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<v Speaker 1>Today we discussed the survival story of three women, Michelle Knight,

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<v Speaker 1>Amanda Barry and Gina To Jesus, each of them was

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<v Speaker 1>stolen from their lives at a young age, locked away

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<v Speaker 1>and subjected to unimaginable horrors. They endured torture, assault, and

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<v Speaker 1>suffering beyond comprehension. Yet through it all they held on

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<v Speaker 1>to hope, believing that one day they would be free.

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<v Speaker 1>Over a decade after that night mare began, that day

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<v Speaker 1>finally came. Amanda Berry seized her chance and made a

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<v Speaker 1>daring escape, leading to the capture of the man who

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<v Speaker 1>kept them imprisoned. Because of her bravery, the three women

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<v Speaker 1>were finally free, and a monster named Ariel Castro was

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<v Speaker 1>locked away. This is the story of the Aerial Castro

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<v Speaker 1>kidnappings and the three women who survived. Hell.

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<v Speaker 2>My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked

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<v Speaker 2>and Grim, a true crime podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>The following material more mature audience listener. Happy Pie Day.

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<v Speaker 2>Huh oh, yeah, I guess it is, that's your response.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's three point one four, it's day.

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<v Speaker 2>I would not have evenized that today.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh well, it's Pie Day and Saint Patrick's Day is

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<v Speaker 1>coming up as well.

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<v Speaker 2>It is, isn't it on Monday or something? I can't remember.

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's Monday the seventeenth. So make sure you

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<v Speaker 1>wear green when you go back to work on Monday,

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<v Speaker 1>because you're gonna probably get pinched by that annoying person

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<v Speaker 1>in the office for workspace who's always like yeah too, chipper, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>the one that we just want to like throw the

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<v Speaker 1>hot coffee in their face on Monday mornings. Oh wow,

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<v Speaker 1>that one.

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<v Speaker 2>Wow.

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<v Speaker 1>We want to. We don't, but we want, you know.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, there's probably some parties this weekend then, celebrating Saint

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<v Speaker 2>Patti's Day.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm assuming most likely getting their green beer on and

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<v Speaker 1>everyone's Irish for the day sort of thing.

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<v Speaker 2>Back in our day, we used to do stuff like that.

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<v Speaker 2>We've gone to a couple but now I'm just like,

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<v Speaker 2>I think the hockey game's on and I'm making homemade parrogis,

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<v Speaker 2>so that sounds better.

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<v Speaker 1>I might put a drop of green food coloring in

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<v Speaker 1>a beer. Why not? Well, yeah, that's about it.

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<v Speaker 2>You're not going to go party your face off, I

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<v Speaker 2>don't think, are you?

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<v Speaker 1>No? But I will make sure I wear green just

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<v Speaker 1>in case I run into someone who's going to try

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<v Speaker 1>and pinch me, like you.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I feel like I'm not the annoying person in

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<v Speaker 2>the office. I'm just whoa your wife?

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<v Speaker 1>Are you saying I'm the annoying person in the office

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<v Speaker 1>because you and I are the only people in the office.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh okay, we're thinking about the two of us. I

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<v Speaker 2>don't know. We take turns on that front.

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<v Speaker 1>I think, okay, I can't argue that.

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<v Speaker 2>Actually, yet of mine, you would on a daily basis

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<v Speaker 2>be more annoying than me.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you. I would say, wow, that hurts a little bit. Wow,

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<v Speaker 1>thank you. Anyways, betrayal aside, well, come.

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<v Speaker 2>On, it's okay. The problem with this, and we've talked

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<v Speaker 2>about this before, is because I'm like, I like quiet

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<v Speaker 2>and Ben doesn't like quiet. So you probably come across

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<v Speaker 2>more annoying to me because you're you like loud and

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<v Speaker 2>you like having music on, and and for someone who

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<v Speaker 2>enjoys quiet, that can be a lot sometimes.

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<v Speaker 1>And for someone who thrives with background noise, like white

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<v Speaker 1>noise or music or whether it's like lack seeing chill

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<v Speaker 1>waves or something, when it's just dead silent, I get

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<v Speaker 1>so nervous and uneasy.

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<v Speaker 2>And I'm just like, yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>Anyways, I think we should get into this case. Have

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<v Speaker 1>you heard the story of an aerial castro and the kidnappings? A.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's a pretty big one, isn't it.

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<v Speaker 1>It is a pretty big one. And actually there was

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<v Speaker 1>I talked about it briefly later on, but there was

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<v Speaker 1>a moment when these three women were finally you know,

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<v Speaker 1>they got away, right. One of the people who helped

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<v Speaker 1>them get away and neighbor, he made like viral sensation

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<v Speaker 1>on YouTube at the time for his YouTube interview or sorry,

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<v Speaker 1>his news interview. Okay, so this story was not only

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<v Speaker 1>a massive story on news, but it was a massive

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<v Speaker 1>internet culture story as well. So it was it was

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<v Speaker 1>a huge story in two different fronts, right, yeah, okay,

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<v Speaker 1>So I think with that we should just get into it. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>let's do it. On August twenty third two, on thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and two, twenty one year old Michelle Knight left a

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<v Speaker 1>relative's house in Cleveland, Ohio. She was leaving with one

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<v Speaker 1>goal in mind, getting to a custody hearing for her

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<v Speaker 1>two year old son, Joey. Now, unfortunately, she never made it.

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<v Speaker 1>Lost in trying to find her way, Michelle ran into

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<v Speaker 1>a familiar face, Ariel, a man that she knew and

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<v Speaker 1>was the father of one of her friends. She didn't

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<v Speaker 1>hesitate when he offered her a ride. You know, she

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<v Speaker 1>was trusting him without a second thought. Now that trust, unfortunately,

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<v Speaker 1>would cost her everything. Now. Michelle's childhood had never been easy.

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<v Speaker 1>Her family struggled to make ends meet, and she often

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<v Speaker 1>found herself responsible for looking after her own siblings. On

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<v Speaker 1>top of that, she claimed to have endured abuse at

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<v Speaker 1>home as well. At just fourteen, she had had enough

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<v Speaker 1>and ran away, choosing the uncertainty of the streets over

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<v Speaker 1>the pain she faced at home. Now. Eventually she did

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<v Speaker 1>return home and tried to get back on track by

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<v Speaker 1>finishing school. Then, at eighteen, she became pregnant, allegedly as

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<v Speaker 1>the result of an assault. Her son, Joey, became her

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<v Speaker 1>and higher world after that, But in two thousand and two,

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<v Speaker 1>after an incident involving her mother's boyfriend, who, according to reports,

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<v Speaker 1>was intoxicated and caused Joey to suffer a serious injury,

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<v Speaker 1>authorities stepped in. Michelle lost custody and Joey was placed

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<v Speaker 1>in foster care. That day, as she walked through the

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<v Speaker 1>streets of Cleveland, she was hoping to take her first

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<v Speaker 1>steps towards bringing her son home. Instead, she walked straight

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<v Speaker 1>into a nightmare. Ariel was forty two at the time,

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<v Speaker 1>working as a school bus driver and playing music in

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<v Speaker 1>the local music scenes. A bit of a band guy,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess. He seemed ordinary enough, and when he offered

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<v Speaker 1>Michelle a puppy, something she thought Joey would love when

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<v Speaker 1>he finally got home. She was so excited. He told

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<v Speaker 1>her they could stop by his house pick it up

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<v Speaker 1>before going to the hearing. When he gave her a ride. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>unfortunately there was no puppy.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh my goodness. Okay, that would have got me too.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So imagine that someone you know, you know, your

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<v Speaker 1>friend's dad is like, I'll give you a ride to

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<v Speaker 1>go to your hearing, Like you're walking right, yeah, kind

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<v Speaker 1>of like, shit, where am I going? Which street is

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<v Speaker 1>it on? I'll give you a ride. I know where

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<v Speaker 1>it is. And if, in fact, if you want, I

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<v Speaker 1>got a litter of puppies at home right now, that'd

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<v Speaker 1>be the perfect present for your son.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, like coming home, the homecoming present exactly.

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<v Speaker 1>And so Michelle was just thrilled with this idea. It

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<v Speaker 1>was perfect. She was getting helped to go, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>get her son back, should have this puppy, this thing

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<v Speaker 1>that they could share and be a family again. However,

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<v Speaker 1>that was clearly not what Ariel had in mind.

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<v Speaker 2>WHOA, Yeah, okay, she didn't stand a chance, because, yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>it's hard, especially when you know the person right, and

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<v Speaker 2>if they're like your friend's dad. I don't think you

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<v Speaker 2>would think twice.

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<v Speaker 1>Really, I don't think so.

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<v Speaker 2>Huh.

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<v Speaker 1>And Michelle didn't know it yet, but Ariel had likely

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<v Speaker 1>been waiting for a moment like this for a while,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, a chance to act on this like dark

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<v Speaker 1>fantasy sort of situation.

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<v Speaker 2>Her in particular.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know if it was with her in particular.

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<v Speaker 1>I think Michelle was just wrong place, wrong time sort

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<v Speaker 1>of thing. Okay, So when the two got to his

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<v Speaker 1>home at twenty two oh seven Seymour Avenue, he led

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<v Speaker 1>her inside, and then before she could react, the door

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<v Speaker 1>shut behind her, and the world as she knew it disappeared.

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<v Speaker 1>Ariel wasted no time. He wrapped an extension cord around

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<v Speaker 1>Michelle's neck, tied her arms and legs together, and then

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<v Speaker 1>shoved a sock in her mouth to silence her scream.

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<v Speaker 2>Holy shit.

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<v Speaker 1>Then he looked at her dead in the eyes and

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<v Speaker 1>said you're not going to leave for a long time.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, you know, she's obviously just panicking, I'm sure, But

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<v Speaker 2>then she also is a super important thing too that

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<v Speaker 2>is probably making her panic even more that she's missing, Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>Just thinking about Joey, her son, right, yeah, I mean

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<v Speaker 1>she begged for him to let her go, right, sobbing

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<v Speaker 1>that she needs to go get Joey and go.

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<v Speaker 2>So yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>Now, in response that, Buriel tore the only photo that

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<v Speaker 1>she had of Joey into tiny pieces in front of her. Wow,

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<v Speaker 1>he'd ripped them up and just let them fall to

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<v Speaker 1>the floor. And he told her you'll never see him again.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh my, Okay, that's that's something, ain't Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>He kept her chained in the basement, a place that

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<v Speaker 1>had no light, no warmth, and no way out. For days.

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<v Speaker 1>She was left in the dark a motorcycle helmet strapped

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<v Speaker 1>to her head to muffle the screams that she tried

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<v Speaker 1>to let out. Now, this, of course, was only the beginning.

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<v Speaker 1>Ariel assaulted her relentlessly, beating her multiple times a day.

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<v Speaker 1>Whenever she cried out, he cranked up the music to

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<v Speaker 1>drown her out as well. He controlled everything when she

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<v Speaker 1>ate what she wore, where she slept, what she was

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<v Speaker 1>allowed to do, what she was allowed to have, and

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<v Speaker 1>worst of all, what happened to her own body. At

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<v Speaker 1>some point, he gave her a small piece of comfort,

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<v Speaker 1>a pit bull, a puppy that she ended up naming Lobo.

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<v Speaker 1>But the moment the dog bit Ariel, in an attempt

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<v Speaker 1>to protect her, Ariel snapped the dog's neck right in

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<v Speaker 1>front of her. Oh gosh, yeah, it wasn't just cruelty.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a message directly to her. If she thought

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<v Speaker 1>that anything could protect her, she was wrong.

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<v Speaker 2>Uh huh.

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<v Speaker 1>There was no one else in that house. He lived alone,

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<v Speaker 1>his ex having taken their children and left years ago.

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<v Speaker 1>There was no chance of visitors stumbling upon the horrors

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<v Speaker 1>hidden within those walls. Michelle's mother, Barbara, was the one

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<v Speaker 1>who filed the missing person's report. The details were all there,

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<v Speaker 1>her last known outfit, her struggles with getting lost or confused,

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<v Speaker 1>But instead of treating her case as urgent and a

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<v Speaker 1>disappearing persons person, police assumed that she had just run away. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>they believed that losing custody of her son Joey, had

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<v Speaker 1>been enough for her to leave on her own will.

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<v Speaker 2>Doesn't seem like that is in character of her.

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<v Speaker 1>Really, No Now, Fifteen months later, her name was removed

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<v Speaker 1>from the missing person's database. It was as if she

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<v Speaker 1>had never existed at all.

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<v Speaker 2>Why the hell was it removed.

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<v Speaker 1>Police believed that she left on her own free will

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<v Speaker 1>and not a missing person. Okay, Now, her mother kept searching,

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<v Speaker 1>but report suggests the rest of the rest of her

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<v Speaker 1>family barely made an effort, whether they assumed that she

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<v Speaker 1>had left or you know, they had simply given up

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<v Speaker 1>one way or another. Michelle was for the majority of

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<v Speaker 1>it mostly forgotten.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, in that short of a time span. That's that

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<v Speaker 2>is so sad.

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<v Speaker 1>It is with no answers, no sign of her anywhere.

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<v Speaker 1>Her son was eventually adopted by another family.

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<v Speaker 2>No Now.

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<v Speaker 1>Once she tried to escape, but the punishment was so

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<v Speaker 1>brutal for that attempt she feared ever trying again. Her

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<v Speaker 1>neck and back were injured so badly that the pain

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<v Speaker 1>stayed with her. She later said, quote, we had no

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<v Speaker 1>way to get out of that house, and even if

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<v Speaker 1>we tried, we got hurt. And yes, she said we

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<v Speaker 1>because by then, when she had said that statement, Michelle

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<v Speaker 1>was not alone in that house. See, seven months after

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<v Speaker 1>Michelle had vanished. Sixteen year old Amanda Barry was getting

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<v Speaker 1>ready for her shift at a fast food restaurant. It

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<v Speaker 1>was April twenty first, two thousand and three, the day

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<v Speaker 1>before her seventeenth birthday. She considered calling in, thinking that

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<v Speaker 1>she'd rather start celebrating early. Now she had everything might

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<v Speaker 1>have been different for her for the rest of her life,

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<v Speaker 1>but instead, she went to work. She finished her shift

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<v Speaker 1>and started walking home, only a few blocks from her house.

