Latest / The Mind of a Man / YouTuber Faked His Livestream to Murder His Girlfriend _ The Stephen McCullagh Case

Transcript

YouTuber Faked His Livestream to Murder His Girlfriend _ The Stephen McCullagh Case · The Mind of a Man

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: That's why I like sticking to just doing crimes in
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: a video game. Because I'm a bit of a sadistic bastard,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I suppose. I need to kill this bitch. I need
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to take her down.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: This is a live stream uploaded by 32-year-old Stephen McCullough
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: on December 18th, 2022. During this stream, about 15 miles away,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: a horrific crime was committed against his girlfriend, Natalie McNally.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: The 32-year-old, who was 15 weeks pregnant, died a violent death.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Considering the fact that half of all homicides are committed
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: by intimate partners, law enforcement looked to Stephen as their
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: first suspect. But when he showed them his livestream, complete
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: with dozens of witnesses who were watching him and commenting
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: at the time of the murder, he was written off
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: as a suspect. Until a few months later, when a
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: twisted realization came to light. Natalie is remembered by her
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: family and friends as an upbeat, intelligent, sports-loving woman who
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: took pride in treating her family to events and experiences.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: At 32, she had established a beautiful life for herself.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: She had pets she adored, a marketing job she loved,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: and a close-knit group of friends and family. Soon before
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: she was murdered, she visited her brother's home with exciting news.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: I remember Natalie came round to my house to tell
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: me that she was pregnant, like I danced around the
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  Speaker 2: living room and all, and was jumping up and down
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: and was hugging her. Natalie decided to name her son Dean.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: The whole family rallied around her, thrilled and confident that
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: she would be a phenomenal mother. Tragically, she never got
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: the chance. In August of 2022, Natalie had begun dating
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: 32-year-old Stephen McCullough, who went by VoteSaxon07 online, a reference
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: to Doctor Who, which Natalie was also a huge fan of.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: The two had only been seeing each other for a
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: short few weeks when Natalie discovered she was pregnant. There
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: was no public indication of how Steven felt about Natalie's pregnancy. However,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: it is worth noting that intimate partner homicide is the
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: leading cause of death in pregnant women in several countries.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Steven had carved out a nice little life for himself too.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: He posted his first video on YouTube on April 5th,
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  Speaker 2: 2010 and proceeded to run a channel that did reviews
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: of toys related to Doctor Who, Star Wars, Toy Story,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: several Marvel properties, and other fandoms. His popularity slowly grew,
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: largely due to his casual yet excitable style. Fans of Steven,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: myself included, frequently commented about the passion he showed for
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: the titles he cared about, always starting every video with,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Hello viewers and random, insert fandom here, fans.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Hello YouTube viewers and random subscribers. Yes, it's true, I'm
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: selling it all. Well, not all of it, some of it.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: In his own word, he had a love of all
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: things nerdy from a young age, and being able to
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: slowly transition into a career surrounding his passions was something
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: he felt blessed to experience. Steven even got to join
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: a Robot Wars BattleBots team, something that had been a
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: lifelong dream of his. Steven had a small but loyal following,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: and on December 18th, 2022, when he posted that he'd
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: be starting a livestream in two hours, his audience was thrilled,
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  Speaker 2: albeit a bit confused. He hadn't done a single livestream
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: in over two years, compared to many YouTubers who make
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: the majority of their living doing them weekly. It was
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: unusual for him to do one, but many of his
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: fans were excited, looking at it as a bit of
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: a Christmas present from him. He titled the livestream, The
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Violent Night Christmas Gaming Livestream. In the livestream, he explained
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: that he was going to be playing Grand Theft Auto,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: justifying the strange name. In retrospect, however, many believe that
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: the true meaning of the stream was hidden in plain sight.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: At 5.57pm, Steven texted Natalie saying, Right, I'm away to
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: stream the night away. Wish me luck. At 5.59, she responded,
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  Speaker 2: I might have a peek at your live stream later.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Immediately after this text, Stephen shut off his phone. Just
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: after 6pm, the live stream began. Throughout the six-hour stream,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: there were many moments that seemed unusual. For starters, Stephen
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: spent several minutes repeatedly mentioning that he wouldn't be able
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: to interact with the chat, which is usually the whole
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: point of a live stream.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Well, because this streaming software is kind of up the left,
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  Speaker 1: it means I can't check the live chat. Which is
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: a real shame. So, by all means, talk amongst yourselves.
