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Speaker 1: Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is

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not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

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Speaker 2: I heard screaming and stuff, so I just love I

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couldn't say the little lead from that lady's house.

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Speaker 1: Hello, and thank you for joining us. This is season thirteen,

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episode three hundred and forty what three hundred and forty

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seven of Sword and Scale show that reveals that the

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worst monsters are real. It's March first, twenty fifteen in Niles, Ohio, Yeah,

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Ohio again. Niles is an aging steel town in Trumbull County.

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The narrow streets are lined with ranch and cape cod

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homes where families have lived for generations. On Lafayette Avenue.

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The houses sit close together, with alleys running between them

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and neighbors that notice when something is out of place.

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Just before dinner, a teenage boy stumbles home and into

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the front door. He's not hungry, and he's not thirsty either.

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In fact, he's already had too much to drink and

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he's a drunken mess.

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Speaker 3: Nine one how much emergency?

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Speaker 4: Hi?

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Speaker 5: My trin came home and said he got jumped by

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several people and he's not actingly okay.

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Speaker 3: Where did the sthroom? I'm not five or two off yet,

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He says he was at Feeder Park, okay, and he

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has blood on his hands and stuff.

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Speaker 1: Her voice echoes through the house as she speaks to

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the dispatcher. She's not in panic. He doesn't look injured,

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but he has blood all over him and he's not

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wearing pants. He's been staggering through the neighborhood in his

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underwear and a T shirt.

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Speaker 3: He has blood on his hands, yeah, and on his shirt.

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Speaker 5: And he's like coming in and out of it.

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Speaker 3: How old is it he's fifty? Well, he's fifteen. Fifteen?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, he's not.

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Speaker 3: Okay, so you need an ambulance?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, all right.

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Speaker 3: I want you to come down to the station when

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he's done, okay, and file a report. Okay, not stay

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on the line.

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Speaker 1: So far, his mom doesn't seem to notice somehow that

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his breath also wreaks of alcohol, or at least she

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doesn't report this.

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Speaker 5: How is done? He's fifteen? He said he was jumpy

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when he said he's not acting right?

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Speaker 3: What do you mean?

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Speaker 5: He's like playing on the bathrooms floor, and he tried

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to lift up his head and his eyes rolled back

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and he throws himself back down and Kayley goes to

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talk to you. He mumbled, and he has blood on

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his hands and his shirt.

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Speaker 1: Her son, Jacob LaRosa, tells her he's been attacked by

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some other teenagers.

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Speaker 3: That's a Nile that will call on the line. At

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five oh two, Lafayette, fifteen year old fun was it

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a fight and came home and she said he's not

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acting right.

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Speaker 1: The Niles squad car pulls up quickly. It's only a

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short drive to the station. The Lafayette houses are cluttered

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tightly in a neighborhood where officers can cross yards and

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alleys in seconds. Inside, he finds Jacob on the bathroom floor.

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An ambulance gets there in just minutes, and they whisked

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Jacob away to the hospital, where he's interviewed.

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Speaker 6: Wond if I come in? No, no, sir, Come.

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Speaker 7: Sir, Jacob. How are you good? Sir good? My name

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is Lieutenant Atkins.

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Speaker 8: Don't conquer move yet, okay, yeah, you could still finish

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young lady first though.

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Speaker 7: Okay, I'm don't you're moving, so you're gonna screw up

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your test, buddy, don't.

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Speaker 6: Talk, don't move.

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Speaker 1: That nurse wasn't playing games and didn't have the time

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for her drunk patient.

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Speaker 6: Normal, my mom, she's on the waiting room. These guys

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came up, game up. They meant they got it.

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Speaker 7: Happens.

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Speaker 1: The streets can be violent, especially in Ohio.

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Speaker 7: Tell me, tell me how did you end up here tonight?

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Speaker 2: Well, this this kid dere Gaius and Vonte Jackson, they

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play a gun.

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Speaker 6: They gone to my end.

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Speaker 7: Reason what was the other guys?

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Speaker 6: Sa Ry Davis and Vonte.

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Speaker 7: Yeah Jackson.

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Speaker 6: They believe going into my head. They were making me

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a drink.

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Speaker 2: I got a card.

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Speaker 6: I told him I was just scared.

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Speaker 7: Where were you with these guys?

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Speaker 2: I was on the street of lost. Yeah. I told

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him I want to go oh. I was just scared.

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My mom wanted me. I wanted to make up excuse.

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So they believed me that I needed to be okay.

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I wanted I told him so why they let me

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also block, I told him all the time to go

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get I was gonna steal something.

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Speaker 6: So I told him I was to steal something, but

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I lied to them. I went straight to my house

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and they told me to get the cars.

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Speaker 1: So I went to anyone in the room listening, it

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sounds like he was being held at gunpoint and told

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to rob somebody or something. So, according to Jacob, he

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lied just so he could go home where his mom

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was expecting him. The officers have more questions, but all

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of a sudden, Jacob passes out.

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Speaker 6: You all right, still, there would be Jacob Jacob.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, hey, Jacob, need to talk to the lieutenant here.

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Speaker 6: Oh how you doing today? Good?

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Speaker 3: Well?

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Speaker 6: Well, this kid he made me get a car.

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Speaker 3: He had a gun.

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Speaker 7: Which kid had the gun?

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Speaker 6: Derek Davies, Who kind of gun was it? It was

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not even one?

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Speaker 7: Me here, okay, we'll color black black black.

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Speaker 2: Wife had a grip on it the bottom where we

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have it.

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Speaker 6: In your hand. What kind of car were they in?

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They're in a great car. You know what kind it was?

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It was like it was it was a jeep. Yes,

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it was a jeep. Jeep. It was a jeep. Okay,

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it was a great jeep. And wait wait wait, you

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had l a bald egel on top of it. I

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want to on the hood on the hood on the hood.

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Speaker 1: Got that. Jacob's account of what happened was only getting

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more interesting.

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Speaker 7: Okay, so they made you get in the car, They

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made me drink what do you make you drink.

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Speaker 6: It made me drink would keep for loco. I did

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not want to do it. I wanted to be happy.

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I wanted to be roll over.

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Speaker 7: Okay, when you said they made you smoke the smoke

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cigarettes or maybe it's a little.

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Speaker 6: They made men. We didn't make me drink.

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Speaker 7: You said they made you smoke weed.

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Speaker 6: No, they made but they made me drink. I told

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I want to. I want to.

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Speaker 2: They made They forced me to sunk the weed. But

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I didn't. Again, I say shaw like our probation officers

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said to me to do Okay, I call away, callaway kid.

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With these guys, I was, I was down. I look

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way that they track me. They to me, they tracked me.

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Speaker 1: Peer pressure. You've been there, right, just trying to do

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the right thing, mind your own business, follow all the rules.

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And then some kids your age pull guns, pour vodka

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down your throat, and shove weed at you. You try it,

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but like Bill Clinton once famously claimed, you don't inhale

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no one.

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Speaker 6: There's no way I go to leave. I was trying

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to ram, but they got me.

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Speaker 7: They got me.

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Speaker 6: Okay, I'm sorry, please right.

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Speaker 7: Jacob, I'm just talking to you right now, Thank you. Okay,

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so they make you get in the car. Where do

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you guys go?

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Speaker 6: We go do Dollar in General?

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Speaker 7: Okay? On Avenue?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the way up there? Wait, way down there. You

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know where you're going to?

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Speaker 9: Uh?

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Speaker 6: What is it called? Johnny Eagle? You where's at? You

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know how?

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Speaker 2: You go down to donag and you go across, you go,

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we turn, you turn right and you go all the

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way up to Robbins. Yeah, we're going all the way

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up to Robbins. And they're having a car and they're

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saying that they're gonna be beat me up.

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Speaker 6: I was scared. I always wanted to call him mom.

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I want to make sure my mom's safe.

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Speaker 7: How old are these guys.

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Speaker 6: Like seventeen, eighteen years old? Nineteen? Yeah, I didn't want

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my mom. I didn't want to go to the school there.

