Speaker 1: Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2: I found my daughter and my wife. Somebody killed them
in the apartment. They have been murdered.
Speaker 1: It's a little before six pm on a Saturday in Englewood, Colorado.
It's sunny but still frigid. It's the end of March
twenty twenty three, and two local Englewood, Colorado police deputies
are sitting in their cruiser. They're just talking and looking
over some paperwork. Really. Officer Alouise has been with the
force for a few years now. Today he's got a
trainee with him. Englewood is in the heart of the
Denver metropolitan area. There are over thirty thousand residents and
a typical crime rate which consists of basically two things,
robberies and drug related incidents. Maybe a few traffic violations
sprinkled in there as well. Neither Officer Aloise nor his
trainee are expecting any crazy calls today, let alone a
double homicide and a luxury apartment complex.
Speaker 3: Nineteerho one englel Parkway is going to be a unit
and in the Nancy three eight right.
Speaker 1: He's got the cord to his radio wrapped around his finger,
fidgeting with it as he listens to dispatch Go ahead.
Speaker 3: RV states his wife and daughter are deceased. He thinks
they might have been hurtin to it. The wife is
seventy years old and the daughter is thirty four. RV
THINGSOS suspect and we're still getting further.
Speaker 1: They'll be heading to a complex called art Walk at
City Center. Sounds fancy. There are one and two bedroom
apartments that go upwards of two thousand dollars a month.
It's usually pretty quiet over there.
Speaker 4: I think it's gonna be on the north.
Speaker 2: Then get a hold off is Kara.
Speaker 5: Hey, it's Chually from Inglewood. We're not sure what we have,
but we need you to stage for right now. We
might have two people that were killed inside of an
apartment nine o one Inglewood Parkway. So this is like
a homicide and it's like, yeah, well, I don't know.
He thinks it's his nephew. He thinks they're both dead,
seventy and thirty four. I have a ton of officers
going as I'm sure.
Speaker 1: You know this is the nine to one one call
that had come in just moments before.
Speaker 2: Nine one one.
Speaker 6: Where's your emergency?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, ma'am, this is Reggie McLaren. I'm calling from
art Walk apartment. The apartment and Crew eight. I came
around three o'clock and I phoned my wife and my
daughter murdered. I'm sorry why I found my daughter and
my wife. Somebody killed them in the apartment. They have
been murdered.
Speaker 7: Okay.
Speaker 6: How do you know that they're dead?
Speaker 2: Well, I am here. They are dead, you know, because
the guy who ever entered, he was trying to take
them in a trash can or take away, but he
couldn't do it. So I just your.
Speaker 6: Wife and daughter still inside the apartment.
Speaker 2: Inside the apartment, okay.
Speaker 6: How old are they?
Speaker 2: Wife is seventeen years old.
Speaker 6: Okay, and your daughter daughter.
Speaker 2: Is about thirty four years old. And what is your name, Reginald?
Speaker 6: That's your name.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's my name, Reginald McLaren.
Speaker 6: Okay, And are you in the hallway.
Speaker 2: No, I'm going in the holidacause I want to put
on my jacket. It's very cool.
Speaker 6: Okay. My officers are there though, and they need you
to not be in the apartment.
Speaker 8: Okay.
Speaker 1: Well, at the same time, officer Alouise and his trainee
were running up the stairs to unit and three oh eight.
Speaker 9: Hey, Honnie, I think it's inside.
Speaker 1: Which where do you go?
Speaker 4: Do you go that way? Look out?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 4: What are we going to?
Speaker 1: When they finally get to that unit, the hallway is
absolutely silent. There isn't a person in sight. They cautiously
approached the apartment door, hoping they won't have to break
it down.
Speaker 10: To confirm me as an Ancyright, please.
Speaker 9: Tomorrow, it's your hands.
Speaker 4: Step outside, step outside.
Speaker 1: They're bracing themselves for a potential showdown with whoever murdered
this man's family, but instead it's the caller himself who
answers the door. He's still on the phone with dispatch.
Speaker 6: So let me know when you stepped out into the hallway,
because my officers are going to meet you in the hallway. Welky,
how long ago did you find them? What time did
you come home and find them?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know, Okay, I don't know.
I have no idea.
Speaker 6: And you're in Nancy.
Speaker 11: You go.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The man who emerges is frail and hunched over, clutching
his jacket. Reginald McLaren is eighty one years old, and
the stress of this situation is making him look even older.
He's a normal old man, except for the distant look
in his eyes and a name that doesn't match his accent.
He doesn't seem injured, just stunned. Officers help him out
of the apartment and plan to take him back to
the station to ask a few more questions.
Speaker 12: Yeah, who's the on call of the technics? Sergeant and
on call staff? You pick a bad time to be
on call, supervisor. It looks like a double homicide.
Speaker 1: The new trainee stands guard at the front door while
Reginald gets a pat down in the hallway. Meanwhile, the
handful of officers inside are getting a taste of what
they'll be dealing with right away. They know it'll be
more than their little police department can handle.
Speaker 4: Fuck Carver's cancer.
Speaker 13: Fine, yeah, Jesus, Jesus, Chris, there's a closet.
Speaker 10: Tell us it's like at this one confirm too? There's two?
