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Hey everyone, I recently wrapped my
other show, Unsafe Spaces. It's an

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investigative serialized true crime podcast that looks
into Stephen Lorenzo and Scott Schweikert, two

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gay men who were targeting and murdering
other gay men in the Tampa Bay area

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of Florida. Season one is complete
and bingeable now, So while you're waiting

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for the next season of true crime
bullshit coming next month, I'll be sharing

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the first four episodes of Unsafe Spaces
with you here. Listen and then head

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on over to Unsafe Spaces and Apple
Podcasts or wherever you're listening now and binge

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the rest of the season. This
is a studio both and production. Scott

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Paul Schweikert was born in Peru,
Illinois, on August tenth of nineteen sixty

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five. The Schweikerts were a prominent
and well connected family in the area,

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with thirteen children. According to the
Tampa Bay Times, Scott was a quiet

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and polite boy who attended the local
Catholic church and graduated high school with a

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three point sixty four GPA. He
went on to earn two bachelor's degrees from

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Illinois State University. His family and
community had high hopes for him. Of

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course, by now we all know
what happened during Scott's time at ISU,

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an assault and attempted rape on a
fellow student, for which Scott merely served

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six months in jail. Halfway through
that jail time, his parents wrote to

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the judge requesting that Scott be let
out early so he could attend their fiftieth

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anniversary. Make of that what you
will. Five and a half years later,

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after bouncing around from courthouse to courthouse
and state to state, Scott met

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Steven Lorenzo and in short order found
himself in Orlando, Florida in October of

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twenty three. Where are you living, how long had you lived in and

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what was the purpose for your moving
to Moran and were you in the process

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of taking that course in personal training
in October of two thousand and three?

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Are you familiar with an online application
call of America Online and were you familiar

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with America Online in October of two
thousand and three prior to two thousand and

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three? Had you utilize America Online
to conduct instant missing chats with individuals?

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Did you have a stream name?
What was your streaming an st R Scoff

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prior to October of two thousand and
three. Did you know the defendant Stevie

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Lorenzo. Do you recall how you
were acquainted with or how you were introduced

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to Stephen Lorenzo? Tell us about
the place I was telling from the name

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in spend part stream stuff and he
had a contract a Nazi prior to my

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making contact to expand and he noticed
that I was d uh a superanda was

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in Tampa and you got wet sails
and we be able to make donomic.

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All right, do you use the
termine? I want to get clarified here.

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You used used another dominant? Explain
to us what you mean by it

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the dominant? Uh? You got
government, you have the business subvisions,

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submissions are looking to submit it to
somebody, to have somebody dominated as the

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dominant. You want to dominate,
So you and the game community were consider

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yourself as a dominant. Yes,
and then an expander was aware that you

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were a domin Uh. Obviously limited
Extander decided that it was an It maybe

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good for you to meet Stephen Lorenzo. Did you did you come to learn

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based upon your communications with Stephen Lorenzo
or Limit Expanders why it was that the

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limited expander decided that it was it
was important for you to meet Stephen Lorenzo.

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Well, he said that we had
similar interest. You've been talking with

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n I guess for a while and
then for sure at home, and we

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had doctor a couple of times and
we discussed all we got into it,

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and you thought that we were in
aliz Okay. So then tell us about

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what you were into and specifically what
you were into that limited extander thought that

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Stephen Lorenzo was into, so that
you could be all right, won't expand

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upon that a little bit later as
a result of that the suggestion of women

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expander, did you then have communications
in any form with the person you later

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learned to be Stephen Moreno? Tell
us about the communications. Tell us about

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how you got booked up with Stephen
Morenza. We had finally a guy again

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poll on Crest message check through or
two maybe three weeks before we actually met

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face to face, talking about our
scenery as what we would like to do

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to a sedizit h A. Colm
m. The first available AOL chat between

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Scott Schweikert and Stephen Lorenzo is from
October fifteenth, two thousand three, less

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than two and a half months before
Jason Galehouse and Michael Walcholtz went missing twenty

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three hours apart in Tampa, Florida, and if this is in fact their

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first ever online chat, it begs
the question of how they were introduced,

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under what context, and whether there
was any other prior contact. Because the

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two men are immediately comfortable discussing,
raping and disappearing victims. We don't have

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access to their chats and their entirety, but we do have snippets as made

