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There-s-Betrayal-and-then-there-s-THIS · Crime and Horror

0:00
Speaker 1: There is a little cottage right on the water in
0:03
Speaker 1: Maryland called Cottage five zero six. It's a rustic place
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Speaker 1: with a wood fire stove, a couple of small beds
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Speaker 1: in a small sitting area for breakfast, and then outside
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Speaker 1: the cottage on the porch you have this amazing view.
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Speaker 2: Of the water.
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Speaker 1: And then behind the cottage is the resort that the
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Speaker 1: cottage is a part of, and the resort offers guests
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Speaker 1: that stay in this cottage great food, great entertainment. I mean,
0:24
Speaker 1: this is a great spot. However, Cottage five zero six
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Speaker 1: has a dark secret and it's the reason I and
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Speaker 1: many other people will never be staying there. But before
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Speaker 1: we learn about Cottage five zero six, if you're a
0:37
Speaker 1: fan of the strange, dark and mysterious delivered in story format,
0:40
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Speaker 1: for the like button while they're away for the weekend.
0:50
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0:54
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1:03
Speaker 1: Okay, let's get into today's story. A little afternoon on
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Speaker 1: Valentine's Day nineteen ninety eight, a married couple named Steve
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Speaker 1: and Kim Rico held hands as they.
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Speaker 2: Walked towards their car.
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Speaker 1: They had just dropped their eight year old daughter off
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Speaker 1: at a neighbor's house in the suburban neighborhood in Maryland
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Speaker 1: where they lived. And now Steve and Kim had the
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Speaker 1: whole weekend to themselves, and they were really excited about
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Speaker 1: it because they had this big trip planned. Now, admittedly,
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Speaker 1: Kim had no idea what they were actually going to
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Speaker 1: be doing, because Steve was the one who planned it,
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Speaker 1: and he was obviously being very secretive about the details.
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Speaker 1: He wanted this to be a surprise, and so for
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Speaker 1: weeks leading up to this weekend, Kim would see Steve
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Speaker 1: on the phone all the time, presumably planning whatever it
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Speaker 1: is they were going to be doing. Wouldn't let Kim
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Speaker 1: hear what he was saying on the phone. He would
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Speaker 1: kind of muffle his voice or he'd hang up before
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Speaker 1: she could come over and hear him.
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Speaker 2: And then also after.
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Speaker 1: These secretive phone calls, Kim would often see Steve writing
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Speaker 1: all these notes down in his journal, presumably about whatever
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Speaker 1: it was he was planning. The only details Steve shared
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Speaker 1: with Kim about this trip was make sure you wear
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Speaker 1: something nice. When the couple reached their car, Steve hopped
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Speaker 1: in the driver's seat and Kim hopped in the passenger seat.
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Speaker 1: And immediately right after Steve had fired up the car,
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Speaker 1: Kim turned to him and said, are you going to
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Speaker 1: tell me?
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Speaker 2: You're going to tell me where we're going?
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Speaker 1: But Steve just grinned and said, nope, it's a surprise.
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Speaker 1: Kim gave a theatrical sigh and sat back and feigned frustration,
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Speaker 1: but inside the way she was really feeling was just excited.
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Speaker 1: This was so cool that Steve had put so much
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Speaker 1: effort into whatever it is they were going to do.
2:48
Speaker 1: But also Kim was seeing her husband was really making
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Speaker 1: a big effort to make her happy, and this was
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Speaker 1: kind of new because lately their relationship had been really rocky.
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Speaker 1: Kim and Steve had been married for nine years by
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Speaker 1: this point, and they were both very very different people.
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Speaker 1: Steve was a total homebody, kind of introverted, and Kim
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Speaker 1: was the opposite. She was super extroverted and very social
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Speaker 1: but when they first met each other, it was actually
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Speaker 1: their stark differences that brought them together. For Kim, when
3:18
Speaker 1: they met, she was in her early twenties. She had
3:20
Speaker 1: just dropped out of college, and her experience with men
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Speaker 1: so far had been she would meet them at parties
3:26
Speaker 1: or bars, and at first it would seem like their
3:28
Speaker 1: relationship was great, but then invariably these guys would just
3:32
Speaker 1: kind of move on and break Kim's heart. But Steve
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Speaker 1: was different. He was this huge guy, six foot four,
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Speaker 1: massive football player, but he was totally a gentle giant,
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Speaker 1: and as soon as he met Kim, Kim could tell
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Speaker 1: this guy is different. He's treating her with respect, you know,
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Speaker 1: he's loyal to her. He really cares about her. And
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Speaker 1: so they hit it off right away, and Kim very
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Speaker 1: quickly became pregnant, at which point Steve asked her to
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Speaker 1: marry him, and Kim didn't hesitate for a second.