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Speaker 1: The more questions the officer asked, the harder it was

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for Jacob to spit out his version of what happened.

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His words turned into sobs, his sentences trailed off, and

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what little sense he did make only raised more questions.

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Speaker 6: They're going to go to the littler General.

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Speaker 7: Where do you guys go?

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Speaker 8: They're all making me either conser tree, maybe.

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Speaker 6: Buy a bottle off.

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Speaker 2: I get a little dollar so they can have they

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can buy a bottle of loco.

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Speaker 6: All is a dune and he.

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Speaker 2: Wants to sparko And now I was a Sparko and

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my freaking I want a fad.

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Speaker 6: I want to be a good kid. I want to

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be a good kid.

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Speaker 1: He wanted to be a good kid, a great kid.

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But that wasn't how the first fifteen years of his

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life had gone. He wasn't going to be nominated for

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Altar Boy of the Year anytime soon. Good kids don't

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come home drunk and coherent and covered in somebody else's blood.

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After all, good kids don't spin stories to get out

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of serious crime, and great kids don't leave a dead

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body in their wake. On March thirty, first, twenty fifteen,

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fifteen year old Jacob LaRosa Dagger's home in a Niles,

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Ohio neighborhood. He's half dressed, bleeding, and wreaking of alcohol.

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His mother calls nine to one one, convinced her son's

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been attacked. At the hospital, Jacob claims that teenagers with

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guns trapped him, but his slurred lies can't hide the truth.

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Something way more gruesome happened that afternoon. And just across

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the street, the evidence was waiting. Marie bel Castro was

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a ninety four year old widow with kids, grandkids, and

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great grandkids. Her great granddaughter Lena called her Gigi.

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Speaker 9: Gigi is like a really sweet person. She was very

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spiritually in tune with herself and religious to the degree

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of one to be just like Jesus, and she always

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gave back. She was very kind hearted, and I think,

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you know a lot of people the state kind is

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for weakness, and I think what happened to her was

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kind of tragic in the sense that the expression kind

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of came true to itself with what had happened to her.

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And I think it kind of proves that no matter

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how good your intentions are, no matter how kind you are,

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there's always gonna be some jerk that's going and try

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and effect that destroy that.

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Speaker 1: Marie was born in nineteen twenty to immigrant parents from Italy.

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Her dad was a carpenter who came to the US

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at the age of eleven. Marie herself married Fred Belcastro,

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a member of the Army Corps. In World War Two.

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Marie also helped with the war effort, working at Packard

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Electric making tanks and military equipment. She was like Rosie

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the Riveter, but in real life this is her grandson,

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Brian Kirk.

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Speaker 4: She was her housewife and the Italian American community at

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Niles was very close knit. In fact, I've heard wonderful

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stories about the Italians banding together with other minorities.

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Speaker 1: It was a very different time in American history. Back then,

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just getting into the United States was a different process

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than it is today. Irish, Italian and Jewish families traveled

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weeks by ship and cramped spaces, hoping they didn't die

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along the way. They came to Ellis Island with nothing

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more than the clothes on their backs. They stood in

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long lines, went through humiliating medical inspections, bought language barriers,

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and hoped they wouldn't be turned away. No jobs were waiting,

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no handouts, no safety nets, certainly no welfare. All they

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had was each other and in Niles, Ohio, the Italian

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families banded together with other newcomers to find their way

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in a city that didn't always welcome them. They faced

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suspicion and prejudice, but they worked long hours in the mills,

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raised families, and built communities of faith and tradition. That

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held them together.

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Speaker 4: My grandfather suffered a stroke in the seventies, and my

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grandmother became a bus aide and then a school bus driver.

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She was quite short, about four foot nine, and so

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the idea of her driving a big bus was pretty

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funny to us. But she did what she had to

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do to thrive and survive, and she was a product

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of that Great Depression era. She had a hip side

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to her, and by that I mean she was plugged

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into the culture. She loved stand up comedy. She liked

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comics like Ron White and Lewis Black. When I was

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six years old, I remember watching Saturday Night Live on

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her living room floor, something that my parents would never

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let me do.

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Speaker 1: Brian says that even though his grandmother was a devout Catholic,

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she didn't push her beliefs on anyone and didn't get

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stuck in the dogma. When Brian and a friend visited

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her on their first college break, the first thing she

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did was offer them twenty bucks to go buy some beer.

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Speaker 4: She gave me the freedom to make mistakes, and she

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was just a very funny woman with a very advanced

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sense of humor. In a different era, she could have

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been a college professor. But in nineteen twenties, Ohio, you know,

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the child of immigrants and relatively poor, she didn't have

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the same opportunities that young women have today. But a

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learned woman, a smart woman, and.

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Speaker 1: A really good Italian cook, I might add, Who wouldn't

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want a grandma like her? The thing Brian remembers most

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is her humor and her laugh, things she inherited. He

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went on to become a comedian.

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Speaker 4: I remember doing Howard Cosell impersonations at age six for

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her friends and neighbors on the sidewalk in Niles. So

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she was my first audience and her laugh was wonderful

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and infectious. And the last conversation I ever had with

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her was on an iPad, and she asked me if

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I had any new impressions, and I gave her one.

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I told her about a new character that I was learning,

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and she was up to the end, always looking to laugh.

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Speaker 1: Ninety four years old, and according to her family and doctor,

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she would have easily lived another ten years. But on

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March thirty first, twenty fifteen, her laugh was silenced. That afternoon,

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Marie's daughter walked into the house on Cherry Avenue, the

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one that Marie's father had built for her with his

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own hands and found what the killer or killers had

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left behind.

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Speaker 3: Nine.

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Speaker 10: Well on what you Emerjacay, I'm at five on nine

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Cherry Street, Niles. I'm Marie Belcast's daughter. I just walked

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into her house and I finally found her. She looks

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like she's all smashed and there's lead in every room.

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House was ransacked.

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Speaker 3: How old is sheha?

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Speaker 10: How old? Yeah, she was ninety four. I think she's dead.

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She looks she's been twisted.

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Speaker 6: She's twisted in.

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Speaker 10: Here in the bedroom. And I saw an ambulance when

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I walked in and saw kind of stuff I saw

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on the amblys one walk above. So I ran up

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there and I said, I need someone. I thought maybe

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they went to the wrong place and maybe she called them,

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But I think somebody came in. I know somebody came

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in here.

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Speaker 1: The ambulance she saw just across the street was for Jacob.

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Speaker 7: Did it any time you go to a house or

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on Cherry Street the old lady who.

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Speaker 6: Lives behind you A ry guy.

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Speaker 7: Okay, I just got an answer. The house behind you

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on Cherry Street, the old lady that loves back there,

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did you go to her?

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Speaker 6: House, No, ma'am, no, sir. Okay.

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Speaker 7: Did any of those guys go to that house?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 6: But I told him I'm not going in there. They left,

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they started.

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Speaker 2: I heard screaming and stuff, so I just left. I

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couldn't the old lady's house.

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Speaker 7: Were you inside and left or no?

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Speaker 2: I left, I couldn't. I just heard screaming, so I left.

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Where do you hear screaming from the old lady's house?

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Speaker 6: Okay?

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Speaker 7: But were you outside?

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Speaker 6: Were you in the car? Where were you?

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Speaker 2: No? I was in an alley, but I ran. I

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ran home that one on my what's it called the

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swing thing? The swing swing thing, the swing set, the

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swing set? Yeah, okay.

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Speaker 1: Jacob said he ran home as the boys who held

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him at gunpoint went inside Marie's house. He said he

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only heard the screams whether he was inside the house

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or not. Marie was indeed screaming, and what her daughter

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found was the end of a struggle. No one should

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ever have to fight, especially a sweet old woman. Back

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at the scene, an officer steps through the side entrance

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at five o nine Cherry. The door frame is splintered,

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the lock has been forced. Evidence of violence is pervasive

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in multiple rooms in the living room, the floor is

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stained with blood, especially in front of a recliner where

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the struggle started. It's not a single pool. It's smeared,

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soaked into the carpet, streaked a cross furniture, and spattered

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on walls. On the couch more stains. He sees fragments

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of bone sections of Marie bel Castro's skull lying on

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the floor among the blood. We interviewed Chris Becker, the

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lead prosecutor on the case.