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available in court documents. The first
chat opens with Scott asking Lorenzo which gay

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clubs he frequents in Tampa. One
exchange goes follows. Scott asks Lorenzo if

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he frequents the gay bar Chambers.
Lorenzo, I am a mile from Chambers,

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but don't go often since it's all
pretty much twinks. Scott, I

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know I am not into the stripper
and twink scene either. Lol. Does

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the twink know you are looking to
take him permanently? Lorenzo Metropolis, Yes,

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twenty six o six submit many guys
from there, sort of like full

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moon. Scott, that's cool now, whether taking a twink permanently refers to

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murdering them or kidnapping them into sex
slavery is unclear, but in either case,

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Scott is bringing up either murdering or
kidnapping someone in what is allegedly their

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very first conversation, and so you
have to ask just how much did their

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mutual friend Limit Expander know about both
of them. The conversation continues, wherein

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they discussed kidnapping a specific person,
someone who uses the screen name Johnny Torture.

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Scott, so, how do you
get him to submit to the bondage?

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Drug him? Kidnapping scenes are always
the best ever Take a straight boy,

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Lorenzo. Yes, yes, yes, all of the above, but

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no idea where they are no trace
to find me once released. They go

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on discussing the use of drugs to
make boys submit, making straight boys disappear,

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and how when straight boys do disappear, they are often considered runaways by

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both their families and law enforcement.
Scott tell them we are going to a

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party and invite them. Malan tell
them we need to stop off at one

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of our places, drug them there, and then that is it for them,

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Lorenzo, easy to make them vanish
with no link to us in the

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least six days later. On October
twenty first, Lorenzo and Schweikert discuss kidnapping

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a submissive to use as a sex
slave. Lorenzo, I knew of a

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couple of boys that were sold to
others and used in a few snuff type

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movies, so their fate was sealed
right after they were sold. They didn't

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know that, of course, until
it was happening to them. Scott,

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then, the fear is real and
death is unexpected. Just need to keep

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the fantasy ones and the ones that
will work in the real world clear in

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our minds. Lorenzo, Yes,
don't get greedy or sloppy, but be

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realistic. If a situation like it
is going to shit, back off and

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wait for another time. Around the
time of these first two chats is when

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Scott Schweiker abruptly and somewhat randomly moved
from his family home in Peru, Illinois,

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to Orlando, Florida, supposedly to
take a personal training course. Two

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weeks later, the pair discussed luring
a specific man from Atlanta to Tampa and

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then kidnapping him. And you'll remember
from the last episode that Stephen Lorenzo had

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a particular interest in missing gay men
from Georgia. Scott, he would not

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submit willingly. Lorenzo. Okay,
could set it when he is taken down

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to say something different Scott. But
he trusts me enough to go out and

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drink under the guise of hunting other
boys and to talk and learn. Lorenzo,

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I can get all we need to
drug him, Scott. Great.

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After that he is gone forever.
Get him good and drunk and drugged.

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Just need to be sure that he
has not told anyone where he is gone

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or that he will be visiting me. The pair then decided to meet in

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person, face to face for the
first time. They agreed to meet the

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next night, November tenth, at
twenty six o six, the club Jason

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Galehouse was last seen at, so
they could further discuss abducting a submissive.

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They then circle back to the man
from Atlanta. Scott, he won't suspect

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a thing, Lorenzo and set having
a vehicle to whisk him away. Scott,

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just tell him we are going to
another bar and that he can ride

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with us. Then when the drugs
kick in, he will pass out in

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the van. Then we just hit
the highway and he is gone. He

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will just think it's my play van. He won't think anything of it.

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Lorenzo. I do a chokehold behind
you, hold him down till he is

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out, and we strap him up
not to be found again. Scott perfect.

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Or if we have access to drugs, simply drug his drink and as

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soon as he finishes it, tell
him we are ready to move on to

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another bar. Lorenzo. Yep,
all and many ways, Scott. Then

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we have enough time to get him
to the van before the drugs kick in.

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Lorenzo and Schweikert continued planning the abduction
of the man from Atlanta for the

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following two weeks. In those subsequent
chats, they discuss drugging both him and

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another local boy at the same time, and then torturing them both together.

