Speaker 1: Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
not intended for all audiences.
Speaker 2: Listener discretion is advice.
Speaker 3: That cool smart, like the devil anside me? Who loves less? Lastest?
Speaker 1: Who was that weird sounding woman at the intro? You're
about to find out? This is season twelve, episode two
ninety two, Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that
the worst monsters are real and literally all around you.
It's fucking terrifying. It's enough to make you want to
crawl in a hole and just listen to podcasts. Just
a reminder that we don't do this for free. If
you'd like to show and want to support it, head
on over to Swordinscale dot com, download the app on
your Android or Apple device, and become a plus supporter
or a sashole, as we affectionately like to call our fans,
because we love people so much. In a relationship, it's
easy to mix up being needed with being wanted, especially
when you're in love. The dependency can feel like a
sign of closeness, but as time goes on, needing someone
can become more important than wanting them, and that's when
problems begin. The distinction between being needed and being wanted.
Might not seem like a big deal at first, but
it can make all the difference in whether a relationship
lasts or it falls apart. When someone depends on the
other for their happiness, their self worth, and even their identity,
it's no longer about love. It's about something else entirely control.
The fear of losing that person isn't because of love.
It's because their whole sense of self is tied to them.
It's not about wanting a life with them anymore. It's
about being scared of a life without them. When someone
feels like they have nothing to lose, they'll do anything
to hang on and keep their life from falling apart,
even if it means crossing lines they never would have
thought to cross. This kind of unhealthy reliance doesn't just
hurt feelings, It ruins lives and the aftermath. It often
affects the people who at least deserve it. Outside the
police department in Plantation, Florida, the parking lot is still
dotted with a harsh orange glow of street lamps. It's
a little after four am on June twenty eighth, twenty eighteen.
The sun won't be up for at least another couple
of hours. Outside, it's a balmy seventy eight degrees with
ninety three percent humidity. Oh boy, do I not miss that?
It's like a sauna every day. The humidity makes it
feel even hotter. The air is thick and moist, so
much so that it feels difficult walking through it. Inside,
though it's almost chilly, the fluorescent bulbs cast a uniform light,
making the small room feel more impersonal. A little boy
sits quietly with curious eyes. He can sense there's something
that the adults aren't telling them.
Speaker 3: Do you ever get in trouble at home?
Speaker 4: Sometimes?
Speaker 3: What happens? What happens when you get in trouble?
Speaker 5: I don't usually remember, since it was a long time ago.
Speaker 6: I usually do that.
Speaker 5: Last six Oh, okay, so you're a pretty good kid.
Speaker 1: Adrian was seven years old. The detectives are trying to
gauge his understanding of right and wrong and whether he
knows how to lie. He just witnessed something horrible, which
is impossible for his undeveloped mind to understand.
Speaker 4: Can you tell mister Micaul you live with again?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I didn't write it down.
Speaker 6: Mom.
Speaker 4: Her name's Nastia.
Speaker 5: I usually call her Nasenka since that's how call hern Russian.
Speaker 3: And who else you live with?
Speaker 4: And dad his name is Mark.
Speaker 1: Adrian lived with his mother Anastasia and his father Mark.
They all lived in his grand mother's town home. It
was nice and spacious, about eleven hundred square feet, with
two bedrooms and two bathrooms. There was plenty of room
for a Grandma Barb and her three cats, but it
got a little crowded when her son Mark and his
family found themselves down on their luck and moved in.
Speaker 5: We share the sandom insuffa. She sleeps with the cats.
Speaker 1: Grandma Barb gave up the biggest bedroom so the family
of three could have a little more space. It wasn't ideal,
but they were having a bit of a rough patch
after being recently evicted. Of course, little Adrian didn't understand
any of this. It was summer and he was living
a kid's dream, staying up late and watching TV. He
explains that the night before he had watched cartoons before bed.
He was mesmerized by the colors and the sounds coming
from the TV, oblivious to the brooding turmoil in his home.
Speaker 3: When you go to sleep, do you watch TV to
go to sleep.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7: Do you remember what you were watching last night when
you were going to sleep?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, where were you?
Speaker 2: Watching?
Speaker 4: Zada's House? The loud House?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a cool show I like.
Speaker 5: And also when I finished chanout House, I watched Spungeblow Swear,
Pierced smoothe.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, who put that movie on for you? Oh?
Speaker 5: It just came up of nandemly when the Talent show
was over.
Speaker 7: Okay, so when a Loud House was over, the SpongeBob
movie came on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, by itself.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Adrian didn't know it yet, but that would be the
last care free evening in front of the TV that
he would experience in a long time.
Speaker 3: Did you get ready for.
Speaker 7: Bed all by yourself?
Speaker 8: Uh?
Speaker 5: Huh? I usually seek in the big bed?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Did you fall asleep in the big bed?
Speaker 4: Last three I have today?
Speaker 1: In the bedroom they shared, there were two beds. Squeezed in.
Next to the full size bed was a smaller kid
size bed. It was obviously for Adrian, but recently Anastasia
had started sleeping in the little kid bed. That night,
after watching the SpongeBob movie, Adrian took a melowtonin gummy
and got ready for bed. He fell asleep in the
big bed next to his dad Mark. Anastasia was already
sleeping in the little bed next to the door.
Speaker 8: Was mommy and dad in the bed with you?
Speaker 7: When?
Speaker 4: No, just start with me?
Speaker 5: Oh, sleeping in on the did bed?
Speaker 7: Do you remember where you were when you woke up today?
Speaker 4: Oh? I think it was. I think it was for something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know. How do you ever know it was
for something?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 4: I just see.
Speaker 7: Oh you just thought that you didn't see a clock
or anything. Now did something wake you up?
Speaker 3: Or did you wake up by yourself?
Speaker 5: When dad was trying to wake mom up? That wake
me up?
Speaker 7: How did that wake you up?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: Because he was.
Speaker 1: Talking at four am? Adrian woke up because you heard
talking in the room. Mark was trying to wake up Anastasia.
Adrian thought this was so she could get ready for work.
He knew she had just gotten a job.
Speaker 3: Was your mom saying anything?
Speaker 4: Oh she didn't, she's sleeping. I'm so hard. I'm not
sure she was sleeping.
Speaker 5: Oh you said that? Oh, because when dad was trying
to wake her up, she didn't wake up.
