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Mother Catches Son Bringing Chopped Up Body Into Her House · Murder Files Unsealed

0:00
Speaker 1: So think of your digital life not as like a
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series of footprints you leave behind, but as this invisible,
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constantly vibrating spider web.
0:08
Speaker 2: Oh I like that analogy.
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Speaker 1: Yeah right, because every time your phone connects to a
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cell tower, or you know, every time you swipe a
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card or your car passes a traffic camera, you're basically
0:18
anchoring a new silk thread to your physical location.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, you're leaving a mark without even knowing it exactly.
0:23
Speaker 1: And most of us walk through our days completely unaware
0:27
of this web we're spinning. But today we're looking at
0:31
a deeply unsettling case where a killer attempted to, you know,
0:36
walk away from a crime completely cleanly.
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Speaker 2: Right, but he utterly failed to realize he was violently
0:41
vibrating that entire digital web.
0:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, just alerting law enforcement to his every single move.
0:46
So welcome to our deep dive. The mission today is heavy,
0:49
but it's really essential listening.
0:51
Speaker 2: It definitely is.
0:52
Speaker 1: We are unpacking the tragic, meticulously documented disappearance and murder
0:57
of a twenty four year old woman named Alexis Gate.
1:00
Speaker 2: And you know the source material we've gathered for this analysis.
1:04
It provides a really forensic reconstruction of just an absolute nightmare.
1:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a lot to go through.
1:10
Speaker 2: It is. We're drawing from comprehensive public records, detailed law
1:14
enforcement timelines, extensive news coverage, and deeply moving statements provided
1:21
by her family over the course of the whole investigation.
1:23
Speaker 1: Okay, let's unpack this because I do want to set
1:25
expectations for you listening right now. Yeah, the reality of
1:28
what happened to Alexis is brutal. Absolutely, we're looking at
1:32
a true crime case with devastating, irreversible consequences. But our
1:37
goal is not just to recite a timeline of a tragedy.
1:41
Speaker 2: Right because to understand the gravity of this case, we
1:43
really have to treat it as a multidisciplinary study.
1:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, we're going to examine the undeniable power
1:49
and the specific technological mechanics of well modern digital tracking.
1:53
Speaker 2: And we'll also analyze the forensic psychology of obsession, you know,
1:57
specifically looking at how possessive behavior escalates from just monitoring
2:02
someone to lethal violence, which is terrifying, it is, And
2:05
we also have to confront the strict, often deeply frustrating
2:09
legal thresholds that dictate how our criminal justice system actually
2:13
operates when they evaluate secondary suspects.
2:16
Speaker 1: So we're really going to examine the entire anatomy of
2:18
this case. We need to look at the why and how,
2:21
like how a relationship soured into fatal control, how detectives
2:25
actually pull those invisible digital threads to build this mosaic
2:30
of guilt.
2:30
Speaker 2: And crucially, what happens to the pursuit of justice when
2:34
the primary suspect takes the answers to his grave.
2:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is an examination that will inevitably challenge your
2:40
perception of personal privacy, the architecture of the legal system,
2:44
and those subtle warning signs that are just embedded in
2:47
human behavior.
2:48
Speaker 2: So the only place to really begin is with Alexis herself.
2:52
Speaker 1: Definitely, before this whole digital web was activated by police,
2:55
there was simply a twenty four year old woman navigating
2:58
her life.
2:58
Speaker 2: Right. Alexis Gabe was from Oakley, California.
3:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, And to give you the geographical context for that,
3:03
Oakley is a community in the East Bay, roughly an
3:06
hour east of San Francisco.
3:07
Speaker 2: It's a nice area, it is.
3:09
Speaker 1: But it's not an environment defined by the anonymity of
3:12
a major metropolitan hub. It's a modest, really family oriented town.
3:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, it functions much more like a traditional bedroom community
3:20
where the social fabric is.
3:21
Speaker 1: Tight, you know, a generational roots matter there. It's that
3:25
classic everyone knows everyone kind of hometown.
3:28
Speaker 2: Right, and understanding that sociological environment it's actually critical to
3:31
understanding the eventual scope of the investigation. Oh so well,
3:36
in dense urban centers, the sheer volume of a transient
3:39
population can sometimes swallow a missing person's report, at least,
3:43
you know, in those crucial initial days.
3:45
Speaker 1: Oh sure, because people come and go all the time, exactly.
3:48
Speaker 2: But a community like Oakley operates on a foundational expectation
3:51
of safety and familiarity, right, So when a young woman
3:55
vanishes from that specific type of environment, it violently disrupts
3:59
the social equilibrium.
4:01
Speaker 1: And Alexis was fundamentally woven into that equilibrium. She was
4:04
born to Filipino parents, Gwynn and Rowena Gabe.
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Speaker 2: In their background adds such a poignant layer to all.
4:10
Speaker 1: This, it really does. They were childhood friends in the
4:13
Philippines who actually lost touch, reconnected years later, and then
4:17
immigrated to build a life in the United States.
4:20
Speaker 2: That's a beautiful story.
4:21
Speaker 1: It is. Their entire household was structured around the principles
4:25
of hard work and just really deep familial devotion.
4:28
Speaker 2: And that familial devotion it directly informed her personality.
4:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, the source material consistently highlights a very specific psychological
4:37
baseline for Alexis.