Speaker 4: Do you want me to stay inside with?
Speaker 10: Inside?
Speaker 1: The apartment isn't chaotic? It looks like they're in mid move.
Boxes are stacked neatly in corners, some are sealed, others
are half packed with clothes. And books still visible inside
long on their sides. In the living room are two
oversized black roller trash cans. The lids are open. With
his gun and flashlight drawn, one of the officers carefully
steps over to one of the bins and leans down
so he can see inside. Immediately you can see clothing, skin, limbs,
and blood. Both of the victims are women. They've been
stuffed inside head first. Their arms and legs are bent unnaturally.
One of the women's legs hangs partially outside its plastic vessel.
There's a towel covering part of the first victim's body.
Blood is pooled beneath her. The second woman is positioned
mostly face down. Neither is moving. The officers don't touch
the bodies. They don't try CPR. It's already too late.
Speaker 12: Double homicide UH nine oh one in wood Parkway and
is in Nora three zero eight in the apartment number.
Sounds like husband came home, finds his wife and daughter deceased.
They both have been shoved into a trash can a piece,
so it looks like by all appearances, it looked like
whoever did this was trying to put the bodies in
a trash can and take them whoever. Husband seems to
think he knows who did it. We're trying to talk
with him. He's pretty shook up, obviously, but you might
want to call the troops. Anouncer surveillance in a building number.
Speaker 1: They don't.
Speaker 10: They just definitely coming blood.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 12: And if you look underneath the those bed sheets and
pillows covered in blood, and they probably not think they
were hiding something as well.
Speaker 10: Just for our safety, I asked where the suspects could
live here as to where I said they might aid
seventy as Jefferson on the station. That's a little part it. Okay,
they're all game bangers, according to him.
Speaker 1: Blood spatters fleck the walls, A pillow soaked in blood
lays on the floor near the couch. In a utility
closet behind the love seat, they find a knaxe and
what looks like strains of black hair caught in the blade.
A handsaw rests nearby. The kitchen sink has hair and
blood in the basin. The rest of the unit looks
oddly clean. Just before a deputy is about to drive
Reginald to the police station to get a formal statement,
he complains of chest pain. He explains that he has
a history of heart attacks and has recently had open
heart surgery. He's eighty one years old. After all, finding
your wife and daughter brutally murdered is asking for another incident. Luckily,
paramedics are just arriving. Out of caution, officers have him
transported to Swedish Medical Center for evaluation. An officer is
assigned to sit outside his room. If Reginald is right,
if this really is about his gang banging nephews, then
he might not be safe even in a hospital. On
March fifth, twenty twenty three, year old Reginald McLaren called
nine one one after discovering his wife and daughter murdered
inside their Englewood, Colorado apartment. The police department and emergency
dispatch were wholly unprepared to deal with this situation. Dispatch
scrambled trying to figure out how to get in contact
with the State crime scene Unit. Officer Aloise's Traynee frantically
scribbled names into the crime scene log as personnel swept
in and out of the apartment. A lot of these
responders were newbies, doing their absolute best. The crime scene
was now sealed. The victims had been officially pronounced dead.
Reginald was under observation at Swedish Medical Center, and if
Reginald's nephews were involved, then time was already working against them.
As the investigation unfolded, neighbors started noticing it was dinner
time for most people, and this group of cops who
were jingling their keys and talking to the hall was
starting to draw a little bit of attention.
Speaker 4: So the notes saying that wife and daughter, who's the
guy who's king out of here?
Speaker 14: That's the wife or the husband and dad and said
you think she knows who it is? Something about a hammer,
So I gotta going back.
Speaker 4: To the station.
Speaker 12: We probably need to do at least a quick miranda
on him and just talk to him and see what
information we can give. If this suspects out, you know
what about who's under days in the public, then you
find that out as quickly as possible.
Speaker 4: How does he know this?
Speaker 10: You know, how does he know he knows who did it?
Speaker 4: That type of thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but.
Speaker 10: Mirandizing really quick to see it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, can come in.
Speaker 1: Have you guys.
Speaker 4: Hurt anything suspicious or anything.
Speaker 1: With your neighbors saw.
Speaker 6: Him that's around.
Speaker 9: Like, so when did I leave.
Speaker 15: I went to the liquor store around like three or four,
and he was leaving. He locked his apartment and was
locking in his car, and then I got in my
car and then I saw him come back around like
three o'clock, three or four.
Speaker 10: Whenever I have texted you, can we get that?
Speaker 4: Can we get that text?
Speaker 16: See?
Speaker 11: What was?
Speaker 10: Did you guys hear anything? And they're supposed to be
moving soon.
Speaker 17: It's told me they're super nice.
Speaker 4: Okay. Did you know the daughter and the is he
the husband?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 10: I know there's a daughter, a husband, and what right
I think?
Speaker 4: I don't they Have you ever seen any like disturbances?
Speaker 18: No?
Speaker 17: I heard talking a lot in the hall, and I've
heard doors slam, but I thought that they were moving
and it was just kind.
Speaker 9: Of okay, yeah, daughter, No, I don't know.
Speaker 10: I haven't seen them in a while.
Speaker 4: I only see him.