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Speaker 2: They were totally in love.
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Speaker 1: Marriage to Steve had really been a stabilizing factor in
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Speaker 1: Kim's life. She wound up going back to college and
4:05
Speaker 1: got her degree, which landed her a job as a
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Speaker 1: surgical technician, which is what she did now, and Steve
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Speaker 1: turned out to be just a fantastic father, and he
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Speaker 1: wound up actually staying home with their daughter when she
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Speaker 1: was a baby, so Kim could go out and work.
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Speaker 1: And Kim always thought it was funny when she would
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Speaker 1: come home and she would see Steve standing in the
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Speaker 1: doorway cradling this infant. But he's like this massive person,
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Speaker 1: and so their baby looked like a toy. But unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: over the last year, Kim had seen a change in Steve.
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Speaker 1: He went from being a shy person, but a person
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Speaker 1: who could go out and function in society, to a
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Speaker 1: shy person who basically stopped going outside altogether. Steve basically
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Speaker 1: refused to go out anywhere with Kim. He didn't want
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Speaker 1: to talk to anyone. He didn't want to spend time
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Speaker 1: with their friends or family. He just wanted to stay
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Speaker 1: home and watch TV or hang out in the basement.
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Speaker 1: I mean, it was pretty obvious he was depressed, but
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Speaker 1: his introvertedness was becoming kind of stifling for Kim, and
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Speaker 1: so Kim approached Steve and said, you really need to
5:04
Speaker 1: go to therapy to get better. Here, you know, I'll
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Speaker 1: go with you. We can do couple's therapy. But Steve refused,
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Speaker 1: and so finally, right around this past New Year, Kim
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Speaker 1: decided she had.
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Speaker 2: Just had enough. She was totally unhappy.
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Speaker 1: She did not feel like Steve was going to change,
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Speaker 1: and so Kim told Steve that she wanted to get divorced.
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Speaker 1: And when Steve heard that, he realized the gravity of
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Speaker 1: this situation. He knew Kim was unhappy with him, but
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Speaker 1: he did not know she was thinking about separating, and
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Speaker 1: so Steve kind of broke down and begged Kim to
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Speaker 1: give him another chance, you know, let him prove to
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Speaker 1: her that he will change, that he wants this marriage
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Speaker 1: to work. And Kim said okay, And so that was
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Speaker 1: how Steve wound up planning this very secret getaway on
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Speaker 1: Valentine's Day.
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Speaker 2: This trip was supposed to be the start.
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Speaker 1: Of their new and improved marriage, and so Kim was
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Speaker 1: really excited.
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Speaker 2: And optimistic about the future.
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Speaker 1: After driving for about an hour and a half, Steve
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Speaker 1: pulled off the highway and began following signs towards the
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Speaker 1: Eastern Shore, which is a waterfront area of Maryland that's
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Speaker 1: very beautiful that was located about seventy miles away from
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Speaker 1: step and Kim's home. After driving for a few minutes,
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Speaker 1: Steve pulled into the parking lot of the Harbortown Golf Resort,
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Speaker 1: and as soon as he pulled into a spot and
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Speaker 1: turned off the car, he clapped his hands and turned
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Speaker 1: to Kim and said, Okay, we're here. And Kim looked
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Speaker 1: from her husband out to all the perfectly manicured grounds
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Speaker 1: and the beautiful resort, and she smiled and leapt out
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Speaker 1: of the car excitedly. Kim and Steve took each other's
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Speaker 1: hands and marched inside to check in. And as they
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Speaker 1: were checking in, the person behind the desk gave them
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Speaker 1: glasses of champagne, and then, after handing Kim and Steve
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Speaker 1: their key cards, the receptionist told them that their cottage
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Speaker 1: where they were staying was like the nicest property at
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Speaker 1: the resort. Kim and Steve were totally pumped. They took
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Speaker 1: their champagne and their room keys. They walked back to
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Speaker 1: their car and then drove a little ways deeper into
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Speaker 1: the resort to their cottage. It was cottage five zero
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Speaker 1: six and it looked out over the water and when
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Speaker 1: they went inside, Kim was totally wowed. It was this
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Speaker 1: stick suite with a wood fire stove, in the middle,
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Speaker 1: and two queen size beds and a little coffee table
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Speaker 1: area for breakfast.
