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A Psychic Predicted Missing Teen's Murder Nearly a Decade Before His Remains Were Found · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you've brought us a case, and it's a
• 0:03
  real head scratcher. I mean, we're talking a decade long disappearance.
• 0:07
  We've got psychic predictions swirling around, and then there's this
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  friendship right in the middle of it all that went very,
• 0:14
  very wrong. So basically we're diving into the story of
• 0:17
  Chris Dagel vanished just like that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's one of those stories that really gets
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  to you because it shows how quickly things can go
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  from ordinary to well, a complete mystery. You've got two
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  best friends, grew up together, did everything together, and then poof,
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  one of them disappears.
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  Speaker 1: Like seriously, it's like something you'd hear on a true
• 0:35
  crime podcast. You know. Chris Dagele and Ricky Mendoza, these
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  guys were practically joined at the hip back in Missouri City, Texas,
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  right like two peas in a pod exactly, little league
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  high school baseball stars, you name it. They were side
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  by side. But then November seventh, two thousand and two
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  comes along and Chris just vanishes, gone.
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  Speaker 2: And naturally everyone's looking at the last person who saw Chris,
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  Ricky mendo of.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Course, So what's the story. What happened?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the police show up at Ricky's door wanting answers,
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  and Ricky says he dropped Chris off at the mall
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  that afternoon. No big gilt, right, except that's the last
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  anyone ever sees of Chris.
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  Speaker 1: It's dead end from the get go, pretty much.
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  Speaker 2: Pretty much. Tips came in, they followed every lead, but
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  nothing panned out. It was like Chris had just disappeared
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  off the face of the earth.
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  Speaker 1: And this goes on for years, right, right, I mean
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  years with no sign up.
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  Speaker 2: Years. And you have to remember Chris had a history
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  of you know, disappearing for a few days here and there.
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  Sometimes he dabble in drugs. His grandmother even confirmed that much.
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  So naturally everyone's thinking, maybe this is just Chris doing
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  his thing, laying low.
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  Speaker 1: For a while, right, because of his past. It's like
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  a pattern repeating itself. Yeah, so the investigators, they're thinking,
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  maybe he's just gone off the grid, chosen to disappear exactly.
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  Speaker 2: And that's the thing about these cases. The past has
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  a way of clouding the present. Investigators have to consider
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  every angle, even if it means looking back at old habits.
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  Speaker 1: So it's like trying to solve a puzzle, But so
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  some of the pieces just keep leading you in circles.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly, You've got a missing person, a best friend, with
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  a story that might be full of holes and years
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  of unanswered questions. It's enough to drive anyone crazy.
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  Speaker 1: So where do you even begin to unravel something like that?
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  Where do you even start?
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's where things take a turn. See, with the
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  official investigation going nowhere, Chris's family, driven by his mother's love,
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  of course, they decide to try something different. They consult
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  a psychic.
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  Speaker 1: A psychic. Wow, okay, you know you have to admit,
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  in these situations, it's kind of hard not to think
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  about the what ifs, Like what if there's something more
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  to it than meets the eye? Right?
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  Speaker 2: It makes you think about all those stories. But you know,
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  more than anything, it shows how much we crave answers,
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  especially when we feel like we've hit a wall.
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  Speaker 1: For sure, So let's talk about the psychic. What did
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  she say? Did she give any specific details about Chris's disappearance?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? She did, and this is where it gets really interesting.
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  It wasn't just some vague feeling she had, you know,
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  this psychic she lays it out clear as day. She
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  says there were three boys, they were wearing hats, they
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  were on a dirt road surrounded by trees, and then
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  she claims an argument broke out and Chris was shot
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  in the back of the head with shotgun hold on.
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  Speaker 1: That's like incredibly specific. It's almost like she was there
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  or something. Did any of it turn out to be true?
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's the million dollar question, isn't it. On the
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  one hand, we have to remember that there's no real
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  scientific evidence to back up these psychic predictions, right.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not exactly something you can take to court exactly.
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  Speaker 2: But then again, you've got a family desperate for answers,
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  clinging to any shred of hope, and these predictions they
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  offered a glimmer of that, regardless of whether they were
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  true or not.
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  Speaker 1: So it's like a double edged sword almost. I mean,
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  on the one hand, it might be giving false hope,
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  but on the other end, any kind of hope is
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  better than none when you're in that situation.
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  Speaker 2: Right, absolutely, Especially for Chris's mom, Tracy. Imagine being in
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  her shoes, clinging onto every word, hoping against hope that maybe,
• 4:00
  just maybe this psychic could lead her to her son.
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  Speaker 1: It's like a lifeline, even if it's a long shot.
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  So what happened next? How did Tracy respond to all
• 4:09
  of this?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Tracy, bless her heart, she took those predictions and
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  turned them into fuel. She got a job, but not
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  just any job. She started working at a bar, a bar.
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  Speaker 1: What good would that do?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it was a local spot, the kind of place
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  Chris and his friends used to hang out at.
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  Speaker 1: Ah, So she's going undercover in a way, hoping to
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  catch wind of anything that might.
