaker 1: the Honor Them Society today.
- 22:35Speaker 2: If you got something out of today's episode, remember.
- 22:38Speaker 1: We also have a podcast called The mister Ballin Podcast
- 22:41Speaker 1: that puts out weekly content, including brand new, never before
- 22:45Speaker 1: heard stories that are podcast exclusives.
- 22:47Speaker 2: On Monday mornings.
- 22:49Speaker 1: Again, it's just called the mister Ballin Podcast and you
- 22:51Speaker 1: can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Google, anywhere
- 22:55Speaker 1: you find your podcasts, you can find this one. We
- 22:57Speaker 1: also have two additional YouTube channels. One is called Miss
- 23:00Speaker 1: mister Ballin' Shorts and the other is called mister Ballin
- 23:02Speaker 1: and Espanol. We put out near daily content on Facebook
- 23:06Speaker 1: and Snapchat.
- 23:06Speaker 2: Those channels are just called mister Ballin.
- 23:08Speaker 1: If you want to get in touch with me, please
- 23:10Speaker 1: follow me on any major social media platform. My username
- 23:13Speaker 1: is mister Ballin on all of them, and I really
- 23:16Speaker 1: do read.
- 23:16Speaker 2: The majority of my dms.
- 23:18Speaker 1: We also have some really cool merchandise, so head on
- 23:20Speaker 1: over to shopmisterballin dot com to have a look. So
- 23:23Speaker 1: whether I see you on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, Facebook,
- 23:27Speaker 1: other YouTube channels, the podcast wherever, just know that I
- 23:30Speaker 1: really appreciate your support and until next time, that's going
- 23:33Speaker 1: to do it.
- 23:33Speaker 2: See you