Speaker 9: I saw him and daughter. Okay.
Speaker 15: The last time I saw them, I can tell you
exactly because the fire alarm went off here and I
saw them.
Speaker 4: Leaving and I they were expressing like problems.
Speaker 16: Nothing.
Speaker 10: They've always been super nice.
Speaker 19: I ever thought, never said like watch out for a
suspicious person.
Speaker 9: Okay, I saw them on Tuesday.
Speaker 10: I saw the daughter. Oh yeah, because you said.
Speaker 20: Yeah.
Speaker 21: They had their door open and they were cooking food
and I started and it smelt really good, and so
I looked in and I saw him.
Speaker 10: Assuming it's a daughter, she looked younger.
Speaker 1: Yep, this is what they heard on repeat from all
the neighbors. No one knew the family, well, no one
even knew their names, but they could always smell delicious
food coming from their open door.
Speaker 4: I see them all the time.
Speaker 10: They've seen fairly friendly. They well, the guy speaks a
woman not so much. See Maybey just kind of come
in and out. I think he works an artid or
i'd go to like like the light rail or something
like that.
Speaker 4: He always on the archide or the light rail stuff. Okay,
and the mom, I don't.
Speaker 10: Really see that much at times. They cook things and
so I kind of think they have to hear out
their apartment.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's your other neighbor said, like they lea their
door open and you can smell it smell.
Speaker 10: Haven't heard any like issues or plants, or.
Speaker 4: You haven't heard anything non angines allowed or bang that
I'm aware of. Okay, since Wednesday, you haven't seen anybody.
Speaker 9: No, Yeah, I hope they're okay, but well it.
Speaker 4: Could be one hundred percent honest with you.
Speaker 18: Mom and daughter are deceased, and so we're trying to
figure out what is going on. So that's why I'm
asking you so many Yeah, okay, oh yeah, yeah. I
guess I could have let that before I started asking
when are you coming back? Yeah, So we're trying to
figure out what's going on.
Speaker 1: Police continued canvassing nearby units. One day, who lived just
a few doors Dwan from the family, told officers he
remembered running into Reginald in the parking lot.
Speaker 4: I don't even know dude's name, I says, Jim.
Speaker 22: Yeah, he uh sorry. He came over to me the
other day. I was smoking in the garage and he
was like, can you give me a favor? We're moving
on on Saturday.
Speaker 11: I was like okay.
Speaker 10: He was like, if it's after hours, can I drop
off the keys? See you? And I was like okay,
I told my parking number. Then he saw him walking
around this morning and I did hear all this ship?
Speaker 4: Did you ever make a plan to leave the keys
of you need to put any points? He just said
if he had.
Speaker 10: To drop them off.
Speaker 4: Okay, I can't say he was going overseas.
Speaker 18: I thought he was going to come back.
Speaker 2: And then.
Speaker 4: Did you ever see his wife and daughter? The last
time you saw them.
Speaker 14: Yesterday and he never met Did he ever mention anything
about that when he said they were moving overseas.
Speaker 22: But I did say I'm going overseas, so I didn't.
Speaker 4: Like I'm as in singular? Yeah, I said, okay.
Speaker 1: The women stuffed inside the trash cans were seventy year
old Bethany McLaren and her thirty five year old daughter, Ruth.
Bethany and Reginald moved to America in the eighties and
really kept to themselves. Back at the hospital, some of
these details were beginning to come up in conversation with
the officer assigned a watch over Reginald's room. Apparently, Reginald
was born in India and his wife, Bethany was from Nepal.
Reginald had a strange son from another marriage, and then
there was his daughter, Ruth.
Speaker 4: I said, back, is her heart feeling okay now?
Speaker 2: A little bit? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Okay?
Speaker 10: And then you just ensured, yeah, well, we'll give you
you want a blanket for now? Is that okay? Yeah,
I'll give you this.
Speaker 23: It's kind of a temporation until we can get you
some mother clothes. Okay, but it's better than nothing. Okay.
Speaker 10: So next thing we're gonna do again your.
Speaker 23: Permission to so we get like a hand swab of
the DNA in your hand to show that basically that's
your DNA. So if we find other people DNA and
we know that's not your DNA, you know what I'm saying,
So like I'm touching this right, then you touch it,
then I can compare your DNA to this DNA, so
we won't say, like, who's this?
Speaker 4: So we have yours to show? Is that okay to do?
Speaker 11: Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just as four prior heart attacks that had
detectives worried. They wanted a full medical evaluation on Reginald
because he told one of the officers that after he
got home after three pm and found Betha and Ruth
in the trash cans, he passed out. It wasn't until
around six pm that he tried to call the apartment
property management's office, and then after that he called nine
one one. Here are the property managers, and you guys.
Speaker 4: Are all hiding back in here. Hi, Hi, I'm.
Speaker 9: Lindsay sure, Oh I do not look great?
Speaker 2: Thank you?
Speaker 4: Okay, how do I look for?
Speaker 1: Remember this is a Saturday night. Everyone, including some of
these cops, had been relaxing at home before all this happened.
Speaker 4: That's my day off. So I'm like, I know, what
are you gonna do? Your short staff? Right? I'm sure
you guys, you guys were playing the same boat.