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<v Speaker 1>As she walked, she noticed a vehicle parked at an

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<v Speaker 1>odd angle in a driveway, forcing her to kind of

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<v Speaker 1>walk around it. Now inside, she saw a man and

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<v Speaker 1>a young girl. The girl looked familiar. Amanda smiled, thinking

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<v Speaker 1>she recognized her from middle school. After she had passed

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<v Speaker 1>it and walked by, the vehicle started moving. The man

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<v Speaker 1>pulled up beside her and offered her a ride home,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's when she realized the girl that she thought

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<v Speaker 1>she recognized was no longer in the car. When she

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<v Speaker 1>asked about her, the man casually explained that his daughter

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<v Speaker 1>had already you know, left the vehicle and was at

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<v Speaker 1>his house and asked if she wanted to come see her.

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<v Speaker 1>Amanda hesitated, but she had gone to school with two

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<v Speaker 1>of his daughters, and she recognized this one specifically in

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<v Speaker 1>the vehicle right. So she assumed that this man was trustworthy,

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<v Speaker 1>so she said yes. What she didn't know was that

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<v Speaker 1>neither of his daughters actually lived with him. They stayed

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<v Speaker 1>at another neighbor in another neighborhood with their mother, far

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<v Speaker 1>from the house Amanda was about to enter. When they

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<v Speaker 1>arrived at his home on Seymour Avenue, the man told

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<v Speaker 1>her that his daughter must be in the bath or

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<v Speaker 1>something because she wasn't around the home. While they waited,

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<v Speaker 1>he offered to show her round the house. He led

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<v Speaker 1>her upstairs, passed a bedroom where another young woman was

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<v Speaker 1>sleeping a Manda didn't know it then, but that woman

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<v Speaker 1>was Michelle, now twenty two years old and held captive

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<v Speaker 1>for months. Ariel then forced Amanda into another bedroom. That's

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<v Speaker 1>when his tone changed. He told her to take off

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<v Speaker 1>her pants. When it was over, he wrapped her wrists

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<v Speaker 1>and ankles and tape tightened the belt around them for

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<v Speaker 1>good measure, and he took her to the basement.

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<v Speaker 2>Holy shit, Okay, just two things. Is The problem is

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<v Speaker 2>the guy is so trustworthy, like his background and his

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<v Speaker 2>story and stuff, just it just has the potential to

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<v Speaker 2>so easily like lure these girls in.

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<v Speaker 1>Well it just so happens that, Yeah, they know him

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<v Speaker 1>from connections from somewhere a friend, right, So it's assuming

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<v Speaker 1>he's trustworthy, not that he has a background that is trustworthy.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, exactly like you never assume though that your friends

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<v Speaker 2>are someone you go to school with their day is

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<v Speaker 2>is just peer evil? Yeah, and so I think, I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>so both of these, like there's a sexual assault aspect

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<v Speaker 2>to both of them, and I think you're being very

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<v Speaker 2>like discreet about that, but it is Hey, yes, correct,

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<v Speaker 2>because I was wondering about that with the first one

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<v Speaker 2>because I know you said assault but okay.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm implying it, but I'm not saying it. Let's

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<v Speaker 1>just put it that way.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>So, now, when she was in the basement, a motorcycle

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<v Speaker 1>helmet was strapped onto her head and she was chained

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<v Speaker 1>to a pole. Before he left, he told her she

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<v Speaker 1>if she stayed quiet, that he would take her home. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>that of course was a lie. Now, the thrill Castro

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<v Speaker 1>had felt after abducting Michelle had likely dulled over time.

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<v Speaker 1>It was seven months later and he needed that rush again,

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00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:54.840
<v Speaker 1>and that's why, or most likely why he took Amanda. Now,

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00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:57.080
<v Speaker 1>just like Michelle, she was in the wrong place at

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00:15:57.080 --> 00:16:00.559
<v Speaker 1>the wrong time. He saw an opportunity and acted without hesitation.

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<v Speaker 1>On that first day, she was left alone in the

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<v Speaker 1>dark with only a television for company. She screamed, she cried,

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00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:12.639
<v Speaker 1>and she begged for help, but no one came. Meanwhile,

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00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:16.120
<v Speaker 1>her family reported her missing almost immediately, and soon Amanda

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00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:20.000
<v Speaker 1>found herself watching the news in Castro's basement, seeing her

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00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:23.559
<v Speaker 1>mother and sister plead for her safe return.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh man, I've never even really thought of that. You

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00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:32.080
<v Speaker 2>know how they could be watching these things missing people

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<v Speaker 2>like that? Yeah, that is brutal.

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<v Speaker 1>After four days, he brought her upstairs and chained her

300
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<v Speaker 1>to a radiator in a bedroom. Over time, he started

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00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:43.600
<v Speaker 1>asking if she wanted anything to pass the time, and

302
00:16:43.639 --> 00:16:46.559
<v Speaker 1>she requested something to write in, so he gave her

303
00:16:46.600 --> 00:16:48.720
<v Speaker 1>a diary, one of those ones with like a little

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<v Speaker 1>tiny lock in key, the ones that I mean, you

305
00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:55.039
<v Speaker 1>can lock it and not open it, but if you

306
00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:56.720
<v Speaker 1>really want to open it, you can open it in

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<v Speaker 1>like two seconds.

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00:16:57.919 --> 00:16:59.240
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

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00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:03.960
<v Speaker 1>So one of her first entries, she wrote this quote,

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<v Speaker 1>you never know what you've got till it's gone. I

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00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:11.119
<v Speaker 1>just can't wait to go home. I'm seventeen now but

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00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:14.799
<v Speaker 1>don't have a life, but he told me I'm young

313
00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:19.960
<v Speaker 1>and will go home before summer another two months. That,

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00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:24.400
<v Speaker 1>of course, was another lie. A week after abducting Amanda,

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00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:28.440
<v Speaker 1>Ariel made a chilling phone call to her family. He

316
00:17:28.519 --> 00:17:33.880
<v Speaker 1>taunted them. He referred to her as quote Mandy, which

317
00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:36.720
<v Speaker 1>was a nickname only those closest to her new, and

318
00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:39.759
<v Speaker 1>used the fact that he knew it shook the family

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00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:43.319
<v Speaker 1>to their core. He also claimed that Amanda wanted to

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00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:49.319
<v Speaker 1>be with him. The call nearly led to his downfall. Now,

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00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:52.440
<v Speaker 1>at the time, the FBI were in the beginning stages

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00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:56.039
<v Speaker 1>of developing technology to trace cell phone signals. So they

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00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:58.400
<v Speaker 1>had this technology, but it was quite new at the time,

324
00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:02.039
<v Speaker 1>but it only worked while the cell phone was on.

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<v Speaker 1>Investigators were able to track the signal within two blocks

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00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:11.400
<v Speaker 1>of Aerio Castro's house and staked out the area four weeks. However,

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<v Speaker 1>after the call, he never turned the phone on again.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, and did he do that intentionally? Then knowing I

329
00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:22.160
<v Speaker 2>don't know, Okay, that seems so odd.

330
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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. So they had traced the call to an area

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00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:29.960
<v Speaker 1>within two blocks, staked it out for weeks, but nothing

332
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:32.119
<v Speaker 1>came of it, and eventually they gave up.

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00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:35.759
<v Speaker 2>Oh so close, say, but yet so far exactly.

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00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:38.000
<v Speaker 1>Now, when I was researching that, I was like, why

335
00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:40.440
<v Speaker 1>the fuck did they give up? They have the location

336
00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:44.559
<v Speaker 1>within two blocks, right, However, they don't know if that

337
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:48.240
<v Speaker 1>cell phone call came from inside a vehicle. They don't

338
00:18:48.279 --> 00:18:51.240
<v Speaker 1>know if it was a mobile person, you know, maybe

339
00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:52.400
<v Speaker 1>visiting a home.

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00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:54.720
<v Speaker 2>That's very true, actually.

341
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<v Speaker 1>And even if they could say, you know what it

342
00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.680
<v Speaker 1>is one of these houses, they do not know that

343
00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:02.200
<v Speaker 1>going into a house they're going to find the girls.

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00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:05.079
<v Speaker 1>They could be held at a different location, those sort

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00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:08.960
<v Speaker 1>of things. So there's so many questions in gray areas

346
00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:13.039
<v Speaker 1>that of course they can't you know, start busting into

347
00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:15.559
<v Speaker 1>homes and being like, let's see those sort of things.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, Well, yeah, exactly, it could totally have been to

349
00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:21.400
<v Speaker 2>someone on the road and who pulled over exactly in

350
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<v Speaker 2>a different area to make this call.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so the cell phone signal was traced to two blocks,

352
00:19:26.359 --> 00:19:29.000
<v Speaker 1>but they did not know if those two blocks were

353
00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:33.519
<v Speaker 1>you know, within reason of the actual case. However, in hindsight,

354
00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:39.039
<v Speaker 1>it was now Over the years, thousands of reported sightings surfaced.

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<v Speaker 1>Some claimed that Amanda had been seen in different cities,

356
00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:44.240
<v Speaker 1>while others believed that she was actually dead, but her

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<v Speaker 1>family refused to give up hope. Without a body, they

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00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:49.799
<v Speaker 1>chose to believe that she was still out there and

359
00:19:49.880 --> 00:19:54.200
<v Speaker 1>still alive. Now, Amanda kept writing in her diary, addressing

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<v Speaker 1>almost every other entry to her mother, or almost every

361
00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:00.960
<v Speaker 1>entry to her mother. In fact, now her mother's name

362
00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:03.279
<v Speaker 1>was Luna, and she never stopped searching for her daughter.

363
00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:06.119
<v Speaker 1>But in two thousand and six, she passed away from

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00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:07.680
<v Speaker 1>heart failure at just forty three.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh no. While she was still in like correct oh no.

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<v Speaker 1>Now, her family believed that it wasn't just heart failure failure.

367
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<v Speaker 1>They believed that it was it was a broken heart.

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<v Speaker 1>It was great shit. Amanda never got to see her again.

369
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<v Speaker 1>It's unclear exactly how she found out that her mother

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<v Speaker 1>had died, but she and Michelle were sometimes allowed to

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<v Speaker 1>watch TV, as we already discussed, and their own missing

372
00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:42.960
<v Speaker 1>persons cases frequently were covered at some point after learning

373
00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:45.000
<v Speaker 1>the truth, whether it was on TV or a news

374
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:48.359
<v Speaker 1>report or whatever, of her mom's passing passing, Amanda kept

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<v Speaker 1>writing in her diary, but she changed the way that

376
00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:55.000
<v Speaker 1>she addressed her entry. Instead of addressing her mother, she

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<v Speaker 1>simply wrote mother in Heaven.

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00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:03.319
<v Speaker 2>Okay, that is literally enough to just make you sob Yeah.

379
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<v Speaker 1>When Amanda was first taken, Michelle only caught a brief

380
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<v Speaker 1>glimpse of her before she disappeared into another part of

381
00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:12.119
<v Speaker 1>the house. After that, months passed before they saw one

382
00:21:12.119 --> 00:21:16.079
<v Speaker 1>another again. Now, Ariel likely kept them apart to prevent

383
00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:19.240
<v Speaker 1>them from forming any kind of alliance. Right if they

384
00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:22.799
<v Speaker 1>spend time together without him watching, who knows what they'd

385
00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:24.880
<v Speaker 1>get up to, what they'd say, would they talk about them,

386
00:21:24.920 --> 00:21:28.759
<v Speaker 1>would they plan an escape? It's only up for imagination

387
00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:32.240
<v Speaker 1>in all honesty. Now, even with two women already locked

388
00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:36.880
<v Speaker 1>away in his house, Ariel wasn't satisfied. He wanted more.

389
00:21:38.119 --> 00:21:40.480
<v Speaker 1>A year after Amanda's abduction, he set out to find

390
00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:44.359
<v Speaker 1>yet another victim, and this time he made a promise

391
00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:47.279
<v Speaker 1>if he brought another girl into the house, he would

392
00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:54.119
<v Speaker 1>finally let Amanda go bullshit, it was another lie. By then,

393
00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:58.160
<v Speaker 1>the rush from taking Amanda obviously had faded, just like before,

394
00:21:58.559 --> 00:22:01.039
<v Speaker 1>and he wanted to feel that power again. The longer

395
00:22:01.079 --> 00:22:03.720
<v Speaker 1>he waited, the more he fixated on the next abduction,

396
00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:09.359
<v Speaker 1>and when the opportunity presented itself, he took it. Just

397
00:22:09.559 --> 00:22:12.640
<v Speaker 1>five blocks from where Amanda had been taken. Ariel ran

398
00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:16.400
<v Speaker 1>into his own daughter, Arlene, who was walking home from

399
00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:21.119
<v Speaker 1>school with her friend, fourteen year old Gina. To Jesus, Now,

400
00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:23.119
<v Speaker 1>the girls had planned to hang out together that day,

401
00:22:23.160 --> 00:22:26.359
<v Speaker 1>but when Arlene's mother said no, Gina started making the

402
00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:29.240
<v Speaker 1>long walk home alone. She called her mom to let

403
00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:31.240
<v Speaker 1>her know that she was on her way, but she

404
00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:35.440
<v Speaker 1>would never arrive home. Arlene was the last person to

405
00:22:35.480 --> 00:22:40.119
<v Speaker 1>see Gina before she vanished. Now, Gina knew who Ariel

406
00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:44.400
<v Speaker 1>was through her friend Arlene, right, but Ariel also knew

407
00:22:44.440 --> 00:22:47.799
<v Speaker 1>Gina's fathers. There's more than one connection here which made

408
00:22:47.799 --> 00:22:51.240
<v Speaker 1>them made, you know, Ariel seem extremely trustworthy. It's when

409
00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:53.359
<v Speaker 1>his vehicle pulled up beside her on the sidewalk, she

410
00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:56.039
<v Speaker 1>wasn't exactly alarmed. He asked her if she wanted to

411
00:22:56.039 --> 00:22:58.039
<v Speaker 1>see Arlene, and when she said yes, he told her

412
00:22:58.039 --> 00:22:59.880
<v Speaker 1>he needed help finding her. He didn't know exactly where

413
00:22:59.880 --> 00:23:02.240
<v Speaker 1>she was at the moment, so you know, the request

414
00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:04.880
<v Speaker 1>did seem unusual. She got in the vehicle knowing the guy,

415
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:07.920
<v Speaker 1>but of course he didn't take her to go find Arlene.