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Speaker 11: The corner indicated that she had been beaten so brutally

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that he could not determine how many blows had rained

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down on her head.

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Speaker 1: A trail of bloody drag marts leads into the dining room.

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More blood on the floor, another fragment of skull. Shards

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of her hearing aids lay in various places, and one

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is broken and lodged inside her ear canal, a detail

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the coroner would later say he had never seen before

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in over eight thousand autopsies. The officer follows drag marks,

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smeared lines of blood leading away from the front rooms,

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through the kitchen, down the hallway. Along the baseboard of

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one wall, there are more fragments of skull and brain tissue.

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In the guest bedroom, he finds the body. Marie Belcastro,

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lies twisted on the floor at the foot of her bed.

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She is faced down. Her pajama pants are gone, her

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shirt is soaked in blood. Her arms are contorted, with

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one pinned under her and the other bent Unnaturally. Blood

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has pooled beneath her and saturated deep into the carpet.

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They will later discover there's so much blood that it

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is dripping through the floorboards into her finished basement. He

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gets down on his knees, careful not to disturb the scene,

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and sees her crushed face. The injury measures almost five

365
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by one and a half inches. It's not a fracture.

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The bone and tissue are completely carved in. Nearby, he

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spots the murder weapon, a maglite flashlight, stained with blood.

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There are also bloody shoe prints marking the carpet. The

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house shrieks of iron. Every room he passes through has

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signs of a violent struggle. A veteran with decades on

371
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the force, he freezes for a moment. In twenty four

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years of law enforcement, he has never seen any thing

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like this, and this could have been his grandmother. He

374
00:23:05,799 --> 00:23:09,960
thinks to himself. Meanwhile, Jacob is still in the hospital

375
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being questioned. His drunken version is starting to crack. It

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already blamed the murder on two other young men or

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kids who held him at gunpoint and then decided to

378
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let him go. So he's running through all the alleys

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with no pants and ends up at a playground.

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Speaker 6: And what did you do there? I hung out? So

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he came back.

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Speaker 2: I seen blood all over him, the blood all Oh

383
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my blood, Oh my god?

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Speaker 6: Did you see blood all over Davonte Jackson?

385
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Speaker 7: Davante Jackson, has Davante white or black?

386
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:50,680
Speaker 6: He's black? Okay? How about this other guy with his

387
00:23:50,759 --> 00:23:52,440
name again, Davy?

388
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Speaker 7: He is white.

389
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Speaker 2: Middald mid donald's. Every assume the morning he would be

390
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:01,519
hanging out mc donald's.

391
00:24:02,039 --> 00:24:07,240
Speaker 6: Oh my god. No, in a car, black car. It's

392
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:12,000
the right license place on far looks like a race car. Okay.

393
00:24:12,759 --> 00:24:15,480
Speaker 7: So you weren't in the house at any time with them. No,

394
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So I won't find anything of yours in that house

395
00:24:17,799 --> 00:24:20,119
because they guys up there right now looking for stuff

396
00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:22,640
in that house. Nothing in there is gonna come back

397
00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,519
that's yours, right, no, sir, And you're not gonna have

398
00:24:25,559 --> 00:24:30,160
any blood in there. You're not gonna have anything in there, noir, Okay,

399
00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,440
because I want you're being honest with me right now.

400
00:24:33,799 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 2: I'm completely august. Thank you, Aunt the same my life

401
00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:41,440
took you.

402
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:44,480
Speaker 6: Thank you, God blessed you.

403
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:49,279
Speaker 1: In the hospital, Jacob was safe, he only had minor injuries,

404
00:24:49,279 --> 00:24:52,519
and he was grateful, even thanking and blessing the officer

405
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,759
and the nurse who were helping him. He'd make it

406
00:24:55,839 --> 00:25:00,480
home after all. But across the street, Marie belt Castro

407
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:04,559
was lying dead in a heap of blood, while Jacob

408
00:25:04,599 --> 00:25:10,079
blamed two boys with guns. Investigators canvas the neighborhood. They

409
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:14,720
questioned everyone who might have seen somebody, anybody really going

410
00:25:14,759 --> 00:25:20,000
into or out of Marie's house that afternoon. No one had.

411
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,079
Speaker 7: Why are the neighbors saying that they didn't see anybody

412
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:23,759
over there but you?

413
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:30,680
Speaker 6: Oh huh, Well.

414
00:25:30,559 --> 00:25:32,359
Speaker 7: A couple of the neighbors over there said they saw

415
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:34,400
you coming out of the house. Why would they say that?

416
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:36,599
Speaker 2: Yeah?

417
00:25:36,759 --> 00:25:39,680
Speaker 7: Why would the neighbors say they only saw you come

418
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:40,440
out of the house.

419
00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,079
Speaker 6: Ah, there was first act over there.

420
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:52,000
Speaker 1: They were saying that because it was true. But Jacob's

421
00:25:52,039 --> 00:25:54,839
lies kept coming, along with new names.

422
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 7: Jackson when did he come on scene? I thought it

423
00:25:59,039 --> 00:26:01,279
was DeVante and the other guy, the white guy.

424
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,359
Speaker 6: No, it is t I think Jacob.

425
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:10,279
Speaker 7: Let me explain something to you. You watch TV a lot,

426
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:12,519
You watched TV all.

427
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:13,440
Speaker 8: Yeah.

428
00:26:13,599 --> 00:26:16,519
Speaker 7: Have you ever watched CSI or any of that where

429
00:26:16,559 --> 00:26:17,839
they do crime scene stuff?

430
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:18,920
Speaker 6: Yeah?

431
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,279
Speaker 7: Yeah, Well I got my crime scene guys up right now.

432
00:26:21,279 --> 00:26:23,440
And your story isn't adding up to what you're telling me.

433
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:25,759
And see, I'm up here trying to help you out

434
00:26:25,799 --> 00:26:28,200
and get you in front of this so that you

435
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:29,920
don't end up with a bigger mess than it could

436
00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,839
be already. And I don't think you're telling me the

437
00:26:32,839 --> 00:26:36,200
truth because your story keeps changing a lot, and I've

438
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:37,359
got witnesses up there.

439
00:26:37,559 --> 00:26:41,440
Speaker 1: Jacob's story kept shifting, full of names and details that

440
00:26:41,519 --> 00:26:46,200
led nowhere. By then, investigators already knew this wasn't some

441
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:50,200
random encounter. Jacob had been in and out of detention

442
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:55,119
for years, with probation officers and judges trying and failing

443
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:56,000
to rain him in.

444
00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,240
Speaker 11: He had been just been released from the Juvenile Justice

445
00:26:59,279 --> 00:27:03,039
Center about five hours earlier. He had been literally in

446
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,759
jail till about he was released. I think we found

447
00:27:06,799 --> 00:27:09,480
out about eleven o'clock. We had video of at eleven

448
00:27:09,519 --> 00:27:12,720
in the morning, and of course Marie was murdered sometime

449
00:27:13,759 --> 00:27:17,119
between four o'clock, between like three o'clock and four o'clock,

450
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:19,480
because we had people that had been to her house

451
00:27:20,559 --> 00:27:24,400
and seen her after the lunch hour during the lunch hour,

452
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,519
so we know she was alive at least during say

453
00:27:27,559 --> 00:27:31,279
one or two o'clock. And Jacob what he did was

454
00:27:32,319 --> 00:27:35,240
he broke into her house. There was video of him

455
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,079
in the alley. Ob security from the neighbor actually showed

456
00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:41,799
him in the alleyway. He broke into the house. He

457
00:27:42,039 --> 00:27:44,920
obviously committed the murder of Marie, beat her in three

458
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,880
different locations and at that point then he rifled through

459
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,880
her purse. He went down to the basement where this

460
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,720
was an older, kind of nineteen fifties built house. There

461
00:27:55,799 --> 00:27:58,599
was an old little bar dout there. I don't think

462
00:27:58,799 --> 00:28:01,799
Marie Bilcaster had used that bar for a number of years.