Speaker 1: Here's the voicemailed Reginald left.
Speaker 10: Of a Sudden that she was left at six or
two pm.
Speaker 1: Okay, now let's swing back over to the hospital.
Speaker 4: It make sure you have no injuries on you, no
arms and your legs.
Speaker 23: Okay, we're gonna take a picture to make sure that
you have no injuries. You're gonna show that you had
no injuries. Okay, can you put your arms up for me.
I'll make sure that you're okay. Injuries if you weren't
hurt at all.
Speaker 10: You weren't hurt at all. No, I wasn't hurt. Okay,
make sure I.
Speaker 4: Heard that you you passed out, but you didn't hit
your head or nothing like that.
Speaker 23: Okay, we'll take some pictures lit quick, just to make sure.
Speaker 1: Okay, imagine waking up on the floor three hours after
finding your wife and daughter murdered. You've just come back
to reality. You remember what happened. You're panicked and confused.
Now listen to how Reginald mc claren sounds what he
calls nine one one nine.
Speaker 6: Where's your emergency?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, ma'am, this is Greg McLaren. I'm going from
art Walk, the apartment, the apartment and eight. I came
around three o'clock and I phoned my wife and my daughter.
Speaker 24: I er my part.
Speaker 25: How do you know.
Speaker 3: My wife.
Speaker 10: Murder?
Speaker 26: So I'm going to call it the English right now,
all of a sudden that she was left at six
two hymns.
Speaker 1: Now that you've heard both the voicemail he left for
the property manager and this nine one one call, don't
they sound you really similar? Almost rehearsed. Here's the rest
of the call?
Speaker 6: Okay, and how were they injured? Can you tell whence?
Speaker 2: Ma'am? I am very disturbed. I have no idea the.
Speaker 27: Hour is.
Speaker 2: Building. Okay, thank you? Do you know who this weapon?
Speaker 28: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Well, before I before I before I go further, I
want to tell you that our security door in the
gradualor is always open. I mean it's never.
Speaker 6: Lost answer my questions. Okay, I understand this is very
hard and I'm getting lots of help. But how were
they hurt? Were they shot? Where they stabbed?
Speaker 2: Can you tell me how they they were saved? Not
to save this? Somebody use a hammer or I don't
know you know?
Speaker 6: Where are you? Where are you?
Speaker 2: I am in my apart from them.
Speaker 6: I need you to step out. I don't want you
to be in there.
Speaker 2: Okay, Oh step out? Okay, okay, have you matched anything? Well?
I went into the rooms. Uh, I just looked like
my wife first, my daughter's person. The ideas were gone.
All the things are upset.
Speaker 4: Down, you know.
Speaker 2: So okay, so go to the office, to security buildings
and they come in here still, Yes.
Speaker 6: We have lots of people come in or even have
an ambulance coming. Okay, who did thank you?
Speaker 2: Who did it?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Well, we had a long enemity with our nephew Regin
Ragina and the another one is Milan Kawas. They are
both my wife's nephews.
Speaker 6: Is he there?
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, he's he ran away from our home
and he just goes all over the places. He's in
gangs and here and there, And I just want to
make sure.
Speaker 6: So your wife and daughter are currently inside the apartment
in which room?
Speaker 2: Oh, muster bedroom. They're in the bedroom, muster bedroom.
Speaker 6: Okay, do you have any weapons me?
Speaker 27: No?
Speaker 8: Okay.
Speaker 6: The wife and daughter are both in the master bedroom.
Speaker 2: No, they are not in the messy bedroom. They were speaking.
I don't know what to explain, but they are in
the living room right now.
Speaker 6: Okay, in the living room.
Speaker 5: Okay, thank you?
Speaker 1: Am I the only one disturbed by the way she
says okay, thank you, Like it's just a routine checklist
she's going through, like she's asking for the ingredients to
make a batch of cookies. Maybe it's just me.
Speaker 6: And are you in the hallway?
Speaker 2: No, I'm going in the hallway because I want to
put on my jacket. It's very cold there.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 6: My officers are there, though, and they need you to
not be in the apartment. Okay, okay, So let me
know when you stepped out into the hallway, because my
officers are going to meet you in the hallway.
Speaker 2: Well, okay, okay.
Speaker 6: And when did how long ago did you find them?
What time did you come home and find them?
Speaker 2: Okay, I don't know. I have no idea.
Speaker 6: And you're in Nancy.
Speaker 1: You go, yeah, did you catch any inconsistencies? I think
Owood police were starting to rethink the idea that the
suspects were on the loose somewhere. Now, let's rewind just
a little bit. Remember this neighbor. She had mentioned earlier
that she had seen Reginald that day, around the same
time that he said he had discovered his wife and
daughter's bodies.
Speaker 15: I went to the liquor store around like three or four,
and he was leaving. He locked his apartment and was
locking in his car, and then I got in my
car and then I saw him come back.
Speaker 10: She tested me at three.
Speaker 4: That's where she left.
Speaker 9: Yeah, So I was like, you want to come over? Yeah,
And I was at the liquor store when you texted
me back, and.
Speaker 4: As you were leaving.
