WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.839 Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is 2 00:00:03.879 --> 00:00:08.480 not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. 3 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.519 I heard screaming and stuff, so I just love I 4 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:20.519 couldn't say the little lead from that lady's house. 5 00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:26.640 Hello, and thank you for joining us. This is season thirteen, 6 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:30.399 episode three hundred and forty what three hundred and forty 7 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:34.640 seven of Sword and Scale show that reveals that the 8 00:00:34.640 --> 00:01:33.239 worst monsters are real. It's March first, twenty fifteen in Niles, Ohio, Yeah, 9 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:38.719 Ohio again. Niles is an aging steel town in Trumbull County. 10 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:42.519 The narrow streets are lined with ranch and cape cod 11 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:48.680 homes where families have lived for generations. On Lafayette Avenue. 12 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:53.760 The houses sit close together, with alleys running between them 13 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:56.480 and neighbors that notice when something is out of place. 14 00:01:57.480 --> 00:02:01.200 Just before dinner, a teenage boy stumbles home and into 15 00:02:01.239 --> 00:02:05.799 the front door. He's not hungry, and he's not thirsty either. 16 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:10.560 In fact, he's already had too much to drink and 17 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:13.120 he's a drunken mess. 18 00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:15.000 Nine one how much emergency? 19 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:15.360 Hi? 20 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:17.919 My trin came home and said he got jumped by 21 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:21.280 several people and he's not actingly okay. 22 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:24.960 Where did the sthroom? I'm not five or two off yet, 23 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:28.919 He says he was at Feeder Park, okay, and he 24 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:30.599 has blood on his hands and stuff. 25 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:33.960 Her voice echoes through the house as she speaks to 26 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:38.199 the dispatcher. She's not in panic. He doesn't look injured, 27 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:42.840 but he has blood all over him and he's not 28 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:46.439 wearing pants. He's been staggering through the neighborhood in his 29 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.199 underwear and a T shirt. 30 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:52.360 He has blood on his hands, yeah, and on his shirt. 31 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:54.120 And he's like coming in and out of it. 32 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:59.680 How old is it he's fifty? Well, he's fifteen. Fifteen? 33 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:01.159 Yeah, he's not. 34 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:04.159 Okay, so you need an ambulance? 35 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:05.680 Yeah, all right. 36 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:07.240 I want you to come down to the station when 37 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:12.120 he's done, okay, and file a report. Okay, not stay 38 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:12.560 on the line. 39 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:16.280 So far, his mom doesn't seem to notice somehow that 40 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:20.199 his breath also wreaks of alcohol, or at least she 41 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:21.280 doesn't report this. 42 00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:29.319 How is done? He's fifteen? He said he was jumpy 43 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:30.840 when he said he's not acting right? 44 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:31.560 What do you mean? 45 00:03:31.639 --> 00:03:34.479 He's like playing on the bathrooms floor, and he tried 46 00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:36.919 to lift up his head and his eyes rolled back 47 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:42.120 and he throws himself back down and Kayley goes to 48 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:46.560 talk to you. He mumbled, and he has blood on 49 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:47.800 his hands and his shirt. 50 00:03:48.599 --> 00:03:52.360 Her son, Jacob LaRosa, tells her he's been attacked by 51 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:53.680 some other teenagers. 52 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:55.800 That's a Nile that will call on the line. At 53 00:03:56.199 --> 00:04:00.560 five oh two, Lafayette, fifteen year old fun was it 54 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:03.599 a fight and came home and she said he's not 55 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:04.400 acting right. 56 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:08.000 The Niles squad car pulls up quickly. It's only a 57 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:11.960 short drive to the station. The Lafayette houses are cluttered 58 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.800 tightly in a neighborhood where officers can cross yards and 59 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:20.879 alleys in seconds. Inside, he finds Jacob on the bathroom floor. 60 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:25.600 An ambulance gets there in just minutes, and they whisked 61 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:28.839 Jacob away to the hospital, where he's interviewed. 62 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:34.560 Wond if I come in? No, no, sir, Come. 63 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:41.199 Sir, Jacob. How are you good? Sir good? My name 64 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:42.360 is Lieutenant Atkins. 