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Speaker 2: Over here. It was perfect.
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Speaker 1: And then when Kim actually walked into this cottage, she
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Speaker 1: noticed there was a card sitting on a table and
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Speaker 1: it looked like a wedding invitation. Kim was confused and
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Speaker 1: looked over at Steve, and Steve just smiled and said,
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Speaker 1: go check it out. And so Kim walked over and
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Speaker 1: she grabbed the note and she began reading it, and
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Speaker 1: as she did, she began to smile. The card really
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Speaker 1: was a wedding invitation, albeit it was for a fake wedding,
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Speaker 1: because it would turn out this was not just a
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Speaker 1: random overnight that Steve had planned for both of them. Instead,
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Speaker 1: he had purchased a romantic getaway package which included this
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Speaker 1: amazing cottage, but also a professional dinner theater performance that
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Speaker 1: would be held on the resort grounds. Kim read the
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Speaker 1: description of the dinner theater show on this invitation.
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Speaker 2: It was a murder mystery called.
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Speaker 1: The Bride Who Cried, where the actors in the show
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Speaker 1: would put on a whole fake wedding and then at
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Speaker 1: the end of the wedding somebody would get killed and
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Speaker 1: the audience would need to figure out who did it.
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Speaker 1: For an extrovert like Kim, an activity like this was perfect,
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Speaker 1: and so Kim felt totally touched that clearly Steve had
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Speaker 1: heard her, and the first thing he did to kind
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Speaker 1: of win her back was to begin to do the
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Speaker 1: things that Kim really wanted to do, which was really
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Speaker 1: going out and having fun. And so after Kim finished
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Speaker 1: reading the card, she turned and looked over at Steve,
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Speaker 1: and Steve was kind of nervous because he wasn't sure
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Speaker 1: if Kim was going to like it, and Kim she
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Speaker 1: broke into this huge smile. She walked over to Steve
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Speaker 1: and gave him a big hug, and Steve, he was
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Speaker 1: so happy, and he hugged her real tight right back.
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Speaker 1: Kim and Steve would spend the next couple of hours
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Speaker 1: sitting by their fire inside of their nice cottage, drinking
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Speaker 1: their champagne and talking about the future and just telling
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Speaker 1: stories and having a good time. And then around seven pm,
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Speaker 1: Steve and Kim put on their nicest clothes and walked
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Speaker 1: their way over to the area on the resort where
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Speaker 1: this dinner theater was going to happen. It was in
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Speaker 1: an event hall with a bunch of round tables set
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Speaker 1: up for the audience. And so once Steve and Kim
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Speaker 1: and the other audience members all took their seats, the
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Speaker 1: actors and actress came into the room and they were
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Speaker 1: all dressed in their wedding clothes. There was a bride
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Speaker 1: and a groom and a wedding party, and the audience
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Speaker 1: was instructed to participate in the wedding as if they
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Speaker 1: were wedding guests. And so the audience all stood up
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Speaker 1: and they began kind of having this fake social hour
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Speaker 1: of meeting all the wedding guests. And then Steve, Kim
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Speaker 1: and the audience members all took their seats and they
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Speaker 1: got ready to watch.
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Speaker 2: The drama unfold.
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Speaker 1: And Kim pretty much immediately was totally absorbed in this performance.
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Speaker 1: She was so enthusiastic talking to the actors and talking
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Speaker 1: to the other guests and really pretending like she was
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Speaker 1: part of the wedding.
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Speaker 2: I mean, she was having a blast.
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Speaker 1: The play itself was about a groom who was in
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Speaker 1: the mafia who was forcing his bride to marry him
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Speaker 1: by threatening her family. The climax came when the groom
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Speaker 1: stood up and gave a toast with his champagne, he
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Speaker 1: took a sip and then fell down dead. Kim watched
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Speaker 1: all of this with delight, but she kept looking over
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Speaker 1: at Steve, hoping he too would.