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Speaker 2: Right, friends and family always describe her as exceptionally outgoing,
4:43
inherently kind, and just you know, radiating a positive energy.
4:48
Speaker 1: She was the kind of person who anchored the social
4:50
dynamics of a room.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, people gravitated to her.
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Speaker 1: And if you think back to being twenty four, or
4:56
you know, if you're twenty four right now listening to this,
4:58
you understand the vulnerability of that age.
5:01
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely, it's a massive transition.
5:03
Speaker 1: They're transitioning into full adulthood. You're working, i mean she
5:06
worked at a local right aid pharmacy for a time.
5:08
You're managing a social life and you're trying to figure
5:10
out long term romantic relationships. She was just living a
5:15
highly relatable, vibrant life.
5:18
Speaker 2: And that tight knit familial structure you mentioned earlier, that
5:21
actually becomes the catalyst for the public response later on.
5:25
Speaker 1: Because they didn't just sit back and wait for the police.
5:27
Speaker 2: No, not at all. The Gabe family possessed the social
5:30
capital and just the sheer determination to ensure her disappearance
5:35
did not become a cold file.
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Speaker 1: They mobilized instantly, you really did.
5:39
Speaker 2: The mechanics of a grassroots mobilization like that are fascinating
5:42
because it isn't just about you know, posting on social media.
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Speaker 1: Right, It's so much more than that.
5:47
Speaker 2: It involves coordinating physical grid searches, establishing communication liaisons with
5:52
local law enforcement.
5:53
Speaker 1: And maintaining sustained pressure on regional media outlets. The family
5:58
essentially weaponized their community support.
6:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, the town of Oakley fully mobilized with vigils and
6:04
search parties, and.
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Speaker 1: That local intensity that's what pushed the case onto the
6:08
national stage. I mean, they landed features on programs like
6:12
On the Case with Paula's.
6:13
Speaker 2: On, which is huge for a missing person's case. They
6:16
literally forced the public to look at Alexis.
6:20
Speaker 1: But you know, intertwined with her caring nature and that
6:22
supportive community is a specific vulnerability.
6:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, a tragic one.
6:27
Speaker 1: Electus was known for seeing the good in people, for
6:30
being deeply empathetic, and she made a choice that society
6:33
honestly often praises. She decided to stay friends with her
6:37
ex boyfriend.
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Speaker 2: And that decision introduces a very complex psychological dynamic.
6:43
Speaker 1: It really does. I want to push back a bit
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on the whole cultural narrative we have around staying friends
6:48
with an ex Okay, let's hear it. We always treat
6:51
it like it's the ultimate sign of emotional maturity, right, like, oh,
6:55
we're so evolved, we're still friends. Yes, very idealized, but
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in situations like this, feels like leaving the front door
7:01
of your house cracked open for a burglar just to
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prove you aren't afraid of being robbed.
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Speaker 2: That's an intense way to look at it, but it's accurate.
7:08
Empathy is a pro social trait, absolutely, But in the
7:12
context of a fractured romantic relationship with a specific type
7:16
of partner, empathy is frequently weaponized by the former partner
7:20
to maintain proximity.
7:22
Speaker 1: Why is it that the very traits that make someone
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fundamentally good, like forgiveness, maintaining ties, seeing the good in someone,
7:31
why do those make them a target for an obsessed partner.
7:34
Speaker 2: Well, what's fascinating here is the underlying architecture of a
7:38
toxic relationship, which is almost entirely built on the concept of.
7:42
Speaker 1: Control, control over the other.
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Speaker 2: Person, exactly. For a securely attached individual, transitioning from romance
7:49
to friendship involves a mutual renegotiation of boundaries.
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Speaker 1: You agree on what the new dynamic is right.
7:56
Speaker 2: But for an individual harboring possessive tendencies, staying friends serves
8:01
a completely different psychological function.
8:03
Speaker 1: What function is that It is.
8:04
Speaker 2: Not about mutual care. It's an avenue for intermittent reinforcement.
8:07
Speaker 1: Intermittent reinforcement meaning like they occasionally get what they want,
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so they just keep crushing.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it means the possessive partner still receives just enough access,
8:15
just enough information about the victim's life to maintain the
8:19
illusion that the emotional tetter is still intact.
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Speaker 1: Oh wow, so they're just watching.
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Speaker 2: They can monitor who the person is seeing, they can
8:25
evaluate their emotional state, and they can continue to exert
8:28
subtle influence. The friendship is basically a trojan horse for
8:32
sustained surveillance.
8:34
Speaker 1: That is so incredibly dark, and that brings us to
8:37
the ex boyfriend. Let's bring him into focus. Marshall Curtis Jones,
8:41
who was twenty seven at the time. Right, they met
8:44
around twenty eighteen, As we said, she was at the pharmacy,
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and he was working as a hospital security guard.
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Speaker 2: And they dated for three and a half years, which
8:52
is a significant amount of time.
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Speaker 1: It is according to Gwynn Gabe, her dad, Jones, was
8:59
heavily integrated into their family life. He wasn't a stranger
9:02
to the parents at all. He was a fixture at
9:04
the dinner table.
9:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, in three and a half years, during that specific
9:07
developmental window late teens into early twenties, means he was
9:12
a foundational part of her adult identity.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, they grew up together essentially.
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Speaker 2: So when a relationship of that length ends, as theirs
9:18
did in November of twenty twenty one, the psychological untangling
9:22
is immense.