416
00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:10.559
<v Speaker 1>When they reached his house, he asked Gina to help

417
00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:13.079
<v Speaker 1>him move some equipment, and that's when she started to

418
00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:16.720
<v Speaker 1>feel a little uneasy. Instead of showing her what needed

419
00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:19.640
<v Speaker 1>to be moved, he started grooming himself in front of her,

420
00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:24.160
<v Speaker 1>what the shit, trimming his eyebrows, his mustache, his nose hairs,

421
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:29.039
<v Speaker 1>and then he turned his attention to her. He touched

422
00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:32.359
<v Speaker 1>her inappropriately, and she panicked, warning him that she's much

423
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:34.759
<v Speaker 1>younger than him, and you know he can go to jail,

424
00:23:34.839 --> 00:23:41.119
<v Speaker 1>right yeah. His response was a little unsettling. He told her, well, okay, like,

425
00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:43.799
<v Speaker 1>you can leave, but there's just one condition. You have

426
00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:45.240
<v Speaker 1>to use a different door than the one you came

427
00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:49.039
<v Speaker 1>out it came inside it. Now Relieved, Gina didn't have

428
00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:51.839
<v Speaker 1>didn't hesitate, She'd ask questions about what fucking door she

429
00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:53.839
<v Speaker 1>gets to leave in? Just that she gets to leave,

430
00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:56.279
<v Speaker 1>right So he led her towards the basement door, and

431
00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:59.200
<v Speaker 1>as soon as she stepped down to the basement, that's

432
00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:03.400
<v Speaker 1>when he grabbed her. Yep, the first time he tried

433
00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:05.440
<v Speaker 1>to chain her up. The restraints were too or sorry,

434
00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:08.000
<v Speaker 1>weren't tight enough, and she managed to break free. She

435
00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:12.119
<v Speaker 1>bolted for the stairs. Now, Ariel lunged, catching her before

436
00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:16.039
<v Speaker 1>she could escape, but she fought back, landing several hard

437
00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:20.359
<v Speaker 1>kicks and screaming for help, but it was useless. He

438
00:24:20.359 --> 00:24:22.119
<v Speaker 1>had already cranked the volume on the radios in the

439
00:24:22.119 --> 00:24:24.680
<v Speaker 1>basement and in the living room upstairs, drowning her out.

440
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:30.119
<v Speaker 1>Completely overpowering her. He locked the chains in place. Then

441
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:33.160
<v Speaker 1>he left her there alone in the basement, just as

442
00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:34.799
<v Speaker 1>he had done with the others.

443
00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:38.799
<v Speaker 2>And the others I'm assuming are hearing this too, most

444
00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:42.839
<v Speaker 2>likely and know exactly like what's going on, which is brutal.

445
00:24:43.079 --> 00:24:46.799
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. The day Gina disappeared, her mother Nancy called the

446
00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:49.920
<v Speaker 1>police right away, but investigators didn't treat her as a

447
00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:52.839
<v Speaker 1>missing child at first. They assumed that she had just

448
00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:56.920
<v Speaker 1>run away. By the time the search actually began, something

449
00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:02.680
<v Speaker 1>especially disturbing happened. Ariel himself joined the search. Of course

450
00:25:02.680 --> 00:25:06.440
<v Speaker 1>he did, yep, because he was friends with Gina's father,

451
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:10.640
<v Speaker 1>has already mentioned, he joined in. He helped pass out flyers,

452
00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:14.599
<v Speaker 1>attend vigils and standing beside the very people desperate to

453
00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:17.640
<v Speaker 1>find her. In fact, a year after she went missing,

454
00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:20.599
<v Speaker 1>he even comforted Nancy at a vigil, all while knowing

455
00:25:20.680 --> 00:25:22.079
<v Speaker 1>exactly where her daughter was.

456
00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.559
<v Speaker 2>What a complete piece of shit.

457
00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:28.720
<v Speaker 1>He likely involved himself for several reasons. First, to stay

458
00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:31.599
<v Speaker 1>close to the investigation, you know, figuring out how it's moving.

459
00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:34.440
<v Speaker 1>On any close hand information he can get the better

460
00:25:34.519 --> 00:25:38.240
<v Speaker 1>right And Second to avoid suspicion. Now since Gina had

461
00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:41.559
<v Speaker 1>been last seen with his daughter, it might be important

462
00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:45.680
<v Speaker 1>to kind of avoid that suspicion at all possible now. Third,

463
00:25:46.039 --> 00:25:48.519
<v Speaker 1>because he got a sick thrill from.

464
00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:53.319
<v Speaker 2>It that is so disturbing. Hey, yeah, just to be

465
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:57.720
<v Speaker 2>the reason behind this, but then still be like standing

466
00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:02.359
<v Speaker 2>by your and taking the role as a friend. Basically

467
00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:05.640
<v Speaker 2>to the father, you're not a friend, clearly no.

468
00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:07.559
<v Speaker 1>Now. For the first few weeks after he took Gina,

469
00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:09.880
<v Speaker 1>he mostly left her alone, but on May seventh, two

470
00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:13.160
<v Speaker 1>thousand and four, he assaulted her for the first time,

471
00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:17.640
<v Speaker 1>and after that it became a regular horror. He changed

472
00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:20.279
<v Speaker 1>Gina and Michelle together in the same room, forcing them

473
00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:23.359
<v Speaker 1>to share a single, filthy mattress. They would remain there

474
00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:26.880
<v Speaker 1>for the rest of their captivity. Whenever Michelle tried to

475
00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:31.839
<v Speaker 1>protect Gina in any assault situation, Ariel would retaliate, making

476
00:26:31.960 --> 00:26:36.160
<v Speaker 1>her suffer even more. He abused them while the other

477
00:26:36.279 --> 00:26:38.799
<v Speaker 1>was still in the room, making them witness and watch

478
00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:42.759
<v Speaker 1>each other's pain brutal. Within twenty months, he had taken

479
00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:46.279
<v Speaker 1>all three women within five blocks of each other inside

480
00:26:46.359 --> 00:26:49.720
<v Speaker 1>his house. They were kept in squalor, tied up, starved,

481
00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:54.720
<v Speaker 1>and subject to constant torment. They suffered from depression, various illnesses,

482
00:26:54.759 --> 00:26:59.160
<v Speaker 1>bed bugs, and had no way to escape. Michelle was

483
00:26:59.240 --> 00:27:02.279
<v Speaker 1>left naked from during the first winter, given only a

484
00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:05.240
<v Speaker 1>thin sheet for any sort of warmth. For the first

485
00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:07.640
<v Speaker 1>eight months, she wasn't even allowed to shower. In fact,

486
00:27:08.599 --> 00:27:11.119
<v Speaker 1>Amanda was kept in a room barely bigger than a closet,

487
00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:15.720
<v Speaker 1>sleeping on a filthy, dirty mattress. She had used a

488
00:27:15.720 --> 00:27:18.960
<v Speaker 1>bucket as a toilet, forced to live within the stench

489
00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:20.880
<v Speaker 1>in the small walls that she was given as a room.

490
00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:25.160
<v Speaker 1>Whenever Ariel allowed her to shower, it always came with

491
00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:28.720
<v Speaker 1>an unsettling condition. She had to shower with him.

492
00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:32.640
<v Speaker 2>Oh man, this is just a complete nightmare.

493
00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:36.240
<v Speaker 1>Now. Whenever they cried for help, he made sure that

494
00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:38.759
<v Speaker 1>no one would hear. As I mentioned already, he cranked

495
00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:42.599
<v Speaker 1>up the volume on stereos on radios, blasting music loud

496
00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:45.000
<v Speaker 1>enough to drown out whatever screams would come from within

497
00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:49.039
<v Speaker 1>the walls of that home. Amanda just tried to numb herself,

498
00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:53.559
<v Speaker 1>but she refused to let what was happening get uncounted.

499
00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:56.799
<v Speaker 1>She kept a secret record in her diary, the one

500
00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:59.599
<v Speaker 1>that he had given her, making each assault with a

501
00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:03.400
<v Speaker 1>number at the top of the page. So every time

502
00:28:03.480 --> 00:28:07.200
<v Speaker 1>she was assaulted, she would mark it down secretly without

503
00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:09.920
<v Speaker 1>him knowing. That way she can account for it all,

504
00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:15.000
<v Speaker 1>count the times and hoping that when this fucking nightmare ends,

505
00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:18.839
<v Speaker 1>he can pay for each and every single one.

506
00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:21.119
<v Speaker 2>Okay, she's smart, Hey.

507
00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:26.680
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, now. Michelle became pregnant multiple times, four maybe five,

508
00:28:27.079 --> 00:28:30.839
<v Speaker 1>but each time Ariel made sure that she miscarried by

509
00:28:30.839 --> 00:28:34.599
<v Speaker 1>beating her brutally. Whoa yeah. He'd starve her and attack

510
00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:37.039
<v Speaker 1>her stomach until the pregnancies would come to an end.

511
00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:40.599
<v Speaker 1>The damage was so severe that she was left unable

512
00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:42.519
<v Speaker 1>to ever have children again.

513
00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:44.200
<v Speaker 2>I was honestly wondering that.

514
00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.359
<v Speaker 1>Unfortunately, there was just no way out. The windows were

515
00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:51.400
<v Speaker 1>boarded up, the doors locked tight, and escape was met

516
00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:55.319
<v Speaker 1>with constant psychological warfare. To keep them on edge, he

517
00:28:55.400 --> 00:28:58.680
<v Speaker 1>played mind games. Sometimes he would pretend to leave the house,

518
00:28:58.759 --> 00:29:01.799
<v Speaker 1>only to quiet at least sneak his way back in

519
00:29:01.880 --> 00:29:04.119
<v Speaker 1>and check to see if anyone had tried to escape.

520
00:29:04.759 --> 00:29:07.079
<v Speaker 1>He'd warned them that if they ever did, he would

521
00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:10.559
<v Speaker 1>kill them. So then that way, you know, they might think,

522
00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:13.039
<v Speaker 1>is he out of the house, is he gone? Well,

523
00:29:13.079 --> 00:29:14.680
<v Speaker 1>I don't know, he might have snuck back in. We

524
00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:15.160
<v Speaker 1>don't know.

525
00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:18.680
<v Speaker 2>Just completely keeping them on edge at all times exactly.

526
00:29:19.480 --> 00:29:22.400
<v Speaker 1>Now, his control didn't stop at physical captivity. He like

527
00:29:22.759 --> 00:29:25.720
<v Speaker 1>physical captivity or like these these mind games that we go,

528
00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:27.480
<v Speaker 1>That's what I was looking for, the mind games. He

529
00:29:27.559 --> 00:29:31.559
<v Speaker 1>manipulated them emotionally, turning them against each other. There was

530
00:29:31.640 --> 00:29:35.920
<v Speaker 1>calculated rewards and punishments. He created a twisted system where

531
00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:39.240
<v Speaker 1>they could each earn cash allowance to buy food or essentials,

532
00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:42.759
<v Speaker 1>but only it came with a catch. He can take

533
00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:48.240
<v Speaker 1>it away too from punishments. So he fueled distrust between them,

534
00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:52.759
<v Speaker 1>basically giving out rewards, taking back things, making him making

535
00:29:52.759 --> 00:29:54.920
<v Speaker 1>them like jealous or angry at each other when they

536
00:29:54.920 --> 00:29:59.400
<v Speaker 1>got rewards and they didn't. That sort of situation now,

537
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:02.960
<v Speaker 1>he really few the distrust, especially between Amanda and Michelle.

538
00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:05.279
<v Speaker 1>When he first brought Gina into the house, he gave

539
00:30:05.319 --> 00:30:08.599
<v Speaker 1>her the nicest room and let her eat first, making

540
00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:14.200
<v Speaker 1>sure resentment grew. He would buy them small gifts not

541
00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:16.480
<v Speaker 1>out of kindness, but making them believe that there was

542
00:30:16.519 --> 00:30:19.359
<v Speaker 1>some level of care to them as well, making them

543
00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:24.720
<v Speaker 1>dependent of him, and then of course taking things away

544
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:25.680
<v Speaker 1>on top of it.

545
00:30:26.519 --> 00:30:30.599
<v Speaker 2>What a sick mind. This guy has, just the even

546
00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:34.640
<v Speaker 2>the thought process though, that he has behind all this stuff.

547
00:30:34.680 --> 00:30:37.440
<v Speaker 2>It's I don't know, it's hard to comprehend for me

548
00:30:38.599 --> 00:30:39.799
<v Speaker 2>that someone would think that way.

549
00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:42.759
<v Speaker 1>You know, well, if you think that's bad. One of

550
00:30:42.759 --> 00:30:46.880
<v Speaker 1>the cruelest games that he played was with Gina. One day,

551
00:30:46.920 --> 00:30:49.759
<v Speaker 1>he forced her to play Russian roulette.

