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Hello, folks, I'm very,
very excited today to share with you a

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preview to our new show called Sword
and Scale Nightmares. We've been working on

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this show behind the scenes since last
year, and we think you're really going

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to like it. One of the
wonderful things about Sword and Scale that really

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set us apart early on was the
use of audio clips such as interrogation audio

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and trial testimony, which adds a
level of immersion to the story that feels

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like you're watching a well produced TV
documentary. But not every story lends itself

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well to this format, and sometimes
the clips simply don't exist. Not to

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mention, we've heard directly from you
over the years. We've heard what you

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like and what you don't like,
and that you all don't like the same

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things necessarily, So we've gone back
to the drawing board and reimagined how to

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tell these stories in a refreshing new
way for this new series. That means

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no clips, no jump scares,
no loud techno music, and no unsolicited,

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unnecessary opinions from that over opinionated narrator
What an ass that guy is.

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The result is what we're calling true
crime for bedtime, i e. Bedtime

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Stories. For adults. Now,
we've tried something like this before. You

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might remember Monstro, but let's face
it, the feeling, the vibe wasn't

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quite right. But I think we've
finally nailed it though. And if you

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like Sword and Scale, you'll most
likely enjoy Sword and Scale Nightmares. You

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might even like it more. By
the same token, if you don't like

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Sword and Scale for all the reasons
I just stated, then maybe you'll still

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enjoy then you show. Now,
in order for this show to be a

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success, we need your help,
so I'm going to ask you for a

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favor. If you're listening to this
right now, please take a moment and

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head on over to Apple Podcasts,
Spotify, or your preferred podcast listening platform

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and subscribe to Sword and Scale Nightmares
right now. It really is going to

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make a world of difference if you
do. And just so you know,

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Nightmares will eventually be part of Sword
and Scale Plus, but for now,

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we're only going to be releasing it
as a freely distributed podcast on all major

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podcast platforms. The response we get
will allow us to see if you guys

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like it or not and whether it's
worth continuing. So thank you in advance

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and without further ado. Here's a
preview to Sword and Scale Nightmares Sweet Dreams.

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Saint John's, Arizona is a tiny
little town in Apache County with just

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over three thousand residents. It's a
little blip on the map north of the

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Apache National Forest. The town's motto
is the Town of Friendly Neighbors and quite

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literally, everyone knows everyone. On
November fifth, two thousand and eight,

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Debbie Nickel was celebrating she'd just been
promoted to detective at the Saint John's Police

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Department the day prior. This was
her second year in the department, which

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in the line of police work,
is not very long at all. Given

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that her new title was so fresh, Debbie was understandably nervous about the responsibilities

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it entailed. Before her promotion,
Debbie worked as a school resource officer,

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so the types of situations she dealt
with involved scuffles between kids. Now her

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job would be to respond to real
crime scenes. She knew she had entered

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the big leagues, and she was
about to get a taste of how gruesome

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reality can get. On this particular
Wednesday, a little after five pm,

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someone called the police department to report
hearing shots fired and then seeing something strange

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on someone's front porch. It looked
like a dead body. Now, this

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was only a few days after Halloween, so Debbie and her partner, Sergeant

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Lucas Rodriguez, weren't totally convinced this
call would even amount to anything. But

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they strapped up their bulletproof vests and
jumped in their cruiser, Debbie in the

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passenger seat and Sergeant Rodriguez driving.
So as they're driving, their lights flashing

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through the streets of this quiet town, Debbie's looking out the window waiting for

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the house to emerge. She's a
little nervous, but you know, how

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bad could it be. This was
probably just a leftover scarecrow that had gotten

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blown over by the harsh winds that
they'd had over the last few days.

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Nothing to worry about. On the
corner of fifteenth Place West and seventh North,

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they see the house. It's a
blue, two story single family home

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sitting close to the street. It's
got a little front yard and a truck

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parked partially up onto a small gravel
driveway. As the police cruiser pulls closer,

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Debbie sees what the caller was referring
to. Even from that distance,

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she could tell This was not a
piece of decor. This looks real.

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She squints her eyes and realizes that
the lump on the porch is in fact,

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a dark complexed male wearing a heavy
Carhart jacket, lying face down.