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Speaker 2: Be smiling and having a good time. But each time
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Speaker 2: she looked at him.
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Speaker 1: He was just kind of stone faced and looking straight ahead,
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Speaker 1: like he just didn't care or he was totally disinterested.
10:04
Speaker 1: And then a couple of times when Kim leaned over
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Speaker 1: and said, hey, you know, honey, who do you think
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Speaker 1: did it? Who do you think the killer is, Steve
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Speaker 1: basically just completely ignored her. It was like she wasn't
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Speaker 1: there and the play wasn't there. He was just totally
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Speaker 1: zoned out. Eventually, Kim and a few other very enthusiastic
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Speaker 1: audience members figured out the killer in the play was
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Speaker 1: the bride's mother who poisoned the groom.
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Speaker 2: And then after this discovery was made, the play was over.
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Speaker 2: As everyone got up.
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Speaker 1: From their seats and began to leave, Kim couldn't help
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Speaker 1: but feel really annoyed with Steve because he was just
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Speaker 1: so silent and not invested in this play, and it's like,
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Speaker 1: we came all the way here, why aren't you at
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Speaker 1: least pretending to enjoy this, but Kim also thought, you know,
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Speaker 1: Steve put a ton of effort into this weekend. He's
10:46
Speaker 1: clearly trying.
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Speaker 2: I'm not going to start a fight. I'm not going
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Speaker 2: to bring it up.
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Speaker 1: And so finally Kim just said to Steve, hey, you know,
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Speaker 1: why don't we go to the bar and get a
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Speaker 1: couple of drinks, bring them back to our cottage and
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Speaker 1: just hang out there for the night. And when Steve
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Speaker 1: heard this, he actually smiled and said, okay, great, let's
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Speaker 1: do it.
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Speaker 2: And by the time the couple got back to.
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Speaker 1: The front door of Cottage five zero six, they were
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Speaker 1: holding hands again and laughing and telling stories. And they
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Speaker 1: went inside and Steve put the beers down on the table,
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Speaker 1: and then Kim said she was going to go in
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Speaker 1: the bedroom and just quickly change into something more comfortable,
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Speaker 1: and so Kim walked into the bedroom and shut the door,
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Speaker 1: and Steve walked to the front door and turned the lock.
11:27
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13:07
Speaker 1: back to the stories. Three hours later, a man named
13:15
Speaker 1: Philip Parker, who was staying at the resort with his family,
13:18
Speaker 1: heard a commotion in the lobby and he heard people
13:21
Speaker 1: saying there might be a fire at cottage five zero
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Speaker 1: six and there could be somebody still inside. Philip immediately
13:28
Speaker 1: turned to his cousin who was with him, and the
13:30
Speaker 1: two of them bolted outside and just started running towards
13:33
Speaker 1: cottage five zero six, And as soon as they got
13:35
Speaker 1: to a place where they could see the cottage from
13:37
Speaker 1: a distance, they could see black, oily smoke pouring out
13:40
Speaker 1: of the windows. When they got up to the burning cottage,
13:44
Speaker 1: Philip ran to the front door, but it was locked.
13:46
Speaker 2: He couldn't get inside.
13:47
Speaker 1: He screamed to see if anybody was in there, but
13:49
Speaker 1: there was no answer, and so Philip and the cousin
13:51
Speaker 1: ran around to the back of the cottage where there
13:54
Speaker 1: was a glass sliding door, and Philip he tried the handle,
13:57
Speaker 1: but it was locked. At this point, the cousins he
14:00
Speaker 1: was going to run back to the resort and get
14:02
Speaker 1: a fire extinguisher, And after the cousin ran off, Philip
14:06
Speaker 1: turned back towards the sliding glass door and realized it
14:09
Speaker 1: actually opened on both ends, and he had only checked
14:12
Speaker 1: one side and found that side to be locked, but
14:15
Speaker 1: on the other side, which he was now noticing, it
14:17
Speaker 1: was obviously unlocked because it was opened just barely, and
14:21
Speaker 1: so Philip immediately opened it up, and all the smoke
14:23
Speaker 1: began coming out, and so Philip dropped down to get
14:26
Speaker 1: a better look, because down low the smoke had not
14:29
Speaker 1: fully settled. There was a bit of an air pocket
14:31
Speaker 1: right at the bottom of the floor, and so Philip
14:33
Speaker 1: got down and he looked inside, and for a second
14:36
Speaker 1: he couldn't quite see anything, but then he noticed in
14:38
Speaker 1: the middle of the bedroom, right inside this cottage, he
14:41
Speaker 1: could clearly see somebody's feet. Somebody was on the ground,
14:45
Speaker 1: and so Philip screamed that he was coming in, and
14:48
Speaker 1: then he opened the door of the rest of the
14:49
Speaker 1: way and he began low crawling into the.