552
00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:52.480
<v Speaker 2>Oh my goodness.

553
00:30:52.759 --> 00:30:55.119
<v Speaker 1>Now, if you don't know what Russian roulette is, it's

554
00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:59.599
<v Speaker 1>a very demented game where you put a single bullet

555
00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:04.119
<v Speaker 1>in a revolver, you spin that revolving chamber.

556
00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:04.640
<v Speaker 2>M hm.

557
00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:06.519
<v Speaker 1>You put the gun up to your head and you

558
00:31:06.519 --> 00:31:10.640
<v Speaker 1>pull the trigger. Do you get an empty, empty shot

559
00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:14.880
<v Speaker 1>or do you get the bullet? So he did this.

560
00:31:15.079 --> 00:31:17.359
<v Speaker 1>He handed her the gun, saying that there was a

561
00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:20.000
<v Speaker 1>single bullet inside, and he told her they would take

562
00:31:20.039 --> 00:31:24.519
<v Speaker 1>turns pulling the trigger. Now, at that point, Gina is

563
00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:27.440
<v Speaker 1>holding a gun in her hand with potentially a bullet

564
00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:31.480
<v Speaker 1>in it. She believed that there was never leaving that house,

565
00:31:31.480 --> 00:31:33.920
<v Speaker 1>but she had one thought. If she had to play,

566
00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:36.160
<v Speaker 1>she wanted to chant the chance to aim it directly

567
00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:37.079
<v Speaker 1>at him instead.

568
00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:39.720
<v Speaker 2>Right, Oh okay.

569
00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:43.920
<v Speaker 1>Now she did pulled the trigger and nothing happened. Of course,

570
00:31:43.960 --> 00:31:46.119
<v Speaker 1>there was no bullet in the gun. It was just

571
00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:49.559
<v Speaker 1>a sick, fucking twisted mind game. There was no hope

572
00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:52.680
<v Speaker 1>of getting it ended right then and there and escaping.

573
00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:56.000
<v Speaker 1>Whether it was her life or Aeriel's life.

574
00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:58.319
<v Speaker 2>Well, yeah, he wouldn't be playing that game if there

575
00:31:58.359 --> 00:31:59.799
<v Speaker 2>was a bullet in there exactly.

576
00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:04.119
<v Speaker 1>Now. Michelle was the most defiant of all three. She

577
00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:07.359
<v Speaker 1>never gave Ariel the respect that he wanted, refusing to

578
00:32:07.400 --> 00:32:11.720
<v Speaker 1>even say his name. In fact, she only called him dude.

579
00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:16.319
<v Speaker 1>She talked back, she challenged him, and she never fully submitted,

580
00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:21.160
<v Speaker 1>and of course Ariel hated that now. Later Michelle explained

581
00:32:21.160 --> 00:32:23.880
<v Speaker 1>why he couldn't break her, why she never gave in,

582
00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:28.519
<v Speaker 1>and this is what she said, quote, he wanted to

583
00:32:28.519 --> 00:32:32.000
<v Speaker 1>break me, and that's something he couldn't do, because you

584
00:32:32.039 --> 00:32:37.000
<v Speaker 1>can't break someone who's already broken. You can only make

585
00:32:37.039 --> 00:32:43.039
<v Speaker 1>them stronger. Oh man, Hope was the only thing they

586
00:32:43.160 --> 00:32:45.559
<v Speaker 1>refused to let go of, whether it was clinging to

587
00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:48.720
<v Speaker 1>the belief that their families would never stop searching, or

588
00:32:48.839 --> 00:32:52.400
<v Speaker 1>just small acts of defiance, like fantasizing about poisoning Castro

589
00:32:52.519 --> 00:32:55.200
<v Speaker 1>with rat poisoning. It was the only thing that kept

590
00:32:55.240 --> 00:32:58.559
<v Speaker 1>them going. Now. At first he kept them separated, locked

591
00:32:58.599 --> 00:33:00.759
<v Speaker 1>away in different rooms, but on me twenty third, two

592
00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:03.960
<v Speaker 1>thousand and four, he brought them together. But this wasn't

593
00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:07.240
<v Speaker 1>out of kindness. It was so that they could watch

594
00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:12.720
<v Speaker 1>a show. It was America's most wanted. The episode featured

595
00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:18.039
<v Speaker 1>both Amanda and Gina's Missing person's case. Their families were interviewed,

596
00:33:18.119 --> 00:33:21.440
<v Speaker 1>pleaing for their safe return, and watching it was gut

597
00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:24.480
<v Speaker 1>wrenching for them. Gina later said that after seeing it,

598
00:33:24.519 --> 00:33:27.119
<v Speaker 1>she couldn't even stand to look at at Ariel again,

599
00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:32.240
<v Speaker 1>but she had to pretend to be his friend to survive. Michelle, however,

600
00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:36.359
<v Speaker 1>wasn't mentioned at all in the show. Unlike Amanda and Gina,

601
00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:41.000
<v Speaker 1>she barely had any media coverage after she disappeared. Now

602
00:33:41.039 --> 00:33:43.880
<v Speaker 1>Ariel used this against her. He told her it was

603
00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:47.759
<v Speaker 1>because no one cared enough to look for her. Every

604
00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:50.279
<v Speaker 1>time Amanda's mother appeared on the news begging for her

605
00:33:50.319 --> 00:33:54.519
<v Speaker 1>daughter's return, he made sure Michelle saw it. Now whenever

606
00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:56.799
<v Speaker 1>they were brought together, the women spoke to each other

607
00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:01.200
<v Speaker 1>however they could, though Ariel tried to prevent it. He

608
00:34:01.240 --> 00:34:04.079
<v Speaker 1>would put gates up, you know, keep them apart, and

609
00:34:04.119 --> 00:34:07.960
<v Speaker 1>forbade them from talking at all. Now, when he wasn't watching,

610
00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:11.519
<v Speaker 1>they'd slip notes or drawings under doors, finding small ways

611
00:34:11.559 --> 00:34:16.599
<v Speaker 1>to communicate despite his isolation efforts. On the rare occasion

612
00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:18.760
<v Speaker 1>that Ariel left them alone in the house, they tried

613
00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:22.119
<v Speaker 1>to reclaim pieces of themselves. They danced, they sang, they

614
00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:25.760
<v Speaker 1>watched the Vampire Diaries, pretending just for a moment that

615
00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:29.199
<v Speaker 1>life was normal. Sometimes he let them step outside, but

616
00:34:29.280 --> 00:34:31.360
<v Speaker 1>only in the backyard a garage, and of course he

617
00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:33.880
<v Speaker 1>made sure that they were wearing disguises, things like a

618
00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:38.599
<v Speaker 1>helmet or wigs, ensuring no one would recognize them. Then

619
00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:43.119
<v Speaker 1>Amanda turned twenty and everything changed. She suspected that she

620
00:34:43.239 --> 00:34:47.159
<v Speaker 1>was pregnant. For some reason, Ariel didn't force her to

621
00:34:47.199 --> 00:34:50.480
<v Speaker 1>miscarry like he had with Michelle. He let her carry

622
00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:53.920
<v Speaker 1>the baby to term. On Christmas Day of two thousand

623
00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:58.039
<v Speaker 1>and six, Amanda went into labor. There was no hospital,

624
00:34:58.760 --> 00:35:01.760
<v Speaker 1>there was no doctor. In fact, Ariel had bought a

625
00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:04.119
<v Speaker 1>plastic baby pool for her to give Burthen and he

626
00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:08.599
<v Speaker 1>forced Michelle to help deliver the baby. When Amanda fought

627
00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:11.800
<v Speaker 1>through the labor, Ariel was just sitting back in a

628
00:35:11.840 --> 00:35:15.559
<v Speaker 1>rocking chair, casually flipping through a book on childbirth, offering

629
00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:20.360
<v Speaker 1>no help or assistance whatsoever. Now, when the baby was delivered,

630
00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:23.480
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't breathing at first, and Ariel threatened to kill

631
00:35:23.519 --> 00:35:26.639
<v Speaker 1>Michelle if she didn't get that baby's life saved, if

632
00:35:26.639 --> 00:35:29.400
<v Speaker 1>she didn't get it breathing again, because.

633
00:35:29.119 --> 00:35:30.679
<v Speaker 2>She would know how to do this kind of.

634
00:35:30.599 --> 00:35:33.840
<v Speaker 1>Stuff, I know, right, So desperate, she blew air into

635
00:35:33.840 --> 00:35:36.960
<v Speaker 1>the baby's mouth, doing everything she could in a makeshift CPR,

636
00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:40.960
<v Speaker 1>and finally the child took a breath.

637
00:35:41.199 --> 00:35:42.280
<v Speaker 2>Oh thank goodness.

638
00:35:43.119 --> 00:35:48.440
<v Speaker 1>Amanda named her newborn daughter, Jocelyn. For the women, Joscelyn

639
00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:50.840
<v Speaker 1>became a bright spot of light in the darkest place

640
00:35:50.880 --> 00:35:53.360
<v Speaker 1>imaginable that they were trapped in. She gave them a

641
00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:57.760
<v Speaker 1>reason to keep going. But Ariel's delusions only grew after

642
00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:00.760
<v Speaker 1>Joscelyn was born. He started calling Amanda his life. He

643
00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:04.679
<v Speaker 1>told them they were all a family. Now, this is

644
00:36:04.719 --> 00:36:08.840
<v Speaker 1>actually quite common in cases like this that this quote

645
00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:13.920
<v Speaker 1>unquote family mentality from the captors seems to take place. Now,

646
00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:16.840
<v Speaker 1>of course, it's just fucking delusion. But for whatever reason,

647
00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:20.559
<v Speaker 1>it happens. Now. For the most part, Jocelyn was hidden

648
00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:22.719
<v Speaker 1>from the world, just like the three women were, but

649
00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:26.039
<v Speaker 1>unlike them, Ariel occasionally let her outside. She went to

650
00:36:26.119 --> 00:36:30.840
<v Speaker 1>the backyard, the park, even church services with him. And

651
00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:33.639
<v Speaker 1>just to think, this guy was going to church, imagine

652
00:36:33.639 --> 00:36:36.039
<v Speaker 1>sitting next to this fucking piece of shit.

653
00:36:36.079 --> 00:36:37.840
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and wouldn't people be like, where the hell did

654
00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:39.679
<v Speaker 2>you get this kid from?

655
00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:42.719
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure he had his stories, yeah, I guess. Yeah.

656
00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:45.320
<v Speaker 1>He even took her to visit his family, including his

657
00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:46.280
<v Speaker 1>mother Lilian.

658
00:36:47.119 --> 00:36:48.480
<v Speaker 2>What the actual shit.

659
00:36:48.719 --> 00:36:52.920
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Jocelyn apparently called Lillian grandma or grandmother, and it's

660
00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:56.039
<v Speaker 1>unclear if she believed that the child believe whatever stories

661
00:36:56.039 --> 00:37:00.480
<v Speaker 1>he fed. But whenever she asked questions or sim chose

662
00:37:00.760 --> 00:37:03.239
<v Speaker 1>whether she asked questions, I mean, or simply chose to

663
00:37:03.280 --> 00:37:05.480
<v Speaker 1>accept things as they were, she never really raised any

664
00:37:05.480 --> 00:37:09.719
<v Speaker 1>alarms on where this kid came from. Now. Meanwhile, Amanda

665
00:37:09.719 --> 00:37:12.000
<v Speaker 1>lived in constant fear of Ariel and what he might

666
00:37:12.079 --> 00:37:15.480
<v Speaker 1>do to her daughter. In one of the strangest moments

667
00:37:15.559 --> 00:37:19.119
<v Speaker 1>during their captivity, the women watched breaking news in August

668
00:37:19.159 --> 00:37:22.719
<v Speaker 1>of two thousand and nine. That's when a story came on,

669
00:37:23.679 --> 00:37:27.920
<v Speaker 1>a story we may recognize J C. Dugert. She had

670
00:37:28.039 --> 00:37:33.039
<v Speaker 1>escaped after eighteen years in captivity. The women were glued

671
00:37:33.079 --> 00:37:36.199
<v Speaker 1>to the updates on this story, fascinated by it, by

672
00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:39.400
<v Speaker 1>the idea of someone surviving and living through it all

673
00:37:39.559 --> 00:37:45.519
<v Speaker 1>and finally getting free. What's the most strange about this situation? Though?

674
00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:51.000
<v Speaker 1>Regarding the j. C. Dugert situation, Ariel Castro made a

675
00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:54.920
<v Speaker 1>comment quote that guy was crazy.

676
00:37:58.280 --> 00:38:00.920
<v Speaker 2>What he doesn't want to become compaired to the same

677
00:38:01.440 --> 00:38:03.159
<v Speaker 2>as the same basically.

678
00:38:03.159 --> 00:38:06.280
<v Speaker 1>I guess not. He's talking about Philip Garrido, the man

679
00:38:06.320 --> 00:38:08.840
<v Speaker 1>who captured Jacy Dugard and held her for eighteen years.

680
00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:12.639
<v Speaker 1>In fact, jac gave birth to a daughter. He very

681
00:38:12.719 --> 00:38:16.440
<v Speaker 1>much so got this family mentality, same sort of thing

682
00:38:17.519 --> 00:38:20.760
<v Speaker 1>he held her in captivity, and Ariel's doing the exact

683
00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:23.800
<v Speaker 1>same thing, and he didn't, for whatever reason.

684
00:38:23.719 --> 00:38:25.320
<v Speaker 2>In his deluded mind.

685
00:38:25.159 --> 00:38:27.400
<v Speaker 1>See the parallels between the two of them, and if

686
00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:28.840
<v Speaker 1>he did, he refused to acknowledge it.