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They discuss using multiple cameras and camcorders
to film the torture and rape of book

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both men and Lorenzo discusses his experience
doing just that. Their last online discussion

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regarding the Atlanta man occurs on November
twenty eighth, and it's unclear if he

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was ever found by investigators or if
he ever met with foul play while in

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Tampa, and on December sixth,
the pair met at twenty six oh six

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to essentially scope out potential victims.
Five days later, they chat online regarding

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one such potential victim they encountered on
the sixth at twenty six oh six.

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Scott thought about coming over there again
and looking for that hustler kid again.

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Lorenzo then brings up a man whom
he and Schweikert previously brought back to Lorenzo's

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house. Lorenzo spoke to that guy
we had that morning. We'll fill you

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in, Scott, I bet he
went home and jacked off to what happened

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to him many times over. Tampa
Pede were able to track this man down,

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and his story painted a picture of
how truly dangerous Scott Schweiker and Stephen

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Lorenzo were as a pair. On
July nineteen of two thousand four, Tampa

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Pede met with the man the court
calls witness A, the man Lorenzo and

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Schwikert talked about in their December eleventh
AOL chat. Witness A was a closeted

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married man, and Tampa Pde first
approached him that morning at his place of

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employment in front of his employer.
They asked him about sexually explicit aol chats

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he had with Lorenzo in front of
his employer. Now, it's important to

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stress that in two thousand and four, it was legal for employers to fire

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their employees on the basis of being
gay. Witness A could have been outed

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by Tampa PD and subsequently fired by
his employer, which is disgusting on its

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own, and all the more disgusting
when you take into consideration that Tampa PD

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were pretty certain witness A was a
victim of Lorenzo and Schweikert somehow. Nineteen

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years later, it has only gotten
more challenging for gay people in the state

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of Florida, with a litany of
new anti LGBTQ legislation, including don't Say

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Gay laws enacted by Governor DeSantis.
There are even travel advisory warnings issued by

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the ACLU and the Human Rights Camp
to protect gay and trans people from devastating

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impacts of laws at are hostile to
the LGBTQ community, and so witness A

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denied participating in any such instant message
conversations until his boss eventually left the room

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briefly, at which point witness A
told Tampa pdee that he'd be willing to

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discuss the chats away from his place
of employment. At a later time.

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Six and a half hours later,
witness A met with the investigators at a

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fast food restaurant near twenty six oh
six. Witness A told investigators that he

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and his wife had been married for
more than fifteen years, that they had

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a young daughter together, and that
he wasn't comfortable talking in front of his

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employer because he was closeted and no
one in his life, including his wife

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and employer, knew that he was
gay. He admitted that he did,

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in fact chat with Stephen Lorenzo on
a O L instant messenger at least once,

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and possibly further. He said that
he wasn't exactly sure how many times

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because he was so traumatized by what
happened that he's tried to forget Lorenzo altogether.

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He said that on the morning of
December seventh, the morning after Lorenzo

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and Schweikert met at twenty six o
six to look for potential victims, he

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chatted with Lorenzo on line while his
wife and daughter were out of the house.

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He said that he was curious about
the dominant submissive subculture. He said

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that they chatted briefly and then he
agreed to meet Lorenzo and another man at

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a cash and carry store on the
corner of West Hillsborough and North Armenia,

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two and a half miles up North
Armenia from twenty six o six and just

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a mile and a half down West
Hillsborough from Lorenzo's house at two thirteen West

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Powaton Avenue. He reported that Lorenzo
and the second man arrived in a small

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red car, and that Lorenzo rode
with Witness Ay from the cash and carry

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back to Lorenzo's house on West Powaton. Upon entering the house through a rear

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door concealed from the street, both
Lorenzo and the second man immediately attacked witness

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Ay. They forced him to the
floor, blindfolded him, and tied his

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hands behind his back. I'm going
to share Witness A's account of what happened

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next. Obviously, it contains talk
of rape and torture. If you'd like

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to skip it, just skip ahead
one minute and thirty seconds. Witness Ay

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began begging for them to stop,
but they punched him repeatedly and told him

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that if he didn't stop fighting,
they would hurt him. Then one of

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the men said, you might not
leave alive. We can abandon your car

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in a ditch and make you disappear. No one knows you're here, and

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they'll never find your body. The
pair carried witness Ay into a nearby bedroom,

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where they restrained his ankles and removed
his pants. They began torturing him

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with a metal rod, an act
known as sounding. He screamed and eventually

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began hyperventilating. Witness Ay reported that
throughout the attack, the two men called