14:52
Speaker 2: Bedroom, and as he did, he was hacking and.
14:54
Speaker 1: Coughing from all the smoke, and so Finally Philip reached
14:57
Speaker 1: this person and he grabbed their foot and he shook
14:59
Speaker 1: them to try to wake them up, but they weren't moving.
15:02
Speaker 1: But the fire was getting bigger and stronger, the smoke
15:05
Speaker 1: was getting thicker. Philip was really starting to panic and
15:08
Speaker 1: was worried that he too would get trapped in here,
15:10
Speaker 1: and so he just grabbed this person's leg and began
15:13
Speaker 1: pulling them and it was really hard, but he finally
15:16
Speaker 1: got this person back to the door. He couldn't quite
15:18
Speaker 1: get them over that lip of where the sliding door was,
15:21
Speaker 1: but right then Philip's cousin showed up and the two
15:24
Speaker 1: of them were able to grab this person and get them.
15:27
Speaker 2: Out of the cottage.
15:27
Speaker 1: And this was the moment when Philip finally got a
15:30
Speaker 1: look at the person he was just dragging out, and
15:33
Speaker 1: it was immediately clear to him that this person was deceeased.
15:37
Speaker 1: Their face was basically gone, it was completely burned away.
15:40
Speaker 1: In the days and weeks leading up to this weekend,
15:43
Speaker 1: Steve really was taking secret phone calls and writing notes
15:47
Speaker 1: down in his journal because he was planning something very special.
15:50
Speaker 1: But he was not the only one with plans for
15:54
Speaker 1: this weekend. Here's what police say happened after Kim and
15:57
Speaker 1: Steve got back to their cottage following the show and
16:00
Speaker 1: went into the bedroom to change, and Steve went to
16:02
Speaker 1: the front door and locked it. A couple of minutes later,
16:05
Speaker 1: Kim came out of the bedroom wearing something sexy, and
16:09
Speaker 1: she looked at Steve and smiled and said, come.
16:11
Speaker 2: On, get in bed.
16:11
Speaker 1: I'll join you in a second. And so Steve's like, great,
16:15
Speaker 1: my plan is working. We're going to reconnect here. He
16:17
Speaker 1: climbed in bed and he laid down. Then Kim she
16:20
Speaker 1: walked over and got something out of her bag, and
16:22
Speaker 1: then she walked back over to the bed and she
16:25
Speaker 1: pulled out a syringe and she stabbed it into Steve
16:28
Speaker 1: before he could do anything, and she injected him with
16:31
Speaker 1: something called suconal coline. Kim had access to the drug
16:34
Speaker 1: from her job as a surgical tech. Suconal Coline is
16:38
Speaker 1: used to relax people's muscles during surgery, but if you
16:42
Speaker 1: give someone too big a dose, it can stop their breathing.
16:45
Speaker 1: And this drug works pretty much instantly, which means Steve
16:49
Speaker 1: would have seen his wife stab him with that syringe,
16:51
Speaker 1: but then instantly he would have been totally paralyzed. But
16:55
Speaker 1: fully awake and fully alive, and so as he was
16:58
Speaker 1: laying there, he would have seen his wife put the
17:00
Speaker 1: syringe down and then grabbed lighter fluid and then walked
17:04
Speaker 1: over to him and calmly poured the lighter fluid all
17:07
Speaker 1: over Steve's.
17:08
Speaker 2: Face and chest.
17:10
Speaker 1: And then one of Steve's final images he likely saw
17:13
Speaker 1: before his lung stopped working and he died, was his wife.
17:16
Speaker 2: Striking a match and lighting him on fire.
17:19
Speaker 1: After lighting Steve on fire, Kim casually walked out the
17:22
Speaker 1: backsliding door.
17:23
Speaker 2: She shut it, leaving it.