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Speaker 1: The sources describe the relationship as turbulent before the breakup.
9:27
But that illusion of control you just described, that psychological
9:30
tether of staying friends, it was violently severed just a.
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Speaker 2: Few weeks later, right, because of a new variable.
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Speaker 1: Exactly by December of twenty twenty one, Alexis started seeing
9:40
someone new, a tow truck driver, and police eventually uncovered
9:44
direct evidence of John's extreme jealousy and obsession. Regarding this
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new development, and.
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Speaker 2: Clinically speaking, the introduction of a new romantic partner is
9:52
the most critical escalation point in the timeline of intimate
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partner violence.
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Speaker 1: Why is that the specific trigger?
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Speaker 2: In forensic psychology, this is real referred to as a
10:01
narcissistic injury.
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Speaker 1: A narcissistic injury.
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Speaker 2: Yes, the controlling partner is suddenly confronted with undeniable proof
10:07
that their illusion of control is false. They are literally
10:10
being replaced. The emotional tether is cut.
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Speaker 1: So the escalation of violence isn't just like a sudden
10:17
loss of temper. It's a desperate attempt to reassert dominance exactly.
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Speaker 2: The violence is the ultimate final assertion of control. When
10:26
the possessive individual realizes they can no longer control the
10:29
victim's choices or affections, they resort to controlling the victim's
10:33
physical autonomy.
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Speaker 1: That is terrifying.
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Speaker 2: It is the new partner signals the end of the
10:38
friendship trojan Horse, and the risk assessment for the victim
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just skyrockets.
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Speaker 1: And that terrifying escalation brings us to the timeline of
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January twenty sixth, twenty twenty two. It's a Wednesday evening.
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Speaker 2: This is where things start moving very fast.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is where that digital web we talked
10:55
about begins to catch her movements. Alexis is captured on
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surveillance footage at a gas station on Lone Treeway in
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the Brentwood, Antioch.
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Speaker 2: Area, just a completely mundane errand.
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Speaker 1: Right from the gas station, she drives to Jones's residence
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on Bentreeway in Antioch, where he lived with his stepfather.
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Speaker 2: And the sources note she had plans to see other
11:14
friends later that night. This was supposed to be a
11:16
brief stop.
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Speaker 1: But she never made it to those friends.
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Speaker 2: No, she didn't. The working theory established by law enforcement,
11:22
which is backed by subsequent forensic discoveries, is that the
11:26
lethal event occurred that night inside that Antioch home.
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Speaker 1: The physical evidence points towards strangulation followed by the dismemberment
11:34
of her body, which investigators suspect took place right in
11:37
the bathroom of the residence.
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Speaker 2: The brutality of that is just staggering.
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Speaker 1: I know this is someone she spent years with, someone
11:44
who smiled at her parents across the dinner table.
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Speaker 2: It's incredibly disturbing.
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Speaker 1: So the next day, January twenty seventh, she fails to
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return home. Her family files a missing person's report immediately.
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Speaker 2: And almost Instantly, physical clues are discovered, but they paint
11:59
a highly con tradictory picture.
12:01
Speaker 1: Right, her car, a light blue Infinity, is located in
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a cul de sac on Trenton Street in Oakley, just
12:07
a few minutes from our house.
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Speaker 2: And the state of the vehicle becomes a massive focal
12:11
point for investigators.
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Speaker 1: The car is unlocked and the keys are just sitting
12:15
inside it. Her phone is powered off.
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Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Marshall Jones is actively communicating with her parents.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, he tells Gwynn and Rowena that Alexis left his
12:24
house around nine pm to go visit a specific friend.
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Speaker 2: But law enforcement immediately cross references that statement.
12:31
Speaker 1: They don't just take his word for it.
12:32
Speaker 2: No, they locate this specific friend and verify without a
12:37
doubt that this friend was physically out of town. The
12:41
alibi is completely manufactured.
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Speaker 1: I really want to look at the car on Trenton
12:45
Street for a second, because leaving an unlocked car with
12:49
the keys inside mere minutes from her home, it feels
12:53
like a pearly constructed theatrical set, you know it does.
12:56
It's highly suspicious, like if someone wanted to seal the car,
12:59
they would have taken it. She walked away voluntarily, she'd
13:02
take her keys. It seems designed to suggest she made
13:05
it back to her neighborhood and was abducted right outside
13:07
her door.
13:08
Speaker 2: But it's clumsy.
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Speaker 1: It's so clumsy it practically begs the police to look closer.
13:12
Speaker 2: You are describing the forensic concept of staging. Yes, Staging
13:16
occurs when a perpetrator alters the crime scene prior to
13:20
the arrival of police. They usually do it to redirect
13:23
the investigation away from the most logical suspect, or sometimes
13:27
to protect the victim's dignity, though that isn't the case here.
13:30
Speaker 1: But it rarely works right.
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Speaker 2: Staging is incredibly difficult to execute successfully because of the
13:35
cognitive load required.
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Speaker 1: Cognitive load meaning like they are too stressed out to
13:40
think clearly.
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Speaker 2: Exactly the perpetrator has just committed a homicide. Their sympathetic
13:45
nervous system is totally overwhelmed.
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Speaker 1: Fight or flight is kicking in right.