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  Speaker 1: I could use my phone to dip in every now
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  Speaker 1: and again and check it, but I've decided that I
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: kind of hate live streams where people just sit and
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: read comments and go, oh my god, ask me questions. So, yeah.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Phone's away. Can't look at the live chat for some
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: bloody reason, because if I do, it makes the whole
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: thing freeze and OBS just screws up. In fact, I am.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: I'm still live.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: At no point during the six-hour session did Stephen make
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: comments to the chat, read the chat, or even interact
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: with his fans. Essentially, the entire time consisted of him
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: speaking to the camera. At times, he made oddly suspicious
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: comments that seemed pointed and intentional.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Uh-huh, yeah, that's physics. That's what would happen in the
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: real world. Apps are f * * * ing naughtly.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: That's why I like sticking to just doing crimes in
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: a video game. Because I'm a bit of a sadistic bastard,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: I suppose. I need to kill this bitch. I need
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: to take her down.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: At one point during the stream, a strange glitch occurred.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: During a break, a photo appeared on screen. A photo
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: that seemed to be sending a message.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you something. I made a real pig's ear
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: of that. I just sat down, and I pulled the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: controller and the headphones off the table.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: As the stream wound down at 12.04am, Stephen left viewers
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: with his wishes for the holiday season.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Back into work on Wednesday, then... Off until New Year's,
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  Speaker 1: so it'll be enough time to rest, relax, spend time
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  Speaker 1: with my loved ones. Actually, it'll be a really fucking
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: good Christmas this year. But yes, sorry, I'm getting horribly distracted. Yeah, so....
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: The following morning, Stephen made his way to Natalie's flat
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: to visit her, claiming that He was concerned because she
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: wasn't responding to his texts. When he arrived, he discovered
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  Speaker 2: her in a pool of blood. She had been stabbed
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  Speaker 2: several times and left for dead in her own home,
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  Speaker 2: the place where she had planned on raising her baby
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: boy and flourishing in the new phase of her life.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Stephen was immediately questioned by police, but very quickly, he
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: was written off as a suspect and demoted to being
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: a witness instead. His livestream was convincing enough for initial
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: investigators to believe that he couldn't have committed Natalie's homicide.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: but a closer look in the new year proved otherwise.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: During a deep search of Stephen's computer files in January
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: of 2023, computer forensic technicians made a horrific discovery. A
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: large file had been deleted off Stephen's computer at 12.09 a.m.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: on December 19, 2022. When they opened the file, all
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Stephen's stream
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: had been pre-recorded, uploaded, then immediately deleted. He wasn't at
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: home at all during the time of the murder. In fact,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: he had recorded the video for the live stream several
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: days earlier, on the night of December 13th into the
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: morning of December 14th. The entire video, including the supposed glitches,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: had been entirely planned. Detectives would later state that these
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: glitches and off-color comments throughout the stream were likely sick
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: Easter eggs Stephen wanted to leave behind for his own amusement.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Upon further investigation, law enforcement was able to uncover... where
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: they believed Stephen really was at the time of Natalie's death.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: And it wasn't anywhere near his computer. At 4 p.m.,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Stephen posted tweets promoting his stream. Natalie, wanting to be
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: an encouraging partner, even liked his tweets, completely unaware of
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: what his true intentions likely were. Between 7 and 7.10 p.m.,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: CCTV caught a man wearing a hoodie walking towards a
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: bus station in Lisbon, where Stephen lived. Upon getting on
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  Speaker 2: the bus, the man fumbled with his change, When the
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: man reached down to grab his change, the camera at
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  Speaker 2: the front of the bus caught something terribly unsettling. The
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: man was wearing a pair of winter gloves. However, beneath
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: those gloves, he appeared to be wearing a pair of
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: latex cleaning gloves. Without having to see much else, the
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  Speaker 2: police were fairly certain that they were staring at Natalie's killer.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: They continued following CCTV footage that tracked the man on
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  Speaker 2: his journey. On the bus ride, which lasted an hour
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  Speaker 2: and a half, the man hardly moved, never made eye
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  Speaker 2: contact with anyone, and stared nervously. straight at the back
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  Speaker 2: of the seat, unwavering. A bit before 8.30, the man
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  Speaker 2: departed the bus and began to walk towards Natalie's flat.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: At around 8.42, the man was spotted walking by Natalie's.