687
00:38:29.719 --> 00:38:32.320
<v Speaker 2>Wow, I mean, it's not surprising that he, in his

688
00:38:32.440 --> 00:38:35.440
<v Speaker 2>mind would say he's completely different than that.

689
00:38:35.800 --> 00:38:39.840
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. And the women actually pointed out the parallels in

690
00:38:39.880 --> 00:38:42.639
<v Speaker 1>the story directly to him like this is us though,

691
00:38:44.360 --> 00:38:46.920
<v Speaker 1>and when they pointed it out, he simply asked them, quote,

692
00:38:47.119 --> 00:38:48.400
<v Speaker 1>are you going to write a book about this?

693
00:38:49.960 --> 00:38:51.719
<v Speaker 2>Oh? Gosh.

694
00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:56.280
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Now, Ariel must have felt invincible. He kept them

695
00:38:56.320 --> 00:38:59.159
<v Speaker 1>hidden for so long that he wasn't afraid of getting caught.

696
00:38:59.559 --> 00:39:02.239
<v Speaker 1>He even allowed friends and family to visit the house,

697
00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:05.559
<v Speaker 1>making the women hide whenever someone came over. Now, during

698
00:39:05.599 --> 00:39:07.880
<v Speaker 1>one visit, the women were locked in the basement while

699
00:39:07.880 --> 00:39:11.920
<v Speaker 1>Ariel's daughter Arlene was upstairs. They were so close to

700
00:39:11.960 --> 00:39:14.519
<v Speaker 1>calling out for help to Arlene, but the fear that

701
00:39:14.559 --> 00:39:17.679
<v Speaker 1>Ariel was still there and what he would do to

702
00:39:17.719 --> 00:39:22.079
<v Speaker 1>them kept them silent. In twenty ten, police raided the

703
00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:25.440
<v Speaker 1>house next door. They were right there, so close to freedom,

704
00:39:25.440 --> 00:39:27.719
<v Speaker 1>but again they were too afraid to take a risk

705
00:39:27.840 --> 00:39:31.920
<v Speaker 1>and call out for help. Another time, when family came over,

706
00:39:32.280 --> 00:39:35.599
<v Speaker 1>Ariel hid them in a van. They sat inside, knowing

707
00:39:35.639 --> 00:39:38.000
<v Speaker 1>that just feet away were people who could save them

708
00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:41.599
<v Speaker 1>if they only knew, but again they just could not

709
00:39:42.280 --> 00:39:42.760
<v Speaker 1>call out.

710
00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:46.559
<v Speaker 2>Well, the consequences for them would be terrible.

711
00:39:46.920 --> 00:39:50.840
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Now, when police were investigating Gina's disappearance, they did

712
00:39:50.880 --> 00:39:55.079
<v Speaker 1>look in a look at her connections, including a friend

713
00:39:55.159 --> 00:40:02.239
<v Speaker 1>that she had Ariel. This should have led them straight. Sorry, friend, Arlene,

714
00:40:02.719 --> 00:40:06.280
<v Speaker 1>this should have led them straight to Ariel, but instead

715
00:40:06.280 --> 00:40:11.199
<v Speaker 1>they focused on Gina's stepfather, Fernando. Fernando later said that

716
00:40:11.320 --> 00:40:14.000
<v Speaker 1>during questioning, he told police they were looking at the

717
00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:18.760
<v Speaker 1>wrong man and he pointed directly at Ariel instead, even

718
00:40:18.800 --> 00:40:22.239
<v Speaker 1>mentioning his violent tendencies, but nothing ever came of it.

719
00:40:22.960 --> 00:40:25.280
<v Speaker 1>Now the FBI claimed that there was no record of

720
00:40:25.320 --> 00:40:29.679
<v Speaker 1>this warning coming from Fernando. One of the closest calls

721
00:40:29.760 --> 00:40:34.679
<v Speaker 1>came from Ariel's other daughter, Angie. Apparently that family really

722
00:40:34.719 --> 00:40:35.400
<v Speaker 1>likes her a names.

723
00:40:35.400 --> 00:40:37.679
<v Speaker 2>Well, yeah, it's kind of messing you up at.

724
00:40:37.519 --> 00:40:43.599
<v Speaker 1>Times, Arlene, Angie and their father Ariel. So now she

725
00:40:43.679 --> 00:40:46.800
<v Speaker 1>received a strange voicemail, likely a pocket dial, you know

726
00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:49.239
<v Speaker 1>when you sit on your phone pocket on someone right now.

727
00:40:49.239 --> 00:40:51.079
<v Speaker 1>On the recording was a young woman that could be

728
00:40:51.119 --> 00:40:55.960
<v Speaker 1>heard in the background screaming get away from me. Angie

729
00:40:56.039 --> 00:40:58.119
<v Speaker 1>was alarmed. She reported it to police, hoping that they

730
00:40:58.119 --> 00:41:00.920
<v Speaker 1>would find who made the call. Traced the number but

731
00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:08.159
<v Speaker 1>concluded it came from a different phone, not Ariels. Many

732
00:41:08.159 --> 00:41:11.880
<v Speaker 1>people question if there was a mistake made in tracing

733
00:41:11.880 --> 00:41:14.880
<v Speaker 1>that phone call m and believe it did come from

734
00:41:14.880 --> 00:41:15.559
<v Speaker 1>Ariel's phone.

735
00:41:16.400 --> 00:41:19.880
<v Speaker 2>Damn, that is so close. Hey.

736
00:41:20.239 --> 00:41:24.880
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. At one point police thought Amanda's case had been solved.

737
00:41:25.400 --> 00:41:29.679
<v Speaker 1>In twenty twelve, Robert Wilford, a convicted murderer, suddenly claimed

738
00:41:29.719 --> 00:41:33.960
<v Speaker 1>that he'd also killed Amanda Barry. Investigators had no reason

739
00:41:33.960 --> 00:41:36.559
<v Speaker 1>to doubt him. He even passed the lie detector test,

740
00:41:36.599 --> 00:41:38.320
<v Speaker 1>which as we know, is quite reliable.

741
00:41:38.440 --> 00:41:38.679
<v Speaker 2>Yep.

742
00:41:38.840 --> 00:41:40.440
<v Speaker 1>But he told them he could lead them right to

743
00:41:40.480 --> 00:41:43.880
<v Speaker 1>her remains. It wasn't the outcome anyone wanted, but for

744
00:41:43.920 --> 00:41:47.039
<v Speaker 1>Amanda's family, it meant closure. So police searched where he

745
00:41:47.119 --> 00:41:50.079
<v Speaker 1>directed them to, which was an area which was eerily

746
00:41:50.119 --> 00:41:53.039
<v Speaker 1>close to where she'd actually be held was being held captive,

747
00:41:53.519 --> 00:41:59.199
<v Speaker 1>but they found nothing, no remains. Then everything changed. On

748
00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:00.840
<v Speaker 1>May six of twenty.

749
00:42:00.559 --> 00:42:03.440
<v Speaker 2>Thirteen, two and thirteen.

750
00:42:03.679 --> 00:42:09.679
<v Speaker 1>Hey, yes, Joscelyn, who had been more given more freedom

751
00:42:09.719 --> 00:42:13.199
<v Speaker 1>in the house than the other women, went downstairs. A

752
00:42:13.239 --> 00:42:17.639
<v Speaker 1>moment later, she ran back up to Amanda and said this,

753
00:42:18.920 --> 00:42:24.880
<v Speaker 1>I don't find daddy. Daddy's nowhere around. And then Amanda

754
00:42:24.920 --> 00:42:28.119
<v Speaker 1>noticed something else. For the first time in ten years,

755
00:42:28.119 --> 00:42:32.800
<v Speaker 1>her bedroom door was unlocked. She didn't know if it

756
00:42:32.800 --> 00:42:35.599
<v Speaker 1>was another one of Ariel's tests, but it didn't matter.

757
00:42:36.199 --> 00:42:40.559
<v Speaker 1>She knew this was their chance. He wasn't in the house.

758
00:42:41.639 --> 00:42:46.400
<v Speaker 1>The door was unlocked. She made her way downstairs, heart

759
00:42:46.480 --> 00:42:49.719
<v Speaker 1>pounding all the while. Jocelyn was right, there was no

760
00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:52.559
<v Speaker 1>sign of him. Now, the front door had an alarm,

761
00:42:53.679 --> 00:42:56.719
<v Speaker 1>but beyond that was a storm door, and that's what

762
00:42:56.800 --> 00:43:01.840
<v Speaker 1>posed a real problem. It was padlocked shut. She managed

763
00:43:01.880 --> 00:43:03.760
<v Speaker 1>to get through to that storm door and yanked it

764
00:43:03.800 --> 00:43:07.000
<v Speaker 1>open just enough to squeeze her arm through and start

765
00:43:07.199 --> 00:43:12.800
<v Speaker 1>screaming outside for help. Now upstairs, Gina was frozen in fear,

766
00:43:12.880 --> 00:43:15.519
<v Speaker 1>terrified the ariel had actually caught Amanda, and that's why

767
00:43:15.519 --> 00:43:18.280
<v Speaker 1>she was screaming. She told Miss Michelle to stay put

768
00:43:18.360 --> 00:43:20.960
<v Speaker 1>instead of running for help, Just stay here, right, We

769
00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:22.000
<v Speaker 1>don't want to get hurt too.

770
00:43:22.280 --> 00:43:23.000
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

771
00:43:23.199 --> 00:43:27.079
<v Speaker 1>Now, across the street, seventy five year old Aurora Marty

772
00:43:27.360 --> 00:43:30.320
<v Speaker 1>heard these screams, and when she saw the arm reaching

773
00:43:30.360 --> 00:43:34.320
<v Speaker 1>through the dorm, she rushed over. The first thing Amanda

774
00:43:34.400 --> 00:43:41.639
<v Speaker 1>said upon Aurora meeting her was I'm Amanda Barry. Oh no,

775
00:43:41.639 --> 00:43:45.199
<v Speaker 1>now Marty, sorry. Aurora Marty barely spoke English, but she

776
00:43:45.280 --> 00:43:46.159
<v Speaker 1>knew that name.

777
00:43:46.360 --> 00:43:46.800
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

778
00:43:46.840 --> 00:43:49.280
<v Speaker 1>She shook her head in disbelief, and she said, you

779
00:43:49.320 --> 00:43:50.280
<v Speaker 1>can't be Amanda.

780
00:43:50.559 --> 00:43:55.480
<v Speaker 2>Amanda's dead, right, Okay, that's what the world thinks right now.

781
00:43:55.599 --> 00:44:00.599
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, hm. Now, because of Aurora's elderly ages seventy five,

782
00:44:00.679 --> 00:44:03.360
<v Speaker 1>she had some arthritis and she struggled to help Amanda

783
00:44:03.360 --> 00:44:05.880
<v Speaker 1>pull that door open. Then a man by the name

784
00:44:05.920 --> 00:44:09.920
<v Speaker 1>of Charles Ramsey saw what was happening. There was I mean,

785
00:44:09.960 --> 00:44:12.679
<v Speaker 1>there are some different accounts on what exactly happened next,

786
00:44:12.679 --> 00:44:15.719
<v Speaker 1>but what is certain is that Amanda begged for help

787
00:44:16.199 --> 00:44:19.039
<v Speaker 1>getting that door open, and Charles grabbed the other side

788
00:44:19.039 --> 00:44:21.159
<v Speaker 1>of that door and tried to force it open, but

789
00:44:21.239 --> 00:44:23.800
<v Speaker 1>it's padlock shut and they couldn't get it. So when

790
00:44:23.800 --> 00:44:26.039
<v Speaker 1>that didn't work, he started kicking at the bottom of

791
00:44:26.039 --> 00:44:27.920
<v Speaker 1>the door and told Amanda to do the same on

792
00:44:27.960 --> 00:44:31.840
<v Speaker 1>the inside. So she did, both of them beating at

793
00:44:31.840 --> 00:44:34.960
<v Speaker 1>the door on the bottom panel. It finally gave way

794
00:44:35.360 --> 00:44:40.559
<v Speaker 1>just enough for her to crawl through. Charles Ramsey would

795
00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:43.119
<v Speaker 1>later give an interview that went viral. As we kind

796
00:44:43.119 --> 00:44:45.480
<v Speaker 1>of talked about at the very beginning, his shock and

797
00:44:45.519 --> 00:44:50.599
<v Speaker 1>disbelief mixed with his unexpected way of delivering it in

798
00:44:50.639 --> 00:44:53.599
<v Speaker 1>a bit of a humorous way, ended up in a

799
00:44:53.719 --> 00:44:57.119
<v Speaker 1>viral YouTube video called dead giveaway that now to this

800
00:44:57.199 --> 00:45:01.960
<v Speaker 1>day has over thirty seven million views on YouTube. But yeah,

801
00:45:02.119 --> 00:45:05.239
<v Speaker 1>at that moment, there was nothing funny about it. Obviously

802
00:45:05.360 --> 00:45:08.159
<v Speaker 1>maybe in hindsight, I mean a little bit, that's his

803
00:45:08.199 --> 00:45:13.000
<v Speaker 1>way of maybe playing off the traumatic moment. But it

804
00:45:13.039 --> 00:45:16.119
<v Speaker 1>went viral on YouTube. It went viral across the news

805
00:45:16.519 --> 00:45:22.719
<v Speaker 1>and the world. These girls were safe. But before we

806
00:45:22.719 --> 00:45:25.679
<v Speaker 1>get ahead of ourselves, let's talk about still within this

807
00:45:25.800 --> 00:45:28.639
<v Speaker 1>moment where her six year old daughter in her arms,

808
00:45:28.639 --> 00:45:31.239
<v Speaker 1>Amanda ran. She sprinted to the neighbor's house and called

809
00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:34.159
<v Speaker 1>nine to one one. Now Charles was also calling nine

810
00:45:34.199 --> 00:45:36.199
<v Speaker 1>wood one at that exact moment, so they had multiple

811
00:45:36.199 --> 00:45:39.440
<v Speaker 1>people getting of the line. Her voice was shaking in

812
00:45:39.519 --> 00:45:43.360
<v Speaker 1>fear that Ariel would come back at any moment. She

813
00:45:43.519 --> 00:45:45.519
<v Speaker 1>was still terrified that he was going to hurt her,

814
00:45:45.719 --> 00:45:48.639
<v Speaker 1>kill her anything. Even though she was now safe, she

815
00:45:48.719 --> 00:45:52.039
<v Speaker 1>had people around her protecting her, she was still terrified

816
00:45:52.039 --> 00:45:52.880
<v Speaker 1>that he would get to her.