Speaker 4: That's why she had it and drag her to the couch, and.
Speaker 5: That's so that's how I saw the blood.
Speaker 1: Even a seven year old knows what blood is and
that blood outside your body is bad. But Adrian didn't
really understand what was happening, so he tried to make
sense of it. Adrian thought his dad was just trying
to wake up his mom for work, but she wasn't
waking up when Mark dragged her to the couch. Adrian
didn't understand the danger. If any adult had woken up
to this scene, they would immediately be filled with fear,
but in Adrian's innocence, he just watched with wonder.
Speaker 5: Well, I don't know why, but at niece, I know.
And my mom got the.
Speaker 4: Big bubble on her head. Then when Dad can't wake.
Speaker 5: Her, Dad couldn't.
Speaker 4: Wake her up since she was snoring.
Speaker 5: Also, she had never slurred before, and Dad, how did
Dad's going was gonna wake her up? Into the couch
because she got she also got the dead dirty with
her blood on her head, That's why she couldn't do it.
So she was sleeping so hard. So Dad dragged her
on the floor and I saw blood.
Speaker 7: Oh and you said mommy was snoring.
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, she had never did.
Speaker 5: That's how that figured out something was wrong with her it.
Speaker 4: Then she saw that was the blood in her hair.
Speaker 3: Oh and then you heard your mommy snoring.
Speaker 7: She never did snoring before.
Speaker 9: Okay, now might.
Speaker 4: Think she's going to the hospital. I think.
Speaker 1: This poor kid had no frame of reference for what
he witnessed. The plots from cartoons don't really prepare a
kid for experiencing death, and that's exactly what he saw.
His mother wasn't snoring, That was her body losing the
ability to clear the mucus from her throat. He heard
his mother's death rattle. Seconds after his father dragged his
mother from the room, Grandma Barb came in and grabbed him.
She took him to her bathroom and shut the door.
She left him for a moment to grab her phone
beside her bed. When she returned, she called nine one one.
Adrian had to be confused and likely afraid, but he
knew nine one one was the number to call for help.
Speaker 5: I stayed in the bathroom with Strama since she didn't
want me to step in the blood.
Speaker 4: She called nine one one, and she also.
Speaker 5: Called on of the amblien. She also caused the amblion
so mom couldn't go go into hospital.
Speaker 4: Again.
Speaker 5: That's like dad did it, orly because mom has to
go doing her hospital work.
Speaker 4: And this morning.
Speaker 1: Adrian explained everything he saw and heard his mother snoring,
his father dragging her, and the blood on the bed
and the floor. His grandmother took him to the bathroom
so he wouldn't step in the blood. It's difficult to
listen to knowing he didn't fully understand the real reason
he was in the bathroom, he tried to make sense
of it with a child's rationale. His mother, Anastasia, was
a doctor. He knew she had just started a job.
The only reason they were up so early had to
be for his mom's work. In Adrian's young mind, mom
had a booboo, but Grandma called an ambulance so the
ambulance would take her to the hospital and fix her up,
just in time for her to start her shift. The
poor kid didn't get it. He was an innocent in
the purest sense of the word.
Speaker 5: Seeing the surgery to people in the hospital, Oh okay.
Speaker 4: Was anybody else there when you came out of the bathroom?
Oh yeah, some policces? Yeah yeah, okay, Then what did
you ever seeing I saw Don went to jail for
some reason.
Speaker 3: I don't know why. Oh okay.
Speaker 1: Adrian didn't know that his mother was dead. He didn't
understand his father was arrested for her murder. Maybe it's
better that he didn't get it. He was too young
to process the full nature of what happened, which is
a blessing in his case. But he's not likely to
forget his mom and dad anytime soon, and the memory
of them, I imagine, will haunt him for years to come.
He'll never see his mother again or fall asleep next
to his father. They won't be there to wake him
up and take him to school. The events of that night,
the trauma he experienced, will eventually shape his understanding of death.
It'll shape him as a person, his whole personality. The
lasting impact, which only the adults involved understood, will be
the loss of his innocence. On the morning of June
twenty eighth, twenty eighteen, seven year old Adrian woke up
to the sound of his father talking. Even at such
a young age, he knew something was wrong. He was
confused by his mother's snoring and the boo boo on
her head. He rationalized the events in his mind without
being able to draw the connections between them. His mother
was hurt, his father was arrested, but he didn't understand why.
Fourteen years earlier, in two thousand and four, Anastasia first
traveled to the US from her native country Belaris. She
used the trip to practice her English, and by two
thousand and five she moved to Florida permanently, want better
place to pursue her dreams than the land of opportunity.
She wasn't alone, though, she had a close friend with
her who also moved from Belaris.
Speaker 3: Did you guys go to college together? Not the same college?
Speaker 10: I went to FIU on a Stasia went to AU
and it was a little bit than I did. Then
I pursued legal Korea went to NSU Law School, and
she went to NSU as well.
Speaker 3: Well, actually that was the same school, but a different
college for the university.
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, this is Hannah Yamorlik, Anastasia's best friend. Anastesia
sort of followed her to the US. They were so
close that after Anastasia gave birth to Adrian, she asked
Hannah to be his godmother. Of course she said yes.
Speaker 10: And since two thousand and five she stayed and we
I mean we lived together for some time, but then
she moved out, but we still stayed close and to
state friends.
Speaker 1: The two were both determined women with ambition and goals.
Anastesia quickly enrolled in college and started pursuing a degree.
By the time she neared the end of her bachelor's degree,
she had met a man, Mark Berkowitz.
Speaker 10: Which she worked at Trump Hotel and he worked there
as well, and that's how they met each other, and
that's how they started dating. Okay, we hang out a lot.
Then they got married, she got pregnant, and I was
their friend. I mean I wasn't Mark's friend, but I
was an a stagious friend. And because I communicated.
Speaker 1: With Mark a lot, a romance sparked between Mark and Anastasia,
but she didn't let that distract her from her goals.
Speaker 10: Yeah, she was always at the computer. I mean she
enjoyed it. It's not like she had to do it.
And she was a bride student. When like many student
fieled the exams, she passed them and with good grades.
Speaker 3: And she was very dedicated. She felt like this is
what she wanted to do. She wasn't enjoying it, even
though she wasn't required, like to do some reading.
Speaker 10: She was just like going through the books or reading
some stories materials because this is what she liked.