Speaker 9: Yeah, Well, he went to his car, Okay, I know.
Speaker 11: I saw.
Speaker 12: I was like hi.
Speaker 9: He didn't say anything.
Speaker 4: He just kind of an He said hi, and then
kept walking.
Speaker 9: Normally he'll like stop and chat with me.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 4: So he locked his door and then he.
Speaker 10: Came.
Speaker 15: Yeah, and then he went to the parking lot and
while I while I was going in the parking lot,
he walked and asked me and didn't say anything, and
then he came back, which I thought was kind of
weird because then I was like, oh, he's probably leaving.
Speaker 9: That's why I saw you guys out there.
Speaker 12: I was like, I need to go talk to you.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, So right after this officer leaves the woman's apartment,
he tells his colleagues they'll be changing course.
Speaker 28: Thank you.
Speaker 10: You need to find it, are you good? You need
to find a car. We need to find a car.
Speaker 19: Why Around three fifty five today she was going on
the store. She saw him walk to the car. He
locked the door, locked the car. Doesn't know what she
did in the car, but he came back the car.
It's a white sand possibly on the same floor that
we're at. They have a gomacfart.
Speaker 1: So someone goes over to the adjoining parking garage to
find Reginald's SUV, and when they do, everything kind of
starts to make sense.
Speaker 16: The three fifty five the place was seen and then
she doesn't know when he came back. I didn't see
if there.
Speaker 4: Are any warmths of them Ornava I didn't either.
Speaker 29: So four, I don't think this was done in two
outports on the sofa some of it, but there's a
lot more missing.
Speaker 4: Did you see the stuff this one and then you
see down in the front of the track can.
Speaker 26: So not yet, but we just were informed by Bryce
that it sounds like he dad Dad left at three
fifty five. Neighbor saw him driving at his car, and
so Bryce is going to locate the car right now
with the neighbor that saw it. That was around four,
and he's saying, if I'm hearing what Bryce said correctly,
he locked this door left of the car.
Speaker 4: And came back.
Speaker 10: That might be our Essentially, we're gonna see if Bryce
has it the car. You guys, get here, stay here
with the crime SYMGA.
Speaker 1: Detective Alouise walked to the parking garage and spots his
colleague who's peering in through the windows of the s
u V. Just tell it it's flat.
Speaker 4: Stay with this card and we touch it. Hey, who's
a The suv is completely flat, so I'm probably sitting
on it.
Speaker 1: The apartment complex has its own trash system, one that
doesn't require any kind of rolling cans you'd leave on
the side of the road. Could Reginald have flattened the
back seats to make room for the new trash cans
that were now in his apartment. With this possibility in mind,
they have to find a neighbor with a doorbell camera.
They need to get footage of whoever brought those trash
cans into the apartment.
Speaker 4: Can I come in for a second?
Speaker 27: Ye go?
Speaker 4: Are you guys right?
Speaker 12: I'm brant with the police apartment obviously, I mean angle
you see you guys might have some video or something.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have on the video doorbeller there. I'm not
entirely sure what times.
Speaker 10: I think he said, like around three thirty.
Speaker 4: Was like one of them, okay, but it just catches clips.
I think this was like one that they were like
looking at.
Speaker 26: So you know what I'm looking for is someone dragging
a trash can, A couple of trash cans they like
the only.
Speaker 10: Ones, yeah, haven't like we hear that sometimes like at
n I D.
Speaker 4: Guys get roll trash cans or you put your trash
outside and they collect it.
Speaker 26: They collect it, but they have like a big like
like one of those ones you see, like yeah, that
they push and then come by and collect them.
Speaker 1: In this nine one one call, Reginald weirdly mentions that
whoever did this must have started the cleanup process and
couldn't finish it. Was he talking about himself? I mean,
who breaks into a place, kills people and then tries
to remove the bodies? Why would you do that unless
you live there. The car discovery, paired with Reginald's claim
that his wife and daughter's purses were empty, brought to
a search of the big dumpsters on the ground floor
of the apartment complex. Side they found an Exfinity bill
addressed to Reggie McLaren, a credit Union bank statement for
the couple, numerous SidD cards for Ruth, three of Bethanese
driver's licenses, and both women's Social Security cards. All of
these items had been cut up. They found bloody clothes too.
This all wasn't looking very good. The next logical step
was to find out which hardware store the rolling trash
cans were from. Maybe they'd even be able to get
security camera footage of Reginald buying the items. So the
deputy went to nearly every store in the area. Finally
he arrived at a particular home depot.
Speaker 10: Yeah, wed By, thank you.
Speaker 16: What can you do?
Speaker 2: Well done?
Speaker 24: What I could do is I could go back a
footage of when he's he entered the store without items.
Speaker 4: Yeah, if you can follow him from his car to
where his car is.
Speaker 10: Most who they didn't go past this because.
Speaker 9: Forget what you're talking.
Speaker 13: Is that him?
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's him taking longs like his.
Speaker 30: Items while he's in the like in the twelve sections
trash cans, trash cans, there is yes, so he's already
picked the trash cans.
Speaker 9: It's crazy.