13:49
Speaker 2: So attempting to flawlessly simulate a different crime, like a
13:53
random abduction, it requires a calm, analytical mindset that they
13:57
simply do not possess in that.
14:00
Speaker 1: Moment, so they make mistakes.
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Speaker 2: They make critical behavioral errors, leaving the keys in the
14:05
ignition of an abandoned car contradicts the baseline behavior.
14:08
Speaker 1: Of the victim.
14:08
Speaker 2: Nobody does that, and turning the phone off immediately is
14:11
another glaring behavioral anomaly. People don't just turn their phones off.
14:15
Speaker 1: And Jones vastly underestimated how quickly police could dismantle his
14:19
story about the out of town friend too oh completely.
14:22
We watch movies where detectives spend days knocking on doors
14:25
to check an alibi, but today the verification is instantaneous.
14:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, the era of the shoe leather alibi check is
14:33
largely obsolete. Modern policing relies on integrated digital databases, so.
14:39
Speaker 1: When he gave the name, they didn't even have to
14:41
drive over there.
14:42
Speaker 2: Right when Jones offered the name of the friend. Detectives
14:45
utilize systems that aggregate communication data, social media, geolocation, and
14:50
automated license play readers.
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Speaker 1: They can ping a device and confirm an individual is
14:54
in another state.
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Speaker 2: Within minutes, exactly by providing a verifiable lie. Jones didn't
14:59
by himself time. He actively directed the investigative spotlight right
15:03
onto himself.
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Speaker 1: And here's where it gets really interesting. As we transition
15:07
from the physical staging to the digital reality, the spider web.
15:11
The spider web. Jones clearly believe he was managing this situation.
15:15
He moved the car, he provided a story, but as
15:17
we discussed with that analogy, he was generating a massive,
15:20
silent trail of data.
15:22
Speaker 2: His own devices were meticulously logging his guilt.
15:25
Speaker 1: The digital forensics in this investigation are what ultimately allowed
15:29
a multi agency task force to reconstruct a crime with
15:32
no living witnesses.
15:34
Speaker 2: It's incredible how much data we.
15:36
Speaker 1: Shed, So let's pull on those digital threads. Days after
15:39
Alexa goes missing, Antioch police access neighborhood surveillance cameras and.
15:44
Speaker 2: What do they find?
15:45
Speaker 1: They find footage of Marshall Jones actively unloading large, heavy
15:49
trash bags at his mother's house in Antioch.
15:52
Speaker 2: His mother being Alicia Coleman Clark.
15:54
Speaker 1: Yes, that is a physical action captured digitally. And then,
15:59
realizing the pressure mounting, Jones initiates his flight. He leaves
16:03
the immediate Bay area and travels to his sister's house
16:05
in Vacaville.
16:06
Speaker 2: Now, his arrival in Vacaville is a crucial turning point
16:10
in this teamline.
16:11
Speaker 1: It really is. The sources indicate that he arrived in
16:13
possession of a firearm and an extended magazine, and his.
16:16
Speaker 2: Sister, who is already aware through the intense media coverage
16:20
that Alexis is missing, she makes an immediate decision.
16:23
Speaker 1: Seeing him armed and acting erratic, she kicks him out
16:26
of her home.
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Speaker 2: Which is I mean, think about the immense psychological weight
16:30
of that moment for the sister.
16:31
Speaker 1: Oh, I know your brother arrives at your door heavily armed.
16:36
The woman he dated for years is the subject of
16:38
a massive search just a few towns over.
16:41
Speaker 2: And she refuses to harbor him.
16:42
Speaker 1: That boundary setting is incredible. Under that kind of pressure,
16:46
most people would panic and just let him in to
16:48
figure it out.
16:49
Speaker 2: It perfectly illustrates the collateral destruction caused by a crime
16:53
of this magnitude. The violence fractures the victim's family, obviously,
16:58
but it also creates an impossise moral crisis for the
17:01
perpetrator's family.
17:02
Speaker 1: She had to choose between her brother.
17:04
Speaker 2: And doing the right thing, and her decision to expel
17:06
him denied him a safe harbor. It forced him to remain.
17:09
Speaker 1: Mobile, which in turn forced him to generate even more
17:12
trackable data.
17:13
Speaker 2: Exactly, and law enforcement is vacuuming up that data in
17:16
real time. They aren't just looking out the window for him.
17:19
They are watching the web vibrate.
17:21
Speaker 1: The utilizing cell phone records, GPS data, and digital handshakes.
17:25
Speaker 2: Right. The specific mechanism at play here is often cell
17:29
tower triangulation or time difference of arrival.
17:32
Speaker 1: Okay, explain how that works. Because people think if they
17:34
turn off GPS they're invisible.
17:36
Speaker 2: They definitely aren't. Even if a suspect turns off their
17:39
active GPS, their cell phone is constantly seeking a signal.
17:44
It's communicating with the nearest cell towers to assess network strength.
17:47
Speaker 1: So even if you aren't making a call, the phone
17:50
is constantly announcing.
17:51
Speaker 2: Its presence continually. By measuring the microscopic delay we're talking
17:55
milliseconds in the signal reaching three different towers, investigators can
18:00
raw overlapping circles and pinpoint the device's geographical location with
18:04
startling accuracy.
18:06
Speaker 1: Oh wow, so he's just broadcasting his location to them
18:09
the whole time.