817
00:45:52.960 --> 00:45:55.599
<v Speaker 2>Well. She also has like her daughter to think about

818
00:45:55.599 --> 00:45:56.440
<v Speaker 2>too now right.

819
00:45:56.360 --> 00:46:02.079
<v Speaker 1>Exactly now, police were immediately dispatched. Two minutes later they arrived.

820
00:46:02.159 --> 00:46:04.320
<v Speaker 1>When they pulled up, they saw a woman waving them down,

821
00:46:04.760 --> 00:46:07.239
<v Speaker 1>little girl in her arms. Now, at first they didn't

822
00:46:07.239 --> 00:46:10.079
<v Speaker 1>know what to think. They're like, Okay, what's going on.

823
00:46:10.159 --> 00:46:13.480
<v Speaker 1>You know someone's claiming you know, they're Amanda Berry. Sure, whatever,

824
00:46:13.599 --> 00:46:17.079
<v Speaker 1>it's probably some crazy person. Who knows. But when they

825
00:46:17.119 --> 00:46:20.679
<v Speaker 1>pulled up and they realized the situation, they were back

826
00:46:20.719 --> 00:46:24.199
<v Speaker 1>on the radios to dispatch. This is real. This could

827
00:46:24.239 --> 00:46:28.800
<v Speaker 1>be Amanda Barry. Then she said something, said something that

828
00:46:28.840 --> 00:46:32.519
<v Speaker 1>made their blood run cold. There's more girls in that house.

829
00:46:34.159 --> 00:46:37.760
<v Speaker 1>Two officers forced their way inside through the same broken

830
00:46:37.880 --> 00:46:40.559
<v Speaker 1>storm door that Amanda had escaped through. They searched the

831
00:46:40.599 --> 00:46:43.880
<v Speaker 1>basement first, it was empty, and one of them climbed

832
00:46:43.880 --> 00:46:48.119
<v Speaker 1>the stairs, yelling Cleveland Police. Now Michelle had no idea

833
00:46:48.119 --> 00:46:50.079
<v Speaker 1>what was happening, but when she finally worked up the

834
00:46:50.079 --> 00:46:53.159
<v Speaker 1>courage to find out, she opened her door and there

835
00:46:53.199 --> 00:46:55.679
<v Speaker 1>was an officer standing right in front of her.

836
00:46:55.800 --> 00:46:58.400
<v Speaker 2>Oh man, I just got goosebumps from this.

837
00:46:58.920 --> 00:47:01.519
<v Speaker 1>The moment she realized what was happening, she ran into

838
00:47:01.559 --> 00:47:04.960
<v Speaker 1>his arms, held him tight and said, you saved me,

839
00:47:05.840 --> 00:47:08.760
<v Speaker 1>You saved me, and she refused to let go.

840
00:47:09.320 --> 00:47:14.599
<v Speaker 2>Oh my goodness, I can't even imagine this, the emotion

841
00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:16.119
<v Speaker 2>going through her brain.

842
00:47:16.199 --> 00:47:19.320
<v Speaker 1>Hey yeah, Now the officer could barely hold back his

843
00:47:19.400 --> 00:47:22.280
<v Speaker 1>emotions and tears. Oh yeah, him too, and he asked

844
00:47:22.280 --> 00:47:24.639
<v Speaker 1>if there was anyone else inside, and that's when Gina

845
00:47:24.679 --> 00:47:27.559
<v Speaker 1>stepped out of another bedroom for the first time in

846
00:47:27.599 --> 00:47:30.639
<v Speaker 1>over a decade. The three women were outside the house.

847
00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:35.239
<v Speaker 1>Michelle was now thirty two years old, Amanda was twenty seven,

848
00:47:35.320 --> 00:47:40.239
<v Speaker 1>and Gina was twenty three. Police wasted no time in

849
00:47:40.320 --> 00:47:45.920
<v Speaker 1>broadcasting a description of Ariel Castro's vehicle. He was very

850
00:47:46.000 --> 00:47:49.559
<v Speaker 1>quickly found pulling into a McDonald's parking lot and arrested

851
00:47:49.639 --> 00:47:53.639
<v Speaker 1>on the spot at six sixteen pm. One of his

852
00:47:53.880 --> 00:47:55.599
<v Speaker 1>male relatives was in the car with him at the

853
00:47:55.639 --> 00:47:58.440
<v Speaker 1>time as well, and soon after police announced that they

854
00:47:58.519 --> 00:48:03.519
<v Speaker 1>had also arrested to other men, Ariel's brother brothers, Pedro

855
00:48:03.719 --> 00:48:07.800
<v Speaker 1>and O'Neil. All three were taken in for questioning. O'Neill

856
00:48:07.880 --> 00:48:09.519
<v Speaker 1>had been the one with him in the vehicle at

857
00:48:09.519 --> 00:48:12.800
<v Speaker 1>the time when he was caught, which raised suspicions, but

858
00:48:12.880 --> 00:48:17.719
<v Speaker 1>after investigations, police determined that neither brother had any involvement.

859
00:48:17.920 --> 00:48:19.639
<v Speaker 2>Okay, yeah, I'm like, I didn't think they did.

860
00:48:19.840 --> 00:48:21.360
<v Speaker 1>They were released without charges.

861
00:48:21.639 --> 00:48:23.719
<v Speaker 2>They were probably just as shocked as what the fuck's

862
00:48:23.760 --> 00:48:24.480
<v Speaker 2>going on here?

863
00:48:24.639 --> 00:48:28.639
<v Speaker 1>Most likely most likely probably knew.

864
00:48:28.400 --> 00:48:31.119
<v Speaker 2>Their brother was kind of weird, but then didn't think.

865
00:48:31.400 --> 00:48:33.800
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure he was capable of this exactly.

866
00:48:34.719 --> 00:48:37.840
<v Speaker 1>Now, the rescue made headlines across the world. Instead of

867
00:48:37.880 --> 00:48:41.280
<v Speaker 1>celebrating her freedom, Michelle was rushed to the hospital, though

868
00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:46.280
<v Speaker 1>she complained of chest pains and trouble breathing at the time. Now,

869
00:48:46.320 --> 00:48:49.159
<v Speaker 1>she was so small when she escaped that house. She

870
00:48:49.320 --> 00:48:51.800
<v Speaker 1>was just eighty four pounds.

871
00:48:51.960 --> 00:48:53.280
<v Speaker 2>Wow. Seriously.

872
00:48:53.599 --> 00:48:56.000
<v Speaker 1>In fact, police had mistaken her for a child at

873
00:48:56.039 --> 00:48:56.960
<v Speaker 1>first when they found her.

874
00:48:57.119 --> 00:48:57.920
<v Speaker 2>Oh Man.

875
00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:01.599
<v Speaker 1>At the hospital, doctor discovered that she had a bacterial

876
00:49:01.639 --> 00:49:04.400
<v Speaker 1>infection in her stomach, and in fact, she had only

877
00:49:04.480 --> 00:49:06.039
<v Speaker 1>a few days left to live.

878
00:49:06.159 --> 00:49:10.079
<v Speaker 2>If went untreated seriously, and they would not have known this,

879
00:49:10.360 --> 00:49:11.119
<v Speaker 2>she would have died.

880
00:49:11.320 --> 00:49:14.239
<v Speaker 1>She was about to die. If she didn't escape that day,

881
00:49:14.360 --> 00:49:16.000
<v Speaker 1>she would have died.

882
00:49:16.159 --> 00:49:20.559
<v Speaker 2>What what? Okay? That is unreal.

883
00:49:20.760 --> 00:49:25.559
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Thankfully she recovered, But the damage that she inflicted

884
00:49:25.599 --> 00:49:28.679
<v Speaker 1>during this whole ordeal was going to last a lifetime.

885
00:49:28.760 --> 00:49:32.039
<v Speaker 1>H huh because of his relentless assaults. As I mentioned already,

886
00:49:32.079 --> 00:49:34.920
<v Speaker 1>she would never be able to have children. Her eyesight

887
00:49:35.199 --> 00:49:39.360
<v Speaker 1>was permanently affected after spending so many years in the dark,

888
00:49:40.480 --> 00:49:43.159
<v Speaker 1>repeated beatings, damaged her bones in her face, and at

889
00:49:43.159 --> 00:49:45.960
<v Speaker 1>one point Ariel had even shattered her jaw with a barbell.

890
00:49:47.280 --> 00:49:48.360
<v Speaker 2>Whoh, what a monster.

891
00:49:48.800 --> 00:49:52.320
<v Speaker 1>So that alone tells you that how light I was

892
00:49:52.360 --> 00:49:55.559
<v Speaker 1>going on the descriptions of their assaults, their various assaults,

893
00:49:56.760 --> 00:49:59.519
<v Speaker 1>but none of that compared to the mental toll. There

894
00:49:59.519 --> 00:50:03.599
<v Speaker 1>were moments when she considered ending her own life, but

895
00:50:03.760 --> 00:50:06.920
<v Speaker 1>every time she reached that breaking point, she thought of

896
00:50:07.000 --> 00:50:10.440
<v Speaker 1>her son Joey, and that thought kept her going.

897
00:50:11.280 --> 00:50:14.199
<v Speaker 2>Well, because he was I feel like he was. I mean,

898
00:50:14.199 --> 00:50:16.480
<v Speaker 2>he was cruel to all of them, but it seemed

899
00:50:16.519 --> 00:50:20.559
<v Speaker 2>like almost her the worst, especially saying you know, no

900
00:50:20.639 --> 00:50:22.599
<v Speaker 2>one was looking for her and all this stuff.

901
00:50:22.639 --> 00:50:26.679
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, just terrible. Exactly. Now, after all three of the

902
00:50:26.719 --> 00:50:29.400
<v Speaker 1>women were freed, Ariel's house was boarded up and people

903
00:50:29.440 --> 00:50:32.760
<v Speaker 1>started coming forward with stories about the house on Seymour Avenue,

904
00:50:33.039 --> 00:50:35.599
<v Speaker 1>the house the three girls were captured and held in.

905
00:50:37.280 --> 00:50:40.800
<v Speaker 1>One woman, Elsie Centron, who lived just three doors down,

906
00:50:40.880 --> 00:50:43.239
<v Speaker 1>said that years earlier her daughter had seen a naked

907
00:50:43.280 --> 00:50:46.639
<v Speaker 1>woman crawling in Aeros backyard. Now she called and reported

908
00:50:46.679 --> 00:50:49.880
<v Speaker 1>to police, but nothing ever came of it. Another neighbor,

909
00:50:50.280 --> 00:50:53.639
<v Speaker 1>Israel Lugo, recalled hearing loud pounding from inside the home

910
00:50:53.639 --> 00:50:56.800
<v Speaker 1>in twenty eleven. It was so alarming that he called police,

911
00:50:56.920 --> 00:50:59.920
<v Speaker 1>and officers arrived knocked on the door. When no one answered,

912
00:51:00.079 --> 00:51:04.159
<v Speaker 1>they left it of that. Police later admitted that they'd

913
00:51:04.199 --> 00:51:07.079
<v Speaker 1>been to Ariel's house twice in the past fifteen years,

914
00:51:07.360 --> 00:51:09.800
<v Speaker 1>but they insist that neither visit was related to the

915
00:51:09.800 --> 00:51:15.880
<v Speaker 1>women's disappearance. After his arrest, other neighbors painted a completely

916
00:51:15.920 --> 00:51:19.039
<v Speaker 1>different picture of him. They told them he was friendly,

917
00:51:19.400 --> 00:51:22.760
<v Speaker 1>He was respectful, always smiling, and kids in the neighborhood

918
00:51:22.760 --> 00:51:24.920
<v Speaker 1>even trusted him. He let children ride in the back

919
00:51:24.960 --> 00:51:29.119
<v Speaker 1>of his motorcycle through the neighborhood. But Ariel was almost

920
00:51:29.159 --> 00:51:33.039
<v Speaker 1>caught multiple times. Long before he kidnapped these three women,

921
00:51:33.159 --> 00:51:35.719
<v Speaker 1>he had a long history of violence. Whether he seemed

922
00:51:35.719 --> 00:51:38.440
<v Speaker 1>friendly in the neighborhood or not, he had these run

923
00:51:38.440 --> 00:51:42.039
<v Speaker 1>ins with the law. In nineteen ninety four, a neighbor

924
00:51:42.239 --> 00:51:44.360
<v Speaker 1>went to check on his property and noticed a chaining

925
00:51:44.400 --> 00:51:47.880
<v Speaker 1>fence was missing. When he confronted Ariel about it, Ariel snapped,

926
00:51:47.920 --> 00:51:51.639
<v Speaker 1>grabbed a shovel, and attacked him. In two thousand and four,

927
00:51:51.719 --> 00:51:53.880
<v Speaker 1>while working as a school bus driver, he was charged

928
00:51:53.880 --> 00:51:57.400
<v Speaker 1>with child endangerment and abduction. He had allegedly left a

929
00:51:57.440 --> 00:52:00.000
<v Speaker 1>thirteen year old boy alone in the bus, then returned

930
00:52:00.039 --> 00:52:04.000
<v Speaker 1>earned drove to Wendy's and told the child to lay down, bitch.