463
00:28:01,839 --> 00:28:04,559
But there were some liquor bottles that he ended up taking,

464
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,720
and he was seen on the video in the alleyway

465
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:11,759
with those bottles. They actually were recovered and a couple

466
00:28:11,799 --> 00:28:16,359
of those bottles of alcohol had his DNA on the bottle.

467
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,400
Speaker 1: That wasn't the only place they found DNA evidence. When

468
00:28:20,559 --> 00:28:24,799
Jacob was in the hospital, nurses noticed blood in his underwear.

469
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:27,680
When they took him to the restroom to urinate, they

470
00:28:28,319 --> 00:28:32,799
discovered that his penis and groin area had blood and

471
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:38,279
it was Marie. Later the police would confirm this by

472
00:28:38,359 --> 00:28:41,400
recovering the washcloth the nurse had used to wipe him.

473
00:28:42,039 --> 00:28:45,119
Speaker 11: He eventually drug her to a bedroom where he attempted

474
00:28:45,119 --> 00:28:47,839
to rape her. She was still bleeding at that point,

475
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,119
but you know, for all intents and purposes, she was

476
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:52,960
brain dead. We know for a fact that he had

477
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,640
her blood on his penis because we were able to

478
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,079
swab that and get that information, or you know, get

479
00:28:59,119 --> 00:28:59,720
that evidence.

480
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,119
Speaker 1: This wasn't the story of a troubled kid who just

481
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:08,000
needed another chance. Prosecutors said Jacob had already burned through

482
00:29:08,079 --> 00:29:11,319
every chance he'd ever been given, and what he did

483
00:29:11,359 --> 00:29:15,920
to Marie bel Castro proved he was beyond redemption. Sorry

484
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:19,559
to say, but sometimes it's just time to give up

485
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,799
and put a bullet in their head for a couple

486
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,319
thousand vaults through their body. I mean, what do we

487
00:29:26,359 --> 00:29:27,720
need these people for anyway?

488
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 11: But Jacob had a long history of behavioral problems, and

489
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,039
he had bombed out of a number of programs that

490
00:29:36,079 --> 00:29:39,160
were designed to help him. He didn't respond well to

491
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:42,839
any treatment. He was in a treatment facility called the

492
00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:49,319
smith House Quest for about three months in late twenty fourteen,

493
00:29:49,799 --> 00:29:52,720
and if you recall, this murder happened in March thirty

494
00:29:52,799 --> 00:29:56,160
first of twenty fifteen, and while he was there, he

495
00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:01,680
made threats against residents, was caught masturbating. He'd punched another

496
00:30:01,759 --> 00:30:05,720
juvenile there. He was found to be in the computer

497
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:07,799
room and admitted that he liked to look at women

498
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:12,920
and masturbate to them. He used another inmates computer there

499
00:30:13,039 --> 00:30:16,319
to send sexually explicit emails to a teacher. So he

500
00:30:16,359 --> 00:30:21,319
had a long history of behavioral problems and sexual deviation

501
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:22,799
and violence.

502
00:30:23,599 --> 00:30:26,680
Speaker 1: Even his own parents were afraid of them.

503
00:30:27,359 --> 00:30:29,359
Speaker 11: Now he had a little bit of a difficult start.

504
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,319
His parents were divorced, but by all accounts, his mother

505
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:36,200
was pretty good to him. His other siblings were pretty

506
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:39,880
decent kids. They didn't commit these type of crimes and

507
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,519
didn't even come close to committing any types of crimes.

508
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,000
At one point was committed or sentence actually for a

509
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,319
domestic violence when he threw a Mason jar candle at

510
00:30:49,319 --> 00:30:51,119
his seven year old sister and a hit her in

511
00:30:51,119 --> 00:30:55,799
the eye, and she required eighteen stitches. At one point,

512
00:30:55,839 --> 00:30:59,680
the stepfather said, we had to put padlocks on all

513
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:03,440
the other children's bedrooms doors because Jacob would steal anything

514
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:06,759
and everything and then sell it for drugs. So all

515
00:31:06,799 --> 00:31:10,119
the children had padlocks on their bedroom door so Jacob

516
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:12,960
could not get in there and steal anything from them

517
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,200
that he could use to sell. The father also told

518
00:31:16,279 --> 00:31:18,920
us in a written statement and a recorded statement, I

519
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,920
believe that he was so afraid of Jacob and his

520
00:31:22,039 --> 00:31:24,559
violence that he was sleeping with a gun under his pillow.

521
00:31:24,839 --> 00:31:26,480
That's how bad Jacob was.

522
00:31:27,279 --> 00:31:30,759
Speaker 1: Even with that history, what drove Jacob on March thirty

523
00:31:30,799 --> 00:31:35,480
first to still unclear. He had been released from juvenile

524
00:31:35,519 --> 00:31:41,359
detention only hours earlier, full of restlessness and agitation. Maybe

525
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,720
he was simply looking for a dopamine hit. He'd been

526
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:48,559
diagnosed with ADHD as a child, but of course most

527
00:31:48,599 --> 00:31:53,039
people with ADHD aren't violent, most people in general aren't violent.

528
00:31:54,079 --> 00:31:57,440
Maybe he was looking for money or alcohol. Things he

529
00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,839
knew Marie kept in her home, offered him meals and

530
00:32:00,839 --> 00:32:05,000
snacks before and even gave him loose change, but her

531
00:32:05,079 --> 00:32:09,759
daughter was clear those small acts of kindness happened only

532
00:32:09,759 --> 00:32:13,799
on the porch. Marie never let them inside.

533
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,519
Speaker 11: I have no idea what Jacob's motive was. He never

534
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,119
stayed in it. He never gave the police any information.

535
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:25,000
Of course, he deflected and lied, and you know, even

536
00:32:25,039 --> 00:32:27,000
lied about where he got the blood on his clothes

537
00:32:27,119 --> 00:32:30,799
from to his own parents. But it's clear that he

538
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,799
was sexually deviant. There's a long track record of him

539
00:32:34,799 --> 00:32:41,319
having sexual fantasies and deviations and masturbating and looking at pornography.

540
00:32:42,279 --> 00:32:44,440
And the other thing was he's clearly as a violent

541
00:32:44,519 --> 00:32:47,599
track record. He is just one of those individuals that

542
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:49,759
if you were beside him, he didn't care for his

543
00:32:49,839 --> 00:32:52,720
broad daylight, because Marie was killed in the middle of

544
00:32:52,759 --> 00:32:57,000
the afternoon. If he wanted something, which maybe he wanted

545
00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:58,920
the liquor in this case, or maybe just you know,

546
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:03,200
had sexual fans and wanted to, you know, have some

547
00:33:03,319 --> 00:33:07,519
kind of sexual fantasy with a woman. He knew Marie

548
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:11,240
was ninety four years old and lived basically in his backyard,

549
00:33:11,279 --> 00:33:14,359
and he could take advantage and enter her home. And

550
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:17,000
you know though that could be part of the motivation too.

551
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:23,119
Speaker 1: Whatever Jacob's reasons. The evidence left little doubt. His bloody

552
00:33:23,119 --> 00:33:27,480
shoe prints tracked through Marie's home, a mag light, flashlight

553
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:32,440
stained with her blood, DNA all over the scene and

554
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:37,440
on Marie. Neighbors saw him wandering half naked and drunk,

555
00:33:37,799 --> 00:33:41,920
his body smeared with Marie's blood. By the time investigators

556
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,640
finished collecting evidence, there was no question who had been

557
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:50,359
inside five h nine Cherry that afternoon and who had not.