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each other by the names Scott and
Anthony, and that at one point he

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was able to briefly remove the blindfold
from his face he could see the room

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and his attackers. He described Lorenzo
as naked from the waist down and Scott

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as completely clothed. They re blindfolded
him, and when he asked for water,

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they dripped liquid onto his face and
lips. He said that throughout the

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attack, one of the two men
was trying to comfort and cuddle him while

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the other continued the torture. When
he briefly got the blindfold off, he

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realized it was Lorenzo who was doing
the cuddling. The two men eventually released

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witness Ey, who believes he had
been drugged during the attack, likely when

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they dripped an unknown liquid onto his
face. He left the house dizzy and

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disoriented. Because of both the trauma
and his fear of being outed, Witnessy

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never reported the attack. It's a
strategy that Lorenzo and Schweikert discussed in their

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many online chats. Ten days after
the assault on witness A, Stephen and

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Scott were back on AOL planning their
next attack. They first discussed several unnamed

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men they were trying to lure to
Tampa from out of town. Lorenzo,

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less time and energy can delay that
one. This probably now or never,

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Scott. Very true, and as
you say, even if they don't show

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up, there is always the avenue
boys. Lorenzo yep I prefer to follow

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least path of resistance and can always
have a fallback plan. So it's good

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if all put into one basket and
it falls apart, too harder to make

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up lost time. This was two
days prior to a second planned trip that

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Scott would take to stay with Lorenzo
and hunt for boys. Two days later

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Jason, when Galehouse would be missing
and Michael Wacholtz would be dead. As

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Tampa Peede began looking into Scott Schweikert
as possibly being the Scott involved in the

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kidnapping, rape, and torture of
Witness A. They also started going through

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Lorenzo's various phone and AOL contacts.
On August ninth of two thousand and four,

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they met with a man named Daniel
Waters. Daniel told Tampa Peede that

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he first met Stephen Lorenzo approximately thirteen
years prior at Howard Avenue Station, a

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gay bar in Tampa. He said
that prior to that, Lorenzo had dated

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one of Daniel's former boyfriends while living
in Albany, New York, and that

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at some point in ninety six,
Daniel developed an intimate relationship of his own

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with Lorenzo. That relationship lasted two
years. He told Tampa Pede that Lorenzo

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owned a second residence in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, about two hundred fifty miles

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from Tampa, just north of Miami. He said that he last saw Lorenzo

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in May of two thousand four,
when he and his new partner Damien,

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invited Lorenzo over to teach them about
bondage. They did not care for what

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Lorenzo showed them. Daniel talked about
Lorenzo's history with drugs and about rumors around

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town he'd heard that linked Lorenzo to
several murders. He also reported that while

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at a mutual friend's house, he
heard that Lorenzo had assaulted and raped a

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man named Kevin. Following their interview
with Daniel, Tampa Pede met with a

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couple named Anthony an Hell. Anthony
had been linked to Lorenzo via AOL messages,

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but on Hell advised that he had
actually chatted with Lorenzo on AOL,

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but that those chats never led to
anything physical, at which point Anthony interjected

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that he would never allow Stephen Lorenzo
into their home, that he knew who

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he was and had seen him at
several gay bars in town, and that's

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when he told investigators about Stephen Lorenzo
allegedly assaulting their friend Brian with a mallet

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six years prior. On September twenty
eighth, investigators tracked down and met with

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Johnny Torture, the man that Lorenzo
and Schweikert discussed kidnapping during their initial online

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conversations. Johnny Torture told the investigators
that he had met Stephen Lorenzo in the

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late nineteen eighties, when Lorenzo did
some home improvement work for him, but

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he said that he'd engaged in any
sexual activity with Lorenzo, but that he

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had met Lorenzo's friend Master Scott at
twenty six oh six. He said that

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Master Scott had recently moved to Florida
from the Chicago area. He vehemently denied

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ever being kidnapped or assaulted by Lorenzo
or Master Scott. Meanwhile, Tampa Peedee

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also set up an undercover operation to
contact Master Scott on AOL and for three

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months, an undercover officer engaged in
more than forty online communications with Master Scott.

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The content of those conversations was largely
Master Scott assisting the undercover agent in

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the drug facilitated abduction of a third
party. Master Scott discussed taking gay men

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by force with the use of rufees
ecstasy in g h B, and in

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those chats, Master Scott admitted to
abducting and assaulting a man while in Tampa.