931
00:52:04.559 --> 00:52:09.320
<v Speaker 1>That's quote unquote, before eating in his seat. The fact

932
00:52:09.360 --> 00:52:11.519
<v Speaker 1>that this heading inside to eat that.

933
00:52:11.639 --> 00:52:13.679
<v Speaker 2>Is also was like a school bus driver.

934
00:52:14.159 --> 00:52:19.000
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Now, he later denied saying quote lay down bitch,

935
00:52:19.719 --> 00:52:21.920
<v Speaker 1>but when questioned, he claimed that he just totally fraught

936
00:52:21.960 --> 00:52:26.079
<v Speaker 1>the kid was there. That's basically what happened. Now. He

937
00:52:26.159 --> 00:52:28.639
<v Speaker 1>was suspended for sixty days, but the charges were dropped

938
00:52:28.679 --> 00:52:30.880
<v Speaker 1>due to lack of evidence. He kept his job until

939
00:52:30.880 --> 00:52:33.079
<v Speaker 1>twenty twelve, when he was fired for leaving the bus

940
00:52:33.159 --> 00:52:36.760
<v Speaker 1>unattended in a fire lane for hours. Then there were

941
00:52:36.760 --> 00:52:41.239
<v Speaker 1>police reports about his violent abuse of his common law wife.

942
00:52:41.440 --> 00:52:45.960
<v Speaker 1>Now his wife's name was Grimilda Figueroa. The report dated

943
00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:48.760
<v Speaker 1>back to nineteen eighty nine. She called the police on

944
00:52:48.840 --> 00:52:52.480
<v Speaker 1>multiple occasions, but never followed through with charges. Ariel had

945
00:52:52.519 --> 00:52:55.199
<v Speaker 1>allegedly threatened to kill her and their children if she

946
00:52:55.239 --> 00:52:59.760
<v Speaker 1>ever did. One report detailed how she asked him where

947
00:53:00.119 --> 00:53:04.400
<v Speaker 1>he was going, simple question, and he lashed out and

948
00:53:04.440 --> 00:53:07.440
<v Speaker 1>slapped her across the face when she tried to escape

949
00:53:07.440 --> 00:53:10.639
<v Speaker 1>he slammed her into the wall and also against a

950
00:53:10.719 --> 00:53:11.440
<v Speaker 1>washing machine.

951
00:53:12.079 --> 00:53:14.320
<v Speaker 2>It's almost surprising that she was able to get away

952
00:53:14.360 --> 00:53:15.800
<v Speaker 2>from him, Hey, it is.

953
00:53:16.599 --> 00:53:18.880
<v Speaker 1>Another time he brutally stomped on her head with his

954
00:53:18.960 --> 00:53:22.559
<v Speaker 1>boots in front of their kids. Now her son managed

955
00:53:22.559 --> 00:53:25.760
<v Speaker 1>to run out of the house, and in that split second,

956
00:53:25.800 --> 00:53:29.000
<v Speaker 1>she locked Ariel out of the home and called the police.

957
00:53:29.239 --> 00:53:32.280
<v Speaker 1>When officers arrive, Ariel tried to run and they caught

958
00:53:32.360 --> 00:53:35.280
<v Speaker 1>him by then. The damage that he inflicted on his

959
00:53:35.320 --> 00:53:39.599
<v Speaker 1>wife or common law wife, Figueroa was horrific. According to

960
00:53:39.639 --> 00:53:42.239
<v Speaker 1>a court petition, she had a broken nose, broken ribs,

961
00:53:42.280 --> 00:53:46.559
<v Speaker 1>two dislocated shoulders, and a missing tooth. The repeated head

962
00:53:46.599 --> 00:53:49.880
<v Speaker 1>injuries caused her to develop a brain tumor as well. Allegedly,

963
00:53:51.039 --> 00:53:53.320
<v Speaker 1>she finally built up the courage to testify against him

964
00:53:53.320 --> 00:53:56.880
<v Speaker 1>in court, but just before she could, Ariel allegedly threatened

965
00:53:56.920 --> 00:54:00.480
<v Speaker 1>her once again, this time at the court house entrance,

966
00:54:01.280 --> 00:54:05.599
<v Speaker 1>and she never took the stand. Oh Man, Without her testimony,

967
00:54:05.599 --> 00:54:10.039
<v Speaker 1>prosecutors didn't have enough evidence and Castro Ariel Castro walked.

968
00:54:09.760 --> 00:54:12.519
<v Speaker 2>Free, okay, Because I'm like, how on earth is someone

969
00:54:12.559 --> 00:54:14.800
<v Speaker 2>like this able to even be a bus driver? But like,

970
00:54:14.840 --> 00:54:16.239
<v Speaker 2>he just gets away with shit.

971
00:54:16.920 --> 00:54:19.119
<v Speaker 1>Now. He may have been able to get away with

972
00:54:19.199 --> 00:54:22.719
<v Speaker 1>that incident, but of course with a new one, with

973
00:54:22.760 --> 00:54:26.239
<v Speaker 1>these three survivors, it was going to be a different story, y'all.

974
00:54:26.239 --> 00:54:29.320
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, there's no way he can escape this now.

975
00:54:29.400 --> 00:54:32.920
<v Speaker 1>During his trial, he tried to paint himself as the victim.

976
00:54:33.840 --> 00:54:37.679
<v Speaker 1>He claimed to have an addiction to adult content and insisted, quote,

977
00:54:38.119 --> 00:54:42.960
<v Speaker 1>I'm not a monster. I'm sick, oh man, this nasty bastard.

978
00:54:43.199 --> 00:54:46.440
<v Speaker 1>He denied the evidence found in his home, the chains, ropes,

979
00:54:46.559 --> 00:54:50.199
<v Speaker 1>locks and everything he used to keep them trapped, and

980
00:54:50.239 --> 00:54:52.880
<v Speaker 1>he said that he treated them well. When he was

981
00:54:52.880 --> 00:54:57.159
<v Speaker 1>asked about forcing Michelle to miscarry multiple pregnancies, he admitted

982
00:54:57.199 --> 00:54:59.960
<v Speaker 1>to it, but he claimed it was always a mutual,

983
00:55:00.119 --> 00:55:06.000
<v Speaker 1>consensual decision. He refused to take responsibility, making excuses all

984
00:55:06.039 --> 00:55:08.760
<v Speaker 1>along the way, insisting that he wasn't a bad person,

985
00:55:09.039 --> 00:55:11.639
<v Speaker 1>but he knew exactly what he was what he was doing.

986
00:55:12.079 --> 00:55:15.199
<v Speaker 1>He kidnapped, he tortured, and he controlled them for decades,

987
00:55:15.679 --> 00:55:17.920
<v Speaker 1>and so how can you not be a bad fucking person.

988
00:55:18.039 --> 00:55:20.360
<v Speaker 2>He just thinks in his mind, he's not a bad person.

989
00:55:20.840 --> 00:55:26.320
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, gosh, yeah, honestly, he's a textbook narcissist. He had

990
00:55:26.360 --> 00:55:30.679
<v Speaker 1>an inflated sense of self importance, demanded admiration, felt entitled

991
00:55:30.679 --> 00:55:34.480
<v Speaker 1>to everything and anything that he wanted, and exploited others

992
00:55:34.519 --> 00:55:37.920
<v Speaker 1>without any sort of sense of remorse. Now, he also

993
00:55:37.920 --> 00:55:41.239
<v Speaker 1>had he was also sadistic, let's put it that way,

994
00:55:41.440 --> 00:55:44.000
<v Speaker 1>taking pleasure in the suffering that he caused, which is

995
00:55:44.119 --> 00:55:47.840
<v Speaker 1>clear because he went out again and again to go

996
00:55:48.320 --> 00:55:52.639
<v Speaker 1>seek that feeling of that power, first capturing someone and

997
00:55:52.679 --> 00:55:54.719
<v Speaker 1>not only that, but then going out and doing search

998
00:55:54.800 --> 00:56:00.400
<v Speaker 1>parties and consoling people like just sick shit. Now, at

999
00:56:00.400 --> 00:56:03.440
<v Speaker 1>one point, he admitted that he could have been caught

1000
00:56:03.559 --> 00:56:06.639
<v Speaker 1>very early on. He said police would have found him

1001
00:56:06.639 --> 00:56:10.320
<v Speaker 1>if they just reviewed surveillance footage from Wilbur Wright Middle School,

1002
00:56:10.480 --> 00:56:13.719
<v Speaker 1>middle school near where he took Gina. Then, in the

1003
00:56:13.800 --> 00:56:18.400
<v Speaker 1>statement dripping with absolute arrogance, he said, quote, if they

1004
00:56:18.440 --> 00:56:21.239
<v Speaker 1>would have questioned me, it's possible that it would have

1005
00:56:21.400 --> 00:56:24.679
<v Speaker 1>ended right there. I feel that the FBI let those

1006
00:56:24.719 --> 00:56:25.320
<v Speaker 1>girls down.

1007
00:56:25.639 --> 00:56:29.039
<v Speaker 2>Oh my goodness, just putting this completely on someone else.

1008
00:56:29.119 --> 00:56:32.280
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, deflecting any sort of responsibility. It's your fault that

1009
00:56:32.280 --> 00:56:34.639
<v Speaker 1>they didn't get found. Like what the fuck?

1010
00:56:35.079 --> 00:56:38.280
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that doesn't make any sense, Like I'm literally holding

1011
00:56:38.320 --> 00:56:41.239
<v Speaker 2>these girls in captivity. But it's your fault, yeah, that

1012
00:56:41.280 --> 00:56:42.119
<v Speaker 2>you didn't find them.

1013
00:56:42.320 --> 00:56:47.920
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Now there's no surprise that he was convicted. Uh

1014
00:56:48.039 --> 00:56:51.480
<v Speaker 1>huh and had his sentencing hearing. Only Michelle So showed up.

1015
00:56:52.119 --> 00:56:54.960
<v Speaker 1>She had something to say to him. And I'm going

1016
00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.440
<v Speaker 1>to quote one sentence here. Quote. I spent eleven years

1017
00:56:59.440 --> 00:57:04.719
<v Speaker 1>in hell. Now your hell is just beginning. On August first,

1018
00:57:04.760 --> 00:57:08.039
<v Speaker 1>twenty thirteen, Ariel Castro was sentenced to life in prison.

1019
00:57:08.599 --> 00:57:11.559
<v Speaker 1>He pleaded guilty to nine hundred and thirty seven counts

1020
00:57:11.559 --> 00:57:15.320
<v Speaker 1>of kidnapping and assault in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

1021
00:57:16.159 --> 00:57:20.280
<v Speaker 1>His sentence was extended by one thousand years, ensuring he

1022
00:57:20.320 --> 00:57:26.800
<v Speaker 1>would never walk free again. Good but Ariel Castro would

1023
00:57:26.840 --> 00:57:29.400
<v Speaker 1>never even come close to serving his entire time.

1024
00:57:30.159 --> 00:57:33.519
<v Speaker 2>Why is that? I have my thoughts? But why is that?

1025
00:57:34.599 --> 00:57:38.159
<v Speaker 1>Okay? Well, in prison, he complained constantly. He believed his

1026
00:57:38.239 --> 00:57:41.239
<v Speaker 1>food was being tampered with, and he accused guards of neglect,

1027
00:57:41.760 --> 00:57:45.599
<v Speaker 1>and he hated losing any sort of control. Less than

1028
00:57:45.639 --> 00:57:49.400
<v Speaker 1>two months after, on September third, twenty thirteen, he was

1029
00:57:49.440 --> 00:57:53.159
<v Speaker 1>found dead in his cell. He hanged himself with a

1030
00:57:53.159 --> 00:57:53.639
<v Speaker 1>bed sheet.

1031
00:57:54.119 --> 00:57:56.920
<v Speaker 2>Okay, I was thinking someone else maybe did the job.

1032
00:57:57.239 --> 00:57:59.199
<v Speaker 1>No, he did it on his own.

1033
00:57:59.719 --> 00:58:05.599
<v Speaker 2>Huh really seriously, that almost pisses me off that he

1034
00:58:05.719 --> 00:58:08.760
<v Speaker 2>just did this. I agree, Like, what a complete asshole.

1035
00:58:08.800 --> 00:58:10.800
<v Speaker 2>He couldn't even handle two months in there.

1036
00:58:11.119 --> 00:58:14.719
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, when he forced these three girls over ten years?

1037
00:58:16.239 --> 00:58:17.800
<v Speaker 2>Whoa Yeah.

1038
00:58:18.239 --> 00:58:22.280
<v Speaker 1>Now, officers found his body approximately twenty seven sorry, exactly

1039
00:58:22.320 --> 00:58:25.039
<v Speaker 1>twenty seven minutes because they kept track of it after

1040
00:58:25.079 --> 00:58:28.559
<v Speaker 1>their last rounds of checks. Now, he was found kneeling

1041
00:58:28.840 --> 00:58:30.960
<v Speaker 1>with a bed sheep tied around his neck and attached

1042
00:58:31.000 --> 00:58:34.880
<v Speaker 1>to a window hinge. Oddly enough, his shorts were around

1043
00:58:35.159 --> 00:58:38.719
<v Speaker 1>his ankles at the time. Now, at first, there was

1044
00:58:38.760 --> 00:58:43.840
<v Speaker 1>speculation that he may have died of erotic autoerotic exphyxiation,

1045
00:58:44.360 --> 00:58:47.440
<v Speaker 1>which is where you know, you kind of yeah, you're

1046
00:58:47.480 --> 00:58:50.360
<v Speaker 1>choking yourself while you're choking yourself, let's put it that way.

1047
00:58:50.360 --> 00:58:52.880
<v Speaker 2>Oh my ben Okay.