65 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:47.600 Don't conquer move yet, okay, yeah, you could still finish 66 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:48.519 young lady first though. 67 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:56.600 Okay, I'm don't you're moving, so you're gonna screw up 68 00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:57.959 your test, buddy, don't. 69 00:04:57.800 --> 00:04:58.519 Talk, don't move. 70 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:02.879 That nurse wasn't playing games and didn't have the time 71 00:05:03.079 --> 00:05:04.439 for her drunk patient. 72 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:13.319 Normal, my mom, she's on the waiting room. These guys 73 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:17.079 came up, game up. They meant they got it. 74 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:17.600 Happens. 75 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:21.680 The streets can be violent, especially in Ohio. 76 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:24.240 Tell me, tell me how did you end up here tonight? 77 00:05:24.439 --> 00:05:28.639 Well, this this kid dere Gaius and Vonte Jackson, they 78 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:29.199 play a gun. 79 00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:31.639 They gone to my end. 80 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:34.519 Reason what was the other guys? 81 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:37.160 Sa Ry Davis and Vonte. 82 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:39.600 Yeah Jackson. 83 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:42.360 They believe going into my head. They were making me 84 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:43.480 a drink. 85 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:44.480 I got a card. 86 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:45.879 I told him I was just scared. 87 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:48.279 Where were you with these guys? 88 00:05:48.439 --> 00:05:51.480 I was on the street of lost. Yeah. I told 89 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:53.839 him I want to go oh. I was just scared. 90 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:56.720 My mom wanted me. I wanted to make up excuse. 91 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:00.759 So they believed me that I needed to be okay. 92 00:06:00.839 --> 00:06:02.879 I wanted I told him so why they let me 93 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:04.600 also block, I told him all the time to go 94 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:06.199 get I was gonna steal something. 95 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:08.959 So I told him I was to steal something, but 96 00:06:09.079 --> 00:06:11.839 I lied to them. I went straight to my house 97 00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:13.560 and they told me to get the cars. 98 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:16.399 So I went to anyone in the room listening, it 99 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:20.000 sounds like he was being held at gunpoint and told 100 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.040 to rob somebody or something. So, according to Jacob, he 101 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:26.720 lied just so he could go home where his mom 102 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:30.439 was expecting him. The officers have more questions, but all 103 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:33.879 of a sudden, Jacob passes out. 104 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:39.120 You all right, still, there would be Jacob Jacob. 105 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:46.519 Yeah, hey, Jacob, need to talk to the lieutenant here. 106 00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:50.560 Oh how you doing today? Good? 107 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:51.839 Well? 108 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:53.839 Well, this kid he made me get a car. 109 00:06:53.879 --> 00:06:54.480 He had a gun. 110 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:55.759 Which kid had the gun? 111 00:06:56.120 --> 00:06:58.839 Derek Davies, Who kind of gun was it? It was 112 00:06:59.000 --> 00:06:59.480 not even one? 113 00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:04.199 Me here, okay, we'll color black black black. 114 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:08.680 Wife had a grip on it the bottom where we 115 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:10.000 have it. 116 00:07:09.879 --> 00:07:11.920 In your hand. What kind of car were they in? 117 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:15.600 They're in a great car. You know what kind it was? 118 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.560 It was like it was it was a jeep. Yes, 119 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:22.040 it was a jeep. Jeep. It was a jeep. Okay, 120 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:26.360 it was a great jeep. And wait wait wait, you 121 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:28.759 had l a bald egel on top of it. I 122 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:32.319 want to on the hood on the hood on the hood. 123 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:37.360 Got that. Jacob's account of what happened was only getting 124 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:38.600 more interesting. 125 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:44.879 Okay, so they made you get in the car, They 126 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:47.600 made me drink what do you make you drink. 127 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:53.480 It made me drink would keep for loco. I did 128 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:56.240 not want to do it. I wanted to be happy. 129 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:57.639 I wanted to be roll over. 130 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:03.759 Okay, when you said they made you smoke the smoke 131 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:05.759 cigarettes or maybe it's a little. 132 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:09.839 They made men. We didn't make me drink. 