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  Speaker 2: Lead her to Chris exactly. And it really goes to
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  show the lengths she was willing to go to for
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  her son. Remember this is seven years after his disappearance
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  and she's still searching, still hoping.
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  Speaker 1: So Tracy's working at this bar hoping to catch a
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  break in the case. Did anything ever come from it?
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  It seems kind of far fetched.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you never know what little thing might break a
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  case open. So get this, seven years after Chris vanishes,
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  a guy named Tyler Hall walks into that very same
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  bar where Tracy's working.
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  Speaker 1: Seven years, that's a long time to hold on to hope.
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  What happened does this Tyler guy? Did he know something?
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  Speaker 2: Turns out, Tyler he knew Ricky, and not just Ricky.
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  He also knew Ricky's girlfriend at the time, a woman
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  named Megan Venable.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so what's the connection. How do they tie into everything?
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  Speaker 2: Well, according to Tyler, Meghan had told him that Ricky
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  had this well intense jealousy towards Chris. Apparently it was
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  mostly about Meghan.
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  Speaker 1: Actually, wait, so there's a love triangle going on here.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's getting complicated, right, but it gets worse.
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  Speaker 1: See.
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  Speaker 2: Tyler also claimed that Meghan said Ricky had bragged about
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  killing Chris.
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  Speaker 1: He bragged about it to his girlfriend.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, to his girlfriend, of course. At the time, Tyler
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  just thought Ricky was talking big, you know, drunk and
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  trying to sound tough.
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  Speaker 1: Like you do when you've had a few two many exactly.
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  Speaker 2: But now, years later, with Chris still missing, those words
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  take on a whole new meaning.
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  Speaker 1: It's chilling when you think about it. So did the
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  police Did they ever look into Tyler's story?
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  Speaker 2: They did, But think about it, it's just hearsay, right,
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  a story passed from one person to another. They brought
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  Ricky in questioned him, but he stuck to his stories
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  that he didn't do it, and without any hard evidence,
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  they couldn't hold him.
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  Speaker 1: Man, it's just heartbreaking for Chris's family, so close to
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  the truth but still so far away.
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  Speaker 2: It really is. But sometimes the truth has a funny
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  way of coming out, no matter how hard people try
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  to hide it. And in this case, it took another year,
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  but someone finally broke the silence.
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  Speaker 1: Really, who was it?
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  Speaker 2: It was Chris's half brother, Travis Resnachek. He ran into
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  a guy named Jose Lopez.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, and what did Jose know? Was he involved somehow?
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  Speaker 2: Well? Jose claimed that he'd heard Ricky confess too. Apparently
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  Ricky had just come right out and said it, bragged
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  about it in front of Jose.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. So this isn't just a one time slip upright.
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  It seems like Ricky couldn't keep his mouth shit right.
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  Speaker 2: It makes you wonder why would he do that? Was
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  he feeling guilty or was it something else? We may
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  never know for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the human mind is a strange thing. So the
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  police they have these two guys saying Ricky confess, What
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  do they do next?
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  Speaker 2: Well, now they had enough to really start putting the
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  pressure on the people who were with Ricky the night
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  Chris disappeared. They focused on Ricky's cousin, Daniel Rodriguez, and
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  a friend of his, Joshua Frets.
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  Speaker 1: These were teenagers at the time, right, Yeah, they must
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  have been terrified.
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  Speaker 2: You can imagine young guys caught up in something like
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  that with someone older, someone they probably looked up to,
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  telling them to keep quiet. It's a recipe for disaster.
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  Speaker 1: So what happened did they finally talk?
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  Speaker 2: It was Joshua Fretz who cracked. He told the police
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  that Ricky had Lord Chris, Daniel and himself out to
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  this field. Said they were going mushroom hunting.
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  Speaker 1: Sounds innocent enough. What happened out there?
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  Speaker 2: Well, according to Frets, Ricky just out of nowhere pulled
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  out a shotgun and shot Chris in the back of
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  the head, just like that, killed him instantly.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's awful.
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  Speaker 2: And to make matters worse, Ricky threatened both Frets and
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  Rodriguez swore them to secrecy.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, it's no wonder they kept quiet for so long.
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  Speaker 2: They were just kids, and that's the tragedy of it all.
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  Because of their fear, Ricky was able to get away
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  with murder for almost a decade. But Fretz he agreed
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  to lead the police to where they'd buried Chris.
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  Speaker 1: So, after all those years, Chris's family finally got some answers.
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  Speaker 2: They did, but it's a bittersweet victory, isn't it. It
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  makes you wonder about the nature of jealousy, the power
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  of rage, how quickly things can spiral out of control,
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  and it also shows how the truth sometimes has a
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  way of working its way out, even after all those years.
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  Speaker 1: It's a story that stays with you, it.
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  Speaker 2: Does, and you know, it makes you think, how well
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  do we really know to people around us? What secrets
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  are they hiding.
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  Speaker 1: It's a chilling thought and that's a wrap under another
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  Deep die folks. Until next time, Remember sometimes the truth
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  is stranger than fiction.