18:09
Speaker 2: Yes, they tracked these silent communications as he moved east
18:13
away from the Bay Area, heading toward the rugged terrain
18:16
of the Sierra.
18:16
Speaker 1: Foothills, specifically Amador County. Right, but he doesn't stay in
18:20
the foothills. The data tracking continues as the manhunt really intensifies,
18:26
Jones flees all the way up the coast to Washington State.
18:28
Speaker 2: He's desperate at this point he is.
18:31
Speaker 1: And by this point the digital evidence, combined with the
18:34
surveillance footage in that manufactured alibi, it's sufficient for the
18:38
district attorney to formally charge Marshall Jones with the first
18:41
degree murder of Alexiscape.
18:43
Speaker 2: And the coordination required at this stage is massive. It
18:46
involves local police, state investigators, and federal marshals all sharing
18:51
real time data to tighten the perimeter around the fugitive.
18:55
Speaker 1: And it all comes to a head. The climax occurs
18:57
on June first, twenty twenty two.
19:00
Speaker 2: Just a few months later, the.
19:01
Speaker 1: Multi agency task force locates him in Washington. The initiate
19:05
and operation to arrest him on the murder warrant, but
19:07
the situation rapidly deteriorates.
19:09
Speaker 2: Goes horribly wrong.
19:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. Instead of surrendering, Jones arms himself with a knife
19:15
and charges directly at the arresting officers.
19:17
Speaker 2: And the answers open fire.
19:18
Speaker 1: Jones is fatally shot on the scene. The primary suspect,
19:22
the only individual possessing the unfarnished truth of the events
19:26
in that Antioch bathroom, dies on the floor in Washington.
19:29
Speaker 2: It is a violently chaotic conclusion to the manhunt.
19:32
Speaker 1: It's just the worst possible outcome for getting answers.
19:35
Speaker 2: It is the investigators successfully utilized a vast array of
19:39
digital and circumstantial evidence, the surveillance footage of the bags,
19:43
the rural cell tower pangs, the testimonies regarding his flight
19:47
to corner.
19:47
Speaker 1: Him, but his death instantly paralyzes a crucial component of
19:51
the justice system.
19:52
Speaker 2: The family is left staring into an absolute void.
19:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, law enforcement found the killer, but the most agonizing
19:58
question remains unanswered. Where did he put Alexis right?
20:03
Speaker 2: When a loan suspect dies prior to interrogation or trial,
20:06
they take the geographical location of the victim with them.
20:09
The physical search is suddenly devoid of its primary compass, and.
20:13
Speaker 1: This triggered months of just grueling, desperate searches. The family volunteers,
20:18
specialized search dogs, and law enforcement teams. They all comb
20:22
through the areas indicated by those digital pings.
20:24
Speaker 2: But we need to understand the geography of Amador County
20:26
to understand how hard that is.
20:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, these are the Sierra foothills. It is a vast, rugged,
20:32
densely wooded landscape.
20:33
Speaker 2: It is complete needle in a haystack territory. Right.
20:35
Speaker 1: Because the digital pings provide a radius maybe a few
20:38
miles wide, they don't provide an X on a map.
20:41
Speaker 2: Data can isolate a region, but physical recovery and wilderness
20:45
environments requires methodical, exhaustive ground operations, and even then success
20:51
is highly dependent on environmental variables weather, terrain, wildlife.
20:55
Speaker 1: It's heartbreaking. It wasn't until November of twenty twenty two,
20:58
nearly ten full months after she vanished, that a breakthrough
21:02
finally occurred.
21:03
Speaker 2: And paradoxically, it didn't come from satellite tracking or advanced forensics,
21:08
not at all.
21:08
Speaker 1: It came from a local resident using a metal detector
21:11
in a rural town called Plymouth, about forty one miles
21:14
east of Sacramento.
21:15
Speaker 2: Just a random citizen.
21:17
Speaker 1: Yeah. They stumbled upon partial human remains concealed inside a
21:20
black trash bag discarded off Jackson Road.
21:23
Speaker 2: And subsequent DNA analysis and dental records confirmed the family's
21:26
worst nightmare.
21:27
Speaker 1: It was Alexis.
21:28
Speaker 2: The grim reality of the site continued to unfold too.
21:31
Speaker 1: Because two months later In January of twenty twenty three,
21:34
investigators conducting a more granular search of that specific area
21:38
recovered additional remains.
21:39
Speaker 2: Along with clothing and physical evidence that directly tied back
21:43
to the initial crime scene.
21:44
Speaker 1: And the source material reveals a detail here that is deeply,
21:49
deeply unsettling. I really want to talk about this some notes. Yes,
21:53
During their investigation into Jones's belongings, police discovered handwritten notes
21:58
left behind by Marshall Jones to his death. These notes
22:02
contained explicit, detailed directions to this exact dump site in
22:06
Amador County.
22:07
Speaker 2: From a behavioral analysis perspective, leaving a map to the
22:11
body is a highly complex psychological artifact.
22:14
Speaker 1: Why would someone do that? Huh? I mean, if your
22:16
primary goal is self preservation, you know, moving the car,
22:20
lying to the parents, fleeing the state, why would you
22:22
document the location of the ultimate evidence of your guilt.
22:26
Speaker 2: It seems completely counterintuitive.
22:28
Speaker 1: It contradicts the entire concept of a cover up.