1048
00:58:52.559 --> 00:58:55.440
<v Speaker 1>But after speaking with inmates, authorities learned that Ariel had

1049
00:58:55.480 --> 00:58:57.760
<v Speaker 1>lost quite a lot of weight in prison, causing his

1050
00:58:57.800 --> 00:59:00.639
<v Speaker 1>pants to frequently slip down. He was always pulling them up,

1051
00:59:01.039 --> 00:59:05.480
<v Speaker 1>which they believe explains why his pants were down. Okay,

1052
00:59:05.559 --> 00:59:08.679
<v Speaker 1>so he went unconscious, his pants slipped and then he

1053
00:59:08.760 --> 00:59:12.000
<v Speaker 1>died with his pants around his ankles. Now. He left

1054
00:59:12.039 --> 00:59:14.559
<v Speaker 1>behind a note with a little bit of religious scripture,

1055
00:59:14.679 --> 00:59:18.519
<v Speaker 1>writing quote, those who confess with their heart will be saved.

1056
00:59:19.199 --> 00:59:22.199
<v Speaker 1>In another way, he's another one. He simply wrote quote

1057
00:59:22.519 --> 00:59:26.639
<v Speaker 1>my kids and grandkids and drew a heart around those words.

1058
00:59:28.159 --> 00:59:31.800
<v Speaker 1>Other scribbles in the page included names of family members, hearts, flowers,

1059
00:59:31.800 --> 00:59:36.400
<v Speaker 1>and music notes. I'm going to say one thing right now,

1060
00:59:37.039 --> 00:59:40.360
<v Speaker 1>Aero Castro, you will never be saved. I'm pretty sure

1061
00:59:40.400 --> 00:59:42.920
<v Speaker 1>you're going to burn for all eternity if there is

1062
00:59:42.960 --> 00:59:44.000
<v Speaker 1>any sort of afterlife.

1063
00:59:44.159 --> 00:59:46.280
<v Speaker 2>No kidding, this guy deserves nothing.

1064
00:59:46.960 --> 00:59:51.000
<v Speaker 1>For the women he tormented, tormented, His death was rather complicated.

1065
00:59:51.039 --> 00:59:53.079
<v Speaker 1>On one hand, they robbed him of any satisfaction of

1066
00:59:53.119 --> 00:59:55.719
<v Speaker 1>knowing that he was suffering behind bars. Yes, the same

1067
00:59:55.760 --> 00:59:58.000
<v Speaker 1>thing you were discussing. But on the other hand, it

1068
00:59:58.039 --> 01:00:01.480
<v Speaker 1>meant that their nightmare was truly o Ariel Castro was

1069
01:00:01.559 --> 01:00:04.239
<v Speaker 1>gone and no longer even in this world. That he

1070
01:00:04.280 --> 01:00:07.599
<v Speaker 1>could never track them down, nothing, He couldn't even write

1071
01:00:07.599 --> 01:00:09.639
<v Speaker 1>a book and publish it. When his point of view,

1072
01:00:09.639 --> 01:00:13.039
<v Speaker 1>those sort of things right, No worry about that man anymore.

1073
01:00:14.679 --> 01:00:17.920
<v Speaker 1>So rebuilding their lives this was the next step. But

1074
01:00:17.960 --> 01:00:21.719
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't easy. After a decade in captivity, re entering

1075
01:00:21.760 --> 01:00:25.079
<v Speaker 1>the world came with its own challenges. All three women

1076
01:00:25.280 --> 01:00:29.159
<v Speaker 1>suffered from very complex PTSD. After the years that they suffered,

1077
01:00:29.960 --> 01:00:32.679
<v Speaker 1>Michelle had dreamed of regaining custody of her son Joey,

1078
01:00:32.800 --> 01:00:37.519
<v Speaker 1>but it unfortunately would never happen. Instead, his adoptive parents

1079
01:00:37.559 --> 01:00:40.880
<v Speaker 1>agreed to send photos and updates. It was a painful reality,

1080
01:00:40.880 --> 01:00:43.400
<v Speaker 1>but Joey had spent most of his life in another

1081
01:00:43.480 --> 01:00:46.639
<v Speaker 1>home and uprooting him would have been, you know, against

1082
01:00:46.679 --> 01:00:48.000
<v Speaker 1>his own best interests.

1083
01:00:47.960 --> 01:00:50.840
<v Speaker 2>Seriously, But like I was hoping she would at least

1084
01:00:50.880 --> 01:00:53.119
<v Speaker 2>get to go and see, like, you know, have a

1085
01:00:53.199 --> 01:00:55.119
<v Speaker 2>relationship with him. Yeamn.

1086
01:00:55.960 --> 01:00:58.039
<v Speaker 1>Now, I mean that's possible that when he's an adult

1087
01:00:58.039 --> 01:01:00.239
<v Speaker 1>he can seek that out. Yeah, But she she gets

1088
01:01:00.280 --> 01:01:03.400
<v Speaker 1>photos and updates to the very least right now. As

1089
01:01:03.480 --> 01:01:07.039
<v Speaker 1>part of her healing, Michelle Michelle changed her name one

1090
01:01:07.079 --> 01:01:09.280
<v Speaker 1>that I'm not going to share here because hey, that

1091
01:01:09.760 --> 01:01:11.280
<v Speaker 1>defeats the purpose of, you know.

1092
01:01:11.360 --> 01:01:12.679
<v Speaker 2>For change her name.

1093
01:01:13.239 --> 01:01:15.480
<v Speaker 1>She later would write two books under her birth name,

1094
01:01:16.079 --> 01:01:20.400
<v Speaker 1>one Finding Me and another Life After Darkness. On May sixteen,

1095
01:01:20.559 --> 01:01:24.360
<v Speaker 1>May sixth, sorry twenty sixteen, exactly three years after her escape.

1096
01:01:25.039 --> 01:01:25.840
<v Speaker 1>She got married.

1097
01:01:26.239 --> 01:01:28.360
<v Speaker 2>Oh wow, okay, I love.

1098
01:01:28.199 --> 01:01:31.280
<v Speaker 1>That Amanda was finally able to raise Jocelyn in a

1099
01:01:31.320 --> 01:01:34.360
<v Speaker 1>safe and loving home. For Gina, one of the biggest

1100
01:01:34.400 --> 01:01:37.880
<v Speaker 1>milestones was something most people take for granted, giving a

1101
01:01:37.960 --> 01:01:41.519
<v Speaker 1>driver's license. It was something that she wanted to do

1102
01:01:42.239 --> 01:01:44.360
<v Speaker 1>all those years she was locked up. She dreamed of

1103
01:01:44.360 --> 01:01:45.559
<v Speaker 1>getting her driver's license.

1104
01:01:45.679 --> 01:01:46.400
<v Speaker 2>Oh man.

1105
01:01:46.920 --> 01:01:49.039
<v Speaker 1>She went back to high school and started building the

1106
01:01:49.079 --> 01:01:53.199
<v Speaker 1>life that she once had stolen from her. In twenty fifteen,

1107
01:01:53.239 --> 01:01:57.800
<v Speaker 1>Amanda and Gina co wrote a book with two Polaritizer

1108
01:01:57.840 --> 01:02:02.880
<v Speaker 1>Prize winning journalists from The Washington Post titled Hope Today.

1109
01:02:02.920 --> 01:02:06.440
<v Speaker 1>All three women work to help survivors and missing persons cases.

1110
01:02:07.400 --> 01:02:11.000
<v Speaker 1>Michelle founded Lily Ray of Hope, an organization that provides

1111
01:02:11.079 --> 01:02:16.199
<v Speaker 1>victims with housing, clothing, education opportunities. Amanda became a news

1112
01:02:16.199 --> 01:02:19.800
<v Speaker 1>host covering missing persons cases in Cleveland. Gina is now

1113
01:02:19.840 --> 01:02:23.000
<v Speaker 1>an ambassador for the Northeast Ohio Amber Alert and founded

1114
01:02:23.039 --> 01:02:28.159
<v Speaker 1>the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children's and Adults. And

1115
01:02:28.199 --> 01:02:32.079
<v Speaker 1>that is the story of the Aerial Castro kidnappings. Sorry

1116
01:02:32.079 --> 01:02:36.079
<v Speaker 1>I'm stumbling my words at this point. Aerial Castro kidnappings

1117
01:02:36.199 --> 01:02:38.679
<v Speaker 1>and the three women who survived.

1118
01:02:38.920 --> 01:02:46.159
<v Speaker 2>Hell yeah, that is like hell and back. Really my gosh.

1119
01:02:46.320 --> 01:02:49.400
<v Speaker 2>But I mean cases like this, there's always a little

1120
01:02:49.400 --> 01:02:51.800
<v Speaker 2>bit of light at the end, you know, where they

1121
01:02:51.960 --> 01:02:55.480
<v Speaker 2>have their living their life now and they're using their

1122
01:02:55.519 --> 01:03:01.199
<v Speaker 2>experiences to help other people. Still, it's oh so hard

1123
01:03:01.199 --> 01:03:02.559
<v Speaker 2>to listen to stuff like this.

1124
01:03:02.880 --> 01:03:05.400
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, what they went through, we can't even imagine it's

1125
01:03:05.400 --> 01:03:08.039
<v Speaker 1>going to affect their lives till the day until the

1126
01:03:08.079 --> 01:03:12.760
<v Speaker 1>day they die. But they're using it to their advantage

1127
01:03:13.079 --> 01:03:16.360
<v Speaker 1>to help others, for their advantage, to get them through

1128
01:03:16.400 --> 01:03:21.639
<v Speaker 1>their tough times. And I know we usually do it

1129
01:03:21.679 --> 01:03:25.360
<v Speaker 1>to name a single, but today I'm going to name Michelle, Amanda,

1130
01:03:25.400 --> 01:03:27.760
<v Speaker 1>and Gina. All three are badasses of the day.

1131
01:03:27.880 --> 01:03:31.920
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, yeah, one percent. The fact that they went

1132
01:03:31.960 --> 01:03:34.559
<v Speaker 2>through all that and got.

1133
01:03:34.320 --> 01:03:38.280
<v Speaker 1>Out, they never lost hope. Yeah, kept pushing forward and

1134
01:03:39.199 --> 01:03:40.320
<v Speaker 1>the day finally.

1135
01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:43.400
<v Speaker 2>Came and that piece of shit scumbag couldn't even last

1136
01:03:43.440 --> 01:03:48.039
<v Speaker 2>two months exactly, and was treated far better and.

1137
01:03:48.119 --> 01:03:51.800
<v Speaker 1>Was complaining about it. Not only did he not last,

1138
01:03:52.480 --> 01:03:54.400
<v Speaker 1>he was complaining about it.

1139
01:03:54.519 --> 01:03:58.000
<v Speaker 2>That is just mind blowing. Hey, yeah, what a complete

1140
01:03:58.119 --> 01:03:58.760
<v Speaker 2>piece of shit.

1141
01:03:59.119 --> 01:04:02.840
<v Speaker 1>Agreed, Well, thank you for being here on this episode.

1142
01:04:02.840 --> 01:04:04.480
<v Speaker 1>Hopefully you got all the way through this and you're

1143
01:04:04.519 --> 01:04:08.159
<v Speaker 1>not vomiting by the thought of this man, Aeriel Castro

1144
01:04:08.320 --> 01:04:10.119
<v Speaker 1>ever existing at all and what he did to someone,

1145
01:04:10.159 --> 01:04:13.960
<v Speaker 1>because trust me, it makes my stomach churn thinking that

1146
01:04:14.039 --> 01:04:16.960
<v Speaker 1>someone like that ever existed at all. But at least

1147
01:04:17.039 --> 01:04:19.360
<v Speaker 1>he's not in this world anymore, and the world is

1148
01:04:19.360 --> 01:04:21.199
<v Speaker 1>a little bit better off because of that.

1149
01:04:21.480 --> 01:04:22.480
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, i'd say so.

1150
01:04:22.840 --> 01:04:24.119
<v Speaker 1>If you want to check out our links, they're all

1151
01:04:24.119 --> 01:04:26.440
<v Speaker 1>on the description of this podcast. We got all our information.

1152
01:04:26.519 --> 01:04:29.079
<v Speaker 1>Social media is a website. It's all down there. I

1153
01:04:29.119 --> 01:04:30.639
<v Speaker 1>want to shoot us some message, you can go ahead

1154
01:04:30.639 --> 01:04:32.079
<v Speaker 1>and do that. If you want to give this podcast

1155
01:04:32.159 --> 01:04:37.079
<v Speaker 1>a review. We're an indie podcast who are operated, We're researched,

1156
01:04:37.199 --> 01:04:40.519
<v Speaker 1>we're published, all of that on our own and things

1157
01:04:40.559 --> 01:04:42.880
<v Speaker 1>like that. Things like reviews really help our show thrive.

1158
01:04:42.960 --> 01:04:45.159
<v Speaker 1>So thank you so much for what you do being

1159
01:04:45.199 --> 01:04:47.199
<v Speaker 1>here and listening. It means the world.

1160
01:04:48.119 --> 01:04:50.639
<v Speaker 2>Well done on this. It was a doozy of a case.

1161
01:04:50.760 --> 01:04:53.719
<v Speaker 1>It was. I contemplated doing a two parter, but I

1162
01:04:53.760 --> 01:04:54.239
<v Speaker 1>was like, you know.

1163
01:04:54.360 --> 01:04:56.199
<v Speaker 2>Ww bucket, it could be.

1164
01:04:56.280 --> 01:04:58.039
<v Speaker 1>I guess, eh, it definitely could be. I was like,

1165
01:04:58.079 --> 01:04:59.719
<v Speaker 1>you know what, We're just going to do a one

1166
01:05:00.159 --> 01:05:02.719
<v Speaker 1>large fucking episode and bang this one out.

1167
01:05:02.840 --> 01:05:05.159
<v Speaker 2>Well there you go, well done so until next

1168
01:05:05.159 --> 01:05:08.719
<v Speaker 1>Episode, Happy pie Day, and stay wicked.