Speaker 1: Anastasia was an achiever. She set her side on something
and didn't stop until she got it. She did more
schoolwork then was required because she actually enjoyed it. This
was a stark comparison to her husband Mark. Here's Grandma
Barb describing Mark as a child.
Speaker 2: No heeded school. He was probably dropped out in ninth grade.
You know, he was very He was always a difficult
kid and always getting in trouble. And he was a
very tough kid. And thank God my Brian, my younger.
Speaker 3: Son, God bless him.
Speaker 2: He learned from him what not to do. That's why
he turned to be such a good son.
Speaker 1: Between Grandma Barb's two sons, Mark was the black sheep.
He couldn't seem to stay out of trouble. He dropped
out of school his freshman year and started working a
series of jobs and hospitality. He also struggled with his
mental health.
Speaker 7: While he's vipoler has he been diagnosed with that. Psychiatristy
and I had a list of all his medication.
Speaker 1: Sam Mark suffered from bipolar disorder. He would swing between
manic episodes and bouts of depression. His uncontrollable swings in
emotion and his decisions during these swings made him prone
to getting into trouble. It wasn't long before the troubled
teenager became a convict.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he hands a record even when he was thirteen.
Honestly in a trouble, drugs problems. Yeah, I mean he
drive me through hell right, three.
Speaker 3: Of my cars.
Speaker 1: Anastasia didn't care about Mark's troubled past. It didn't matter
to her. His past was just that the past. She
was young, in her twenties. By the time she met Mark,
he was in his early thirties and had a good
job at a luxury hotel. Mark had become wiser with age.
He seemed to have calmed his rebellion youth a bit.
Speaker 2: But it didn't bother her because she was set as
far as her career. It was from the main goal,
and you know, nothing was not going to stand in
the rings.
Speaker 3: She's very intelligent. She knows she could do it.
Speaker 2: She's one of the top forty and in her graduating class. No, no,
you know nothing was going to get in the way.
She's going to achieve her goal and make all her
dreams come true.
Speaker 1: The romance bloomed and they both had a sharp eye
on their future together. Mark was going to work and
support Anastasia as she earned her degree.
Speaker 3: And as soon as you.
Speaker 2: Told me, she took when they got married at the
courthouse here in Fort Liuderdale that she wanted to go
to school to become a doctor and she wasn't going
to work.
Speaker 3: And I guess Mark was fine with that. He worked
at the Fountain Blue.
Speaker 7: He was in love with her, I mean, he was
supporting her.
Speaker 1: Once Anastasia became a doctor, Mark could chase his dreams,
dreams a high school drop out with a record could
never seem to afford with a string of dead end jobs.
Speaker 2: When she graduates. You know, he wanted to open a restaurant.
He had all these big dreams, you know, like his
dream also was to be like DJ and he liked
all this, you know, he loves music.
Speaker 1: So their future was set. They had a plan and
Mark and Anastasia could see the path before them. They
just had to walk it. But turmoil was just around
the corner.
Speaker 10: She was going to be a doctor she was going
to for several years. She was studying and everything, and
there were people and.
Speaker 3: He was a loser.
Speaker 10: I mean, he couldn't keep any job that he could get,
maybe because of his drug abuse. He was suppressed and
he lost every job. As quickly as see got this job.
Speaker 1: Mark found himself trapped in a cycle of self loathing.
He'd fuck up at work for one reason or another,
get fired, and fall into a deep depression. And these
bouts of depression would last a while, then like a
swing of a pendulum, Mark would rebound, get another job
and always right with the world again, at least in
his eyes. The cycle continued until one day Mark spun
out of control. Adrian was about one year old and
they were living in Miami Gardens. This incident would change everything.
Speaker 3: And her parents were here.
Speaker 10: They were visiting Anastasia, and they were visiting them like
to see the child.
Speaker 3: I think he was.
Speaker 10: High, he was under something. He didn't look like he
was a cypercal Mark. When he's sobered and he started
yelling at the parents. He studied his mom monastagious. Mom
said something, but he missed into because he doesn't speak English,
and she says something in Russian, but he misinterpreted and
thought that was something in.
Speaker 3: English, right, and it was something like bad about him.
Speaker 10: So he started yelling at her parents and Anastasia trying
to defend the parents, but he got angry with her
and he attacked her. He pushed it on the bed
and tried to strangle her.
Speaker 1: Anastasia was trying to diffuse the misunderstanding between her husband
and parents, but Mark lost it, grabbed Anastasia and threw
her on the bed. He straddled her body and wrapped
both hands around her throat. Her stepfather had to pull
him off. Anastasia and her parents grabbed one year old Adrian,
hid with the neighbors and called the police. Anastasia was frightened.
Mark had never acted so violently before. She didn't know
what to think or what to do. Of course, the
police didn't either.
Speaker 3: So after this incident, the parents left.
Speaker 10: The husband spoke to her. I mean he was begging
to take him back. He said, it's not going out
happen again. And I mean she did take him back.
I mean, I mean she was a very vulnerable.
Speaker 3: Steed, she was without work, she was a student, she
had a child. I mean, so I don't know.
Speaker 10: She probably believed that he can change, but after some
period of sim it looked like he stopped.
Speaker 3: Or she convinced him to star.
Speaker 1: Anastasia knew she couldn't raise Adrian and go to school
on her own, so she convinced herself that this was
a one time thing and Mark could change. After Anastesia
took him back, Mark seemed to turn his life around.
He really put in the effort to be a better
man for his family. He stopped his illicit drug use,
got another job, and actually seemed happy.
Speaker 2: Mark was doing okays, just controlling his medication, and he
was working at the Renaissance. He was exercising, he was
mentally feeling good about himself.
Speaker 1: And things were okay for a while. All the while
and the stage I kept working towards her degree. By
the time Adrian turned six, they lived in an apartment
across the street from Grandma Barb. Then something happened, something
that would be the catalyst for change in their relationship.
Speaker 7: The downfalls started after they got evicted.
Speaker 2: It lovest prados I found out after wishing that when
they moved in with me, that the reason they were evicted,
and it lost Paudus Apartments in December.
Speaker 3: Is because she took out some money from this Mark Tony.
Speaker 7: She took out some money from the student loan.
Speaker 2: And gambled it so they didn't have enough money for rent.