Speaker 21: I never thought like I would have come up to
that because like I would always start because you see
these people with these items, like you wonder what they
use it with the last time when I was cashooting,
I saw a guy in the tar shovel and like
blulkins and gloves and I was like, oh my god,
looks so sketchy and stuff.
Speaker 18: No.
Speaker 1: No, her enthusiasm is cute, isn't it. Bet you never
thought she'd be in a real life episode of CSI. Anyway,
This footage showed him not only purchasing the two trash cans,
but also a Stanley brand handsaw good brand. He paid
for all the items with cash. And remember that neighbor
with the doorbell camera. He found footage from March ninth
that showed Reginald wheeling his two brand new trash cans
back to his apartment. Weird. Then there was that long
handled axe. Footage showed Reginald and harbor Frate's checkout line
with his axe in hand. Again he used cash. This
was all on March ninth, just before four pm, shortly
after he got home that day. Door bell footage showed
the three of them, Reginald, Bethany, and their daughter Ruth,
all leaving the apartment. Then they get back around seven
to fifteen pm, having just gone on an outing with
the man who would soon end their lives. While investigators
rewound camera feeds and match timestamps, a sense of disbelief
washed over everyone. How could eighty one year old Reginald,
elderly and frail have done any of this?
Speaker 13: Named doctor? Okay, little bit, can you tell them what
happened today? Ooh, I didn't sneaking.
Speaker 1: So the doctor asked him what happened, and Reginald said, oh,
I made a mistake. And that's why the AUDI isn't perfect.
It's from the body worn camera of the officer. Sitting
in Reginald's hospital room. Reginald calls the doctor, Doc, that
might help you follow it a little bit better.
Speaker 10: They were thinking and anything to get thistle. The doctor
was saying something that you see I heard that you
want one that you okay, well you know.
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to be No.
Speaker 10: I a lit here for forty years and and I
give up basically and you.
Speaker 25: Because the animals of money and this same theme.
Speaker 10: No way.
Speaker 25: And if I'm messing me to dig an apartment, go there.
Speaker 10: And I had it, and then I had some money here.
See I have a tolend dollar in my.
Speaker 2: Week.
Speaker 25: Is a move, but that was only for one month
and from signing hest for fifteen. Anyone who predicts will
be short after. I didn't want to see my family
in the street Eddy. I don't want to see hope happens.
But I just didn't because I see equal on the
roles and.
Speaker 10: Mom guys and say the situation better and I so
you killed them? And then and Leans passed out. Correct.
Speaker 1: Then the doctor asks him, so you killed them, both
of them? And Reginald admitted that he had and great board.
Speaker 2: He was in.
Speaker 10: He didn't kid. I even love to see my student
bending brand thee how my daughter even.
Speaker 1: After this shockingly calm admission, so creepy, really Reginald continued
telling the doctor that he used to work for HSS
Security Company in a hospital setting. During his time there,
he saw the harsh reality of homelessness every day. He
said that after he lost his job, he knew that
he and his family would end up like these people
begging on the side of the road. At his age,
no one would hire him. To make matters worse, he
said that they were being evicted. Bethany and Ruth were
pressuring him to sign a lease on a new apartment,
and Reginald said he was down to his last eight
thousand dollars, which wouldn't be enough for first and last
month's rent, plus us a security deposit in his daughter's medication.
Thirty five year old Ruth lived with cerebral palsy and
required constant monitoring. Her meds were eight hundred dollars a month,
according to Reginald, who really emphasized that he'd been taking
care of his wife and daughter for thirty five years.
His family depended on him, relied on him. They couldn't
survive without him. Apparently it had just become too much.
He said he'd started planning about ten days prior. He
just couldn't see any other way out. On March twenty fifth,
twenty twenty three, from a hospital bed under police watch,
eighty one year old Reginald McLaren calmly admitted he had
murdered his wife and daughter. He said he'd spent decades
supporting them, but when he lost his job and found
out they were being evicted, he saw only one path
forward everything.
Speaker 25: I'm sorry, I can dominate in life everything, you know,
never time when he had her time and making bed
sickness problems.
Speaker 10: But I think not see my said my heny.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: According to Reginald, the plan had been in motion for
a week. Here's what investigators believe happened that final day.
Sometime in the early afternoon, he grabbed an axe, the
one he bought at Harbor Freight. He set aside the
hand saw that was for later. He purchased everything he
needed using cash, Like the two rolling trash cans. He
wheeled them through the parking lot by himself. They were
now waiting in his living room, lids propped open. Bethany,
his wife of nearly forty years, was likely sitting on
the couch. He struck her first, hard enough to slice
through a major artery causing a blood spray that painted
the wall behind her. Then he turned on Ruth, hacking
away at her. She was thirty five years old, and
Reginald said she had cerebral palsy. Detectives believe she may
have been standing near the kitchen at the time. Later
they found the sink drain clogged with blood and hair,
clear evidence of an effort to clean up what was
becoming an unmanageably messy situation. After they were both dad,
Reginald used a combination of the axe and the saw
to remove one of his wife's legs. It was harder
than he imagined it would be, so he abandoned that idea. Instead,
he forcibly bent Bethany and Ruth's limbs at awkward angles
so they'd fit. He draped a towel over his wife,
but it didn't cover much. He looked down out of
breath and knew he still had to get both of
these bins to stand up so he could roll them
down the hall and into his suv. One of Bethany's
legs was still sticking out, lying on top of the
open lid. Blood was starting to pool around each of
the bins. Reginald panicked. His chest felt tight. He knew
this feeling. Quickly, he cut up both of the women's
identification cards, driver's licenses, and social security cards. He tossed
the pieces down the track into the apartment's main dumpster,
along with bloody clothes and other personal effects. Then he
picked up his phone and called the property manager, followed
by nine to one one. In his nine one one call,
Reginald said to the dispatcher, whoever did this probably started
the cleanup, but got tired and gave up, And that's
exactly what he did. During the process of hauling bodies,
cleaning blood, and lugging heavy plastic bins into position, Reginald
over exerted himself. He began to feel the familiar warnings
of a heart attack. He'd already suffered four and had
recently undergone open heart surgery. He just got scared, scared
that he was about to die. Getting medical attention for
himself became the number one priority. I wonder how he
was going to pay for that.