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He also gave specific instructions on how
to roofy an unsuspecting victim, along

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with the estimated dosage based on a
victim's approximate weight, and then he told

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the undercover officer how to kidnap someone
without being seen, and specified that using

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a house with an attached garage would
be the best way to get away with

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it. In a September twenty third, two thousand four, chat, Master

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Scott told the undercover cop how to
disrobe and bind a victim. Scott,

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once assured is off and the hands
are bound, there is little he can

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do after that, then getting the
pants off quickly and getting his feet bound.

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After that, he can try all
he likes, but he won't be

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going anywhere. On November second of
two thousand four, almost a year after

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Jason Galehouse and Michael Walcolts went missing, Tampa PDE arrested Stephen Lorenzo on six

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counts of drug facilitated sexual assault.
When shown a photo of Scott Schweikert's Master

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Scott profile, Lorenzo immediately identified him
as Scott and then said he would not

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discuss anything related to the charges filed
against him, but he would co operate

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with Answering questions about Scott, Lorenzo
said that he doesn't, nor had he

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ever participated in any violent acts kidnappings, assaults, or murders as those depicted

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in his online activity. He said
that the AOL chats were simply for fantasy,

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but he did confirm that he had
chatted with Scott numerous times online and

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that he met Scott in person several
times, including during their encounter with Witness

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Ay, which Lorenzo described as mostly
consensual. Lorenzo told investigators that after driving

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Witness Ay from the Cash and Carry
to his house on Powaton Avenue, he

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and Scott assumed their rules as dominance
in this pre planned dominant submissive encounter.

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He said that no force was ever
used, but that while in the bedroom,

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Scott had gone overboard, which he
described as Scott punching Witness Ay in

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both the stomach and testicles. He
went on to tell police that Scott and

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only Scott, had sounded Witness Ay, and that while this was happening,

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he did his best to comfort Witness
Ay and told him that Scott was just

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losing control. He could not confirm
whether any illegal narcotics were used during the

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encounter, but said that he did
receive an email from Witness Ay at some

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point thereafter, saying that he wanted
to meet up again, just this time

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without Scott. As you'll recall,
witness A told police that he never wanted

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to see Lorenzo again after this assault. Lorenzo was clearly positioning Scott as the

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sole aggressor in the incident with witness
A, and then police asked him about

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the night of December nineteenth, the
night that he and Scott went to twenty

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six oh six together, the night
that Jason Galehouse disappeared from twenty six oh

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six. Lorenzo told police that Scott
drove out from Orlando that weekend to stay

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with him. That Scott had made
plans to bring two male escorts out with

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him, but those plans fell through, and so the pair went to twenty

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six oh six to look for a
submissive to take home with them. He

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said that Scott was essentially wearing dom
cosplay. He was dressed in head to

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toe leather, which made him a
bit of a spectacle at twenty six oh

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six. He said that while they
were there, he and Scott didn't spend

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much time together, but that at
around one a m. Scott approached him

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to say that he'd found a submissive
to take home. Lorenzo claimed that he

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never met this person, but that
Scott had pointed him out from across the

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bar. He then alleged that the
pair went back to Lorenzo's house so Scott

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00:31:30,359 --> 00:31:34,279
could get his car, because this
submissive didn't want to be taken by two

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00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:44,000
dominants just Scott, so from Lorenzo's
house they parted ways. Scott went back

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to twenty six oh six to pick
up the submissive and Lorenzo went to bed.

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Police then put a photo of Jason
Galehouse in front of Stephen. Lorenzo

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00:31:55,519 --> 00:32:04,000
and Stephen began to sob. Lorenzo
told police that he recognized the man in

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the photo as one of the missing
gay men in Tampa, and then said

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00:32:07,359 --> 00:32:12,039
that he did look a lot like
the guy that Scott planned on hooking up

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with that night at twenty six oh
six. Police then showed him a photo

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00:32:15,759 --> 00:32:22,720
of Michael Walcolt's, this time more
composed. Lorenzo said that he recognized him

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00:32:22,759 --> 00:32:28,079
from the news, but denied ever
seeing him in person. When they returned

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the photo of Jason Galehouse to the
table in front of Lorenzo, Lorenzo immediately

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began sobbing again. On November third, the very next day, Tampa,