558
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:54,079
Jacob left the hospital that evening after being treated for

559
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:58,000
minor injuries. They went back home, hoping he had somehow

560
00:33:58,039 --> 00:34:01,960
convinced the police that not only was he innocent, but

561
00:34:02,119 --> 00:34:06,359
that he was also a victim. By this time, his

562
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:10,960
family was beyond suspicious. They already knew what life with

563
00:34:11,039 --> 00:34:12,400
him was like.

564
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,639
Speaker 11: His siblings are you know, normal human beings, are normal people,

565
00:34:17,159 --> 00:34:19,800
and he just put this whole family, including his mother

566
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,639
and his siblings obviously by you know, causing the injuries

567
00:34:23,639 --> 00:34:26,480
to the sister. He just put him through hell. You know,

568
00:34:26,559 --> 00:34:29,400
the fact that they had the padlock the bedroom doors,

569
00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:32,000
the fact that the stepfather had to sleep with a gun.

570
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:36,119
I mean, this kid was just just the devil incarnated

571
00:34:36,199 --> 00:34:38,679
inside this house and in this whole neighborhood.

572
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:42,719
Speaker 1: Just after midnight, deputies surround his house after hearing from

573
00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:47,880
dispatch that he's threatening suicide by cop. Spotlights flood the house.

574
00:34:48,639 --> 00:34:53,880
A PA system booms his name, ordering him out. Jacob hesitates.

575
00:34:54,599 --> 00:34:57,800
He tells officers on the phone he's worried about his dogs,

576
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:02,320
and then he's quiet. Minutes drag on, as Jacob's parents

577
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:07,679
coach him. Finally, Jacob steps into the doorway. He edges forward,

578
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:13,199
but then backs up. The officers keep calling him. At last,

579
00:35:13,639 --> 00:35:18,360
he walks into the open. He doesn't fight, He just says,

580
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:20,920
I'm going to jail, Well Dave.

581
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,719
Speaker 12: After spending all day yesterday trying to sit a jury

582
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:28,519
in this case, Jacob LaRosa himself pleaded no contest to

583
00:35:28,679 --> 00:35:32,400
charges named in an amended indictment. This morning, Now Judge

584
00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:37,079
Wyatt McKay found LaRosa guilty of the charges, including aggravated murder,

585
00:35:37,119 --> 00:35:41,639
aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, and attempted rape. The charges stem

586
00:35:41,679 --> 00:35:44,320
from the brutal attack on ninety four year old Marie

587
00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:48,440
Belcastro inside her Niles home back in March of twenty fifteen.

588
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,159
Now LaRosa was arrested shortly after the crime and has

589
00:35:52,199 --> 00:35:54,679
been held on three million dollars bond at the Juvenile

590
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:58,039
Detention Center ever since. But now that he's eighteen and

591
00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,039
convicted of the crime, he'll be more moved over to

592
00:36:01,079 --> 00:36:02,440
the Trumbull County Jail.

593
00:36:02,599 --> 00:36:04,079
Speaker 13: At some point very.

594
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:08,000
Speaker 1: Shortly, Jacob pleaded no contest but would be sentenced as

595
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:12,440
an adult. This meant that for the charges of aggravated murder,

596
00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:15,440
the court could impose the maximum penalty of life in

597
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:19,639
prison without the possibility of parole. The death penalty was

598
00:36:19,679 --> 00:36:22,920
off the table because he was a juvenile when he

599
00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:23,920
committed the crime.

600
00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:26,920
Speaker 4: When they were trying to see the jury, they couldn't

601
00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:32,800
get people to have any sense of fairness or impartiality

602
00:36:33,119 --> 00:36:35,800
on the question of Jacob LaRosa because they had all

603
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:38,360
heard about the murder and they all had a very

604
00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:41,480
strong opinion about what should happen to LaRosa. And it

605
00:36:41,639 --> 00:36:44,679
just shows you the goodness of the man on the

606
00:36:44,679 --> 00:36:48,719
street who when presented with something very black and white

607
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,280
and clear cut, like the murder of a helpless old lady,

608
00:36:53,079 --> 00:36:53,880
they know what to do.

609
00:36:54,639 --> 00:36:56,760
Speaker 1: And this is part of what Chris Becker had to

610
00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:00,920
say in his closing arguments at Jacob's sentencing He.

611
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,000
Speaker 11: Had beaten her in the living room and in the

612
00:37:03,039 --> 00:37:05,920
dining room, and parts of her skull were found in

613
00:37:06,039 --> 00:37:09,119
both places. Her hearing aids had been basically beat out

614
00:37:09,159 --> 00:37:12,840
of her head. That's why I refer to Jacob Leosa

615
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:15,880
as just an animal. Is he is? He should be

616
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:16,800
locked up forever.

617
00:37:17,199 --> 00:37:17,360
Speaker 7: You know.

618
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:19,400
Speaker 11: My grandfather used to say all the time, if you

619
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:21,719
act like an animal, you should be treated like an animal.

620
00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,159
And Jacob Rosa is clearly an animal.

621
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:26,920
Speaker 1: Of course, the defense team didn't see it that way.

622
00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:29,920
They saw him as a child of fifteen with his

623
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,480
whole life ahead of him, just a little baby boy,

624
00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:35,880
just ready to go out into the world, you know,

625
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:40,559
such a bright future ahead And that was exactly the problem.

626
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,280
What other heinous crimes would he commit with an entire

627
00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:48,320
life ahead of him? Remember, in the hospital, Jacob was

628
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:52,480
grateful his life had been saved, but only hours earlier

629
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,880
he had snuffed out the life of a sweet old

630
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:58,119
lady and then lied about it.

631
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:01,679
Speaker 7: God bless me, Why would I do?

632
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:04,079
Speaker 6: We saved him on life? You got me hearing you

633
00:38:04,119 --> 00:38:05,280
guys sayed my life.

634
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:05,840
Speaker 7: Okay.

635
00:38:06,519 --> 00:38:11,000
Speaker 1: It's hard to believe that Jacob would be capable of

636
00:38:11,039 --> 00:38:15,119
believing in God. It does take a certain amount of

637
00:38:15,199 --> 00:38:18,840
humility to admit there's a higher power, and it's even

638
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,480
hard to believe that he was truly grateful for anything

639
00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:26,039
except himself. His life.

640
00:38:26,639 --> 00:38:30,920
Speaker 11: Jacob, for whatever reason, whatever wires were crossed in his brain,

641
00:38:31,039 --> 00:38:35,480
whatever happened to him, something got into him and made

642
00:38:35,519 --> 00:38:39,039
him this animal that ended up taking the life of

643
00:38:39,079 --> 00:38:41,880
a wonderful by all accounts, ninety four year old woman.

644
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:43,920
Speaker 6: Oh, she was a very nice lady.

645
00:38:44,639 --> 00:38:45,840
Speaker 1: She'd do anything for you.

646
00:38:46,559 --> 00:38:49,840
Speaker 5: I can't understand anybody would want to hurt her, really,

647
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:51,480
because she'd do anything for you.

648
00:38:51,519 --> 00:38:53,440
Speaker 6: She'd go out of her way for you.

649
00:38:54,079 --> 00:38:57,840
Speaker 1: Jacob's life had been spared once already, or at least

650
00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:01,079
he pretended to see it that way. But now it

651
00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:05,679
was really on the line, like for real, real. He

652
00:39:05,679 --> 00:39:08,079
couldn't be given a death penalty because he was a minor,

653
00:39:08,159 --> 00:39:12,320
but he would be eligible for life without parole, and

654
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:16,159
that's exactly what Marie's family was hoping for. Would the

655
00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:20,280
justice system spare him or would a judge know what

656
00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:26,039
to do? As Marie's grandson Brian pointed out, fortunately, Attorney

657
00:39:26,039 --> 00:39:29,519
Becker didn't have to prove motive. Some people on this

658
00:39:29,599 --> 00:39:35,039
earth are just sociopaths and that's all they'll ever be.