133 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:12.040 You said they made you smoke weed. 134 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:16.600 No, they made but they made me drink. I told 135 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:18.040 I want to. I want to. 136 00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:20.959 They made They forced me to sunk the weed. But 137 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:24.800 I didn't. Again, I say shaw like our probation officers 138 00:08:24.839 --> 00:08:32.320 said to me to do Okay, I call away, callaway kid. 139 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:37.759 With these guys, I was, I was down. I look 140 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:43.840 way that they track me. They to me, they tracked me. 141 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:48.360 Peer pressure. You've been there, right, just trying to do 142 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:51.240 the right thing, mind your own business, follow all the rules. 143 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:56.279 And then some kids your age pull guns, pour vodka 144 00:08:56.279 --> 00:09:00.200 down your throat, and shove weed at you. You try it, 145 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:04.320 but like Bill Clinton once famously claimed, you don't inhale 146 00:09:04.759 --> 00:09:05.120 no one. 147 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:08.200 There's no way I go to leave. I was trying 148 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:09.559 to ram, but they got me. 149 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:10.440 They got me. 150 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:15.399 Okay, I'm sorry, please right. 151 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:20.600 Jacob, I'm just talking to you right now, Thank you. Okay, 152 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:23.960 so they make you get in the car. Where do 153 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:24.600 you guys go? 154 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:27.240 We go do Dollar in General? 155 00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:29.440 Okay? On Avenue? 156 00:09:29.559 --> 00:09:33.279 Yeah, the way up there? Wait, way down there. You 157 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:34.159 know where you're going to? 158 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:34.799 Uh? 159 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:39.600 What is it called? Johnny Eagle? You where's at? You 160 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:39.919 know how? 161 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:42.559 You go down to donag and you go across, you go, 162 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:46.120 we turn, you turn right and you go all the 163 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:49.759 way up to Robbins. Yeah, we're going all the way 164 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:51.679 up to Robbins. And they're having a car and they're 165 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:53.559 saying that they're gonna be beat me up. 166 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:56.480 I was scared. I always wanted to call him mom. 167 00:09:56.639 --> 00:09:59.399 I want to make sure my mom's safe. 168 00:10:00.919 --> 00:10:02.240 How old are these guys. 169 00:10:02.279 --> 00:10:07.639 Like seventeen, eighteen years old? Nineteen? Yeah, I didn't want 170 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:09.919 my mom. I didn't want to go to the school there. 171 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:14.840 The more questions the officer asked, the harder it was 172 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:18.039 for Jacob to spit out his version of what happened. 173 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:22.960 His words turned into sobs, his sentences trailed off, and 174 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:27.159 what little sense he did make only raised more questions. 175 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:29.559 They're going to go to the littler General. 176 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:30.320 Where do you guys go? 177 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:42.039 They're all making me either conser tree, maybe. 178 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:42.639 Buy a bottle off. 179 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:46.919 I get a little dollar so they can have they 180 00:10:46.919 --> 00:10:48.360 can buy a bottle of loco. 181 00:10:48.919 --> 00:10:50.080 All is a dune and he. 182 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:53.080 Wants to sparko And now I was a Sparko and 183 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:56.360 my freaking I want a fad. 184 00:10:56.519 --> 00:10:59.120 I want to be a good kid. I want to 185 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:00.000 be a good kid. 186 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:04.080 He wanted to be a good kid, a great kid. 187 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:07.919 But that wasn't how the first fifteen years of his 188 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.960 life had gone. He wasn't going to be nominated for 189 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:15.519 Altar Boy of the Year anytime soon. Good kids don't 190 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:18.919 come home drunk and coherent and covered in somebody else's blood. 191 00:11:19.159 --> 00:11:23.720 After all, good kids don't spin stories to get out 192 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:28.519 of serious crime, and great kids don't leave a dead 193 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:57.679 body in their wake. On March thirty, first, twenty fifteen, 194 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:01.759 fifteen year old Jacob LaRosa Dagger's home in a Niles, 195 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:08.320 Ohio neighborhood. He's half dressed, bleeding, and wreaking of alcohol. 196 00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:11.879 His mother calls nine to one one, convinced her son's 197 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:16.000 been attacked. At the hospital, Jacob claims that teenagers with 198 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:20.919 guns trapped him, but his slurred lies can't hide the truth. 