Speaker 1: Anastasia liked to gamble. It was the only thing she
did for fun. She spent the rest of her time
studying and being a mom. So every once in a
while she would blow off some steam at the casino.
It's just that she rarely won, so things.
Speaker 2: Started going down hill. I cours I lived across the street.
He was really upset that she did that. He was
ready upset having to move in with me and and.
Speaker 3: He blamed her.
Speaker 1: Mark resented Anastasia for what she did. He turned his
life around for her. Now he was forty two years old,
and he relied on his mother for a place to live.
Makes you feel like a real loser when you get
divorced and have to move back in with mom. As
an adult male, it can really do a number on
your self confidence if you're not careful. Mark felt that
he should have more to show for his life life.
Being where he was in life, he felt like he
was right back where he had started Anastasia's life was
moving forward with lightning speed, while his life was standing still,
and it was all her fault, but he tried his
best to move past it. In March twenty eighteen, Anastasia
became a naturalized citizen, a milestone she had been waiting
on for years. She was now a full fledged citizen
of the United States and only a month away from
becoming a doctor. Anastasia could not have been happier. She
was so close to the goal she'd worked so hard
to achieve, and she wanted to celebrate.
Speaker 2: He was working in for Advice, okay, and he got
offered management job there and I said, that's.
Speaker 3: Great, Mark.
Speaker 7: I mean they must really like you and have confidence.
Speaker 3: And manage it.
Speaker 2: So that month was okay, and she was supposed to
have her gradual party at the Vice.
Speaker 3: And he was going to get a discount.
Speaker 1: Dude, okay, Well the discount fell through. If you ask
Grandma Barb, she'll say Mark quit. But the truth is
he was fired. Mark was caught skimming. Skimming is a
childish scam of patting the check so the customer pays more,
essentially giving the scammer a larger tip. In Mark's case,
he was pocketing vouchers for espresso. He would apply the
coupon to the customer's bill after they paid. He'd make
like ten bucks each time. He got caught when upper
management noticed the vouchers being used, when they knew that
the espresso machine was broken. Oops. Mark was busted and
it ruined Anastasia's graduation party plans, all for again ten dollars.
At a time, the tension between the two was higher
than ever. I mean, what a fucking loser.
Speaker 2: So anyway, so that was a disappointment, you know, that
was that was a big argument. She was very upset
with him with that fact that that didn't work out.
So now it hasn't been working since. So the friction
i mean got worse then because she didn't want to
talk to him.
Speaker 3: She was upset he wasn't going to talk to her.
Speaker 1: Anastasia was pissed. She didn't ask Mark for much, but
when she did, she was routinely disappointed. Mounting tensions at
home couldn't have come at a worse time. Anastasia was
days away from graduation and tried to remain focused. Mark
two tried to play the role of dutiful husband, but
the rift between them was already too great. As her
graduation day approached, she couldn't have been more excited. But
when the day came, she didn't seem to want to
share it with Mark or Grandma barp I.
Speaker 10: Saw that the husband was very angry with her because
she didn't want to hold his hand.
Speaker 6: She was.
Speaker 10: Like, shouldn't want him to be there, but he wanted
to be there. He felt like he's being rejected. He
wanted her attention, and he was giving her like a
very hard time.
Speaker 3: He was insulting her.
Speaker 10: Basically. I mean, he brought her to tears. And that
was a special day.
Speaker 1: It was Anastasia's special day. She spent the better part
of a decade working towards that day. But Mark couldn't
help but want to share in his wife's success. After all,
they were partners. He'd helped her get to where she was.
Her success was their success. Yeah, yeah, that's it. In fact,
it was his his success. It was it was Mark Mark.
Mark had done it all. I mean, he'd you know,
kept the going. Anastesia couldn't have done anything if it
hadn't been for Mark.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Needless to say, Anastasia didn't see it that way Anastasia
her success was despite Mark.
Speaker 2: He would want to come up and kiss her huger
and she would shove him away. Her girlfriends were there,
and she completely ignored Mark.
Speaker 3: She said she didn't like him.
Speaker 2: They would touch her and she was disappointed in him.
And you know, Mark felt rejected. I mean, I could
see that she didn't want them.
Speaker 1: That day, surrounded by all their graduating doctors, Anastasia was
embarrassed by her unaccomplished husband. She had a vision for
the rest of her life that didn't include Mark. Mark
was confused and angry. This wasn't part of their plan.
Anastasia's graduation was supposed to be the start of the
rest of their lives together, but it wasn't shaping up
that way. Anastasia shunned Mark in front of her friends
and his mother. Of course, Mark pitched a fit. He
disappeared with the car, leaving Anastasia crying. When he returned
an hour later, he gave Anastasia the keys and told
her he was walking home. His manipulative attempt at guilting
her worked. She and her friends picked him up and
took him with them to celebrate.
Speaker 10: Was going to Harroka mean to have like some lunch
and maybe like celebrate. She got afraid, and she said
that if you're not going to pick him up and
take him with us, I don't know what.
Speaker 3: He's going to do to me in the house when
I'm going to be back.
Speaker 1: But Mark couldn't let go of Anastasia's disrespect towards him,
and she was very aggressive.
Speaker 10: He was screaming on hey, yelling, and he was very agitated,
and he was very angry.
Speaker 3: I mean even I was scared of him.
Speaker 1: The argument continued and grew until Mark finally saw only
one path forward.
Speaker 10: He was the one who started the conversation. Maybe we
should get divorced, he started, He started, and she was
happy that he was the one who started the conversation.
Speaker 3: But again from what I heard from the parents, he
took his words back.
Speaker 10: Several days later, he changed his mind, but she didn't
want to like change, I mean, she was determined to
get divorced.
Speaker 1: Anastagia was secretly thrilled Mark brought up divorce first, and
she intended the file. Even that he changed his mind.
There was just one little issue, Adrian.
Speaker 10: Her main concern was that she had a child she
was supposed to start working at the hospital.
Speaker 3: The schedule at the hospital is very specific.
Speaker 10: You have to be there early and I mean you're
finished very late. So she was very concerned. Who is
going to be taking the kids to school and pick
the kid back from school.
Speaker 3: So she was trying to maintain the friendly relationship with
the in law and maybe with the husband so that they.
Speaker 10: In the future, even though she's going to divorce him
and moral they still can try and help her, like
in some.