22:30
Speaker 2: It does, but it speaks to the psychological phenomenon of
22:33
leakage and internal cognitive dissonance of the perpetrator.
22:37
Speaker 1: Leakage like information leaking.
22:38
Speaker 2: Out of them exactly On one level, the survival instinct
22:41
dictates concealment and flight. But on a deeper, subconscious level,
22:45
perpetrators of intimate partner violence are often driven by an
22:49
insatiable need for control. Leaving a map can be interpreted
22:52
as a final, posthumous exertion of that control.
22:55
Speaker 1: Meaning he gets to dictate how and when she.
22:58
Speaker 2: Is found exactly that even in death, he maintains ownership
23:02
of her narrative. He's still pulling the strings, that is
23:05
just Alternatively, some forensic psychologists suggest that perpetrators experience an
23:10
overwhelming psychological burden from the secret, leading to subconscious self sabotage.
23:16
Speaker 1: So the map is a manifestation of the mind's inability
23:19
to fully contain the magnitude of the transgression.
23:21
Speaker 2: Right, the secret is literally too heavy to carry, so
23:24
they write it down.
23:25
Speaker 1: Regardless of the psychology behind it. The emotional toll this
23:28
discovery takes on the Gabe family is incomprehensible. Truly, how
23:32
does a family process this specific type of resolution. It
23:36
is the physical answer they spent ten months begging for,
23:39
but it confirms the absolute worst case scenario.
23:41
Speaker 2: The family is forced to navigate a brutal psychological transition
23:45
from what we call ambiguous loss to confirmed trauma.
23:48
Speaker 1: Ambiguous loss.
23:49
Speaker 2: Yes, ambiguous loss when a loved one is missing is
23:52
considered one of the most destructive psychological.
23:55
Speaker 1: States, because you just don't know right.
23:57
Speaker 2: The human brain is incapable of process and grief without
24:00
definitive finality. The mind oscillates endlessly between microscopic hope and
24:06
unyielding terror.
24:07
Speaker 1: You hear a car door slam and think maybe it's them.
24:09
Speaker 2: Exactly every single day. But the discovery extinguishes that hope.
24:14
Speaker 1: It extinguishes it completely.
24:15
Speaker 2: Replacing it with the acute shock of confirmed trauma. Furthermore,
24:20
the condition of the discovery partial remains recovered over several months,
24:24
it denies the family the fundamental, culturally vital process of
24:28
providing a complete and proper.
24:31
Speaker 1: Burial, So the grieving process is permanently complicated by the
24:34
trauma of the physical reality.
24:36
Speaker 2: It's an agonizing position to be in.
24:38
Speaker 1: But the Gabe family's pursuit of accountability did not end
24:41
with the discovery of the remains or the death of
24:43
Marshall Jones.
24:44
Speaker 2: No, they didn't stop fighting.
24:45
Speaker 1: They pivoted their focus because they harbored deep suspicions that
24:49
Jones did not orchestrate the aftermath of the murder in isolation.
24:52
Speaker 2: They believe he had help.
24:53
Speaker 1: They turned their scrutiny directly toward Jones's mother, Alicia Coleman.
24:57
Speaker 2: Clark, and the foundation of their suspicion was rooted in
25:01
the digital evidence gathered very early in the investigation.
25:04
Speaker 1: Right, they pointed to that specific surveillance video, the footage
25:07
of Marshall Jones unloading large, heavy trash bags at her
25:11
Antioch house just days after Alexis disappeared.
25:14
Speaker 2: And they also suspected she may have provided logistical or
25:17
financial assistance during his flight to Washington State.
25:20
Speaker 1: And the Gate family did not just sit on these
25:22
suspicions right, They mobilized again.
25:24
Speaker 2: They did. They partnered with Dark hash Men, a former prosecutor,
25:28
and an advocacy organization called Get Vocal for Victims.
25:32
Speaker 1: They compiled their arguments and formally presented their case to
25:35
the contracost To District Attorney's office in late twenty twenty four.
25:39
Speaker 2: They were actively attempting to force the legal system to
25:42
acknowledge secondary culpability.
25:44
Speaker 1: But then in January of twenty twenty five, District Attorney
25:48
Diana Beckton delivered an announcement that devastated the family all
25:51
over again.
25:52
Speaker 2: She stated that there was insufficient evidence to legally charge
25:55
Alicia Coleman Clark as an accessory after the fact, which.
25:58
Speaker 1: Falls under Penal Code Section thirty two in California.
26:01
Speaker 2: Correct and the District Attorney's office provided a detailed rationale
26:05
for this declination.
26:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, they stated that investigators had basically exhausted the forensics.
26:10
They swabbed clothing for gunshot residue, they reinterviewed all relevant witnesses,
26:16
and they scrutinized flight in financial records.
26:18
Speaker 2: They did a thorough review, but the DA.
26:20
Speaker 1: Concluded that because plausible alternative explanations existed for the evidence
26:25
they possessed, they could not meet the burden of proof
26:28
required to secure a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.
26:31
Speaker 2: And compounding that frustration, the statute of limitations for the
26:36
accessory charge had officially expired.
26:38
Speaker 1: Anyway, the family publicly expressed that they were extremely disappointed
26:42
and very mad, stating unequivocally that the justice system had failed.
26:47
Speaker 2: Alexis, which is an entirely understandable reaction.