199 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:26.320 Something way more gruesome happened that afternoon. And just across 200 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:31.879 the street, the evidence was waiting. Marie bel Castro was 201 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:35.720 a ninety four year old widow with kids, grandkids, and 202 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:41.200 great grandkids. Her great granddaughter Lena called her Gigi. 203 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:45.679 Gigi is like a really sweet person. She was very 204 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:51.559 spiritually in tune with herself and religious to the degree 205 00:12:51.559 --> 00:12:54.399 of one to be just like Jesus, and she always 206 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:58.159 gave back. She was very kind hearted, and I think, 207 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:00.879 you know a lot of people the state kind is 208 00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:03.840 for weakness, and I think what happened to her was 209 00:13:04.360 --> 00:13:07.200 kind of tragic in the sense that the expression kind 210 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:10.440 of came true to itself with what had happened to her. 211 00:13:10.440 --> 00:13:13.559 And I think it kind of proves that no matter 212 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:16.600 how good your intentions are, no matter how kind you are, 213 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:18.559 there's always gonna be some jerk that's going and try 214 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:20.120 and effect that destroy that. 215 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:25.600 Marie was born in nineteen twenty to immigrant parents from Italy. 216 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:29.039 Her dad was a carpenter who came to the US 217 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:33.559 at the age of eleven. Marie herself married Fred Belcastro, 218 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:36.600 a member of the Army Corps. In World War Two. 219 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:41.120 Marie also helped with the war effort, working at Packard 220 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:45.799 Electric making tanks and military equipment. She was like Rosie 221 00:13:45.799 --> 00:13:50.559 the Riveter, but in real life this is her grandson, 222 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:51.480 Brian Kirk. 223 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:56.399 She was her housewife and the Italian American community at 224 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:00.559 Niles was very close knit. In fact, I've heard wonderful 225 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:06.799 stories about the Italians banding together with other minorities. 226 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:11.720 It was a very different time in American history. Back then, 227 00:14:11.879 --> 00:14:14.559 just getting into the United States was a different process 228 00:14:14.600 --> 00:14:19.000 than it is today. Irish, Italian and Jewish families traveled 229 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:23.159 weeks by ship and cramped spaces, hoping they didn't die 230 00:14:23.240 --> 00:14:26.720 along the way. They came to Ellis Island with nothing 231 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:30.320 more than the clothes on their backs. They stood in 232 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:35.840 long lines, went through humiliating medical inspections, bought language barriers, 233 00:14:35.879 --> 00:14:40.879 and hoped they wouldn't be turned away. No jobs were waiting, 234 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:46.399 no handouts, no safety nets, certainly no welfare. All they 235 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:50.440 had was each other and in Niles, Ohio, the Italian 236 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:54.440 families banded together with other newcomers to find their way 237 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:58.399 in a city that didn't always welcome them. They faced 238 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:03.240 suspicion and prejudice, but they worked long hours in the mills, 239 00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:08.039 raised families, and built communities of faith and tradition. That 240 00:15:08.519 --> 00:15:09.320 held them together. 241 00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:13.639 My grandfather suffered a stroke in the seventies, and my 242 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:16.960 grandmother became a bus aide and then a school bus driver. 243 00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:21.200 She was quite short, about four foot nine, and so 244 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:24.120 the idea of her driving a big bus was pretty 245 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:26.399 funny to us. But she did what she had to 246 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:30.080 do to thrive and survive, and she was a product 247 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:34.039 of that Great Depression era. She had a hip side 248 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:37.120 to her, and by that I mean she was plugged 249 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:41.360 into the culture. She loved stand up comedy. She liked 250 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:46.679 comics like Ron White and Lewis Black. When I was 251 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:49.320 six years old, I remember watching Saturday Night Live on 252 00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:52.159 her living room floor, something that my parents would never 253 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:52.720 let me do. 254 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:56.799 Brian says that even though his grandmother was a devout Catholic, 255 00:15:57.399 --> 00:16:00.440 she didn't push her beliefs on anyone and didn't get 256 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:03.720 stuck in the dogma. When Brian and a friend visited 257 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:06.879 her on their first college break, the first thing she 258 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:09.559 did was offer them twenty bucks to go buy some beer. 259 00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:14.799 She gave me the freedom to make mistakes, and she 260 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:18.240 was just a very funny woman with a very advanced 261 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:20.559 sense of humor. In a different era, she could have 262 00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:25.600 been a college professor. But in nineteen twenties, Ohio, you know, 263 00:16:25.720 --> 00:16:28.919 the child of immigrants and relatively poor, she didn't have 264 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:32.919 the same opportunities that young women have today. But a 265 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:35.799 learned woman, a smart woman, and. 266 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:39.960 A really good Italian cook, I might add, Who wouldn't 267 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:43.879 want a grandma like her? The thing Brian remembers most 268 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:48.799 is her humor and her laugh, things she inherited. He 269 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:50.360 went on to become a comedian. 