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00:32:40,599 --> 00:32:45,920
Peade traveled to Peru, Illinois to
assist in the execution of a federal search

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00:32:46,000 --> 00:33:00,200
warrant of Scott Schweikert's family home.
You will learn that mister Walkole's, as

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00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:04,160
I mentioned, it, was killed
on December twenty first, that is,

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00:33:04,359 --> 00:33:10,319
the Sunday morning before Christmas in two
thousand and three. Christmas was a very

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00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:17,759
important time and was specifically chosen by
mister Schweiker and mister Lorenzo because losing a

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00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:29,839
loved one at Christmas time would cause
the families even more pain. Now there's

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00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:35,680
no question that both Scott Schweiker and
Stephen Lorenzo were in some capacity involved in

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00:33:35,759 --> 00:33:42,640
the disappearance of Jason Galehouse and the
death of Michael Wachold's. But upon police

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00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:47,839
intervention, the two friends immediately turned
on one another, each painting the other

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00:33:49,119 --> 00:33:54,079
as the out of control aggressor,
each with a contradictory story of what happened

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00:33:54,160 --> 00:34:01,519
that weekend, And so the question
became either of them telling the truth or

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00:34:02,039 --> 00:34:07,880
were neither of them telling the truth? And could one or both of them

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00:34:08,039 --> 00:34:15,760
be responsible for other cases of missing
gay men and unsolved gay homicides in Tampa

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00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:23,119
and the other cities each of them
lived in and that is where our investigation

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00:34:23,400 --> 00:35:15,280
begins. Read like one of the
farm bell but to the truck and the

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00:35:15,559 --> 00:35:30,119
the stop coming, for they brought
things dead, says a Hasto his pace

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00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:37,039
feel about its side and sent to
him was Almo on a beet, someone

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00:35:44,119 --> 00:36:08,199
into a fly and then a live
leading fast to have false confish and the

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scolia string on the song. This
episode was written, researched, edited,

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00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:23,960
and produced by Me Your Host Josh
Hallmark, with additional research by Kaz and

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00:36:24,159 --> 00:36:30,159
audio editing by Darren Wood of The
Defense Diaries. Resources included The Charlie Project,

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00:36:30,599 --> 00:36:36,360
NamUs Newspapers dot Com, The Tampa
Bay Times, CNN dot Com,

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00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:40,400
and Equality Florida Action, Inc.
This episode was made possible by the following

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00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:45,000
Patreon producers Adrian I Yello, Amelia
Hancock, Amy Basel and Nette El,

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00:36:45,119 --> 00:36:50,199
Benjamin Choppathong, Casey Jensen, Richardson, Dana Keith, Doctor Jill Cooper,

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00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:53,400
Drew Vipond, Hollie Reed, Jessica
Ali Hodsig, Gillian Atale, John O'Leary,

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00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:58,519
Kendall, C. Kimberly, k
Lauren f Linley, Tuscoff Manolas Bullcus,

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00:36:58,639 --> 00:37:00,920
Megan cap Sewell, Mike h Sherman, Nicole and Dennis Henry, Sarah

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00:37:01,039 --> 00:37:06,519
King, sc Shannon Foster, Shelley
Brewer, Tuesday Woodworth, Zach Ignattowitz,

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00:37:06,519 --> 00:37:09,400
Warren, Beth McNally, John Comrie, Jordan Taylor, Carly McNutt, Lona,

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00:37:09,559 --> 00:37:14,800
Sarah c and Lydia Fiedler. Thank
you to Studio Both. Anne's newest

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00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:19,920
Patreon supporters, Faith T. Kineva, Lisa, Mary Mallory S, Pamela

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00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,199
B Shawn M. Shelby g Bleep, Brandy C. Kendall, s,

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00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:29,280
Natalie L. Farren, Kathleen A, Jamie P and Devin CFC. To

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00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:35,280
support the investigation, go to Patreon
dot com slash Studio both And. This

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00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:40,360
episode included music by Circles, The
Bows, Spiraturn, color Book and Yeheskel

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00:37:40,480 --> 00:38:14,119
Red with featured music by Owen Palletta. Mistake from the Capital, the Suns

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00:38:14,199 --> 00:39:22,360
and Smalls, Some Tips, a
siss a snob thing sid Hi to the

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00:39:22,599 --> 00:39:46,400
Fast Pains to a Full Spans,
Time to Spain