Speaker 1: Way, maybe Anastasia was about to embark on a successful
career as a doctor. She wanted to ditch the dead
weight of an unaccomplished husband, but she needed his help
for the sake of their son. The long hours that
the job demanded conflicted with Adrian's school schedule, So Anastasia
tried to maintain a good relationship with Mark and his mom.
It just wasn't easy.
Speaker 2: After graduation, she was like, Okay, I don't need you anymore.
Speaker 3: Attitude my friends.
Speaker 2: I talked to it and said she's going to dub
him after she she doesn't need him anymore. I mean
that's and that was the way his thinking was. But
I could tell that they were going for them further apart.
Speaker 1: Mark knew that Anastasia was preparing to move out. She
told him as much, but he refused to accept it. Instead,
he would pick fights, usually about money, and often very petty.
Living in a place he didn't want to be with
a wife who clearly didn't love him was wearing on him,
and his mental state was starting to deteriorate.
Speaker 2: They would fight a lot, and because you know, she
was a real screamer, she could be a drama queen
and she would provoke him and then they you know,
get into like a war zone. They were toxic for
each other, and Mark said he was feeling like he
was being used.
Speaker 1: Mark felt like he was being used because after nine
years of marriage, he was about to have jack shit
to show for it. He was a broke, forty two
year old, bipolar, unemployed man living with his elderly mother.
He had no career prospects in his life was about
to divorce him. So definitely the kind of guy that
they give out popularity trophies too. After everything he did
for her, this is the things that he got. He
felt like he was owed something, you know, because like.
Speaker 10: In the recent months there was police called to her
house many times, and she told me a lot about
all the situations. During one of the situations, she was
hiding in the closet because he was pursuing her in
the house. There was one point in time, the recent time,
when Aastasia had so I stand on her knees.
Speaker 3: And beg him not to touch her because I mean
he was raising her.
Speaker 7: Arm and I was so embarrassed. But they hadn't such
a flight.
Speaker 2: I mean, she would prove all camp because they hated
each other and they knew they were getting a divorce.
Speaker 3: I can tell they both wanted out.
Speaker 1: Three times the police had to respond to that home.
One time Mark was put on psychiatric hold. The most
recent time, Mark was arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant.
Anastasia couldn't have been more thrilled.
Speaker 3: Ash Station was relieved. Yeah, and she thought.
Speaker 2: She asked her friend who's a lawyer, and it said
because Mike has a bad track record, and that he
was going to be until December thirteenth.
Speaker 3: Then she was like relieved.
Speaker 2: She said, well, maybe six months in jail, we'll give him.
He'll get straightened down and get his head together. So
she was relieved, and I was like, oh God.
Speaker 1: No, we're fighting, and I had read the release date
on the Sheriff's office website, but it was inaccurate. The
outstanding warrant was for unpaid child support. Oh yeah, Mark
had another son many years earlier. By this time, the
kid was a full grown eighteen year old man. Anyway,
all Mark had to do was sign a promisory note
saying he would pay back the child support, and he
was released.
Speaker 7: Anyway, he comes out.
Speaker 3: On course, he's.
Speaker 2: Even more furious because you know, he's thinking, you know,
she's ruined my life.
Speaker 7: I had my track lead it, I'll ever get another job.
Speaker 3: You know, he's really really depressed.
Speaker 7: You didn't care about anything.
Speaker 1: With Mark's return, Anastasia's fear grew. His erratic behavior and
outbursts of anger were getting more frequent and more unpredictable.
She was frankly afraid of him.
Speaker 2: A couple of days ago, I said, well, of my
own knives, and she says, I have him hidden under
the bed.
Speaker 7: Didn't she just say I'm afraid of him, or she's
afraid of him because he you can tell that he
hated her.
Speaker 1: And just when Anastasia thought it couldn't get any worse,
Mark found text messages between her and another man.
Speaker 3: So you're saying Mark saw the text messages.
Speaker 10: Yeah, he saw some of the text messages, but they
were very neutral. There was nothing romantic or nothing. One
of the text messages said that my husband was arrested again.
Speaker 3: Online. It says that the release date is December something
like that. Well, it's good.
Speaker 10: Because I'm going to have like enough time to move
out and she's not going to like prevent me from
doing it. Well, I don't think he thought that there
was an affair, but the fact that maybe she was
communicating with another man and they were talking.
Speaker 3: About their relationship living. I mean, he kind of knew
that she was living. In fact, it's going to happen.
Speaker 1: The text messages, of course, infuriated Mark. There was no
way he could be in denial. Now the proof of
Anastasia's betrayal was in writing right before his eyes. He
accused her of having an affair, the ultimate betrayal. She
tried to explain it was just a work colleague, but
Mark wasn't buying it. Needless to say, Mark's anger sent
Anastasia's fear and anxiety through the roof.
Speaker 10: So yeah, she would normally lock herself in the room,
especially like during the night the last couple of weeks,
so maybe a week that he asked her not mark.
Mark asked to not to lock the door. That he
convinced her that he would sleep on the kid's back.
He was like he was pressing. He was trying to
convince her that he's not going to give any trouble
to her. And I don't know why watch she locked
the door.
Speaker 1: Despite her fear, Anastasia unlocked the door and allowed Mark
to sleep in the room. She was just tired of
arguing and gave in. She would be gone soon anyway,
after her first paycheck. She would have a place of
her own. Besides, she never thought he was capable of
well anything really, but certainly not hurting her while she
slept next to their son.
Speaker 10: She always thought that he's a coward. He's not capable
of like doing it in cold blood. She never thought
that she would. I mean, he would do it when
she's asleep, or like the child is actually next to her.
Speaker 3: I mean she was like she was mistaken.
Speaker 1: I mean she was mistaken. You know how they say
hindsight is twenty twenty, well after Anastasia's untimely death, the
events of the days proceeding took on a whole new
ominous overtone.
Speaker 2: The night where Mark was pacing in the room and
staring at her while she was sleeping, and she said
that was kind of freaky.
Speaker 3: She just turned over.
Speaker 10: She woke up in the middle of the night and
she saw him standing by her bad looking at her
so ada, and she asked him, why are you here
looking at me? And he said that I cannot.
Speaker 2: I can sleeping, you know, because he hasn't been sleeping.
And she said, that's kind of strange. He's been staring there,
watching him sleep, and now I think he must have
been planning it.
Speaker 1: Two nights earlier, Mark was pacing and watching Anastasia's sleep.