26:50
Speaker 1: Okay, I have to step in here and challenge this
26:52
logic for a second, because I know you listening are
26:54
likely experiencing the same intense frustration.
26:57
Speaker 2: I am, it's a tough pill to swallow.
26:58
Speaker 1: We have physical survey Aalen's video of a murder suspect
27:02
unloading heavy trash bags at his mother's house immediately following
27:06
a disappearance. To the average citizen, that looks like blatant,
27:10
undeniable involvement.
27:11
Speaker 2: Looks very suspicious.
27:12
Speaker 1: Yes, so in the DA site's reasonable doubt. I imagine
27:17
it's like a structural stress test for a bridge. If
27:20
the defense attorney can point out even one tiny microscopic crack,
27:25
like suggesting the mother thought that bags contain dirty laundry,
27:28
does the entire legal bridge just collapse? Is that really
27:31
why they refuse to breast charges?
27:33
Speaker 2: Your analogy of the structural stressed est is highly accurate.
27:36
Speaker 1: Actually, it's so maddening.
27:38
Speaker 2: This situation highlights the vast, often agonizing chasm between what
27:42
we instinctively suspect and what the state can legally prove
27:45
in a courtroom. We have to analyze the specific mechanics
27:48
of Penal Code Section thirty two.
27:50
Speaker 1: Okay, break down the actual legal requirement for me, why
27:53
isn't the video.
27:54
Speaker 2: Enough to convict someone as an accessory after the fact.
27:57
The prosecution must prove two distinct elements beyond a reasonable doubt,
28:01
First the actus reus, which is the physical act of helping,
28:05
and second the men's raya, which is the state.
28:07
Speaker 1: Of mind ah the state of mind.
28:09
Speaker 2: Yes, the state must prove that a felony was committed,
28:13
that the accused provided aid, and this is the critical hurdle,
28:16
that the accused knew the perpetrator committed the felony and
28:19
specifically intended to help them avoid arrest.
28:22
Speaker 1: So the video of the bags only proves the physical
28:25
act the actus rays.
28:26
Speaker 2: Precisely, the video shows Marshall Jones moving bags, It does
28:31
not definitively reveal the contents of those bags, and more importantly,
28:35
it does not provide an X ray into his mother's mind.
28:38
It does not prove that she knew a murder had
28:40
taken place, or that she knew it was in the bags,
28:43
or that her specific intent was to conceal a homicide.
28:45
Speaker 1: And that's where the plausible alternative explanation paralyzes the prosecution.
28:50
Speaker 2: Exactly in a criminal trial, the defense only has to
28:54
introduce a single plausible alternative to create reasonable doubt. Could
28:58
a defense attorney argue that a son so brought over
29:00
yard waste or items from a garage clean out, and
29:03
the mother was entirely oblivious to his violent actions. I mean,
29:07
I guess legally, yes, that is a highly plausible defense.
29:12
The standard of beyond a reasonable doubt is deeply rooted
29:15
in English common law. It's designed with the specific philosophy
29:19
that it is better for ten guilty persons to escape
29:22
than for one innocent person to suffer.
29:25
Speaker 1: Wow.
29:25
Speaker 2: So District Attorney Beckton had to make a cold, strictly
29:29
legal calculation. If she cannot definitively disprove the laundry defense,
29:34
the jury is legally obligated to acquit.
29:37
Speaker 1: It is the rigid, unfeeling mechanics of the law running
29:40
headfirst into the raw, justified emotion of a grieving family.
29:43
Speaker 2: It really is.
29:44
Speaker 1: The system requires evidence of a mental state that is
29:47
virtually impossible to prove without a direct confession or like
29:50
an intercepted text message saying help me hide this.
29:53
Speaker 2: And the fact that she allowed him to unload bags
29:55
while the sister in vacaville immediately kicked him out is
29:57
highly suspicious. Very suspicious misition, regardless of how intense it is,
30:02
does not fulfill the statutory requirements of a felony conviction.
30:05
Speaker 1: So the legal avenues are exhausted. The primary suspect is dead,
30:09
meaning no murder trial. The DA declines the accessory charges,
30:13
the statute of limitations expires.
30:15
Speaker 2: It's a wall.
30:16
Speaker 1: For many families, Hitting that impenetrable wall of legal bureaucracy
30:20
would break them completely. They would just retreat into their.
30:23
Speaker 2: Grief, which would be totally normal.
30:25
Speaker 1: But the response from Rowena and Gwyn Gabe is nothing
30:28
short of extraordinary. They took that profound anger and lack
30:31
of systemic resolution and engineered it into tangible public action.
30:36
Speaker 2: The Gabe family provides a textbook example of the mechanics
30:39
of victim advocacy, and it really shows how private grief
30:42
is often the necessary engine for public policy shifts.
30:45
Speaker 1: They refuse to let the silence win. They established annual
30:49
memorials to ensure her name stayed in the press.
30:51
Speaker 2: They organized Kindness Day events in their community.
30:54
Speaker 1: They even constructed a permanent, beautiful memorial inside their home.
30:58
They have actively parted, disipated in documentaries and given extensive interviews,
31:03
aggressively pushing for systemic changes and how law enforcement handles
31:07
missing persons cases from day one.
31:09
Speaker 2: And the psychological function of this advocacy is twofold.
31:12
Speaker 1: How so it.
31:13
Speaker 2: Applies external pressure on the justice system, yes, but internally
31:17
it facilitates post traumatic growth.