659
00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:39,039
Speaker 11: The good news is I don't have to prove motive,

660
00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:42,400
and thank goodness, he never told us what his motive was,

661
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:45,639
because I don't think there's any real reason. You know,

662
00:39:45,679 --> 00:39:49,199
you can always understand why maybe someone who's homeless or

663
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,039
a drug addict may steal something because you know, I'm

664
00:39:52,119 --> 00:39:55,199
hungry or I have a drug addiction, But this is

665
00:39:55,239 --> 00:39:59,280
a case where you're just dealing with a psychopath who's

666
00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:03,320
a violent sexual predator, and he's like, I say, you know,

667
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:06,079
I still believe this day he's one of the one

668
00:40:06,119 --> 00:40:08,280
of the people that I have prosecuted, and there's a

669
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:09,840
number of them, but he is definitely one of the

670
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:12,159
people that probably should have got the death batalty, but

671
00:40:12,199 --> 00:40:15,440
because he was under eighteen that the US Supreme Court

672
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:19,679
has prohibited that. But he certainly should be dying in prison.

673
00:40:20,199 --> 00:40:24,239
Speaker 1: At the sentencing hearing, Marie's daughter spoke, wanting to remind

674
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:27,360
the judge exactly what she found the day she walked

675
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,760
in on what Jacob had left behind.

676
00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:36,400
Speaker 14: I'm seeing splattered on the wall and mom's curse dumped.

677
00:40:36,639 --> 00:40:39,320
So I go into the first bedroom and there she

678
00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:42,480
was on the floor, and I knew, and I put

679
00:40:42,519 --> 00:40:44,760
my hand on her head, and I put my hand

680
00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:47,920
on her back, and her back was still wet.

681
00:40:48,039 --> 00:40:49,119
Speaker 6: It was wet with blood.

682
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:53,519
Speaker 1: Jacob tried to seem remorseful, but some things you just

683
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:54,840
can't fake.

684
00:40:55,519 --> 00:40:57,840
Speaker 15: I'm sorry for what I did, and I hope pray

685
00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:01,440
Mary Lekasho's family everyone else can reach down deep in

686
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:03,880
their hearts and forgive me. I am sorry to the

687
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:06,480
people I hurt and let down. I am sorry to

688
00:41:06,519 --> 00:41:09,280
my family that I heard for so long. I'm sorry

689
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:13,079
to the people I bullied, disrespecting, stolen from. And I'm

690
00:41:13,119 --> 00:41:15,840
sorry to the court system for everything I've done. I'm

691
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:18,199
sorry to the staff I disrespected in the past.

692
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:23,719
Speaker 1: The thing is her name was Marie, not Mary, but

693
00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:26,960
he was either too stupid to remember it or he

694
00:41:27,039 --> 00:41:29,480
just didn't give a shit, and the list of people

695
00:41:29,519 --> 00:41:33,079
he disrespected kept rolling out of his mouth more like

696
00:41:33,159 --> 00:41:37,639
a fifth step from a chronic double, a regular making

697
00:41:37,679 --> 00:41:42,360
amends because they have to, rather than anything resembling real remorse.

698
00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:47,320
Even more damning than his robotic apology was what he

699
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:51,320
said to a jail inmate while awaiting trial. This quite

700
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:55,960
possibly explains his motive According to him, Jacob said that

701
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:58,239
he was at a party with friends and they were drinking.

702
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:01,599
They ran out of alcohol, so he said he was

703
00:42:01,639 --> 00:42:03,960
going to go find some more, and he knew that

704
00:42:04,039 --> 00:42:07,679
this old lady had alcohol at her house, so he

705
00:42:07,719 --> 00:42:11,039
went there to take it, but he couldn't find it.

706
00:42:12,039 --> 00:42:14,360
He said he saw her sitting in the living room

707
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:16,679
and he just grabbed the flashlight from the table and

708
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:19,440
hit her with it. He said she fell over and

709
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:23,320
started to scream, so he kept hitting her until she stopped.

710
00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:27,000
Then he dragged her to the bedroom. He was going

711
00:42:27,039 --> 00:42:29,599
to try to rape her, but he couldn't get it up,

712
00:42:30,239 --> 00:42:32,199
so he just left her there on the floor.

713
00:42:32,599 --> 00:42:35,199
Speaker 11: The prison term of life without parole in the State

714
00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:36,119
Peen Institution.

715
00:42:36,559 --> 00:42:40,679
Speaker 13: Showing no remorse, The now nineteen year old Jacob LaRosa

716
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:44,519
was given the maximum sentence allowed by law for the

717
00:42:44,559 --> 00:42:48,840
aggravated murder of ninety four year old Marie Belcastro, and

718
00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:52,440
on top of that, thirty additional years for charges of

719
00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:57,639
aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and attempted rape, all stemming from

720
00:42:57,679 --> 00:43:01,559
what happened inside bel Castro's Chair Avenue home back in

721
00:43:01,639 --> 00:43:03,440
March of twenty fifteen.

722
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:09,239
Speaker 1: But this is Ohio, and in Ohio, sometimes up is

723
00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:12,920
down and down is up, and sometimes even a sentence

724
00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:19,760
of life without parole doesn't really mean life without parole.

725
00:43:49,519 --> 00:43:52,559
Jacob Loosso was fifteen years old living with his mother

726
00:43:52,679 --> 00:43:57,199
on Lafayette Avenue in Niles, Ohio. On March thirty first,

727
00:43:57,280 --> 00:44:01,599
twenty fifteen, just out of juvie, he came home drunk, barefoot,

728
00:44:01,639 --> 00:44:05,960
and covered in blood. Across the street, his ninety four

729
00:44:06,039 --> 00:44:09,559
year old neighbor, Marie bel Castro, was found beaten to

730
00:44:09,679 --> 00:44:15,679
death inside her home. The evidence was overwhelming, Jacob's bloody shoe, prince,

731
00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:21,159
the maglite flashlight, Marie's DNA in his underwear. He was

732
00:44:21,239 --> 00:44:25,239
arrested within hours, charged as an adult, and in twenty

733
00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:31,320
eighteen sentenced to life without parole. But this is Ohio,

734
00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:34,039
and that sentence wouldn't hold.

735
00:44:34,639 --> 00:44:39,559
Speaker 11: The Ohio legislature then passed Senate Bill two fifty six,

736
00:44:39,639 --> 00:44:44,280
which retroactively gave defendants such as Jacob that were serving

737
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:49,360
life sentences with no parole eligibility after serving twenty five years.

738
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:54,440
It was an absolute I can't even put a proper

739
00:44:54,519 --> 00:44:59,000
adjective on how awful this legislation was. Not only for

740
00:44:59,079 --> 00:45:01,239
the victims, but for the state of Ohio, and it

741
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:02,960
was done for political purposes.

742
00:45:03,719 --> 00:45:07,559
Speaker 1: Isn't that always the case? Is there really any justice

743
00:45:07,559 --> 00:45:11,000
when lawmakers negotiate, make deals and set themselves up to

744
00:45:11,039 --> 00:45:13,719
win the next election by sabotaging the rest of us

745
00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:18,079
am I a little jaded, maybe, or maybe I'm just

746
00:45:18,679 --> 00:45:19,599
spitting some truth.

747
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:24,840
Speaker 11: Matt Dolan, who his family owns the Cleveland Guardians, is

748
00:45:24,880 --> 00:45:28,119
a horrible, horrible legislature and everyone that voted for this

749
00:45:28,199 --> 00:45:31,239
did a horrible job of looking at the facts. And

750
00:45:31,719 --> 00:45:36,360
anytime you retroactively let monsters like Jacob l Rosa give

751
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:40,679
them a benefit, it's just horrible. And our Ohio legislature

752
00:45:40,719 --> 00:45:43,199
did a horrible job on the passage of Senate Bill

753
00:45:43,239 --> 00:45:44,159
to fifty six.