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They see someone else, too,
a frightened little boy standing outside the home,

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waiting for law enforcement to arrive and
help him. Debbie quickly realizes that

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she recognizes this child living in the
neighborhood herself. She knew him as the

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happy child who jumped on the trampoline
with his cousins and always yelled have a

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good day, missus Nicholl when she
left for work. This kid was Vincent

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Romero's son. He's standing alongside an
adult man and a teenage boy. They

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seem to be hovering over him in
kind of a protective way. Debbie looks

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at Rodriguez as they're sitting on the
street in front of the house. They're

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both wide eyed because they're realizing this
might not be such an easy call after

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all. Rodriguez opens his door first, telling Debbie to stay behind while he

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sesses the victim and scopes the area. Debbie stays in the passenger seat,

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looking out the window. She's getting
progressively more and more nervous. Now her

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partner is in this house with a
real dead body on the front porch,

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and now she's thinking about what else
might be inside. For all they knew,

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the murderer could still be hiding in
the closet. Pretty soon after that,

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Debbie hears shouts coming from the house. She opens her door and starts

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towards the porch, noticing blood droplets
on the sidewalk. As she makes her

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way forward, Rodriguez pushes the screen
door from the front of the house,

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opening it from the inside, being
careful to avoid this dead man lying on

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the door's path. Debbie sees her
partner's face and knows it's bad. Rodriguez

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yells out to her, informing her
of another dead body on the stairway to

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the second floor. Both men had
been shot to death with a twenty two

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caliber weapon, one of which was
a familiar neighbor, Vincent Romero, the

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little boy's father. Both bodies were
still warm. While Rodriguez secured the area,

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Debbie went around the neighborhood asking if
anyone had seen or heard anything.

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At this point, more officers were
arriving on scene, so they split up

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across the neighborhood and started knocking on
doors. The people who lived in the

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house right across the street confirmed that
they heard several shots right around five pm.

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Throughout this long night of witness interviews, police summarized that the two men

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were twenty nine year old Vincent Romero
and his friend, thirty nine year old

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Timothy Romans. They also learned that
Vincent and tim were not only friends,

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but co workers and part time roommates. The two worked for SRP or Salt

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River Project, a power company in
Arizona. Vincent and his wife owned the

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house and allowed Timothy to rent a
room so that he could be closer to

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work during the week. The little
boy who was found standing in the front

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yard when Debbie and her partner arrived
on was eight year old Christian Romero.

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He had run to a neighbor for
help and they called nine one one and

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stayed to wait with them. So
Debbie is just shocked that such a crazy

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tragedy could strike her tiny little neighborhood. She feels bad for this poor child,

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this kid who's just lost his father, so she has to find out

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if he saw or heard anything.
She sits down next to the kid and

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says, okay, just tell us
from the beginning. Christian starts to explain

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that his step mom isn't home on
Mondays and Wednesdays. She works until five,

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and so he got off the school
bus and walked around the neighborhood for

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a while waiting for her to get
home. When five o'clock came and went,

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he figured he'd make his way back
to the house. He says that

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as he approached, he saw a
truck parked out front and started to call

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out, Tim, are you home. Then Christian tells them about the car

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that went past him as he approached
the home. He says it seemed it

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could have been leaving his family's house. He describes the car. It's a

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white car with no hubcaps on the
back. So the police are like,

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we got to send out a bolo
immediately, meaning be on the lookout for

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this vehicle. Christian goes on to
tell them that when he got to the

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front porch, he saw Tim lying
face down. There was a lot of

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blood and even bits of brain.
The little boy continues, explaining that once

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he saw Tim's body, he started
to yell for his father, Vincent,

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but got no response. He says
he carefully opened the front door and went

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inside, still calling for his dad, and then he saw him lying motionless

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on the stairway. At this point, Debbie's thinking, Holy Moley, Thank

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goodness, this child didn't get home
just a few hours earlier. He could

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have been killed two. Debbie knew
they'd have to get Christian in for a

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forensic interview in the morning. First, they'd have to deal with Tanya Romans,

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Tim's wife. Tanya lived far enough
from the power plant that it made

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more sense for Tim to stay with
his friend during the week. Tanya,

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though far away from the crime scene, had some information about the previous day

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that Debbi hoped would shed light on
why two people had suddenly been murdered.

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Please head on over to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform

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and subscribe. Sword in Scale Nightmares
will launch its first three episodes on March

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second, at three twenty three Eastern
daylight savings. Thank you, and goodnight.