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  Speaker 2: To detectives, it looked as though the man was checking
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  Speaker 2: to ensure that Natalie's car was parked nearby and that
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  Speaker 2: she was home. At 8.52, the man walked by yet again,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: this time heading straight towards her home with a duffel
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  Speaker 2: bag slung over his shoulder. Being in a relatively safe
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  Speaker 2: part of town with friends and relatives nearby, Natalie wasn't
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: one to lock her door. It's suggested that from there,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: the man simply strolled into her flat to carry out
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: his evil plan. At around 9pm, a neighbor heard a
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: woman scream. She didn't phone the incident into police, but
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: did inform them of what she heard after she learned
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: of Natalie's tragic death. Chillingly, at around this same time,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Stephen's livestream had its glitch. flashing the words, time to die.
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  Speaker 2: Detectives had implied that Stephen had Natalie's murder organized to
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: the second, enabling him to record his footage for the
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: exact time he planned on supposedly killing her. At 9.31,
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  Speaker 2: the same man is seen leaving Natalie's apartment, wearing a
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: full change of clothes. At around midnight, Stephen had completed
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: the journey back to his home. Just seven minutes after
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  Speaker 2: his live stream ended, he moved the MP4 file of
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: his pre-recorded video into the trash on his computer. An
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: even deeper look into Stephen's computer usage in the days
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: leading up to Natalie's murder left detectives with even further
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  Speaker 2: evidence of just how thoroughly premeditated the homicide was. Stephen's
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: search history included what's more painful, dying by drowning or
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: being burnt alive? And is it extremely painful to die
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: by gunshot than to be stabbed in the heart? There
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: is still no motive for Natalie's murder that's been publicly released,
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: though his searches suggest that He wanted his pregnant girlfriend
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: to suffer. It took detectives several days to break down
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Stephen's involvement in Natalie's murder. Tragically, in the meantime, there
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: was more destruction he left in his wake. Stephen attended
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: wakes and rallies in honor of Natalie. He became a
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  Speaker 2: fixture at her parents' home where he mourned with them
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  Speaker 2: and spoke of his fond memories with her. Her parents
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  Speaker 2: and siblings had no idea that the man they were
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: letting into their home at such a vulnerable time in
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: their life had murdered their baby girl. At one point,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Stephen allegedly left his phone at the McNally's home. He
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: returned about a half hour later, claiming that he had
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: forgotten it. The entire time, the phone was recording her
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: parents' conversation so he could review it and see if
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: they suspected him in her death. It wasn't until January
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: 31st that Stephen was taken into custody again, after detectives
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: had reviewed his alibi and determined that the live stream
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: was pre-recorded. On February 2nd, he was charged with her murder. Since,
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: he has been denied bail, which was met with cheers
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: by the public. Natalie's family has been outspoken about violence
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: against women following her death. They've organized vigils, received awards
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: for their advocacy, and spread Natalie's story far and wide.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: They hope that their outreach will help other women spot
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: signs of abuse, and men to stop perpetrating behaviors and
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: stereotypes that put women at risk. As they advocate for
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: other women, they hope that soon, justice will be served
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: for Natalie. Stephen's trial for her murder is expected to
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: commence on May 6th, 2025.