270 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:54.600 I remember doing Howard Cosell impersonations at age six for 271 00:16:54.679 --> 00:16:58.799 her friends and neighbors on the sidewalk in Niles. So 272 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:02.960 she was my first audience and her laugh was wonderful 273 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:07.240 and infectious. And the last conversation I ever had with 274 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:09.839 her was on an iPad, and she asked me if 275 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:14.480 I had any new impressions, and I gave her one. 276 00:17:14.599 --> 00:17:18.079 I told her about a new character that I was learning, 277 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:22.400 and she was up to the end, always looking to laugh. 278 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:28.079 Ninety four years old, and according to her family and doctor, 279 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:31.880 she would have easily lived another ten years. But on 280 00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:38.279 March thirty first, twenty fifteen, her laugh was silenced. That afternoon, 281 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:42.160 Marie's daughter walked into the house on Cherry Avenue, the 282 00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:45.160 one that Marie's father had built for her with his 283 00:17:45.160 --> 00:17:49.759 own hands and found what the killer or killers had 284 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:50.480 left behind. 285 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:51.559 Nine. 286 00:17:51.559 --> 00:17:54.480 Well on what you Emerjacay, I'm at five on nine 287 00:17:54.599 --> 00:17:59.480 Cherry Street, Niles. I'm Marie Belcast's daughter. I just walked 288 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:03.519 into her house and I finally found her. She looks 289 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:09.440 like she's all smashed and there's lead in every room. 290 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:10.920 House was ransacked. 291 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:12.279 How old is sheha? 292 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:17.240 How old? Yeah, she was ninety four. I think she's dead. 293 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:20.400 She looks she's been twisted. 294 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:22.119 She's twisted in. 295 00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:24.759 Here in the bedroom. And I saw an ambulance when 296 00:18:24.759 --> 00:18:26.640 I walked in and saw kind of stuff I saw 297 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:29.559 on the amblys one walk above. So I ran up 298 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:31.720 there and I said, I need someone. I thought maybe 299 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:34.200 they went to the wrong place and maybe she called them, 300 00:18:34.519 --> 00:18:37.960 But I think somebody came in. I know somebody came 301 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:38.440 in here. 302 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:43.079 The ambulance she saw just across the street was for Jacob. 303 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:45.720 Did it any time you go to a house or 304 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:47.359 on Cherry Street the old lady who. 305 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:51.880 Lives behind you A ry guy. 306 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:55.960 Okay, I just got an answer. The house behind you 307 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:58.000 on Cherry Street, the old lady that loves back there, 308 00:18:58.039 --> 00:18:58.640 did you go to her? 309 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:01.880 House, No, ma'am, no, sir. Okay. 310 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:03.839 Did any of those guys go to that house? 311 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:04.359 Yeah? 312 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:08.200 But I told him I'm not going in there. They left, 313 00:19:08.759 --> 00:19:09.400 they started. 314 00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:13.599 I heard screaming and stuff, so I just left. I 315 00:19:13.640 --> 00:19:17.599 couldn't the old lady's house. 316 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:19.720 Were you inside and left or no? 317 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:23.279 I left, I couldn't. I just heard screaming, so I left. 318 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:26.039 Where do you hear screaming from the old lady's house? 319 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:26.440 Okay? 320 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:27.440 But were you outside? 