At the time it was weird, but now it's downright scary.
The next night, Grandma Barb also noticed some strange behavior
from Mark.
Speaker 2: So I didn't notice something strange, and she mentioned that too.
He's making me nervous and pacing, walking back and forth
them like something's going through.
Speaker 1: His mind, and I was like, uh, well, Adrian was
sitting on the couch watching SpongeBob. Mark was in the background, pacing,
contemplating the murder of his wife. When the movie was over,
Adrian took his sleep gummy and crawled into bed with
his father. My Barb went to sleep. Around midnight, Mark
Herder shut the bedroom door. He lay there in the
room with his family, but he didn't sleep. His mind
was racing through every little wrong Anastasia had ever committed
against him. He played out his future without her, no house,
no wife, no kid, no family, no life. With everything gone,
he had nothing to lose. His mind was unraveling.
Speaker 2: And then all of a sudden, Mark opens the door
and he says, I killed Anastasia, like look what I did?
And Isa, oh my god, and he says, come here,
look look I killed her, and he grabbed her arms
at see like that. Well no, no, no, she was
already on the floor, but I mean he just wanted
kind of turn her hand this way to see.
Speaker 3: That she was dead.
Speaker 1: At four a m. Mark burst into his mother's room
and told her what he'd done. He'd killed Anastasia. By
this time, Adrian was awake, probably rubbing the sleep from
his eyes as he witnessed his father dragging his mother's
limp body out of bed and down the hall.
Speaker 7: He says, I want to call the police. I'm going
to jail.
Speaker 8: You.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like he had a plant.
Speaker 2: And it said like he has no life, yeah, his
problems remember, And he was like, I'm proud to look
what I did.
Speaker 1: After Mark told his mother what he did, he dragged
Anastasia further down the hall and into the living room.
Barb didn't hesitate for a moment.
Speaker 2: Aden is in the room and I.
Speaker 7: The first thing I thought about was say Adrian, and I.
Speaker 2: Read the room and I got at Amrien, let's just
go in the bathroom, and Abrim likes his I saw
blood and oh god.
Speaker 1: Grandma Barb took Adrian to the bathroom and locked the door.
She wasn't sure what he had already seen, but she
didn't want him to see anything else. She was also
afraid of Mark. She clearly didn't know what he was
capable of.
Speaker 6: Please one side just kills his life. Please frame sim yes,
I don't know with the nine yes right now, I am.
Speaker 1: If you missed it. In the background, you can hear
Mark asking for the phone, that cordial and calm voice
at the end saying hi, Yes, that was Mark. His
voice sounds so much like his mother's that the operator
didn't even realize he was on the call.
Speaker 6: But I don't want my son killed my wife.
Speaker 3: Okay, where is he right now?
Speaker 9: A grown a floor from the blanket over?
Speaker 7: My son is in the bathroom for my mother.
Speaker 3: Do you know how long it has happened?
Speaker 11: I just killed her?
Speaker 2: Play?
Speaker 3: But does he still have the knife right now?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 1: I hit it with a hammer.
Speaker 7: I'm sorry, you're the one who did this?
Speaker 3: Or yes, I killed her.
Speaker 1: Mark was calm and matter of fact. His demeanor wasn't
what you'd expect from a man who just murdered his wife.
He almost sounded relieved.
Speaker 3: And you don't have the knife?
Speaker 7: Were on you anymore?
Speaker 12: I did not have a knife.
Speaker 6: I killed her with an okay, sorry, okay, right.
Speaker 3: You're dead, up the blood and everything.
Speaker 9: I don't want my son to see you hold your son?
Speaker 3: Seven? I go bad.
Speaker 9: But is there a reason that you did this?
Speaker 6: If you're going to leave me?
Speaker 2: Okay, are you feeling any thoughts yourself of hurting yourself
at all?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 12: If some arrest me, the rest of my life and
jail so I'll never see him again.
Speaker 6: Let me say by the Adrian st Let me say,
by the Adrian, what are you talking to my mom?
Speaker 1: You're anything?
Speaker 6: I love you, okay, I love you. Okay.
Speaker 3: Where is he? Huh?
Speaker 7: Why are you going?
Speaker 4: Dad?
Speaker 6: Dad?
Speaker 7: He's going to jail?
Speaker 12: I love you?
Speaker 9: Are you?
Speaker 6: And the arri.
Speaker 1: Mark said goodbye to his son and walked outside. Officers
arrived for the fourth time in as many months and
arrested Mark without incident.
Speaker 6: I'm here, I'm here, no reason for why, yes, sir.
Speaker 1: When detectives got around to interviewing Mark, it was around
eight am. The orange glow from the street lights in
the parking lot had since been replaced by the early
morning sun picking over trees in the east. Inside. Mark's
at calmly as he didn't have a care in the world,
but his deep set eyes stared forward with a terrifying intensity.
Speaker 13: I was looking at her, and I was just thinking,
she's so evil.
Speaker 3: Why do you think she's evil? Mark?
Speaker 9: Because she turned, she lied to me. She proved heart, what.
Speaker 12: You were supposed to be with each other forever, you
were supposed to move in the apartment. She's backstet me,
betrayed me. I seemed like she guessed she had to
plan the whole time, and she.
Speaker 9: Ended up using me. I guess you know, you know
it was hurtful.
Speaker 12: How could she do that to me on the day
she graduates. I'm just a very unstable person. I just
flipped from one place to another, you know, I just
I can't control my emotions. It's hard being bipolar because
your emotions go this.
Speaker 9: Way and it goes that way. And like, you know,
I'm good, I'm good, I'm bad, I'm bad. I'm good,
I'm good, I'm bad, I'm bad. But I know I'm
absolutely freaking out. It's because as I am, What did
you use? I used to hammer. I didn't want to
do it when I freely didn't.
Speaker 3: That's just.
Speaker 2: Said.
Speaker 9: It's the voices. I do it, do it, do it,
do it?
Speaker 12: And I'd walk up, put the hammer and closs your
head and I'd walk away and close my eyes, and
I just did it.
Speaker 3: Why the hammer though.
Speaker 9: I didn't. I hate knife. I don't do it with
a knife.
Speaker 7: Okay, was there anything special about it or anyan?
Speaker 9: No, dang, it was spontaneous. I hate knife. I don't
want her to scream in front of my kid.