Speaker 20: A horrifying crime in Anglewood in the suspect talked about
Colorado's housing crisis with investigators. The eighty one year old
man told them he killed and dismembered his wife and
daughter because he could no longer afford to pay the rent.
They were murdered in an apartment building in the Englewood
City Center just off Hampton Avenue in Santa Fe. Drive
Karen Morphin on the story Tonight and Karen. The man
told police he didn't want his family to suffer through homelessness,
and during his.
Speaker 24: Arrest, he reportedly told police that he had no regrets
because he felt like they were in a better place now.
Police responding today pleading for anyone who may be struggling
to ask for help. According to the arrest AFFI, David
McClaren confessed to the murders, telling detectives he had recently
lost his job and the family was about to be evicted.
Having worked with the homeless population before, he told police
he quote knew what a miserable life that was. Having
planned for several days, he allegedly carried out those murders
the morning they were to vacate.
Speaker 8: You know, he seemed distraught maybe, and I don't know
what the reasons for his actions were or I mean,
that's part of our investigation. We're trying to determine why
he did what he did, but as far as our
dealings with him, he was more than cooperative.
Speaker 24: Now McLaren is expected in court sometime later this week.
We know the Rapahoe County Corner's Office will identify those
victims once their family is notified.
Speaker 1: Notifying extended family about Bethany and Ruth's deaths was more
difficult than expected. Who were these women? The family had
lived in the same building for years, and yet no
one seemed to know them beyond their friendly smiles and
the smell of food wafting from their unit.
Speaker 7: Well, Jim and the sadness over this terrible, terrible crime
is the realization that this family lived quietly in an
Englewood apartment building. The mother and victim in this case,
Bethany McLaren, was apparently from overseas, but without the help
of her husband, the suspect, finding her family has been difficult,
and so the coroner's office has reached out for help.
Speaker 1: There was no one to claim Bethany and Ruth's bodies,
no one to plan their funerals or give them a
peaceful sign off. When leaders at the Colorado Nepal Alliance
found out about this situation, they couldn't let it end
like this. There had to be someone who knew and
loved these women.
Speaker 7: They knew Bethany McLaren first got a social Security number
after arriving in the US somewhere in the eighties and
a little bit more, but no one knew her relatives.
The coroner's office called you.
Speaker 11: Yeah, they called me the Tuesday after the murders.
Speaker 7: Anne Hines and Sengita Schrotria are both part of the
Colorado Nepal Alliance, and the coroner had found the mom.
Bethany had another name.
Speaker 11: The fact that her name was Pavitra was a good
clue that she might if she wasn't Napoli. That the
ring of Napoli descent was likely.
Speaker 7: And so they set to work to find family to
remember them and their past.
Speaker 1: They brought a photo of Bethany to a local funeral.
Someone in the Engle Wooden, Nepaull community had passed away,
and six hundred people were in attendance, all people who
might know these women.
Speaker 7: Somebody has to mourn these women.
Speaker 11: Yeah.
Speaker 7: With a photo from Bethany McLaren's license, Sangita began to
ask everyone she could in the ten thousand plus member
Nepoli community.
Speaker 31: So I took the picture to the funeral and say
that do you guys know her? And they were around
like six hundred people and nobody could tell that they
knew her.
Speaker 1: Eventually, a man in Kansas responded saying he remembered a
woman named Pavitra. She'd helped him find a job back
in Colorado years prior. When he saw her name and photo,
he was pretty sure this was the same woman. So
she was a kind woman, she was yeah.
Speaker 7: Then after a report of the name got out, a
woman reached out from India. One who was a little
girl once posed for a photo with Ruth McLaren.
Speaker 31: Then she opened up and it happened to be Pavitra's niece.
Speaker 1: The woman confirmed that she recognized both Bethany and Ruth. Apparently,
Bethany was originally Pavitra Rana, born in northern India but
of Nepali origin. She worked as a nurse and eventually
moved to the United States, where she married Reginald after
meeting him through a newspaper ad.
Speaker 31: Of all things, it looks like they had been in
India for a few generations because both of Pavitrans her sister,
were born in India. There are so many uncovered part
of the stories that we don't know yet or about
their life. I'm sure they have touched more life than
we know.