754
00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:47,639
Speaker 1: This was a law that basically said anyone who committed

755
00:45:47,639 --> 00:45:50,480
a crime while under the age of eighteen and was

756
00:45:50,519 --> 00:45:54,440
given life without parole was given a get out of

757
00:45:54,559 --> 00:45:58,840
jail free card. Maybe not quite free, but they are

758
00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:03,239
now allowed to see parole after twenty five years. Some

759
00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:06,440
idiot thought that'd be a good idea to just set

760
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:11,079
an upper limit, no matter how horrendous the crime. Ah,

761
00:46:11,119 --> 00:46:13,760
why because you're just a little baby just a little baby,

762
00:46:14,039 --> 00:46:18,119
just your little tiny baby, just in you. No baby, Sorry,

763
00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:22,000
let's get back to it. In Jacob's case, he would

764
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:25,280
be in his early forties if led out, plenty of

765
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:29,239
time to commit. Who knows what I mean. He killed me,

766
00:46:29,239 --> 00:46:32,480
a rebel castro over alcohol, within eight hours of being

767
00:46:32,519 --> 00:46:35,800
released from juvenile detention. Do you really think he's going

768
00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:38,199
to be reformed somehow?

769
00:46:38,880 --> 00:46:42,760
Speaker 4: Not to sound dramatic, but that hit me harder than

770
00:46:43,239 --> 00:46:48,400
the murder, to be honest, Because not to minimize it,

771
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:50,400
but she was ninety four years old. I knew that

772
00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:54,960
that call would come someday soon, ish, I didn't realize

773
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:58,599
the manner of death. It was hard, but it was

774
00:46:58,639 --> 00:47:02,599
also People lift you up in prayer. When someone in

775
00:47:02,639 --> 00:47:06,199
your family gets murdered. I think there's a combination of

776
00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:13,599
shock and prayer and the Holy Spirit that just enveloped

777
00:47:13,639 --> 00:47:19,320
our family for weeks and still does. But when the

778
00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:25,000
Ohio legislature retroactively changes a law given your loved ones

779
00:47:25,119 --> 00:47:30,480
killer rights that he didn't previously have, there's no hallmark

780
00:47:30,519 --> 00:47:34,960
card for that, there's no prayer chain for that. There

781
00:47:35,039 --> 00:47:38,199
is the shock that the party that you supported all

782
00:47:38,239 --> 00:47:41,840
your life. I'm a lifelong Republican and it was my

783
00:47:42,199 --> 00:47:44,840
old Republican buddies in Ohio. I used to work for

784
00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:48,360
the Ohio Republican Party. I raised money for Governor Mike DeLine.

785
00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:53,960
When your own political family betrays you and basically says,

786
00:47:54,719 --> 00:47:57,440
which is what SB. Two five six did, it said,

787
00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:01,719
you have to go to parole hearings every five years your.

788
00:48:01,599 --> 00:48:05,880
Speaker 1: Own political family. Let's be clear, there's no such thing

789
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:11,320
as a political family. There's nothing familial about politics.

790
00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:15,440
Speaker 11: Well, it happened because a lot of these Republicans are

791
00:48:15,559 --> 00:48:18,719
the typical rhinos. They you know, they want to save

792
00:48:18,840 --> 00:48:23,599
money at the at the state penitentiary system. They you know,

793
00:48:23,679 --> 00:48:27,559
they pander to a lot of special interests. And in

794
00:48:27,599 --> 00:48:30,159
this particular case, like I said, it was led by

795
00:48:30,199 --> 00:48:34,880
some very wayward legislators that you know, took the bait

796
00:48:35,159 --> 00:48:37,599
of this poor little kid. He's going to have to

797
00:48:37,679 --> 00:48:39,639
spend the rest of his life in prison. It wasn't

798
00:48:39,679 --> 00:48:43,480
just Jacob, it was a number of individuals that were

799
00:48:43,519 --> 00:48:45,920
serving life sentences, but every one of them deserved it.

800
00:48:46,559 --> 00:48:51,760
Speaker 1: The law doesn't guarantee Jacob's release, but it guarantees something else.

801
00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:56,239
Marie's family will have to keep showing up every time

802
00:48:56,320 --> 00:49:00,159
he asks for parole, to remind the board of what

803
00:49:00,199 --> 00:49:03,960
he actually did, and they'll have to do this reliving

804
00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:08,599
the murder for the rest of their lives or until

805
00:49:08,599 --> 00:49:13,159
he finally gets released. Talk about punishing victims.

806
00:49:13,719 --> 00:49:18,159
Speaker 4: It was such a betrayal, such a punch in that

807
00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:25,880
got such a hard thing to fathom, and you contrast

808
00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:30,719
that with the security of a life without parole sentence,

809
00:49:31,559 --> 00:49:34,800
and it's night and day. We have been fighting ever

810
00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:38,119
since we learned about it. We had one victory a

811
00:49:38,199 --> 00:49:41,960
couple of years ago. They changed that time from five

812
00:49:42,039 --> 00:49:45,800
years to ten years, so it's parole hearings every ten years,

813
00:49:46,159 --> 00:49:50,559
which is certainly more manageable than every five years, but

814
00:49:50,639 --> 00:49:54,360
at the same time, to force a family to defend

815
00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:59,639
their safety against their loved one's killer, when prior to

816
00:49:59,679 --> 00:50:03,159
that you don't have to, is I think cool.

817
00:50:04,039 --> 00:50:07,000
Speaker 1: Imagine losing someone you love the murder, then being told

818
00:50:07,159 --> 00:50:08,880
you're going to have to stand in front of a

819
00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:13,159
parole board every few years to explain why their killer

820
00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:18,679
should stay in prison. That's the reality Maurice's family now faces,

821
00:50:19,559 --> 00:50:23,599
and they're not alone because when lawmakers decide to water

822
00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:28,360
down sentences and add upper limits, it's a gift to

823
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:33,079
all those hardcore criminals out there, and it's a punishment

824
00:50:33,719 --> 00:50:38,840
to all the families of victims. Brian has a message

825
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:42,880
if you want to understand just how big this problem really.

826
00:50:42,719 --> 00:50:47,159
Speaker 4: Is, the best resource I could recommend is a mouthful.

827
00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:56,280
It's the National Organization for Victims of Juvenile Murderers NVJM

828
00:50:56,400 --> 00:51:02,400
dot org. They're going to find state by state status

829
00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:08,559
on bills that might impact innocent people. They're going to

830
00:51:08,599 --> 00:51:14,039
find studies and links to books, and they're going to

831
00:51:14,079 --> 00:51:16,920
find stories, and they're going to find an article that

832
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:20,679
I wrote when my grandmother was killed. And when you're

833
00:51:20,679 --> 00:51:23,159
a legislator, I understand you have a lot of bills

834
00:51:23,199 --> 00:51:26,360
to read and digest and understand, but I think a

835
00:51:26,400 --> 00:51:30,880
simple litmus test ought to be does this strengthen the

836
00:51:30,920 --> 00:51:35,159
innocent and punish criminals or does it do the opposite.

837
00:51:35,239 --> 00:51:39,480
And if you're a believer in goodness and you're doing

838
00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:42,719
the people's work, you want to help victims and not criminals.

839
00:51:43,159 --> 00:51:45,880
So that's a nice little litmus test for any legislator

840
00:51:45,960 --> 00:51:49,559
that is confused. As far as Ohio goes, I have

841
00:51:49,599 --> 00:51:54,719
a feeling that the next governor, Vivek Ramaswami will be

842
00:51:54,800 --> 00:51:59,840
receptive to overturning or doing what he can. The problem is,

843
00:51:59,880 --> 00:52:04,199
I guess once you give a class of people new rights,

844
00:52:04,239 --> 00:52:06,000
it's very hard to then take them away.