Speaker 3: I don't want to see her at meaning my kid
back to death.
Speaker 14: You hit somebody in the head with the fucking hammer,
they're out that's it.
Speaker 9: You're out. You get somebody in the head with the
baseball bat, They're out.
Speaker 1: That night, as Anastasia and Adrian slap it, Mark got
a hammer from his mother's toolkit. It was old and
missing one of its claws in the back. Mark held
the hammer inches from Anastasia's head, his mind in conflict
with itself. Do it, don't do it?
Speaker 4: Do it?
Speaker 8: Don't do it? Do it, don't do it, don't do it,
do it, do it, don't do it, don't do it,
do it, don't don't do it, don't do it. Don't
do it.
Speaker 1: Don't do it. Don't don't do it.
Speaker 8: Do it, don't do it, don't do it, do it,
don't do it?
Speaker 6: Do it?
Speaker 8: Do it.
Speaker 1: He tried to work up the courage to kill her,
but his mind kept backing him out of it each time.
Then suddenly he swung. Anastasia's skull cracked open like the
shell of an egg.
Speaker 11: I know she's gonna die because I see the gashes
in the blood in her head.
Speaker 12: I can see like a piece of brain sticking out
and shit.
Speaker 9: So you know, she made noise, and like Adrians, she snoring,
turn around and go back to sleep and I pulled
her out very quickly.
Speaker 12: I remember pulling her out very quickly, and then I
had to shrinkly or to put her out.
Speaker 9: Of her misery.
Speaker 1: When Mark grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her
from bed, a trail of blood was left behind from
the gaping hole in her head. He stopped for a
moment to show his mother what he did, and then
continued to the living room. Then he wrapped an electrical
cord around her neck and finished her off.
Speaker 9: And I did it very quick. I did it very quick,
and I was very slick. And I said something to her,
but I'd rather not say it.
Speaker 12: Okay, I'll say it because I'm the fuck I'm going
to lecterature it was, I said, you tore my heart up,
you de tried our family.
Speaker 5: So was this sole media?
Speaker 1: Mark was ricocheting between manic explanation and crippling sadness, to
the point where he could barely talk. Even though he
was crying, his words showed no remorse. He didn't feel
guilty about killing Anastasia or traumatizing Adrian for life. He
confessed to what he did, but his explanation of why
would show just how twisted his mind had become a
nightmarish scene unfolded in the early morning hours of June
twenty eighth, twenty eighteen. Seven year old Adrian's innocent mind
tried to rationalize the horror, believing his mother simply had
a booboo and that his father was just trying to
help her. Anastasia was an immigrant who moved to this country,
learned English, and pursued her dream of becoming a doctor.
Mark troubled since youth, struggled with his mental health and
addiction into adulthood, but tried to provide for Anastasia an Adrian.
But after Anastasia's graduation, everything changed. She acted as if
she didn't need him anymore, but she was just really
fed up with all of his failures. Mark saw this
as a betrayal. In the following weeks, his mental health
started to unravel. The paranoia took over.
Speaker 11: I mean, basically, I supported her for ten years.
Speaker 9: Once she went to medical school, and.
Speaker 11: You know, and you know, paid all the bills and everything,
you know, and then you know, once the last of
my job or anything, things started to get very sour.
And then she ended up graduating school. She was, you know,
she became a doctor.
Speaker 1: Mark is sitting across from the detective, looking tired and
speaking softly. His life with Anastasia had fallen apart, and
he feels like she destroyed it completely. He's trying to
explain how everything unraveled, and his voice shakes as he does.
Speaker 12: The day that she graduated, she didn't come up hug
or kiss me or anything. She went directly to her friend.
She completely ignored me and blew me off.
Speaker 11: And I was just heartbroken by that because we were so close,
Like she's like, I don't want you anymore, You're stupid,
You're idiot, Like she would always undermine me and everything
I just don't want. I was like completely blindsided by
you know, I was destroyed.
Speaker 9: It was hurt, you know.
Speaker 1: Mark expected gratitude on Anastasia's graduation day, a sign that
all of his sacrifices were appreciated. Instead, in his eyes,
she betrayed him when she walked past him with her
success in hand. That moment was the final straw. The
deep love they once shared had curdled into jealousy and resentment.
Mark admits that something inside him was breaking slowly steadily.
He couldn't control it. He paced in the dark dwelling
on her perceived betrayal. His mental state, already fragile from
years of bipolar swings, was unraveling faster than he could grasp.
Speaker 12: I just the last few days of been pacing, I
came concentrate.
Speaker 9: I have the devil inside my head, you know, like
I'm just just like killer, killer, Killer.
Speaker 3: She's gonna leave you.
Speaker 9: I don't want her to leave me. I love her.
I'd rather have her dead than than her leave me.
Speaker 1: The admission comes out slowly, the weight of his words
heavy in the room. Mark's mental state shifts between love
and violence, need and control. In his fractured mind, killing
her was the only way to keep her. If he
couldn't have her, no one would. We all know how
it goes.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 15: She I looked at her phone and she's talking to
another guy and she's cheating on me. Gosh, she's like sweetie,
and you know all that, you know all I'm blushing,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So then when you write the text messages and I
just want.
Speaker 3: To understand, and you.
Speaker 11: Felt sad, But what else did you feel when you
saw her saying sweetie?
Speaker 12: Oh? I felt angry, okay, and just voices in my head,
it's son and son, so and so.
Speaker 1: Mark's jealousy boiled over. In reality, there was no affair,
but Mark's mind twisted the truth, turning innocent texts into
evidence of infidelity. Or maybe it's because he can't read
that well. Either way, he couldn't control his emotions anymore.
The voices in his head grew louder, more relentless, until
they drowned out everything else.
Speaker 12: I see a lot of black I see a lot
of shadows that I see.
Speaker 9: It's coming towards me. I see black cruise. That is
all I wanted. It was just a family. That's all
I wanted, Like forts old, I don't know in set
a family, that's all I wanted. So mean to me,
it's just so mean to me.
Speaker 12: She can't have a family with me, She cannot have
a family with anybody else.
Speaker 9: And now it's it.
Speaker 1: Mark's confession teeters between self pity and delusion. He blames
his mental illness, claiming to see shadows and black crows,
Yet he can't admit that his possessiveness and fear destroyed
everything he wanted, a family, stability, love, everything.