Speaker 11: I'm sure they have to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they had succeeded in finding a needle in a haystack,
one single member of Bethany's family, but they were too
far away to help with the funeral. So these two
women from the Colorado to Paul alliance took it upon themselves.
Speaker 11: You didn't have to do this, Yeah, I did have
to do it because these women were so brutally murdered.
Speaker 28: Yeah, and so few people in the Denver metro area
knew them, and I could not imagine.
Speaker 11: That there were people there that were grieving for them.
Speaker 1: There was no family statement, no recent photo, no custom obituary.
Instead just a Bible verse. The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in
green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He
restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his namesake. YEA, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for thou art with me, Thy rod and thy staff
they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me, in
the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. No mention
of her daughter. Her work is a nurse nothing. Bethany
and Ruth mac laren lived quietly, but they died violently,
and if not for the kindness of strangers, they would
have been buried without any one to grieve them. Everything
we know about them comes from the fragments they left behind,
whether it be a neighbor's memory, a community sorrow, or
a killer's version of events. And Reginald's side of the
story was built entirely on his lies. Because here's the
horrible truth, the McLaren family wasn't facing homelessness. Detectives recovered
several documents addressed to Reginald in Bethany one of those
documents was a statement from a credit union. It showed
an account balance of over eleven thousand dollars. Keep in mind,
this was just one of their accounts. In his hospital
bed confession, Reginald had also mentioned a briefcase with eight
thousand dollars in it. If that doesn't convince you that
his entire excuse was a lie, maybe this will. There
was no evidence that Reginald and his family were about
to be evicted whatsoever. There was no eviction notice, no
court order, and it was it's just that their lease
was up, so that's it. It was all a lie.
This wasn't a man pushed into a corner. Reginald had
made a decision. He was done being the pillar of
his family. He was done having a family altogether. It
was on April third, twenty twenty three, that Reginald was
formally charged with two counts of first degree murder, two
counts of tampering with a deceased human body, and one
count of false reporting. On January twenty third, twenty twenty four,
he entered a not guilty plea. His trial began in
June of twenty twenty four. It was a somber, quiet courtroom.
No one sat in the gallery behind the defense table,
and no one sat behind the prosecutors. Well, at least,
there was no one in attendance that really knew the
McLaren family and Hindes, the executive director of the Colorado
Nepal Alliance, attended the entire trial, just like she'd help
plan Bethany and Ruth's burial. She wanted to be there
when justice was finally served and sounds like a nice person.
We need more ants.
Speaker 28: This is Bethany when she was a nurse in the
Indian Army. This is Ruth right here when she was young.
The only pictures that the jury got to see of
them were the pictures when they were dead. The hardest
part for me was hearing how many times he had
struck his daughter with an axe.
Speaker 1: The evidence shown at trial was convincing. After about a
week in court, just a few hours of deliberation, a
jury found him guilty on all charges.
Speaker 28: The prosecution had a very good case, and they just
reiterated all the pre planning that had gone into these murders.
He had purchased the acts, the saw, and the trash cans.
I think I was hoping to try to understand why
these two murders had occurred that I left without any answers.
I thought maybe having him convicted might make me feel better,
but I don't. Ruth and Bethany are still deceased.
Speaker 1: And who had been in contact with Bethany's family in India,
told them about the guilty verdict. One of Bethany's friends
ended up writing a letter for the sentencing hearing. She
asked Aan to read it on her behalf.
Speaker 27: I have known Pavichrurana, also known as Bethany, for the
last half a century. We both belonged to Kullimpong, a
small hill town in eastern India. She was born, brought
up and did her schooling in one of the famous
missionary schools, the Kalimpong Girls High School. We worshiped in
the same Presbyterian church. After her schooling, she did her
diploma in nursing. In the late nineteen seventies, she joined
the Indian Army as a nursing officer in the rank
of lieutenant. She continued working and was promoted to the
rank of captain. Around nineteen eighty six, she married Reginald MacLaren.
After marriage, she resigned from the army and moved with
her husband to Denver, Colorado and the US. In nineteen
ninety six, she came to visit US in India with
her husband and daughter. Thereafter, we were in occasional contact
over the phone. Last I remember speaking with her was
in twenty fifteen. After that I was unable to contact
her despite trying many times. The tragic news came as
a great shock, not only to me but to all
of those who knew her here in India. I would
like to remember her as a fine and humble human being,
a dependable friend and a very helpful person. She liked
to do embroidery in tatting laces in her free time.
She was warm and friendly, but reserved Socially, she was
observant and we shared many laughs at her impressions of
friends and colleagues. May their souls rest in peace.
Speaker 1: Reginald, who is now eighty three years old, received two
consecutive life sentences. On top of that, the judge tacked
on two twelve year sentences for tapering with deceased bodies
and one hundred and twenty day cents for false reporting,
with credit for time served. In the end, no one
remembered when they moved in. No one noticed the quiet
lives of these women, and when they finally did, it
was because the only person who ever saw them was
the one who made them vanish. Well, we hope you
enjoyed that horrible story. Weirdos. If you like this sort
of thing, these tragic terrible stories, head on over to
our YouTube channel, Sword and Scale TV. There you can
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