845
00:52:06,719 --> 00:52:09,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, think about that for a second. The bigger the

846
00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:12,880
government and the more money it spends on stupid ideas

847
00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:16,000
or programs that aren't working, the harder it is to

848
00:52:16,159 --> 00:52:21,440
undo the mess they create. It becomes one big, tangled,

849
00:52:21,480 --> 00:52:25,320
bureaucratic mess, and instead of fixing it, the next guy

850
00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:29,280
comes and spends more of your money, adding another layer

851
00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:32,280
of laws on top of it. But Brian and his

852
00:52:32,320 --> 00:52:37,519
family have actually taken action because for them it's personal.

853
00:52:38,119 --> 00:52:40,840
Speaker 4: Well, twenty twenty one, our family did sort of an

854
00:52:40,920 --> 00:52:45,880
RV tour of Ohio. We visited thirteen county courthouses and

855
00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:50,280
did interviews with the press and just sort of raised

856
00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:54,400
awareness about Senate Bill two fifty six. It was really nice.

857
00:52:54,440 --> 00:52:58,880
We met all kinds of regular folks, some riff wrath

858
00:52:59,360 --> 00:53:04,039
everybody talked to, from homeless people to clearly people who

859
00:53:04,039 --> 00:53:07,199
are showing up for probation drug tests. You know, when

860
00:53:07,239 --> 00:53:09,159
you're at a courthouse, you see all kinds of folks.

861
00:53:09,199 --> 00:53:12,679
Right you're filing we're here to file documents. Oh, I'm

862
00:53:12,679 --> 00:53:15,840
here to file urine sample. I met a guy who

863
00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:19,280
was in prison with La Rosa who was out, and

864
00:53:20,199 --> 00:53:23,199
when I explained to him what we were doing, he said, oh,

865
00:53:23,280 --> 00:53:26,960
my gosh, Like I've never met anybody who thinks it's

866
00:53:27,000 --> 00:53:30,239
a great idea to undo the sentence of a judge,

867
00:53:30,679 --> 00:53:35,320
to give killers a second, third, eighth chance.

868
00:53:36,039 --> 00:53:40,599
Speaker 1: Brian's daughter, Lena, Murray's great granddaughter, is a very young adult,

869
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:44,119
but has a surprising amount of common sense and wisdom

870
00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:47,960
that many of us don't have. Here's what she said

871
00:53:48,039 --> 00:53:51,199
about the changing law and what her family has gone through.

872
00:53:51,800 --> 00:53:55,760
Speaker 16: Just how hope in a time of darkness and conflict,

873
00:53:56,159 --> 00:54:01,280
Because I think having hope and unity with every community

874
00:54:01,320 --> 00:54:04,239
there is, I think that is the strongest form of expression.

875
00:54:04,920 --> 00:54:07,320
That is the perfect way to fight in the face

876
00:54:07,400 --> 00:54:12,800
of the very ones who control us, which is the government.

877
00:54:12,960 --> 00:54:15,239
Speaker 9: We need to really wake up and realize, like we're

878
00:54:15,280 --> 00:54:16,719
not divided on either party.

879
00:54:16,760 --> 00:54:19,880
Speaker 16: We're divided because of the people trying to divide us.

880
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:23,039
We need to stay focused, not let us just like

881
00:54:23,159 --> 00:54:25,559
not let them distract us. I just feel like it's

882
00:54:25,639 --> 00:54:30,039
humanity versus insanity, and it's not even about party versus party.

883
00:54:30,159 --> 00:54:33,480
I think it's both parties versus the government. That's what

884
00:54:33,559 --> 00:54:34,119
I feel.

885
00:54:34,960 --> 00:54:39,440
Speaker 1: But this is really about Marie Belcastro, a sweet grandma

886
00:54:39,480 --> 00:54:42,039
who didn't deserve to die in such a monstrous way.

887
00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:47,199
No one does. We asked Brian and Lena what Jigi

888
00:54:48,079 --> 00:54:51,039
would have said today if she were still alive.

889
00:54:51,880 --> 00:54:56,119
Speaker 16: You find yourself in a position to fight for something,

890
00:54:56,519 --> 00:54:59,599
don't stop fighting for that. So that's what I'm getting

891
00:54:59,599 --> 00:55:01,119
in her, and I think she would say that would

892
00:55:01,159 --> 00:55:04,559
like love and you know, with all the kindness in

893
00:55:04,599 --> 00:55:07,800
her heart and lust from her head, you know, because

894
00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:09,639
she was the kind to me with her heart, not

895
00:55:09,719 --> 00:55:10,199
her mind.

896
00:55:11,039 --> 00:55:15,800
Speaker 1: Murray lived for ninety four years in Niles, Ohio. She

897
00:55:15,880 --> 00:55:20,760
was a mother, a grandmother, and a great grandmother. She

898
00:55:20,880 --> 00:55:24,199
was the kind of neighbor who baked cookies, who gave

899
00:55:24,320 --> 00:55:27,519
kids a few coins for their help, and made people

900
00:55:27,599 --> 00:55:32,320
laugh with her humor. She had seen hard times, she

901
00:55:32,360 --> 00:55:36,400
had raised a family, and she had outlived so many

902
00:55:36,639 --> 00:55:40,360
of her peers. Only for this to happen to her.

903
00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:43,719
She deserved to live out the rest of her years

904
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:47,320
in peace in the home her dad built for her

905
00:55:47,360 --> 00:55:51,079
and her family. Instead, her life was cut short in

906
00:55:51,119 --> 00:55:55,880
the most brutal way imaginable by a snot nosed kid

907
00:55:56,039 --> 00:56:02,079
hew bent on ruining lives, including his own. Still, while

908
00:56:02,159 --> 00:56:06,039
parents were putting padlocks on their bedroom doors and neighbors

909
00:56:06,039 --> 00:56:11,000
were placing surveillance cameras, Marie was giving him cookies and

910
00:56:11,119 --> 00:56:15,440
love on her front porch. She was a woman defined

911
00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:20,280
by her laughter, her love, and the simple good things

912
00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:25,280
she left behind. At her ninetieth birthday party, she told

913
00:56:25,320 --> 00:56:28,239
us herself how she wanted to be remembered.

914
00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:30,039
Speaker 4: You love my.

915
00:56:30,400 --> 00:56:36,239
Speaker 6: Son, Shine, my only son. Shine.

916
00:56:36,599 --> 00:56:37,639
Speaker 2: You make me.

917
00:56:39,960 --> 00:56:41,679
Speaker 16: When skuys are great?

918
00:56:42,480 --> 00:56:44,239
Speaker 6: What would you like to be remembered for?

919
00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:48,639
Speaker 16: Were all the good things that I might have done,

920
00:56:49,119 --> 00:56:53,280
which I don't know too my name were not bad things?

921
00:56:55,199 --> 00:56:58,760
Speaker 1: Marie, though Castro, will live on the minds of those

922
00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:01,519
who knew her for all the good things she did.

923
00:57:02,760 --> 00:57:08,880
Jacob LaRosa, however, will never achieve anything. This is a

924
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:15,639
waste of human flesh, a waste of space, a waste

925
00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:21,199
of oxygen. The fact we have a criminal justice system

926
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:27,079
that pities, feel sorry for, and even defends him instead

927
00:57:27,119 --> 00:57:31,280
of the real victim is what the actual crime is here.

928
00:57:32,559 --> 00:57:34,519
Why are we gonna fucking wake up out of this

929
00:57:34,679 --> 00:57:40,519
haze of suicidal empathy for literal monsters. I got nothing

930
00:57:40,559 --> 00:57:46,760
else to say about it. I'm disgusted, literally disgusted by

931
00:57:46,840 --> 00:57:53,119
how we treat actual victims for the sake of appearances.

932
00:57:54,400 --> 00:58:22,880
Fuck this shit. I've been doing this for thirteen years

933
00:58:22,960 --> 00:58:24,639
for you. Can you do me a quick favor and

934
00:58:24,719 --> 00:58:28,079
head on over to YouTube dot com Slash Sword and

935
00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:34,239
Scale TV and subscribe. Would you mind? Would it kill you?

936
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:39,679
Could you just? Could you just please kindly? Thank you?

937
00:58:40,679 --> 00:59:00,960
See you next week. Stay safet,