Speaker 3: She betrayed me.
Speaker 13: You don't sit there with somebody for eleven years, married
for nine years, have a child and a family, only
support her.
Speaker 12: I supported her so proud of her every time. That's
take to everyone. Was going to be a doctor. She
had a beautiful future. But that beautiful future was supposed
to be with me.
Speaker 1: The pain in his voice is real, but twisted by possessiveness.
Mark didn't see Anastasia as an independent woman, as an equal. Instead,
he saw her as a part of himself, a token,
a status symbol, and now that part was leaving him.
Her betrayal wasn't just personal, it was the destruction of
his identity. Without her, he was nothing.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 3: The Prinsan did warn her.
Speaker 2: I mean she she was very afraid of him, and
you know, she should have left him a long time ago.
Speaker 10: We tried to persuade her to move out of the house,
and we said, why don't you divorce him.
Speaker 3: I mean, we're gonna help you. We're gonna, like people
work together, We're going to help you.
Speaker 10: And she would say that I'm scared because I brought
this issue up several times, and he always told me,
if you want to divorce me, you'll see what's going
to happen.
Speaker 7: You know, if somebody helping you pay through college is
not worth the trauma or the hell you go through.
I don't know why she was so desperate.
Speaker 1: It sounds like he's.
Speaker 3: She lives and she.
Speaker 7: So that's that was and then and then she didn't
need him anymore.
Speaker 3: Well, she got her citizenship.
Speaker 4: She's pretty much good to go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, from the outside, it was clear to everyone Anastasia
could have left Mark long ago, but she stayed. She
needed Mark, but she didn't realize how much he needed her.
Speaker 10: I think that he just couldn't accept the fact that
she's going to be a successful ball to she's gonna
move out of that house, and she's gonna leave him
to live his miserable life with his mom. Because he
knew he's gonna have no future, he has no job,
he had criminal history, and he just couldn't let it happen.
Speaker 3: I killed her. I killed her.
Speaker 14: That's it, that's it. There's nothing afterwards. I deserve to
go to the penitentiary. You know, the hardest motherfuckers on earth,
a bright bitch of shit out of me rate me,
but I deserve that. I don't give a fuck. You know,
you read what you sold.
Speaker 1: You know there's a strange acceptance. In Mark's words, he's
resigned to his fate, knowing the only thing left for
him is punishment. Yet even now he feels justified, as
if Anastasia's betrayal warranted the murder. The conversation shifts to Adrian,
the other victim of his actions. Mark, despite his confessions,
doesn't fully comprehend and what he's done to his Son's
a bathroom.
Speaker 3: I want to say to my Sonny, Adrian, I love you.
Speaker 9: I gotta go, And he said, Daddy, where are you going?
Speaker 12: Like, you know, he doesn't know what he doesn't know
it being you know, he didn't.
Speaker 3: Know what happened.
Speaker 9: You know you? Yeah, I'm like, I love you. I
love you too, Daddy, Bye bye. That's the last timer
I've see.
Speaker 1: He's convinced that Adrian doesn't understand and that he didn't see,
But he did. He saw everything. The house they all
shared wasn't that big. When Mark dragged Anastasia's body from
the bedroom to the living room, he was only five
feet away. Adrian had to step over his dead mother
to get to Grandma Barb's bathroom. How could he not
see everything? Anastasia's body lay right there I's vacant with
an extension chord wrapped around her neck.
Speaker 3: You don't think your son didn't see this? You honestly
think that.
Speaker 6: I know so.
Speaker 11: Oh you don't know so because your son's blocking stuff
out and what the trauma that's gonna he's going to
go through the rest of his life.
Speaker 3: I know, I understand.
Speaker 9: I don't think very guilty about that. I don't think
you feel guilty about that.
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 12: I think right now you're kind of you can cooperative
up to this point, which is very good because you're
being honest.
Speaker 3: I'm here about the facts, but my main thing is
is the respect for your son. I love my son
very much. If you love your son that much, then
I'm trying to understand that.
Speaker 1: How do you equate of love versus what you just
put your son through?
Speaker 3: He didn't see that much.
Speaker 1: Mark can't face the truth. The trauma will stay with
Adrian forever, but Mark is too far gone to accept it.
He loves his son, but his actions have destroyed any
chance at normalcy.
Speaker 9: Oh, I want to tell you that. Oh God, that
feels so so bad for my son. I feel horrible
that I committed this crime.
Speaker 3: I did not.
Speaker 9: Want her to destroy my family. She rips apart my heart,
but I'm the one that destroyed it. Kill me.
Speaker 1: Sir Mark's greatest fear that his family would fall apart
became a reality, but not because of Anastasia. He destroyed
it himself. He did a good job ensuring that Adrian
would grow up without either parent present. Mark didn't get
the death penalty, he was sentenced to life in prison
her first degree premeditated murder for the death of his wife.
Adrian was left in the custody of Grandma Barb until
twenty nineteen, when Anastasia's parents adopted him and took him
back to Belarus. Grandma Barb passed away from natural causes
on February ninth, twenty twenty four, at the age of ninety.
Mark and Anastasia's relationship was built on a strong foundation.
As Anastasia became more independent and needed Mark less, he
felt like he was losing his purpose when he lost
his job and saw Anastasia succeed. He couldn't see a
future with her and made a drastic decision, driven by
fear and resentment. He felt that losing her meant losing
everything that defined him, leaving him with nothing to lose.
It wasn't love, It was toxic dependency that led to
Anastasia's death. It blurred the lines between love, control, and possession.
Mark believed it would hold them together, but it ultimately
tore them apart, leaving devastation that even Adrian couldn't escape.
Adrian witnessed his mother's murder and was caught in the
crossfire of his parent's toxic relationship, leaving invisible scars that
may never heal. He may never fully understand why his
father did what he did. Carry the weight of that
night with him forever. Every memory of his parents, once
tied to love and safety, will be shadowed by violence
and loss. The childhood innocence that allowed him to rationalize
his mother's booboo is gone, replaced by a reality far
too heavy for a child to bear. As he grows older,
the ripple effects of that night will likely shape his relationships,
his sense of trust, and his understanding of love, forcing
him to navigate life haunted by the actions of those
who were supposed to protect him the most. That story
was written by our senior producer, Evan Ziegelman. If you
like it, you'll find a whole lot more like it
at swordanscale dot com.