17:24
Speaker 1: Open just a crack, and then she made her way
17:26
Speaker 1: to the resort lobby, where she put on this big
17:28
Speaker 1: act about how her cottage was on fire and she
17:31
Speaker 1: thinks her husband was still inside. And Philip overheard Kim
17:35
Speaker 1: say that her husband might be inside the cottage, which
17:38
Speaker 1: is when he and his cousin jumped into action. They
17:41
Speaker 1: ran to the cottage and ultimately found Steve deceased inside
17:44
Speaker 1: of the cottage. Ultimately, Kim never intended to give Steve
17:48
Speaker 1: a second chance in their marriage. She was already having
17:51
Speaker 1: an affair with a much younger man who was in
17:53
Speaker 1: the Marines, and she was just done with Steve, and
17:55
Speaker 1: so as Steve began telling his friends and family how
17:58
Speaker 1: he was going to make a huge apace to save
18:00
Speaker 1: his marriage, Kim was going around to her friends and
18:04
Speaker 1: literally openly talking about how she wanted to murder her husband.
18:09
Speaker 1: But nobody took her seriously. They thought she was just
18:11
Speaker 1: kind of venting and being kind of dramatic. But as
18:13
Speaker 1: soon as the news broke that Steve had died in
18:16
Speaker 1: this fire and Kim had not, people rushed to the
18:19
Speaker 1: police to tell them pretty sure Kim had something to
18:21
Speaker 1: do with this. Kim was convicted of her husband's murder
18:24
Speaker 1: and she was sentenced to life in prison. It would
18:26
Speaker 1: turn out the primary reason why Steve was so secretive
18:30
Speaker 1: before going on this trip was he really wanted it
18:33
Speaker 1: to be this unbelievably special, romantic kind of like recreation
18:38
Speaker 1: of the couple's for a state. And so what he
18:40
Speaker 1: was doing is he was calling all of Kim's friends
18:42
Speaker 1: and family members and asking them questions about things Kim
18:46
Speaker 1: liked because he wanted to incorporate all of her interests
18:49
Speaker 1: in this trip. And then after these calls, when Steve
18:52
Speaker 1: was writing in his journal that was not just writing
18:54
Speaker 1: down like logistics of the trip. He was also writing
18:57
Speaker 1: down how much he loved Kim and how excited he
19:00
Speaker 1: was for their future and what they would build together
19:03
Speaker 1: as a family. I mean, Steve really believed they were
19:06
Speaker 1: on a path to reconciliation, but of course that just
19:09
Speaker 1: was not the case. This past week we dropped a
19:18
Speaker 1: brand new merch line to commemorate Valentine's Day twenty twenty four,
19:22
Speaker 1: and people are loving it. Our designers put together, in
19:25
Speaker 1: my opinion, one of the very best graphics we've ever
19:29
Speaker 1: put on any merchandise. And it's right here. So this
19:31
Speaker 1: is the hoodie. This is the back of the hoodie.
19:34
Speaker 1: I think that's just an amazing design. And then the
19:37
Speaker 1: front of the hoodie it just says Bollentine's Day. And
19:40
Speaker 1: the T shirt has the same design setup as well.
19:43
Speaker 1: But the deal with this merch is it's only available
19:46
Speaker 1: to be purchased for a very short amount of time,
19:49
Speaker 1: and so you have now until Wednesday, February twenty first,
19:53
Speaker 1: So just a couple of days from now, that is
19:55
Speaker 1: the last day you can pick up your official Bollentine's
19:59
Speaker 1: Day twenty four merchandise. All you have to do is
20:02
Speaker 1: go to shop misterballin dot com and you can buy
20:05
Speaker 1: your Ballentine's Day merch or you can also check out
20:08
Speaker 1: the Ballin Basics line, which is our you know, everyday
20:11
Speaker 1: merchandise we sell year round, so again, shop Misterballin dot
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Speaker 1: com enjoy.
20:18
Speaker 2: So that's gonna do it.
20:19
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed today's story, be sure to check out
20:22
Speaker 1: our podcast called The mister Ballin Podcast, which has hundreds
20:25
Speaker 1: of stories a lot like this one, but many of
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Speaker 1: them are only on the podcast.
20:30
Speaker 2: Again.
20:30
Speaker 1: It's called the Misterballin Podcast and it's available wherever you
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