31:20
Speaker 1: Post traumatic growth. I like that.
31:22
Speaker 2: By transforming their daughter's tragedy into a catalyst for community action,
31:26
they reclaim a measure of the control that was stolen
31:29
from them by the perpetrator.
31:31
Speaker 1: And you see the effectiveness of that at the twenty
31:33
twenty five vigil marking the three year anniversary of her disappearance.
31:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, three years later and the community of Oakley is
31:40
still turning out in force.
31:42
Speaker 1: It's amazing. During that vigil, Gwynn Gabe addressed the crowd,
31:46
and he didn't just eulogize his daughter. He spoke about
31:49
the mechanics of supporting other families navigating this exact nightmare.
31:54
Speaker 2: He spoke about openly challenging DA decisions and refusing to
31:58
let the legal system operate in a vacuum of accountability.
32:01
Speaker 1: He looked at his community and said, we need you now.
32:05
Think about the profound alchemy of that statement. They took
32:08
a story defined by toxic obsession and gruesome violence, and
32:11
they transmuted it into a rallying cry for community vigilance.
32:15
Speaker 2: It is highly effective advocacy. The reality is that the
32:18
Gabe family was denied the traditional hallmarks of legal justice.
32:21
Speaker 1: No trial, no convictions.
32:23
Speaker 2: But their unyielding, vocal presence fundamentally alters the landscape. By
32:28
refusing to fade away, they ensure that regional law enforcement,
32:31
the district attorney's office, and the public are forced to
32:35
evaluate intimate partner violence with a higher degree of urgency.
32:38
Speaker 1: They raise the political and social stakes for how these
32:41
investigations will be handled moving forward, and.
32:43
Speaker 2: That becomes the enduring legacy of Alexis Gabe.
32:45
Speaker 1: It does because of her family's relentless work. She is
32:49
not simply remembered as a data point in a crime statistic.
32:53
She is remembered as the bright, carrying, vibrant twenty four
32:57
year old she was.
32:58
Speaker 2: Her story is now a permanent, glaring warning light for
33:01
the signs of possessive behavior, a mandate for vigilance.
33:05
Speaker 1: She represents both the catastrophic reality of escalation and toxic
33:09
relationships and the unshakable power of familial resilience. Well said,
33:13
so as we pull all these threads together, what does
33:15
this ultimately mean? We have navigated a deeply complex and
33:19
harrowing narrative.
33:20
Speaker 2: Today we covered a lot of ground.
33:22
Speaker 1: We started in the quiet, supportive community of Oakley, introduced
33:26
to a young woman full of potential. We examined the
33:29
dark psychological architecture of an obsessed ex partner, observing how
33:33
the violent severing of a perceived tether leads to unimaginable escalation.
33:38
Speaker 2: We tracked the intricate, invisible web of digital data, from
33:42
cell tower handshakes to surveillance footage.
33:45
Speaker 1: Data that ultimately cornered a killer who thought he could
33:47
outsmart modern forensics. We confronted the rigid, deeply frustrating stress
33:53
tests of a legal system that demands absolute proof of
33:56
a suspects state of mind, leaving a family without complete
34:00
legal closure.
34:01
Speaker 2: And finally, we witnessed how a family can engineer their
34:04
darkest moment into a legacy of advocacy and compassion.
34:07
Speaker 1: It is a comprehensive anatomy of a modern tragedy, exposing
34:11
the intersections of human psychology, digital surveillance, and the boundaries
34:15
of the law.
34:15
Speaker 2: But as we conclude our analysis today, I want to
34:18
leave you with a final thought to mull Over, specifically
34:20
regarding that intersection of technology and legal thresholds.
34:23
Speaker 1: Okay, let's hear it.
34:24
Speaker 2: We have discussed the intense frustration that arises when the
34:27
standard of beyond a reasonable doubt prevents a family from
34:31
securing accessory charges right.
34:33
Speaker 1: Because of those plausible alternative explanations.
34:36
Speaker 2: Exactly, But consider the trajectory of our digital web. As
34:40
we continue to leave ever increasing hyper specific digital footprints,
34:45
from precise GPS coordinates to the biometric heart rate data
34:49
logged on our smart watches, to the automated license plate
34:52
readers on every corner.
34:54
Speaker 1: It's only getting more intense.
34:55
Speaker 2: Will the legal definition of reasonable doubt inevitably be forced
34:58
to evolve in a future where our physical movements, our purchases,
35:02
and our communications are flawlessly tracked by a dozen intercepting databases.
35:07
At what point does circumstantial digital evidence transition into absolute proof?
35:12
Speaker 1: Oh? Wow?
35:12
Speaker 2: And as a society, are we truly prepare for a
35:15
justice system that relies entirely on the silent data we
35:18
generate to definitively decide our guilt or innocence.
35:21
Speaker 1: That is a staggering concept, and given the speed of
35:23
technological integration, it is a reality we are going to
35:26
have to confront very very soon. It's coming. Thank you
35:29
so much for joining us on this deep dive. It
35:32
was a heavy journey, but an absolutely necessary one to understand.
35:35
Please remember Alexis's story, pay attention to the subtle mechanics
35:39
of control and possessive behavior in the relationships around you,
35:42
and check it on the people you love. Stay curious,
35:44
stay vigilant, and we'll catch you next time.