321 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:29.440 Were you in the car? Where were you? 322 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:32.319 No? I was in an alley, but I ran. I 323 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:37.039 ran home that one on my what's it called the 324 00:19:37.079 --> 00:19:41.480 swing thing? The swing swing thing, the swing set, the 325 00:19:41.559 --> 00:19:43.119 swing set? Yeah, okay. 326 00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:46.759 Jacob said he ran home as the boys who held 327 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:50.359 him at gunpoint went inside Marie's house. He said he 328 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:54.920 only heard the screams whether he was inside the house 329 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:59.240 or not. Marie was indeed screaming, and what her daughter 330 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:03.039 found was the end of a struggle. No one should 331 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:08.279 ever have to fight, especially a sweet old woman. Back 332 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:11.400 at the scene, an officer steps through the side entrance 333 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:15.039 at five o nine Cherry. The door frame is splintered, 334 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:20.599 the lock has been forced. Evidence of violence is pervasive 335 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:24.279 in multiple rooms in the living room, the floor is 336 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:28.160 stained with blood, especially in front of a recliner where 337 00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:33.160 the struggle started. It's not a single pool. It's smeared, 338 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:39.079 soaked into the carpet, streaked a cross furniture, and spattered 339 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:44.559 on walls. On the couch more stains. He sees fragments 340 00:20:44.599 --> 00:20:49.480 of bone sections of Marie bel Castro's skull lying on 341 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:53.759 the floor among the blood. We interviewed Chris Becker, the 342 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:55.519 lead prosecutor on the case. 343 00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:59.680 The corner indicated that she had been beaten so brutally 344 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:03.079 that he could not determine how many blows had rained 345 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:04.119 down on her head. 346 00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:08.200 A trail of bloody drag marts leads into the dining room. 347 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:15.160 More blood on the floor, another fragment of skull. Shards 348 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:18.759 of her hearing aids lay in various places, and one 349 00:21:18.839 --> 00:21:22.720 is broken and lodged inside her ear canal, a detail 350 00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:26.160 the coroner would later say he had never seen before 351 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:31.279 in over eight thousand autopsies. The officer follows drag marks, 352 00:21:31.559 --> 00:21:35.359 smeared lines of blood leading away from the front rooms, 353 00:21:35.480 --> 00:21:39.200 through the kitchen, down the hallway. Along the baseboard of 354 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:43.319 one wall, there are more fragments of skull and brain tissue. 355 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:48.519 In the guest bedroom, he finds the body. Marie Belcastro, 356 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:51.759 lies twisted on the floor at the foot of her bed. 357 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:57.720 She is faced down. Her pajama pants are gone, her 358 00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:02.440 shirt is soaked in blood. Her arms are contorted, with 359 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:08.160 one pinned under her and the other bent Unnaturally. Blood 360 00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:11.920 has pooled beneath her and saturated deep into the carpet. 361 00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:16.039 They will later discover there's so much blood that it 362 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:20.440 is dripping through the floorboards into her finished basement. He 363 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:23.319 gets down on his knees, careful not to disturb the scene, 364 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:28.200 and sees her crushed face. The injury measures almost five 365 00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:32.200 by one and a half inches. It's not a fracture. 366 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:37.119 The bone and tissue are completely carved in. Nearby, he 367 00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:41.759 spots the murder weapon, a maglite flashlight, stained with blood. 368 00:22:42.359 --> 00:22:46.279 There are also bloody shoe prints marking the carpet. The 369 00:22:46.359 --> 00:22:50.200 house shrieks of iron. Every room he passes through has 370 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:54.039 signs of a violent struggle. A veteran with decades on 371 00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:57.359 the force, he freezes for a moment. In twenty four 372 00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:00.319 years of law enforcement, he has never seen any thing 373 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:05.759 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 00:23:10.039 --> 00:23:15.079 being questioned. His drunken version is starting to crack. It 376 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:18.400 already blamed the murder on two other young men or 377 00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:21.920 kids who held him at gunpoint and then decided to 378 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:25.279 let him go. So he's running through all the alleys 379 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:28.480 with no pants and ends up at a playground. 380 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:31.480 And what did you do there? I hung out? So 381 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:32.440 he came back. 382 00:23:32.519 --> 00:23:36.559 I seen blood all over him, the blood all Oh 383 00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:40.319 my blood, Oh my god? 384 00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:43.039 Did you see blood all over Davonte Jackson? 385 00:23:43.240 --> 00:23:48.039 Davante Jackson, has Davante white or black? 386 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:50.680 He's black? Okay? How about this other guy with his 387 00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:52.440 name again, Davy? 388 00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:54.519 He is white. 389 00:23:56.279 --> 00:23:59.880 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 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 So you weren't in the house at any time with them. No, 394 00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:17.799 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 I'm completely august. Thank you, Aunt the same my life 401 00:24:39.400 --> 00:24:41.440